A while ago, I decided that continuing to talk about Donald Trump would only keep giving him free press. I find him odious enough that the last thing I want to do is give him anything for free, so I simply stopped.
However, it’s now election time, and enough people have asked me that, finally, I figure it’s both safe and useful to provide the best information I can about what’s going to happen, in as unbiased a fashion as practicable, and without saying “I don’t know” too much.
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Some years ago, I was walking through the room while my girlfriend was watching “Supernatural”. Something about the episode caught my attention, and rather to my surprise, I sat down and watched it.
The story happened to be one I know, and know well: that of Robert Johnson, who reputedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his insane talent, playing blues guitar. Now, the television show and the legend were a bit different, and the truth of the matter is stranger still. I’ll tell you all about those in a minute.
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“Because it’s there!”
-George Mallory, English mountaineer
Mars is a barren wasteland devoid of life. There’s nothing there, even less than in the average Earth desert. There is no air to breathe, no water, no arable soil on which to grow crops. It’s just a big empty ball of dust and rock.
A lot of people ask (and with good reason): Instead of wasting massive amounts of valuable resources on some dream project with no apparent value, dumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the process, why not instead spend the money improving life here on Earth?
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I ran across this story a while ago, and it’s too good not to share. Hold fast, friends; this is quite a ride.
The John J. Harvey, shown here, is a museum ship now. For a nominal fee, you can book an excursion trip on her and experience how she rides. It’s worth the price of admission, even if she’s no longer painted in dazzle camouflage these days. (Presumably, it was so fire couldn’t find her.)
(more…)An acquaintance asked me that the other day. I had to think for a second, but… yes.
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Today, the Interwebz are full of people calling out the Olympic boxer who won by tap-out. They’re saying a transgender male has no business competing in a women-only category.
Which is, by and large, a fair statement. After all, equality only goes just so far. If we have a special protected competition for women only due to the muscle-producing effects of testosterone on the human physique, it makes perfect sense to disallow biological males. There are those who disagree with this statement, and I’m willing to discuss it.
But it does not apply here.
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“Those who fail to learn from the brutal stompings visited on them in the past are doomed to be brutally stomped in the future.”
– Raoul Duke, Christmas Eve 1972
Late last night, while I was engaged in my regular sacrifices and oblations the Great White Porcelain God Whose Name Is Ralph came a pounding on the door at the damnedest moment imaginable. They broke in, and my feeble gestures of resistance notwithstanding, they did their evil deeds and left. Imagine my shock when I recovered myself enough to stagger into the living room only to discover six cases of beer, an IBM Selectric, a recently reconnected Mojo Wire, and enough speed to charge a rhino. The Editorial Enforcement Division had visited again and caught me at a weak moment. I might have said with my pants down, but that would be an abuse of the metaphor. I’m the one being abused and I don’t want to detract from that point, so I’ll avoid the figure of speech and just get right to it.
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NOTE: I’m not an investment advisor. This isn’t investment advice. This is my opinion. Take it with as much salt as you care to.
Those of you who aren’t in the stock markets may not even have heard about this, but Cracker Barrel’s share price has tanked recently. There are reasons, and they’re addressing them, but…
…Ah. Yes. I’ve been reminded that some of you don’t have a clue what Cracker Barrel is. Either you’re not from the United States or you live in the wrong part and don’t do road trips. Okay; so let’s start there.
(more…) This headline by itself will draw hate from millions of pro-Palestine folks, which just goes to show: partisanship is the death of thought. Many of them won’t even know what the Romeo is or why it’s important.
(If you’re curious, I wrote about it a couple of months back. Go — read and learn.)
But that’s not what I’m here to talk about, at least not today.
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We see it all over the internet, on people’s profiles and posts: “I stand with Israel!” “I stand with Ukraine!” Pick your champion; someone’s standing with them. Safely outside the line of fire, mind you, but still.
Don’t mistake me: It takes courage to make a moral stand, even online. You lose friends, families get torn apart. People like me, who use their internet accounts to promote their writing/art/business, get blocked and lose customers. As a result, it’s usually also a stupid thing to do, especially since your brave stand with Ukraine doesn’t kill a single Russian soldier.
The difference between courage and stupidity is often so fine a line as to be nonexistent.
And yet…
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The Not Fake News 
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