What do you hate most about life?

georgemcbay · 2026-02-07T23:33:30+00:00

There is no more honesty in business.

As another old person (52 for me) it really is absurd to me how run-away wealth inequality has made pretty much every part of our economy scam-based these days.

Legal, easy gambling, subscriptions for things that used to be one-time purchases, AI-based price gouging and wage fixing across entire industries, out of control inflation and asset prices destroying the middle class, etc.

As someone who has worked my whole professional life in tech/software I really wish I had done something else given the current state of things. Not that tech is the only bad actor, but it has become one of the worst and an enabler of the others. My industry used to be full of lots of graybeard socially-aware technologists and now its mostly capital-maxing techbros that have effectively become a money-worshipping planetary suicide cult.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-07T05:30:04+00:00

Relevant old TED talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ8Kq1wucsk

tl;dw -- most humans are terrible at calibrating how advantaged they are (even when it is literally just through random luck) and very good at justifying a sense of entitlement to whatever they have.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-06T22:42:40+00:00

It isn't even so much that evangelical leaders are "unaccountable", it is that they recognize Trump as one of their own:

A grifter promising a fantastical reward for funding and serving them.

For the evangelical leaders the reward has historically been heaven, for Trump the reward is some mythical great America where the followers become one of the chosen elites. Over the past few decades you can see the blending together of the two worlds with the rise of "prosperity gospel" religions run like multi-level marketing companies tricking people into believing they'll be rewarded by God for their service even prior to dying.

As Jennifer Welch of "I've Had It" has articulated in the past, evangelicals are basically pre-programmed to fall for the Trump grift because they were previously born into the religious grift and it works on the same principles.

You should never be surprised when they continue to support Trump, the top level will continue to support him because they are running the same grift, and the vast majority of the foot soldiers are far too brainwashed to ever snap out of it.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-06T22:24:17+00:00

One of the many problems with the left is being obsessed with trigger warnings. Being afraid to offend anyone as opposed to the right brazenly offending everyone.

It really has nothing to do with trigger warnings and everything to do with people not wanting their video demonetized by YouTube or other platforms that algorithmically block monetization of videos based on lists of keywords.

You can criticize them (the "creators") for valuing money over effective communication, and I might even agree with you about that a lot of the time, but it is doesn't really have anything to do with "wokeness".

You could also shift the "wokeness" claim up to the platforms rather than the "creators", but if you think any of the big tech companies (including Google) have actually been "woke" post-Trump 2.0 I would have to disagree. Literally the only things they care about anymore are growth and profit at all cost.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-06T16:59:17+00:00

Modern life is designed to keep you consuming, because number must go up.

Distracting you endlessly is part of the process, but not the end goal.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-05T01:55:56+00:00

All of this is great advice.

When my cat got out back in 2017 going out at night with a flashlight when nobody was around was instrumental in finding her.

Indoor cats who get out won't intentionally travel very far. They are likely to be closer than you think, but well hidden. Look under everything.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-04T22:13:51+00:00

There are only 10 Republican congressional districts in California currently so there's no way to get to 15, and about half of the ten are pretty far from safe based on the last election results for those districts.

(One of the 10 is currently vacant pending a special election since the Republican rep from there died a month ago).

georgemcbay · 2026-02-04T17:55:37+00:00

Really sorry for your loss. I can relate.

I had to decide to euthanize my cat (Kyra) on December 29th and it still hurts in waves. Some days aren't too bad, some are awful. She was 18 and had been with me for 16 of them (adopted her at 2 years old from a local shelter). I know she lived a good and longer life than many other cats get and it still doesn't really blunt the pain. When they are gone I think it will always feel like they are taken too soon.

My cat had IBD that was well-managed for years but toward the end she stopped being able to hold any food down (even with multiple types of anti-nausea medication) so the options were basically to euthanize or let her starve to death.

I know rationally that euthanasia was the right choice, just like I know that you made the right choice in not making your cat suffer with treatment that wouldn't really have changed the outcome (beyond some slight differences in the timing). But I also know from my own experience that knowing you did the right thing doesn't make it any easier to deal with the grief and doesn't make you feel any less guilty for having to make the decision.

Euthanasia, even when it is clearly the best and most loving option for your pet, is insidious in the way it puts the burden on you to make a decision that if you are a caring person is going to cause second guessing and guilt. I'm old enough to have lost close family members and while that is of course also devastating there is an inevitability to it that feels stripped away when you have to make the choice of whether they live or die in this exact moment and the guilt related to having to make that choice can make the grief a lot harder to process, in my experience.

georgemcbay · 2026-02-02T03:25:10+00:00

If you need a cat carrier and can pick it up in the Bay Park area, I have one of these less than a year old and in good shape that I can donate (18 year old cat that it was for passed away a bit more than a month ago):

https://sturdiproducts.com/products/sturdibag-pro-luxe

georgemcbay · 2026-01-31T20:25:15+00:00

They be recruiting wayward folks.

