Hurlshort

I don't understand why people who put loads of sugar in their coffee even drink the stuff. Coffee isn't good for you, so if you need to mask the flavor of the stuff, just stop.

My daughter has always really been into creating somewhat morbid scenes. It started with turning her barbies and their house into of a psych ward with handmade straight jackets and scary makeup. Then she started really getting into the Halloween makeup. Like she would make me a list of all the different products she needs and I would gawk a bit, but she did make some pretty great stuff and she used it all well beyond October 31st. Now as a teenager, she has really gotten into makeup. Which is great, because she does competition dance and the fact she can do all her own makeup is awesome, but it has also been hugely expensive. She likes to experiment with it all before bed, so when I go to say goodnight to her, sometimes she will look like a scary clown, or an elderly person, or a zombie. So now she wants to start doing masks and learning how to work with clay, and I'm trying to figure out how to best support her in this. I've started creating a workshop in the garage. Unfortunately the materials for this type of thing are not cheap. Thankfully there are quite a few special effects on a budget video, including one be the guy who did Army of Darkness. So yeah, my summer project is now figuring out how to best direct her creative endeavors.

Life of the Party - This was a surprisingly hilarious Melissa McCarthy comedy. The boyfriend twist was a great moment.

Missed opportunity there. Teenagers are going to be naive and think they know everything. That is the way the youth works, and it can be great. The idealism of youth can be wonderful. It needs to be tempered with realism, but that is where being an adult parent comes in. Instead of getting angry, it should have been used as a teachable moment.

I enjoyed The Old Guard as well. Charloze Theron is always good swinging weapons around. Seems set up for anothee film, for sure. Kind of funny that big pharma is the new villain in today's world. Music was off, for sure.

Seemed to have a lot of pro-environmental awareness tones to me, which was surprising. Green Party ad could be almost identical.

You are driving around in a multi-ton vehicle with a powerful engine, and cyclist are pedaling around on a small frame that weighs 15-30 pounds, yet they are the menace?

So you are saying that All Traffic Matters? I get that cyclists and pedestrians can be more mindful, but I don't think you are going to find any cars killed by them. The cars are the bigger problem here. People drive around in multi-ton weapons at high rates of speed while being distracted by all the technology of the day. I'd say the whole culture behind cars needs to start changing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/us/bloomington-car-attack-protesters.html I've been disappointed in how people keep trying to dismiss vehicular manslaughter and homicide because people were jaywalking. Then again, I regularly deal with this on the road when I run an cycle. Drivers seem to feel that it is alright to endanger peoples lives if they are in a hurry.

It's a western version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on a spaceship.

Yeah, my PS4 gathers dust most of the time. The Nintendo Switch gets a lot more use. It is portable and multiplayer friendly. Every time Nintendo puts out a console, I think it is weird, but then it ends up being the right tool for the right time. That's why they make the big bucks.

I've been sucked back into Conan Exiles. I started over again, and currently have a neat base set up in the desert near thee pirate ship. I've bridged a couple plateaus and have an elevator that takes me to a rich resource area, so I an happy with the location. The new Greek DLC pack is pretty awesome looking.

I get my cast off tomorrow. I am soooo ready. I also need to get a TB test before I report back to work. But I have no idea when I will be reporting, and I really don't want to go to the clinic where they take the test.

This morning I realized I was way behind on my family photo books. Typically I put together a book from our summer trips, and I have them starting from 2009. I guess I never finished 2018, so I polished that one up and ordered it from Shutterfly. Now I need to work on 2019. 2020 is going to be a weird one. We sold our RV, which we've had since that first trip in 2009 when my daughter was just a toddler. So it was already going to be a bit of a change with that, but now the summer trips, triathlons, dance competitions, parades, and hockey camps are all cancelled because of a pandemic. I suppose it will just be pictures of us laying around the house for a summer.

Happy 4th of July to my countrymen. We had a nice group workout this morning, and now we are taking it easy. I'll BBQ for dinner. I am enjoying the folks poking fun at the All Live Matter crowd by posting All Countries Matter. People really need to laugh at themselves a bit more.

So the NFL is going to play the Black National Anthem before games in week 1. This was surprising to me, since I had no idea it existed. Turns out there is a fascinating history behind the song dating back over 100 years. It seems like a pretty safe way for the NFL to acknowledge their players, who are overwhelmingly African-American, and the current climate. But I am sure insecure people will freak out about it and consider it an attack on their version of 'Merica.

I mean, African children probably don't complain about their lives like gamers do, but I will leave it alone.

Yeah, but people usually don't go to AA and try to blame the bars for serving them alcohol. That tends to be the case with gamers who encounter issues. Granted it might be a buggy game, but it also might be an issue with your computer.

It is still all way cheaper than cable/satellite, and that is with me spending $40 a month on Hulu Live for local news and sports.

Amazon is easy. Free 2-day shipping pays for itself. Some of this stuff is going to fail and have to join with others (looking at you CBS.) But it also is why we are getting a ton of new and fairly unique content. Shows no longer get cancelled any more, they just jump services. Firefly would have ran 20 seasons in this market and we would all complain about how bad it has become. It is a glorious time.

The footage that came out of those camps at the end of the war needs no exaggeration. It depicts the worst of humanity. I agree that History, as a subject, should be kept fairly simple. We weigh cause and effect. Speculation should be kept separate, as that can lead us to completely false narratives such as the Mayan Scholar Utopia or the Great Zimbabwe/Queen of Sheba connection. But history is just one aspect of the Social Sciences, and I'd call it detached or even hard-hearted to ignore all that context and not think critically about how to improve the future. There is nothing political in saying that the Holocaust and Hitler are horrific chapters in human history. That is a pretty simple lesson. It isn't propaganda. I don't see what your objective is in referring to it that way.

Subnautica. I want to live there. Conan Exiles too.

A lot of people mistrust the holocaust? I would honestly lump those people in with anti-vaccinators and flat earthers.

None of that really erases history though. At least, not any more than has happened with every civilization that has come before us. We've gone through some pretty serious purges and cultural upheavals over the centuries. This stuff is super tame in comparison.

So not unpredictably, many of the states where you had a ton of protests against SIP and masks are seeing a big jump in cases. Here is a pic from a protest in Austin, Texas: Do you think there is a chance that these guys look at this pic and think,"ok, this is a bad look. I'll calm down on this whole mask thing."? No, I guess self-reflection is probably too much to ask.