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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)WR
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4
Comments
642
Joined
10 mo. ago

  • I always figured mermaids would be more like cetaceans than fish. Having scales on their tails would be inaccurate, but breathing air, growing hair, and having a horizontal tail fluke are all in-line with mammals/cetaceans.

    Not to mention, it would mean mermaids would have regular genitals (albeit hidden inside a genital fold, to increase hydrodynamics.) It would also mean they’d have normal placental pregnancies.

    So that’s, uhh… a thing to consider.

  • This, but at legal dispensaries.

    Not even joking. I don't know if it's my state's specific laws or what, but the dispensary cashier can either process your card like an ATM (they round up to the nearest $10, then give you the change) or they can process cash.

    There is a third option, but it involves downloading an app specifically to pay for cannabis. And... yeah, I'm not doing that.

  • Isn't that the point? They want people to work in the private sector instead.

    It doesn't matter that it will probably cost the government loads more to contract skilled workers from the private sector when the need inevitably arises. Long-term consequences don't even occur in the minds of those currently in charge.

    Then with a new middle man, the private business owners' pockets get lined from all the work these people would've done anyway. In the end, isn't that what's really important in life? Not working to support the good of your own country, but rather, working to make the rich even richer? So fulfilling.

  • I think OP mentioned “a generation of Americans” because that’s the example they thought of, not because they think being American made the people exceptional.

    You’re not wrong though - a lot of Americans definitely seem to think that just “being American” is some kind of accomplishment in and of itself. Meritless jingoism is intense here.

    But I don’t see it being related to the previous comment.

  • I can only ever somewhat begin to understand the amount of stress that my "not normal" existence has caused my normie mom.

    Yet it must be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of stress I experienced being raised by someone who cares more about what others think when they look at her kid, than by anything her kid is actually experiencing.

    It sounds like this dad is at least trying. If my mom showed even this much ability to listen to my concerns, I'd consider it a win. Instead I just get shut down at Christmas when I respond to, "How are you?" with, "Not sleeping well, not eating well," and when asked why, respond honestly with, "Concerned about my and my loved ones' safety under the upcoming authoritarian regime."

    Everyone else at the table: Knows exactly what I'm talking about. Offers understanding and support

    Mom, and only Mom: "Hey we shouldn't talk about politics at a party, it makes people uncomfortable."

    Everyone else at the table: Acquiesces


    I mean, we picked the discussion back up as soon as she left to go home, but it's still disheartening to know that my mom would rather appeal to "not offending" imaginary people who aren't even at the table, than to listen to the valid concerns that threaten her own child. Even my dad came up to me after this and offered tangible support. It's just my mom, my "apolitical" mom who truly believes "bOtH siDeS sAmE" and refuses to entertain the slightest political thought - no matter how close to home it hits.

    It doesn't surprise me that fascism is winning, when I consider that there are millions of people across the U.S. who view "politics" through the same lens she does: Can't rock boat. Must blend in. Silence those that don't comply, before they can threaten our own safety.

  • In dark times of desperation, seeking help on the internet, I sometimes find myself tempted by the Reddit thread in the top of my search results.

    But I know that if I click it, the only thing that will happen is the familiar cross-armed Snoo popping up and telling me, "You've been blocked by network security."

    It's like a reality check for me: I don't want to use Reddit, and Reddit doesn't want me using it. So I'm going to need to either get better at searching for solutions, or try to solve problems in my own way.

    In the end, introducing more barriers to entry has simply reinforced my decision not to go to Reddit. Their blocking of VPNs has conditioned me to ignore Reddit links in search results entirely, mentally filtering them out the same way I do with ads/sponsored content.

    Nice work, Spez.

    BONUS: I just came across a Google support page where someone asks, "How do I Block Reddit and Quora results from all searches permanently". The top answer is hilarious and sad.

  • How weird. It’s almost like Lemmy isn’t a single individual who can’t get their story straight, but rather a collective of different people who have different opinions, some of which contradict each other.

  • But confusion has caused delays. Ben McLane, a fire crew captain for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington state, said uncertainty over whether firefighters are exempt from the freeze stalled the hiring process for seasonal wildland firefighter positions.

    ...

    “We’re very confused, and we’re not being told anything,” he said. “I don’t know whose job it is to say that firefighters are an essential aspect for public safety and are exempt from the hiring freeze. But whoever’s job it is, they need to say it, because if they don’t, then there will be situations where people call 911 and there aren’t enough firefighters to go around.”

