Looking into those incidents further most of those appear to be cases where the alcohol was adulterated with methanol rather than as a result of distillation.

Man, a lot of people here just repeating the same old myths and police lines about moonshine making you blind and stills exploding. Not to be that guy but do some research.

Methanol poisoning is hugely overstated, sugar and grain mash don’t produce enough for it to be dangerous. Fruit mash can, but it’s easy to mitigate. Most cases of methanol poisoning are either the person purposefully drinking methanol or from alcohol that’s been adulterated with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

Stills can start fires, if improperly operated, but so can gas hobs and we’re not calling for a license to operate those. You really need to be making industrial quantities at pressure for it to explode. Looking at it as a cause of fires in countries where it’s legal indicate that it’s a non-issue. If you’re worried about forest fires, don’t make it so people need to hide in the woods and they’ll do it at home.

That’s actually a myth, grain and sugar mash produce very little methanol, way below the harmful amount. Fruit mash can produce harmful amounts, but can be easily mitigated. Most cases of methanol poisoning are from people purposefully consuming it or from alcohol that has been adulterated with methanol - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

Thats actually a myth, it’s basically nothing in sugar and grain based mashes and can be mitigated easily with fruit mashes. It’s one of those things that’s been perpetuated through scaremongering, almost all cases have been purposeful methanol consumption or adulteration - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

As I understand it the risk of methanol poisoning from home distillation is hugely overstated in grain and sugar based mash and can be effectively mitigated in fruit based mash with fairly simply.

Gas Jorgens

Most things look pretty bad and gross when you zoom in on them close enough.

Actually c64 replacement parts are pretty affordably available these days and easily maintainable due to the comparable simplicity Vs modern computing hardware. One of the advantages of the age of hobbiest computing - the designs used widely available ICs that you can just buy and assemble on your kitchen table with a soldering iron.

Masque of the Red death is a Edgar Allen Poe story not De Sade. If De Sade had written it the protagonist would have tried to fuck death.

Sadly the only way to know for sure is to test brain tissue, including in people, so there’s no way to be certain without killing the potentially infected animal/person.

There are a bunch of tests they can do for people that can potentially identify rabies (lumbar puncture, CT and MRI scans, skin biopsy, antibody test) but apparently it can still be easily missed even with all of these tests so they aren’t enough for an accurate diagnoses.

Unfortunately quarantine and observation isn’t effective as a testing strategy for animals, the disease can progress at different rates and it’s possible for infected animals to show no symptoms. As rabies can’t be treated after symptoms start showing, they can’t take the time to do this.

“Waiting For Godot” is a play by Samuel Beckett where two men wait for another named Godot who never arrives. It’s famously odd and open to interpretation and was generally pretty ahead of its time.

I used to play dnd with an astronaught

I’m similar, except I collect rpg books and I’m 30. I haven’t sat down read a paper book properly in years, I just don’t have the attention span (thanks undiagnosed ADD). But I keep collecting because it brings me joy to do so and I enjoy the thrill of the chase going through second hand bookshops looking for deals.

These sort of hobbies are also great for bringing together like minded people, like you and your friend, so there are additional social benefits to them too if you’re looking for that. This is something Ive come to really come to appreciate more as I’ve aged and fallen out of contact with school friends and it gets harder to meet new people outside of your social circle.

Sorry for the ramble but I guess my main point is to ask yourself whether it brings you joy to continue collecting or not and if it doesn’t maybe to hold off for a few months and check back in with yourself then as you may feel different.