bitofarambler
@bitofarambler@crazypeople.online
I like to travel, learn and tell stories
- Comment on Why does Finland have a lower recidivism rate than the US? 3 days ago:
Many people turn and turn back to crime because they feel like they don’t have a choice.
Countries with lower recidivism focus on providing the support former criminals need to rejoin and contribute to society.
The focus of most US incarceration systems is to exploit criminals for their labor while receiving taxpayer money for housing those criminals.
Additionally, most states in the U.S. charge prison inmates for their incarceration. This policy is almost never referenced in TV or movies, but 42 states and DC have “pay for stay” incarceration legal frameworks, so a prisoner can get out of in jail or prison in the US and be in more debt than when they went in, because every day they’ve been charged for meals and rent and medical care.
It’s also extremely difficult to get a job as a convict in the US, so without any legal way to support themselves, no social support system and no viable social framework by which to rejoin a society, many US criminals feel forced to fall back into criminal activity just to pay for rent, food, and their children.
- Comment on New here: how do I see posts from other lemmys? 1 week ago:
you can join the communities you’re interested in and then your “subscribed” feed will include all the posts from just those communities.
- Comment on Crossing China with no map (part 1) 1 week ago:
Thank you. I’ve never heard of these guys, but will be posting them in the travel community now.
I’m watching the first episode in Japan, it’s a lot of fun.
- Comment on A Third of Americans Have Cut Spending or Borrowed Money for Health Care 2 weeks ago:
Healthcare abroad is a great option for anyone who can’t afford their medical bills.
- Comment on Can I get some support rn please 4 weeks ago:
If you’ve gone several days without eating or drinking, it sounds like you needed to spend that money.
I’m happy you did spend that money and ate and drank; it sounds like the right decision.
- Comment on Can I get some support rn please 4 weeks ago:
Sorry, my internet apparently died at the least opportune moment and I just saw my last reply didn’t go through. I think I said roughly:
OMAD works for my body: saves time, guts don’t go nuts. I do OMAD because it makes things easier for me: it’s healthy for me and my life circumstances.
Eating doesn’t sound wrong if you’re putting your family in jeopardy by fasting, sounds like the right way to go.
Truth can be damaging, your truth and self-harm don’t have to be exclusive.
I’m glad you brought this up somewhere to talk about. Talking about it more could help; perspective and expression is often helpful.
- Comment on Can I get some support rn please 4 weeks ago:
Oh, I see. I’ve been doing OMAD for 8 years or so and also like fasting for longer periods occasionally, but your relationship with fasting does not sound healthy to me because you’re ending up somewhere you don’t want to be.
Dry fasting can be dangerous and you are not a freak for breaking a fast; we call it breakfast for a reason and I’m not being glib.
Your reasons for fasting sound externally empathetic at the expense of your own health, but a better balance for yourself could help.
It’s okay to eat and it’s okay to buy things you don’t need sometimes.
We’re all learning, I don’t see any reason for you to be upset with yourself, it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong, but it’s perfectly okay to be upset. You don’t sound like a disappointment or a stinker!
- Comment on Can I get some support rn please 4 weeks ago:
Hey, rant out.
The world is dumb and crazy.
Why do you feel that way?
- Comment on Very good animation 1 month ago:
I like it a lot, good find
- Comment on Am I financially enabling child labor in 3rd world countries by buying second hand fast fashion? 1 month ago:
Secondhand is a very good way to not participate in that system.
They’ve decided to produce orphan-grinding machines regardless of the sales/proceeds.
Your responsible secondhand purchase has nothing to do with someone else purchasing a new product.
- Comment on Am I financially enabling child labor in 3rd world countries by buying second hand fast fashion? 1 month ago:
tldr; no, you aren’t.
I learned about this a couple years ago.
