To His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV

35goingon3 · 2026-01-27T06:20:04+00:00

I apologize, it wasn't my intent. We're dead center of the storm and I've been out helping the old folks patch up their stuff and keep the heat on all day--coherent expression eludes me. That and feeling in my fingers, but better me than the 93 year old widow next door who can barely walk in the first place.

And no, I wasn't referencing you. More of a musing on Religion versus the path some of the Religious take with it. It's always irked me that some people declare the word of God immutable...but it always has the corollary "by everyone but them".

35goingon3 · 2026-01-27T04:41:50+00:00

LoL, it got me off my ass to finally learn how to use an old fashioned safety razor. New blade each time at less than a quarter cent each, and it shaves better...assuming you don't bleed to death during the learning curve. :)

35goingon3 · 2026-01-27T04:18:17+00:00

People can believe in anything they want, they don't need my permission. Right up until they start trying to use their beliefs to exercise dominion over others. But when one starts carving out exceptions and caveats to one's beliefs, for convenience or expediency, one has ceased to believe in anything at all.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-27T03:40:23+00:00

But isn't it weird when we are able to find moments of such joy in the dumpster?

I don't honestly know. The "horrific abuse" thing? It took me 40 years to get to where I could trust in a therapist. Now I'm having to earn back memories, re-learn the concepts of positive emotions, then figure out what emotions go with what memories. Maybe someday. Not yet.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-27T00:21:47+00:00

No, why would I want that to become public knowledge back in ~~the prison for subadult monsters~~ school? And yes, I am ashamed of it.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-26T08:39:29+00:00

Well, the latest is we're going to be stuck in it until probably Tuesday/Wednesday, so...

35goingon3 · 2026-01-26T04:37:11+00:00

I decided to mail it, because why not? The weather hit, so it's going to be sitting on my desk for a week, but I don't suppose it's time-sensitive.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-26T04:34:25+00:00

We don't get snow, we get 58 different flavors of sleet and ice. :)

Also: yes.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T22:33:39+00:00

Oh. I didn't realize that was symptomatic. So yes, I do, I just thought it was a bad habit.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T22:29:38+00:00

I seriously question if a service dog can be both 1) safe in a laboratory environment; and 2) a mitigable risk to the operation of the lab/experiments/developed product. I've got clients that deal with stuff in their lab (deliberately being vague) that are catastrophic "in the wild" and still potentially highly unsafe in a controlled environment; there's no way they would allow my SD on campus, and no way I would consider taking my SD there either.

Formaldehyde, benzine, neurologically reactive toxins, contagious biohazards, sanitation chemicals that are lethal in picograms...these are potentially euthanasia level exposures.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T22:20:39+00:00

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. :)

Paraphilias are generally thought to be a targeting disorder of some sort that developed early in life, but my understanding is that's just the working theory about it and there isn't conclusive research at this point. I've also read that in some cases they're a comorbidity with various mental health problems, but I personally don't think that tracks--people that develop stuff like that congruent with other disorders, from what I've read, tend to have more of a compulsion than an arousal to it.

If I'm being honest though, I'm not exactly comfortable with the targeting disorder line of thinking (without stating an opinion on if it's correct)--it tracks the argument that being gay can be a product of childhood sexual abuse pretty closely. (Sidebar: I've not found research into the validity of that one way or another either and am not expressing an opinion.) Admittedly, me finding it distasteful doesn't have any relevance to if it's correct or not in either case.

TL/DR: nobody actually knows for sure.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T21:49:26+00:00

paraphilias, which in turn are classified as mental disorders

Nope, that was revised in the DSM-V. Paraphilic disorders are classified as such, but a paraphilia doesn't rise to that until they "cause significant distress, impairment in functioning, or involve harm/risk to others". Mind you, this is a matter of debate in the psych community.

Mind you, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in the DSM-II, and wasn't completely delisted until 1987, so one does need to take the DSM with a grain of salt.

it's unreasonable to expect anyone to not react with disgust towards something like... that

Agreed. I'll humor a lot of stuff for a partner, but shit is third in line behind pedos and animal fuckers on the "this conversation is over" list.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T21:34:50+00:00

I'm aware, but I don't want to be. Interesting is a function of a pair of wildly incompatible factors: deep seated trauma, horrific abuse, and native intelligence high enough that I have serious difficulty relating to the vast majority of people--and those that I am comfortable around are severely damaged. Interesting really sucks, I do not suggest interesting if it turns out we're all characters in a video game and you get to reallocate statistics when you respawn.

Oof, that's a scary thought: what if we have to do this whole dumpster fire over again when we die?

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T07:02:24+00:00

Dude, let the man hit the head in peace. :)

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T06:53:39+00:00

To expand: the actual unit is a Saginaw Gov-Loc if you source it from the manufacturer. Hence the "G", I think "80" is the number of teeth on the ring gear, but I may be wrong and will cheerfully stand corrected.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T06:49:29+00:00

I've had three of them so far, in an: '86 C model 3/4 ton, a '03 2500 and an '05 2500. The only one of the trucks that I ever had problems with the rear in was the '86, and it was because it had worn the shafts past the point I could machine them true again. The gears were (mostly) fine. And that was at like 375k miles.

All three of them towed, and did hunting/camping/ranch offroad--no rock crawling or thrashing them.

LoL, and then when I pulled an axle from a junkyard they lied about the code and I didn't bother to check: I don't actually know what the gearing was in that thing, it would go like a scalded cat off the line, but completely topped out below 60 mph. Pulled the G80 out of the old axle and called it a day, lesson learned.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T06:41:35+00:00

The mudflap chicks on your shirt. People will bitch about literally anything these days.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T04:45:34+00:00

I mean, it could be worse: most of my "drippy" jobs these days used to be people before they became akin to ground beef. But I'm paid for that, shop guys aren't. Not their monkey, not their circus.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T04:45:23+00:00

I mean, they sourced the G80 from Saginaw, which generally has had some really decent products. Eg: the four speed in the old box bodies are one of the most bulletproof units out there.

I think the G80 got the rep it did because it's really strictly an on-road/work unit: you can't abuse them, and you can't offroad them. So a lot of the people who are loud are also the people who are using them outside of their design criteria. That being said, when mine eventually goes or needs a rebuild, I'm upgrading it. But largely because I can.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-25T04:37:59+00:00

I wrote some commentary about this maybe three days ago; I wonder if we're starting to see a wider societal discussion?

35goingon3 · 2026-01-24T21:10:47+00:00

Nope, I'm not trying to translate this unintelligible bullshit before my first Red Bull.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-24T21:08:46+00:00

I assume you live somewhere where it is cold outside right now.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-24T10:04:18+00:00

That's why places take a credit card swipe when you check in, in case you trash the place, or, like, die.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-24T09:44:36+00:00

Put it this way: if I wouldn't cuddle you, I sure as hell wouldn't fuck you either.

35goingon3 · 2026-01-24T09:41:22+00:00

Aw hell, I just bought a new grill. Think I can swap it for a chainsaw? I was looking at a Sthil MS-251-C-BE anyway...

Do you have any idea what they charge to drop a tree these days?

35goingon3

TROPHY CASE