stupid first world problems you're dealing with

  On 5/26/2024 at 6:22 PM, Silent Member said:

My Danish family has gone from dropping awkward racists jokes once in a blue moon to going full on hatefull racist bullshit and delusional nazi like conspiracy theories about brown people and leftists. I just can't deal with their shit anymore, contact cut. Wtf happened to Denmark.

Where in Denmark are they from and what exactly did they say? I’ll see if I can shine some light on it 

EDIT: didn’t see your reply to wunderbar   

  On 5/26/2024 at 9:01 PM, Silent Member said:

Let's see... The great replacement theory, LGBTQ+ are all pedophile sickos (and so is anyone supporting them), climate change is a hoax, leftists are trying to cancel critical thinking, Palestine casualties are fake (pallywood) and they're all rabid terrorist Jihad baby rapers running around in bomb vests that deserve to die anyway. You know, the usual stuff. I suspect they're even more deranged in private, but this is the stuff they're now comfortable telling me. All the hygge went out the window, it's just fucked up hate spewing from them. They used to be pretty normal people.

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Jesus. I don’t know anyone or have heard of anyone who believes in all of that. 
What part of Denmark are they from? 

They're white trashy low income/disability/welfare people, not the brightest bunch, but it used to be all about good feels, sharing a beer and food and generally being nice to everyone, but now they've all gone bonkers. Up in Kokkedal/Hørsholm. They were suddenly into Stram Kurs out of the blue and then things quickly deteriorated.

Edit: I'm glad to hear this isn't normal 

  On 5/26/2024 at 10:10 PM, Silent Member said:

They're white trashy low income/disability/welfare people, not the brightest bunch, but it used to be all about good feels, sharing a beer and food and generally being nice to everyone, but now they've all gone bonkers. Up in Kokkedal/Hørsholm. They were suddenly into Stram Kurs out of the blue and then things quickly deteriorated.

Edit: I'm glad to hear this isn't normal 

Do you have an inkling on what pushed them over the edge?

I'm sorry about your situation it must be difficult getting alienated from your family members like that.

Idk if it is naive but i feel these fears are more rooted in fear than hatred.

on a different but still deadly note,

one of my tires looked a little flat so I checked it and thought the gauge was broken: five psi? insane. checked the other tires, all normal levels.

don't know how long I was driving like that but jfc I'm feeling lucky that it survived. yay for buying the not-least-expensive tires last year

ps - sorry to hear about your family's late shit attitude mr member

  On 5/26/2024 at 10:10 PM, Silent Member said:

They're white trashy low income/disability/welfare people, not the brightest bunch, but it used to be all about good feels, sharing a beer and food and generally being nice to everyone, but now they've all gone bonkers. Up in Kokkedal/Hørsholm. They were suddenly into Stram Kurs out of the blue and then things quickly deteriorated.

Edit: I'm glad to hear this isn't normal 

Yeah, that isn't normal behavior, but with the way you describe them it kinda makes sense. I think something happened during COVID. I've heard of perfectly normal people falling into the conspiracy theory mindset during COVID which for some reason gels with racism.

But it's NOT normal behavior.

  On 5/29/2024 at 8:15 PM, Squee said:

Yeah, that isn't normal behavior, but with the way you describe them it kinda makes sense. I think something happened during COVID. I've heard of perfectly normal people falling into the conspiracy theory mindset during COVID which for some reason gels with racism.

But it's NOT normal behavior.

social media's effects.

it appears to have shifted or reset what's widely accepted as truth, and so it's all up for debate despite either being broadly settled, accepted or not discussed. 

i would guess it's triggered by troll factories in russia or china, so of course this sounds like bizarre conspiracy nonsense itself.

good cover story, ultimately?

  On 5/26/2024 at 6:22 PM, Silent Member said:

My Danish family has gone from dropping awkward racists jokes once in a blue moon to going full on hatefull racist bullshit and delusional nazi like conspiracy theories about brown people and leftists. I just can't deal with their shit anymore, contact cut. Wtf happened to Denmark.

is it unfair of me to have always suspected that this was there and is only just coming to the surface now? I have never bought into the whole "omg superior scandi civilisation" thing.

  On 5/30/2024 at 8:33 AM, usagi said:

is it unfair of me to have always suspected that this was there and is only just coming to the surface now? I have never bought into the whole "omg superior scandi civilisation" thing.

A friend of mine used to be into WTC metal beams, chem trails, and that Icelandic volcano that erupted back in 2010 (it was a facade so they could test out this new plane... ssshh, don't tell anyone), but he was pretty harmless. Once he went back to school and got a girlfriend things calmed down. He was the only one I knew at the time who was into it and people used to point fingers at him and chuckle.

