Proud anti-fascist & bird-person
Oh, definitely read those!
Normally I don't re-read many books, but the one I read previous to this one was his Aurora, which has been another of my favorites: it's about a generation ship on its way to settle a new colony in the Tau Ceti system.
Everything I've read by him has a profound impact on my outlook, and I love that he's a fundamentally optimistic writer even when his stories are at their most bleak.
I'm about 3/4 through The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson.
It's an incredibly ambitious alternate history about how the world would shake out if a plague killed 90% of Europe in the 14th century. Each section is a novela about a set of characters in a different time.
He's probably my favorite living author; he normally writes sci-fi, occasionally dips into historical fiction (or a mix of the two genres), but always meticulously researches his subjects in a way that brings his worlds to vibrent life.
There's a right way and a wrong way to copy and paste.
But nobody will ever learn the right way because somebody told them about it; this knowledge is only attainable by those who read their screen.
Lucky!
When I was a teenager I had an elderly neighbor who needed help tilling his garden. In return he used to let me grab as many pecans as I'd like. I'd get two whole paper grocery bags full and there were still countless left after I was done.
Best nut, bar none.
The Steam controller is amazing for Elden Ring and similar games. It makes the camera so much easier to deal with.
Do you enjoy audiobooks? You can listen to pretty much anything and go for a hike.
I got pretty big into them a while back when I had an hour commute before podcasts were a big thing.
Probably just shutting down a website critical of another right-wing douchebag.
I'm way more interested in why he bought goblinlove.com.
Didn't catch any grenades, but I imagine so?
I played last night and showed those young'uns how to use the gravity gun.
Hadn't played regularly in about 15 years, but the reflexes are still there.
From Wikipedia:
In November 2024, following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election and Elon Musk's nomination as a co-executive of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency, Bluesky experienced a surge in new user registrations as people migrated from other social platforms, particularly Twitter. Many came from the United States, United Kingdom (where Bluesky had previously seen growth during the 2024 UK riots following Musk's commentary), and Canada. The social app added over 4 million registered users in that week, becoming the most popular app in the US App Store and Play Store.
And Republicans still pretend like these aren't their allies.
Oh yeah, Amarillo is a big city for the NI-coC. Abilene, too.
The us-or-them situation is exactly what they're aiming for: isolated people are easier to control. But yeah, I'm not sure if it's an intentional strategy or just what happened to work out for their purposes.
Wow, I'm so glad this dipshit who's never had to work a day in his life could give this paternal wisdom to the plebs who might need this medication to retain employment and not die destitute in the streets.
Who knew they just needed to be sent to a farm upstate so they could run free forever and ever?
Well, I grew up in what is known as the non-institutional church of Christ. There are different branches of the coC, ranging from the relatively liberal to the downright draconian.
What made this particular branch of the coC "non-institutional" is that they are independent of each other congregation, so the leadership of each group is separate from every other.
The way it actually shakes out is that every congregation gets super deep into the weeds about arcane interpretations of an ancient text about which they are unqualified to explain while making overconfident proclamations of certainty. Other congregations disagree with a fairly minor point in this reading, and they will become effectively dead to each other. Ultimately, the different churches (they would hate me calling them that) would form a loose confederation across the region with various groups they could live in uneasy peace with.
Within the congregation itself was a religion that taught that the world is a wicked place from which we should set ourselves apart. Evolution was a lie spread by the devil to make us doubt God's power. Women were not allowed to speak or wear pants during the church service. We did not use instruments to make music during the service, as that was not mentioned in the Bible. Any disagreement with doctrine could get one removed from good standing, and we left two churches (forced out, really) based on the Elders' strict views on baptism and musical instruments: my father would not agree that immersion was strictly necessary to save one's soul, or that it was sinful to exceed the Bible's authority and use instruments.
