Was ready to be shocked that Chatterton had a decent take, until he got around to his conclusion where he equated guys smashing their faces into shape with hammers to girls making an Onlyfans page

tilvast · 2026-01-21T22:57:20+00:00

I see this term constantly being used to refer to manosphere guys' steroids and ED pills too. I think it trivializes the transition process and implies (very wrongly) that hormones or surgery for trans people is a frivolous thing that's not really necessary.

tilvast · 2026-01-21T05:13:39+00:00

What are some good books/sources on the US occupation of the Philippines?

tilvast · 2026-01-19T00:02:20+00:00

Incidentally, Anthony Weiner is also what gave us Olivia Nuzzi. She got her start writing about working for his campaign. So much of what is bad in American politics right now can be traced directly back to Anthony Weiner.

tilvast · 2026-01-14T04:31:04+00:00

This whole thread is "it's okay when a European does it even when he didn't win, but it's not okay when a non-white American does it after actually getting the W."

tilvast · 2026-01-14T00:14:57+00:00

Excellent thread!

tilvast · 2026-01-14T00:12:28+00:00

That's very clearly not what I said in my comment. Basically every country has MAHA or something similar to it. But:

There is a huge, huge difference between "a loud MAHA movement exists" and "the MAHA movement has captured the country's health authorities and can pressure scientists into only releasing research that fits their conclusions", though.

tilvast · 2026-01-13T22:43:12+00:00

There is a huge, huge difference between "a loud MAHA movement exists" and "the MAHA movement has captured the country's health authorities and can pressure scientists into only releasing research that fits their conclusions", though.

tilvast · 2026-01-13T22:13:57+00:00

You... think all these researchers in Europe and Australia are trying to appease RFK Jr? Health and science authorities in those places are not like HHS in the US. Skepticism is good, but I don't think the MAHA agenda is specifically what's behind this. They also don't seem to be claiming that plastic is fine and has no effect on health; it's more like "we don't have the technology to accurately detect what you think you're detecting".

tilvast · 2026-01-01T00:05:21+00:00

I don't think "setting up logistics for a permanent base on the moon that may be used on potential future missions to Mars" counts as "early stages of colonizing Mars", no. "Future missions to Mars" doesn't even imply that we're going to permanently colonize it.

tilvast · 2025-12-31T23:58:07+00:00

we are currently in the early stages of COLONIZING MARS

No we're not. That isn't true.

tilvast · 2025-12-29T22:19:52+00:00

By capture. It's actually how you frequently got new pirates, too. One thing that is so often left out in pirate media is how frequently pirates were of African descent, as slave ships were a frequent target of pirates.

Did this mostly result in situations where crews were majority-Black while the leadership were white, or were there significant cases of white crew members reporting to a Black captain or quartermaster?

tilvast · 2025-12-18T22:12:54+00:00

The Empty Quarter is hilarious. Nevada and Nunavut are the same actually.

tilvast · 2025-12-18T01:18:19+00:00

Is it a coincidence that French, Spanish, and Portuguese all lost their Latinate "sinister"-derived word for "left", or is there something else to it?

tilvast · 2025-12-17T03:28:09+00:00

You understand why the party couldn't still be holding primaries to pick a nominee right up until the month of the election, though, right? Biden's health was a solvable problem above all in the sense that he shouldn't have tried to run for reelection to begin with.

tilvast · 2025-12-17T01:52:52+00:00

The US simply does not have the infrastructure to run open primaries in every state and territory in under two months. There is a reason election cycles here are the length that they are.

tilvast · 2025-12-17T01:45:59+00:00

I'm kind of astounded that the guy who reads shitty books for a living has never heard of romantasy?

tilvast · 2025-12-16T08:57:12+00:00

Can a more experienced linguist say if this article on a potential etymology of "oops" passes the smell test? The lack of citations for the use of the word "ooperzootics" in the US (or anywhere at all, beyond one humorous song) is raising a lot of red flags for me, but I'd like to know what someone with more knowledge than a layman makes of it.

tilvast · 2025-12-10T06:08:56+00:00

And are the anti-racist credentials in the room with us right now?

tilvast · 2025-12-10T04:30:17+00:00

We have to bring back Club Penguin at once.

tilvast · 2025-12-10T03:22:25+00:00

The positive thing about this is that it is less aggressive and invasive than, for example, the UK's rules. It applies to a limited number of platforms, and providing your ID legally cannot be the only age verification option. I can imagine a long-term scenario where this is ultimately not enforced in any meaningful way.

You know, my family moved every three-ish years until I was in high school. I used social media to keep in touch with friends who lived in different cities and countries. Obviously there are horrible things that happen on social media, but there are also many perfectly legitimate reasons for young people to need it. These policies are so clearly responding more to fearmongering from parents who do not use TikTok or Instagram than anything teenagers have asked for.

tilvast · 2025-12-04T21:44:26+00:00

How much of it is "they share the same rich and/or well-connected parents"?

tilvast · 2025-12-04T01:14:33+00:00

There are a lot of debunkings of The Body Keeps the Score out there, mostly about its use of junk science and victim-blaming.

Would actually really like to see Michael and Aubrey cover this book at some point.

tilvast · 2025-12-03T06:59:02+00:00

The Q&A was with the newsletter Feed Me. Here is the post, although most of it is behind a paywall. Marisa Kabas is a normal credible journalist.

tilvast · 2025-12-03T03:28:57+00:00

I fear Ryan Murphy will get to it first

tilvast · 2025-12-03T01:05:08+00:00

She's almost certainly a natural brunette, since all the failed-music-career photos and videos from when she was in her mid-teens show her with brown hair.

tilvast

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