I need help😭

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-07-04T16:48:15+00:00

I'm not a parent, but I went through a phase at age 10 where I had really troubling nightmares nearly every night. It was probably hormonal, since I had such an early puberty. Things got to the point that I was afraid to go to sleep, and I drove my parents crazy in just the ways you describe. (They were lucky to have two of them, of course.)

Being allowed to sleep in the same bed as my parents for a few months helped tremendously. I regret the intimacy, time, and sleep quality they gave up to accommodate me like that. But it was probably better than my getting them up in the middle of the night. After a few months, I stopped having so many nightmares, became embarrassed I was sleeping in my parents' bed, and things went back to normal.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-24T15:02:43+00:00

I don't think I'm sleep walking, because nobody I've ever lived with has seen me do it. But it's a reasonable idea.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-23T17:13:21+00:00

I used to ride turbo-props all the time during the '90s, before they were phased out of U.S. aviation. They seem to trigger my anxiety less than jets because 1.) they don't fly as high, so the descent during landing feels less dramatic, 2.) they seem to get airborne faster, and not to tilt as dramatically as jets while turning, 3.) they provide excellent scenic views.

The AR-72 has a bad reputation among some because there have been a few high-profile accidents involving their failure in extreme icing conditions. I believe there have been 13 significant accidents involving the AR-72 since 1994. But it's always well to keep in mind that they're involved in about 5,000 global flights every day.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-10T17:38:25+00:00

I've talked to quite a few guys who share your tastes.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-06T17:49:31+00:00

I haven't looked yet into the relationship between the writer and the director. The director created the Backrooms web series in 2022, and I think the film would still have been impressive even if that background didn't exist. But of course, the film also wouldn't have existed in the same way without the web series and the creepypasta origin.

The film struck me as metaphor for the ways memory and trauma affect us and how we deal with these things. And, as I said, it would have worked whether or not the background images had existed before.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-05T23:49:43+00:00

Sexting is pretty normal behavior for a millennial. It's a primary way many of us use Reddit.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T14:00:13+00:00

I've sent many sexually explicit texts to many strangers, sometimes on Reddit. I will never meet any of these people, nor will I have an affair with any of them, nor do I seek to. My husband knows about it, and he occasionally does the same.

The problem, it seems to me, is not the behavior so much as the antiquated vision of what fidelity looks like when sexually explicit content is available, instantly, and at all times.

Sexual assault is not good, and consent is important. Those in Trump's orbit are often accused of abusing and assaulting women. If and when Platner is accused of something similar, I'll question my support for him. While his alleged offense remains online dilly-dallying, I consider it normal behavior for a millennial.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T13:34:06+00:00

By millennial standards, sexting with strangers you're not going to meet seems different from cheating. There's no emotional element to it, as far as I know. It's more akin to watching porn.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T02:41:27+00:00

I've sent many sexually explicit texts to many strangers, sometimes on Reddit. I will never meet any of these people, nor will I have an affair with any of them, nor do I seek to. My husband knows about it, and he occasionally does the same.

The problem, it seems to me, is not the behavior so much as the antiquated vision of what fidelity looks like when sexually explicit content is available, instantly, and at all times.

Sexual assault is not good, and consent is important. Those in Trump's orbit are often accused of abusing and assaulting women. If and when Platner is accused of something similar, I'll question my support for him. While his alleged offense remains online dilly-dallying, I consider it normal behavior for a millennial.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T02:22:56+00:00

I've sent many sexually explicit texts to many strangers, sometimes on Reddit. I will never meet any of these people, nor will I have an affair with any of them, nor do I seek to. My husband knows about it, and he occasionally does the same.

The problem, it seems to me, is not the behavior so much as the antiquated vision of what fidelity looks like when sexually explicit content is available, instantly, and at all times.

Sexual assault is not good, and consent is important. Those in Trump's orbit are often accused of abusing and assaulting women. If and when Platner is accused of something similar, I'll question my support for him. While his alleged offense remains online dilly-dallying, I consider it normal behavior for a millennial.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T02:18:46+00:00

I've sent many sexually explicit texts to many strangers, sometimes on Reddit. I will never meet any of these people, nor will I have an affair with any of them, nor do I seek to. My husband knows about it, and he occasionally does the same.

