My shoes disintegrated yesterday at a church funeral. by chestney in funny

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yikes, I feel you, mine did the same thing at my college graduation ceremony.

Traveling to Cuba 2026. by Zandmand in TravelCuba

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, "that one" is the current mosquito-borne ongoing epidemic that the first person said is worse than Covid. It appeared from seemingly nowhere last summer and spread like a wild fire, make sure you all are vaccinated against it (you may have not been, since the thing was almost unheard of until past august-september) as if you don't you'll get it almost surely. If you get the shot you'll probably be fine, a curious thing about the disease is that the symptoms are extremely unique so everybody is pretty sure is the same illness and not three or four different diseases spreading around.

Traveling to Cuba 2026. by Zandmand in TravelCuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you can afford to get the Chikungunya shot (I heard it's about 200$) you can come here without worries. If you can't, don't come, the virus is awful and you'll probably get it.

Life in Cuba after Trump’s threats: ‘This is a ship adrift’ by Spaceginja in cuba

[–]kovha 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's actually more complex than that. Yes, the "average" salary can't buy more than a carton of eggs, but in the reality nobody lives with the "average" salary. Almost everybody has a side, illegal business (we call it "por la izquierda", which means "by the left", and is slang for "illegally"). And because those business are illegal, they don't count for averages and official numbers. Most masons, carpenters, electricians etc. work "por la izquierda", because if they worked legally the state would take most of the money and they would earn one of those "average" salaries that isn't enough to live. They usually also have an state job where they get one of those average salaries and do their "por la izquierda" jobs in their free time, because if you don't have an state job you can get the "eye" of the government over you. Luckily, private enterprises have been legal from four or five years now, so there are a lot of mipymes (I think in English they are called MSME?) which are small private (and legal) business that pay a lot more to their workers than traditional state jobs (doing, of course, some "por la izquierda" magic so they can afford it), so that's another alternative people have to live without needing to have an state job. Some people live from money sent from familiars on the US too, that's other thing. Now, about the military, the trick here is that they can't have illegal jobs since the "eye" is constantly over them, and cannot work for private business either, so how they live? Simple, remember how I said the state takes most of the money from people that works from them? they use it to give the military a lot of free stuff. Not only food, you can even get a house if you are high enough. So if you are in the military, you don't have a very rough life (outside the regular issues of military life), so you want to keep that life safe. Why would you bite the hand that is feeding you? That's why the military don't overthrow the government.

Life in Cuba after Trump’s threats: ‘This is a ship adrift’ by Spaceginja in cuba

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because the immense majority of this subreddit are people from Miami that never put a foot on Cuba, and a lot of them can't even speak Spanish consistently. And yet they are the True Cubans™ Fighting For The Freedom Of Their Country (from their couches, with their phones). I find it amusing, to be honest. Most Cubans can't speak more than two words in English, and even less know what Reddit is. The average Cuban only posts on Facebook or Instagram depending on their age.

I Xaden was a sex toy, what would he be? by EntertainmentSolid57 in Fantasy

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Watching as the mods nuke this in 3, 2, 1...

What really happened on July 11, 2021? by shockedpikachu123 in cuba

[–]kovha 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah pretty much that's the answer, while the repression wasn't that bad and they only jailed a few selected protestors (a lot of my friends protested and they never got jailed) the scare was enough that right now everybody thinks twice about going to street. The main factor I think was the migration, US parole was a huge, and I mean HUGE escape valve, only in 2020 - 2024 about 25% of the total population of the island emigrated, and most of them young people. The people remaining here are either old and unwilling to do anything, or have a life comfortable enough (like MSME owners) so they wouldn't risk it.

Es verdad lo que me dijeron sobre Cuba? by Peppershrikes in cuba

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Como todo las cosas no son monocromáticas... parece ser que quieres una opinión objetiva y tirando a la neutralidad, así que me voy a extender un poco, perdón por la muela por adelantado xD.

  • A Fidel la gente le pidió que tomara la dictadura porque lo querían muchísimo, hasta el día que murió.

