Replying to
@bloor
Because nothing beats the feeling at the end of a week when you can say, "Well, it _almost_ worked."
Remote
Professor Stevens
@Professor_Stevens@mastodon.gamedev.place
mastodon 4.7.3Comp Sci and Immersive Media faculty member at Univ. of Md, USA.
538 Followers
33 Following
50 Posts
Joined January 06, 2024
Joined for Real:
Nov 04, 2022 (different instance)
What:
SF fan
When:
Late 1950s
Where:
College Park, MD USA
Replying to
Every time they do this, they say, "It was an enemy stronghold. The patients were being used as human shields."
Well...
-
They never offer any proof of this at all.
-
So?
Replying to
@georgetakei
I'm glad he's speaking against it, but I think he's got it wrong: What makes this sickening is that it appears this is exactly who we are. We very much need to be someone else, but, right now, that's who we are.
Replying to
@MediaActivist
I'll believe a solar panel can operate with 130% efficiency when Donald Trump lowers drug prices by 600%.
Easter candy.
Worldwide belief in the classical "God" remains fairly high, depending on (of course) what you mean by that word/name.
How about Mastodonians?
I believe in...
Replying to
@mmiasma@mastodon.sdf.org
Same. But this much we already have: 1) A majority of the voters wanted to replace him; and 2) He wasn't able to stop them from casting their votes.
Unlike another fascist, he's also not denying the results or saying the election was stolen. So it's a good day to be on our side.
Replying to
@tinfoiling
Woz is the obvious choice, because he seems like the least obnoxious, the most honest success story, and a bit like how a lot of us perceive ourselves. But I've read his story so fully that I don't think I'd gain much by meeting him. Might actually cost me something.
I picked Zuck. His Facebook platform banned me for, afaik, no reason whatsoever. There is no appeal. No support contact. Nothing.
I picked Zuck so I could say, "Fuck you, Zuck," to his stupid face.
Replying to
@ApostateEnglishman @geekysteven
You are quite right. Use of the subjunctive form is fading, but remains a reliable marker of education in formal writing. As the OP is making sly use of language both to support a liberal POV and talk smack about the opposition, I would venture that precision in wording is one way to make the edge a little sharper.
Then again, I still think "decimate" means "reduce by one-tenth," and "literally" means, well, "literally."
Mine is a lonely path.
Well. The fascists do lose sometimes.
https://apnews.com/article/hungary-election-orban-magyar-trump-1a4eb0ba6b94e0c80c3cd18bd36254ab
Your long-time good friend gets drunk one night and posts a short, blatantly racist item online. The next morning, they realize what they've done, delete the post, and post an apology with no excuses.
Your response is to...
What kind of hubris does it take to start a war by attacking another country first, see that country retaliate by closing a shipping lane, then offer them a ceasefire, and take credit for it when that means they reopen the shipping lane they were never planning to close in the first place?
https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-04-07-2026#0000019d-6a6d-d842-addd-faff4e760000
Replying to
@danslerush@floss.social @aral@mastodon.ar.al
He thinks he can force the people of Iran into a panic that will produce an overnight revolution. That won't happen, but he will say it did.
I expect the rest of the world is betting on this, that he will back off, saying he saved Iran by threatening to exterminate Iran.
But that only explains why there are no answers to your questions. It doesn't answer them. America's former allies should disown us for this. Why don't they? I don't know. I just don't know.
For no particular reason, I'm choosing today to get an early start on a JOMO weekend. Boring Artemis II can do its boring free-return ballistic trip without my constant supervision. Trump can murder more Iranians without my witnessing. The climate can get worse without my knowing by how much.
I'll be building a better world over here in my own corner.
Same as if I were reading the news.
I'm a Navy brat. April is The Month of the Military Child.
So hug a brat this month. (I could use one myself, actually.)
Professional soldiers must be hating life these days.
This hurts. It hurts because I had posters of the Apollo missions all over my walls in the '60s. I had my own "mission control" with two TVs, a tape recorder, a short wave radio, and a typewriter on TV trays in an arc around a chair in my bedroom. One of the high points of my life was meeting Col. Buzz Aldrin.
I will NEVER forget seeing Armstrong step off the LEM.
And tomorrow, I will be out at a party when Artemis II lifts off, because...
I just don't care anymore.
https://weather.com/science/space/news/2026-03-30-artemis-ii-launch-schedule?cm_ven=hp-slot-2
Replying to
@MarkHoltom
This tells us that the guy who said, "Keep your eye upon the donut, and not upon the hole," did not own a kitten and an acoustic. (And, if he did, that he did not string the latter during a nap.)
Replying to
@jalefkowit@vmst.io
Brother, we are all of us going to hell. So laugh all you want.
Replying to
@wicche@kvlt.zone
Chuck.
@ElenLeFoll
This never would have happened if they'd adopted the Euro. Neither would Brexit, I'd say.
Replying to
@CheapPontoon@beige.party
Heh. I like that one because, as is the case with all the best gags, I had to think about it before I got it.
Would it still work as "...trying to impress a famous actress?"
