SwingingTheLamp

No, I'm done giving him the benefit of the doubt. The President of the United States should be able to clearly articulate a thought.

Oil lamps. They have the same appeal that's behind the resurgent popularity of vinyl records. They're hefty, kinesthetic items that feel good in the hand. There's a little ritual that goes into using them. There's the sensory appeal. I bought a Thomas & Williams miner's lamp that was said to have been a prize that the original owner won in a regatta in the 1920's. It's all shiny brass, with a heavy, solid feel, and the parts fit together with such a satisfying precision. There's feeling the heat of the flame, and the slight scent of kerosene that it emits.

(Although, I'm not sure that they're outdated, since they're still manufactured and sold as yacht lamps, and you can still get parts. Last month, I ordered a brand new glass chimney for it.)

I felt the same way about the Hulu episodes until Quids Game, which I just straight-up hated, at first. No real connection to the larger premise, just torture porn in the form of weird aliens playing with/killing off the familiar characters.

Later, it hit me: The episode is a meta-commentary on the Hulu seasons. The "quids" are self-insert characters for the writers, poking fun at themselves. They aren't doing a coherent storyline with this reboot, they're just playing with familiar characters in different scenarios, and wringing out a few new jokes in a way that they couldn't do with the established canon. In a way, it's Futurama fanfic by Futurama writers.

From that perspective, I've found the reboot a lot more enjoyable. The good parts are a bonus, and the duds are forgettable.

Exactly, "backfired" for whom? This is just what Putin ordered.

True, but speaking scientifically, there is sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis.

(If shooting one CEO didn't change anything, we can keep trying.)

Okay.

I feel like Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies here, too. If Leon had found fire (fraudulent benefits), he would have posted fire instead of smoke.

Slackware is the oldest distribution which is still active. I remember Yggdrasil came before it, and I'm looking it up, I see that Slackware was based on the earlier SLS.

Franky, I read all of your comments here, and the main message that comes through is a lot of vague specifics with the subtext of, "I am very smart."

Yes, we know there's a bigger picture, but bigger pictures are easier to focus on when the details don't include bombs falling.

Borrowing is not an option?

Dunno if you've noticed, but the POTUS has crested the lift hill on the roller coaster of dementia and is gaining kinetic energy into the first turn. Months ago, he lost the ability to process metaphorical language (like my first sentence), which we saw when he promised to build an actual, literal dome over the United States like the one Israel has over it; or when he described in concrete terms the actual operation of the giant faucet in British Columbia that Canada uses to control water to the U.S. West Coast. The thing about dementia, having seen it first-hand in a family member, is that there will be good days and bad days, so even if we see him appearing to have it together (and it's not just from a teleprompter), there are days on which a complex issue by itself will totally escape him— much less a complex web of such issues. And those days will be coming much more often as time goes on and he continues to deteriorate.

That is to say, if your gut feeling was developed during his first term, don't trust it. He doesn't have the capacity for that kind of nuanced cunning any longer. If he's talking about annexation now, take it at face value. Take everything he says as literal now.

I'm conflicted. This hilarious if it's trolling, but I don't want to laugh at somebody who's legitimately mentally ill.