themeatbridge

I always recount the story of the Hovercraft Christmas.

There was one toy I wanted for Christmas. We were firmly middle class growing up, so it wasn’t like I had all the toys, but I was old enough to know that my parents were footing the bill and getting an RC hovercraft was going to mean I only get one present that year.

Iirc it was called the Typhoon, or maybe the Typhoon II.

The commecials showed it zipping across land and water, jumping off ramps, bouncing off a lake, etc. It was the coolest fucking thing ever. I begged my parents for it, and would not shut up for months about getting an RC hovercraft.

Christmas comes, and wonderous joy, I got the hovercraft! Life is good, but the battery needs to charge. Shit, OK, we plug it in and let it charge all day while we go do the normal Christmas family visits. Everyone I talked to that day got a lesson in how hovercrafts work, and how it can travel on a pocket of air to move across land AND water.

We got home late that night. It was probably after 10pm, way past everyone’s bedtime, including my parents who had been up all night making the Christmas magic happen for my younger siblings who still believed. But I put my fucking foot down. I had waited for months to get my hovercraft. I had waited all day for the battery to charge. I would not wait another god damned minute to go zipping around the backyard. So, my dad and I put coats on over our pajamas, went out to the driveway, and fired that bad boy up.

I can still perfectly remember the sound of the fans turning on, and the little rubber skirt inflating. Sure enough, the hovercraft was floating on a pocket of air! But the driveway was on a mild incline, so the hovercraft started to drift sideways. Then I hit the throttle and… nothing. Just the sound of the fans spinning, but no motion.

Bzzzzz. BZZZZZZ. Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz. The fans spun impotently against the inertia of the hovercraft. It wouldn’t move at all, except to sadly drift towards the gutter. My dad gave it a little nudge with his foot, and it got stuck on a tiny stone chip.

I learned a lot about physics from that one night, but I learned even more about advertising.

Just to add, they pay someone to make the board report or PowerPoint presentation for them.

No worries about coming off as defensive, I completely understand how you would read my comment as an attack. It wasn’t how I meant it, but I recognize that I was fired up about it.

The superintendent is absolutely posturing, and I don’t think he believes he will win in court. But I believe there is a chance he wins in court, especially given the number of activist conservative justices we have on the bench.

I don’t have any doubt about what he meant by “teaching the Bible,” and I am certain it had nothing to do with providing a rounded and thorough depiction of various religious and cultural practices of a pluralistic multicultural society. The guy is a christo-fascist and a bigot. He belongs in prison for trying to abuse his position in government to subjugate his constituents.

Oh I completely agree with you, and I don’t begrudge anyone who’s willing to do what they have to do to keep their jobs. My point is just that fascists don’t play fair. They won’t put their hands on their hips and smirk disapprovingly at malicious compliance. They will keep stepping on your neck until you do exactly what they want without question. You know that when they say the Bible, they of course mean their interpretation of their version of a Bible of their choosing. They aren’t going to permit debate on the topic.

Malicious compliance is still compliance. If you concede this hill, the next one will be a requirement to teach the Bible as historical truth. And then it will be to prevent teaching actual science.

Agreed. But it still encourages strategic voting and discourages third-party spoilers. It’s fptp with extra steps, and it gets worse the more candidates you have. If you don’t pick a frontrunner first or second, there’s a chance your vote isn’t counted at all.

Unfortunately, RCV doesn’t end the two party system. It’s better than what we have, but only marginally. My hope is that when voters complain about it, the next step is not to repeal RCV but to evolve into Star voting.

Are we expecting these customers to knowthe difference? I’m over here formulating a business plan, so let me know please.

But how would they know the difference?

I mean, I get nosebleeds some times. Am I throwing away profits?

One guy is slightly hoarse.

The other is a delusional fascist.

So basically both sides the same.

Where do you think we are?

So… we’re doomed?

One thing I like about Lemmy is there aren’t as many dipshits to block. This one is responsible for a lot of mindless propaganda in my feed, and now it’s gone.

Adjustable height desk.

A good chair that is the proper height and adjustable.

Adjustable height monitor supports.

Ergonomics is all about geometry. Most of the problems people try to fix w8th wrist supports or ergonomic keyboards are really problems with sitting too high or too low in comparison to the keyboard and/or monitors.

The ability to raise and lower the chair, the desk, and the monitors independently will make a world of difference.

To make something that looks exactly like a pyramid, I imagine the easiest thing to do would be to fabricate large stone blocks and stack them the same way the pyramids were built. Cranes could make short work of the stacking, and if you’re willing to spend more, you could make the blocks out of lighter materials like fiberglass and foam. Even with natural stone, you could have multiple cranes and multiple crews to be done in like a month. Fabrication and delivery would also depend on the availability of the materials, so that might take another six weeks if you’re willing to spend the money.

If it were a standard construction project, you might budget for two years to create the drawings, get permits, bid out the job to contractors, prep the site, build the dang thing, and get final inspections. How much it would cost would also depend on materials selected and where it was built. Labor rates, land value, material costs, all of that varies by location and even the seasons.

Budget, Quality, Speed. These are the three corners of the universal priority triangle. If you want it fast and good, it’s going to cost a lot of money. Fast and cheap will be low quality. Good and cheap will take a long time (maybe forever).

The evidence isn’t even that strong, there i just aren’t that many people willing to risk becoming a pariah to dispute them.

If you are a Christian, there is no doubt Jesus existed. Any oblique reference to a rabbi who was persecuted hundreds years ago is considered evidence that Jesus existed. But no contemporaneous documentation exists.

If you’re not a Christian, debunking all of those vague references that might be proof of a Jewish leader named Jesus just isn’t particularly important, won’t persuade anyone who believes Jesus was(is) God, and will paint a target on your back for terrorists.

Because Conservativism is not an ideology. It’s narcissism dressed in a stoic costume. Conservatives believe themselves to be righteous, so they support policies and legislation that benefit themselves. They gain followers by promoting a sense of belonging so they can defend the self and attack the other. There is no lie to brazen, no hypocrisy too obvious, no depth too low for a conservative seeking power, because they are justified by their identity. If the conservative is good, then anything the conservative does or says is good while they are doing it or saying it.

When they can no longer hold power through politics, they always fall back on fascism and bigotry.

Corrupt judge makes corrupt ruling. We’re going to be untangling 2016 for generations.

No shit.