Saw a no-context exchange where an ICE agent claimed to be making $200k with a HS education and that did make me pause and consider some life choices. All that and I can abuse HR bitches?
A trans-woman I have spent some time with once said that at this point western civilizaton is just a giant failed shit test. The antidote is accountability...and naturally the people who need it most react like a vampire who just saw the sun when even the possibility is mentioned.
Her comment is really about the meaning of life and the proper response is, "What is the meaning of my/your life?" One suspects we know "the meaning" of her life.
Her path to being a trans-woman was set early by abuse of all forms and a life of turmoil resulting. She spent an extended amount of time in San Fran where her proclivities and interests resulted in being around a lot of hardcore lefties. It was this closeness to them that made her realize how truly awful they were. So she used her access to inform and spread the reality of what was going on to non mainstream sources. Ended up on an ANTIFA hit list or two.
On the cosmically funny front, I read an article on the Folsom Street Fair some time ago where a gentleman who masturbated in public as performance art in the fair went on the record saying that people who brought their children...their children...to the fair should be banned from doing so because he didn't think it was appropriate for kids.
If there was ever a true to life example of Balaam's Ass, that was it.
When the guy who literally jerks it in the street tells you "I think you need to reassess your parenting decisions" it's kind of a clue.
I tend to dog on the C8 because, well, let's start with the looks. However, I do see quite a few of them on the roads so perhaps I'm not the best litmus test for the sports car market.
The sports cars I do like? Well, they all seem to be going away.
The C8 is not my cup of tea, but as you said, they’re everywhere, so my personal preference is meaningless. The market wins.
I just do not like the break with Corvette design lineage. The C8 is a Euro influenced design, and the Corvette should always be an American design at its core.
The problem going forward is that the C9 design team is headed by a ……….French woman. Needless to say, I do not have high hopes.
Renee Good and her 'wife' were professional troublemakers. They probably laughed and cheered when Kirk was assassinated and would probably do the same if something happened to me and mine. It sucks, but that's where we are, so screw her. Buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms.
My first instinct as a person trying to be closer to the Lord is to say "no one deserves to die". The more that came out about the 'Good' situation, the worse it got. I rarely say things are meme bad, but you can't quite make up how awful that whole situation is. Common sense is not common to extremists.
I know, I know. It makes as much sense as "violence doesn't solve anything". Well, multiple wars and millions of freed people of the world feel otherwise.
“ they think they are protecting the American Dream for Somalis and Haitians and so on. ”
Do not worry, my daughters have been [s]groomed[/s] indoctrinated into my soft racism gently. Except behind the wheel, when they hear real, hard as it gets racism. Did I drop a casual “what the fuck are you doing you stupid ch*** c***?” in front of my daughter and three of her friends this morning when an Asian woman inexplicably came to a complete stop in the middle of icy street causing me to nearly ABS into her Hyundai? Bet your ass I did. If their parents don’t like that language around their kids, they’re welcome to drive them to school in a near-blizzard themselves (spoiler alert: their laziness and apathy trumps their self righteousness every time)
Jack, think about it this way: Physicists tell us our universe is some 14 billion years old. Where were you in that time? You were nowhere because you did not exist. The atomic particles that currently make up your body had not combined to create you. Similarly, when you or all of use for that matter die, those same atomic particles will
be scattered to the winds of eternity taking you/us back to where we previously were. Should anyone believe that the electric currents batting about in the brain that compose the "self" are somehow unique, well, the AI guys are working on that.
Sir, I was in the mind of God. Then, now, and into eternity.
The AI guys will all die of old age before they achieve the self-awareness of a dolphin or even a cat.
God works in the quantum effects, where we have insufficient power to tread.
Feel free to laugh at me for being a ridiculous, superstitious fool. As Scalia once said, "Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil."
I would love to read an article here on your opinion about current progress in the field of quantum computing, and what your thoughts on achieving success are, whether probable or asymptotic, and the ramifications thereof, philosophical and theological inter alia.
I don't feel that I am well versed enough in the math to be completely authoritative, if at all authoritative. I *have* seen enough to be confident that quantum computing is the next big thing... and it always will be.
it's a tight race between quantum computing and nuclear fusion for my hopes and beliefs.
I love the earnestness that AI uses to discuss it:
"Quantum computing and nuclear fusion are widely viewed as two separate, ongoing "races" in global innovation, not a single competitive one, though advancements in one field are expected to accelerate progress in the other. "
Hooray, two magical technologies are working together for the good of both!
Well put. I've gleaned a few of your views on Deity and religion from your posts...including that you and your brother used to be in a praise band. 😁Have you ever written/posted specifically about it? Curious as a fellow believer.
Or you can work on a higher sate of consciousness so when your body dies the essence of your being can transcend to the next dimension, some call that heaven
How timely....I received a few PKD books for Christmas. I've previously read a few of his long and short stories, and I'm not sure what it is, but I can't really get into his work. My brain, imprinted decades ago after viewing Blade Runner, didn't realize how wide the gap was between the Hollywood manifestation and the novel the film was based on. In my head, this is the exact opposite of 'the book was better than the movie'. This is probably due to watching the movie at a young age and really embracing the visuals; I'll always be a fan of Syd Mead.
Because I gravitate towards more hard, or semi-grounded sci-fi, when I read PKD's older stuff, it feels like his ideas of the near/distant future are totally goofball or plain just stuck in whatever decade it was actually written in.
Blade Runner is a passable book made unforgettable in film. I truly don't know another example of that, although the movie "Last of the Mohicans" is infinitely more interesting than the book.
I once met Joseph Heller, the author, at a book signing and told him Catch 22 was a masterpiece. He looked at me and said, "I agree." Dustin Hoffman was driving him to his appointments. That's what living in Hollywood or nearby, was like.
PKD is a cold, cold read. I wanted to love his work after seeing Blade Runner, but then I read his work. Maybe he had a similar affect to Scott Adams -- I haven't spent any more time on PKD to figure it out.
China is a joke. Its population is likely a far cry from the 1.4 billion or whatever it claims. Its idiotic autocratic government can't do anything right. I don't believe anything I read about its claims of technological or military supremacy, because it's China, if any of that information is getting out to us, it's propaganda from the CCP whose main objectives are posturing and saving face. As they sit on a demographic implosion and the real estate bubble to end all real estate bubble, they ran out of time to exert global influence at least a decade ago.
Wasn't Venezuela supposed to be protected by Chinese technology? And our guys walked right in, snatched Maduro, and then stopped to take a shit on Chavez's portal to Hell all without even glimpsing resistance. China is the sick man of Asia, just like it has been for the past 350 years.
They probably didn't take the missiles out of the boxes because they knew they wouldn't work in the first place. The CCP could never invade Taiwan because their ships will all sink 400 meters out of port.
That’s the one Trump thing that is grating on me. And if he keeps it up, the media will latch onto that for their midterm push to get Hakim into the big spot.
Hopefully we just put a massive air and sea base there.
Otherwise, we’re giving China the cover they need to grab Taiwan. What am I missing?
This reeks of cope. The Chinese obsession with worshipping (but not following) rules, plus the lying to save face, are nothing compared to the decades-long application of boot to the necks of America's best and brightest by the USG and affiliated NGOs and activist groups.
People thought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan would steamroll us because we were corrupt and decadent and lazy.
EDIT: I should probably mention that I think war with China is a terrible idea, but their ability to take Taiwan JUST LIKE THAT! is hilariously overstated. They'll have less success crossing the straits than Russia has had in Ukraine.
TL,DR: "The United States lost between 168 and 372 aircraft in the three base scenario iterations...In all iterations of the base scenario, U.S. Navy losses included two U.S. aircraft carriers as well as between 7 and 20 other major surface warships (e.g., destroyers and cruisers). "
I’ll split the difference. Moron-traitor. I lived in her district during the Baghdad Jim McDerrmott era. Very rich area of Seattle that could afford to elect grifters to poke republicans in DC in the eye - or so they thought.
“ This is a significant accomplishment, made all the more so because the ZR1X is fully optimized and competent for its actual life of dawdling around a retirement community in-between trips to the Cars and Coffee.”
‘ZR1X’ is close enough to ‘ZX-14R’ that it caused me a double take in this paragraph.
Wonder if Scott was always a Christian or this is something he came to as he neared the end. I hear similar things with other purported scientific atheists.
Whenever I get into discussions about spirituality with these very smart atheists, I always feel like we are quibbling over semantics...
