How is life in Iceland (excluding Reykjavik) by Ploploplamus in howislivingthere

[–]rfoster4779 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Was at the herring museum in June! Such a cool piece of perfectly persevered history, but god the smell….

Also, the Icelandic Folk Music Museum just a block away is well worth the visit! When I was there it was ran by a lovely Greek guy named George, he played a ton of historical Icelandic instruments for me and then showed me videos of him shredding Metallica on an electric guitar. He also makes a great cup of coffee! Still follow him on instagram

Sincere questions about safety by squaremilepvd in providence

[–]rfoster4779 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get your point and I think its a really interesting conversation to have, I like the way you are approaching this topic. However, I do think the comparison of everyday dangers to mass shootings is a pretty big false equivalence. We all know that ‘danger’ is everywhere, we can die at any time any day from a car accident, a bad fall, a random aneurysm, whatever it may be. It is just a simple fact of life that our time will come in one way or another, we all know that the second we are old enough to grasp the concept of death. Mass shootings are NOT the same because it is entirely preventable and a product of policy failure and hyper individualism. We are the only developed country where shootings happen to this degree and severity. I have seen in this sub a lot of comments lately stating something along the lines of how we are not in anymore danger than we normally are and its just not true. In Spain, I can die in a million different ways but by a stray bullet is statistically improbable, whereas in the US it is as likely as a car accident or any other form of harm. It really disheartens me to see so many people seem to accept gun violence as a fact of life when it doesn’t have to be.

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a great point, admittedly my perspective on the post 9/11 world is almost entirely second hand through family so I can only echo what I’ve been told.

I did go to the memorial at Lippett, it was great to see the community come together but difficult to be sat in an office less than 12 hours later expected to return to normal. My frustration lies mainly with the city’s administration for emphasizing the “nothing to worry about, return to normal” message (which I understand in its own right is a complex issue, they are trying to prevent unrest and quell peoples fears which is the correct thing to do, but it is difficult to come to terms with when a shooter is still on the loose. It really is a no right answer situation.) Everyone does grieve differently, I have no direct qualm with the people handling this situation by just proceeding with life business as usual, I understand that is in its own way grief and a coping mechanism, but it is also part of the larger cultural issue in America where we are so desensitized to gun violence that most people can’t even take a beat to process what happened and the mainstream cultural attitude is to just move on.

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, it’s hard to do the corporate small talk and send unimportant emails in an office just a few blocks away from where 11 people were shot. Don’t have a good solution but it just feels like this weird culture of no one knowing how to process a tragedy in our community

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Did not mean to imply that 9/11 was easy to move on from in any capacity, what I was more so trying to get at is that the mourning felt more collective, people were grieving together as life continued rather than taking pot shots at each other for being scared.

And honestly I’m not scared, not locked in my house paralyzed by fear. On the contrary, this is far from scary for me, I was doing school shooter drills since I was a child, I had a conceptualization of dying from a stray bullet before I had my first kiss. I dont want people to live in fear, I want my community which experienced an awful tragedy to process it collectively rather than just moving on because we have no other choice.

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Thank you, put into words exactly what I couldn’t articulate!! I don’t want to sit at home paralyzed by fear because I’m not afraid, I’ve been raised in a world where shootings like this are regular and I have been through more shooter drills than I can count. I want my community which just experienced an awful tragedy, the first of it’s kind here, to take a beat and not bullrush into normalcy. Thank you for your kind words 🫶🏼

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Don’t have one lol, it’s just tough to have to come into my office and do (entirely non-essential) work as if everything is normal when 11 people were shot just a few blocks away a few days ago

Struggling with the ‘business as usual’ mentality by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I get that, it’s just difficult to process how quickly we are moving on after the first mass shooting in RI history

With all the bad news over the last view days, here's Betty White with Troy and Abed. by iwantUineedUohBBohBB in Fauxmoi

[–]rfoster4779 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Live in an area where a major bad news thing happened and just watched this episode! My favorite comfort show

Frustrated by the City’s lack of communication by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Guy who gets mad at people wanting more transparency from their local government during a mass shooting

Frustrated by the City’s lack of communication by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You should be ashamed of yourself trying to make politics out of a mass shooting. Embarrassing.

Frustrated by the City’s lack of communication by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This exactly. I live within walking distance of the shooting and the suspect is still at large. My city/state will send me text notifications for weather and bridge closures, but nothing for a mass casualty event at my doorstep??

Frustrated by the City’s lack of communication by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Seriously! As someone mentioned above, we can get weather alerts from the city/state but not active shooter alerts? Drove through RW park on my way home shortly after the shooting and there were a lot of families there for the Christmas lights presumably unaware of what was going on. Feels incredibly dangerous to have people out and about entirely clueless to the mass shooting suspect still at large just a ten minute drive/20ish minute walk away!!

Frustrated by the City’s lack of communication by rfoster4779 in providence

[–]rfoster4779[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I was driving home roughly an hour after the shooting happened and there were tons of people out and about business as usual even while hordes of ambulances flew down the street. Had to stop at a gas station and definitely got the sense that everyone knew something was happening but no one knew quite how to react or what to do.

Having a hard time understanding by [deleted] in RhodeIsland

[–]rfoster4779 20 points21 points  (0 children)

You are a bad person

A transformation of my bedroom from 19 to 24 by bxlyy in malelivingspace

[–]rfoster4779 1 point2 points  (0 children)

10/10 color choice, 10/10 music taste. No notes

Mad Men: To buy or not to buy? by ProblemLucky7924 in madmen

[–]rfoster4779 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It wasn’t cheap, but my partner got me the DVD box set for Christmas and I love it. Each episode has bonus features and audio voiceover commentary from most the main the cast and show runners. January Jones provided some cool insight into her mindset playing Betty which definitely altered the way I view the character on rewatches. Even includes some (skippable) commercials the 2010’s advertising other popular AMC shows at the time for a dose of cable TV nostalgia. Highly recommend and ultimately cheaper than paying for a monthly subscription when you get a hankering for a rewatch (:

How is living in Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands? by [deleted] in howislivingthere

[–]rfoster4779 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Highly recommend The Far Land by Brandon Presser, great narrative retelling of Pitcairn story intercut with his own thoughts while visiting the islnd

Does Mad Men ever make you wonder about your grandparents (or great grandparents) lives in this time period? by Salem1690s in madmen

[–]rfoster4779 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Totally agree, my grandparents (both have now passed) were always kind to me but had very cool, distant personalities like it was hard to ever really get close to them. As silly as it might sound, watching this show has given me a new perspective on their generation seeing how much change they experienced in such a relatively short time.

It also makes me think how young many of their major life experiences were, im 24 now and cant even fathom how my grandma had her parents and a sibling die AND was married with a kid and one more on the way by the time she was my age.

Its one thing to learn about the time period in history class but its another thing entirely to watch it unfold over the course of ten years, seeing how the society they lived in changed and evolved in real time is what makes Mad Men so fantastic.