The 1990s really was a better world in a lot of ways. That McDonald’s video below got me thinking about it. And I don’t believe I feel that way just because I grew up then. No, my 1992 was not particularly great personally. I was getting beat up a lot and was roundly hated by nearly all of my peers and just about everyone else too.

Have you been in a McDonald’s lately, though? They obviously don’t want you in there. The seating is de minimis; the decor is brutalist grey; the front counter is abandoned and the entire environment is clinical. It’s designed to make you leave as hastily as possible and not want to come back. They want you to use their app and if you must, the drive through — they’d prefer you order delivery, however.

McDonald’s has become, like many parts of our civilization, an inhuman place, a territory optimized for the needs of technology and those serving it. If they could — and soon they probably will — they’d eliminate the dining area altogether.

I don’t like crowds, but even I preferred when McDonald’s had raucous birthday parties going on, people meeting up and having fun. And when it didn’t feel like a prison dining facility. What the fuck are we even doing with this shit?

The future, as I’ve said before, is terrible.

McDonald’s in the 1990s.

This video is from 1992. I’d guess June or July of 1992 if I had to.

How I know: the dude wearing the band The Cure’s t-shirt. They didn’t start using that logo until 1992 so it had to be that year or after. And the logo on the fry container is the one used in the movie Batman Returns, which was released in the summer of 1992.

So, 1992 with 99.995% confidence, June-July of that year with 95% confidence.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

Fun song and video. That Philips CRT monitor is from 1999 or around there and so is the computer. The lead singer was four years old when that stuff was new.

With enshittifcation, data thievin’, ransomware, all the scams and with AI, the future really sucks and I hate it here.

I have a really great life.

Tonight, an intelligent, beautiful and kind woman woke me up from a nap to tell me pizza was ready. Bet none of my bullies and tormentors from middle and early high school are getting that treatment. And I get it on the regular.

Yeah, the news is in: I rule.

As opposed to movies, a lot of combat looks like this. Especially if you have good close air support. Notice how much laughing and joking there is, even while they are actively being shot at. I’ve been told that “doesn’t happen” when of course it is the default state. Don’t believe movies. They are mostly BS.

God the A-10 is such a great plane. This person said it best I think: