General

I just like to be aware of the time without necessarily wanting to awake at that moment lol (but i like the option of being able to, if i want)
There’s reasoning behind it haha
It helps i can basically fall asleep whenever i want so it’s not like it really disrupts my sleep or anything

I went for a walk/jog yesterday despite a bad knee. Felt fine afterwards. Woke up and it feels like I broke a bone in one foot. Getting old sucks.

You ever try a knee brace...the ones that just wrap around your knee? Anytime I hurt my knee or have to move; it helps a lot

rayzor6 wrote:


Yeah, I've tried multiple knee braces (at least half a dozen different ones), visited an orthopedic surgeon, etc. Nothing alleviates it. I get a stabbing pain in the back of the knee at around a mile. It doesn't go away unless I stop, and when I start back up it comes back much faster. I never actually ran a marathon, but I used to be able to run to that mileage. 5-15 miles was my norm, and I only stopped out of boredom. I was able to hit a 6 minute mile. Still pissed at the $400 I wasted on the orthopedic surgeon... Knee joint "looked fine" by X-ray. "take NSAIDS" they said, fudging joke.

As for my recent injury, compression makes it worse. I noticed my pinky toe was misaligned; that's where the pain line was. I cracked it back into position. Elevate it and we'll see if that fixes it. I wonder if I had a dislocation or broken bone mid-foot? Hopefully it's gone soon enough. I've broken a toe twice before, feels similar to this, it's not fun.

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:

That reminds me of something that I like to do. Whenever I'm with someone and they casually look at their watch. Right when they look away from their watch, I ask them what time it is. They almost always have to look back at their watch. The only reason I do this is to amuse myself.

Sad how covid has turned some people into germophobes. Following good hygiene is probably a good/healthy thing. But when it starts becoming obsessive, it's not good.

I've watched people struggle to open doors/opening doors in funky ways because they're afraid to touch the door handle. I can't blame them, especially if they themselves or people close to them got very sick, but it's sad when you see someone, especially someone you've known for years, suddenly acting a bit obsessive.

Flip side is I enjoyed not getting sick thanks to people not going to work when they are sick. Good while it lasted.

KCPenguins wrote:

On this very narrow front: I agree with you. I have family that has no problem coming over and then telling you that their freaking kid puked this morning but he isn't 'contagious'. I freaking hate it.

nonamesleft wrote:

I'm doing that more - not because I've become obsessive or anything -- but simply because Covid has made me much more aware of how bad I am at NOT touching my face and such after touching things. Plus, Covid is still pretty prevalent -- and now we've got flu season starting up. It just makes sense to be more careful.

Also, I've realized how easy it is to have hand sanitizer around in the car and such. So, am I using it much more often than I did pre-Covid? Absolutely. But only because I've finally given things more thought -- not because I'm becoming obsessed with it.

That being said, sure, I might try to open a door without touching it as much -- but if it is overly difficult, I don't worry about it. Just try to remember to stop touching my dang face randomly!

Since the weather FINALLY started getting cooler - a whole month late, thanks global warming - I finally started digging upstairs for all the gaming stuff I want to try to sell to a local reseller so I can actually raise money to get the ball moving on selling the house.

But I have a lot of things that would probably be better off going to people who actually want it.

And I don't want to deal with ebay... or paypal...

Bleh.

John wrote:
This doesn't sound obsessive, more like being more aware/cautious.

I think the whole thing hits a certain nerve with me because when you've known someone for years who suddenly starts opening doors with their shirt and telling others to wash their hands before touching things, it's, well, I'm not sure what to make of it. Somewhat sad I guess. If you're going to wash your hands anyway after going inside, why open the door with your shirt?

Don't touch your face? How do you handle an eye itch? a cheek itch? chin itch? an eyebrow itch? Sweat? GTFO with the nonsense, John.

nonamesleft wrote:

Members of my wife's family wash their hands barely after going number 2. They'll go to Cedar point, use every handrail they have access to and then want to eat without cleaning their hands. Oh, and they are sick puking at least once a month, but I know those two things aren't related in the slightest.

@rayzor6 You have a point. Obviously it's smart to practice good hygiene. But I think it is possible to overdo it. For example, if you're going to wash your hands anyway after returning home from being outside, then why avoid touching the doorknob? If you were to tell me that you don't like to wash your hands, and therefore you try to avoid touching other things that many others come in contact with such as doorknobs, okay. But avoiding the doorknob + washing your hands after? That, imo, seems a bit excessive. But this is a very hazy area. Everyone is different.

rayzor6 wrote:

Are they washing their hands, or just running the water from the sink for a bit to make people think they are washing their hands?

If you started marking the level of soap in a liquid dispenser, how often would it actually go down after their bathroom activities?

lordly_llama wrote:

The point is, if you've been touching OTHER stuff (i.e. doors and such that other people just touched), then you wash your hands (or sanitize them) before you touch your face.

Like, even pre-Covid, this was always a good idea to avoid the flu and colds and such. Covid just made it a little more obvious that it was happening.

If you just keep your hands on your face and use your feet to open everything it works out the same

@nonamesleft: I fully agree. When my daughter was born in winter 2006: I was a crazy person with handwashing and hand sanitizer in the hopes that she would not get sick before her little lungs could handle it better. I avoided getting any little colds, but it was at a big cost because anything else would FLOOR me to bedrest. You need some germs to not get KO'ed.

@benstylus no soap measuring needed. The adults will wash, but the two kids run their hands over the water in such a short amount of time (and no soap bubbles in the sink) that I know what they are doing. Now if I go past the bathroom and I know they are in there, I wait with hand sanitizer and make them take a few doses. It's better than nothing.

A close 2nd to how gross it is to be touching my home with buttfunk hands is the eyeroll and acting like *I'm** am a freak because I want them to wash after taking a dump! They act like I'm asking them to scrub up like they are going to do surgery.

I agree, but do you use pocket hand sanitizer after every store you enter? The point is, if you've been touching OTHER stuff (i.e. doors and such that other people just touched). I doubt you cleanse your hands after you enter. Minus the restroom.

Foxhack wrote:

In the same boat. Really debating selling off the collection to help fund a new home ... but the amount of work and eBay/Facebook/etc. just a pain in the ass. Collector items, pictures, questions, big ol' hassle. Be curious to hear what you end up doing.

lordly_llama wrote:

I'm not sure if you are talking to me or someone else...but I do use hand sanitizer after leaving a public building and getting back to my car unless I didn't touch anything like a pin pad at the check out.

MrBean wrote:

I'm 50/50 on selling it all or just burning down the house with me inside it.

Foxhack wrote:

Haha! I've been there...

In the Netherlands, if you're handicapped you can have government-sponsored trips to the Red Light District up to 12 times a year because sex is a human right there.

I have been craving a hot dog lately real bad. Haven't had one in over a decade and usually only ever had them at Fenway Park anyhow. Not a huge pork guy but I'm gonna have to snag one soon.

theJaw wrote:
I think there are beef and chicken hot dog options too. Though, I don't know how you would tell the difference without tasting it first (unless you ask the store/stand).

I prefer both beef and chicken to pork dogs personally

Anyone ever had a tofu dog?

No and I’m pretty confident i never will lol

Porksta wrote:

I tried them maybe 15 years ago and they were absolutely awful. They added smoke flavoring which made the whole thing taste even worse. I don't like throwing out food, but I determined that they didn't qualify as food with how bad they were, so the rest of the pack went in the bin.

I know that the plant-based meat substitute industry has made some pretty significant upgrades in quality in the past few years, so it's possible they wouldn't be completely wretched now.

Porksta wrote:
I had part of one. It honestly wasn't bad. In fact, it was decent.

I really like tofu in stir fry.

Can't stand Tofu... But I have tried some various plant based Hamburger patties one being mushroom based. It looked like dog food though, until it was cooked. I believe they had hotdogs also.

