I’m not very musically inclined, so I have no idea if this is B-flat minor or not, but what you described kind of sounds like “Jazz in Paris”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLJMTRvyj8

It’s one of the songs that you can select from Google Photos when making a highlight video.

This is a story about how someone from the Westboro Baptist Church left because of the way that people engaged with her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVV2Zk88beY

What’s worth noting from this story, people that were hostile in their interactions with her only served to entrench her further in her ideals.

What caused her to change her mind were the people that had “friendly arguments” and made an effort to learn where she was coming from.

She listed out 4 key points when engaging in difficult conversations. I extracted/paraphrased some of what she said below:

1. Don’t assume bad intent (assume good or neutral intent instead) - Assuming ill motive almost instantly cuts you off from truly understanding why someone does and believes as they do. We forget that they’re a human being with a lifetime of experience that shaped their mind and we get stuck on that first wave of anger and the conversation has a very hard time ever moving beyond it.

2. Ask Questions - Asking questions helps us map the disconnect. We can’t present effective arguments if we don’t understand where the other side is coming from.

3. Stay calm - She thought that “[her] rightness justified [her] rudeness”. When things get too hostile during a conversation, tell a joke, recommend a book, change the subject, or excuse yourself from the conversation. The discussion isn’t over, but pause it for a time to let tensions dissapate.

4. Make the argument - One side effect of having strong beliefs is that we sometimes assume that the value of our position is, or should be, obvious and self-evident. That we shouldn’t have to defend our positions because they’re so clearly right and good. If it were that simple, we would all see things the same way.

You can’t expect others to spontaneously change their minds. If we want change, we have to make the case for it.

And replace it with what?

If we let capitalism run free without restrictions then we have major problems. As it is, most countries have found a balance between capitalism and setting restrictions on it.

When looking at economical systems, there aren’t many other options.

Previous attempts at communism have failed to the point that we either end up with dictatorships, or the country adopts a capitalist economy.

Economically, is there a system that would actually run better than what most countries today are using?

Nah, Cygnus beat you by about 14 min.

(On a serious note, had you already heard about someone else being convicted under the new security law? It also sounds like they’re talking about how the sentence was increased from 2 years to 7-10 years.)

I think the vast majority of unions out there are good, but there are definitely a select few that give the rest a bad reputation.

At one of my previous jobs, our union was one of those that gives others a bad reputation.

It was a seasonal job, we had to pay the union whether we wanted to be in it or not. If we had an out of season work meeting for training, all of the money that we earned would go straight to the union and we might end up with a $2 check (if that).

We tried working with the union reps, but they just seemed so out of touch with our group. They would give themselves a big pat on the back for getting everyone a 2% raise and then raise the monthly dues… We barely made minimum wage so a percentage increase like that meant nothing to us.

10 years later and most employees working there are still just earning minimum wage while similar jobs in other cities nearby are earning twice that (at least).

While this is definitely something people should be doing, doesn’t the attorney general only act out if they get enough complaints, or if the complaint stands out in some way?

Will they actually work with someone to resolve their specific complaint every time?

From what I’ve seen, at least the BBB will try to specifically address your issue with the company and is probably a much easier process to carry out before trying to take things further.

Or is there something about using the BBB that would prevent you from filing a complaint with the attorney general, or prevent you from going further with something like a lawsuit?

if not the BBB, then who?

Definitely not a movie night, you don’t get much of a chance to really know the other person from that, and if either one of you decides that the other is crazy it makes it a little harder to dip out.

Ideally something simple that’s good for getting to know the other person while being able to leave at any time. Coffee, shaved ice, frozen yogurt, etc. Then a walk through a park or along a beach, or just sit down/people watch, and discuss your interests to see if either of you are interested in a second date.

Here’s a good documentary on what’s going on:

Behind Asia’s cyber slavery | DW Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti7YDegRMYE

From the looks of it, the best chance you have to escape is before they get you to the river. So if you ever find yourself in a situation where you’re travelling for a job in one of these countries, be aware of the signs, and escape before it’s too late.

So, if you get picked up from the airport and you’re supposed to go to a hotel only 10 min away, but that turns into a drive for a few hours, do whatever you can to get out. Anywhere is better than the destination at the end of that drive.

Vomitting immediately after pushing your body to its limit is fairly normal.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, I believe the reason is because your body redirects blood/energy to the most important parts when your body is under strain.

Edit: Please see the correction provided by EpicFailGuy below.

So, if there’s too much food in your stomache and you’re pushing your body to its absolute limit, the stomache becomes less important as to whether it needs to continue working well. Blood is directed away from the stomache and you will vomit.

This is, at least, what happens when someone goes through shock, I’m assuming something similar is at play when pushing your body to its limit.

If swimmers end up sick or contracting some diseases, that’s when we should worry. But we won’t see those effects as immediately as the end of a race.

Username does not check out.

To continue from the title:

the Chinese government said on Wednesday, following new legal guidelines that mandate execution in extreme cases for “diehard” separatists.

…

Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China, as a result, sources have previously told Reuters.

Ah, thanks, I probably just checked the “favorites” recently and assumed the “reduces” were still visible, that or my sense of time is way off.

I’m fairly certain that I checked it out on Kbin.Social about a month or two back and it still worked then, but Kbin.Social is currently down for maintenance, so I’m not sure.

How long ago is “quite a while”?

Former Redditors are used to upvotes/downvotes being private by default.

But this really depends on the user. Most reasons for this would be privacy related reasons.

• Some users vote differently knowing that their votes are public. If they want to vote freely they would consider an option like this.

• To combat profiling from others/corporations.

• To avoid certain users that take downvotes way too seriously.

That might be a setting specific to that instance. With other kbin instances it is possible to see reduces (or at least you have been able to do so in the past).

Maybe there’s been a recent update to all kbin instances so that the reduces tab is no longer clickable?

It doesn’t hide downvotes… It just calls them “Reduces”

If you want your upvotes/downvotes to actually be private, create a seperate account that only votes and never comments/posts.

Agreed. Traditionally, “gaslighting” is specific to cases where a manipulator tries to convince the other person that they are crazy over time. The end goal is to make the other person doubt their reality so much that they will only rely on the manipulator. Basically, it’s a conscious attempt to brainwash someone.

This comes from a story where a “husband secretly dims and brightens the indoor gas-powered lighting but insists his wife is imagining it, making her think she is going insane.” All so that he can steal from her. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting#cite_note-8

Unfortunately many today misuse this term to mean something closer to the definition of “lying” or when someone is trying hard to influence you…

I thought I read something earlier today that mentioned that the current deal is that the hostages be returned and then Israel will pull out it’s troops.

Hamas wants to alter it so that they release a few hostages, then Israel pulls out, and then they release the rest of the hostages.

It sounds like Israel had already agreed to that deal so isn’t this in Hamas’ ball park to accept or not?

Then again it sounds like every time the deal is altered, the other side wants to male new changes,

As Blinken mentioned in a different article:

“At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.” https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-ceasefire-negotiations-ab6925549d8f523a6e5c61e88e7eec8a

Has anyone actually published the entire deal (at any stage) in its entirety so that everyone can see what is being debated?