My most lasting memory is of being at the grocery store and noticing peach pies on sale. I suddenly realized I was an actual grownup and could just buy one and eat as much of it as I wanted. So I did, and ate peach pie all weekend.

Thanks! I can look for this at the local Asian store.

That’s what I think. EVs aren’t functionally equivalent to ICE cars yet - most of them can’t go as far between fillups, and they take longer to fill up. Those are steadily improving. But the cost benefits are there. Back in 2013 when I bought my Leaf I went from spending $1800/year on gas to $300/year on electricity, and in 12 years my only maintenance costs were windshield wiper blades and a set of tires - which I would have needed with a gas car. But no oil changes, tuneups, no filters, belts or hoses, no spark plugs. No radiator problems, starter problems, pump replacements. I mean it’s almost like not having a car at all, except you have a car.

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Many years ago during high anxiety I got into reading lightweight non-scifi for a while. As an American fan of British humor and vintage stuff, I love PG Wodehouse’s Bertie and Jeeves stories. Looking through thriftshops turned up the Mrs. Feeley books - a series by Mary Lasswell about the adventures of three old ladies who live in a San Diego junkyard during WWII. Also an odd one called The Wise Bamboo by J. Malcolm Morris, a nonfiction account by an army officer who managed a Tokyo hotel during the postwar occupation. That book is extra cool to me, because it’s stamped as coming from that actual hotel’s gift shop.

Up til then my literary interests had been almost entirely science fiction, but I found all kinds of diversion from reality in these completely different genres.

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I agree and I’m even pro-socialism, but I think singling out capitalism is kind of a circle jerk, since pretty much all of life gives you problems that require effort on your part to solve. I mean, just breathing in and out can give you the flu.

I wonder if that’s a survival mechanism - to dwell on negative events more because they’re more dangerous. My parents, raised during the Great Depression, were always thinking the next one could be right around the corner.

The only larb I’ve had in restaurants is ground chicken, which isn’t common at regular grocery stores. That’s why I haven’t tried making it. But I’ll try using ground beef, which I happen to have.

I guess I’m saying the term “cozy sci fi” seems to encompass most of the history of sci fi. My favorite authors are all old - from HG Wells and Jules Verne through the “golden age” generation - Asimov, Clark, Heinlein, Doc Smith and that crowd, whose stories mostly involved technology or aliens. Murray Leinster is one of my all-time favorites. For space opera Poul Anderson is great. For creative explorations of cultures and societies try Ursula LeGuin and CJ Cherryh. Googling cozy scifi brings up a list that includes Becky Chambers - interestingly it’s almost entirely women.

I prefer sci fi as an escape from reality, not as a confirmation that it sucks.

I find that 99% of the negativity is online. Interacting with people in person is way more pleasant and upbeat. And basically on youtube ignore all videos with clickbait titles like “We were Wrong about [whatever] - and it’s NOT GOOD!”, they’re all bullshit.

Hosting one or two regular game nights a week in my house has made a world of difference in my attitude.

When I rant about polarization of AI discussions I’m talking about on social media generally, not this one remarkably civil thread. But even your use of the term “roles” is doing it - you’re assigning black hats and white hats to the participants instead of focusing on what they’re saying.

Speaking of which, where do you get the idea that the author introduced bugs by using AI? He says that in his work to improve rsync by beefing up test suites, integration testing etc he used AI to do grunt work, and thoroughly reviewed every bit of it. He explains this very clearly, and I don’t see the part where his use of AI created more bugs.

I am pro-AI - I’m interested in its development and looking forward to it getting better. What we have right now can be very useful, but it’s kind of like 1980s 8-bit graphics video games. It hallucinates too often and is unconscionably resource-heavy. I’m very much against its overdeployment and misuse. Companies are charging into implementing AI like middle school boys who just figured out how to find free porn. They see it as yet another magic wand to reduce headcount - which is their endless quest. But blaming AI itself for this is like blaming a saw for wasting lumber or for not being a better saw. Blame shitty carpenters who use it wrong.

No particular secret, I get a lot of recipes from youtube channels. Yeung Man Cooking makes pretty good panang curry and khao soi. My favorite pad thai recipe is from the Vegan Black Metal Chef’s first video way back in 2011 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg

I’m not vegan so I usually add chicken breast. Never tried making larb at home but I love it. I just buy the ingredients. The one year I tried to grow basil at home it all died lol.

And yet free opensource software exists. Lots of knowledgeable people are happy to help others during their free time.

I spent many years as a software dev contractor working through agencies, but I still don’t see the parallel.

That kind of crap is one reason I became a contractor ages ago and didn’t look back.

An army travels on its Mandroid Mark Tens – Tony Stark

True dat - I’m proud of my thai food, haole that I am.

Exactly - recipes and techniques can be authentic no matter who gets trained to do them.

Been a long time since I’ve watched King of the Hill - is the second picture Bobby?