Government will always be abused and turned against the people so its power should be limited

Fully agreed. This is the nature of power. It is a problem as old as humanity, and there have been loads of attempted solutions to that end. Probably the oldest known is the Insulting the Meat Ritual in hunter-gatherer tribes to prevent hunters from becoming egotistical. Given the rarity of remaining hunter-gatherers, we can guess how that worked out.

Decentralization (why we’re here in the Fediverse, right?), social ownership of the economy, revocation of corporate privileges… all excellent goals to which we can aspire. It’s a bit hackneyed but the truism applies: think globally, act locally. On social ownership of the economy, may I suggest looking into timebanks? Join your local timebank if it exists; start one if it doesn’t. A lot of what timebanks (can) accomplish represents most of these ideals. Disclosure: I’m a founding board member and the treasurer of my local timebank, so I have a lot of bias for timebanks as one potential arrow in the quiver of effecting social change.

Does that answer your question?

Yes, thank you for the elaboration! I agree with your points regarding the police state. May I suggest Behind the Bastards’ 3-part on the history of policing (~2020 Jun 16)?The US has been a police state for more of its history than not. And the series underscores the Socialist tenets in your explanation: unions absolutely work. The police union in the US is ridiculously effective at protecting those “workers.” Too bad that union is protecting workers who stomp on the citizenry.

I will add that direct democracy prima facie sounds great, and I used to also hold this belief. We absolutely have the technology for a full direct democracy. The problems with direct democracy are legion, some of which we are seeing right now in the US with low-information voters. Now scale that up. The enormous volume of legislation and policy research on any single issue would stop most citizens dead in their tracks. Take international trade policy for example. My employer paid for me to study international trade compliance for five years. Ain’t nobody got time for that, and international trade policy hits all of us in the wallet, waistline, daily interactions, and health/wellness measures. We hoi-polloi still need to work, get dinner on the table, and do laundry. Voters should understand all of relevant issues at least at a cursory level, but wish in one hand, shit in the other… Hell, how many voters actually read the voter guides and research their local candidates? How many attend city council meetings?

If you want as direct a democracy as possible, focus your efforts at your local and state level. Small changes in your community have ripple effects. Get your neighbors and local social circle to educate themselves and attend. Connect with your local council and governing boards.

As @zxqwas@lemmy.world pointed out: don’t sweat the labels; choose the policies that appeal to your sensibilities. The labels and affiliations will shake out from there.

You keep repeating this, without going into any detail on what any of this means to you. How do you square economic equality with limited government? The former requires extremely strong and well-considered regulation with well-funded government agencies to stick it to corps and billionaires. Edit to add: also requires a strong, stiff-spined Legislative Branch, divorced from lobbying, divested from capital markets, with strict campaign finance reform. More regulation and agencies.

When someone says “I’m Libertarian,” the implicit translation is:

• I want to do any and all drugs I want (great, go for it; this is probably their only respectable plank, but enacted in isolation the consequences are dire)
• I want to fuck minors (eww)
• I don’t want to pay any taxes, but I still want all the trappings of a mutually beneficial society (“what do you mean my local roads are in disrepair, there’s no garbage pickup, and my neighbor poisoned my well with his unpermitted auto repair business?!”)
• AnCap FTW! (eww, again)

Libertarianism is an extremely naive political platform. Most people who subscribe to its ideals fail to investigate the history of Libertarian ideals in action. Speaking as a former, briefly Libertarian-voting individual, after diving into the planks of the platform, it quickly became clear that Libertarianism is antithetical to a functioning society.

The tuxedo kitteh is channeling Ron Swanson.

If they were, “are”, “of” and “and” likely wouldn’t be capitalized.

Yep, you’re right. I missed those.

There are lots of different style guides

I was reluctant to say anything about Chicago, APA, etc.

Totally weird possibility: the author is following the actual grammar rules trying poorly to follow a style guide for capitalization of titles.

Edit: as @hikaru755@lemmy.world pointed out, I totally missed that words were capitalized for which no style guide advises capitalization.

Serious question: what are y’all’s methods to prevent/deal with spicy pillows?

The toxicity is in the dose. If you’re actually allergic to your cat, it could be a seasonal change in his grooming regimen resulting in more saliva on his fur, which means more allergen proteins in the dander.

Another possibility: seasonal change has resulted in something blooming to which you’re mildly allergic. The combination of things might have tipped you over the edge of allergic response.

There are a ton of factors that could be in play, and only an allergist can tell you for sure what’s going on.

