anyone who's followed me for any amount of time knows i'm not some kind of sex-positivity hardliner, there are various criticisms of kink and the porn industry that I agree with for example, but frankly most criticism of casual sex/"hookup culture" are just the lamest whiniest shit to me.
I don't mean criticism of how rape culture can manifest itself within casual sex culture, i mean like criticism of consensual, sober casual sex. every critique of consensual casual sex strikes me as either pathetic jealousy, or like, "I thought i'd enjoy this but it turned out I didn't so now nobody should be allowed to do it (even though tons of people do enjoy it)" and in either case i'm afraid you are simply going to have to get over it.
if you're bored of casual sex and are finding yourself struggling to transition into a committed relationship i sympathize, I genuinely do, i've been there, but if casual sex didn't exist that wouldn't magically cause you to develop the social skills necessary to enter a committed relationship. if anything you would have even less relevant social skills because you wouldn't have developed adjacent social skills in a lower stakes environment.
anyone who's followed me for any amount of time knows i'm not some kind of sex-positivity hardliner, there are various criticisms of kink and the porn industry that I agree with for example, but frankly most criticism of casual sex/"hookup culture" are just the lamest whiniest shit to me.
I don't mean criticism of how rape culture can manifest itself within casual sex culture, i mean like criticism of consensual, sober casual sex. every critique of consensual casual sex strikes me as either pathetic jealousy, or like, "I thought i'd enjoy this but it turned out I didn't so now nobody should be allowed to do it (even though tons of people do enjoy it)" and in either case i'm afraid you are simply going to have to get over it.
if you're bored of casual sex and are finding yourself struggling to transition into a committed relationship i sympathize, I genuinely do, i've been there, but if casual sex didn't exist that wouldn't magically cause you to develop the social skills necessary to enter a committed relationship. if anything you would have even less relevant social skills because you wouldn't have developed adjacent social skills in a lower stakes environment.
anyone who's followed me for any amount of time knows i'm not some kind of sex-positivity hardliner, there are various criticisms of kink and the porn industry that I agree with for example, but frankly most criticism of casual sex/"hookup culture" are just the lamest whiniest shit to me.
I don't mean criticism of how rape culture can manifest itself within casual sex culture, i mean like criticism of consensual, sober casual sex. every critique of consensual casual sex strikes me as either pathetic jealousy, or like, "I thought i'd enjoy this but it turned out I didn't so now nobody should be allowed to do it (even though tons of people do enjoy it)" and in either case i'm afraid you are simply going to have to get over it.
"AI art is stealing Studio Ghibli's work/art without compensation" boy wait until you find out who drew and animated all of those frames and who got paid most for the end result
liberals are all about "stolen labour" when it's an "intellectual property" being stolen from a company, but not so much when it's the proletariat's labour being stolen by companies. funny that huh
He further warned that continuing these traditional policies would stifle domestic industries and drive youth migration.
KATHMANDU: The newly presented budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2026/27 has triggered intense debate in parliament, drawing sharply contrasting views from lawmakers during discussions on the Appropriation Bill on Thursday.
Criticizing the fiscal plan, Nepali Communist Party MP Parshuram Tamang argued that the budget is merely a digital extension of the neoliberal, capitalist, and privatization policies first introduced in 1991.
He also claimed that it favors capitalists and the middle class while deviating from the constitutionally envisioned path toward socialism.
He further warned that continuing these traditional policies would stifle domestic industries and drive youth migration.
Conversely, Rastriya Swatantra Party MP and Finance Committee Chairman Krishna Hari Budhathoki strongly defended the budget as transformative, highlighting its strategic shift away from basic physical infrastructure toward tax reform, the digital economy, Artificial Intelligence and private sector leadership.
Kathmandu. Opposition party CPN (UML) Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Padma Aryal has commented that the government's budget for the upcom
Kathmandu. Opposition party CPN (UML) Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Padma Aryal has commented that the government's budget for the upcoming fiscal year has failed to reach the poor. She made this comment on Thursday while participating in the general discussion on the budget in the House of Representatives meeting.
She stated that the budget lacks concrete programs to uplift the underprivileged, ensure their hearths are always warm, and bring smiles to their faces. Deputy Leader Aryal also objected to the government's budget, stating that it has adopted a policy of making the poor poorer and the rich richer.
Questioning the priorities and goals of the budget, she said in the parliament, 'The budget did not touch poverty. The word poverty is not adequately addressed in the entire budget speech. The government says – it will develop the middle class. There is nothing to say about this. But how can its goal be achieved? My question is – without uplifting the lower class citizens living below the poverty line of twenty percent, how can the size of the upper class increase? How scientific is it to add floors [while] keeping the foundation weak? This budget appears to have adopted a policy of keeping the lower class down and taking the upper class further up. Therefore, this is a budget that will further widen the class gap between the haves and the have-nots. The size of the middle class does not widen by itself. For this, the income of the lower level must increase. They must have skills in their hands. They must have a fair price in the market. The budget lacks concrete programs to uplift the underprivileged, ensure their hearths are always warm, and bring smiles to their faces.'
