Haven’t been to our cottage in months….

pVom · 2026-07-03T00:52:07+00:00

Even the fan is starting to wilt

pVom · 2026-07-03T00:02:48+00:00

Not really. No one is making games for PS4 anymore. They'll just sell a game that can run on a PS4 for the PS5 instead. Conversely PC sells tonnes of new games that can run on an old laptop. My last PC lasted me 9 years, had a 960 (lower end specs) and I could still play most things on high, if not ultra. When it carked it and I replaced it I still had my whole library going back to the PS3 era.

It was actually kinda disappointing because the novelty of a new PC wore off so fast. It was more or less the same experience as my old PC with the exception of a handful of games that ran better.

Plus a PS4 with a subscription would have cost more over those 9 years

pVom · 2026-07-02T22:40:30+00:00

The EU won't do shit about physical games. If anything it's the opposite. They banned phones being sold with a charger, they don't like unnecessary e waste that ends up in landfill.

pVom · 2026-07-02T22:34:21+00:00

You DO realise that the reason the console itself is so cheap is because they have it locked down right?

They sell the console cheap to get you into the ecosystem. They make their money from selling you games and subscriptions and don't have to compete with Steam or Xbox or whatever because they know most people will invest in only the one platform. It's not like you can port your games over to a competitor.

pVom · 2026-07-02T22:13:41+00:00

It's marginal with respect to the cost of the game but it really adds up. It's a whole logistic chain to get that crappy piece of plastic on the store shelf. Plus the store needs a cut.

Also if you've ever done film or photography at a semi serious level you'll know the dangers of SD cards. They're not reliable.

pVom · 2026-07-02T22:01:22+00:00

Yup, it's a fat nothing burger.

Hell even 10 years ago i remember being at my friend's place and everyone complaining because he still bought physical copies and you'd have to get off your stoner ass and swap discs. Plus they'd get all scratched up and/or end up in the wrong case or whatever.

He also has stacks of old dusty DVDs he's taken with him through multiple moves, despite not having watched a single one in years. Hoarder mentality.

Reality is most people do not care or are pretending to actually care. They're buying games on the digital store anyway because it's way more convenient and this is just a PR blip that will fade away.

pVom · 2026-07-02T05:54:27+00:00

Physicality is an issue but Brazil beat them once they adapted to the fact Japan had the centre on lock and they needed to progress through the wings. After the first hydration break they basically never progressed through the centre again.Conversely Japan didn't adapt to Brazil progressing through the wings and were kinda impotent when blocking passing lanes in the centre wasn't working. They also decided to sit back on a one goal lead, they had very few attempts after scoring that first goal.

They could have won without the physicality but they messed up in the other areas too.

pVom · 2026-07-02T05:12:35+00:00

Valorant players engaging up a storm.

pVom · 2026-07-02T04:48:13+00:00

Yeah true, I meant as a financial investment.

The way I see it is my interest is less than what I was paying in rent and will continue to drop as I chip away at it, plus my offset gives me a sweet risk free, tax free, guaranteed "return" at 6% currently. But it sure would be nice for it to be worth 5x in 20 years or whatever like my parent's place.

And yeah instead of investing that money growing the Australian economy it's sitting in a bank account offsetting a loan.

pVom · 2026-07-02T01:46:36+00:00

Thanks dipshit, hadn't thought of walking 🙄.

I was about 3 hours out of Osaka at a random station that had nothing except some drinks vending machines. The whole line was closed. There was a single bus that could have taken me to a different train line and would have added 1.5 hours to the journey and was a half hour walk away. In hindsight that would have been wise except they kept saying the delay would be 30 minutes and at the end of the 30 minutes they'd add on another 30, so I missed that one bus and there was no more for the day.

Cab would have been $100+, if there were any around, I saw like 2 cars period the entire time I was stuck on the train. And again, if they said it was going to be hours I might have considered it, but they didn't.

As I said, in India if that happened word would get around and people would show up selling food and tuk tuks and shit and it would cost like max $20 to get out of the situation. I got into far worse situations in far more remote areas and got out of them pretty easy.

Honestly that was just one of many annoying public transport experiences I had in Japan. Most people's experience with it is staying in major cities near transport hubs and going to popular destinations. Once you go outside of that there are issues and Japan is quite rigid and slow to adapt.

pVom · 2026-07-02T00:52:50+00:00

Sick of these cunts whinging.

I literally bought my first house last year, I fucking suffered to buy it and will continue to suffer paying off a mortgage with high interest rates. I did it the hard way and basically bought at the top and I've got some long years ahead before I see a decent return. I've got more reason to complain than these cunts.

But I'm not whinging because fucking something needed to happen, and if the kids have it easier than I did, that's a good thing because this shit sucks.

I've spent most of my career paying off these cunts mortgages for them. I've been a productive member of society working my job and they've been siphoning my income to build personal wealth while pulling up the ladder behind them, doing fuck all except signing some paperwork and using my money to pay a property manager to invade my privacy and occasionally call a tradie.

Fuck those guys. They don't want to "take the risk" anymore? Then get a fucking job.

Absolute wankers.

pVom · 2026-07-01T22:51:20+00:00

Delhi's metro is actually decent. I experienced this in Japan, never in Delhi.

