I agree that simply not telling someone “no” and leading you on is definitely the a-hole thing to do and that not all men are dangerous. As an outsider to your world, my question is, have you ever heard the saying “if everyone else is an a-hole, then look in the mirror?” I am not saying you are a bad person at all. What I am saying is that if everyone is ghosting you that you meet, there must be a reason that this is happening to you that you are unaware of. I think of my brother-in-law who is a large imposing scary looking dude that looks like he could beat the tar out of anyone. He perpetuates that appearance by how he chooses to wear his hair & beard and how he chooses to dress. However, once you get to know him, you realize he wouldn’t harm anyone with the exception of self-defense. Other times, it is just a vibe that people give off that make them seem like a bad idea. I personally think about a guy that my partner was friends with. When I met him the first time, my creeper radar was going off, and I couldn’t figure out why. I set that aside because he was my partner’s friend. Down the road, we found out that he was extremely emotionally manipulative (probably a sociopath) and was dating young women 18-25 while he was 40. We saw that emotional manipulation based off of observation when he was around his partners and also when we learned some very personal and private things that he was doing with said partners and how it made them feel like they were the crazy one, being gaslit, etc. One of his partners was a newly licensed therapist, and she was unable to see the emotional manipulation until AFTER she got away from him. I am not saying this is what you do, since I do not know you. However, if you give off a creeper vibe (even if you are not a creeper), then that can cause large swaths of the population to ghost you. The entire thing just sucks, and I like to give people I meet a fair shake to show me who they really are because more often than not, you meet some seriously fun people to be around. Do note I am very much a nerd and enjoy table top games, video games, computers, and things of that nature therefore, I am used to interacting with people who are not consider conventionally beautiful/hansom always. The other things to consider is, are the people you approaching in the same league as you? Whether we like it or not, people will judge you based off of your appearance. If you try and get into a friend group or date someone much prettier than you, then that probably won’t go well.

Sorry for the wall of text. I ran up against this problem when I was in middle and high school because I kept throwing myself at the pretty girls to be friends with and couldn’t figure out why I had no friends. Then I got in with the theater and band nerds and found lots of friends. The same is true as I moved cities and instead of looking for the beautiful people, I looked for the gamers and found my people :) I do sincerely hope you find some peeps of your own. It has gotten much more difficult to that though in this day and age with people so tied into social media and not doing things in-person out in the world the way that we used to.

That really stinks that you have unfortunately found some of the most self-centered people in the world. I think it is a symptom of THEM not wanting to say “no thank you” and rationalizing that ghosting others as the easier thing to do for THEM if they really didn’t want to get to know you. Screw those kinds of people! Please know that there are people in this world who find ghosting extremely off-putting. The only acceptable time to ghost someone is AFTER you have already ended the friendship/relationship and they continue to pester you since they have already been clearly informed that you are not interested.

As a person who is highly introverted, yet still desires contact with high-quality people, I do continue to put myself out there strike up new friendships with like-minded people. If you are relying on dating apps to get dates, I would say to remove those from you phone and just seek walking, running, hiking, table top gaming, etc. groups to meet people in a low pressure way. That is what I did and how I met a lot of people who I consider friends that let me know if they can’t come to a gathering for whatever their reason. I joined lots of groups until I found my people in a city of about 120,000ish in the USA. It may take a long time to find your people, but when you do, you know.

Saying your going and then just no showing and no texting is just rude. I would be so angry I would never invite any of those people to do anything again. If they had at least texted that they were unable to come - even without a reason, I would forgive them because I personally sometimes get excited about events and then just really am in a bad headspace on the day of the event. At least I have the decency to text that I’m not coming and apologize. It takes a lot of work to plan a group event whether it is BBQ, Game Night, etc. Poor form to no show and no text. These people are not your friends.

I already came to Linux in November just to get away from unwanted programs that you cannot remove from taking up system resources. I cannot be happier with my snappy Linux Mint installation. This is the longest that I have run Linux since 2008 when I ran Ubuntu for a few months.

I don’t think these people understand what a strike is. Those in power forget that their power is provisional to what the people are willing to put up with.

