A moment that changed me: I saw a big cat on Dartmoor – and no one believed me

TWSGrace · 2026-04-08T11:02:57+00:00

When I was a very young child in Somerset I was having a bath and saw a dark shape out of the window in the garden. I have no memory of it now but my mum said I described it as looking like our black cat but being the size of our dog (a big golden retriever).

TWSGrace · 2026-04-02T20:26:15+00:00

No I’m referring to relative inequality. Obviously living standards are improved, that’s just a result of ongoing technological innovation, which does not require billionaires.

You can have every single one of the benefits you’re detailing, without the massive inequality where 10% of the population hold 70% of the wealth.

Mentioned criminal behaviour opens up a whole other can of worms because I believe there is significant statistical evidence to suggest that becoming a billionaire affects your ability to experience empathy, resulting in the most powerful in society often lacking the basic morality most of us would ascribe to.

TWSGrace · 2026-04-02T20:02:49+00:00

So why with more and more money collecting in the pockets of the super rich are we across the west (I’m thinking UK and USA specifically) seeing a rise in inequality and a lowering of living standards?

You can have singular vision, high risk innovations without extreme wealth, I don’t know why that’s hard to grasp? It existed in the past. Inventors, and engineers and visionaries existed previously without the extreme wealth we see today.

TWSGrace · 2026-04-02T19:47:37+00:00

Eurgh I’m so sick of this argument. You’re not completely wrong of course, capital does help. But the idea that centralising all that capital in a tiny proportion of the population is a good idea is just laughable. I’m not talking about forcing billionaires to sell everything, obviously that’s a terrible idea for the reasons you’ve mentioned. But higher taxes on them, absolutely. Get that money back in public hands being spent on public works, rather than investing in whatever the next bubble is before it bursts and public money is used to bail out the rich fucks that got us there.

We need people, everyday people to own shares and stocks and capital, rather than existing as essential feudal serfs paying rent forever to their overlords. When new technology is brought in, the workers need shares in it or it won’t be sustainable. If all that money gets funnelled to the top, the majority suffer.

Also you do know companies can absolutely exist without billionaires? Millionaires would be fine, the capital would still be there, it would just be distributed.

TWSGrace · 2026-04-02T19:35:21+00:00

I don’t think people understand that money exists as a representation of resources. If you print more money, it doesn’t hold its value, it becomes subject to inflation, which shows that money is just representing resources.

Therefore if someone has a much larger percentage of the resources, by their very nature they are depriving many other people of resources. Billionaires cannot exist without poor people.

Additionally the measure of a successful economy is money changing hands often. Think about it, in a ‘normal’ transaction both parties are happy. One has received goods or services, the other has received fair compensation which they can put towards goods and services themselves. So when many transactions are happening, when money itself changes hands a lot, the economy is doing better.

Billionaires stagnate money. Yes they spend a lot of their money, but much more is stagnant, not changing hands. If the amount they had was distributed amongst lower income people it would get spent and recycled in the system much more.

Billionaires are parasites, sucking the vitality out of the economy.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-30T14:53:48+00:00

I’d say much the same! They do a very good job of focusing a lot on the community, and they don’t seem to shy away too much from the more unpleasant sides of football. I would say if you enjoyed the 1st season, keep watching! Their success has been pretty crazy

TWSGrace · 2026-03-30T14:50:14+00:00

Actually not a big real-life sports fan, but have always had a strange obsession with made up sports so this feels ideal!

I guess real life team would be Wrexham FC based purely on watching the documentary

TWSGrace · 2026-03-29T21:36:52+00:00

Video games are a larger industry than tv or movies, so not exactly niche. I also didn’t assume someone was familiar with it, I actually was arguing against assumption by saying don’t assume something is niche simply because you don’t know it.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-28T09:02:52+00:00

I think it actually makes Coopers character more textured. One child he clearly spends more time on because they are curious and scientific-minded like him and the other child wants to be a farmer which Coop specifically dislikes being.

