It was hard because the controls were abysmal, with some otherwise difficult sections to go alongside the controls. That said, the game itself had a lot of charm. I remember it with fondness.

I love reading and playing Chess. Writing is a personal passion and maaan do I love to talk about psychology, sociology, and the larger sciences. At the same time I do enjoy exercise such as hiking and exploring in general, though I need someone to pull me out to actually do these things. Otherwise, I’ll stay home and read, play games, and continue to learn the motherfucking piano, which is proving to be a nice challenge.

Intelligence here is simply someone who is curious and driven enough to ask questions. Solid +3 modifier to sexiness if they’re smarter than me. Like, let me listen to you talk about amphibians, historical setbacks, or how a geological formation potentially created a series of tunnels full of mystery and allure. I eat that shit up.

Joltzdude thought the movie was pretty bad, with few good moments. He’s one of the most wholesome people I’ve ever run across, and a massive Borderlands nerd. So while I normally try to make my own decisions on these things, I am willing to bet it was pretty bad.

It’s not REALLY incest that turns them on usually. It’s the deep taboo of the potential act itself. Thus plenty of people are turned on by the thought when it involves others, and plenty more are turned off when it comes to their own family. Similar can be said for a lot of sexually charged taboo subjects.

Hold on, grabbing my petunias.

I worked with a company some time ago contracted in as support services as they weren’t equipped (see: trained) to work with individuals with barriers. My job was to support those they had hired and get staff up to speed on how best to work with them. I’m of the opinion they were doing fine given that they had a fully blind not-from-birth individual working for them and doing great but hey, paycheck. Part of my service was to identify areas that need improvement. Sometimes this is often crowded doorways, or floor obstacles, and shelving that is too high/deep/unstable, etc.

So I’m there working with staff and leadership to get them up to ramming speed, we reach comfortable threshold, my time is done. Off the clock I request a meeting to speak with them about some potential improvements. You see, at this particular location they utilized a color-coded system for everything. This was to support individuals with dyslexia and poor reading comprehension. Pretty cool, right? They had come up with a way to minimize issues for people who may not even want to admit they have barriers. Some of you may already know where this is going.

In my report and the meeting I outlined a major flaw that was costing them employees and they did not even know it. You’d be surprised how many people are colorblind and don’t even know it themselves. So in my report I pointed out that along with typical shorthand and their color system, which they should absolutely keep, they should add simple symbols. Circle for yellow, triangle for red, square for blue, etc. I also pointed out that they could also consider adding single indents that match with colors and symbols, which would support older populations and individuals with ocular degenerative diseases. Basically open themselves up fully to a population other employers turn down.

Last I checked they had implemented these changes, or some variation(s), and word came back that they were receiving TOO many applications with most of their workforce having one or more barriers that would normally force them into some larger financial assistance structure, with all the red tape and bullshit that comes with it, cause boy are the limitations and expectations in these programs bonkers at times.

Point being that even those who have put thought into solutions for problems they themselves don’t have, it is specifically because they don’t have the same limitations that solutions are often half finished. Some people, and yes some institutions, try to do what they can. At the end of the day some fixes are better than none at all. More can always be added later.

Is this still a thing? I could have sworn it fell away like ten years ago.

Then again, I wasn’t sure certain types of pants would ever come back. RETURN TO US, JNCO!

I must be behind. I’ve been under the impression that pulling people in on a minor loss meant greater margins. Perhaps COVID had a significant adverse impact on that as well.

The literal entirety of the retail market across the planet has a concept called a “loss leader”. You take a monetary hit on Product A with the expectation that people will come in for that AND by virtue of the service being readily available, also buy Product B, C, D, etc. I imagine, if done with minimal intrusiveness, Microsoft could easily do the same with Windows.

On paper as a concept it works. I’m not sure I’m savvy enough to understand the actual issues though.

Any document for doctors who will actually listen and not make incredibly fucking idiotic observations about completely irrelevant medical topics? Asking for at least half the population of women in the U.S. who have gone in with a legit problem and been verbally pushed aside and not listened to.

“When was your last period?”

