Ah, but discrimination against Roma isn’t racism because they actually are all dirty thieves!

• said to me by an actual European lacking all self-awareness

Edit: nvm, OP posts indicate they expect more diversity of political opinions, which might mean they’re actually looking for Truth Social instead of Lemmy.

When we were kids, my brother would get mean when bored. Low-grade physical stuff, hard pinches, pulled hair, coming into my room to harass me and break toys, enough to cause pain without evidence if I were to complain. I asked my mom to intervene, she didn’t want to deal with it, so she gave me the old phrase, “if you don’t know what to do, spit in a shoe and do it again at half past two”.

So I spat in my brothers shoe every time he messed with me. And for good measure, I spat in my mom’s shoe too for letting him continue to abuse me.

Wait, how do you go from TSA policy on shoes to a supermax prison in Colorado?

When I traveled enough for work to build up frequent flyer status with a single carrier, yes, it was worth it. I picked which carrier to build status with based on routes available from where I lived and where I traveled most often. And candidate carriers were the larger name-brand ones because they had more routes.

As an individual traveling once or twice a year for vacation now, I just go with what’s inexpensive, meets my schedule, and doesn’t have a shit layover like 30 min or 4+ hours. I don’t travel enough to build up a frequent flyer status, which is where perks with any particular airline kick in.

Ear plugs. Because that rustling of leaves is just a raccoon and most definitely not a serial killer. I like wax earplugs for sleeping versus foam.

Maintain hygiene regimens to greatest degree possible. Don’t skimp on washing face or brushing teeth that you would typically do at home.

Food makes or breaks a trip for me. The weather could be awful, plans could go awry, but as long as everyone is well fed, there’s potential.

I’m not a no-tech purist while camping but do try to use trips as a time to reset tech habits. Can you go for 24 hours without an Internet connected device? Kinda similar to the occasional dry week or break from coffee/caffeine: check in and see how you’re interacting with tech.

Have a first aid kit and know how to use the stuff in it.

This guy masculinates intoxically.

We had a scorpion growing up that liked me and not my brother, despite both of us being roughly equally responsible for feeding it. It would come right up to me and take food out of my hand but backed away and tried to not make contact with my brother. That’s enough for me without getting all philosophical about what “personality” means.

It’s name was Viggo, as in Mortenson, as in Strider, the Heir of Isildur.

2026 is Winter Games in Milan. LA is Summer Games in 2028.

That said, let it burn. Record low turnout following the disaster that will be FIFA World Cup 2026. It follows the pattern of host countries with human rights abuses.

:adds to shopping cart

sweet candy is for kids

I vibe w Mario. I haven’t had either you mentioned, but they seem my speed. I go for the saltiest licorice you crazy Scandinavians can come up with.

(am an American who warns people off my candy stash, but they still try it and think I’m pranking them)

Edit 4 days later: I bought a bag of Original and a bag of Hot & Sour as a result of this thread. Delicious but TBH, I was hoping for stronger. I ran into a specialty licorice store in small, Midwestern city Lincoln, Nebraska a few years bag and they had imported licorice from all over the world. They had a couple that were stronger.

I am happy to see they survived Covid. It couldn’t have been easy for such a niche thing like licorice in a city that small. https://licoriceinternational.com/

Any carbs for lunch followed by a work meeting I don’t care about.

I’m saying the industry generally bundles them together as the top level genre. So awards and funding is first considered at the sci-fi/fantasy combined level.

Again, the point was to note the difference between the major genre level where the money and awards are (sci-fi/fantasy, dominated by men) versus the possibility that OP is seeing a sample influenced by The Algorithm (potentially niche sub-genres, potentially more self-published books).

Not trying to make some political comment here, just pointing out some reasons OP might be seeing demographics they didn’t expect.

Yeah, because it’s generally one genre, with fantasy > romantic fantasy > horny fairy romantic fantasy > horny polyamorous fairy romantic fantasy becoming increasingly niche sub-genres.

And I do think comparing “best-sellers” versus open Amazon search is important to point out. “Best-sellers” are generally going to be released through a publishing house with the resources and recognition that comes with it. An Amazon search might kick up a lot of self-published books, especially if OPs algorithm is sending them that way. And one very sensible explanation why women would be over-represented among self-published fantasy books… because historically men got more of the “best sellers” / publishing house backed.

https://media.tenor.com/Sv7kJEgrbG0AAAAM/bait-tom-hardy.gif

I suspect your algorithm has offered you a biased sampling.

As of the 2010’s, 79% of Fantasy/Sci-Fi genres bestselling books were written by men.

Source, also contains other interesting author demographics.

I’m in my 30s. My parents raised us with old-timey gender roles, expecting the girls to cook and clean and the boys to, idk, get used to being served?

It did neither side any favors. One brother had some very difficult lessons to learn when a way-out-of-his-league girlfriend told him what’s what. They’re married now and he’s pretty candid about how bullshit those gender roles were and how he’d never setup a son for failure by not teaching them basic life skills of cleaning and feeding themselves, nor teach a daughter she has to shoulder it all.

Finding myself in a relationship with a man who plays weaponized incompetence games to manipulate me into traditional gender roles is my nightmare. I got taken advantage of in some of my earliest relationships and I now attempt to vet for it better up front. I can say there are certainly still men who don’t think it’s their job to clean, but I think it’s better with each generation.

IDK if women are any better, we might need a 50/50 bi person for their perspective.

I won’t get romantically involved with anyone who deeply believes and allows religion, especially organized religion, to drive their lives.

I was raised Catholic. I have seen too many people use their religion to shirk responsibility for their evils.

Washington State mandatory reporter law changes are a great example. In the US it varies by state but in general, people in trusted positions like teachers, police officers, medical professionals, and counselors are required to report child abuse. Priests have had a special exception, even if they were acting as teachers or counselors. Last month, Washington removed the special exception for priests. The Catholic Church is now sueing to keep the right for priests to keep child abuse secret. Ponder that, these people who would put their magical ceremonies over the health, safety, even lives of children. What is the point of that religion? Because it sure isn’t about helping people live good lives.

And Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these … unless they’re being abused and you wait until you’re in the special room with me, chant some special words, and then tell me. Then fuck’em. No, literally, we’ll keep the pedophilia on the down low because the ceremony is more important than the kids”.

60% work from home “office”, 30% on site at an assembly and test facility, and 10% visiting customers to fix problems. Not sure where that falls. I do a mix of technical and customer service and office work so who knows.

100%. I’ve recently added the “Grunt Style” tshirts to my red flag catalog.