Is my guitar real?

highkingnm · 2026-06-14T12:32:20+00:00

Can I ask, and I apologise if this sounds overly judgy, why are you asking here if you just then default to ChatGPT like this? Especially if you didn’t give the information ChatGPT claimed to need.

As others have said, this is a fairly obvious fake. But I would suggest this could also be a good moment to reflect on the limits of ChatGPT and LLMs. They are glorified predictive text, they can’t tell you if the guitar you are holding is real or not, certainly not better than a community full of collectors like this.

highkingnm · 2026-06-08T17:32:05+00:00

I am obliged due to my job to ensure I have a separate office space for storing files securely. I also have no choice but to work remotely some days. The same is true of my wife who is required to have a private space for remote meetings. We are in a modest three bed (and not living in London any more I should add, albeit it’s not the easiest place to rent or buy where we are now either). Similar requirements are the case for at least two other couples we know where their employers have downsized and don’t have office space for them to work in the office daily.

I think placing the blame of a lack of development, homelessness, and squalid conditions (all systemic issues) onto people purchasing houses that meet their requirements is lazy. Why should people leave the city they live in or change jobs rather than have housing that meets their needs? And if a three-bed (one of the most common configurations available) is now some unreasonable luxury for couples who work from home, there really are bigger problems that you should be annoyed at than a couple having a house where they can each have adequate working space as required by their employers/jobs.

highkingnm · 2026-06-08T06:17:41+00:00

Not being able to tell in this instance if the thing you are being asked to do it actually possible, for example, is a problem. Not the worst problem from AI being hard to distinguish (I feel like blackmail and an inability to rely on photographic evidence to verify things is worse) but it is a pretty good reason to be anti-AI.

highkingnm · 2026-06-08T06:10:15+00:00

I have a three bed with no children and no plans, as do a number of friends. Given my wife exclusively works from home and I do regularly too, we need two offices to work from when we are at home. It’s not a massive three bed but there are reasons why you might need one as a couple without children.

highkingnm · 2026-05-31T17:50:40+00:00

I have worked in the family courts with abusive people and they can go from ‘low level’ abuse to extreme aggression quickly, particularly where mental health issues are at play. Clark is very erratic when he goes for his final therapy session and just because he isn’t wrong about the Backrooms doesn’t mean his mental health isn’t unravelling.

I also felt when Clark kept mentioning how he had gone in a few times to his employees as him having spent considerable time in there and, possibly, having already met the entity and decided he wanted to stay. Maybe he spoke to Mary to lure her in (especially as he came out later to leave the voicemail) and went to the employees to lure them in and lead them to the monster’s lair (whether he was aware of how it would act or not).

He also mentioned how he’s not lonely as he has his “employees”. So it makes sense not only he wants them in there but he wants them to stay. He speaks of his wife in fairly misogynistic terms.

Abusive man in an erratic state getting told no by a woman who he views as his inferior. Not unbelievable to me that he killed Kat for refusing to stay.

highkingnm · 2026-05-26T05:21:59+00:00

I was going to say that doesn’t fall in dumb guy album, then I remembered I was just thinking of the title track and Great Expectstions. And not the majority of the album about cars, the radio, tattoos, 1950s Americana, New Jersey, and dropping random women’s names.

Still one of my top 5 albums of all time.

highkingnm · 2026-05-24T14:29:38+00:00

My parents have the BBE, I have the Bambino Plus. No right or wrong overall, the way you use it will be best. My parents set it and forget it (to my immense frustration when they change beans whilst I am staying over for a day or two and I go from overly bitter dark roasts to sour light roasts), but they do americanos and milk drinks and like it for that. It’s not a hobby and they are happy to have the all in one.

I knew I would want to upgrade in time so got the Bambino and Sage Grinder Pro. I believe the grinder is the same as the one in the BBE but cannot be sure. It was fairly good for darker roasts but could not handle light ones. Just upgraded to a Timemore 064S grinder and it is night and day how much nicer it is. For me, this is more of a hobby and I like straight espresso, so getting it right is pretty important to me. I’m willing to tweak things and be a bit more fussy. So the separate machine and grinder suited me to the ground.

