“But it wouldn’t hit the fan so much if we stopped using Microsoft’s half-baked products!”

It always falls on deaf ears. I can’t believe how many millions my employer throws at Microsoft every year just to complain about how broken it is.

No, because the monsters would get me.

A heart attack is a damaging lack of blood flow to the heart. This is very often caused by your heart beating wrong (or not at all) but can have many other causes. It’s also important to note that the heart largely does not receive oxygen from the blood inside it; it has its own set of blood vessels on the outside feeding it. Therefore you can have a heart attack even though the pumping portions are completely clear.

It’s possible for the blood flow to be slowed so far by blockages that your heart starts taking damage, yet still struggles on for five days. Definitely not a common scenario, but it does highlight just how varied and uneven heart attack symptoms are. Which just makes the whole thing that much scarier in my opinion.

Heartburn is a type of pain usually caused by acid reflux, but can be mimicked by a heart attack.

Yeah, I kinda assumed all elections from here on out will be like Russia: you can vote for whoever you want, but it won’t count and you’re going to get a visit afterwards.

The “You’re choosing friends over family” thing is just a framing problem. OP didn’t change anything or make any choice. The family is still invited. The family members are the ones making the choice, and they chose prejudice over family.

My first thought was that this person needs to vett potential jobs better, but companies can be good at hiding these things. One issue I’ve found is that there’s nothing preventing retaliation against current employees who spill the beans. So people are rarely willing to badmouth their abusive bosses if they don’t know you.

I really thought that slogan was just a bit in Mad Men. I had no idea that was based on reality.

When I was a kid I would see the magazines with headlines like, “Hillary Clinton gives birth to Bat Boy.” I always wondered how they stayed in business; surely even the people buying them for a laugh were a tiny market.

Then I had a lot of jobs that put me at others’ homes and I understood very quickly. Fixing computers, painting walls, census taking, even roofing. People that seem normal out in public seem to feel safe revealing their beliefs when they’re on their own turf, especially when they have a captive audience.

In the US, at least, it’s a frightening amount of people who believe in the really out-there stuff.

Same deal in my house. Better not to bring it up yet. You can use it to know who used the toilet last when something breaks.

I remember they tried to make an American version but it just wasn’t as good as the original.

I really expected the update to be her finding out her boyfriend harassed one of them and they’re all distancing themselves, but it seems like he’s actually great. Out of 15 people I’d expect at least one tentative. Or for a few people to accept and then later cancel. It really feels like something is missing from the story, because this feels intentional.

The stupidest joke I ever heard that has stuck with me for some reason:

How are Santa and a plum alike? They’re both purple, except for Santa.

Exactly what I thought of.

I got one of these recently and it works well. Much smoother than whatever my Smart TV is natively running and it doesn’t crash constantly.

If it were just me I’d have set up a small HTPC with Kodi, but my family needs something that works without ever needing my intervention, and it needs to run the 100 streaming services we hemorrhage money to. These boxes are super cheap and let me run Jellyfin too.

I think both parts are doable, and I see no reason Republicans wouldn’t try. It seems likely that we are going to see Federal election laws over the next couple years to strengthen GOP control, in addition to the local and state level laws we are already dealing with. This is all going to further strengthen their hold and I think we could see 2/3 majority in both houses in 2026.

Honestly I think the 3/4 would be the easier part. Since it’s done by state instead of electorates he just needs 38 states, and he got 31 to vote for him. We’re also talking about state legislatures, not voters, which means the shenanigans above will also be effective here.

I don’t think this is going to be Trump’s first step; this is going to be the capstone on a campaign to secure power for the party forever.

I am sincerely hoping I’m wrong, but the last decade has shown me I am not nearly pessimistic enough.

I admire your optimism. It would take a constitutional amendment, which I don’t think he would have any issues getting past the GOP Congress. After that it’s less likely, but still possible with his shenanigans. I think the only reason it wouldn’t happen is he croaks first.

Yeah, my work has an anti-union section of the employee handbook. It says they are proud to provide such good benefits that a union isn’t needed (definitely not true). And how we need to talk to HR first if we ever feel like our working conditions would warrant one. I suspect you wouldn’t be allowed back to your desk if you did that.

Gotta lean hard in the other direction to flip the gaslighting onto him. If he says he paid for your college then start insisting you never went to college. If he says you owe him for keeping your car running during X-Y years then tell him you didn’t even own a car.

More seriously, though, my mom was the same way. Hers was due to being extremely manipulative instead of memory issues. Either way you aren’t going to get through. Better to start distancing yourself now until you’ve reached a level of contact that isn’t detrimental to you. If that eventually means no contact then so be it; they bring it on themselves and you owe them nothing.

You may like the show Dark, if you haven’t already seen it.