mechoman444
@mechoman444@lemmy.world
I am live.
- Comment on Evil Bisexuals 1 day ago:
I didn’t realize I was being condescending, I’m more frustrated than anything else.
But I’d be happy to answer your question.
Democratic socialism: combines the public ownership of production with a democratic system of governance and a generally capitalist economy eventually morphing into a fully socialist economy.
Social democracy: a fully or partially capitalist economy supplemented with governmental protections and safeguards regulating and controlling private corporations and a multitude of functional social welfare programs ensuring the well-being of the population.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
The content, engagement, and quality of conversations are much better here on Lemmy, and the platform feels considerably less saturated.
Unfortunately, what Reddit used to be, and what made it great, is long gone. That being said, the API changes were the nail in the coffin, not the sole reason for its decline. Reddit had already been on a downward trajectory for years before that.
The one thing I still appreciate about Reddit is that content gets refreshed much more frequently than it does on Lemmy. However, even that isn’t enough to keep me there for more than a few visits a week, usually out of sheer boredom.
- Comment on Looking for a mature, modern open-source game on Android that plays great 4 days ago:
It’s not completely different. It fits almost all his requirements.
Why would I not recommend a free accessible completely playable game?
He doesn’t have to download it but the advice is sound.
Once again, this isn’t a medical diagnosis!
- Comment on Looking for a mature, modern open-source game on Android that plays great 4 days ago:
It isn’t. Which is why it said it fits almost all of its criteria and it is one of the best games on mobile that you can get right now.
It’s a full and complete game with no advertisements. No loot boxes, no engagement and you can just unlock the whole game from the game and play it to your heart’s content.
We’re not diagnosing schizophrenia here. We’re talking about mobile games.
- Comment on Looking for a mature, modern open-source game on Android that plays great 4 days ago:
Balatro.
One of the best games to play on mobile. It fits basically all of your criteria and you can just Google search a copy of it, you don’t have to pay for it from the play store.
- Comment on What would you do if you got message that says "do not look outside" 4 days ago:
Interestingly if you look outside you immediately lose the game!
- Comment on What should I do if my girlfriend doesn’t listen? 5 days ago:
It wasn’t meant to be good advice, just effective.
- Comment on What should I do if my girlfriend doesn’t listen? 5 days ago:
I expressly indicated that my advice was terrible.
It’s still better than just break up with her…
- Comment on What should I do if my girlfriend doesn’t listen? 5 days ago:
Yeah, I know. I’ve been in counseling pretty much my whole life. That’s fine.
The caveat is that, for some reason, we’re all expected not only to do the right thing but also to be morally adept in absolutely everything we do.
But the issue here is this: What happens when that doesn’t work? What if the solution requires something more aggressive, something that isn’t necessarily positive or pleasant?
Sometimes the best way to move forward is through confrontation. Sometimes you need to lash out, have an angry explosion, or force a difficult conversation that could ultimately be beneficial for both parties.
What’s significantly worse is simply telling OP to break up with his girlfriend, move on, and find someone better. That’s truly horrendous advice. It doesn’t benefit either party in any meaningful way, especially considering that we don’t even know these people or the circumstances surrounding their relationship.
So what’s the best advice to give here? He’s already been nice. He’s already tried talking to her. He’s already expressed himself in a way that should make his feelings clear, and yet she still isn’t responding.
People are animals on a fundamental level. We respond to stimuli, both positive and negative. Just because someone might resort to a negative strategy to elicit a response doesn’t automatically make the outcome negative. It could potentially save their entire relationship, or it could make both of them realize that they need to move on and find someone who’s better suited for them.
I genuinely feel that what I’m advising is significantly better than simply telling someone to break up with their partner and find somebody better. That’s truly horrible advice to give someone when you have so little information about their relationship.
- Comment on What should I do if my girlfriend doesn’t listen? 5 days ago:
I love all the comments that are just like, “Break up with her.” It’s just that easy.
