hedders
@hedders@fedia.io
Rarely entirely serious. Fond of otters and dogs, scarily obsessive about music and old videogames. He/him.
- Comment on Where do I go for unbiased news in the world without it having an ulterior motive or kissing ass to the establishment of said country? 1 week ago:
Others have mentioned Reuters and the AP. I'd also suggest the Financial Times and The Economist; they're quite expensive but you get what you pay for. The BBC isn't too bad actually - it's obviously very British-focused and can be a bit wet, but they usually get the facts right and they do try hard to avoid favouring any given political viewpoint. Al Jazeera is also surprisingly good.
- Comment on Why do Britain get to send three teams to the World Cup? 1 week ago:
The prosaic answer is that they each have their own FIFA-recognised national football associations.
More broadly, little about the UK makes logical sense. It just sort of ... happened that way. Lots of history, lots of it pretty fucked up, and here we are. A funny little collection of islands off the coast of France.
If it's any consolation, the nations making up the UK don't live in perfect harmony. The Scots and the Welsh hate the English, the Northern Irish hate each other, and the English largely tend to forget that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exist at all, except perhaps as somewhere pretty to go for a nice holiday where it's kind of like England except they talk a bit funny.
- Comment on Can you explain like I am a child terrorism without the whole good vs evil schtik? My sister in laws kid asked me about it. He is 9. 1 week ago:
Terrorism is usually defined as acts of violence against civilians to further a political or religious agenda.
- Comment on Is it reasonable to tell a person you once loved about the fact years later? 1 week ago:
You all will NOT gaslight me into thinking I'm insane. You. Will. Not.
Nobody is gaslighting you. You asked for advice. The fact that you don't like the advice you're getting probably means you need to hear it all the more.
- Comment on How to fly from the US to the UK as a duel citizen? 2 weeks ago:
My wife and children have UK/US dual nationality, so we've run into this. What we do is carry both sets of passports, exit and enter the UK with British passports and exit and enter the United States with US passports. In our experience, the UK authorities don't care as long as you're legal and don't give you grief, and the US authorities will usually be dicks to you for a bit but they do eventually let you through.
That said, we're white. The position might be quite different if you're not.
- Comment on Is it reasonable to tell a person you once loved about the fact years later? 2 weeks ago:
I'm horrified and appalled by how the community perceived my intentions; at large, judging by the number of votes on comments in the conversation below, placing no doubt in them being nothing more than sick and twisted desire for attention
You might want to think about that a bit.
- Comment on Is it reasonable to tell a person you once loved about the fact years later? 2 weeks ago:
If you're honest with yourself - really, really honest - you will see that your desire to tell them is motivated by your own vanity and desire for attention. You're doubtless imagining some big scene in which either they fall into your arms or in which you get to stride off into the sunset as some kind of noble self-sacrificing hero while they wonder what might have been. Don't fall into that trap. It's childish, and it's selfish, and it's getting into some really dodgy territory that ends with the manosphere and incels and all that. Just keep your counsel, and move on.
- Comment on Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe dies at 78 3 weeks ago:
It's worth pointing out here that it is perfectly possible to (a) think that Widdecombe was a thoroughly vile person and (b) deplore her murder.
- Comment on How come they don't do a cooking show for poor or middle class people? Something that is under 10 bucks that will last a couple days and be great. 3 weeks ago:
Look up Jack Monroe.
- Comment on Why is Nickleback so hated? I think they made the perfect song for America after 9/11 with Hero. 3 weeks ago:
Because they're completely beige.
- Comment on What is it like being drunk? How much control do you have? 3 weeks ago:
Alcohol removes inhibitions. You still make decisions, though. What it tends to do is bring out who you really are. "In vino, veritas" as they say.
- Comment on 4 weeks ago:
@codewizard Of itself, nothing - it needs another argument telling it what to perform the operation on. Something like rm -rf * would delete everything in the current directory and all subdirectories.
- Comment on Is IPV6 better for youtube adblockers? 4 weeks ago:
Question one: No.
Question two: Depends on your ISP. Ask them. No line upgrade is required, but they may need to enable it and/or have you make changes at your router.
- Comment on Former Tory MP Craig Williams pleads guilty to cheating at gambling with election bets 4 weeks ago:
A timely reminder of what Tories are.
