#narfopinions

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the thing thats so insane about e msk is that if you wrote someone as stupid and incompetent and in power but actively fucking cringe and pathetic people would think of them as an obviously exaggerated unrealistic character, the fact they're a real person is hard to believe. i can't think of a single thing they're good at. not even sucking up to people in power, they see, to be barely competent at that. they're the kind of person who'd be tossed the moment someone power likes better comes along. i guess what they're good at is being a sad little worm who can be cajoled to act as a wealth source in the classic rich man's way

but somehow what really gets me is how much they want to be funny and possess literally the least funny stuff ive ever seen. like i actually don't know how anyone is this unfunny. i think when you're rich you just power through ppl saying "you are utterly bad at this and never improve, stop trying." i've always thought that the smartest thing rich people can do is stay far out of public view and bankroll representatives to act for you. it doesn't matter if you're incompetent or unfunny or pathetic if you're not airing that shit for everyone to see all the time. and indeed the era when he posted less was when he still had plausible deniability even though it was clear with close inspection that he never really accomplished anything himself. now he's just a walking testament to how generational wealth can make the least competent man alive matter

ultimately it's just so apparent that he wants to be a smart and funny ironic online poster nerd with a proven track record so bad. he wants to be an insane FOSS guy who invented half the kernel or some shit but he can't be and he's never going to be happy about that, ever,

i can ramble forever but at the end of the day i am just permanently in a state of earnest shock regarding every part of the situation. i just can't comprehend it sometimes

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since it is that season i will give my advice on the american tax system. source: i worked in taxes for 2 years. take it or leave it.

1. don't get ripped off. use irs free file

irs free file is both a list of partner companies that can help you file for free through a guided system, and also the fillable forms mode that lets you basically do mailing them in but totally online. this is good b/c you get confirmation if your return was accepted. i worked for a big-box tax prep company. they are very expensive and don't provide you much that's worth it. if you absolutely must get a person to do it, try a smaller service or accredited individual. but i recommend attempting free file 100% of the time.

2. file on time. i don't care if you're scared or worried you'll do it wrong. the worst penalties the irs gives are for failing to file on time. if you do it wrong they'll just tell you and ask you to correct it. if you owe you can arrange a payment plan. once you can file, file. i cannot stress this enough.

so long as you are not trying to commit fraud and there isn't a pattern of behavior, the irs is most likely going to be very lenient about if you mess up. if you give up and don't file, you will still owe that money in the future AND owe penalties. there is no value to failing to file. there are means to file without spending money if you have absolutely nothing you can spend. if nothing else get something you think is as accurate as possible drafted up and in the mail by the deadline and wait for their response. but i strongly encourage filing as early as you can so you can get a replies as soon as possible.

if you don't want to file because you know you're going to owe... again, remember, it's not going to go away. it'll just accrue penalties over time. it doesn't matter if you can't pay it now - the gov will work with you to find plans that can get it paid eventually if need be. you will be 100% better off having done your taxes on time even if you owe and have to work out an installment plan.

3. if you are trying to handle a complex tax situation alone, i'll share a little secret with you: a lot of the job of a professional tax preparer is legitimately searching the irs website for the documents and pages explaining what you're supposed to do in various situations. form 1040's instructions are basically a book, but they ARE right there. if you're self-employed and trying to figure out what you can count as business expenses, or looking stuff up - it's all on the website. if you don't know how to handle it, check.

i have some other thoughts, but i'll leave it with those 3 for now. also, there are volunteer tax help services, if you're in a true crisis. #1 thing is to find the cheapest way you can do it and get things filed. good luck

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electric!

really hard cuz i like most of them

fav: ill go with a weird take

i think eelektross is pretty underrated. it's a weirdo lamprey that hovers and thus has no weaknesses due to electricity's effect, and now one of the only ones because of the fairy type ruining spiritomb and sableye's shtick. it's a funny little creature and i like its mouth

2nd fav: magnemite is an oldie but a goodie. its design doesn't feel like it should work, but somehow, it does. just a nice old school cyclopean being that glues together with others

cutest:

you can also get into a war over the pikachu and clones or jolteon. im just going to stick with buggie

least favorite: i wanted a poison/electric type for ages. i am, however, a toxel/toxtricity anti. i think they just look flat out terrible and are not particularly interesting concepts for the typing

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ghost

ghost, huh. a curious type.

fav: shedinja

shedinja is cool in a lot of unique ways and combines that with a wonderful real world inspiration. it's adorable and cool and to this day a favorite, even if it's hard to use and gimmicky. i love ninjask and co anyway so this is great too

