ZDL

joined 2 years ago
[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 1 points 5 minutes ago

The best deodorant in the world is dirt cheap and more effective than any commercial one pushed by the "beauty" industry. What is it? It's alum powder.

I can buy alum powder for about a buck for about a pound. (5.5RMB per 500g to be precise.)

That much alum powder will last me several years as a deodorant. Of course I have some added expenses. I need to get a spray bottle, for example. That's an extra 50 cents and will outlast the alum powder.

You could probably stop here, but hey, let's splurge and go fancy! Let's get a funnel and a measuring spoon too!

The small funnel plus all of those measuring spoons adds up to a bit over a buck. Again, these will outlast your alum powder.

So for an initial outlay of $2.50-$3 you have five years of long-lasting, completely scent-free deodorant. (You can also spray gamy clothes with it to neutralize the scent for a few hours.) After that every five years or so you spend a buck to get your next five years' supply. It is a bit more complicated to use than regular deodorant sprays though. Every two weeks or so you'll have to measure a bit of the alum crystal into the funnel and wash it down into the bottle with warm water until it's full, leaving it to sit a while to dissolve.

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 2 points 19 minutes ago

Might I suggest volunteering for a while at a women's shelter? That hardened my stance on tolerating male fee-fees quite a bit.

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 1 points 20 minutes ago

There's just a lot of words that have entirely lost meaning and are mere verbal tics used to identify a tribe. "Leftist." "Feminist." "Woke." "Liberal" (in the American sense of the term). But also: "Fascist." "Nazi." Even "racist" often.

While sometimes these are still used in ways that have their actual meaning, mostly they're just a way of saying "I don't like you and I identify as tribe".

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 1 points 23 minutes ago

Almost. Yes. Almost.

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 3 points 2 hours ago

I call this the "immigrant effect" based on Canadian immigrant waves.

The single loudest voice against new immigration in Canada is, of course, conservative white folk. That's just a given. But very close in line to them are … immigrants. And I don't mean just the children of immigrants, I mean the people who actually immigrated.

As an example, I have a very dear friend in Canada who is a Russian Jew. His family fled persecution by the Soviets to Italy, and then while in Italy as refugees, finally emigrated to Canada when this friend was 14.

Now you think with the hardship they'd faced, the family would be understanding of and supportive of immigrants and refugees. You would think wrong, however. While my friend is, both of his (refugee, immigrant) parents are firmly opposed to each and every immigrant group that came after them. They opposed Iraqi immigrants. Somali immigrants. You name the group that came after them, they opposed it. All using the same language that was used by the conservative white folk against them when they were the refugees.

Privilege is a powerful drug that hooks you rather quickly. DEI beneficiaries are just following an old, old pattern in a slightly new sphere.

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 3 points 2 hours ago

Mentioning women in a non-sexual context is as instant a downvote magnet as is mentioning China in anything but a negative light.

Watch this comment get downvoted for both now. 🤣

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 4 points 2 hours ago

Does being accused of "writing off half of humanity" and "driving them into the manosphere" because I say women need to be wary around men count? Because if so, yes. Right here in this community.

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 1 points 12 hours ago

I have had dozens of scotch samples over the years from the kinds of people who, like you, insist that I've just "never had the good stuff". The range of prices has been from bottom-shelf as you said to stuff that there's no way in Hell I could ever afford.

I hated them all.

Is it really that hard to comprehend that sometimes people just don't like what you like? I'm getting a lot of this vibe from scotch fans here:

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 3 points 16 hours ago

and I’ve personally warned about the problem for almost 20 years.

You and me both. 😟 Even as I was hearing the jackboots marching closer and closer from around the corner, friends would tell me that I was overreacting and overthinking things. Friends who are now panicking because they're somewhere that can be actually hurt by the USA tearing itself apart from within (Canada).

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 6 points 19 hours ago

Statistics show that around 84% of repetitive tasks and transactions can be automated across 200 government services

Whose statistics? Reviewed by whom?

