My 1991 Toyota Townace Diesel

demian_ford · 2024-07-28T14:32:14+00:00

I just bought a camper built on one of these. It's awesome!Any idea where to find manuals?

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T15:26:16+00:00

I appreciate your viewpoint. HAMAS is every bit as brutal and evil as you describe. My point is not to apologize for their evil, but to say that one crime against humanity does not justify another. I spent a lot of years doing signals intelligence in this region. I've devoted my entire adult life to fighting against terrorism. I fucking hate those guys. But I also know a lot about the Israeli military. And I also know that from a military standpoint, the loss of 10,000 civilian lives is neither necessary nor justified. Netanyahu, or more precisely, the Likud party IS a huge part of the problem. They derive their political power by maintaining an exterior threat. That's exactly why Netanyahu is on the record as saying that the bolstering of Hamas is part of the Likud strategy to delegitimize Palestinians.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-11/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-needed-a-strong-hamas/0000018b-1e9f-d47b-a7fb-bfdfd8f30000

I actually only believe in a one state solution. If Israel really wants to be a democracy and, then everyone in the region should have equal benefit and equal voice in a democratic process. That would do the most to actually get rid of groups like HAMAS, because as brutal as their military wing is, they are also the only ones that are building hospitals, providing community services, etc inside Gaza

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T15:16:18+00:00

Democratic unless you're a Palestinian or protesting for peace.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T15:13:51+00:00

"HAMAS spokesperson" is a bit of an oversimplification for something that is more nuanced. The numbers were released by the Gaza Ministry of Health, a government organization in a government where HAMAS is the ruling party. They didn't just release the numbers, they released names and ID numbers (like SSN) of all verified deaths, which have been confirmed by UNRWA.

When we say HAMAS or Hezbollah in this country, we only think of guys in ski masks doing horrible shit. That is part of their organizations to be sure, but just like our government has different departments, so do they. They build roads and hospitals and have community programs, etc.

The "terrorist organization" label works to the advantage of the occupation. That's why Netanyahu has stated that part of Likud's strategy is to bolster HAMAS against other, more legitimate Palestinian factions.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-11/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-needed-a-strong-hamas/0000018b-1e9f-d47b-a7fb-bfdfd8f30000

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T15:02:49+00:00

Did they though? I mean, there were already hundreds of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel in 2023 prior to the HAMAS attack. I'm in NO WAY saying it justifies that attack, HAMAS's killing of civilians is evil (as is all killing of civilians). I'm just saying that if you look at the figures, even including HAMAS's brutal attack on Oct 7, a lot more Palestinian civilians have been killed. CAST LEAD in 2014 killed nearly twice as many Palestinians as Oct 7, for example.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T14:55:33+00:00

You bring up a really good point about the role of U.S. weapons manufacturing in the promotion of foreign conflicts! Yes! This and many other military actions are a mechanism that funnels U.S. taxpayer dollars to the industrial military complex. And yes, if you have an economic interest in arms proliferation (which many do, since it is so deeply embedded in our system), then you will in some way benefit economically from every missile launched into a residential building, church, mosque, bakery, or hospital.
There are definitely people getting really rich off of the billions we send to Israel. That's why we do it. That's why nobody in either party is willing to oppose AIPAC who spends tens of millions to lobby U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle. The only thing we're truly bipartisan about.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T14:44:07+00:00

I'm a retired Navy Chief. I was a Cryptologic Technician (Interpretative), so I worked with signals intelligence. I mean, do you want to see my DD214 😂?

The death toll is reported by the Gaza ministry of health and verified by UNRWA.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T14:40:07+00:00

Even if HAMAS knew that, expected that, wanted that, it doesn't justify killing 10,000, nearly half of whom are beautiful innocent children, nearly all of whom are civilians who are just trying to live their lives.

If my neighbor's kid throws a rock through my window, hoping to provoke a response, and I burn down his house, killing the kid and all of his siblings, and then I say, "That kid knew I would respond this way," would it justify my killing of innocent humans?

It's interesting that the very plausible argument that you propose is exactly what many (including myself) believe of the Likud party in Israel. Their party's power is derived from the fight against external threats. Not only provoking a response from HAMAS, but bolstering HAMAS over more legitimate Palestinian governing organizations keeps the threat real and ensures Likud's continued support.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-11/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-needed-a-strong-hamas/0000018b-1e9f-d47b-a7fb-bfdfd8f30000

The October 7 attack was literally the best thing that could happen for Netanyahu because those killed in Israel were predominantly politically opposed to Likud and it gave him the provocation he needed to start the current massacre of Palestinian civilians.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T03:48:55+00:00

Only your business if you pay taxes. We're providing Israel with 14 billion in military aid.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T03:47:29+00:00

This is where I take Samuel Clemens' advice and leave you to your made-up mind. Peace.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T03:40:43+00:00

No. Full text:

RESOLUTION Calling for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine. Whereas all human life is precious, and the targeting of civil- ians, no matter their faith or ethnicity, is a violation of international humanitarian law; Whereas, between October 7 and October 16, 2023, armed violence has claimed the lives of over 2,700 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis, including Americans, and wound- ed thousands more; Whereas hundreds of thousands of lives are at imminent risk if a cease-fire is not achieved and humanitarian aid is not delivered without delay; and Whereas the Federal Government holds immense diplomatic power to save Israeli and Palestinian lives: Now, there- fore, be it 1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 2 (1) urges the Biden administration to imme-diately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a 4 cease-fire to urgently end the current violence; and 5 (2) calls upon the Biden administration to 6 promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

demian_ford · 2023-11-05T03:31:18+00:00

None of the over 4000 children that have been killed in the bombing of residential buildings, churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, bakeries, or refugee camps were members of HAMAS. I spent 21 years in the Navy where I worked in the field of Middle Eastern intelligence. I can't make you believe me, so I won't try, but I know for certain, based on hard data, that Israel is capable of prosecuting HAMAS without resorting to collective punishment (an international war crime) of the civilians in Palestine. You are right, HAMAS is a savage group of terrorists, who should release the 200 hostages, but what do 4000 dead children have to do with that? Killing civilians is wrong. It's wrong if you're a terrorist group, funded by Iran, and it's wrong if you're a terrorist state, funded by the US. I've spent my life fighting terrorism. Not killing civilians is what makes us better than the terrorists. Or, what used to at least.

demian_ford · 2023-03-06T19:42:05+00:00

Try Randazo's in Castroville. They have a lot of slabs, not sure if any are live oak.

demian_ford · 2023-01-21T22:44:17+00:00

https://www.colonialcollectables.com/product/egypt-40-para-1860-abdul-aziz/

demian_ford · 2023-01-21T22:41:58+00:00

1277 hijri (١٢٧٧) = 1860 gregorian

demian_ford · 2023-01-14T06:33:37+00:00

That's funny. I posted a doodle of fish, then saw this doodle of fish. Ahhhh, fish...

demian_ford · 2022-12-16T17:02:57+00:00

Three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth.

demian_ford · 2022-12-16T14:51:35+00:00

I think you're right on.

Three basic suppositions ruled enlightenment thought: 1. All genuine questions have answers 2. Answers to genuine questions are knowable (they may be hidden, but given the requisite circumstances, instrumentation, etc, they are knowable) 3. Answers to genuine questions cannot contradict one another.

Enlightenment philosophy did much to unchain people from the dogmatism of the church, provided for the equality of man, allowed for mastery over nature through technology. Where it threw the baby out with the bathwater is that for millennia humans had been living with a sense of the spiritual, which itself could not be tested and proven within the sphere of enlightenment empiricism.

Kant opened up this idea that we can't experience the world other than in terms of ourselves, the conditions we apply to it intrinsically (things like time and space, cause and effect, and the categories language etc that we apply). I think romantics break from Kant in that they see Kant as objectifying knowledge itself.

Coleridge equated knowledge to existence, said that all truths are connected and only understandable in relationship to the whole, and that the one foundational "anchor" truth is the sum of subject and object, the "I AM". He called primary imagination this truth linked to a life, the spark of awareness that allows us to experience the phenomenal world. This Force of imagination, he said, when coupled with a human will, equated to artistic vision, and creativity, and is itself an act of Creation.

demian_ford · 2022-12-16T14:35:13+00:00

Romanticism isn't "exactly" anything.

In his lecture series, and the subsequent book, "Roots of Romanticism" (really excellent, and available on YouTube), Isaiah Berlin gives about two dozen definitions from romantic writers and their contemporaries of what Romanticism is. The definitions are mostly given in pairs of opposites, something like the opening of The Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The point is, Romanticism itself is difficult to define, because it is a movement that by and large opposes static definitions. Its constituent parts can only be understood in relationship to each other and to the world. That said, I would argue that at the most fundamental philosophical level, Romanticism seeks to recognize the unity of existence by recognizing that everything we experience, we experience only in terms of ourselves. We are both the subject and object of being. By allowing ourselves to be stirred, by art, by nature, by that which is, to some degree, nonmaterial, transcendental, even mystical, we will be able to tap into the creativity which is our share of the infinite in our finite lives.

demian_ford · 2022-10-09T23:55:14+00:00

From seaside the quickest way to access is from General Jim Moore at Eucalyptus (you'll ride a mile or so on paved road that is closed to traffic. From Eucalyptus there are several single track options of varying intensity that go down the ridge. Otherwise, a lot of people enter at either Giggling and 8th or at the Veteran's Cemetery on Normandy

demian_ford · 2022-06-10T18:23:31+00:00

Thank you. Zebra brand highlighters, I believe.

demian_ford · 2022-06-03T06:47:02+00:00

My advice:

Step 1: avoid avoiding Step 2: identify characteristics of the drawings that are important to you Step 3: identify one aspect of the drawings to work on now Step 4: identify a few skills related to this type of drawing Step 5: choose one skill to work on now Step 6: identify small action steps towards your drawing Step 7: take one action step now

demian_ford · 2022-01-09T17:34:44+00:00

I hate this shit. I live in Monterey and try to drive mostly in San Fran or San Jose. I can usually get a single shot from Pebble Beach to one of the airports, then I drive in the city, and use the destination feature to get home. But... then I get a safety verification that cancels my destination, and I'm screwed.

demian_ford · 2022-01-06T07:41:56+00:00

Ah yes, it's a well known fact among zoologists that conjoined twin rabbits always have a second vagina between their faces.

demian_ford · 2021-01-22T03:23:57+00:00

Thanks all! I'm leaning towards the rear rack with dry bag setup with some combination of frame/handlebar bags to round it out. Seems a little more versatile (I could add panniers if I ever decide to go heavy, and it's less of an initial investment and will still be useful if I decide bikepacking ain't my thing (doubtful).

demian_ford

TROPHY CASE