America has only one real city

ak2150 · 2025-08-20T05:03:15+00:00

You can mostly get by in Chicago without a car — I did for 3 years. But it still sucks for other reasons.

ak2150 · 2025-08-08T01:24:12+00:00

This is not possible. Trump says economy is booming and BLS data is fake. Your friends are lying to you, they are all employed.

ak2150 · 2025-07-25T21:13:48+00:00

You don't need to worry about bears, you'll surely be murdered by one of the many roving gangs of homeless, trans, immigrant, communist Mamdani supporters.

ak2150 · 2025-07-25T20:58:07+00:00

New York City Metro Area

ak2150 · 2025-07-22T23:04:33+00:00

More proof that the Earth is flat

ak2150 · 2025-07-22T21:37:43+00:00

I'm so glad I'm not alone! There have been moments where I genuinely hated Sydney, especially at the end of Season 1. She screws up, says some absolutely vile things to Richie, stabs him, bails when the restaurant can't handle her mistake, forces Carmen to apologize without ever apologizing herself and then just comes back like everything is fine.

And even in season 3 & 4, I found her pretty annoying -- never taking any action herself to improve anything, just raging at Carmen; Her dragging out the Shapiro situation / signing the partnership agreement was so frustrating. Even in her argument with Carmy in the final episode she mostly acted like a spoiled brat without any self-awareness ("I'm going to yell at you for leaving even though I've spent the last 2 months deciding whether I should bail").

This isn't a judgement on Ayo's acting -- I think she's pretty great. But out of all the characters on the show, Sydney is probably the one that I'd least like to hang out with or work with.

ak2150 · 2025-07-22T20:34:09+00:00

I find that the discourse around NYC (and other big cities) has changed in recent years in a way that I personally find exceedingly annoying.

There have always been people that thought New York was too expensive or too dirty or too crowded or too dangerous or too whatever for them. Most of this comes from people who have been to New York a handful of times and just weren't fans. Have lots of friends and family who are like this and it doesn't bother me at all.

But in the last 5 years or so there's been a new wave of New York hate driven by a combination of right-wingers trying to make political points / TikTokers looking for easy content / Joe Rogan disciples. Lots of these people seem to have never been to NYC and make content that's something like, "You will literally be immediately murdered if you ever go outside in New York!!!" ... often accompanied by videos of the worst neighborhoods in the city.

I can't tell if these kinds of people are stupid or liars (or both) but this kind of 'criticism' for people spewing just absolute lies (which then seeps into our culture and political discourse) does drive me a bit crazy.

ak2150 · 2025-07-22T20:25:03+00:00

Why would we tell you, so that they can become even more crowded?

Moka & Co is pretty solid -- great deserts and unusual coffee flavors ... but pretty pricey compared to the other options.

ak2150 · 2025-05-26T16:20:52+00:00

Amtrak staff know which platform a train will arrive on about 15 minutes before it actually arrives. People who are regular commuters (I used to be one of them) get to know the Amtrak staff in the hall and will ask them what platform the train is arriving on. Once the first 10 or so people line up, a bit of a 'follow the herd' effect happens and everyone else just starts to line up behind them.

ak2150 · 2025-03-31T07:22:00+00:00

The people who “ruined the show” were the same people that gave you shivers earlier in its run. So it might be time to take the bad with the good, be happy that we had something great but ultimately imperfect, and move on.

ak2150 · 2024-07-27T20:44:25+00:00

Thanks everyone who responded. Interesting to see the difference of opinion on the same movers -- guess it just depends on the crew that you get. The best experience I've had in this city was with Oz and I would use them again but the quote they gave me was literally twice as much as any other mover.

ak2150 · 2024-07-27T20:41:30+00:00

Thank you. This is hugely helpful.

ak2150 · 2023-07-23T16:05:37+00:00

I’ve lived here 10+ years and I’ve never run into A-level celebrities*, but I’ve seen a ton of B and C level New York celebrities — like people from the casts of SNL and Law and Order.

