giardini

astura says ..."Catholic teachings (they both went to Catholic school) very heavily discouraged individuals from reading the Bible. My parents also grew up going to mass in Latin, a language they don't understand. Things are different nowadays.

" Almost completely wrong (ask your parents, astura).

It is true that the Catholic Church did not emphasize the Old Testament (OT). They instead emphasized the New Testament (NT) (both NT and OT are parts of the Bible). We were educated about the Protestant Reformation and the differences in faiths. I think the problem is that the Catholic Church has generated so much structure and associated doctrine that they barely have time for OT! In any case, much of this fell into one or more of my Church History classes, hardly my favorite subject.

FWIW I had a completely Catholic education from grade school thru university and nobody ever refrained from referencing the Bible. I've long since left the faith but I kept my sense of humor. Here's my favorite OT joke:

Q: Who's the strongest man man in the Bible (hint: it isn't Samson)?

A: Abraham. He tied his ass to a tree and walked up a mountain!

As for the Latin mass, yes it was there, and if you wanted to know what was said then you could always find out - nobody was hiding anything. I was an "altar boy" (assisted the priest in the rituals) so I learned the Latin mass and, since I went to Catholic schools, I later studied Latin. Latin is a useful language to know as an English speaker and it helps in understanding the so-called "romance languages" (it even aids in understanding English - many word roots are from Latin).

FWIW the traditional Latin mass is still celebrated! Some have stuck to the old Latin rites b/c of their love of the old rituals, the music is better in Latin (got to agree on this one!), etc.

FTFA:

"... instead of grabbing myself by the balls and admitting that I was climbing a ladder propped against the wrong building.."

Indeed a complex metaphor! Perhaps it has a Russian cultural source? An origin story?

But i also must ask: would it make any difference if one were climbing a ladder propped against the right building?

In any case I am glad I am not a Russian painter - it appears to involve skills that are difficult, painful and not at all easy-to-acquire.

general1465 says "You are pretty cathartic..."

Well, you apparently needed the purge. But you need more:

EM catapults may someday, somewhere be a future but first they must work reliably and predictably. The salt-water environment of naval carriers is an extremely hostile environment for electronics/electrics. The steam system works reliably now. I don't know of any reliable EMALS system anywhere in the world today. It's been BS for so long that people think it works well.

But launching planes is not an option for a carrier. W/o aircraft it is defenseless. Carriers can't wait for EM catapults to "become cheap" or become better. And there is no requirement here for using them "outside of ships" - we're talking about aircraft carriers.

The real solution - Kill the Project:

Accept that the aircraft carrier is near end-of-life as a naval weapon:

https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/goodbye-aircraft-carrier...

Shitcan ("purge"?) the unfinished ship (a cost boondoggle anyway). End the steam-EMALS debate, lay off the EMALS gnurds who designed it, kill the USS Doris Miller contract and spend the money moving to newer naval/alternative craft.

General Atomics is undoubtedly delighted with the cost overruns the debate and delay has/will caused. Any money spent would be better spent elsewhere.

If we're lucky, we might be able to sell the unfinished hull to China: they can use it to build an aircraft carrier with their supposedly-working EMALS system. Or perhaps a floating casino that launches PRC bigwigs in gliding seaplanes. We can remove the nuclear components and the Chinese can retrofit it with their coal-powered locomotive steam engines and use it to burn all that coal they're digging out of the countryside.

Wouldn't that be a sight to see: the Chinese "Doris Miller" pouring black smoke into the clouds over a beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset!

Since when did the Chinese set the mechanical engineering standards for US aircraft carrier design?

How many aircraft carriers do the Chinese have in the field today? How many does USA have?

My favorite:

What percentage of the Chinese navy can swim 100 yards unassisted? What percentage of the USN can swim 100 yards unassisted?

In toto there's no "counterpoint" there! EM catapult on a USA carrier is a bad idea. It doesn't work well, it isn't reliable and it needs a total redesign. But let's try improving the steam catapult first. And I don't think General Atomics is the company to do it - they've vested too much in their EM failure.

That's always been part of the trade-off. but the EM units were never reliable, probably never will be (b/c too many structurally weak and electrically unreliable components and connectors in a very harsh physical environment). And merely that something is "half built" is no reason to keep throwing money at it: the current EM design is a lost cause.

It looks like General Atomics is padding the project to make big bucks. The gvmt should hit them in the economic balls, kick the EEs to the curb, call in some railroad engineers to consider upgrading the steam system to work also for lighter aircraft. Or better, revert to the current steam system and supplement it with something like JATO as necessary.

Really, this nonsense has gone on for decades!

https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&client=ubuntu&q=ste...

The steam catapult has always been superior. This has nothing to do with Trump, just more TDS crap.

The above link, https://archive.ph/XDM2H

does not work for me. However I can see that there is plenty of food (perhaps too much) at the end of the world.

Citation?

ghusto says:"...'We're going to make the Straits of Hormuz a US territory?! Are you out of your fucking mind? I mean, obviously yes, but Jesus Christ.'

Thank you, finally, a name for our new state in the Mideast: "Jesus Christ"!

The state of Jesus Christ will be the 51st state of the great United States of America and will dominate the Mideast (in coordination with Israel, of course). It will consist of two geographical parts: Kharg Island and the Straits of Hormuz.

