hovercat

Michigan, where an extremely diverse college town like Ann Arbor that's listed as one of the most LGBT+ friendly places in the US is only 30 minutes south of Howell, home of KKK members and literal Nazis 'protesting' a stage production of The Diary of Ann Frank

the implosion mechanism to initiate the chain reaction compressed it to about half the volume.

Y'know, I've done a lot of "hobby research" into nuclear weapons, but never really did the math on the degree to which the pit was compressed. Just on an intuitive level, it's already a bit difficult to fathom solids compressing, but not unreasonable to imagine. However, in my head it was like, a couple percent at most. Forcing a solid ball of insanely dense metal into a space half of what it originally was just blows my mind even more.

Correct. Don't touch them, rinse them with saline, and you'll be g2g. I got mine done last week and I absolutely love them. I hate needles, but oh my gosh I can't stop looking at myself with them. And congrats!

But you can only sell if someone is buying, and the moment you list that huge skyscraper on the market and find out that the only offers you're getting are 1/10 the asking price, suddenly the other massive commercial buildings you have on your balance sheets (and those of all your rich buddies) suddenly drop 90% in value, and it's revealed the emperor has no clothes

Accidentally screenshotting your bank acct and routing number is the only one I can really think of.

Well, if America is no longer a superpower, then Putin and all his oligarchs buddies are planning on sweeping up the spoils of its ruin for themselves.

As someone who recently came out as well and has at least had a bit of time to work through this a bit, you're gonna be okay.

This is something that, whether you realize it or not, weighs on you in an unimaginable way and unfortunately that crushing weight causes an immense, unending pain that can get directed towards others. A lot of us have those feelings, and while you can't undo the things you've said, you can definitely make amends for it, and this is a great start.

You're going to be reflecting a lot for the next few weeks I bet, and just make sure you're not too hard on yourself. You've made an incredible step in accepting who you are as a person, and ruminating on past mistakes isn't doing that. That person is gone. You're obviously still "you", but in accepting yourself now, that scared, suffering, angry person is no longer scared and suffering and angry.

If you can, therapy, or even just journaling can help immensely. Externalizing some of the thoughts you're having by writing them down, at least for me, tends to calm things down a bit and keep them from constantly buzzing about your head.

Stay strong, and feel free to reach out. We're here for you.

That's because conservatives are very individualistic for whatever reason. Instead of seeing systemic issues they see bad apples.

Because conservatism inherently relies on fear of change, simple thinking, and avoiding the discomfort of questioning the status quo at all costs. You want to believe that everything is hunky-dory the way it is, and avoid thinking too hard about all the ways it might not be.

It's uncomfortable to think that the system you're participating in and benefitting from might be the cause of it. No one ever wants to think they're the bad guy. It's the reason they hate stuff like CRT so much, because it's an incredibly uncomfortable thought to imagine that everything they've known and tried to maintain is actually a complete nightmare and they've been part of it in some way.

The world is much scarier when you see the pain and suffering so many experience, and it's through no fault of their own. No matter what they do or didn't do, some people just get dealt a shit hand, either by chance, or because of systemic issues. It's much easier to say "The system I believe in is totally fine and just, it's their fault they haven't been able to reach the same place I have".

It's almost always whatever you you threw out last week though.

Did they actually go through with it? I remember them attempting it, but then immediately backing down and issuing a very reasonable response letter basically saying they were clearly in the wrong and allowed the union to form. I could totally be unaware of any more recent developments though.

But see, according to my awful family in Oklahoma, they voted for Trump specifically to keep their daughters safe from all the pedophile trans people who are raiding the bathrooms of their grade school like orcs sieging Helm's Deep. Sure, their daughters now have no reproductive rights and they've never seen or met a single trans person, but this was definitely the best decision to keep them safe and healthy.

Then sadly, knowing how a lot of my friends shopped when they were broke, I bet that it is something like a convenience store. Not saying that DC isn't expensive, I was literally just there visiting a friend who lives there, but I also live in an area with a CoL well above the national average and coffee still isn't $20 for cheap pre-ground stuff