Replying to
@hal_pomeranz@infosec.exchange
That's... deep.
Replying to
@geekysteven
Were. If it were... 😉
Replying to
@hteasley@mastodon.scot
I see things like this, and the more recent "Donald Christ" version, and I wonder, "How can his followers not feel stupid?"
But a very shallow bit of Googling reveals the answer: In every case of this stuff, the fact that we go ballistic over it is deemed to be what he had in mind all along. They don't see what we see (which is clear evidence of malignant narcissism). They see what keeps them coming back for more (which is that he irritates us).
Call it what it is, but stay calm.
Replying to
@rjblaskiewicz
Brother, you are a professor. You play guitar in a performing band. You are a historian with research credentials.
I don't give a shit what some functionary thinks of you.
(Spoiler: You don't either.)
Replying to
@rjblaskiewicz
When I was there, we felt an actual earthquake. Top that.
To my fellow USA'ns about to do their taxes: I have used Turbo Tax in many prior years. This year, I used FreeTaxUSA. It was cheaper, faster, easier, and 100% online.
How sad is it that one of the "historic" aspects of the Artemis II mission is that it is the first time humans have returned to the orbit of the moon in over 50 years?
https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/artemis-ii-launch-photos-b87b2d017672b6dd323ccf9c224c4909
Replying to
@mmiasma
Certainly not people much darker than his facial spray. And, I hate to say this because now it sounds sadly naive, but I had thought his "strong man" act was bluster and fantasy on his part. Even if it weren't, I had thought decent Americans in positions of power and responsibility would stop him before he actually engaged in wholesale slaughter.
Looks like I was wrong. Twice.
Replying to
@mmiasma
As distractions go, I've seen more effective choices than trying to take everyone's mind off of the fact that one is an abuser of a lot of young girls by murdering a lot of young girls.
Replying to
@aral@mastodon.ar.al
I cannot believe I am watching this happen with my own eyes.
Day Two of my long JOMO weekend. I haven't looked at the news, and I know Trump sacked Bondi, he committed another criminal attack on civilians, and farmers are hurting from the war raising fertilizer prices.
If you have Mastodon, you don't need to read the news. If comes to you.
Replying to
@tuomas_h@mastodon.social
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!
Replying to
@aral@mastodon.ar.al
When it comes to the political process you're part of the solution, or you're part of the problem. There are no sidelines.
The oath of a commissioned officer in the United States military does not include sworn obedience to the president, while the oath of enlisted members does include it.
I hope our officers will be thinking about that tonight.
Happy 100th Birthday, Amazing Stories! (Actually went on sale, March 10, 1926, but its first issue was the April, 1926, edition.)
Replying to
@rjblaskiewicz
Mine was:
The Griffith Observatory
The Bradbury Building
Vasquez Rock
I got to all three and still had time to hang out with my son and visit some of his friends.
Replying to
@troed@swecyb.com
This is my world: Majel Barrett is now "The voice of the computer in ST:TNG." The woman who created the character who made unrequited love for Spock a thing, and who was the first to play a Trek second-in-command, is now "the voice of the computer in ST:TNG."
A piece of my life just died.
Replying to
@gdinwiddie@mastodon.social
Will I ever read enough science fiction? Have enough love? See enough basketball games? For those who crave money, it isn't the amount that matters: it's the process.
Heller is saying he had enough money. I take him at his word. But would he have said he had enough writing?
Replying to
@aral@mastodon.ar.al @georgetakei@universeodon.com
He'd get volunteers, if he asked.
This has gone on for some time. Do you think a group letter, like, on actual paper with a lot of signatures, would get him to do it? I suspect he's not personally aware this criticism is coming up.
Replying to
@georgetakei@universeodon.com
All voters, too.
Replying to
@redsad@ohai.social
Bang the rocks together.
Replying to
@aral@mastodon.ar.al @georgetakei@universeodon.com
Maybe even more likely to work if we could invite an appropriate support group to provide the letterhead.
Someone please explain stupid wars to me. I'm clearly not smart enough to understand stupid wars.
The strait was open before Trump's stupid war. Then Iran blocked it. Then we blocked it. Then Iran opened it. Then we blocked it again. Then Iran blocked it. So now we want to open it.
Is this all just so no one knows we're losing?
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-trump-strait-hormuz-f8d20baa977b2162ba235a1bbfd4246f
Replying to
@hal_pomeranz@infosec.exchange
I get that. But wouldn't winning be a better tactical play for that? I mean, I keep hearing about how the US military is bigger than the biggest big military has ever been big. Bigger than that, even.
Didn't this big war start over four of the biggest months ago? Wouldn't, you know, a big victory be a big way to get people to have a big celebration and stop with the big interest in the big Epstein files? Bigly?
Are we really losing?
Replying to
@iwein@mas.to @aral@mastodon.ar.al @georgetakei@universeodon.com
Great idea.
People should do that.
You go first.
Replying to
@Alice@beige.party
Try working in a scientific profession.
NEW-kew-lur.
TEMPA-choor.
ARE-tick.
LAB-a-tory.
YOU-ler.