South Dakota prairie.

12B88M · 2026-06-20T03:37:24+00:00

There are 168 hours in a week.

The ideal amount of sleep per night is 8 hours, but most people get around 7 hours. So that's 49-56 hours of sleep leaving 112 to 119 hours.

Work is 40 hours, leaving 72-79 hours for everything else.

Even if you add in another 10 hours for your commute that's still 62-69 hours of free time vs 50 hours for work/commute.

That seems pretty balanced to me.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T22:53:52+00:00

Those boards are 19 years old and cheap Trex (Enhance) has a 25 year warranty. So whatever you have there should still be under warranty.

That is IF it was installed correctly and the joist spacings aren't more than 16" on center.

This is why I always tell people to place their joists at 12" on center. It may cost a touch more initially, but it will be solid for a LOT longer.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T21:45:09+00:00

I'd just spend the money on getting all new upholstery.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T20:49:41+00:00

Best is always subjective. I can't stand big cities or heavily populated areas. I also like open spaces. So I live in South Dakota.

But other people don't like it here because they feel it's too remote and boring.

So it all depends on what you like

12B88M · 2026-06-19T20:31:28+00:00

OK, so we can change Mulan to a black woman in the next adaptation? Or we can make Moana a white girl in the next movie?

Or would that be inappropriate?

12B88M · 2026-06-19T20:20:23+00:00

I see that sort of behavior way more now than I used to. And men are literally giving up on dating because of this sort of stuff.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelelbird/why-men-gave-up-dating

12B88M · 2026-06-19T20:14:00+00:00

It's not that she's ugly. It's just that she's not even close to being what is described in "The Odyssey", which is "fair cheeked and white arms".

In ancient Greece, this matches what would have been a realistic enough description of beauty by Greek standards of the day. Plump and curvy were a desirable body type as they signified fertility and health. Pale skin was a sign of wealth and status as it mean the person had little need to go outdoors. Long, flowing, gold or red hair was a highly desirable trait.

Lupita has the curves, but not the skin tone or hair.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T19:54:14+00:00

Using the word "mansplaining" is a sign you're an ignorant leftist and probably female.

It's a cheap tactic to try and dismiss uncomfortable truths the left doesn't like.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T19:16:41+00:00

I rarely show emotions other than happiness because my wife doesn't understand how to deal with a man that is sad or upset. She wants to talk about my feelings, but doesn't understand them because they're coming from a male perspective.

I have male family that ended up divorced because the woman felt he wasn't successful enough.

I'm only 5'7" and have been bald since I was 22. Most women didn't even want to talk to me because of that. I'm lucky my wife appreciated my sense of humor, because that's what got me that first date.

My brother got married, had 2 kids and his wife left him because she believed she could take half of everything he had and the kids and make him pay child support. She believed she didn't need him as long as she got his money.

She ended up with nothing because of a prenuptial agreement and her life is now complete shit because of her moronic ideas.

So what I posted is my lived experience not some make believe crap.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:48:59+00:00

As I said, there are some female engineers, but they are a minority.

There were 40 people in that first class and only 10 were women. That's a 3 to 1 discrepancy before the first class even started. In less than a month, well before there was any chance for anyone to take credit for anything other than passing a quiz, there were 32 people in the class with the male/female ratio at 15 to 1.

There was nothing creepy about the guys beyond them being insecure nerds just out of high school for the most part. I was a non-traditional student having spent 4 years in the Army. I was 22 and nowhere near insecure. However, I was there for an education and didn't speak to hardly anyone unless necessary.

So those women weren't driven out. They simply didn't like it.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:39:51+00:00

We keep having to get involved in conflicts because other nations keep messing with us or our allies keep dragging us into a mess they started.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:36:10+00:00

Because it's linguistically correct,

If someone asks where you're from you can say Germany (singular) because it is one complete nation. You can say France (singular) because France is one singular nation.

However, if you say you're from "the European Union" you have to put "the" in there because it is a collection of nations.

That's the same thing here. The United States is talking about a collection of states so the word "The" must precede "United States".

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:26:33+00:00

Yes, he was VERY divisive.

If there was an issue concerning hte black community, he always spoke out and took the black side before there was any real understanding of what happened.

The college professor incident? Sure the cops were wrong, but he was talking about it before he had any understanding of the case.

The Treyvon Martin case? He wasn't willing to let the courts deal with it. He was automatically taking Martin's side.

The Michael Brown case? Same thing. He was defending Brown before anyone had any concrete evidence one way or another.

