When I was a young kid in the 80's I thought Steven Seagal was a real badass, and Aikido was THE best (and coolest) martial art. Watching his movies and fight scenes was like watching that video at this website. Effortlessly using attackers own momentum against them, snapping limbs and the principle of no fist/kick hits harder than the ground. I remember going to the library and getting some Aikido books and practicing the steps from photographs.
Then Royce Gracie with Brazilian Jujitsu and the very beginnings of UFC came along and completely upended the traditional glamor of movie star Martial Arts for REAL fights against opponents of all sizes (Early UFC didn't have weight classes). Most real fights end up on the ground pretty fast anyway and against larger/stronger opponents you want to be on the ground.
That isn't to say that a black belt in say Karate, or even Aikido wouldn't still be effective in a no-choice self-defense situation, but I'd rather be more proficient in Boxing at that point or one of the many other more modern fighting arts that have grappling as a core.
I literally just spent hours in January of researching all the commonly mentioned options out there and trying them for myself before deciding fully on Bitwarden Family. I was a KeepassXC user for years and had my family on it as well. For 2026 I wanted to be more modern and was tired of worrying about backups (like a teenager only having their passwords on their phone), as well as syncing and accessibility. Then spent many more hours getting everyone off individual KeepassXC installs and transferred to the Bitwarden Family account.
I am locked in with paid annual until Next January, but if I have to change again do to enshittification or changes made to, what I felt was a good open-source product and company, I am not going to be happy, nor will my family.
You forgot about the $9b bailout to Intel in August of 2025.
With the recent OpenAi deal with the government I am certain they would throw tons of money at OpenAi if it got real bad. But with upcoming IPO where they are expected to be valued at $840b, we would be a LONG way from them needing a bailout. Well past this current admin.
>The Speakman S-2251 showerhead, with the flow regulator pried out. Was 100 when >bought, 3x that now.
Holy molly! You aren't kidding. I literally have one laying around in my bathroom cabinet that I bought during Covid for, I wanna say, $60? I used it for about a month or two before I decided I liked my previous shower head better (Kohler Forté).
Also, I'm curious why it is so common recommendation across the internet to take out the flow regulators. Even see it mentioned in Amazon reviews. It is bypassing regulations and selfish. It defeats the purpose of everyone doing their part to cut down their water usage, especially in areas that really need it (Arizona, Nevada and California). I still have mine in at 1.75gpm and it rinses me fine. No one needs the Kramer "Commando 450" force.
LectroFan Classic - Portable fan sounds and noise machine (I have mine set to pink noise). Wife and I use it nightly to drown out distractions. Even pack it with us on vacation now for hotel rooms.
> In fact, that's how it already is for me at my job now. I have a MacBook Pro. Windows is just another app on my laptop that I open when I need it, and close when I'm done.
How? Windows as a VM? Or is Windows VM hosted somewhere and you are connecting to it via RDP? Either way everything we mention with the dark-patterns and bloat still apply. Someone has to install and maintain the OS whether you in the VM or the host in your hosted elsewhere VM.
Or are you talking about hosted Microsoft apps on your Macbook? Where the icon opens the app elsewhere and you are just getting the interface?
I've met so many of these narcissistic dad types that I think they are either a) living vicariously though their sons as an ego thing or b) seriously think they are sitting on a winning lottery ticket and their kids will make pro. So they obsessively push the kids so they don't "waste their opportunity" and/or "don't make mistake I did and not take it seriously".
I have even felt that urge with my son at times when he was making Little League All-star teams each year and considered top 5 player in the league. But then you realize they are only 9-12 years old and playing on a mini field! So I relished in him just having FUN. It was so hard to be around those obsessive Dads when I was having fun practices.
I've been a Microsoft user since DOS days and diehard Windows fan since it first came out. All through the years I've installed, ran, broke, reinstalled, tinkered and administered countless Windows PC's for myself and clients. Was even on track to be MCSE NT certified through my employer until the Internet bubble burst and got laid off. Played with so many others like Linux, BSD, Solaris, BeOS, etc as well but always at end the day just wanted my Windows and get stuff done. I was known as the "PC Guy" in my circles.
Where Microsoft is now and what Windows 11 has slowly become, I have really started to think their Windows division is just a nuisance for them and they don't care. Every month I seem to be reading another anti-user friendly decision and ANOTHER switch I have to find to turn off at every install or visiting family. A default install of Windows 11 is an assault of Constant locked-down install, forced account adding or worse grabbing it from Edge or where it can, ad-based data slurp with so much stuff running in the background and other enshittification of the OS. WHAT IS GOING ON??
