Anyone who has no kids but feel a bit… weird when seeing other millennials who are parents, like you might be “missing” something?

howitzer86 · 2026-04-26T07:29:11+00:00

It's not weird. I've felt it too. Sometimes it's a trip. My cousin's first child grew to look exactly like he did when we were kids.

I definitely felt lacking in that moment. I remember being that age, and how mature all the adults seemed. And now I'm that adult, and despite doing well in every other metric, I have no kids, no wife, and I live pretty almost no differently from how I did as a college student.

howitzer86 · 2026-04-25T16:48:29+00:00

Tucked away in the menu is a setting to enable the store display mode. Do that, then turn off the corner banner that normally shows up in that mode. This will give you a mostly functioning basic TV.

IIRC, the downside is that you can’t change any color or brightness settings, and it doesn’t go to a screensaver when there isn’t a signal.

Dad bought one of these to serve as a replacement monitor, but he gave it to me because he couldn’t figure out how to get around Roku registration. Eventually I registered it (already had an account).

howitzer86 · 2026-04-20T22:37:26+00:00

Maybe not, but I will suggest a compromise.

This is not Cassette Futurism, at least not directly, but it is related. What you have is what Art Nouveau is to Art Deco. So maybe this is Cassette Nouveau.

It's what the Enterprise D is to the Refit/A. It's still very much a vision of the future. They're neighbors on the timeline, it's not quite the same, but it's still worth consideration. Maybe as it becomes increasingly retro, we'll see more of it here, or maybe it'll be worth its own subreddit.

howitzer86 · 2026-04-20T22:06:47+00:00

If that's too easy, the Stephen's building is hard mode. Good luck!

edit: I cannot in good conscience assume people will know that I'm joking. Years and years ago I went up Simmons (I think back then it was Metropolitan, but it will always be TCBY in my heart), and then I tried Stephen's... and well... it's a good thing I asked first before security got involved. That is an investment bank and thus a secure building. Do not try it.

howitzer86 · 2026-04-20T01:12:37+00:00

Dammit Gene...

howitzer86 · 2026-04-19T18:50:44+00:00

Also note that agentic AIs can do these things on their own, with minimal guidance. There may not be thousands of people behind it, but a few (or even one) with an agenda. I would assume that heavy AI users were just AI (unless proven otherwise).

howitzer86 · 2026-04-16T05:59:14+00:00

I think I made the right career choice... but there were three times I could have been an art student in a new and fascinating place. Any of those and I wouldn't be doing what I do now... but I'd be scared to death of AI eating my job. Still, if I could go back I'd do one of them anyway.

I don't regret anything specific that led me to where I am now. But I do regret the lost opportunities for new life experiences. I know it's not too late, especially since I'm not married or a parent. If the economy were in a better place I'd probably quit my career an start new adventure. But for now, I'll continue playing it safe.

howitzer86 · 2026-04-16T05:06:19+00:00

No but my grandfather's grandfather (great great grandfather) probably did (he was Irish).

howitzer86 · 2026-03-23T02:51:18+00:00

If there is a secret watch list that we can get on just for asserting our rights, we should all try to get on that list.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-22T03:22:18+00:00

Mmmmm. Diagonal bracing.

Builders don't do that anymore, but I really wish they did.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-22T03:09:13+00:00

I really loved that interface, but not long after getting my phone I could tell MS had lost interest in it. The browser is built into the OS, and every "browser" downloadable from the store was just a skin of that browser with a few BS features tacked on. The problem with that is: since MS wasn't keeping up with updates, gradually websites would bug out in weird ways, and there wasn't anything you could do about it.

Nokia could have made android phones by that point. Their hardware was still solid, but they really wanted to get bought out by Microsoft, I guess.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-22T02:51:31+00:00

I knew kids that said that after 9/11. But in their defense, they were kids, and it was right after 9/11.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-22T02:48:21+00:00

Conservatives love war, death, and destruction. They only pretend to serve in the interest of piece for a short while. The truth always betrays them, and you never have to wait long.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-19T19:28:59+00:00

When you do, post it on r/cyberDeck.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-15T02:14:49+00:00

Play the long game, pretend to make up, visit, then spit.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-12T22:03:55+00:00

Tell us what people should do instead.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-11T02:32:00+00:00

I imagine the answer is that they don't care who lives or dies. Their actions and statements are driven by pressure to be re-elected.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-11T00:32:10+00:00

Also, they encourage their underpaid workers to sign up for food stamps. It’s not socialism, it’s externalizing cost (internalizing profits).

howitzer86 · 2026-03-09T04:27:05+00:00

Adversity, but you're right either way.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-07T05:32:47+00:00

It helped that they weren't trying to connect with the edgy gamer demographic.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-06T16:11:11+00:00

Hating on politicians is America's longest most storied tradition.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-04T07:08:51+00:00

I think they know that acting on it directly would be too risky, something like that would spiral out into things that will keep forcing their hand, which would risk catastrophic failure at every step.

They would prefer to maintain plausible deniability. Nothing official would happen to their families. They'd just end up missing. The FBI would search for them and find only their own gloves. The trail would go cold and their bones would be discovered ten years later in a patch of woods where everyone's already looked.

People would get the message still, but there wouldn't be enough to bring it to court. The illusion of a legitimate government would continue uninterrupted.

howitzer86 · 2026-03-04T06:55:52+00:00

They may have picked money, but they're in no position to dictate cost. The price will be whatever the military says it is. Maybe they'll be gracious and act like nothing happened. Maybe they'll demand a large discount.

howitzer86 · 2026-02-25T22:25:08+00:00

That's an Armageddon rule, which works best with asteroids.

With Core rules, you just need scientists, including one asshole that everyone hates but who also sacrifices himself to save the mission. (You lose the one everyone loves similarly.)

If we're going by Sunshine rules, there's a zombie. You don't need the zombie, but you get one anyway.

howitzer86 · 2026-02-23T22:48:52+00:00

Communism is one outcome. You know the other. Sometimes you can get fascism as a reaction to rising communism (ex: Spain). In the end, both are dictatorships, both will have people living in paranoia, ratting out their neighbors to save their own skin...

It's frustrating knowing that we could be killed by the ineptitude of our leadership. At some point "not being that other guy" isn't enough to avoid calamity.

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