askchapo Magician • 4 months ago • 100%

I understand that Hexbear has young and vulnerable people, making it potentially unsafe for something as personal and private as sexuality, but I was wondering if there are many online spaces that are friendly and nonjudgmental for that. There are topics I'd like to discuss like classism in hookup culture/kink communities, but I don't want to make people uncomfortable. I also can't account for wreckers and just general topic derailment. Also in general, are there considerations I should take when broaching these topics in online spaces? I feel like we're doing a good job of protecting people from sex pests and I don't want to make a safe place unsafe.

chapotraphouse Magician • 4 months ago • 99%

www.popsci.com

I'm not surprised given the person in charge, but I still feel bad for the guy. Being almost completely paralyzed, it makes total sense to jump at the chance to get some normalcy back. I didn't expect 85% of the wires to already detach at this point. In a just society, the whole company would be shut down and the CEO put into a bottomless pit.

chapotraphouse Magician • 4 months ago • 100%

I want Jimmy Kimmel to hire the animators from the animation he played when Trump left the white house and make a clip of the statue of Liberty clap along to a parody song. Everyone do the Pelosi Clap! Clap Clap! *Clap Clap!* I want Stephen Colbert to come out dancing with drag queens in pant suits and bad wigs to clap and get the audience involved so they clap out of tune. I wanna see Pete Buttigieg's high hopes as he lets another train derail. I want Joe Brandon to make a cameo as he looks dead-eyed into the camera and makes a gaffe. And I wish for all of this to be performed without a hint of irony on-screen. I wish for this without irony.

chapotraphouse Magician • 4 months ago • 100%

Seriously though, it's wild watching the generation who kept receipts turn on each other. But I really just wanted to make a silly pun. Put the upbears in the bag! 

chat Magician • 5 months ago • 98%

It's like I can feel myself detach from whatever topic I'm listening to as I expect it to be a lead up for Raid Shadow Legends. It's like I'm gonna disengage from serious things because I'm just waiting to see how they are going to ask for money. I get it's to keep engagement, but it's doing the opposite. I don't want you to slip between conversation into a commercial like that's not creepy as fuck. It's like the Truman show, but nobody's even watching you. I dunno, it's not fun out here.

chapotraphouse Magician • 5 months ago • 100%

Fun Magician extended universe lore - this was the podcast that broke my liberal brain and pushed me towards communism. From Wikipedia: >Mueller, She Wrote is a political podcast hosted by Allison Gill, a military veteran who worked at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. It mixes comedy, legal commentary and political analysis, from a liberal perspective, and centers on the Mueller investigation. The original co-hosts were San Diego comedians Jordan Coburn and Jaleesa Johnson; the latter has since left the show due to a pay dispute. I remember feeling lost after trump got elected and hoped that something would come of the Mueller report. It's wild to think I believed an FBI investigation run by a Republican would to anything to shake up the system, but there were plenty of people who believed it. These hosts would give updates on the investigation and other bits of news, but it started feeling hollow around the third 'this time he's really in trouble!' story. The simping for Mueller like he was going to solve things felt hollower and hollower until I stopped listening altogether. I read up on them a few years later and saw them vote shaming people who were considering withholding their vote for healthcare and student debt forgiveness. I also found out they benefited from PPP loans they didn't have to reimburse. Hypocrisy exposed is an empty victory, but it felt vindicating to know leaving that whole bubble was a good decision. Finally, I hate the logo so much. Like they were doing investigative journalism or something by collecting headlines from news websites. I dunno. I just wanted to air out my vitriol while it was fresh. Did anybody else follow it or similar podcasts before moving left?

