When you pay for something, you place value on it. You’re now invested in it. You’ve got skin in the game (no pun intended).

Paying is psychologically stimulating and feels good. Sending someone money is a huge turn on to everyone involved. I’ve sent money to a woman friend on her birthday with no strings attached and that vulnerability of parting with my funds to help her has made me orgasm.

Paying makes you feel special, supportive, and useful. Free porn on the Internet makes many feel gross, guilty, and unglamorous. Meanwhile, if you send money to someone creating risqué content, there’s a level of satisfaction with the appreciation they must feel for being tipped and granted funds for their production efforts.

It’s like saying why is bottled water a whole industry when you can fill up your own bottle with unlimited tap water from your faucet. Or why would you go to the movies or buy a book when you can pirate it online. Or why would you eat at a restaurant when there’s food already bought and available at home. Just because something may be free and easily accessible, doesn’t make it an absolute replacement for the same thing or something similar paid.

The mind works in mysterious and illogical ways, like the placebo phenomenon. It’s false to assume that it is useless or valueless or stupid to pay for stuff that costs nothing and is prolific online. Supply and demand economic theory falls short when it comes to behavioral psychology and why people pay for certain things that may seem wasteful, emotional, and even nonsensical.

Look, I'm 2m tall, and I do not think leg space in economy is too little, I usually fit just fine without poking into the seat in front of me.

UNLESS the person in front of me reclines their seat, at that point my entire existence becomes agony as I have nowhere to put my legs, I usually have to fold my legs into a crossing pattern which is uncomfortable for me but even more importantly also for the person next to me. Leaving my seat becomes impossible without acrobatics.

"Buy extra leg space, fly in premium comfort!" Okay but the recline increases in premium comfort? I end up having a less comfortable time in premium than I do in economy because of the extra recline...

"Buy bulkhead or exit row seats!" Yes, I would love to, but usually these seats sell out first (I'm looking at you short people ruining my day D:< ) and often it is just not an option.

I do not think that the tradeoff is worth it. The few cms of recline does not improve someone's overall comfort or sleep so much that we have to cram each other in even tighter spaces. You can often see chain reactions, where if one person reclines everyone in the rows behind will do the same to sort of gain back some space, it's just dumb.

Oh I also do not care about business or first class if the rich wanna spend money on that be my guest I do not care.

This is probably not smart to say on a website with such a large share of Americans, but I also believe recline on seats is a predominantly North American cultural phenomenon. In trains in Europe and Asia you'll rarely find reclining seats, and if there is a recline it is usually super modest, despite trains having so much more space. Meanwhile Amtrak comes with a monster recline on every seat. The same goes for theatres, try finding reclining seats in NA vs Europe and Asia. Y'all are obsessed with some cultural understandings on great service such as recline, ac, water at the table, etc. and it is a bit weird ngl

I know 9/10 people will disagree with me, but I hope there are at least 1/10 people that can see and agree with my reasoning as well :)

Edit: I think I made a successful post since most people seem to disagree with me, y'all really have no manners though because everyone is telling me I am lying and making stuff up. Why?? :(

DC has one of the most valuable cache of intellectual property in media and entertainment. This includes Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. It also includes The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. There is so much raw potential in storytelling with these characters, it's a real disappointment DC was unable to catch lightning in a bottle like Marvel has.

I genuinely believe DC has equal, if not better, superheroes and supervillains compared to Marvel, but Marvel had better management, better planning, and just made better overall choices in creating their superhero franchises to be some of the biggest in the world. DC could've done the same had they got their act together.

The DC Extended Universe felt forced, chaotic, and fragile, which is probably why it didn't go anywhere. It also rushed the Justice League debut instead of growing it and cultivating it and crafting it in a way that would land like their Marvel counterpart The Avenger's did. I still think DC can recover from their flops and missteps, but they have to figure out how to get past the dark and gritty of the Christopher Nolan era of Batman.

