To all the youngsters of imgur; Don't worry about being great. Be terrible, and be brave. Nobody starts great. They become great by having the courage to keep going. The basic argument against gun control is that it won't stop people from getting guns. People still do drugs, still drive without a license. Such and so forth. And maybe it wouldn't show a huge difference in 10 years. Maybe so. How about 20, 50? You don't pass a law expecting it to fix everything now. You pass a law as a step in a better direction. That, in time, you might have done something real, and tangible to make a bad situation better. Updating fire codes didn't magically fix public safety. But on a long enough timeline, it saved a lot of lives. Updating collision standards didn't fix the auto industry, but you're much more likely to survive than you were 30 years ago. Updating gun control laws won't make guns or crazy people go away today. But in thirty years, maybe this won't be an annual competition between lunatics. Maybe we won't have to argue semantics to make ourselves feel better about how much gun violence there is. Maybe sixty people won't suddenly be gone from the lives of their families and loved ones in a single act of violence. And maybe we won't have to swallow the sophistry of thoughts and prayers but this isn't the time to discuss... ----- "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." ~Issac Asimov --- Let me get this straight; Trump's official position on LGBQT equal rights is "It's a state rights issue." And his official position on states allowing recreational marijuana is that the states don't have a right to legislate it. So literally, the states are allowed to act against federal and constitutional law to harm the gays, but have no right to act in favor of ending harmful and ignorant fearmongering laws from the 60s. And nobody else sees a problem with this? Are you goddamn fucking kidding me?! --- Hey, if you're reading this, remember, no refunds on time wasted. No. Freaking. Refunds. --- Occupation; Professional Killjoy --- Below, you will find a selection of commentary. Some great advice, some witticisms, the occasional random outburst of profanity. Enjoy this glimpse into my mind. --- Success and personal discipline walk hand in hand. You cannot have and keep one, without having and keeping the other. --- Had the weirdest dream. Only part I remember is part of this homeless dude's insane rant; "I need you to call the world leaders together tomorrow! Don't you see? They've allowed the teeth of industry to rot to the core! I know how to fix it! I know how to solve it!" ... Okay, dude. Gonna... you know. Go. And get right on that. --- Surveillance is abjectly antithetical to the idea of freedom. It is the idea that we are, by choice or compulsion, to volunteer every secret, every idle thought, all of our plans, and the contents of not only our personal possessions but our very ideology to an agent of the state, with the express knowledge that this person, for reasons which may be entirely arbitrary, and wholly capricious, could see us hanged. If you do not believe an agent of the state would ever abuse that power, you have no concept of the nature of power, let alone that of men. --- The more I see, the less I find I want to. I have always viewed myself as a cynical pessimist, and yet I find that all too often I have been thinking too optimistically about a given situation. --- From 300k to -19000. Remind me to never over-promise and under-deliver when it comes to hula hooping. These guys take it crazy seriously. And the account got deleted and remade and is at -12 now. Geez, you guys know how to hold a grudge! --- Have a political opinion! Make America irate again! --- In a fortune cookie opened two days after purchasing a new PC; "You shouldn't overspend at the moment. Frugality is important." - Guess I'm fucked, then. --- "It was, I am." Those are the words which have carried me through every darkness I have ever faced. The words that are my foundation, my center, my strength. When I no longer need those words, neither will I be at all. --- Depression is siege warfare. Some days we are safe in our keep. Unassailable. We scarcely recognize there is an enemy to fight. Others, we are begging the fates to let our walls stand just one more hour. Just one more minute. But... siege warfare is a science, an art, and an act of grim determination. We can build stronger walls. We can train to fight. We can focus, and we can formulate a strategy. --- "People who have no respect for their possessions will find they have a home full of broken memories." --- "Consider this; humanity, as a species, has successfully sexualized basically everything it has ever experienced. Literally, if we can imagine it, someone else can imagine fucking it. That's not a statistical anomaly. That's what we are." ------ "If all we allow ourselves to know is fear, and regret, then it will always be overwhelming. It is up to each of us to take what we have, to acknowledge it, and to find a way to use it to help someone else. In doing so, we create light, and the shadows we once cowered from are no longer so deep or frightening. " ----- "Be wary of growing complacent, of forgetting how much the people you let close actually mean to you. Be most afraid of this one thing; That someday you wake up, and realize that it is too late to show them how much you appreciate them, to tell them that you love them."