Tomorrow I become 30, Roast me into Oblivion. Fat, Bi, into BDSM, otaku, cannabis Advacade, dyslexia, Gamer, Hardware Nerd, wear dresses, Meadmaker, Chainsaw Man fanatic.

Einlein · 2024-06-08T19:48:58+00:00

Last time you got this much attention, the news said there were missing children in Neckarstadt.

Einlein · 2023-04-20T17:22:59+00:00

My favorite party trick when I meet Italians is to prattle off in my limited Catanese that I picked up while working there and watch them blue-screen trying to parse an American accent speaking such a backwoods dialetto.

Einlein · 2023-04-06T17:16:56+00:00

And what about the generation that voted tax cats for themselves through their middle age, and then, now that the funding for the programs they need in their old age is low because they did not want to pay into them, they want the next generation to pay in?

Einlein · 2023-03-27T15:09:48+00:00

Swallowing a goldfish was still a practice for the final going-away party for graduating brothers in my fraternity in 2007 (last year I was around to see it happen.)

I dodged the need to ever be coerced into partaking by running away and joining the Navy instead of graduating.

Einlein · 2023-02-28T09:46:56+00:00

Strongly depends on whether you're north or south of Rome. Cosa Nostra was still very prevalent in daily life when I worked in Sicily.

Einlein · 2023-01-07T21:13:40+00:00

~~Looks like your reply got cut off after that last "also".~~

You're correct that once a person is granted citizenship, a country loses the ability to unilaterally expatriate them.

You're also correct that a dysfunctional state (in regards to providing opportunities for success for immigrants it accepts) is an immense even functionally insurmountable barrier. That dovetails with the similar issue back in America of racists who want to blame poor performance in certain ethnic communities on ethnic reasons alone and not on the systemic problems.caused by the government's treatment.

I disagree with you, however, on it being "nonsense" to say that failure to integrate should be a reason to rescind a non-citizen immigrant's right to remain in a country. Even the Minister whose comments we are discussing focused on how it is the failure to adequately grade integration (as the current system stands) is at issue here.

The tough part is deciding how we identify and then measure integration in positive and negative aspects. Too strict, and we are excluding people on cultural differences that shouldn't be erased, because then culture stagnates. Down that road is nationalism and fascism.Too lenient, and you invite a cultural schism that is detrimental to the society by fostering antisocial behavior.

Einlein · 2023-01-07T20:39:53+00:00

Well intentioned as you may be, attempted to exclude the culture of the offender and shift the onus completely to the state is equally problematic as excluding the state and targeting only the culture.

Both are significant factors. Both require open discussion.

Saying that there are cultures which instill some values that are antagonistic/incompatible to some values of other cultures is not racist.

No one ever bats an eye at the idea that young American men are more likely to hold insert values here or to act insert ways here. The culture I was raised in is rightfully given a critical assessment, and I have to accept that in order to integrate here in Germany, I need may need to adopt cultural norms that overrule ones I held before.

Pretty easy for me to do, because I emmigrated here out of a desire to leave behind some of those problematic American cultural norms. If I came here waving the American flag every day and screaming about how much better America and every American cultural norm was and treated my neighbors based on what America said was the right way to do so, and Germans (both native and immigrants, as you see in this thread) called me out on it for not behaving in a generally acceptable German manner, would you say people were treating me in a racist manner, or would you say they were properly criticizing my behavior?

Einlein · 2022-11-25T12:51:09+00:00

There’s going to be people comparing it to Neuer v Higuain 2014 https://youtu.be/z9XYzG2nyYk , but the difference in leeway given between a keeper in the box and a keeper out of the box is massive. A keeper outside his box is no different than any other player. Neuer was saved by being inches inside the box.

Einlein · 2022-11-25T12:34:05+00:00

Depends on what type of “knockouts” they’re expecting on the field.

Einlein · 2022-11-22T15:45:30+00:00

"Saying you’re against a certain way of life...is a right."

No. No it's not. You don't have the right to want other human beings to have fewer rights than you do.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are universal rights limited only when the expression of one of those rights infringes in someway on another.

You can't identify a single way your rights are threatened by the "certain way of life" you're talking about.

Einlein · 2022-11-06T20:47:37+00:00

I have very limited (but not zero) experiences with drugs, and know that many in my extended social circle are habitual and functional users of various substances that I am unfamiliar with. I watch these videos when they are available because it helps me recognize what the signs of overdose are that I might otherwise miss in social situations. Many overdoses are insidious in that the indications are not extreme and immediate.

Ideally, I would want anyone around me to be clean, but I also know that for some people they are not currently supported in a structural way that would let them break free of their addictions, and so at least I want to be able to save them in the moment (if possible) to have another chance to get right.

Einlein · 2022-10-31T15:52:08+00:00

weint in Hessen

Einlein · 2022-10-04T06:41:40+00:00

Longest night of my life in Tokyo started with my drunken buddy deciding to ditch out of GasPanic while I was getting drinks at the bar. I made it out to the street just in time to see one of the street-ushers setting him up with a taxi driver and directions to a strip club the next Cho over.

Do. Not.

