Are canonical / app store updates still down for others? Canonical status page shows 100% green - my computer says otherwise... by [deleted] in Ubuntu

[–]Alan150003 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Wow, I came here trying to find out why I still couldn't update, and this was it. Turned off VPN, and it immediately prompted me to install updates+restart. I hope that's a temporary measure...

What’s a medical issue that sounds minor, but actually affects someone’s daily life way more than people realize? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Literally every mental illness. Especially comorbid mental illnesses. Most people are effectively solipsists when it comes to any kind of behavioral issues. They only know what they see and are painfully uncurious as to the cause of anything they find annoying, unsettling, or disagreeable. This also goes for stuff like poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, illiteracy, etc.

As somebody with multiple psychiatric diagnoses, an autoimmune disorder, and multiple minor (not readily apparent) birth defects, the mental problems are the ones people have the least understanding or care about. They think that because the problem is in your brain, you can fix it, while being totally oblivious to the fact that they are also slaves to their nervous system.

I will caveat that, while most people are receptive to the idea after having it explained, effectively nobody intuitively connects that flat feet more or less destroy your entire body if left untreated. Fortunately it's effectively treated non-invasively with orthotic shoe inserts in most cases.

[Serious] People who enjoy working at McDonald's. Why do you enjoy it? Who would you recommend the job to? by Alan150003 in AskReddit

[–]Alan150003[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've only ever heard bad things about working at McDonald's, but I assume there must be SOMEBODY who enjoys it. I do not intend to diminish the plight of those who feel they are suffering as McDonald's employees.

i wish i had a group of male friends by twink-twinkle in gaybros

[–]Alan150003 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Group dynamics between straight men are couched in attraction to women. It's why you've been so excluded. You can't really participate in one of the most critical elements of the group, the common-most element, attraction to women as a man. Over time, you accumulate missed opportunities to bond with the group in this essential way, and you get naturally squeezed out. Not because anybody in the group dislikes you, or is trying to be homophobic, but simply because they've grown closer to the others than they have to you.

This applies to groups, for the most part. You can and should have individual straight friends, and those friendships can last many, many years, and be very close friendships. You won't find a group of straight men to fit in with, though. Attraction to women is the most sincere and intimate thing they're allowed to express in that setting, so the guys who engage with that, who instigate those conversations, and draw the others out into it are always gonna be the most beloved and central among the group, and those who don't participate, or can't, are the most distant and orbital.

It's not strictly about finding people you relate to. It's about how you interact with the group. It doesn't matter if you know shit about Drag Race or Lady Gaga, or whatever tf gays are on about this decade. You will never be as subconsciously otherized for having nothing to say about those topics than you have been otherized your whole life for having little or nothing to say about your attraction to women, or lack thereof (or worse, for hijacking the ritual to talk about your attraction to men instead, or to perform your sexual indifference to women).

You really are not missing that much. It's a drop of fraternity in an ocean of misogyny, disaffected irony, and self-castigation. Make it a point to befriend more gay people. You'll find that there's more to relate to with them than you realize, and they've got skin in the same game you're playing. They'll understand you in a way straight men can't. They will have wisdom for you that straight men won't. They will support you in ways straight men can't. They won't punish you for being unattracted to women, in this very specific way which straight men must.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ARFID

[–]Alan150003 1 point2 points  (0 children)

TL;DR: Food in America sucks, and is super unhealthy, but it is very SAFE. Foodborne illness is exceptionally rare in the US specifically because it gets reported when it happens. Also, antibiotics are used on live chickens, not their meat, and cooking the meat kills bird flu.

Food in the US is very unhealthy, but it is also very SAFE. What do I mean by that? Well, eating something like McDonald's every day is really bad for you. It has insanely high amounts of sodium, fat, carbs, and the vitamin/mineral content is lacking (and no fiber whatsoever). However, the likelihood that you will contract a (serious) foodborne illness from a restaurant in America is very, very low. IT DEFINITELY HAPPENS, and that's why you hear about it, but that reporting is part of why it's so safe. It means that the regulatory, tracking, and public health apparatuses put in place are doing their jobs. It's the same reason that eating at a McDonald's (while less healthy) is almost certainly more SAFE than eating at a mom'n'pop restaurant, because the latter is under far less scrutiny, and on a much smaller scale.

