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Cake day: July 10th, 2023

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  • This is a story about how someone from the Westboro Baptist Church left because of the way that people engaged with her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVV2Zk88beY

    What’s worth noting from this story, people that were hostile in their interactions with her only served to entrench her further in her ideals.

    What caused her to change her mind were the people that had “friendly arguments” and made an effort to learn where she was coming from.

    She listed out 4 key points when engaging in difficult conversations. I extracted/paraphrased some of what she said below:

    1. Don’t assume bad intent (assume good or neutral intent instead) - Assuming ill motive almost instantly cuts you off from truly understanding why someone does and believes as they do. We forget that they’re a human being with a lifetime of experience that shaped their mind and we get stuck on that first wave of anger and the conversation has a very hard time ever moving beyond it.

    2. Ask Questions - Asking questions helps us map the disconnect. We can’t present effective arguments if we don’t understand where the other side is coming from.

    3. Stay calm - She thought that “[her] rightness justified [her] rudeness”. When things get too hostile during a conversation, tell a joke, recommend a book, change the subject, or excuse yourself from the conversation. The discussion isn’t over, but pause it for a time to let tensions dissapate.

    4. Make the argument - One side effect of having strong beliefs is that we sometimes assume that the value of our position is, or should be, obvious and self-evident. That we shouldn’t have to defend our positions because they’re so clearly right and good. If it were that simple, we would all see things the same way.

    You can’t expect others to spontaneously change their minds. If we want change, we have to make the case for it.





  • I think the vast majority of unions out there are good, but there are definitely a select few that give the rest a bad reputation.

    At one of my previous jobs, our union was one of those that gives others a bad reputation.

    It was a seasonal job, we had to pay the union whether we wanted to be in it or not. If we had an out of season work meeting for training, all of the money that we earned would go straight to the union and we might end up with a $2 check (if that).

    We tried working with the union reps, but they just seemed so out of touch with our group. They would give themselves a big pat on the back for getting everyone a 2% raise and then raise the monthly dues… We barely made minimum wage so a percentage increase like that meant nothing to us.

    10 years later and most employees working there are still just earning minimum wage while similar jobs in other cities nearby are earning twice that (at least).


  • While this is definitely something people should be doing, doesn’t the attorney general only act out if they get enough complaints, or if the complaint stands out in some way?

    Will they actually work with someone to resolve their specific complaint every time?

    From what I’ve seen, at least the BBB will try to specifically address your issue with the company and is probably a much easier process to carry out before trying to take things further.

    Or is there something about using the BBB that would prevent you from filing a complaint with the attorney general, or prevent you from going further with something like a lawsuit?





  • Definitely not a movie night, you don’t get much of a chance to really know the other person from that, and if either one of you decides that the other is crazy it makes it a little harder to dip out.

    Ideally something simple that’s good for getting to know the other person while being able to leave at any time. Coffee, shaved ice, frozen yogurt, etc. Then a walk through a park or along a beach, or just sit down/people watch, and discuss your interests to see if either of you are interested in a second date.




  • I suppose if you’re not trying to let people know that their views are not acceptable then you’re part of the problem.

    Yes, but how are you approaching this discussion?

    I think there are different ways to handle this. On one hand you can be hostile and “give them what they deserve”. On the other hand you can engage in friendly arguments.

    This is a story about how someone from the Westboro Baptist Church left because of the way that people engaged with her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVV2Zk88beY

    What’s worth noting from this story, people that were hostile in their interactions with her only served to entrench her further in her ideals.

    What caused her to change her mind were the people that had “friendly arguments” and made an effort to learn where she was coming from.

    She listed out 4 key points when engaging in difficult conversations. I extracted/paraphrased some of what she said below:

    1. Don’t assume bad intent (assume good or neutral intent instead) - Assuming ill motive almost instantly cuts you off from truly understanding why someone does and believes as they do. We forget that they’re a human being with a lifetime of experience that shaped their mind and we get stuck on that first wave of anger and the conversation has a very hard time ever moving beyond it.

    2. Ask Questions - Asking questions helps us map the disconnect. We can’t present effective arguments if we don’t understand where the other side is coming from.

    3. Stay calm - She though that “[her] rightness justified [her] rudeness”. When things get too hostile during a conversation, tell a joke, recommend a book, change the subject, or excuse yourself from the conversation. The discussion isn’t over, but pause it for a time to let tensions dissapate.

    4. Make the argument - One side effect of having strong beliefs is that we sometimes assume that the value of our position is, or should be, obvious and self-evident. That we shouldn’t have to defend our positions because they’re so clearly right and good. If it were that simple, we would all see things the same way.

    You can’t expect others to spontaneously change their minds. If we want change, we have to make the case for it.



  • Most of those videos are also found on YouTube. I would expect that you don’t see those videos suggested to you because the algorithm has learned what you like to watch.

    If you open up YouTube with a VPN and in a private tab you’ll likely get search results that include a mix from both the right and the left.

    I’d rather not link to them, but from the ones you circled, these are the videos that I found on YouTube while doing a quick search:

    • The Babylon Bee video
    • The Paris Olympics opening ceremony video
    • The Assassins Creed video

    Now please excuse me as I purge my history…


  • Vomitting immediately after pushing your body to its limit is fairly normal.

    Someone correct me if I’m wrong, I believe the reason is because your body redirects blood/energy to the most important parts when your body is under strain.

    Edit: Please see the correction provided by EpicFailGuy below.

    So, if there’s too much food in your stomache and you’re pushing your body to its absolute limit, the stomache becomes less important as to whether it needs to continue working well. Blood is directed away from the stomache and you will vomit.

    This is, at least, what happens when someone goes through shock, I’m assuming something similar is at play when pushing your body to its limit.

    If swimmers end up sick or contracting some diseases, that’s when we should worry. But we won’t see those effects as immediately as the end of a race.