You mean Queen. Vanilla Ice simply stole “sampled” the riff.

Friendly reminder that “Employees of the Month” (and “Students of the Month” in schools) are rarely exceptional at their jobs. Rather, they are chosen by management as examples for what they want from their other employees (or students.) Suck-ups and people who quietly obey orders are frequently awarded such titles.

You could be the most supportive coworker, the most productive worker in your field, and have a genuine passion for the work you do - but if management sees (or even senses) any sort of disagreement with you, you’ll never find yourself on that poster.

Which is all for the best anyway, since in all the places I’ve worked, there’s rarely an actual prize. If there is, it’s usually a cheap gift certificate to some dying chain restaurant.

My family had a healthy idea of limits, closer to the “free range” philosophy, before such a term was required.

Our neighbors across the street, however, were the prototype for helicopter parents.

While my sibling and I gained confidence and navigational skills by biking around our confusing neighborhood before the days of GPS, the neighbor’s kids weren’t allowed to go down the street unsupervised. My siblings and I stood alone on the corner bus stop, but the neighbor’s mom sat in her car and only released her kids when the bus had arrived.

At the time, my parents made fun of theirs for holding such a tight leash. We also pitied the kids because they panicked about being “lost” when my siblings brought them on a walk around the block.

But now I see kids sitting in cars at bus stops as the norm. And of course, stories like the above article go to show that the helicopter style has won (for the time being.) The people who were raised to fear everything outside their front yard are now parents themselves.

Actual feminist and liberal guys should be understanding and supportive of women’s sexual/dating choices anyway. If they aren’t, then what kind of ally are they?

Elon Musk is a once in a generation business leader

That’s not a compliment, that’s a prerequisite to becoming everything Musk currently is. If “a generation” of people had been afforded even one percent of the privilege he’s received, Musk would’ve been outshined by more competent people long ago.

Goddamn, way to make me flashback.

There was a point in my life where I was facing homelessness, was constantly job searching but hearing nothing back, and had to count coins to make sure I could afford to eat each day. Not only that, but the closest family member, who had invited me to stay with them if things went tits up, had just died two days before in a sudden and tragic way.

And my then-bf dragged me to a bar, where he and all his friends told me to “just let it go” and “loosen up” as if the basement rock of my world hadn’t just eroded out from under me. I sure as shit couldn’t afford bar prices, and not a single one of the group offered to get me anything, leaving me stone sober while they all got shitfaced. I ended up crying alone in the bathroom for an hour, and when I came back out, “bf” was getting a fucking lap dance from his friend’s fiancee.

That wasn’t even the worst part of the night. It definitely got darker before the light returned.

I’m okay now, over a decade later, in an infinitely-better place with supportive friends and partners. But man, what a journey.

For wearing or for licking?

First make sure you’re not in one of the 30 states with Filial Responsibility laws. From that site: ”Filial responsibility laws impose a legal obligation on adult children to take care of their parents’ basic needs and medical care.”

Every state’s laws are different and some states have never enforced them, but it’s definitely something to be aware of. It also might be a good idea to start keeping records/documentation of fights in case you need to argue such a law some day.

Covid killed at least 1,104,000 people in the United States to date. In 2020, about 385,000 were killed with Covid as a contributing cause. I can’t find numbers about the total deaths that occurred before election day specifically, but for the sake of simplicity I’m going to use the year total. Just note that the actual number of deaths by that time was somewhat lower.

We can subtract the number that had already passed in 2020 from the total number of deaths to date. That gives us over 716,000 people who died of Covid between the 2020 election and today, and therefore could not have voted in 2024. Also note that the 65+ crowd is historically the most reliable voting demographic by age and Covid laid into that same age group the hardest.

We can be upset at people who didn’t turn out to vote this election, but we can’t dismiss the significant chunk of 2020 voters who simply weren’t alive by 2024.

You’re right that Dems need better messaging and to stop catering to the ultra rich. At the same time, we can’t discount the propaganda messaging that the article mentions. Not being in their echo chambers means not being exposed to the bulk of it, and that is great. At the same time, it means being disconnected from what a lot of people are basing their opinions on.