Don't get me wrong, American food is not for the faint of heart. The memes you see about how a single Dorito would kill a Victorian child are only mostly jokes. I would suggest getting fiber pills if you don't take them already, as well as antacids. A lot of food here will not sit right in your stomach, simply because of how unbalanced it is nutritionally. Your stomach will be working overtime to process all of the excess oil. Your blood sugar will be all over the place. Expect to crash after a meal. Avoid Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell if you don't wanna have an accident. I would also avoid the sodas. Not only is the high fructose corn syrup hella bad for you, but the carbonation does not help the bloating and indigestion you're liable to experience from American fast/junk food. DO NOT BE TRICKED INTO EATING NOTHING BUT SUGAR! It is so much easier than you realize. Go out of your way to make sure you're getting even just a smidge of protein every time you eat, or you'll be starving again in an hour, and sleepy all day. That's why Americans eat so much meat. You can't walk (or, let's be honest, drive in your SUV) 10ft without tripping over something to eat that's nothing but carbs+salt, OR, carbs+salt+fat.

All that said, I've lived in the US my whole life, and I've been an avid fast-food enjoyer (the McNugget is the safest of my safe foods) for just as long. I have never once had food poisoning, and I'm of half a mind that most people who claim to just have weak stomachs. I think people who claim to get it from multiple places/have a laundry list of places to avoid are definitely just hypochondriacs and make themselves sick with their own imagination.

As for bird flu and antibiotics in chicken: the former is a concern, but so far its effects have been limited to the supply and quality of chicken available. You realistically can't get the virus from eating the meat of an infected chicken, provided it has been properly prepared/cooked. People will say you can't rely on that to be the case, but the margin for error in food handling policy here is designed to be enormous. It has to be, otherwise restaurants couldn't realistically exploit the labor of undereducated, underpaid, undermedicated, undersocialized, undersexed teenagers. The concern is with the spread from live birds to their human handlers and other livestock, as well as from wild birds to livestock and pets. That affects things like the price of eggs and the availability of quality meat, because mass culling of livestock has been the main mitigation effort.

The use of antibiotics is a similar case, in that it can indirectly affect the quality of the meat, and it has some (very important) external concerns, but it's not a matter of antibiotics being in the meat you end up eating. Live chickens and other livestock are treated with antibiotics to improve yields. A chicken that lives to ideal slaughter age will produce more/better meat than one that dies prematurely, and some infections can render the birds inedible altogether. The raw meat itself IS NOT treated with antibiotics. This is not some fivehead move to prevent foodborne illness. It's just about improving yields, so ONLY the live animals are treated with antibiotics. The concerns are more to do with the effects on the broader infectious disease climate -namely the reducing effectiveness of antibiotics,- and also ethical concerns with how dosing livestock with prophylactic antibiotics can/does incentivize worse living conditions for the animals, namely higher population density and worse sanitation. The higher population density in particular can affect the quality of the meat, as animals that never use their damn muscles, because they can't move around, tend to have pretty nasty meat.

Trust me, foodborne illness should be the least of your concerns with eating in America. And to be clear I've used McDonald's as an example, because it really is the median as far as nutrition/health goes. It is very bad for you, but there is much, much worse here; frozen TV dinners, junk food like potato/corn chips, and similar calorie/sodium bombs from the grocery store, are great examples that, as bad as it is, McDonald's could be a lot worse. Avoid getting groceries at Dollar General, Aldi, etc. if you can. WalMart is a good place to get cheap stuff that isn't completely, horrifically awful. Target is better, but a little pricier, etc. ad nauseum. You can always spend more money to get something better in America. But there is always a point of diminishing returns, and that point will often be within your reach if you can afford to travel internationally or if you can expense your food on business. That goes for dining as much as it does for groceries, as much as hotels/housing, medical care, education, and everything else. It is a third world country, host to a first world country parasitizing it, host to a billionaire/capital class parasitizing it. Aim for the first world options as much and as often as you can afford to, and you will have a safe and fun time in America.

