I am bad at both games and thus do not find them very fun

Does your org have the vibe of a friend group hanging out or the vibe of a church volunteer group?

Not that it was ultimately particularly successful but my last org I hosted monthly dinners at my place. People enjoyed my vegan cooking and we just hung out and broke bread together. Board games are a decent option if you’re all past 30 and so inclined. Anything to get people to spend time with you IRL. Absent close shared circumstances like coworkers I think you really have to manufacture bonds beyond being mad at the same stuff you read online. You don’t have to be best friends or anything but if someone is going to an action they should think “here is an opportunity to hang out with my buddies” instead of just “here is an opportunity to manifest my stated values IRL”

I’m sure it exists. How much does it cost to run?

Federated platforms do not have the bandwidth for endless instant-load high definition video. Even pixelfed (instagram clone) is marginal. Photos barely load on this website. It might be viable to home-host something like TikTok in 20 years or so.

I can’t blame someone for wanting to live in the empire instead of struggling for freedom in the periphery, it’s what I do. It’s easier to have a nice life in the place all the wealth is flowing to.

Nolan is gonna give us a whole new generation of dorks who use that phrase

jarhead isn’t even that anti-war, it’s just like “war is a lot of boredom and shit work and any individual’s contribution to it is negligible” aka a modicum of realism instead of cawlladuty operators bravely massacring hordes of [racial slurs omitted]

BJJ made my ass so big I legitimately do not comfortably fit XXL underwear from some brands

There is no argument we can make or shame we can bring to bear that will stop zionists from trying to get away with everything that they possibly can. They know it’s existential and will use every possible tactic regardless of damage to non-zionist institutions or people. No zionist can be trusted to hold a position of influence.

Hockey sticks are better if you have a good snapshot

Yeah I think if someone is being racist but doing the “but you’re one of the good ones” shit (even using cloaked language) that is a very valid reason to not be their friend

These people aren’t worth debating directly because they are not operating on the level of facts, just vibes. Simply ask them whether they think climate change is important.

There are so many good at-home alone entertainment options now (this website counts as one) that the scarce couple hours per week you can tear someone away from them to hang out with you is less consequential to their political development than whatever feed they spend 20 hours per week scrolling. That was the unfortunate conclusion I arrived at after spending many frustrating hours talking to a longtime friend about trans issues and then they just kept sliding further down the right wing rabbit hole. I’m guilty of the same probably, from the perspective of some liberals I know. I do not value their political opinions as much as ones I read online here and elsewhere. One person stopped talking to me, not immediately after but probably ultimately caused by a discussion we had on Ukraine where I said they should make territorial concessions for peace because the war is nightmarishly awful and needs to end. In retrospect it was stupid to engage in that discussion and I valued their human company more than hashing out opinions on a war neither of us had any say about. But so it goes.

By the way the flip side of this is that a lot of people who share your political views are annoying as fuck or have various other traits that make them not good friends. I would not go so far as to say shared political beliefs are orthogonal to being a good friend but there are so, so many things that go into the cocktail of making someone pleasant to be around that I do often wonder whether I drastically overrate the importance of politics in friendships.

ice spirit thresholding a major power card to drive the invaders from turtle island

thats why we need to switch to innovative educational funding models that align incentives! Instead of the school keeping your diploma until you pay them, thus keeping you from getting a job you could use to pay them, the school simply acquires the right to a share of your future income in perpetuity!

this game is old enough that it was old when the game director got me-too’d

how tf do you work on a remake of a not-that-long sixth gen game for eight fucking years

Definitely get a home blood pressure monitor (bicep cuff, not a shitty wrist cuff one). They go for $50-$80. Then you can measure consistently at home some time each day.

Don’t worry too much about hypertension. Like a crazy number of people past 30 are on hypertension meds, which are still under-prescribed for the number that should be on hypertension meds. I’m on hypertension meds despite being an overexercised vegetarian. Hypertension meds are quite good and there are many many options if you react poorly to taking one.

I do independent contracting now, which has nice aspects but I definitely make less money. Starting a business might be in the cards in the moderately near future but who knows.