We had a wood stove hooked up to our chimney. 😬

Definitely meat - I’ve been vegetarian for a very long time and vegan since COVID, and no plans of stopping anytime soon! Flying is a bit more difficult, but I work from home and when my work requires me to travel, I’m lucky that I have the ability to take a train, so I do that. I do like traveling occasionally, and for some of the places I want to go, I can’t realistically avoid flying.

If anyone here is interested in giving up or reducing meat intake but needs a little advice or extra support to get started, please let me know. I’m happy to share any knowledge and tips I can!

Love: weapon durability so long as it’s paired with weapon building and leveling systems. I like that I can’t ever take a weapon for granted and that I can’t hack and slash without thinking. I have Dark Cloud in mind as I’m writing this - it was easily my favorite weapons system I’ve ever played, and it always kept me on my toes. It’s a kind of stress I appreciate because I have some measure of control over it as long as I plan and slow down a little.

Hate: timed anything. Way too much pressure, and it pushes me back towards going faster and not thinking so I can beat the timer, which I don’t like. I especially hate it because I primarily play turn-based JRPGs to get away from having to worry about timing and to be able to play at my own pace. If I wanted to do time-sensitive stuff, I’d play an action game.

Yes, absolutely. It affirms that I’m not alone in my frustration and sadness. I like songs that have an upbeat or energetic feel alongside the dark lyrics though, it helps get me boppin’.

The part I’m really blown away by is that I just saw this final project in the intro to design class I teach from a group of international students earlier this spring. The project was to create a logo design and brand guidelines as a small team. The students can pick the business and whether it’s new or a rebrand, and this group went with social media all-in-one apps and made the justification that they are hugely popular in China, but nothing like that exists in the US. My favorite part is that the letter X was a HUGE part of the logo/branding, but they did not name it just “X” specifically for the reasons you listed - it’s not discoverable or unique in searches, the App Store, etc.

I feel like I’m being punk’d

Nope, and I used to do a lot of Reddit - like several times a day, and usually entire evenings just browsing. I used PowerDeleteSuite and deleted my account, and I use an RSS reader with an adblocker for the 2-3 local subs I truly can’t find the same info for elsewhere. One is a university I teach at, and the only exception I’ve made to this was to create a throwaway to answer a question about salaries and point the person who was hoping to teach to our union contract. Worker solidarity > Reddit drama.

Thread added here! I found a site similar enough to what I was thinking of to go ahead and share. https://kbin.social/m/SponsorsOfRussianInvasion/t/192018/What-alternatives-and-strategies-do-you-personally-use-to-live

I’ve actually got quite a bit of these sort of recommendations that I think I’m going to compile into something easier to navigate based on what you don’t want to support - but feel free to share a link to this comment in the meantime!

Ughhhh really? That’s a bummer. :(

Well, at least it’s less money. Thank you for the heads up :) Honestly, I’d give up shaving if I could stand it, but I’ve tried and can’t stand the physical feeling of hairy legs.

Corporations: get your booty back into the office so it’s not empty
Also corporations: we’ve laid off your team in favor of AI, it was a tough but necessary choice due to costs
The empty office building: ???

I’ll start: avoid Hellman’s easily by making your own mayo. If the eggs squick you out, or you just want bonus points, I use this vegan garlic mayo recipe. It keeps for weeks and I don’t miss mayo at all. This requires a blender - any kind is fine.

Soap: someone near you makes bars of this that are better quality and sells them for roughly $5, I guarantee it. If not, making it is pretty straightforward as long as you follow instructions carefully and use established recipes. If you want to go custom, you can also use a lye calculator. This one requires an immersion blender.

Breyer’s/ice cream in general: Get yourself some xanthan gum for regular dairy, and add soy lecithin to your list if you want to do vegan ice creams. The xanthan gum inhibits ice crystals for a smooth and creamy texture, and helps with scoopability. Soy lecithin helps emulsify oil and water, so you can use it to bring up the fat content of soy or oat bases to be closer to a heavy cream. Requires a blender.

Gillette: get a safety razor. Mine’s a vintage lady Gillette I got off eBay. You will save so much money on blades it’s not even funny.

Lipton: your local grocery store might have loose leaf tea in the bulk section. If so, try that first. If not, check out Arbor Teas instead. Small business, fair trade, high quality stuff, and the packaging is completely compostable, making it an awesome zero waste choice.

Hell, I’d do it just because I like sharing information and helping others out. Plus it’s a big project with a sense of accomplishment.

It can also be read as a sign of which class you’re in. I’d blend decently with middle or upper middle class folks, but my “jacked up teeth” (others’ words, not mine) are a dead giveaway about my socioeconomic background. Fortunately, it’s only really visible on the bottom ones. This is also probably part of why my parents kicked that can down the road until it was my problem.

I’d get braces, except I’m only just at the point (after thousands in repairs) of even having a healthy baseline since I didn’t have access to dental care for years. It’s separate and not included in our normal health insurance, and it’s also not required, so if you’re poor, it’s a cost that often gets delayed or cut altogether. Back when I was a kid or through my early career years when I was just trying to keep myself fed and housed, it probably would have been cheaper. Then I was just plain terrified of what the results would be if I DID go to the dentist. I’m still playing catch up and can’t even get to braces if I wanted to until I get my wisdom teeth pulled, because there just isn’t room otherwise.

Tooth problems can also become more serious health problems if they get bad enough.

No idea. Give it a try and report back? It’s easy to use, shouldn’t take too long to find out :)

True! 😁

Welcome! I’m also on kbin.social and have been here a few weeks, so if you’re curious or confused about anything I’m more than happy to help. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of things here, you’ll be at home in no time. :)

I deleted mine too. The time feels right. :)

I’m on kbin too. If you’re ever wondering where someone is commenting from, you can tap their username and their profile will show the instance name. If you’re ever wondering what platform the comments are hosted on, the sidebar (where it says magazine) is the easiest way to see that. I pay attention to that because I know some instances have different moderation rules - for example, Beehaw (which uses Lemmy) is a community that tries to create a safe and productive discussion environment, so I try to be mindful of my actions there to help make sure I’m not interfering when I visit. :) I like to think of it like traveling from my home country to other countries. Norms and customs might different, but we all have some commonalities in how we’re built and communicate at the end of the day.

Lemmy and kbin are just different types of software for communicating, kind of like how you can use an Outlook account or a Gmail account for email. They use the same protocols, but have different interfaces and features. Personally, I like kbin. But either is just fine. Technically, you could even use Mastodon to read this, though that would kind of be like using a terminal for email. It’s possible (I’m sure), it’s just not fine tuned for this type of content or use case.

You’ll get the hang of it quickly. Welcome, be nice, and have fun!

Fuck /u/spez, and more importantly, welcome to everyone coming in today. It’s been amazing watching the growth of kbin, and I’m super thankful for the developers who have kept me connected to my communities - first Christian, now Ernest. I’ve never been in on the ground floor of anything and this has been absolutely wild.

Kinda mad I didn’t grab a short handle while I could, but I wasn’t thinking and just used the same as I had on Reddit. sigh

Deleted my account of 11 years just now as well after verifying PowerDeleteSuite didn’t miss anything the past few days. I thought this would be my hardest non-federated social media account to delete, since it was the last one standing and the one I used most. After what I’ve seen this month, it’s an easy delete. My time there is done.