A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. Also, I like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com/

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  • 621 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: November 26th, 2023

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  • Like mentioned in another comment there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism.

    I would add to that there is a difference between loving one’s country and being a fetishist of its flag or its national anthem.

    You will find flags in all countries. The question is more what proportion of the population is obsessed with them?

    I’m French and I can tell you that beside the far-right, who loves waving flags and singing the first few lines of the Marseillaise (most of them, like the rest of the population probably have never taken the pain to read the entire song, even less so to memorize it, too much of a hassle). For the most part, you will find flags on public buildings and offices. Seldom on private home/office.

    Also, it’s visible during special celebrations, say, each year for the 14th of July (France’s birthday) some streets and stores will be decorated and, at least where I live (Paris), public transit will also have a little flag waving in the wind.

    Last but not least, you will mostly see the French flags waved, this time en masse, during sport events. People will also proudly wear french colors on their clothing and on their face, or on their head (I fucking love this stupid hat, but Io don’t own one). But then you will also see the other countries flags being waved by their own supporters, and most of the time they don’t end-up killing one another ;)

    Like I said, people barely know more than the first few lines of our national anthem, kids are not required to swear allegiance to the flag either at school. Some people are discussing about bringing that back but I’d rather see them bring back some traditional reading and math lessons, like in the ‘good old days’… when kids actually were taught something useful. Because we’ve been suffering from the same issue you have with your US school system: it’s falling apart, badly. Our kids aren’t taught much if anything. More and more of them can barely read or write, and they can’t do simple math. Let’s not mention getting any notion of civic education, history, philosophy (which would all help make a more informed & better-equipped citizen, which is not that silly in any country that is supposed to be a democracy).

    That being said, even without a flag, we’re many to love our country, despite all its flaws, even those of us who criticize it vehemently. We just don’t need to show that by waving some cheap piece of fabric, or glue a sticker on a some car.

    I have bookshelves filled with books on French (and European) politics, history and philosophy. Sure those are not flags I can wave on the street or glue on my car to show what a true patriot I am but, imho, their non flashy content represent France (and the many other EU countries) a little better than any cheap piece of fabric put on a mast.

    That being said, I have a pair of socks with a french flag on them. Could that count a patriotism? ;)


  • I’ve never dated a woman wearing false nails. The same with botox.

    Also, I’m not seduced by make-up. Contrary to false nails, I don’t mind it, I find it useless. I like to look at actual people, and I may even feel attracted to some of them. I’m not interested as much in looking at the fantasized image people may have of themselves.

    I’m also not obsessed with a person looking young, meaning I don’t mind grey hair and wrinkles. Why would I? I do wear my own wrinkles with no worries, alongside those (short) grey hair I would have on top of my own big head if I was not completely bald.

    Not considering the body itself, there is a ‘sexy’ thing that always left me wondering what was so hot about them: high heels.

    I mean, I get it they help shape the legs. But they’re also quite obviously less stable to walk with and they seem rather uncomfortable to wear for hours. I would tend to favor the company of a woman able to go out for a long walk with me, be it in nature somewhere or to visit some art gallery or museum in town.


    • You look for alternative. I’m not what you mean by awful but I would go to another one. So, I would start by searching where they are located and when they’re open. Here where I live I can call a number in tow town and get someone to come pick a few cubic meters of trash, for free. That’s limited (in volume and type of stuff they will collect) but it works well and it should be easy for you to check with your own city if they offer such a service.
    • Also: you can try to donate stuff, thrift stores, yard sales,…
    • If that does not cut it, you need to focus. I mean, don’t try to get rid of everything at once. It won’t end well. And be fine with trashing stuff. Work one box/bag/closet/drawer/room at a time. Make sure to put aside the things you really need to keep and then put the rest in trash bags. Since you made sure there was no alternatives to trashing them, you should not feel bad… use that as a reminder to not buy crap anymore after that.
    • If it’s too much work for you it should be easy to hire some youngster/teen you may know or from the neighborhood willing to help you and earn some cash while doing so.


  • Libb@jlai.lutoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world...
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    21 hours ago

    Young people aren’t angry? They look quite upset to (old) me, and rightfully so. I probably would be a lot more than they are, to be honest.

    One remark, maybe:

    The few old people around you does not represent a valid statistical sample for ‘old people’ in general. You need a lot more data.

    No offense intended, maybe it’s like that because you’re living in a family that is keen on hating and insulting one another? The only thing I would feel ok to conclude from that is they may very well be dickheads, every single one of them, but that doesn’t mean all people their age are the same. Don’t generalize ;)

    To help you realize how… too fast such conclusions can be made, and no doubt how wrong they can be, consider this simple observation one may want to make reading your question:

    The only constant in your interactions with older people is yourself. How come you may ask? Well, they’re all different (old) people that don’t share the exact same age, sex and personality (taste and preferences), maybe they don’t even live all at the same place. Meanwhile, you’re the exact same person. You do not change and you’re not different, they are. So, if every single one of those different and older persons you meet is hating on you shouldn’t I conclude that you’re the most likely cause of their hate?

    See how easy it is to come to some nutty conclusion out of mere ‘observations’?

