Daycare for infants is a trap.
Watch on Instagram.
Watch on Twitter/X.
Caption:
Mothers want to work thinking they're doing what's best for their child to bring in more money, but no amount of money will fix the psychological damage caused to your infant in daycare.
You strive to, "provide and shower them with gifts,"
Only for them to confide and cower with rifts,
With a therapist who will tell them to cut you off,
Just like you did from the womb to daycare drop-off.
Watch on Instagram.
Watch on Twitter/X.
Caption:
Mothers want to work thinking they're doing what's best for their child to bring in more money, but no amount of money will fix the psychological damage caused to your infant in daycare.
You strive to, "provide and shower them with gifts,"
Only for them to confide and cower with rifts,
With a therapist who will tell them to cut you off,
Just like you did from the womb to daycare drop-off.
You are what you eat.
Caption:
Junk food and processed foods have become the new normal, and that increase in harmful chemicals and ingredients does have an effect on the body.
The increase in dopamine coupled with a decrease in making sound judgment will eventually lead to Shaytan's path.
You are what you eat.
You are what you consume.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
Al-Baqara- 2:168
O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.
Caption:
Junk food and processed foods have become the new normal, and that increase in harmful chemicals and ingredients does have an effect on the body.
The increase in dopamine coupled with a decrease in making sound judgment will eventually lead to Shaytan's path.
You are what you eat.
You are what you consume.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
Al-Baqara- 2:168
O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.
Grandparents are becoming extinct.
If the average woman has children starting at 35 and passes on those feminist ideas to her children, by the time she’s a grandmother, she will be at least 70 years old, and grandpa might already be dead. If women have kids early in their early 20s and pass those proper values downstream, they can be grandparents at the age of 45-50 instead of 70. A huge difference that allows you to help your children when they become parents, and also allows you as a grandparent to play with your grand children. It’s literally a win-win scenario for all parties involved:
Grandparents - they get to help their children with the grandkids, further cementing the ties between the three generations. They can teach their grandkids about Islam and even tell them stories from their past and pass down real history. Grandkids can also help them as they age with common tasks.
Parents - can ask grandparents for advice and wisdom, can benefit from home cooked meals being outsourced to the grandparents when needed, along with free babysitting.
Let me repeat - free food and babysitting.
Grandchildren - get to interact with 2 generations of loving family that can teach, play, advise, and overall bond with them. Unlimited food, treats, and love.
Contrast that again with the modernist perspective, where you have maybe 1-2 kids in your early 40s, and by the time they have kids, you have one foot in the grave and your children have to decide whether to help you or not. They’re too busy with their own newborn children, and now mom and dad are also old and need help? Of course if they are brought up with an Islamic paradigm, they should help, but will they? Why would they all of a sudden be super faithful and take you in when they have been fed liberalism and freedom the last 40 years?
Be gone old woman!
If the average woman has children starting at 35 and passes on those feminist ideas to her children, by the time she’s a grandmother, she will be at least 70 years old, and grandpa might already be dead. If women have kids early in their early 20s and pass those proper values downstream, they can be grandparents at the age of 45-50 instead of 70. A huge difference that allows you to help your children when they become parents, and also allows you as a grandparent to play with your grand children. It’s literally a win-win scenario for all parties involved:
Grandparents - they get to help their children with the grandkids, further cementing the ties between the three generations. They can teach their grandkids about Islam and even tell them stories from their past and pass down real history. Grandkids can also help them as they age with common tasks.
Parents - can ask grandparents for advice and wisdom, can benefit from home cooked meals being outsourced to the grandparents when needed, along with free babysitting.
Let me repeat - free food and babysitting.
Grandchildren - get to interact with 2 generations of loving family that can teach, play, advise, and overall bond with them. Unlimited food, treats, and love.
Contrast that again with the modernist perspective, where you have maybe 1-2 kids in your early 40s, and by the time they have kids, you have one foot in the grave and your children have to decide whether to help you or not. They’re too busy with their own newborn children, and now mom and dad are also old and need help? Of course if they are brought up with an Islamic paradigm, they should help, but will they? Why would they all of a sudden be super faithful and take you in when they have been fed liberalism and freedom the last 40 years?
Be gone old woman!
Early stress in life can lead to depression, among other health issues.
From a Pharmacy Continuing Education resource discussing the link between diabetes and depression:
Early-life stress can result in persistent neuroendocrine, physiologic, behavioral, and psychologic changes that negatively affect the development of brain systems involved in learning, motivation, and stress response, and that may also reflect a biologic priming for the development of depression, especially with additional stress exposure.
One of the most common and persistent early life stressors that’s considered the status quo these days - daycare for babies. Even the most liberal Muslim scholar I can think of called this institution a prison.
During the first 3 years of life, the brain of a child is developing at a pace that is unfathomable during the first 3 years, with 1 million new neural connections each second and with nearly 1,000 trillion connections by age 3.
Yes, you read that correctly.
They need a minimally stressful environment in order to gain the functionality and cognitive ability to deal with real stress when they get older. Having that proper brain development with the mother as the nurturer, the comforter, the provider of nutrition, the soother, and overall calmness, and of so many other benefits, automatically lead to children becoming more confident and testing boundaries as they get older. For some reason however, we have been duped into trying to accelerate the independent and confidence boosting stage in kids right at 6 weeks from birth, causing the exact opposite effect.
Your child needs pampering, before your child becomes a hero.
Your child needs to be babied, before your child becomes a mentor.
Your child needs comfort, before your child gains confidence.
Your child needs to feel their mother’s touch and presence, before your child can help others.
Remember this - Trying to turn your child into an adult early on, will make them a child as an adult later on.
From a Pharmacy Continuing Education resource discussing the link between diabetes and depression:
Early-life stress can result in persistent neuroendocrine, physiologic, behavioral, and psychologic changes that negatively affect the development of brain systems involved in learning, motivation, and stress response, and that may also reflect a biologic priming for the development of depression, especially with additional stress exposure.
One of the most common and persistent early life stressors that’s considered the status quo these days - daycare for babies. Even the most liberal Muslim scholar I can think of called this institution a prison.
During the first 3 years of life, the brain of a child is developing at a pace that is unfathomable during the first 3 years, with 1 million new neural connections each second and with nearly 1,000 trillion connections by age 3.
Yes, you read that correctly.
They need a minimally stressful environment in order to gain the functionality and cognitive ability to deal with real stress when they get older. Having that proper brain development with the mother as the nurturer, the comforter, the provider of nutrition, the soother, and overall calmness, and of so many other benefits, automatically lead to children becoming more confident and testing boundaries as they get older. For some reason however, we have been duped into trying to accelerate the independent and confidence boosting stage in kids right at 6 weeks from birth, causing the exact opposite effect.
Your child needs pampering, before your child becomes a hero.
Your child needs to be babied, before your child becomes a mentor.
Your child needs comfort, before your child gains confidence.
Your child needs to feel their mother’s touch and presence, before your child can help others.
Remember this - Trying to turn your child into an adult early on, will make them a child as an adult later on.
The earlier you start, the better.
The earlier you start something, the quicker you will get better at it.
This is especially true with homeschooling.
When you have just one child, it is very easy to homeschool them, and you can accelerate their learning since the teacher to student ratio is 1:1, and even 2:1 when the father gets involved as well.
You were already homeschooling from birth till 5 years old, so why switch it out to an inferior system that will only corrupt them, especially your girls?
Just like you adjusted your time and priorities when you got married, and again after having your first child, you can adjust once again by homeschooling them.
When child #2 comes along, you can adjust again, and prioritize your time differently.
It is a gradual process and you will notice how much you can actually accomplish.
You will even look back at when you only had one child, and how “busy” you thought you were with just one brain to feed 😅.
If you already have 3 kids that are in public schools, and now decide to start homeschooling them, it can still be done, no doubt about it, but the challenges and initial shock will be much more difficult.
This is what keeps people from even getting started, until it gets far too long in the tooth and the opportunity has passed you by.
The earlier you start something, the quicker you will get better at it.
This is especially true with homeschooling.
When you have just one child, it is very easy to homeschool them, and you can accelerate their learning since the teacher to student ratio is 1:1, and even 2:1 when the father gets involved as well.
You were already homeschooling from birth till 5 years old, so why switch it out to an inferior system that will only corrupt them, especially your girls?
Just like you adjusted your time and priorities when you got married, and again after having your first child, you can adjust once again by homeschooling them.
When child #2 comes along, you can adjust again, and prioritize your time differently.
It is a gradual process and you will notice how much you can actually accomplish.
You will even look back at when you only had one child, and how “busy” you thought you were with just one brain to feed 😅.
If you already have 3 kids that are in public schools, and now decide to start homeschooling them, it can still be done, no doubt about it, but the challenges and initial shock will be much more difficult.
This is what keeps people from even getting started, until it gets far too long in the tooth and the opportunity has passed you by.
An increased love for the Prophet ﷺ through a lived experience.
