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IJBMer Updates

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Comments

  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I think you mean;

    Wch2otV.jpg

    Bratz were quite sassy in their day.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    ooh, sassy
  • There's something I've been thinking of a while.

    How widespread is the idea that the PSUV is not representative of socialism, and that Chávez was not the idol of a non-negligible set of socialists?

    I dread the idea that they'll get away from being held co-responsible for the disaster they caused here.
  • edited 2020-11-02 13:24:17
    There is love everywhere, I already know
    the PSUV is not representative of socialism

    I'd say the idea is becoming more and more widespread amongst younger people, especially with the undying meme that the Scandinavian countries are what best represents "socialism".

    And then there's whatever dark force took over Teen Vogue.
    they'll get away from being held co-responsible for the disaster they caused here.

    Well, not in history books as long as the scholars hold out for a while longer from outside "reframers".

    But in the popular culture they've basically gotten away with it (sorry). Like, how many average people still remember who Nicolas Maduro is?

    In addition, now that Guaido has been tainted to some degree with Orange Man after the American SOTU, it'll be harder to even mention him without accidentally waking The Resistance so media will probably avoid it (not sure how you feel about Guaido but I just mean Venezuelan politics is basically out as whole a thing for now in Western media).
  • edited 2020-11-02 16:12:32
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    From my observations about politically active people in the United States, the general opinion is that Chávez and Maduro are bad and Guaido is good, because totalitarianism and dictatorships are bad while those who stand up to it are good, and also because Chávez/Maduro bankrupted the country and other stuff like that.

    (Besides, it was oil money anyway, so I don't think that endears him to environmentalists either -- though there may be a few people who've used him to argue for stuff like increasing production of fossil fuels, particularly for the "we hate him, so energy independence is good" argument. He'd be a useful expedient for that argument.)

    The issue of Venezuela does not seem to be a particularly salient issue for people in the US, except for (1) Venezuelan immigrants (particularly recent ones who fled those regimes) and a few other stridently anti-communist folks (e.g. some Cuban immigrants), and on the other end, (2) a handful of people who either hate or love those two simply because they're branded as socialists/communists/Marxists. The "lovers" among that second set of people are derogatorily labeled "tankies", and are sort of an analogue to those people who reflexively hate anything that the Republicans/conservatives brand as socialist.

    A similar reasoning plays out with regards to the Hong Kong protests. The general opinion seems to be sympathetic to the protesters, and it's not specifically because of an ideological anti-communism stance, or for that matter an ideological anti-China/anti-Chinese stance, but rather because the Chinese government has a reputation in the US for cracking down on dissent, blocking a variety of well-known websites, snooping on citizens' lives, suppressing protests (most famously the Tiannenmen Square incident), jailing dissidents, etc.. There are probably some people who see supporting the protesters as a front in a conflict over China's influence in the region, in the style of ye olde Cold War, I'm not sure how salient that is.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    For what it's worth, I haven't seen much mention of Venezuela past that transition of power to Guaido. I haven't noticed any recent acts of whitewashing, but I cannot say for sure there weren't any.
  • edited 2020-11-02 16:31:57
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    As an addendum to what I was describing, there are some people in the US who are/were interested in the use of US military force to remove Maduro, but I think general opinion has been wary of using US military force, with the drawn-out conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan looming large in recent memory.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    holy crap i think the US politics thread metastasized and it's my fault
  • Thank you all, I think I have a better perspective now.
    I often wonder how an ideology that's so atrocious at governing can be so good at PR.
  • Speaking of VTubers and the CCP's influence on stuff, I just learned about the two VTubers who were suspended from Hololive because YouTube's analytics page mentions the forbidden word, the one that starts with "T" and rhymes with "wan wan".
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    Terrier puppies?

    Ohey one of them was the one who covered Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'.

    Apparently the Wolf Warriors smelled blood after the suspension and demanded a 'firing'.

    Of anime girls.
  • Ohey one of them was the one who covered Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'.
    Yah, that' video is how Haato is one of the few I know by name. The others are Korone, Subaru and from this incident, Coco.
    Also I didn't know Hololive was an actual agency rather than a group of VTubers agreeing to do whatever.
    I gotta say, given the myriad of videos YouTube is recommending me now, the world of VTubing is more interesting than I thought.
    I promise I won't start simping.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I'm glad I'm not the first person around here to end up saying the S word, though frankly I don't think there are any circumstances where I'd have had to say it.

    Much like the one Madison Cawthorn ad really should not have used it. I'd look it up but I'll give this politics thing for an hour or two/three more because things have gone exactly as I expected (I didn't want to check but... my eyes slipped for a second).

    Maybe the rest of the day even.
    holy train caboose i think the US politics thread metastasized and it's my fault

    You chose the perfect time for it because I actually clicked on the thread to check what was happening but then quickly closed the tab so I don't even know what you're talking about.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Isn't metastasis that point when they tell you they can't do anything anymore and the cancer's gonna kill you?
  • I kinda realized a second too late after making the PSUV post that I had brought up politics at a time GMH and wings were holding off, and right before an US political happening.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Don't worry, I've prepared an Armenian politics topic to draw the attention away.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    It is so weird to know that X My Heart and Qami are currently fighting each other.

