Even if the vehicle traffic didn’t meet some imaginary quota, that says nothing of the pedestrian traffic. Just another signal of our car-centric society.

With kanji, as well as not knowing what it means, you have no information of how it’s pronounced.

An impossible joke in kanji:

Granted, I never lived in any other era of human history, but I imagine our fractured society plays a huge role in why so many of us feel this way (because you are absolutely not alone in this experience.) We used to stay in close-knit communities, which forced us to hold our ties to each other, but we now have the entire globe to connect with. Consider how dating sites proliferate the idea that we can pick people the way we pick items in a grocery store - check one out, put it back on the shelf, put another in your cart, return another at a later date. It’s a pretty messed up way to think about other humans, but unfortunately a lot of people have internalized that this is a normal way to treat others.

When this happens enough, it’s easy to end up feeling disposable. It’s important to remind yourself that it’s not about you per se, but about how others treat each other. Being loyal is an underrated trait nowadays, made all the harder when you’ve gone through experiences where people take advantage of it.

I would love to offer solid advice on the matter, but unfortunately I often feel the same way. The best I can offer is the knowledge that you likely aren’t doing anything in particular to bring this on yourself - it’s a massive societal issue. Not the greatest hope, I know, but you are far from alone. I think it’s important that we recognize that loyal people are out there. It’s just hard to know how loyal someone is until the chips are down.

Have you watched any of Alyssa Grenfell’s videos on Youtube? She’s a former Mormon who makes videos about it from her perspective. I knew the church was fucked up, but the rabbit hole is so much deeper than I expected.

It’s not as simple as “they’re stupid” (which they are.) It’s a symptom of their in-group vs out-group thinking pattern. They don’t think the differences between other countries matter, because they’re all “others” as far as they’re concerned. So they paint foreigners with the same brush and leave it at that.

As to why “Mexican” in used in particular, I think other commenters make a good point about Mexico being the most prominent Spanish-speaking country to people in the US. They don’t see as many people from Spain, so that’s off their radar. If my upbringing in a racist area is anything to go by, “Mexican” became the default long ago.

Funny enough, I used to write the dates on the CDs I burned. If I go dig out my collection, I could probably find the last one I made. My guess off-hand is that it was around 2008-2009, since that was the last time I had a car that didn’t have a way to hook an iPod/phone to the radio.

True, but they can tell when their card is put back in the wrong pocket, or upside down, or other tiny clues that hint of someone messing with their stuff. Kids sometimes think parents know more than they do, or “have eyes in the back of their head,” simply because kids don’t pay attention to the same details their parents might. Their parents can deduce what happened from clues, clues that the kids don’t realize they left.

A very careful child might get away with it, but if their parents are equally careful they’ll probably notice something is amiss. I guess it all comes down to “your mileage may vary.”

At my first real job, I used to hang my coat on one particular coat hanger because it was the only one of its color. I chose it because it was easy for me to spot my coat when the hangers were crowded.

Now, I had a coworker who… I’m not quite sure what was going on with his brain. He jumped to weird conclusions all the time and flat-out made up things that he seemed to truly believe were real.

One day he randomly started arguing with me that the coat hanger I used was green. Uh, okay? Then he claimed that I had claimed it was yellow, and that I was wrong. I never made any such claim (and if I were pressed to it, I would’ve called it chartreuse.) Yet he was insistent that we had fought about it before, for some strange reason, and went on gloating about being right. It was utterly bizarre.

I let it go. He’s the same person who decided that “magic erasers” (for cleaning surfaces) must work by having paint in them. No amount of logic about that budged his opinion, and I knew no amount of reality would budge him on the coat hanger color.

So, sure dude, you win the imaginary argument. Congrats. Would you like an imaginary cookie?

some people don’t get high their first times.

Thank you for mentioning this. I didn’t try weed until my mid-20s and it took years of intermittent trying before I actually felt high. I’d never heard that this could happen, so I just got upset thinking I’d never be able to understand what the big appeal of weed was. Only in my late 20s, at a friend’s party where I’d already gotten pretty buzzed on alcohol, did a hit of a pipe make me finally feel something.

