How have you managed to keep any potted plants with three cats??

When I visited Europe, I had a great time talking with strangers there. One in particular said something similar, in that he thought Americans were just inherently more violent.

Listen, the reality of the situation is that we’re just as friendly and kind as we ever were. Americans are literally the most charitable population. But we’re also living in times of great wealth inequality, while our health insurance is still tied to employment. Something like half a million of us go bankrupt every year from medical debt. We are also all uniquely aware that some people will randomly get lucky, and get a massive windfall of money. Money here doesn’t just mean comfort, it means security, because if ever our luck runs out, there is no social safety net waiting to catch us. People can and often do go from the highest echelons of the social ladder, to living under a bridge, dying of some easily cured disease.

In America, it’s dog eat dog. It’s a zero-sum game. Whatever money you make, is money that I won’t. And when money = security, it means that however secure you are, is how less secure I am. 300 million of us all playing the prisoners dilemma. If we work together we could all have a good outcome, but there are so many of us that have fully bought into the me vs. everyone mentality, that it’s a near impossibility of getting all us prisoners to work together.

But a big mistake, is looking at boomer news (fox news, newsmax, oann) and thinking it reflects reality. It doesn’t. That is 100% hateful news for hateful people. If you like getting a dopamine rush from looking down on others, or doomscrolling, or in being afraid, then faux news is what you watch. Don’t mistake it with America, because it isn’t. It is actively poisoning Americans, but if ever you were to get an active faux news watcher to turn it off, sit down, and have a chat, you’d be surprised at how friendly they were. They are people who bought into the zero sum game, but even they know how/when to be charitable.

AP, Routers, BBC, Al Jazeera.

Whenever I want to know the facts without any editorializing, I go for AP.

“built like a brick shit house”

“Off-season body builder”

“strongman”

DOTA 2 is my primary time waster, have over 3000+ hours on it. It’s endlessly entertaining, because there is so much variability in the games. You have 4-8 spells depending on the hero, with 6 active item slots, which means once your team has leveled up, team fights can be a burst of seconds, or a 5+ minute long affair, with each tank employing different survival strategies to block damage, heal, or escape, just to heal and get right back in it. There are multiple different game modes, but are a little challenging to find and play. Still, it is the one game I play with the steepest learning curve. I don’t think I saw myself as “good at the game” until I was around 1000 hours in 😶‍

Smite is the only other game I have 1000+ hours in. I started playing it as a break from DOTA 2, and as a way to connect with my little brother. It’s a lot like DOTA 2, but far more simplistic. Each god has 4 spells, with no active items. Instead of left-clicking for movement on a map, you use WASD to maneuver your god. It’s fun, and you can pick it up after like 30 hours. The different game modes are a lot easier to navigate than in DOTA, but it’s also a lot less engaging. The updates and quests are all very simplistic. I was going to try out the new Smite 2, but after watching some game play, it looks… exactly the same as Smite 1.

When I was working as a line cook in college, I was one of two white guys behind the line, with the rest of our BOH (Back Of House) crew being black. One day on the line we were all joking around like we always did. One of the black cooks, named Rose (he was an older guy, with coke-bottle glasses and strong, thickly calloused hands. He had a snaggle tooth and a big ol’ pot belly), was regaling us with stories about how he has a veritable harem of women at his beck and call. He told us he was supporting like 5 different women, and all of them were entirely devoted to him.

I thought that he was being hyperbolic, and decided that I would poke fun. I was going to say something like “Rose, I can’t believe for a second that even 1 woman would be after your ugly mug.” But my midwestern-whiteness shone through, and before I could deliver that absolute blister of a line, I decided to use an exclamation so as to punctuate my lack of belief in his statement. I started with “Ooh boy,” and didn’t get to finish.

I was immediately accosted by Rose, his spatula gripped tightly, and he was mad as hell. The other line cooks were instantly aware of the situation and reacted to hold him back, as Rose was about to knock my befuddled ass into next week. Eventually they were able to calm him down, and explained to my dumbass that calling a black man “boy” was explicitly racist, and derogatory.

We were fine once he realized I had no idea it was racist, I just thought of it as an exclamation along the lines of “Boy howdy!” or something.

It was a very eye-opening moment.

I like to do that with great albums. I’ll listen to the whole thing, just, over and over and over again. Until I’ve got pretty much the whole thing memorized. Then I go on to another one. I’ll only do it that way if the whole album is banging, though.

