• 3 Posts
  • 1.12K Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: July 13th, 2023

help-circle

  • I had discussed it with my wife. I didn’t want her to feel obligated to do so, and I know it would be awkward at her work to change her last name, but ultimately she wanted to - so I guess that’s one reason?

    There is a degree of closeness from it that I think some people appreciate. If you all share a last name, perhaps you feel closer as a family? I’ve known some people that don’t share the same last name as their kids, or people that went double-barrelled, but didn’t with their kids, and some of them had either changed later, or regretted not having the “same” name.






  • Up until quite late in my teens I often felt that I would make friends with people that had similar interests.

    I started going to more rock and metal gigs, and bars that played the same music. I’d also talk to people that were into the same games as me, and engaged them in a friendly manner since, you know, we like the same stuff - we should be friends, right?

    It was a shock to the ol’ belief system that someone that likes the same bands you like might also be a huge cunt, or that dude that likes the same anime as you is also really fucking racist. I found all that out in one night after talking to two dudes that had a Thrice shirt and one dude that mentioned he was a huge DBZ fan. I found myself growing closer to people that didn’t necessarily like the same stuff I did, and my closest friends like a varied range of music, sports, and shows. That realisation allowed me to stop changing myself for others, to stop gravitating towards people that simply like things I like, and to just be open and friendly to everyone.





  • They do not have to be implemented. Each country in the EU is open to interpret a directive as they wish, as long as they reach a desired outcome that doesn’t fly against the directive. As such, directives are often referred to as “soft laws” because they’re loose enough that direct opposition is challenging. An EU regulation, on the other hand, needs to be added to national law.

    I agree that EU bureaucracy works really well, mostly because it’s loose enough to avoid countries directly challenging it. Ireland being considered a low tax haven is a good example of this, in that a directive allowed them to meet tax requirements while also ensuring that they can house many F500 companies in a relatively small area of Dublin.



  • There is a delegated act on the way that may find its way into law, but it’s likely that it won’t get that far (like many EU laws) because they move a lot slower than local laws, and because not all countries agree (or agree to a larger extent). It’s also worth noting that the EU != Europe, so there will be several counties in and out that will have their own vested interests in passing/not passing this as law. Ireland is a big one, as they heavily rely on tech investment, whereas France will likely go above and beyond anything the EU will cook up. I believe Belgium in particular beat everyone to this.






  • While I definitely agree, enough momentum going both ways, alongside perhaps people choosing to leave Mastodon and Threads to go to the “winner of the alternatives” could sway this to a point where BlueSky is no longer the minnow here. Given that we’re only weeks detached from Trump’s win, I can only see it getting worse for Twitter, to the point where I can see Elon just selling it and moving on - perhaps even to BlueSky if Jack wanted a cut price deal.



  • Honestly, the number of lonely people is probably far greater than you can imagine. I remember reading a statistic from a local male suicide prevention group that said a third of all men have no close friends either nearby or at all. Include people with friends that are still feeling lonely, and obviously other genders, and you’re easily looking at most people being lonely.

    Many of my close friends moved away for work, and I’ll be doing the same soon. Most of them don’t even know that I have a child now, let alone regularly speak. It’s quite sad really, and it only seems to get worse when you get older.