I dunno, pretty much my entire life it’s been choosing between degrees of evil in one party and degrees of capitalist greed sucking from another. None of the alternative parties have fielded a candidate I could support either, but that’s not the point
The point is that there aren’t two evil parties. There’s one of those, and one other party that’s full of shit, but not evil. Then there’s a bunch that are just useless because we have a first past the post system. Not that any of them are exactly bastions of goodness, even the ones that are closer to my views. They’re all fucking politicians. Never fully trust anyone that wants that kind of power and authority.
But, let’s be clear here. There’s only one party that literally courts neo-nazi votes and works to undo not only legal rights, but human rights.
My point is that the whole objection the idiots are making is bullshit.
It was never a problem to use whatever name you wanted, regardless of what your school record listed until the whiny fucks wanted a excuse to fuck with trans/other kids and hide behind the veil of religious freedom.
Nah, I think what you’re running into isn’t so much your basic opinion, it’s the venom you direct at it all, and at people that have a different opinion (and once you said “shouldn’t be” about adults liking it, you included your audience as a target of that venom whether that’s what you intended or not).
See, people seem to think that “unpopular opinion” C/s or r/s are for them to come along and rant and insult things/people.
That’s really not the point. As a matter of fact, it defeats the point because one you start ranting, you aren’t presenting an opinion, you’re just being “loud”, and often obnoxious as well. So your opinion ceases to matter, and your behavior becomes the issue.
Seriously, there’s a ton of discussion possible about Henson, puppetry in general, the Muppets in specific, and how those things work for people that enjoy them (and fail to work for those that don’t). But your post isn’t unpopular because you don’t like Muppets, puppets, or Henson. The post is unpopular because it makes you look like an asshole.
Did you intend it to be a funny rant? If so, I gotta say that you need to work on your material. Comedy can be the hardest thing to write, and doing a good rant that’s funny is much harder than regular jokes. This post? It’s like that drunk uncle bitching about a political issue at Christmas. Nobody is entertained, and any laughter is at the drunk asshole, not what they’re saying.
Fuck, for sensual, a long and hot shower is sovereign. Just kick back and enjoy the muscles unkinking (shower chairs ftw?)
Climbing into fresh sheets after said shower.
A hot cup of beverage on a rainy day, looking out over the back yard.
Cuddling with our hen. No, that’s not a typo. She’s not as cuddly as she used to be, but every now and then, she’ll nestle into my beard and trill while she gets her neck petted. Pure, simple joy right there. When she was smaller, it was every night. Now, it’s maybe once a month.
Finding a new band/performer that resonates with me on an emotional level.
Used to take joy in baking, but that’s kinda fallen off what with arthritis interfering more, but every now and then, I can pop some NSAIDs and knead a dough, or make something sweet that fills the house with that smell.
Years and years ago, I got two books in a series published by a tiny imprint that did zero marketing, and I was too noob to do any myself. Didn’t sell shit. Had trouble even getting anyone to read the damn things.
Years pass. I get disabled, and make new friends. One of them asks to read the shit, so I send him some epub files I made for my own use.
He, being the awesome fucktard he is,promptly puts copies in his book folder. Which is one of the folders he shares via soulseek.
A few weeks later, I start getting emails from random people asking if the third book is available. My files have my author email in them, so it wasn’t super confusing, but it did take a bit to figure out where the files came from for these strangers.
To date, more people have asked about the third book than ever read the printed version.
Now, would I rather have gotten paid for those reads? Fuck yeah. But, when I sent the small list of interested people a link to the series I’m currently publishing via amazon, maybe ten percent went and bought a copy of the file.
So, despite having had maybe fifty people “steal” my two books, those thefts resulted in sales anyway. Sales that I absolutely would not have gotten from those same people if they hadn’t read and liked the older stuff.
