There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

nickwitha_k

@[email protected]

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

nickwitha_k ,

Another reason to block federation with Threads.

nickwitha_k ,

And the least demonstrated desire to do so.

nickwitha_k , (edited )

So, you’re suggesting that it is better that they are profiting from helping state actors and hate groups?

Edit: No, they are not suggesting that. I misunderstood their meaning.

nickwitha_k ,

Please don’t lick elemental hydrogen.

nickwitha_k ,

In the hypothetical, if one were able to lick elemental hydrogen in its atomic, rather than molecular form, it would have a few potential effects. The one that would concern me most would be its aggressive reactivity, ripping hydrogens away from anything that it could in order to achieve stability. This would potentially cause tissue damage both from the deprotonation and shift in pH.

nickwitha_k ,

if you ask an American why this country seems to be circling the drain

You could always ask. I know that I’m not the usual American but I’d say that the reason (and reason why nothing of note has been done about it since neoliberalism set its hooks) is as simple as the increase in wealth disparity.

nickwitha_k ,

If you want to get to the deepest of root causes, it’s definitely anti-social mental illnesses exhibited by those seeking and holding power, leading them to be driven to gorge on more and more.

Any higher than that, I’d still argue that wealth/power/resource disparity is the cause of the vast majority of societal problems. From crime, to healthcare access, to homelessness, and invasive, privacy-violating tech. They all come back to one thing: people don’t have enough resources, despite there being more than enough to do around. The disparity enables those with the lions’ share of resources to leverage them to extract even more, in a cycle that we’ve been seeing since at least Reagan’s union busting days.

nickwitha_k ,

That’s more a survivorship bias. People with anti-social issues have an easier time maximizing the profitability of their financial ventures.

I think that we’re actual nearly in agreement. To clarify, when I say “anti-social mental illnesses”, I don’t necessarily mean Anti-Social Personality Disorder (not discounting it either but, it’s likely more complex than just that and it’s a topic that I am not aware of seeing much study because those afflicted are considered models of “success”). Rather, I mean that these individuals are exhibiting behaviors that are knowingly detrimental to the society and the human species for individual gain (most often gain that could be greater and more sustainable without anti-social behavior).

Also, please note that I’m not trying to say “mental illness” is the cause of all of the world’s wrongs. Myself and just about everyone that I am close to have some form of mental illness and/or neurodivergence and I can guarantee that we’re not the cause (nor have we heard of a secret society called The Stonecutters /s).

nickwitha_k ,

If you want to get really anthropological and take a long lens view, this is a process of speciation. Humans as accidental super-predators give rise to the Homo Capitalismi, an apex predator who annihilates the parent species in the same way humans annihilated millions of other species.

That is an interesting and incredibly dystopic suggestion. Could make for excellent satirical fiction. For reality, definitely an awful thought. Should the hypothetical H. capitalismi be anything but an evolutionary dead end, either a “cross-species” caste system would be required (those at the top tend to make up for lack of tangible skills with money) or major leaps in technology necessary to realize transhumanist visions. Such technologies are, barring major leaps, are unlikely to be available within any current lifetimes.

Fair enough. I’ve heard more than a few folks suggest the medicalization of the market mechanic, wherein we can have our free markets if we just get all the CEOs on enough mood altering chemicals. Glad you’re not on that track.

Indeed. I also want to be extra clear due to “mental illness” being the latest favorite scapegoat for things like mass shootings. My thoughts are more that understanding better why some individuals act in such anti-social ways could lead to potential rehabilitation but, more importantly, equitable social organization that is more resilient in the face of such forces.

nickwitha_k ,

“Delicious Leaf Friend! Where are your agreed-upon offerings?”

nickwitha_k ,

demonstrate that Microsoft doesn’t follow their own spec

I genuinely feel bad for MS devs because of all of the garbage that they have to deal with because of scummy management and the Balmer years.

nickwitha_k ,

My high school didn’t have one on account of being a small alternative school. But, given the option, music festival would have been much more memorable.

nickwitha_k ,

Rock on, OP. Hope you had fun.

nickwitha_k ,

You don’t have to keep repeating “he’s a Tory”, it’s already in the headline.

nickwitha_k ,

The scope is far greater than eye for an eye. While they’ll never be able to undo what they did, there is a possibility that they may make positive contributions to society. Contributions that could save multiple lives. That’s not even going into the problems of allowing a state to ritualistically murder people.

nickwitha_k ,

This.

nickwitha_k ,

I disagree that it undermines that at all. Some people are able to be rehabilitated, some aren’t.

