I know… but I loveses them buzzing little flying pigs.

A-10 Warthog enthusiasts are salivating.

Look, first off, this is her war. Soviet tanks out of mothballs, massed up and ready for the BBRRRRRR. But second, with some modern ECM, and explosive rounds, she could trounce every drone.

Ooohhh.

I did not realize until this moment that I didn’t understand their relationship correctly.

I’ve posted this before, but one of my favorite butterfly effect stories is that the famously under-regulating, and ethically dubious Elaine Chao let Tesla implement new driver control methods while she was Transportation Secretary, and a few years later the same sketchy controls helped to kill her sister (in addition to drunk driving).

That’s sort of a blanket statement, and I don’t think it really applies about Warren and Sanders.

My sense is that most folks feel that Bernie is too old. And I didn’t realize EW was 75, but in contrast to both Biden and Trump, I haven’t seen Sanders or Warren randomly zone out and have an ‘old person’ moment on camera.
They both still seem mentally sharp. Whether or not that’s a function of having less press exposure and a greater ability to choose when they appear before the cameras is an unknown.

Not advocating for them, mind you, because I do think they’re too old. Just adding that I think their perceived sharpness allows them to avoid those criticisms.

Frodalf is just Tom Bombadil

Gimlum is the wizened old meth head that steals your hubcaps and tries to sell them back to you.

To be fair, he’s a priest. He only knows about Chryslers and vehicles whose names end in –mobile.

So for $200 USD they’re selling an 80’s retro version of a GameboyPi case ($50 on amazon, includes battery) with a slightly larger screen and fewer buttons. For $10 more, they’ll add in a keyboard that they haven’t developed yet.

Seems like an overpriced stepping stone between a flipper and a steam deck.

Fine. I’m calling it Gulf of the Americas and reminding everyone that the Americas are the continents, not the country.
A visionary and inclusive move!

—

^{the increasingly loud hum of cognitive dissonance in the face of a nonsensical reality grows slightly higher pitched}

God‘s Gonna Cut You Down, by Johnny Cash

I was always really fortunate in that my family didn’t bother me too much with tech support requests - mostly because I didn’t really get into a technical career when I lived near them.

However, I did have the misfortune of becoming ‘the photographer.’ I always really loved photography, and when I could, I bought one of the first model DSLR’s. I shot mostly for myself. I’d sometimes do paid work, but generally, I just liked wandering around and getting pictures of things I thought were interesting. For about a 5-10 year period, I was just expected to be the photographer for every life event for everyone in my immediate family, and I found it really dehumanizing.
I was not Monument the friend, the brother, the son, the uncle, or whatever, but ‘the camera.’ I could not enjoy the experience of being at events, or even of taking pictures for myself unless I ‘forgot’ my camera at home, or flat out refused to take pictures for other people. I’ve had strangers interrupt me while shooting to take their picture - both with their camera (tourists, mostly) or with my own camera.
When my camera fell behind in technology, I more or less shelved it in favor of crappy cell phone pictures for documenting things, but I still sort of have bittersweet feelings about using a DSLR to make art. I feel like the expectation sort of ruined the joy of shooting for me.

I remember when Emma Watson turned 18, and there were websites that counted down to it. Same for Lindsay Lohan. It was so creepy, and also weirdly presented as ‘normal dude behavior’ back in the aughts. I’m glad that’s no longer acceptable. It always gave me the ick.

Obviously, when I was a teenager I would have found teenagers attractive. But I’m no longer a teenager. And as the years have progressed, so have my preferences.
I couldn’t pinpoint an exact time when it occurred, but now when I see someone younger than like, 30, I just am not attracted. Sure, I can appreciate someone aesthetically without being attracted to them, but really, that has a cut-off, too. Anyone younger than their mid 20’s just does not look good to me.
At a base, physical, level, they look wrong to my eyes. Their faces aren’t done being formed, and they don’t have adult bodies. (Younglings, if you’re reading this, rest assured, you look great, and I’m just an old twisted weirdo with specific tastes. My attraction is not worth your self-confidence.) Let alone all the maturity, social, and experience-related differences that occur as a result of those age gaps. (Younglings, again - this is something you cannot help, and is not something that you can change without becoming an old twisted weirdo yourself. So don’t worry about it. My approval is free, and not worth the paper it’s printed on, if I printed it on paper.)

My wife has a half-sister that is 24 years younger than her, and she’s not even the oldest in her family. I think the full age spread is about 31 years.

Sort of a similar deal. Her mom and dad split when she was young. Dad had a whoops/miracle baby with his new wife, who is only a year or two older than his eldest daughter. She was 26, I think, when they met and apparently pursued him despite his protests until he gave in and dated her. So it’s maybe weird, but not standard issue creepy. The baby happened around 7 years into their relationship.

I mean, look — If your kid can’t tell the difference between a merlot and a malbec by the time they’re ready to order from the adult menu, can you say you’ve succeeded in preparing them for adulthood?

In the context of the series, a terminal would make a lot of sense.

I thought it was an Adidas reference, based on the logo.

You’re talking about pomegranates, right?

anakin-smirk.jpeg

…. Right?

Ha! I’ve definitely done that, too.

It’s just the above story makes for more interesting reading.

I did that once and cost someone their job.

Back in the bad old days of 2009, the company I apprenticed at furloughed the secretary and made me enter in job tickets. We had a special relationship with one client and they used us like one would use a drop shipping company – they sent us their customer orders and we fulfilled them. It was low volume (per job), high frequency work. About 80% of our tickets originated from PDFs that always followed the same pattern. As my first serious foray into programming, I automated the ticket intake for just their tickets so I didn’t have to type them up manually. At the time, I did not realize reducing a 10 minute task to 10 seconds (repeated about 15 times a day) would mean they never brought her back to work full time.

I don’t feel that bad about it: In the 5 years there she’d never been given a raise, the healthcare plan was atrocious, and she found out she was pregnant during the furlough. However, she decided to look for another job, and found one as a secretary at a school just down the street from her house. It was a dramatic pay increase, much better benefits, and better job security.
I left a few months later, and a year or so after, the business folded.

I started playing No Man’s Sky again recently. My game from XBox didn’t transfer to Steam and I didn’t feel like trying to troubleshoot it, so I just started fresh. I’ll probably play that until my new character has unlocked everything.
I also picked up Stray and haven’t yet gotten into it much. I also recently bought Everspace, but haven’t even started the game yet. Soon, though.