Yeah, from the pics in other posts I’m wondering if this is just a very old lamp. Following the blueprint of its gas predecessor without any thought of what was no longer necessary…

Like a beta of an electric lamp? Before they realized the downsides of a wired connection compared to the “wireless” gas lamp predecessors.

OK, I was convinced this was a cop out answer. But the pic is literally the gas version of the exact same thing.

Better would be a shower with a skeleton that turns and shrieks. Then if the open the door again that’s when the guy with the chainsaw answers the door.

You, should really watch memento. A movie that dances with this exact topic.

I get lots of compliments on my username. Came up with it in the 90s and I feel like it aged well.

Yeah fall damage is a magical attack by the earth.

That’s what you get for defying it. I’d buy that.

Ironically, kinda.

Think about it. If somebody else threatens you for money, you won’t have any money to give them when they threaten you.

It’s one of the reasons why you’ll often hear about “turf”. “Don’t start anything on my turf” It’s because everyone wants to be the only game on their turf so they don’t have to compete.

If you’re willing to go DIY, you can build some speakers yourself for pretty cheap. They’re very light, so you can easily mount them into a drywall ceiling and save floor space. They also don’t tend to oscillate the bass into the room above. Bass is a little light, but they’re good for the value.

For the projector, if you’re willing to put in some time and effort you can usually find them at auction for dirt cheap every couple months. (especially in an economic downturn…) Mounting is almost always the tricky part though. And the throw distance (how big the screen gets per foot of distance) is the biggest thing to worry about. Depending on the projector’s intended use uh… you can too big real fast. Peruse the manual (find the part number for the projector).

You can get a TV the same way, but projectors are almost always cheaper at auction because they’re niche and not in high demand. Just keep looking, they’ll show up sooner or later.

Keep in mind, projectors are often high latency. You won’t notice it playing movies, but if you’re playing COD or especially DDR, oh my god that will suck. Most newer models have a gaming mode to reduce it, but most models don’t focus on gaming. ALSO, get a spare bulb for the sucker before you actually need it. If you’re buying it used you’re already halfway through the bulb as is. (unless it’s a laser)

White sheet will work fine for a back drop. Official screens will increase contrast but if you have a dark room, not as necessary.

Source: I am literally typing this on a projector. Have been using a PC on a giant projector screen for 7 years now. AMA

I drink with friends, I don’t smoke but I do hang out in the smoking areas though.

I wouldn’t say it’s unusual. Can’t say there was much peer pressure to get me to start drinking. It just was an easy conversation starter. “Whatcha drinking?”

I think it’s also one of the reasons smoking starts so easily. It’s a really easy conversation starter. Gotta light?

It’s not bad that the next generations are doing it less, but it does suck that they haven’t been replaced with a new conversation starter.

What blows my mind is the child predation isn’t even half the problem with Roblox. Gambling with real cash, child labor, black market for digital content.

It’s an absolutely dumpster fire of problems, and yet balatro is the one the EU cracks down on.

This is what drives me nuts about his apology.

It’s not that you thought it looked like her. It did.

It’s not that you thought it sounded like her voice. It did

It’s the fact that you thought she would string together the sentence:

Watching that sultry little temptress squeeze into a Canadian tuxedo three sizes too small with her bouncy little funbags on the screen staring at you, piercing through the core of your soul with those ocean-blue eyes that could resurrect the Führer from his grave in Argentina

In front of a full congress to be saved in the library of congress. That is how little you think of her. That’s the insult, that she’s somehow dumber than MTG.

That’s the thing to apologize for.

Yeah it was bench seating so one guy had the reins and the other had a shotgun. Hence the name.

I was literally just thinking that. Vegas is a ghost town, most countries are in fear of being stopped at TSA, A Canadian was held for over a week…

This is gonna be a very weird Olympics.

Honestly I’m just as infuriated and we have an arguable use case for it.

I work in av and we’re looking into camera tracking for presentations with AI.

The amount of time and effort we are putting into using AI over just motion tracking with two cameras is just…

Like, AI makes us immune to fishtanks, but introduces false positives like statues, paintings, false negatives, and nobody puts any thought into what happens if the AI is ever wrong?

Real case scenario, I had an AI solution locked onto my crotch when I was wearing tan pants… whaddya do? Your share holders flew all over to hear your presentation. I guess you just have to swap pants and hope for the best.

If you track movement, you can always get rid of the extraneous movement or give your presenter CPR to get them moving again. Like, you can physically point to the problem and instantly understand with the old systems.

Lots of reasons.

It’s yet another thing that is only going to benefit corporations. Because they get unsleeping workers that don’t get sick or talk back or strike. They get to charge us for the benefits.

It’s built entirely off of everyone else’s work and content.

The servers that house the AI are draining water sheds and power grids and in the case of Elon Musk and Tennessee literally poisoning people.

It sounds way too much like a cult. Promising the sun and moon on essentially a chatbot.

It looks way to much like a bubble, our stock market is currently going up because of Nvidia largely.

AI taking over is literally one of the main plot points of Sci fi.

It’s infuriatingly blameless. If the AI therapist says “try meth” you can basically only sue the massive faceless organization that built it spinning your wheels for possibly nothing.

Driving people manic by feeding into delusions

It’s a God send to scammers, trolls, propaganda, sexual harassment, people in college just for the paper degree at the end, teachers who can’t be bothered to write, upper and middle management who can’t be bothered to write. Lots of just terrible people.

And for every new protein and material that’s discovered because of it. (Some of the most useful and least destructive uses of it) They are immediately gobbled up by patents for a corporation that now has even more control of the universe and everything useful in it. And no human can decide to just open it for the world like vaccines.

I heard you can also just drop a traffic cone on it and fill it with mud.

Honestly this could be an entire Mythbusters episode…

I mean, it’s not surprising when you’re not sure if you’re going to be where you are in even three years.

I love the furniture on the left, but until I bought a house I was NOT gonna put that into an apartment. I never spent more than five years in an apartment. The longest I ever spent in a single location was the house I lived in college where I lived with five other college goers and grads about 7 years.

You can genuinely get some fantastic deals on furniture like the left. I got a gorgeous 4 poster queen bed for 15 bucks. It was an absolute nightmare to move, had to rent a truck to move it, it works great though. If I had to move it every three years though, fuck that.

hmm, something tells me that facepaint will come into style in the next 10 years…

music video that plays with this idea

Well first, this is not as achievable as you think.

Marrying into money means meeting a partner with money which means spending money. You think they’re gonna hang out at the local bowling alley? Like genuinely, just use this motivation to network and look for a job without linked in. That would at least allow you to make gains of either gender.

At the very least, you should multi-task. Makes you look less like a gold digger too.

Second even if you find a perfect partner. Unless they are rich rich, if anything happens you become a widow with no job history. You think a 21 year old with no job experience sucks? Try a 48 year old with no job history. That partner is going to be a single point of failure and even if you love eachother deeply, they will die someday, and it’s not guaranteed to be when you’re 90.

Also others have hit on this but you are betting on a partner. You have two competing interests, you don’t want a monster, but you also want to be taken care of. Be… be very aware that the people you would be most worried about, are looking for someone with your goals, persuading someone to have your goals, and are gonna try to raise your need for safety, and lower your expectations.

In some ways… being honest with your goal can almost be ringing the dinner bell to a monster.