I’ve already deleted as much of my FB history as I can (I’m getting error messages at this point), but I keep it active solely because Craigslist is effectively dead.

I’m not going to tell you how to live your life–I can barely live my own–but is there a specific reason that you aren’t interested, other than the fact that she’s more comfortable with the idea of sex than you are?

I don’t have to. It’s a shitty source that’s making extraordinary claims, so it’s on them to provide the extraordinary proof.

I could make any number of bullshit claims, like, say, Nazis built a moon base shortly before the end of WWII, and the inability of the allies to find Hitler’s body proves that he didn’t commit suicide in a bunker in Berlin, and you would quite rightly insist that I give you a lot of solid evidence. The article does none of that.

Eh. I don’t think it’s that deep for most people and politicians that oppose reproductive rights. I think that’s likely true for some oligarchs that have aligned themselves with the right, and I think that’s partially true for people that subscribe to great replacement conspiracy theories. But I think for most people, it’s pretty much what they say it is: a moral issue.

FWIW, I was opposed to reproductive rights up into my very early 20s; I truly believed that it was an issue of personal responsibility, and I thought that both men and women needed to suck it up and ‘do the right thing’ if there was an unintended pregnancy. It took a pretty significant personal event–the loss of my religious faith–for me to see how fundamentally shitty that view was.

First: as someone with a strong evangelical Christian background, I can sympathize with discussions about sex–and specifically about your sex life–being deeply uncomfortable. Unfortunately, that’s something that you’re going to have to discuss with any potential romantic partner, and sooner rather than later. (Because let me tell you, significant differences in sex drive and desire will tank every and any relationship).

Second: Drinks are not necessarily a commitment to anything more. I would prefer coffee (or tea) as a first date since it’s even lower pressure, but many people prefer alcohol because it’s a social lubricant. Your call there. My suggestion would be to start by getting to know the person. I’m autistic (seriously), and IMO the most honest approach is to be direct, despite how hard it is when you want to please people. Yes, being a people pleaser means that you’re going to want to tell her what you think she wants to hear, rather than what you really feel, and that will bite you in the ass, repeatedly. And yeah, anxiety and things like rejection sensitive dysphoria are going to make that exceptionally hard.

Third: you said that she was a ride to a meeting; can you elaborate on what kind of meeting? I’m asking because if this is someone that you’re going to have to see in a professional setting, you do need to proceed very carefully. Workplace relationships–or relationship rejections–can be very fraught.

Last: I’m not as immediately opposed to age gaps in relationships as some people. I do generally think that the (n/2)+7 rule is a decent rule of thumb, but it’s not an absolute. The reason that rule generally exists, IMO, is that people in different generations have different cultural markers, things that were significant in the formation of their personality and worldview, and large differences there can make relationships more challenging. E.g., if you remember 11 September '01 and the political fallout, while she grew up fully immersed in the prevailing political climate, then it might be hard to see eye to eye on some things. There can also be imbalances of maturity and power that can result from larger age differences, e.g., you might be much more set both professionally and financially, which could make the relationship less equal. So it’s something to be aware of and careful about.

God no. Quite the opposite. SSRIs tend to seriously blunt sexual response. The most common effect is sharply delayed orgasms, but it can cause near total anorgasmia, and/or difficultly with sexual arousal at all. Sexual dysfunction and weight gain are the two most common side effects of SSRIs.

There’s no reasonable way for a single person to point out every single flaw in a conspiratorial website. The whole article is a gish-gallop; so much misinformation that even if I disproved 90% of the primary points, people would still latch on to the 10% that I hadn’t had time to disprove, and say, see?, they were right! (That’s assuming that they even accept counterclaims as being sufficient in the first place.)

Paying attention to your sources and not using bad ones is one of the first, most basic principles of media literacy. Failing to adhere to this basic principle is precisely how you get Q-anon.

Not a credible source.

So, they’re only going to make games with no narrative complexity going forward. Got it.

Thought that the discomfort in overhead presses and triceps dips was something I should push through. The result was that I tore both a rotator cuff muscle and the labrum ibn one of my shoulders. I’m still recovering from the surgery to put my shoulder back together. :|

If I thought I would actually make money? Sure. But most people that do OF aren’t really making more than pocket change.

I don’t think most people would be interested in paying for first-person shooting competition video–although maybe they would if I had the $8k or so for a VR camera so that it could be immersive–and most people don’t have a huge interest in rope tops. So, eh.

It’s generally a bit easier with two people in the car. But even by myself, I haven’t had too hard of a time keeping a cat out from under my feet.

TBH, with almost all of my cats–currently 8, but easily 30+ over my life–it just being in the carrier. If they’re allowed to roam the car while you’re driving, they tend to stop screaming. You do need to get them in a kennel before you open a car door or window for any reason though.

Removed by mod

We could learn from this in the US, but we won’t.

Reflective listening is a good way to learn that skill.

Art is largely about feeling and emotion, but you insist on rejecting arguments that are arguing about emotion.

Interesting.

I’ll give them $1400 to sell them to me. (For legal purposes, that was a joke. Please don’t kill my dog cats, officer.)

About 50/50. SCOTUS has already ruled that the 3rd section of the 14th amendment to the US constitution doesn’t mean what it plainly says, so there’s no real hope that they’d uphold the 22nd.

The only reason I place it that low is because he’s ripe for a fatal heart attack or stroke.

Then you have ADHD. (Probably.) Stimulants tend to make ppl with ADHD feel like they’re slowing down, because it allows them to pay attention to just one thing instead of everything all at once (depending in the exact flavor of ADHD, anyways).