I have a freezer for the first time in years and recently discovered the frozen foods section at my local edeka, subsiding solely on Kartoffelpuffer and Eier today
american born. first generation german immigrant. mobile games QA. former console games QA. pc games immersed. very lucky person who pinches himself every so often.
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I have a freezer for the first time in years and recently discovered the frozen foods section at my local edeka, subsiding solely on Kartoffelpuffer and Eier today
super rich people put down large sums of money on what they think will be the next big thing, only for it to crash and burn, but because they're super rich they can do it all over again. you only need to hit it big once to be super rich. past performance is not indicative of future success.
axios wrote a thing recently about how they (axios) is so obsessed with AI partially because "wealthy CEOs are spending billions on it" and I deeply hope that "AI" crashes and burns as it should and the people at axios learn decisively that people who have tons of money can indeed be stupid f'ks
I almost "Prost!"'d a response to this and then realized this was probably a Minnesota Vikings post and sho 'nuf, grats on your win
pretty much says everything you need to know about the US that the very wealthy would rather back a corrupt sexual harasser than bring themselves to vote for mamdani, or even abstain from the election
this isn't just spiteful. there are so many things the US doesn't do that other countries do - things that are very beneficial to the citizens of those countries - and because the US is so rich and powerful I'm sure the temptation is there to emulate the US model and screw their underclass
I have to say, I get major schadenfreude watching the US shoot itself in the foot in ways like these. I don't want it to dominate the world. I don't want governments to imitate it, or people to admire it. I want it to decline and fall, and for everyone to look at it as a cautionary tale forever
today for the first time ever I used the awl on the swiss army knife I have owned for something like twenty years to poke new holes in the leather straps in my sandals. and it worked beautifully. did I know that it was an awl? no. do I look like I would know if something was an awl? I think it was!
aspirational america is gone. new america is dominated by grifters, cheaters, private equity, hustlers, billionaires and their flunkies, venture capital, AI boosters, crypto boys, manosphericals, gun culture, incels, finance guys. the old america is dead. this is the hand america's got now.
tom hanks is who (some) americans want to represent america and its spirit better trump and vance are the ones that actually represent america and its spirit better sorry, I don't make the rules. the country voted for trump and vance to rule them. trump was voted in twice. tom hanks, 0 times.
my dad loves to do this, and I always respond with, "I'm not trying to convince you of anything, I don't care what you think, I'm trying to get you to stop talking about this subject" it has the virtue of being 100% true, I only get irritated when we veer into exactly this territory
I totally didn't get this b/c I thought it was your actual handle, despite your post featuring, well, your actual handle. I mean, if that was your handle it's a pretty cool handle!
no there, that was easy as an american expatriate in munich I will tell you what I do notice, how I can get by without a car and for 49 euros a month travel anywhere I want to travel as much as I want by train, tram, or bus this is a v silly headline and a v silly question
I always used to pride myself on how stable I was even though I was very introverted and didn't leave the house often or hang out with people much, but lately I've been feeling the lie there. Having a partner mattered, psychologically. And knowing now I couldn't rely on her doesn't matter, somehow.
I cannot possibly imagine this operation and hospital stay costing me less than several thousand dollars if I were still in the US, so on balance it's better this all happened here. But I had friends in the US, people who would visit in a similar sitch. I don't have that here. And I miss it now.
I haven't been single for long, but I can confidently say the worst part of it so far is not having anyone to come visit me in the hospital when I'm here for an extended stay. I don't have any good friends in Munich, or a real support network. It's just me. And I'm lonely and sad in this hospital.
for >30yrs I have moved around - a lot - and I have always left a box or two unpacked. sometimes I just didn't have room to unpack them all. other times I was pretty sure I would be leaving soon and it seemed pointless. moved here and I was completely unpacked in 2 hrs. maybe I'll stay awhile.
welcome to grasbrunn. ironically, I have moved from living in an actual office to living in an apartment that was converted from an office (the building still has some businesses in it). still, I have things like a kitchen, shower, freezer, and washer-dryer now. and the place is cute!
this remains my comfort-food movie in uncertain times. it has everything - feel-good moments, authentic nerdery, bangin' soundtrack, 80s nostalgia, great performances, and a strong moral core. almost all of it holds up, avoiding tropes of its time that have since become problematic
yes. he does, in fact, always try. I have an acquaintance who posts all the time sth like "today Trump said some hyperbole you shouldn't waste time thinking about" and that is just some garbage. he always tries! sometimes it even happens! you ignore what he spouts at your peril!