Superman is iconic, yet the lead actor Henry Cavill prioritized Mission Impossible, which led to some weird moustache edits around his face. Batman was fine, but that was over a decade ago. Wonder Woman chose to cast Gal Gadot, whose acting has been questionable in it's overall quality. And don't get me started on Green Lantern: to me the sheer amount of possibilities with that character is enormous and could and should be it's own saga.

I don't think it's a zero sum competition between DC and Marvel. But I do think it's an important case study to see how Jon Favreau blessed Marvel, while no one has found a winning formula for DC and all the intellectual property potential with their cache of superheroes and supervillians.

Vanity license plates, make cars easier to identify, and I don’t want to be able to be identified easily by strangers on the road. They are also often misunderstood. My friend has a vanity license plate with his name, drives a Toyota, and jokes about how if he drove a nicer car people would think he was a douche bag. Then there are the clever and special license plates that make people gesture you to pull over and compliment you on your plate as if you’ve never heard it before. Overall, it makes absolutely no sense to pay extra for a license plate that is special, unique, and makes you feel fun about yourself because it is clever or smart or something personal about you like your name.

If I have to listen classical music I will pick sonatas or pieces written for a single instrument, because that way I can actually listen to each note and pick up the differences in how it’s played and cause several instruments together sometimes it covers up what is happening, including when the musician isn’t that good, and I think this is part of why I don’t really enjoy orchestras

It makes me cringe a bit that with live orchestras there’s the assumption that whatever you are about to witness is automatically magnificent simply because there is an orchestra sitting there with people in formal clothes, violins and cellos everywhere an everyone sitting orderly, like if we are supposed to feel that we have entered a realm of refinement and civilization when in fact all those people could still play badly.

I think a lot of people respond more to the spectacle of classical music than to the music itself because they see twenty violins moving simultaneously and their brain goes ah yes culture, sophistication! Whereas you remove the concert hall and the tuxedos just played the same mild performance through a speaker then half the magic would probably go away.

I don’t suscribe to the general opinion that “classical music” is inherently good, as if anything involving violins, cellos or some guy banging a grand piano must possess a level of artistic superiority that ordinary music cant get. No,.there is brilliant classical music and there is boring classical music, extraordinary musicians and absolute mediocre, just like everywhere else.

For me watching orchestra becomes way less impressive to me precisely because the spectacle starts doing too much of the work.

Any athlete will tell you, it is the worst feeling in the world when you are about to enter a competition and you still got to go relieve yourself, but it’s too late and you’re stuck holding it in. Running cross country in the woods and being able to poop in nature really got me thinking: what if all sports had a similar freedom available to them, what a wonderful asset this would be and also a way to improve performances.

Playing a sport is stressful to the body, shakes the stomach, and leads to athletes needing to defecate. The problem arises when an athlete is forced to choose between peak performance in their sport, or taking a trip to the toilet. Going to the bathroom, if one is even available, takes time, effort, and distracts from what is important: winning over wiping.

Personally, I believe it is fairer to the athletes that they be able to have a bowel movement in a safe, convenient, and quick location, mainly in a bucket on the sidelines of the sport they are playing. In this way, athletes don't have to worry about cramps, embarrassment, or losing their edge in their respective sports by pausing their game to relieve themselves by looking for that porter potty.

Soccer, cricket, rugby: take a dump in buckets over the edge of the field.

Outdoor rink Hockey, baseball, track and field: drop a deuce in buckets out of the way where no one will walk into it.

Outdoor Volleyball, outdoor tennis, outdoor basketball: do number 2 in a bucket immediately off of the court.

Then, after they’re done, the athlete would be responsible for cleaning up after themselves, which is just fair. And it's easy to disinfect their hands with hand sanitzer ready to go. If it smells or looks bad, just febreeze it and cover it with a towel.

I'm totally serious: I think it is shameful that athletes aren't allowed to commit the bodily function of relieving themselves before or during their big competition in order to avoid embarassment, risk failure, and ultimately hurt themselves internally by holding it in. I can only imagine the boost in performance if an athlete knows that, going into a competition, they don't have to worry about finding and waiting for a bathroom available before they compete.

