This already exists!!! I typically can find them at gas stations and airports.

My friends and I started an “Indie Game Club” which is similar to a book club but for indie video games. It’s really helped to branch out and try new things that I wouldn’t usually try. And of course, if you finish the game fast enough, you can get back to the one game you have 10000+ hours in. But I’d say probably 1/3 of the games we’ve played I liked so much that I didn’t want to stop playing and go back to my usual and used the whole time to just keep playing. It’s been an excellent experience!

I’m watching The Chair Company which is Tim Robinson’s latest show. I can’t recommend it to everyone, but if you’re into his style of comedy, you’ll love this show. It’s framed as a serious mystery drama, but there’s so many rediculous jokes sprinkled in I can’t help but laugh in spite the serious tone.

I love Redlettermedia and that was a great series!

During COVID lockdowns, my husband and I started coming up with movie anthologies or themes we could watch so we would A) always know what to watch next and B) further educate ourselves in film. My favorite anthology to date has been John Carpenter. I had never seen a John Carpenter movie before and we went through all of them and it was a blast. But out of all of his films, The Thing was by far the most impactful. My husband and I both grew up on the Internet and are highly desensitized to gross and scary things. But we were both on the edge of our seats while also appreciating the masterful prosthetics and puppetry that went into that movie. I always have to warn people, that I can’t recommend it enough but it’s not for the faint of heart. Definitely one of the Great horror films ever made.

As someone who works in healthcare, I couldn’t agree more. I’ll be very happy to give up my job if it means we can all have healthcare.

While this is all theoretical, I agree with you. I think there are so many jobs that either currently don’t need to exist or jobs that could be replaced with robots or AI in the near future that it frees up people to focus on culture and innovation. Instead of focusing on maximum output, we can create only what is needed and let people relax more and enjoy life. Imagine instead of 1 person working 40 hours a week, you have 4 people working 10 hours a week. Everyone can contribute and also have plenty of time for themselves. This of course is only possible with guaranteed food and shelter for all. But one can dream.

My strongest genderfluid would kill you, traveler. You can’t handle my strongest genderfluid!

I genuinely think that some people hit a certain age and then simply lose the will to explore new things. The amount of absolute garbage reboots and sequels that my parents watch just because they liked the original thing is far too many. But it’s certainly not just them. I know people younger than me that will just always listen to new albums of artists they used to enjoy even if it’s hot garbage and talk about it like it’s pretty good. I’m certainly not an authority on what people can enjoy, but I can absolutely be disappointed in people that reach this point where familiar=good.

I wanted to watch 28 days later only to find out it isn’t available anywhere because of some legal dispute with the band that made the music for the movie. Luckily there’s a local video store still open that just has everything so we lucked out. But when we wanted to watch the Weird Al movie, we found out it’s only on Roku. Ok weird, but my parents have one so we’ll watch it with them. Except if you e ever watched anything on Roku’s service you know that it has ads and no option for no ads. Like I don’t even have the option to give them my money. What dumb fucks. I’d rather pirate the thing.

Welp I guess you’ll starve

Some libraries do have tools! It’s the best!

One summer break, I came home from college and needed a job. Previously, I had worked a very cushy job at a video store, but we all know what happened to those. My dad had been working odd jobs at the local race track and said they could use my help. I figured why not, it would certainly be different than the other food service jobs I had in the past. Well let me tell you, it ended up being the absolute worst version of food service I would ever experience. For starters, the company in charge of managing the food stands didn’t train me properly before the first race of the season. They would just sort of put me on various tasks that had nothing to do with what would be required on race day like cleaning the booths and inventorying product. So when the first race came, I tried my best but I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know there was a special procedure for keeping track of ice bags. I didn’t know who to go to to get into the coolers to stock drinks when we ran out. Etc etc etc. They weren’t happy, but it was the first race, so this time they had me shadow someone for a few small races before the next big one. Well it turns out that the rules are different for small races vs big races. And also there were 3 different tracks to learn where everything is. So shadowing for small races means I was only learning the layout and rules for all races. While all of this was happening, it was summer and things were getting hotter and hotter every day. And of course, big races mean longer hours to boot! So by the time the first big race came around, I still wasn’t properly trained, they were getting 130F readings on the racetrack, and I had to work a 13 hour shift. Oh and this was a 3 day event, so all of that back-to-back. I did the first day, I somehow made it out alive and didn’t make any major mistakes. I got home, I passed out, I woke up again the next morning to do it again. I got all the way through security and into the stands to start my shift… And then I passed out. Turns out I had heat exhaustion. After that weekend, they gave me my next shift. I was supposed to start next day, but also, I needed a doctor’s note to return to work. They knew damn well I couldn’t get one that quick. So I said fuck it and just didn’t get one and didn’t show up. I decided I wasn’t going to work that hard for hardly any pay and make myself sick to boot. Only time I’ve ever been fired, but I suppose it was a mutual firing.

I think Red Letter Media summed it up best. Each movie has a great concept and looks fantastic for the time, but the overall story is not very compelling to larger audiences and therefore needs to build up a cult following post theatre release before they can justify making a new film. Sounds about right to me.

Honestly, I think if companies were forced to deal with the electronic waste they create, they wouldn’t be so chill about bricking devices like this. I really wish there was a law that dictated any electronics you output, you are required to take back. Then maybe we wouldn’t have as many situations like this today.

As someone who deals with data visualization for a living, I mostly agree. But also, it’s fine to do this as long as you have some sort of visual indicator to show that the data continues down to 0 as opposed to leaving it like it is in the chart above. If you need to be able to show the details in the data that is present higher up, removing the extra numbers where data isn’t present is a good way to do so. But again, you need some kind of indication that you have done so or you’re just being deceiving.

Once upon a time there was a website called “meat spin dot com”…

Ah yes, I love when my meat to vegetable ratio is 50 to 1 😆

Hey, don’t lump the rest of the Midwest in with whatever Indiana is doing. Each state has their own proud abominations, thank you.

Mixology and movies are probably the top 2 for me. But unfortunately both of these things can be deceptive in conversation. So if I start talking to someone about either one, the enjoyment of the conversation will depend on how deep down the rabbit hole the other person is. But in those rare moments when they seem to be on the same page, I could talk for hours!!

Some things that have been exciting recently: I wandered into a Binny’s and saw a whole shelf full of Chartreuse which I have not seen in many years!!! On the movie side of things, I’m very excited for Yorgos Lanthimos latest upcoming film! The trailer looked great and he always makes highly interesting films!