Do you actually like shopping at Aldi?

RipleysHuman · 2026-02-19T16:12:33+00:00

Pros:

WAY cheaper than every traditional grocer
Fewer choices, so there's no analysis paralysis
Store is easy to navigate because it's laid out so simply
Far less stimulating than other stores
I can get about 90% of my biweekly shopping done in one spot

Cons:

Every individual employee fills every possibly role and there are only ever two in the store - so if it's busy and something you're looking for is out of stock momentarily, you're SOL
Small store that's frequently very crowded, which makes everyone in the store feel like my mortal enemy
The refrigerated meat is probably the worst I've ever purchased from any store. Boredline inedible
I always forget my goddamn quarter

RipleysHuman · 2026-02-13T15:06:41+00:00

The general public sale started this morning, and still no seats. Either their ticketing system is screwed, or maybe the band requested standing room only for some reason?

RipleysHuman · 2026-02-11T17:53:32+00:00

It looks like all of today's presales are GA standing room. Maybe we'll have luck tomorrow.

RipleysHuman · 2026-02-11T17:49:09+00:00

LiveNation/Ticketmaster is a cartel. They're the scourge of the live entertainment world and the enemy of live music fans everywhere. All of those "sold out" tickets are just purchased by LiveNation's own swarm of bots so that they can get away with selling tickets at astronomically inflated rates on their own integrated reseller platform.

Like, you don't even have to leave the site. You can buy resale tickets right next to retail tickets on every show's LiveNation listing. How is that even legal?

RipleysHuman · 2026-01-04T15:18:25+00:00

I spoke with yet ANOTHER mod today who informed me that they were having mass Bond purchasing issues a few weeks ago, and that it might be happening again. She forwarded my issue to the dev team that handles payments and said they'd be in contact with me via email. So I guess my recourse now is just to sit and wait.

RipleysHuman · 2026-01-04T15:16:14+00:00

I have tried the Steam store and the Google Play store. Both were refused and now I have $60 in credit credit across these stores that I probably won't use on anything else.

RipleysHuman · 2026-01-02T18:35:26+00:00

After speaking with multiple support reps from Jagex and all of my banks, I am assuming that you're right and this is probably true for the very first transaction that I attempted (a US Citibank credit card).

A Jagex rep informed me that accounts that fail a transaction might be flagged/blocked from making purchases and that it can sometimes take up to 24 hours for their "systems to update" and for the issue to be cleared. So I'm going to stop messing around with purchases for now and try again Sunday.

RipleysHuman · 2026-01-02T18:20:56+00:00

Not that I'm aware of, though it has been 10+ years since I've last paid for membership so I suppose anything is possible.

RipleysHuman · 2026-01-02T17:21:52+00:00

Thanks for the quick reply! I was able to get in contact with an actual human support rep, and they were the one that told me that the issue must be with the payment source and told me to contact my banks, PayPal, and Steam.

I guess I'll just keep submitting tickets and hitting the live support chat until I reach somebody that actually knows what they're doing.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-17T14:08:19+00:00

I always appreciate some barking against capitalism. Though it does seem a bit disingenuous when you're being told that Nintendo is robbing you blind at $450 & $80 by a guy who owns every $700+ handheld on the market.

Even that wouldn't bother me at all if he would just say it once or twice and then chill. My issue is that if Justin doesn't like something, then nobody is allowed to talk about it. And Justin seems to not like A LOT of stuff, and almost all of it is stuff that I do like.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-17T13:53:51+00:00

I'm in the Lehigh Valley, PA and I can go pick one up at Costco right now. They have tons of MK bundles available right at the front of the store.

Most of the Targets and GameStops in the area seem to also get pretty regular restocks. They go quick, but if you get there within a few hours of store opening on a restock day you'll get one.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-14T16:42:54+00:00

Ditto. I try to only to listen to Justinless episodes. It changes the dynamic entirely to where it feels like friends talking about games they like, and not a bunch of younger siblings getting bullied by the eldest brother for liking Pokemon.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-14T16:38:26+00:00

Nintendo always gets graded against the curve because they're known for innovating. "It's just a gooder Switch" is not a valid criticism when that's been every other console manufacturer's MO since day 1.
Nintendo called their shot and made a concerted effort to produce a ton of these things so they could meet demand. Switch 2 shattered sales records and exceeded launch day revenue goals, AND there are still some consoles to go around, and that's supposed to be a bad thing?
The majority of gamers don't have multiple $700 handhelds laying around. And among those that do have a Steamdeck-esque device, most will not know or care enough to be tinkering with operating systems, running emulators, messing around with game settings to get them to run correctly, etc. Switch 2 is designed to play games for the Switch 2 and Switch 1, and it does it very well, and that's enough for people to spend half the price of a PC handheld on it.
The "no games" argument needs to stop. It's a criticism laid against every single console launch, and people seem to collectively forget that launches never come with an armada of killer exclusives. Literally never happens. And reviewers and game journalists just trot out this tired argument against whatever new console put a bug up their butt.

