Gaashk
3d ago
Everyone is currently participating in a story by a maximally sensationalist, pulpy writer. The cop was possessed by a demon, intent on causing a toxoplasmic event, and it has at least partially achieved its ends before moving on. The shamanistic religions are onto something about mentally unstable people picking up on psycho-spiritual forces.
Gaashk
4d ago
I'm not necessarily looking at the moment, but I was underwhelmed the time I did try going to Toastmasters. That was mostly because I had spent some time before that in the Republic of Georgia, home of the best toasting parties and toast masters in the world, and it turned out that American Toastmasters was not going to train me to be one, which was where my interest lay. I went ahead and hosted some toasting feasts with a couple of friends anyway, and although I am a somewhat lame tamada, they were still much more what I wanted to do.
Maybe it's generational -- I have also heard that, and have also never talked to someone I hadn't previously been introduced to at a bar, so far as I can recall. This is not because I am personally off-putting; when I walk around outside in a village setting, I do end up talking with strangers. I have been offered drinks by strangers in rug shops and street corners, not in bars.
On that note, if you can get to them, the villages are a great place for talking with strangers! I've been salmon fishing with strangers despite having no equipment. I've been to some quite interesting holidays -- processing around churches, getting spoons and moose stew for Russian Christmas, a priest recounting deciding to believe in God after asking for and receiving a box of raisins, Gideon style, listening to elders talking about their dreams, singing at funeral wakes for people I didn’t know; lots of interesting stuff! Also folk dances and bonfires with strangers at the Saint John Orthodox Cathedral in Eagle River.
In general, going to holiday and religious events is an excellent way to meet strangers, usually free, and people aren't necessarily all that bothered whether visitors believe in their religion or not, as long as they aren't going on and on about how fake the religion is.
Gaashk
7d ago
This also extends to student loans. While I still have antipathy for people that absolutely can grasp what they're signing, it's just obvious that many people really don't understand what they're signing up for and don't understand the basics of financing.
I've been trying to help someone figure out their student loan situation through the latest round of presidential office attempts to put various plans in place, and it just comes across as gambling at this point. We're both about as smart as the average non-technical collage graduate. First a bunch of people were saying to consolidate, because (reasons that I found rather obscure having to do with an executive order?). So they did that, but then the numbers fluctuated wildly for a while, and they got a bill for more than they've ever owed in their life. So they tried submitting some paperwork, which was ignored for a few weeks. Then they tried calling, and the person said they would put it on hold while the paperwork was processed, which might take three months or so, they weren't really sure. Meanwhile, there seems to be a bunch of law fare going on between the president's office and (states? banks? state created financial entities?). It doesn't seem so much like people are stupid, as that the system is wildly unstable, leading to a student loan decisions as gambling situation.
Gaashk
7d ago
is there a common application for Medicaid, SNAP, and free school lunches?
In my state there is (and free school lunches are automatic anyway). For young children, especially, people apply for pregnancy medicaid, and the children are automatically enrolled until 5 years or so.
I'm not familiar with the Section 8 situation here.
The state also offers heavily subsidized childcare to people with surprisingly high household incomes, but it's a bit complicated if one of the parents wasn't continuously employed while giving birth/initially taking care of the child, since everything has to line up with finding childcare and work within about a month. Jobs that can be had on short notice likely won't even pay as much as the state is spending on the childcare plus program administration, making it a net loss economically.
Gaashk
8d ago
Thanks. I generally associate Axios with the thing you shout at the end of an ordination.
The shadowy and vague "Several top Democrats privately tell us" thing doesn't really add much new information. Not Worthy.
Gaashk
8d ago
The original post didn't include anything as specific as what report you'd seen, that would have been an improvement.
Gaashk
9d ago
That's what I get for trying to follow Twitter news without an account or speaker, I guess. At least on Youtube the subtitles are pretty legible
Gaashk
9d ago
It's not like she said anything at work
She didn't? Admittedly, I keep the volume off and don't have an Xer account, so maybe I misunderstood what the whole thing was about, but it looked like she was at work?
Gaashk
9d ago
I felt that trying to read Tracingwoodgrains' recent post and resulting comments. It's not that I'm unfamiliar with his persona -- I was following the Reddit when he used to post there all the time, and then left to found the Schism. Or that he didn't work at explaining the drama. But it still just came across as impenetrable.
Gaashk
9d ago
Now that you mention it, I can't recall ever hearing anyone saying that in real life.
When I say it in my head, it sounds like the maga in magazine. In my head, MA like in mall sounds vaguely British, but I have nothing to back this up.
Gaashk
9d ago
Interesting observation.
And I'm not sure why they abandoned them.
Probably for barber pole of class signaling reasons, combined with physical objects like suits becoming reasonably cheap and accessible to the working classes.
I don't really know people with nice handbags or jewelry, but for the kind of store that has representatives in malls, it seems to be at least as much a matter of motivation as class. Tradesmen can and do buy $100,000 trucks and $500 boots, and would probably buy their wives some nice jewelry or a nice bag if they really wanted that. They might be more likely to just walk into a store and buy the thing than someone in a higher social class, but who isn't embarrassed to take notes and go look for a better deal online.
