The only people who should be worried about this conversation are therapists and philosophers.

Our culture is fucking with people’s heads by making them have to question shit like this. Words are made up (you should look up some definitions). Our emotions are not. No one should be judging anyone for whom they find attractive and no one should feel shame or pride for having a preference.

So why would people who are attracted to cis people (of a particular sex) and not trans people (of the opposite sex-assigned-at-birth to the sex they’re attracted to) necessarily be transphobes.

This is not a thing. At all. Just because I prefer red apples over green apples does not instill a phobia or hatred of green apples.

The LGBT movement, as with nearly all movements, is about education. It seems you may have skipped over the prerequisites jumped right to LGBT 201.

Yes, “It’s obviously a nuanced subject, and human sexuality is complex” and the point is that no one should be casting societal assumptions upon or judging anyone. The point is to mind your own business and support government legislation that protects marginalized groups from the ignorant and those who lack empathy. “Do no harm” shouldn’t be regulated to practicing doctors. We’ve all lost sight of the “treat others as you want to be treated” Golden Rule. So, mind your own business and treat others with the same respect you believe you deserve.

If you are personally struggling with your own sexuality, I would strongly suggest you seek guidance from a professional rather than pondering aloud on the internet and expecting validation. If you are struggling to understand the sexuality of others, I would suggest you stop trying and embrace the uniquenesses found in every corner of this planet.

Gotcha. I probably could have phrased that better.

Not worrying about how others perceive you and having something interesting to share with others is not contradictory.

I don’t have to like you or agree with you to listen to something you feel passionate about to share. Have you heard of YouTube?

If you’re weird and you have nothing interesting to share, if you lack the confidence to speak with others, then I’m not very likely to give you much attention.

Learning something “so others will like you” is exactly what I’m suggest you do not do. You should learn something so that you have personal confidence in something. The more you become proficient in something, the more confident you’ll become overall. Accomplishing goals and overcoming obstacles breeds confidence. It may help your social interactions if that thing is less niche and more universal but not exclusively.

This is why people ask others what they do for a living. They want to hear you speak about something they presume you’re passionate about. There’s a hope to engage in a conversation or to learn something from you. If you have some niche hobby or job and you’re good at it, people will listen to you. You may even find people come up to you at a party to hear more about what you feel so strongly about.

Don’t ever do something solely because you think it will make others like you more. If you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re not able to put all of yourself into it. You’ll never own that thing. You’ll just be renting it for others.

There is no inherent arbiter of good or truth.

If the trust in expertise is tarnished, reshaping reality is left to the uninformed.

Work first on being a good human.
That will make you a good (and attractive) man or woman.

The archaic concept of masculinity or femininity itself is wretched.

People worry far too much about what others think of them and what mold they should fit into. Be yourself. Be a good, caring, empathetic person with convictions and passions and hobbies. Become proficient in one or more things so others find you interesting. Learn how to do things without the aid of technology. Read books. Travel as far as you can. Give a shit about yourself and your community.

If you’re struggling to fit a mold that society is telling you you should fit into, you’re already lost. That doesn’t mean you can’t find yourself. It means that mold probably isn’t right for you. And there is nothing wrong with that. If others have a problem with you not being what they expect, that’s their issue to resolve. The sooner you’re able to let go of societal concepts, the more free you’ll be to be the best version of you.

Don’t confuse being a good man and being a good person. It’s the same thing. There is nothing you can do to become more of a man that won’t make you more of a person.

What I’ve done for home videos and recorded programming is to use the VHS/DVD combo to transfer the video to DVD then rip the DVD to my computer using Handbrake (MacOS). The quality of the transfer is as good as I can hope for.

It’s an easy, almost enjoyable process. I get the option to watch the VHS or I just let it go overnight or while I’m otherwise occupied (doesn’t tie up my computer in realtime). I get an additional, smaller, hard copy of the media. Once I get a handful of DVDs, I can let my computer rip them to my NAS to watch using Plex.

Plenty of sub-$100 VHS/DVD combos on eBay.

Caveat: Purchased movies may have copyright protections. I have the original Star Wars VHS tapes but couldn’t transfer them.

Back in the early 2000s I used (I think) an El Gato EyeTV Video to Firewire peripheral to rip to my Power Mac G5. I was never super crazy about the quality of the transfer. The video always looked like, “I used my computer to transfer this”. I have to assume things are better these days. I feel like this process depends more on your computer and your software where as the VHS > DVD method is a bit more “aligned”. I could be wrong. I mean, the adapters are like $10-$20. They seem too cheap to be trust worthy.

