“However, I did make it with a hot alien babe. And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?”

I wrote that comment on my lunch break at work and, of the immediate links that came up when I searched for a supporting article, Snopes was the most readily available and reliable source I had at hand. It’s a site with a long history of debunking claims via thorough research, and yes, they cite their sources. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Sources.” It’s just above the author’s credit.

If you’ve found any evidence of Geico dropping coverage of all Cybertrucks (not just individual vehicles/owners, whom may be dropped for a myriad of reasons), I’m eager to hear it. In the meantime, enjoy checking any of these links that all say the same thing - that the author reached out to Geico, and Geico confirmed to them that they do cover the Cybertruck.

Of course, there’s always the option of just calling Geico for yourself. But debunking the same rumor over and over again is exhausting, and I feel bad for whoever is having to answer all these calls. At this point, Geico said their part. The burden of proof is now on those making the “dropping coverage” claim.

the truth is that we are all subject to and fooled by misleading content.

A perfect example of this is that recent claim that Geico stopped providing insurance for the Tesla “Cybertruck.” Tons of people, including many here on Lemmy, were quick to believe and share this story. A handful of users pointed out that the source couldn’t be verified, but those comments were drowned out by all the “Ha, take that, Musk!” comments.

It just goes to show that everyone is vulnerable to misinformation. If we want to claim to be well-informed, we have to question everything - even (or especially) the stories that reinforce our existing beliefs.

This is exactly what spurs me to wash my dishes right after using them. It’s much less stressful to clean a single plate & fork now, than to return to a sink full of dirty dishes later. I’d rather just get it over with while it’s still easy to do.

The storm was mainly weakened by wind shear.

Here are some key points:

Wind shear is defined as the change in wind speed, wind direction, or both, over some distance.

Hurricanes thrive in environments where their vertical structure is as symmetrical as possible. The more symmetrical the hurricane is, the faster the storm can rotate, like a skater pulling in her arms to spin.

Too much vertical wind shear, however, can offset the top of the storm. This weakens the wind circulation, as well as the transport of heat and moisture needed to fuel the storm. The result can tear a hurricane apart.

Source: What is Wind Shear, and How Does it Shape Hurricanes

As to the destruction being less than the worst-case scenario predicted, that’s because the storm ended up making landfall south of Tampa Bay:

Tampa Bay remained in the hurricane’s northern eyewall, which meant that winds blew from the east—offshore—during the worst of the storm. Not only did these offshore winds spare the region the worst of the surge, but Tampa actually experienced an “anti-surge” as the storm made landfall. Strong winds pushed more than a metre of water out of Tampa Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Source: How Hurricane Milton’s Destructive Surge Mostly Spared Tampa Bay

Republicans know a lot of women are voting to restore abortion rights, full stop. Compared to the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars that it would take for us to travel out-of-state to receive abortion care, $47 is nothing. You can’t buy my vote, let alone for such a pathetically low-balled price. I’d rather lose money and reinstate Roe V Wade than gain money and leave people to suffer.

It’s not just Japan, and it doesn’t just apply to women. K pop has the same situation, and boy bands are no exception.

Although modern media allows for much less privacy, this idea is far from new. Back when The Beatles were a fresh, new band in the early 1960s, John Lennon had to hide his first marriage from the public. Long before Yoko Ono, there was Cynthia Lennon. John was pressured to hide his relationship for the same reasons that K pop and J pop idols do - in order to create the illusion of “attainability” among fans.

Times have changed in the west, where celebrity couples have found greater public acceptance. I’m not well-versed in Japanese and Korean celebrity cultures, so I’m not sure why this prohibition on dating/marriage still occurs there. All I know is, this situation is not unique.

You’re absolutely right. I’d just like to add on:

Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. They observe and take note of chains of events, and use that knowledge in order to guide their own decisions in the future.

Wise people question what they believe. If they feel cognitive dissonance, they don’t ignore it; they examine their ideas and consider the prospect that they may be wrong. They can change their minds based on new evidence.

Wise people are skeptical. When they learn about a situation, they don’t take immediate sides based on knee-jerk emotions. Rather, they examine all available information and come around to their own ideas in their own time.

Using all of the above points are what guide wise people towards “cautiously correct” decisions. They are more likely “correct” because they base their ideas on a greater pool of information, and are capable of discarding ideas even if the ideas “feel good” to believe in. They remain “cautious,” because no matter how sure they believe they are, they are well aware that there’s a chance they could still be mistaken.

I wonder how much this will come back to hurt the company. Musk & co. want to play dumb games? Enjoy watching all the potential Xitter users in Brazil flock to Bluesky and other platforms while your site remains in the dark.

Xitter isn’t special. People will find ways to socialize online with or without it. And the longer people go without it, the more momentum other sites will gain. Whether this stalling is deliberate or unintented doesn’t matter, the fact is they’re only hurting their own bottom line when an entire country is disengaged from their platform.

In other words, keep it up, Elon. It’s fun to see some natural consequences arise from your stupid behavior.

I don’t have a stake in this argument, as this is my first time learning about Doctorow. I just want to add that a good phrase to express the situation you described is “potential conflict of interest.”

While we’re at it, is it too much to ask for leniency in some instances of tone? It’s not my fault my autistic brain can’t hear the way my words come out. I overcompensate in work and in public by going “into character” as someone very cheery and positive - because any less than that inevitably leads to my “tone” overshadowing the content of my speech. My line of work requires my bosses to be knowledgable about autism, and I’ve even told my manager that my tone does not reflect my emotions.

Yet if ever I get tired, overwhelmed, or simply have several new instructions thrown at me in a short amount of time, I’m left not only grappling with whatever I’m told to do, but my facade slips and I also get a talking to about “my tone.” I’m sorry, I do my best to control how I speak, but despite living over 30 years on this planet I still struggle with this “basic” aspect of communication. Holding it against me won’t solve anything, but it will contribute to my social anxiety and the sense that I simply don’t belong in society.

What an interesting strategy. Let’s just hope rich Republicans don’t try to turn the tables. Oh, the sweet liberal tears I would cry if we ended up with Democratic candidates that leaned farther left than those we already have!

Tears of joy, but still.

Adding insult to injury, Reddit recently struck gold by licensing its content to train AI models.

Oh, that’ll be fun, considering how much of the content on Reddit is simply bots making reposts.

Sounds like The Windy City was just trying to defend its title.

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How interesting that a controversial company was called “OceanGate.” Considering media’s tendency to give almost every scandal a nickname ending in -gate, that name was practically foreshadowing.

you can enjoy language by making it shit.

Language, especially the English language, has been changing since its inception. Every generation of youth is another generation that uses new words, abandons old words, changes the meaning and/or pronunciation of recognized words, and so on. It’s the nature of a living language - its usage adapts through time.

It’s crucial to remember that just because something is “different” from what you’re used to, that doesn’t make it “worse.”

And now you have to find an organizer who knows where they stored your spare underwear.

But that does bring up a glaring omission. Contestants had access to porta potties, sure, but nothing in this article mentions access to showers. 🤔

At the founding of the United States, the public sentiment reflected that idea. The thought of someone promoting themselves for public office would’ve been seen as a power-grab. In fact, George Washington didn’t campaign at all - others nominated him. Even when he won the vote unanimously, he still wasn’t sure if he would accept the position, as he doubted his ability to handle the responsibility.

Washington set a lot of precedents for the office that still remain today. It’s a shame this humble honesty didn’t stick.

I remember that. We’d be told digital copies were cheaper, but those copies (and older versions of the textbook) wouldn’t include access keys to additional content that our professors required us to have. In other words, if we didn’t have the absolute latest textbook (and/or paid an additional fee for an individual access key), we couldn’t do our homework. It’s been years since I’ve been in school, but I find it hard to imagine textbook publishers have stopped that money-grab. Can any current students confirm/deny if that’s still the case?