GooberEar

What's this "we" you're talking about? I would rather not even have to think about his privates, let alone involve myself with the inspection.

How can anybody make jokes about this knowing what's at steak?

I don't know if it's the most valuable or even has any value at all, but it's amazing to actually experience how two kids raised in the same family with the same morals and values, the same guidelines and opportunities, and yet they turn out so dramatically different. One kind and thoughtful, the other self-absorbed and greedy. One who acknowledges their privilege, the other who takes it all for granted.

There are different ways that a job can be difficult. Some are physically demanding. Some require a lot of skill (and/or luck). Others can be psychologically challenging. Some are a combination of those and more.

I used to work in retail customer service. Honestly, I saw it suck the life and happiness out of some of my coworkers. People would have breakdowns or turn to drugs and alcohol. One of the reasons I was able to handle it is because I knew it wasn't life long career for me, it was just a job to support myself while I was in school but it left me with a lot of anxiety and maybe, to some degree, PTSD or something similar.

There are a lot of responsibilities and expectations for that type of job. I had to manage the front-end staff. Make sure folks showed up for work, got out on time, got their breaks, performed their duties, make sure they were safe. That was a job in and of itself. I also had to count money, checks, run reports, and a bunch of general office / accounting duties. And then on top of all that, any time there was a problem, I was the first in line to have to deal with it. So, a large number of my customer interactions were with unhappy people. Way too many angry people who are rude, disrespectful, lack empathy, and are so demanding. Lots of ungrateful people and lots of scammers.

The icing on the cake is that the schedule is highly irregular and the pay is crappy.

Really, a customer service job like that is a lot of exposure to a lot of bad people and a lot of horrible behavior. It can be exhausting and mentally damaging. More than most people might realize.

To be honest, I don't get a lot of time to game as an adult. For the past several years, my gaming is mostly restricted to fall/winter, like November through early March and even then, it's primarily around the holidays when I have extra time off work. Even during my "gaming season", I'm usually only able to get in a 45 minute session a few times a week. The rest of the year, I'm lucky to have the down time more than a couple times a month.

So, the big thing is: I have to really consider my time limitations and that restricts the types of games I play. No point in trying to play games with super complicated control schemes, complex story lines, or which require a lot of time dedication to "get gud" because I'm going to forget how to play, what I need to do to advance, and I'm just going to suck compared to kids who play 18 hours a day 7 days a week.

The Steam Deck actually did help me do a bit more gaming. Like you, I sit in front of a computer all day for work, so being able to game elsewhere and in a variety of locations is nice. Plus, I can fire it up when traveling.

I also stick to games that I feel like there's a good chance I can "beat" over the course of my gaming season or games with simple mechanics and limited stories. Like this past winter I played Doom. The year before it was Cult of the Lamb. The year before that it was Hades. Short enough games (at least the main story line) and simple enough controls. Then there are games like Vampire Survivors that offer short, simple, self-contained and satisfying mini gaming sessions if and when I have a random bit of down time and feel like playing something.

I don't think that photo is from 1886, not with those vehicles in the background. So I assumed it was a joke comment or AI, but all the subjects had normal finger counts, so I assumed joke.

Is that a joke I'm too dumb to get?

Are you asking about things that weren't considered dangerous when I was a kid, but are now? I always thought that was largely a cliche? Pretty much everything that I did as a child that is, or could be, considered dangerous today was considered dangerous then, too.

One thing that does come to mind: I don't think the general public back then was as aware of the danger of second hand smoke. So, exposing kids to cigarette smoke (by smoking indoors, in cars, or even going to public places with smoking sections) didn't seem to be considered risky or dangerous.

Otherwise, pretty much everything I did as a kid that would be considered dangerous today would also have been considered dangerous back then in the days when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and the wheel had only recently been invented. That includes activities sanctioned by adults, like riding in the bed of a pickup truck, and those which weren't, like mixing random chemicals together to see what happens.

I got a temporary suspension / time out for using the word retard in a scientifically accurate, non-offensive context. In a conversation about dealing with mold, I made a suggestion on how to retard fungal growth. Unbeknownst to me, there had been a very recent site wide rule added about using slurs and apparently it's a slur to retard the growth of mold. When you get a suspension like that, there's no way to appeal it (or at least they obfuscate the ability to do so).

I don't plan on making any last minute purchases at this point.

The tariffs (and other recent economic decisions) are purposefully inflicted economic chaos and disruption. I am not smart enough and do not have enough inside information to make truly informed decisions. I do not trust my ability (or really anybody else's ability) to make long term, last minute plans around the deranged actions. Most, if not all, good plans should have / would have been executed a while ago anyway.

It doesn't make sense to me to go ahead and buy stuff like a laptop, cellphone, car, etc right now "just in case", spending lots of money I might not need to spend and which could be put to better use later. And for less expensive necessities, I already stock up on that sort of stuff as much as I can afford to buy and store because I live in a disaster prone, rural area so it's always been a reasonable and rational thing to do for folks that have the means.

My plan, which began pretty much as soon as the election results were clear, was and is to make do with less. I've put off all non-essential "big" purchases I was considering. I've given up or significantly reduced luxury and impulse purchases. I've switched to less expensive brands, even if I like them less. I've switched to cheaper alternatives where applicable. And now I will buckle down, encourage and support others to do the same as best they can.

I didn't have to explain it, but I found myself in a situation where I was informing a grown woman that fish are indeed animals.

Two words:

Leprechaun 4: In Space

Okay that's slightly more than two words.