doomer Magician • 6 months ago • 100%

I feel like writing this is asking for pity or something, but I just want to express this feeling I have. I had a family who took my childhood from me and had me in service to their needs instead. I wasn't allowed to be innocent - I had to look after my siblings and be a therapist for my parents. I wasn't allowed to say no or to feel. I was ignored and overlooked because I met their needs and somehow found the energy to meet mine enough to go to college. I was threatened with homelessness if I didn't go to college and I was promised my education would be paid for. Instead, I got into a school and had to take out loans. I took care of myself as an adult, but my conditioning was such that I jumped to my family's rescue whenever their lives imploded. Family was supposed to look out for each other, and I had the assumption that they would do the same for me in a similar situation. I never let myself get into that situation. I walked to Coin Star with my change jar to pay for gas money, refusing to need them. I doubted they would come to my rescue, but I didn't want to spend my one *rescue* on something I could take care of myself. I struggled independently and found the resources to help my family every time for over a decade of my adult life. I worked and saved and carved out a life for myself. And then the pandemic started. I got another degree and I was on top of the world for two days before a family emergency called me back to reality. I put my career on hold and suffered a terrible financial loss that same year. But I know my (relative) would be dead right now if it weren't for me. But then when I asked for time to recover from my own hardships, I was met with the same shaming they always gave me. They asked why I couldn't be financially established not two weeks after getting out of the hospital. Like I wasn't the one taking them to physical therapy. Making office calls. Acting as an unpaid caseworker, nurse, driver, cook, and housekeeper. I thought this time would be different - I did so much that I thought it was incontrovertible how much I contributed. That I would be allowed the space to breathe for a little bit without the fault-finding coming back in full. I thought they would see me for the work I did for them. I thought they would treat me with love and acceptance. I thought I would finally be seen. I'm struggling now to get back to a semblance of where I once was. I'm not living up to my potential. I know that's bullshit phrasing and oversimplifying my situation. But it's hard. I finally went no contact, but it feels like something broke in me. I tried so hard to be treated with decency by the people who were supposed to love me and I failed. I know they failed me, but I see the effort and energy I put into caring about others at cost to myself and I just can't justify wanting to do anything anymore. I don't want to try. I can just keep my mask on and work as the world passes me by. I don't see trying as getting me anything I wanted or needed because I can't remember a time where it has. I know this isn't true, but the feeling is so hard to shake. I'm getting therapy and I'm finally seeing the extent of the damage done to me before I was old enough to understand, but it's so much. It's just digging and digging and digging until I'm so tired that I forget why I'm even doing it in the first place. I'm trying so hard to keep going and I only do so because I don't want to make good people sad or bad people happy. I still try even though the deepest part of me feels like it's pointless. I know it's not pointless, but I just feel pain every time I start to think things could get better. I just needed to get this out there because I don't have anywhere else to put this, but if this resonates with anyone, how did you get out of this mindset?

chat Magician • 6 months ago • 100%

I'm in the fortunate space of guilt-free posting. Talk about weird shit or whatever.

It's weird, in the moment, I get blindsided by an interaction and only after it's over to I realize I said or went along with things I didn't want to. I'm trying so hard not to talk to people and I want to change that. I'm avoiding people because I'm scared of interacting and getting it wrong. I can protect myself, but that means against everyone. Like I can deflect with humor or defend myself and so I keep people at a distance. I'm pushing people away, I'm avoiding them that badly. Because the truth is, I don't assert myself at all. I'm afraid that asserting myself will hurt people. But I know I'm hitting a wall and that's from me not being assertive. How do you know when you're doing too much or too little assertiveness? Do you have an internal sense of that? The way I sense it is by looking at the person for signs of pain or discomfort when I talk. So I hold back when I know what I'm saying might be something they don't want to hear. What helps you know when you're being appropriately assertive?

paganism Magician • 6 months ago • 100%

I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I feel like the universe or something within os trying to tell me something and I'm so close to getting it. I'm going to start meditating for therapeutic reasons, but I was curious if there are ways I could better listen to whatever it is that I feel. I know openness is important, but I don't really understand what it means to open up like that.

chapotraphouse Magician • 6 months ago • 100%

Like them playing animal crossing or whatever, reading the character text aloud and then reacting like they're full-on having a conversation? They are framed as though playing the game in real time, but it's clear that they're reacting to a video of playing. It feels like watching someone play dolls or something and I can't stand it. They're reacting to it like the characters are real. The YouTuber might talk about some of their own lives every now and then, but it all just feels so empty and I'm having a hard time understanding what the appeal is. My partner loves these kinds of videos and I'm trying to figure out what it is about them that people like. Is there some comfort to them that I'm not getting?

