Okay, bear with me for just a second. There’s a cartoon called “Hazbin Hotel”, which it told from the point of view of Satan (Lucifer’s) daughter. In her version of their origin story, Lucifer gave humanity free will. But because humans are, well, all over the place, this allowed for evil to exist. Which lead to the creation of hell as a place to put these evil souls.

As Lucifer’s punishment, he was sent to rule over hell, so that the only outcome he would ever see for giving humans free will was humans turning evil. Over & over again for all eternity.

Yes it’s a cartoon. But I thought it was very elegant here.

Under the Red Hot Moon by Rancid

I wouldn’t call model railroading my main hobby, as I only touch it once in a while. But that’s also what I do love about it. You leave it packed away in a closet for YEARS, then one rainy day you stumble across those boxes & decide to unpack them. And they still work like you remember as a kid. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend.

I get about 7. Turns out I need closer to 9. When I do get enough sleep, the difference is pretty wild - my mood is better, WAY better. And my appetite is under control too, which is a nice bonus. But the only way to actually get those 9 hours is literally “eat-sleep-work”. Just ain’t enough time in the day.

See if I can bribe enough local officials to pass an amendment making bike lanes mandatory on all new road construction projects. Sadly, even at the local level I don’t think $10,000 would be enough.

I stopped a long time ago. I just prefer interactive entertainment over passive. TV was easy to axe, cut the cable bill & never looked back. Movies went much later, too many shitty movies back to back, eventually stopped going, so stopped seeing previews, which in turn broke the cycle of wanting to see the next one.

I will say that not watching movies or TV makes it harder to interact with folks. There’s something of a shared culture we have through our entertainment, and not having that makes it harder to connect.

Oddly, I just started watching movies again this year. I’ve been getting better about getting on the elliptical, and I’m now at the point where my ‘runs’ take about 90 minutes. So been catching up on all the movies I considered watching over the last ~25 years. Turns out I didn’t miss much. lol.

Ah, I see it now! I was an idiot and only looking at the menu above it for interface language. Got it. Thanks for the help!

On mine, there’s a dropdown to select your language. There is no option to add an additional one.

Oh wow, so if I want to see English AND Spanish content, I would need to add both languages? Neat. TIL!

Oh, looks like that’s not an option for me (lemmy.zip). Are you able to add multiple languages on other instances?

I carry like $2 in change in my right front pocket, and have for as long as I can remember. I cannot leave the house without it anymore - it feels like something is wrong. I also would struggle to tell you the last time I ever NEEDED physical change. It’s more of a novelty than anything at this point, but it’s part of my routine.

I realize OP probably doesn’t care, but I find the differences interesting. Not too long ago, I just happened to park my truck (with grandpa cap) right next to the identical SUV. From the outside, the two looked like twins - same paint color even. And yet, when you peer through the back window, it’s immediately obvious how much less cargo space the SUV has. Even if you took the back seats out, there’s all this plastic trim that devours what should be cargo space. You’d never fit a sheet of plywood back there. And I don’t see why. Airbags & cupholders I guess?

I haven’t been able to even look at new vehicle prices in a while, but back when I bought the truck, it was literally half the price of the SUV. That’s an awful lot to pay for 2 rear seats and less cargo space. And yet, SUVs are everywhere here in America. Go fig.

I guess what I’m saying is that if you want more cargo space for less money - yes, the extra step of buying a tonneau cover or camper shell is totally worth it. Or was, anyway.

For me, what has sort of worked it pointing out that both sides of the news are getting basic facts wrong - things where there shouldn’t even be a debate. If the news was true, you could watch any channel - it would all be the same. Instead, we get things like one side claiming murders are up and the other claiming murders are down. Our current journalism is a failure of a system designed to drive engagement/viewership/clicks rather than convey knowledge.

I also find it helps to remind them that we’re Americans first, party second. The other side isn’t stupid, they’re just getting a completely different set of ‘news’.

FWIW, I straight up did not like Enderal. And yet, I would still recommend you try it. If you didn’t particularly enjoy Skyrim because it was too open, and instead prefer a more story driven game, Enderal could be your next favorite game.

Mildly related - I vividly remember back in the 90s on my drivers test in Florida, it was illegal to have a screen facing the driver. Period. Now, what they were aiming at was making sure the driver wasn’t watching a portable TV while driving. But the center console screen in modern cars would 100% qualify. Heck, mounting your GPS or cell phone to the dash so that it’s hands free would still be illegal by that law. So I have to assume something in Florida’s driving laws changed. Always been curious what, but I moved away shortly after then, never bothered to follow up.

