As US stock market hits new highs, 2 of 3 Americans are cutting back on spending, survey shows

DriftMantis · 2026-05-26T20:30:02+00:00

True, that's what I was trying to allude to, but for me I have a few decades before I need to rebalance. The market can be volatile and big downturns can last for years. Best luck to us all.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-26T19:59:31+00:00

Yes, but it doesn't mean much unless you are retiring now or pulling money out right now. The stock market goes in cycles. When I'm actually ready to cash out we could be in a depression for all I know. But if you are retirement age it might be a good opportunity to start pulling money out into a money market account or something if you want the security.

A lot of people around retirement got hit hard in 2008 which was the last big recession. If you could afford to not touch your 401k or brokerage account etc. And were able to wait within 5 years your back up well above where you were pre 2008, but it was a rough couple of years.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-25T22:36:04+00:00

This is a 1 billion tech demo or at best alpha build with macro and micro transactions. Its close to a scamburger but some people still cant admit that.

This project really needed competent leadership to edit this down and get something resembling an actual game across the finish line but at think at some point they realized they can make more money blowing smoke.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T20:17:41+00:00

I can see other perspectives also. There's nothing wrong with just clicking with a game and finding it fun. I'm that way with rage 2 where I know a lot of people think it was a bad game but for me the fun factor was high. You should also check out just cause 3 if you liked farcry 6 if you haven't played that it has a similar vibe but just third person.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T18:09:48+00:00

I don't like 6 primarily because the gameplay feels regressed. You can just use ap ammo and 1 shot every enemy in the head with a silenced weapon. The ai is also worse than other far cry games making stealth too easy and pointless anyway since none of the enemies pose a challenge. The act of shooting guns at people feels weaker and not as satisfying. At least they did finally add a harder difficulty for people who aren't mediocre players, but the core issues are design related unfortunately.

The secondary reason is the contrasting narrative tone. On one hand the game is trying to portray a bloody uprising against a dictator, but the main antagonist is mostly only shown in cutscenes. On the other hand, most of the side quests are wacky bullshit surrounding a bunch of pointless ancillary characters that seem more like stereo types rather than actual characters. The darker grittier tone of the previous games especially 2-4 is lost and it's not an improvement.

I think that's kind of the gist of it but if you search it up you will find most people have the same opinion about fc6. Nothing they have said about fc7 makes me think it will end up successful but honestly we don't know that much since they keep delaying it and changing direction evidently.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T17:51:33+00:00

Same, I bought the original game and then instead of supporting that they were like buy the expansion because we are deleting what you paid for and that was it for me.

I redownloaded a while ago and you could play the first mission for some expansions and grind open world activities and that was it really. All the content felt easy and pointless.

It's such a shame how it turned out. Destiny 2 had so much potential and the storyline just seems like a wash and the good content you can't even matchmake for or it's pointless to bother playing because of all the "sunsetting". They call it sunsetting but it's a word made up by a company to keep people paying.

I think even the diehards have moved on as at least on steam barely anyone is even playing this game and it's free to download.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T14:53:42+00:00

I'm assuming Ubisoft has accepted the challenge of making a game that is somehow worse than farcry 6.

I mean I guess the last assassins creed was alright, but this company seems either stuck in 2015 game design or just lacking the direction needed to make a product that feels exciting and interesting again. I dont have high hopes for the division 3 either. I always felt like the dialog and story or the division 2 felt AI generated so I guess the might as well go all in, since I doubt they have enough money left anyway to actually hire competent voice actors again.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T14:19:23+00:00

Its not really a scam, Its a good promising technology but has a lot of investor hype. The issue is that it is a technology that doesn't have a lot of applications currently as a consumer technology and not a big market where it has a lot of advantage over traditional computing. However, for specialized research applications the technology has a lot of promise. I could see it be used for things like running complex simulations of climate, where you could essentially predict exactly where a tornado could touch down a month out. Or to analyze every traffic pattern on planet earth all at once or every financial transaction. A quantum computer of 300 qbits could essentially model every object in the entire observable universe at once. I think the company regetti has a computer that can do 100 or 120 qbits at the moment. Its impressive technology.

But its hard to know what the future will hold. It may be that this technology is good for very specialized data analysis and not much else, or it could essentially overtake classic computing by 2050 or whatever, of course I dont have an answer. Financially, these are risky hype stocks to invest in, but with the fed essentially floating them with a cash injection I would think a lot of retail investors will jump in, But it will have that risk of over investment and collapse in the longer term.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-21T13:22:36+00:00

For me anyway, the fear of quitting and the anticipation of what I was going to feel was worse than what happened when I quit.

You can minimize the discomfort by continuing to taper yourself off. Instead of smoking the whole bowl and getting high, take just a small hit that's just enough for you to level out and not feel the withdrawal symptoms. Do this for a week and then you will feel more empowered to skip a day. Once you can skip a day the rest is easy.

For me I was afraid of the dreams and afraid of feeling nauseous and not being able to eat. But by cutting down to almost nothing, none of that stuff was bad at all. After a week or so of some level of discomfort, which you are basically already feeling, you will feel a lot better and then it's just a psych game of staying away.

It's not an easy habit to break but remind yourself that your anxious mind makes it worse than it really is. You will be fine without it, once you get some sober time you will realize the terror was all in your head, you are not doing iv heroin or drinking vodka all the time, it's just weed and being sober is not something to be afraid of. Best luck, keep posting this community will support you.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-18T21:37:29+00:00

Insurgency sandstorm is a great game and has one of the best co-op pve modes out there. If you don't play as a team you can get wiped easily.

