Next, "die" does mean "day," though nominative singular is "dies," i.e. "dies irae." It could be conjugated "die" if it was in ablative or locative case, but "die ad die" would mean something more like "day to day." "Ad" is in a "to" direction and "ab" is from, i.e. "ab urbis," and ablative case is used to indicate the movement of a thing. In short, "by" is not really a way to translate "ad"; we might want "per" here? (Through, by means of, etc.)

Part of socializing and having friends is being a good listener even when you don't actually give a shit about the subject.

Your are hurting other people's feelings when you bluntly respond with "Anyway..." and then change the topic.

It can not always be about your preferred topic.

Autistic mom of two autistic kiddos here. I do something with my kids called playing the good friend game. I have them ask me a question like “what did you do this weekend” and then I respond with something they don’t like ie: “I ate some sushi for dinner on Saturday! It was delicious!” Their job is to not make a gross face and not to yuck my yum. They have to ask me a follow up question! Minimum one about what I liked about the sushi or who I went with or what I ordered etc. and they have to be kind. I change up what I answer with for the initial question and for all follow ups. It’s incredible!

You can learn how to chit chat about things because you care about the people around you. Small talk is banal and boring but the people in your life are real and lovely and nuanced. Get to know them. You can do it. You’ll build relationships that last. Don’t do it for the sake of small talk. Do it because you’re deeply invested in learning how to see the people around you as whole pictures.

"Because the decision rests entirely on the Montana Constitution, it is insulated from the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the principle of adequate and independent state grounds, the federal Supreme Court cannot review a state court's interpretation of its own constitution, so long as that constitution provides more protection than the federal one. [...] What this means in practice is that Montana's transgender residents now have a constitutional shield completely independent of the Supreme Court of the United State’s decisions."

Carolina Milanesi, an independent technology analyst, said Google is trying to make its cash cow business — search — richer and more personalized, and it will make shopping easier. But there is a risk that users may have fewer choices about what to click. "Right now it's: I ask a question, I get a bunch of answers and I feel that I'm in control as to which answer I take, or if I'm looking for something, which product I'm going to end up buying. That is going to be less so going forward," she said. Milanesi envisions AI-enabled search and agents proposing products to consumers — perhaps even those they have requested — but with less clarity or choice around where it's coming from. "If you're going to say: 'I want a pair of Jordans, go find them,' you're not necessarily sure what steps have been taken and whether the AI has used a source or a store that was paid for and therefore came up in the search results," she said, "or if AI actually went and did their due diligence and picked the best for me as a customer."

And here's one from Time magazine (May 20, 2026):

While Google already has “AI Mode,” the company will now power the whole search bar through its new Gemini 3.5 Flash model.  Instead of the classic list of blue links, Google Search will now also generate a custom page with an AI-generated summary of what you’re searching about, which will then trigger a conversation with AI Mode on the main page, allowing users to ask follow-up questions—similar to the kind of layout you would see when opening ChatGPT.

And a little more from Time's article on how this may affect the websites that we are trying to search for:

“It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivize content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more,” she told Technology Magazine.  

I would agree that the majority of fear and hate and disgust is directed towards Trans women.

And as a Trans man, who has also lived as a woman in this society, I understand the absolute hell that is, "You're woman enough to be dumber than a man, women enough to be weaker than a man, woman enough to be objectified and women enough to be sexualized, but at that same time you are a man enough to be a predator, man enough to be a threat, man enough to be deceptive on purpose, and so you are entitled to all of the responsibilities of both and the privileges of niether". I understand that first-hand, even if I have the option of hiding from it if I choose to cut off a hand as sacrifice.

What I don't understand, what genuinely confuses me- and this is not some poorly-disguised attempt at being holier-than-thou or passive aggressive because I really really do not get it and would like an answer- is why should I be so willing to play that game?

Why should I pretend that my sisters are such different species that I can't throw bricks from their side of the line?

I may not be a woman anymore, and that may be easier to accept online, but in the meat space, I still look like one. I'm still PERCEIVED as one. People still dump on me all the same shit they dump on every woman, and call me the victim, and harp on about all these dangerous secret perverts in dresses who want to ogle me in public bathrooms, because I'm the victim, I'm the target demographic, so shouldn't I be on their side?

And when that happens, and they tell me, "be careful, be safe, watch out for those disgusting men, look out for those awful trannies" I like to turn around and spit back, "I am one of those trannies- go fuck yourself"

Because even though you and I are disagreeing right now- not fighting, but disagreeing, because as I said, I'm not willing to entertain the idea that we are a group that can or should be divided- at the end of the day, no matter who has it worse or who has it easier or who is more acceptable to Good, God-Fearing, Respectable Men And women- we really are all sitting at the same table here, the one labeled "TRANNIES, FREAKS, SICK-MINDED PERVERTS", and it doesn't matter if we all agree 100% or not as long as none of us will let anyone poison the food one seat to the left.

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!

Love, grief, and magic in the mundane

It was only legalized in 8 US states (the 8th only a few months before), and wouldn’t be legalized nation-wide until 2015.

It was only legal in TEN COUNTRIES in 2011. We wouldn’t hit 20 countries until 2017. (Australia was 23rd)

As of today (April 14, 2026), I believe only 38 countries have fully legalized same-sex marriage. Out of somewhere around 200 countries in the world. That’s only ~19% of countries.