askchapo UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

If you had to pick any American (living or dead) to be the head of a communist state, who would it be?

They have to be or have been a US citizen.

askchapo UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

Can someone explain what is meant when people talk about "increased interest rates" and "no more free money"?

Pretty much title. I've seen this talked about a lot but I only very vaguely know what all this means, could someone elaborate on what happened, why it happened and what the consequences of it are?

chapotraphouse UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

I figured out how to achieve communism

Step 1: Learn Spanish Step 2: Become a medium Step 3: Move to Argentina Step 4: Have a seánce with Javier Milei Step 5: Tell him his dogs think that in order to truly free the markets, the means of production must be nationalized Step 6: Tell him to stop dating his sister Step 7: Communism has won

This is extremely cringe. Rakuten Viki (a platform that has all kinds of Asian TV shows) used to have a feature that allowed you to watch videos with 2 sets of subtitles at the same time, which was ideal to learn languages. But for some reason, they just got rid of that feature? Now there is "Language Reactor", which is a Chrome add-on that allows you the same feature on other platforms like Netflix, but none of those platforms have an even remotely decent catalogue of shows from mainland China (it's probably perfectly sufficient if you wanna learn Korean though). It's also a Chrome add-on and I'm using Firefox. I'm looking into ways to pirate the shows and then add 2 layers of subtitles myself, which is probably gonna be a huge hassle because torrent hubs also don't seem to have many shows from mainland China. Does anyone have a somewhat convenient way to a) Watch Chinese TV shows and b) Watch them with both English and Chinese subtitles? I specifically found this show I thought looked cute named [以家人之名](https://www.viki.com/tv/36770c-go-ahead) and it's on Rakuten Viki but alas, I can only watch it on there with either English or Chinese subs, not both simultaneously. And from my experience, you don't learn a lot at all when just reading English subs, especially with how difficult Chinese is from a listening comprehension standpoint.

Taylor Swift UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

Israel tries to @ Taylor Swift a 2nd time

This is after they already tried to wrap her into it on October 19th https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1714922694414598419 Holy shit, I thought Ukraine propaganda was cringe but Israel is making them look sane and normal. How pathetic can a country get? https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1721074264671994178     We love our cringe twitter stans, don't we folks. I wonder how many Swifties had no strong opinions on this matter before Israel tried to claim their idol for their side and pissed them off in the process.

Taylor Swift UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

Isn'treal tries to use comrade Swift for propaganda, Swifties are not having it

I don't know if asking for likes is against hexbear rules but it would be so freaking funny if the IDF refusing Swiftie post ratio'd the country of Israel itself, the reply is only 600 likes off. https://twitter.com/arxxxxmand/status/1714991572612432346 Rare stan twitter W, also you can tell the real Swifties by them @'ing Tree Paine, Taylor's head of PR iirc 

Taylor Swift UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

Throwback to the legendary Swift update account who went to jail for refusing Israeli military service

https://www.vice.com/en/article/gyazzj/meet-the-taylor-swift-stan-who-went-to-jail Posting this partly because it's classic  lore and partly because I was an actual stan twitter Swiftie at the time and not only that, I was friends with this girl and had met her irl when she went to prison. She was an Israeli communist and while she was in prison, she'd write notes that her friend would post to twitter. I don't remember much of what she said about her time in prison but I do remember that she apparently got laid a lot while in there, so good for her. Our friend group drifted apart over the years and I'm not in contact with her anymore. The story has gone viral a few times since then and I've seen a lot of upvoted comments say that it's fake and the girl was actually from Michigan or some shit? I'm here to tell you that no, this girl was real, she was from Israel (I distinctly remember her having to quit a skype call because of a bomb alarm) and she really did go to prison for refusing to join the IDF. I remember her tweeting in hebrew on her main account and repeatedly posting pro-Palestine stuff. This story is 100% real and I can confirm it to you first-hand. Also fun fact: "LegitTayUpdates" was a bit account. It was not a "real" update account that would post paparazzi shots with real things Taylor did today, it was mainly Swiftie shitposting. The content was not too dissimilar of c/taylorswift, honestly. Maybe that's why people thought the prison thing was fake? But no, that really did happen, she texted us about it ahead of time as well.

