Calling it a thirst trap is too innocent. These dating app companies are scum-sucking vampires designed to make most people feel lonely and desperate enough to give them money in perpetuity. People just handed one of the most important and intimate aspects of their lives over to US tech bros, pressured everyone else to do the same, and two whole generations are not just having less sex than their parents, but half of them have never had a long-term relationship as they're approaching 30.

This post is inaccurate. Neither WiFi nor GPS use FHSS, nor is Lamarr anything close to singularly credited with FHSS' invention (the earliest patent is credited to Nikola Tesla). This also implies that the Allies used her parent - they did not.

Also Richard Easton is the son of the man who invented GPS and had every right to be skeptical of this claim, and it looks like Internet dipsh*ts have bullied him into deleting his twitter account over this.

I hope they continue to resist and eventually cause a larger change for the better across the region.

Except that's not what's happening if you read the article, on either count.

Women aren't resisting childbirth as an act of rebellion or as an exercise of their rights, there's just too many competing pressures in their lives to table in having kids. Coupled with declining rates of attachment and a distraction-based economy, this isn't a 'win' for anyone.

And population decline is a crisis we don't know how to deal with. Old people have little economic output, but use up a lot of resources. It means the kids who are still born end up carrying a huge burden paying for and caring for older generations, they end up tax serfs in an aged care-based economy, and if older generations aren't cared for you end up with human atrocities on a massive scale.

...

Most of these comments are problematic. You don't have to have children, but for most people it has been a pretty consistent and natural inclination. Now a whole generation are convincing themselves they don't want children when they really just can't, and rather than holding those responsible to account and improving all our circumstances, they're treating it as some personal victory.

The fact is that you'll be filter fed morons who impulsively spend money AND have the money to spare.

This is the same rationalisation the gambling industry used.

And then the gaming industry.

And we know from those instances they're often not morons, they have mental health issues, or are exceedingly lonely. And they often don't have the money to spare either, those dollars are food being taken out of their or their family's mouths.

But feel free to tell yourself whatever robin hood bullshit you need to if it helps you sleep at night.

Take beverages with you from home.

You can fill an entire wardrobe with kmart clothes for $100, it's cheaper and more practical than even op shops most of the time. Maybe just don't buy your shoes from there.

Bottle sauces and seasonings can last a long time, and can dramatically improve the diversity and quality of your home cooking. Basic chicken, rice, and greens can be turned into a dozen different dishes depending upon the sauces.

Avoid subscription services like the plague.

There's always a few exceptions, but name brands are rarely worth it.

This isn't just an issue in terms of romantic relationships, or gender-specific.

We used to all be exposed to the same media and had common points of reference and interest. It was called water cooler discussion. Unless you're into sports, this doesn't really exist any more.

We used to share a more common set of customs. Schools used to have etiquette/finishing classes. Was a lot of it ultimately arbitrary and made up? Of course, but we were all taught the same things, and they became a common language. You knew to take off your hat/glasses when talking to me to show a level of courtesy and respect, and I knew you were showing respect when you did that. This also worked in terms of things like knowing when to adopt a formal tone with others... many people don't have a formal tone any more, let alone know how to use it.

Everyday life thrust us into more social interaction, too. You used to have to go to stores, talk to people. Even public transport and public spaces used to be a social experience before everyone buried themselves in their mobile phones and headphones. Now the majority of people left trying to interact with you in public are weirdos or trying to sell you something, so people assume anyone approaching you in public is a weirdo or trying to sell you something, suddenly it is taboo to even try to strike up a conversation with a stranger.

And modern outlets like social media encourage some of our worst tendencies. Everything escalates into outrage, tribal warfare, makes us really bad at self-moderation and letting things go.

The-way-things-were was never ideal for a minority of people, but the way things are is ideal for no one. I strongly believe even the innovations that are supposed to help a lot of minorities are hurting them to a degree, too. I fit into a couple of those minority categories myself, and have to force myself to go outside, to use manned checkouts, to put away my phone when outside, as while the alternatives may be easier in the short-term, in the long-term they are making me both physically and mentally less-resiliant.

Reddit once voted the end of an ep of Archer as the greatest moment in TV history or some such.

The moment in question was a shot-for-shot homage to an episode of Magnum PI. No one seemed to acknowledge this.

It's hard to avoid the US politics. Worse than reddit in that regard, it is giving me flashbacks to 2008 Digg where every second thing on the front page was about Obama and Ron Paul.

Sentencing has never made much sense. Depends upon jurisdiction, how many charges prosecutors can tack on, how many you end up going to trial over, how many you get convicted over, and who is responsible for sentencing (in some places the jury sentence, in some the trial judge, in others sentencing is a separate proceeding with a separate judge).

One of the big factors here is that Masterson and his lawyers still deny everything. He didn't cut a deal, hasn't shown remorse since he hasn't admitted to any wrong-doing, and the judge chose to sentence consecutively. First trial was a mistrial, second trial got 2/3 convictions, and apparently they intend to appeal. So depending upon appeal, he is currently facing somewhere between being acquitted on appeal to facing life in prison. In a lot of cases like this, some sort of deal is cut on lesser charges or lesser sentencing in exchange for admitting guilt and not dragging this on through appeal, hence typically shorter sentences. Masterson/his lawyers are instead rolling d20s and the current outcome is a 1.

You can also middle-click the bookmark folder itself.

Or you can open a second window, open all your work sites, then pin the tabs. If you have at least one pinned tab in the first window as well, even if that pinned tab is just about:blank, both windows will re-open when reopening firefox.

I needed a new saucepan.

I've now replaced half my kitchen.

Most of those staff are going to have no trouble finding new jobs. It's a highly technical and specialised crew, many would already be in demand elsewhere, and a void left by LTT would be quickly filled by other groups producing similar content, who suddenly find themselves in need of more staff. Hell, a lot of former LTT staff would be gobbled up by LTT's own sponsors.

This is a terrible argument whenever there's any public controversies within the private sector. It's not worth thinking about 'the jobs' because that's not how the economy works. If there's fire behind this smoke, and LTT did fold, those left long-term unemployed are probably fewer in number than those who are currently being exploited and mistreated. It's almost always a zero-sum game.