axont

We're expected to continue working when it's 90 F and 100% humidity indoors. Dude our paper is so soggy I punch holes in it when I try to write. I am straight up not having a good time.

Also our managers didn't even come in today. What even is capitalism

Hey everyone!

Six months ago I made a post about how how I managed to run a 5k in less than 30 minutes. Well just earlier today I managed to double that and ran a 10k in one hour! I'm extremely proud of myself!

I'm not very young or in shape, but about two years ago I made a promise to get better, lose weight, and have a level of fitness I can appreciate. I don't wanna get to 50 and be another overweight American with heart problems. I wanna look and feel healthy.

However I am incredibly lazy and scatterbrained, so I decided to go for an exercise that requires no equipment, no technique, and has a high efficiency for calories burned against time. My best guess was jogging/running would fit well, and I had done jogging for fitness way back in college. But that was just casual fun a few times a week. Two years ago I decided I wanted to do it right and focus. Go for longer distances, pace myself, record my times, that kinda thing. And it's working! I finished a 10k for the first time ever earlier this morning and I finished at 59 minutes 27 seconds!

I guess a full marathon is what I should aim for next. A whole lot is going pretty cool in my life ever since I started jogging seriously. I'm more comfortable in calling myself nonbinary and asexual, I'm dressing more nicely, I have a lot of creative pursuits now, and I don't get tired as easily. I wear makeup and no longer feel weird about it!

I wanna eventually get enough stamina to do a full marathon! Wish me luck, y'all. I wish you all luck and perseverance as well! I'm some lazy smelly goofball so if I can do it you all definitely can

(me every morning at 5:30 am)

I use various websites such as ebay, duckduckgo, and myanimelist. I know you probably think internet users are bad but I swear I'm one of the good ones. I currently make around $0k per year on my internet activities so it's more like a service I'm providing all of you.

This is my silly boy Safiiri. He had a very difficult life before I adopteded him. He comes from a hoarder situation involving a house with over 200 neglected cats, underfed, malnourished, and sick. When I adopted him the shelter told me he's not a "normal cat" but I promised them I'd cherish him anyway.

So that was about three years ago and he still hasn't warmed up to me. In that time he's had to get surgeries, go on antibiotics, change his diet several times. He had to get a full teeth extraction because of gum disease. I've done so much to give him a comfy happy life despite his health problems because I really do think he deserves a better life than he had.

But he's just so terrified of me. If I come near him he starts flinching as if I'm going to hit him. He hisses, but never attacks me. He's just afraid. He spent a full year hiding in my closet after he was first adopted. On rare occasions he'll allow me to sit near him and I'll pet him super gently, but he seems conflicted. He'll purr, but also flinch in terror, then eventually bolt away.

He's not scared all the time though. If I'm not paying him any attention he's clearly a normal, happy cat and I'm really glad for that. He's overcome his worst health issues and will play with the other cat, with his toys, or he'll lounge around on his bed. Don't get it twisted, he's a very chill happy cat so long as I don't get near him. But I just don't understand.

Does anyone have any advice? :(

Especially now. Like who do conservatives think they are by telling libs to go outside, or to quit watching the news? Their two favorite guys are Doland Trump and Elon Musk, the two most belligerent and news obsessed ghoul in America. They live off negative attention. The Republicans just spent two weeks shuffling a bunch of executive orders that might as well have been called the "trigger libs" acts.

Like you brought this on yourself, chuds. You can't rile up libs on purpose and then act all high and mighty about it, just lean into it. Don't pretend you're taking the high road here. If you wanna trigger the libs own up to it, don't pretend Trump is just a normal dude who's unfairly maligned and blah blah. Don't clutch your pearls over how the media talks about him.

Of course they go after Trump, because he's a goofy clown who says funny and weird things. So that's the reaction he'll get. Chuds want so badly to be the dominant cultural force, they wanna be seen as calm and normal and yet they also wanna be giggling jesters who always have libs to trigger

Sorry I just had to get this out. All my reactionary relatives have become 75% more annoying in a mirror image to how stuck-up libs act.

Hello, it's me.

Japan is an imperialist capitalist nation in Asia that has been dominated by the right wing party 自由民主党 (The Liberal Democratic Party) almost entirely since the party's conception. The country has a reputation for harsh working hours, a repressive conformist culture, a huge and exploitative pornography industry, but worst of all: anime.

However, it's not all bad. Japan also boasts a rich cultural history, beautiful natural landmarks, and a deep culinary tradition. It's a place I've visited and stayed in many times. I really do have an appreciation of Japan. Not in a weeaboo kind of way, but I hope more genuinely in the things I like. I've actually taken the time to visit the countryside, to make friends, to interact with everyday Japanese people. I've made the effort to learn how to speak the language at a conversational level, and I've gone out of my way to have experiences beyond the normal tourist stuff. Not bragging but I've been to 38 of Japan's 47 prefectures.

