Tootfinder

What’s with all the grey cars and trucks lately? Why would anyone deliberately spend that much money to buy a vehicle that is nearly invisible in low-light conditions? Is this evidence of a death wish, or just another manifestation of the millennial grey fashion meme in clothes and interior decorating? Disclosure: my car is orange—highly visible. Official Subaru marketing name: Sunshine Orange. My unofficial name for it: Orange Sunshine, to commemorate some fun times in my youth.

None of us have to be millennials anymore.
If you were born between LOTR (animated version, 1978) and LOTR The Fellowship (2001), you are the Hobbit Generation: Promised wealth and adventure - but only receiving war and ruin.
(Original source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUO2zZlCLdG/ …

After the whole Adam Something "dating advice for leftist men" thing, I realized I should probably write something about that. I didn't, but I realized I should. Here I am sort of getting around to it.
I had a friend call me an "elder" at one point. I was like 35 at that time, but like... a lot of old leftists are just dead or in prison, so we take what we can get I guess. Being also an elder in the sense that I'm an elder millennial, who is also a parent and married for almost 10 years and all that, I guess I'm technically qualified.
So here it is, dating advice for (straight cis) leftist men:
1. Don't.
That's it, actually. That's the whole thing. Let me explain a bit.
First of all, this is dating advice for neuroatypical folks. We're way overrepresented in both extremes because this system wasn't built for us. And that's who is *the most* confused by all the relationship stuff, and most likely to try to apply all this masculinity/manosphere bullshit. I'm also talking a bit from experience here, as a neruo-spicy trying to "figure out" how to date within a paradigm entirely built around neurotypicals and their relationships. It's garbage. Throw it out. There's nothing worth saving.
His video had some line comparing not having sex to your house being on fire. I'm not gonna bother to quote it because I'm busy with actual life. But like, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I recognize that and it's horribly destructive. Men who buy in to patriarchy actually believe this, because those men value themselves based on (hetro) sex. Yeah, if you think you're worthless because you aren't "getting laid" then yeah, you're gonna feel like that's an emergency.
"Dating" as a paradigm turns humans into roles. It dehumanizes us all, and thus makes human connection much harder. It is a game that, like thermonuclear war, can only be won by not playing.
When you abandon "dating" and just act like a human, everything starts to be easier. There's no such thing as being "friend zoned" because you're just friends. Sometimes friendships become other things, sometimes they don't. It doesn't actually matter, because if you're actually there for friendship then you don't *need* anything else.
My grandma, at 98 I think, gave me some advice. My grandparents always got along well, and were married for enough decades that I listened really closely. She told me I should just do things I loved to do and everything else would work itself out.
And it kind of did.
I understand the fear, the idea that you'll die alone. I get that. I get the loneliness. It all hits a lot harder when you have ADHD emotions and past trauma. I get that. But that fear is self-manifesting. When you build your confidence, when you don't *need* to be "in a relationship," you have more room to actually build relationships. For me, dating was dehumanizing. When I abandoned that, I was able to actually be a good partner, and I was able to find my partner.
I would advise against marriage as well, but we did get married for legal reasons. It can still be hard to maintain that, to see each other as people rather than roles. That becomes extra hard as parents. But the times that we cut through that are the times we're closest. Those are the times when it becomes easier to remember that we're both humans and all human relationships need tending.
Roles don't need to be tended because they are classifications. Classifications are static. But relationships between humans are not. Humans are messy and chaotic. Humans have all kinds of complex needs and desires.
So yeah, don't date. Just be a human and see what happens. Maybe google "relationship anarchy" and see where it takes you.
If you have ADHD, it can be especially useful to understand that relationships with neurotypical folks can be especially difficult. Assume you're incompatible with 90% of the population as your baseline, and you'll start to understand why the standard "dating" thing has made you feel so alienated and miserable.
Neurotypical folks generally have no idea that atypicality exists, much less how it impacts relationships. Having to conform to a neurotypical relationship just adds additional mental strain unless you find someone (really special) who can do at least some of the work.
The ADHD thing was especially important for me. There were so many things I was told to do in specific ways by neurotypicals that never worked for me. Their advice always made me feel like a failure. When I was finally diagnosed, I realized they were just giving advice for the wrong type of brain. It was advice I could never use. Basically all dating advice I ever got fell into this same category.
That's my braindump. Maybe I'll develop it more in the future, but I'm busy so maybe not. I hope it helps someone who is struggling like I was.

🐛 Mechanisms and Perspectives of Microplastic Biodegradation by Insects and Their Associated Microorganisms
#bugs

Morgan Stanley survey of audio habits in the US: 50% to 60% of listeners aged 18-44 reported listening to AI-generated music for 2.5 to 3 hours per week (Luke Kawa/Sherwood News)
https://sherwood.news/markets/morgan-stanley-most-gen…

Morgan Stanley: Most Gen Zers and millennials in the US listen to about three hours of AI music a week
That’s enough AI music to last the run time of “Avatar.”

Morgan Stanley survey of audio habits in the US: 50% to 60% of listeners aged 18 to 44 reported listening to AI-generated music for 2.5 to 3 hours per week (Luke Kawa/Sherwood News)
https://sherwood.news/markets/morgan-stanley-most-…

Morgan Stanley: Most Gen Zers and millennials in the US listen to about three hours of AI music a week
That’s enough AI music to last the run time of “Avatar.”

It’s ridiculously funny how much the Right is convinced that there’s a personality cult around Bill Fucking Clinton.
There wasn’t a personality cult around Bill Fucking Clinton in 1993. There sure as hell isn’t one NOW. Most living Democrats are probably not old enough to have ever voted for him. Millennials definitively didn’t.
I would bet money that Clinton was technically prosecutable. @…

Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath.bsky.social)
In an obvious move to try to manipulate the narrative around the contents of the Epstein files, one of the few prominent figures whose face has NOT been redacted is Bill Clinton—and the Trump administration is signal boosting those images.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #InTune
Malin Lewis:
🎵 Trans
#MalinLewis
https://open.spotify.com/track/4zG10YODMb78p751EvlPqC

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Molly Nilsson:
🎵 Jackboots Return
#MollyNilsson
https://mollynilsson.bandcamp.com/track/jackboots-return
https://open.spotify.com/track/0eqCGvzvfrLoapfNMotMFv

Omnicom announces a restructuring following its $13.5B acquisition of IPG, including plans to cut ~4,000 jobs globally (Adweek)
https://www.adweek.com/agencies/omnicom-to-cut-4000-jobs-retire-fcb-ddb-and-mullenlowe/

Omnicom to Cut 4,000 Jobs, Retire FCB, DDB, and MullenLowe
BBDO, TBWA, and McCann emerge as the three global creative networks in post-IPG overhaul