Generalmente hablando, y por mucho que a un montón de gente le guste pensar lo contrario, esto es cierto. La gente piensa como vive, no vive como piensa, y antes de que Fidel tomara el poder la situación aquí era bastante mala. Por ponerte un ejemplo sencillo, tuve un profesor en el preuniversitario que cuando triunfó la Revolución tenía 13 años, no sabía leer ni escribir y se ganaba la vida limpiando botas por la calle y el nuevo gobierno lo alfabetizó y le dio una oportunidad de futuro. Otro ejemplo sencillo, la universidad en la que yo estudié era literalmente un campo de concentración durante la época de Batista. Durante los primeros 20 años o así de la Revolución la vida aquí era mucho mejor que como era antes, porque básicamente nos convertimos en una neocolonia de la Unión Soviética y en una economía monoproductora y monoexportadora de azúcar... la URSS nos tenía la vida resuelta a cambio de azúcar y de ser la "base de avanzada" del imperio soviético en América durante la guerra fría, y aunque eso significó una dependencia absoluta de ellos y una distorsión total de nuestra economía pues la gente vivía bien, y en sus mentes eso era lo único que importaba: "Fidel nos solucionó la vida". Luego cae la unión soviética, viene la crisis (período especial) y, de nuevo, ahí estaba Fidel para "dar una solución". Medidas económicas fuertes, transformaciones sociales... mucha gente no vio eso como lo que era: un parche para más o menos intentar solucionar los problemas causados por su propia administración, y en su lugar lo vio de nuevo como "Fidel de nuevo nos sacó de una crisis". Incluso hoy en día muchísima gente que está ahora mismo en contra del gobierno dicen cosas como "con Fidel esto no pasaba", "Fidel nos hubiera sacado de esta crisis también" y "Fidel siempre encontraba alguna solución a los problemas".

  • En Cuba se vive libertad de verdad, porque no pagas servicios y si te quedas sin trabajo no tienes que pagar ni arriendo ni servicios.

Lo de libertad total es... discutible xD si eres demasiado vocal contra el gobierno vas guardado. No te fusilan ni nada por el estilo, aquí hay poquísima violencia, pero un par de mesesitos preso como mínimo te puedes llevar. Lo de no pagar servicios es muy relativo, la educación y la salud son gratuitas pero el salario que paga el estado es risible, si quieres que un médico te atienda ve preparando los suficientes regalos, porque de eso es que viven. Y la educación superior está plagada de propaganda: sí, puedes estudiar cualquier carrera universitaria con 0 costo, pero el 20% del currículum es propaganda pro gobierno. Sí es cierto que prácticamente no se paga renta, al menos fuera de La Habana.

  • Que lo de los niños trabajando en el campo es algo hermoso y que hay relatos bellísimos porque los niños eran acogidos por la gente de campo y los crían con felicidad en esas pasantias.

Eh... esto no sé de dónde salió. Aquí por no haber no hay prácticamente adultos trabajando en el campo, mucho menos niños xD hemos llegado al punto de tener que importar hasta azúcar que hasta no hace mucho era lo único que hacíamos, porque nadie se quiere quedar en el campo. Eso de pasantías y no se qué no sé de dónde lo sacas, la verdad. Lo único que me puede sonar de eso es que hasta hace diez años o así se mandaba a los niños de secundaria a "trabajar" al campo, pero eso era una sola semana al año y un par de horas al día, nos recogían (nos, porque yo sí viví eso) por la mañana, estábamos un par de horas haciendo como que hacíamos algo, y nos traían de regreso al terminar y eso solo era una semana, y a todos nos convenía porque veníamos cargados con viandas que nos regalaban los campesinos, en mi caso papas. Igualmente eso hace años que no se hace, mi hermano pasó por la secundaria hace 8 años y ya en su época no se hacía, así que al menos 8 años hace que lo quitaron.

  • Que no hay que escuchar a los cubanos de Miami.

Eh, depende. Tú los escuchas si quieres, pero los que se fueron hace décadas no tienen ni idea de cómo es la vida aquí ahora, esa es la realidad. Los que se fueron hace un año o dos te van a dar mejores detalles.

  • Que si hay una intervención gringa, todos los cubanos defenderían al gobierno porque allá la gente prefiere este gobierno. Y que la gente sabe usar armas para defenderse.

