CombatWombat
@CombatWombat@feddit.online
- Comment on First Satellites 48 minutes ago:
Sputnik is a fun word in Russian. It comes from the prefix s- (with), the suffix -nik (one who), and the root -put- (path). A sputnik, then, is someone or something who travels a path with you, and it is also a model of train (because it travels with the tracks) and a word for spouse (because they travel your life’s path with you).
- Comment on Is it the American way to complain about the US, or is it that other countries aren't worth complaining about? 23 hours ago:
Most people, Americans included, prefer to speak well of their country to foreigners and complain to countrymen. My hypothesis is that Americans perceive online spaces as uniquely American spaces where we complain to our ingroup, and folks of other nationalities tend to think of online spaces as “international waters” and are more guarded as a result.
- Comment on which job should i work? tutor or barista? 2 days ago:
No one teaching style works for everyone. What makes you a poor tutor for one student makes you an excellent tutor for another. I can tell you for certain, no-one can deduce whether you’re “good enough” to be a tutor via reddit.
- Comment on which job should i work? tutor or barista? 2 days ago:
I would say tutor. I think it’ll be a better long-term career move, and there are so many students on the spectrum who could benefit from someone who has a similar experience sharing the techniques they’ve learned that work for them. Barista might be more comfortable, but I think tutoring will build your skill set more long-term. And you can always change! No shame in trying the one, deciding it’s not for you, and switching to the other.
- Comment on Or equivalent sport team 3 days ago:
It can be difficult to find something to complain about when we’re winning, but luckily we’re in last place so it’s easy right now. Go Torrent just the same.
- Comment on So I was doing this chick one time, right… 5 days ago:
If it’s any consolation, most of my favorite facts I’ve learned about my closest friends have been because they lost the plot while telling a story.
- Comment on How does one who doesn’t have a ‘home’ choose their team? 5 days ago:
I strongly believe that you should have a connection to the place that your sports team is affiliated with, but I think you should be very liberal about what you consider a connection. If you’ve moved a lot, it gives you a lot of teams to choose from when you’re choosing your alliances. I think it also makes sense to choose other sorts of connections as well — a grandparent’s alma mater, the team your dad followed when you were a kid. I know a lot of people who recommend watching a league and letting the team choose you, which also seems reasonable, but I prefer the place-ness of sports fandom. The only way to choose a sports team to follow that is objectively wrong is bandwagoning.
- Comment on What did people think dinosaur bones were before we officially recognised dinosaurs? 2 weeks ago:
The earliest known english-language account of a dinosaur bone is in Robert Plot’s 1677 The natural history of Oxford-shire: being an essay toward the natural history of England. This is what he says about what we now know as a megalosaurus thighbone:
There happily came to Oxford while I was writing of this, a living Elephant to be shown publickly at the ACT, An. 1676, with whose Bones . I compared ours; and found those of the Elephant not only of a different Shape, but also incomparably different to ours, though the Beast were very young and not half grown. If then they are neither the Bones of Horses, Oxen, nor Elephants, as I am strongly persuaded they are not . It remains, that (notwithstanding their extravagant Magnitude) they must have been the bones of Men or Women: Nor doth any thing hinder but they may have been so, provided it be clearly made out, that there have been Men and Women of proportionable Stature in all Ages of the World, down even to our own Days
The whole account is pretty interesting. He speculates about the origin of the bones and their medicinal uses and discusses the particulars of a few giants.
- Comment on Do I have to? Ok, fine... 3 weeks ago:
Oh of course🤦♂️
I was wondering when in the world that exchange rate would make sense. That’s definitely correct.
- Comment on Do I have to? Ok, fine... 3 weeks ago:
If anyone’s curious what happened to the translation here, the original Russian is abbreviated — the full phrase would be «мороженое в ассортименте» (ice cream in assortment) — but they abbreviated assortment and Russian doesn’t have articles so they use them when you wouldn’t expect. Also, this is most likely eastern Ukraine because they quote the prices in both hryvnia and roubles.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Lots of things would happen, but the specifics wouldn’t much matter because there’d be no-one left to tell the tale afterwards.
- Comment on Should this be the year we finally try voting for other candidates? 5 weeks ago:
I dunno about your district, but we usually have some pretty good candidates through the DSA on our ballot: https://platform.dsausa.org/
- Comment on [deleted] 5 weeks ago:
My understanding is that it’s quite the opposite — a racist would be less likely to shout a slur because they don’t feel the social stigma as keenly.
- Comment on [deleted] 5 weeks ago:
It’s not a coincidence, as far as I understand. The tics are involuntary, but they are specifically due to intrusive thoughts about what the most inappropriate thing to say right now would be. The blame here mostly lies with institutional racism for making that slur so awful; were it not available, I assume his tic would have focused on another terrible word, say “fuck”.
- Comment on Also, in my state, all the drivers are the worst 1 month ago:
My condolences for your loss.
- Comment on Also, in my state, all the drivers are the worst 1 month ago:
Capricious is my favorite adjective, rather than trying to ascribe mental disorders to global systems. If you’re asking regarding a specific human, you should talk to a psychiatrist — if it is disruptive to their life, it may be a sign of borderline personality disorder.
- Comment on Also, in my state, all the drivers are the worst 1 month ago:
This use of bipolar has very little to do with the experience of most bipolar people. Bipolar rapid cycling is defined as four episodes per year, much closer to the change of the seasons than the change of weather from day to day.