The tofurkey I tried at one Thanksgiving wasn't terrible, but it was so overloaded with salt to make up for the lack of umami that it was likely way less healthy for you than a regular turkey. They actually extruded the tofu into strands and lightly smashed them together in a failed attempt to replicate the texture of meat. Kudos for trying though. I ate 1 slice then went back to the real deal.

We once had a bird build a nest inside our microwave vent.

One morning, we heard a bunch of noises coming from the cabinet above the microwave. I open the cabinet and see a baby bird jumping around. After it had hatched, it had fallen down from the vent area through a small space into the cabinet below.

I made a space for it to live outside, safe from the elements, hoping the mother bird would come and feed it. It did. I was pretty excited when the mother appeared. Sadly, the baby bird didn't make it past a couple of days. I don't know what happened. I went to check on it one morning and it was lying on its side. Even though it wasn't my bird, it hit hard. I so badly wanted the bird to make it. I buried it. I think I teared up at some point.

Caved, and agreed to grow our family, +1. 9 week old goldendoodle (F1). She’s the cutest thing ever. Good grief, I forgot just how much patience is required.

loztdogs wrote:

Haha, I was so against a golden doodle as well. We're 2 months in and Kirby (boy) is awesome. He's so much fun! Glad you're enjoying her!

Puppies are a handful for sure. Hope you have another pup to help her burn off the energy! We just got back from an 8 hour outing at a wine maize and brewery and watching him and and our 4 yr old lab going absolutely bat crap for a solid hour was so much fun.

@MrBean we have a 9 year old female pug. She is being super tolerant of the new puppy but she has always been super well behaved in almost all situations. Probably one of the best dogs I have ever owned. They say dogs get separation anxiety… I get separation anxiety from her lol.

I’m hopeful she can show the puppy the ropes once the puppy settles in a bit.

I was walking outside and saw a black squirrel (not native to NY) and two chickens. In a residential area. The squirrel was doing squirrely things, like scampering around, but the chickens were just hanging out on a gate.

I didn't know that black squirrels were rare in some areas. Here in Michigan, we see them all over the place -- daily. heh.

Get your BB guns out

Not my thought: a round pizza pie comes in a square box, so maybe a square pizza should come in a round box.

Subject line of a spam email I got: you have won an Milwaukee power drill.

nonamesleft wrote:

A few months ago I started getting multiple e-mails every day claiming to be from Wal-mart, Lowe's, or some other well known company saying I had won a prize. Sometimes I get the exact same e-mail two or three times in the same day. The e-mail does not address me by name and says I needed to take a survey to be entered to win a prize worth $90. I guess the law on fraud changes when the amount is over $100. The return address is always some very long string of letters that is probably from a random generator so blocking the address will be useless. I dutifully report them as spam, but few get send directly to my Junk folder. If I click "unsubscribe", I get a message saying the page it is taking me to is unsafe. I've been using the same e-mail address for at least 20 years and the amount of work to change it everywhere would be enormous. I have two addresses and actually tried to change my e-mail address for a restaurant Rewards program and it wouldn't let me.

I get those emails a lot, too. Gmail's crapty filters won't let me set it up to automatically delete them, so I have to go in and mark it as a phishing attack (which is what they are) and it took months but it's finally getting rid of them.

The unsubscribe option is fake, they use that to make sure someone is reading the emails and so they can bombard them with more crap.

Random thoughts? Alright...

My friends are getting divorced. I'm friends with both of them. It's weird. I'm trying to be there for both of them while remaining Switzerland about it all, but it's hard. They're both my friends, and they both do their best to make the other one unlikable. Well shut up friends, I'm not gonna take sides.

I started a job almost a year and a half ago, working at Costco. I'm in a call center. I got hired for their eCommerce support. I didn't know Costco had call centers. We didn't have one in Oklahoma until they bought the old Hertz call center building a couple years ago. Anyway, now I'm in a different department and it's amazing and I love it.

I need a gavel.

I started getting edibles about a year ago. The idea was that it was supposed to help with anxiety and depression, though I'm not sure how well it's been doing at that. I'm pretty non-plussed, but I feel pretty good. Thank goodness for the spelling corrections too. They also make me terrible at video games.

AEW has been crap for the better part of 2022. After the March one where Punk and MJF fought, it's been downhill. I have mixed feelings about WWE, but they're definitely telling better stories right now.

I have too much crap. Some of it needs to go. I also have too much debt. Selling off too much crap won't cover the too much debt. If I do that, I won't have enough money to put a good dent in the debt, and I'll be all out of cool crap.

I need some wall shelves and/or a bookcase or some sort of shelving apparatus to display all my Funkos. I don't really want to get a bookcase, since I don't know why. But I just don't. Kinda think I want the cube organizers, but I don't wanna spend the money. All I know is those Funkos need to get out of my closet.

I'm too fat. I need to do something about it. But I'm too lazy. Excuses, I know, but also facts.

BucketofJustice wrote:

At the end of the day you might have to, or you will lose both of them as friends. Depends on the reason for divorce, also sometimes how contentious it ends up being.

AEWs getting back on track, a bit of course correction happening.

I hope so. I hope all ends well sooner than later. I don't think it's going to be easy, or quick, but I can hope. They're both good people, just not to each other.

AEW needs to get it's crap together on camera. As much as everyone sucked for Brawl Out and ensuing drama... having the stories be bad or not followed up on or in some cases both... it hasn't been good. The wrestling has been, and always will be, good. Though, if they stop thinking it's Indiemovemania every Wednesday, there may be less injuries, which would let these guys wrestle better, for longer.

Every little bit of debt relief helps. I'm working on it myself for the first time in 11 years. I'm in sales so when the economy goes down: my pay goes down.

You didn't go fully into debt in a day, give yourself more than that to get out. I'm of the mind that it's fun to see how you can still get the things that are important to you, but cutting out things you don't really care about or took for granted. Like we went out to eat at least 3 times a week. Now it's a special treat when we do it. That sort of thing.

Does anyone have an Ea Play subscription? Is it me or are they just not really adding games to it? Except for Fifa like a few months before the new one comes out

I loved the sub at first bc i played through a bunch of the games on there (Unravel 2, Titanfall 2, Mass Effect trilogy, It Takes Two, A Way Out), but now it’s just kinda useless

I have it through Game Pass. It definitely isn't great.

I honestly don't know where I first heard about this...I am really thinking it was here. But this is really freaking me out because of just how real it looks. A website that generates pictures of people who don't exist:

https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

That's insane.

rayzor6 wrote:
Wow! That's seriously impressive. A bit scary. Almost feels somehow wrong in a way.

But how do we know they're not actual people? (present or past)

It's trained on millions of faces, so in a way it is. It's just randomized in a way that you actually getting a 100% facial match would be like winning the powerball six times while being struck by lightning twice.

You really wanna go loco, check out https://thiscatdoesnotexist.com/

Imagine you're flipping through that site and see a perfect picture of yourself...

DarkFact wrote:
Just checked it out. It generated a cat with such green eyes, woah.

image

Sometimes when I feel that the weather has gotten cold and not to my liking, I look up the weather in Fairbanks, Alaska. It's not necessarily always colder there, but sometimes the weather there is MUCH colder than other places.

image

UMMMMM, well let's see last week it was -27. It was an early cold snap. The coldest it will get here over the next 30, is -24 but that is at night.

About 30 years ago, my wife and I decided we would drive from southern Indiana to Mackinaw Michigan the first weekend in February to watch the Mackinaw Mush dog sled races. When we woke up that Saturday morning, the radio announced that it would 30°F below zero with a wind chill of 50°F below.

A couple of years later we decided to go again. The weather was in the mid 20°F range overnight and just about 32°F during the day. Some of the racers cancelled saying it was too hot to run the dogs. Others were concerned the snow on the track was melting during the day and freezing overnight creating patches of ice that would be dangerous to run on. They sent out crews to shovel snow over those areas.

Unfortunately, they stopped holding the races due to lack of interest and sponsorships.

