A company is much easier to crash than a monarch or government. A government will lock you up or kill you for planning to overthrow them.

Sorry, what? Are you saying that this comment about the holocaust makes the Nazis look... better?

Not always, but it is when you go public. I work a lot at small businesses, lots of them have shareholders who are mostly hands-off, or would prefer a more conservative approach to protect their investment.

People who invest in non-public businesses are usually in for the long haul, and come with much greater risk.

But when you go public, your business just comes a commodity, nothing but a vehicle for a fund manager to use to try and get a higher return for their clients so they get more business and commission.

In theory, it's a really democratic system, but the reality is that we've lost track of what an investment is meant to be, and the number of private individuals actually holding shares in a company directly is very low, it's mostly fund managers who literally just want to pump their numbers for a few years, because long term, they never really beat the market.

Have they actually got something in the pipeline.

Tough fucking luck. If healthcare is private in the US, it's none of their business, the state doesn't get a say.

Can someone fill me in on wtf is going on with drag in the US?

I'm from the UK, drag is like our longest running joke, and families go to pantomimes all the time. Recently theres been a more direct association with the LGBT community in the popular understanding of it. I'd say that most people's view on drag here is:

• not necessarily an LGBT thing, though it very often is
• kinda traditional
• can be funny, or just a fun performance
• pretty lighthearted
• not expected to be overtly sexual by default, depends on context

Some of the stuff I see out of the US is bizzare. I realise that the weirder stuff is always going to be amplified in the news, and people are not necessarily trying to show the full context in photos. But I've seen shit like

• rightoids getting so worked up that the pickets outside resemble the Gaza Strip or, as I'm reliabily told, the average us abortion clinic
• performances in weird places like libraries
• people watching a clearly sexual show in dive bars with their kids in tow that look like they're starting at a painting in a gallery pondering the meaning of nothingness and looking way out of place

Like, wtf? Drag isn't the problem, it's the weird-ass way that people seem to be responding to it. Go to a show if you think you might enjoy it, read up on the performance or use context ques to understand what kind of drag performance it's going to be. Certainly don't go for political reasons and ruin the fun for performers who are just trying to have a good time. But equally, don't plan shows that are meant to provoke a reaction for political reasons, for the same reason.

And why the right wingers care so much if fucking beyond me. Imagine having enough free time to consider that important enough to spend your precious free time protesting it rather than doing literally anything else.

Just chill, it's a fucking stage show. It's like the whole toilet thing again, just hysterics over something inconcequential. I'm trans and fabulous as fuck and don't seem to consider these issues nearly as important than a middle-aged cishet blue collar dude from Texas who may never have met a single trans person or encountered anything like this outside of the Internet.

Is only fun show, why you heff to be mad?

Oi, I'm moderate af and am only techy to people who don't know the difference between a laptop and... the larger one!

I do like a community that values a free, open and decentralised Internet, Reddit used to, but seems to have lost that.

I've used this for distilling too, when people start talking about methanol. Even with the worst distiller in the world, you'd have to drink something crazy like 10L before it would kill you.

Obviously by that point you'd be dead with alcohol poisoning. But saying "you can safely drink 14 cans of coke a day before the carcinogenic effects of aspartame become an issue" is completely valid, and not the same as saying "drinking 14 cans of coke a day is a healthy way to live".

I didn't think for even a moment that it would be that simple, thank you so much!

Efficient and not necessarily too neutral, classy. But coiling that condenser/feed through every single plate must have been a real fucker!

That's usually worked 100% for me. Either listening to an audiobook, or listening to a genre of video on Youtube I can only describe as "long-form space and quantum physics shit that I don't understand but find weirdly soothing".

Usually works great, but I just can't seem to switch off, if anything, it can actually start adding to the discomfort. Weird really, maybe I need to find something that fills the same gap, but is different.

Not exclusively though. For many the fact that there a scary sounding chemical called MSG in their food is enough. Lots of people are obsessive about 'additives' and assume they are all bad.

Hm, I've been on it for about 6 months now which has made me doubt it. I will continue on this lower dose and see if it helps!

Plus the reporting on it.

At a certain point, people start saying things like "X is supposed to be bad now, but give it 5 years and it'll probably be healthy again!" or "they say you're not supposed to do Y anymore...".

Because, of course, most people get their information from news sources who are always trying to find the next superfood or poison that we've all been consuming for hundreds of years. And often, many of the things were taught when we're younger are no longer considered correct, or at least fully correct, anymore.

So at a point people just get tired, ignore all of it, and just do whatever they were going to do anyway, because from their perspective, scientists can't make their mind up anyway.

Public transport is great in cities, but as soon as things get more sparsely populated, you get diminishing returns. Everything takes longer, runs infrequently, and still barely gets you close.

But then if they run more frequently, they'd be empty.

Yet, where I live, they keep introducing hostile rules, new houses can only have one parking space, at a time where kids are having to live with their parents for longer, so their mobility, job opportunities, etc are really hampered. It would be one thing if there was decent public transport infrastructure, but there's literally nothing, just people becoming 'stuck' because those who make the rules often don't think about areas as a whole.

You're right, what excuses do the Russian invaders have for Ukraine? It sure blew up in their faces. And I hope it continues to until the invaders return to their miserable little circle of hell thry built for themselves.

Who's trying to trick you into eating a sugar substitute?

I've started shooting myself with BBs, I'm working my way up to pellets, then. .22, probably going to stop before 50BMG, but before long, I will be unstoppable!

I don't really do any specific exercise. I work quite a physical job, although these days I sometimes spend all day at a desk, but I'm usually on my feet all day, lifting heavy things. Perhaps doing more office work and not doing exercise to compensate could be a big part of this.

What kind of stuff do you do? I'm quite limited as to what I could do at home due to hours and noise, I'd default to something like press-ups. I could do something more substantial in the warehouse when everyone else has gone home, though! I don't know anything about how much or what kind of exercise is required to satisfy my amygdala, but I'll do some research!

Yeah, revenge procrastination is definitely big for me, I'll often only get the boring shit finished quite late in the day, then think 'but I haven't had any chill time yet!' and spend a few hours gaming or something. This is my usual issue, which I generally manage okay with. Usually when I hit the pillow, I'm asleep pretty fast, but recently I'm just in bed lying there, completely alert.

Thanks, appreciate it! Yes, definitely ping-pong between good and bad, you have a very similar outlook to me, in terms of having phases of good and bad and trying to make the good ones last!

I have an active job, but I think some kind of other exercise would be beneficial. Unfortunately whatever I do would need to be quiet, and preferably not involve trying to sneak in and out without setting my parents' dog off! I was just thinking pushups or similar.

I hope you find the tools you need too, sounds like medication may help you, although I found it doesn't help with all the new obsessions!