swordgeek
@swordgeek@lemmy.ca
- Comment on Why do we eat dessert? 3 days ago:
If you come in asking a question and then tell everyone who disagrees with your expected answer that they’re wrong, you’re acting in bad faith.
- Comment on 18-26 year olds, How do you plan to dodge the draft? 1 week ago:
- Comment on 18-26 year olds, How do you plan to dodge the draft? 1 week ago:
Man, you’re WAY more charitable than I!
In 2016, I offered formal asylum to a few dangerously leftist US friends of mine.
This time 'round (2024) I publicly revoked it. I’m done with the country as a whole. They need to stay there and figure their shit out.
- Comment on 18-26 year olds, How do you plan to dodge the draft? 1 week ago:
You might want to specify a country here.
We know where you are, but you’re not the centre of the universe.
- Comment on Why are people like my grandpa so against seeing the whole world and learning a different language? 1 week ago:
Modern conservatism is based on fear and hatred of the ‘other.’ “Immigrants” (brown people with accents), gays, ‘wrong’ religions (mostly those practiced by brown people with accents), etc.
Your grandfather is scared of them, and hates them for making him scared. It’s rooted in racism and phobias. No justification from him will change it.
As you get older, you will have the option to agree with him, ignore his behaviour for the sake of family harmony, or aggressively reject his beliefs - which will potentially mean rejecting him. Choose wisely, and keep your compassion alive.
- Comment on How many times a year do you wash your jeans? 1 week ago:
Where did this ‘never wash your jeans!’ mentality come from?
It feels like jeans - regardless of designer or ‘raw denim’ status - were clothes until about seven years ago, then they became fragile and precious jewels.
News flash: if you’re worried about washing your jeans, you’re inventing problems because you have none of your own.
- Comment on Avocado. Is it really so untasty or I am doing something wrong? 2 weeks ago:
Don’t think of them as fruits. It’s more like a very rich, creamy vegetable.
By itself it has a mild nutty flavour. When ripe enough to mash, you make guacamole (tonatoes, onion, salt, and freah lime juice) and it becomes amazing.
But on its own, not groundbreaking.
- Comment on Is creatine safe? 3 weeks ago:
My son is also taking creatine, and we did a lot of research before I agreed.
Creatine CAN cause significant kidney damage, and before that point, CAN cause kidney stones. The key is to (a) regulate your dose, and (b) drink enough water.
Within reason it’s quite safe, but stay within reason.
- Comment on Can a reasonable person genuinely believe in ghosts? 3 weeks ago:
Religion tends to justify itself in the face of absolutely no evidence with “proof denies faith.” It’s a garbage argument, but it’s accepted.
Ghosts don’t have any similar excuse to fall back on when we fail to see any credible evidence whatsoever.
Is the soul a thing? Does consciousness exist as more than the sum of the electrical network of the brain? Who am “I”? These are all interesting and probably unanswerable philosophical questions. “Do ghosts exist” though, is a pretty straightforward no.
- Comment on The stupid train has left the station. 4 weeks ago:
The USA isn’t the world. We’ll all survive after you’re gone.
- Comment on Whats the best way to clean up 15 years of stuff around the house? 4 weeks ago:
In addition to the advice here already (some of which I agree with, some not), here are two other ideas:
- Ask yourself WHY you’re keeping it? Does the explanation hold water?
- Work through one area at a time, and do multiple cycles. It’s easier to work on a single room or area at a time, and if you can purge a modest amount easily, then you can work through the whole house like this. Then you go back for a second pass and will probably have a more critical eye for getting rid of stuff - another 15% goes from each room in turn.
- Comment on What should be emoji reaction for "me too" in the general sense 1 month ago:
➕️
- Comment on Why do people pronounce ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) like it's a word? 1 month ago:
That never really caught on though.
- Comment on Why do people pronounce ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) like it's a word? 1 month ago:
I’ve been in IT for over 30 years and never once heard someone try to make an acronym of URL.
- Comment on Why do people pronounce ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) like it's a word? 1 month ago:
If an acronym is convenient, it will overrule an initialism.
You seem to be insisting on avoiding the acronym that is right there, and I’m not sure why.
- Comment on It always makes news when the "Doomsday Clock" is moved by a second or minute. What would actually happen if it got to 00:00 1 month ago:
Someone would have to write a song about it.
- Comment on What's the best free version of word? 1 month ago:
Same. Started with StarOffice 5.0, which was a complete train wreck.
- Comment on What's the best free version of word? 1 month ago:
Libre Office. I’ve been using it for decades.
- Comment on How do I properly and safely clean smartphone? 2 months ago:
I’d love to do a fecal swab test on your phone.
