It affects the election, but not in the way you want. It is literally the equivalent of not voting at all. That does effect the outcome if you would have voted for one of the two main parties otherwise.

A 1-800 number is immune to long distance charges, free to call by anyone in the US— the owner of the 800 number pays any fees associated with the call. Traditionally, 800 numbers are owned by companies in order to sell stuff. (The 1- portion of a 1-800 number means that it’s a long distance call… which was a thing when I was growing up in the 80s/90s, but basically isn’t a thing anymore in the age of cellphones)

The opposite of an 800 number is a 900 number. The person calling a 900 number has to pay, usually by minute, and most of that money goes to the owner of the 900 number. Famously used for phone sex lines.

Better plot than Twilight.

I legitimately and unironically would support this initiative. It’s a good idea.

This makes me literally, not figuratively, feel ill. And I feel powerless to help.

Uhhh… you got this meme format literally backwards. Red delicious apples definitely did not draw 25 on this card, because they look great but are dead inside.

I was shocked to discover the hatred the old live action Mario movie gets. I enjoyed it when it came out when I was a kid. I rewatched it as an adult to see if my memory was faulty… still enjoyed it. It’s a little campy, but it’s a fun romp! I unironically enjoy it, as a good movie and not as a “so-bad-it’s-good” movie. And yet it gets so much hate…

As far as I can tell, they’re contrarian authoritarians. That is, they support strongman dictatorships primarily because doing so shocks the sensibilities of and upsets the people around them. It’s childish nonsense without any rigor.

I want to add that the convenience factor they give to non-disabled people really helps the life-necessity factor for disabled people. Economy of scale helps a lot. Someone who needs straws to live can go to any grocery or convenience store and buy dozens or hundreds of the things for dirt cheap because the disabled people aren’t the only ones buying them, and that’s a good thing.

Let’s say they were organizing using telephones instead. Would you want the telephone providers to proactively listen in on their conversations and cut them off based on content? No. You get the police or FBI to investigate and hunt down the people, possibly with warrants obtaining information from the telephone companies, and target the people doing the crimes.

I feel it should be exactly the same with ISPs. The ISP shouldn’t be doing the policing, the police should be doing the policing. The ISP’s job should be passing bits from MAC address A to MAC address B, nothing more.

Want to say that my personal experience nearly matches yours. I was allowed in the birthing room and held my wife’s hand as she gave birth. I was allowed to hold my son for approximately 30 seconds. Then I was kicked out of the hospital and not allowed to return for over a week. I was also expected to be back at work pretty much immediately.

Finding changing rooms I can use is definitely a trial. I typically assume I won’t be able to find one, and if my wife isn’t with me I plan to use the backseat of my car or similar arrangement.

The hoikuen workers (approximately translates to daycare, if you don’t know) don’t talk to me when I pick up my son, which is nearly every day. On the rare opportunity that my wife’s schedule allows her to get him, they won’t stop talking about every detail.

Yeah, gender roles are pretty fixed, and challenging said roles is hard.

Socialism works, people. Particularly (though not limited to) for things with a vertical demand curve— necessities. Food, water, and now electricity and internet.