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Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, where he introduced the idea that too much rapid change could leave people feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and disconnected. He called it "future shock" — and honestly, reading it today feels almost eerie with how accurate he was.

Toffler believed we were moving from an industrial society to a "super-industrial" one, where everything would change faster than people could handle. The book was a huge hit at the time, selling over six million copies, but what's crazy is how much of what he talked about feels even more true in 2025. Some examples:

• Disposable culture: He predicted throwaway products, and now we have single-use plastics, fast fashion, and gadgets that feel obsolete within a year.

• Tech burnout: Toffler said technology would become outdated faster and faster. Today, if you don’t upgrade your phone or update your software, you feel left behind.

• Rent instead of own: Services like Airbnb and Uber fit his prediction that we’d move away from owning things and toward renting everything.

• Job instability: He nailed the rise of the gig economy, freelancing, and how fast-changing industries make it hard to stay trained up and secure.

• Transient relationships: He warned about shallow, fleeting social connections — something social media, dating apps, and global mobility have absolutely amplified.

• Information overload: This term literally came from Future Shock, and if you've ever felt exhausted just from scrolling through your feeds or reading the news, you know exactly what he meant.

Toffler also talked about the "death of permanence" — not just products, but relationships, jobs, even identities becoming temporary and interchangeable. He warned it would cause "shattering stress and disorientation." Looking around at the rising rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout today, it’s hard not to see what he meant.

I think about this book a lot when I read about some of the sick things happening today. Is this a warped perspective?

For those of you that haven't seen, 4chan was hacked:

https://boingboing.net/2025/04/17/4chan-hacked-obliterated-and-unlikely-to-be-back-soon.html

A deadly blow? Will a copycat spring up? Where are the users going in the meantime? Does any of this really matter?

I was watching some YouTube, trying to find some forgotten gems from retro systems. I ran into one about the Jaguar and decided to watch it.

Well, the fellow said a lot of the games were great, and I was kind of curious about that because I don't think it's controversial to say there's only a handful of decent games on the Jag, but this fellow was rating everything highly.

Later on I sat down to think about it and I realized something... after every game the fellow would say "Oh, and you can get it for about $XX.XX."

At that point the light-bulb went off and I realized this fellow is probably deriving enjoyment from collecting the Jaguar games, not playing them. To him, if he buys a game, plays it for a few minutes to make sure it works, it's probably a winner for him.

For me, who is getting Jaguar games from uhhhh a friend, I don't care about collecting them, I just want some fun stuff to play.

Anyway, I learned my lesson: I'll believe non-collectors' opinions more than collectors because they are mostly concerned with gameplay instead of how it looks on the shelf, or how rare and difficult it was to acquire.

P.S. I don't know how "hot" of a take this is, but I figure it'll probably hurt the feelings of collectors, so that's why I prefixed it.

I noticed docker compose is now telling me I can set COMPOSE_BAKE=true for "better performance".

Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it worth it? I get suspicious when a program tells me "just use this, it has better performance", but it's not the default.

I've been revisiting some classic games lately, and while I love the Sega Genesis library, I can't help but find its sound chip a bit grating. There's something about the harsh, metallic tones and often scratchy quality that makes it hard to enjoy games at full volume. I know it has its fans, but compared to systems like the SNES or even some older consoles, it just seems unnecessarily rough.

Am I alone in this? Does anyone else struggle with the Genesis' audio, or is this part of its charm for you?

I’ve been wondering about something that probably resonates with many of us who still use our phones for calls and not just texting or apps. What percentage of phone calls are actually legitimate?

Even with my carrier's "junk call" blocking, I find myself receiving 4 to 5 calls daily with no caller ID. It’s become second nature now to reject these unknown callers. But if I do answer, it often turns into a choice between being pitched a Medicare scam, a car insurance scam, a social security scam, or even a utility scam.

It makes me curious -- how much of our call traffic is just a relentless barrage of marketing ploys and fraudulent schemes? The few times I still get a phone call, they either have caller ID and it's someone I know, or it's just a phone number and there's a 99% chance it's junk.

Today, let's take a nostalgic trip down memory lane with a little "What if...?" scenario. Remember the Sega 32X? It was this ambitious add-on for the Sega Genesis that aimed to catapult the beloved console into next-gen territory. While it didn't quite hit its mark, it left us wondering: what other classic consoles could have benefited from a similar leap forward?

Let's imagine—what if the N64 had gotten an "N128" upgrade? Could it have kept up with the PS1 and Saturn in that fierce console war era? Or maybe there’s another platform itching for a second wind, like the SNES or even the beloved Game Boy!

What other consoles do you think should've received their own "next-gen" add-ons?

In nearly every Mega Man game, Dr. Wily is captured at the end—usually after unleashing an army of killer robots and nearly destroying the world. And yet, by the next game, he’s back at it like nothing happened.

So what's the in-universe deal? Is the 20XX justice system just that incompetent or corrupt? Is there some official lore reason he's constantly released or escapes? Or are we just supposed to suspend disbelief for the sake of Saturday-morning logic?

Curious what theories or canon explanations people have!