I don't think so. Unless maybe it was fully and instantly reversible at the request of the person in question. Maybe.

The moral implications for both sides are honestly incredibly horrific.

The chimera was the trapped, transformed and lobotomized soul of a mortal child... Having those experiments lead to the idolized cat girl form on the left still implies the capture and inhumane abuse of a human being's essence forever trapped in a body that doesn't match what their brain wants to be wired to.

Somehow this response became about trans rights. So no. I will not force human beings into cat girl bodies for the benefit of others.

Yeah... That's just about the feelings and experiences I tend to have.

Well, I do have a diagnosis. I appreciate you providing the insightful take on the process though. I just thought this was another instance of me just being forgetful.

Hard to de-condition myself from thinking about myself in a neurotypical fashion and recognise my limitations are real.

Okay wait... Is this strictly an ADHD thing? I do this all the fucking time. Like, I go through this mind palace thing where I hunt down my every single action with that object and play "Where's the stupid place I left my wallet this time?" In my brain.

But I don't see where I put the wallet, just places I've been with the wallet until I'm in the right place and my brain clicks. Like walking through a doorway and remembering what I was going to do.

I figured I had to give it a fair shake and use it as a companion to Kapital. While I found Marx's writing to be strongly focused on the philosophy I couldn't help but shake the feeling throughout Imperialism that Lenin was trying to sell the reader something.

Which makes sense to me as it was published in pamphlets and the likes leading into the revolution.

Though that unshakeable feeling never went away it did confirm a lot of my feelings and thoughts on globalisation, wealth consolidation and so on.

Lenin didn't get a faithful customer out of me but his writing certainly helped me understand some of my more authoritarian comrades. I don't have to agree with people completely to stand beside them.

To be completely honest I don't think Mein Kampf is worth the read and any other derivative that follow it are just worse takes like "The Turner Diaries".

Turns out ethno-fascists don't have anything to back them up except fear and hatred so their fiction tends to fall flat.

Thanks!

How did you find Rand's take on relativism?

I'm quite young so I can only compare it to a few things. It felt to me to just be overwhelmingly "Fuck you, I got mine." Which is... Interesting to say the least when you build your empire on the back of the workers.

Yeah, it just read like the angry rantings of a man left alone with hateful thoughts for too long. I can't speak to the quality of German in it and I'm certain some translations make his writings seem academic but they all just fall flat if you take a few hours to read up on economics and policy in Europe around the time he wrote the book.

Just the angry rants of some dude who feels like he isn't getting what he deserves. Some things never change. We just have podcasts for that now.

I've forced myself to read Mein Kampf, Atlas Shrugged, Imperialism by Lenin and various other political works from various philosophies. Do these count?

I've found many of them to be dry at best and abhorrent at worst (thanks Hitler).

None of them have changed my mind in drastic ways but have helped me understand the viewpoints of people I talk to.

Now the world will have to start reacting to Micro-Okra in the water? When will this end‽

Mushroom

Beats me. People seem to just want bandaid solutions that "scientists" think up that will cost trillions of dollars rather than solutions like... Planting trees and flowers in neighbourhoods that benefit humans and nature.

I wonder how long one of these algae tanks would have to run to counter the emissions cost of creating, placing and maintaining said algae tank. This shit is literally techbros reinventing the train every other month.

Slowly, over time making our cities better for future generations to live in?

It doesn't have to be calculated in dollars but in quality of life. It's investing in the welfare of your people. Plus, every city that has heavily pedestrianised so far has seen an increase in local spending and a decrease in public infrastructure spending.

So like... Even the money people should know.

So why don't we rethink the way we design urban environments to be more friendly to all life rather than the car-centric urban hellscapes we have now?

Hey I feel you. I'm both saddened and relieved to have attained this level of militariness. The environment makes the person.

A big part of why this kind of stuff flies that often, soldiers look for little comforts. We want a nice chair to sit in or a comfier hole to lie in at the end of the day. You learn through trial and error what you do and don't need. Our kit is often insufficient, lowest bidder type stuff that it ends up just not serving the purpose it's designed to do.

Part of it is also leading a horse to water but not being able to make it drink. I can tell a subordinate they won't need their winter jacket for October but hey, what if they get cold? Ultimately, newer soldiers end up over packing and over burdening their section until they learn how to pack. I prioritise undergarments, socks and water. Trying to leave as much room for mission essential kit over comfort. But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I've rucked three days across Sandy plains with a 12 pack in my bag so we could have some morale at the end of it. While other times I'm wet because I didn't want to pack the extra 1lb for rain pants.

A lot of the drilling you receive is about working as a team, how to move fast or silent, complete the mission under arduous circumstances. How you decide to get there is usually a personal decision. Your leaders are still responsible for your overall well-being but, like I said earlier. You can lead a horse to water.

Funny you mentioned internal frame rucksacks... Our current bags are internal frame, really spacious and easy to pack but they SUCK when you're wearing your armour, and ammo and everything else. They just don't fit right and hurt more than they help. They also promote what I talked about before which is over packing and without any kit in them weigh 15lbs already. The older rucks were external frame, smaller, lighter and fit less kit. They had their merits.

Quality and fit definitely help with your comfort when you've only got two feet and a heartbeat.

Similar experiences with me except army.

Load all their Gucci kit into a ruck. March 12km out to the middle of bumfuck nowhere huffing and puffing cause your shit weighs 80lbs before they gave you ammo, water and rations. Now you're wearing battle rattle and hiking up Mount Fuckyou carrying a load of bullshit.

Get to the bivouac, drop your shit and you didn't bother to figure out how your new inflatable mattress works instead of a foam hobo-pad the army issues you... Oh and you forgot to pack your bivvie bag and the ground is wet so you're trying to suck and fuck your way into someone's spare kit... Oh and you didn't bring a headlamp for sentry duty and now I gotta explain the the Sarge why my 2IC is such a useless bag of milk and needs to see a medic cause they cooked their lower back lugging their kitchen sink up a mountain for a three day mission.

Motherfucker, if you listened to me and packed the bare essentials and threw your spare kit in the truck you wouldn't be having this problem. Next time, make sure your goddamn flashlight has batteries and no, you can't use my battery pack to charge your cellphone. If my phone dies what am I gonna look at while baking in the 40°C blue rocket? The same childish graffiti of cocks? Brother, I drew those cocks. I don't need to look at them.

Might I add: My ass is 230lbs and I ain't got a gat dang problem lugging my shit up there. Yet these young dumb lads think they're the Morningstar's gift to the corps and yet here they are crying to me that their balls are so chafed they're bleeding.

That I do

You've gotta love it. Even going back to the very beginning where he chekov's guns us with a certain Company relic that only comes into play like... IRL 16 years later.

It probably wasn't planned like that from the very beginning but he made it all so very believable.

I had the pleasure of reading them for the first time maybe two years ago. I think I crushed a book a week.

I definitely based my most recent warlock/rogue off of Raven and I have no shame. I think I owe the books a re-read. Maybe then I'll be off to dread empire and Malazan.