I hardly ever get spam calls. Today, I got a call from a government robocaller and a call asking for someone else whom I’m pretty sure had my number over five years before me. I thought these were legit but now, reading the comments, I’m not so sure.

People are way too willing to give out their phone numbers. So many apps and websites require a phone before ever signing in. I will not use any service that requires a phone number.

Because so many things rely on phone numbers now, when I got my new number in 2020 I lost access to a number of things.

2FA SMS verification can be spoofed so it’s not a secure method.

The only spam calls or messages I get are from government reps. Apparently “for government use” is not illegal and it’s practically impossible to get taken off the list. If anyone has a tip for this, please let me know.

Dopamine.

I wish I had half your optimism.

If you want to learn how to drive safely, automatic.
If you want to have fun while driving, manual.

A manual transmission requires more of your attention. It connects you to the car and the road. It gives you more control over your gas mileage and torque. Forget about texting and driving.
My first few cars were automatic. I bought a car with manual transmission when I was about 20 years old. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to drive it and an hour to become proficient.

If I were a father, I would mandate my kid to drive automatic. People on the road are dangerous and there’s far too many distractions. Learn how to drive first. That means learning how to deal with your environment and making quick decisions.

I think we’re well past people becoming apathetic to privacy concerns. Either they’re ignorant or they prefer the advantages.

You, along with everyone else sharing this soapbox, aren’t convincing anyone that their data privacy is a concern. Your example about using private communications against someone is becoming increasingly valid but the vast majority of people are going to ignore this until it’s too late. Maybe not even then.

If you haven’t heard about human beings before, they’re a species that rarely shows concern for their immediate future (never mind long term). If and when they do, they point at and blame the people whom they’ve elected to ensure pending catastrophic events don’t impede upon their freedom to be stupid.

Our reality is the frog in the pot of water. Things are happening at such a slow pace that we accept the incremental changes despite their known ramifications. Before you know it, the water is at a rolling boil but we’ve already subscribed to boil-proof clothing so we can enjoy the pleasure of the sauna.

Because, contrary to what you may think you’ve observed over the past ten+ years, copying and republishing anyone’s content without their permission is a US copyright infringement.

So yeah; if you want to get their permission, ensure all their links and such are migrated over, and do all the work for them to mirror content they’ve created without the benefit of making any money on it, have at it.

At first glance, I feel like your in parentheses statements maybe should not be left beneath the surface.

Synthwave sent me down the path of Vaporwave > Chillwave > Darkwave. There’s a not-unrelated genre called Mallsoft. Somehow that got me into Library Music. I found a lot of music on Bandcamp and archive.org. You can get downloads of full albums and discographies for a few dollars, name your price, or for free.

If you’re looking to do a deeper dive, the genre and sub genres are largely credited with being kicked off by Macintosh Plus - Floral Shoppe in 2011.

I listen to this stuff all day long while I’m working at home. My vaporware playlist is literally 7 days long (2350 songs). Here’s some of my picks.

https://interloperecords.bandcamp.com/album/--7

https://9rhythm9.bandcamp.com/album/kmart

https://dreytnien.bandcamp.com/album/silicon-reality

https://obliqueoccasions.bandcamp.com/album/v1

https://obliqueoccasions.bandcamp.com/album/remnants

https://catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com/album/palm-mall

https://catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com/album/sunday-television-2

More Links
https://archive.org/search?query=synthwave
https://archive.org/search?query=vaporwave
https://archive.org/search?query=mallsoft

I’ve actually been rewatching some episodes of All In The Family airing on Pluto TV. It’s remarkable (1) how little has changed and (2) how we’ve lost such great quality television over the past forty years.

Why install an app when you can just use the bank’s website?

The Republican agenda for over 50 years has been to eliminate federal agencies. Reagan was overwhelmingly elected and he campaigned on closing Carter’s recently created department of education.

If it’s not explicitly in the constitution, they believe it should be operated by the states or by a corporation. It’s not about “why do they want to close it”, it’s “why should this exist” - especially when (they think) a corporation could do it better. Bonus: corporations make money and you can invest in them to make money for yourself.

Generally, the idea is a very small federal government and more sovereignty for each state. It’s easy to misunderstand this when conservatives are also calling for federal restrictions on health and freedoms. Don’t fool yourself to believe there’s consistency in politics.

The world was very different two hundred and fifty years ago. Our lives, commerce, and opinions are no longer impeded by state boundaries. The reason for this country to exist still remains but the context has changed. Anyone holding conservative ideas is, intentionally or not, holding this country back.

Moreover, if you think this administration gives a shit about anyone but themselves and corporations, you my sweet innocent child are truly out of the loop.

