There are a few conflicting frameworks, plus what I describe is normative behavior rather than people with diagnosable conditions (depression in abnormal psychology tends to be more a dysfunction of the brain). I teach social psychology to undergraduates, so I’m familiar with the other frameworks at a fairly broad level-- the one the person you responded to is a bit of an older perspective, but the direction you’re taking I’ve heard discussed.

Still, it’s difficult to get into the details in a Lemmy comment on a shower thoughts thread.

None the less, I mostly don’t like the fragile/secure ego approach because it’s harder to measure something like that, meaning there’s less evidence that’s what’s going on.

I will say more generally though, our brains seek out acceptance and avoid rejection, much like we do physical pain (fMRI confirms it’s the same part of the brain). That includes good things, like behaving cooperatively, and bad things, like confirmation bias. Self-esteem, similarly, cuts both ways-- it makes us feel better without needing external sources of esteem, but it also rejects external threats to that self esteem.

I simply worry that excess of anything leads to bad outcomes, like certain politicians we’re dealing with now. But now we’re getting more into my opinion and less about the research.

If you’re curious, the textbook I use is open source. https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/

It’s not perfect, though. I find it covers the topic well enough not to need to force my students to buy a text.

There’s a few studies that link low self esteem and depression with accurate understanding of the world and oneself. Lookup depressive realism. It’s actually mildly depressing!

Incidentally, using high self esteem may also lead to looking down on others, defensiveness, inability to critically analyze oneself, among other things. That’s just kinda how it goes when you think highly of yourself…

They’re probably the same people who consulted in 2024 to work with the GOP and avoid Gaza. Consultants are literally the worst part of the party.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably do the drop box too. Urban areas have plenty. But for everyone else, it’s good to know you can get verification.

This is the correct reply. AM is trash, but we even have highway signs that mention AM stations for certain road condition alerts and stuff. Most places don’t rely on it, but when you’re in the mountains it’s useful.

Hell, even here in CA we only barely started getting cell signals in places like Malibu pass and the like. I can usually get cell service and FM on the 5 or PCH but the moment you leave those, all bets are off.

I mean, if you’re in certain states, yeah. CA provides verification for mail in so the advice is more to do it early, get verification, and if you don’t get it, follow up. You can still be very lazy in CA and your vote will be fine- just make sure you do vote.

But swing states (which includes Texas this time around lol) and blue districts in red states should be extra careful. I’d still vote as early as possible, in person or by mail if confirmation exists, just in case interference happens on election day (e.g. ICE intimidation).

Y’know, I’m all for electing someone who puts this guy in jail but with all this forced demilitarization… I think I’d run on that momentum and downside the US military presence. It’s literally required if we want to reduce the deficit, but “rebuild the bases” is absolutely not something the next leader can afford.

I suppose “true believer” might be a correct term? I simply meant someone who believes in something (even if it’s obviously not actually their book) rather than someone who is strictly using it to manipulate or fit in or what have you.

I’m grateful I accepted myself as a godless atheist long before this shit came up. If I was a Christian, a real Christian anyway, I’d be so fucking pissed off by this guy.

I mean, I’m pissed off by this guy anyway, but not in a divine way at least.

Waaaay too many of his voters were Latinos. Possibly still are, at least with machismo men.

You know, you’re not supposed to cut over the center dividing line when you turn but plenty of people do if you’re not making a perfect arc with your turn (and I mean, just a little bit). A friend got pulled over for it. We both agreed it was probably racial.

It certainly sounds “more legitimate” than pulling them over for a failure to use a blinker or doing too sharp of a left turn, as friends and victims of DWB can attest to having happened to them.

Although given the paper trail here, it is probably easier to fight in court.

I thought it was interesting that even in the most rural parts of Cali, I saw anti-flock billboards up along the 99 this weekend. It’s quite a unifying factor here.

There are many applications of machine learning models for military purposes, some of which you can see with Ukraine drone warfare for instance. Tech like visual recognition predates much of what people call AI now.

However, this is likely referring to LLM usage to predict stuff, which is utterly stupid because it’s a language model. It’s like those people who think it’s sentient because it recites science fiction from its training to pretend to be sentient.

Part of me hopes this is just a grift, since the reality of ChatGPT helping the military pick targets and make strategic decisions is terrifying. Either way we’re just so utterly fucked.

Somewhat easier, yeah. I’ve got a 4yo girl now, and she has become very responsible. I still have to do a lot of work getting her to TK and stuff, but I have a lot more time and don’t have to fully keep an eye on her because she knows to ask permission.

However, your mileage may vary. My 2yo is more like your 2yo and I’m not certain he’ll be a responsible 4yo in two years. He’s getting spoiled by his big sis, too.

But I’m not back to being like my childfree self yet, and that’s a tough bar. I used to get to sleep until noon cause of my job; not so much now…

I can kind of understand the sitters, but the parked motorcycles are just wrong. (Also they really should have better dedicated places for people to sit, but c’est la vie as they say)

I’m not sure how I’d rate me. I spend plenty of time on my smartphone but I’m playing SNES/GBA/DS with it hooked up to a controller clip so… not the usual use case of social bullshit ruining my mood. I enjoy the fuck out of a good emulation-in-bed night.

But hey, a few minutes on Lemmy too, of course, as I go through the entire All feed on a few minutes lol

Oh yeah, how could I forget TMZ. It’s so fucking backwards in 2026.

Locally, one of the most insane ones is food blogger LA Taco getting into ICE reporting and interviewing. Obviously when legacy media fails, people still try to step up.

What next, Teen Vogue or Buzzfeed?

(No but seriously I love when these places do hard hitting shit out of the blue, although it hasn’t ended well in both cases).

Happened to me yesterday, actually, that a large truck stopped suddenly at the end of an intersection and I, behind them, had to stop in the intersection without knowing when or if we’d move again since I couldn’t see anything ahead of the truck. A good seven or so seconds later and the light turned yellow so I had to cut to the right (mostly parking) lane to avoid gridlock. Went ahead a few cars to an opening to get back into a driving lane, cutting ahead a little.

My “I’m sorry” horn is really just my shy hand wave out my window though. I don’t use AC nor have tinted windows so I think they generally see how I feel, I think. More often than not, it’s a “thank you” horn though, as people often have to let me out of my own driveway since I live on a major street and there is rarely a time there aren’t cars idling outside waiting for a light.