will this year be a year in which we leap, as a collective?

I find it’s important to allow yourself to be vulnerable to a moderate degree, to give people the chance to expose themselves as a giver or taker.

What a miserable SOB

its face is so smol

its eyes are keen

meow meow meow meow

evergreen

The cynic in me believes that the purpose of these investigations isn’t to uncover wrongdoings to punish, but to uncover wrongdoings to hold over their heads, in order to control.

Yeah, I agree - unions and representative collective bargaining is the best shot that most of us have to effect any meaningful, positive change, and I hope that our willingness and ability to unionize only increases. Unions seem to be trending upward these days, at least relative to the past couple of decades, but they also seem to largely operate in an employment-centric capacity.

When it comes to environmental concerns, though, it really does feel fruitless. I’m not saying that giving up is the answer - just that it’s important to acknowledge and accept when the situation feels futile, and continue to try regardless, especially in light of our collective fates at the end of the road. In the US, at least, corporate influencers have had so much time to set things up in their favor - through the courts, legislature, and minds of the people - that it feels like we’re fish caught in their net.

Representative democracy is our best bet for effecting positive change on that front too, but our current conundrum is that many of our representatives have stopped representing us in meaningful ways, often paying lip service while they get paid through Super PACs and amenities. The best way to change that, short of violence (in which the outcome is, at best, mutually assured destruction of both government and populace) is, again, voting together, at the same time, and in the same direction.

I still hope for a better future, and I will do what is in my power to try and realize that future. I just hope that there are enough of us trying, at the same time, and in the same direction.

Maybe it works like caterpillar goop in the cocoon. It’s goop, and not exactly a caterpillar anymore, but experiments have shown that there’s at least some persistence of being, even after the former caterpillar-goop has become a butterfly. E.g. If you train a caterpillar to react to a specific stimuli with a negative response, the resultant butterfly will respond to the same stimuli in the same way that the caterpillar did.

It’s like that scene in Finding Nemo, where the fish are caught in the net. None of the fish want to die, but the net is going to keep pulling them to their death regardless of their collective desires. Subverting that fate requires that every single fish pull together, at the same time, and in the same direction, which, outside of an animated movie, isn’t going to happen.

Changing the system requires us to vote together, at the same time, and in the same direction, which, outside of an animated movie, isn’t going to happen.

Apathy is just the state of those that have tired themselves out trying to make up for the fact that not everyone is going to be pulling at the same time, and in the same direction. If no matter how hard you pull, the net is going to keep pulling you in whichever direction its operators desire, pulling is a futile endeavor, and apathy will eventually be all you have left.

First they banned Uncle Roger, and now they’re coming after Chef Wang Gang :(

I’ve gotten back into Warframe on Steam/PC recently. I’ve been pretty busy with work, so it’s nice to have a game where I can log in, do a mission or two, log off, and get back to work in 20 minutes or so. I like to play it when I need to take a short break from work, too.

I’ll probably be playing this until Spider-Man 2 gets around to releasing on Steam.

Not As Sexy by Jazz Emu

It’s been stuck in my head for at least a few days, maybe longer.

I read somewhere that company towns are starting to make a comeback. It’s only a matter of time until rentals are contingent upon you patronizing their brands.

Life gets more turbulent as you age so you just try to hold the fuck on.

Thanks for the detailed reply! It’s a lot to think about, but I’ll definitely be mulling over the options! :)

I get mine when I shake my head to stop the memories! :)

I’ve been working on a graphic novel and have toyed with the idea of creating an instance and posting it here, chapter by chapter as I finish them, but sequential gallery-like image hosting is pretty bad and clunky, iirc. Does anyone know if there are any improvements slated in that regard, or if there are any solutions or workarounds to that effect?

I’ve bought every single one of the older ones and have them set to play a random one every time I boot up or wake from sleep. This is welcome news to me. :D

Creating intrigue is relatively straightforward if you don’t worry about sticking the landing.

I bought this on my Steam Deck a couple hours ago, and I’m having fun with it so far, even in spite of the fact that I’m pretty terrible at these kinds of games. The choice of difficulty level helps a lot in that regard, making things bearable without making things too easy.

The grappling hook lets you throw enemies’ projectiles back at them, and you can chuck the bodies of defeated enemies at new enemies, which is a (new to me) mechanic I’ve been having lots of fun with. There are 8 stages/bosses a la Megaman, and I’m two stages deep so far. Pretty fun. :)

…am I shawarma??