Same here!

Replying as a reminder

This is a nice way to look at anger. Kind of similar to something my therapist said a long time ago. #3 specifically is a huge one.

I have several!

Disco Elysium: I played Disco Elysium at a dark time in my life and seeing the protagonist hit absolute rock bottom and begin to cope with his myriad problems throughout the story amidst how fucked his situation (and the world's) was resonated with me a lot. I could go on a lot longer about this game, but it definitely changed my perspective on life and the world.

Mr. Robot: What starts out as a story about a hacker and the ethics of technology ends up as a look at personal trauma and coping mechanisms. As someone in tech who's dealt with a lot of mental health issues throughout my life, I (and my sister) saw a lot of me reflected in Elliot as well.

A lot of similarities between those two pieces of media, lol

For most things in life I generally follow Adam Savage's advice: "Buy cheap tools until you know what you really need from that tool, then buy the best version you can afford."

However, when it comes to things that are related to safety or protect you from harm the more expensive/high quality they get, that advice goes out the window. Case in point, PC PSUs. You probably don't want your newly built PC to burst in flames because you skimped on it to buy a poorly rated PSU.

Same here! Most people were very supportive and we commiserated a lot about our majors. And the same was the case for the entire engineering department.

The only anecdote I know about which is similar to the hyper-competitiveness in the top comment is from a friend who was a CS major in a different university but with a heavy entrepreneurship/business slant.

Does abandonware count? If yes, then absolutely lol

My childhood was spent playing abandonware because our home pc wasn't strong enough for modern games at the time, so this is basically just reliving that while getting paid lol.

If abandonware doesn't count, there's still enough stuff that's ended up in the public domain to make it worth it (books and movies).

Same thing with Japan! Some people even live inside cafes. Internet cafes will still have a niche and function to fulfill, even if they aren't the same as what they were originally in the 90s.

To be fair, Raul is an actual Hispanic name. Rortugal has no excuse though lol

You and me both. Also means giving up certain comforts, but that's kind of the point. Maybe that's why the secular monastery doesn't exist- it'd be a huge sacrifice for those who would participate in it and still require some cooperation/consent/aid from others in the community/society (as much as self-sufficiency would be ideal). I'm thinking about how much people (and governments) already don't want to fund universities which give tangible benefits, and how much worse it'll be for secular monasteries.

But hey, I also want this, and it'd be interesting to see what insights would come from a place of thinking unconstrained by the trappings of modern society.

(Or it could basically just be libraries and being a librarian but more extreme lol)

To add a more recent film to those on the list, Silence (2016). It deals with Catholic missionaries in Japan during the years of the Shogunate. It asks questions about the moral dilemmas of faith and sacrifice, and is pretty dark, both in theme and cinematography (the colour palette of the movie is very very grey) which isn't something a lot of modern Christian films ask or do.

ShareX. The ability to screenshot or record a video of practically anything onscreen with any shape or form, assign hotkeys to certain tasks, and the ability to automate all of that and attach to other applications/processes for a smoother workflow? For free? Count me in.

I echo this sentiment so much. A lot of folk my age or older like to place the blame on the younger ones for issues beyond their control (like generations before them lol) but I do see the younger ones being a lot more outspoken about issues. I feel like its up to us older generations to ensure that they can actually achieve those dreams and make a change, rather than just blindly criticizing them.