Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I rely heavily on agriculture in Tradle, what kind of fish or animal products or plants they grow. Usually gets me to a region in the world pretty quickly, especially with those damn little islands.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Smoked oysters in olive oil over arugula with balsamic vinegar and some lemon juice with those little asian crunchy noodles cracked. Use the olive oil in the tin. It'll be adequate.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I’m still working on grilling. And, like magic, within 30 minutes of reading this post, I received a call from my mother who announced she was sending me this:

https://shop.islandcreekoysters.com/...t-in-the-sauce

That’s good mojo.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Ahh, right. I was still pretty drunk this morning when Penske and I left your mom's place. And we both felt soooo guilty for going behind your back, so I gave her an extra $200 but asked she get something nice for you. Enjoy!



JK Ha ha

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

My signature line finally comes into play!

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Sebby I’m watching a Carlin bio. Very good.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Yup. It's excellent. Apatow did a really good, evenhanded job with it.

I miss him. He was basically like a north star for me as a kid. My folks would be away and we had HBO as soon as it came out. I remember feeling like I was being bullshitted by almost every institution around me. This started, of course, with religion. It was impossible to hear that shit, even as a small kid, and not conclude (Carlin voice), "That's fucking nonsense! The fucking plot doesn't make sense even as fiction!"

But one could never utter that. The devout were all around. I could and did say it to my parents, who'd shrug and remind me that social propriety dictated keeping that sort of opinion quiet. "Be on the team." Of course. Dad got money from the devout. They liked to see the people they worked with in the pews on Sunday.

The assessment most authority is half full of shit, to be generous, only deepened as I got older. The more I looked, the more I understood, Religion is the Grand Exalted Emperor of Bullshit. But it has a very large Court, including almost every institution one is told deserves respect first, scrutiny second.

Carlin stood for the proposition that authority is inherently suspect and probably, inevitably, to some extent, corrupt and interested most in self-preservation. It deserves respect only after proving, despite all those flaws and built in conflicts of interest, it is somehow managing to do the right thing. (And if it didn't have the monopoly on coercive violence [jailing, fining, etc.] it probably wouldn't receive much of any de facto respect at all.)

The notion one should rotate every issue from every angle and examine it fully without bias, and put to scrutiny the aims of every "movement" or institution that seeks power is sadly missing from the debates these days. Instead of smart scrutiny, we've conspiracy theorists, eager to "believe" contra positions rather than carefully assess anything.

Carlin was called a nihilist, or a pissed off idealist. Both miss an essentially positive message in the background. This, from an interview with John Stewart in 1997, best encapsulates it:

"People are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a 'common purpose'. 'Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they're going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you're really looking."

That's true. It covers about 75% of my world view. And that last phrase is the thing makes life terrifically interesting.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

As we are about to descend into the world desired by six people's imaginary sky friend, how are we ever going to evolve to a world in which believing crazy shit is disqualifying for public office, rather than the opposite?

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I'm not sure we ever will reach that place. Interconnectedness, and specifically social media, have made it seemingly impossible. Everybody who wants his or her own reality can find "proofs" supporting it. They can "do their own research."

If half the country is willing to risk death because they think vaccines are more dangerous than a virus that is killing people in their midst, do you really think we're ever going to give up radical religiousness?

The truth
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPvf5RgCU08

Doesn’t matter, though. Nothing is going to change. It is, candidly, nothing short of embarrassing to be an American at this point in history. We have failed.

Re: The truth
 

The last was not 10 miles from my office. On Facebook I learned my cousin's grandson was in a locked class in the school. The boy's mom is my FB friend. She posted the text exchange between her and the boy. The most horrific part was the lack of surprise from either person.

Re: The truth
 

The country is literally becoming fractured and the legislators captured to the point that it is resembling a developing nation.

Zero sum politics. Newt Gingrich will be the central villain when history writes itself accurately in 200 years. That’s the only path to the Senate’s refusal to pass what 90% of the nation wants.

Re: The truth
 

Have you looked into getting Italian citizenship via jure sanguinis? Might be a nice little option for the kids if they want to get out of here. Full access to the EU.

Re: The truth
 

Here’s the problem: Italians are sexist as all fuck.

The default rule is if your grandparents were citizens of Italy when your parent was born (here) you can get I-tie citizenship. And my mom remembers helping my G-ma (came here in 1928 after the anti Italian immigrant law) study for the citizenship exam, so yes!

But the fucking law does not care about grandmothers. Your grandfather must still have been an Italian citizen when parent born. And he came here in 1922 to make $$$ so he could send for gma. And the law was still friendly to Italians. He basically stepped off the boat and renounced his Italian citizenship to become American (sad face). Mommy born in 1935 to an American father.

Re: The truth
 

Italy is one of many EU countries selling quasi-citizenship - https://www.globalcitizensolutions.c...y-golden-visa/