I asked this same question to my older coworkers back when I was 20. The main answer I got was: travel, travel, travel! “Travel before you have kids.” “Travel before you start a long-term career.” “Travel before you buy a house.”

Naturally, being a Millennial, all three of those things became non-issues. 🙃

So let me give some advice for the ages instead, regardless of what the future may hold for you:

• Never stop learning

• It’s okay to not know what you want to do with life

• And, especially in a post-truth, AI-infested world, question everything!

Take the time to learn what logical fallacies are (at least the common ones.) You WILL encounter them, and knowing when you or someone else is using faulty logic can keep you from harm, whether it be from another person (like what we see in politics) or from yourself (like the “Sunk Cost Fallacy,” which might otherwise lead you to stick with bad jobs, bad relationships, and more.)

Tangentially, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” Nobody knows everything. Anyone who expects you to know any given thing (unless you’re known to have studied it, of course) isn’t someone worth the admiration of. People with realistic expectations will see you as genuine, and being genuine can carry you far.

I could probably think of more if given the time, but those are the most important things off the top of my head. I’m open to questions in the comments; I’ve lived quite a peculiar life, so I’ve got a range of experiences, from being a homeless vandweller, to being a pilot, to pivoting 90° to working with kids and making art. I’m more than happy to answer any questions that might help people out!

its pretty edgy to get yourself thrown into jail for something stupid you know will put you there.

If your highest goal is self-preservation, then yeah, it doesn’t make sense. However, protestors like this usually care about something more important than themselves. It’s what drives them to put themselves out there, knowing they could be at risk for doing so.

I’m sure we could disagree on what specific things would make sense to potentially sacrifice one’s self for, but I hope the simple idea of something being that important at all is relatable. For some it’s their rights, for some it’s their religion, and for some it’s their family, but either way, most people can think of something they consider more important than themselves. It’s that importance that compels people to defend it, despite the personal danger for doing so.

Such a silly argument. Contributing genetics isn’t the only way to influence future generations. I may not be a parent, but I (and many more people) educate others’ children every day.

Just because someone doesn’t bring a kid into the world doesn’t mean they’re giving up on the future. Individualist cultures may have people thinking that nuclear families are the end-all, be-all of child-rearing, but it still “takes a village.”

You clearly never saw me in my “edamame everyday” phase.

broke mind virus

Oooooh, I like that! Their favorite phrase, turned around and reclaimed, and made fit to highlight their damage. This needs to spread.

He joined via a video link, I’m not sure if he was even in the UK.

Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he joined via video not because he couldn’t physically be there, rather because he’s scared of being attacked.

Could well be he couldn’t go himself because all his human shields kids had playdates pre-scheduled. Who knows.

I think their idea is a good idea for freeing up sink space, but as far as decreasing the line? That’s not gonna happen.

For those unaware - those long lines you see outside the door? They extend into the bathroom. As soon as a stall opens up, the next person goes in. We’re not waiting for sinks or mirrors.

Maybe get an engineer to make like a pee-troth for women to squat along for peeing en masse

I think the word you’re looking for is “trough.” I can’t see that working out well for most women. We’d still have to take off our pants and underwear, and asking us to do that in a room full of people is more than many would be comfortable with.

Besides, it seriously underestimates how many of us are on our periods at any given time. Consider that periods last about a week and occur every month. Not counting those with medications or health conditions that prevent periods, are currently pregnant, or are post-menopausal, that means about 1 in 4 women are actively menstrating at any given time. We’re going to prefer private stalls to take care of such needs. If somebody on their period chose to use such a trough, seeing blood splattered over it would probably discourage the rest of us from using it anyway.

Yeah, stalls take longer. But they help keep private things, well, private.

