"I apologise it was taken that way. I was with a group of friends and there was nothing serious about it.”

Haven’t we heard that enough by now to know that’s a pathetic, bullshit excuse? What you say with friends reveals something about you and how you think. The guy could’ve said nothing and he’d have been fine, but for some reason the idea of taking over Iceland was in his mind and for some reason he felt comfortable making light of it. If infringing on another country’s sovereignty is such a non-issue that he feels comfortable joking about it, he’s clearly not fit to be an ambassador. (Though as a Trump-appointee, it’s hardly surprising he’s not fit for the job.)

No one migrated en masse to Lemmy because making an account here is too much work for someone to just hop on over and check out.

On the plus side, Lemmy doesn’t force you to make an account in order to view it. That’s becoming increasingly rare these days. It used to be normal to lurk for a while and get a feel for a site before taking the jump to making an account, but so many places won’t let you view a damn thing unless you sign up (and then when you have an account, they try to force their app onto you. Because of course.)

At least with Lemmy, newcomers can browse around and decide if making the account is worth it. The choices involved in picking an instance might not draw in crowds, but hopefully it’ll draw in those who actually want to engage with the site. Quality over quantity.

You’re so kind, thank you. 💜

Trump declares himself the acting president of Venezuela.

He also thinks it’s fine to kidnap the president of Venezuela.

Well, if both those things are true…

I still would’ve thought it funny, even if I was not supposed to show it. I was a “smart ass” kid and know that not every teacher treats kids with respect from the get-go, so depending on the circumstances I might secretly be happy to see an act of civil disobedience.

But yeah, I do work with a much younger population. I know the kids I work with usually don’t mean to cause harm, they just aren’t emotionally mature enough to react in socially-appropriate ways. It all depends on the circumstance, which is another thing I’ve seen a lot of school officials completely ignore. Sigh.

I guess I was jaded because i got detention for just existing.

Which is how I (and many others) ended up growing up with an abysmal sense of self-worth. I didn’t understand why I was in trouble all the time (yay undiagnosed autism/ADHD) and for years internalized the idea that I must just be “bad” and deserve whatever happens to me. Which was hard, because I always wanted to help people and would give of myself to others when needed. But something must be seriously wrong with me, I figured, since no matter what I did, I always ended up in detention, grounded in my room, or both.

I was able to overcome that eventually, thankfully, but it made me a doormat during my teenage and young adult years as I was effectively taught to never stand up for myself. Cue abusive partners and employers dominating a good chunk of my life.

That’s funny. When I realize that a kid I worked with took something I said literally, I recognize it as my mistake in wording, and laugh about it. I’ll say something like, “Okay, that is technically what I said. Perhaps I should’ve phrased it as such-and-such” and I then tell/show the kid what I meant. No punishments. We are trained to take responsibility when there’s a miscommunication. We are the adults, after all, and if a kid misunderstands us, we’re supposed to clarify ourselves - not expect them to magically know something they weren’t taught.

It’s such a far away world from the environment I was taught in, and I’m so glad to work somewhere that aligns with the science of how kids develop.

I would hope that some people reading this thread come away with a better understanding of why the dream of an American uprising is so difficult to achieve. I know these stories probably come from all around the world, but so far I can easily imagine everything I’ve read here as happening in a normal US school (like the ones I went to.) The authoritarian indoctrination starts young. Those that don’t get in trouble, but witness others getting in trouble for stupid things, learn to keep their heads down and stay quiet, even when something unjust is happening. That behavior carries on into adulthood. Now we have millions of people raised in such school environments, feeling utterly helpless as their neighbors get kidnapped or killed in the streets by government agents.

got 3 days off school at home fishing and playing video games. Best time I had at that school

This reminds me of the external suspension place my town’s schools used for middle and high schoolers. Regular suspension and in-school suspension existed, but a handful of us “trouble-makers” went to this place in a plaza where it was like a single (or double, with a retractable wall) classroom. Thing is, going there rocked. The hours started later than normal school (9am vs 7 or 7:30am), there was a pizza place in the same plaza that we would get lunch from, we watched movies (it’s where I first saw The Breakfast Club, funny enough), and afternoons were spent just chatting with each other (I think it was supposed to be “therapy” but nobody working there was licensed for therapy, so we all just talked.) Instead of gym, we either took walks or went to the community center in the same plaza and used the equipment (much better than school gyms.) Oh, and one of the teachers was missing a finger - IIRC he lost it in a water skiing accident. Dude was cool and laid back - all the teachers were.

So I’d be able to sleep in, get all my schoolwork and homework done during the morning, watch a movie, and screw around talking with other kids who were ostensibly there for being “in trouble.”

