Lorindól @ Lorindol @sopuli.xyz

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2 yr. ago

I collect movies that I know to be good. I've been a true film freak for over 35 years and I've learned how to find "my thing" from the vast market with the help from my friends, reviews and forums. Or when I see a truly good one at a theatre, it goes to my buy list and it might take years for it to come my way.

I have never bought a movie just because of the covers, this has actually never even occurred to me. I did rent films this way back in the day, but I only buy stuff I know.

Nowadays I rarely find anything I haven't already seen before, but just few weeks ago I came by a modern classic that I was unable to see in a proper theatre. I save these specialties to watch with a projector and a good sound system, hopefully in a few weeks I'll find the time...

This. Just yesterday I bought a batch of films, DVD's 1$ and Blu-Rays 1,5$ a piece. And they were mostly new films.

DVD's are perfectly fine for TV and Blu-Rays for my projector.

I never jumped to the streaming bandwagon and my disc collection has grown exponentially in the last few years, since most people gave up on discs. Their loss.

My dad used to travel a lot in the 80's due to his job. I asked him to bring Turkish Delights if he ever came across them. I was so stoked when he opened his suitcase and handed me a fancy wooden box full of them.

This was one of the biggest disappointments of my childhood.

Outdoor temperatures have been between -10C and -29C for the last few weeks, I don't think it's going to get really cold here this year.

Cold doesn't really bother me, I don't normally even wear a jacket if it's warmer than -20C. Woollen sweater and a warm vest will do just fine.

Could you elaborate on this line of thought?

I cannot tell if you are suggesting a professional standing army or something else entirely.

performing labour or 6 months of jail does sound completely unforced

Forced labour is very different to military training, IMO. Your choices and freedom are restricted - that cannot be denied - but your days are filled with different training excersizes, not labour as I understand it. And I've had my fair share of that too, but by my own choice.

i said nothing about whether i see my own country as worth serving, but your pity is appreciated

True. Your earlier statement was ambiguous concerning this. This is why I started the sentence with "if".

and youll continue to have the option to do so regardless of whether your government continues to threaten its citizens into doing so

Also true. But if I had to defend my country, the most effective way to do it would be as a part of a trained and coordinated effort, not as some loner seeking a Hollywood - style "heroic sacrifice".

I do not see compulsory military service as forced labour, not by a long shot.

In my country when a man turns 18, he has to choose either military service (6 months for rank and file, 9 months for specialists or 12 months for specialist drivers and NCO and officer trainees) or civil service (13 months). Third and very seldomly used option is "total denial", which means you get to spend 6 months in an open jail.

I very reluctantly chose military service, hoping to get the shortest 6 month option. I ended up serving 12 months in the reserve officer training program, so I do have some experience on the matter.

The population of my country is so small that an army based on professional or voluntary troops is not a possibility. Conscription is the only viable choice.

The service was rarely fun, but it was very effective and extremely valuable. The personal growth I experienced during that year was immeasurable and one year of my life is a very small price to pay to this country that my grandparents' generation paid a very heavy toll to protect. A country that offers equal rights, universal healthcare and free education for all citizens, amongst many other tax-paid services.

If you do not see your own country worth serving, I feel sad for you. I would gladly give my life to protect mine.

I live in the Nordics and my house is prrimarily heated by a geothermal heat pump. The temperature here has been between -20C and -30C for the last week, the pump can easily keep the room temperatures at +19C until the outside temperatures drop under -25C, after that the electric resistor kicks in to provide assistance.

The secondary heat source is the giant baking oven, which i heat every other day if gets this cold. The fully heated oven alone raises the room temperatures by 5-6C, which helps a lot to take the load of the heating pump and keeps the electric bill smaller.

I have been planning to install air/air-water heat pumps to both floors, they would be a good backup during these cold spells and would also provide cooling during the summer. And if I install a smart control system, I can have the air units do extra heating/cooling automatically when the electricity is cheap.

I just haven't had the time to do the research where it would be best to install them and the prices rose steeply after Russia attacked Ukraine. So I'll wait for a while before I'll get those.

It's getting harder every year.

I remember well the constant fear of nuclear war in the 1980's.

I remember the wonder we felt when the Berlin Wall fell and Soviet Union collapsed. A hope of a tomorrow free of fear.

I remember the dreadful recession of the early 1990's and the steep economical rise that followed it.

I remember the amazing advancements in technology and the standard of living in the late 1990's. And at the same time, it felt like the world was coming to it's senses.

I was 21 in the year 2000. The world was full of promise, technological advancements were just pouring in, old mortal enemies were finding common ground and it seemed that we were slowly heading towards a Star Trek - like post scarcity utopia.

This age of hope eneded by the finance crisis of 2007-2008. Russia tried the waters with the war in Georgia. The general atmosphere of the world turned towards gloom again. And the downward spiral just seems to keeps going and going....

Yet I continue the work I started when I chose teaching as my profession in those golden years of hope. The kids are very different today, any class from 20 years ago would be a piece of cake compared with the problems they have now. But if a change for the better is to come, it will come from the kids. My generation is hopelessly lost in consumer greed and watching mindless "reality" shows that they somehow feel more important than real life.

I alone cannot be the change we need, but I CAN educate a few hundred kids and with good luck, maybe a dozen or few of them will have a some effect for a better future.

It's a reference to this quirk of nature:

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/duck-penis-corkscrew

I have a a working box camera from 1930's. Or it would work, if I could still find film for it at a semi-decent price.

My Sansui 1000X - receiver amp is in daily use and was made in 1971, it's in near mint condition in every way. I did a complete internal cleanup and replaced a few electrolytic capasitors just to be sure to avoid any problems in the future. I believe the unit may well outlive me. I love the silverface-teak cabinet aesthetics. It's paired with a Lenco - L75 turntable from the early 70's and AR-7x speakers from the same decade, together they sound pretty much perfect to my ears.

And I also have my great-aunt's windable table clock. It's ~100-120 years old, but still works if only I remembered to wind it every other day.

Yes, cruiseboats in the Finland-Sweden route might be considered. But it's still far from Vegas.

The border was reopened because we have no desire to keep the border closed, we have many citizens with Russian ancestry and we want them to be able to move across the border to see their relatives.

But because Russia still keeps pushing illegal immigrants towards our border, we had to close the border again. Putin probably thinks he's "punishing" us for joining NATO.

It would serve everyone best if they stopped playing this stupid game, even my own extended family has been affected by the closing of the border.

Miksi luulet etten olisi? Eikä tapana ole ollut trollata, sen jätän ryssille ja vähämielisille.

65MB HDD in '89? Some people had it all.

I had to make do with 20MB until 1992, when I got a 386/33MHz with 60MB HDD. And it was glorious.

Your description fits my brother perfectly.

He has very little curiosity, hasn't read more than 3 books in his entire life, strongly dislikes all forms of art (except shitty movies and TV-shows), isn't capable of analytical or critical thinking and hasn't got a clue how the political system works.

He apes the attitudes of his spouse and friends, so much that I'm not sure he even has any opinions of his own.

Yet this doesn't bother him at all. He's very happy being oblivious and he makes more than twice as much money per month than I do with my master's degree. He is very good at what he does and I'm happy for him.

It would still be nice to be able to have a real conversation with him, instead of just stating the factual matters or laughing at some dumb jokes. If we both didn't share such a strong resemblance of our dad I'd assume that my mom had an affair, beyond our appearance we have almost nothing else in common.

No, not really. The stolen Karelia is lost and we've made our peace with that fact.

There are a few idiots who nowadays mainly screech on the Internet and want to take it back, but about 99,9% of our population is content with the current borders

As is common to them, the Russians have not developed the infrastructure of the region and the old Finnish cities are in in pretty downbeat shape. The roads are in terrible condition (except the ones that lead to oligarch's summer villas) and they've dumped their garbage everywhere. I've visited the fabled land of my ancestors and what I saw just made me sad.

Restoring Karelia even to a pre-WWII-level would take decades and probably cost tens of billions or even more. The population is almost purely ethnic Russians - what would we do with them?

If by some magic the land would be offered back to us, free of charge and without the current population, we would still be wary to take it. The old border basically went through the suburbs of St.Petersburg, that would eventually cause severe problems due to the unchanging nature of Russia. So no, let them keep it as long as they stay on their side of the border.

The last time they attacked we were unprepared and still they paid a heavy price. Now we've had almost 80 years to prepare our defenses, and we have oh so many glorious surprises ready if the need ever arises.

Predators do what predators do.

I had two cats from the same litter. The female was superfocused on birds, rarely paid any attention to mice or voles which are pretty abundant here in the countryside. She very rarely managed to catch any birds in the wild, but if one made the mistake of flying into the house, it was game over in seconds. She could jump surprisingly high.

The male on the other hand was only interested in rodents. It was like to him birds didn't exist. For yeard he kept our house totally free from mice, roaming the yard and doing his thing very effectively. I'd pay good money to have a cat like him again.

I wouldn't let my cats out in the city, but out here I'll let them live by their insticts. The nearby highway kills a lot more birds and mammals daily than they ever could.

I use mine almost on a daily basis, with my headphones and when I connect my phone to my stereo system.

I do have Chromecast Audio hooked up and I own good wireless Hi-Fi earbuds, but I prefer to use cables. They just work better, no interference or any other hassle.

Few days ago I was talking with my wife about groceries, reminded her about buying more cat food. My daughter was sitting next to me, playing some game on her Android phone. Then she chirped "I got a cat food ad! I've never gotten a cat food ad before, ever! It's like the phone heard what you just said, dad!"

Yep. VPN and Adguard are now installed to every single mobile device in my household.