What do you mean are you a different species? What call was there for that sarcastic remark?

Have you ever had a conversation with a woman? They will tell you that they become extremely attracted to facial hair when they're ovulating.

Life experience will show you that women are completely obsessed with sex to the point that for most, it's the main thing they think about.

I don't want that to be true, but it is.

I'm gender fluid so I move easily between spaces. Ever been to mans night? We talk about hobbies, news, technology, games, hobbies, our kids, career aspirations, etc. Go to woman's night and it's non-stop penises, sexual conquest, shitty exes.

It's just really hard for people to accept that most of what women project on men, is just that, projection. I will not back off that women are vastly more interested in sex than men.

I also really don't need to hear your lectures, I'm telling you a series of lies I was told as a child. I'd like to invite you to calm down, read when I'm saying, and try to understand versus thinking about how it upsets you and why you disagree. I also don't want to hear your regurgitated social media opinions, they are fatiguing and they are pointless and they are meritless.

Similarly–

"You're going to have to write everything in cursive so it's important that you learn it"

And it was literally never required in school or life after that.

I suppose that could be true if you accept the false belief about when slavery ended

This one is funny for me. I write almost exclusively in cursive, with a fountain pen, and for a while I drove a stick-shift car and wore a mechanical analog watch.

I do/did those things because I appreciate the extra attention that it takes to do/use them. I think there is a certain fulfillment that you get from doing everyday things in an older or archaic way.

I also think that schools and education for children should be about fostering an innate sense of curiosity and self-impovement/fulfillment. In that light, I think schools should teach some of those outdated, more cultural topics, for the same reason that we teach poetry, or literature. I don't think we should be grading kids on it though, or failing them because they can't read an analog clock.

My mom told me the crust was the part of the bread with the most nutrients.

Think it was the Genesis in the US. Mega Drive everywhere else.

Which leads me to wonder what the Mega CD was called in the US... And was it the smart hi-fi style unit or the scruffy-looking side-by-side version?

Mom told me that dragonflies would sew my mouth shut.
Was afraid of them until I was at least 6 or so...

Yeah my beliefs have grown more nuanced as I left my early-mid 20s, but it's a pretty far left form of nuanced. Meanwhile as a teenager I was downright centrist on a lot of issues and conservative as often as I was liberal/left. I didn't stop believing in capitalism until college

My childhood friend became a welder. But my suspicion is that it's a skilled trade that doesn't sound gross (plumbing) or super dangerous (electrician). Everyone knows we need welders, they understand what they do too. All this makes it the perfect thing to assume your kid is going to do when they decide not to go to college. Actually going to trade school and apprenticing on the other hand…

At least my father never made that promise. But yeah it's amazing how many parents have such a ridiculous condition on their love

The claims of "doing it for attention" are so silly to me. I can think of so many easier ways to get attention

Roundup is safe

BC stands for before Christ (I guess some people still say this but I think its more religious people that do)

Democrats are evil

Humans can't destroy earth because god made that imposisble

Seeing a pattern ?

I recall a Bible radio show about the "are people good or evil naturally" pushing really hard on the "all humans evil and need god (and also moneys plz fo church just a widdle).

I don't think its a "naturally" one way or the other. You see how sweet kids are and non racist they are until some asshole parent or otherwise trains them to be bigots. Then some kids are just uncontrollable. Its random.

The thing about humans

Most humans just are. Neither good nor bad, probably on average more good than has as its a requirement for out social way of life to exist in the first place, but yeah; most people just want to make it to the end of the day without too much bullshit.

A lot of the bullshit we have to deal with on a daily basis is caused bybhowbthe world had been setup now by narcissists over the past few hundred years. Its whybwe allow rich people to just get richer without limit. Its why we have poverty, and from there hundreds, of not thousands of problems come.

Want humanity to start behaving better? Implement wealth caps world wide. I firmly believe that over time, that will end all of humanities' problems

Like how the government should stay out of people's private lives, like what/how they worship and who they love...

