If I wanted a clean, convenient, and flavor-neutral method of cooking my meat then I would just stay in the kitchen where I have a variety of electric and natural gas appliances very capable of doing so.

“Grilling” with propane is just silly. Idk maybe there’s some merit to camp stoves while camping, but that’s only if you can’t use firewood for some reason.

deleted by creator

It’s hard to generalize, but often it’s really just a few whales propping the whole thing up.

While they may make up 2% of the users, they can account for 50% to an astounding 70% of game developers’ profits

The linked article is referencing Candy Crush, not AAA games, but it’s hard to find published data on the matter. Different games and communities will be different, but I would hesitate to broadly blame consumers for this.

Don’t forget about distracting with a war against Venezuela. Or Iran. Or Panama. Or Greenland/Denmark.

Taxing the rich is not just “oh we as a society want money to do things, so let’s take that money from the people who have it”.

Taxing the rich is about removing the incentives that wealthy people have to seek out and hoard more wealth. Get them to stop trying to control everything and seek rents. Convince them to just be satisfied with being, in 2025, a USD hundred-millionaire. Force them to enjoy an early retirement.

The idea that Bubba is Bill Clinton is the part I have a hard time believing. And I think it might be a joke. But I also think it’s possible that Trump performed oral on someone or something named Bubba.

I’ve never heard that nickname for Bill Clinton before. Maybe I live under a rock or maybe it’s a private nickname that could be corroborated elsewhere in the Epstein files, but idk he’s never looked like a “Bubba” to me.

More critically, I have a hard time believing the 2016 election cycle plays out the way it did if this were the case.

But I do think it’s clear there’s SOMETHING that Trump doesn’t want the public to know about. And I don’t think he or his base care about him being with 16 year old girls. Or even his daughter. What could it be that Trump would be scared of his base knowing about?

So I think Bubba could be another dude. Or perhaps a gigantic novelty dildo. Or maybe even an animal.

Edit: For everyone getting caught up in the nickname, Mark Epstein has said that it wasn’t Bill Clinton. Plus, even if you don’t believe him it still doesn’t make sense that it’s Bill with how 2016 played out.

This is exactly why I’m wondering if “Bubba” could be referring to someone else. Maybe not a celebrity.

Heck, could be a giant novelty dildo. Or a dog.

I have wondered this for a while. All the stuff with the child’s beauty pageants. The “grab them by the pussy” comment. The various quotes about liking young women, calling his own daughter hot, etc. Even without the Epstein files it’s pretty clear that his base is not bothered by him sexually assaulting you girls.

At the same time, he’s scared of something. Putin clearly has something over him, or at least did during his first term. The speculation back then was some sort of “piss tape” with a Russian prostitute, but… Would his base really be bothered by that? And if not, what exactly could Truml have done that his base WOULD care about?

The rumor I started seeing this morning makes more sense: that there is evidence of Trump giving a blowjob to Bill Clinton. I think any evidence of Trump doing any sort of submissive act with another man would cost him his base.

Bill Clinton would be especially egregious as a hated Democrat, and there IS a relationship and connection there i could see but it almost seems too ridiculous to be true. And like… He ran against Hillary Clinton. Surely if that happened and evidence existed, it would have gotten out before now, right? Or at the very least the Clintons could have used that aseverage to get Trump to drop his campaign. So I’m not sure I buy that rumor. But it could have been another guy. Or anyone with a dick.

Another thought I have is that there is a common trope in the BDSM scene where people tend towards sexual roles that oppose their “normal” daily roles. Powerful men like to dominate everywhere else, but like to be submissive in the bedroom. I wonder if it could even be something as innocuous as video of Trump going down on one of his wives that he is afraid of leaking.

As an American I can confirm it goes back way further than 1950.

In most US states that would not be illegal.

