why on earth are people so comfortable giving private companies their fingerprint and face scans?

I was 8 years old when my uncle raped me. Forced me to sit down, told me not to tell anyone, because they wouldn’t believe me, and why would I want to put the family through that? He is my fathers identical twin, he said I would ruin my fathers relationship with him if I said anything.

I believed him. Didn’t think anyone would believe me, and I didn’t want to tattle, so I decided the best way to do it would be to act as sad as I felt, wait for my parents or teachers to ask what was wrong, and then I would tell.

I acted out for weeks, nobody noticed, nobody asked.

So, I decided that maybe they already knew, maybe they already beat him up, maybe I should just forget it ever happened and move on, try to enjoy my childhood. I forgot. I told myself to, remember telling myself to, even.

Decades later, $200k in student loan debt, struggling with addiction, suicidal thoughts, very uncomfortable and obtrusive sexual thoughts, I almost killed myself so. many. times.

Now I’m sober, in therapy, good job, stable-ish home environment living by myself, the memory came back.

Decided that I would confront him, decided that I would tell my parents first to get their support. They didn’t believe me. I drove across the country seeking to confront the bastard in person, my parents got wind of it and warned him to stay away, protecting him.

It’s been too long to seek actual charges in a criminal court, I was in the bottom of a bottle for almost a decade after the nightmares started.

There’s no hope for closure. No hope for an apology, an admittance, compensation, nothing. I get nothing. He ruined my life, and I get nothing.

I wake up thinking about killing myself most days.

Thank goodness we increased police budgets, that’ll solve the problem for sure!

“Regio Gigantum?” So below the Cannibals and Ze German Belt, lies the land of giants?

My woke mind virus just will not sync with the Biden network today. I’ve had 13 abortions trying to reset the system, but nothing so far. Hopefully Satans tech support will get it figured out?

the article you didn’t read goes into that, and ultra marathons show parity between the sexes.

By your logic, ultra-marathons are an even greater test of endurance. And women compete at parity with men (if not better) in those events.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-49284389

Of course, this match against the academy team was very informal and should not be a major cause for alarm. The U.S. surely wasn’t going all out, with the main goal being to get some minutes on the pitch, build chemistry when it comes to moving the ball around, improve defensive shape and get ready for Russia.

Your anecdotal evidence is countered in the very article you posted

That is interesting but I reject the alternate theories of the Big Rip and the Silent Extinction because they are scary and I don’t like them.

Not telling the prisoners their date of execution seems unreasonably cruel, especially considering that some inmates have been subsequently released/exonerated. Their reasoning of “not causing the inmate undue stress” is just incorrect, while the idea that “their victims didn’t have prior warning” is steeped in a thirst for revenge and retribution, rather than justice. That’s some Code of Hammurabi level thinking that only retards social progress.

I noticed this too, The Expanse does that so well, really fleshing out what life would be like living as a grunt in The Belt. They had their own culture, their own sayings, their own food. Like any colony, it gave host to any number of establishments meant to provide a bit of comfort out in the inky black nothing. The shared suffering also gave them a sense of community, which is a powerful motivator when the far off motherland starts imposing increasingly burdensome levies… Makes you want to grab the closest thing and hurl it at them! 😉

WATCH THE EXPANSE

It’s amazing.

The Universe is expanding, rapidly from the big bang still. At some point, it will slow down, and then stop. Then begins a catastrophic cycle of collapse with massive black holes coalescing into one universe eating black hole that compresses every bit of matter into a single point of almost infinite density. At this point the black hole destabilizes, and all of the stored energy is released in one colossal explosion. A Big Bang of sorts.

The Universe is an Ouroboros.

Here’s a NYT article about the allegations, pretty disturbing stuff. If you’re not aware, coming forward with charges like this is incredibly difficult, and traumatizing. So the fact that so many women came forward against him, is not something so easily dismissed. Much like with drumpf, when there’s this much smoke, you don’t have to speculate about the presence of fire anymore.

I’d go as more-or-less human ala the movie Warm Bodies. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t have a nice romantic fling!

This isn’t a blanket statement, but I have, in the past, been introduced to women in my friend group, and talked to them like I would anybody else. But for whatever reason, they get the idea that I’m hitting on them. I can see it in their body language, the way they bring up their significant other (Like, really? I was just introduced to both of you 5 minutes ago?), among others. They make it out like “how could you be hitting on me?” and I’m like, asking about a band she brought up? I wasn’t even remotely attracted to her, I was just trying to be friendly, but her demeanor made it seem like she thought I was some insensitive asshole, and it hurt. I excused myself and just fuckin left. I had only gotten there like 20 minutes beforehand.

