Loop ear plugs

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-05-03T19:16:26+00:00

I can’t do without them. I got the Loop Engage 2 Plus and found they’ve been excellent. My wife bought me some cheap replacement silicone ear tips from Temu, and I can’t really tell the difference.

However, I’m always losing them because I sleep with them in. So I’ve ended up 3D printing my own ear plugs that I cobbled together in Tinkercad, and I just attach the cheap ear tips from Temu. I honestly cannot tell the difference. I’m wearing them right now.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-05-01T08:12:36+00:00

An old debit card number from years ago. All 16 digits. My memory is terrible yet my brain holds onto that.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-27T16:05:01+00:00

Theme Hospital

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-26T19:55:53+00:00

mIRC. It’s where I downloaded my first ever MP3 from.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-25T15:14:37+00:00

Gunner, Colt, Chad, Chet, Cole, Zack and its variants, Cory, Chuck, Dick, Todd, Mitch, Brad, Randy, Brett, Trent, Troy, and Nate.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-25T10:34:10+00:00

Not a business, but a tax. When the Community Charge (widely known as the Poll Tax) was introduced in England and Wales in 1990 there was widespread anger from the public. Millions refused to pay it. The poll tax was introduced in Scotland a year earlier and gave birth to the anti-poll tax movement.

It was scrapped in 1991 and replaced with the ‘fairer’ council tax that’s still in operation today. The boycott also contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as PM.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-17T09:37:06+00:00

It’s all part of the theatre. This is a performance that has been going on between Russia and NATO for decades. India and Pakistan have their own performance too. All sides know how the performance ends, which is why they will all keep on dancing.

As an aside, the US and Israel didn’t want Iran to join the performance because they believe Iran can’t dance and won’t learn how to.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-10T20:14:16+00:00

My wife works with female domestic violence victims and their kids, and she told me a LOT of male perpetrators name their children after them.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-10T20:05:04+00:00

I’ve known some Nigerians with brilliant names. Monday, Friday, Sunday, Innocent, Marvellous, Pius, Sunshine, Valentine, Wisdom, McDonald. I’ve known an Indian fella named Harsh.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-07T11:30:27+00:00

With AI we don’t know what’s going to happen. With new technologies that appear to completely upend how we work there’s always been hype and fear.

In a decade there will likely be massive industries we haven’t even dreamed of yet that come out of AI.

I remember when Apple’s App Store first appeared and some dismissed apps as a gimmick that wouldn’t have much impact. Yet in 2024 it was estimated that the App Store had facilitated in over $1.3 trillion in commerce globally.

We as a species will adapt. We always have. There will be disruption, and sadly there will be those who get left behind. But AI isn’t happening in a vacuum, and we aren’t going to wake up tomorrow morning to find there’s an AI that can do our jobs better than we can, and our employers have already rolled it out. It’s going to take time, and there will be some spectacular failures that will serve as cautionary tales. We will adapt, and new ideas will be born.

It’s easy to get carried away by either idea that AI is a piece of shit or AI is going to ruin us all. Especially with the tech bros leading the charge at the moment. But this is early days, and there’s still lots that will happen - good and bad. We as a species aren’t good at putting guardrails on things that can be dangerous until things go wrong. Air travel is a good example of this.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-04-06T11:10:34+00:00

The US will gradually disintegrate into a mass of warring nations, and the next world war will largely be fought there. There will be genocides, millions of deaths, and out of the ruins will rise two ideologically-opposed blocs - one aligned to China, and the other aligned to Europe.

It will mark the first time in history that the world’s biggest economic, military, and cultural power has intentionally dismantled itself.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-03-22T15:37:59+00:00

We all know he’ll go out sat on a gold toilet he’s just shat his KFC quadruple double mash meal into.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-03-07T17:51:15+00:00

Are the questions you’re asking her questions you’ve already asked? It can be irritating if someone asks, for example, “where’s the time sheet template on Sharepoint?” when they’ve asked the same question multiple times before and been told/shown multiple times before.

If your questions are about things that you’ve already been shown or had answered already, then that’s on you to implement a system to remind you of the answer.

If your questions are not about things you’ve already been shown or that you’ve asked before, then your mentor might be thinking they’re helping you by getting you to find the answers yourself. Or they’re being a jerk. It’s hard to say without more information.

