It’s sugar.

And yes, it might be vanilla. Tons of things have vanilla in them that aren’t “vanilla.” Like chocolate chip cookies. Like frosting. It’s not enough to give it a “vanilla” flavour, just enough to give it something. That’s why vanilla is considered boring/default, because in baking, it is.

Now if you’re talking roasted marshmallows, you’re applying heat to sugar — you’re caramelising it. Before you say “I know what fucking caramel tastes like,” I’m just describing the process for what is happening to the sugar, and yes, that is actually how caramel is made. It’s also how a lot of hard candy is made, too, like those little white and red peppermint discs. Those just use mint extract rather than vanilla. Same concept. Heated more (hard ball stage rather than soft ball).

Look at the ingredients though. If vanilla is listed, it’s vanilla. If it’s not, you’re just tasting sugar. If you’re roasting them, you’re tasting caramlised sugar (possibly with some vanilla).

It’s not a secret ingredient. They have to disclose all ingredients. There are no true mystery flavours out there. White/clear Lifesavers? Those are pineapple. Same with white jellybeans. It’s only a mystery to kids, and to those who don’t research.

Pretty obvious why. They want to strike while the iron is hot.

Netflix has nearly the complete attention of preteen and teenage girls between Wednesday and Kpop Demon Hunters. They’re not about to let somebody else take it, because that’s a valuable market. I’m just wondering where all the KPDH merch is at, I need my Rumi plush, and as a guy pushing 50, I don’t care who knows it. My 8-year-old niece loves Mira, but I bet I get more Rumi merch than she gets Mira merch. I will fight that battle. (She also loves Wednesday. And SPYxFAMILY (mostly Anya).)

I reject your notion that it’s shameful to be an outlier.

On a completely different topic, everyone is going nuts for the new Taylor Swift album. The Weather Channel even reviewed it. The fucking weather channel. Oh, you think I’m kidding? I would too. Here, look: https://weather.com/news/weather/news/2025-10-06-taylor-swift-life-of-a-showgirl-opalite

Anyway, while I do plan on listening to the Taylor Swift album (I subscribe to Apple Music, so it will cost me nothing extra but ~41 minutes of my time), I’m way more excited about the ReoNa album, “Heart,” dropping today. Or because Japan is like 12 hours ahead of us, it’s probably already out. She’s my second favourite singer right now, behind Enya, who is fairly popular, at least as far as New Age-adjacent performers go (it’s a label she does not agree with, but that’s how people know her), but still seems to be an outlier. She does not do concerts. She hasn’t done an album in 10 years. She literally lives in a castle with modern security systems with her cats. She doesn’t date (has before, doesn’t care for it) and has no children. She’s most likely aroace, though music is her romance, it’s kind of weird saying she may be aromantic. But toward people, definitely. She has a few close friends and some family but no romantic connections to speak of. And she makes music that makes you feel like it’s straight from Heaven. Even if you’re not religious. It sounds straight up otherworldly.

I have no shame in being an outlier, and it’s not just music. Maybe OP thinks everyone should be the same. I’ve never had much interest in that.

That’s exactly what they mean, they just don’t know how to spell it. The person who made the meme, and, judging by the reply you got, the person who posted it.

“Sike” is the phoenetic spelling of “psych.” That is to say, it’s pronounced the same. That is to say, they didn’t know how to spell it, so they sounded it out. And that spelling caught on. It’s not just this one guy, a lot of people can’t spell “psych” or can’t be arsed to learn.

I’m just wondering how they spell “psychologist.” I think they just say “doctor” or “shrink.” I’ve never seen anything like “sikologist.”

For anyone wondering, yes, psych is the word — it was short for “I psyched you out.” Like “I made you think you were gonna get something or that I believed something, but no, I fooled you. Psych!” Psych out.

And now that I type it out, it looks weird… but that’s the word, and it’s an actual word, and we were using it correctly. The people who couldn’t spell it (or couldn’t be arsed) were also using it correctly, they just embarrassed themselves a bit (most people don’t care) when they wrote it out or typed it out.

Honestly curious which branch of religion this comes from. It starts out sounding Christian, but the Indian terms tell me it may be Hinduism? As a westerner I know almost nothing about that religion.

