A little tiny pinch of salt in coffee can take the edge off the bitterness. It surprisingly doesn’t make it taste salty, just less bitter.

Isn’t is supposed to be is.

[US] Any suspect that says “Am I free to go?” during an interview where they haven’t been Mirandized, and then if they are free to go leaves immediately.

Or if they are not free to go and Mirandized “I demand a lawyer.” and “I am asserting my right to silence.” and nothing else. Playing cute games in an “interview” so you can get off some zingers at the cops is at best not going to make your situation worse. Very likely though, the longer you talk, the worse it will get. Therefore any technique that is giving up your right to silence and council is sub-optimal.

This footage doesn’t catch the public eye as often because it isn’t spicy. It’s just boring. You want to be boring because the cops who booked you are not the right people to be spinning your side of the story to.

Airsoft has grown massively. While it is more of a whole day event, it fills that same niche but better in many ways.

Most lazertag places I remember seeing were inside or connected to arcades, and those really aren’t a thing for kids these days either so it makes sense the lazertag places aren’t as widespread as they used to be. If you’re specifically going to travel to just do lazertag, you’ll probably just travel to do airsoft or paintball.

I love Battletech, but I understand why it isn’t for everyone. The crunch of of detailing armor hits and internal effects, and keeping track of heat sinks is all the kind of thing that appeals to a specific kind of numbers nerd.

Yes Alpha Strike exists, but it’s relatively new and I think it exists as this weird thing that by stripping out the details takes away the appeal for the loyal crunchy brained people.

Further, the miniatures are really neat, but 28mm (or 32mm, whatever is happening with 40k scale creep these days) scale really allows people to paint and customize characters which is appealing to more people than relatively less characterful mech sculpts.

For video games, Full Spectrum Warrior.

It’s got a unique third person-ish view where the player swaps between different fire teams or special units, and orders them. It looks like a third person shooter but is just a real time ground level tactical game. It’s demanding but fun. It’s the kind of game that Brothers In Arms, old school Ghost Recon, or Doorkickers players would love. I don’t know why nobody really remembers it or why somebody hasn’t made a spiritual successor.

My claim to a brush with celebrity is that I used to know Michael Rooker, who played the guy who got pretzeled.

You don’t have any problems with it cycling? I’ve heard really big cans on tilt barrel handguns can cause problems with the weight of the can interfering with barrel movement.

What’s the can model? Do you like it?

A paintball filled with capsaicin or something similar. Technically many of the guns are sold purpose made as pepper ball launchers, but they are literally rebranded .68 cal paintball guns and compatible with commercial paintball gun parts.

I see two in the photo. Along with what I presume is a 37mm break open launcher.

Yes, they are repurposed to fire pepperballs.

First, we have to agree on what a plot hole is.

My definition of a plot hole in a story is something that simply can not happen given the existing rules of the story, or something which could only happen in an unexplained and if not literally impossible than at least so unlikely it is practically impossible way that defies everything else we know about the story.

This would be an item inexplicably jumping locations, a character having knowledge they could not possibly have, or a character or item being in two places at once. Things like that which gnarl the story.

What it isn’t: A character making a bad decision, a character acting unusual (even to the point of acting out of character- that can be bad writing, but not a plot hole), a character forgetting something, a plot contrivance, an unlikely coincidence, something being unrealistic but consistent within the context of the story.

I commonly see poorly written scenes, or scenes where someone thinks a character was acting irrationally, or scientific or legal or other plot points that are intentionally written to serve the story described as plot holes.

With that description, I’d say quite a great number of works of fiction don’t have plot holes.

I’m not going to count shows aimed at adult audiences because that feels like cheating (that also includes not listing anime aimed at adults because that doesn’t seem like the spirit of the question). Of shows aimed at and easily accessible during their run to children I’m going to say Courage The Cowardly Dog and Invader Zim.

Courage had insane creepy visuals in almost every episode.

Zim wasn’t consistently freaky to the point of being notable in every episode, but the ones that were, they were really out there. The show was from the mind of the creator of the Johnny The Homicidal Maniac (which I read as a kid thanks to my interest in Invader Zim) and the show’s darker elements are obviously reigned in just enough to get on TV.

Headlamp. Headlamps are so useful for doing mechanical work and doubly so if it ends up being dark. A flashlight is also helpful, but as a companion to a headlamp.

A baggie of 100 zipties (12 inch or bigger), electrical tape, hose clamps. These are so often useful for DIY kludged together nonsense.

An extendable magnet. In case you drop something in a weird spot.

High dexterity gloves. Mechanix or something like them in case you’re touching a hot/spiky/unknown fluidity bit.

A change of clothes, including a long sleeve shirt isn’t the worst idea. If you encounter trouble and need to get under the car you’ll either want to change into the spare shirt before or after, and generally having spare clothes ready is just a good idea.

Hellboy is my favorite anime.

“Bang.”

I’m partial to the Dave’s Carolina Reaper sauce.

If I’m in a different mood the El Yucateco habanero sauce has great flavor.

Gochujang for cooking. Usually the T. UP imported stuff from Korea.

If you don’t know what positive reinforcement sounds like, I get it.

No, no. It’s words that sound like positive reenforcement be repurposed by people who don’t want to deal with an issue.

“Good catch!”

Usually said when you bring up something that needs fixing, and said as a way to puff you up and not actually follow up on the problem.