Piracy is not some noble pursuit. But, realistically, it can be an advantage if you’re small enough that it serves as advertising, or big enough that it won’t decrease sales enough to matter monetarily. Mid range “creatives”, though? They’re going to be in a bad spot from it. The conversion from pirated works to sold works is fucking SMALL. It’s small enough that if you’re struggling to make enough income to create full time, you’re fucked because you aren’t going to get serious grass roots awareness pushing sales to bump you up like that. People are going to pirate instead of buying at that popularity level.
But me? I’m fine with it. My old books, I may put up on Amazon at some point, but since I am unlikely to finish the third in the series (which is a long story), I don’t see the point. So, they’re out there, and that makes me happy. Now, maybe once or twice a year, I get a new email. That, for a no name hack like me, is better than the chump change I’ll ever get from Amazon.
Dude worked with me and two of my players (not mtg, but ttrpg) at a fast food joint back when we were still in high school, and right after.
Guy was dumb as a brick, but just genuinely nice. Always willing to help people out with whatever.
But he was couch surfing. And he’d never had good hygiene (we find out later) because his family were almost homeless, and rarely had fancy things like running water.
His teeth were literally green.
He starts playing d&d and my home brew system with us. Again, dumb as a brick, but he’s totally into it, does voices, physically acts things out, just straight baller of a player, the kind that keeps a table on a good vibe.
But Jesus fucking Christ, the smell of the guy. And his skin was horrible on top of that.
Me and one of my friends took him aside after work and talked to him about it. Me being me, I was pretty blunt. Said something like, dude, we love playing with you, you’re a great guy, but I’ve smelled rotten skunk that smelled better; what’s the deal?
He was pretty ashamed, but me and my homie reassured him that we liked him anyway, and wanted to help.
Well, dude didn’t really have a place, and had to limit himself to one bag. So we talked to my dad, and another friend’s dad. Got permission for the guy to shower at our places here and there.
I was a nurse’s assistant, got my certification during this time, and ended up having to teach the guy how to take care of himself. It was a bit weird, but as he started getting cleaner, feeling more confident, he’d open up about things. Dude didn’t know how to wash his dick properly. So my freshly 18 year old self had to instruct this mid twenties dude in how to keep his junk clean lol. Nobody else involved really knew how to teach someone stuff they took for granted, but I’d had to kinda relearn all the hygiene stuff from a new perspective, so it was easy.
Anyway, a few months into this, and he’s looking better, smelling a lot better, and lands an assistant manager position because of it. I mean, it’s fast food, so it’s a shit job, but it was a big step up for him. And it came with insurance (amazingly), so he started getting his teeth fixed up a little at a time.
About a year and a half passes, and he meets this girl at a party we were throwing. Not exactly a friend, but known to us. She sees him and gets all flustered, red faced and stuttering. Turns out, he cleans up pretty good. He’s smiling a lot more because he’s not hiding his teeth. He’s got better clothes, his own place, he’s a new guy from the outside, but still this awesome dude inside.
About a year later, they’re married. Me and the ttrpg group are all standing with him, the second of any of us to get married, and the first not to elope lol.
A little over a year after that, he’s got a kid new born, and is a regional manager. Still dumb as a brick, but because he’s able to follow instructions and the company had good ones, it’s something he can do well. Plus, everybody that worked under him loved the guy because he was still just righteous.
They ended up moving to Colorado for her job, and he was stay at home dad for a while. We kinda lost touch except for the occasional email or call, but they were happy and doing fine the last time we caught up.
There’s no real moral to all of that, but it was similar enough to the greentext I figured it might be of minor interest.
I’ll say this much; it never hurts to try reaching out to someone.
I’m not exactly what you would call concerned about meat as a food source. I’m fine with it. But anything that can break the need for industrial farming is a damn good thing imo.
I’m eager for a good product to come to market so I can at least try it. So far, there hasn’t been one that’s available that’s priced well enough to be a viable choice, nor that matches expectations of taste. Textures have gotten good though.
But I think a sausage format is a great place for cultured meats to break into because there’s a wide range of ingredients with different flavors already. We’re used to sausages being fairly varied in taste and texture, so adding a new type is less of a “new food” barrier. Tbh though, it’s gotta be better than veggie sausages, those are pretty meh at best.
