southsamurai

@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are your parents "supposed" to be your role models?⁩ ⁨⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, it depends on what you think a role model is.

  But, yeah, parents are supposed to be your fundamental guides into adulthood. That means at least partially teaching by example, which is what a role model is; someone in a role that you use as a living example of how to function in a specific or general situation.

  Role models can lead by words, but words tend to be meaningless unless backed by matching behaviors. “Do as I say, not as I do” is very difficult to make work unless you’re a completely negative role model. If you really suck at something, using yourself as a model of what not to do, that’s actually valuable. But if it’s more of a mix like most people are, the whole DAISNAID model of guidance fails.

  That’s not to say that perfection is required either. But it is how you act when you fuck up that’s going to be most important, not what you say.

  Parents fuck up. That’s because humans fuck up. So, even if parents are incredible, you still don’t want to rely on only them as a road map. Same with family in general. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, older siblings and cousins, you watch all of them and do your best to interpret how their choices could apply to your own life.

  Age isn’t a guarantee of wisdom. But experience does tend to be a great teacher, and the folks ahead of you in age can be a great source of options. Doesn’t matter if they achieved the thing you’re working towards, if what they did didn’t work out, that’s still useful.

  So even a “bad” example can still end up benefiting you. Even the really shitty parents out there, once you realize that they’re the same flawed and ignorant humans that have always existed, at least model things to avoid. The problem is how long it can take to realize your parents are just people, just regular people that had to navigate the same way you’re trying to. Be patient with yourself as you figure that out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do I decrease acne after shaving my face?⁩ ⁨⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a problem in answering this. We don’t know what the actual cause is, and we don’t know if it’s acne, a reaction to products, ingrown hairs, or just irritated skin that mimics one or multiple of those. So, be aware that you’re going to see responses that may not address the real problem but is still good in general, even if it doesn’t lead to a fix.

  So, I used to be a nurse’s assistant. Shaving people is part of that job sometimes. Back in the day, one of my teachers was even the crazy type that pulls the whole “shave a balloon” thing. Which, while entertaining and slightly useful, doesn’t actually teach what it takes to shave a person.

  Anyway, shaving is always a skin irritant. It’s a matter of degrees. Most of the time, if you follow the core principles, that irritation is going to be below the threshold where it’s noticeable for more than a few minutes at most.

  Number one rule is that sharp razors cause the least irritation, and are less likely to result in nicks. Doesn’t matter what kind of razor you use, it has a limited range of uses before it needs sharpening or replacement. A straight razor, you strop every time you use it. Safety razors and most of the disposable head razors (no matter how many blades) expect to get three shaves at most before you start feeling the difference.

  Yeah, that’s less than what most guides will say. That’s because you can definitely get more shaves in before it turns into a problem. But you’ll feel a change before it gets to the point where you’re losing the ability to slice smoothly and it turns into damaged skin. Most safety razors, assuming your facial hair isn’t absurdly thick and dense, expect to change the razor after five or six uses. Some of the multiblade heads can stretch a little more up to maybe ten shaves total, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to shave myself or anyone else with something for that long.

  See, sharpness is only the first factor. Cleanliness is another. As you build up soap residue, microscopic cells, etc; the razor not only cuts more poorly, it’s likely growing bacteria for you. There’s ways to prevent that. Make sure the razor is as clean after use as possible, then dry it thoroughly. Some folks recommend rinsing them in something like barbicide, but I tend to see that as causing extra work for diminishing returns, so I don’t recommend it when this comes up.

  If your razor is sharp and clean, you’ll minimize irritation as well as minimize and bacterial growth afterwards, which is what pimples are, and why ingrown hairs look like pimples. It’s bacteria that’s gotten part way into the skin and is being walled off and killed. The pus is dead microbes and your own immune cells (basically, this is the quick and dirty version because this is about shaving, not skin infections).

  Next, you do your prep. The skin itself is going to respond best, overall, when it has been exfoliated gently, and is both warm and as hydrated as is reasonable. So wash your face first, with warm water. Not cold, that’s going to cause issues.

