misteraven

Anyhow, interesting topic and thought experiment and really is fascinating how this actually something people are debating. A while back I linked to a podcast talking about myth and discourse where the guy basically lays out that a lot of the debating and division we see stems from both a lack of truly understanding the meaning of words coupled with other people that have agendas that are exploiting this fact. Sounds ludicrous, but he lays out a real solid argument for this and it becomes painfully obvious that if there's no baseline of understanding the precise meaning of a statement, that a reasonable / rational conversation on the subject is compromised from jump street.

I suppose this is where it get difficult. "Play along" to what extent? I don't treat men and women any differently as far as I know. I talk to each pretty much the same way... I'll usually hold the door for each, when the situation presents... And not sure there's anything else there to draw distinction or comparisons on. People are people. Gets to be problematic when there's a clear division between sexes, like bathrooms or sports. Both these divisions are purposely drawn due to actual human biology and the inherent differences between the biology of a man and a woman. Probably wouldn't take much to transition people's acceptance of a gender neutral public bathroom, but willing to bet neither side would actually like that. Personally, I'd rather use a girls bathroom since I've heard enough males in stalls to make me wonder if females are capable of such noises and smells. But in truth, if you have a young daughter, do you really want her to be in a private space for any length of time with someone that is the opposite sex? Honest question. I already don't like the idea of that she's in there unsupervised with strangers, but you come to sort of get forced to trust that. Now, I recognize that transgender people are few and far between for now and I'm not saying their any more sexually deviant than anyone else in terms of what arouses them, but seems fairly obvious to me the can of worms this opens up in terms of potential abuse. Its quite a bit easier of a transgender person is so invested in their identity that they dress and act feminine, but with this off line of thinking, there's no requirement to do so. A burly male construction worker can say that they identify as a female and leave at that and decide to use the womens restroom. How long before the division breaks down entirely and your daughter is waiting to use a stall in a bathroom that's half filled with biological males? Anyhow, I think the argument, if anything, should focus on where / when / why we draw divisions based upon sex. Just seems silly and really is a crawl down a rabbit hole to all try and convince ourselves that if you believe in it hard enough, that you can switch from one sex to another. It's quickly obvious how much other belief needs to be suspended to allow that to work, that really do go far beyond an individual wanting to use the bathroom of the opposite sex from which they were born. I've followed some of this issue in regards to military, most specifically in regards to spec ops groups. Believe the stat on Navy SEALs is that they represent less than 1% of the entire military. Literally the best of the best physical and mental specimen drawn from a subset of people that are likely to already be on the better side of physically fit. Obviously very few males have what it takes to be a SEAL and to this day, there has yet to be a female that posses the physical capabilities to make it through selection, let alone training. Probably unlikely there ever will be without some artificial / synthetic enhancement, so the choice is that they're excluded because they simply lack the physical requirement, regardless of how bad they'd like it to be otherwise, or you lower the bar so that the physical / biological limits are judged on a curve. Hard to pretend there's no difference or that one can identify as the other in this case.

Hey @fat ralphywheres the updates? Hows it going man? I started getting on a clean eating, keto based diet again. did knowingly fuck it up the second day by eating pumpkin sheet cake and drinking a few beers at a barbecue, but have been pretty good for the few days following that. probably about a week into it and plan was to transition to a more and more strict version of it over the next week or two until I'm hitting 10 - 15g or less of carbs a day and then hold that for 3 months. Once I get through the 3 months, I was going to allow either 1 cheat day a week or perhaps 2 cheat days every two weeks and see how it feels. Do need to get back into some sort of real exercise routine, but just juggling way too much right now, so it's going to have to wait a little longer.