Even the Pro version MEANT for business and domain PC's has Xbox stuff on it and game bar running by default, now CoPilot on as well by default, screen snapshots. Instead of a nice light install for business and hardcore users that you then ADD to to make your desired setup, it is the opposite of having it all installed and you spend an hour removing everything.
I am ready to jump ship for first time in my life.
Homeschooling is becoming an epidemic and a major reason is --- SPORTS. From my experience, it is growing for all the wrong reasons and I have not come across ONE family doing it properly and in a matter I would consider better for the kid.
I have a 15yo son who plays sports and for the past 5 years, homeschooling has been a way to "red-shirt" kids - hold them back a year or two then re-entering them into public schools into grades behind their age. Literally purposely holding back their kids so they can be older as freshman.
A major problem with boys because of puberty, size etc around this age. The difference between a 14yo and a 16yo, or 16/18yo can be quite large at times. My son had a freshman on his team last year that could drive and had a mustache playing vs these tiny incoming freshman, it was so comical. He was 16 1/2 as a freshman. And the parents were on the sideline acting like their kid was the next coming of Aaron Judge. It REALLY hurts the rest of us playing the rules and taking education seriously when our kids are trying to make a team.
I've known several of these parents and they all are the same. They haphazardly put them into the bare min online courses, still go to work all day and stick them in front of computers to expect them to self teach for a few years. The moms would be stay-home types that didn't seem much educated themselves. The kids are spoiled entitled types who think they are top athletes already and would jokingly be calling my son at 11a telling him they are done already for the day and headed to the gym and playing Fortnite.
Now this is just MY circle, I am not saying there aren't very serious and capable parents out there really homeschooling and giving their kids a better education than public school, but I haven't met any in maybe roughly 10 I know. Most of them seemed to also be MAGA types poo-pooing public education and how they are brainwashing kids. It is really despicable that this is most likely happening ALL across America.
Education and manipulation aside, I would also think this isn't good the kids mental and social health as well. They already are on devices doom-scrolling enough nowadays, do we really want them hermits too now?
I applaud anyone putting in huge effort to home school a kid properly and with true care and teaching. But the image of them at a desk being taught by a real smart/educated parent following a true curriculum all day and on a schedule I imagine is ultra rare. And we are going to pay a price for this in the long run. Or not, GPT will just help them along to properly write that email for them when they are adults in a corporate world.
For anyone interested in the Poker part of this news, two years ago I read an article in Wired magazine about a security consultant that was able to "hack" the automatic card shuffle machines. These machines are commonly used throughout the world in casinos and private games. He got the machines to send the cards dealt to each player to his phone. This showed all hands dealt and the eventual seat with the winning hand BEFORE the players even looked at their cards! At the time, I knew where there is enough money, this will surely become a problem. It was the first thing I thought about reading this news today.
I have a Tesla. It is trivial to steal; you just get my phone and you have my car. It is tied to the car through Bluetooth that auto unlocks AND drives without any other security measures beyond just being close to it with the devise. You don't even have to unlock my phone. Getting my phone would be the harder part, but it just would take a lapse in paying attention (like left in on the table to get a drink refill).
The comforting part (unless you consider the immense privacy issues) is, as you mention, how tied the auto is to Tesla and my account. I could have the car disabled and tracked probably less than 10 minutes of discovering it was taken. I could also lock/erase my stolen phone remotely which would then disable driving the car again once it was put into park for the first time.
Tarrifs have started to hit the boardgame industry pretty hard already, and as an enthusiast, I have started to really worry. Within a very short span, several companies have already announced drastic slowdowns in product production/shipments and staff, to some outright closing.
81 WPM is my highest. Can hit low 70's any given day.
Self taught inefficient style. Never learned to Touch type. Mishitting keys often enough is my barrier. So keyboard does matter. I need tactile to cut down those errors. Red switches (Linear) I can drop into the 50's.
Funny enough we had a party day after Thanksgiving and I had a typing competition for friends and family using 10fastfingers. First place I awarded a $10 Starbucks gift card. Surprisingly the majority were faster than I thought and I am not that much faster overall despite being into computers since I was 9.
The fastest that night was a 22 year old ex-gamer now in IT that scored 91 WPM. Slowest we saw was 8 WPM for a 9 year old and some seniors also were under 10 WPM. The majority fell in 40-65 range and these were mostly career corporate types and a few public school officials. The surprises for me were my 14yo son who got 77 WPM and a 25yo female nurse that got 71wpm.
