For a lot of people in suburbia, the entire concept of indoor “third spaces” is mostly “pay to play” at the end of a drive. A big exception to this is/were shopping malls, but those aren’t always close by. To get to more a functional social fabric, we have to provide more convenient ways of interfacing with our neighbors that don’t always require money to change hands.

Perhaps this is a predictably orange-pill response, but we need to change zoning in a big way. Each suburban development has the street plan and infrastructure to support small businesses and common spaces, walking-distance from everyone’s front door. All it takes is to allow small-scale commercial development in corners of these collections of tract-homes and, just like that, you can have something like a functional village. Beyond that, encouraging more development of community recreation space, both indoor and outdoor, would go a long way to provide a place for people to mingle.

Edit: strip-malls don’t count. They’re often at the very edge of residential areas, and are tied up with way more capital than what I’m talking about. That’s why they’re made up of franchises, require ridiculous amounts of parking, and contribute to “stroads” and all the knock-on effects and hostile architecture that requires.

You know what 'ol Jack Burton says at a time like this?

Exactly.

Fuck, I agree with MTG this morning? And I was off to such a good start today.

I love this concept. The big problem is that a lot of American kitchens are (weirdly) modeled after old farmhouses where the sink was always under the one window in the whole room. The trend is absolutely hostile to this idea.

Yup. Also: I’m tall, so now I can’t see everything that’s in the sink. It also needs some kind of anti-tip measure if the suggested use is to keep heavy dishes up high like that. Also, I’m not convinced this is sanitary - are we gonna get raw-chicken-water-splashback onto clean plates?

Like everything in Idocracy, you take something everyday and make it more streamlined and efficient, then stupider, then repeat the stupid part a few more times.

In this case we see the evolution of the employee smock, apron, and id badge, into one all-purpose garment. It’s even one-size-fits-all.

Mailed pictures. Individually. Worse than a tiny moving picture, and nowhere near as convenient as a book.

I dunno, someone could figure out how to watch it by mail.

That’s nothing. You should find the animated version…

The first 3 weeks were agony

Yup. Nobody talks about this! You have to break in your legs and build some strength, but it does get better.

anti fatigue mat

Crocs. Stupid-ass looking crocs will absolutely save you when at a standing desk. Or really, standing for a long time on any hard surface like a concrete office floor. The next best thing would be high-end business shoes designed for comfort while you deliver powerpoint all day, or just hiking boots. But crocs are really the most comfortable and are easy to slip off for more appropriate dress shoes if you’re in an office.

Thicker and softer than any standing mat, they freaking deliver. And you can move around without having to be perfectly positioned in a small area. Also, there’s no mat to get in the way of your chair when you sit down.

Gotta go harder to get that deep clean.

Sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eX3IGPq8AQ

The part that bothers me the most about this is how the re-institution of child labor points to the damnable confusion of moral, ethical, and legal, activity. Clearly this isn’t moral or ethical, but it is legal. So, undoubtedly some will point at the law and reassure themselves and others that this alone makes it okay to do. While there’s no stopping people that lack moral fiber to do the right thing, it’s everyone else that decides on the wrong side of moral and ethical conflict that make this so much worse.

On another note: how does one effectively boycott this behavior? No doubt, a lot of this labor will happen sight-unseen.

Following the path of other regimes around the world, the USA builds their own “great firewall”, segmenting most people here away from the global internet. At around the same time, personal VPNs become explicitly illegal. We might also see the government seize control of at least one certificate registrar, if they don’t fire up their own, thereby “owning” TLS online.

On the upside, there’s a chance we will see more grass-roots efforts to reboot a lot of institutions that were co-opted by the rich. You’re just never going to hear about that through conventional channels. For instance: local newspapers with real journalism behind them. Or more small businesses with the intent to last, rather than sell. It’s possible that more of those things will be co-ops, union shops, or even Mondragon inspired. Either way, there’s a path forward for more community, real communication, and eventual prosperity, provided folks keep their heads and take things offline where necessary.

The Dialer.

• Comes with every phone
• 10+ digit number instantly connects you with millions of people, services, and institutions
• 3 digits connects you with life-saving emergency support
• Very low-latency voice support
• High quality audio (most of the time)
• No ads
• No obnoxious UI

All kidding aside, I’m routinely astounded at how we have yet to top the ease and utility of old-fashioned phone service.

“Top men” in charge of bad sci-fi movies made this observation long before the rest of us. We’re in good company.

I like the look & the idea of the Cybertruck.

I do like the idea of shaking up established notions when it comes to aesthetics, design, and functionality. The Cybertruck really is a concept car that actually made it to production - you just don’t see that.

That said, I greatly dislike everything else that has come from this. It’s become this weird divisive thing, a political statement, a rolling monument to billionaire hubris, an expensive flex, and in general, saying things loudly at great expense to the owner on so many fronts. It doesn’t even do its stated purpose - a pickup truck - all that well. All we need are statistics that indicate that these are dangerous to everyone else on the road, and it’ll tick just about every “bad” box there is.

Too bad.

…

Hello there!

people customers always just cut it off 5 words in for some reason…

Fixed that for ya. ;)

Great jebus. It looks like something Ginger Billy would build. There’s no way that’s street legal, nevermind the lack of license plate.

Mom, I want a cybertruck.

Honey, we have a cybertruck home.

Cybertruck at home: