I always get concerned that somehow I have packed hard drugs (I don’t do hard drugs.)

I believe that “Indian Giving” is sourced in a cultural misunderstanding between Indigenous and European societies. Indigenous societies were reciprocity based, so giving gifts should be reciprocated with a gift of like value to strengthen relationships, or increase honour (social standing). The Europeans were working in a patron-client system so a gift was seen as a way of purchasing access to power through a patron. The Europeans thought the Indigenous people were paying for access to power (like a tributary), so there’s no expectation of returning a like gift. The indigenous people thought they were entering into a mutual relationship, and when a like gift wasn’t returned that was seen as reneging, so they took back their ‘offer’.

Glad to have an anthropologist kick my ass.

I suspect round one is like eating milk, and round two is a fine cheese. Or eating cabbage, and later experiencing it as a well-aged kimchi. I’m sure it’s full of probiotics.

A longer digestive system is necessary to properly break down plant cellulose. This is why some small herbivores are copraphagic (eat their own shit, like rabbits): it takes two times through to extract adequate nutrients.

I’ve been wondering a lot about absurdism in humour. There are people who laugh when they see something disastrous happen, like a man reflexively trying to stop a cement truck from tipping and getting squashed dead. Or a recent news story of the only fatality in a school bus crash: it was an observer who got hit by a vehicle as he ran across the highway to see if the kids were ok. A lot of the time this laughing response to a disaster is interpreted as schadenfreude, but a good portion of the time I believe it’s absurdism.

We try so hard to have agency, to do something, but the World doesn’t give a fuck. You have two choices when shit goes so wrong: you can wail about the unfairness of it all, or you can laugh at the absurdity of our efforts in the face of the colossal chaos of it all. The laughter is stronger.

It’s interesting to me that some cultures seem to have absurd humour baked in. The Aussies and Kiwis seem to have it. They just make jokes about and laugh at the most horrific situations.

I’ve been wondering a lot about absurdist humour. Dan Carlin relates a story of an old Air Force colonel who

It doesn’t.

“Vamipre”.

I was wondering until this comment. “Ethiopia? Ecuador? Oh! Colombia.”

The leaves change colour

Technology fails humans

A second stone age.

A power outage

Turns my shiny computer

Into a dead rock.

EDIT: Lemmy edited out my paragraph breaks.

Like, what made him vomit, what was his vomit made of, and if that wasn’t a fucking joint then what was it?

I don’t know what you’re talking about. They’re naturally superior.

That sounds like Gabor Maté’s work.

Oh, I’m in the same boat. I was like, “$1000 for a ‘smart’ washer with shitty plastic parts or $2000 for a Speed Queen? I think if this washer breaks, I’m just going to buy the commercial washer.” They last forever.

I’d like a pretty stripped down phone, and am intrigued by the concept of the Fair Phone. I looked at the Nothing Phone and the aesthetic is neat, but in the end it just seemed like different bells and whistles. It’s like if I didn’t want to wear fancy clothes, just simple working clothes. This looks like simple working clothes, but it’s actual streetwear from a boutique.

Cars and devices: can we just get simple, repairable machines?

EDIT: houses, too. I’d rather plain and quality than fancy shit.

Oh, this is true old school, “people from under the hill” fairies.

What you’ve got here is the difference between an ethical person, a good leader/prophet/pastor, and a theologian/liturgist.

Theology isn’t limited to Christianity. But hey, if you like your villains cartoony, go with the dualism!

This is the classic theological definition of evil. Evil isn’t the anti-good, it’s the absence of good. Good is typically regarded as some kind of selflessness or care for other, so evil is basically selfishness. There’s nuance, but I wanted to support the challenge to dualistic world view.