…the theory that Earths surface is the post-apocalyptic “stone-age” setting of The Flintstones…

I am going to have to do some research on this. So, did the rich go all Jurassic park with their infinity money to distract the masses, then when the flood waters rose, they forgot to keep the power to the containment on? Wasn’t there an episode where the Jetsons meet the Flinstones?

And I try not to be all “I’m not ADHD and I do this” on this com, but it’s true.

Common core math calls that “friendly numbers”.

I think the bois, much like “spider crickets”, get a lot of flack because their legs are TOO DAMN LONG! They’re cool dudes, but something about those weirdly long legs…

Why do you care if you have enough money to be happy? Why look at someone else and decide you deserve more than them?

What is excelling to you? They get paid more, okay, but where do we draw the line? How much compensation is too much? And who gets to determine which jobs qualify for high compensation? Some of the worst, hardest jobs I’ve ever worked were unskilled labor, my body ached after, and the pay was awful. I now have a job that requires a BA, and I don’t go home aching every day, and they pay is much better, but only because I had the money and time to devote to getting an education. I guarantee most of the people I worked with in those unskilled labor jobs do not, and they will work until their bodies break with not a retirement savings in sight.

Let me ask you this: if you had a PhD and all the money you need to live happily, would you be angry if someone who doesn’t have a PhD was making the same amount as you?

Except, as we’ve found in this thread, Germany is cool with shooting down drones over your property but the US is not.

Then are you really anti-capitalists? We’re talking basic human rights, and yes that does mean money and time to have hobbies. Are you just saying that they shouldn’t be paid the same? I think that’s the difference between an anti-capitalist and a socialist.

Presence of some supreme creator may not be proven or disproven, but I think most of the anti-evolution stuff and similar things in most mainstream religions would face more questions when scientific temper improves.

And religions can evolve with this (or die from declining membership), as long as the leaders don’t stick to the “These actually scientifically proven facts are lies sent by the Devil” line.

I’ve seen a lot of great comments in here about climate change, the oil industry, and the mass extinction we have happening right now.

But they (probably) didn’t do permanent damage to this or the painting, just enough to cause outrage.

I’m glad to hear that, and glad you had someone to push you through as well! Thanks for sharing!

When I first started my career, I was in a new town and looking for friends. I met this guy, and we started hanging out. It was cool, we had a lot in common and spent many days playing video games together and hanging out at the local stores. He told me his anxiety was so bad that he dropped out of high school, didn’t have any other friends, was still living with his parents, and couldn’t really hold down a job. We had some deep conversations about these things, trying to work through the whys and things he could do to get over them. One day, he told me that he really appreciated our friendship, and that it helped him get over some of his anxiety and basically feel worthy as a person. He eventually started hanging out with other people too, and even got a girlfriend. Eventually, he went on to get his GED (turns out it was easy, he just didn’t have the confidence to try), is going to community college, moved out of his parents, and has a job he enjoys in his field of study already. I moved away, and we don’t talk as much as we used to, but last I heard he was doing great. I don’t feel like I did much, just hanging out with a friend, but I’m glad I was a part of getting his life moving in the right direction.

Parasaurolopus because of Land Before Time.

Cowards!

Those Tolkien’s sure knew how to come of age!

When I was in 8th grade, I ended up separated from most of my elementary friends. I had one friend that I knew, and she had the same problem the previous year, and introduced me to some of her new friends. One was this boy who had a deformed arm. He opened my eyes to a whole new world of interests, musical tastes, style, anime, books (including one of my favorite authors to this day), and just generally made me look at life differently. We talked on the phone every night, to the point where my parents got me a second phone line because I was on the phone so much. He introduced me to his friends, one of which became my first boyfriend. And he was one of the first people I’d met that was as smart as me and I could have real conversations about the world with. He pretty much changed my outlook on life, and I would say the trajectory too. And he was my best friend.

The next part gets sad, though. I met him the first day of 8th grade. Summer break, about to go into high school. I went on a vacation with my family. My mom gets a call a day before we go back, she is visibly distressed but says it’s nothing. When I get home, three of my friends and my grandma are waiting for us. My grandma breaks the news, my best friend died. He had a heart defect, his heart gave out. I knew him for a year, and I still think about him all the time. It’s surreal sometimes. I have like two photos of him. I don’t talk to anyone who knew him anymore. It was so long ago and I know I’ve forgotten so much about him, it’s hard to think about sometimes, but none of that takes away the changes he made in my life. Also, he brought me to Christianity, but I could never forgive god for taking him away.

I get what you’re saying, but I’m trying to parse what is actual “things that can / will happen under a Trump presidency” vs “what the democrats and liberal media want us to think can / will happen under a Trump presidency”. I’m likely voting Biden simply because I saw what a shitshow the Supreme Court became (and will be for quite some time) under a Trump presidency. But I also notice Biden did fuck all about it so part of me wonders if the democrats are doing nothing for the simple fact that they have a fearmongering device setting the up for the next election. I mean, honestly the state of politics in the US is just pathetic.

but Trump will end democracy!

I was out in the garden when a dude waked by. One of us waved, I don’t remember which, and the other waved back, sort of neighborly one hand up for a second wave. By the time he crosses the bush, he has turned back to cross my (luckily fairly large) yard, walking towards me. I run inside, and lock the door and yell at my SO to come downstairs there was a scary man at the door. SO confronts the man while I hide. Dude makes up a story about how someone yelled at him from our balcony, and he thought it was his friend. SO says he doesn’t believe him, and he better not show his face around here again if he wants to make it home alive.