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sxan

@[email protected] 

<span style="color:#323232;">       🅸 🅰🅼 🆃🅷🅴 🅻🅰🆆. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖍 
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sxan ,
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I want to know why. Are they going to gun stores while traveling and saying, "holy shit! Hornady Critical Defense 9mm for $20 a box‽ I can't pass this deal up!" That's the only thing I can think of.

Nicotine addiction isn't that bad - tobacco companies encourage the belief that it's more severe to keep people smoking

Tobacco companies had to own up to the fact that smoking is harmful in the 1960s when undeniable evidence came out. People struggled to quit because it is somewhat addictive, but mainly because they enjoyed it....

sxan ,
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Thank you.

I smoked for a decade, 1-2 packs a day. Met my wife; she didn't smoke, so I quit cold turkey. That was 20 years ago; I've smoked 4 cigarettes since I quit, 3 of those in one night about a decade ago.

I also drank alcohol - like, normal amounts, not day drinking - and abruptly gave that up a couple of years ago. Now, I have maybe a drink a month.

Quitting this kind of stuff has never been hard for me, but I believe that's purely genetics, because I have 0 willpower. I am simply not prone to addiction, and thank goodness, because I'd probably already be dead by now otherwise. But I hit the genetic jackpot on that one; many (most?) people haven't.

The moral of your story is: don't extrapolate onto everyone else based on your own experience.

sxan ,
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It's far more likely that it's because VPNs make it much harder for Reddit to track you, and sell the data.

As proof, I offer: this behavior is the same for other companies who monotonize visitors, such as Instagram. 99% of the rest of the web does not block VPN traffic. Not Amazon. Not Bing. Not Lemmy; not Mastodon. Google has started to require CAPTCHA in an attempt to annoy people out of using VPNs, but they let you in eventually.

It's purely profit-driven; it has nothing to do with abusive traffic.

sxan ,
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UK server, OK. Fine. But OP has never been to Pennsylvania in the US. Most houses over a hundred years old look like this: you can see the generations that have lived in it. First it's stone and mortar; then there's a wood addition ca. the early 1900s; then there's a more modern addition ca. the 50's or later. There's one property that was briefly famous as it came up in Zillow that had 5 clearly distinctive styles and technologies worth of additions on it; it's like every generation added another room with whatever was in style at the time. I can't find a picture, but it was hideous.

I don't know if it's common all along the mid-Atlantic, but it is super common in Pennsylvania.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

They should get their assess back in the kitchen, and let their husbands do the voting. Uppity women.

/s, just in case

Jeff Bezos revealed his secret to Amazon’s success 25 years ago: ‘I asked everyone around here to wake up terrified every morning, their sheets drenched in sweat’ ( www.cnbc.com )

Back in the 90s, Jeff Bezos went on record as hoping his employees would wake up on the wrong side of the bed—for the greater good, or for the customer at the very least....

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

sigh. I literally know people who will take this to heart, who already mostly believe this is how companies should operate, and don't need much more
" proof" like this.

Yes: if you beat your slaves, they will work harder until they die, at which point you can replace them. It's true. You can be successful this way.

It bugs me to no end that we've created an economic model that measures success by exactly one metric: profit. It's such a shitty situation with a disastrous, unsustainable end; it's just taking a long time for it to play out.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

In good faith: did you hear anyone actually say this? Biden's a Clinton Democrat: more friendly to big business than to the working class. He was never going to be a class-leftist, and nobody promised he would be.

But he has been socially liberal, and he didn't need any nudging. He was always socially liberal.

And those are your choices, for better or worse: an economically right-leaning, socially left-leaning old white man; or an economically hard-right, socially hard-right old white man.

The only way to fix this is to get rid of the electoral college and implement something other than first-past-the-post voting. Not voting is not going to fix it. In the meantime, you try to get the guy elected who isn't trying to instigate a dictatorship.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Be sufficiently tired.

Someone else told an anecdote about being in the Army, and they have it 100% on the nose. Be forced to wake up at 4am every day; start out with an hour of cardio, then spend the rest of the day being physically active; don't be allowed to crawl into bed until some time between 8 and 10, depending on events you don't control. Do this every day - excluding Sundays - for two months. I guarantee that, by the end, you will be able to fall asleep almost instantly the moment you are allowed to sit or lay down and know you've got at least 10 minutes until you have to move again.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Yup! I wouldn't have chosen the word "hustle;" it has connotations of a rip-off. I think most people were aware that there was a mark-up, but it felt more capitalist than simply giving someone a hand-out.

I wonder how much of a real niche this filled, though. Maybe you could buy a box of ten for a nickel, and one from a homeless person for a penny; but you only had to spend a penny, a single pencil would last you a couple of days, and you'd have enough left of your nickel for a cup of coffee. Plus, you were aware of the charitable aspect. Or maybe you really couldn't afford to spend a whole nickel on a box of pencils. I suspect, though, it was more the charity thing.

