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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 19th, 2023

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  • Seriously. There is no reason to believe in something that not only isn’t proven to exist, but can’t. That argument could be applied to nearly anything.

    Vampires? Can’t prove they don’t exist, so may as well believe in them.

    Fairies? Same.

    Flying spaghetti monster? Prove it doesn’t exist.

    Like, I don’t want to knock other people’s religions, and I’m not so arrogant as to think I have all the answers, but I just can’t stand the “you can’t prove XXXX doesn’t exist” argument.


  • So here’s my time for this story:

    When I was at a recruiting office for the Coast Guard, the recruiter asked why I specifically chose the Coast Guard over any other branches. I said I’m the type of person that if I volunteered for the military and then got sent to a situation where some 12-year-old with a gun was going to kill me if I didn’t kill him, I would not be able to absolve myself of the responsibility of having to kill a kid, even to defend myself, because even if I didn’t choose to be in that kid’s country, I relinquished my choice to the military, so I am still responsible. There’s nothing morally ambiguous about saving somebody who is drowning.

    He said that was a dumb reason. I didn’t care.

    Well, as it turns out, he was right, but not for the reason he thought at the time.

    Make the Coast Guard Department of Transportation Again!


  • My mom sold the house.

    I was the youngest of three, and my parents told us all that as long as we were in school (including college), we could stay and they would pay for college. My brothers both got the benefit of this (oldest ended up staying outside of that for a couple years, but whatever).

    My dad died in August after my graduation. My mom and aunt had inherited some money from my great-aunt and bought a house together near a college my mom wanted to go to, so she sold the childhood home (that I’d lived in my entire life) and said “good luck.”

    Completely understandable, and I’m glad she got to live the life she wanted. She’s a nurse now (mostly retired, can’t seem to make it stick), remarried, and they’re building their own house. And my aunt now lives in the house they bought.

    And I’m doing awesome (40s, two kids, wife of 16 years, set to retire in a town in Alaska we love, own our own house), honestly a lot better off than either of my brothers, so I can’t complain about how anything happened, other than wishing my dad was around longer.



  • I get what you are saying, but that’s not the way to do it.

    “What about male genital mutilation?”

    “We should ban all mutilation of genitals of children. It is barbaric. Some more than others, but it’s all bad.”

    If all you do is respond with essentially “what about this other thing that this particular article isn’t talking about,” it derails the conversation of the current article. Saying that all aspects of the subject if the article are bad and have no place in society says “I agree with this, and let’s extend it further.”







  • So this is one of those “even things that end up benefitting men is Feminism” things.

    Men having no paternity leave, but women having it, might sound like it’s better for women. But instead it just makes them more likely to leave the workforce when their maternity leave runs out. Giving men an equivalent (minus medical recovery) amount of leave to be used over the first year makes it so both parents can take turns, get the child to a reasonable point of being able to be put in childcare, and allows both to return to work (if desired). And studies have shown the vast, vast majority of the pay difference between men and women is due to separating from the workforce for years after pregnancy (and subsequent pregnancies).

    Paternity Leave is part of Feminism.



  • Yeah, but it would be disappointing. Still plenty I’d like to do, and I’m only a handful of years from retirement, so I would be just shy of some well-earned down time.

    As far as fear? I’ve never been afraid of dying. The time immediately prior to dying, yes, that is potentially scary. Being dead isn’t something you experience, though, so what is there to fear?



  • Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

    But not like you think. I was fairly early in the game, and I was just treasure hunting in the castle to get some good gear before I continued on (good swords and bows that respawn regularly but break over time). Also, if you’ve never played it, the game is not entirely linear, you have four main powers you can gain from fighting and freeing four spirits in different zones, as well as shrines for additional powers and health. But you could spawn at the beginning of the game, do the initial questline to get the paraglider, and then go straight to the castle to fight the BBEG. And you’d die, but you could try!

    So I was treasure hunting and I accidentally fell down a hole and ended up fighting the final boss. And then won. And then had to reset to the previous save before falling in. I spent the rest of the game thinking “I don’t actually need this to win, it’s all for overkill.” And it was. So much overkill. It really wasn’t fair at all. The separate storylines were really good and worth doing anyway, though. Beating the game was just kind of a fight tacked on to the end of a fantastic story.


  • TheDoozer@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldyou are
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    3 months ago

    So… look, I hate having to pick at something that I generally agree with, but it wasn’t illegal for women to have bank accounts or credit cards or whatever prior to 1974. It just became illegal to discriminate against women for bank accounts as of the 1974 law.

    I get that it’s a subtle distinction, but the reason it is important is because there are those who would think that as long as the government isn’t actively oppressing a group, then it’s doing fine (“it was illegal for women to have bank accounts, now it’s not. Job’s done!”), as opposed to recognizing that it is people who oppress others and it is the government’s job (like it was in 1974) to prevent it.

    Banks (most, anyway) did not allow women to have bank accounts or lines of credit. And they’d do it again (or some other discriminatory bullshit) without government regulation.



  • No, because she was gorgeous and wanted by a god. She was a priestess of Athena (who valued chastity), and was raped by Posiedon. So Athena made her hideous and made her gaze turn men to stone. Then Perseus found her and cut off her head to use as a weapon.

    She was three times a victim of the gods, and any telling that has her as a monster or villain doesn’t get it.


  • I had to convince my primary care physician for a vasectomy. At almost 40. With two kids. He was on the fence about saying yes or no (and I am a military aviator, so I don’t get to have second opinions or choose my doctor). Ultimately he gave his blessing, but it was still a “what the fuck, it’s my goddamn decision, I just need you to write the referral.”

    So it happens to men as well, just not as frequently (or as condescendingly, usually).