I think the taste and texture may have become noticeably worse after the ban on artificial trans fats. It definitely impacted some of the junk food I used to buy in the grocery store. (I’m not saying the ban was a bad thing, just that a lot of us noticed the change).

Whatever the cause, I have noticed it, too.

I like Bernie’s idea of taxing every trade on the stock market.

You can advertise without paying millions to people who already have millions. And forcing them to reveal the cost to consumers isn’t preventing them from advertising.

Anti-incumbent voting is way up across the globe. People are pissed off about inflation (corporate greed) and they just knee-jerk “vote them out”.

Please remember that most people don’t pay attention to the details of economic policies or politics very much. They only get a general “vibe” from whatever bubbled media and bot content they consume. People have voted against their own interests for generations because of this phenomenon.

I’ll never forget years ago when my father was listening to Rush Limbaugh and that asshole Rush said, “I understand my listeners are hard working people who are very busy and simply don’t have the time to pay attention to these political things so that’s why you can just get your information here, I will tell you what to think.” Not an exact quote, but close enough. That type of thing has been going on for generations.

I’ve heard it used to refer to Notebooks but only by much older people (and I’m already middle-aged myself). I’ve never heard a binder called that. But, the linked article does mention spiral-bound notebooks, so I wonder if that’s why she conflated it in her mind.

I’m not a Jew but a few I know who are non-religious told me it is the basis of their cultural and family identity. There are blurry lines around religion, philosophy, and identity. And not just with Jews. There are quite a few Buddhists who practice it as a philosophy but no a religion, and countless other examples.

There’s a guy on YouTube (Esoterica channel) who is a post-theist Jew who (occasionally) talks about this. He observes Jewish traditions and so forth, but he doesn’t think God is real, etc. Fascinating channel BTW.

Anyway, I understand your confusion and I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, I don’t mean to be. I think you’re overthinking it a little bit. I was in the same place years ago.

Hopefully a Jewish person answers you and explains it better than I did.

To give a super silly and reductive example: imagine you belong to a Star Wars fan club that you LOVE being a part of. Some of the members think the Force is real but you do not.

Sorry, my reading comprehension took a little vacation there!

Some cities have gaming stores with active groups and tournaments and learn-to-play events. Public libraries often have a calendar of community events. Restaurants sometimes have them, too. Community theater. Bridge clubs. Churches often have secular events like concerts, games, fairs, book clubs, etc. Maker spaces. Community college adult education. Hobby classes like woodworking and pottery.

Project 2025. They exposed their plan and now thry will implement it, and nithing can stop them.

A lot of folks on lemmy.world complain about how many posts are about the US and/or politics. I understand it can be tedious. But there are hundreds of lemmy instances to choose from, and some of those are not federated with lemmy.world, and some of the clients let you block instances you don’t like. Get out there and explore and try things.

I believe age and exercise are two important factors here. Older people tend to function okay on less sleep. Regular exercise helps with both regular sleep and sleep schedule adjustments. If you can, try to put in more exercise for a few days after the switch. Hopefully it helps.

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve had some very positive interactions on here, too. And I’ve seen questions answered when people needed help. And generally useful info types of posts. The comics and memes are often good (if you like those, those are not everyone’s cup of tea). Anyway, it’s not all jackasses all the time on Lemmy.

I’m also starting to think social media plus human nature = inherently bad combo. It’s not always bad, but it trends that way over time and at large scales.

Real identity social media is bad because creepy corporations track your every move and people post fake and highly curated profiles.

Anonymous social media is bad because too many people behave like unfiltered belligerent asholes.

There is indeed a LOT of bitchy pedantry on here. I’m not sure it’s worse than other platforms, because this is the only one I’ve been using for a while now. I block very aggressively and that seems to help.

Sorry you’re not having fun on Lemmy, I do get it. For some reason reddit keeps failing upwards and we’re not getting the influx of users I was hoping for. I’m still hanging in here but participating less and less.

When the weather is nice like it is this year, we put a table and chairs out on our driveway and decorate it. We sit there and have a drink and pass out candy. It’s more fun than answering the door, and we end up chatting with neighbors and parents. Our next door neighbors did the same thing as us this year, and it was even more fun, as they were right next to us hanging out.

I encourage aggressive blocking. Without it, the assholes drive the decent people away over time.

I’d be fine without voting, too. I am glad they at least got rid of karma.

The density of nerve endings varies. Women tend to have more in their fingers than men. Also, skin can vary a lot. Some people have thick tough skin, some have thin delicate skin. This can also vary in the same person on different parts of their body.

Orbital mechanics makes launching stuff at the sun extremely difficult.

The earth has a gigantic a molten layer under our feet, and we couldn’t even dump it down there. Too expensive and difficult.

Long term, my guess is engineered super bacteria and/or robotics may clean up the trash in the future, if we don’t extinct ourselves first.

In some places, spaghetti meat sauce is gravy. Badabing!

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