That’s the way they divide it at the building I trained for my job in (which isn’t a unique facility, it’s just where the training room is located.) Adults there have two bathroom choices - stalls, or urinals and stalls. The stalls are real stalls that actually provide privacy. There’s no gender requirement for either and it works fine for the dozens of people who work and train there. The kids still have gendered rooms, since they are at an abundantly curious age (and some parents have gender requirements for who diapers/potty trains their kids, especially the little girls.) We can honor parents’ wishes for their kids, but as adults we can still choose which grown-up bathroom to use for ourselves.

As a bonus - there are white noise machines in each bathroom, which helps decrease awkwardness across the board.

I don’t wish for ignorance, but sometimes I do watch wild creatures and think, “What a life. Find food, find shelter, find partner, lay eggs/babies. Pure biology in control.” Some deep part of me is massively jealous that I can’t give in to what my ancient genes want me to do. Being able to fulfill my basic needs is subject to the whims of capitalism.

Though not having to tolerate parasites and disease without medicine, not having to die right after mating, and having access to modern air conditioning are pretty strong perks of being a human.

(I lived.)

Phew Thank you for that closure.

To any prospective and new parents stumbling onto this thread: Turn back. NOW.

This thread will give you nightmare fuel. You have been warned.

I accidentally slammed my picky toe into a corner once and I’m pretty sure I broke it. But I was scared to tell my parents, so I just wore socks around the house until it healed.

I don’t think it healed properly either. If I feel the edges of my picky toes, I can feel a difference between my right and left. Using standard anatomical terms of location for clarity, the toe that got injured has a pointier joint on the medial edge, with the distal bone of the pinky turning slightly more laterally than the uninjured toe bone does. It doesn’t hurt today and doesn’t cause me any issues, as far as I can tell.

It still sucks that I’m not the only one who felt the need to hide an injury as a child.

Oof, this happened when my family went tubing down the Delaware River. It was the first time in my life that I was grateful women’s bathing suits include a top, as I got burnt horribly, but I didn’t end up with as much burn as the guys in my party all did. My poor, Canadian boyfriend looked like a tomato at the end.

I know you don’t want to hear “it depends,” but there is no one rule that would cover all art. Some art is made to communicate specific ideas. Some art is made simply out of self-expression, without intent for any particular audience. Both are valid.

If I doodle in my notebook, it’s for the artist (me.) However, I also draw and paint to communicate specific emotions. I made a painting while listening to “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire, with the intent to capture the energy and joy the song sends through me. I don’t expect anyone to immediately connect the image with the specific song, but since it’s a lively concert scene, my hope is that the emotion that inspired the art comes across to an audience.

Sometimes I’ll make something more abstract, intentionally left open to interpretation. I may have my own thoughts about such pieces, but ultimately I want the viewer to find their own meaning.

In reality, everything is up to the audience. There will always be people who interpret things in their own way, independent of the artist’s intentions. We can’t control what others will think, but learning to tolerate and/or accept people who “don’t get it” is a stage all artists have to go through. I’ve come to accept that there is no one perfect mode of communication, so if I intend to communicate something specific, it’s on me as the artist to put effort into making that message clear.

One of the things I saw, was that if a baby doesn’t seek eye contact with a stranger holding it, it should be a sign that the mother doesn’t give the baby enough attention!

That’s so messed up. Newborns are born with poor vision. “At birth, an infant is very sensitive to bright light. You may notice how small their pupils look, limiting how much light enters their eyes. A newborn baby can see something next to them with their peripheral (side) vision, but their central vision is still developing.”

It takes time for their vision to develop. From that same source, “At about 1 month, your baby may focus briefly on you, but may still prefer brightly colored objects up to 3 feet away. Infants are able to see across a room even at birth, but they are mostly interested in objects very close to them.”

As soon as the consequences become apparent interest in project 2025 is going to drop off a cliff.

I want to believe

Just gotta dig up grandpa’s old Atomic Energy Lab play set and experiment a bit.

Weird thing for people to downvote. Acknowledging a painful truth ≠ endorsing it.

I don’t know about that, I’ll be fine until someone with no comprehension of “right of way” nearly kills me. Those moments usually create a string of angry swears that would make a sailor proud.