Microsoft’s store is broken. I have had a similar problem with Minecraft.

1. Want to buy DLC for my kid in Minecraft.

2. Get forwarded to the Microsoft Store to process the transaction.

3. For some reason the money goes into my Microsoft account balance rather than going toward the DLC I wanted to buy.

4. Cash balance in a Microsoft account cannot be used to buy Minecraft DLC, and cannot be transferred to a Minecraft account. (Why tf not? Minecraft is a Microsoft property.)

5. I now have money stuck in the Microsoft account that cannot be refunded, and I can’t get the DLC I wanted.

This sucks.

The British were so focused on whether they could, they didn’t stop to think about whether they should.

You mean items that should be generic commodities, but which companies customize in order to lock you into their ecosystem, or otherwise restrict what you can do? Like printer ink cartridges or Keurig pods with ID chips, as you mentioned.

• DVD region codes

• Camera lenses back in the manual SLR days. I don’t think there’s any reason old manual-focus Nikon/Olympus/Pentax/etc. lenses needed to be brand-exclusive. The companies could have all used the same bayonet mount and all lenses would be interchangeable.

Don’t forget half of them get jungle duty retaking the Panama Canal from * checks notes * a peaceful ally who has been doing a fine job of operating it.

God, every day feels less like reality and more like a fever dream.

Yes, each generation dies off and passes its wealth to the next. But the boomers are an unusual case because they hold a lot more wealth relative to their size. Boomers and millennials each account for about 20% of the US population. But boomers hold 50% of the wealth in America, while millennials only hold 8%. The wealth transfer as the boomer generation dies off is going to be massive. And most of that Boomer wealth is tied up in real estate, which will have a big impact on the housing market when it becomes available.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/more-than-half-of-us-wealth-belongs-to-baby-boomers:-will-other-generations-catch-up

https://www.statista.com/statistics/296974/us-population-share-by-generation/

(Gen X is somewhere in the middle and I’m skipping over them, as is tradition. They wouldn’t want it any other way.)

Edit: meant Gen X, not Gen Z.

I wish you could send some of your snow over here. I love the stuff, and I usually have to drive to the mountains to get to it.

god knows what it is captivating his attention now.

If he’s anything like my dad (and a bunch of other relatives) Rush was replaced by Fox News, the Epoch Times, and various garbage published by Hillsdale College.

Our slang was bomb, yo. The shiznit!

I have one of those brains that struggles to remember normal daily information, but can retrieve old trivia like this in an instant.

This other comic should make it clear.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/spacefood

deleted by creator

I didn’t mean “standardized” as in interchangeable parts or uniform sizing. I meant standardized as in limited selection, like how armies have historically standardized their equipment. You want a pair of boots, for example? Then choose from a handful of types with limited options, and everyone picks from the same list. There is no reason for Zappos to carry 2,600 types of mens boots other than fashion.

Similarly, there is no reason for Home Depot to carry 500 types of toilet seat other than fashion. The seats are “standardized” in that they are interchangeable, but there is no standard toilet seat style that everyone uses. You could do the same with lots of other consumer goods: everyone uses the same shower faucet, the same knife set, or the same style of flashlight. The world would save a tremendous amount of money and material by manufacturing everyday thing at scale and refining the designs to near-perfection.

I’m not advocating for such a world, though. It would be incredibly bland and boring.

Fashion. Same reason we don’t have standardized flashlights, knives, shoes, toilets, etc.

One of my favorite truisms: One thing the flag stands for is you don’t have to stand for the flag.

I donate my time more than my money. Scouts and school fundraisers soak up way too many hours.

My biggest ongoing financial donation is the pile of money I put into Kiva years ago, which is slowly being depleted each time they take a cut as an administrative fee. I plan to let the balance wind down and not add more money in the future. Kiva doesn’t operate quite the way it is advertised, and from what I have read their C-suite is also overpaid.

I also donate a few dollars each month to a Lemmy mobile app.

I’ve been meaning to donate to KEXP radio in Seattle. I’ll go do that right now while I’m thinking about it.

As an American who is undoubtedly contributing to the US-centric tone, I encourage you to post more non-US content. Especially from your particular corner of the globe. It’s nice to see things from other parts of the world!

Ah, gotcha. I misunderstood.

Andrew Jackson was also a bastard, especially for his treatment of natives. But I meant Johnson.

It is complicated because the rules are different in each state. Also, Trump was convicted in New York state but he resides and votes in Florida.

For out-of-state convictions, Florida defers to the other state’s rules. New York would allow Trump to vote if he resided there because he is not currently in prison, so Trump can vote in Florida legally.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-felony-conviction-can-he-vote-b95e7b4c9158d999e8bc89b00fbda911

While W. sucked in many ways, there is no way he is the worst. Off the top of my head I can easily think of four better contenders: Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan (both guilty of pro-slavery fuckery before the Civil War), Andrew Johnson (fought to let the Confederates off the hook after the war and opposed the 14th amendment), and Donald Trump (first president to be impeached twice, first to be convicted of a felony, and may be remembered by future historians as the spark that ignites the next Civil War).