Call me Lenny/Leni @ shinigamiookamiryuu @lemm.ee

It's nice to meet all you. I am she/her, can speak Toki Pona and English (n

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The conceptualization behind them isn't treated everywhere equally. I'm not as traditionally-minded as the people around me, but I live somewhere that's far more traditional than progressive California. Now maybe I'm not updated on the norms (and to be fair, I'm still new here), but I think I remember reading it's viewed as an omen of a shortage of therapy here, in the same way as its more self-destructive alternatives.

There probably is, but many have told me it's not the norm to pour ranch dressing on salad.

You'd think, in the two hundred or so nations that have existed, one of them would've done things differently at some point. Though it makes this eyebrow-raising in a whole other way. Note to self, don't marry.

What's wrong with that?

How? Like with the last one, recorded history goes back six thousand years if not twelve thousand years... and this explanation lasted that long, applying to every human setting, for tens of thousands of significant people? Even if there was a dimorphic cause for it, statistically you'd think at least one female founder of some group somewhere would arise, but being the history disciple I am, even then it's like there is some kind of everpresent force that's stuck on man-mode that maybe I wonder about because I'm not a man.

There are also some which I know could have a reasonable explanation but which would be no less suspicious. Like the threat of nuclear conflict for example. Hundreds of times people have said "someone almost launched a nuke at someone, but one random guy in the submarine made a difference by not following through" or "this nuke or that nuke was dropped from a crashed plane but miraculously held onto its last remaining safety code and didn't work" or "this nuke that actually was dropped and blew up just so happened to do so far enough away from civilization that nobody saw it". If it's not our biggest stroke of luck, it's the ultimate form of "I'm really, really going to do it", though I wouldn't count on that as someone whose parents and grandparents were impacted by the nuclear tests of Chirac and Mitterand.

One thing I would probably notice (which I know I would notice because I notice it now) is how awfully convenient it was for many things in history to play out as they did. How odd is it, for example, that every nuke and world-ending event that was about to be deployed was cancelled at the last moment, or how the most important historical figures always die as their own hands, or how 99.9% of all public figures, "philosophers", inventors, important rulers, generals, diplomats, and so on were all men?

I can do better than that.

As a commonwealther who has tried American beer when she turned 21, I can tell you the complaints are just Europeans making a big deal as Europeans do. Err, I should clarify; American beer is an acquired taste, yes, but all beer is an acquired taste. I didn't like European beer any more.

Rule of thumb, if a European is complaining about American customs, it's most likely their pessimism for the sake of it. They hate American beer. They hate velveeta and decry it as fake cheese even though fake cheese wouldn't cause an allergic reaction. They hate that Americans put dressing on salad, saying "why don't you want to taste the salad". They hate Americanized spaghetti even though it was Italians that Americanized spaghetti. They hate New York pizza. They hate the American fast food industry. All while they seldom question why they consider haggis, snails, casu marzu "delicacies". The only stereotypical thing I've never seen them hate on, ironically, is Buffalo wings.

I say "this is for the birds"... and I give unlimited free bread to the birds outside.

Would that not depend on how many layers there are to the fantasy? Many have wondered if we're all living something they may call a matrix or dream. But what, then, is on the outside of it? The "top" layer or most "external" layer of a rabbit hole is going to be what we can call reality in its purest, rawest form, no matter how dream-like or matrix-like we might think of it as. Everything is defined by this layer if nothing is beyond it.

I'll be your friend.

A rule referred to as Zipf's Law is the foundation of all communication. Anything that corresponds to anything follows it. Knowing it can allow someone to mark something's significance. It's how archaeologists can determine lost truths with absolutely nothing to go by. Once the basics are understood, then each thing that imperfectly corresponds to something else is compared with other things with the same meaning. You could compare this to triangulation. From there, the rest can be achieved.

There's one that comes to mind, for a few reasons.

This was at the tail end of when I was collaborating with my mom on all my art projects, which was almost a decade ago now. The idea was "would Ponyo still be obsessed with ham if she became Jewish?"

First off, if this is the peak of your sense of humor, may the heavens have mercy on you. Have a little less shock value, lol.

Second, the drawing process was odd. She was originally going to be dressed from head to toe in one of the traditional outfits, but a part of us questioned both whether she'd be recognizable without her iconic colors and whether it would have been taking it too visually far, as well as being stereotypical (it's a darn good thing this was the first thing of mine ever discarded). So half-way through that, she had her clothes recolored back to normal, which is why it looks like she's fulfilling the dress code half-way. The colors and style of the picture, though they would still slightly resemble the kind of art later associated with me (of note, mine and my mom's art style do resemble each others', though I have fleshed mine out more), look a lot simpler in terms of how to add contrasting details, like it was Kirby's Epic Yarn crossed with Dr. Seuss (my art has been compared to both).

Third, an opportunity was missed to do the steamed hams meme.

Yeah, uhm, early me is questionable as a role model.

There are other honorable, or dishonorable, mentions for my worst art as well, namely my Marcus Aurelius drawing...

...a certain early self-portrait (if you knew its history, you'd know why)...

...and this random Oshawott made in the style of snoo.

I am surprised I still have a liver and kidneys.

You would be surprised how resilient the body is when it comes to hunger. My answer would be like yours, I would say I went a few days if not a week without food multiple times, though for me it's less about resources than stress (I am what many would call a "stress-starver") and everything in me related to eating is not only intact but in average condition.

Back when tribes were still a thing, it was written that it was normal for the local tribes where I live to deprive new children (because adoption from other peoples was common) of food on two day patterns, especially when a trek was going on, only to feast on the third day.

I would, of course, discourage it. The idea of nation states as-is is, due to how they conflict with principles of personhood, already questionable, something I say without being a proper anarchist. To be forced to fight and often die for it, especially if the war or military isn't democratically ordained or if there was no guarantee you wouldn't return to normal society later only to still find your voice in it limited and your opportunities in life challenged, makes it magnitudes less arguable. You might call this an extremely unpopular opinion here, but I'd go so far as to say there are few things more noble than a deserter.

Yeah, the whole fam damily.

Well of course Neo-Nazis would be expected to call it a salute. They're known for being so eager or desperate to make their case that they'll jump at the opportunity to put words in the mouth of a person of power and say they're on their side for leverage.

I remember when the Black Panther movies came out, white separatists alarmingly claimed en masse it "proves" white separatism since that school of thought isn't hierarchal but tries to claim life is better under forced separation, and Black Panther had only two caucasian characters in it who were explorers while everyone else was African. They then claimed Marvel was engaging in this phenomenon we call plausible deniability since a few of the actors are from actual cults with heavy racial undertones (actual cults tend to use their power to worm people into prestigious roles which increases their power, it's not just a Scientology thing), since the cast as a whole is selected for attractiveness, and since the in-universe mythology is Norse mythology. I mean, yeah, when I explain it that way, that's definitely what it looks like Marvel is doing, but it's still just a temptation to think that. Same approach with Musk, who I don't think highly of for other reasons (mainly the fact he's not good at what he does and it spills over in some ways, but one other reason being, yeah, some of his ideas sadly breed what we accuse him of, as someone pointed out). I also didn't think citing a message on something Musk owns as a gesture of emphasis would be seen in an anti-US-politics community as synonymous with supporting Musk.