State of the Discussion

This is something that I don't understand. California highways are filled with big electronic billboards remindins people that "buzzed driving is drunk driving" and "if tired, pull over and take a rest." This suggests that the government knows that driving is dangerous, many people are bad drivers, and they are going to drive under less than ideal conditions. They then set up a system that requires people to drive to get anywhere and go out at night.

I'm sorry but the anti-Zionists always claim to not be anti-Semitic but then they do things like go to random Jewish neighborhoods and yell and hit at residents like a crowd of protestors did at Boro Park, Brooklyn in late February this year. They don't say what Jews should have done in light of the exclusion and persecution we faced. Many of them even pretend it never existed.

Anti-Zionists at best demonstrate serious antipathy towards the Jewish people and basically find us an ideological nuisance. They have this neat cosmology in their heads and Jews don't fit into it.

What I think they want is for the Jews to be seen and not heard. They want us to exist in obscure little islands that keep to ourselves while the big block groups that they love get to make a noise.

AI has been super valuable for helping learn and deal with the non-intuitive UI - much quicker than Google (which is crap these days anyway), or Reddit or Youtube.

Lol, that is so true. The learning curve is steep.

I found that ChatGPT is pretty good at giving specific EU4 advice that helps cut down on the need to watch videos, but its info database is a couple of patches old, so like all things AI, it sometimes give bad advice or suggests things that simply aren't possible anymore.

I got EU4 and all the DLC during the winter sale and have spent way too much time on it. I'm a sucker for Paradox games (HOI4 and Stellaris mainly), but this one is LOOONG. Consistent with Paradox, it requires a lot of reading guides and watching videos to understand the mechanics and where to find stuff in the UI, but it has been fun!

The other game I've been playing a lot is Old World. It's currently 75% off at $10, and the DLC is mostly 30% off. It's another 4X game that I think Civ 7 has stolen some ideas from and is kind of a blend of Crusader Kings and Civilization. Plays similar to Civ, but it has a lot of narrative-driven events, and you control a dynasty and deal with factions in ways that Civ doesn't do. It's in a really good state right now.

As a tangent, I loved Civ 6, but I am not buying Civ 7 until they get stuff fixed. I'm also annoyed at their DLC monetization, so I may wait a year until there is (hopefully) a discount.

What do you do with your printer? I'm in another spurt of downsizing, and as I haven't built any odd little wood gadgets for years now, will be getting rid of the bench-top power tools. I can't imagine not having some sort of tool though, and have been thinking about a printer. They've gotten a lot cheaper than the last time I looked, and seem to be of much higher quality.

When I got all the tools out, I discovered that I only had one safety interlock key for three tools. Spent a lot of time looking online and couldn't find replacements (the tools are well cared for, but old). Then changed tactics, found a CAD file for the part in ten minutes, and spent another five putting in an order at my public library. They're cheap, but slow, so I don't know when the new keys will be done.

DavidTC: Not antisemitism, mind you. Anti-Zionism.

Zionism is the idea that the Jews should have a country. Ergo anti-Zionism is the idea that they shouldn't, i.e. Israel should be destroyed as a Jewish state.

That seems seriously antisemitic on the face of it, and that's without the real world likelihood that it would require a second holocaust.

I've pointed this out on this thread before that many of the "arguments" used against Israel are never used against non-Jews.

Eh, a million years ago, we had (reportedly, anyway) two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

A democrat was in office, however, and so we were treated to a bunch of essays about how we shouldn't use "two consecutive quarters of negative growth" as an indicator of a recession. We got new definitions of "recession" and a bunch of people acting like they'd never heard that definition ever before. Like it was brand spankin' new.

Anyway, you say "Jaybird, you say sh*t like this assuming people know what the f*ck you’re talking about, but no one ever does, because the thing you have linked it to when you evidentially end up having to explain is _extremely obviously_ not the same thing at all." and, from where I sit, I think "I was just talking about how two consecutive quarters of negative growth meant that we were in a recession".

And, suddenly, I'm being asked to defend my definition of "recession" and when I say something like "two consecutive quarters of negative growth", they look at me like I'm growing a second head.

Anyway. I digress.

"Deja vu", I'm trying to say. No, not the gentlemans' club.

Oh, is that the case? Man, I sure hope that a precedent wasn’t set earlier! It might result in absolutely *ZERO* sympathy!

