A university is a typically a collection of colleges (or schools).

For example: Harvard University is made up of Harvard College, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School, Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, etc.

For all intents and purposes - we use the word “college” and “university” interchangeably because they’re the same level of education. Either can do associates through doctoral.

Community colleges, however, only focus on 2 year degrees and certain certifications.

I had a lot of good years on Fark.

You want to kill germs? Use mouthwash. There’s pretty much nothing beneficial about smoking cigarettes.

Even when you take the health considerations out of account, you will reek. I assure you, nobody wants to spend time around a partner that emits a nauseating scent. It’s a bad habit in every sense of the term.

Yes - nicotine can be a quick stress reliever. That’s about al it’s good for.

I understand that you need something to help you get through the days, but there are tons of other things that you could do.

Heck, even switching to vaping will improve your health outcomes considerably. And you won’t smell.

I don’t know why you’re fighting your girlfriend on this, it seems like she’s genuinely concerned and you’re being so stubborn as to look online to justify your addiction. Yes, you are addicted. You smoke more than a pack a week and refuse to quit or offer a compromising alternative. If I was her, I’d leave you.

Well, by that logic, Switzerland isn’t a democracy. The country that decides pretty much everything on referendum.

And Ireland only became a democracy 3 years ago.

For what it’s worth, Blasphemy laws can be compatible with democracy. Democracy is only about fair elections and rule of the people. If the people want blasphemy laws, that’s still democracy.

Freedom is a spectrum - and blasphemy laws just make a country less free. Not necessarily less Democratic.

Thanks for these recommendations! I actually never watched X-Files, and a friend of mine binge watched all of it earlier this year and was sending me funny clips. I should add it to the list.

LOVED Station Eleven. It might be a top 5 show of all time. The first episode felt like a slog until that last minute. Partially ‘cause we were kinda living that pandemic.

But I was absolutely hooked and psyched to see more. And every episode after was “holy crap!” moments through to the very end.

Some of the best storytelling I’ve seen on TV. Really rich character development and such a beautiful concept altogether. It made me really hopeful.

Same writer/creator as The Leftovers (which I also recommend, very cool show - 3 seasons with an ending, gets progressively weirder and wilder).

…Spiiiriiiit…..

I heard ‘Congregation’ in the show Devs (loved it), and was surprised I never listened to them before. Went back and listened to the whole catalog… several times over. It’s the best airplane music.

Deadwood is great, Ian McShane is a standout! I also loved him in American Gods.

I can definitely see the DS9 comparisons.

In the show, he was definitely a bad and corrupt cop that nobody liked. The Mao investigation was something he got really fixated on, mostly because of selfishness. He saw a picture of a pretty girl and made up an idea she could redeem who he became. Or love him.

I didn’t expect him to be reliable. But the season did such a great job focusing on him, making him three dimensional, that I didn’t expect him to be a relatively minor character in the grand scheme of things.  And also, besides Cowboy Bebop, there’s not a whole lot of noir detective/noir stories in space. I guess Doctor Who also, to some extent - though that’s more akin to Scooby Doo (not a criticism). So it wasn’t just Miller for me that made me feel betrayed. It was also the change of genre.

I didn’t read the books, but the show’s storyboarding is certainly atypical. I appreciated it a lot more starting in Season 3 when I was able to reflect on the series as a whole and see the genre changes in each season as a creative choice.

I listen to a bit of everything. Bands in my recent rotation include Low, 3rd Secret, Motörhead, Rick James, L7 and Joji, Aimee Mann, Mdou Moctar, Aphex Twin, Beastie Boys. Donny Benet

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s PetroDragon Apocalypse is my favorite album all year.

My favorite all time genre is industrial. So stuff like The Young Gods, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, Ministry, Filter, Mulitple Man, Meat Beat Manifesto, Pig, Emptyset, Youth Code, Atari Teenage Riot / Alec Empire, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Download…

The PetroDragronic Apocalypse is one of the best records I’ve heard in some time, from any band, in any genre.

I can’t stop listening to it. To add, I’m not really a fan of any of their other records. They’re clearly good, just doesn’t resonate with me as much as this one does.

Ah good to know.

I did enjoy BSG, but it took some episodes to appreciate. And I had to accept the fact that the characters were pretty incompetent. They weren’t the best or brightest due to the circumstances and had to adapt to survive.

Yeah, I never watched Atlantis. My ol' friend who recommended SG-1 (years ago) said the other series weren't worth watching, but maybe he just meant Universe. What was wrong with Universe?

I just watched some YouTube clips of Atlantis and saw Colm Meaney makes some appearances. So.. adding to the list!

It's wild to me when fans of the show disregard the first season. To me, that season is pretty much perfect. Three arcs - a detective story, a motley crew, a political thriller - pay off feels so great when it all comes together at the end. Season 2 was such a drastic change in pacing, concept and 'feel' that I didn't want to keep watching. I felt a little betrayed that Miller wasn't actually the main character.

Besides Amos, I don't really care about the Roci crew. I had to wait until Ashford came along in Season 3 for a new favorite character.