For a few years, up until the start of this year, I had a job that required interacting with families in people’s homes. If I had a choice, I would’ve preferred to avoid the right-wingers… but gotta do what you gotta do.

Some households were pure poison: hate-driven parents who constantly belched up Fox news topics. These parents normally communicated with their kids through complaining and screaming. But if a kid made some quip about “Biden sucks,” they got a brief moment where their parents would actually laugh. The reinforcing power of that toxic dynamic cannot be understated.

It’s no wonder that a lot of kids in those circumstances end up eager to repeat the same crap their parents say. In the time that I worked that job, a lot of the commentary was Biden-centric, making him a convenient punching bag that even the smallest fists could reach (even if they had no idea what they were doing/saying.)

Dems have a lot of improvements to make, but it would take a lot more than “improved messaging” to overcome the sheer power of this propaganda culture.

At some point they’ll start shutting down internet access to prevent recording of their actions

This is an interesting viewpoint. I think the internet is where the modern GOP has their strongest control over people. Yeah, there is traditional media, but the internet echo chambers are where a lot of their people go to express their beliefs. Shutting it all down would be severing a link that directly guides the populace’s minds. (Especially for the younger folks who don’t know a life without internet.)

Imagine no more Xitter propaganda, no more ignorant Facebook posts, no hate-inspiring memes propagating at the speed of light… Conspiracy theories and gossip would become localized again, and since the people inclined toward those things can’t independently determine reality, over time their viewpoints would inevitably diverge from each other.

I mean, a lot of things could happen, ranging from violent reactions, to increased empathy (from being forced to interact with diverse neighbors in-person.) But without a central command link, a brain to tell them what to believe, the tribal nature of their supporters would invariably cause fractures within their own base.

(At least, one can hope.)

Although that may be effective to some, that format is too dry and science-y to tap into the people who need to be reached.

We need the power of a human being’s impassioned words, presented in the context of a natural conversation, converted into a meme-able format. The simplest way would be to copy/paste the original comment and start sharing it on other platforms. If there is a way to make the message more succinct, without losing that crucial human touch that inspires people to relate to the message, that would be ideal.

And remember the bystanders, the people listening but not participating. Especially the teenagers and young adults. Some of them may be coming from an environment where everyone around them spouts propaganda. You may be the first true voice of reason that they have ever heard.

You never know when you will help someone not only recognize that there’s a net wrapped around them, but also that it’s possible to escape between the knots.

But even then, he will only help if they voted for him.

Dating someone of equal height: you can easily kiss on the lips without anyone awkwardly bending to reach

Dating someone shorter: every hug gets a bonus motor-boating

deleted by creator

It definitely has some lows in quality at points and the plot could’ve been stronger. But its highs were very solid.

Would you say that overall, it managed to achieve … Equilibrium?

Never heard of this movie (or if I did, I was too young to be interested in it.) However, your comment and those in response to it got me curious to look it up.

I got as far as to read that it’s directed by Danny DeVito, and two of its stars are Robin Williams and Jon Stewart.

That’s all I needed, I’m sold. Queuing it up to watch this weekend.

That’s how I felt about Paranormal Activity. It was like I spent the entire movie waiting for something scary to happen. A thing just… stood there. Every “night” on screen felt the same: a being… just standing there. Not standing there sharpening a knife. Not standing there ominously stroking people’s cheeks. Nothing attacked or even made threats to do so. It just. fucking. stood. there.

Then when something finally started to happen, the movie ended.

I don’t know if my standards for “scary” are too high, but I found the entire film (save for those last few seconds) to be extremely boring. How it’s so popular (and even spawned a sequel?!) is beyond me.

Tell you what. I just got a couple boxes of canvas. If they do “ban porn,” I’ll dedicate every one of these brand new canvasses to making erotic paintings out of spite.

And I mean, I’m not even a porn consumer. I just fucking hate fascists.

^{… *though I also* happen to enjoy creating suggestive imagery, as well as painting nude figures. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯}