atchemey's recent activity
-
Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost in ~society
-
Comment on Meat and poultry is wildly expensive now — and it could be due to price fixing in ~food
atchemey Link ParentHell no. Do you know what companies do with record profits? They tend to turn them into lobbying dollars to entrench their gains and prevent alternatives from being adopted. That's how you get...Hell no.
Do you know what companies do with record profits?
They tend to turn them into lobbying dollars to entrench their gains and prevent alternatives from being adopted. That's how you get pizza classified as a vegetable. It would be FAR better to have a tariff where the funds went to programs like education, reduced costs of vegetables, or even funding green meat alternatives or new eco-responsible meat production methods.
Companies are not incentivized to be responsible with profits, they are incentivized to make more profits. Hopefully the government can once again be different.
-
Comment on Kamala Harris's speech killed any hope she would end the Gaza genocide in ~society
atchemey Link ParentIt's bad policy. It's fantastic politics. I disagree with it as policy. If she gets elected, I trust her to use force judiciously. I cannot say the same for her opponent.It's bad policy. It's fantastic politics.
I disagree with it as policy.
If she gets elected, I trust her to use force judiciously. I cannot say the same for her opponent.
-
Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentNot to brag, but I can alternate back and forth between them smoothly, keeping tone and timbre. I use it to whistle tunes without audible breathing for long smooth periods of time. I guess that...Not to brag, but I can alternate back and forth between them smoothly, keeping tone and timbre. I use it to whistle tunes without audible breathing for long smooth periods of time. I guess that would be my skill!
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey Link ParentThey're further north than we are going this trip, but we are definitely going to come back for a trip focused on AKL/north.They're further north than we are going this trip, but we are definitely going to come back for a trip focused on AKL/north.
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey Link ParentYou answered my question from another person - much appreciated! I will do when we approach - thanks!If you're from the US you probably expect to drive 10-15 over but that's not how it works there the speed limit really is the limit.
You answered my question from another person - much appreciated!
meaning of all the roadsigns.
I will do when we approach - thanks!
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey Link ParentHot Water Beach sounds great! I'll definitely add it to the list :) Definitely of interest to us - we're going to start in WLG and see some national things, will probably try to see something...hot water beach
Hot Water Beach sounds great! I'll definitely add it to the list :)
Māori culture
Definitely of interest to us - we're going to start in WLG and see some national things, will probably try to see something there!
Rotarua
Ah shucks, sorry to hear that XD
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey (edited )Link ParentMany thanks! EDIT: Answered by someone else :) In the US, people entering roundabouts yield to people in the roundabout. Is that the convention in NZ as well? Much appreciated, will obey. Thanks...Many thanks!
The speed limit is a limit, not a target.
In the US the "natural convention" is to drive 5 mph over the notional limit without being stopped - I got in trouble on my driving test because I didn't realize it was not the law XD Then again, now that I live in Oregon, most folks follow the limit exactly. Is the "natural convention" exactly the speed limit? I am happy to drive the limit, but only if it is safe to do so in the driving context!
EDIT: Answered by someone else :)Roundabouts exist. Scan left-to-right, go when it's safe
In the US, people entering roundabouts yield to people in the roundabout. Is that the convention in NZ as well?
Sharper corners//zipper merge//pedestrian right of way
Much appreciated, will obey. Thanks again!
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey Link ParentAn excellent and comprehensive set of suggestions! I'd enjoy the hot springs but I don't think my wife would tolerate sulfurous smells, sadly. Any guidance or things to read about the highway...An excellent and comprehensive set of suggestions! I'd enjoy the hot springs but I don't think my wife would tolerate sulfurous smells, sadly.
Any guidance or things to read about the highway network? I'd love to make sure I know what we're dealing with before we go!
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
atchemey Link ParentMay? Isn't that early in the winter for them?May? Isn't that early in the winter for them?
-
Comment on Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand in ~travel
-
Seven days in the North Island of New Zealand
Hey folks, My wife and I saw a great flights deal on Delta and bought tickets for March 2025. We know that we have day 8 in Hobbiton just before we leave (which is a solid 50% of the reason she...
Hey folks,
My wife and I saw a great flights deal on Delta and bought tickets for March 2025. We know that we have day 8 in Hobbiton just before we leave (which is a solid 50% of the reason she wants to visit New Zealand), but we wondered what else we should plan on for the first 7 days! I bet we spend a couple days in Auckland on the way in, and a bit of the evening of the 8th day, so anything local is great too.
