The only people who should be worried about this conversation are therapists and philosophers.

Our culture is fucking with people’s heads by making them have to question shit like this. Words are made up (you should look up some definitions). Our emotions are not. No one should be judging anyone for whom they find attractive and no one should feel shame or pride for having a preference.

So why would people who are attracted to cis people (of a particular sex) and not trans people (of the opposite sex-assigned-at-birth to the sex they’re attracted to) necessarily be transphobes.

This is not a thing. At all. Just because I prefer red apples over green apples does not instill a phobia or hatred of green apples.

The LGBT movement, as with nearly all movements, is about education. It seems you may have skipped over the prerequisites jumped right to LGBT 201.

Yes, “It’s obviously a nuanced subject, and human sexuality is complex” and the point is that no one should be casting societal assumptions upon or judging anyone. The point is to mind your own business and support government legislation that protects marginalized groups from the ignorant and those who lack empathy. “Do no harm” shouldn’t be regulated to practicing doctors. We’ve all lost sight of the “treat others as you want to be treated” Golden Rule. So, mind your own business and treat others with the same respect you believe you deserve.

If you are personally struggling with your own sexuality, I would strongly suggest you seek guidance from a professional rather than pondering aloud on the internet and expecting validation. If you are struggling to understand the sexuality of others, I would suggest you stop trying and embrace the uniquenesses found in every corner of this planet.

I hardly ever get spam calls. Today, I got a call from a government robocaller and a call asking for someone else whom I’m pretty sure had my number over five years before me. I thought these were legit but now, reading the comments, I’m not so sure.

People are way too willing to give out their phone numbers. So many apps and websites require a phone before ever signing in. I will not use any service that requires a phone number.

Because so many things rely on phone numbers now, when I got my new number in 2020 I lost access to a number of things.

2FA SMS verification can be spoofed so it’s not a secure method.

The only spam calls or messages I get are from government reps. Apparently “for government use” is not illegal and it’s practically impossible to get taken off the list. If anyone has a tip for this, please let me know.

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I don’t know how much weight I put into this piece, given that we’re talking about Trump, but I appreciate the perspective. From my understanding, the US has always had a good relationship with Greenland and could have easily worked with them to increase defenses and security. There could certainly be another objective like mining natural resources or, I dunno, building crypto mining facilities. The whole thing should be offensive to all Americans, especially conservatives.

Dopamine.

You’re right. This is what’s being described as humiliation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWZU4zrOoLE

The headline is riding the popular sentiment regarding this particular clip without discussing it much at all.

I’ve read variations of this click bait headline from dozens of sources.

One would have to have a sense of humility in order to be humiliated.

The headline should read: Unsurprisingly, Trump rejects the truth in favor of the lies that keep him in power.

Synthwave sent me down the path of Vaporwave > Chillwave > Darkwave. There’s a not-unrelated genre called Mallsoft. Somehow that got me into Library Music. I found a lot of music on Bandcamp and archive.org. You can get downloads of full albums and discographies for a few dollars, name your price, or for free.

If you’re looking to do a deeper dive, the genre and sub genres are largely credited with being kicked off by Macintosh Plus - Floral Shoppe in 2011.

I listen to this stuff all day long while I’m working at home. My vaporware playlist is literally 7 days long (2350 songs). Here’s some of my picks.

https://interloperecords.bandcamp.com/album/--7

https://9rhythm9.bandcamp.com/album/kmart

https://dreytnien.bandcamp.com/album/silicon-reality

https://obliqueoccasions.bandcamp.com/album/v1

https://obliqueoccasions.bandcamp.com/album/remnants

https://catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com/album/palm-mall

https://catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com/album/sunday-television-2

More Links
https://archive.org/search?query=synthwave
https://archive.org/search?query=vaporwave
https://archive.org/search?query=mallsoft

The Republican agenda for over 50 years has been to eliminate federal agencies. Reagan was overwhelmingly elected and he campaigned on closing Carter’s recently created department of education.

If it’s not explicitly in the constitution, they believe it should be operated by the states or by a corporation. It’s not about “why do they want to close it”, it’s “why should this exist” - especially when (they think) a corporation could do it better. Bonus: corporations make money and you can invest in them to make money for yourself.

Generally, the idea is a very small federal government and more sovereignty for each state. It’s easy to misunderstand this when conservatives are also calling for federal restrictions on health and freedoms. Don’t fool yourself to believe there’s consistency in politics.

The world was very different two hundred and fifty years ago. Our lives, commerce, and opinions are no longer impeded by state boundaries. The reason for this country to exist still remains but the context has changed. Anyone holding conservative ideas is, intentionally or not, holding this country back.

Moreover, if you think this administration gives a shit about anyone but themselves and corporations, you my sweet innocent child are truly out of the loop.

Again, going back to Reagan, Americans have been convinced that the government is bad and enriching corporations is good. Trickle down economics is still by and large considered good for workers. You give tax breaks to the billionaires and corporations and, in theory, they can employ more people. Of course we know now that trickle down economics has been a failure and that enriching the poor and middle class is best for the entire economy.

The United States is a failure. It came close but it doesn’t scale. We need a new Constitution and Bill of Rights that more explicitly outlines the responsibility of the federal government and what The People can trust it to do for them. If you want a truly Democratic Republic, we also need to make election day a holiday, fund election campaigns strictly through taxpayer dollars, and implement ranked choice or STAR voting. Footnote - the new constitution would have to explicitly say election campaigns are an exception to any free speech clause because fuck Citizen’s United.