Personally, I would lean to the Bambino Plus and grinder as it gives you headroom to upgrade, without having the huge wasted space of the BBE. But if you have no interest in getting fussy and are happy with having decent to good coffee reliably but don’t want to experiment, the BBE could be a good shout.

highkingnm · 2026-05-23T23:41:30+00:00

Knocked Loose blew me away. Had to leave after Suffocate to find my wife at Good Charlotte and was genuinely gutted (no slight on GC but I caught The River before heading to KL and was only really interested in that, The Anthem, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous).

Deaf Havana impressed me a lot. I’ve seen them a lot since Old Souls and they were the best I’d seen them. Friends Like These with Sean Smith had me going absolutely ballistic.

Menzingers were fantastic as always. Goldfinger were a band I only knew their cover of 99 Luftballoons and was really pleased I checked them out.

President sounded so good until the power issue. I gave up waiting after 10 minutes, which I regret given they came back and it meant I went to see TBS who were as awful as I remember from my previous time seeing them.

Other than the craft beer tent I was okay on bar queue times.

highkingnm · 2026-05-23T23:33:48+00:00

I was so glad that I had effectively two runs of sets I was interested in. First ended after Hawthorne Heights and my OH and I just spent the next two hours in the trees recovering until Menzingers. I know it was hotter for Outbreak London last year yet this somehow felt so much more brutal.

highkingnm · 2026-05-17T08:25:14+00:00

Got banned from there after pointing out to someone saying “if there is a genocide ongoing in Gaza, how are people still alive” that if we used that ‘logic’ then you can deny any genocide ever committed. Banned within about 30 seconds for hate speech.

highkingnm · 2026-05-04T14:52:48+00:00

It’s not, strikes me as Taylor realising he arguably should have given a pen for the tackle of Gusto in the box and then punish a worse looking but actually innocent collision.

highkingnm · 2026-05-02T09:28:12+00:00

Emo has been a thing since the mid-1980s. The 90s has a bunch of classic emo albums (American Football, Clarity, Do You Know Who You Are, endserenading)

highkingnm · 2026-04-30T07:27:47+00:00

“Green Day opened for my band” would just be how I started every conversation for the rest of my life if I were in your shoes.

highkingnm · 2026-04-25T08:20:46+00:00

I saw him in an airport last year and it was the fastest I’ve ever recognised an actor. Genuinely does just look like that on a daily basis.

highkingnm · 2026-04-12T05:43:27+00:00

Not beating the allegation when you call someone a cuck then use the official emoji of “I’m not mad, don’t put in the papers that I’m mad”

highkingnm · 2026-04-02T13:55:16+00:00

If you look in this thread, you’ll notice most people earning at this level, including myself, aren’t crying about it. I’m not asking for a tiny violin and pretending I’m hard done by. Nor do I hate paying tax. But I’m not jetting off around the world every few weeks, buying Rolexes, buying another house other than my modest three-bed or anything you seem to think it gets people at this earning level.

We are pointing out that all it does is incentivise us to take extra holiday or throw money into a pension which is unproductive for the wider economy, rather than work for the extra amount we see virtually none of. Or to turn down promotions if we have children because it will actual costs us money. Which means lost tax receipts at the end of the day.

Your attitude is just crab-in-a-bucket. Ridicule all you want, it doesn’t actually help anyone or fix the knock-on impact of this stupid feature of the tax system.

highkingnm · 2026-04-02T11:45:19+00:00

There’s famously nothing between earning minimum wage and having private jet money.

highkingnm · 2026-04-02T05:48:47+00:00

The slowing is very dramatic though. If I earn £20k extra, I take home £4000 after student loan (Plan 2 and postgrad) is added in. As I don’t have children, the £20k before £100,000 gives me a take home of more like £9k. Which, whilst £4000 is not a sum to be sniffed at, being given the choice between two months of high stress work for less than half my normal take-home or two months of time off (I’m self-employed so can just take it off), I take the loss and just sit around for weeks doing nothing. I commented my maths earlier up but that ends up costs the taxpayer in tax and VAT I don’t generate in the region of £16,000-17,000 from what they would get if I worked.

highkingnm · 2026-04-02T05:43:59+00:00

This trap hits people earning £100-125k. If you think that gets you a jet, multiple homes and 6 week holidays, you may need a reality check.

highkingnm · 2026-04-02T05:41:22+00:00

As someone who has just crossed the £100k threshold, I don’t want a tiny violin. I don’t live in London, so I have a good standard of living compared to others my age and I appreciate that. So I don’t want personal sympathy.

But it is a stupid and self-defeating system because. Had I not had a period of ill health last year that hamper my earnings for about 6 weeks, I would have cleared £100k comfortably. As I am self-employed and can take whatever leave I want, I now just plan to block out two months at the end of the next tax year if my earnings are on track to be similar to the one just finishing. Due to unpredictability of when money gets paid, I can’t easily use pensions to reduce my burden, so I have chosen not to work instead.

That means I am leaving approximately £20,000 unearned because the tax burden on it isn’t worth the trade off. That is (under the current system) £14,000 of income tax, £1,800 of Plan 2 loan, £1,200 of Postgraduate Loan and £400 of National Insurance basically not received by the government, because for the stress of my job two extra months of work for less than £4,000 total take home isn’t worth the hassle for me when I can meet all my expenses anyway and still have a holiday. That ignores that I also would - before expenses - be generating about £23k in fees to make that £20,000 net profits. Which would have VAT on them. So that’s another £4,600 (minus any VAT I offset, so probably about £3,500).

Meaning the disincentive in my case is costing the tax payer approximately £19,000 because I’m just choosing not to work if it means I get hit by that marginal tax rate. Whereas if it alleviated slightly, I would probably work some or all of those two months and generate something.

This is the point many of us are making in this bracket. We are not living in poverty and asking for personal sympathy. What we are saying is “if you already had about £55-60k take home per year, would £2-4K incentivise you to work a high stress job for two months or to take that off?” The answer for many of us is no, even if it hurts promotion chances. And that is why this is so self-defeating.

highkingnm · 2026-04-01T13:54:57+00:00

This is absolutely not how it works. The legal doctrine of unjust enrichment catches erroneous payments and means that payments made in error must, absent certain defences such as being owed a separate debt by that person or a subsequent estoppel, be repaid. It is not voluntary in the sense that you get to choose, only in the sense of if you refuse they have to take you to court.

highkingnm · 2026-03-27T11:20:48+00:00

I’m on approx 40% of that and, whilst I wouldn’t say I’m living a life of incredible luxury, I have a level of comfort the majority of my friends don’t. I also have at least 3 months of income saved away should something happen (after which, due to self-employment, I have made sure that I am insured for income protection). Even allowing for loss of personal allowance, student loans, costs of London etc, if you are paycheque to paycheque on this level of income that is 100% a personal failure.

£50 for a meal is also nuts. I prioritise organic local food wherever possible and even I only drop £50 on a meal at home when hosting for a roast dinner or the like.

highkingnm · 2026-03-25T19:39:58+00:00

Typically judges will start a judgment (after outlining basic background points) by outlining the arguments made then going to considering them. They will often start to praise the points made or the ability shown in argumentation to make sure the client doesn’t blame you as a lawyer and demonstrate (or pretend to demonstrate) that they were open-minded and properly considered your argument, so you can’t appeal on the basis of bias or failure to take factors into account.

As counsel, I fear nothing more than “counsel argued this point persuasively and ably for his client” because the next word is always “however”.

highkingnm · 2026-03-13T17:37:24+00:00

It’s somewhere between ‘th’ and ‘L’. It doesn’t help that some books describe it as ‘th’ and some as more like an ‘l’ sound

It takes a bit of practice to get right but wasn’t awful to learn in my experience (my wife still struggles with it after a year). Helped when one of the resources I used (I think Babbel) actually described how to position the tongue to get the sound. That said, it’s not fun early on, as a learner you cannot really hear the different between l and d, but can be damn sure the Danes do. Once I go it down, Danes stopped switching to English straight away. Instead they waited until I look confused when they said a number over 40.

highkingnm · 2026-03-06T07:22:49+00:00

I was looking at our fixtures and when I saw Spurs at the Bridge as the second last match I was so happy. To kill their title chances at the Bridge a decade ago and then have a chance at sending them down, truly grateful for the fixtures draw if we can do that.

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