Yep, I’m still gay, just checked

For anyone wondering if someone in their life might have npd, diagnosis requires 5 of the 9 criteria outlined in the DSM-V. Many of the symptoms are common traits, but this is disordered levels we’re talking about. You can’t diagnose someone with it, but you can accept that that person in your life sure seems to meet the diagnostic criteria of it.

They aren’t some mystical threat or uniquely evil group. They’re people with a mental disorder that is likely learned behavior, and they may very well be capable of changing and healing with help, but most, much like the president here, wouldn’t ever consider it. Sorry about all the caveats, it’s valuable information that many misuse.

From the Cleveland Clinic’s page on narcissistic personality disorder:

1. Grandiose sense of self-importance.

Overestimating their capabilities or holding themselves to unreasonably high standards. Bragging or exaggerating their achievements.

2. Frequent fantasies about having or deserving:

Success. Power. Intelligence. Beauty. Love. Self-fulfillment.

3. Belief in superiority.

Thinking they’re special or unique. Believing they should associate only with those they see as worthy.

4. Need for admiration.

Fragile self-esteem. Frequent self-doubt, self-criticism or emptiness. Preoccupation with knowing what others think of them. Fishing for compliments.

5. Entitlement.

Inflated sense of self-worth. Expecting favorable treatment (to an unreasonable degree). Anger when people don’t cater to or appease them.

6. Willingness to exploit others.

Consciously or unconsciously using others. Forming friendships or relationships with people who boost their self-esteem or status. Deliberately taking advantage of others for selfish reasons.

7. Lack of empathy.

Saying things that might hurt others. Seeing the feelings, needs or desires of others as a sign of weakness. Not returning kindness or interest that others show.

8. Frequent envy.

Feeling envious of others, especially when others are successful. Expecting envy from others. Belittling or diminishing the achievements of others.

9. Arrogance.

Patronizing behavior. Behaving in a way that’s snobby or disdainful. Talking down or acting condescendingly. People with NPD may also show other behaviors related to the nine criteria, but still different, such as:

Fear of or avoiding vulnerability. Withdrawing from others to hide feeling vulnerable. Perfectionism (with or without a fear of failure). Hypersensitivity to criticism, rejection or failure. Experiencing severe depression related to rejection or failure. Reacting with anger (or even rage) when they feel criticized or rejected. Faking humility to hide their feelings or protect their sense of self-importance. Avoiding situations where failure is possible or likely, which can limit achievements.

I didn’t realize there were multiple genuses of mice. Neat

Vaccines are often free here

No it’s not. Life insurance premiums here go up when you have certain conditions (especially without getting them treated). Health insurance premiums here are pretty heavily regulated on such things, and they just offer a few discounts for a handful of things like getting an annual checkup, not smoking, and getting vaccinated.

Probably either my steam deck or hearing aids.

Like I could go on a rant about how much better hearing aids are these days than when I started wearing them 20 years or so ago. They were annoying pains in the ass back then and now they work better, sound better, and are significantly less inconvenient. And i don’t have to ask my wife to speak up as often.

That sounds like a disincentive to diagnosis

Life insurance isn’t health insurance. It pays out when you die so your family isn’t fucked over by funeral costs and the sudden loss in income.

We have a guest bedroom. If I’m snoring too much or her insomnia is too bad she moves to the other one for the night. She usually starts by kicking me to stop the snoring and only moves if it doesn’t stop.

For the past year we’ve been in a studio temporarily and we both miss it so much.

I wish mine did. Lazy cunt hitching a ride on all my hard work then it has the nerve to regularly distract me.

Y’all’s churches were weird. Growing up catholic in a German part of America we just did fish fries with beer battering and pig roasts, both with copious beer, though the kids had to stick to a single sip of wine. My wife’s catholic upbringing was more Italian American and her church did meatballs in tomato sauce.

It was a mid 20th century fad. Aspic had been very expensive and time consuming for a long time and so was considered a high status food.

Then in the post WW2 era we had immense prosperity the likes of which we hadn’t seen before, not just because we were the largest industrialized nation to not be bombed to rubble and had ramped up our industrial capacity, but also because after the great depression and world wars, this was the first time that our average citizen got to experience the full boon of the second industrial revolution. Even better, the new deal (a massive government program meant to end the great depression, increase food supply, and generally just improve the quality of life) as well as the effects of food safety and purity laws and veterans benefits were all in full force.

People who had had a very difficult life suddenly owned a house, had domestic labor saving machines, time and energy to entertain, and modern mass produced industrial foods of quality we now would consider fit for human consumption. Many of these people didn’t know how to cook with after 15 years of rationing. But not to worry! Modern advertising and marketing also came into being in this time. This is the era of the long form ad, and with it the idea that you could just print recipes on the side of ingredients and people would just try them.

So jello… in the early 20th century gelatin went from being something you have to spend a long time rendering out of bones yourself, using imprecise equipment like a wood fired stove, to an industrial food product you can buy for a few cents. All this came together for ad campaigns of weird savory and sweet and savory-sweet jello dishes, usually using other industrial foodstuffs from the same company like hot dogs, mayonnaise, and canned fruit and vegetables. And people who didn’t know how to cook with these new foods and tools said sure and tried some of them, typically to serve at parties.

This is the equivalent of if suddenly you could buy lab grown lobster and sirloin for a buck or two a pound, and for a while everyone’s poor as shit so they’re stretching their beans as far as the can, but suddenly everyone is able to buy a house and have a few kids with plenty of money left over from 1 person working 20 hours a week. The people selling lobster are going to have to remind you that this is high quality food for cheap, and they have to teach you how to use it. It starts simple, roasted tails with butter, bisque, the classics. Then they start moving into weirder stuff like lobster burgers, before eventually getting into weird shit like lobster chocolate cake. And the weirdest thing here is it’s actually more like if the lobster chocolate cake came pretty early and completely dominated the cultural mindset to the point where people think that the weird savory stuff was gross because lobster is a desert food that’s sometimes used in traditional savory dishes.

Oh and the reason you keep seeing Americans talk about it is because we think it sounds gross as hell

Meanwhile my sister and I have frantically searched for our großoma’s recipes and are trying to figure them out. Nobody else in the family had recipes worth passing down other than my mom’s specific vibe for chex mix, which I maintain. Any niblings will get a copy of my recipes upon request.

And yeah my grandma that’s better at cooking doesn’t use salt and hasn’t cooked a meal my wife and I both can eat since we got together.

Yeah depending on his age the pot could be something a good caretaker should stop, but it should be stopped with a conversation about how it impacts development and how if he wants she can promise to buy him a joint for his 21st birthday.

Porn can be a similar conversation, “here’s why I oppose it, especially for young people, I can’t decide for you how to live your life, but I would appreciate if you gave it serious thought.”

Punishment like this all but guarantees he won’t ever see eye to eye with her on this and leaves me with little doubt that she never tried actually talking to him about her beliefs and why she wants him to act the way she does.

I think it’s time we take a stand for what we believe in

“Well it’s the churches’ job to give you charity. How else will the poor be preached to incessantly?”

As a taxpayer, I’m glad you were able to do that. The poor deserve more than the bare minimum

“Look at them! They’re driving luxury vehicles like a fancy foreign Honda civic and the urban elite bicycle”

They could attempt a public transit system comparable to every comparable sized city in the country.

Sure a trickster god would. They’d be much fun to play with.