Is there a good community to request advice on consumer goods? I'm in the market for a new vacuum cleaner. I'm also in the USA.

The old one is a 20-year-old Dyson and it's fine, just a tad loud and the plug gets warmer than I'd like. Good suckage.

I'm distrustful of online review sites because they all sound like paid vacuum cleaner salesfolk.

Anyone have a dashcam they really like?

• I don't care about screens
• I'd like something I could mount to my dash
• I'd like something that can record audio

I was trapped in my car recently and berated by a neighbor, so I mostly want something I can use to record that sort of behavior in the future. Otherwise, it's just he said/she said.

Thanks!

Edit: I ended up with a VIOFO VS1 Mini. I installed it last night and so far so good. The only annoyance was that my EZ-Pass(toll road transponder) was already mounted right where I wanted my camera, so that had to move. Also, I still need to pretty up my wiring. I'm feeling a bit more confident driving in the neighborhood. And I checked, can download video with the app no problem.

My social media environment (mostly Lemmy for the last year, after I left Reddit) is very leftist. I'm finding myself floating more and more left because y'all have a point and there's not many counter-arguments in this social media environment. I sometimes wonder if that's how MAGA folks feel--floating more and more right because that's what they're surrounded by.

Of course, my floating is (naturally /s) based on reason and leftists making good memes/arguments.

Anyways, that's this morning's introspection.

Side showerthought: my convictions are based on memes. Anyone have nice, accessible resources for giving those convictions a more solid base? I'd love something like a graphic history of leftist thought (similar to Queer: A Graphic History). Something approachable but with citations. Thanks :)

I have a one-shot LARP coming up in a few months and the character I was given dresses sort of punk/metal, with some flexibility. Character is supposed to be physically imposing.

Anyone have pointers on where to start? I have a kickass modern black kilt with purple tartan kickpleats, which I think I'll use as a foundation. What can I add on?

I'm thinking ear cuffs, a torn, vintage band t-shirt, and a denim jacket. Chunky black boots if I can find any that don't use natural rubber in their soles or adhesive :p .

Limitations: I don't have any piercings or tattoos, and I'm not getting them for this role. I'm allergic to latex, gold, and nickel. I don't want to spend too much on something I won't use again. Hair is currently shoulder length. I am a white non-binary millennial, but the character is of unset gender.

I'm also interested in store suggestions, especially for non-pierced ear and face jewelry. I'm drowned in options and I don't know which are honest about their materials. I'

My friend (let's call him Liam) doesn't want to hear about people being hurt or murdered. I'm trying to figure out why being told about this boundary hurts. I see my therapist on Monday, for my regularly scheduled session. So, this is me thinking out loud and trying to process my feelings. It's 2 am here on the East Coast, please pardon my insomniac rambling.

My friend now lives outside the US, but grew up here. We were college roommates.

• Maybe I'm jealous that he is comfortable enough that he doesn't have to work, can travel, and has socialized medicine. He hasn't fought with his health insurance to pay for needed procedures.
• Maybe I'm upset that his boundary means I can't share large swatches of my life with him. I can't talk with Liam about my health insurance issues because that's too close to violence for me to feel confident I'm not overstepping. I can't talk about my dad because my dad died through my mom's actions. I can't talk about politics because American politics t

I started it to keep my hands occupied during a class. I love the simple 2-color pattern. I picked the kit up from Stitched Modern.

I'd been using the Joey app to keep tabs on a few subreddits I'm fond of. It finally stopped working today.

So, I've never been to a pawn shop before. I'm curious what's there, but TV makes them seem shady and odd. What should I know before I visit? I'm sort of expecting a cross between an antique and a thrift store, that sort of vibe.

I'm in the USA and don't intend to pawn anything.

Woodblock print of a grumpy-faced man in a tunic shoving a lion in the face. The lion's head is turned towards the viewer and he has a goofy look on his face. His tail is held high. The man holds a club in his left hand. Surrounding the lion and man is a tree, an embankment, and foliage.

Found at: The British Museum

Image description: Japanese print with orange background. Print shows various circus performers, including people interacting with horses, an elephant on a barrel, a man standing on a tiger holding a second tiger's mouth open and a third tiger resting on his arm, clowns tumbling, acrobats, and horses on a teeter-totter.

Found at: Library of Congress

Image description: metal statue of a man wrestling with a lion.

Found at The Smithsonian.

I post a lot of pre-modern-era art from European artists. So, I thought I'd mix it up a bit with this work by Inuit artist Jessie Oonark.

Image description: Work is on paper. Forms are defined by bold swatches of color. The main figure is a side profile of the green head of a wolf, with brown eye and an open mouth filled with point black teeth. In the mouth of the wolf is a man. His purple-brown legs stick out of the wolf's mouth. His torso is visible through the wolf's mouth as a white man-shape. A smaller animal's head--maybe another wolf-- is defined by an orange outline. The orange animal has its nose touching the throat of the green wolf. Its teeth are also showing. Below the artwork is the title, caption, and signature of the artist.

Found at: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Image description: a white-haired man in a blue coat with stars on it and red/white striped pants (Uncle Sam) looks inside a horse's mouth while a man in a white coat looks on. The white coat man is labeled Aldritch. The horse is labeled "Central Bank". The horse's teeth are labeled "Wall Street Interests".

Found at: Library of Congress

Image Description: a man with a very large, dark moustache stands in a cage surrounded by 3 lions and 2 tigers. The man stares straight at the viewer. The man wears what looks like plate mail on his torso, with fancy gold shoulder thingies, red sleaves, a short red skirt, white tights, and fancy bejeweled boots. His hat is red with a blue feather. The big cats are all in fierce poses. A maned lion stands with his paws on the man's shoulder. The man holds open the other maned lion's mouth.

Found at: Library of Congress

Image description: etched political cartoon. A lion is on a wheeled pedestal labeled "British". A man in a suit and befeathered top hat twists the lion's tail. A bald man in a suit twists its head. The lion's mouth is open. Behind the men and lion is a storefront labeled "furs". A man watched open-mouthed through the window. Next to the cartoon is a colored registry thingy, for calibrating colors.

A detailed explanation of the cartoon is at HarpWeek (and TBH their image of the cartoon is clearer than the one I uploaded. I chose the LOC one because the permissions were clearer). In summary: In American politics, the Republican presidential nominee and the Greenback-Labor nominee were both critical of Great Britain (represented by the lion).

Found at: Library of Congress

Image description: woodblock carved into the form of the Biblical Samson holding open a lion's mouth. The carving is fine and the wood is dark with the ink used in printmaking.

This is the woodblock used to make prints similar to the one previously posted, https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/892435 .

Found at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/336211

Image description: 2-column handwritten text. Small doodle of Samson holding open a lion's mouth, in the upper right corner.

Found at: https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/roymanucoll/m/011roy000001b12u00080000.html

Image description: statue of Samson attempting to open the mouth of a lion whose mouth is firmly shut.

Found at: https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj20453994