Recently went on a Muslim Alpha trip with some brothers, and it really gave me a sense of deeper love and respect for not only the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba, but also for people who lived before us:
Our parents.
Our grandparents.
Our ancestors.
Life has undoubtedly become more convenient with all its advancements, but at the same time it has made us weaker.
Even just a camping trip for two days taught me so much about how comfortable our day to day lives are, and how people generations before used to live with struggle, day in and day out. It was also a stark reminder that Allah tells us in the Qur’an:
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ ٤
Indeed, We have created mankind in ˹constant˺ struggle.
Surah Balad (90:4)
We are to take our share from this world and enjoy it, but it was never meant to be jannah. Trying to turn this world into jannah is one of the biggest deceptions we see all around us. If you notice the beginning of the ayah when Allah says ( لَقَدْ ), that is a double emphasis, meaning “absolutely without a doubt, We have created mankind in (constant) struggle.”
The Sahaba would be out in the fields tending their crops, tending their animals, and manually having to do all the work. They would travel long distances in brutal conditions with minimal food and drink…and then have to fight the enemy.
Subhan Allah.
This lifestyle naturally gave people more grit, endurance, and strength, and small, petty issues didn't fluster them like our modern, “first world problems” do:
“Oh my God! My dad only bought me an iPhone 18 and not an iPhone 18 Pro!”
“Ughh! What do you mean you ran out of oat milk for my coffee?!”
“Oh man! I missed the cut-off for same-day delivery! Now my 6th pair of shoes will come tomorrow instead!”
What is even more amazing is the residents of Madinah would consider themselves to be the more “soft” and civilized society and they would call the Bedouins rough and harsh! For our purposes, even the civilized, more well-spoken society of Madinah would be harsh for us, and the nomadic, Bedouin lifestyle would be unsustainable.
Making things too easy makes one weak, and doesn’t prepare one for tougher times. Too much convenience becomes a deception, turning minds and bodies into a rotten lump of neurons and flesh that gets wasted away. Just look at the smartphone epidemic and now the increasingly acceptable and rampant drug epidemic where everything is allowed.
How do you combat the bombardment of convenience that is shoved down our throats? You need to exercise your mind, body, and soul. Trying new activities exposes your body to new movements - movements that will exercise muscles you never knew you had. Challenging yourself and taking calculated risks become a recipe for success, because you will have one of two outcomes:
You will succeed
You will learn lessons (what people call “failure”)
The real failure - is not trying at all.
We have to remember that curating difficulty for ourselves, our families, and our communities is a form of love. You do it because you love and care for them. You want them to grow and flourish, but in order to grow and flourish, difficulty is a requirement. A seed can stay small and comfortable inside its shell, or it can go through harshness starting with a crack in its shell, get exposed to the elements, and flourish beyond its constraints, expanding far and wide.
Camping in the woods, bonding and riding on horses, doing archery, sparring with the brothers - all with the intention of reviving the Sunnah, pleasing Allah, and hanging out with righteous company, are all part of growing and maturing. Not only did we push ourselves and worked to revive the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, we also reminded one another of what our purpose is in this life - to make sure the word of Allah is the highest, and the character of the Prophet ﷺ is followed to the best of our ability.
In order to accomplish this mission, it requires one to be uncomfortable, for it was this discomfort that allowed Islam to spread, and allowed Islam to reach us.
Don’t get too comfortable in this dunya, because remember, your life and my life are a test, and tests are always full of challenges and surprises.
Recently went on a Muslim Alpha trip with some brothers, and it really gave me a sense of deeper love and respect for not only the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba, but also for people who lived before us:
Our parents.
Our grandparents.
Our ancestors.
Life has undoubtedly become more convenient with all its advancements, but at the same time it has made us weaker.
Even just a camping trip for two days taught me so much about how comfortable our day to day lives are, and how people generations before used to live with struggle, day in and day out. It was also a stark reminder that Allah tells us in the Qur’an:
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ ٤
Indeed, We have created mankind in ˹constant˺ struggle.
Surah Balad (90:4)
We are to take our share from this world and enjoy it, but it was never meant to be jannah. Trying to turn this world into jannah is one of the biggest deceptions we see all around us. If you notice the beginning of the ayah when Allah says ( لَقَدْ ), that is a double emphasis, meaning “absolutely without a doubt, We have created mankind in (constant) struggle.”
The Sahaba would be out in the fields tending their crops, tending their animals, and manually having to do all the work. They would travel long distances in brutal conditions with minimal food and drink…and then have to fight the enemy.
Subhan Allah.
This lifestyle naturally gave people more grit, endurance, and strength, and small, petty issues didn't fluster them like our modern, “first world problems” do:
“Oh my God! My dad only bought me an iPhone 18 and not an iPhone 18 Pro!”
“Ughh! What do you mean you ran out of oat milk for my coffee?!”
“Oh man! I missed the cut-off for same-day delivery! Now my 6th pair of shoes will come tomorrow instead!”
What is even more amazing is the residents of Madinah would consider themselves to be the more “soft” and civilized society and they would call the Bedouins rough and harsh! For our purposes, even the civilized, more well-spoken society of Madinah would be harsh for us, and the nomadic, Bedouin lifestyle would be unsustainable.
Making things too easy makes one weak, and doesn’t prepare one for tougher times. Too much convenience becomes a deception, turning minds and bodies into a rotten lump of neurons and flesh that gets wasted away. Just look at the smartphone epidemic and now the increasingly acceptable and rampant drug epidemic where everything is allowed.
How do you combat the bombardment of convenience that is shoved down our throats? You need to exercise your mind, body, and soul. Trying new activities exposes your body to new movements - movements that will exercise muscles you never knew you had. Challenging yourself and taking calculated risks become a recipe for success, because you will have one of two outcomes:
You will succeed
You will learn lessons (what people call “failure”)
The real failure - is not trying at all.
We have to remember that curating difficulty for ourselves, our families, and our communities is a form of love. You do it because you love and care for them. You want them to grow and flourish, but in order to grow and flourish, difficulty is a requirement. A seed can stay small and comfortable inside its shell, or it can go through harshness starting with a crack in its shell, get exposed to the elements, and flourish beyond its constraints, expanding far and wide.
Camping in the woods, bonding and riding on horses, doing archery, sparring with the brothers - all with the intention of reviving the Sunnah, pleasing Allah, and hanging out with righteous company, are all part of growing and maturing. Not only did we push ourselves and worked to revive the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, we also reminded one another of what our purpose is in this life - to make sure the word of Allah is the highest, and the character of the Prophet ﷺ is followed to the best of our ability.
In order to accomplish this mission, it requires one to be uncomfortable, for it was this discomfort that allowed Islam to spread, and allowed Islam to reach us.
Don’t get too comfortable in this dunya, because remember, your life and my life are a test, and tests are always full of challenges and surprises.
AI Child pornography is now OK to possess under certain conditions.
The First Amendment protects an individual’s right to privately possess images or videos of child sexual abuse created using artificial intelligence – if the material does not depict a real person and remains in the home, a federal appeals court judge ruled Tuesday. The decision came in a case that tested the scope of laws implemented before advances in AI made it easy to create realistic-looking fake images of children.
Judge John Z. Lee, in the ruling for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, urged the Supreme Court to reconsider the issue of virtual abuse material of children in the age of AI, suggesting that technological advances complicate existing legal precedent.
“Given the relentless advancement in artificial intelligence models, we have some concerns about the lines these cases draw, but we are not free to redraw them ourselves,” the judge wrote.
Phew, that was a close one. It’s only CSAM that isn’t real that is allowed.
I’m glad that our morals are still intact…
The First Amendment protects an individual’s right to privately possess images or videos of child sexual abuse created using artificial intelligence – if the material does not depict a real person and remains in the home, a federal appeals court judge ruled Tuesday. The decision came in a case that tested the scope of laws implemented before advances in AI made it easy to create realistic-looking fake images of children.
Judge John Z. Lee, in the ruling for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, urged the Supreme Court to reconsider the issue of virtual abuse material of children in the age of AI, suggesting that technological advances complicate existing legal precedent.
“Given the relentless advancement in artificial intelligence models, we have some concerns about the lines these cases draw, but we are not free to redraw them ourselves,” the judge wrote.
Phew, that was a close one. It’s only CSAM that isn’t real that is allowed.
I’m glad that our morals are still intact…
How boys and girls think differently about money.
From the archives - original date August 6, 2024.
The other day, my daughter comes up to me, very nonchalantly, and just tells me,
“Papa, I think I lost my money.”
There was no emotion or panic in her tone whatsoever. I was more in shock of how calm she was because I knew she had a decent chunk of change for a 12 year old (about $500 from gifts and Eid money).
So naturally I asked her, “how much money? Do you mean your purse?” Her purse usually has like $20-$40.
I was like there was no way she lost ALL her money.
She replies again in her casual voice, “No. I lost all my money.”
So now I’m a bit concerned and freaking out a bit inside, and we go on a mission to backtrack her steps and search her room, and eventually she finds it fairly quickly.
