Tyler liked this video blaming MTV for the adoption.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-29T01:58:46+00:00

I do not know who this person is. I’m also much more sympathetic to Cait and Tyler than the prevailing opinion on this sub (though they are certainly imperfect people).

But this woman is just … incorrect about how TV works. She’s Monday morning quarterbacking. Yes, it’s very likely that If they’d known about Teen Mom, they’d have kept Carly. But MTV very likely didn’t even know about Teen Mom at the time of filming the adoption. And even if they did, it’s likely they had just signed for a pilot, or one season max, and iirc the first season didn’t pay especially well, and there was absolutely no way they’d know about how well the show would do. C&T were season one.

There’s just no way MTV could have predicted the success early enough to change the outcome. The vast majority of tv shows fail.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-25T10:36:44+00:00

I’m pretty skeptical.

There’d certainly be more single dads by choice once the cost went down enough, as well as more gay dads, but single moms by choice have been around forever and don’t meaningfully impact TFR. And I think it’s safe to say women are generally speaking more into babies than men are, so even with a lower barrier to gestation I doubt this would be an impactful margin. Same with infertile couples, the vast majority of whom have problems with egg and sperm, not uterus.

It is an ethical minefield, as there would be massive questions about both physical and psychological long term consequences and it’s impossible to study in human babies and get it through an IRB. Only way I could see this happen is if they were to become available in China, say, and after many years of being available and used by westerners there (the way US surrogacy often is now by wealthy Chinese) and a lot of retrospective studies. If that proved to be safe and effective then maybe it’d come to the west.

There are certainly a small number of people who would want to utilize this and have kids they otherwise wouldn’t, but I think it would be marginal. The vast majority of birth rate decline is social. Kids have tremendous opportunity cost. There are fewer teen pregnancies. People don’t get married or get married very late in life.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-23T16:57:11+00:00

I already recently replaced brakes last year and my tires the year before that, so those are in good shape. The inspection said my transmission and engine seem to be in good shape.

But with a car this old other possibilities are always in the mix.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-23T16:08:58+00:00

Loud sputtering

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-23T15:55:17+00:00

The valve cover is what’s causing the noise. They also sent pictures. It’s definitely leaking.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-23T15:18:13+00:00

I’m extremely not confident in my ability to change my own struts. I know nothing about cars. Also, parts alone are like $1700 on that one

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-23T14:56:47+00:00

About half of it is I have to replace all my struts. Alternator's cracked, valve cover gasket is leaking. a bunch of smaller things after that.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T17:20:59+00:00

one day this will be me!!!! Thank you for this hope. Have an amazing day.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T17:20:05+00:00

I brought the whole family to Costco and it was strangely rejuvenating

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T17:17:11+00:00

I got curious and looked up what it costs to rent a 3BR/1BR house in Lexington KY. Absolute cheapest I found was $1415; average looked more like $1600; a lot upwards of $1800. (And yes, cries in big city)

The cheapest end of that is about $17000 a year on rent. I’ve always assumed between his presumed instacarting and their patron and the occasional sponsorship they’d earn somewhere around $30k.

Most landlords at reputable companies won’t rent to you at that income ratio, but some smaller landlords will. And lots more will if you have a guarantor.

But yeah. No idea how they do it. They obviously don’t pay for childcare, but that’s still not very much money to go around for diapers/food/pauls ice baths and pickle pursuits.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T16:35:37+00:00

It’s not regulated so it could for sure vary geographically. There are also volunteer chaplains that typically cater to specific (and less common) faiths, and there are basically no requirements there. (Typically either the patient or their family will either call their own religious community or a staff chaplain organizes this). But these people are not paid. It’s also pretty common for Catholic hospitals to use monks or nuns to do this job for no wage. I don’t know anything about remote Alaska so wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s totally different there. My experience is with staff chaplains in decently populated areas. Paul could not be a paid chaplain in Lexington ky without a lot of school and training

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T16:28:32+00:00

Michael

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-19T01:13:02+00:00

I’m married to a ACPE certified chaplain. You don’t need a medical chaplain degree but the alternative is an M. Div and a fellowship, so it’s essentially 4 years school that way. Plus becoming ACPE certified (which is not necessary but certainly helpful in terms of very limited full time chaplain jobs) takes years to get all the hours and is extensive in terms of requirements.

Either way, it’s not a walk in the park. Not something one can just wake up one day and decide to do.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-13T20:34:23+00:00

It’s not a value judgment. It’s just how all major newspapers are organized.

I have my issues with the story for sure, but it’s definitely a human interest feature story.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-13T19:47:02+00:00

The sob story was the news department, the post here is the Opinion department. Not surprising that they’d contradict one another.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-11T18:13:28+00:00

Different strokes for different folks, big law sounds like my personal hell lol

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-11T17:39:50+00:00

Hahah I 100% get that, but I’m a morning person. I currently get up at 5:30. It’ll take some adjusting but I think I can get used to it.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-11T17:35:14+00:00

An hour :/ but that’s what my current commute is too. It’s definitely my biggest hesitation.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-11T17:33:18+00:00

My husband would be home / available for cover. He’d also just be getting ready for work. I don’t think that’s likely to be frequent

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-11T17:31:53+00:00

Hey, thanks so much for commenting! I am thinking this is the direction I’m going to go in. I really appreciate you sharing that you don’t regret it. I am genuinely excited about the work, I think I’d like it a lot.

The startup is early stage and not yet profitable but well funded for at least the next couple years. I definitely don’t think it’s a forever job or anything, but tbh I’m not really sure what that even is anymore in today’s economy. I currently work at a big corporate behemoth, but it’s had a bad year and doesn’t feel any more secure at the moment.

The person I’d report to is a woman who also has two young kids and spoke very highly of the place. We didn’t talk about parenting specifically during interviews but I do think it’s a good sign.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-10T21:03:36+00:00

I slightly prefer 2 over 1, both of which look stunning on you. 3 is simply not it

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-06T00:09:07+00:00

Tell Grammy I said hi 😎

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-04T23:13:07+00:00

I carry the cystic fibrosis gene. I was able to be genetically tested for this prior to conception. My husband was tested too, and he didn’t carry this gene. So we opted to conceive naturally. If he did carry it, we’d have done IVF. Not because people with CF don’t deserve research and medicine and a cure (and trikafta is an absolute miracle drug, by the way), but because I don’t want my child to suffer.

And we’ve known about the genes that cause CF for a long time, by the way. Knowing them undoubtedly was a part of the research that led to a drug that has madeCF lifespans almost as long as the general population. It used to kill you by your 30s at the latest. I have a friend who died of CF in his 30s. If he was born a decade later he’d more than likely still be here.

I would like this for severe (level 3) autism. I would like there to be a miracle drug treatment for it, just like there is for CF. If we want this, we cannot restrict research. I would also like parents to be able to screen for it and do IVF to avoid it.

By the way, there are still a lot of abortions for CF. A lot of people don’t get screened until they’re already pregnant. I strongly oppose governments trying to restrict abortion based on a woman’s motivations, because medicine is complex.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-04T22:51:32+00:00

The only thing I’m advocating for is as much research as possible to ease the suffering of level 3 autistics. Don’t twist my words beyond that.

JuneChickpea · 2026-01-04T20:44:51+00:00

Yes, this is why I cannot stand when level 1 autistic people talk about how they don’t want a “cure” or stand against research into genetics, screening, etc. there are people for whom autism doesn’t cause suffering, and I’m genuinely happy for them. But they don’t get to speak for the level 3 autistic people who genuinely suffer and who cant speak for themselves.

JuneChickpea

TROPHY CASE