How many tabs do you have open?
It's great for podcasts or morning news, I would imagine. Like pop in the shower while you listen to NPR or the local news stuff. I remember as a kid, listening to morning radio with traffic reports, weather, and current news to talk about during your workday.
The ironic thing is that they because successful because of civilization and pack mentality, but are so conceited, they think all that infrastructure (public roads, doctors, restaurants, etc) exists simply because they exist. It's weirdly how toddlers see the universe, and why tantrums between the two groups are so similar.
Moe (萌え, Japanese pronunciation: [mo.e] ⓘ), sometimes romanized as moé, is a Japanese word that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly towards characters in anime, manga, video games, and other media directed at the otaku market. Moe, however, has also gained usage to refer to feelings of affection towards any subject.
Moe is related to neoteny and the feeling of "cuteness" a character can evoke. The word moe originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Japan and is of uncertain origin, although there are several theories on how it came into use. Moe characters have expanded through Japanese media, and the concept has been commercialised. Contests, both online and in the real world, exist for moe-styled things, including one run by one of the Japanese game rating boards. Various notable commentators such as Tamaki Saitō, Hiroki Azuma, and Kazuya Tsurumaki have also given their take on moe and its meaning.
I am not wild about any of them, but center left, bottom left are my least annoying. I'll just change it to something else when i go to Plasma 6 (which I started testing, and while overall it looks great, and is pretty snappy, the Neon Testing is seriously unstable in other areas -- but they warn you about that, so that's on me).
"They sure don't make slaves like they used to! Last batch of imports were dead on arrival from UPS. And the ones that we DO have want food. Like EVERY. DAY. I gave them food last Christmas, which I don't REALLY have to do, mind you, but I'm all Christian Holy and shit, and they still just bitch and whine that they need food daily. Bunch of entitled freeloaders."
"But Bob, you lost you last batch due to dehydration. You need to give them water every day, too."
"There is a MOTHERFUCKING OCEAN only a TWO HOUR DRIVE from here. They have EIGHT HOURS A DAY they don't work for me, but no, they just lie around napping."
"But they are chained up and can't drive. Besides, once the flies are living in their wounds, that isn't napping anymore."
"You sound like one of them liberals! Always spending brain power on an excuse instead of good, hard work."
Bank of America. I have dealt with them on a corporate level, multimillion dollar assets, mind you, and seen gross incompetence and negligence that scared me. I'm talking about constant insecure data practices, inconsistent rules, terrible record keeping, and asset mismanagement.
The biggest weakness appeared to be how they treated their employees. Our "local branch" went through multiple managers in less than a year, and when we did business with the "employees du jour" in our quarterly meetings, they all acted like scared college students. Unprepared, inexperienced, and some cocksure with blatantly wrong information. And some downright unprofessional. For example, we had a meeting where they kept pronouncing our company name wrong, spelled our name wrong a different way, and kept adding parts to it. Like:
"Okay, as president of Reginald Incorporated--"
"Remington. Like the gun."
"Regingun international - -
"No no. REM MING TON. Remington."
"Right. Remington International - -
"Incorporated. There is no 'international' in our name."
"But you're a Japanese company?"
"No. We're American. We do business with the Japanese."
"Oh. Huh. Okay, as president of Remington Incorporated of Japan - -"
"NO. Just 'Remington Incorporated.' That's it."
"Oh wow. Sorry. I'm going to have to fix that on this paperwork, then."
"Yes. That's why we're here."
I had a boss who never gave me a raise, didn't believe in reviews, and had long rambling meetings where he just said whatever he was thinking. Sometimes it seemed he forgot we were there, and he'd start arguing with himself. He was more "the insecure nerd who got the CTO position because he was the only IT guy when the company started." His management was so incompetent, that they called him "Tallest," based on the Invader Zim joke.
Since time is motion, the atmosphere would freeze solid around you, suffocating you instantly.
Because in your world, mobile home trailer parks are free or even exist in urban areas. Come on. A studio apartment around here starts at $1600/mo. The average home sale price in this area in 2022 was $580k. At 10% down, 30 year fixed, at 6.5% interest, after taxes and fees, that's a mortgage payment of about $4000/mo. Plus about $300-600/mo if you have an HOA/COA. Plus repairs as needed.
Your net take home pay at $150k, after taxes only, is about $9k, making your mortgage 45% of your income. That doesn't include health insurance, retirement, or any other paycheck deductions.
It doesn't include transportation: payments, gas, repairs, tolls, or insurance.
That doesn't include utilities: gas, electric, water, trash, phone, or internet.
That doesn't include food, supplies, clothing, or personal care.
And it sure as shit doesn't include medical issues. God help you if you're a diabetic.