Once she finds it, it’s just a, “Oh there it is.” and there’s just the tiniest sign of relief on her face.
After this ordeal, I was just taken aback by her attitude and how losing the money didn’t make her freak out. When I thought about it more, it didn't really surprise me.
We have been homeschooling them since the beginning, and we have been teaching them proper Islamic principles, including how a household is run, who is in charge of what, and who brings home the “dough,” and who cooks the dough.
It’s a system that Alhumdulilah works amazingly well, and brings benefit to everyone.
My wife doesn’t have to worry about money, and naturally, my daughter has picked that up from her. Having a lot of money isn’t a priority for my daughter, and being thrifty with money is one of her qualities.
Frankly, it should be a quality for all of us.
Her carelessness with money isn’t spending too much, but just misplacing it in her room 😂.
My son, on the other hand, is the opposite. He is much more meticulous with money, always trying to find ways to earn money, mainly because he tends to spend more money. If he had lost his wad of cash, he would have turned the whole house upside down trying to find it. He would definitely have been in a more panicked state.
The way my son and daughter react emotionally to money is part of their fitra that is inside all of us as Muslims, and something that our house has reinforced:
Men are the providers of the household and have to worry about money and providing, while women are the maintainers of the household and have to worry about caretaking and maintaining. They are different roles for men and women, but in the eyes of Allah, they are noble and equitable positions that can take you to Jannah.
Someone who stays home isn’t a worse person because they take care of the home vs the one who has to go out and work.
If your kids grow up without the influence of social media, and without the influence of anti-Islamic lifestyles that they see all day and are fed through the school systems, they are more likely to grow up on the fitra and you will have to spend less time trying to detox their minds.
You will see the fitra flourish in the actions of your kids, from the obvious to the more subtle, like finances.
From the archives - original date August 6, 2024.
The other day, my daughter comes up to me, very nonchalantly, and just tells me,
“Papa, I think I lost my money.”
There was no emotion or panic in her tone whatsoever. I was more in shock of how calm she was because I knew she had a decent chunk of change for a 12 year old (about $500 from gifts and Eid money).
So naturally I asked her, “how much money? Do you mean your purse?” Her purse usually has like $20-$40.
I was like there was no way she lost ALL her money.
She replies again in her casual voice, “No. I lost all my money.”
So now I’m a bit concerned and freaking out a bit inside, and we go on a mission to backtrack her steps and search her room, and eventually she finds it fairly quickly.
Once she finds it, it’s just a, “Oh there it is.” and there’s just the tiniest sign of relief on her face.
After this ordeal, I was just taken aback by her attitude and how losing the money didn’t make her freak out. When I thought about it more, it didn't really surprise me.
We have been homeschooling them since the beginning, and we have been teaching them proper Islamic principles, including how a household is run, who is in charge of what, and who brings home the “dough,” and who cooks the dough.
It’s a system that Alhumdulilah works amazingly well, and brings benefit to everyone.
My wife doesn’t have to worry about money, and naturally, my daughter has picked that up from her. Having a lot of money isn’t a priority for my daughter, and being thrifty with money is one of her qualities.
Frankly, it should be a quality for all of us.
Her carelessness with money isn’t spending too much, but just misplacing it in her room 😂.
My son, on the other hand, is the opposite. He is much more meticulous with money, always trying to find ways to earn money, mainly because he tends to spend more money. If he had lost his wad of cash, he would have turned the whole house upside down trying to find it. He would definitely have been in a more panicked state.
The way my son and daughter react emotionally to money is part of their fitra that is inside all of us as Muslims, and something that our house has reinforced:
Men are the providers of the household and have to worry about money and providing, while women are the maintainers of the household and have to worry about caretaking and maintaining. They are different roles for men and women, but in the eyes of Allah, they are noble and equitable positions that can take you to Jannah.
Someone who stays home isn’t a worse person because they take care of the home vs the one who has to go out and work.
If your kids grow up without the influence of social media, and without the influence of anti-Islamic lifestyles that they see all day and are fed through the school systems, they are more likely to grow up on the fitra and you will have to spend less time trying to detox their minds.
You will see the fitra flourish in the actions of your kids, from the obvious to the more subtle, like finances.
A videogame about Fatherhood that has the internet by storm.
Pragmata was a new release by Capcom a few months ago, and it started gaining traction as a game about - fatherhood?
You have a companion, a robot girl named Diana, whom you fight alongside and protect throughout the game. As the story progresses, Hugh and Diana develop a sort of father-daughter bond − and that's the part of the game hitting players right in the feels and sparking massive discussion online.
"What... what is this feeling inside me? It can't be... It's like... I wanna protect... it's like... I want to be a... a... DAD..." one X user wrote. "I will burn anyone and anything that tries to harm her," wrote another. One Reddit user described playing the game as "therapeutic for my soul," following the death of his own daughter at the age of 8 in 2009.
Turns out, psychologists say, the instinct to nurture isn't something that just belongs to women, though much of popular culture may indicate otherwise. Men do by and large have an innate, paternal instinct as well, and it's something that can get activated whether or not they have children of their own.
Fatherhood is not perfect by any stretch of the means and life does have its challenges, but it’s one of those, “If you know, you know” moments. Even then, many parents, dare I say, “grow out of love” for their children because children’s values are now based on what their peers believe instead of what their parents believe. Peer influence is outpacing parental influence and most importantly, guidance, and that’s why my wife and I are blessed to be able to homeschool our children. As our kids hit their teenage years, we feel the independence our kids need and desire, but we don’t feel we are “growing out of love” for our children. We still enjoy our time together.
Of course the algorithm is part of peer influence, and beating the algorithm is an uphill battle, which is why kids shouldn’t be on social media platforms - and quite frankly many adults shouldn’t be either. The beauty is I can still send them videos from social media via screen recordings, mimicking email chains of the past.
I read this amazing book called The Boy Crisis a few years ago, and even though I don’t agree with everything the author says, it really does shed light on the importance of having a fatherly presence in children’s lives, with objective evidence stating that children perform better in every metric of life (financial, emotional, social, health, etc.), when fathers are present.
Whether I play Pragmata is up for debate, but odds are I won’t because I simply don’t have the time. You can say I’m living the game firsthand in a more visceral way as a father of 3 daughters at different stages of their lives, and there’s never a dull moment.
Pragmata was a new release by Capcom a few months ago, and it started gaining traction as a game about - fatherhood?
You have a companion, a robot girl named Diana, whom you fight alongside and protect throughout the game. As the story progresses, Hugh and Diana develop a sort of father-daughter bond − and that's the part of the game hitting players right in the feels and sparking massive discussion online.
"What... what is this feeling inside me? It can't be... It's like... I wanna protect... it's like... I want to be a... a... DAD..." one X user wrote. "I will burn anyone and anything that tries to harm her," wrote another. One Reddit user described playing the game as "therapeutic for my soul," following the death of his own daughter at the age of 8 in 2009.
Turns out, psychologists say, the instinct to nurture isn't something that just belongs to women, though much of popular culture may indicate otherwise. Men do by and large have an innate, paternal instinct as well, and it's something that can get activated whether or not they have children of their own.
Fatherhood is not perfect by any stretch of the means and life does have its challenges, but it’s one of those, “If you know, you know” moments. Even then, many parents, dare I say, “grow out of love” for their children because children’s values are now based on what their peers believe instead of what their parents believe. Peer influence is outpacing parental influence and most importantly, guidance, and that’s why my wife and I are blessed to be able to homeschool our children. As our kids hit their teenage years, we feel the independence our kids need and desire, but we don’t feel we are “growing out of love” for our children. We still enjoy our time together.
Of course the algorithm is part of peer influence, and beating the algorithm is an uphill battle, which is why kids shouldn’t be on social media platforms - and quite frankly many adults shouldn’t be either. The beauty is I can still send them videos from social media via screen recordings, mimicking email chains of the past.
I read this amazing book called The Boy Crisis a few years ago, and even though I don’t agree with everything the author says, it really does shed light on the importance of having a fatherly presence in children’s lives, with objective evidence stating that children perform better in every metric of life (financial, emotional, social, health, etc.), when fathers are present.
Whether I play Pragmata is up for debate, but odds are I won’t because I simply don’t have the time. You can say I’m living the game firsthand in a more visceral way as a father of 3 daughters at different stages of their lives, and there’s never a dull moment.
Slate Titanium vs Jet Black Aluminum Apple Watch - which one should you buy?
The answer might be obvious from a budget perspective since the Jet Black is $300 cheaper than the Slate Titanium, but you have to consider the following 5 factors:
Durability
Luxury appeal
Screen quality
Pricing
Durability
There’s no question both finishes can get scratched and show the natural aluminum or titanium color, but Jet Black will definitely show the aluminum more prominently due to its darker “Jet Blackness.” Slate Titanium is lighter, making it more likely to mask any scratches. Aluminum is also softer, so it will dent with hard impacts. Neither finish can be buffed or polished since it will remove the coating, leaving bare metal.