For me, this is the top comment because I was also taught that the government should stay out of people's private lives (what/how they worship, who they love, etc), and I still hold these ideals dear to my heart. What still fucks w/ me to this day is that I was also taught that it was one particular party who represents these ideals, and it took me until well into my twenties to figure out that that was the lie!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini

"It's ok we (white people) took the land from the Indians because we make better use of it, and can sustain a much larger population on it."

Liberal use of the term "sustain."

My mom told me and my sister, when we were young enough to believe it, that the Ice cream man was just a nice man who drove around playing music for people.

The best set up I came across was a pump that mounted on your waist, it pumped in filtered air and kept a positive pressure under the mask. I snaked the tube up under my leathers between my shoulders. Wasn't too cumbersome.

I've seen the one you're talking about. I thought it was too much weight to be carrying on my neck all day.

But unless you're prepared to go full hazmat you're getting exposed to foul air.

My problem is that I want kids.

Except, I know it's stupid. The insurmountable student loan debt that's currently a yoke around my neck is half of what it would cost to raise my ideal two children to just 18 years old. Climate change is going to destroy our way of life in the next 30 years, I'd be bringing them into a world on the brink of collapse. Society will break down when famine/disease start going unchecked, this is what I want them to experience? All so, what? I can have a little buddy that looks up to me and thinks I'm great for a few years? All so I can get my little kodak moments in between miserable days filled with screaming, crying, no sleep, stress, financial hardship, troubled marriage, and no sex?

And here I am, suffering from major chronic depression/anxiety... Would I even be a good steward of these children? I know I'd like to think of myself as just a baby away from switching into "Dad mode," but would it be enough? Would I be waking up early to get my kids breakfast and lunch together, or would I fall deep into depression and get up at 2PM like I've been doing? Will I even have the energy enough to play with my kids after work? What about building that tree-house, and doing school projects? What about after-school sports and parties and everything else? I am barely holding myself together, am I really going to be able to switch my whole personality like a light switch into becoming the kind of Dad these kids would need?

I would be trapping myself into a job I hate forever, just to have these children, which would also make retirement a fever dream.

So why the hell do I still want them? I just wish my head and my heart could be on the same page for this, and they are just not.

You and me both. Plus I suffered a horrendous enough TBI that I should anecdotally love Trump and his diet nazis.

Fuck that noise. Mutual aid and DSA getting a seriously foothold in American politics is a good first step.

You don't use cursive when you write checks?

Yeah, I think not sounding gross or dangerous is part of it - combined with the skill level. Personally, my in-laws encouraged my nephew not to go to college, but instead to become a welder - or an electrician as a backup plan.

He did neither and now works for the city cleaning sewers. It's a needed job and pays ok, but no one ever says "you don't need to go to college, you can clean a sewer." It's always "you can be a welder."

It was called the Sega CD in the US, and there were 2 versions available: the side-by-side one for the launch version Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and the stacked one for the second version Genesis/Mega Drive.

“We love you”.

My father REALLY enjoyed physically and emotionally us (myself and two younger siblings). The best part being that my sister was already quite messed up from her pre adoption life since she was found starving, dying of exposure and having signs of horrendous physical abuse. “Get the shoe” was my favorite game… if either of us made the mistake of a shoe that wasn’t hard enough to bruise badly, things would go much worse for us.

My mother was a cold narcissist. Well regarded biochemist who didn’t believe in western medicine and was convinced she was a psychic healer. So instead of surgery for a severe TBI at 7 with a significant swelling AND a few rounds of seizures, I was given spinach smoothies and good vibes. My head still hurts. She also had to top me on ANY success, so that helped.

She had a massive stroke in 2022 probably due to knowing better than doctors how to deal with both high blood pressure and VERY high cholesterol. Then died late last year from the flu, most likely refusing to get vaccinated as you do when you’re already in a compromised state.

I shrugged.

My father is in very poor shape, also partly due to her being in charge of his health care after two devastating tropical diseases (yellow fever then dengue), both followed by walking pneumonia. Then later two “stroke like events” that both require hospitalization.

I expect another shrug coming soon.

I don’t think I’m a monster. But having let go of my hatred for these two “parents” left me with nothing but apathy for them.

