i’m Penrose Cash, filling in for Houndstooth Shakur, and you’re listening to NPR.

well, i’d suggest you keep waiting for her to message you first, so long as you’re okay with never talking to her again. alternatively, you could just message her, not even to ask why the long silence, but just to strike up a new conversation. share a fun fact or something, idk.

i can’t think of any reason it would.

i’ve read that lobsters are sorta immortal. the problem is they keep growing, and eventually they can’t get themselves out of their shells when they molt, and they also have trouble getting enough food and avoiding predators when they get too big. if they had society, i bet lobster kings would be enormous and ancient.

i don’t get it. what’s wrong with that?

i had never heard that definition of factoid before this thread, personally, so i figured folks might appreciate a source. *shrugs*

wow that’s a lot of words. so, basically, you want a term to say ‘i’m straight, but i’d never date a trans person’, but you want it to somehow shield you from any suggestions that you might be somewhat transphobic, and you want it to free you from any obligation or expectation to introspect and unlearn the transphobia that society has programmed you with?

it’s fun, but alas, false.

so there’s three methods i’m aware of:

1. patreon, or some other similar scheme, as you said
2. use a following from writing fanfic to promote other, non-fanfic, work
3. take commissions from individuals

i’m a fairly deft hand at pottery. i’m also decent at fiber crafts. depends when and where during the stone age, of course, that’s a pretty big expanse. if i’m really lucky, i’d be in one of the many cultures with special spiritual roles for trans folks. i’ve also got good rote memorization skills, so i can help with oral history.

capitalism is the system whereby greed is raised above all other human impulses though. in most other systems, sure, people can be greedy, but they aren’t rewarded for it, and people who aren’t naturally greedy don’t get pushed and trained to be greedy as the highest aspiration.

also, he only has to spend like 30 seconds a day commuting to work.

idk what a ‘hierarchical’ polycule is, but it sounds miserable.

i can only speak for my experience. growing up autistic, i was targeted due to my different ways of thinking and acting for bullying, using the r-word to belittle and demean me, far too many times, for hearing it used to mean ‘bad’ to feel like anything but an attack on me or those like me. when someone uses the r-word casually, it hurts, and a fully automatic system, borne of hard experience, files that person away as a probable threat. i don’t understand why people want to use the word so badly, knowing it hurts people, and knowing it’s not necessary or even all that useful of a word.

borderlands science in borderlands 3 is probably my all time favourite mini-game in a video game

same for the others honestly. ‘i was just following orders’ is just what one says when you get called out for doing heinous shit so you can pass the buck to someone else in your organization.

this has been my only bike for probably five years or so, and i haven’t had to do anything with the belt. so far as i can tell, it really is basically maintenance free.

i don’t really know much about belt drives beyond the basics and my own specific bike. i didn’t even know there were different types until ya’ll started bringing them up.

the internally geared hub is a bit of a PITA, but idk if that’s normal, or if mine is just janky. i also have no idea how old my bike is originally, since i got it used from a community bike shop. my hub though has an annoying habit of ‘skipping’ if you apply too much torque, and slipping out of the low gear unexpectedly. i wish it had something like a schlumpf drive with some variety of single speed hub instead.

my bike is a used Priority. i haven’t needed to replace the belt yet, but it should be fairly simple. the frame has a little piece to remove to get it out. as for comparing with a single speed, i can’t really say, as i haven’t had a single speed bike since i was a wee lass, and that was ages ago.

edit: it looks like a new version of my bike uses a gates drive, but idk the difference.

i got mine used a fair few years ago, but i think it’s this bike from Priority, except mine has a basket on front, and a rack with a file crate in the back. it has 3 gear hub, and honestly i think that makes a way bigger difference to pedalling than the belt, as it skips if i apply too much torque (idk if that’s normal for shimano hubs, or if mine is just janky though).

my bike is belt drive. i love it. what’re you wondering?