It takes different forms, but one horrifying example is smuggling people in from poverty-stricken countries and forcing them to be sex slaves. People with no resources that have very little chance of rescue.

That’s a clever and funny way of putting it. It’s just one stupid moral panic after the other, and racism is frequently featured.

It’s essentially these two things. And it’s easy to see from any political map that these divides line up really well along rural vs urban areas. People who live in cities have learned how to live together and tolerate each other (even if they don’t necessarily like each other). People in rural areas think of themselves as the ‘backbone’ of the country because or our early agrarian and later industrial development as a country. And in many ways, they really were. Farmers, miners, factory workers, etc.

But time has left them behind with factory farms, overseas production, robot factories, renewable energy, etc. They blame “the other” for their problems. The “other” or “the enemy” in their minds is often “big city” people with darker skin, or “academic pinheads” or “government bureaucrats” or basically anyone but themselves. To them, hearing news about something like climate change or same sex marriage is an “attack on their way of life and traditional values”. They haven’t learned how to adapt or take proper stock of their situation. They only know how to lash out at “the other”.

If rural people would calm the fuck down and gain some perspective, they could see that they have a lot in common with working people in urban areas. For example, we’re all being fucked over by greedy corporations and a tiny number of people with way too much money and power. But those same powerful elites do a masterful job of pitting all of us working class slobs against each other. This both amuses them and keeps us divided so we don’t build the guillotines. The country being ever on the brink of civil war is very much intentional.

And of course there are guys like Steve Bannon, who is like a comic book villain. Guys like that really do want to see it all burn to the ground so it can be rebooted in some fantasy world where “bitter old white males like me rule again”.

I feel your pain. I was in bands for years. I finally wised up and started wearing ear plugs, and then retired from live music. I think distraction is the key. If I focus on it / obsess over it, it gets worse. If can distract myself it goes away pretty quickly. The trick is to finding an activity that distracts you reliably. Maybe save that activity for when you need it, so you don’t get bored with it.

There’s another mental trick I do when I get hit with it in the middle of the night. I will visualize a pair of faders as vividly as I can in my mind. Like the slider controls you see on a sound board. I imagine these faders as being hard-wired to the “channel” that is making the sound. In my mind’s eye, I slowly turn those faders down. I know this sounds like woo-woo bullshit, and it is woo-woo bullshit. But for some reason it helps me. Or maybe I’m just distracting myself enough for it to fade on its own. But it feels very real to me when I’m half-asleep and annoyed by the noise.

You can vote for more than one candidate, but you rank them by order of preference. This way, third party and independent candidates actually have a chance.

I need to rewatch the episode, but I also felt like his recognition of him went deeper than “oh yeah, you’re that guy we saw in the street before with Mae”. Same thing with Yord. I could be way off here, but I felt like both of them had some kind of actual history with him. And maybe they didn’t realize it until he was up close and personal, because he was much older / different.

Cool guys use dialup BBS.

I’m really enjoying this one so far. There’s a few goofy things here and there but overall it’s one of the better Star Wars series. If you haven’t watched it yet, leave all baggage at the door, ignore the online angst, and just watch it for what it is: a space opera serial in the same lineage as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. It’s just brought up to a more modern style with a more diverse cast. Not a big deal. Watch it like your ten-year-old self would, and you’ll have a good time.

Except for the young and the pregnant, we’re all wearing red shirts out here. In nature, most living things are highly disposable.

It’s an uncomfortable truth that is also weirdly comfortable at times. As far as nature is concerned I’m a spear carrier who should have been dead a long time ago…this is all gravy, baby!

Yup. It’s just human storage and performative “productivity”. It’s about making the people who take credit for the hard work of others look and feel necessary.

What frustrates the hell out of me is that if they would just allow everyone who can work from home do so, it helps cut down emissions. It won’t solve the whole thing, of course. But it’s a super easy way to make a difference.

But control freak bosses are all “Good news, everyone! You must return to working in the office. Because it is so much better. It makes me feel important, you see. If I don’t see your butts in chairs in front of monitors, I don’t think you’re actually doing anything.”

Minor stuff like that makes me think that we’re really doomed here. Late stage capitalism won’t even do the easiest of easy things about climate change.

I was able to comprehend this for a while there, but eventually had to tap out. On a scale of zero to Nixon’s head in a jar, how far along are they?

I love everything about it. As much as I enjoy the force and lightsabers and all that shit, Andor is next level. Got chill bumps in a few places thanks to Andor.

I keep nagging my friends to watch it, the people I know will like it. It’s tricky, because there’s so much stuff to stream these days, and people like me nagging you to watch a show they love is a little bit obnoxious.

I love the RPG. IMHO it works better if you import vehicle rules from Genesys (the two RPG systems are very similar). But either way, it’s a great RPG game.

Have not played the others. I tried X-Wing back before the rules changes and thought it was a lot of fun. The amount of SW games is almost overwhelming. Quality seems very high just looking at them, but I see them very rarely played in my local FLGS. WH40K appears to be top dog. And of course MTG never goes away.

Liked it a lot within the context of the show. Left me a little unsatisfied in regards to the bigger context of the Star Wars universe. It kinda felt like one giant side quest. Really good series overall. Very memorable characters (which is saying something for clones). Fantastic art, animation, and voice acting. Music was solid, too.

"Oh my god, that’s so relatable! She’s like a real person. "

Meanwhile that dog probably has a bigger housing and healthcare allocation than the average American family.

Unethical. Not even a gray area, IMO.

Something of limited but actual value–like a coupon or a book of stamps–would be more of a gray area.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to fear monger. We do live in “interesting” times.

They think their individual rights and freedumbs mean laws don’t apply to them.

Some of their grievances are true. The government is often guilty of overreach and trampling on individual rights (like Roe v Wade being overturned, declaring corporate money to be free speech, cops murdering people, cracking down on protests, etc).

However, sovereign citizens think they can use “constitutional logic” to basically do whatever they want. They often find themselves sitting in a cell with Pikachu face, asking for a real lawyer’s help.

Perhaps the most egregious (or successful, depending on your point of view) example would be constitutional sheriffs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Sheriffs_and_Peace_Officers_Association?wprov=sfla1

In my opinion, they are basically domestic terrorists, or at least adjacent to that. The 3-letter federal agencies keep a close eye on these types of people.

Usenet is a decades-old distributed message sharing system. It’s like an old school message board. To access it, you need a newsreader. Mozilla Thunderbird is one such example.

I have not accessed newsgroups in several years, so I don’t know how active it is today. But it used to be the go-to source for “warez” and bootleg media and porn. Oh yeah, and discussions threads on myriad topics. :)

Slashdot, digg, Reddit, lemmy, 4chan, etc. are all spiritual descendents of usenet.

The software tech for usenet is old, slow, and has a learning curve. You might find it frustrating to navigate and use. However, modern newsreaders probably hide some of the complexity.