Luxury Appeal
Both have a nice, unique sheen to them and even though Jet Black is a great piece that can do both sport and luxury, the Slate Titanium really takes the win with matching luxury bands that don’t disrupt the flow of the lighter Titanium sheen. The Jet Black reminds me a lot of Space Black - very stealth, but the coating is so dark that it can quickly look dull from skin oils, requiring frequent wiping.
Screen Quality
It’s a double-edged sword, but the Titanium Apple Watches have a sapphire display, making them 100% scratch-proof unless you happen to rub your watch against diamonds. The caveat here is sapphire displays are more likely to crack on impact. For the Jet Black Aluminum (and all aluminum Apple Watches), Apple uses an Ion-X glass display, which is less likely to shatter on impact, but much more likely to get scratched.
I have been wearing Apple watches daily since 2015, and from my personal experience of owning over a dozen watches, every single Apple Watch with an Ion-X glass has gotten scratched, and not a single Apple Watch with a Sapphire display ever got a scratch or a crack. The Ion-X glass is objectively inferior and can easily go from pristine to a scratched mess if you’re not careful.
Pricing
You can get a Slate Titanium Series 10 at deep discounts since it's almost two years old while having the same processing power as the Series 11. The only difference is the Series 11 has 5G instead of LTE. More importantly, both will support the new Siri AI.
I sold my Jet Black aluminum because I was able to snag a Series 10 in Slate Titanium with Milanese Loop for $449 vs a Series 11 at $749, saving $300. Once again, the only real difference being LTE vs 5G. I don't even use a cellular plan on my Apple Watch so this was a non-factor.
If you plan on keeping your watch for years on end and don’t want to worry about a scratched display, the Titanium models are the way to go. The premium is worth it for the look, feel, and durability.
Photos
Here’s some side-by-side shots of the Jet Black vs the Slate Titanium. I also have a regular Stainless Steel model Series 9 just for comparison since Slate compared to Jet Black might look like Silver. 📸
The answer might be obvious from a budget perspective since the Jet Black is $300 cheaper than the Slate Titanium, but you have to consider the following 5 factors:
Durability
Luxury appeal
Screen quality
Pricing
Durability
There’s no question both finishes can get scratched and show the natural aluminum or titanium color, but Jet Black will definitely show the aluminum more prominently due to its darker “Jet Blackness.” Slate Titanium is lighter, making it more likely to mask any scratches. Aluminum is also softer, so it will dent with hard impacts. Neither finish can be buffed or polished since it will remove the coating, leaving bare metal.
Luxury Appeal
Both have a nice, unique sheen to them and even though Jet Black is a great piece that can do both sport and luxury, the Slate Titanium really takes the win with matching luxury bands that don’t disrupt the flow of the lighter Titanium sheen. The Jet Black reminds me a lot of Space Black - very stealth, but the coating is so dark that it can quickly look dull from skin oils, requiring frequent wiping.
Screen Quality
It’s a double-edged sword, but the Titanium Apple Watches have a sapphire display, making them 100% scratch-proof unless you happen to rub your watch against diamonds. The caveat here is sapphire displays are more likely to crack on impact. For the Jet Black Aluminum (and all aluminum Apple Watches), Apple uses an Ion-X glass display, which is less likely to shatter on impact, but much more likely to get scratched.
I have been wearing Apple watches daily since 2015, and from my personal experience of owning over a dozen watches, every single Apple Watch with an Ion-X glass has gotten scratched, and not a single Apple Watch with a Sapphire display ever got a scratch or a crack. The Ion-X glass is objectively inferior and can easily go from pristine to a scratched mess if you’re not careful.
Pricing
You can get a Slate Titanium Series 10 at deep discounts since it's almost two years old while having the same processing power as the Series 11. The only difference is the Series 11 has 5G instead of LTE. More importantly, both will support the new Siri AI.
I sold my Jet Black aluminum because I was able to snag a Series 10 in Slate Titanium with Milanese Loop for $449 vs a Series 11 at $749, saving $300. Once again, the only real difference being LTE vs 5G. I don't even use a cellular plan on my Apple Watch so this was a non-factor.
If you plan on keeping your watch for years on end and don’t want to worry about a scratched display, the Titanium models are the way to go. The premium is worth it for the look, feel, and durability.
Photos
Here’s some side-by-side shots of the Jet Black vs the Slate Titanium. I also have a regular Stainless Steel model Series 9 just for comparison since Slate compared to Jet Black might look like Silver.
From left to right: Jet Black Aluminum, Slate Titanium, Stainless Steel. All 3 look gorgeous in their own way.
Jet Black almost disappears in darker lighting, even though it is the same size as the Slate Titanium.
Speaker side angle - notice how Slate almost looks Silver with bright lighting.
Once again the screen disappears into the Jet Black chassis (left) compared to Slate (middle).
Closer detail between screen and chassis.
Digital Crown up close. Notice the difference in the knurling with the Stainless Steel Series 9 vs the other two Series 10 watches.
UK will ban social media platforms for children under 16 years of age.
Wall Street Journal (gift link):
The U.K. plans to ban children under the age of 16 from major social-media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, ramping up pressure on big tech companies to shield younger users from harmful online content.
Announcing new legislation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the ban would restrict livestreaming and communication with strangers for under 16s not just on social media, but across other online services such as gaming sites. […]
Starmer said the U.K. was also considering overnight curfews and curbs for scrolling content on feeds for under 18s. […]
Starmer said the U.K. was seeking to emulate the Australian model with a ban targeting platforms with algorithms such as TikTok, Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, Snapchat, Alphabet’s YouTube and Elon Musk’s X where users can post, but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal.
“This is a line in the sand,” Starmer said. “Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.”
Let the debates begin.
Wall Street Journal (gift link):
The U.K. plans to ban children under the age of 16 from major social-media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, ramping up pressure on big tech companies to shield younger users from harmful online content.
Announcing new legislation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the ban would restrict livestreaming and communication with strangers for under 16s not just on social media, but across other online services such as gaming sites. […]
Starmer said the U.K. was also considering overnight curfews and curbs for scrolling content on feeds for under 18s. […]
Starmer said the U.K. was seeking to emulate the Australian model with a ban targeting platforms with algorithms such as TikTok, Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, Snapchat, Alphabet’s YouTube and Elon Musk’s X where users can post, but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal.
“This is a line in the sand,” Starmer said. “Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.”
Let the debates begin.
Just move - you will feel better and be a better parent.
I did a few unorthodox workouts over the past few weeks, and what I realized was you have to change your workout routines in order to really benefit your body. Doing movements you wouldn’t normally do will make you feel better and increase circulation. You don’t even have to do crazy stuff - just natural things you might do while having fun. For example:
Rollerskating - not usually something I do, but it was a fun way to get the heart rate going from both the movement and from the “joyful fear” of trying not to fall. Even this “joyful fear” is a feeling you don’t experience everyday, but boosts your mood. You also feel it in your legs since you’re balancing yourself in ways and activating muscle groups you didn’t know you had.
Throwing a ball back and forth - playing catch with my son on an unlevel backyard with dips and hills is more fun and challenging than you might think. Even throwing a ball crossbody where you are running in one direction to catch the ball and then throw in the opposite direction clicked something in my back and loosened me up.
Frisbee - playing with my daughter was fun, and it allows you to jump, stretch, run, and also turn in ways that you wouldn’t do in a gym with weights or on a treadmill. Add the mind complexity of trying to judge where the frisbee is going and you get even more unorthodoxy into the mix.
The best part about all these activities is there’s more than one person involved, and you get more spontaneity while working out and having fun with your family. Dodging people while skating, fielding bad throws by running and trying to catch, and poor frisbee flings leading to even more running and jumping adds that extra organic spice.
If you’re tired, the solution is to move. Just…move.
I did a few unorthodox workouts over the past few weeks, and what I realized was you have to change your workout routines in order to really benefit your body. Doing movements you wouldn’t normally do will make you feel better and increase circulation. You don’t even have to do crazy stuff - just natural things you might do while having fun. For example:
Rollerskating - not usually something I do, but it was a fun way to get the heart rate going from both the movement and from the “joyful fear” of trying not to fall. Even this “joyful fear” is a feeling you don’t experience everyday, but boosts your mood. You also feel it in your legs since you’re balancing yourself in ways and activating muscle groups you didn’t know you had.
Throwing a ball back and forth - playing catch with my son on an unlevel backyard with dips and hills is more fun and challenging than you might think. Even throwing a ball crossbody where you are running in one direction to catch the ball and then throw in the opposite direction clicked something in my back and loosened me up.
Frisbee - playing with my daughter was fun, and it allows you to jump, stretch, run, and also turn in ways that you wouldn’t do in a gym with weights or on a treadmill. Add the mind complexity of trying to judge where the frisbee is going and you get even more unorthodoxy into the mix.