In addition, rehabilitation, like other complex psychological things like grief, is not a linear nor fully understood thing. Someone exhibiting anti-social behavior may not be able to be rehabilitated at a given time due to many possible factors, be it intrinsic to the individual or collective knowledge. Even if one cannot be safely re-integrated into society, there are ways that they can voluntarily contribute and likely would choose to, even if it were for selfish reasons (ex. many serial killers are aware that there is something profoundly wrong with them and happy to contribute data to prevent others or get their names in books).

nickwitha_k ,

It’s more ON the world. I think it’s kinda like the world’s cummerbund, with Antarctica being either the world’s pants or slippers.

nickwitha_k ,

I still contend that this would not be an issue, if home values were not so outrageously higher than incomes. Yes, climate change and ill-informed forest management are also factors. However, better affordability would greatly reduce the risk to insurers and homeowners alike.

nickwitha_k ,

Until they become the Alright Lakes.

nickwitha_k ,

Point taken. I’d suggest something along the lines of this scale:

great > good > alright > ok > adequate > meh > fair > subpar > unfortunate > abysmal

nickwitha_k ,

I’d argue that it is not possible to have an end. Culture and society, like species, continue to evolve and is never a static thing (believing otherwise is one of the big contradictions of neolibs and other staunch pro-capital ideologies). So, “post-communism” could be a set of philosophies that may not be concievable until such point that humanity has evolved culturally and socially enough. Possibly influenced by technological or external factors.

nickwitha_k ,

I think that @Rhynoplaz said it very well. I’m very sorry for what you went through and the betrayal by those who are supposed to protect you. I hope that you are able to continue healing.

As a fellow survivor of early childhood trauma, one of the ways that I deal with it is service to others. That is to say, taking what I’ve learned in my experiences in coping over the years and using them to help people who are going through similar experiences or experience marginalization either by advocating for them, lending an empathetic ear, or sharing what I’ve been through and have learned. I wasn’t even aware until well into adulthood that my traumas (some that I don’t remember due to young age) had had such a profound impact on my life. Choosing to leverage the painful traumas to constructive purposes that make other people happy gives me a sense of fulfillment and taking control over things that were very much out of my control as a young child.

Now, I’m not saying that this is the way for everyone or that your anger is wrong. It isn’t and your anger is a healthy emotional response to your experience. Also, just as an emotion, it’s absolutely ok and healthy to experience. There are no “bad” emotions, emotions are just part of our selves as humans and embracing them is embracing ourselves (I’m, admittedly still working on that). I might say that the direction that you are pointing your anger may be misplaced and that you may be perceiving an attack or slight where none appears to have been intended. But, again, please don’t take that as me trying to invalidate how you feel as that is not at all my intention.

If you want to chat or would like some help in finding someone who is a professional to help you heal, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

nickwitha_k ,

Unfortunately, sometimes the impact of trauma (especially early childhood trauma) can cause misperception of aggression in statements not intended to be aggressive. I think your comment was unintentionally triggering, in the true sense of the term, not the colloquial and derogatory sense. This, in turn, leading to “friendly fire” from people who actually seem to be wanting the same things.

nickwitha_k ,

Absolutely! I think that the sympathy and care that you expressed are very helpful and really want to commend you on reaching out with a supportive hand rather than matched aggression. I find that a lot of people who respond with displays of aggression are doing so because of their own internalized wounds forcing their way our in anger, rather than intentional malice (some people are just assholes, to be fair).

Keep rocking, you beautiful human being.

ETA: Other comment was deleted because I mistook who I was replying to because ADHD.

nickwitha_k ,

I don’t care if I have support from others or not. I’m already used to never having my voice heard or being rejected, it makes no difference.

I don’t think that the intention here has been rejecting or silencing you. There has been miscommunication and misperception, which is unfortunate but, it happens. If you step back for a moment, I think that you’ll find that there are a lot of people about, especially on Lemmy, that would happily give you support, sympathy, and attempt understanding. You don’t have to go it alone. A lot of us here actually want the same things and we’re stronger together.

nickwitha_k ,

I was close to it. I’m an advocate for paying for services I use.

Agreed.

We’re way too used to getting everything for free and we should be willing to pay for services we appreciate.

