southsamurai

@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Pakistani muslim man found a woman crying and heavily intoxicated. The good samaritan offered to drive her home. She later falsely him accused of rape.⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Yup, my down vote was because of the source. The mail is essentially digital toilet paper.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So Deep⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I tell you hwat

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Wise choice!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It was about ants having different smells, caused when either threatened or injured for the most part.

  Specifically, as an example I remembered because I’ve smelled it, the most common upper of ant you’ll find in houses (here in the US anyway) smells cheesy. It’s even called the odorous house ant. That’s because of a type of chemical called methyl ketones. Ketones are basically really volatile organic compounds; acetone is a ketone.

  Now, regarding what some people can’t smell vs those that can, reports were mixed. But, it does seem that formic acid can’t be smelled by everyone, and some ketones can’t be smelled by everyone. You either have the right genes active or you don’t. But, apparently, tiktok has yet again caused problems with inaccurate info spread, so people think that you either smell ants, or you don’t, which isn’t the case, it comes down to the chemicals they produce, and those vary.

  That being said, there is still the possibility that the reason any given individual hasn’t smelled ants is because they’ve never gotten close enough, or run across large numbers of the little ladies in one place. Most people aren’t going to get close to a bunch of crushed ants, and if ants are alive chances are you aren’t getting close enough to take a sniff unless you’re a real weirdo.

  And yes, I’m one of those weirdos that has gotten up close to both living and dead ants. Not to sniff them, but out of curiosity. Hence why I have smelled them in small numbers as well as larger groups. Some ants are really unconcerned about something the size of a human, particularly when it moves slowly enough not to seem like an insectivore coming in for a meal. So you can, if you’re careful, get up close enough to use a magnifying glass to get better looks at them doing their thing (and don’t burn them, it’s not at all okay).

  When you get that close, even though there’s no alarm pheromones, every ant type I ever got close to had that pungent, acrid smell of formic acid. It’s similar to vinegar or other acids that you might use around the house, but definitely not the same. Like I said elsewhere, it’s earthier and more pungent.

  My area has some red ants, and if enough of those die, they smell like pepper. As in standard table pepper.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I went and read up on it, was going to edit in , but I’ll just do it here.

  Apparently it isn’t the formic acid, it’s other chemicals, and not all ants produce them. I have smelled what they’re talking about, or at least three descriptions of one kind of ant smelling like funky cheese is something I have run into.

  So you’re totally right, and my assumption was wrong.

  But damn, formic acid, even dilute, really is pungent. Nose wrinkling, sneeze inducing for me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Has to be, it’s got that same “bite” that other acids have, only a little more earthy

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I had no idea it was a genetic thing that not everyone has. It’s pretty awesome that after fifty years slogging through life, I still run across cool new shit like this

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is up with the trend of naming pets after food?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  My chicken, Sesame, would like a word with you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I crock pot some stuff an usually takes between 10 to 12 hours. I have seen people smoke a pig which takes about 1 day. What were the rules of sacrifice in the ancient gods or the new one?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You don’t ignite the sacrifice, you place it on a pyre.

  Those can burn hot when well constructed. Not quite the kind of heat a modern crematorium can produce, so it is slower. But it wouldn’t have been a full day of burning.

  Cooking can take longer than burning. If you threw your steak directly into fire, it would be inedible in the same amount of time it would be medium rare on the grill above the fire (as a rough example, don’t expect precision here), and burnt into a brick in maybe fifteen minutes at most. I’ve lost meat in just coals before, and that’s about all it took, so an open fire would likely be even faster.

  Waaay back in the day, to the best I’ve ever read, most sacrifices that were burnt weren’t single sacrifices. This means the fires were also bigger, more intense, than what you might have in your home fireplace. So, once the sacrifice was on the heat, it would ignite relatively quickly. Then, you’ve got fats rendering and burning, which burns pretty damn hot; hot enough that you’d only need an hour or two for the bones to fragment.

  Think about it (or look it up if you have a strong stomach), people and animals caught in house fires aren’t in them for massive amounts of time, but they’re essentially carbonized well down towards the bones, and sometimes the bones are “falling apart” (there’s fancy terms for that, but I can’t be arsed to pull them from memory) in the time it takes for the structure to collapse.

