It makes sense it’s being reported on, since the US federal government did something unusual in these kinds of cases - they sent a government aircraft to return the child. What about this international abduction case is different than others, that this government would take that step?

It’s like when an immigrant commits a violent crime in a distant state. Why am I learning about it, far away from where it happened, and not more local violent crimes?

If a lesbian couple in California commits family annihilation, why do I hear about it, and the family annihilation in the same county as I live gets some immediate local news coverage and then…nothing?

If there are 1000 outstanding international abductions a year, and I hear about two, is there a reason for those two? Are they local? Do they involve celebrities or politicians? Is there something exceptional or weird that catches public nterest?

Also, this administration lies. Regularly. In ways that have shown up whenever their claims end up in court. By that point, it’s already spread through the news that an ICE agent was attacked with a snow shovel, or the person they shot tried to run them down. So, care is warrented with initial reports involving them.

It’s natural to feel anxious when you’re doing things independently for the first time.

If you never feel comfortable doing these things without your folks, it’s a sign something is messed up. That’s not if you keep doing new things and feeling anxious about them, though. That’s if you are still feeling anxious setting up a dr’s appt alone when you’ve done it a hundred times already. I feel anxious about these things sometimes even though I’ve done it on my own for decades, and it turns out I have an anxiety disorder.

Hopefully, for you, doing these things will make you feel an increase in confidence, and in the future, you’ll know it’s doable. Bit by bit, you learn you can do things.

Is the problem motivation, or creativity? For motivation, there’s a reason writers in a coffeeshop is a cliche. It helps to get away from your regular situation and just have a notebook and a nice drink. Set a timer and that is your writing time. It doesn’t need to be good. You learn to write by doing it, a lot. You can go over it and edit later.

For creativity, read. Especially outside your normal interests. If you don’t read nonfiction or fiction, read some ones in the other space. Maybe a text about the history of sailing will inspire ideas for a mystery novel. You also learn what kind of writing you admire, and aspire to. What feels good in a sentence structure, and what doesn’t work for you.

Mostly, don’t hold too tightly to things if you’re just starting. Write a bunch of little stories, scenes, dialog. Maybe one of them you’ll love and want to polish up, but each time you write anything, you’re learning. Even if/especially if it sucks.

Sometime, find an art blog for someone you admire who’s been posting for years, and go back to the beginning and compare. Unless they’re an established professional since they started posting, you’ll notice a clear difference in quality. The same thing happens with writing.

If you think you have been drugged or spiked, seek help immediately, tell a trusted person and go to the hospital or call emergency services.

Oh, which trusted person? Not that one. A rando on the street is more trustworthy than the person who said they’d care for you until your dying day.

A lot of the time i see stuff downvoted it’s because it’s more bait or someone’s weird rant turned into a question. It may not be a stupid question, but the asker doesn’t seem actually curious. They often come packed with weird assumptions, that have to be dealt with first, which would be cool if the asker was interested in being walked through it.

It’s the sincerity that’s missing! If someone asks why they have to wipe their asshole when everyone has a butler to hose them down after shitting, and it turns out they’re genuine and post a pic of their sad butler- oh. i thought of another reason why stuff gets downvoted. If it’s about bodily functions, I think people get grossed out and downvote. And there have been some that seemed like fetish material.

Lots of reasons, I guess? I think other than the bodily function one, the rest boil down to the perception of sincerity.

Never played it so I can’t answer the question but here’s an article I found when I looked it up that clarified it a bit for me.

https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-insider/how-fallout-new-vegas-became-one-of-the-trans-communitys-favorite-video-games

edit: while i was reading the article you also read it lol nm

I worked at one of these warehouses for a little while. It was bad, and it sounds like it’s even worse now.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-bad-looks-good/202105/why-some-rape-victims-continue-to-date-their-rapist

It would probably take a lot of work to make like a wizard for low tech people to use for jailbreaking, right? A relative has brain damage and used to be tech savvy but now gets uneasy about things like that. I could jailbreak it for her, specifically, but I keep thinking about people in her situation who were early adopters of ebooks and would love to keep using the same device but can’t do steps like that anymore.

Sorry I asked this on your helpful comment! It just made me think of that kindle using relative. I second using that wiki and removing drm from all your books.

online glasses shops will sometimes have a “shop by face shape” section. I’ve used zenni’s and it was fine.

https://www.zennioptical.com/b/glasses-for-oval-face I’m not the best for recs here since I’ve only used this site ever and got my frames from the eye doctor and lenscrafters before that.

https://www.wikihow.com/Determine-Your-Face-Shape If you genuinely aren’t sure of your face shape, and you care if you guess wrong, get out the measuring tape.

If you have an oval face:

https://www.eyebuydirect.com/guides/sunglasses-for-oval-faces

Were there boobs in pic 15 or something?

TBH I feel like maybe the wall of teen idols with a crucifix above them all tells a story I am not sure I want to hear.

But…having seen a lot of generic greige walls in my day, I admire something that’s immediately so ugly to my eyes. Genuinely.

I guess it depends on how much effort goes into it, but odds are it’d be an easy cash grab so i assume it’d be way worse and also inherently obnoxious.

That came out of nowhere after a bunch of already known but reasonable advice. Was it written by AI and not checked for misinformation, or is it just spreading the cell phone radiation misinfo in an organic, human way, I wonder?

It must have sucked for your dad but part of me is happy that those sitcoms didn’t entirely lie to me.

I remember I felt I missed something because my mom explained the specifics of menstruation to me and school went into more detail about sex and reproduction. Despite what sitcoms were telling me, no one ever sat me down and said anything about birds or bees. I guess I hoped there was a weird pre-written speech parents awkwardly tried to recall when their kids got to a certain age.

It’s not ideal, but keeping food on the table, a roof over your head, and light/heat running are going to be bigger priorities than worrying about a tomorrow that might not come, anyway.

Well, since she’s healthy, is she the type that bruminates? I feel like I’m doing a “no stupid answers” thing because I’ve only had leopard geckos and anoles, so I should leave the answers to people who have had turtles, lol

How does she look? Cloudy eyes? Weird smell?

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/turtles-aquatic-diseases

You got me reading statistical analysis of bullying across countries and damn this is a complicated topic. It seems like boys are the most likely perpetrators, but I wonder if it’s a difference in relational and verbal bullying vs violent bullying, and what’s perceived culturally as bullying and so on.

dementia