Posts by mistybison

driftingcanyon2 said:This fixes everything:
https://www.sordum.org/9470/windows-...-blocker-v1-6/
Amen.
An offline upgrade from an ISO image once a year is more than enough for me; that’s my routine, and I haven't had a single issue since.

I constantly push my updates back by a month, but they usually pop up right when I'm in the middle of something else—you just can't keep checking when they'll start. I'm always worried the installation won't finish properly or will mess something up, forcing me to take my computer to a repair shop. It's honestly quite stressful...

Thanks for sharing this tool. 🙂

If I can find the courage, I'll give it a try. 😁

Sarah Ross21 said:I talked on the phone with four different people today, and all four spent the entire time complaining about their medical issues.

One survived a stroke six months ago and is doing alright now—we already covered that when it happened. The second person has foot pain, specifically a toe issue, making walking difficult (total drama). The third has arm pain—and look, I get it, I know what real arm pain feels like, so I sympathize—but they’re also dealing with severe depression. The fourth has low iron and isn't feeling great, though her levels are actually within the normal range, so it's mostly just fatigue.

Every single one of them wanted comfort and empathy, which I guess is standard, especially in these weird times. Even the person struggling with depression and intense arm pain—who arguably has the hardest time—was the least vocal about complaining.

The reality is that none of these people have ever truly offered me any support during my own health struggles, even the serious ones. When they're feeling good, they couldn't care less about how I am.

Now the roles are reversed. I'm actually in a better place right now—I just got a new diagnosis this morning, though nobody bothered to ask how I was handling it—so it got me thinking: do these people even deserve my sympathy?

As a human being, I believe you should comfort the suffering and feed the hungry. But life has taught me plenty of times that sometimes that isn't the smartest move you can make. There are endless examples of that playing out in the real world.

Maybe what I'm saying is trivial, but I think it's a legitimate question.

What would you do? Offer comfort, or just give them an "uh-huh, okay, moving on"? Let's be honest: once they recover and feel better, they won't care about my problems then either. They didn't care before, and they won't care now.

Thoughts?

Since they've already shown they lack empathy, I wouldn't let it weigh on me too much. Listen briefly when you're in a good mood, but don't let their drama become your own. 🙂

That sounds much easier than actually doing it if that isn't your nature. 🙂 I have a friend who is constantly drained by people dumping their problems—real or imagined—on her. She gets deeply invested, feels guilty if she can't help, and even though these people never reciprocate, she just can't help herself. 🤷

I believe this struggle hits hardest for those who hope to be heard themselves one day. You can't force reciprocity; you simply have to find people who share your temperament and are willing to listen in return. 🙂

I don't mind listening to someone vent, provided they respect boundaries and it remains only a small part of our conversation. If the entire chat turns into a constant stream of complaining, I step away.

I’ve been noticing the same thing lately; my location on Los Angeles and X constantly shows me checking in from somewhere else. It even lists random towns and small villages I’ve never heard of, including places over in Canada. 😁 There have been days where I haven't left my house once, yet after logging onto X or Los Angeles from my computer, I'm supposedly in a completely different city. 😁 I haven't moved an inch, yet apparently, I'm traveling all over the map. 😁

I just checked Meta as well—the same pattern holds true. I am always appearing in some other city, but never my own. 🤣

It seems quite clear that these are just bugs in their software. 🤷

ironranger67 👋

And to everyone else who happens to stop by 👋

Drew Ross2 said:So basically, they were giving kids opium just so parents could get a little peace and quiet. 😵 🤣

About a year ago, there was an incident right here in town. An older woman was working as a private babysitter for several families. After a while, the parents started noticing their kids were acting strangely calm when they got home. Usually, the kids would be running around and playing, but now they were just sleeping all the time. It turned out she was giving them sedatives just to keep them quiet because it made her job easier. She’d essentially drug them up so they'd sleep while she sat back, watched her favorite shows, and relaxed. Truly awful.

darkhawk30 said:Reading what you wrote, that bolded part really caught my eye, and I found myself wondering which specific regions you were referring to.
Based on your post, it wasn't immediately clear if you were using a Southern accent or a standard Midwestern dialect, so I checked your previous posts and noticed you tend to use more Midwestern phrasing.

