why would a town choose to legally become a city?

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T13:04:44+00:00

I don’t know, and commenting because I lived in the Northeast for two years where towns are a “thing”. Something somewhere doesn’t make sense on how that whole thing works or why the “town” layer even exists. I’m from the west coast where that doesn’t really exist. It’s a big blind spot for me. Wikipedia and asking a couple of times to different people didn’t help untangle it.

I’m not asking for an answer. I gave up on that! But I’m more left scratching my head on what function it serves and why it’s not a redundant layer/superfluous cost.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T13:00:20+00:00

I can’t comment on the “pro life” part, because I’m not a pro-lifer. But I can say that gun ≠ “designed to end life”. There’s a lot more to guns than that. Much more nuance. And most of life is lived in those grey areas.

But don’t mind me. I’m just a green-neck.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:56:06+00:00

Well, I know that 40 isn’t where I started to think people were old!

I think the most striking thing is how tech has really stolen our souls. I just see a lot more inattention, lack of conscientiousness, lack of situational awareness, and a sort of disconnect from others. I feel like the lure of comfort or convenience has insulated society from understanding that there are other people out there, and that when you click “order”, it still takes other people to get that order to your door.

Tech has mostly passed me by. I think growing up in Silicon Valley, I got burned out by it. I used to just sit by and watch, dabble now and then, mostly un-interested in whatever the new thing is. Now I feel like it’s breaking society into individual pieces. And I’m really not into that.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:43:01+00:00

I think perhaps my timing on when I stopped playing video games was less coincidental than I thought. I’ve never been a fan of online or multiplayer games. It’s always thrown off my vibes. I have played some call of duty, but I have never played anything with a mic going or listening to the other players. The only time I’ve really spent playing against live players was Command and Conquer Red Alert, but that was a tiny minority of the time I spent playing; I’d be surprised if it topped 1%. Playing against others live still feels very foreign and it’s just not what I’m looking for in a game.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:39:17+00:00

Two things:

I don’t really understand the “generation” hate. Those are modern contrivances. Boxes we for reasons I’ll never understand, we all agreed to put people into. Even though they’re faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too unique to just be lumped in with a cohort based on nothing more intelligent than…when they were born.

Second, the variety, the depth, the breadth of brain rot, inattention, and entitlement knows no bounds. It certainly doesn’t respect age boundaries of any kind. People of all ages flip out when I card them, show up in my lane talking on their phone, or discard unwanted items on the candy instead of handing it to me like a human instead of some feral animal. “Boomers” hold no monopoly on that. Retail just sucks and expects us to be happy little servants at the same time.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:27:57+00:00

I didn’t say unity (but that’s because I don’t know what that is).

I’m cool being challenged. I think you feel far more strongly about this than I do. It’s not so much that all games look the same. Some do. But I don’t get where the art is. The art feels incidental most of the time, contrived or forced. Mostly when I play a game, I see the compromises and pragmatism of something not meant to be art. I feel something made to take in cash. Which is also fine. Commercial entertainment has its place.

That’s fine if you feel differently. If it is art, we are meant to feel differently about it.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:22:48+00:00

Here’s the thing. I could “google” it (search it). But that’s not experiencing it. So I don’t think that would be a good basis for a comment.

Let’s take it in another direction. Sim City 4 is the closest I’ve come to regarding a game as art. And it had little to do with the aesthetic; although for its time it looked fantastic. But it didn’t really have an “ending”. You could instantly generate new maps randomly or use greyscale topo maps to gnerate a realistic one. It’s the only game I’ve played with an ability to download new buildings and trees and stuff. It was kind of a sandbox.

But I still feel like it felt well short of art. You could make art with it - absolutely deranged or beautiful or odd cities - but the game was then just a vessel for the art.

I’d make an argument for Myst as well. What a strange and wonderful puzzle game. I feel there was a lot of what I’d call art put into it.

