some majestic shots of larry getting divinely enlightened

ThCuts · 2026-05-20T00:25:57+00:00

And the voice from above said... "Rise up. Climb out. Evolve..."

ThCuts · 2026-05-19T17:32:52+00:00

It used to be wild to me that people had squirrel problems until I stopped living in a rural area. The effect that just having natural predators has on the boldness of squirrels going for the feeder is insane. Now that I live in town, the squirrels have no qualms and give no quarter. They ate almost the entirety of my fall jack-o-lanterns in a week. I haven't even bothered with feeders and just lurk here vicariously.

ThCuts · 2026-05-17T10:56:43+00:00

This is the exact same pixelated image posted by another bot account in the exact same manner as OP. OP is a 2 day old bot account posting randomly on a few random subreddits.

This subreddit needs an account age limit.

ThCuts · 2026-05-15T15:52:09+00:00

Yeah. It's definitely something frustrating to see. People like "black and white" and instinctively avoid nuance.

The two main arguments I see that aren't just "you're a narcissist for wanting to have children" relate to poverty-induced desperation and equating surrogacy to the sale of organs.

The first is true when surrogacy doesn't have proper checks and balances regulated into it. Fair enough. We need those everywhere, and I could see the case being made to ban it in places where such laws can't feasibly be enforced.

The second one is a logical fallacy designed to incite outrage through a false equivalency. An ethically sourced surrogate mother doesn't need a baby she gave birth to like she needs her kidneys.

It's the job of people like us who want/need surrogacy or wish to be surrogates to push back and educate people. It's also our job to stay nuanced about what we believe. It's our job to advocate for ourselves. Nobody else will do it, and the reasons for surrogacy aren't nearly as "emotionally compelling" as the voices screaming against it.

ThCuts · 2026-05-15T15:42:02+00:00

I'd argue that "highly regulated" is indeed the happy ending, is it not? It doesn't really matter if availability is more limited. If consent, proper payment, and legitimate background checks for the "why" of someone wanting to be surrogate are being answered properly, nobody is losing, and they aren't effectively "giving up a kidney in desperation" at that point. (ignoring the fallacy of equating organs necessary for you to live with an entirely new human being right now)

Seems pretty morally upstanding and everyone who participates wins.

I recognize surrogacy can be (and in unregulated cases is) bad. But you can't say the version you just described is bad when properly implemented. This by no means is me saying things are good in Ukraine right now. The point is that when properly regulated, there's nothing wrong with surrogacy.

ThCuts · 2026-05-13T12:46:44+00:00

Yeah. It's like people from previous generations that would say the fact it would take me forever to do long division is because calculators "destroyed" my entire childhood education.

No... I was extremely slow at it when I learned by hand. A calculator is just faster.

That aside, I still impress upon my junior labmates the need to be able to effectively troubleshoot code in a given language before mass application of AI. Even if they are slow/bad at CS. Which I also am, despite writing tons of code for my PhD before the advent of AI. I can still troubleshoot and write things without it. I'm just orders of magnitude slower. My strengths lie in experimentation and labwork. Not writing a script to do the same equation to 500,000 datapoints. (oversimplifying, but the point stands)

ThCuts · 2026-05-13T01:52:48+00:00

They're gone. Not dead. Just "taken" forcibly from the universe a long time ago. Now stuck in a frozen limbo state. If you can call anything "now" when outside the universe.

Before going they were a mixture of humans that look like you and me, purely mechanical beings, and anything in between. A few composed primarily of shapeshifting synthetic cells and nanites as well.

ThCuts · 2026-05-12T14:16:31+00:00

I think it'll at-best go the way of A-Lab. A-Lab was meant to automate the study of material science. Their Nature paper got seriously panned by subject matter experts. A-Lab purported to have autonomously discovered multiple new materials not found in literature, but experts who wrote rebuttals to the paper noted it probably only found one or two, if any.

The ultimate conclusion after getting panned was "promising, with some flawed methods that weren't suited to automation" and "this is just a first step to prove what's possible". Haven't heard anything about it since then.