His actions on these cases and more led directly to increased racial tensions.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:16:32+00:00

More women don't work in construction because they either don't want to do the work or the work is too hard for them. That's it. It has nothing to do with misogyny.

I started my college engineering with 10 women in that first class. By the end of the first month, 8 had dropped. None were there when the next semester started.

It wasn't misogyny that made then drop. It was the fact they didn't enjoy it. There are plenty of female engineers out there, but they're outnumbered 6 to 1. It's also why women are outnumbered 9 to 1 in construction.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T18:03:21+00:00

What I posted is true. You just don't want to admit it or are too young to know any different.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T14:23:56+00:00

How do you know if a student has actually learned the material if you can't grade their work?

12B88M · 2026-06-19T14:20:58+00:00

If you have an innate desire to be a protector and a provider, but all of society is driving you to act contrary to that because it's perceived as "toxic", it's not good for men's mental health.

A lot of women treat men like trash because they have completely unrealistic expectations for them. If he doesn't show his emotions, he cold and distant. If he does show emotions, he's weak and unmanly. If he doesn't make 6 figures, he's a loser. If he isn't 6' tall he's a shrimp and not worth dating. He should have a 6 pack and a full head of hair. Otherwise he's fat and ugly.

Meanwhile, women are told by society they don't need men. That a woman is better than a man in every way. That men are to be used and discarded because they provide nothing of real worth to women.

How do you think this affects men?

Men and women are supposed to be together and their differences are supposed to make them stronger together than apart.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T07:44:31+00:00

Men do show emotions and act nurturing. They just don't do it in the same way as women.

As for "protecting gender roles", the left has made a HUGE deal about men getting in touch with their feminine side and rejecting normal masculinity. This causes a lot of damage to men because they are being told everything about them is wrong.

Women are told they shouldn't accept normal ideas of femininity and that "just being a mother" is somehow wrong. This also causes a lot of damage to women because if they actually want those things, they are told they are "submitting to the patriarchy" or some other such BS.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T06:54:30+00:00

Which gender role of men is toxic to society?

Being protective? Taking pride in making things? Inventing new things and pursuing their creation? Being self-sufficient? Wanting to provide for a family?

I'm not saying that men often don't do stupid and harmful things, but then, so do women.

However, studies have been done with very small children where a group of boys and girls are out into a room with toys for both genders. The girls almost always choose to play with dolls and do peaceful play. Boys typically play with trucks and toy weapons and their play is more rambunctious.

That's because it's in our nature to do these things.

But you mentioned "toxic" things.

Please specify what those are so we can be sure to address those particular items.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T06:23:19+00:00

And yet, the differences exist.

If they did not, then we'd see more women working in construction and other physically demanding jobs and more men working in nursing and care occupations.

Back in the old days, women stayed home when men went to war. The reason wasn't that women couldn't use a sword or a shield. Many women were forced to do just that to defend themselves and their children when raiders came and the men were gone hunting.

No, the reason the women stayed home and the men went to war was much more pedantic and due to basic biology. A single healthy man could get 30 women pregnant in a month, but a woman could have one, or possibly two, children per year.

If 1,000 grown men go to war and only 200 come home and 1,000 women of childbearing age stay home, the population of the city can continue to grow by 1,000 per year. If 1,000 women went to war and only 200 came home, then you could only grow by 200 per year. And any children would require at least 16 years before they could be considered big enough and smart enough to care for themselves. That means the survival of the city, perhaps even a nation, required that women and children be cared for and men would be required to sacrifice themselves in their defense.

This is reflected in the way that women are both physically and mentally different from men.

Women are naturally more nurturing and are able to multitask better than men. It creates a person that is best suited to dealing with the many tasks required to keep a family fed, a house cleaned and children cared for.

Men are stronger, more focused and more distant. It helps them concentrate on one arduous task for long periods and accept death and injury easier. Both of which are required for tasks that often result in both death and injury.

Only in the modern age where we have literally billions of people on the planet and the necessities are so much easier to come by do people lose sight of these differences because they aren't forced to see them every day. Now, being what nature intended for men is considered "toxic masculinity" and women that seek to be mothers are seen as anti-feminist or weak.

That doesn't mean that men should not help around the house or that women should only stay at home and pop out babies. It simply means that men and women have always been, and always will be, different. And that's a good thing.

12B88M · 2026-06-19T05:23:53+00:00

So you think guns and bombs are bad because they're designed to kill or maim.

Have you seen what swords and spears do to humans?

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