Taylor Swift UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

"You Belong With Me" is about how workers should own the means of production

It's pretty obvious if you pay attention. >Cause she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts > >She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers Swift is mocking the ruling class and presenting herself as the average, relatable worker left behind. >And you’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town > >I haven’t seen it in a while since she brought you down > >You say you’re fine I know you better than that > >Hey what you doing with a girl like that She masterfully illustrates how much good the means of production could do for the world and how the very machinery itself is being over-exploited to the point of breaking down. Not only does she comment on how the people of the town are being deprived of the light, but that the light itself is being diminished by the bourgeoisie. >Can’t you see that I’m the one who understands you > >Been here all along so why can’t you see > >You belong with me > >Standing by waiting at your back door > >All this time how could you not know baby > >You belong with me > >You belong with me > >You belong with me > >Have you ever thought just maybe > >You belong with me > >You belong with me Another well-placed jab at the owning class, Swift points out that the bourgeoisie usually doesn't even understand the things they own and are relying on the workers to actually operate machinery and produce value. Despite this, they are being left at the proverbial backdoor while the owners take front and center, hoarding wealth and media attention for things they didn't earn. I fully support her message that the means of production do absolutely belong with the working class. 

Taylor Swift UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

ITT we wait for Taylor to finally remake the debut album

As we all know, Taylor Swift released her first, self-titled album at the age of 16 on October 24th in 2006. The album is distinctly more country-flavored than her later music and attentive listeners will notice a very real and totally authentic rural accent which mysteriously disappeared as early as her 2nd album, Fearless. The debut album didn't have any massive hits, it was before her breakthrough, but its most popular songs are definitely [Our Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb2stN7kH28) (which has the most 2000s video ever made, she looks like an actual barbie doll) and the charmingly corny [Teardrops On My Guitar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCek6_dB0M) While with her later albums, I usually like about 90% of songs (except Reputation but we don't talk about that), the debut album is 50/50 for me. If you want my personal hipster "I-liked-Taylor-Swift-before-she-was-cool" songs, it's definitely [Picture To Burn](https://youtu.be/yCMqcFAigRg?si=oGM4Q4kSToCLOQWR&t=23) and probably [I'm Only Me When I'm With You.](https://youtu.be/AlTfYj7q5gQ?si=e-BTmSz47RlHAArk) Taylor Swift has never been an outstanding vocalist, and this was especially true when 15/16-year-old Taylor recorded the debut album. Her voice is kinda thin and you can hear her struggling to hit higher notes, but it makes it all the more endearing. The album doesn't have nearly the same mainstream appeal that her later albums had, but it was all the more authentic and the roots of what made her so popular, her ability to put her feelings on paper and make her audience relate to her, are already there. To love Taylor Swift, the album, you kinda already have to love Taylor Swift, the singer. I hope she does remake it, she's sung a bunch of the songs from it as bonus songs on the current eras tour so it's not like she's trying to sweep it under the rug. Fun Fact 1: There exists an [original version of Picture To Burn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg5YWRq3TUk) where instead of "So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine, *you won't mind if I say...*" she sings "that's fine, *I'll tell mine you're gay.*" If you read the comments, you'll find a lot of gay Swifties asking her to bring that version back. Fun Fact 2: Drew, the guy who she wrote Teardrops On My Guitar about, went on to be arrested for child abuse a couple years later. Dodged a bullet there, Taytay!

games UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

How I would change Stellaris

In my subjective opinion, Stellaris' biggest issue is the lack of resource scarcity. The infinite abundance of resources means that there isn't much to fight over for most of the game, it means individual colonies will matter less and less as the game goes on and it often leads to games stagnating until a crisis shows up. Wars are fought over resources, over material gains, and in Stellaris it rarely feels like that. I rarely feel compelled to go to war with another empire because between megastructures, ecumenopoli, habitats and ring worlds, i can generate infinite resources regardless of how many planets and systems I control. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if Stellaris had victory conditions outside of military victory, if you could win through diplomacy, science, faith or whatever like in Civilization, but with how the crises are designed, it's very apparent that you're supposed to win through combat. But wars don't feel "organically incentivized" to me a lot of the time, if that makes sense. I don't feel like I have much to gain from going to war, I just do it because that's the only way to make the game end. I think the game would be more exciting, dynamic and strategic if colonies and system resource deposits had a limited amount of minerals, food and energy you could extract from them before their output greatly decreases. That way, there would be a much bigger incentive to fight over colonies, especially in the lategame. Because when you have 20 colonies in the lategame, one more or less doesn't matter all that much, but when only 3 of these colonies are still running at full capacity, suddenly that one untapped planet becomes much, much more valuable. It would cause conflict much more organically, as eventually the exploitable galaxy gets smaller and smaller until there is only one last empire standing. While the crises are cool (and I don't think they should be removed), I think they are a very clunky way to force conflict, and it would be much nicer if the endgame was instead determined by the friends and enemies we made along the way rather than an outside entity randomly entering the playing field so you have to actually fight someone. This is, again, subjective, as I'm sure a lot of people specifically enjoy Stellaris for its chill, relaxing pace that allows you to watch youtube on your second monitor while effectively playing stardew valley in space. I enjoy that aspect of it too sometimes, but still, it eventually always falls short for me. Wonder what you folks think about this. Edit: I realize that this would be way too fundamental of a change to ever realistically make for the devs or a modder, as you would have to basically re-design and re-balance everything from scratch. This is purely theoretical.

games UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

This is the worst video game lore I've ever seen

I haven't played Dead by Daylight in a long time but I just read up on the new killers that have released since I stopped and I just have to share this. DbD was never known for its great writing, but their previous OCs were, I'd say, competently written usually. But this one, the "Skull Merchant", has the most amateurishly bad backstory I have ever seen in a decently successful game and I am genuinely baffled as to how this could happen. ::: spoiler READ The self-made millionaire Adriana Imai came from a humble home in Fortaleza, Brazil. Her father, Seita, moved to Brazil as a young man, hoping to see a side of the world completely different than his hometown in Hokkaido. A talented illustrator, he spent his spare time designing colourful characters and worlds. While sketching patrons of a local jazz club, he was approached by Belinda, the owner, to work on a logo. What began as a business partnership soon became a romantic one, and within a couple of years, Adriana was born. Adriana excelled in all facets of education. A house full of art and music honed a brilliant mind, and her intelligence was only exceeded by her obsessive drive to be the best. While scoring at the top of every class, she was often on the receiving end of disciplinary action due to her overly competitive, and sometimes violent, nature during schoolyard games. Adriana’s mother did her best to keep her on the right track, but her father was increasingly absent as his own obsessive drive ramped up: Adi Valente, a manga about a young girl who saves and protects the weak with her quirky robot companion. Despite working long hours at a canning facility and writing his manga in his spare time, he somehow managed a little time every night to share his wild and highly imaginative illustrations with his daughter. By middle school, Adriana was courted by a fancy private school due to her high performance, and, needing money, Seita spoke to publishers about his unpublished manuscripts. He managed to find a small local publisher to carry Adi Valente, but it meant more work than he could handle. He eventually lost his job at the cannery, giving him more time to develop and illustrate his series. Adriana loved the manga, but the family was forced into hard times. In her final semester, Seita requested higher royalties, but the publishing company went into administration and decided to cut the series. No longer able to afford the school fees, Adriana was pulled out of the elite academy where she was at the top of her class. Belinda was able to negotiate her graduation, but another student was able to take her place at the head of the class. Adriana was furious. On summer break, she learned everything about her rival: where he lived, where he hung out, what he liked to do in his spare time, what he listened to, what he watched, everything. She even stalked him on his way home one late summer evening and considered the myriad ways she could ruin his life. But, in the end, she did nothing, though something awakened within her and she felt like the anti-hero in a new story her father had been exploring. Seita retreated further into himself and began producing this newer, darker manga, inspired by his visions and nightmares. A manga about a woman who hunts and guts the weak in a nightmarish realm with drones made of salvaged skulls and bones. But unable to sell this manga, Sonhadores Sombrios, the family became solely reliant on Belinda’s income. Adriana, looking for ways to make her own money, started a website dedicated to the world of Brazilian manga. It became a runaway success and significant advertising dollars started to roll in. She realized she had no real interest in writing for it, though, so she convinced other kids to write for it for free while the money flooded in. The second she got an offer she sold the site and never looked back. Proud of her accomplishment, she came home to show her parents the cheque. She never got a chance to show her father, though. He walked out the door that morning, never to return, leaving only a stack of unpublished manuscripts about The Skull Merchant mercilessly hunting those she deemed worthy of her efforts. To help her mother, Adriana began to study at the library, teaching herself investment and economics, and soon tripled her money. By the age of 18, barely with a high school degree, she had already become a self-made millionaire. As stories of this investment wunderkind spread across Brazil, more and more doors opened for her. Before long, she had the kind of money that allowed her to buy small companies—companies that she would gut, replace with non-union workers, and sell at a profit. The only breaks she took from her corporate obsession was to pore over her father’s manuscripts, trying to understand this chilling world he had created. By her mid 20’s, she was regularly flipping companies. While finalizing on a real estate firm, two members of the board moved to block the sale, pointing to the trail of hollowed-out husks she left in her wake. Adriana was frustrated. It took her weeks to find out who the holdouts were, but once she did, she thought about how it would feel to hurt them. She learned everything about the directors. Stalked their every move. Manipulated them into attending a conference in Switzerland. And, while on retreat in the Alps, she made her move. Inspired by The Skull Merchant, and feeling something within demanding expression, she tracked them with a prototype drone, and brutally dismembered them with a cruel two-bladed weapon. The rush of emotion and adrenaline was unlike anything she had ever experience before. And the company was hers! Thus began an unsettling cycle. Swoop in on a business, destroy anyone standing in her way, and gut the company for maximum profit. She targeted companies with larger-than-life CEOs and hoped one would present a challenge. None ever did. They just ‘disappeared’ unremarkably. An aggressive manager of a fireworks company, known for his “survival tours,” was her last target, right at home in Brazil. Survival tours… a perfect cover. Adriana lured him to a decommissioned airship hangar. The hunt started at dawn and went the distance, with her still tracking him well into the evening. Locating him, she used one of her drones to direct him to a dead end, when a pair of kites suddenly appeared on camera, and the feed died. Her face hardened. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she slammed her laptop shut and charged to where the drone had crashed. There she found her prey reaching out to someone in the growing dark for help. Witnesses. Not part of the plan! Without a second to lose, she plunged her blade through his stomach, exposing meat, bone, and a dying heart. The vitiated body staggered left and right, sending a shower of red over the green foliage. As her victim collapsed with a thud she turned to the young witnesses. Wrong place, wrong time. They broke into a sprint. She gave chase, her blades thirsting for more blood. The lush green of the trees melted into a thick black fog. Real life warped into something like Sonhadores Sombrios. A sick grin crept across her face as she rushed forward to begin a new chapter in her life. :::