I’ll go to my local coffee shop if I want a good coffee experience. Starschmucks is a last effort if I am traveling and I really need coffee (think in the airport terminal), otherwise, I go without until I can get something affordable like a gas station with decent drip coffee or a coffee machine. These CEOs are so out of touch it isn’t even funny.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. So, how will the AI cope with a pilot not following instructions and/or confused by the instructions? Or better yet, how about weather events? It looks like self-driving cars, but with airplanes. If done even slightly incorrectly, it will be disastrous, but if it is not a real-time tool and has a human that actually checks its recommendations and acts accordingly, then it might be okay. Either way, I will be avoiding flying once this rolls out. WOW.

If you have never tried using GIMP as a replacement to Photoshop, I would suggest doing so depending on your specific needs. There is a learning curve, but nothing worse than Photoshop. There are also lots of online tutorials.

My GP is at a big medical center and the medical center coded their own internal AI transciptionist that listens to our conversations. It is sandboxed and only has access to internal systems. Overall, it saves my GP time and the notes are accurate. I asked a lot of questions when it first came out, and I think you should ask questions about it too.

Hahaha! And watch that robot get vandalized by the students.

Yet more rules for thee, but not for me and my friends. What a loser, he couldn’t get on his government-funded air force 1 plane to go cast his ballot in-person to make sure that his vote counts like he wants everyone else to do.

The last time that I ate fast food was a few years ago and it was McDonald’s oatmeal – it seemed they could not find a way to mess that up. Otherwise, fast food is just over-priced low-quality preservative-filled garbage food that will leave you hungry in a couple of hours. My partner and I usually stop at a grocery store, Kwick Trip, or a non-drive through restaurant if we need to get food while traveling. The price is about the same (sometimes less) and the food quality is much better if you choose your stop carefully. Fully agree that the C-suite of these companies need to eat their food regularly. The fact is that fast food is engineered to make you want more for the lowest cost to the company possible.

Metric - so much easier to understand and work with. I personally hate the imperial system, but I know it because of where I grew up. I would shed no tears if the U.S. switched to metric tomorrow.

The only time that I use Amazon now is when I cannot get the item that I need either in the city that I live in first or another online retailer. My Amazon spending as decreased significantly since I left prime in January of 2025.

So, your perspective is that pregnant people who have life-threatening medical conditions arising from their pregnancy through no fault of their own should have to pay out-of-pocket? Additionally, in it sounds like you feel that premature births due to life-threatening medical issues that the mother is suffering from and subsequent aftercare for the mother and premature infant should also be paid for out of pocket?

I am well aware of that. This couple’s experience was in parallel to what occurs all the time with people who have insurance in the U.S.

Ah yes, the United States – Don’t get sick or you will have to fight tooth and nail to get your insurance company to pay for necessary medical care. This is a story heard over and over again stateside. If the U.S. was truly the best place in the world to live, this would simply not happen. As a person who has worked in healthcare in the U.S. for over 15 years, I feel this in my bones. I am glad you could get legal help and have the right outcome based on what you paid for. I would love nothing more than to see everyone who comes to the U.S. receive medical care appropriately – Nobody asks to get sick :(

Almost as good as when I went to Home Depot and the next day I got an email asking me to rate my experience during my recent visit. That creeped me out so much I removed the app from my phone and forced logout on all devices. I have not been back since. And no, I did not pay using a Home Depot card and I am not part of any rewards program with them. Just eeew. If you advertise to me, I will ignore your product and buy something else. If there is not an alternative, then I will either plug my nose and buy it assuming that it is a need, otherwise I go without.

Yes, true on all points. Many people do not recognize when they are being sold to and also when they are being manipulated to spend more. I personally will never enter a store without a list of what I need. Then as I shop if I do see something that looks worth trying, I weigh whether it is worth the price. I am the exception rather than the rule though as a shopper :) I personally do not enjoy shopping, so I like to complete my list and get out.

Hahaha! I will tell you, my own mother (70s) buys rotisserie chicken because it is cheaper per pound of meat than a raw chicken and is just as good or better than if she bought the same size chicken and roast it herself in her own oven. Something to know about my mom is she is frugal. She coupons, and will always seek out the best deal. Whoever wrote that WSJ article truly has no idea what it is to budget is what I see. Additionally, some of the neighborhoods that were listed, are some of the richest parts of NY, so of course people who have money will also go out and buy easy meals rather than spend time cooking.