I'll need citations here, complete with methodology, questionnaires used, if any, and the raw data. Oh, and did you do a literature search to see if someone has already assessed and found wanting the conclusions of this purported study? I don't want to reinvent the wheel after all.

Or, as is far more likely, did you find a "statistic" that suited your bias and stick with it?

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 5 points 19 hours ago

Is anybody at all genuinely surprised that Kaptain Ketamine is a hypocrite?

I'll bet you he'd also fire anybody who tested positive for ketamine...

[–] ZDL@ttrpg.network 5 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

There was once a business facing problems that negatively impacted them.

"I know," said the CEO. "Let's use AI!"

Now they have two problems that negatively impact them.

 

I never knew about all this!

🤭

 

Even "demumbled" (42 minutes cut to 22 minutes when excising the false starts, stammering, awkward pauses, etc.) it's really hard to listen to his nonsense.

And that's before you address the continued factual problems.

 

Be patient for about 40 seconds. I think the payoff is worth it.

The official title is given above, but I like to call it instead "Song To Fuck With Foreign Perception".

《凌宵话》 is a musical toast to friendship, urban life, and the delightful weirdness that comes from bringing different backgrounds together. It’s playful, heartfelt, and a little bit cheeky—just like the singers themselves. (Both singers are known to be boundary-pushers and just a little bit "off" in their approach to things.)

To explain the video, it's two friends: one native-born Shanghai, one outsider to Shanghai, playfully teasing each other over their different upbringings, habits, etc. This divide is emphasized by one (Huang) singing in the Wu dialect of Shanghai while the other (Lou) singing in Mandarin. They're playfully making fun of how each does things differently, but the chorus hits the core of the song:

“No matter where you’re from, you’re my sister, and we’ll always have each other in this big city.”

So go watch the video before you open the spoiler. Think about what the video is trying to communicate. Then read the explanation.

explanation


The reason I think this fucks with foreign perceptions is that most people I show this to look at it and ask if this is in some way queer-coded.

It isn't.

Asian, especially in this case Chinese, body language is very different from western cultures. To wit:

  1. In Chinese (and more broadly, East Asian) culture, close friends—especially women—often hold hands, lean on each other, or share physical space in ways that are purely platonic but might be read as romantic or flirtatious by Western viewers.
  2. The kind of teasing, inside jokes, and emotional openness in the lyrics and performance are signs of deep friendship in China. In the West, such emotional intimacy between women is sometimes only associated with romantic relationships, so it gets “sapphic-coded” by default.

The source of the confusion is that western pop culture is primed to look for subtext and “shipping” in any close same-sex relationship on screen, especially if there’s chemistry or strong body language. Asian pop culture, on the other hand, has a millennia-long tradition of “sisterhood” and “brotherhood” that’s overtly affectionate without any romantic implication.

Hence "Song To Fuck With Foreign Perception".


So why did I put it in WomensStuff? Because I really did not need to hear the male view of the singers and how they look. 😂

 

I think we can safely assume that any woman, anywhere, who has public photos available and who says something that upsets a man (right or left) will have deepfake porn made of her.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30375194

I was looking at the offer of rehearsal.so, a site using AI to allegedly help you rehearse giving job interviews, delivering presentations and such.

A LOT of the content is sociopathic in nature and there are a lot of simulations for "getting her number", but the top offer in the Dating section is this one "getting her number in the middle of a protest".

I think this highlights well the real problem of digital technology in general and of the generative AI domain in particular: applications are being made by selfish people (men, mostly) who think that any situation should serve their goals and that the original point of those can be completely disregarded.

All of this while surely serving a sub-par product, since "training" and condescending AI chatbots don't really go well together: nearly all of the AI chats I had with AI "characters" could be easily jailbroken even into sexual ones.

The founders and other info can be found here.

