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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 14th, 2023

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  • Humanity is so fickle, it’s impossible to tell.

    In the US, we went from overwhelming opposition to gay marriage to overwhelming support in less than a decade.

    On the other hand, we went from aggressively eradicating CFCs and fixing the ozone hole to dragging our feet on renewable energy for several decades.

    Even further back, we went from back-to-back world wars and economic collapse to a tentative global peace and prosperity.

    Monarchy seemed inevitable for ages, and then multiple democratic revolutions all sprang up in quick succession.

    Equality was fundamental to the Constitution, but we still haven’t healed the wounds of slavery.

    There seems to be no telling. Some problems languish for a long time, but then see massive improvements in the blink of an eye. Some obvious fixes lay dormant for an offensively long time.

    When I think about this stuff, I get a weird mix of hope and despair and guilt and frustration and impatience.

    It seems unfair that we got stuck with these particular crises, with no guarantee that we’re actually prepared to handle them. (Maybe that’s the entire story of humanity.)

    And then I remember what Tolkien had to say about such things:






  • My big thing is a new TV. We have a 46” LCD from 2009 that often refuses to fully power on. I’ve been dragging my feet on replacing it, just cuz I know the research is gonna be demoralizing, with how dystopian a lot of the “smart TVs” are. But now there’s some real time pressure, so I guess I have to.

    Coincidentally, I was already planning on upgrading my personal dev machine (to an M4 Mac Mini) and my retro handheld (to a Retroid Pocket 5), as well as my first dip into XR glasses with the Viture Pro. So I’m kinda ahead of the game there.

    I’ve been (im)patiently waiting for the next version of the Orange Pi 800, but if tariffs hit before then I’ll probably just skip it. Analogue 3D is also likely to exit my wish list.

    I’ll probably move up the timeline on adding storage to my home server if I can afford to. And some microSD cards, since I seem to always need yet another one.

    I’ve got a few friends who were looking at upgrading their PCs this year, so I’ll probably be helping them shop and seal the deal before things get weird.

    I wouldn’t expect many outrageous Cyber Monday deals this year. Most mfgs probably wanna stretch their inventory so they can delay price increases and stay competitive. That said, there’s also bound to be companies that are poised to strike early because they have already de-China-fied their supply chains. But even they are bound to be cautious.

    Tap for spoiler

    Also, imo, this is why a “no politics” rule is dumb. Policy ends up changing people’s lives, and dealing with a change in your life — especially one that others are also experiencing — is a big reason why people post on communities like this. “Superficial shit only” is a fine strategy for a massive site that can stand to prune meaningful user engagement for the sake of keeping things family-friendly for advertisers, but since Lemmy is not Reddit, wtf are we doing?




  • I used to pride myself on my tea snobbery, sampling green tea varieties from the farmers market and using a ceramic infuser.

    Then one day I stopped having time for all that and found that Constant Comment was actually quite lovely and available everywhere.

    Black tea with orange zest and spices. Simple, but everything I really want from a tea. Lady Grey is good too.








  • kibiz0r@midwest.socialtoPolitical Memes@lemmy.worldVote.
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    7 days ago

    Canonical Strawman Leftist™ describing their utopia: “Everyone votes on everything, and we engage in thoughtful discussion to persuade our neighbors to make good choices with their votes.”

    Same leftist describing today: “Voting is pointless, and it’s impossible to change anyone’s mind.”



  • If my time consulting is anything to go off of…

    The agency provided several options. The client liked 3 of them and wanted them all smooshed together.

    Client opened up the agency’s .pptx and moved some things around until they had this monstrosity and said “There! That’s what I want. See how easy that was? Why do we even pay you?”

    The designers quietly held back the urge to quit on the spot, but the lead said “Absolutely, that’s a great decision, we’ll have a final version for you tomorrow!” And the designers took great joy in delivering precisely what the client asked for.