DankOfAmerica @ DankOfAmerica @reddthat.com

Posts

13

Comments

276

Joined

7 mo. ago

When you run away, never look back. Don't visit, don't call, don't keep numbers, don't give out your number. Just disappear and start a fresh new life. Find someone that you admire and start figuring out how to be like them.

I have been using Linux 100% for the past several years without any use of Win. The last time I used Win, it was Win 7 on a work computer. All I know about Win since is from what I see on Lemmy and the very few short instances when I might look at a friend's computer. What I remember not liking about it was a lack of control in comparison to Linux and that it would get slower and slower with updates. Is the latest Win really as bad as Lemmy makes it out to be? Are there ads in the OS? Does it truly spy on you without your knowledge?

Can you clarify? I'm confused as to whether you think Win ME was the best or worst version of Win.

I thought Win 2000 was an improvement. Didn't Win 3.1 literally run on top of DOS? Like, DOS was the actual operating system and Win 3.1 was merely the graphical user interface/desktop environment, so it consumed a bunch more hardware resources? I think I remember having to run many programs out of DOS so that they would run more smoothly than if I used Win 3.1. In that sense, Win 3.1 was really Ski Free, Space Cadet Pinball, Solitaire, Minesweeper, and a nice file manager.

I also liked the improvements of Win Vista, but my laptop couldn't seem to keep up with the requirements needed for things to run smoothly. Win 7 seemed like a smoother Win Vista, so that was nice. However, I felt let down that there were no major noticeable improvements other than performance, which could also have been attributed to improvements in hardware. Around then, I started experimenting with Linux out of sheer curiosity and slowly switched to Linux 100%. In the past several years, I know about Win only from what I hear on Lemmy, so ofc I think it's terrible, but I wouldn't know from personal experience and judgment. I'm happy af with Linux anyway.

Between another comment and yours, I think what my dreams are representing are how little control I feel I have over anything in my life. I just have to prepare for the worst. That's what I'm feeling.

I like this idea. It will help me realize if I woke up or I'm still in a dream and need to prepare for the upcoming doom. I already have a book on my nightstand. I'll start the habit of reading it every time I wake up. Thank you!

I'm starting these wake checks today! Hopefully, I can get them to happen in a dream before it goes into nightmare mode. Once in nightmare mode, I can't tell if I'm in a dream or not because they seem so real and I'm overwhelmed with fear which makes thinking difficult. Appreciate the response and hopefully you're doing better with your sleep!

Yep, I'm going to look into learning about lucid dreaming. Thank you!

Yep! It's that scary doom feeling that no matter what you do, you can't avoid the fear. It's exhausting.

So id caution against resorting to extreme measures, especially if you are unsure of what is reality. That can have very permanent consequences.

Exactly! I think this is why I only employ them when the outcome is the same, so I choose a favorable method in which I am in control...ooh, maybe there's something related to control that I need to think about. Thank you!

This is a great suggestion. I have had repeating nightmares in the past that resolved by confronting the fear in my dreams. The doom did not realize and the dreams eventually stopped afterward. Let's see if I can remember to try it in the dreams and how it turns out. I'll let you know if I'm able to do it. Thank you!

I'll look into the lucid dreaming. I don't really think my current situation allows for the peaceful pre-sleep period, but it should change within a few weeks. Now that you mention it, I've been quite stressed lately, so that may be causing the dreams. We'll see if they go away when things change. Thank you!

I can't really do cannabis, but jumping and spinning sound like they might work. Thank you!

For me, what works is an ADHD medication along with not trying to fall asleep. Trying to fall asleep causes me something in the area of anxiety and guilt, so I end up frustrating myself awake. If I focus on a mindless task like scrolling through Lemmy or reading a book, I get engaged in that and end up accidentally falling asleep. The funny thing is that I have to keep doing my mindless task until I fall asleep, so many times, I wake up looking like I passed out in the middle of something with my glasses still on and my phone laying around. I'm actually curiously impressed that my glasses or phone haven't broken yet.

