According to the lyrics, they aren’t exclusively complaining, they’re telling “good stories” about their not-so-great experience which is a different thing. Also, they never tried to be a ‘good guest’ at parties, merely that they were found to be ‘interesting at parties’ because of their ‘good stories’.

That said, I really wish they didn’t repeat lyrics so much and instead told more of those “good stories” they keep boasting about.

Off Menu - guests get interviewed over their dream food meal menus

Song Exploder - singers, composers, musicians are interviewed about a specific song that they wrote/created/performed. It’s broken down into sections of the work and then the whole song is played at the end of the episode.

James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds - guests are given an album from 2016 that they listen to before the podcast recording, then they are interviewed on their opinions and thoughts about the album.

I am eternally sad about Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and Ask Me Another going off the air.

Their blogs just got integrated fairly recently with the fediverse.

Dogs can and do eat people. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/would-your-dog-eat-you-if-you-died-get-the-facts

I do agree that OP should look into already existing services that are actively monitored.

Yep- MIC as in microphone.

There has been a decline in third places. There was a decline before the pandemic but the pandemic made it worse. Here’s an article about the decline in America specifically and the newer ways people are trying to connect. It won’t help you make more friends, but will help get perspective of one of the reasons things have changed.

!wewantplates@midwest.social

For books try https://m.alibris.com/

(Un)surprisingly, the US had lots of public pools, but they got removed because of racism. Definitely affects everyone especially the poor with little means of travel. https://www.marketplace.org/2021/02/15/public-pools-used-to-be-everywhere-in-america-then-racism-shut-them-down/

Are there any other good mushroom bible books to check out?

I believe it stands for Linus Tech Tips and Linus Media Group

It’s not laziness per se. It about the barrier for entry being too high. If they wanted to enter (as you did) they would find a way (as you have). However most people have other higher priorities and don’t really know if they want to enter so they do nothing. If the entry barrier is lowered (maybe by adding helpful pic/vid explaining how it works/where to go, a platform walk-through, people/celebs/influencers talking about their experiences, simple sign up requirements, easy searching, etc.) many more people would easily come in as it’s wouldn’t be as confusing to join.

Yes it’s a thing in the US and has been around for many years. That said, culturally teacher respect has gone down during that time while gun usage/accessability has only gone up. So while you can ask/demand the student to participate or hand over their phone, there is no incentive nor authority to have them comply. And good luck getting their parent to care or even bother to listen to you or show up to a meeting. The US press has labeled teachers as indoctrinators, pedos, and lazy overpayed child care. The administration will throw you under the bus immediately to not deal with bad press regardless of what happened. Additionally you’re paid worse than some much easier entry level jobs that pay more with much shorter hours. So it’s not really that it’s new or strange, but rather that the situation has changed and the current “just take the device” doesn’t work as effectively as it once did.