She’s onto something. CRT displays and VHS recordings are very imperfect in the best way; they lie to us so sweetly. There’s a lot of production mistakes and fakery that is really hard to spot with old tech. These things stand out in ways unforeseen on digital remasters all the time - it kind of kills the magic of it all, really.

If you must have a lawn (e.g. HOA, personal preference), I strongly recommend doing away with this nonsense and go electric. Better yet, stay ahead of battery obsolescence and get a plug-in model, provided your yard is small enough. No more gas, oil changes, clogged filters, re-gapping spark plugs, and no more dislocating your shoulder trying to start the damn thing. Just keep the blade clean and sharp and it’ll run for a decade at least.

I did this once. Only way to get rid of it was to sell my house.

The fact that Ask Jeeves isn’t an AI-only search engine is just beyond me. It was laughable that someone thought to personify a search engine 25 years ago, but now is pretty much the right time for that.

More than zero, which is too many for my taste.

This does make me wonder: do municipalities with a large number of roundabouts have stats for how these things foil drunk drivers? I feel like there’s a serious possibility of reducing fatalities if we just replace the center of these circles with ponds and/or sand traps.

sue the government?

About that. One frequently looks to the Executive branch to enforce laws, rulings, and other things of legal import. Exactly how does this work if that arm of the government is found guilty of a crime?

To be completely fair, it’s hard to overstate the durability of an old Thinkpad. They’re so ubiquitous, Linux compatibility is almost guaranteed. Then, after the battery goes, attach it to a UPC and ride that setup for another decade at least.

Yes, but to be fair, it’s peak mid. Most other chains do a worse job on burgers, and to do better, you have to go substantially upmarket.

It has been pretty depressing to me that the tech literate have been so easily lulled into accepting such things in the name of “cool toys” and “security” virtually everywhere in modern life besides the PC/laptop/server spaces.

From my exposure to supporting said folks with PC related problems, its easy to see the reality here. Phones provide a streamlined experience with zero frills. They don’t want super flexible computing devices, they want appliances. More to the point, the level of care and maintenance needed to have a top-shelf PC experience is time and effort most people would rather not expend. Doing this right was inconvenient to begin with, and left the field wide open for anything that would be easier.