Lorindól

This, definitely.

We got to live our teens and twenties without smartphones and social media - and it was so awesome.

You did something incredibly embarassing last weekend when you were drunk? No need to worry about photos or videos online and nobody would remember or care a few weeks later.

You date someone a few times and things don’t match up? You move on, no need to worry about them stalking or badmouthing you online.

The world seemed to be on a course for the better and the dumbass populist movements were marginal in most countries. Future looked bright and it was easy to be carefree. We got to enjoy our youths.

There were no short or vertical videos. You had to read vast majority of the information available, which made you actually process the info. And someone had put in the effort to write the stuff coherently, because no-one would read the kind of crap that video bloggers are spewing out of their mouths.

By the time we started working, the economic situation was mostly stable and getting a loan for a house or an apartment was pretty much guaranteed.

And so much more. I count myself extremely lucky to have been born in the late 70’s.

I had the same exact approach back in the late 90’s. My friends had several band projects and when they were mixing their demos, I insisted that if the mixes sound good in a standard car stereo, they’ll sound good anywhere.

Finnish legislation strictly forbids storing nukes inside our borders, even transporting them via our territory is a no-no. But laws can be changed.

Putin’s whining about nuking Finland is ridiculous. Most of the time the prevailing winds here blow to the general eastern direction, detonating a nuke or few above our capital would nicely contaminate both St.Petersburg and the Finnish Gulf right in front of it. And using tactical/strategic nukes against our defences would happen near the Karelian border, which would irradiate Putin’s and his cronies precious dachas located in the stolen Karelia.

So they most likely won’t be doing that. But on the other hand Russia has clearly demonstrated that their actions are not based on rational thinking, so it remains to be seen.

1kg per month sounds about right for what I drink at home.

But if I add the 2-4 daily large cups at work and a few “social visit cups” per month, I’d say that my personal total comes closer to 2kg/month.

Sweden and Finland will be among the last in Europe to decriminalize/legalize.

“Drugs are bad because drugs are bad” is too deeply ingrained into the older population. It will take years to change this attitude, even if the results of legalization in other countries will be positive.

“It just would not work here” is the eternal argument. And the only one.

I collect movies that I know to be good. I’ve been a true film freak for over 35 years and I’ve learned how to find “my thing” from the vast market with the help from my friends, reviews and forums. Or when I see a truly good one at a theatre, it goes to my buy list and it might take years for it to come my way.

I have never bought a movie just because of the covers, this has actually never even occurred to me. I did rent films this way back in the day, but I only buy stuff I know.

Nowadays I rarely find anything I haven’t already seen before, but just few weeks ago I came by a modern classic that I was unable to see in a proper theatre. I save these specialties to watch with a projector and a good sound system, hopefully in a few weeks I’ll find the time…

This. Just yesterday I bought a batch of films, DVD’s 1$ and Blu-Rays 1,5$ a piece. And they were mostly new films.

DVD’s are perfectly fine for TV and Blu-Rays for my projector.

I never jumped to the streaming bandwagon and my disc collection has grown exponentially in the last few years, since most people gave up on discs. Their loss.

Could you elaborate on this line of thought?

I cannot tell if you are suggesting a professional standing army or something else entirely.

performing labour or 6 months of jail does sound completely unforced

Forced labour is very different to military training, IMO. Your choices and freedom are restricted - that cannot be denied - but your days are filled with different training excersizes, not labour as I understand it. And I’ve had my fair share of that too, but by my own choice.

i said nothing about whether i see my own country as worth serving, but your pity is appreciated

True. Your earlier statement was ambiguous concerning this. This is why I started the sentence with “if”.

and youll continue to have the option to do so regardless of whether your government continues to threaten its citizens into doing so

Also true. But if I had to defend my country, the most effective way to do it would be as a part of a trained and coordinated effort, not as some loner seeking a Hollywood - style “heroic sacrifice”.

I do not see compulsory military service as forced labour, not by a long shot.

In my country when a man turns 18, he has to choose either military service (6 months for rank and file, 9 months for specialists or 12 months for specialist drivers and NCO and officer trainees) or civil service (13 months). Third and very seldomly used option is “total denial”, which means you get to spend 6 months in an open jail.

I very reluctantly chose military service, hoping to get the shortest 6 month option. I ended up serving 12 months in the reserve officer training program, so I do have some experience on the matter.

The population of my country is so small that an army based on professional or voluntary troops is not a possibility. Conscription is the only viable choice.

The service was rarely fun, but it was very effective and extremely valuable. The personal growth I experienced during that year was immeasurable and one year of my life is a very small price to pay to this country that my grandparents’ generation paid a very heavy toll to protect. A country that offers equal rights, universal healthcare and free education for all citizens, amongst many other tax-paid services.

If you do not see your own country worth serving, I feel sad for you. I would gladly give my life to protect mine.

I use mine almost on a daily basis, with my headphones and when I connect my phone to my stereo system.

I do have Chromecast Audio hooked up and I own good wireless Hi-Fi earbuds, but I prefer to use cables. They just work better, no interference or any other hassle.

Few days ago I was talking with my wife about groceries, reminded her about buying more cat food. My daughter was sitting next to me, playing some game on her Android phone. Then she chirped “I got a cat food ad! I’ve never gotten a cat food ad before, ever! It’s like the phone heard what you just said, dad!”

Yep. VPN and Adguard are now installed to every single mobile device in my household.

One definitely should use solid structures, metal or wooden. The damned thing cost ~10$ and I didn’t have time to build a proper support structure at the moment. I meant to use it only as a temporary solution, which I forgot when everything was fine.

The design of the arch itself wasn’t the problem. The interconnecting pipes were only 1-2mm thick, so there was no way it could possibly support the weight of a flourishing grape vine.

It was marketed as a “rose arch”. I guess it could’ve handled this purpose without any problems.

Buy wrong stuff, suffer the consequences.

Mine lasted a year with grape vine before catastrophic structural collapse.

This is the way.

This.

Sony’s Compact series was excellent, especially for someone with small hands like me. The bigger ones have no advantages for me.

It’s always a trap. Still, tummy rubs cannot be denied.

I’ve used a Nexus 7 mini-tablet for ten years. It runs on Android 6.0 and has been able to do everything I need from a tablet. It only started to slow down drastically this summer, I guess I’ll have to flash LineageOS to give it a few more years of life.

You forgot greed.

Thank you. This is amazing.