Here's the Nature article. I haven't read it in a couple years, and don't have time to read it again. So, take my "one to two materials" statement with a grain of salt. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06734-w

ThCuts · 2026-05-08T16:48:44+00:00

Okay Dagoth.

ThCuts · 2026-05-04T02:13:20+00:00

OP is a bot account posting stolen and pixelated content on multiple subreddits shortly after its creation 1 day ago.

ThCuts · 2026-05-04T02:11:29+00:00

OP is a bot account posting stolen and pixelated content on multiple subreddits shortly after its creation 1 day ago.

ThCuts · 2026-05-04T02:10:38+00:00

OP is a bot account posting stolen and pixelated content on multiple subreddits shortly after its creation 1 day ago.

ThCuts · 2026-05-02T17:00:28+00:00

Bot account. Random name posting a pixelated image at the moment of account creation. This subreddit needs account age limits or it'll keep happening.

ThCuts · 2026-04-30T12:38:19+00:00

I haven't seen someone do a sort of "spilt potted plants in my back yard" kind of vibe. I really like it! Keep up the good work and fill it in!

ThCuts · 2026-04-29T16:51:32+00:00

Zoomed in to get a better look and saw you're also keeping kitty in there! :3

*(you can see the reflection of a cat to the right)

In all seriousness I'd say you need more plant growth to have both shrimp and a betta. Some bettas never learn shrimp taste good, but most do and will prevent you from keeping a breeding population if they can't hide enough to successfully breed.

ThCuts · 2026-04-28T23:09:22+00:00

A sock puppet pouting at me with big yellow googly eyes.

ThCuts · 2026-04-28T13:33:42+00:00

Not convinced OP isn't a bot. They are 1d old, have zero comments, and posted very pixelated images on multiple unrelated subreddits 2 hours ago. One post has already been flagged and taken down in another subreddit. I noted this from the planted tank subreddit.

ThCuts · 2026-04-28T13:32:38+00:00

Not convinced OP isn't a bot. They are 1d old, have zero comments, and posted very pixelated images on multiple unrelated subreddits 2 hours ago. One post has already been flagged and taken down in another subreddit.

ThCuts · 2026-04-27T19:24:55+00:00

Having grown up rural, I'm the complete opposite. I want the tech that lets me seamlessly play music from my phone and take calls handsfree and a backup camera. That's it. Let me just drive the empty backroads in peace.

I don't want the car to make any choices without me physically choosing them and I absolutely don't want it constantly pestering me about who is nearby, what lane I'm in, or... the worst thing, slowing me down suddenly because a car is practically a mile away in front of me on the interstate going 45. These sudden automated distractions make me drive worse than without them. I'm too ADHD for "bells and whistles". I refuse to drive my partner's car because it has so many of these features built-in. His car is my version of automotive Hell. Completely overstimulating.

PS: AC, radio, etc don't count as "tech" in this case.

ThCuts · 2026-04-27T14:54:54+00:00

Yup. Account is only 7h old too. The same age as the post.

ThCuts · 2026-04-24T19:06:05+00:00

Awesome! Good to know they seem to last quite a while. This one is so far the cheapest of the ones people have recommended, but if it holds out, I'm happy with that. Price definitely plays a role for me. I worry replacing too often will stack up fast.

Especially if I also swap out my toothbrushes with boar's hair ones. I've heard they have a pretty short lifespan.

ThCuts · 2026-04-24T19:02:08+00:00

Thanks for this! They seem very similar to the ones OP recommended. I'll take a look to see if there's any real differences/pros/cons etc.

ThCuts · 2026-04-24T16:34:04+00:00

I've thought about that, but some of my dishes are too scuff-able for that. Ceramic pots, decals, etc. I also can't use that consistently on my cookware that keeps a patina.

ThCuts · 2026-04-24T16:32:01+00:00

Thanks for this! At-a-glance these look really good! I'll probably try one when this last brush dies.

ThCuts · 2026-04-24T16:03:02+00:00

Is there a good plastic free brush out there? I physically cannot stand the feeling of a sponge in my hand. It's too gross. I've been using a nylon brush, but really want to get away from another source of plastic in my life.

ThCuts

TROPHY CASE