I’m glad to be of service.

I always figured mermaids would be more like cetaceans than fish. Having scales on their tails would be inaccurate, but breathing air, growing hair, and having a horizontal tail fluke are all in-line with mammals/cetaceans.

Not to mention, it would mean mermaids would have regular genitals (albeit hidden inside a genital fold, to increase hydrodynamics.) It would also mean they’d have normal placental pregnancies.

So that’s, uhh… a thing to consider.

Please forgive them, such a concept is unheard of back where we come from.

This, but at legal dispensaries.

Not even joking. I don’t know if it’s my state’s specific laws or what, but the dispensary cashier can either process your card like an ATM (they round up to the nearest $10, then give you the change) or they can process cash.

There is a third option, but it involves downloading an app specifically to pay for cannabis. And… yeah, I’m not doing that.

My first love fell down that hole. Toward the end of our relationship (he was about 18 years old) he’d started crushing on another girl. When we broke up, they got together. Each of them was a black hole of negativity. I saw what was happening, but with my status as “ex” I knew there wasn’t anything I could say or do about it.

She was even more of a downer than he was, which was shocking (his constant negativity was part of what led to our break up in the first place.) They spent five years together, ranting and raving about how horrible everything is, all while living with their respective parents and avoiding getting jobs. He stuck with her, even after they realized they had absolutely incompatible sex drives (she was ace, he was very much not. To clarify - being ace isn’t a bad thing. But for him, a complete lack of sex added to his feelings of isolation and distress.)

They eventually broke up, and we started chatting again (she didn’t let him talk to me during their relationship.) He eventually went on adventures across the country, learned his love of kink play from a fling with an experienced domme, went to school and gained skills in a field he loves. He’s in his 30s now, still upset about the state of the world (obviously), but he’s learned to accept what he can’t control.

In the end, he’s expressed a lot of regret over that relationship. He realized in retrospect how toxic it was and how much it was holding him back. I have no idea how that ex-girlfriend is doing these days, but I’m glad that at least he was able to break himself out of that spiral.

No special car seats, either, except for babies/toddlers. I know I used a booster seat when very small, and grew out of it when I was “tall enough to see out the window.” Then a few years later (some point in the mid-90s), the law extended the age that required car seats.

Thankfully I was above the age cut off - I’m pretty sure that after being told I’m “a big girl” and that I “grew out” of my booster seat, I would’ve put up a fight over needing to use one again.

cute it anywhere

Resist the urge to put kitty stickers on fiber optic cables. Got it.

I imagine that phenomenon is similar to how super sheltered kids become the wildest teenagers/young adults (whichever age they are when they first get a taste of freedom.) Like how people with newfound freedom often party hard with it, people who’ve never been in a position of power before can easily take their new authority too far.

Totally not excusing it. It’s not some inevitable “human nature” thing. There are good parents, teachers, and others in positions of authority that take their responsibility to others seriously. They’re the ones that allow some modicum of function in society.

But those who seek power for its own sake are going to be ruthless about it. Then once someone has power, it’s extremely difficult for them to let it go.

Is there any particular reason why you’re trying so hard to find an insult? Surely, you understand that not every autistic person is a hate-filled incel?

It’s a description of “neurotypical people” from the perspective of somebody who has autism/ADHD.

Neurotypicals tend to lack curiosity and passion for interests.

This is opposed to autistic people “having intense interests.” If a high level of interest in a particular topic is my “normal,” then other people’s levels of interests seem very low by comparison.

They’re less in-touch with their senses, sometimes needing mind-altering substances in order to appreciate basic sensory stimuli.

This is opposed to autistic people “stimming” in various forms. Exploring textures, staring at interesting lights, engaging in repetitive physical movements, and more are all examples of “stimming.” A lot of neurotypical people wouldn’t wave their hands between their eyes and a light just to enjoy the visual (and physical) sensations that arise from it - unless they’re tripping balls. Some people can’t seem to appreciate a super soft blanket, or how strange their own body feels, until they’ve taken some kind of mind-altering substance that heightens their sensory experience. Even just on thoughts and ideas alone, I can’t count how many times I’ve said things that made people go, “What are you smoking? (And are you willing to share?)”

Not only that, but they are overly-invested in “following the group” and “blending in,” even if it ends up harming them.

When you’ve always stuck out, the idea of “blending in” is laughable. I’ve never had the luxury of being a wallflower. I’ve come across so many people who have had good reason to speak up or stand out, yet they’d been terrified of breaking from conformity. From the perspective of someone who lacks the compulsive need to align themselves with an in-group, being so scared of “standing out” feels rather silly.

Does that help make more sense?

That’d be a problem if people were using blanket statements, but that’s not how the comment is worded.

If someone said, “Autistic people tend to have strong, specific interests,” nobody would be getting insulted. We’d be like, “Yeah, that tracks.” Even if somebody autistic lacked that particular trait, the phrase “tend to” allows for exceptions to the statement - it’d be understood that not every autistic individual fits that description, but many often do.

Which is why it’s interesting that when an autistic person flips that exact same sentiment around to show what “normal” people look like from their perspective, neurotypicals are taken aback.

(Edit: The point of this comment was to flip stereotypes inside-out. Yet, providing this perspective seems to have put some folks on the defense. To make it easier to see where these comments are coming from (and that none of this is meant as an attack on anyone), I’ve provided additional information behind each point.)

An AuDHD perspective:

Neurotypicals tend to lack curiosity and passion for interests.

They’re less in-touch with their senses, sometimes needing mind-altering substances in order to appreciate basic sensory stimuli.

Not only that, but they are overly-invested in “following the group” and “blending in,” even if it ends up harming them.

So yeah, you might be onto something.

The fun thing about this is that the more the media doubles down on “he’s a right-winger!”, the more united the rest of us may become over him.

Think about it - Hardcore right-wingers in the US strongly wish to associate with “their own” team/teammates. If Luigi had been left-wing, this division tactic could have worked to convince a number of them to turn against him. Instead, highlighting his conservative viewpoints gives right-wingers more reason to cheer for him.

Meanwhile, left-wingers and their diversity tend to identify less as a single “team.” They’ve got more free-thinkers, both of the scientific “skeptic” mindset and of the artistic “open possibilities” mindset (or both.) Either way, there is recognition that they aren’t all going to agree 100% with each other on everything, but they still recognize that we’re all in this together.