…attracting criticism from lawmakers, who warn it could…

Oh my, if only there were someone with the resources and authority to do something about it.

Are we talking t-bone or ribeye?

…why not just use the CC on Amazon?

I think it’s because people think giving pure cash is thoughtless and basic.

This idea needs to die. I’d rather have $10 cash that I can stash away to save up for something that I actually want than a $25 gift card that locks me in to a single store.

I’m at a stage in my life where I can generally buy little things when I want to. But my wife and I don’t make enough to regularly drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on non-essentials, and my other family members can’t do more than $25 or maybe $50 for birthdays or Christmas.

It took me years to convince my parents and wife to just give me cash. When I finally did, it enabled me to save up for a $1k guitar over several years.

I’d much rather have one awesome gift every 5 years than a steady stream of $35 gift certificates to various stores and restaurants.

Not giving someone what they’re actually asking for is far less thoughtful than cash.

I got a Dunkin Donuts card a few years ago too. The nearest location to me is about 600 miles away. Awesome.

Cognitively and logically, I understand.

But emotionally, it’s just another one of those little reminders of the passage of time that hits unexpectedly hard.

I think it’s because my only memories of it are from when I was young. Quake 3 Arena was released almost a year before the PS2, but I’ve never really stopped playing it, and still sometimes get in-person LAN parties together to play it. It feels just as old as I am, and I associate it with good memories from every age.

But I haven’t touched or even thought about a PS2 in decades. So when it suddenly jumps to the front of my mind, only old memories come with it. Then you start to think about the friends you played it with, and everything that’s happened to you all between them and now. Kids, marriages, divorces, houses, bankruptcies, jobs earned and lost, deaths, etc… Some are doing great, some not so great, but most you just don’t know because you’ve lost contact.

So yeah, it seems silly on its face, but sometimes random thing just pull you into the past unexpectedly, putting the present and the path between them both in stark contrast. This just happened to be one for me this time.

I’m more concerned with the transformations from customers to product.

“Hey, buy our expensive shit but also give us all your data so we can also sell it to other companies.”

A lot of unpopular “features” and behaviors used to have DISM, policy, or registry workarounds. And MS seems to love to kill those workarounds during later updates.

If MS isn’t letting people uninstall it, there’s a reason for it, and I’d be willing to bet that users will one day find that it has been magically re-enabled by an update.

I guess it was inevitable that my fellow millennials would carry on the age-old tradition of shitting on the younger generation’s new slang, styles, and behaviors. I don’t know why I thought we might break the cycle.

They don’t care as long as they can get in, make a few bucks, and get out. Long-term stability isn’t the priority anymore, just quick profits.

As someone who works in taste

Is this an exotic way of saying that you’re a chef?

What the fuck was your prompt for this?

I have a concealed curry, in case me wife eats it

Are you a pirate that is just always prepared to celebrate your wife’s death with a tasty noodle or rice dish?

Oh no… It’s a concert for skinheads

I see you’re prepared to take a whole bus load of people to Morganville. Nice

I cannot make sense of this comment. Perhaps someone can sprinkle in some punctuation?

Sometimes there are very good reasons for a family member being “long lost.”

scythed

Nice to see a new verb used in a headline.

That’s true, they can be a bright spot in a dark sea of overpriced used crap.

Unfortunately that seems to be fading too though. It seems like in-person ones are usually the only time that happens though, and many of them are moving online. That means you’re competing with everyone else who knows how to use auction sites besides ebay.

Maybe I’m just looking for the wrong things though. Collectibles outside of my interests may be experiencing different trends.

Flipping second-hand goods hasn’t been viable at any worthwhile scale in over a decade. Too many people know how to use the Internet now, and usually google their shit before it goes on the garage sale or flea market table. The days of finding that rare vase or vintage toy that the owner doesn’t know the value of are gone.