porkpockets's recent activity

  1. Comment on Why is Elon Musk doing what he is to Twitter? in ~tech

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    That's... technically correct. He may have actual degrees in his name, however due to some interesting discrepancies on the details, the jury's still out on whether or not they were actually...

    He has a bachelors in Economics and Physics

    That's... technically correct. He may have actual degrees in his name, however due to some interesting discrepancies on the details, the jury's still out on whether or not they were actually earned through schoolwork

    19 votes

  2. Comment on Why is Elon Musk doing what he is to Twitter? in ~tech

    porkpockets
    Link
    I followed this whole thing waaaaaaaay too closely last year, having too much time on my hands at work lol. I don't think he ever wanted to buy Twitter outright. He was already in the midst of...

    I followed this whole thing waaaaaaaay too closely last year, having too much time on my hands at work lol. I don't think he ever wanted to buy Twitter outright. He was already in the midst of accumulating shares and apparently trying to get a seat on the board, and had already gotten in trouble for keeping the former on the dl. While the accumulation of shares seems to point to a chance to be on the board to influence the decisions at Twitter, I think the overarching and more immediate scheme was a pump-and-dump, which he is well known for; playing fanboys with declarations of what he moves he'll make with TSLA and various forms of crypto are shenanigans he's successfully pulled multiple times in the past, with little to no consequence. However, this time around he very quickly backed himself into a hole by making a 420 joke about the Twitter stock price he'd buy the company at, to pump up the value of what he already owned, and both the SEC and the board of Twitter came at him, in various ways (enforcement on the part of the former, essentially saying "if you don't follow through there are consequences this time", and the poison pill measure by the latter). Then, for some unfathomable reason he signed away his right to due diligence, which essentially locked him into ownership- that billion dollar fine to back out wasn't a legally accessible option after this. Since Twitter is incorporated in Delaware and the Delaware Court of Chancery does not fuck around with these things, he was essentially out of options, but tried his best to get out of the sale anyways. All the public flailing around about bots and such were his subsequent attempts to back out of the deal in any way he could think of, but the lawsuits quickly started to enforce the sale. His private text msgs were subject to discovery in these lawsuits, and you'll notice he capitulated to the sale preeeeetty quickly once they were at risk of coming to light.

    So, to answer your question with a TL;DR- greed, stupidity and hubris. There's no evil master plan there, at all. It's a tale as old as time with rich idiots who have never faced consequences before. He's just failing upwards, again.

    19 votes

  3. Comment on Pride experiences in ~lgbt

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    The irony of this take is that it does, in fact, exclude people. Honestly, as someone who is queer and kinky, I really hate when the argument is shut down in this way, this all-or-nothing...
    • Exemplary

    The irony of this take is that it does, in fact, exclude people. Honestly, as someone who is queer and kinky, I really hate when the argument is shut down in this way, this all-or-nothing thinking. The last thing Pride, being a radical celebration of who you are, should be about is exclusion of non-kinky folks. Demanding kinkiness in queerness is so antithetical to what Pride should be about, yet that is exactly what engaging in (actual) kink in public at Pride achieves, what demanding kink everywhere at Pride accomplishes. Kink belongs at Pride, yes. There are very strong links to kink in the history of Pride, yes. Kinky people played an integral role in Pride from it's very origins, yes. But kink is not everything that Pride should be about, the end-all-be-all of the celebration and the concept. The thing is, so many people conflate gear with kink- that Advocate piece cited in the Vox article you linked is definitely guilty of that. Kink is a dynamic, it's not defined by your outfit. And if that dynamic is apparent to others who have not consented to engage in kink, yes, that is a massive violation of the concept of consent. Anyone who engages in kink should understand consent to that degree, and you're not a safe partner in kink if you insist on others engaging, actively or passively, without the ability for everyone there to offer that consent. That's hands-down the gold standard within kink communities, and I find a LOT of queer people who argue for kink everywhere at Pride generally make this argument that shows they don't seriously engage in kink to begin with, they just see it as automatically hand-in-hand with the queer identity without considering what that actually means.

