Count Regal Inkwell

They all suck in different ways. But I actually think the Catholics are more chill in general, the fucked up shit their bishops get up to notwithstanding, the Catholic Church has mostly just stayed in the background since the early 20th century. Letting the world do its thing while occasionally calling something or another sinful (and only their faithful listening).

Contrasting with the influence Protestantism has in like. All of US Conservative Ideology, which trickles outwards to conservatives EVERYWHERE.

They may not have a pope to embody the face of their ideology (though Trump is in the process of becoming that, watch this space), but it is a consistent ideology, and its god is wealth, and poverty and deviance the greatest sins.

Yah pretty much.

Like. The Reformation broadly started as a decentralised movement against the Catholic Church’s authority in western europe. BUT the only reason the likes of Martin Luther and John Calvin weren’t killed for the shit they were stirring up (and/or forced to retract it on penalty of torture and death) –

– Was because they were being protected by the then-nascent bourgeoisie class, who loved the wild ideas that the two were putting forward, like Luther’s Sola Fide theology that said they would go to heaven as long as they believed in Jesus, even if they did every sin in the book and never performed one good act in their lives, or Calvin’s predestination theology that said people were already born bound for heaven or hell, and being wealthy/poor on earth was a sign of divine favour/displeasure.

You gotta remember people were a lot more religious then. So these merchant princes really liked these guys who were telling them “no no, it’s okay, the Church IS a bunch of cunts, and don’t worry, that camel-through-eye-of-needle thing in the bible is all bullshit and you being richer than a king is a sign you’re going to super-heaven which is better than regular heaven”

If you see shades of modern day American megachurch Prosperity Theology in this? Good, you should. That’s where it started.

Not to say the catholic church was ever nice (I just said they would have killed two guys if they weren’t under the protection of other powerful people), but protestantism was broadly boosted by capitalism, because it soothed and comforted capitalists.

You forget that protestantism was basically invented from the ground up to be “Christianity rewritten to be extremely capitalist”

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

I ask friends who are more intelligent than me

And if they don’t know I assume it is forbidden knowledge that would drive me mad to know

(I am only half joking)

Normal country

Normal things are done in it.

I understand.

I even respect the general idea.

… But I will literally never willingly pay for an appliance-like piece of technology. I even sold off the one I got for free.

Android at least lets me sideload stuff and/or install it from F-Droid.

I don’t even think it’s good for gooning – It’s much heavier than a phone, so you can’t hold it in one hand (unless you have unnaturally strong and dextrous fingers?)

Like sure, that screen is big and pretty, but without something to hold the device up it’s not a comfy experience.

Man it wasn’t even anything crazy. It’s just.

All my android devices have a syncthing service that… Syncs. Things. Between them and my PC/Homeserver.

Now, the only app for Syncthing I could find on the Apple App store was a paid app, but I was actually fine with that: It seems Apple stuff is made for rich people, and I had accepted that everything would be paid for.

Except.

When you use Syncthing on Android it just. Drops things into folders. Like a normal program on a normal computer. And other applications can just access that.

But nope, not here. Everything is in its own cage, and the user has exactly ZERO control over this (unlike, say, the likes of Flatpak on Linux, where it’s just a matter of granting permission manually)

My comic book folder? I had to go through a cumbersome process to manually import all the cbr files into the comic reader app. Same for my video files.

Plus like. Just the lack of options in general. It felt like I was in an airport – Stuck in an, admittedly nice, environment and only having access to whatever overpriced products existed inside that environment.

Probably the iPad

Got it for free from a relative who had bought a newer model (he always has the latest iShit)

Played around with it for a week

Sure. It’s smooth. That screen was drop dead gorgeous.

… And yet everything I tried to do on the thing felt like I was fighting against it. Everything was restrained and needlessly clunky. It made me think “golly gee, windows cooperates more”

Large emotion

I wash. With water. At least when home

Toilet paper destroys my arse

Because the people who care already know, and the people who don’t know don’t care, being somewhere between ‘apathetic about the US descent into fascism’ (they might be foreigners, or Americans who are alienated), and ‘actively supportive of this descent into fascism’.

The real uplifting news is bootlickers getting kicked in their metaphorical shins in the comment section.

Brazil is a very large place with each state/region having its own type of food.

So if I may make a suggestion of my hometown’s favourite snack (which I think originated in the state of São Paulo)

We call it Prensadão – It’s a Brazilian take on a hot dog, and like everything Brazilian… It is very extra.

The hardest part to get outside of Brazil is probably the bread. It uses a bread that is a bit like a hamburger bun in texture, but instead of being round, it’s a rectangle and it’s large.

You start with hot-dog sausages. Cook them up, then slice them in half longitudinally (so you get two long half-sausages). Get like three or four of those and put them in the bread.

Then you add Potato Straws, Cheddar Cheese, Little Tomato Cubes, bacon (fried until crispy), and optionally some chicken (grilled and then cut into tiny shreds)

(Other optional additions: Calabrese sausages, sweet corn, ham, mozarella, cream cheese)

You know you reached ideal Prensadão density when it looks like you CAN’T CLOSE YOUR DAMN SANDWICH.

So now you put it in a hot pan, get a large piece of metal, and squish that bitch down using your body for leverage (our local restaurants have dedicated presses for doing this, but you can and I HAVE improvised with just. ANOTHER PAN.) – Flip. Press again to toast and squeeze on the other side.

Serve with a sauce made of mayonnaise blended with garlic and chives for added flavour.

Or if you want the meal traditionally associated with Brazil, you should try feijoada. Made with black beans, pork, and sausages. Served with some oranges to take the edge off.

Ancestral humans did not live in caves.

Caves were either social gathering places or emergency shelters.

They lived in huts made of wood and bone and skin.