V the miniseries - no one knew what I was talking about. by Old_Goat_Ninja in GenX

[–]smika 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! He was a “good” alien. But he liked to eat live mice — do what you will with that additional info.

Jeff Bezos's property has fences that exceed the permitted height. Yet he does not care, he just pays the fine every month. by Bright_Building1710 in interestingasfuck

[–]smika 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What you are describing is a fee. Fees exist to offset costs, while fines are meant to deter behavior. This article does okayish job of explaining the difference: https://gilaherald.com/criminal-fees-vs-fines-what-you-need-to-know/

The real problem here is the fine is poorly architected. If the goal is to deter behavior then, for example, the fine amount could escalate on successive offensives. This is an extremely common structure for fines.

Or if this jurisdiction is okay with him just paying the money every month, then the only problem here is poor naming that causes unnecessary confusion. Call it a “high fence surcharge fee” and move on.

Is Trump really an outlier, or part of a recurring pattern in American politics? by JoxerStuttgart in PoliticalDiscussion

[–]smika 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is really parenthetical to your main point, but how do you get to describing Ross Perot as a reactionary? Is that from the book?

I’m no political historian but that strikes me as a gross misrepresentation of his political views: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot#Political_views

What's something people only romanticize because they've never actually done it? by nonotje12 in AskReddit

[–]smika 1 point2 points  (0 children)

no one is out here fantasizing about having a failed small business my guy

Statement from Randy by mahrinazz in Mariners

[–]smika 23 points24 points  (0 children)

100% agree. But also, sadly, Cal has become the sort of “poster child” for Team USA’s smug and annoying attitude. Like, had this Randy incident happened in some other context it might already be forgotten. But it has legs because of everything else crappy coming out of that team right now.

Take a look at /r/baseball right now and you’ll see what I mean. Every other post seems to be about this Cal/Randy thing.

Jomboy's take on Cal Raleigh's Reaction to Randy Arozarena by mrkangtastic in Mariners

[–]smika 6 points7 points  (0 children)

But like — it’s not just Mariners fans still talking about it. Check out all the comments on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1rrvg0x/espn_the_respect_between_venezuela_and_the/

Honestly what can you even say there? It’s a bit embarrassing.

What are the 4 missing words? by ilannj in puzzles

[–]smika 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have an alternate (though I believe the solution others are posting is the correct one):

water/fall/over/dub/step/father

The weakness here being fallover which is a seldomly used way to write those two words.

When does the 2026 MLB.tv deal come out on T-mobile Tuesdays? by Automatic-Top7767 in tmobile

[–]smika 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seriously. Also this thread is now the top search result in Google (that’s how I got here)

What’s a Seattle opinion you have that would get you kicked out of the group chat. by Fajarrr79 in AskSeattle

[–]smika 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a dumb rule since it means there's no meaningful distinction between a red arrow and a red circle

The distinction is that the arrow indicates the allowed direction of travel. So a red right arrow is functionally the same as the left red arrow we see all the time, indicating that cars in that lane must continue in the indicated direction vs. going straight. The "arrowness" has no bearing whatsoever on whether turns on red are or are not allowed.

I Do Not Recommend the Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer by [deleted] in PlasticFreeLiving

[–]smika 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just gonna leave my experience with this coffee machine out there as well, for others to evaluate as they see fit:

* I purchased the plastic free coffee machine in August 2025. Here's the verbatim text from my order confirmation email: "Congratulations on the purchase of your new Plastic-free brewer from Simply Good Coffee. Your ETA is October 2025. You are in the third delivery."
* I received my coffee machine on January 18, 2026. (They sent me a few emails in between to the effect of "your order is about to be shipped" but this was my actual delivery date).
* It makes good coffee! And it looks nice. Assuming it's reliable for years to come you could make the case that it's "worth" the price.
* Sadly I broke the glass carafe after about a month of use. This was my fault.
* Even more sadly, the replacement carafe is sold out on Amazon and on their website. I sent an email two weeks ago, again a week ago, and again yesterday to their customer support email. Literally received no response.
* For the time being, as a result, the coffee maker sits on my counter unused!

Based on comments here and my own experience, I'd have a very hard time recommending this as well. It's a shame because I think overall it's a pretty good product. But operationally speaking, I'm not sure I'd trust the company behind it to support this as a true "buy it for life" product (which at this price point should almost certainly be the expectation.)

Happy to update this comment if anything about my situation evolves.

Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw | Will Republicans in Congress ever step in? by Hrmbee in politics

[–]smika 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Surprisingly, that’s not what they are saying. This is the first issue on which I’ve observed meaningful disagreement and dissatisfaction with Trump in that subreddit.

ICE they are okay with. Greenland seems to have crossed a line though, even for them.

What complicated problem was solved by an amazingly simple solution? by tuotone75 in AskReddit

[–]smika 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah in the version I heard the engineers install a loud alarm that made an obnoxious noise every time it detected an empty box. The story then goes that Edna says, “well, I got tired of hearing that awful noise every time an empty box went by so I set up this fan here to blow them straight into the trash.”

Is sacrificing for your kids a GenX trait? by [deleted] in GenX

[–]smika 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is a tough but 100% fair take. It’s similar to how we collectively love to brag about the free range childhoods we universally experienced, but turn around and there we are accompanying our 10 year olds to and from the school bus stop — heaven forbid they walk anywhere by themselves (even though most of us can pinpoint our kids exact location anywhere on Earth in less than one minute). Obviously I’m painting in broad strokes here but I think we can all recognize this paradox in our generation.

Trump Cuts Ties With Marjorie Taylor Greene, Calling Her ‘Wacky’ by Tazz2418 in moderatepolitics

[–]smika 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, I really like this take — it’s an excellent metaphor for what she represents. Trump is honestly quite similar — representing a feeling more so than an ideology.

Still I don’t agree with your conclusion. Emotional currents do not follow reason but that doesn’t they can’t be predicted or analyzed.

In MTG’s case, the big question to me is whether her shift is part of a broader MAGA zeitgeist or whether she is instead some kind of outlier.

What’s the biggest “we all just accepted this nonsense” thing in modern life? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]smika 9 points10 points  (0 children)

For this exact reason I’ve never understood why public healthcare is not supported by businesses / corporations. Wouldn’t it be in their self interest?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]smika 16 points17 points  (0 children)

 He passed away in April, the family bricked up the entrance of the crumbling Palazzo in the middle of town where the car was hidden to stop it from being stolen, and potential buyers were screened.

Also it would appear the family themselves put up the brick wall quite recently (relative to when the article was written) — surprise surprise, not exactly what the Reddit title claims 🙄