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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 24, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm reading Breakfast With Seneca by David Fideler. Basically the author takes several themes touched on by Seneca, and writes a chapter on each one with his own thoughts (and corroborating quotes from other Stoic writers). It's enjoyable, although not earth shattering since I have previously read Seneca's letters. But still, it's nice to spend more time reflecting on Stoic ideas, and think of new ways I can try to apply them better in my own life.


Have also just started The Confessions of Lady Nijō. It is pretty much what it says on the tin - Lady Nijō was one of the concubines of one of the emperors of Japan in the thirteenth century, and this is her writing about her life. Not sure I'll enjoy this one very much to be honest, but meh - it's a library book so I haven't lost anything if I don't wind up liking it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't personally know anyone in the US who would care.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
When I said I try to treat trans people with compassion, I meant the more pedestrian sense. I know that for such a person some things are going to be upsetting (for example, if I insist on bringing up that he is really a man and not a woman as he claims). Since I would have neither the desire to upset him nor the belief that it would profit either of us to have the discussion, I'm going to defer it as much as possible.


I have been pondering over the past few months how I, a Christian, should act towards transgender people I encounter (not that I do so that often). Mainly because the answer a lot of people give is some variation of "speak the truth in love", but I have noticed for many that is really more of a post hoc rationalization to justify what they wanted to do anyway (to tell the trans people off). I don't want to fall into that same trap, and I know my human nature makes me prone to it as well, so I have tried to think of how to address the situation. If these people are sinning (which many would argue they are), I have a duty to gently point it out. It also seems to me that I have a duty to stick to the truth and not affirm falsehoods just to be polite. But at the same time, I also have a duty to show kindness towards them (even more so because they often are people who already feel like social outcasts and who have serious emotional and mental health difficulties).


My attempt to square this circle is more or less what I said in my other post - I'm not going to preemptively bring up the topic, but if forced I won't lie either. And, if I think that the time is right (i.e. it won't push them even further away), I might even gently point out that their path isn't what God wants for them.


This is basically similar to the approach I take with gay people I encounter in life. I don't (generally) tell them that their lifestyle is sinful, because in American society it's almost impossible for them to not know that. If I were to make that the point I emphasize, most likely I'm just going to push them further away from the church and from God. So instead, I hang out with them like I would any other person. Comfort them when they are down, celebrate when they are up, etc. And I pray for the wisdom to recognize if there ever is a right moment to say "hey man, I just don't think it's a good idea to live this lifestyle that the Bible is very clear is sinful", that I'll recognize it when it comes. Maybe that's a coward's way, IDK. But it's the best I can do for right now, anyways.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I definitely agree that people don't, as a rule, look down on PAs/RNs/NPs. I seem to recall @2rafa lives in the UK, maybe this is a British thing? British people do have a reputation for being incredible snobs.




I don't sit in some sad fucking cubicle or worse, some trendy-looking open office. I have a private office—an actual private one, not one of those manager offices with the window or frosted glass door that's expected to be open unless you're on the phone or discussing something sensitive...




I am genuinely envious. Once upon a time such a thing was able to be found in the tech industry, but sadly those days are long gone. The only private office I'll ever have is when full time WFH.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As is so often the case, it comes down to the outgroup/fargroup distinction. For leftist in America, Muslims (even the ones in the country) are the fargroup. They just don't care about them that much. But Christians (especially the conservative, fundamentalist strain of Christian) are the outgroup. They hate those people, and so they target all their ire at them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not everyone uses rustfmt, and it's configurable anyway. So I wouldn't say that everyone uses the same style.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's fair. I do wonder why tabs are so widely hated, given the flexibility like you said.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


In the end I just put down turret pods in their territory and let nature take it's course.




Did it take a lot of turrets? I just made it to Vulcanus tonight and did some science shooting the first demolisher I found using my submachine gun, and it went as poorly as I expected. I wasn't even scratching its health regen. Obviously turrets would increase my DPS, but I have no idea how many it would take to get through the regen.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


When you are forced to refer to an MTF transsexual as "she", you are being compelled, under social duress, to assert as an ontological truth that this person just is a woman (and all parties are aware that that's plainly what's going on here - otherwise it wouldn't be such a heated topic of disagreement in the first place). I can't accept being compelled to assent to such a contentious position.




This is the crux of my objection as well. I have issues with the idea of taking a healthy human and mutilating their body to make them a crude facsimile of the other sex, but at the end of the day I think adults have the right to choose self-mutilation if that's what they want. But what I will not play ball with is the attempt to try to get me to affirm a lie (that a trans person really is the sex they claim to be) as the truth.


