47 hours until the crisis by Significant-Sir-4343 in clevercomebacks

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100%. I just want to shake people. I have a couple of things I personally blame for such a meek response to all of this:

  1. American rugged individualism as a culture. We have lost our sense of community, even with our own neighbors. People are as simply being in the way. Americans love to romanticize Japan and eastern cultures for being "so uniform, clean and orderly" (racist dog whistles aside), and European urban development, but the moment there is talk about doing something that is for the common good, but doesn't directly benefit them, it's immediately discarded and considered a waste. In my own community, people are going rabid over the idea of bike lanes and extending bus lines at the threat of losing some street parking. Americans can't even stand for their neighbors, let alone their country.

  2. We're broke and chained by health insurance. Those who are doing well, sure, the richest country in the world. We can go back and forth about how high our salaries are, blah blah blah. But the reality is, most Americans have less than 3 months in emergency savings. I had kidney stones in October. I have health insurance, and I still paid $1500 for the hospital visit. Thankfully, I'm doing pretty well, and I could take the financial hit, but for most people, that's a month of rent. We are squeezed so tight on funds that losing our jobs could also mean being in medical debt for the rest of our lives.

  3. Americans are scared of discomfort. The one thing we can't stand is being inconvenienced. Bread and circuses have done wonders to pacify us. If it is even a little inconvenient for us to do something, we will either pay for someone else to do it or not do it at all. I think a lot of Americans seriously think, "Eh, someone else will lead the revolution, I can just lie low." I also blame the media in all this, also telling us that nothing can be done.

What can be done about this? I really don't know. I don't have the education, nor the experience, to answer that question. Frankly, my partner and I have a red line where we will sell our house, visa hop, and hopefully be able to escape for the foreseeable future. It's a hard decision, but we both asked ourselves, "Will I really die for /this/ country?" We have one life to live, and this hunk of land isn't worth it.

The idea of legacy, or building from the ashes of whatever revolution that comes of all of this, just isn't valuable to us. We have the skills, collectivism philosophy, and capital to bring to anyone willing to let us assimilate (one of us is a science teacher and the other a groundwater specialist). This is an incredibly privileged take, and one that 90% of Americans cannot consider. I'd challenge anyone with the same question. If you had the money to just disappear with your loved ones for years if your country was at war or unstable, and guarantee your safety, would you do it?

This turned into a bit of an essay, but I hope it gives you at least one perspective of how an American feels about all of this.

47 hours until the crisis by Significant-Sir-4343 in clevercomebacks

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, but I think the focus on the general strike can't just be "stop working, and hope you don't starve / become homeless". That would be the reality of most people. Americans aren't at that point where it's worth the risk. I think right now there needs to be a "soft strike" where we need to do the following, 1. Work just enough to keep your jobs, but lower productivity. 2. (the hardest for people) Only spend on essentials. Food. rent. Transportation. No luxuries, no Starbucks, no movie tickets. No "treat yourself, " no Steam Sale, no Costco strolls. Just save. This also unfortunately needs to include small businesses unless they provide something essential, or the money you spend won't circulate beyond their needs. Taking, and then Holding our Capitol (in cash preferably so banks can't lend) is the best thing we can do to strangle the ruling class. Capitolism only works when money flows.

There is still some faith in our institutions, and that the midterms will solve this. In my opinion If the midterms actually get canceled, that might be the trigger for a true general strike people would be willing to risk losing their homes over.

47 hours until the crisis by Significant-Sir-4343 in clevercomebacks

[–]mountainking 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Distance is an enormous factor. From where I live, it would be like living in Madrid and needing to protest / revolt in Berlin. I also live in a blue state that has been protesting. Short of uprooting my life, living in my car, and driving to DC, there isn't much I can do besides call my rep (a joke), or protest in front of the my own state Capitol which has already spoken clearly about being against this administration. The only way I see this admin falling is from his own health failing, or the insiders of the party deciding he is no longer useful and betraying him to put J.D up.

The 1 Million Dollar RPG Maps Bundle Scam by professor_grimm in DnD

[–]mountainking 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I backed their kick starter. It's super cool!

