Miles O'Brien

Inrangetv

It’s weird that a guntuber is where I saw this posted first… Granted he’s very clearly left if you watch some of his videos.

And he just posted a data security video the other day about how DOGE and Palantir are working together.

then why is it so popular there

Because like many countries whose inhabitants come from a variety of places, you’ve got lots of people interested in their “heritage”

Since most people in the US can’t say their family has been here longer than a couple hundred years, and depending on the area no more than 100 or so, a lot of people wish to know “where they came from” so to speak. DNA testing is just easier than tracing a family tree.

I happen to be lucky enough to have a family member obsessed with genealogy, who traced down the last 1,000 or so years depending on which parts of the family and what areas they’re from, so I don’t need genetic testing to know 99% of my family is white as fuck with a couple POC from different continents and a native back in the 1700s. I don’t feel any particular draw to any culture, nor do I feel like donning traditional garb or participating in holidays, ceremonies, rituals, or customs. Some people do.

I totally get it if it’s not your thing, especially since that kind of mentality of “ooh let’s find out where our families came from” isn’t present in most other places in the world, and definitely not to the same degree even in other colonial areas. Personally I think it’s part of that whole “melting pot” ideology, but I’m just some rando on the internet.

Honestly even without my relative tracing the family tree, I would never have paid to give my DNA to a company for results with questionable accuracy. Shits weird, yo.

… So you’re saying there’s a chance?

To many people nowadays, the actual job itself doesn’t matter, it’s the fact that it’s a job and it pays.

Phrasing like that reminds me of all the “this is the commu-social-marxism the libs want” and it’s just a picture of current capitalism.

“you are so beautiful…”

incredulous stare

“to me…”

monstrous roar from the other side of the mall

Well I know what I’m watching tonight… No joke my sister and I used to watch that multiple times a week as teens

“can we get you anything?”

“ice cream…”

“okay, what flavor?”

“it doesn’t matter… It’s for my ass”

That’s the point.

Set the bar low, but just high enough that tons of people still trip over it.

Sit back and enjoy the comment wars.

The people who are confident but wrong are too proud to admit they were wrong even if they realize it, and comment angrily.

The people who are right and know why, comment for corrections and some to show off how S-M-R-T they are.

The people who are wrong but willing to accept that just have their realization and probably don’t think about it again. So do the people who don’t know and/or care.

But those first two groups will keep the post going in both shares and comments, because “look at all these wrong people”

It’s all designed to boost engagement.

Had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

That’s fair.

I mean, the reason I have a picture should be obvious, I’m literally going for visibility with a name like this…

But 9/10 times it’s a generic name with a default or no picture.

And if you pay for Premium you get all features and zero ads

Oh hey, me too, except I would never pay for premium. I just don’t use the official front-end.

Skilled truckers

I have met truck drivers that can (and have demonstrated) back their trailer up to a cargo dock blindfolded.

I’ve met some that can navigate turning radii (radiuses? Radiens?) smaller than my old Nissan.

And then I’ve also met some that couldn’t figure out their 13ft tall trailer can’t fit under a 12ft 8 bridge…

For the most part though, in my experience truck drivers are better drivers than 97% of regular drivers.

Unfortunately, due to different showrunners, there are a couple.

Like how Tony didn’t figure out hydra was infiltrating SHIELD when he hacked everything in Avengers 1. Probably should have figured that out.

And I know people like to say there are too many hydra people for them to not be well-known or easier to discover, but personally I don’t take issue with that.

If hydra has infiltrated key personnel, they can move whoever they want. I’d say they concentrated their forces at headquarters and on the carriers, since that was part of their big master plan. So of course there will be a lot of bags guys in the main areas and in the carriers, and it’s a testament to how few there really were that they failed. And they had sizeable resistance from non-compromised personnel.

I live in Ohio and am currently looking for work.

I’m still paying to places that say drug testing, but not places that specify thc testing.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a legal state, and unless they have similar testing and employment rules for alcohol (which they wouldn’t be able to since it doesn’t show up two weeks later) then I should be able to smoke when I want, off the clock.

If they test and it prevents me from getting the job, I feel slightly satisfied I wasted their time and money. If they follow up and ask about it, I will tell them straight up it’s legal in this state and they’re only limiting their options by refusing to hire people who do a legal thing.

