That’s a great Fitzgerald quote. I had to look it up. Written after The Great Gatsby but published shortly before, The Rich Boy is a novelette. From 1926.

1926. I fucking hate knowing history. I fucking hate feeling like Cassandra.

Sometimes a DIY icepick lobotomy doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

I’ll go with you.

I’m still going to want to have a hard talk with God about why She allows cancer babies and such…

Rock and roll. I’ve seen bad things happen when someone decides it’s a good idea to modernize a PC based CNC control. (I hate PC based controls). They get their own little fence to live inside where it’s always 1999.

At least the lathe isn’t running punch tape.

Don’t upgrade or mess with the control. Disconnect from the network if it’s on it. It should have RS-232. Throw a Pi or other SBC that does serial and a 12V level shifter; use that to feed it programs.

Also, make an image of the hard drive if it has one and start looking for a spare drive on ebay.

fucksock

Damn skippy. Gaslighting and basic ass lying are different things. But hey, it’s trendy right now. Next, we’ll find out how he’s a malignant narcissist.

Dude posted a shill review. It’s called shilling. It’s a form of lying for profit. He likely did it to advance his career or because he was afraid not to. His employer likely encouraged the action without directly ordering it.

AP telling the same story. Looked like Reuters was, as well, at a quick glance. So I guess this is confirmed.

What a terrible thing.

Neat. I think it goes back at least to the '90s. It’s a great descriptive word. I really hope it doesn’t get picked up by the wrong sorts. They already stole my yellow snake flag.

If it goes that far, it’s probably all over the US.

As the other commenter noted, heebie jeebies. In the US South it has been rounded off to “the heebs.” No racial connotation. Similar to being spooked or apprehensive without a known danger. Slang term. Never thought about it being mistaken.

Another slang term I use that is similar and is easily mistaken is, “bad juju.” It means bad magic, bad luck, or a curse. One day, when I build my dream car, I want it on a vanity plate.

Correct. US southern English.

I call it getting the heebs. Seeing a weird turn of phrase will set it off for me. This is my first time experiencing it from a leftist slant.

Used to watch the Russians clock in and go to work on TheDonald back in the day. They were really obvious.

The AstroTurf here is pretty nice, smells so much like grass you about can’t smell the bullshit. Better than Reddit, or Digg, or Slashdot, for now.

Maybe it’s time to take a trip down the Mother Road and try Usenet for actual discussion.

Deleted. Weird edit duplicate.

I’m sorry for your loss. They murdered your mother for profit and it enrages me. I’ve personally suffered at the bloody hands of the insurance companies as well. The insurance companies fill me with a cold deep rage. I hope all their leaders know fear before they come to their end.

I have kids as well. I’m no longer religious but I believe in Saint Luigi and pray that others are inspired by his noble actions. Truly.

If you’re willing, please share the name of the insurance company and the CEO that murdered your mother for money.

Crazy. That’s effectively prohibition, and we all know what that does to black and grey markets.

I have given up on trying to fight my nicotine addiction. Vape with homemade liquid because I’m cheap and I want to know what’s in it. Smoke pipes and occasionally a cigar as I really love tobacco. May grow my own tobacco at some point just to play with it. (From the US)

Anyhow, potato vines contain useful amounts of nicotine that can be extracted and used in e-liquid. Atomizers can be easily made from nichrome wire. If you can’t get it direct, guitar strings can be a source of wire after burn off. Vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol are easy to get anywhere.

Holy shit! At that point, you could probably turn a profit growing shitty tobacco in a greenhouse and selling it black market.

US made things that are the best or in a small group of the best:

Hand tools, power tools, machine tools, alloys, plastics, clothing/footwear, hardware, firearms, whiskey, porn, movies/shows, glass/ceramics, camping/outdoor, and all sorts of luxury items.

Affordability is a different issue. There are usually options that are good enough and cheaper.

Not original to me. Totally stole it.

Novel inbound. Don’t think I’ve ever written this down.

I hadn’t heard of the big mountain lion from Florida, I’ll have to look into it. Nifty.

I have heard that the lions in Florida experienced a bad genetic bottleneck and are inbred and won’t survive long term without intervention. There has been discussion about bringing in fresh breeding stock to try and help them, don’t know if its been instituted.

I saw mine deep in the woods, about 10mi north of a place called Cougar Holler. (I heard about that holler after this.) I saw the cat in Skyline WMA in North Alabama. Was 2mi from a road, no trail, after dark, coming up the side of a holler.

On a flat spot up the side, almost to the top, I saw what looked like green headlights coming towards me. It was confusing because you couldn’t even get a four wheeler in there and it was quiet. Realized it was eyes as it got closer, we were moving towards each other. Got to about 20 yards and realized it was a giant cat. LED lamp, so color isn’t great/lot of green, but it looked like gold/tan fur and white belly. Its tail was proportionally shorter than a house cat and longer than a bobcat. End of the tail was squarish, almost tufted. Face was blocky and a little flatter than a common housecat. It was twice, maybe three times the size of a bobcat, so probably a juvenile.

The way it moved was like a snake slithering. It was up on a deadfall, and it kept sliding out of my light. It slid off the log towards me. At that point I drew my handgun and started growling and hissing. It stopped and stared at me and I kept moving towards it. It turned back the way it came and just casually slithered away. It wasn’t afraid of me, just no longer interested.

I know bobcats and house cats. This was not that.

I will never, ever, forget its eyes or the way it moved. The entire event is burned into my memory. Adrenaline was up, but I wasn’t scared, living in the moment, excited. Got the shakes when I made it back to my truck and sat down.

One of the peak experiences of my life.

Yup. Unfortunately, once released, the magic smoke is gone and cannot be replaced.