    This is what happens when reality is repeatedly contested, when so-called "leaders" lie and obfuscate what's really going on. All the rapid-fire news sent out since this election was called, deliberately overdone to confuse us, has led to this consequence.

    Now, due to a lack of clarity about changes in government hiring, we're got people with both the skill and the desire to be firefighters, who are not signing up to fight fires. Even with Trump leaving a loophole, its effectiveness is zero because everything Trump says appears to be liable to change. Cult-members may hold firm to his ever-changing whims, but people who live in reality have to make realistic calls. The most realistic call is to go by his history, and Trump's history shows him lying, backpedaling, and flip-flopping more than a fish on a pier.

    I can't blame anyone for being confused about what's going on, nor can I blame anyone for seeing what is happening and choosing to get out of the way before the wrecking ball hits.

    The only reliable thing about this administration is its unreliability, and having fewer firefighters is only one consequence of that.

  • In my experience, the situation created significant tension as I was navigating policies and expectations that conflicted with my personal beliefs and professional judgment

    Exactly what kind of "professional judgment" does a teacher bring to this situation? Unless they're being consulted about a puberty issue, a student being transgender shouldn't make a difference in how a teacher teaches them, right? Or is she implying that being a teacher makes her more knowledgable about gender, somehow?

    If she were the school psychologist, I might buy that she has "professional judgment" worth valuing. But for a teacher (especially one who goes on to appeal to religion in the very next sentence), it sounds like weasel words that were tacked on. She probably knew that simply saying her "personal beliefs" caused her conflict would've sounded too weak as an argument. So, she put in the empty phrase "professional judgment," knowing full well that she won't get called out on it by anyone with power.

  • The scariest thing is that even if Musk or Trump were to film and upload themselves ritualistically murdering kittens, their followers would call it fake AI. There'd be nothing anyone could do or say to convince them otherwise, short of them witnessing the slaughter in-person with their own eyes (and even that might not do it.)

    There's no way that the release of so much generative AI last year, just before this election, was a coincidence. Fascists got this shiny new tool for denying reality, and now they're free to dismiss photos and videos without question or repercussion.

  • Sometimes, even active military members disagree with what they're being made to do. If multiple units interact for the first time, would a new face still stand out? What if a person isn't dressed the part long enough to even be spoken to? Or if someone in this scenario has military experience?

    These questions are rhetorical, of course. I left the details open-ended in the first comment for a reason - I don't know what exactly is going to happen every minute in the coming future. But, I can imagine scenarios occurring where lacking immediate and accurate ID of an individual in uniform can be taken advantage of. That's all.

  • No names, no unit numbers, no way to definitively recognize any given individual at a glance?

    So... hypothetically... someone who's not part of one of the active units, but who has the uniform, the ability to act the part, and the information required to make it happen, might be able to blend in with the oppressors during a military operation? Hmm.

    o but pfft don't listen to me. I'm just a wild-talking stoner with ADHD

    #stonerthoughts #hypothetical #justgirlythings #lol

  • My pervert brain first saw it as a metaphor for shaving everything.

    But for most people that would count as "tedious work" too, so the underlying message would be the same either way.

  • My first love fell down that hole. Toward the end of our relationship (he was about 18 years old) he'd started crushing on another girl. When we broke up, they got together. Each of them was a black hole of negativity. I saw what was happening, but with my status as "ex" I knew there wasn't anything I could say or do about it.

    She was even more of a downer than he was, which was shocking (his constant negativity was part of what led to our break up in the first place.) They spent five years together, ranting and raving about how horrible everything is, all while living with their respective parents and avoiding getting jobs. He stuck with her, even after they realized they had absolutely incompatible sex drives (she was ace, he was very much not. To clarify - being ace isn't a bad thing. But for him, a complete lack of sex added to his feelings of isolation and distress.)

    They eventually broke up, and we started chatting again (she didn't let him talk to me during their relationship.) He eventually went on adventures across the country, learned his love of kink play from a fling with an experienced domme, went to school and gained skills in a field he loves. He's in his 30s now, still upset about the state of the world (obviously), but he's learned to accept what he can't control.

    In the end, he's expressed a lot of regret over that relationship. He realized in retrospect how toxic it was and how much it was holding him back. I have no idea how that ex-girlfriend is doing these days, but I'm glad that at least he was able to break himself out of that spiral.

  • Is that instance defederated from .world ? The link gives me the "couldn't_find_community" error. I searched for the community via Duckduckgo and was able to see it, but was logged out. When I logged in, all the posts disappeared.