The best part about all these activities is there’s more than one person involved, and you get more spontaneity while working out and having fun with your family. Dodging people while skating, fielding bad throws by running and trying to catch, and poor frisbee flings leading to even more running and jumping adds that extra organic spice.
If you’re tired, the solution is to move. Just…move.
You can get your home professionally cleaned for free in New York City, with a huge caveat.
Dishes piling up? Trash well past the brim of the can? That thin layer of dust on your furniture starting to stratify? Well, if you’re in New York City and open to unusual propositions, there’s a company willing to take care of those and other unresolved house cleaning tasks you might have, all for free. The catch: you let the cleaners record the entire process inside your home from the cameras affixed to their “magic hats” to help train AI. […]
Announced with a recent post on X, Shift’s introductory video attempts to explain how one’s free cleaning service might go down. The video opens with a plucky young lad knocking on an apartment door, ready to deliver some elbow grease. The company’s US GM, Harry Kilberg, then appears to convey Shift’s mad love for the 5 Boroughs by saying “the future has always started in New York. This time, it will start in your apartment.” We then see the famous “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” photograph while the instrumental track from Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 “Empire State of Mind” plays in the background. There is no longer any doubt as to whether or not this tech company is tapped in with Real New Yawkers. […]
The company promises all names, faces, and other sensitive data that might be caught on cam are automatically anonymized. They go on to explain that they “blur all personally identifiable information from screens and ID cards, to pieces of paper and cell phones, to help protect both you and your home.” There doesn’t seem to be anything in Shift’s FAQ about how one could later request to have the video from their session removed from the training dataset after it’s recorded and uploaded. […]
…Shift’s terms of service says the company is not responsible for any theft, personal injury, or property damage that might occur during a cleaning, but don’t worry. The “independent cleaning professionals” you’re inviting into your home have been “vetted by [their] partners,” so that should probably allay any remaining concerns.
Shift says the data gleaned by recording all these menial tasks will go on to train “the next generation of household robots.” That future sure sounds nice and like something we will all have access to.
Sounds like a great idea…what can possibly go wrong?
Dishes piling up? Trash well past the brim of the can? That thin layer of dust on your furniture starting to stratify? Well, if you’re in New York City and open to unusual propositions, there’s a company willing to take care of those and other unresolved house cleaning tasks you might have, all for free. The catch: you let the cleaners record the entire process inside your home from the cameras affixed to their “magic hats” to help train AI. […]
Announced with a recent post on X, Shift’s introductory video attempts to explain how one’s free cleaning service might go down. The video opens with a plucky young lad knocking on an apartment door, ready to deliver some elbow grease. The company’s US GM, Harry Kilberg, then appears to convey Shift’s mad love for the 5 Boroughs by saying “the future has always started in New York. This time, it will start in your apartment.” We then see the famous “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” photograph while the instrumental track from Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 “Empire State of Mind” plays in the background. There is no longer any doubt as to whether or not this tech company is tapped in with Real New Yawkers. […]
The company promises all names, faces, and other sensitive data that might be caught on cam are automatically anonymized. They go on to explain that they “blur all personally identifiable information from screens and ID cards, to pieces of paper and cell phones, to help protect both you and your home.” There doesn’t seem to be anything in Shift’s FAQ about how one could later request to have the video from their session removed from the training dataset after it’s recorded and uploaded. […]
…Shift’s terms of service says the company is not responsible for any theft, personal injury, or property damage that might occur during a cleaning, but don’t worry. The “independent cleaning professionals” you’re inviting into your home have been “vetted by [their] partners,” so that should probably allay any remaining concerns.
Shift says the data gleaned by recording all these menial tasks will go on to train “the next generation of household robots.” That future sure sounds nice and like something we will all have access to.
Sounds like a great idea…what can possibly go wrong?
iPad rage is the equivalent of a drug addiction.
New York Magazine (paywalled) News+ link (also paywalled with no option to gift):
On a Saturday morning a few months ago, Rachel, a mom of two in New Jersey, tried to follow the screen-time advice she had seen repeatedly on parenting Instagram accounts and heard on parenting podcasts: Be clear about limits and give lots of advance warning. So Rachel told her 10-year-old son, Jonah, the night prior and again during breakfast that they would be leaving at 11 a.m. for a birthday party and that he would have to put his iPad away when it was time to go. After he ate his cereal, he sat with his iPad on the couch toggling between Roblox and YouTube shorts, and she set a timer. When there were 15 minutes left on it, and then again when there were five minutes left, she reminded him how long he still had to play. But when she walked into the living room at 10:56 a.m. as the timer rang out and said, “Okay, off,” her son’s reaction overwhelmed her.
“He just left his body,” she says. Jonah threw the controller onto the couch. He started yelling, “You said I had until 11! It’s not 11 yet! You’re always doing this!” He followed her into the kitchen still yelling. She tried to stay calm and be firm. Then she tried walking away. He followed her again. At one point, he sat down on the floor and refused to move.
“I remember standing there thinking, I don’t know this person. I genuinely did not recognize him,” she told me. It took Jonah 30 minutes to calm down enough to get his shoes on. In the car, he slowly became himself again, chatting as if nothing unusual had just transpired. “That’s the part that really messes with you,” Rachel says. “How fast they come back.” […]
There are parents I know who saw the recent headline about an 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy who shot his father after having his Nintendo Switch taken away and admitted to the dark thought, I could see how that happened. But as obvious and urgent as this phenomenon feels for many parents, it is only just gaining acknowledgment and study in the psychological community, which remains divided on what’s happening and why. […]
One psychologist doesn’t think it’s addiction:
Dave Anderson, a senior psychologist at the Child Mind Institute in New York City, doesn’t think technology in particular is to blame for children’s intense reactions. […] Anderson points to one particular fact: Real withdrawal symptoms don’t fade away after a few intense minutes, whereas screen meltdowns typically do. He says that post-iPad rages occur because children’s brains are still developing and can’t yet smoothly handle losing something pleasurable — and that they’re essentially normal.
One psychiatrist does:
But Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke, the author of Dopamine Nation, is convinced screens are a special case — and she doesn’t mince words about their addictive properties. In a recent conversation on The Oprah Podcast, she was asked to explain what happens in a child’s brain when a parent tries to take away a device mid–gaming session and the child erupts. “When you expose a child’s brain to a digital drug that is incredibly reinforcing, it is inevitable that that child will get into this loop of addiction where they get into a state of craving and withdrawal when they don’t have their drug,” she answered.
When I raised Anderson’s explanation with her (namely, that these meltdowns are a normal emotional regulation challenge), she conceded that not every child who gets upset when their device is taken away is in withdrawal. But for kids whose use has tipped into something resembling compulsion, Lembke sees a different pattern: extreme reactions that last too long but tend to resolve with continued abstinence. In addition, abstinence leads these kids to sleep better, exercise more, and reengage with family and school. “These long-term trajectories toward improved physical and mental health are not seen in the wake of your average temper tantrum,” she said.
A nice solution is to have a transitional activity lined up:
But Deanna, a mom in Manhattan, is slightly more hopeful. She told me that after getting into the habit of extending her kids’ screentimes to delay their meltdowns, she finally decided to enact a few changes. Before her kids receive their devices, she makes them verbally agree to an end time. And when their timers go off, she never allows an extra minute. She also always has the next activity queued up and waiting — Legos on the table or a baking project half-prepped— so the screen doesn’t get replaced by a void. It’s a lot of work, and the first week was, “completely brutal,” she told me. But she kept at it, and about a month later, the tantrums weakened. “They still grumble,” she said. “But the fighting — that’s mostly over. I don’t brace myself the way I used to.”
Transitionary activities makes a lot of sense, but a lot of this addiction comes from the constant hit without the work (resistance) to get it. Back in the day, you had to go to the TV and sit in front of it to watch it. If you had to use the bathroom, you had to leave and come back. Now you take the screen with you! Generic commercials that are not personalized are now personalized ads that keep the dopamine hit going with interactive mini-games. Forget HD, you had to tweak the antenna just to get a signal, or blow in the cartridge to make sure it would even work (that’s been debunked).
Games of the past were more difficult and had less of a reward, but now you have unlimited tries and you can start from the exact point where you left off. Even when you play Nintendo Classics on the Switch, you can play a difficult game from the past, but you can easily rewind the game, correct your mistimed jump, and keep on going. I’m guilty of this myself.
Let’s not forget that the prefrontal cortex of children is under developed which is heavily involved in impulse control and emotional regulation. Combine that with many parents who just don’t have the gall anymore to say no to children even at a young age of 2, before they have the ability to rampage.
