In 2026, the chicest thing a gay actor can do is never explicitly come out as gay but also make it abundantly clear that he is. Coming out is too modern. Staying closeted is too old fashioned. But this method merges contemporary freedom with Old Hollywood glamour and allure, and it weeds out the dumbest people who truly donāt get it. I call it the Pascal Method.
You clearly don't go here or to queer history and signaling, or both, enough to have this conversation and I'm not going to explain it to you. You could have asked questions, you could have done even a modicum of research. You didn't and you made yourself look ignorant. Goodbye.
#I'm fucking crying#this is an instant classic#this is the next meme#i can't believe I'm here to see a baby copypasta nary two hours old#I can't#lol#i laughed way too hard#iconic
if you are a parent, or may become one, or you are otherwise likely to arrive in the situation of caring for a child while they eat, promise me this: if a child doesn't like a certain food or food group, you will ask them WHY. and specifically, you will pay attention to either confirming or ruling out "it makes my mouth itch" or "it makes my stomach hurt," both of which are medically important info that children may not provide unprompted. which i know because this PSA has been brought to you by "i spent my entire childhood and much of my early teens eating peas and lentils while wondering why everyone else liked the Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation so much, like were they a bunch of legume masochists or something, before i finally realized that Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation was in fact a sinister demon appearing only to me, and her true demonic name was: Legume Allergy"
Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.
At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and itās not to watch the shoppers. See, we canāt actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.
At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didnāt exist in my household. Itās normal now. Here is something that is not for me.
āWhat the hell, Iāll take another,ā says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.
The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.
I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. Heās not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. Heās not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadnāt spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldnāt have spent any. I go home. I donāt own a watch.
I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.
I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht.Ā
i wrote this while i was working at orlandoās walt disney world parks.
i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.
as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.
disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (ācast membersā) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even āfaceā characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.
at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.
i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.
i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.
Darth Vader rolled his eyes, not that it was visible under his mask, and answered his comlink.
āWhat is thy bidding, my master?ā he asked.
āWhere ARE you?ā Palpatine demanded.
āI am working to improve the security of the Empire, Master,ā Darth Vader answered, reasonably enough. āWill this take long? I am occupied on important matters.ā
āWhere. Are. You?ā Palpatine reiterated. āI want an answer, Vader!ā
āI am on the Death Star,ā Vader said. āI have been working to improve it. There were several significant problems that the Geonosians had not resolved and it has been quite relaxing.ā
āI didnāt want you on the Death Star,ā Palpatine seethed. āI wanted you out hunting down the remaining Jedi! Killing anyone who would object to my rule! Doing the hard work so I did not have to!ā
āOh,ā Vader replied. āIt appears that there has been a miscommunication on our roles, Master.ā
āYes, clearly there has been,ā Palpatine said, snippily. āNow, get back to work. Your real work, Vader.ā
The comlink shut off.
Vader picked it up, contemplated it, then contemplated the long shaft that fell away below him.
He dropped the comlink off, and got back to work.
His real work.
Making the biggest tech project he had ever seen or heard of work properly.
āSir?ā
Vader let out a sigh, and pushed himself out from underneath the main control panel of the primary hypermatter reactor.
āDo you want me to be distracted while working with a bomb as powerful as a small star?ā he asked.
ā...no, Lord Vader,ā the stormtrooper admitted. āHowever-ā
āThen do not interrupt me again,ā Vader said, dismissively, and pulled himself back underneath.
āItās from the Emperor!ā the stormtrooper said, his voice high and squeaky.
Vader closed his eyes, sighing, then pushed himself out from under the control panel once more.
āVADER!ā the comlink shouted. āI have a list of people for you to murder that is thirty pages long and getting longer by the day! Start murdering people!ā
āMaster,ā Vader replied. āCanāt you do it with clones?ā
āI donāt have enough,ā Palpatine said, reluctantly. āAny more. Now hurry up!ā
āLocal forces?ā Vader suggested. āPerhaps make another batch order from the Kaminoans, to solve the problem more permanently? Or perhaps-ā
āKamino was destroyed by orbital bombardment,ā the Emperor replied. āMore importantly, Vader, you have murders to do. A totalitarian Empire wonāt run itself.ā
ā...that sounds like a disadvantage, Master,ā Vader said. āBecause the Republic ran itself. Badly, from what I could tell, but it did.ā
āDo not play smart with me, Vader,ā Palpatine replied. āI require you to clear your murder list as soon as possible.ā
The comlink deactivated, and Vader glared at it.