• Don’t be ugly, especially not inside, but it helps to look like you at least care about your body and appearance. Added bonus: by going to the gym/hiking/bicycling/being active, you’ll get out more and meet more people. The stronger your network, the more likely you will meet a person who is a good match. Funny things happen when you get deep into active hobbies: you meet more people with those same interests.
• Choose partners because of how well they match with who you are right now. Stated another way: don’t choose potential mates on deterministic physical traits. Sure, everyone wants the super-hot partner. Choose partners because traits over which they have control appeal to you.
• Even if you meet a great person, that person will most likely change. Emotional maturity here is supporting and understanding your partner’s growth. If you cannot accept how the person has changed, end gracefully and amicably. Move on.
• “Keys to her heart:” Communication. Ask, listen. Corollary to that, being explicit about your needs and wants in a relationship. Out of 8 billion people, your romantic paradigm cannot possibly be unique. It’s up to you to develop the patience, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills to fulfill those needs by nurturing healthy relationships.
• Anxiety and agoraphobia: get help. Empathy by way of anecdote, I have crushing depression, paralyzing anxiety, and nearly intractable ADHD. I spent almost three years in intensive therapy, with two separate therapists, seeing them both every week. TL;DR: want results? Put in the self-work.
• “Feels like my time of finding someone has gone past its chances:” The time is past only if you give up or you’re dead. Here’s a speedrun of how “too-late” it is: I imploded my first two marriages. The second marriage didn’t even last a year, although we were together for 20 months prior to getting hitched. After a few years of working on myself and examining the root causes of my failures, I met my dream partner at 47 years old. We just had our 8-year anniversary.
• “Hopefully I can get out of this deep hole I’m in as I’m in a terrible rut right now:” When you’re in a hole, stop digging. Change whatever it is you need to change. Otherwise if you keep doing what you’ve done, you’re going to keep getting what you got.

Meow Mix

Negative. I got mine at 23, but only because it took me five years to find a doctor who would perform it.

Good luck. Also, the recovery times are very serious.

And everyone is different (duh), but there has been a complete absence of regret. Added bonus: my partners have been very appreciative that the onus of birth control is not on them.

I see a lot of “For the PR” comments. This is only a fraction of why ads are purchased by utilities, large companies, and other entities with whom you never directly do business. The overarching reason they purchase ads is to have influence over narratives by those networks.

Source: used to develop software in the energy sector for a multinational; my employer and their corporate customers regularly bought ads to help bolster energy efficiency initiatives. These initiatives and interventions are frequently countered and opposed by exactly the corporate dickwads you think would oppose reduced consumer energy consumption.

"There was a moth. I saved you from it "

There were a couple books I read long ago, one of which I think was “Catwatching” by Desmond Morris. I can’t recall the other one. Both books indicated the chittering was a frustration sound.

If you like that, you’re gonna love “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James Loewen. I suggest this to everyone as an entry into deprogramming what was learned in US history class.

I had a partner with genital HSV-1. YMMV, but in general:

• No BFD; the stigma of HSV is the result of a marketing campaign in the 70s (not 100% on the date) by a company selling HSV treatments
• Be honest and inform your prospective partners; yeah, some people who haven’t done the reading are going to react negatively
• Antiviral treatments are available; the one my partner was a daily pill
• In eight years of unprotected sex with her, she never had an outbreak and I test negative
• You may never have another outbreak, you may have regular flare-ups, or something in between
• Talk to your doctor and any take all of my previous comments like the Internet rumor it is

By executive order, I decree that humans are, effective immediately, forbidden to ever allow the lap to disappear, ever stop petting or playing with me, or ever leave to go to work. Additionally, I now have Presidential immunity to sleep between JayleneSlide’s legs all night, and hugs and kisses must be delivered to my head at every meal time.

Always, every time.
“Why do you want to work here?”

“Because you have an opening, and the pay looks commensurate for the responsibilities. So far, the role looks like a good mutual fit. But I’m going to need more details to ensure we’re good for each other.”

I collaborate with other people who are also on DRS. Before I had teammates on DRS, I tried using Blender, Openshot, Shotcut, KDenLive. Those NLEs are just not there yet.

I actually started my solid modeling/parametric journey on FreeCAD, and I prefer the parametric workflow. I switched to Inventor when FreeCAD kept crashing when the object tree was ~60 primitives even on my monstrous workstation. I would love to go back to FreeCAD, because fuck AutoDesk in its ear, so hopefully they get the stability + complexity under control.