"Ah, yes I see I see, and that’s very understandable. Thank you for paying us by the way.

Now, since you’ve been so loyal for all these years…what about [slides agreement across the table] you pay for it…AND you watch ads?"

– Basically every streaming service hopping on the bandwagon at this point

This year I haven’t worked any traditional employment, but have done various projects for friends in exchange for money.

When I just had a typical job, taxes were almost fire-and-forget easy…but I’m a little worried about that whole process this year to be honest.

A lot of times the free one only covers that “I have a typical job” case…but anything different and they’re like “OH YOU NEED BUSINESS-OWNER PREMIUM PLUS” or something.

(I haven’t started a business and earned maybe 4 figures this year…) 😅

[resists doing it again for like 15 seconds] [does a neat little pen twirl trick] [thinks “oo that was neat”] [tries it again] [pen flies across room] … sorry.

I’m a chemical (aka process) engineer.

Well now I’ve got this song stuck in my head again, which probably accurately describes life with particularly bad peoject management.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whdzP0GHuc4

Oh…geeze. This read like a note found in a Resident Evil game…

Ha! What a coincidence, my household is currently rewatching House.

The mysterious cosmic attraction of memes! :p

“Did yoo say zat boof is soundproof?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvwbA5xYsk4

Username checks…out…? 😂

Remember when “social media” was our friends posting vacation pictures on their glitter-GIF-dumpster MySpace pages and memes were about funny cats who couldn’t spell, instead of both being weaponized fashy-virus vectors?

And now we’re talking about entire nations banning internet platforms thanks to ultra-rich crybabies using meme-fluence to buy elections.

. . .man. . . :(

Anyway, yeah Germany, we’re over here on our own community-led open-source infrastructure having a great time, jus’sayin.

I’ve heard your people even have the best memes too!

Germany’s feds better not start a tiktok. :(

When they ask why, tell them “Because you’re friggin weird and we’ve had enough.” Lol

This is the case with so many world leaders. If nobody accepted their money, and everyone just pointed, laughed, rolled their eyes, and moved on whenever they opened their mouths, they’d instantly cease to have power over world events.

If only…

It feels a bit radical but I feel the same way. Maybe not before I leave my home, because then they’d wanna tell me what I can do with that time, but commuting? Heck yeah.

It’s like paying for shipping and handling. I wouldn’t otherwise be expending resources to go do this thing, and I’m being compelled to do it by currency. Sounds like employees need to tack on a “transportation fee.”

Yeah as they say sitting for long periods physically doing nothing is similar to smoking for cardiovascular health.

…I shudder to think of the effects of being stuck in traffic while breathing in everybody else’s fumes.

Sure is! I haven’t seen it in ages either LOL. I probably haven’t seen it in more than a decade (or two?!) by this point. I wonder how it holds up? It’s definitely one of the classic “so bad it’s a masterpiece” kinda movies hahaha.

…things were simpler then, weren’t they? Hehe.

Thanks!

BTW nice meme. :D (yoink!)

Pro tip as a 3D printer owner/user though:

Oftentimes for small elements like this you can just contact the company and they’ll send you a knob or whatever. (Probably won’t be that lucky on repair parts though)

But I also enjoy the pride of seeing things I’ve repaired and longevitized with my own equipment. :)

A while back I would use those local secondhand auctions that mostly dealt in amazon returns. (As opposed to directly buying from amazon.)

I’m surprised how everything would be intact for a lot of items, but most commonly if I got bamboozled, it was something like, everything is fine except for missing a set of screws, or a single crucial knob or something.

People literally will just order the same thing again, pull the part they missed, and instantly return it. Which is especially scummy when it’s no longer a secret these returns just get destroyed or incinerated for no reason.

It’s just disgusting consumer-brain behavior. (Amazon, of course, being sheer evil, enjoys the market advantage of a “no questions” return policy.)

If it was a very specialty piece beyond a simple hardware store run, a lot of times I’ve been lucky enough to politely contact the manufacturer of a thing, sometimes I tell them I got it as a gift so they don’t ask for a proof of purchase. And they’ll just send me the missing bit. Free. Super simple. The most I had to do was take a picture of the model tag.

The fact that this was too much for people to bother with grosses me out.

Surplus clothes.

In highschool I liked having a lot of storage. So I liked things with pockets. Cargo pants were my jam! Turns out, military surplus BDU pants are somewhat cheap and VERY durable for around $30-$45 a pair. They can survive a tumble or two, can be repaired, wash easy, and breathe well depending on the blend.

Outdated or impractical camo is a fun aesthetic (can be punk as heck) and olive drab is a lovely color. (Thankfully I was never cringey enough to strut around in actively deployed uniform patterns unless it was on an airsoft field haha.)

Oh yeah, I have one of those funny tall-lanky bodies that you can’t department shop for pants for. Tac-pants come in a huge variety of fits.

I also hated shoe shopping. So a sturdy pair of combat boots lasted me ages without falling apart, were all-terrain, and supported the ankles! These boots were made for wear, so I never had to be upset over scuffs.

The BEST part? No (visible) brand names.

I still have some of those pants I wear since I graduated in the early 00’s. The ones with more cotton are a little threadbare now though. I just need some basic colors and my everday casual wardrobe is filled out. Acquiring replacements doesn’t break the bank either.

Form and function. Durability and mobility. Picking up some groceries or hiking the mountains. Incredibly versatile.

I don’t understand how the fashion industry continues to con people into expensive sweatshopped single-ply polyester that turns the wearer into a walking douchey billboard.

I say we let him have it. No, seriously! Just like we should let Musk have his Mars mission.

Give 'em a little certificate. “Look, you now own the thing! Good job!”

…Drop them off to survey their spoils…

…and frickin’ leave 'em there to be forgotten forever.

Like everyone’s bigoted elder who tones it down just a notch until their Great Leader is in charge again and they feel like they get carte blanche.