2nd fav: froslass

i love the snorunt -> glalie family and froslass is the coolest looking of the group, featuring a cool design hat looks slick at first glance and bafflingly inhuman when you're more careful. its typing is really cool and unique and i like its general energy plus nature as a fast but relatively average being

honorable mentions: spiritomb, dhelmise

cutest:

no contest

least favorite:

ignoring legendaries, which i generally dislike the designs of these days, probably gourgeist. i just don't really get much out of it and i think the design is overall pretty unappealing, plus it's much less fun than trevenant

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since this is the internet i will unnecessarily caveat this but stop myself from autism splitting hairs forever

effort exerted =/= quality of result =/= people appreciating what you do

it CAN result in these things, but there is no guarantee that it will. society runs on ppl working hard hoping they'll be rewarded, and it loves grinding people who earnestly believe it up by offering the possibility that some of them will succeed and be happy. often the things you work the hardest on will be dismissed by others for not fulfilling arbitrary snap judgments they've made, sometimes things you throw together in moments will have a huge impact on others, it's almost completely random honestly. and if you obsess over the idea that you have to work hard for something to be "real" and "worthy of attention" then you kind of start to hate everything you make unless it fulfills some perfectionist status lol, you rule out your ability to chill

people who buy in and are obsessed with being seen as an important professional also then make it their whole personality to virtue signal about art that is or isn't quality-less trash to be ignored b/c ultimately they're defending their way of life, but it's still just one perspective. the trick is that "work smarter not harder" really is a core principle of living, but society has decided that "how 'hard' you 'work' " is a sign of your goodness as a person. and jobs are always incentivized to push you to the bone if you let them. you legit can't let them win like that

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i guess what i'm trying to say here is, i've been feeling really fucked up about a lot of how people interact in the post pandemic era, and the way that there's a world of diff between ppl who post online but dont need it for social fulfillment has reminded me that socmed is FOR that now. like one of the biggest things in the world is that some people are "too online" in that their irl life is not like. socially fulfilling. i chatted with friends on socmed for years and my goal isn't to be a professional it's just to be a person and talk to people i know as a group

but a lot of online is kinda about just. discourse, grifting, whatever, stuff that doesn't really matter but is part of a larger social game or tool. and you can really tell when someone has that sort of "looking for content" priority rather than "talk to person" lol. and that's totally fine if that's how they use it, like, not everyone needs to be online. but it is interesting how for some people "stay off the net" means pay attention to your people who love you, and for others it was "do solitary activities never speaking to anyone"

fact is though: the "get all your social activity here" strat isn't gonna work in the way it might once have. i really think that phase is over. so i earnestly am gonna have to think about what other options are available to me cuz motivationally what once worked won't anymore

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to be clear, it's your right to be as anxious as you want and to only engage with whomever you wish to. no one can say you have to engage with anyone. i only say what i do because of a few things i think are "objectively" true

solidarity scales to the number of allies you have. the most classic strategy in history is taking advantage of existing disagreements to turn all your enemies against each other, make it so they'd rather die alone than work with someone they have bad blood with. divide and conquer. by this means any group can be prevented from obtaining the mass needed to be a serious threat and can be easily split into little pockets to be killed at one's leisure. even animals know this one

if you assume that everyone around you is an enemy and refuse to trust them then you will inherently distance yourself from potentially useful connections. this is what prejudice does. even if you might think someone is "one of the good ones" you will always be sending a message that they're on thin ice with you because you don't really respect them as human beings, they will always know that they're being judged at a higher standard and can be very easily dumped and written off as "one of the bad ones" they moment they disagree with you in any way. it is impossible to have a healthy relationship with someone you don't respect as a human, even if you think you're not doing anything specific when that worldview becomes your whole personality it very often shows through the cracks to anyone you're giving a special exemption to

even if the world is full of enemies, it is ridiculous to assume that every member of ingroup can be trusted and every member of outgroup can't be. obviously there are members of ingroup that can end up betraying and hurting you and members of outgroup that mean no harm. so leaning into this artificial view of the world where you only judge poeple based on such descriptors is not really true. being obsessed with defending that perspective is thus not meant to address truth but rather to address an emotional consideration - you want to believe that it's true b/c it's comfortable to have a simple system for ascertaining the enemy and anyone who criticizes that is worse than evil, they're clearly literally the enemy itself trying to trick you into being exploited, right?

like i don't know i've seen it a million times on here and i think above else it's so fucking petty! it's so fucking stupid! it's entirely about scoring owns on stupid shit people say online!!!

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People will always feel better about someone who is confident, witty, and dead wrong than they will about someone nit-picking in search of the truth. I say this not to bemoan it but because I think it is of utilitarian value to keep in mind.

All debate is essentially emotional because humans are. All life is driven by the search for contentment and the avoidance of despair. So it is no surprise that persuasion is most effective when it uncovers a feeling people already hold but do not realize or express, or shows how something they do not know is really something they already do.