While MREs taste gross, they’ll stay edible until the end of time. I think that’s a fair trade. The McRib is just gross with no upsides.

I’m married - stop trying to seduce me.

Thankfully, he was born in '88.

Controlled opposition. Not all of them, but enough, particularly at the national level. The 2021-2023 majority wasn’t enough. The 2009-2011 super majority somehow wasn’t enough. Establishment-aligned candidates run on milquetoast platforms addressing only a handful of token issues, and often just to roll policy back to much how it was prior to Republican lawmaking. Not the real, sweeping change clearly needed - because that would harm the financial interests of their primary donors.

FWIW, I’m not an American. This is just what I saw whilst living there and what we see in the news. Constantly.

Since criticizing the wrong team is often met with the bizarre assumption one is a Russian troll encouraging Americans not to vote: go vote for the best candidate, but remember that political engagement shouldn’t begin and end at the ballot box. The US needs far more than whinging online.

Hard agree. MBA programs can teach legitimately helpful skills, but I think those with MBAs should have primarily advisory roles as businesses should be run collectively by their employees.

First, I want to express my appreciation for the post. It’s well written and thought provoking. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

I was the person you described in the first paragraph until the last few years, starting with my first Linux distro. It was the doorway into a world of amazingly functional yet free software.

I’m still gratefully surprised on a regular basis at the sheer amount and scope of FOSS. I spent the evening rooting my LG TV, the one product I most grudgingly enjoyed (fuck LG’s surveillance) and not only was I able to disable said surveillance, but tweaking some settings and installing a few homebrewed applications has made my TV so much better. Even the Plex application, PlxNative, is leagues better than stock.

Now I look like some sort of tech wizard to my family, but all of this is truly due to the contributions of the very community you describe - I’m just a monkey that can read a guide and push buttons. The real fucking wizards here are those contributing to these projects.

Same. I genuinely cried when I found out. I’m not usually the type to look up to celebrities, but I always admired Patrick Stewart as an actor and a person. Knowing he’s gone makes the world feel a touch emptier.

JFC the US is cooked.

About the stupidest Ai idea I’ve heard yet. Whose photo album is comprehensive and representative of their lives? Social media types take curated photos to send a specific message. The rest of us clutter it up with cat photos, images of items we don’t want to forget, memes, and photos from others thrust upon us by applications like Viber.

Once they reach for the “anyone who disagrees with me is a Russian troll”, it’s best to disengage. Their responses are primarily memes, insults, and parroted talking points. Classic American - they don’t have any more to offer.

Because you’re clearly not a serious person.

Just because they’re pointing out something that makes you uncomfortable doesn’t give you license to be a condescending cunt. Your argument is basically “nuh uh”. If anyone here isn’t a serious person, it’s you. Stop projecting, yeah?

You’re going to get mobbed by Americans for denigrating their favored sports team. Most anyone outside the states see the Democrats and Republicans as two sides of the good cop/bad cop coin, with Democrats catering to token issues but being weak, ineffectual, and generally center to center right.

And no, I’m not encouraging anyone not to vote. Vote AND hold your politicians accountable. Have a proper fucking protest like the French, not these soft, civil assemblies you lot seem to favor.

Absolute fucking legend here.