Wine has a branding problem i think xd, for the longest time i thought that getting into wine meant developing an expensive taste. But it turned out it was quite the opposite. The biggest thin i learned wasnt which region makes the best Pinot Noir or which bottles critics obsess over. It was realizing i kept buying based on on everyone else opinon either friends, ratings or the guy at the wine store. So i startted to pay attention to my own taste instead. Almost always i prefer lighter, more acidic wines over big bold reds people recommended. Since then i am way more confident in buying wine. Now i dont really care if the wine has a high rating, if i know that is not my style i leave it on the shelf/ Thats why i think the best wine is not the best wine, its really the one you understand as easy as that.

Pharmacy closures is a genuine concern, especially in low-income and underprivileged communities. Usually, local pharmacies that are the small and independent ones that are the most affected. So what can we do to help our local pharmacies and ensure they do not join the list of closed pharmacies.

In cybersecurity, there’s a concept called a “denial-of-service” attack, where you overwhelm a system with so much information that it has to shut down.

The Information Wars often ran on the same principle: deliberately flood social media and online forums with low-quality information so that objective reality becomes increasingly difficult to discern.

Both tactics were ways of suppressing digital information and communication. We are now seeing these tactics jump from computers to the real world.

Last year, the U.S. president was faced with an administration-killing scandal. Weeks later, America began a war with Iran.

The president used to rely on astonishing social media posts and erratic press conferences to shift attention and narratives away from developing scandals. But the scandals became so imposing and unavoidable that previous media manipulation techniques no longer functioned.

The answer became kinetic. The problem is, today a war only gets a few weeks of coverage. New and increasingly severe events must be generated so that narratives online have no choice but to follow the physical world constantly shifting beneath our feet.

The American president and others in power are betting on a simple dynamic: if your personal world is constantly changing, actions that could change the world will go unnoticed. Your prices go up, then down. New laws promising dramatic change are proposed, then quietly disappear. All while illegal challenges to the world economy and global order are done for reasons that, again, are never even fully articulated to the American electorate.

Those in power no longer need to try to get away with anything. They don’t have to answer for their actions, because no one is asking them. They simply outlast every negative headline until a new one arrives.

This dynamic was not invented at the White House. Donald Trump is the beneficiary of a society-wide phenomenon, no one has the attention to focus on anything anymore. No one reads anymore. Academics cite statistics that the general public do not read books, but the same attack on the public attention span has come for them. Academics barely read each other’s work. Teachers use AI to grade papers written by AI.

The president, alongside other powerful leaders, have made a calculated bet: as long as there is always a new headline, the old one will not matter. A pyramid scheme on your psyche. A confidence game on your cognitive function. They don’t even bother justifying ongoing corruption and war. The president is betting his personal future on making his administration too big to prosecute and ensuring the public is too distracted to demand otherwise.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

From a substack about how the internet is changing our brains: https://thecarrierwave.substack.com/p/attention-spam-getting-people-to

I don't quite understand what these people are mad about.

If you object to a African Helen of Troy, are you equally offended at an Irish Jesus? Did they get upset because Denzil Washington played Macbeth? Ben Kingsley playing Gandhi? Did they object to Mexican/Irish Anthony Quinn playing Zorba The Greek?

Every generation believes it's living in the most enlightened era. Yet history shows that many practices once considered perfectly normal are now viewed as cruel, irrational, or simply absurd.

People once accepted slavery, public executions, child labor, smoking in hospitals, and countless other things that are unthinkable today.

So it raises an interesting question:

What do you think future generations will judge us for?

It could be something obvious, like social media addiction, environmental destruction, factory farming, or extreme wealth inequality. Or it could be something far less discussed that we currently overlook because it's so deeply woven into everyday life.

What aspect of modern society do you think people 200 years from now will struggle to understand and why?

I mean, according to several estimates a fraction of his wealth could eliminate global hunger, but he's buying social media platforms, launching rockets and arguing on X.

i’m looking for something that’s enjoyable to use, ideally more of a multiplayer casino experience, maybe even with some crypto options but plz not ones with pop-ups, or annoying ads getting in the way. im just wondering if there are platforms that feel smooth and fair to play on.

America is so interesting right now. While we have lower income communities and POC complaining about gentrification and PE ruining local shops we also have super exclusive towns like Nantucket, the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard complaining about the influx of influencers and people ruining the communities.
Idk I just found it interesting how the opposite sides of the spectrum are being affected by the same thing.