I watched the Bears all the way to the end, took 2 hrs to calm down, dropped off about 12:30 AM, got an overtime call at 4:00 AM, ran it, came home, took a shower, and still made it to church (by myself- the First Lady was in Denver with grandkids).
Excuses are for children and women, Scott. Don’t make Pope Bob and me come up there.
At the risk of preaching: I can’t accomplish much of anything on my own. Once, I was going to change the world, but that was before I realized I couldn’t even change myself. Changing myself is pretty far above my pay-grade. The desire and effort is commendable, but is ultimately not very self aware. We all ultimately bump up against the limitations of our humanity.
Contrary to what you may have been taught, overcoming the “sin problem” and following the instructions and injunctions of Jesus cannot be accomplished by working harder. You can’t “try” to love anybody, enemy or friend. You either do or you don’t. God is Love, and living as God’s child means receiving love for the unlovable as a gift (a fruit). I can’t conjure it up, I can only ask for God’s love for the unlovable to live in me.
“Working on it” is destined to be ultimately unsuccessful: if it were possible to “straighten up and fly right”, there would be no need for the Son of God to have died as a sacrifice for our sin. His death was the crucifixion of our inadequate (and craven) nature, His resurrection the power to be reborn as a whole new thing, spotless and whole. His Holy Spirit offers us power for living. It goes beyond “hope” and into “victory”.
Not living that out comes from not recognizing what we’ve already been given. The surest path to having the ability to love an enemy is by recognizing how greatly God loved us, when we were still very, very far from him.
To whom much is given, much is required. “Forgive us our debts”, and so forth.
I have recently been looking into Orthodox Christianity, which was the religion of my father’s family, even though I was raised Roman Catholic by my Polish mother.
To my amazement, the Orthodox have a different view of the meaning of Christ on the Cross than the Catholics do. This kind of blew my mind since it’s the core of Christianity. I can’t believe I just found out about this at age 65.
Here's what I can tell you of a certainty, my friend. The finished work of the cross really is the finished work of God's salvation. There's no other work to be done.
I come from an Anabaptist tradition, whereby we were taught that God gave mankind a sovereign will to choose or reject his free gift. But there is nothing I can do or add to complete something that has already been completed for me. My salvation was accomplished by the finished work of Christ. It is my humble privilege to walk in it. As it is written, "In Him, we live and move and have our being".
Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am". Before 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 He completed His work in saving me -- all praise and glory be to God. That's the Good News. That's the gospel.
I'm only along for the ride. But what a long and strange and altogether wonderful ride it has been. It's my privilege to have been an active participant in God's plan for my life.
Also raised Roman Catholic but not happy with the path the church has been following. Let is know about the orthodox view. My wife has been in a group at our Church that is trying to develop ways to bring people back to the Catholic Church. I told her get a real Christian pope and get rid of Blace
Yup, me too. The Pope blessing the block of ice didn’t help.
My one Orthodox experience was years ago when my aunt died. She still attended Orthodox mass, and her suburban Chicago church was my family’s original Chicago church, except that they had moved to the suburbs.
The funeral service was the most amazing Christian ceremony I have ever been to. Unlike a Roman Catholic service, the Orthodox service felt ancient and primal and mystical all at once. It triggered something in me, like I had just walked into a familiar place, but one I had never been to. I thought that my aunt’s soul was ascending to heaven right from that church at that moment. The whole experience was otherworldly.
Frankly, and this is not to dump on the Catholics, but Catholic mass has always bored me since I was a little kid. It just never resonated with me so I never identified with it. I truly wish it would have, but it just never did. I always joke that the Catholics I knew were just bad at marketing.
So now at age 65, feeling my mortality, I’ve become interested in the family religion. The woman who has written the most approachable books on the Orthodox religion is Frederica Mathewes-Green. Her books are great and she even has a Substack.
This is a pretty good summary from AI, but I’m still researching this to understand it better.
“Orthodox Christianity views the cross primarily as Christ’s triumphant victory over sin, death, and Satan, often called the “triumph of the cross.” Orthodox icons depict a serene, regal Christ, highlighting divine power rather than suffering alone. Western Christianity (Protestant and Catholic) frequently emphasizes the cross as penal substitution—Christ bearing God’s wrath for human sin—or atonement satisfying divine justice.”
Very well said. We're Lutheran, in a nutshell, "by faith alone." We can try to do better, just to feel better, to improve ourselves, improve our relationships, or to honor God's grace, but it boils down to accepting God's free gift.
I would never have had any issue with that, Tom -- but I'd add that I think we're in Christ by grace alone. Faith is the conduit by which we appropriate God's grace, but the faith to believe is ALSO a gift.
As Paul said to the Ephesians: 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠; 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡— 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑠𝑡
Not even the faith to believe comes from my own will. Every good and perfect gift comes through the hand of the Father.
Probably the single most important thing I took away from four years of college was a remark made to me by a fellow student at a party. We were helping to clean up in the kitchen when he said, "Don't ever forget. Everyone has value, the guy doing the meanest job on the street has value."
He always bounced between atheist and agnostic at times looking for the logic to convince him one way or another. Intellect can be a real road block to understanding a great many things that even lower IQ people come to realize. It's always seemed to me that high IQ can be a bit of a burden once you cross a certain point. While there wasn't a time I didn't believe in Christ, it always seemed that I needed another proof or some other fact or stat to get me further across a line I had in my head. CS Lewis's apologetics helped a ton when I was in my teens.
I don't think it is intellect, I think it is whether or not one has the faith genes. My head just can't work that way, otherwise I would find Pascal's wager convincing.
Then there is the problem of what to believe in. Most religions seem to have spent significant time doing game theory optimization of the rewards (72 virgins!) and punishments (burn in fire forever!) to require choosing that specific religion. Judaism is different; it does not seek to proselytize, and will forever be a small minority religion. It is almost as if religions evolved to successfully compete. Obscure SF citation: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50766/50766-h/50766-h.htm
Today is Thursday. Ask me on a different day and my opinion will be different.
It has been interesting watching people debate whether or not he was actually redeemed with that statement.
I saw a lot of mention about the thief on the cross without seeing much understanding of what was being cited. The evil thief on the cross saw that Christ was being crucified with them and even though he was suffering a similar fate mocked Christ and wanted him to do something about their present state to prove something.
The good thief rightly stated that they were getting what they had coming, but the man in the middle didn't deserve what was happening to him.
And *that* is why he was saved.
It's not a magical incantation. Repentance rightly understood is to experience the weight of your own sin and realize you're the one who should be on that cross.
He said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. In other words, he that believeth in me shall have life ever after. Did Scott believe that, one day maybe I'll find out
Well, if he was a lapsed Christian, maybe God chose his last moments to throw a wake-up call at him, and he remembed stuff he'd forgotten for half a century.
One last one, since this is a racing/open thread, anyone follow SailGP? Seems like they’re trying to make the F1 of near shore sailing. As a former competitive sailor myself, I think I’m here for it. Their YouTube channel is a little too cutesy and scripted, but the season opens this weekend in Perth, I think I’m going to start trying to follow it.
My neighbor co-owns some kind of sailboat and he tells me they used to race it.....I'm thinking that ended years ago seeing how it seems like it's more of a burden sitting in the harbor and not actually sailing the high seas (all that much).
Beer can racing sailboats is absolutely a thing. Or was. Like everything else it’s increasingly unapproachable to the young 20 something’s who have the time and inclination to do that sort of thing these days.
I race on a Dehler 39. There are two active fleets here, and we also enter some distance races. I'm supposed to race to Bermuda this summer, which will be my first offshore passage in years. At the height of the season, we raced on Wednesday nights and most Saturdays. We are one of the younger crews, with a couple of crew members under thirty-years-old.
New Year's Eve, I stopped by a party thrown by the captain of my former racing team. There were members of a number of racing teams there, and I was the young whipper snapper by being under sixty-years-old.
I found out that my current team is resented by our competition. It isn't like we file protests or play games around marks. We just win, at least most of the time. Still, I spent the evening listening to boomers say, 'you're on the Wind Dragon?' 'I'm sorry to hear that.' "Hey, this guy sails on the Wind Dreki!" I wasn't even drinking, but I couldn't resist not recognizing the names of their boats and letting them know that we don't think about them at all.
This is so cool. Of the three princely hobbies (polo, sail racing, motorsport) I feel like the appeal might be the highest, if one managed to get trained at the right time in life to actually be useful onboard.