But to answer the question in the context of where I do live and what I do know? Like why do people who believe in God and follow Christ do things that would condemn them in the Afterlife they preach about? Because the fact of the matter is, religion — I suppose, any of them — is seen by the poor as true, the rich as false, and the powerful as useful. That’s not to say it actually is false (or true), it can’t be proven — it just goes to show, those who preach it and say follow this that and the third… they don’t actually believe it.

For example, a lot of religious people here say that it’s a “sin” to be gay, and they cite Scripture to back it. But they secretly look at LGBTQ+ porn. They don’t feel threatened by the threat of eternal damnation they threaten others with. Not because “the rules don’t apply to them.” Because they don’t seriously believe the rules apply to anyone. And, fun fact, most Christians didn’t even care all that much about homosexuality — sure, they thought it was a sin, but one that could be forgiven, and that was between you and the Lord — until insurance companies started denying same-sex couples partner benefits, and they turned to the Church for help. Again, the powerful see religion as useful. The whole reason homosexuality, transgenderism, and all that is even in the public discourse in the west is because insurance companies wanted to collect premiums for a person’s whole life and then deny those benefits to their same-sex partner. And I’m sure a few megachurches got a cut of that blood money to get the ball rolling.

So, money. The pursuit and love of, Jesus was once attributed to say, is the root of all evil.

If you believe in that sort of thing. It really can’t be proven either way. People have tried. Nobody’s succeeded yet. Sure, you got people on both sides with compelling arguments, but there’s no proof. And most people accept that the burden of proof is on the person making the assertion. The problem with that is, with half the world or more believing in some higher power, people asserting that there is no higher power should be responsible for some burden of proof. But they don’t wanna hear that. But at the end of the day, it’s not gonna be proven in our lifetimes. So I just say, try to be a decent person, regardless of the faith you choose.

These should be the only thing going into the collection plate of the church that distributes them.

I have a couple smart nieces. One of them did want LEGO — she wanted a whole LEGO-themed party. I was the only one who bought her an actual LEGO set, not one of the ones aimed specifically at girls (LEGO and Friends, IIRC). Yeah, guess whose she wanted to actually build — and guess who she recruited for help doing it, while all the other sets sat in boxes (dunno if they were ever opened).

Beyond that, I stuck to the “edutainment” aisle. Science-y stuff. Books are another good option, if you can find a fantasy series with light romance (but nothing erotic, obviously). That’s more for older girls though, a six-year-old probably can’t read. That being said, audiobooks are a thing, and if they’re a tablet kid, an Audible/similar gift code might not be a bad idea. They can do a lot worse for themselves with a tablet than having someone read to them.

Also, crafting stuff. Crochet kit, beads, anything that lets her “make” something.

And their flagship costs more than the iPhone 17 Pro but has performance closer to the iPhone 11 and they still sell your data off the back end.

Android was a fine alternative to iOS for a minute… like in 2012 with the Galaxy S3 and Jellybean. Now? I don’t get it. You pay more, you get less, all because — what? Gmail was once cool?

They took your headphone jack. They took your memory card slot. They took your back button. (Anyone remember the menu button?) Now they’re taking sideloading.

What is even the point of Android? It isn’t freedom. I see it as capitulation to Big Data.

Hoping it’s an Animal Crossing thing. Like you can have a kid. My current villager is my first villager’s kid.

Door number three: a red panda. Also known as the firefox — yes, the animal the browser is named after.

Seriously, look them up on your viral video platform of choice.

The first one is cute one time. When it starts to become a pattern, it’s laziness. Especially when it’s copypasta, which it usually is.

I don’t trust them.

The better question is: how do you know it isn’t a scam? Or funding the opposition? You don’t.

The search thing is less relevant to Google as Google pretty much relies on Reddit for that, but still a good point.

I will help where I can, for the same reason.

Link Click.

I think anime tends to get overlooked unless it’s really good, and if it’s not from Japan, it doesn’t get looked at at all (as anime, not TV in general). Link Click is a Chinese anime, and it’s as good as any “science fantasy” anime from the last 10-15 years, including Dr Stone (first season anyway), Steins;Gate, and others. Leaning more into fantasy, it’s about a couple guys who can use time travel in creative ways together. The main guy can enter a photograph for 12 hours, typically taking on the role of the photographer. It’s unclear on whether any changes he makes stick in the present when he comes back, but he’s urged not to. His partner can see 12 hours in both directions from when the picture was taken, the timeline frozen when it was taken, and he can telepathically guide the main guy in his “dives.”