Then at the trooper.
Then he frowned, though all three of those actions just looked from the outside like a blank stare and the stormtrooper was clearly starting to wonder if he should just faint now and get it over with.
āHmm,ā he mused. āTrooper. Assign me a new comlink. Key in the frequency to the system, but make it available only to the Emperorās clearance. And I will be providing you with some personalization details.ā
ā...yes, Lord Vader,ā the trooper said, then hurried off to get a comlink.
Vader watched him go, then pulled himself back under the console.
He was fairly sure he could improve the diagnostics routine on this so it wouldnāt keep raising errorsā¦ perhaps a self-learning system?
It had worked for Threepio, after allā¦
Palpatine scowled, which was normal.
There was still no sign of Vader! This was intolerable disobedience, and not what he would have expected at all.
Though, admittedly, perhaps Vaderās bad attitude might be the result of spending literal years training Anakin to be a contrary little piece of poodoo who didnāt mind defying or even murdering authority. But that was nonsense, so Palpatine readily ignored it as irrelevant.
Because, far more importantly, Vader had murders to do and he wasnāt doing them! If people kept being permitted to get away with things, some of them would start actually asking why he hadnāt called an election in years. Or why he had emergency powers to deal with the Separatists and the Jedi when they were both, clearly, basically all dead.
Such questions didnāt bear thinking about.
Deciding to be even more sarcastic at Vader than normal, Palpatine brought up Vaderās personal com frequency. There was a new one in there now, which meant that Vader was displaying useful signs of obedience at least, and Palpatine tapped to call it.
āYouāve reached the comlink of Darth Vader,ā a message said, in Vaderās tones. āIām busy right now.ā
āWh-?ā Palpatine demanded, his voice full of anger for the first half of the first syllable, then realized that he couldnāt quite breathe properly.
His aged hand flew to his throat, as he tried to fend off whatever was obstructing his breathing, but he was already struggling to concentrate ā then he realized there was an iron bar of rage and dark power clamped around his throat.
Tearing at it with his own use of the Force proved useless, for Vader ā it had to be Vader ā had an implacable will, unaffected by anything Palpatine could do, and he coughed several more times as the world started to go unaccountably grey.
āAnd how do you feel?ā Vader inquired, checking a small readout.
āI thinkā¦ yes,ā the computer responded.
āElaborate,ā Vader requested.
āYes,ā the computer said. āYes, I do feel. I think. I haveā¦ complicated and quite nuanced thoughts on podracing.ā
āPodracing is fun,ā Vader replied. āHow do you feel about the designation DS-1Y?ā
āAcceptable,ā the computer answered. āI am DS-1Y.ā
āAnd weāre now in the record books,ā Vader said. āSince you are, as of now, the largest droid in galactic history.ā
DS-1Yās running lights flashed, and it made a beep.
āI understand, Your Imperial Majesty,ā it said.
Vader considered that.
Then looked over at the comlink, which was (1) on mute and (2) flashing with an indicator that there was a message waiting.
āI told him I was busy,ā he said, shrugging. āHm. Dissy, who would you recommend as the next Emperor? I am too occupied to take up the job.ā
I enjoy your account and writing, and the evidence that you regularly provide us with (FREE OF CHARGE, no less!) about weight science and all things medical that you answer, and I am fully aware that weight loss is, at best, a dangerous endeavour in human beings. I only say this so I can be clear about my intentions and to say that I am not participating in whataboutism or trying to pull a "gotcha!"
I am in no doubt whatsoever that exercise (movement, fitness, a rose by any other name) has tons of benefits even when weight loss is out of the equation, but I find that the conversation tends to stop there, even with medical providers, and takes on a sort of "just do it" attitude without really engaging in complexities to that advice a patient may be experiencing.
What would you suggest, in general, to a patient whose size limited their mobility or made movement difficult and possibly painful, especially if the only real goals they want to set are increasing strength (and thus ability) and independence? I realise this may be hard to answer without a more specific idea of someone's cardiometabolic state, but I'm throwing this out as a general ask. What can people in those circumstances do? Especially if they have no way to access PT or "the gym," so to speak. Are there resources for people who might have these limitations, or even just be overwhelmed with the idea of starting movement?
