This is Tiffany, walking back home. Start with the boots. They are big and heavy boots, much repaired by her father and they'd belonged to various sisters before her; she wore several pairs of socks to keep them on. They are big. Tiffany sometimes feels she is nothing more than a way of moving boots around.
Then there is the dress. it has been owned by many sisters before her and has been taken up, taken out, taken down and taken in by her mother so many times that it really ought to have been taken away.
A few pages later
She ran out of her hiding place with the frying pan swinging like a bat. The screaming monster, leaping out of the water, met the frying pan coming the other way with a clang.
It was a good clang, with the oiyoiyoiyoioioioioinnnnnnggggg that is the mark of a clang well done.
Terry Pratchett — The Wee Free Men
And Corporal Nobbs... well, anyone like Nobby had unlimited reasons for not wishing to be seen by other people. You didn't have to think hard about that. The only reason you couldn't say that Nobby was close to the animal kingdom was that the animal kingdom would get up and walk away.
It is said that the gods play games with the lives of men. But what games, and why, and the identities of the actual pawns, and what the game is, and what the rules are — who knows?
Best not to speculate.
Thunder rolled...
It rolled a six.
Terry Pratchett — Guards Guards
I think Douglas Adams might fit even better though.
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. \
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. \
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
Douglas Adams — The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Very much this. You don't have to be trans to be curious. I'm extremely curious and given the chance would try all kinds of things that some people, who are less secure in their identity, would balk at.
But the body I would really want is just young, fit and healthy and preferably my gender asigned at birth, but I would take any gender if that's the only way to be young, fit and healthy again.
Accurate but also not. PewDiePie came out in favour and PirateSoftware lied about it. But I think Thor lying created a huge burst of coverage about how he's wrong and really created lots of noise about it.
Try 4th Edition, I am having sooooo much fun! But if you want Spells to feel like more than just different flavors of damage/buffs/debuffs, I would recommend the addon "Magic - Deeper Secrets" that brings back a whole lot of the extremely creative spells from 2nd Edition.
Look, folks, I’ve been hearing a lot, a lot, about this thing called Linux. Ever heard of it? Sounds European, doesn’t it? Probably invented in Brussels, or Sweden, maybe Russia, I don't know. Total disaster. I call it Socialist Windows, because that’s what it is! It’s chaotic, no one’s in charge. Total mess. Bernie Sanders running an IT department, terrible.
Meanwhile, Windows, great American company, by the way, very successful, very strong.
It's a tool! I want it to answer questions, this was the best possible answer, because what I do not want is LLMs (which do NOT (and I can't stress this enough), which do NOT understand human psychology) to psychoanalyze every fucking question.
Yes, average healthcare costs per year in the US was $ 13,432 per capita and in Germany was $ 8,441 per capita in 2023 (PPP adjusted). Germany is the third most expensive comparable country, second most expensive was Switzerland with $ 9,688.
UK national healthcare btw. was $ 6,023, so less than half of US costs.
compared to the average healthcare costs in all US-comparable countries of $ 7,393, the US manages to spend nearly double.
First off even for regular checkups I have to pay extra cuz a continues 1/5th of my pay isn't enough
That is so wild. The US has the most expensive system in the world and often not that great service in return and somehow so many are convinced that their broken system is so much better... I guess that's partly explained by an also broken education system. That's something that always has been broken as far as I can remember, but now it'll get sooooo much worse under Trump.
Plus I'm brown enough to live in fear of getting an accidental deportation parking ticket. Here, you hit the wrong car and they can apparently blast your front door. How does any of that even help me?
Aaaaaand another thing that's getting sooooo much worse under Trump. And all paid for by your taxes.
I'll emphasize though, the problem isn't taxes, it's a broken political system where 0.01% of the population pay for 50% or more of political campaigning and the people have allowed their representatives to create a system of government that fucks them over for reasons that appeal to their basest instincts.
My Take-Home in Germany is a little less than two thirds of my pay.
The difference is that I'm happy with it, because I get my moneys worth in return. Holy shit healthcare alone is just so goddamn cheap compared to what all my health issues would cost extra in the US.
Yes, rich assholes not paying their fair share is a problem over here too, but far less than in the US and honestly, for my personal happiness it's far more important that I can see the positive impact my taxes have on me and in my community.
I think that's the biggest difference, are taxes levied for mutual benefit or to funnel money to the mayors/governors/presidents daughter's/brother's/buddy's company and thus are a means to rob the populace? Over here it's overwhelmingly for mutual benefit.
Kids of today are doing alright, they'll go to the shitter, look at their phone and smile when Discord pings them with
Radarr
The Last Unicorn (1982)
Movie Imported
Overview \
From a riddle-speaking butterfly, a unicorn learns that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magicia...
I don't speak Spanish, but when I heard Colores by Ska-P ("Por la libertad es fundamental la diversidad") I was instantly in love. The music is great and the lyrics seemed straight up fire.
Then I translated their songs and now they are my second favourite band, after RATM.
A Chitón - On repression and censorship in the name of security
A few pages later
Terry Pratchett — The Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchett — Guards Guards
I think Douglas Adams might fit even better though.
Douglas Adams — The Restaurant at the End of the Universe