Thanks for that. Genuinely. I see sentiments like yours so often and I’m very happy for every person for whom this works but it’s so dangerous to tell it to randos on the internet with so much certainty when we don’t know their story and circumstances. I’m glad people slowly wake up to different people having different familys. Cheers

Tried talking to my family. Only got more trauma. Am very happy when they die and I feel safe. Maybe some sort of compromise works for you but not everyone works the same.

I think the idea many of these right wing people have about family is a very authoritarian one.

They are literally in the EU.

Miami Seaquarium applies for a permit to capture Keiko and bring him to their tank in Miami, which is smaller than the tank he was saved from in Mexico City. The application is rejected on the grounds that Norway has jurisdiction and has stated flatly that Keiko will not be captured because he is just fine, and they don’t believe orcas should be held in captivity anyway.

All these Aquariums and “experts”/media channels that spread misinformation have a lot to answer for. He may not have joined a pod but which pod is going to let a random middle aged guy with a weird accent around their calves? That would have taken time Keiko didn’t have. I’m glad orcas are phased out of aquariums who can’t care for them.

Somebody should whinge about the unborn being aborted via carpet bombing or similar. I’d like to see the cognitive dissonance.

The weirdest thing about this discourse is that people against it somehow seem to be very convinced self diagnosis is exclusively done based on internet memes or something along those lines. I spend years researching, reading multiple books by actual experts, reading scientific publications and hanging out in autism spaces to see if I fit in.

… Almost like somebody who tends to … Oh idk have a special interest.

And the contra side also dismisses privilege. It’s known that autism is under diagnosed in minorities. And things like I’d need to travel 5 hours (one way) multiple times to get a diagnosis. Potentially staying overnight. They’d want to talk to my abusive parents. I’m chronically ill. It’s not realistic and I live in a country that has reasonable health care. I wouldn’t magically be employable afterwards anyway or have some other tangible benefit. I’d just get somebody in a 15 € white coat tell me what I already know. Or dismiss me because they read me as the wrong gender and yolo autistic people don’t have humor.

Same. What a dismissive person.

Dodo had all her teeth pulled because of this too. Nerve wrecking but she seems rather well adjusted now. 💚

May buster live pain free now!

I love this post idea!

I’ve recently commited the unforgivable crime of leaving Dodo for two nights. She had other favorite two leggers show up but how dare!!! When I came back she tried very hard to be mad at me but she just loves cuddles too much.

For your champ: have you tried anti anxiety music for dogs? It’s free on YouTube and Dodo likes the cat variety a lot.

Germany enters the chat.

Personally I find it a lot more disturbing that intersex babies are still assgined a binary gender by a doctor and then get surgery to shape their genitals. The parents are often scaremongered and pressured into consenting and the affected people don’t know it was done to them until firmly into adulthood. It’s often a sterilising surgery too.

If you are against doctors doing gender changing surgery, please start with the babies? But oh no! Then the argument that there are only two genders falls apart.

If this person doesn’t have white skin, isn’t christian or gender conforming there’s a whole host of other horror stories that apply tho.

In Europe the US healthcare system is seen as a joke and medieval. Same for most social services I’m the US. Like somebody else said I stopped feeling sympathy a while ago.

I find my perspective changing a bit as I age. As a species I still think we are a net negative, at the very least since industrialisation started. But no cog in the wheel individual holds responsibility for the species. The big decision makers, the big polluters, yes that’s different. And I think it’s our duty to hold them accountable as much as we can. Obviously the system is stacked against accountability. Difficult position to be in and no easy answers.

On an individual level tho there are also a LOT of humans who do a lot of good. Collecting plastic, renaturalising wilderness, combating the various poverty related issues, improving medical procedures, advocating for human rights, inventing new ways to connect and learn… There’s a very long list.

For myself, I’m chronically ill. I can do some limited waste reduction, attempt as ethical a consumption as possible and love my rescue cat. I don’t have the energy for much more. But I’ve found it helps to follow people and focus on projects that do good rather than what can’t be helped. If you have the ability and capacity to volunteer or donate all the better. Holding yourself accountable and living the best life you can life is really all you have control over after all.

Ah. Miscommunication. It sounded like war was only an option now and historical civilizations all grew beyond its bounds before collapsing. Not all did. Some were conquered before then. Nitpick over. ;)

Yeah. I’ve made my peace with that. (Nitpick: some historical civilizations were conquered.)

I don’t get the sci fi arguments in this thread. Somebody wrote a fiction about science that usually wasn’t invented yet. These books tend to be decades+ old. Why would the fantasy of somebody count as an argument? If anything if means developers are on the lookout for the social/emotional dimension.

As for myself. Errrr depends on the AI? I’d like to test it’s decision making process against human decision makers.

German with a scientific background. I can deduce the meaning of the words but I’ve never seen them used. I’m not even sure these units of measurement were mentioned when these were discussed. Most stuff is ton, kilogram, gram, miligram, microgram; kilometer, meter, centimeter, milimeter, micrometer. Rarely decimeter are thrown around.

I’ve adopted an extremely fatalistic position that for me loops back to optimism: if we are that terminally destructive we will destroy ourselves. And once we do that the planet can move on.