I love comment sections that offer life-altering advice to anonymous strangers on the internet. Do you really think this person hasn’t considered breaking up with her? The reason he made the post in the first place is probably because he’s already thought about it. That’s not what this person is asking about.
How about offering some actual advice?
There are multiple things you can do here, but I think the one that’s going to be most effective is to enrage her. Yes, you want to make her angry and upset because those are the emotions she’s trying to avoid. She doesn’t want to feel angry or upset. She wants to be happy, and she doesn’t want to deal with your emotions.
So just do what I do with my wife: shut down. It absolutely infuriates her. Stay silent. Don’t engage. Remove yourself from the situation. Make yourself unseen. I promise you, that will force her to confront you, and then you can start discussing what you want in earnest.
Sometimes people are just like this. They need to be pushed in a negative direction to achieve a positive result. Don’t be afraid to do this. You don’t have to be nice. You’re not obligated to be nice.
And remember one very important thing: just because you or she have feelings, even strong ones, doesn’t automatically validate those feelings. Sometimes feelings are misplaced and produce negative emotions and situations. That’s just humanity. That’s just how things are.
Be strategic. Be manipulative. The straightforward approach apparently doesn’t work, so do whatever does.
Now, understand that I have just given you terrible advice. But it will be effective, so use this information and strategy however you see fit.
- Comment on MANDATORY! 1 week ago:
Just people living their lives…
- Comment on MANDATORY! 1 week ago:
The horror the absolute horror!
But what about my beloved HMO? What am I going to do without them and who’s going to pay them!!!
- Comment on bye meme man 1 week ago:
You know I was scrolling along not a care in the world and I come across this and now my eyes are wet.
Thanks man. You sucked the joy out of my soul.
- Comment on Move over powered milk, it onion time 1 week ago:
Son of a bitch has a dedicated menu for eating crap!
Though I’d pay 50 bucks to watch you eat a grub.
- Comment on Move over powered milk, it onion time 1 week ago:
Tax free! I’m no billionaire! I’ll pay my fair share thank you!
- Comment on why i love my country 1 week ago:
American here and I’ve got some news for you. We don’t like him that much either. Personally I call him the orange mongoose.
- Comment on Is it still there‽ 2 weeks ago:
Man here: there’s a reason. There is a reason.
- Comment on Why does the microwave button have a "popcorn" button when every microwave popcorn brand says "DO NOT USE THE POPCORN BUTTON"? 2 weeks ago:
If you mean a cooktop, I would recommend keeping it as simple as possible. Do not fall for the touchscreen crap. If it does not have knobs, I would stay away from it.
Personally, I would also avoid appliances made by Whirlpool Corporation. In my experience, they are genuinely poor products and not worth the headache. That means being cautious about Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Amana, and JennAir, which are all part of the same corporate family.
In my opinion, Frigidaire makes some of the best cooking appliances on the market, and you really cannot go wrong with LG, either. LG makes genuinely good appliances across the board. If you have heard horror stories about LG, I would take them with a grain of salt. They have their problems, like every manufacturer, but their reputation for making bad appliances is not consistent with my experience as a repair technician.
- Comment on Why does the microwave button have a "popcorn" button when every microwave popcorn brand says "DO NOT USE THE POPCORN BUTTON"? 2 weeks ago:
Yes, GE has been doing this recently, and they are also the company behind the RFID water filters, which are massively unpopular.
Planned obsolescence is absolutely something that occurs in modern appliances, and they seem to be becoming increasingly prevalent over the last year, at least from what I have observed.
I also encountered this issue with a four-year-old, bottom-freezer, French-door GE refrigerator. I was unable to supply power to the evaporator fan motor in the freezer section, and we ultimately had to condemn the refrigerator.
There are several things to unpack here. For starters, the motor operates at 12 volts, so I cannot simply drill through the back wall, run a few wires, and get the fan running normally like I could in the good old days. You are just out of luck.
What bothers me most, though, is that I do not understand the logic behind planned obsolescence. There is absolutely no guarantee that this customer will go out and buy another GE refrigerator. In fact, they are much more likely to buy anything other than GE after experiencing this kind of failure in a four-year-old appliance.