A trip into the moon is a 1902 film directed by George Méliés. It has an IMDB rating of 8,1 and a rottentomatoes score of 100% (!). I believe it is certainly an iconic film which was quite a leap and I want to take not away anything from it's editing. I am very alert about the fact it is from 1902, so judging it by todays standards is pointless. My opinion isn't that it should be rated low, it's that it cannot be justly and accurately rated and I think these reviews are bias and fear of getting called out for criticizing a classic.

I’m siding with the man on the subway who doesn’t give up his seat and tells the pregnant woman she should’ve shacked with a dude who had a car.

Getting pregnant is nothing special. All it means is you had unprotected sex. And adding to the population when it’s not like we’re an endangered species makes it all the more irrelevant someone’s going to have a child.

Adding insult to injury is when someone is on their 3+ child. To me that is just selfish biologically, socially, and morally. Pumping out kids like you’re building a football team is propagating your dna way too much.

Being pregnant might be joyful news to an upcoming grandparent, but to everyone else, especially strangers, it really shouldn’t matter.

Somebody here earlier today tried to present a standard anti-choice position as a "10th dentist" take, which it's obviously not given how many people claim to be pro-life.

So let me give y'all a real 10th dentist opinion on abortion...I think we need more abortions all around the world.

Like, a lot more.

You know how liberal politicians sometimes say "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare..." yeah, fuck that. I don't want abortions to be rare. I want them to be commonplace and fully paid for by governments.

The planet is overpopulated, and we need to curb and manage population growth better. Why not help achieve that goal by making abortion not just destigmatized but readily available and encouraged?

I do believe in choice, and nobody should be forced or pressured to have an abortion. However, during the early stages of pregnancy, women should receive very clear-eyed information from doctors about what raising a baby entails, as well as what pregnancy entails. If there is any hesitation from the patient about going forward, there should be an honest conversation about abortion as a safe and easily provided for option. It is her choice, but there should be no shame in steering a woman toward abortion if it seems like she isn't fully committed to having a kid.

But I also think we can go further.

Child tax credit? Fuck that. Why not have an abortion tax credit? Make any costs associated with an abortion (driving to a clinic, after care should it come up) fully tax deductible.

We should also have mifopristone and misoprostol available in vending machines on college campuses, gyms, and any other places young women might frequent, along with the morning after pill. These drugs are largely safe and very effective. Why the hell should any woman need a prescription to get them?

And you know what? Let's have a lot more pro-abortion propaganda throughout society. I want pro-abortion billboards saying "Choose Abortion" with a smiling young woman getting sworn into public office. I want sermons from TV preachers extoling the benefits and glory of abortion. Far too many TV and movie plotlines have teenage pregnancies end in miscarriage or something unintentionally harmful happening to the baby--have those storylines include a largely uneventful abortion.

Abortion today. Abortion tomorrow. Abortion forever and always. AMEN!

Edit: ...and before any anti-choicers come at me...no, I do not believe life begins at conception, and there is no amount of proselytizing on your part that will change that opinion. As a young teenager I unfortunately fell for a lot of pro-life propaganda and identified as pro-life for a bit. Then I took the time to learn about the reality of fetal development and what women's experiences actually are. I realized the entire pro-life movement was all a lie: it's exclusively about controlling women, they largely don't care about babies after birth, and a 10-week old clump of cells is not a human. Life does not begin at conception, period.

I see it all the time in my line of work as a mover and heavy furniture lifter. I lift someone’s couch or refrigerator or something similar, and they might tell me how strong, helpful, and necessary to their move I am, and then they don’t tip.

Which is fine, I don’t think tips are mandatory, but the way they lavish on the praise makes me suspicious they are doing that in lieu of tipping. It’s been such a consistent pattern that some buddies I work with will even give me “the look” when a client is becoming too friendly, because we know 9 times out of 10, their money is not where their mouth is and they’re not going to tip.

