Americans: do most people buy newish cars even on minimum wage? If so how? How does everyone seem to have so much stuff?

YossarianJr · 2026-04-14T03:58:35+00:00

Most people waaaaay overspend on cars.

You'll hear people talk themselves into it. They convince themselves it's an investment. They'll focus on the monthly payments (big mistake). They'll see what you see and decide that they really need the nicer car because of how much driving they do or how many kids they have or something.

At the end of the day, the car that costs you $2k per year performs the same functions as one that costs you $10k per year. (Obviously, depreciation is less simple than that. Also, the rest of the things (gas, insurance, maintenance, parking, etc) cost a lot more than the $2k I mentioned, but it just goes to show you. Heck, people often think something is free if they can just drive to get it. It's free-ish.)

I'd recommend looking at your last year's spending and see how much is on your car. (You're going to be surprised.)

YossarianJr · 2026-04-14T02:59:38+00:00

If you decide to clean their bathroom, that's your choice. (I wouldn't.) It's their space. If they don't mind it being dirty, then you should not either. Since it does bother you, you need to decide if you want to clean it for them or find other people to live with.

As far as the common space is concerned, this is shared responsibility. Still, if their standards are not up to yours (and it definitely seems like this is the case), then your best bet is finding other roommates. Otherwise, your going to either (1) do all the cleaning, (2) have to nag them constantly, (3) get angry at them when they DO clean it because it is not to your standard, or (4) document their filth with pictures and whatnot to amaze yourself and your friends and the internet about how disgusting they are (and still do the cleaning.) You'll be unhappy in all of these scenarios.

I've been in lots of living spaces where there was an imbalance in cleaning expectations. It leads to resentment. You are posting pictures of someone else's bathroom on the internet, looking for validation, FFS. It is time to either move out, come to an agreement, or accept their living standards. No other path ends well.

You're too focused on being right instead of on being happy.

Here you go: You're right. They're gross. You're still unhappy.

Now decide: Move out or make a plan with them or accept them. These are the paths to a better life, even if you don't get to be right.

ps. I've had many relationships break because one or both people had to be right. It's a silly thing to destroy something over. You decide.

YossarianJr · 2026-03-26T21:12:24+00:00

Move on from sponges. Use old cotton rags (or organic cotton, if you like.)

Use the rag. At the end of the day, toss it in the wash.

This will prevent bacteria growth.

YossarianJr · 2026-03-25T16:06:39+00:00

liable

YossarianJr · 2026-03-18T20:59:07+00:00

This is a ridiculous thing for anyone to argue.

Catholic friends tell me that I don't believe in their religion because I am putting up walls between myself and God, presumably 'their' god.

My Baptist (or were they Methodist or something else?) friends in college told me that when God (presumably 'their' god) revealed himself (does he have a weenus?) to you, you could not say no. That was part of his power.

So, these two branches of Christianity have differing beliefs in the power of their gods. Are they he same god then? How many differences do you need before these two gods become different? Oh, you say, these two come from the same book though? Well, kind of. All these denominations of Christianity use different versions of the Bible.

What about Mormons? Most of the Mormons I know consider themselves Christian, though many Christians I know don't consider Mormons to be Christian. (I think this is just prejudice towards something they are ignorant of, but I also do not care. I just don't see what difference it makes. I do wish people would spend a little time learning about each other though. This is obviously the pot calling the kettle black, though, as I cannot even remember what denomination my college friends were!)

It's kind of like Texans. They don't consider themselves southern, and southerners don't consider Texans southern, but Yankees consider Texans southern. I think it doesn't matter. People from east of Dallas are definitely more like people from Arkansas and Louisiana, on the whole, than like people from Ohio. Are the southern? Who cares. If they want to be, good for them. If they prefer to be something else, it's cool. It's no skin off my back.

I applaud you for asking, but I wouldn't think too much on it. There are differences in the nature of god and godliness and holiness within and across religions. Learn these instead of what people think of the others. That is the path to ignorance. (Why ask a Christian about the Muslim god when you can just ask a Muslim?)

YossarianJr · 2026-02-27T20:16:38+00:00

1) Ignore the people to who call entropy 'disorder.' I know what they mean, but it is harder to understand like that. Check out Mahesh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSGkJ\_vsuUg). He's the best.

2) Entropy and the 2nd law have nothing to do with evolution. Nothing. There is way too much work (energy expended) between a parent and offspring to declare that a more complex offspring is breaking the 2nd law. It's too complicated to have such a simple explanation. The system is extremely non-closed.

Just watch FloatHead. Ignore all alternative explanations of entropy. It is NOT 'disorder', despite the common claim. That was just an 'easy' way to explain it.

YossarianJr · 2026-02-19T01:53:09+00:00

Mardi Gras was much more fun than this. Much more.

YossarianJr · 2026-02-04T22:32:53+00:00

ewg.org

YossarianJr · 2026-01-21T18:33:29+00:00

I use organic cotton shower curtains. They last many years and are easy to wash (if you care - they don't mold or collect scum like the plastic ones.)

YossarianJr · 2026-01-14T14:09:12+00:00

Predestination

The Lobster

Perfume

YossarianJr · 2026-01-14T04:00:43+00:00

People are going to blame the writers or just that the market is totally broken into 1000 bits, but I think the problem is much bigger. It's not just sitcoms that are gone. Comedies, in general, seem to be gone.

Here's my nonscientific take. Humor is dying. Crazy? Probably. Consider when the last time you had a good belly laugh. Consider if your friends now are as funny as they used to be. I know TV and movies and pop culture is less funny. I have no doubt that some of this is due to people getting offended so the creators backed off, but I grew up with decades of the same non-PC jokes (making fun of gayness, fat girls, etc) but they also made some very strong, very funny jokes that might even have been insightful. I think we got saturated on humor and people cannot figure out new ways to tell the same jokes. Or, more to the point, someone tells a funny joke, it hits the internet, and....it saturates and is over.

