theogrin

theogrin, 3 months ago

@akareilly

Anyone who extols the idea that 'proper training' prevents people from making mistakes, ever, should be immediately fired, preferably in a ballistic manner.

Human beings have this natural tendency to screw up! Sometimes we do so cataclysmically! And one of the benefits of diversity and inclusion is that when one person screws up, we don't just mill about in a homogeneous herd, someone has the ability to recognize the fault and the skills to fix it.

Meanwhile, Boeing execs who can't see past 'Money == Good' are making unilateral decisions and getting people killed through their blinkered incompetence.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@Tattie @JoscelynTransient

It can be really hard to get into any social scene when everything is so... neurologically overwhelming. Overstimulating, even! I get that the theme of drag typically is the glam and the flash, the exultation of "we are HERE", but there has got to be room for the quieter moments too, if only because there's a lot of us who get locked out because of it.

Which isn't a criticism of drag per se! If I wound up in a furry rave I'd be closing my eyes and chanting, "I have to get out of here" in tempo with the wubs too. Some stuff is just Too Much.

You're not at all unworthy because of that, dear, and you're certainly no less trans for not immersing yourself in every aspect of queer life.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@Tattie @JoscelynTransient

The most enthusiastic ally... I certainly feel that. Hard as hell to move out of that mindset.

You'll get across that gulf in time, assuming that you want to! And at least there are lots of friends, discovered yet or no, to help you build that bridge.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@atomicpoet

I get that some folks are traditionally bearish on tech stocks and often that's a reasonable position to take. In truth I see a lot of bubbles about to pop WRT LLMs in the next two years.

But now that the miners' stranglehold on the GPU market has collapsed due to a mixture of crypto no longer being 'in vogue' and more specialized cards being produced to differentiate them from the typical consumer market, I've seen a lot of folks finally taking the plunge on replacing their old 1050 Tis or whatnot.

Who takes a short position in that kind of climate?!

theogrin, 3 months ago

@Wileymiller

Thankfully, I can link Monty Python's classic opus, Every Sperm is Sacred, without having to look at John Cleese's mug, morally bankrupt prat that he is. It's Jones and Palin there.

So I shall, but not before mentioning that this overture for ultimate control isn't even a question of a slippery slope: it's the logical conclusion of all of Alabama's policies and directions to date. And there's little doubt that it will also be used -- and has -- against women who miscarry for whatever reason, or a host of other theoretical infidelities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

theogrin, 3 months ago

@crashglasshouses @atomicpoet

If I may...

There is a certain subset of films produced for the Male Heterosexual Audience which are very narrowly circumscribed. This subset of films is, to put it lightly, overlarge. Within that subset, however, any female roles and indeed any non-traditionally-masculine roles are circumscribed, limited and generally reduced to a fraction of what they might ordinarily be.

So the ostensible Strong Lady Blacksmith's purpose is to create something for the much more virile Strong Male Swordsman.

To have her become the heroine of the story would be Upsetting, and thereby Unsuitable for a Male Heterosexual Audience, save in the potential that she might become the lover of the Male Heterosexual Hero.

The notion that a Strong Lady Blacksmith might in fact be the lead of an entirely different genre of story never seems to click in some minds, minds which have entirely too much sway in which productions should be produced.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@atomicpoet @crashglasshouses

I'd love to read that. And it doesn't necessarily sound gay at all.

Unless the dragon somehow takes an interest in the clumsy neophyte, in which case all bets are off.

Anyway, I've known way too many cishet guys who would absolutely adore a lady blacksmith who could fold them into an ingot with or without a hammer, so I guess it sounds like more a differentiation between 'generally not a huge audience' and 'a limited audience for which you're looking'.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@GottaLaff

As the old saying goes, "If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere!"

Trump can no longer make it there.

theogrin, 3 months ago

@AnarchoNinaWrites

People occasionally lament the inconsistency of the Conservatives' policies and directions, but it all makes sense if you realize that they're just a set of excuses which they shift around like a kaleidoscope. They don't care what the excuses are so long as they're a 'reason' to vote Conservative, be that because they think the Cons will keep them at their social standing (hah) or because it's the Party of Hate. Anything to justify that end result.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@wordshaper @charliejane

Hell, even at the end of Q Who, he's all like, "I'm in such a good mood that I'll even fix up the mess I caused, aren't I so nice?"

He is one of my favourite characters, but can't forget that he's an amoral villain and Jean-Luc and the Enterprises are simply his favourite playthings.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@Impossible_PhD

This is horrifying to the extreme. This isn't just the death of a generation. This is the death of several, the cultural obliteration of trans, enby and GNC folks in general for decades upon decades, in pursuit of a vaunted patriarchy constructed entirely of pigeonholes.

Of that 25-44 range, I would even hypothesize that the lion's share are below 35.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@Impossible_PhD

And those in the Bible Belt are the ones most likely to be unable to move. Mobility is sharply reduced in lower-income areas, in no small part by design, and especially for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, ND and other groups which are discriminated against in terms of income.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@rachel @Impossible_PhD

I don't even have to look up the doc to tell you they skew hard towards poverty, because a culture of hatred and violence doesn't just have the obvious illness and death effects, but also results in stressors which make it difficult or impossible to hold down even the most seemingly-innocuous job for long, even without the push to turn to self-medicating through alcohol or other substances.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@Impossible_PhD

It is a wonder and a blessing that we even have as many as we do -- folks like @oldladyplays who is an absolute gem and out there living her best life.

