Gromnir

is plenty o' reasons to dislike President bush, but he went against party and gained the ire o' many conservatives by not only caring 'bout a disease which at the time were considered a curse on homosexuals by too many in this country but by sending money to africa with almost no short-term roi prospects. sure, in 2022 we got kinda/sorta bipartisan support for pepfar, but such were most assured not the case at the time. you and Gromnir can do little 'bout the hiv problem which continues to plague too much o' the world, but you may vote for representatives, senators and Presidents who care 'bout the same stuff you do, and those people collective may bring 'bout the changes you believe is appropriate. and sometimes, as in the case o' bush, determined individuals may bring 'bout monumental change. you caring might mean as little as self-educating and then voting for national level government folks who are capable o' making the world a better place, or at least a world a bit less terrible. is a flood in bangladesh which kills hundreds or thousands tomorrow or next year. we have empathy for the dead and those survivors who must rebuild... again. however, unless we know somebody who actual died, is unlikely we weep over the bangladesh deadly floods. at the same time am forced to decide just how concerned we actually are 'bout the dead and future dead in places like bangladesh. how do we change our votes based on candidates who could do something? am honest enough to admit a Presidential candidate's position on infrastructure aid to bangladesh is not a priority. chilloutman is unlikely to be concerned 'bout anything bad happening in south america. *shrug* converse, while the khashoggi murder represents the death o' one reporter we never met, we would/will change vote depending on how our elected officials responded. ... am also gonna recognize how at the time we were ambivalent 'bout bush's efforts to combat hiv in africa. helping were the right thing to do but the help were also representing a whole lotta money and while we ain't a maga proponent am gonna concede we prioritize homeless US veterans over nameless and faceless multitudes in sub-saharan africa. is perhaps unfortunate a US President has more power to help those in africa than he does homeless and/or mental ill in topeka. even so, while pepfar were not a voting priority for us in the early 2000s, am glad bush were more caring o' the suffering o' those in africa than were Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

self-lawyering all too often results in self-harm and we highly recommend avoiding such conjecture. regardless, the school board released a single statement to the public stating that teachers got first amendment freedoms which need be observed but the board were nevertheless suspending the teacher and investigating him 'cause o' his reported presence at the Capitol on january 6. turns out the teacher were never at the Capitol-- just some douchey twitter nonsense posted while he were in DC for the stop the steal rally... posts which seemed to advocate insurrection . school board does investigation which clears the teacher o' any actionable malfeasance and tells him he should return to work. teacher's complaint is two-fold: 1) he wants a public apology to clear his name. 2)the board were wrong to public release info regarding their investigation o' the teacher's january 6 activities. 'ccording to teacher, as a member o' the teacher union collective bargaining agreement provisions, the board were precluded from discussing the matter o' his investigation until he had been provided a process to defend himself. having not read the agreement, we cannot say what is the school board duties. however, as the matter o' the teacher's january 6 activities were a matter o' public interest thanks in large part due to the teacher's questionable social media practices, the rules for board behaviour is likely not as cut-and-dry as teacher's lawyer might claim. whatever beef the teacher has with the board is largely a contract issue related to his collective bargaining agreement. media pundits latched onto a rando story and skewed the narrative a bit so that it fits whatever is their chosen point o' view, but is less substance to the story than one might assume based on reports from cnn or fox or wherever. HA! Good Fun!

twice-baked taters is a good start. am original from the midwest so we got family who has no doubt found a way to add gravy and deep fry... probable add a pickle o' some sort as well. not a criticism. am personal a proponent o' the Cheese and Meat school o' cooking. every meal leaving our kitchen needs promote cheese and/or meat with both being the ideal plating solution. bread and sweets is swell and all, and am understanding vegetables and fruits have nutritional value or some such. that said, from our pov, most o' those other "foods" is platforms or vehicles for cheese and/or meat. ... gonna admit we also require garlic. is a handful o' garlic-free recipes in our regular rotation, but those is outliers. HA! Good Fun!

