I paid $400 out of pocket with good insurance for a standard checkup in the US recently. Protect that NHS or you too will get to decide if you want to live or die with every injury.

Yeah, but you already have a king and we in the US just annointed our president king. Unless something changes hard for the better of the Republic in November, we’ll be a dictatorship in no time.

The hiding of the control panel is just extra pain for the fun of it. I know it’s the same tool they’ve had for many generations now so they’re hiding it because it’s ugly, but it’s the real way to get things done. Hiding it is just making everyone’s life harder, which is basically the Microsoft approach to OS design.

Sorta. It’s a democracy with the voting and all that at this time. Since the person holding presidency is now above the law, then as long as the current president decides that we get to continue to have a republic, then we’re a republic. The moment a US president decides that it needs to be an official act to end voting, or just stall on voting indefinitely, then we stop being a republic. Basically, we’re living on borrowed time until the “by the people” part of the US nation is taken away by whomever we voted in as president last.

President Biden has the idea that he should respect the Constitution. He’s unlikely to decide to end the republic. If he gets reelected (and the conservatives don’t just kick off a civil war trying to end the election like they failed to do back in 2020), then we buy at least a few more years. Then… we go into a cycle where if benevolent dictators keep getting elected we stay afloat. The moment a populist gets elected president who also doesn’t personally decide to not take over as dictator, the republic ends.

No, the goal is to sleep in silence. When I’m able to put aside my worries and truly rest I don’t need any noise or background hum to be completely out.

I only use a short video (under my pillow at mom volume so I can barely hear it) to get to sleep and then I’m usually out for a long time.

I’ve always felt that much of getting to sleep and what makes it easy to rest is training to some extent. Changing the ambient noise (especially if you move homes) can really screw things up until you get used to the normal noises of the new location. While that happens I’ll use something to fuzz the ambient sounds, but I’ll actively remove the white nose or background video over time so I acclimate to the new normal.

I consider it a worthwhile goal to be able to sleep without aids, if possible. Most of the real trouble is in my head (or a neighbor with fucking loud music at 2am to be dealt with), so when I have control I seek silence and a mental even keel when possible.

As a kid? Nothing. Just silence.

Today? My tinnitus, quietly humming away.

Now,.if I’m in a very weird mental spot and just can’t spin down to rest, I put on The Might Jingles’ World of Warships gameplay videos. His English voice just puts me out in moments.

Except the Duchy won the war against the US and brought back a hydrogen bomb. They then used that threat to make the league of micro nations. The bomb didn’t work, but the threat of it allowed a tiny nation to gain leverage on the geopolitical stage.

I’m not hugely invested in the 3D printing world, but here’s my setup:

Printer: Creality Ender 3 pro v2 Filament: Mostly Matchbox Upgrades: just stiffer springs for the bed holder to help keep it level longer

Software: Cura for slicing FreeCAD for part design My kids also use Blender for making designs

As long as you check the bed leveling every so often (I don’t have an auto leveler) it does just fine. I make all kinds of technical parts and models along with other stuff for fun.

What can I say? It works and it’s a reasonably low maintenance setup.

Requiring someone to provide evidence to back up a claim is not the same as taking a position that the claim isn’t true. This is the root component of the burden of proof and the stance many people have towards a god claim: they aren’t convinced the god exists due to a lack of evidence provided by the person claiming the god does exist. Until there’s actual evidence it’s rational and reasonable to withhold judgement.

The unicorn (or other mythological beings) are used as a similar case to illustrate to a theist that they have the same kind of attitude towards the idea of a unicorn existing as an atheist does to any gods. They’re both neat concepts, but without evidence showing they actually exist, they’re nothing more than an idea for stories and art.

The crazy variety of weapons and their interactions was great. Almost everything was dangerous in the right situation.

Blob gun? Charge it up! Blue laser thing? Shoot the ball form and shoot that for a huge boom! Double pistols? Max DPS in the game with no bullet curve!

The best maps too for CTF. Yeah, I loved that game, especially for in person LAN parties.

If the PoE is stable, then it’s a nice and relatively unique board. Not sure about the NPU support. There’s a ton of boards and chips coming out with those claims, but I’d like to be able to get clearer info on drivers and library compatibility.

Tom’s Root Boot.

One floppy disk, one Linux machine!

Our US city (pop 180k, metro 600k) is just about to lose the last downtown grocery store.

Generations of city councils have allowed (or encouraged!) the demolition of all housing in the city core to replace it with parking lots.

There’s almost no one left downtown so the city itself is dying. It’s just kind of rotting away. There’s currently at least some effort to reverse the trend, but the vice grip that car oriented everything has on people is terrifying to politicians.

I am by no means the right person to ask about music instruments from a critical eye or critical ear perspective.

The one that picked up I got off of AliExpress and it is pretty reasonable for sound and durability. I’m sure there’such better choices for someone who wants to have a nicer one.

I hear you. I’m a ukulele player at times, so we’re in the same weight class.

It’s also very portable and basic ones are very inexpensive. It’s also nice to explicitly see the relationship between music and the notes when you’re learning.

Banjo’s got a general bad rap from it’s portrayal in many movies and shows. It is also a very different sound than guitar which a good number of people find discordant (it’s also easier to make it be loud and discordant, which happens with new players).

Well done banjo is just fine, but there’s a knee jerk negative response to its name.

I had a similar experience, but managed to hold it together long enough to make it out in 4.5 years (with some summer classes). Knowing how to do things, but not really able to stay steadily on track to achieve goals is a rough combo.

We’re moving to more of this for the whole household (there’s a couple kids at home still). They’re all able to generate meals and do chores. The requirements are being ratcheted up across the board. My wife and I are busier than ever trying to make ends meet, so the work is trickling down to the whole household one way or another.

Interesting strategy, and likely one that has some merit. Though, I’d point to similar problems in Japan where it’s not rare to have incredibly tiny homes/apartments, but a very high rate of youths staying at their parents’ places well into adulthood.

The US has reached around 50% of young adults continuing to stay with their parents beyond school. It’s up to a similar rate as the Great Depression era. We’ve priced our kids out of independence to try to satisfy a few billionaires’ desire to be ever richer.