I dunno, I don’t really do guilt beyond truly bad acts done by choice.
That being said, I am a chocolate milk fiend.
I have to strictly limit myself or I’d drink nothing else, and not eat anything useful nutritionally.
Chocolate in general is my one true vice. I don’t drink, I don’t use recreational drugs, I’m monogamous (and happily so), I quit tobacco, and even caffeine beyond trace amounts in decaf. But you try an take chocolate out of my life, and I will fuck you up.
I’ll even accept Hershey’s if there’s nothing else available.
But chocolate milk? Fuck me running. Cold, sweet, chocolatey goodness. I will walk right the fuck over infants and kittens if there’s a cup on the other side. Puppies? I dunno, I think I’d try to step between them, but I’m not making promises.
Home made is incredible. But my particular weaknesses are the pet trumoo, and the promised land midnight. They use thickeners that up the silky texture. The promised land stuff is meant to be more like melted ice cream, and it succeeds.
Which, don’t even ask me how quick I can kill a pint of hagendaz chocolate. Don’t blink is all I’ll say there.
I have no guilt involved there, but holy fuck is it an indulgence.
It was a horrible thing. Revising standards, enforcing good care, and making sure there was a solid path to life outside were what was needed. The flaws of the system didn’t mean that getting rid of the system fixed the problem the system was there for. It absolutely, 100% made life worse for hundreds of thousands of people.
Ya know, the Appalachians are old enough that they’re split across the Atlantic Ocean.
The international Appalachian trail is a thing.
Plus, there’s sections of the Appalachiana in the south that ended up being “settled” by people from where the biggest section of be Appalachians in Ireland exist. There’s a major Scots-Irish population in my neck of the woods.
“Settled” refers to the fact that there were already people in the area as a whole, so saying that the Europeans that took the land settled it is a a matter of not having a better word to use that wouldn’t also require an explanation.
No bullshit, not a joke. Try masturbating with your off hand.
It is a simple enough task, it gives an (eventual) reward for the work, and it helps build coordination between the muscle groups involved. It’s also enough effort that the muscles involved strengthen, and the brain has a chance to build up connections to manage that.
Seriously. It works. I had multiple patients over the years that gained benefits in learning to use their off hand after strokes (heh) or amputation. Same with friends and acquaintances in disability support groups. They’d be struggling, doing their physical and occupational therapy, but eventually run into the horny wall. Things would be difficult with masturbation at first, but it drove improvement in other areas way more than any other task.
Works for men and women (though sitting with a support group slowly working their way around to talking about it was hilarious. The blushing and euphemisms were numerous).
Truth is, anything you’ll do often enough that engages all those muscles and the brain will do the same thing. But what tasks are more enjoyable than masturbation? You gonna be chopping onions left handed regularly? Maybe whisking a nice lemon curd daily? Repetition is what builds the kind of dexterity your main hand gets.
A few months of spanking it off handed, and you can try writing, or relearning an instrument. You probably won’t ever be as good as with your primary at anything, but you can get good enough to handle daily tasks.
And here’s the realistic explanation for why and why now:
"…Orin Kerr, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote on X on Wednesday that “from a public policy standpoint, that seems like a bummer.”
“Geofencing has solved a bunch of really major cases that were otherwise totally cold,” he wrote.
“And there are lots of ways of doing the legal process (including Google’s warrant policy, although that’s just one way) that are a lot more privacy protective than ordinary warrants. But I can see why this might be in Google’s business interest. If there isn’t a lot of economic value to Google in keeping the data, and having it means you need to get embroiled in privacy debates over what you do with it, better for Google to drop it.”
It’s a good thing! It never should have been allowed in the first place. But, Google didn’t give a fuck until it caused them enough hassle. Doing this is just a way to avoid something more expensive later, it isn’t a strong principled stand. And I’d bet small amounts that they’ll still have a way to use the data anyway. It won’t be some magic wand that means Google can’t make money off of it.