Yep, trimming down the alcohol certainly helps as well. Also helps keep the beetus at bay.

There are some alternatives to cheese that are pretty good. I’m an omnivore but my wife has convinced me that there are some good vegetarian options out there. Might be worth exploring if the low-fat cheese isn’t palatable.

• Cashew cream on enchiladas is fantastic
• the fake shredded cheese made out of almond isn’t so bad. We use it on salads, chili, etc. It’s expensive though.
• TVP gives things that umami flavor, good in chili, but it more so acts like ground beef. Don’t put too much in.
• Blended tofu with nutritional yeast acts as a very good ricotta substitute (coincidentally tofu also makes for a very good chocolate pie)

With this, and trimming down my meat consumption to just a few times a week, as well as a little exercise, I’ve kept my LDL numbers below my late 20s highs, which were borderline - I’m nearing two decades older now.

A lot of us migrated months ago when the writing was on the wall.

Kbin became my home when I decided to move to a smaller foreign county, and I’m glad it was, because the land of Mastodon was a bit too distant for me. When the Kbin house was burning down, fortunately the next door neighbor, Fedia, was there to take me in and make things feel familiar.

I suppose that’s the whole advantage of the Fediverse. One head of the hydra may get chopped down, but many others can spring out from it.

Don’t forget to support your admins y’all.

An offline friend and I have this hypothesis that usually, the further left or the further right one becomes, the more closed minded and reactionary they become when presented with an opposing idea.

It’s difficult to live in the grey and to keep an open mind. I think this has become so much harder in the era of social media.

That said, there are absolutely some core beliefs of mine that I would be highly resistant to ever budge on, so maybe you’re encountering some of those folks on theirs.

Shrug it off. Keep going. Be you.

I mean, I think there’s a time and a place for crying and it’s not usually in public, but if you are among a support network, then by all means.

That said, after a devastating breakup for me, I have cried in public, at a party, among strangers, and it sucked.

What I would like to see is just more camaraderie in general. Not bro culture per se, just more, social events. Kinda like the beer halls of yesteryear in Germany or the Shriners clubs. I feel like a lot of these rotaries, lions, etc, just have kind of fallen away in most towns, particularly for young people, and I really think we are losing a piece of our community because of it.

Meetups used to fill some of that gap for me, but it’s been way too long (and two moves) since I’ve been to one. And I’m not the type to go to church (believe me, I tried - the whole women lesser than men thing around here really turned me off).

I’m one of those weirdos, 50/50 introvert extrovert. And now with a family, it’s tougher than ever.

Buddy lightly backed into my Suzuki a month or two prior, slightly bent it. I was warned by my bike guy that one day it’d likely just give, it’s apparently a thing.

Now you’re warned too.

That seriously sucks, I know no amount of money will get you back to whole, but I hope you were able to at least get some kind of compensation from that human wrecking ball.

Usual one first: back in 2010 a friend and I rented a car from NC to NJ last minute to catch another buddy’s wedding. Rental agency gave me an odd look when I declined the insurance and I got one of those chilling epiphanies where something seemed wrong. Anyway, we’re coming back from NJ going 80 on the freeway in middle of nowhere Virginia and my friend was driving, me in the passenger seat. Guardrails on both sides of the road in a forest. 5 pointer comes casually walking into our lane from the one on the right. My friend saw it too late. Honestly a good thing, he only had enough reaction time to jostle the steering wheel slightly to the left, not even brake. We dodged that bucker by inches. Car insurance be damned, it would have probably ended me.

More bizarre ones:

• The handlebar on my motorcycle broke off, and I went down quick on a freshly plowed road, 18 wheeler behind me was barely able to stop in time. He helped me up and then chucked my bike into a snowbank like it was nothing.
• Saw a semi get blown over by a gust of wind on 81 in western VA
• about 2 months ago I saw an entire desk fly off of the back of a junkers trailer on I-40 just west of Asheville. I thought for sure it was gonna hit the car in front of me but the desk did this brilliant upright spin off into the shoulder. The lady driving the junker was none the wiser. Secure your loads y’all.
• not a freeway, but I was turning left from this mountain backroad as a semi turned right onto the road I was on. The shoulder on that side had a drop off and the guy misjudged the turn. I got to see the whole cab lift into the air right beside me in my peripheral, freaked me the fuck out and I barreled to the right shoulder quick. When all was done and it seemed safe enough, I got out and checked on the guys then called highway patrol. The driver and his buddy were a bit in shock from the whole situation but otherwise OK.

Tell me they were at least still going 15 miles over the speed limit.

True that, I just took a look at the FAQ and it still references kbin.

Question, how do we donate to this project?

I take this as a positive. The Ohio Supreme Court just protected trans rights, when it applies to nuggets.

I literally thought it was for militant, because that’s how they come off over there if you’re not 100% in lockstep with them.

Like they were fighting the man or something.

@[email protected]

https://globle.org/?

Beer And now that some good varieties are available…NA beers Hop water is super refreshing, we’re living in a renaissance y’all.

I was playing worldle and globle today then happened to notice that both the Himalayas and the Iranian plateau are scrunched up masses about the same size. The Iranian plateau contains some of the oldest remaining geologic formations on Earth. That got me wondering if an ancient India type subcontinent also struck it hundreds of millions of years ago.

Looking at the Anatolian peninsula, it also looks pretty similar. Is this just the nature of geology in this latitude/region of the planet?

I know a lot of people who like to dip French fries in Ranch dressing, which is like sour cream with extra steps.

My job.

Jungle Bird if they have Campari. I recently went to Miami and had the best one I’ve ever had. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and bitter, I highly recommend.

If no Campari then I’ll usually do an old fashioned or manhattan.

Water park!

I was dating this girl, was going well. We fooled around, had a lovely time. She just seemed cooler than me in many ways, had cool hobbies, hung out with cool people, I was kinda feeling like I scored.

Then one day 3 weeks later I did. For some reason she didn’t want to on her bed, so instead we attempted the act on the living room couch, she had roommates. Her shirt came off exposing her back and it just didn’t look right, I can’t explain it, was like her ribs were sunken in like a corset and her backbone was curved in this scoliosis kinda way. I was confused and my member went a bit limp. I think she could tell, but we went ahead anyway. Then the couch cushions just kept sinking and getting in the way. Me with a half limp dick and these awkward positions, neither of us really feeling it and yet we still continued on. The whole thing just felt pathetic.

We hung out a few times after, but it always felt like the ending of 1984, where the couple have all of that vibrant life sucked out of them. The relationship was over shortly thereafter.

A decade later, I haven’t seen her since. We’re still friends on Facebook.