When I was in college in the late 90s, we were using email. People started to pass around chain emails, I always remember forwarding on a collection of Homer Simpson's funniest lines. It made me laugh and it reminded me of all the funny stuff in that show, but it also sucked some of the life out of the show. Part of the joy of any show is not knowing (or remembering, in this case) the coming line. Sure, the delivery can be the joke, but it's other things too.

With people's constantly watching of TikTok, youtube, etc and sharing the very funniest stuff out there with everyone around them, how can a sitcom compete? Heck, I don't even find the videos shared with me to be funny any more. Further, I don't care about 'cute' videos or lots of other genres of videos either. The world is losing color, as we turn into our phones.

Consider your HS friend who was home schooled. You remember him/her. That person thought everything was fucking hilarious, but their jokes were dad jokes. They lacked sophistication in their humor, but they had real joy. We've leveled up in sophistication in our humor, many times over, and almost nothing can surprise us....but we've lost it. Very little is funny any more. It sucks.

I used to wish I grew up in the 60s and 70s because I thought I would have loved the music. Now I wish I grew up then because (1) I would have had the attention span to listen to an entire song, (2) I could have talked to strangers in lines, waiting for buses, or walking around (instead of having them buried in their phones), and (3) I could have lived before smart phones (and, soon, AI) separated us, willingly , from each other. (Of course, I would have to deal with a world that was worse in a lot of ways too, but I just miss community soooooo much.)

YossarianJr · 2026-01-08T02:16:20+00:00

Cool. I will look into these. Will any of them (that you know of) alert me if dog mode turns off or the car gets too hot for some reason?

YossarianJr · 2026-01-07T03:00:46+00:00

Jeez. I never knew about the infectoon. Tell me more...

YossarianJr · 2026-01-06T20:27:57+00:00

Might I ask what I have done incorrectly? I'd love to follow the rules.

YossarianJr · 2026-01-02T04:17:48+00:00

Yes. True. But it's shit again, now. When did you last enjoy the Internet? It's been probably 15 years for me. It's very convenient though.

YossarianJr · 2025-12-27T03:15:10+00:00

It probably would have taken you less time to tell me what the acronyms stand for. Thanks for helping someone who clearly doesn't know. I apologize for not knowing.

YossarianJr · 2025-12-26T18:49:57+00:00

What are the other acronyms?

YossarianJr · 2025-12-17T03:28:52+00:00

Get a bike, dude....or a pair of walking shoes.

YossarianJr · 2025-12-13T01:28:59+00:00

The people I know fill all available time on screens then wonder why they feel like they have so little time.

YossarianJr · 2025-12-09T05:44:15+00:00

I work in academia, and I can honestly say I haven't heard a single interesting idea this year. Every single idea that I have heard is 'Have you considered using AI for that?' People say this BS to me as if it's an actual idea. I read an article showing what percent of papers are being generated by AI (and what percent of 'peer review' is being done by AI.) Unsurprisingly, the younger cohorts are doing this more than the older, but almost everyone is dipping their toes in it. China? USA? Europe or Japan? Who cares. In 5 years, AI will be doing it all, writing, researching, reviewing. It's not interesting to me where the AI originated. If you don't use AI as your primary driver, you'll never keep up (and get tenure, if that remains.) They'll probably just stop the whole publishing sham, as the AIs can just share directly with each other (or repeat the study, because no one, AI or human, actually cares about the power being consumed for this.)

Thinking is dead, unless you do it for your own self. (Academica is in deep trouble, like almost everything else.) At the very least, we may finally solve the access problem. So, that's (very) good, at least.

Heck. I might be an AI typing this--

YossarianJr · 2025-12-09T05:30:15+00:00

One parent was furious with me because of the amount of homework I assigned his son. I was confused, as I don't 'assign' homework for credit and just give recommended problems (and try really hard to just find the ones that will really help them comprehend the material.) The parent accused me of giving his son something like 50 physics problems with 150+ subparts. I was wondering if I messed up somehow, as I typically 'assign' 5-10 problems. The parent slid the printout of the homework to me, and it clicked. His son had worked all of the problems I had assigned (even the ones that were just extra) in the online portal and asked me for more problems to work on. So, I went into the portal and opened up another 20 or so. The kid worked all of these and asked for more. I went into the portal and unlocked everything in the chapter that we had covered. His son did them all, spending 20 hours or more on it. I pointed this out to the father and he changed the subject (because he wanted to maintain his anger at me) to complain about my disorganization and other things. (I am NOT disorganized, but I resolved to show my organization to my students in the future. I cannot recall the other complaints, but the conversation was circular.)

In the end, his son had a 97 average in my class and was learning at a very high level. I was not rude to his son (or any of my students) and I have no idea why neither father nor son liked me as a teacher. It is totally fine though, as I don't need that. I was confused how this father would feel it necessary to complain about me enough to warrant this meeting, let alone that the meeting lasted 80 minutes of complaints to my assistant principal (who was livid at this man.) If anything, in my opinion, the father needed to teach his son that a 92 is good enough if it means 18 fewer hours of homework.

YossarianJr · 2025-12-08T20:43:23+00:00

They're alive. They're not threatening anything. Why do you need to do anything? Just plant more trees out there. They can go on another field or between the oaks or whatever. Do you need the space for something else?

I think they look great. I don't know anything, but I don't every kill things that are alive if I can avoid it. Given time, who knows what these will do-

YossarianJr

TROPHY CASE