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cobysev

@ cobysev @lemmy.world

Posts
18
Comments
480
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • What careers did the genuinely nicest people you know personally get into?

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  • As a teenager, my friends and family always told me I was the nicest guy they knew... and they were genuinely shocked when I joined the US military.

    I came home after Basic Training for a couple weeks before moving to my first assignment and everyone was surprised I came back successful. They expected I would've been kicked out for being too nice. In fact, I earned Honor Graduate.

    I didn't know much about the military when I joined, except for what I'd seen in old war movies. But they had some amazing benefits that I couldn't pass up, and my uncle, a retired service member himself, highly encouraged it. I got free medical and dental, free college education, my initial career field training qualified me for most of an associate's degree in my field, free travel around the globe, free food/housing... and they paid me to do it all. It was the best deal I could get right out of high school.

    My whole military experience was a lot different than I expected; I spent a lot of time correcting stereotypes about military service with my friends and family. I actually had a pretty good career and retired after 20 years of service.

  • What are your thoughs about YouTube clickbait?

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  • Do you use youtube mainly?

    I use it pretty frequently. I wouldn't say "mainly." It's a source of education and entertainment for me, but not my only one.

    Do you care about clickbait?

    It's a pretty large annoyance to me, so yes, I do care about it to the extent that I wish it would go away.

    Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?

    Yes, I've purged creators from my subscription list solely because I was getting annoyed at the clickbait titles and/or title cards they used in their videos.

    Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it's platform?

    I avoided YouTube for a while, partly because of all the clickbait, but also because of the amount of ads popping up on the service. I only came back when I learned how to block ads. I tolerate a certain amount of clickbait now.

    Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube's problems?

    One of the larger problems, yes. But not THE major problem of the platform. I feel issues with censorship, AI moderation, and an abundance of advertisements interrupting videos are worse issues that should be addressed.

    Clickbait is more of a creator issue; it could be resolved by creators refusing to use clickbait to draw in viewers. Let the quality of their content speak for itself. But because monetized content is earned based on views, it creates an incentive to get people to click on your video no matter what, which promotes clickbait. If you're using YouTube primarily to make money, then clickbait is the default most content creators go for.

    I guess YouTube could fix that by changing their monetization standard. Maybe base it on popularity ranking over time instead of number of clicks or something. But it would take time to phase out clickbait, and I doubt it would ever fully go away.

    Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?

    I personally don't see any value in clickbait. It's just a way to pull your attention in an ever-distracting online world. It's the lowest common denominator of recruiting views for your content. I don't hold any respect for anyone who employs it in their content.

    Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?

    Never. It's a tool used by people who don't know how to market their own content to the general public. It's using manipulation to draw your attention to content that typically doesn't live up to the clickbait title. It's an extreme action in a distraction-filled world to stand out.

    With a little effort, creators could market themselves better and not need clickbait. But it's the easy way out, and most creators would rather go this route than put effort into expanding their audience.

  • As good as dead

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  • I really hated the movie version of I Am Legend. It completely missed the point of the book and instead makes a generic zombie film out of it.

    The whole point is that the "zombies" (virus-mutated humans, to be more accurate) basically evolved into their own unique species and were living relatively normal, if not primitive lives.

    The main character, who was still a human, regularly set traps, hunted them, and overall was a threat to their kind. He became their boogeyman; the scary legend that zombie parents told their zombie kids to keep them from wandering too far from safety. Hence, "I Am Legend."

    The movie barely touched on this, instead focusing entirely on Will Smith and showing the barest hint of humanity left in the zombie creatures. If you watched the alternate ending version, at least.

  • Only thing that keeps me going

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  • I've actually been writing video game reviews here on Lemmy (and archived in a blog here). Which means I've been playing a ton of video games lately.

    I'm also a big movie buff and have been watching lots of movies/TV shows lately. I used to write a movie review blog as well, but a couple years ago, my Internet service died for a few weeks and I never quite got back into it since. One day I plan to finish the Ghibli marathon I started, then continue reviewing movies.

    My wife and I are also in a local community choir, run by my old high school music teacher whose whole family is famous around my area.

    I'm currently living in my childhood home on 6 acres of property in the countryside. My dad let this property go back to nature, so most of it is covered in thick forest, overgrowth, and invasive plant species.