That's about the extent of the differences. I'm not saying they don't exist, but the truth is that sometimes it's harder for us to understand someone from the deep South or a New Yorker. 🙂

I experience the exact same thing. Recently, I stumbled upon a show on TV by accident. Out of pure boredom, I started watching an episode, and after a while, a very specific regional slang word popped up that isn't used in the Midwest, and only then did I realize I was watching a Southern drama. 😁 When I spend a lot of time on this forum, it becomes even more noticeable; it takes me longer to tell if I'm reading something written in a Southern dialect or standard American English. Constant exposure builds familiarity, but dialects can be tricky for everyone if you didn't grow up in those specific areas. 🙂

darkhawk30 said:Those are just idioms.
There are some truly spectacular ones out there:

https://www.slideshare.net/Ivana_Golic/frazemi

Exactly, idioms. I spent quite a bit of time studying grammar and spelling back in the day. 😁

While most are common throughout the US, the specific ones I mentioned aren't things I hear every day here. They caught my eye, so I decided to include them in my daily vocabulary. 🙂

These aren't just words; they are colorful idioms I've picked up right here on the forum. They turn out to be incredibly useful and practical in many different situations. 😁

'I wouldn't trust you to watch a goldfish in a bowl.'
'Even a starving dog wouldn't touch that.'

I really love the word 'wicked.' It captures a specific kind of character much more effectively than just calling someone 'naughty,' so I’ve officially added it to my vocabulary. 😁

Matthew Gomez2 said:Hello everyone. Lately, I’ve been distilling my various life phases into one singular direction, and I wanted to put it out there to get some perspective from those who might know better. 😉

I’ve walked away from college entirely.
I’ve deleted all my social media accounts for good.
I’ve cut ties with about 99% of people, leaving just my girlfriend and my parents.
I’ve bought over a hundred books on psychology and philosophy with the intention of deepening my self-understanding—fields I’ve always had an affinity for.
I’ve dedicated myself to daily reflection, thinking through how to decouple myself from the machine as much as possible.
I’ve embraced minimalism (getting rid of about 80% of my wardrobe, sticking to a specific diet, and refusing to spend money unless it's absolutely necessary).
I’ve started learning the ropes of investing and building passive income streams that could eventually overtake my primary income once I leave my current job.
The plan is to move out to the countryside with my girlfriend and live a quiet life, far removed from the noise of shallow people and the frantic pace of modern life.
I’ve replaced all my bad habits with ones that actually hold value.

Am I being realistic here, or have I completely sabotaged my future? Does this kind of mindset actually lead anywhere?

To be fair, if someone else had made these moves overnight, it would have been catastrophic. But I didn't just snap; I spent a long time sharpening my blade before I finally cut everything loose. Because of that, none of this feels overwhelming. In fact, after a long period of sleepwalking, indulgence,
and believing in fairy tales, I feel incredibly awake and driven.

A little story to wrap this up:

There was a man living in a coastal town who would spend his mornings fishing and selling his catch, his afternoons working on personal projects, and his evenings sitting by the beach with his wife and kids, drinking wine and playing the guitar.

One day, an American businessman arrived. He noticed the fisherman and approached him, asking if he could offer some advice.

The man agreed, and the American said, "I can help you significantly increase your sales. You could buy more boats and gear, hire a few employees, eventually move to a major city to start a firm, and ultimately end up in New York City running several global companies."

The man simply asked, "And how long would that take?"

"Well, maybe twenty or twenty-five years," the businessman replied.

The man asked, "And then what?"

The businessman answered, "Then you'll be able to fish in the mornings, work on yourself in the afternoons, and spend your evenings by the beach with your family, drinking wine and playing the guitar."

That resonates deeply with me. I’ve taken it to heart. What is the point of grinding every single day for someone else just to satisfy the emotional whims of others, or to remain enslaved to our own habits and useless clutter?
Establishing a meaningful existence is actually quite simple; it just requires the discipline to understand what a human being is truly meant for.

Why wait to actually live your life when you already know what you want and realize most of what the world chases isn't even real?