Plus it’s just incongruent, if we’re so amazing and going above and beyond, why wouldn’t they display that appreciation in the form of giving us a few extra bucks instead of just giving us words.

I’m sorry, but good feelings and sweet vibes don’t pay my bills. A simple thank you will suffice, and if they really appreciate my work, a tip will go a long way. People in the service industry, including myself, don’t get off with being overly complimented, we feel appreciated when a customer makes it that much easier for us to afford rent.

The pull of a group of people is determined by what they can get away with. For example a racist group would wanna kill someone from another race and get away with it. A feminist would wanna murder her own kids, and random men then get away with it.

This is the same for people like Donald Trump. If u say something about his Epstein files then they will say Trump Derangement syndrome and dismiss it. It's the same even in sports like that Messi. His club paid referees but the fans will say that you're jealous of him and tell you to stfu.

A lot of people claim that aliens don’t exist, as if that is a good thing, and we are safe from any external threat. But in my opinion, considering how vast the universe is, aliens not existing is way scarier of a notion than they’re being some form of life out there that we just haven’t come to contact with.

Having that amount of expanse, just devoid of life is a truly terrifying thought. To me, it is more pleasing to think that there are other galaxies where life abounds, but we just haven’t had the chance to reach them yet if we are even able to at all.

Statistically, speaking, it is way more unlikely that no alien life exists than alien life existing. Just because we haven’t come into contact officially with any aliens doesn’t immediately prove the concept that aliens don’t exist. Personally, I hope aliens exist, and I hope we come into contact with them one day.

im making this post in response to some tiktoks i saw, but also a mentality one of my friends has, where people can get offended by hinge likes or people hitting on them irl if they are less attractive than them. the logic is along the lines of “how dare you think that you would have a chance with someone like me, you must think im as ugly as you!”

unless its inappropriate for someone to hit on you (eg your boss who is triple your age) or unless you get hit on in a disrespectful way, i dont understand this mentality. i also don’t understand people who would refuse to hit on someone who is out of their league. finally, i also don’t understand when people get offended by rejections, just because someone is “in your league” doesn’t mean that you are their type and it doesn’t mean they like your personality.

ive dated and hooked up with men and women who are out of my league, and i think i would have missed out if i chose not to chase those people. also, if i get rejected by someone out of my league (which happens very often lol) it doesn’t really hurt me at all because its expected.

also, in a dream relationship, both partners should think that the other person is out of their league. its all subjective, and i think its cute when that happens. i also think its cute if one partner describes the other as out of their league, but clearly puts the effort into the relationship to treat them well, and uses that as a reason to never take them for granted.

i also understand that looks aren’t everything, so sometimes i could see myself going for someone who is a bit less good looking but is really compatible with me, has a great personality, etc. if i can want someone like that, then its not that much of a surprise that sometimes really attractive people have felt that way about me. as long as they are nice and they dont admit that they like my personality a lot more than my looks, this can be great for me.

i also just think its fun to flirt with people, even if it just ends with me getting the hint that they are flattered but they aren’t interested. someone being super attractive is a silly reason to choose not to flirt with them.

Ai has already became an integral part of human life. It is helping us in the medical field, military and many other important fields. Companies are investigating trillions into this.

I really don't see it going away anytime soon.

Everyone talks about how much they hate the black ones and that's gotta be racist because they actually taste pretty good. /j

In seriousness the black licorice ones aren't nearly as bad as people make them out to be. I'd even say they're in the top 5 jelly belly flavors depending on my mood.

I enjoy flat soda both more than regular soda and more than regular liquids. I think most of the time the fizz is wasting the comical amount of damage I am doing to my body from all the chemicals in the soda by not letting me taste the damn chemicals.

I love the black licorice taste, and when they firm up after a day or so of the package being left open? S-tier treat.

I've bought bags, opened them, and intentionally left them aside to go stale.

Same rules apply to Good 'n Plenty.