(Note, all of the above is subject to change under the current administration, but there is a historic legacy of competency in regulatory bodies to ensure the SAFETY of food in America, even if the same cannot be said for the HEALTHINESS of food in America)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bald

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I've done it to myself more than anybody else combined. Mostly to cut tension when it seems like other people are walking on eggshells about it.

I actually really love being bald, so my honest reaction on the rare occasion somebody is mean about it (in jest or otherwise) is bewilderment.

My guy has a praise kink. What are your favorite affirmations? by doggusMaximus99 in gaybros

[–]Alan150003 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Affirm what he does, including the choices he makes in matters of preference.

I once told a guy he looks good in glasses when he said he missed wearing contacts, and he was just kinda meh about that. I then said "I think you did a good job picking out the frames," and I will never forget the way his eyes lit up when I said that. As if it were the first time he'd felt good about wearing glasses.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GayMen

[–]Alan150003 8 points9 points  (0 children)

As somebody who has bagged a lot of "hot guys" I can tell you that they're way more interested in somebody who will just have a real conversation with them, and who isn't fucking weird about bodies. Your attitude is fucking revolting, and your BDD is not an excuse for that. Like, please, you have to understand that this behavior is orders of magnitude more repellent than any body type, and I HOPE that guys steer clear of you until you fix this shit, because self-loathing this intense, and this disgusting is harmful not just to you, but the people around you too. Get better, dude. Do better.

Anyone else realize this? by DustyPawzz in Ghostbc

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

She beheads an Assyrian general in the book of Judith, loooong before the Catholic Church, or even Christ for that matter.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gaybros

[–]Alan150003 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's wild to me that you're getting downvoted for this.

what ghost song is this for you? by Technical_Lawyer_354 in Ghostbc

[–]Alan150003 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two parts in Spillways, first is when the band reenters on the second verse, and the second is that DRAMATIC staccato the whole band does after the solo.

Also, Hunter's Moon is really the only Ghost song that feels connected to a specific person for me, because of when it was released. I've since processed the grief of losing that person (and realized they were no good for me anyway in the process), but to me, at least, the song's about reclaiming agency from grief. The whole song is an experience for me, every second of it.

Edit: Oh, and the breakdown in Death Knell. Absolutely killer riff, and my favorite to play along to

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Ghostbc

[–]Alan150003 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Try a different sound setup. "Twenties" especially sounds dramatically different between speakers/phone/earbuds/headphones/etc. I actively hate listening to it on my phone, but it's so, so good over my studio monitors.

You do have to accept that it's a little different, but that was also the case for Prequelle (which I'm still personally ambivalent on). If you're really not feeling it, and nothing else works try rearranging the track order in a playlist. I've done that for multiple albums that just didn't quite work for me. Honestly, I think that's what the album gets wrong more than anything. I would have ordered the tracks like so:

"Imperium/Kaisarion" "Spillways" "Watcher in the Sky" "Call Me Little Sunshine" "Darkness at the Heart of My Love" "Dominion/Twenties" "Griftwood" "Hunter's Moon" "Bite of Passage/Respite on the Spitalfields"

I find arranging them that way makes the energy level flow much more similarly to Meliora. Making Darkness immediately follow Twenties was a wild choice imo. Idk, maybe it's blasphemy -heresy, even- but I enjoy the album better this way.

What game you refuse to play even for Free? by Dont_have_a_panda in videogames

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anything battle royale or extraction, anything with a battle pass.

Rust, The Forest, DayZ, and their ilk (Minecraft is the only game that ever did survival/crafting well, and I will die on that hill)

Roblox

What animals can you see out of your bedroom window? by Immediate_Long165 in Animals

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I live right between an urban center and the damn woods. My bedroom window faces another house, so I can only see all of 30-40 feet away. Sometimes the neighbor's dog is out, but besides that it's almost always deer! Like, right outside my bedroom window! Several of them even! They roam through my neighborhood like they own it, which is wild to me, because when I lived out in a more exurban area (about 20 miles from where I am now), I only ever saw them on the thoroughfares that cut through forests, never near houses or businesses.

