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I commit more violence every time I take my morning dump than you've probably ever managed in your entire life and I'm barely in the middle of the pack around here in that respect. Some of these guys break out their own teeth when they get bored and there's nobody more deserving around.

Just say violence is never acceptable or desirable and get it over with.

Boy, are YOU in the wrong crowd.

ECH, there's always Eastern WA!

Yeah, I used to hang out in the Tri Cities area and still have good friends there, but the wage scale for what I do isn't optimal. If I could find a job that would make the wage/cost of living equation look favorable I'd seriously consider it.

This is a large part of the reason we're fucked.

At least 50% of the people with the "correct" worldview are such twunts that it becomes very difficult to care about "winning" when it just means more of the same with different window dressing.

I mean yeah, systemic oppression and violence are terrible things but you know what else is terrible? Boring self-righteousness. And frankly, if I've got a gun to my head I'm not choosing boring self-righteousness over systemic violence and oppression.

I don't think you get that the only thing that laughter gets you is to be put in the category of non-factor along with the audience of colbert, noah, the British nerd and the rest. You've become the laugh track of the big bang theory.

Jesus, I bet you're fun at parties.

You know, those things you'd get invited to if you weren't such a twatty killjoy.

I guess you could say I do have an ethical problem if this is the shit you find humorous. That's fear induced laughter. Violence seems way more appropriate.

I just want to point out that FUCK YOU for telling anyone else what they should or shouldn't find humor in.

Seriously, go choke on a Buick.

Doc says I oughtta give up all the good stuff.

I asked for a second opinion, which turned out to be "or move to the desert".

Only way I'd do that is if I could get full custody of my daughter and move her with me. Only way I could do THAT is if I could afford a really good lawyer. Only way I could do THAT is if I end up taking this ship job, but the medical stuff might make it impossible for me to pass the physical to get my MMC. I've got a feeling I should go buy some lube before the universe decides to move on from the foreplay.

The desert allergens are fucking horrible.  They start about 18 months after you move here.

What allergens? Javelina poop and meth particles? Where I live the pollen and the mold are locked in a nuclear arms race vying for ultimate supremacy and I apparently have some bullshit they're calling a "hyper-reactive airway disease" which as near as I can tell is medical speak for "this is probably caused by a combination of environmental factors but without a shitload of expensive tests that aren't covered by your insurance we'll never know exactly what those are" so I imagine that anywhere drier and even slightly less allergenic (which is, basically, anywhere else in the world that people live) would be an improvement, medically speaking.

Of course, there's a whole fuck of a lot more to a man's quality of life than just being able to stay alive. But still, I'd be lying if I said that a year of struggling to breathe hasn't at least made me consider the idea.

Doc says I oughtta give up all the good stuff.

I asked for a second opinion, which turned out to be "or move to the desert".

Only way I'd do that is if I could get full custody of my daughter and move her with me. Only way I could do THAT is if I could afford a really good lawyer. Only way I could do THAT is if I end up taking this ship job, but the medical stuff might make it impossible for me to pass the physical to get my MMC. I've got a feeling I should go buy some lube before the universe decides to move on from the foreplay.

I clicked on this thread expecting it to immediately turn into a barrel of ridiculous stupidity.

I was not even remotely disappointed.

And as usual, Cain beat me to the punch and was far more eloquent about it.

I had this horrible facebook thread a few weeks ago

the topic was "Should transwomen be allowed to compete in women's MMA?"

-A transwoman was making the case that Yes, Trans women are real women and it's transphobic to say otherwise.
-Another guy chimed in to point out that HRT doesn't represent a total physical transformation, there are still things like bone structure...

and I think there are some things worth discussing there, but the discussion rapidly deteriorated into camp politics and name calling. It was like neither side really had the tools to change anybody's mind.


I couldn't help but feel like this exact thing is playing out a thousand times a day. And the organic tumblr-fed "It's not my job to educate you" meme has really hurt us. I'm not saying the left is responsible for the alt-right, not at all. But the way these discussions play out definitely feeds it.


I want to be clear that I'm not signing up as champion of this #altwoke thing, I'm still chewing on it.

But let's look at how points actually get scored in the year of our lady discord 2017.

Why did Milo's book get pulled? Was it because people beat him in a theater of ideas? Was it because crowds stopped showing up for him? Was it because intersectional politics actually beats regressive shitlord politics? Not in the slightest. We just smeared him.

And it worked.

Should we feel bad about that?

My initial hot take is that while this can certainly be a useful tactic, it's probably not an ideal long-term strategy.

So he's been reading Zerohedge?

Oh wow. So 60 missiles to scuff up a runway and damage some non working assets.

This does sound quite like the administration we know and loathe: incompetent and inept.

Book formally open for the date troops get sent in. Half an empty ashtray on June.

Drippings from a can of stale "beer" on August. Can not included.

I've got a can of Dinty Moore "Beef" Stew on "too late guys, we already sent 400 marines in about a month ago."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/world/middleeast/us-troops-syria.html?_r=0

I remember when ECH was reviewing shitty 4loko flavours.  Dark times, man, dark times.

They lost me when they took the caffeine out of it. I don't half-ass my cheapshit buzzes.

I think I just decided to go back to sea.

I'm gonna quit smoking pot after I finish my meager stash this weekend. I'm a candidate for a promotion to a managerial spot at my current job, which would maybe be enough money to convince me to stick around, but I'm unlikely to get the spot as a first-time candidate in a company where there are going to be long-time employees fighting tooth and nail for the position. But one of my old AUTEC buddies from the Phoenix days works for a company that does long-distance ocean tug runs to Alaska and Honolulu. Said company just happens to be based in my city. I already have a current TWIC card so I just need to pass a piss test, get a sea time letter from my old captain, and fill out some forms and pay some fees and get my MMC as an A/B. I'd basically be doubling my income immediately and it's a union gig (IBU - awesome union) so the benefits are as good or better than my current amazing benefits package.

Downside, of course, is being out at sea for a month+ at a time away from my kid. But she's young enough that this will just be normal to her pretty quickly and when I'm home for a month I'll be able to spend all the time with her. And be able to pay for daycare. And eventually a good school, since that'll be a thing by then. And a house with a yard.

And I'll get to cook whatever I want with an essentially unlimited food budget. And nobody is more appreciative of good food than sailors. Sounds like I'd mostly just be cooking during transits and maybe standing the occasional watch once they're convinced I'm not a total fuck-up, but I'd have to do deckwork when we're in port loading and unloading cargo. That's actually awesome because under the union contract, any time spent working with cargo on deck is an extra $20 an hour on top of whatever your day rate is.

Their work schedule starts really picking up in May and June so I'm gonna make sure I can pee clean by early May with an eye towards getting to the USCG Rec Center before Memorial Day weekend to finish the process and be ready to ship out at the start of June when my daughter's mom will be done with school for the summer.