I can't go further north than Cadillac without an awful good reason, too fudging cold and miserable

3-6 feet of snow expected in Buffalo this weekend.. Insane!

shadyfozzie wrote:

A long time ago (before I was born) my grandpa's job wanted to move him to Buffalo and he and my grandma decided against it for this reason.

DarkFact wrote:

Just as a point of interest... I grew up in Cadillac. 2nd grade through high school. Graduated from Cadillac High in 1991.

I was in first grade in 91! 25ish miles south right off 131 tho. K-12 and then some

I tell you what tho, I made special trips up there for Taco Bell, nobody else did their Chalupas right. Things I miss. I miss Olga's too (GR), though I see Goldbelly's got kits for sale, might buy a big pack after Christmas for the memories.

DarkFact wrote:

Fudge I’m old.

loztdogs wrote:

I imagine DarkFact repeated kindergarten 16 times because he kept mouthing off to the teacher.

Cue a Billy Madison remake

My left ear just closed up on my way home from work. Like an earplug slowly expanding. So far 4 hours of hearing like I have an ear plug in my left ear. This year sucks worse than the last two combined for me. I think I've only been healthy for a total of maybe a month.

benstylus wrote:

They kept passing me because I was such a crap, I like to think. I was placed in advanced classes and they sent me to college on the weekends to learn how to sign "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson and sing Happy Birthday in Spanish. Eventually I got tired of trying and asked if I could go learn with the dumb kids again because they had fun looking toys to learn with

I still remember the lyrics but I do not remember ASL at all. When they say kids are a sponge and absorb a lot at a young age, that doesn't mean they remember the practical stuff, they can just repeat and mimic a lot. The only thing I remember from that age is the Contra code

DarkFact wrote:

To be fair, that's about the only thing from that age that is still a useful life skill.

benstylus wrote:

And 867-5309

KCPenguins wrote:
I heard the following trick. Maybe it will help you. Maybe it depends on why your ear got clogged, idk. But here it is. Sit down, and lean forward until your shoulders/chest area are leaning on your knees and your head is below knee level and hanging down. Probably won't hurt to try.

Tried Arby's el diablo return. Still good, hot, not quite as flavored as I remembered. Best actually spicy chicken sandwich though. Didn't get a milkshake with just the sandwich... :(

recently I was googling the potential dangers of consuming food dyes, and came across this photo of a girl apparently consuming red. (which allegedly is associated with ADHD and aggression in children)
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/red-dye-40

and I thought, ok, I hope to god they didn't tell a child to consume junk food for the photo, maybe the child was eating it anyway and all they did was take a photo, or maybe the photo existed beforehand and they borrowed/licensed it. The morality on this seems kind of hazy but I something tells me it doesn't work. I'll be damned if it isn't an effective photo though. "Gasp. Look at that garbage that girl is being given! The shame! The parents should know better.."

egg wrote:

My son can't have red dye.. he accidentally had it once after not having it for months and he was saying how he felt like his body was on fire and he was bouncing off the walls.. the Dr. told us to give him Alka Seltzer to counteract it.

egg wrote:

Looks like the kid is just having an otter pop or other freezer pop that comes in a plastic sleeve, not just downing a tube of red dye

benstylus wrote:

well, obviously, but my point was the freezer pop has red dye in it. Not to mention it's obviously way too big a treat to give to a child that young. At the time of that photo she was most likely doped up from all the sugar.

A typical otter pop is 1 liquid ounce, with 3.5 grams of sugar in it.

A typical Hi-C juice box is 6 ounces, with 11 grams of sugar (plus additional sucralose so they can say there is less actual sugar)

A mini 7.5 ounce can of coke has 25 grams of sugar.

I'd say an otter pop is one of the least harmful sugary treats you can give a kid.

hmm, then I guess I overestimated how big it is

Is Tool the "Rush" of the 90s?

rayzor6 wrote:

"Slappin da' bass!"

Tool is one of my all time favorites. Saw em live 3x, hell of a show.

LOL...I just saw some young girl playing Tom Sawyer on drums and kicking arse...but it was the first time I really heard all the parts separate but in unison...and it just reminded me of how Tool kind of does the same thing/different genre.

I always joke that Billy Idol was the 80s Trent Reznor/NIN...heh heh.

Disclaimer: these are just my half joking opinion and not meant to throw anyone into a reason to rage (TM) (C)

A raccoon missing an eye would not leave my kid's outdoor playset. I shot it twice and it did not respond much, just stayed there looking at me. I pinned it with a stick and it finally got angry. When it squirmed out the back I put it out of its misery. Had to either be infected or rabid being so bolden in the middle of the afternoon. Ended up burying it so hopefully nothing gets to it. I hope the cats and chickens avoided it. Need to bleach the area now.

Pour one out for one-eyed raccoon. 🙏

I was once outdoors on an extremely cold winter day for several hours. I was so cold when I got back that I went to the boiler room with a hot drink (figured I'd warm myself up both internally and externally).

You really gotta bundle up well in freezing weather. Layers, thermals, a hat, scarf, etc.

theJaw wrote:


Definitely. Don't care for needless suffering.

nonamesleft wrote:

Yeah, I can't stand any temperatures under 60 degrees, I know how it is.

I had a random thought earlier. Don't recall at the moment what it was, so I hope it wasn't too hilarious or interesting. But this reminds me of a Mitch Hedburg joke.

Mitch said that if he's in bed and he thinks of a funny joke but doesn't want to get out of bed to write it down, he has to convince himself that the joke isn't funny.

Ah, Mitch. Wish he'd still be here and doing shows. His humor was great. One of the few comedians whose work I've bought.

Mitch Hedberg is my favorite comedian of all time, and I doubt that will change. He had a great way of being relatable without being predictable.

nonamesleft wrote:

You know you are good when I watch the same joke over and over and still laugh out loud. He was brilliant.

Probably my favorite two:

"I was walking down the street at 3am, and I passed a dry cleaner. The sign in the window said -"Sorry, We're Closed". You don't have to be sorry. It's 3am. And you're a dry cleaners. Its not like I was gonna come back at 10 and say "Hey man, I was here at 3 and you guys were closed... somebody owes me an apology!"

"I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughtnut... I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, 'Don't even act like I didn't get that doughnut, I've got the documentation right here... It's in my file at home. ...Under "D"."

rayzor6 wrote:


for doughnut."

The Subway duck joke is pretty good too...

The Pringles and escalator jokes always come to mind when I think of Mitch.

KCPenguins wrote:
I just mentioned the Pringles joke recently. Instead of tennis balls, a truck of potatoes arrived. Pringles said cut em up!

Mitch was great. A gem. Comic genius.

Pretty happy to see all grocery stores and Walmart closed all day today in my area. The death of the shopping craze on this holiday weekend is long overdue.

Turkey and taters were good. Saw both brothers at the same time since probably Christmas. Winding down with football. Pretty good day.

There is an annual ceremony in the U.S. where the president grants a pardon to a turkey.

KCPenguins wrote:

Why would that make you happy, you monster. Sometimes people need to buy stuff, what harm is it doing to you lol

My entire family is on the other side of the country, meanwhile I'm still stuck in this hell pit with no way to go see them.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

I'm told that fluoride toothpaste contains 1500 as much fluoride as water. So lately I've been using less and less toothpaste. Now I'm considering just not using toothpaste at all. By this point I'm convinced it doesn't do anything, I was more or less using it simply to mask the taste of brushing w/o toothpaste.

Wondering, though, if I should look into alternatives. Up till now I was sticking to the major brands. (Crest and Colgate) There are organic / "all natural" toothpaste brands, maybe I should look into those. I see toothpaste that advertises itself as fluoride-free. And, charcoal toothpaste? It's toothpaste that's literally black. Looks interesting..

I used the charcoal toothpaste for a few months and it definitely helped. Just be careful where u brush cause that stuff gets everywhere

I use prescription toothpaste with extra fluoride. Keep in mind you are not supposed to swallow toothpaste.

