The texture certainly was better, sure. I just remember I wasn't that impressed by the flavor. I'm used to marinated flank steak which is considerably more sinewy but made up for with seasoning and spices.

Also it was pretty small, and I shared it with my partner. I wanna say 8oz? The guy who bought it to treat us was a real Midwestern American though, so it's possible he was bamboozled.

That's a fairly broad take that didn't really apply to me. I wanted to impact education policy in the US because I noticed how decrepit it was. I was denied that opportunity but managed to get some top tier data analytic skills through the process that I could capitalize on if I was willing to work in the private sector (such as health insurance or financial industry predictive models). There is still massive demand for those skills.

But I don't do that, not because of sunk cost but because I don't want to contribute to systems I find immoral. I took a job in a Psychology department, which isn't my field, since it lets me teach while taking care of my children.

You are right, though, the research field has some serious issues that need to be resolved. There has been some push for open source materials that people can contribute to, but given the current state of affairs globally, it's not something people can really deal with right now.

That said, a PhD in any research profession is a passion project. You don't do it for money, but for intellectual curiosity or some other reason. Towards that end, they should be stubborn -- they're already rejecting the idea that education is a means towards profit.

Unfortunately, that also means most PhDs are already wealthy going into it (especially those who can actually afford to finish) which means, at least in education and politics, those perspectives dominate the field. It's a real problem when they don't understand how 99% of the rest of us live.

Out of curiosity, which field did you need to leave? Each has their own problems.

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).