Archaeopteryxes are about the size of a blackbird and are flying creatures that are considered the evolutionary ancestor of modern birds. They have two wide wings they use to fly and glide. However, unlike modern birds, archaeopteryxes have bony tails. They have beaks with sharp teeth which they use to tear flesh, for they are carnivorous. Prey is killed using their hyperextended second toes that hold a large claw.

We're not going to be talking about this extinct species. Instead, I'll be talking about three public freakouts. Your job is to decide if it is justified or not.

Who will clean your pottys?

This is a favorite of mine. It takes place om The View during a fierce debate surrounding Trump's anti-immigrant stance. In a bid to prove Trump's racism, kelly osborne makes a racist statement herself. She asks "if you kick every latinx out of this country, then who will be cleaning your potty Donald Trump?!" Her comment immediately elicits gasps and the camera hilariously pans to one of the latinx hosts who admonishes her.

Do you think she was being racist, or was she making a good point?

father spanks children for stealing

In this video we see a father whip the shit out of his kids for stealing. This is an ineffective form of parenting. As wikipedia tells us:

>Numerous studies have found increased risk of impaired child development from the use of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment by parents has been linked to increased aggression, mental health problems, impaired cognitive development, and drug and alcohol abuse.

It looks really sore and I'm sure those kids will never forget it. Imagine the damage that's been done between parent and child when violence is introduced.

Do you think the father did the right thing?

Look who's leaving

There's some sort of awards ceremony going on at a high school. It's clearly been going on for too long and some parents are leaving. The principle says "look who's leaving, all the black people!". This causes an uproar which then does cause all the black people to leave. In a subsequent interview, the principle blamed the ordeal on Satan.

Do you think she was making a fair observation, or was she being racist?

Conclusion

I think I got rejected by the same person twice. I'll write a long-winded post about it soon. Oh well, I think I need to learn to get over it. She doesn't have feelings for me, and that's the deal. Tune in next time when we discuss the DC Snipers.

Previously, I had declared my feelings of affection to a female friend of mine (let's just call her Sarah because her name is Sarah). The feelings were not reciprocated, but she let me down in a weird way, she spoke about how she doesn't know how she feels, but she's not looking for a relationship at the moment. She embraces the asexuality meme which is partially how we ended up being friends.

More recently, I decided to give it another shot but to be more tactful this time. I told her I don't think I'm asexual anymore, and that I want to be in a relationship. Once again, she reiterated that she doesn't know how she feels and that a relationship isn't what she wants. Nevertheless, as always, she was nice about it and continues to actively pursue my friendship and constantly tells me she loves me.

At first, this confused me. However, I think I have some of it figured out. I have learned a bit about women and human relationships in general from this experience, and I'd like to share some of the reasons why it's almost certainly a bad idea to pursue your female friends. Now, of course there will be exceptions. Sometimes your female friend genuinely does like you and you'll have a romcom moment. My point is that that's probably not the case, and while you may view the friendship with rose-tinted glasses, she sees things totally differently.

1. They're used to it

Since they started developing breasts, women have been the center of sexual attention. It comes from all angles including older men, teachers, family members, and even other women. At some point, they get used to it and it becomes background noise. "Yes, he's ogling my breasts but I need to finish scanning my groceries".

The sexual attention also comes from male friends. You're NOT the first male friend to express romantic emotions, and you won't be the last. She's turned all of them down, what makes you think things will be different with you? She's used to it, she probably saw it coming, and she doesn't want it. If she did, you wouldn't have to ask because she'd make it obvious to you that she's romantically interested.

Now, there is the possibility of misreading signals, which brings us to the next point.

2. Women genuinely have platonic feelings

This is not to say that men are incapable of having platonic relationships. Nay, that is not my point. My argument is that it is much harder for men to do so. People shit on Steve Harvey but he was 100% correct when he said the following:

Things aren't the same with women. They can genuinely love you deeply without any sexual or romantic feelings. Why is this? Women don't have to deal with the famine mentality. For many men, s*x and love are scarce resources, so when it even vaguely seems like there's an opportunity for it, the feelings come on strong. Hence the cliche of "the cashier smiled at me now I want to marry her". (Most) women aren't leading you on intentionally when they allow intimacy into a friendship. That's the way friendships should be. But it doesn't mean she wants anything sexual or romantic.

