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Joined 2 年前
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Cake day: 2023年7月1日

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  • My friend had birds for a good portion of her life, she worked in a pet store and took care of their birds, and had a cockatoo for something like 15 years. Paraphrasing, but here’s what she told me:

    Owning birds, especially intelligent birds, is one hell of a commitment. Are you ready to have a flying toddler who will never grow up? Who will live as long as you? Longer even? How about an eternal toddler who has bolt cutters attached to its face? How do you feel about loud, sudden screeches at any time of the day or night? Do you have valuable items out that you don’t want damaged? Do you have the type of home that can accommodate the amount of three dimensional space they need? If you were thinking you could keep one in a cage as their main habitat you’re sorely mistaken.

    Having a super smart pet sounds cool until you realize that they need entertainment, and stimulation, and not allowing that is a form of cruelty. If you don’t provide it they will find it for themselves, very often in ways you do not approve of. Like any exotic pet, its needs can take over your life entirely, and unlike a dog there’s no way you can just hire a pet sitter to take care of it. You will likely never be able to just “take a weekend away”. Parrots are known to take sudden and intense dislike to people on a whim, how will you handle that if it’s someone you want to have over more than once in a blue moon?

    I’m not going to say there’s no hope or don’t do it, but it is NOT a decision to be taken lightly. A bird like an African Grey is an “expert” bird owner level bird. If you can take care of a friend’s cockatiel or maybe a conure for a week and you fall in love, then maybe you can get one too. But there’s many good reasons my friend owns a pigeon now instead.








  • Nefara@lemmy.worldtoLord of the memes@midwest.socialSafe
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    15 天前

    Sure but he would handle rejection well and laugh it off. Riker, afaicr, respected signals and consent. He flirted with people who seemed open to it and was perfectly professional to those who weren’t. What makes flirting feel unsafe is the threat of men taking it badly if rejected.


  • Nefara@lemmy.worldtoLord of the memes@midwest.socialSafe
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    15 天前

    Eh, he can have a temper, I know it doesn’t necessarily come up day to day but when he’s pissed he doesn’t always contain his anger. He’s safer than a lot of people but no he doesn’t make my top three. My runner up for top three male non-humans was actually Garak.



  • Nefara@lemmy.worldtoLord of the memes@midwest.socialSafe
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    15 天前

    Ehhh debatable if Data is a “man”, and LaForge… well, he wouldn’t be on my list. My picks from TNG to share a turbolift would would be Picard, O’Brien and Riker. Picard would be either ruminating on some deep crisis or current drama and be quiet and majestic. O’Brien would be preoccupied and anxious about some project and trying to build up the courage to talk to the senior officers about it. Riker would be relaxed, polite and crack a joke that would make you chuckle.

    If counting non-human male characters across ST, then Data, Odo and Spock.




  • Haha yeah. So I think Murderbot and The Martian/Project Hail Mary would be solid choices, because they’re cinematic and entertaining. They have humor and a lot of action. Murderbot hides the vegetables well and brings up a capitalist dystopia, personhood, gender identity and the meaning of freedom in subtle and clever ways. I’d be surprised if a teenager who read All Systems Red didn’t ask for the sequel pretty soon after 😋


  • I kind of want to suggest Children of Time and the other Adrian Tchaikovsky books in that series. He’s very good at writing non-human intelligences and it stays relatively hard sci fi throughout the series. I just am not sure how much they would appeal to teens, I certainly would have liked them but I was very bookish. I really like the exploration of emergent cultures and technologies and the books all have a hopeful and optimistic turn to them.

    Also seconding Andy Weir books, and Murderbot by Martha Wells.


  • I think, while it’s relatively clean as far as sex or violence goes, there’s some problematic elements that speak to the author’s “old fashionedness”. For one, the author seems to think that being possessive of a romantic partner to the point of violence is a heroic trait. On multiple occasions otherwise sympathetic characters clench their teeth or their fists at or even attack other male characters that show interest in their female partners. There’s also a conspicuous lack of queer characters. He does have a Bob finally identify as a “Bobby”, but it takes hundreds of generations and they’re used to illustrate just how much the iterations are drifting from the original, not to mention that they never actually show up in the books (yet). Every Bob is heterosexual. I don’t recall any gay or queer characters ever being mentioned in any of the books.

    There’s also a suspicious undercurrent of genetic determinism. On multiple occasions characters are encountered with a very heavy implication that they are just born better and smarter and superior to their peers, and I find that kind of thought smells off to me. It reminds me too much of eugenics and people who believe in a master race or that certain classes are born to rule others.

    They are fun reads and certainly enjoyable. As far as having teens read them, I would be concerned that they would absorb everything without being critical enough of the content. I think there are better, more inclusive choices that are more modern in their attitudes and cast of characters.



  • Nefara@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.blahaj.zoneMask rule
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    20 天前

    My dad likes to tell a story about a time he was riding on a subway car next to a shaggy looking guy with a laptop. My dad looked over and asked “oh, is that Linux?” and the guy replied “it’s GNU /Linux, actually” in a really snarky way. My dad snorted and said “who are you, Richard Stallman?” and he said “yes”.




  • Dr Pepper made with real sugar, the taste with HFCS is just not the same.

    SteakEze had these microwave angus burgers that you could get at BJs that basically mimicked McDs flavor. Whenever one of us was craving fast food, we could pop it in the microwave and it scratched that itch and was much cheaper, easier and faster. Sadly haven’t seen them for sale anymore and they got taken off the website.

    The thing I miss the absolute most is some fruit nectars I used to get that came in big glass bottles, by Fruit of the Nile. They had mango, strawberry guava, guava and orange mango and they were all so incredibly good. My favorite was the mango, it was rich and thick and luxurious, almost just a fruit puree. They made the best mixers. I still use the bottles around the house. I don’t think the company made it through Covid 😫