  Anyway, the rules of sacrifice really varied. In some cases, they weren’t actually burnt, they were cooked. It was the taking of the life that was the sacrifice, so burning wasn’t always part of it. Iirc, it was mostly sun, fire, and similar gods that fire sacrifice to destruction weres the norm. But general purpose sacrificed animals were sometimes cooked and eaten. It really varied a lot over the millennia across the world.

  One aspect was though, the burning of the sacrifice was so that it could “rise” to the god/s. A form of transubstantiation, destroying the earthly form and sending it to the divine in its constituent essence. In other aspects, the fire was the god or gods consuming the sacrifice.

  Fwiw, if you stack the pyre right, with enough fuel, a human body is reduced to ask and bone fragments in maybe six to eight hours. Something with less mass (a lamb as an example) will be faster.

  Plus, some of the really big sacrifices were done en masse in huge fires. Literally tons of wood, often resinous woods that burn hot enough to damage stone at that scale. Can’t recall where, but there’s sacrifice spots that had stone show some melting, which is fucking hot.

  To sum up, I guess the answer is that it depends on when and where the sacrifice happened, and why.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it normal I feel embarrassed about being female sometimes because of feminine smells I don't want to be associated with?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Aight, I get that OP is what you might call a repeat offender when it comes to posting things over and over. But the issue is still a significant one.

  So, anyone scrolling through the responses here so far is going to see two main things said.

  One, that it’s hygiene, and/or that it’s an “infection” (though that term isn’t fully accurate).

  There’s more to the story than that.

  Talking specifically about the “fishy” odor, not any of the others possible on human genitals (because it isn’t just women that can have that particular odor), hygiene isn’t usually the driving factor. It’s typically going to be an imbalance in the microbiome of the genitals, particularly the vaginal canal, or the presence of an unfamiliar microbe.

  Trichomoniasis, a condition caused by an invading protozoan, is usually going to be the cause of a strong, unpleasant rotten-fishy type of smell. It’s also got other symptoms, but that’s not the thrust of this. But it is absolutely not a hygiene issue. Doesn’t matter what kind of routine you have, it isn’t going to prevent it.

  The less pungent “fishy” smells tend to be more about the usual assortment of microbes we all have on us at all times being disturbed enough that one or another is outcompeting the others. Bacterial vaginosis is what that’s called. It isn’t so much an infection as it is something going wacky. Now, this can be triggered by bacteria from a foreign source getting into the vagina, or even just onto the vagina in enough numbers that it throws things out of equilibrium. This may or may not be a result of sexual activity.

  Again though, hygiene isn’t a primary factor. If anything, people going nuts over washing or using shitty products is more likely to cause problems than just not bathing. You start screwing up the Ph of the genitals, and germs throw a rave. Lack of bathing doesn’t tend to cause short term trouble, and even once enough oil and dead skin builds up to grow colonies in abundance, doesn’t tend to get fishy as much as that cheesy, funky, slightly rotten smell. And, even then, if everything stays balanced, you might not have any excess odor, it’s just that it’s possible.

  If a person is using conservative methods with their genitals, isn’t fighting an active infection, and also isn’t doing a lot of crazy shit, they can still have what might get called fishy, but really isn’t what people think of. Our slime, be it boogers in our noses, rectal mucosa, vaginal fluids, or whatever tend to have a sort of meaty undertone. That protein smell is also kinda what fresh fish smells like if the fish isn’t very oily. Think something like bream, maybe catfish, rather than tuna. That’s just always there, underneath whatever personal variances there might be.

  However, some personal variances do run closer to something like salmon or mahimahi. It isn’t going to be super strong in most cases, though you do run into it occasionally. But it isn’t an unpleasant scent, just very “meaty”.

  Also, I want to repeat that it isn’t only vaginas an vulvae that carry these smells. Penises definitely can smell fishy. Don’t forget that parts of the penis are mucous membranes too, so they’ll produce the same basic range of aromas.