A hyper successful boomer friend of mine races a few boats, among them a JV 66, I wish I was anywhere near skilled enough to ask to step aboard
On my last boat, I did everything that involved skill or strength. It was an Irwin 44, and it was making up the numbers in most regattas, since I wasn't making the tactical calls too. On my new crew, I spent around a month being ballast. Now, I'm trusted to run the jib, handle the main, or squirrel the spinnaker. There are about five skill positions, and it takes at least another three people to strategically ballast the boat for the amount of canvas we carry over a light boat in moderate winds.
We've won races with crew members I've brought because they're fun to be around and look good in bikinis. We've also rotated through quite a few experienced sailors from other crews that didn't have the numbers they needed to go out for various races. I'd rather have cool novices any day. If you want to sail, express interest to your friend. Tell him the truth, that you're more interested than experienced. You can pick up what you need to know while you're scurrying from rail to rail on tacks.
I thought it was either Lightnings or Lasers but a google search of both doesn’t look like what I raced. Call them “generic 14’ dinghy sailboats”. I was the Captain of my little rag tag college sailing team, mostly because I was shameless about doing things like sailing across the finish line in first place while chugging a beer (twice), and unbeknownst to me at the time, hitting on Natalie Portman at a college party (once).
This is also to beg the question, but I have friends who claim to have partied with her in NYC ages ago. They had sone funny things to say that i just can’t remember, sad to say
I’ve caught it on CBS Sports. Doesn’t it air on Sunday afternoons? I have zero interest in or knowledge of sailing, but the TV broadcast is pretty decent all things considered. Isn’t Todd Harris the announcer?
I watch it, it's pretty cool. The coverage is wisely highlights, so it moves pretty fast. They sail in irregular bull rings on a defined course I can never really follow. Keeping those boats foiling while maneuvering in light winds is what separates the critical skill. They also capsize and collide regularly, so that's fun.
It makes me irrationally angry that they can't use their sense of aesthetics for a car that the masses could drive. I mean, you could even call it a "People's Car" if you want.
Should we be concerned that Casey Putz seems to be gaining some traction? At least on the Twitter people seem to be gravitating towards the guy which is very disturbing.
If Nissan had put the V8 from the Titan in the Z, and backed it up with a manual transmission, they'd have sold ever one of them, and they'd be literally EVERYWHERE.
I wasn't even aware a turbo was available, although that makes an it interesting car.
Yes! The v6 Zed cars are weak sauce. The 5.6 is too good an engine to leave in history after axing the Titan. But nooooooo, they have to continue with CVTs and v6 kinda-super cars.
I understand that, and see that the new Z currently doesn't look like a woman with an enormous caboose.
It's a pity it took them all these generations to get it so that it isn't the DUFF of the sportscar world. They're still available with a manual in that twin-turbo V6, which is fantastic.
Still... like most things Nissan -- it feels like a little too little a little too late. Z cars sell like coldcakes in this part of the world. A V8 would get a guy like me into the showroom, because it would have 125% of what made a C7 Corvette a desirable proposition, and 0% of the "old man car" stigma. It's the right size, the right shape, at the right price, with the right transmission. If it had had the right engine, it would have been a home run.
Oh I know, that's why my slicktop has a V8. The problem is the way the system worked to certify powertrains, it was way easier to use the VR30 which is basically a baby GTR motor. The brand (Z.... not Nissan) has the heritage where V6s aren't frowned upon.
Upon thinking long and hard about what would make the most sense for me, I did the V8 swap because of the effort I did with the V6 only to find out it was crazy low compression. The V8 swapped Z cars are pretty slick and sound great. The VK is an impressive motor. Unfortunately, it was a motor that never gained any appreciation in the market it was intended for. Same is said for the VH (motor that I installed which was the base for the V8 IMSA cars).
I can't emphasize enough how strong the VR motors are. People are regularly making GTR hp with minimal work and that's more than fast enough for any street car. You put it that way and suddenly a lightly used one makes a ton of sense. (As a reference, the world beating GTR was 69,999 when it came out. Now you can get that hp and speed for mid 30s-mid 40s from Nissan.)
Yes. '93 slicktop with everything deleted I feel it didn't need to make it as simple and reliable as possible(Yes, I even did a custom manual rack too so no hydro lines in the bay!). Nissan/Infiniti 4.5ltr V8 from a Q45, but the early ones('91 I think) to get the best internals+hand built parts matching nature. Does have working variable valve timing that sometimes gets noisy when it sits, but overall is becoming more reliable the more miles I put on it. At some point I'll have it down at Jack's for him to drive around a bit in, but it's still a bit of a mess from a sorting standpoint. (I have three kids so time gets away from me.)
I would go with pecking order over ladder. Only because I see it in action with the wild turkeys that walk past my house everyday. The base Carrera is nothing but the last turkey.
We are but monkeys underneath. I have long noted the apparent inverse relationship between expense of kitchen to frequency of actual cooking. And every sale of an expensive London house seems to be mandate an immediate replacement.
GT3 (RS) models are the most legible to me because (1) I own one so notice them and (2) they have a signature sound that stands out among the voluble cars I hear in Atlanta every day: American V8s, Huracan / R8 V10s, and Lamborghini / Ferrari V12s.
The restaurant at Standard Market is great, and so is their wine bar. I used to buy their sushi, cheese, and homemade soups all the time. Great fresh fish and meat, too. Worth a stop if you’re ever over that way.
You cant order any 911. if you do it comes with a delaer adm and you have to order lots of options.
Kind of makes you think if porches is running out of bogus macans to sell, why not just make some 911s people want to buy in enough quantity they can actually you know order them. to
i probably do see them all the time but honestly i really cannot tell anymore the difference between a brand new and a three or four year old 911, which is really bad, because i would imagine i am one of the few people who really does try to notice everything with cars. its definitely got to be affecting sales that you could buy an off lease base 911 or a new one and almost no one could tell the difference
Im the same, 991 992.1 992,2 its all the same, or worse now. IMO porche is heading to Harley heaven. When every boomer who wants one has one, or a used one thats indistinguishable from the used one, sales will halve. Maybe then they'll make a car for enthusiasts again and since the Walter Mitty retired dentists will be gone, theyre wont be ADM's..
I have been saying bring back manufacturing since my first MBA class. I then got in trouble with prof. for saying we can't all serve coffee and then espousing the glories of Henry Ford's vertical integration.
This was back in the before times. I recall that he assured us that we would design the products and the Chinese would build them. I further blotted my copy book by asking if he thought the Chinese might one day be able to grow their own designers and engineers.
"This is the world Renee Nicole Good thought she was living in with the woman she loved, in their final moments together on that January morning…"
I'd like to offer a different opinion... Good and her wife are the intended products of modern american feminist conditioning. As a gay couple, they enjoyed the highest social status among the "pre-privileged" urban american female class. They were fully confident in their moral authority and physical capability to join what is essentially a militia and harass armed federal agents in the streets. And ultimately, they were loyal Democratic Party voters.
This is exactly what American Feminism wants... the layers upon layers of conditioning - from super-heroine "capeshit" movies to feminist popstar activism to social media girlboss amplification to corporate executive suite favoritism - were all designed to elevate american women into a Matrix-esque surreality... you can only watch so many versions of Trinity physically defeating male opponents 3 times her size before you start to believe it...
...the point is, that's why she was stunned to find out bullets are real in the real world. A senseless, stupid way to die... and there are MILLIONS of Renee Good's now.
I'm not sure what your context is for "the usual suspects". Remember this is a Marxist partisan movement... these people are literally trained that "your opponent's reaction is the aim". This type if high-profile incident is exactly what the anti-ICE militia wants... conversely this is the last thing that ICE/DHS wants.
I hope you're right. We endured years of "unarmed black man vs bloodthirsty racist police officer" and Main Street demonstrated how easily they can be manipulated by their sympathy impulses. A lot of long-term damage was done.. I guess we'll see if Main Street has learned anything.
It's also funny--if tragic, of course. George Zimmerman's life was ruined so former prez Obama could destroy all the improvements in race-relations made by his predecessors and all people broadly.
People like this live without accountability or consequences of their beliefs and voting records for so long when consequences IE “why are you using real bullets” to getting raped or assaulted or killed by a semi driving illegal is something that they cannot reconcile.
As someone who grew up in relatively isolated yet affluent Massachusetts my social media feeds are full of them.
I can't figure out why feminists are so quiet about confused-man encroachment into women's restrooms, sports, etc. Apparently men can't tell females what to do unless they're pretending or want to be a woman. Or maybe the alphabet crowd has better PR.