My friend is a factory liaison who connects all of those factories(not 3rd world, that’s a defunct, demeaning political term) with markets around the world: Walmart, apple, Microsoft, Safeway, and has explained to me the volume and production method of every company of any size in any industry are all operating the same way fast fashion does.
If you buy anything these days, from nearly any company, you’re technically financially enabling some sort of unsavory labor, but there are several things to keep in mind, primarily that your individual choices do not cause and will not affect the systems of production in place.
Fast fashion in particular is going to produce produce produce, it doesn’t matter how much people buy, they will keep producing absurd amounts of clothing because the markets don’t know how truly cheap fast fashion is to produce and so the profit margin is and has been worth massive overproduction for years. The majority of fast fashion products can instantly be thrown away and become mountains of trash and those factories will still be turning a profit.
If you are buying second hand, you are less responsible for that production, and that’s really all you can do. Nobody except greed was really responsible for overproduction in the first place.
You literally wouldn’t believe the capacity, production, and near zero cost these factories produce all items in.
Fast fashion is not unique. If you buy an air fryer, or a smartphone, or dishes, blankets, literally anything, it’s the exact same type of factory.
You probably don’t have the option to buy handmade dishes, blankets, and you definitely don’t have the option to buy handcrafted electronics, and that is not your fault, that is the system that mercantilism leading into industrial capitalism facilitated.
Buying secondhand is the best you can do to not participate in an unhealthy economic system, and in practice those factories are operating on such wide margins that they will produce regardless.
- Comment on How do you fight doomerism/pessimism in these trying times? 2 months ago:
Seeing the big ol’ world, and helping other people travel.
- Comment on as a young person, what must one look for when it comes to finding a new country to live in? 2 months ago:
Hey there, feel free to post in Travel or message me, I’ve been traveling for 15 years in 30 countries.
When someone is finding a new country, they should follow their interests and where is the most suitable for their needs. Do they love sushi and anime? Go live in Japan. Severe health condition? Thailand.
Most countries have whatever you need: supermarkets, hospitals, transportation, universities. Go to the one that is the most interesting to you and all of your experiences there will be that much more rewarding.
Moving to countries with housing crises like the Netherlands is more expensive than most countries, but still doable if you know that’s where you want to be as a rabid cyclist or island hippie.
- Comment on at what point in life it's too late to go back to school? 3 months ago:
I graduated as a kid with 2 retirees in my psych classes who told me getting their degree was one of the most important, rewarding things they had ever done.
Also, nowadays you can travel abroad in dozens of countries, take English-languages courses and get accredited degrees in every field for very affordable tuition fees, as in 90% cheaper.
While you’re attending those schools, your cost of living will be dramatically lowered as well.
If anyone wants details, talk to here or in Travel.
- Comment on How are the users per day/week/month/etc. stats on a community's sidebar calculated? 3 months ago:
I’m not sure, but it seems like voting, because this month i had two surprise hits in Travel that got ~200 votes each and now Travel tallies almost 800 daily users, much higher than before.
Since we’re well past the first if the month, i was thinking it’s a running tally of the last 30 days of community engagement(vote) in a community.
- Comment on Can someone please identify this plant ?? 4 months ago:
These guys are peetty good at plant IDs
- Comment on Do crew have cabins below decks on short-distance ferries? 4 months ago:
A lot of Thai crew have hammocks on their boats they sleep in.
Most of them left their boats to go home at sunset, but I saw people sleeping in boat hammocks many times overnight.
- Comment on Batman 4 months ago:
Whoa!
Cool, thanks.
- Comment on Fist of Jesus 4 months ago:
Wow!
Fun in the beginning, but after the fish showed up I was all in.
That’s great.
- Comment on Crash Site | A Sci-Fi Short Film Starring Steven Yeun and Sam Richardson 4 months ago:
Thanks, I appreciate it, never heard of it but they’re both great.
Favorite yeun?
Burning 2018 is mine. Movie is good, yeun is at his best.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
The world is muvh, much bigger than one sparsely populated country, and there are far more important metrics than the physical size of the US.
