So, I'm a bit younger than the era you're looking for, but my dad was an alcoholic and I remember as a kid being in the local bar and being juuuust short enough that I was just under the smoke line. I had to breach that line to get up on a bar stool and ask for a kitty cocktail. It always felt like I crossed the border to another world whenever I did.

I think I need to use more force to clear my lungs than my peers, but other than that my lack of athletic ability is mostly self inflicted.

that, that just adds more questions.

I mean, the sad part is that there's really no other place guys and gals mix besides work or school. Once you graduate it's just work that remains. I don't even mean romantically either. I think it's hand in hand with the loneliness epidemic everyone keeps talking about. Where do you meet new people? Women can be so rare in some men's lives that to just say "ask if they like you" almost implies that they should ask every woman which both sides know is not what should be happening.

Ideally you would be mixing with strangers at a pub or something where if you put your foot in your mouth and somebody says no to friendship/partnership you both go your separate ways and no harm no foul, you probably won't even run into each other for days/weeks, but now everything is just shitty.

• Clubs are too loud to talk at, so while you might be adjacent to a bunch of new people you won't be with any new people.

• Bars work somewhat decent, people are friendly, the counter is where strangers mix. It does require you to imbibe a steady stream of booze though. You'll also have to jump around until you find one that you like. Same thing with smoking areas, smokers are crazy friendly, asking for a light is a great ice breaker. I actually used to carry a lighter just for this reason, and I never even smoked. Still a terrible habit to adopt to get friends though.

• Any speed-friending or dating events/sites are just crawling with cringey people (I once went to one and had someone try to sell me a timeshare)

• Everything has gone up in price, which sucks because now you go to an event and have a pressure to make it worth the money which just adds to the shittiness of the night.

• The most reliable place people hang with strangers is the internet, but even then it's not a conversation. It's letters and pen pals.

Way too many people just have work left to meet people and that's not exactly a great place to pursue a relationship because careers cause way to many tripwires. A foot in the mouth brings in HR. Someone gets promoted and now there's a power dynamic. Yes it's inherently riskier to pursue people there. I think guys complain about it more just because they're more isolated and deal with it more.

I spent a lot of time when I graduated trying to find somewhere where I could find people and I finally landed on the convention scene and even met my wife there, but it took almost 5 years of leaving my house, trial and error, lots of events, and some truly boring expensive nights.

Why isn't there vr animation software? Why can't we have several people pop up in an instance and animate avatars like a stop motion movie?

Yeah, there is a large fixation on whether he did or did not pull the trigger and I genuinely feel like that's not the straw that breaks the camel's back, because ultimately he was told it was a clear gun.

What matters is:

• Did he know that there were serious concerns about gun safety on set?

• Did he use his star power/producer role to silence those concerns?

• Did he retaliate against people who raised those concerns?

If he did any of those three things, then you have a rapidly strengthening case that he knowingly endangered the crew, and he should have known NOT to have aimed that gun at anybody. You made that gun unsafe and then the gun went off in your hands because you reaped what you sowed.

Sounds like a wonderful story arc. Looking for a buyer for a kidney stone while at the exact same time, infuriatingly, fending off assassins trying to steal the kidney stone. Which you would ABSOLUTELY SELL TO THEM if they would just reach out.

Do you advertise even more publicly, risking more assassins? Or do you stay more quiet, do research, try to figure out why people want this stone so badly and yet won't just buy the damn thing?

Which, genuinely, if it was cheap I wouldn't care about. If it had no wifi or heated seats, no touchscreen or self driving. If it was just a cheapass vehicle for point a to point b and back, I would not mock it. It would have a place in the world and it would fulfill a purpose.

But currently it's place in the world is for the people who are unable to touch Elon Musk, but want to caress his face or be stepped on in a masochistic fashion by him. This truck is as close as they can get.

Admittedly, there is no government housing for politicians, which means either buying renting in washington DC (not cheap) in addition to your home in your own state, or moving entirely to Washington DC for a position you may lose in 4 years.

The entire job seems to be closed out to everyone but millionaires.

right? they're pretty impressive. Although the cat one I saw was definitely AI made with all the weird limbs of the cats.

Well, I just recently got married in July. We'd been together for 5 years before that point, we survived COVID in a rather stress inducing state.

• My wife works in banking, with secrecy requirements. I work in AV, testing equipment that records everything it sees and hears. We couldn't even be within earshot of each other. She was forced to work in her bed and I was forced to take up half the living room with 2 baker's racks of AV equipment. Still went through those two years being able to look back fondly at being able to take a five minute break to scream into a pillow and get a hug after a particularly stressful problem, meeting, or office politics.

I completely understand where you're coming from, but just like how you can't imagine a partner you want to spend the rest of your life with. I cannot imagine someone ever replacing my wife, and I don't even want to entertain the notion of losing her.

• well what if it's insert_celebrity_crush_here?
  -- that's not my wife, not interested

• well what if it's your wife but she never says no to you?
  -- that doesn't sound like my wife at all, I'm not interested

We just mesh incredibly well. We both grew up in problematic households with a disdain for our parents. We both grew up poor. We both care more about financial security and safety than trying to get it all. I feel like we're a team, at all times. Not having her beside me would be like playing football with only half the players.

I will say, this is gonna sound weird but stick with me. Don't... don't chase a monogamous relationship.

I think too many people get hooked on this idea that you must have a partner. You must marry before you hit 35. You must fuck before you hit 19. Just don't think so hard about it. Geography, life events, mistakes, opportunities, are all at place with literally everyone at all times. COVID especially through a wrench in every life plan in America. I feel so bad for anyone who hadn't gone through college yet. Just... find enjoyment where you can and balance that with building your future and if both those points can be met with the same activity. DO IT. Whether it's a partner that you can't live without and you wanna keep, or a group you can't live without. You need both those points in life. Do whatever makes sense.

... man I never made that connection. I thought it was because there was never an explosion smaller than somebodies head. If it doesn't cause a boom it's a gun that shouldn't be in a boomer shooter.

Like, at this point the absolute most rope I can give him is that he's the living embodiment of that Mitchell and Webb sketch Are we the Baddies

How do you NOT know that white nationalists aren't just nationalists who happen to be white? If he's not racist then he's dumber than the congressman who was afraid an island would capsize if people evacuated to one side of it.