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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 8th, 2023

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  • I have a smart deadbolt that is keypad operated. It’s awful.

    Never used the smart features, and there isn’t a bypass to unlock the door when the batteries die — which happens a lot, especially in the winter. I tried using rechargeable batteries in it, but they last less than half the time of normal batteries.

    There is nothing more frustrating than punching in the key code and hearing the death of HAL9000 voice before the deadbolt fully unlocks. Luckily I have a back door that isn’t smart.

    I’m replacing the lockset soon and this won’t be a problem anymore, but holy shit is it frustrating and wasteful.



  • derfunkatron@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.worldOstracize Nazis Rule
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    4 months ago

    Pause a moment and consider what are trying to accomplish with this argument.

    Black Metal is not a Nazi genre and I don’t think anyone was actually making that claim. However, white supremacism and Nazi sympathies are common enough in the genre that it has its own scene to the point where it could even be considered a subgenre. It’s even known as National Socialist Black Metal.

    The line is definitely blurry when it comes to some bands being labeled as NSBM when the band itself appears to be or even asserts they are apolitical. This makes it difficult to confidently make statements like “this is a Nazi band” or “10% of Black Metal bands are Nazis.”

    But that isn’t the point of this thread; the point was “Nazis are overrepresented in Black Metal, so listener beware because you might find yourself sporting a t-shirt that advocates whites supremacy and cruising around town blasting neo-Nazi anthems.”

    This isn’t about how many Nazis it takes to make a Nazi music genre or if people from opposite ends of the political spectrum are allowed to enjoy the same music. It’s about being aware that musical tastes can be hijacked to get people to listen to, or even defend, ideas they wouldn’t normally.



  • I’ve experienced the language skills of Nederlanders first hand! What I found to be most striking was hearing people having trilingual conversations especially in restaurants where the waitstaff were actively communicating individually with dozens of people in two to three languages.

    I’ve tried to keep up with language skills but starting a language in high school or college just didn’t work for me. Especially since the application of those skills prioritizes written communication. I always end up with an understanding of pronunciation, some grammar, and a handful of vocabulary that I can’t actively use.

    I don’t think any Americans are judging you too harshly for UK spellings. I think keeping track of all the slang and colloquialisms would be the greater challenge. I was taught “grey” and “colour” as a kid and the only problem I have is with spellcheck. 😂




  • Your English is also better than people in my family whose ancestors were 18th-century British colonists.

    I once had a heated argument with a coworker about where the capital of the US is located. He was of the opinion that Washington state was the capital and Washington, DC was a US city located in Colombia (he also had difficulty understanding that Colombia and Columbia were spelled differently). He wasn’t trolling; when I finally got to a map (pre-smart phone days) and showed him where DC is located, he got really mad.