“I came in to be prescribed anti-depressants. I have been officially diagnosed.”

“Yes yes, but how is your uterus?”

“I am going to need anti-psychotics if you keep this up.”

Up to you. I said what I wanted to say. Whether you listen or not is, as always, your choice.

There’s the problem. You are unwilling to compromise. Change on this scale will require either a small miracle to do overnight, or I’d guess at least a solid 10 years of hard, consistent work by people much more intelligent and decisive than myself, and that’s just to set the foundation and create the outline. The first is an act of God and I don’t know about you, I’d rather keep religion out of this. That leaves the second, which means compromise to achieve a greater good over a longer period of time.

You see, I don’t really care about your beliefs, or anyone else’s, so far as they are yours to believe in. Thus action must take the place of opinion. I asked you to commit to something and the only action you were able to take was to tell all of us that you can’t stand it. That choosing between what is statistically and factually a greater evil and one that is statistically and factually attempting to be a far lesser evil, is not something you can do.

I’ll tell you what I believe in, and it’s pretty simple: I believe in what I feel will do good by the world and by its people. Not complete good untarnished by greed or malice, just a good that tries to do right. It doesn’t matter the source of the idea; all that matters is whether it is enacted in a way that helps more than it harms. Right, left, middle, none of this means anything. Though at the moment far more malice and hatred is coming from the Red than from anywhere else.

Malcom X and MLK fought for a more equal country, at the end of the day. If their words ring true in your ears at all, it should be obvious where your support must, by necessity, move towards. Else the only way out may be more Malcoms and more Martins.

You didn’t answer my question. :)

You know what you’re doing. Taking a single radical source and using it to try and get people to pivot and engage. However, I now know you have the capacity to do a Google search. So good luck on your journey of information discovery and in challenging your beliefs. If you are fair in what you read and open-minded in what you learn, much of the time you will gain wisdom. Heck, you may even look back with some consternation at conversations and beliefs you once held. It’s in those moments of self-reflection and embarrassment where many of us realize how much we’ve grown as people.

That said, I will say this:

Inequality exists not due to Man, though rather due to nature itself. Therefore, as Man, we must then seek to challenge nature so that we may thrive in unity. If you personally were to take the dichotomy of our modern political and sociocultural systems and challenge them to prove their efforts in supporting a more inclusive and just world, which side would you choose?

The Red or the Blue?

One or the other. Because we both know they are not the same thing, not really, despite the words spoken by a man more than 60 years ago.

Hahaha, yeah, you’re right, we ain’t biting. :)

You could, and this is just a thought, also choose to look up the many arguments and discussions on this exact topic online, since you’re so keen to explore it. Bootstraps, my friend. Gotta put in the work!

Sorry :)

I know from experience that the only way anyone who holds such strong beliefs will change their mind is when they are placed in a situation that seriously challenges it. So most of the time it is up to the individual to choose to challenge their beliefs, not me. I’m just a speaker you can ignore.

Good luck. I hope if you do that you end up at some conclusion that helps you. And yes, I know you will claim that this means I have nothing to show you. I guess you’ll have to decide if that means you’re unwilling to try.

I think, if you’re serious, you may wish to consider challenging what you believe in. You won’t get a rise out of me, so don’t bother. I just wish to push you to try.

Cheers, friend. Hope you do. :)

What?

Gotta tell ya: The atrocities and stress of war doesn’t really seem real until you’re hunkered down in a cab because the truck in front of you took an IED, to use just one scenario. I could throw a few more your way if you like.

Having said that, and here’s the irony, not everyone in the military is “gonna face bombs and killing”. There are huge swaths whose job it is to do anything under the sun that doesn’t involve firing any form of weaponry. Chances are you’d have had to been paying attention at some point in school to know this, or something.

War is shit. The military has good and bad people, and often shit practices. For some people it’s one of the only ways, in the U.S. at least, to stand even a fleeting chance of doing more than becoming a low-rung manager at Walmart.

Whoaaa whoa, whoa now. I don’t want the block demolished. Psycho old man strength vs shooty patootie police? I was just there for an oil change and to check on some potential damage.