Times of minor unpleasantness

User avatar
Sharkey
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:11 pm
Location: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Sharkey » Tue Nov 15, 2016 7:32 pm

My threshold for "Fuck it, I'mma go walk the Earth" is usually set pretty damn low, but it's not hitting me like I expected it to right now. I mean, my normal reaction to the world going to shit is to roll a D6 for desert/tundra/ocean/forest/mountain/island and basically go Minecraft LARPing for a couple years, probably meet a girl and come back to the world when it turns out it didn't burn down in my absence.

I was about to say I've been doing that since I was fifteen, but no... I've been doing that since I was three years old. My parents did the same fucking thing when Reagan was elected. This time they're going to Mexico, surprising nobody. And I guess I can't begrudge them all the weird hippie survivalist shit. It hasn't hurt me to know how to suture, splint, fish, sail, shoot, skin animals, build a house, identify edible plants, blah blah fuckity blah.

I don't know if it's because basically everybody I give a damn about is having a shittier time of it, or if I've just grown up a little, or what. Maybe it's just a case of when your only tool is a shotgun all your problems start looking like zombies. Or when your mom is Galadriel and your dad is motherfucking Roland Deschain you kind of expect all the weird shit they taught you to somehow apply to the problems in your life.

Image

What I'm saying is that my normal approach to a situation doesn't seem appropriate for some reason.

I just don't think I can fuck off to outer space this time. Not at the moment, and not in good conscience. Weird.
Image

User avatar
IGNORE ME
Woah Dangsaurus
Posts: 3679
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:40 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby IGNORE ME » Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:13 pm

Or maybe it's that we're just plain out of offs to fuck to.

User avatar
Sharkey
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:11 pm
Location: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Sharkey » Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:33 pm

I'm keeping the "fuck it sell everything and live on a trawler" plan in my back pocket if shit goes full 1938. I think Antarctica is off limits if I can't afford an icebreaker hull.

It's just that for some reason I feel like that'd be a shitty thing to do. I kinda want to stick around and try to help in ways beyond bitching on the internet or wearing a safety pin or whatever slacktivist bullshit makes people feel better. And if it actually gets so apocalyptically shitty that we need to coyote people out of the US, then I'll reconsider the boat thing.

Sigh. We were budgeting for that before this all went tits up anyway. Ah well.
Image

User avatar
Sharkey
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:11 pm
Location: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Sharkey » Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:05 pm

I guess my point, which probably doesn't need to be made to anyone here, is "I'm moving to Canada" or whatever dumbshit thing isn't a very good option even when it's an option. I'm a straight white guy, so I should be more concerned with basic fucking decency than self preservation.
Image

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Mongrel » Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:52 pm

One of the things that's really upsetting me isn't even the racists but their apologists.

Anyone who was paying attention to one Barry H. Obama becoming president knows full fucking well that racism isn't dead by any means, to say nothing of the rivers of shit we all see on the internet all the time, and long before Nov 8th. And fuck, I mean, I know I sure as fuck am not blameless in my life either, and I don't mean the sort of hand-wringing about accidental slights that hyperacademics carp about. So yeah, there are lots of racists, this ain't new.

But they're strutting like peacocks now. The shield of fear and social pressure that kepts mostly-mild shitheads from falling down into total shitheadedness fucking well took a gold-plated cruise missile to the face last week.

So instead of acknowledging this, the new line coming out from "moderates" is that racists aren't emboldened at all, that literally nothing has changed you big babies, and that this is purely a reporting bias. Which may be the most blatant example of someone swallowing the "LIBBRUHL MEDIA" trope hook, line, and filthy little worm I've seen yet.