  Look, my hands are killing me, so I’m going to have to take some meds and come back to this. I will though, and I promise you that it’ll be worth it. If you run across this before I come back, I intend to ping OP once I finish it. If anyone else wants a ping, let me know. It shouldn’t be half an hour or so before I come back to it, but I will come back.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  I haven’t seen only fans ads tbh.

  But there was a point when an average woman could make some spare cash doing it. Not enough to make a serious income out of, but to supplement, sure.

  But that’s been over for years. So if they’re advertising that, it’s a thinly veiled attempt to keep their brand relevant. And I doubt it will work for long, because even the really desperate folks out there have figured out that those days are long gone. Yeah, you still run into people that haven’t, but it’s getting less and less.

  Like your post said, nowadays you have to bring something in the way of a following just to get started there. It has to serve as a secondary income flow to other similar sex work, or you have to be famous for something else entirely if you want to even hope for non nude content to be worth it.

  I used to know a couple of women that did okay at it, and one guy. But by “okay” I mean that they pulled a few thousand in a year.

  Some of the bigger name cam models did well there, but from what I’ve heard, it’s no longer reliable for them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, the comment they’re referring to is phrased weird as hell. It reads like something a hack writer would come up with for a blurb on the back of a cheap romance novel or a soft core porn movie.

  Top international high-end escort. It’s just a strange way to lead off.

  While I’ve heard people irl talk like that, and have seen people online do so in writing, it stood out to me too. If I was going to make an assumption based on it, I would have guessed someone trying to set up for a series of fictional posts for fun and entertainment, not shilling for something, though. But it could just be the way you think, and there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s the case. I’m prone to some pretty purple prose myself, even in my own head.

  But I can’t see how this post could be turned into some kind of shilling expedition. Not successfully. That would take a sock puppet account or three to come along just begging for a link to the escort friend’s page, which would be so absurdly obvious on lemmy that it would turn into a running joke in a hot minute.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If I snapped you back in time 650 years right this very second, how would you use your current knowledge to succeed?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, I would give you the answer, but since I snapped back as soon as I read the post, I’m now responding what has been 650 years later for me, and I’m too fucking old for this shit a second time. I bypassed getting snapped back this time by just not reading the post and coming straight in to comment.

  Now, what will happen if I read the

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What causes individual variation in what animals you like?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Allergies.

  I’m allergic to bee venom, so I developed a phobia of them after my second sting at about 5 years old.

  It took me until my thirties to start working on the phobia.

  I reached a point where I was able to encounter bees, wasps, and hornets without fleeing or freaking out. I even caught a bumblebee that got into the house a few weeks ago and released it. Well, me and my kid did, it got into a weird corner and it took both of us to get it captured without hurting it.

  But, back in my early twenties, I once ran away from a bumblebee that was doing absolutely nothing, leaving my patient standing there confused.

  Those two events encapsulate my bee experience perfectly lol.

  As it stands, as long as a nest of hornets or wasps isn’t in my yard, I’m okay with them. In my yard, if there’s nobody willing to relocate them, they ded.

  Other bees and bee like critters are all good, though I would call the beekeeper that I know if a hive set up shop in the yard because he has promised he’d do so. And I know him because he was a total bro when I randomly called him and explained I was working through a phobia, and could he help with a few things. Dude went so far above and beeyond it was crazy.

  Not only did he bring out single bees for visits in those little queen boxes, he did so with it taking a half hour each way, and turned turn gas money. Then, once I was chill with holding the box, he bought a freaking suit that would fit my sasquatch ass, just so I could visit his hives. Said that since he had started lifting, it was an investment in his success in getting beefed up, but dude is all of 5’7, and even though he does lift regularly is still way smaller than me, and always will be.

  Anyway, point is that it eventually got to the point that I could visit his hives without the suit, though not up close. way closer than I ever thought possible, because it was close enough that bees were in the air around us. And I had my epipen in hand. But still.

  That’s tangential to what you actually asked, but I do view flying, stinging insects with a different emotion than anything else. Bumblers are as close to zero reaction as it gets because they’re just so chill. As long as I see them instead of them buzzing me before I can track them, I can sit and watch them.

  Honey bees, it’s number based. Once there’s more than a few, I can’t track them all, so I tend to get nervous and exit the vicinity calmly.

  Wasps and hornets, I do not fuck with. That clenching in my guts when they’re nearby is not ever going away, I don’t think. But, I don’t run screaming like a child any more.

