I’m not dropping my kids off at a stranger’s house, and to be a bit sexist here a single man’s house, and paying him to let my kids swim at his pool, drive go karts on open pavement, and play store-bought laser tag.

An insured fun center with employees? Sure, maybe. Some guy’s home? Absolutely not.

I also am not putting my kids in an Uber alone.

If you want to be Johnny Karate, figure out something you can bring to birthday parties or kids events and make your money that way. But “unlicensed daycare” is a hard no.

One of those guides to “what to do if you win the lottery” says to, up front, decide how much and who you want to fund. Want to buy all your friends and family houses and college tuition? Sure.

But the thing is that money can make people go crazy. Some people will always want more. Sure you got them a house, but you’re rich, why can’t you get them a car too? And now they’re a little behind on bills, surely you can help them out, right? And it never stops. Not everyone, but someone.

You might be interested in this podcast episode that touches on the subject: https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/between-two-worlds/

You are suddenly super rich. Now all your friends and family expect you to provide for them. Every kindness they offer is suspect, are they doing it because they like you or because they want your money? How can you really know?

You don’t have to work and can go anywhere in the world. But your friends still have jobs, so you travel alone.

Some of your friends start to resent your new lifestyle. Others may just be staying quiet. You read about “crabs in a bucket” and distance yourself more from them.

It’s really isolating, but you meet some other wealthy people and you know they don’t need your money. And… you actually have some stuff in common with them. Yes Ibiza is overrated, but they suggest another place to check out. You go out with them to amazing restaurants that your old friends wouldn’t even appreciate. You can commiserate about how hard it is to get good help these days.

On top of all that, you slowly start to notice an emptiness inside. You should be happy! You don’t have to work anymore! You have everything you could ever want! Why do you feel this way!?!? Drugs and expensive purchases fill the need momentarily. If try telling your old friends that you’re not all that fulfilled, they’ll pull out the world’s tiniest violin for you. You lack purpose and goals, and feel like you are drifting in a life of luxury completely devoid of meaning.

If you’re lucky you find a way to have a new purpose in life and accept that the money changed you. If not you spiral and, best case scenario, wind up broke.

Probably true, given all the (lovable) asshole cats out there.

Him? Really?

Everyone is talking about how taxes work and no one is talking about how this meme works. He doesn’t need glasses anymore! It looks blurry with his glasses!

Why do I get the feeling this is Steven’s commit?

This is my hole! It was made for me!

She endorsed Biden in 2020

Wtf https://madewithfreedomfromporn.dullbananas.com

That shirt must have cost a lot, the patterns are so complicated. I wish I knew where to get a shirt like that.

Yeah, and give money to organizations that work to end the first-past-the-post voting system. Work to do the least harm in the current system, and work to change the system.

“This is the problem with conservatives who think they can act just like the secular world,” writes Jenna Ellis, one of Donald Trump’s attorneys during the 2020 election fight. “If conservatives aren’t morally grounded Christians, what are we even ‘conserving’?”

Such a good slam by the writer that probably went over Ellis’s head.

He also keeps quoting Nazis and promising retribution to his political enemies, but sure if magnets convince someone not to vote for him I’ll take it.

GIFs have transparency, but not alpha blending so it would have jagged edges. When PNGs were first supported by IE, you had to do some crazy ActiveX scripting calls to make it work.

At the time, Microsoft had shut down the IE team since they had beaten Netscape in the browser wars. If it hadn’t been for Firefox, we would be stuck with that crappy PNG implementation!

If only Trump supporters were silent. What kind of silent majority goes around with flags on their trucks blocking traffic and honking horns?

As one of the participants in the conversation, thanks for pointing that out. I see that I am being shortsighted and reading a meaning into the comments that may not be there. My vision shortsighted in an election year, a time to influence votes and non-votes, and this particular election year is a dire one.

So I cast my gaze as far as November, after which I either go back to the work of citizenry or the work of planning to flee the country.

I can’t deal with the world after January 20, 2025 until after the votes are counted. It’s easier for me to see further up the hill if I know the person I’m talking to isn’t encouraging people to sit out the election, because that is the source of my biggest anxiety right now.

What will my kids’ future be? I hope it will be egalitarian, where people are freed from the chains of capitalism to have their needs met and allow them to reach their full potential as humans. One where humans live sustainably in the natural and social environments. That won’t be on the ballot in November, but a vote for Trump would likely mean that future won’t happen in my kids’ lifetimes.

Agreed. What does that change? I’m still voting for Biden.

There aren’t any perfect choices in life, all choices of consequence have downsides. Sometimes it’s choosing harm reduction. The man has a solid record of progress with climate legislation, pardoning marijuana possession charges, limiting insulin prices and more.

Could he do better? Hell yeah. But I’m an adult in a democracy and I understand that a vote is a tool, not a moral stance. I can apply that tool in the most effective way by voting for a lesser evil.

I also have other tools at my disposal, like money. So I give my money to groups like FairVote that supports Ranked Choice Voting so that, long after the 2024 election, we can vote for candidates instead of against them.

But I’m not boycotting the system we have unless someone can convince me that Trump will see a lack of voter turnout as a lack of mandate to implement his anti-Democratic, thuggish, racist, sexist plans.

When pizza’s on a bagel you can eat pizza anytime. Any time. Breakfast, dinner, November 5 1955, July 3 2142, the late Mesozoic, the moment that the sun engulfs the earth. You can eat pizza any time.

Tormented like he’s being sex trafficked under-age? Afraid like if he doesn’t do what the men say that they’ll torture him and he’s powerless to stop them? That kind of tormented?