I’d like to plug an old book I read as a kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flight_of_Dragons_(book)

Dragons don’t exist in the fossil record because their blood contained high levels of hydrochloric acid, which in addition to being necessary for lighter-than-air flight and providing a means for combustible breath, melted all their bones shortly after their death.

Peter Dickinson posits that the dragons were basically blimp-like animals hunted to extinction in the iron age. The mythology surrounding them deviates from their actual form as they’re lost to time, which goes to explain why even though most cultures have their own visions of dragons they’re not strictly homogeneous.

Anyway, I know that’s not exactly what the meme is saying, and I don’t think Peter or I really believe in the existence of dragons. But I want to believe, and it’s fun to think about.

On the wings of a dream so far beyond reality

All alone in desperation, now the time is gone

Lost inside you’ll never find

Lost within my own mind

Day after day this misery must go on

So far away we wait for the day

For the lives all so wasted and gone

We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the fire and flames we carry on

Through the Fire and Flames, Dragonforce. Most people know it for having five guitar solos, but the lyrics speak to me

The action wasn’t evil, just the laughter. Kind of like the comic we’re discussing.

Hm, I don’t know that I like dictating what kind of underwear others should wear, but I do approve of their stance on blowing up Earth

Yesterday I watched a goose slowly walk across the busiest road in town, holding up traffic as it meandered. As soon as it got to the other side, it turned around and slowly headed back.

I like to imagine it was doing an evil laugh of its own

Opinions will vary here, but I like when the reminiscing comes after the request. If we catch up after talking to each other out of the blue, then you ask me for a favour, I tend to think that we only caught up because you felt obliged to do so to butter me up. It could be viewed as manipulative.

Bonus points if you ask me for a favour and I say I can’t right now, but you still take the time to catch up. That’s a pretty strong signal that you view the relationship as more than transactional. It also means I’m more likely to change my mind about doing that favour.

I thought it would be the ruptured appendix, but it turned out to be the dental abscess that made me wish for death.

Life has a way of surprising you. Take care of your teeth

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

I also find it degrading, but honesty costs me something here. That’s why I’m looking for ways to deflect instead of pretending

“Not great but I don’t want to expand on it” is pretty much exactly the kind of response I’m looking for

Thank you for teaching me some new words

I use this a lot. It makes me think of that old poster with the cat hanging from the tree. Something cute to think of when I’m fighting for my life

I’m also a fan of “feels like Monday” through the rest of the week

I’m a big fan of doing my best. My best happens to be shit a lot of the time, but it’s still my best. As long as you’re doing your best, and not trying to kill yourself by doing more than your best, I think there’s honour in that

Around here it’s definitely more of a greeting. I wish it was more of a genuine interest because then I wouldn’t feel so weird about answering truthfully when things aren’t great.

The context can make a big difference here. Friends and family are more likely to actually care. With coworkers and customers it’s often better to keep them at arms’ length because a negative response can get you labelled as not a team player, or receive customer complaints.

Some days I worry I’ll be too candid with my employer and I’ll lose my job as a result. That one is probably my own biased perception, but shit, it’s happened before.

Even as someone who’s often bothered by the question, I’m fairly guilty of asking it myself, you’re right that there’s no escape.

My grandfather is quite ill, and his usual response is “as well as can be expected”

I’m a big fan of this one, I started using it as a mantra when I got sick of “this too shall pass”

Am retail worker. I’m taking notes here

I’ve looked at adopting. I don’t want biological children, but I still want to raise kids and give them what I never had.

In my jurisdiction, adoption sucks. You have to foster a child for 24 months before you can legally adopt them. That seems fair, on the surface I don’t have any problems with that. While you’re fostering, it invites a lot more scrutiny, like visits from the state to make sure you’re a fit parent - something bio parents don’t have to deal with unless there’s already been a complaint.

We have kind of weird legislation though. Like, while you’re fostering a child, the bio-parents have a right to see them (unless they were forcibly removed for neglect or whatever). I’m not sure exactly what’s involved in the process, but the bio-parents can also decide to take their kid back.

So imagine you’ve bonded with this child, you’ve cared for them for a year and a half, and at this point you think of them as your kid. Then the parents, whom you might not have ever met, take your kid away. That’s got to be difficult to deal with.

The good news is that if the parents decide that they’re not cut out for parenting after all, you can foster the same child (that’s got to be crushing for the child). Bad news is that resets the clock on your 24-month fostering before adoption. I have a friend in childcare told me this story - no idea if it’s true or not - about parents taking their kids back for a week or two before getting tired of them and abandoning them again, often in a continuous cycle. The kids and the foster parents definitely suffer for that.

So anyway, these are the local rules for operating within our foster care system here. Most adoptive parents choose to instead work with some overseas outfits - but then you’re looking at a five-figure application fee, plus a ton of interviews and traveling. Which again, I’m not really opposed to the background checks and such, but you can make a baby for free without any of that. Plus I’m not really sure how you can properly vet an organization to make sure that there isn’t any trafficking involved.

My wife is also open to adoption but she also wants at least one bio-kid of her own. I’ve always thought that’s got to be a weird dynamic for the kids. Or maybe it’s not, I don’t know I’ve never been adopted.

IPA is also the International Phonetic Alphabet.

I’m all for recycling, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.

I thought spelling ‘through’ was tough enough though

To a non-native reader (and maybe a few natives) that sentence is insane. It makes more sense as “I thot spelling ‘thru’ was tuff enuff tho,” although I admit I don’t like that very much either.

Aside, if something gets abbreviated a certain way enough times, it might become the word. Like when you want to get dinner at the drive-thru. Also, nobody wants pornography anymore, we’re all into porn now.

–

Not exactly what you’re asking, but I have a peeve about acronyms. I suppose acronyms are a kind of abbreviation for common phrases, but often people assume you know the same acronyms as them and start throwing them out like some kind of word salad.

It’s not very hard to make sure everyone is on the same page with whatever TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) you want to use. See how easy that was? Now when I want to talk about my issue with rampant abuse of TLAs, you have an idea what I’m talking about.

You see this problem a lot in academia, software, and honestly probably any industry or hobby space. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s totally fine to use TLAs, brevity is useful in reading and writing. But sometimes those acronyms overlap with other acronyms and add to the confusion. Searching for shows with the BBC might get you the British Broadcasting Company - or pornography. Or if you’re looking for an Automated Teller Machine near you - and get porn again instead. Gosh, is there anything porn can’t do?

Some acronyms are so ubiquitous that it feels silly to define them. Like everyone knows what LOL means, right? Well, unless you’re talking about League of Legends. Or you’re my grandmother who never learned it means “Laugh Out Loud” and signs all of her letters LOL because she thinks it means “Lots Of Love”