Semester3383

@Semester3383@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is gold investing a scam?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Generally speaking, precious metal commodities are a hedge investment; they aren’t a primary investment themselves, but they’re a hedge against a loss in value of other investments, like stocks or bonds. If you are investing in gold as a hedge against inflation wiping out stock market gains, then yeah, it’s pretty solid. You probably don’t want to hold on to it forever though; if you’d bought gold just prior to Carter taking office and the stagflation of the late 70s, you be pretty much break-even with things like index funds.

  As far as total societal collapse, you would need to have the physical bullion, not just have precious metals in your investment portfolio. And even then, gold might not have a ton of value in a subsistence society. People might trade for it, but if I had food to trade, I don’t think I’d be trading for gold, since I can’t eat gold. The people that will clean up in a subsistence environment? The Amish.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How Lemmy users feel when they delete their Reddit account⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Nice! I got permabanned for saying that hus-brenna was the proper way to deal with neighbors flying Nazi flags.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shout out to my engineering homies.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  TBH, many of the people that buy his products at this time are leftists. Or at least anti-authoritarian, and deeply suspicious of gov’t control over individual liberties. His position that civil rights are for EVERYONE has meant that many people on the political right have no interest in doing business with him. And he’s absolutely right; if rights aren’t for everyone, then they aren’t rights.

  It shouldn’t be a radical position to say that all people in the US should have the rights that they are promised by the US Constitution, and yet we currently have a gov’t that is doing their best to wipe their ass with the constitution and flush it down the toilet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shout out to my engineering homies.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Who is responsible for the death? The person that intentionally drives a van into a crowd of peaceful protestors, the rental company that didn’t do a full psychological screening and criminal background check before they rented a van to the person that committed the murders, or Ford for making the Econoline van with steel body panels instead of covered in 5’ of closed-cell foam?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shout out to my engineering homies.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  What it was designed for, and what it’s used for, are two different things, as you already agreed. Even if you truly, absolutely believe that the only purpose of a handgun or removable-magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle is to kill other people, then you would also have to admit that the overwhelming majority of them never are used to fulfill their purpose; the number that do are, compared to the number that exist, practically a rounding error. There are literally more guns in non-police/non-military hands in the US than there are people. There are far, far more defensive gun uses annually–regardless of who measures it and how–than there are gun homicides.

  And bluntly, I absolutely DO NOT trust the gov’t to be the only ones with access to firearms. If you can look at Trump, ICE, Hegseth’s DoD, cops in general, and say, oh, yeah, I shouldn’t be armed, but those guys are cool, well, I don’t know what to tell you. And I don’t trust ANY gov’t to not harm the people, because there’s no way to prevent fascists from taking control without also becoming authoritarian.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shout out to my engineering homies.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  His response, as is mine, is that what people use his guns for simply isn’t his business. If people used Stanley hammers to beat people to death, would it mean that Stanley was an immoral company? Or would it mean that people used the product in an unlawful and immoral way?

  I happen to very, very strongly believe in 2A, and I think that the US is in the shitstorm it is currently in in no small part because liberals–but not leftists–have been working their asses off to disarm themselves.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shout out to my engineering homies.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I desperately wanted to get a degree in mechanical engineering so I could go to work for an arms company (like Heckler & Kock, FN Herstal, etc.). Never happened, got an art degree instead. Then I met a guy that owns a very small firearms company, and, well, yeesh. It’s a brutally hard business. He makes a good product, he has good morals and ethics, but the market is so saturated that anyone smaller than the largest arms companies are hemorrhaging money. Glad I didn’t try to live my dream now.

  I may not like what governments do with arms, but good goddamn, the arms themselves are neat.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long after starting Vitamin D supplements should you notice results?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Dermatologists are worried about cancers, buuuuuuuuuuuut the cancers have very low mortality rates, and the effects of not getting sun tend to be pretty drastic. I’ve got a lot of tattoos, so I keep them pretty well covered, but I am usually vit. D deficient as a result.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Uhhh... It's a work phone⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “It’s a burner, kid. So that when cops arrest me at a protest they don’t get shit from my phone.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨hmm breakfast⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve definitely had better luck with them, although it depends on how windy and rainy it is. If it was so bad that a cigarette was going to be soaked before I got it lit, then nothing was going to work. Plus, you also have cold temperature performance; liquid fuels (for lighters) will continue to work in exceptionally cold weather, while butane lighters tend to not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s already a problem. People are outsourcing their thinking to LLMs, and LLMs aren’t capable of thinking.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm doing my part⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  AFAIK, pedophilia refers specifically to the sexual attraction to children. When it’s used as a weapon per your scenario, it’s both a war crime and child rape.

