Giftcard to good favorite shop is a gimme.

Apart from that… get him a hammock! If he’s a little extreme kiddo, he’ll probably love hanging it up between trees and climbing into it.

You talking about shooting a gun up your own butt?

Audiobooks, baby. 1.75x speed (1.25x speed if there’s a heavy accent involved or it’s information dense).

I try to never do chores without an earbud in and a book or podcast going. (Makes dishes so much more enjoyable.)

Edit: spy books by John Le Carre really revived my love for books in older age.

This is a great commentary to me. I think it shows just how much of an appetite we currently have for a curated space. It’s almost like Mastodon is a service that’s about 15 years too late.

I remember going around to older forums and sites looking for specific content when I wanted it, and I wasn’t always guaranteed to find something I liked, but I would often see something interesting.

Now, though, I really want anywhere I go to knock me off my feet with good content because that’s what I’m conditioned to. Isn’t that what makes me an addict, though? I’m wondering if that chance of dissatisfaction isn’t a virtue to ensure no one platform takes control of all my attention.

My interactions on Mastodon are far fewer than on Lemmy, though.

IMO, Lemmy is like a CoOp video game where you’re supposed to interact together, and Mastodon is like watching someone else play a solo video game.

Both can be good, but they serve different purposes to me.

My sister once put some dog doo in a paper towel tube and wrapped it as a present.

But somehow I don’t think that the kind of prank you’re looking for.

A lot of practical steps, which is nice to see in an article like this.

Oh, me too. I hadn’t thought of that, but that would be terrible if it happened

I’m actually a bit surprised… my stock is pretty down from selling you so much over the past weeks.

It doesn’t matter, though; I have enough for the festival and I’m planning to rake in the big bucks like I usually do.

I think that’s a good sign tbh

You sound well adjusted.

I do one to probe one point, though… Coukd your motives for living this way be pride? A feeling that you being able to live up to your own (self-described as “high”) moral standards is something that makes you better than others?

The reason I ask: it’s not a bad thing to feel a sense of pride for having control over yourself, but it can be a weakness to obtaining true happiness because it also depends on the performance of other people. (If someone else exhibits more self-mastery than you, would that make you feel less happy about your own performance?)

If pride isn’t a factor, it sounds like you’re in a good spot.

Fucking awesome, it is. When I travel, I take 1 laptop power cord. Charges my phone, laptop, Switch, and backup battery. (The backup battery’s output ports are USB-A, but it’s got a lil converter cable that stays in the lil bag that the backup battery is stored in.)

Dang, you are patient!

I haven’t played Balder’s Gate 3 yet, so I’d say I’m patient.

Legit? If you have a costume, you’re getting candy if you come to my house. Age has nothing to do with it.

This one is my biggest challenge too… I wish there was, like, a “trial” instance that folks were automatically signed up for and then after 30 days they had to switch and find another instance.

Once you’re in the door it’s lovely, but that first barrier to entry scares people off.

…is it weird that I actually like this part of it? It feels like it allows there to be different “flavors” of communities, and I can decide which flavor I like and which one I don’t.

I can see how it would get frustrating as a poster trying to figure out which community will get the most reach.

I actually did some googling and there are some okay-ish articles debating this topic. All of them said “it depends”, which isn’t really helpful.

It got me thinking, though… how much savings would you need to make it worth it to you? ($20 savings? $100 savings? $500 savings?)

The oil heater is going to cost ~$50 to purchase if you don’t already have one. That means you’ll at least need to save $50 just to break even. So over the winter, your electric bill will need to drop by $50 plus whatever the dollar amount you need in order for it to be “worth the trouble” for you.

If an extra $50 over the winter in savings ($100 total) is worth it to you, I think you have a high chance of an oil room heater getting you that savings over your central heating. I’m doubtful how much more you’d be able to save beyond that. (I didn’t do the math on it, but based on the articles I read, the oil heater is going to be cheaper in general.)

Another thing to consider: The oil heater is likely to be a lot more convenient to use than the central air option and having to close all the other vents in your house though.

You aren’t a fuckup because you weren’t smart enough to protect yourself from getting hurt by others. Your parents are supposed to be looking out for you and they are not. They are to blame, not you.

There was a great DefCon talk recently about how a guy gained credibility on the dark web over the course of a few years and it was easy to do by just being helpful to others. People tend to trust those who are helpful.

After awhile, he got busted and the feds took over his ToR identity and used his credibility to bust some criminals on the dark web.

I recommend being suspicious of everyone you interact with online.