Growing up, I always dreaded holidays. I mean, sure the time off from school was great, that’s a given. But getting excited about Xmas just wasn’t my thing. Several years ago I finally realized why: The excitement is manufactured. It’s just an ever-increasing buildup frenzy of the holiday. Gotta do your shopping, and more shopping, and more shopping. Then you gotta cook and clean. Then go visit family that you really don’t care to see.

Finally, the big day! Open presents! Then…. Nothing. Just another day, except it’s more boring because your friends have to do stuff with their families.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad others get enjoyment out of it. Great for them. Just don’t expect me to to excited too.

Show me a consumer router that isn’t made in China. Even if we were to ban all imported electronics, who would fully trust domestic? I think the best approach is DTA, man. Don’t. Trust. Anybody.

Your public library has a ton of content for free. Music, tv, film, print… honestly, what more do you need? Just throwing that out there.

Allegedly. I personally knew a pilot who flew weekly trips in the 70s to Asia in C-130s filled to the maximum load of gold. So I have my doubts. Several years ago there was a push from Congress to inspect the gold reserves because nobody had laid verifiable eyes on it in a while. But I do not know how that worked out. It’s a great rabbit hole for you to follow - let us know what you find!

I don’t think so. And it was a LOT of leaves. We’re talking big holes. He would dig a hole, put in the leaves, and stand there with a string trimmer, blasting away at them. Then cover them up. It was especially odd because the city collects them for free. All you have to do is blow/rake them into a pile on the street.

I had a neighbor for a while that ran his gas blower for a couple hours EVERY DAY. I think he had some sort of PTSD trauma and it soothed him.

He also dug holes in his backyard to bury leaves. Quite a …… character.

Xmas has been X’ed by NoFX is always at the top of my holiday playlist. YouTube linkage

You can’t continue to monetize every single aspect of existence with Oligarchs extracting vast sums of wealth out of the economy, without hurting quality of life for the average person and, eventually - the nation as a whole. Allowing these shit heads to exist hurts everyone.

My advice: Buy large bags of beans and rice, you’re probably going to need them.

I was just about to ask why the fuck anyone would give a shit about what happens over on reddit, then I noticed the sub. Let that shit hole die and crumble into obscurity already. We moved to our own place for a reason. Fuck ‘em feed ‘em fish heads.

I deleted all my social media the day after the election, except for my lemmy account. Mostly because I forgot about it. Now I just read a few news headlines and solve a crossword every day. And WHOA - talk about having bountiful free time now. It’s kinda scary.

Am I less stressed? Meh, maybe a bit. But I’ve decided I’m going to find beauty and amusement in the utter self destruction we are about to witness. I’m going to stand over here and watch the fire while I drink my beer in peace.