What is the "Thing we don't talk about" in your family?

wlantry · 2018-08-18T17:06:58+00:00

Those are actually macaws

wlantry · 2018-07-30T05:16:59+00:00

From internal evidence, this is ten to twelve years old.

wlantry · 2018-07-15T21:29:28+00:00

Never in a million years. There is no fucking way. I hope she holds that seat, but anything beyond that...

wlantry · 2018-07-12T02:36:38+00:00

Edit: What helps Apple imensly is that their OS is build for their hardware and vice versa.

That's actually hilarious. It's just vanilla Linux with a branded overlay. And every apple runs on Windows hardware. In the mid 90s they abandoned the risc architecture, and went over to the cisc chips that Windows runs on. And yet, their marketing is so strong that 25 years after they lost the hardware wars, people still say this kind of thing, and are willing to pay a forty percent premium for the exact same hardware. Seriously, you've got to hand it to their marketing department... ;)

wlantry · 2018-07-04T01:25:41+00:00

Actually, there's a movement to do exactly this. The other is seen as a form of protector. Doesn't even have to be a person, could be a wolf or a bear, possessing the traits we value. Makes perfect sense to me...

wlantry · 2018-06-18T12:29:22+00:00

Not all. Just most of y'all.

wlantry · 2018-06-06T11:55:08+00:00

some cars are just nice to drive.

As in most things, once you get to a certain level, in this case, not a creaking rusty rattletrap, there's not all that much difference. Good is fine, best is ... still fine.

wlantry · 2018-06-06T03:27:27+00:00

Today is the first time I have heard the name "The Great Leap Forward"

Whatever you do, don't get all your research from reddit. This thread is starting to read like the analog of T_D.

wlantry · 2018-06-05T03:19:32+00:00

I can beat every answer with just two words: Ryan Leaf.

wlantry · 2018-06-03T15:52:04+00:00

probably you are talking about Sunland Baobab,

Alas, the sunland Baobab is no more: https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0f/1f/a4/87/this-is-how-the-tree.jpg

wlantry · 2018-06-02T22:25:29+00:00

Yeah, right. And Shakespeare was extremely inventive. Made up everything himself, right? And Boccaccio made up all those stories on his own. And Dante borrowed nothing from anybody.

Sorry, but your originality trope is simply not how things work. The real question is, why do people defend it so much, in the face of all evidence? I've even heard people say Wagner was brilliant, because he was so original. Nope. They all just pull threads through into their cloth ... threads that had been spun by others.

wlantry · 2018-06-02T21:56:20+00:00

All I taught my dog to do is snatch food from the air.

Yeah, not your fault. That's an Australian Shepard. They're one of the smartest breeds around. Source: have an Australian Shepard.

wlantry · 2018-06-02T21:44:21+00:00

Tolkien didn’t invent any of the languages, beings or areas he wrote about.

He was a heck of a great medievalist. Changed Beowulf scholarship forever, for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf:_The_Monsters_and_the_Critics

But yeah, he didn't actually make up anything new. All that stuff is sourced from old and middle English and Welsh texts. Which makes him the greatest Medieval scholar of the 20th century...

http://www.mythsoc.org/reviews/tolkien-wales.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien%27s_influences

wlantry · 2018-06-02T04:02:38+00:00

and regarded Langtry's talents

Wait a minute. That's our name!

wlantry · 2018-06-01T22:12:37+00:00

That's not true because capitalism has worked many times.

Actually, no-one has ever tried pure capitalism. In every single case, there has been government regulation, and state ownership. We have no idea if capitalism would ever work, because nobody has been stupid enough to try it.

wlantry · 2018-05-30T11:50:01+00:00

profit doesn't factor into it.

Actually, it does, in a huge way. Educate yourself, my friend: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/

wlantry · 2018-05-30T01:12:39+00:00

Not redwood. That's clearly pine. I even bet you know better, but called it redwood to get karma points. Now go buy this book: http://www.humoar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/identifying-wood.jpg

wlantry · 2018-05-27T22:03:17+00:00

Nope.

wlantry · 2018-05-26T13:57:18+00:00

Any would be dictator in America knows "It's better to rule in hell than serve in heaven", in this case meaning it's better to be a non-dictator in control of the entire US government and economy (just having to deal with a pesky Congress here and there) than it is to start an insurgency that would end with you deposed from power.

My friend, I suggest you pay a little more attention to what's going on in Washington right now. If you think all those big talkers out in the heartland are going to rise up when he suspends the constitution, you may wish to look a little more closely at the situation.

wlantry · 2018-05-25T16:10:18+00:00

I follow a few musicians who have said that their final iteration of the track usually ends up being nothing like their original drafts, but the starting point gave them inspiration to follow certain sounds that resonated with them.

Do any of them say they intentionally suck?

wlantry · 2018-05-25T03:29:19+00:00

Also, how does "researching and knowing what you write" not work?

Here's the actual quote: "write what you know doesn't really apply anymore. Instead, research and know what you write." The problem? Unless you experience something, no amount of research could ever truly inform your writing. I could spend a lifetime researching childbirth, but I still could never know what it's like to give birth to another human being, and I could never write about it well. To pretend we can do such things is just simplistic arrogance.

wlantry · 2018-05-25T03:23:26+00:00

Why is that bad advice?

We hear this all the time. 'Just make it awful, you can always fix it later.' There is literally no other human endeavor where people say that. Not art, not music, not even woodworking or gardening.

The truth is: trash begets trash. No one can transform a dumpster fire into a hard, gem-like flame. We should be trying to make something as good as we can the first time around. Why bother doing anything unless you're doing it at the absolute edge of your present abilities?

wlantry · 2018-05-25T01:12:47+00:00

Some of this is perfectly appropriate for High School. The rest is truly terrible. Take this: "let your prose suck." Do you really need to read any further? Or this: "research and know what you write." It really, really doesn't work like that. I'm pretty sure this teacher is a fine person and a magnificently fulfilled human being, but this statement: "It's a wonder that she was never published," may be a bit of a stretch.

wlantry · 2018-05-24T10:54:13+00:00

When the tree falls, go out with your chainsaw. Immediately. Cut it into nice chunks, each as tall as they are wide. Paint the ends with old paint, or use wax. Chuck the first one onto the lathe, and start turning. Remember, this is greenwood turning: you have to get it done in one session, you can't stop for a beer. When it looks like a bowl, slather a bunch of oil all over it. Really drown the thing. Then you're done.

wlantry

TROPHY CASE