I Had A Random Thought...

[syntheticgerbil]

I never fly cheap because I don't want to start a holiday with a shitty experience. It means I take fewer holidays, because I've got to budget for the added expense, but honestly it's accommodation that ends up being the big expense. Airbnb's made holidays way more affordable for me.

I think if you just get a bunch of sedative drugs and take them before getting on the long plane ride, it could work out and your knees could hurt all day and you wouldn't know.

 

I am not speaking from experience, but it seems like it could work? Maybe planes could provide valium before take off.

[SecretAsianMan]

I think if you just get a bunch of sedative drugs and take them before getting on the long plane ride, it could work out and your knees could hurt all day and you wouldn't know.

 

I am not speaking from experience, but it seems like it could work? Maybe planes could provide valium before take off.

 

The problem with that is sleep on flights is not restful sleep.  As someone who's crossed the Pacific Ocean more than a dozen times, I can tell you that even though you're sleeping on the flight, you don't wake up feeling refreshed.  All it's really good for is passing the time. 

 

That said though, it's still beats being awake so it's probably worth doing.

[Mawd]

I was just thinking about how I haven't had a thought random enough to justify posting here but well..

Seeing as the value of fiction for someone looking to understand queer experiences just came up if like to say "fuck yeah it's valuable!".

There was a time where I desperately needed something of the sort in my life.

I had never talked to an openly queer person in my life and coming out of a toxically masculine boarding school I certainly wasn't about to open up and talk to randoms at the new school.

I eventually turned to the internet and met other young people who we're going through the same things I was but for the longest time I really craved narrative media that contained contexts similar to mine. It wasn't just to understand something, it's not like people play Gone Home to get a clear representation of asserting a queer identity to one's parents as a teen. We/they are as likely to simply want to feel close and broaden our perceptions of other people like us outside of limited irl or media portrayals.

Even now I still like seeing depictions of queer people outside of the 'A List' or 'Queer As Folk' depictions since it can be kinda hard to meet other people. This isn't a knock on party animals or people who find it harder to not stick out. It's just that having had little opportunity for social interaction with people of a similar background media helps with connecting to that sense of shared culture.

I was going I say that fictional media also helps make people more receptive to questions on the human condition and other meta-narratives. Not everyone sure but I think certain things get people into considering what makes them human, and all those other juicy topics in ways that might otherwise require dissociatives like extreme tiredness and/or psychedelics -that's a bit tongue in cheek but well, still..

[Dewar]

On the topic of flying being shitty, next year the Real ID act is going to take effect in the U.S.  The Real ID act will require you to show an ID that can only be obtained with U.S. Citizenship.  For some states, this does not include a driver's license.  You'll instead have to show something like a passport, which a reported 38% of people don't even have.  I have a passport but I don't carry it with me.  I'm imagining a scenario where someone has checked their bags in but can't board their flight because they can't get past security due to not bringing a valid ID.

 

I always bring my passport to the airport, but I didn't even have one until I got married and we wanted to take our honeymoon in Canada.

[ratamero]

On the topic of flying being shitty, next year the Real ID act is going to take effect in the U.S.  The Real ID act will require you to show an ID that can only be obtained with U.S. Citizenship.  For some states, this does not include a driver's license.  You'll instead have to show something like a passport, which a reported 38% of people don't even have.  I have a passport but I don't carry it with me.  I'm imagining a scenario where someone has checked their bags in but can't board their flight because they can't get past security due to not bringing a valid ID.

 

wait, what do you mean "some" states? Are there states where you can only get a driver's license with US Citizenship? How do foreigners live in these places? (the answer: as badly as I did in NC, having to take the bus that ran once an hour every day)

[jennegatron]

In other states, you'll have a designation on your license that indicate that you're not a US Citizen, like that is a temporary or provisional license.

[Zeusthecat]

i'm about to go to bed angry

 

YOU DID THIS TO ME ZEUS!!!

 

   

 

Hahaha!! Mission accomplished!

 

Honestly, we should just stop being mad at each other and all just direct our anger at the airlines. None of this would be an issue if it weren't for the fact that they design seating that can only comfortably accommodate people that have had both legs amputated.

 

But if it really is considered rude to recline your seat, then I think it is equally rude to expect others not to recline. Depending on the person, the back pain may be preferable to the knee pain and vice versa so having a rule where we only cater to the knee pain crowd is kind of a dick move for the back pain crowd. Personally, I can wiggle into different positions to angle my knees to the left or right but if I can't recline, I'm totally fucked and have no recourse other than leaning forward.

[Twig]

But if it really is considered rude to recline your seat, then I think it is equally rude to expect others not to recline.

You are invading my personal space. I have no sympathy for anyone making a choice to ruin my entire day.

 

Believe me, I also suffer from back pain when sitting on an airplane. I have no comfort zone. But that's something I deal with. I'm not going to make myself more comfortable by making someone else suffer.

 

I think it's a massive understatement to call it "rude". It's a fucking dick move to lean back and crush someone's knees like they don't matter.

 

I also suffer from shoulder pain while sitting on an airplane because I can't comfortably find a way to rest my arms on something, and I'm tall enough that the constant weight of my arms pulling down on my shoulders actively strains them. The only way I can alleviate that pain is to stretch my arms out away from my body, preferably to the side, because the front takes constant muscular tension to maintain. 

 

So is it "rude" of my neighbor to not allow me to stretch my arms into their seat for the duration of the flight?!

[Zeusthecat]

You are invading my personal space. I have no sympathy for anyone making a choice to ruin my entire day.

 

Believe me, I also suffer from back pain when sitting on an airplane. I have no comfort zone. But that's something I deal with. I'm not going to make myself more comfortable by making someone else suffer.

