Dan Savage had some good advice a while back:

Your awkward/repulsive stage will pass. In the meantime, here’s what you need to do: worry less about getting your young teenage self laid and start thinking about getting your 18- or 20-year-old self laid. Join a gym and get yourself a body that girls will find irresistible, read—read books—so that you’ll have something to say to girls (the best way to make girls think you’re interesting is to actually be interesting), and get out of the house and do shit—political shit, sporty shit, arty shit—so that you’ll meet different kinds of girls in different kinds of settings and become comfortable talking with them.

It is much easier to talk to someone when you have something to talk about.

Many democracies form coalitions between smaller parties to create a majority voting block - the US just does it before the election.

Congrats! I deeply regret not investing in beanie babies when I had the chance.

Whip It by Devo, which struck me as hilarious as a kid. And I hadn’t even seen the video!

Obviously three wolf moon.

We’ll, there’s Amazon go, which is actually slightly better than having to scan and check out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Go#%3A~%3Atext=Amazon+Go+is+a+chain+of+convenience%2CKingdom%2C+operated+by+the+online+retailer+Amazon.

Also Kroger did what you are recommending like 10 years ago, but it looked silly compared to Amazon go, so it didn’t really stick in my area.

Oooo, I should try that! I have been using KU, which I know isn’t awesome, but did allow romance authors to break the publishing model (fascinating story: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/romance-novels/). And there’s a part of me that wants to give the middle finger to publishers who took in a bunch of money from romance books to pay for books/authors that would never recoup their costs.

I love your red carpet!

I read ebooks.

I’ve had good luck with acupuncture. In one extreme case it fixed my bell palsy months faster that the doctor said it would heal.

Dog poop in plastic baggies.

Why would we collect dog poop in a container that doesn’t decompose? Was it a religious thing? Did we expect to use it later?

The mystery remains!

I’m pretty sure it’s genetics.

With respect to the other stuff, women are coached from a very early age to be attractive and aging is looked down on. There are industries dedicated to making (mostly) women more attractive. There are studies showing attractive women are more successful in the workplace. But my experience is that working is not as stressful as full-time homemaking/parenting - so I think you are a bit off track there.

Your question made me think about comedian Ryan Hamilton’s bit about the New Yorker visiting rural Idaho and wandering off to get gluten free cupcakes never to be seen again.

We for sure have it easier today.

Standup comedy.

Apples are so fascinating! There is a fun section of this documentary on them: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1421383/

I lost several hours to Esparanto on Friday: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

I’m sure she could if she wanted. But what if she doesn’t want to? Side thought: if she was a man, no one would bat an eye at a solo status.

Descartes’ evil demon strikes again. 😉

I train people on how to speak (to executives, during a presentation, with clients) all the time. In my line of work, a client can end a contract if they don’t like engaging with my team - so it is pretty relevant to the job.

A conversation should go back and forth with questions and comments. Your text example was one person doing their part, but you did not do yours. Calling it “dry” was pretty kind of them. This is unfriendly bordering on rude.