  ---

  But other than that, my likes and dislikes are fairly broad. Like, I don’t even hate roaches and mosquitoes, I just don’t want them around because of health risks. I can see the beauty in them, I can appreciate them without an “ugh” factor. Compare that to seeing up close pictures of hornets where, as much as I recognize their beauty, it’s a horrifying beauty.

  Now, how much I like something is pretty damn arbitrary. I love tigers, but lions are just cool. Why? No fucking idea. I like reptiles, but it’s not an emotional thing. It’s “oh, cool, a snake. So, what were we talking about?”

  Dogs and cats, I don’t even factor into this kind of thing because we’ve coevolved with both for so long that they’re part of us.

  But, chickens. Fucking chickens! We have some now, and I love the things. Growing up, the chickens I knew were all food production. Small scale, a dozen or so layers that could be used as meat in a pinch, plus some being raised for meat. So they weren’t exactly socialized with humans. If you weren’t bringing them food, and weren’t bothering them, they DNGAF about you.

  But, our first one was taken in young, as a sorta rescue. So he got socialized part way. Then we got a hen that was hand raised, and very young, and she very much enjoys being with her people, so she’s much more personable with humans in general. And even the half feral hen that has joined us is a delight in her own way, despite not wanting contact directly. They’re all dumber than dammit, and messy and loud, but that’s part of what’s great about them too.

  Two years ago, at this point in 2023, if you told me that the best part of my evenings would be cuddling on my couch with a chicken, I would have assumed you were tripping balls. And if you told me I’d be willing to die for a chicken, I’d have told you you were an idiot. But here I am, perfectly willing to run into the yard and take off after a coyote because it was fucking with my rooster. Which, I forgot the damn shotgun as far as that goes, which is also a good indicator of exactly how upset I was. Ran right past the thing, broke a hinge on the door and was as close to running as I get. Had to spend two days in bed recovering from screwing up my back during it, but I’d still do it again.

  I fucking love my chickens, and that love has spread to other chickens. The one feral rooster that runs around used to annoy the shit out of me, but now I look forward to him, my rooster, and the little bantam rooster at another house serenading everyone. When the ferals pay a visit, or the flock from the other nearby house that keeps birds get loose and show up, I’m watching and smiling, even if I don’t go join them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's the point in getting married?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ahhh, I made the error of forgetting to note that it does vary by location. Thank you :)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's the point in getting married?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Aight, you seem to want to ignore the legal benefits, so I won’t mention that beyond saying that it is a hell of a lot easier to get married than to figure out all the paperwork needed to duplicate it, and not even have the exact same outcomes, just the majority. The tax thing, for example, you can’t file jointly if you aren’t married, no matter what else you set up

  The biggest thing is the experience, imo. The memory.

  Now, me and my wife went to the JoP, with our kid and required witnesses (my best friend and his husband).

  No fancy reception, no major party, just went home and said to my dad “we’re back, no problems.” He said congratulations, and went back to watching TV.

  Total spent was about a hundred bucks, including gas. And the memories of it are wonderful, we cherish it all, and we’re happy as hell we didn’t do anything else.

  Wedding ceremonies, however, are expensive once you go beyond that bare minimum. That’s a cultural/sociological thing where the needs of the individual and the culture mesh into not only believing it necessary, but beneficial.

  And, for the people that want it, it is beneficial. Ceremonies, rites, rituals, they serve a purpose beyond the legal or official status that comes with them. Weddings are as much about community as they are the couple. It’s the union being both recognized and celebrated at the same time, even when it’s a secular ceremony rather than religious.

  Don’t get me wrong, the money spent on empty bullshit surrounding weddings is absurd. But the actual wedding, where the community stands around the couple is incredibly powerful in terms of validation, even when it’s the license that really matters legally. You can have ceremonies without the license; I performed several of them back before same sex marriage became legal. Those events were important, and doubly so because they had no legal standing.

  I think that’s what you’re missing, that there’s a massive difference between two people shacking up and marriage. When the people involved swear an oath, and/or exchange symbols of union it means something, even if there’s no witnesses, not even someone to perform a ceremony. But as you move into witnesses and an officiant, it feels different because it is a public commitment. You can still divorce or whatever, but it happened, and you can never deny that. That moment, the vows, they exist in a way they don’t if you swear only to each other.

