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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 17:41:55 GMT -5
Not a bad gig writing for the fringes. Identify a set of fears, find a set of examples half-real and embellished to taste to feed them, and then write, write, write as much as you can sell. Easy money.
I sometimes fear one of these crafters will dig up a bunch of my writings on the Maki Boys. He will use them to establish such fear that the Federal government will be compelled to send troops and tanks to seal off every road into and out of Newfolden until they can build a Trumpian Wall around the place to safely contain the Maki Malady.
Every morning, a dozen cases of Grain Belt will be tossed over the wall along with cartons of fried pork rinds, pickled eggs, and deer sausage. Not a bad life, all in all, but all based on a fiction.
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 14:34:00 GMT -5
Charlene took a post-college job as the educational/activities director of the Pine to Prairie chapter of the Audubon Society (we managed a 600 acre wildlife preserve). I was the editor of the "Snowy Owl", the chapter's award-winning and nationally acclaimed newsletter. I interviewed Charlene for the newsletter. I brought my golden retriever, Woody, along with me. Woody won the day. I came with the dog.
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 14:20:29 GMT -5
... He also designed the wrap-around dust cover for John Gardner's Life and Times of Chaucer. The figure at the bottom holding a paintbrush is a self-portrait, while John looks out from the middle window on the left. Is that John Gardner as in the author of "Grendel" John Gardner?
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 12:37:50 GMT -5
And if Democrats are pro Israel, then how do the Republicans "make hay" By misrepresenting, exaggerating, simplifying, distorting, lying. Politicians and pundits have their means. You don't need a straight rake to make hay
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 12:24:36 GMT -5
[Rational actor does not mean that many/most within Hamas have haven't become crazy and are blinded by hate...]
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 11:23:50 GMT -5
Terrorists is a word that covers a lot of territory.
Is Hamas a lone wolf loony who plants bombs out of a crazed addiction to chaos and fear? Or is Hamas an organized entity with a political/territorial agenda? An entity that represents a group of people and believes it is acting, however desperately, on their behalf?
There is quite a difference twix the two. You can't punish the lone wolf as the lone wolf represents nothing and cares for none. But you can punish an entity that represents a group of people and has an agenda and hopes for that group.
And whatever else you might think Hamas is, and be right, Hamas is a rational actor. They have an agenda that represents something greater than themselves, a future country called Palestine. And they are willing to sacrifice greatly to achieve it. Rational actor does not mean that many/most within Hamas haven't become crazy and are blinded by hate, rational actor means as a group they have a plan and a goal for their people, however ill-defined at the moment. A better future than the present. A homeland. They are not a lone wolf crazy bent only on anarchy and chaos and some kind of strange emotional fix.
It is a mistake to assume Hamas does not care about the people they believe they are acting on behalf of. They are willing to make great sacrifices, but they carry a hope for a future for those they believe they represent. Hamas accepted that there would be a terrible cost for the attack they made on the Israelis living in what they believed to be stolen Palestinian land. If many in Israel now believe that in response they need to make that cost far greater than any Hamas imagined, I don't blame them.
(we bombed the bejesus out of two countries, one of which had nothing to do with it, in response to an attack that, per capita, was small in all regards compared the attack Israel suffered... and while there is much to be said about our response, there haven't been any more attacks from that quarter on our homeland for the last 20 some years)
If many in Israel believe they need to make the cost to Hamas and to the people Hamas represents and acts for so great that none with a living memory will consider such an attack on Israeli soil again, I don't blame them. A "measured response" was the cost factored by Hamas to support the attack. If Israel decides that this time a "non-measured response" is called for, I will not condemn them from safely over here far away from the shoes they walk in.
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 9:39:00 GMT -5
I will note that if I were a young Palestinian protester, I would not be trashing libraries, I would be attending peaceful candlelit vigils while looking for a pretty Jewish girl to hold hands with and sing Kumbaya.
(which is pretty much what I did as a Vietnam war protester in college. Fertile grounds for romance.)
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Post by epaul on May 3, 2024 9:12:45 GMT -5
But, it's Republican time to make hay. I've tried to come up with a way to express how perverse I think this is. I can't. "If Israel is equally evil, I'm not on board with that. Our leadership seems to." Where does stuff like this come from? Who would insinuate that our current president thinks Israel is as evil as Hamas? In an election year, no less. "They knew going in that our government would turn on Israel." Where does stuff like this come from? Who would state that the leader of our government, Joe Biden, has turned on Israel? A president who pushed a no strings attached 95 billion dollar military aid package for Israel through congress and signed it just last week. And why would someone say that folks like Cornflake who have expressed concerned over civilian casualties "are "conflicted" over Israel itself and therefore are supporting (or sympathetic for) Hamas and are certainly NOT concerned about the survival of democracy?" Where does that come from? The quotes are yours, but I am hearing similar from Republicans right and left, Republican politicians and pundits doing all they can to portray Biden as anti-Israel and, by word and deed, a weak softie on Hamas, which they translate to being a Hamas equater/supporter. In this election year, Republicans are most certainly trying to make quick political hay over this enduring conflict by misrepresenting and distorting Biden's words and actions for all they are worth. A Biden who just signed a 95 billion, no strings attached, military aid package to Israel, a Biden who has sent American navel carriers to Gulf, a Biden who is fighting a Putin their Trump would love to jump in bed with (ok, so I switched gears)
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 20:36:10 GMT -5
I did change it. To protect our language.