chat Magician • 7 months ago • 98%

I know there isn't any visible platform or coherent ideology, but I was hoping there would be something more than 'not trump.' like where are the donations even going? They couldn't even pretend to have talking points.

music Magician • 7 months ago • 100%

I can learn things if they're a game and I have a good ear for sound. I just want to be able to know a note when I hear and find it on a musical instrument.

chapotraphouse Magician • 7 months ago • 100%

I'm gay so this post is protected from accusations of horny posting 💅🏽

chapotraphouse Magician • 8 months ago • 98%

I don't get how libs can tolerate being taken for granted like this. They're not being mature or practical - they're accepting mistreatment by an establishment sworn to serve them. Trump and his supporters aren't better, but at least he's telling them what they want to hear. He at least made sure to get checks out to people and had his signature stamped on them. I dunno, at least there's a strategy there. And Biden has had four fucking years and he's done nothing to get people motivated to vote or even register to vote. Not even going into his participation in genocide, it's just a lack of strategy to the point of self-sabotage. And the entire Democratic party is complicit in all of it. It's like they want to lose, because all I'm hearing are about how bad trump is/was. And it's like, I was fucking there. And after three years, all they can offer is to give him a verbal reprimand and coverage on every major news network, speech, and social media posting. It's just mind-blowing to think of the wasted time and energy on the part of the US political system.

I have a couple of older relatives who only communicate via phone call and I hate talking on the phone. My other relatives don't stay in contact as often as I do, so I feel bad not reaching out and keeping them company. Do you have any strategies to manage the energy drain from phone calls?

askchapo Magician • 9 months ago • 98%

Or just feel free to talk about it. My profile picture is the Magician enemy from the game Persona 3, based on the major arcana. I kept the picture because it reminds me of  when it's rounded. What about you?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room It's a pretty cool thought experiment about a hypothetical person locked in a room. In the room they have books on Chinese words, phrases, and grammar. They receive a sheet of paper with Chinese written on it and send out a written response using the books as reference. The person inside the room doesn't know what they're writing and the outside person doesn't know that they don't understand Chinese. It really speaks to me in how I navigate a lot of social connections without knowing why. I receive an input, and while I'm not sure why, I'm conditioned to respond in a specific way. The thought experiment reminds me of masking and how it's hard to explain to someone you don't understand. Because of their perception of your actions/words, they assume you understand the fundamental idea. When I keep up the mask, I know that it's easier to do things in certain ways and hide evidence of misunderstanding. I think that's where a level of isolation happens for me. It's like I'm locked in a room away from people and my communication is filtered through a system I don't understand at all. I dunno, I was just thinking about thought experiments in general and how neurodiversity can show up. Does anybody else have thoughts on the Chinese Room or other thought experiments in relation to a neurodiverse experience?

It was stuff about queer people with autism, but I was looking more for people's experience with juggling the autism experience with having an identity that sometimes depends on subtle cues, code switching, social etiquette, etc. So, are there any reliable resources on exploring queerness while on the spectrum? Or if you have experiences or insight, that'd be cool too.