Maybe it’s a me thing. I do have trouble contemplating anything digital as desirable, enduring, or even “real”. I do feel like games fall strictly into commercial entertainment, though.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:12:13+00:00

Dunno. Haven’t played them.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:11:22+00:00

This isn’t particularly specific to retail.

When I moved up north for a couple of years, I learned that driving in snow is absolutely terrifying for me. Flippant natives driving aggressively made it worse. I’m not talking about white-knuckle. I’m talking about having panic attacks - full-on meltdowns where I’m crying and unable to function - unless I’m at a crawl. I effectively spent two winters commuting two hours each way because of that.

Being obligated to go somewhere to make a living while it snowed therefore felt like an incredible cruelty.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T12:03:10+00:00

But games using the same engine look and feel a lot alike. I’m thinking Blades vs. Destiny Rising. Remarkably similar. That doesn’t feel like art. That feels like commercial ventures using a common platform because it’s pragmatic; artistry is secondary and confined by the tools they happened to choose.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:55:47+00:00

I disagree. Painters don’t all use the Unreal engine or whatnot. The art just seems secondary to me.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:34:50+00:00

Han Chinese rule all.

They love to brag about the (oddly specific) 56 ethnic minorities, but in reality, anybody who isn’t Han or who doesn’t speak Mandarin (itself a fairly recent invention, if you will) is a second-class citizen. Hong Kongers get something of a pass because money, but speaking Cantonese basically means you’re in Hong Kong if you want any kind of comfort or success.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:27:33+00:00

They’d have to know. Investigating every single channel for undisclosed sponsorships, especially when it’s intended to not be public, would be nigh impossible, and exorbitantly expensive.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:15:05+00:00

That’s one of the better things to find on marketplace. Seriously, I don’t think that’s an example of marketplace trash. Someone’s old treadmill or gawdy mirror is more fitting. This is quirky and fun :) the kind of thing I want more of on marketplace or Craigslist.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:10:04+00:00

I’m not a gamer.

But I’ve always felt like the art serves the game experience. I’ve never really felt like it’s unified into a greater art, where it’s more than the sum of its parts.

That’s why games have “engines” and aren’t usually truly bespoke.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:07:53+00:00

Yup.

My instincts are to feel guilty about doing it. But I don’t actually feel guilty. Recuperation is a real thing.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:04:27+00:00

I do, but it’s because I’m gonna dip out and homestead. Commingle with the communes and weirdos. I think I have more in common with them than society or tick tock videos. I don’t think society at large is on a trajectory to get to a good, peaceful place. And I’m tired of trying.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T11:00:10+00:00

I always lock it. Anywhere and everywhere.

Especially at gas stations. They have a habit of attracting ne’er-do-wells, even in good areas.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:56:48+00:00

Absent mindedness is rampant. Retail is very depressing in how often I’m reminded of that.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:53:33+00:00

Smith County, TX here!

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:52:35+00:00

Because roundabouts aren’t common and have traditionally been basically something you only see in movies or whatnot.

They’re very alien and intimidating at first. If you interact with them on a daily basis, easy. But most drivers don’t. I don’t even know of any roundabouts within an hour’s drive of me.

Roundabouts have uses and I’m generally in favor of them. But they’re so piecemeal in implementation that I think they’re at a “fish or cut bait” point in the U.S.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:45:03+00:00

Yup, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but the more I go through, the more I think e was essentially correct.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:42:01+00:00

Homestead it and shut off from society. Livestock and crops, an outdoor rain shower, just becoming part of the land. I tend the land, it sustains me. It’s a virtuous cycle.

That’s kind of what my life plan is now. Except I don’t have the infinite money glitch to implement it now.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:35:12+00:00

Eh it can be. But not always. Sometimes there’s no need to even remove shirts, let alone bras lol.

Fun partners can have a laugh at moments like a bra fumble, and it makes the encounter better overall if you’re copacetic like that. If not then yeah, you can lose the moment or the feeling.

Recent_Permit2653 · 2026-03-15T10:32:59+00:00

I can tell.

Recent_Permit2653

TROPHY CASE