The phone has a great deal more distractions on it than the e-reader does. The brain has a much harder time focusing on a task in a distracting environment (in this case, device choice). If I want to read, I use the e-reader since it's got better proportions than the phone, it has a much easier to read screen than the phone, it's definitely sturdier than the phone, its screen won't get streaky from finger oils like the phone's does, and best of all it lacks all the distractions that come with a phone. When one wants to read a book, one usually prefers to immerse themselves into it, and not to be popped out constantly by notifications of any sort. It's an activity that should require an hour or two, which means it's pretty bad for doing on the phone, whose battery will not last. Since the phone is important for other tasks, one prefers not to be caught out without power to use.

I'm gay, but, Yennefer (The Witcher series) is pretty fine, and back in college I had quite a thing for Seras Victoria (Hellsing).

Oh, I've been through a few. Most places in Ohio, but particularly Toledo and Cleveland. Sandusky, OH is also pretty off. Oh, and Cincinnati for hiring demons for its urban planning. I visited once and felt queasy the whole time. I mean, I don't have a problem with hills but Cinci is an M C Escher print mixed with a Sonic the Hedgehog stage. Helen, Georgia has a pretty rotten energy. Atlanta, GA isn't much better around Easter. Now, Atlanta was better when I lived there some years ago, but it seems to have dropped off sharply around the time I left. I'd say before that specifically Five Points and Buckhead, sometimes Inman Park, felt not good, but now a days it's probably the whole city. I definitely felt a shift which prompted me to get out when I did. Dallas, Texas. What cold, miserable people. And I can't really pick a place in Florida. I've been to a few, they all suck.

Oof, I have a cat like this. Usually she's not too bad, but if she gets agitated at all she's a horror story. 17 years of this, too. Normally, it's better to just tire the cat out with playtime during the day at a time more convenient for you. She wants attention, mostly. If cats didn't have social needs they wouldn't make good pets, and cats do have a strong need to socialize with their humans. Normally she's good and only comes in at about 9, 9.30am when I usually want to get up. But sometimes she gets it into her head that we need to be up much earlier, usually if we're having trouble sleeping and she notices we're sort of awake. Or lately she wants the faceted crystal baubles in the window to throw off rainbows for her to attack, but it's the wrong time and she doesn't get it and thinks we activate it. She'll take me to the stair window first thing when I get up, and put her paws up on the sill and complain and complain, but there's aught I can do!

The contrast is that if I or my partner are feeling sick or depressed in the morning, she's just the sweetest, kindest creature and will just snuggle and purr, and won't care what time you finally get up. But if you're healthy? Forget it. We say that she's Momma to our Owen, for those of you who have seen Throw Momma From the Train.

Really well! I tend to only play it docked, actually. I use my PS4's controller, plugged in (since it's paired with the PS4 and switching BT pairing is always such a hassle. Well, now it's never in need of charging either so). I do sometimes have trouble with responsiveness, but it's never been a big issue. The only issue is that if I want to switch between play modes the Steam Deck really hates that. Also, the controller doesn't work in desktop mode which is a pain when I want to do something like use Jellyfin and need to fiddle with something during playback. Granted, there might be some settings to mess with to enable that but I haven't got around to it.

Also, it may help to know I am using a dumb TV (I noticed another commentator had caveats based on their smart TV). It's quite old but has HDMI and runs the deck just fine. Occasionally the connection will cut out, but I'm honestly not sure if that's the Deck or the TV having a problem. I thought it was the TV (it's old, it's got some crystalline looking spots, and one of its four HDMI ports does not work) but when playing multiplayer those disconnects came with online disconnection too, so maybe it's the Deck. Not sure. Very rarely occurs. Thankfully I have a penchant for turn based games so I can sit and wait it out.

But yeah, playing the Deck docked works pretty well in my experience. Just about any controller that can be plugged in via USB will work, too. I used to use a very cheap, wired-only Switch controller until it died (a brand I knew full well was crap and the controllers always have some issue in the long run, but it was RGB for just $25...).

The God of Cookery and, uh, The Witcher. Hmm, well, the main character (in God of Cookery) does turn out to be an incarnated deity (the kitchen god), and that does track with stories about Geralt's exploits, so perhaps someone tried to hire him to go after Chow (instead of the assassin in the film?) and of course Geralt finds that there's no good reason and maybe even helps him, although Chow doesn't need the help (he gets plenty from his other new friends). Now I'm thinking about Geralt encountering the 18 Brass Monks of Shaolin Monastery trying to get Chow out so he can get to the cooking competition on time lol. I guess the best way to explain how Geralt ended up in 1990's Hong Kong is teleportation accident.

Alternatively, Chow in the world of the Witcher... I don't think that would be quite as entertaining. I would prefer to put Geralt in the world of The God of Cookery.

