Trump presidential pardon incoming in 3, 2, 1…

I doubt it’s polished. It’s probably a mirror wrap. Much cheaper and less effort.

Since chatting someone up is out of the question for me

Why? Are you unable to speak? Are you unwilling to try? Because it sounds like you’re hopeless about the idea of meeting someone and you don’t feel like your own efforts could possibly help.

I don’t see why the man must start this dance.

The truth is that nobody, regardless of gender, wants to put themselves in a position where they could be rejected. And women usually don’t need to. While you’re leaning against the wall waiting for that woman to start talking with you another guy will approach her and ask her out. We all want to feel like someone is interested in us. It’s flattering. It makes us feel good. And your question makes it clear you’re unwilling to put the effort into showing you are interested. You want someone else to show they are interested in you. That way you don’t have to risk anything. But low risk means low reward.

This may sound harsh, but I do understand where you’re coming from. I went through this myself. One thing that helped me was learning to let go of any expectations when approaching and talking with someone. Try to understand you aren’t there to pick her up, seduce her, or whatever. You are just there to talk. Everyone is interesting in some way. Practice asking people about themselves. You’ll be awkward at first. You’ll mess up and be embarrassed. But keep trying. If you can let go of your own desires and just be curious it will take you far. And talk with everyone you meet. Men, women, old, young, don’t discriminate. It’ll help you realize it’s just a conversation.

Also, put one of those sticky name tags on your shirt. “Hi my name is Tudsamfa”. It makes people more comfortable knowing your name.

It’s pretty clear what the consensus is here. Yes, talk with women. You can even (politely) hit on women you fancy. Based on your statement about yourself it’s unlikely you would be pushy and threatening if she said no, but still, just understand when to stop.

Next question is how to get there from where you are. You’re scared you would be seen as a threat, harassing women just by talking to them out of the blue. So you doubtless have little experience talking with women. That’s where you are.

I see two possible paths to take. Which one is right depends on why you feel that way. If it’s an emotional issue, like if you (for instance) start shaking and sweating at the thought of walking up to a woman and introducing yourself, then maybe start by talking with a therapist. They can be really helpful. On the other hand if you are just nervous because you don’t know how to talk with a woman then look into learning how to make small talk. It’s actually a skill. It’s something you can learn. And once you have learned it and practiced it enough that you are comfortable with it, then approaching and talking with a woman is just about starting and having a conversation. You can even practice with guys if it makes you more comfortable. A quick google search produces a bunch of good ideas on how to start.

Now you have homework. Learn how to carry a conversation. Learn to make people feel comfortable around you. Learn to actually be interested in other people. It shows and it makes a difference.

I just got a high priority request to write a couple of VBA macros to fetch data from a database then use it to make a bunch of API queries. I know VBA about as well as I know Chinese or Icelandic. I figured out the query and told Chat GPT to use it in a macro. It wrote all the VBA code. I went through a few rounds of “fix this bug, add this feature” and now my client is happy and I didn’t have to think much about VBA. I knew what and how to ask it for what I wanted and it saved me days of searching google and reading about VBA. That’s high value to me because I don’t care about VBA and don’t really want to know how to use it.

Looking at the Community rules, I don’t see ‘no Buddhism’ so let’s go

1. life is suffering
2. Suffering comes from attachment, craving, and ignorance, particularly craving for things that are impermanent
3. Suffering can be overcome by eliminating the causes of suffering, specifically by extinguishing craving and attachment
4. There’s a whole step by step program for doing that which they say leads to the end of suffering

I’ve been working this program for a while and it seems pretty effective. I started with the question “what do you do when you want something you know you just can’t have?” The only real answer I could come up with was to let go of wanting it. That led down the rabbit hole and now I’m typing out the four noble truths on a lemmy memes community.

To be honest, though, it’s probably the most difficult task I’ve ever set out to achieve. So, yeah, there’s no easy fix.

I read this as a call to action for the people Musk/Trump are ordering around. If everyone just said “no, I won’t to do what you tell me” then we might avoid the collapse of the government/economy/country.

For most games I’d agree with you. But when it comes to Kojima, I don’t think it really matters. I finished the first game and, aside from delivering packages, I’d have trouble explaining what it is about. After watching the trailer for DS2 I’m thinking “okay, that’s even weirder, I recognize those faces, babies again I guess, and he’s still delivering packages it seems.”

Except for 2020 the 2024 election had the highest voter turnout so far this century. A lot of people were voting. Was it just more Trump supporters that turned up? He does have a way of stirring people up. He picks topics that make a certain type of person mad and that brings them out. Kamala could have responded by picking topics that inspired the left. Trump was offering a complete overhaul of the government and sweeping social changes (which he is delivering). Kamala was offering more of the same. I suspect he just brought out more people that otherwise wouldn’t have voted.

And before you start blaming me for it, I, like most of us, don’t live in a swing state. My vote literally didn’t matter.

And making heme is what they are proud of at impossible foods. https://impossiblefoods.com/heme

“Heme is what makes meat taste like meat. It’s an essential molecule found in every living plant and animal – most abundantly in animals – and something we’ve been eating and craving since the dawn of humanity. Here at Impossible Foods, our plant-based heme is made via fermentation of genetically engineered yeast, and safety-verified by America’s top food-safety experts and peer-reviewed academic journals. Watch more below.”

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don’t Create The Torment Nexus

Alex Blechman