Also worth pointing out that, while America may be 249 years old, no one would consider it an empire for the majority of that time. Its debatable, but I would argue we didn’t really reach an empirical level of power until the late 40s, when we started taking over what was left of the British Empire’s influence over the middle-eas5.

Well, I wasn’t even thinking about that, but now I’ve got a whole new thing to be self-conscious about.

People are right in saying it’s context and consent, and it’s not completely gendered. Men’s swimsuits are basically just boxer shorts. Normally I’m not self-conscious about that, but a few months ago I signed up for a toddler swimming class with my son where I wound up being the only Dad, and suddenly I felt a bit exposed. I think the normalcy of walking around in nothing but a small pair of shorts kinda evaporated once I was the only man in the room.

Sees desperate people getting coerced by the military-industrial complex into signing their lives away for the promise of an education and a slim chance to escape the cycle of poverty.

“Fucking idiots.”

Edit: Attacking the people being fed into the meat grinder of the military-industrial complex instead of the military-industrial complex itself is just boot-licking with extra steps.

Yeah, I’m not happy about the Switch 2, but the amount of cope is unbelievable. I’ve seen multiple people claiming, “the Wii U sold out a launch too,” even though the Wii U sold worse than the Wii on opening weekend. The sales might still fall off a cliff in a month, but breaking the PS4’s record for launch sales is not a great sign.

As I said to the last person who said the exact same thing, even at launch, the Wii U’s numbers were sluggish. It was considered a decent start, but it still sold fewer units than the Wii in terms of opening week sales, and it launched just before the holidays. It’s too early to say, but breaking the all-time record for opening day sales is a pretty good sign that this is going to be a different story than the Wii U.

For the record, I hope I’m wrong. I hope this is a flop for Nintendo, and it forces them to go back to making innovative hardware at more affordable prices with physical games that you actually own. That could still happen, but this very early data point doesn’t point that way, and it is not indicative of a second Wii U.

I mean, even at launch, the Wii U’s numbers were sluggish, and the Wii U launched during the holidays. It’s very early, and there could be a huge drop off, but this doesn’t appear to be a Wii U situation.

Yeah, YouTube creators have really figured out that negativity will get more clicks than positivity, so everything is, “finished,” or, “over,” before it even comes out.

As much as I hate what the Switch 2 represents for the industry, this has been a great reminder to ignore the hundreds of YouTube videos that proclaimed, “Switch 2 is DOA,” and that this was, “Nintendo’s downfall!”

What you are describing is how people use the left lane during light traffic; a temporary labe to overtake one or several vehicles. During heavier traffic, most drivers don’t do that. They use the left lane as a, “fast lane,” rather than entering and exiting the middle lane repeatedly (which, strictly speaking, isn’t how you’re supposed to use that lane, but it’s how the vast majority of drivers use it). That’s usually when some asshole decides the, “fast lane,” isn’t fast enough and starts tailgating, forcing people to merge into the already crowded middle lane and slowing traffic even further.

Yeah, you should always wait until there’s a safe amount of space to change lanes, but realistically, you’re very rarely going to find a gap that has enough space to merge in with safe follow distance behind and in front of you (assuming 55-60 mph speed limit, that would be 100 feet plus the length of your car). You’ll probably find a gap with a little extra room, maybe 60 or so feet, match speed and merge with about 30 feet in front of you, then drop speed for a little bit until you hit 50 feet. The car behind you will do the same, and so on.

That happens all the time on the highway and it’s not a big deal, but if some asshole is forcing cars to do that every 2 minutes because they’re tailgating the left lane, that’s gonna start slowing down the middle lane. It’s also gonna cause people to start doing stupid shit like following to closely or jumping into the left lane at the earliest opportunity, even if there isn’t enough room to do that safely.

No, that’s incorrect. For example, here’s a law from Minnesota that explicitly states you may exceed the posted speed limit by up to 10 mph when passing:

Subd. 2a.Increased speed limit when passing.

Notwithstanding subdivision 2, the speed limit is increased by ten miles per hour over the posted speed limit when the driver:

(1) is on a two-lane highway having one lane for each direction of travel;

(2) is on a highway with a posted speed limit that is equal to or higher than 55 miles per hour;

(3) is overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction of travel; and

(4) meets the requirements in section 169.18.

In areas of height limited lanes, you should follow the directions regarding height restrictions no matter what. That’s common sense. In most states, 2 lane highways treat the left lane as the passing lane and the right lane as the travel lane (though people seem to mostly just travel in the left lane anyway). On a three lane highway, the left lane is for passing, the middle lane is for cruising, and the right lane is for vehicles that are exiting, entering, or otherwise need to go below the speed limit. The right lane should not be used for cruising when there are three or more lanes. Check with triple A if you don’t believe me

No, that is not correct. The rightmost lane is for slower vehicles and exiting. The middle lane is often called the travel lane because it’s the one you’re meant to be in when cruising.

Oh, lol, yes, I meant left lane. That was a typo. I made twice.

No, I’m saying I would be in the passing lane, going faster than the speed of traffic, then I’d get tailgated by someone who decided the flow of traffic in the passing lane was too slow and change lanes so they could pass, just to watch them do the same thing to the car that was just ahead of me. I think if I edit this sentence it would be more clear:

He’d tailgate until I found an opportunity to drop into the middle lane, let him pass, then [I would] get back into right lane and watch him do the same thing to the guy in front of me.

No, I said, “they will attempt to pass you on the right, creating dangerous traffic situations.” I’ve had to slam on my breaks because some idiot decided they were going to pass me on the right even though there were barely two car lengths worth of free space.

Also, I’m describing a hypothetical situation that happens frequently on U.S. highways; I’m not describing a specific situation that happened, and I’m saying what you should always do in every situation. Often times, pulling into the middle lane and letting the asshole pass you is best. If traffic in the middle lane is too dense, changing speeds/lanes to get dangerous close to two other cars or into the blind spot of a tractor trailer is worse than being tailgated for a while. In any case, how you handle the asshole doesn’t change the fact that they are using the left lane inappropriately.

Yeah, and if you want to be even more technical, most states only allow you to go 10 to 15 mph over the speed limit when passing, and then expect you to return to the middle lane and resume driving the speed limit when done. Some don’t even allow that exception, which means you can (presumably) only use the left lane if the car in front of you is driving slower than the speed limit. No one uses the lanes this way, least of all the people who justify tailgating because, “the left lane is for passing.” If the left lane is going significantly faster than middle lane, as you said, “fucking relax.”

Yeah, I literally said, “10 mph faster than whatever the speed of traffic is in the left lane,” and still got a, “tHe PaSsInG LaNe iS FoR PAsSInG,” reply. Unless you validate the idea that the left lane allows you to drive as fast as you want under any circumstances, someone will accuse you of being a left-lane camper.

Exactly. I just drove from New York to Boston, and no matter what the speed was, I’d run into a tailgater every 30 minutes. I’d be cruising at 80 to 85 mph, keeping a minimum safe distance from the guy in front of me, there’d be 5 cars in front of me doing the exact same thing, but some dick (usually driving an oversized pickup) would decide that wasn’t good enough. He’d tailgate until I found an opportunity to drop into the middle lane, let him pass, then I get back into the right left lane and watch him do the same thing to the guy in front of me. It’s as if he thinks he’s gonna reach the, “front,” and then their won’t be any traffic.