We like a mix of (moderate) outdoorsy things, cultural/historic things, nice city things, etc. We definitely at least one day at the beach (preferably with a nice restaurant nearby) and are taking advice about where to do so. We will have a rental car beginning on Day 2 or 3, and would love to explore as much of the North Island as we can!
Any "can't misses"? Any local/regional museums or zoos/aquaria that are exceptional? We are absolutely willing to drive even as far south as Wellington, but prefer more days of smaller driving, so we don't just have a full day of driving in the middle there.
Much appreciated!
14 votes -
Comment on Vegetarians only: Dietary surveillance prevents Muslim citizens in India from finding secure homes in ~life
-
Comment on How makers of nonconsensual AI porn make a living on Patreon in ~tech
atchemey Link ParentThe problem is that the market is the strongest form of the "independent creator" model that I think has evidence, and you are taking the strongest position of the bunch that Patreon is in no way...The problem is that the market is the strongest form of the "independent creator" model that I think has evidence, and you are taking the strongest position of the bunch that Patreon is in no way responsible for anything on their platform...I am not convinced. It seems to me that they are selling some hybrid situation, as so often happens online, and that the analog analogue (couldn't resist) is not a perfect replacement scenario. Indeed, if there was a market that had a regular subset of vendors that sold things like drugs or unmarked weapons or fake IDs, it would likely be immediately actionable, because such endeavors have some limited liability for ensuring compliance with laws. This situation is more difficult still because the predatory Patreons are victimizing people in a space that is poorly defined - AI manipulation of sexual representation. There is a likely strong First Amendment (in the US) argument that it could be protected, which must be balanced against rights to privacy and self-identity/bodily autonomy...and all of it online and thus not simply a physical location.
I think it's more complicated than you give credit.
-
Comment on How makers of nonconsensual AI porn make a living on Patreon in ~tech
atchemey Link ParentGotta say, I didn't think about it that way, but it's technically within what I said, well done xD I included the "profit from the work" because technically Patreon creators don't work for the...own stock
Gotta say, I didn't think about it that way, but it's technically within what I said, well done xD
I included the "profit from the work" because technically Patreon creators don't work for the company, but they do make profit, as you noted.
I don't agree with you that the creators are also customers... Even if we agree that they are not formal employees, they fall into some nebulous independent contractor or contracted supplier role that doesn't really exist in the physical world, but there are analogies. The creators are providing a resource of great value that the company then sells. Even under the most limited scenario I can support, where Patreon is only a store that only sells goods on behalf of others, they have liability. If the store sells faulty items because of a lack of due diligence, they can still be liable.
I don't know if I agree with all the discussion by Weldawadyathink, but I wanted to clarify, as I saw it, the point they were making.
-
Comment on How makers of nonconsensual AI porn make a living on Patreon in ~tech
atchemey Link ParentStarbucks doesn't require a background check to shop there. They do require a background check to work or profit from work there.Starbucks doesn't require a background check to shop there.
They do require a background check to work or profit from work there.
-
Comment on The two cultures in ~games.tabletop
atchemey Link ParentIn a similar vein, I've very much enjoyed pinochle online. It's got the bidding element, but simply earning the most points in play can only get you a fixed number of points - the bidding and...In a similar vein, I've very much enjoyed pinochle online. It's got the bidding element, but simply earning the most points in play can only get you a fixed number of points - the bidding and melding process (both of which are blind to your partner) are able to play for many more points. The strategy therefore has to be a balance - how many tricks and points can you win in play, and what is the value of the trade off that gets you more points in the meld?
I think pinochle is pretty close to the perfect card game...and I'm a total newby.
-
Comment on On M*A*S*H, was Klinger a cross-dresser? Was Klinger trans? in ~lgbt
atchemey LinkI'm a huge fan of M*A*S*H. I have watched every episode at least forty times (minimally), and, when I was a teen, I could identify the episode from the establishing shot and repeat the lines...I'm a huge fan of M*A*S*H. I have watched every episode at least forty times (minimally), and, when I was a teen, I could identify the episode from the establishing shot and repeat the lines verbatim. I still can almost do that, but not quite as well. Nota bene: I am a trans ally, but am not trans myself, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.
Klinger is a favorite character because they take him seriously. If you stop looking at the dresses for a minute, and look at him as a person, he's everything you'd want him to be if you were writing a heroic character. He's earnest. He's compassionate. He's generous. He's not afraid to get upset about things when they are worth getting upset about. And above all that, he's a damn good orderly. The joke is that he's all these things, but he doesn't want to be a hero - he wants to be a civilian.