I don’t know if it finally clicked because of lowered inhibitions due to the alcohol, or if my brain had to build up to feeling an effect, or what, but weed’s worked as intended ever since. I will add that I’m the type of person that has been asked throughout my teenage years, “What are you smoking? And can I have a hit?” despite being 100% sober until my 20s. Maybe having an already-weird brain had something to do with it?

So yeah, OP, be prepared to discover that you might not feel anything from weed at all. It doesn’t seem to be terribly common, but it is definitely possible that nothing happens the first few tries. That doesn’t mean it will never happen, though.

I remember asking to borrow my parents’ newspaper so I could use my silly putty to make copies of pictures.

Also reading comics, and reusing the newspaper so I could make papier mâche (or other crafts) out of it. I learned to weave by using strips of newspaper to make a mat.

I know compliments we’ve received aren’t necessarily the answer, but it’s hard to think of anything that could top when a former coworker had a baby and told me, "I hope she grows up to be just like you."

I saw that part first and immediately thought, “Wow, yes, it must be annoying for ads for jewelry to be embedded in your work.” Then I saw the sleep apnea garbage. Until reading the additional info, I was ready to ask, “Which ad?” The way it’s worded sounds like sponsored content.

Also, all the people using ad blockers must also be blocking each other’s comments. Because hot damn, there’s a lot of people saying the same thing. I think OP gets the message, y’all.

Other commenters have made really good points (like the one about us self-selecting to be here after leaving more toxic social media, or the one about engagement algorithms on Reddit encouraging hostility.)

As a smaller site, each of us holds more sway in building what this community is. There are definitely people here that see that and want to continue fostering a more positive experience. A lot of users here have interests in science, especially computer science, and a lot of users come from around the world. Both of these create a space that encourages rationality more than US-based popular social media (like Reddit.) Logical fallacies are called out for what they are, and plenty of people here are of the mindset that pointless drama isn’t worth engaging with. It’s not absolute, no, but compared to Reddit? It’s like another planet.

I definitely feel the vibe of old school computer forums. Small communities where people remember each other’s usernames and backstories encourage us to find common ground. Reddit’s near-anonymity has the downsides of any large-scale online anonymity - people can get mean because they don’t recognize the humanity of whoever’s on the other end of the argument. Here, we are still somewhat anonymous, but you run across some of the same names over and again. Like a small town where people all know each other, you end up more accountable for your shit-stirring because you’ll encounter the same people more frequently.

Oh, and one last point, the average age here is higher than Reddit. IIRC we’re mostly in our 30s. Age and maturity may hold sway in our behavior here as well.

That’s so bad for a child’s development. A computer can’t guide a kid’s hand to practice fine motor skills. It can’t impart social skills to help kids interact with each other. It can’t help kids revolve conflicts with each other, or handle behaviors that require a human touch. Imagine a couple kids fighting because they can’t share - what’s a computer gonna do? A kid can just ignore its instructions. What’s to stop a kid from physically attacking a robo-nanny or whatever fresh hell gets developed in this field?

I work with kids with difficult behaviors. There are ethical boundaries we need to be aware of. Will a robo-nanny be imparted with those rules? How accountable would it be if it did something ethically questionable? What will it be trained on - actual knowledge of children’s psychology (in which case, using a robot at all should be discounted right off, as children thrive on human interaction)? Or will it be trained on what parents/teachers have already been doing, which would inevitably result in being trained on outdated techniques that don’t follow updates in science? If a robot thinks spanking, isolation, or withholding food is okay, that’d be extremely troubling. There’s so much that could go wrong, and knowing this tech isn’t being designed with ethics in mind makes this whole endeavor terrifying.

Are parents going to be comfortable with their kids being alone in a room without an adult? A group of kids could simply band together to lock the robot in a closet or something and let chaos reign. They could figure out how to power it down, or throw things at it until it stops functioning. A kid having a tantrum can be a powerful force, potentially injuring other children in the act, and I highly doubt a robot alone could handle that situation effectively. Where I work it can take a team of adults with blocking pads, and coordination with even more adults to clear other students from the area. Sometimes those other kids are playing games and don’t want to leave, and it takes a trusted adult to convince them that yeah, no, we need to move now. Which brings us to the relationship the teachers have with the students, and how it is crucial to gaining what’s called “instructional control,” which basically means, “this kid will listen to your instructions.” Can a robot foster that? Do we want a robot to be able to foster that? I don’t like the idea of kids personifying machines to that extent, and we’re quickly learning how damaging (literally, it can cause brain damage) that can be for young minds.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say this whole topic is an ethical clusterfuck.

No person can think so much about all their decisions to spend money.

Aw, I wish I didn’t need to budget every cent, but with the small amount of pocket change I’ve got to buy things, being careful with it becomes normal. Most of the food I buy is straight up raw vegetables, or store brand frozen/canned items (which are bought because they’re cheapest. Or is “advertisement” so broad of a term that it applies to ordinary price tags?) Clothing is whatever’s affordable, fits, and looks and feels good enough. When you’re teetering on the edge of homelessness (and have experienced it three times), survival becomes your main priority. Penny pinching is unavoidable. Frivolous spending becomes a pipe dream.

Even if ads are still sneaking info into my brain, I’m hard-pressed to think of any purchases I’ve made where brand names factor in. I’m really trying to think of something here, but even the less common things I’ve spent money on were chosen through experience (like a game I played with a friend, then decided I wanted a copy of) or research (like when I bought a solar generator last year. I’d never even heard of the company before I sought it out for myself.)

I guess a local Chinese food flyer put on a doorknob counts as advertising that works, though even then if they don’t have decent veg options and prices, it’s going to be a no-go. So sure, that’s your “gotcha.” Chinese food flyers. All the money spent on ads around the world, and the only thing I can recall purchasing based on it took some person taking a walk and hanging menus on doors.

I get it, ads are designed to manipulate, to put ideas into people’s heads as a latent reminder, like a virus waiting for the right moment to strike. Maybe some day if I actually make enough money to not have to be extraordinarily careful with it, more of them might get a chance to work. Who knows. Right now, price is the biggest pain point, overriding brand recognition. With the way things are going, I don’t expect that to change any time soon.

Perhaps the best advertisement would be if a company decided to lobby for higher wages - that’d definitely make a company name stick in my head in a positive way, and would provide me the opportunity to spend money on them, to boot!

Oh, how about the ads for that insurance company that’s just for military families? Way to bark up the wrong tree. Even if the point is to subtly convince me to join the United States military, that’s still hilariously off-target. Never. gonna. happen.

And nowdays you just know their $300 “service” is going to be “run it through an LLM.”

You might think you cannot afford to buy most things advertised, but the numbers don’t lie. They’ll get you eventually. Even if it’s just $3.

Do you really believe that? $3 isn’t going to get me the things I see ads for that I’d actually be tempted by. As to things $3 or below, I’m never shopping at the craft store that hates gay people. I’m never buying from the top fast food places either. These are things I already made decisions on for moral reasons and I’ve never swayed on in all my years, so why on Earth would an ad make a difference?

I don’t think advertisers (or those that think any old ad is bound to be effective) consider that there are some of us who make decisions based on our own criteria. I recognize that I’m not like most people, but to say that such ads are still going to “get [me] eventually” is nonsense.

Not having money never really stopped people from spending it anyhow.

Maybe for some, but that’s again not something that applies to everyone. I don’t even have a credit card. I’ve had nearly 20 years of adulthood in which to get one, have bought/leased cars and rented apartments without a problem (despite no card, paying off student loans means my credit score is pretty good), and I prefer the security of only spending money I’ve already got. Advertisers can have fun trying to squeeze blood money from a stone.

Especially when it’s for vacation spots, booking sites, or luxury cars. Keep spending that money for no return, guys, because absolutely none of that is happening. (I want to say “not happening anytime soon,” but who am I kidding? I’m already in my upper 30s and I can’t fathom making that kind of money.)

Same boat. I work with small kids, oblivious to politics, full of hope for the future because that’s how they should feel. I clock in and lose myself in their version of the world for 8 hours a day. It’s no wonder why I’m actually happier at work than at home these days.