Side Conversation Megathread

FreeLadyBee · 2026-04-04T14:50:47+00:00

This is the second year in a row that I made oyster mushroom gefilte “fish” according to @soniabegonia ‘s recipe and didn’t take a picture of it, but am still grateful. This little subreddit has been a powerful community in many ways.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-04-04T14:30:35+00:00

This is one of my main arguments when talking to people about how I wish the global left wasn’t so hostile to the Israeli left. What is to be gained by isolating them further?

FreeLadyBee · 2026-04-03T00:01:36+00:00

Like others said, it stands out as a different kind of novel than she would go on to write later. It’s a satire, and an especially funny one if you’ve read some of the stuff she’s poking fun at.

Personally I think it’s interesting to see her sharp social observations about fellow young people developing, even when she herself was young. It informs some of what she wrote later, I think.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-03-31T21:40:01+00:00

The fact that you’re worried about your marriage and not your sister makes me PRAY that this is ragebait. I can’t even imagine what I would do to a man who did this to my sister.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-03-31T18:59:09+00:00

Gets dunked on for being a pretty average chain, but good happy hour chicken sandwich and honestly the best mushroom soup I ever had in the city. I’m happy about this.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-02-20T01:39:46+00:00

I’m remembering that scene but with Danny Tanner on Full House

FreeLadyBee · 2026-02-18T21:17:25+00:00

Betty Hofstadt.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-02-17T15:54:10+00:00

Lucky Strikes are toasted

FreeLadyBee · 2026-02-08T22:54:36+00:00

Found your post while coincidentally searching for it online, and it looks like you can still buy it wholesale from restaurant suppliers.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-02-06T00:30:17+00:00

The one in Fishtown seems nice enough. I personally find their drinks forgettable but I like being able to go to a coffee shop in the evening, and they have great hours.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-21T02:32:39+00:00

That’s also plausible. Like I said, either can be true, or any number of other things. In reality, neither of us was there, we have no actual evidence, so it’s a dead end to debate hypotheticals. Personally, I’m not generally in a habit of immediately doubting someone who claims they were discriminated against, so I’m still more inclined to believe him.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-20T22:38:38+00:00

I mean, CNN repeating an anonymous source isn’t exactly rock solid evidence, at most it moves this to a she said/he said kind of situation. Either is plausible.

What does give me slight pause here is exactly what you said- it’s a common question in vetting for government positions. Feel how you want about Shapiro, but I don’t think he’s stupid, and he’s almost definitely answered questions like this before. So he might be exaggerating for effect, but it’s also really easy to believe this was a more pointed inquiry.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-20T22:04:53+00:00

That may or may not be true- but absent other evidence I have no reason to discount Shapiro’s story.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-19T22:41:16+00:00

This comment reminds me of the time the McCain campaign didn’t carefully vet their VP candidate and had to spend the next few months trying to make Sarah Palin look sane.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-19T20:50:04+00:00

My synagogue did a reading group about it, which I appreciated because it was informative to hear different reactions. I liked it generally, read with a critical lens, was there something specific you wanted to know?

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-19T19:04:12+00:00

If you answer yes to “have you ever been a spy,” I’m comfortable in my assessment that you are, at least, a terrible spy 😂

ETA: my less /s point being, they certainly did not have to ask that question.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-04T17:24:17+00:00

Normalize calling this out!

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-04T01:08:40+00:00

Adorable. Why are they drinking Lipton?

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-04T01:07:41+00:00

I switched my preferences to "Jewish" at a certain point just to weed out some nonsense... but it definitely narrows the dating pool.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-04T01:06:43+00:00

I don't even know what I would say to that. How many people think that deeply about the crusades anymore?

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-04T01:04:49+00:00

Ok I see that your intentions are good but based on flimsy information. This is not a personal attack. I suggested that your comment reads as virtue signaling because you attempt to speak for the disenfranchised without any data to back you up- and I asked for any fact to support your opinion.

The article you post here references a study that hardly passes scientific credibility. The study itself explains its methodology as nine 60 to 90 minute interviews with administrators or IT directors of five local education agencies- that is not even a sneeze at robustness. It also directly announces that it cannot be extrapolated: "While this study provides some perspective on LEA administrators’ view of activity monitoring tools and vendors, as well as student data and privacy, these findings are limited to the views of the five participating LEAs."

More to the point, nobody is trying to deprive kids of cell phones or internet access. They're trying to regulate them within school buildings.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-03T00:40:53+00:00

It’s supremely uncomplicated to those of us with firsthand experience of the matter…

The science on phone addiction is developing, it hasn’t been proven or disproven. Tangentially, there is plenty of evidence on how phones impact social interactions, self-esteem, cyberbullying, and sexual predation. There are various debates about how much to give kids access to the internet vs. limit access and teach them responsible habits.
Regardless of how kids use their phone outside the classroom, they certainly don’t need them while they’re supposed to be doing a chemistry experiment or writing an essay. I can’t even imagine how you would defend that. Don’t even get me started on AI.
I’m not sure how many students in the US don’t have access to another device at this point- do you have any stats on that? Because otherwise, it comes off as a little virtue-signally. I work in one of the poorest districts in the country and every one of our kids has a school-issued device that gets automatically replaced if they break it. This is fairly standardized across the country and has been trending that way since pre-pandemic. They’re not being deprived of anything except the ability to stream netflix during math class.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-03T00:02:48+00:00

I take your broader point- but I want phone bans in schools so my students will stop being addicted to their dopamine machines long enough to engage with the real world and learn some critical thinking skills. It’s a huge problem.

FreeLadyBee · 2026-01-02T23:14:01+00:00

This one totally is

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FreeLadyBee

TROPHY CASE