3. You're in love because you're lonely

This is probably the crux of the issue. When you're starving, even a mud pie looks delicious. As men, you will face long stretches of loneliness and never being told you're beautiful, attractive, or worthy of anything. Inasmuch as catcalling and sexual objectification should be chastised, it at least serves as some kind of validation of one's attractiveness.

A friendship with a woman can bring about those feelings of validation within men and if you're not ready for it, it's going to develop into obsessive love. If you had higher self-esteem, more experience with women, or a source of love, your friendships with women would be completely normal and platonic. It's when these elements are missing that any smile, hug, or eye-gaze turns into fantasies of marriage.

When she inevitably turns you down, what are you left with? Nothing yet again. Nobody to say they love you or assure you that you are wanted in this world.

Things get more complicated if you're an introvert. Most relationships seem useless unless you're benefitting considerably. In your mind the thinking is "I'd only put this much effort into a relationship if I had romantic feelings". Whereas if the woman is an extrovert, it isn't costing her much mental energy to maintain the relationship. I hope that make sense.

4. She knows already

Don't bother. She already knows you like her. She accepts that as part of the cost of the friendship. That's not a bad thing. It means there's something good about you that she wants in her life even if its not of the romantic nature. You should be flattered by this even if it is heartbreaking at times.

Some women are a bit mean with this. They essentially get everything they would get from a boyfriend (someone to talk to, someone to take care of them) without the need to commit. But that's not always the case. In my case, Sarah goes out her way to be nice to me and to spend time with me. She's not using me for anything - a genuine, platonic friendship is all she wants. It's hard for my brain to wrap my head around it. I thought it was obvious that she felt something. Maybe I had to take the lead and break the ice? Nah, I'm convinced she knew ages ago I liked her but loved me enough to still be my friend despite not sharing romantic feelings.

5. You may lose everything

Life is about taking risks so I don't want to stress this point too much. However, if she doesn't already know and you spring it up on her, she may never trust you again and you will lose all the intimacy of your friendship. She will remain guarded around you, and perhaps even think of you as a slimy coomer who tried to use friendship to get into her pants. Shit can get brutal.

I've been lucky to have an understanding friends who has continued to be nice to me. I know that this isn't the case for everyone, and it also depends on how you respond to the rejection.

CONCLUSION

Heartbreak is one of the worst feelings to experience. It's like a knife constantly twisting in your chest. But it's part of life for most of us. A lucky few will find high-school sweethearts and never have to play the dating game, but for most of us, we're going to get rekt a couple times before we find the right one (if we ever do). Please, for the love of god, don't go looking for a girlfriend from your female friends. There's a difference between a girl friend and a girlfriend.

I'm probably preaching to the choir, and this may be obvious to most people here. But I know there are some autists who may need to read this to spare themselves the heartache I went through. The funny part is that if you're in love, nothing I write is going to change anything. You'll think your case is different. You'll try your luck. And you'll get rekt. But don't let me stop you. Some mistakes are meant to be made.

I know the asexuality meme isn't true. One day, she'll find a guy she likes (not me) and all that asexuality shit will disappear. And when it happens it will hurt like heck. However, I'm prepared, and I'll still be her friend. I'm wiser now thanks to the mistakes I've made. Thanks for reading.

About two weeks ago a massive drama shitstorm erupted in both /r/southafrica and South Africa IRL when Burger Ambassador accused ANC of sending arms to Ukraine conflict.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/11/south-africa-investigating-us-charge-of-supplying-arms-to-russia

=========Earlier, the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, told local journ*lists in a briefing that Washington was confident a Russian vessel had uploaded weapons and ammunition from South Africa in December.

“Amongst the things we noted were the docking of the Russian cargo ship Lady R in Simon’s Town between December 6 and December 8, 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons, ammunitions … as it made its way back to Russia,” Brigety said in a briefing to local journ*lists, as cited by the Reuters news agency.

