[-] trafguy@midwest.social 7 points 6 months ago

I can't say you're wrong, but is there a person who more than 50% of citizens would actually be happy to vote for? The options we're presented aren't great, and I'm certain a better one could be chosen. But reaching a full 50%+ seems like a tall order in the current political environment.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I didn't learn of any rhyme or reason to it in German when I took classes on it. In fact, in a few cases, the gender changes the meaning of the word. Der See und die See, for example. One means lake and the other means sea/ocean.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 8 points 10 months ago

Nice, drive up housing supply while correcting an excessive office supply. Sounds good to me.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm in more or less the opposite scenario. I used to be able to actually do shit, then something snapped and it's far more difficult for me to do anything efficiently. I think what snapped was effectively my self confidence. After a period of existential crisis, things stopped feeling so important all of a sudden. So the herculean effort that allowed me to complete all my work and keep up on everything stopped being possible, because it briefly became impossible leading me to recognize how unsustainable that was.

Now I'm in a position where I still try to get what I need to done, but I try not to stress about it so much and I prefer to do what I want. And making myself do what I need to do is partially a matter of medication (Vyvanse) and partially trying to find reasons to enjoy/prefer the tasks that are important for my survival, then capitalizing on that intrigue/excitement.

Basically, I guess it comes down to choosing to accept whatever our current reality is and trying to work from there. There are reasons that I'm fortunate, just as there are reasons others would probably say I'm falling behind in life. Doesn't really matter in the end. All any of us can do is what we can actually do. If we don't allow that to be enough, we'll drive ourselves insane with the dissonance.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 11 months ago

And you also do not know where you are in Dunning-Kruger Club

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 11 months ago

Never been part of that community personally, but thanks for helping to support the platform. Even if you're not seeing much traction, it's appreciated. What would you think of picking the most engaging Reddit content and migrate it here to help boost community size? Or maybe posting to Reddit with a watermark/credit leading to your Lemmy community?

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Part of this is the focal length of a photo vs your eyes. If you take the photo from farther away or use a camera with a higher focal pength, you'll tend to get better results.

https://i.imgur.com/mJqIwLT.mp4

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Would you be willing to share how you make that work? I can't imagine living on my own for that much, let alone raising 3 kids. What does a weekly meal plan look like? Do you drive? What are rent and property values like in your area?

Edit: Just ran some numbers, and I can see how that could be possible, but it's dangerously lean. We shouldn't need to live like that. I commend you for making it work, but would like to say that you're definitely worth more than $20k/yr (especially with all those home improvement skills, but regardless)

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

I'll have you know it's perfectly unnatural when I invert my corporeal form to assimilate my terrified victims into the eldritch void where my soul used to be.

But in all seriousness, agreed. It's not possible for something that's part of nature to be unnatural. All behaviors are natural. Some behaviors pose a threat to the individual or society at large, and that's the only case where any action should be considered, but only as a harm reduction strategy rather than punitive. An individual's sexuality, gender identity, etc., definitely don't qualify as dangerous.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 9 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's the spirit! Let's all just blame ourselves for being born into a system which actively prevents you from choosing not to be a part of it! ^/s

But seriously though, individual action can be a little helpful and it's worth doing the parts that aren't an excessive cognitive load, but it's much, much more effective to have government regulate environmental action. Choosing to compost your vegetable scraps is helpful, but it pales in comparison to the industrial yard 30 miles over burning guzzoline by the kiloliter like they're in some sort of Mad Maxian hellscape.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thought it might be helpful to compare the USSR to Wikipedia's definitions of fascism and communism. These definitions can be wrong or could be different than what they were at the height of the USSR, but perhaps it'll help with finding common definitions. I'll admit that my knowledge of USSR culture/governance is limited, so feel free to critique/refute any of my interpretations.

Fascism:

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement,characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

Checklist (hidden for brevity)

  1. +Dictatorial leader: Stalin wasn't exactly a democratic ruler. Check.
  2. ?Centralized autocracy: AKA: One person has final say over any government decision. Probably, but maybe not depending on your definition?
  3. +Militarism: Definitely had a significant military focus. Check.
  4. +Forcible suppression of opposition: Yeah, that sounds par for the course for modern Russian government.
  5. ?Belief in natural social hierarchy: Does semi-deliberate wealth disparity and nationalistic superiority complex count?
  6. ?Subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race: Sounds likely, but not 100% sure.
  7. +Strong regimentation of society and the economy: Pretty sure the USSR had a planned centralized economy.

It hits 4/7 pretty firmly and the remaining 3 are plausible.

Communism:

is a left-wing to far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology... whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in the society based on need. A communist society would entail the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the state.

Checklist (hidden for brevity)

  1. XCommon ownership of the means of production of goods/services: Weren't these state-owned?
  2. XCommon ownership of the means of distribution of goods/services: ^
  3. XCommon ownership of the means of exchange of goods/services: ^^
  4. ?Allocates products to everyone in the society based on need: Wasn't there significant poverty while others' were well-fed? If distribution wasn't tied to labor, then it could be argued this fits, if somewhat imperfectly.
  5. XAbsence of private property: Oligarchs don't exactly scream "lack of private property"
  6. XAbsence of social classes: Again, oligarchs and poverty
  7. ?Absence of money: Can't comment on this one
  8. XAbsence of the state: There was 100% an overarching state

Hits 2/8 at best, but I would be surprised to learn there wasn't money in the USSR.

[-] trafguy@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It isn't exactly a matter of wanting or not wanting to see it. You know the addage "any news is good news?" By posting content that keeps a person and their commentary in the forefront of people's minds, that person gains an audience. That audience will contain people who can be swayed by the snake oil, but who would otherwise be reasonable. Or in short, posting their content facilitates radicalization.

That said, while content from harmful influential people needs to be approached with caution, I don't see this as promoting Trump's action/behaviors. To me it reads more like a "not the onion" headline. I'd be disappointed if anyone felt that the death penalty was warranted for late tax filing, but I suppose it's possible.

Does Lemmy have a way to filter keywords? It would be helpful for people to be able to blacklist keywords so a user could choose to avoid seeing, for example, news about Trump or content with sensitive topics.

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trafguy

joined 1 year ago