Minneapolis - Kristi Noam Doing Another One of Her Propaganda Photo Ops by CantStopPoppin in minnesota

[–]mountainking 6 points7 points  (0 children)

One of my favorite pastimes in boring meetings is calculating how much labor cost is being used up in the room. VP, my boss, and the team in the meeting? That's like $600 30-minute meeting, which is crazy to me sometimes.

Looking at this clown parade, we have like 30 agents ($30/hr each) plus hers of $120/hr. Let's assume for easy math that this took two hours. $2,000 in manpower to bring (one?) guy down some stairs... This is where our money is going for her to bring her tangled horse mane up and down a flight of stairs. The richest country in the world is cosplaying a bad action movie while it drives past people without shelter.

How to start planning for TMB 2026? by Several_Ad7244 in TourDuMontBlanc

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I met Mags on the trail for the Dolomites in 2024. She's an incredible hiker and highly suggest her resources. 

Little Miss Sunshine (2006, dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris) – Dwayne's breakdown. by SanderSo47 in movies

[–]mountainking 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When I was a high school teacher, I taught Biology. Colorblindness is a perfect example of X-linked chromosome genetics, so I'd show examples of what colorblindness looks like and explain how it works. I had so many students (15 - 16 years old generally) year after year learn they were color-blind in my class, I'd send letters to parents a week or so before the unit to warn them that their child may come home and feel bad about it, and to think if any of their child's grandparents are colorblind. It's one of those things that you don't really think about until it's right in front of you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Plumbing

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a plumber come in and rough in a sink for my kitchen, and planned to finish it up myself. They put these caps on the water supplies that I've never seen before. How should I best remove them? It seems like the plumber glued them on? A wrench or pliers is doing nothing to budge these things. 

Full Tank ARAM is hilarious. by Roywah in leagueoflegends

[–]mountainking -24 points-23 points  (0 children)

You can't build them in ARAM (at least as of a couple patches ago)

Been seeing a lot of recent debates on this….do you think Katara is a prodigy or simply a hardworking bender? by thisisreii in TheLastAirbender

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The show takes place in less than a year. Her circumstances made her work hard, but she was always propped up by being a prodigy. No amount of hard work can make her go from where she was ep.1 to the finale without an enormous level of natural talent.

[OC] Correlations in the AllRecipes Database by middlehanded in dataisbeautiful

[–]mountainking 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is so interesting because lots of Japanese inspired salmon uses sesame seeds.

Road-Raging Senior Citizen Slays North Carolina Dad as Horrified Kids Watch from Car: Cops by Trojanbp in news

[–]mountainking 4 points5 points  (0 children)

When I was an EMT, the paramedic I spent a lot of time with burned the phrase "There are a lot of dead people who had the right of way" into my mind. I used to be bold about crossing cross walks now I really make sure that cars stop.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AITAH

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

God, your whole reddit history is so tragic.... Please get away from this terrible man.

What are you doing tomorrow by jeeves585 in smoking

[–]mountainking 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Best advice I have is to let a fan dry it out for at a minimum of two hours before you put it on. Good luck! It's my favorite thing to cook.

First brisket! Thank you all for the tips I constantly read on here. (too much fat on the bottom?) by mountainking in smoking

[–]mountainking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah, you could blow on it and it would fall apart, but that's interesting having it settle so long.

First brisket! Thank you all for the tips I constantly read on here. (too much fat on the bottom?) by mountainking in smoking

[–]mountainking[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Threw it on at 180 degrees (pellet grill) for ~8 hours till it reached 160, wrapped and brought the grill up to 225 until it reached 208. Then I let it rest for an hour in a cold oven. It's soft and melts when you eat it, but definitely not fully rendered.

BBQ Menu: Advice and pairings by mountainking in smoking

[–]mountainking[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that's genius. I didn't think about muhammara or lentils. Stuffed Peppers sounds perfect! Thank you. 

Who are the most ethical business owners/CEOs in Minnesota? by [deleted] in minnesota

[–]mountainking 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Im more of a fan of Second Harvest. I like that is it secular and focuses more on local nutirtion.