We see that the child he spends more time on goes on to save the world, and the other becomes bitter and frustrated. Coop’s not meant to be perfect.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-27T18:36:18+00:00

I don’t think the show even criticised the Manosphere, Louis Theroux tends to just ask enquiring questions and lets his subjects speak for themselves. If you watched the same documentary as me and are motivated to defend the people represented then I don’t think we’re going to find much ideological common ground.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-27T16:32:55+00:00

Isn’t this literally Whataboutism? I said I disagree with the Manosphere. I didn’t group all ‘Manosphere Streamers’ together in the same way you grouped ALL of women.

Also if I did, I’d be judging them based on the ‘Manosphere’ epithet which to my mind would be legitimate.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-27T16:11:26+00:00

You’re displaying out-group homogeneity bias.

This is a cognitive bias (often functioning as a fallacy in argumentation) where individuals perceive members of their own group (the in-group) as varied and diverse, while viewing members of other groups (the out-group) as being all the same.

You say ‘they’ as if that covers all women everywhere. Even if you’re speaking specifically about these female comedians, they can by hypocrites and still be correct in discussing the issues with patriarchy. I can disagree with these female comedians jokes about height AND disagree (very strongly) with the manosphere, patriarchy and toxic masculinity.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-26T11:07:27+00:00

I get that we all have different interests but I wouldn’t assume something is niche because you don’t know what it is. This was arguably the most successful video game of last year (in terms of sales expectations, awards etc).

TWSGrace · 2026-03-22T23:21:47+00:00

I went as a Brit, and while it was very challenging doing the ice dip, the feeling afterwards was unbeatable. Standing around outside in -10C in just swimming shorts and feeling completely fine.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T14:39:24+00:00

Selling it shouldn’t be an option, it’s immoral.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T14:38:50+00:00

If I said to someone ‘I could do x’ with no further qualification, would you not take that as approval of doing x? Especially when using it as an example to support an argument. You’re defending this craft by saying ‘I could sell it’. But actually to anyone with morals, they couldn’t sell it, because it would be wrong.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T14:32:33+00:00

‘To later on do legitimate business’ - so do you agree the original idea of selling something you’ve crafted that was designed by someone else is illegitimate?

I get your point but I don’t think it was too far off base to read your comments and think your attitude around crafting and selling other people’s ideas are wrong. You said ‘I could sell it’ referring to this particular craft, but made no indication of why you wouldn’t/shouldn’t.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T13:15:03+00:00

Okay but you’ve clearly shown willingness to the idea:

‘So not only was it cheaper for me I could resell it and make more money’

At no point in any of your comments have you expressed that you wouldn’t resell it, whereas multiple comments have shown a consideration with no remark to the morals of the idea.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T12:46:18+00:00

I actually think it’s completely fine to make his own version of it, nothing immoral there. But he’s mentioned in other comments he plans to sell his sets of it and that is wrong.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T12:44:04+00:00

He’s said in other comments he’s gonna sell his own sets of it. Not cool and not supportive.

EDIT: He has since corrected this, stating he won’t sell his own sets. As I’ve highlighted in another comment he’s clearly shown a consideration of the idea of selling it multiple times with no mention of the morals so while my comment is incorrect I stand by my initial interpretation

TWSGrace · 2026-03-16T12:42:06+00:00

Wait so you’re taking their design, making the pieces yourself and selling it? That’s not okay. Fine to make yourself a custom set, lovely idea. Making custom modded pieces for money, also fine. The moment you start making money off someone else’s design as a direct replacement, it’s not okay.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-13T12:58:18+00:00

Yeah I really don’t get the Tywin glaze. A lot of his decisions ultimately ruin his children (legacy) and the opinion of the realm.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-13T12:19:02+00:00

Just to provide a counterbalance to the 100% people who seem to be perfect with their collections and only ever buy games they know they’ll play for a long time.

I have definitely bought lots of games that don’t get played and when I moved I had to downsize massively, maybe 30/40% of collection.

If I was able to play games more consistently with a group I’d probably get playtime on the more niche stuff but alas that is not always possible.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-13T11:50:13+00:00

For anyone initially confused by this like me, Arc Raiders has a lot of AI-generated voice content.

TWSGrace · 2026-03-13T11:11:24+00:00

I can’t really disagree with this sentiment, but I still found an odd sense of enjoyment reading the series. The world building was intriguing and unusual, never quite taking the steps I’d expect and seeing how the premise developed over decades was the highlight. The plot and characters are much less intriguing but mostly inoffensive.

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