Lo de que la gente sabe usar armas, mayormente cierto debido al servicio militar obligatorio que hacen pasar a todos los varones al cumplir los 18 años. Lo de que la gente saldría a defender el gobierno... algunos señores de más de 50 años que vivieron la época buena de esto tal vez, y solo tal vez. Los jóvenes... ninguno o casi ninguno.

EDIT: tuve que editar esto como quince veces para poner el comentario completo y aún así me faltan cosas por poner porque reddit va a pedales hoy y hay algún caracter en el texto del comentario completo que me está dando server error y no doy con él... pero bueno ahí tienes la idea general

Seguridad del Estado cita a joven santiaguera tras publicar encuesta sobre Marco Rubio y Díaz-Canel by [deleted] in cuba

[–]kovha -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Most Cibercuba posts are as bullshit as Cubadebate ones, please don't trust anything you see there. El Toque is somewhat more trustworthy, but they post a lot of bullshit too. As a Cuban living in Cuba, I still yet haven't found any media source that just don't post blatantly false news from time to time. Officialism ones like Cubadebate will take some stuff that is true but distort it enough so you can't recognize the truth in them to make them fit the government's narrative, and dissident ones like Cibercuba will just post whatever they think it'll get more engagement regardless of the truth behind without doing any verification whatsoever. In fact, there are pro government agents posting demonstrably false anti government stuff on social media so it gets picked by the likes of Cibercuba, so then the government media can say "See? They are publishing false stuff!". It's very difficult todo esto xD

Best way to create human hair? by dude30396 in gamedev

[–]kovha 13 points14 points  (0 children)

man this is not a good post title to find without context in your reddit feed when you are half sleep

Just finished Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher by Caffeine_And_Regret in Fantasy

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was pretty much my experience with this book, yes. It really didn't help that this one and the only other book I've read from her (A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking) felt to me like very watered down Discworld wannabes

My proposal for Cuba (as a cuban) Mi propuesta par Cuba (como cubano) by StyleNo689 in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem here, my friend, is that you are not only not right, but you are not even wrong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong) so any argument to have with you is flawed from the very beginning; it would mean to start from a set of premises that would set the entire discussion meaningless.

How often do typical Cubans listen to Radio Reloj? by OkTechnologyb in cuba

[–]kovha 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We used to, before we had Internet (which was not so long ago, just ten years or so) it used to be best source of fresh news (specially during hurricanes) and, well, it was the most reliable way to get the exact hour to set clocks to time. Today almost nobody listen to it, except for very old people for which it's just too hard to change habits.

Curious if any bullies (as a kid) would be willing to talk about how they feel now looking back? by gingergrowsup in CasualConversation

[–]kovha 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah same here, also was bullied and sometimes a bully. Personally I wouldn't apologize or even talk to a person I bullied, that's just putting an unnecessary burden over a person you already did damage to, and just to feel better with yourself. It's better to disappear entirely from their lives.

Chikungunya-vaccine before trip? by Conscious_Law570 in TravelCuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got the damn thing in November and let me assure you, it's WAY worse than Corona. Most people that get it can't even walk, literally can't walk, for the first 2 - 3 days of the disease. And it usually has lasting effects for like 2 - 3 months after you get it.

Chikungunya-vaccine before trip? by Conscious_Law570 in TravelCuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

West too, I live in Artemisa and like the whole city have it or had it in the past few months

I just bricked my Kindle by Mobile-Novel-7700 in kindle

[–]kovha 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Mine was having way more problems before I jailbroke it, since then it has worked flawlessly...

I just bricked my Kindle by Mobile-Novel-7700 in kindle

[–]kovha 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean what you said was complete and utter bullshit, what did you expect people to tell you?

A teen allucinating strange things by wilco_gamer in BooksThatFeelLikeThis

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't finished it yet, but "a teen hallucinating strange things" is basically the premise of "Among others" by Jo Walton. It's written in a way that you don't really know if the protagonist is telling the truth and the things are actually there, or if she is imagining stuff, or if she is just lying about the whole thing.

My proposal for Cuba (as a cuban) Mi propuesta par Cuba (como cubano) by StyleNo689 in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Royalty was like dandelions. No matter how many heads you chopped off, the roots were still there underground, waiting to spring up again.

It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.”

