It’s a damn shame that we haven’t built a microwave that actually listens to the pops and stops when the pops slow, just like every bag of popcorn instructs you to do. We’ve got gun shot detectors; you’d think we could build a chip to analyze popping popcorn.

Chopsticks. Use them. It takes a little practice, but they are perfect for snacking, especially popcorn. Cheetos are easiest of the chips, but others are possible. No more residue on your finger tips, or the backs of your hands from reaching into the bag. I also switched to chopsticks for things like salads (fruit or vege variety), noodles, and getting olives and such out of jars. Even a good stew or chili can be eaten with chopsticks and a spoon. Now I just need to get better at using chopsticks with my nondominant hand.

This is one of those questions that is easy to scoff at initially as a stupid question, but really it’s not. Especially once you learn about wombat poops.

Those are the kinds of inconsistencirs the GOP use to accuse you of voter fraud, even if you correct it. Don’t be surprised if some GOP busybody adds your name to a list of voter registrations to purge. Whenever they talk about voting irregularities and a rigged election, this is exactly the kind of voter disenfranchisement that they are trying to accomplish. Hell, question enough votes and you can get the votes of an entire region thrown out. You don’t need any proof to make the accusations, then they massive shit sandwich gets dropped in the lap of a few underpaided and understaffed people to substantiate. I recommend you vote as early as possible and follow up to make sure your vote gets counted.

Yes, I’ve done almost exactly this while traveling. You can even carry around a couple variously configured sd cards for different use cases. I had one with jellyfin for sharing locally and also Kodi for direct HDMI connection to TVs. There is a in app on Android for jellyfin called findroid that allows offline copies from the media server, which allowed me to not need the thing powered the entire time I wanted to watch something on my phone, just long enough to download it. Adding samba shares adds a other layer of accessibility. I had another SD Card with video game ROMs for retro gaming, but this one got left at home because it requires controllers and I didn’t think I’d use it that much. I had another with “little backup box” installed for automatically backing up my photos and videos after a day out exploring with my camera.

I used a Raspberry pi 5 for all of this, running from a battery backup, because I didn’t really need a keyboard once I had remote connections to my phone sorted out. Pick a rugged case and you case just toss it in your bag of chargers. It took up about as much space as a pack of cigarettes. Another option would be the Raspberry Pi 400, built into a keyboard. A little bulkier, but maybe more resilient in the face of technical difficulties.

Have you ever worn chainmail without an undershirt? Or gambeson? It feels neat at first. Never had to worry about pinching. It didn’t grab any hair. The metal will feel cool and smooth all night. But oh Lord, the awful pain it will bring to unprotected virgin nipples. Like surfing for a hundred years without a rash guard all in one hedonistic night concentrated on the area less than two dimes. NEVER AGAIN. A couple bandaids or pasties the next time and all is good.

I think you’ll be fine with just a top sheet between you and the chainmail.

I mean, that’s fucked up and hilarious. I’m a dirty omnivore and those places are no more appetizing to me. Those cuts at the all you can eat Brazilian places SUCK.

But surprisingly, when I want a predictable vegetable side while I’m traveling, I go to a steakhouse. Every other place seems to serve either microwaved bag veggies, fried bullshit, or something sad smothered in sauce. Go to a steakhouse and I can get a rare well seasoned aged filet and two steamed fresh vegetable sides plus a salad. The only reliable vegan places I’ve found are Indian, which isn’t bad, but is often not really to my taste. Obviously I’m no vegan, but I think it’s fair to say I love plant based foods even more as long as they’re not fake meat, fake cheese, or overly spiced mush. In a meat centric region that’s a hard palette to satisfy sometimes.

I know the Hogwarts Legacy game got a lot of hate from Rowling being a monster, but the game mechanics really let you optimize stealthing. I’ve snuck into many a goblin stronghold and just sneaky sneak murder-hobo’d like 20 or more of them, one at a time, looting the bodies before they even hit the floor. They even show the little ! icon. I feel like I’m playing Solid Snake goes to Hogwarts sometimes.

