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Frank Poole's death scene in 2001 A Space Oddessey.  I think I was 5 when it aired on TV.

Should I add that one to my list of "Things I need to experience at some point because they are common cultural references but I missed because I had a sheltered/ uncultured upbringing".

PBS did it in charcoal animation and it was the second worst TV moment for me as a child.

"Look at this golden statue with it's jeweled eyes" It's grey...
"Look all the gold has been removed from the statue" It's still grey...
Honestly, it's quite the story to tell young kids. "Rich people are terrible and poor people suffer and die early. But, God! So, heartwarming. Right?"
But I guess kids have to learn these things eventually.

If this was the second worst, what was the worst TV moment for you as a child?

That brings back some nearly forgotten memories. My parents used to read this story to the family each Christmas when I was a kid. I kind of wonder if they read us a simplified version for kids, or more likely, I just lacked the experience and vocabulary to understand most of it so only the simplified outline remained in my head.

Thank you for the link and the trip down memory lane.

Management just sent out the email. Masks are no longer universally enforced. But only if you are vaccinated (No Lying  ). I'm surrounded by Trumpists, (today, one literally printed off a "Liberal tears" graphic on the printer next to my desk so he can tape it to his new mug) and can guess that a few of them haven't gotten vaccinated. Almost all the masks are gone. More than one person has assumed that I haven't gotten the vaccine yet because I've still got my mask on. I got the J&J almost 2 months ago (thank you govt contractor "essential worker" status). I enjoy the look on their faces when I tell them I'm vaxed. I don't get to witness that moment of confusion every day (I clearly don't try hard enough). Call me paranoid, that's fine, I'm gonna wait at least a few weeks to see if infections/ deaths spike back up and see how the different new variants shake out. Let everyone else beta-test the environment. After that, I'll make a decision about whether I feel comfortable shedding my mask.

P.S. I switched to a new department after the masks were enforced. I've not seen the faces of several of these people before today. Some of them are uglier than I'd imagined  I imagine some of them will think the same about me.

I've not been introduced to Queen Gogira. I am but a quiet simpleton and lack the faith that I am worthy of anyone's time.

Oh... Just googled. now I feel like a dumb. So that is what "QG" in QGPennyworth stands for. I've seen them around the forms and I've poked through the 2017 edition of Holy Nonsense. But I've never actually had a conversation with them.

You should.  Your stuff is good, and should go in the next issue.

That means a lot to me coming from you. I'll consider it. And I'll try posting here more frequently.

I've not been introduced to Queen Gogira. I am but a quiet simpleton and lack the faith that I am worthy of anyone's time.

Oh... Just googled. now I feel like a dumb. So that is what "QG" in QGPennyworth stands for. I've seen them around the forms and I've poked through the 2017 edition of Holy Nonsense. But I've never actually had a conversation with them.

I for one have been enjoying your Billy Chronicles and this Hey Louie series and going through the gems of threads that you necro.

For what it's worth, Dok, from my point of view, you are the reason this place is alive at all at this point. The reason it is dying is for a myriad of reasons, most of which probably have a much larger affect than this beef between you and the butt-hurt person, but I won't fault you for assigning an outsized blame to the beef, you know more about it then I do anyway.

The way I see it, the internet is kind of headed in a sucky direction in general. You are either fed an algorithm tailored stream of pablum, Or you wander through the wild west of non-curated internet which is about 99.99% composed of blood pressure hazard and cyber syphilis. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir to re-iterate the obvious, individual humans don't get along well with most other humans. Trolls and haters have won, they've exhausted the mental energies of everyone else and now it is rare to see anyone willing to engage on illegible stages. Lines are drawn, people stand on their sides and watch trolls and knights fight.

I apologize for mostly being a vacuous and silent lurker and a leech. I guess I just severely discount the value of my own potential contributions.

This wasn't the cool brilliance of a 65W porch light to which it had grown accustomed.
This was the flickering, enchanting light of an open flame torch.
Evolution allows for a lot of stupidity. I need no more proof of this than a mirror.

I admire the participants and the works on this forum. But I often wonder if the aspects of my psyche which cause my admiration, are the same aspects that make me utterly unfit to aspire to your company. The energy with which you lot engage in spats (friendly or otherwise) I can see clearly enough because it contrasts my own timid and tired, unconfrontational demeanor. Your willingness to repeatedly scrape your fingers against the rough edges of reality in order to dislodge a few hard won concepts to use as tools for navigating your lives, vs my tortured metaphors, stuffed with fancy words, and devoid of all useful substance. I feel compelled to continue because of the rule of threes, but it's probably best to cut this short.

From the quiet moth to the roaring flame...
From the unwary grayface cabbage that came wandering into the discordian spaces...
I'm probably going to break due to my attraction to you some day.
I'm not sure it can be helped.
Apologies in advance if it's necessary,
for leaving my smoldering corpse nearby,
and all my other fundamental misunderstandings.

BREAKING NEWS!

Man with history of throwing people under buses, throws more people under a bus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG4rBlac-UE

Not a bad speech, though.  Didn't sound a whit like Trump.  I'm surprised he read it.  I wonder who wrote it.

Watching this made me very uncomfortable. Like if the camera was to pan right would we see his kids with a gun to their heads.

Anyone got an over/under on when he returns to his usual rhetoric of "We won by a landslide, I never concede"?

The pundits I tune into have been breathing a sigh of relief at this video and saying "Its finally over, he concedes". And I scream "Have You Learned Nothing!"

"Babe, I didn't mean it I swear, just come back!" says the abuser.

I give him till next Tuesday before he is back at it again.

All I remember about this thread was being told I was bad for insisting the South's overall strategic position was bad, and thus going to war was stupid, by people with no experience in strategic analysis.

Been reading from the beginning since Doktor dug it up. Just passed the point where you concluded your interactions Cain. That was a pretty succinct summary of your part.

Reading this thread has been an alright way of passing the time being stuck at work with not enough work.

I definitely waffle back and forth between my competing instincts of either attempting a Nigel (Some attempt to step away from the emotional kneejerk to really unpick and understand aspects of an emotionally charged topic to consider arguments from both sides) or saying fk it, it isn't worth the time and effort, bad people are bad people and that is all the analysis needed.

Were you able to avert the move to Wyoming?

Happy Birthday Dok! I'm wishing you the best!

https://iowastartingline.com/2020/10/28/trump-supporters-left-stranded-at-freezing-omaha-airport/

https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1321416587363131396

tl;dr Bus drivers wanted to be paid upfront for work, Trump campaign (which hasn't paid a lot of other cities for the cost of their campaign rallies) said "you'll have to sue us" so bus drivers left stranding a bunch of trump supporters in the cold. The supporters probably won't learn anything. Just another slow news day in 2020 I guess.

Who wants to join with me in imbibing a little schadenfreude?

Sorry, I spread misinfo. It's not confirmed that this is what happened (trump campaign stiffing bus drivers, this was someone's guess). but trump supporters really did get left freezing after the rally somehow.

https://iowastartingline.com/2020/10/28/trump-supporters-left-stranded-at-freezing-omaha-airport/

https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1321416587363131396

tl;dr Bus drivers wanted to be paid upfront for work, Trump campaign (which hasn't paid a lot of other cities for the cost of their campaign rallies) said "you'll have to sue us" so bus drivers left stranding a bunch of trump supporters in the cold. The supporters probably won't learn anything. Just another slow news day in 2020 I guess.

Who wants to join with me in imbibing a little schadenfreude?

Well, that was fun to watch.