So what happened? Did you stick around to find out?

Hmm really? I can’t say I’ve ever had sore abs after a non-ab-specific workout

I’ve heard most body builders don’t really do much for abs. If you have low body fat and do whole body exercises like squats, deadlifts, or even stuff like bench press they should pretty much take care of themselves.

Nah it was a real e-ink kindle. It just wasn’t for me i guess.

Nice try robot scum

I would say reading books. It’s a long form activity that is a strong counter to the brain rot of scrolling and being mindlessly entertained by 100 different things for 10 seconds each. I find that when I read I have more vivid dreams which I think is definitely a sign that my brain has been fired up.

Same! I’ve read 1 (one) book in my life on a kindle and hated it. Physical books are just really cool, or maybe it’s just preference because that’s what I grew up with.

Thanks! :)

All I’m doing is pointing out that the above evidence is flawed. I can do that without a full-throated defense of the American police apparatus.

My family watches it every year

-the dialog is pretty iconic

-story is simple, it’s fine though

-the characters are pretty simple, but they are still interesting in their own way imo

-the ending to return of the king does undeniably drag

Honestly I think it’s a pretty polarizing film series. It takes some huge gambles in including a lot of pretty deep lore and details that most people probably don’t care about. Most people i know who’ve seen it say they either love it or found it boring. I’ve never met someone who said the series is “pretty good”.

I will say, the lack of reliance on plot twists makes it more rewatchable. That and the absolutely beautiful sets and costumes. In today’s age of CGI and now AI, we will never see the like of it again. EDIT: How could I forget the soundtrack?

I’d argue the movies went a long way to humanize the characters and make them more nuanced, like Aragorn doubting himself, Gandalf worried he’s sent Frodo to his death, Faramir Sam and Aragorn all being more tempted by the ring then they were in the books, etc. Aragorn in particular is much more compelling in the movies imo.

Lots and lots of people- from tourists to 10 year old kids to illegal immigrants- pay taxes and do not receive suffrage. I don’t know if you are actually arguing that everyone who pays taxes should be able to vote or just playing devils advocate.

Even better- saves you the trouble of having to figure out that last part yourself!

So only legally emancipated children that also have jobs should be allowed to vote? That is a small and unusual subset of children.

Should child actors be allowed to vote?

Those are cherrypicked numbers. You are comparing COVID America to pre-covid other countries. France dropped from 80% to 50% in 2020

People just split for irreconcilable differences all the time, they don’t owe the public an explanation.

Millibeads

Plenty of industries have gone bankrupt over the years. They are not always bailed out, or at least not bailed out successfully. Some examples in the US: the textile industry, the furniture industry, and the slave trade. Coal is headed in the same direction because market forces (the cost of coal and pressure from environmentalists and by extension everyday consumers) are working against it.

Yes, there is no alternative to planes… some of the time. Everybody has a flight they have to catch every once in a while. But some people fly twenty times a year for pleasure, some people maybe only once a year. If you have a wedding or funeral invitation on the other side of the U.S., yeah you pretty much have to take a plane. But if you’re planning a vacation or travel to a couple states over, you absolutely do have the choice to just not fly.

Covid did not indicate a floor to air travel. As I already said, it was a situation where airlines had the choice between saving money in the short term (by stopping flights) or breaking their contracts with airports and losing money in the long term once traffic resumed. If the drop-off in travel had simply been due to permanent reduced demand for flying in general—due to, for example, people taking fewer long-distance flights for vacations due to increased concern over carbon emissions—they would have simply given up on those routes and reduced the number of flights permanently.

I was not talking about freight rail, I was talking about passenger rail. Lots of passenger rail companies went bankrupt - no consolidation, just your company went out of business because nobody wanted to take the train. I do know some sketchy shit went on to drive the nail into the coffin and lead to Amtrak but the long decline before that was due to the market forces of people having cars and wanting to use them.

Finally, yes I agree that there is no true “alternative” to airlines, nor is there a true “alternative” to consuming electricity. But, you can still choose to reduce your consumption of those things.

Sure, let me google that for you.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/boycotts/history-successful-boycotts

In general boycotts are less about driving a company to bankruptcy and more about getting them to change their behavior. Some companies are surprisingly immune to boycotts but many others have walked back their problematic behavior. Notably in recent memory in the US I can think of Barilla, Chick-fil-a and (by conservatives) Budweiser. The Montgomery bus line boycott is the stuff of history.