At they end? The whole thing is toxic incel red-pilled hate speech.

Try reading it again you poor illiterate fool

He doesn’t understand that some men don’t need their vehicle size to compensate for their tiny manhood (and I don’t mean penis). Real men have fun and don’t give a fuck, because they fuck. Like what you like with enthusiasm. Don’t hurt other people or put down their joy. Support your fellows and sheilas. Cook an excellent meal. Mend your clothes. Be nuturing. Be kind. Don’t be toxic. Be a fuckin’ man. Or woman. Or whatever. I don’t care. Be you. Be excellent to each other. Sorry, rant over.

I have setup and run what are basically HTPC’s for decades now. Kodi running on a Debian based Linux distribution or just Debian is a solid recommendation and has lots of support for infrared remotes, but kodi can be very fiddly to setup properly. It will work, but don’t expect it to work “out of the box”. You’ll probably still need a mouse and keyboard for anything outside Kodi. You’ll have to read a bunch of documentation and do some customizing to get the most out of Kodi. It’s still easier than most other setups, but it will feel very frustrating if it’s your introduction to Linux too.

I’ve moved to using my HTPC primarily as a server. Once you get comfortable with linux and docker, setting up new server services like Jellyfish, Plex, and and *ARR stack is relatively trivial. The advantage here being that you can serve your media to any device that can connect to your server. For me that means one library of media to share with any TV in my house, any mobile device I own, and any friends and family computer savvy enough to download the right apps and setup an account. If your network (and your Internet connection) isn’t reliable this kind of setup may not work very well for you at all. For example, Plex account authentication will fail is you don’t have Internet. Jellyfin and Kodi fair better when Internet is only available occasionally or is unreliable.

My least favorite part of using Kodi was setting up the remote. Even worse was trying to configure controllers for retro gaming. The situation is MUCH better than it was, but is still far from easy. I was kind of able to side step the remote problem because now I can just use the remote for the TV (if it supports the Plex or Jellyfin apps) or another streaming stick like fire stick, Nvidia shield, or Roku. My Nvidia shield can pair with any Bluetooth controller and runs RetroArch so that problem was side stepped too. ROMs can be copied via samba shares or loaded directly by a USB drive.

TLDR: Kodi has built-in support for IR, but streaming sticks are cheap, and in the long run I found setting up a server was more versatile, more reliable, and less stressful. I know, I also hate it when people ask for a specific solution and others recommend asking a different question. But in this case, my experience is that IR remotes suck, are flaky, and not worth it if there is any other option.

Do you mind sharing what brand retail UPS weren’t lasting a year?

I’m dealing with similar brownouts and also an area with lots of lightning. I got about 5 years out of my UPS batteries. Wondering if I’ve just been lucky.

Don Glover

This is like a Far Side comic in that I’m sure it’s actually funny, but I have no idea why.

It’s the gritty psychedelic dystopian cyberpunk movie we didn’t deserve. Nintendo had no idea how to produce a movie and just let them run fucking wild. Hollywood should be encouraged to take more chances. Fucking electric bumper cars demolition derby style car chase. Dino-people. Devo (the concept not the band). Psychic fungi. And all the other fucking weirdos. It’s not even awesomely bad, it’s badassly awesome.

What’s most surprising to me is how closely the latest animated Movie Bros. movie followed the very broad strokes of the plot of the original, like a sanitized and fully kitsch commercial reboot, which is kind of appropriate for the world we live in.

Yeah, that sounds less than ideal.

Have you tried or already had trouble using plexamp with downloaded content so that you can keep a local copy of some subset of your music library on your device? I only ask because I’ve used plexamp without issue for streaming, but haven’t really felt a need to do the local sync yet for music, just Movies and TV through the regular Plex app.