Strange that politics who call for deregulation never deregulate useful things.

Funny that right? Those that call for deregulation would probably call for deregulating the legal time frame that a company has to support their devices.

And as to what we did with ours, effectively trash. We have a medical junk guy who comes through yearly and picks up the stuff thats getting thrown out, he parts pieces out he can sell, sells scrap otherwise, etc. Also sells a lot of equipment to smaller hospitals out in rural that will make do, and a lot of stuff we have goes to Project Cure which sends medical devices out of country to places in need. The funny part about the rural hospitals and Project Cure is… neither of those can happen because, as I said earlier, can’t verify their accuracy anymore so for my hospital, about 30 units of trash in one day.

I work as a biomed, our hospital had to buy completely new sets of a type of ultrasound machine we have. Why?

Because in order to do the yearly preventative maintenance you have to go through the manufacturers program to test calibration. They stopped supporting it this year and shut it down. Legit these machines were working just fine, but now in order to keep up with verifying accuracy they’re essentially bricked. They did it on the exact day they hit the year mark that they legally were required to support in order to sell medical grade equipment passed.

This is only going to get worse, not better.

Yea, I read this as a biomed and was like “We’re definitely not getting this.”

FFXIV.

Would I be the Warrior of Light or some random scrub? Random scrub that world has godlike beings that just absolutely dominate your will just by existing, plus just massive monsters, and some terrifying organizations.

WoL, hooboy all the moments the story made me be quiet.

Another question is do I go as myself, or can I be a catgirl?

This one so absolutely fucking much, holy shit. After a year of dating apps and literally only getting one actual conversation (that didn’t go anywhere, but they were very nice) I’ve pretty much just said fuck it, I do well enough being a hermit I don’t need to be dating.

Frankly a lot less stress.

Oh no, instead she has step-children so was referred to as a “Childless cat lady” by checks notes the running mate of the opposing party.

The only place to the conservative crowd for a woman to be in is in a single relationship with her own kids. Though I’m sure they’d have a way to gripe about it too.

He can live out his remaining time in Russia as a wanna-be oligarch, and Putin will treat him like a leader-in-exile.

Honestly think he’d be safer in North Korea. Kim Jong Un could at least see him as an ally of “the world is against us.”

Putin already views Trump as a puppy that makes messes on the carpet… while running a dog fighting ring.

Personally I hope so. They’re burning the world, it’ll at least be fun to watch them flounder in the process.

Hell, I think my biggest problem is I can’t think of anything dumb enough before they’ve already got it

I used to think I was a pessimist. But now after multiple “There’s no way people are that dumb” and being wrong I must be an absolute optimist.

Or how about the part where all their chicken’s bland as shit. “Spicy” my ass.

Popeyes is the superior chicken fast food. I’ll fight anyone on this hill.

I’ve had practice eating at Popeyes.

This… is difficult.

See, the oligarchs love Putin because he keeps them wealthy and comfortable at the cost of his people. If I come in and start helping my people, it’ll come from the oligarchs, then they’ll turn on me. Which comes to the other Putin thing, he’s absolutely feared in Russia. Someone annoys him, polonium tea. To those that are absolutely loyal to him, he has an iron fist with a velvet glove. To those not in positions of power, the glove isn’t there. That’s what his power is.

I’d like to think I’m cutthroat if it were in the name of good… but we’re talking Ex-KGB with top tier paranoia, deservedly earned. I’m pretty sure Putin-Me would have a “self inflicted gunshot” to the back of the head within hours.

Boy howdy I’m just imagining HIPAA with this.

I believe the response is in the territory of just because it’s bad now doesn’t mean it won’t get so much worse.

I mean, I’m amazed we’re not 1st in incarceration… and Project 2025 thinks that’s losers numbers.

I mean… worse is different.

ACLU didn’t say we’re going from a shining world to bad… they’re saying “OH BOY IF YOU THINK THINGS ARE BAD NOW!”

At this point there’s a con happening all over the country all throughout the year. Dunno where “south” is for you but the big one I know about is Texas Furry Fiesta in Dallas in March.

Granted Texas has like 4 of them going nowadays by itself lol.

I have the aftershockz Air. Aftershockz as a company apparently changed and went to Shockz when I got my second set so there I got the openrun. I still find my using the Air for my work time which is my more used one, but I think I got used to the fit of it (ran with those for like 3 years) but the openrun works pretty well IMO.

I’ll toss in as I have two, a set at home and at work.

For music, they’re honestly kinda meh. They’ll get the job done if you want some music but lets be frank you’ll find better sound quality headphones out there.

The reason I absolutely find them game changers is they allow me to wear them when I’m at work. I work on mechanical equipment in hospitals, so I need to hear what’s going on around me, one earbud can block up a side but this means I can hear when someone is talking to me. Also I found that earbuds didn’t fit me well so would potentially fall out, these wrap around the back of the head and stay in place, even when I’m working in some strange positions. And when I’m pulling out the power tools and things are going to be loud, I stick in earplugs, and I can hear what I’m listening to better even.

Phone work, I was shocked because my last job I was in a cargo van with minimal insulation so A LOT of road noise, but I’d hear the person I’m talking to with little issue and they could hear me well. Makes hands free phones a lot better.

I listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and the like. I mean chew through so many of them it’s not even funny. Because of that sometimes I found with the single earbud one you’d have something in stereo, well that single earbud messes it up and you gotta set it to a mono sound. These you’ve got that dynamic sound going.

So in short, if you’re going for audiophile level stuff, pass on these, but for daily drivers in day to day life they’re on the top ten things I’ve ever bought.

Pen, pocket journal, wallet, phone, and whichever pocket knife I grab that day.

I’m really a simple person, but I"m going to go into my favorite pocket knife and I’m angry that it’s not made anymore. The SOG Q2. It’s a “baton” shape" IE, slightly longer than a standard pen. Has a flashlight, bottle opener (with flatehead screwdriver, in other words beveled the bottle opener) and knife. The opening mechanism is such I’ve never had it accidentally come open on me, can be opened one handed, and to keep it from closing you’re literally holding the body that goes over the knife.

That’s not cool man…

They said medieval, that is way too late.

Gee… wonder if this ever could have been predicted when Patriot Act was brought out.