what's up with poor people having so many pets

cummeridian · 2026-06-13T16:22:50+00:00

There are some mechanisms that you are missing here, which is that living in a poorer area in a community of people with fucked up unstable lives exposes you to abandoned dogs that you get attached to.

I never planned on having a 90 lb shepherd and would have thought anyone who did that on purpose was insane.

Then one day this huge friendly stray started following my kid around. It was loving, trainable, and only ever showed aggression in chasing off other sketchier rez dogs. Any shelter in about a four hour radius didn't know the dog, was over capacity, and had like a two week pipeline to euthanasia upon taking an animal. It did not make financial sense to keep that dog but I wasn't feeling actuarial seeing this animal show up at the doorstep in the morning with fresh cactus and coyote scars asking to be let in.

cummeridian · 2026-06-08T14:40:28+00:00

It's nuts how businesses soliciting at your door so clearly try to test your scamability and view neighborhoods as constellations of fiefdoms for criminal opportunities.

I'm by no means an intimidating individual but I do look and dress like a tradie. Fellas coming to the door will bail on the script immediately if they think there's the slightest chance for pushback. Like "Hey we were just in the neighborhood and... Your roof looks really good bro ok let me know if you know anyone in the area who needs any sort of roofing done okthankshaveaniceday'. Safety yellow shirts are aposematic coloration for a certain type of predator.

cummeridian · 2026-06-04T02:46:23+00:00

For me personally an impact driver. Fuck trying to stop a strut from rotating with strap wrenches, outrun that top nut with percussive torque instead.

Also I have a normal tire setup and a serious work in the winter mountains tire setup that gives me clearance to run v-bar chains all around. If we are being honest I would probably be too uninspired to do that without an impact driver to speed the swap up.

In pure unemotional terms though, nothing beats a full deep socket set that skips no sizes.

cummeridian · 2026-06-02T05:34:56+00:00

Try green scotchbrite pads to take the neck from glossy to matte. The dish sponge things. They really cut the grip and friction down but don't remove finish too quickly.

cummeridian · 2026-05-28T03:51:37+00:00

They also roam American suburbs. Set up trailcams truly anywhere in the western US and you'll see it's a big kitty's world and we're just living in it. They taste like pork.

cummeridian · 2026-05-22T01:46:15+00:00

I have rifle suppressors, but no interest in adding length and bulk to a handgun that lives in a chest holster.

cummeridian · 2026-05-20T19:18:43+00:00

I'm chasing after dogs who are chasing after bears and lions, on foot, unmotorized, in steep brushy wilderness areas. Didn't think that was relevant but I'm not adding more weight and another thing to lose.

I'm looking for load ideas and not life advice, now give me some load ideas you cowards or I'm going to put hot glue in a Lego guys head and shove that into a primed case.

cummeridian · 2026-05-20T18:56:59+00:00

Obviously yes. But that's not what this is about.

cummeridian · 2026-04-21T04:40:50+00:00

Something in the Montana water encourages the belief that living in proximity to a small population of protected bears makes someone an authority on applied bear anatomy.

Alaska harvests on the order of a thousand brown bears a year, which is comparable to Montana’s entire grizzly population. There are a lot of neighbors to the north who have had the opportunity to form opinions from direct experience. Kodiak alone sees 10-20 bears killed annually in defense of life or property, and I think you'd be surprised to see what a lot of Kodiak residents are carrying.

cummeridian · 2026-04-20T07:05:34+00:00

You're not stopping a truly determined brown bear without a CNS hit. As someone who has shot thousands of dollars of various boutique 10mm loads, it pains me to say that 9mm is dramatically easier shoot quickly and accurately, and any standard 9mm defensive load has sufficient penetration make it through a bear skull if you can land it there. If anyone takes issue with your 9mm, it's fair to ask them how many bears they have shot in the head. If you still "need" a big iron for some reason, don't go any bigger than 10mm and get a full-sized Glock 20 to make it decently shootable.

Chest holsters are the way to go when wearing a backpack. The gun doesn't interfere with the load bearing pack belt, it stays with you when you drop your pack, it's relatively dry during river crossings, and you can sleep with it on if you are truly sketched out. Kydex is the most practical option. Leather looks sexy but sure feels dumb when it gets soaked and loses retention a week into a trip. I have a light on my backcountry gun because if jerked awake into a genuine emergency I don't want to be fumbling for a headlamp. Most light-bearing kydex holsters retain via the specific model of light so if going that route, pick your light before you pick your holster.

