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Post by aquaduct on May 5, 2024 8:51:15 GMT -5
"I'm not really this tall. I'm sitting on my wallet." Why didn't I think of that?
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Post by aquaduct on May 5, 2024 8:48:28 GMT -5
Then Israel doesn't have the right he so graciously allows it does to defend itself. He frames it as an eye for an eye. It's not that. It's a war declared on Israel. And as we are demonstrating nightly on our news and in statements by our administration, Israel is not the bully here. We, and the international community that always rises up against Israel, is. The Palestinian people were/are overwhelmingly in favor of what even he frames as "Hamas's massacre" (not invasion. Convenient to his argument, he frames it in non-war terms). And as has been illustrated time and time again, the "ceasefires" we demand are merely times used to stop Israel from defending itself long enough for its enemies to regroup and rearm. I don't pretend to understand why the international community overwhelmingly hates Israel. But that hatred is so palpable and dependable and predictable that Hamas was able to stage their entire invasion on the absolute certainty that the world would turn on Israel the minute Israel defended itself. It's too easy to put that hatred of Israel on a religious plane (and I think that is a large part of it. In an increasingly secularizing Western world, it is the religions with which we believe we are most familiar that we seem to reserve the greatest contempt for. And secularization does not appear to believe in live and let live where religion is concerned.) But I suspect it has more to do with the economic philosophical schism that has divided the Western world for the past two centuries. And it appears that Israel is a too good example of the supremacy of freedom of Western thought. That must be pounded down. I can't like this enough. And that's pretty much my take. War sucks. But when you decide to throw that gauntlet down, finish it or it only continues to kill and maim. As far as I've seen, Israel's been pretty generous with warnings and open escape routes (that Hamas closes on their side). War kills indiscriminately. It's nice if non-combatants can get out of the way, but with Hamas being buried like the cowards they are, under hospitals and such, civilian casualties are inevitable. And Hamas counts on it. Go Israel! The other side openly wants to drive you into the sea, bury them all the way to Hell if necessary. The long term peace that can be achieved by showing strength and the courage to wield it is worth it.
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Post by aquaduct on May 3, 2024 11:30:44 GMT -5
I was working as a Respiratory Therapist in a hospital and I got on an elevator and the most beautiful young lady I've ever seen rolled a patient's wheelchair onto the same elevator. I was speechless for the whole ride.
Then I went down to the office and asked the only other male RT on the entire staff if he knew who she was and he didn't.
So I stalked her. Took a few weeks of walking around the hospital until I saw her and then checking that against the rack of time cards in the basement to figure out her name.
Then one evening I happened to see her rolling a gurney with a dead body down to the morgue and she seemed a bit upset. So I stopped to chat with her a bit and then offered to take her out to eat after the shift.
That was 41 years ago and we just celebrated our 37th anniversary back in March.
Yes, she did marry her stalker.
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protests
May 3, 2024 8:56:37 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by aquaduct on May 3, 2024 8:56:37 GMT -5
Back to the protests, here at Portland State University, where my daughter works, the school has been closed all week as protesters took over the library. Yesterday the police moved in arresting 39 people, only 7 of which were students. And while in the libtprary, what did the protesters do? They fuckin destroyed the place. Spray painted graffiti all over the walls, books, floors. Assholes. Mike Yes indeed.
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Post by aquaduct on May 1, 2024 20:34:26 GMT -5
Well I swear I commented on this last night but I guess I didn't. So I'll repeat. Cool! So how did it go? Did you warn him against the Progressive's diaper changing method? (you end up with crap in one hand and wishes in the other; baby still needs to be changed) Seriously, cue us in! Tough to tell from this end. To get invited you write an email to the producer with a question. Then, if selected, the producer writes you back and schedules it. And then you get a time and a phone number to call in (mine ended up being right at the beginning of the show and I called the number at 3:58). Then your line gets turned on and you ask your question. Since mine wasn't a very serious question, everybody then proceeds to laugh and joke and then you're hung up on. I think I did alright but it's tough to say. The phone system can make things awkward and totally saps the naturalness of real conversation. Since it's the feast day of Joseph the Worker, I declared myself to be working as a prophet and I'm supposed to call back in in 13 years to see if any of my prophecies come true.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 30, 2024 20:17:40 GMT -5
For anyone with Sirius XM radio I've been chosen to call in to Christal's and my favorite program on the Catholic channel (channel 129) tomorrow. The show is The Catholic Guy in drive time from 4-6 pm EST. The bit is called "What's on a Listener's Mind?" and I have been chosen to give host, Lino, some advice on raising his 7 month old baby girl. The link should give you a pretty good idea of just how normal and goofy the show is. No real preaching, etc. (the producer/cohost is an atheist and the host used to be a circus performer. How do you get goofier than that?). Don't know exactly when in the show I'll be on but when I hear something, I'll try to pass it on.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 24, 2024 19:38:51 GMT -5
A '71 Javelin? Shit, I'd love to see that.
