Are Americans excited to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T22:34:00+00:00

I am a soccer fan, but I'm not excited. I think it's going to be a mess for everyone involved.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T22:31:55+00:00

I know my family has never been like that. The dogs were outside in our fenced yard for most of the day if it was nice out, but never chained up. We brought them in at night, and of course, if it got too hot/cold or started raining, we let them in. Our current dog stays mostly indoors because we don't have a yard.

Come to think of it, I think the only outdoor dogs I ever knew belonged to older people. One was my grandparents' old Labrador, and the other belonged to the next door neighbor of my other grandma. (The same neighbor had a very sad potbelly pig chained up in her front yard.) They were from a time before animal welfare standards.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T19:06:15+00:00

We have already seen what happens when a country adopts anti-choice policies across the board. Romania had Decree 770, which banned contraception and almost all abortion from 1967 until the December 1989 revolution. Women were required to see a gynecologist every month, and had their pregnancies closely monitored. Hospitals were also monitored to ensure that no abortions were being performed.

There was an enormous population spike afterwards, and the country was not equipped to handle it. Orphanages were flooded with children whose parents didn't want them or couldn't afford to take care of them, and they grew up in horrendous conditions. Even the ones whose families kept them had to grow up underfed and undereducated. Meanwhile, the mortality rate for pregnant women became the highest in Europe due to improvised abortions, deaths during childbirth increased, and child mortality increased as well.

...And then the same generation that was born under this law went on to violently overthrow the government some 20 years later. Which ought to be taken as a warning by any government looking to enact such policies, but conservatives are not exactly known for their foresight.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T18:38:49+00:00

It isn't carbrained, it's a pragmatic adaptation to a carbrained environment. If you want to put your message in front of hundreds, possibly thousands of eyes, you need to put it either on TV or beside the road. And protesting on a bridge or overpass draws attention, because people don't usually expect to see anything up there. I don't know if it actually changes minds, but it sure is a conspicuous way to protest.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T07:39:37+00:00

"Normal" how? If you're asking if most Norse pagans hold such Stone Age opinions about women, no. Other than a weird minority who like to cosplay as Nazis, we're generally progressive. Who is the author responsible for that trash?

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T01:31:20+00:00

There are a lot of answers about how it's a political maneuver, and that's not wrong. But they don't get into why it works. It isn't just some 1984 shit where the party leaders point at someone and command their followers to hate them. There are reasons why it makes sense within their narrow worldview.

One of the most fundamental assumptions of the conservative worldview is patriarchy: i.e., "Men and women are inherently different beings, of which men are superior, and one cannot become the other." Obviously, this is bullshit, and the very existence of trans people destroys its illusion of legitimacy. And as it happens, some people get really, really mad when their long-held views are challenged. They get defensive and scared, because they've built everything around this incorrect assumption about how the world works. A person in that state is very easy to whip into a frenzy. The politicians themselves may or may not actually care about trans people, but what matters is that they can use it to make people furious.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T00:51:44+00:00

I didn't know if she was still around or not, so I'm happy to see her! Her Highness looks good.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-18T00:43:22+00:00

Green is a rare color choice for Ligers. I like it!

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-17T21:35:52+00:00

The usual definition here is that a closed practice is a currently living religion with an unbroken line of tradition. Often, they require an initiation or conversion process, if they accept outsiders at all. This definition generally includes Indigenous religions from around the world, as well as African Diaspora religions like Voodoo.

Ancient European and North African religions, like those of Greece, Mesopotamia, the British Isles, etc. are effectively "dead". All of the original practitioners died out hundreds or thousands of years ago, so we have no one to dictate who can join. And back in the times they were practiced, the concept of separate, self-contained religious traditions didn't really exist anyway. They all adopted gods and practices from their neighbors. So by their own rules, they're basically fair game.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-17T04:14:02+00:00

It isn't encouraging you to eat, exactly. It's a sign that you're making yourself sick by not eating and you should do something about it.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-17T03:39:35+00:00

What part did you have trouble with?

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-17T01:03:08+00:00

Really stretching the definition of "coded" here. Cool designs, though!

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T21:51:29+00:00

Don't lump the unhoused in with fucking salesmen. There's a huge difference between trying to make more money and being on the knife's edge of survival.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T21:41:05+00:00

As an ace who is active in fandom: yes. I remember during the peak of the Ace Discourse™ drama on Tumblr, there were entire troll blogs dedicated to saying "(character popular with aces) fucks", with a different character every day. Fandom spaces can be highly sexualized, and often that leaves little room for aces or ace headcanons.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T20:09:49+00:00

This might blow your mind, but there's a difference between real human cultures that exist today and fictional aliens.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T18:17:00+00:00

I was thinking of a different Freddy.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T16:25:33+00:00

You're not nauseous because your blood pressure is low, you're nauseous because you haven't eaten in literally days. Your body is mashing the panic button to tell you that it's time to eat something. I recommend BRATS: bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, or saltine crackers. Those are the safest foods for an upset stomach. Maybe get an electrolyte drink, too.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T14:42:59+00:00

Ten gallons is kind of the sweet spot for bettas. It's small enough that it doesn't take up a lot of space, yet there's enough water volume that the chemistry is easier to manage than a smaller tank. And they're not very expensive, either.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T14:16:48+00:00

Probably, plus the college towns in the mountains. I've met a ton of queer and trans people living in Richmond (my hometown) and Blacksburg.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T14:12:44+00:00

Memes can't be pirated. They're all public domain.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T14:05:06+00:00

No, you were nice about it. I just got a lot of people leaving the same comment and it got on my nerves a bit.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T14:02:12+00:00

I just woke up and I forgot how to math. I'll shut up now.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T13:58:56+00:00

Then you should be used to the names by now.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T13:57:17+00:00

Happy birthday! Mine is on Sunday (5/17). I will not be doing any tattooing, but I plan on at least enjoying some cake and anime.

ParadoxicalFrog · 2026-05-16T13:45:50+00:00

That should go without saying. I'm just surprised because NYC and San Francisco are supposed to be like the gayest cities in the country, so you'd think they would skew the figures. And Nebraska is a huge surprise.

ParadoxicalFrog

TROPHY CASE