It’s weird. The numbers are so big and the dates are so far out there that none of it feels real. The fact that (assuming you fit their magic profile) some bank will accept your signature in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars is stranger still. I honestly wish we lived in a society where this sort of thing was NOT the norm. But if you live in the US, home ownership is one of the few mechanisms in place for us commoners to generate and/or pass on generational wealth (assuming that the whole system doesn’t collapse like the house of cards it probably is while you own the house).

Does it trap other bugs? I want to get rid of mosquitoes, but don’t want to mess with any others.

I’ve gotten to the point that I’m buying things like BennVenn’s MBC3000 and BucketMouse’s Nintendo NES Cartridge Circuit Board just so I can enjoy physical media again.

Price gouging and “grading” of retro games. I just wanna play some old NES games without taking out a second mortgage.

I’m waiting for someone to marry a corporation just to show how absurd the idea of corporate personhood is.

There is that (probably untrue) theory that the main reason he bought Twitter was because at the time, Twitter wouldn’t ban the ElonJet tracking account. Were that the case, it would kinda/sorta make sense that he’s want to kill the platform.

Excellent callout, thank you!

Seconded. Good stuff that A) you can actually find without heading to some weird chocolate boutique and B) you can feel marginally better about buying because they really try to make sure their supply chain is as fair as possible.

I’ll second the idea that boredom isn’t always bad, and that it can often lead to new ideas and experiences. But if you really feel the need to do something for the person, try gifting experiences like food tours, trial hobbies or sports (curling, photography, etc).