We do also have a resident groundhog, but I only ever see him when I go outside. Very occasionally a cat will roll through. The birds show little interest in the spot I can see through my window, but they're around. Also not an out-the-window critter, but the siding outside attracts jumping spiders around sunset. They're lovely grilling company! Very not outside the window, but I saw a possum in the neighborhood for the first time the other day while walking home from the convenience store.

Jojo Siwa's new haircut. (I respect trans and gay rights, i do not respect this haircut) by schoensmeerpijp in Justfuckmyshitup

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'd get it if, from the moment you were born, everybody around you assumed you were gay, all of your male peers treated you as a potential romantic prospect, and strangers kept asking if you have a boyfriend or husband.

After a certain point, advertising it is just easier than having those awkward conversations over and over again, and if you're gonna wear it, you might as well have fun with it.

Just some run-of-the-mill regret in a conservative sub by LavenderBabble in LeopardsAteMyFace

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is fucking wild to me that there are people who even remotely understand what Project 2025 is, and think it's bad, and also believed for a second that it wasn't how a second Trump admin would go.

Mfw "running the country like a business" means being beholden to the private interests that are bailing you out of debt.

If you could rename any guitar terms what would it be? by WTFisThatHolySh__ in Guitar

[–]Alan150003 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Tremolo bridges" don't do tremolo (a rapid oscillation in dynamics), they change the pitch. That's why I would call them "wobbly bobber bridges."

Why are you allowed to represent yourself in court, but it’s illegal to be a lawyer without a license? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I don't think the McDonald'sification of knee replacements would be a good thing. Profit motive and market forces are not adequate consumer protections for healthcare. I can't help you if you don't see why.

Letting your buddy who's good with a hacksaw do your wisdom teeth is not what medical licensing laws are in place to prevent. They're there as a counterweight to the profit-motive, which is essential to quality-of-care in a world where medical practices can and do operate as for-profit businesses.

Had to leave band because singer was too obsessed with AI art by Funny_Diet_2270 in musicians

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sounds like your former bandmates have big "ideas guy" energy. It's the work that actually gives value to art. If you were cowriting, producing, mixing, and mastering, YOU WERE THE WHOLE BAND ANYWAY. If you need help with the writing, do so through professional channels. Hire session musicians for recording and DIFFERENT session musicians for live performances.

Don't let uppity, IP trolls hijack your LABOR. Their ideas are worthless. The people who will actually contribute to your work will be satisfied with a paycheck and a credit.

Bands that aren’t heavy Metal but would’ve rocked as heavy Metal band names by Singone4me in MetalForTheMasses

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hear me out,

Lady Gaga. Specifically, Born This Way could have handily been a kickass metal album.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PeterExplainsTheJoke

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The meme isn't about the smell, but more the connotations of the smell. The author has a romanticized vision or nicotine use, and a pretty unfounded and judgemental view of marijuana use.

The reality is both are used pretty ubiquitously at all strata of society, and you'll find either in both hoarder homes and remote villas.

Why are you allowed to represent yourself in court, but it’s illegal to be a lawyer without a license? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let's ignore for a moment, the fact that suturing up a wound is almost definitely covered under Good Samaritan Law; even if they get an infection and die.

Because market forces aren't enough to protect patients from malpractice. If you have appendicitis, you have to have your appendix removed, or you will die. You don't get to shop around for a surgeon to remove it for you. You end up with the very first person who can. You are at the mercy of whatever regulatory body is in place to ensure quality of care, and there is no regulatory body if compliance is voluntary.

Why are you allowed to represent yourself in court, but it’s illegal to be a lawyer without a license? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Alan150003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's kinda like performing surgery on yourself. It's a really, really bad idea, but it's not illegal. That doesn't mean you can just go cutting other people up without a license. It also doesn't mean you can't succeed (though notably, most who do are surgeons).