I started typing up my own personal observations about Rush lyrics changing over time, but then I found this quote from Geddy Lee himself:

A few songs may have also been a little naive in their original intent. The nasty little tale called “The Trees,” of course — a comment on forced equality. Being a much more liberal-minded adult, I now have a softer approach to things in life and I’m much more open and willing. I put a lot more importance on social responsibility now than I ever did. I talk about that, of course, when I’m referring to free will. There were a few things we sang about in our early twenties that seemed very important. But as time has gone on, you ameliorate those views because life has told you it’s not so simple. Once you encounter problems and you begin to help your family or friends with some of those problems, you learn a lot about how much of life has lived in the gray areas as opposed to the black and white areas.

The Trees was, and still is, one of my favorite songs for the sake of the music. And I can see how the lyrics may have worked a lot better back during the cold war, just a couple of decades after genocide and famine wiped out millions in the USSR and China.

I grew up listening to both a greatest hits CD that has libertarian tracks like Freewill and The Trees and 2112, but also listening to Snakes and Arrows that had polar opposite messages in songs like Far Cry, the Way the Wind Blows, and The Larger Bowl. They got smarter and more aware of their own privilege as they grew older and saw more of the world.

First of all, stretching. The same stuff I learned back in gym class. The same stuff my soccer coaches made me do in elementary and middle school. Having a morning routine is good, but also taking a moment to stretch before physical activity helps. Whether that’s working out, mowing the lawn, moving the Christmas decorations down from the attic, having sex, or whatever else.

Then there is exercise. I have had a basic structure for years that I landed on in high school, and I keep changing it as my needs change. I’ve also gone through years of my life where I have stopped exercising and faced the consequences.

The core structure is a super set of arm workouts with free weights. Curls, front raises, overhead extension, hammer curls, lateral raises, overhead press. The amount of weight, number of reps, and number of sets varies. If I haven’t worked out in a while and just want to get my joints used to moving again, I might not use any weight and just do 20 reps of each for 2 or 3 sets. If I’m strength training that might be something like 5-10 reps at 25lbs each hand (honestly higher weight/lower reps would be better, but those are my biggest weights and I don’t want to spend the money or dedicate more space in my house for bigger ones right now).

Of course, arms alone is a terrible workout. If I am in a hurry, I’ll do what I consider a “focused” set. I start with pushups (using my 25lb weights as hand holds), then upright rows (with the 25lb weights I still have), then situps (using the 25lb weights as footholds, often grabbing extra weights to hold in my hands). Then I stand up and do the 6 exercises I mentioned earlier, and end with a handful of squats. Then repeat one or two more times. This is usually between 15-45 minutes depending on how long I take to rest, how many reps, and whether I’m doing 2-4 sets. My biggest complaint is that I get bored. I can put in music but that only does so much.

If I want a longer workout with more cardio, I have other options. Until a year ago I had a treadmill and a 10" Fire tablet I got real cheap and hacked to allow regular android apps. I installed Steam Link and used a MayFlash USB adapter to connect joy cons, and this let me play games from my gaming PC while on the treadmill. Not all games work- I found a lot of 3D games disprorienting, and fast-past games were hard because I wanted to time my inputs with my walking pace. But stuff like emulating Pokemon games, visual novels like Ace Attorney, and other turn-based games like Wargroove were great. Playing games and working out made me really enjoy working out, it was great to make progress on my backlog, and it was overall blorerty great. Did that for years and went through a couple of treadmills that broke.

Last year when the treadmill broke my wife and I discussed other options. I have a bad knee and so I wanted to try something lower-impact. The treadmill was also really loud- headphones were required. So instead we got an exercise bike. It’s been even better than the treadmill was, but being more stable means I’m more comfortable with lifting weights while I use it than I was while walking on the treadmill. Which is great multitasking, but instead of playing videogames I just watch videos on the tablet. Still good, but I do miss the gaming time sometimes. But it’s also really nice to get arms and cardio in at the same time.

Ultimately it’s a balance in constantly tinkering with. The beauty is that once you have the core movements down it’s very easy to customize. Strength, cardio, endurance, muscle mass, time, entertainment value, whatever it is I need. It’s good to alternate throughout the week. At my peak I workout every day, but that’s rare to sustain because life gets in the way.

Nutrition… I’m sure some vegans and vegetarians are going to hate on myself for this, but I’ve found the best results come from a nearly-carnivorous keto diet. Eggs for breakfast. Zero-carb protein powder smoothie for lunch (with a bit or orange juice, peanut butter and ice. Some banana if you can spare the carbs). Chicken or pork with leafy green veggies for dinner. Cheese and nuts for snacks. I don’t do it all the time, but every time I’ve done it i usually lose about 30lbs in 2 months. I’ve tried other diets and general CICO and it just doesn’t work the same- I can actively feel my metabolism change as I enter ketosis. And once I’m there, I can shove as much protein into my face as I want and still lose weight.

Which brings me to my final tip: marijuana. Other people my age swear by Tylenol or ibuprofen, but THC is my drug of choice, especially for my bad knee. I can still feel the discomfort in my knee and know that something is not quite right, it just stops bothering me. I feel less likely to accidentally do something that damages my knee further, plus it’s better for the kidneys and liver and stomach than those other drugs. Plus it’s fun to get high… On the exercise bike… And then snack on a bunch of cheese and nuts with no consequences. It really feels like what my body wants to do.

Final tip: Pedialyte makes freezer pops. It’s basically Gatorade as a freeze pop form, and they’re only 4 carbs each! Great frozen treat in the summer when you’re doing something that involves sweating.

Pro-tip: I invested in rechargeable batteries, including 9v’s. Every solstice I just go ahead and change out the batteries proactively. (Could use the equinoxes instead but I usually have a bunch of other chores winterizing or de-winterizing the house at those times).

It’s annoying and probably overkill, but it’s way better than dealing with those annoying low battery beeps that always seem to start happening at 3AM.

deleted by creator

China kind of depends on who you ask and how you look at it. Some historians argue that if you remove a euro-centric bias, WW2 really started with the 2nd Sino-Japanese war in 1937. Or you could look further back to territorial disputes and skirmishes between Japan and China going back to 1931.

India was a British colony until 1947 and participated as part of the British Empire.

They’ve increased in other countries too. The PS5 digital edition costs £70 more today than it did at launch. In 2024 Sony increased the Japan price of all PS5 versions by ¥13,000.

The tariffs aren’t helping, but this has been a trend for years. The gaming console market is not very volatile- prices changes in the US usually happen once every few years, not every few months. The tariffs keep fluctuating all over the place and I would not be shocked if there are more pricing adjustments for consoles specifically next year.

That’ll get you… The lowest storage tier Series S. Or a Nintendo Switch OLED. Yay.

Nah it’s the GPU market. Cryptocurrency briefly exploded and now AI is sucking up all of the GPU manufacturing capacity. Back in 2019 I got my RX580 for $175. The AMD 9070 that released this year is a tier down from that and had an MSRP of $550, but an actual price more like $650. The sweet spot of value PC building has shifted from $750 to $1,500 in just a few years. Some of that is just general inflation that affects all parts, but roughly half of that increase is just from the GPU.

It’s impacting consoles too. Consoles uses to get cheaper over time, with both price drops to existing models and new, cheaper models being released (Sony’s Slim models, things like the Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, the DSLite, etc). Looking at this generation… The original PS5 with a disc drive debuted at $500 in 2020. The “Slim” version also debuted at $500, and just got a price increase to $550. They released a PS5 Pro at $700, and just increased it to $750.

Nintendo is doing it too. The Switch was $300 for its entire life, and now that the Switch 2 is out consumers would typically expect a price cut to move the existing stock. Instead, Nintendo raised the price to $330. The OLED model went from $350 to $400, and the Lite went from $200 to $230.

And of course Microsoft is in on it too. It’s more complicated to write up since they have different storage variants of the Series S|X, but for example a Series S 512GB was $300 at launch (For some reason I remember seeing them for $250, but maybe that was a Black Friday sale or something). Now it’s $400!

“It was just a joke bro, why are you taking everything so seriously? I was only spreading misleading information about a state’s economy in a conversation about economic policies, no big deal right?”

Using nominal GDP just shows how bad-faith your argument is. There’s no such thing as a “retirement state”- every state has retired people in it.

You can make whatever excuse you want- that won’t change the fact that Florida is full of people who are not producing much GDP.