 

I think it's a massive understatement to call it "rude". It's a fucking dick move to lean back and crush someone's knees like they don't matter.

 

But it isn't your personal space. You just imagine it is because you see that space there before the recline ever happens. Your space goes from the back of the seat in front of you at full recline to the back of your seat at full recline.

[Twig]

No, it is my personal space, because it is LITERALLY PHYSICALLY crushing ME.

 

There is no stronger definition of "my personal space" than "my body".

 

You seem to be forgetting that even without an active recline, my knees are ALREADY pressed tightly and uncomfortably and slightly painfully into the seat in front of me. Once the recline begins, my knees are now not just pressed but CRUSHED by the seat in front of me.

[Zeusthecat]

As soon as you step into that security line, you forfeit all personal space. The only personal space you are allowed is the personal space the airlines are gracious enough to offer you.

 

Maybe the best solution to all of this would be for airlines to give you an option when you purchase the ticket to say "fuck my back" or "fuck my knees". Whichever one you select, you get placed in a seat that is in the same column as all the others that chose that same option. Problem solved.

[Twig]

lol ok

[jennegatron]

As someone who is not tall, it never even occurs to me to recline the the seat, and even though other people reclining doesn't actually physically impact me I do get very angry when they do it, as it is never someone who has asked permission to do so or has checked to see who is behind them before doing it. I don't sleep easier in a reclining seat or anything like that, so there is literally no reason for me to recline.

I am a very cranky traveler and get very upset about loud children and whistlers. Like we're all in this together, and I am trapped here with you for 3 hours, please be considerate! (I actually really enjoy the sensation of flying.)

[Twig]

This is legit one of those few things that makes me physically shake with anger. It's nigh uncontrollable. I only manage to hold myself back when it happens because I turn up my music very loudly in order to pretend I'm somewhere else.

 

So I'm just gonna not talk about it anymore, because I hate everyone. EVERYOOOOOOOOOONE!

[Bjorn]

Meanwhile, in Kansas...

 

Officers fired 18 rounds into the farm implement, which had been stolen Tuesday night from a cornfield east of Ellinwood in central Kansas. But not before the combine rammed two patrol cars, hit a parked pickup truck and damaged power poles as it attempted to elude officers at speeds approaching 20 mph.

 

“Since 1981 I’ve chased a lot of vehicles, but we’ve never chased a combine,” Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said.

[eot]

Heh, that's bizarre. I have to admit though that it makes me think of the San Andreas mission where you waste people with a combine harvester.

[clyde]

Regarding mutually exclusive rights in this modern world (airplane-seat reclining), may I recommend the game we made during the Wizard Jam which was inspired by this type of issue.

http://clyde.itch.io/i-know-you-are-having-fun-but-im-still-working

[SecretAsianMan]

What if the simulation in the Matrix movies wasn't based on real life but instead a cartoon or a video game?  Would anyone who got freed from the matrix even be able to understand their actual reality?  Or would their minds just snap?

 

At first I thought I was being clever but then I realized I basically just conceived of a modern version of Plato's allegory of the cave.

[Griddlelol]

Trying to compress 18 months work into a 1 minute elevator pitch is both impossible and depressing.

[Twig]

Do we have a thread about learning languages?

 

I can't remember the name of the thread used for asking if threads exist.

 

Anyway I really want to try, in earnest, once again, to learn Japanese. Someone tell me what to do. D:

[Mangela Lansbury]

1) Drill the kana.

2) Study the Genki textbooks.

3) Drill the separate JLPT levels of kanji in order.

[Twig]

I've mostly got the kana down, done it before, just have to study enough to get it back fresh in my memory.

I have done the Genki books before, as well, when I studied it in college years ago, was thinking about just buying them straight up again. I remember them being pretty nice!

Kanji are always a pain. D:

But that's mostly reading ("mostly" 'cause I think Genki has audio clips)! Admittedly reading is a big part of my motivation (nerrrrrrd shit), but speaking is also really important to me, I don't want to die only being able to speak one language. ): Ideally I'd take classes for the speaking practice but I'm low on funds of late thanks to health care bullshit.

Still, yeah, I think I should probably just start, first.

Do you actually speak Japanese? O:

[Mangela Lansbury]

I used to speak it pretty well, but I haven't used it in a very long time so I'm not so great anymore! My kanji skills are pretty wanting, especially among simplified and modern kanji (different radicals have a meaning, but as the language has grown more robust under a regulatory body they've gotten more abstract), and I have a nonfluent understanding level but can usually get the gist of things in practical matters. The most practice I get is watching the rare anime and a Japanese friend who I sometimes help with translation problems.

If you are comfortable with the language from previous exposure, there's a dictionary of Japanese grammar I could recommend.

[eot]

Get Anki to practice Kanji. The more you get a given character right the less frequently it'll show it to you, so it makes you focus on the characters / words you have the most problems retaining. It's more efficient than just working through a list of say 200 characters every day.

There's ton of language exchange online. Check out lang-8 for example, it's only for text but it's still useful. I don't know what it's like where you live, but in my town you can find real life language exchange groups too, expats who want to keep their language alive, exchange students who want to practice a foreign language, other people learning a new language practicing with eachother etc. I never go to those because I'm too shy hehe but I hear about them a lot. The LearnJapanese subreddit is also pretty good for asking dumb questions and getting answers fast.

I think consistency is the key. The hard part is not letting a skipped day turn into a skipped week, month, half a year etc. All that missed time piles up. As a matter of fact, I think I'll sit down and study some Japanese right now. Thanks Twig

[Twig]

Doing work is hard. D:

 

I have Anki on my phone, and in the past I have created my own flash card decks (to study vocab and kanji).