The sheer ego in that statement.
Even Americans who are wholeheartedly opposed to whats happening cant stop condescending to everyone else like “If it could happen to the greatest nation on earth it could happen to you”
We know, we have always known. We’re no better than the Germans, the Italians or any other nation that slid into authoritarianism or facism. America believed it couldnt happen to them because they are just so exceptional, which is why it worked so god damn well.
Especially when it comes to things like Tvs.
“Would you like the extended warranty out to 5 years for an extra $200”
No because that would have made my $600 tv an $800 tv which will be made to look like a piece of crap by a $400 tv in 5 years.
As an Australian the problem is largely what you imagine.
An unregulated industry brought in bikes that were closer to motorbikes than pushbikes and parents didnt do their due diligence on it. The same industry also brought in a huge amount of bikes that were perfectly sane when stock but were literally childs play to turn into something closer to a motorbike. Now the vast majority of kids went out and did kid shit and they were slightly annoying, a not insignificant number of them got hurt, but there was no real outcry.
The govt as governments are want to do reacted way too fucking slowly in putting sane limitations on what could and couldnt be sold and hold manufacturers and importers accountable. In their defence partly because 90% of them are coming out of china and the govt arent idiots in that they know how easy it would be for an importer to find a new frontman and the Chinese manufacturer to rebrand and force them to play whackamole and partly because they are very popular among adults and people who arent riding them like dickheads AND they didnt want to look anti-green by discouraging people to find car alternatives.
But Here come the fuckwits like takeovers are to “legitimate” street racing on quiet backroads, kids started doing wheelies through shopping centers while filming it for the gram, deciding it would be funny to absolutely destroy the grass and surfacing on local sporting fields and swerving in and out of traffic in 80 zones.
Its not that the cops dont care, the cops know what the reality is that if they start trying to catch them, the kids will run and eventually someones “good boy who never hurt anyone and loved to laugh” is going “to be chased to his death over a modified E-bike and the police are the reason for his death” regardless of what prompted them to chase him in the first place.
All in all its a 3 layer shit sandwich.
Does “people who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones” translate into American? Half of the rest of the world wakes up every day wondering if your leader has started WW3 over a twitter beef.
But no, you have fun.
Nah dont be revisionist, Bawitaba was a hell of a jam when it came out, pretty much that whole album went hard.
I’ll listen to it still, but only through a medium where he doesnt get paid royalties because NOW he is a piece of shit.
Everyone also said that there was no way Trump would get elected a second time after LITERALLY EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED since he announced he was going to run and here we are.
Its not a non issue, but its a clickbaity as fuck headline. It would be like writing “Car crashed into daycare center” when someone ran into the fence at 3am on sunday.
In their defence its also a lot easier for me because I’m not in a call center, my calls arent recorded and I dont have scripts or churn times to adhere to. Customer service in a call center must absolutely be someones definition of hell.
I’ve point blank said to customers things like “Look, I appreciate that you’re upset. Please believe me that I am upset too, because I have to go ask that idiot why he did what he did, document the conversation and I guarantee you the answer wont be a clever one” and “This is definitely our fuckup, not that I should use language like that with customers but ‘mistake’ just doesnt cut it”
Customers are always pissed the first time you speak with them. When I have to call them I do a quick first call and let them know its immediately being worked on, ask them if theres any other information that might be helpful and Ill get back to them when I know something, they are ALWAYS better to deal with on the second call.
I do this because I can always get off the first call with “Respectfully, I’m not customer service. I’m the guy who fixes the problems and the longer I’m on this call is time I’m not fixing your problem. Now I need to go and I’ll call you as soon as I have a resolution”
People just want to be taken seriously.
You have way more chances to get back at shitty customers doing food service.
Get a cunty customer and you just smile a little too large, be a little too eager to fix their issue and let your eyes glint just a little. Then fix their issue exactly what they asked for with nothing wrong with it and untampered with. When you return to the table put a little too much emphasis on “Enjoy” when you give it to them.
They will spend the entire meal trying to figure out what you did or call the manager over and make a big scene about how you did something but cant point out what. Ruin my night, I’ll ruin yours.
Now this is a half remembered anecdote so… pinch of salt.
But I do remeber something about some people having negative reactions to the tannins in red wine. So it might not so much be the alcohol.
I got a seat, Thrustmaster t300rs wheel and pedals for $400 aud, then someone was selling the same wheel but with the upgraded pedals and the addon shifter for $300 so I bought it because the load cell brake is so much better. Ive put the other wheel and pedals away because my daughter is 6 and keeps wanting a turn so when I jump to ps5 Ill build her a little rig with the ps4
I settled on GT7 for 2 reasons. I already had a PS4 and bought GT7 years ago but playing it on controler just wasnt fun so there was no financial outlay outside of the setup and it was also the game that some people I watch on YT did some videos with. I do agree that the non online racing isnt exactly inspired.
Im also working on a rig that I can pack down to small enough to slot into a gap next to the couch when Im not using it but without a huge pile of ball ache to set up. 
Still very much in prototype stage but loosten off the wheel, loosten off the stand and concertina the whole thing down to about a 50cm x50cm footprint.
What particular brand of gatekeeping are you on about?
I do and I know the whole PC world is there but I decided “I need to finish gt7” as an exercise in skill development.
Non.
I have that lovely ADHD trait of getting excited about a new hobby, spending too much money on gear and then getting bored. So when I decided to give sim racing a go I started with a cheap second hand wheel, pedals and seat from marketplace, my old ps4, GT7 and the TV i already have in the spare room. I promised my wife “No significant spending on this until my birthday or fathers day”.
Yeah I’m a sim racer, and I suck.
Today I’m playing GT7, tomorrow I’m probably play some GT7 and if I’m getting really frisky next week I might play some GT7.
Gotta git gud.
I wake up in Australia every morning and check the news wondering if any of the headlines are going to be the 2026 Assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
Yep, also if you can do the initial freeze with the lid off thats also going to help prevent cracking.
In all seriousness its not exactly the most simple thing for a layman.
I speak petrolhead, so when you tell me something has a 2000W motor (Light bulbs and plug in heaters are measured in Watts. I honestly believe they do that on purpose to confuse the issue) I immediately do the conversion to 2kw, which is 2.6 hp on an e-bike that weighs 50kg. A 50cc Vespa makes 3.1hp and weighs 100kg. Now you throw a 50kg rider on there and you have a better power to weight ratio on the E-Bike, and shitloads more torque.