I’m thinking the technical writer just had a sense of humor!

Man Overboard by Puscifer

The healthiest way to go about it is to just have a conversation with your partner if its a concern at all. For some, one’s answer could be a deal breaker, and for others it’s not a problem. Communication is key here.

When I was a kid, this is literally what came to mind when I first heard the word, “Salad Bar”

That’s fantastic I’m glad to hear you were able to reconnect. Thank you for your reply, it does help.

Lol! That is true and I’d be in a totally different place in my life had I done that. I am grateful for those experiences for sure and wishing won’t change the past. One thing I keep coming back to though is maybe I should try to reconnect with some of these people that I once knew, because I have this habit of not keeping up with people that aren’t in my immediate social circle (out of sight, out of mind and all that) so I haven’t talked to alot of people I once considered friends for years. I get anxious at the thought of talking to them again and I know that’s irrational. Have you ever gotten back in touch with old friends that you did this to, how did they take it when you tried to contact them?

I think for most Americans who want to leave it’s going to be hard or unattainable. This is a VERY broad generalization and anecdotal, but any time I’ve looked into moving to other countries (primarily European countries), it has seemed that you need to be a skilled worker or have a lot of capital to support yourself while you work through the visa process to stay as a student or an entrepreneur or whatever. Having only a bachelor’s degree in German and International affairs (and that degree has aged 10 years), that doesn’t include me; I’m not a Doctor, not computer scientist, nor an engineer, or any other type worker that could be described as skilled and I don’t have a lot of spare cash either.

Sorry I’m about to rant, but I need to get this off my chest so skip if you don’t care to read this: Currently, I can’t afford to go back to school, so I’m hard-pressed to figure out how I could make it happen. I interned in Germany for a year way back and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t use my time while I had the residence permit to better myself and try to get an in by applying for a master’s program at nearby universities or seeking further employment with NGOs, non-profits, or companies willing to bring me in. Instead I treated the experience as a vacation and while I have lots of good memories and I learned a lot and I now speak the language well (and I still do after a decade) I keep coming back to how I could have done more. I did not get a permanent place in the company I worked with and I did not build my network, it makes me sad that I did this to myself. I want to go back to Germany for my own reasons that have nothing to do with today’s politics, I just felt like I fit in there. I don’t feel entirely hopeless about my prospects of returning, but I’ve increased the difficulty substantially by letting so much time pass without taking further steps. Now I’m just confused and don’t know where to begin (again.)

In any case, that was only my experience; your milage may vary as they say and if you did read the last paragraph, then I appreciate you listening. I would actually be interested to hear other people’s experiences as to how they made it abroad and how they did it and what trials the experienced along the way. If any of you are considering moving to another country, whatever the reason, I sincerely hope achieve that goal. Living abroad is an experience that I would encourage anyone who can manage it.

Edited for grammar and spelling

I realize you had complex IRL situations surrounding all of this, but the fact that warlock was openly and rudely questioning your system rather than just rolling with it, would have been enough for me to question them privately about their manners and whether this was the right game for them. It is YOUR game after all and during session it’s very frustrating and disrespectful to the other players’ time to relentlessly belabor the point. I’m surprised you put up with it as long as you did despite attendance from Warlock.

I don’t remember a mod but I seem to remember that Gamepro magazine would sometimes parody their own magazine calling themselves “Lamepro” followed by a few pages of fake upcoming games, a nude Lara Croft I think was part of all that.

I appreciate this tip, I’ve had lots of trouble trying to make home made cheese sauce. Even if I felt the flour and milk cooked long enough and I added cheese slowly, I had trouble getting everything to come together. It may be that I still wasnt cooking long enough either because I have a bad habit of scorching the milk, so I would pull it off the burner perhaps too soon. I don’t know exact I haven’t tried it enough, because I don’t like wasting food.

I hope it’s not for a long time. I grew up seeing my great grandmother age gracefully and finally pass in peace in her favorite chair reading John Grisham novels. I admired that woman so much, despite the fact that she lived alone, her life partner long gone, she enjoyed her humble life in her cozy home.

I hope to do the same, for my heart to just stop beating in my advanced age. I’ve told my family that I don’t think I’ll mind even if I’m the last to go, I want to see how it all ends. I want to see the good and the bad of everything. I want to live as long as I possibly can.

I found Elite: Dangerous incredibly cool. How many chances will we get to explore some version of our solar system? I know the game feels empty, but I found it relaxing for the same reason truck simulator is relaxing, just cruising and enjoying the scenery

In what of part of the English speaking world is this phrase used this way. I’ve only ever understood “out of pocket” to mean, to use immediately available resources to pay for something.

I have an Australian buddy I play FF14 with and he joins me on an NA server in savage mode raiding no problem. His ping does cause a slight delay, but the majority of the time it has virtually no impact on his ability to perform the mechanics and clear the raids.

Thank you for reminding me to call me out on my own bullshit :D

Grammar is funny that way it could be interpreted your way or it could be interpreted as “fascist who murders”

I suppose we will have to agree to disagree on that one. If you aren’t concerned about the information that others collect on you and you don’t care to imagine how it could be used against you then I’ll stop there

That’s true, but I’m also cynical. Policy makers only have to serve up a phantom to instill fear into the general public and then they can drum up support for policies that appear to serve the public interest; for the sake of “protecting” the public.

There’s plenty of reasons to be fearful or suspicious: corporations who develop all the new tech we use today have shown already they don’t respect our privacy. Our smartphones, computers, and other Internet connected devices are always harvesting data to advertise to us, so it follows that any brain-implanted device could be used to harvest data for similar purposes. Not everyone gives a shit about this one, but there are plenty who would at least like to be paid for the data that is collected from them and used for profit; barring that we should have the right to forbid data collection without consent.

There are, of course, more sinister applications for brain-implanted devices that can interface with the Internet (and if they don’t now, they surely will in the future). I think a lot of us immediately think of the science fiction book and movie, “Minority Report” wherein law enforcement has access to the private thoughts of citizens and arrests and convicts those who have contemplated crime but have not yet perpetrated the crime. Any sane person would never allow the police access to one’s private thoughts, let alone a corporation.

Elon Musk has said his ultimate goal with Neuralink goes beyond merely restoring function to injured parts of the body; he wants to make it possible to save and load memories and with those two functions we may also be able to delete memories too. Imagine someone hacking your memories, it could fundamentally alter your perception of yourself and your reality. You could become a prisoner in your own brain, subjected to the censorship of a corporation or government.

These are worst case scenarios and I’m not saying we are there yet, maybe not even close to that level of technology, but we should be aware of what kind of control we may be giving away to a company or authority by allowing such implants to be installed. I hope that we will use it as a means of improving people’s lives, but I’m very cautiously optimistic as well.

To me such language signals that the author’s purpose is not to enlighten or dispell ignorance, but to get the upper hand, be the one who is “right” and the opponent is made “wrong.” It’s not only a lazy way of thinking, but it prevents anyone from actually learning anything. Instead we just get to be self-righteous for being “smart.”

Any time I see an article that attempts to bash, slam, destroy, demolish, etc, etc. I cannot take it seriously because the author has convinced me from the start they are not interested in inspiring honest dialogue about a social issue. They just want to draw you into their own limited, biased way of thinking.