I remember seeing these ads as an impressionable young gamer and getting the idea that Playstations had games that were scary and weird, and Nintendo games and handhelds were for boys. Generally the ads told me “this is not for you”. Because I only ever saw ads for specific PC games and never for PCs themselves, (they were aimed at adults, not in the kind of magazines and comics young me was perusing) even though I was still not the target market it clicked more with me. I think that might be a part of why I’ve only really gotten into PC games over the years. I knew there were games I’d like and games I wouldn’t, and never got the same platform level messaging.

I remember seeing an ad for Thief and thought it looked cool, and I remember being super grossed out by that Quake 3 ad, but I never felt unwelcome or out of place playing PC games. In contrast, the focus on marketing to young males is really obvious in those console ads.

Examples of some PC game ads I remember working for me and led to me getting them:

https://cdn.mobygames.com/promos/18308445-thief-the-dark-project-magazine-advertisement-pc-gamer-usa-issue.jpg

https://www.retromags.com/rmg_fs/gallery_imgs/monthly_2022_06/large.1061174590_LordsofMagic02(December1997).jpg.82c9c4e56622e154a87711d93647ccc3.jpg

https://cdn.mobygames.com/promos/6568546-the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind-magazine-advertisement-pc-gamer-.jpg

Local parking companies are getting rid of pay machines and forcing apps and QR codes on people so that it’s less convenient to pay. They know people will have trouble so then they can fine people who are “non-compliant”.

Wow, love this and could totally use it in the future. Thanks for the link!

I know in my case I was open to relationships with women but dating men was so much easier it just never happened. On the outside it seems I’m hetero because that’s all anyone would see.

I’d honestly recommend seeing if you have any local brick and mortar tea vendors so you could go get your nose in some tins. If you already know you like breakfast blends, you will get such a better experience from your tea if you can really smell the leaves and let your nose lead the way. Tea doesn’t always taste how it smells but a lot of the major notes will be there. If you are unfortunate enough not to have a local place, then if you’re in the US, Adagio has lots of samplers and they’re usually my go to.

The latching baskets, the little spring spoons, cages, muslin bags, I’ve tried them all and absolutely nothing is as convenient or easy as just getting a pot with an inset stainless steel infuser. The infuser just fits around the inside of the tea pot rim underneath the lid, and when my tea is ready I can dump used tea leaves right in the compost bin with a good tap or two, rinse it and it’s ready for another pot. Highly recommend it, don’t mess with anything more complicated.

What kind of tea experience are you looking for? A sweet and fruity herbal good hot or cold? Something refreshing and subtle to enjoy with a touch of lemon? Something dark and complicated? Smokey and earthy? There are so many options you should probably think about what you want from your cuppa.

He already did this one, iirc induction was better for Americans without access to 240v connections.

I think it’s this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c

I’ve been on a real chai kick and got the biggest available size of this tea a month or so ago and I’m already nearly through it. I love it with milk and sugar, it has some caffeine and a spicy complexity that gets me going in the mornings. It’s amazing cold too, if I don’t finish the pot before it goes lukewarm I’ll put in a glass bottle in the fridge for later.

Oh and buy loose leaf tea. Even cellulose and paper teabags are apparently riddled with micro plastics.

IMO the show did not do a good job introducing characters and settings, and failed to do a lot of “screen writing 101” stuff like establishing who the characters are and their relationships to each other in the first few episodes. It also failed at using visual language or motifs to define the different settings and distinguish them which was frustrating and confusing. I started the show first and was intrigued enough to pick up the books, but absolutely reading the books gives you a shortcut past all of the “who’s that guy?” and “wait, I thought those people were in the same place” type moments of confusion. I still really enjoyed the show and I figured everything out eventually, but yes it benefits from a read-through.

I quite enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series, which is also (relatively) hard-ish sci-fi and has a creative and interesting exploration of non-human intelligences. I enjoyed the first two books but was meh on the third. Certainly would still recommend them but they don’t scratch quite the same itch the Expanse does.

Another series I devoured and then re-read a year later was the Murderbot Diaries. It’s dystopian but also kind of hopeful, it’s a story about realizing one’s personhood and self determination and making a life for yourself, with a very dry sense of humor. It’s a great audio book read, (the Kevin Free version) and was recently turned into a series on Apple TV.

Finally got around to the Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan and it’s more relevant than ever. It absolutely predicted the world we’re in politically now and has some insight and analysis as to how and why and what to do to help. Definitely worth a read or reread if you haven’t read it or it’s been a while.

Love those books. Extremely easy to read and reread and set the standard for modern hard sci fi.

I’ve been tinkering with my Linux machine for the past 8 months or so, and having random issues like the ones I listed and more besides that I’ve already solved. Meanwhile my old Windows 7 machine has been working flawlessly for about 8 years, no regedits or crap software issues. I think I had a driver issue with my mouse a couple years ago that I clicked a button and it fixed it. My laptop running Windows 7 also has been working flawlessly since about 2016 beyond prompting me to format media that I connect to it, but I press a button and that goes away. Recently I’ve been having compatibility issues with software because it’s such an old OS but as you said, that’s a 3rd party software issue, not a problem with Windows 7.

Glad your Linux experience is so smooth though. Must be nice!

I think there’s a difference in personal interpretation of what a “Linux issue” is, here. It sounds like you might be interpreting “Linux issue” as problems with the software itself, or its capabilities, features and processes etc. Personally, I am using “issues with Linux” to mean the entire user experience from start up to using the GUI and whether or not I can do the things I want and need to do on a daily basis easily and intuitively. Certainly, Linux as a software plays into it, but the things you are brushing off as 3rd party incompatibilities are absolutely part of the Linux experience in my opinion. I’m not trying to throw blame, but when introducing new people to Linux it’s best to acknowledge there may be some tinkering and adaptation needed to get things working as they should.

Stuff breaks? What breaks? I don’t have stuff that breaks. Windows has been far more breaky to me over the last decade than Linux has ever been. What have you been doing? This may have been true 20 years ago, but not today.

I’ve been trying to adapt to Linux Mint/Cinnamon as my daily driver and yes, stuff breaks. My sata and nvme connected drives kept disappearing every time I started my computer so I had to learn about mounting and auto mount (they are just there on Windows). My game and program installs on Bottles and Lutris kept going “missing” and losing their .exe’s. I downloaded 70gb of Guild Wars 2 files at least 8 times because I thought each time I had fixed the “files missing” problem only to have them disappear on reboot. I still didn’t figure out what was happening and am only able to play now because I found out how to use the provider portal on Steam. I can’t make launcher short cuts from the actual executable, I have to go to the desktop and do it and when I do, it won’t let me drag it to my panel for some reason. When I thought I had found a solution, I reactivated some launcher applets and ended up with three different instances of my panel launcher icons and still no ability to add new ones. My systems connected to the same ethernet used to show up in my network panel and I was able to access my shared folders and media files but they all stopped showing up a few days ago and I had to learn all about Samba share and minimum and maximum server protocols and still am trying to find a solution.

Yes, Windows breaks stuff too, but Linux is NOT a perfect product that works flawlessly for everyone and [@cRazi_man@europe.pub is right. All of their points are things I’ve been struggling with and would warn a Linux noob about. I personally would rather trust those random forum posts than LLM summaries (and have solved some issues that way) but otherwise I agree with each of their bullet points.

I’m someone who can eat multiple pounds of blueberries in one sitting. Next time, try spraying them thoroughly with vinegar and letting them soak for at least 5min, 10 or even 20 is better. Then rinse thoroughly with water. There are some tummy upsetting molds and bacterias that are neutralized by the vinegar. This works for any berries or easily spoilt produce. It’s majorly cut down on the “consequences” of my grape and berry binges.

I’ve always been one that tries to fix before we replace, and that’s lead me to a few things like soldering some loose connectors on electronics, or basic small engine repair like an oil change and installing a spark plug. I like making things so I’ve been slowly expanding my experience levels with various interesting power tools. I can install insulation, mud and sand drywall, stain and refinish furniture, that kind of thing.

However, if I think about things that are truly flipping the script on gender roles, probably the most masculine “skill” I have is the ability to assertively ask for what I want and delegate tasks to others. It seems almost foreign to other women outside of a business context.

This was particularly noticeable when I lived in the American south as a caretaker for a family member. Some of the conservative biddies we had over to visit sometimes would make little passive aggressive snarky comments and the exchange would go something like this.

“Oh, I didn’t know where to put my trash, the bin is just overflowing with garbage so I left it on the counter”
“You’re right, we usually put the trash in the bin in the garage, spare bags are under the sink, just make sure to close the lid when you’re done”
“Oh, uh…” (palpable confusion)
“Thanks for helping out!” (direct eye contact, pleasant smile)
(flustered acquiescence)

It would throw them for a loop so hard it was consistently hilarious. They clearly expected me to bashfully apologize or get all defensive or shamed at the state of the house in some pecking order power play. Lol. You brought it up, have fun getting it delegated to you.

As others have said, it’s a life long thing, but a lot of the patterns can be brought on in people who don’t have it with consistent sleep deprivation and a state of tiredness and exhaustion. If you’re starting to relate more and more to ADHD memes well into adulthood, try to get a few nights of good sleep!

I’ve been impressed with my set of bamboo blend underwear from Boody, specifically the underpants. I bought like 8 pairs over a decade ago, and when I bought another set a few years ago and mixed them into the old pairs it was hard to tell the difference. I machine wash them and air dry them and they’ve held up extremely well. They’re so soft and comfortable I can’t really feel them when they’re on, which is remarkable because I have trouble filtering sensory things.

They’ve held up so well after hundreds of wears I feel good recommending them to others. They ARE very simple, but they come in a variety of fits and colors.