The tape is a lie.

Mark my words, Big Minge will never let this technology see the light of day.

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 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.

On the one hand, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.

On the other hand, way too often people are absolutely vile here and nobody sticks up for themselves or for others. Really a shame that r-word-it bullshit behavior is often times totally accepted and approved and even rewarded here.

Okay, good. You know, whatever makes sense.

Probably just a temporary hitch, but I tried to use the app today to look for some Little Britain content. I’m certain that a decade+ ago, HBO carried Little Britain episodes. I was under the impression that Max was basically rebranded HBO and Cinemax in crappified app format.

Tried to open the app, got a loading screen for well over a minute. Closed it and tried to open it again. Waited another minute and it finally showed the profile selection screen. I clicked on my profile and got a completely useless error message, so I clicked on my partner’s profile and it worked. Clicked the up button a few times to get to the search screen, nothing happened. Clicked again, and it finally registered the first few click PLUS the newest click, so it overshot the search icon. Finally got it back to search and then clicked the microphone button so I could speak rather than type. It completely did not understand “Little Britain” and instead searched “Britain britain” with no relevant results. Tried again, and it failed harder. Ended up having to type in Little Britain manually. So 10 minutes later after having the thought that I’d like to watch Little Britain, I finally get the results. Turns out the show isn’t available to watch anymore (or else the search failed, hard to know for sure). Terrible experience.

This should be an embarrassment. I would be embarrassed if I had developed some bullshit like this.

Thanks, Obama.

I’ll never have biological children of my own and I’ll never get to use that benefit. From a strictly selfish standpoint, it stings a bit that pretty much all my heterosexual friends and coworkers, male and female, get a minimum of 12 - 36 weeks of paid time off that I’ll never get.

Having said that, I’m genuinely happy that they get it, I think it’s a shame that 12 weeks per child isn’t a minimum standard for paternity & maternity leave. In the professional settings I’ve worked in that offer paternity leave, I’ve never experienced a coworker complaining or making fun of a man taking paternity leave, nor have I ever heard of a man NOT taking paternity leave when it’s offered.

The places I’ve worked that offer it also usually offer flexible leave, so it’s very common for new dads to take 4 - 6 weeks off at birth, and then work a reduced schedule for the remaining time until they’re out of leave, after which they return full time. Even some of the moms are doing that as well, basically maximizing the amount of time that at least one parent is on leave and at home with the newborn.

But, outside of professional settings and particularly within conservative/Republican family and acquaintances, typically lower-to-middle class people, they act like paternity leave is ridiculous. My dad laughed out loud a while back when I mentioned I was taking over a new project because my coworker was about to go on paternity leave “What? Are you serious?” In my opinion, “toxic masculinity” aka stupid, ignorant, and useless concepts of overly rigid gender stereotypes is where this type of opinion is rooted. That and probably a good degree of jealousy.

A number of years ago, I was walking past a cow pasture when I heard a ruckus. The cows were mooing up a storm and there was a flock of geese in the pasture honking back in agitation. By the time I got to the top of the hill and could clearly see what was going on, I witnessed a good ole fashioned standoff.

Perhaps triggered by my sudden appearance in the distance, the geese spooked first. The honking intensified and they started retreating in a hurry as they prepared to take flight, cows charging towards them at full bovine speed.

As the last goose just lifted off the ground, one of the cows managed to catch up and stomp it out of the air mid-flight. Poor bird came crashing down underneath a barrage of hooves flailing on top of it. It tried to lift its head off the ground a time or two, but within moments of its body being crumpled, it was dead.

Everybody acts like Canada geese are bad-asses, not to be trifled with. A goose will leave you broken, but alive. Cows, on the other hand, are blood-thirsty, cold-blooded killers. Watch your back.

I know how that goes. We sometimes have watermelon for a snack (and no I don’t live on the Africa).

Honestly, it’s almost a relief to hear someone say “sorry about your job” without adding the caveat “but DoD/DoE/NIH/USAID is fraud/waste/bad/scam” to the statement. And yes, it was a pretty darned good dinner as long as healthy wasn’t one of the criteria.

I’m guessing not since I don’t use google chrome and haven’t for a while.

You might consider adding a couple eggs to that. Since you can afford “permesan” and butter, I feel like it’s possible you might even be able to afford the eggs without having to take out a small personal loan.

Oh no. So anyway, tonight we’re having a stereotypical American meal that takes 25 minutes off your life; Sloppy joes, macaroni and cheese, and potato salad. It’s quite good, everything made from scratch since I don’t have a job anymore. How about you?

Oh neat! I used to use Fark, too. I just checked and it’s still around, just looks a bit dead compared to how I remember it from back in the day.

I started using it in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, but I stopped sometime in that date range you mentioned. For me, it was the fact that I got multiple back to temporary suspensions (with no warnings). It was like I couldn’t do anything right and to some extent, it felt targeted and personal.

I don’t even remember them all, but two of the suspensions stick out to me. I got banned for posting the picture of the officially unofficial fark squirrel (i.e. Big Balls). Up until that time, it was basically a Fark meme posted openly and frequently by large numbers of users. I guess advertisers didn’t like it and I didn’t get the memo. Another suspension came when I responded to a homophobic bigot who was arguing against legalizing gay marriage in the USA by telling him “if you believe that, you are an idiot”. Apparently that’s name calling, but using cocksucker as a pejorative against another man was still considered A-Okay.

Oh my my my, little pony.

Here’s my purely capitalistic problem with Amazon:

A decade+ ago, I realized that major brands were using the site as their outlet store. I’d buy a pack of socks, and they’d be hideously deformed. I’d buy a few pants for work, one pair would be too small, one too large, and one would fit just right. I’m not fucking Goldilocks.

The final straw for me was when my coffee maker broke. I ordered a new one via same day shipping, which at the time had a minimum order of something like $50. The coffee maker did not cost quite enough, so I added something random to the order so that my same day shipping would be free. Ultimately, the coffee maker arrived late (i.e. not the same day) and the decanter was broken.

When I contacted Amazon about the issue, the agent said they could reship, but they wouldn’t send it same day so for that specific item it was going to take 3 - 5 days to arrive. They also tried to hassle me with a straight up return, telling me I had to take it to a UPS store, which at the time was 30+ minutes away.

Ultimately, I pulled a Karen and told them to cancel my Amazon Prime, which they did. Only problem is, I was 2 or 3 months into the year long subscription and assumed I’d get a pro-rated refund. I did not. When I got back in touch with customer service, they told me that Amazon adds up the value of the “free” shipping I received, the rental value of the movies and shows I watched on Prime, and the value of all the other services included with Prime and if that total exceeds the remaining value of the Prime subscription, then no refund.

They basically stole almost a year of Prime from me with no recourse.

Scum company. I got a lot of hate for saying this back in those days. But at least now, a decade+ later, people are finally starting to wake up. Not everyone, obviously. But at least I don’t get hateful responses and DMs quite as much as I used to.

Personally, I don’t think this is all that weird, but I like cold leftovers. My preferred breakfasts are things like cold pizza, cold mac and cheese, cold mashed potatoes, etc.

For some reason, my friends and family think it’s gross and they always say things like “I don’t know how you can eat that cold.”

Home made potato chips and ketchup are a really good combination. I’ve tried it with different brands, styles, and flavors of store bought chips and it’s okay-ish when I’m in the mood. I’ve never tried to eat them like a bowl of cereal, though.