And don’t even get me started on social media for kids…
New York Magazine (paywalled) News+ link (also paywalled with no option to gift):
On a Saturday morning a few months ago, Rachel, a mom of two in New Jersey, tried to follow the screen-time advice she had seen repeatedly on parenting Instagram accounts and heard on parenting podcasts: Be clear about limits and give lots of advance warning. So Rachel told her 10-year-old son, Jonah, the night prior and again during breakfast that they would be leaving at 11 a.m. for a birthday party and that he would have to put his iPad away when it was time to go. After he ate his cereal, he sat with his iPad on the couch toggling between Roblox and YouTube shorts, and she set a timer. When there were 15 minutes left on it, and then again when there were five minutes left, she reminded him how long he still had to play. But when she walked into the living room at 10:56 a.m. as the timer rang out and said, “Okay, off,” her son’s reaction overwhelmed her.
“He just left his body,” she says. Jonah threw the controller onto the couch. He started yelling, “You said I had until 11! It’s not 11 yet! You’re always doing this!” He followed her into the kitchen still yelling. She tried to stay calm and be firm. Then she tried walking away. He followed her again. At one point, he sat down on the floor and refused to move.
“I remember standing there thinking, I don’t know this person. I genuinely did not recognize him,” she told me. It took Jonah 30 minutes to calm down enough to get his shoes on. In the car, he slowly became himself again, chatting as if nothing unusual had just transpired. “That’s the part that really messes with you,” Rachel says. “How fast they come back.” […]
There are parents I know who saw the recent headline about an 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy who shot his father after having his Nintendo Switch taken away and admitted to the dark thought, I could see how that happened. But as obvious and urgent as this phenomenon feels for many parents, it is only just gaining acknowledgment and study in the psychological community, which remains divided on what’s happening and why. […]
One psychologist doesn’t think it’s addiction:
Dave Anderson, a senior psychologist at the Child Mind Institute in New York City, doesn’t think technology in particular is to blame for children’s intense reactions. […] Anderson points to one particular fact: Real withdrawal symptoms don’t fade away after a few intense minutes, whereas screen meltdowns typically do. He says that post-iPad rages occur because children’s brains are still developing and can’t yet smoothly handle losing something pleasurable — and that they’re essentially normal.
One psychiatrist does:
But Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke, the author of Dopamine Nation, is convinced screens are a special case — and she doesn’t mince words about their addictive properties. In a recent conversation on The Oprah Podcast, she was asked to explain what happens in a child’s brain when a parent tries to take away a device mid–gaming session and the child erupts. “When you expose a child’s brain to a digital drug that is incredibly reinforcing, it is inevitable that that child will get into this loop of addiction where they get into a state of craving and withdrawal when they don’t have their drug,” she answered.
When I raised Anderson’s explanation with her (namely, that these meltdowns are a normal emotional regulation challenge), she conceded that not every child who gets upset when their device is taken away is in withdrawal. But for kids whose use has tipped into something resembling compulsion, Lembke sees a different pattern: extreme reactions that last too long but tend to resolve with continued abstinence. In addition, abstinence leads these kids to sleep better, exercise more, and reengage with family and school. “These long-term trajectories toward improved physical and mental health are not seen in the wake of your average temper tantrum,” she said.
A nice solution is to have a transitional activity lined up:
But Deanna, a mom in Manhattan, is slightly more hopeful. She told me that after getting into the habit of extending her kids’ screentimes to delay their meltdowns, she finally decided to enact a few changes. Before her kids receive their devices, she makes them verbally agree to an end time. And when their timers go off, she never allows an extra minute. She also always has the next activity queued up and waiting — Legos on the table or a baking project half-prepped— so the screen doesn’t get replaced by a void. It’s a lot of work, and the first week was, “completely brutal,” she told me. But she kept at it, and about a month later, the tantrums weakened. “They still grumble,” she said. “But the fighting — that’s mostly over. I don’t brace myself the way I used to.”
Transitionary activities makes a lot of sense, but a lot of this addiction comes from the constant hit without the work (resistance) to get it. Back in the day, you had to go to the TV and sit in front of it to watch it. If you had to use the bathroom, you had to leave and come back. Now you take the screen with you! Generic commercials that are not personalized are now personalized ads that keep the dopamine hit going with interactive mini-games. Forget HD, you had to tweak the antenna just to get a signal, or blow in the cartridge to make sure it would even work (that’s been debunked).
Games of the past were more difficult and had less of a reward, but now you have unlimited tries and you can start from the exact point where you left off. Even when you play Nintendo Classics on the Switch, you can play a difficult game from the past, but you can easily rewind the game, correct your mistimed jump, and keep on going. I’m guilty of this myself.
Let’s not forget that the prefrontal cortex of children is under developed which is heavily involved in impulse control and emotional regulation. Combine that with many parents who just don’t have the gall anymore to say no to children even at the young age of 2, before they have the ability to rampage.
And don’t even get me started on social media for kids…
Crisis mode at the Fahadx residence?
Wife wants wired headphones instead of AirPods, I want a mechanical watch instead of an Apple Watch. The anti-tech movement has started??
Wife wants wired headphones instead of AirPods, I want a mechanical watch instead of an Apple Watch. The anti-tech movement has started??
The best meal for $6 you can ask for.
In this economy, getting a meal for $6 sounds like a pipe dream, but it is possible with these healthy frozen dinners from Saffron Road. If you’re in a time crunch you really can’t beat the value.
Not a sponsor by the way, just real experience.
In this economy, getting a meal for $6 sounds like a pipe dream, but it is possible with these healthy frozen dinners from Saffron Road. If you’re in a time crunch you really can’t beat the value.
Not a sponsor by the way, just real experience.
Active Noise Cancellation with AirPods Pro - how many decibels are reduced?
Apple does not provide actual decibel numbers on their website since every situation is unique, but your Apple Watch will give you a live decibel reading factoring in your AirPods. It works for the following listening modes:
Off
Transparency
Adaptive
Noise Cancellation
Simply put on your AirPods Pro and open the Noise app on Apple Watch to see the current decibel reading. You can toggle the AirPods icon ON or OFF to see the difference in decibel reduction.
Note: Toggling the AirPods icon ON or OFF in the Noise app does not turn ON or OFF noise cancellation or change listening modes.
I tested this on AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2, but this should work with any set of AirPods that have noise cancellation.
Tested on watchOS 26.5 Beta 4 and iOS 26.5 Beta 3.
Apple does not provide actual decibel numbers on their website since every situation is unique, but your Apple Watch will give you a live decibel reading factoring in your AirPods. It works for the following listening modes:
Off
Transparency
Adaptive
Noise Cancellation
Simply put on your AirPods Pro and open the Noise app on Apple Watch to see the current decibel reading. You can toggle the AirPods icon ON or OFF to see the difference in decibel reduction.
Note: Toggling the AirPods icon ON or OFF in the Noise app does not turn ON or OFF noise cancellation or change listening modes.
I tested this on AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2, but this should work with any set of AirPods that have noise cancellation.
Tested on watchOS 26.5 Beta 4 and iOS 26.5 Beta 3.
iPhone Air 7 months later - why you should buy one.
You leave your house and you realize you forgot something - your phone. You can tell it’s missing due to the comfort you feel in your trousers. There’s no feeling of a brick a few inches away from your crotch, so surely you forgot your phone.
Except you didn’t. When you turn around to go back inside to grab your phone, you realize with a silly grin on your face, “Oh wait, I didn’t forget my phone. It’s just so damn thin that I didn’t realize it is in my pocket.”
This is the joy of owning an iPhone Air. It’s like waking up on a Saturday morning thinking you have to go to work, but then remembering it’s Saturday, your day off. The tranquility and joy you feel overcomes you as you plop back down in bed and snooze for another few hours. As a famous thinker once said:
Joy is more joyous when it’s preceded by anxiety.1
Owning the iPhone Air has been a privilege, and it provides a great experience every single time I hold the device. I believe it is a worthy device, and one with potential to gain more traction in the Fall of 2026.
Design and culture
The iPhone Air might not be the best value for the buck, but when it comes to design, feel, and premium looks, it’s $999 starting price tag is justified. The iPhone Air is once again more than just a technological marvel. It is a call back to Apple of yore - when they had a cult status that was not for the masses. Quirky, limited, but immense joy and satisfaction. Ironically, the more expensive iPhone Pro lineup has become more ubiquitous, but those that still crave a beautiful experience, great performance, and exclusivity can still get that feeling with iPhone Air. Apple took a risk with this device, and I think it provides more value and inspires more confidence in the company that is willing to not play it safe.
The front of all phones look the same, but the back of this phone really does take your breath away. It isn’t really the back as much as it is the polished shiny sides and buttons that contrast with the muted, matte back glass. The camera plateau is also simplified, giving it an elegance and simplicity that makes it the best looking iPhone in years, with the iPhone 17e being a close second. The 17e takes minimalism to another level with no plateau and a single camera lens being the only thing stopping the 17e from being a flush device.
Speakers…um speaker
The speaker on iPhone Air gives you quite a bang considering its thin profile, and to be honest is more than adequate. Let’s be realistic - the target audience for the iPhone Air is more than likely to have some sort of wireless headphones, but even if they forget their wireless headphones, the single speaker works just fine in most scenarios. The only time where it was not adequate for me was in loud environments, and that’s par for the course for any smartphone.