    This joke feels borderline distasteful, but only borderline.
    a second too late after making the PSUV post

    Well, it didn't seem too specific so I thought it was fine after a few mental hoops.
    Isn't metastasis that point when they tell you they can't do anything anymore and the cancer's gonna kill you?

    According to 2.4 seasons of The Good Doctor, this is generally it but it can be cured in some cases (and since it's The Good Doctor they almost always successfully remove it).
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Don't worry, I've prepared an Armenian politics topic to draw the attention away.

    Turns out that as of now, I also have a nice big stick to rattle the cage, so, whatever.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I feel weird lately about certain things.

    This post is kind of long and it rambles on constantly so I highlighted the relevant parts in bold.

    I find in these periods where I disengage from something that's been holding a significant amount of my focus (like politics or the internet more generally earlier this year), I can see things clearer in terms of what's working and what isn't.

    I've always followed doll news pretty closely all my life, but I've actually rarely bought any. In fact, it took me a lot of convincing to get into what ended up being my most extensive doll collection; Ever After High, and I mostly kept up with collecting those because I could use them in my stop motion videos.



    tl;dr I haven't bought anything since my Cave Club Slate doll who I haven't even opened and currently I have no interest in doing so.

    But obviously I am still thinking about what happens in LEGO Friends land next year and I really can't wait to see the 2021H1 sets...
  • I feel like I wasted my weekend v38.2.0
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    so someone posted "nnevozmozhnokupit" and I was like "that looks like nonsense but it sounds vaguely Slavic" and I looked it up and sure enough it actually is Russian
  • edited 2020-11-14 14:09:03
    There is love everywhere, I already know
    You: Plans
    Life: haaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  • edited 2020-11-17 10:01:29
    Again I suddenly woke up short of breath and unable to breathe, I felt I was going to pass out. It lasted about ten seconds before I was able to breathe enough to stay conscious. Also I feel there's mucus in the back of my mouth.
    I need to ask a doctor about that.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Now that sounds nasty.

    Also, it seems we're officially old now. We tell each other about our ilnesses and ailments.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    That does sound concerning, I hope it's not too serious.
    We tell each other about our ilnesses and ailments.

    We also have a thread for discussing the weather.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    "Networking" is just a fancy name for having connections, ain't it? Connections, and knowing how to get around in societies where you don't have any, but you could. But mostly connections.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    Networking is the part where you make connections.

    After all, you'll never know who you need to know.

    Like, if you're working in distro for some fish company. You started as a line manager, and you get yourself all the way up to Vice Chief Fish QC or whatever, and you go to a company party, you might meet people from Fish Sourcing.

    If they like you, you might start hanging out with them, and then one day you're invited to someone's seaside barbeque where you meet Fish Sourcing guy's friend from MegaCorp Fisheries.

    She's been mulling over an idea, but keeping it close to her chest. For some reason, probably because you're a rando, she tells you and you think "Hey, that's a good fish sales idea!", so the two of you start working on it.

    Using all the connections you've built up in networking so far, you end up approaching a guy who works in artisanal salts (for the fish, y'know), and he's been thinking about an artisanal cheeses company but he has nowhere near the seed capital required for such a big venture.

    However, he does have enough for your boutique fish sales idea. Maybe you sell fish via a cute hipster store, or maybe it's Uber for Raw Fish, who knows. He mulls it over, and decides he'll invest his seed capital in you and MegaCorp girl so that it grows. Not only will his cash grow, he'll hopefully have a good record on this project to take to banks or other investors when he wants a loan of some sort.

    So now you quit your job (or don't, but legally you'd have to disclose any involvement with your employer, and this would heavily depend on how much control you'd like your fish expertise to get you), and you're running Boutique Fisheries.

    etc etc etc

    ie We all need help, and networking is a way to mitigate the risk of not knowing the right person to help you whenever you may need it.

    Even simple acquaintance-level cordial relations go a long way in getting somebody to help you rather than approaching them the literal day you need their assistance.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    So, a fancy word for connections. I guess the straightforward name sounds a bit too much like nepotism, or something you wouldn't put on your resume past kindergarten ("hey, I'm Johnny and I'm good at making new friends!").

    Like, I don't mind things working this way, we all know how much they do, but we pretend they don't while making up a term to do it while we pretend we don't, and that's what feels a bit cringe-y to me.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I thought everybody knew what networking was and absolutely despised it.
    something you wouldn't put on your resume past kindergarten

    It's a very useful skill though. It's really not easy to just be friends with everybody for no discernible reason. Couple that with never rubbing people the wrong way, and it's a whole double-layered personality type.
    but we pretend they don't

    That's another part of the social contract. Like the old joke scenario about a wife asking her husband if a pair of jeans make her look fat. The white lies that oil social stability because human beings can't handle truth very well.

    But also nobody actually wants to feel like the villain. Everybody is the hero of their own story, and that story is (usually) written with their own survival and/or ego in mind based on where they lie on Maslow's hierarchy.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    It's a very useful skill though. It's really not easy to just be friends with everybody for no discernible reason. Couple that with never rubbing people the wrong way, and it's a whole double-layered personality type.
    Definitely.

    You know, I used to feel a bit guilty whenever my thesis supervisor set something up for me. No big deal, but still I relied on somebody. Now, that's what one will just call good networking.
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