I can relate a lot to your posting, but instead of repeating what others already said, allow me to add something else.

These "gender feelings" that you describe will not go away. You had them for20-odd years already and they won't go away in the next 20-odd years either. I don't write this because I want to scare you, but because it is something that you should seriously consider whether you decide to transition, decide against it or find an entirely different way.

Nonetheless these feelings are a part of who you are and you have to face them in order to be at peace with yourself. Because at the moment, you very obviously are not. Nobody can fight that fight for you and while you may fear the consequences of it, also consider the famous adage: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

So you may find your answer if you ask yourself what path you would walk, if fear did not hold you back.

Godspeed, friend!

While the artistic merits of these people is without doubt, also consider that the ruling Medici family had a vested interest in establishing Florence as a cultural and political center of its time. It's not like other cities of the 15th century did not have any remarkable artists (particularly in Italy), but Florence is a prime example of a political entity that used soft power to promote its art(ists) and thus itself.

Falls Du Musik machen möchtest, um Geld zu verdienen, dann ist die Antwort leider klar: Nein, es lohnt sich nicht.

DIe Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) über die die meisten Künstler'innen und Musiker'innen ihre Sozialversicherung abrechnen, gibt jedes Jahr die harten Zahlen zu den Einnahmen der bei ihr Versicherten heraus. Musiker'innen sind dabei die Berufsgruppe, die im Jahr am wenigsten verdient, und zwar zwischen 14.143 (Frauen) und 19.434 (Männer). Wohl gemerkt: Das sind Durchschnittswerte, dh. Musiker'innen müssen damit rechnen deutlich weniger zu verdienen.

Während AI natürlich zusätzlichen Druck macht, sind diese Werte nicht erst seit kurzem so schlecht. Es ist bereits seit Jahrzehnten der Normalzustand. Sicherlich gibt es außerordentlich gut verdienende Künstler'innen/Musiker'innen, aber diese sind die Ausnahme und man kann nicht damit rechnen zu ihnen zu gehören.

Man muss natürlich noch erwähnen, dass die KSK nur die selbstständigen/freischaffenden Musiker'innen versichert und es noch fest angestellte Musiker'innen gibt, etwa in Orchestern oder in Ensembles. Diese Karrieren bahnen sich aber langfristig an, etwa durch Teilnahme an Jugendorchestern oder Förderprogramme. Die meisten dieser Wege schließen sich irgendwann, wenn man älter wird.

Ich weiß, dass das eine sehr ernüchternde Antwort ist, aber ich wollte hier Deine Frage geradeheraus beantworten und hoffe, dass Du Dir davon und den anderen Antworten ausgehend selber ein Bild wirst machen können.

Wo es Dich auch immer hinführen mag: Viel Erfolg!

After years of giving a platform to climate change denialism, transphobic fearmongering, pearl clutching over too much woke at liberal colleges, both-sideing the efficacy of vaccines and indulging in Covid conspiracy nonsense, the NYT has finally achieved its goal.

I remember when Microsoft first attempted to prevent the standardisation of Open Document Format (used by LibreOffice and others) and then bullied its way into getting approval for own OOXML standard. Already back then, supporters of FOSS warned that Microsoft would use the overly complicated OOXML to maintain its stranglehold on users of Office-like software.:

Whenever applicable and possible, standards should build upon previous standardisation efforts and not depend on proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Albeit, MS-OOXML neglects various standards and uses its own vendor-specific formats instead. This puts a substantial burden on all vendors to fully implement MS-OOXML. It seems questionable how any third party could ever implement them equally well, especially when a standard comes with 6000 pages of specifications without serving its minimalistic purpose.

It all makes sense if you assume that everything Musk does is intended to impress a 4chan nazi circa 2012.

Dictionaries are - by definition - descriptive. It is not their duty to judge what goes into them. They merely collected terms used by people and explain what they mean.

Demanding to remove information from a dictionary, because you do not like what it expresses or the people who use those terms, is the very definition of censorship.

Consider this headline from Bloomberg in this context:

About 90% of Migrants Deported to El Salvador Had No US Criminal Record

The problem is that it's not a question of intelligence.

Trumpists and their ilk are living in echo chambers of "alternative facts", perpetuated by Fox News, Murdoch newspapers and an nearly endless amount of rightwing influencers (starting with Rogan at the top). They are not looking at what's happening, because they are surrounded in a very comforting bubble of disinfo and propaganda that confirms everything they wanted to hear: The illegals get deported, the queers get finally put in their place, the liberals are frothing with anger, finally men are back in charge who tell women where they belong and America is going to be "great" again any moment now.

It's fascism and fascism has always been a "cult": The early pioneers of fascism (particularly D'Annunzio and later Mussolini) explicitly said their aim was to create a "secular religion" around the nation, the people and the leader. And you can only be a member of that religion if you accept its "truth" and reject everything that contradicts it.

Very smart people can adhere to a religion for a variety of reasons and the most obvious one is (and always has been) because it promises them power over others.

This is a prime example of why patriarchy is hurting men too, because what this guy is saying boils down to:

• We can make them work at any hour of the day because who cares if these guys have any life outside work?
• We don't have to do any work management, we just call those guys
• We can send them wherever, whenever
• We can create a toxic work environment and it's okay to treat guys like shit
• And those guys don't even complain because they need this job so bad
  Isn't it great?

The statement about "workplace laws" is so telling: Yeah, who cares about treating men with respect and dignity!?
It's not just about discriminating against women, it's also about mistreating men. That's what patriarchy is at its core: Pit men and women against each other and then reap the benefits. It's a "divide and conquer strategy".

Art is by Skaroy

Because there are lots of people in this thread who paint whales as "rich schmucks" who can afford to spend $48k without thinking twic. This is a myth that lots of the gaming industry itself loves to perpetuate, because it absolves them of taking responsibility for ruining lives.

Research has shown repeatedly that whales are much more likely to be people with mental health problems and/or gambling addicts. That Star Citizen isn't a freemium game with loot boxes makes it marginally better than - let's say - Genshin Impact, but offers like the bundle in the article is still predatory.