    An ongoing project of mine, since I inherited it from my dad, is slowly cutting back the forest and restoring some of the land that I grew up on. It's fun, but it'll take me probably a decade at the pace I'm going to finish. But it'll be a lot cheaper than hiring a crew to landscape everything.

    I've learned a lot about lawn care and local plant species and gardening, so it's been an interesting hobby. I'm actually hoping to build a vegetable garden next summer. I'm currently clearing a large space in the field behind my house for that.

    I have a bunch of projects around the house I'd like to do as well. My house was built in the '70s and it's no longer up to code, so I've been making improvements and fixes over time. Learning about plumbing, electrical, carpentry, etc.

    I'm hoping to do some serious renovations to my home in the near future, most of which I'll hire experts to do, but I've enjoyed learning about the process so I know what to expect and can make informed decisions once the project starts.

    I have dozens of interests that I'd like to explore, but the projects and hobbies above are filling most of my time at the moment. Eventually, I'll move on to something new. The fun thing about ADHD is that I can never be bored; I have too many things that fascinate me and not enough time to invest in all my interests.

  • Only thing that keeps me going

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  • I'm actually the opposite. I have so many hobbies and interests that I willingly retired once I qualified for disability. Now I have time to invest in all my interests! No more busy work for someone else; I keep myself busy with things I want to do.

  • I'm in danger

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  • Until the one time it was.

  • who is your favorite muppet?

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  • mine is risotto

    Rizzo the Rat is unfortunately gone. His original creator and performer, Steve Whitmire, was dismissed by Disney in 2016 and they haven't announced plans to hire a new performer for Rizzo since.

    On the Muppets shows and movies, they've fully replaced Rizzo with Pepe the King Prawn. He's Gonzo's new annoying sidekick.

    Me personally, I've always been a Kermit fan. He's exactly like me, personality-wise. And I've definitely dated a Miss Piggy or two over the years...

  • People who don't/can't sleep when they're "supposed to", why? What do you do during this time?

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  • I have not heard of that. I'll have to look into it.

  • You are someone's candy corn

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  • Candy corn's traditional colors of yellow, orange, and white represent [...] corn on the cob with the wide yellow end resembling a corn kernel.

    This is why it's called candy corn. Because, when stacked, it starts to look like corn on the cob.

  • People who don't/can't sleep when they're "supposed to", why? What do you do during this time?

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  • how accurate are movie portrayals of the military?

    Not at all accurate. For one thing, movies like to focus on officers as the main characters. Which is like a movie about a company focusing on the COO, CFO, CEO, etc. and claiming that's representative of company life.

    Most of the military is made up of enlisted members, which are the actual "employees" who do the hands-on work. Officers are like upper management. There's not as many of them and they're all in higher leadership positions, sending down orders to the enlisted.

    Also, I was in the US Air Force as an enlisted guy, so my experiences may be very different from people who served in the Army, Marines, Navy, or the new Space Force.

    Do higher officers yell at you all the time?

    Nope. At least, not in the Air Force. We're considered the "corporate branch," because we tend to be much more relaxed than the other branches. It's almost like working for a 9-to-5 business most of the time. I was an IT guy, fixing computers. So I had a desk job.

    That said, the military training environment generally has a lot of yelling. Basic Training, which is the first program you go through, is intentionally meant to stress you out. Because if you can't do your job with people yelling at you constantly, then you're not a fit for military life.

    In war, when shit hits the fan and people are dying, you need to keep your wits about you, or the mission will fail and everyone could die. So Basic Training only graduates people who can hold it together despite the stress and frustration. After that, the operational military life is pretty chill.

    Do fellow soldiers harass you?

    Asking this is like asking if people are harassed in a corporate environment. The answer is, it depends on where you work and who you work with. Most people are pretty cool, but there are bullies in every job and sometimes you end up being their target.

    I personally experienced harassment in my service, in several different jobs. It was not a constant during my service, but it happens. As long as you know your job and follow regulations, usually it's not that big of a deal. If it does become a problem, then you can go talk to your First Sergeant (the military's version of HR) and your commander and come up with a solution.

    Like I said, the Air Force was pretty chill, and the Navy is a pretty sweet gig too. The Army still abuses their members a lot, treating them like government resources instead of human beings. And it's stuck in an infinite loop, where young guys are mistreated by the higher ranking folks, so when they go up in rank, they feel it's their turn to abuse the next generation. And the abuse cycle keeps going.