 

Kick-Ass Women from History #8: Bartolina Sisa

Allow me to introduce to you, via song, the only woman from the Americas I know who can rival Lozen for sheer badassery. The song doesn't actually have anything to do with her, but it does get the vibe right. Sit down, strap in, and get ready to hear about one of the most amazing women to have ever walked our planet: Bartolina Sisa

Background

Bartolina was born sometime around 1750 in Q'ara Qhatu in what is now Bolivia, but then part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, to a family of indigenous traders trading coca leaves and textiles. Her family travelled far and wide across the Andean region, exposing her to the injustices and violence faced by indigenous peoples under Spanish rule from an early age. These experiences shaped her awareness of the oppression endured by her community and fueled determination to resist colonial authority.

She married Julián Apaza, better known today as Túpac Katari, a prominent indigenous leader. Together they had four children and, because of her intelligent, resourceful, and strong character (traits that would later define her leadership), they formed a powerful partnership in both family and political life.

Worldview

Bartolina's spiritual beliefs were an important part of what made her so effective in leadership and rebellion. They were deeply rooted in Aymara and Andean traditions, a set of syncretic beliefs that blended Catholicism with traditional beliefs that at their core revered natural forces, Achachilas (ancestral spirits), and the cyclic concept of pachakuti (tranformation and renewal) that intrinsically connected people to their territory, customs and traditions.

As a result of this, Bartolina's struggle was not merely a political disagreement with rulers, but rather a struggle for restoration of indigenous identity, dignity, as well as land and resource rights. Her movement also embodied the principle of chacha-warmi (complementarity of men and women) in which she insisted upon gender equity and on the vital role of women in leadership and resistance.

Uprising

In the late 18th century, at age 25(!), Bartolina became a key leader in the largest ever indigenous uprising, consisting mostly of Aymara and Quechua, against Spanish colonial rule in the Andes, alongside her husband Túpac. She began organizing indigenous militias and gathering an army that at its height reached 150 thousand. This army launched the Siege of La Paz on the 13th of March, 1781 with 20 thousand troops, later joined by 80 thousand more. Bartolina herself commanded an army of 40 thousand, organising military camps around all the mountain passes that led to the city and acting as the main commander of indigenous forces. In this role she displayed exceptional logistical and strategic skill, impressing on the Spanish how critical a figure she was to the rebellion, as a Spanish military force attempted, in May, to dissolve the siege and capture Bartolina but failed to do so.

Leadership

Túpac and Bartolina set up court in El Alto and maintained the siege for 184 days. During this period, Bartolina was proclaimed “Queen of the Inca”, an affectionate title, and ruled alongside her husband Túpac, with Bartolina taking total command after her husband was captured in April. Her leadership extended beyond the battlefield: she coordinated logistics, organized women’s participation, and inspired unity among diverse indigenous groups.

Execution

After over six months of siege, the uprising was finally broken by Spanish reinforcements from Lima, La Plata, and Buenos Aires, aided by other indigenous communities that opposed the Aymara and Quechua peoples.

Bartolina Sisa was captured, tortured, and executed by the Spanish on September 5th, 1782. Her death was intended as a warning to others. She was publicly humiliated (and I doubt I need to explain what that is code for), hanged, her body dismembered and then displayed to terrorize the indigenous population with Spanish brutality.

Despite this, however, her legacy endured.

Legacy

Bartolina is celebrated to this day as a symbol of indigenous resistance and the struggle for justice, equality, and self-determination. Even though her siege was ultimately broken by the Spanish, the uprising represented a significant indigenous challenge to colonial power in the Andes, demonstrating the organizational capacity, the unity, and the determination of indigenous peoples inspiring future generations of resistance.

Since 1983, the International Day of Indigenous Women has been commemorated on the anniversary of her death, honoring her sacrifice and leadership. Many indigenous organizations in Bolivia, such as the Bartolina Sisa Confederation, bear her name and continue her fight for the rights of indigenous peoples and women.

Her vision of identity, land, and gender equity continues to inspire contemporary movements for indigenous rights and social justice throughout Latin America. So despite her loss and subsequent horrible execution at the hands of the Spanish, it is clear that Bertolina Sisa was Unstoppable.

 
 

…but when it's a woman's body it's "confusing".

 

I think that’s just one of Granny’s myths, though.

 

😍

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