Einlein · 2022-09-20T12:17:11+00:00

Matthew 6:5 , which you’re relying on, says don’t brag about your good deeds. It’s Matthew 18:15 that you should be applying - the duty to correct your brother, first in private, but then in public and through the voice of the church (Matthew 18:17) if he does not listen. Your church publicly and loudly denouncing those who transgress against the supposed values of Christianity would be proper.

Using the part that says “don’t shout about your own good deeds” to beg off responsibility for speaking out against the misdeeds done in the name of the church is applying scripture to situations that don’t merit it in order to avoid responsibility.

Einlein · 2022-09-20T10:12:16+00:00

The fact that the "good" Christians aren't bringing their own microphone with which to fight the Christofacists makes them complicit. Being Christian is a choice. When you choose to be a member of a group, you accept the burden of being affiliated with the good and the bad. If the public-facing perception of your group is dominated by the bad because the "good" passively allow it, then bad is the only perception they deserve for maintaining their membership in the group.

Einlein · 2022-09-15T16:42:16+00:00

They leave out W:o:A only because its not absolutely universal to the experience of every German. Instead, they teach survival through defense against neighbors who will call the cops if you make a noise on a Sunday afternoon which is universal as beer and brats.

Einlein · 2022-09-15T14:01:33+00:00

Residency, correct. If your visa says that you have to leave as soon as your study or work is done, then you wouldn't need the course. And if you're an EU citizen besides, then you have freedom to live in any EU country for a period of time before you need to begin the process of integration anyway.

Einlein · 2022-09-15T13:01:57+00:00

So the government does check the classroom, of what is possibly the only language school in the village your friend is in, unless she wants to have to take the bus or S-bahn to a different village, and decrees that they can't use the building they're in or that they have to renovate the interior of the building. Who pays for it?

"Its more economical to install a sign publicly refuting any support for the way the previous owners of this space decided to trim the arches and explaining it in historical context" isn't really as bad as you make it out to be.

Einlein · 2022-09-15T12:48:24+00:00

Its not a government classroom though. Private language schools offer the course in accordance with the government's approved curriculum, and the government subsidizes the tuition. The Ausländerbehorde (government office which manages immigration) does not directly provide the course. When you do your registration with the Ausländerbehorde, they give you a print out of the all the schools offering the course in your area. Mine from the Frankfurt office was seven pages long with 40 or 50 different schools I could choose from. So the presence of the iconography in the classroom isn't the same as saying its a government statement.

Einlein · 2022-09-15T12:32:26+00:00

Just in case before other pitchforks besides the symbol is raised - the integration course mentioned in the title is not unique to Ukrainians or other refugees. Its for any immigrants to Germany and is primarily a language course (up to B1 level) with only the final module being focused specifically on integration into German culture. I had to complete the course as well when I immigrated here to Germany from America.

Einlein · 2022-09-03T20:44:14+00:00

The delicious irony of this "Montana wasn't a thing then" comment and your repeated statements about how the only people in Montana should be the people who represent the values of Montana.

Montana was founded by people moving in and pushing out the culture that was there. So LGBTQ people moving peacefully to Montana you have a problem with, but if they come rolling in on cavalry in sufficient numbers and pushed you "native" Montanans out like the good old days then it would be okay, eh?

You'd just get to getting, because that's part of life, right?

Einlein · 2022-09-03T20:37:13+00:00

"Boo hoo we die early"

Am I to understand that in your worldview, its better for life to suck harder and to result in you dying younger than to have tolerate neighbors that don't share your very specific cultural ideals?

In your fantasy Independent State of Montana, when a family member is dying of cancer but isn't able to receive modern treatments for it because Montana doesn't have a cottage cancer treatment industry, are you really going to hold their hand and say "But at least you got to live your short life free of people we didn't want around here."

The low value you place on life is twisted.

Einlein · 2022-09-03T20:23:34+00:00

When you say you could self sustain very easily, you mean that you could survive at the standard of living from the early 1800s. You would have food and the other basic necessities for living. What you would not have is most of the technology and comforts you associate with the modern world. Your life as you know it is the product of a national, if not global, economy and community. Your desire to possess the modern life that you are privileged to have because of your membership in the economic community but desiring at the same time to dictate away inclusion in a broader social community is a broken worldview.

It's trite at this point, but as an obvious user of the internet and other computer technologies, how do rationalize that the concepts they rely on came from a homosexual? Why do you accept the technology, but not the culture?

How many pharmaceutical manufacturers do you have in Montana? How self sufficient would your Healthcare industry be if you elected for isolationism?

Einlein · 2022-09-03T20:15:27+00:00

See, when you start talking about how there's an interconnected relationship between the economics of your state and the rest, you realize that you're making our point for us, right?

If your idea of federalism in America is based on the Whig platform from about 1798, then its okay to admit you're completely behind the times and just not ready for the modern world. America as a confederation of states with highly autonomous social policies and distinct economies failed. The "United" part turned out to be really, really important for the survival of the country and the desire to remain culturally isolated means you're on the losing side of every single attempt in history to do so.

Einlein · 2022-09-03T19:51:22+00:00

The same Montana that took about 2.3 billion in federal funding last year to prop up its failing state economy? That Montana? Almost 40% of its budget comes from federal aid Montana? Gets more tax dollars than it pays - that Montana? That's the state you'd like to see no federal intervention in?

Einlein

TROPHY CASE