    The Marines are the worst, though. They're brainwashed into loving the abuse. They're taught to believe that if they're not suffering, they're not living up to their full potential, so they invite harsh conditions and celebrate rough experiences. Lots of mentally (and some physically) abusive conditions with those guys. I did not enjoy working with them. They were always trying to one-up each other over who survived the worst conditions in the field.

    Personally, me as an Asian American, I'm terrified of the military, especially the discrimination aspects

    During my service, I didn't really notice much discrimination. We had annual training programs concerning racial discrimination, sexual harassment, religious tolerance, suicide awareness, etc., so it was beat into us to respect our fellow service members regardless of their background. I'm a white male though, so I understand that my privilege may have blinded me to some discrimination going on around me. But I served with a whole melting pot of cultures, genders, and religions, and it never appeared to be a problem.

    I did have one Airman who grew up a poor black kid in the ghetto, and he admitted to hating anyone in a position of authority over him, as his local white cops regularly discriminated against black people in his neighborhood. He told me this right after I was appointed his boss. So I quickly learned to adjust my leadership style to accommodate him. He was one of those people who was highly productive until I spoke to him about anything, then he'd just shut down and be a problem for the rest of the day. So I learned to give him a task or two at the beginning of the day, then step back and let him do his thing and he would be my best performer in the office.

    Shortly before I retired, I knew a black Technical Sergeant (rank E-6) who was about to retire. I thought it was cool that he qualified for retirement and I was excited for him to move on to the next big thing in his life. But he seemed kind of bummed about it.

    I found out later that he had been a Master Sergeant (E-7), with an approved promotion to Senior Master Sergeant (E-8). But amongst his black friends, he told a black joke, and some white Navy guy overheard it and took offense. He was reported to his commander for racism (?!), who removed his promotion and then demoted him to Technical Sergeant. He didn't have enough time left in service to promote again, so he was basically forced to retire as the lower rank.

    Our current commander fought with his previous commander, trying to get him to reverse the demotion because it was destroying his career over a joke he made about his own race. But the former commander wouldn't budge. Claimed he had a "zero-tolerance policy about racism." Sounds to me like justification for his own racially-charged discrimination.

    So because he told a joke about his own culture, amongst his own cultural peers, he lost two ranks, a bright future in the Air Force, and was forced to retire early. That's probably the worst discrimination I've experienced during my service.

    Did you ever get PTSD from it? Ever actually been in combat, or was it just during peacetime?

    My entire service period was during wartime, and I did deploy to several combat zones. Suffice to say, I do have some PTSD from it. As a computer guy, and as an Air Force guy, I was never placed on the front lines of battle. But I was close enough to witness people dying, and even had a few close calls myself.

    I signed up for the Air Force in my senior year of high school, in August 2001. Literally a month later... 9/11 happened. I was terrified I just signed up to go die in some foreign war and I seriously considered dropping my contract. But in the end, the benefits outweighed the negatives, and I knew the Air Force was a relatively safe branch to be in. We mostly just fly overhead and drop bombs; we don't really go in boots-on-ground and fight. So I graduated high school in June 2002 and left for Basic Training 2 weeks later. I've never regretted the choice.

    President Bush Jr. officially declared the "War on Terror," designating 9/11 as the start of the war. That war ran until the year before I retired, when President Biden officially ended it. So my entire 20-yr service was literally one whole conflict.

    Also, we throw around the term "war" a lot, but it's only officially war if Congress declares it, and they haven't declared a war since WWII. So officially, on government records, they're known as military campaigns, not wars. For instance, I served in Iraq and was awarded an Iraq Campaign Medal. I never made it to Afghanistan, but people who served there got the Afghanistan Campaign Medal.

    Outside of all this, my career was actually really great. I spent almost half of my career stationed overseas. I lived in Japan for 3 years, South Korea for 2 years, Germany for 2 years, several deployments to Hawaii, Africa, and Iraq, plus a few stateside assignments. And I always made an effort to travel and explore no matter where I was assigned. I saw most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. My wife and I took a Mediterranean cruise line for our honeymoon and visited a ton of countries bordering those seas. I got a chance to go to Australia to be the best man at a friend's wedding, but I turned it down because I was a broke Airman at the time and couldn't afford the plane tickets. It's my one biggest regret in my career.