This is a pretty interesting topic to explore the issue with because it really starts to unravel the narrative and contradictions in the ideology that it would seem most are now subscribing to. For the record, I have zero problem with anyone that wants to identify as a woman, a man, Abraham Lincoln or my favorite martian. I believe in individual freedom and liberty and think people can chase whatever version of happiness they want, up until it curtails on the individual freedom and liberty of others. However, because one identifies as a woman, its ridiculous to consider they are a woman. Amazing how so many are still confused by this idea. If that individual identified as Elvis, would they thus be Elvis? In both cases, theres rational and obvious limits to the inherent characteristics of that individual that as much as they want to get away from or identify as something else... You simply cannot escape. Until we can deconstruct the matter that makes us what and who we are and reassemble it all at the sub cellular level, as well as reprogram and reassemble DNA along the way, we're stuck with what we were born as for better or worse. Its fine if that person or other people want to sort or pretend they're something else, but end of the day this person is has one less rib than a female, an adam's apple, and a lack of a Y chromosome, not to mention an entire array of other biological characteristics and functions that are the literal definition of what makes that individual a man or a woman. No bad on them for wishing they were something else, but thats just reality. @Mercerinterested in kicking off that discussion or nah? Maybe @6Pennies? Havent seen you on in a minute and you're a level headed, reasonable and intelligent dude that could probably moderate that discussion well. Will be no surprise coming from you @Kultsand unsure you could even make a fair stab at being objective on the topic.

Just a heads up that to link to an image, just hit the "Insert other media button", then "Insert image from URL".

Thanks for all the enthusiasm... Lets do this! Help spread the word. Sent you a code, so check your PM's.

Thank you man... Glad to have you back on here. Sent you a code via PM.

Still unclear. Why would you have to type "^ . ^" on your phone anyways? Cant you copy and paste it off of here?

Huh?

Its a sad reality, but I think we'll eventually retrain ourselves to actually engage. You get out of it, what you contribute into it. Plus with more and more people showing up, there's obviously a wider diversity of content and personalities that help this along.

Love hearing about people finding out that we're back like this. Just sent you a coupon code via PM, but hit me back if you figure out the original user name. Please help spread the word and keep the rebuild going!

Just wanted to thank all of you guys again... Lot of pretty amazing messages, emails, DM's etc that have been describing the effect this place has had to that person. Definitely giving me hope that we might actually pull this off. Again, please help spread the word... Let people know about the tee, the forum and that all user accounts are easily recovered.

Willing to bet the last two dont even look so crazy once the rehydrate and wash off the fake suntan.

Just sent it to you via PM. Glad to see you back on the board.

Hey, welcome to the forum... Just private messaged you a code.

Sorry for the delay, just sent it. Thanks for reaching out about it. Anyone else still need one that hasn't already PM'ed me?

Okay, lets see how you guys are feeling about these... I think the first 3 are the same person.

Can tell you for fact that smart phones aren't allowed into meetings at their campus. There's actually an area outside the room to leave your phone.

Ooof!

LOL!

My friend at LBT / KnotGood just send me these along with a cool shirt, patches and stickers...

Part of the dues you pay man. Weeds out the people that shouldn't be playing the sport. Like I said, back in the days you'd have gotten roasted for that first comment. Now things are slowly rebuilding and everyones in a cooperative mood, so you're actually getting off easy. If you're for real, stick with it. Learn, pay your dues and years from now you'll look back and realize how much you learned and how many friends you've made. Nothing good comes easy.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Learn your history, practice the basics. Just try to do a clean straight letters before moving on to exploring more sophisticated style. Make sure you don’t steal style when you’re studying it. Repetition will help you get better. Don’t be stupid, don’t get arrogant. Be careful who you associate with. *Edit... And for the love of God, skip doing stickers altogether and refrain from trying to sell canvases. That’ll at least lend you some credibility against the masses out there trying to be the next art star. Thats the cliff notes version of all you need to know. How did did you find out about 12oz and this forum?

Not going to work dude. Either your a cop trying to set someone up or just coming off like one. Establish yourself on the forum before dropping posts asking to meet up with people IRL. Just letting you know how this works, before the forum starts shredding you.