Dad made his career with AMC.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 24, 2024 11:24:44 GMT -5
(This one's for Peter) Oh, heck yes!
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 22, 2024 11:25:06 GMT -5
"White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent"? Is that somehow different than, "White alone percent"? The larger number includes whites who identify as Hispanic/Latino. The smaller number does not. I've never asked my born in Mexico brother-in-law how he identifies but if you met him on the street he would not strike you as Mexican. So is it kind of like gender these days?
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 22, 2024 7:56:46 GMT -5
"Globularist"? Is that a word? Tis now. Does it mean someone that's proficient in hocking loogies?
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 21, 2024 20:16:19 GMT -5
"White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent"?
Is that somehow different than, "White alone percent"?
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Mars
Apr 21, 2024 20:10:11 GMT -5
Post by aquaduct on Apr 21, 2024 20:10:11 GMT -5
"Globularist"?
Is that a word?
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 19, 2024 19:05:53 GMT -5
We opened for them about a decade ago. Nice guys, every one.
RIP.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 19, 2024 19:02:20 GMT -5
...and it's not me! I thought this was hilarious. I would reproduce in full, but copyright, etc. Some asshole is signing your name to stupid lettersA legal letter of noteSHAUN USHER In November of 1974, an attorney named Dale Cox wrote to his favourite American football club, the Cleveland Browns, and informed them that a number of the team’s fans were regularly throwing paper aeroplanes in the stadium—a potentially “dangerous” activity that could, he warned, cause “serious eye injury” to innocent fans such as himself. His letter can be read below, along with the now legendary reply he soon received from the club’s legal department. news.lettersofnote.com/p/very-truly-yoursThat's flat out awesome.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 18, 2024 17:23:42 GMT -5
How can we trust anyone who can spell "felicitations"?
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USPS
Apr 18, 2024 11:55:37 GMT -5
via mobile
Dub and epaul like this
Post by aquaduct on Apr 18, 2024 11:55:37 GMT -5
Speaking of electric vehicles for package delivery. Our Amazon delivery truck for our area is now an all electric Rivian vehicle. I believe these are suppose to have a 150 mile range. So I think the statement that electric vehicles aren't good for package delivery is inaccurate. I think it is probably more that the electric vehicles the "post office is planning for" are not good for packages. I would be curious to know how those are working out for Amazon though. Do they need to constrain routes to be within range, or plan for recharging during the day? On first glance I'd say you're probably right. 150 miles is a healthy range for limited distribution centrally charged driving. However, I'd suggest that there are probably some caveats to that. The first is that advertised range estimates, particularly for such politically charged things as EVs, are usually pretty generous if not bordering on outright fraudulent. The second is that range in an EV suffers if it's cold. Bad winter weather could make them largely useless. And finally, an EV's inherent weakness is the relative inability to do work in the physics sense of the word. In other words, the heavier the load the vehicle is carrying, the faster the battery dies. Now, I suspect Amazon probably has a handle on that. The USPS as a highly political organization might not have given it the same thought investment.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 15, 2024 19:31:19 GMT -5
I've never read the New York Times but I did watch the movie "Mr. Jones".
That was a hell of a flick with a quite disturbing portrayal of the NYT. Highly recommended (but be prepared beforehand, it isn't a children's movie).
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 12, 2024 19:15:55 GMT -5
Love that song.
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NPR
Apr 11, 2024 11:43:31 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by aquaduct on Apr 11, 2024 11:43:31 GMT -5
Before this is completely derailed on the sidetrack of bias, the larger point he has made in the article is that in all the cases he cited, NPR got the stories wrong. Unapologetically. But I've always known that.
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NPR
Apr 11, 2024 11:42:21 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by aquaduct on Apr 11, 2024 11:42:21 GMT -5
I get all the news I need from my phone. Right now it says it's likely to start raining before I head home, the freeway is accident free, the Tigers are a game and a half out in the American League Central, and the Red Wings are a point out of the last wildcard spot in their division.
Oh, and Blackberry Smoke's drummer died about a week and a half ago.
Oh, again, OJ's dead.
What else do I need to know?
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