State of the Discussion

The posts in play...

What’s up, doxx?
(14)
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The Return of the Boat Hook
(12)
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Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny
(17)
+
Let’s start calling a thug a thug
(81)
+
Opinions on settings
(17)
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The comments...

Tony P.
+ russell: For folks heading out to No Kings tomorrow, stay safe and to whatever degree you can bring joy to it. I’m sorry to say [. . .]
wjca
+ For serious animism, one of my favorite memories is still Faith healing for computers: Operations called Systems Programming because a (mainframe) disk drive was misbehaving. [. . .]
Snarki, child of Loki
+ I've had MANY experiences of threatening computers/printers/projectors with impending demise, after which they stop messing about and behave. At least for a while. One was [. . .]
`wonkie
+ Thank you JP for the article about Shinto. I have no religion but the closest thing that really resonates with me is petroglyphs. Why? Clearly [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ I believe Michael Cain has also been known to talk to (or taunt) computers….More threaten than taunt. Most famously, in a hotel ballroom in [. . .]
wjca
+ I don't know about other professions, but I suspect everybody in IT spends some work time cursing when, inevitably, things don't go smoothly. Whether they are [. . .]
GftNC
+ I know they aren’t but that doesn’t stop me from saying “Excuse me” when I stub my toe on the coffee table, or shouting, “Not [. . .]
`wonkie
+ Thank you for posting! I hope we get some tales of the weird. That draft has some typos that I forgot to correct. I've always [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus

Russell, if it is ok, I'd like to lift up your comment as next week's music thread?

russell
+ This first article on this page might be of interest for folks wanting more Ai, rumba!! Allow me to digress. Rumba in its various forms is / [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ Thanks so much for the guestpost wonkie! I waited a bit to get it closer to Halloween. Other writing eagerly sought. The idea that inanimate things [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ Fun stuff everyone. Just to pull out a few things I miss salsa. At least that gives you both sides of the clave. My playing experience has [. . .]
russell
+ MAGAs do not want to share the world with anyone else. Not sharing is the point of the movement They are in for a big disappointment, [. . .]
russell
+ There’s also, though, the antifa types who see themselves as mutual aid groups, who are there to offer medical support and protection to other groups [. . .]
GftNC
+ I was standing in the grocery the other day when I heard Mick Jagger wailing, “You’re enough to make a dead man come!” And I [. . .]
nous
+ Similar to Mike's Math Tape, I wrote most of my dissertation while playing a mix of albums from A Beautiful Machine, which was all washed [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ or for (as my students tell me) “vibing” to as they chill or do other things. Breaks in pattern and variations distract from the vibe [. . .]
nous
+ russell - As an aside, this has always been one of my issues with antifa and similar. The folks they want to fight would like [. . .]
`wonkie
+ MAGAs do not want to share the world with anyone else. Not sharing is the point of the movement Nous mentioned the soundtrack by which his [. . .]
russell
+ Hey, that's actually a really good breakdown of reggaeton. Clear and succint and accurate. I am completely ignorant of Bad Bunny's work because (a) rap [. . .]
russell
+ John Lennon's words are, I think, appropriate in the current situation. When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the [. . .]
GftNC
+ But all of that aside, as a purely strategic matter, it’s a really bad idea to give Trump any reason to send the army into [. . .]
nous
+ The repetitiveness of reggaeton is a feature, rather than a bug, for most fans of the genre. It's meant for dancing to in a hot, [. . .]
`wonkie
+ Well, I've gone from having no clue who he was to having a great deal of respect! Thank you for all the insights, LJ. That's [. . .]
nous
+ If I were to formulate a hunch about "Yonaguni," I'd say that there are a few different synergies at work there. Given El Conejo Malo's [. . .]
russell
+ then couldn’t get the charge to stick? Grand jury would not indict, which has become a way for regular folks to resist bullshit acts of overzealous [. . .]
nous
+ ...and to get ahead of any posts about quick concrete in protesters' milkshakes: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/how-a-dubious-claim-of-cement-milkshakes-in-portland-became-a-right-wing-meme/ There have to be plenty of officers who believe that meme, though, and [. . .]
nous
+ russell - Clean your damned house. You have rats in the walls. A fitting metaphor. The GOP, like Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," have a [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus

GftNC

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/politics/trump-sandwich-assault-indictment-justice-department.html

To be fair, it was a Subway salami sandwich, which isn't really their best offering.

wjca
+ Actual, you know, convictions for assault might be persuasive. But just getting charged? Not so much, considering how often the charges get dropped. [. . .]
russell
+ Here is where I am today as regards calling a thug a thug. This week we had folks in the Young Republicans organization telling us they [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ From Propublica, via LGM But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced. Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. [. . .]
GftNC
+ I’ll also note, for everyone’s edification, that the much more modest increase is for charges of assault. I take every one of these charges with a grain [. . .]
nous
+ From NPR: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/10/nx-s1-5565146/white-house-claims-more-than-1-000-rise-in-assaults-on-ice-agents-data-says-otherwise While the number of assaults on ICE agents have increased, there is no public evidence that they have spiked as dramatically as [. . .]
GftNC

I think I'll pass for now, lj!

Liberal Japonicus

Tony P and GftNC, those are cookies from your browser. I'd be happy to make you both subscribers!

GftNC

I presume I'm not a subscriber. And my handle and email are also automatically filled in.

GftNC
+ What TonyP just said, particularly this masterfully sly section: Maybe the facts ARE exactly what the “official government website” (with its “Democrats have shut down the [. . .]
Tony P.

Am I a "subscriber"? Or is it just my Firefox browser that's filling in my name and email automatically?
--TP

wjca
+ And to be picky, I don’t think there is anything to support Noem’s claim that there has been a 700% increase in these incidents. I [. . .]
Tony P.
+ I am anti-fascist. One implication of that is: I want criminals locked up, not people who the government says are criminals. Lawyers surely [. . .]
Pro Bono
+ People should be able to do their jobs without having their home addresses published. People in a position of power should not be able to act [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ I've changed it to 5 links and 28 days. I was tempted to change it to either 23 or 29 because they are prime numbers, [. . .]
nous
+ So it's okay to violate constitutional rights and due process so long as ICE can trot out a few actual criminals afterwards. Gotta burn the constitution [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ I’d love to get rid of the current avatar images though. I usually use a photo of this old bronze head in other places.WordPress [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Here's an odd request, and I have no idea if the current comment plugin supports it. I'd like to have a "reply" button at [. . .]