This is actually wisdom. I use a 4x fudge factor.

beat me to it.

I’ve always heard:

Respect is given, not earned.

Trust is earned and easy to lose.

Don’t confuse politeness with respect.

Correct, specific to his fiction. I don’t know if I’ve read a non-fiction book of his. However, I’ve never read a bad article or essay by him. He has great insight.

His ideas are fantastic. Execution and characterization are spotty. Been a while since I read anything of his, but IIRC, he has a tendency to dip into surrealism or absurdity that feels cringey instead of his artistic target.

In some ways, it’s similar to a lot of Golden Era SF. You read it for the ideas, not the story.

I do have a favorable opinion of him and his work. I’d really enjoy Doctorow being paired with a traditional fiction author and both being rode herd by a hardass SF editor.

That’s pretty much what I figured. Wish trans folks had something like the old school hanky code.

As far as my preferences go, I was in a triad for a while with an NB. If I were stuck on a desert island and had to pick between a vanilla woman or a sub boy, I’m picking the boy. However, like I said, I have a strong preference for female genitalia. The whole tomboy/NB thing is the sweetspot for me in this spectrum.

I also have smell preferences. MtF, many NB, and cis women smell much more attractive to me. I imagine it’s related to test levels. I don’t find heavily transitioned FtM very attractive. There’s an androgynous smell that’s kind of like fallen leaves that I really like.

Not trying to fetishize here, but thought the perspective might be interesting. I’m very masculine and fall somewhere between a wolf or bear.

As far as I know, pup/petplay is an outgrowth of queer male leather with leather pups being the prototype. Ponyplay has similar roots, probably a little more tradionally het. A fair amount of it, especially in porn, is just female submissive cishet roleplay. There is also overlap with furries.

It is relatively common in the straight-ish kink and leather communties in the US. There are leather pups all over gay leather. I can’t speak to the lesbian communties.

If you’re in the US, get involved with your local bdsm/kink community. Saw a girl come out as a hu-cow for the first time at a recent event.

When considering dating trans/NB folks, what is the best way to ask about their genital configuration, gender identity, and future planned trajectory?

In other words, I have a strong preference for female genitalia. I also strongly prefer limited or no body hair (shaved is fine). There is a set of tomboy/androgyny/boi that is my type. Is there a polite way to ask about this?

Yup. I have a play farm, not a real farm. Real farming is an industrial process that requires duallys and such. However, those are also real trucks. Beat to shit, tools in the bed, not lifted so much you can’t load them, etc. They look the part. I do also have a 98 Chevy 3500 box truck. Drinks way too much gas to use it for anything other than its purpose, don’t even have it registered right now, bad cats.

I wish I had AWD/4WD sometimes. That’s really the only thing I don’t like about the truck.

Before this truck, I had a Malibu, kept folding the seats down, toting 2x4’s and such. Ripped sheets plywood in the parking lot with a battery powered saw to fit it in before.

Parts are still pretty cheap for this truck here. They made so many of them. I only gave $3500 for it, but that was before prices on used little trucks jumped so high.

I’m hoping I don’t ever have to replace this truck, but if I do, I would be looking at a V6 minivan, especially if I could get in AWD. Gut one of those, and it’s basically a little truck. I think it would do everything I needed, better on fuel costs, etc. I’m not much for lifitimg suspensions, but a truck-minivan with AWD I might lift a little to get into standard truck ground clearance range.

Trucks/utility vehicles are tools and should be used and maintained like a good tool. If it doesn’t have a few scratches and dents, it’s not a real tool.

This is actually my fourth vehicle, lifetime. My second was a 97 ranger with the 5 speed and 4 banger. I sold it and missed it so bad I got this one after I lost the car in a flood.

98 Ranger XLT extended cab. I’ve added trailer brake control for livestock hauling and a modern stereo with bluetooth, handsfree calling, and a sealed 10" sub cause I’m a metalhead.

It’s got the pushrod V6 that will last forever, in 99 they switched over to those awful self-destructing cassette timed V6s.

It throws no codes. Redid intake manifold and valve gaskets about 18 months ago, but I’ve got increased Idle RPM and minor oil leak again. So, I have to redo it, looking for a more permanent fix.

My truck does 10x the work most of those oversized pavement princess trucks do. It’s a little truck for our little play farm.

And gave them LSD! Funded by NASA.

The Dolphin Who Loved Me.

This is sweet! Didn’t realize it existed. Been dreading the 11 BS and clawing all the enshittification out. I wish I could do linux on my main machine, but CAM is still not pro grade.

big sloppy kiss

Hate those fucken assholes. Pavement princess driving motherfuckers.

It literally takes less than 30 seconds to bend down, pull the cotter clip, pull the pin, and toss the hitch end in the bed. Saves the shins and kneecaps of yourself and everyone else.

George Clooney has done some real life Batman shit. He started the Satellite Sentinel Project. using some of his millions. Org’s website is https://thesentry.org/

He rents satellite time and surveils African warlords providing warnings for villages of incoming armies.

After increasingly cussing the TV as the level of stupid rose higher and higher, we made it to the part where magic purple witch spray was used. I paused the TV and my girl and I just looked at each other, we were done.

Also, who the fuck writes in a fucking basement in New Orleans? Not motherfucking Anne Rice. So stupid.

We’re finishing up the second season of Interview with a Vampire. Other than a bad Southern accent in the first season, it’s excellent and super queer. Highly recommend.

I think I saw a nipple!

Did some searching, apparently it can be variable in taste due to sea urchin diet, freshness, and preparation. There are commercially prepared pastes that aren’t very palatable.

The urchin I had was really expensive and was a special that was rarely available. This sushi place had very good stuff, you could also order freshly grated wasabi from imported Japanese roots (I totally recommend).

Probably similar to canned crab vs fresh crab. Stuff in the can is terrible and I don’t know how people eat it.