Another time I was introduced to a woman while we were helping a friend move. This girl I was into (she ranted about recycling <3), and I was planning on asking her out once we were done for the day, but as we were talking, she mentioned her significant other, so I didn’t. After we’d finished loading something into the moving truck, I said “hey so, thanks for mentioning your significant other back there, saved me a bit of awkwardness haha.” To this, she took offense, and challenged me, “what do you mean? what are you talking about?” like, hands on hips, wide eyes, “how dare you” attitude… and I was dumbfounded. Here I was, thanking her for stopping me from embarrassing myself by asking out a girl that was in a relationship, and I was getting the third degree from it! At this point I didn’t know whether it would make the matter worse if I confessed I had almost asked her out, so I just blankly stared, mouth agape (dumbfounded, like I said). I eventually excused myself and went back to loading the truck. Avoided her like the plague since then.

These were just two myopic incidents, probably lasted 5 minutes in total each, but it affected me in such a way that I basically cut myself out from the entire social circle, and only ever hang out with a guy friend that’s kind.

However, I feel the need to add a disclaimer so you don’t get me wrong.

I’ve also gone through a lot of personal growth recently, and in the endeavor to understand myself and my sexuality (Go Fightin’ Bi’s!), I’ve encountered scenarios that help me understand women better. I’ve had guy friends who only acted like my friend because they wanted to sleep with me. That hurts, and it makes me feel cheap. Once I tell them definitely “No,” or they realize I’m not interested, they stop interacting with me. It’s like, is that all I was in your eyes? Some thing to fuck? And even getting to the point where I’d tell these guys “No,” was excruciating! I don’t want to lose a friendship, or hurt them by saying “No,” I’m just not interested! Makes it hard to engage with my fellow LGBT peeps, when I feel like I’m just going to be pushed into hurting someones feelings. This led me to ghost some guys, and I’m not proud of it. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it when someone is flirty or compliments me, that’s nice and can be a real ego boost! But when I’m using all my body language to say “thanks but no thanks,” and you are still uncomfortably close? or touching the small of my back like it’s nonchalant or something? fucking GROSS.

Additionally, I have an elderly, disabled, female neighbor that I used to help out a lot. Whenever she needed something done around the house, she’d come over and I’d take care of it for her. She is an old pot head, so she’d even smoke me up! We’d pass a joint while watching Amos and Andy or whatever was on TV, it was a nice relationship. Then, once I became single, it got worse. Before, after I fixed her fridge, she wanted to give me a kiss on the cheek, and it came uncomfortably close to my lips. Then she started standing in the doorway while I came inside, so I’d have to press past her to get in. Then she’d touch my arm, leg, small of my back when I was doing chores for her. It got to the point where she would wait till I was high, and then ask how big my dick was, and if I’d let her go down on me. Just repulsive behavior. I’ve since stopped helping her, and always decline her offers to smoke, despite missing how we used to be.

All of this to say, guys get sexually harassed, Guys get sexually abused, and Guys get unfairly depicted as predators in hurtful ways. But also, girls get sexually harassed, Girls get sexually abused, and Girls get unfairly depicted as cold honey pots in hurtful ways.

What we should all do is try to be more kind.

“You’ll find someone who loves you for you,” is totally true, as long as you are also continuously lowering your standards until you find them.

money can’t buy happiness, but it can create the environment and conditions in which you can more easily become happy.

“It is what it is.”

“Is it?”

“IS IT!?”

indeed. I think it’s emblematic of the corrupting influence of money. When literally every company you can think of is engaging in arguably evil practices, it begs the question, was Marx right?

Marx described Socialism not in any concrete terms, but as the result of revolution against corporate capitalism. When workers decide that they’re tired of evil corporations and wealthy class protecting only their own, and instead return power to the workers via coops and anti-monopolistic regulations. Investing in the welfare of the common people, instead of bailing out companies that are “too big to fail.”

Everyday I become more socialist.

“so what if they poisoned, are poisoning, and will continue to poison everyone in the US and abroad. So what if they single-handedly lowered the life expectancy of the planet, whilst if not causing, exacerbating every cancer. They make good tape.”

Not trying to come at you, it’s just this is where we are as a society, and it makes me sad.