I'm in my mid thirties and only now am I coming to terms with my neurodivergence. I'm one of the lucky people to have access to health care and the time to educate myself on the topics of neurodiversity and mental health. And with all of that, I have only recently started to take notice of how my childhood experience affected my perception of people and how the world works. I won't go into intense details for several reasons, but long-story short - my parents were deeply unwell and in forcing me to hide and overlook their mental health, I currently have to spend time trying to sort out what I now find acceptable, healthy, and loving. Being on the spectrum and lacking the resources to navigate an allistic world was hard enough. I had to make an approximation of normal without having consistent practice with it. I feel sad that I'm in my thirties and still seek out the approval of people I don't know. Especially when those people exist in spaces where it's not safe for them to know me, like online, or at bigoted in-person spaces. I don't feel like I got a chance to make human mistakes and now that I'm on my own for the first time in my life, I lack the tools and connections to safely unlearn unhealthy behaviors and learn new healthy behaviors. I know I'm not the only one, and I'm glad that this comm is around to meet and troubleshoot solutions. Sometimes I feel like I don't understand a joke in a post and I'm afraid to lose the game of chicken, becoming the first person to ask if a person was serious. Sometimes I'll check my comments for up votes to make sure I'm not being cruel to someone without knowing. I was convinced I was cruel and carrying that belief has made me so vulnerable to manipulation. I've had to create a mask that convinces people that I'm in on the joke. That I know better and any mistake I make could conceivably be intentional. I can't feel vulnerable and I look at people as a collection of warnings and threats instead of human beings who might treat me like I'm human too. I have an exit plan on the off chance somebody sees through my mask, because that was the most dangerous thing in my childhood. Already feeling out of touch with my body, I had to exist outside of myself to make sure that I didn't present any image that reflected poorly on my parents. Precious bandwidth dedicated to something I don't really even care about. My family was shitty and they should feel shitty, but I have my attention focused outward on how others see me. Because that's what they policed. I didn't get to pay attention to my inner world, the outer world, or the real ways the two interacted. My heart goes out to any kid that's experienced trauma, but this is the way I experienced it - as part of a community underserved by an allistic society that prioritizes the aesthetics of a nuclear family. But knowing all this, I can feel some comfort in the fact that I found a community here where I can share my experiences and contribute to a world that values and people like me.

This could be mechanical things like the order of adjectives, or more complex/personal things on your journey of learning another language. I want to start learning Norwegian again and I remembered learning a lot about citrus fruits as I went on Wikipedia adjacent trips.

askchapo Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I would pick Magneto from the X-Men comics. I think if he was written by better writers and comics weren't the vessel of a lot of fascistic ideals, he wouldn't come off as 'villain who goes too far'. His backstory is so much more interesting than what powers he has. He survived the Holocaust as a child and when his powers developed, he sought out other people like him to prevent future atrocities. He formed the Brotherhood of ~~Evil ~~ Mutants and opposed humanity's attempt to kill or control mutants. He's long-lived because his experience as a Holocaust survivor is integral to his character. With that age, he's been well-read, studying science, history, literature, and art. He's educated and due to the way comics keep the timeline contemporary, he's bound to have strongly formed opinions on whatever is happening. Having incredible power on top of that makes for such interesting questions. "Why don't you just  more often?" "How much more efficient are trains when you can move them with your mind?" "What are your thoughts on the concept of dehumanization?" I dunno. Sometimes I see interesting characters and get frustrated that they're not talking about their lives or experiences. They're restrained by capitalism and you don't get to see cool interpretations of characters who you're supposed to believe are real people. I'd love to helm a rewrite of Magneto to make him aggressively anticapitalist and antiracist  I know. But it's like this character has studied the world on how to prevent fascism and genocide and he's still not calling out the contradictions of capitalism. He's not pointing out how oppression is used as a tool for profit. I want to see the guy who read Marx and then got superpowers.

chapotraphouse Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I thought it would be funny if I cropped out the author's name on the article, but I decided grace, [citing my sources to avoid the irony singularity](https://hard-drive.net/hd/entertainment/youtuber-james-somerton-releases-suspiciously-familiar-4-hour-apology-video/)

askchapo Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I just mean things you do or can do for yourself as part of self-care? Here are some of mine: Relaxation Break - 10 Minutes: Like if you're sitting at a desk, or have some time where you can steal five minutes away from whatever's bothering you. Little Chore - 5 Minutes: Some small productive thing you can do in that time and no longer. Like if you want to do some dishes or you want to replace the toilet paper roll. Listen to Music uninterrupted - ? Minutes: Pick a song or an album and just let it rip without getting up to do anything. This one is really hard for me where even doing a 2 minute song was hard. Watch something - 2 Hours: Movie, video essay, anime, whatever. Challenge - Impossible: Do it without doomscrolling.

chapotraphouse Magician • 10 months ago • 100%


chapotraphouse Magician • 10 months ago • 98%

Like no shit, I'm going to make my one safe place look nice.

