Apepollo11
@Apepollo11@lemmy.world
- Comment on Why is a two-party system considered democratic? 1 week ago:
That’s exactly why so many countries around the world roll their eyes when America bangs on so much about democracy.
It’s a marketing thing. Look around the world. Find any country with the word “Democratic” in the name, and odds are you’ll find a poor excuse for a democracy.
The actual democracies in the world don’t feel compelled to keep repeating the fact.
The reality is that America is only really a democracy in the loosest sense of the world. All you need to do is look at how often the wealthiest candidate wins to see that it’s true. Or how often the person with the most votes loses. Or how unregulated lobbying actually is. Or the insane amount of power the President actually has. The power doesn’t lie with the people - it lies with the super-rich.
Sorry if that came off as really negative! America has a lot of good stuff going for it, but its implementation of democracy is not one.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 week ago:
If you’re thinking yoga retreats etc, I’d consider building an Earthship or two first. They’re totally eco-friendly, almost hobbit-like buildings. They fit the vibe and would give you a base of operations for future plans.
- Comment on When people in constitutional monarchies pledge loyalty to the monarch, is it actually for real, or just symbolic / a pro-forma thing? 3 weeks ago:
Interesting addition here, we don’t even have an official national anthem. There isn’t even an “official” version of the lyrics for the song we use as the de-facto national anthem.
We just all kind of collectively agreed upon the first verse, and mentally update it whenever a monarch dies and a new gender is required.
- Comment on Is it OK for a baby's head to be rolled all the way back on its neck? 3 weeks ago:
I wouldn’t worry about it then. Babies are a lot floppier than you’d expect - it won’t be doing any harm :)
- Comment on Is it OK for a baby's head to be rolled all the way back on its neck? 3 weeks ago:
Maybe the baby’s just a bobble head.
Unless the baby looked malnourished or uncared for, I wouldn’t worry. Babies are far more resilient, bendy and adaptable than we give them credit for.
Also, unless there’s a developmental issue, a seven month old would easily be able to hold their head unassisted. Is it possible the baby was just trying to look at things?
- Comment on HELP! How do I help educate my son about his body when I know nothing about boys?? 4 weeks ago:
This.
Porn is as representative of real sex as action scenes are of real fights.
It’s a stylised and codified version of things that specifically is designed to appeal to our lizard brains.
Also, get used to saying the word ‘sex’ around him. It’s weird at first, but the best way to make it clear that it’s all a normal part of growing up, is by acting like it’s a normal part of growing up.
- Comment on Is thinly-veiled political whinging really a question just because you used a question mark? 5 weeks ago:
I’m not entirely sure I read your comment correctly, but it sounds like you’ve never heard the word “whinging” before.
For the avoidance of doubt, it’s a real word. It rhymes with “hinging”.
- Comment on [deleted] 5 weeks ago:
Seconded. As soon as you hit 40, every other visit to the doctor involves talking about something going wrong below the waist.
- Comment on Why there is no photos of earth from space? 5 weeks ago:
I pop this on the telly for my kids when they have nightmares. It’s interesting enough to distract them, yet gentle enough to lull them to sleep again.
- Comment on Some examples of video games with an UI layout ripped off of another game? 5 weeks ago:
It seems pretty fundamental, but fighting games have had pretty much the same basic UI layout since Street Fighter II. Before then there was a degree of variability as to how the different elements were laid out. Since SFII, it’s always been Timer in the middle and Health bars on either side of that.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
People are still people, and money is just there to facilitate transactions required for the stuff you need.
Part of the problem is that a bunch of not-rights have decided that instead the point of money is to accrue it like some kind of high score.
If you are so rich that you no longer experience the normal problems associated with being a person, such as bad hair days, then you’ve probably become a weirdo yourself.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
Ok,
I’d have paid off my student loans and mortgage already, as that’s the first thing I’d do as soon as I received the money.
I guess a typical Friday would involve me waking up at noon, pottering about in my pyjamas for a few hours, then working on whatever project I have on the go. I’m one of those people who has an obsession-of-the-month, and I can’t imagine that would change.
I’d have more time to spend with my kids and partner than I do, which I imagine would be nice.
On the whole, I don’t think it’d be wildly different to how I live now - only that without the pressure that I have to work so many hours a day, I’d have more time to spend with my family.
- Comment on Why was Hitler so mean and hateful toward one group or another? I find it hard to believe he woke up one day and said you and you suck but these people over here are good. Taking it so far as killing? 1 month ago:
Approaching this cynically, all right-wing politicians blame groups as others as being the cause of their country’s societal ills. That’s just how it works.
Jewish people were just one of the targeted groups, along with LGBT people, disabled people, and communists.
One universal truth throughout history is that it’s hard to unite people behind a common goal, but it’s easy to unite people against a common enemy.
Listen to any right wing politicians from around the world - their plans for making things better all start with getting rid of someone (be it a group of people or a governmental department).
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
I remember that show. It was like Muppet Babies except with crows.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
Same experience here. A former co-worker and good friend was raised JW, and was practicing for all the time I worked with him.
We used to have long conversations about it, as I was raised COE, so was fascinated by some of the more extreme takes.
Anyway, he now only refers to them as “the cult” and has absolutely nothing good to say about them.
- Comment on What would happen if somebody kidnapped the president? 1 month ago:
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Ah, ok. Sorry, I thought you were referring to well-off ‘ordinary’ people.
Totally agree that the way governments fawn over corporations is beyond the pale.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
I don’t understand what you mean “still getting plenty for free”.