It is a bit of a weird duck as a cult, but they're extremely controlling, patriarchal, and reactionary. They're in most towns, but people usually think they're an offshoot of the Baptists (of which certain types also dip into cult status in my opinion). I'd place them between the Baptists and the Jehovah's Witnesses on a fundamentalist belief scale. I think the BITE model is a useful one (but not perfect) for defining cults:
- Behavioral control
- Information control
- Thought control
- Emotional control
The coC did all of these things: they wanted members to live apart from society where only those in the church were acceptable social peers, to limit exposure with "subversive" ideas and science, to make people so afraid of going to hell that you'll blindly accept the teachings. You were expected to attend every service: Sunday morning & night and Wednesday night.
In short, they wanted to control people's lives by love-bombing newcomers and then suffocating them until they fit into their assigned tiny little box.
And yes, we were in the end times. Even though nobody knows when Jesus will return. Wink.
I feel equal parts pity and exasperation that they're ignoring critical crises like global climate change to focus on superstitious nonsense.
I grew up in a cult, so my whole life.
The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.
Pope Paul III and His Grandsons- Tiziano Vecellio, oil on canvas (1545-46)
> Pope Paul III and His Grandsons is an oil on canvas painting by Titian, housed in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. It was commissioned by the Farnese family and painted during Titian's visit to Rome between autumn 1545 and June 1546. It depicts the scabrous relationship between Pope Paul III and his grandsons, Ottavio and Alessandro Farnese. Ottavio is shown in the act of kneeling, to his left; Alessandro, wearing a cardinal's dress, stands behind him to his right. The painting explores the effects of ageing and the manoeuvring behind succession; Paul was at the time in his late seventies and ruling in an uncertain political climate as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor came into ascendancy. > > Paul III was the last of the popes appointed by the ruling Medici family of Florence. He was socially ambitious, a careerist and not particularly pious. He kept a concubine, fathered four children out of wedlock and viewed the throne as an opportunity to fill his coffers while he placed his relatives in high positions. A talented and cunning political operator, Paul was precisely the sort of man the Florentines needed to assist them in their defence against French and Spanish threats.
Sackbut
> A sackbut is an early form of the trombone used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of the tube to change pitch, but is distinct from later trombones by its smaller, more cylindrically-proportioned bore, and its less-flared bell. Unlike the earlier slide trumpet from which it evolved, the sackbut possesses a U-shaped slide with two parallel sliding tubes, rather than just one.
The Beaneater- Annibale Carracci, oil on canvas (1580-1590)
> Annibale Carracci was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of the Baroque style, borrowing from styles from both north and south of their native city, and aspiring for a return to classical monumentality, but adding a more vital dynamism. Painters working under Annibale at the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese would be highly influential in Roman painting for decades.
15th Court of Appeals dismisses Texas AG’s appeal in Project Connect lawsuit
> Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an interlocutory appeal June 17, on the same day a trial centered around the validity of Project Connect’s funding structure was set to begin. The attorney general’s initial claim argued the Austin Transit Partnership — the organization tasked with designing and constructing the Project Connect light rail system — didn’t have the jurisdiction to bring forth a bond validation lawsuit, filed in February.
...
> The 15th Court of Appeals dismissed Paxton’s appeal, citing “lack of jurisdiction.” The case was originally punted from the trial court to the Third Court of Appeals before landing in the 15th Court of Appeals, which began operating Sept. 1.
The Link Trainer: a WWII era flight simulator
I hope this isn't too far outside the scope of this community; I just thought the people here would find it interesting how the same engineering problems were solved before computers were ubiquitous.
UFO 50 Release Trailer
I picked this up yesterday and checked out a few games in the collection. What I've played so far has been a blast.
Punch or May Day- Benjamin Robert Haydon, oil on canvas (1829)
> The canvas is filled with multiple mini-scenes including a Punch and Judy, the coach of a newly married couple, and a funeral procession. In the background on the right is St Marylebone Church.
What is your favorite thing to pickle?
I put some asparagus in vinegar with garlic, red pepper flakes, and pickling spice a couple weeks ago. I just cracked it open, and they're fantastic!
I also started a batch of sauerkraut today with garlic and caraway seeds in a brine. Gonna keep an eye on it and hope it comes out alright. I like that it's a live fermentation, and will hopefully be full of good probiotics.
What's your favorite thing to pickle, and in what?