  ---

  Since it often comes up, there are right and wrong ways to wash your junk. There are also ways that aren’t necessarily wrong, but will give outcomes that aren’t really desirable either.

  The current best practices are the same ones I used for twenty years while washing other people’s junk. I look them up any time I talk about this subject because there’s always one asshole (at least) that wants to claim it’s bullshit. But I was responsible for the skin health, including genital health, of hundreds of men and women, and it was a source of great pride that my patients never stank. If you factor in pediatrics cases, and cases where I wasn’t a long term caregiver (subbing in for a weekend or whatever), that number gets into the thousand + range far enough I can’t keep track.

  There is the caveat that some medical issues may require a change to general best practices. If that’s the case for anyone, consult whatever doctor/provider is guiding your care for your individual needs, this is all general purpose.

  So, those best practices are to use no soap, minimum abrasion, and ideally only warm water (not hot). You don’t need a washcloth, but definitely avoid anything that feels scratchy. Your bare hands and warm, running water are all it takes, period. Yes, even during one’s period. Anything else is to satisfy ones mind, not cleanse the genitals, and that’s okay if that’s what you want.

  But soap strips oils more than is ideal for genitals, and it dries out mucous membranes. This is a recipe for bacteria to set up a factory and go crazy. It is entirely possible to kick off a bacterial vaginosis issue from over zealous bathing, especially when soaps not well designed for genitals are used. There are soaps on the market that are designed to gently cleanse genitals.

  The problem is figuring out which of those that claim to do the job right actually do. Most of the time, if in doubt, go to a medical supplies place and see what kind of perineal care products there are, compare ingredients with whatever you’re wanting to buy that is available in a regular store, and be prepared to experiment with what does and doesn’t help your skin.

  The other big part is to rinse well and dry thoroughly. A lot of skin issues start with moisture hanging around. Most of the time, you can go out, get sweaty as hell, and not bathe, and still have zero issues if you dry yourself well along the way. Jock itch, as an example, doesn’t come from being sweaty, it comes from staying damp. You can’t always help that while out in the world, but you definitely can after your shower. If you’re time crunched, a blow dryer on a warm or cool setting can get the job done.

  I personally do use soap on occasion, if I’ve been doing something grimy enough that it’s gotten everywhere. So it doesn’t have to be fanatical. But overall, the less you fuck with your genitals’ balance with soaps, scents, or anything else, the less trouble you’ll have with unpleasant odors.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨its a 1999 nissan actually⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Mom being the best wingman ever

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it still seasonal allergies if they last all four seasons?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Dude. Don’t be a dick.

  First, you don’t have to test every day, just frequently. And I was because two people in my household are immune compromised. Since my kid did get covid, there was a span where I was testing every day, as were the two adults with immune system compromisement.

  Second, I’m disabled and was dealing with my own medical issues which necessitated regular trips to the doctor, so it wasn’t just home testing being done.

  Third, I’m not a fucking moron, and I was in the medical field back when I could still work.

  So, I know I didn’t fucking have covid, or I wouldn’t have fucking said so.

  Maybe not starting from a place of condescension would be a good thing for you in the future@

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it still seasonal allergies if they last all four seasons?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Luckily (less luck an more a nigh religious isolation and mask use habit) I missed getting covid. The timing of me quitting and covid starting was a wonderful thing though. I can’t imagine trying to maintain that addiction with all the risks being increased and supplies of the cigarettes being lower.

  I had started chantix well before the first reports started making it into my awareness, and by the time the first waves of deaths here in the US were puckering buttholes, I was done smoking, and had moved over to zero nicotine vape pens to handle the habits of having something to do with my hands and mouth (other than trying to suck cock at glory holes, which didn’t seem wise with covid raging anyway).

  The masks originally muted the allergies when out in the world, but this house is old as a Neanderthal dick, and at least twice as dusty, so I was often tempted to just wear a mask at home too lol.

  Fuck, that was a wild couple of years. Covid was fucking traumatic even though I never caught it. My anxiety spiked just now remembering how bad it was.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon is a nice guy⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The key is figuring out when to use assertiveness vs aggressiveness vs gentleness. And, to learn how to do the first two while being respectful and the third while still insisting on at least basic respect.

