We saw what happened when Internet platforms tried to be inclusive of differing viewpoints:

Nazis

Is it any surprise, then, that people started doubling-down on their echo chambers?

You and I have very different definitions of “mildly”

Giving you an upvote because I think this is a legitimate position, but I strongly disagree. AI has become so pervasive in our lives that it’s extremely difficult to avoid even offline, so I see no problem with someone saying in an irl conversation, “I wish my mom would stop sending me AI slop videos” or “I can’t help but feel paranoid I’m going to wake up one morning and find out I’ve lost my thesis work to the latest microslop update” or “I’ve started dreading work ever since they hired ‘workslop Bill’”

My comment was more about the use of “female” as a noun, but your comment about which to use as an adjective raises an interesting point, especially because, as you mention, the generation to regularly say things like “woman doctor” in a not-so-great way has mostly died out. I’m not sure where things stand currently on which adjective is preferred; I think it’s mostly contextual at the moment? (Like “I would feel more comfortable being examined by a woman doctor” sounds grammatically a touch clunky but connotatively fine to me, whereas “I can’t believe what that idiot female doctor diagnosed me with” sounds grammatically correct but otherwise awful)

I agree that

“Female” instead of woman or girl.

Edit: as in, where “woman” or “girl” would be grammatically correct. e.g. “a lot of females work at that company” vs “a lot of women work at that company” or “that company has a lot of female employees”

I actually thought the ending to S1 was brilliant, especially for a cliff hanger, and that the first arc of S1 was the weakest of the three (although E3 was quite good), and that S2E7 was just okay, so it’s likely that we have different tastes.

S1 did an excellent job of its storytelling, such as show don’t tell; character actions driving the plot, not the other way around; and well-written villains with clear motives. S2 fell flat on a lot of those fronts. I’d need to rewatch it for a proper write-up, but some examples from what I remember:

A lot of what made S1 great continues over into S2, such as the soundtrack and animation. But the character development, writing, and little details just didn’t match up in S2.

Re: Bee and Puppycat – YouTube or TV show version?

I thought the short-form YouTube version had much better pacing.

Archer was great until the South Pacific season (S9). It’s like they fired all their writers and hired new ones off temu. I stopped watching there; does it get better after that?

I thought S1 Arcane was brilliant, but S2 (especially starting with E4) fell apart. Still had some good moments though.

Your two anime picks are Cowboy Bebop and… Future Boy Conan!?

Ngl, didn’t know anyone else even knew that series existed.

You got newts and salamanders (somewhat) backward:

From Wikipedia: Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts, however.

How would one go about successfully burning down a building with a sprinkler system?

To be 100% clear, this question has nothing to do with the linked news story, I was just spontaneously reminded of a plot hole I’m trying to work out in a story I’m writing (in Minecraft).

The allegations are literally the only reason I had any idea that the band is still ongoing (and that all the members has swapped out, several times apparently).

Newsboys, a major Christian rock band founded in 1985. All original members have been replaced.

Seconding this. PBS has a TON of YouTube channels for all kinds of interest areas. Not all are going to be geared to a middle school audience, but much like the TV stations themselves, at least you don’t have to worry as much* about the potential content as a parent (in terms of quality or appropriateness) vs random YouTube channels.

*I would say all their stuff is high school appropriate, but some of the more local/news-related stuff could be a bad fit for younger audiences depending on the kid, only because we don’t live in a world that’s child-friendly. Also channels like PBS Terra do a lot of videos about how fucked we are re: climate change (not in so many words of course) and although they do try to put an optimistic spin on it, sensitive kids might get freaked out by how bad things are (which would be an accurate response of course, so it depends on how much you’ve been trying to shelter your kid from this kind of thing I guess).

I propose a border swap: USA gets Alberta, Canada gets Washington State

(Please I beg you get me out of here)