She missed a grand opportunity to fence off the area, create a raccoon preserve, and charge people to feed them pellets of food she’ll also sell them. Raccoons are adorable, she probably could have gotten enough money to fight the eventual lawsuit after one of’em bites a kid

Wow I haven’t watched that show in ages, but I totally remembered that bit!

Leela from Futurama

The actual video they sent

Mr Martin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, told the Dáil that “Israel is not listening to its allies in terms of progressing its agenda” and “seems to be [at] all out war”. He said the IDF’s actions were “unacceptable” with “destructive warfare” leading to community, health and education services being “destroyed”. He said Israel’s actions were “a clear breach of international humanitarian law”.

isreal fucking around a WHOLE LOT these days, pretty soon they’re gonna find out.

I don’t. I’ve since found out that it’s a trauma response. When people want me in a sexual way, I feel obligated to acquiesce. Childhood PTSD gave me a heavy freeze/fawn response, because you gotta do whatever you can to survive, and once ingrained, it never really lets go. I’ve been working on it a lot though, and think after a few years of celibacy, I may be ready to start dating again! Just gonna have to take things slow, and be ready to say “No.” But I believe in myself and that I am worthy of love! Self-Pep talk go!

You’re probably right about it being closer to 150, I do remember turning my head and feeling the air push my head hard, fighting to get back into the lowered, hugging-the-engine position I was in. T’was nuts. never again! Maybe if I’m on the salt flats with mad protective gear, but not on roads, not on a new-to-me bike. That was just a flash of brilliant, youthful, death defiance that I’m likely never to repeat. Might as well bounce on a trampoline under whirring helicopter blades 😅

Went to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally in the late aughts. Went to the Harley Dealership that was offering free test drives on all it’s latest models. The guy leading the test drive said that anyone who wanted to go fast should be right up in front behind him. I wanted to go fast, so I was second in line, right behind him, on a brand new V-Rod (I think it was the 2007 almost 1300 CC engine).

He lead us on a dirt road parallel to the highway for a minute, going like 65 mph, which wasn’t so bad, but I peeked behind me and the cloud of dust we were trailing was impressive, I wondered how the guys behind me were even keeping sight of us! Then, he turned and got on the highway. Man he opened his up so fast, I almost lost sight of him. I gased that V-Rod so hard just to keep him in eye sight, that the segmented white lines between lanes just turned into one solid line to my vision. I checked my speedometer and swear I was around 160-180mph. That shit was unreal, passing cars going highway speed like they were standing still, on a bike I had never ridden before.

And that’s why I won’t let myself buy a crotch rocket. Give me a 90’s model sportster that maxes out at like 90mph, because I’m scared if I have a machine that can go that fast, I may be tempted to try it again, and the idea of becoming a meat-crayon isn’t something I aspire to.

My Dad is a doctor who would bring home pictures of gnarly cases he worked on, and every single one of them would be motorcycle accidents. Doesn’t stop him from riding one, and with a fake-DOT helmet (if one at all), but it sure stopped me from ever wanting to emulate those speed-demons that go over 100 weaving through traffic and shit. Those people are insane to me.

It’s so much fun to dive-bomb down a mountain road, but as soon as you get a little rain, a little shimmy develops in your front steering column that cascades into being thrown over the handlebars… I’ve had a few close calls, where during a race and during a regular ride, where I almost ate shit hard… Yeah, I’ll just slow down a bit sooner next time 😳

Nice to know that he at least can acknowledge reality?

But behind it is a state dept that is ignoring it’s own studies rank indictment of isreals murderous actions in order to keep feeding the beast. Maybe it’s some far-flung plan to give isreal and netenyahoo all the rope they need to hang themselves, becoming global outcasts, which would then force them into accepting a two-state solution… Or the problem is a lot simpler.

The records and interviews also show that the pressure to keep the arms pipeline moving also comes from the U.S. military contractors who make the weapons. Lobbyists for those companies have routinely pressed lawmakers and State Department officials behind the scenes to approve shipments both to Israel and other controversial allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia. When one company executive pushed his former subordinate at the department for a valuable sale, the government official reminded him that strategizing over the deal might violate federal lobbying laws, emails show.

Weapons sales are a pillar of American foreign policy in the Middle East. Historically, the U.S. gives more money to Israel for weapons than it does to any other country. Israel spends most of those American tax dollars to buy weapons and equipment made by U.S. arms manufacturers.