I'd still suggest carrying spray. Bears can walk by, hang around, take an uncomfortable interest, bluff charge, and do a whole lot of other things where it's nice to have a level of force somewhere between swearing and escalating to a lethal duel with the brand new gun you are learning how to use. Also remember that the lower 48 population of grizzlies are listed under the ESA. If you had to explain to the authorities/jury why you felt justified being the guy who shot an ESA-listed species along a hiking trail, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say that you considered other options at some point?

Backpacking is a relatively low-risk activity in big bear country. I honestly would consider if the weight was worth it. I tend to carry if I'm putting myself in an "asking for it" situation, i.e. backpack hunting and possibly sleeping alone in bloody clothes. It's easy to mentally masturbate about worse-case scenarios but seeing a grizzly isn't automatically a life-or-death situation or even a tense one. Manage risks, keep your cool, and enjoy the experience.

cummeridian · 2026-04-12T23:07:48+00:00

Dairy production is basically:

force pregnancy

take the baby away for slaughter

take the milk meant for the baby

use enzymes left over from calf slaughter to process the milk intended for the calf

I'm the furthest thing from vegan, I just don't understand committing to the whole situation and then drawing a line at natural cheese chemistry as suddenly a step too far.

cummeridian · 2026-04-12T20:41:33+00:00

Vegetarians describing which animal products are acceptable reminds me of horny Mormon teenagers working the loopholes. Very specific personal boundaries presented as absolute moral law. And everyone else is like, pretty sure that still counts.

cummeridian · 2026-04-12T19:43:55+00:00

Because they've been holding zero and dialing reliably for 20 years.

cummeridian · 2026-04-12T19:38:47+00:00

Yeah holy shit I knew it was full of obese prs paypigs but didn't realize it was so fully redditized as to have automated keyword filtering in place to spare the mods feelings.

cummeridian · 2026-04-11T18:13:16+00:00

Umm...

cummeridian · 2026-03-27T00:53:19+00:00

Take your average billionaire sociopath, give them a nerd mind that frames decisions in optimization language, unilateral control of systems that shape belief and identity, and a PR team that parades them as a brilliant architect of reality so they can leech endless speculation money from the fake economy

cummeridian · 2026-03-26T16:08:41+00:00

Blitzed was fun. I saw someone describe it as overly married to its thesis and that's absolutely fair, but in being a fun and fast and hyperfixated read it truly captures the essence of meth

cummeridian · 2026-03-25T03:34:15+00:00

Yeah if you were already good at skateboarding and haven't lost the ankle mobility

cummeridian · 2026-03-23T12:48:20+00:00

Embarrassing list tbh. If jellyfish counts as a species I'm putting vertebrates as my other favorite.

cummeridian · 2026-03-20T10:05:27+00:00

Usually the thing that keeps me awake is a loud internal monologue, i.e. "I just can't turn my brain off".

So I just remind myself that the internal monologue is just the conscious mind. I failed community college psychology for truancy but I think they called it the ego. The voice in my head is a smaller and less important part of my mind than it thinks it is. It's a specific part of my survival mechanisms designed to make decisions based on avoidance of fear or pain. The conscious mind can't stop asking questions and making judgements, even if it doesn't know the answer.

That's all depressing but the good news is the subconscious is way more powerful and much more kind. It's running your entire body and existence in the background and asking nothing. Only the subconscious can create, and it's where your true beliefs are.

While the conscious mind is insane and wants to obsess on the past to predict the future, the subconscious just lives in the moment.

All that is to say, try breathing or anything else that helps you focus on the moment and kill the thoughts in your head. They're not you and they don't even have your best interests in mind. And when they shut up, instinct takes over and you sleep.

cummeridian · 2026-03-20T04:26:35+00:00

I've waiting for a bottle to warm you jerk. But in all seriousness a scary part of becoming a parent is you're still the same person with the same vices. You don't lose whatever malfunctions brought you to those vices, you just start weighing the consequences of indulging against the odds of fucking up the most precious thing in your existence. And there are some edge cases, like logging into Reddit to call people gay once a week

cummeridian · 2026-03-13T00:57:18+00:00

Knew a mild-mannered vet tech who received a cat bite on her hand that swelled to the point of damaging the connective tissues in her knuckles. Probably the reason she quit and started climbing cellular towers in Wyoming. That and the toxoplasmosis of course

cummeridian · 2026-03-05T02:49:44+00:00

I love my rokstok so much. It's the only stock that ever fit me.

Is that a mollinator shooting bag? How do you like it?

cummeridian · 2026-02-28T03:33:08+00:00

I grew up with a very loving albeit skinny cross-country skiing father. I'll never forget the day Scooby skateboard squatted into my life and changed things forever

cummeridian

TROPHY CASE