Vette- I keep asking myself "who is this car for?" and keep getting the same response as when I think about some of these Porsches. They very obviously DO NOT CARE about any of the front engined fanbase and want to keep pushing for this type of car the same way they're continually going to be committed to EVs being the next great thing. But hey... it's not like the next generation needs a cheap car to drive around or anything.
Adams- While Adams had his flaws, I quite frequently followed him for a simultaneous sip of coffee during his reading of the news live streams. The guy definitely was high IQ even if he could be a pain in the ass. With that said, he was willing to state many times over when he was wrong and go completely 180 back on things he'd said when he felt the data presented to him showed otherwise. I'll definitely miss some of his hotter takes. At least we still have Dilbert to remember him by. Anyone that's worked in modern America should be able to appreciate it.
Porsche- I find these cars still beautiful but awkward proportionally. Maybe that's sort of the point as they need the greater sizing to hide that weight. I think I am coming around on the cars more than I did a year or so ago, but am left hating a single thing: The company that makes them. I could be convinced that I don't hate Porsche enough.
China- At what point do we hoist the black flag against them? The stealing of fish offshore sure seems very similar to the pirates who would go ashore and log wood illegally in central America before the Spanish would catch them in the late 1600s to early 1700s. Once these fisheries are gone, they aren't going to return to same way. China's contributed to a giant garbage patch in the ocean, helped force burdensome enviro regulations on their competition, and absolutely looted any grey area on this planet. F em. If they were really doing so well, they wouldn't have to steal. Speaking of such desperation, is anyone still buying that they have a population of a billion people? Starting to think it's probably less than half that in the 2020s. There is a near zero percent chance that they gained population at the rate they claim after wars, famines (post "glorious" revolution), and one child policy for decades. Who lies worse... radical Islamists or the Chinese? Hard to tell these days.
Guy was ahead of his time for sure, but the "two movies" and "talent stack" thing were just perfect during the era he came up with them. I've tried to continually think about the talent stack thing.
"Porsche- I find these cars still beautiful but awkward proportionally."
100%
The 2025 Porsche 911 is 14 inches shorter, 2 inches wider, and 44 pounds heavier (!!!) than a modest, V6-powered 2017 accord sedan. Would be even worse compared to Jacks's V6-6MT coupe.
They're just massive. It's weird that so many people have a fetish for them. #AshleyGrahamFansOfTheWorldUnite
yeah you basically have to escort her from the first mission to the end of the game
one of the best resident evil titles and one of the best games ever made and it came out 20 years ago. vey highly recommended. there was also a remake recently but its not a 1:1 copy of the original and loses some of the camp and charm for a more grounded story
I'll do you one better. Instead of 'shoot them in the head' use 'put them over your knee for a bare assed spanking'.
The whole thing is psychosexual enough. Fake romance novel covers are circulating on Twitter with titles like “Detained by Desire” and “Fire and ICE”
yeah can i just do the first one instead
ive seen some women with those shit opinions and im certain trying to bend them over my knee would snap a femur
Grown white women who put their hand in your face while screaming “I’m not touching you!”
But at least I can add them to my list of people to cross the street over if I see them coming my way. My list is getting longer.
Saw a no-context exchange where an ICE agent claimed to be making $200k with a HS education and that did make me pause and consider some life choices. All that and I can abuse HR bitches?
You say that like it's a bad thing, Scott.
Embrace your inner hick, baby.
3" lift makes it F250 usable, and no taller. Put Firestone bags on the back and load range Es and you have an F225.
A leveling kit on the front and 33" A/Ts is the best stance for them, IMO.
Orrrr drop it to the ground but that's a different thing entirely.
He's the superhero Brodozer! Protecting us from treasonous Karens!
That video was excellent!
https://x.com/alx/status/2011141453398098158
No way I would have the patience the ICE agent shows to the two theater kids taunting him.
He was trained by the same guys who train the guards at Buckingham Palace.
ICE should offer 1 day gigs to people like me who just want to pepper spray a communist in the face.
I would definitely pay ICE to do that. Let me taser a communist and I’ll pay double!
I fully expect to see little kids dressed up as ICE agents down here for Halloween.
shit sign me up for that yesterday
A trans-woman I have spent some time with once said that at this point western civilizaton is just a giant failed shit test. The antidote is accountability...and naturally the people who need it most react like a vampire who just saw the sun when even the possibility is mentioned.
Her comment is really about the meaning of life and the proper response is, "What is the meaning of my/your life?" One suspects we know "the meaning" of her life.
"By the way, my name is Tim. I'm always available. I also do engine work on BMWs. Bye!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBvbvCxvUzE
Boss. I haven't thought about Bachelor Party in years. Thanks for firing my neurons!
Trying to be non-judmental here,
but coming from a trans-woman that is even funnier, like cosmically funny
Her path to being a trans-woman was set early by abuse of all forms and a life of turmoil resulting. She spent an extended amount of time in San Fran where her proclivities and interests resulted in being around a lot of hardcore lefties. It was this closeness to them that made her realize how truly awful they were. So she used her access to inform and spread the reality of what was going on to non mainstream sources. Ended up on an ANTIFA hit list or two.
On the cosmically funny front, I read an article on the Folsom Street Fair some time ago where a gentleman who masturbated in public as performance art in the fair went on the record saying that people who brought their children...their children...to the fair should be banned from doing so because he didn't think it was appropriate for kids.
If there was ever a true to life example of Balaam's Ass, that was it.
When the guy who literally jerks it in the street tells you "I think you need to reassess your parenting decisions" it's kind of a clue.
Is this true? https://xcancel.com/Devon_Eriksen_/status/2009393479886004403#m
Damnit, did I miss the announcement for the hardcovers?!
Just email hardcover@cattalesbook.com to get yours! $30 signed and shipped.
I would rather have the 1976 Aerovette on its 15” wheels than the 2026 ZR1X.
The Aerovette is a beautiful design icon.
The ZR1X is…….…….not.
Still better than the Temu Ferrari aesthetic of the C8.
It’s a Lambo with room for a full set of golf clubs.
I would buy more products if a Polish wife who could cook was part of the deal!
https://www.reddit.com/r/HolUp/comments/puedgg/this_man_nailed_it/
It’s not a bad way to live if you can manage to make it happen.
Careful, you might end up with more than one.
Is that "Polish" or "polished"?
It's a fat, jagged 458.
Good one!
It looks like a prophylactic for Optimus Prime.
I tend to dog on the C8 because, well, let's start with the looks. However, I do see quite a few of them on the roads so perhaps I'm not the best litmus test for the sports car market.
The sports cars I do like? Well, they all seem to be going away.
The C8 is not my cup of tea, but as you said, they’re everywhere, so my personal preference is meaningless. The market wins.
I just do not like the break with Corvette design lineage. The C8 is a Euro influenced design, and the Corvette should always be an American design at its core.
The problem going forward is that the C9 design team is headed by a ……….French woman. Needless to say, I do not have high hopes.
The C8 is disappointing style wise. Not enough mcclaren of 488 style. Rear end to high and large.
These will pull a lot of tail at The Villages.
Renee Good and her 'wife' were professional troublemakers. They probably laughed and cheered when Kirk was assassinated and would probably do the same if something happened to me and mine. It sucks, but that's where we are, so screw her. Buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms.
My first instinct as a person trying to be closer to the Lord is to say "no one deserves to die". The more that came out about the 'Good' situation, the worse it got. I rarely say things are meme bad, but you can't quite make up how awful that whole situation is. Common sense is not common to extremists.
I know, I know. It makes as much sense as "violence doesn't solve anything". Well, multiple wars and millions of freed people of the world feel otherwise.
https://www.amazon.com/Sometimes-Violence-Answer-Gift-T-Shirt/dp/B07M9SKVFZ?customId=B0752XJYNL&customizationToken=MC_Assembly_1%23B0752XJYNL&th=1&psc=1
Somebody posted a picture on X of that very thing. Not sure if it was real or not.
Of which, the Kirk thing?
No it was a close up picture with both of them. Went back and can’t find it now.
HAHAHA CHARLIE KIRK GOT SHOT IN THE NECK
oh no how could you laugh at an innocent woman dying becuase the evil ice nazi shot her
HAHAHA SCOTT ADAMS DIED FROM CANCER
honestly fuck those people
I wonder who was taking care of the 3 kids while these professional troublemakers were doing their thing.
Probably not a Somali daycare.