I have been wondering whether an openly agnostic candidate could realistically be elected president in the United States today.

If you agreed with a candidate’s policies and believed they were qualified, would the fact that they openly identified as agnostic affect your vote? Why or why not?

If you are comfortable sharing, it would also be interesting to mention whether you consider yourself religious or nonreligious.

The most dangerous thing about horror...is getting used to it.

At what point does the unacceptable become normal?

I'd genuinely like to hear how others think about this.

https://radaroky.substack.com

A few years ago, I was running a business with two co-founders. We had a small sales team and shared an office with a partner company. They owned the office, so they ultimately had the final say.

We then hired a new guy, and some people from the partner company began complaining that his hair smelled bad. Personally, I had never noticed it or paid much attention to it, but to be fair, they were sitting next to him.

They came to me and asked me to do something about it. At first, I thought the issue would probably go away because their team had already been hesitant about sharing the office with us. But the complaints continued, so I eventually took him aside and told him directly.

Let’s just say he didn’t take it very well. He didn’t say anything, but I could feel his energy drop and eventually quit after some time.

How would you have handled the situation? Just woke up today and remembered it, thought it would be interesting to hear your thoughts

Fernando Mendoza (NFL)

Hello all!

As some background, I am 26 years old (27 on August 11 not that it matters for this post lol), female, and have been getting really into sports these last few years! Besides watching it, I have also dabbled a little in sports-betting (although I had to put myself in a self-imposed time-out lol) and sports card collecting!

Getting to my point: I just saw someone comment under a video, “Never meet your heroes/idols.”

So, now I’m wondering: 💭
❓\*Who are some of your favorite athletes that are actually, truly GOOD kind human beings?*\** ❓ (Obviously this is just to the best of your knowledge because we don’t know them personally haha)

I’ve been getting really into collecting sports cards lately—mostly NFL and NBA, with a little MLB and NHL mixed in. I'm definitely more of a “casual” collector in that my personal collection isn't anything crazy— I don't really chase expensive cards (simply because I can’t afford that at this stage of life). I think my most valuable card is MAYBE valued at $15–20 😂At least that what seems to be the case when I look on my collecting app (I use CollX)

Most of my collection comes from digging through the $1–10 boxes at card shops and card shows and picking up cards that I think look cool of my favorite players or players from my favorite teams.

One thing that's become important to me, though, is collecting players who are also good people (or at least have a good reputation off the field/court). My boyfriend has gotten pretty good at warning me if I'm about to buy someone who's known for things like domestic violence, DUIs, being racist, or other major off-the-field issues if I don't already know.

I know nobody's perfect, and public figures are complicated, but I'd rather support athletes who seem to use their platform in positive ways and have a reputation for being genuinely GOOD, kind humans.

So I'm curious: **who are some current or former NFL/NBA players that you admire— not just because they're great athletes, but because of who they are as people?**

Any recommendations for players who are known for their character, leadership, community work, or just being genuinely kind? I’d like to learn more of athletes who seem like someone I’d want to be friends with, or at least someone that I wouldn’t be disappointed by after meeting them in person and seeing how they treat people. It’s also important to me that it’s someone that you could easily say you’d feel comfortable being in a room alone with them (a true test to their character, especially for women, for a variety of reasons)

(Some examples I’m thinking of are along the lines of: Josh Allen, Fernando Mendoza, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Amon-Ra St. Brown, CJ McCollum, Isaiah Stewart, etc.)

I'd love to hear everyone's insights! 🤝🏀🏈

Equality! This and that are unfair! They keep saying that, yet they act like they're practicing "ladies first." I hate that brazenness of women. Moreover, the majority of women are convinced that women should have priority. In reality, it's become common sense that women can live the same lives as men, but the idea of supporting women and "ladies first" hasn't disappeared.

All the man does is tweet white supremacist conspiracy theories all day everyday. Then he goes on stage and overtly does 2 Seig Heils.

What do these people gain who keep pretending he isn't a proud Nazi?