Jaybird, you say sh*t like this assuming people know what the f*ck you're talking about, but no one ever does, because the thing you have linked it to when you evidentially end up having to explain is _extremely obviously_ not the same thing at all.

I am getting extremely tired of these conversations with you where you have to be repeatedly prompted to say what you mean. Something like half your posts here are implications that NO ONE FOLLOWS.

“Guys, why are you insisting on using the same rules we insisted on when we won the argument last time?”

Pointing out that public universities are not the exact same thing as 'the government' and thus can restrict certain things for proper functioning and safety with rules is not the same thing as _the actual government_ demanding they restrict things like that under the threat of legal punishment.

And none of that is the same thing as the Federal government making demands of private university.

Also, and I know everyone here is used to the quiet parts being said quietly, but that's not happening anymore, because we've move from crypto-fascism to open fascism. So they're just straight up it's about speech. Literally just saying that.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/14/nyregion/columbia-letter.html

Read the bulleted item there about anti-"Zionist" discrimination, and tell me if you agree that is something that the government can demand a _private organization_ take the position of and enforce upon students.

Okay. We saw Novocaine. It was a fun dumb movie. IT WAS RATED R!!! So, like, if you've seen the trailers and wonder "how hard of an R is it?"

Well, on the drive home, Maribou and I hammered out that it was "Action-Comedy with a *LOT* of Body Horror".

So it's a Body Horror Comedy Action movie. If your response to that is "oh, good! I was hoping they'd make one of those!", this is a good one. I mean, if you see it with your doctor friend, he's going to be like all of the computer guys who went to Live Free or Die Hard and explained that "that's not how computers work".

But if you can get past the fact that that's not how computers work, you're going to enjoy a pleasantly dumb movie that is glad that you bought a ticket and wants you to come to Novocaine 2: Lidacaine.

Page/Report has been removed. I read it before it vanished and it was interesting.

Hamas was totally air-brushed out of the picture. Not sure I'd even know their name if all I had was that report. That also gets rid of the hostages. It also means Hamas (because they don't exist) did no disruptions of aid and so on and had zero involvement in any of Gaza's civilians suffering.

If Israel blew up something or killed someone the only conceivable motivation was to attack civilians and make them suffer. Israel alone was responsible for the entire war.

It was kind of impressive. Maybe they took it down because someone pointed that out?

I think the US government has to care because of funding.

I think that if we were able to just divorce the funding from the university, everybody would be happier. They'd have as much Free Speech as they could handle and we could ask anybody and everybody "why do you care?" about anything that happens on campus.

He got his votes with the help of: Democrats joining Mr. Schumer in voting to move it forward were Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Gary Peters of Michigan, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire. Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted yes.

Peters is retiring and should not have voted this way. No idea about why Schatz voted this way. CCM, Hassan, and Shaheen are from purplish states

Well Schumer said he's support cloture but that he wouldn't whip in favor of it. If he himself and a couple other Senators vote yes on Cloture but it doesn't hit 60 then that could, potentially, be the best position to be going into a shut down. But if Matty and a couple other folks are correct that the shut down, in of itself, plays into Trump and the Muskrats hands it could by a pyric victory.

Having spent still more than half of my adult life around universities, I just don't think things are bad there. Granted, I'm not in any way culturally conservative (except that I think 80s post-punk is better than 2000s post-punk, and you can't convince me otherwise), so it may just be a general philosophical difference.

I agree with you that the results will be bad. What's happening is probably best understood as Extremely Online lashing out.

What I would nevertheless like to see, assuming anyone and anything survives, is a restoration of the idea that these institutions are to be sober and humble stewards of the money and privileges bestowed on them.

DavidTC: This is on top of the fact that the government is clearly doing this because of the content of the _speech_

I think the disruption of the educational institution and threatening some of it's students takes us well beyond "content of speech".

Spring Sale? But it's the middle of Lent! They can't have the sale yet!

Out of the 51 available games on my wishlist, 50 of them are on sale.

13 are at 50% off or more.
3 are at 60% off or more.
1 is at 70% off.

Similar reaction. My gut has been to say the Republicans have a majority, let them figure it out. At the same time the last thing you want to do is end up empowering Trump. The courts are slow but they aren't giving him carte blanche.