But onto the main subject here: I hate, hate, hate how western reactionaries glorify aspects of Japan while also knowing jack and shit about Japan. In fact, I'd like to propose that if American white conservatives actually knew about Japanese domestic policy, they'd declare Japan to be socialist in the same way they refer to Canada or Europe as socialist. Here we go.

Also all of this will be off the top of my head because I'm exhausted from work and just doing this as catharsis because I had to listen to several shitheads today talk about how conservative Japan is and why it's a conservative based utopia blah blah blah ahhhhh. So if I get anything wrong or don't mention something just call me out as a dipshit because I am a massive dipshit. I don't wanna actually google statistics and stuff right now.

Don't get me wrong. Japan is not some utopia, it's a capitalist exploitative imperialist nation, but I'm just very sick of hearing American conservatives glorify things about the country that they exaggerate, misunderstand, or just fabricate.

Things American chuds care about:

• Gun control

Ok let's address this one first. Personal ownership of handguns and rifles in Japan is strictly illegal. My understanding is that shotguns are legal for specifically hunters or target shooters, but require an evaluation, regular accuracy tests, proof of what the gun is used for specifically, and you have to let the police inspect your home and gun whenever they ask. American chuds would absolutely bristle at hearing any of this. Honestly, Japan's gun control laws alone might be enough for the average American chud to declare Japan a dystopian socialist dictatorship.

• Labor laws

Japan doesn't have at-will employment. Every employer is required to give 30 days notice before firing someone, or issue payment in lieu of notice. Far more Japanese workers in the private industry belong to unions than Americans, I think it's around 16% of Japanese workers versus only like 3% of Americans. Japanese companies cannot fire employees without a specific reason. Minimum wage is pegged to cost of living in the surrounding area. It's also super common for companies to reimburse employees for public transportation costs. Employees are typically under contract with their employer, and all workers are legally obligated to pay into a national pension plan, which I believe starts to pay out at the age of 60.

• Immigration/Xenophobia/Minority rights

While Japan is notoriously difficult in terms of gaining full citizenship, immigrating and becoming a resident is about the same process as immigrating anywhere else. Japan's xenophobia is probably the most cited feature of the place that chuds seem to like. I hear so many stories about the "No Foreigners" signs in front of shops. Personally, I've only ever encountered one of those signs, but it was less a "no foreigners allowed whatsoever" and more like a "we don't speak English, sorry." I'm pretty sure denying foreigners service entirely violates several Japanese civil rights laws. I remember there were some Korean residents in Japan like 20 years ago who successfully sued a bathhouse for several million yen for its refusal to service them. It's just not as widespread as chuds like to say it is, and it's definitely not true of cosmopolitan areas like Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, etc. Maybe decades ago, but as far as Japanese cities are concerned, the yen is good no matter who's trying to use it. I could get into why I think Japan has a low percentage of immigration, but to cut it short I think it's primarily low wages for skilled labor compared to other industrialized nations. Xenophobia and discrimination are probably factors as well, but I really believe it's the lack of money and Japan's relative isolation that keep immigrants away. Like why would someone from neighboring countries China or Occupied (South) Korea immigrate to Japan at this point, other than an interest in Japan? They'd make far more money at home.

Also in regards to social xenophobia, that's probably true of the older generations, but the overwhelming majority of young Japanese people I've met have been obsessed with Korean media. K-pop, K-dramas, Korean idols, all of that. They also love American movies, especially slop like Star Wars and Marvel. If Japanese people are supposed to be based culturally isolated people who don't engage in foreign cultures, they're very bad at it. Go to anywhere in Shibuya and you'll hear the Billboard top 50 blaring all the time.

• LGBTQ+ Rights

Yeah it's not great, but Japan at least acknowledges gender transitions. I also know that GRS is covered by the state healthcare system, although I don't know if HRT is. I do have a trans friend in Japan and she tells me there's actually a pretty decent community for her and things are alright. Japan notoriously has no national recognition of same-sex marriage, however, cities and prefectures individually may have their own laws regarding recognition. Like I know that most wards of Tokyo will issue a certificate to same-sex couples that carries many of the same provisions as marriage. Also, Japan has multiple elected officials who are trans or gay. Setagaya, a ward of Tokyo, had an open trans woman elected to its council all the way back in 2003. I believe Japan has no specific laws regarding discrimination or hate speech, I believe certain prefectures have their own laws protecting against gender/sexuality discrimination, like Tokyo and Ibaraki. (my friend lives in Ibaraki and she's told me there are local laws against things like hiring discrimination in regards to sexuality/gender). Basically, it's complicated and queer people aren't fully protected or normalized, but that's similar to most countries in the world right now. Japan certainly isn't a fully anti-LGBTQ country like chuds would describe. Instead it's a mixed bag where acceptance can vary depending on where in the country you are and who you're interacting with.