  Yeah, two people can be just as committed, and honor their commitment perfectly without anything else. But it feels different.

  Now, again, I’d argue that once you start shelling out for crazy dresses and cake and niche receptions, you hit diminishing returns very quick. That’s to satisfy other things, not the union itself. It may well make people happy, but it doesn’t add anything to the underlying point of there being a ceremony in the first place. That of saying to the world “where once there were two, now there are one”.

  Not that anyone has to share the valuation, but it’s what underlies the whole thing, and it has value

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Applying 'extreme heat' to lithium-ion batteries reportedly restores their capacity, and I think it's the sustainable tech breakthrough of 2025⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Yup, que

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Applying 'extreme heat' to lithium-ion batteries reportedly restores their capacity, and I think it's the sustainable tech breakthrough of 2025⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I love the typo because it covers so many things at once

  Queue as in they’re lining up to do it; cue, as in that’s their cue to be stupid; and que (spanish for what) as in what the fuck are they thinking?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do office workers actually do?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It really varies too much between industries to give a single answer. Someone at an insurance company is going to be doing something vastly different than an accountant, and they’ll be different from an architect (though only part of what architects do is in the office).

  That being said, office work for the average worker, as in a salaried or hourly worker with a fairly rigidly defined job description, is usually going to be paperwork, even though there’s not always paper involved.

  It’s taking information and moving it around, in one way or another.

  As an example, one of my exes worked for a company that handles employee benefits, investments, and other services to other companies. Lets say a worker has an IRA, gets a nice insurance policy, and there’s a pension fund.

  Her job is to take data from the company that contracted with the company she worked for, enter that data into the system in an properly formatted way, run calculations, then trigger the appropriate funds being moved from one account to another. No meetings unless something goes wrong. It’s all day data entry and management.

  Now, before that job, she worked at a tax service under a CPA. She would get actual paper back then. Receipts, forms, and look for deductions for the client, then print out the church correct tax form, have the client sign it, then send it off. She would finish one, then start the next, all day long during tax season. Off season, she would be receiving accounting records from clients and entering them into the system of the company she worked for, and process things like withholding.

  Pretty much, neither of those jobs required leaving the desk her entire shift.

  Now, my best friend runs a department at a community college. He leaves the actual desk frequently. There’s meeting with his superiors, meetings with his underlings, meetings with vendors, budgeting work, orders, policy decisions, disciplinary decisions, and the list keeps on going.

  My best friend’s husband was a flunky at architectural firm. When he was on a project, his job was drafting designs per specifications given to him. It required doing some oh the work, meeting with the architect, then changing anything per their decisions, or finalizing those plans. From there, once plans were ready to be used by someone to build something, he would essentially coordinate between contractors and his office to troubleshoot any snags with things like permits, supply issues, etc. So it was usually a lot of desk with work over a few weeks or months, then weeks or months barely at a desk, but still mostly in office.

  ---

  Myself, I never had a long term office job. But, during recovery from a work related injury, I was pulled into the office of the home health company I worked for. My injury precluded patient care, but I was okay for light duty.

  I was placed in staffing. I would roll in early, about 6 AM, and check for any call-ins. That would be employees needing to have their case covered by someone else for whatever reason. I would call other caregivers based on availability, proximity to the patient, and hours already worked. The last one was to avoid overtime unless absolutely necessary.

  The software used, I would type in the name, and their details would pop up with their address, phone number, and current schedule. Same with the patient.

  The first step for me was always to check the patient’s location, because that let me filter out people on the list as available by proximity before anything else, since I would have to just go down the list. I’d enter a name, check the location, and decide who to short list. Once I had the short list, I’d verify they were not going into OT, and start calling, with priority given to employees that had requested more hours.

  Most of the time, a call-in would take fifteen to twenty minutes to resolve.

  Once the morning run was over, it would be time for a quick coffee and come back to handle any afternoon call-ins in the same way. Have lunch, then repeat for evening/night call-ins.

