Or have one of her trusted friends or family members on standby when you do it. Someone who will show up right after and they can support her through an initial reaction. If there are no trusted friends, that’s another warning flag!

I hope I didn’t come across as joking. Bluey models probably the most wholesome parent-child relationships on television. Yes it’s acted out by cartoon dogs; but the scenarios hit home.

I’m a father of two; watching (and often emulating) Bluey has absolutely made me a better parent. It’s not all “go 100% with your kids all the time”; sometimes it’s “we have to stop playing so I can go to work” or “mom and dad are tired, let’s play a game where we don’t have to leave the couch” or “it seems we’re spending too much time watching TV or screens, how do we reconnect to the real world”. Yes, the irony of a TV show covering that last topic isn’t lost on me :P

Watch Bluey! It’s a kids show, but everyone should watch it.

Remember: Trump fired the head of BLS because he didn’t like the numbers in a jobs report. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3xrrzdr0o

Did he get $250 million for being investigated? That’s the precedent now, right?

One of my favorite board games! I also highly recommend the marine expansion.

The better to smell you with my dear.

If quantity is the measure instead of quality: AI wins!

Repurposed joke: It’s able to make more mistakes faster than any other invention… with the possible exception of tequila and handguns.

After watching, I think this largely lines up with the impact of porn addiction being real and impactful, which I certainly don’t deny.

Likely the different emphasis is on the prevalence of internet porn addiction. He claims it’s more likely than gambling or other internet-related addictions; I wonder if that is consensus or if it’s maybe changed over time? From a societal level, I’m sure there’s more porn addiction than in the past (as he notes the availability, quality, and variety are significantly different than before the internet). But his talk implies a much larger scale than I would accept without validating the sources. From what I’m familiar with porn addiction isn’t much more or less prevalent than other internet related ones. Here’s one data point putting “cybersex” close to game addiction, but well below social media and smartphone: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35150965/ similar numbers here: https://virtual-addiction.com/technology-addiction-statistics-2024/ “Between 7 and 10% of people who watch online porn are addicted to it.”

Considering the data I’m familiar with: majority of people (in western societies) aren’t suffering the side effects of internet porn addiction and are still able to pursue typical life goals (finding a partner, marriage, children, etc). While we have seen some of these figures declining (marriage and having children). Or, these trends have been in place since before high speed internet (declining birthrates stem from the 60s in the US: https://datacommons.org/explore#q=birth+rate ). Marriage rates similarly declined well before the internet (and have stabilized in the past decade or so): https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/loo-marriage-rate-US-geographic-variation-2022-fp-23-23.html

Specifically he mentions ED as a kind of “ultimate” symptom… unfortunately I don’t see a good timeseries for ED prevalence; even across studies the estimates vary quite a bit, so I’m not sure there’s a standard measurement with a long enough history to use… that’d be an interesting metric to consider if it were available though!

I’d have to go back and check what other studies on porn use used for control groups; as this talk states “there is no control group”… I think that is inaccurate. Even if control groups aren’t available, we can still measure impacts without a control group if we can reliably track quantity in some manner. It need not be just abstinence versus usage to conduct a valid study; we can compare high, medium, and low volumes of usage. We know the volumes at which over consumption of water is harmful even though there are no people who abstain from it!

Thanks again for linking; it had a few other references & citations I’ll continue to pursue. I appreciate the different perspective on the topic!

I’ve not seen it before, I’ll check it out. Thanks!

Here’s a long-form interview between a sex researcher and a urologist (MD) about how porn really effects us; both on an individual level; and in aggregate as a society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEqe5dHuQYE

TLDR: Porn is a bit of an over-stimulation on the brain, but the scale of the effect is similar to caffeine or nicotine. Far less impactful than that of any hard drug like cocaine or heroine. And unlike a chemical stimulant, it’s impossible to overdoes. Some people have excessive reactions to watching porn and having it readily available, so things like porn addiction are real and shouldn’t be dismissed. But the frequency of this is low (far lower than nicotine, gambling, or alcohol as comparison points) and the severity of such addictions are often minor (addicts skip other social interactions, but are unlikely to go into debt or lose jobs except in the most extreme cases).

There is no strong evidence that early exposure to porn via the internet has significant adverse effects. There are worse effects from exposure to violent content (including violent porn) than pornography in general.

This makes sense as from an evolutionary standpoint seeing other naked humans is expected. It’s only recently (in evolutionary time frames) that we’d not expect children to see other naked humans regularly or be unexposed to sex at all until an adult age. From a biological standpoint it makes perfect sense that our brain can handle seeing other people engaged in sexual activity.

Mid 40s. I feel older than I used to; but can still do everything I love so I’d not consider myself “old”.

If you’re looking for convincing arguments; read through the responses from this panel of experts: https://www.kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs/ (from 2024) and more recently: https://www.kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs-reciprocal-and-retaliatory-2/

Many of the responding professors provide detail on why they vote a certain way. For example to the 3rd part of the question from 2024: “The gains for the American economy from tripling the tariffs would measurably outweigh the losses.” you get replies like:

Protectionism via tariffs creates well-understood aggregate losses in efficiency. This is so even if China “unfairly” subsidizes its steel. Political motivations aside, actual distributional impacts are modest, ill targeted, and better handled with other more direct tax tools.

With links to further background information: https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/publications/CW 04-15-22.pdf & http://www.econ.ucla.edu/pfajgelbaum/tradewar_1203.pdf with more detail to read.

Not sure if this will convince you or not; but it’s at least a cache of relevant information.

I’ve done mead with lemon zest before; it fermented as expected. That ingredient by itself should not cause fermentation to stall.

British band “Jungle” has been in heavy rotation for me the past ~6 months. Specifically watch their music videos and the dance choreography. I suggest playing the entire album “Volcano” as one video.

Dave the Diver, but in space?

First quarter was before tariffs were announced?

Let’s see, just divide by zero and… We’re wealthy beyond belief!

/s

Republicans are so dumb :(

Because somehow trump wrecking the economy isn’t scoffing the working class? This argument starts disjointed from reality then presents a false dichotomy. trump’s administration & policies are a dumpster fire! How is opposing this a dilemma in any meaningful way?