Now I'm REALLY glad I didn't buy Vans smart shoes

I haven't. I've only really used Citra for Pokemon 3DS games. When it didn't run well on my phone I just resolved to play on PC.

I'll have to check that out. Happy with what I've been using but always glad to support open source!

I mean yeah, that's my point. We're squirrels. Why the fuck would any intelligent species with the technology to reach us bother making contact with us? You tried to talk to squirrels? Spoiler alert. They're kind of dumb compared to us. As are we compared to "them". If that were to happen, which is statistically insanely unlikely, we're lucky if they just give us a fly-by laugh.

"Look at these idiots stuck on their planet, barely able to send duct tape projects to their one moon."

You ever sprayed an ant hill in your yard? I fully expect any species with the kind of tech to reach us sees us the same way we see ants. And to your point, we would probably treat them the same way were we to be the instigators. But we're nowhere near that today.

I got mine for just under $1800 US early this year, with just online deals available at the time, no waiting for better pricing (honestly PSU prices were INSANE at the time and that made a difference). I wouldn't change a single part today. It does everything I need (including video editing/rendering)

Short answer: good plan. Check PCPartPicker. Your build is definitely overkill for most people, and you can easily get away with consistent 4k gaming for much cheaper.

I second John Dies At The End. You may find it under the pen name "David Wong". Amazing book and a really great movie adaptation, IMO as someone who watched the movie first.

Oh yes, all the intelligent sentient life forms that exist an incomprehensible number of light years away from us with the knowledge and technology to manage and survive that journey both TOTALLY care about us as a species enough to try meaningful contact, but are TERRIFIED of our...satellites and exploratory rovers that haven't left our Solar System.

I don't doubt that we'd be ridiculously hostile to an extraterrestrial emissary if that were a thing, but like.
..bro they would have to be so much more technologically advanced than us to even make that happen in the first place that we're basically little greedy squirrels in comparison.

The key point IMO is that it's generally accepted that life exists on other planets. The issue I have is any dissent to the thought that there is intelligent life on other planets. Statistically, it's more likely that there IS other intelligent life than that there ISN'T, even based solely off the fact that intelligent life is a known fact, and the universe as a whole is so much bigger than we can see/know/comprehend. We're basically nothing in the universal scale, I can't comprehend that we're solely unique in that aspect.

My generalistic perspective is that other sentient, intelligent life absolutely exists, or did exist, or will exist, but in my lifetime, and the lifetime of our species in the galaxy, we are not likely to make any comprehensible, meaningful contact that will give an undeniable and definitive answer.

Typically once every other day, depending. I spend most of my average work week inside at home, and my very thin hair responds much better when I only wash it every 2-3 days. If I'm going out or otherwise get dirty/smelly, it's cleaning time regardless.

Hi shitty sexist choice, it's me, "consequences"

I use the free tier of Proton VPN primarily for travel. Probably the only free VPN I trust, but there is a paid version for faster speeds and more features.