DON’T BE FOOLED! This post was made by the cat! It wants narrower TV stands so it can knock them over easier when its owner forgets to feed it!

Exhibit #1 why Hexbear/Lemmygrad are unpopular: this guy

I believe you’ve answered your own question.

Lemmy isn’t Marxist-only. The majority of Lemmy users are what the more vocal Lemmygrad and Hexbear users deride as “libs.” As a thought experiment, imagine that you are one of us for a moment and then browse Local on one of those.

Accusing people like Stallman of being rapists dilutes the meaning of the word.

Is he creepy? Sure. Does he have rather unpopular opinions on what constitutes pedophilia? Yep. Does he go around forcing people to have sex with him? No.

I’m for it, mostly because that’s how I was taught to write in school.

I assume you’re basing the abuse argument on the WWE logo in the corner. Everyone who didn’t notice that (me included, at first) just see a girl with a “how dare he?” look on her face. Which is actually pretty funny.

In case you’re wondering where all the downvotes are coming from.

I still maintain my boycott of Amazon over the one-click patent.

It’s a hassle to buy stuff online without using Amazon. The patent expired years ago. Probably no other person is still boycotting them over it (not that it was ever an effective boycott in the first place). But I just can’t bring myself to buy from them.

Writing. Specifically, tech writing. I’ve got an intuitive sense for it, but other than business communication and the occasional bit of internal documentation I don’t have any desire to do it professionally.

I get along great with our tech writer, though, since I’m the only other person at the company who can hold a discussion about the Oxford comma.

Favorite? No idea.

Least favorite? Alan Alda in Canadian Bacon. Dammit man, you were good in MASH, why can’t you act in anything else?

They wouldn’t be able to build it. It wasn’t until the 16th or 17th century that metallurgy and machining were advanced enough to build atmospheric steam engines, much less high pressure ones.

You need a lot of tech to jump start an industrial revolution.

Native Americans in what would become the US had stone-age tribal societies and oral traditions. It’s difficult to establish a consistent history for groups like that. To make things worse, by the time anyone wanted to make a serious unbiased attempt to document their culture, their culture had been changed long enough that no one alive remembered what pre-contact life was like.

You might have better luck with Central and South American natives. The Aztecs and Mayans had written records, and the Incans left behind cities full of artifacts. Or check out the Inuit - they’re largely isolated so they had less of a change forced on them than the tribes living in more desirable areas.

Or, depending where you are, you could always just seek out the local tribes and visit. Most of them have museums and books written by tribal historians and welcome people with a serious interest.

I saw that as an adult and it fucked with me.

Everyone is gifted with the ability to control their own fertility. You’re only fertile if you want to be. The only chance for pregnancy to occur is if both partners want it to.

I imagine that would cause a severe population decline, and I’m fine with that. There’s too many humans on this planet already.

Some of the best Mexican food I’ve had was in Okinawa.

Where I really miss Mexican food is Spain.

People do tend to become more (small c) conservative as they grow older for a multitude of reasons. It makes sense - you’ve spent years accomplishing various goals and establishing a place for yourself. You’ve got more to lose, so you resist change.

But what I’m talking about is the loss of novelty. You stop caring about every new fad, every new piece of tech, every new movement. Life loses the magical quality it holds for the young. You focus more on the things you think are important, while the rest becomes background noise.

You don’t really notice at first. Then one day you look up and everything is different. Young people are talking about stuff you’ve never heard of and doing things that seem silly and inconsequential. New ways of doing things become common, and you feel stupid because you haven’t learned them. Instead of being more knowledgeable over time, you find yourself having to relearn new ways of doing things you mastered years ago.

Some people try their hardest to keep up, even though it’s harder every year. Some people shrug and accept it, content to let the young find their own way. Some complain endlessly and try to fight against change, insisting that the way of life they’ve led is the only proper way to live.

This happens to almost everyone. There are a few who manage to hold on to that spark of curiosity and wonder into old age, but they’re few and far between. You probably aren’t one of them. I know I’m not.

So what kind of person will you become?

Sometimes I tell myself, “this is not my beautiful stapler!”

Ask to borrow his lighter, light up a smoke, and then talk about classic cars. Now you’re friends.

Ah, that’s more what I expect. Of course, most of his readership will look at that top book and try to remember if Karl was the one with the horn that didn’t talk.

Ben is losing his touch if he thinks his target audience knows what a “Maoist” is.

Hah! Old age will have surprises for you.