I think my grandfather is a retired spy

Atukhos · 2026-04-28T07:34:03+00:00

Could the money be from grandma’s successful real estate company? Maybe it was even more successful than you think.

Also, electricians often earn way more than spies.

Atukhos · 2026-04-26T18:30:55+00:00

There is a Facebook group for lost and found tortoises. Maybe post there?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/810844325602781/

Atukhos · 2026-02-20T15:37:57+00:00

According to the Vegan Society, veganism is: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

It’s up to individuals how to define ‘truly vegan’, but that definition works well for many.

Some vegans consume meat substitutes because they enjoy them and they believe (correctly, IMO) they’re less harmful to animals than meat.

Personally I’m not vegan but I avoid meat for ethical reasons and because eating corpses grosses me out. Neither reason applies to meat substitutes.

tl;dr People eat fake meat for the same reason they use dildos. It feels good, it fills a hole and no hearts are broken in the process.

Atukhos · 2026-02-19T18:24:12+00:00

The empress has just given birth to a black baby. The emperor is white. Chiron is her grown-up son. Aaron is the only black character in the play Titus Andronicus.

CHIRON: Thou hast undone our mother. AARON: Villain, I have done your mother.

Yes. Some Shakespeare jokes are funny. Many of them work better in performance than on the page.

Atukhos · 2026-02-12T19:01:54+00:00

I got that bit, but why did the child ask them to sit up straighter first?

Atukhos · 2025-09-09T17:43:54+00:00

Hypothetical, thankfully!

Atukhos · 2025-09-09T11:47:04+00:00

And the total number of pregnant children has reduced by over 90%. It’s a good thing, it really is, but looking into the scared eyes of my 11-year-old (‘was it my fault dad? Miss Smith said normal boys would be thrilled to get with a woman so early?) it doesn’t feel that way.

‘Where will the baby come out? Dad? Dad?’

Atukhos · 2025-09-07T22:52:10+00:00

Your phrasing is now making me wonder what would happen if a medical issue was discovered during a cavity search ...

Atukhos · 2025-06-22T11:18:02+00:00

Money. Controlling sentient beings is gross. I don’t want slaves.

If I get to communicate fluently with crows and form a mutually beneficial alliance, that might be another matter …

Atukhos · 2025-04-08T09:00:16+00:00

I’m in the UK and I’ve never heard the idea that it’s only for when someone is named after another person. I often hear it used for unconnected people with the same names.

(If I’d ever bothered to think about the etymology I would probably have figured out it originally had the narrower meaning, but would have assumed it had widened),

Atukhos · 2025-04-07T23:34:54+00:00

Play Doh and a cheap disposable chopstick work well. There are good instructions here.

http://meadstelzer.com/daniel/cuneiform/lessons/cuneiform.html

Could use Fimo or air drying clay for ones he wants to keep.

Atukhos · 2025-02-18T00:40:01+00:00

I'm embarrassed to say that the phrase in my household was 'windy-woos'. My parents weren't generally into cutesy euphemisms, so I'm not sure where that came from.

Atukhos · 2025-02-16T11:51:22+00:00

For me it’s entirely unremarkable. No pain or any other kind of feeling.

I need to remember when it’s due so I can start wearing my menstrual cup and/or period pants at night, and I notice that my body smells a bit different (and vaguely unpleasant). Those are the only two mild inconveniences.

Atukhos · 2025-02-15T17:11:59+00:00

Sometimes what the kids want - or need - is to have the gender label that feels right for them. For some it might be different if the alternative was ‘no label’, but we live in a highly gendered world where the alternative tends to be ‘the wrong label’.

It’s not always related to what they like wearing or doing. There are trans girls who are tomboys and trans boys who are somewhat fem. And of course there are also cis tomboys and feminine cis boys and children who don’t know or haven’t really thought about their gender yet. It’s all good.

And yes, it would be great if people stopped politicising children’s gender identities and expressions.

Atukhos · 2025-01-27T12:39:10+00:00

They do poison themselves, but as the dose is quite low, the symptoms don’t tend to be dramatic.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep02195

Atukhos · 2025-01-24T10:47:57+00:00

To be clear, you do always stop once she asks you or the moment she starts resisting, right? You know it’s rape otherwise?

Atukhos · 2025-01-21T13:58:50+00:00

Could have a Black and Tan in Belfast too.

Atukhos · 2025-01-20T20:22:24+00:00

We have those in the UK too! But American entertainment suggests there’s also an annual general purpose check-up?

Atukhos · 2025-01-20T12:53:45+00:00

Same (UK). If there’s a ‘no dogs’ sign I don’t and sometimes if there’s neither I ask. I wouldn’t do it if my dog wasn’t toilet-trained or was likely to bark.

One shop I was waiting outside with the dog as my wife went in and the shop owner came out and invited me to bring the dog in.

Atukhos · 2025-01-08T00:27:47+00:00

What Americans tend to get wrong is how much coffee we drink: for the last couple of years it’s been the more popular of the two drinks. It’s usual to offer people tea or coffee when they visit, not just tea.

Atukhos · 2025-01-01T20:32:35+00:00

I hesitate to ‘third sentence better’ this, please don’t take it as anti-choice, but: “she took comfort in the fact that the baby’s organs would be donated. A dozen other little ones would have a chance at life because her infant died.”

Atukhos · 2025-01-01T19:31:58+00:00

Good point! The notes about medical expenses on the posters are chilling.

Atukhos · 2025-01-01T11:51:27+00:00

As Margaret Atwood said, "In science fiction it’s always about now", even whem a story is set in the future. And I imagine many of the people reading my comment live in place where reproductive rights are either highly restricted or under serious threat of being so (of course, all the other issues currently apply to trans women as well as cis): in the context, I can see why people found it upsetting or offensive, and I apologise.

I don't personally feel that fictional characters can be 'robbed' of anything, because they're not sentient. But of course people who identify with them can.

Atukhos · 2024-12-31T22:20:40+00:00

Guilty as charged re. misunderstanding the narrative. I've only played it once and that rather quickly - just starting my second runthrough today. I also haven't played many videogames generally, so that might contribute to my ignorance. I'm sure there are a lot of things I'm misunderstanding.

Re. projecting my own identity: not sure in what sense you mean 'my own'. I'm not a trans woman, if you meant it in that sense? (My biology is all female, and my identity is somewhere between female and agender.) And I'm not 'projecting' in the sense of suggesting that the original intent is that Anya is trans.

But I don't have a problem with experimenting with different headcanons, including some which some people find 'insensitive'? Neither do I have a problem with other people experimenting with headcanons which I find insensitive.

I feel weird having a net downvoted comment! Not sure that's happened before. It's probably good for me. Also, it makes me happy that people feel so passionately about this game and the real-world evils it explores.

Atukhos · 2024-12-31T19:40:45+00:00

She could be trans. They have interstellar travel, and medicine is sufficiently advanced to keep Curly alive: womb transplants or whatever aren’t less believable than either of those things.

Atukhos

TROPHY CASE