Minimally.

One does not need to be exceptionally imaginative to think about what things could be done by a christofascist government with the vaguest cover of law. They’ve already tried to float taking guns from all transgender people due to a single shooting. We know that simply by being known to law enforcement that they will target you for harassment and create charges or “confidential criminal informant” testimony to justify destroying your property (see AfroMan) without any means for you to seek compensation or breaking into your home in the middle of the night and murdering you.

I accidentally brought handcuffs into a flight on August 2001. The TSA agent who found them asked what I planned to do with them.

Being a teenager, the answer was obviously that I kept them in my jacket to pull them out and show my high-school friends how quirky and cool I was. But being a teenager, I didn’t realize how endearing that response would be, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which was somehow better and worse.

“I’m visiting my girlfriend!”

She gave me a slow blink and said “Well, alright then, go get your freak on!” (Or something of a similar sentiment - time has robbed me of the exact phasing.)

‘Iran could develop time travel and kill Milton Friedman!’ JD Vance

‘Iran could develop zero point energy and antigravity tech to leave the planet to die in the hellscape we’ve gleefully created while they travel the cosmos!’ JD Vance

‘Iran could develop couches that chop off dicks!’ JD Vance

Meh, I’ve seen better arteries.

My dog went down during a walk on Christmas Eve in 2021. At the emergency vet, they did some tests and imaging to determine she had a splenic tumor that had caused her spleen to burst. As they were prepping her for surgery, the tumor itself burst open. They were able to remove the tumor and repair the damage but she had to have multiple blood transfusions

She’s now a happy, healthy nearly 15-year-old dog. She wouldn’t have made it without the transfusions.

Do you think they are gonna gold leaf a trivia buzzer for that slobbering idiot to paw at while he continues to pretend he’s in a movie?

Hey, no! You’re supposed to be so upset that I’m wrong that you do significant research for me for free!

I’m posting this wild postulation in the hopes that someone corrects me.

Okay, so a billion years ago a volcanic plume tried to fuck up Michigan and failed, causing the Midcontinent rift system. Then it chilled out for awhile before getting squished by glaciers into going east and making the Adirondack mountains about 20 million years ago. Then it went west due to daylight savings time and made Yellowstone about 2 million years ago.

Not buy their products. Drag them on social media. Give interest to news stories about the product’s users, not the figurehead of one of the vendors, so the news media focuses on them rather than the distraction. Reach out to your politicians and your friends to discuss how product failures are the result of the company embracing AI and don’t forget to highlight the greed that brought us to this fascist economic system. Use, donate to, or even offer your skills to non-LLM FOSS alternatives. Spend your dollars on companies with scruples. Build your own home lab, give up on all technology, get really into self-sufficiency, and go live in the woods to escape the whole system.

I don’t know… something other than giving in. Literally anything other than that.

For all the focus on Scam Altman, we should probably be focusing on the companies that are so quick to abandon their workers on the promise of saving a few bucks.

Being treated only as a font of knowledge, a hard worker, a reliable friend (when the friendship is otherwise not rewarding), having a lot of tools, etc, is kind of crappy. I at least get pleasure from sex. Honestly, if I had my druthers of how folks reduce me, I wouldn’t hate being valued for being good in bed.

I wonder if the friend with the truck ever feels like that.

The pain aspect is something you should address. First with your partner if their technique can be changed, and second with a few doctors. This one is like a layer cake - maybe you’re ace, maybe there is emotional context (that could be entirely unrelated to your current situation) that causes physical discomfort, or possibly there’s a physical component that your doctor might be able to help you with. Or some combination of all of them, because people are complex.

But romantic asexuality is definitely a thing, as is a number of variants within it.

You don’t message your homies at 2 am to tell them you miss them?

*Abracumdabra Rule

I’ll just invent my own internet, with blackjack and hookers!
It’ll be called the sinternet and all the protocols will be the same, but prefixed with “s” so laws targeting the internet can be ignored. It’ll be the lazy persons dark web.

I have been asked on more than one occasion by folks who have heard enough of my story to know what I’ve come through how I managed to come through it, and my response is steadfastly: “Because I had to.”

There’s no great secret. No deep well of reserves. You just keep going.
It’s not exactly healthy, nor does it make one the most happy person. You unlearn what you can, when you can, or try to, anyway.

Grew up teaching myself, except that my childhood was traumatic. Narcissists, drug users, abandonment, etc. Grew up expecting harm from others unless I gave them what they want. Also highly sensitive to the idea of fairness and perceived rejection (neurodivergence or trauma responses).

Service top. In control, but doing what others want. Needs reassurance and an expression of desire while in control of other people.
Partner selection is a pain in the ass.

Until I saw your comment, my (flippant) response to the person you replied was going to be “Because Congress hasn’t figured out how to use Polymarket.”

Which is a far less eloquent corollary to your comment.

They did read my memoirs!

It also causes ass cancer, dick cancer, and vulvular cancer!

In my research, I’ve found that most humans have at least one of the following: Mouth, ass, uterus, vulva, or dick. Many of them have 3 (or more!) of those things. A special few have collected the whole set!

Definitely a vaccine worth getting. If your doctor tells you that you’re too old, tell them their knowledge is too old. More importantly, ask them to note in your chart that they have refused preventative medicine against your wishes.