I’m not certain I buy that in every single case, but do buy into it for many, many cases.

It’s actually something I tried to pass on to other folks when I worked a phone customer service job - there’s cases where it’s obvious the anger is coming from somewhere else if you’re paying attention (example I had and shared was clearly fear), so told people to pay attention to exactly what folks are saying to try and elicit that, and speak/address the actual problem/emotion.

Fuck I miss that job some days…feels like the only thing I’ve done that I was really, really good at. Was also a small team with very little corpo oversight at the time, so don’t know if these approaches would fly as well today v. scripted responses.

A challenge for you (or anyone interested in taking it up): Once a day, while waiting for public transit, pay attention to the people around you. Does anyone have something interesting about them (hair, clothes, jewelery, weird keychain thing on their phone, etc.)? Ask one identified person about it. See someone who looks like they are on the verge of tears? Ask them “Hey, is everything ok?”

9/10 times you’ll have a brief Q-A-back off interaction, but sometimes it’ll turn into a longer conversation. Yes, it feels awkward. Yes, in some places you’ll come across as rude/uncomfortably weird (keep your dominant culture in mind - you probably wouldn’t try this in some place like Finland or something). But I’ve had some very interesting experiences doing this in the past (usually with the ones who look upset - if you’re willing to be a sympathetic ear you might just make that person’s day).

Shit just works - forever and always.

(shh, it just works and shit just works are both valid - the intent was the former IIRC - but the latter is obviously the superior choice. I’m also partial to sh.it.heads when referring to users [cheeky, but thought about in the same way as Deadheads for Grateful Dead fans])

Sounds like a fun Sunday.

So far, I have not seen anyone other than you express this position in any discussion of this document. You have not demonstrated that there are others who agree with you.

Based on this I am satisfied with my position.

No.

So far, it’s mostly been these points:

1. Murder is wrong. Thompson should not have been murdered.
2. Nevertheless, this was bound to happen eventually, and [people I’ve talked to about it are] not upset that Thompson is dead.

Reading through the comments here, I would say a gift certificate or membership to some activity they’ve expressed interest in. Ideally, something physical, that either involves working/playing/whatever with other people, or which has a social element to it.

My biased selection would be rock climbing if this is of some interest and you have a climbing gym that isn’t a giant pain to access (which you might not). Solo sport, but a) you need a belayer - that was my Dad when I was doing it, and b) the gym rats I’ve come across are often very friendly, open people.

Can be as challenging as you make it, gets you talking with IRL people, opportunity for what sounds like really necessary quality time going up there, if he gets into bouldering or makes a gym buddy and can get there himself he can eventually do it independently, etc.

Might make sense for them, might not - only you would know, really.

Ugh - that’s fucking gross of people, and I’m sorry to hear that.

My argument was more when considering ‘most people’ - most people is a lot of people. An individual doesn’t really interact with most people. But that said, you can certainly interact with ‘enough people’ that an expectation of shoddy treatment is pretty reasonable (if a pretty bullshit set of circumstances individuals shouldn’t have to suffer).

Pedantry on my part, I guess, along with likely blindspots I have as a cis male. Fuck transphobia…such meaninglessly hurtful bullshit.

First, I’d challenge the ‘most people’ part. In my experience most people really, truly do not care one way or the other if someone is trans. But to be fair, this may vary between countries, societies, etc.

Edit: I wrote a bunch of other stuff here, but wasn’t happy reading it back. Someone else here said religion and bad science, which is close enough to the point I was trying to make that I’ll just say that.

After watching this video and a few other playthroughs, I didn’t feel a need to actually play it. But I am thrilled that it exists, and love the idea of someone having the opportunity to play it blind (though how would you even come across it these days if not through exposure via Youtube or other media?).

Such a cool mod.

Dope. As. Fuck.

Not affiliated, just a fan.

Start here for inspiration: https://piratebox.cc/faq

Break falls are the only skill I’ve kept from my martial arts training, but it’s literally the most useful one.

“Hey Al, they’re remastering our series.” “WHAT?”

These folks are doing fantastic work. If you’re a Canuck, find the Reboot Rewind folks on your social media of choice, they’re going around doing screenings of their doc (and some of the D1 footage I think) in Canadian cities.

Most settings, the key is paying attention to indicators of interest/disinterest. If someone isn’t engaging with you beyond grunts, looks visibly uncomfortable, etc. that’s your cue to gracefully exit.

This is the hard part for a lot of people, properly gauging interest after initiation and knowing when to move on. If it’s not intuitive, unfortunately there’s not much else you can do to improve this other than practice.

Sometimes you can find more casual philosophy-focused discussion/reading groups too - I know a few have a presence on Meetup in my area. They meet at a pub or something and discuss a particular topic for the evening.

“@!#?@!, motherfucker!”

It’s a term that’s taken on some additional baggage/meaning. Originally it simply meant someone who was involuntarily celibate - wants to have sexual relationships, but doesn’t. Now it usually refers to someone adhering to a kind of peculiar set of ideologies around that (see: social value theories taken to some often ridiculous extremes; good ol’ fashioned misogyny/perhaps misanthropy; etc.).

There’s a kneejerk reaction to incels in the latter sense because so much that comes out of that is pretty awful. That and it’s often folks who engage with the latter stuff who are more inclined to identify with the term incel - most others who just fit the former definition just say they’re single.

IMO the latter usage is just more proof that we are failing and continuing to fail men, badly, in terms of community and mental health supports.