zdl

zdl, 13 hours ago

@razumasu I used to be a Folio Society member. It wrecked me to leave behind all those books when I moved here. :(

zdl, 12 hours ago

@razumasu I took a very small number of my very best books with me to China. I donated the rest of my best books (including all the Folios) that weren't snapped up by friends to a hospital library where a friend of mine's mother spent hospice time. (She'd complained that the library had basically a) crappy romance novels, and b) nothing else.)

zdl, 1 day ago

@andreas_gay @InternetEh Yes, it is a very foolish statement and you should be ashamed of making it.

But you won't be.

You're a white guy so you're always right.

zdl, 1 day ago

@joeinwynnewood Here's a thought from the outside view.

Instead of threatening dire consequences ELECT LEADERSHIP THAT INSPIRES, YOU FUCKING AMERICAN DOLTS! The Democrats have relied on that old schtick of "sure we're bad, but the other guy is worse!" for so long it's simply stopped working.

The American left is easily as dysfunctional and idiotic as the American right. They're just mildly more pleasant as people.

Sometimes.

zdl, 1 day ago

@joeinwynnewood Yes. I live in the PRC where I literally don't have a choice: neither as a non-citizen nor even as a citizen were I one of them. I have no say (and would have no say) whatsoever in who is in government or what the government does short of armed insurrection.

You live in a country where, as imperfect at the systems are, you DO have a choice. And you consistently choose shit governments that get shittier over time because you're more intent on "the other guys" than yourselves.

zdl, 1 day ago

@joeinwynnewood I go back to pointing to "inspiration".

Whether he's done good or not, it doesn't help if he doesn't fire up his fan base. Even before he fumbled (pratfalled) so badly on the Palestinians, Biden was not firing up the fan base.

Nobody in the Democrats was. Because the Democrats systematically ousted anybody who could.

Nobody who counts in an election—the voters—was fired up by the Democrat messaging and now they're paying the price. Enjoy your four more years of Trump.

zdl, 1 day ago

@Snowshadow @TonyStark @GottaLaff What is it about the American left that makes it incapable of learning from history?

zdl, 1 day ago

@Snowshadow @TonyStark @GottaLaff The issue here isn't extreme or lack thereof. The issue is using the same failed tactics from the same failed playbook over and over and over again.

"Vote Remain or you're a racist." Britain votes Leave. Insert surprised Pikachu face.

"Vote for Hillary or you're a sexist and a racist." Trump gets elected. Insert surprised Pikachu face.

Every fucking time, the left presents things as negatives and consequences like they're fundie preachers, FFS!

zdl, 1 day ago

@Snowshadow Social movements—all of them—are based on inspiration. Inspiration is primarily based on positive narrative with a tinge of fear of consequences.

The American (and Canadian) left lack that narrative. Everything is framed in terms of "do this or X bad thing will happen". There's no "and if you do it, this Y good thing will happen".

Trump, the odious fatberg that he is, has a narrative that is positive to his target audience; he inspires them. The left reads like an income tax form.

zdl, 1 day ago

@Snowshadow @ZebKing @TonyStark @GottaLaff This mitosis was engineered by decades of patient work from the right, blended with the shortsightedness and fractiousness of the left.

zdl, 1 day ago

@TonyStark @Snowshadow @GottaLaff Please do 'splain to me.

I'm listening.

Don't worry about the total lack of subsequent engagement. That's how I listen.

zdl, 1 day ago

@Snowshadow @ZebKing @TonyStark @GottaLaff Nope. Not just the far left.

Look into the history of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in Canada. The NAC was once a HUGE political force. It systematically tore itself apart from within until its dissolution was basically a mercy killing.

Can you guess which way women's rights went while it was infighting?

zdl, 2 days ago

@alex @tea 港口 just means "port", so it's "port tea".

I'm going to guess it's shorthand for a specific port that is famous for tea shipment. Kind of like how 普洱, a trading town, became the name for a "class" of tea, pu'er, (when it's really a bewildering variety of classes of tea) or how المُخا was a major trading port in Yemen where coffee was famously traded gave us the term "Mocha" as shorthand for coffee.

zdl, 2 days ago

@r3trofitted Oh, ugh! That's terrible!

When I went to Canada in 2016 I bought some special deli sausages that friends of mine in China wanted to taste. (Air-cured salami, basically.) I visited a friend in Vancouver while on a 12-hour layover and put the sausages in her fridge to give them another boost of chill before a 13-hour flight in the cargo hold.

Guess who forgot to take them with her when rushing back to the airport to catch said 13-hour flight?

TL;DR: I feel your pain.

zdl, 3 days ago

@mhoye Normally I'd find the use of the word "sheeple" a red flag, but in this case…

…wait for it!…

If the shoe fits…!

zdl, 3 days ago

@mima Isn't tencha made from powdered tea?

zdl, 3 days ago

@mima I'm pretty sure it is made from powdered macha, but I'm not positive.

zdl, 2 days ago

@KathyReid And while you're at it, if you enjoyed the book, try to find some way to get a small pittance to the author(s) of the work to show your appreciation.

(Plural "you". I hate English.)

zdl, 5 days ago

@Emmadrime I worked (in marketing) for techie companies long enough to know that … well, never rely on a techie company for something that's important to you.

That's why I don't use any online RPG tools. RPGs are important to me and getting hooked on a techie product for them is a recipe for heartbreak. I don't rely on them for my music (all my music is local, not streamed). I don't rely on them for my writing efforts (fountain pen and paper, thanks).

Probably why I never got into video games.

zdl, 4 days ago

@Emmadrime Unfortunately I didn't do this on a moral stance. I did it on a practical stance before the immorality of streaming services started to shine clearly: I don't trust tech firms to not delete everything unless I have a copy of my own.

I don't use cloud storage without local copies. Cloud storage is convenient, but companies deciding to shut it down is a risk, so I always have local. Same with streaming. Except I don't find streaming convenient because I hate interruptions in music.

zdl, 4 days ago

@keepassxc Threads lke this are a great resource for identifying people to mute or block.

zdl, 3 days ago

@NotImpressed @KarunaX Large organizations' true nature can be oft be discerned from the name they chose.

The old German Democratic Republic (East Germany) wasn't even slightly democratic. The current Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is neither democratic nor does it give a shit about the people. The United States of America are not united in any meaningful sense.

So they call themselves a democracy in the same vein: it's what they desperately want you to believe.