Babe, do I have good news for you! Sit and Be Fit exists. Useful for people with all kinds of mobility limitations. I'm also a huge fan of Tai Chi, and you can find streaming channels to move along with. Short walks are also incredibly beneficial compared to no walks--even just a brief loop around the block a couple of times a week decreases cardiac risk.
I think that additionally, programs that explicitly show easier variations of bodyweight exercises are really good. Did you know that doing a push-up is equivalent to bench pressing 75% of your body weight? That makes a really significant difference when you have a higher weight!
I know that often people can't get to the gym etc, but for higher weight people who want to start working out it may legitimately be easier to use free weights or machines than to do bodyweight exercises. Hell, even just an adjustable dumbbell kit at home can open up a lot of options.
Off the top of my head, I think the Hybrid Calisthenics guy does a great job of showing easier variations on common exercises. I've also heard good things about Couch To Barbell, which uses a decent amount of around-the-house items to build up the base strength needed to do barbell training.
you donāt realize how important lunch is until youāre wandering around thinking about how unloveable and untalented and uniquely cursed you are and then itās 4pm and you finally eat lunch and you go Oh. oh right.
lot of people commenting on this post like "who eats lunch at 4pm that's a terrible time to eat lunch" yes. that is the point. 4pm lunch is inadvisable. 4pm lunch is not the ideal. 4pm lunch makes the mind demons real.
She got the idea for the study while walking with her advisor at Stanford to discuss her thesis topic, and the paper she eventually published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2014 is sharp enough that it should have ended the seated meeting on the day it came out.
She ran 4 experiments on 176 people. Same person tested twice. Once sitting, once walking. The creativity tasks were the standard ones psychologists have used for decades to measure how good a brain is at generating novel useful ideas.
81% of participants in the first experiment produced more creative ideas while walking than while sitting. In the second experiment, 88%. In the third, 100%. Every single person walked into a more creative version of themselves. On average, people generated 60% more novel useful ideas the moment their legs started moving.
The skeptical question is the obvious one. Maybe it was the fresh air. Maybe it was the scenery passing by. Maybe it was the change of environment doing the work, not the walking itself.
Oppezzo killed every one of those explanations with one experimental decision. She put people on a treadmill facing a blank wall. No scenery. No fresh air. No environmental change. Just legs moving in place while staring at white drywall. The 60% boost held.
Then she ran the experiment that closed the case completely. She took participants outside in two conditions. Half of them walked through a Stanford courtyard. The other half were pushed through the exact same courtyard in a wheelchair. Same outdoor stimulation. Same scenery passing at the same speed. The only difference was whether the legs were moving.
The walkers produced dramatically more novel high-quality ideas than the wheelchair group. The outdoors did almost nothing on its own. The walking did everything.
She also tested the opposite kind of thinking. Convergent thinking. The kind where there is one right answer and you have to narrow down to it. Word puzzles where 3 words share a hidden fourth word that connects them. The seated participants did slightly better on these. Walkers got slightly worse.
Walking is not a general intelligence enhancer. It does one specific thing. It opens up the divergent search inside your brain. The part that generates options. The part that produces unexpected connections. The part that takes a problem and finds five ways into it instead of one.
When you need to converge on the single right answer, sit down. When you need to find the answer in the first place, get up.
The mechanism is now well understood. Walking selectively activates what neuroscientists call the default mode network, the system inside your brain that runs when you are not consciously focused on anything. The DMN is where mind-wandering happens. Where memories cross-reference each other. Where ideas that have been sitting in separate folders inside your head finally bump into each other.
When you sit at a desk and force yourself to concentrate, you suppress the DMN. When you walk at a natural pace, the executive part of your brain gets just busy enough handling the walking that the DMN comes online and starts doing the work that focus was blocking.
The most useful finding in the entire paper is the one almost nobody quotes. The boost did not turn off the moment people stopped walking. Participants who walked first and then sat back down stayed elevated. Their next round of seated creativity work was still significantly better than people who had been sitting the whole time. The rest lingered for at least several minutes after the legs stopped moving.
You do not need to do creative work while walking. You need to walk before the creative work. The brain holds the state.
"The other half were pushed through the exact same courtyard in a wheelchair."
I'm curious on if they did studies on wheelchair users and other mobility aid users. Being pushed in a wheelchair is a good idea for like... proving it has to be movement of your own volition, but what about aids you use yourself?
Yeah, I was wondering about disabled people who need wheelchairs, because the article has plenty of unpleasant implications without the inclusion of wheelchair users
