Don’t do it man. I live in the US (born and raised) and I’m uncircumcised and I’ve never in my life been challenged about it. There is zero reason to do it to fit in culturally. And fuck any culture that encourages you to mutilate the genitals of your child.

Don’t do it.

Even if it’s for your religion, let your kids decide whether they want to be circumcised at the age of 18.

I have an echo show in my kitchen. It displays ads, but they’re super easy to ignore. They’re just basically text pictures on the screen when it’s not being used and on topics that I selected.

I’m pretty massively against ads, but the echo show’s don’t bother me in the least. If Alexa Plus starts giving me verbal ads or injecting them into things then it will quickly find its way into the trash can.

Anytime the girl looks like she’s not actually enjoying the sex. Fake or dubbed sound. Choking or slapping (see first item).

I also usually find any talking (sexy talk) to be awful. I don’t have a problem with it in concept, but in porn execution, it’s almost always super bad. Camera man talking is universally bad.

My parents-in-law came from an African country where they had opinions similar to South Africa and apartheid. Basically blacks were okay but it was shameful if someone black married one of their children. They immigrated to San Francisco and lo and behold, one of their daughters started dating a black guy.

When it can’t to light she was ostracized from the family by her mom. Now, she said she did this, but it was really only the parents who tried to break contact. All her siblings were perfectly fine with this and didn’t break contact and in fact my wife and i supported them when they moved to the city we lived in to get resettled.

To cut to the chase, after about 5 years the mother and daughter worked things out and now every is accepting of their relationship. I took the mom a few years to get over it.

I guess my point is, I would almost just ignore this, if you’re a good couple they’ll get over it eventually and it’ll be fine. And if not, fuck 'em.

Ah, ok, then that’s not me.

So does straight edge strictly refer to not doing drugs? If that’s the definition, then I’m a straight edged person… Hell, I don’t even drink and I work for a Scottish company where all my co-workers drink like fish.

I’m not religious, it has just always seemed dumb to me that people felt they needed to be inebriated to have a good time. Maybe this is just the normal for them so they don’t know any different? But doesn’t that seem pretty stupid? Anyways, I was stubborn in college and resisted peer pressure and by the time I didn’t care anymore, I just never saw the need to start drinking (or doing drugs). But I’m not here preach, I don’t really care what you do as long as it doesn’t affect me (i.e. drunk driving).

I’m a CTO for a midsized company. I have three kids and I’ve been happily married for over 25 years. Between my friends, there are more people who don’t drink than those who do, but at work I’m definitely the oddball… But I’m also old enough that I don’t really give a shit what other people think so I’m perfectly happy going along and being the guy who doesn’t drink.

I actually have enough money to retire right now and live frugally for the rest of my life at the age of 51… But to be honest it sounds super boring and depressing.

I know this will go against the grain here, but I enjoy what I do. I’m an engineering manager and I work on cool and interesting projects. I enjoy what the extra money gets me, whether it’s vacations or a better place to live or whatever. I enjoy working with other intelligent engineers trying to solve challenging problems. If I was retired I wouldn’t have that same engagement. I don’t know what I’d do with my time and I’m afraid I would not spend it in a healthy way.

So the reality is I’ve thought about it, but I’m not really that interested in retiring even though I could.

I hear you, but I don’t use it if I disagree with somebody, I use it if they’re disingenuous or rude or disparaging towards other people. Because fuck them.

Usually it’s a “you’re an asshole” button.

IMHO it’s really all about you being worried about how others react. Speaking as a 50 year old guy, I would walk around naked if it was normal in society. Put the bikini on and stand in front of a mirror. Make sure you’re confident that it looks normal (no tags still showing, nothing that is too revealing or pinching in the wrong spot or whatever… then put it on and go out in public and don’t think about it. It’ll be fine and nobody will think twice about it other than maybe saying “damn she’s keeping herself in shape!”

It’ll be fine. Don’t let others get in your head so much that it determines what you’re going to do or wear.

Dances With Wolves Last of the Mohicans

What? Really? Chiang Kai-shek just ran his army over to some other random country and took it over? That can’t be right…

He plays one character, but the character is kind of likable and funny. To me he’s the definition of a popcorn flick actor.

Yes.

I was never a “kid person” growing up. I didn’t relate to children and didn’t have much experience with them, but I always saw having a family as the natural path in life. Just like dating leads to marriage, I saw kids as the next chapter after marriage. When I really think about why I wanted kids, it comes down to two main reasons.

First, the experience itself seemed undeniably compelling. I’m introverted and not naturally a risk-taker, but I’ve learned over time that it’s important to challenge yourself and embrace growth. The last thing I want is a life that feels stagnant or boring. Skipping out on something as profound as raising kids felt like missing out on a major part of life.

Second, my wife is incredible. The idea of taking on the adventure of parenting with her felt both exciting and deeply meaningful. It’s intimate, difficult, fun, scary, and rewarding — and I couldn’t imagine a better partner to share that with.

Now, fast-forward to the present: we have three teenagers, and we’ve genuinely loved raising them. I’m not looking forward to the quiet days after they head off to college — the energy and fullness of having kids around has been one of the best parts of our lives and I’ll miss it when they’ve gone on to start their own independent lives.

I’m over 50 and every night somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30 I jump online and play 1 or 2 hours of strategy games with my friends. I don’t watch TV. I don’t watch sports. This is my evening entertainment.

I have three kids who are all teenagers now and I’ve basically done this throughout my adult life. This has been a way for me to keep my friend group together. I have about six friends who do this with me and they are from a variety of different places, some as far back as junior high and high school. I think it’s an extremely healthy way for a bunch of nerds to have a social group.

This is the real take away from all this. xAI is trying hard to keep up with the big-boys and has to pay a shit ton of money just to be in the game. xAI’s revenue will be in the deep red for a long time at this rate.

“digging thru trash and bunch of obscure websites for info, using critical thinking to filter and refine your results”

You’re highlighting a barrier to learning that in and of itself has no value. It’s like arguing that kids today should learn cursive because you had to and it exercises the brain! Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because you did something one way that it’s the best way. The goal is to learn and find solutions to problems. Whatever tool allows you to get there the easiest is the best one.

Learning through textbooks and one way absorption of information is not an efficient way to learn. Having the ability to ask questions and challenge a teacher (in this case the AI), is a far superior way to learn IMHO.

The thing is… AI is making me smarter! I use AI as a learning tool. The absolute best thing about AI is the ability to follow up questions with additional questions and get a better understanding of a subject. I use it to ask about technical topics and flush out a better understanding that I ever got from just a text book. I have seem some instances of hallucinating in the past, but with the current generation of AI I’ve had very good results and consider it an excellent tool for learning.

For reference I’m an engineer with over 25 years of experience and I am considered an expert in my field.

24 hours he said. He could end the war in 24 hours. All he has to do is talk tough and Putin would bow to his flabby pasty white biceps! Anyone who doesn’t recognize this as 100% pure bullshit should pull their head out of Trump’s fat ass and have their it examined.

I don’t think this is a good counter argument since this was more allies getting together to discuss and negotiate plans. Zelensky and Putin would be more like the Emperor of Japan meeting with FDR to discuss a peace treaty for Japan. Or Hitler and Churchill getting together.

Leaders usually wait until an agreement is in place before putting their reputations on the line, as there’s always resistance from hardline “fight to the end” factions. It’s smarter to confront that opposition only when the benefits of a deal are assured.