I’d say GOAT should be a Council of greats, like the Jedi Council but without the religious extremism and child soldiers. I’d like to nominate a couple for this council:

Wilt Chamberlain- go look up his records

Andre the Giant - his drinking records alone should put him on the Council, but reportedly he was a very nice person as well

Dolph Lundgren - he plays a meathead in Expendables movies, but he’s a legit genius, as well as a literally massive human

Steve Wozniak - he managed to build the PC despite Steve Jobs being a colossal dick

Saint Olga - she took vengeance and raised it to an art form

Chomsky is the guy that said Ukraine should just surrender to Russia, right? Truly a great example of living king enough to become the villain, and not in a Batman way.

I’ll outright say it. Other than The Prestige and the later Batman movies, Nolan movies have been very disappointing to me. They’re not clever, they’re pretentious. If you ever saw that Netflix movie where the woman dated Keanu Reaves, the part where Keanu asks the chef for a meal the plays with the concept of time is every Christopher Nolan movie in a nutshell. Also, the action sequences in Batman Begins were unnecessarily choppy, and the idea that it was somehow how a bat would see them is just silly.

I have a really good sense of smell; trust me, you smell after one day and just can’t smell it yourself until day four. I’m sorry if this comes as a surprise.

Four monitors plus the laptop screen. It’s…a lot visually, but my productivity is significantly higher than when I only had two and the laptop screen.

They’re arranged in a square so clockwise from top right:

1. Work entry screen - this is where I’m typing a lot

2. Reading screen - this is the general source of what I’m working on

3. Outlook - I’m fully remote, Outlook is life

4. File folders - I work mainly with two or three folders all day so it just makes sense to have them uncovered

Laptop - Teams!

Of note, I use a ton of keyboard shortcuts and have generally optimized my workflow so I’m not hitting the mouse nearly as often as my coworkers. Having Outlook and Teams each have their own screen means I can keep them open and see what’s coming in while still working on my stuff on other screens. Final thing I’ll say about the arrangement, because you’re probably visualizing this making for a good gaming setup, no it wouldn’t because of how the screens are placed.

No matter what, get yourself a mirror. I don’t like people suddenly appearing by me, and since I’m using noise-cancelling headphones with music/podcasts 40+ hours a week, this keeps me from jumping out of my skin.

Thank goodness Pokemon are fictional; I don’t even want to imagine how much interspecies sex would occur, consensual and other.

So you’re saying the Bible specifically recommends slaying ass?

“Honey, the Bible says I gotta go slay ass! I know I promised those days were behind me, but God wants me to do it! Completely off topic, how’s your sister? She still single?”

Many jobs in Finance (Accounting Finance, not customer facing like banking) are remote at this point because they’re all done via email, spreadsheets, PDFs and corporate systems, none of which require a physical presence in an office building.

It’s a fantastic podcast and I point people to the one on the V-22 Osprey frequently just because we live near an airport and Ospreys practice touch and gos before getting lunch nearby.

What did the box of potatoes do to you to deserve that?

“ The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

Written by Douglas Adams

The Battle of Athens is one such occasion. The outcome can’t be considered 100% positive, but what future ever is? I should mention that the Second Amendment exists as the last resort, a sort of “break glass in case of emergency”. That those weapons are also useful in everyday life in a dangerous world is a side effect, but in the end, civilian weapons exist in case a despot/party gains enough power and starts to wield it against the citizenry, as at least one presidential candidate has promised to do if re-elected. It’s incumbent on all of us to vote our conscience, but also to be ready to respond effectively in case voting doesn’t do enough.

I commend you for voicing this opinion and disagree with you with every fiber of my being.

Why introduce astral projection instead of having Luke become one with the Force and then stall Kylo? The outcome is the same, but it doesn’t require the introduction of a new Force power and doesn’t imply that Luke used up his life force or whatever, which is also a completely new thing in the Star Wars universe. Having Luke’s Force ghost instead aligns with Episode IV when Obi Wan says that when he joins the Force he’ll be more powerful than Vader can possibly imagine.

Exactly. Stay safe my guy/gal/non-binary pal.

Spot on. I’m politically left of anybody in power, so I know I’m on at least a few lists of potential “dissidents”, let alone being openly Jewish in a Christofascist dictatorship and friends/family with people in the LGBTQ+ community and from various ethnic backgrounds. I always hope for the best, but that hope isn’t going to scare off a truckload of paramilitaries, so I have guns and ammo.

I also stockpile water, medical, food, and so on. If there’s an earthquake, I’m prepared, same for a medium term power outage, but in the most extreme case, I know I’ve done everything I can to keep my family safe in a dangerous time. Nobody else in my family is dying in a ditch if I can help it.

I know quite a few people who are pro gun and dislike Trump with a passion, including myself. I would argue Trump is a symptom of why many people keep guns; a fascist dictatorship is an immediate threat to communities who won’t benefit from the “warm embrace” of such a government. I bought my first AR the day after Trump won in 2016 because it was clear the future was not trending toward the light. It was a rabbit-hole, because I realized I needed enough to equip my family and friends for what’s coming, and I like piecing them together over time so the financial outlay isn’t as high due to the variou parts going on sale over time.

I think it’s a multifaceted problem. Police data is being scrutinized more heavily, arrests and forced confessions are being broadcasted widely, more and more people have wised up to the golden rule of don’t talk to cops, and police are tasked with so many stupid/useless things like the drug war, stopping abortions, arresting kids in schools whose parent just died of cancer, that they don’t devote enough resources to actual crimes like murders. Plus, you know, people are lazy in general and cop unions are the best at protecting their members.

This is literally Russia’s current plan for Siberia. They want access to the vast mineral deposits under the permafrost, and if they wait, getting at those minerals gets a lot easier.

Star Trek wishes it was as scientific as The Expanse, and I say that as a fan of both franchises.

I too watched Rey not get stabbed in the back.