floatationman

17296 pts ยท July 23, 2015


I spend too much time on here. Occasionally I make a witty comment. Sometimes my comments aren't so witty. C'est la vie.

1 day ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Not performative. Just kind.

3 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

That's kind of what Cuban did with his drug company. They run at cost plus 15%. That's as close as one can find to a non-profit in the American system.

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Decades ago I thought we had achieved this. It was a real "Mission Accomplished" type moment. Boy I had now idea just how far we could push that envelope!

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Give it a minute

3 days ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

Even if you're not going into the trades, making sure new adults have some handicraft skills, especially knowledge of how to do things safely, is a Good Thing.

4 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Political will is a major factor. But I really do think you're underestimating just how hard it is to put together all of the necessary parcels of land, let alone the actual design work and construction. I have a friend who is a transportation engineer and the absurd amount of effort she spent just trying to get all the legal permissions to build a second high speed rail line through mostly rural Illinois was impressive. Modern infrastructure ain't easy. Doesn't mean we shouldn't still do it.

5 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I think we can mark this down as a successful collaboration.

6 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Well played.

6 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

It's the hat.

6 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

6 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Installing rail is not easy. It's incredibly complicated and expensive. But it's typically a good investment as long as the population density is high enough. But let's not kid ourselves that it's easy.

6 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

What do?

6 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Yeah, I think it's going to take either a) a truth and reconciliation movement, ala, post apartheid South Africa or b) a civil war. There is so much that needs to be fixed and the vast majority of monied are trying as hard a possible to stop all the fixes.

6 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I'm so tired of winning. /s

6 days ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

My dumb ass installed a sound card while the computer was on. I blew out the math co-processer or somesuch. Turned my 386 DX into an SX. Whoops. Only good thing about the housefire that we had a few months later is that it transmuted that particular cradle of learning to a 486 through the magic of homeowners insurance!

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It's even harder to be threat without a hyoid...

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

She's got the black belts for it.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Just imagine it. What a gift to the interviewer. A lifetime of meeting all sorts of people, a cornucopia of different ways of thinking, education levels, and general brainpower. And then one day a champion emerges. Wow, lady, you are for sure, 100%, the dumbest person I have ever met.

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Much like in the way that it doesn't matter where it came from, we have to live with the reality of the timing of the pathogen's emergence. I know a lot of clock cycles have been spent on determining where Covid 19 came from biologists way more knowledgeable than me, but Occam's Razor suggests geographic coincidence shouldn't be ignored out of hand.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I buy into the conspiracy theory that the animal research lab on Plumb Island and Lime Disease are related. A microbe that's been around for 60,000 years is suddenly "discovered" in Lime Ct., just across the water from lab in 1975 and rapidly spreads. While most conspiracies depend on lots of people keeping improbably quiet, this one requires only a few deeply motivated individuals and a wee bit of incompetence. Doesn't really effect anything, but it makes sense to me.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The horses yearn for the plains.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I mean, if he believed in that system. Or more likely, even knew about it...

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

JFC. How could I miss that?

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

It's amazing how when there's no porta pottie suddenly the local gas station / fast food place gets a lot of extra business!

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

It also reminds me of The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. A surprisingly deep fantasy series the examines what it means to be a hero and what kindness and true courage look like.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Well you certainly learned something from both, although I don't think it was statistics.

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Yes, and also the star of "Hell Comes to Frogtown" a late night cinematic classic.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0