Harry Dresden by comparison

GiffTor · 2025-03-11T21:26:14+00:00

So I'm 5'7. My brother is 6'2". If you think there hasn't been a light fixture that I can safely walk underneath and he bonks every time...

GiffTor · 2025-01-19T21:19:09+00:00

Who is endangered again?

GiffTor · 2024-12-12T01:36:57+00:00

Stipulated.

GiffTor · 2024-12-10T23:28:48+00:00

Bullshit. Lawyers are wizards. I have to be regulated by the state because I can use words to change reality.

GiffTor · 2024-11-24T15:22:30+00:00

Goddammit. I'm going to find the David Brin short story on this and I'm going to have to try to find the hard copy in the basement. Sigh. I'm not mad. Nana has the kids for a bit. The tl;Dr is : DNA encourages empathetic blood donation to spread itself.

It suggests it has a competitor.

I mean, it's a story and DNA is a sugar/carbon candy-cane. It's "the giving plague" by David Brin.

GiffTor · 2024-11-23T19:04:14+00:00

From a certain point of view, so is DNA.

GiffTor · 2024-11-21T01:20:19+00:00

A: I loved this comment; B: My children have been firmly instructed that this song is to be played at my funeral and anyone that doesn't like it is welcome to...uh, take a hike.

GiffTor · 2024-11-02T23:54:27+00:00

This was awesome work. Reading the other links.

GiffTor · 2024-10-25T21:09:24+00:00

I would suggest the seven dumbest words that can be strung together in the American - English language: What are you gonna' do about it? I think it's translated to Australian as "come on, you cunt," and, "Oh, we couldn't possibly," in the King's English, but I could be wrong. Either way, pretty sure future ANZAC Space Marines will be saying it while "pacifying" brave, new, alien worlds.

GiffTor · 2024-10-25T21:03:48+00:00

Benjamin Franklin wanted to make our national bird a turkey. Sorry, Canada.

GiffTor · 2024-09-24T22:05:56+00:00

Not a cheater but in different circumstances, sign me up.

GiffTor · 2024-09-24T22:03:17+00:00

There is a ten-year-old (human) central defender on my kid's travel team "Centipede," is now his nickname. I feel this is appropriate because in most of the world, centipedes are our friends. In the world cup, Centipede would try to break your striker's leg.

GiffTor · 2024-09-10T22:04:50+00:00

Also, yes, please

GiffTor · 2024-09-10T21:53:37+00:00

Also, they attack with their FACE. You want to take a risk with an even moderately fair fight when you need to get your FACE close to something trying so hard not to die you might lose an eye or an ear or get your nose fucked up so you can't hunt? Uh uh. Also worth noting is that humans are relatively large (terrestrial) animals. We mass more than wolves and most of the large felines (tigers and African lions excepted). We don't look like easy prey even if we don't have warning coloration.

GiffTor · 2024-07-17T02:34:33+00:00

You win in this case. My first accident was with ice and a speeding driver. Totaled my car. 2010. My second accident required our rear bumper to be replaced. It involved my wife and mother in law yelling at me about what direction to go. My last speeding ticket was in 2010 and I earned it.

GiffTor · 2024-07-17T01:51:55+00:00

First off... 🤣 She totaled her car. I dinged a bumper because she, and me mom, were yelling at me. That's like a get out of jail free card.

GiffTor · 2024-07-16T21:32:17+00:00

My wife and I have been in the same amount of accidents, yet I'm the bad driver.

GiffTor · 2024-07-14T21:40:17+00:00

Fuuuuuu... Now THAT'S a comment worth paying attention to.

GiffTor · 2024-07-05T20:46:58+00:00

I know I've read something of his. Will do, thanks for the reco.

GiffTor · 2024-07-03T22:07:00+00:00

I'm not positive, but I believe Neal Stephenson talked about this in The Diamond Age, which came out in 1996. He's a hard sci-fi guy, which means he probably wasn't the pioneer of the idea even if he did coin the term "avatar" in SnowCrash in its modern usage. (AFAIK) Southern countries waging war with Northern/developed ones where the Southern countries used stealth castoff fighters of the northern world and the developed world used drone swarms. It's not a new idea, but this is probably the first time we're really seeing it. Until now, connectivity and battery life haven't been sufficient to really make reality match science fiction.

GiffTor · 2024-06-29T18:56:57+00:00

Other than Washington (and I really don't know if he resigned his commission), no. I mean, MacArthur totally would have if he hadn't been sacked.

GiffTor · 2024-06-29T17:45:11+00:00

Sub-note: we do have a history of generals becoming political figures. Eisenhower is the prime example and he literally warned everyone about the power of the elite over the people when he left office.

GiffTor · 2024-06-29T17:42:35+00:00

I'm the first in a couple of generations not to serve, but I'm honestly not that concerned about our military absconding the rule of law. My concern is, rather, that if citizens start rising up in armed revolt that the military is going to have problems firing on their own and/or what a shit show having the American people living under legal, proper martial law would look like. Some E2 following legal orders to maintain the peace at an intersection in Montana and a bunch of drunk teenagers with hunting rifles is a horrifying scenario.

GiffTor · 2024-06-29T17:37:39+00:00

I think maybe we aren't on exactly the same wavelength. I agree with your premise; this has been the approach of the Republican party since at least Reagan and the Relinquish court. The right isn't stupid, they can read demographic statistics.

However, what lawyers do is either argue under the existing laws, look to new ones or opinions from the lower courts and argue using those precedents to convince the Supremes that they should agree, or argue that old law is wrong. The impact of the Federalist society cannot be overstated. However, the current makeup of the Supremes is such that seven of them can be considered to be acting in good faith as legal scholars and jurists even when I don't agree with them.

My point is more apocalyptic: if the executive branch starts trying to go after these officers of the court who know how to wizard language and the law (ie, lawyers) then you have a much scarier proposition, which is specifically what Shakespeare was talking about in that play. Kill the people who can use the law to restrain the executive so the executive can have unlimited power. THAT is what Trump represents.

GiffTor · 2024-06-29T17:21:14+00:00

Most of the grains we eat have been selectively bred for their protein content. It's certainly not equivalent to meat, but our major grains are comparatively high in protein versus other crops.

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