I use google. All it does is shove products at you anymore, so you might as well take advantage of that and use the search function that works far better than Amazon’s. All the Amazon sold products will show up in the google search anyway. Unfortunately, google’s modifiers are essentially worthless (like if you put -“amazon.com” or whatever to avoid amazon items) so it’s pretty hard to filter stuff, but at least Google casts a wider net so you might find better products or deals. Amazon does not always have the better price.

If you see a particular item in the google search that is what you’re looking for you can plug that specific brand and item name in amazon’s search and see if they even carry it. Sometimes they don’t, but that will help skip past Amazon’s shitty algorithm that forces items they want you to buy like made-for-Amazon crap vs what might actually be a better product.

Order it right from the widget maker directly if you can and skip amazon.

Put the need by a luxury item.

I despise this continuous trend of making stores less convenient and more confusing in order to force people to spend more time looking for things.

Same thing with making the signage over the aisles on opposite ends different. One end might be cake mixes, cooking implements, canned fruits, the other end flour, spices, sauces. Needs a trip past both ends to find cake sprinkles unless you randomly happen down the aisle and spot them

So much gatekeeping in anything creative. Music, cooking, art…. If you change one little thing it’s no longer the Thing, it’s something else, and it’s not what chef/band/artist/or grandma made, even though it’s a popular variant of the same Thing called the same thing somewhere else. Cast iron falls into the same trap. Such harsh judgement on use and care. It’s a f’n pan, not the last remaining example of a vintage Ferrari. Get over it.

Bill Gates has never been a “good” billionaire. Think of all the shady shit Microsoft did under his tenure to make his billions. Yeah, his foundation does good - but that’s all press image polishing to make you forget what he did before.

Wireless tech has improved greatly over the last 20 years. Speed, latency, bandwidth, stability…all generally excellent. 15 years ago I wouldn’t have wanted to use a wireless mouse or LAN connection. Now? NBD. They just work. Still have issues with poor signal in some areas, but mesh range boosters take care of that pretty easily.

Can’t imagine the wait times for elevators at whatever the start/end of normal working hours must be.

It’s called “single stream recycling”. We have it where I live. I wish I could have confidence in any recycling these days. Too many stories of separated trash all ending up in the dump anyway.

Unfortunately people don’t often know about their own potential for negative outcomes when they experiment with a new drug. Plenty of people with undiagnosed mental health problems out there.

Seconded. Leaves good wall space to the left for a soap or shampoo holder.

So many internet arguments revolve around binary choices that don’t need to be binary or appeals to authority or hypocrisy as the only leg they stand on.

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Ok… but then we are beholden to where they choose to dispense their largesse. Great, the billionaires have a few pet projects they direct their philanthropy to, and it does help those recipients specifically.

But how about the lifetime earnings of the employees who saw their benefits packages shrink, their medical copays and premiums climb? Maybe that was enough to force their kids into crippling college loans instead of the parents having enough extra to help wirh 529s or just smaller more manageable loans? How about the customers who got inferior products or services that support, returns, or exchanges were obfuscated by deliberately ineffective phone menus or website resources that were designed to make people give up instead of receiving what they deserve? How about the billonaire’s pursuit of anti-tax laws to further line their pockets at the expense of government services? All of these things happen directly by command of the wealthy or by those riding on the coattails of those decisions as major investors or board of directors. All of them in service to the bottom line, and that bottom line is increased at your and my expense.

They may be good people. But you do not become a billionaire with clean hands.

Yep. Those billions are made on the backs of suppressed wages and benefits, more employee productivity with less flexibility, enshittification, etc. It’s “earned” by squeezing it out of others.

It’s not too much of a stretch for TOS to be construed as fascist. It’s a human-chauvinist show that, despite the claims that the Federation is peaceful, winds up kicking ass everywhere they go. The Federation being an all-controlling, powerful entity that dictates the actions of its citizens and military/exploration arm. Pretty authoritarian on the surface.

Believe it or not, fascism isn’t inherently anti-progressive. You’re just forced to conform to that government’s brand of progressiveness.

Except the Punisher/warrior/tattered flag sticker fanboys all just want you to STFU because they’re armed and want to beat your ass if you disagree with their fascist views or the jacked up truck lights blinding you.

The Punisher was anti-fascist in the sense of:

He’s the part that screams in rage at the million frustrations and injustices, major and minor, plaguing the average person in the twentieth century. He’s the violent part of us that yearns to do something about it. Quickly. Simply. Finally.

So killing the Big Insurance exec would fit the Punisher’s M.O. perfectly.

Unfortunately, despite the creator’s deliberate attempts to have the character stand for positive change like BLM the Punisher still seems to be a mostly right-wing character despite the Left’s pointing out the character’s anti-fascist bent. The character shot civilians, talked about black-on-black crime, fought communists…basically just someone who lets their rage loose to beat the shit out of or kill people and disregard any consequences in a might-makes-right world. He’s not pro-fascist or right wing at all, but he certainty helps out that ideology sometimes. Of course, the right wing just takes the might-makes-right part and runs with it while disregarding what sort of actual justice the charter tends to pursue with his violence - and it isn’t about being forced to wear masks or letting women have autonomy over their reproductive rights.

That turned into a Punisher explanation I wasn’t expecting to do…

How about better wages and benefits instead so you can afford more than food.

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I can’t believe my brain didn’t catch that. I instantly saw the walmart brand symbol and looked no further.

I don’t know if the letter is real, but this was my parents. They refused to use the self-checkout because they didn’t work there and it might take away jobs. Meanwhile, they’re the same people who complained that pretty much any basic customer facing job shouldn’t pay a living wage.

They exist.

Not dead. Just whatever procedure, prescription, or test that was applied for was rejected.

It’s not hyperbole, it’s just wrong to say they died. 16 million denials is bad enough.