askchapo

I thought of this question because someone joked about double-dipping their hands in the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral and boy did that invoke one of my least favorite paying-for-college memories.

Yes, someone did dip his hands into the chocolate fountain at the Golden Corral. Worse, he was a repeat offender, a man that was at least in his 30s if not older slurping it off of his fingers and all, sometimes while making eye contact with me or my coworkers. Worse, there was no enforced rule against doing so, at least at my location, so my manager just told me to let him do it, don't make a big deal out of it, and hope he doesn't bother anyone else.

That same manager once insisted on me making the place extra clean a little before Christmas, so they insisted that I use double the amount of cleaning bleach in the same bucket. I explained that's not how cleaning works or how OSHA compliance works. I got a write-up. I said that wasn't an offense that qualified for a write-up, and what they said was "thanks for the tip, I'll find something that is. Your word against mine." !sus-torment

That same manager punched me out early without telling me, because the place wasn't perfect enough before I left over an hour late, missing my family waiting to pick me up outside by that long to go out to do holiday stuff. I did call that in on the supposedly anonymous tip line later, but you can guess what happens when an anonymous tip about wage theft is called in on a manager that already knows who would call in that tip in a "right to work" situation. !joker-amerikkklap

That same manager was fired a week later for embezzlement, and not the cool kind. They were writing up and firing people for months for money missing from the register. I found out when collecting my last check and noticed someone new. !ok

I guess I find the current obsession with russo-ukrianian conflict strange and maybe even counter productive given the tasks that are at hand right now like rebuilding the lefts organizational capacity creating local connections and services things that are more fun then !rust-darkness watching a war you know from across the ocean or like cheer leading for brics or whatever because its not like that effects really anything unless leaders of foreign or a senator goes on hexbear which would be equally funny and maddening. I guess I don't just want to left to be a sub culture forever.

I work with two organizations in my area since they are the only to exist.

We got so much shit to do we need more people analyzing in real time and producing theory and praxis at the same time. You know walk and chew bubblegum, like I find it hard to find people besides like 3-4 American commentary that produce new Marxist anaylist on the current econmy.

If so, what did you think and is it worth picking up?

Mine's an easy pick that happened only a few days ago and it went something like this:

"Paying janitors and fruit pickers more won't actually improve their situation. I live in Germany where anyone can afford an apartment for only $800 a month. You live in the US where the GDP is much higher yet janitors and fruit pickers are still complaining because they are entitled. Your country basks in untold riches and even the poor are objectively richer there. Things are as good as they will ever be for those who do work that no one wants to do." !galaxy-brain

I could speak all day about it but I want to drive discussion, if you think a null point has been reached I also want to hear why you think capital has won and why the socialist moment past. I don't think that's the case for a variety of reasons but I want to drive some discussion.

Officially in my mid-30s and every year that goes by I realize more and more that friendships from the past, high school, university etc start to dwindle as people get older and are more set in their lives. I understand that's how life is, but the upsetting thing is realizing that these friendships are based on little more than hanging onto past experiences.

I realize that I have less and less in common with them and we generally don't share the same values. They are mostly run of the mill libs "normies" type of people. Sure that sounds obnoxious, but as I'm sure many of you understand, being a queer leftist means that you will never have the same experiences as these people. I choose the people I spend my time with and the places I go very carefully to maximize my safety and enjoyment out of hell world.

Sure it would be easy to write all these people off and just focus on my new friendships with people whom I have more in common with, but that's easier said than done. It feels wrong on some level to let these friendships go. Even if it's the other person coming to the same conclusion. It still hurts on some level.

How have you dealt with this situation? I highly doubt this is unique.

I recently read Torrey Peters INFECT Your Friends and Loved Ones and I really loved it! But I was wondering if there were other short-ish books or stories or whatever that were good, I don't really know in what vein or genre I'm looking for but I know I enjoyed this! Probably emphasis on queerness or if it's possible an emphasis on leftism and stuff. !transshork-happy

It was a customer i had helped out at my job. They called me at my job. This seems likr some sort of scam.

I'm happy for them and want them to be happy but I have a very high risk of getting COVID at the event because my Family doesn't mask. I have health complications.

🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🔫😨🦠🕴️🕴️🦠🦠

For me the easiest tell is the up front, unprompted, and unsolicited declaration of nonpoliticalness. When someone takes the time and expends the breath to announce how nonpolitical they are, what follows is almost always a rant about how everything/everyone else is too political these days, and that of course leads into something between status quo advocacy and outright reactionary/regressive sentiments for some fabled time before those wicked politics were visible to the nonpolitical ranter. !centrist

People that are hostile to service workers. Some just want to take some ideological stand against tipping when the service worker doesn't really have a choice and needs those tips to survive in the current unjust system in a way where ideological purity gestures toward that service worker just look like being a greedy and sanctimonious asshole. The worst of such people will actually declare, shamelessly, that they believe that service workers don't deserve a living wage. The implications of that are !gulag worthy.

I may get shit for this, but I'll say it anyway: this hair and beard combo, seen on living people. !yes-chad I have yet to meet anyone in person with that look that wasn't a chud.

(If one of you is a comrade with that look, I am sorry in advance for the prejudice and if I ever meet you in person I will atone by buying you a drink or something.)

I'm pretty left, yada yada whatever, y'all seem to know things I wanna know. Curious where you get your info and such and so on. Idk show me stuff, I wanna depropagandize myself.

I'm not sure this happens irl. Is breakfast in bed a real thing or just tv? I don't want crumbs in my bed.

It's World Of Books for all you UK based bears - second hand books for pretty cheap. Buy 3 get one free - not outrageous I know but I like an excuse to get some books.

Anyway, I'm looking for some good leftist non-fiction book recommendations, and I trust you lot the most. Ye've never let me down on books so far.

Bonus points if they're specifically focused on C.I.A/imperialist interventions or South America. I've already decided I'm going to buy Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad (unless one of y'all convinces me otherwise).

Cheers

Maybe I just watch a lotta !matt vlogs, but the thoughts always come back to me. It's like my conscious mind can step back from the controls and watch my subliminal mind take over on auto-pilot. Without thinking about it, my body is taking care of my material needs, my space, keeping me fed and comfortable. That subliminal force is there all the time though, I just don't notice it. It has to be that way for everyone too right? 95% of our personal decisions throughout the day were based on subliminal thought & behavior patterns to keep us comfortable. Even the most spontaneous and erratic brain can only make a %5 sway on the ships course.

It's probably a politically self-interested affirming idea that weed unlocks the Marxism in all of us lol. But it feels nice to have a physiological experience resonate with my beliefs.

I’m in a small-ish org. There are about 60 members total, but only 10 are actually active in any way. There are another 15-20 or so who are semi-regulars, or who will sometimes attend meetings, or sometimes attend demonstrations or actions etc with us.

It’s gotten really bad over the past few years as people have sort of started fading away. People are flaky, and it routinely takes several weeks to get an answer or an update from some members for even trivial things.

Several of us have tried doing social activities of all kinds, but they always end up the same.

This gets really embarrassing when we try to do things with other groups and can’t muster the numbers to be effective.

We’ve tried to do outreach to members to see what’s going on, and we just get the same explanation - I’m busy.

Has anyone here faced something similar? Any tips to get us out of this rut?

So I got around to getting a new digitizer (screen) and replacement battery for an ancient iPhone and got them installed.

Question for those who've replaced digitizers...

Any ideas as to why the screen will behave as if its being touched in a bunch of places without actually being touched?

Its not all the time, maybe 2 or 3 times in a day. All I have to do is turn off the screen and wait a few seconds.

This is the second digitizer I've replaced but the first time I've had this issue. Mostly just curious if there someone more technically inclined/experienced with an answer other than guessing.

I assume mortgagors can't become squatters unless the bank is being negligent. But if two mortgagors swapped properties, would the adverse possession countdown start?

Edit: thanks! Y'all filled in my knowledge gaps

Got this for $10 at a flea market. I’m guessing the word in the center is “Democracy”? The guy I bought it from says he got it from a guy who emigrated from Russia in the 90s. A little googling says it’s from 1987. Just trying to figure out if it’s “pro-USSR” or given when it was made it’s not some pro-perestroika, pro-Gorbachev statement. It’s got the hammer & sickle so I think it’s the former but not 100% sure.

