Thought I’d take my shot at an unpopular opinion here! But there it is. 🫠 I feel one should be able to pull out a Nintendo Switch at work and play a game for a little while. We’ve normalized cell phones to such a degree that no one questions if someone is at their desk on their cell phone — watching YouTube, on social media, dead scrolling during work hours. I’ve worked multiple office jobs and you see it all the time. Apparently that’s totally fine. But God forbid I switched it to a handheld gaming device. I’d be instantly judged or told it’s not acceptable. 💀 What’s the difference? Obviously, cell phones or hand held devices shouldn’t be utilized while one is working. But my point is this: if you’re going to socially normalize one and give an unspoken green light to it during work hours, but not the other — it’s a bit hypocritical. It’s all or nothing lol.

In light of the recent discontinued production of pennies, I think it’s time we also evaluate the $1 bill as well. While the penny was discontinued for many economic reasons, my opinion stems more from the change in societal needs for currency. $1 in the US doesn’t have nearly as much buying power as it used to. As the cost of goods rise, less and less items are costing around $1, and less under that. To me that signifies that the dollar bill is being relegated to a change currency, with the $5 bill being the next bill up that can comfortably buy many different kinds of small items. Yes, the $2 bill exists, but it is not used widely enough and would be dwarfed quickly with the continued rise of costs.

Lola is absolutely shallow, opportunistic and status obsessed. I’m not arguing that she was secretly a good person. But she WAS remarkably transparent about what she wanted.

Oscar becomes rich and famous, and Lola suddenly wants him because she likes status, money, attention and being associated with someone important. That is terrible relationship material, but it is not exactly a hidden agenda. She straight up called him a loser when they first met and ADMITTED what she wanted. She didn’t come around and pretend she secretly loved him the whole time. She never lied about any of that.

Meanwhile, the entire movie is built around Oscar lying about being the “Sharkslayer.”

Angie is obviously a much better person and even friend than Lola, and she definitely cared about Oscar before he became famous. But I’ve started to dislike the idea that this automatically meant Oscar was supposed to end up with her.

Angie having loved him before the fame does not mean she needed to end up with Oscar. She also doesn’t fully confess how she feels until Oscar is already involved with Lola, and the argument becomes partly, “I loved you before all of this.”

Okay. That proves Angie cared about the real Oscar.
It still does not mean Oscar owed her attraction.
People are usually much better at recognizing this when the genders are reversed. If a man quietly loves his woman best friend for years, supports her through everything, and then gets upset when she dates someone else, most people correctly say:
“You were her friend. She doesn’t owe you romance because you were nice to her.”

Same principle here.

By all means, tell Oscar that Lola is a terrible choice because she only wants him when he has status.
But the solution did not have to be, “Therefore Angie is your rightful girlfriend.”

Oscar could have ended the movie single.
He could have learned that chasing status was making him miserable, become comfortable with himself, and eventually met someone who liked him for who he actually was, AND whom he was genuinely attracted to.

And Angie could have found somebody who reciprocated her feelings without needing an entire movie to notice her. Lola being a user does not make Angie entitled to being Oscar’s romantic interest.

Angie being loyal does not make Lola healthy.
And Oscar being an idiot does not mean the movie needed to reward one woman with him like he was the final prize at a carnival.

Sometimes the emotionally healthier ending is simply: none of these people should date each other right now.

I love the Last of Us but the biggest problem I have with the sequel is them trying to get us to empathize with the people who tortured Joel.

I've seen people say that we should've started out as Abby after having killed Joel, played as her, watched her friends die and then it's revealed that she killed Joel and we switch to Ellie.

I feel like that would've made more sense and helped people not be as biased and also made for a good twist.

These are symbolic presentations for the people in the building. They have never been associated with the start of individual television programs. Broadcasting them is gratuitous and a waste of broadcast time.

Edit- Yes I am talking about pro US sports leagues, not international competition

Specific unpopular opinion, but we should bring back smart casual wear similar to what people used to wear in the 50’s and before. Obviously modernised I’m not talking Victorian style attire. IMO when you wear smart clothes or a suit for instance there’s an instant confidence and importance you get that you don’t have with any other clothing, and when you look at old timey footage of people going about their day theirs such an elegance to it and I’m sure they felt it in themselves and at the sight of other people wearing smart clothes.

Throwing this out there but the government should run a program where for atleast a year or half a year they make it mandatory for all clothing boutiques to sell smart casual clothing and only that clothing, just to see how the public reacts to it. Maybe small at first in like a town or something, just to see how people react.

Also there would be good incentive for this aswell, you think about how much waste the clothing industry makes. Atleast for a while make it mandatory they can only sell high quality clothes.

Woah mama, Last of Us 2, no one ever talks about that! I get it, this topic is old and has probably been tired out. But I wanna share my opinion because I don’t think many people are on the middle ground position I’m arguing for. SPOILERS below.

Most people think this game is either one of the greatest masterpieces conceived by man or the worst abomination in existence and may as well have crawled out of Hell itself.

But what if I told you that this game is neither good nor bad when you weigh the evidence?

The game’s voice acting, gameplay, and graphics are great, and so much so that this is relatively non-controversial. Even the story could be considered good for a video game if you pretend like this game is an original story and not a sequel. Video game stories are not supposed to be that great in my opinion. Many “movie games” wouldn’t really pass very well as actual movies or tv series.

The problem with this game is that it’s a horrible sequel, it takes the original game’s characters and disrespects them so much that it reeks of the nihilism this game doesn’t want to admit. You don’t just take a beloved character who was the main one in the original story and make a sequel where he’s tortured and killed 2 hours in. Ultimately this game’s story and dialogue seem to be a mouthpiece for the writer’s philosophical or retrospective views on the original game.