As others have said, search YouTube for brake pad changes on your make/model of car. If that still leaves you with questions, you can also find a self help book specific to your car (Chilton or Haynes).

Good news, based on how you’re describing your own technical level, I think you’re going to find this is pretty easy actually. Only concern is if you live where they salt the roads, then some of these things will be rusted together. So, good to watch the video again & see how it’s supposed to come apart.

Once the calipers are off, you need to support them somehow so they don’t hang on the brake lines. I usually just slide a cinder block underneath them, but others like using bungie cords / zip ties & tying them to spring/strut. (Depending on the car, you may not even need to fully remove the caliper - many of them pivot upwards).

Probably worth mentioning, the pads themselves are cheap, but you should also resurface or replace the rotors. One of the important steps to making sure they last is having a clean & smooth surface when they’re new, so that they will mate together smoothly. There’s a lot of neat stuff going on with the transfer of pad material to the rotor itself, I can’t pretend to cover it all, but “bedding” the pad material to the rotor properly ensures long life. And the short-short answer is that to accomplish that, you need new rotors or you need to have the rotors machined smooth when you replace the pads. I find it’s usually more cost effective to just buy cheap rotors from Rock Auto online.

Lastly, you may want to watch a video on brake bleeding (getting the air out of the brake lines). In theory you might not need to even open the brake lines, but often you need to do so in order to get the caliper pistons to retract far enough for the new brake pads. (I like to bleed the brakes on every pad change just to have fresh fluid in there). I mention this because brake bleeding is usually a 2 person job. There are special tools to work around that, but you need to know in advance if you’re going to need them.

Mildly interesting, as I just did nearly the same, going from a GTX970 to a Radeon 8570. Did not have the same “it just works” experience however. But I blame that more on my lack of Linux knowledge than the video card.

As others have noted, you have a single “the car is good” note, and the rest is all about entertainment & comfort. That’s cool, but it tells me you’re not very handy. I see lots of folks recommending tools, but I think you’d be better served by a AAA membership or similar. If your car does break down, what’s your plan? Also, don’t 100% count on having cell coverage.

Second note - I drive home to check on my elderly parents every month. It’s a 6 hours drive that I used to do in a straight shot. Now I take a break every 2 hours & get out & walk around a bit. Yes, the drive now takes an extra hour, but it is so fucking worth it. I strongly encourage planned breaks.

Start by planning for an emergency. Smoke detectors & a fire extinguisher. Tools to turn off the water main (find that valve before you need it). Get your neighbors’ phone numbers. Get the after-hour/emergency contact numbers for all your utility providers - make sure you can contact the power company when there’s no power.

After that, it’s largely up to you. If you’re handy, you probably already have most of the tools you need. If you’re not, start asking around for good repairmen. Look around for any signs of neglect that the home inspector might have missed. My gutters were clogged full of leaves for example, wasn’t obvious until it rained hard.

If you have a yard, decide now if you’re going to maintain it yourself or if you’re going to hire a service. If you decide to do it yourself, it’s fall right now, those tools are about to be on clearance.

Make a journal for your house where you record everything you’ve done. I like to write down the date I replace anything, and also note the make & model numbers. So, for example I know that my last hot water heater lasted 10 years, because I have that in my notes. If you are handy, having the model numbers is super-useful. For example, I’ve learned to keep a replacement ignitor for my furnace - it’s a 15 minute job once you know to do it.

Oddly, the wake-up call that made me realize I needed to step back from cars was at a racetrack. I was standing on pit lane with our race about to start, and was looking up & down pit road. There must have been 1000 gallons of gas all stored in 5 gallon jugs (100+ teams, each with 20-30 gallons, so probably closer to 2500 gallons in hindsight). And it made me realize we were all going to burn it all just for fun.

I do not regret my time racing at all, in fact I still encourage new folks to get out there & actually do it (check out ChampCar & 24 hours of Lemons!). I learned so much, had way too much fun, and made some simply irreplaceable memories. But I also feel it’s an irresponsible use of a limited resource. Still haven’t found a way to balance that equation in my head. For now, I’ve hung up the helmet.

I’d probably just buy the next size up at the closer store if I wanted that much. I usually buy the smallest size & end up throwing about 1/4 of it away.

Still, when I go for ice cream(*), I’m going because it’s a treat. Getting one overstuffed like the one on the right would certainly trigger more dopamine.

So, I guess it’s a coin flip depending whether or not it’s a nice day for a drive.