Best: distant cousins fancy wedding at a seaside place somewhere in Massachusetts. Been a while. Wedding was expensive, but not long. Reception was at a yacht club right on the ocean. So beautiful, food was fantastic, they had a wide variety of desserts, not just wedding cake, fun DJ, coffee cart with everything you could want. I was awkward 19 year old and some pretty girl wanted to dance with me which NEVER happens. Was a nice confidence lift–until dancing because I dance like a complete imbecile. Still worth it.

Worst was high school friends wedding, not long after high school graduation. They were young. Married in tired old church a mile from where we went to school (rural, poor). Was summer, no ac because poor. Reception was in bingo hall/basketball gym next door to church where we had junior high dances. Food was mad gross, came from nasty restaurant down the street. Just country slop. Tables were literally folding tables with a sheet of white paper on them and a tiny bit of confetti. No flowers, no other decorations. They did have a plastic disposable cup of mixed nuts. Cup was the size of a salsa side. My brother sat down, ate the whole thing in one mouthful so that was that. He also used the disposable cameras left (no photographer) to take a pixture of his ass. DJ was a relative who played garbage music that was just what he (in his late 50s) liked so it was ass. His setup was old and sounded like shit, did not help that the space was tile floor and cinderblock walls so it was an echoy mess. Then he got super drunk less than an hour in and left–took his shitty equipment with him. Bride is pissed (but it was her uncle) so someone found a boombox and put the bingo announcer microphone in front of it. It sounded just like you would think. I left at that point, had enough. They’re still married, she’s still a shrew, hes OK i guess but never understood that relationship. I’m pretty sure there is a dom/sub sex thing going on, she’s the dom (frequently wearing tall black leather boots even when its hot out or would seem out of place). To each their own, they’ve been married for 30 years, so something is working.

I wanted to say something poignant, but this really says all that needs to be said.

I think this is far more important than people realize. Your gut is your 2nd brain.
This was posted a few days ago: https://undark.org/2025/06/24/mental-illness-ketogenic-diet/

Short version is that diet controls are able to provide very large improvements for schizophrenia. That is huge.

Also, being able to regulate emotions is a big deal, but most people have no idea how to even begin. Mr Rogers talked about it a lot. He was wise. I found a LOT of insight from the book Why Buddhism Is True by Robert Wright. It talks about the evolutionary aspects of emotions as well as some cognitive theory like modular theory of mind: https://exploringkodawari.blog/modular-theory-of-mind/

There is a lot that most adults just do not know about how they think and feel. They are not at all aware of their emotional states and the cause and effect relationship between external inputs and the emotions that result. To me, this sort of information should be taught to children and all the way through their schooling. I think we would have a lot fewer people who are a tangled up mess as adults.

I have found that my own life has improved greatly by seeking answers to these questions. You’re never really in control of your emotions, but once you are aware of them, they won’t control you anymore.

There are ais that can detect use of ai. This is a losing strategy as we burn resources playing cat and mouse.

As with all things greed is at the root of this problem. Until privacy has any legislative teeth, it will continue to be a notion for the few and an elusive one at that.

Mark of the beast.

Nope.

Palate cleanser. For when you dont want the pesky sensation of happiness. It’ll cleanse that right out.

I need this ducky. I need it so bad. Its not fair that I don’t have a ducky of my own.

Stop this. This is how poison like Malort is made. We dont need to create its successor.

It is evidence of how bad life used to be. If that shit was the treat, what was normal food like?!

Those Choceur bars are pretty good. My favorite treat are Droste pastilles but the aldi bars will do.

The world we live in is the choice of the majority.

The majority demand convenience and are willing to sacrifice almost anything to get it. Additionally, we are forced to go places like work, school, etc and with few other means to accomplish this, you get a glut of roads and cars. A lack of transportation options is a choice–usually one by those who profit from the current system. Unless their greed is sated in another way, they will work tirelessly to defend their presumed entitlements. Either that or such greed must be extinguished by societal controls and the priority has to shift to service of the greater good and the will of the people.