But imagine how much better we could be with more like her...

theogrin, 4 months ago

@Impossible_PhD @oldladyplays

Seriously, at some point I need to find the best way to treat her to something like Nougat or Vincenzo's or somewhere in town. (Hear that? The offer's open!)

theogrin, 4 months ago

@zazzoo

Those paying extra special attention may note links between those groups and the bankrollers of the disastrous Ottawa Convoys from the other year, which crowded the streets of our Capitol with Nazis resting their feet up against their car horns and painting swastikas on walls -- until they ran out of gas and started demanding local business owners provide them with all the respect they weren't showing to anyone else.

Have the alleged CTF started trying to convince Canadians that we have a Second Amendment up here?

theogrin, 4 months ago

@girlonthenet

If one or more of you start to feel like you own another, outside of the cute 'I'm yours and you're mine' fluff, take a step back and reassess: a relationship isn't an abrogation of boundaries or a refutation of consensual anything.

Those boundaries still and will always exist, and while they may be relaxed, now you have even more incentive to ask first.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@AnarchoNinaWrites

Doesn't take much to figure out why they use the term, either. Calling it a 'war' implies that it has two sides, and isn't just a million little murders. Calling it a 'war' implies that the oppressed, the victims, are fighting back in violent ways. Calling it a 'war' all so often implies that it can be, at all, justified.

And if there's one thing these ghouls adore, it's self-justification.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@paninid @cosmicallyf @SrRochardBunson

It's hard for me not to be continually aware, now that it's been pointed out to me, that the Evangelical movements -- hard-E -- are predicated on the very Calvinistic notion that there are Elect, and then there are Others, and the notion that By Joining Our Team, You Too Are Elect.

Except that latter is such a transparent scam that I'm almost amazed anyone still falls for it. Hope, as they say, springs eternal.

And what of the Others? Well, they don't really matter. They're just there, you know? Grist for the mill, slurry for the pigs, free labour. They, after all, don't deserve to be rich or influential, otherwise they would be.

And oh, I wish advances in technology were as straightforward as that, fueling more free time and the recalibration of human lives (and increases in lifespan!). They could be!

The people standing in the way of that, hoovering up the excess for themselves, certainly aren't the aforementioned Others.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@SrRochardBunson @paninid @cosmicallyf

I've tried to put a line in my perceptions between the hard-E Evangelicals -- the Dominionists, the Calvinists, however many flavours of premillennial dispensationists and Pentecostal megachurches you want to imagine -- and the soft-e evangelists, who do want to spread the Word, but in a manner which -- at least theoretically -- benefits the world as a whole. (Preferably without anything written by Paul.)

One can of course (and should!) get into the question of whether evangelism, soft or hard-E, is at all warranted in the first place, but that's a very different loaf of fish.

No Christian I, nor one with any sort of divine revelations or particular insight, even if I do quite like the more theological works of C.S. Lewis. One thing's for certain, though: torturing someone to 'accept' a faith, actively or passively, is a grave and horrific crime -- perhaps not in the eyes of a deity, but certainly those of reasonable human beings.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@cosmicallyf @SrRochardBunson @paninid

Never been a great fan of the prevailing thoughts on that particular light save in the meta context of the nature of human good vs. human evil from a non-religious standpoint, e.g. the 'angels vs. demons' in our heads and hearts as a metaphor for certain thoughts and actions. Even if The Screwtape Letters was a lot of fun, of course.

Of course, theodicy is also among the knottiest (and naughtiest) of problems in theological philosophy.

Paul, though, whoof. For someone who claimed to be an acolyte of a man filled with love, he certainly had a lot of hate to put out there.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@SrRochardBunson @paninid @cosmicallyf

I can't say I've ever read any of Rohr! A casual look shows that he certainly seems to have a good head on his shoulders, so I might have to amend that.

theogrin, 4 months ago

@bellule @futurebird @Laplantgenetics @Twarda

In the US and Canada, the hardline creationists have largely conceded that battle -- for the moment -- and moved onto their next big point, which is as we know the reversal of social norms and mores. There are certainly echoes now and then, though...

20-25 years ago, though, that was a fraught time. It was then that the 'teaching the controversy' bit was making real waves, to the mutual detriment of teachers and students, and thus wasn't a good time to do much of anything in, for example, a high school in Texas.

I've never understood it, myself. If you want people to appreciate the full glory and majesty of God's creation, why wouldn't you show how She put together a universe where things can gradually grow and mutate and eventually, given sufficient time, evolve into a freaking cat?

theogrin, 4 months ago

@glennf

So too Boeing's loathing of unions, because of one simple axiom:

Unions effect change.

And they effect change in part through exposing the weak links, the abuse, the inconsistencies and inefficiencies in the corporate structure as seen through the lens of workers' rights.

Criticism, in other words. Healthy stuff, like listening to your doctor when they say to cut back on a chain-smoking habit.

But some folks take that as an attack...