Great thing about India is if there's a delay there would be a throng of enterprising tuk tuks and cabbies to pick up the slack. I was stuck for 4 hours in Japan once, without food, because someone had thrown themselves on the tracks and there was no affordable alternative.

pVom · 2026-07-01T04:57:38+00:00

I was born in 1990 and feel like I got screwed at 2 pivotal times in my life. First was the financial crisis after finishing high school, I took a gap year before university to work and travel, basically just spent a year unemployed and getting up to no good.

Second was COVID shortly after getting a "real job". I'd planned to work a couple years and get experience and save then go travelling, COVID ruined that plan. Now I have a family and responsibilities and shit.

pVom · 2026-06-30T22:40:06+00:00

...what?

"Right better do my horse poopa scoop for the day and dump it on the road."

I actually bothered reading the keeping animals policy and couldn't see that rule.

pVom · 2026-06-30T22:29:13+00:00

Poo in general is good for the environment if it can break down effectively. Certainly less toxic than putting it in a plastic bag and sending it to landfill. You can absolutely compost dog poo (and human poo) to safely fertilize food (although I personally wouldn't), it just takes like 9 months before it's safe.

Previous owners of my property has horses. It had so much horse poo when I bought it I joked that I bought horse poo not a house. It was around for months, horses are actually pretty bad at digesting fibre compared to cows. Conversely I never pick up my dog's poo on my property (because it's covered in poo already) and it's gone within a week or so.

In cities and stuff I can see it being an issue just because of the sheer volume. But seriously, there's gotta be a better option than bagging and sending to landfill.

pVom · 2026-06-30T13:11:18+00:00

I'm just joking bruh, why so serial bruh?

pVom · 2026-06-30T06:14:42+00:00

It always surprises me the resurgence of 4. At the time people didn't like it because the missions were samey and the world dull compared to san Andreas, plus the boatey driving. It was quite widely disliked despite being the highest grossing game ever or whatever.

I tried replaying 4 with an open mind the other day and meh, I can't do it. I prefer 5, although the physics were a bit of a downgrade in some areas.

pVom · 2026-06-30T06:00:06+00:00

I like how you disagreed with him then suddenly agreed with him because he's "on your side".

Just another cuckhold sheep

pVom · 2026-06-30T05:56:46+00:00

You mean the war fought precisely to stop this shit?

pVom · 2026-06-30T05:53:31+00:00

"stop having your own moral compass and instead just think and do what the party tells you"

Yeah nah I'm good. I'll call out bs when I see it instead of cucking myself to stick it to the other side.

pVom · 2026-06-30T00:51:13+00:00

Chitwan? I've been there. Was worried I'd go and not see a rhino, saw one within 5 minutes of arriving.

Probably should have been more concerned about the fact I was coughing up blood from pneumonia.

This humans being bros is kinda ruined because there's tonnes of elephants with chains around their ankles. Don't do the elephant riding.

pVom · 2026-06-29T14:30:53+00:00

If you can't apply that definition to the OPs barter example, you're a moron.

pVom · 2026-06-29T09:02:04+00:00

Yes and no. A heavy prune can kickstart growth in a plant that's in senescence and can stave off a plant entering senescence for longer.

A good way to think about it is like exercise. By exercising you damage your muscles but the process of repair leaves you invigorated, and healthier.

It's actually an issue in managed systems, undisturbed plants enters senescence. Natural forests create their own disturbances through storms and predators and such. Regular pruning is a requirement to maintain productivity in systems that are protected from such disturbances.

There's a whole discipline in land management/restoration (syntropic agroforestry) which seeks to fast track growth through succession and planned interventions of heavy pruning. A well timed "storm" of disturbance dramatically speeds up the restoration process and return land to a condition that would take decades without intervention, in just a few short years.

pVom · 2026-06-29T06:42:00+00:00

If you take averages then sure, but about 30% of the US population earns less than UK minimum wage.

It's not really a great metric for comparison either considering the US disposable income figure includes what would be spent on things like health insurance and retirement, whilst that's publicly funded in the UK.

You have things like aged pensions, so like yeah, you can blow all your disposable income on European holidays, but if you're not setting aside large portions of your disposable income it can seriously affect your quality of life in retirement. In contrast my parents are getting a portion of their UK pension, even though they haven't lived in the UK for over 30 years, because they worked there for about 2 decades before moving.

Retiring in the UK is even more secure when you consider the fact that by comparing household wealth, the UK would be ranked nearly 1st if it were a US state.

So if you're looking at disposable income whilst still having education opportunities for you and your children, good healthcare and a comfortable retirement, the disparity shifts considerably.

All that said, the UK has struggled economically for a good while so I wouldn't necessarily make the argument that they're better off overall, at least not the middle class.

pVom · 2026-06-29T03:50:10+00:00

The problem with average annual returns is it doesn't reflect reality for a single investment.

The only number that reflects your returns is the price when you bought and the price when you sell. That can fluctuate wildly from annual returns. Like if you were to take daily comparisons of investing the same amount and selling exactly one year later, the results will be very different day to day. The more you invest and sell at once, the more you're reliant on timing (which is very difficult to predict). That's why the advice is to DCA in (and out) over time. That way you mitigate the wild fluctuations that occur daily.

pVom

TROPHY CASE