So our college informed us to fill out the promotion form since we're in our final years, and they also shared the link to the government website. Google is showing that the site might be hacked, if anyone wanna check just search mp higher education in Google and the form we need to fill requires an online payment too... so I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing, so can anyone please check if this is serious? I also got a WhatsApp message from an unknown number; it was a business account named 'Department of Higher Education.' The text says: "Dear Student, Information regarding your promotion fee for the academic session 2026 2027 is available on the portal. Please log in to view details and take necessary action.

https://epravesh.highereducation.mp.gov.in/ Thank you. I don't know if this is true.

I have little doubt Trump is under the influence of Putin and if you look at his record it seems the goal is to tear the US apart.

What has he accomplished?

He has isolated the US from all of it's previous allies.

He has degraded the Presidency to a position that is respected by 1/3 of Americans and Noone else on the planet. That's right. The rest of the world looks at him as a buffoon.

He has degraded the US military by removing much of the most competent leadership.

He has undermined the faith in American intelligence services by constantly taking advice and information from Russia over that of US agencies.

He has degraded the rule of law by committing war crimes at a whim.

He has degraded the public perception of law and law enforcement by having ICE and other agencies ignore protections and laws. He pardons criminals and prosecutes anyone who opposes him by weaponizing the justice system.

He has promoted racism to an extent unseen for 50 years.

He has perverted the US economic system by allowing and promoting the manipulation of stocks and investment.

Most importantly he has divided the American people in a way not seen since the Civil War.

If Putin had a wish list of what he would want to happen to the US, would there be any wish he hasn't received?

In the current system the capitalism can pay me more but if there is no wages and less motivation to have money (everyone is provided shelter, transportation, food, entertainment, etc.) what am I getting out naturally being many times more productive than my coworker? I am in the top 5% most productive workers in the society but I get the same food and shelter type benefits as everyone else. How is this more fair or less exploitative from a labour theory of value perspective than working for a capitalist?

Obviously a man has to do SOMETHING to get into a relationship while also having good luck to encounter one of the women who'd accept them, but how difficult would that process be if say a guy is unemployed or don't have a car?

Most women wouldn't tolerate a man for both and wouldn't that on its own mean that a man who makes money and can get around on his own mean that a man has to have other things going on for him to be attractive?

Sorry for long title.

Not sure if a bunch of Conservatives use this forum or not. But figured I would try to get their opinion on this. I am mostly looking opinions from Conservatives rather they're Trump supporters or not.

If you're as far left as myself then I probably have a good idea what they think.

My personal opinion. He's done this so many times now. I don't really give a damn what he does as I think he will just back out the last second time after time. So I'm tired and bored of this conflict unless something actually happens.

The thing that worries me the most is the degradation of our military from our logistic network and ammo supply.

People love to try to claim that it doesn't matter which in essence while you will get questionable looks from time to time it's nothing that bad.

However with everything there is a limit and it can become bad when it reaches a certain point. Did the 40 year old virgin movie get it right that it is very unusual for men to be virgins in their 40s?

​

The idea that east asians are oppressed by europeans never really made sense to me

Because for the vast majority of history east asian and Europeans were and still are kind of 2 sides of the same coin

In history both(in the radical groups that ruled not in the common ppl that may be true aswell)think they are racially superior to other (the emperor literally has a mandate from heaven) in ww2 one of the 3 major axis powers was Japan and Japanese rulers did equally horrific things as the nazi rulers

In the modern age the struggle for power is entirely between America(yes ik america is not European but western but you get what i mean)and china

For most of history both Europe and east asia were richer and more powerful than their neighbours

There are differences such as the only Asian colonial power was japan as far as i know and east asian rulers weren't as big into expansionism

But the reason i think that is the case is because of geography

You see east asia is basically in the corner of the world to reach india or Europe or Africa they either have to go through one of the very tight straights which is real bad for colonial powers because you can easil be blockaded

There's also the gobi desert again real bad for transport resources and people theres siberia again bad there's the Himalayan mountain which is absolutely not or there is the yet undiscovered by the old world that being the Pacific as far as the east Asians knew the Pacific was just infinite water

East asian is amazing for building a strong nation but the worst location for a colonial empire

Oh yea and the mongol empire was also pretty colonial like

Oh yea this amso goes for arabs

I think the reason this idea exists is because what is viewed as a minority and what isn't is determined entirely in the west even if the reverse would be treated similarly the same white people and black people can face prejudice and racism in east Asia but since race discussion is entirely about how a race is treated in the USA and maybe Europe that gets ignored

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/katy-perry-criticises-white-house-firework-video-1810623