Introductions UmbraVivi • Now • 100%

Howdy hexbear I am UmbraVivi

I've been around for 3 years and you might have seen my comments before About me: - I'm from Germany - I'm a fake weeb who doesn't watch anime but is way too invested in V-tubers - I'm very good at Pokemon and Teamfight Tactics - I love media analysis and analyzing things in general. Thanks to being both autistic AND German I am also not bound by such weaknesses as "trying to be nice", so if you have an essay or a piece of media that you would like feedback on, I probably have a bunch of things to say about it and I can be pretty insightful if I do say so myself.

askchapo UmbraVivi • Now • 97%

Pls give me leftist dogwhistles to put in my dating app bio

My friend made me install Bumble. I want something that leftists will recognize but that won't immediately scare off liberals (I can fix them) Does anyone have any cool Lenin quotes for this purpose or something

technology UmbraVivi • Now • 0%

Elon Musk is creating the most hilariously inefficient machine in history

Tesla is building a humanoid robot to do manual labor and this is up there with his idiotic hyper loop projects in being a perfect example of his insane obsession with form over function because FuUTuRee. > Proposed tasks for the product are ones that are "dangerous, repetitive and boring", such as providing manufacturing assistance. > This week, Mr Musk told investors the humanoid robot's first application would be at a Tesla plant "moving parts around the factory, or something like that". But in the future, he sees it helping solve labour shortages. > Tesla Bot will measure 5'8" (173 cm) tall and weigh 125lbs (57 kg) [...] and have a carrying capacity of 45 lb (20 kg). Elon thought to himself "wow wouldn't it be like really futuristic if we had humanoid robots working in our factories" and then decided that was a good idea. We have thousands, *thousands* of machines that can do repetitive, boring tasks like these better than any human ever could. There is literally no practical reason to confine your machine to human form, which is absolutely not optimal for pretty much anything. 2 legs are stupidly impractical, they make you slow and incredibly easy to push over compared to something with 4 legs, let alone something with wheels. Even just walking is a balancing act. 2 legs are the reason this billion-dollar-punchline can only carry a pathetic 20 kilograms. The only, and I mean the *only* reason this is done is because it looks futuristic. In practice, it's a massive step backwards and it will make any work place perform worse than without them. Elon doesn't want "machines", those don't look like the future, he needs *"robots"*. Robots which are, in practice, just humans but worse.