• Healthcare

Japan's healthcare system is actually just about as good as you can get for a capitalist country. Japanese people have one of the longest life expectancies on Earth, the obesity rate is low, and access to healthcare is very high. The way it works is a public-private hybrid system, where 70% of healthcare costs are covered by the state and the remaining 30% is covered by private health insurance. After the age of 70, the state covers all costs. Most employers offer a health insurance plan, meaning the vast majority of Japanese residents enjoy widespread coverage at publicly funded hospitals. I know there are a lot of cases where the national healthcare system doesn't cover everything, or insurance won't cover certain conditions, but statistically Japan has a remarkably healthy population (at least in terms of physical health. There are a variety of widespread mental health issues.) Again, this is something else that American white reactionaries would bristle at, despite the obvious positive results. Also I think quack medicine is illegal, or at least, isn't covered by the national health system or something? I remember my friend saying something about it.

• Taxation

Japan has a progressive income tax rate that vastly out-paces the American tax rate. Its highest tax bracket, an income of ¥40,000,000 or higher, is a whopping 45%. The equivalent highest bracket in America is 37% for income of $609,351 and above. As I'm typing this, 40 million yen is $257,212. I don't even want to get into the inheritance, corporate, property, etc taxes because they're also higher than the American equivalents. Again, this is a feature chuds would declare as inherently despotic and socialist.

• Environmental laws

I actually don't know much about this, but I'm pretty sure every major party, including the LDP, acknowledges anthropic climate change is real. I know waste disposal laws are more strict than the US, and I think fines for pollution are harsher. I do know that most parties in Japan are against nuclear energy, including the Communist Party, which is kinda understandable given Japanese history.

• Conclusion

Ok I'm done rambling. I just really needed to get all that out. I don't think I hit every point I wanted to hit but you're all very smart and you probably understand where I'm going with this. The actual reality of Japan is something chuds would not want for themselves, since they can only look at certain aspects of Japan, namely its immigration policies and its ethnic homogeneity, and declare that's all that's necessary for a country to be based or whatever. Yeah except nearly every other feature of Japan is something they'd find unpalatable at best and grounds for declaring it a dictatorship at worst.

ok thank you for reading my bullshit.

death to America

Is it my diet

I mean obviously there's Serum, Vital, and Phase Plant and all the popular ones, but what do you find yourself using?

My current rotation is:

• Phonec by Psychic Modulation. Really dreamy synth meant to sound like a nature documentary from 1984. Very Boards of Canada.

• Repro-5 by u-he. Really nifty emulation of the Prophet 5.

• VCV Rack. The best software version of a modular synthesizer rack around. You can get lost for hours in sound design. Also it's free!

• Dawesome Abyss. Honestly a little finicky and difficult to use but can make some super thick pads.

• QasarBeach by Adam Strange - It's free! Super crunchy recreation of a Fairlight CMI IIx. Probably the most impressive free softsynth I've ever used, and it's more than that! It has a tracker, waveform editor, sampler, a ton of stuff. The GUI is just beautiful. It's really really hard to use and clunky, but it's just got so much soul and love put into it that I can't help but poke around in it sometimes.

What do y'all enjoy using? Also this is a great comm idea and I hope we have lots of cool threads!

So apparently a large-ish contingent of American reactionaries don't think crude oil is a finite resource. They believe the Earth regenerates it at a faster pace than it can be drilled, and this isn't a niche conspiracy theory either. I mentioned it off-hand at work after seeing a random tweet about it, then like 5 of my coworkers all nodded and agreed. One even used the term "abiotic oil."

Is this just cope or what? One of my coworkers literally said, "Well oil is like water, it goes through a cycle and gets replenished." Something about how crude oil is actually made through some kind of geological process, rather than decomposed algae/animal matter from millions of years ago. I think maybe there's evidence of abiotic hydrocarbon gasses existing from various chemical reactions with minerals, but I believe there's never been a convincing source of abiotic petroleum that couldn't also be explained as biological in origin.

They don't actually believe this, do they? It's just a thin kind of security blanket so they don't have to consider the reality of what fossil fuels truly are?

I'm an amateur runner and yesterday I finally managed a 5K at a decent pace. 28 minutes 9 seconds. I was never fit at all when I was younger and I still think I'm pretty lazy, but I have numbers I can point to that indicate improvement!

I just wanted to brag a lil since I've heard under 30 for a 5k is pretty decent

A vocalist wants to work with me on some music if I write the lyrics and melodies. I can mix, produce, etc but I've never done anything with vocals. I feel like anything I write would be dull or cringe.

Do y'all have advice or anything I should try to avoid?

She was born in a storm drain. She's 6 years old! She's small and likes salmon. She's a good girl.