  During the few months I was doing it, most of the time, that was handled by maybe 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Some days it was all handled before lunch, and very occasionally by the time the coffee break was available. Very variable because there are days when folks just didn’t call in as much. And there were days it was crazy, particularly when there’d be something like a bad flu run through local schools and the parents would either catch it, or need to take care of their kids.

  But, usually, the afternoons were either straight up bullshitting with the ladies in the office (not flirting or messing with, just swapping healthcare war stories), or helping with sorting out patient intake and/or prioritizing staffing for new patients. A new patient means you either shuffle staff around, hire new caregivers, or break it to the bosslady that someone is going to need overtime until the other options could happen. Since I knew pretty much everyone, I was good at figuring out who would be a good pick for a patient’s needs.

  A few times, I did some of the initial onboarding for new caregivers. Get them the employee handbook, introduce them around, talk about expectations, that kind of happy horseshit.

  Tbh, I liked it most days, but not as much as patient care. Don’t think I could have done it for years or anything, but as a temporary thing, it was nice.

  See? Totally different daily routines and work between industries.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it wrong to have the desire to kill my parents who are slumlords that owns 5-20 rental units around the city?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ahhhhh, my homie, delete this. Quickly. And never ask such a thing on an insecure service again.

  I’m not saying I don’t understand, I do. But you gotta at least pretend to show basic caution.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why are popes always really old?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You gotta understand something. It’s all speculation.

  There’s no official rules stating a pope has to be a certain age. There’s no procedural factors that make it mandatory.

  This means that unless the Cardinals over time state that age was a factor in their voting, the rest of us can only guess, and the Cardinals involved in the election are supposed to never reveal what goes on during the voting.

  While it’s definitely possible to apply sound reasoning into why popes tend to be well past middle age overall, there have been popes under 50, and even a couple under 40. One was a pope multiple times, and was first elected at 12. That’s Benedict the 9th, and it was over a thousand years ago, but still.

  The Cardinals are supposed to be picking the pope based on their worthiness to be pope, but there’s been plenty of times where it was politics and power mongering all the way.

  Like any institution, the church has changed and shifted over its incredibly long history, with all the ups and downs of its influence, wealth, and power. So, obviously, selection of leadership isn’t always the same.

  In our lifetimes, we’ve not had anyone under their 50s. And there seems to be a general trend towards popes with known and proven ranges of belief about the major issues that the church aristocracy deems important.

  To me, that points to selection excluding younger candidates because it’s hard to have a reasonable certainty about a candidate’s specific beliefs on a given issue until they’ve had time to show their beliefs, or speak about them consistently. However, that assumes all the Cardinals are acting in good faith, with the pun being both intentional and relevant.

  I think it can be safely argued that the popes of the last fifty years have been compromise picks. Fairly conservative in most things, but with outlying stances that move away from established practice. And I use conservative not in the standard political way, but with it being more about “conserving” established dogma and policies within the church. That those policies match other uses of conservative is true, but one doesn’t have to follow the other.

  When a candidate is a compromise it tends to end up where the need for a body of reputation and history is even more important during negotiations and arguments about who to elect, so it would make sense that age would be a factor because of that.

  But even all of those conclusions are speculation, it just includes the reasoning for that speculation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trans women should use toilets based on biological sex, Phillipson says⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Look, ima be real here.

  As long as people aren’t lined up watching other people excrete wastes, I’m fine with whoever wants to use whatever bathroom.

  Like, I’m a dude, and y’all trans men are welcome to stare at the wall right beside me. We will piss in solidarity. Y’all trans women, take the stall if you want/need, or post up and piss right along with the rest of the folks evacuating their bladders. You cis women, c’mon in, the water’s fine. Just understand that there’s some unwritten rules involved. And, if you haven’t a penis, bring one of those funnel things for urinal usage as pissing on one’s feet is considered unmanly.

  When you’re at the urinal, you only ever look at your neighbor if you believe they may need an ambulance. Otherwise, you pick a spot with some interesting graffiti and stare at it, but only if it is not beyond two inches to the side of the urinal you are using. If at a trough, use your shoulders as the border.

  If there is no other choice, and you have to speak with someone next to you, do not look at them. Look up at the ceiling. This way, everyone knows you aren’t looking at their junk, and nobody has to worry about being measured.

