EpochEclipse

3418 pts ยท April 9, 2013


Go away.

That's good news! I'm glad I was wrong and that you're dong well.
As of tomorrow, I'll have been on the planet for half a century, (I'm still not sure how I feel about the experience) and I've decided it's better to offer to open an ear than stay silent. Also, I just got done drinking with my "little" brother. :)

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

1. Fuckin' fabulous.
2. Nice book-person is posting an accelerating amount of smut lately, which MIGHT indicate that nice book-person is not feeling OK, and is trying to work some shit out. If such is the case, nice book-person is encouraged to talk, since we're all friends here.
3. Thank you for what you do--You're cool, and I like you.

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 3

Upvoted, because you deserve it for putting yourself out there.

2 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

As a dual-citizen of both the US and France, today it is my duty to hum Le Marseillaise at full volume. In an effort to be polite to my neighbors, I need a place to muffle the sound...Do you have any suggestions?

2 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Thanks for the correction. I was going from memory, and checked some details on wikipedia without reading the whole thing. I also realized when looking at the timeline that my (a whole 1/16!) Irish ancestors probably came to the US at that time.

2 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

That's a classic example of a "slippery slope" argument built on a far-fetched hypothetical being used to "throw the baby out with the bathwater".
How about the Irish potato famine? Yes, there was crop blight, but there was enough to feed everyone in Ireland. The English landlords CHOSE to export and sell the potatoes. Out of a total pop of 8 million, one million Irish died from starvation and disease, and one million people emigrated to survive. I'd like a law to prevent things like that.

2 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

The hardware is still quite good, but they gold-plated the data collector software so badly that it's quite cumbersome and error-prone to execute basic tasks--which is 95% of what the software needs to do. I presume part of it is software engineers writing their wet-dream of functionality without ever having to use it outdoors under production pressure, and the other is executives trying to silo users into their software ecosystem. 30 years in the biz, never been this irritated at my tools.

2 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I'm a civil/survey tech in California. We mostly do land development and septic. I'm curious what the regulatory environment/physical reality is like is out there? We have a heck of a time because of the complex geology, and relatively arid climate. Pretty much all the lots that have enough soil for septic have been built out. Mostly we're doing repairs/expansions with shallow drip with pretreatment. It's $30-50k just for septic. (FYI your labor rates are below non-union apprentice rates here.)

2 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I invoke the ancient phrase...justifiably this time.

2 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Sorry, that was unhinged. Thank you for well wishes.

2 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yes. because every time you post, I think, "That's the best goddamn username I've ever seen--It's perfect in tone and texture; you could imagine whole narratives about it." So, I grin because it's full of life and attitude, and I seethe because _I_ will never create something I enjoy this much.
Also, I've been working 10-12 hour days continuously for the last 3 weeks and I'm fucking loopy.

3 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

As a fellow bad eyesight haver, I go for the high refractive index material so that the lenses can be thinner. Then I do smaller frames because it's the edges that get thick, and the smaller the lense, the thinner the edge. The combo ends up MUCH lighter in weight. I'm pretty sure you can't do transitions with that material, but I have a separate pair of sunglasses for the rare occasions I feel like protecting my eyes. Hope that's helpful to somebody.

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

For me it's the white wine. That shit is for cooking, not drinking.

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 2

I hulk out for a LIVING and you're still beating my ass. I might win a race over an 8ft fence, but I wouldn't put money on it.

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Many women also enjoy ass-fucking. You should ask your mom about it when she tucks you in tonight.

3 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

"Invisible Man" has been on my list for quite some time--I've read snippets in school.
I started my Delaney with "Dahlgren", which is such of fever dream, I didn't get very far (and I can hang on through Zelazny and Bester).
I just read a review of "The Star Pit"; I'll have to give that one a go--appreciate the recommendation. Broadly similar theme to "Scanners Live In Vain", which I love, but I suspect it has very different lessons.
Someday I'll have the attention span for literature again.

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I want to say Raisin in The Sun or something by Richard Wright. I recall those being covered in school the next year. Later on was Toni Morrison. I really got into 40-70s science fiction for a long time in there, and it was pretty dominated by white authors, except for Samuel Delaney, who is a bit above my reading level.

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We had a copy of Roots on our shelf when I was kid. My parents probably bought it when the miniseries was popular. I decided to read it when I was 12 (late 80s) and was utterly absorbed by it. Probably my first foray into black literature, and it was incredibly moving and educational.

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Adam Smith "father of capitalism" and Karl Marx had MANY similar critiques of capitalism. Das Kapital is worth studying just to look at those problems from different perspectives. There is nothing of equivalent value in Mein Kampf, and it's an entirely different genre of book.

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Out of the last couple billions of ballots cast, the number of credible instances of voter fraud has been less than 100. The existing system works. The push for voter ID is intended to facilitate disenfranchising people. For instance, Alabama has voter ID requirements, and in 2015 the Governor selectively closed down DMVs in black districts in order to make it much more challenging to get an ID.

3 months ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 4

The far right (Christians) has been running training workshops for constitutional conventions for at least 30 years. They're fully prepped to take advantage of the process. I guess you could argue that Trump allowed them to shortcut all that, but most of his stuff can still be legally rolled back. I don't think it's worth the risk of baking fascism into the constitution.

3 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

Somewhere, I have an early 1980s MAD Super Special that MY older cousin gave me. I was addicted to them after that. Sometime in the 90s, Al Jaffee came to my town, and I got his autograph on the fold out for that issue. He was really nice, and I was over the moon about it. Older cousins + MAD Magazine make great memories.

4 months ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

Only if she lets me sniff her book collection first.

4 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I heard that last sentence in my head in a Tennessee accent, and it was glorious.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I don't have a lot of energy to respond to the content of the post, but I read the troll comments at the bottom, and they pissed me off: I'm glad you're here and that you post human stuff--It makes MY world a less isolated place, and I appreciate having that little slice of community.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You just made me realize that Walter Koenig was doing Evil Columbo on Babylon 5.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Are you out of your head when he's not around?

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I've purposefully rejected health insurance for years, and I stopped paying my federal taxes this year. Not everyone, but many, many people could do this. Yes folks, you have to take risks, you have to disobey, if you want things to change.

6 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 2

I thought this was an "Erika Kirk at a Funeral" cosplay.

6 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 4

It was the ankle straps. He probably has a bondage thing, not a feet or shoes thing.

6 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0