  Like, if adult men as sexually assaulted as part of war crimes (and that’s distressingly common), the perpetrators are likely not gay or bi-; they’re ‘just’ committing atrocities.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm doing my part⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The system is currently 237 years old, which would make fucking the system the opposite of child molestation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm doing my part⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  AFAIK, child molestation victims are not more likely to become pedophiles or molest children; usually they’ve got a lot of PTSD.

  The only treatment that’s available is chemical castration (to largely eliminate sexual urges, although that creates a ton of health issues), and therapy that reduces the probability of criminal offenses against children. It’s not treating pedophilia per se, it’s helping people learn to avoid triggers and spaces where they’re likely to feel overwhelmed by sexual impulses. There’s no cure.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm doing my part⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Depends.

  Pedophilia is likely an inherent sexual attraction, much like being straight, or LGBTQ+. It appears that the sexual attraction is not something that the person has control over. There’s no good evidence that it can be changed. Some pedophiles are also sexually attracted to age-appropriate partners, some appear to be exclusively attracted to children. Moreover, it appears to split into nepophilia (infants, toddlers), pedophilia (pre-pubescent children older than toddlers), and ephebophilia (pubescent children and post-pubescent children younger than the legal age of consent).

  Epstein appears to have been attracted to post-pubescent girls younger below the age of consent, but he also seems to have had sexual relationships with adult women. E.g., he wasn’t exclusively a pedophile.

  Child molestation is a completely different matter. Child molesters can be pedophiles, but they can also be opportunistic sexual predators. A significant amount of child molestation is also incest, e.g., a parent or close relative (almost always male) using a child for sexual gratification because they can (proximity, opportunity), rather than preferring children. Either way, child molesters that sexually abuse children are very high risk offenders; they are often very, very likely to commit the same crime repeatedly.

  So, I’d draw the line a line between someone that’s sexually attracted to minors, and someone that acts. The child molester? Yeah, fuck 'em with a chainsaw. Pedophiles that haven’t yet done anything (including grooming!)? No.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  you’re just a Christian who hates God.

  I’m a former Christian that’s been deeply disappointed by the followers of god, or gods; the hypocrisy and mental gymnastics of the purported followers was what eventually led me out of Plato’s Cave. If Jesus was real, and Christians truly followed the actual words of Christ in the four gospels (not Paul, Paul was a dick), then I’d likely never have started questioning my own faith. As it was, it still took me 25 years, four years in seminary, and working as a missionary before I started to question anything.

  The reaction is certainly part of it. But that’s definitely not all of it.

  Atheist says what I don’t believe: I don’t believe in any god, or anything supernatural. (Could there be one? Sure. But I haven’t seen any falsifiable evidence. So technically I’m agnostic, but I round up to atheist.)

  Satanism says what I do believe: I believe that men are free to do as they want, as long as the don’t infringe on the rights of others. I believe in bodily and personal autonomy (including abortion, drugs, and yes, suicide). I believe in being free from unjust and unwarranted authority. I choose to model my life as much as I reasonably can on the version of Lucifer presented in Paradise Lost and other Romantic-era books.

  Anton LaVay was an ass, a misogynist, a bit homophobic, and generally a bit of a douche-canoe, but he was very right in that the idea of a Satan, and of sin, was the best friend religion ever had; without the idea that men are inherently sinful, no one has any need for religion, because no one needs to be redeemed. You need to feel bad, because if you don’t, then there’s no reason to keep showing up at church every week to receive forgiveness.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Most of history from that time period is from books that don’t cite sources.

  Most of the history that’s accepted from that time comes from multiple sources–rather than just one–and has some kind of archaeological evidence backing it up. In contrast, there’s essentially zero writing about a Jesus of Nazareth aside from books written a minimum of 70 years after he supposedly lived. If you choose to treat a single book as proof of truth, why the bible? Why not the Torah, or Quran? There’s certainly better evidence that Muhammed is at least a historical figure, although even that is debated. For that matter, why not the Tao Te Ching (although, again, the actual existence of a Laozi is very debateable)?

  I do not condone that.

  You say that you’re a Christian; the vast majority of Christian sects condemn homosexuality and marriage equality. Christians are called to evangelize (Matt. 5:14-16), and likewise the bible says in multiple places that homosexuality is sinful (along with divorce, eating cheeseburgers, and, well, just about everything that’s enjoyable in life). But you don’t condone it?

  Never heard of this happening.

  Oh really? You’re not aware of laws being passed that prevent access to and criminalize reproductive care, or laws that ban gender affirming care? Really?

  Really?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Okay, what evidence convinces you? HOW do you “know”?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And what is your belief based on? What falsifiable evidence do you have that it’s actually correct, factually true?