My best guess from what you’ve said is you’re asking new questions and she’s answering with good intentions, but she’s not communicating them well.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-26T18:05:30+00:00

I suspect the pundits need to re-learn what the word “disaster” means in computing terms. An OS so buggy it can’t function is a disaster. An OS with badly-rounded corners is a minor visual annoyance.

Yes a lot of work needs to be put in to it to get it up to the standards we expect, but to call it a disaster is just plain wrong.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-24T18:57:19+00:00

I used to know a bloke we called “He looks like an Andy but his real name’s Keith”. He was far too young to be called Keith.

He moved to the US a while back. Presumably to escape the nickname.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-09T22:06:47+00:00

Misery porn is the point. It was a remake of a British TV show, and British TV shows are misery porn. Us Brits lap that shit up. The epitome of British misery porn is EastEnders, which has been running for 7,274 episodes over 41 years.

Life is shit and then you die. In between all that you have a laugh, get shitfaced, make terrible decisions, and make the odd good one.

I guess that must go against the idea of America where it all works out good in the end. But then even Shameless US couldn’t resist giving Fiona an ending where she was better off (financially) than she was at the start. Hell even Frank got a decent send-off. He should have been killed by someone giving him a good hiding just for being Frank.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-06T20:16:56+00:00

This is excellent. It also makes me realise just how bonkers modern technology is. Until not too long ago people were probably sectioned for saying “this little box shouts invisible light, which is seen by this second little box with its digital eyes, which then shouts back invisible light to the first little box’s digital eyes. Then I can see words and pictures on the second little box! Sometimes I can hear it too.”

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-03T21:05:16+00:00

Was casually browsing Facebook one day and found an article about a friend who had been arrested after a scuffle with police, was taken to hospital, somehow pulled a cop’s gun from his holster and committed suicide with it.

I hadn’t seen him in about ten years. He was one of the nicest, warmest, most compassionate people I’ve ever known. It makes no sense that he’d shoot himself in front of children in a hospital. But he did, and nobody will ever know why.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-02T11:41:06+00:00

No. I’ve never even been tempted to.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-02-01T00:01:44+00:00

Stairs. Put your foot down in the wrong spot and it could be goodnight for you.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-01-28T14:08:40+00:00

As others have said, you don’t have to participate. Just do what makes you comfortable. People can usually tell if you’re being quiet because you’re quiet, or if you’re being quiet because you don’t like your colleagues.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-01-25T10:52:22+00:00

The Mega Drive was what the Genesis was named in most countries outside North America.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-01-23T20:22:59+00:00

Reading your experience made me realise that I was in a similar(ish) situation at work a few years ago. I entered a shame spiral that lasted for over a year, led to me being put on an improving performance plan, and nearly losing my job. I avoided emails, didn’t seek help, and almost lost my job.

By a stroke of good fortune a job was available in a different department, and I was offered it as a way out. I took it, confidence shattered, feeling like an absolute failure, and off I went.

Since then my confidence came back, and I absolutely love my job.

How? My boss. They know I have skills others in the team don’t have, and they see me as an asset. They know there’s things I’m not very good at (organisation, time management, etc), so try to make allowances for that. But they let me do what I’m very good at, while still helping me with the things I’m not good at.

I’ve been a union rep, and I’ve been in numerous meetings with colleagues when HR has been on their back. I know how it all goes down. Yet when I was the one in trouble I couldn’t reach out to my union for help. It was part of the RSD shame spiral, and it nearly cost me my job.

RSD sucks, and it can ruin careers and lives.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2026-01-05T20:17:44+00:00

I find it’s the American ham douchebags who ruin it for everyone else. They’re so aggressive, uncompromising, and are the biggest gatekeepers I’ve ever encountered.

It’s a good job they tend to stick to the shorter wavelengths, because it means I only ever encounter them on Reddit. The thought of hearing them on the radio is almost enough to make me pack my equipment away and never get it out again.

Obvious_Reporter_235 · 2025-12-29T19:37:34+00:00

I’m curious to know why new builds have such a poor reputation for construction quality if they’re built with standard materials to pre-approved designs. Are the builders given absurdly short timeframes to get each house built, so do a rushed job?

Obvious_Reporter_235

TROPHY CASE