cobysev

I wore MILES gear in 2006 for combat readiness training in the US military. It was a lot of fun; like adult laser tag, except they paid me to spend a week in the woods, defending a base, fighting OpFor (opposing forces), and using a compass and map to find geocaches hidden in the woods.

I was born in 1984. I’m surprised to see that MILES gear hadn’t changed much in those 22 years.

For our final test in the combat readiness course, we had to spend 3 days in the woods, without sleep, defending our base. It was supposed to simulate the exhaustion you might feel in an actual combat environment, surrounded by enemies and not getting to sleep normal hours.

The first day was business as usual. Fighting OpFor and keeping our base flag from being taken. The second day, OpFor left us alone entirely, because the hallucinations took over. We were all so sleep-deprived, we started seeing things in the woods. Most of our firefights were just people insisting they saw enemies approaching from the woods. One guy swore he saw a deer low-crawling with a rifle toward us.

By day 3, we were all a delusional mess. OpFor returned and started kidnapping people right out of their foxholes. Which we welcomed, because being marched back to their camp with our rifles held over our heads like POWs helped to wake us up. They’d force us to complete some strenuous physical exercises, then release us back to camp.

I sleep for 15 hours straight after we all graduated and went home.

I eventually found my soulmate later in life, who is also an introverted nerd. She also pursued me for my looks initially, but stayed because we were intellectual twins.

If there’s any advice I can give for relationships, it’s to look for someone you can be best friends with. If you’re in a relationship just for looks, understand that looks fade.

I’m in my 40s now and gaining weight due to disabilities that prevent me from exercising. Plus I’m starting to bald and growing thick hair literally everywhere else. I’m no longer the “ruggedly handsome young man” I used to be as a teenager. My wife still loves me and cherishes time with me, because we’re best friends, not shallow lovers.

Can confirm, I was awkward and embarrassing as a 19-yr old. I’m sorry to all my ex-girlfriends back then.

Granted, most of them dated me because I had a “bad boy” look and they were disappointed when they found out I was actually a quiet, introverted nerd. I was almost always the dumpee in my relationships.

A lot of open-world games give an “endless world” vibe, even if the game itself has a finite plot.

For example, games like Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, the entire Just Cause franchise, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Tom Clancy’s The Division 1 and 2, etc. are all games that let you continue to explore the game and do whatever you want, even after the main plot has been completed.

My friends and I like to fool around in the Ghost Recon and Division games, even though we beat them ages ago. It’s fun to just explore and cause mayhem and destruction, fighting infinite waves of baddies. And there’s not much grinding required because we leveled while playing through the main story. As long as the world is immersive and you can find stuff to do, you could practically play forever.

Actually, a great example of this would be Enshrouded. It’s an open-world crafting/base-building game, but it’s set in a medieval fantasy world, so there are quests to accomplish, lore to discover, and gear/weapons to acquire, build, and level. And when you’re bored of that, you can just settle down and build your own fantasy city. And it’s all single-player, unless you want to invite friends into your game. Or you can make your session public and let strangers check out your game. You can lock down their access so they can’t destroy anything you’ve built or take any of your resources. Then you guys can quest together or build epic castles or villages or Hobbit homes together.

A similar game that just released is Windrose. It’s the same base-building/questing concept as Enshrouded except instead of medieval fantasy, it’s theme is pirates in the Caribbean in the 1700s. You get to build and sail ships in this game, and even duel against other ships!

Good thing I don’t care about others’ reviews. If they start blocking access to movie information though, I might have to quit using their site.

You’re in luck! The linked video in the article is from a YouTube channel, where they did a “9 months later” video, discussing how the house held up over time. With their initial repairs and fixes, it seems to have done pretty well.

She attributes the competitiveness of Chinese prefab housing to three key factors: cost, quality and efficiency.

“China’s well-established supply chains allow us to offer competitive pricing without compromising on quality,” she said

The YouTube video at the end of the article shows several issues they had with the pre-fab home, which they had to fix themselves after install. Not exactly a quality product. However, for only $25K, I’d expect to do some DIY touch-ups myself.

Heck yeah! It was pretty much the only way I could play RuneScape.

Other people were the one thing I hated about MMOs. I just want to enjoy a massive fantasy world with no definitive end to it. But people kept being… well… people. Every time I had to deal with others, the immersion was broken. Most people were there to play the game, not appreciate it.

Even on RPG servers, it was hard to find anyone who wanted to explore the world and enjoy the setting. Everyone wanted shortcuts to fly through quests, dungeons, raids, etc. as quickly as they could. They just wanted to level up fast and min/max their stats, weapons, and armor build. People would genuinely get mad at me if I didn’t play a certain way, or understand how a boss fight works, even though it’s my first time in that dungeon. I’d need to do online research before entering a raid or dungeon with a party, and that just ruins the enjoyment of discovering a new challenge.