- Comment on How come it seems a lot of celebs have severe anxiety disorders? How did they choose their profession know they were walking into something which would constantly put them in a fear state? 5 weeks ago:
Lots of people have anxiety and still do stressful things. Many forms of it can be treated, or at least managed, and some people are just determined enough that they refuse to let it stop them.
- Comment on How do you avoid AI music? 5 weeks ago:
This. Streaming services are doing to music what Lars Ulrich thought Napster would do.
- Comment on How do you avoid AI music? 5 weeks ago:
My answer is - buy music. Not only because that way you'll get actual human works of art by real musicians who you like, but also because that way they stand a chance of actually being able to make a living so they can, y'know, make more music.
- Comment on What hot af take do you have that you think you will be HORRIBLY executed and shunned from society for? 1 month ago:
Can I make a suggestion? It seems like it's not dogs themselves that bug you. What seems to get your goat is people who performatively like dogs instead of having an actual personality. Which ... yeah, you're right.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
Because time offsets are calculated +/- from GMT. Because colonialism. No, that doesn't make much sense in the modern world, but I suppose "hour zero" has to sit somewhere, and the world has settled on an eastern suburb of London as being that somewhere.
- Comment on Still Listens to Southern Death Cult 1 month ago:
Could we trick her into listening to Placebo?
- Comment on What are the fun ways to learn and master the file management system in Linux ? 2 months ago:
You can think of it as basically "programs", "more programs", "stuff", "gubbins", "misc" and "other".
- Comment on Would you want to be Michael Jackson-level famous? Why or why not? 2 months ago:
Jesus H Christ, no. Rich? Sure. It would make a lot of things easier and less stressful. Famous? Not on your life. Can't imagine anything worse. And Michael Jackson levels of fame? Sounds like hell. No wonder he was such a monumental fuck-up.
- Comment on My brother wants to for Father's Day is volunteer at the local women's shelter. Not really a father but has two dogs. But is afraid to even ask because he is male. How does he go about this? 2 months ago:
This may be well-intentioned (although I am sceptical). Regardless, it's a bad idea, it comes off as deeply sinister, and smacks really strongly of "not all men". He should find something else to do.
- Comment on When in time did America gave up trying to be great? Gave up as the example for the world? And now we are on our backs and refuse to get up like Bender off Futurama or a turtle? 3 months ago:
I feel like OP is of the cusp of a realisation: "Hang on. Are we the baddies?"
- Comment on Has there ever been a country who did not have an enemy or pick a fight? And was pretty much like all of you do you we will do us. kind of like isalationism but charitable when it counted? 3 months ago:
Back in the day, Switzerland was one of Europe's main sources of armies-for-hire. We see the echoes of that today in the Swiss Guard in Vatican City, for instance.
- Comment on What was the stupidest form of US defaultism you've encountered in real life whilst they're abroad? 3 months ago:
It's not just Americans who do this by any means, and nor are they the worst offenders! Trust me on this, I'm British - the most wilfully parochial nation on earth.
You'll always get the odd jerk, but mostly this stuff tends to come from a lack of travel experience more than anything else. Unless you've travelled, you may not even realise what assumptions you're making about how day-to-day life works. And, well, a lot of Americans haven't travelled much outside of the USA. (That's not a criticism by the way - the USA is absolutely enormous and incredibly diverse, and you could spend a lifetime exploring it and not see it all.)
All that said, back in the days before dual voltage power supplies were common I did used to find it amusing watching Americans in Europe blithely plugging their electrical goods into the 220V mains and wondering why they blew up.
- Comment on I am against rape or rapists or any such type of action or person. But my mom who has a daughter. Keeps questioning why these women wait so long before coming out with it? 3 months ago:
Look at what happens to the women who do come forward. Is it really any wonder they're so reticent?
- Comment on What's the best way to tell a kid that their dog died? 3 months ago:
You tell them, gently, directly and as a matter of fact. Then you pick up the pieces.
- Comment on Is there any way I can study Marxist theory in a way that wouldn't seem too boring or dry? 3 months ago:
Read "The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists" by Robert Tressell. Or, if reading a book is too difficult, there's a graphic novel version I think.
- Comment on Or jorkin' 7 months ago:
That's vile. I'm so sorry.