Again, going back to Reagan, Americans have been convinced that the government is bad and enriching corporations is good. Trickle down economics is still by and large considered good for workers. You give tax breaks to the billionaires and corporations and, in theory, they can employ more people. Of course we know now that trickle down economics has been a failure and that enriching the poor and middle class is best for the entire economy.

The United States is a failure. It came close but it doesn’t scale. We need a new Constitution and Bill of Rights that more explicitly outlines the responsibility of the federal government and what The People can trust it to do for them. If you want a truly Democratic Republic, we also need to make election day a holiday, fund election campaigns strictly through taxpayer dollars, and implement ranked choice or STAR voting. Footnote - the new constitution would have to explicitly say election campaigns are an exception to any free speech clause because fuck Citizen’s United.

You have two light sources of different colors.
Diffuse your light source and block ambient light. This is best achieved, in part, by increasing your shutter speed and using a strobe. Without the strobe, you should get a black image. Adding a diffused strobe would minimize specular highlights. I also find it helpful to use props (plates) that don’t reflect light as much. Speaking of props, the table looks like it’s from an office lunch room.

The camera is at an awkward angle.
You’re not totally parallel with the table and the carrots aren’t perfectly perpendicular. Always nice to get it perfect in the shot but this should be fixable in post.

Carrots are raw.
I’m not sure if you want to cook them, maybe just blanch them for a minute then cool in ice water so they at least look appetizing. Blanching would bring out more color too.

That might seem like a lot but it’s really not. I mean, you gotta make do with what you have so ignore the comments about props. Work on composition and lighting and, if you’re shooting food, make it look edible. If you don’t have a diffuser or strobe, your first step should be blocking that ambient light. You want a large black surface facing the carrots from the bottom left. To diffuse light, you can try covering your light source with a piece of parchment or tracing paper or a white sheet.

This is actually a great submission and easy place to get started. Not too complex. Should be easily improved upon.

Edit: I will say, after looking again at the tiny thumbnail version of this, the lighting looks interesting. It almost looks painted with light. It’s not until you look at the full size photo that you can spot the inconsistencies.

The “in general” part of your statement is doing a lot of work here. It’s a bit more complicated.

It’s absolutely true that many manufacturers are using cheaper materials and near-slave wage labor to make clothing. Industry, in general, has changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years as we’re seeing a flood of low cost garment makers who can ship direct to consumers at a fraction of what we’re used to paying for clothes. There’s a substantial portion of the industry (Shein, et al) that’s putting out ultra trendy clothing for tens of dollars.

There’s also still good quality brands out there but their stuff costs more than the cheap(ly made) stuff. Most consumers don’t see or understand the value in spending more today for something that will last more than five years. Especially in regard to fashion; trends and styles change so why would you want to wear something more than five years. Also, a lot of people do not know how to properly care for their clothing.

Consumers have greatly benefitted from certain international trade regulations at the expense of quality materials and craftsmanship and unfair wages. Speaking on behalf of Americans, the costs of our goods would be noticeably higher without the legislation passed during the Reagan and Clinton administrations. You could also argue we’d be able to afford it if the jobs remained in this country and we were being paid fair wages.

I’d argue that WAGES are what have been enshittified more than anything else. People are making less money today than they did 30 years ago.

For reference, I looked up Levis 501 Jeans from 1996 and today.
1996 - $37.99 | 2025 - $79.50

If I run this through the inflation calculator, $38 in 1996 is worth $75.97 today.

Now, if you convert $50k, that should equal $100k today. I have my doubts that a job that paid $50k in 1996 is paying $100k today. I’m not sure about my math / source but it appears to me that the median hourly wage in 1996 was $18.94 and in 2024 $24.75. Adjusted for inflation, it should be $37.99 today.

Apple released a more user friendly version of this in 2021 https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/A_Day_in_the_Life_of_Your_Data.pdf

I think it’s safe to say that, at this point, most people know that their information is being sucked up. But very few care at all. Some of the people I’ve spoken with are actually in favor of being tracked because they find it beneficial and they want better ads. I don’t know if this is a real desire for them or if they’ve been brainwashed.

The chance of your personal data being used against you is increasing every day. Leaks are happening all the time; largely from databases presumed to be more secure than an app on your phone. Still, relatively few people are really affected by this.

Please tell me otherwise but it seems that the worst thing the data collecting raised in this post could do is manipulate an algorithm to show you ads or social media content or other website content (most concerning, political propaganda).

That’s to say, okay - this is weird but you have to tell people why they should care if you want them to raise concern. WHY is this “terrifying”? I mean, I can speculate but even the worst case scenarios I’ve told people about have barely raise an eyebrow.