    I retired at 38 years old and am now 41. I'm a bit beat up, both physically and mentally, and have a 100% disability rating from the VA, which gives me free medical and dental for life, plus a sizeable monthly pay that's twice as much as my pension. My wife didn't retire from the military, but she also got the 100% disability rating, so she gets the same pay and benefits as me. We're both enjoying the quiet life in the countryside now. If I had the chance, I'd definitely do it all over again.

    I will say, I'm thankful I retired when I did. I served under Trump the first time he was president and it was a nightmare for us. He pulled a lot of fascist shit, but was blocked left and right by the Democrat-majority government. This time, though, he has a Republican-majority government and immediately replaced everyone he could with unqualified loyalists, so our military is kind of a shitshow now.

    I have a buddy whom I mentored shortly before I retired and he's been messaging me, repeating a lot of lies about "Antifa is overthrowing state governments and the military needs to swoop in and take back our states!" He's stationed overseas right now, but is terrified he's going to be attacked by "liberal extremists" if he comes back to the US. I had to inform him that none of that is actually happening here in the US and he's in more danger from ICE than any left-leaning civilians (he's not white).

  • People who don't/can't sleep when they're "supposed to", why? What do you do during this time?

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  • I'm a night owl; I'm wide awake and super productive all night. During the day, I'm kind of sluggish and unproductive.

    It's apparently a genetic trait. I took a DNA test about a decade ago and paid to have my genetic data matched up with current research into specific genes. Turns out I have a gene associated with people who stay up most of the night. My mother and grandmother are the same; they usually don't go to bed until after 3 AM most nights. So it's definitely a genetic quirk and not necessarily a choice.

    I spent 20 years in the US military, which required me to get up at ungodly early hours of the morning every work day. I was miserable for those 2 decades. Every day off, I slept in until close to noon just to feel rested again. Every work night, it was a struggle to go to bed at a reasonable time and shut my brain down so I could wake up ready for another day at work.

    I have ADHD, so getting my brain to be quiet so I could sleep has always been a challenge. When I retired from the military, I fully retired. No more work for me; my pension and benefits cover my basic needs and that's good enough for me. Now I sleep when I'm tired and get up when I'm awake, no matter what time of the day it is.

    I think, because of my ADHD, I prefer the nighttime because it's dark and quiet. No distractions, no noises, no people. I can just focus on what I need to get done. During the day, the world is filled with distractions and I can't focus on anything.

    It's currently 6 AM here. I've been up all night long and I'm actually going to stay up as late as I can today. Every once in a while, my sleep schedule gets flipped so drastically that I end up sleeping all day and being awake all night. Which is fine, except that since COVID, most places aren't open all night anymore. Not even Walmart or McDonald's. So I can't be productive with anything outside of my house.

    So I reset my sleep schedule by staying up as long as I can the next day. Eventually I'll crash and sleep most of the night through. Then I'll be awake the next day and have plenty of business hours in my day to get stuff done.

    Honestly, I need days to be about 26-28 hours long. Every single day, I stay up just a little bit later because I'm not tired yet, and that's how my schedule eventually flips completely. If I could just be tired at the same time every night, I could maintain a solid schedule. I'm married, so I have to consider my wife's schedule too. She gets lonely if I'm sleeping all day.

  • I still haven't forgotten that scene

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  • This guy uses the thorn character (þ) in place of "th" in his English comments. It's basically the same sound, just a different way to type it.

    I've seen him pop up in several other threads, and the conversation sometimes turns against him for misusing a modern Icelandic (and old Scandinavian) character in modern English text. He sometimes gets downvoted for it.

    EDIT: I just glanced at his profile and he gets downvoted a lot. Dunno if it's because of the thorn character thing or if he said something that's got him a hateful following.

  • What one book or piece of literature would adapt into a movie/TV series if given the funding and full creative control? Why?

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  • I mentioned this on Reddit years ago, but I would love to make a TV miniseries for James Bond that's a period drama, 100% faithful to the original Ian Fleming novels.