I'd bet that fluoride gets absorbed through the gums. And even if you spit it out and rinse your mouth, there will still be trace amounts left, so invariably I would swallow some of it. At 1500 times concentration, any small amount is still a lot, I'd imagine.

egg wrote:

Why?

Why are you concerned about fluoride? Fluoride toxicity toxicity is extremely rate in adults. It generally only affects children -- because they swallow normal toothpaste when they shouldn't. If you aren't swallowing your toothpaste, I'm not sure there is much cause for concern. Especially too the point of avoiding toothpaste.

Now, I've seen arguments that we should maybe stop fluoridating water. I can see valid arguments on both sides there.

But I haven't seen much in the idea of not wanting to use toothpaste in adults. So, I'm curious why you think you need to avoid it?

Hold on though. If you can see valid arguments for removing fluoride in water, then why wouldn't you apply the same for toothpaste? (which has way more of it?)

egg wrote:

Because of children. I don't think it should necessarily be removed, but I can see an argument, at least, that having it in water can cause some issues in children who drink a lot of it.

Again, I'm not saying it should be -- but I think there are at least some valid arguments for it.

What I said was that I don't see much in the way of valid arguments to not use toothpaste with it as an adult.

Isn’t a big difference also the fact you might drink a lot of water but you shouldn’t really be consuming (a lot of) toothpaste?

@egg, you're an adult - you can make a decision to try brushing without toothpaste, and then see how it affects your dental checkups.

If you don't trust your own judgment, talk to your dentist first.

y'know, I suppose I could just buy fluoride-free toothpaste, which there is apparently plenty of on the market.

egg wrote:

Just brush with baking soda. Problem solved.

egg wrote:

I guess I am still curious why you are worried about fluoride? Is there some data that indicates that this is an issue for most adults that I'm not seeing?

Most of the stuff I can find about being worried about fluoride looks to be conspiracy theory stuff -- not science. (Again, except in children in mostly 3rd world countries where they are adding it to the water, but in poorly controlled manners that are unregulated -- which is not the case pretty much everywhere else.)

Sid_Ceaser wrote:

There's also charcoal toothpaste! But uh, it might make you look like a serial killer

Someone just tried to hack my Microsoft account. Thank goodness for 2 step verification. I also changed my password.

Anyone else think I need to do anything more? Legit looking for advice on this.

BucketofJustice wrote:
As an extra precaution, maybe make your password very difficult to figure out, for instance a bunch of random numbers, symbols, and letters, and maybe even a comma or two.

BucketofJustice wrote:


Do you have any other sites where you use the same password? If so, go change them too.

Let me know your password (PM it if you prefer) and I will let you know if I think it is a solid PW. I work in IT and am good at these things.

Porksta wrote:


One of the downsides to writing as opposed to speaking is that sometimes it's tricky to tell what tone is being used. Your offer sounds genuine, and at the same time humorous.

Also, reputation helps a bit lol.

I don't think I'll be doing that Porksta. I will have a look at my passwords and probably change a bunch of them. I don't use the same one for everything, but my passwords are pretty formulaic. Thanks guys!

My best friend had his Walmart account hacked, someone tried to buy two grand worth of Roblox cash but he didn't have enough money to cover it so he's safe.

Then a day later he said someone in Brazil tried to access his Pronhub account.

Some database must've leaked recently.

For the animal experts here:

Does a giraffe know what a fart smells like?

I had a dream last night that I got a DS game from kommie. It was in good shape but it had one of those fat European style cases instead of the regular kind. He had put the US insert in the case so it didn't quite wrap all the way around.

Anyway, my advice is not to dream trade with kommie. Make sure to trade with someone who has a reputable dream trading record.

I'm tired of my back, hips and knees hurting for a several days for doing something that should not cause that at all.

Are $10 zipper hoodies a thing? A friend of mine said that he typically wears sweatshirts instead of shirts these days, and that if I ever find hoodies for $5, I should buy him a bunch. But $5 for a hooded sweatshirt is unrealistic, so I'm seeing if I can even find them for $10. So far, not many results. Found one, for around $7, but shipping made it not worth it.

rayzor6 wrote:

Getting old STINKS.

I'm tired of not having Decembacon

Why is it so hard to get out of bed some days?

It happens as you get older. Or fatter. Or both. I have experience in both of those things.

I do too Bucket...it's just weird because first you are pushing on the desk to stand up slightly, then more...now it's noticeable how much you need to push on something to stand up. I have Sleep Number bed and now I can't keep it right. It's too hard or too soft for my stupid back. And I know if I lost the weight, it would be the answer, but at soon to be 49: that is NOT the same task as it was at 32.

eBay took down one of my auctions because the front cover had a side view of a bare-butted lady. And they said it was a XXX movie.

Please, at most it's R.

Foxhack wrote:

eBay took down two of my auctions for generic/replacement HP ink cartridges. As I recall, they threatened to ban me for using HP in the title. Their message said I couldn't use the manufacturer's name unless I included phrasing like "substitute for" or "replacement for". Both had that type of wording in the title. No one looking at the auctions would have believed they were getting genuine HP products.

Tony wrote:

They took down one of my auctions a decade ago because I included the name "Blizzard" in the title.

It was an auction for Starcraft.

Yeesh. Anyway. I'm just gonna give the DVD to whoever wins that weird DVD with Julie Strain that has a lot of watchers...

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not quite sure how to efficiently use those broom/stick dustpans. How do you empty the dustpan when gravity causes it to fight against tilting it towards a garbage pail?

It's this type:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&lo...

It requires two hands. Hold the stick in one hand and the backside of the dustpan in the other.

benstylus wrote:
But my other hand is holding the broom. So you're saying that you're supposed to put the broom down?

Might as well just use a broom and dustpan. Seems more efficient, imo.

It's a dustpan on a stick. It makes sense you'd have to let go of the broom to empty it.

You angle it right and flip it it can be done 1 handed.

Can you spend to much on family during the holidays??? Cause if you can… I think I spent to much.

loztdogs wrote:

I bought my parents over the years alot of gifts and I found out as an adult that they never liked what I got...because they never told me. I never knew what to get them and so I would get decor for my mom and whatever my dad was into at the time. They never complained but I wish they would have said what they like because teenage and early 20 me didn't get it hahaha

rayzor6 wrote:

Commercialism in the US at Christmas has just about ruined gift giving for me. I (almost) always hate giving gifts and receiving gifts at Christmas. The episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon obsesses over what to get Penny sums it up well: what is an appropriate gift for the level of our friendship and how much do I spend? As a kid, getting cash was great, but as an adult getting or giving cash seems lazy and crass. Gift cards aren't much better, but at least a gift card says "I know enough about you to know what you spend your own money on". I can afford to buy anything I need and practically anything I just want. My wife does just that. Several times she has mentioned wanting something and usually buys it for herself before or sometimes after I've bought one to give her for Christmas. The best gifts I've gotten from my daughter were ones she made herself. She read aloud and recorded one of my favorite books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and made me an audiobook. She's living with her fiance now and it has been good to give them things they need and want but couldn't afford to get for themselves.

Just recently I read where a woman confessed that she made such a fuss over a colorful rooster figure one of her children had given her as a gift that now almost every gift she receives from anyone is rooster themed. She doesn't particularly like roosters, but she didn't want to offend the giver.

Tony wrote:

Yeah as soon as I hit 18 I opted to not be in the extended family (aunts uncles cousins etc) present exchange thing that they do. Honestly most of them did/do not know me well enough to get me something I would enjoy and that goes both ways which happens when you live several states away. Here and there I will get some gifts for friends as a surprise but not always around Christmas.

