Guard Dog

That is not what they look like! They look like this: D&D jumped the shark after 2nd ed! BTW I finished Bolton's book. There were a few surprises and it's fair to say some things were better than they looked. Most were even worse than you'd think though. I know Bolton's track record and I found pretty much everything he said to be completely credible. Which is.... not good. Don't blame me, I didn't vote for him.

Taxation is theft. That is like bitching over what the mugger bought with your money after he it you over the head and stole your wallet.

A's, Rays, & White Sox are all a good buy. BTW nice to see you back around again @Leferd. You don't hang out this us as much as you used to.

Back at'cha buddy

Thanks. The start up costs are a little steep and it is a LOT of work. But, in the long run it saves money and you do become reasonably self sufficient. I could live off the land here indefinitely if I absolutely had to.

This is worth a read: My Family Saw a Police Car Hit a Kid on Halloween. Then I Learned How NYPD Impunity Works.

Well, that generated far more conversation that it deserved. My advice to Debbie is to mind your own business.

Sunny & I are going up to our property on Indian Creek this weekend for camping, fishing , and communing with nature.

I sing happy birthday to my dog. I don't know when her birthday is or how old she is. But I found her on 7/12/2014 so on that day she gets a special meal and a treat from Woofgang Puck

Teams with good rosters and short depth have a chance to excel in a 60 Game season. I like the Rays chances.

I disagree obviously. Obama was far from a moron. I would not use that word to describe Trump either actually. He is reckless, heedless, and acts without understanding. Worse he is disdainful of advice from people who actually DO know. It is common to hear him say things in speeches that are untrue. The "media" delights in calling him a liar but even that is a misnomer. He is telling the truth he believes. There was a great line form the TV sit-com Seinfeld, "Remember, it's not a lie if YOU believe it". Of course, that does not make it factually correct either. Men like him live in a world where money and force of personality actually can make things so by buying or forcing people, governments, companies into acquiescence. But now, he's out of his element. Obama was neither reckless nor heedless. He knew right from wrong, legal from illegal, and acted consciously to achieve whatever goals he had in mind. That is a different kind of dangerous. People who truly believe the ends justify the means are a different (but certainly not lesser) kind of danger.

Gromnir is absolutely right about one thing, if the Executive Branch actually conformed to the rules and exercised only those powers enumerated in Article II the outcome of the Presidential election would be interesting but not altogether earth shattering. Of course if Congress only exercised those powers in Article I and didn't hand them over to Presidents, or sit meekly by as Presidents just took them, AND they didn't abuse the hell out of the "necessary and proper" clause, we'd all be better off. Congress was supposed to be the real power. As it is they are an effective foil when they find the spine to be. It's an ugly body full of ugly people, some of the nastiest you'll ever meet when a press microphone is nearby. And people decry the "partisan bickering" and "gridlock". Not me. It's a beautiful thing. Congress is ever better than when it is accomplishing nothing. Except when it stops the President from accomplishing anything. Under divided government we are somewhat safe from bad laws, bad taxes, stupid policy (as if there were any other kind) and foreign interventions. When the rats are trying to screw each other they are not screwing us. No matter who wins this November as long as Congress is divided I'll sleep soundly. Even if Congress is united and the President is the opposite party we'll be good. When one party has all three... be afraid.

H.L. Mencken called it all the way back in 1934: "As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

I can understand why he's feel that way. I must admit when I first heard about this I thought it was a Jussie Smoltett situation. After all you ask yourself, who would be so idiotic as to do that? But prejudice is irrational so you can expect it to inspire irrational acts. While I'm sure it wasn't "planted" for PR purposes, and HE didn't even report it to begin with, to keep pecking at it by sayin "why was it done in the first place" serves no purpose but to make it look like you are taking advantage. If he and his camp has any sense they just say "fine, question asked and answered" and let it go. But, I'm betting that will not happen. Not when there is political hay to be made.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-decline-of-the-us-dollar-could-happen-at-warp-speed-in-the-era-of-coronavirus-warns-prominent-economist-stephen-roach-2020-06-22 Tick, tock, tick, tock

So the whole Bubba Wallace thing turned out to be much ado about nothing: https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/29354447/fbi-says-rope-had-talladega-garage-last-fall-bubba-wallace-not-victim-hate-crime Predictably, Wallace himself is doubling down. Because you never let a opportunity to score political points go to waste, even if it's BS: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/us/bubba-wallace-response-fbi-hate-crime-investigation/index.html So, for whatever it's worth (apparently not much) the FBI found that the "noose" was a garage door pull rope fashioned into a noose sometime in October during on of the Sugarland 250 NASCAR Truck series race. There were no minority drivers in that series. The garage was used in racing events four more times since then before all events were suspended in March. No one gave a f--k until Wallace was assigned the garage by draw. The assignment were made by the folks in the NASCAR office in NC who would not know of some race crew's little joke from the previous season. I completely understand the reaction and it was a nice moment the way everyone rallied around Wallace. It was credible to think someone might do something like this after the flag kerfuffle. But, now it's been debunked so let... it.... go!

