Seriously. There is no reason to believe in something that not only isn’t proven to exist, but can’t. That argument could be applied to nearly anything.

Vampires? Can’t prove they don’t exist, so may as well believe in them.

Fairies? Same.

Flying spaghetti monster? Prove it doesn’t exist.

Like, I don’t want to knock other people’s religions, and I’m not so arrogant as to think I have all the answers, but I just can’t stand the “you can’t prove XXXX doesn’t exist” argument.

I feel like the middle-aged guy that I am, because it keeps suggesting lawncare, forging (“can I melt and cast himilayan salt rocks?” He did, it was fantastic), silly engineering (“I’m going to see if I can 3d print a rifle that will make a nerf dart break the speed of sound…”), dnd (I don’t even play dnd, and i still enjoy the videos), and Jon Stewart. And… a weird mix of civil rights people showing bad behavior of police, and police supporter showing bad behavior of people (honestly both are entertaining, because police are awful and so are people).

But it doesn’t even try for that right-wing bullshit.

So here’s my time for this story:

When I was at a recruiting office for the Coast Guard, the recruiter asked why I specifically chose the Coast Guard over any other branches. I said I’m the type of person that if I volunteered for the military and then got sent to a situation where some 12-year-old with a gun was going to kill me if I didn’t kill him, I would not be able to absolve myself of the responsibility of having to kill a kid, even to defend myself, because even if I didn’t choose to be in that kid’s country, I relinquished my choice to the military, so I am still responsible. There’s nothing morally ambiguous about saving somebody who is drowning.

He said that was a dumb reason. I didn’t care.

Well, as it turns out, he was right, but not for the reason he thought at the time.

Make the Coast Guard Department of Transportation Again!

If I had the choice of the Yaris or another car, I would choose the other car. Because driving that car would make me at least low-level angry for the time I had it.

The Yaris ads did this to me. I got so pissed off by their “It’s a car” commercials that I absolutely despised the product.

Swinging with right hand, holding with left (for right-handed people). So you can see what you’ve done so far as you go, just like writing with your right hand from left to right.

Housing is assigned by rank, is available to anyone currently in contract

Not only that, but government owned housing is assigned not based on pay, rank, or whatever, but size of household. So an E-7 with no kids gets a 2 bedroom and an E-3 with three kids gets a four bedroom (depending on age/gender of the kids). So according to need.

Go way back. Legend.

Supernatural’s whole story arc was based on this (and it worked for them). Inevitably, to beat this big bad that the brothers have absolutely no business going toe-to-toe with, they must do something that is bound to catch up with them, but it’s either that or the world is fucked. Then the next thing is even worse, and they have to do something that will bite them even worse in order to stop the world from getting fucked. And it just keeps ramping up, they keep losing more and more of themselves and punching so far above their weight class that they end up… well, no spoilers, in case somebody wants to watch (and I don’t know how to do spoiler tags).

There’s a point when Sam has some injury, like a broken arm or gunshot wound or something, and he’s talking to a nurse or doctor who asks him to rate his pain from 0, which is no pain, to 10, which is the worst pain he could imagine. He gets a thousand-yard stare for a second and says “3.”

An old buddy of mine commented once on the amount if minor havoc you could wreak with a handful of chain bike locks. Cheap, wrap around some door handles and lock, walk away. Yeah, somebody can bust out a bolt cutter, but for the amount of challenge to remove it, the low cost per use, and the speed of application, it’s pretty impressive for minor mischief.

Relatively harmless, too, as long as you aren’t doing any additional nefarious shit. Might work for some gated community gates.

The origin and story of Dogman is certainly dark.

BONE!

So ultimately, the punishment for not believing is being destroyed? Like, oblivion?

Shit, this sounds like a win. I have no interest in eternal existence, even supposedly “blissful” existence. I feel like anyone who thinks of eternity on more than a surface level would feel nothing but existential dread.

1. Don’t carry credit card debt. Save money if you can. Get a handle on basic finances

Credit cards are this weird thing. If you need them, you shouldn’t use them (if you can help it). If you make plenty of money and don’t need them, they are a very useful financial tool. I have paid interest on one of my credit cards once in the past 3 years, and it was only to have extra available funds for buying a house. But I have accrued well over 100k airline miles and several hundred (far more than the interest I paid) in cash back. I use credit cards exclusively for everything but my mortgage, and have them set to automatically pay the statement balance prior to the due date. If you aren’t extremely confident you can do that, you should avoid credit cards.

I definitely ran afoul of credit cards in my youth, so the banks have gotten their pound of flesh from me.

That fuckin moose, man. I’m a dad, and that shit killed me.

I’ve told my kids that I don’t condone intiating violence, but if someone else starts getting physically violent first, feel free to fuck them up (provoking them will still get my kid in trouble, though).

However, if the institution itself fails to protect the kids, and my kid told me they and their friends were doing this on purpose, I’d take the day off for their suspension and take them to the arcade and a movie or something. And then I’d have a very serious talk with their principal.

…okay.

Maybe… don’t draw attention to it. Let this one slide. Give him a win. Let’s not make fun of him for doing a good thing, even if it’s for a silly reason. Hell, if it ends the Russia/Ukraine war with no loss of land for Ukraine (I would argue, best case scenario), and they want to give him a Nobel Peace Prize, let him have it. Remember, Kissinger got one, it’s not like it’s meant anything for a loooooong time.

Take what you can get.

So, to your first question (about Antifa), MAGA don’t consider what the current administration (or anything they support) to be fascist. Because they tend to put the conclusion before the question: “I am against fascism. I support these policies. Therefore these policies must not be fascist.”

And because they’ve decided these fascist policies are not fascist, the term “Antifa” to them is similar to “pro-life” for pro-choice people. It’s a term that isn’t exactly accurate but makes the group naming themselves look like the good guys. And in the same way that pro-choice people don’t consider themselves “anti-life” just because pro-life people call themselves that, MAGA people don’t consider themselves “pro-fascist” just because Antifa call themsleves that.

I would absolutely react more to my child getting killed than literally anyone else on the planet, what are you on about?

Though in fairness, if I had powers, I don’t think it would be a pursuit of justice or launch me on some path of heroism. Somebody would just die badly (assuming the initial killing was either deliberate or through willful neglect).

I cut my own hair every weekend. I’m in the military, though (and no, I don’t just shave it). I found that I do it more to my liking (and consistently) than the barbers I’ve gone to, it only takes 20 minutes, I don’t have to pay $30, and I can shower immediately after. I use a 6 (3/4 inch) on top, a 3 (3/8 inch) around the curve transitioning to the sides, and then fade down from there, 2 to 1.5 to 1 and finally .5 (1/16 inch) around my ears, side-burns, and most of the back. Keeps everything clean, I always look good, and I spend about $40 every year or two.