My wife's 36yo cousin wasn't there for the party but I have seen him several times coast at 110WPM and his highest I've seen is 132WPM.
Tesla Model 3 Owner here for a year now. There is no question in my mind that was a Sieg Heil on stage, at our nations capital while standing behind the Presidential seal and being watched by millions. Twice!
I am currently shopping for alternatives and would gladly trade mine in even at a small loss. I wasn't a fan of his before, really, but didn't pay much to it, his company produces a product I drive.
My M3 is the most buggy car I ever owned and has had warranty service three times in that year. Little stuff like seat-belt sensor warning, window switch and foam-dislodging in one of the tires causing major shaking at speed. Service department has been friendly as they come out to my house for two of them, so that is nice. They also quickly gave me a loaner for the tire issue without even prying. The road noise is also horrible on the car. Way worse than even my Mazda6 I had before it. Whistles in the driver window area on the highway. Lose pillar trim.
But I'm not finding much STILL that competes with Tesla in the USA really. In price or looks as an EV. I still love the way it drives/handles and would have a difficult time leaving EV back to ICE at this point. I haven't had to change oil, stop for gas, check fluids, etc.
Because Brave is just trying to build their own ad-network under the guise of being "privacy" oriented. It is a conflict of interest trying to get profitable selling user data while also claiming to block it. When first installed the their own ad and crypto stuff is enabled-by-default. Then throw in a few nefarious incidents, such as the affiliate link-hijacks a few years ago, and it is hard to trust them.
No browser is safe from capitalistic rot at this point.
When I moved to Las Vegas in the late 90's, I became friends with someone in my new circle who was from Brooklyn, NY and a pretty active sports better. I mean this wasn't the recreational type doing for-fun $20 parlays on Sunday, he was routinely doing $500 and $1k bets ("dimes" he called them). I had been to Vegas on trips before and remember bringing $300 for gambling for a weekend and thinking that was a lot. I was in utter shock at how much he would be riding on a typical NCAA Football Saturday and NFL Sunday. It was one of my first true experiences in my life of what hardcore gambling was and a side I have never seen or known.
Anyway, I remember very clearly how serious his betting was and how he solely looked to find any edges he could. It wasn't about handicapping a game, he was a line sharp. Remember this was a time where Internet was still dial-up and wagering off-shore was still very early days. Many times he would be calling old-fashioned bookmakers back home. He was paying for a service called Don Best and at the time it was pretty expensive but was able to get line-moves almost in real time. He was "Chasing Steam" as you called it. Watch for big line moves in Best and place bets where he could that haven't caught it yet. He was pretty successful and quit his full time job while buying a house, cars, etc. Not flashy but just a living.
Eventually, as all things gambling, it started to turn bad for him. He was getting accounts suspended and getting listed as a sharp. He would call customer support playing dumb and I remember one guy at an offshore book on speaker-phone flat out told him basically no longer want his business as every time he places a bet with them the lines were moving shortly after in his favor and wanted to know what he was using.
I remember his downfall being pretty fast after that. It started with just getting blacklisted at some and the few reputable offshore books left wouldn't keep him long when they discovered he was a steam chaser. He tried changing phone numbers and fake ID's and they caught onto that. Eventually any book that did take his action he started to hear Don Best line moves in the background on the phone and they would tell him to "hold on something is happening" then just give him the new adjusted line. The edge was gone and he started to bet with shadier old-school bookies that didn't have the technology, but they just didn't pay him anyway.
He started to see the writing on the wall and the bill pressures started to effect him as he started to just push into trying to handicap and pick winners based on gut and dabble into some line making software. At one point he was in for a very large sum after a bad Sunday, something like $70k he owed. He struggled for a good 5 years after that, divorced and back to a 9-5. Last I seen him was right before Covid and he was out of that world not having placed a bet in a long while he said and was now into options trading.
I doubt betting line moves is even a thing anymore. Information just moves so fast now and books have evolved way beyond. Plus with how big sports wagering in in the US, lines probably only move now because of large public betting waves or injuries.
Then Royce Gracie with Brazilian Jujitsu and the very beginnings of UFC came along and completely upended the traditional glamor of movie star Martial Arts for REAL fights against opponents of all sizes (Early UFC didn't have weight classes). Most real fights end up on the ground pretty fast anyway and against larger/stronger opponents you want to be on the ground.
That isn't to say that a black belt in say Karate, or even Aikido wouldn't still be effective in a no-choice self-defense situation, but I'd rather be more proficient in Boxing at that point or one of the many other more modern fighting arts that have grappling as a core.