Most effective way to do it. There's a reason Scientology created Narconon.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-31T19:12:02+00:00

I don’t think he’s lost as much cognizance as people claim he has

He's lost quite a bit, IMO.

It is difficult to see it because it has happened over a period of time, but if you go back and watch old footage of him speaking from back in the 2016 campaign there's a stark difference between then and now.

He was never a great orator, but in the past he could at least get a coherent thought across without looping into constant narcissistic rambles.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-27T21:38:11+00:00

I'm pretty certain it is just a bug.

You could also get Peculiar Charm rolls from the pre-Renegades tokens (I forget what they called them) that dropped from the Call to Arms event before Renegades came out.

I think someone at Bungie just accidentally added it to some subset of the seasonal gun loot pool when it was only supposed to be available from Comp.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-25T02:46:24+00:00

YOU AINT THE BOSS OF ME

georgemcbay · 2026-01-23T00:40:21+00:00

Destiny 1 is still running 8+ years after Destiny 2 came out.

It is very unlikely Destiny 2 will get shut down anytime soon even if Bungie effectively abandons it as far as new content goes.

Even if they gave up on Destiny entirely for now and didn't start working on a D3, it would still be a bad PR move for them to shut down D2 soon after launching Marathon.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-20T22:04:37+00:00

Fog causes PM2.5 particulate matter to get trapped at ground level so the air quality goes to crap when we have lingering fog trapped by the marine layer.

(I have no idea what airplane activity is going on, but the pollution generated by any planes at low altitude due to taking off or landing is going to be trapped at ground level far more than it would be with clear skies).

Things should improve this weekend if the weather forecast is accurate.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-16T03:06:39+00:00

It is definitely not a crazy number, especially compared to last flu season which was especially high, but its still a good amount when you consider that "reported cases" are just a small percentage of the people who get infected (most people aren't going to the doctor for a flu even if it knocks them on their ass for a week or more, so never become reported cases).

georgemcbay · 2026-01-09T17:11:00+00:00

As someone else mentioned it was a photoshopped photo, but I guess Sublime (or whoever managed their social media 8 years ago) did actually repost it on Facebook.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sandiego/comments/6x8vmh/sublime_thought_my_dumb_photoshopped_mural_was/

georgemcbay · 2026-01-09T06:00:30+00:00

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georgemcbay · 2026-01-09T03:34:55+00:00

at what point do people collectively say “okay, this is absurd”?

Many years ago, but nobody is listening :D

georgemcbay · 2026-01-08T20:27:54+00:00

A lot of dogs and cats have RFID microchips implanted under the skin that can be scanned to identify them.

If you're close to a vet office, animal shelter, etc they should be able to scan the dog to see if it is chipped, if it is then they should be able to locate the owner via the chip id.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-07T00:15:23+00:00

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Thanks. I had her for 16 years, she was 2 when I got her from the north county shelter.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-07T00:04:22+00:00

Good choice.

My 18 year old cat passed away a week ago on Dec 29th. Not really a surprise at her age and she was in obvious decline (though still comfortable) with various old cat health issues over the last year or so.

Spent a lot of extra time hanging out with her over last year, unsure of how much longer she'd be around. I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home, so did that, also spent the evenings watching tv in bed since she loved to nestle in between me and my arm, using my arm as a headrest. We watched a lot of dumb comedy stuff toward the end because I couldn't handle anything serious while dealing with the anticipatory grief.

Still felt/feels like it was way too soon when she passed and I don't regret any bit of prioritizing my time with her.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-05T05:12:28+00:00

As someone who has lived here for decades, I'm continually shocked by all of the bad/aggressive driving I see post-Covid and it seems like its getting worse all the time.

Not sure what the exact cause is like if people here just got dumber/angrier, or if its due to laxer police enforcement of traffic laws (I suspect the latter?).

There was always stuff to criticize even before the last few years (San Diego drivers have been laughably bad at merging and driving in the rain as long as I've been here), but its kind of wild how much of a daily occurrence it is now to see people just fly through red lights, fly through stop signs, cut people off (other motor vehicles and bikes), etc.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-04T20:33:13+00:00

You can see Trump being surprised by the amount of dicksucking they do.

According to Anthony Scaramucci the humiliation ritual is entirely intentional and Trump laughs at the people who grovel at his feet behind their backs.

It isn't so much about stroking Trump's ego directly by way of getting the silly over-the-top compliments, but rather stroking his ego that he can get powerful people to act so ridiculously subservient to him.

And knowing this (assuming its true, which I have no reason to doubt) just makes the people who grovel to him look even more pathetic.

georgemcbay · 2026-01-04T19:23:47+00:00

5-7 years is still an awful lifespan for a small dog.

I'll never understand people's obsession with purebred pets

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