am gonna take "whataboutism" for $800, alex. HA! Good Fun!

am also a fan o' brisket, but am also cheap and brisket has become scary expensive o' late, so we found an alternative. we do not smoke meat too often, but when we do we got the little chief. as an alternative to brisket we use a 4-5lb chunk o' chuck at least 4" thick with as much intermuscular connective tissue as we can find and a fair amount o' internal fat. trim off all the external fat. might be difficult to find such thick cuts o' chuck w/o speaking to your butcher and requesting. regardless, we cook virtual the same way we would brisket with low and slow smoke for hours ('bout 5-6 depending on how long it takes to reach right internal temp o' 'bout 145F.), then wrap in foil (tight) for an additional +3 three hours in a regular oven at 225F. goal is to get to almost fall apart tender, but not quite. is art and not science so is no specific time or internal temp which is gonna enlighten you as to when is actual done. regardless, once we hit almost fork tender, we remove meat from foil and then put back in the oven for another twenty minutes so the surface crust gets dry and sets up a bit. take outta the oven and tent for another twenty minutes before slicing. takes a long time to cook not-brisket this way, but is almost complete hands-off for +90% o' total time. we didn't mention what kinda chips we use for smoke 'cause everybody has their own preference and nobody is right. only seasoning is dalmatian-- salt and pepper. we go heavy on the salt. is 4" cuts, so you want extreme salt and is best to let sit in fridge overnight after seasoning. am too cheap to do brisket nowadays particular when the chuck turns out so great. HA! Good Fun!

short answer "On Sunday, a ruling party member of Serbia’s parliament even tweeted that Serbia may “also be forced to begin the denazification of the Balkans,” invoking the same spurious framing through which Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine." *shrug* sock puppets. HA! Good Fun!

is worth noting 'bout half o' oglala is christian, most o' those is catholic. during and particular after the so-called "indian wars," more than a few o' the christian missionaries, at great personal risk, placed themselves 'tween the US government and native peoples. is also easy to forget just how many US military officers and enlisted men vilified the treatment o' indigenous peoples, and the basis for such vocal rejection o' US policy were typical rooted in the christian beliefs o' those military men. we always hear stories o' massacres and violence, but we rare hear 'bout the ordinary line officers who open criticized President grant and others. the oglala o' the late 1800s were understandably less concerned with the history o' christianity than they were with the actions and behaviour o' those claiming to be christian. elanor is a passionate young woman, and we applaud her efforts, but try and imagine the nineteen year-old criticizing the faith o' black elk and others who converted to catholicism. one o' the great powers o' the young is the ability to see the world in black and white with stark contrasts 'tween right and wrong. the bad guys is often obvious to young people: the government, republicans, the church, boomers. fight with absolute certainty you is right and that the people you are fighting against is bad is a strength and young people has brought 'bout important change in this world 'cause they often/usual fight with absolute certainty they is right... even if they ain't so right as they thought. am not a fan o' organized religion, but am personal reluctant to curse any major faith. most o' us recognize the manifest unfairness o' damning all muslims 'cause o' the actions taken by individuals on 9/11, yes? that would be wrong. am not gonna do same for christians and blame 'em for the many transgressions o' the christian faithful over the centuries. black elk saw wisdom in catholic teachings that he did not believe invalidated his own beliefs. am personal not believing Gromnir is up to the task o' judging black elk or the many other oglala who found value in their earnest held christian faith. *descends from soap box* HA! Good Fun!