Humans can’t destroy earth because god made that imposisble

TBF, I think my 9th-grade social studies teacher had the right of it; "We cannot destroy Earth. Earth has survived at least 5 extinction-level events. And it's still here, full of life. We will destroy our environment until it's unlivable for us. Humans will be long gone. And new flora and fauna will replace us. But the Earth will be fine, it's just a big hunk of solids, liquids, and gases."

Yeah, apparently the Genesis branding was for North America while Mega Drive was outside of there.

The tower of power in North America was the SEGA Genesis paired with the SEGA CD and the 32x.

The first one was the Master System, then after the Genesis came the Saturn and Dreamcast (I think in that order but they were so close together it's hard to tell). And there was the Game Gear portable system, simultaneously way better and worse than the GameBoy. Did any of those also have different branding outside of NA?

I know a lot of kids who came from abuse, maybe as bad as you've dealt with. You're not a monster. It's not your job to create a relationship with your parents, or even want one, it's theirs. So many millennials, not just Americans, felt they should have kids, full stop. No plan, no idea, no help. When they figure out quickly this isn't for them, it's too late to turn back. They can give up the child and the way people see them, or try to keep up the farce. To some, being seen a certain way is more threatening than some kid not liking them. So they just play parents, and usually make the kids upbringing the kids fault or their families. I spent a lot of weekends at my Grandparents house, hiding from the things my parents wanted me to do. Instead doing the things I wanted to do. I'm glad I was allowed that space as a kid because I don't know how messed up i would be without it. What's crazier is they claim to have 100% raised me, as though 99% of the things I do came from them, not my grandparents. People get very silly when they aren't honest with themselves. I hope more people know being honest about yourself doesn't mean you have to change, but you can't be afraid to see yourself as you know yourself. If you suddenly become a parent and you're not ready, you're fucking up your life and the kids by pretending you can when you can't. Usually these people have strong enablers too, not unusual in people who struggle in general. Those enablers might be useful for getting a job, or trying something new, but not being a parent. You probably know this already, just wanted to commiserate for a moment.

IMO people are not inherently good. They’re not inherently bad, either. They are often shortsighted, apathetic, and self-serving.

I had this conversation with a conservative acquaintance of mine. It went on for hours. He needed there to be good vs bad in his worldview and everyone needed to be at least on a sliding scale good to bad. Everything needed to be they're not bad they just ...

I had a neon green batman T-shirt that I loved and my mum didn't (5 years old) when a bunch of our bags got stolen during a move she lied and said it was in a stolen bag then threw it away 😂

Sadly my grandparents were either far away (father’s parents, both a handful of nonsense) or dead (mother’s mother died when I was 6, father when my mother was 8).

They are/were silent generation, but born just before the baby boom. So despite both growing up in pretty bad poverty, they lived in a time of prosperity that is hard to comprehend now. Probably why they could afford to adopt a foreign born child in the early 70s, along with many other fiscal excesses.

I’m happy with my family of choice. Wife of 37 years, wonderful granddaughter who got married this past weekend and some truly odd choices like my wife’s ex-husband’s estranged second wife who we sort of adopted into close family.

Also, it was my aunt (mother’s best friend from childhood) who raised me. She lived with us from the time my mother’s mother was dying until I left for college. I’m still very close with her and dread her loss as I see health issues mounting.

checks... hah found the dinosaur... /s i'm in my 50's

I have a checkbook; I write one a year for a service that is a pain in the butt about check-by-mail only. While i do use cursive for that, there's absolutely no reason to.

Check washers didn't just make slight changes to your checks (000/100) and cash them, they used the right solvents and removed all the ink except for the signature and made them out for as much as they wanted.

Your signature doesn't even need to be cursive.

1. God is real
2. Economics is a science
3. Space and time are relative
4. Particles turns into waves when you're not looking at them

It's strange how you'll go your entire life with no love for your parents, but you'll see the love just went somewhere else. It's sad we only notice when it's gone or leaving us though.

No, they were all the same everywhere I think. Just the Genesis was different. Maybe they'd seen Nintendo flipping between Famicom and SNES branding and thinking that might be the secret sauce.