All in all - Avasarala, Bobby and Drummer carried the series for me.

I didn't mention Travelers in my watched list because it's not very 'Star Treky', but I absolutely adored the series. It had some faults, but really clever writing, well thought-out characters, great acting, cool story. I still think about it. Did you not like Season 3? Enrico Colantoni was brilliant. Also loved him in Station Eleven.

I'm always worried watching stuff that's cancelled too early. Does it end in a decent place?

Oh thanks for the reminder, I forgot that was coming out! Glad to know it’s good.

Thank you, I’ll check it out!

I have mixed feelings on AC. I really loved the first season. Beautiful cinematography, amazing acting (Joel Kinnaman is incredible), great concept and plot. Pacing could’ve been a little better, but it really evoked that Blade Runner vibe in a cool way.

Season 2 didn’t really resonate with me :/ Felt like a cheap Marvel movie.

I love, love, love For All Mankind! I didn’t put it on the list, I think of it more as a drama than a Sci Fi show. I didn’t realize it’s the same writer as DS9/BSG! Small world

Ah yeah, I saw Mandalorian. It was pretty fun to watch, but I didn’t find it super compelling beyond the visuals - especially compared to Andor.

Of course, Futurama is one of my favorites! Haven’t heard of Final Space, I’ll put it on my list - thanks!!

It’s very, very good. Every season is basically a different genre though - within the context of the setting.

The first is my favorite and is basically a noir/detective story.

Second is my least favorite and is basically a monster movie.

Third is political thriller and I fell in love with the show again, fourth is like a western/frontier story and fifth is a family drama.

The best thing about the Expanse is the world-building. A lot of attention to detail. Great characters too.

If you like IT Crowd, then Black Books is for you. One of the best comedies of that era. Start with the Grapes of Wrath Episode.

Peep Show is also great.

Im so so sorry to hear that. You have my deepest condolences.

My beloved pet passed from heart failure a few months ago, so I’ve been grieving since. I’m finally getting to a point where I think more about her happy days than the finals days…but not by much. Everyday is a struggle.

Best wishes on your healing journey.

Indeed. Prior to 2010 - it was a roll of the dice. If insurance wasn't provided through your work, you had to be lucky enough to live in a State with decent laws preventing some of these predatory insurance practices. Back then, the uninsured rate was close to 19%. Almost 1 in 5 Americans.

Today, that rate is 8.4%. Which hails the victory of the ACA because "91.6% of Americans have insurance" sounds nice. And compared to where we were 13 years ago, it is nice.

In reality, we have 28 million uninsured people, many of whom are children. There's a long way to go.

While I'm personally satisfied with my level of coverage and standard of care, I don't understand how we can comfortably accept a society that bankrupts our most vulnerable residents for being sick. I'm baffled how this wasn't already solved or mostly resolved in my lifetime. Or at least seeing more states take on the Hawaii or Massachusetts health care models.

An individual can sign up for a plan through their State’s health insurance exchange or the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website.

It is usually more expensive than getting it through an employer - but works to serve small business owners, freelancers, etc.

A few States (like Massachusetts) have semi-universal systems that cover all individuals that earn under 150% of poverty, independent students, newly unemployed, etc.

A lot of Americans are also covered under Medicare, Medicaid , Social Security and other programs.

Retirees aged 65 and older are eligible for Medicare - a semi-universal federal system that covers pretty much everything and accepted most places.

I met one of my closest friends on r/needafriend. Turns out, she lived like a 10 minute walk from me - and we met up over some food.

On paper, our friendship shouldn’t work. We have little in common in terms of activities and goals. But we know how to make each other laugh and ‘get’ each other’s personality. Been like 9 years.

Whether it’s Reddit, Lemmy, Discord or some other platform - there’s definitely people out there looking for the same things. Online is a good place to start.

See if your closest city has a ‘Speed Friending’ event. Here in Boston, we have “Skip the Small Talk” and you get seated with a stranger and a dialogue prompt. I found that to be really effective too.

Like Mlem, Liftoff, and Thunder - Memmy is designed for Lemmy user accounts. I’m not aware of plans, if any, to make it Kbin compatible.

Kbin federates, so I can engage with posts on kbin.social. But I need a Lemmy account to do so.

There’s some Kbin-specific beta apps out there like Artemis, I would go and explore that.

It's been rough since 6/30. I can barely browse and leave comments in my .world account. I'm sticking to .ml for now.

it always makes me miserable to see her happy with someone else

Well, frankly - you can’t handle a friendship with her. Friends are supposed to support each other’s successes and you don’t have the capacity to be genuine about it right now.

It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or weak or whatever. It’s human nature. It’s part of the risk we take when we have the capacity to love. Even when we want a friendship and understand that value, there remains an unskippable hurdle.

Go to the festival, but you should tell her honestly that you’re not ready to be friends - and it has nothing to do with her. And ask her to respect your boundaries in the interim.

