lol my dumb ass thought “bricktopher”

Where would I find a way to know if an instance aligned with what I wanted or not? I’m supposed to personally find and explore a bunch of different ones?

Look at it from the other persons perspective they 1) feel comfortable doing this and 2) have the financial means to do so why not let them give their best friend a nice gift? I’m very fortunate to be at the income level I am but as a mom of a 19 and 20 year old if they had asked me to give their best friend a phone I would ask some questions like, do they need one? How old is theirs? Why can’t they afford one? Assuming they had a shitty old phone because they’re poor I would absolutely be ok with my kid giving a (long term) best friend a phone, especially if the friend was also open to it

Assuming they’re just well off and have normal parents I think it’s very possible this is a reasonable gift.

Anytime we have an expensive gift to a friend they personally called us on the phone to thank us, it was always awkward as hell to me but polite, so I think that’s the etiquette when you get a gift life this, to call and say tanks in person or to see them and thank them in person (the kids parents, assuming they bestie didn’t pay for it all on his own in which case that’s between the two of them imo the point of extra money is to spend it on people you love, you can’t take it with you after all)

I remember being a tween in the mid/late 90s and trying to convince why Mormon friends why I believed being trans was real and possible, not that I especially understood what trans was. I figured if nature was so varied and had so many irregularities there was no reason that being born into the wrong body/the wrong sex couldn’t be one of those irregularities. Being this was the 90s and the topic hadn’t been politicized we all came to the conclusion it was reasonable for biology to “allow for” trans identities. I feel like even basic biology covered the concept of a person being trans just fine

If the reason EE is shutting down due to lack of staff why would anyone go to a smaller one/one run by a single person? This is incredibly likely to happen there too. I didn’t actually realize this was a thing that could even happen, I just picked an instance at random, but picking the biggest and most robust instance seems like the best way to stave this off for as long as possible.

Decentralization is a double edged sword, you just have to accept you give up some things to get other things.

With all the communists you think it wouldn’t be an issue if all you have to do is put in more work at your own expense

And how? I came here due to full reddit ban not cause I knew anything about the platform and wanted in, it I do like the platform and I’m glad I was “forced” to try it. Except I didn’t, and don’t, know what instances are, why they matter beyond “decentralization” and I just picked one at random because I didn’t realize your “instance” could just be removed… if an instance can be removed/shut down it doesn’t seem like any instance is actually a safe place to go since it’s not depended on me but whoever is running it? You can lose your account no matter what. Idk if this means I should try to figure this out, which is just make a new account I think? Or if this is a sign for me to give up my last social media outlet and just be done with reddit/reddit clones in general

You should absolutely be wearing a mask if it’s Smokey out. I live in the PNW and have significant lung disease (enough I he’d to get new ones) and if the air quality is even in the medium range you should consider wearing a mask to protect you from environmental pollution

They are stocking more of things to keep the shelves looking full. A lot of produce sections only have staple goods and most exotic ingredients are gone

So many of them are so gross. Every time I see a new flavor I have to try it

Produce? You mean the apples, bananas and cabbage section? Basically all the exotic foods are gone or significantly reduced and staple foods are taking up more room on displays. Most processed foods seem about the same but more expensive

Political affiliation is not a protected class, it’s not illegal to discriminate against you for who you vote for

When the BBB passes it will be illegal for courts to enforce the law

That would require people tolerate others who don’t share basically all their opinions and I think we’re going the opposite direction of that rn

When the Christian militias come for me I want to be able to lay down suppressive fire 🤷🏻‍♀️

Maybe like… Muppet Treasure Island?

“Ukrainians didn’t directly endanger themselves and their long term military plans to inform unrelated enemy nation”

This first time I saw this headline I was like “YEAH, why would they???”

No US weaponry was used in this righteous attack either, literally no reason to put the US in the loop