I am watching converts being made and my GOD is it gross. I mean, sure they were always a little bit on the asshole side of things, but you always wanted to give people that benefit of the doubt. And lo and behold, it turns out that well, assholes gonna asshole.
Image

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Blossom » Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:10 pm

Yeah, I had a two hour argument last night with my dad with him doubling down on and defending his Trump vote, and today my liberal mom is defending him on the basis that votes are personal and sacred and he shouldn't have to defend his opinion to anyone, and it's wrong to call Trump a Nazi because nothing's even happened yet, and suchlike.
Image

User avatar
Yoji
Posts: 1440
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:12 pm
Location: Screamtown

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Yoji » Wed Nov 16, 2016 12:27 am

Mongrel wrote:But they're strutting like peacocks now. The shield of fear and social pressure that kept mostly-mild shitheads from falling down into total shitheadedness fucking well took a gold-plated cruise missile to the face last week.

It's not like they were too terribly inhibited before, either. These next four years are going to suck like an airplane toilet.
Image: Mention something from KPCC or Rachel Maddow
Image: Go on about Homeworld for X posts

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13170
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Thad » Wed Nov 16, 2016 12:42 am

Let's hope it's only two.

I mean, ideally not just hope, but try and make sure it's only two.

The liberal base has the kind of opportunity to take over the Democratic Party in '18 that the conservative base had to take over the Republican Party in '10. Let's try and get it right.

Don't forget to vote in the midterms. Don't forget to vote in the primaries before the midterms. If you can spare it, try and donate time and/or money to worthy candidates and causes, well before the midterms.

That's about as much fired-up rabble-rousing as I can manage right now. Today was a good day. I'm improving. I'm not sure if that means I'm going to be able to swing back to my old speed or if it just means I'm learning to tune out most of the news and focus on the stuff that's right in front of me. We'll see.

But where there's life, as they say, there's hope. Shit sucks right now. It's going to suck worse in two months. It's not going to suck forever.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Mongrel » Wed Nov 16, 2016 4:12 am

It will always be useful to discuss and promote real actions we can all do to help.

Obviously for someone like me, a foreign national living in another country, I'm far more limited in things I can do immediately (and god knows I hope it doesn't get so bad that I'll be out volunteering to process American refugees. or something), but I'm sure there's both things our Americans can do and things we can all do.
Image

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Blossom » Wed Nov 16, 2016 5:10 am

Thad wrote:But where there's life, as they say, there's hope. Shit sucks right now. It's going to suck worse in two months. It's not going to suck forever.


Image

Let me do a little more rabble-rousing then. Getting Keith Ellison in as DNC chair and voting for actual leftists instead of more tired liberal garbage in two years is nice and all, but we need action today. Contact your local antifa. Buy a mask and a bat. Get on the street and make a stand. Push back against racism, against sexism, against homophobia, islamophobia, transphobia, ableism, make it clear that fascism isn't welcome in this country. Do not let anything stand unchallenged, at home or at work or anywhere you see it. If you see someone being harassed, take immediate and forceful action. Make sure their victims are safe, and don't be afraid to crack a skull.

Germany didn't make it two years. From inauguration to takeover, without the hastening effect of global communication that is the internet, they took four and a half months.
Image

We won't have that long.
Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13170
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Thad » Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:01 am

I have no intention of hitting anyone in the head with a baseball bat, TA.

User avatar
zaratustra
Posts: 1665
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:45 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby zaratustra » Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:58 am

jesus thad we ask for one thing

User avatar
Sharkey
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:11 pm
Location: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Sharkey » Wed Nov 16, 2016 1:47 pm

I already have hells of bats and masks and whatnot. I'm just, you know, not as big a fan of cracking heads as I used to be and also kind of tired of getting tear gassed. Shit, that happened so often during the Oakland thing I actually got kind of bored with it. Des isn't, for some reason. I guess they kept sending her to the gas chamber back in basic because they fucking hated her or something? And now she likes it? I dunno, that girl maces her fucking eggs.

Anyway, we already talked about it and if it gets into bats and masks territory we're checking out. I'm a (frequently lapsed) pacifist and she doesn't have a rage dial so much as a toggle switch labeled totally zen and kill everything. Also, you know, black girl isn't so keen on being here for a race war. So yeah, no. If things get that bad we'll have long since cashed our chips and left the building.
Image

User avatar
MarsDragon
Posts: 555
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:30 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby MarsDragon » Wed Nov 16, 2016 2:12 pm

Is cracking some random asshole's head even going to do anything useful?