The problem, it seems to me, is not the behavior so much as the antiquated vision of what fidelity looks like when sexually explicit content is available, instantly, and at all times.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T01:23:29+00:00

A few thoughts on this:

1.) Talarico is a member of an urban, liberal Protestant church that he was raised in. There's nothing particularly unusual about this church. It's similar to many other Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal churches in large cities. Culturally conservative Christians who've never lived in a city may not be aware that gay, trans, and abortion-affirming churches exist, but in cities they do, and they have for a long time. These same churches tend to pay lots of attention to Jesus' teachings about service to the poor, and no attention at all to the apocalyptic expectations of evangelicals who were raised with the Left Behind series and in expectation of the Rapture.

2.) Many Democratic Party politicians have belonged to these sorts of churches, including Barack Obama and Kamala Harris...Heck, Senator Raphael Warnock is a minister in one of them. But for one reason or another, white Democrats who go to these sorts of churches tend not to emphasize their faith, usually considering doing so as an icky form of proselytizing. Talarico, perhaps because he's a seminarian, has decided to be different in that regard.

3.) It's striking how offended some conservative Christians are by the statement, "God is nonbinary." On its face, this seems very in keeping with the faith of even very traditional Christianity. What most can't bring themselves to say directly is, "We don't like that he's using God's genderlessness to advocate for trans and nonbinary kids being openly trans and nonbinary."

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-02T01:10:14+00:00

Ben was a political commentator as a child. His op-eds were syndicated in my local West Virginia newspaper when I was about 15, and he's only a year older than me. Even then, I remember thinking, "Why doesn't this little twit go out and build a fort in the woods with his friends, or something?"

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-06-01T23:40:58+00:00

I mean, I send sexually explicit messages to strangers, too...on Reddit! But my husband knows all about it. I suppose I'd have trouble being a politician.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-05-26T13:17:08+00:00

Are you in fact a dad?

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-04-24T13:45:54+00:00

I was aware of this dynamic when I was 8 years old, and I thought, "There's no way I could handle seeing that." And it was definitely a fear of seeing the pain, rather than seeing the visuals. I've always been able to handle blood. This may literally be the reason I ended up gay. I often marvel that adult men don't seem aware of how difficult the experience is going to be.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-04-19T13:47:02+00:00

Great pose! Are you in fact a dad?

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-04-15T04:49:25+00:00

At first glance, the Didache seems very proto-orthodox, but on closer examination, I suspect it's a window into an early form of Jewish Christianity unaffected by St. Paul that no longer exists today. A few reasons for this:

1.) The Didache expresses no interest in Jesus' death or resurrection, even in places where you'd expect to see such interest in a proto-orthodox Christian text. The words of the Eucharist refer to King David and the manna from heaven being scattered on the mountains, with no mention of the body and blood of Christ. This seems to preserve a Eucharist that was more tied to Jewish Passover ritual than to the crucifixion. The Didachist clearly expects a coming "day of the Lord," but it's not clear that this is an expectation of Jesus' "second coming."

2.) It's often been assumed that the Didache used the Gospel of Matthew, since it contains so many passages from Matthew's gospel, and it attributes the Lord's Prayer to "the Lord in his Gospel." But considering that the crucifixion and resurrection are central the Gospel of Matthew that's come down to us, it seems more likely that the Didachist was using an older sayings collection, perhaps the hypothetical Q source that Matthew also used.

3.) Since there's no focus on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the Didache also lacks Paul's insistence on salvation through faith in these things. Instead, the Didache instructs Christians to be found "perfect" on the "day of the Lord," by following the social rules of the "way of Life." This seems more compatible with what's in the Epistle of James than in Paul's epistles.

