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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: April 24th, 2024

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  • As someone who once upon a time managed a black belt in Shito Ryu Karate…

    This is pretty interesting.

    Of course, the claimed history of many older martial arts are quite hard to verify historically, but basically modern Karate derives from Okinawans creating and teaching themselves a martial style to resist occupation by the Japanese.

    Okinawa was once an independent island with its own traditions and government, until it was basically colonized / vassalized by the Satsuma Domain, under the Tokugawa shogunate, in 1609.

    It is thus fairly ironic that one of the most well-known ‘Japanese’ martial arts lineages actually has its origin in what was once an independent state and people resisting Japanese control.

    But this Togakure Ryu… apparently goes much further back, at least to the Sengoku period, about 200 years before Tokugawa, and is basically a branch of ninjutsu, with much more emphasis on swords, escape and evasion, and basically being a scout/spy.

    I can see how that would be pretty applicable to a street mobster haha.

    Karate was more designed as a means of a farming village resisting raids from much better armed and armored bands of Samurai and their underlings, either without weapons, or using their farming implements as weapons such as sai, bo staffs and kana, as the Japanese had banned the Okinawans from owning katanas.

    A ninjutsu style would be much more apt for a mobster looking to occasionally rough up (or murder) people and then flee, as well as keep tabs on his domain hahah.


  • I will always opt for a Lyft or Uber, unless I am actively dying from something that could kill me in 30 minutes or less, like a massive severed artery or something like that.

    They are just as fast, and if I start literally dying in the hospital waiting room, they will most likely pay attention.

    The only way it makes sense to take an ambulance to a hospital is if you literally have no other option, or if you are so seriously injured you’ve already lost consciousness or are mostly paralyzed.

    You can call an ambulance, paramedics arrive, stabilize you, and then refuse to get in the ambulance.

    This costs you nothing.

    Then you just bite on your wallet and take an Uber or Lyft, which costs 10 to 20 dollars.

    Get in the ambulance? 1 to 3 thousand dollars, for a shitty version of the care you’ll recieve in the hospital anyway, can’t avoid those costs.



  • So uh, skipping a bunch of excess lore:

    “Dogs are one of the most beloved pets in the world. They are loyal, friendly and make great companions. Despite their differences, all dogs share a few key traits – they are affectionate, protective of their owners, and eager to please. Dogs require proper care, including regular exercise, grooming, and veterinary checkups. In return, they provide unconditional love and can even improve their owner’s physical and mental health. Whether as a family pet or a working animal, dogs have been an integral part of human society for thousands of years.”

    The chat bot is named after a dog because a dog-named chatbot is more likely to make users treat it with patience, kindness, and understand that it does silly things sometimes, but it means well.

    Its marketing. PR.






  • Its fanboy/girlism.

    If you pirate content from their favorite author/artist/producer/whatever, basically all of their screeching comes down to a hysterical emotional response that you are hurting a person or group that they worship as God.

    They just learn rhetoric to justify their emotions as a side effect, a consequence of wanting to be able to argue against the bad mean people that are hurting their favorite creatives.

    They are naive, ignorant or misinformed, immature… usually believing in some kind ‘just world’ type worldview where everything is fair and square actually if you just follow the rules.

    They don’t understand that the actual ‘losses’ from piracy are far, far smaller than whatever the RIAA or game studios say it is.

    They don’t understand that the people who actually create or perform the art basically get paid a tiny fraction of what their labels or corporate overlords make.

    They don’t understand that some people are actually poor, and the poor deserve art as well.

    They don’t understand that when a reasonable cost forma product with reasonable ownership rights exist, a great, great many will prefer a streamlined but slightly costly method over a complex but monetarily costless method.

    They don’t understand that you don’t really own anything which you can’t use or view or listen to as you please without relying on some proprietary other system which may just poof that ability out of existence one day, without refunding you.










  • This is the best advice, in the best order, which I have seen laid out so far.

    To which I will add:

    Assuming you do have at least a valid Drivers License… it should be possible for you to attain your own copy of your Social Security card (which is not actually a card, its just paper) and Birth Certificate.

    For the former, you can make an account on ssa.gov , and it is not too hard to get a Social Security card mailed to wherever you end up. Just say your old card was stolen.

    As far as your Birth Certificate… theoretically it should be possible to attain a copy through some kind of State records office/website, though I’m not familiar with Ohio specifically.

    Finally, when you are settled in a new safe place, if you have not already tried, apply for SSI and/or SSDI from Social Security.

    Its a mountain of paperwork, takes up to a year or more, but if you can get any form of guaranteed income, that’s better than 0.