@rayzor6 - yes, parents are probably the hardest to shop for. Like yours, I’m sure my parents have received gifts from me that they probably didn’t like. I’ve purchased sweaters (as an example) for my mom, that weren’t cheap, and now that I think about it… I don’t think I’ve ever seen her where them. Lol

@Tony i agree 100 on the commercialism, I would add that it’s affected my Christmas spirit. It’s fleeting at times it feels, more so the last couple years. I move to NW Montana 6 mos ago and it’s a breath of fresh air. The Christmas spirit tank is almost at max capacity! 90% of our shopping was done at local mom & pop shops/boutique shops. Searching for unique hand made/home made keepsakes and other treasures you can’t find anywhere else. It helps that live in a more rural part of the state. That’s why I spent so much…. So many cool custom leather pieces, jewelry, hand painted art etc.

@Gypsy my wife’s extended family does a gift exchange similar to secret Santa. It cuts back on a lot of the nonsense and makes the gift giving experience a bit more personalized.

We do a secret santa and a large stocking.. Secret Santa is typical.. we have like a $50 budget.
Large stocking is more fun.. it's typically you buy 1 item per person, which are part fun and part useful. We write a little funny thing about each gift on them to see if they can guess what it was. For example, I gave my Brother in law a gift that said "I hope you never need to use this" and it was a roadside car kit.

Glad I'm not alone...thanks everyone. I definitely TELL my kids what I value and it is not store bought stuff...it just a little time spent with me. That's honestly the best gift I could want from them.

My local Rite Aid closed, as well as my local CVS. A shame. They were some of the best nearby places to go to for snacks...

Especially Rite Aid. They had a great assortment of interesting things.

I guess another sign I'm getting old is that it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here 7 years. Yes, I know some of you are thrice that, but it only feels like 2-3…

dunno001 wrote:

Happy 7 years!

A relative of mine is a teacher. There's a student who makes up jokes and writes them down.

This was today's joke:

"I can't take this long distance relationship anymore fridge. You're coming to my room."

I couldn't help but smile.

McDonald's Spicy Chicken sandwich comes with pickles and sauce. The Deluxe version comes with lettuce, tomatoes and sauce. No pickles. Not very Deluxe imo.

Random thought:
Why does Popsicle not either:
A) Label their ice pop bags to tell what flavor they are or
B) make the individual bags see through

I just opened 4 different Popsicle bags just to find a cherry one for my daughter..

Now I want a classic popsicle.

Why in gods name is netflix withholding episodes with no eta of release date on a completed series from 18 years ago. I'm literally baffled that they are treating naoki urasawa's monster like one piece which is still in production. Not only did you delay expected release date already by 5 months now we gotta put up with this nonsense and you expect people to want to stick around and watch the remaining 43 episodes in what another 5 months out. What a crock man this is literally one of the most ridiculous release decisions I've ever seen on a netflix exclusive.

My kingdom for someone to figure out how to make a proper Wordpress site template.

I can't figure this out at all.

"The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

This frightens the crap out of me as I see it everyday.

KCPenguins wrote:

It's easy to debunk that argument though. Just start chanting "USA! USA!" until the person gives up and goes away.

That's why I fight against it. Not the nature of whatever is being screamed about, but the whole idea of how easily one is influenced and how credibility is important.

While we are arguing about our cat's sexuality, China is reportingly making some broad moves that naturally aren't being covered extensively. In this information age, it's still hard to find information, but the rumor is that they are trying to create a monetary system backed my gold that they will use. Leaving our system...which is backed by debt to be nearly worthless. They are bringing Russia and the Middle Eastern countries into this and not US or Europe.

Any articles I search for have the very telling "this is the story...but they've been doing X since 'insert decade here' ". I am not claiming this is happening. I'm saying that all the diversions that have made us throw temper tantrums and distract us...they probably mean something and rehashing the same fights over and over as we get fatter and weaker as a country probably isn't smart. But our country seems to be ok with low intelligence as a whole.

Within the next few generations, it is inevitable that China or India (most likely China) will supplant the US as the "Leader of the Free World". There was a PowerPoint (now a video) that came out about 20 years ago (and it frequently updated) that is kind of a "did you know" of eye-opening facts. China will soon become the largest English speaking country. India has more honor students than the US has students.https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=did+you+know+...

It used to be that one competed with others from their state or their country for the best jobs, but now you are competing with students from all around the world.

An episode of Adam Ruins Everything explains how China is situated to be the world leader in manufacturing a lot of products because of its large, inexpensive workforce, government support of education and training, and location in regards to receiving raw materials and shipping products. https://econ.video/2020/09/21/adam-ruins-manufactu...

i wouldn’t worry about it

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:

hahaha...this made me lol...well done :D

I love Adam Ruins Everything. Kinda forgot about him until recently. Found him on TikTok and the dude is unfiltered, and awesome on there! Looks like his show was moved to HBO Max and he has a Netflix satire that I definitely want to watch (may do that tonight).

But yeah ... the good ol' USA is feeling less and less healthy in many ways as of late.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDrfE9I8_hs

I miss ice cream trucks. In south Texas it was an almost everyday thing.

When we lived in FL, there was an ice cream truck that would come around our neighborhood semi-regularly. Since we moved though, we haven't seen a single one. I'm glad my kids at least got to experience it when they were younger.

Scott wrote:
What tune did it play?

Most ice cream trucks that I've heard have a certain tune, but once in a while they change it.

nonamesleft wrote:

The one where I grew up was always Scott Joplin's The Entertainer.

We also had a bread truck that would come through the neighborhood and just honk "beeeep be-beep beep!"

That was the last place I remember being able to buy candy cigarettes (at least until I moved to Kentucky)

benstylus wrote:

Yeah, this is the one. Same as the ice cream trucks I remember from when I was a kid.

@Scott @benstylus

The tune I hear the most from ice cream trucks is the tune that's playing at the beginning of this video:
https://youtu.be/5w09zIROwIE

MrBean wrote:

I guess the format of the show and his acting are necessary for presenting the information in an entertaining way, but I do like that he is educating people. One of the cable channels started running a few episodes of Adam and Mythbusters again recently. I like that both were educational and Mythbusters even tried to teach people how to think critically, but both often took too long to present the information.

In KC some ice cream trucks also sold weed.

KCPenguins wrote:


I think thats across the country.

So is it me, or is Witcher 3 combat ... kinda ... boring and lame? I'm only at the start, but I'm already feeling like it's gonna be rough and instead want to pivot before I get too invested (although the story seems like it could be good).

I always thought the combat in Witcher 3 was bad, but it’s worth it for the story/lore. The world-building and character development are great in that game.

MrBean wrote:

MrBean wrote:

I’ve started and stopped W3 at least 3 times. The last run I think I put about 12hrs into it and bailed for something else. It just eventually feels stagnant and I start game wandering until I find something else.

I also have never been able to get far into Witcher 3 despite owning in on multiple systems.

that's because it's not very good. but don't tell anyone

I really need a new house ... for many reasons, but most of all, because I am out of room for video game crap!

Just got these two guys, super cool and surprsingly heavy/well detailed! Cleared out room on the shelf below, Red XIII should be here next week!

image

image

MrBean wrote:
I like that black mage. Classic with the hat.

Who's near Cactuar? Tonberry?

nonamesleft wrote:

That's Vivi from FFIX, one of my all time favorites! Sadly, his staff broke ... wompers.


Yup, just got 'em today, super cool. The Tonberry is insanely heavy for how small it is.

MrBean wrote:


I forced my way 30+ hours into Witcher 3 if I remember correctly. It's a massive game, but not my cup of tea. Some stories/missions were interesting, most were not. I think I would've like it more the Geralt were more interesting, but it's tough to put that many hours in a game where you have to tolerate your character. Felt the same way about Arthur Morgan in RDR2 which really made me sad as I wanted this to be a top 3 all time game. Not my only major gripe, but in the top 3 for that game.

Appreciate the feedback on Witcher 3 ... maybe it is the right move to bail now before I'm too invested. FFXII it is!

