Blackout curtains have been essential for me. Instead of earplugs, I prefer a noisy fan. Circulating the air is good and the constant white noise normalizes hearing stuff, so neighbors or traffic or whatever isn’t different enough to wake me.

My wife has a Bluetooth sleep mask, so she can play soothing stuff from headspace or YouTube or Spotify while keeping light out of her eyes. You can find it pretty cheap.

As we enter dry winter months, a small humidifier in the bedroom might also be a good idea.

It also helps to have a routine on how you wind down for bed so that your body and mind can ease into being ready to sleep even if the clock or the sun are telling you otherwise. Maybe do some light reading, wash your face, set out something for the next day (like your outfit), whatever you need and can repeat nightly.

No, it’s more like “if Larry gets a 10% grade reduction for turning his paper in a day late to you, then I shouldn’t be getting this 20% grade reduction for turning this paper in a day late to you.” It’s more of a call for things to be fair and give everybody equal treatment.

There was a recent court decision regarding Donald Trump that, more or less, appointing a special counsel for the purposes of DOJ impartiality is not constitutionally acceptable. As a result, Hunter Biden, who was investigated and prosecuted via special counsel in order to maintain impartiality from the DOJ since his father is the sitting president, essentially argued that “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Meaning that if Donald Trump should have his case dismissed under the pretext of special counsel being an invalid idea, then so too should Hunter Biden. That decision was already generally seen as fucking silly, but the silliness was put on full display for partisan hacks and their audience.

I was certain that a gander was a group of geese. Why? Because apparently everybody who has ever used the phrase “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” around me was using it wrong. I just learned this week that a gander is a male goose. So based on misuse, I thought that the phrase meant that what’s beneficial for one is beneficial for the greater group, but what it really means is that what’s acceptable in the case for one should be equally acceptable for others in the same situation.

I’m nearly 36 and I would say that I’m smarter than most people, but this was a gaping hole in my knowledge that was pretty damn humbling to learn of and correct.

I would be a better husband, first of all. I’d have much more time and energy available for more than what I already do around the house plus better dates. Beyond that, I think I’d write and record a bunch of music just to share with the world, maybe try to make a few bucks off of it but not beyond “buy me a beer” type donations from people who can spare it. I really want to do a post-rock concept album before I kick the bucket, just to have a big completed project checked off. Maybe I’d write some bad poetry too until I got sorta good at it, maybe a book if I had enough to say.

I’d also play even more video games, obviously. Maybe I’d finally hit champ in Rocket League lmao.

Gotcha, yeah that’s the best of both worlds then.

I didn’t mean that you will be in an echo chamber so much as that they will be in an echo chamber because if everybody ignores them then they have nobody left to challenge them. There are a ton of lurkers reading but never or rarely posting or commenting, so I’m mostly challenging bad faith arguments for their benefit. Without challenge, somebody casually reading might just accept that bad faith argument as fact or at least valid. Idk how effective it is, but I’m doing what I can to reduce the radical right wing incel neckbeard population. 🤷‍♂️

You’re doing the right thing for your mental health, I think. The only reason I don’t do the same thing is that I want to be aware of how prevalent the toxicity is. It’s pretty easy to wave off fringe stuff as being insignificant only to find that you were in a bubble and that fringe shit has grown really big. And it gets to grow bigger without somebody there to challenge it.

10% of people believe that the moon landing was fake, the earth is flat, and covid vaccines contained tracking microchips. 10% isn’t the majority or anything, but it’s significantly higher than I would’ve thought. With the habitual defunding of education, increased misinformation and disinformation in media, reduction of in-person interactions with strangers due to online shopping and streaming, and encouragement by algorithms that show people only what they want to see, we’re driving people deeper into echo chambers. We’re forgetting how to respectfully disagree and discuss thoughtfully. We’re backsliding societally to solving problems with our fists. As much as I think Nazis deserve to get punched in the mouth, I think proper discussions would prevent them from becoming Nazis in the first place.

Fascism is on the rise globally, and part of it is because fascists can find fascists and radicalize people into fascism more easily than ever, and part of it is because it’s easier to ignore fascism than it is to publicly challenge it. Even outside of fascist moderators who will ban those who challenge the ideas in the first place (my ban from r/conservative was a badge of honor when I was on reddit).

I’m glad you’ve found a way to keep it as a palatable experience. I still have some fight in me, but I’ll probably need to filter some of this garbage out soon.

I don’t really give a shit about gambling, but I wish it weren’t like 20% of the ads I see and hear. Products and services that are advertised in America are fucking weird, and most of us don’t really recognize that until we’ve spent time outside of the country. Pretty much all I’ve seen lately is gambling, medications, insurance, and political campaigning.

Maybe I’m stupid, but I can’t get glide typing to work. I don’t see it in the settings for heliboard.

Also, is there any reason to switch to newpipe if ReVanced is serving me well?

Edit: Nevermind, I got glide typing to work! That took some digging. If anybody else has trouble, download this and go to heliboard settings, advanced, and go to the bottom where you can load in a gesture library, which is what I linked to.

I’m trying it. This was the kick in the ass I needed to finally go ahead and get F Droid. Anything else I should be getting from there? I’ve heard of some good apps through it but idk what a sorta “standard” user might be interested in.

Universal Serial Bussy.