I sunk hours into NetHack, and I still occasionally dive into the dungeons. I also have a NES emulator on my phone, but it’s just not the same. I’ll play Zelda or Metroid for the nostalgia, but it’s not the same as sitting on the couch with friends.

I’m glad you have data, because I was just thinking that cultural attitudes towards tattoos and nudity don’t seem to be related, but I can’t prove that.

Isn’t that like negative zero?

Sure are a contentious bunch.

Yeah, enjoy it now before the atheists destroy it with their atheism.

Are you saying those things don’t exist? I’m a white male, and I can acknowledge the privileges I have experienced without feeling responsibility for the injustice.

Why don’t we have toothbrush containers like the barber uses for combs? Like just a jar of listerine deep enough for your toothbrush, and a lid. And if it existed, would it be weird to put two toothbrushes in there together? Would the disinfecting effect cancel out the marinating cross contamination effect?

I mean, it’s also entirely possible you’ve heard a failing magnetic drive, a humming battery, or a squeeky mechanical thing like brakes or bearings. Those are all strong indicators of a significant problem with the car, and should be fixed immediately. But if you hear it every time, as soon as the car starts moving in a parking lot, that’s the safety feature.

Others have addressed your other questions, but I want to add that the “coil whine” that irritates you is probably the car’s slow-moving warning system. EVs are effectively silent at slow speeds because there is no engine noise or road noise, so they are required to make an annoying sound when maneuvering to get your attention. While it is an important safety feature, I agree some are very obnoxious.

Competition is good for the consumer. More options from more players will encourage more charging infrastructure and (ostensibly) more innovation. It’s not just Elon Musk vs China. Every automaker that wants to sell cars in the USA is on notice. If they want to compete in the EV subcategory, they need to focus on price and performance. People want budget-conscious EVs.

This is an easy case. Using published works to train AI without paying for the right to do so is piracy. The judge making this determination is an idiot.

I feel like I’m going to be responsible for Trump sending ICE to raid the Shady Pines community event planning committee that picks the color schemes for their weekly card games.

They deported hundreds of individuals, and there are still masked officers abducting people in the streets. This is one small victory in a great big war that we’re all losing.

We just watched this last night with the kids. First time for them, millionth for us, but it did not disappoint.

Bullshit. I am privileged in many ways. It isn’t an insult to acknowledge that I don’t and haven’t faced the same challenges as other people. I can recognize that society hasn’t been fair to others without ignoring the obstacles and challenges I’ve faced.

Are you saying we’re not privileged?

Edit: I’ve been thinking about your comment, and I wonder if you don’t understand what privilege is.

Imagine you’re at a restaurant. You sit, you’re eating your meal, and someone at the next table asks to borrow the salt. You have salt on your table, and for whatever reason, they don’t have salt on their table.

So you stand up and shout “No! It’s not my fault the restaurant doesn’t provide salt to every table! It’s not my responsibility to make sure everyone has access to salt! I don’t owe this table or any table any other table my salt that I am owed. The salt is on my table because I earned it. And besides, I have no pepper and my steak was overcooked and my chair is wobbly. Fuck you for even suggesting I share my salt.”

None of that bullshit is relevant. You have the salt and someone is asking you to share because you can. They aren’t blaming you for the lack of salt. They aren’t saying you’re responsible to make sure everyone has salt. They aren’t saying that, because you have salt, you don’t have other needs or problems, or that you aren’t entitled to use the salt while you have it. The privilege is that you have access to salt while others don’t. You don’t always need it, so it costs you nothing to share. Having it won’t solve all of your problems, and sharing it should not cause you significant problems. And someone pointing out that the whole restaurant should have salt on each table is not a personal attack on you.

You’re not the asshole until you refuse to pass the salt.

This comes up a lot, and I really don’t know where it comes from. Who is telling you that you’re responsible for the misdeeds of others? Seriously, point that out, because I’m in my mid forties, I’m a white cishet American man, and I’ve never felt like I was being blamed for the sins of people who look and fuck like me. Really, it just sounds like a conservative strawman talking point, because nobody does this.

Frankly, I was going to say almost the opposite. Conservatives are appealing to young men by decrying the “woke” process of breaking down those stereotypes. It’s a reaction to those “traditional” masculine traits being challenged by a more enlightened society.

The key is not breaking down those gender norms, but rechanneling that masculine energy and “gender pride” into something healthy and beneficial. We need to reframe the conversation, because when you attack, people instinctively defend. Instead, we should model the new masculinity, one where being tough means being confident enough to stand out or be yourself. Where being a bro means being a friend, not a douchebag. Real men have the strength to admit their faults and ask for help. Real power is punching up, not down, and real bravery is accepting people for who they are.

Contrast someone like Joe Rogan with Pedro Pascal. Which one is a “Real Man™”? Which one should we celebrate and focus on? Boys need role models, because we don’t know how to handle our hormones at an age when everything is confusing. If you tell them their instincts are wrong, they will retreat to a safe space where someone else will tell them that society is wrong and they should be as gross and misogynistic as they can be.

Real men are creative. Real men are kind. Real men are curious. Real men are sincere. Real men admit mistakes and accept consequences. Real men lift others up. Real men are able to ask for help. Real men are comfortable with their sexuality, and are not afraid of exploring their preferences.

All children are born selfish and frightened. We have to learn to be better through empathy. Without positive role models, we cannot learn to overcome those selfish impulses, and we cannot stand up to the bullies that will try to sell the red pill.

Because no matter what we do, there will always be conservative dipshits talking about how oppressed they are because they can’t insult people by calling them “girly” or “gay” or “retarded” anymore. There will always be angry gym rats who think big biceps and a fast car will fix their insecurities. There will always be bullies, and we should always stand up to them.

Also, every boy should watch Ted Lasso. Seriously, there has never been a better breakdown of male stereotypes than that show.

Συγνώμη, δεν μιλάω Αγγλικά

Slowpoke meme, I chose you… like 10 years ago.

I’m not picking a fight, I asked you what you meant by documented and confirmed. A coincidence is not a documented or confirmed case of a prophetic dream, it’s a coincidence.

Like if you said that there was a documented and confirmed case of a human that can fly, and then pointed to that one lady who fell out of an airplane and survived, I would have the same objection.