This is why I can't do online left wing spaces any more. They talk the talk about ableism, but then its "why can't you boycott the only food you can eat, just eat something else", "you could talk to service workers if you wanted to, you just think you're better than them".

Then sharing a video of people with their fingers in their ears at a black music festival with a caption calling them racists, when they're clearly autistic people enjoying the festival but having sensory problems.

I blame the popular understanding/misunderstanding of neurodiversity. People think autism is just a personality type.

The reason they're not able to pay for home ownership is because people buy homes to rent for profit. If poor people only had to compete on price with other poor people instead of with investors, house prices would go back to 20th century levels where you could buy one for 3x your salary.

Does anyone else not really like talking about their special interests?

I can see how bored people are the second I start, like their eye contact suddenly breaks and they look around the room, and only say "mmhmm" instead of replying. So I shut up after one sentence.

But if the other person also likes the subject, I don't like talking to them either, because there's nothing to say. If we disagree I don't want to be rude and argue so I awkwardly pretend to agree. If we agree then all you can do is tell each other things you both already know and agree that they're good.

I wish my internal monologue would shut the fuck up. It's almost always rehearsing arguments. Like for a whole day all I'll think about is why someone I spoke to in a forum 20 years ago was wrong. I listen to podcasts or loud music to get a break from hearing my thoughts.

Ha, I was thinking about "how to make friends" advice earlier. When you ask NTs how to make friends they just list places you can go. They assume once you're in a place with other people you will naturally make friends with them.

Locating humans is not the problem!

I suspect a lot of "breakages" were failed pacman updates due to signing issues, before pacman knew to update arch-keyring first. I know one person who moved to another distro when that happened.

I still use both Lemmy and Reddit and I honestly think Lemmy is in a sweet spot where there are enough comments for a discussion but not enough to go off topic.

Reddit discussions are never about the OP, they're always riffing on an off-topic joke that someone made in a reply to the already off-topic top comment.

Overpriced. It maybe used to be worth it, but these days all phones look and work the same anyway.

I used to be an iPhone person, bought a new one every two years from the iPhone 4 in 2010 until my iPhone SE broke in 2018. That was when iPhones jumped to being like $1000, so I thought fuck it and bought a $150 Android.

I was ready for a really rough transition but it turns out these days all apps are cross platform React Native with data stored in the cloud. Once you're logged in literally everything is exactly the same.

"I hate astrology" is code for "I have no idea how the zodiac works"

Wanna bet? Ask one of those "I hate astrology" dudes, what's the difference between soft aspects and emphatic aspects, and don’t hold your breath because you’ll laugh.

Even better. Ask them the difference between cardinal signs and mutable signs and how that relates to the current solar cycle and their personal birth charts.

Well, I guess teenagers remain teenagers for decades some times.

Honestly I think Beyond Meat/Impossible style burgers are aimed at meat eaters who want to reduce animal cruelty/their carbon footprint. It's actually kind of annoying they're so popular now, as restaurants that used to have creative vegan options now sell Beyond Meat as the only choice.

Vegans don't tend to care if a veggie burger is "realistic". Some find the idea of meat gross and don't want to roleplay eating it (my wife says they make her feel sick). Even if you don't mind, the longer you give up meat the less interesting it is as a flavor. I'd take one of those shitty frozen veggie burgers that are 90% potato over an Impossible burger.

People make fun of the "new towns" planned and built by post-war socialist governments in the UK, but I spent some delivering leaflets in Stevenage recently and it's honestly heaven for pedestrians.

There are roads for cars, but they all connect to the back of homes. The front of each house leads into a wide pedestrian / cycle path, and the paths connect via tunnels underneath the roads. I would walk hours each day delivering leaflets and never see a car.

Best simple magic trick I've ever seen, blows people's minds:

Cut out a piece of black paper the shape of the opening of a beer can, lick it and stick it to the lid. From a distance it should look like it's open. Prick a hole in the side with a pin and drain out a quarter of the beer, enough that you can squeeze the can and bend it. Lay it on its side on a table, with the pinhole pointing up so it doesn't leak. Now it looks like an open, empty, crushed can. Do all that secretly obviously.

Now ask someone if they want a drink, and point out the "empty" can. Pick it up and cover the pinhole with your finger, then subtly wave the can around as you magically summon more beer. The remaining beer will fizz up and the pressure will cause the can to inflate and uncrush itself. Secretly remove the black paper and hide it. Show them the magically restored lid, crack it open an pour the beer into a glass (so they don't notice it was partly empty).

What makes it so incredible is you never hid the can from them or did anything tricksy. From their POV, an empty can just refilled itself in front of their eyes.

Edit: Here's David Blaine doing it for some obvious actors. You will be able to make it more convincing than this. Can't believe David Blaine was so popular back then lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTG-MIqU-Q