April 2020 archive

26
Apr
2020

So atheistic satanism is actually a thing.

categories: personal; word count: 399 words

Truth be told, I’ve actually been looking into this for months, but I’ve had more time to look into it since we went into a global pandemic and have had to spend the better part of a month in quarantine. Over the course of my life I have never considered myself religious, but as the years have gone on I have seen my tolerance for religion (and the things that people have done, will do, and claim that they are willing to do in the name of it) progressively wane. I’ve also had the occasional friend who has self-identified as Satanist, which eventually got me looking more into it myself as the months went on and we had to socially distance, stay in our own homes, that sort of thing. My research began with the Church of Satan, which was (and is) the first federally and legally recognized church dedicated to atheistic Satanism. Truth be told, I don’t have anything against it, and if it were the only federally and legally recognized Satanist church I probably would have joined that one. But as I began to look further into Satanism, I eventually found The Satanic Temple, in no small part due to the friends that I would continue to make over social networking, especially those who said that their practice and tenets better fit how they lived their lives and viewed Satanism. As I came to read more about it, I came to agree with that myself. In addition to being a legally recognized religion, they also do leftist political activism, which is something that I do as an activist and advocate. I thought that them putting up Baphomet statues where and when Christians put up Ten Commandment statues was fair and fitting, and I am an extremely big supporter of the Protect Children Project and “After School Satan” (meant to counter the “Good News Club”, which is an after-school Christian… program of sorts many schools have).

So now I am an official member of The Satanic Temple, and I am looking into chapters.

The nearest chapter is several hours from me, so I am deliberating that one. I haven’t formally decided yet.

But this is a religious organization that does good, stands for good, and stands against theistic religion.

I really see nothing wrong with any of this given my detest for (Abrahamic), theistic religion. I honestly don’t.

25
Apr
2020

Apparently the Turnip Exchange is… meh now?

categories: RPGs; word count: 250 words

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it here before, but sites like the Turnip Exchange have facilitated buying and selling turnips on Animal Crossing for practically as long as the game has been out (New Horizons, anyway). But now there is speculation that use of this could technically violate the game’s Terms of Service because it grants a third-party access to the game (to see how many visitors are on your island), and more and more people are not wanting to risk being banned from the game or playing the game with their friends upon realization of this. The Discord that I participate in (“Animal Crossing for gamers over 25”) has taken this stance, and I mean… I can’t say that I don’t agree with them right now, because Nintendo’s Terms of Service does prohibit allowing third parties to access the game (“rooting” it), and it’s not a risk that I want to take and have them come down on us by banning us from the game. Or Nintendo Switch Online, for that matter. Not until we know for sure whether or not participating in this actually falls under those parameters.

I’m lucky that I have enough friends who play that someone almost always manages to have a high buying rate on their island at least once a week, but this still does suck because I have used the Turnip Exchange website a few times to sell our turnips. We won’t be using it again though until we have solid confirmation.

24
Apr
2020

I have had one busy day, but now I’m done!

categories: personal; word count: 194 words

I’ve managed to upgrade my phone, now that it’s arrived. That was one lovely call to customer service now that Virgin Mobile was… uh, absorbed (swallowed) by Boost Mobile, but I can tolerate it. Now I have a phone that will continue to update operating systems, runs faster, has more space, and is better overall, so it should last me several years. The case should get to the house soon, and then I will be done with… that for awhile…

I am also in possession of my bulletproof glass knuckles! They are a more affordable alternative to brass knuckles, and as I’ve mentioned, completely legal in my state of residence. The best self-defense tools are the ones that you never have to use, but if any circumstance should arise where I need to defend myself or my loved ones from the threat of harm, I want to have as many tools at my disposal as possible that work with the self-defense training that I have actually had. These are light, but they’ll definitely get the job done.

I am honestly surprised at myself for not considering adding them to my arsenal much, much sooner.

23
Apr
2020

IRS, your ableism. It is really showing here now.

categories: personal; word count: 201 words

We continue not to have gotten our economic stimulus payment (“Corona check”), or… whatever people are calling it. The “non-filers”, or people who normally don’t have to file taxes, haven’t even been gotten to yet, and it is really showing. The fact that you can’t even call these people to inquire about the status of your payment, or even your eligibility (since the “Get My Payment” tool is not working as well as it should for most people) is appalling for something that should have begun to roll out without this many hitches in the middle of April. There are things that I had begun to plan to buy with that money that I can’t buy with that money until, well, I have it in my hand (or my bank account), and being far from the only one that has not received their stimulus payment or any word on when they might get it is even more appalling. But the IRS can continue to post about this on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, which makes the whole thing absurd.

This is all I keep getting right now, and it’s frustrating. I filled out the non-filer form on the tenth. Jesus Christ.

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