I’d argue that this is partly due to the continued decrease in real wealth experienced by a large amount of the population. Companies want to keep making more profits when people have less relative wealth. So, the data harvesting is making up for that, making it just that much worse for the lot of us.

nickwitha_k ,

*Pro-Nazi group Moms for “Liberty.”

nickwitha_k ,

Somewhat similar to my wife’s home town in rural Ireland.

nickwitha_k ,

Yeah-nah.

nickwitha_k ,

*THAT’S HER, NOW

nickwitha_k ,

Context also matters. The authors also thought that a standing army was part of the park to tyranny, opting for a militia system in place of it. The purpose of the Second Amendment, by its own words, is to ensure that nothing could legally stand in the way of regular and irregular militia being able to protect the fledgling nation.

As it stands now, the Second Amendment is an anachronism that’s sole purpose for existing is no longer applicable. It needs to be re-evaluated and amended to fit the needs of a nation that has both a standing army and a problem with civilians shooting each other (police are civilians too).

nickwitha_k ,

Was discussing this recently. A big bit of context that is important is how the founders intended for the military to be organized for their fledgling nation. Their intent was that there be no standing army because all of the powers that they knew that had them used them for imperialism and tyranny. So, the intent was to prevent states from getting in the way of raising regular (trained and uniformed) and irregular (anyone who could shoulder a musket) militia, should it be necessary to defend the nation against an incursion from a hostile power.

Now, it’s been well over a hundred years since the US has had a standing army. While that does not technically invalidate the Second Amendment, it does make it an anachronism that doesn’t fit in the context of the modern world. It should have been re-legislated as soon as a standing army became a thing.

Now, if only there were a mechanism built into the US Constitution to allow it to be updated to fit the needs of the nation. Maybe they could have called them “Changements”. /s

nickwitha_k ,

This is also true. Would be better chances if there was actual proportionality in the House.

nickwitha_k ,

This is, unfortunately true.

nickwitha_k ,

This is factually incorrect.

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

  • US Constitution Article I, Section 8, Clause 12

Casual reading of contextual documents by the authors of the Constitution makes it very clear that the reason for the time limit is the belief that standing armies ought not to exist and are tools of tyranny. The context of the Second Amendment is not done obscure military one, it is blatant in the Amendment’s text that it concerns militia, which was the founders’ alternative to a standing army. In that context, yes, it does require that all people be able to bear arms because the irregular militia was basically anyone capable of shouldering a musket.

However, as the country did move to have a standing army and police forces, the militia system is mostly obsolete. The closest thing to a militia in the country in modern times is the national guard but, they are closer to a “select militia” that was also looked upon unfavorably by the founders.

I’m not placing a judgement on the Second Amendment as being right or wrong but that it was written for a context that is mismatched with our own. It needs to be re-evaluated and updated to account for the difference in context in order to have a logical place in the law of the country.

nickwitha_k ,

You know what? I don’t think that you’re correct but am not a historian, though I did study a bit of early US history in university. Fortunately, there are historians that we can ask to figure this out. Will edit with a post if they’re willing to comment on the issue.

nickwitha_k ,

Yeah. Every bonus that I’ve ever seen has been raced at something like 40%. We really need to both make capital gains equally taxed to earned income and have a wealth tax.

nickwitha_k ,

The goal in my mind is not to necessarily increase total revenue but to erode the capacity to hoard wealth. The lower rates are gamed to increase wealth disparity, giving a distinct advantage to those who are already wealthy, over those who are not.

nickwitha_k ,
  • The wealthiest’s wealth is all invested in the economy, literally the opposite of “hoarding”.

The economy is more than the NYSE and bought politicians.

  • “The lower rates are gamed to increase wealth disparity” is false–they are that way to encourage entrepreneurship and the like, the things that keep the economy strong.

Don’t know what to tell you there. The money doesn’t buying legislation to keep workers in places of economic instability doesn’t really encourage entrepreneurship or reduce its inherent risks. Entrepreneurship is also pretty well dominated by the wealthy who can afford the Russia, largely due to inherited wealth.

The fact that those who create the things that strengthen the economy become wealthy faster than those who don’t is a feature, not a bug. A rising tide lifts all ships. And make no mistake, one’s assets appreciating in value takes nothing away from those who haven’t invested–the latter group’s level of wealth is not affected by the former’s. In other words, the wage my job pays me does not change based on how wealthy other people’s assets are, from the billionaires, down to even a neighbor whose house has appreciated in value.

Wealth disparity is not inherently a bad thing–a century ago, the ‘gap’ was much smaller, as was the number of billionaires, but the average person’s wealth was also MUCH lower.