From the Appalachian region of the US, I bring you:
"I'll cut the blood out of you!"
and more generally within the US (I think?):
"I'll clean your clock!"

Both are threatening a fight, one a little more graphically than the other. I don't think I've heard either in a very long time, and it was only ever from my grandmother that I'd heard the first phrase. Not directly, as in discussing idioms.

Oh, sure, although mostly older stuff (The Real Ghostbusters, Freakazoid, Sonic Sat-AM, Digimon Adventure 02 specifically, Batman The Animated Series, etc). Nostalgia is certainly a factor, but I enjoy animation and especially appreciating the work that goes into creating a cartoon. Helpfully, a lot of the shows I grew up with in the late 80s and through the 90s were only sort of intended for children and were made by people who loved art and animation and wanted shows they could enjoy, and not just slop intended to sell toys (not that I don't watch The Masters of the Universe on occasion. What a goofy fucking show. I watched it a lot as a kid and always said I hated it, but obviously I didn't. Today, an Orko figurine lives by my computer). TRGB slips after the first two seasons, but the others I enjoy wholly. Eh, there's others I like too but only watch piecemeal and on occasion, like Dexter's Laboratory and Power Puff Girls. I need to find Pinky and the Brain to rewatch. I wonder if I would enjoy rewatching Inspector Gadget?

Newer stuff not so much. I mean I like animation a lot as an art, but also, I am very picky when it comes to style, so most newer programming for any age is right out.

1. Default behavior is to allow emotions to drive thoughts, which immediately inform behavior. Times are very hard for people around the world, so it stands to reason most people online are going to be in a negative frame of mind to start with. Anger going sideways and getting projected or transferred where it shouldn't, and solves nothing.

2. Bots have definitely made their way to the Fediverse and like anywhere else their whole point is to foment disagreement and fights, as well as pressure people with a flood of information implying the majority opinion is far right, pro-AI and that sort of thing. See above, but it behooves them to create a stressful atmosphere since stressed people are angry people and angry people don't think clearly.

3. Every platform tends towards certain patterns of behavior and I am inclined to agree on the specific pattern here. It's almost always about something personal, including political beliefs. I have seen some incredible comments and comment threads based upon someone reading whatever OP posted as if it were a personal attack or a political press conference. People also seem here, like on tumblr a decade or two ago, to think that fighting with random people online is equal to real political action. It's not. It never will be. Worse, it seems a lot of people feel insecure about their intelligence because man do these arguments stink of someone trying to prove how smart they are against, again, some random person they don't even know.

tl;dr, people are angry but don't know how to handle it in a more mature manner, or they're deliberately fomenting discord with bots because they were paid to do so, which honestly circles right back to the beginning because why do that?

I do think it's still better here than on Reddit though. I hope that this remains the case for years to come. I had some bad shocks on Reddit which caused me to cease engaging there. Same to BlueSky, honestly. I follow some people who know what they're talking about, but... the keyboard warriors are just too much.

It's up to you. Thing is, when a relationship is this young and she can't find time, she's not going to ever find time. The norm is getting (has gotten) established that you are a low priority and are OK with this, so she can show up only on the rare occasions she wants to. If you really were happy with this, whatever, but you do not seem happy with this. Do you have specific reasons for wanting to keep on with the relationship?

Ouch, sorry to hear that. It's harder to evaluate a relationship in such a context. Though, like you said, she's barely there so... maybe that helps since it's not too different from not being in a relationship anyway. I hope you have better luck going forward.

It depends. Health metrics, when used correctly, can be useful. I mean, back before smart devices some of us were taught to monitor our heart rates regularly with our fingers, a clock, and if you need to track this over time, a notebook. A smart watch just makes it a lot easier to do. Tracking stuff for health or habit is not a new idea (Benjamin Franklin, for example, promoted tracking behavior and thought in order to improve oneself) and it is useful. Trying to keep track of detailed information in your brain will not work because our brains just don't do that very well, so we invented writing for that purpose.

That being said, tracking is only useful when you need to do it for a specific purpose, and often only in the short term barring exceptions. I tracked my water intake for a while to figure out how much dehydration was a problem for me, how much water I actually needed to feel more comfortable, and about how to schedule that so I could get the right amount each day without a tracker. I used tools to develop discipline, but which discipline is correct and effective. Otherwise, using subjective data only, we might just engage in self torture (ie, relying on what we believe or want to be the case, not necessarily what is the case). Similarly, I've been adding sensors in my home because it's good to know the temperature, humidity, air quality etc especially when we're curious about whether the devices we use for certain conditions are working, necessary, effective, etc. We made some serious quality of life improvements so far, too, thanks to that data.

The short of it is tracking is like doing research in a lab, but people treat it like a gimmicky toy. They don't have a reason to monitor (whatever metric), they just like the idea of doing so, to feel like they live in science fiction.

I love that film so much. It kills me every time XD