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Cake day: July 29th, 2026

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  • you seem to be implying high testosterone = bro = fascist

    I think it’s more that obsession with testosterone and projected/performative masculinity (i.e. machismo, toxic masculinity) is very much associated with fascist leanings.

    There are a whole lot of fat, angry, unhappy middle-aged men who want to feel powerful and intimidating. Most of them don’t want to do the actual work of getting fit. They don’t want to go to a doctor, because that’s for weak people, like women and effeminate men. They don’t understand that their excess adipose tissue is messing up their hormones. Ads tell them that they just need more protein and sunlight on their testicles and finally they’ll feel powerful. They post passive-aggressive meat breakfast photos on Instagram and glare at people from their pickups, while listening to an ad telling them to buy some unregulated supplement that will boost their testosterone for only $29.99 per month.

    There are also a bunch of young men who have grown up watching toxic influencers. They’re taking steroids and trying to get huge. It’s all toxic masculinity and masked insecurity.

    Incidentally, I’m not in any way saying that fitness or masculinity are inherently toxic or fascist. It is, however, a popular pipeline for recruiting men into far-right and fascist ideologies these days.



  • There was a fitness epidemic in the 90s?!

    Aerobics and running were big in the late 70s to early 80s, but the 90s was about being big and soft. The clothes were oversized. Waists were high. Centerfolds had big boobs and wide waists.

    The 90s was obsessed with “lite”, i.e. cutting fats – especially saturated fats – out of foods, and with lowering cholesterol. Oh, and fiber. I don’t recall any fitness craze, though.

    You’re absolutely right about the right-wing machismo trend. Manly men eat lots of meat and maximize protein. Just look how manly I am with my steak, nevermind how I waddled in from my lifted pickup.





  • Initech_vs_Initrode@lemmy.ziptome_irl@lemmy.worldMe_irl
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    3 days ago

    Ok, maybe, I’d be interested in seeing a source on this

    It’s really easy to find if you actually wanted to verify, rather than just disingenuously cast doubt. Planet Money has done podcasts episodes on it.

    Not at all accurate

    Entirely accurate. We were the manufacturing center for much of the world until Europe was able to build back, which was badly hampered by foolish austerity measures. This is literally the reason why America had such a phenomenal post-war boom and an explosion of the middle class.

    but America isn’t less prosperous now. That prosperity has just been consolidated to the top 1%

    Gee, I wonder if that has anything to do with the loss of manufacturing jobs, disappearing union representation, and subsequent devaluation of labor?

    You’re identifying symptoms, not causes. Write less and read more.


  • So, uh, remind me again what happens when I go around corners?

    You finish the corner and go back to driving straight, which is how the vast, vast majority of your driving miles are covered.

    Mismatched tire diameters significantly increase wear on your differential(s). If you have a limited-slip system of any kind, you’re likely to destroy it shockingly quickly.

    If you’re driving half a mile to work through residential and business districts, it’s not that big of a deal. If your commuting on the freeway, you’re going to significantly increase wear.


  • AWD systems can and do get used offroad pretty often. They’re not quite as good as 4WD in some specific situations

    The moment that you have one wheel spinning with AWD, you are stuck. One wheel in the air due to a heavily rutted fire road? Stuck. One wheel on wet ice on the road? Stuck.

    AWD is great for transient traction conditions, like roads that are partially snowy with patches of exposed asphalt.


  • AWD systems use a viscous clutch

    In my experience, that’s rare. Most AWD systems that I’ve seen use an open differential with no viscous coupler or locker of any kind. The '94 - '97 Toyota Land Cruiser (w/ ABS) in the US market used a viscous coupler, and Toyota called it “full-time 4wd”. It also locked the transfer case in low range. To my knowledge, this was a really unusual configuration. They discontinued the viscous coupler after that, instead switching to their ATRAC traction management that used individual application of brakes to prevent wheel spin. Most of the Jeep SUVs in the last ~30 years, to my knowledge, used an entirely open center differential in AWD models.

    It seems like modern, CUV AWD systems are usually FWD with computer controlled engagement of rear tires.


  • I bought a set of five Nokian all-weather light truck tires on closeout at Walmart for under $300. A set of more desirable all-terrains would have run me $1k and are probably now around $1500. The tires have been great.

    Pay attention to the brand and reviews, not the store.


  • Alternate take: he could be a really shrewd buyer and good at selling privately.

    Probably not, but it’s possible. I knew a guy whose hobby was entirely cars. Shopping for them, going through financing details, and sometimes buying them. He’d bolt on some mods and seemed to have a knack for finding buyers. He’d sometimes sell for more than the total amount he’d put into the vehicle.

    He had almost no real understanding of cars. At most, he could do an oil change and slap on a K&N filter. But goddamn did that guy ever understand how to manipulate financing to his advantage.


  • While I definitely agree that the wealthy should be paying more in taxes, this isn’t an especially accurate take.

    1. There were way more deductions available. Basically, nobody ever paid any taxes at such a high rate.

    2. The primary reason for the post-war “golden age” that MAGA waxes nostalgia about is because almost the entire manufacturing sector of most European countries was wiped out. By comparison, the US was almost fully intact, and had a massive new base of workers trained in manufacturing. We went from a nation of farmers to a nation of city-dwelling industrialists almost overnight.

    I don’t see how we could ever get back to the 50s - 60s era of growth and security again, but overhauling taxation and more union representation could probably at least wind us back a few decades.