And who’s gonna take care of them now?
Hopefully someone with some sanity!
They are home alone with the rescue pitties.
cupcake is just trying to kiss you ignore the bloodstains
The first two live with the first ex-husband. She lost custody of them. The grandfather is trying to get custody of number 3.
“ they think they are protecting the American Dream for Somalis and Haitians and so on. ”
Do not worry, my daughters have been [s]groomed[/s] indoctrinated into my soft racism gently. Except behind the wheel, when they hear real, hard as it gets racism. Did I drop a casual “what the fuck are you doing you stupid ch*** c***?” in front of my daughter and three of her friends this morning when an Asian woman inexplicably came to a complete stop in the middle of icy street causing me to nearly ABS into her Hyundai? Bet your ass I did. If their parents don’t like that language around their kids, they’re welcome to drive them to school in a near-blizzard themselves (spoiler alert: their laziness and apathy trumps their self righteousness every time)
Behind the wheel we are a hard r family. Outside the car we use the word “Canadian” (sorry @Speed)
not sure which is more offensive to me
"spoiler alert: their laziness and apathy trumps their self righteousness every time"
This describes 99% of the screaming masses.
Off topic: We all missed an important date last week, the tenth anniversary of Roy Batty's inception, January 8th.
And now, that moment is lost in time, like tears in rain.
For shame, group, for shame.
I WANT MORE LIFE!
*FUCKER!
I thought he said "I want more life, father..."
?
I had to look this up. This film has been cut and recut so many times the answer is 'both', depending on the release.
Jack, think about it this way: Physicists tell us our universe is some 14 billion years old. Where were you in that time? You were nowhere because you did not exist. The atomic particles that currently make up your body had not combined to create you. Similarly, when you or all of use for that matter die, those same atomic particles will
be scattered to the winds of eternity taking you/us back to where we previously were. Should anyone believe that the electric currents batting about in the brain that compose the "self" are somehow unique, well, the AI guys are working on that.
Sir, I was in the mind of God. Then, now, and into eternity.
The AI guys will all die of old age before they achieve the self-awareness of a dolphin or even a cat.
God works in the quantum effects, where we have insufficient power to tread.
Feel free to laugh at me for being a ridiculous, superstitious fool. As Scalia once said, "Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil."
The beauty of belief is that, at least in civilized societies, one guy's belief is as good as the next.
I would love to read an article here on your opinion about current progress in the field of quantum computing, and what your thoughts on achieving success are, whether probable or asymptotic, and the ramifications thereof, philosophical and theological inter alia.
I don't feel that I am well versed enough in the math to be completely authoritative, if at all authoritative. I *have* seen enough to be confident that quantum computing is the next big thing... and it always will be.
it's a tight race between quantum computing and nuclear fusion for my hopes and beliefs.
I love the earnestness that AI uses to discuss it:
"Quantum computing and nuclear fusion are widely viewed as two separate, ongoing "races" in global innovation, not a single competitive one, though advancements in one field are expected to accelerate progress in the other. "
Hooray, two magical technologies are working together for the good of both!
"... and it always will be." Ha!
Well put. I've gleaned a few of your views on Deity and religion from your posts...including that you and your brother used to be in a praise band. 😁Have you ever written/posted specifically about it? Curious as a fellow believer.
Or you can work on a higher sate of consciousness so when your body dies the essence of your being can transcend to the next dimension, some call that heaven
Sounds good, where do I sign up?
In your mind
How timely....I received a few PKD books for Christmas. I've previously read a few of his long and short stories, and I'm not sure what it is, but I can't really get into his work. My brain, imprinted decades ago after viewing Blade Runner, didn't realize how wide the gap was between the Hollywood manifestation and the novel the film was based on. In my head, this is the exact opposite of 'the book was better than the movie'. This is probably due to watching the movie at a young age and really embracing the visuals; I'll always be a fan of Syd Mead.
Because I gravitate towards more hard, or semi-grounded sci-fi, when I read PKD's older stuff, it feels like his ideas of the near/distant future are totally goofball or plain just stuck in whatever decade it was actually written in.
Blade Runner is a passable book made unforgettable in film. I truly don't know another example of that, although the movie "Last of the Mohicans" is infinitely more interesting than the book.
the warriors? went from bargain bin fodder to cult classic film and then spawned a great game 25 years after that movie
The Godfather, Jurassic Park, The Shining, Silence of the Lambs
Fight Club. Catch 22. A Clockwork Orange. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Catch 22? Oh, we HAVE to disagree on that one!
IMHO there is enough high octane character acting talent in it to push it over the top.
Madeline Stowe was girlbossin' in Mohicans before it was even a thing. Not that I read that book, though.
Catch 22 is a great re-read for me, love that book.
Timely: https://www.thefp.com/p/americas-most-righteous-war-produced-ec7
I once met Joseph Heller, the author, at a book signing and told him Catch 22 was a masterpiece. He looked at me and said, "I agree." Dustin Hoffman was driving him to his appointments. That's what living in Hollywood or nearby, was like.
Catch 22 was the most formative book I ever read.
It was the first book to make me audibly laugh.
The Princess Bride book was not great, but the movie was fantastic.
Cold Comfort Farm movie (the 1995 one) was very nice, the book pedantic.
PKD is a cold, cold read. I wanted to love his work after seeing Blade Runner, but then I read his work. Maybe he had a similar affect to Scott Adams -- I haven't spent any more time on PKD to figure it out.
China is a joke. Its population is likely a far cry from the 1.4 billion or whatever it claims. Its idiotic autocratic government can't do anything right. I don't believe anything I read about its claims of technological or military supremacy, because it's China, if any of that information is getting out to us, it's propaganda from the CCP whose main objectives are posturing and saving face. As they sit on a demographic implosion and the real estate bubble to end all real estate bubble, they ran out of time to exert global influence at least a decade ago.
Wasn't Venezuela supposed to be protected by Chinese technology? And our guys walked right in, snatched Maduro, and then stopped to take a shit on Chavez's portal to Hell all without even glimpsing resistance. China is the sick man of Asia, just like it has been for the past 350 years.
They probably didn't take the missiles out of the boxes because they knew they wouldn't work in the first place. The CCP could never invade Taiwan because their ships will all sink 400 meters out of port.
Wait until we pay each Greenlander $100k to become a US citizen, and the Taiwanese then ask China what their offer is.
I love that meme!
That’s the one Trump thing that is grating on me. And if he keeps it up, the media will latch onto that for their midterm push to get Hakim into the big spot.
Hopefully we just put a massive air and sea base there.
Otherwise, we’re giving China the cover they need to grab Taiwan. What am I missing?
Holy crap... same same. You reading my mind today?
yeah the people that steal everything and lie are 100% truthful on their population charts or iq or economic standing
people still actually take china at face value somehow
This reeks of cope. The Chinese obsession with worshipping (but not following) rules, plus the lying to save face, are nothing compared to the decades-long application of boot to the necks of America's best and brightest by the USG and affiliated NGOs and activist groups.
People thought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan would steamroll us because we were corrupt and decadent and lazy.
EDIT: I should probably mention that I think war with China is a terrible idea, but their ability to take Taiwan JUST LIKE THAT! is hilariously overstated. They'll have less success crossing the straits than Russia has had in Ukraine.
https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/230109_Cancian_FirstBattle_NextWar.pdf
TL,DR: "The United States lost between 168 and 372 aircraft in the three base scenario iterations...In all iterations of the base scenario, U.S. Navy losses included two U.S. aircraft carriers as well as between 7 and 20 other major surface warships (e.g., destroyers and cruisers). "
Why am I not surprised to see Jayapal quoted in the Civil Eats supporting cheep non citizen labor (most likely expecting votes in exchange).
She really is a moron.
Traitor, you mean.
I’ll split the difference. Moron-traitor. I lived in her district during the Baghdad Jim McDerrmott era. Very rich area of Seattle that could afford to elect grifters to poke republicans in DC in the eye - or so they thought.
Seattle really went "hold my latte" when they replaced him with her. (FTR I grew up in that district)
Careful, Ronnie will start quoting the Constitution to you.
“ This is a significant accomplishment, made all the more so because the ZR1X is fully optimized and competent for its actual life of dawdling around a retirement community in-between trips to the Cars and Coffee.”
‘ZR1X’ is close enough to ‘ZX-14R’ that it caused me a double take in this paragraph.
To be fair, 15 years from now that is how I'm gonna use my ZX14R.
Same.