  However, be aware that if you shake it more than twice, you’re playing with it, no matter what it is. So, take it to a stall, you heathen.

  If in the stall, remember the courtesy flush. It is also strongly encouraged to give a “sorry bros” if nearby stalls are occupied. Rounds of applause for extraordinarily thunderous flatulence are allowed; but please, no standing ovations.

  Should you find a hole in the stall wall, be aware that it is your obligation to gently stroke anything that comes through said hole. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them like everyone else does.

  Also, it is imperative that when the circle jerk starts, that your hands are well lotioned, and you sing along with everyone else. It will usually be either “row, row your boat” or “Michael row your boat ashore”, so make sure you have the lyrics memorized, and do try to stay on key. In the event the standard songs are not in play, it is acceptable to hum along; just don’t expect much in the way of aftercare.

  I would strongly encourage everyone to memorize and share these rules, since very soon all ladies’ rooms will be forbidden to all. Can’t have anyone that might have a penis, even if that penis is in their womb. You know how penises get in the ladies’ room, jumping around, spitting on everything, leaving a mess all over the counters, throwing the sanitary supplies into any waiting receptacle (including the astonished mouths of bystanders). All of which is just flat not acceptable when said penis is in the womb still, show some respect.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Help⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, if it gets solved, leaving it up would be better, particularly if the reason for it is something that might happen to someone else

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do you use other federated software besides Lemmy (e.g. Mastodon/Pixelfed/etc.), if so which?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Mastodon on my pen name.

  Piefed for the hell of it.

  Used to use one of the “key” forks, but the instance I was on shut down, and I never went back.

  Haven’t really bothered with the rest because they don’t fit any needs, and tend to be based around things that aren’t my personal interests enough to use regularly. Peertube, I’ll never put videos up, but I use it when other people link to it.

  That’s really it. I don’t want/need the kind of services friendica is for, nor whatever the name of the Instagram clone is, and loops is totally not my thing.

  I don’t have anything against them, mind you, I just don’t use those kind of platforms

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨is this something only introverts struggle with?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  No, extroverts and ambiverts have trouble with interrupters too.

  In a work environment, I find it best just to say I’m having trouble keeping up, and could first person please continue. Most of the time, it’s gonna work fine

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is Jean-Luc Picard so hot 🙏⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Because Sir Patrick Stewart is one of the most handsome dudes to ever walk the planet, even today.

  The character being a fairly assertive and confident leader without bravado or machismo helps. He’s smart, capable, kind when allowed to be.

  Picard is a perfect example of everything star trek represents, in a way, and is definitely the epitome of what star fleet and the federation were supposed to be.

  But, legit, I’m cis het, and if Patrick Stewart asked for a handy, I’d grab the lotion.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ban for upvotes is real here?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  To keep from weighing in on something in error.

  You kinda hey in the habit of at least a cursory mod log check if you spend any time on powertrippingbastards, or the modabuse communities.

  A shit ton of people will make claims of being sweet, innocent little users while have a long and nasty history of fucking with people.

  So, you learn to either check mod logs, or be willing to take heat for jumping in too quickly.

  In this post, OP is essentially saying they were falsely accused of something. The only way to know what the deal is, is mod logs and user history. On the surface it could be just like OP claims, particularly when dealing with .ml since they’re known to be trippin.

  Turns out, OP is a douchbag and can fuck right off, and the only way to know that is by checking. Blaze is one of those people that, for good or ill, devotes a ton of time and energy into making lemmy a useful and fluid experience. They pretty much always go the extra mile. Some folks are just like that. I’m way too lazy to do it regularly, but I gotta respect the ones that put that effort in

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are foxes more prone to rabies than other animals?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Afaik, and I’ve looked, there’s no single “varmint” that is more or less likely to carry rabies.

  Unless you consider opossum a varmint, they do have a lower chance to carry it, but I’ve never thought it them as a problematic species in the same way as other critters that share spaces with humans. Like, most possums aren’t going to eat your chickens or your cat, they aren’t predators in that way, and they don’t eat crops with any regularity. They’ll eat the hell out of eggs or small birds, but even that isn’t a super common thing because they have to be short on food to go where humans are active like you would be if you raised chickens.

