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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • I’m not entirely sure, because I’ve never gotten the hang of Twitter. But reading between the lines, I think this is the sequence of events:

    Libertarian twit tweets a death threat against Harris.

    Libertarian twit is reminded of the rules (and common decency) and removes the offending tweet.

    Libertarian twit passive aggressively tweets about having removed the tweet they twote, invoking the promises of free speech to imply that Leon was censoring their tweets and trampling on their freedoms.

    Leon responds to the complaint with the tweet the twit twote, simultaneously demonstrating that the twit is a twat and amplifying the message.






  • Why do you think you can’t prove Gengis Khan existed?

    Claims need proof when there is a call to action. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re from an island or a small town or a big city, unless you’re giving me directions. If you make an extraordinary claim, and you want me to believe you, then I’ll need proof. If you make a mundane claim, then what the fuck do I care if you’re lying? If you claim to have a disease, I’m going to believe you because I’m not a doctor and it costs me nothing to take you at your word.

    If you shout “Run, something bad is coming!” I might feel foolish and angry if I later learn you were lying, but I’d rather be foolish and angry than injured or dead. Proof is a luxury when time is of the essence, doubly so when safety is at risk.

    There might be some specific nuances to quibnle over, but generally I think we could reach consensus on the guidelines I described.


  • Businesses that make these offers usually buy an insurance policy against someone winning. If it’s a $10,000 prize, but extremely difficult (like a hole in one challenge), the insurance might be like $1,000. The business pays win or lose, so they’re hoping someone wins because it’s great publicity. It’s much more fun when the person awarding the prize is happy and celebrating with the winner, so in that sense it’s a good idea.

    The insurance company, however, will have very specific language and will try to avoid paying even if it makes the business look bad.

    I don’t know the specifics in this case, but I worked for a generator company that sponsored a long-putt challenge at a golf fundraiser. Someone won a free generator, and the insurance company tried everything to weasel out of paying. We ended up giving them the generator anyway, because the publicity would have been horrid, and it took like 18 months to get the insurance company to pay up.

    Either way, it was stupid of the dealership to try to weasel out of the prize. A lease is like $350 a month times 24 months is $8,400. The kick happened at a football field named after the owner of the dealership after he donated $15 million to the university.






  • MAGA is the island of lost souls. The point of the debate is not to change their minds. It is to make the stark difference between the candidates laughably obvious, so that even the moderate conservatives feel ashamed and stupid that he represents their interests, and the moderate Democrats feel comfortable mocking them for their weirdness.

    Nobody felt that way about Clinton. She tried to be the better person without alienating the Trump supporters. She used words like “deplorables” when she should have said “shitbags.”

    Trump supporters deserve to be alienated, just as all bigots and nazis and narcissists should be. They will not change because of a rational argument. You need to smoke them out of the crowd, and then point and laugh until they shrivel up and every child sees their humiliation, so that no one grows up thinking it’s OK to be a bigot, or that there are good people on both sides.


  • It’s a reference to spam callers. For a few years, right around when everyone was realizing they shouldn’t answer the phone for unknown callers, it was really common to get calls that, if you picked up, would play a pre-recorded message along the lines of “Hello! We’ve been trying to get in touch with you regarding your car’s extended warranty. You may be entitled to money and blowjobs, and if your warranty expires, your hair will fall out and your car will be repossessed. To speak to a representative, press 1. Por habla Esperanto, marqué νούμερο 二.”

    If you pressed 1, you would ostensibly be connected to a high-pressure sales rep trying to sell you a worthless maintenance contract. Nobody is really certain, though, because despite hundreds of millions of people receiving twelve of these calls each day, not one person every stayed on the line longer than “regarding…” In fact, my memory on the end of that message might be a fabrication, because I don’t think I ever heard it.


  • You seem really upset about something that shouldn’t affect you in any way.

    The answer is that you’re thinking about this too much. It’s pop music, designed to be fun and catchy, with a hook and a fun dance routine. It’s performed by pretty people who can sing and dance in a manner that is aesthetically and musically entertaining.

    Why do they all look and sound the same? Why does every fast food restaurant have a similar burger and french fry combo? It’s because that’s what sells, and this isn’t art. It’s a product designed to be sold.

    I dunno man, if you are a girl wouldn’t you a dude that, yeah, he’s attractive but also that looks manly? That can physically protect you? And that does not has a doll face?..

    This just comes off as thinly veiled insecurity. There are a lot of people in the world, and attraction is a spectrum. People like what they like, and there’s probably someone out there who likes you for you. You don’t need a doll face, nor do you need to look manly or be physically imposing. Most people don’t need protection in their day to day lives. People want support, companionship, partnership, compatibility, and entertainment. Be fun and loving, and be yourself, and just leave the outdated gender stereotypes behind. You’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, nor do you need to be (unless you’re trying to land a job in a KPop band).

    Strong agree on the dark side of the industry. That’s the danger with turning performers themselves into a commodity. It’s bad enough manufacturing commercial music as a product, but turning the talent into a product is dehumanizing in a way that leads to terrifying exploitation.