Acamon

@Acamon@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Since militaries are authoritarian, even in democratic countries; What would a military of a stateless/anarchist society look like?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  As far as I understand it, most anarchists are opposed to unjust / unjustified / unnecessary hierarchies. There’s many advantages to having managers, team leaders, captains, etc. because it can be helpful to have someone coordinated actions between a larger group.

  What anarchists would seek to avoid would be structures where power starts to consolidate around people beyond what’s needed. It’s good to have a leader for quick decisions in the heat of battle, or other emergency, but that person doesn’t need to decide everything outside of battle, because there’s time to have a more democratic or consensual decision making process. They also don’t need to be given more money, or not be accountable and replaceable by their squad.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨With the current state of the news, April's fools aren't fun anymore because they can't be distinguished as easily as before⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, I think the mean prank vibe sucks (obvs, ymmv) but the ‘fake news’ aspect was a positive. Like the original and sadly long lost art of og trolling, the purpose was to remind everyone that you cannot believe everything you read, and you should not suddly react to something just because you read it in a newspaper. If it sounds wild or incendiary, maybe check a couple of other sources before passing it on to friends and looking like a ‘fool’.

  Unfortunately, we’ve past the stage where gentle friendly reminders of media literacy are likely to help. Most of us are all too aware we live in an age of misinformation (but don’t agree on what is ‘fake’) so it’s no longer funny.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are old people usually attracted to other old people?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve always been attracted to folks with cute & youthful vibe. But when I was a teen that was pretty restricted to other teens, even the ‘young looking’ twenty year olds who were playing high-school students on TV obviously looked older and therefore less attractive to me.

  But now I’m in my 40s my range of who looks youthful and hot is much wider. Now I find 20s hotter than teens, 30s can look pretty youthful, and I’m not super attracted to older people, but I find them less gross because I’m used to what older bodies look like (I have one!). And since physical attractiveness is just one part of overall attraction, I’d probably find a cute & 39 person more overall attractive than cute & 19, just because my experience is that most 39 year olds are funnier and more socially skilled than teenagers.

  I can’t imagine every finding a 70 year old hotter on a physical level to 20 year old. But I can imagine being so content and in love with my elderly partner that I didn’t care that much.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The human hand is incredibly good at seeing what's inside your pocket⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Can confirm. Licked the outside of a subway cart once. Truly horrific.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Please tell me I'm not going nuts⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, I think this is a naive and hopeful as the maga types thinking Trump is a genius playing 4d chess.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people in constitutional monarchies pledge loyalty to the monarch, is it actually for real, or just symbolic / a pro-forma thing?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think “according to the law” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. That is the part that really makes it an oath to the ‘constitution’ of the UK. You are pledging alligence to the figurehead of the government, to obey them/the government, as long as they/the government are acting legally. If the government does something illegal, or asks you to do something illegal, you should not obey them.

  I’m British, and not a fan of the monarchy (especially Charles) but I think that we can see the advantages of having a head of state who has very little power to fuck things up, and that isn’t a position that outside forces billionaires can buy their way into, but has the power to remove a Prime Minister if they tried to do something unconstitutional.

  The idea of checks and balances in the US didn’t seem to plan for a bad president being elected with enough support in the house and Senate that he becomes pretty much untouchable (especially after a first term stacking the SC).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is cops being evil/lazy/incompetent a USA specific thing, or is it the same everywhere in the world?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m defintely not a fan of cops, but in Scotland I never thought of them as evil/lazy/incompetent. They’re still the arm of state control, and have been used to break strikes and stuff, but there is at least a vibe of policing by consent. There are plenty of cases of individual cops who were psychos, and the institution defintely defaults to ‘protecting it’s own’ which is a fucking terrible attitude and in my mind makes all cops culpable for the crimes of the “bad apples”. So I’m still acab overall.

  But most of my interactions with the police have been pretty decent, and that includes being questioned as a suspect (for something that I may not have been innocent of…) They don’t ‘solve’ many petty crimes like burglary that actual effect normal people but they are generally university educated and properly trained.