anime UmbraVivi • Now • 0%

Why does Steins;Gate treat every female character like dirt

I played 8 hours of the Steins;Gate VN and it started out really interesting but after a while it just became aggravating to no end. Like holy moly does this VN hate women. It feels like it was written by a fucking pick-up artist. Mayuri is an immature, borderline infantile 16-year-old girl and Rintaro treats her like *shit*. He constantly puts her down, dismisses what she says and uses food she buys (which she cares about a lot) for whatever he wants at the moment. There was that one scene where he literally made her cry by eating some of the food she just bought. And the consequences? Nada. Next scene she's back to "Okarin :D". Throughout my entire playtime there was not a moment of consideration for how Rintaro's treatment of her would affect her in the long-term. No matter what he says and does, she loves him and forgives everything basically immediately. Kurisu is almost even more infuriating, she's leagues more competent and capable than Rintaro is yet he constantly puts her down, calls her nicknames she doesn't like, literally molests her the very first time they meet and what is her reaction? The most generic tsundere behavior I've ever seen. At one point he literally shouts at her to the point of tears and again, exactly zero consequences. She falls in love with him because I assume this was written by a redpill dude who believes that the more you treat women like shit the more they will want to have sex with you. It's incredible. Not one, not *a single moment* of consequences in EIGHT HOURS. If you want a protagonist who's an asshole, fine, but show that you acknowledge that what he's doing is bad. Don't fucking reward him for it. *Fucking Rick & Morty manages to do this.* It's just baffling to me that it has so many glowing reviews, especially cause the "mystery" sucks ass. After reading the synopsis there are exactly 0 plot twists, it's all exactly what it seems like on the surface. Yes, there is a secret organization. Yes, it is time travel. Everything is the most obvious explanation you could think of. Who lives and who dies is decided by who the protagonist wants to fuck the most. I'm super disappointed because I was really intrigued by the first chapter and how the plot shaped up to be. But then the trashy behavior of the protagonist just kept going, and all the other characters just kept putting up with it. And like, if it has not been adressed *at all* in the first 8 hours I have no reason to believe it ever will be. Fuck this shit. Edit: Also shoutout to the future dystopia being a communist regime which abolished railroads. :yea: Edit 2: Oh I forgot to mention how Rintaro and Daru keep Kurisu in line by blatantly sexually harassing her and making her uncomfortable until she folds, and this is framed as a clever tactic.

music UmbraVivi • Now • 0%

I want to watch Hoshimachi Suisei's concert tomorrow but I'm not paying 5000 Yen for a stream of a virtual concert

I don't know if this is the right community or c/anime but whatever I love Hololive and Hoshimachi Suisei is my absolute favorite. She has her first solo concert tomorrow but Hololive charges bizarre prices for these, 5000 yen (37,63€ or $43,80) for a *stream* of a digital concert is insane. So I was wondering if anyone here knows where I could either find a recording of this afterwards or, alternatively, if there are other fans here maybe who'd be interested in buying one ticket together and then one person could stream it to the others and record it perhaps? After buying a ticket you can watch the archived stream until the 21st of November so it should be feasible. Asking here because as a Hololive fan, most other Hololive fans would rather snap their own necks than pirate something like this. I just wanna watch my favorite anime girl sing ;-; More info about the whole thing here: https://virtual.spwn.jp/events/21102102-engsuisei Edit: Someone linked this and that is where we will hopefully get our comet content, fellow hoshiyomi https://nyaa.si/?f=0&c=0_0&q=星街すいせい

askchapo UmbraVivi • Now • 0%

What did Marx fail to consider? Post your best answers

Answer with the most upbears will be deemed the one true leftist on hexbear Edit: what the fuck there's no more upbears what is this reddit