I used to be able to tell myself that I was okay living in Montana. We were “conservative” but not “Conservative”. We had democrats in the Senate and as governor.

But now the things that conservatives claimed they stood for no longer matter. They used to say that they wanted to be left alone. It’s why you see so many unironic no step on snek license plates up here.

Even here, where we have a fantastic drag scene and (in the larger areas) a “do not fuck with one of us no matter their orientation or identity” vibe; we’re seeing the GOP mind virus take hold.

At our last Pride gathering we had out and open white supremacists begging us to attack them. Our city soccer league has had an, everybody is welcome no matter what, policy. We almost had to cancel this year because our insurance doubled after a single sick bastard took issue with out having three transitioned players. He threatened to come back with his buddies after we confronted him. We still had to file a police report.

And it’s not even the majority of ruralites! Both of the incidents I described were Idahoans coming here to stir shit up.

Gotta mention Pop_OS! as a fantastic beginner distro. My 72 year old mother refuses to use anything else. It’s simple, has automated backups and disaster recovery, and installs non-free drivers for graphics cards.

I don’t personally use it since it doesn’t yet support Wayland and my gaming rig has a HiDPI screen and X11 doesn’t support fractional scaling. Or per screen scaling.

I’m legally obligated to inform you that I run Arch.

Fun fact: You can use this phrase in practically every political context.

I’m not saying that he has late stage syphilitic dementia. But if he doesn’t then I’m somehow even more confused about his recent actions.

Greatest state if you’re a white cis male bath salts enthusiast.

For the rest of us, it’s just another place to avoid like it’s riddled with the plague. Which was also one their aims.

The most livable place outside of the Earth is in the upper atmosphere of Venus. It’s way closer to the Earth. And air pirates would sail through clouds of sulfuric acid on their steampunk zeppelins.

My own anthropological pet theory.

Dunbar’s number is the concept that a person can only have so many meaningful relationships. Another way of thinking about it is that we, as a species, feel most comfortable in tribes with a certain number of people.

Which makes sense. I hated, hated the little rednecky town that I grew up in. But when I moved to a larger city, the first few weeks were spent overcoming the loneliness of not knowing everybody around me.

What massive online social media does is essentially short circuit the behavior that we developed when we began urbanizing.

Now a person can be a member of twenty tribes without ever needing to leave their homes. If we are, in fact, only capable of a finite number of close friendships then every close relationship that you have online is energy that won’t be spent on a physical one.

True story: I left Facebook in 2016. I had been miserable but didn’t even think to relate the two. About a month after I jumped ship I got adopted by a group of fellow nerds nearing midlife. We hang out at least twice per week. Pub trivia, bowling, hiking. Those interactions are so much more meaningful than anything you can get on social media. By our nature, humans crave physical company.

Social media isn’t going to “break” us. But, if nothing changes, it will further dramatically alter society.

Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… human.

Pro tip: Yell “harder, daddy” while you’re being physically assaulted. You’ll still have physical and mental scars, but at least you’ll ensure that you’ll only get a beatdown from a trusted authority figure once.¹

¹ This advice is null and void if the teacher is a dom

Totally agree with you.

I was abused in church but never in school (outside of racial epithets). Sometimes it’s easy to forget that not everybody develops a gallows humor as a coping mechanism. Thinking back to those times while in a depressive stage is a recipe for disaster.

But you are absolutely correct. Some things should only be joked about when in a group of trusted people. And I accept your advice in the spirit in which it was meant. To foster a more accepting and safer community for everybody and not as a way of getting a cheap joke.

I’d much rather be gently corrected than to be part of the background noise that might be making people feel uncomfortable.

Genuinely, thank you.