    Novel Bond was about a dull, uninteresting man whom things happened to. He was a dark and cynical man, thanks to his draining line of work. A loveless, high-functioning alcoholic who did his best work with a few drinks in him at all times. Which is likely why his drink of choice was a vodka martini; a strong, stiff drink to get him going when the going gets tough.

    And the books were written in the 1950s, shortly after WWII, of which Ian Fleming served as a British Naval Commander and Intelligence officer. So Bond was written partially based on the experiences of real-world missions that Fleming commanded during the war.

    Then in the 1960s, the movie rights for one of Fleming's novels was sold and they reinvented James Bond for the big screen. People in that era didn't want a dark, hopeless, cold-blooded assassin. They wanted a hero they could cheer for. So he was made a handsome, suave womanizer, with a penchant for social drinking and smoking (sexy vices of the time). He always dressed for style, always had expensive and luxurious tastes in cars and living, always saved the day, and he always got the girl. He was an idol for men and a dreamy catch for women.

    Back in those days, they didn't care much for loyalty to the source material, so while they were reinventing Bond, they decided to beef up his adventures too. The movies rarely had anything to do with the books, except for borrowing the titles every now and then, plus some key plot points once in a blue moon. And Movie Bond grew with the times. He got more technologically advanced gadgets, bigger global stakes, and more modern threats.

    For example, the Moonraker novel was about Bond stopping a nuclear warhead from launching at London, whereas the Moonraker movie was about fighting a villain in space, who planned to poison humanity and repopulate the Earth with genetically superior humans aboard his space station. Totally different stories, same title.

    Movie Bond changed in the '90s when Albert R. Broccoli, the producer of the films, passed away and left the franchise to his daughter Barbara (who had been involved with the franchise since the late '70s) along with her brother, Wilson. Barbara helped to reinvent Bond for the modern era, removing his smoking, reducing his drinking, and giving him strong, intelligent women to work with (or fight against) instead of rescuing ditzy damsels in distress.

    Then... Austin Powers came out in 1997 and it was a complete parody of James Bond. The trilogy satired every common spy trope that James Bond had made famous over the decades. And it was a global hit. Barbara was pissed. She claimed that Austin Powers completely fucked them over. By turning their formula into a joke, Bond would forever be compared to Austin Powers.

    So she rebooted the entire franchise in 2006 with Casino Royale, a movie based on the very first James Bond novel, and mostly faithful to the original story (except set in modern times). It was a return to the dark, gritty origins of the character. Bond was a high-functioning alcoholic, a blunt instrument who was fiercely loyal to his country, but still a wildcard who could barely be controlled.

    This Daniel Craig era of films was excellent, my personal favorite version of James Bond out of his many decades of history. And the closest version to the original books, even if only the first movie was actually based on a book.

    But I still want to see an actual period piece, set in the 1950s, that follows the original novels faithfully. I would love to see it as a TV miniseries because some of the books are just collections of random short stories, and some books themselves are hard to tell in movie-length detail without adding a bunch of fluff. Like the Casino Royale novel, which was 90% just a bunch of guys sitting at a table, gambling at baccarat. The 2006 film added a lot of action scenes that didn't exist in the original book, just to pad the runtime.

    Amazon recently bought MGM Studios, the company that makes the James Bond movies, and Barbara Broccoli has been complaining online about Amazon trying to ruin Bond. They want to make spinoff TV series, movie franchises based on side characters, as well as their own version of Bond films that Barbara doesn't agree with. She claims they're overriding her creative control and are going to run the franchise into the ground at a breakneck pace.

    The last I heard, Barbara and Wilson begrudgingly ceded creative rights to James Bond to the new Amazon MGM Studios earlier this year under a $1 billion contract. So the James Bond franchise may already be doomed.

  • What one book or piece of literature would adapt into a movie/TV series if given the funding and full creative control? Why?

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  • Fun fact: Douglas Adams, the creator of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, actually wrote most of the movie script. He died before the film was finished, but they kept it mostly the way he intended. So everyone complaining that it missed the point of the books or deviated wildly from the source material are arguing against the original creator's intent.

    Another fun fact: One of Douglas Adams' running jokes with the Hitchhiker series is that it's never told exactly the same twice. There was a radio show, novel series, video game, comic book, movie... and every version is different. Sometimes the story is told slightly different, sometimes it comes to a completely different conclusion. So having a "loyal/faithful" version made is technically impossible, as there's no official canon story to recreate. Not should there be, as the ever-evolving retelling is part of the joke.

