Miles O'Brien

My wife started out with tons of republican views, she just didn’t vote ever.

Through conversations about the state of things, pointing* out hypocrisy, and validating the feelings her religious family was telling her to suppress, I’m happy to say I’ve managed to marry a leftist. She didn’t even really have the liberal pit-stop many of us take.

I’ll take 100,000 leftists married/dating/whatever to 100,000 liberals over 200,000 conservatives any day of the week.

My grandfather passed a few years ago, and now that the house is up for sale we cleaned the last bits out.

I managed to grab a bunch of stuff that maybe Someday™ I’ll use. Mostly bits of metal I’ll possibly melt down or use for electroplating, a bunch of old steel tools that are in different states of disrepair, and assorted lengths of wire.

I know I will likely die before I find use for it all, but it seems wasteful to chuck it in the garbage, and I’d rather someone find use for it as is than take it to the scrapyard.

things that you can just take when no one is looking.

That applies to a great many things, and places!

The prosecution used the presence of the first aid kit they carried

Insane bullshit.

I have a kit with me every day of my life, and I’ve had to refill it many times due to using it on others.

It would be pure coincidence that I happen to be carrying a first aid kit on any given day, and if I’m going to a peaceful protest I’m bringing my trauma kit because the entire fucking world knows how cops treat protesters.

And the United States government, whose nuclear launch systems for decades had a default “0000000” password on systems so old they figured nobody would know how to hack them in person anymore, and they’re incompatible with the internet.

It’s disturbing to me that my high school hobby of fixing and operating old computers meant I could have launched nukes.

I’ve been managing to drag some of them further left, I think, through conversation about things.

A few are 100% on board with a union as long as I keep calling it “collective bargaining” and don’t use the scary U word.

A few are on board with most social safety nets, especially when they find out Healthcare would cost less than it currently costs them in taxes alone, let alone not having to pay for insurance anymore, but the second you call it socialism or use any sort of word like “welfare” then they panic.

Individually I think I’m breaking some of them, but collectively they’re fucking idiots.

There’s a pretty simple test, IMO

Ask a person “is bombing a school filled with children okay as long as the end goal brings about the end of the world?”

If they answer “yes” then just immediately drop them into a meat grinder and use the remains for fertilizer.

Maybe it’s my cynical side, but I genuinely don’t think people like that can be fixed, so while it might be considered “cruel” it’s better to just put them out of everyone’s (including their own) misery, a “nuthouse” just gives them a place to congregate and keep trying to spread their hate.

My coworkers have already managed to blame Obama for making a “shitty deal” with Iran, and Biden for not “dealing with Iran sooner”

Too many to count, and more than I even remember.

I went without internet in an area not friendly to children being outside, so I watched movies in no particular order over and over. Just “yeah I haven’t watched this in a few weeks” and re-watch.

Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Monty Python (all), Princess Bride, MIB, Evolution, Terminator 1&2, Starship Trooper… Honestly most popular Sci fi movies from the 90s… The sound of music, fiddler on the roof, a bunch of musicals…

I’m sure I watched the classic disney movies many times.

I know people who buy watch a movie and then don’t feel like watching any of them ever again.

Why do that and risk actually losing, when you can go after the small guy and send a message to the plebs?

The rich Douchebags that control every country don’t give a shit if the plebs starve. They’ll never know hunger.

“Eat the rich”, as always.

You know, I was considering putting the potential downside of “one country might just have a young and jacked leader that can thrash all the old rich people” but figured my comment was getting too long for anyone to care to read.

I think at that point the people would just have to chuck him in an active volcano instead of a pit.

worth

From someone who remembers the people’s champions…

[X] Doubt

It’s mind-boggling that the entire history of war hasn’t been “our leaders decided they wanted a war so we tossed them in a pit with sharp sticks to figure things out and suddenly they decided war was avoidable”

We have more in common with a random American Crack dealer, a random middle-Eastern farmer, Chinese retail worker, South American factory worker, than anyone who leads major countries, anyone in the 1%.

I have no ill will toward any Iranian, in fact I’ve known quite a few immigrants and think better of Iran than most US states, yet my country leaders decided it was a good idea to bomb the fuck out of them. We should toss them in a hole until they can work together with the rest of us, yet here we are…

Surely imperialist countries with interests in an area wouldn’t go and lie about things???

Next you’re gonna tell me the US lied about WMDs in 2001…

Probably “medical examiner” or similar medical doctor that does work for the police to determine things like cause of death and other injuries possibly obtained while dying.

It’s not really heartbreaking when you know the reason the worst person you know is even talking is to try and distract from their own shit.

Doesn’t make it less true, just less heartbreaking.

The Budapest memorandum of 1994 ensured that the US and UK would "Seek immediate Security Council action to provide assistance to the signatory if they “should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used”

That happened. It’s a promise to bring the issue to the UN security council for a vote on action. Not a promise to invade any attacking country.

What also happened is that Russia, a seat on the security council, has the power to veto, and a conflicting interest here that the UN decided couldn’t possibly be a problem in the future.

I’m not saying we have done enough.

I am, however, saying that we have held up our end of the agreement, as written on paper.

As far as I’m concerned, my country is 1/3 of the reason they’re in this mess, so we need to step in and directly protect them at the bare minimum. Ukraine isn’t safe until their borders are restored to pre-2014, their infrastructure is repaired and improved, and they have enough to defend themselves from Russia AND the US. And also the government stooges of Russia get put to death for forcing their population to fight and die against an opponent who never wanted a fight to begin with.

“Vladimir Putin says-”

Lemme stop you right there, pardner.

Don’t care.

I used to sell and fix bikes, now every time I’m out I’m judging people’s choice of bikes.

Not in the “ugh you’re riding a mongoose?” way but the “you need to give that bicycle to a teenager and get a larger one that fits your size, how tall are you? What kind of riding are you expecting to do?” and many other such questions if I strike up a conversation with them.

I want everyone to have a pleasant time while out on their bike. If they don’t have fun, if they are too tired after a ride, or in pain, they won’t want to ride more, and then less people are out not driving cars.

Lpt: (in general) when riding a bicycle, you want the top section of your leg (femur) to be no higher than parallel to the ground at the top of the pedal stroke, and you want your leg to be extended, but not fully straight, when at the bottom of the stroke. You can injure your hips, knees, and leg muscles if you ride an incorrectly sized bike for long periods.

Most adult bicycles should be measured from the spot where the pedals go to the frame to the hole where the seat post goes in. If it’s not measured in inches or centimeters, it might have letter sizing, and if it has bone of those, I wouldn’t trust the quality of the bike. These measurements are more of a guide, when in doubt, use the leg position rule.

The type of bike you have will change your experience quite a bit. If you try to take a road bike (super skinny tires, often has ram horn handlebars) on the mountain trail, you’re gonna have a bad time. Mountain bikes are geared for more power, road bikes are more geared for speed. Hybrids have a good balance and make light off-roading possible. Downhill bikes are like mountain bikes but with a steeper angle on the front fork, to give you better handling while, you guessed it, going down a hill.

I die a little inside every time I see an adult riding a child sized bike.

“well the teenager at Walmart said I needed a 26 inch bike for the hiking trails so I got the 26 inch bike” he said, standing at 6ft3 next to a 15 inch frame bike with 26 inch wheels and tires about an inch wide…

And now when I see aluminum construction, I wonder how it’s been done and try to figure out the various extruded pieces they used.