Can’t go wrong with FF12, playing that now, but Witcher 3 was amazing IMO. Took me a bit to get the hang of combat but once I did I enjoyed it. I can see the lack of Geralt interest I guess but it’s really everyone and everything else that makes it interesting

I know i asked this before, probably here, but what the hell is up with EA Play on playstation, they havent added a game in months, it’s the only subscription I’m considering cancelling, really only use it for Fifa

MrBean wrote:
Interesting you should say that about Tonberry, because I recall in one of the FF games I played that although they're small they really packed a punch.

nonamesleft wrote:


Oh yeah, they can one shot ya!

Always debated a dash cam. Ring finally releasing theirs and it seems promising. Discount for prebuy + discount if existing subscriber.

Think I'm gonna give it a shot. Biggest beef is that each cam needs a plan if you do LTE. I have ten cameras on my annual (grandfathered) plan now and it's amazing ($100 a year, unlimited cams). Not yet sure about this idea and LTE.

https://ring.com/products/car-cam

Beanman....what are those armored busts from? D'ey tight!

rayzor6 wrote:

FFXII Zodiac Age Collectors Edition

After I get my next big item, I think I may finally do a walkthrough of my tiny ass office via video. Long overdue for an update.

Holy crap... This box is massive!

image

MrBean wrote:

I’ve encountered bigger ahh cha chaa

theJaw wrote:

Haha, I lol'd

All that comes to mind is Deuce Bigalow, Male Jigalow... "That's a huge dog!" "Behemoth!"

image

Just because you turned on your hazard lights doesn't make it okay to park your car in the middle of the street and block an entire lane of traffic in order so that you can go to the nearby store.

Folks need to stop sugar coating bullcrap.

nonamesleft wrote:

This annoys me to no end. There is a shopping plaza I go to where people do this. The main problem is there are only two lanes of traffic. Of course, not five feet away are 10-min parking spots...

I don't like when people use the phrase "for a number of years." What's that supposed to mean? That number could be as low as 2 or a super high number. It's just ridiculous.

My favorite is "not gonna lie" as someone rolls into a statement... Why would you tell us you're not gonna lie, do you normally lie that you need to forewarn us of your upcoming innocence?

Not gonna lie, I've been using my hazard lights instead of finding a parking spot for a number of years.

MrBean wrote:

That's a good one too. Saying "honestly" is the same thing. I am to assume that you aren't typically honest?

citizen_zane wrote:

That reminds me of a Steven Wright joke: "Everything is 'walking distance' if you have the time..."

A lot of statements are like memes, someone started them and they can easily be misinterpreted unless you know their origin.

"I'm not going to lie" should be used to warn the listener that what you're about to say is an unpopular opinion. It is kind of like "unpopular opinion puffin" or the Joker meme "and I'm tired of pretending that I don't (think that is funny)".

"For a number of years" is meant to indicate "more than a few, but I don't have a reasonable estimate (or a 'ballpark' figure)".

A number of old phrases have lost their original meaning because people have heard them but don't know their origins. Like misheard song lyrics, some have even morphed into their "joke" versions as people hearing them for the first time don't know the true statement.

"I couldn't care less" is often heard and repeated as "I could care less".

"The whole kit and caboodle" is often heard and repeated as "the whole kitten caboodle".

Over 30 years ago (before everyone had their own printer and letters came from a typewriter) a temporary office worker would bring me documents and ask for my "John Henry". After a few times, I asked her if she was joking or whether she knew the correct term for signature was "John Hancock" (reference to his large signature on the Declaration of Independence) and that "John Henry" was a steel driving man. She wasn't joking. She didn't know the references and thought she was saying it correctly.

citizen_zane wrote:

Yep, I was going to mention "honestly" being the same. What makes it worse is the kinds of statements that usually follow these two. It's typically some kind of mundane opinion, or commonly shared belief. I could understand if people were saying "not gonna lie" or "honestly" before sharing an unpopular opinion, but it's usually "ngl I loved Nickelodeon when I was a kid" or something like that.

I'm used to "honestly" being used as a statement of disbelief. For example:

That jerk just swerved in front of me, and then he flipped me off like it was my fault! Who does that? Honestly!

Who throws a shoe? Honestly!

I also hate the word Impactful. It is a made up corporate buzzword that has taken over everything and as a result, no longer has any meaning.

Porksta wrote:

Ha! I completely forgot about that line.

I have to admit that once in a while I do the "If we're being honest..." thing.

It usually happens in a situation where everyone "lies" anyhow.

Like, someone will go "Here's that new logo design -- what does everyone think?" and most of the room goes "Yeah, looks good to me."

In those situations, I find myself going "If we're being honest here, I don't really love the weird shade of red in there." Like, to "soften the blow" or even to politely say "Yeah, everyone else is being Yes Men here and not telling the truth, so here goes..."

Does anyone else actually enjoy shoveling snow like I do? I don't know why but I love it.

I've never lived somewhere that gets a ton of snow so I've never actually shoveled it, but I'm pretty sure I would enjoy it. I enjoy raking leaves, shoveling dirt, sweeping, all that kind of stuff.

I find myself using "literally" and "at the end of the day" in regular conversations, far too often. After I say them, I'm like ... you big dumb animal.

"I have the best words"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQzDTpdT_Do

I don't mind these regular conversational ticks, but I hate business speak. Especially when there is a new word that everyone seems to be using that is just a nomenclature change from something.

Like I'm in sales. But you can't say you are in sales...your card has to say:

Area Manager
Territory Manager
Director of (insert dumb geography limitation) Sales (OH! THERE IT'S OK!!?!?!)

But the one that drove me crazy that lasted for awhile was there was no longer a meeting with people. You were sitting down to have a "conversation". The tone that went with it was the icing on the stupidity cake. They acted like they created an alternative form of water and had saved the planet with this notion of not having a sales call or a meeting, but a 'conversation'. They would point out the dichotomy of the two like they were so drastically different. The real difference was that you weren't this sales idiot that was wasting everyone's time JUST because some agreed to meet with you about a product that they didn't want/need. NOW that you have some interest...you are having a 'conversation'.

I get faced with this crap all day every day. I work with some really great people, but I wish this mindset in business would die in a fire.

MrBean wrote:

Those two drive me and my wife nuts! You hear "at the end of the day" on television all the time lately for some reason. Don't get me started the worst one of all: "it is what it is"

I sometimes hear "we'll agree to disagree." Not a fan. You're having a conversation and can't see eye to eye, so you end the conversation by saying we'll agree to disagree? Ugh. Just say we don't agree.

nonamesleft wrote:

That's a good one as well. I've never uttered that phrase.

Another thing that comes to mind is when someone is trying to explain why they think of something a certain way. Every once in a while, I'll hear people say something along the lines of "my logic is..." Excuse me? Your logic? Something is either logical or it is not.

nonamesleft wrote:

image

Still my go-to for butter needs

citizen_zane wrote:

Logic works based on the assumptions people have made.

If someone prefers video game music to classic rock, but likes both, then logic would dictate that they like Super Mario Bros. music better than the Beatles. However, they might like the music in Bomb Jack (or another game that uses classic rock tunes) more than Mario and the Beatles.

"By my logic" is an abbreviation for "Based on my personal preferences, experiences, or knowledge, the logical response is X."

rayzor6 wrote:

Sales people, enough said. They aren't the sharpest bunch, but they're an evil neccessity to make the world go round.

Random thought: 24 years plaque today. Crazy!

ChrisKW1 wrote:

Congrats!

Thanks! Hard to believe I've been on here more than half my life lol

24 years is a real long time. Congrats!

Anyway, I'm staying home from work today. I'm sick as a dog after eating Qdoba last night. Well, like 1/3 of it. Never had this problem before with them, but I sure won't ever have it again. Back to sleep, if I can.

Still better than Chipotle.

Just a reminder that food poisoning is weird -- and often takes a while to kick in. In other words, I've found that it likely isn't safe to blame what you last ate if you get sick after. It easily could have been anything else within the past 24 hours or so.

Also, this could be because I love me some Qdoba.

