My thoughts can wander off in the same way. Then I bend over to pick up something, feel a kink in my back and that’s all the adventure I can handle in a day.

Cars can do it too now!

Trollstigen, near Åndalsnes.

Oh, I don’t have the ability to feel disgust anymore. Had my first bite of dinner, baby unloads an explosive charge in his nappy. Clean it up while I finish chewing, carefully fold the nappy so nothing spills anywhere, wash orange stains off my hands, sit down and continue with my dinner. Green berets squatting in the jungle haven’t been properly desensitised yet.

I’ve also stopped caring if the baby pukes a bit of milk on my shirt. Quick wipe, on with the day.

Today’s special:

Long pig served with boiled potatoes, haluski and dandelion salad. Pay only 1$ extra for entree (mystery meatball soup) and 50c extra for dessert (vinegar pie)

“The price of meat is skyrocketing, you sure your wife couldn’t… contribute?”

-Owner

Two weeks? If you’re middle to upper middle class, sure. If you’re lower middle to lower class, you’ll get a week, if anything at all, unpaid. Sick? Unpaid. Spouse died? Unpaid. What, give people welfare? Not on my tax dollar, that’s communism!

The US stopped being the land of opportunity two generations ago, and only now people are starting to realize.

The Haradrim swore allegiance to Sauron after long years of oppression by the Númenóreans and conflict with Gondor, during which Sauron worked to seduce them to his side. However, not all of them joined Sauron. Many sided with the blue wizards. You could draw parallels to modern times; not all Russians support Putin, and not all Iranians support Khomeini.

It’s worth mentioning Dunlendings also went the same way after excessive Númenórean exploitation of their natural resources and resulting wars. They fought for Saruman (Sauron by proxy) alongside Uruk-hai in Helm’s Deep.

Of course the Haradrim were dark-skinned - they were from the southern hemisphere of Arda, the huge landmass south of Gondor and Mordor. Most of it is on or below the equator.

Which evil characters? Azog, Radbug, Morgoth, Sauron, Saruman. Not even remotely Germanic or Arab-sounding. Linguists have drawn comparison between Black Speech and ancient Mesopotamian languages, specifically Hurro-Urartian languages, which originated in what is now the Armenian Highlands. Again, not remotely Arabic, which is Semitic language. The only comparisons to Germanic languages I can think of in the Tolkien universe are dwarves and men.

If you’re gonna accuse a dead person of something awful, have your facts straight.

Kabanossius Cerevisia Dulcius

Every day you draw breath is another victory against the assholes. A few people might spit in your tea, but the entire rest of the world is happy to have you in it. Keep going, and you’ll eventually find yourself far from the ledge, with plenty of things that bring you joy. Wishing you all the best. :)

Oh, Manila is so noisy that there’s no need to scream. The meat’s surroundings will scream the meat into submission for me.

Filipino barbeque pork (recipe from Panlasang Pinoy):

Ingredients

▢4 lbs. pork shoulder sliced into thin pieces

Marinade ingredients

▢¾ cup soy sauce ▢½ cup juice extracted from calamansi or lemon ▢¾ cup banana ketchup ▢4 tablespoons dark brown sugar ▢2 tablespoons garlic powder ▢1 teaspoon ground black pepper ▢2 teaspoons salt ▢1 ½ cups lemon or lime soda (7up/Sprite)

Instructions

• Arrange the pork slices in a large bowl.
• Add all the marinade ingredients. Mix well. Cover the bowl and marinate for at least 3 hours. Note: I strongly suggest marinating overnight for best results.
• Fasten the marinated pork together using bamboo skewers.
• Heat-up the grill. Start to grill your Filipino Style pork BBQ for 3 to 5 minutes per side until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Make sure to always baste the BBQ when flipping it over. Note: the basting sauce ingredients are the same as the marinade ingredients minus the lemon soda.
• Serve with spicy vinegar.

I feel cheated. This is obviously not a shitpost.

I’d expect the vast majority of such workers in the Arab region to be OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Workers). They’ve got such unending dedication and loyalty to their families that they send a very large share of what they earn home, often sacrificing most prospects they have for financial and personal growth for the good of their parents or younger siblings. The remittances from abroad make up about 8% of the country’s GDP, which is a staggering amount. This creates a vicious circle of dependence on Filipinos as cheap labour. A sad state of affairs when Filipinos are relatively well-educated, but often become victims of social dumping, simply because of where they’re from. They get paid, but are kept in a limbo where it’s very difficult to move up in the world. Can’t call it slavery, but you can’t not call it slavery either. I really hope conditions will improve for workers from developing countries.