You’re right about the differing educational requirements, but optometrists are just as much an eye doctor as an ophthalmologist. They just fulfill different roles.

Optometrists do four years of optometry school (the fourth of which is entirely supervised practice) and pass a series of licensing exams. Many optometrists also complete residencies to further specialize. They typically see patients on a regular basis to monitor eye health, provide contacts and glasses, and treat some diseases.

Ophthalmologists go to medical school, and then further specialize in eyes. They tend to treat more serious diseases and injuries, especially when they require surgery (or injections, depending on the state).

I guess I would compare the difference as similar to a dentist versus an oral surgeon. Both doctors, both valuable and knowledgeable components of the healthcare system, just filling different roles.

Seconding Voyager!

Well, I’ve read a lot of theory, and I’m pretty sure our best bet is posting memes online, crossing our fingers, and hoping for the best. We definitely shouldn’t go outside and talk to people, that’ll never work

I don’t see a specific place to report an offensive plate, but I did send an email to the Indiana BMV. They review personalized plates and reject some, so this must have slipped past their radar.

https://www.in.gov/bmv/registration-plates/license-plates-overview/personalized-license-plates/

https://faqs.in.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new

Yeah, that seems reasonable to me

Morons. Imagine turning down funding to improve your state to score political points. I feel for the people who live there that don’t support DeSantis - they didn’t ask for this, and yet they have to suffer from the poor decision making of their fellow citizens.

Honestly, I think there is something to that. You probably do need to be a sociopath in order to become a CEO like that, but I’d also buy that becoming wealthy, by any means, is probably going to change you and your worldview whether you like it or not

Ballot initiatives are crushing it in Michigan lately. Ending gerrymandering, legalizing weed, protecting reproductive rights, and improving elections have all passed through ballot initiatives in the past few years. Direct democracy works. I feel for people in states that don’t have that option (cough Indiana). I feel like we might be starting to see Michigan emerge as the anti-Florida

It’s amazing how if you ask the Boomers I know, they’ll tell you that cities are terrifying and riddled with crime every few feet. But when you actually go a city, it’s pretty normal. Maybe a bit less foot traffic and a few more unhoused people than pre-COVID, but still pretty much the same. Definitely not the war zone they describe!

I was a teenager and sold an old iPod Touch on eBay, first time I’d ever sold anything on there. The buyer reached out and told me she wanted to mail straight to her son who was deployed in Nigeria. I didn’t know any better, so I put it in the mail. As soon as I did, they cancelled the order, and I had no recourse. Of course eBay was no help. Ruined my day, for sure, but in the grand scheme of things, not a huge price to pay to learn that lesson.

What do people mean when they say “the internet” in this context? The social internet of the 2000s?

I say this it feels unimaginative to me to say that the internet is dead. Social media? For the major platforms, sure. But the Fediverse feels alive and novel, and the Internet itself is certainly not going anywhere - could you imagine if email went away?

I don’t know, I am in large agreement that the internet has gotten worse, with that accelerating with generative AI. But I also feel like being driven away from Big Tech platforms has led me to learn more about how the Internet actually works and to discover topics and communities that I hadn’t before. Maybe the internet isn’t wholesale dead, just changing

sets the revolving door to max speed

Look y’all, i fixed regulatory capture!