User avatar
Sharkey
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:11 pm
Location: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Sharkey » Wed Nov 16, 2016 2:27 pm

No.
Image

User avatar
Mothra
Woah Dangsaurus
Posts: 3963
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:12 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Mothra » Wed Nov 16, 2016 3:16 pm

Hardly Ideal wrote:Okay, 3D printer's been running overnight to make an awesome toy for my boy. It's going to be made of that tricky PLA stuff, but it's too pretty at this thickness to pass up. Let's open it up and see ho-

Image

Wait, that's not a captured jack. That looks more like a glitched out raft with a large-huge glob of solid PLA stuck on- no, entombing the extruder nozzle.

It's 10am local. Can I go home now?

Pretty damn late to the game on this, but I emailed my dad about this, since he owns a 3D printer and worked with one for years at his job. His response as of this morning:

This happens occasionally to me, like when a part breaks off the build platform and melts to the hot extruder. With the part missing from the build platform, there is nothing for the print head to deposit the melted plastic onto, so it tends to accumulate on the print head.

I generally heat up the print head as if I was doing a filament change in order to soften the plastic enough to pull the lump off. Digging at it with some blade is not a good idea since you might damage the nozzle or the extruder. After pulling the bulk of the softened plastic off, I use a cloth rag to wipe as much remaining plastic off as I can. Often the print nozzle is clear, but there may be a little left on the extruder body. The remaining plastic does no harm, but may smell a little as it gets cooked on the extruder body. That is one reason I 3D printed an air scrubber for my printer.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby François » Wed Nov 16, 2016 3:46 pm

MarsDragon wrote:Is cracking some random asshole's head even going to do anything useful?


It may accelerate or cause a variety of worst-case-scenarios, so the answer depends on whose side you're on. It's like a false flag operation, except the flag is real, and your enemies don't have to be smart enough to think it up or execute on it or do anything but let it happen and watch with glee as their support grows in conviction. If we had the numbers to make that sort of method work on a large scale (considering the other side will fight back and escalate), the US president-elect would have a uterus.

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Blossom » Wed Nov 16, 2016 5:24 pm

It's also necessary self-defense if you find yourself the subject of violence from fascist or nazi disruption at your protests, or when you're interfering with the commission of a hate crime.

Or you could stay home and not do that I guess.
Image

User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby François » Wed Nov 16, 2016 6:00 pm

In defense and without escalation. Maybe then. I don't advocate doing nothing in the face of abominable acts but if you are the one to raise the bar for violence, the numbers will crush you.

User avatar
Yoji
Posts: 1440
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:12 pm
Location: Screamtown

Re: Times of minor unpleasantness

Postby Yoji » Wed Nov 16, 2016 6:12 pm

MarsDragon wrote:Is cracking some random asshole's head even going to do anything useful?

When I sit down and deliberately think about going through with something like that, I get nauseous. There's a big difference between, say, bonking your brother's head while reenacting scenes from Secret of Mana and doing it to actually harm someone.

MothDad wrote:This happens occasionally to me, like when a part breaks off the build platform and melts to the hot extruder. With the part missing from the build platform, there is nothing for the print head to deposit the melted plastic onto, so it tends to accumulate on the print head.

I generally heat up the print head as if I was doing a filament change in order to soften the plastic enough to pull the lump off. Digging at it with some blade is not a good idea since you might damage the nozzle or the extruder.

That's pretty much what happened and how I fixed it. Our printer is a really basic one, but telling it to do a filament withdraw/extrude was enough to soften it and pull it off. I still had a beautiful blue film on the extruder head that smelled just lovely for a couple days after.
Image: Mention something from KPCC or Rachel Maddow
Image: Go on about Homeworld for X posts

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests