Discord is OK for real-time chat or VC, but is awful for forum-like discussions. Comment-specific context is lost in the single-threaded noise and search is borderline useless. The true forum-designed format of Lemmy, Reddit, and predecessors is far and away better. In my opinion Twitter - the legacy, ubiquity and tech - would be a better forum than Discord. That was hard to type and I need to quickly bleach my fingers.

I'm going to suggest possibly irresponsible advice, but step 1 - you need to solve your depression and porn addiction, and ASAP. For that you could try therapy, and/or psilocybin or DMT... Not a heroic dose, but enough to get introspective from an altered POV. Therapy is the obvious long-term recommendation, but the psychedelic route may get you there faster, and you might learn a few things, such as your social obstructions or root causes.

Second, you need a close friend, at least one, preferably one who is also your desired romantic demographic. Maybe not someone who you'd normally "go for", but who you'd be happy spending time with - platonically, romantically, whatever it does not matter. The goal is to ground yourself with empathy for that person, and they for you too.

It's back up now. They apparently use Bing as the backend search and Microsoft fsck'd it for a few hours: https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/23/24163094/microsoft-bing-search-outage-copilot-duckduckgo-chatgpt

Please do your own research, as this is a very controversial subject which has been fought since its inception, with entrenched opinions. Here's a primer:

• Too much fluoride is bad for humans, and the threshold can achieved with a standard diet and recommended intake of water, assuming fluoridated water is used for both consumption and food prep. This excludes fluoride toothpaste.
• Fluoride can not be removed from tap water using standard water filters, or even R/O filters. Removal requires highly specialized filters which utilize aluminum to chemically un-bind the fluoride, which then require a separate filtration statge to remove the aluminum.
• This is because fluoride creates some of the strongest chemical bonds, and is the reason it is the primary component in PFAS, or "forever chemicals"
• Very little of our tap water actually touches human teeth.
• Fluoride is a problematic byproduct of the production of aluminum and fertilizer industry.
• Buildup of fluoride in urban/suburban soils is becoming a crop & gardening concern for which there is no viable solution.
• Fluoride tablets were administered as a remedy for hyper-thyroidism, as it decreased thyroid function. Fluoride is believed to be a factor in the increase of modern hypo-thyroid ailments
• Fluoride is a known carcinogen.
• Fluoride is a known neurotoxin, shown to reduce IQ - particularly for children. Many pediatricians advise against fluoride toothpaste at young ages.

Most of the research done on fluoridating tap water was done in the early 1940s & 50s, well in advance of modern dental hygiene and fluoridated toothpaste use. Studies do definitively show applying fluoride directly to teeth does strengthen tooth enamel, but modern studies are mixed, at best, regarding efficacy of fluoridated tap water between equivalent socioeconomic communities. No studies have been conducted regarding dermal absorption of fluoride , believed to further elevate intake.

I think the simplest solution is to let people choose for themselves, and add fluoride to their personal drinking water if that's what they choose.

We don't need to fluoridate water in our toilets, showers, or irrigation.

Woodworker in US here, and I prefer metric. Also consider the thickness of plywood is actually in metric now - "3/4" is actually 18 mm but they have to market it as 23/32.

I've chosen to join the other 8 billion people on earth.

For anything construction-scale, all supplies sold in the US are based on 4x8' sheet goods and 16-24" on-center framing. I also concede that king George the 74th's foot length is more human-scale when dealing with large measurements: 20 feet vs 6096 mm. I still use metric when possible, however - I find it easier and more accurate.

For EVERYTHING else I've switched to using metric.

Context: I grew up in the US using imperial units and only pivoted to the metric system in 2020. If I grew up thinking in metric and building supplies/standards used it, it'd be superior in every way.

TL;DR I like my imperial/metric combo tape measure.

My comment was from a place of empathy regarding his possible situation, but it doesn't mean we should encourage Edwin or put his ramblings on a pedestal. Also autism isn't a mental disability, but schizophrenia is and is manageable with the proper diagnosis. I appreciate the pattern-seeking efforts (a symptom of schizophrenia - hyper-vigilence & pattern-seeking; blame snakes for honing our ancestor's brains), but his latest stuff is practically nonsensical - aside the already nonsensical Qanon stuff. I didn't realize he had gone off the deep end until reading into his Dr Eyeball thing this morning - I had to go to TwitterX for the full-res image of the texts, and I actually didn't see anything concerning in Eyeball's messages... Which led me to review Edwin's other stuff and was appalled. Everything I read of Edwin's tried to, poorly, to link every conspiracy theory thread to every other similar thread, and a dash of our stocks too. I'm all for entertaining the possibility of some theories where actual evidence exists, valid unanswered questions, etc. but his recent posts are just... Unsubstantiated and lacking in links between points A, B & C of any sort. I hope he is OK.

