#humontalks

[thehmn]

Wow I knew a lot of people in Denmark want to boycott America but I had no idea it was widespread enough for our main grocery store chains to do this. People are ANGRY at Trump like I’ve never seen before.

[thehmn]

I want to apologize to my friends and family who have children for low key treating their kids like dogs but the standard methods for training dogs are even more effective of them because they actually understand language and are better at reasoning.

Positive reinforcement is amazingly effective, like I saw my nephew poking their cat so I sternly told him no, he stopped and I immediately changed my demeanor and cheerfully told him thank you and how happy I was that he listened to me instead of staying angry at him and he got this strange “Oh…It actually does make a difference wether I’m naughty or not” and later my sister in law asked why he’s so polite around me.

That’s literally what works best on dogs. Let them know when you don’t like what they’re doing but also let them know when you’re happy with them even if that means changing your demeanor on a dime (and even if you’re still a bit mad at them for doing it in the first place).

Oh and little treats. I skipped the aunt phase and is already turning into a grandma who has candy in her pockets for the kiddos for good behavior.

[thehmn]

I’m a strong proponent of lying to get the help you need. I always try the truthful route first but if that gets me nowhere? Lying it is.

I think it’s important to respect other people’s time, wellbeing and money so I don’t do it in situations where I know I’m in the wrong, like if I want to get into a place just for fun and someone could get in trouble for letting me in wrongfully I’d rather not.

But sometimes people just don’t understand why something is important in your situation so you have to turn it into something they understand. When I lived in England I constantly lied about being pregnant so gas station employees would let me use their bathroom because for some reason they didn’t have public bathrooms.

Or when my doctor’s secretary couldn’t get it into her head that my stomach pains were very serious and concerning and insisted I couldn’t get an appointment this month so that evening I “found” a lump that I was pretty sure was nothing but it meant I had a reason to call her the next day and get a new appointment immediately and when the doctor told me the lump was harmless I could tell her what my real problem was and she immediately scheduled ALL the tests and examinations because she understood how concerning it was. I just had to get past the fucking secretary with a lie.

Fuck I even support that elderly man who lied about having four children who were stuck in a house during a flood but when the rescue team got there in a dinghy they realized it was four dogs. The guy knew he had to lie because he was too sick to help them himself (able bodied people in the area were able to save their own pets) and they wouldn’t have helped him if they knew it was “just dogs”. In the video the rescue team can be seen choking up and padding him on the back while he cries with his scared dogs in his arms. The team is clearly not mad because they can see how important the dogs are to him but I have no doubt he was right in thinking they wouldn’t have helped if he had told them the truth.

So do what ya gotta do and lie lie lie.

[thehmn]

Not too long ago I made a post about the Sanded Church of Skagen that was abandoned due to being buried in sand, but the “sand problem” is much larger than the church.

If you look at Denmark on a map you might notice a white dot near the very top of the country.

That my friend is a huge sand dune that arose out of the sea 300 years ago and is slowly eating its way through the landscape at 18 meters a year.

And if you look closer you might notice that it’s heading straight for the towns Rannerød and Hulsig and when that happens no one will come to save them because the dune is protected. At least they’ll see it coming.

That means that in a few hundred years we won’t just have a sanded church, we’ll have sanded towns with more roofs and towers sticking out of the dune than any tourist bureau could wish for.

Because the dune is a very popular tourist spot. I myself have been to it a few times and it’s quite the experience for a child to suddenly be in a “desert” in Denmark.

If you feel sad for the people in the towns just remember that’s nature. The reason why the dune is protected is because the area used to have many more but people made an effort to destroy them and it fucked up the ecosystem in the area. The dunes leave moist wetland behind that loads of rare creatures thrive in.

So today the inevitable end of the towns are viewed as sort of romantic poetry about nature, the march of time and appreciating the now.

And isn’t it kinda beautiful? To know that something like this exists in the world that will destroy our towns, roads and railways that we could easily eradicate with our modern technology but we choose not to simply because we know it would be wrong.

[thehmn]

Because I only ever saw Americans talk about wanting paid pregnancy leave I assumed you at least got a bit of child support from the government but after your government offered to pay women a one time cash reward for giving birth I realize that you don’t?

I mean not every single country in Europe give families child support until the child is 18 years old so I don’t know why I thought the US did. And it’s not a HUGE sum of money but enough to make life a little bit easier for families. Here in Denmark the base sum is 243 usd a month per child but you get more if the caregiver have a low income and if they have zero income it goes up with 100% because its important to the government that the child grows up to become a good worker.

Because that’s the thing. It’s not about being nice. It’s all to make good workers so our society can keep going. Again it amazes me that some countries don’t want good workers.

[thehmn]

The difference between American bosses’ view of unions and Danish bosses’ is kinda insane. I recently got hired for a new job and during the interview the boss asked if I was part of a union. I said no and she immediately said “You should. It’s not a requirement but we strongly advise all our employees to join a union” So I’m currently looking for a good match. When I went back I asked her which union the other employees were part of so she led me into the break room to ask them and they started sharing their experiences with different unions. Afterwards all I could think was “My American friends would loose their minds”

Mind you, Denmark is one of the few countries where we have no minimum wage because unions control everything so even if you aren’t part of one you still enjoy the wider benefits they’ve created for their members. So employees being part of a union makes very little difference to the employers. In my case they advise being part of a union because the work is somewhat seasonal so I’ll need economic support for two months out of every year. So she was just looking out for me by advising me to join a union.

[thehmn]

Small thing that makes me happy

When I was a child the snow near roads would turn black almost immediately from all the car exhaust. Now the only dirty snow I see is if the snow plows scraped up dirt like in the picture on the right. Cars are still terrible for the environment but at least it’s a lot better than the 90’s.

[thehmn]

I should just start writing all the insane things my conservative coworkers say down and make a little book out of it with glitter and bows on it.

The latest entry: they’re scared of people living in tiny homes. They refuse to go near the area where the tiny houses are because the people there “can’t be trusted”. Mind you, tiny homes are not a poor people thing there. These are upper middle class people who are a bit on the hippie side. It absolutely terrifies my coworkers.