  But the usual suspects, raccoons, foxes, coyote, that kind of critter don’t have any special proclivity for it, or unusual physiology to reduce infection rates.

  I went digging after we had a local “invasion” of coyote years ago, and then again in 2023 when we got chickens. Wanted to know if there were any I should be more trigger happy towards in that regard, and there isn’t.

  Thing is, if one or another of the usual varmints is at a high population in your area, the chances go up that they’ll have a reservoir of it because there’s more proximity, and more of them out there messing with other critters that might infect them. But it isn’t because they’re a fox or whatever, it’s about population density. Iirc, and I didn’t dig too deep, foxes got a reputation for it because their habitats overlap with so many other species that more people saw foxes with rabies, but it didn’t represent anything unique to foxes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Angry, disappointed users react to Bluesky's upcoming blue check mark verification system⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The fuck did anyone expect?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How important is it that cans are clean when i put them in the recycling.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Just a quick rinse is fine.

  The only reason to even worry about that is the contents that remain drawing insects or critters trying to get at whatever residue is there. Once the residue is rinsed decently, you minimize that enough that it isn’t a big deal, and you’re good to go.

  Pretty much all recycling (afaik anyway, I haven’t checked every single possibility) of metal includes a cleaning of some kind. Then the metals get shredded or otherwise broken down. So having a some dried you soda residue, or some bean juice hanging on isn’t going to interfere with the processing.

  Now, if you’ve got a lot of goopy stuff left in/on a can, yeah, you may need to do more than rinse, but that’s a different issue tbh

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's with "*checks notes*" everywhere?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Imagine all the people

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long does it take for someone to reach a high level of drawing?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Kinda depends on what you think of as high level.

  Now, only some of what I’m going to say is first person, because I’ve never “drawn” professionally, and that’s part of what you’re asking. So be aware of that.

  But, if you want to reach the point where you could realistically be a professional comic artist, expect to put in some work. Maybe years worth. Even the artists that get their first job early tend to have years of practice in, working with perspective, the human form, and general use of the tools of the trade.

  Like, you don’t necessarily need art school to achieve technical proficiency, but you do need practice that’s going to be the equivalent in time. If that’s you doing the work independently as a teen and young adult in your time, great.

  But that’s just technical proficiency. All the comic artists I’ve ever heard describe their job, it’s not just being good, it’s being fast, because even the indies that publish their own stuff can’t just have no schedule because things have to ship and be on shelves at a reasonable degree of accuracy, or not only do the shops have trouble with that, readers give up and forget about it.

  All the stuff with layout in panels, formatting, etc, you can learn as you go, once you’ve got the fundamentals down, but don’t expect a ton of interest at first. Doesn’t matter how good the drawings are if they don’t fit the page and tell the story. If that side of things is sloppy, making money at comics is harder.

  I actually know one artist that went from high school, to art school, and into pencil work by the time he was 21 at marvel. Not naming him, but he had been working on his skills as far back as elementary school, and had gotten serious about it before high school, and that’s how he got a job of any kind that quick.

  Thing is, comics are harder than they look. A lot of them, you aren’t doing super realistic stuff. But you have to convey movement and dynamics in a scene. You have to do that in a limited space, and clearly enough for an inker to have something to work with, then the colorist if it’s a color comic. Just sitting down and doing a realistic sketch of someone might take an hour to get nice enough to hang on the wall, but doing a page of a comic can take just as long or longer, depending on what’s going on.

  The simpler the comic is, the less work you have to do, but you still gotta do enough to tell the story.

  So don’t expect to get good at all of that fast. Expect it to take at least as long s an associate’s degree if you’re already into art. Longer if you’re starting from scratch

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Ahhh, the gICEtapo goes high tech

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Am I going crazy, or has people's spelling gotten awful lately?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I, mean its only. Natural that weerd thangs criep into comments here und their

  But it’s been something increasing over time. Some of it is people just not paying attention, some of it is them relying on autocorrect and not spending the time to check what gets autoed. But, a lot of it is that people can’t spell for shit, and don’t care that they can’t.

  And, to be fair, as long as the basic idea of what you’re saying gets across, how much effort is required? In your example, extreme vs extream, while one is correct, they both sound the same, and they even read the same. So if a person is just approximating the sound of the word, and never ran across it, do they have an obligation to go looking?