Wealth disparity is the root of most crime and human suffering. Also, the years leading into the Great Depression may not be a good reference point on average wealth.

You know what, I didn’t think that we’re going to see eye to eye on these matters, regardless of how much back and forth we have. I hope you have a pleasant day and eventually see an increase in empathy that shifts your worldview.

nickwitha_k ,

The consequences of your actions may not be your fault but you are responsible for your choices and how they impact others. If you choose to take an action, knowing that it will likely increase the harm towards others, that is on you and others are free to judge you for it.

Anti-electoralism is accelerationism with a fresh paint of coat and voting for a third party in FPTP is functionally indistinguishable from supporting the conservative party. If you help Trump get elected, you are complicit in and share responsibility for every LGBTQ and POC person harmed or killed.

nickwitha_k ,

Don’t point the finger at me, I didn’t have anything to do with how we got to now. My apathy and others like me are not the problem…

You’re an enabler. Like Andy Dick giving drugs to Phil Hartman’s wife. Sure, Andy didn’t pull the trigger but the situation would have been less likely, if not for his actions. You don’t just get to wash your hands off it because of not directly committing the acts.

Your apathy is exactly the problem as it enables the bad behavior. Why do you think so much has been invested in encouraging voter apathy over the years?

I vote with my conscience, and if that means no vote, so be it

Clearly, your conscience doesn’t consider trans people or people of color then.

None of you will convince me otherwise with your attacks.

This is exactly who I’m not really trying to convince you but rebutting fallacious reasoning so as to try to convince others. You’re so invested in your belief that you’ve incorporated it into your sense of self and perceive anything that challenges it, regardless of factuality, as an attack.

I’m not attacking you. And I don’t think most of the others are either. What we are attacking is the fallacy of believing that one is not responsible for the known consequences of their actions due to voluntary near-sightedness. It’s not missing the forest for the trees, nor even the trees for the twigs, but missing the individual leaves for the individual plant cells; absolutely ignoring all context, interconnectedness, and cascading impacts by focusing only on the minutiae and rejecting anything else.

You’re not a bad person for feeling this way. However, it does lead to a high risk of embracing courses of action on premises that do not hold up to scrutiny and are ethically questionable to those embracing wider world views.

nickwitha_k ,

It’s implying, I think, that OP believes that the ends justify the means.

nickwitha_k ,

put that $30/month into your own IRA, you’ll make her a lot happier when she doesn’t have to support you when she’s grown up.

Unfortunately, with all of the price-gouging that’s been happening, $30/mo is nothing. It probably is now productive being spent. Even with compounding interest, that is going to result in enough funds to retire as an expat in a developing nation with an exceptional exchange rate and likely next to no end of life care, supposing that the investment firm that is profiting off of pensions being extinct does exceedingly well.

I also like to suggest saving anything that one can but noone is going to be able to realistically be able survive on that, unless there are significant socio-economic changes. It’s a “pie in the sky when you die” situation.

nickwitha_k ,

If I remember correctly, the propulsion motor is repurposed from a Chinese moped. Cheap and plentiful.

nickwitha_k ,

Absolutely! I mean primarily that just about any sentience that humans can conceive of is likely to experience some failure, even if down to just statistics. Even our dieties are fallible. So, it seems reasonable to expect that an intellectually superior sentience could make a mistake, leading to loss of craft to primitives like us. Then again, maybe I’m too dumb to conceive of a non-fault-prone intelligence.

Consumer Reports urges USDA to remove Lunchables From National School Lunch Program (advocacy.consumerreports.org)

Consumer Reports called on the Department of Agriculture today to remove Lunchables food kits from the National School Lunch Program. CR recently compared the nutritional profiles of two Lunchable kits served in schools and found they have even higher levels of sodium than the kits consumers can buy in the store. CR also tested...

nickwitha_k ,

That looks to have been congressional action, not executive…

Should I date now if I have to move in a few months to a place that is hours away by car and would likely have more potential suitors?

Please be kind as this topic is a pain point for me. I’m feeling the pressure of finding my significant other because I’m at an age where it seems like everyone in my social media feed is getting engaged, married, or having kids. The issue is I have a huge transition coming up and will have to move in a few months to a place...

nickwitha_k ,

You’re very welcome and thank you for saying so. If sharing what I’ve learned from my experiences and those of others gives you useful insights, I’m glad to hear it and couldn’t hope for anything greater.

As for friendship, certainly. I’m not always great at timely responses but feel free to DM, if you’d like a second opinion on anytime, need to chat, or just feel like it.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •