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I was just reminded of this site and figured with how dark everything is, some of you would get a chuckle or two out of it. It's basically line graphs of wildly unrelated topics that happen to align surprisingly well.

After seeing this discussion being brought up again, I was going to genuinely ask you all to explain where that comes from. I’m from Brazil and I don’t recall ever shopping at a place with a large parking lot, which I believe might be part of the issue. I was thinking how come people value this act so much and before starting to write a post here I sent a message to a friend, then it hit me: it’s absurd.

I mean it. The feeling I had reading the comments wasn’t confusion or ignorance, it was the cognitive dissonance of looking at the world I live in and what people decided marks a person as decent. This is one of the moments I really have to stop and check if I’m not actually the crazy one. I really can’t think of something smaller to care about that someone else will defend so vehemently. Really, try me, I’m already broken again.

With all that talk about Lemmy, it's great that Lemmy is thriving. However, the Fediverse goes beyond Lemmy. Do you know any communities that you like across Mbin or Piefed or whatever else instances? If so, which ones?

I followed quite a few interesting ones on Lotide and Kbin back in the day just to diversify my feed, but these projects are basically now abandoned.

YOU are the icon. ;P (re: the icon making the icons)

My little corner of the fediverse is currently on a cherrypick server. Love it. We are a very small group, though, and the admin is fizzling. Not trying to add large videos to the pile. Is everyone just doing PeerTube to upload vids? Anyone have a favorite PeerTube instance or another suggestion?

the Super Bowl halftime show was pretty good, they should consider continuing the strategy of getting people who aren't totally washed

Let’s try a thought experiment. I define fanaticism as maintaining a position that can’t and won’t be changed by any sort of rational argument. That said, I ask for the second time: Are you a fanatic?

Next, let’s start investigating a little deeper. Try identifying a belief you have that is fundamental. Try something simple at first. The wall in front of me is solid. Would I be able to convince you otherwise? Would you act on it if I presented a perfect explanation proving that you are wrong and you agreed beyond any doubt? Can that wall in front of you not be solid?

Well, maybe that’s stupid. A wall is solid. It’s part of the definition. If I see something I identify as a wall, it must be solid. You can’t prove a wall is not solid. Bad example. I’m sorry.

Something different then. Do you believe there’s any human group that is inherently superior or inferior to another? Would you accept any perfect argument against that belief? Actually, would you accept anyone trying to make that argument? And, if you accept that this is a valid investigation, do you take for granted that a conclusion in conflict with your beliefs is proof enough that there’s some flaw in the argument itself? Are you a fanatic?

I am. Nothing new in my case. Self consciously speaking, I mean. The point today is the feeling we have when something fundamental is challenged. We won’t budge. And, please, notice I’m saying we, I’m saying you, I’m not saying them. I honestly believe we are all fanatics of some kind, although I might be wrong in this case, as in most cases.

Like, I don't really enjoy airing all of my dirty laundry on here, but when I heard the idling diesel of a pickup parked against me at 9 p.m. for 10 minutes, I sort of knew what was coming.

It's an industrial zone, so tractors at that hour are unremarkable. Pickups, on the other hand ...

They finally headed north and clearly made a U-turn, because next thing I knew, I was hit. Now, you don't want to confront people in Texas. If they're willing to drive into you, guessing at their armaments is folly.

Something needs to be accelerated here. I've now been attacked. I didn't have that on my bingo card for the week, but that's pretty much everything. Musk killing the administrative state sucks, but this is not currently my main concern.

I've been seeing that a lot of Reddit communities are getting banned if they bad mouth Elon Musk. I was hoping that after the last Reddit exodus, folks would understand that that company, and any other that backs a major social media network — They don't care about what's going on.

busy at work as usual. anyways go to your local protest and join your local political organization

If you think that what you are doing to someone else is too humiliating, degrading, unacceptable to think about happening to you, there's something to explore.

Go to 45:40 for a bit more context, but this quote is enough to start the discussion I have in mind.

The idea is simple and it’s mostly aimed at the ones with little interested in BDSM. BDSM is not abuse. It might be abusive, which is absolutely bad, but that should never be the nature of the practice.

From time to time, I see accusations of abuse being dismissed with the excuse it’s just a form of BDSM that people outside can’t understand. It’s not that hard to grasp the concepts, but you’ll notice you will never get an explanation. Serious people will know what they are talking about and are able to provide you with resources for you to educate yourself. Honestly, most people would find all the education and preparation quite boring, the same way someone that just wants to cut people up would find too bothersome to become a surgeon.

How are we Beehaw? My great-grandmother (God bless her) told me not to worry about Trump and that we'll be alright. I want to believe her. I really do. I'm already a little ticked off at him retracting some civil rights laws, also making it so Black History can't be taught in schools? It really will be a long four years.

after snowing on and off all of yesterday, it is once again sunny here; unfortunately, this mostly just means ice everywhere because it's still freezing

I'm not here to whinge about the sorts of things depressed people do. Yeah, life sucks, and for my generation, we learned that from The Princess Bride.

But a week into this hell, I find myself unable to identify what a light at the end the the tunnel would even look like, and whether there's any way to distinguish it from a train.

I know many of you have it worse than I do, and I'm not trying to suggest otherwise. My job no longer exists. That's small potatoes against fearing for your life. But this is one battle too many. I'm using short, declarative sentences.