    As a fan of the books in particular, I'd love to see an anthology TV series that is somewhat loyal to the book version. But I understand that Douglas Adams wouldn't want that, so I'm happy for the various media we have so far.

  • Purrfect Diagram

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  • That's definitely a dragon in disguise. Looks like a cat to mortal eyes, but weights a helluva lot more.

  • Which one and why?

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  • #4 looks like a shoehorn. Is that even concave enough to use as a spoon? Likely not. That's out.

    #3 is definitely not a spoon. No idea what it is, but it's not gonna work well as a spoon. Not gonna deal with that one.

    #2 is actually a spoon, but a small one. It'll be frustrating to use forever. I'd prefer not to use it.

    #1 is actually a decent sized spoon. Oddly shaped, but it'll hold a decent amount of food or liquid. I guess I could live with that one.

  • how do you manage to go through and play a game?

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  • Ooh, I have both of those games in my Steam library but I haven't played either. That might be fun to check out.

    I was hoping to write a review on Metal Gear Solid ∆, as MGS 3 is one of my favorite of the series, but I got distracted on my first playthrough and didn't get very far. I need to go back and play a bit more of that before I review it.

    Other games I'd eventually like to write about include Jump Space, FBC: Firebreak, Hollow Knight, Helldivers II, The Division, The Stanley Parable, PowerWash Simulator, Overlord, Something from the DOOM franchise, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3... and a whole bunch more.

    As far as horror games for the season, I'm thinking about reviewing Zoochosis and the Poppy Playtime series. I know there are others I'm interested in, but they're not coming to mind at the moment.

  • What items must you take with you every time you leave the house?

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  • Wallet, smartphone, headphones, 36 oz water bottle (topped off), keys if I'm driving somewhere.

    Oh, and I double-check to ensure I'm fully (properly) clothed and wearing my glasses. I've definitely made it as far as my car, before realizing I'm still wearing pajama pants.

    And my vision is not that bad, so I can roam my house without glasses. But once I hit the open road, I suddenly realize I can't see anything.

    When I was in the military, I used to carry a multitool (eg. Leatherman) on my belt everywhere I went. But now that I'm a retired civilian, it just causes problems if I need to explain why I have a knife on me.

    Even though it's a multitool, everyone just sees it as a blade. And I'd rather not have someone confiscate it. When you're wearing a military uniform, no one questions it. But I've definitely been stopped in some stores because I was carrying it in civilian clothes.

    My wife also bought me a lockpicking set, but I don't know how to use it yet, so I removed it from my keychain. No sense carrying it around if I can't use it. Maybe once day...

  • how do you manage to go through and play a game?

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  • I'm currently in this rut. I want to play tons of games, but every time I sit at my computer, I end up staring at my Steam library and not committing to anything. I might boot up a game, play for maybe 30 minutes, then log out because I'm just not feeling it.

    I started a game review blog here on Lemmy, but I'm having trouble finding games I want to discuss lately. It's been about 2 months since I last posted. Fortunately, I'm doing it as an unpaid hobby so there's no pressure to write, but I just can't get started lately.

    Even worse, this is my favorite season so I really want to play some good horror games and discuss them. But we're a week into October and I still haven't played anything worthwhile yet.

    I think I'm just in a slump right now. Life's been exhausting lately and I've just been going through the motions. Eventually, things will pick up and I'll be motivated again. Until then, I just need to ride it out.

  • Recommendations for one of those new (to my experience) vacuum/mop hybrids for faux wood flooring?

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  • So use your own homemade pads and fluid. If I run out of pads, a couple paper towels folded over will do the trick. And any cleaning solution that works on floors is fine; you don't need to buy their name-brand junk.

    The flat mop itself is all you really need, and you can buy one of their cheap dry ones. It functions the same as the WetJet. I have the money to throw at their more expensive stuff, but you can do the same for a fraction of the cost.

    I spent years using an actual thick mop and bucket to clean floors, which is not very efficient (or sanitary, apparently). So I like the convenience of the flat head mop with replaceable pads. And like I said, anything cheap to use as a pad will work. I can buy a roll of paper towels for a buck at the Dollar Store and use them as pads. Same with floor cleaner.