Metrics like population, geographic isolation, health care, political instability, violent crime, countless others that define a country, mark the US as an entity to be safely disregarded.
Thailand passed the US in health care years ago, China passed the US in renewable and next-gen tech, not to mention manufacturing, most countries citizens enjoy much more robust civil rights.
Yes, the physical country is large, but the US is s small, insecure, violent pocket of the world that people don’t need to pay nearly as much attention to as its groupies demand.
The US looks very tiny from out here, and even tinier from the inside after seeing some of the rest of the world.
- Comment on Why are Michelin Stars so highly revered when they originated from a tyre company? 4 months ago:
I get it, I was shocked when I looked it up. Extremely disappointing
- Comment on Why are Michelin Stars so highly revered when they originated from a tyre company? 4 months ago:
Michelin inspectors will not visit cities unless the city registers with Michelin, which carries high, recurring fees.
That’s why many prominent cities have zero Michelin star restaurants, because they won’t pay the fees(tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the city) that Michelin demands for their stars.
- Comment on Why are Michelin Stars so highly revered when they originated from a tyre company? 4 months ago:
They’re so highly valued because advertising and elitism works.
The Michelin Brothers thought it would be good advertising for their tire company, and it was, and it kind of became its own thing but stars are still owned and operated by Michelin the tire company.
Important to note that beyond it being owned by a tire company, they don’t even give stars to the best restaurants, only restaurants that guy certain prestige requirements that pay Michelin to give them a star.
Other tire companies don’t pursue the same scam because Michelin is the front runner, and it obviously doesn’t tie in to car accessories very heavily, so there’s not much incentive for other tire companies to do the same thing, especially when it’s basically just a “pay me $400,000 for a fake gold star racket”.
I looked into this after watching the bear, when they were talking about Michelin stars, and then I found out the extent of Michelin star chicanery.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
My information does not require trust; it’s all based on publicly available resources.
Go ahead, confirm IRS form 2555 for yourself.
Ass traveler, I have a travel community, nothing strange about that
I haven’t tried to sell a thing, and I have months of legitimate conversation, travel advice and information publicly available for scrutiny.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
I hear you and understand your resignation; tender despair is very common and the result of those whirlwind insubstantial threats and proclamations.
You don’t have to leave your spite behind, most don’t, and I’m not telling you to; I’m letting people know that if they want to live for themselves and others rather than dying for their enemies, it’s possible and I’m here to help.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
Thanks. I appreciate simple, correct solutions and I understand why emotional investment and habit makes those solutions difficult to accept and implement.
If you take a step outside of your situation, it will quickly become apparent that the grip you believe others hold you in is largely insubstantial and based on empty proclamations and threats. Magnates can plead for your attention, but you don’t have to give it to them(climb a mountain, play video games), your government can scream for your taxes and you don’t have to hand them over(IRS form 2555, foreign earned income exclusion).
The world is huge and no matter how important someone demands you think they are, they’re wrong.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
There are no failsafe safety assurances anywhere, but some places are safer and more comfortable than others.
I’m originally from the US and have mostly been living abroad for over a decade since I left over many of the issues US Americans still deal with today
Perspective on the US is much more clear from the outside.
If you’d like to live abroad, I can definitely help you do that with information and advice, I’ve helped several other Americans move abroad.
tldr is get a passport, secure $500 USD in monthly income (English teaching is currently in high demand), buy a plane ticket.
Someone from the US I’ve been offering advice to this year literally left the US today based on that tldr.
I’m very happy to go into details and supply more context for anybody interested in living abroad.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
Yup, that’s basically what has happened.
Political leaders and journalists have visited and done “welfare checks” on the US, and came to the same conclusions you just have.
- Comment on Why isn't the rest of the world doing anything about the USA? 4 months ago:
The US looks bigger and more influential from the inside. Its tantrums look tiny and rambunctious from out here.