Well I'm not about to blame my own cooking John haha.

I like Qdoba too, but it tasted... off, somehow. I got like 1/3 through it and I couldn't eat anymore.

BucketofJustice wrote:



Hope you feel better man

Thanks man. It'll pass soon, I hope.

BucketofJustice wrote:




Yeah, I got ya. Probably was that then. Good luck!

BucketofJustice wrote:

Qdoba... that's your problem. I haven't been there in at least 10-11 years. Food was awful. Rice was salty, chicken tasted funky... I have no desire to ever go back.

Chipotle on the other hand... I am currently eating

Frank wrote:


I think it really depends on your local franchise, I've always had decent food at the one near me, but I've heard horror stories like this from a few people before.

Chipotle is alright, but what I go for nine times out of ten is Moe's. Not as many locations but I feel they win in quality. Definitely give it a try if you've never been.

Yeah, it really depends on the franchise. Here, the Qdoba workers are generally very nice and do a great job on the line. The Chipotle across the street has employees that seem to hate their job, will dump a scoop of whatever you asked for in one spot, and then you end up with a "burrito" that is actually a section of rice, section of salsa, section of quac, and so on.

Clearly, it isn't company-wide for either of them. It comes down to the franchise.

Would anybody be interested in some sort of book club? I’m going to be reading at least one book each month. We can either read the same and discuss, or read different ones and share our thoughts on them. I’ve already started reading How High We Go In The Dark. The synopsis promises a wild story, but I’m only 16 pages in so far so it hasn’t fully kicked in yet.

If no one’s interested, no worries. Just figured it could be a fun time.

I would as I like the concept but im such a crapty undisciplined reader (except on like flights and pool/beachside during summer lol) that I’d inevitably flake

Yah, I can be the same way for sure so I feel ya. That’s partly why I’m making it a point to read a book a month, that and just wanting to discover stories I otherwise would never experience.

You got a list already planned out or winging it

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:

Half and half I suppose. I have some ideas… like I want to read The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury in October, but otherwise I’m trying to read newer releases that involve subject matter I’m interested in. How High We Go In The Dark was only just released in 2022 and definitely seems inspired by the pandemic, but also feels like it’s going to incorporate some sci-fi elements (if it hasn’t already). Just looking for interesting stuff like that.

I've been trying to give away mom's old clothes (and other old clothes and such I have in storage) on Facebook, saying that I want to give these for charity (so no resellers.) So far I've gotten two hits. One of them feels like a reseller account of some sort (very little information about them, no group info, just photos of their family) and the other feels very churchy (plastered with religious quotes, etc.)

Currently leaning towards giving them to the second person, but I'm gonna hold off for one more day to see if anyone else asks about them.

(I just don't want people to profit from the free clothes. Unless they're being sold for charity, that's fine. But there are a lot of flippers in town.)

theJaw wrote:

That’s cool, I read only two Bradbury books but I really liked them (Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451). Almost everything I read is old though, I’m too unaware of modern authors and books generally, I tend to go for “classics” as a safe, unlikely-to-regret choice

First time I've been unsubbed from GameTZ in over 10 years. I don't like this at all. As soon as I can swing the $20 I'll need to resubscribe ASAP.

Frank wrote:

Whoever unanimously sent me some subtime, you are awesome and very much appreciated

I wish salt had some color to it. I want it to be easier to tell how much salt is coming out of my shaker when I'm salting my eggs in the morning.

I just found out Pepsi killed Sierra Mist and launched a new lemon-lime soda with one of the worst possible names... Starry. Sierra Mist was a solid brand name, arguably better than the mainstay Sprite. Starry is the stripper brand of lemon-lime soda. Oh well, only guarantees Sprite's continued dominance.

Hamilton the play, lived up to the hype ... it was quite fantastic.

MrBean wrote:

The lady and I have watched it a million times, including last night haha

We have tickets to the touring show in February. Oughta be fun stuff.

theJaw wrote:

I plan on watching it on TV now after seeing the play, with subtitles! I suck at hearing words through song, always have. I know I missed a fair amount of the dialogue but the story was very easy to follow.

KCPenguins wrote:

I'll have to give that a try.

Curious

Wondering if listing what I have preordered as available is okay. I usually trade my games into a certain store that will remain unnamed but would prefer trading it. For example, I have Dead Space PS5 preordered but know I will beat and trade that in fairly quickly. Alongside Resident Evil 4 and Kirby.

Also thinking if I should I toss out junk in my house to clear space or try to sell it or keep it. Doesn't really hurt to keep it but all it does it take up space.

List whatever you want but I would recommend not pending a trade until it is in hand.

Foxhack wrote:
Maybe try to find out if your local town/city has clothing organizations that you can donate clothes to. We've done that a couple of times here. Perfectly good clothing that people can use.

nonamesleft wrote:

I got a message from another very obvious reseller last night, heh. I'm probably going with the churchy lady. There are no organizations like the one you suggest down here, most of this stuff is handled by churches. The one big organization I know of mostly deals with deported people and the lead guy is a corrupt SOB so I'd prefer to not mess with him.

The LAPD needs to get its fudging crap together.

Let's see how this story unfolds as it's not looking good for the gentleman that unfortunately passed away.

-alleged to have caused the accident
-tried to flee at least twice
-not complying with officer multiple times even with the officer being flexible on where he sat down.
-testing positive for cocaine

A loss of life is always tragic, but law and order is important for everyone's safety and this, at first blush, looks like it could have been avoided.

Caused the accident, maybe. That doesn?t usually result in loss of life, especially considering HE flagged down the cops for help in the first place and got on his knees pleading ?I didn?t mean to?. He then attempted to flee to a more populated area after being detained for 7 minutes that the police body cam footage coincidentally stopped recording for, yelling that he wanted people to see him.He was an English teacher with a reputation of being a good, helpful dude. There was absolutely no reason to tase him for over a minute and a half straight, especially right after a car accident where one is prone to shock.

I?d say ?at first blush?, this comes off as a murder. Law and order IS important, but it seems it?s the LAPD (who have already killed 2 other people in 2023 alone) who need to start realizing that.

BUT I suppose this isn?t the place for this sort of discourse. I was just salty about it last night and won?t be dragging it out here, my bad.

I understand and your POV is exactly why I'd like to see everything. In these instances, I find that knee jerk reactions are often not good. I watched two different things of coverage on it and both were different (and neither mentioned that HE flagged down police which I think is an important part of the story).

I'm interested in the truth and not pushing agendas. Honestly, I feel that GTZ is the most likely place that would happen over other places that are just echo chambers.

Yah, I went down a rabbit hole last night looking into the whole situation and can't say this looked justified whatsoever.

On a lighter note: why the heck do my apostrophes suddenly turn to question marks when I post on the GTZ from my phone?

My phone's keyboard is often changing were to we're

If I wanted to write we're, I would write that.

And of course when I write something that's not what I want to write, the keyboard lets it go through.

My phone is doing that too. It also seems to like to change is to I'd. Protip - if the word I type is correct English, do not adjust it!

theJaw wrote:

I was about to ask the same, thought it was something weird on my end

Maybe it's just me, but I get extremely nostalgic when I think about the past, and it hurts. It hurts even if it's a good thing I'm thinking about, for example like going to Toys R Us as a kid. Or going to an amusement park. Or the blanket in my grandparent's house that was so staticky that it made green sparks (it really did that). There was nothing fun about that blanket, but thinking about it hurts. I don't know why. Maybe that's what nostalgia is.

Most of what I remember from TRU was walking thru a toy store where only 30% of it interested me, and I dreamed of doing the TRU toy run and hammering the video game and Lego aisle. Going through them before they closed as an adult I saw overpriced toys and periodic phenomenal sales. With my kids I saw them experience my childhood experience.

I remember going through KB Toys much more fondly. Probably has to do with being stuck in a mall going through Sears, JC Penny's, Kohls, and eating Sabarro before getting to go through a toy store for 15 minutes. Trying on clothes or shoes for what seemed like an eternity back then... getting a little time in a toy store was amazing even if I didn't get anything.