please tell me that this is finally making a comeback, I've been waiting forty years for this stuff to have its day in the sun again
moving to the big city (München - well, Vaterstetten - well, Grasbrunn, but closer to Vaterstetten than Grasbrunn) from the countryside (Königsdorf). and this is all I got. feels like a fresh start. a little sad. sometimes, more than a little sad, as my dreams remind me. but it'll be good in the end
this right here is about 70% of my possessions. the boxes on the floor (and the two boxes on top of those boxes) and the green bag with the air mattress in it. fan and things on the table not included. + lg/sm suitcases w/ clothes/shoes, pc w/ accs., pillows, duvet cover. and that's it, all I own.
"this is our last meal, just bring out some more lobster thermidor pls"
Ring: take over Gondor and then the world Boromir: tempting. need Ring: all shall love you and despair Galadriel: tempting what a test Ring: do so much good that you become a god Gandalf: don't! tempt me frodo! Ring: Sam: Ring: Sam: Ring: like a, like a really big garden Sam: I'm good Ring: fuck
I had a completely unreasonable amount of fun with this one, which nobody else seemed to enjoy at the time but is somehow getting a remake
nobody should be surprised that LLMs write quite well about the human experience, emotions, feelings, spirituality. it's trained on the internet. that's what almost everyone has been using the internet for. tumblr, myjournal, reddit, facebook, blogs. our feelings are autocomplete grist for LLMs.
"this aged like milk" isn't really the insult people think it is. aged milk becomes cheese in the right environments and that's clearly an improvement over some mostly-tasteless liquid
isn't that how it works though? fascism always happens selectively. you can't "fascism" 100% of the population. you need an untouched majority for passive support, and other factions/people to whom it's made clear can avoid consequence if they get on board.
the photographer hates him though, just look at that photo. they took a picture of him when he was making the most hateable face a man can make. I approve of this photographer
your brilliant subconscious realized that spicy foods are good on hot days and help you cool down by making you sweat really!
had a thing for fighter-mages ever since moldvay basic d&d, where the "elf" class was "why not both?" the extra xp reqs seemed more than worth it just a classic archetype imo, even loved him in lost worlds despite him being v difficult to play
can't help it if bladesinger is the class I always wanted to play and they didn't bring it out until patch 8. a true fighter mage
black mirror season 7 was stupid good, even if the first episode almost broke me. just too close to home, that one. but still. really good season.
I distinctly remember a time when the American Dream was a house with a white picket fence and 2.5 children and I don't know when it morphed into being your own financial empire but it sure was bad for the country
regulations in capitalism is not socialism. socialism is state ownership of the means of production. you can irritate a german quickly by telling them how socialist they are. sure they practice "democratic socialism" but that is not the same thing, any more than "national socialism" is socialism.
crimes don't have to be legal in capitalism. that's a choice that america makes. germany is more capitalist than the US in the sense that more of it is privately owned. "public health care" is 8 pvt cmpys in a public trenchcoat. the post office has been privatized for 17 yrs. but it's all regulated.
roomba accidentally saw outside
in 2020 he put all of his songs into the public domain, complete with a website where you can listen and download all of them for free. tomlehrersongs.com/songs/
"In 2012, rapper 2 Chainz sampled Lehrer's song "The Old Dope Peddler" ... Lehrer['s response to the sampling request]: "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?" (from Wikipedia)
the references to lena horne and sheriff (jim) clark are too old even for me, but this remains one of my favorite lehrer songs. RIP sir. one of the greats, in many ways www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCve...
I was really hoping that you posting this didn't mean he was dead. shouldn't have googled
it's interesting that I feel like it's ok to post this here b/c, frankly, most of my followers are bots, and this is kind of like a personal blog where I just get to type things into the sub-ether knowing almost nobody will see them. it's like being alone with my sadness, but talking it out anyway.
it's hard for me to evaluate why I stayed with her for so long. in retrospect it wasn't great for me either. I couldn't disagree with her assessment of it. and I am glad she insisted I move to DE when she did b/c now I live in a real country w/ a great job, and I never would have moved here w/o her
I got dumped yesterday and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I moved to DE for her (2.5 yrs ago), she's been building an apt for us, it's almost done. but yesterday she said that our relationship of 12 yrs was 20% good, 20% bad, and 60% eh. obviously that isn't a great situation. so we broke up.
haven't liked south park in a long time but this is still funny (from www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...)