Past examples include:

• Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
• My Morning Jacket - Circuital
• Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the 36 Chambers
• Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid Maad City (& DAMN)
• RadioHead - Kid A (& OK Computer)
• Jeff Tweedy - Warm
• The Tragically Hip - Day For Night

EDIT: couldn’t find the full Tweedy Album, so just linked my favorite song from it

Here’s the nested article, i.e. the article your article is talking about: October 23, 2024, By Blair Fix; The American Housing Crisis: A Theft, Not a Shortage

Reads very well, really puts this in perspective. Extreme income inequality is the root of most Americans problems.

I feel like it’s shaped in a way to trap heat, but then the smoke vent just negates that?

Perhaps counter-intuitively, if your pockets are full of Mom’s spaghetti, you’re more likely to be structurally sound.

but the resulting fire can absolutely diminish their load capacity, making them frail and pliable like boiled spaghetti

The single greatest take-away I got from medical school, is that some doctors can be incredibly stupid. They’ll examine you, then step out into the hall and google your symptoms. I wish I was being facetious.

When I was in medical school, I had to drop a deuce during a break between lectures. While I was in there, performing spectacularly, some other guy came into the restroom (situated just outside the lecture hall) and shouted “Is somebody takin’ a shit in here!?”

and I was just like, “…yeah, where else would I do it?”

But I feel like that guy who openly questioned why someone would shit in a bathroom, is exactly the same type of guy that would question someones masculinity over how they choose to take a piss.

I mean, little dude peaked at two months old as emperor of Russia, then was Man-in-the-Iron-Masked until his death, right at the moment of his release.

Russian or Greek, it’s a freaking tragedy. I hope the guard that followed orders in killing him before he could be released was subsequently wrecked. Freaking bootlickers, man. They exist in every century.

Upon the accession of Peter III in 1762, Ivan’s situation seemed about to improve, for the new emperor visited him and sympathised with his plight, but Peter was deposed just a few months later. New instructions were sent to Ivan’s guardian to place manacles on his charge, and even to scourge him should he become unmanageable.

Dang. Upon the doorstep of deliverance, a new emperor visiting your cell, empathizing with your position, only to have him deposed just as ruthlessly, and your situation made all the worse. How is this a real story and not some terrible ancient Greek tragedy?

I feel your pain, man. I once spent months planning a costume Halloween party. Spent over a grand in decorations alone, just spooky-ing up the house like crazy. Got special desserts made, sent out invitations through email and instagram, a freaking flyer with the info, did an online poll to make sure I was doing it on the right weekend so the most people could attend, texted my best friend at the time like, everyday for weeks making sure he at least came.

Come the night of, almost every single person had cancelled, and my (former) best friend just didn’t want to make the 35 minute commute, so he didn’t even come.

Sent out another instagram message to everyone with my original party flyer but with a big “Cancelled” written across it. Ended up slowly eating all the snacks party treats over the course of a week or so. Cleaned up the decorations, and realized that now that I’m divorced, people see me different, with less respect. It’s been a difficult transition, and I’m thinking about just packing up and moving to a whole new area, to make new friends, because that shit SUCKED.

I know that the majority of them had good excuses, but the few that didn’t… man. Yeah it really hurt, and now 2 years later I rarely if ever make time for those “friends.” I’ve just spent more time on myself, growing and becoming more comfortable in my solitude. I’m at a place where, despite a lot of present difficulties, I like myself. I’m proud of who I am, and am slowly putting myself out there more (while also planning on getting the hell out of dodge lol)

The same cognitive dissonance that allows them to both act on, and excuse instances of molestation in their community/family, is the very same driver of their wanton disregard of the people harmed by republican policies. They see any instances of pedophilia in their ranks as “just a bad apple,” while they identify an entire race of people as rapists if a single news report shows a member of that race/minority group committing such an act. It’s entirely predicated on their belief that they are superior, and it is because of something inherent within them, that does not exist in others. They judge themselves not by their actions (and consequences of said actions) but by their intentions, while they have no such qualms demonizing any number of minority groups for the actions of a single member.

so, short answer, yes.

Long answer, yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

because women approach him and treat THEMSELVES as sex objects

That’s some A+ victim blaming right there. E. Jean Carroll didn’t do shit

That’s a nice thing your mom did, and your tattoo is a great reminder that however bad we’re feeling in the moment, that “this too, shall pass.”

Such a hilarious show, Extras was