Customer service people probably can tell underclass and teenagers likely to shoplift from body language and speech patterns more than by clothing. That doesn't necessarily suggest higher trust, simply that the class markers have changed.
Gaashk
9d ago
On (1), it's probably people from other regions of the US as well. Especially California, but the entire West has been informal for multiple generations now. When I was a child, men could dress up for going out either Hawaiian or Texan, and the women would wear their normal dresses, but add some artisinal turquoise and silver jewelry. My family usually dressed Hawaiian -- you can just wear shorts and sandals instead of needing nice boots and maybe a nice belt buckle as well.
Gaashk
9d ago
Yes, this has been a pretty big annoyance when taking children into city downtown areas, especially. It isn't trivially easy to locate, then walk to, then order at a coffee shop or something, then get and remember the code in time.
Gaashk
10d ago
The traditional solution is a very legume heavy diet. My experience with beans in the Balkans is that they tend to be terrible and hard to eat much of, and recommend looking at Mexican recipes. I remember hearing something about rice and beans together making the protein better somehow, but don’t remember the specifics. And North African recipes for lentils. Second the eggs recommendation.
Gaashk
12d ago
I don't think people so much react badly to alternative upbringings and backgrounds, as they do to attempts to "speedrun" their culture. Consider participating some events -- a concert, a hike, whatever kind of thing your colleagues seem to enjoy.
It's useful to read some stuff (for historical things, I recommend the Saint John's Reading List), listen to some stuff, subscribe to the New Yorker or something -- but most especially, it's useful to be genuinely interested, ask questions, and follow up on those questions by actually engaging with the cultural artifacts presented.
If someone enjoys the Beetles, they would probably be pleased if you listen to some albums on your commute, and come back with "I listened to some albums, and enjoyed [this song, or this quality]." Or even "I listened to some albums, and don't really get it, could you help me understand the appeal?" This is an opening for them to share something they like, which people enjoy doing. They would likely not be very happy if you listened to an audiobook about The Beetles Phenomenon, and proceeded to act like a know it all about it. If they are a woman, "mansplaining" might enter their mind at some point.
I'd be able to discuss at length untranslated Japanese visual novels, Magic the Gathering meta, Super Mario 64 speedrun strats, Nijisanji vtubers
Conversely, this description of your own interests presents, to an outsider, a brick wall, erected to keep them out, and perhaps a bit of embarrassment about what's inside. I assume this isn't actually how you describe your interests to your colleagues? This is actually how my brother describes his interests, and so I still have no idea what he's talking about most of the time, despite decades of polite questioning. This is bad.
I have some history and linguistic nerd friends, some of whom are more socially successful than others. The key is to focus on the relatable human side of things, not the deep rabbit hole side of things. This is why people who are not especially nerdy love things like the Inklings, or the bits of Kabalah in Unsung. There are probably things there that your colleagues would find interesting if they were presented as an interesting story you heard, or some bit of linguistics that's kind of neat.
Gaashk
14d ago
The wrinkle here is that every person who exercises has the experience of using their willpower to overcome the impulse to be sedentary.
Do they, though?
My husband and daughter are fidgeters. If they eat more than they need, they will find some way to move more, subconsciously. They will pace, walk around naked in the snow, run around in circles, then jump up and down, then run and jump until everyone else is upset about it (OK, that's just my daughter, but her father also probably did it as a child). They have been known to run slight fevers for no apparent reason sometimes, or take cold showers in winter to get their bodies to produce more heat.
The other daughter and I are nothing like this, at all.
Gaashk
15d ago
I planted a (very messy) garden with the kids. Onions have come up. Squash seedlings have come up and produced some leaves, and decorative bulbs have come up. Other seeds may or may not have gotten washed away by a heavy storm, but I'm still somewhat hopeful it will produce something, anyway. Onions at least.
Gaashk
16d ago
Taxes and insurance are often included in US mortgages, in the form of escrow.
Gaashk
17d ago
That's possible, but then one would like mainstream society to be sending a message like: it's perfectly alright to be a nerdy masculine woman or an effeminate man!!! You definitely do not need to go on hormones and cut off your breasts or other parts to deal with this! Go find yourself a supportive community in a big city, they totally exist!
Mainstream society should definitely not be sending a message that medical procedures and messing with puberty are a good way to deal with the situation, or at least not until they've tried other things like finding a supportive subculture, finding their own preferred aesthetic, etc.
Gaashk
17d ago
Although, now that you mention it, I could see it having something to do with the rise of surrogacy, where the surrogate mother is sidelined. I remember some uncomfortable pictures a while back with gay men celebrating their upcoming baby, and the surrogate mother standing awkwardly behind them like some Handmaid's Tale character.
That's an odd way to do it. Most raw fish foods combine several different textures to compliment the distinctive raw fish texture.
I like ahi poke, but the sesame and soy marinade is pretty important, as are the fresh chips. Ceviche is also quite good, and also has a fair bit of marinade involved, and it's usually served on a tostada or something for crunch.
As for sushi rolls, they look nice, and have an interesting texture from combining soft and crunchy foods inside a band of chewy food. And, yes, they should be dipped in at least soy sauce, probably a bit of wasabi, and I'm a fan of eel sauce as well.
More options
Context Copy link