Obviously, don't tell me exactly where you live, no actual addresses please! You can be as vague as you like.
I live in Central Missouri in the U.S.
Pros:
This is an absolutely beautiful place, green rolling hills, lots of rivers, lakes, ponds, and natural springs, cool caves to explore.
Lots of farming here, so great access to quality fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy.
It's relatively inexpensive to live here compared with other states, because it's a "flyover".
I'm close enough to three major cities, that it's an easy day trip, and I'm about halfway to anywhere in the U.S.
We have one of the best Conservation departments in the U.S. and this is one of the few things that is a bipartisan issue. Lots of awesome nature programs that are free or cheap, state parks, conservation areas, bird watching, hunting, boating, foraging available to everyone.
Cons:
Yeah, it's a big one, it is a RED STATE, while a lot of the cities are blue, there is a large rural population, that votes red. Abortion is not legal here. People often vote against their own self interest.
While I'm not against responsible gun ownership, lots of people aren't responsible, and people have access to guns that definitely should not.
We have very few employee protections here, while the cost of living is relatively low compared with other places, it's taken years to get to a $12 minimum wage, and it's still not enough.
@RickiTarr right now, I live in VA, about 45 to 90 minutes west of DC. I am overall indifferent. While this is the first place I have been able to make IRL friends in a long time, I also get to witness first hand how absolutely fucked up the income disparity is in the DC Metro area. Overall, I prefer living here over my home state where I am being force moved back to, but don’t let anyone tell you that anyone cares about our nations capitol
How appropriate that as I graduate college, one of the first jobs I applied for was a blast from a long distant past. Need to hunt down my Delphi 3 Superbible by @thurrott.
@aronow here is a kitty I met last night that I hoping I get to see again. Kitties potential mommy was happy with the quality of my delivery service, so I have high hopes.
@aronow my sleep deprived self recommends more yellow. Get that hot dog stand theme inspiration.
In all seriousness I spent more time than I should have contemplating the red and yellow of your Ramen shark. I couldn't remember what it reminded me of, until I remebered a nearly 20 yo blog post by @codinghorror about the hot dog stand theme from windows 3.1.
@RickiTarr there is someone I knew growing up who I have wondered about. I saw her a lot as she was the mother of an ex-friend, so I talked to her a lot. There was so much that was on the edge of truth that I heard from her over the years. Her big one was talking about the latest person she was suing, and how close the next big payday was. It never came, obviously, but she was adamant.
@RickiTarr my parents basically had to bribe me to start talking. I was capable, I simply had little interest. It didn't take long to realize that I would talk if given something I liked. As giving me a computer was out of the question, they settled on butter cookies. Cookie became one of my fav words and it appears to have sounded similar to how cookie monster says it. That I have rarely seen a butter cookie since probably tells you how many were eaten...
@RickiTarr when ever I do consulting work to help my dad, I have a requirement that anything important said to me needs to also be written down. I do consider hearing a critical component, it is simply that I am unable to fully focus on it until i also see it written.
What kind of high-school experience did you have? Were you in a clique? Were you popular, unpopular, the coolest kid in your Homeschool? Did you have a sweet jean jacket with patches, or maybe a leather vest? Were you an evil villain or a Mary Sue?
@RickiTarr one of the only regrets I have from high school is not getting my senior year yearbook. I had a friend who worked on the yearbook who made a page dedicated to me in it. I have never gotten a chance to look closely at it, but I do know they only did that type of page for a few people who the yearbook class considered “notable.”
@RickiTarr you know one of the fun parts of the internet is randomly running into someone who has the exact same random dream you have. I am more of a wanting Fontaine to show up in lower decks to sing, but i will happily accept The Doctor if it gets us a chance to see him as well.
@RickiTarr I live in hope! When they used new mobile emitters in Picard I was really happy that there might be a possibility that Fontaine one day might get one.
@arisummerland@RickiTarr understandable. I have absolutely no interest in similar singers, such as Sinatra, but I absolutely love James Darren. DS9 holds a special place in my heart as the first Star Trek as it was first one I was old enough to remember watching as it ran. I have fond memories of going to my grandpa’s with my Dad to “pirate” episodes a week before they came out.
@arisummerland@RickiTarr I have it downloaded as well, with a good chunk in my favs playlist. I have wandered into more than a few places mumbling “It’s only a paper moon…”
@RickiTarr indeed. People don’t yell out my name when I enter a store just because they are happy to see me. They are also warning people someone might get up on shelving and start bap bap baping at people
Had a big videocall at work today and suddenly realized I am avoiding eye contact even in videocalls. Like, I subconsciously avoid looking at people who are looking at the camera, even if they are those who’re talking. I look at those who look away, I look at those who sit too far from the camera to actually see where they’re looking, I look at myself, I look at Slack’s UI, I constantly remind myself to not look over the screen, but can’t help glancing. Anything but looking at those who seemingly look at me. Even though they are not actually here and most time in those group calls it means they are not actually looking at me.
Other #autistic folks, do you find it easier to look people in the eyes in video-calls or do you struggle with it too? @actuallyautistic #neurodivergent #AuDHD
@olena@actuallyautistic haha! I actually tested this on myself recently. Had a one on one with a professor a couple weeks ago, and I thought to myself what the harm would be in just seeing how I would react to turning my camera on. Found that I had no issues with showing myself(thank you mid-30s), but I avoided eye contact as much as possible.
@olena@actuallyautistic I have long wondered if whatever I look at gives the impression of eye contact. I think I have mentioned before how I was blissfully unaware for years that I never made eye contact, only learning when my Dad noticed in my late teens.
@JenMsft very sophisticated! I have plans to buy very similar glasses for myself this week. I would get a pair for Penguin, but she has already spent her entire lifes budget on glasses for her to break.
How long did Nutmeg cooperate for? Maybe I will try Murphy's cat face when I live with him again this summer.
@Colin I think it counts as the same nap. With Penguin, I consider it a new nap if one of a couple things happen. The primary ones are if she moves to a new area or she does an activity the requires fully conscious actions. Examples include cleaning herself, asking for attention, bedtime stories, or guarding me from people. Eating sometimes fits, but only if she asks for extended attention before wandering back to nap
@Colin occasionally I might even define a nap in multiple locations to be a single nap. The Bedtime Stories nap is the most common one as she will still sometimes move immediately to sleeping in the tree without any intermediate activity after napping in my legs
@ToniScott@Colin indeed. I consider it a very important observation as it helps determine the amount of attention she needs when eating. Her food bowl is on my desk, so she always needs at least a single full body pet. But, when she eats in the middle of the nap, she has very focused walk that only minimally acknowledges anything but food. I know then she just needs a single head to tail pet on arrival and exit