    To be perfectly clear, I 'm not saying it’s you that’s causing anything. Far from it. First, for the simple reason that I never met you and then because you probably are not the cause of anything here. Like I said, there is not enough data to conclude anything. Still it’s so easy to conclude that it’s your fault and from there that if it’s your fault it’s all younger people’s fault—it’s not ;)

    To share my own personal experience, as a child (I was young, once) I knew very early on my mother hated my guts. I started by wondering why adults where such assholes towards kids up until I realized that was not ‘all adults’ nor ‘all mothers’, it was her. That unique person she was for reasons that were her own that certainly would not allow me or anyone else to generalize her behavior to all mothers.

    All of that to say there could be a lot of reasons and factors unrelated to their age.

    every grandparent or elderly relative always have insulting remarks about me

    I have been young myself (promise I really was, and one day you will be old too) and my grand-parents never insulted me. Not once. And as an older person myself nowadays I tend to not insult… not too often ;)


  • But I have a rule of never ordering before a week has passed

    This a great way, I used to do that at the beginning but I don’t need to anymore… I simply don’t want to buy anything anymore unless I really need it.

    Regarding phone holders: I made mine out of… cardboard, recycled from the phone packaging. Contrary to what many people think cardboard can be real sturdy (and is very easy to work with) ;)




  • Libb@jlai.lutoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    1 day ago

    It’s anything but obvious to see how a simple question such as: What’s your job and how much do you earn?, could be interpreted as scamming. But you know that’s not it, this is just a pretext. At least find a more believable one. “Prudent advice” = literally being profiled. You won’t ever admit you witness Sinophobia, because you (Westerners) hate Chinese people. It’s that simple. It’s like all of those transphobic people asking “show me one thing where JK Rowling said something transphobic!” -> they don’t actually believe transphobia is a real thing, so nothing would be transphobic to them. Same thing with you. And yes, you’re also racist. And you mentioned money 2 times now, which is odd. At the end of the day even the most progressive Westerners will be racist towards the Chinese.

    That’s somewhat an impressive demonstration, alas not the one you may have hoped for. But we won’t have much opportunity to discuss together, I’m afraid. So, like I think I said already, I wish you a nice day and say hi to your money (that makes it 3 times).



  • Libb@jlai.lutoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    1 day ago

    I’m “new”? Is this high school?

    Nope this is the Internet, a place that’s filled with scammers using fake accounts. I would wish for a brain surgeon to realize something that obvious.

    I dared

    you dared call everyone you disagreed with a racist while they were only giving prudent advice to everybody here. Heck, even if I knew you personally (say if I was one of you nurses and knew what an amazing person you are in reality) I would not tell you my job nor my salary… not online. And then what? you told them they were being racist because of your Chinese origin? That’s childish, at best.

    I did my best to try to explain what I just witnessed (note that I was not involved). It’s now up to you to decide if I am a racist asshole too—not knowing my own ethnicity that would be quite, what were you saying already? Oh yeah, daring—or if just this one time in your faultless existence, maybe, you may be completely wrong from the beginning? I know, hard for the ego but maybe, just maybe, despite all your amazing qualities and your money you have misjudged the situation?

    Have a nice day.


    1. Don’t buy crap
    2. Don’t keep crap (recycle, don’t trash them)
    3. Stop wishing of buying more crap.

    Any impression this incredibly wise list of advice could be based on personal experience (and on multiple failures at following them) would be correct. My life changed and the clutter vanished the day I stopped wanting to buy always more stuff and decided to only keep what was… worth keeping aka actually of any use/importance.


  • Libb@jlai.lutoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    2 days ago

    This is the contrary to good faith:

    What’s considered good faith? The reactions I got - pure anti-Chinese racism?

    You’re new and act like you can decide who’s the nice guy and who’s not because you decided it? Listen and observe and maybe you will realize you’re light-years out of touch, here?

    No need to thank me, and just in case: no need to insult me either, unless it really (really?) helps make you feel better. I don’t care about insults, why should I? Have a nice day (and don’t waste all your hard earned money on silly ideas)



  • Well, federations are a broad political system ranging from say, Switzerland (or even Germany) to much larger collections like the USA, the Federation of Russia, or the EU itself (which Germany is also part of). It can also be considered in variety of forms, say the UK is not officially a federation (not that I’m aware of at least) but it’s also a collection of various and at time very diverging populations and countries/states/regions, not all of them subject of to the exact same exact laws.



  • It’s true the EU has a slight tendency to worry a lot about bureaucracy, and forms. Some people, I obviously would not be one of them, could even go as far as to say the EU cannot fart unless they filled a form and asked for a commission to validate the form, and then ask another commission to select a bureau that will validate the validation by the first commission. So, yeah, it’s not perfect ;)

    That being said, ask the UK how good it felt to them (and to us, Europeans) trying to do business together after their Brexit took effect. That was a gigantic pain in the butt. A true kafkaesque level of absurd & nightmarish bureaucracy non-sense.


  • No ads, no tracking, that’s exclusive to Lemmy and I would like it for that alone.

    People (aka, in Reddit language, ‘content’ or ‘the stuff we write but they earn money with’) are the same everywhere, I mean assholes and nice guys are not exclusive to any platform. There are just a lot less of us here than on Reddit. So, there is a lot less noise.

    Plus we have decent filtering tools, so we can even have less noise ;)

    Lemmy is tiny compared to Reddit and the niche communities I’m interested in are not very active but I don’t care. I will keep posting here and not on Reddit as long as they won’t change what I disagree with (which won’t happen).