The speaker is also in the top earpiece, meaning it is a front facing speaker. There is no way to accidentally cup your hand and block the sound like it would be on the bottom speaker of every other iPhone.
Cameras…um camera
The single rear camera performs great in most scenarios for what it is, and actually has a closer focusing distance than the iPhone 17 Pro’s main camera. Of course the 17 and 17 Pro have an ultra wide lens, which will be superior for close up shots. I do miss macro shots, but I don’t miss the distortion you get from the ultra wide. I do miss the telephoto lens as well, but it is a compromise I was willing to make. You’re buying the two-door convertible, not the 8-passenger SUV. A side benefit - you don’t have to deal with the phone auto-switching between the ultra wide and wide camera lenses when getting close to a subject.
Apple did excel with the 18MP Center Stage front facing camera, and I believe this camera will be used more than the rear camera. The front facing camera is the ultimate selfie camera, and leads to great group shots with friends and family. As a parent, no longer do you have to be the designated photographer. You can be part of the shot and frame it just right. These group photos end up being more memorable than landscape photos devoid of human joy and affection.
Battery life
It shouldn’t be a surprise that a thinner phone will have worse battery life. What is surprising though, is iPhone Air has the same battery life as iPhone 16 Pro. If you were fine with the battery life of the smaller iPhones in the past few years, you’ll be fine with iPhone Air, and will have a bigger display for it. This is even less of an issue if you have what I call great phone hygiene, planning ahead and charge your device on time.
Fast charging is a huge plus and a necessity on a device like this, and thankfully we get that:
Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately) paired with USB-C charging cable, or 30W adapter or higher paired with MagSafe Charger (both available separately).
The other thing we should all be thinking about when it comes to battery life is the idea of using your phone less. Every single one of us uses their phone more than ever before, and that increased usage will naturally lead to worse battery life. Battery life may be an issue for road warriors, but once again if that’s you, you have solutions and battery banks in hand to be prepared.
What I’m trying to say is, do we really need more battery life, or is the real problem our overconsumption?
Durability
My iPhone Air has been case-less since day 1, and I have dropped my phone a handful of times. Most of these drops are from 3 feet or less, but I never had to worry about any dents because it is made out of titanium, not aluminum. Ceramic Shield 2 is also great and the screen is still flawless after 7 months. I would be nervous dropping a 17e, 17, or 17 Pro due to its softer body that is more prone to dents and scratches. Absolutely no issues here.
Performance
For most regular tasks, this phone handles them without any hiccups or issues. You will not notice any lag or slowdowns. It is as Pro as an iPhone can be. I don’t play intense games on my phones so I couldn’t tell you the experience, but if you are a mobile gamer, you would be better off with an iPhone 17 Pro that has much better cooling with its stainless steel vapor chamber. If you’re the average iPhone user, this phone won’t disappoint from a performance point of view. If you’re a content creator and you need every ounce of performance, you already know this isn’t for you.
Display
I would call the 6.5-inch display on iPhone Air the Goldilocks size - not too small, not too big, just right. Apple might have been forced into this size as well due to the camera plateau housing the brains of the device, and the space for the battery also had to be large enough to make sure they achieve “All Day Battery Life.” They couldn’t go smaller, and going bigger would take away from the thinness aspect, so the perfect size was the only size.
Should you buy one?
The great thing about iPhone Air is that there aren’t any unpleasant surprises. You know battery life will be a challenge, and you know extensive gaming will be a challenge, both from a thermal and battery life standpoint. You also know there is a single rear camera, with no deceptive black circles that give it the illusion of having additional cameras. Everything is spelled out front and center. When you go in with these expectations, you know the sacrifices you are making, and the value spectrum for this device leans more heavily towards the visceral experience.
It’s not about numbers and facts, but about touch and feel. Many decisions we make are illogical and are based on personal preference, and if your heart is speaking towards the iPhone Air, you won’t be disappointed. The 17 Pro is a Tim Cook iPhone - a safe choice, an efficient device, and meets all the numbers. After all, Tim Cook is a numbers guy, but I’m pretty damn sure Steve Jobs, a visionary, and John Ternus, a hardware engineer, would go iPhone Air.
1 - OK, OK, I made that up myself.
You leave your house and you realize you forgot something - your phone. You can tell it’s missing due to the comfort you feel in your trousers. There’s no feeling of a brick a few inches away from your crotch, so surely you forgot your phone.
Except you didn’t. When you turn around to go back inside to grab your phone, you realize with a silly grin on your face, “Oh wait, I didn’t forget my phone. It’s just so damn thin that I didn’t realize it is in my pocket.”
This is the joy of owning an iPhone Air. It’s like waking up on a Saturday morning thinking you have to go to work, but then remembering it’s Saturday, your day off. The tranquility and joy you feel overcomes you as you plop back down in bed and snooze for another few hours. As a famous thinker once said:
Joy is more joyous when it’s preceded by anxiety.1
Owning the iPhone Air has been a privilege, and it provides a great experience every single time I hold the device. I believe it is a worthy device, and one with potential to gain more traction in the Fall of 2026.
Design and culture
The iPhone Air might not be the best value for the buck, but when it comes to design, feel, and premium looks, it’s $999 starting price tag is justified. The iPhone Air is once again more than just a technological marvel. It is a call back to Apple of yore - when they had a cult status that was not for the masses. Quirky, limited, but immense joy and satisfaction. Ironically, the more expensive iPhone Pro lineup has become more ubiquitous, but those that still crave a beautiful experience, great performance, and exclusivity can still get that feeling with iPhone Air. Apple took a risk with this device, and I think it provides more value and inspires more confidence in the company that is willing to not play it safe.
The front of all phones look the same, but the back of this phone really does take your breath away. It isn’t really the back as much as it is the polished shiny sides and buttons that contrast with the muted, matte back glass. The camera plateau is also simplified, giving it an elegance and simplicity that makes it the best looking iPhone in years, with the iPhone 17e being a close second. The 17e takes minimalism to another level with no plateau and a single camera lens being the only thing stopping the 17e from being a flush device.
Speakers…um speaker
The speaker on iPhone Air gives you quite a bang considering its thin profile, and to be honest is more than adequate. Let’s be realistic - the target audience for the iPhone Air is more than likely to have some sort of wireless headphones, but even if they forget their wireless headphones, the single speaker works just fine in most scenarios. The only time where it was not adequate for me was in loud environments, and that’s par for the course for any smartphone.
The speaker is also in the top earpiece, meaning it is a front facing speaker. There is no way to accidentally cup your hand and block the sound like it would be on the bottom speaker of every other iPhone.
Cameras…um camera
The single rear camera performs great in most scenarios for what it is, and actually has a closer focusing distance than the iPhone 17 Pro’s main camera. Of course the 17 and 17 Pro have an ultra wide lens, which will be superior for close up shots. I do miss macro shots, but I don’t miss the distortion you get from the ultra wide. I do miss the telephoto lens as well, but it is a compromise I was willing to make. You’re buying the two-door convertible, not the 8-passenger SUV. A side benefit - you don’t have to deal with the phone auto-switching between the ultra wide and wide camera lenses when getting close to a subject.
Apple did excel with the 18MP Center Stage front facing camera, and I believe this camera will be used more than the rear camera. The front facing camera is the ultimate selfie camera, and leads to great group shots with friends and family. As a parent, no longer do you have to be the designated photographer. You can be part of the shot and frame it just right. These group photos end up being more memorable than landscape photos devoid of human joy and affection.
Battery life
It shouldn’t be a surprise that a thinner phone will have worse battery life. What is surprising though, is iPhone Air has the same battery life as iPhone 16 Pro. If you were fine with the battery life of the smaller iPhones in the past few years, you’ll be fine with iPhone Air, and will have a bigger display for it. This is even less of an issue if you have what I call great phone hygiene, planning ahead and charge your device on time.
Fast charging is a huge plus and a necessity on a device like this, and thankfully we get that:
Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately) paired with USB-C charging cable, or 30W adapter or higher paired with MagSafe Charger (both available separately).
The other thing we should all be thinking about when it comes to battery life is the idea of using your phone less. Every single one of us uses their phone more than ever before, and that increased usage will naturally lead to worse battery life. Battery life may be an issue for road warriors, but once again if that’s you, you have solutions and battery banks in hand to be prepared.
What I’m trying to say is, do we really need more battery life, or is the real problem our overconsumption?
Durability
My iPhone Air has been case-less since day 1, and I have dropped my phone a handful of times. Most of these drops are from 3 feet or less, but I never had to worry about any dents because it is made out of titanium, not aluminum. Ceramic Shield 2 is also great and the screen is still flawless after 7 months. I would be nervous dropping a 17e, 17, or 17 Pro due to its softer body that is more prone to dents and scratches. Absolutely no issues here.
