Matt the Bruins

To me Attack on Titan is grotesque and disgusting, with their leering, sexless giant cannibalistic mockeries of humanity expressing some component of the Japanese cultural zeitgeist I can't relate to or grasp. That's not my response to gore or nudity as such, but I feel like I'm watching the working out of some sort of fetish beyond my comprehension. But as you might expect from that, I didn't get very far into the series, so I'm not aware of whatever other depths or complexities may have arisen that make it worthwhile to others to keep watching. You have a right to enjoy whatever you find harmlessly entertaining, but I won't be joining you.

Pretty sure this was written and directed by John Carpenter.

My mother is a fan of black licorice. I recently discovered that Scandinavia has something that must be labelled 'adult licorice' because it is far too intense to be considered candy for kids. (Some kind of taxation designation that I didn't get the whole story on). When I told Mom about it, she said, "Ok. Get me some, we'll find out."   So, I got a sample of Finnish licorice. 
 

 
It was just for her because I'm not a fan, but curiosity drove me to try it. Wow. That is intense. Yeah, definitely not candy. An hour later I'm still tasting it. I can see how if you like the flavor it would be incredible. In fact, she said don't bother with the black jelly beans anymore. She has moved on. 

One of the comments ->
 
 
This is one topic I refuse to become jaded about; we must consistently push back against the normalization of prison schools.

Oh yeah, forgot why I came over here.

NYT has a summary of day 2 testimony.  The major take:  Trump was told, repeatedly that any claim of election fraud was baseless;  this included Barr.  A characterization from Trump's campaign manager is also quite the zinger.  There were 2 'teams' offering their points of view.  Tean Normal was "no it wasn't stolen."  The other team was Team Rudy.  
 
Potentially the biggest reveal...there was never an "election defense fund."  The money went straight into a PAC.  From there, it was used in whatever way they felt.  Given that donations to a PAC are rather loosely regulated anyway...it's likely there's no crimes here.  But some of those uses certainly looked like nest-feathering.  Some Trump supporters might not appreciate that.  (Granted, many may not care.)

Keep in mind, "insane" is just my one-word summary of The Economist's summary reporting the Russian ambassador's statement. He may have expressed himself at greater length and more forcefully.
 
Dean Shomshak

Like unclevlad, I think the ambassador is downplaying the divorce from reality. The US responded to a couple of very prominent buildings being knocked down by all but flattening the country hosting the terrorist training camps of said attack's mastermind (and incidentally invading another completely unrelated country we didn't like while we were riled up). The amount of [crap] we would lose at a hostile nuke detonating on American soil would be like nothing seen in human history.

Like unclevlad, I think the ambassador is downplaying the divorce from reality. The US responded to a couple of very prominent buildings being knocked down by all but flattening the country hosting the terrorist training camps of said attack's mastermind (and incidentally invading another completely unrelated country we didn't like while we were riled up). The amount of [crap] we would lose at a hostile nuke detonating on American soil would be like nothing seen in human history.

Like unclevlad, I think the ambassador is downplaying the divorce from reality. The US responded to a couple of very prominent buildings being knocked down by all but flattening the country hosting the terrorist training camps of said attack's mastermind (and incidentally invading another completely unrelated country we didn't like while we were riled up). The amount of [crap] we would lose at a hostile nuke detonating on American soil would be like nothing seen in human history.

My condolences.

US White Supremacists arrested at Idaho Gay Pride event
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61773358
 
Nice to catch them before they can do something

Star Trek: The Motion Picture reintroduced people to the franchise and brought back the old crew. I can excuse any failings it has as a result. Not so, Star Trek V. This is the absolute worse of the all the Trek pictures and is a standard for bad films. There may also be a subplot of Shatner getting back at some of his crew, Uhura's dance, Chekov and Sulu getting lost and Scotty getting knocked out. 

Chris Tucker played Ruby Rhod over the top, so that everyone else would know where the top was.

"Never without my permission."
 
True then, still true now. 

