Curious_Canid

Curious_Canid , 1 day ago

I appreciate your patient contributions to this discussion. And I agree with you. This is another case of blaming the victim. When someone makes a threat threatens you the focus needs to be on those making the threat. How you handle the threat is only important if no one stops the aggressor.

Large parts of the GOP want to turn our country into a "what it used to be" that never existed. Destroying our educational system is a critical part of that mission. The lies at the base of their movement are not very effective against people with critical thinking skills, so they want to avoid letting anyone teach those.

These people are a genuine threat because we have allowed them into positions of genuine power. There will be no long-term solutions to the problems they are causing until we get them back out of power.

Curious_Canid , 2 days ago

A bold adventurer!

Curious_Canid , 5 days ago

You have given the correct and inevitable answer.

Curious_Canid , 9 days ago

Recorder is one of the easiest to learn. If you want something you can use to accompany yourself, guitar is the obvious choice, but it does require some cramped hand positions. If your joints are still recovering you may want to look into keyboards instead.

For what it's worth, I've found leaving to read music for a particular instrument is easier than learning to read it more generally.

Best of luck!

Curious_Canid , 17 days ago

Do you honestly think that Trump would be better? Have you read what he has to say about this subject?

I'm disgusted with Biden too, but sometimes choosing between the lesser of two evils is the responsible thing to do. Ethical choices are often the most difficult. One-topic voting is almost never ethical. The ultimate results do matter.

Curious_Canid , 16 days ago

You're seeing only ideals and not reality. I'm all in favor of applying pressure toward better goals to both parties. That does not change the fact that a candidate of one of those two parties is going to win the election and run the country.

False equivalence is another problem with ignoring practical results in favor of pure ideology. There is a vast difference between Biden and Trump. It's obvious from looking at what they've done already. It become even more stark if you pay attention to what Trump is saying he intends to do if re-elected. Trump genuinely wants to destroy our system of government, eliminate democracy, and rule as a dictator. He badly wants to persecute those who have offended him or who disagree with him. And he now has detailed plans for how to go about those things. When someone tells you who they are you should believe them.

Biden will run things the way he has been, which does not make me happy, but provides an opportunity for change within the system. How do you expect to enact progressive changes under a right-wing autocracy?

Even if your only concern is the Gaza genocide, Biden and Trump have significantly different positions. Biden has making a weak and unsuccessful attempts to rein in Israel. There is reasonable hope that he does have a limit for how far he's willing to go in that direction, as evidenced by his temporary halting arms shipments. Trump has said that he supports what Israel is doing, but thinks they aren't going far enough. He has, in the past, suggested using nuclear weapons to resolve situations like this.

It all comes back to false equivalence. We are not talking about two of the typical business-as-usual candidates. We are on the verge of becoming Nazi Germany. If you aren't doing everything you can to prevent that, whatever efforts you make toward other goals are going become irrelevant.

Curious_Canid , 16 days ago

Taking an absolute stand may be comforting, but it has not and will not actually accomplish anything.

Our existing system is broken. Our current choice is between continuing with it, and trying to influence, or exchanging it for an authoritarian government run by a vindictive child. In the long run there may be other options, but right now you aren't going to get a third choice. One or the other of those outcomes is going to happen.

Trump has said, at various times, that he would enact violence against protesters, have them arrested and held without due process, or have them deported. How effective do you think your efforts to push for more progressive government policies are going to go under those conditions?

Burning it all down sounds good in theory, but nothing happens in a vacuum. If we allow the current system to fail it is not going to be replaced with an idealized new system. It is going to be replaced by whatever existing movement is in a position to assert itself. Right now, that is will be the right-wing authoritarians.

Curious_Canid , 22 days ago

Jon Peters, one of the producers, had been trying to shoehorn a giant spider into a movie for quite some time. It wasn't that he thought it particularly needed to be in Wild, Wild West. He just wanted one, so he tried to get it written into every movie he was involved with until he finally succeeded. Hearing that really helped me understand the rest of that movie.

Curious_Canid , 23 days ago

Recession, as we define it, is only really meaningful to those of at least moderate wealth. That line used to be low enough that it included the majority of the population. Extreme wealth inequality has changed that. The majority are now below that line. Recession has become a concern for the rich. The rest of us suffer from wage stagnation and inflation to support ever increasing corporate profits, but that problem doesn't have a simple name and is rarely part of the economic debate. "The Economy" is doing fine, but most of us who have to participate in it are not.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

This is just an attempt to keep their bots motivated.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

Our understanding of what "primitive" humans could do keeps expanding and pushing back further in time. This find moves the bar a very long way.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

No meal is complete without pet hair.

My cats and dogs are sometimes demanding, but there's some give-and-take in any relationship. I make compromises to make them happy. They make compromises to make me happy. Ultimately, we all come out ahead.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

You will never know it, but the presence of that cat is the only reason you haven't had a stroke from stressing about your finals. Your chair seems fair compensation for that.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

That's been working well for me through several generations of dogs. Not only do they understand a lot of English pretty well, they also seem to like being spoken too.