I'm extremely nostalgic. It does really hurt but I'm glad I was there to experience it and look forward to making more good times

theJaw wrote:

Just FYI for everyone, this is a current issue that Bill is looking into. There is a thread in Site_Feedback about it.

rayzor6 wrote:
Yeah, for sure.

Just had a zoom call with a relative who lives far away. The lack of eye contact in zoom is tiring. Imagine having a 25 minute conversation with someone but neither of you are making eye contact.

The issue is that if you look at the camera, then the image of the person is in your peripheral vision, but on the other hand if you look at the person, then to them you're looking away from their eyes. I have to play around with the image and see if it's possible to move the image to below the camera. (This is on the mobile app)

This was actually a bit mentally exhausting.

Tried Starry for the first time. Flavor was ok, but why not just change Sierra Mist? Starry is a terrible brand name, a generic food store knock off. They ain't catching Sprite, but Sierra Mist is a great brand name. Starry screams trailer park.

@nonamesleft Yeah I hate Zoom calls, and that's one of the biggest reasons why. I've gotten to where I just leave my camera off for them most of the time.

It’d be cool if the camera was kinda built into the middle of the screen (and invisible of course)

My tonsils are swol as fudge... so much pain.

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:
Had a similar thought today.

nonamesleft wrote:

Well, then you might enjoy this...

image

It's Nvidia Eye Contact live adjustment. Just announced a few days ago (and I don't think released yet), but it basically fixes this problem. It fakes your eye position in a live feed. Pretty crazy.

John wrote:
Live streaming eye placement adjustment? Wow. Cool.

John wrote:

That's pretty awesome technology.

There's another video where the guy really looks around quite a bit -- and it still is almost always appears to be looking at the camera. So, it would be nice not just for when you're looking at the screen to see the other person -- but also when, like me, you might be in a Zoom meeting, but working on other things on multiple monitors -- but want to look like you're still paying attention...

It seems difficult to get trades given how I do things and was wondering if anyone had logical tips. I get a ton of PSN, Eshop credit each month and can usually sell them here or elsewhere. I don't buy many older games as I buy and keep what I love. Example, Sonic 3 and Knuckles on Genesis or Kirby Dream Land 3 SNES. I preordered a ton of new games each year but I buy a lot of it digitally. To me it seems easier just buying the games I want and trying to sell them then trade them with other people hoping I can find a match.

ued222 wrote:
You could try offering to buy someone a digital game of their choice in exchange for a trade.

This isn't so relevant at the moment for me, with my gaming backlog full, but it's very possible I would have been willing to trade you a game in exchange for you getting me Golf Story from the eShop. (Wanted to play that one for awhile - still do. But backlog)

There could be others who would do something similar.

John wrote:

I downloaded it and gave it a try myself. It actually works really really well! I'm not a streamer, but if I can figure out a way to run an external camera through this software, it would make some video recordings a lot easier!

Anyways

https://youtu.be/X5UMd4sFJwM

Frank wrote:

Cool. I didn't even know it was available yet for actual end-user use. Nifty.

@Feeb - finished Ys 8 over the weekend. Have the post game stuff to do, but not sure If I'm gonna bother. I got like 80% of the trophies. I need the accessories one (just have to buy them) + the exploration per character. Didn't realize this was needed and it takes like ~5 hours playing per character, so yeah, that's not gonna happen now that I'm done.

Also, this showed up today, way smaller than expected, but quite awesome!

Thank you so much for introducing me to this, really enjoyed it, looking forward to IX.

image

For size comparison:

image

John wrote:

Yep, just searched the beta and found the link directly off Nvidia's website.

I actually was on Discord with a buddy of mine, and I told him about it. We both enabled it and were trying to break it. It was a lot of fun. I managed to grab my eye with my hand, which made my friend cry in hysteria.

That said, we were trying to break it. If you use it as intended it works really well. Sometimes it will "disconnect" after a blink, which results in a very creepy eye-roll effect that I sorta wanna intentionally use.

MrBean wrote:

If you ever, and I mean EVER sell that Portal turret... you talk to me!

Frank wrote:

haha, for sure! I actually got it here. I highly doubt I'll part ways with much of anything at this point. If I ever sell ... it'll be everything (which would be a nightmare!). Actually debated it recently as we look at new homes.

Love that the Grisleys are both in jail for tax evasion, but yet USA is still broadcasting new episodes of their terrible show...

Hmmm... This is where I have to decide if I should make this political at all by mentioning that almost half the country voted for a guy who knowingly pays almost no taxes... Lots of Americans love to hear about rich people who screw over everyone else. They all think they are "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" who would do the same if they had the chance.

No, I guess I won't mention it.

shadyfozzie wrote:

My wife watched this show a good number of years ago and I'd love a montage where he keeps telling his kids and the camera about how you need to learn the value of 'hard work' and all that crap. LOL!

Money is fantastic but the large majority of people who think they want it above all else can't afford the 'cost' to getting it and/or the 'cost' to keep it. I got a smaller glimmer of this when I was making really good money a number of years ago. I watched as my own personality started to change and I didn't like that person at all.

A brand new car and a long time owned but reliable car really feel the same after about a year.

When fine meals are the norm and not on special occasions: they become 'expected' and really lose their luster.

(Cue Joan Baez)

Ah, Mercari.

I wish I could sell stuff there, but at the same time, I am glad I can't buy anything there either. Some of the stuff I've seen there is extremely tempting...

Anyone know why Atomic Heart is $10 more than any other PS4/5 game?

shadyfozzie wrote:

$69.99 is unfortunately the new standard. There have already been quite a few $70 MSRP releases this generation. First-party Sony specifically**

So I'm playing the indie game Death's Door. I looked up a walkthrough to see where all those shards are I've been missing, and now Google apparently thinks I'm suicidal. (After searching for "Death's Door walkthough.") I see a message saying "You're not alone" and "If you're experiencing difficult thoughts call" followed by a couple of numbers. (911 being one of them.) I'm just looking for help with this game I'm playing! Lol

BloodPuppetX wrote:
I've had similar in the past where I Google a question or whatever and next thing you know there are suicide prevention hotline numbers. A.I. doesn't pick up on certain things. It picks up on certain words or word combinations and narrows in on them.

Hahaha!

I got trained on bartending and started picking up some shifts for it last week and it's crazy how Ive been working my ass off in management and get paid more to stand around and bullcrap with people and leave at the scheduled time, if the kitchen is a crapshow and people called out it's not my problem. Doesn't seem like they'll actually schedule me for any bar shifts tho I'm too useful being the closing manager, everyone else who's willing to do it is getting promoted when they open a new store this year because they've been there longer than me

I bought some nice Canadian-made tuques online, but apparently my head is larger than average only one of the three styles fit properly. (Of the other two, one was a little tight and the other was fleece so it didn't stretch, and it didn't fit at all).

They fit my wife perfectly though so she is happy.

Now I learned i have to ask when they don't have specific head measurements.

At Badfish (Sublime cover band) and Quasi King's stole the show. Never knew of them prior to tonight and man, they're badass. White boy raggae!

The lady and I are seeing the touring version of Hamilton in Boston at the Opera House tonight. Heading up in about an hour. Oughta be neat!

It’s so good. We saw it in Austin. One of the best shows I’ve seen (and I’ve been to a bunch over the years). Enjoy!

theJaw wrote:

Definitely lived up to the hype!

Damn, wish I had known it was gonna be in Boston. I never pay attention to anything in Boston lol

Yah you folks were right, it was a great show. Very cool to see the little changes the touring cast throw in after seeing the Disney+ version so many times. Real fun stuff.

@ChrisKW1 it’s at the Opera House through March I believe. Tickets are probably a bit expensive at this point (if there are any left) but couldn’t hurt to give it a look.

16 years on this site woo

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