I called my mom today, and it came up that I have no active plans, but I'd not so much complain about not waking up tomorrow. I'm just exhausted. Things have been going backward for 20-plus years, and we were able to paper over it for about three.

What hope is there? I did a coding bootcamp in 2021 because I had nothing official on my resume, and JS was going to be easy. So. Writing is worthless. Editing is worthless. Fact-checking is worthless. Print design is worthless. Navigating data when it's not in your job description is worthless. And god forbid you attempt to code without your handlers' approval.

I don't see what comes next.

it has been incredibly cold for the past 4 days, but thankfully i have new clothes so it hasn't been very bad in practice

I was on bluesky about to comment on some art someone made and was going to comment it is a diamond in the rough but I did a search to make sure it was rough and not ruff because it is not an expression I use much. When I searched it I found out it meant. "a person who is generally of good character but lacks manners, education, or style; a rough diamond." I just thought it meant hidden gem. Has anyone else misunderstood the meaning of an expression?

I'm currently sick with strep! 4th time in a year, doc said maybe it's time to get the tonsils out. I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea - outside of the last 2ish years I feel like I don't get strep all that often. Anyone else have their tonsils out as an adult? What was your experience?

My mom would make offhand references to "come the revolution" when I was growing up. I'm not going to say she went out of her way to suggest that would yet skip a generation, but if she knew it would hit me, she was hiding it well.

She was a Democrat, to the point of being part of a few campaigns for congressmen and senators. My dad, on the other hand, was fully on board with the Thatcher/Reagan trickle-down mindset. Why Thatcher first? We didn't have a portrait of Reagan in the office.

We were nonetheless a family that got invited to things. The Christmas party with Sandra Day O'Connor every year. Gubernatorial candidates from both parties would show up on off years.

When you grow up like this, it's very easy to believe the system is working for everyone. College was paid for, even though I never finished. The experience of going into debt would wait a few years. And then, the layoffs.

At this point, the only reasons I'm not totally fucked are I work freelance and can't be found. I've not talked with the friend whose address I use in months on account of creditors showing up at 9 p.m. attempting to serve papers. His kids go to bed at 8, so I get it.

But what has sprung from this is a drastic shift without a clutch (ask your parents) from thinking being part of the system was the best outlet to effect change to having zero belief the system can be changed. Sure, it can be, but we'll get the same results, just slightly less lemon.

I don't think you can get much more establishment than aspiring to The Washington Post. I still have an April 2003 A1 where I moved a hed after the AME/News came down to review my redesign, 18 months out of college and without a degree, and invited me up for a night on the desk. It sounded a lot more impressive at 23, I'll grant.

He'd then tell me in Savannah, Ga., over a beer at the hotel bar that he thought I was Post material, but I needed to get the immature shit out of my system, first. Ahead of the Post contingent and me piling into a car where the main topic was "what bullshit did Woodward pull today?" Seriously, consider hearing this conversation less than a year into your career in journalism.

I believed in it back then. I can't now. And to be honest, it's broken me of having a full eight hours to devote to the craft. I'm lucky to have four hours before by brain says no.

What the Post and L.A. Times have done may look bad externally; internally, I assure you it looks worse. NYT thankfully showed its true colours quite some time back, so this was more waiting for shoes to drop.

I did not join Beehaw to change the world. I joined my school paper to do that.

And, well, now Gannett owns everything. You can't even sell efficiencies to managers there, since they need bad data to justify their jobs.

There is no solution here within the scope of the current economic model. So, congratulations, deregulated capitalism, you fucking turned someone raised to accept you. I suspect many others have something to say.

In no particular order, here follow a few the most inspirational things I read, last year, in 2024. They kindled my hope. Now, at the start of the new year, I revisit them and recommend them whole heartedly.

ONLY POSITIVITY HERE ⇒ https://blog.probabilism.dev/2025/january/be-alive-in-2025/

Here are some cut-and-paste teaser snippets listed entirely and inappropriately out of context:

• "When our brain is really …, we’ll dream about it."
• "I choose to open the box…"
• "Artistic Solidarity" mentioned!
• "Daydreaming is important"
• "... very weird art tools"

Happy New Year from the future.

going out to dinner later this week

holidays edition!

I should have known better than to have something delivered just before Christmas. While a DC-DC charger from the alternator was delivered, it was not the right one and utterly useless in a chassis that cannot serve as ground.

In the past, this sort of error has been fixed by returning the errant item to the locker and having a replacement on its way. That's apparently no longer an option. I have to go through the replacement process, wait for the money to be refunded to my credit card, and then wait for the thrill of being allowed to order again. I sent the requested photographic proof, showing I'd received the box for a nonisolated version, and the rep said he was an electrician and immediately saw the problem on an aluminum chassis, but his hands were tied.

Earliest I can now attempt to receive the correct item is Dec. 30. Because it's cloudy often this time of year, this charger is the baseline needed for solar to consistently be reliable; last year at this time, I had two mains options to plug into.

It's beginning to look a lot like a shit Christmas. There's nowhere in town that sells what I need. On the plus side, at least I can't work without reliable internet, and it looks like T-Mobile just decided it doesn't like my 5G SIM card for that.