Ahaha, that’s very true Scandinavia is a mysterious place.

Yeah the comment on Cleopatra is just laughable on the face of it haha, I didn’t even think it was worth addressing.

Glad you’re stepping away there’s no point getting worked up on this. I normally wouldn’t have engaged to this degree myself, but I found that particular rebuttal to Tacitus to be so damn funny that I couldn’t not.

I suspect they’re genuine, I feel I’ve been this person in the past. Sometimes it’s hard to learn to reevaluate and be wrong about things, and religion is a pretty stigmatising issue that can leave you with a lot of unresolved and misguided anger. It’s unfortunate, but human.

The claim about Tacitus not writing on Jesus comes from one “source” in the pop culture section. That source is a fictional character in a novel (one who’s obviously portrayed as highly biased on this issue, ironically…) it gets even more embarassing when you look up what that novel is about…

There’s also this which mentions that his writings on Jesus are pretty much agreed to be authentic. The Roman empire was indeed very good at keeping records, that’s why Tacitus is considered such a reliable source…

You’re making a lot of claims about the motivations of people, with no actual evidence to show for it, and using that to dismiss them as sources. This is painfully ironic. Not everything is a Catholic conspiracy, it’s okay for the world to be nuanced.

There are non-biblical sources

No there aren’t, you just believe the bible

???

Either way, I appreciate you providing those, it’s a fascinating topic. Frankly even if Jesus was just some guy running around deceiving people into thinking he was the Messiah, he had some good lessons and that’s gotta count for something.

This is something widely accepted by secular historians, it’s widely accepted by atheists too.

Occam’s razor does not work like that. It would actually suggest that Jesus did exist, given that it requires a single person to have existed instead of requiring a mountain of very valid evidence to be a conspiracy while a whole group people, who’s entire profession revolves around determining the trustworthiness of such evidence, to suddenly all be very bad at their job on this one specific issue etc.

Well again, it doesn’t actually matter to me. I’m not trying to have a debate, I’m just saying that’s what I’ve heard and I tend to trust experts on their own fields. You can make up your own mind about what you believe, makes no difference to me.

I don’t think it’s really that big of a deal if he was a real person or not, it doesn’t say anything about the validity of religion one way or the other. Plus I don’t think it’s really that far fetched that someone could have amassed a bunch of followers and birthed a new religion. It still happens in the modern world.

Edit: I read how you’ve responded to everyone else. Take a break friend, people are just having a discussion with you, disagreing isn’t an attack.

It’s fine if you personally think the evidence isn’t reliable, but calling everyone delusional and shouting down frankly well supported arguments as fake with no way to back it up all while refusing to read and engage with them isn’t a good look. If you can legitimately explain why people are wrong, I’m sure they would appreciate the discussion and potentially learning something.

If you can’t, then I’d suggest reflecting on why this is so upsetting to you. Believe me I absolutely understand what it’s like to hate religion and to be filled with an intense desire to want it to all be wrong and evil, but that shouldn’t affect how you treat people.

I’m no expert whatsoever, because frankly it makes no difference to me, but last I heard it was accepted that Jesus the person existed.

It’s hard to find trustworthy sources when I’m being lazy and so many people are trying push very biased views, but this is something, I guess. There’s also a Wikipedia article about it, but I’m tired and it’s dry.

I deleted one once because I complained about someone by name, hoping someone else would have experience with them and could offer better advice.

I think it would have been relatively easy for them to find that post, which I didn’t want to risk given that they could cause me harm by denying their services. It wouldn’t have been hard to work out who I was given the context I provided.

It does the same thing as laser, it kills the follicle using a burst of heat. Even laser is in some sense temporary and you’ll have regrowth, but in either case that process takes months and it’s very gradual, it’s why laser clinics say you need to perform maintenance.

I stopped doing IPL for nearly year and I can count the numbers of chest hairs that came back on my hands. I had a similar experience when COVID lockdowns interrupted my facial laser sessions for a couple of months, except that grew back faster. I think a large part of it is related to growth phases though, as in you’ve gotta kill the follicle at the right time for it to stay dead or something, I’m no expert.

At home IPL absolutely works, it’s definitely better for dark hair on light skin, I’ve had pretty good results. Still struggling with facial hair, but so did professional laser. I’ve gotten rid of almost all my body hair with my little IPL machine. It’s slower, but you can also do it more frequently so it isn’t too bad. It’s also an option for maintenance once you’ve done laser rather than going back every 6 months or whatever they recommend. (Also IPL doesn’t hurt)

At home electrolysis is apparently a scam according to a friend of mine :/

What you’re experiencing is relatively common in my experience. Transitioning sucks, even with support. It’s slow, expensive, often disappointing and it takes an absurd amount of both bravery and energy to live genuinely. You’re doing great.