Basically… based or not based?

I have been noticing this tread over last couple years, I got introduced into leftistmin the 1980s various trot then weird maosist sects, now a days I could only describe my self as post left, you would have ask my postion on any topic to begjn to categorize me. I run with both the psl and dsa these days but im not married to them. To give context for me I dont want to make the new generation feel attacked in any way.

Anyhow the real question I have is: why are all the zooner seeming various Marxist leniinisims but with all the historical ml positions jumbled up into one not coherent thing like someone trying to rehabilitate stalin but in the same breath say deng is good and ok but krushchev bad and also Gorbachev bad Then they go on these really lengthy explanations about how it works because cited text out of context that im not sure they read it closely. Are young leftists reading theory togather in structured environments or is it all youtube and tiktocks? Im sorry if sound shrill and bad faith.

Most Christians will talk about "Gods Plan". Which makes sense to me, the Christian God is omniscient and omnipresent so he could have a super well laid out plan for every micro second of human history.

But like, doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of prayer? Like if a family member gets sick, what's the point to praying to God about it. Whatever happens is part of his "plan", so there really isn't any chance you're going to change his mind on whether Grannie is going to pass.

Same with things "going against Gods Plan". Gods plan should have every contingency accounted for, so it really shouldn't matter what anyone does. Is there a chance that if too many people are gay that will derail Gods plan and everything will be fucked? Or did Gods Plan account for me being a big gay commie? Is the idea that you can't fuck up Gods master plan, but if you do a bunch of weird crap God doesn't like it will throw things off slightly and God will have to compensate which he finds really annoying?

Communism has to emerge out of pre-existing social conditions. There is no point fantasising about a revolution that’s going to abolish families, for example. Western societies are not necessarily all socially liberal, but that is the predominant culture. For centuries now, people have become progressively more tolerant. A majority of the non-boomer population at least have a strong “live and let live” attitude towards religion, drug use, sexual preference, immigration, sex work, etc. And Boomers are more tolerant than their parents generation too. Some Western communists seem to have a disturbing enthusiasm for enforcing what they see as a good or moral lifestyle on other people. Ignoring any theoretical pragmatic necessities, the aim of a communist society is to guarantee freedom from economic exploitation, rather than impose additional moralities. And anyway, it seems an obvious strategic failure to go against the current of the time, and associate communism with social conservatism. Most social conservatives are going to be inherently anti-communist because communism is a poor vehicle for realising the kind of society they want. Obviously personal freedoms are a secondary concern to ending exploitation and imperialism. However, it may not seem that way to liberals. Associating communism with social conservatism makes it anathema to the liberal portion of society and no more attractive to the conservative side. It is a complete own goal.

they used to have an on-call maintenance person that could unlock your apartment, but then a couple of years ago the leasing office that ran three buildings got bought by a bigger property management company that runs thousands

They're a graphic designer and I want to commission them for something

But the deadline is 5PM EST tomorrow so I'm not sure if they'll see my DM in time

https://hexbear.net/u/neroiscariot

So I'm at the tail end of chapter 15, one of the longest chapters as far as I can tell. Lots of information but I read it only in pieces during a particularly busy week. Can someone give me a rundown of why capitalists want to extend the working day so much? Why is it more profitable to hire more workers over an extended working day than creating more efficient machinery?

My partner and I have friendships with two couples. Both couples are married lesbians. Both couples are viewed as community leaders. For simplicity I'll refer to each couple as "KB" and "KR".

KB are overwhelmingly neoliberal. KR are leftist leaning liberal.

KB are frustratingly capitalist. The breadwinner is a realtor. Both are overly materialistic and wasteful. They own a luxury diesel truck and a new Subaru. And this might be my most frustrated gripe, but both of them quietly refer to service tradepersons as servants. They spend lavish amounts of money on masquerading as feminists. They often cosplay for any event they attend. They have overwhelming support from the majority of our community yet constantly cause drama amongst our community members. They have a "community" swimming pool that is ultimately exclusionary and invites superficiality.

