I have a sony as well, and you can use it as dumb TV, by not agreeing to their privacy policy. If you want to connect it to wifi afterwards, it points you to the privacy policy again, so it seems like the TV follows that. But I’ve also purchased it 4 years ago, so not sure what the status is now.

So far, I’ve seen no ads. I mostly use it mostly via HDMI and sometimes for watching freely available TV via antenna.

Oh brother, where art thou?

Man of constant sorrow. Nuff said

Gout. Big toe on fire, throbbing with pain, joint swollen until there are no discernable features. Even a feather touching the area is enough to generate hot searing pain. The constant urge to ‘pop’ the big toe joint set against the impossibility to actually wriggle the toe without passing out.

Should drink lots of water to flush out the uric acid, but every trip to the bathroom has to be carefully considered because walking there takes 2-3 minutes of grabbing on to nearby things/people while stepping awkwardly on the outside edge of the foot, instead of 20 seconds of normal walking.

I’ve had severe tooth pain for a couple of weeks (a cyst - the pain killed the nerves in some of my teeth), and 3 days of gout until the meds worked well enough to walk less painfully were worse.

No Man’s Sky. Pretty sweet deal, I think.

I’d just start mining random stuff to put together to make better mining gear to mine better and more stuff.

Then just get on my dinghy and explore the 'verse while looking out for a better dinghy. Maybe plop down a few bases on nice planets, rinse and repeat.

I think the full phrase is De gustibus non disputandum in contradictorium (declinations might be off somewhere)

In large cities, sure, but mostly out of necessity. Historically, the communist regimes there sort of forced industrialization on people. Workforce was needed so they moved people from the countryside into flats, close to the workplace. As the change was mostly sudden, it was a bit of a culture shock due to people suddenly moving from their own house with a yard into a wee matchbox and not really adjusting behaviour to the new circumstances. So the apartment building culture in such places is quite different from the western one (in terms, for instance, of being respectful of your neighbour - like not drilling on Sunday at 8 am because that’s when the quiet time - according to the law - ends).

So the drive there is to get your own house away from hundreds of neighbours as soon as you have the means, even if it implies commuting in hellish traffic.

Coincidentally, also why you might see some pushback from those places when people suggest walkable cities with apartment blocks. Because when suggesting that, everyone thinks Sweden or Denmark, not Eastern Europe.

picked up No Man’s Sky the other week at 50% off and really enjoying it

Surprised it’s not Nessie

In the southeast of Ireland I’ve heard it ‘bodder’, almost like the Danish soft d instead of the th, but it was just a couple of guys so maybe the sample size is a bit off.

Ha. Today I learned. I read it in a Scottish tone, seemed to fit

I’m also a fan of the Scottish way.

A close second is the ‘no bodder’ from Ireland.

My phone has IP68 with an usb-c and headphone jack, and the SIM/SD tray. Not a rugged phone though.

heh, TIL steam keeps lots of patches. I may get back into EUIV, yet. thanks for that!

heh, TIL steam keeps lots of patches. I may get back into EUIV, yet. thanks for that!

Fully agree with you there. I can never fully relax around family and it’d probably be a nightmare living with them.

Yeah I loved EUIV early on, but have left it alone for a while. Now, whenever I get the urge to play again (and I do), I have a look at everything that popped up in the meantime and it’s just overwhelming. Sure, I could play the snapshot I have but then the game keeps getting patched so you get stunted new mechanics that need the DLCs to function properly. I could revert to a previous patch, but what was the patch in march 2021? Do I still find it in the steam options?

And if you want to bite the bullet and just buy the whole DLC collection it’s around 100 euro for a couple of years. or something like 300 for the whole package? I do appreciate the quality that paradox churns out though.

This is why I’ve been holding off on getting victoria 3.

aye, no idea what the fuss is about. had grasshoppers and mealworms as snacks. nothing mind-blowing but surprisingly tasty for all the infamy. salty snacks, so went great with beer. turn them into flour and use for falafel/köfte, I’m thinking it’d probably build very well with the slight umami. bad side though would be that if you’re allergic to seafood, you’re probably allergic to these critters as well

Right back at you, fellow hobby and eldricht horror appreciator!

Aside from the Shub-Niggurath worship (I’m more of an Azathoth person, myself), I agree with most things here. I’d just add to the list, group B I guess:

• aquatic animal husbandry and aquascaping (freshwater preferably, saltwater if you are really masochistic and have money to burn on corals and expensive equipment)
• model railroading

I feel these are more ‘apex’ hobbies, wherein you need a bit of everything (chemistry, electronics, an artistic sense, lots of patience) and they will occupy most of your time. You’d think electronics and aquaria are not the closest things, but just you wait until you feel the need to build an LED lamp with simulated day/night cycles and moonlight, controlled by an arduino.

The barrier to entry is fairly low - there are starter sets available and I’ve found that hobby shops of this sort are usually staffed by very knowledgeable people, eager to help newcomers. And, you can go as deep as you want and still have fun. You will also learn an absolute fuckton of things about what you choose to model with your hobby.

An honorable mention for homebrewing, which I don’t even regard as a hobby at this point, but more of a necessity, like cooking.

5-inch floppies!