The Red Army along with the Western Allies defeated the Nazis. It is true that the Red Army a magnitude more of losses and were responsible for 3/4 of Nazis killed in battle, so they objectively lost more of their own and took more Nazi lives. However, that is not the only factor that won the war. The Red Army received a considerable amount of military equipment from the West. Additionally, one can argue that the Red Army lost so many lives in part to their military strategy in which deserters and dissenters where killed. Shoot. Their leader was Stalin. Often times, Red Army soldiers would be ordered to rush a Nazi position knowing it would be certain death, but if they disobeyed, they would be killed by other Red Army soldiers. Plus, the Western allies, especially the UK, the USA, and Canada fought the Nazis on another front, forcing the Nazis to split their military units, equipment, and supplies. The Americans also were the main force fighting against the Japanese Empire, which reduced the strain on the Soviet Union allowing it to focus more on the Nazis eastern front, though technically, that has nothing to do with the war between the Nazis and the Red Army. And in the beginning, it was the UK that took the brunt of the Nazi war machine. Civilians in London were taking shelter in the subway during Nazi bombing missions. I would also like to give a shout out to the French resistance that terrorized Nazi occupation.

The Red Army definitely took the heaviest human toll against the Nazis. Estimates for Red Army losses vary immensely since they were so high and the war was so chaotic. Their losses were so much, that some of the ranges of casualty estimates I have seen on Wikipedia are as large as the rest of the lives lost by everyone else. According to a quick search on Perplexity, the Red Army loss ~8.7 million soldiers, while the rest of the allies lost ~1 million. So if there is an estimate that the Red Army suffered between 8.2 & 9.2 million, the range would be as wide as the losses of Allied military forces. Furthermore, many major battles were on Soviet ground, so they also suffered immense civilian casualties. Perplexity gives an estimate of 13.7 million Soviet civilian deaths. That's over twice the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust which was a systematic genocide carried out to be as efficient as possible by a people known for efficiency.

Despite all of that, the Soviet Union did not defeat the Nazis on their own. They had considerable and decisive help from Western allies, both in battle and supplies. The Soviets took the brunt of the losses, and without WWII, the world would be an unrecognizable political landscape in which communism may have been more popular or prominent, whether you would prefer that or not. However, it is disingenuous to say the Red Army defeated the Nazis on their own.

and corn isn’t street food

I disagree. Corn in Mexico definitely works as a street food. Also, I just realized this, but I wonder why corn didn't pick up as street food in Chicago and Indianapolis.

We could have utopia tomorrow. The path to change worldwide is to effect change where you live. If we all started there, then the local changes would spread. People would want what they have locally to work in larger scales. We don't have to call it socialism, capitalism, communism, conservative , liberal, freedom, whatever. Terms are proxy enemies used to make us fear or love based on heuristics. We inherently know what a just world would feel and look like. It's in our nature. If someone has to convince you to override your intuition, then it's shit. Don't look for answers elsewhere. Don't blindly follow anyone. Build the world you want in your heart at home. It will grow out from there. Also, I used to love orange juice as a kid. I drank it from a silly clown cup I got at a performance on ice one time when my parents took me.

I agree with you entirely. Thank you.

Edit: While we're on the subject, I'm going to voice an opinion. I think that if a person goes into literal combat, that person is now a permanent responsibility of the federal government and is guaranteed a decent life for eternity. Why? Because that person risked literally everything on behalf of everyone else. They risked having a family, living a normal life, mental health, permanent disfigurement, physical ability, and even actual existence. Many of those that went to war never made it back. The ones that did make it back are just like the ones that died, except they were the lucky ones because war doesn't discriminate based on anything, just sheer luck. Those that survived should be guaranteed a decent life regardless of anything else. Mfing period.

What if they were jerks before joining the military? Stop recruiting jerks. What if they can work but don't want to? That's their choice. They volunteered for a position that provides an extremely young retirement age if they survive it. If that seems like an great deal, then sign up for it too. Maybe someone can support this person that clearly has a foundational value of sacrifice and service to their country to the point that they will eagerly sacrifice their life if asked to do so and help them navigate the system so that they can continue contributing how they would like in a manner that provides them fulfillment while also adds the community. What if they merely did it for the benefits of having a guaranteed decent life? Then it seems to have worked out for them. The ones that it didn't workout for are dead. The assumed reason for their sacrifice is irrelevant because the actual concrete facts are that they did it. Someone had to do it based on our geopolitical situation. If we are a democracy, then we chose to send our own countrymen to war. Thus, it is everyone's responsibility.

These aren't criminals that need rehabilitation. These aren't lazy parasites that are trying to get by off of everyone else's labor and need to be forced to work by the fear of homelessness and ostracization. These are people that voluntarily agreed to take the toll of war for everyone else because the country went to war and everyone received the benefits. Veterans experience the damage 24/7 for eternity. They will never have what civilians have. So, the rest of us can help with that load by supporting them however needed. At the end of the day, we all get to go home without a care in the world for war. They can never escape it because it's in them.

