Several hospitals in China have been offering childbirth pain simulation experience for over a decade.

Yeah, that’s the craziest part of this story. Why would any hospital do that? It seems wildly irresponsible.

I thought this had come out already? All the garbage is blurring together.

I love how blasé this cat is. My dogs lose their shit when I sweep, let alone vacuum.

Was gifted a copy of Canopy a few months back. Played through the first game before we realized that there weren’t any “middle” tree trunk cards (there are only tree bases and canopies, and you’re supposed to overlap the base cards to make your trees taller).

Then, I promptly forgot all about it until nearly the end of the second game. Damned jungle.

'tisn’t the least bit funny.

Fyi, it’s martial law.

His chief weapon was surprise, iirc. That’s all, just surprise.

I mean, occasionally they do. Always popping up where you least expect (or want) them, in my experience.

Yeah, probably safest to stock up on onions now, so you won’t be caught out. I always keep some on standby for this kind of thing.

They’re just more people who’ve fallen victim to a well-funded propaganda campaign. Not much different than trumpets—in fact, they share many talking points! Amusingly, both groups would be offended by the comparison.

I’d hazard a guess that they were referring to the “targeted killing of ethnic Russians” made up shit. That’s just a Kremlin talking point. Shades of Operation Himmler. I don’t suppose you can cite any reputable sources for it?

I think you could make a very strong argument that the proportion of the population that isn’t under dubious leadership is vanishingly slight.

Yeah, I tried Black Flag a while back—because I’d heard good things—but just couldn’t be bothered with all the busy work. I did really enjoy Mafia 3, The Witcher 3, RDR2; I’m not anti-side quest by any means. I think I need a more compelling story, and that’s never been AC’s strong point (based on ~3 AC games I’ve picked up and quickly dropped over the years).

People are saying it. Many great people.

Someone call Tom Bombadil!

I think 75% is far too generous an estimate, tbh. Every policy I’ve acquired through the ACA-mandated marketplace has been garbage, right from the start. For-profit health care is evil, and the ACA just served to further entrench this evil in our lives. It did some marginal good, and I’m certainly not advocating for its repeal in favor of ‘concepts of a plan’. But 75%? I can’t get on board with that.

This is something I do, so I’ll take a crack at it—though, bear in mind, it might be total bullshit.

It’s a defense mechanism. Many popular things are—in my estimation—objectively terrible. Every time something utterly devoid of merit (and often actively detrimental to the public good) is generally agreed to be a popular sensation, the connection I feel to my fellow human beings takes a hit.

I want to believe in people—in society. But I’m clearly a judgmental sob. So maybe by avoiding the popular things, I’m trying not to further my own alienation.

I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but what the fuck is normal? Nobody’s really normal. Even the so-called neurotypical are riddled with undiagnosed disorders. Normalcy is just a social fiction. Don’t let it limit your options.

I think that you’re probably right. I also think I may be projecting a bit, and conflating my country’s apathetic embrace of fascism with my own executive dysfunction. Seems all of a piece. Anyhow, thanks for the words.

The headline is a little ambiguous, but he didn’t give in; they relaxed the dress code.