Again, selective breeding suffers from the same issue of introducing changes that can be detrimental to the organism itself and its place in the balance of the environment. Look at dog breeding as an example. Pugs were bred for a specific look, and that inadvertently caused them to have severe breathing issues. Dachshunds are another example, with many developing spinal issues over time. The difference, as I said before, is the speed; making a change causes unintended side effects - when you make a huge change quickly, it will produce more side effects than making a small change slowly will.

And... again... as I already said... there should be limitations to prevent rolling out new GMOs without specific testing for safety, both in a lab for potential problems to the organism or - in the event of an agricultural product - its consumers, as well as in the environment as a whole, to determine how it may affect the ecology if and when it is introduced. It may take decades to notice changes if the GMO is released immediately after being developed, but if testing protocols are made and followed, we should have no problem quickly spotting any issues before the organism is rolled out into the world.

Just like newly developed medicines need to go through rigorous testing to prevent things like the Thalidomide scandal that caused an immense amount of birth defects due to lax testing, new GMO's will need to be tested as well. But, just like you likely understand the benefits of medicine for helping people suffering from various diseases, GMO's can provide the same level of benefit to people suffering from malnutrition, among a wide range of other positive uses. The key is to study new developments to the point where we can spot and address issues. Throwing away the technology as a whole is not the answer.

...yeah, that's what I'm saying. Maybe he's got no money, or keeps it in a bank with no interest for some weird reason, but the more likely scenario is that he has a lot of money he doesn't want to make public. If he's got so much money that it benefits him more to keep it hidden than to let it publicly gain interest, then he's going to be willing to hand some of it off to a corrupt public official to prevent an investigation.

If a real investigation were done, then there would be no reason for him to bribe anyone, which is the more important thing for the vast majority of the government, so they have no reason to do an investigation. I'd like them to, but my preferences aren't going to matter to the guy who only took the job of an investigator for the bribery money. If anything, they'll just do a sham investigation so that they can say "nope, nothing" while walking away with their pockets full of cash.

It's been a long time since this country meaningfully punished a rich man for doing something wrong.

Did you get the chocolate cake shake with it?

While the word "fascist" is thrown around so much that I don't even really understand what it means anymore, the fact remains that Joe Biden is supporting a genocide. He's way better than Trump, and he's the only viable option to prevent Trump, but I'm really hoping we don't twiddle our thumbs for the next 4 years while a lesser-but-still-significant evil sits in office. We need to take significant action to prevent future presidential candidates of either party from being as objectively terrible as our current options.

The public hate definitely got worse in the later 2000's, but it was definitely still popular among middle/high schoolers to tell everyone they hated songs like Yellow and Fix You to show how "sophisticated" their tastes were. It was the same for any band that got too popular, but I remember that when Facebook opened up to people without .edu emails in 2006 I saw the Coldplay hate all over the place. One of the first online arguments I ever had was because someone said that the song The Scientist sucked, and I was really into it at the time. It's part of why I chose my username, along with my love of biology.

As I mentioned, I have a wife who I live with and spend time with every day. We met online, and only later realized that we went to the same school, but were in different grades. We probably saw each other on multiple occasions, but we were just strangers then. I also have plenty of local friends who I spend time with as well. However, I live in completely different states from some of my oldest friends from school. We voice chat online every week, and meet up in person every few years.

I have a couple groups of people who I play video games and tabletop games with online who I've never even seen in real life, and wouldn't even recognize walking down the street, but we've known each other for years and have real, meaningful connections. Two of the friends from one group even realized they live near one another, and have since begun dating, making plans to move in together soon.

And yes, I am a part of several online communities in forums, sites like Lemmy, and elsewhere that I keep up with. We have nice conversations and heated arguments. We help each other with problems and questions. We're simply a group that any member knows they can turn to when they need to connect with someone.

Life is complicated, and there are an insane amount of different ways to connect with people. Amazingly, some of those are through the internet. The idea that some connections are real and the others are fake is complete bullshit, and you're clearly making a bad argument in bad faith to let off some steam.

Sorry, bud; you've been having a human connection this whole time.

Haha, we're in a digital age, buddy. Computers are nothing more than the latest way to connect real people in real ways. Sure, bots exist, just like spam telephone callers exist and were probably major issues when that was the main way for people to connect with one another across large distances, but you're not going to stop it by covering your ears and denying the existence of every person you can't physically see.

I have a wife and family, I have friends, and I have online communities I care about; they're all just different legitimate social circles. We may not have evolved for it, but we're living it anyway, and the faster you adapt to that, the better.

I like to focus on my shoulders. If I notice they're scrunched, I lower them, and the rest of my body tends to follow suit.

You'd think, but I've had to explain a lot of very obvious points to people I thought were smart. I've slowly learned that nothing is truly obvious, and that you should check in to make sure everyone's on the same page quite often.

I passed this view every week or so on my walk to Reading Terminal Market while I was in grad school. Good times.

I go through a bag in about 3 months. 6 for the sugar.