Yeah, Fifth Element is great.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Anybody else wanna negotiate?"

The Fifth Element is a classic.
The worst film made incredibly entertaining by Rifftrax was Birdemic: Shock and Terror
 
Some of my least favorite movies of all time:
Movie 43.  A series of obnoxious "comedy" bits
 
Batman & Robin:  already mentioned
 
Holmes & Watson.  Almost walked out on it.  
 
The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.  Just obscene.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Why should the size of the pool be limited at all? I would require, as a campaign standard (so no points saved as a limitation) that the maximum AP of any single power in the pool be the campaign max AP.  I would require the same of a Multipower, but I would not cap the pool.  There is no reason that a character could not have several VPP or Multipower slots active at the same time, and as long as no single power exceeds the campaign max AP, this strikes me as not being at all problematic.
 
In 6e, this is even easier to administer - the control cost cannot be purchased to allow any powers over campaign max AP.

Shut up, you entitled little pr*ck.
 
Kyle Rittenhouse claims he’s going to Texas A&M. The university begs to differ.
 
Turns out he's actually going to a nearby open-enrollment college that sends a lot of students to TAMU. His explanation:
 
 
You weren't robbed, you POS. You were dealing with the consequences of shooting three people, two of them fatally. Just shut up already. You are not in any way, shape, or form the victim here. 

I think the academics who wonder why so many Russians back the invasion are overthinking. For millennia, it was perfectly normal for a stronger group to attack, conquer and pillage weaker neighbors. Successful conquering despots got labeled "the Great." Putin is just playing by the old rules, and the Russian people respond -- not b ecause they've suffered some special historical trauma, but because they *haven't* been raised in historically unusual safety, comfort, and Enlightenment ideology.
 
So for instance, of course Russian officers aren't trying to stop Russian soldiers from (as the article notes) sending stuff looted from Ukrainians home to their wives, who are grateful to receive them. Pillaging is traditionally part of why you go to war, no matter what international law says. It's a compensation leaders offer for soldiers' risking their lives.
 
Russians aren't strange for embracing Putin's war. We're strange for finding it strange that they do so. And I dare say that many Americans, Canadians, Australians, and other folk would act exactly the same way under similar circumstances. Condemning it is, arguably, intellectually elitist. But I'm okay with that. I consider the fundamental work of civilization to be making people treat each other better than comes naturally.
 
Dean Shomshak

And the fact that this is the type of person and that is the kind of rhetoric that gets people to fork over their money is both pathetic and profoundly disturbing. I could care less about her actual intelligence. Her moral and social values are repugnant.

Re: the Uvalde cops...
 
I've learned never to believe the first day's reporting on a mass shooting or other tragedy. Anything beyond the raw fact that it happened, and where it happened, is likely to be corrected later. For instance, IIRC for several hours after the Sandy Hook shooting, the shooter was mis-identified.
 
People are confused, or they fabulate what they think must have happened, or they flat out make stuff up and it gets repeated. But usually, within 24 hours the contradictory reports and rumors shake out and a reasonably consistent story emerges. I am generous enough to presume that the reporters are at least trying to find and report what's actually true. (Fox "News" always excepted, of course.)
 
But the Uvalde cops keep changing their story, or at least other people are coming forward to say No, it didn't happen that way at all, and everyone seems to be consistent except them. So even granted that everybody, everybody, spins to make themselves look good... they just keep looking worse and worse.
 
Just fess up, guys. No matter how bad you look when you immediately tell the truth, you always look worse after you're caught lying.
 
Dean Shomshak

This is a different societal ill at work, I'm afraid. Constant source of danger at emergency rooms in cities that have become overrun with people experiencing homelessness and addiction. People frequently threaten and attack ER staff, including with weapons, up here, where we have similar problems. One perk of quitting my job: Less likely to end up stabbed or worse on any given day.

The correct answer to "Are you against slavery?" is "Yes", not "No comment". 

Honestly, I'm okay with not including the shooter. F*** that guy, this time and every time.