You know, just for you: I just changed it to the Coca Cola santa :D

Ugh. Don’t get me started.

Most people don’t understand that the only thing it does is ‘put words together that usually go together’. It doesn’t know if something is right or wrong, just if it ‘sounds right’.

Now, if you throw in enough data, it’ll kinda sorta make sense with what it writes. But as soon as you try to verify the things it writes, it falls apart.

I once asked it to write a small article with a bit of history about my city and five interesting things to visit. In the history bit, it confused two people with similar names who lived 200 years apart. In the ‘things to visit’, it listed two museums by name that are hundreds of miles away. It invented another museum that does not exist. It also happily tells you to visit our Olympic stadium. While we do have a stadium, I can assure you we never hosted the Olympics. I’d remember that, as i’m older than said stadium.

The scary bit is: what it wrote was lovely. If you read it, you’d want to visit for sure. You’d have no clue that it was wholly wrong, because it sounds so confident.

AI has its uses. I’ve used it to rewrite a text that I already had and it does fine with tasks like that. Because you give it the correct info to work with.

Use the tool appropriately and it’s handy. Use it inappropriately and it’s a fucking menace to society.

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

‘Violence is never the solution’ is usually the thing the abuser tells you. Because they know that violence is indeed the thing that gets you actual change more often than not.

Did talking get us out of World War II? No. Are you going to reason with a dictator like Assad, Hussein, Gadaffi, etc? No. Did the French get rid of their oppressive ruling class through vigorous debate? No.

And that’s not even counting how many countries and peoples had to fight themselves free over the centuries.

Violence is not the solution to every problem. But it sure is the only solution for some of them.

Glad I could teach you an interesting phrase :D

It’s actually quite old. It’s been used in this context of ‘shooting someone’ since at least the 1870’s.

https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/in74zji

Wake the fuck up, samurai. We’ve got a CEO to ventilate.

Yeah, an ENT will usually use a curette while looking into your ear. That’s like a little stick with a loop or scoop at the end. Basically, they’ll manually scrape it clean. It’s effective, but usually more unpleasant as you found out.

Thankfully, drops and irrigation work just fine for me.

I’m always amazed how much comes out. I always like to take a look after they flush it.

Last time, my left ear - the one that didn’t even feel clogged - had a plug in it about the size of your pinky distal phalange (the last section of your pinky).

I didn’t even feel it when it was in there. But I sure as shit felt when it wasn’t! Everything sounded so loud for a day or two afterwards.

Basically, every method has its pros and cons. For me, a few drops of oil and irrigation work fine. But I also know some people require manual curette and suction to get it cleaned.

And yes, the ear bulb has its own cons. For example, you shouldn’t do it if you’ve ever had ear related trauma like a blown eardrum or ear tubes. And it should always be done with lukewarm water, as cold water can lead to dizziness.

For me, here in the Netherlands, it’s a free doctor’s visit to get it done. Only costs me the ten minute wait in the waiting room.

You can, but in general it’s good to be aware of risk factors and the proper way to do it.

For example, if you’ve had ear issues like a ruptured eardrum, ear tubes or a history of infections, it’s best to let a doctor look at it first. It’s a fairly safe thing to do, but there are contra-indications to be aware of.

Another important note: if you’ve do irrigate, it’s usually best to use lukewarm water. If you’ve use cold water, it can lead to dizziness. Not everyone is susceptible to that, but it’s good to be aware of it.

I’m like your wife, in that I get clogged ears naturally. Particularly my right ear. I have a slightly wonky ear canal, which causes wax to build up. I usually get it cleaned every year or so. Olive oil drops help to get things going.

Honestly though… irrigation to me is just as enjoyable :D

It’s like scratching an itch in a spot you didn’t even know was itching. And you’re going to love how clean it feels. Definitely get it done at least once if you’ve never experienced it.

DO NOT stick anything in your ears. Absolutely not.

Your ears are self cleaning. Earwax is a cleaning mechanism, that’s designed to trap dirt and things and remove them from your ear. It works with your jaw movement, which slowly moves the wax to the outermost part of the ear.

If you use Q-tips, your ears produces more wax because it thinks there’s something that needs cleaning. Basically, you’re making things worse by doing that.

If you’ve got a clogged ear: first try a few drops of olive oil and let it sit for a minute or two. That’ll soften the wax and make it easier to get out. Usually you’ll need to do it a day or two.

If your ear remains clogged, get it irrigated at your doctor’s office. They squirt lukewarm water in it to flush out your ear canal. You’ll have awesome superhero hearing for a day or so afterwards. It’s quick and painless if done properly.

Do not fuck with your ears yourself. It’s not worth it.

Apart from Flight Simulator 2020 and DCS, I absolutely love games like Euro Truk Simulator 2 and Snowrunner. I put ungodly amounts of hours into those. Especially ETS 2 is incredibly relaxing. No pressure, just a lovely drive. It’s definitely not for everyone though.

Agreed. If someone can’t be bothered to write two sentences, they really have no business being on a discussion platform. Because clearly they won’t be contributing much if anything to the conversation.

‘Serving sizes’ are absolute nonsense. They are always wildly out of step with reality. Only reason they put it on there is so manufacturers can claim “our product isn’t bad, it only contains X calories per serving”.

Meanwhile, they put serving sizes fit for ants on packages that clearly aren’t meant to be shared and don’t reflect reasonable consumption. For example, a serving size of three jelly beans is silly by any stretch of the imagination. So is putting ‘serving sizes’ on a soda can. And a sleeve of Oreos? One cookie is a serving. Yeah, we all know that’s not how you eat Oreos…

Preferably out the back of a C130 just off the coast of Florida.

I don’t smell burnt toast, but clearly I’ve had a stroke if that’s supposed to be readable.

These days I just assume nothing’s playable offline. It’s not like my PS5 is ever offline anyway, so it’s not really a point of concern for me.

The actual reason I like physical games is because they’re generally cheaper when they just release and get discounted far sooner than digital games.

For example: Armored Core VI costs 69,99 euros on PS Store.

An online game store here sells it for 19,99 brand new. That means I can buy a copy for myself, I can gift you copy, buy a third one to light on fire as a sacrifice to the gaming gods… and still have money left over for two frozen pizza’s.

That’s why I like physical.

It’s not the price point. Most of the people who’d be in the market for one wouldn’t buy it because it doesn’t take discs. When I bought my PS5, I specifically bought the disc version. So I’m not going to ‘upgrade’ to a machine that doesn’t have one and only really offers ‘improved performance’ as its main selling point. It just doesn’t make sense.

If you’re new to the platform and are used to buying only digital, it might be more palatable. But as someone who’s been with Sony since the very first PlayStation: I’m gonna pass.

Back in the Trump days I saw a documentary on YouTube about the rise in LGBTQ+ gun culture.

Basically, most of the interviewed folks reasoned: I’d rather not need or use a gun, but the people who want me dead all have them, so I want to protect myself. Obviously, there’s also just people in that community who enjoy guns regardless. Both are perfectly valid reasons.