I’m a crusty old fuck, but anyone poking fun in poor spirit at a love symbol would not enjoy the crust I would end up rubbing into their nose.

Some shit, I genuinely believe a knuckle sandwich is the appropriate response. Not an ss whupping, just one solid pop to the snout. This is in that category. Anyone could tink whatever they wanted, but as soon as they opened their mouth to show what a moron they are, a single punch should be legally justified use of force. Falls under fighting words imo; never shit on someone’s spouse showing love

As is often the case, you’re asking an interesting question hidden beneath some of the worst possible phrasing you’ll find online lol

At least, if I’m getting your gist, you’re asking “if we ignore that trans people nare fundamentally trans from birth, wouldn’t it be fair to compare it to any given choice a person makes?”

Assuming I’m reading you right, that’s a good question, but it has a major flaw in it. Comparing transness to a recreational drug is just bad. For a good comparison that fits the restrictions on your thought experiment, you’d want to compare it to steroids, “back room” plastic surgery, or other body altering decisions that are currently not allowed under law, and are also socially stigmatized, as well as causing permanent/long term changes.

So, no, even when pretending that what makes a person trans isn’t started in the womb, it does not boil down to a single choice the way an addictive substance would.

First, not all substances are addictive quickly. None are immediately addictive that I’m aware of. So if transness were a choice, it would still differ in that way.

Second, there is still a difference between making a choice to engage in a long term process and being pressured into a short term action via social manipulation. One can only be peer pressured for so long before a breaking point is reached, though that point may still result in the individual accepting the social pressures and following them.

Thus, it would mean it isn’t a single choice, it’s a chain of choices.

Now, there’s another aspect to the general idea of transness being a choice rather than a state of being (and, again, that’s just the restriction of the thought experiment, not a fact). It begs the question that if individuals have freedom of choice to do a given harmful thing, why can we not choose all harmful things for ourselves? Why can we consume alcohol, but not steroids? Why do we allow restrictions on some things but not others? I’ll let you guess the answer to that as it goes off on a major tangent.

And, indeed, if being trans were a choice, it should be completely treated the same as deciding to get a tattoo or stop at the pub for a few pints. Mind you, that assumes that body autonomy is something we should all have. Anyone that doesn’t believe that is welcome to their opinion, no matter how shitty it is, but I won’t debate it.

Now, you deny that predisposition exists. I’m not sure how or why you came to that conclusion, what with the very clear evidence of predisposition to things like breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or any of dozens of diseases known, beyond any reasonable doubt to have a genetic factor that increases the chances of them from marginally to vastly, or even almost certain.

Denying predisposition to other illnesses as even possible is just poor thinking.

When there is compelling evidence to the contrary, holding that belief is on par with hating vaccines in terms of sheer thick-headed duncery. Anyone believing that it isn’t possible is quite welcome to that belief, but then again, they’re equally welcome to believe the sun rotates around the earth, which happens to be flat. So, you know…

With that in mind, I suspect you are, indeed, out of this world on this one lol.

To conclude, transness is still not perfectly understood. Since a great deal of it exists as physical aspects of the brain, and seem to stem from hormonal and epigenetic processes in the womb, I doubt a fully perfect understanding will come along any time soon.

But it is absolutely, positively, 100% not a choice. One might choose to transition for other reasons, as humans are a complex and interesting species. But that’s different from being trans in any real sense.

And, much love to my trans sisters, brothers, and others. ❤

Masturbation. That’s what people do with it

All of them, though the knife blades, files, drivers, and main tool scissors or pliers depending on the individual tool) obviously get the real use.

My pocket carry is a crkt mini jobber an olight thingy with scissors, a can/bottle opener, a file with two sides, Phillips and straight drivers, knife blade, and a SIM tool (the original reason I picked this model) and the main tool is scissors.

My bag carry is a victorinox with the usual assortment and pliers as the main. It gets used less often, but I’ve had it long enough that even the awl has been used multiple times. Obviously, the pliers are the most used, with the drivers and file being next most.