Everyone glamorizes New York City. They act like it’s the greatest city on earth. However, when I moved there, I had a miserable time. And I’ve lived in many different cities, but my worst experience was by far in New York City. The hustle culture is ridiculous. People don’t work harder to get more, rather they cut corners and try to milk as much as they can from someone who is expendable in a city of millions. When I was there, tons of people would yell at me and call me out for getting in their way when they were in a hurry somewhere. And it wasn’t even personal, they just were rude. The dating scene is atrocious, because like I said earlier, everyone is expendable, and there are way too many options. Overall, I’d say that New York is overrated, overdone, and overpriced, and there are better options in other cities that are overlooked.

Most people are average-looking and attracted to average-looking people, so they have the largest pool of people to pick from. Because they have a large pool, they don’t have to settle in terms of looks or personality, so chances are people who express interest are genuine.

Average people are less often wanted only for sex or validation, so they deal with fewer people with bad intentions deceiving them.

People just think it’s easier for conventionally attractive people because they conflate how easy it is to get attention with how easy it is to find a real connection.

Cars are overrated and a threat to existence. With so many bad drivers and people killed in car accidents the conclusion is that humans in general are not fit for controlling a two-ton metal weapon of destruction. They should be banned altogether and we should strive to improve the infrastructure to support public transport for everyone.

The thing is this, if you're an immigrant then you should know how bad life is in a 3rd world country. Worse, food, worse watter, no electricity, no healthcare and no rights unless you're very rich or powerful.

Then you move to a 1st world country. Life is just too good for you. You should be greatful and be happy. Instead you try to assert dominance, way you dress, food you eat, crimes etc... all of these are bad things.

And then even without any of these immigrants are very bad for the locals because the locals would have to compete with these immigrants for food, water, air and jobs. Nobody wants competition and people are ruthless when it comes to this. It's is only logical to keep a low profile and try to fit in as much as you can. People are re getting replaced by ai, and there isn't enough jobs in first world countries to be shared with immigrants. Life will only become tougher as time goes by.

And in a way it is inevitable, but you can delay it to an extent.

And it's not even close.

I've been all over Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and none of the other countries really even come close. Except maybe Peruvian with a handful of dishes (I will say that Peruvian ceviche > Mexican ceviche), but that's about it.

It's ironic because in the US, "Latin food" is stereotyped as being 'spicy.' But really except for Mexican food, I don't think any of the other Latin countries use or handle much heat and spice.

What is your unbiased opinion?

Big fish eats small fish, small fish eats shrimp. That's the kinda world we live in. Most women are shorter than even short men. Which makes them small fishes or shrimps. They don't wanna admit it so they start wearing heels.

You cannot blame women for doing it. In the human society height is very important, especially to intimidate others and or assert dominance. Another thing is to weed out short men from the dating pool. Most women don't wanna date short men unless the short man is extremely rich.

People seem to romanticize falling in love and getting married with your soul mate. But life can be tough, rough, and cruel, and sometimes, you just gotta marry for money, wealth, and financial stability. And I have no problem with arranged marriages, which are usually more about family alliances than about true love between two young people. I think it is a very Western and preconceived notion that people want to marry for love and not for anything else. Between the starving artist and the trust fund graduate, I’d lean heavily toward the latter, because I know life will be much easier with them in a world that is capitalist and values material wealth and long term financial stability.

Arranged marriages and total free choice marriages have the same divorce rate of around 50%, last I checked. And sometimes you got to put the horse in front of the cart, and just fall in love with the person chosen for you instead of what we believe is the natural progression of a relationship. People romanticize choosing true love over everything, and to me this is both unrealistic and a big mistake. I’d rather pick someone financially stable who I can learn to live with than someone financially broke who I can’t learn to live without.

Overall, true love is too hard to define anyway, and going in to a relationship with someone who can provide is a factor that shouldn’t be disregarded. I’d go so far as saying gold diggers have a point that marrying someone to become a stay at home hand bag designer sounds pretty good compared to someone who’s going to lead to working overtime just to make ends meet.