SwampYankee

Having hardware good enough to run it at more than 20 fps helped. Thankfully the performance (and everything else) is much improved now.

I really enjoyed Cities Skylines 2 even at launch.

It plays a lot better just mechanically, but the story and dialogue are hot garbage and it (not uniquely when it comes to the 3D Fallouts) lacks the edge of the originals. Also the settlement stuff is half baked and tacked on. I’ve probably gotten more playtime out of FO4 just because the combat is so much better than all the others, and settlement mods help make that part of the game much more compelling.

They believe in a prison system designed to eat up as much of the general population as possible.

This reminded me. Trumpy dude I know at work, not a dumb guy, but poorly educated, WAS NOT AWARE that private prisons existed and when notified of that fact THOUGHT THAT THEY SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. The guy he voted for 3 times has so many ties to private prison companies it’s absurd, and this dude didn’t even know they existed.

Absolutely, mind-blowingly, galaxy-brained moment.

The person you’re responding to was only talking about the tax, I think. 12k miles @ 40 mpg is 300 gallons, or let’s say $1300/year at today’s prices. The gas tax is flat rate per gallon and works out to a little under $240 for that 300 gallons, for the federal gas tax, anyway. On top of that, in the US, depending on the state & local jurisdiction, you will have some combination of state gas tax, excise tax for registering in a specific municipality/county/other, a registration fee (not always every year), and a yearly inspection fee.

In Massachusetts where I live, for a typical personal passenger vehicle, the state gas tax is an additional 27.47 cents per gallon, there’s a biennial $60 registration, and a $35 yearly inspection. In my town, specifically, I pay about $75/year excise tax. My vehicle isn’t the most efficient, so I’m in the neighborhood of $2500 in fuel costs annualizing current prices - of that about $700 is state gas tax and $465 federal.

Chiropractic in the US refers exclusively to the practice of musculoskeletal manipulation and “adjustment”. Yanking on and twisting joints to get them back into the “right” position. It can work in specific circumstances, but can also further exacerbate some conditions. Someone who is only a chiropractor typically does not or is not allowed to administer invasive procedures such as the cortisone or lidocaine shot that I assume you got. That’s reserved for actual doctors here. Sounds like the person you saw would be more likely be a physiatrist or physical therapist in the US.

Basically chiropractic is a separate education/licensing process, and requirements vary by state. Most states, for instance, don’t require chiropractors to carry malpractice insurance. That means if they put you in a wheelchair, they declare bankruptcy and start a podcast or become a personal trainer or some shit, and you get to battle them in court while in crippling pain, and then max out your insurance deductible every year for the rest of your life. People who practice chiropractic may have additional qualifications and licenses allowing them to write prescriptions and do minor invasive procedures such as injections, but that’s not too common.

This is done, especially in government work, to limit bias in the interview process. Ideally, though, the people conducting the interviews understand the questions they’re asking and can use some judgement and give credit if someone explained a concept but didn’t hit the specific keyword.

This is probably the best comment here so far. To emphasize the interceptor missile point, the US yesterday pulled interceptor systems from South Korea. You know, the place next to the nuclear-armed country that likes to lob missiles into the ocean just to show off. It should go without saying how dire the situation is if the US is redeploying interceptors from South Korea. Once interceptor stocks are depleted, Iran will be able to consistently, successfully strike targets inside US allied territory. There are some rumblings that Iran’s success rate is already increasing. Once this happens, Iran has the US & Israel backed into a corner even more than they already do.

That or all out war between Israel and Lebanon.

Did people start cheering and weeping tears of joy when they heard your accent?

I’m sure there’s good Italian food in the North End, but no local would go there to find it. You pay a premium because it’s the North End and you and every other tourist had the same idea.

You may have better luck in Cambridge, Allston or Brookline for food in general. Easier to park and get a table, too.

Yes, have fun. Worcester’s great. Check out Kelly Square.

As a Masshole, yes, please don’t drive when you come here. You will be in someone’s way and catch a glimpse of the state bird:

Yeah, my dad is from there originally and moved back with my mom when they retired. A 15 point gap in the governor’s race is crazy. Democrats really expanded their map in the southeast around Norfolk and the lower peninsula. Some of those areas are rapidly developing, so I wonder how much it has to do with demographic shifts. Judging by the huge swings, I can’t see how Republican insanity isn’t driving some significant portion of this.

Commenting because I think the judgement here may have been a little hasty. It’s hard to find any information about these guys.

What I will say is that this symbol is clearly not the black sun - it has 6 arms whereas the black sun has 12, the black sun has a ring somewhere outside the middle, and it also has that lightning bolt look to each of the arms whereas these ones have one right angle and then terminate. Edit - as someone else noted, it’s a symbol for speed metal.

They also have a song called “National Front” from one of their earlier albums. Suspicious on its own, but I wanted to find some lyrics to confirm one way or the other. No luck. I listened to the song and couldn’t really understand most of the words, however they repeat “national front [blah blah blah]” several times. The last time they repeat it, they say “national front kills you and me” so on the plus side, that doesn’t sound like an endorsement of far-right politics.

In this video, you can see an anarchist symbol on the vocalist’s vest. Also, not for nothing, there’s a black guy on bass.

I’ve always had the sense that MTG is sincere, but incredibly stupid.

It’s also not irony.

Fair enough. I only made the comment about calling the texts fake because some people seem to be making that claim, usually alongside the idea that a 20-something wouldn’t text like that - the “my love” in particular. Your typical 20-something also wouldn’t do an assassination, so it’s a spurious line of reasoning.

We have text messages between the shooter and the roommate. If you want to call those fake, that’s your right, but that’s going to be a major piece of evidence in the trial.

In the texts from the indictment, the shooter says:

I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.

The shooter also calls the roommate “my love”. There are some friends, neighbors, acquaintances corroborating that they were in a relationship.

The roommate’s gender identity isn’t 100% clear. There seems to be some evidence from social media accounts that they’re trans.

I don’t think you can call this shooter “far right”. Not clear that he’s a groyper in my opinion. The Discord messages are pretty milquetoast. I certainly wouldn’t call him a leftist either. Seems he was (more than) okay with LGBTQ folks, but that doesn’t tell you much about his broader views.