Ok but I already have about 700 hobbies and projects I could be working on or learning, I would just like to click the button that does the thing.

People actually installed or used 8? 😋

Lol agreed though, the entire reason I am attempting to swap to Linux is because 7 was the last good Windows.

With Windows (pre-10+) at least I can generally avoid the frustration of fruitless internet searches by just mucking around in the control panel for a bit. Or even, yes, Regedit. I like to find a menu that offers me relevant options and then click a button to do a thing. Maybe it takes more time than just typing a command shortcut to do the thing, but clicking menu buttons is something I can just kind of figure out myself by exploring rather than reading the manual or consulting the eldritch lore of the internet every time I want to learn how to do a new thing. .

I’m trying Mint too, for the most part it has been a relatively intuitive transition from Windows… up until the moment I try to customize things. Fuck me for trying to pin programs to my panel, make my own shortcuts/launchers, install things to my choice of directories or recategorize my start menu shortcuts. I’m so used to just being able to right click on something and have the thing I wanted to do be an option there, or be able to just click and drag something somewhere and it just does the thing. Looking up the directions for how to do a really basic thing after the third or fourth time gets reeeeal old.

I’ve been trying to swap over to Linux and I don’t like using the Terminal because I have zero memory retention for literally anything that isn’t Weird Al songs

Also needs to be said that he’s been creating for a decade and every video is consistently as good as the last one. The man single handedly spawned an entire genre and he just kept doing his own thing, algorithms and influencer culture be damned.

Meal prep and have easy to heat up meals ready to go for the first two weeks. Cooking becomes harder than you would ever believe once kiddo arrives.

Get baby bottles with limited feed nipples and at least two varieties of formula ready. Milk doesn’t always come in on time or in the quantities that baby needs. Babies can also have digestive issues or taste preferences so having a backup option is clutch.

Get something that will let you wear the baby hands free. Some babies will wake like clockwork within minutes of being put down and sometimes the only way you can get something done is with the baby on your chest.

Something I didn’t know about was that young babies under 3 months go a little crazy with their limbs when they sleep and need to be swaddled so they don’t flail around. They’re used to being in a confined space so being wrapped up in a baby blanket is very comforting. Make sure you have at least 3 to rotate out when they get dirty. They come in a few varieties so see which might work for you.

Babies can come early, like three weeks early, so get everything ready like diapers and wipes well before the due date. Assume you have less time than you think so you’re not caught off guard.

Talk to family or friends and find out who would be able to help with chores, food or watching the baby periodically for the first few months

There’s a ton of second hand, barely used or basically brand new baby stuff out there in basically any population center. Definitely check out second hand stuff for anything that you are thinking of spending more than pocket change on

Sleep is precious, enjoy it while you can

Exactly, thank you. I also enjoy Abby Cox’s videos on corsetry and living in period accurate 18th century clothes full time for many years. The “dream team” of Youtube dress historians got together to debunk common corsetry myths on this video which summarizes succinctly how these myths continue to propagate and where they came from. I jumped to a timestamp where they talk about where those images of deformed rib cages come from but the whole video is pretty entertaining

https://youtu.be/4XBLBfWNH7I?t=616

This blog perpetuates a lot of common myths about corsetry and I find that disappointing.

It’s a pretty widespread and common thing that children wear similar clothing to adults, and whatever the adult fashion is, kids often get a miniaturized version of it. The children’s corsets pictured in the ads there don’t minimize the waist or attempt to give them an hourglass, and would have been lightly boned or have no boning at all. If there was boning, it would have been made of flexible material like whale balleen (the material filter feeding whales have instead of teeth, which behaves like a soft thermoplastic) or ribbons, cording or even paper. These are not materials that can damage a body unless maybe you stab yourself with them or light them on fire.

Corsets were used to provide a smoothing layer under clothes, to give some structure and yes the fashionable silhouette. However, it was commonly understood that a body in clothing was very different from a body out of it. There was more body privacy and control over how your body was perceived. The combination of corsets, stays, “bodies” and strategic use of padding meant anyone could be the fashionable silhouette, no matter your natural body type. Far more women achieved those “tiny waists” by wearing bum pads, hip rolls, underskirts and crinolines, mutton sleeves and frilly blouses than tight lacing. It was all smoke and mirrors.

Now with skin tight knits and thin leggings and exposed skin the only way to have a fashionable silhouette is for your body to actually look like that, which fuels the fitness and weight loss industry. I find it interesting that these articles always talk about “unrealistic body standards” when ironically body standards have only gotten more aggressively unrealistic and unreasonable, not less.

Modern corsets have little to no resemblance to their historical counterparts, which were lightweight, flexible, practical support garments that provided some structure to the clothing of the time and bust support for women. Extreme outliers existed but were far from the norm. A lot of the period writing about the harm corsets were doing was written by men bloviating about how stupid they thought women were to wear the clothing they preferred, a time honored tradition which continues to this day.

There is nothing controversial here, children wore underwear too.

