Zink

That sounds like a lot of work when you have the old reliable conservative tactic of pretending the problem doesn’t exist while blaming the ill effects of the not-problem on the personal responsibility of the victims. And their mental health. And other dog whistles that they are lesser subhumans who don’t deserve help.

I have to assume that headline is written to be palatable to Trumper clicks or something.

Looked unbeatable on the economy? And I'm supposed to take the author seriously as an educated adult human who professionally writes words about important things? As far as I could gather from a glance at the article, him being "unbeatable" was that he promised to magically fix all economic woes and people believed him. Again. So that makes it a strong issue for the GOP if you are dead inside and trying to write the news like everything is normal.

Transcending the need for willpower is a great way to put it, regardless where you end up. It’s always good to dig into the basics of what you really want, what you get from it, etc.

Like in this case, if it brings you some small joy to spend $14 and get a handful of games you’ve been reading/hearing about for years, I bet that is objectively a good use of your money and time given your priorities in life. No need for willpower, because you’re doing the small thing that helps you enjoy life.

In my case, I still play games on PC and console, but I started completely ignoring the sales and mostly not even using my wish lists. I still occasionally buy games, and most often on sale, but between my existing library and all the other stuff in life I am happy just ignoring the sales. No need for willpower because the desire went away.

What’s up Oregon Trail Generation bros!? We really did have a unique environment for growing up.

Childhood with no social media and basically no internet, wandering or biking around the neighborhood, finding porn in the woods… then computers and video games kept becoming more of a thing as we grew, and for many of us starting college meant the jump from connecting to the internet with a modem at kilobit speeds to connecting straight to Ethernet at megabit speeds.

And even though internet communication was fairly popular in our early adulthood, we mostly made it out of college, and maybe even dating if we were lucky, before social media took hold.

And now in middle age we still somehow get to be the “computer people” even though all these bright young minds came after us. But at least those of us with gigabit internet and OLED screens can really appreciate them.

Meeeeeemorieeees

Your comment made me think:

It’s one thing if they aren’t great at using computers to be productive, but for the love of God children please don’t trust what the computer or the company selling it tells you!

I have always loved how perfect the phrasing of “Basic Dickheads” is for the type of goobers it’s referring to.

It’s the exclusionary language. It sticks out to me because it’s something I had to wring out of my brain after a conservative upbringing. My comment was probably an overreaction, lol, but you gave me that little target to pounce on.

“You don’t know what a tattoo is” sounds to me like it’s in line with “you don’t know what a REAL tattoo is” or “you wouldn’t know a decent tattoo if it bit you on the ass.”

It’s just basic immature gatekeeping and “me good, you bad.” So it varies from actual exclusion to generic offhand insult.

I can hear all the variations of it in my head from over the years. You don’t like the same thing as me, or you disagree with me on some unrelated thing, therefore you don’t know a damn thing about tattoos, cars, trucks, guns, fishing, hunting, sports, women, computers, games, and whatever else.

The conservative mindset is kind of like a reversed No True Scotsman sometimes. In an inherently hierarchical world where you are OBVIOUSLY at the A, #1, top, “Made in the image of white Jesus” tier, it is a serious insult to question the realness of another. Getting “othered” when you’re one of the Real Americans, one of the Chosen Ones, is a tragedy!

I have been working for many years to find the right balance for me.

Currently, by day I am a software engineer, but in my off time I am basically a recreational farmer — as in keeper of animals, not gardening. Though, plants are often involved in service of the animals.

I live in suburbia and am pretty ideally located as far as local resources and infrastructure. So I brought a little bit of the wilderness to me. Currently spending a bunch of time on my koi pond.

Yeah, and thanks to our advancements in Gun™, my new giant truck gets a much better “zero to 60 Minutes” time than the old one.

Also yes I know shotguns are rarely that devastating but I ain't over exaggerating by much either

Yeah not by much at all.

Hitting a person with a single 12ga shell of 00 buckshot is kind of like completely mag dumping a 9mm handgun at them.

Well you can do that today. Find a tree out in the middle of nowhere and sit under it without any electronic devices. Then you are oblivious to all that stuff.

There is much wisdom buried in what seems like a simple comment here.

Even if you aren’t in the middle of nowhere, you can find or create your oasis.