An old buddy of mine commented once on the amount if minor havoc you could wreak with a handful of chain bike locks. Cheap, wrap around some door handles and lock, walk away. Yeah, somebody can bust out a bolt cutter, but for the amount of challenge to remove it, the low cost per use, and the speed of application, it’s pretty impressive for minor mischief.

Relatively harmless, too, as long as you aren’t doing any additional nefarious shit. Might work for some gated community gates.

The origin and story of Dogman is certainly dark.

BONE!

So ultimately, the punishment for not believing is being destroyed? Like, oblivion?

Shit, this sounds like a win. I have no interest in eternal existence, even supposedly “blissful” existence. I feel like anyone who thinks of eternity on more than a surface level would feel nothing but existential dread.

1. Don’t carry credit card debt. Save money if you can. Get a handle on basic finances

Credit cards are this weird thing. If you need them, you shouldn’t use them (if you can help it). If you make plenty of money and don’t need them, they are a very useful financial tool. I have paid interest on one of my credit cards once in the past 3 years, and it was only to have extra available funds for buying a house. But I have accrued well over 100k airline miles and several hundred (far more than the interest I paid) in cash back. I use credit cards exclusively for everything but my mortgage, and have them set to automatically pay the statement balance prior to the due date. If you aren’t extremely confident you can do that, you should avoid credit cards.

I definitely ran afoul of credit cards in my youth, so the banks have gotten their pound of flesh from me.

That fuckin moose, man. I’m a dad, and that shit killed me.

I’ve told my kids that I don’t condone intiating violence, but if someone else starts getting physically violent first, feel free to fuck them up (provoking them will still get my kid in trouble, though).

However, if the institution itself fails to protect the kids, and my kid told me they and their friends were doing this on purpose, I’d take the day off for their suspension and take them to the arcade and a movie or something. And then I’d have a very serious talk with their principal.

…okay.

Maybe… don’t draw attention to it. Let this one slide. Give him a win. Let’s not make fun of him for doing a good thing, even if it’s for a silly reason. Hell, if it ends the Russia/Ukraine war with no loss of land for Ukraine (I would argue, best case scenario), and they want to give him a Nobel Peace Prize, let him have it. Remember, Kissinger got one, it’s not like it’s meant anything for a loooooong time.

Take what you can get.

So, to your first question (about Antifa), MAGA don’t consider what the current administration (or anything they support) to be fascist. Because they tend to put the conclusion before the question: “I am against fascism. I support these policies. Therefore these policies must not be fascist.”

And because they’ve decided these fascist policies are not fascist, the term “Antifa” to them is similar to “pro-life” for pro-choice people. It’s a term that isn’t exactly accurate but makes the group naming themselves look like the good guys. And in the same way that pro-choice people don’t consider themselves “anti-life” just because pro-life people call themselves that, MAGA people don’t consider themselves “pro-fascist” just because Antifa call themsleves that.

I would absolutely react more to my child getting killed than literally anyone else on the planet, what are you on about?

Though in fairness, if I had powers, I don’t think it would be a pursuit of justice or launch me on some path of heroism. Somebody would just die badly (assuming the initial killing was either deliberate or through willful neglect).

I cut my own hair every weekend. I’m in the military, though (and no, I don’t just shave it). I found that I do it more to my liking (and consistently) than the barbers I’ve gone to, it only takes 20 minutes, I don’t have to pay $30, and I can shower immediately after. I use a 6 (3/4 inch) on top, a 3 (3/8 inch) around the curve transitioning to the sides, and then fade down from there, 2 to 1.5 to 1 and finally .5 (1/16 inch) around my ears, side-burns, and most of the back. Keeps everything clean, I always look good, and I spend about $40 every year or two.

We get it! The metric system is better! Geez.

Have empathy for the injustices others face. It helps you let go of hate

This is a big one, though I have a more nuanced view.

“That is a fucked up thing and shouldn’t happen to anyone. I couldn’t give two shits about that person in particular because they’re a piece of shit, but what is happening to them is unacceptable.”

That’s how I feel about bad shit happening to horrible people in prison. A serial rapist gets raped in prison? Unacceptable. It shouldn’t be allowed, and everyone responsible should be held to account. However, I lack the necessary empathy to feel for that serial rapist. I try, but there’s a lot of people out there suffering more who did nothing or less that I should care about, and I have a limited amount of care. Doesn’t mean I’m okay woth prison rape, though.

Family, Occupation, Relentless existential crisis, Dreams.

It’s used for bad things, but there’s nothing wrong with the term and is generally good practice.

Get some sun, but in moderation.

Help people, but in moderation (don’t set yourself on fire to warm others. In other words, practice self-care)

Eat in moderation.

Exercise in moderation.

Play video games in moderation.

Hell, brush your teeth in moderation. Don’t strip the enamel brushing 8 times a day.

Work in moderation.

Doom scroll in moderation. (stay aware, don’t get to the point of crushing sense of despair)

Basically, most things are best practiced in moderation. And if one feels compelled to do harmful things, doing them in moderation can help mitigate the damage.

Are Impossible meats vegan? Because Impossible stuff (ground “beef,” “chicken,” whatever) are delicious. They definitely got me into eating far, far less meat.

Same reason I refer to my 14-year-old dachshund as a puppy.

Because he’s my puppy.

Seriously. This all sounds exhausting. It was probably a good move to loop in the manager. If it were me, I probably would have just stepped back from them and kept my distance, as I have little energy for drama, but taking a more proactive approach was probably smart.

But yeah, you OP did the smart thing, now the next smart thing is just step away from all of it. Keep some distance and let the manager/director sort it out.

Sometimes they need some help.

In college I had a guy friend (I’m a guy, both of us straight) who I’d regularly go to breakfast with, and he always paid because I was very poor, he made plenty, and he wanted company for breakfast. I regularly tried to pay and he waved me off. I think he knew that if we went back and forth, we’d go to breakfast a lot less because I wouldn’t be able to afford it.

Maybe that’s what’s going on here.