Hey me too, birthday buddy.

They made it the default option for businesses that routinely buy computers with less local storage than their users need. Pretty much every company I have worked for.

They then pushed it out hard into the consumer market when SSD came out and the average storage space on lower end models dropped by 75%.

I see why they did it, how they did it was in usual Microsoft fashion, idiotic.

It’s sort of their pattern.

1. Introduce new changes.

2. Screw it up royalty.

3. Fix the features that are salvageable and revert most of the remaining except: Double down on the shitty ones that they think will make them more money.

4. Rinse and Repeat

The “hard math” can be done easily and quickly with a financial calculator app. The one I have shows the amortization schedule as well.

Forums were awesome until the ads took over. Then apps like Tapatalk made reading them easier. Then Tapatalk went to shit and power users migrated to reddit (mainly for the easy to use wepage and awesome independent apps.).

Then reddit shit the bed so now Lemmy is filling the gaps.

I personally think three things have driven the degradation in the movie theaters

The lack of competition with theatres as monopolies have formed. This has allowed the average theatre to degrade in quality.

Most major “blockbuster” style movies are designed for the international market. Lots of long action sequences with little dialogue. Simple character development and plots for easier translation. They are all pretty boring.

And last, the improvements and price reduction of TV’s and home sound systems. Combined with the fast release of movies onto streaming platforms or pirate sites.

So what exactly is are theaters selling anymore? A shitty service for a shitty product that is better consumed at home.

Yeah the lack of criminal charges indicates that it was a manic episode. She probably spent several weeks in a mental health ward. Otherwise she would have been charged for the abuse to the flight attendants and others.

She also likely had a ton of drugs in her system as well as the booze. People undergoing manic episodes will take about anything.

I am not so sure about the FAA fines. The U.S. civil court system is inherently unjust. There are many draconian rules that punish the mentally ill and impoverished.

Uh-oh

Windows 11 adoption to business customers is really bad. Most of the adoption to 11 has been from people purchasing new home computers and being stuck with 11 (I have two win 11 computers now).

Since the bulk of Microsoft’s revenue comes from business customers, they have a huge impact on decisions.

At this point the only decision Microsoft can make is to write off win 11 as a failue. Resuming feature upgrades to win 10 makes business sense.

Oopsy, the credit cards are maxed out already due to their gouging So purchasing will remain low until credit card debt declines.

Oh wait, that’s not going to happen anytime soon because the landlords are price fixing.

The first one is the main reason we could afford to have kids.

We were able to buy our first house because of three things. First the housing market crash in 2008-9. My wife’s car was totaled by a rich bitch in a Mercedes. Our rented duplex was robbed and we had renters insurance. The combination of insurance payments and cheaper prices allowed us to purchase our first home.

My house payment hasn’t changed since 2009. It made up 36% of our take-home income then. Today it makes up less than 11%. I pay less per month than it costs to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in my area.

The older I get the more I see that landlords are a parasite on society. They extract huge amounts of wealth from the suffering of others.

The odd thing about crime rates is they are often self-reported from law enforcement. Without proper controls and regulations, a motivated party could easily and routinely fudge the numbers by a lot.

What types of crimes do you think it would be easier to suppress… murder or property damage?

“boy do I have thrips” triggered a funny memory.

When I worked in Ag. Research we had a big international field day. People from 50+ countries visiting in. I got the wonderful job of doing presentations in the field all day long. This was in late summer on a bad thrip year.

Well, one of the office goons decided that they would order all the staff polo shirts for the three day event. We were all supposed to wear the same color on the specified day.

They ordered in a light blue, yellow, and green polos. The first day was to be light blue. I “accidentally” wore the green one instead and had a few very irate office goons on my back first off that morning. Strangely enough all of the experienced outdoor staff “accidently” wore the green shirt as well.

For those that don’t know, thrips are highly attracted to light blue and they bite. I laughed my ass off most of the day.

The following two days everyone wore green. Except for the one determined office goon who wore the yellow shirt. In a field full of honeybee hives…

Swirski mites are my favorite in the greenhouse or nethouse. They work better than any pesticide I have ever seen.

Yes but can they dislodge the glue from their mouth parts? Very unlikely if it’s strong enough to hold the smaller insects.

This is a really, really, bad idea.

The issue is that sticky traps are non-specific. Any insect the size of a trip can be trapped. Then when predators are attracted to all the free food, they are potentially stuck or damaged as well.

Thrips are also one of the easiest species to control using predatory species.

Don’t forget Baccilus cereus and Clostridium perfringens.

Although the abdominal cramps and extreme diarrhea might be considered a normal day for those morons.

Full dinner for my family of 4 at McD’s us $65.

Full dinner at my locally owned restaurant that offers takeout plus lunch the next day from leftovers - $70.

Been on my own since I as 17. The first few years were rough to say the least.

I worked 2 jobs, 30-60 hrs per week and went to college. I shared shitty apartments with some pretty creepy people. I moved so constantly I ended up paying for a post office box so I could get my mail. I did not have a vehicle (no car) so I rode a bike for up to 60 miles per day. Even all that wasn’t enough without government grants and student loans to pay for college.

Food was something that I ate when I had it. I spent a few months with mybe 4-5 real meals. Cornflakes and ramen where the bulk of my diet for a while.

I took the first professional job I could find. It was terrible but it paid well. I gained 50lbs to be at a healthy weight the first year. The next few years I jumped around jobs until I landed in one I liked.

The last few weeks before I graduated college I met my wife. Her family has become mine over the past 25 years.

Today my income alone puts us in the top 10% of earners. My wife makes close to the same. At many crucual times in our lifes we’ve taken advantage of government assistance. To be blunt, it’s not possible to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You need a helping hand once in a while no matter how small.

He should have had his “soft” targets better protected. Russia has a long tradition punishing the families of those that oppose them.

Cheese made from raw milk is a great way to get all sorts of fun diseases like listeriosis.

The cheese making process is also unlikely to kill then virus but the aging process likely will.