It is easy to end the war: drop bunker penetrating nukes on Iran nuclear weapon development sites but blame the explosions on the Iranians' incompetence. The headlines: "Iran made premature and poorly organized attempts to bring (untested and unsafe) nuclear weapons to the surface to hurl against the West/Great Satan. Iran self-destructed by rushing it's nuclear weapons into use without adequate testing." Blah, blah, blah!

3 or 4 "accidents" like this (including one or two in Tehran) should be enough to dissuade the Iranian people from continued support of their nuclear weapons program.

Small nukes with nuclear weapon signature modification are required b/c there are so many nuclear detonation detection locations in the world:

https://www.ctbto.org/our-work/international-monitoring-syst...)

But all this can be done. No magic involved, just good tech!

Why doesn't someone give us an LLM that is as "educated" as possible, instead of throwing us dummies like this?

No more than you are here.

Little secret: we only disconnect lefties! Most of them don't know about that box on the side of their rental unit! And FWIW we're hoarding the mustard sardines for WWIII (or the next Super Bowl party). Bwahahahaaaaah!

But honestly what are the odds that you would find and successfuly test the very tick that infects you with Lyme disease? Gotta be pretty slim!

ssl-3 says "If moving to Texas would make me be just as smart, witty, and observant as you think that you are yourself, then: I think that I would rather stay where I'm at, thanks."

Then we shall both remain happy and Texans a bit smarter, wittier and more observant on average.

And yummm, these mustard sardines are truly as tasty as you say - hadn't had any in awhile - thanks for reminding me!8-))

And WTF is it about mud guards now?

When i was young all bicycles came with mud guard (then called "fenders") front and rear. Now they seem to be anathema.

Every bike I rode w/o fenders put a stripe of mud up my back!

Why test ticks for Lyme Disease? Make a cheap, accurate test for Lyme disease in humans!

Jeez! Chasing ticks, c'mon, really, my f*ing intelligence is insulted by the suggestion.

IANAL but is CircuitSeuss not committing a crime here by giving the advice:

"If you are discussing illegal shit, don’t do it around people or devices you don’t completely trust. Retain plausible deniability."

Or is it legal to discuss "illegal shit"? Maybe with a lawyer? Maybe with a lawyer present? Maybe "illegal shit" is legal jargon I'm unfamiliar with?

Especially since it isn't spying.

Of course: they're all sold out to froufrou boogies!

Go to Aldi's, or better yet, Walmart, Kroger or a local large independent grocer.

Perhaps the Ukrainian conflict affects this? After all, who wants to be fishing all alone in the ocean when a half-dozen drones show up?

Sounds like your true concern is a mustard shortage rather than a sardine shortage.

You can find mustards in the "Condiments" section of your local market.

If that is a problem then perhaps you are living in the wrong place. Move to Texas where you will find canned mustard sardines aplenty on store shelves.

Learn to hunt. Anyone who farms will be glad to let you hunt on their land, especially if you give them a few rabbits.

Damn they're both ugly cars!

Quiz: when did the t-bird turn into a t-turd?

Ans. 1958 and yet again in 1969:

https://zicmoto.com/history-of-the-ford-thunderbird/?gad_sou...

In contrast, here's a true sports car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_T-type#/media/File:MG_TA_si...

How about this:

"Our great leaders are playing 4d civilization in multiple dimensions beyond 4. Most of what they do is carefully planned and executed but there are many unknowns and there are also "unknown unknowns". There are players not sitting at the table who are pulling levers elsewhere. There are unknown players. Most moves' results are beyond our comprehension due to purely complexity and the "fog of war", not necessarily b/c of any (of many different) superficially clever 'supreme master plans'."

If this were true there wouldn't be any "mom-and-pop businesses" left. But they're still present and making money.

So I call this "horse puckey"!

Paywall.

link fails here.

Paywall. Please provide an open link.

TFA:

"I don’t need a stair-climbing wheelchair that costs $30,000 and requires a maintenance crew. I need better doorknobs and or a ramp."

Author fails to realize that "better doorknobs and or a ramp" would incur a social cost of billions or more (even w/o adding the social cost tied to legislation, legal costs, and maintenance) as compared to his imaginary $30k "silicon dongle". That's w/o considering such questions as whether I (and all other taxpayers) should pay for a doorknob we don't need but he does. We might be more willing to buy him a SpaceX rocket and send him into orbit around the Sun.

He's a pissed-off handicapped fellow. I get that. And current society is (or once was) one that rewards people for solving their own problems instead of complaining. This may no longer be true: social media, gofundme, the metoo movement, etc. have moved the dial so that formerly "helpless" bitching can be quite rewarding, but I digress. Perhaps someday we'll be so wealthy that every individual's cares and needs are provided for. But we're not there yet.

So if I were him I might do something like go into business designing and marketing a better doorknob opener for the handicapped instead of complaining no one gives a shite. FWIW here's some SOTA at a $30 price-level:

https://www.caregiverproducts.com/handy-hook-door-opening-ai...

Got to admit that looks pretty "iffy" for opening doors, more like a personal defense weapon. In any case it might get you labelled as "Captain Hook" at the grade school (OTOH its always good to have respect, if not reverence). Anyhow, its a starting point and you can only do better!8-)

Google is still useful!