  Now, obviously, extreme would be an unusual word to never have seen in print since it was over used in marketing for a long time. I’d expect xtreme to be the misspelling to show up. But even with a word that over saturated, does it matter?

  I say no, it doesn’t really matter. Yeah, I’d still offer someone the correct spelling, but that’s just as a point of conversation rather than any obligation they have to spend their time and energy on vocabulary and/or spelling. As long as they aren’t giving me shit for having put in time and effort into mine, and it’s close enough to guess; or they’re willing to communicate about that they meant if it isn’t easy to guess.

  For real, it does make my brain scream at me when I run across it. But that’s my problem, not theirs.

  Seriously, not everyone cares enough to edit it up. Why should they?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YouTube considers a daily timer for users looking to cut back on Shorts⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh, ffs, make up your damn mind.

  Nobody really wanted them, but now that people are using it, you want to limit it? The entire executive roster for alphabet needs to take a submarine ride

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I hate reachability of smartphones⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Do what I do. Crush their expectations.

  Answer only when convenient.

  People forget that, before cell phones became ubiquitous, we had answering machines. People didn’t automatically pick up.

  Before that, you did have to decide if the call was likely to be important, but you also didn’t get as many calls in the first place.

  There’s zero reason that we have to respond immediately to anything, be it call, text, email, paper planes, whatever.

  If you just don’t respond, until you’re damn good and ready, people will eventually get the idea and not waste time with fifteen messages instead of one clear and simple one.

  You don’t even have to check messages until you’re in a place and time that doing so is useful.

  Like, you get a message at noon, you’re at work, and people know that, they aren’t messaging you with the assumption you’ll jump right on it. And, if they do think that, you shouldn’t reward that thinking anyway. So handle stuff at times when you can actually respond well anyway, instead of having to fire off a four word nothing burger.

  I promise you, over time, the people that matter are going to adapt, especially if you tell them that you would rather have a smaller number of meaningful exchanges than a bunch of quick ones because you value them. If that’s actually the truth (and it is for me), you’ll follow through with that, and then your interactions with them become fulfilling, more personal and real.

  Set up the expectation that if it’s something minor, you won’t respond until an ideal time to do so.

  It’s been years since anyone objected to the way I handle communications, because they eventually figured out that a: I just wasn’t going to be a slave to my phone, and b: we really do have better conversations.

  It’s a difficult transition for sure, but a fairly simple one.

  Fair warning though. At some point, someone is going to start trying to send messages via a spouse or child if you have those. So you’ll have to be firm about never responding to those attempts.

  Trust me, if it’s something that’s actually important, you can manage that too. Once you get people adjusted, you can set up boundaries, and establish something like a text/call combo, or whatever for something big. You can even try it before you go controlled contact, but it doesn’t work as well since everyone thinks what they’re doing is important enough, if they’re in the habit of expecting fast responses still. Then, after a while, you don’t need those because everyone in your life has figured out that being patient is better, and won’t mess around with minor stuff. They’ll reserve the piddly shit for other times, so you know that if they’re calling in the middle of your work hours, it’s going to matter.

  Remember, that’s your phone, not anyone else’s. You own it, it does not own you. Repeat that mantra often enough, and even other people will start thinking that way too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #3075: Anachronym Challenge⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I switched to using preservation stuff a while back myself. Renaissance wax does the job, since we never actually use it. Just sits there looking pretty, no target’s tarnish at all.

  That being said, I do have some silver pieces that I let tarnish that aren’t inherited, just because I dig the look of it personally

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nigeria bans song critical of President Bolo Tinubu's economic policies⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You know what I love about the Streisand effect?

  Not only did she make it more likely for people to go looking for the original thing, it’s a long time later, and even though people would have forgotten it, the fact that she did it and had the effect named after her means that even people that don’t care about her or remember her will see the name and have to go look it up, which means they’ll run into the very thing she wanted forgotten.

  Image Case in point

  I had totally forgotten whatever it was, and had to look it up, and there it is.

  This dipshit? We might not care. His own citizens might not have cared about the song before. But now? He’s fucked. That song is now inextricably linked to his name and history. In twenty years, if anyone bothers to look him up, that song is going to be at least a footnote.