I also now wonder what the average mark-up was.

sxan ,
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It's been a couple of generations since we've had a world war. We're due. With any luck, the Russian nuclear arsenal will be in as good shape as the rest of their military.

sxan ,
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Yeah. I want the name of the hedge fund. It's not like it being secret will help; they've already given away the strategy. No name, no game; bullshit.

Probably written by some C level extrovert whose panties are in a twist because he doesn't see "butts in seats." It's so sad to not be able to roam around your office space lording your position over the peons, boo hoo.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Not at Starbucks. I mean, you can customize your order and ask them to tone it down on the additives, but if you just order off their menu, you either get a black coffee or (I like how OP said it) a milkshake.

sxan ,
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I've occasionally wondered the same thing about sexy time. Like, what if they don't both like the same kind of sex? One likes it rough, the other sweet and soft?

I suppose the answer to that is obvious, but it leads me to questions like: how are accusations of rape handled when one twin was consenting? Again, the answer seems obvious, but aside from the biological challenges, conjoining raises a whole host of other minor dilemmas.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Fucker grabbed that tail, and once he had a hold, he couldn't let go lest he be eaten.

I hate the comparison; Trump's as much a tiger as I am a blancmange. But his base are like pirhanna, and there's no apt metaphor involving dumb, swarming fish.

sxan ,
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God, I hope you're not joking. I can't tell; that could be an Onion title.

sxan ,
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Put me down as preferring to no be bitten by anything.

That's one unattractive fish.

sxan ,
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Interesting. Similar here, only it's paracord and fancy knots.

sxan ,
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This absolutely cracked me up, and my wife didn't understand why I found it so funny. It took a moment for me to realize it's because it's the same schtick as one of my favorite passages from any book.

Two stoned people are having a conversation:

VIRGINIA: Are you hungry?
ANDY: No. (Long reflective pause.) Wait a minute. Did you mean am I hungry for food, or am I hungry in the abstract, like hungry for knowledge or adventure?
VIRGINIA: What are you talking about?
ANDY: You asked if I was hungry.
VIRGINIA: Did I?
ANDY: Yes.
VIRGINIA: Well, are you?
ANDY: Am I what?

A Child's Garden of Grass, by Jack S. Margolis. 1970

sxan ,
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Do you have any bookmarks for evidence supporting this claim that you could share?

sxan ,
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That's because many of them are off-duty cops. And why would you arrest your friends?

sxan ,
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I think that's a local thing. My grocer carries them, and they're always in stock. I line in the Midwest. But I seem to remember eating them a lot in Oregon, too?

sxan ,
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Round, yellow, rough skin? Crisp like an apple, but sweet like a pear (less tangy than an apple)? If that's what you mean, 100% agree. They're fairly common, IME; we got them all the time in PA, and see them frequent-ish in the Midwest.

sxan ,
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I've heard rumors that, while we see two kinds of mango in the US, there are many more varietals in India, and they're all better. I'd like to have access to some of those; mangoes rock.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

But at my back, I always hear
Time's winged chariots hurrying near
And yonder all before up lie
Deserts of vast eternity.

"To his coy mistress"
Andrew Marvell

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Your first example is more a symptom of bureaucracy, isn't it? Most workplace processes of any age accrue tedious, overly complex steps and checks.

The second is... well, a little surprising. Someone got fired for not managing backups properly. But it's no worse than 30 years ago when a single, relatively contained fire could destroy all of a company's records.

Or is this a case of sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic? I'm sure it must seem like it from a non-technical person's perspective. Heck, jet engines at magic, to me. The big space rockets, too - there's so much more going on than just a long, controlled explosion, and I don't understand most of it.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

You are right, but many Americans probably wouldn't get it if you used Stalin. For better or worse, Hitler is the face of fascism; Stalin the face of communism. They were both fascists, as were Mussolini, and Stalin.

It's just short-hand imagery; everybody knows what you mean. Pinochet was a fascist dictator, but he was also a brutal sociopath, so he's confusing, even if people recognized him.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

fascism

  1. A political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism)
  2. Extreme right-wing, authoritarian, intolerant, racist or nationalistic views or behavior

How do neither of these apply to Stalin? Note the "or" in the second definition. The "Nazi" party was the "National Socialist" party. You have to look at the actions, not just the labels, right? Stalin was authoritarian, intolerant, and nationalistic. He created an authoritarian hierarchical government.

Stalin fits both definitions of Fascism. It doesn't matter that he was at war with other fascists; monarchies had for millennia fought other monarchies - it didn't make them not-monarchies.

sxan , (edited )
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

I could never make a comprehensive list; fascism has been all-too common.

Well, I probably could make a comprehensive list, but I'm not. But Franco was another prominent one, so that was a good catch.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

I'm only ignoring it because what you're saying isn't in the dictionary definition of "fascism," and I'm not a political theorist. I'm just going by what the good book says.

belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and/or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy

What about Stalin makes you think he demonstrated any of this?

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Is the context significant for UnpopularOpinion? Because I feel as if you posted pro-Trump fascism here, you'd get upvoted as being a truly unpopular opinion, but if you did the same 70 miles N of Minneapolis, you'd be quite popular.