The apologetics for this game can get really annoying and dishonest as well. Some of it feels so rationally forced because people want to like it. TLOU2 fails the sequel test and the cinema test. But it does not fail the video game test or the independent (video game) story test. The game is aight.

If a plot doesn't explain itself in the first 15 minutes or relies on subtle character work, people call it "slow" or a "plothole." if youre watching a movie will scrolling reels and miss microexpressing on a character face because there was no dialogue to tell you whats happening, its not a plothole.

The Station Agent (which i watched recently and loved) proves movie audiences have completely lost their attention spans and blame "bad writing" for it. If that film came out today, the internet would be flooded with people complaining that "nothing happens" and calling Fin’s lack of a giant emotional breakdown a plot hole. It’s a brilliant movie because it lets people just sit in silence and be miserable together without shoving a forced third-act resolution down your throat, but modern viewers literally can't process a story that doesn't scream its plot points at them every five minutes.

Especially dogs and cats. they've had to rely on us for food. but how would they know they wouldn't become the food, or encounter a psychopath who kills just cause?

Pheromones. dogs and cats can smell the pheromones for empathy and reason in others. and they avoid people who don't give those pheromones off.

i CANNOT stress how many times my dog must have saved me from bad men and people in general by barking at them and telling me whos right to be around.

Its a shame

In urban areas its pretty common to see men openly getting off at the park, in front of McDonald's, downtown

I have heard or seen dv/sa/pedophilia police don't even come and walked in practically slow motion (yes, he escaped) a man was threatening to hit his girlfriend at the train platform exit and she was shaking, crying, and telling him to stop

But people who had to use the restroom in urban areas where there are none ....

Crowd S.O maps ...... so how do we know especially with Halloween coming up

What a ridiculous thing especially with predatory indecent exposure being prominent today

ppl committing suicide ending up on the registry over bullshit

Replying to your friend (or friends) takes 10 seconds max. Not a single human being on this planet is that busy to the point where they can’t reply to their friends (or return their call).

Obviously I am not saying that you need to reply instantly. But unless you’re dealing with an actual emergency, there’s no reason for someone to simply not reply to the people they call their friend within a day at least.

I say this as a 27M. We all know that young people are always on their phones, hence why the “sorry I’m a bad texter” excuse is complete bs.

Source: ex-high end escort.

In short, save your money, don’t even try. Almost all independent high end escorts are average looking and uneducated.

Location: USA. No decent looking American women has incentive to become escorts

I entered the industry because my previous relationship was abusive, I married down.. For high end escorts, everyone claims to come from a respectable family and to be well educated, but in my experience, it’s all fake.

I charged among the highest rates, and I’ve met my peers. Frankly, I found most of them less attractive than women I see on the street every day. I’m often described as “the most attractive of my race” but honestly the bar is on the floor.

All women in this industry are gold diggers, though because of their looks and personality they suck at it, so let’s judge by the financial results. (Though I hate judging relationships that way)

Anyone above 6/10 won’t need to escort because they’ll have men proposing a life together. They simply have no incentive to. Women in my circle get showered with gifts, branded cars, and homes. Meanwhile, escort clients are stingy and ugly, forking out a few thousand per session while we carry the legal risks.

Apparently, being a 5/10 bimbo is enough to become a top most “high-end” escort. Repeat bookings prove nothing when clients keep booking average or below-average women because they have no better options.

I left soon after because I resented working with these women and seeing these men. I’d rather date my equal, have a decent career, and build a future together. And I soon found a new partner that knew about my past and willing to support my civ career.

So long as its not a wedding dress and is otherwise fitting the dresscode, its fiiiine.

Its such a recent and petty thing to get pissed off about. If you watch films from the 90s (yes I know thats 30 years ago, you don't need to remind me of my decrepidness) or look in family photo albums you will see guests in white or pale colours, white with flowers or polka dots etc.

How many people do you have coming to your wedding? Do your guests not know you well enough to not confuse you with a 70 year old aunty who wore a cream skirtsuit? Are you not the one in the veil, standing at the front? Is that not enough for you? Do you not have enough going on on that day that you have to get pissed off about your husband's cousin's date? Are you so insecure that your 5 year old niece feels like someone who could upstage you?

When my fiance and I get married I want everyone to look their most fabulous, have a lovely time and wish us well.

Calm down.

I belive souls game are artificaly difficult with somewhat simple mechanics just so they can squeeze the most out of your dopamine, doing anything that is hard is extremely rewarding regardless of the process, by boiling down mechanics to just dodge, attack and parry it makes even the most casual of gamers see the throughline of how they can win this, that's why souls games are so big with normies because you don't engage in something that has any real depth or complexity is just a test of patience and the fake status given by the community.

While there are many case studies of private equity-backed brands/portfolio companies failing and/or deteriorating, the same can be said about independent and public companies. It is not a private equity specific problem. Overall, private equity-backed businesses are a net positive to the economy and labor markets.

1. Productivity gains. Strong operational value-add focusing on active management, R&D, strategic planning, and modernizing supply chains.

2. Better governance and incentive alignment. Concentrated ownership, active boards, and management teams usually have meaningful equity and skin in the game.

3. Jobs are reallocated versus lost altogether. As portfolio companies grow, some jobs might be redundant. However, many times what made a company a good target to begin with is because of the people. Those people are put into roles that benefit the larger organization.

4. Returns for pensions and endowments. These are the LPs who are investing in private equity funds. University endowments, teacher pension funds, foundations. Strong PE fund performance benefits Main Street.

5. Succession for founder owner businesses. PE offers founders and family owned businesses a path to liquidity and rewarding them for their life’s work, when no one else is willing or able to offer a liquidity event.

6. Competition. PE portfolio company activity makes goods and services more competitive, and other businesses (both independent and public) need to compete for market share.