  In other words, how do you know?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. OP is a Christian and believes that.

  Any evidence for that, aside from a book that doesn’t cite sources? Look mate, I can believe that Harry Potter really defeated He Who Shall Not Be Named and saved the muggle world from his domination, but does that make it right? Would that be a positive thing to base all of my life on?

  This is the same as a Christian telling an atheist that their gay relationship is wrong.

  …And yet, they do that all the time, don’t they? Not only that, but they try to pass laws preventing them from happening. Or to prevent trans people from accessing appropriate healthcare. Or to ensure that women don’t have rights to their own bodies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No, it doesn’t matter to the universe. Morality can still matter to you. This is the idea that existentialism is built around: you have to make choices for yourself.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s nothing particularly wrong with lust, sexual attraction, desire for connection, etc. It’s all part of simply being human. Why would you assume that the teachings of the Christian bible are correct, not in just this matter, but any other? Why not any other scripture? Buddhists, for instance, would say that any desire prevents you from progressing spiritually. Satanists (me!) would say that no desire is inherently wrong, and that it’s how the desire is expressed, and it’s whether it overrides someone else’s autonomy that makes a thing right or wrong.

  I don’t view paying a prostitute for sexual services as being inherently wrong. It’s wrong if you’ve agreed to sexual fidelity with another person (terms and conditions apply), and it’s wrong if you’re using a prostitute that has been forced into sexual labor. But if you haven’t promised a partner (or partners) that you will be sexually faithful to them, and the prostitute is in the field willingly–or, at least as willingly as anyone that works at any job–then it’s not really any more wrong than, say, paying someone to make a meal for you when you’re hungry. Labor is labor, regardless of the nature of the work.

  The first step to overcoming this ‘problem’ is therapy. You want a sexual and emotional connection, and you feel like you’re unable to find it otherwise. You should find a licensed psychotherapist–not a member of the clergy, not a life coach–and work on why you have problems finding that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why do you believe that it does?

  Look mate, we’re a cosmic blip. On the scale of the universe, we don’t even register. We’re born, we live, we die, and on the scale of how long the universe has existed, it’s not even a blink. The universe is about 13,900,000,000 years old. The first single-cell organisms emerged about 3,500,000,000 years ago. Humans, in our current form, have only existed for a mere 300,000 years. Our sun will turn into a red giant in about 5,000,000,000 years, which will sterilize the surface of the earth, but it won’t matter to humans, because we will have evolved into an entirely different species and almost certainly have gone completely extinct billions of years before that happens.

  NOTHING we do matters to the universe. There is nothing we can do that will affect the course of the entire universe. Any belief to the contrary is simply terror management. So how could one moral code, in the grand scheme of the universe, matter more than any other?

  What makes you believe, aside from your attempts to manage your terror of non-existence, that any of your morality matters at all?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does anyone struggle with spending money foolishly on prostitutes?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why do you assume that a god is necessary for morality? What led you to this conclusion? What falsifiable evidence do you have?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spiritual Safety Tip!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Indeed. It runs smack into the problem of falsifiability.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK Doctors of Osteopathy in the US seldom practice Osteopathy⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  As far as I can tell, there is nothing in chiropractic practice that is not quackery.

  Think about it this way: the basic practice is the idea that you have misalignments causing problems, and that you can manually manipulate the body back into alignment. But then what keeps you from getting unaligned again as soon as you stand up? (Nothing, of course! That’s why you have to keep going back!) Take, for example, the common inguinal hernia. You can manually manipulate it so that you’re forcing the intestines back through the abdominal wall. And it absolutely relieves the immediate discomfort. But you’re not actually fixing anything; you need surgery to stitch the tear up. If you have weak support structures causing a problem, then physical therapy is going to create a permanent solution. If you have a herniated disc that’s not healing and causing referred pain, then you need to surgically fix the herniation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spiritual Safety Tip!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I had a ‘pastor’ try and witness to me yesterday, insisting that his spiritual experiences made him right, while the spiritual experiences of people that converted to Judaism or Islam meant they had been deceived by the devil.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Remove the bag limit, put a bounty on them. Anyone that murks a billionaire wins a 2000 ft^2 home (or condo, whatever) in the location of their choice, with all taxes, fees, and utilities paid for as long as they live there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Enjoying the outdoors⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What, they’re enjoying the outdoors? And that’s somehow bad? If that offends you, maybe you should avert your eyes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Future teachers in Oklahoma!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No, no, it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in evolution, he was just opposed to it. Rather than species adapting, he preferred mass die-offs, so that the earth could be wiped clean of all organic life, paving the way for the rise of machine sentience.