Maybe in a few months or a year, you’ll be a better place to reconnect. Maybe by the time you’re ready, you’ll find your circle of friends to be more fulfilling and you don’t need her.

Time and space. You otherwise can’t heal if you’re constantly having sounds reopened.

it always makes me miserable to see her happy with someone else

Well, frankly - you can’t handle a friendship with her. Friends are supposed to support each other’s successes and you don’t have the capacity to be genuine about it right now.

It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or weak or whatever. It’s human nature. It’s part of the risk we take when we have the capacity to love. Even when we want a friendship and understand that value, there remains an unskippable hurdle.

Go to the festival, but you should tell her honestly that you’re not ready to be friends - and it has nothing to do with her. And ask her to respect your boundaries in the interim.

Maybe in a few months or a year, you’ll be a better place to reconnect. Maybe by the time you’re ready, you’ll find your circle of friends to be more fulfilling and you don’t need her.

Time and space. You otherwise can’t heal if you’re constantly having sounds reopened.

Here is a list of Apps coming to Lemmy:

https://kbin.social/m/kbinMeta/t/71764

Plenty for iOS to chose from, Christian’s legacy continues. Memmy and Mlem both feel pretty close to Apollo - and are both directly inspired by it.

These apps are in early beta. They have constant updates (daily for Memmy and weekly for Mlem), so you can kind of see them being built in real time. If you’re patient with the developers, you’ll get that Apollo experience very soon. It’s like 80% of the way there.

Liftoff is pretty cool too, though it’s a different design approach.

(I’m using Memmy now, actually.)

Lemmy is Reddit.
Mastadon is Twitter.

Kbin is a bit of both.

They federate. So imagine using your Reddit account to reply to a tweet. And vice versa.

They don’t share the same servers - they just communicate with each other. Kind of like how I can use Gmail to write to a friend that uses a Yahoo Mail.

This is pretty solid, thanks for sharing.

Been to most of these - and also, there's a few I haven't heard of. Particularly Juliet and Kava. Gonna add to my list! Weird that they're missing Asta, which I'd argue is the best restaurant in Boston.

Makes more sense for Meta to create their own "Metaverse" than join an open-source network.

Instagram and Facebook already communicate, it won't be too difficult to include WhatsApp into that mix.

If they buy something like Mastodon, it would make better business sense to cut it off from the Federation and sync it with Meta's products instead.

Which app?

They are two different apps with different developers/contributors and different visions.

There's huge difference in where each are in their current stage of development, but keep in mind both of the apps will look & act completely different in a few weeks.

Mlem's beta test has met it's 10K user limit, but there's still room Memmy. Give it a try. Join the Discord after and talk to the developers/contributors about what you think - they're very responsive.

They’re both forums that look and act similar to Reddit.

Fundamentally - they look different, are coded differently and have some jargon differences.
For example, the communities in Kbin are called “magazines”. A lot of folks still say “sub” as a holdover.

Yet, they’re both part of the Federation, so you can up/down vote, comment and subscribe to each other’s stuff from your home.

Federation is similar to having a group text with friends. It doesn’t matter if you have an iPhone and they have an android. It doesn’t matter if you’re on Verizon and they’re on ATT. The software is designed to communicate with each other.

Lemmy differs from Kbin in that it can be franchised into an independently owned and operated instances. So there’s multiple Lemmys like Lemmy.ml and Lemmy.world. Each instance can set its own rules and even chose which other instances/platforms it can federate without. More importantly, nobody owns all of it.

Commenting from the Memmy App beta for iOS.

Still early days, but it’s doing the basics quite well. They and Mlem are hoping for a 6/30 App Store release, so interesting times ahead.

Unironically, Ellen Pao was the best CEO Reddit's ever had.

She made a lot of difficult and fair choices for the future health of the company.
Reddit needed to be cleaned if they wanted to attract a larger audience and increase ad revenue. Heck, that was her job - and I believe banning hate subreddits was appropriate. There was expected blowback, but I suspect that'd be smoothed over in time.

The mistake was dismissing Victoria. That completely destroyed the beloved AMA format. It also coincided with the infamous Rampart disaster. 10-15 answered softball questions, and Harrelson treated it like another press junket. I mean, why wouldn't he?
There was no Reddit ambassador to explain how the format works, what makes it successful and why it's important for the success of what they're promoting.

More importantly, it validated Reddit's belief that Pao was not fit to lead Reddit, because she didn't understand it. Much of the community thought she was only brought aboard to placate accusations of sexism in the organization. It didn't help.

And still, Pao was big enough to admit when she's wrong: We screwed up. Not just on July 2, but also over the past several years. We haven’t communicated well, and we have surprised moderators and the community with big changes. We have apologized and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven’t delivered on them. When you’ve had feedback or requests, we haven’t always been responsive. The mods and the community have lost trust in me and in us, the administrators of reddit.

What do you think the odds of a narcissist like u/Spez ever holding himself the least bit accountable? If he's not fired, he won't.

But ya know what? Fine. Let him follow in Elon's footsteps and see what happens.