I can believe it. Physical inactivity, less creative play for children, distraction all the time.

Mind you, in some ways I don’t buy it - the two of my kids who were very academically motivated both learned much more in school than I did (I went during a conservative time when the schools were doing “back to basics” which didn’t help, but simple research before the Internet was so difficult that I didn’t have access to as much as they did, it took more effort to learn less) and those two are whip-smart. So I think the potential to be smart is higher now. Also maybe we have included more people in the measurements now that it’s easier to get the data.

But physical inactivity does harm brain health, plastic probably does, the dumbing down again in the schools here (is this some 40-50 year cycle?) certainly does. I do, like @drascus@sh.itjust.works work at maintaining my thinking by trying to learn new things, not just get good at what I am good at already; and do a lot to maintain physical health, meditate, and try to guard my sleep as much as possible within the context of a normal life.

If student artwork is allowed, as the administration states, she needs to have a word with the art teacher. A sign just like hers with real student handprints would be even better than the purchased poster.

Google assistant was already a good listener, it seems to have gotten worse, but compared to anything else I’ve tried to do with voice it was & is still the best at understanding, and can be set to be bilingual.

I honestly don’t understand this but it’s very Google to push the change before the replacement is fully baked. They did that with YouTube Music too.

• Who says it, Spanish people?

Well, yes? It is the European colonizers that brought it here, I think Spain Spanish is “the Spanish” just like I think England English is “the English” and American English is an offshoot though it’s what I know.

I did accounting because you can do that for any company, it’s such a flexible career. I’ve done jobs that were mostly IT and jobs that were mostly numbers in Excel, for different companies in different industries and have never had to work anywhere I think is evil, nor at any location with a long commute.

So if you enjoy that sort of work, accounting is a good degree. Technically my concentration was accounting systems, but right now I am doing more just accounting with a really good group of people.

Just here to say this made me immediately think of the awesome Parker Millsap song Disappear.

In my experience, you make friends by being a friend. Some people just acquire a collection of friends to do things with, those are good people to start with. I invited one of our gay coworkers to a concert (because he liked the band) and now all my kids love him and we also go to yoga together. He is definitely someone who collects friends, he does hang out still with other people who used to work here.

Someone like that is a good place to start, to practice having friends. Once you are more comfortable with people it will be easier. You only have to be involved at the level you want, but basically I’d say if you want someone who would change your medical dressing that needs to be someone for whom you would do the same. That’s how you would know it’s ok. For me I would get an appointment with the walk in and pay, instead of asking someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.

We learned American Spanish when I was in school, no vosotros, no soft S, because we learned it from Cuban teachers. My kids got a mix but mostly, as you are saying, Spain Spanish. I think part of the reason is that Spain Spanish is one thing - canonical Spanish, yes? But in the Americas it’s varied, different in the US from Mexico, from Colombia, from Argentina, Costa Rica. Dialects.

My feet grew before the rest of me, then I caught up. So was in 5th grade a 5 foot tall person with size 9 (women’s) feet, but over the summer grew 6 inches, then it slowed down and I landed around 5’9" and a size 10 feet.

My coworker though has the same size feet at 5’2", she could be your sister!

Your feet look like you could just walk around on your toes and have an extra joint in your legs.

Any homemade card is more thoughtful than a purchased one. So I don’t think it matters if you are a good artist or not. It’s a thoughtful message and you created it yourself.

I have done sous vide steak and sous vide egg cups. Both very good but I can reverse sear steak and get as good a result; the egg cups though were incredible and I don’t know another way to get the low and consistent temperature. It’s like a warm water bath for them.

This is sort of what I saw in California - where I’m from, Hispanic people were “the white people”, and people descended from Africans were “the black people” and I wasn’t aware of any sort of prejudice against Asians, they got lumped under the big umbrella of “white” . But when I was in California it was more like black and white guys considered themselves Americans, all one thing, and discriminated against Mexicans and Asians.

It’s all made up, to keep people divided. Not to say there are no historical reasons reverberating still - institutional wealth comes from the past and slavery, so descendents of slaves have legitimate grievance- but the categories/rules of in groups and out groups and who is discriminated against are not the same all over the US.

For every one making millions, there are millions making near nothing.

People at the top of every industry DO make that much. Think about the UHC guy, you don’t think he was pulling that much?

Inequality is baked in.

I got some crazy genius IQ score when I was a kid because I was very good at taking tests and read a lot, good with language. Just happened to be good at what they were testing.

If you like to do programming, create things, are curious and interested in things, you ARE NOT STUPID. Not everyone’s intelligence runs to language or something tested by those tests. They are not really tests of potential, and the only reason my mom got us tested, the only reason I got two of my kids tested, was to get us into the better classes in school because they will only do it as an accommodation for a learning difference in.the public schools here. My other kids went to schools that promoted them based on their performance in class, which makes so much more sense.

Now - my friend had a legit genius boyfriend and he was a raging asshole, I think because he had nobody who thought like him, he was alienated. But the problem was that he was an asshole, not that he was a genius. So as long as your partner is nice and you can talk to each other, there is no problem, don’t borrow trouble and don’t think of yourself as stupid.

What makes a protest illegal?

I agree with this. Don’t work off the clock, no. Absolutely no. But 5 minutes early with 5 minutes overtime is good not bad, (unless it really is impossible with your commute.) there is no way I would complain about that. Your coworkers are basically showing that the job costs more than management thinks it does, that they need the prep time to do the job.

We have a vibrant and sometimes political teams chat at my work, we would be toast if we were taken over by the magas. Yes we know it’s not private and do have also a group text. But haven’t ever worried since the whole organization is laid back regarding language and expression.

If I worked for the government? Hell no. No teams chat, not even “how was your weekend?” Nope nope nope.

I was quite skinny but 5’9" and not so leggy. If they are thigh highs I’d buy your regular size and just let them end a little lower, that looks good. For pantyhose I would look more for “Medium - Tall”, Long Tall Sally make some, Foot Traffic has tall tights, or see also if you can find any that say sky high rise, that might work. Because often they slide because they don’t reach the natural waist on tall ladies, the rise can be more problematic than the inseam because tall women are not short women on stilts, but brands seem to think so.

35" hips on 6’ also sounds like you may want to exercise though?

I know that’s not what you are asking! But I bulked and went from 32-30-33 to 38-31-42, and my legs went from 18" to 23". So more conventionally ‘pretty’ proportions and people still seem to think I am lean and slender.

Oh the chubby cheeks to jowls slide is real, and I think that’s part of it. Also lower teeth showing more than upper.

Yes. Especially if you are not even working on it and just say “that’s how I am”, because it implies a complete disregard for how your actions (actions, not feelings) affect other people.

It’s exhausting to be around someone who is always angry. That doesn’t mean there is nobody who would “like you for you” but it will limit your potential pool of friends a lot, yes.