That’s an important detail. Clicking through, it says

A first date in our study means one shared starter, two main courses and two cocktails. For each restaurant, we pulled the median starter, main and cocktail price from the menu. For each city, we took the median across all fully-priced restaurants.

That’s extremely heavy for a first date. It’s a poor strategy for several reasons to go that hard the first time you’re meeting someone.

As a real cheapskate, you should keep an eye out for places give them out for free. There’s an LGBT center near me with a giant basket for free, and a free clinic a longer walk away that gives them out and also does free STI tests.

I think there’s something analogous to parasites or cancer in large organizations. People who are bad for the health of the organization, through things like creating too many inefficient meetings or stifling useful behavior, accumulate in time. They’re not so egregious that the immune response kicks them out, but they adapt to the system and fatten themselves up at the expense of the host.

You know the archetype. The “product guy” who’s always looking busy with a spreadsheet, but mostly just slows down meetings.

I remember thinking it was cool when Doom loaded with R_Init: Init DOOM refresh daemon

Finally got around to playing Bloodborne. It’s good, but after playing Elden Ring it seems easier than expected.

I don’t want to dox myself but my two go-to bars with cheap drinks are within walking distance of prospect Park. The second favorite’s cheap beer is like $7

Brooklyn, where there’s a couple local bars I like. My favorite bar has $5 cans, but the more recognizable drinks are in the $10-$15 range. Two drinks is about $30, then.

That’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend.

Most of my first dates were like

• walk to bar ($0) or subway ($3)
• a drink for both ($10 - $30)
• transit back ($0 or $3)

Even two drinks wouldn’t probably break the $100 barrier.

There are cheaper options, too. Coffee. Park walk and snacks. Free museums.

I didn’t have much trouble meeting people on the same page.

Edit: a full ass dinner date is a terrible idea for early dating. Don’t go on early dates you can’t quickly bail on.

Telling people “use more ai” was always a profoundly stupid direction. “Ship more stuff faster, use AI if it helps, get paid the same” would be anti-labor but at least sensible.

If selling widgets the customer probably doesn’t care if you used a screwdriver or a drill. They just want their widget. Mandating drill usage is stupid.

Literally everyone saw it coming.

Many people aren’t paying attention. Many people are like pathologically gullible.

The average person just… if you’re smart and capable, imagine being drunk. Being drunk all the time. That’s the baseline. Myopic, impatient, emotional.

Maybe if we had better education and less capitalist hellscape people could be a little better.

I don’t disagree with you but it’s comforting to me to hold onto the fantasy that the something else would be better, like exchanging a quality good for money in a one time deal.

But yes, capitalism is a common source of many problems. (Though I guess a worker owned collective could produce loot boxes, too. )

I’m tired of all these profiles of trump voters. Profile sane people.

Sometimes I get really depressed when I think about problems that could be solved if people would just behave slightly differently.

If people would just stop buying lootbox slop, it wouldn’t be a problem. it’s not asking a lot. It’s not asking you to change your diet, or ride a bike twenty miles in the snow. Just stop buying that shit. I just want to smack impulse buyers on the nose with a newspaper, or squirt them with a spray bottle. Stop it!

But that’s not how people work. We barely function at all.

People think “violence is never the answer” even when violence is being done to them. People are stupid.

I like to think in the future maga-hats will be fodder enemies in video games like Nazis. You can just kill them without remorse because they are scum.

Someone in another thread recommended the book “dying of whiteness” and it’s absolutely horrifying. We all know conservatives vote against their self interests. Well, they know too. Many of them know. They’re happy to die for their beliefs if it means no {slur} gets anything nice.

I’m not here to watch a movie. I’m here to take this axe and hit monsters with it.

I’m sure bloodborne has a very deep story. I had a great time just hitting stuff with that axe and occasionally shooting things. That’s the bulk of the content.

• They still put crap in the environment from the tires
• much of the energy powering them isn’t green
• car culture still creates horrible spaces to live in
• crashes are still a common, ruinous, event
• doesn’t solve DUI
• still is expensive to own, maintain, insure
• car culture promotes isolated, sedentary life, which is bad for physical and mental health

Just off the top of my head. If you swapped all the gas cars for electric cars, you still have all those problems.

I think some people enjoy the thrill of discovery more than the depth of experience. Which is fine. No judgment.

Personally I’d rather have 10 albums that mean a lot than 100,000 albums I listen to once.

EVs mitigate one tiny slice of the problems caused by car culture.

Bus lanes and trams are a symbol of “communism” and car is a sign of “freedom”

This is basically it.

I saw a post the other day that argued to the conservative mind there must be an underclass. There must be poor people whose lives suck. If you try to make things good for everyone, you’re going against nature and will just make things bad for everyone.

Thus good public transit is bad. If different classes of people all mingle then it’s like mixing your food up on the plate and that’s just wrong!

They really are like children