Update 1.4.0d BETA is more than a few significant changes. however, am not gonna help test this release-- will wait for the enhanced edition and the post release plague o' bugs which follows. ... might take a quick peek at the dlc scheduled for august 11, but for now am anticipating no new wotr gameplay for us 'til september 29... or maybe a week or so post september 29 as past experience suggests the initial enhanced edition release will be rough. HA! Good Fun!

as an aside, am not sure why there has never been a fafhrd and gray mouser movie or tv vehicle. is four or five decades worth o' fafhrd and gray mouser stories and leiber's prose style were far easier (better) than tolkien's. c.s. lewis has had animated and live action adaptions o' his works. has been how many conan/robert e. howard movies and shows? there were a couple aborted attempts to do elric movies and tv, which is nevertheless more than has ever been done insofar as leiber's rogues. am having no idea what is the situation with the intellectual property, so perhaps the leiber estate don't want movies or tv, but the absence o' arguable the most entertaining o' the early fantasy works o' fiction from tv and movies is a curiosity. HA! Good Fun!

... ... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57950.Swords_and_Deviltry *shrug* tolkien, howard and leiber arguable represent three o' the top five fiction sources for original d&d. HA! Good Fun!

is worth repeating that Gromnir is a ubi advocate in the sense am recognizing that as automation becomes more common and ai improves, vast swaths o' US jobs is gonna disappear, never to be replaced. ubi, long-term, is unavoidable in our estimation. whatever resistance we got to ubi is sole based on matters o' practicality and implementation. there has been numerous ubi experiments conducted over the decades in europe and the US and none o' those efforts has been sustainable and positive. to manage US $12k per year as some envision would require and additional near $3 trillion per year and is impossible to magic into existence that kinda money. to achieve ubi requires Congress to pass paradigm shifting legislation and am not seeing that happening anytime soon, even if all the kinks in past programs could be addressed so is feasible with a diverse republic such as the US. HA! Good Fun! ps keep in mind Gromnir also is not bothered by free rider problems in large social programs. as we noted, am disappointed, baffled and not surprised by the folks who is angered 'cause kids who ain't needy might get free school lunch or breakfast while attempting to feed those who desperate need such a program. so what if bill gates receives ubi if hundreds o' thousands and possible millions is lifted outta poverty? can't let a few hypocrites and ne'er-do-wells sabotage beneficial social programs. as we observed, "any social program is gonna suffer a free rider problem." inevitable. our point were naught save to address the most common ubi hypocrisy we has seen on these boards.

we would say the friedman observation that, "The number of people on welfare has been skyrocketing. Why? Because once they get on welfare, we make it almost impossible for them to get off," is indeed complete wrong. is not almost impossible to "get off" welfare and statistics reveal most persons/families do indeed stop taking free money sooner as well as later. yeah, there is more than a handful o' folks who abuse the system. any social program is gonna suffer a free rider problem. unlike welfare/snap/disability, with ubi it is initially rich people and middle class who will be free riders exploiting the handout, yes? based on extreme limited example o' obsidian feedback, the most ardent appeal o' ubi is a prospective free rider exploit where individuals who have jobs and own property and can afford to send kids to college nevertheless want the free money. regardless, the welfare trap is not as friedman describes... nowhere close. HA! Good Fun! ps to make clear, to describe as a trap near impossible to escape when more than 50% stop taking welfare w/i the first year and 90% terminate benefits w/i five years, strains credulity, no? if Gromnir or @Achilles made such a boast we would at best be accused o' gross hyperbole.

what fruit? am assuming is a non factor for stuff such as cherry, apricot and even grape jams... and 'course orange marmalade, which am s'posing is technical jam. converse, never woulda occurred to us to try and remove the seeds from something such as blueberries. raspberry, blackberry and strawberry is perhaps targets for seedless, but am admitting have never seen such and now that am forewarned we will avoid. unrelated, am serious considering downsizing our place, which would mean needing staring kitchen anew. the problem we got is the property we own which makes the most sense is having a downdraft cooktop and the current cabinets would allow for only a 30" wide cooktop replacement. if we wanna do gas or induction we would likely need one o' those telescoping downdraft risers, but the countertop is also only 24" deep, so is an extreme tight fit. there is a nice wolf 30" induction cooktop we had considered, but am gonna need serious professional consultation 'cause is no way am doing this our self. HA! Good Fun!