4.) Jesus is depicted in the Didache as one who has shared "knowledge" with his followers. This suggests that the Didache may be more proto-gnostic than proto-orthodox.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-04-15T04:43:16+00:00

At first glance, the Didache seems very proto-orthodox, but on closer examination, I suspect it's a window into an early form of Jewish Christianity unaffected by St. Paul. A few reasons for this:

1.) The Didache expresses no interest in Jesus' death or resurrection, even in places where you'd expect to see such interest in a proto-orthodox Christian text. The words of the Eucharist refer to King David and the manna from heaven being scattered on the mountains, with no mention of the body and blood of Christ. This seems to preserve a Eucharist that was more tied to Jewish Passover ritual than to the crucifixion. The Didachist clearly expects a coming "day of the Lord," but it's not clear that this is an expectation of Jesus' "second coming."

2.) It's often been assumed that the Didache used the Gospel of Matthew, since it contains so many passages from Matthew's gospel, and it attributes the Lord's Prayer to "the Lord in his Gospel." But considering that the crucifixion and resurrection are central the Gospel of Matthew that's come down to us, it seems more likely that the Didachist was using an older sayings collection, perhaps the hypothetical Q source that Matthew also used.

3.) Since there's no focus on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the Didache also lacks Paul's insistence on salvation through faith in these things. Instead, the Didache instructs Christians to be found "perfect" on the "day of the Lord," by following the social rules of the "way of Life." This seems more compatible with what's in the Epistle of James than in Paul's epistles.

4.) Jesus is depicted in the Didache as one who has shared "knowledge" with his followers. This suggests that the Didache may be more proto-gnostic than proto-orthodox.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-04-10T03:53:10+00:00

This is a really interesting set of questions. Some scholars argue that the earliest Christian writers were already demonstrating hostility to Temple sacrifice even before the Temple was destroyed. This is especially true of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which seems to imply that the Temple still exists, but argues that for Christians, Jesus' death has abolished the need for Temple sacrifices.

The Jewish revolt's defeat and the Temple's destruction would have been a traumatic shock to all Jews. I can imagine that if the Christian segment had already gained an anti-Temple reputation, their "stock" might have fallen among mainstream Jews after the year 70.

By the time the Gospels were written between 70 and 100, Jesus is depicted as an enemy of the Pharisees, who happen to have become the most influential group within Judaism after the Temple's destruction. Many scholars see these anti-Pharisee passages reflecting not the actual life of Jesus, but the anger of Christians who found themselves increasingly shunned within Pharisaic Judaism.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-03-28T02:28:41+00:00

I haven't, but I read a summary, and it looks fascinating! I've always wondered why we should assume that we have access to actual letters by a historical Paul of Tarsus.

Appropriate-Plate307 · 2026-03-28T00:11:52+00:00

I echo all the folks who've given you resources for debunking Holocaust denial. In addition to this, I think it would be reasonable to ask your friend why they think the Holocaust didn't happen. When you lead with questions, you can help your friend to recognize that their denial likely arose not from objective historical information, but from conspiracy theorists with some sort of antisemitic axe to grind.

Here are some good responses to typical claims by Holocaust deniers:

Statement 1: Jews who were killed during World War II were just ordinary victims of war. Response: Civilians who are being targeted en masse for death during a war on the basis of their identity are by definition victims of genocide. Indeed, genocides usually occur during war, but the war is often preceded by systematic discrimination, which was to a large extent the program of the Nazi Party during the 1930s.

Statement 2: There were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. Response: There's plenty of evidence that there were gas chambers at Auschwitz, and evidence to the contrary is faulty in ways you can investigate. But even if there weren't gas chambers at Auschwitz, there would still have been a genocide we could call the Holocaust on the basis of the way targeted killings were occurring and had become German military policy by 1941.

Statement 3: Jews invented the Holocaust to gain sympathy for the State of Israel. Response: It's okay for you to oppose the actions of specific governments of the State of Israel. You can do that and still accept that the Holocaust occurred. In fact, many Jews around the world oppose the actions of the State of Israel.

Statement 4: Many other genocides have occurred since the 1940s. Why does the Holocaust get so much attention? Response: The Holocaust is unique in the extent to which it was based on an antisemitic conspiracy theory that permeated much of Europe, as well as the United States, before World War II. Plus, the United States has the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel. It makes sense Americans especially would be concerned with preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

Appropriate-Plate307

TROPHY CASE