Consider for a moment, that he is trying his best to get out of the Army - hell he never wants to be in it in the first place - and that during induction he does everything from refusing to cough for the doctor, to locking himself inside a pay toilet at a train station (requiring the draft board to spend $4 in nickels to get him out - 80 attempts!) He tried to trick doctors from letting him in, and then, once in, tried to fly to the coast using a small hang glider(he looked like a big red bird with fuzzy pink feet), to then float across the Pacific in a rubber dinghy. He tries to eat his way out until he was too fat to serve, to sit on a pole in the freezing cold until he catches pneumonia, volunteers to be taken hostage by a gunman, takes up voodoo, claims "half his family is dying and the other half is pregnant" (real quote after his boss reads that back to him - "I'm ashamed, sir...I don't deserve to be in the Army!"), pretends he has forgotten to speak anything but Arabic, gets married in a white dress (then in a black suit at the finale), threatens to self-immolate, and a dozen other canards to escape back to Toledo, his bowling league, and Tony Packo's Hungarian Hot Dogs. He is shameless in these attempts to leave...But he's still a Corporal, not a private or in prison. He was so good at what he did that not only did his draft board say he was okay to send to Korea (despite his best efforts), he also got more responsibilities and was trusted to lead more junior soldiers.
Klinger was living in a world where his best method of escape was conforming with the "crazy" definition of the time, by wearing dresses. The central conceit of the character was that, in the time and place he was in, being transgender was a mental illness. So, because he was the sanest one there (and thus the most desperate to leave), he took the path that was not of self-injury or mutilation, but instead was wearing dresses in the hopes of convincing someone he was classified 4-F, "Registrant not qualified for military service." When he thought he might actually be a woman, when he thought he might (by the standards of the time) be "going crazy," the psychiatrist met him where he was, and gave him comfort. "You're in the crazy business, fashion consciousness is just a tool of the trade." Nobody at any point took Klinger's attempts to get out seriously, because they were so over-the-top and ludicrous that they were impossible to take seriously...but they didn't treat him worse because of it (outside of the obvious "mean" characters of course). He was one hell of an orderly, he did his job, and he made sure that the patients he was helping were never the worse for his actions. Because he's a good human being.
I dispute your friend's assertion that the character did a "double-switch" or anything like that. While she is likely inspired by Klinger and the good acts he did (and the unrepentant manner in which he presented himself, which is certainly worthy of praise) I don't think the text of the show would support that. The strongest negative analogies come later in the show, around season 8, when he is promoted from Orderly to Company Clerk - a position of substantial responsibility. At that time, he goes to being masculine-presenting (except for when generals come by, or if he has a particularly nice set of earrings he wants to wear as a disguise against "sanity"), and works his butt off. He even gets promoted (proudly) to Sergeant near the end of the show. At other times, he is shown to have a profound psychological response to wearing Army fatigues, and the docs recommend he wear a slip underneath his uniform. But the truth is that much of the time, he's wearing masculine clothing and comfortable with his gender assignment at birth. He even takes offense when a Swedish doctor (who mentions that sexual reassignment surgery is being developed contemporaneously) suggests he could undergo surgical transition to correct his gender - "You're crazier than I am!" If he was really a "double-switch," character, that would have likely received more time and consideration - instead, he stormed off, profoundly disturbed at the revelation. Sorry :/
The fact that your friend found him so inspirational is a tribute to the care and seriousness with which Jamie Farr took the role. Klinger could have been a simple punching bag character, a one-trick pony who didn't contribute anything but some "cheap" laughs. The show could have punched-down, and made him seem insignificant (or worse) but it didn't. Jamie took a character who wanted out and gave real heart and pathos to him.
That said, I can absolutely see an argument for Klinger as a trans icon. By our modern standards, if we took him at his word, Klinger would likely be considered gender non-conforming or trans of some variety. In the context of 1950s Korea, he was just a normal guy in an abnormal situation, who was trying to escape and was happy to compromise his personal characterization to do so. By becoming a transvestite in the hopes of escaping, he lived the experience of being trans, of having to pretend to be a gender he's not due to social situation, and he did so with grace, beauty, and humor. He showed the profound resilience of the human spirit, and the ingenuity that we should all strive for.
Klinger may have been cis, but he lived the trans life in a hostile culture, and he never gave up. May we all be so brave to pursue our most genuine self.
-
Comment on An honest assessment of American rural white resentment is long overdue in ~society
-
Comment on An honest assessment of American rural white resentment is long overdue in ~society
The eternal revolution against an amorphous and shifting enemy is one of the hallmarks of totalitarian governments. It is also a specific and common manifestation of fascist movements.