So, I have to assume this is incompetence rather than planned obsolescence.
In general, I currently recommend GE and LG appliances, particularly here in the United States. I do not recommend Bosch refrigerators, despite the company’s excellent reputation. Bosch makes the best dishwashers on the market, hands down, and I recommend Bosch dishwashers without hesitation.
The problem with Bosch refrigerators is not necessarily reliability. It is parts availability. Although the refrigerators themselves can be reliable, obtaining replacement parts in the United States can be extremely difficult. Parts are discontinued far too quickly, and the domestic supply chain can be practically nonexistent.
I can end up with a two- or three-year-old Bosch refrigerator that needs a water inlet valve, only to discover that the part has already been discontinued in the United States and is no longer available through the domestic supply chain.
An appliance is only as serviceable as the parts available to repair it. Reliability means very little if you cannot obtain the components needed to keep the appliance running.
- Comment on Why does the microwave button have a "popcorn" button when every microwave popcorn brand says "DO NOT USE THE POPCORN BUTTON"? 2 weeks ago:
Lol 😂😂.
No.
- Comment on Why does the microwave button have a "popcorn" button when every microwave popcorn brand says "DO NOT USE THE POPCORN BUTTON"? 2 weeks ago:
Steam.
The answer is steam. Some microwaves have a humidity sensor that measures the amount of moisture released by food during cooking. Using that information, the microwave can estimate when the food is done and, in some models, adjust the cooking time automatically. For example, certain microwaves use this technology for sensor-cooking programs designed for potatoes, vegetables, or other foods.
Unfortunately, these features have largely turned into marketing gimmicks. They help sell microwaves more than they necessarily help cook food correctly. Many models no longer include genuine humidity-sensing technology, and the single-food buttons on cheaper models are often nothing more than preset cooking times and power levels.
People buy appliances based on how they look and how well they can show them off to others. Very few consider how a feature actually works, whether it serves a practical purpose, or whether it offers any real benefit over a less expensive appliance.
Here are a few other questionable marketing gimmicks in modern appliances:
Refrigerator air filters: These can reduce certain odors, but their effectiveness varies. The problem is that manufacturers turn them into another recurring expense for the owner, even when their practical benefit is limited.
RFID water filters: Some refrigerators use authentication chips to reject compatible aftermarket filters that lack the required RFID identification. This does not necessarily mean the manufacturer’s filter provides better filtration; it can simply mean you are locked into buying that particular brand.
Self-cleaning ovens: The high-temperature pyrolytic cleaning cycle is a legitimate feature, but it can put considerable thermal stress on components, particularly door locks, thermal fuses, and control electronics. As an appliance repair technician, I can tell you that this feature helps keep people like me in business.
Air fry versus convection: Air frying is essentially a form of convection cooking. Both use a fan to circulate hot air around the food. Air fryers and air-fry modes can differ in fan speed, airflow design, and heating configuration, but the underlying principle is the same. Manufacturers have simply found another way to market a familiar technology.
Coffee machines built into refrigerator water dispensers: Another feature that adds complexity, cost, and additional components to an appliance that already has enough things to break.
Android tablets built into refrigerator doors: You do not need a tablet on your refrigerator. At all. You can enjoy the technology if you want, but integrating a general-purpose computer into an appliance creates another potential point of failure and another expensive component to replace when the refrigerator itself may still have years of useful life left.
Wi-Fi connectivity in washing machines and dishwashers: What exactly do you need it for? You have been washing clothes and dishes your entire life without an internet connection. You do not need a notification telling you that a cycle has finished. You can check the appliance yourself.
The appliance industry has become increasingly focused on adding features that look impressive on a showroom floor rather than improving the fundamental functions of the product. I would much rather have a well-built appliance with reliable components, straightforward controls, and inexpensive replacement parts than a refrigerator with a tablet, a washing machine connected to the internet, or an oven that requires a technician after running its self-cleaning cycle.
Build better appliances. Make them reliable, repairable, and affordable to maintain. Stop confusing more features with better engineering.