And kids? What are you, fucking Rockefeller? Daycare, schooling (yes, even public schools cost money because of all the extras they ask you to provide like supplies, lunch, etc), and all their needs. At at least 16 years before they might be able to pay rent, that's a long time for a free tenant sharing your resources.
Plus all of life's extra costs.
And looking at Zillow, I can't find any properties within 10 miles of me going for less than $600k. They got townhomes for 1.2 million just down the block. $580k for a house is gonna be hard to find, and probably not in the best condition. Doable, possibly, but not easy.
Similar for me: when my hearing started to go in my 30s, the doctor said "you already know how to lip read." I didn't believe him until he showed me "am I saying 'top' or 'cup'?" and if he had his mouth covered, I couldn't tell which one he was saying.
Try making $150k in a "reasonably priced area." It can be done, but is not the norm. The problem is that to make a good salary, you have to be in a place that pays those wages. Obviously, this attracts more people, so real estate is more expensive.
The trick is to make $150k in some kind of sweet spot where housing does not compensate. But it's always a moving target and is extremely difficult. Then in you lose your job? Start all over again.
Worked for a company that hired some Harvard guy who fired the QA team for "being down on the product." He didn't see value in a team of people who did nothing but test the software and report what was wrong with it.
I have a cat who looks just like yours. He's only 1, but black, plump, and one white dot on his lower neck. Sadly in this photo, his tags cover it mostly.
Science fiction conventions. Back in the day, a World Science Fiction Convention ("WorldCon") was incredible when the reached over 1000 people. New York Comic Con has almost 180,000 people last I checked. And adjacent to that, anime. It used to be niche weirdos in basements in the US but now in an enormous industry.
Without going into detail about how their personality types were both wonderful, but clashing, there's the obvious point that my first wife would have to cope that she's been dead for many years and that I moved on. That wouldn't be pleasant. She would probably see me happy with my second wife as happy as I was with her, and think, "what the HELL?" "Well, you died." "Okay," she'd say, and definitely NOT be okay. I might add, "you said I needed to find someone after you're gone," which I think the reality of what that meant in a context in front of her would hit her like an iron fist. We were each other's first, see. My second wife would be gushing towards her, thanking her for everything in an awkward way, because while I was truthful about my previous marriage, I was also really kind. My second wife is also a widow, so she gets it. She credits my wife for "the man I have now," which is true. I am a better person because of my first wife, but I have also changed and "grown" a little since her death. So now, I would be a different person to her. One seasoned by the death of a spouse. That shit changes you.
I think a majority of our discussion would be, "well, what has happened in the world since 2014, then?" and that would be... bad. For all the reasons most people looking outside of this room would know. My first wife would be very upset how things progressed a few years after she died. "Trump? The asshole from The Apprentice?" And so on.
My wives did meet, but didn't know it. My wife was kind of a local celebrity, but my second wife was a vendor IN those circles. I has also met my first wife several times, but only as a character in the background. If that makes sense. We friended because of a local widow's group, which she still runs with a friend. We didn't even start dating until years after both our spouses passed, and only recently remarried. Our friends, many of them mutual since way before, approve of us finding one another.
This reminds me of some Ohio Christian university advertising racial diversity in all their media, and some guy exposed them as having exactly three non-white students, all whom turned out to be shills from another country who were technically employees.
My first wife is suddenly alive and meets my second wife. Awkward.
What might be worse is if someone was there that you didn't know that you had sex with. Like some random person who raped you while you were unconscious after a party in college, or your uncle from your childhood.
I pretend to be another call center. Or an IVR.
"Thank you for calling Punkadye Laboratories and Archives. My name is Terry. May I have your GSN number please?"
I don't know what a GSN number is; just something that I made up. Once in a while, I get an actual person, but I insist that I have "their latest GSN or a recent invoice," before I continue. I have "a call center voice," and can reasonably fake gender neutral.
Sometimes I answer, "Thank you for calling Punkadye Laboratories and Archives. Please listen closely, as our menu options recently changed. If you know the number of your party's extension, you may dial it at any time. If this is a billing question, please press 1. If this is technical support, please press 2."
Rarely does the call get past the press one part. Often this cuts the latest wave of calls quickly.
"Most people don't carry a knife because it's just not necessary in everyday life."
See? There is a reason you do not have one, and would never ask for one.
Usually about 10-30. It depends. I have a minimum of 6010 tabs open for stuff I check several times a day, like mail, news feeds, and such. Then I have a few working projects, like Google docs. Then some "temporary tabs" that expand from 10 to 30, as a reminder of tasks I have to complete or get back to someone on, only to shrink them down later in the day.