As to why I was there? I’d been there a few times and can’t recall each incident, but for the longest stay it was because I was being picked on by numerous classmates at the same time and in anger I told them all to “drop dead.” Apparently, in a zero-tolerance, post-9/11 school environment, that is considered “making a threat.” I got two weeks external suspension for it.

I insisted, “It’s not a threat, it’s a suggestion,” but what are ya gonna do?

The top left reminds me of Alzheimer’s, so I ruled that one out immediately. Spending enough time in a nursing home, seeing people who are perpetually confused… it’s terrifying. Their emotions take over as their rational mind deteriorates, leaving some people angry or depressed every waking moment (at least. That is, I wouldn’t be surprised if their dreams are horrifying too.) People rarely know what year it is, and start to panic because they realize they haven’t fed their baby in a while (which is technically true, as “their baby” is now 60 and fully capable of feeding themselves. But the Alzheimer’s patient doesn’t know that.) Those are the ones who can still talk. Not everyone is that lucky. Some stare at the wall catatonically for hours, or are so lost they don’t understand that the “toy” they found in their pocket is actually shit from their diaper. Disintegrated minds are a horror I wouldn’t want to wish on anyone.

Whether in the top left scenario or when suffering from Alzheimer’s, you’re an isolated, broken brain that can barely communicate with itself, let alone with others. Other people are around, but they aren’t going to fix you. The difference is, someone with Alzheimer’s eventually gets the release of death.

All of these scenarios suck, but I think the bottom left sounds the most potentially-enjoyable. If the worst thing happening is a “time dilation glitch” and I’m already conscious for eternity in each scenario, then does it really matter? Time would eventually be meaningless anyway. At least my mind would be intact and there’s no explicit pain (physical or emotional) involved.

I might try to get a couch with my next paycheck. This is all really good to know, thank you. I’m saving your comment for reference when shopping.

Right? It’s such a petty thing. Yeah, I get not wanting to touch the toilet, but I don’t understand why the burden should be 100% on either gender. Just pay attention to the seat before you use it (regardless of which direction it’s going), do your business, keep it clean, replace the toilet paper when it runs low/out, and we’ll all be fine.

Edit to add. My ex’s ex made a huge deal about the toilet seat. When I first moved in with him, there were stickers that said “PUT THE SEAT DOWN” on the bottom side of it. I thought it was humiliating. I bought some Goo Gone and removed that shit.

Ah, that makes more sense.

It’s because a lot of women “hover.” They don’t want to touch the seat, but also don’t want to use seat covers or lay down toilet paper. Instead, they squat and hover over the seat, which leaves a gap for piss to spill onto. Then for some unknown reason, they don’t take some toilet paper and clean up the pee they leave.

It’s terrible and I can’t understand it.

I generally avoid the downvote button, at least, I think so. I downvote AI slop (especially in communities that explicitly forbid it.) Though for comments I may put a train of downvotes for some troll that’s all over a thread.

I feel like there may be a misinterpretation here though. My ratio is more “upvote-oriented” than yours. Unless you mean aggressive with upvoting, which perhaps, I may be.

I’m a woman but I grew up with guys, so I never understood what the big deal was. It’s ingrained in me to check the seat before sitting, as well as to check the amount of toilet paper before going.

Guys have to lift the seat, I have to put it down, so what? I’m washing my hands when I’m done anyway (and I hope others are too), and I’d rather just have to put a seat down than have to wipe someone else’s piss off it (which I have to do in public restrooms, because some women are straight-up animals there.)

I curate my feed, blocking communities that don’t interest me. So yeah kinda.

100% real. When I worked at a store that had “loyalty accounts” and someone didn’t want to sign up, I’d (quietly) tell them to use (local area code) 687-5309 so they’d still get a discount. Every time I’ve tried it somewhere, an account already existed.

Hm, I’ve got an upvote/downvote post ratio of 315:1, and a comment ratio of about 14:1.

I guess I’m an optimist.

Oh snap, are you at the episode with Randy yet? (Season 3, episode 27) It ends in a cliffhanger to end off Season 3,

You’ll notice, in the start of Season 4, that Randy never returns. This is because Randy was played by Phil Hartman, who died only 8 days after the last episode of Season 3 aired on TV.

When I first watched the series, I was a kid and didn’t know why his character was abandoned. Learning about it later, and knowing what a key figure he had in animation (voicing characters on The Simpsons, and being the person that Futurama’s Zapp Brannigan was designed to be played by), watching that arc felt very different.

RIP Phil, you’re still missed.