Wonder if Scott was always a Christian or this is something he came to as he neared the end. I hear similar things with other purported scientific atheists.
Whenever I get into discussions about spirituality with these very smart atheists, I always feel like we are quibbling over semantics...
I used to think I was very smart, and used to think I was an atheist.
I've realized I'm not as smart as I thought, and I'm a failed Christian.
I watched the Bears all the way to the end, took 2 hrs to calm down, dropped off about 12:30 AM, got an overtime call at 4:00 AM, ran it, came home, took a shower, and still made it to church (by myself- the First Lady was in Denver with grandkids).
Excuses are for children and women, Scott. Don’t make Pope Bob and me come up there.
Well done.
Ha. This really made me laugh. The first Pope who I legitimately think would knee cap you with a bat.
They have to win one. He’s on a mission from God!
Jake and Elwood Blues are so proud of him.
"Pope Bob." Love it!
The only failed Christian is one who stops trying.
Love your enemies, said Jesus. I'm working on it, said I.
At the risk of preaching: I can’t accomplish much of anything on my own. Once, I was going to change the world, but that was before I realized I couldn’t even change myself. Changing myself is pretty far above my pay-grade. The desire and effort is commendable, but is ultimately not very self aware. We all ultimately bump up against the limitations of our humanity.
Contrary to what you may have been taught, overcoming the “sin problem” and following the instructions and injunctions of Jesus cannot be accomplished by working harder. You can’t “try” to love anybody, enemy or friend. You either do or you don’t. God is Love, and living as God’s child means receiving love for the unlovable as a gift (a fruit). I can’t conjure it up, I can only ask for God’s love for the unlovable to live in me.
“Working on it” is destined to be ultimately unsuccessful: if it were possible to “straighten up and fly right”, there would be no need for the Son of God to have died as a sacrifice for our sin. His death was the crucifixion of our inadequate (and craven) nature, His resurrection the power to be reborn as a whole new thing, spotless and whole. His Holy Spirit offers us power for living. It goes beyond “hope” and into “victory”.
Not living that out comes from not recognizing what we’ve already been given. The surest path to having the ability to love an enemy is by recognizing how greatly God loved us, when we were still very, very far from him.
To whom much is given, much is required. “Forgive us our debts”, and so forth.
Stan, wonderful comment. Thank you.
I have recently been looking into Orthodox Christianity, which was the religion of my father’s family, even though I was raised Roman Catholic by my Polish mother.
To my amazement, the Orthodox have a different view of the meaning of Christ on the Cross than the Catholics do. This kind of blew my mind since it’s the core of Christianity. I can’t believe I just found out about this at age 65.
I’m about to read this book to learn more so I can figure out where I stand. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1088100252?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
Here's what I can tell you of a certainty, my friend. The finished work of the cross really is the finished work of God's salvation. There's no other work to be done.
I come from an Anabaptist tradition, whereby we were taught that God gave mankind a sovereign will to choose or reject his free gift. But there is nothing I can do or add to complete something that has already been completed for me. My salvation was accomplished by the finished work of Christ. It is my humble privilege to walk in it. As it is written, "In Him, we live and move and have our being".
Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am". Before 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 He completed His work in saving me -- all praise and glory be to God. That's the Good News. That's the gospel.
I'm only along for the ride. But what a long and strange and altogether wonderful ride it has been. It's my privilege to have been an active participant in God's plan for my life.
Excellent! There are things I know that are still great to hear again. What you just wrote was a gift from God through you to the rest of us.
Many thanks!
Also raised Roman Catholic but not happy with the path the church has been following. Let is know about the orthodox view. My wife has been in a group at our Church that is trying to develop ways to bring people back to the Catholic Church. I told her get a real Christian pope and get rid of Blace
Yup, me too. The Pope blessing the block of ice didn’t help.
My one Orthodox experience was years ago when my aunt died. She still attended Orthodox mass, and her suburban Chicago church was my family’s original Chicago church, except that they had moved to the suburbs.
The funeral service was the most amazing Christian ceremony I have ever been to. Unlike a Roman Catholic service, the Orthodox service felt ancient and primal and mystical all at once. It triggered something in me, like I had just walked into a familiar place, but one I had never been to. I thought that my aunt’s soul was ascending to heaven right from that church at that moment. The whole experience was otherworldly.
Frankly, and this is not to dump on the Catholics, but Catholic mass has always bored me since I was a little kid. It just never resonated with me so I never identified with it. I truly wish it would have, but it just never did. I always joke that the Catholics I knew were just bad at marketing.
So now at age 65, feeling my mortality, I’ve become interested in the family religion. The woman who has written the most approachable books on the Orthodox religion is Frederica Mathewes-Green. Her books are great and she even has a Substack.
Can you summarize for us? As an agnostic Jew, I'm not familiar, but always interested.
This is a pretty good summary from AI, but I’m still researching this to understand it better.
“Orthodox Christianity views the cross primarily as Christ’s triumphant victory over sin, death, and Satan, often called the “triumph of the cross.” Orthodox icons depict a serene, regal Christ, highlighting divine power rather than suffering alone. Western Christianity (Protestant and Catholic) frequently emphasizes the cross as penal substitution—Christ bearing God’s wrath for human sin—or atonement satisfying divine justice.”
Wow
Very well said. We're Lutheran, in a nutshell, "by faith alone." We can try to do better, just to feel better, to improve ourselves, improve our relationships, or to honor God's grace, but it boils down to accepting God's free gift.
I would never have had any issue with that, Tom -- but I'd add that I think we're in Christ by grace alone. Faith is the conduit by which we appropriate God's grace, but the faith to believe is ALSO a gift.
As Paul said to the Ephesians: 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠; 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡— 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑠𝑡
Not even the faith to believe comes from my own will. Every good and perfect gift comes through the hand of the Father.
Hence, humility is perhaps the key virtue in all of this.
Probably the single most important thing I took away from four years of college was a remark made to me by a fellow student at a party. We were helping to clean up in the kitchen when he said, "Don't ever forget. Everyone has value, the guy doing the meanest job on the street has value."
Probably even in my day thirty-some-odd years ago, the entire party would be passed out drunk instead!
jus like me frfr
im a retarded sinner
Aren't we all?
He always bounced between atheist and agnostic at times looking for the logic to convince him one way or another. Intellect can be a real road block to understanding a great many things that even lower IQ people come to realize. It's always seemed to me that high IQ can be a bit of a burden once you cross a certain point. While there wasn't a time I didn't believe in Christ, it always seemed that I needed another proof or some other fact or stat to get me further across a line I had in my head. CS Lewis's apologetics helped a ton when I was in my teens.
I would rather be a wise man than a smart one.
I don't think it is intellect, I think it is whether or not one has the faith genes. My head just can't work that way, otherwise I would find Pascal's wager convincing.
Then there is the problem of what to believe in. Most religions seem to have spent significant time doing game theory optimization of the rewards (72 virgins!) and punishments (burn in fire forever!) to require choosing that specific religion. Judaism is different; it does not seek to proselytize, and will forever be a small minority religion. It is almost as if religions evolved to successfully compete. Obscure SF citation: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50766/50766-h/50766-h.htm
Today is Thursday. Ask me on a different day and my opinion will be different.
It has been interesting watching people debate whether or not he was actually redeemed with that statement.
I saw a lot of mention about the thief on the cross without seeing much understanding of what was being cited. The evil thief on the cross saw that Christ was being crucified with them and even though he was suffering a similar fate mocked Christ and wanted him to do something about their present state to prove something.
The good thief rightly stated that they were getting what they had coming, but the man in the middle didn't deserve what was happening to him.
And *that* is why he was saved.
It's not a magical incantation. Repentance rightly understood is to experience the weight of your own sin and realize you're the one who should be on that cross.
Did Scott achieve that? I don't know.
No one but God and Scott know.
He said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. In other words, he that believeth in me shall have life ever after. Did Scott believe that, one day maybe I'll find out
Well said.
Well, if he was a lapsed Christian, maybe God chose his last moments to throw a wake-up call at him, and he remembed stuff he'd forgotten for half a century.
One last one, since this is a racing/open thread, anyone follow SailGP? Seems like they’re trying to make the F1 of near shore sailing. As a former competitive sailor myself, I think I’m here for it. Their YouTube channel is a little too cutesy and scripted, but the season opens this weekend in Perth, I think I’m going to start trying to follow it.
I don't know anything about it, but I'm interested.
