Some people just do not think about cultures outside their own. Like, at all.
Hey that IS my American culture!
Zink
joined 2 years ago
Seriously!
We have a third grader, and he's pretty good at reading. Recently he has been arguing with us about the pronunciation of some new words from his homework.
The problem is, his arguments are sound! He's accurately following the rules he learned for sounding out words.
When this has come up in the past, all I've been able to do is acknowledge his argument and explain to him how English has all kinds of weird rules and exceptions, and it's the kind of thing you remember with experience using the words. Like, there is no new rule to learn, and you don't have to freak out about remembering all these exceptions. It will just come with time. (Because we all know there's nothing that kids like more than olds telling them to just wait or give it time, lol)
They can do that because Firefox is open source. If Mozilla disappeared and funding was sent to one of the forks instead, they could hire more developers and maintain it directly. Maybe even hire some of Mozilla's best engineers.
2025 has completely changed my outlook on the seasons, to be honest.
It's for the better too. In my quest to be the "retired tech worker turned farmer" while still having my engineering job, I spent a LOT of time outside this year doing construction and creating DIY equipment to care for my pets.
With that, I have started my natural evolution into the old man that complains about losing daylight. And since I've lost weight I don't like staying quite as cold as before.
So winter has moved way down the list for me. I think Spring has too, because of the wet and the rain.
I still don't like it hot, and I love my beautiful outdoor scenery, so I think Autumn still takes the crown but I am looking forward to the long summer days next year more than ever. I have shit to do, I have plants that will need the sun, and I even have some reptiles that like getting the real thing too.
g'news and g'day to you as well, g'lady!
Not with that attitude!
I used to say this kind of thing when I was an angry young conservative because I assumed the culture I grew up in had a shred of good faith in its arguments and actions.
The individuals can certainly mean well at times, but they are fed insidious lies that are made to sound good on the surface.
30 years ago I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you because I knew many people are stupid.
Today I would wholeheartedly disagree with you because I know many people are evil.
I'm a middle-aged american.
When I was a kid, my high school educated dad worked in a machine shop and I had a stay at home mom. There were 3 of us kids. Back in the late 80s my parents bought the 4-bedroom home with a 2-car garage on 1+ acre of land that they still live in today. The size is still great for hosting holiday gatherings and with the extra bedrooms they can have play rooms for the grand kids and an empty bed for when my brother visits from out of town.
Once I was in high school and could be home alone, I remember my mom getting a job for a few years.
Today, I have a small family and my wife is a stay at home mom and helps at our son's elementary school and stuff. But there are some differences!
My family is smaller, 1 kid vs 3.
My education and field of work are much higher up the percentiles. I have three university degrees from big schools and work in tech. He was a high school educated machinist that eventually worked his way up into management when I was older.
My house is smaller. I own a small single-floor home with no basement or garage, a standard 1/4 acre lot, and I live in a blue collar neighborhood that's sprinkled with elderly folks and young families.
We have two cars and they are both basic non-luxury brands and they are both over 10 years old.
I was intentionally being pretty conservative with my finances, and to be fair we were in a pretty good situation with an emergency fund and no non-mortgage debt and all that. But then in the past several years I've had three different financially cataclysmic events where any one of them would have obliterated the safety buffer. Two of them were thanks to covid.
Today I am in the same house and in much better health and mental state, and I even have a much better job, but our finances are a fucking nightmare.
This sounds similar to something that happened to a friend recently.
I don't know if this whole trend of "the third party insurance company told the doctor and the patient that the surgery was called off or modified at the last minute" has gotten worse recently, but it is as unsurprising as it is horrifying.
Oh good so I don't have to worry about all this ultra-processed food, non-walkability, 3+ ton commuter vehicles, guns, de-regulation, and nazis around me in the US? Sweet.
I've posted recently about how very different things feel in a place like scandinavia versus the US. Man, I wish all we had to do was pass universal healthcare. That is a HUGE one of course, but it is a symptom and not the cause.
The cause is something like... respect for human dignity, or lack thereof. That goes for the entire culture, not just the government. Also important to not overlook: respect for human dignity includes oneself.
I used to think that way in general, and personally I am still a bit like that. It's just one piece of figuring out how to get my brain & body to cooperate with me.
But something I have learned, for me at least, is that leaning into things that engage a variety of your senses in a positive way is often a good thing. And even better if it leads to good interactions with other people that matter to you (insert boo-hiss from my introverted recluse AuDHD side).
I think in the US especially, we often treat food as a necessary evil rather than just a necessity. People don't have time to waste on preparing healthy food and then eating it with their family. They need to focus on the "important things" like putting in long hours at the office so that they can afford to drive a BMW home instead of some pleb Honda shit. They'll just grab some fast food or something in a box that will fill stomachs provide some macros to sustain life in the near term, and everything will be just fine.