I agree that there shouldn’t be this kind of wealth inequality, and it’s madness that people are starving in countries that are so prosperous, but it’s a little disingenuous to ignore the fact that wealthier people pay more in tax. They’re not getting stuff for free, they’re getting stuff for more than it costs poorer people.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Children’s clothing too.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
Where do you think this is?
Lemmy isn’t university. There’s no implied or expressed expectations of “academic argument”.
- Comment on What realistically would happen if someone came back to life from the dead ? 2 months ago:
Something that nobody seems to have touched upon is the fact that many dead people are embalmed.
If you suddenly came alive again after being embalmed, you’d suddenly become dead again.
Also, post-mortem examinations are not uncommon if the cause of death was not clear. Again this might lead to instant re-death.
Finally, if the cause of death /was/ clear (such as trauma), then again, that may likely result in instant re-death.
- Comment on Why do AI bros and other staunch AI defenders seem happy about the potential of killing off the creative industries? 2 months ago:
The invention of production lines didn’t mean that nobody appreciated hand-built cars any longer - it just meant a cheaper option was now available to more people.
The invention of phonographs, records, cd etc, didn’t mean that nobody appreciated live music anymore - it just meant that there was now a more accessible option available.
Every job in arts and engineering can, has and will be automated to some extent - it doesn’t mean the death of those industries, or a lack of appreciation for the creativity involved.
I think the real benefit comes from when the creatives use the tools to do the heavy lifting. Every new innovation sees a glut of low-effort money-saving cash-ins. After a while, however, these fall to the wayside as the people who actually have the skills take over again.
More than ten years ago, I wrote a song for my daughter. I recorded it, animated a little video, and uploaded it to youTube. I’d written several more songs for her, but had never found the time necessary to actually record the songs and create videos for them. Because of AI tools, I’ve finally been able to make significant headway on a couple of songs that I hope to upload within the next fortnight.
We’re just in a transition period. Like George Lucas’s over-reliance on CG in the prequels - although it looked pretty great at the time but now looks thoroughly artificial.
- Comment on Has the USA turned into an oligarchy? 2 months ago:
Speaking of the nice paint job, it’s a good job you guys made that Eagle thing official. That makes it nice and clear that you’re not at risk of transitioning from democracy to dictatorship.
- Comment on Is there a way to search for specific words on a site? 2 months ago:
For any that don’t already know, this is a universal shortcut, and works across all kinds of different programs.
CTRL+F = Find
- Comment on If God is all powerful and created human. How come God in endowed with human emotions? Shouldn't he or she be beyond that? 2 months ago:
Was this response meant for me?
If so, what do you want me to prove? That religion exists? I mean, it does - there are loads of them and the very oldest evidence of a prehistoric settlement is a temple complex, suggesting that religions have existed for over ten thousand years at least.
I’ve already said that the existence of a god can’t be proven or disproven.
The only thing I’m arguing with you about is letting people practice religion if they find comfort in doing so.
You’ve advocated institutionalising and using surgical techniques on people for their beliefs. And then called me mentally ill and a danger to society.
- Comment on If God is all powerful and created human. How come God in endowed with human emotions? Shouldn't he or she be beyond that? 2 months ago:
I appreciate it might be hyperbole, but you’re advocating causing actual harm to people who find comfort in religion. Honestly, that sounds more psychotic.
I’m taking a guess here, based on your spelling (all those 'z’s) that you’re American. It’s probably worth me pointing out that the US has some pretty grotesque implementations of many religions, particularly Christianity - but they are a poor reflection of religion in general.
I’m not overly religious (didn’t even go to Church on Christmas!), but know a lot of good people are. If they find praying, attending services or reading the literature helps them get through life, I won’t argue against it.
- Comment on If God is all powerful and created human. How come God in endowed with human emotions? Shouldn't he or she be beyond that? 2 months ago:
I’m not sure if the metaphor of you anthropomorphizing an inanimate object is the best one to criticize the projection of one’s own desires and wills onto a fantasy deity.
I’m not criticising.
People are welcome to follow a religion if they want to.
I know that I can no more disprove the existence of a god than prove the existence of one. I know that anybody doing something bad in the name of a god is either lying or being coerced.
- Comment on If God is all powerful and created human. How come God in endowed with human emotions? Shouldn't he or she be beyond that? 2 months ago:
Projection?
I had a car that didn’t like when the weather was cold and damp. It wasn’t too happy about being parked on a slope, either.
Did the car actually have human emotions? No, of course not, but as a human it was both easy and natural to frame and process it that way.
Instead of it simply being “God made made in his own image”, the truth is probably that there’s more than a little of “man made God in his own image” too.
- Comment on Could the next US Administration feasibly order USCIS to destroy Naturalization records in order to make it easier to mass deport citizens? 2 months ago:
Theresa May essentially did this while she was Home Secretary. It was the trigger of the whole “Windrush Scandal”, after it was revealed that the official paperwork of dozens hundreds of naturalised citizens was shredded without any record being made.
It caused people, most of whom were well into old-age to be deported, have their passports confiscated, and be denied access to healthcare services.
- Comment on Powdered drink mix without water? Assuming you drink a lot of water. 2 months ago:
It’s Futurama, from the episode “Fry and the Slurm Factory”, which itself is a huge riff on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Futurama riffs and nods to old Sci-Fi all the time, and this was just a nice throwaway for those of us old enough to know the source material.
Here’s the exchange in full:
