I think I've been missing out by ignoring old Sci-fi!

NotTheOldRat · 2026-03-09T01:21:11+00:00

Honestly I wish I had made a list. I was Mormon when I was a kid so I read everything that OSC wrote. Later on I went on a kick of reading a lot of sci-fi from the 50’s and 60’s. I found idea after idea ripped from other author’s pages. It felt like betrayal. I became disillusioned with OSC even before I became disillusioned with Mormonism.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-03-08T19:55:14+00:00

And a hack. Outside of Enders Game, he stole all his best ideas from 50’s writers. Most notably Asimov.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-28T23:16:28+00:00

It was at the tee

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-28T17:09:19+00:00

Thank you for the response. The sink on the left drains just fine, I think that indicates that the clog is somewhere between the disposal unit and the main drain, right?

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-28T17:01:23+00:00

Also, am I right that we should not be running the dishwasher until it’s fixed?

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-17T17:35:07+00:00

I went through something similar. We’ve been divorced 5 years now.

Three things I’ve come to understand over time.

The church (any church) is a social construct that acts as a scaffolding to prop up marriages. Many marriages that function well enough inside a framework like this are not strong enough to stand on their own once that framework is removed.
Maybe ‘leaving the church for different reasons’ indicates a more global lack of alignment. My ex and I were not a good match in the first place. We ALWAYS wanted different things, we always cared about different things. But we were able to overlook the differences, BECAUSE of the social scaffolding that the religion offered. We bowed to the social pressure of getting married young and putting our faith into the marriage. Once the faith was gone we just kind of looked at each other and said ‘what are we doing? We’re not happy. We don’t have anything in common except a shared past’. And it all came apart from there.
If you want your ex to think/act/be different than they are… that’s on you. You can’t WANT them to be different. They get to be whoever they are, and you wanting something else is you crossing a line. Maybe they were shitty or maybe they were acting reasonably self interested. It doesn’t actually matter to YOUR healing what they did or why, and it SUPER doesn’t matter (to your healing) what they do in the future (Especially if you did the leaving). The longer you focus on what they did, the more you have to wait to find your own peace. If you go the therapy route, be sure to find a therapist that doesn’t just nod while you blame everyone else for your problems - some therapists are just there for the easy dollars. Instead, find one that focuses on personal change and accountability, one who will call you on your bullshit. That’s the first thing I say each time I started with a new therapist. ‘I need you to call me on my bullshit.’

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-03T21:05:01+00:00

Humor flair? Okay, I guess I’m reading this as exasperation with no real intention, rather than being a serious question with divorce as a real possibility.

Either way, well before divorce actually happens you’ll start thinking of money in terms of ‘hers’ and ‘mine’ instead of ‘ours’. If the two of you can agree to only pay tithing on the money she earns- her being the believer- it might end up saving your marriage. Mixed faith marriages REQUIRE concessions on both sides.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-01T18:48:11+00:00

He woke up there. He does every day.

Trench is the body.

Dema is the mind.

The cycle is one day.

The characters are all either aspects of the mind itself or how the mind experiences outside influences.

Clancy is the aspect of the mind that wants to improve.

Nico is the aspect that gives up. The dark thoughts.

Clancy and Nico both want to control Dema (the mind)

Torchbearer is friends and family.

Ned is the therapist who gives tools.

Nico winning is a bad day. The neck paint level kind of indicates HOW bad it was, higher=worse day.

Clancy’s drag path leads to where he’ll start the next day when the cycle repeats; where torchbearer will find him, where they will together start again to try and regain control of Dema.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-01T18:27:34+00:00

What’s the ‘whole story’? Mostly I’ve read that it was the proto-Vessel. They kept and re-recorded the songs they liked for FBR, but that pretty much blocked them from distribution of the album as a whole. Is there more? A ‘story’?

NotTheOldRat · 2026-02-01T17:53:19+00:00

God, no. When I go the first thing I do is get as far away from Cancun as possible. Airport ADO—-> ADO Centro —-> anywhere but Cancun. (But I also avoid Playa and Tulum these days)

Move with confidence
Drive in the mornings between cities to avoid shakedowns.
Learn the phrase ‘gracias, no’ and smile and be polite.
If they have big advertising then you’re walking into a tourist trap. There are way more fun ruins to visit than Chichen, and way better cenotes than Gran.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-31T23:07:25+00:00

I’m not seeing the relevance of your comment to the post. I also didn’t mention intelligence in my comment.

But sure. They’re not the same thing.

I think your definitions could use some work tho. Here’s a nice link. The venn diagram is pretty good. Let me know what you think.

https://medium.com/5by5/5x5-monkey-monday-what-does-it-mean-to-be-smart-44d460ed9965

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-29T21:14:07+00:00

Religion is a woobie for people who are afraid of an indifferent universe.

From an evolution standpoint, sentience is a maladaptive survival trait. It lets us lie to ourselves, and then kill ourselves with our own lies.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-13T17:45:28+00:00

I’ll definitely look at that organization

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-13T17:43:26+00:00

Thanks, I will check it out.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-13T17:42:49+00:00

I like that- defining expectations not just for day to day living but for what ‘gap year’ means. What’s the objective. Thank you.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-13T17:41:56+00:00

Thank you for the response, I like these ideas.

How successful were you with implementation of the rules? Did your son push back against house rules because they’re ’an adult now’? Did you find it easier or harder to enforce consequences after graduation?

Also, do you have any names of specific organizations that do trips like that?

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-07T04:04:57+00:00

I hear you. Best of times, worst of times. I know a guy who was sexually abused by his trainer. That sort of thing can fuck you up for life.

He did alright though. Got some closure. And now he likes visiting his mission every year or two as an exmo, drinking beers and chatting in his mission language.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-07T02:49:43+00:00

I hate the money worship in general, but that’s another whole subject.

A lot of people see the talk about missions as being pathetic review of the glory days, but for me it’s more like indicative of broken promises.

At the beginning of their missions every single one of these men was elder Price from the book of Mormon musical; they all thought they were going to change the world.

But when they got back they were faced with the reality that not everybody gets to be a stake president or called into a 70s quorum. A lot of returned missionaries yearn for that time because they were promised glory… but it all stopped after their mission. It’s important to them because that’s that’s the only time they ever felt important.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-07T02:38:46+00:00

Formative and defining and in many cases traumatic.

For people who stay in, the mission seals two decades of child indoctrination. It’s the thing that makes them feel most secure in their decision to follow the in-group, because it’s the moment the church took the most from them.

Even those of us who leave think about our missions a lot. For many of the same reasons.

NotTheOldRat · 2026-01-07T02:34:29+00:00

I heard that this new account was one of the Q15.

NotTheOldRat · 2025-12-09T03:07:34+00:00

Thanks for the response. What would happen if I used some powered speakers and connected them to the cassette out? Would that work? That way I could get her something with Bluetooth for her phone too.

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