I would like to second this. Researchers are standing by and ready to learn.

It isn’t common in the US, but I was lucky enough to grow up with it as a staple in my dad’s garden. Funny thing, our family referred to it by its Polish name, so I didn’t know the English word for it until I was a teenager.

More and more of that cheap tacky plastic crap littering front lawns.

The inflatable decorations are my pet-hate. If you don’t keep them running 24/7, they look like a bunch of garbage strewn across the lawn.

She needs to be defrosted from her summer stasis in time to sing about Christmas.

Though in all seriousness, it’s sad to think that enough people saw that AI slop of an update summary and thought, “Yep, that sounds better than anything I could’ve come up with. Let’s run with it.”

Reach out and spend wads of money on someone.

I’ve got a season pass to Six Flags, and part of the deal is getting free “bring a friend” tickets.

Unless the guy’s treating his taxi driver to meals in the park, this outing could possibly have been free.

There needs to be something about so-called “junk DNA” added to this.

This one little paragraph just explained my mom, myself, and the reason the relationship between us is so contentious.

She grows ever more closed-minded every year, while I attempt to learn a new skill every year. We never saw exactly eye-to-eye, but we’re now at a point where we might as well live in different universes. :(

Funny thing, I learned to roll my Rs by pretending to purr like a cat.

Oh man, the clothes thing. I have to consciously make it a point to remember what my nephews wear when I’m in charge of them. I’m terrified of losing sight of them and when asked, “What were they wearing?” I’d have no idea what to say.

This is really funny considering there’s a Bob’s Burgers episode about exactly that. The wife, Linda can roll her Rs but can’t whistle, while the husband, Bob can whistle but can’t roll his Rs. It’s a whole plot.

I can roller blade (in-line wheels), but roller skate? Impossible. Last time I tried was a disaster, I just can’t get the hang of them.

As one of those neurodivergent kids, my mom explicitly laid all the blame on me whenever she felt embarrassed in public. I was removed from activities countless times without any clear understanding of why - all I knew was I wasn’t allowed to do fun things. There was no accommodation for sensory issues, no space provided for me to self-regulate, no understanding that I was having a difficult time and needed support - just labels thrown at me for “being difficult”, as if by merely existing, I was a problem.

Every child deserves to participate in enriching activities regardless of their neurotype. By removing neurodiverse kids (and not returning after they calm down) or outright keeping them away from such events, they may internalize the idea that who they are is not acceptable. Parents, there are resources available today that didn’t exist in the 90s. There is no reason to raise your neurodiverse kid the way we used to be raised. If you don’t know what to do with your kid and you haven’t already done so, get help. Please.

It’s a shame how saying “Ask your doctor before taking health advice you find online” is considered controversial now.

Oh great, more health advice from unqualified randos online.

Not everyone’s bodies have the same needs and people should be cautious about blindly following whatever advice someone confidently suggests. If you want to shower less, please talk to a doctor/dermatologist first.

My sensitive skin has a maybe 36 hour limit without washing before it gets distractingly itchy. There’s no way this advice could work for everyone.

Just be careful out there, people.

Is it because the French term for shower is “douche”?

Some people on the right are already calling for revenge killing.

I think a lot of us have known this is what it would come to. In 2016 in Trump’s first presidential run, even before the election took place, the writing was already on the wall - this will not end peacefully.

The cult was fully developed by then. They were already fueled by anger and revenge. Then Covid threw in a curveball, but I guess things are back on track now. The fascist tools were always going to call for violence against “the left” (I’d even argue that they’d been calling for violence all along, just less overtly.) There’s nothing we could have done to stop that - fascists gonna fasc.

I don’t know about you, but to me it just feels like the other shoe is finally dropping. It merely took 9 years to get here.

I trust you, because if anybody knows a thing or two about people who like to sniff assholes, it’d be someone named Fartographer.

Indeed, I was never a “typical teen.” I always felt older than I was, and I’ve never fit in well with those my age. I came to most of my current religious and political philosophies in middle school, after I realized the beliefs I was raised in didn’t make sense and I plunged into self-discovery and research.

One of my mottos since that time is “question everything” (which lines up with the decision to pick this username.) Over the years, I’ve met people at various stages of that journey, including some who may never even begin it. I’ve learned, I’ve grown, and yet I’ve found that a lot of the conclusions I came to on topics long ago have only strengthened with more information. I saw fascism in my school admin, and 20+ year later, I know for sure that it was all part of the same big picture we see today. I saw corruption, I saw manipulation, I saw reasons not to trust anyone who expected blind authority. I was told I was “overreacting” by people who couldn’t see what I saw, and it’s hard to reconcile the normally-positive “having been right” with the negative of, well, gestures around.

I am not the same person I was as a teen, even if those core beliefs remain. For example, I’ve come to embrace polyamory, to understand and accept those with drug abuse issues, and have learned a lot about social situations (I may have been quick on figuring out a lot of things, but my social skills perpetually lag behind. Yay autism.)

The key thing that helped across the board was when I decided to refrain from taking sides on any major issues until after I’ve researched it thoroughly. Too many people react impulsively to new ideas, often against them, only to later on embrace them. I saw it in many of the adults that were around me, adults who heard a biased headline and drew wild assumptions based on it. But when the thing ended up actually being beneficial, they never acknowledged their past stance - they just quietly ignored it and acted like being pro-whatever is how they’d been all along. I told myself I never wanted to become such a hypocrite, and the best way I’ve found to avoid it is to take in information and consider all sides of it prior to forming and expressing an opinion on it.

I know that’s not “normal,” though I do wish it was. But yeah, I can understand how “having the same beliefs as teenage-me did” is more likely to be a sign of stagnation. However, self-reflection is practically a daily task in my life. If some of my beliefs haven’t changed since my teenage years, it’s because they’re still solid today.

Indeed. I didn’t intend to deny that. The phrase just got me thinking, and I realized that “normal health” is hard to even imagine. It would require so many things to be different. The chronic stress alone must be destroying us.

I’m from the US. I live in a country with health care too expensive to stay on top of. Where it’s normal to skip routine check-ups because they would cost too much (if you can even get a day off work in the first place.) Our jobs either do not offer vacation time, or limit any time off to something like 2 weeks or less per year. Most areas are unwalkable, while in others, any adult who rides a bike is assumed to have had a DUI (that is, people assume they lost their driving privileges. Why else no car?) Nothing about my environment is healthy.

Ergo,

I have no idea what “normal health” means.