My parents side stepped having this conversation by letting their first child serve as a negative example for the rest of us

I have a deslopped setup that I’d recommend, but keep in mind all of my stuff is a few or more years old at this point so the newer models may not behave the same.

• an LG oled that has never been connected to the internet, though I did do a firmware update when I got it using the usb port. If I remember right, the factory loaded firmware was limited.
• an nvidia shield tv pro with updates disabled. These are android TVs so they can run the real netflix/prime/whatever app that you want, but they’re unlocked enough to let you put custom apps and disable system apps as you like. Updates needed to be disabled because the current version of the launcher added ads, but you can alternately use a custom launcher if you want to keep updates enabled. I keep mine separated on the network to limit any damage it might be able to do if there’s any security issues.
• a logitech harmony companion remote. They stopped making these a while back, but they continue to be supported. I may swap this for a Flirc Skip 1s if it stops functioning.
• a minipc running linux. I have a sort of nostalgic channel surfing interface video player thing I’ve been working on that runs on this, but you could also use something like this in place of the android tv entirely. A good mini-pc will be small and silent, a usb IR receiver will let it read commands from a remote control, and the GPUs in new ones are even capable of gaming directly, but can especially handle streaming well if you have a gaming PC elsewhere. If you want that, make sure you find one that can do 4k@120, a lot can only do 4k@60, and will only do 120hz at 1080p.

No ads, no bs buttons on my remote, it all works together with my audio setup and it’s the same experience every single time I turn it on.

We have to remember that all we know of LotR comes from the hobbit’s writings. It’s possible, even likely, that having been slighted by Sauron, the hobbits set about to destroy and defame him. For all we know, he may have been completely the opposite of what we think. He did, afterall, make a bunch of rings, containing his very own power, and then gave them away. Perhaps only to people who he thought wouldn’t abuse it, unlike filthy lying hobbits, whose fame comes from being excellent burglars.

My library does streaming now, don’t even need to make the trip, it’s pretty awesome.

My house is full of little things that are just slightly wrong, the previous owner clearly was not bothered by stuff like that. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s not like any of it is actually problematic, but it means there’s this big list of tiny jobs I need to get to, eventually…

Robin Hood Men in Tights. I’m pretty much always happy to sit down and rewatch this one. Still laugh at every stupid joke.

I think this is a problem inherent to this style of communication, whether massive social media or individual niche forums. People used to talk a lot about groupthink, though I don’t hear that term as often today. It seems to be a fundamental thing for human beings to come to a consensus as a group, and then for some individuals to react to that negatively. When positive this looks like science, accepting consensus as truth to have a foundation to work off of, and individuals rejecting the consensus to build stronger foundations.

Outside of the Internet we have much less ability to change our environments, so there’ll naturally be more diversity within groups of neighbors, coworkers, students, etc. But here, there is so much less friction to movement, similar people tend to group up more quickly.

The solution is probably not to expect opposition within a group, but to be a member of many separate groups. You are definitely in an echo chamber, but at the end of the day what you choose to accept as true is your responsibility.

I’ve been looking to do exactly this, thank you!

Elin Danielson: https://www.wikiart.org/en/danielson-gambogi-elin/after-breakfast-1890

The article keeps reiterating the viewpoint that not selling art devalues it. That’s not necessarily wrong, but it’s such a corporate take on the situation, and completely misses the actual issue people had with this. Corporations should not be using their ability to control our personal devices. It’s a violation of trust, and that’s what people were reacting to.

And further, I think it also completely ignores what is truly devaluing art: allowing executives huge cuts of the profit. They don’t do sufficient work to justify the amount they take from the industry, but if they let bands have the money, they’d lose the control that lets them keep it.

Right? Like if someone decided to whitewash the wall this was on no one would have noticed. But now it’s a work of art recognized on the level of the Mona Lisa.

A nice thing about gaming today is that it’s gotten so much easier to play all the great games, back then my family had a PC and an N64 and could only sample Playstation games at friend’s houses.

This works for lunch, too.

Have you checked iFixit? they carry replacement 3DS parts and might have what you need.

The ten commandments are future imperatives, but English doesn’t have that mood and instead archaic language is used in place of it.

They are as strong a command as can be given, but a literal translation would just be “you will not”. That lacks the weight of the original form so translators try to make it read more seriously than the language allows with “thou shalt not”.

I can’t believe old el paso is willing to spend the money it would take to actually make a less spicy variation. This is probably just the same thing called just “mild” in other markets.

Did they make a hetero version of Dumb and Dumber?

Buy ground pork and mix up a sausage to your tastes, no equipment beyond the basics required if you’re not stuffing it into a casing or aging it and the quality will be far better than what’s available at any grocery store I’ve ever been in.

To taste test as you’re making it, take a small pinch of it and microwave for 10 seconds or so to cook it through.

I like it, I’d hang that on my wall

I’ve bought a lot of physical media over the last couple of years and it can be great, but there’s a lot of pitfalls

The quality of, particularly, DVDs is all over the place and the transition from NTSC to digital is handled in so many different ways that each require special handling.

PAL and European releases can be terrible in all kinds of ways including speeding up the content and optionally pitch correcting the audio.

A lot of content you’d want isn’t available or is only available at exorbitant prices.

UHD discs have tons of read errors that make ripping perfectly difficult and the quality (and this price) of the drive makes a big difference in how well you can do this.

Drives don’t last if you’re ripping lots of stuff.

Just some things off the top of my head, nowhere near a complete list.

It’s still worth it, though, and new releases are easier if that’s what you’re looking for.