But I do think that logboy is correct in that social media plays into it. There have always been dumb people. But now these dumb people can find groups of other dumb people on Facebook, Twitter or whatever and they can acknowledge each other's dumb theories.
Luckily, in Denmark at least, these people aren't as loud and obnoxious as in... let's say, the US. 

But now that I think of it, there was a group of people during COVID calling themselves "Men in Black" who somehow gathered quite a few people to protest on the streets of Copenhagen. But I don't think anyone has heard anything about or from them since.

I think "dumbness" is universal, and people over-ascribe the ability of certain more positively-perceived cultures to mitigate inherent dumbness in people.

also some of these people are not dumb, by the standard definition of the term. some are well-educated, high-functioning and in positions of power, and are willing to make anti-human decisions. perhaps a better term would be "evil".

There are Finnish MAGA and QAnon people, which doesn't make any sense. I kinda sorta understand general conspiracy theorists with a wide palette of insanity, but MAGA and QAnon are US-centric and have absolutely nothing to do with Finland. I know QAnon has been conflated within the general conspiracy theory framework, but it's still nuts that it's a thing here. Smart people can be and are stupid, too, but like stated above, stupidity (and gullibility) is universal. If you try to make something stupid-proof, reality just creates better stupidity.

if the USA was a first world country i wouldn't be spending time on the phone clarifying health insurance company bullshit.

so it's 6:36am. i went to clean my sounding rod, got the water boiling and set everything up, only to discover spots of rust on the rod and particularly around the tip. i've got a big day ahead of me and now it seems i'll have to buy a new sounding rod, which i'll have to get from a store on the high street.

it's not even going to be sterile ffs. i mean which would be more dangerous, a sounding rod picked up from the shelf, or a fully sterilised rod which happens to have small spots of rust?

  On 5/30/2024 at 9:35 AM, dcom said:

There are Finnish MAGA and QAnon people, which doesn't make any sense. I kinda sorta understand general conspiracy theorists with a wide palette of insanity, but MAGA and QAnon are US-centric and have absolutely nothing to do with Finland. I know QAnon has been conflated within the general conspiracy theory framework, but it's still nuts that it's a thing here. Smart people can be and are stupid, too, but like stated above, stupidity (and gullibility) is universal. If you try to make something stupid-proof, reality just creates better stupidity.

We have them in Canada as well. They keep going on and on about “first amendment rights being violated”. In Canada, the first amendment to our constitution was to establish Manitoba as a province. 
 

we also had a QAnon “Queen of Canada” but then she got arrested:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66930536

  On 5/30/2024 at 8:16 AM, logboy said:

I would guess it's triggered by troll factories in russia or china, so of course this sounds like bizarre conspiracy nonsense itself.

 

It is pretty well documented that China and Russia as well as India are dedicating resources to sowing disinformation in “the west”.

Obviously western nations play information warfare games as well, but it’s much easier to counter autocratic regimes with actual situational evidence as opposed to straight up disinformation. There is certainly disinformation at play, but nowhere near to the opposite extent. 

  On 5/24/2024 at 4:48 PM, Berk said:

think i'm experiencing the 'peter principle' firsthand right now. got 'promoted' to a middle manager kinda role and it fucking sucks ass - miss me. i'm still doing my own tasks while i also need to coordinate a bunch of shit. it's just a bunch of extra work instead of a different role really, so the quality and time gets spread pretty thin. i'm pretty perfectionist so i beat myself over it. shit keeps going wrong.

and did i say promoted? nah, i don't get paid extra for this so what the fuck. i said yes to this to improve my chances on getting a permanent contract. now that i've got one pls get me the fuck out of this position. already talked to my superior about this. hopefully can ditch these tasks soon and just go back to teaching and maybe some other more content-related stuff. i suck at this for real and it's making me feel inadequate and depressed

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Oh man, I feel your pain.  I've spent so much energy in my career just trying to avoid this kind of crap.  I love what I do and I'm kind of an expert in a niche area, but damn it's been hard to stay out of the vortex of, "hey, why don't you try and learn some of these business skills", or, "hey you're getting good ratings let's move you to a manager position."  I'm good at what I do, I bring enough value with what I do, I don't want to manage people, I want to work in the lab with my hands and solve problems with my brain, not push papers and give performance reviews all day long, FFS.

I can't blame the company for trying to do this, they're trying to squeeze as much value out of me as they can, and that is enough to prod most lackeys into playing their game.  I've been extremely lucky in that my niche-ness has given me just enough leverage to tell them to fuck off with all that garbage.