I don't use headphones often, but when I do its' via wired headphones. I had to buy a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter, but the max volume is half of what my old phone with a 3.5mm jack could deliver.

Cheap wireless devices like headphones are way too finicky and prone to breakage, not to mention the battery lifespan is just a few years. I've had my nice wired headphones for 10 years.

Disappointed people are not shills. We must refrain from a cult of personality, because the types which gravitate to that spotlight are usually disappointing. This event was rife with "cult of personality" which turns me off completely. But I acknowledge that some people are jazzed by such things as this event, HS pep rallies, religious services, etc. I'm just here for the DD, analysis, and a few hits of tin.

I think Pulte likes to play off the community hype around ice cream & 741. It was obviously orchestrated & he's a hype man who aspires to to deliver what the crowd likes. Is there actual significance around 741 & ice cream? Perhaps, or maybe there used to be, or nothing at all - but it's community symbolism none the less.

LC's participation was the one sticky point for me. Even after sleeping in it I'm still of a mind that RC is trying to placate the most currently active sub-group of his investment followers until D-Day, and likely convinced LC to make an appearance to pacify & intrigue this audience in lieu of himself.

I haven't watched more than a few minutes of the actual PP show before but this seemed significant enough that I had it on in the background while finishing up work. Thoughts:

• Whole thing occurs at a windy airport tarmac, with a stage & everyone waiting. Pulte & PP arrive by helicopter. Why? Why that place, why a chopper? Pulte highlights he paid for the heli ride, not paid by participants' $500 tickets. Chopper remains in the background the whole time. Is it vanity, or a clue?
• Holy fuck Kais shouldn't be on the stage. I still don't know why he's significant.
• Lots of promotion of PHM
• Lots of circle jerking. Konga line of it.
• Houston Wade is weirded out and doesn't seem to be buying the production. He's stuck on stage, poor guy.
• Pulte says he is NOT involved with bbby or Teddy in any way, but says he'd invest 1m if RC lets him. Someone calls him out that he could invest a lot more than that, and has dropped several million in Twitter/X.
• Pulte shoots down every bit of tinfoil theories about him, no validity to any of it.
• LC attended virtually, talked for 5 min. Pulte made it clear LC will not be discussing any publicly traded companies. LC comments about the helicopter... The damn chopper again - was LC subtly calling Pulte vain, or is this a coordinated reinforcement of a clue? Leaning towards the former. Most of what LC says is about RC. I'm really surprised he agreed to be a part of this... And why LC? Did RC convince LC to do this as a consolation prize to placate the PP crowd? LC is the GME investor furthest from bbby, at least as far as we currently know. Was RC a consolation prize delivered by RC?

This has left me very confused. I try to keep an open mind about Pulte but this made me dislike him more... Everything he said was the most meaningless generalizations delivered in the style of a pseudo-politician. He's a trust fund-ed 35 yo who looks 50... But RC keeps liking Pulte's tweets and then LC. My BS sensor is detecting a presence, but the signals are too mixed IMO. Is this all a make-a-wish production for Pulte, with RC & LC humoring a dying man-child? I kid, but this whole thing is just so unexplainably strange.

Still don't care for PP though, sorry. His app idea is just dumb, but I think Pulte is funding it.

Thoughts?

With Lemmy there's distinct difference between the frontend/UI & backend (the application itself, & data storage). Lemmy is primarily the backend, but they allow anyone to create a frontend (or mobile app, browser extension, etc.) to interface with it. Lemmy does come with a default web UI which sucks, and this is where Kbin rose to initial popularity with a slightly better web UI. Now there is a robust ecosystem of apps like Voyager or Sync which are quite good and far more enjoyable to use, even when compared to Reddit's official app.

Good news is the web UI can change, and you can experiment with other federated instances which uses different web UIs.

Lemmy's main problem is a lack of user base and content. I've lurked daily on Reddit for 13 years without an account, but with Lemmy I'm choosing to vote, comment & post to help get the "ball rolling". Reddit had the same problem initially, and the creators & friends busted their asses with alt accounts to give the impression of a larger user base... Until Digg imploded

PP's app idea as a forum is the stupidest shit he's said yet. He forgets that he isn't the main character of this community, and it was simply dumb luck and circumstance that led to his handle/name being in the subreddit's name we all congregated in. I fear he's trying to capitalize/monetize on his 15 minutes, and this isn't the way. I'm not installing a "PP app", but I would actually donate money to someone(s) wanting to stand up a dedicated "stonks"** lemmy server. Hopefully we have a conclusion to this story before the ambitious dev intern who offered their services has a prod release.

** FoilVesting? FTDville? Or default to the existing WhyDRS ?