Scientist here, a lot of my job is writing texts with references to other literature of the field, or reviewing such texts (or PowerPoints). Main screen has the document open, the other is actually in portrait format and has gazillions of open pdfs on it that are relevant to whatever I’m working on. I had to get this setup for working from home because productivity dropped immensely with only one screen.

I’ve seen those in the US not too long ago, too.

I am thoroughly confused, isn’t “Dudette” a term that’s used for female Dudes? Or “her Dudeness” if you aren’t into that whole brevity thing.

To be really inclusive, I would also use the term for female dogs, like, “Hey, dogs and…”. Yeah, no,.sorry, I’ll show myself out.

You can buy alcohol at Disney?! With everything being so prude about drinking in public in the US, this completely amazes me.

“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.”

Homeowners insurance: “Since you don’t have some certificate or whatever, your proper solution is something we won’t cover. If you want it covered, get someone with a certificate to do a hackjob.”

At least in Germany, you’re not allowed to touch anything “important” like water, electric, plumbing, or gas. Even if you would do a much better job, quicker, and cheaper, than any contractor who’d be allowed to do that work. Every single contractor I hired remodeling our house did something which was clearly not up to code (DIN or EN), and almost every time they put up a fight explaining it away, even when I read them the exact wording of the norm. “Well, if I’d do it that way, I would never finish work!” “This would be too much work, nobody does it that way” “I am always doing it this way and never had any complaints”

Discussion was always over when I asked whether I should get an inspector to settle it. They begrudgingly fixed the issue, and without fail tried to bill me for it (additionally).

I am so done with contractors, those are the original gatekeepers.

Put a smile to my face to see so many cats (and dogs) involved.

When I get up and do my morning business on the toilet, the cat comes and rolls around on the bath mat in front of my ear scratches and cuddles included. Turning on the bidet (yes, hidden flex) is the audible clue that business is concluded, he gets up, wait patiently in the door frame while I start brushing my teeth. I then walk downstairs (while brushing my teeth), cat as added tripping hazard on every step. He again waits patiently while I start the coffee maker, and only when I open the door of the cat food and treats cabinet, he starts being agitated until I put food in the bowl and put it down for him. And then there’s always this glance back, blinking before he digs in, and this very moment is my treasure for the day.

That switch flipped a few years ago. Unfortunately it only did so after my mother passed away, but I suddenly realised that I don’t need my dad’s approval in my life. And that he’s a toxic narcissist which I don’t have to like or have in my life. Understanding that, I could unravel a lot of crap from my childhood, which helps understanding some things that are wrong with me today. I guess the switch that flips when you understand that your parents don’t necessarily need to be good for you is a really important one.

The one we got was really expensive, but it was the only brand available in Germany that actually has those things in the market for 10+ years (so it’s a well tested product). It’s one of the premium brands for bathroom “furniture” anyway, and the bidet ones are their top of the line bowls, so I guess in the end we’re not just paying premium for the bidet. Including installation and all the other parts, I think it was something like 3 or 3.5k EUR. I don’t really have any comparison (the cheaper brand would be around 1k less), but the thing is well thought through, has tons of options, easy to clean, easy maintenance, and has some really long warranty. I still feel I splurged on it, but in the grand scheme of things when remodeling a house (roughly 150k in total), I did not really register. Don’t know if that helps in any way…

Remodeled the house including bathrooms, went for japanese style bidet (i.e. included in the toilet). Would not want to live without it.

• water temperature, as well as pressure, is adjustable. I have on with different presets, so every family member gets to have their own favorite setting
• not messy at all, has a very directed jet of water. Of course you can splash around sitting weirdly on the toilet, but that needs to be very deliberate. Mine has a function that when nobody sits on the toilet, the jet won’t start.
• there’s options with blow dryers, but even if not, just one dab to dry off instead of wiping and wiping and wiping.
• according to my plumber, it was one more water hose and an electric plug to connect. The device itself of course is much more expensive than a stander toilet. Just using TP now feels so terrible unhygienic. Imagine getting shit on your hand, and you have paper towels, or running water (and paper towels) to clean up. What would you choose? Maybe not really a “problem” solves, but a very, very nice luxury.

Brother it is! I have a laser combo scanner printer MFC thingy, I guess from around 2010 or so, still works like a charm as a network device. I buy a third party toner every three years and that’s it.