Can you tell us more about these people? Gen x or boomers? Were they always like this?

It’s because typically women aren’t combatants (outside of organised military) so they’re typically unarmed innocents like children. It doesn’t preclude men from being the same, and I totally agree with your point too, but the ‘women and children’ figures typically hit home that large swathes of civilians are being killed in conflict. It’s a way of explaining to the reader that shit is fucked.

Additionally, women are the key to the next generation. This is genocide.

Fuck I couldn’t stand Steve, and I don’t care for the children. The kids are better with the animals at least. He was an irritating, reckless fuckwit.

The Irwins are like Fosters. Australian export that many of us don’t enjoy.

Years ago when I was going through an extremely stressful period at work, when I wasn’t a rampant insomniac, I had the dumbest fucking dreams.

They were about grocery shopping, house cleaning - all like you say, frustrating as hell when you wake up and find everything is still a pit - but the worst were the work dreams.

I’d have entire stakeholder meetings, run workshops, present to the project board, have debriefs with my staff - and then have to relive the whole fucking thing the next day.

I was basically working in both my awake and sleeping hours. A constant feeling of deja vu. Having to actually double check my calendar to see whether the big meeting had already happened or not. What a fucking horrible time that was.

There’s some recruitment company advertising jobs on LinkedIn. All the pictures are clearly AI generated and they’re terrifying. Uncanny Valley freaks grinning at you from your screen.

How aggressively were you sitting???

I just had a headstart on all this, that’s all! You’re lucky in that you live in the age of YouTube tutorials…when I was coming up I just copied the magazines and my mum. To very questionable outcomes!

Don’t feel like you need to spend a lot of money while you’re experimenting either - drug store/supermarket brands are perfectly fine:)

Cisgender woman here, so my advice is only in relation to makeup. Lipstick is like the icing on a fancy cake. Some days or events you just want to be a cute cupcake rather than a 3-tier fondant covered cake.

If I don’t fully make up my face but then add lipstick, it looks quite harsh and unflattering. Similarly if I made up my whole face but didn’t use lipstick or mascara - it would look odd. This may be what you saw in the mirror that day. So please don’t be disheartened.

Start with light, day makeup. Little bit of mascara, a hint of blush and some tinted lip gloss. That’s one cute cupcake. Work your way up to that fancy cake!

If you like the way they look, you tend to display them. Just like literally all other collections. You know, like art?

… Why?

They’re visually appealing to the eye of the beholder, can be worn as a fashion item, and have monetary value to those who like them. I don’t collect them but I know people who do and it’s as relatable a hobby as any other collection based hobby. Do you look at action figure collectors and wonder what the ‘goal’ is?

Isn’t that just collecting? Could replace with any object and that’s hardly a fad.

I don’t have a degree. Started one back in the late '00s but didn’t complete it cos life got in the way.

Successful career in related industry but occasionally I’ll go for a job only to see it has higher ed quals as mandatory. I think I’ll lie next time if there’s something I really want to go for and know I can do.

I’m old enough that even if I had completed the course, it was all paperbased paperwork - no one’s tracking the truth down and no one really cares. Of all the recruitment I’ve done, I’ve never cared about anyone’s degrees. Hell, half the technologies and methodologies I work with didn’t even exist when I was at uni. So who gives a shit even if I did have the degree.

I’ve fed the wild ones snails as they seem to think they’re pretty awesome. Would that be an option for domestic? Or do you run the risk of giving them whatever diseases wild snails have that they may not have a built immunity to? I suppose the possibility a snail has been poisoned is a risk too…

I think I’ve just answered my own question. Thanks for observing my stream of consciousness.

We have them wild in the backyard. Beautiful creatures.

That’s cool!

The one made using the corpse

Ergh I’m guilty of repeating this bullshit when I was younger. It had been sold to me as a fact, not in what I perceived was a racist context per se - more a ‘oh cool, lucky them, that makes sense gestures at basketball’ way. Believe me, I get it now. Also, my mum’s black… Where did I get this bullshit from? White men can’t jump?

Any Russians here who can explain the impacts of this kind of propaganda? What is daily life like in Russia (I know it’s a big and varied place, but anecdotes is all I’m really after I guess)? What does ‘the west’ look like to the average Russian?

Like a replica of the real one, or does it belong in a museum…?