Calling Festinger's 1956 When Prophecy Fails the canonical text supporting cognitive dissonance is misleading imo. That'd be his 1957 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, which draws on multiple everyday examples and studies. It may also be flawed, but that's where the foundations are laid out.

*demonstrated, not "suggested"

Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with the message of your OP... but I do absolutely agree with that too!

Blood Incantation used that pic, in b&w, for an EP cover. On which note, if you're looking for something both extreme & extremely trippy (think death metal sliding into Tangerine Dream sliding into Pink Floyd and back: perfect for a toke), check out their recent Absolute Elsewhere, if you've not 👌

Sharpener or parer when I was in school (Wicklow). First time encountering "topper" in my life.

Sign of a good joke: someone getting it despite not knowing the current context 👌

There is all the difference in the world between being liked and being reposted.

Call me 5-ish.

I fondly recall taking the time to program the main riff from Metallica's Seek & Destroy into my Samsung only to have folk repeatedly ask me what my "disco ringtone" was.

Perfect line for a character transported to mythological Ireland.

Quality of one's butter is the key factor in the chip butty.

A firm favourite of mine from that era, and that's saying something: the whole constellation of electro artists either with or peripheral to Ninja Tune back then marked a creative peak that easily rivalled the highest points of the 90s.

👌

Worth looking at where some of the billions (yes, billions) in public money which science pumps into the private companies it has grown dependent upon ultimately ends up: