I believe the problem is that WOTC was incredibly hard to work with. They should have a lot more freedom with their own IP.

I tend to agree but I don’t know if we can say that for sure.

Incels who want media attention is one way you could frame both types of killers.

I don’t know if my thermostat is just wrong or if the layout of my house makes it inaccurate, but 64-65 in my house is frigid.

Plus we have a baby so 67-68 is really the lowest we could go at night I think.

But I agree, I sleep better in general when the blankets are warm and the house is cold!

I can feel the difference between 71 and 73 in my house.

At 73, my kids room is uncomfortably hot. At 71, it has a perfect chill for sleeping.

Of course the kids don’t know how to read them. Kids rarely encounter analog clocks and when they do, they have several digital clocks within arms length. Most people wouldn’t reach for a slide rule when they have a calculator.

And to be fair, analog clocks are objectively worse than digital clocks in every way aside from aesthetics.

I would argue otherwise.

Wikipedia is incomprehensibly large. Perhaps the largest database of vetted human knowledge ever.

I know for a fact you can find inaccuracies and biased information if you look for it. But it’s rare relative to the amount of information that exists there.

Yeah, RDO is pretty much garbage. Blatant cash grab.

Did you beat the game?

I agree with this guy that it may be the best Western ever written.

Collect 3,000 cells in this wide open world to collect your skins.

Buy 4,000 cells to get this custom pirate skin for your character.

This is why I’m not against drugs like Ozempic for those who need it.

I used a new medication to make me not want opiates. Used it for about two years until I had enough healthy habits in place to actually not want opiates. Been clean for 6 years and off the medication for over a year without issue.

Never would have gotten clean without it so it makes sense to me how people end up obese.

I don’t worry that she will end democracy.

She will do a bunch of dumb Republican stuff and make America objectively worse for a lot of people. But the Republic will survive her presidency at least.

Trump, not so much.

For longevity?

Satisfactory and Elden Ring.

Honestly, something like Call of Duty or fortnite might be nice too. I haven’t played in years but the skill ceiling is very high so it could at least keep me occupied for a very long time.

I don’t really want to play adversity Olympics with you but since you insist.

My parents were on food stamps and going to food pantries when I was a kid. Father was an absent alcoholic and drug addict. I myself struggled with heroin addiction in my teens and 20s and ended up ruining my life - or so I thought.

I managed to climb out of that hole (using Obamacare and the support of my family) to find a whole new perspective on my life.

I was angry, bitter, nihilistic, and selfish. I was obsessed with how bad and unfair the world is, and it gave me every excuse to keep buying bundles and nodding into oblivion.

Once I got clear of the horrible opiate withdrawal and paid back the considerable money I owed - once I stopped wanting to overdose and kill myself - I realized how nice it is to be able to take a walk on a warm day and just check out the birds. I realized a cup of coffee and a sandwich is a blissful experience, especially when shared with a friend or loved one.

When I think about the eternity I will spend in non-existence after I die, I know that I have very limited time to enjoy this strange and beautiful trip I’m on. I know this little blip would be the envy of the non-existent. If ghosts were real, I bet every one of them would kill to come back and just feel the sensations of smell, taste, touch, and sound. Or to look at something pretty.

Like dude, I’ve had parts of my life that were fucking miserable. Please don’t tell me it’s so easy. I’ve just decided to enjoy it and practice gratitude. Whatever happens to me, I remind myself that it’s better than going through opiate withdrawal on a plastic cot and wishing I was dead while everyone was disgusted with me.

Life, on average, is much easier now than it’s ever been. The wealthiest men alive didn’t have access to basic over the counter medicine that we have today. If you die of some horrific disease tomorrow, you’ve still had a higher quality of life than most of the richest people who have ever lived.

You know why my ramblings about the beauty of life sound so corny? It’s because a lot of people have realized it before. Because it’s so often said that it sounds cliche. There is a reason so many people have come to these conclusions.

My advice to you is to touch grass. No joke. And if you don’t want to touch grass, go watch a movie that makes you feel awe. Go read a book that moves you. Otherwise you’re going to have your eyes opened on your death bed and wish you had lived differently. Happens all the time man.

Bidet attachment https://www.amazon.com/Bidet-Non-Electric-Mechanical-Attachment-Self-Cleaning/dp/B00P2XZDGG

And I grew up with window unit air conditioners. They kept a couple rooms cool no problem.

I don’t see how I’m talking out my ass.

I really love that you said test hamster instead of guinea pig.

I’m using this from now on.

I actually think life, for all its faults, is a beautiful and amazing opportunity. It’s a special blink of existence where we get to witness the unimaginable beauty in our universe.

Perhaps our lives (in the West, at least) have gotten too easy. Not that I want to go back or live a harder life - I don’t. But for most of human history, there was a pretty solid chance you were going to live a sick, miserable, religion-filled life as a soldier, slave, or peasant. All the while, you’d have pretty much no control over what happened to you. Even the wealthy and powerful were shitting in holes and sweating in the heat. Today, it costs you about two hours of easy labor to get a bidet and maybe 10 hours of labor to get an air conditioner that will keep you cool for many years. People still found meaning and reasons to keep going through the thousands of years of famine, plague, war, and slavery. They kept seeing something that made them want to have babies and love them.

The world isn’t perfect but it’s better than it’s ever been in most ways. Even if we don’t survive climate change and late-stage capitalism, I think the time I’ve already had with my son has been beautiful and meaningful. I only hope he gets to experience love, satisfaction, simple pleasures, etc. Even just a comfortable nap or the feeling of accomplishment after completing a task. It’s all so fragile and temporary. We are the universe experiencing itself and it’s really beautiful despite the miserable parts.

I think anyone who has worked HR knows why you ask for references.

Because some people literally list their mother.

Because others list previous employers or even best friends who have nothing nice to say about them.

And because some people, having really thought it through and providing the best reference they can come up with, list their buddy Steve who will get on the phone and say something like:

“Jack? Great fuckin’ guy man. Works hard and parties hard, ya know? Just keep his psycho ex away from the job site bro, that bitch is crazy.”

You can weed these people out without wasting time. Half of what a job interview is about is seeing if people have a good head on their shoulders. If you pick a bad reference or lack a good reference and don’t even have the brains to have someone lie for you, it’s probably the tip of the iceberg with your bad choices.

Could you share what happened to you and your support group members? Just curious! If you don’t want to, no worries.

I would say, “succumbed to the conflagration” or “took part in the conflagration.”

But really, a conflagration is usually a much bigger fire that destroys entire buildings or cities.

I think the better term would be self-immolation.

Yeah, no kidding.

There are those special weekends though where you think it’s 4pm and the clock only says 11am.

I find that getting up early, no matter how tired I am (and even if it means I need to nap later) makes weekends feel significantly longer.