• When they look at their missing limb: war.
• When they get into a fight with their spouse: war.
• When someone tells them why they were going to join the military but didn't: war.
• When they get called a baby killer by a stranger: war.
• When they see news about how there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: war.
• When they wake up at night confused and drenched in a puddle of their own sweat: war.
• When they see Palestinian kids crying on TV: war.
• When they uncomfortably hide while an announcer asks veterans to stand at a sporting event so that the crowd can rid their own guilt and shame via a quick "salute our heroes" applause: war.
• When they go to the doctor and get dismissed for the Nth time: war.
• When they get played or betrayed by a co-worker: war.
• When someone accuses them of being lazy or selfish: war.
• When a civilian envies their benefits and implies that it's not fair: war.
• When they can't mow the yard because they feel too exposed: war.
• When they feel shameful because they risked their life in war but now don't risk their life to mow the yard: war.
• When they get a speeding ticket because being in traffic is too overwhelming since it means they are stuck in danger: war.
• When they confusingly and intriguingly look at a civilian live so carefree: war.
• When they feel that they will never be an adequate partner or family member because of their limitations: war.

.

War. War. War. It's all war. So what if nothing.

My exfriend that was a complete mess? He needs to be supervised and checked in on often. Give him a case worker that talks to him on a regular basis. Maybe they have lunch together once a week or whatever. The case worker has a cell phone and is on call in case my exfriend needs to speak with someone before doing anything stupid. If my exfriend starts dating someone again, the case worker meets with that person and they stay in contact as well. Ensure that they know what they are getting into and ensure safety. And like you said, if the government and citizenry doesn't want to do that, then they should stop sending people to war. If they think it's a great deal and want those benefits (compensation) for themselves, they can volunteer go to war. I say this as someone that is extremely anti-war, in part, because of what it does to the combatants and their families. Want to see it for yourself? Volunteer at an event for disabled veterans. Look at their faces. Look at their behaviors. Look at their friends & family. Feel the vibe.

How is this even a topic of discussion? How is this not evident? I don't understand how we are having these discussions. The discussions should be how can we improve their lives. WTF. I need a break. I'm too heated rn. I may have gone overboard, so I might be back to tone it down later if I think it's appropriate. Sorry.

I had a friend that had a traumatic brain injury and almost lost his leg from an explosion in Iraq. They guy was a loose cannon, so I tried making sure he didn't do things that were to stupid. He would often run dilemmas by me, and I would talk it out so that he could make healthy choices. I could tell that he kind of looked up to me sometimes. I would hang out with him, give him regular guidance, paint a healthy path for him...but that was pointless. I was too powerless to help this guy. He just wanted to be stupid, drive drunk, run red lights, have ton's of one-night stands, get into bar fights, hustle money, do drugs, hangout with the wrong crowd, etc. I had to cut him off because he was trying to drag me down into that scene. One time in the middle of the day, I'm riding shotgun with this guy. Everything seems fine. Some guy cuts us off. He gets pissed and pulls out a pistol from the center console to show the guy that cut us off. I'm in the middle of the altercation begging for him to just move on. Luckily, the other guy backed down. The last time I hung out with him, he shows up at my house unannounced and says we're going out to have fun. My girlfriend gives me the approval. I get in the car with him, and he starts driving to I really don't know where. A light up ahead turns red, and about 3 seconds into it, we run it without stopping despite my warnings. I then realize this guy had been drinking. I can't remember how, but I either pulled an Irish goodbye or had my girlfriend pick me up. I never hung out with him again.

Years later, I heard he got married, bought a huge house in a fancy neighborhood, and had five kids. A few years after me drifting away from that entire social circle, a joint friend tells me they heard he was in a halfway house/rehab facility after beating his wife. Some people just can't function right even with supervision. It was a hard lesson. All things considered, I still feel bad for the guy. I believe he was a good guy deep inside, but needed more supervision than what I could provide as a friend. I hope he recovers for everyone's sake.

I don't think it's a social expectation. It's more of an outcome of the interaction between the current societal system and technology. There are likely several systems we can develop and implement to reduce the overwhelming amount of info we need to consume on a regular basis, but as with any social system, changing things takes power away from the ones in power.

On a good note, one reason your expected to be updated on news is that you have a say in the political system. If you didn't have any power in the political system, then not only would you not be expected to stay updated on news, but you would be prevented from it.

I like popsicles because they are light in that they don't feel like I'm filling my stomach, which is an issue I have related to a chronic condition. They may not necessarily be low-calorie, but they take a while to consume, which may help if the point is to delay consumption enough to pass a craving. I usually grab normal ones, but they have sugar-free ones that may reduce the calorie count.