Fellow Hexbearians, I was thinking about how embarrassing it is to ask questions about things that seem obvious, so why not make a thread here? We can pool our understanding and clear up any misconceptions we picked up living in a world not built for neurodiverse people. Ask questions about things you don't understand that might seem obvious. If there are things you do understand in someone else's question, please do so and help clear it up. I ask that we ask and answer questions sincerely. This is a discussion about confusion and trying to understand. I think it would feel safer if we don't think we're being mocked or trolled. I'll put a comment in the thread to get things rolling.

worldbuilding Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I think I'd like to see what people would do in their leisure time or domestic work . You see so many stories about travel and war, but you rarely see people interact outside of that. And if you do, it's usually not made unique for a setting that isn't Earth. What cutlery do they use? What does a morning routine look like? In a world where fire magic is commonplace, how do they cook? How would those things evolve over centuries? Fantasy especially feels stagnant for this, but I think sci-fi is guilty of this too. Are there things in specific works where an innocuous detail made you wonder more about how a setting worked?

bloomer Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

If you believe in timelines or different worlds where 2023 is completely different, that seems to me like an inspiring idea. That means in a timeline next to ours, they took their first step into making the world we would like to have. Who's to say we aren't doing that here now? Who's to say we can't be the timeline where we get communism in our lifetimes? If multiple universes are possible, then in one of those universes, the timeline diverged right now and a chain of events will unfold leading to the reversal of climate change. Bad things are happening right now, but there's still so much possibility out there. Looking back as a pessimist, I didn't expect same sex marriage getting legalized, the positive conversations around sex and consent in general, massive contradictions of capitalism getting noticed by the population as a whole, or the destigmatization of leftism in the US. It's bad out here, but the me from 2016 expected worse. I'm not saying slow down or disengage from the world if you have the bandwidth to do so. I'm not saying we should wait for the universe we want to bring itself into existence. I'm saying that we can still do things to make the world we want to see. I don't think it's too late and anyone who says otherwise benefits from our apathy. Join an org, talk about politics to people who will listen, answer questions even if it's obvious to you. If nothing else, take care of yourself and survive knowing that every day you spend enjoying your life deeply and personally hurts chuds everywhere. If we keep persevering through this, we might get to see our efforts pay off. We could be in a good timeline. Anyway, I wrote this as a thanks to the community I met here who validated my experiences and made me read theory. I just finished Parenti's Black Shirts and Reds and bell hooks' The Will to Change. I'll share them with my IRL friends. 

worldbuilding Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I'm joking with the meme, but it's an interesting how plot armor unintentionally places value on people's lives in fiction. It's telling that censorship laws decide who it is and isn't acceptable to kill. Just thinking about violence against sentient robots and how that's normalized in things like Samurai Jack. Like we know the robot has thoughts and feelings, like they'll try to run to save themselves or plead for mercy, but a character can still heroic after essentially killing a non-human who's acting like how we understand humans. I feel like there's something dangerous in how easily we can depict appropriate targets of violence. Not just robots, but anybody deemed as less than human are allowed to be more put at risk.  Unnamed people are killed in superhero fights all the time. But unless they are of a class of characters like protagonists, they are collateral damage at best. I think Plot Armor as a trope needs more class consciousness and awareness around how deciding who gets to be protected is often an unconscious political belief. What about you though? Any tropes in media you'd like to see explored more or written with a leftist understanding?

I'm not seeking out a diagnosis or anything like that. But I don't know how I come off. I don't know if I'm trying to be too funny or dramatic. I don't know if I'm being condescending or rude. I don't know if I'm making good points or if I'm inconsistent with my reasoning. Sometimes I just want someone to tell me what I'm like because I can't tell and I don't want to be shitty to people. Is that just anxiety? Or is this me being neurodiverse too? I'm convinced all the time that I'm being shitty to people or a bully. People familiar with me here, could you tell me a little bit what I'm like or what vibe I'm giving off? Is my writing disjointed or difficult to read? What do you do when you feel this way?

