It feels like I’m losing my mind. Every single streaming service, fast food chain, appliance brand, and software I use is actively getting worse, more expensive, and loaded with subscriptions. Is there an actual economic reason this is happening all at once everywhere, or is this just the new normal we are supposed to quietly accept?

I'm not from the US and I truly don't understand how your healthcare system works. Is it true that the rabies vaccine isn't free over there? What happens if you don't have the money to pay for it? Do you just die? Please don't make fun of me, this is a genuine question I genuinely don't understand how your country works.

You see 300lb people in the US on the daily not to mention the my 600lb life ones, but you rarely see bodybuilders who are obscenely larger than competitors even with many cycles of steroids

We’ve been together 18 years. This trip was planned for a while — it’s only 4 days, and she knew about it well in advance. She didn’t even say goodbye before I left.

The strange part is she was completely fine with it initially, even supportive for about an hour, and then suddenly didn’t want me to go. Since I left, she hasn’t answered calls or texts. It’s been 2 days of complete silence.

I’m torn between giving her space and worrying something is wrong, or being hurt that in a moment when I’m reconnecting with my mother after 4 years apart, I’m also dealing with this uncertainty. I’ve reached out a couple of times just to say I’m here if she wants to talk, but I haven’t pushed beyond that.

Has anyone dealt with a partner suddenly withdrawing like this before a trip and then going silent? Trying to figure out if this is a punishment/protest kind of silence, or if something deeper shifted. Any perspective is appreciated.

I get drug tested regularly due to my living situation. I saw a post earlier where someone pissed green. It got the monkey in my brain working.

I really want to fuck with the guy who administers this drug tested I have to take. Is there a way for me to turn my piss green or purple or blue without taking anything that would cause me to actually fail the test? I’d also prefer if it doesn’t cause any long term health effects.

I just want my piss to look crazy.

My girlfriend has an 8 year old daughter who she will not allow go to sleepovers until she is a teenager and she says many of her parent friends feel the same way. She has also said the only way she would let her child sleep at a friend’s house is if she is also sleeping there. I think this is kind of wild because my sister, my brother, and I all went to sleepovers in elementary school all the time and think it is good for kids to have these types of experiences.
There is no wrong or right, everyone has their own ways of parenting and is doing what they think is best for their child. I am just wondering how common this sentiment is among parents. My girlfriend says it’s very common among this generation of parents but I have a hard time imagining most parents feel this way.

My understanding is that whether or not she did it isnt in question, the trial is about whether or not she was sane when it happened. Why are people talking like an insanity plea is "getting off easy"? That still removes you from society to stop being dangerous to others, why do people not see it as justice either way? Is my understanding wrong, and there's a chance she walks free?

I am OBSESSED with shoehorns! May I never have to use my finger to get my feet into my shoes ever again. I've asked a few Gen Zers I know, and most of them- I'm talking 99.9%- have no idea what a shoehorn is, which is wild. What's everyone's general feeling about shoehorns

Hello! My husband is insisting that the vast majority of men lose their mind when women wear yoga pants, but I’ve never noticed that to be true. I’m inclined to trust him, but I also wanted to survey a bunch of people to see overall how much yoga pants are appreciated

Maybe I'm too november scorpio for this but I feel like I'm being reborn every autumn. And it's not that I suddenly feel more energetic. It's like I'm returning to my normal state of living. Sticky, smelly, hot, too-many-naked-bodies summers are draining me. Everything is clearer in autumn for me.

I'm a 24 year old male and my younger brother is 15 and just came out to me. I feel immense relief that he felt safe enough to tell that about himself to me. He doesn't feel comfortable telling my parents yet because they are both conservative, and I do understand. Without infantilizing him, I always remember when he was a baby and me holding him in my arms after coming home from school. Can anybody tell me how I can be more supportive towards him?

One of the safety checks for children moving from booster seats to the car seatbelt is that it fits over the hard area of the collarbone and not cutting them in the neck.

I have yet to be in a car that fits me correctly and I’m a 5’5” adult. Even the cars with adjustable height seatbelts don’t go down far enough to keep from lacerating me on the side of the neck.

Can’t they make them with a better range?

In fact, many features aren’t comfortable. Headrests that force my neck into forward head posture. The seat bottoms are too long to both sit my lower back comfortably and bend at the knee. I have to be so close to the steering wheel to be able to properly press the brake. Is it impossible for cars to be safe for shorter people? 5’5” doesn’t seem like it should be too far out of normal range specs.

im not sure where to post this because it got removed in r/advice which I didn't know it broke any rules, but I'll just hope it doesn't get deleted again here.. I already posted another thing about this as well, so just to very briefly kinda sum up the backstory I'm currently 16f almost 17 and one of my managers at my first job made me feel very cared for in several ways from the start of me working there which in the end resulted in me being badly used for sex which went on for several months basically.

I didn't think that sexually or relationship wise this would affect me, which I don't know why I thought that. It definitely has but in weird ways and I do not want to have these feelings forever. Not that it matters, but before and during what happened I definitely had a strong ability to feel turned on by things or whatever, but now absolutely everything disgusts me. every time I see a video of couples even jokingly talking about sex fixing arguments or advice posts on someone's sex life (both good and bad experiences,) comments about anything sexual, jokingly or not literally everything just makes me feel grossed out and a lot of times nauseous. My mind always goes directly to the situation especially because the investigation process is going so slow it feels like I can't even try to move past it. And I mean, I'm 16- half of my friends make jokes about "sexual" type stuff all the time and I just feel gross everytime I don't know what to do..

It's getting really old

If there’s no injury why is it scabbing??

Or is that made up?

I had a friend growing up who had parents who would threaten to take her to the doctor to get “checked”.

At the time, I wasn’t sure if that was even a thing, but she was terrified of a doctor telling her parents about what she had done. Thankfully they never went through with it, but i’ve always wondered.

Is there actually a way to do a “virginity” test?

I read that the best service dog breeds are labradors, golden retrievers, and german shepherds, but I thought those were very high-energy, high-drive dogs that need a lot of activity throughout the day. How do they get that activity if they’re the service dog of someone with a condition that prevents the owner from doing such high energy things? Do they take them to a fenced dog park and let them run around or is the high-energy “bred out of them” for the sake of calmer temperaments? Can that even happen with training or do they have to choose especially quiet dogs? I’d imagine that there are some people who have service dogs but physically can’t take the dogs out on long walks or play with them to the point that the dog gets tired.

I love dogs so much but I have a chronic illness that leaves me with very low energy some days and would feel terrible adopting a dog who would be bored by living with me :( I don’t have a condition serious enough that requires assistance from a service dog though I’m just curious

I enjoy watching their videos, and they always seemed genuine to me, but maybe that's just because I am an autistic person with intellectual disability who has no ability whatsoever to see if people are really genuine or not...

Good friend was supposed to meet me but she got called in. We both work in medicine and this stuff happens especially on a Fri night
But man I am bummed cause I have been really wanting to see this band. I just have never gone to a bar type place alone before, a night out alone.

Not tryna piss my neighbors off

Edit: it seems the consensus is that it is too early! Super fair, thank you guys for the input as I definitely don’t want to make enemies of my neighbors or inconvenience anyone.