southsamurai

joined 2 years ago
MODERATOR OF
[–] southsamurai 6 points 3 hours ago

Really specific here, but font control.

Us folks with dyslexia in its various expressions have trouble with command line. If you can't read a specific command, good luck ever getting comfortable with it. You can't error check yourself, so until you build up memory, you're kinda screwed if you can't use the fonts that are available.

[–] southsamurai 1 points 3 hours ago
[–] southsamurai 5 points 6 hours ago

The mods do their job. I don't know for sure which ones are and are not active, but reports get handled same day in every case where I've reported, or been reported. I'd have to check the mod log to see if there's been recent activity in that regard, but don't have interest in doing so when anyone can.

On my pen name account, I moderate two communities, and it would sometimes be months before I'd do anything on the account that would show up because those communities were very slow, and I'm subscribed to them on this account. No need to switch to that account when there's no mod action needed, unless I want to post/comment on it, which is fairly infrequent.

Lemmy is way more forgiving of relaxed moderation.

[–] southsamurai 2 points 6 hours ago

Fwiw, you get that sweet, sweet upvote for a solid post, even though I have no idea how popular or unpopular it is. It's not something I've seen discussed much at all. But you presented your opinion without any rage bait in it, and I dig the hell out of that.

However, I would argue that it's about execution, not duration. Just like short stories serve a different role than novels or novellas, multi-arc episodes have a different purpose than a single arc episode.

Sometimes, when you're writing, you get an idea. But it may not work as a long form piece. Very often, trying to stretch an idea into something long form ruins it.

When applied to an ongoing series (as opposed to a series where each episode stands alone to begin with), multi-arc episodes offer multiple benefits, but it has to be done well. Now, obviously, whether or not something is done well is subjective. So unless you have an example in mind, I'm going to stay generic.

The biggest benefit of sub plots and mini arcs is world building and character development. When you have mini arcs, they don't have to follow a seasonal arc. They can show vignettes of the rest of the world, or history, or the inner workings of a characters mind, or an outside view of usual characters.

Now, you still have to execute. If the pacing is off, or the writing doesn't flow right, or there's difficulty for the actor/s presenting something atypical, or any number of possibilities, individual mini arcs can flop, as can the entire episode.

But you absolutely can create a full story that will/would only take up 10 minutes of screen time. There's arguments to be made that any story can be fit into that, with the only question of how well it would translate. I don't really think the results of cutting LOTR into a ten minute story would ever work well, as an example of the flaws of attempting it.

Ensemble shows tend to be more forgiving of the multi-arc format, because most shows of that nature are always going to have scenes and segments that aren't the full cast to begin with. Something like Leverage is going to work better in that format than something like Sherlock. Leverage actually did several episodes with multiple arcs, to varying degrees of success.

So, I'd definitely disagree with the opinion as presented, with the exception where you state that it's basically impossible to add depth to the arcs. In that regard, I definitely agree, but I'd also argue that not every story needs depth. Some stories would suffer from depth.

[–] southsamurai 1 points 6 hours ago

Well, yeah, they went fucking batshit. It isn't about individual Israelis, because there's plenty that are protesting and working to stop the insanity. But holy fuck.

It's the same reason why nobody trusts the US now, why nobody has treated russia in ages, and the list can keep on going. Once a country goes crazy, it loses trust, and opinions will eventually shift among the populace of the rest of the world.

Somehow, someway, the whole damn planet lost its fucking mind, and I don't think the effects of it are done propagating.

[–] southsamurai 8 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Well, hell, what cartoons? Why you holding out on that?

[–] southsamurai 7 points 13 hours ago

Kingsize carries up to something like 8x, though not for every single thing they have.

Pretty much every bariatric patient I ever had ended up shopping with them. Hell, some of the guys that would steroid up buy from them. They tend to have designs that are made for men with atypical proportions. Just sizing up a pattern doesn't take care of that for everyone, you have to adjust how things drape, where they stretch, where seams are, etc.

But, a patient of mine that had cortisol sensitivity was able to find stuff that fit him fairly well, and he had a similar build to what the image you provided shows. Almost all belly, with everything else being proportional.

But, even with king size, a 69 inch waist is going to be difficult to shop for stuff that's also going to fit everything else well. Like, shirts as a perfect example, there has to be extra fabric across the shoulders and chest in order for the shirt to not ride up constantly. So your chest area is damn near guaranteed to be looser than is ideal visually. Even with stretchier fabrics, there's a limit to how much difference you can factor in to mass produced clothing.

Since you're under medical care, chances are that you'll drop a good bit over the next two years or so, assuming that your body responds to treatment well. So, in general, I'd say focus your budgeting on work clothes, whatever that may mean for you. Pick up enough to get you through a week of work, find someone local that can alter them for a better fit, and then expand your wardrobe slowly after that, and have things taken in as the belly decreases.

