Carry on

Wut

Pardons haven’t only been issued by Trump. They exist because context and extenuating circumstances are important.

Just because they can be abused doesn’t mean every pardon is corrupt.

Back in the day, TheSpark.com used to be unhinged and a lot of fun. The Stinky Meat Project was so stupid, but so dedicated, that I couldn’t help following along. And the quizzes were a great way to abuse poorly supervised time with computers at school, too!

It sucks getting old, but I’m grateful for the time we got online before it became all this.

Yikes… Unless something truly terrible happened, that level of pettiness you’re describing is crazy. My family is insane on both sides, so I get things off things being normalized, but barring a close family member from attending a funeral they clearly very much wanted to witness is extreme.

One thing I learned from my own dysfunctional family is that their past behavior and decisions aren’t an excuse for me to repeat the behavior. Unless you want to carry the drama torch yourself, it’s time to take a step back and look at the big picture. How much do you want this animosity between your mom and aunts to influence your life? If you truly don’t care about them and their opinions, why are they worth you missing your own father’s funeral?

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of my adoptive mom passing away. There were many people at her funeral that I was happy to never have to see again. I don’t know the details of your situation, but try to keep in mind this is a decision you’ll only get to make once.

I’m curious why speaking the language is so important as to take these kinds of measures.

So, in order to protect culture you can’t share it? Seems silly.

Is it inconvenient? Yes. Is it really that difficult, especially today with smart phones, to provide basic service at a restaurant? Absolutely not.

I spent my early life in the service industry, and I’ve served people who spoke zero English more times than I can count. Even before translation apps and services were so common, it truly wasn’t difficult enough that I’d feel comfortable as a human denying them service. We all worked together to get through it, and they enjoyed their experience from what I could tell.

I’ve also been on the other end and visited restaurants where our server didn’t speak English. We had a great time every time. It truly isn’t the big deal you’re making it, so it feels like you’re looking for reasons to excuse what we can plainly see is racism.

Same! Especially forearms and chest… Yum!

If my guy prefers to keep things short for personal preference reasons of course I’d never ask him to grow it longer for me. I think it’s important for guys that don’t want to shave to know that there are lots of us out there that find body hair super sexy!

Whattabout is an interesting take on this.

I come from a dairy farming family. We currently still have four small operations. While I would agree that beef cattle are ideal for steaks and other luxury cuts, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between dairy versus beef breeds in your average ground beef or sausage preparation.

We eat most of the cattle from our farms ourselves, so I have had plenty of experience consuming dairy cattle meat. The flavor of the beef from our cows is better than what I can typically find at my local grocery store, because our animals hang out in the pasture all day eating grass. The muscular structure is far smaller and there’s less marbling, but the beefy flavor itself is great.

What’s wrong with dairy cow meat?

Apparently it’s just just Americans.

Which is why you see this happen so frequently.

I am ready, willing, and able to continue calling you ignorant. I’m not saying that fans aren’t to varying degrees. Especially since you seem to be ignoring my broader points. I’m empathizing with the fans and taking into account how we got to this point rather than thinking I’m better than them and laughing at them.

You seem to have a serious empathy deficiency, so I can’t explain to you the nuance in that. My broadest point is that rampant capitalism and the elimination of third spaces for community have normalized in most people a pay to participate mindset. And they’re not wrong, because for many it’s all they’ve ever experienced. You, personally ,just don’t value the same things in the same way they do, and you feel superior for it. Of course that’s not every fan in this example, but that’s why the global community at large has enjoyed the world cup, Olympics, chess competitions, the space race, etc.

So, yes. I think your class division crap is ignorant.

Yes, I stand by ignorant. I’m not and wasn’t discussing the obvious corruption and gouging from FIFA. I don’t even watch the sport, but it’s been on full display for a long time.

My issue continues to lie with your judgement of the fans. I’m less concerned with the power of their want for this, but the “why” behind it. Competition on behalf of your community has been a part of cultures across countries and centuries. It’s a big part of the bread and circuses trope. People crave the community and comaraderie that comes from participating in and watching these types of events.

Access to this kind of community experience outside of monetary participation has been whittled away for decades, and we’re left with what the monopoly has left us. I’m not going to insult people’s intelligence for making choices that I don’t agree with, but can understand where the motivation comes from. I think this is just another example of how capitalism has squeezed joy from our lives, but I’m not going to be an asshole and blame the victims.

I cook almost all of our meals at home. I use mainly whole ingredients and minimal hyper processed foods. Outside of tips or service fees associated with eating takeout or dining out, there are lots of non fast food options nearby that cost us less per meal than many of my go to meals. Quality produce (when you can find it) has become particularly expensive.

Even if that weren’t the case, people that don’t know how to cook as it is aren’t going to be well versed in replacing more expensive ingredients with cheaper ones. These people are less likely to start using healthier, whole ingredients at home, and will instead opt for cheap, highly processed options like skillet noodle meals and frozen prepared foods.

This situation is no joke. I am honestly on edge about just how dire this could get.

What a gross thing to say. Even if your ignorant generalization about football fans werr true, being complacent and smug about them being preyed on says a lot about you as a person.

People should be able to enjoy their hobbies and passions without participation being monetized at every turn. I don’t know why that’s a radical position to you.

That’s fair, but we’re actively living the consequences of not voting for harm reduction when we had the chance in 2024. I’m so fucking sick of this. We can’t afford to ignore history or reality anymore.

It doesn’t come off as annoying, but it certainly does detract from any credibility you are trying to have.

If what you are saying is correct, losing an imaginary, anonymous popularity contest doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to keep quiet.