Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]

Frog speedrun any%

Can’t believe ISIS would do something like that 😔

I’ve been watching Voyager for the first time and just got to the episode. I think I agree with the decision (as a lever-puller) but it does raise some interesting questions. As Janeway mentions, if they’d been able to do it immediately, she’d have done it without question, but after two weeks of Tuvix integrating with the crew it’s a more difficult question. If Tuvix had been around for say 5 years I think I’d disagree with separating him. I think the way I look at it is that the social bonds possessed by Tuvok and Neelix are more important than the mere two week old bonds of Tuvix, but if Tuvok and Neelix were long dead and their loved ones had already mourned them, while Tuvix had had more time to become a fixture in people’s lives, then the circumstances would be different. Tbh I disagree with the idea that Tuvok and Neelix get the biggest say - I think that the input of Kes and the rest of the crew is valuable, and Kes pleads to get Neelix back while none of the crew back Tuvix.

Does that mean the worth of lives is based on popularity? Not generally, but I do think that social connections are a relevant thing to consider. Part of what makes murder bad is not just the loss of the individual’s life, but also what it means for everyone else. If you could press a button to create a life then press another to end it, would you have made the world a worse place by doing so? I don’t think so. But if you press a button to create a life then go out and murder someone who already existed, then I think you have.

I’d also say that the captain’s responsibilities in her role as captain are relevant and also support the decision.

Food has a cultural component tied to its manufacture and identification. And IPAs are food that probably shouldn’t exist and which only does as a byproduct of market capitalism. They’re the Lacanian ‘object a’ - an empty, manufactured falseness. We don’t desire the thing itself, but the thing whose absence it symbolizes. What you’re really consuming when you drink an IPA is its innate mechanical predictability.

(Thanks to the thread last week arguing about pumpkin spice lattes for giving me a new copypasta to use about anything I personally dislike.)

Boss Battle music

Always fun to see accusations with no link and speculate on what actually happened.

I was raised Catholic and left it at a young age and spent a lot of time uprooting the brainworms so I don’t think there’s much left. However, whenever I can’t find something I really need and start getting stressed, I’ll still recite, “Dear St. Anthony, please come around, my X has been lost and cannot be found.” It’s a useful way to calm down and focus instead of freaking out and panicking.

Other than that, I still retain a lot of the theology I learned in high school, and I can still sometimes get a little opinionated about various things even though I have no dog in the fight.

If people are skeptical of Söhnlein, he understands. “Forget OceanGate. Forget Titan. Forget Stockton,” he tells Insider, referring to his late partner at OceanGate, Stockton Rush, who was one of the passengers aboard the doomed Titan.

I don’t think it works like that bro

Years ago I tried my hand gambling on politics on PredictIt, and I didn’t lose all that much, but there were a couple bets I lost that seemed like sure things. Mostly the lesson I learned is that talk is cheap and there’s no real consequences for people saying one thing and doing the other.

For example, in the 2016 election, there was a market on whether no-name Carly Fiona would qualify for the CNN debate, and by the rules they set she didn’t qualify, but there hadn’t been as many polls in the right timeframe as had been expected. Still, they released a statement days before the debate, saying “rules are rules,” so I took a bet at like 90% odds thinking it was completely safe - then they let her in at the last minute and I lost big. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I think I lost a fair bit on a market about Trump meeting with Kim Jong Un, which was a pretty chaotic market. The most chaotic market I ever saw, which I avoided and wanted no part of, was whether Bernie would win Iowa in 2020, and watching it closely in real time made it very obvious that some really shady stuff was going on. Probably the most I ever lost was Biden winning the 2020 primary, which is about when I got out of it.

I would not recommend gambling like that because if you have money on the line there’s an incentive to be glued to the news in a way that can be really unhealthy. Honestly the stress was worse than the money I lost. It’s more trouble than it’s worth, the fees will get you, also it’s generally more about predicting what the market will think so you can profit off the swings, and personally I think it’s kind of a distasteful way to engage in politics. At the same time, it can be a learning experience - it definitely got me in the habit of asking “And what consequences will this person face if they’re lying off their ass?” every time I see a headline about someone saying something, and of not paying as much attention to statements in general.

Have you considered the possibility that some people like the taste of pumpkin spice lattes? Or do you just get to dismiss everything you personally dislike as “The Lacanian ‘object a?’” You could substitute literally any food or drink for PSLs in what you said, it’s completely meaningless.

It’s just empty words and phrases for you to feel superior to others based on what treats you enjoy or don’t enjoy.

Say what you will about the map, at least there’s no England.

There’s probably a way to link literally any given thing to white supremacy and cis heteronormativity provided you don’t care how tenuous the connection is. Hating mainstream stuff when you don’t have an actual reason is just a way to make yourself feel superior. Hell, I could probably draw a more compelling connection from hating basic stuff to white supremacy and cis heteronormativity than you could for the reverse.

The infamous Drones are Queer paper is probably a good example of how it’s possible to draw a connection between virtually any two things if you try hard enough. Or just tell Chat GPT to write an explanation on how X and Y are linked for any two things.

How dare anyone ask me to stop criticising a thing I have no problem with and no intention of criticizing! We stand in solidarity with all cynical killjoys across the world! Even if we don’t hate something, we will defend to the death the right to hate it!

Ahh yes, the classic emblem of America’s crass consumerism checks notes flavored coffee.

PSLs and Halloween decorations are bourgeois decadance, clearly.

Yeah we had a wrecker a while back go full mask-off over pumpkin spice lattes calling them “whore coffee” and making death threats over it. Granted that might just be that one wierdo but hating on PSLs and other “basic” stuff at least was a thing a while back.

What criticism even is there against PSLs and Halloween decorations??

I don’t think anybody’s being pressured into drinking pumpkin spice lattes or eating avocado toast lmao. D&D is a fun and good creative, sociable activity and more people getting into it is good, actually.

Any popular thing is going to have hype around it, that doesn’t mean that it’s inherently bad. You’re free to dislike popular stuff but saying it’s bad just because it’s popular is a bad take.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes are good and also the official drink of hexbear.net (the other ones are good too).

Hexbears in this thread having a knee-jerk contrarian reaction to the “let people enjoy things” sentiment even though nobody actually has a problem with any of these things lmao.

So instead you just lie and pretend the lesser evil is the greater evil?

Never said this, no.

I’m guessing you didn’t have a lot of family or friends directly devastated by Trump’s actions? If so, how can you be so bloody heartless?

You’re right, other than the fact that I moved away from my home state in part due to the rise in anti-trans sentiment and legislation (and obviously he continued the wars too so he’s at least as bad). I and my family were, however, directly affected by Obama’s actions in pointlessly extending the wars of aggression in the Middle East. You can read about my experiences here

Peace is absolutely not even close to being enough to address all the impending and on-going crises affecting this country. I am being extremely lax, generous, and accommodating by setting it as my sole precondition. The fact that you want me to abandon all of my principles and every single precondition so the democrats can keep following the republicans right in a self-defeating strategy is not my problem.

I call this “taking the majority hostage”

Excellent, if I have the power to take the majority hostage to the end of achieving peace, I intend to take full advantage of it.