Lemmy is left-leaning, and vegetarian-leaning to a lesser extent, so I'd say OP's opinion is probably unpopular on Lemmy. If we're taking nationally, then sure, it's not an unpopular opinion, but most of these are evaluated in the context of Lemmy. Not Twitter, not Reddit, not Fox News.

Now, if you disagree with me about the veg-bent, that's another thing. Maybe it's just my local server amplifying those voices, and I'm wrong about the larger Lemmy zeitgeist.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

instead of voting on whether or not it's unpopular and thus appropriate as a post.

That's because it's absurdly counter-intuitive. Maybe that was the original intention, but it was doomed to always have this problem. Literally: we vote literally the opposite you vote everywhere else.

But this brings up my favorite pet peeve about Lemmy: the authors wasted a perfect opportunity to fix one of the biggest problems with Reddit, which Reddit kinda eventually fixed with awards, except they monotonized it. If Lemmy had the ability to do emoji responses like github, it'd go a long way to solving the problem that voting has a dual-purpose -- and contradictory -- use: to elevate as "interesting," and to demonstrate approval. And now behavior is entrenched.

But you can, usually, vote based purely on exposure to the topic

You lost me. You're suggesting that you vote based strictly on personal opinion, I think?

Since I have seen people order (or try to order) milk with a wide range of cuisines

I live in the Midwest, close to Wisconsin. If you don't, you might be surprised at the wide variety of things Midwesterners will put cheese curds in.

Oh! I lived through, and absolutely adore what happened in Japan with dairy. At one time, cheese was (as I understood it) to be fairly widely regarded as being disgusting. On a trip to Singapore a while ago, I discovered the Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory, which made ice cream in cheese flavors. And not, like, mascarpone; no, full on Gouda and Roquefort! It is hilarious! I've recently seen some similar offerings in the States, but I love that it was the Japanese that went from "hate" to "bizarre combinations even Americans would shy from."

sxan ,
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According to the TSA, it's a jacket. Ask me how I know.

sxan ,
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Not in my case, but if did involve a very minor disagreement with a TSA officer.

I very minor disagreement: I'm not stupid. But I was a white male US citizen, otherwise I wouldn't have risked it.

sxan ,
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Wait... single issue politics is a real, proven, thing. Don't lump that in with ad hominem attacks. If you're not going to vote for someone you otherwise would because of a single issue, you're a single issue voter.

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

I thought that's what I wrote, but if it didn't come across right, I apologize.

Single issue voting means how you vote is determined by a single issue. That includes not voting at all because of a single issue. What I meant to say above is that if you would vote for X, but choose to not vote at all because of one issue, you're a single issue voter. A single issue is deciding your vote.

As Rush once sang:

If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Fair points. I'm guilty of just saying "single issue voters," without elaborating on every comment. That could easily be seen as an indirect ad-hominem attack. Maybe I should make a copy-pasta response for whenever I see someone arguing for single-issue decision making.

That said, there are justifiable single-issue decisions. If Trump was spouting rhetoric about shutting down all support of Israel, yeah. I can stand behind folks "switching sides" over this. Free Choice, ditto. 2A I have a harder time with, but that's because there are usually so many other issues that you'd think are more important. Not my decision, but I have less sympathy for people who think being able to own a gun is more important than the ability to unionize.

Anyhoo, like I said: fair points.

sxan ,
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Hold on... I need to whiteboard this.

https://uploads.dailydot.com/2023/11/charlie-day-meme.jpg

sxan ,
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Gotta love the Satanists. They're fighting the good fight.

sxan ,
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1999? Did bell-bottoms have a come-back in 99? I remember a brief spurt, but the heyday of bell bottoms was in the 70's.

sxan ,
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Believe me, the 70's ones did too.

sxan ,
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Wasn't his corruption already disturbing?

sxan ,
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Shaolin wisdom:

"When the knitters migrate to the Fediverse, then you will be ready to leave (Reddit)"

sxan ,
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Has it corrected? He mentions in TFA that polling started to get really wrong as early voting for more popular, and wasn't properly accounted for. I admit, I was one of the ones that lost faith in 538 because of the repeated dissonance. They knew something was off, but seemed unable to adjust their models to account for it. I still appreciate his analysis, but I'd love it if he's addressed the issues in the modeling.

sxan ,
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Can't tell if it's misspelled "Cock" or misspelled "Glock," or something I've never heard of called "Glock."

sxan ,
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Oh. The more you know, I guess.

I think I'm on the wrong channel.

sxan ,
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Full-torso resistance training. Sissy joggers in their lightweight tank-tops; do your 5k in full combat kit and be a real wo/man.

Do I need to add the "/s"?

sxan , (edited )
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Don't you think all of the grimdark/cyberpunk/Dark Night stuff that started happening in the 90s is essentially goth leading leaking* into media? It all started happening in the same decade, and has been pervasive since.

Edit fscking autocorrect

sxan ,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

LOL they should have named him "White Power Wolf." Maybe that'd have helped.

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