If travel time and cost doesn’t matter, I would always pick Hawaii over Florida any time of year. If travel time matters, then I’d look at the Caribbean before Florida for anyone on the East coast. Florida would be my last choice if I needed to keep things cheaper.

I thought the original was far better than the second and the Undead Nightmare was a surprisingly good extension of the game. The story was better, the characters were better. Obviously the graphics were worse, I don’t know if the new release updates those in a meaningful way or not.

I know RDR2 was wildly popular, but I thought it really dragged. I managed to “finish” the story and then…it just kept going, so I finally quit. I don’t know how much was left, but I mostly regret not having quit much earlier.

California is probably one of the least gerrymandered states. In 2008 there was an initiative to form a non-partisan redistricting commission to draw districts. All federal and state districts have been set using this process for more than 10 years.

California also has an open primary system where all candidates run against each other in a combined primary vote regardless of party affiliation (except president and some local offices). The top 2 from the primary advance to the general election. So, the general election could feature 2 democrats or 2 republicans.

Additionally, following the pandemic, California moved to automatically mailing a ballot to every active registered voter. They also have automatic voter registration at the DMV.

Altogether, it would be unfair to compare California to Texas or any other red state, all of whom actively gerrymander and work to suppress voter participation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/primary-elections-california https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-27/california-universal-voting-by-mail-becomes-permanent

Worst book I’ve quit is Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. What a horrible book!

Worst I’ve finished is Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, immediately followed by Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I’ll throw in a special mention for The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby. All terrible books that I finished only because they were required reading in school.

Maybe JD Vance turned the camera upside down.

So, is nvidia the cisco of this cycle?

Its an OK game. I got it on sale and don’t regret the time spent playing it, but the controls are awkward and there wasn’t much nuance to the story. There appear to be lots of potential story-line elements based on your decisions, but it was too slow and cumbersome to be worth a replay for me.

By comparison, I quit Heavy Rain pretty early, I seem to recall walking around yelling for my child for an extended period of time and that was the last I ever played it. IMO, Detroit is a much better game than that.

It looks like Steam has it on sale for $12 at the moment, which is less than I paid for it. I played it one time through for 12 hours, so $1 per hour of entertainment isn’t terrible. Not a glowing endorsement, I guess.

I interviewed for a job recently and asked why the position was vacant. They said the previous person died. I didn’t have the courage to ask if the death was work-related though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement

Morons who think their country’s laws don’t apply to them.

I’m definitely in agreement now, it just took me a bit longer to get over the shift in social norms.

Great points on the horrible quality of sound in these places. I was referring more to the selection of music, but playing it at low quality certainly makes it worse. My kids joke that the grocery store is where old pop songs go to die.

Wow, I assumed this was related to the use of prison labor in Alabama. I guess McDonald’s has a long ways to go before they get to “better”.

According to the suit, C.B.A.K., a McDonald’s franchisee, employed at least 122 incarcerated workers between 2018 (the beginning of the period covered by the suit) and September 2023. C.B.A.K. workers allegedly were coerced to work for the company. The suit alleges that violent and unsafe conditions within the Alabama prison system, in addition to the ADOC’s prohibition of work stoppages, effectively coerced workers into accepting employment.

One McDonald’s worker, who asked for time off for mental health, was told “any failure to work, even for health reasons, will be considered a refusal to work and will result in a disciplinary offense,” per the suit.

At least one worker at an Alabama Kentucky Fried Chicken was denied parole after refusing to work due to a low wage rate that was subject to deductions by prison officials…The DOC’s system of deductions meant workers nominally paid Alabama’s $7.25 minimum wage earned, in effect, as little “$2.06 per hour.”

I used to judge people for going about their daily lives with headphones on (like shopping) as being antisocial. In the last few years, I’ve come to realize they were just quicker to realize how annoying our society is and I’m increasingly likely to join them.

Recently I went to a mall and visited all the department stores. One of them had a guy playing a piano live and my first thought was “how quaint”. Then, as I sat and waited for my wife to try things on it struck me that I wasn’t hearing horrible music played over speakers - the piano was really nice. Why can’t places go back to playing relaxing music like that (even recorded)?

Right, and that’s assuming he doesn’t just use his “dictator for a day” plan to remove anyone from Congress that opposes him. That’s how other authoritarians create a sham democracy.

They way over-complicated it. Once he installs loyalists (as in their step 1), he can just round up anyone he wants, send them to a private prison run by an aligned billionaire, and ignore the courts. If the people in the departments controlled by the executive are willing to break the law, Congress and the courts don’t really have any tools to combat that.

I once had to post a position that was specifically made for my employee, but my recruiter was awesome. I told her there was no possibility I would pick anyone else, so she suggested I make the requirements hyper specific. So, I met with my employee and we worked up a list of 10-20 things that she had done in her career and put them all in as requirements to qualify.

I received no other “qualified” applicants, so I only had to interview the one. My next meeting with her I said, “this is your official interview, do you have any questions for me?” She said “no” and I congratulated her on being selected for the role.

Same. I have a fence that’s barely still standing now that I removed the ivy. I’ve been pulling it and spraying it for several years now. I know I’ll never win, but I’m doing my best to keep it in check. The most painful part is when I go to garden centers and see it for sale. It makes me want to cry.

This didn’t make sense to my American brain until I realized it was Boris Johnson, so this is a joke for people in advanced nations where medicine is a basic service.

When I was in the office, always metal. At home I’m more likely to listen to classical, but still metal if I need to be totally focused.

I put on music, preferably with full coverage noise canceling headphones to block as much outside stimulus as I can. Depending on the mood, I might put on something soothing (listening to Sean Townsend on YouTube right now) or I might go with metal.

If you are in US K-12 education and have a diagnosed condition (depression, anxiety, autism, etc.), you can have your parents request a 504 plan with the school. This requires the school to make reasonable accommodations for someone with a disability or illness that makes it difficult to be successful otherwise. When my daughter was suffering with anxiety and panic attacks, we worked with the administrators to setup safe places where she could go to calm down. The teachers were required to let her go any time she needed a break from the classroom.