Don’t forget, while Biden and his state dept. is in charge of investigating and ensuring the proper use of these weapons, it’s congress that’s approving it. A congress that is balls-deep invested in U.S. weapons manufacturers.

For Israel and NATO allies, if the sale is worth at least $100 million for weapons or $25 million for equipment, Congress also gets final approval.

The most widely held defense contractor stock among senators and representatives is Honeywell, an American company that makes sensors and guiding devices that are being used by the Israeli military in its airstrikes in Gaza. The second most commonly held defense stock by Congress is RTX, formerly known as Raytheon, the company that makes missiles for Israel’s Iron Dome, among other weapons systems. - Sludge Article

and inequities that make it hard for some people to get sufficient medical care.

Thanks, republicans! Your constant efforts to deny people the dignity of a life well lived is really something!

I had an idea for an invention, it’s an internet-connected arm with hand attachment to your desk that can be remotely activated to slap the shit out of the user of the computer. The trick is that you can only send “slap this person” signals if you, too, have an arm set-up (and thus are liable to be slapped back). I think it would really help with on-line discourse. Talk enough shit, and you’ll face actual physical punishment, from people who are similarly threatened with the same. Whereas the internet can bring anonymity, you can lose the idea of consequences from your actions, but with Slap-Shot engaged, you’re free to truly experience genuine human interaction, with all the real life consequences of someone slapping the shit out of you!

you’re describing authoritarianism, not leftism. We want to feed the hungry, care for the poor/sick/elderly, and give every person the opportunity to live happily with dignity. None of that has anything to do with your strawman.

Dang, man. I’d love to visit Mexico and it’s vast deposit of ancient archeological sites, but I’ll just never feel safe enough to do so. It’s probably quite safe to visit the tourist areas, as tourism brings in a lot of money for both the government and the cartels, but I’m just not interested in sitting around a gated community filled with drunk tourists.

Great interview, I wish we had more of it. I could watch them discuss these issues for hours.

There are two reasons he believes the neocortex could be replaced, albeit only slowly. The first is evidence from rare cases of benign brain tumors, like a man described in the medical literature who developed a growth the size of an orange. Yet because it grew very slowly, the man’s brain was able to adjust, shifting memories elsewhere, and his behavior and speech never seemed to change—even when the tumor was removed.

That’s proof, Hébert thinks, that replacing the neocortex little by little could be achieved “without losing the information encoded in it” such as a person’s self-identity.

The second source of hope, he says, is experiments showing that fetal-stage cells can survive, and even function, when transplanted into the brains of adults. For instance, medical tests underway are showing that young neurons can integrate into the brains of people who have epilepsy and stop their seizures.

“It was these two things together—the plastic nature of brains and the ability to add new tissue—that, to me, were like, ‘Ah, now there has got to be a way,’” says Hébert.

Very interesting. I’ve also seen research suggesting that the application of stem cells to damaged neural tissue within the spinal cord could repair it, so the idea that you could use a similar approach to actual brain health isn’t such a big leap. But still, wow. I wonder how long it would take for the immature cells to develop into “adult mode” that’s fully integrated into the patients cortex. In order to replace the entire brain, you’d have to do it in like, 8 parts, with years of recovery time in between each surgery. Also there would exist the potential for the new cells to develop into like, a second, smaller brain, if the connections sour or if the new material isn’t stimulated the “right” way.

“The men came over to the car again and stood in front of it for a few minutes. Finally when they left, the car was still stalled but I clicked the ‘in car support’ on the screen and they seemed to be aware of the issue,” Amina said. “They asked if I was OK and the car began to drive towards my location. They asked if I needed police support and I said no.”

When she was almost to her destination, Waymo support called her again to ask if she was ok, she said. “I assured him that I was fine and he told me I would be given a free ride after,” she said. “After many hours I was called one last time by their support team. They asked if I was OK and told me that they have 24/7 support available. They also said I would get the next ride or next two rides (uncertain) free.”

While scary, I’m left kinda impressed by Waymo’s support.

My town in NC just had it’s annual “Mule Days Festival,” which celebrated the sturdy animal. The town even has a large statue of a Mule at the entrance to the “downtown” area. I wonder if the mules used to carry supplies were recently paraded through the streets here?

Everybody sucks!

I was young when I first heard of’em. Dismissed them because I thought their band name was lame, and thus indicative of their music.

I was wrong. RIP Gord Downie

The Tragically Hip - Day For Night (Full Album)

(The fourth song, “Yawning or Snarling” is particularly dope)