Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
Burnt out, over the hill autistic IT nerd and longtime SSC lurker
User ID: 3219
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
2d ago
Baneslayer: System of Nil Book 1 by Tim Paulson. 3/5, mostly because the MC is progressing unbelievably fast by defeating mobs that are much higher than his own level. Normally I'd probably dip out on reading the larger series but alas, I bought 5 of them on Kindle Countdown Deals so as long as it stays decent, I'll probably continue to read it. Alas.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
4d ago
It reminds me of all those show runners that end season 1 on this show altering cliff hanger/climax, and then completely chicken out and backtrack in the first episode of season 2.
Preach!
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
9d ago
I remember back during the war on terror, one right wing blog or another, maybe Little Green Footballs (whatever happened to that guy?)
He ultimately went back to hugging his television and deciding never to fight again.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
9d ago
The Pilgrims of the Damned: The Assembly Book 3 by Steve McHugh. Book 1 never did get too political, and the writing is still pretty snappy, so we're going with it. MC is looking more and more like an expy of his previous MC as time goes by, but it's been long enough since I've read the Hellequin chronicles that this isn't an issue for me.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
12d ago
The Commitments
"It's roid, Sally, roid, not roy-id, Sally, roy-id!"
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
12d ago
Humans like to feel like we are at the top of the chain when it comes to the complexity and depth of our emotions, but it’s possible that God sees our grief, our suffering, our deaths, the same we see the pain and death of animals. We have pets we love and want only the best for, but from their perspective, we do unexplainable actions that cause them pain, like taking them to a bad place where a stranger pokes them with sharp painful objects.
I can't help but be reminded of my favorite formulation of this general viewpoint and quote it directly here, where a believer is directly addressing the doubts of a doubter:
Seems to me that you assuming something you shouldn't assume. That God sees the world like you do. One thing at a time. From just one spot. Seems to me that He is supposed to be everywhere, know everything. Think about that. He knows what you're feeling, how you're hurting. Feels my pain, your pain, like it was His own. Hell, son. Question isn't how could God care about just one person. Question is, how could he not.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
13d ago
What kind of novel is it? I'm not an editor or anything, but I read voraciously in general and 5k doesn't sound like a huge lift to read, especially by Motte standards...
Those Who Dwell in Darkness: The Assembly Book 1 by Steve McHugh. Well written and engaging thus far, though it also seems to be flirting with the, "does this remind you of anything," trope just enough to consistently ping my awareness while not actually veering into thinly disguised political commentary.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
14d ago
Turned out to be more complicated, but unsurprisingly parents in the all-too-common autist/cluster B pairing managed to produce a bunch of weirdo kids.
So that's why the other kids kept duct taping me to the flagpole...
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
23d ago
You left out the part where over a period of time the private server is highly likely to devolve as the politics between the mods unfolds and evolves. Alas. :(
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
27d ago
The early 2010's kind of feel like it was a peak of information availability/quality. And things seem to have deteriorated back to everyone being in the dark about world happenings.
Funny, I'd go no further than the late aughts, personally. In my view, the witches' brew of social media plus SEO had already matured enough to the point that said brew was being used to greatly amplify information ops bullshitting and spin doctoring by the teens. Regardless, I'd firmly agree that we're in a wilderness of mirrors at this point and have been, in my estimation, for about a decade now, if not longer.
Most recent American wars didn't turn into forever wars, though. The first Bush's Gulf War
I mean, there were the over 280,000 sorties flown to enforce the no-fly zones that were created to protect the Shiites and the Kurds, the attempted assassination of Bush 41, resulting in a cruise missile strike in retaliation, Saddam mobilizing troops and sending them to Kuwait in 1994 because of the sanctions, which in turn prompted Operation Vigilant Warrior to encourage those troops to go back, Operation Desert Strike in 1996 in response to Saddam's mobilizing troops (again) and sending them to Arbil (after which the no fly zone was extended to the 33rd parallel), and then Operation Desert Fox in 1998 after Saddam kicked out the weapons inspectors and called them CIA agents, and after which Saddam stopped respecting the no-fly zones at all, started firing at coalition planes, and offered bounties for any planes that were shot down, a situation which continued right up until the second Gulf War, so there was plenty of military action to go around. Now whether or not that amount of military action amounts to a forever war is, in my book, squarely in the eye of the beholder. Call it fire-y but mostly peaceful, maybe.
I mean, the Irish are the blacks of Europe, and the Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland, so...
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