Hmm. Before the end of the 19th century you’re going to run into non-standardised/completely bespoke parts problems. How are you on a lathe, or doing blacksmith work? Hot riveting was a separate trade which you wouldn’t have to do, at least.

I’m kinda obsessed with what I call technological bootstrapping, and so I have useful book knowledge about every step along the way. Doing it in practice is another thing, though; the locals are going to run circles around me unless I can invent stuff. (And even that rule aside, not starving or being “disturbed” while I work on whatever project is a thing)

So, I think I have to echo the “it’s not going great in 2025” answer.

If it’s the part I’m guessing it is, it was an accidentally successful interview, too, haha.

Eh, depends what you mean by isolated. I’ve had weird incidents with otherwise fine people. And I’ve definitely ended up doing things that were hard to explain for whatever reason. I’m guessing the brother is generally problematic, though, because that was multiple consecutive decisions driven by thinly-masked cruelty.

I’m not sure what you mean. Try again in a week or two?

I did detect that this was about the whole “LLMs ruin everything” jerk. The thing is, they’re new, and misinfo has been around in other forms for a long time. It doesn’t negate the things you do now - like talking to me, despite the fact we’re probably in different countries - that would have been very hard in the 20th century, and impossible much before then. Relevant XKCD.

Okay, to be a bit glib, why don’t you ask someone in real life? After all, it’s all disinformation on here.

Sure, the information age comes with problems, but do consider what the world was like before. There were a lot of things people just didn’t know and couldn’t ever look up or ask about - unless they were motivated enough to dig through a library.

First few ideas: Talk about how I’m not really big on the whole “working hard” thing, immediately bring up and start ranting about weird political ideas, “I’m worth X, take it or leave it”

Lol, what is that from?

Wat?

Or maybe that was his plan, but he chickened out once it got too real? You’d expect it would still change things if he was at all homophobic, though. As it is, he acted like it didn’t happen until he thought he was being lied to and decided to pull it back out.

Yes, therapists actually seem to love it when you tell them about your feelings about therapy.

(But then again, I can’t help but notice that I was socially conditioned to expect shame, punishment, and destructive guidance if I ask for help.)

This.

They’re always gentle in my experience, even when they’re trying to get you to question something you’ve assumed. Maybe they will say you should give people more of a chance, once they get to know your situation. But, if you just say no, worst case scenario they won’t have any other ideas. And I can’t imagine they’d tell you to deliberately hang around a narcissist.

Alternately, a lot of the most useful things they told me are things I hadn’t even considered, so maybe you’ll be surprised.

My folks found me looking at “objectionable” porn too. They didn’t get weird about it. The old man just talked with me about sexuality and privacy and of course God as well.

See, religious disagreements aside that sounds like a completely healthy approach. I’m guessing that’s better than most parents manage, regardless of beliefs.

Yeah, you don’t need the supernatural to fill that particular niche. IIRC people have done questionable things in the name of anarchism as well.

Even in conservative households, that’s weird. If your dad had blown up right there about the sinful things happining in the room, I’d get it more. What he actually did was inexplicable. And the older brother thing is just awful.

Since it was two incidents total, I won’t go straight for hell, though. Like maybe it was but I’d need more information.

For anyone else wondering:

Brewster may not own any assets that are not already his at the end of the 30 days. He must get value for the services of anyone he hires, he may not willfully damage or destroy any intrinsically valuable items he buys, he may donate 5% to charity and lose 5% more by gambling, and he cannot give any of it away.

If I had a month maybe I could go on some crazy expedition, but in a day I’m just losing the rest of that money. I don’t even know if I could do 1000; anything I can think of that charges hundreds on the spot sounds like it would be worse than nothing. Either because I’d actively dislike it, or because it’s just super cringe.

(The book/play allowed more wiggle room)

Define spend. Other people are talking about converting it to stocks, but that feels like cheating, since if you’re already set up for that it’s like a bank account that goes up and down a bit.

I also thought of a used car, since I can definitely spend that much on it today, it’s probably worth about as much tomorrow, and it’s a physical thing that definitely counts as a purchase.

If it has to be things I can’t ever resell, I’d be at a loss. Maybe a bunch of radio kit on Amazon and a good meal.

No. OP got the premise a bit wrong, for one thing. And usually it was other poor people that did the sanctioned killing, anyway - it’s dirty unpleasant work that a king would have avoided in the Early Modern period.

Except “thou” in “thou shalt not kill” is the singular pronoun, while “you” would be the plural…

I have no idea what number was implied in the original Hebrew.

I’m certain there is no situation like that. It’s just a dead part of the language. Most native speakers don’t even know how to use it properly when imitating old-timey speech.

Quakers use “thee/thou” sometimes, but only because the movement has been around since just before the end of the shift to “you” for everything, and it’s fossilised in as a result. There’s a few weird British Isles dialects that preserve it too, but they’re not widespread.

Shut up and take my venture capital money! And maybe 2/3 of the whole market cap in stock options! /s