I had an engineering professor in freshman year give exams expecting the class average to be 50% of the available points, and just graded on a curve based on how many standard deviations we were from the mean. So a 50 was generally good enough for a B. It was not a statistics class, but I think I learned more about statistics from that class than any other.

The plot of Austin Powers revolves around thawing a man who has been frozen for 30 years, from 1967 to 1997. Only 2 years to go before we reach 30 years from that movie’s release.

Colin Farrell in Phone Booth perfectly captured that early 2000’s feeling of where we were, technologically.

1998’s You’ve Got Mail does, too.

I went to look up our soft drink sizes.

McDonald’s large is 30 fl oz (890 ml). The Super Size, discontinued in the mid 2000’s, was 42 fl oz (1240 ml).

The 7-Eleven Big Gulp is also 30 fl oz, but it’s not the largest size offered. The Super Big Gulp is 40 fl oz (1180 ml), and the Double Gulp is 50 fl oz (1480 ml), down from its original size of 64 fl oz (1900 ml).

There are bigger sizes, like the 7-Eleven “Team Gulp,” an entire US gallon (128 oz, 3.8 liters), but it’s marketed as being for multiple people to share.

It’s none of my business

Isn’t it, though? I’m in my 40’s and still rely on my family for advice, and to continue to grow and develop as a person. I have a lot to learn, and I think other people’s thoughts and experiences are helpful for getting through things.

18-25 in 2025 means 13-20 when COVID happened.

We’re going to see the long term effects of people in that micro generation losing much of what the high school social scene represented, that low stakes junior league of forming new relationships, where meeting is easy, with lots of natural opportunities for free interaction, and making new connections is normal. Learning to flirt in that environment is a stepping stone towards being able to navigate the adult world, where people don’t have your schedule planned out for you, and you won’t naturally see the same people 100+ days out of the year, and have 50+ chances to shoot your shot when you’re ready.

And yes, sure, the loss of third places and changing social dynamics and gender roles and the economy play a role, too, for pretty much everyone under 40. But it’s worth pointing out that this specific age cohort has special challenges on top of the issues that everyone else is living, too.

Is this the first use of “mex-sickos”? Literally laughed out loud.

We etched special runes onto polished sand so that we control how lightning moves through it, so that it could seem like an intelligent mind of its own.

You’ve completely missed the point of the comment you’re replying to.

The average added sugar consumption for American adults is about 70g per day, which works out to be 25.6 kg (56.2 lbs) per year. People can shift their source of sweetener and consume a dramatically higher amount of honey without necessarily having a diet that is all that different from the national average.

I plan on going abroad in the coming year

See world. Oceans. Fish. Jump. China.

if you’re a gooner

if you’re not a creep

Good luck with that Venn diagram.