Among other reasons you’ve been given:

• The figured MN folks would be peaceable and lay down.
• No open carry of weapons.
• Didn’t think they’d show out in deep winter. (HAH!)

I bought one! Not that brand, forget what I have, but I can’t afford to replace the carpet so I need it.

How?! Every cop I’ve seen has a proper holster to prevent that. If you know how they work you might snatch it, but it would still be a bit awkward.

Could not have written my exact take as closely as yours.

Only thing I’d add is using it to screw around with personal photos. ChatGPT is cleaning up some 80s pics of my wife that were atrocious. I have rudimentary PhotoShop skills, but we’d never have these clean pics without AI. OTOH, I’d gladly drop that ability to reclaim all the negatives.

Very few laymen have noticed or give a shit about RAM prices. My young friend across the street and I are likely the only people on the block who know what RAM does, let alone are able to build a PC.

Business purchasing is where we might see some backlash soon. I’ve bought all the IT goods, hardware and software, for my last two companies, and I’d be screaming.

Boss: What the hell? Weren’t we getting these laptops for $1,200 last year?!

Skill in Excel is wholly different than skills in other Office products. But if Excel is on your resume, your better expand and show what real use you’ve made of it. Otherwise it comes off just as you said.

I do. Got a free license from my last job and Excel blows the doors off Calc, or anything else. For business, Excel is moat of the reason they’re so tied into Office.

Florida water is weird here in the NW. Tap water is fairly “hot” in the summer since the lines are close to the surface. But YMMV. Our bathroom water is distinctly different than the kitchen water, in a tiny house, 8-years old. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I think I might as well, and I’ve taught corporate information security classes.

Everyone reads books? Over half of Americans read at a 6th-grade level, at best.

I run Windows but my VPN server is Debian.

That’s somebody’s house, somebody with teeth and claws. Do not stick anything in there.

PRO TIP: You can get a clue if an animal hole is inhabited by looking at the ground in front of the entrance. Buncha leaves and crap? Empty. Fresh dirt in a spray? Somebody in there.

1991, gf and I are visiting Broken Bow Reservoir in the very SE corner of Oklahoma. (Stunning place BTW! Seriously.)

Me: “What in the world are all those tiny blue tents?”

GF: “Roosters for cockfighting.”

Me: “They still do that?!”

Later that night, outside our cabin.

Me: “What is that noise?!”

GF: “Roosters.”

Same trip, we hit a convenience store to inquire about an ATM. I’m watching the girls behind the counter point and laugh at her. I could SEE her turning red before she storms out the door.

“What the fuck was that about?”

“I explained that I use this card to withdraw money from a bank machine and they laughed at me!”

Poor gf. Imagine being genius-level IQ and growing up in Oklahoma.

Another funny thing about that trip; Two broke college kids only needed to scrouge $100 for gas all the way across state, food, 2 nights in a private cabin and a day’s boat rental. $238 in 2025. Imagine that.

Anyway, felt like telling a story.

I’ve seen 100 shitty job postings for rating AI results. It’s rather complicated and pays pennies.

That’s on the university admins for poor setup. SOURCE: I’ve setup such machines.

There are sites where you just plug in the URL and the video downloads.

Florida here, gotta use my VPN anyway to get to PH. 🤷🏻‍♂️

During the pandemic, percussion caps for black powder guns were unavailable and I got those types of caps to work marginally well.

Imgur bans my IP from a Digital Ocean droplet of my own build. Just sayin’, they’re not only operating from known IP ranges.

Edge of town in a poor(ish), redneck, American suburb. Like I said, people don’t usually bike unless they have to, just no demand I guess.

I should note, not talking about the nice sorts of bikes like you probably have. Anyone with a truly nice bike is parking it in their garage. But I can’t imagine someone trying to break a lock for anything short of an e-bike.

If you need a pair of wheels that goes? They’re everywhere. Bet I could find one on the curb (as trash) right now, nothing wrong but a busted tube, if that. We’ve hauled home loads of kid’s bikes, had people come out and ask us to take them when we stop and look.

My wife and I are continually astonished at the things people toss, even in this lower-middleclass hood. I could show you our house and all the things we found/repurposed/recycled, for an hour straight without repeating myself.