Even “newbie-friendly” guilds, which claimed to be more immersive and helpful for exploring and leveling, would either require regular engagement with scheduled guild activities to stay a member, or they would be dead, with almost no one online to play with at any given time.

And that’s just allies. If you’re playing a game with PvP, then you had to worry about being ganked out in the open. I could be out soloing a quest and suddenly a player just attacks out of the blue. Now it’s a game of survival and I’m already at a disadvantage. It’s either fight a losing battle or hope to run and hide.

Screw people. I prefer playing solo in MMOs. Just leave me alone to enjoy the game at my own pace.

I used to get irritation and infections often while using shaving cream. One day I ran out of shaving cream and just shaved with hot water alone. I shaved like that for about a week before I finally got to the store to buy more shaving cream.

I quickly realized that shaving cream is kind of pointless. I got a better shave with just hot water, and if I was gentle enough and used cold water to rinse afterwards, I never got irritation. Shaving cream was like a 25% chance I’d have mild irritation that day. So why am I spending all this money on shaving cream?!

And no, I didn’t have an allergy to shaving cream. It was minor skin irritation in certain spots, not swelling and itchiness everywhere the shaving cream touched me.

I exclusively shave with just hot water now. I haven’t bought shaving cream in over 2 decades and my face is still smooth and blemish-free.

I agree on the good razor, though. I’ve tried a variety from cheap ones, expensive ones, old-fashioned ones, straight-razors, and electric razors. In the 30 years I’ve been shaving, the best razor I’ve ever had was the Gillette Mach 3. I’ve been using it almost exclusively for ages now.

I’m actually worried what will happen if they ever stop making them. I have a box stockpiled with their razor heads just so I have a supply to last me a year or so. Although I’m retired now and shave less often, so it might last me about 5 years now.

It really depends on your facial hair. Some people have fine, light hair that’s baby smooth with a quick shave with the grain; others need to practically sandpaper their face against the grain to get rid of stubble. I fall into that second category.

From personal experience, there’s nothing wrong with shaving against the grain… IF you are careful, gentle, use a very sharp blade and really hot water, and rinse with cold water when you’re done. As cold as your tap water will go.

Shaving doesn’t just cut hair; you are also picking up microscopic skin follicles as well. Usually not enough to tear or cut your skin, but the risk of doing so goes up when you’re shaving against the grain. If your blade isn’t sharp enough, it might pull on hairs a bit instead of cleanly cutting through them, and then you’re at risk of cutting into your skin too, instead of smoothly gliding over it.

Of course, your mileage may vary, so if you have curly facial hair, you might be at risk of ingrown hairs by shaving too close. There are skin treatments to help prevent that, but I’ve never used anything like that, so I can’t speak to it.

The hot water helps to soften your hair and make it easier to cut. Cold water closes your pores and helps to keep infections out. If you’re shaving against the grain, you’re likely to have more micro tears and cuts in your skin, where bacteria can nestle in and form zits or other skin infections. So wash your face with cold water afterward!

I personally shave with the grain on my face and against the grain on my neck. It’s almost impossible to shave with the grain on my neck because it grows upwards in the center and then arches outward like a rainbow on both sides on my neck. Any way I shave will be against the grain at some point on my neck, so I just do a good job shaving until I can’t feel any stubble anymore. The only time I get redness or irritation is if I did a rush job or didn’t rinse well enough with cold water.

I hated that jalapeno cheese in MREs. I always traded mine for a packet of peanut butter. Or for the lemon pound cake.

I still don’t drink, and I’m in my 40s.

Hey, I didn’t want to speak for other cultures. I don’t know how many other countries also use this style of tally marks. But I know America does.

American tally marks vs. Japanese tally marks.

I mean, his game is called “American McGee’s Alice.” Saying “American McGee’s Alice creator, American McGee” is a bit wordy and repetitive.

I turn 42 next month, but my body is beat up from 2 decades of military service. I’m definitely experiencing some “catastrophic functionality” myself.

For those who didn’t read the books, Frodo was 33 when Bilbo vanished and left him his prized ring. Then Gandalf took 17 years to go research the ring before he discovered it’s likely the One Ring. When he returned, Frodo was 50. But being a Hobbit, he still looks small and youthful.

Can you imagine starting the Fellowship journey on foot at 50 years old?! Especially after a chill, quiet life where the most exercise you’ve done is tilling your garden. I’m in my early 40s and the idea of walking more than a mile makes my legs and back ache.

Coffee is acidic. If you’re brushing right after coffee, you may be damaging the enamel of your teeth (acid + scrubbing is not a good combination). And it can’t grow back; once you’ve lost it, it’s gone forever.