I mean, in an ideal world, lots of things wouldn’t exist, but we don’t live in an ideal world and there are hungry people in every country, even those with robust food support systems. I live in Germany, where there is a lot of aid for those who are hungry and, whether it’s due to untreated mental health issues (including addiction) or something else, there are plenty of hungry people.

Of course ethical shoplifting exists: stealing bread to feed a starving person or medication to help a sick one, etc.

sigh unzips

People generally start when they’re too young to really understand consequences, and there’s a tiny buzz you experience during the first few cigarettes. I think there’s an aspect of self-harm to the psychology of it as well (and obviously it is self-harm, but we don’t really think of it like cutting or something similar)

Thank you 😊

Thank you!! It was surprisingly (and slightly worryingly, but hopefully that’s just impostor syndrome) easy. I’ll be teaching a class of Americans German in Germany. I’m also from the US, and it’s the first time I’ll be working specifically with Americans, so I’m hoping it’s easier than it normally is.

This week I: had six days of work, responded to two important emails, had a job interview (I got it!), paid an overdue bill, retrieved my debit card from the bank, went to the dr., and filled my rx.

But I really need to choose my topic for my master’s thesis and email my preferred advisor, so, you know, I’m a failure

That’s a great festival name for the genre

I went to see Green Day in 2010 because I guess the tickets didn’t sell well and my friends and I got them for like $10 each the day of. I’m not a super fan or anything, but I was young when they were big and probably really enjoy ~10-15 Green Day songs, so I totally thought it would be worth $10.

It was fucking awful. The music was rough, Billie Joe told the arena full of twelve year old girls about how he was so wasted that morning he pissed in his own luggage, and it was just a bad vibe.

Yep, simple vs easy.

Lyve

Sometimes it’s a second (or fifth) language for Indian people, but it’s also a dialect which is just as valid as your dialect and it’s got the second most English speakers in the world. The accent may just be an accent, you definitely shouldn’t assume that it’s a sign someone will have incorrect English. It sounds like you’re not in practice, but that’s definitely how I read your comments

I’m sorry, I have to ask about the lazy woman spices next to the milk. What’s the deal with them?

I’m from Connecticut and once had a serious problem with a person my company insured from North Carolina. He was talking to me about what caused his accent and I kept hearing “tar” instead of “tire.” We were equally qualified as native speakers.

If you’re concerned, you can listen to more Indian English, because familiarity should ease any understanding difficulties in the future.

I am trying to find this, because I’d love to see the context, but I can’t seem to get it. Weirdly, I could have been certain I clicked on a story talking about it, but I went back because of an uncloseable cookie banner and duck duck go changed the results.

That’s actually a really interesting question. I think putting dead people on trial (for new crimes, not postmortem exonerations) is fucked up, because they can’t testify in their own favor, but it’s also such an important case for the country to learn about, to assess the breadth of collusion and depth of corruption involved in trying to overthrow the government.

But then…

That still seems reasonable to me, though. If there’s evidence that they knew what they were doing, put it to a trial to determine culpability. If they’re not obviously in a position to have known better, I can see not prosecuting them, but prosecution is the normal next step when someone seemingly knowingly commits a crime. If it turns out that they really all got scammed, they’ll be found innocent.

I’m also not sure how it will proceed, but I think it’s much more fucked up if a non-party to a criminal case has assets seized. Given that there are currently sanctions against Russia, I could see it being seized separately by the DOJ and/or IRS, but I’d honestly much prefer that it go through a trial instead of just having the DOJ decide. At least then they can have a jury if they want and they can defend themselves. Civil forfeiture is fucked up

How is that extreme?

Prosecution isn’t execution, it is trying them for a crime that they may have committed. If they’re found guilty, even punishment could include things like seizing the money paid to them for those videos and putting watermark warnings on those videos explaining who funded them or taking them down entirely, not exclusively jail time.

I’m autistic, so grain of salt, but I’ve been specifically advised to do something that feels like bullying to me by someone with a degree early child development. I think the difference is that I’m unlikely to take it too far, but maybe they were just a radical and I absolutely should not be doing this. What do you guys think:

After a 3-5 year old kid goes to the bathroom, ask if they washed their hands, and if they say no, you make a grossed out face and say “eeeewww, that’s dirty. You need to do that before we can play together.”

It’s obviously a more constructive type of “bullying” than is standard, and you’re supposed to pair it with exaggerated relief and excitement to play as soon as they’ve washed their hands, so the last impression in the kid’s head isn’t rejection, but it still feels mildly iffy to me. I’m fucking terrible with kids though, so I don’t trust my own instincts.