  It ain’t fucking easy. But it is true that assertiveness shifts behavior, as does aggression. People respond to both, and often in ways that seem the same on the surface. But aggression only results in hidden ill feelings, so it’s not usually good to use it if you aren’t fully sure it’s the right stance to take.

  Learning that judgement is not a fun experience.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  They do exist, though I dunno if you’d find any examples online

  But they suck for most uses because there aren’t number words.

  Like, in print or cursive, the word “pool” exists as a distinct combination of letters that can be recognized even with sloppy writing. I’m using that as an example because I’m dyslexic and that’s one of my favorite examples of how I manage to read as fast or faster than someone that isn’t.

  However, 1984, 1776, 2025, they don’t necessarily have the same “weight” in memory where you would recognize them if the numbers are connected.

  And with math connected numbers would be a shit show from top to bottom.

  So there’s really no use case for learning connected numbers. They aren’t useful, and cause problems. Why learn Cyrillic if you never run into books printed in it? Even that would be a more useful thing to teach in schools than connected numbers. There’s no good reason for connected numbers except for private notation. Even then, you’d not save much time unless you’re writing a shit ton of numbers, and you’d better be able to practice both doing them and reading them if you want those notes to be useful later.

  Afaik, nobody uses them at all nowadays. For anything. So finding instructions on how to do it isn’t likely online (though I’m going to check just out of curiosity and edit in if I find it). It would be unlikely to find any of the old texts that teach it even in a decent book collection.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it still seasonal allergies if they last all four seasons?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Gods, I quit smoking back in 2020, and my allergies have been brutal ever since.

  Like, it’s freaking winter here, can I not get a month break at least? No? So it’s snotty nose and itchy eyes for me then.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do people pronounce ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) like it's a word?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  They get called the feebs by some folks

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are there any women here who felt they didn't deserve to be called women?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I know you asked for women here, so please forgive second hand info and a small bit of personal interjection.

  You’re far from the first woman to express that feeling. I’ve heard similar many times, and damn near exactly that a handful of times.

  Yes, as folks have said, it’s most often from people that end up being trans or some variety of non binary/agender once they figure out what labels do feel right, but it isn’t exclusively that. There’s some folks that have dissonance with the label not because they aren’t women, but because the label of it carries social baggage that doesn’t match their inner self, rather than womanhood not matching their self.

  I’ve had conversations about it because my own sense of masculinity and manhood (not necessarily the same thing) often didn’t fit external concepts, leading to friction. Something as minor as having long hair was enough to cause social friction that made my journey as a boy becoming a man rockier than it should have been.

  What I’ve had expressed to me by women that are cis, and place themselves on the binary is as much about not being able to integrate what they sense in themselves with external concepts. Even when they fit those external concepts like enjoying makeup, there can be a disconnect so great as to make them wonder if maybe they’re trans simply because the way the world treats women can be so damn wrong. That kind of dissonance needs resolution eventually.

  I will say that femininity is no more rigid than masculinity. For the most part, the real defining limit is what the person finds as their own expression of masculinity or femininity. When they find that balance where their own sense of self is no longer dependent on those external concepts and pressures, that’s when real femininity comes into play. A tomboy can be just as feminine as your prototypical “girly girl”. It’s just a different expression of femininity that happens to also match some aspects traditionally labeled as masculine.

  Really, when it comes right down to it, we all have to find our own self-labels and balance them with our concepts of masculinity/femininity.

  Going back to my personal journey, I discovered that part of my internalized masculinity is wrapped up in being exactly who and what I am, as a man, and to hell with external concepts. I’d be just as masculine, as much a man in high heels and skirt singing Celine Dion because I’m in balance with my masculinity. This was not always the case. The few times I did drag as a bit of fun felt decidedly un masculine because at the time, I’d never had to evaluate how much gender roles and appearances actually mattered to my own sense of self.

  So, while you didn’t ask this at all, I would say that if you want to be called a woman, you deserve it, period. Doesn’t really matter if you’re trans, cis, or other, you’re as valid a woman as any other.