The root of the issue must be addressed if anything is expected to change. Cars are a symptom of the problem, not the cause. Greed and sloth are the causes.

I got rawdogged so hard that I’m unemployed now. Went from an utterly crushing pace and workload to nothing. I mean I like not having to work right now, but once the megar severance I got runs out,I will enjoy it a lot less.

Pe is worse than Satan.

Its OK to feel insecure, but lashing out at others is typically frowned upon.

Glad its not just me. I do love the snugs but I get hot. Nobody wants sweaty snugs.

Interior air quality is a problem long solved by ventilation fans. You should run them regardless of the type of cooking appliance used. Now that many homes and apartments do not have ventilation that exhausts to the outside is a different problem.

Read another way: poor people no longer allowed to use gas, that’s only for the wealthy.

Seriously, since when does anything good start with poor people? High speed internet–nope. Better cellular coverage–hell no.

How about they “decarbonize” Beverly Hills first? I’m sure they’d be thrilled to give up their poolside fire pits and Viking ranges in the name of cleaner air. I’m sure they’d not mind it if their whole-house generators were now useless.

I believe that we need to reduce the use of fossil fuels, but this approach feels very imbalanced and makes me question the intent. At least you can still cook or have hot water during a power outage. If nothing else, why fucking remove the infrastructure?! If this is such a great thing, leave the gas lines in place and let the utilities subsidize the switch to all-electric. Also, with all energy coming from a single source, I worry that this is an attempt to remove alternatives and spike costs to the consumer by green washing the whole thing.

I’d love to see how this really helps the air quality. Until we can effectively displace and shut down natural gas power generation, it will still be a factor.

Also, the 3.5mm audio port on your phone has another reason to exist.

Your music is digital until something converts into an analog waveform that your headphones or speakers can use. That thing is the digital to analog converter aka a DAC.

The quality of the DAC directly effects the quality of the audio. The cheap dongle you buy on amazon for a few bucks is the cheapest pos that exists. Most phones with a 3.5 output will produce better sound because the manufacturer can elect to put a better DAC in the phone hardware. In fact, a high quality DAC built into the phone would be a nice selling point for audiophiles or a nice upgrade for those who might otherwise choose to buy an external dac–now they dont have to.

I grew up in a nowhere place. It sucked as a kid too.

Cooking dinner and forgot an ingredient? You’re not getting it, hope dinner doesn’t suck.

Nobody comes to visit because there is nothing to do. Hope you like silence, you will be getting a lot of it.

Well water was nasty. I’m sure quality can vary, but unless you want to spend lot on filtration systems, hope you like it as it is. Ours tasted like sulphur.

When you live in the city, power outages are resolved quickly. No so in the middle of nowhere. We used to go days at time with no power. Remember, your well pump needs electricity now, so no water either. Same for your furnace.

Winter was ass, plows didnt come for several days after a good snow. Hope you’re a good driver because if you ditch it, you’re going to be waiting a good while for a wrecker to come pull you out.

How long is it to a good hospital? Can you survive 2x that time as an ambulance will have to come get you and then drive back. Hope you never have a medical emergency.

No pizza delivery. No nothing delivery. You want something, get in the car and enjoy spending at least an hour getting the thing. That is if the place nearby has it (they dont).

I will NEVER live out there again. I’m sure some people like it, but the balance falls way too hard on the “everything is slow and needlessly difficult” side.

Sorry but your husband is wanting to live out some Harrison Ford style fantasy. Tell him to rent a place for a few months out there and let him try it. Preferably in the winter.

You dont have to like my attitude, but when your car is a computer with wheels, I’m not wrong about the need for technical abilities.

However, most people have zero clue how a 10 year old gas car works. I stand behind my assertion that people need to know how their shit works or learn to live with the fact that they’ve abdicated the responsibility to take care of themselves and will pay a grown up to do it for them.

SentinelOne