Aryal reminded that to fulfill the government's declared goal of developing the middle class, the budget must necessarily focus on the upliftment of the poor class. She stated that the economic development of the country is not possible without improving the economic condition of the lower class.
Kathmandu. Nepali Congress MP Sandip Rana has commented that although Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle claims to follow BP Koirala as an i
Kathmandu. Nepali Congress MP Sandip Rana has commented that although Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle claims to follow BP Koirala as an ideal, he has forgotten the citizens of remote villages while preparing the budget in practice.
Participating in the theoretical discussion on the budget in the House of Representatives meeting on Thursday, he made such an accusation. He said that the Finance Minister has completely forgotten BP's main principle of keeping in mind the citizens living in the huts of remote villages while making the blueprint for development in the budget. He stated that the budget brought by the government is impractical, non-inclusive, and insensitive to rural life.
He claimed that the goal of achieving 7% economic growth and keeping inflation within 6% by bringing a budget of approximately two trillion rupees more than the limit set by the National Planning Commission is not practical under any circumstances. He further stated that the budget does not even include the spirit of social justice and inclusivity in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. He mentioned that the low-income class, unorganized sector workers, farmers, youth, women, and marginalized communities have been left out of priority.
Criticizing the budget, he said in parliament, 'In the budget brought by the honorable Finance Minister, a renowned economist who considers Mahamanav BP Koirala as an ideal and starts the budget speech in the name of Suvarna Shamsher, has forgotten BP's statement that the blueprint for development should be made keeping in mind the citizens living in the huts of remote villages. The ambitious budget of 2 trillion rupees more than the limit set by the National Planning Commission, aiming to achieve 7% economic growth and keep inflation within 6%, does not appear practical anywhere. It is not in the spirit of the constitution at all, and although some classes may like it, this budget has not done social justice. It has not been able to include the lower class, farmers, youth, women, and marginalized classes. This budget has not included the large class of the country like the lower class below 20% and the unorganized class below 20%. The agricultural sector, which contributes 24% of GDP and 60% of employment, has been neglected.'
MP Rana reiterated that there is no basis for the government's commitment to create employment and self-employment for youth in rural areas within the budget. He commented that the plan to resettle depopulated villages will remain only a declaration as programs for village revitalization, increasing agricultural production, utilizing barren land, and developing local roads and tourism infrastructure have not been effectively included in the budget. Although a new Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation has been formed, the budget is insufficient, and due to the government's working style, the private sector has become discouraged, making it difficult to achieve the goal of employment expansion.
He emphasized that the state should collect taxes without imposing unnecessary burdens on the public and invest it in development. He accused the budget of making the tax system unjust by adding additional tax burdens on education, health, milk production, and electricity sectors, contrary to the principle that luxury goods should have high taxes and basic necessities should have concessions.
Kathmandu. Discussion on the budget for the fiscal year 2083/84 is currently underway in the parliament. After being obstructed for 10 days
He further warned that continuing these traditional policies would stifle domestic industries and drive youth migration.
KATHMANDU: The newly presented budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2026/27 has triggered intense debate in parliament, drawing sharply contrasting views from lawmakers during discussions on the Appropriation Bill on Thursday.
Criticizing the fiscal plan, Nepali Communist Party MP Parshuram Tamang argued that the budget is merely a digital extension of the neoliberal, capitalist, and privatization policies first introduced in 1991.
He also claimed that it favors capitalists and the middle class while deviating from the constitutionally envisioned path toward socialism.
He further warned that continuing these traditional policies would stifle domestic industries and drive youth migration.
Conversely, Rastriya Swatantra Party MP and Finance Committee Chairman Krishna Hari Budhathoki strongly defended the budget as transformative, highlighting its strategic shift away from basic physical infrastructure toward tax reform, the digital economy, Artificial Intelligence and private sector leadership.
while as a dark energy skeptic (though not as much as I am a dark matter skeptic) I was initially excited about the study coming out of UC Davis indicating dark energy may be unnecessary to explain accelerating expansion, but then I soured on the whole thing when I saw the purveyors of this new study are also attacking the copernican principal and are arguing that the earth occupies a special place in the universe.
Mathematicians are challenging the idea that dark energy is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe.
The math also calls into question the Copernican principle — the idea that the Earth’s location does not occupy a special place in the universe.