interesting third point. too bad is complete wrong. the majority o' adult welfare recipients get benefits less than a year and 90% stop w/i five years. somewhere 'tween 1/2 and 2/3 who leave welfare w/i a year do so 'cause they found meaningful gainful employment... ~15% leave 'cause o' marriage and the remainder is attributable to a variety o' reasons. am wondering how much further the numbers would drop if you accounted for the functional unemployable. for example, seeing as how we does such a bang-up job in this country addressing mental illness o' our homeless population, more than 25% is serious mental ill and ~45% has some documented mental illness. those mental ill individuals is not ideal future employees save for possible gop Presidential candidates and air traffic controllers. the "welfare trap" isn't what is advertised. darn inconvenient facts. HA! Good Fun!

we lived williston, nd for a bit. arid winters, relative speaking. less than a couple feet o' snow all winter. ... is tough to explain how much difference wind chill makes to folks who are unaware. -20F lows is cold, but when wind chill makes -70F and when such conditions last for weeks on end... am guessing is all relative. HA! Good Fun!

ps: possible unnecessary clarification. am not suggesting US schools is anywhere teaching that "socialism is automatically better than capitalism." sure, the new deal is all too often taught as good w/o nuance, but am not claiming is a stoopid endemic either/or fallacy happening in schools where 'cause some aspect o' socialism is indeed glorified it necessarily means capitalism is being derided. such non-existent indoctrination is an imaginary hobgoblin and refuting is not worthy o' debate... but here we are... again. unfortunately, the current gop platform thrives on grievance and if the reality don't fit a narrative o' grievance, the not so alt anymore right creates bs to fit a narrative o' fear and rage which motivates the base. HA! Good Fun!

socialism is indeed glorified in public schools, but am thinking much as with democracy, too many students don't learn what is socialism. what US kid ain't taught 'bout fdr's new deal? ordinary high school/middle school teaches rather shallow, but kids still get new deal glorification, which is actual misleading given how much new deal were abject failure. and who didn't learn triangle shirtwaist factory fire? more than a few schools still has upton sinclair's the jungle as required reading, though is probable advanced class stuff nowadays. regardless, the evils o' capitalism and free market profiteering is taught in schools and necessarily you get the socialist contrast. is plenty o' socialist glorification, and some o' it is even deserved. 'course is all too rare for kids to actual learn, so too few recognize how the laws which ended company mining towns were socialism, which explains why adults fail to see farm subsidies as socialism neither. our education o' kids is having holes which don't disappear once school kids become adults. somehows, if is a government action which red state people see as positive then then it can't be socialism. is hardly a conservative-only problem as have had similar difficulties explaining democracy more than once. HA! Good Fun!

have repeated more than once, but democrats are bad at voting, with young democrats being even more terrible at exercising the franchise. one o' the down sides o' the january 6 hearings is the committee is painting numerous not-trump republicans as heroic because they did not choose to overthrow US democracy. we are told mike pence were a hero on january 6, which ignores how for months pence fully embraced the bs regarding a stolen election, not to mention how he supported every other trump excess for four years. those doj icons o' justice who marched into the oval office to confront powell, flynn and giuliani's madness were quiet when bill barr and trump sent stormtroopers to oregon to kidnap protesters off the streets o' portland, throwing 'people into unmarked white vans and whisking 'em away to... wherever. same guys didn't rage when bill barr tried to prevent an ig from reporting to Congress 'bout trump's ukraine call. where were these folks during four years o' illegal and excessive trump actions? trump were improbable in 2016, but trumpism is now part o' gop dogma. appeals to outrage and grievance and attacks on education and those with education is gonna continue. unfortunate, as long as trump is portrayed as the villain, individuals such as desantis is gonna be able to advance trumpism and am unconvinced democrats vote in the kinda numbers they mustered 2020 to prevent a possible desantis administration. HA! Good Fun!

denver... in march. our recollection is denver winters is a smidge colder on average than tallinn, but am admitted too lazy to double check. is quite possible our recollections is wrong, but am suspecting if am wrong, is not by a significant amount. 'course these observations ignore the obvious possibility that shady loathes denver winters and would like to go someplace less mercurial with more mild januarys and februarys... and marches. HA! Good Fun!

