I had exactly the same experience.

I also really liked Vermont while I lived there, and everything that you mentioned are great features. That said, the state (and much of New England) is overwhelmingly white. I am white-passing, but my spouse is not, and they felt consistently othered while we lived there. Not in an aggressive or hateful way, but in a “strangers see me as a novelty” way that you tend to get in homogenous communities. Burlington is probably a bit more diverse than the relative middle of nowhere where we lived, so your mileage may vary.

Dragonfruit is delicious, but this depends heavily on where you get it. Most non-tropical markets get imported dragonfruit that was picked too early and shipped/stored over long periods, resulting a relatively bland taste and drier texture. Ripe, fresh dragonfruit is lovely. It’s in my top 5 fruits personally.

Why would you hurt me like this?

A lot of folks thought he would push fascist policies, though? He was notable for his nativist and protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail. The audacity of it all is what got him all that free print and airtime.

By hour count this year:

1. Behind the Bastards
2. The Dollop
3. The Best Thing Ever (used to be called Read it and Weep)

Wow and I thought I had a lot. I salute you.

What an unworthy life. What a depressing existence.

Unfortunately for you, you are not the authority on what is and isn’t a slur.

It has been used as a “term of contempt towards women” for “over six centuries”, and is a slur that fosters sexism against women. It has been characterized as “an archaic word demeaning women since as early as the 15th century” that seeks to control women.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/*removed*_(slang)

It’s always disappointing to see people who think themselves reasonable delighting in the usage of slurs when given the opportunity to tear down someone they perceive as disliked by their community. It is much more damning to them than the object of their ire.

Greene is a symptom of the cancer metastasized on our civilization, but deploying gendered slurs against her is counterproductive and pitiful.

You’re gonna need to find a new fascist dog whistle.

I will never understand how the cruise industry still exists. I cannot fathom the appeal, nor how the companies survived Covid.

Extreme wealth and a love of authoritarianism, name a more iconic duo.

Why do people always focus on women’s appearances when discussing topics wholly unrelated to appearance?

Because misogyny is pervasive in culture and when most people perceive a woman as “bad”, it suddenly feels ok for them to reduce her to her appearance. Most folks are not nearly as enlightened as they like to think.

For real. Each sentence made me want to throw up in my mouth. This misogyny combined with wealth worship and zero-sum outlook on life is an unforgivable character flaw. What a vapid, worthless existence.

Your pearl-clutching, tone-policing reaction to the mildest possible description of a would-be fascist authoritarian is fucking sad.

🎉

I’m surprised not to see more people mention From Software games. Going all the way back to demon’s souls they consistently teach you how to understand the tools at your disposal, the challenge that you currently face, and how to use the former to overcome the latter. I learned how to “read” opponents to find and exploit vulnerabilities while playing dark souls way back, and that general approach is consistently useful in all sorts of other games. There are lots of other translatable skills involved, of course, like timing and resource management.

I’m sorry to inform you that satire is dead.

My sister and I are PKs. Our father is a closeted gay man who for some unfathomable reason gravitated toward increasingly conservative megachurches during our childhoods. We’re both queer atheists now, and our childhoods left us damaged, angry, and sad. Now he’s retired and half-out while our mom is bemusedly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The relationship is emotionally exhausting so we both moved far away to minimize contact. I have a great relationship with my in-laws and would love something similar with my parents, but I feel there is likely too much baggage to unpack.