Oh it gets funnier!

Kashmiris believe Jesus is entombed in Srinigar, and died an old man there after a career preaching incognito in Rome.

There is a tomb there, Buddhist style with footprints carved on the lid… but with odd slightly asymmetrical scars in the metatarsal area. Apparently. You can visit the building but the old tomb is inaccessible due to an important muslim tomb above it.

Another rumour there is that a temple was being renovated around 60CE and a persian stoneworker left graffiti on the back of a step that had local news including ‘the prophet ‘Issa’ has come healing and teaching from the West’. Roughly in time for a major Buddhist conclave.

There’s more local legend about it. Fun alternative narrative. Would be a nice place to retire anyway.

You’d think. Maybe. We don’t know for sure. Thomas was a contemporary so same generation.

The RC church is a hungry amoeba.

• virgin birth (old Egypt)
• tree worship (N. Europe)
• Saturnalia (Rome)
• eat and drink the god (Greece)
• etc.

I’m butchering a 2 millennia story, but it illustrates how christianity fares in hinduism, and it even has some evidentiary support, so…

When the apostle Thomas was sent to India, he wound up in Cochin and began establishing a ministry or fellowship there.

He was frustrated by the lack of convincing required, or resistance to his ideas, without singular devotion.

The creator instantiating one more avatar is no stretch as Hinduism is pretty sophisticated in narratives, so Issa/Jesus just got added to the list that includes Krishna, and to this day you can buy hindu iconography with Jesus teaching compassion.

(Dude did succeed in forming a strictly Christian community though, and so arguably the oldest Christian sect is there.)

I once had a friend and neighbour who was an aikido sensei. He was kind of an awkward dork, but magically calm and centered physically. One thing aikido is good at is endless fall training.

He once had a truck swerve toward him and his response had his motorcycle aiming at two older women on the sidewalk, so he cranked it hard into a hedge with a small wall behind it. He was going fast enough that it launched him off the bike and all the way across the yard to the front door of the house.

Naturally he executed a perfect roll and finished on his feet facing back at the old gals on the sidewalk before he knew what he was doing. He nodded politely and tried to keep his cool and a superhero aura for comedic effect despite being freaked out at flying around 30 feet or so, but it’s a good story about how training is bigger than you at times.

That’s great bud just take yer shoes off in the house

Holy shit, dude.

The wealth of the USA is much more from colonial extraction and market manipulation than the mythology of productivity would have you believe. The dark waters of American imperialism have flooded the globe for nearly a century.

So yeah, you, as in the polity, think about the rest of the world all the time, but more like buffet than neighborhood.

But more to the point, examine the defeatist viewpoint that is part of the democracy-suppressing ideology that is prominent in many countries, and results in low civic participation, the hero complex: “I’ll get right on that whole convincing 100 million Americans what to do and vote”.

No, just no. No-one asks that.

What we ask is just resistance in the form of what is possible. For those ground under the millstone, it may just be educating yourself with documentaries or a study buddy, so you can better see how to build the society you want, and represent that in speech and action. Every act of resistance counts, it really does.

But essentially, just help organize. Volunteer 4h a month at first. In a sea of 400 million people every drop counts, because you only have to sufficiently organize about 20 million for real change to kick in.

Don’t second guess too much what is effective, that requires massive data, and there are all kinds of unexpected wins and losses. I have had some successful activists tell me that I made a difference in their chosen directions years ago, and I had no idea. Sometimes it’s just a comment that leads to a lot of convincing.

Pretty sure the italics was the equivalent of /s.

Note how “terrorist” is often applied to those resistant to resource/land based occupation/exploitation.

Ooo, cooling mat! Well then, no wonder it’s still running. One of the easiest laptops to fix, too, so you could just repurpose it.

Also, when you buy an Air, consider whether you are going to be gaming or not. If not, a M2 with 16 GB of RAM can be a lot cheaper than new, and my 16GB M1 is still awesome even for some intensive use.

To add: my favourite mac of all time was probably my 15” 2012 with a matte hd screen and upgraded SSD drive (which only took 10 fucking minutes, le sigh). All the ports!

Keep that thing off the internet if you can. Security is kind threadbare on that abandoned macOS.

Fantastic form factor for non internet tasks though. The 2011 model is worse for thermal management and the fans work harder so may need replacement, listen for rattles or silence from one side. Keep it ventilated on all sides including bottom.

Debian should run very nicely on that if you want modern software features and low-worry internet security.

Well many seem to think that ‘real threats’ includes smashing fashion store windows and throwing bricks at lackeys in uniforms. Performative violence is just story building material for those who control the narrative.

Effective violence is directed surgically at assets, or at processes and procedures. That means sabotage that costs the oligarchs and not small business, vandalism that makes you think, disruption of the trickle up effect, and personal fear for individuals ONLY after the other escalations.

Of course in the USA the ammosexuals are pushing cart before horse and people are dying for the news cycle.

Oh, out west we called it the Flu Trux Klan

Sad tragedy, lack of support. My brother was lucky enough to get help from conscientious objection groups and get out before being haunted by the decision.

“Pardon our noise! It’s the sound of Freedom jetliners”

He’s a TV Talibangelist

User LemmyKnowsBest publicly claims that all laws are just, fair, and reasonable.

Dude, now you’re making it personal with totally the wrong person. What a dork.

Yes, this is all self-evident to anyone who recognizes overconsumption and premature or planned obsolescence.

My point is that advertising and other misinformation makes it extremely difficult for the average person to make rational decisions about technical issues when making purchases, so blame lies much more with companies, governments, and culture than the teeming hordes you look smugly down on.