Sega just kept falling between technology generations at the end there. Saturn was so close to being 3D capable, but the PlayStation and N64 were so much better in every way. Then the Dreamcast which wasn't that much less powerful than the PS2, but missed out on DVDs for the extra storage space that proved essential later on. Plus the PS2 played DVDs at a time when it cost only slightly more than a dedicated player.

Seeing a pattern ?

lemme guess, gawd loves us all so much be created a place called hell to torture the vast majority of us forever if we dont love him back?

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-there-a-soy-milk-estrogen-connection#benefits

soy isoflavones act similarly to estrogen within the body

It's not entirely unfounded. but the effect is pretty low.

however: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19496976/

Results: After the intake of cow milk, serum estrone (E1) and progesterone concentrations significantly increased, and serum luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and testosterone significantly decreased in men. Urine concentrations of E1, estradiol, estriol and pregnanediol significantly increased in all adults and children. In four out of five women, ovulation occurred during the milk intake, and the timing of ovulation was similar among the three menstrual cycles.

cow's milk does absolutely mess with prepubescent kids bodies

1. Cigarette butts aren't litter
2. You're supposed to leave all your garbage in your seat at the movie theatre.

I was being silly and sardonic. I still use checks, but I know it is waaaay outside the norm and anachronistic.

Indeed.

Oh yeah, it's a real mind bender when the blinders come off. Then you spend a while deconstructing and then eventually you realize your crap opinions weren't really yours to begin with and you learn to forgive yourself.... And to do better.

Go vote everyone! Early voting has started and it's literally the least you can do!

The other part of the lie is how hypocritically inconsistent the ideas are applied as well.

Government should stay out of our private relationships! Unless you're both the same sex.

Government should let us live how we want! Unless you're trans.

Government shouldn't interfere with religious liberty! Unless you're Muslim.

You apparently only get to exercise personal liberty if you fit their narrow view of how they think it should be done.

Unless you're a profit-generating enterprise I guess, then you can do whatever the fuck you want as long as the shareholders are happy. And we better not let big scary government interfere with that.

Lol isn't it just?

What do you think bc stands for

Also, like... so what if they are? Maybe it really is "just a phase" or whatever the fuck else someone wants to dismissively ascribe any behavior to.

Does that really mean the kid is any less deserving of the attention, connection, and understanding ear they are clearly crying out for? Is ignoring, shunning, or otherwise socially punishing them really the best way to address it?

Like you said, there are much easier ways to get attention. If someone is willing to claim to be trans just for the attention, then they are in serious need of a better support structure in their lives. Giving them shit for it isn't going to help anything.

Just did some reading. Apparently "Genesis" was already overloaded outside of NA and they opted to change the branding rather than possibly need to fight a legal battle.

And the Dreamcast used GD-ROMs because DVDs were open but required license fees, and the standard wasn't fully set when it was in development. Plus they figured it would help avoid piracy using a proprietary disc format, though didn't work out that way.

“You’ll become more conservative as you get older” heard this one quite a bit from people who didn’t wanna face facts about the world.

Probably also lead poisoning

I am calm and not upset (as ironic as it is to say: I can disagree without big emotions involved). I am not lecturing you, just providing you with actual experiences that are different from yours since I am a bi cis woman familiar with toxic masculinity (the lies you were told). I think you assumed a lot here but I did not mean to come off as upset, angry, lecturing a small child, etc. I would appreciate if you also read my words in a more neutral head space. While we may talk about our relationships when we hang out, we do not obsess over sex like you said and do talk about other things. It's disheartening that you have reduced women and 'girls night' to penises, sex, and exes. These are my actual opinions and life experiences but if you think it's all regurgitated social media that fatigues you then maybe you should listen more to us instead of shutting us out is all I'm saying at this point. You mention being gender fluid so maybe you could hang out in more feminist spaces, there's some on lemmy even and the trans spaces have been very welcoming. We're all just trying to be more kind in this cruel world.

Ive heard people say before current era, and maybe before Christ is the right term but I though it was another form of christainwashing history.