True but ideological reasons seem to be a big driving force for Xi Jinping. More so than his predecessors.

I don't think China has any claim to Taiwan, they never even owned it that long. If the only reason is that it used to belong to them at some point in the past, then well, the Dutch and Japanese have a valid claim too. But they are independent now and that has been the status quo for 70 years. They deserve to be free.

gearbox did not allow for shifting into reverse while the vehicle was moving

Ummm this is probably like, a good thing? You don't want to crank 20 tonnes suddenly in reverse when it's moving full forward.

The other things are pretty bad, true. Especially the uncommanded turrent movements, that can really chop off a limb in the wrong situation. The gun firing is probably not quite as bad because I assume most of the time it wouldn't actually be loaded.

I couldn’t finish.

Me neither 😅 I was too nervous.

What I meant to say was, some people try to wait to make their first time perfect. But generally that doesn't really tend to be the case anyway, so I don't think there is any point in holding off experimenting. It also makes that first time extra stressful because you're worried about getting things 'right'. And sex and stress do in my experience not go very well together.

Good idea! I think it will help you feel more relaxed about it.

There isn't really an ethical issue if you pick her well. I usually go for independent girls (the ones not working in a brothel). In fact I was even in a relationship with a sex worker and I am 100% sure she and her friends were doing it fully voluntarily and even liked the work (we sometimes spoke about doing something else and she wasn't too interested). We often talked about her work and it was kinda cool, sometimes a friend of hers had a client and we'd have to sneak outside so he wouldn't see us. And then we'd be cuddling on the couch hearing them go at it.

Of course there are some forced girls but this is mainly in the more dodgy brothels. I mean really you will know when you set foot in there. You will feel it immediately. Just walk away. I have had to do this once or twice in my life. In one case I had already chosen a girl but I could see it in her eyes so I just paid up and left. But really, this is with the more dodgy places only.

What I could recommend is going to a "Sauna club". It's a German phenomenon where you just go into a sauna kinda place wearing one of those towel coats, and you can eat there and relax in the pool and there's a whole load of working girls around. You can chat with them and pick one you like. Then you pay her and you go to a room in the place. It's less forced than a normal brothel where the girls just come in a line and shake your hand and you have to decide immediately. The good thing about having more time is that you can also mention it's your first time and see how she reacts. Buy her a drink first (yes they will be expensive because you're also paying for some of her time). If she makes you feel comfortable you will have a better time. If not just don't go with her and let another one approach you. In these places they come to you. I have had some of my best times in those places. Also, don't forget you can 'pull out' (pun intended) any time. You don't even have to go the whole way the first time if you're not comfortable. Just go as far as you feel good. You still have to pay the full amount of course. But I'm guessing money is not really the problem.

Another thing I do a lot is to pick girls that work from home independently. Where I live there are some forums where the girls are active too and you can just tell by the way they respond and the reviews from other customers, which are nice. I tend to go to regular girls while I'm not in a relationship (or when I'm in an open one, though rarely) so they know me and I know them. Three of them also became friends in real life and one became my girlfriend for a while.

But anyway, one thing I want to stress to you: I felt also awkward about doing this the first time. But now I regret not doing it earlier. Life is too short not to enjoy it. Sex is fun. I don't care about how "my first time" came to pass, it doesn't matter at all. Most people's first times are in fact not too great, usually a haze of drink and stumbling around. But of course these things are super personal and sex is a loaded subject. Don't ever force yourself. If it doesn't feel right there is always another time.

I felt bad the first time because of the stigma around prostitution but seeing how some other guys get 'hookups' I don't feel so bad now. In some ways this is fairer. You don't have to tell a girl she is the only one in the world, feed her drinks, trying to coax her into going with you. It's just a fair and square agreement between two people. Some guys really lie to girls and don't care about them at all. I used to look up to them but now I'm glad I'm not like that.

Anyway if I can give you more advice let me know. I was also a late virgin. And even though I did this I am still having a hard time chatting up girls. It will probably not solve all your problems but it will make you feel much less 'left out'. At least it did for me.

PS: Sorry for the long story but I kinda wish someone had given me that talk back in the day so I just wanted to help.