'ccording to the us census, luzerne county in pennsylvania is the only county in the US where polish is the most common reported ancestry. is quite possible after a visit to plymouth, kingston or nanticoke, @Keyrockwould never wanna leave. HA! Good Fun!

was planning on getting a motorcycle when we went away to college. given the parking situation in berkeley, our 78 jeep cherokee were gonna be problematic. we thought a motorcycle were a decent alternative and we already had experience (limited) riding. our aunt, an er nurse, advised us not to wear a helmet if we rode a motorcycle. said the people who wore helmets tended to survive, "poor bastards." motorcycle injuries, being on the horrific end o' the spectrum, our aunt saw death as the more enviable alternative. decided we would get a nice bicycle and use bart as much as possible. HA! Good Fun!

can always try a duel. the tricky part is 'ccording to the code duello the challenged party chooses the "ground" and am suspecting the shark selects ocean/sea. so monsieur bruemmer needs goad the shark into being the challenger, then demand to meet "behind the luxembourg at noon." the shark's briny hiney is done for. HA! Good Fun!

kinda repetitious, but so it goes. given the reasoning o' the majority in dobbs, and recognizing thomas' concurrence as a next logical step, the basis for maintaining loving has been serious undermined. however, we will note the Court in loving were not relying exclusive on a substantive due process. equal protection were also recognized as being a basis for declaring the anti-miscegenation law which prevented interracial marriage to be Unconstitutional. so is not complete identical to dobbs. HA! Good Fun!

what is with the obsidian logic fails lately? God(s) gets discussed all the time and secular dogma (resulting in bloodshed) surrounding liberty, honour and other notions is hardly unknown. try and stay focused. Gromnir is the one who suggested the belief in god has merit and value divorced from proof of existence. freaking opposite world. you got issues with religion? great. you already mentioned you got an emotional skew on this topic, yes? even so, have at it. we got all kinda issues with organized religion, which is another human creation btw. regardless, you do self a disservice if you can't be honest with self. point out subjectivity regarding honour and love as if that is meaningful? your notions o' what god signifies is no doubt gonna be different than many other boardies not to mention the rest o' the world population. if you are using such subjectivity as a contrast to the notion o' god am admitted baffled. am not claiming religion is good or bad or that you need believe. we limited discussion to address the obvious hypocrisy in those who are finding an absence o' value in the belief o' god 'cause is unprovable. there don't need be a god for there to be value in the belief, which were neitzsche's point when he did lament that god were dead. again, 'cause am suspecting forest is missed for trees, the value o' belief in god is not necessarily diminished by lack of capacity to prove god's existence. lord knows we never suggested belief related to god or religion were unworthy o' scrutiny or debate. nevertheless, to focus on the provable existence o' a deity as a prerequisite for value is indeed hypocritical if you simultaneous see value in honour, love, justice, etc. HA! Good Fun!

Uvalde massacre puts spotlight on tiny police departments The criticism heaped on a six-member school police force in Uvalde, Tex., after its response to a mass shooter this spring has drawn attention to a ubiquitous American institution: the tiny police department. ... Agencies with fewer than 10 officers make up nearly half the nation’s more than 12,200 local departments, a 2016 federal survey found. In many cases, these agencies have sprung up and evolved alongside the towns and communities they serve. ... McClelland said officers in many of Texas’s smallest agencies receive only the state minimum of 40 hours of ongoing training every two years, while those at bigger agencies often far exceed that. “The state requirements are very minimal, and it’s not adequate,” he said. ... please recall it is impossible for the fed to do anything meaningful 'bout state and local police in the US-- is a Constitution thing. HA! Good Fun!