I actually have a second, smaller tool in my pocket pouch that I’ve had for around twenty years. It’s a no name thing I can’t even remember where or when I got. It’s just a handful of tools on a single hinge, folds down to smaller than a matchbox. It actually works really well at the size, but my hands are giant so it can be a pain in the ass when doing anything that takes a process rather than something like just tightening a loose screw. But I’ve used all of its tools multiple times over the years.

Edit: finding links for the two main ones https://www.amazon.com/VICTORINOX-Functions-Locking-Long-Nosed-Leather/dp/B001U53XSU

Turns out it isn’t a crkt, it’s from olight https://ca.olight.com/store/otacle-p1

I’ve done that :)

Sometimes I get lucky and a given gathering is up for the really gnarly (but still entertaining rather than maudlin) stories, and I end up going on for quite a while lol.

I used to be banned from dinner tables because of that lol.

Nope, and if you ask again, I’m turning this time stream around

I mean, I get what you’re saying, and I even would agree, but LLMs don’t even have concepts at all. They’re fancy prediction algorithms. Like, the keyboard I’m using to type this has a list predicted next words available after I hit space. That’s what an LLM is, just bigger in scale.

They are so far from anything that can have a concept in the first place, that saying they lack a concept of responsibility is like saying an earthworm lacks a concept of flying. You could pick the worm up, throw it, and it still wouldn’t have the concept, and you could feed in the entire written works of humanity without an LLM ever gaining a concept of anything.

They aren’t being at all. They’re not a thinking machine, they’re not ai in any real sense of the term. Not even the most advanced generative models out there come close to the thinking ability of an earthworm.

From someone that’s been there, try to work on that mental switch. Even if the kid sees you as an exception, and really doesn’t care if you don’t, it’s still a powerful thing to do it anyway. You can still crack jokes together and fuck around, but if you put in the effort to shift your language the rest of the time, it seriously uplifts someone that’s in the process of finding their path as their authentic self.

And yeah, it is true that a decent number of kids in particular (as opposed to folks that are transitioning as adults) don’t care about pronouns when their loved ones support them in every other way (or even just in most ways). They know some old fart has decades of brain patterns built up, and years of thinking of them as a given gender. They know it won’t happen overnight, and thus aren’t hurt by slips, or are hurt way less. But I’ve never met a trans kid that didn’t feel happy and loved by a close family member putting in the effort anyway.

I promise you, the worst that can happen from trying is you get razzed for fucking up

I would love to see the same thing with heavily modified trucks.

I have an old emaxx that’s maybe half aluminum, weighs something like ten pounds-ish that I used to take out in the cunt-tree and rock climb with. Obviously, you can’t really battle royale like that with mixed trucks because the mass factor of some of the crazy aftermarket parts can swing things way more than driver skill can. But holy shit did we have some fun with emaxx vs clodbuster vs whatever action, banging each other off of rocks and then tumbling down hills.

Expensive, what with the breakage factor from thirty feet of tumbling, but fun.

I can’t believe the loose group of happy assholes that would show up never did anything like this tbh. We did do some quasi demolition derby racing on dirt though. Rule was that if you got flipped, you were dead, but also off limits for any direct hits. Also expensive fun lol. That was mostly rally style stuff though, ala the traxxas rampage (iirc, it might have been a different name model, it wasn’t my favorite type of car to run, so I just ain’t sure of names).

I mean, by virtue of the place itself, this is YDI.

Besides, you took the bait lol. Even if they didn’t have a very clear policy I’m place that was easy to find, you can’t blame anyone if you take the bait that’s so obviously dangled lol

Aight, as someone that used to wash dirty bodies for a living, and insists on a level of cleanliness because of that, you’re way overestimating the funk most people have in the short term.

The typical person that’s bathing regularly (not even daily) and is changing clothing daily just isn’t going to smell that bad.

Hell, if a person is actively sweating, they’ll smell better because sweat will flush away the stuff that makes funky smell or taste, so all you get is saltiness.