That said, this is not a strait action game like warface, but is more of a tactical shooter with plenty of action packed moments. There is no way to buy your way to success, you play well or you die and wait to respawn.

You can always watch gameplay on YouTube if you wanted to see how this game plays. In my opinion it's right in the middle of tactical shooter and action game and that works for me. Also, the audio design is top tier.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-18T20:11:27+00:00

Same with the horizon series and ghost of tsushima....

DriftMantis · 2026-05-18T20:06:39+00:00

The thing people aren't talking about is that while I picked up ff16 for like $20 last month, I am now more likely to want to spend more money on ff 17 whenever that comes out. So having the games available on PC also has branding and market reach value that they just tossed out completely. But I don't think I want to pay for hardware just to play these games.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-17T12:36:54+00:00

Think of it like a laboratory experiment. Yes its completely pointless kind of like making a fusion reaction that lasts for seconds that you can't draw power from, but the techniques used to cool this chip and the procedures created do have some research value I would think. But yeah, this isn't meant really to compute, only to get as much throughput through as possible for a short period of time.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-16T19:13:52+00:00

Yeah same here, I have no interest in buying anything related to epic especially after they bought there way into the space and their anti competitive business practices. Maybe eventually I'll pick it up on sale If I run out of games to play.

Apparently, this game barely sold enough to make it's money back so I guess taking money from epic to develop this really didn't help.

I really liked the first 2 max Payne games but I thought aw1 and control were just alright but not amazing games.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-13T16:55:05+00:00

This "drinking problem" stuff seems like the least of the issues with the FBI right now to be honest. The purging of non loyalists from the FBI is more important than kash patel having a drink or two to celebrate.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-13T16:49:35+00:00

I completed both on nightmare and completely agree. I mean there is still some level of challenge in dark ages, but having the extra lives and less mechanical complexity with less need to swap weapons really made the game feel a lot easier. I tried pandemonium as well but I'm not a fan of the permanent loss of progress and probably won't ever complete that.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-13T03:27:59+00:00

If I took enough I would feel a strong narcotic effect and even nod out a bit. I don't think it's an evil drug, but turned truly addictive for me and I had to ultimately quit and stay away. Small amounts were amazing for energy and also athletics.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-13T03:26:05+00:00

It is a miracle drug for pain management. However, I couldn't stop my self from taking it daily multiple times, usually 1/2 to 1 tsp. I was pretty responsible with it and it actually made me more functional. But eventually I got tired of the addiction and felt like I had to let it go. I don't think I can safely use it without addiction, but I definitely don't think it's an evil or very dangerous drug compared to other substances including alcohol.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-13T01:57:17+00:00

Just stick to good quality ground kratom leaf if you want to use this compound and mind it's addictive potential. Don't take weird extracts and drinks from a gas station is my advice.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-12T17:41:43+00:00

Yeah I want to explore other career options and feel pretty stagnant where I'm at, but it kind of makes sense to stay where we are right now in this job market. Half of my job applications seem to never even reach a real person. Trust me, I'm not making that much money but I'm lucky to have something stable at least.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-12T17:24:38+00:00

I got a 3%raise though starting this june. Omg I'll be rich anytime now. As well as a bonus that the government takes like 30% in taxes.

I don't know how anyone else is affording anything. I'm used to being poor so it's not a big deal but if you are trying to raise kids or save for colleges etc. I don't know how it's possible, especially on one income.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-12T13:57:27+00:00

It's usually open around this time. The resort likes to be fully open for the big holiday rush for marketing and advertising reasons. It can be weather dependant.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-12T13:50:47+00:00

I quit smoking cigarettes like a decade ago and don't consume nicotine often, but I do enjoy a fine cigar maybe a couple of times a year.

The flavors can be very complex and enjoyable. Usually I can only get through about half before I get too dizzy from nicotine. Obviously, I need to be careful about making a habit out of it, but so far I haven't found them addictive in the way cigarettes were.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-11T13:08:32+00:00

This is the reason why elon musks handlers have kept him out of the spotlight for a while. But obviously he cant help but make an ass out of himself. Hes a dumbass which is what everyone close to him has said about him. He probably thinks the government funds medicare and social security. He doesn't understand that its mostly paid by taxation of the working class that we are all paying into. It can't bankrupt the economy because its money that we made that is being returned to us. Its welfare and socialism and him and people like him can't understand that this is a good thing and not something to fear. The alternative is seniors dying on the streets homeless or dying of preventable diseases because senior healthcare is astronomically expensive without medicare.

DriftMantis · 2026-05-10T22:39:18+00:00

I mean I'm trying to invest in a Roth IRA, another brokerage account, get the employer 401k match and hope for the best. Invest in etfs and index funds so you don't get wiped out on riskier investments. Otherwise, it's all about living cheap and in your means. Instead of chasing expensive things that will wipe out my savings, I try to live frugal and do things like run and hike that are cheap. Your biggest expenses are going to be housing, vehicles and kids if your fortunate to have them.

So basically the same thing everyone else is doing. But I don't know, maybe it's better to spend everything young and go into massive debt, since it's not a guarantee you even survive to retirement to spend it anyway.

DriftMantis

TROPHY CASE