One of the last third spaces. I wish I enjoyed books more. My wife goes all the time
this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Parks, too - which is why it's OK that Republicans are trying to turn libraries into parks.
/s just in case.
and the only place where they dont ask for exorbitant amounts of money in exchange for self improvement.
go to a park and see a NO LOITERING sign
Then WTF is it FOR??
Punishing people arbitrarily, same as most laws.
Counter example: last week I saw a sign indicating one shouldn't ride their horse on the interstate. This one is likely enforced.
Yeah that's for the wrong sorts of people. Don't worry, it's only selectively enforced, and the cops know you're one of the good ones. /s
Relevant Sarah Andersen:
Nintendo: "That'll be $80."
Sorry we have a copyright on blankets
"We're not raising the price on Switch 2, just the accessories."
Two hundred and forty five percent, vastly above the amount it was when Nintendo made their announcement.
Wait until retailers get their hands on it.
That's not quite true. You can opt for adds instead.
Usually you pay and still get ads. Even if you pay for an ad free tier they show ads for their own stuff.
Well, yeah. But you don't get ads in your dreams. No sirry!
Or just a place to escape abusive households, or avoid peer pressure, or just be alone for a while. And God forbid, learn something.
I was just discussing with a friend yesterday that lots of moments in the Spider-Man 2 videogame that are presented as being "New York" things, like people playing chess in a park, paint a pretty bleak picture of the rest of the US.
At least looking from this side of the Atlantic it seems that most Americans spend all of their time between home, work, consumption places, or in a car between those places. So they basically switch between being prisoners in a form of house arrest and being customers, leaving no space to be actual free people.
A very large number of Americans spend a lot of time watching sporting events. These are ostensibly free (sort of, given that people usually pay for cable or streaming anyway) except that lots of people watch because they're gambling. Gambling is of course also a fee and a monstrous one at that, but it at least has the advantage of not really feeling like a fee.
What are your third places that don't require money?
(Don't say parks. Yes, we have parks. Everywhere I've ever lived, red or blue, has an abundance of parks. Yes within walking distance.)
Sidewalks. If I have leisure time out of the house I’m probably walking my dog. It’s amazing how talkative my teens get when you’re out walking for an extended period!
My Spring goal is the dog gets at least one walk longer than 2 miles every day, longer than 3 miles on weekends.
Ironically it’s the park that’s expensive. Part of the tradition is to grab takeout to eat on a bench on the town common, and we’re lucky to have restaurants from many different culinary traditions. Our favorite since Pandemic is a Pakistani kebab place but our second is a Turkish kebab place for contrast
it seems that most Americans spend all of their time between home, work, consumption places, or in a car between those places.
Accurate. Depending on where you live, there may be more third places available, but they're often something you really have to make an effort to find.
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That's why conservatives hate it
Well that and a few of the books are supportive
Give it a minute.
It's happening. The funding for libraries across the US is getting clawed back, and I suspect many (the majority) will eventually close permanently.
Here in the EU, the vibe in libraries is decidedly "get your books and GTFO". The old timey welcoming vibe and friendly librarians are a thing of the past.
Here in the EU
I wish people would stop painting their experience as the default for 500M people in 30-ish countries across an entire continent.
For my part I'd prefer if y'all stopped doing the same to the US, but neither of us is going to get what we want so just move on.
That's a bit too generalising. The libraries where I live do a lot to make libraries also a place for reading and socialising
Wish I could say the same. In the last few years almost all small libraries in my region closed. I used to have one in my own village. Now I have to visit the nearest town. Lack of budget... just like what will kill the US libraries.
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That's why they kick out homeless people every hour on the hour
I used to renovate houses for an organization in Atlanta similar to Habitat for Humanity. We would buy derelict houses and renovate them to provide housing for homeless people. Unfortunately these houses always had people squatting in them already, so the first stage of any project was us going in with various threatening hand tools and rousting out the current occupants. We appreciated the irony of this but I doubt they did.
Here in Vancouver, Washington, the city shuts down nearly all public park restrooms and water fountains for 6 months each winter. Ostensibly it is for avoiding freezing water pipes, but I'm fairly sure it's to increase land values of old single family housing that tend to be where parks are located by giving police an excuse to kick out homeless.
I saw a librarian kick out a homeless guy for sleeping in the library because "we have a rule that you can't be unconscious in the library. It's for your own safety."
WTF? What kind of danger are you in when you're sleeping? What made this even stupider is he didn't need to cite some bullshit rule to kick the guy out, because he was snoring! He could've just said "Your snoring is too loud, and you have to be quiet in the library."
The bigger question we as a society need to be asking is why does anyone needs to sleep in the library in the first place?
From my experience, politicians talk a lot about fixing that problem in order to get elected but actually do very little about it once they get in office.
Only if you make sure to bring your books back on time.
Many many libraries did away with fees during covid. They stuck with it because they are more likely to get the book back.
Los Angeles got rid of late fees
Only if you don't pay taxes. Nothing is free.
Yes, if you torture the definition of "free" enough, then nothing is free.
There's no need to torture the definition. You are paying taxes, thus the services you're getting are not free.
Typically it is the city taxes that pay for libraries, sometimes state. therefore just purchases goods in a different city and live where the state doesn't charge income tax and you avoid paying for the library, happy?
Wut? It doesn't matter what you do - you still pay taxes (unless you're Bezos). Thus everything is paid by you in advance. Also, which shithole has different taxes between cities?
city's have different sales tax in America, I wouldn't be surprised if one or two states force them to have the same, but most states allow cities to do whatever they want with sales tax.
Lol, that's insanity. No wonder you chose Trump to lead you, lol.
don't worry, it can get more complicated, there are cities with different summer and winter taxes, different sales tax rates on different items, and sales tax limits per purchase.
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