Hacker News: chrisco255

New comment by chrisco255 in "Casio F-B100W-1A"

chrisco255 — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:54:01 +0000

And yet they remain so popular, curious how an egregious claim completely contrasts with reality.

New comment by chrisco255 in "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"

chrisco255 — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 07:22:00 +0000

FPGAs are improving exponentially so it is only a matter of time.

New comment by chrisco255 in "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"

chrisco255 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:46:18 +0000

There are already perfect FPGA emulators of N64 out, why not GameCube.

New comment by chrisco255 in "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"

chrisco255 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:44:15 +0000

You'll be dead before disc rot takes effect on almost any disc kept out of direct sunlight and in a climate controlled environment.

New comment by chrisco255 in "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"

chrisco255 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:42:22 +0000

Games don't need to be 1TB, it's just that companies no longer invest in trying to make games smaller.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 22:00:49 +0000

Most towns in U.S. have historical downtowns with a main street, court house, library, police station, etc and a collection of retail stores, it just likely isn't on the main highway, you have to look it up but they're definitely very common in at least the bigger cities of the county they are situated in.

Some are rundown, but theres thousands that are well kept. They just aren't the main shopping hubs they used to be, mostly boutique stores, coffee shops, barber shops, etc.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:09:07 +0000

Cidercade on Riverside in Austin is one of the spots I was thinking of. They have a pretty good selection of old arcades.

There is also Pixel Palace in Round Rock that has no cover but most games are 25 cents.

Austin Toy Museum has a bunch of arcades ($17 entrance fee). Austin Pinball Collective for mostly pinball.

Pinballz is good too but expensive and does the Dave and Busters model, however, most of their classic arcades are cheap to play.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:44:32 +0000

USPS is run as a federally owned business. It was traditionally self sustained by postage fees not by taxes, but it is nice that it was from our country's earliest days, a key piece of infrastructure.

Nowadays mailing any letter is pretty rare as most people communicate via text, email, etc but it is still absolutely possible to do so.

And yes the red flag is to indicate a letter needs to be picked up for delivery.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:40:40 +0000

There are arcades in Austin that charge a cover and just allow free play (typically subsidized by beverage sales). But some have the Dave and Busters model. The games are definitely more expensive than they were. In 80s and early 90s a $2 or $3 stack of quarters would grant a fair amount of entertainment.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:36:48 +0000

Probably set her back $75 for not returning it.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:34:34 +0000

Occasionally it would happen. It definitely wouldn't happen every time you went in. But I do remember going in with my brother and sister and parents and haggling over what 2 movies we were going to rent for that weekend. That in and of itself was a lesson in negotiation and was part of the fun of the whole thing.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:31:58 +0000

In my small town Blockbuster was amazing. We had one or two video stores with tiny libraries and were poorly run before that. When Blockbuster opened we were ecstatic and mindblown by the selection. Blockbuster would often carry 30 or 40 copies of new releases and you could actually have a good shot at finding Jurassic Park or Batman or whatever the week it came out on VHS (this was early 90s). The mom and pops near me never did that and they were often disorganized and unclean.

Blockbuster may have not been the best for finding old niche classics but if your goal was to find anything mainstream released in the 80s or 90s it was great.

Many clerks were passionate about the movies even at Blockbuster, as it was one of the best places to get access to movies at a time when it was a lot of work and effort to even get ahold of a few hundred titles back then.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:23:18 +0000

It wasn't a universal truth some employees in stores didn't really care and were just there for a paycheck but sometimes you found good ones that were passionate and friendly.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:16:33 +0000

Nah, Americans were going to Vaudeville theater shows before movies ever came around. The classic theater experience was the norm. Drive ins became popular in the mid 20th century (they probably weren't even possible until transistor radio era).

Movies were good for awkward teen dates when it's probably a supplemental activity to hanging out between class or after school, but as an adult I think they are not great for first dates because you don't get the time to talk or interact. Still fine as a date night for a regular relationship.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:09:06 +0000

It's a funny movie, it definitely captures the leisurely time spent shooting the shit with various store clerks. Although I never played hockey on the roof.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 01:01:09 +0000

I made $6 an hour working at a video game store in the early 00s and most of our employees would chat it up with other gamers all the time. We had lots of regulars.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:58:17 +0000

Nobody typically took a date to Walmart and Walmart employees were rarely the most knowledgeable about any of the million things they sell. Still, I have some nostalgia for the Walmarts of the 90s. I remember being mesmerized by Super Mario 64 demo in the electronics section for months before I finally got an N64 for Christmas. I remember playing arcades while my mom shopped. I remember reading magazines there I couldn't buy. I remember staring at the fish tanks, playing with the loose hula hoops, checking out the latest super soaker designs, having a meal at the cafe (later replaced with a McDonalds) with my grandpa, etc.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:50:21 +0000

They weren't necessarily a place to meet people but they were definitely a nice place to visit after a date out or for a family to discuss and pick their entertainment for the weekend. Occasionally a passionate movie fan would encourage you to try a movie when they noticed you were glancing at the cover. Some of the staff members were actually knowledgeable and would discuss suggestions or favorites in detail.

I worked at a GameStop-like store for my first job. We had regulars come in to trade games all the time and they would chat it up with us (the clerks) for long periods of time about various games. It had a similar function. Across from us was the music store and their employees were generally quite passionate about music and loved to discuss it. Rarely did it create an enduring friendship but that kind of social interaction has declined for sure.

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:34:11 +0000

Small town malls have suffered the most but a lot of large cities still have vibrant malls to shop at and hang out at if you happen to be a teen. Dave and Busters and other similar arcade/mixed entertainment centers are also way more common now plus random things like climbing gyms, trampoline places, etc.

From what I can tell skating rinks and bowling alleys are still reasonably popular especially when you factor for entertainment centers that have mini bowling alleys (much more common now).

New comment by chrisco255 in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

chrisco255 — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:28:41 +0000

Even in 1982 you could mail a letter from your house, order shoes from a catalog, and order delivery food to your house. Admittedly, your choices were basically pizza, subs or Chinese for that type of delivery, but still, DoorDash mostly competes with cooking at home not with going out to restaurants (in fact, it has become more common to dine out than it was in 1982).

I do lament the decline of brick-and-mortar retail somewhat, but I think it is holding on stronger than what I would have assumed in some cases.