I’m in the UK, and am paying £32 ($41) a month for 1Gbps symmetric fibre to the home.

Edit: worth adding my sibling is paying £36 a month for 1gbps down/100mbps up from the main network in the UK, Openreach (they run the old poles and other companies run services on their network). Thats probably the more common fibre package at the moment.

I’m on a newer independent network, and there are other companies building out independent telephone pole networks in the UK.

I used to be on Virgin cable and was paying £56 a month for 512mbps down, 100mbps up.

As long as they’re both of an age to consent legally, then yes, absolutely. Not sure what jurisdiction you’re in but 16 is age of consent in most places, and they’re going to do it if they want to do it. It’s far better to treat them like adults, let them be somewhere safe, and teach them that they should not feel shameful or fearful about that part of them. If the age of consent where you are is 18, or Tiffany is not legally of age, then the situation would be quite different and difficult but would have to be no.

That your son is able to be so honest and comfortable with you, and Tiffany with her parents (hopefully!) is a credit to you all. This is an opportunity to encourage him to practice safe sex and also that sex as part of a healthy relationship like this is healthy and valuable in itself (as opposed to sneaking around, and him not able or even bothered to provide a safe space for his girlfriend). It’s worth encouraging this attitude that to do this they should be somewhere safe, and comfortable, such as his room in your home. It will also ensure a much better experience for both of them should it be a first time (whether overall or just together).

I would just consider confirming that Tiffany’s parents are aware of this and comfortable with this; especially as at 17 are in a grey area socially between being legally adults in many areas but not others. EDIT: As someone else suggests, ask Tiffany to get her parents to call you - so that the ball is in her court.

I would also even consider being out until late so they can have some privacy. I would also set some ground rules such as no drinking or drugs in exchange for this, and no one else in the house while you’re out. I totally accept that may not instinctively sit well with you to be out but they’re both at the cusp of adulthood and total autonomy (literally months away if your son is 17) and already have autonomy in this decision (unless you’re in one of the few places where the age of consent is 18).

This sort of treatment, respect and trust is something your son will remember for the rest of his life.

Its something of a myth but not completely.

For women, if the hymen is still intact it can tear during the first time having penetrative sex and that can be painful plus accompanied by blood. However it is a myth that the hymen is intact in all virgins and that the first time is painful for all women.

For men, the first time penetrating someone can rarely be painful too if they have not retracted their foreskin much before or it is tight. Some men don’t realise they can retract their foreskin fully when masturbating for example, and may not be told by anyone (particularly is homes that may by uptight or even puritanical about sex education). So it does genuinely happen that people find out when they first have sex. For most men the foreskin will stretch a bit over time and tightness or pain will resolve but occasionally they need a circumcision.

Men with circumcisions may also experience pain the first time if theyve has a bad circumcision and the scar is restricting them or being pulled on during penetration. Again that usually settles but very rarely may need surgery.

Meanwhile for anal penetration, the first time is often painful largely due to inexperience. People are not used to relaxing the anus, or are nervous and tighten it. Also if they have a bad partner they may be too aggressive which can be very painful, or they may not use enough lube.

So yes the first time can be painful, but is a myth that it must be painful or is always painful. Pain can be avoided . Persistent pain every time sex is had may be due to poor technique but may also warrant a medical check up - for either gender/sex.

This started in the UK in the 90s with a research paper by Andrew Wakefield linking MMR (measle mumps rubella) vaccines to autism. It was trash research but it for published in the Lancet (a major international journal) before being retracted once other doctors pointed out the massive flaws in the research.

There was and is no evidence of causation - autism happens to be diagnosed usually after childhood vaccines are conpleted but thats because vaccines are mostly in young ages and it takes a while for autism to be diagnosable as its only obvious once children reach a certain age when the socialization aspects of the diseases become more obviously.

However despite it being trash research and eventually being withdrawn, the damage was done. Enough parents of children with autism wanted to believe that this disease was inflicted upon them and have someone to blame rather than accept it is largely genetic and bad luck. A perhaps understandable feeling but that gave an opening for conspiracy theorists to blame the government for a “cover up” even though all the counter evidence and push pack is evidence based and freely unavailable.

Andrew Wakefield eventually got struck off the UK medical register - he was found to have had undisclosed financial interests that would make him millions in selling bogus test kits. The real conspiracy was his but Hes managed to move to the US and make a career as a “victim” and “outsider” to the pharmacy industry.

This whole vaccine conspiracy has been taken up with the US right wing and religious groups. Its a perfect conspiracy for them as it plays into the ideas of the US federal “forcing” then to do things against their will. In this case vaccinating children (which depends on a majority of children getting vaccinated to protect the whole population - herd immunity) and is used as an example of “socialism” vs their preferred extreme individualism. They already rail against being told they cannot indoctrinate children by lying about science in schools (trying to suppress evolution teaching etc) or use the states infrastructure to discriminate against groups they disagree with such as gay or trans people, or be downright racist asis often seen throughout the bible belt.

