Pretty much everything is better except public opinion.

Makes sense! Lol

Metal takes inspiration from lots of different types of music. A lot of guitar solos have clear inspiration from Classical music

Makes sense! I haven’t played a real-time MMO since RuneScape was new! Haha

He NEVER said [ping] again.

Alright, I’ll peg you instead!

Lmao!

I’d ask if they want me to get rid of it.

I also have a colleague who refers to Apple computers as MAC, and has at least once asked for MAC addresses of some devices when what she meant was IP addresses last associated with the devices.

I like it because it’s so vague.

A nap is pretty biological! And nobody will ask why your bio break was an hour long.

I never heard a gamer use “bio break” lol

Uh…what do your friends see in you?

Actually, what do you see in those “friends”?

But for a lot of people, it does take a lot of effort, and I find not voting in those circumstances more understandable.

There is a long way to go in some places to make voting more accessible, approachable, and available, yes.

I think that other political actions tend to take more effort and more work, or they tend to be less widely impactful.

Complaining online and sharing memes, for example, is easy, but does next to nothing.

Calling your local official or writing an email/letter to them can change local politics, but just like voting can be harder or easier depending on where you live, getting your message to go somewhere other than their garbage bin can take a lot of time and effort… probably more than voting. And even there, that’s only one politician you’ve influenced.

Larger political actions that are stronger than voting definitely exist, but I think the majority of them come with greater risk, more effort, or a larger time investment (like protests, running for local office, etc).

Voting sends a message to politicians nationwide, if not just statewide. And like I mentioned elsewhere, there’s little incentive for politicians to take the opinions of non-voters seriously.

GOG is doing amazing work these days. I’m always happy to support them when I can.

why would I bother

Because voting is one of the least effortful political action that can be taken, and it can send one of the biggest messages.

Democratically-elected politicians get their jobs by people’s votes. Their campaigns are based around getting votes. And they can look at numbers of how people are voting to adjust their platforms to capture those votes.

There’s little benefit for them to try to capture the votes of people who don’t vote because people who don’t vote aren’t likely to vote.

• 77,302,580 people voted for Trump.
• 89,278,948 people were eligible to vote but didn’t.

That’s enough to win an election. I know they wouldn’t all vote the same way, but that’s a HUGE population – enough to potentially make a third political party relevant, for instance.

I know that you vote, and I know both major parties in the US suck. I think we’re generally in agreement here, so I know I’m probably preaching to a member of the choir. I’m just less sympathetic about it because I know that if everyone in the US who was eligible to vote but didn’t all voted with their intentions, upcoming elections would look very different. And I think it’s a combination of learned helplessness/defeatism and laziness/apathy that’s causing this.

As such, I will always advocate for the power of voting. And I will always admonish people who don’t vote and complain about the result.

The proper way to communicate an opinion that “both choices are terrible” is to make your way to the polling station and either vote for something other than those two bad choices, or to decline or spoil your ballot.

Not voting says “I can’t be bothered to make the effort; anything is fine”.

People think it means “Give me something other than these two”, but it takes more effort to communicate that message.

Political activism requires effort, and it requires effort the right way. Not voting is political inaction.

I always find it amazing that people blame the voters

I think people are blaming the people who didn’t vote. They thought they were sending the message “I don’t like genocide”, but that was ignorant of them.

The message they sent was “Eh, either is fine. I’m fine with Trump or Harris. Whatever”. And then they took the moral high ground for doing so.

I’m not investigating those bullet points. First thing I’m doing is trying to get help for myself, and getting “help”/police for the dead person. And also a lawyer for myself.

Getting help for myself includes contacting people at home, confirming the timeline and alibi.

I’m going to echo the suggestion to approach men (and later women) for whatever reason to practice approaching people you don’t “have business” with.

Ask a question, comment on something benign (cool shirt?), etc.

And also expand your list of contexts where it’s ok to talk to people.

Anywhere that groups of people gather is a good option. Concerts, cafés potentially, parks…as long as you aren’t cornering anybody, you should be fine.

Should’ve been “Until the tariffs are gone, right?”

Ah, maybe that’s why. I don’t read too much about firefighting! Haha

Wow! This is the first time in my entire life of over 3 decades that I’ve ever heard this.

A more functional country, if emigration is possible for you

You have venomous cats?