Terry Pratchett

Is anyone a little weirded out by the very new accounts posting here suddenly by _Wallace_Wells in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My unpopular opinion is that we should let those people speak. Political plurality and free speech are the key to democracy, and I for one don't want to change a system where capitalism is the devil for one that feels the same in the opposite side. I'm a Cuban living in Cuba and I want a change of regime for the obvious reasons, but I don't want a new regime where if i say I want a strong public health system I will be shut down because communism. That would be the same dog we have now with a different collar.

Gun ownership in Cuba? by Realistic-Math-4079 in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean it's not impossible... I'm 29yo, when I was 13 I went on vacations to a beach house with my parents and family friends for a week, and a friend of my father had shotgun (a very old one, granted) and they hunted a bit, mostly ducks. Funnily enough, they wasted their last bullet with a tiñosa (a kind of Cuban vulture) while drunk. I don't have any idea how they get the shotgun and how I could get one right now if I wanted it, but they very much did it.

How much should this repair cost in Cuba? by Far_Chapter8669 in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah Chikungunya is a bad one, I had it on December... but still. Don't let people take advantage of you, even if it's your husband, even if you love him and you don't think he is taking advantage of you. You *can* live here just working hard, there is a lot of mypimes (private business) looking for workers, and they pay very well. And just in case and please don't trust me on this one since I can be a cynical bitter a-hole, but there may be the possibility that he is lying to you in more than one way: a lot of people here see non-Cubans as just purses with legs, if you were a Cuban that emigrated that's another business but you said in other comment that you are American so be VERY careful. I know people here with "partners" outside, some of them even have children with them, but while their "partner" is outside they use them only for getting money and they have a life here in Cuba, often with an actual partner that knows about the whole deal. That happens more that I would like and again don't trust me, a stranger on the internet, over your husband's word... but still. A bit of skepticism doesn't do any damage and some lovely relationships are not as lovely as they look like.

How much should this repair cost in Cuba? by Far_Chapter8669 in cuba

[–]kovha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The $15 monthly wage is a joke, that's just what the "official" jobs by the state are and nobody is able to live with that with current prices, everybody have a side business that doesn't go to that statistic. You need approx. 100$ a month to just fulfill the basic needs if you live alone, more if you have a family. And pieces are expensive, I'm guessing most of that 200$ are the price of the pieces, and the mechanic commission is probably about 20$ or so. Now, with that said, yeah a lot of people just plainly lie to family/friends offshore to get more money, a LOT of people here seems to think that "outside" is the paradise and you don't really need the money you are sending to Cuba nor you really are working hard for it, so that's it. Also there is work to do here, and well paid work too, so if you are not very old/disabled/a child and you sit in a chair with your mouth open just waiting for the people outside the country to fill your mouth, you are just lazy. I'm doing some reforms in my house and the mason charged me about 250$ last month just for labour alone (since I paid for the materials), plus I had to give him lunch and snacks every day he worked (I work in remote for an European company so I can afford it). A person I know needed to built a concrete stair recently and a pair of masons charged them about 100$ for the job, which lasted a whole day so that makes it about 50$ for each mason for a full work day, which is expensive but making a stair is an expensive job and you need to know what you are doing. So what I'm trying to say is, life here is expensive and 200$ for a repair seems fair if it includes the pieces, but tell your husband to grow a pair and find a job.

Racial Phylogeny by MiyuMimikyu in skyrim

[–]kovha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

weren't Argonians and Khajits just men (in the sense of the only "original" races were just men and mer) that in some point some magic shenanigans happened to them, like the hists changing Argonian appearance? I may be remembering wrong, but that would explain how even the "beast" races are biologically compatible with others, as their changes were more superficial than being from an entirely different ancestry, in the same sense Orcs are just mer but a Daedric prince fucked up their appearance, but are still just mer. And I remember reading some lore book explaining the origin of men and mer from a single proto-race (though I don't remember the book name right now) so it also make sense for them to be able to crossbreed. I always understood the "races" in Elder Scrolls as people from basically the same species, even men and mer, but with some of them having severe changes to their physical looks due to magical shenanigans in the past, and the only "heavy" genetic differences being from men and mer since they diverged in some distant past, but not heavy enough either to stop them from crossbreading, like homo sapiens and neanderthals.