Dowlphin

Probably best to dump the whole national identity thing altogether, because when you pretend in order to avoid people's preconceptions, you're buying into the problem.

I mean, it must be an absurd situation for your father being in the U.S. Airforce while the country treats Pakistan like a big villain (among many others). Much of their military activity is based on that divisive propaganda. You have to realize that racial preconceptions are a tool for that military conquest. But for your father, it would probably create massive existential fears aside from the identity crisis. Fox News is a government lackey, and the military is its executive arm. The more people drop illusions about things like this, the better they can attain personal freedom and empowerment.

If people give you crap for being a Pakistani, then you shove their nose into that crap (in a polite way if possible though). It's them who should feel bad for being like that. They have to be led into a dead end with their preconceptions. They might not like you for triggering that, but that's their problem really. If they can overcome their uneducated views, WIN!. If not, nothing lost. As soon as you base your interaction with them on the acceptance of their preconceptions, you lose. You have to treat them like you have no idea about these things. A bit like a socratic dialogue. Don't let their beliefs creep into you. Beliefs can be tricky like that.

You can spend so much time and energy trying to convince people, but you can also focus more on more productive stuff - stuff that's nourishing you.

I've tried to make people wake up a while ago, passionately, and let's just say it felt like dealing with an army of zombies. ... Zombies are walking very slowly though.

Can you imagine how Japanese immigrants with US nationality must have felt during WWII when they were forcibly put into concentration camps by 'their' government?

It seems that sometimes people bear so much crap without acting consequentially as a result. If a country treats its own people like this and gets away with it, it will happen again.

So naive of me.

Well, apparently they don't have an undelete safety net for account deletions. But hey, apparently their support personnel is not that bright (they can't read) and the whole site is as messy as Youtube.

Youtube... Cheezburger ... deviantART ... Mir space station style.

Yes, enjoyable art IS work just like your job, but if it is fulfilling to your nature, then it becomes effortless. There you see what drives us; what fuels us.

I have that kind of barrier you describe with getting out of bed. I often have difficulty with that, but a few minutes after I did it, it's fine. (And without coffee!)

That's why I'm always thankful if there is some lame or trivial reason to get up. Doesn't have to be special, just requires me to have some passion or compulsion for it.

@Sky Warden

Now this sounds like an interesting self-exploration opportunity for eightbithoof for figuring out whether he doesn't like programming or whether he doesn't like working for his employer.

Ok, patience doesn't pay off without persistence. I recently submitted a re to my own first request and got a reply. They are working on trying to restore my account.

Thanks for giving an elaborate example of what I'm talking about, haha.

It's all good. ... And entertaining.

I got the mad chick in me! 

Thanks for sharing! Must feel awesome to have gotten most troubles behind you.

The hardest battles are fought within ourselves, no?

that's a really good camera you've got there. what kind is it?

Bridge camera. Olympus C-5060WZ.

3 cm minimum distance for super macro frustrates me - not close enough, haha. I have taken photos of dragonflies and hoverflies right in front of me where you can see the facets of the eyes.

I've held a few bugs before, but that was because I wanted to kill them

When I find a spider in the house, I get a glass jar and a piece of paper and try to get them into it without scaring them too much, and then put them outside. I learned from that how different spider personalites can be.

I invited the locust to sit on my hand, and the hoverfly I rescued from a carnivorous plant and helped a bit with wing cleaning.

The hoverfly was actually worried and didn't want to leave the plant because there was another one stuck in it. I rescued that one later. Hoverflies seem to be especially peaceful people.

A while after my various hoverfly rescuings, I was regularly being visited by them in the park during my Nei Gung exercises, and they did some nutty things.

Patience and respect (treating them as equals) are necessary ingredients. Naturally, those tiny insects are very sensitive, so they will notice all kinds of pressure you bring into the mix. But building up trust works with them just as well as it works with bigger animals, including humans.

Still no response from Cheezburger support.

The fun has NOT been doubled!

Nah, it's fine. If you can't laugh about life, it'll kill ya.

The screenshot is authentic, by the way.