Not all introverts want to be isolated though, a lot of of us struggle with inclusion.

Oh interesting. I'm also a cis hetero male but very feminist and a bit queer.

For me I've never had this push to be masculine since I was young. I would never have been able to fit in in the army or another toxic masculine organisation. Or even being barked orders at, I could not deal with that. I've never been capable of being a "team player". But I have always been OK with being different. But I was not aware of this movement. I will read more about it.

Having sex with a hooker (especially if you pick a nice one that's good at girlfriend experience) because you're feeling left out because of not having sex is not a bad idea IMO. It can really break open this imaginary barrier that otherwise keeps growing bigger and bigger because you think about it too much and idolise it.

Not really as a means of "justifying your masculinity". But just for not putting sex on a pedestal so much and normalising it. There's nothing wrong with that IMO. Because not doing it will make interactions with women ever more stressful if you think that sex might be in the cards, and that's not really conducive for making a real connection.

Regardless of my personal opinions, my comment was written as a proof of how the left, despite broad similarities and agreements, eats itself over minor differences whilst the right aren’t as bothered. You’ve done nothing but prove that point.

It's because on the left we actually have principles. The right are populist, they just demonise the minority of the day, they don't actually care about what they scream. Of course they get on very well because they have nothing they care about except power.

I’m a big left winger and I’m broadly in support of trans rights except for two or three minor sticking points which I think are very much worthy of debate, like women’s sports and women’s changing rooms, but if I actually express that, I’m a massive cunt 🤷🏼‍♂️🤣

It's probably because it hits very close to the extreme-right talking point that trans women are only trans because they want to sneak into the women's toilet or win at sports. People are like "not this shit again 🤦".

Though I think banning trans women from changing rooms is like misgendering them which is mean.

The probem is, leftists are the only ones who still have principles. The (especially extreme) right just tell the voters whatever they want to hear that day. Just blame it all on the immigrants and trans people, done. Of course they get on great together because they have no beliefs.

Of course it is much harder to get in line when you actually believe in your talking points.

I understand, it's just that I've never heard that term outside of Australia. I was just wondering.

I agree that the term "truck" for both a HGV and a pickup is super confusing and I made that mistake myself earlier in the thread.

Good point, I thought of truck as pickup.

No, I did really think that the OP meant "truck" as in "pickup" as most Americans refer to them. Now the original comment makes much more sense too!

Yeah captchas are done. Soon they will be easier to figure out for AI than for humans.

This is why Sam Altman is doing his worldcoin thingy with the iris scanners. His idea: One iris (well, two...) is one real human. I'm sure this will be abused though and I absolutely vehemently don't trust him with my biometrics so no way I will join that.

I think what we should do is just get used to the fact that the internet now consists of humans and AIs. Learn to take things with a grain of salt.

Eve Online is much much more strategy (third-person) and diplomacy. You don't get anywhere without getting involved deeply with other player groups (corporations). It's more of a business sim than a space sim.

SC is much more pew pew and first-person and teamwork will be much more casual.

I really don't think it's a conscious choice. Just Chris Roberts' typical perfectionism and nobody there to say "Ok, this is enough, we must ship something".

Having said that, I used to think Elite Dangerous had the superior model, but they've proven me wrong by going to absolute shit with Odyssey (no VR support, no walkable ships) and pretty much dropped all development thereafter.

Are you Australian by any chance? I've never heard anyone else use the term "ute". Just wondering :)

And we don't really drive "trucks" anyway, not as they know them in the US.

SUVs are getting annoyingly common though.

I do notice that in Spain people are more and more omitting the accents because they are annoying to type (with the exception of the ñ which has its own key on Spanish keyboards, besides the 'l', where the ; is on a US keyboard).

The other ones are kinda less important anyway and really, people know what you mean anyway. They don't really think you are wishing them a happy anus (or maybe they do want your anus to be happy in the new year of course, which is nice 🥰)

But yeah it confuses auto translators, because sí (yes) and si (if) is often confused by them. When you're reading spanish you will automatically discern this based on context, the accent doesn't really matter and it's hard to see anyway. On most screens it's like 1 pixel of difference. It does tend to confuse people relying on translators though :)

You will play nothing and you will be happy.