KR are community driven. They regularly hold events that support the entire community. They've chosen minimalism and share an electric vehicle (not a Tesla). They can be assholes towards service tradepersons, although I think much of it is due to ignorance and malinformed expectations. They are very true to themselves and do not masquerade. They also have strong support from the community, but the support is genuine. They don't have a swimming pool. LoL.

I've had healthy disagreements with KR, but KB wants to punch down anytime there's a disagreement, so I avoid conflict in order to not cause any rifts even though I often disagree with KB often.

Ultimately, I believe this boils down to my disdain for fakeness, but I can't announce my disapproval as "fake" because the community will label me as a bigot.

So I just want to ask y'all because I trust you. Am I being a bigot? Are my frustrations misplaced? I realize everyone here doesn't have the same assessment I do, but I've attempted to do my best to describe each partnership as succinctly and comprehensive that I can on a forum.

If my frustrations are misplaced, please tell me without regard for feelings. If my frustrations are valid, I don't need additional validation because I don't want to subscribe to an ego that could cause further division due to support.

Mostly, I don't want to feel guilty because I don't have blanket support for people that are not representative of ideals that I feel are valid.

However, I am open to suggestions and guidance on navigating each of these friendships without creating rifts that divide our community. I want to be supportive towards any group that doesn't always have overwhelming community acceptance.

My household was a minor affair, we had little candles in the shape of the WTC on the dining room table. We would thank George Bush for the Patriot Act and then light the candles. We had to be good, because George Bush was always watching us with the Patriot Act, but if we were good, we'd get little pilot's wings pins.

The rich kids in my neighborhood had more elaborate plans. They had full on model WTC towers. If they were good, there would be RC planes under the towers on 9/11 morning. They were always showing me the cool videos when they destroyed the towers.

Have I been living a lie?

She asked me if I'd still lover her if she turned i to a tree. I asked if she'd leaf me for some other tree dude in that situation. She said no, probably not. I said probably not? So there's a chance? If there's a chance I'd rather cut you down and turn you i to shelving for my video game collection.

And now she's mad at me despite me showing her plans of some lovely styles of shelves I'd turn her into. I need you, chapos, to send me girl-friendly shelves because apparently being able to contain over 150 Sega Saturn games isn't enough for her.

question mark. ?

I've been looking for something from the last thirty years or so and that's accessible to a newbie.

Thanks

30 frames per second (60 if they're insane), 1800 frames a minute, 162,000 for an hour and a half movie

324,000 frames if they're doing 60 frames a second.

How do these people find the patience to do this? It starts to make sense when studios decide to stick with CGI movies instead honestly (though personally I prefer 2D movies)

I understand that there are shortcuts, for example using the same background and just animating the characters, but even if you just animate the characters, can you imagine doing that for over 150,000 frames? Suddenly anime only moving characters' mouths and only adding a slight head bob makes a ton of sense.

I get that making anything requires hard work and patience but.....like just how? At this point I'd settle with either 3D animation (itself a chore if you have to move the character's facial expressions every frame yourself) or just making it all live action. Heck, even with 3D animation, as I understand it there are many tools that will automatically move a character's facial expression between one moment in the scene and another's.

I got to thinking this when I recently watched clips from an old 80's (90's?) anime that had extremely detailed artwork.

pros of being a king in the Middle Ages:

• you are a king

cons:

• no modern medicine
• no gaming PC
• the hottest person in the Middle Ages is a 3/10

Bottom text, want to find me a communist qt

So my job is based on productive/billable hours and I’ve finished all of my work for now. Anyone have any advice for what to do about this? Feels like a dangerous spot to be in because I can’t see why my boss won’t just decide he no longer has use for me if there’s no more work to be done (I’m looking for other jobs but it’s an absolute desert out here). Seems like a dream in some sense but absolutely dreadful in others

Ive asked others and they’ve said I should’ve slowed down, but I don’t think they realize it’s not about how fast you complete your work, it’s about getting your deliverables sent on time. And the job market is hell rn so I’m freaking out :(

Ghosts?

Or was it Biden's victory and liberal's exhaustion with politics in a Trump-era world?

I can't help but wonder if the presence of a Democrat in the presidency just sort of pacifies liberal, left, and radical mass movements and mobilization.