We should start calling it **SIMULATED** Intelligence. "Artificial" means it's created out of a novel means, but provides the same function. "Artificial sweetener," "artificial color," etc. "SIMULATED" carries the more accurate connotation of only *appearing, but not functioning or being.*
I explore why liberals fell for the heterodox movement’s “free speech” ploy in my latest for @bostonreview.bsky.social: www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-ri...
Physicists Blow Up Gold With Giant Lasers, Accidentally Disprove Renowned Physics Model https://gizmodo.com/physicists-blow-up-gold-with-giant-lasers-accidentally-disprove-renowned-physics-model-2000633078
Trump is doing a lot of evil, evil shit. None of it is a “distraction.” It’s all real, evil shit. Can we please stop saying “it’s a distraction from that last evil thing he did?” It’s getting ridiculous.
unsure why more people haven't commented on sam altman's strong resemblance to carter burke. maybe it's just me
"fraud warns of fraud crisis"
if you make your bot alexander skarsgård people are gonna love it, facts great show too
karl urban better be back as dredd, the 2012 movie was amazing
"empathy is toxic, obviously the solution is everyone should be cruel to each other all the time" just listen to yourselves
All the talk about how empathy is somehow a "problem" comes in context of people being kind to other people who aren't kind and that really says a lot about what the problem actually is
the woman, maybe to collect her things. the man, no chance, no CEO faces accountability like that
"Think about this: Why can’t you just knock on your Catholic neighbor’s door and convert them to Mormonism? Why can’t I talk my Baptist mom into being an atheist? Because religion is often tied up with someone’s identity. And so is Trumpism." jesspiper.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
exhibit 8729 in the "maga will always back trump" files
I never understood why so many were completely confident Epstein didn't kill himself. child molester who lived a lavish leisurely lifestyle filled with children to molest is now in prison for life where he will be treated like garbage until the end of his days? why wouldn't he kill himself?
MAGAs have no political ideology. They are a cult following their orange god. You may think that the Epstein mess will wake them up. You're wrong. They will be mad for a few days, and maybe post an angry rant, but they'll soon be back to taking photos in front of Alligator Alcatraz. It's a cult.
this is pretty much what I say to all of those american supremacists who insist that because american gdp is greater per capita it is obviously superior to europe for gdp to matter it needs to be invested in the people
tom bombadil, notoriously in favor of ejecting hobbits from the shire to where they had migrated
food and boobs happen to be two (three?) of my strongest interests
if there's one thing living in the US for almost fifty years taught me it's that GDP means nothing in the US to anyone but those who are getting the lion's share of it, people like Jamie Dimon. everywhere else there is a lot of insecurity. happy to take this tradeoff
the link didn't work, but I did get one of the best 404 pages I've ever seen, so nice consolation prize
Vienna has been declared a renters’ utopia – and it’s easy to see why | Justin Kadi
germany isn't free, but for 49 euros you can get all the transit you can take for 30 days. buses, S-bahn, U-bahn, RB, tram, anywhere in the country. only exception is the ICE. pretty good deal, probably better than just "free buses, but pay for everything else"
the steadfast refusal of the better off in the US to understand that the people who are less well off need the help more than "everyone" - even if it's "less efficient" or whatever - is absolutely maddening
if you turn quote posts off I'm gonna dunk on you. guys like this miss the point - mamdani is trying to help the kind of people who take buses to work - the less well off residents of the city he will govern. the point is not to make "a good return". the point is to help those who need it!
neither, contemporary, obvs
I think dems have a sincerely held belief that it's good to have a lot of rich people in the US and that that high GDP is what makes america great, and thus you have to do whatever it takes to keep rich people rich and happy. and to them - to many! - this probably sounds uncontroversial, even banal
let's not forget this happened to india walton too, she won the democratic primary in buffalo and the entire establishment mobilized against her. paterson et al. are hoping they can pull off the same trick here. it also happened to bernie sanders when he seemed on the verge of winning in 2016
I think this is more than racism. I think the democratic party sees any movement towards democratic socialism as an existential threat. it's one thing to have them in congress where they can be isolated, it's another thing entirely to have them in charge of a city where they can enact their policies
The best colloquial German phrase I've ever heard for describing fabrications / falsehoods is es ist ein Lügenkuchen mit einer Glasur aus Scheisse. It means “that’s a cake of lies with bullshit icing.”