Thanks for reading. I'm open to any thoughts—whether it's practical advice on setting up a life in rural America or suggestions on what kind of work I should pursue.

I hope no one finds this topic out of place here, but to me, this is fundamentally about spirituality, self-discovery, and shattering the illusions of what we think is real versus what is just a fantasy of the mind.😵

It takes time to determine whether a decision was truly the right one. We often find certain paths or lifestyles incredibly tempting—as if they were tailor-made for us—only to realize later through experience that reality rarely aligns with our imagination. We don't always know ourselves as well as we think we do. Furthermore, people evolve; what fits your personality today might be entirely different ten years from now. Given that you seem quite young, likely in your early twenties, you have plenty of room to experiment and pivot if you discover this new direction isn't what you expected.🙂

I really enjoyed the movie. 🙂

I have watched many more movies that I eventually finished, though they faded from my memory quite quickly.

Among the more well-known sci-fi films that I didn't complete, I would highlight 'Annihilation'. I had no idea it was actually a horror movie. 😱

driftingdrifter4 said:Have you seen it yet?

I have. 🙂

The visual effects are top-notch and the plot is quite engaging. 🙂

I’m a big fan of "Inception" and similar films.

An unusual film. 🙂

It is beautifully shot.

A truly uplifting and heartwarming film. 🙂

Macan (Mr. Mittens) is simply the best. 😁

shadowjackal82 said:Is it possible to just stay at zero forever? Honestly, I couldn't care less about my post count.🤷

While that might sound tempting😍 , it isn't really a smart move! 🙂

When it comes to posting, moderation is key. 🧐

If you overdo it, people on the Forum will think, "Look at this guy, he clearly has nothing better to do than hang out online."

But if you don't post enough, they'll brush you off by saying, "What do you know? You haven't even hit ten posts yet, so why should we listen to you?"

😁

hiddenmarlin14 said:I honestly can't believe Rachel Richardson still has over 100,000 posts😳 surely they aren't all intended for the encyclopedia😳

I assume those posts are from various chat threads still hosted on the main subforums—meaning they haven't been moved to the "Archive" or "Trash"—even if they are inactive or locked. That would explain why my own post count hasn't really decreased either, since I mostly participated in chat threads.

I am aware that post counting varies depending on the specific subforum, but someone more knowledgeable would need to clarify which ones follow which rules. 🙂

Still, it is quite unusual for you to have such a low count, or rather, none at all. 🤔

The only logical explanation for this phenomenon is that Anthony Nguyen81 is actually an alien, specifically one of those multi-armed deities from ancient mythology. 🧐

If he’s using a different phone, tablet, or computer for every single arm, I don't think it's out of the question that he's omnipresent on this forum. 🙂

brighttiger5 said:I remember some old vBulletin forums used to have reputation tiles. People would often band together just to inflate each other's scores.
Once the admins caught on, they removed the feature entirely.

I recently visited a community like that. Since they lacked enough new members willing to engage in serious discussions, they boosted my reputation within a month as if I had been a veteran member for years. 🤣 It was clearly an attempt to encourage me to stay and keep contributing. 😁 However, I lost interest quickly and decided to move on, so their tactic didn't work on me 😁 .

On another forum, they featured both likes and dislikes, but users primarily used the latter to settle petty grievances. Groups would target specific individuals, creating endless clone accounts just to downvote anyone they disagreed with. 🤣 Eventually, most threads devolved into nothing but infighting, yet the owner failed to realize that removing the dislike option would have been the smartest move. 😁

Reddit has all sorts of features now—various badges, trophies, and more. I don't follow it closely since I mostly lurk rather than post, but I know there have been plenty of abuses. At one point, if someone accumulated too many downvotes, they could actually get banned for supposedly damaging the subreddit's reputation. This led to entire mobs targeting popular users with coordinated downvotes just to destroy their standing and drive them away. 🤦 As soon as you introduce a competitive element to a discussion, chaos is inevitable. 😁

Those forums were truly wonderful back when they were at their peak popularity.

I believe these types of forums require far too much patience—patience for reading, comprehension, and clear writing—to remain popular in today's fast-paced digital landscape. 🙂