As an aroace - nope. I like being friends with people, even really close ones. I wouldn’t even mind a queerplatonic relationship (it can be the same level of emotional connection and commitment as dating/marriage, but without romance). I like spending time with them, doing activities together, and generally having shared plans. But I don’t want to hold hands (lewd ik), make out, share a room/bed, feel the obligation to make classic romantic gestures to “keep the relationship going”.

PSA - remember to pin versions of the dependencies your software uses. Just recently there was a 0day vulnerability in libwebp with CVE severity score 10/10, and that library is extremely widely used.

China fought on behalf of the reclusive communist state against the US and others during the 1950-1953 Korean war, and in recent years has helped prop up its weak economy, allegedly in violation of UN sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, which Beijing had endorsed.

Based on so many levels.

Extremely well put. I personally always thought of science as evidence that the dialectical approach makes the most sense, so OP’s question was hard for me to rationalize. To touch the moon we needed experts from almost every field to work together on a single goal. It doesn’t really get more interconnected than that.

It’s a good thing for good people to have money. It can go a long way - to relief orgs, mutual support funds, helping family and friends. And just to take care of yourself physically and mentally, so that you can reach your further goals. There’s a lot to be done. Get your bag, king.

Absolute classic.

Get dat fetus, kill dat fetus

Don’t feel bad for not reading “enough”. Capitalism is indeed shit, so you can just go from there. Doing stuff irl is more important that debating the nuances of state and revolution on twitter. Check out your local social orgs - mutual help funds, soup kitchens, shelters, etc. If you have free time, they could always use your help. And you can make some like-minded friends along the way.

There’s a lot of confusion, other comments addressed it pretty well. Meanwhile you might be interested in looking into IPFS. It’s kinda like the internet over torrent.

For a modern example - Cuba’s family code today is one of the most progressive on the planet. It’s legitimately hard to believe, especially with how broadly it defines “family”- https://nacla.org/cubas-new-family-code-window-political-ecosystem

For a more historical view - USSR decriminalized homosexuality in 1922. Later in 1934 “sodomy” was outlawed again. Here’s a letter from a british gay commie to Stalin arguing against this change, I think it’s right up your alley: https://www.marxist.com/letter-to-stalin-can-a-homosexual-be-in-the-communist-party.htm

Damn, I sure would hate it if the grocery prices in Canada were to plummet. Instead of going up 40% in the last ten years. I should be thankful though, at least it’s not like the rent that went up 50% since covid. Boy, I sure love the stimulated economy.

I’ve seen is a blurry video of like, two women, sitting in a room supposedly peeling garlic with their mouths

Kinky

You can usually find English movie showings. Either in proper theaters, or sometimes in public centers, game cafes, etc. You can look those up on ig/fb/local boards. From my experience people there are pretty open to socializing. Smaller shows for international bands can also work. And just stuff that’s not too reliant on language in the first place - gym, sport activities/events, food festivals.

If you are experiencing alienation that strongly, there are definitely other people who are in the same boat and are looking for new connections.

Same. Don’t sully the beautiful and working maglev trains with that garbage scam that killed any HSR hopes for millions of Californians.

Holy fucking copium. The entire thing is “we’re only interested in our national and strategic interests, but that’s actually good for both parties”.

The year began with the relationship at a historic low point. A year ago this week, a Chinese spy balloon traveled across the United States

Lmao

Unironically “but the other choice is worse!”. The democrats have been doing literally the same shit that republicans did (police funding, title 42, Roe v Wade, willow project, rail strike blocking, sinophobia, etc). And even the little good they’ve done, like the student loan freeze and forgiveness, infrastructure bill, build back better/inflation reduction act, are not really their campaign focus. So we’re just doing the 2020 election 2: electric boogaloo.

I can only comment on the shitty mic part. There’s a lot that can be done with software processing - leveling volume, cutting static and background noise, adjusting the sound of your voice. I recommend VSTHost with reaper plugins. The two really useful ones are:

reagate - noise gate. It cuts audio below a certain threshold. Great for random noises in the back, mouth sounds, etc. Here is a good explainer on how to use it.

reaeq - equalizer. You can tune out ambient sounds, level your voice frequencies, and compensate for all the weird things that cheap mics do. There’s a bunch of youtube videos on how to set up a good baseline for voice recording, and from there you can adjust by feel.

This image further proves that the main difference between anarchists and commies is showering habits.

Yeah, that’s valid. I just took it as “they might do it wrong, so maybe they just shouldn’t have done it at all”, my fault.

https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/defund-police-myth/

Of the 25 largest cities, 20 saw increases in their police budgets from FY 2019 to FY 2022. Twenty-one of these cities are run by Democrats.