So... ummm… where are we going with all this? Should all copies of Icewind Dale, Torment, Fallout 2, Fallout NV, PoE, NWN2 be removed from Steam? Or should we all delete our own copies too? How far down does this rabbit hole go? That seems to be the trend nowadays. In all seriousness, folks who do this kind of thing get fired. It sounds like that is what happened. I don't know about blacklisting but that might happen. For a little while at least. I agree with Kirottu, this does sound at least a little fishy. Nothing I've read sounds like sexual assault in the traditional sense of the word. However, in the hyper-vigilant, #me too, all men are sexual predators era that term might mean anything. At best he probably should have known better. There is a long standing rule most men find out early on: DO NOT sleep with (or try to) people you work with. Don't s--t where you eat. That should probably be extended to people in the industry you work in. Especially a small one like game development.

Half way through Bolton's book. This f-----g guy, Trump, has to go. Nobody was more surprised than he was that he was elected. He was utterly unprepared to take office, paranoid about the motivations of the people HE picked, and dismissive of information from what should have been considered reliable and learned sources. He makes decisions by gut instinct. At least what his gut tells him that day. He is irrational, unpredictable, and is literally making this up as he goes. Even Obama's cold nihilism was probably preferable.

Yeah right. I'm "pro-slavery" Deo Vindice MF'ers The MLBPA has received everything it has asked for in the last proposal. The only sticking point was the number of games to be played. The difference was 10 games and Manfred offered to split the difference. They refused. There was no offer they were going to take. This is not about getting baseball back and it was not negotiated in good faith. This is about a unfair labor practice grievance, a subsequent law suit, the MLB's anti-trust exemption, and a future multi-million (or billion) dollar future settlement. This was just dirty pool all around. Maybe it didn't start that way. The owners surely tried to low ball them in the beginning and reneged on a deal made the moment the season was suspended. That was a s--t play too. But after that the MLBPA saw an opportunity to f--k the owners over and never acted in good faith after. But when you finally get everything you ask for and THEN move the goal posts? To hell with all of them. Hey I have nothing against unions. Even this one. I despise exclusive representation and mandatory membership. I am 1000% "right to work". THAT is how unions become organized crime, when they can't be avoided. But as long as it's membership is voluntary I am pro union. Heck at this point I don't even care. OOTP Baseball didn't get suspended. I'm playing the 1963 Giants and we are 64-31. Bobby Bolin in having a Cy Young worthy season and with Felipe & Matty Alou & Willie Mays I have the deadliest outfield in the National League.

Well the owners and MLBPA could not agree on... well anything really. So the owners are imposing 60 game season with pro-rated pay. Basically their last and best offer. Let the Union BS begin...

Working from home and making vegetable stew in the crockpot. Making cornbread later.

Don't hold your breath. There will never, ever, ever, ever, be a society where everything is shared equally. Not a human society anyway. Meritocracy is the best thing you can ever hope for and even that is likely impossible. The best thing a man can do is look out for himself.

You'll appreciate this story. Operation Beachcrest is a war game that (used to?) goes on every year in October for 3rd MarDiv, 1st MAW, 3rd FSSG. It take place on this POS little island in the Rykku Chain called Ie Shima. Well in 1991 I got assigned to rear area security for the airfield. And I got assigned the M-60 for our company. Except for the hump which kind of sucked it was mostly a blast being in the wargame instead of stuck in the Radar or comm van waiting for something to break. Well, of course being in the war game meant I had to actually fire that 60. Blanks. I figured if I clean it every night, keep both barrels lubed with CLP it would not get too bad. Wrong freaking answer. After we got back I was stuck in that damned armory for five days. FIVE. Cleaning.... cleaning.... cleaning. CLP, q-tips, pipe cleaners, linen bore patches, as you well know, it all that we were allowed to use. Finally, on day five I'd had enough. Early in the morning on the 5th day I got up and drove all the way up to Kadena AFB and bought two gallons of premium unleaded gas. It had to be Kadena because that s--t they sold in the Japanese gas stations back then had too many weird additives. Didn't trust it. Futenma didn't have a gas station. The armory at Futenma was in this underground bunker with a small parking lot and a few buildings up top. I checked out the M-60 and told the armorer I was going to sit in the parking lot and work on it. I stripped it down, put it in a swab bucket and poured that gas over it. I let it sit in the gas for 20 minutes, let all that built up carbon dissolve. Then a quick cleaning, a VERY generous coat of CLP to get rid of the smell and I FINALLY got it past inspection and turned back in. Sometimes you just gotta break a rule.

It's not that bad actually. I use Hodgon's Pyrodex RS smokeless. Nowhere near as dirty or corrosive as real black powder. It's a little safer too with a higher ignition point. I do use Goex black powder for the the primers though.