I know you said to avoid the “just don’t connect it” advice, but I frankly think that’s your best bet without shelling out absurd amounts of money. I hate the concept of smart TVs, so like you I tried to find a reasonably priced dumb TV. Had zero luck. Instead, I bought a 55” Hisense TV (U8K) about 6 months ago, and have never once connected it to the internet. I think it’s technically a Google TV, but I wouldn’t know, since I just connect my devices to it, no internet necessary. It’s a gorgeous display with amazing picture quality. All the features are enabled, nothing was stuck behind an internet-wall. I don’t regret it.

Couldn’t agree more. I was having this conversation with friends back in 08/09. No one took me seriously, but the red flags were all there for everyone to see. Facebook was caught using their platform to run sociological experiments on their users without consent, for example. That alone would get an academic or real researcher in serious trouble. But for an evil-corp like Facebook? Nothing but skepticism or disbelief from most people. It happened, people were harmed. Oh, and remember Myanmar?

The general publics’ overall sense of helplessness, apathy, and/or disbelief that the tech industry is doing anything untoward is their biggest victory. People are happily falling for it all over again with LLMs.

The best evidence for their common ancestry is from 2008, but it doesn’t look like there have been any new developments since then.

Molecular analysis of a shred of 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein — along with that of 21 modern species — confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators.

Source Harvard Gazette

When I was growing up, we called these “sweatshirt jackets.” So, yes.

I’m continually disappointed that America doesn’t live up to what I learned about in civics class 30 years ago.

I have clear memories of sitting in class as a kid, asking the most basic questions about checks and balances, separation of powers, equality under the law etc. and being absolutely mesmerized by the topics. I remember thinking, “wow, I live there? I’m so lucky.”

When my teacher said “not even the president is above the law” I remember some other kid really trying to grasp the idea that every single person is supposed to be treated equally by the justice system, regardless of their family, job, or religion. It wasn’t a concept that came naturally to everyone.

It wasn’t until high school and college that I finally understood that these were just ideals that we talk about but don’t fully actualize. America is not the unicorn we think it is, but we’re great at lying to ourselves from a very young age. Howard Zinn was a big part of my waking up to reality.

That’s not to say we don’t strive for improvement, but when one of the two political parties is hell-bent on dismantling the administrative state, taking away bodily autonomy for more than half the population, reverting our ‘culture’ and laws to the 1800s, destroying our planet, discarding science, fetishizing killing-machines in daily life and warfare across the globe, and so much more regressive bullshit, we’re not really setting ourselves up to realize those ideals.

So yeah, America is a genuine country, but it’s not what it should be or what many people think it is.

I used to hate them, so I understand where you’re coming from, but then I got a job at a company that uses Slack as its primary communications app, and memes and gifs became a genuinely joyful part of my day.

Some managers at my company communicate almost exclusively with gifs, which sometimes still annoys the hell out of me, but I have to keep reminding myself “Bertram, you have a good job, working with fun people who sometimes use too many gifs. It could be so so much worse.” And then I go back to laughing at the most absurdly ridiculous reaction gif my manager just sent as a response to a critical project delivery.

A cuchi moya

Wait, wrong show.

The closest I’ve been able to get to it is to submerge the arms in hot (nearly boiling) water for a bit, and then make the adjustment. It’s not quite as effective, but depending on what the frames are made out of it can do the job in a pinch.

Ugh I’m sorry, I feel your pain. I used to have neighbors exactly like that. They were absurdly loud at all hours and had the cops called on them a number of times. I tried being polite: “Hey guys! Hope you’re doing well, just wanted to let you know I have to wake up super early for work, so would it be cool if you kept the volume down after 10pm?” They laughed, slammed the door in my face and cranked up the volume. The only thing that worked was telling the landlord I didn’t feel safe with them as my neighbors (helped that it was 100% true). He evicted them within days after I described all the shit they got up to.

I really like SoundCore earbuds. I have a pair of Life A2 NCs that I primarily use to listen to podcasts and make work calls. I usually leave the sound on normal, but when I’m vacuuming or doing something loud, I’ll switch them to noise canceling and I’m always really impressed how well it works.

In my experience SoundCore microphones are pretty inconsistent across their models, but I’ve found the A2’s mics produce really high quality sound, good enough for clear work calls. Other SoundCore mics have been unacceptably bad.

Same here. I’ve got one of their dressers and night tables, and I love them! Thinking about getting a bed frame next. Their prices are awesome, and the quality is way better than it has any right to be.

Yeah I’ve always thought about it that way. Even if it’s not a guarantee that you’ll be sexually assaulted, the chances are high enough and it has become “acceptable” enough in mainstream American culture that it’s apparently okay to joke about it.

“Don’t drop the soap” jokes genuinely fill me with rage, and always have. Our criminal justice system is far from perfect, and plenty of innocent people end up in prison. But I don’t care if you’re guilty or innocent. Were you sentenced to be raped? No. Sexual assault is a heinous crime, so joking about it being an expectation or feature of the penal system is despicable and normalizes the behavior.

Our prison system is completely broken, so yes, I would confidently argue that nearly every sentence that includes prison time has a strong possibility of also including sexual assault. And that’s not okay.

Yeah I have to jump servers nearly every day to get my comments to post and my feed to refresh. Kinda annoying, but whatever, a little friction is healthy imo.

Hmm maybe not, my bad. Their site says XXL (their biggest) would fit waist size 44-46in, so that might not work for you.

For reference, I’m 5’ 10” around 170 and their medium is perfect for me.

Such a catchy song! And the dancing is freaking hilarious. Brought a grin to my face every episode.

32degrees cotton terry joggers stand up really well, and are super comfy and affordable. I’ve been wearing them for years and they still look new. Don’t get the fleece or tech stretch joggers though, those are shitty quality for some reason and pill up immediately.

Seconding this. I’ve been using a MX Master 3S for a little more than a year, and it’s great. Incredibly solid build quality, long battery life, and the best scroll wheel I’ve ever used. It’s magnetic, so the wheel’s individual ‘clicks’ as you scroll are incredibly satisfying, but you can also turn them off so it’s just a smooth scroll. And since it’s magnetic, you can flick it once and it just keeps scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Surprisingly useful for very long websites and for interacting with applications that heavily rely on the wheel for zooming. I initially scoffed at the price, but it’s one of those examples where the quality is worth it.

Oh this man cries, often. And this man thinks it’s completely natural, acceptable, and often enjoyable.

I AGREE!

So. Often. At least twice a day.