  Now, that doesn’t mean you have to have the goal of internalizing that label in order to be a woman, you don’t. But you can also be very feminine in how you present yourself and not be a woman, and you’d deserve to not be called one either.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, yeah, it’s normal.

  When you find goodness in the world, and it shares a common denominator, it is perfectly normal to develop some degree or another of affection/attachment for that common denominator. You don’t have to be depressed for that, it just makes it easier.

  It can turn into an unhealthy obsession, and it’s possible that the motivations may not be without strings (cults and such), but those aren’t going to be the case every time.

  Like, for me, I have a deep and abiding love for gay culture, specifically gay male culture, because of how much love I have received from that subculture. That has expanded over the years to embrace the entire rainbow of the LGBTQ+ community (with some extra affection for my trans folks). You go for a while needing acceptance and open appreciation, you’re going to end up returning it when a specific group is where you find it.

  Truth is that the more sub a subculture is, the more likely the people in it are to be outsiders in some way. Maybe marginalized, maybe just atypical; but whether they were individually outsiders that found solidarity, or they became such by joining the subculture, outsiders have a tendency to be at least a little more accepting of other outsiders (though you run into some weird shit where you get schisms sometimes).

  And it can be local. As an example, I’ve had universally great interactions with juggalos in my area, but they can be major dicks in other places. As another, furries tend to be really chill with non furries that accept them but can have bitter faction wars with each other.

  Don’t let yourself get sucked into any cult shit, but otherwise find the goodness of humanity wherever you can, and enjoy it. Nothing wrong with that

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can pets tell who's petting them without looking?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Of course, at least under normal circumstances.

  Like humans or wild animals, a pet is going to have their full sensory array available. Even a blind and deaf animal can pick up vibrations as someone approaches then, feel changes in air movement, etc.

  Since hands are different sizes, even if they were asleep at the moment of contact, it wouldn’t take long to figure out whose hand was on them. Obviously , that might be negated if the hands are similar enough, but I would suspect that even then the differences in how a person pets them would be useful.

  You could likely create a situation to bypass everything and “fool” a pet, but that’s what you’d have to do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Humid Acid⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh damn! That was a fun ride lol

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do it.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This is the first I’d heard of skype a scientist, but holy shit am I in love with the project. Fucking brilliant!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Humid Acid⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The “wook” thing? What is that, a typo?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What dude in your life has the most Michael Landon-esque full head of hair?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Not important to me. I dig the skullet I have, and the shape of my head works for me overall.

  Plus, my beard is fucking epic :)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do US airports have a lot more jet bridges than EU airports?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I love that reference :)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ġ̵̻ͅį̴̹̜̼̙͍͋̈̕m̷̦͎͈̎̄̄̿̈ṁ̶̭̫͓̞̻̾̂̚ë̶͚́̍̀͆ ̴̻͗̈́̿̂̚͝f̴̧̳̝͓̫̆̍͌͠u̸̧̖̠̗͔̽̽̾ȇ̶̝̠̎̔l̵̡͙͔̀́̃́̓͘,̵̠̜̽͛ ̴͙̜͇͚̥̜̑͛͐̓͆͒ḡ̸̮͝͠ḯ̸͍̩͛͗̍͝ṁ̶̛͎̖̭̖̓̃͑̃ḿ̵̫̇e̸͈͕̍̍͒ ̸̧̣̣̣̹̺͌̃ẇ̴̤̳͇̪̝̑̈́̏̚i̶͖͒̒r̶̢̪̙͉̭̥̂̐e̵̞̳̻̍͘⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeaah-heah!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What dude in your life has the most Michael Landon-esque full head of hair?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Used to be my grandfather.

  The man had magnificent salt & pepper hair right up to his death, though the salt was well into taking over in his late seventies. Absolutely amazing hair. Alas, the genes for male pattern baldness hit me because that’s how it works.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨mistake⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Pfft, doesn’t matter, still counts

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there a name for the vocal technique used for characters like Sméagol?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Pretty much, yeah, though it doesn’t have to be low, iirc. It can come from higher in the throat, and thus sound higher pitched as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is there a name for the vocal technique used for characters like Sméagol?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Isn’t that a version of fry?