For real, even in nursing homes with urinary incontinent patients, they didn’t stink just by virtue of being in a wet diaper for a while. A washcloth (or the equivalent) and a light scrub would remove any aroma. For an ambulatory adult using basic methods to clear residual urine, you might get the lightest hint at the end of a long day.

Mostly, genitals just smell genital-y. A little light musk, some hints of sebum scent, and maybe the generic scent of skin. It’s far from unpleasant, even when strong enough to detect while helping someone change clothes.

Now, I never went down on, or fucked a patient. Wouldn’t have been interested in crossing that line even if they were otherwise compatible.

But I have gotten freaky with people after their work, after workouts, etc. The truth is that if they stink it points to something being out of whack. It’s not the default at all. A person’s diet and intake of things has way more influence on their taste and similar to their scent than just being out and about randomly.

For real, while I do prefer such intimacy fresh out of a shower because of my history dealing with people that did have something out of whack, it’s not some kind of horrible experience otherwise. Like, it’s less unpleasant than kissing after eating roasted garlic (which isn’t really unpleasant tbh, just intense).

And it’s not like a full bath is going to be significantly better at knocking down UTI risks than a wipe it washcloth and a light attention.

Seriously, where did you get the idea that crotches stink that bad just walking around?

You know, if I had to point to the single most underappreciated recorded musician ever, I’m pretty damn sure it would be her.

I’m not saying she exceeds the influence and talent of other pioneers in music, but I can’t think of a single one that is less well known for their talent and contribution to music development in the last century

I mean, if you can’t have the vent go outside, it’s better than nothing, but it won’t pull a majority out of the vented air without passing over the ice pack multiple times.

Only people I’ve ever known to try them thought they weren’t worth a dime

Dammit! Another surveillance pic of me just chilling!

I know which one I’d rather stick my ramrod in

You know, over the years, that list has gotten tiny.

The only thing I really struggle with now, as in if I don’t pay attention and have a whole package next to me I’ll end up eating it all, is stuff like Ghirardelli squares or lindt truffles.

I’m a chocolate fiend. But, normally, I know how much I plan to have at a given point in time and stop when I’m at that point.

But there’s something about those bags of products that defeats me if I don’t pay close attention. I’ll have my two, maybe three truffles (as an example), enjoy them thoroughly and move on.

But then my brain says “did you have two, or three?” a few hours later. And then it says “or was only two, you can have the other now”. So I have the other. This then repeats a few hours later, and my brain keeps lying to me until half the damn bag is gone.

It’s mostly limited to bags because I can’t easily tell how much I’ve had until the bag is low. A box, it’s not going to sneak by me. Bars are never a problem. But bags? Damn. My subconscious knows I’ll enjoy it, and refuses to keep track on my behalf, I have to do it consciously. Bad subconscious! Bad!

I mean, I’m a grown ass man, and if I want the whole damn bag as a conscious decision, that’s what I’ll do. No apologies, no regrets, and fuck anyone that doesn’t like it. But I consciously know that I won’t enjoy large amounts at once because only the really cheap chocolate doesn’t lose its impact after a couple of bites. Hershey’s is the same from the first bite until the tenth, if you don’t mind that regurge thingy it does (and I do, so I rarely have more than a single piece even when I’m in the mood for cheap chocolate). But the mid tier mass produced stuff, you lose the nuances it does have after two to three bites and it’s just not as potent an experience, so I prefer to space it out more.

The really good stuff you could keep eating without losing the magic, but it’s so intense you don’t want/need to. It satisfies in a different way.

So, I choose to just be careful with the bags when I have them and store them away from wherever I am. But damn, if I forget? Gone in a day or two instead of the week+ it should be

Problem is that I prefer having some things external. Self hosting means maintaining all the hardware, and that can be an issue when shit goes major wrong. So some vital stuff like a password database, it’s just not something I’m going to dick around with the usual sync back and forth on my own stuff.

And bitwarden fills that need best so far. I haven’t found anything else anyway

Really? I have heard some really stupid shit in all the anti trans rhetoric, but that’s gotta be the turd that floats highest.

I like my memes like I like my soul

Dark as fuck