The New Coffee Room

The commandeering lately has been in the fringe direction, it seems. Would be nice to have a party that attracted the moderates (the meat of the bell curve), ideally one that is fiscally responsible, strong military, judicially conservative, invests in the American economy and infrastructure, and empathetic to the vulnerable with pragmatic programs to help those in need. In other words, maybe we need Bill Clinton again?

@jon-nyc said in The Big Beautiful Bill needs its own thread.:

Elon threatens to find a primary challenge to every republican who votes for this bill.

Of all the people who end with "...if it's the last thing I do on this Earth", he's the closest to actually building a place somewhere else in space to go.

LOL

Every year in the early days of summer, we get 2 monarch caterpillars and the kids watch them phase into a chrysalis and eventually a butterfly. It only takes a few weeks, a few leaves of milkweed, and it’s a remarkable sight to see to be honest.

This year, our first caterpillar went into chrysalis, and instead of emerging, we woke up one morning to find a string of silk from the hanging chrysalis down to the bottom of the container, after a quick Google it turned out T-flys will infect a caterpillar with parasitic eggs and once the caterpillar goes into chrysalis (hanging mode) the parasite eats the caterpillar from within, resulting in two or three fly larva climbing down a rope like a fucking mission impossible scene, and crawling around the jar until they turn into flies. Gross.

https://www.internationalbutterflybreeders.org/tachinid-fly-by-rose-franklin/

Can’t beat a Toyota in most cases.

What a fun job it would be to sit around and come up with these articles . I’d hire @Doctor-Phibes first for it, the man has a sense of wit rarely found these days.

Beautiful car!

@Mik said in Dad of the year, 2025:

Cruises are fine. It's the railings you should not trust.

But come to think of it, had Karla been out there without you for a while beforehand?

Lol

Back to the original story, regardless of how she fell overboard, would any dad here NOT jump in after your 5 year old? And yes, I know how difficult it is to keep someone above water when you have to tread water (lifeguard training back in the day...)

To be fair I did tell my 2 year old "I hear there's free ice cream on the far side of the parking lot... let's freak out mom for a few minutes wink wink"

@blondie Oh man that scenario is so much worse! I at least had the "comfort" knowing that my daughter was somewhere in the crowd in a parking lot that is connected to the police and fire department.

My mental gymnastics even now is trying not to think of what my daughter was going through as she walked in the crowd, lost, not knowing where her mom/dad were. I'd like to think she was walking merrily along but really I'm guessing her whole world was starting to crumble around her in confusion. Probably even worse if the kid is a tad older and "knows" what they are missing, like @jon-nyc 's at Disney.

I can see it

The leaps and bounds made by AI video in the last 12-24 months is insane. We might already be there, but soon enough it will be impossible to tell what is real. Scary future!

@Klaus said in Pretty sure I couldn’t do this.:

Try to dead hang from a bar for one minute. Most people can't do this.

Try hanging with one hand. Most people can't do that for a second.

I've heard there are lots of health/back benefits if you just dead hang each day for as long as you can.

@jon-nyc said in Pretty sure I couldn’t do this.:

Pretty sure I couldn’t do that either.

So rude, man. Don't call her a that.

@Mik said in It takes 10 seconds:

Children are largely to teach you the meaning of terror. Before I became a father I wasn't really scared of anything or anyone. Once she was born, I was scared of all sorts of things.

Ain't that the truth. I wasn't too concerned about her wandering into the woods or someone grabbing her, although the thought does creep into your mind, but there was a weird feeling after triple checking the small playground and not seeing her of "I literally have no idea where in the world she is".

@Axtremus no air tags. Might be dumb, but I'm trying to give them as "free" of a childhood as I can. I guess we all try to replicate our own childhoods to an extent... it's odd to think about what I did in the 80s vs kids now...aka take the bike with my brother and go miles away exploring creeks for hours on end. I know you all have even more extreme versions too, lol.

@Horace said in It takes 10 seconds:

I bet the cops felt good about being able to help.

I had the same thought. They looked genuinely happy to help.

@jon-nyc said in It takes 10 seconds:

Scary AF.

My biggest scare was a similar story when he was 7. But at fucking Disney World. The worst was finally seeing his terrified face.

After that, literally that very same trip, I had him memorize my number and said if he’s lost to approach a mom or grandma and ask for help.

Ah Disney World! I bet they have a bunch of lost kid calls all the time. Our 7 and 4 year old know to "ask a mom (or cop)" if they are lost, and the older knows our phone number, but the 2 year old... tough age. Smart enough to know where to go, but not smart enough to LET ME KNOW SHE'S GOING

Here's generally where she went.