If you come in asking a question and then tell everyone who disagrees with your expected answer that they’re wrong, you’re acting in bad faith.

“Oh, Mrs. McGraw” the sergeant said, “Would you like to make a soldier out of your son Ted?”

Man, you’re WAY more charitable than I!

In 2016, I offered formal asylum to a few dangerously leftist US friends of mine.

This time 'round (2024) I publicly revoked it. I’m done with the country as a whole. They need to stay there and figure their shit out.

You might want to specify a country here.

We know where you are, but you’re not the centre of the universe.

Modern conservatism is based on fear and hatred of the ‘other.’ “Immigrants” (brown people with accents), gays, ‘wrong’ religions (mostly those practiced by brown people with accents), etc.

Your grandfather is scared of them, and hates them for making him scared. It’s rooted in racism and phobias. No justification from him will change it.

As you get older, you will have the option to agree with him, ignore his behaviour for the sake of family harmony, or aggressively reject his beliefs - which will potentially mean rejecting him. Choose wisely, and keep your compassion alive.

Where did this ‘never wash your jeans!’ mentality come from?

It feels like jeans - regardless of designer or ‘raw denim’ status - were clothes until about seven years ago, then they became fragile and precious jewels.

News flash: if you’re worried about washing your jeans, you’re inventing problems because you have none of your own.

Alberta checking in. Jumped from $1.31/L to $1.52 overnight. (That’s about $3.65 and $4.25/gal USD.)

Don’t think of them as fruits. It’s more like a very rich, creamy vegetable.

By itself it has a mild nutty flavour. When ripe enough to mash, you make guacamole (tonatoes, onion, salt, and freah lime juice) and it becomes amazing.

But on its own, not groundbreaking.

My son is also taking creatine, and we did a lot of research before I agreed.

Creatine CAN cause significant kidney damage, and before that point, CAN cause kidney stones. The key is to (a) regulate your dose, and (b) drink enough water.

Within reason it’s quite safe, but stay within reason.

Religion tends to justify itself in the face of absolutely no evidence with “proof denies faith.” It’s a garbage argument, but it’s accepted.

Ghosts don’t have any similar excuse to fall back on when we fail to see any credible evidence whatsoever.

Is the soul a thing? Does consciousness exist as more than the sum of the electrical network of the brain? Who am “I”? These are all interesting and probably unanswerable philosophical questions. “Do ghosts exist” though, is a pretty straightforward no.

The USA isn’t the world. We’ll all survive after you’re gone.

In addition to the advice here already (some of which I agree with, some not), here are two other ideas:

1. Ask yourself WHY you’re keeping it? Does the explanation hold water?
2. Work through one area at a time, and do multiple cycles. It’s easier to work on a single room or area at a time, and if you can purge a modest amount easily, then you can work through the whole house like this. Then you go back for a second pass and will probably have a more critical eye for getting rid of stuff - another 15% goes from each room in turn.

➕️

That never really caught on though.

I’ve been in IT for over 30 years and never once heard someone try to make an acronym of URL.

If an acronym is convenient, it will overrule an initialism.

You seem to be insisting on avoiding the acronym that is right there, and I’m not sure why.

Someone would have to write a song about it.

Same. Started with StarOffice 5.0, which was a complete train wreck.

Libre Office. I’ve been using it for decades.

I’d love to do a fecal swab test on your phone.

Yep, you’d definitely find some. just like everywhere else.

I wonder how many times you’ve put it in your mouth to hold it.

What? WTF? Never. Not in the nearly 30 years I’ve owned a cell phone have I EVER put it in my mouth. Why would you do that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone do that.

I wonder how many times you’ve ate shit.

Well, let’s not get into details. But it’s ironic that the same world with a profoundly unhealthy obsession with a germ-free environment is the same one that has normalized anal sex, ATM, and analingus.

I tend to stay away from both extremes, wash my hands well, keep up with my vaccinations, and don’t stress over the fact that literally every single thing I touch is contaminated. The number of people who get sick (particularly with fecal coliform) from their phones is inconsequentially small.

Yes, your phone is dirty; but if you clean it, you’ll be eliminating a tiny fraction of a percent of the bacteria and viruses you’re exposed to every single day of your life.

You do you, but cleaning phones is almost entirely the product of fear mongering by the media. I didn’t think anyone actually bothered.