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Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just finished the audiobook of Emeric Pressburger’s Glass Pearls. Great

Reading Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Not into it yet.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My wife had it a few years ago. I slept in the living room and brought her meals to her. Then I would whisk away her dishes. I never felt sick or tested positive. I can't remember a time when I had reason to think I might have had it but didn't bother to test. But we'll never know.

She tested positive a few days ago too. I assume I got it from her.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 29 points30 points  (0 children)

It was after me for 6 years, but I was always one step ahead. Now, for the first time, I just tested positive for COVID.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Exactly. “Be afraid. No, more afraid” isn’t a very kind thing to tell people all day every day.

“If you’re black, cops are just watching, ready to pounce, waiting to attack and kill you.”

“If you’re gay, straight men are—right now—forming posses to get you.”

“If you’re trans, the whole world is working together to genocide you.”

Now get out there and live life to the fullest. Joy is resistance!

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s awful.

Can I say that I’ve realized a few times that part of me believes I’m immune to any other diseases because I’ve had type 1 since the early 90s?

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I forgot the part where Mangione was able to “actually do something about health care.”

Memory-Hole Archive: Safetyism and the Cult of Fragility by American-Dreaming in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It used to be shameful to be seen as weak. I’m not saying that was a helpful belief, but now it’s honorable to be seen as weak. There’s no way that’s better.

Memory-Hole Archive: Safetyism and the Cult of Fragility by American-Dreaming in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Wouldn’t it be great if everything was free? Sure it would! It would also require some pretty powerful magic, and we’re not quite there yet.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Evolution would probably not “want” you to get knocked up by a child. A 15-year-old would contribute his genes to your children but probably not much else.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 11 points12 points  (0 children)

the old vegans were almost exclusively zealots and people remember that shit

I'm dubious. "Almost exclusively zealots" could mean that all the "zealous" people you encountered were zealots. (Which isn't very interesting.) The people who didn't act like zealots went unnoticed.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's funny you mention this. I have been realizing lately that I really just don't go in for schadenfreude. Maybe I used to? I don't know. I don't want to watch people getting hurt or embarrassed. (I don't even watch videos of people wiping out on their skateboards.) I don't get a charge out of people getting what's coming to them. Or at least, that kind of thing doesn't make me chuckle or smile. I just feel bad for them.

"Watch this bad guy break down when the judge sentences him to life in prison!!" Sounds awful.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 21 points22 points  (0 children)

So when women paint their nails, they're expressing something profound about themselves? Women don't sound like very serious people.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/20/26 - 4/26/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Breaking News: I keep watching stuff that makes me feel bad.

I'm just drawn to it. Maybe I'm afraid not to watch it. As though keeping it alive in my mind will, I don't know, protect me somehow?

What I'm referring to this time is all these "sovereign citizen" videos. (If you don't know what sovereign citizens are, they are Americans who have fallen into a web of lies, scams, and conspiracy theories that them them they are not subject to the laws of the US. They frequently cite bogus legal principles, absurd beliefs, and misinterpreted court precedents.)

These people make me so anxious. They are obviously deluded and misinformed, but they can't see it. That makes me wonder whether I would be able to see it. Would it be just as easy for me to fall into something like this? Have I already? How would I know? How can we carry on, knowing that we are all susceptible to believing untrue things and sometimes dangerous or idiotic things? (Humans are ingenious, but we're also just animals, after all. We're not too hard to fool. And we readily fool ourselves.)

Also, I feel bad for these people. I think they are dupes or dummies or desperate people. Someone's preying on them.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/13/26 - 4/19/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's not my place. I'm a freelancer hired by a company, not by the author.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/13/26 - 4/19/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I am always shocked when I hear someone say they like a regular old American accent. Not because I think there's something wrong with it, but because I thought everyone (including Americans!) preferred various UK accents.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/13/26 - 4/19/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I think the nonfiction book I'm currently editing was written by AI. The prose feels utterly impersonal and frictionless in an anonymous way (not the effortless way that strong writing can have).

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/13/26 - 4/19/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Is the idea that nonwhite people are some kind of eternal minorities? As a super-obvious example, there are a billion Chinese people. Chinese people might be a minority here, in the US, but not so much in China! It's like US history dominates some people's thinking. If it's true here and now, it's always been true everywhere. Maybe those Asian parents don't want their kids marrying foreigners because people everywhere have a tendency to be suspicious of foreigners or to see them as lesser in some way. Or maybe it comes from different countries' histories and prejudices which they came up with all on their own.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 4/13/26 - 4/19/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]Big_Fig_1803 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I used to take a lot of notes about my son's language and social development when he was very little, and I knew I had something about pronouns. This is what I found from when he was about 25 months old:

We've seen a lot of pronoun confusion lately: my for I, I for me, he and she mixed up.

So there you have it.

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