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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

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  • Oh, no! It’s not just harassment!

    You can destroy someone’s life and livelihood because you think they’re gay!

    Getting fired from a job at a time when the federal gov is actively cutting social supports, and intentionally driving the economy to ruin when most U.S. citizens have meager savings (if any), and are dependent on employer provided health care is an instant path to free fall for most people! Unless those peasants have family that is willing and able to support them, or a high demand skill that will overlook a recent firing (an automatic D/Q on most HR systems), they are going to lose their ability to feed themselves, pay for their housing, and their transportation in this car-poisoned society.

    It’s not merely a little ‘fuck you’ but you can end their relationships, destroy their health, prevent them from working in their chosen field, and make them die on the streets! Even barring the most extreme outcomes, the health and financial implications from the stress or loss of income can permanently adjust the trajectory of their life (and the life of everyone that is close to or dependent on them) downward.

    Exciting times for soulless bigots!


  • I don’t disagree that there is a strategy of downplaying not just Biden’s, but every politician’s health conditions.

    I used to have this absolutely incredible writing professor, who, at 85, told us on the first day of class that he was dying, and had been for 4 years. He even had a blog about his reflections on mortality that he invited us to read. He had prostate cancer. I don’t remember the details, but they couldn’t operate to remove it or do chemo, but it was the kind that is hormone sensitive. They gave him a drug that destroyed his body’s ability to produce testosterone, so the cancer just stopped growing. He died at 90 - 9 years after his diagnosis. 10% extra life for him.

    No two people and prognosis’ are alike but the possibility exists they might be telling the truth about managing it.













  • I know of an organization attached to a prestigious university that solely exists because at the end of some billionaire’s life, he decided he wanted to chuck some cash into a foundation to try to burnish his image.

    But he was so morally corrupt that his version of helping others was to mandate that the foundation focus on “helping” people in developing countries find business opportunities.
    Read: they assess how people and environments can be exploited for capitalism while focusing on telling stories about how that exploitation improved the quality of life for people there.
    Most of the professors who work with the foundation are very wealthy from their non-academic pursuits.


  • Not only do I have an increased range of motion, but I (very recently learned) that an old injury is causing spinal stenosis – my spinal canal is narrowing due to bone overgrowth on my vertebrae. (Car accident. I was rear ended.)

    About 20 years ago a chiropractor popped my neck by twisting it, and it so freaked him out that he leapt back from the table and did the heebie jeebie dance.
    He told me to never let a chiropractor pop my neck by twisting it ever again.
    Reasonably certain I could kill myself showing off doing yoga, like in that Dead Like Me episode.



  • I mean, everyone is already fucked, and that’s what keeps everyone else in check.

    Russia has made great efforts to hack municipal systems all over the world, and may actually have some control over Microsoft systems, owing to that credential hack last year that Microsoft still hasn’t confirmed is contained. (Recent Russian hacking campaigns are using malicious signed MSI files, so my bet is no…)

    China has all that communication equipment everywhere, with rumors swirling that it’s intentionally compromised. There’s also Tuya, a massive IOT company that produces its own products and also white label products. And there’s all the EV power inverters that can be hacked and used as a botnet to destroy electrical grids. Not that they need to, because apparently they can shut down the U.S. power grid remotely. And who knows what they’ve managed to do with the U.S.’s backdoor access into telecom systems.

    The U.S. has its own devices, hacking, and infiltration efforts, although as a U.S. citizen, my awareness of them is decreased due to U.S. media.

    But my core point is that there’s basically a digital Cold War happening. And the U.S. is all but surrendering, making successful surveillance, hacking, and sabotage campaigns more likely.
    If a situation goes hot at the same time that large parts of U.S. see poisonings or health issues en masse due to tampering with water supply chemical or filtration systems or even the possible destruction of drinking water systems, the explosion of natural gas lines as C&C systems over pressurize domestic lines, followed by a prolonged grid-wide electrical outage, the U.S. will have basically no ability to do anything but focus on domestic issues.



  • I also see this as a move that increases U.S. isolationism. It will trigger reciprocal tariffs, and those will both bolster non-U.S. media production, but harm the U.S. film industry.

    One of the U.S.’s greatest exports is its culture. Perhaps not great in a moral or any other objective measure, but the media the U.S. creates is one of its greatest sources of influence (read: soft power) in the world.

    Isolating media and giving other nations room to grow is, well, fair play to them, but an unforced error. Another step in the direction of failed statehood.


  • Sleep has always been a challenge for me. Unmedicated I will either not be able to fall asleep until 2-3 in the morning, or will fall asleep around 11-12, and wake up at 4-5 am.

    Throughout the years I’ve tried various modifications to my sleep routine, and am no stranger to medications to help me sleep. (Doctor supervised, while paying attention to all side effects and interactions. Do not try to manage your own sleep without significant research. Case in point: Long term use of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) has been linked to dementia.)

    I’ve found that of the things in my sleep routine, the melatonin is the best tool I have to facilitate falling asleep, and having an outlet for my energy during the day is the best way to ensure staying asleep.

    It’s also useful to note your surroundings. During winter I’m woken up a lot at exactly 4:40 am, because a neighbor uses their remote start, which causes their car to beep 4 times. (It’s very annoying, because they park on the street outside of my place and start their car as they’re walking to it, so it’s not as if the beeping is for a useful purpose.)
    Is something else environmental happening?