I generally buy almost everything online, but clothes are one exception to that. I generally have 1 or 2 brands of clothes I normally purchase, but even within those two brands, size can vary quite a bit, especially after they’ve been washed a few times.

I can buy two different size 36 pants from my favorite brand, and after washing, one fits comfortably, and the other only fits if I leave them unbuttoned. Being able to test them in-person at least gives me a general idea of if they’re still going to fit after they go through the dryer.

It’s amazing how much emotion we invest in our cars. I had a not very expensive but fairly unique car in my late teens. Eventually, I joined the adult world, moved away, and it sat in storage for years before being given away.

Now I’m much older, in a vastly different place in life, and generally successful and happy. I’d still sell my left testicle to get that car back, though. Not so much because of the car itself, but because of the memories. It feels like a lost photo album or that one song that just sounded perfect but you can’t remember the artist or the lyrics.

I’ll start: 39/M/US, so yeah, I fit the demographic.

I have never really considered Lemmy or Reddit to be “social media.” They’re entirely anonymous, and you’re not being exposed to posts where a apecific person is talking about themselves (at least for the most part). I think a modern equivalent to a PhpBB forum or (if you’re old) a BBS is more accurate.

I haven’t had cable/satellite TV in well over a decade, probably more. When I say I’m “watching TV,” rather than “watching videos” or “watching YouTube,” it means I’m watching something episodic, created by a major studio.

Why is kernel-level anti-cheat even a thing?

If I was trying to prevent cheating, I’d hash the relevant game files, encrypt the values, and hard-code them into the executable. Then when the game is launched, calculated the hash of the existing files and compare to the saved values.

What is gained by running anti-cheat in kernel mode? I only play single-player games, so I assume I’m missing something.

Maybe I’m totally wrong, but doesn’t EGR stand for EXHAUST Gas Recirculation? Is the Volt a hybrid? I thought it was an EV and thus had no exhaust.

Edit: This was a joke, wasn’t it?

I was born in the 1980s. I remember growing up, I always had the impression that by this time in the 21st century, we’d have figured out some way to break the established laws of physics. Maybe it was because of watching so much sci-fi, but I feel like I’m not alone in this. The media seemed to reflect the same line of thinking. “Back to the Future 2” with its hoverboards and flying cars is now set several years in the past.

Be it anti-gravity, interstellar travel, teleportation, whatever, I always kind of assumed that by now, we’d at least have a working theory of how we might implement it in the next few decades. I think a lot of that has to do with the start of the “information age.” Computers and the way they could connect us were so revolutionary, it seemed like “magic” to the layperson. More “magic” would only be a few years away, right? If we could fit all this power into a box that sits on your desk, then it wasn’t beyond the scope of reason to think that anything was possible; it’d just take a few more years for us to figure it out, then we’d be planning the first NASA mission to another solar system.

What I never would have predicted is just how rapidly computer technology would advance. We now have supercomputers in our pockets, powered by CPUs that are well into the realm of nanotechnology and are now starting to run into limitations imposed by quantum physics. As a technological society, we’ve probably progressed farther than I would have ever imagined, just not in the way I expected.

Most people who have a concealed carry permit are generally law-abiding. I would certainly leave immediately if asked.

I don’t know the statutes offhand; I’m basing this on what I was taught in my CCW class years ago.

The general idea is that the state sets limited laws on where you can’t carry concealed. Government buildings, etc. These restrictions hold the force of law. For a private property owner, they can certainly say “no guns,” but it has the same legal weight as if they said “no hats.” They can set rules for their property, but those rules don’t magically become law. That’s where trespassing laws come in; if you’re asked to leave, they have the right to ask you to do so.

Some states do have laws in place stating that “no guns” signs are legally binding, but the signs must meet certain legal criteria as far as wording. Surprisingly, I think Texas is one of these states, but I could be wrong.

My state is solidly blue, so it does seem strange to me that the laws are written as they are.

Going out in public in your pajamas.

I have seen this on very few occasions, and each time, the pajama-wearing individual is very obviously only out in public so they can either stock up at the liquor store or meet their meth dealer. I don’t think this is common.

In some states, these signs don’t even mean that a person can’t carry a concealed weapon into the shopping center. In my state, for instance, assuming you are otherwise able to legally carry a gun (meaning you took a class and aren’t a felon), the list of areas where you can’t legally carry a gun is very limited: Federal buildings, courthouses, etc. If a business has a sign posted stating “no guns allowed,” you can still legally carry your weapon in that business. If an employee sees that you’re armed, they can ask you to leave, and you’re trespassing if you refuse, but nothing legally stops you from carrying a gun into the establishment in the first place.

As a disclaimer, I’m not arguing this one way or another. I have a license to carry a concealed handgun, in fact. Just sharing information.

Aren’t there a few VPN providers that don’t even install writable storage in their servers? I can’t remember which, but I’m sure there’s at least one that boots their machines off of read-only media and only installation hard drives in the servers used for storing login credentials.

One day, you’re going to die. Unless you are fortunate enough to die suddenly, you’re going to experience the terror and the pain the comes along with dying. Anyone who cares about you is going to be saddened by your passing.

None of that would be true if you had never been born. Your parents, every parent, has condemned their children to death and has ensured sadness for anyone who comes to care about them.

The worst thing my parents did? Not using protection or having an abortion. Conceiving a child is the most selfish act any person can do.

I’m a big fan of 4k/who gives a shit.

That’s great until they decide to stop providing whatever content you licensed.

If you’re not receiving physical media, and you’re not saving a copy to local storage, then you’re not buying anything. You’re renting it.

I’m curious, why does this require OpenSSL in order to compile? I’m not aware of any audio formats that use encryption, but I could be wrong.

My first thought was for connecting to https streams, but I don’t remember Winamp having this capability. “Back in the day,” I used Winamp for playing local audio and RealPlayer for what little streaming was available.

I can’t find a decent screen protector for my Galaxy S23, no matter how I try, and it’s all due to the damned in-display fingerprint reader. Any adhesive-style screen protector has an open area for the fingerprint reader, and it’s either a different material or a different thickness; they all look like shit. I’ve tried the screen protectors that use a UV-cured adhesive, and they’re messy, difficult to apply properly, and generally a pain in the ass.

I’ve relegated myself to not using a screen protector at all, but considering my pocket lint scratches my screen, it sucks.

I really wouldn’t write off the Shield completely. It’s a few years old, but it works really well. My TVs are all disconnected from my network, and each has a Shield attached. The Shield can stream 4k HDR from Jellyfin, play ad-free YouTube with SmartTubeNext, and handles remote game streaming at 4k/60 with Sunshine/Moonlight. It’s really a versatile little box.