“Both the Lambda-cold dark matter model and a spherically symmetric spacetime produce a special place where we must lie for the model to be physically plausible,” Temple said. “If this principle rules out one, it has to rule out the other.”
fuck off. the notion that the earth has a special place in the universe is vastly more implausible on the face of it than dark energy. and you're claiming the lamba-cold dark matter also implies a special place in the universe for earth? since when? on what basis? i'm not generally one to defend the lamba-cold dark matter model but come on.
the writeup is kind of poorly done. what the paper itself calls into question is homogeneity and isotropy. these have never been conclusively proven and always had to be accepted axiomatically. the conventional logic goes that not accepting them as priors makes astronomy largely impossible
the list of people who have questioned them before includes vera rubin, who basically destroyed her career to do so (rubin-ford effect, which is still largely accepted as averaging out over larger distance scales for the particular voids she included in her study. i believe she had the right question with the wrong dataset). now that it's been fifty years it's not so much a career-killing question, since we have in the intervening time run through most of the other options and come up with nothing
discarding these axioms does in fact put the earth in a "special place" in a limited sense (density or other features may vary over large distances; one end of the observable universe may be distinct from the other), but not in like, a precopernican geocentric cosmology. we are in a special area, that's kind of a given (on a filament and not in a void; in the "green valley" and not in a highly star-producing nor a dead galaxy ...), what anisotropy and nonhomogeneity call into question is whether these features tend to average out over extremely large distances
more technically, what the paper does is apply range constraints to identify a ("maximal asymptotically stable") cluster of solutions of FLRW models that allow an amount of underdense radial perturbation without the use of expansion. this is an appeal to mathematical stability, in relation to a longstanding question in cosmology (why do these laws seem to be impossibly balanced?)
for expansion to explain the same thing, weinberg appealed to anthropocentrism. i think the logic here is more well founded than there, but as usual it matters very little until they can connect a precise solution to a predictive, falsifiable empirical observation (not what this paper tries to do)
while as a dark energy skeptic (though not as much as I am a dark matter skeptic) I was initially excited about the study coming out of UC Davis indicating dark energy may be unnecessary to explain accelerating expansion, but then I soured on the whole thing when I saw the purveyors of this new study are also attacking the copernican principal and are arguing that the earth occupies a special place in the universe.
Mathematicians are challenging the idea that dark energy is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe.
The math also calls into question the Copernican principle — the idea that the Earth’s location does not occupy a special place in the universe.
“Both the Lambda-cold dark matter model and a spherically symmetric spacetime produce a special place where we must lie for the model to be physically plausible,” Temple said. “If this principle rules out one, it has to rule out the other.”
fuck off. the notion that the earth has a special place in the universe is vastly more implausible on the face of it than dark energy. and you're claiming the lamba-cold dark matter also implies a special place in the universe for earth? since when? on what basis? i'm not generally one to defend the lamba-cold dark matter model but come on.
because americans are not very good at space they directly killed 17 people in preventable deathtraps, but westerners do not care about people like they do dogs
because americans are not very good at space they directly killed 17 people in preventable deathtraps, but westerners do not care about people like they do dogs
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli has launched a sharp attack on the government, accusing it of targeting him despite his acceptance of
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli has launched a sharp attack on the government, accusing it of targeting him despite his acceptance of the administration formed through the recent elections.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the elections, Oli expressed strong dissatisfaction over the government’s demand for his property details, claiming that his property had already been destroyed in an arson attack.
He challenged the authorities to collect the ashes of the burnt property instead of seeking a property declaration.
“If anyone has amassed illegal wealth, let the government investigate,” Oli said. “My property was set on fire and reduced to ashes. Now they are asking for my property details? Should I submit ashes as my property declaration?”
In a visibly angry tone, he further remarked, “Was setting fire to my property not enough? Now they want property details as well? The ashes are there—let the government take them. What property details are they asking for?”
Oli also complained that the government has continued to target him despite his recognition of the legitimacy of the administration formed through the electoral process.
The UML chairman’s remarks come amid ongoing political tensions between the ruling coalition and the main opposition party.
god he's so funny
the Nepali Communist Party may be more "professional" than KP Sharma Oli and the CPN (UML), but are they funny? can they honestly say they're funny?
the history of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party is kind of interesting actually- they started as part of the coalition that was pushing for democracy in nepal, albeit as a group with a far-right nationalist hindutva vision for what a "democratic nepal" would look like- then after the monarchy stepped down in nepal two things happened,
first: it became clear that a democratic nepal would be far more left-wing than the RPP wanted, (souring them somewhat on democracy)
and second: the supporters of the former monarchy largely folded themselves into the RPP
so now the official stance of the RPP is to establish a symbolic monarchy, with some members of the party wanting to stop there (with the expectation that the symbolism of that will pull nepal's politics rightward) and some members viewing that as the first step towards abolishing democracy in nepal entirely
interesting party. horrible people, also, associated with a massive number of hate-ctimes against muslims and christians in nepal.
yet another RPP split, specifically over the role of monarchy:
General Secretary Rana among others announce they have parted ways, but Lingden refuses to call it a split.
Kathmandu. Dr. Dhaval Shamsher Rana, who has left the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and Durga Prasai, coordinator of the Campaign to Sav
hopefully this split in the reactionary monarchist/nationalist camp should make it easier for communists to re-take power after Balendra Shah's capitalist RSP government inevitably shits the bed and dies.