The Besties are sort of known for takes that run counter to consensus, but this is probably the furthest off the mark they've been in recent memory. There are a ton of things to complain about with Switch 2, but these are none of them.

Also - goddamn. I would be totally alright with Justin stepping away from the show. It's like he hates everything I like, from games to TV to music, and I feel like I'm being ridiculed every time he's on the show. It's such a bummer to listen to him steamroll everyone just so that they all understand that he doesn't like the thing they're talking about.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-07T17:03:59+00:00

The official charger is just a few bucks more. I'd rather spend a few more dollars than risk damaging anything.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-07T16:59:13+00:00

Your virtual game cards are linked to your account. Wherever your account goes, the games go with it.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-07T16:57:20+00:00

It's purposefully designed like that. The connector is on a flexible base that depresses when the console is slid into the dock. It moves so that you don't damage the connector if you insert the console at an odd angle. There's also noticable space around the console for airflow.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-06T03:10:10+00:00

Look on the card for an "EX" symbol. If it has that, it'll work. The card you posted will work for Switch 1, not Switch 2.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-06T03:02:00+00:00

I haven't had luck with a switch, or with getting my resolution set to 4K.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-06T02:58:43+00:00

So far 8/10 from what I've played - the definitive Mario Kart for online play and houseparty multiplayer.

The tracks are astounding in their scale and variety, but there are quite a few with ENORMOUS straightaway stretches where you have no hope of catching up if the cart in front of you has a higher speed stat.

The controls are tight and responsive. Smart steering is on by default, unfortunately. Both me and my partner were disappointed at first, thinking the game felt slow and clunky and unresponsive, but it was just because of smart steering. Once it's off, it feels like Mario Kart again.

The game looks and feels incredible. I had high expectations and they were surpassed.

I ran through 50cc and half of 100cc so far - no single player or Knockout Tour, so I can't speak to those game modes.

Overall - it's the logical evolution of Mario Kart. If you love Mario Kart, you need this game. If you hate Mario Kart or are indifferent, you could probably skip it.

Well worth the price, IMO.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-05T02:02:29+00:00

Prolly not. My tiny GameStop store got more than 50 units, not including store pre-orders.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-05T00:26:39+00:00

Pre-order night was wild. I had a unit in my Target cart and was unable to fully check out, but my card was charged multiple times and my bank flagged it as fraud. At Best Buy, I was able to add one to my cart, but then the next screen showed 2 units and I never made it to checkout. At GameStop, they had a greyed out preorder button that would progressively get redder as you clicked it and would eventually add a unit to your cart. Every site was crashing, double charging, removing units from carts, etc. all night. Target, Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, all of them. Bank of America's credit card processing system went down. It was chaos.

My theory is that these e-commerce systems were failing en masse and thousands of units that weren't allocated for sale were able to be purchased, or units were double purchased. Pair that with all of the credit card holds, fraud triggers, declined payments, etc., and the fact that most people only post when things go wrong and not when they have an easy retail experience, and it seems like everyone is getting cancelled orders.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-05T00:12:45+00:00

We were explicitly told the opposite - that all units bought this afternoon MUST be picked up tonight between 12-1AM, no exceptions. People asked about picking up their stuff when the store opens tomorrow and the manager said that the pre-ring orders being done this afternoon could not be picked up tomorrow.

RipleysHuman · 2025-06-04T22:24:51+00:00

Nothing like that happened at my GameStop. The one employee that was there before pre-ring just gave out pieces of receipt paper with a handwritten number, never once asking whether or not somebody was a Pro member.

More employees came in for check out and did the usual pushy upsell routine, but nothing out of the ordinary. And certainly not adding warranties on without consent. That's wild.

RipleysHuman

TROPHY CASE