chapotraphouse Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Thanksgiving_Turkey_Presentation This originates from an annual tradition from the 1940s where the turkey presented by representatives was later killed and eaten. It wasn't until the 70s when they started sparing the turkeys. During Bush Sr's presidency, it became a formal ceremony with a pardon and everything. It's this big ceremony on TV where named turkeys are brought to the White House to get ceremonial pardons. Some have food-related names like Marshmallow or Drumstick. >  > > Charlie in 1987 trying to finish what John Hinkley Jr. started. He spent the rest of his days at a petting zoo. >The first president on record issuing a "pardon" to his turkey was Ronald Reagan. Reagan had been sending the turkeys presented to him to farms and zoos since at least 1982, and 1987's turkey, Charlie, was likewise headed to a petting zoo. At the time, Reagan was facing questions over the Iran-Contra affair, on whether or not he would consider pardoning Oliver North (who had yet to be tried for his involvement in the affair); Reagan conjured the notion of the turkey pardon as a joke to deflect those questions. > Reagan did not make any pardon references in the 1988 presentation, but his successor, George H. W. Bush, instituted the turkey pardon as a permanent part of the presentation beginning his first year in office, 1989. The phrase "presidential pardon" in that ceremony was apparently inserted by a speechwriter; Bush initially was indifferent to the terminology, saying "'Reprieve', 'keep him going', or 'pardon': it's all the same for the turkey, as long as he doesn't end up on the president's holiday table." 50-80 turkeys are selected based on their behavior from a pool of turkeys up for slaughter. The 10-20 best looking and most behaved turkeys are selected, then two are finally picked and get named by the president. This year, Jennie-O brand is bringing two currently unnamed turkeys for Biden to pardon. For those curious about the fates of the turkeys. It's not great. In a fashion that's particularly telling of the US: > For many years the turkeys were sent to Frying Pan Farm Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. From 2005 to 2009, the pardoned turkeys were sent to either the Disneyland Resort in California or the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where they served as the honorary grand marshals of Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the turkeys were sent to live at Mount Vernon, the estate and home of George Washington; Mount Vernon stopped displaying and accepting the turkeys due to the fact that they violated the estate's policy of maintaining its own historical accuracy (Washington never farmed turkeys) > For many years, the pardoned turkeys were documented to have very short lives after their pardoning, frequently dying within a year of being pardoned; for comparison, heritage turkey breeds have lifespans on par with those of wild turkeys, at least five years. Emphasis mine: > The lifespans of the pardoned turkeys have steadily improved in recent years, frequently having lifespans of over two years and occasionally reaching three years of age, an improvement attributed to better choices of homes after the pardons; **rather than serving solely as tourist attractions**, the turkeys are now placed in the care of experts who make conscious efforts to maintain the turkeys' health for as long as possible. So yeah, in the spirit of aesthetics, the US president puts an animal on TV, promises it life and then leaves it to survive the machinations of an empire in violent decay. All the while the rest of them are condemned to die away from the general. It just really makes a mockery of so many things the US pretends to care about.

christianity Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I'm sorry if this is isn't the appropriate comm, but I'm curious about why the angels sided with Lucifer in a fight they knew they would lose? Were there things Lucifer said to get angels on his side or did they just follow his example and refuse to subjugate themselves to humanity? Was there any context like that in the Bible?

askchapo Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

I've noticed a lot of posts asking how we're going to vote, and people coming in trying to shame people for not voting for Biden, or any candidate in the general election at all. So I'm curious and, asking in good faith, want to know - what will make you stop voting for Biden?

askchapo Magician • 10 months ago • 100%

No more capeshit or terf wizards. They consumed different media and updated their reference pools. What media would you want that to be? It wouldn't change anything, but the memes and stuff would be from something else. I think it would be fun if Sailor Moon reentered the mainstream and people drew comparisons between  and Usagi. It would melt my brain, but at least I could laugh at the art that comes from it.

