I graduated into Bush's recession, so I went to get a PhD in education. They pay you a small wage to do research, guaranteed for 5 years in my program. Graduated that into a healthy economy that... old professors weren't willing to retire from. Finally give up after several second place rejections and take a simple adjunct professor job just in time for the pandemic, cutting my classes to a third.

But hey, at least I didn't get that job at NCES; Trump 2.0 royally fucked all those education PhD federal jobs.

No, I know the yen is generally weaker but this was like 15 years ago. I had to double check because it's was usually 100 yen to 1 dollar but somehow it was 90 yen to a dollar that year. They really screwed up after the pandemic though so it's so much worse now and will probably get even worse under the current admin.

It's been used in marketing and has lost it's meaning, but I'm referring to the original is that type where the cattle are given wine and massaged or something.

I think that piece of meat was something like 60,000 yen, or roughly $700 at the time given the exchange rate of the time. But it's been a while and I didn't have to pay so... not certain.

Someone once treated me to actual Wagyu steak in Japan. It was good but certainly not hundreds of dollars good; marinades are cheap and makes my usual cheap meats taste wonderful.

Now that I think of it, I had the feeling Tankies and MAGA had a lot in common and somehow the meme on the bottom there clicked. Authoritarian propaganda.

Things that pop out to me:

1. The Internet was made for porn, both in users and less defederating.
2. The main blocks really are mostly the Triad (grad, hexbear and ml) which I get. I personally don't mind tankies despite the instance I'm on, but they can sometimes echo Russian propaganda that's demonstrably false. Communism as a concept is ok, though.

The Beehaw thing predates me, I heard they're nice people, though. I also agree with the sentiment that more fringe groups and random porn might scare away newbies, so I get why things are the way they are.

I haven't even thought about it. I know where to find the games on the high seas and emulators are my preferred mode of play, although there are probably ways to run them on original hardware.

If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.

The funny thing is I live where there's a lot of mechanics and detailers so I see it rather often because they don't need to afford it-- they own the machine that does the wrap or know a guy. Lol

Reminds me I saw a Hatsune Miku car the other day. Honestly, they make me smile and you likely imagine an otaku white incel guy driving it but I look over and the dude looks like a chicano gangster lol.

The easiest way to know it's not a race is to just look at the EV and solar industries. If the US really didn't want China "getting ahead," they would be more heavily invested in that. Instead, automakers are just preparing for bloodshed (and inevitable bailout).

Keep in mind if you transition to Windows you will need to relearn a few things! Lots of your software might have issues and I sure hope you have Nvidia because AMD is straight to broken with all their open source code. Yuck!

Windows is just better (I use Windows 11 PRO BTW) because you get lots of background processes and there's even a copilot that's right about stuff sometimes. Microsoft even keeps a backup of lots of your data up in something called a Cloud, which I assume is good because clouds are up there in the sky like heaven!

I sure hope 2026 is the year of the Windows PC!

(/s cause writing this joke hurt my soul)

So no one told you you would never find your way
👏👏👏👏
You're trapped forever, you're lost, your one life's D.O.A.~
It's like you're always stuck going down some stairs!
When you're stuck a day, a week, a month, or even a year~ but

I'll be coming for you! (When the rain starts to pour) I'll be coming for you! (Cause you've been here before) I'll be coming for you! (And there's nothing you can do~) Dun da da di dum di di dum.