My neighbor co-owns some kind of sailboat and he tells me they used to race it.....I'm thinking that ended years ago seeing how it seems like it's more of a burden sitting in the harbor and not actually sailing the high seas (all that much).
Beer can racing sailboats is absolutely a thing. Or was. Like everything else it’s increasingly unapproachable to the young 20 something’s who have the time and inclination to do that sort of thing these days.
I race on a Dehler 39. There are two active fleets here, and we also enter some distance races. I'm supposed to race to Bermuda this summer, which will be my first offshore passage in years. At the height of the season, we raced on Wednesday nights and most Saturdays. We are one of the younger crews, with a couple of crew members under thirty-years-old.
New Year's Eve, I stopped by a party thrown by the captain of my former racing team. There were members of a number of racing teams there, and I was the young whipper snapper by being under sixty-years-old.
I found out that my current team is resented by our competition. It isn't like we file protests or play games around marks. We just win, at least most of the time. Still, I spent the evening listening to boomers say, 'you're on the Wind Dragon?' 'I'm sorry to hear that.' "Hey, this guy sails on the Wind Dreki!" I wasn't even drinking, but I couldn't resist not recognizing the names of their boats and letting them know that we don't think about them at all.
sounds like my fathers model yacht racing club
when i went as a child i was everyones junior by about 40 years at the bare minimum
This is so cool. Of the three princely hobbies (polo, sail racing, motorsport) I feel like the appeal might be the highest, if one managed to get trained at the right time in life to actually be useful onboard.
A hyper successful boomer friend of mine races a few boats, among them a JV 66, I wish I was anywhere near skilled enough to ask to step aboard
On my last boat, I did everything that involved skill or strength. It was an Irwin 44, and it was making up the numbers in most regattas, since I wasn't making the tactical calls too. On my new crew, I spent around a month being ballast. Now, I'm trusted to run the jib, handle the main, or squirrel the spinnaker. There are about five skill positions, and it takes at least another three people to strategically ballast the boat for the amount of canvas we carry over a light boat in moderate winds.
We've won races with crew members I've brought because they're fun to be around and look good in bikinis. We've also rotated through quite a few experienced sailors from other crews that didn't have the numbers they needed to go out for various races. I'd rather have cool novices any day. If you want to sail, express interest to your friend. Tell him the truth, that you're more interested than experienced. You can pick up what you need to know while you're scurrying from rail to rail on tacks.
What sailboat did you used to race?
I crewed on a Martin 24 (I think) racing in Puget Sound in the '80's.
I've watched a few SailGP races on YT. Its crazy and a very long way from small boat sailing.
I thought it was either Lightnings or Lasers but a google search of both doesn’t look like what I raced. Call them “generic 14’ dinghy sailboats”. I was the Captain of my little rag tag college sailing team, mostly because I was shameless about doing things like sailing across the finish line in first place while chugging a beer (twice), and unbeknownst to me at the time, hitting on Natalie Portman at a college party (once).
Tell the truth and shame the devil, did you get on base with Ms Portman ?
Is this a joke?
If there is a way to search the comms please let us know
Skill issue. He should have just told her he hated sand. Bonus points for genocidal rage.
Asking the important questions! Although I have a feeling if the answer were "yes", S2kChris wouldn't be burying that lede. (I wouldn't!)
This is also to beg the question, but I have friends who claim to have partied with her in NYC ages ago. They had sone funny things to say that i just can’t remember, sad to say
I’ve caught it on CBS Sports. Doesn’t it air on Sunday afternoons? I have zero interest in or knowledge of sailing, but the TV broadcast is pretty decent all things considered. Isn’t Todd Harris the announcer?
I watch it, it's pretty cool. The coverage is wisely highlights, so it moves pretty fast. They sail in irregular bull rings on a defined course I can never really follow. Keeping those boats foiling while maneuvering in light winds is what separates the critical skill. They also capsize and collide regularly, so that's fun.
“This is a car without a buyer. And you never see them. So maybe the correct answer is: Who cares what it costs?”
I see them all the time. And I’m sure JB does too every time the PCA books Mid-Ohio.
You can get a lightly used new Z in the middle of the US and no one ever sees them. Sure seems like a better "deal" for the money.
It makes me irrationally angry that they can't use their sense of aesthetics for a car that the masses could drive. I mean, you could even call it a "People's Car" if you want.
Say, that's pretty catchy, fella.
What if Germany used such a car as a front to cover up a sorely needed rearmament?
You could build them in Ohio. Casey should make this part of his platform and announce it at a craft brewery.
Should we be concerned that Casey Putz seems to be gaining some traction? At least on the Twitter people seem to be gravitating towards the guy which is very disturbing.
well its between the insane democrat creature or the brown retard who wants to flood america with indians
or casey
Wait until they get a load of Fishback.
More concerned about how we got two serious candidates who are so unbelievably flawed.
Honda CTR>
If Nissan had put the V8 from the Titan in the Z, and backed it up with a manual transmission, they'd have sold ever one of them, and they'd be literally EVERYWHERE.
I wasn't even aware a turbo was available, although that makes an it interesting car.
Yes! The v6 Zed cars are weak sauce. The 5.6 is too good an engine to leave in history after axing the Titan. But nooooooo, they have to continue with CVTs and v6 kinda-super cars.
The 400Z is an awful strong car and will pull on a lot of the competition, especially above 90-100mph.
I understand that, and see that the new Z currently doesn't look like a woman with an enormous caboose.
It's a pity it took them all these generations to get it so that it isn't the DUFF of the sportscar world. They're still available with a manual in that twin-turbo V6, which is fantastic.
Still... like most things Nissan -- it feels like a little too little a little too late. Z cars sell like coldcakes in this part of the world. A V8 would get a guy like me into the showroom, because it would have 125% of what made a C7 Corvette a desirable proposition, and 0% of the "old man car" stigma. It's the right size, the right shape, at the right price, with the right transmission. If it had had the right engine, it would have been a home run.
or amp up the v6 to 550 hp so it has something.
Don't you have a couple of new Z's in your family? Can we get a long-term review?
There's this for starters:
https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/review-2024-nissan-z-performance
Oh I know, that's why my slicktop has a V8. The problem is the way the system worked to certify powertrains, it was way easier to use the VR30 which is basically a baby GTR motor. The brand (Z.... not Nissan) has the heritage where V6s aren't frowned upon.
Upon thinking long and hard about what would make the most sense for me, I did the V8 swap because of the effort I did with the V6 only to find out it was crazy low compression. The V8 swapped Z cars are pretty slick and sound great. The VK is an impressive motor. Unfortunately, it was a motor that never gained any appreciation in the market it was intended for. Same is said for the VH (motor that I installed which was the base for the V8 IMSA cars).
I can't emphasize enough how strong the VR motors are. People are regularly making GTR hp with minimal work and that's more than fast enough for any street car. You put it that way and suddenly a lightly used one makes a ton of sense. (As a reference, the world beating GTR was 69,999 when it came out. Now you can get that hp and speed for mid 30s-mid 40s from Nissan.)
Am I understanding that you have a Z car you've swapped with a V8? I'd really like to hear more about this.
Yes. '93 slicktop with everything deleted I feel it didn't need to make it as simple and reliable as possible(Yes, I even did a custom manual rack too so no hydro lines in the bay!). Nissan/Infiniti 4.5ltr V8 from a Q45, but the early ones('91 I think) to get the best internals+hand built parts matching nature. Does have working variable valve timing that sometimes gets noisy when it sits, but overall is becoming more reliable the more miles I put on it. At some point I'll have it down at Jack's for him to drive around a bit in, but it's still a bit of a mess from a sorting standpoint. (I have three kids so time gets away from me.)
Sweet.
"they'd have sold ever one of them, and they'd be literally EVERYWHERE."
This is probably why car enthusiasts probably don't do well in marketing. Hot cars like this never seem to sell well in reality.
Probably very true. I have no idea why people buy what they do.
And there needs to be a ladder so the GT3 buyer can look down on lesser mortals?
I would go with pecking order over ladder. Only because I see it in action with the wild turkeys that walk past my house everyday. The base Carrera is nothing but the last turkey.
We are but monkeys underneath. I have long noted the apparent inverse relationship between expense of kitchen to frequency of actual cooking. And every sale of an expensive London house seems to be mandate an immediate replacement.
I never said as much.
GT3 (RS) models are the most legible to me because (1) I own one so notice them and (2) they have a signature sound that stands out among the voluble cars I hear in Atlanta every day: American V8s, Huracan / R8 V10s, and Lamborghini / Ferrari V12s.