Excellent by American standards for most of Boston and Greater Boston, which is to say mediocre by European standards. It’s entirely possible to be independently mobile and car free there. Most places are walkable and there are pleasant old buildings and green spaces or plazas or spots overlooking water to stumble upon. It’s a lovely city.

Ace and demi men are out there, but I won’t pretend they are easy to find. I’m demi and looking for someone else on the ace spectrum pretty much eliminated the idea of meeting someone out in the world and locked me in to finding someone online. Back when OKCupid was data driven it was the best way to find other aces and demis but I don’t know the current state of it. There’s not much visibility for aces so a lot of people don’t know to identify themselves as such.

I dated a variety of people but always came back to people who were ace/demi having the most potential for long term companionship. It just simplified everything, removed the tension, and potential for hurt feelings. Allosexuals might think they can manage a situation like you’re describing but in the long term might end up feeling frustrated and sad about not being desired. It was always worth the search when I did find other aces.

Chores, organizing, cleaning. I spent so much time working on home projects this summer and when I look around it feels like I lost time. Somehow I’ve been working consistently without getting a foothold or making progress. Still laundry in the dryer and a mess everywhere.

My mother joined me for a one-shot once and this is basically the character we rolled up for her. She was Nana Ylva, a human barbarian. Her thing was generally trying to solve things non-violently (often using her “Mom Voice” aka intimidation) but if she saw her “cubs” under attack she would rage. She had the chef feat that gave food with temp hp boosts. It was a fun little game and my mom still talks about it sometimes.

I guess everyone has their own way of boiling an egg!

I’ve been very happy with the steamed egg method. I put a steamer basket in a pot with just enough water that it touches the bottom of the basket, bring it to boil and then put as many eggs as I want in to the basket using a pair of tongs with silicone grippies. I set a timer for 11min, put it on medium heat, cover the pot and set up an ice bath. After 11min the eggs go in the ice bath for a minute or two and I crack them and roll them on a cutting board to loosen the shells. They come out exactly how I like them with a golden yolk with a soft orange center and the shells are super easy to peel as long as I get my thumb under the membrane.

I’ve made them this way with fresh eggs, week old eggs, month old eggs, home chicken eggs, storebought eggs, and never had issues with peeling.

It’s because he’s actually smiling

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I think this post should be home that you own. I’m going to say something controversial in that, in the US, I actually think houses should be expensive. I think a single family dwelling >1500sqft on a half acre or more of land is a luxury, and most people don’t need to have that much land and space all to themselves. The problem is that that’s ALL that’s available for most regions in the US. The US is suffering from foolish post-war suburban centric zoning codes that prohibit building medium density housing (“the missing middle”). We need to change zoning codes across the country to encourage building up “gentle density” and mixed use areas, even in rural regions, because they use land and infrastructure much more effectively and efficiently. They raise more revenue for towns while bringing down home prices. If everyone had the option to buy a place of their own <1000sqft with a small land footprint, I don’t think there would be as much dissatisfaction with not being able to afford a “house”.

It’s a tactic used by people who don’t have the confidence, ability, or power in a relationship to communicate directly. It’s usually used to be spiteful, take revenge, or express displeasure, thinly veiled behind some plausible deniability. A passive aggressive action can be something like:

A person preparing food for someone they feel is unappreciative might deliberately over-salt or overcook it to spoil that person’s enjoyment of it

A person who doesn’t like things being left on the floor might purposely step on or trip over/kick something they see there, damaging or dirtying it

A person resenting being asked to do a task might make very little effort, do it wrong, or make the situation worse than it was to avoid being asked in the future

It’s essentially a way to be hostile and unpleasant to people you socialize with, but if called on their actions, the person being passive aggressive can make excuses or deflect blame. It’s not a healthy dynamic and leads to frustration and erosion of trust on all sides. It perpetuates and exacerbates problems rather than resolving them.

Yes, believing that they will be discriminated against for things that they like and face negative consequences for expressing who they are will discourage many people from doing things, not just girls.

There are plenty of girls who fit into a more masculine standard of behavior and will integrate better into male dominated spaces. However, some girls will want to enjoy feminine coded things without judgement in those spaces and that is valid too.

I have a female friend in STEM who has dealt with an immense amount of misogyny in her field. She’s been the only woman in the room more times than she can keep track of. She has achieved a lot academically, but feels a pressure to conform to a standard of behavior set by men. She loves pink, collects dolls, paints her nails and is unabashedly feminine, and has suffered real social and professional consequences for her gender presentation. It’s literally an act of bravery for her to go to work in a soft fuzzy pink sweater.

I get that the question here is implying that either all little girls are so obsessed with pretty sparkly things that the lack of it would be a detractor, or that it’s reductive to assume that they would and that femininity can take many forms. However, it’s a valid desire to want to do a thing and be accepted for how you are. If a little girl does love pink and glitter and all classically coded feminine things, seeing someone like you in STEM blazing that trail and making a place for you, is just as validating as seeing other minorities in admirable positions. Representation matters.