  I now live in France, where the police are none of those things. I’ve only heard bad things about them ranging from patronising and incompetent to raping student protesters in the back of the police van. I would never ask a French cop for help, but unless I was high or carrying something illegal, i wouldn’t be worried about talking to a Scottish policeman.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨At what point in the friendship does dating become awkward?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think any good relationship will make you friends, and it isn’t awkward, it’s great! But having been married a while, it is something you need to work at. With a long term partner they can end up in a bunch of different types of relationships with you - as well as friend, romantic parter and lover, they might be the equivalent of business parter, or boss/employee (for various household and family chores / projects) and learning how to do all those things well, and without ruining the other parts of the relationship can be challenge.

  But if the balance is just between ‘friend’ and ‘gf’, I’d say the trick is knowing when to prioritise one over the over. There are times I’m horny and want to take things in that direction, but I realise my partner would rather have a cup of tea and complain about work. Equally, we might be getting intimate, and I’m tempted to make some dumb joke, because it’s funny and that’s what I do with a friend, so I have to weigh up my priorities (mostly sex wins, but sometimes I say the dumb thing and we both have a big laugh and then make dinner.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What’s the difference between pansexuality and bisexuality?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Echoing other lemmings, there’s basically no difference. There js a certain niche who seem to think that pansexual is more trans inclusive, but that attitude doesn’t align with almost all bisexuals opinions on the matter, or with the history of how the bisexual community has been accepting and collaborating with the trans community since pretty much the birth of both communities.

  The delightful verilybitchie, who is both bisexual and trans, has a bunch of good video on the history of bisexuality, trans stuff, and biphobia*. They are defintely worth watching!

  • it’s pretty hard to hear ‘bisexuals exclude trans people’ and not feel like that’s an example of biphobia.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That finding is pretty mind blowing!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Totally. And eventually people get to the age where “embarrassing” medical stuff is so common that it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. Just be matter of fact about it, if you don’t act like it’s embarrassing then they won’t either.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How important is flirting within the dating scene?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a difference between ‘faking’ / trying to become something you’re not and improving your communication style /skills. You’re meeting women, not flirting, and not progressing into the kinds of relationships you want. You don’t need to start ‘flirting’ (whatever that means to you), but maybe you can change what’s happening after meeting people. I assume your speaking with people you find attractive? How do you build a connection with them? How are you letting them know you’re interested in taking things further?

  There’s a big difference from A) meeting women, being pleasant, and hoping that one of them asks you out, and B) meeting women, having some friendly conversations, then asking if they want to start dating. Those are extremes, but the space in the middle can all be considered forms of flirting.

  Flirting doesnt need to be some special way of making eye contact, or lame pick up lines. Having fun, making jokes and being silly can be flirting. Asking someone politely if they’d like to get coffee some time can be flirting. Flirting is just the process of letting the other person know that you’re interested in them in a romantic / sexual way, and good flirting is letting them know that in a way that doesn’t make them uncomfortable and makes it easy for them to respond without making things awkward for either of you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do you feel like you've reached the end of what the world has to offer?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  One one level, obviously you can never experience everything, the world is fricking massive and ever-changing. But you can feel like you’ve seen and done everything that interests you, and find it hard to remain curious and develop new interests. There have been times that I think the only interests and goals that will ever feel relevant to me are ones that I’ve had since I was a kid. But even “eating yummy food, playing games and reading fantasy books” is more than enough to fill my entire life.

  When I’ve been lucky enough to have the time, I’ve filled many hours, day after day, cooking delicious meals and trying new things in the kitchen, and the list of things I want to try expands just as fast as I tick them off. Similarly, although I’ve read countless fantasy novels over the decades I’ve only just got round to reading classics like Conan and Elric, and there’s so much more out there - and people write more books every year!

  But there are times when I can’t face new challenges, and I retreat to the easy comfort of things I know. This can be reassuring and restful, but if I get to the stage where I’m sick of watching the same show I’ve seen so many times, then I know it’s time for me to start pushing myself to try new things and develop new tastes (even if it’s just subvarieties of things I already like). And if I don’t feel up to that, it means I need to get some support and help to improve my mood and clear my thinking.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If I’m mostly attracted to men, is it «wrong» to consider myself pan?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree with most of the other comments that labels aren’t really important. But if you do want to think about and describe your sexuality for whatever purpose, go for it. And as a lifelong bisexual, self doubt is a common enough trope in bi/pansexual communities to get it’s own label, ‘bi imposter syndrome’. Some bi (or pan, I see the difference as mostly stylistic) people are equally attracted to all genders, some have a significant tendency one way or another, and some think they have a preference and then it switches, and sometimes switches back again and again. I’ve been in a relationship with the same guy for so long now, I sometimes wonder ‘am I really bi? Am I just pretending? Maybe I just didn’t know what I wanted when I was young, and now I can admit I’m just gay’. But then I speak to some girl, or see a hottie on TV, and realise I’m defitnely sexually attracted to them.

