1970s, uk, aged around 4 or 5, walking down the stairs carrying a glass when I tripped, Cut my right hand up pretty bad. My mum wrapped my hand in a towel and rushed me to a nearby army base where the medic did an effective but clumsy job of stitching me up - I still have a big scar but no movement damage.

I have no memory of it, but my father certainly does. When he came home from work to find the house with its doors wide open, blood everywhere, and nobody around, he kind of freaked out.

I drilled a 100mm diameter hole through to the outside of the house and have a 120mm pc fan blowing air directly out from the cupboard through that. Possibly not an option for everyone, but as a householder with power tools, it seemed like a good idea.

The PC itself is just a motherboard screwed to a flat shelf, with a bracket to hold the graphics card steady.

Works well most of the time, although in recent 30’c ambient temperature, it got up to around 37c in there when I was playing a modern game. My CPU is only 65w but I’ve got a new graphics card and that creates a lot more heat when it’s working hard.

My gaming pc lives in a soundproof cupboard 5m away without a case because quietness is more important to me than any visual element, so any RGB thing gets avoided, or turned off.

I can appreciate a very colour coordinated and well put together “gaming” computer in a purely aesthetic sense. Some are genuinely pretty and I get that some folk take a lot of pleasure out of making something that looks beautiful and best of luck to them. But I’m not one of them.

Known 35 years next month. Married 35 years in November.

Some people are just shittier than others. What they look like on the outside has no bearing on their inner beauty.

Cloudflare are the cheapest domain registrar since they take zero profit from the sale. You will not find anywhere cheaper. (If you do, then look very carefully for hidden charges since that registrar will be subsidising your domains)

They’ve got some pretty useful free tools to help you manage it, and use it effectively too.

(For the Cynical, CF’s MD was very open about why they don’t charge for domains - it’s to get your goodwill. The only restriction is you can’t use third party nameservers for domains you host with them for free, you have to use CF’s. I’ve never found that a problem in many years of both private and commercial domain hosting there)

I did this and regretted it.

Many professional services withhold their number for obvious reasons. Turns out my doctor was trying to contact me and couldn’t.

“Good” or “trust my life with”? The two can be mutually exclusive. If I was in the wrong, would a good person defend me?

I’ve met a few people with genuinely good morals in my life. They do exist and are almost incorruptible. Most people are flexible in that we can make justifications for almost anything.

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“Surely you can’t be serious.”

I know - it’s exhausting.

All social and news streams are absolutely being flooded by American politics right now. It’s mad and crazy stuff, but there’s only so much someone can take before it really starts to affect ones mental state.

And Lemmy partially started as a not-reddit, so I guess it’s normal that people come to vent.

So - positive stuff you can do!

Subscribe to more communities that do interest you. Leave less space for the other stuff to come in. You can also block communities from your main feed very easily if you’re being given stuff you don’t want from them.

Youtube (with adblock) is hardly affected (or if it is, I don’t see it). That brings lots of interesting and creative content.

Going out into the world if you’re able. Reconnecting with nature, and also being reminded that people, by and large, are usually nice to you if you’re nice to them.

And I’ve been picking up old games and playing them more. Escapism is not such a bad thing.

Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.

I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.

Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.

Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.

Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.

They’re two very different things. One is supernatural one is simply unknown.

Statistically, yes, life on other planets probably exists in some form as there’s just so many. But whether they’ve contacted, visited or even known about us - I don’t think so. Conspiracists will think secrets are being hidden but that’s what makes them feel important.

Ghosts - nah. There’s no proof beyond human imagination.

The Baz Lurhman’s Sunscreen Song is correct in every way.

Centralised social media did, and is, doing extremely well by most metrics.

Such as censorship (everywhere). shadowbanning (X), ownership by an egomaniac slyster (X), blue badges (X), and being ganged up on (reddit). i’m ignoring platforms for addicts such as tiktok, youtube, and instagram.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that these large social media companies are operating for your benefit.

A strange notion to hold.

We tried centralization and doesn’t go well.

Well, no. Centralised social media did, and is, doing extremely well by most metrics.

We can build our ivory towers and feel happy and safe within them, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re not missed and the above probably like that we’re not there pointing out its flaws.

Same goes for any storage.

I personally think it’s down to cost and planned obsolescence. The bearing is so soft, it’s clearly sacrificial. There’s a lot of dust from the eroded part, and the spindle was still as new. Even though the part is cheap and fitting it is quick, most people wouldn’t know how - and calling someone out to do it would cost more than half the price of a replacement dryer.

Can’t be heat - ball bearings, even just steel ones, are fitted to engines and car wheels. A dryer gets hot, but not that hot - and even if it did, ceramics are available. Same with diameter - if it’s too small you just increase the spinder size.

Why don’t they have proper ball-bearing bearings on the drum instead of just a bushing?

I had to replace mine last week. Okay, it’s been a decade of zero maintenance, and the part only cost a tenner, but still - if this was a decent bearing it would be fine.

Centralisation isn’t inherently bad. It has many benefits from a technical perspective. Remember that none of these social networks got popular through not offering people what they wanted, and the vast majority of people do not want biased or hate filled sites.

But centralisation does give a lot of power and influence to the few, and so far, they have all been found wanting when it comes to not being evil.