Base Nine Elevens? Absolutely not.
I would bet it’s impossible to order one from a dealer.
I used to live right by that dealer. I had to take my 944 to them for service once.
Have you ever been to Standard Market next to the dealer? That’s a great grocery store. One of the few places I miss from Illinois.
The restaurant at Standard Market is great, and so is their wine bar. I used to buy their sushi, cheese, and homemade soups all the time. Great fresh fish and meat, too. Worth a stop if you’re ever over that way.
You cant order any 911. if you do it comes with a delaer adm and you have to order lots of options.
Kind of makes you think if porches is running out of bogus macans to sell, why not just make some 911s people want to buy in enough quantity they can actually you know order them. to
i probably do see them all the time but honestly i really cannot tell anymore the difference between a brand new and a three or four year old 911, which is really bad, because i would imagine i am one of the few people who really does try to notice everything with cars. its definitely got to be affecting sales that you could buy an off lease base 911 or a new one and almost no one could tell the difference
The new ones have been at the muffins!
Im the same, 991 992.1 992,2 its all the same, or worse now. IMO porche is heading to Harley heaven. When every boomer who wants one has one, or a used one thats indistinguishable from the used one, sales will halve. Maybe then they'll make a car for enthusiasts again and since the Walter Mitty retired dentists will be gone, theyre wont be ADM's..
The 992 is the 11/10th Porsche. They are huge. Pretty easy to tell
I dont see much difference to a 991.
Orf’s channel on YouTube is worth a look when it’s not getting throttled. This is one of my favorites:
https://youtu.be/1kKUye23KBQ?si=Sxj1f7pg7hiwDisj
That is a classic video. Hilarious and enraging at once. Orf does wonderful work.
I have been saying bring back manufacturing since my first MBA class. I then got in trouble with prof. for saying we can't all serve coffee and then espousing the glories of Henry Ford's vertical integration.
The truth always hurts!
Usually, those who speak it.
Most MBA profs have never worked outside academia. How they think they have any clue about the real world is baffling.
Back when I was in college, they kept talking about John Maynard Keynes being the foundation of responsible government policy.
whos payroll is your prof on
theres no way hes that dumb for free
This was back in the before times. I recall that he assured us that we would design the products and the Chinese would build them. I further blotted my copy book by asking if he thought the Chinese might one day be able to grow their own designers and engineers.
so he thought there would just be that same relationship forever?
fascinating
"This is the world Renee Nicole Good thought she was living in with the woman she loved, in their final moments together on that January morning…"
I'd like to offer a different opinion... Good and her wife are the intended products of modern american feminist conditioning. As a gay couple, they enjoyed the highest social status among the "pre-privileged" urban american female class. They were fully confident in their moral authority and physical capability to join what is essentially a militia and harass armed federal agents in the streets. And ultimately, they were loyal Democratic Party voters.
This is exactly what American Feminism wants... the layers upon layers of conditioning - from super-heroine "capeshit" movies to feminist popstar activism to social media girlboss amplification to corporate executive suite favoritism - were all designed to elevate american women into a Matrix-esque surreality... you can only watch so many versions of Trinity physically defeating male opponents 3 times her size before you start to believe it...
...the point is, that's why she was stunned to find out bullets are real in the real world. A senseless, stupid way to die... and there are MILLIONS of Renee Good's now.
The amazing part to me is that people continue to block the roads in MN.
Do they not understand that death is a real possible outcome if you make similar choices and mistakes?
That WOULD be ironic.
That's my point... I don't think they do. That's the power of the conditioning.
That's why Pinochet had to kill 10,000 commies and not just, say, 15.
Oooofff... Stuff like that haunts me. Specifically, "what if these people refuse to face/accept the reality, and keep pushing their insane agenda?"
I mean, how *does* one kill bad ideas without causing "grievous bodily harm" to those willing to espouse them all the way to the grave?
And the usual suspects got what they wanted: a dead white woman. The young mother and lesbian parts were a bonus.
I'm not sure what your context is for "the usual suspects". Remember this is a Marxist partisan movement... these people are literally trained that "your opponent's reaction is the aim". This type if high-profile incident is exactly what the anti-ICE militia wants... conversely this is the last thing that ICE/DHS wants.
Except that the anti-ICE militia is not swaying Main Street's opinion no matter how hard they swing for the martyr fences.
I hope you're right. We endured years of "unarmed black man vs bloodthirsty racist police officer" and Main Street demonstrated how easily they can be manipulated by their sympathy impulses. A lot of long-term damage was done.. I guess we'll see if Main Street has learned anything.
One of the top documentaries of the past decades was about this.
I could not recommend more highly: https://www.thetrayvonhoax.com/
It's also funny--if tragic, of course. George Zimmerman's life was ruined so former prez Obama could destroy all the improvements in race-relations made by his predecessors and all people broadly.
People like this live without accountability or consequences of their beliefs and voting records for so long when consequences IE “why are you using real bullets” to getting raped or assaulted or killed by a semi driving illegal is something that they cannot reconcile.
As someone who grew up in relatively isolated yet affluent Massachusetts my social media feeds are full of them.
I can't figure out why feminists are so quiet about confused-man encroachment into women's restrooms, sports, etc. Apparently men can't tell females what to do unless they're pretending or want to be a woman. Or maybe the alphabet crowd has better PR.
This should be pinned.
Great post.
never knew trinity beat men, i was just focused on the hot outfit, lol, I think there as also a speed triple involved. .
Vette- I keep asking myself "who is this car for?" and keep getting the same response as when I think about some of these Porsches. They very obviously DO NOT CARE about any of the front engined fanbase and want to keep pushing for this type of car the same way they're continually going to be committed to EVs being the next great thing. But hey... it's not like the next generation needs a cheap car to drive around or anything.
Adams- While Adams had his flaws, I quite frequently followed him for a simultaneous sip of coffee during his reading of the news live streams. The guy definitely was high IQ even if he could be a pain in the ass. With that said, he was willing to state many times over when he was wrong and go completely 180 back on things he'd said when he felt the data presented to him showed otherwise. I'll definitely miss some of his hotter takes. At least we still have Dilbert to remember him by. Anyone that's worked in modern America should be able to appreciate it.
Porsche- I find these cars still beautiful but awkward proportionally. Maybe that's sort of the point as they need the greater sizing to hide that weight. I think I am coming around on the cars more than I did a year or so ago, but am left hating a single thing: The company that makes them. I could be convinced that I don't hate Porsche enough.
China- At what point do we hoist the black flag against them? The stealing of fish offshore sure seems very similar to the pirates who would go ashore and log wood illegally in central America before the Spanish would catch them in the late 1600s to early 1700s. Once these fisheries are gone, they aren't going to return to same way. China's contributed to a giant garbage patch in the ocean, helped force burdensome enviro regulations on their competition, and absolutely looted any grey area on this planet. F em. If they were really doing so well, they wouldn't have to steal. Speaking of such desperation, is anyone still buying that they have a population of a billion people? Starting to think it's probably less than half that in the 2020s. There is a near zero percent chance that they gained population at the rate they claim after wars, famines (post "glorious" revolution), and one child policy for decades. Who lies worse... radical Islamists or the Chinese? Hard to tell these days.
I value him for introducing me to“two movies” and “talent stack.”
Guy was ahead of his time for sure, but the "two movies" and "talent stack" thing were just perfect during the era he came up with them. I've tried to continually think about the talent stack thing.
Agree. Talent stack especially. I think about it as well when I meet new clients.
"Porsche- I find these cars still beautiful but awkward proportionally."
100%
The 2025 Porsche 911 is 14 inches shorter, 2 inches wider, and 44 pounds heavier (!!!) than a modest, V6-powered 2017 accord sedan. Would be even worse compared to Jacks's V6-6MT coupe.
They're just massive. It's weird that so many people have a fetish for them. #AshleyGrahamFansOfTheWorldUnite
re4 reference? on acf?
neato
I don't know what RE4 is. Resident Evil 4?
yup
ashley graham is one of the main characters and is also fetishized lol
Had no idea ! She’s one of the main characters? 😂😂😂
yeah you basically have to escort her from the first mission to the end of the game
one of the best resident evil titles and one of the best games ever made and it came out 20 years ago. vey highly recommended. there was also a remake recently but its not a 1:1 copy of the original and loses some of the camp and charm for a more grounded story
Never could get into “Dilbert” or “The Office,” because I could go into work and see the real thing! Life meets fiction!