Same. It’s actually the reason I chose Android over IOS way way back in the day.

It was too late for those old fucks as well.

Came here to say this. I’ve worked on systems for a restaurant on the beach and it was corroded as hell. We had the wireless access points in cheap “weatherproof” boxes and they got corroded. We replaced them once a year or so because it was so bad.

It’s less about what was done than the hypocrisy. Especially the hypocrisy of doing it while kids were around. Hell, I expect the hypocrisy out of her but that doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore it.

It’s the same reason we talk shit about all the Republicans that get caught doing gay shit. I don’t care if someone enjoys doing gay shit. Good for them. But if you’ve voted for laws that harm the LGBTQ+ community and get caught sucking dick in an airport bathroom then I’m going to make fun of you.

I guess they talked to us because we were the “light” version of their church. I don’t really know how they’d treat a real outsider I guess. They always tried getting us to come to church stuff with them.

It was normal to me. My parents weren’t bad people and they didn’t make me raise my younger siblings. I didn’t get abused like a lot of the kids around me. I put up with some bullshit, but we all do to some extent.

I appreciate it, though.

Did we just become friends?

I sure am feeling like a rambling old man today.

By the time the oldest kids become parents they’re already tired of being parents because mom and dad can’t possibly keep up with a dozen kids and sure aren’t paying nannies and babysitters.

By the time a couple generations go by, there’s no more help. They still get government assistance if they don’t get out but grandma and great-grandma still have school aged kids and aren’t helping (let’s face it, pappy ain’t doing it).

So who the fuck is taking care of these hundred and change kids? It’s only good for a surge unless you have multiple wives (again, you know the guys aren’t doing it), which is not happening at a rate that makes a difference, although that happens a little bit. So by that third generation you’ve got a fuck-ton of kids who definitely think it’s bullshit.

I grew up in a semi-related cult and saw that happen in real time. The one I grew up in wasn’t the “super family” welfare abuse type but did preach to have as many as you could handle while still being able to afford them. I personally know the people you’re talking about and they’re super literalists, young earth creationists, and dispensationalists who hand wave millennialism with “a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day”. Some of them believe that the war in heaven started the day the Jewish people went back to Israel and that the horsemen of the apocalypse are already here. Some referred to covid as either Plague or Death until they decided it was fake. They’re sure that every event is the harbinger of the rapture.

Hearing these people talk is fucking wild. I know they’re a minority, but if you go into some of the more insular rural communities you’ll meet them and they are fucking serious. They don’t understand why you and all of their kids can’t just see what’s happening.

Slight non sequitur, but slightly connected (welcome to my brain). Anyone can safely ignore this long, rambling comment.

There’s a series of books called The Laundry Files by Charles Stross. It starts off as kind of an HP Lovecraft meets spy novel meets a sys admin workplace humor thing. Somewhere in there, I think it’s the 4th book, there’s one called The Apocalypse Codex that deals with a quiverful group of Christian true believers that are accidentally worshipping an otherworldly horror and using parasites to “save” folks. It even features a forced birth center. I’ve known quiverfull, prosperity gospel, literalist folks my entire life, but every time I hear about quiverfull people I still think about that novel. I can highly recommend the series if anything I wrote above sounds remotely interesting, especially if you can get the audiobooks. Here’s one of my favorite passages from that book:

“They’re believers, Mr. Howard. Pentecostalist dispensationalists—they are saved, but they are surrounded by the unsaved, and they think their master is returning imminently, and anyone who isn’t saved by the time of his arrival is doomed. So they intend to save everyone whether or not they want to be saved, one brain parasite at a time.”

Other than the extra-dimensional horror, I think the book pretty accurately describes the mindset of those people. The series metaphor for modern society is so good that he had to delay and rewrite the last book because the original plan, prior to the pandemic, was to have the final resolution be a highly contagious disease.

That’s a good view. You’d be surprised who is down for a hug, though.

My friend group usually goes for the handshake hug. This led to things like when someone is having a hard time we hug it out.

We also compliment each other a lot. It’s nice. Some of these guys didn’t get compliments until our group started doing it to each other. You can watch someone who doesn’t get a lot of compliments change their body language from closed off to confident just by letting them know you like their shirt or that their haircut looks great.

Start easy with the handshake back pat. Easing into it can overcome some of the awkwardness that causes people to shy away from physical contact. Not everyone will be down for it, and you’re right that consent is key. Maybe it won’t work, but you’re not out anything by giving it a shot.

If people are aborting their kids who will he molest? Won’t someone let him “think of the children”?

It certainly pointed me in that direction.

People going officer usually already know they’re going officer either because they’re in ROTC/JROTC or already have a plan for college. The poors are generally the ones that end up enlisted because they have fewer options. This is already the case.

So your wild guess would have probably been spot on. Required service just means they’ll have extra poors.

I was in the nuclear power program in the Navy. They’re some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with. It was the first time I was the dumbest guy in the room and, let me tell you, that’ll humble you very quickly. So they’re definitely not trying to make the smartest people officers because, while the officers there were fine, they had nothing on some of these guys.

I love building for Habitat. I’ve met so many genuinely good people there and have seen so many people pouring sweat equity into what will be their home or the home of another person getting a home. It’s the best I’ve ever felt doing hard work.

Yep. I’ve told this story before but I’m turning into a rambling old man so I’ll tell it again. Several years ago I got into making my own cheese as a short lived but delicious hobby. It’s legal for me to go buy raw milk from farmers so I did. A lot of the people I ran into while getting it were absolutely bonkers q-nut types.

100% of mine did.

The media keeps talking about him like he’s in his teens or early 20s where Joe gets to tell him what to do.

You’ve asked the wrong guy. All I know is it’s Kevin Costner.

Dances With Aliens was a masterpiece, dammit!!!

Seriously, it was fine I guess. Agreed that it looked fucking amazing in theaters.

That’s similar to me! Fix motorcycles, build guitars, travel, read, volunteer more, build electronics (specifically guitar pedals), and play music. I’ll actually probably drink less because I won’t be trying to cram as much as possible in my limited free time.

I prefer the little fake Nerf guns but same principle. You can get several and several darts for $15 and then you can do it in the house.