  If bi is so broad to include anyone who has ever had, or could have, sexual attraction to anyone who wasn’t their traditional hetero gender, is there any point in the label? Isn’t almost everyone bi? Sure! I kinda think everyone is kinda bi on some level. But it’s also about what purpose a label serves. If someone described themselves as ‘pan’, I would assume they woukd open-minded and nonjudgemental about people of different sexualites and genders. I wouldn’t assume they’d automatically be attracted to everyone they met, even straight men aren’t attracted to every woman. I use to avoid calling myself gay, because I’m bi, but I realised that insisting on that was sometimes kinda homophobic, and as someone married to another man, I have a lot in common with lots of gay folks. But I also sometimes refer to myself as a “straight white man” when talking about privilege, because most acquaintances don’t think of me as gay so I’ve never experienced much discrimination on that front, and don’t feel I can claim to speak as a ‘minority’.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Will online only "Device Activation" become the norm for every device in the future? / Will everything require an app in the future?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Anyone got good suggestions for affordable cameras that don’t require an app?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's the deal with male loneliness?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think the reason for down votes is that the comment suggests that issues with dating are the reason for male loneliness, when most people in the thread would argue that believing that ‘a romantic partner is the only acceptable source of meaningful emotional connection available to men’ is a big part of male loneliness.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨We like music because our brains crave pattern recognition.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  For a long time lots of European music was mostly thorough-composed, where there was little to no repitition. Madrigals (the popular music of the renaissance) were mostly like this, the melody would follow it’s own journey with no chorus / verse or other repetitive structure. I might be remembering wrong, but I think it was early baroque and Monteverdi’s Orfeo that popularised repeating structures, and turns out people love them. If you back and listen to some madrigals, it’s a very different approach to music. (also, there was folks music and all sorts of other traditions, which used more repeating patterns, that seem more familiar to us.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If "more money=more problems," why doesn't "no money=no problems"?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Because that’s the logical fallacy of Denying the Antecedent . If “it’s raining” then “the sidewalk is wet”. Knowing that it’s raining tells us something about the sidewalk, it’s not dry, it’s wet. And knowing the sidewalk is dry tells us something, it can’t be raining (because if it was, the sidewalk would be wet).

  But knowing “it is not raining” doesn’t tell us about the sidewalk (it could be dry, it could be wet, maybe it rained earlier, maybe a dog peed on it). And similarly knowing the sidewalk is wet doesn’t tell us anything about the rain.

  So even if “mo money causes mo problems” all that tells us is that someone with mo money will not be problem free. People with no money might also have mo problems, the syllogism doesn’t tell us about that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨flouride⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Talking about the ocean is odd, but there are towns in the UK (and most countries I’d assume?) where the natural level of fluoride is higher than the concentration they aim for when adding fluoride. I think that’s a pretty good argument for it being safe - the people of Hartlepool have been drinking fluoride rich water for 13 centuries and don’t have any noticeable issues compared to the rest OF County Durham.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What has Critical Theory actually achieved?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m mot sure I understand what kind of answer you are looking for. What did the Whig historiography achieve? Or the Great Man theory? Isn’t Critical Theory an academic approach that allows people in the humanities a different theoretical framework to approach the problems of culture, history, literature, etc? It’s been pretty successful in that, and while I believe that academic scholarship has some influence on world affairs, it’s generally the political zetgeist exerts more pressure on academic thinking than the other way around…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do the ultra-rich consume popular media?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The Queen apparently watched the amazing 80s Flash Gordon movie every Christmas. And it’s about overthrowing a tyrannical monarch…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Phonebooks⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Original SEO

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Most file types are just a renamed .zip⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think ‘most’ is hyperbole for dramatic effect / increased engagement. “more files than you might think are actually following the zip file structure” isn’t as punchy.