    It's a sticky issue, because it's easy to make the "think of the children" argument from there. And you're absolutely right that that's an exhausting argument to push back against. But a leather daddy showing up in gear isn't necessarily engaging in a kink dynamic. Someone going topless and wearing minimal coverings isn't necessarily engaging in kink. Someone attending Pride in a furry costume isn't necessarily engaging in kink. A Dom(me) leashing their sub and walking them, though- that is an example of kink. And while there absolutely should be spaces for that at Pride, people who don't engage in kink should also absolutely have a space available to them to celebrate where they don't have to manage those violations of consent (the same also goes for people who simply don't want to engage in kink at Pride- not in the least because a lot of engagement in kink does often stem from exposure to and experience with trauma in some way, it's an incredibly powerful tool to regain control over your own sexuality, and when consent is violated and control over that experience is lost, that can be very damaging).

    There are a lot of problems with this take, one of them being the inherent argument against the inclusion of certain sexualities, or even certain kinks. Do aces not belong at queer celebrations? Demanding kinkiness from everyone at Pride, even passively through public play, essentially says "these are the only people allowed to be considered queer and you don't belong if you're not celebrating your active experience with sex". And who gets to define which kinks are "acceptable" for public consumption and which aren't? There are some extremely taboo forms of kink that are so incredibly empowering to those who engage in them, that are valid kinks and affirmations of queerness, that definitely should not be engaged in around others who haven't actively consented.

    Pride is meant to be a radical celebration of people being who they are, it isn't an automatic license to engage in kink without the normal considerations that should always accompany kinkiness. And to argue otherwise is, in fact, a form of exclusion, a way to try to push for a conformity in queerness, even if that conformity isn't the cis-het ideal. You may be tired of people saying there should be non-kinky spaces at Pride, but honestly I'm tired of other queer people demanding their ideal of kinkiness from my queerness, even though I'm queer and kinky myself. It's just another way I don't belong for a lot of queer people, sadly- I'm a pan gal who has faced so much bi erasure I honestly am uncomfortable in more "traditional" queer spaces that aren't openly radical, and I'm kinky enough to know the red flags surrounding consent that people who insist on kink in queer spaces without question are waving about. In both situations, the message really does boil down to "you don't belong here". And like I said, that's antithetical to the entire point of Pride in the first place.

    15 votes

  4. Comment on Fewer in US say same-sex relations morally acceptable (64% in 2023, down from 71% last year) in ~lgbt

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Reading the transcript now, and it's actually worse than you've described :( especially considering those statements immediately followed him saying they wouldn't provide a platform for...

    Reading the transcript now, and it's actually worse than you've described :( especially considering those statements immediately followed him saying they wouldn't provide a platform for misinformation.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Fewer in US say same-sex relations morally acceptable (64% in 2023, down from 71% last year) in ~lgbt

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    that's just straight-up misinformation, though. there isn't a "very real debate" on this issue happening within the medical community (to be clear, talking about evidence-based medicine, not some...

    the very real debate about the impact of transitioning among children happening in the medical community

    that's just straight-up misinformation, though. there isn't a "very real debate" on this issue happening within the medical community (to be clear, talking about evidence-based medicine, not some woo pseudoscience). the claims from these right wing monsters over how gender affirmation for children is approached by their doctors are almost always lies. it's incredibly concerning that the top brass at the NYT is pushing this narrative, albeit indirectly. they're giving air time and consideration to people and ideas the medical community actively denounce, then framing it as "reasonable debate"

    7 votes

  6. Comment on Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme in ~tech

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    I strongly recommend that you read up a bit more on how genocide is actually defined, this wiki article is a great starting point. You've fallen for some strong propaganda if you believe it is...

    I strongly recommend that you read up a bit more on how genocide is actually defined, this wiki article is a great starting point. You've fallen for some strong propaganda if you believe it is solely defined by mass killings.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme in ~tech

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    It's not "disagreement" when you (in a general sense, not you specifically) hold beliefs that dehumanize others. That's the line. And it's pretty easy to identify.

    It's not "disagreement" when you (in a general sense, not you specifically) hold beliefs that dehumanize others.

    That's the line. And it's pretty easy to identify.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Why did you select your username for Tildes? in ~tildes

    porkpockets
    Link
    Mine also came from KOTH! It was just a small throwaway line that I thought was too funny- Bobby and Joseph are getting ready for their first hunting trip with Hank and Dale and they're chatting...

    Mine also came from KOTH! It was just a small throwaway line that I thought was too funny- Bobby and Joseph are getting ready for their first hunting trip with Hank and Dale and they're chatting about something or other, I don't remember what exactly, and Bobby mentions you have to be careful or you'll get stuck with an awful nickname, and Joseph pipes up "like pork pockets?"

