one of my favorite long-forgotten benchmarks is the "3M Computer" [0]:

  - 1 megabyte of RAM
  - 1 megapixel display (1024x1024@1bit - black and white!)
  - 1 MIPS

... all for under $10,000. hey, a nerd can dream!

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M_computer

I had an old Tandy and the instruction manual touted “10MHz of Intel processing power!”

Still makes me smile.

Likewise for instances of "Larry" and "Lawrence" Summers... probably a lot of those.

> spicy pagers

what a disturbing infantilization

> what a disturbing infantilization

Would you prefer it be called Operation Grim Beeper?

as heartbreaking as it's been to realize that i no longer love the thing that used to bring me so much joy, i've found a lot of pleasure in more physical pursuits.

i picked up sewing (messenger bags, backpacks etc) with an industrial sewing machine - it's a real rabbit hole but i get a real, tangible reward for my hard work (something besides "hey cool, the blinkenlights do the thing now"). it's pretty amazing to assemble a physical good and then use it on a daily basis, and i've gotten to the point where i've even made bags for others who like my stuff.

it's not going to replace my tech career as far as paying the bills, but i get to use a lot of the same abstract mental tools (design, iteration, experimentation, learning from others and disassembling/reassembling things to learn how they work).

It's funny every time there is some corporate team building session or whatever and the question is asked "what do you want to do when you retire?" every developer always suggests doing something more tangible.

Nobody ever says I want to spend more time behind the computer.

Reasonable. You could get the answer of "being on the computer" by asking to the people that don't spend 20 years of their career on it

Ever heard of the grass is always greener?

i'm not going to lie; learning to sew has me wanting to buy a table saw and learn how to build cabinets for a living.

Table saws seem too dangerous for me but a track saw would work too!

I think I'm going to go paint lines in parking lots.

I mean it’s right there for you to do it. Your actions will tell you how much you really want to do it.

i'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

decriminalized cannabis can still be treated with dangerous pesticides or contain high levels of heavy metals or bacteria that cause serious illness.

i used to be of the mind that decrim was preferable to legalization but testing is a pretty important part of making sure you're getting the safest products.

a lot of people in favor of decrim are either bad actors or are under the mistaken belief that all their flower is coming from some nice hippies who only use organic fertilizer and good vibes.

the legacy market was pretty much exactly the same as any other black market: full of people who were in it for the money and didn't care what it took to produce the highest yield at the greatest margin.

now we have legacy actors gone "legit" AND opportunists who got into the market post-legalization who still have the same profit motive above all else.

> The cyberpunk aesthetic

the dystopian, authoritarian, hypercapitalist hellscape aesthetic is icing on the cake for a family vehicle?

That's a lot of your own judgment you've layered on top of it.

For a more joyful interpretation of cybertruck aesthetics, do a image search for "cybertruck trick or treat". I volunteered to provide my truck for my kid's school Halloween party and decorated it to look like the chomp chomp monster from Mario. Kids loved it.

(sure it's not cyberpunk but it's an example of how the look can be used for family friendly innocent fun)

Aren't Chomp Chomps round? Wouldn't a less jagged vehicle be better for this?

Let's just say it's the N64 version where there were some polygons: https://mario64hacks.fandom.com/wiki/Chain_Chomp

Here's what another cybertruck did: https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024...

Did you have to put protective tape over the edges? How did you avoid kids getting cut?

The frunk area where kids reached into to grab candy has no sharp edges. There are sharper obtuse angled corners at the front corners of the truck that are exposed when the frunk is open. If a kid were to run into it at speed, it would cause the same injuries as if they ran into a standard door strike plate (metal, immovable, very similar sharpness and thickness) of which my house has ~20 of them at head height for a preschooler. If I were driving at road speeds with the frunk open and hit someone, yeah that would be a pretty serious injury.

I didn't put protective tape and no kids were injured :)

i dunno. i don't think the aesthetic exists in a vacuum and i certainly am not the first person to use those words to describe it (as a fan of the genre).

As is the "likely to hit others while self-driving"..

is there any place on earth where it's not expressly illegal to be under the influence of cannabis while operating a motor vehicle?

by your own petard!

i like and agree with all of this, with one extra dimension: i've challenged myself throughout my life to view my (almost entirely stupid) tattoos as a memory reference for where i was at in my life at the time. rather than regret them (with one exception, which i've since blasted over with a solid black box as a different type of reminder), i can gauge my own growth against them and appreciate that while i'm still a huge idiot, i'm at least getting a little better day by day :) plus, my memory is pretty bad, so having a few material reminders of my past helps jog some good (and occasionally bad) memories that contribute subconsciously to who i've become as a person. thanks for posting this!

That's a great way to look at it, sort of like the idea of cutting notches in a door frame to keep track of your growth as a kid (not something my mom did, but I see it referenced a lot in movies and tv). It's good to remember where we came from, how we've evolved and recognizing that we are perhaps stronger for it.

this is why i only get stupid tattoos, or just cover up the ones i regret with big black boxes.