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 20:24:32 GMT -5
Crap. And now it's too late to change it. I'm screwed.
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 19:54:30 GMT -5
That's what I think and that's where I stand (safe and far away).
But, I also know, deep inside, that if I were a young Palestinian in this country, I would be saddened and outraged and saddened again all beyond words... and I would be protesting my ass off! I wouldn't know what else to do.
I know what side I'm on, and I'm on it warts and all. But I also know there are other sides. Some understandable, some not. But they are there. And they all depend on what shoes your feet are in and where they've trod.
But I know what shoes my feet are in.
And I know Biden's feet are in really big shoes, and he is screwed on this no matter what he does. And what he has done by deed, if not by every ear-filtered speech, is support Israel fully by every metric that counts. But, man, is he screwed on this, and he has nothing to do with any of it. But, it's Republican time to make hay.
But, if I'm asked (I won't be) I say, finish the damn job. Invade the south, blow all the tunnels, and flush every den of Hamas rats you can. Then shoot them.
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 19:23:55 GMT -5
Now, is a "halt to the fighting" as a condition of freeing hostages the same as surrender? ... The state of the situation before Hamas attacked WAS ceasefire. Hamas needs to lose, not live to fight another day. With this I agree. Finish the job. Israel is already screwed in the "World Court". A cease fire or whatever won't gain them an ounce of forgiveness (or "likes"). Finish the job. A cease fire with Hamas left in place... with recruitment offices open and overflowing with the unfathomably bitter and consumed still standing...? Nope, not a good option for Israel. Not an option at all. Not now. Too late for anything else, finish the job. Crush Hamas. Then dump Netanyahu. And then, maybe, out of the rubble, the complete rubble, maybe something can be built. But to continue the continue on and on and on...? [edited not to escape responsibility but to protect our language: ruble => rubble]
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 13:42:23 GMT -5
I've heard (and googling seems to confirm it) that female red wing black birds flock (seasonally) by the thousands while males don't flock at all. They both (M&F) flock seasonally for migrations, but they don't flock together or at the same time. Once arrived in the Spring, they nest as a colony. A couple shotgun blasts into slough will send a cloud of blackbirds skyward, males and females, in large circling mass. (it isn't uncommon for migrating males to arrive ahead of the females to stake out their territories (and pick up their dirty socks and empty pizza boxes in case they get lucky).
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 8:45:10 GMT -5
Really, nothing else will do... Happy Birthday, Bob!
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Post by epaul on May 2, 2024 8:30:58 GMT -5
Dave doesn't mess around when it comes to women. Go big or go home!
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Post by epaul on May 1, 2024 20:50:08 GMT -5
While walking Casper, I was struck by inspiration. Get those "Cruiser Shocks" put on your new truck. With a flick of a switch you can drop the entire truck nearly a foot. Flick the switch the other way and it will shoot up a foot and over the snowbank you go. See a pretty girl? Flick another switch and the entire truck will begin bouncing up and down in joy and a couple rows of colored lights will start winking at her.
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Post by epaul on May 1, 2024 16:12:07 GMT -5
They are a little pricey, and not easy to get, but the best bet for traction is a portable gravity pump. When you need extra weight for traction, you just set the dial for whatever amount you want and the pump will suck the necessary amount of gravity out of the earth's core.
You don't want to forget to shut them off, however. as they will keep sucking gravity until they collapse the bed of your pickup and mess with the earth's rotation.
("pump" is a little misleading as they actually work by creating an illusion of mass and something else I can't begin to explain. So, just calling them a pump saves a lot of complicated explaining.)
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Post by epaul on May 1, 2024 13:13:53 GMT -5
4WD would be nice in Idaho. In AZ or similar, I wouldn't care (I would go 2WD and save the bucks). But Idaho has snow, ice, and mountains. Plus, every fall, there are all kinds of slippery potatoes on the road. 4WD would be real nice to have in Idaho.
The slightest winter hill can be an adventure in a pickup with 2WD. And icy roads? Uffda!
We did manage to survive with snow tires and a couple hundred pounds of sandbags in the bed, but the advent of 4WD was really nice advent in the north country.
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Post by epaul on May 1, 2024 11:49:31 GMT -5
Don't discount the Colorado et.al too quickly, at least without driving a few. Compared to a Colorado, driving an older Chevy Luv or Ford Ranger is like riding in a cramped, noisy tin can. $10-12 grand for a 2010 Colorado with "broken-in" miles isn't a bad deal. Non-crew cab pickups are a buyers' market (relatively speaking as most want a crew). And you can get a used Colorado with a smooth V6 instead of a noisy, under-powered little 4.
(you have a very reasonable chance of getting 200,000 plus miles on a well-cared for V6. A little turbo four? No way.)
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Post by epaul on May 1, 2024 9:28:48 GMT -5
Oh, and I got Wordle in one again!
(after my normal three starter words, which I don't count, as they are just starter words)
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