Cancer

I get you, Amigo.  
 
I feel like that about The Black Hole.  At least, about my self-made expurgated version, where I erased every scene with VINCENT and BOB after the landing on the Cygnus.
 
Trust me; it's _way_ better that way.
 
 

NO!!  YOU MUST NOT TOUCH THE SACRED TEXTS!!

Long preamble here.
 
The administrative unit in which I have the Associate Director title got moved out of one building last spring (that one was subsequently demolished and the spot is being built on now), and into another one.  The current location is a building that is older than the building that was demolished.
 
In this older building/new location, the only men's restroom is on the third floor (the only women's restroom is on the second floor).  Yes, classes are held in this building (which has three floors), and things get pretty congested during passing periods.
 
So ... unless it is pouring down rain, when my morning coffee demands liberation, rather than go upstairs, it is more convenient for me to duck outside and walk into another building right across the way, where there is a less-used men's room right near the entry on that entry level.  That other building houses the Business School.
 
I realized today that what I am doing is ... using the Business School as my outhouse.
 
After some consideration ... as a member of the College of Science & Engineering, I am oddly OK with that.

Long preamble here.
 
The administrative unit in which I have the Associate Director title got moved out of one building last spring (that one was subsequently demolished and the spot is being built on now), and into another one.  The current location is a building that is older than the building that was demolished.
 
In this older building/new location, the only men's restroom is on the third floor (the only women's restroom is on the second floor).  Yes, classes are held in this building (which has three floors), and things get pretty congested during passing periods.
 
So ... unless it is pouring down rain, when my morning coffee demands liberation, rather than go upstairs, it is more convenient for me to duck outside and walk into another building right across the way, where there is a less-used men's room right near the entry on that entry level.  That other building houses the Business School.
 
I realized today that what I am doing is ... using the Business School as my outhouse.
 
After some consideration ... as a member of the College of Science & Engineering, I am oddly OK with that.

So? Have the courage of your convictions, man!

I hate to say this, but I think impeaching Donald Trump is a horrible idea. The Democrats don't have anything like the votes necessary to convict him in the Senate, and with Moscow Mitch at the helm, I don't know that there would ever even be a vote. The effect I foresee from an impeachment of Trump is to make him a martyr, emboldening his fan base for the next two election cycles (at least) and virtually guaranteeing his reelection next November.
 
You can't count on Donald Trump to resign the Presidency, the way Nixon did, at the threat of impeachment. That would require a sense of shame, or a concern for the future of the country, or some kind of understanding that he's done something genuinely wrong. Nothing I've ever seen of this President leads me to believe that he possesses any of those traits.
 
If the Democrats really want to be done with Donald Trump--and really, who could blame them?--they need to focus on a candidate and a platform that can unite the Democrats' various warring factions while winning enough support from moderates and disenfranchised Republicans to take back all of those Electoral College votes Trump wasn't projected to win the last time. That isn't likely, but is at least theoretically possible to accomplish. But impeachment is a non-starter as long as McConnell and the GOP run the Senate.

Are they spherical bears?

A more reasoned opinion about the US opioid crisis

A more reasoned opinion about the US opioid crisis

Its-a meeeee, HooliganX!

https://www.random.org
 
See their "Die roller" among one of the sets of free services.

Hobbes and Fluff Butt are bunkering with me on the bed while my wife is in the great room with that terrible kitten.

Gardner Minshew with the win. Making him the first of this year's rookie QB's to get a W.

Try this one.

"That's no Moon" Racoon

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
I was sleeping when the second attack came.
 
I had gone down to the new house for the first time. It wasn't much of a house, really--more like a freestanding studio--but it had a view across the valley, and no neighbors. Plus it was all I could afford. The furnishings were ancient, as though the whole place were a time capsule from the seventies, but I didn't really care. After a cursory investigation of the house, I turned off the old TV and stretched out on the musty old bed for a nap.
 
I awoke to find a strange man using the bathroom, which was right off the front door. He was already on his way out when he saw me. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I just bought this place," I answered. "that was my impression, anyway." Embarrassed, the man hurriedly apologized and left. Still groggy from the nap, I didn't protest, I just followed him outside.
 
A dozen people were standing around in the dirt by the side of the road, looking up into the overcast sky. Naturally I felt compelled to see what they were looking at, so I too squinted into the clouds. At first I couldn't see anything, but then I made out the outline of an airliner. It was mostly obscured by the clouds, so I couldn't tell for sure, but there was something--wrong--about its flight angle. "Pull up, pull up!" I implored, all the while hoping that the angle was just a trick of perspective and that the plane was not actually pointed at the ground. It disappeared below the trees, headed twoard the other side of town, and was replaced a moment later by an oily black mushroom cloud. In shock, I noticed that it had landed just beyond another, older such cloud, that marked where another plane had gone down.
 
Two planes had crashed within minutes of each other. I knew what that meant. And so did everyone else, because the roads was jammed solid with traffic. So I began to walk. As we walked up the hill, another plane came into view, creeping over the hills on the other side of the valley. It was moving painfully slow, and its crew was plainly trying to land it using only engine controls--the sabotage must have taken out the hydraulics. The plane bent and deformed from the strain of the rapid throttle changes, then stopped and slid sideways into the hill, rolling to the bottom out of sight. Weak cheers went up from the people walking with me. "At least that crash looked survivable," said the man standing next to me.
 
We resumed our trek towards the mountains. With the roads jammed with traffic, we headed for the new pedestrian tunnel that had been dug more to the north. This path took us over the location of the last crash, and we saw some survivors walking away from the crash site, which was encouraging. I thought about trying to help, but I had to find my family and make sure they were all right, so I kept walking.
 
I found my wife and kid in the now-crowded pedestrian tunnel, looking for me. People were streaming through the tunnel in both directions, so it was lucky that we were able to find each other. My wife was carrying the boy and a spare pair of shoes. I told her that, since traffic was better ont he other side of the mountains, that I would go and get the car and come back for them. I took the shoes, so that she would not have to carry them and the boy.
 
The pedestrian tunnel exited out into a deserted elementary school. I walked through the school and its silent playground, and got as far as the school's driveway, which was lined with very green trees. I then realized that splitting up the family under the circumstances was not terribly bright, so I went back to get them, but only after leaving the shoes in a plastic spiral slide in the playground, where they would not be found.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
Bob Dobbs is proud of your Slack.

That's not Rocket Raccoon.  More like Starbase Raccoon.

Do you have any idea how far I to that I read before I realized you weren't talking about the kid on ceiling fan?! 

And all this from a Bills fan.  

Life was easier in a number of ways (and less easy in some others, of course) when I went off to school, hundreds (initially) or thousands (grad school) of km away from my folks' place.  Being able to filter the information Mom got, and not being subject to what could be described as "surprise inspections of the soul", were among the benefits.

Everything is coming up pomegranates!

And all this from a Bills fan.