I’ve always struggled with transition timelines, especially before I started transitioning. Thinking about it now, I’m actually surprised that I don’t find they trigger dysphoria any more. Certainly still jealousy, but it makes me happy to see people enjoying life. I’m not really happy with the physical changes I’ve made so far, it’s been slow and subtle and I can’t really work out how to stop boy moding, but I like myself now even if I still want to much more.

It’s too bad that transition timelines often focus on meeting stereotypical beauty standards, because imo transition is about so much more than that. I get to talk to a lot of people at different stages, and the truly inspiring thing is how much happier people become. It’s definitely a fight, but it’s one you can win even if it’s in ways you might not expect. I’m sorry it’s so damn hard and I wish it was possible to ease the burden.

Celebrate your wins as they come, you’re working hard as hell and deserve to feel good about every step forward.

The possums even more so I’d say, especially in the cities.

I’m actually not sure I’ve ever seen a wild platypus, and I haven’t seen a wombat since I was very young, but I don’t think I’ve ever lived in an area with them. Kangaroos were everywhere growing up in the bush though, in the backyard, school car park, sharp bend around a dark corner…

Snakes on a plane, you take a drink every time there’s a snake on a plane. (I can’t remember where I’m stealing this from)

I got this in January, and it’s been my mantra too. “Keep on loving, keep on fighting” reminds me why I push through all the bad stuff in my head and the world at large.

It’s been a hard 5 months, but I think the end is finally in sight. I’ve given up on seeking help from the medical system, I’ve been in the ER begging for help multiple times and all I ever got was a medical certificate.

Instead I’m working through my stuff one day at a time and relying on friends for help when I need it, it’s hard but it’s working. I’m having more and more good days, even if I’m still struggling.

Here are some wins:

• I’m 5 days sober
• I’m somehow maintaining a sleep routine
• I’m in love with songwriting more than ever
• I’m on top of my to-do list
• I’m cooking and eating well(ish)
• I’ve started putting weight back on (I think)

Yup, getting skills is just worthwhile pain. It’s been hard trying to convince some of the younger tech interested people I know to put in the effort instead of going down the AI route, but I know exactly where that’ll lead them. You don’t get good at this stuff by succeeding, it’s the endless failure.

Everyone’s already given great advice, being a person comes before being trans is the most important imo. I also think it’s worth considering how far along this character is in their transition, be that the physical, social, internal/mental etc. and how that interacts with the rest of their personal development.

The important thing is that zooming out, many of the challenges we face aren’t necessarily trans things: we all want to be liked, to be happy, to be able to express our genuine selves etc. For those of us who are trans, achieving those things might look different and come about in a different way, but it’s still a classic story of self discovery with the same goal of becoming a complete person. As long as their self actualisation is wholistic you’ll be okay.

I deleted a big ramble, but the important part is that it’s fantastic to explore their character arc from a trans perspective, but the arc itself should go beyond being transgender, real people have huge and complex worlds. Ultimately we’re all just people trying to get through life and gender isn’t a story on it’s own, but it is a part of every person.

If an example helps, becoming myself has been equal parts transitioning, finding my true community through activism and discovering the things I want to spend my whole life doing like making music and feeding people. All of those things are deeply connected: transitioning gave my licence to explore being outwardly punk, activism gave me the space to stop living as someone I wasn’t and my love of music changed the way I see the world so much that it stomped out my internalised transphobia, made me an objectively better person, and gave me a deeper and more solid connection to my new community, to my home. It’s all caught up in my being trans, but it could easily mirror a cis person’s story, even much of the dramatic external change.

I’d definitely get at least a couple of transpeople to bounce ideas of or to proof read your drafts for potentially harmful stereotypes and stuff, it’s a learning process but worth it. Including well written trans people in your work is valuable and I highly encourage it, inclusion can mean a lot to people and you’ve no idea who you might end up helping.

Trans nonby software dev who dated a furry artist, my disdain for AI knows no limits.

I use Nobara, btw. (Is Arch good I’ve never looked into it)

Going through the comment history tells a pretty clear story, what a twat

I work in IT and we have to go through a whole process to get a licence to use it, so I’ve just not done that. Other people on my team have, it’s a ticking time bomb and I’m just sitting here watching them all ignore the obvious signs.

Just last week someone was complaining about the AI randomly adding files to our code, and when I mentioned yeah these AI keep deleting customer data and stuff, they just brushed it off. We’re in an industry that’s super regulated so this is gonna end with legal action I’m sure. I’ve also watched people use AI to automate basic tasks, and when I’ve reviewed what they’ve done it’s all completely wrong, to that point that if the wrong person sees it, we get a full audit and the entire team is placed under constant supervision with a lot of our access heavily restricted for months.

Meanwhile I’m just sitting here doing more and doing it better without AI. It’s not worth pushing back because I already cop enough flak for stuff other people do or don’t do. I hope the company gets destroyed in a massive lawsuit, it won’t, but god it would be awesome.