Great advice. Here’s another hint for first timers: you’re going to get it wrong. Spend half a day replacing a faucet, following all the instructions and the collective wisdom of YouTube. Turn the water back on and… drip, drip.

Patching drywall, fixing a drawer slide, replacing a loose electrical outlet… No matter how much you read or watch there is some finesse to each. Practice and experience will make it so you get it right the first time more often, and then when you’re an old person like me you reach a point where you can pretty much do it better than the fly-by-night contractor you’d hire.

One more piece of advice. Don’t mess with live electricity. Wall current can stop your heart instantly or start a fire in the middle of the night. Turn off breakers and be diligent about tightening connections and keeping things to code, but don’t be too afraid of it. A little bit of awareness is all it takes. And the first time you turn that breaker back on it may pop, then you’ll see what went wrong and never make that mistake again.

I know I said one more, but here is one more “one more”. Hit yard sales or estate sales for cheap tools. You’ll have to do this proactively and not when you actually need them. Usually you can pick up stuff for pennies on the dollar. An old caulk gun, adjustable wrench, half box of drywall screws… All good to pickup on the cheap.

I know DIY isn’t everyone’s favorite past time, but after the first few things you tackle you might find it actually enjoyable. I know the combination of saving money, securing my home’s integrity, and completing a job well done is something I look forward to.

I can feel the pizza grease on the plastic instinctively.

Would you ban television commercials? Sponsored products unrelated to a YouTube video’s content?

I completely agree with you. So tired of pushed garbage ads. There’s just a gray area so the language of a hypothetical “law” would have to carefully considered.

Ok, honest question: In a world where all advertising is banned, how do I know who makes something I want/need?

Like, is a website you find in a search result an ad? Is putting something in your local Yellow Pages an ad?

Maybe we need to qualify “No advertising” with something?

Ok, going to scream into the abyss here…

I had Netscape on my 486DX2-66 with a 33.6 modem. Win 95, along with ICQ, mIRC, some NNTP reader I can’t recall… You get the picture.

Everyone I’ve told this to thinks I must have been out of my mind. But for a period of time that I recall as months I had some sort of phenomenon where Netscape would stop loading a web page (could take 10s of seconds, you know) unless you MOVED THE MOUSE. Continuously. The animated “N” on would freeze and if you didn’t move the mouse the page would just be blank, or partially loaded. Move the mouse, it resumes. Stop moving the mouse, it stops. I used to have to move my mouse in figure-eights, cajoling the machine to not give up and keep downloading.

You’ll think I’m crazy, too. But when I share this story I keep hoping someone, somewhere had the same experience. And maybe, someone who knows what was going on will chime in on some obscure IRQ conflict in Windows along with some optimization used by Netscape in one iteration caused this bug for a brief moment in time.

I want the Palm Pre form factor back. Sooo satisfying to slide that thing open or snapping it closed.

Keyboard was ok but not as good as the BB, IMO.

This is what I fully expect. It is a sad state of affairs that I have to ask, “Are you serious this is what’s happening or is this your prediction?”

I want to agree with this sooo badly. But I have some empathy for crazy gun guy. And in some dispicable sense, the gun guy is acting completely rationally, if being severely short sighted.

Hypothetical: You drop litter on the ground. On purpose because you’re a thoughtless asshat. Someone calls you on it. Shouting ensues. They slap a magnet on your car. You rip it off and throw it on the ground because you have already demonstrated your unwillingness to give a shit about leaving things to rot in mother nature. They, in response, give your car a nice new scratch with a key and the damage is now permanent.

What’s your next move? Walk away? Call the police? Try to get their license plate and submit to your insurance company? Shame them on Tik Tok?

You’ve lost because your opponent was willing to escalate to vandalism, a crime for which you suffer and that no one is likely to take seriously enough to bring justice.

Society has broken down in this little ecosystem of two. Anyone can injure you, threaten your livelihood. Take away your security. What’s stopping them?

Until you unholster that 1.5lb mechanism of steel, lead, and brass. Now, you’re back in control. You are secure. Things are certain again. No one will be scratching your car, breaking your window, stealing food out of the mouths of your children.

There’s a certain rationality behind it, is all I’m saying.

Of course, we as rational thinkers can see the folly inherent in this escalation. Every petty spat becomes a life or death scenario. If we assume the rule of law still punished outright murder, then you are right back to your original quandary of whether to walk away or be the ultimate kind of “right”.

This is where mores in a society become critical. Maybe we’ve lost our sense of right and wrong behind a veil of rule-of-law. Maybe we’ve become too virtual to truly have a society based on mutual values. Maybe I’m just high and should go stare out a window.

TL;DR: Don’t litter.

Atlas Shrugged is a shit book, but I find myself thinking more and more about the world left behind when the “smart” people all leave. Nepotism breeds ineptitude leading to failed systems. Infrastructure crumbles. Businesses fail. Government stops functioning.

I wonder, after a cascade of failures of complex, core societal systems, which will be the first to actually affect the oligarchs? Gotta be the stock market, right? I mean, well after everyone’s pensions and 401(k)s are in the shitter, but eventually? Maybe?

There are ways to organize work that don’t rely on command and control. They’re so foreign to us as Americans it sounds ridiculous.

See this.

DVI-L chef’s kiss

And a copy of “The Art of the Deal” alongside an illustrated translation of “Mein Kempf”.

FFS. The only headline template they should be using is, “Another action outlined by Project 2025 is put into motion aimed at enriching the wealthy at the expense of every other American and likely the world.”

Save them so much time copy writing and maybe finally tell the whole truth.

Magnificent advice. Anytime a company talks about “your commitment”, “our family”, or advising against talking to peers you’ve got a red flag.

do you see the older population voting for him then?

Feel free to call me Chicken Little, but I believe we have likely voted in our last free and open election. Between voter suppression, media consolidation, and outright manipulation, I can imagine an outcome that no longer reflects even the illusion of the people’s will.

id choose healthcare

If only it were that easy. Relocating is financially draining. And emotionally challenging if you’re leaving family behind. And, why don’t we all move to Canada, or Europe, or anywhere else for healthcare? You don’t think the first thing Texas does after the split is put up checkpoints and require “papers” to travel outside the New Confederate States of Jesus Christ?

I hope we look back on this conversation in four years and all agree I was alarmist and overly imaginative. And wrong. But with every headline it seems we inch closer.

One very simple reason. How are court decisions ultimately enforced? By police, with force. Even if you win in court what police or federal agency will stand against the administration? None. Why? Fear of retaliation. Which is the same thing I’d be thinking if I was considering making a court case against Trump. The math is simple: stand up against a broken system and put a target on your back or sit down quietly and hope they don’t come for your family. This will be happening in many people’s minds. I hope I’d have the courage to stand up like this person did, but honestly I don’t know. Guess it depends on how bad it gets.

I’m starting to see more and more that this is how the inevitable schism will occur. I was afraid our nation’s demise would be armed conflict, but based on the last week I now believe it will be some combination of Feds withholding funding, states responding by withholding revenue, and then those states that are net exporters of dollars to the federal government just starts managing themselves without oversight.

States will form coalitions of like-minded governments with similar economic interests. States like California and Texas will be centers of gravity and will have incredible negotiating power. Others (see: deep red south) will slide into near third world status. Some might actually become Canadian Territories. Interesting to think about academically.

Surely someone has done the research and put the thought into how this could go. And written it down?

Belly rubs, immediately.

Sounds like the words of someone suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Yes! We love Europe and it is our go-to version. The stations help, for sure.