Performance
For most regular tasks, this phone handles them without any hiccups or issues. You will not notice any lag or slowdowns. It is as Pro as an iPhone can be. I don’t play intense games on my phones so I couldn’t tell you the experience, but if you are a mobile gamer, you would be better off with an iPhone 17 Pro that has much better cooling with its stainless steel vapor chamber. If you’re the average iPhone user, this phone won’t disappoint from a performance point of view. If you’re a content creator and you need every ounce of performance, you already know this isn’t for you.
Display
I would call the 6.5-inch display on iPhone Air the Goldilocks size - not too small, not too big, just right. Apple might have been forced into this size as well due to the camera plateau housing the brains of the device, and the space for the battery also had to be large enough to make sure they achieve “All Day Battery Life.” They couldn’t go smaller, and going bigger would take away from the thinness aspect, so the perfect size was the only size.
Should you buy one?
The great thing about iPhone Air is that there aren’t any unpleasant surprises. You know battery life will be a challenge, and you know extensive gaming will be a challenge, both from a thermal and battery life standpoint. You also know there is a single rear camera, with no deceptive black circles that give it the illusion of having additional cameras. Everything is spelled out front and center. When you go in with these expectations, you know the sacrifices you are making, and the value spectrum for this device leans more heavily towards the visceral experience.
It’s not about numbers and facts, but about touch and feel. Many decisions we make are illogical and are based on personal preference, and if your heart is speaking towards the iPhone Air, you won’t be disappointed. The 17 Pro is a Tim Cook iPhone - a safe choice, an efficient device, and meets all the numbers. After all, Tim Cook is a numbers guy, but I’m pretty damn sure Steve Jobs, a visionary, and John Ternus, a hardware engineer, would go iPhone Air.
1 - OK, OK, I made that up myself.
Lung cancer risk is higher in people who eat…fruits and vegetables??
The new study, which surveyed 187 young patients diagnosed with lung cancer, has found an infuriating link between the incidence of lung cancer and these patients’ statistically higher consumption of healthy foods, including dark green vegetables and legumes. Medical oncologist Jorge Nieva at USC Keck, a coauthor on the new research, noted that past studies have also documented higher rates of lung cancer in agricultural workers exposed to pesticides—evidence that would support their theory of pesticides’ causal relationship to the disease.
“Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” Nieva, a specialist in lung cancer, said in a statement.
“These counter-intuitive findings raise important questions about an unknown environmental risk factor for lung cancer related to otherwise beneficial food,” he noted, “that needs to be addressed.” […]
Most patients had reportedly never smoked, possibly not even once or twice at house parties.
But what most of these young cancer patients had done is eat a statistically higher daily amount of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains compared to the average member of the general public.
Here’s what Nieva’s team found when comparing this lung cancer cohort’s data to data on the eating habits recorded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: Young lung cancer patients averaged about 4.3 servings of dark green vegetables and legumes per day, compared to the average American’s 3.6 servings. These patients also averaged 3.9 servings of whole grains daily, compared to the average American’s 2.6 servings.
One of the more blood-boiling things about these fruits and vegetables, according to Nieva, is that the non-organic varieties tend to also have higher pesticide residues than the food less health-conscious people are likely to enjoy, including dairy, meat, and many processed foods.
The part that pisses me off:
And it bears repeating that their survey-based research has only found a troubling overlap in these pesticide exposures and incidences of lung cancer, not concrete proof of a biochemical mechanism confirming these compounds are carcinogenic.
OK, so pesticides like the most infamous one (glyphosate) might cause cancer, but it’s not proven yet - there’s just a “troubling overlap” between pesticide exposures and cancer.
My family has been going organic with certain foods and we have discontinued the use of GMO cereal at our house, but everyone needs to go as organic as possible. In the back of my mind, that still won’t be enough to solve this issue.
A more recent therapeutic oil that I have been “dailying” these days is black seed oil. Great for many ailments including inflammation, blood sugar regulation, lowering bad and raising good cholesterol, and relevant to this story, great at neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals. One teaspoon a day is a good start, and probably enough for most people.
The other route? All food is bad for you and will kill you, so go all in and enjoy, and blame genetics at the end of the day. Honestly, this option is starting to feel more and more palatable.
The new study, which surveyed 187 young patients diagnosed with lung cancer, has found an infuriating link between the incidence of lung cancer and these patients’ statistically higher consumption of healthy foods, including dark green vegetables and legumes. Medical oncologist Jorge Nieva at USC Keck, a coauthor on the new research, noted that past studies have also documented higher rates of lung cancer in agricultural workers exposed to pesticides—evidence that would support their theory of pesticides’ causal relationship to the disease.
“Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” Nieva, a specialist in lung cancer, said in a statement.
“These counter-intuitive findings raise important questions about an unknown environmental risk factor for lung cancer related to otherwise beneficial food,” he noted, “that needs to be addressed.” […]
Most patients had reportedly never smoked, possibly not even once or twice at house parties.
But what most of these young cancer patients had done is eat a statistically higher daily amount of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains compared to the average member of the general public.
Here’s what Nieva’s team found when comparing this lung cancer cohort’s data to data on the eating habits recorded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: Young lung cancer patients averaged about 4.3 servings of dark green vegetables and legumes per day, compared to the average American’s 3.6 servings. These patients also averaged 3.9 servings of whole grains daily, compared to the average American’s 2.6 servings.
One of the more blood-boiling things about these fruits and vegetables, according to Nieva, is that the non-organic varieties tend to also have higher pesticide residues than the food less health-conscious people are likely to enjoy, including dairy, meat, and many processed foods.
The part that pisses me off:
And it bears repeating that their survey-based research has only found a troubling overlap in these pesticide exposures and incidences of lung cancer, not concrete proof of a biochemical mechanism confirming these compounds are carcinogenic.
OK, so pesticides like the most infamous one (glyphosate) might cause cancer, but it’s not proven yet - there’s just a “troubling overlap” between pesticide exposures and cancer.
My family has been going organic with certain foods and we have discontinued the use of GMO cereal at our house, but everyone needs to go as organic as possible. In the back of my mind, that still won’t be enough to solve this issue.
A more recent therapeutic oil that I have been “dailying” these days is black seed oil. Great for many ailments including inflammation, blood sugar regulation, lowering bad and raising good cholesterol, and relevant to this story, great at neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals. One teaspoon a day is a good start, and probably enough for most people.
The other route? All food is bad for you and will kill you, so go all in and enjoy, and blame genetics at the end of the day. Honestly, this option is starting to feel more and more palatable.
Two instances of “Face ID” like I’ve never imagined.
I spoke about my daughter not too long ago, and this past week she finally had her first cleft lip repair surgery. She was born with a mid-line cleft lip that extended into her nose and with the first surgery, the most visual defect has been corrected. She still has more surgeries in the future, but we’re taking it one step at a time. This “before” image represents what she looked like prior to surgery, and she is working her way to the “after” photo as she gets older.
The biggest change from our perspective so far is her smile. Her top lip is much narrower leading to a thinner smile, but it’s beautiful in a different way.
Speaking of other unexpected face changes, we saw multiple nurses throughout the week she spent in the hospital, and a lot of them wore face masks. Your brain subconsciously tries to complete the face of the masked person that you’re seeing day in and day out, but then you get surprised when the mask comes off and the face is not what you expected. There were no defects in their faces, but your subjective brain’s reality distortion field was expecting a certain look based on their other facial features and speech.
It’s like those AI experiments people do where they cover half their face with a hand, and ask AI to remove the hand and generate the rest of the face. It’s close, but you can tell there’s something off. My brain’s result was similar to Google’s Magic Eraser and not Apple’s Clean Up, which I consider a huge win for the human mind.
From a digital authenticity and reality point of view, Apple’s Clean Up is better because it is so bad you know the edited photo is not real and the line between reality and falsehood is obvious.
I spoke about my daughter not too long ago, and this past week she finally had her first cleft lip repair surgery. She was born with a mid-line cleft lip that extended into her nose and with the first surgery, the most visual defect has been corrected. She still has more surgeries in the future, but we’re taking it one step at a time. This “before” image represents what she looked like prior to surgery, and she is working her way to the “after” photo as she gets older.
The biggest change from our perspective so far is her smile. Her top lip is much narrower leading to a thinner smile, but it’s beautiful in a different way.
Speaking of other unexpected face changes, we saw multiple nurses throughout the week she spent in the hospital, and a lot of them wore face masks. Your brain subconsciously tries to complete the face of the masked person that you’re seeing day in and day out, but then you get surprised when the mask comes off and the face is not what you expected. There were no defects in their faces, but your subjective brain’s reality distortion field was expecting a certain look based on their other facial features and speech.
It’s like those AI experiments people do where they cover half their face with a hand, and ask AI to remove the hand and generate the rest of the face. It’s close, but you can tell there’s something off. My brain’s result was similar to Google’s Magic Eraser and not Apple’s Clean Up, which I consider a huge win for the human mind.
From a digital authenticity and reality point of view, Apple’s Clean Up is better because it is so bad you know the edited photo is not real and the line between reality and falsehood is obvious.