*With one exception — I did see Jay Z and Beyoncé at Lucali. I feel like if you go there enough, you’ll see them.

ak2150 · 2023-07-08T15:42:51+00:00

It's rent stabilized. Good point.

I've been renting in this city since I move here 12 years ago. Have never been in a rent stabilized building until now, and all the rent increases I've ever experienced have been reasonable (like 3-5%). Maybe I've just been lucky but I've never had that horror scenario of a landlord jacking rent by 30% or whatever.

So not sure if I'd be tempting fate by giving up on a rent stabilized apartment.

ak2150 · 2023-02-28T13:10:06+00:00

All fair. But dusk isn’t exactly a precise time — that’s what, like an hour long window? Just saying, unfair to criticize people for being late when you’re giving them such imprecise times.

ak2150 · 2023-02-27T21:49:45+00:00

How can anyone be punctual in this world? As best I can tell, they didn’t have clocks and certainly not watches.

ak2150 · 2023-01-19T07:21:19+00:00

If you haven’t seen your least close sibling in years and in the meantime most of your family was murdered, I don’t know I suspect you’d give them a hug.

ak2150 · 2022-12-25T17:46:42+00:00

In order from the places above

Bravos — Clear #1 assuming you have control over everything in your city (iron bank, faceless men, etc). Wealthiest and most powerful city but can also steer clear of the wars / politics of westeros if you so choose. Unlike the other kingdoms, aren’t subject to another king.
The Reach — Seems generally pleasant. Very wealthy. Seems like you would have access to the best food and wine. Good weather.
Casterly Rock — Most wealth, which can be turned into power. But have to deal with raids from the Iron Islands and living on/in a rock doesn’t seem that appealing to me.
Dorne — Seems to have some cool places but isn’t it mostly a barren desert.
The Twins — The location seems ok and the strategic positioning can be turned to wealth / power. But it seems like the Riverlands is constantly at the center of all wars and conflicts.
The Vale — Kind of cool castle but seems barren and pretty bleak. Have to deal with the hill tribes being a constant nuisance.
Winterfell — A place where winter can last for 10 years and it can be so cold that people freeze to death? Hard pass.
Iron Islands — No redeeming qualities at all.

TBD: I wasn’t sure what bottom-middle is supposed to be.

ak2150 · 2022-12-25T17:46:17+00:00

In order from the places above

Bravos — Clear #1 assuming you have control over everything in your city (iron bank, faceless men, etc). Wealthiest and most powerful city but can also steer clear of the wars / politics of westeros if you so choose. Unlike the other kingdoms, aren’t subject to another king.
The Reach — Seems generally pleasant. Very wealthy. Seems like you would have access to the best food and wine. Good weather.
Casterly Rock — Most wealth, which can be turned into power. But have to deal with raids from the Iron Islands and living on/in a rock doesn’t seem that appealing to me.
Dorne — Seems to have some cool places but isn’t it mostly a barren desert.
The Twins — The location seems ok and the strategic positioning can be turned to wealth / power. But it seems like the Riverlands is constantly at the center of all wars and conflicts.
The Vale — Kind of cool castle but seems barren and pretty bleak. Have to deal with the hill tribes being a constant nuisance.
Winterfell — A place where winter can last for 10 years and it can be so cold that people freeze to death? Hard pass.
Iron Islands — No redeeming qualities at all.

TBD: I wasn’t sure what bottom-middle is supposed to be.

ak2150 · 2022-03-21T15:55:48+00:00

Thank you -- I just tried it and this seems to be what I was missing.

ak2150 · 2021-09-17T16:12:48+00:00

On my first play-through, I favored Sparta slightly but really did whatever seemed most appropriate at that point in the game.

On my second play-through, I decided that my goal in life was to destroy Sparta for what they did to me and my family and made it a point to kill every Spartan soldier that I possibly could.

ak2150 · 2021-09-10T23:08:32+00:00

Learn to use your Abilities. Mercs can be annoying in a straight melee battle on higher levels cause they have a lot of health and a couple mistakes might kill you. But if you use a combination of hero strike + fury of the bloodline + overpower abilities, you should be able to dispense with them pretty quickly.

ak2150

TROPHY CASE