I actually think that’s a universal truth. One’s own accent is boring or even feels “non-existent” (it exists) but it may be very attractive to someone else with a different one.

There are two unexplained phenomena that I currently believe in (but either could change at any time - by being explained or by being shown not to exist.)
They are dark matter and dark energy.

But ghosts and stuff? Certainly not.

I don’t understand why they didn’t all just abstain.

I get that it was a gotcha, like they were asked the classic “Have you stopped beating your wife?” But they not only failed to deny the form of the question, but also gave the worse of the two bad answers.

Experiencing mental distress.

How? Did you have ancestry somewhere that let you immigrate back? Family still there? Something else?

I’d love to find a way out for my family, but don’t know of any options.

It stands for Large Language Model, and that’s what ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, etc are. They are all LLMs. They are also called ‘AI’ (Artificial Intelligence) but they are not at all intelligent, they just match patterns and produce one word at a time like a very complex autocomplete in a phone keyboard.

They very often get facts wrong, but they are designed to sound confident and knowledgeable even when completely incorrect, which is a problem because humans tend to assume honesty.

Arachnophobia​

It doesn’t actually still haunt me (I’m the family spider hunter) but I did get nightmares for a while from that one.

The only area I know well is the NW corner of the USA, but there is indeed public transit. I can’t say how it compares to even other parts of the US, let alone other countries, but I can say that in the urban and suburban areas it’s generally possible to walk or bike to a bus stop and with some transfers, get within a walkable or bicycle-able distance of where you are going. Some rural areas have a system called “dial-a-ride” which are basically on-demand small buses if I understand correctly. Similar systems exist for people with disabilities in the urban areas also.

Besides buses there are also ferries, and local train systems (light rail) which connect neighborhoods and cities in the same major metropolitan area. Trains between major metros (such as between states) also exist, but typically it’s just not worth it: If you aren’t going to just drive it by car, then flying is both faster and cheaper than the train, and flying isn’t cheap.

There are also commuter trains between the downtowns of major (nearby) cities separate from the light rail, but I’ve never actually tried that myself.

Turkey

I don’t expect it so quickly, but hopefully lithium ion batteries (and variants like Li-poly, LiFePO4, etc)

I wish I could have that kind of optimism.

I’ve had good success with small pieces of electrical tape cut so that a very small part of the LED is still exposed.

Very little, around 60k.

A 1.44 “MB” floppy is 1440k, or about 1.406 real MB, and of that the space used by the FAT file system reduces it to around 1.38 free space.
For some reason I couldn’t find the exact number and don’t have any handy to check it myself.

Had to look this up.

It’s a quote from Steve Jobs saying he thought computers would enhance minds the way bicycles enhance efficiency of travel.

(One of the search results.)

In their mind it’s not a simple difference of opinion, it’s the fate of your eternal soul forever. They can’t understand how someone could reject infinite happiness in heaven for pure unending suffering in hell.

And even worse than that, you are (directly or not) saying they are wrong, that they are fools for believing in fairy tales, and not just about any old subject, but about the most important thing in the universe - it’s whole purpose.

That’s quite a hard thing for a lot of people to accept unfortunately, and some don’t take it well at all. I do feel like I was lucky that my parents didn’t take it as harshly as some do.
Probably helps that I’m still cis and straight, and grew up in a left-wing area, so it’s not like I’m the only atheist they knew.

Just left during the API thing. I’ve rarely been back, mostly to the subreddits for games I play (unfortunately still the best communities for them) but I used to spend hours a day there, and now it’s minutes a month if that much.

Never banned or even shadowbanned as far as I know.

Grew up in a Christian household, but grew out of that kind of superstition around high school or a bit younger. My parents never did, so that and politics caused a bit of tension, but never enough to keep us from talking to each other, visiting, etc.

If you are assuming we live in a simulation, then you have to assume everything else about it too - there is no evidence to point in any direction about anything higher than our own layer, so ours is the only one we can do science on. All else would be imagination, so make up whatever you like.

I do agree though that a simulator can’t fully simulate itself, so yeah, it would have to be bigger and more complex in at least some way, which could simply be runtime.

The only things I can come up with so far are birthdays, holidays, vacations, etc. Nothing actually specific to 2025.

I guess I’m looking forward to eventually buying a new laptop, but that’s not really year specific either.

So I guess my answer is it ending. Same for the next 3 after it.

That’s many of us in a few years.

And it’s money we earned, taken out of our paychecks already.

This is simple theft, and it hurting a few more of the ‘right people’ now is not a good thing when it hurts all (American) people soon.