So the vaccine conspiracy theory is basically one of many tools used by the right wing and religious allies to rail against supposed state interference in their lives. Instead most people who believe in this nonsense are either extremely ignorant and easily manipulated or deliberately using the nonsense to further their own goals. So some of these people are highly intelligent and don’t care whether this is true or false - only that it aligns with their world view and goals so they dont challenge it. Some will even know its all bullshit and go along with it to further their own goals.

The covid vaccines has supercharged this debate. The roll out of vaccines with massively reduced testing and safety steps to try and control the pandemic, and then the side effects seen has all helped fuel this conspiracy and grow it within the right wing echo chamber.

There is no evidence whatsoever that vaccination causes autism. However parents are refusing to have their children vaccinated with MMR and now you have outbreaks of diseases like Measles in the US. People will die, people will become infetile - all from a disease that is easily prevented by a vaccine.

Tl:dr: The vaccine conspiracy is a right wing aligned nonsense started in the 90s andnuper charged by covid, and is a sign of the extremely polarised and disinformation heavy nature of right wing US politics (and is seen in other western countries if you dig into it even if fringe stuff)

Yes: Five has four letters. Nine has four letters.

There are no more.

If you meant to ask if there are any more whole numbers with the same number of letters in the name as the number, then the answer is no. It is fairly simple to check - you only have to look at the numbers 0-30 before it becomes clear no other number will fit this pattern.

If you went into fractions like 20.12325 then there will be many numbers where all the letters added would get close but the fraction itself would mean you couldn’t quite reach the exact number as you can’t have fractions of letters.

If you included negative numbers then “minus eleven” has 11 letters. Minus thirteen has 13 letters. It seems to again break down once you go beyond 13, and its dodgy to include negative numbers as you can’t have negative letters.

So, no.

Yeah but if you had to search for it you’d have a trouble spelling it. Flowmarked would be how English speakers would hear that I think.

It probably needs an English brand name for outside the germano-sphere - fedimarket?

Kbin was forked to Mbin which is community run. Kbin seems to have stopped development while Mbin continues. Most kbin sites have moved over to Mbin I think.

Not sure what’s happened woth kbin.social though. Maybe its moving to Mbin? Still seems yo be running kbin currently judging by the landing page?

I’m guessing it’s automated stupidity. Meta has cut staff and we’re seeing the results.

Much of the big tech companies have done this over the past year or two, and also been pushing “AI” to replace roles like moderation. I think we’re seeing the results of over relying on AI and cutting staff to boost share prices.

Lets face it, Meta is dying; Facebook is declining, and Instagram seems to be in decline too, the pivot to VR failed and the pivot to AI will fail. It’s best chance seems to be trying to get its hands on TikTok in the US and even that is hardly going to drive the company forward.

I’d play videogames, depending how much use you have of the hand. If you can use a controller or a mouse without discomfort I’d game. You could complete a lengthy RPG like Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldurs Gate 3. Or you could learn and play Dwarf Fortress or try and get as far as possible in Stardew Valley or whatever games you like.

Id also go out and walk - explore your city, or go hiking if you have nature near by. Its free and it beats being cooped up in your house.

Or you could make a start on a new skill. Like coding with freecodecamp.org or start learning a language.

9 days is a luxury - I’d even enjoy just lazing about, catching up with friends and family. You dont have to do anything meaningful - you could have some me time.

Yeah I think this is a very important point.

I think people will need to learn to accept that there is no such thing as “free”. The current social media sells you to advertisers, taking every bit of data they can get.

So for independent and privacy focused social media, we’re going to have to accept we have to pay for it.

I’ve moved to paying for my email, my file storage, my VPN and my password manager - all for privacy and security. I pay for subscriptions for streaming to avoid advertising. So I would pay for social media.

In the early days of the internet, people accepted paying for things but then the “free” model came along. The fediverse will need to persuade people to pay for it. That may limit it from being the big everyone social medial, but it could be able to become the high quality version of social media that people pay for.

Thats still beaten badly. The election is entirely about winning electoral votes, and the dems failed that. They didn’t win votes in the right places and lost votes compared to the last election.

The entire presidential election campaign is always about winning electoral votes and that means winning votes in swing states.

So from what I’ve seen on Lemmy over the last year is that the quantity of posts and variety of topics feels like it’s going up. I certainly enjoy engaging on here.

Will it stagnate? I’m not sure. It might be that the monthly user levels stabilise but thats not the same as stagnate. If people are engaged and enjoying their time then it has value.