Source: I’m an appliance repair tech for 22 years.
- Comment on Something something .. trends.. 2 weeks ago:
Only if you want to.
- Comment on A driver in New York City covered his license plate with tape 2 weeks ago:
You are 100% correct and I completely agree with school zones and stopping for buses and so on and so forth.
The issue however isn’t that people should be going slower in areas where pedestrians are more likely to cross the street is that the enforcement should be on a state level instead of private companies profiting off of this nonsense.
And the cameras need to be extremely tightly regulated; look at what’s happening with Flock.
Private companies should have absolutely no ability to charge fines for people driving on public roadways. Moreover, regarding the type of enforcement of one mile over the speed limit, how can the camera possibly be that accurate? It is just using regular old radar.
I am a firm proponent of following traffic laws, just not like this.
- Comment on A driver in New York City covered his license plate with tape 2 weeks ago:
I can’t speak for New York, but down here in Georgia, where I live, these speeding cameras are often operated by private companies rather than the police. The fines people pay generate revenue for those companies, and it’s not always clear how much, if any, of that money actually goes to the police or the city.
In many areas, these cameras will issue you a school-zone speeding ticket when it’s not even school-zone hours, or cite you for going just one mile per hour over the posted speed limit. I find it difficult to believe these cameras are consistently accurate enough to justify that level of enforcement.
Honestly, I stopped paying these tickets years ago, and literally nothing has happened.
- Comment on EA is shutting down BioWare and the next Mass Effect has been canceled 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on EA: Ruin Everything 3 weeks ago:
Lol it’s the actual name of the game.
Apparently I wasn’t lazy enough to do some leg work to figure it out (I actually knew about this game and was able to identify it by the name but that’s beyond the point.)
You’re the reason why Netflix has to take into account people doom scrolling on their phones while they watch their media.
It probably took less time for me to search, upload and write this message than it took you to type up that rancid pile of shit.
So for everyone concerned: shut the fuck up.
- Comment on Tax billionaires, insure millions: The CA wealth tradeoff 3 weeks ago:
The issue is they consider something like this to be an “opening the flood gates” scenario.
Which of course is bullshit since they don’t actually pay taxes. At all.
This isn’t an opening of the floodgates to more taxes for the hyperwealthy this is compliance enforcement for being part of society.
- Comment on first state btw 3 weeks ago:
I’ve been to North-North Dakota. It’s nice. Cold but nice.
- Comment on Console market craters as Xbox sales crash 33% to the lowest since launch 25 years ago, PS5 sales drop 25% 4 weeks ago:
OMG! It’s almost like constantly raising prices just isn’t working out!
It doesn’t matter how expensive RAM gets, what the market is doing, how much AI is driving up component prices, or whether the market is bullish or bearish. At some point, consumers reach a breaking point. When a product becomes too expensive, people stop buying it. They don’t particularly care why it’s expensive. They care whether it’s worth the asking price, and whether they can justify spending that much money on it.
And that’s the problem Sony and Microsoft seem to be running into. Between rising console prices, increasingly expensive games, subscription price hikes, and a growing number of anti-consumer practices, they’ve made gaming an increasingly expensive hobby while giving consumers fewer reasons to feel good about spending their money.
What’s worse is that these companies have spent years alienating a significant portion of their own fan bases. Aggressive monetization, digital ownership concerns, restrictive ecosystems, and the push toward subscriptions have steadily eroded consumer goodwill. You can only squeeze your customers so much before they start questioning whether they want to remain customers at all.
At the end of the day, consumers aren’t obligated to buy a PlayStation or an Xbox just because they bought one last generation. They can stick with their existing hardware, buy fewer games, switch platforms, or walk away from gaming altogether.
You can’t price your way to endless growth, especially when you’re simultaneously giving your customers more reasons not to buy your products. Eventually, the market pushes back. And frankly, it’s hardly surprising that we’re seeing that happen now.
- Comment on time to starr shootin some AI execs 5 weeks ago:
Yes which is why I almost immediately deleted my comment.