That's also assuming budget would be a concern. If you've got the resources to just throw a few thousand at the issue every six months or so, that's a different issue. I only mention it because the patients I had that dealt with this issue (or similar ones) tended to be elderly or disabled, or very limited in the amount of time they could work. So they ended up very often spending most of their budget on "public" clothing, then just rotating through stuff like sweatpants and t-shirts at home.

Also, focus on natural fabrics. There's long term "annoyances" that come with even this specific form of obesity. One of them is skin irritation where clothes bind, and it's pretty much inevitable that some binding occurs. I'd say that with this specific example, it is inevitable. Natural fabrics tend to irritate less in that regard, and also help wick moisture away from places where skin touches skin. That wicking can be vital as we head into summer months. So, anywhere that your body touches your body, like the groin, underarms, and the bottom of the belly when you sit, cotton is the go-to with specialty fabrics the second best choice. There's blended fabrics that wick better than cotton, but they also tend to chafe more, so they aren't top pick.

It sucks, but nobody other than king size is likely to have decent button up shirts from what I've seen. And you're still going to run into the fit not being perfect when you get the clothing, it'll just be better than regular brands that aren't designed right for big men at all. So, definitely start looking for a place that alters clothing. Expect to pay maybe twenty bucks at the absolute minimum per item. You might run into a tiny place that goes lower, but the last time I had to take anything to be altered at all, it was 20 bucks, and that was just hemming some jeans.

Custom tailored clothes are indeed an option. Maybe the only real option i hif you need a suit. Even Rochester big & tall wouldn't have anything cut right without altering, and they used to have the best suits for unusual bodies (the roided out dudes shopped there for suits, so it isn't just obesity). But Rochester, you'd need to have a local store anyway, even if they did have something cut right, just because their best options weren't ready to wear, they needed fitting.

But, there's some good news with the button up shirt requirement. Because your exact situation where body changes clash with that mandate happens a lot, you'll be able to pick pretty much any color and style you like. Stuff like t-shirts and polos or henleys, you tend to have less options in that regard, even with king size.

Ngl, I'm kinda out of date with some of this. While I have sizing issues myself, they're different, so I haven't shopped for your body type in a decade. That being said, kingsize has a habit of carrying the same basic items essentially forever. The first patient I had that used them was back in the numerous nineties, and the last catalog I saw a couple of years ago had pretty much the exact same items available, so I doubt that part of things would be different now.

But, hey, even if it isn't clothing, if you need advice about dealing with some of the other hassles of a body change like that, holla. There's little things that I've picked up over the years, and don't mind sharing.

[–] southsamurai 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I don't remember. When was this?

[–] southsamurai 32 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Now, once they embrace not having tracking and data mining in their vehicles, we'll be getting somewhere

[–] southsamurai -1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not digging through months of comments and posts to dig things up. It's so beyond a waste of time I can spend doing something fun that it just ain't happening.

Both you and dessalines do a shit ton of work on lemmy, and that's awesome. But you both also turn into absolute jerks when anyone doesn't toe the tankie line. Dessalines more than you, and you've never been a jerk to me personally. I can't remember which of you it was that I saw most recently calling people children, but it was one of the two of you.

And that's okay, it's y'alls instance. If I don't like it, I don't have to engage with either of you.

But, please, don't pretend that it isn't a very bad habit that exists. Hell, it isn't all the time anyway, so it falls within the range that anyone can be a jerk and it just be bad days, or whatever, but it's still not something I'm going to be willing to donate to when my sheets entire yearly budget for that kind of thing is in low double digits to begin with.

[–] southsamurai 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I agree in the real world.

But this is fun and games, so I get to pretend that the tiger would be happy, enjoy being a pet (those two aren't inherently the same), and safe completely.

None of the big cats should ever be a pet, even cheetahs that have sometimes been kept and bred as hunting animals. Hell, no wild animal should be a pet at this point. Domestication is a massive undertaking when done intentionally. And we've got plenty of domesticated animals as it is, plenty of captive bred species that should more than satisfy the folks that just have to have something not domesticated (and likely can't be) and exotic that's a realistic "pet". So taking a wild animal that's in no way realistic is just stupid.

[–] southsamurai 1 points 15 hours ago

That's why the word hire was in quotes.

 

Not as heavy as the usual offerings here, but a decent track. The video is better than the song tbh, but the song is decent. Not their best, far from bottom tier musically.

3
Purple gorilla (self.shaggydogstories)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by southsamurai to c/[email protected]
 

There are many versions of this, some better or worse.

Once upon a time, there was a man who decided he wanted to get away for a bit. So his filled up his truck with gas and filled his motorcycle with gas and put it on the back of truck. So he gets in the truck  and he drives and he drives  and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives  and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives until he runs out of gas.