You have two light sources of different colors.
Diffuse your light source and block ambient light. This is best achieved, in part, by increasing your shutter speed and using a strobe. Without the strobe, you should get a black image. Adding a diffused strobe would minimize specular highlights. I also find it helpful to use props (plates) that don’t reflect light as much. Speaking of props, the table looks like it’s from an office lunch room.

The camera is at an awkward angle.
You’re not totally parallel with the table and the carrots aren’t perfectly perpendicular. Always nice to get it perfect in the shot but this should be fixable in post.

Carrots are raw.
I’m not sure if you want to cook them, maybe just blanch them for a minute then cool in ice water so they at least look appetizing. Blanching would bring out more color too.

That might seem like a lot but it’s really not. I mean, you gotta make do with what you have so ignore the comments about props. Work on composition and lighting and, if you’re shooting food, make it look edible. If you don’t have a diffuser or strobe, your first step should be blocking that ambient light. You want a large black surface facing the carrots from the bottom left. To diffuse light, you can try covering your light source with a piece of parchment or tracing paper or a white sheet.

This is actually a great submission and easy place to get started. Not too complex. Should be easily improved upon.

Edit: I will say, after looking again at the tiny thumbnail version of this, the lighting looks interesting. It almost looks painted with light. It’s not until you look at the full size photo that you can spot the inconsistencies.

The “in general” part of your statement is doing a lot of work here. It’s a bit more complicated.

It’s absolutely true that many manufacturers are using cheaper materials and near-slave wage labor to make clothing. Industry, in general, has changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years as we’re seeing a flood of low cost garment makers who can ship direct to consumers at a fraction of what we’re used to paying for clothes. There’s a substantial portion of the industry (Shein, et al) that’s putting out ultra trendy clothing for tens of dollars.

There’s also still good quality brands out there but their stuff costs more than the cheap(ly made) stuff. Most consumers don’t see or understand the value in spending more today for something that will last more than five years. Especially in regard to fashion; trends and styles change so why would you want to wear something more than five years. Also, a lot of people do not know how to properly care for their clothing.

Consumers have greatly benefitted from certain international trade regulations at the expense of quality materials and craftsmanship and unfair wages. Speaking on behalf of Americans, the costs of our goods would be noticeably higher without the legislation passed during the Reagan and Clinton administrations. You could also argue we’d be able to afford it if the jobs remained in this country and we were being paid fair wages.

I’d argue that WAGES are what have been enshittified more than anything else. People are making less money today than they did 30 years ago.

For reference, I looked up Levis 501 Jeans from 1996 and today.
1996 - $37.99 | 2025 - $79.50

If I run this through the inflation calculator, $38 in 1996 is worth $75.97 today.

Now, if you convert $50k, that should equal $100k today. I have my doubts that a job that paid $50k in 1996 is paying $100k today. I’m not sure about my math / source but it appears to me that the median hourly wage in 1996 was $18.94 and in 2024 $24.75. Adjusted for inflation, it should be $37.99 today.

Yep https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2007701/uk-gold-shortage-london-donald-trump

None of the alliance members, including the US, currently spends 5% of GDP on defence, according to NATO figures. Poland is the highest spender in GDP terms at 4.12%, followed by Estonia at 3.43% and the United States at 3.38%.

I’d like to see people respond to a headline that reads, “Trump demands US increase NATO funding”.

A quote is not a source. The news often misquotes people or takes words out of context.

A tweet should be screenshotted with the original link along with an alternate to xcancel.com.

If the tweet itself has a link or mentions something elsewhere, a link to that source should also be provided.

Sounds like a lot but anything less is misinformation, as far as I’m concerned. So much news and memes have been spread where the subject is taken out of context. Hours or days or years will go by before people come to discover the true meaning of something and by then the impression has already been made.

Anyone here old enough to remember the Exxon Valdez?

I’ve been using Instagram as a way to stay up to date with all the local community events or small businesses doing events around me for the past couple of years.

You have?? This is what I was using the platform for but then, many years ago, they forced an algorithm on us so I was no longer able to use it. Most of the posts I see are days old so I always miss events.

I would love if more establishments / organizations would use newsletters and public calendars. I’ve been trying to tell people, you want to own your content and your mailing list, but Meta makes it so easy for them to do things that it’s an uphill battle.

I use an RSS reader to deal with newsletters. I use BigNews but there’s also Stoop which give you an email address to subscribe to newsletters without them flooding your inbox.

You’re trying to find a problem for your solution.

The obesity epidemic actually due to the increased availability of ultra processed foods.

I’ve had Verizon Fios for about twelve years. They’ve actually lowered my bill three times and increased my speed once without me asking. That’s why I haven’t switched and will always seek them out in the future.

My decision to leave was due to the prevalence of misinformation and / or entirely unrelated comments being upvoted to the top. Fuck that place. It’s just an alternate to Facebook now.

Edit: I just think it’s funny that people left because of the API policy. Not to diminish anyone’s preferences but Reddit’s policy change was actually to retain users, run more ads, and probably increase algorithmic engagement and sell content to LLMs. People left as a protest with the belief that it was run by, for, and of the people and that Reddit didn’t understand its core user base. Reddit has only continued to increase its user base and revenue. I’d venture to guess that the core users leaving was actually a benefit to Reddit. Their departure just made it easier for Reddit to accomplish their goals.

I’ve never actually seen someone write out “pacific” in such a way and it’s quite plausible that people mishear something and presume it to be true based on other context - such as an issue as big as an ocean. Yes. It happens a lot.