It’s probably just wasting my own time, but hey I’ve got time to waste.

I had exactly 0 intention of ever buying anything from Adobe.

Inkscape gave me an alternative to the high seas. And it happens to do everything I need it to, although it’s way more powerful than the simple vector graphics conversions I use it for.

10/10, Adobe never lost money from me getting Inkscape. They lost the game before they knew I was a player.

I know a woman who doesn’t stutter, but has some pretty severe social anxiety. Among other problems.

She began playing a game much like D&D but uses cards for various actions (my parents knew the game creators so we always played that with their game groups instead of D&D)

Super shy and quiet when she started coming to the games, and she didn’t know anyone there. She just saw the sign for the group and decided to stop in (the sign basically says “welcome in, ask questions, stay for a game or two” ) and stuck around. We figure she mostly stayed for the free food.

Once we started playing this not-D&D game, she decided to join during session 2 after observing sessions 0/coordinating/creating and session 1. Had a full character with cards ready to go, even though she hadn’t approached any of us about how to make a character or play, she was not only spot on from the start, she (in a good way) absolutely would not shut up while playing.

Her character is (I think) everything she wants to be. She’s popular, she’s outgoing, as quick with her dagger as she is with her tongue. Basically a rogue/bard wombo combo of charisma and extroversion.

At first nothing changed. The moment the game ends, she shuts down and goes back in her shell.

Then slowly as we wrapped up game sessions, she would begin chatting with her seat neighbors.

Then she started showing up early to sessions when it’s just a bunch of socializing.

Then after awhile, she basically just stayed in character after the games, showed up to sessions already in-character.

After about 6 months she stopped us as we were breaking things down, and had an entire prepared speech where she thanked the group for giving her something to live for.

Apparently she was not only homeless when she first came in, she was suicidal. She just wanted a place to sit and not be judged. Then she noticed we had food. Of course everyone always greets people when they come in and offer any snacks they want. She came back for the snacks. Then she came back for the vibes. Then the game.

She could barely speak to people before she started playing. Panic attacks when she tried. Her character is confident, and when playing with us she feels like she’s confident too.

Now she pretends like she’s her character in her daily life. She got a job at the library we played in every few weeks. She got an apartment, got a bicycle to get around quicker. Made friends outside of work and the games group.

I can’t remember her name, this was almost 20 years ago now, but I will ask my parents about her, I’m curious how her life turned out. I was a teenager and barely cared about some so story that wasn’t my own (cue emo music and it’s not a phase mom) but I’m sure they remember her.

I continued to see her every so often around town when she stopped coming to the games after moving, but she didn’t go back to the library any of the times I was there.

You never know how small a gesture might completely change someone’s life, whether it’s a huge lifestyle change or just someone being a bit more outgoing in certain situations.

No, surely they must mean set on fire.

I actually used a similar process to make the paper for my wife’s leatherbound journal.

Except I used a regular blender (you’re right about the pain to clean)

Then grabbed a large rectangular plastic container and filled it with about a gallon of unsweetened, extra strong tea, and poured out the goopy almost-paper.

After sloshing things around to thin out the paper, I used a mesh screen secured to a rectangular frame, a4 size… Ish… To pull out a thin layer of pulp that’s now a browner tint thanks to the tea.

Once this drains of water for about 30 seconds, enough to keep together, I flip it onto some cotton fabric, and cover it with another sheet of cotton.

Layer about 5 or 6 of these, then I use two boards with a 6mm threaded rod in each corner to sandwich the cotton/pulp stack.

Tighten the bolts on the rod and squeeze the ever-loving shit out of the whole thing, which gets rid of almost all the water.

Then I peel everything layer by layer, and let the foldable-but-weak proto-paper dry out on a wooden board overnight.

The result is fairly smooth, but textured with whatever it was pressed with, paper that looks like it belongs in a medieval fantasy rpg.

I’ve also press dried flowers, made a super thin layer of pulp, tossed a couple petals in, and finished the pulp layer to make embedded flower pedals. Those can be hard to keep nice the way I do it but the result is an invitation or event card that you don’t want to give away. I haven’t used it for any journal projects because it doesn’t stand up to flexing very well.

If anyone is interested I can take a couple pics of the journal when I get home. I have no pics of the process, unfortunately. I’ll have to make more this summer.