The BBC and Reuters have both gone way, way downhill in recent years, but the concept is reasonably valid. AP and NPR are still good. Aljazeera is actually pretty decent for US news, though I’m not sure if that’s true for US news related to the middle east.

No, some whoppers end up with the inside not all whipped and crunchy, but a little chewy. They’re great.

I like the answer by some philosopher that we have a sense of object permanence. If your neighbor replaced different parts of his house over several years until they all were replaced, you’d likely say it was the same house because at every point in time, it was there. But if one day he knocked the whole things down and rebuilt it exactly the same as it had been, you’d say it was a different house because there was that moment when it wasn’t there.

Yep!

Are you taking about those weird chewy ones? Because those are my favorites.

So it doesn’t matter on Southwest?

Yeah, and this is a much more frequent thing than crashes. I’ve been on planes multiple times when there was sudden turbulence and people without seatbelts lifted out of their seats. I don’t think any of my personal experiences resulted in someone hitting their head, but that happens. There was just video of one earlier this year.

When I started on Lemmy after the Reddit exodus, I started by browsing by All, subscribing to communities that looked interesting, and blocking communities that I didn’t want to see. I figured I’d eventually move to browsing by Subscribed, but more than a year later and I still browse by All. Removing the communities I didn’t want to see, especially the overly prolific meme communities, and blocking the posting bots has made browsing New just fine.

So I guess I see duplicate communities assuming there are posts and I haven’t blocked them.

No one gives someone “a bunch” of gift cards - it seems like you’re racing to validate your dislike of them. And I’m going to feel weird if my sister invites me to get a massage with her, though I appreciated it when she gave me a prepaid one years ago.

Here’s another example. My brother barely makes ends meet, but he loves Starbucks. Of I give him $100 cash, is not going to move the needle for his cost of living, but it’s going to go to bills. Of I give him $100 on a Starbucks card, he’s going to treat himself a bunch of times to something he loves but can’t really afford.

The other thing about it is that cash usually gets interpreted as “I put no thought into what to get you,” while a gift card at least says you had something in mind.

I’m not at all bothered by “swear words,” and I’ll use them occasionally (mostly when I think it’s funny), but it’s somewhat rare. I just don’t find it very necessary most of the time. I can usually make my point just find without, but sometimes the emphasis seems right out, again, it seems funnier.

I block the really prolific meme ones, anything with content mostly posted by bots, and the gay male stuff. I also block the prolific bots themselves.

You’re asking hopefully normal(ish) people how a sick person works. I doubt most of us could relate, but think of all the fetishes people have that most of us find strange. I don’t get aroused by feet or poop or whatever, but people do. Also, they say rape isn’t about sex so much as it is about power and control.

My first wife and I were virgins on our wedding night. It was a very long process because my starting to go in hurt her, and I couldn’t stay aroused when she was in pain. I for sure don’t relate to rapists.

I had an assembly class in college. I didn’t love of at all. Got my first job after graduating and it was writing space shuttle engine control software, which was in assembly. I was kind of surprised at how fast it became natural after dealing with it full time. Still, it felt luxurious when we upgraded the controller and could do the software in C.

Yeah, true, there’s an increased risk, and I’m not as good about it as I should be.

Older guy here, went bald in my 20s. Let me say this: while going bald or becoming bald sucks ass, being bald is fine. I had lots of thick hair, and when it started going away and I didn’t look like me in the mirror anymore. I figured women would find me less attractive.

What I learned is that it takes a while for your self image to catch up to your reflection in the mirror. One of the shitty things for most people about going bald is that it happens over a long time, and when you’re used to one level of baldness, it gets worse. But eventually it levels out.

There are women who aren’t attracted to bald guys (and that’s fine, attraction is subjective), but it turns out there are women who are especially attracted to bald guys, and that the vast majority of women don’t care. Doing things like having a comb-over or wearing a toupee are often a turnoff, but I think it’s as much because of the associated lack of confidence than the look itself.

I can sincerely say that I wouldn’t want my hair back today. The look suits me and it’s easier to deal with.

Chocolate

When I was late teens and early twenties, I kept getting propositioned by gay guys. It started to bother me - I’ve never been in any way homophobic, but I’ve also never been attracted to men - and I started to worry that there was some vibe I gave off that made people think I was gay.

Then I mentioned it to a gay guy who I knew, and he said that the vibe I give off is of someone who isn’t judgemental and who wouldn’t react badly to being asked. Maybe there’s something similar or analogous to your situation.

Edit: propositioned, not preposition

What are you taking about, he didn’t bait anyone. You aren’t obligated to honor a quote from someone who isn’t in your company. If I said my son is a mechanic and he can put a new engine in your car for $50, you absolutely should not expect a $50 engine.

I’m slightly claustrophilic, so it wouldn’t bother me psychologically, but it seems like it would be annoying trying to reach around to wipe and stuff. Plus it looks narrower than my shoulders, but that could be the lens.

There are a lot of shades that people call purple