“Arming of Russia by South Africa with the vessel … is fundamentally unacceptable,” Brigety said, adding that senior US officials had “profound concerns” about South Africa not respecting its professed policy of non-alignment and neutrality with regard to Russia’s war.

This “does not suggest to us the actions of a non-aligned country”, he said.

Washington has repeatedly warned countries against providing material support to Russia, cautioning that those who do may be denied access to the world’s most important markets.=====(from article)

It's important to note that most RSA liberals are very pro Ukraine, but this depends on race as well. CoLoureds are all over the place, ANC wingcucks and leftwingers in general tends to suck russian peepee because of the Cold War allegiances, regardless of whether Russia is actually still communist or not.

A lot of the infighting between people in /r/SouthAfrica is pretty r-slurred. Most white liberals support Ukraine and considers the conflict to be Imperial aggession on Russia's part. Many black liberals are in conflict with their black left winger counterparts, because of wingcuckery. Black liberals consider this a moment to call out russia's assault on Ukraine, as staying silent or neutral makes them just as impassive to worldly evil happening across the globe, as they have accused europeans to have been silent on the Apartheid regime for decades.

Thus this is a watershed moment for many black and white liberals, as they realize their wingcuck black leftwing friends are pro russia simply to spite the Western powers like UK, USA or Western Europe, or because they are wingcucked into being pro Russia, and literally demonize Ukraine - a country which has never harmed or colonized Africa. This creates bitter ideological spats between peeps both IRL and on /r/Southafrica.

Point is it's infighting galore. Yet regardless of how pees feel, the ANC government has always been pretty ultra pro Russia, and has overlooked Soviet warcrimes and conquest of nations while highlighting American and Western global crimes like toppling Leftwing govs in South America by CIA operatives.

Point is ANC is now in a bind, they clearly desperately wanna suck off Russia, but America an europe make out the vast majority of RSA's exports. Thus openly supporting Russia would make South Africa a pariah, and doom the economy if America applies sanctions.

Can't find the original post, but drama started here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/?sort=controversial

https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/government/breaking-us-ambassador-says-south-africa-gave-weapons-to-russia-for-ukraine-war-20230511

=========

Lot's teeth gnashing and sneeed followed this revelation. It was unbelievable! RSA economy worst in like 15 years, COVID had ravished the economy, and now the ANC wants to pull this stunt?

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/jjuebk4/?sort=controversial

"I mean for the last 20 years or so the ANC has been on a "become like the NP" speedrun." (The NP is the National Party, the group ruling during Aprtheid)

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/jjrfqui/?sort=controversial

"This does make me scared of potential sanctions. I hope nothing major like that comes true but at this point man. Why this country is supporting one of their lower trading partners instead of ACTUALLY staying neutral is beyond me."

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/jjqf3hc/?sort=controversial

"Can this please be the final straw that breaks the ANCamel’s back."

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/jjr03p0/?sort=controversial

I wonder what would happen if South Africa’s major trading partners decide to sanction the country for the country’s “neutrality”

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13elvv6/us_ambassador_says_south_africa_gave_weapons/jjqhbq9/?sort=controversial

"Hey ANC, what happened to the last SA government that managed to get sanctioned by the west?"

Very soon after the struggling Rand immediately tanked

https://www.news24.com/fin24/markets/breaking-rand-breaches-r19-20230511

Some other South africans were Memeing with some pretty funny posts, mocking the accused weapons send to Russia, and joking that primitive traditional South African weapons like Assegai spears or Kipi shields were to be send via ship to the Russian forces!

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13g9nlk/the_evidence_of_south_africa_sending_weapons_to/?sort=controversial

More joke post about the Russian ships which suspiciously docked at RSA ports in "broad daylight" while Ukraine conflict rages. This one jokes about common RSA foods

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13fhvn9/photographic_evidence_of_sa_shipping_arms_to/?sort=controversial

Some more sneeding as Rand continues to crater. Here's a random crypto r-slur

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/13eexiv/rand_drops_to_a_3_year_low/jjq4f6u/?sort=controversial

Since summer is coming all too soon to !texas I got to work on a project I been needin to do recently: fixing my window unit

A little backstory. I live in a trailer. pulled this circa 2003 ish unit, from another trailer. it sat since the end of 2010

it was 2021 I pulled it out.

when you're a country boy, you make do. why go buy a new window unit when the old trailer's got some sitting around?

actually, I pulled 2 sister units of the same vintage and manufacture at the time. one had a bad refrigeration circuit, probably the compressor rotted out on the bottom and leaked the gas

a parts unit

it sat in its new home beside the driveway patiently until it would be needed

lo and behold, just 2 yeears later, its time came

the working unit had served me well for 21 and 22 but the bearings on the fan were shot from sitting 10 years without moving, partially exposed to the weather.

it was pretty loud.

and since you need AC at least 8 months out of the year in this glorious state , it was working pretty hard.

I had alreaty scrounged the capacitor from the parts unit bc it was going, and every six months or so I had to oil the bearings or they'd start to seize.

and it was getting worse. as 'winter' finally rolled around last year and I only needed the thing some days I could spare time to try and fix it. the seizing was terminal at this point and she would suffer no more

this wasn't my first time putting together a frankenstein unit. I had done basically the same thing before with 2 other sister units from another building. these were from 1998/1999, the good old days , older than me

they also sat since 2010

well one had no refrigeration and the other had a seized motor right from the get go. so I took the good from each and made one working unit

back to the newer unit... I pulled the fan assembly from the driveway machine and put it in. one uuge problem. It was so fricking loud

I couldn't even sleep with it on. these bearings were worse than the old ones, but at least they were still spinnign. there was still some heat to get through before november brought peace so I powered through

but it got worse. the plastic condenser fan, having sat outside, dissembled in the driveway, had been exposed to a bunch of UV I guess and had turned to more or less cardboard. (I could just peel pieces of it apart when I took it out)

the fan blades were breaking and making it go out of balance.

So by the end of the cooling season this thing was an ear bleeding and earthshaking monstrosity in my windowsill.

something had to be done... but its december now there's no need for AC I'll fix it later

that time was (is) now. ferbruary is coming to a close and with it will go the beutiful cold I've been enjoying. ( can't wait to find home)

I took the seized fan unit that was just waiting for some kind of final solution. I tore that motor open

there they were...

2 easy to replace 608s

got a 10 pack online for $7

pulled the mfs and pressed the new ones on

spin the thing

silence

so I threw her back together and into the window.

turned it on and there's only the sound of the air (and compressor) now

now you might have read this (probably not ) and wondered, what's that title about?

well its about what happened last night when I got the thing in the window and turned it on.

the satisfaction of a job well done washed over me as I sat down at the old puter to browse rdrams.

and then thought popped into my head. the pernicious idea. only for a moment, but made me stop right in my tracks: "why didn't I take pictures of everything to make an effortpost?"

and then I was sick

I realised this was the thought of a social media user. this is not me. no.

so no I DIDN'T take pictures. No you DON'T get to see

I'm going to enjoy my life with my own dmn eyes and I'm not going to become a 'gram zombie posting my every meal.

everytime I see a picture of a modern concert or venue where every. single. person. there is more concerned about filming the thing than actually being there, I want to vom.

it's disgusting and I feel ashamed for even the brief moment of remorse I felt about not filming this mundane task for the viewership of what, like 23 r-slurs online.

still felt the need to make the text post albiet

I should be making marseys like I came here to do but instead I've been gooning to stable diffusion building workflows and exploring advanced generative ai systems all weekend. at least I went outside and fixed a AC

Edit2: I'll categorize this list by activity and create sub-categories later today and probably add to it over time. I put it together so it'd be easier for people to find fun fringe drama or otherwise be entertained. Enjoy!

Please comment if you have others to add to the list. I bit off more than I can chew because apparently there's thousands of these, so I omitted ones that were boring, inactive, and/or redundant.

General or Misc Fringe

• /r/Experiencers

• /r/PastSaturnsRings

• /r/Saturnstormcube

• /r/TheSaturnTimeCube

• /r/Echerdex

• /r/holofractal

• /r/C_S_T

• /r/HighStrangeness

• /r/UnexplainedPhenomena7

• /r/AWLIAS

• /r/StrangeEarth

• /r/EscapingPrisonPlanet

• /r/shiftingreality

• /r/retconned

• /r/MandelaEffect

• /r/QuantumImmortality

• /r/DimensionJumping

• /r/projectstargate

• /r/MatrixReality

• /r/SimulationTheory

• /r/timeslip

• /r/anonspropheticdream

• /r/ReincarnationTruth

• /r/anomaliesunleashed

• /r/45thworldproblems

• /r/FringeTheory

• /r/premonition

New Age

• /r/energy_work

• /r/soulnexus

• /r/awakened

• /r/starseeds

• /r/astralprojection

• /r/pastlives

• /r/SpiritualAwakening

• /r/spiritguides

• /r/Mediums

• /r/LightWorkers

• /r/pastlives

• /r/realwitchcraft

• /r/lawofone

• /r/kundalini

• /r/ChildrenoftheLight

• /r/spiritualchills

• /r/telekinesis

• /r/LyranStarseeds

• /r/AstralArmy

Paranoid/Classic

• /r/targetedenergyweapons

• /r/directedenergyweapons

• /r/targetedsolutions

• /r/gangstalking

• /r/SurveillanceStalking

• /r/invisiblerainbow

• /r/electromagnetics

• /r/chemtrails

• /r/morgellons

• /r/OTIR

• /r/MKUltra

• /r/reptilians

• /r/PrepperIntel

• /r/monarchmindcontrol

• /r/v2ktechnology

• /r/emfdefense

• /r/artificial_telepathy

• /r/oregonpsychotronicwar

• /r/HatMan

Religion, Politics, & Conspiracy (aka BORING)

• /r/conspiracy_commons

• /r/ConspiracyII

• /r/conspiracyundone

• /r/exposingcabalrituals

• /r/Bibleconspiracy

• /r/Trump666

• /r/shematria

• /r/gematria

• /r/FollowJesusObeyTorah

• /r/AgainstTheIlluminati

• /r/censoredreality

• /r/TruthLeaks

• /r/newworldorder

• /r/zen

• /r/ahomeforplaguerats

• /r/EndTimers

Occult

• /r/occult

• /r/Esotericism

• /r/DemonolatryPractices

• /r/Kabbalah2

• /r/Thelema

• /r/magick

• /r/chaosmagick

• /r/gnosticism

• /r/sacredgeometry

• /r/hermeticism

• /r/alchemy

• /r/alexandria

• /r/threekings

• /r/Groomercordian

• /r/subgenius

• /r/castaneda

Scientific & Historical

• /r/CulturalLayer

• /r/alternativehistory

• /r/GrowingEarth

• /r/homogiganticus

• /r/LostAncientTechnology

• /r/Atlantis

• /r/AncientAliens

• /r/HOLLOWEARTH

• /r/AntarcticAnomalies

• /r/globeskepticism

• /r/Tartaria

• /r/sorceryofthespectacle

• /r/Pleiadians

• /r/flatearth_polite

• /r/moonlandingfake

Lifestyle

• /r/semenretention

• /r/pureretention

• /r/foreskin_restoration

• /r/restoringdick

• /r/antipsychiatry

• /r/subredditdrama

• /r/carnivorediet

• /r/radicalmentalhealth

• /r/lawofattraction

• /r/manifestation

• /r/Nevillegoddard

• /r/JosephMurphy

Lite

• /r/paranormal

• /r/UFOs

• /r/twinflames

• /r/telepathy

• /r/witchcraft

• /r/reincarnation

• /r/NDE

• /r/cryptozoology

• /r/aliens

• /r/bigfoot

• /r/Tarot

• /r/psychonaut

• /r/subliminal

• /r/humanoidencounters

• /r/glitch_in_the_matrix

• /r/otherkin

• /r/tulpas

• /r/ghosts

• /r/Empaths

• /r/crystals

• /r/RBI

• /r/unexplainedphotos

• /r/OddityCollectors

• /r/singularity

Edit: Oops, pressed enter too soon