Curious_Canid , 1 month ago

From an old New Yorker cartoon...
Dog: Humans are so cute when they try to understand quantum mechanics!

Curious_Canid , 2 months ago

This is a wonderful advance! And I hope it will eventually lead to a semi-sweet mode and a Baker's mode as well.

Curious_Canid , 2 months ago

Reading, In-Person Roleplaying Games, Disc Golf, and Writing.

Curious_Canid , 2 months ago

I didn't realize that "intellectual diversity' meant giving equal time to politically motivated drivel that fails to pass even the laugh test for factual basis or intellectual rigor.

Curious_Canid , 2 months ago

The important thing is that he is now judging you in comfort.

Curious_Canid , 3 months ago

I am also a Lemmy immigrant. It do miss the volume in a lot of the more specialized interests, but at least the quality is generally higher.

I'm a heathen who prefers electronic watches to mechanicals, but I enjoy looking at both. My daily drivers are a Citizen Promaster Skyhawk A-T Titanium Blue Angels and a Casio Pro Trek 3500T-7.

Curious_Canid , 3 months ago

What can we do to push traffic to shoptrumpsneakers.com?

Curious_Canid , 3 months ago

Excellent idea!

Curious_Canid , 3 months ago

Whether or not Putin actually had him assassinated, years of unfair imprisonment and abuse certainly contributed heavily to his death. Putin is responsible, in one sense or another.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I suppose it's inevitable, but the amount of ridiculous propaganda being posted here by a small by a number of people is making this community both less useful and less pleasant. Bizarre conspiracy theories and hatred are not news.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I generally agree with the content of the article, but the headline destroys its credibility. No one who might possibly have their mind changed is going to go anywhere near it.

I will admit to over-reacting. I'm just sick of watching people with something important to say undermine themselves by adopting the emotionally exploitive rhetoric of the other side.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I just assumed he was there to get his annual review.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

If you eventually buy another you should look at the Knifeless Rebar. You lose the blade, which you carry separately, but gain scissors.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I always carry at least one good knife too. I've been pleased with the Knifeless Rebar as a companion tool.

My main multitool these days is a Leatherman Free P4, but I replaced both blades with other third-party tools (from ZapWizard).

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

The tools are 3D printed in metal. The designs are excellent and the tools work quite well. I've been using them for at least six months and haven't had any problems.

I got the bit holder, the T-Shank saw blade holder, and the scalpel holder. They more than make up for what they replaced, except for the blades. Since I always carry both a plain edge and a serrated blade, it's all a trade up.

ZapWizard was also very helpful.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

Startpage is a good choice. I am currently experimenting with searXNG. It seems a little messier to use, but I'm getting more relevant results and less junk.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

That is a concern, but they seem to have taken precautions to prevent that from being exploited, at least in the short term. We'll have to see how it works out. I haven't given up on them yet.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

Inadvertently destroying the pharmaceutical industry would be one of the best possible outcomes.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I didn't say anything about stopping the manufacture of medications. There are any number of ways that could be handled which would be an improvement over our current pharmaceutical industry.

Curious_Canid , 5 months ago

This is what governing looks like.

Which is why none of them recognize it.

Curious_Canid , 5 months ago

I understand what you mean, but there's a good chance that some of them will die without heat. And even a few deaths like that are significant, no matter how large the city.

Curious_Canid , 5 months ago

There are two kinds of groups that push changes to society based on morality. Those who want to provide more freedom and rights to people who are at an unfair disadvantage under the system and those who want to impose restrictions and penalties on people who do things they don't like. The latter groups are almost never sincere. The actions they oppose are just an excuse for making people they don't like suffer. As a result, they are often caught do the exact things they say they oppose, because they don't really care about the actions themselves.

Curious_Canid , 5 months ago

I think that just indicates that they really do believe in diversity. They're finding all kinds of different ways to violate what they claim are their principles.

Curious_Canid , 5 months ago

When the GOP says "family friendly" what they mean is heterosexual white male friendly. Anyone else can be discriminated against, harassed, abused, denied protection under the law, denied medical care, and left to survive without food or housing. The only other class that has special rights are unborn children, who lose that status the instant they are born.

Curious_Canid , 4 months ago

I love the pattern on the grip.

Curious_Canid , 8 months ago

I have two pairs that size. One is traditional and the other a needlenose. They are surprisingly useful.

Curious_Canid , 10 months ago

I have found the usual small prybars useful, but I have since discovered variants like this:
https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/30231769-6186-49b3-8bb6-1c12a1576306.jpeg

It provides a much better grip and the curve give it a lot more leverage. I've been surprised at how much more effective it is than straight bars of a similar size. (This one was made by Teale Designs on Etsy.)