My feeling is that Lemmy will slowly grow over time. I don’t see it becoming a huge platform like Reddit anytime soon. Its feasible but it feels like for now it will remain niche.

But I also dont want to it suddenly become huge. I was on reddit for a long time and I saw it evolve from being something small and interesting to a behemoth and enshittification to make money. Small is sometimes better, and small or stable in no way means stagnation.

Yep you can read the follow up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/harrisonburg/comments/1hvdyv8/fake_kidpissed_wife_epilogue/

I suggest the infrastructure. A high rise apartment block will have much better plumbing and capacity as it is designed to handle every apartment having at least one bathroom and toilet. And realistic expectations would be many of those are in use at the same time as people get ready around the same time in the morning for work.

An office block has to fit minimum requirements so that is enough toilets per floor to meet regulations and unlikely many or any showers / baths. And not every bathroom is going to be in use at the same time - there will peak times of course but not every employee on the toilet at the same time.

When building an office block they’re not going to have anywhere near the same infrastructure as an apartment block. It’s one of the reasons it’s expensive to convert an office block to apartments.

I’d keep the headphones until they break and then replace. You can get a couple of USB-c adaptors and keep ithem with the headphones or in places you frequently charge. It’s still inconvenient but a bit more flexible than having one specific cable you have to fine and use all the time, and the adaptor can’t be confused for anything else so will make the whole charging process a little more straight forward (less fumbling with cables to check it’s the right one).

I wouldn’t buy new headphones just for that.

I have an Sony XM3 and I decided to get an XM5 as I wanted a headset permanently next to my PC and a set for travelling / commuting. Plus I wanted an upgrade because the reviews were so good. To be honest I still much prefer my XM3s, and wish I hadn’t bought the XM5s. They’re good but the build quality and design isn’t quite as good and the noise suppression isn’t that great really (I find sound from fans leak through a lot which is very annoying).

My point is, if you have headphones you like and are comfortable with I wouldn’t rush to give them up as newer isn’t necessarily better. Wait until you need to ad then get something good.

That might happen but is very unlikely. Jury selection is done by both sides so it’s very unlikely you’d get a jury united in deciding not to convict him.

However the Supreme Court ruled that jury verdicts have to be unanimous. It is very possible that the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict if 1 or more jurors refuse to convict. If this happens it would be a mistrial, and the case would be retired with a new jury. In theory this could keep happening until either a unanimous verdict is reached by a jury or a judge decides that this should not be retried as its been tried multiple times without outcome.

Another key element will be his defense which could lead to him getting a not guilty verdict. The only real defense as a mitigation would be insanity. Otherwise it seems unlikely (albeit possible) that it’s the wrong man.

The most likely scenario is a jury unanimously convicts him in my opinion. However people may feel about the case, a jury has to make a decision on whether the facts show he committed a crime - it seems pretty clear there is enough evidence to make a decision and it’s unlikely other factors will come in to play in a jury room.

Is it possible? Yes

Could it at least in part explain some behaviour? Yes.

But the missing question really is how much, and the answer is probably infitessimally small even if Real.

For lead exposure there are far easier and more common ways to get exposed such as lead pipes (which the US has a lot of).

But also you’d have to establish that the underlying problem is brain damage, and that is probably not true and instead reflects cultural bias.

There are many other reasons to explain American culture and behaviour which does not default to brain damage (or at least provable brain damage).

I would look at social and cultural issues first: an extremely weak political system, a poor quality general education system, high levels of religion, poor quality general health care, high levels of inequality including shocking levels of poverty.

The problem with the US is the extremes - if you have money you have the best the world can offer; if you don’t then the state provision is shockingly poor. But alot of the crazies are also rich, and that comes down to the culture and society.

Lead poisoning is the least likely explanation, and is almost wishful thinking to try and explain things as a disease rather than normal human nature.

Not sure what a studio is to you, but here in the UK it’s a 1 room apartment with everything in one room? Kitchen in the corner, couch and a bed. Bathroom. Usually a separate room though. Bedsit is the other name.

But what you describe is presumably a 1 bedroom apartment? Separate rooms for bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom?

Yeah, for US money the serial number is prefixed with a letter to donate the year it’s from and the note also has a series year for the actual design printed on it.

Money has evolved a lot since the 1980s so modern money would be obvious. And banks in the 80s would probably be pretty hot on money fraud as hard case was so central to the economy.

A better option would be to collect money printed prior to the year you wanted to time travel to. It’s unlikely they would be able to detect duplicates of real money already in circulation elsewhere in that time. But it might be hard to fine money that old in large volumes as so much gets taken out of circulation and replaced with new money every year.

A steam engine back to Ancient Rome, just to see what they might have achieved with that kind of idea.