Then he takes the motorcycle off the motorcycle off the back of the truck and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides until the motorcycle runs out of gas.

So he gets off and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks until he can't walk anymore. He reaches a hotel and walks in to ask if he can have a room.

"Sure," says the manager, "but I have to tell you one thing." So they go into the living room where there's a table. He takes the candlesticks off the table, the chairs away from the table, the table off the rug, and the rug off the floor. There's a trapdoor there, which opens to reveal a long flight of steps.

So they climb and they climb and they climb and they climb and they climb and they climb and they climb and they climb until they're down the stairs. They're now in a long tunnel, so they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk  and they walk  and they walk  and they walk  and they walk until they reach a wooden door. He picks the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, goes through the door, locks the door, and puts the key back on the floor.

And then they walk  and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk until they reach a metal door. He picks the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, goes through the door, locks the door, and puts the key back on the floor. There are two green hills, so they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk over the two green hills. They finally reach a clearing with a table. On the table is a cage, and in the cage is a purple gorilla.

"Whatever you do," the manager says, "don't touch the purple gorilla." And so they turn around and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk and they walk over the two green hills. Then they reach the metal door. And do everything backwards. (Note: Keep telling it here to annoy people. I just don't feel like typing it.) So, the man is lying in his room later and thinks, "You know, I wonder why I'm not allowed to touch the purple gorilla."

So he goes into the living room. He takes the candlesticks off the table, the chairs away from the table, the table off the rug, and the rug off the floor. And he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs down the stairs and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks until he reaches the wooden door. He picks the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, goes through the door, locks the door, and puts the key back on the floor. And then he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks until he reaches the metal door. He picks the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, goes through the door, locks the door, and puts the key back on the floor. Then he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks and he walks over the two green hills until he reaches the purple gorilla.

He reaches in and pokes it. The gorilla starts going crazy in the cage. It starts thrashing about before suddenly breaking it open. So the man turns and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs over the two green hills. He reaches the metal door, and he picks the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, goes through the door, closes the door, locks the door, and puts the key back on the floor. He starts walking away, thinking there's no way the gorilla can get through a metal door, before he hears a 'BOOM' behind him.

The gorilla broke down the door! So he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs until he reaches the wooden door. He pick the key up off the floor, unlocks the door, opens the door, and runs through it, figuring that the gorilla would be able to get through a wooden one. He runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs until he gets to the stairs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs and he climbs until he gets back to the living room. He slams the trapdoor shut, puts the rug on the floor, the table on the rug, the chairs up to the table, and the candlesticks on the table. He walks back to his room, hoping the gorilla wouldn't be able to get through. He goes in, and finds the purple gorilla in his room.

So he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs and he runs until he reaches his motorcycle, which has magically been refilled with gas. He gets on it and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides and he rides until he reaches his truck, which has also been magically refilled with gas.

He gets in the truck and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives and he drives until he runs out of gas. And he runs and runs and runs, with the gorilla still following... After a while, he starts to think, "This gorilla is going to chase me until I die. I might as well stop and let him catch me." So he slows down and comes to a stop, turning to face it. It still runs towards him, but slows down once it notices the man has stopped. Finally, it walks up to the man, taps his shoulder, and says, "You're it."

 

!try it. One means something adds up to an amount, the other means to wake up, and the emphasis is different between them!<

 

Not necessarily the best Alice ever, but pretty fucking good anyway

7
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by southsamurai to c/[email protected]
 

A bit less hard and heavy than the C/ usually goes, but pretty fucking good anyway

9
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by southsamurai to c/[email protected]
 

It's a true story. I was just reminded of part of it by a post elsewhere, and it got me thinking about the people involved and the impact it all had on me.

This seemed like a good place for it, even though it isn't really like most of the posts I see here.

Anyway.

Years and years ago, the 80s happened. I know that's hard to believe, but it did. Towards the end of it, a chain of events led to me meeting two people.

A friend of mine had the hots for this girl, a senior. We were sophomores.

That friend introduced us, and wouldn't you know it, we hit it off in the way my friend wished had happened for him. It was cool, just a bit sad for him.

This girl, it turns out, was into boys and girls. She introduced me to the person she was dating at that time. This person was, though we didn't know the terminology then, the first trans person I ever met. Now, he had been assigned female at birth, and back then said that he had been born intersex. Well, he called it something else, but I'm not going to use it here. Later on, he did say that that was more wishful thinking than reality, but that's not important.

Well, we hit it off as friends. Pretty damn good ones. Good enough to share the girl, both separately and together. The together part was really awkward and not fun for either me or him, but we made it work anyway.

Eventually, everyone realized it wasn't going to work as a three way partnership, and we were all okay with that. We stayed friends for years, with a handful of fun nights trying things out again just to see if it might be fun as we aged.


But that's not the real story.

See, in terms of me, the experimentation and self discovery wasn't just sexual. They changed me.

Before I met the girl, my familiarity with things sapphic was damn near only from erotica and skinemax movies. And I was woefully ignorant of anything else about what was then called LGB issues. I'd never met a gay guy that I knew of. Turns out I had, but they weren't out until much later.

My friends took me along to parties and places that I would never have been able to go on my own. Partially because I didn't know they existed, and partly because I was a sophomore when it all started. Your typical 15 year old isn't getting into gay bars and brunches and house parties.

But, under the aegis of these two 17 and 18 year olds, I was introduced to what did a good impression of the area's gay scene.

This meant that I was hanging out with folks of all ages, all persuasions, getting into bars and clubs and being accepted way before anyone else I knew was thinking it might be nice to go to bars and parties someday.

This may seem like a bad thing. But my friends, and their friends, looked out for me. I wouldn't have accepted any drinks because I've never liked alcohol, but nobody offered them. Nobody offered me anything but a dance until much closer to 18.

It may not be apparent how powerful that was. The acceptance. Jr high had been hell for me. I was abused, assaulted, insulted and bullied every fucking day for years. It wasn't until the last year there that I had any friends at all.

But here I was in high school, and people liked me, and were happy to see me. And all these amazing people were gay, or bi, or in drag, or trans, though nobody was using the term then and there.

I don't know if anyone that hasn't experienced that kind of cruelty and then gained the acceptance of an entire new world can get exactly how powerful that feeling is. It was transformational. I'll not saying I got along with every single person, I didn't. But they still treated me with respect and kindness, and it was obvious I was welcome there despite individuals not liking me, or vice versa.

If they hadn't given me access to that world, I may not have later on become friends with my best friend, that's still my best friend now, because there's a possibility that I wouldn't have accepted him fully when he came out. I like to think I would have, but I can't pretend I was always perfectly behaved and open minded in the early days of my introduction to gay culture. I had a lot of ignorance and some preconceptions to move past. If my best friend had been the person that was my first step in understanding such things, I might well have fucked it up and not had him in my life all these years.

And, my trans friend, he was the first person to ever teach me how to fight. You'd think with us being pretty damn country, it would have happened one way or another, but it never did. My dad, later, would tell me he was scared I might hurt somebody because I was much stronger than I realized, but that's tangential.

My trans friend had learned some martial arts and had zero fucking fear of using it. And he taught me some. Not a lot, because he was nowhere near knowing enough to really teach, but enough that I discovered I could fight if I had to. Enough that, later on, when I needed to fight better, it led to me diving into martial arts seriously for most of my twenties and up to my late thirties when disability fucked that up.

The girl that we both dated taught me I was worthy of being wanted, romantically and sexually. She taught me a lot in that regard that led to me being the kind of person that can stay friends with exes. She started me down a road to self confidence and a sense of joy with partners that was part of what my wife fell in love with.

Those two were perhaps the most influential factors that weren't relatives in me having most of the good things I've experienced in life. And I didn't make those connections until tonight. Well, this morning now lol. I can look back at all if the time I spent with them and draw a very clear line to who I am, and many of the things I hold dear.

Now, life happens, and we drifted apart. Mostly after I graduated high school and started working, but it did take a couple of years. We still run into each other, though they broke up by the mid nineties. And we say hi, and chat a little, but that's usually it.

But next time, I owe them a great big thank you

 

Connection: they ded

 

It's a two parter!

The second video is for Fiend

And I cannot describe how happy I am for new Necrogoblikon

9
Vibe based post (self.Petpeeves)
submitted 1 month ago by southsamurai to c/Petpeeves
 

You know, I don't think I've ever gotten tired of a new slang phrase as fast as I have "vibe based"

It went from, "oh, that's gonna be popular" to "jfc, it's already turned into the next default condescending bullshit" in something like a week

It's almost like there's a race to turn minor snarkiness into outright smug nastiness in the bare minimum amount of time possible.

It's the new way to say "I think I'm better than you, and you aren't worth the effort of saying this in an original way".

 

Ever run acros's something that just annoy's you, like apostrophe's in the wrong place's?

But, you know that it's not worth going off topic for, or bothering someone with when it isn't germaine to the thread. You do know that, right?

Well, now you don't have to fuck up anyone's flow! Just cruise right on over to [email protected] instead! Make a little post about those rude apostrophe's or whatever, get it out of your system, and go about having a great day on lemmy without interrupting anything!

Think of it as a place for a very specific kind of rant. Just remember to be nice to people, even when they're annoying as hell :)

8
Howdy do! (self.Petpeeves)
submitted 1 month ago by southsamurai to c/Petpeeves
 

Welcome to Pet Peeves!

Check the rules, have some fun, be decent to one another!

 

I dig the hell out of the guitar in this track

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