it's weird to say, "I sure am lucky that I was not close enough to any family members to even hesitate briefly about moving to europe when the opportunity arose" but that isn't even wrong. I was always an introvert and a lot of my friends have visited since I moved here so that's been nice too
one of my old friends moved to berlin this year and not too long ago she mentioned she had survivor's guilt from being able to escape the US and at the time I was not on the same page but I'm starting to get it now. 40% of the voters did not vote for this shitshow, most can't escape b/c family ties
"I don't like the way you voted, glad your kids died" energy
“Politically homeless” should be a term reserved for people who are legitimately alienated from the mainstream, like the many poor people who don’t vote or actual homeless people who are generally detested by both parties, not extraordinarily wealthy fancylads who are comfortably at home in the GOP
buncha savages in your town
I would take this challenge. deviled eggs so good
It's so dark that when the guys from Alien (1979) ask Mother questions and she's like, "Cannot compute," my first instinct was like, "It's so nice how she merely withholds information instead of lying while complimenting them. What an optimistic vision of the future"
well, trump has figuratively shot a lot of people on 5th avenue in broad daylight since that day, and even though his disapproval rating is quite high, I guarantee you he still has the votes of something approximating half the country. because it's a cult. and the dems have no good alternative.
the propaganda has really been too strong, nine years ago when trump was first coming down that golden escalator I liked to say he was the candidate that fox news was conjuring up in their fevered dreams. he knew it, he said he could shoot someone on 5th ave in broad daylight and keep their support
so many articles have been written by sad lefty journalists about maga voters who lost their jobs, their health care, their friends and loved ones because of the maga agenda, only to get some variant of "while that was sad, trump is just trying to help america and so that had to be done, maga!"
I think the american people have yet to adjust that they are in a country governed by a cult and not an actual political party that needs to have policy positions. it does not matter that trump is throwing people off of medicaid or making this huge wealth transfer. maga will get its votes anyway
a beautiful ending to this season of "america"
ok here's a complaint about germany. when you're about to do a procedure that might cause the patient enough pain to pass out, how about you think about giving some anesthetic first. I would settle for a stick to bite down on. on the flip side, now I have a new contender for "worst pain in my life"
this also explains why the strongest proponents of "AI" are the people at the top tiers who haven't done any real work in a long time, no offense to those who are good bosses but when was the last time they went to code something or did some QA or anything else that might be office work?
I'm convinced this phenomenon, where they have no idea what's going on 2 or more tiers below them, is what is driving "AI" adoption to the extent that it is and why they think "AI" can do so much. how can you know it can't do those jobs if you don't know what people do in those jobs?
"executives/management don't know how your job works" is just 100% a thing and if you are lucky those people are in close enough contact with the people affected by their decisions that they will reverse them if you bring it up often enough. if you are not, well...
it occurs to me that I don't even know the names of most of the other 50 people who voted enthusiastically to turn america into even more of a shithole than it already is
maybe I'm a simple man but it feels like reserving some special hate for the person who was almost moral is not really the way to go here when the other 50 people were eager votes in favor. seriously, what is up with that? can we show some hate for everyone else who unreservedly loved the bill?
real talk, I feel bad for lisa murkowski because 49 of her colleagues (+ JD Vance, ofc) also voted for that garbage bill but she is getting all the fire trained on her because she was the only one of the 50 that might have been moved to stop it and capitulated to save some of her constituents
Normally I like you guys but come on, this is an op-ed straight out of some billionaire's fever dream. You are a European publication, you know it's better here for the great masses of people with higher taxes and fewer billionaires. I moved here two years ago from the US and I am never going back
I still think the workaround involves Vance as the candidate and Trump as the VP candidate and a day-one abdication after the inevitable maga victory, but this is right in the broad strokes. will bet that trump gets his 3rd term
warhammer 40k rogue trader remains the best 2d isometric crpg I have ever played (I feel I can make that judgment now that I have over 800 hours sunk into it). they just dropped another xpac for it and I'm afraid to start it because I know I won't play anything else until I finish it if I do
it took me a long time to recognize him in his movies because he was different every time!