Hey, so I'm trying to work on organizing my life and to do so, I'm looking for specific apps. Preferably free. I'll include helpful apps that have worked for me in the past. If you have any suggested programs/apps that have helped you, I'd appreciate knowing about those too. Apps I'm already using to great effect: - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/): A great note taking app that's faster than Google Docs and isn't run by Google. You can pay $10 monthly to have sync between several different devices, but it's not necessary if you're just trying to make quick checklists or journal entries. - [Spreeder](https://www.spreeder.com/app.php): You can copy/paste any amount of text and have it play back at your desired speed. If scrolling through a doc/PDF/ebook, this can be a nice alternative that breaks down text. I don't lose my place when I read and it's easy to adjust. Sucks that premium costs though. - NewPipe: Just a good YouTube alt that lets you play videos in the background free. (I'll add more as I think on them) So far, I'm looking for: - **Calendar:** A calendar program that lets me go to specific dates in the past to mark events. Ideally, I'd like to go back to a date in 2010, see what day of the week it is, mark it, and then update events as I find more bits of my personal history. Even better if I can then zoom out and see by month or year the events that happened in a given period of time. - **Voice-to-Text:** Any inexpensive program that could reliably transcribe what I'm saying into readable text. I think there are paid programs, but if there are good programs out there that are easy to edit/revise by hand or just navigate in general, awesome. - **Anything Budgeting:** I'm really bad with money sometimes want to keep better track of my finances without paying a subscription or putting my banking info at risk. - **Self-Care:** Is there something you use to implement self-care into your daily schedule to avoid burnout? I tried the free trial of Calm and was very much not calm when they overdrafted my account without warning. Anyway, that's really about all I'm looking for now, but as I said, if you have anything you use for free/cheap to help organize your life, I'd love to know about it And maybe we could make a pinned post later with what we put together?

Not a  bit. I hit the logout button on the menu and the screen just goes back to the homepage with my profile still logged in. I was wondering if anyone else was having this issue, and if so, is there a work around? Happens on Firefox and Chrome on mobile/PC.

food Magician • 11 months ago • 100%

Made some pumpkin muffins and realized how in a lot of my cooking, I don't care too much about uniformity or presentation. I'm pretty functional about it - like the meal and my previous creations speak for themselves. If I'm making something for a party or whatever, I try to make things look a little better, but I 100% prioritize flavor and texture more than anything else. Other people who cook/bake, what are your thoughts on visual presentation?

doomer Magician • 11 months ago • 100%

I know there are more people struggling, but it's really fucked up that a single apartment complex could end homelessness in my city. Instead we have parking lots, franchises that go out of business, and encampments that get routinely cleared out. I know it's more than indifference to human suffering. It's spite at the thought of anyone else catching a 'break.' It's the belief that being an eyesore is worthy of the death penalty so long as they don't have to see it. It's the result of a lack of class consciousness. It's social murder in slow motion. Bruh, maybe it's the commuter apartments and the bloated police budget and not the panhandling that's the problem. I saw a sign that said 'keep the change' as I left a grocery store, discouraging people from giving money to people desperate enough to use change to survive. I hate that there's this delusion that people carry about homelessness that it would never happen to them. One day they'll say they're blessed and lucky, but then say that homeless people are just ill or made bad choices. We don't live in a fucking vacuum. Where does someone get treatment for mental health? Why does it have a price tag? What bad choices were freely made and not under the duress of immediate survival in a cruel society? I give money when I'm able, sometimes when it hurts me. I believe in a world that could cut out all the bullshit middle parts and let people lead lives of dignity. It doesn't even have to be communism. If they increased taxes by 10 dollar a year per person, that would be $2,000,000 for the hundred people in our recorded homeless population. Ten dollars a year, and that would make a world of difference in my community. I'd pay more than that, but we're fucking building prisons and sending weapons to countries most people couldn't point to on a map. It's fucking horrifying to think of the reality of homelessness in this country. I live in a blue state and I still think about the ways summer and winter affect homeless people because they're an inconvenience. I'm writing this because I'm struggling worse than I have ever struggled in my life and it's not a fraction of what people are going through while unhoused. I'm writing this because I know there are people like me who had two financial hardships happen when I just had one. I'm writing this because nobody in my life wants to talk about it because it's too depressing for them. I'm writing this because things don't have to be this way, but the powers that be need a homeless population to keep capitalism working. It's sick and I feel powerless in the face of this reality.