All the music is on point. The first opening impressed us with the “hand dancing” (somewhat similar to the first Jujutsu Kaisen ending with the dancing), but the second one, with its backwards-spoken verse (and reversed subtitles!!) really stepped it up. We’re rewatching the first two seasons to get ready for the third (which is out). The first season ends up revealing that they aren’t the only ones with time manipulation powers (I mean they kinda had to introduce a villain at some point). And the second season has a different tone. Rather than doing odd jobs for people, they’re kind of in an intellectual cat and mouse game with their adversary, kind of like the best parts of Death Note.

Link Click is already in a league with all those shows I’ve named, the question is not that but rather, if it will exceed them.

Link Click has been dubbed in English as well as its native Chinese, and there is a Japanese dub as well, so however you like your anime, they’ve got you covered. As for the names, they sound more foreign to my western ears than even Japanese names, but it’s fine.

TL;DR they want to control the experience, they don’t want you to feel like you have to “jump in” to CarPlay, and they don’t want it to be the same as on every other vehicle.

My takeaway: they want to put ads in it. “Increase value to our consumers” or some other horseshit you use CarPlay to get away from. Oh, and never update it.

removeds. I don’t like to see them.

Anything that plays at being gross. Like ass eating. Talking about family members. Like this girl really doesn’t want to mess with her father or her brother, but Game of Thrones was huge so everyone wants to play into it. Kills the mood instantly. Just not into it. Even if it’s two chicks, if they’re pretending to be sisters or mother/daughter, it just kills it. Most people aren’t into that for real, but "I wouldn’t want to bang my sister but I want to watch you bang yours… to me it’s the same.

Anything that plays at it being an ad. Teasing. Reference to commercial sites. “Only Fans.” Back in the day, we kind of had a renaissance. Anyone with a camera could upload. Yeah occasionally you got teenagers doing dumb shit and if you suspected it, you didn’t look at that. But a lot of college age couples were just having fun, fooling around, good times. A lot of those videos aren’t in anything close to HD though, but are still worth watching from time to time.

I remember AOSPA! They had the cool pie control! I used it on a Galaxy S3.

Japanese is considered to be the most alien of languages to native English speakers, and vice versa. That said, it has been done, and it doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to learn Japanese as a native English speaker. What it takes is time and dedication.

I actually know a few dozen words in Japanese, but I don’t know Japanese.

As for dubs, I prefer some anime dubbed in Japanese and some anime dubbed in English. Generally English is more accessible in that I don’t have to read as well as listen, but there are some animes I don’t want to be distracted by subtitles.

Anyway, it’s a common misconception in anime that “the language I don’t understand has better voice acting.” It’s because you don’t understand it. If you understood it, you’d likely come to the conclusion that some actors are just better than others, in either dub. The difference is, English dubs pay more and they have a wider pool of talent. But as you learn Japanese, you’ll find the same is true in Japanese dubbing, some of the actors are actually good, and others are just phoning it in, same as anywhere.

I do feel like if you’re familiar with Chinese languages, you probably know that Japanese evolved from Chinese (I’m not sure on the specifics here), like how they have the same numbers. So it’s a good starting point. You can probably read the symbols, or at least know what they sound like. I can read romaji passably enough. But the symbols? Haha nope.

Who cares? They officially support child predators. Not pedophiles who have never offended — those who actively prey upon children and have done so. Reddit says they’re a protected group now, you can’t even call for them to receive longer prison sentences. That’s what they banned me for. AI, maybe, but upheld by a person upon appeal.

I recognise it as being used by Pink Floyd, but I don’t recognise it as a symbol of Pink Floyd fandom — that’s more commonly the prism, or any of the album covers.

Could just be a symbol they thought looked cool without any real meaning behind it. Something like that, I’d just ask. And play dumb in case they’re dangerous. Like “isn’t that from Pink Floyd or something?” If they shy away from the question or say something like “nah it means something else” it’s probably exactly what you think it is. Then again, if it is Pink Floyd, expect a lecture. Just tell them A Momentary Lapse of Reason was better than Dark Side of the Moon and see if they write you off as crazy rather than try to correct you. (I do personally think Momentary Lapse was the better album, but I’m not about to tell a Pink Floyd fan that. The hot take I will share with one is that the one with the stupidly long title on Ummagumma (they’ll tell you the whole name) is one of their most ambitious tracks. That, I think, might at least get some respect. (The title is something like “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Grooving With a Pict.” But I think there’s more to it.)