It increases self-confidence, helps to improve self-image, etc

I could say exactly the same of the dermatologist.

You’ll have significantly less luck delivering pizza, sadly.

anyone who thinks the answer isn’t “hit the gym” is coping.

I’d put “hit the dermatologist” above it. Plenty of girls go for the skinny or husky builds. But blemishes are a universal turn off

Unironically, women are hot for the handyman. Fixing a friend’s sink has gotten me laid more than once.

The difference between a 20 year old and a 30 year old is whether you prioritize a chiseled jaw and tight abs over the ability to have an engaging conversation, cook a good meal, and massage feet.

Can you explain what you mean?

If you live like a billionaire and you grift like a billionaire and you have borrowing capacity like a billionaire…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

Trump hasn’t become rich

For a not-rich guy, he sure does seem to live the high life.

Why hide what is clearly quite popular?

Corporate media has the public totally sold on oligopoly. Elon will run our country into the ground and the Talking Heads on his payroll will tell the whole country how hard they need to clap.

And if you won’t, we all know the cops will.

The actual center, which never moves

???

Public opinion never changes?

Reddit’s core business model from day one was to fake engagement. This isn’t calling your nan’s IMs a cyber attack. We’re talking about a community that’s been outted repeatedly for hosting artificial content.

I’m not a fan of any appeals to gatekeep energy use to “just essentials” instead permitting growth

There’s a huge gulf between essential and wasteful.

hostility never changed anyone’s mind

Chronic abuse absolutely shapes human perception and behavior.

In this case, a lot of Lemmy has been so battered down by “China Bad” propaganda that they’ll straight up deny the threat of climate change to justify rejecting Chinese manufactured goods.

The argument is always “solar/wind still use chemicals” and never “this is the net reliance on extractive industry by energy source”.

That said, general energy conservation is still important. You can’t cut emissions if all your new power just gets funnelled into Grok style AI.

They were at the inflection point back in 2008. They’ve been full tilt towards the improvement side of the curve for nearly two decades.

Europeans demolished their manufacturing sector when they stripped all the wiring out of the walls during the austerity years.

You can’t blame people for buying foreign when you’ve been defunding domestic infrastructure for over a decade.

Might be cause you’re bouncing between so many social media services

You’re not, though. Reddit is Bots Only

My sense is Mastodon is far less left leaning (but still left of center)

Begging the question of what you think constitutes the political “center”, given how fash everything has become.