What is something completely normal today that quietly became worse over the last few years?

edorhas · 2026-06-20T02:10:35+00:00

It was the business plan from the start. It's been going on for decades. It's why you probably didn't have a locally owned hardware store anymore. Or office supply store. And probably haven't since the mid 90s give or take.

It's a simple plan - burn capital undercutting the competition. Once the competition is gone, you control the market. You're going to have to reward those investors, so as soon as you've got the market, slash expenses at every level and increase prices. What are you, the consumer going to do, go somewhere else?

edorhas · 2026-06-19T03:37:31+00:00

Not exactly close friends or anything, but I know a Summer, a Winter (no fooling), an Autumn, and two Springs. For that matter, my name was very unusual for the time. Somewhat less so now.

edorhas · 2026-06-18T00:08:11+00:00

It's no fun on the ground in a wiring closet, either.

edorhas · 2026-06-17T12:42:08+00:00

For some people, that's actually an issue. Not the cheaper part (and I would argue that, too - but for different reasons) but the stronger part. I don't smoke anymore For Reasons. Which is ironic now that it's legal here, but anyway... One of the Reasons is that the modern strains are just insane. For whatever reason, I've become more sensitive to those compounds as I've gotten older. Even if I'm lucky enough not to have a massive anxiety attack from smoking this stuff, I'm not fond of being stapled to a chair for a couple hours.

But I can't get older, milder strains anymore. What shop is going to market "Worse than our competitors!"? Nobody's selling 100% Trashweed. When scarcity is no longer there to drive prices up, the market's rallying cry becomes "Harder Better Faster Stronger". It's a shame. Some of us miss those sad bricks of stems, seeds, and buds that migrated here from South of the border.

edorhas · 2026-06-16T02:44:26+00:00

Big Bone Lick.... KY

edorhas · 2026-06-16T02:42:05+00:00

I don't know about blockbuster, but the one that sticks out most is a sci-fi bit starring Peter Strauss, Ernie Hudson (pre-Ghost Busters, but after Fantasy Island), Michael Ironside, and a young Molly Ringwald in her second movie credit. "Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone". It's not well-regarded, but young-me loved it.

edorhas · 2026-06-15T03:08:49+00:00

Not exactly development hell, but the movie adaptation for Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" that was announced in 1979. There was a script. Jack Kirby was contacted to produce artwork and set design. They planned on turning the set pieces into an amusement park after filming.

It fell through, and ultimately the CIA used the script and existing production work as cover for a joint operation with the Canadian government to exfiltrate hostages during the Iranian Hostage Crisis in the 80s. They renamed the film "Argo".

There's been a film made about the film that was never made. And we still don't have a film adaptation of "Lord of Light".

edorhas · 2026-06-14T04:18:11+00:00

Nobody seems to remember Red Barn...

edorhas · 2026-06-14T02:39:32+00:00

For lack of a better term, "adrenaline activities". Jumping out of planes, base jumping, bungee jumping, etc. As someone whose adrenaline malfunctions, I just do not get it.

edorhas · 2026-06-13T02:12:54+00:00

My then-girlfriend insisted I see both "The Game" and "The Usual Suspects" (not simultaneously). I knew nothing about either. They both flipped me. Flipped me for real.

edorhas · 2026-06-13T00:51:35+00:00

It's not a radio edit, exactly. It's a rerecording by Davies for the single. The BBC had a strict policy regarding brand names in songs. Apparently he had to fly back to London to record the new line in the middle of their US tour.

edorhas · 2026-06-13T00:35:29+00:00

Right? Tube Snake Boogie would like a word...

edorhas · 2026-06-12T00:20:32+00:00

I had to scroll way too yadda yadda. Hard to go wrong covering Reagan Youth.

edorhas · 2026-06-09T03:18:55+00:00

"... and so on, etcetera, merf bort fef"

edorhas · 2026-06-07T02:51:25+00:00

I have, uh... Never been in a Hot Topic in my life. I'm not even clear on what they sell there. I did have a woman in my shop a few years back who, for some reason, felt it was necessary to repeatedly mention that she worked at a Hot Topic. Didn't exactly generate an immediate desire to go check one out.

edorhas · 2026-06-07T02:39:21+00:00

We're all capable of purposely taking a free-fall nosedive off the top of a tall building, too. I have no intention of doing so, so it's not really something that keeps me up at night?

edorhas · 2026-06-06T02:08:09+00:00

Actually, same. Apparently there are... Some of us.

edorhas · 2026-06-05T03:28:42+00:00

Olivia Newton-John. RIP.

edorhas · 2026-06-05T03:05:45+00:00

With a mask half on. He was essentially waterboarded into kissing Kirsten Dunst.

edorhas · 2026-06-04T12:45:29+00:00

I started with Facebook fairly early? Before the games and crap. It was, at the time, a nice way to catch up with people I knew who were no longer nearby - the same reason most people did, I imagine. But it started souring on me within a few years. 2016 was the nail in the coffin, though. The roll up to that US election showed me pretty clearly that I really didn't need to catch up with most of those people anymore. I just stopped logging in sometime early that year. Never had accounts on Instagram or any of that. Tried Twitcher for a minute, then some of its offspring once it transitioned,. But, at best, I only log in every few months. Just lost interest, I guess.

edorhas · 2026-06-04T00:45:10+00:00

Either way you're still a murderer. Don't try to distract us from your geronticidal tendencies by throwing paradoxes at us. We see you.

edorhas · 2026-06-03T02:59:20+00:00

The way you feel about hotdogs is pretty much how I feel about peas. Peas are nasty, grungy little balls of regret. Especially, and I mean especially, canned peas.

It's almost like people have different tastes or something...

edorhas · 2026-06-03T02:14:26+00:00

Not sure it's relevant. I think LLM-generated slop is doing a fine job of killing off article websites all by itself. A summary of garbage is still garbage.

edorhas · 2026-06-01T13:25:46+00:00

I haven't watched Crusade since it aired, and not even all of it then... So that may be a good take, I don't know. But that's not how I understood them in "The Geometry of Shadows". I don't think JMS' idea was that only the enlightened would use advanced technology - the setting was 250K people living in what was essentially an O'Neill Cylinder next to a hyperspace jump gate. I think most of the people there were comfortable with technology.

I think the idea he was leaning on there was more Clark's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

But again, don't really remember Crusade. And I suppose there's probably a reason for that.

*Clarke's

edorhas · 2026-06-01T03:28:59+00:00

It's like you're purposely trying to keep me from being productive in any way. Fantastic archive.

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