rekabis

Until the oil pump shaft broke: a 1965 Holder AG3 European vineyard tractor. Centre articulating, 35+ Hp diesel, close to 2 metric tons, and a third the size of a VW Beetle. We used it extensively on our orchards for a good four decades, or just shy of that.

Sucker was stupidly strong for its size, and could out-pull most tractors twice its physical size. Last I was using it for was some pretty extreme landscaping in the front yard. Another story, because it takes some explaining, but yeah.

So apparently the oil pump shaft broke late 2023, and we thought it was just overheating. Nope. Plus, the mechanic also found a rather severe hydraulic leak into the oil system, which was about the only thing that kept the engine from totally seizing.

Unfortunately, we are about three decades too late for most of the required parts. The engine place does a lot of remanufacturing and machining, so I did ask them for their “fuck off” price (gotta have a benchmark in that regard). But they did strongly suggest a Kubota engine as a replacement, primarily because the original oil pump required some pretty unusual maintenance to avoid breaking like it did. Whoops. No-one in my family realized that, least of all my father who had bought the tractor in the 80s.

there is no end to it or equality unless we end a specific sex-only space.

Like women-only gyms? DV shelters only for women? Shelters for homeless parents that service only mothers with children?

If that is what is needed to reach true equality, then I’m all for it.

However, I think tearing down useful gender-specific spaces is far more damaging than simply providing such spaces equally to both genders.

Men don't need men-only spaces.

The easiest way to identify gender bigotry is to flip the genders in contention. If there is identical interpretations, there is no bigotry in play. If there is a massive difference in how they are each interpreted, there is a massive amount of gender bigotry in play.

“Women don’t need women-only spaces.”

That sounds totally different, doesn’t it? Almost… threatening.

Now apply this to all the women-only spaces out there, like women-only gyms. Why should women-only gyms get to exist while men-only gyms get sued out of existence? Gender bigotry.

This cascades down through the whole of society - DV shelters, shelters for single parents, initiatives of all kinds for the vulnerable and precarious, which for nearly all of them focus far more heavily, or even exclusively, on women even when they are in the extreme minority.

So let’s strive for true equality - equal opportunities, services, and support for all. And if women have their own spaces, why not men? After all, that is what “equality” means.

Except that seems to generate unfathomable rage from the female supremacists when it actually gets suggested, who do everything in their power to shame such ideas of true equality into oblivion.

I'm a bigot for saying you have negative awareness?

When you speak out against criticisms of gender bigotry, you support that gender bigotry.

So yes, you are a bigot. You just happen to be lucky in that your gender bigotry is socially acceptable and even widely lauded and celebrated.

I honestly don't think third spaces on their own are the answer.

And I would agree. Men in a group setting of only men will typically behave entirely differently than if you drop even a single woman into their midst. A man who is only among men will open up and behave and accept constructive criticism in ways that he will never do with even a single woman present. The change in behaviour a man exhibits in the presence of a woman is instinctual and unconscious, and is unable to be controlled or even moderated by the vast majority of men out there.

Having male-only spaces is absolutely essential to allowing men to behave as they would without the unconscious/instinctual pressure they would be subject to with a woman present.

Too bad these kinds of places are “misogynistic” in ways that women-only spaces are “not misandric”. The gender bigotry and hypocrisy in this dichotomy is blindingly overwhelming.

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!

Imagine not wanting any hot women around.

Classic MGTOW vibes here

Imagine being the guy whose primary excuse to go to the gym is to “ogle hot women”.

Yeah, you’re a real progressive guy.

The sign of a man with experience is when he’s become sick of women’s shit.

The woman I am married to - which BTW, makes me wholly ineligible for MGTOW status - is one of the few women out there I actually want to spend time with beyond social niceties. I have zero interest in the vast majority of women out there - regardless of “hotness” - because I have come to know how women in general act and react; what their motivations are and how they approach life in general. And that just makes me wholly uninterested in them.

Don’t get me wrong, I will absolutely be polite and civil to women. I have absolutely no problem socializing with them and making them feel appreciated and valued as I would any human being, regardless of gender (or fractional thereof). I just have no interest in them as women.

Ah, so yes, you do have negative awareness. Thanks for confirming.

At least I’m not demonstrating the seething levels of gender bigotry that you are, so at least I’m one better than you.

Holy shit, do you have negative awareness?

No, I am facts-based.

And if you had any intellectual integrity, you would provide your argument on how my example wasn’t a stellar example of societal anti-male gender bigotry.

But you can’t.

What I find incredible is just how slow-moving and cruft-filled it has become.

For example, DotNet has had string interpolation since C# 6, back in 2015. That’s a decade, already.

Java recently yoinked their implementation because they just couldn’t make it work.

That’s damning.

Right now - ignoring the wider ecosystem and looking purely at the core language - I am seeing the very latest LTR version of Java as being on-par with C# pre-2010 in terms of continual material improvements and ease of use.

Yikes.

I still use Java, but… yikes.