I try to treat trans people I encounter with respect and compassion; they are my brothers and sisters just like everyone else. And Lord knows that they have enough on their plates without me disrespecting them. But "respect and compassion" does not include telling bold faced lies just because that is what they want to hear. I'll avoid the topic of gender as much as possible for their sake, but if it's unavoidable then I'm not going to lie about it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Agreed. I also prefer two spaces of indentation to four, four is just such a waste of space for (imo) no readability benefit.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for November 20, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I assumed the reason we don't give everyone metformin is because of the very memorable bathroom visits that it causes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it's purpose is to be a new home for people who are upset that moderates and conservatives are being given a voice, any early adoption is going to be centered around that.




Ditto for Mastodon. It is an absolute cesspool because it's primarily used by people who couldn't stand the idea that Elon might not let them bully people with politics they didn't like (and this was before he bought Twitter no less). It is exactly as bad as you might expect based on that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for November 20, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm just saying, talking about the consistency of your semen and how much you masturbate is way TMI for a discussion about hair loss lol.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's the old men who're the worst. Dude, don't spread your legs on the bench to clean your saggy balls, and what the fuck's up with being naked while having socks on !! Please No !




If it's any consolation, my wife has told me that old women are just as bad in their locker rooms. IDK what it is with old people and nudity, but it seems to apply to both genders.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for November 20, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Bro what.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


if god forbid we go under some invisible sum of $spending per minute, then they actually slam the bill on the table and just kick me out as if I am some hobo. So much for friendliness.




The hell? I have literally never had this happen in my entire life in the US. Either there's some other layer to why you're having that experience, or you are the unluckiest person to ever visit a restaurant here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would agree Parisians are crazy behind the wheel of a car, but I think that's orthogonal to friendliness.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, I absolutely agree with that. Being treated with such casual disregard would almost certainly feel just as bad for the recipient as actual hatred.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A lot of what I've spent time on is fortifying Nauvis. I had the misfortune to get a desert world, so I set about building walls and turrets basically first thing. Then the biters were evolving to the point normal ammo wasn't enough, so I had to get red ammo, turret upgrades, etc. Then by that time my starter resources were low so I had to expand the walls to include new resources... you know how it goes. I would say I probably spent half of the time in my save either building defenses or researching defense upgrades.


But hey, I am going to go to space today unless things really go sideways. The defenses are solid, I have machines building rocket launch pads and fuel, I'm finally ready. It'll be nice to finally get to Vulcanus (my planned first planet)!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think that the toilet paper sense qualifies as "hate", personally. Much like love is wishing for someone's good, hate is wishing for someone's bad. I agree that it is contemptuous and unpleasant to disregard someone completely and use them as one would an object, but I don't think it qualifies as hate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I will get around to playing Dawntrail one of these days, but honestly Endwalker left me feeling kind of meh on continuing with FF14. That's partly because they wrapped up the ongoing story so well that I feel sated and not really looking for more, but also partly due to how they handled some of the writing choices in the expansion.


When they killed off Hydaelyn I was sad but it made sense, that was a fitting way to handle that character's story. But then when they killed off the Twelve it really left a bad taste in my mouth. I am kind of sick of the writers letting us finally meet cool, legendary characters just to kill them, and it honestly made me hope that we won't get to meet any characters like that in the future. Which is not a good thing when meeting characters like that should be half the fun! So it really put me off the game and I lost interest in pursuing the story after that.


Anyways, I'm sure at some point I'll get around to it but I just don't have that excitement like I used to. This was the first FF14 expansion I didn't rush out to pick up on day 1, but it is what it is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have probably 80-90 hours into my Space Age world, though I'm not into space yet (I'm right at the point where I can launch rockets though). I've been enjoying it, though obviously I don't really have access to most of the new content yet.


My biggest complaint so far is that quality seems half baked and that it makes the game more inconvenient. Just unlocking it meant that every "select a recipe" type dialog takes two clicks (select the recipe and hit OK), even for the vast majority of cases where I don't care about quality yet. And the logistics get more complicated, because you can't tell machines "take this quality or higher, I don't care". So quality parts will jam up your logistics unless you plan carefully. I like quality in principle, but the implementation doesn't hold up to the very high standards Wube has met in the past for how smooth the gameplay should be.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't read it as "inner peace", but neither did I take it as a call for violence. She's impotently wishing that bad things will happen to the ones she hates, not encouraging someone to go out and make those bad things happen.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh yeah, I should've mentioned that. But you are correct. Lots of multiplayer games (TF2 but also others) have balancing mechanisms to even out the number of players on each team if they get too lopsided. So all of a sudden you can find yourself playing on the other team. The reference isn't meant to be taken literally, because obviously there isn't an algorithm switching allegiances around IRL. It's really just a jokey way to say "America has switched sides".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for September 27, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks man. I appreciate the support. It was indeed a frustrating conversation, but on the other hand it's been out of my mind since then so I guess it couldn't have been that bad lol


I do agree with your broader point, that the people who kind of push people away from the faith the most are the super traditional ones. IDK why, exactly, I am sure it's not their intent. All I know is just about every time I go on /r/catholocism I come away from it going "man those people are crazy and if I didn't know lots of very nice Catholics IRL I would run screaming".