The funniest thing has been to watch the expressions on the faces of all these corporate ladder-climbers who just absolutely cannot fathom why I don't want to join them in climbing this absurd ladder.

  On 6/7/2024 at 3:27 PM, chenGOD said:

They keep going on and on about “first amendment rights being violated”. In Canada, the first amendment to our constitution was to establish Manitoba as a province. 

Lmao

  On 6/7/2024 at 4:35 PM, EdamAnchorman said:

The funniest thing has been to watch the expressions on the faces of all these corporate ladder-climbers who just absolutely cannot fathom why I don't want to join them in climbing this absurd ladder.

This!

I can drop my manager tasks at the end of this semester so I'm relieved btw 

  On 6/7/2024 at 3:34 PM, chenGOD said:

It is pretty well documented that China and Russia as well as India are dedicating resources to sowing disinformation in “the west”.

Obviously western nations play information warfare games as well, but it’s much easier to counter autocratic regimes with actual situational evidence as opposed to straight up disinformation. There is certainly disinformation at play, but nowhere near to the opposite extent. 

within coverage in the media in the UK, it's generally and widely taken that these countries have moved from taking specific direct actions alone, to destabilising actions in general. it's harder to counter, when you take opportunities to feed nonsense directly to the population, and it's undermining and working as it's bypassing normal routes used to cause trouble for democracies. social media is the key opportunity, and the 2016 usa election the initial start of major operations. you'll not easily put a stop to it, as social media companies themselves know they operate in ways which can't be policed, and have pushed for scale to increase the resilience they'd naturally have against legislation to control their activities. it doesn't help that those in charge aren't concerned as much as they could be, and simply like having their lifestyle altered, despite apparently also putting themselves amongst all those arguments about free speech and the like.

one of the local squirrels that's kinda banged up, bum left front paw/leg, is getting worse. it's kind of a loner and the other squirrels stay away from it.. i think he had his ass kicked and got banished or something. his tail has always been less fluffy than the others. this morning i saw it in the back yard kinda sitting there licking his wounds. he didn't bolt when i went outside.. like the other squirrels usually do. so, not a good sign. i game him a pile of peanuts.  i think his hind legs or back are also fucked now. maybe the crows or local cat etc fucked him up. 

there's a local Wildlife Care Center that is open everyday and will take native species if they're injured but will not take non-native animals. Most squirrels in portland are non-native species from eastern USA. I can't identify which this squirrel is as they all look very similar and their coats change some in different seasons. i was thinking about trapping it and bringing it to the wild life center but might be in vain and again.. not sure which kind of squirrel and generally don't want to mess w/it in case it's sick or something. 

gave him another pile of peanuts and will check to see if it's still posted up in the same area. it's def having mobility issues. i like watching to squirrels and their crazy antics. 

pour some out for my local squirrel friend. 

edit: just went to check.. it wasn't out there. so either moved on to go be a squirrel elsewhere so is perhaps more mobile than appeared to be..  or was picked up by a hawk. saw no signs of a struggle. circle of life is being a circle. 

the raccoons and perhaps some cats use the pitched roof of my backyard shed as a poopy place. pile of pine needles up against the sky light seems to be the preferred spot. i always forget about it so when i see that it's time to sweep the pine needles off the rood i'm still surprised by the poop mess.

dry poop pile photo below.

  On 6/21/2024 at 10:39 PM, ignatius said:

the raccoons and perhaps some cats use the pitched roof of my backyard shed as a poopy place. pile of pine needles up against the sky light seems to be the preferred spot. i always forget about it so when i see that it's time to sweep the pine needles off the rood i'm still surprised by the poop mess.

dry poop pile photo below.

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lasers shooting out of plastic wolf faces seems pretty IDM dude...you should give 'em a shot

  On 6/21/2024 at 11:30 PM, zero said:

lasers shooting out of plastic wolf faces seems pretty IDM dude...you should give 'em a shot

i don't mind the raccoons. they're kinda cool when i happen to see them.. but why they gotta poop on the roof? too lazy to go all the way to ground floor? they stay in teh big tree mostly

My friends who earn way more than I do won't stop dragging me along to stuff that costs a lot.

If anyone was wondering what happened to the "autechre now playing thread" (maybe no one was), I scrapped it because half the links in the thread disappeared overnight, for the second time. sfwp: I always try to use youtube links directly from the "artist: topic" channel because I thought they were the most reliable, i.e. other channels might get taken down for posting an artist's music. But this was the second time the official autechre:topic channel seemingly replaced all the links for entire albums.