DO whatever makes you feel better is not bad advice. Some of these studies have overarching trends that I do believe - caffeine and Adderall are protective to your brain, a little bit of speed keeps the brain healthy.

Alcohol and Benadryl are risky over time, so a habit of downers is detrimental to the brain over time.

Logically this makes sense. I think to some extent it’s just metabolism/weight, staying lean is healthier all round but there does seem to be a pattern of results showing a habit of doing a little bit of stimulants is good for you.

I’m imagining he was an obese single dad scrolling Tinder as he was telling her this.

I’m going to second (third, fourth, fifth) the Roth IRA recommendation. You can set it up with Schwab or whoever and can make recurring contributions too (set it and forget it) there are income limits so if you are really raking it in one year you can’t contribute that year but whatever you put in there is still (usually) going to grow in value. If you have an emergency situation and need the money you can withdraw contributions, not earnings, ahead of retirement, so it’s not lost to you, but working for you and much easier at tax time, no worries about how to report it.

New College WAS a school where kids sort of designed their own major, did a project or thesis and defended it. The Veggie Bus that ran on used oil from McDonald’s fryers was a New College project. It was good for hyper achievers who didn’t fit into a canned curriculum. I don’t know that I’d call it “liberal” but it was progressive and challenging.

This apparently annoyed the fuck out of the governor for some reason. Maybe he just doesn’t like the idea of smart weirdos. But it’s those people who move us forward, the smart ones who don’t fit in.

Bourbon is so good in tepache too. Any whiskey has such an affinity for pineapple.

I do mine in a weak, sweet cinnamon/black pepper lemonade basically, my recipe is in the non-alcoholic thread on lemmy-world c/cocktails and has been foolproof so far, years and years.

As someone with kids, I wouldn’t have dated anyone seriously who didn’t have kids, and my now-husband says the same. It just isn’t likely to work out. Not impossible but in general parents do relate better to other parents, they understand you need time for the kids, and understand that’s not all you are, that you are also still a person with adult desires.

So you may get screened out BY the single parent.

Discreet and discrete from the kids hookups? Not the same criteria. Just attraction and compatibility. If it’s just spending some time together, that sort of dating, sure. I didn’t want those to go anywhere though. Just some relaxation and fun with others who were also in the same mindset. When I was ready to seriously date, those guys actually wanted to, but I didn’t think it would work out.

I guess I agree with the consensus here - if you WANT a ready made family because you want to raise kids but not procreate, sure go for it, just wanted to give you the view from the other side.

We had an A/P manager who chewed her way through 3 entire staffs before management decided the problem was actually her. Two of them collectively quit in a group on one day! That was the most outrageous I think. How did it take FIFTEEN people quitting because of her management before they fired her?

Also one manager who came in shitface drunk and swinging when she got fired. That was the most dramatic.

The fact that school kids have gotten so much nicer than when I was in school.

Crime dropping worldwide but particularly in my city.

And honestly? Plunging birth rates, even though I have a lot of kids and stepkids and love it. I do feel like it’s freedom mostly, people are more free to not have kids and it will keep the population from exploding.

My ex had long hair and wanted me to cut it, he pulled it over one shoulder and said “Cut it, just cut it here” and I said “no, it will be slanty” (because he had it pulled over to one side). He insisted, I shrugged and did it .

“IT’S SLANTY, WHAT DID YOU DO!”

You want broad sweeping categories? Maybe categorize by behaviour?

Crawlers Slitherers Swimmers Flyers Stationary creatures Sunlight eaters Carnivores Plant eaters Omnivores

I think decide what your groups actually are first, then label. So a fish in this list would be swimming carnivore.

That is what I’d do if I ever was divorced or widowed. If we can make it and retire I don’t want more kids, we raised so many. But it’s really the best work I’ve done. I would take in a couple more if I was single. Not babies, older kids. It’s hard though.

I have a handful of kids, all with the same dad. 4 different hair colors. Straight, curly, wavy. 2 blue eyed, 2 brown. Different complexions, different face shapes. They did not even look related as kids, though all have some resemblance to me or their dad’s mom. As adults and older teens now, they do look more alike because they are similarly built, but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t think they were siblings.

This drove my ex crazy when he want through his wacko racist phase.

I’m a lady but have a kids living room (like we have a separate kids wing in our house just because of the way it was added to over the years before we bought it) and when the kids move out that is becoming a space like that. Absolutely a 1950s lounge for us. Pool table!

Our mayor is a lesbian who was chief of police. Conservative Democrat. We seem to flip between democrats, who improve the storm drains and try to do things to help citizens, then Republicans who are focused on superficial beautification of the city and paying businesses to come here. All have historically been in bed with developers and there hadn’t been much planning. It works ok.

Some of the “city” functions are run by the county not the city - education, transit, health. The county is much more backwards and conservative than the city. Those things are in much worse shape.

Yeah, it’s definitely an inexperience/lack of skill problem on my part. I know that because of how much I love manual shift cars. Anything with two wheels I am just trying to keep upright and point it in the right direction.

Enunciate!

I do think it’s the car drivers responsibility to watch for pedestrian and cyclist (I am all of these on different days) but my God yesterday during a storm a cyclist drove right through a red light into oncoming traffic right in front of the car in front of me. We desperately need more bike infrastructure here and also for bikers to not drive like they want to die.

I taught my kids to drive using an automatic transmission, then once they were good at handling traffic, and all the more difficult parts of driving I let whoever wanted to learn to drive my stick shift. But I personally feel safer, not less safe, when I have to pay attention to operating the car, and as things stand now, think it makes me a better driver - that may not matter once cars are more advanced but for now, with driver-operated cars, stick shift is the right level of engagement for me to not get distracted. I do hate shifting motorcycles though, because I am not as familiar with it and it makes me feel less safe. Which is how I imagine OP feels.

Neal Asher’s space operas are some of my favorite books. The Prador, the AI, Spatterjay, he even has a short story with terrifying carnivorous sheep in it!

Monsoon Wedding

Lord of the Rings