XeroxCool

Paywalling the API was the final straw for me. I saw they reduced the price to something "reasonable" for the top few 3rd party apps, but too little, too late. Leading up to that, I understood the ads, I was satisfied with using old.reddit, and I thought we were making progress with fighting management. Killing all the small time apps and turning Apollo et al into an income stream (or, really, stifling competition to their ad-infested 1st patty app) showed there was no way back to the reddit I knew

I don't know about Russian thefts, but US Theives will absolutely go for a Porsche. Not every theft is shipped overseas. Fast, flashy cars are stolen to thrash for a couple days and then wreck them. So, sure, by raw numbers, I'm sure honda and Toyota top the list. That doesn't mean Porsche is off the list - the stat is higher per capita. I mean, Kias are top of the list in the US Midwest and they are NOT being shipped. Even those are just stolen for joyride. The 3rd category is stripping them for parts. No hotwiring/fob spoofing, no complicated theft. Winch it up on a flatbed faster than the owner can respond.

Ask any Porsche owner if they're afraid of theft. I promise, every one of them will say yes

No, but she's not in Bill's go-to age range. Guess that wasn't the clear intent

someBody

I didn't read the book and didn't know what that name meant, so I'm amused to find out that's a characters name and not just an out of place reference to some Slutty Barf Fest party in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe universe

Owners welcomed theft deterrent like that. OnStar is probably the main original US service, found in GM cars. I think Subaru picked them up at some point, but basically all new cars have the option to have manufacturer tracking and app-based vehicle connections for remote start, tracking, service alerts, diagnostic uploads, etc

I assumed it's not a option, so I took the suggestion to mean "physically disable" the device. Modern cars have a number of integrated computers and they rarely serve individual purposes, but there's a good chance there's an external antenna near/in a window. Granted, I don't have any vehicles with cell service, so I could be wrong. I do own a drill though

The singer of Smash Mouth seemed to really hate that people only cared about All Star. His latest shows were) had some drunk rants. He's dead now

I call it Drunk Nirvana. I do not like it

Thank them for fulfilling a need... And let them go. Their job is done. The task, complete.

I guess they could also jump on the opportunity to pitch a pyramid scheme, too.

There's nothing to lose by trying as long as you accept that the worst case scenario is they're still not part of your life.

Maintaining relationships is hard. They're likely minimally social these days as well. Somewhere around your age is where many people suddenly feel lonely. It's a tough lesson on the concept of "friends of proximity". That's usually a negative term, but, quite frankly, I believe all friends are friends of proximity. If you change proximity (new job, differetlnt school, drop a hobby, move, etc), you have to work harder to stay in each other's orbits. Shortened tangent: this is something I'm at peace with now. Instead of putting asterisks next to everyone that's a work friend or hobby friend, they're just friends. I don't know when that friendship will end, so I focus on enjoying the current relationship.

The point I'm coming to is that, while I understand this is a unique situation for you, it's a common general feeling. That will make it tough to rejoin social circles that likely don't exist anymore. But, if you do manage to meet up, have at it. Enjoy it. Perhaps there are other people in your orbit that can be reevaluated as a friend. Maybe you can find something to do with them, even if it's just a very basic hangout after work or something. I find many people are hesitant because they also think of these friendships as temporary, but hopefully you can get a feel for options and feedback. I know your post was about old friends, but I'm hoping they're not your only option.

And please, please, do not take social media posts as their daily diary. It's so hard to accept, but every day they're not posting, they're just as bored and alone as everyone else scrolling. Social media is the high lights reel. So much of it is projection.