Yep, you’d definitely find some. just like everywhere else.
I wonder how many times you’ve put it in your mouth to hold it.
What? WTF? Never. Not in the nearly 30 years I’ve owned a cell phone have I EVER put it in my mouth. Why would you do that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone do that.
I wonder how many times you’ve ate shit.
Well, let’s not get into details. But it’s ironic that the same world with a profoundly unhealthy obsession with a germ-free environment is the same one that has normalized anal sex, ATM, and analingus.
I tend to stay away from both extremes, wash my hands well, keep up with my vaccinations, and don’t stress over the fact that literally every single thing I touch is contaminated. The number of people who get sick (particularly with fecal coliform) from their phones is inconsequentially small.
Yes, your phone is dirty; but if you clean it, you’ll be eliminating a tiny fraction of a percent of the bacteria and viruses you’re exposed to every single day of your life.
You do you, but cleaning phones is almost entirely the product of fear mongering by the media. I didn’t think anyone actually bothered.
- Comment on I have seen a lot of movies where the Catholic School Nuns smack a students hand for being disruptive or something is this a trope or a real something? Like most notable in Blues Brothers 2 months ago:
Wow, neighbours! My dad was in Red Deer. I had a teacher in Edmonton who made fun of me for being left handed.
- Comment on How do I properly and safely clean smartphone? 2 months ago:
Who cleans their phone? Who disinfects their phone?
I wipe my screen if it’s dirty, and once every month or so I’ll take it out of the case to clean the gunk out.
- Comment on I have seen a lot of movies where the Catholic School Nuns smack a students hand for being disruptive or something is this a trope or a real something? Like most notable in Blues Brothers 2 months ago:
My dad had his hand smacked and his fingers taped together to force him to write with his right hand. This was in the 1950s in public school in Canada.
When I was in high school in the 1980s, we had a teacher who threw chalk at us.
So yeah, it happens.
- Comment on What are the limits to masked so called ICE agents? Are they just let off the hook and disobey laws while not identifying themselves? Why can't I be in the right by them stopping me first and shoot? 2 months ago:
For those with no personal morals, limits to action are only enforced by consequences.
In the US, there are currently no consequences for immoral or criminal activity by the government in power or their minions (e.g. ICE). Thus, the only limit to their actions is their own morality; and they have been actively encouraging/recruiting support from those with absolutely no moral compass.
So no, there are no limits until consequences stsrt happening.
- Comment on Should speakers hum when they're connected to a stereo, but the volume of is turned all the way down? 2 months ago:
A low hum is almost certainly going to be 60Hz (or 50Hz in some parts of the world) line noise.
As many have said, it’s often a ground loop - but since you have a single device plugging in to unpowered (presumably!) speakers, that’s not the problem. In your case, the stereo itself is producing the hum.
So if you’re in North America, there’s one thing to check before returning. I’m guessing that a cheap Amazon amp has either a wall-wart or two-prong plug. If possible, try rotating the plug 180 degrees and see if that helps.
However, there’s a good chance that the plug is polarized (i.e. one prong is larger than the other) in which case you won’t be able to flip it.
- Comment on Has Canada's government done anything concrete to reduce dependence on the US since Trump took office? Maybe even since the first term? 2 months ago:
Most provincial governments have stopped importing US liquor.
- Comment on What is the difference between an American liberal and a liberal outside the USA? 2 months ago:
One difference is that U.S. liberals are still likely to believe in American exceptionalism.
Americans almost universally believe they are fundamentally the best - moral leaders of the world, even if they have temporarily lost their way.
The great protest folk singers from the U.S., such as Woody and ArlonGuthrie, the Seegers, and so many others, feel that they’re fighting the good fight to bring the U.S. back to where it was meant to be: the ‘leader of the free world.’
It’s an infectuous ego that taints the U.S. psyche on a deep and profound level.
- Comment on How often do you change your towels? 2 months ago:
There are three of us in the house, and I wash them weekly, more or less.
As for replacing them, I don’t know what to say. We destroy towels in about ten years. My mom had towels that were 20-30 years old and as good as new.
- Comment on How long until we can start shorting years to 2 numbers again? 2 months ago:
Most English-spealking people outside the US said ‘aught’ instead of ‘oh’, but definitely about 2005 the ‘two thousand and’ syntax evaporated.
- Comment on How do you "feel" gender? 2 months ago:
I’m an old cis/het dude, and while I’ve occasionally fantasized about being a woman, it was entirely out of fascination -l
- Comment on at what point in life it's too late to go back to school? 2 months ago:
My wife got her masters degree last year, at age 58.