Hell yeah, electric horses!

I fully thought that “nuclear family” was just a way of describing the most closely-related members of a family that all lived together, and that going further outwards (like in the nuclear electron shells I learned in high school chemistry), was a way of conceptualizing where more distant cousins would fall in relation to that core.

Now I’m hearing that it’s some fucking prescriptivist, cis- and heteronormative term that is meant to exclude some types of families, and that is fucking bullshit. I’m not inclined to let the worst shitheads in the country steal the very concept of family like they’ve tried to do with tiki torches, Hawaiian shirts, and patriotism. Fuck that, and fuck them

I taught myself a few knots! Took a few tries, but now I can tie a monkey’s fist without screwing it up too badly. Gives me something to do with my hands for a while, and I can give them away as gifts.

It’s not a continuity error as such, but I’m a big fan of all the technologies that by rights should have completely upended galactic civilization but then just get forgotten.

The Genesis device should be an appalling superweapon that would change the face of war.

And then those missiles from Generations that can kill an entire solar system should, too.

And the time on TNG that they stumbled on a weird transporter trick that could make it so no one would ever need to die of old age ever again.

And the Tribble blood that cures death.

And so forth.

It’s actually an example where 100% soulless corporatism can result in better moral outcomes than a particular ideology. Disney corporate doesn’t give a fuck about queer folk as human beings, but because there was money to be made, they were more likely to side with them than with the DeSantis administration. This is only so long as it’s profitable, but it’s still actually preferable to actively seeking to persecute theys and thems purely out of ideological hatred, even at the expense of tearing down a chunk of the economy.

That’s… just the default for most of cultural history. Odysseus gets back from war, slaughters like thirty dudes in the dining room, and his wife is just thrilled that hubby is back. The other way is the subversion of classical treatments of violence in fiction.

“I’m cutting back on all the online spaces that we used to share.”

“Okay, that’s your right, but it is going to be a hell of a lot harder for us to stay in touch, so if you’re okay with putting up barriers to contact, then go right ahead.”

“WhY iS iT sO hArD tO sTaY iN tOuCh WiTh OlD fRiEnDs As aN aDuLt?!?”

The sun is beautiful. It’s fine outside. Come outside and look at the beautiful sun.

Pollster: Have you ever thought about shooting someone?

Me: Well even if I never had before, now that you’ve asked the question and put the idea in my head, I have, so thanks for that!

Pollster: Follow-up question: Have you ever thought of a pink elephant?

Not as depressing as what happens if everyone who is informed enough to have meaningful opinions refuses to participate rather than make a choice.

I was at my first gun show with an older friend who knew guns better than I did who I was following around to keep me from making any stupid decisions.

There’s a table with a sign for “Constitutional Carry,” where they don’t think you should need a special license to concealed carry a handgun.

My friend walks up to these two guys at the table, and says “Hey, just so you know, I hope you guys fail.”

The younger of the two kind of bristles, but the older one, a dude with a long white beard, says “Oh, why?”

My friend says “Because I worked in a gun shop for fifteen years, and I helped fill out more concealed carry applications than I can count and…” at this point she gestures around at the huge room behind us, “I wouldn’t trust 95% of the people in this room with any gun at all.”

And the old dude behind the table smiles and nods his head and says “Yeah, that’s a fair point.”

So anyway, that’s the day I bought a Ruger GP-100 in 357 Magnum.

I fully agree with everything you just said. My point was that if you bring so little to the table that you feel you’re in danger of being successfully replaced by a toy, then you need to do some self-improvement.

If you can’t bring more to a relationship than an appliance can, then you’ve got to work on yourself.

And can we not consider that each of us can so arrange his own particular life so as to make it meaningful to himself and to those he influences? And in that case does not all of life and all the Universe come to have meaning to him?

Surely it is those who find their own lives essentially meaningless who most strive to impose meaning on the Universe as a way of making up for the personal lack.

–Isaac Asimov, Knock Plastic!, 1989

Let’s do a little transitive property game.

The bill presupposes that there is an absolute moral duty to protect the unborn.

A theoretical woman is considering an abortion, so it must therefore be okay to murder her.

Therefore, it is okay to murder someone to protect an unborn person.

This bill would make it okay to murder women to protect the unborn.

But that would kill the unborn!

So, it must therefore be okay to kill in order to prevent this bill from passing.

So by this bill’s own logic, it would be morally correct to kill Keith Kidwell.

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS PURELY AN EXERCISE IN ARGUMENTUM AD ABSURDUM AND NOT AN ACTUAL PROPOSAL. DO NOT DO MURDERS.

The system thanks you for your support.

From Bag Balm:

Originally, it was used for only cows’ udders, but farmers’ wives noticed the softness of their husbands’ hands, and started using the product themselves.

Doesn’t look good.