    God that show is so good for little random things like that

    3 votes

  9. Comment on I had a severe panic attack two days ago in ~health.mental

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Depression is often accompanied by a "flat affect", which basically means even if the person wants to feel happy again, they can't. And losing that joy in little things, and knowing that you...

    Depression is often accompanied by a "flat affect", which basically means even if the person wants to feel happy again, they can't. And losing that joy in little things, and knowing that you should feel that way but you don't, can exacerbate the issue. It's definitely not an easy thing to understand if you don't have experience with an MDD episode, but your emotions aren't necessarily sadness with depression, but rather... everything might just feel like different shades of grey. You kind of feel like there's no motivation there to feel anything at all when it's bad. Combine that with anxiety, and it can quickly turn into a spiral of self-loathing that's so incredibly hard to pull yourself out of on your own.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on I had a severe panic attack two days ago in ~health.mental

    porkpockets
    Link
    For what it's worth from a total stranger, I am SO proud of you for doing this for yourself. Frankly, and I'm speaking from experience on this, this can be so much harder than reaching out for...

    I have deferred my plans to pursuit my higher education

    For what it's worth from a total stranger, I am SO proud of you for doing this for yourself. Frankly, and I'm speaking from experience on this, this can be so much harder than reaching out for help (ETA- and asking for help is already one of the hardest parts of living with depression and anxiety!). Really, I'm so so proud of you <3

    You have an illness that you're going to learn how to manage. That is a very hard thing to face. There's not one single way to approach managing anxiety and depression, what's worked for me might not work for you, but keep at it. Some things you try might work for you, some things might not. And that's okay. It's hard to shake those perfectionist tendencies (so many of us anxious folks are also perfectionists!) but keep working at it. I want you to remember one thing for me, especially when it gets really hard, okay? It's your illness that is trying to convince you that you've accomplished nothing, that you're a piece of shit. It's not the truth. You're working to manage that illness, and you're doing it for yourself- and again, I am so proud of you for that. To me, that's a BIG accomplishment in and of itself. You're not alone. I've been there. So many of us have, as you can see.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on What weird food combo did you not realise was weird? in ~food

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Cinnamon spread used to be a thing in Canada but it was discontinued a few years ago, it was literally just sugary cinnamony margarine.

    Cinnamon spread used to be a thing in Canada but it was discontinued a few years ago, it was literally just sugary cinnamony margarine.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on What weird food combo did you not realise was weird? in ~food

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    not at all, more like... crispy fries. ketchup chips are sweet, but in a different way from ketchup and plain chips together. they have this burn-your-mouth-off acidic quality to them that...

    not at all, more like... crispy fries. ketchup chips are sweet, but in a different way from ketchup and plain chips together. they have this burn-your-mouth-off acidic quality to them that combining chips and actual ketchup just doesn't replicate lol

    1 vote

  13. Comment on This is why it’s so hard to find mental health counseling in the USA right now in ~health.mental

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Clinical psychology can actually be a harder program to get into than med school, just in terms of admissions standards.

    Clinical psychology can actually be a harder program to get into than med school, just in terms of admissions standards.

  14. Comment on Favorite ambient / instrumental music? in ~music

    porkpockets
    Link
    my recs are a little old.... while jackie o motherfucker does sometimes include vocals, overall it's weird experimental instrumental stuff and I absolutely love it. Your Cells Are in Motion is my...

    my recs are a little old.... while jackie o motherfucker does sometimes include vocals, overall it's weird experimental instrumental stuff and I absolutely love it. Your Cells Are in Motion is my favourite track on the linked album.

    Also, Women does feature vocals for the most part, but if you like weird experimental music, they were so so so good. Highly recommend!!

    1 vote

  15. Comment on What are the summer activities you are looking forward to? in ~health

    porkpockets
    Link
    My immediate response was "park beers!!" but then I saw you specified something active lol

    My immediate response was "park beers!!" but then I saw you specified something active lol

  16. Comment on What's your favorite cult classic movie? in ~movies

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Ever seen Dreams? I've only ever seen one vignette but my god, what an incredible filmmaker Kurosawa was

    Ever seen Dreams? I've only ever seen one vignette but my god, what an incredible filmmaker Kurosawa was

    2 votes

  17. Comment on What's your favorite cult classic movie? in ~movies

    porkpockets
    Link Parent
    Same here with the Qatsi trilogy, and Baraka too.

    Same here with the Qatsi trilogy, and Baraka too.

    5 votes