Blocked on all streaming services we have. We thought it was harmless but annoying, but we got kinda spooked by how much that show in particular grabbed our kid’s attention and didn’t let go. For hours.

She’ll get tired of other shows and ask to play, etc. But not with Cocomelon and its knockoffs. We just figured that couldn’t be right. Then we read about how it was designed to hook baby brains… and that was the tipping point for us to banish it forever.

Of course, it also saved our sanity from those FUCKING SONGS. Plus I’m a big fan of animation in general, and that show BLOWS in that regard, to the point where I get kind of offended. So yeah. Good riddance.

I don’t know if it’s all dads, but that is exactly my experience. Once I could have a proper relationship through words, I really felt like a proper dad. But that took until she was closer to 4. Like I loved her, but it was definitely slow growth.

3 weeks in, I absolutely wasn’t feeling it, and was worried I’d gotten myself into something I shouldn’t have. Lots of doubts for sure.

30mg for me. I never had any sort of headache or anything. The worst side effect I had was sweaty hands, which were really sweaty the first week. Even that has lessened significantly over the last couple of months.

Ah yeah, that’s certainly a real possibility. We just gotta do our best out here. Best of luck!

On Vyvanse now (diagnosed recently in my late 30s), and I haven’t had any sleep issues.

Maybe they started you on too high a dose?

In any case, I’m glad you found something that works for you!

Man, I still really struggle to understand​ how we can reliably age-gate anything on the Internet without sacrificing privacy for everyone.

IRL you can just show your govt issued ID, but there’s virtually zero privacy risk doing so. Bouncers don’t register ID scans, typically, and they’re just one person. The govt doesn’t know you went to that club or drank at that one bar, unless they’re actively surveilling you.

But if I needed to identify myself as an adult online, simply by virtue of how digital systems work, that probably requires checking against a govt database, and that database will keep logs, and now Trump knows I went to Pornhub, and likely also exactly what I watched or searched for.

Maybe I’m dumb, but I really don’t know any way around this sort of thing.

I remember reading a Haidt article for an ethics class in grad school. The analysis felt… underwhelming? It’s been too long to remember the article, but I think it was something about the “morality” of conservatives being not worse but different than liberals (limited to the US, iirc). I just remember reading it and going… yeah conservative morality functions differently. It’s also just demonstrably worse, though, even based on what the article was focusing on?

That class was weird though. Mostly just a bunch of folks going,“yeah well this is what I care about” and disagreeing with each other with seemingly no intention whatsoever to try and evaluate or engage with one another.

Was that from Bluesky or somewhere else?

Existing owners can upgrade to the Switch 2 version for $10, gaining better framerates, higher resolutions, and HDR support.

I didn’t realize they had this option. As far as legal routes go, that’s not terrible (assuming there’s no weird downside, like no longer being able to play the original on the switch 1). Free would be better, of course, but $10 certainly beats paying $90 just to play the improved version on switch 2.

Sufjan Stevens is pretty amazing, and definitely a unique sound. If you like that sort of thing, I would also recommend Shugo Tokumaru. Sort of similar energy, just in Japanese.

Just one of those things kids learn at church, at least in the areas I grew up in. Kinda like the “cool S” but not quite as universally iconic.

OC Supertones and the Insyderz??? I didn’t even bother mentioning those, but hell yeah those were my absolute jam!

I’m a former Christian, if that counts.

DC Talk - the album Jesus Freak is peak Christian Rock, but the earlier, hokey rap stuff was fun, too.

Five Iron Frenzy - ska band that I absolutely adored as a teen. Saw them live at a reunion tour a few years ago (as an atheist) and had a great time.

Audio Adrenaline - more Christian Rock, just a good all around band.

Relient K - really fun and melodic punk/alternative. Went more rock than punk over time, but always solid quality. They made one of the better Christmas albums on offer, too.

And just for fun, try singing Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan’s Island!

Ooooooh. Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah I guess I just meant like… logistically?

Ports of entry don’t move, and shipping containers are huge. I’m probably just not thinking flexible enough.

is that even possible?

High skill ceiling?

More like a high skill floor! Good Lord, I don’t think I’d ever be able to beat that level without cheats, lol.

I’ll be the first to admit I have no idea what my Chucklefuck in Chief means by trying to get rid of voting booths.

But if I had to guess, I think he means literally the booths. As in, no privacy. Just paper on a desk where anyone can see what you’re doing.

If it isn’t clear, this fucker has no idea what a free and fair election is SUPPOSED to look like. He just wants to make sure whatever system we end up with favors him and him alone. And for some reason, voting booths are catching his ire. Maybe he feels insecure not knowing if Melania actually voted for him.

I love poke balls with the super big and legendary ones turned off, more like the Melee and Brawl ones.

I’d like to add some nuance to your observation.

We Americans, most of us anyway, went to public school. And in our history classes, we teach what has been called the “Standard American History Myth” by YouTube channel Knowing Better in their video on American Neo-slavery.

In short, America is founded on many ideals (freedom, liberty, etc), and we generally write our histories as if we have always believed in and acted according to those beliefs (with slavery being a “failure to live up to those ideals”). That’s the simple history we teach our kids here, it’s what we grow up believing, and the only people who ever really learn anything different had nontraditional learning opportunities (e.g. local experts in black history, American Indian history, etc), studied history at a university, or nowadays maybe learned from social media (like the above Knowing Better channel).

Manifest Destiny is a big example. We teach that America believed in their divinely inspired right to the American continent, from sea to shining sea. We do mention the Trail of Tears, but it’s taught as a brute fact at best, and as punishment for standing against America at worst. There’s no emotional processing that we did a bad thing and that we shouldn’t do that thing anymore. Most Americans would do it all again given the opportunity.

And that’s the big thing. We just… simply don’t have any sort of national level conscience. If we did something bad to someone, no we didn’t, and if we did, they deserved it.

I only really came to grips with America’s dark side in grad school by reading, listening, and watching interviews with black people who protested Jim Crowe and Asian Americans who told their experiences living in concentration camps (euphemistically “internment camps”) during WW2.

That, I think, is the biggest problem in the American psyche. Not only have we “never done anything wrong, really” but we’re also pumped up on religious symbolism (we’re a beacon on a hill, a light into the world, etc).

“Divinely inspired” crybully, basically. There’s a reason Trump resonates so strongly here. He’s the embodiment of “I am the best, I never did anything wrong, and fuck you for trying to insinuate otherwise, you ungrateful traitor.”