Absolutely no shade my friend. I am absolutely as pissed off as you are. I really wish it would make a difference. Many of us do. It just isn’t quite there yet. The stew is close, we just need the vegetables to get ready.

I love the discourse as well. We don’t get a feel for everyone’s feelings towards things when we don’t. Others may even bring up things we hadn’t thought about, or an angle we didn’t see.

Good luck to you as well!

I see where you’re at. I take no offense. I definitely could be doing more. I can’t work either, so it isn’t like I don’t have the time. Physical issues are my only real hold back. My enlistment was fear of being trapped in an abusive home, as well as feeling like high school didn’t offer enough of an education to prepare me. We both have the luxury of doing what we’re doing.

However, I offer a few counter points.

What does killing 1 ICE “officer” accomplish? How does that affect change in the right direction? Does this cause others to do the same and follow suit?

We need more that I don’t think we’re at the point of accomplishing yet. We need a full on civil war. One that I’m not sure how we get to kick off, all at the same time, all across the nation, without it fizzling out quickly.

The problem then comes in how to coordinate that. How do we communicate, nation wide, in a way that is not vulnerable to monitoring and disruption by the very place we’re trying to change? How do we coordinate arming and supplies? How do we coordinate movements and operations?

We can’t stop at just POtuS either. 99% of it needs to go. Dem leadership has been largely sitting on the bloody nubs that they try to “reach across the aisle” with. SCOTUS and most all other courts are compromised. Plus the billionaires, the behind the scenes assholes, and even state and local governments. It all needs a clean sweep.

We have too comfortable of a life. We’re too complacent. We were too far removed from the fascism that spilled over in Europe. We were too padded. It didn’t really hit us, in either world war, back here. Our troops came back home and went back to regular life as usual. We had a civil war, but we didn’t punish any of the perpetrators. That led us right back where we’re at. At the time though, you could survive on your own. Support a family off of the land. There wasn’t much of an infrastructure. There was no pain to be felt by the general populace (loss of life aside).

I do think we’ll get to full on armed conflict. I feel as though mid terms will be the kicker. I just don’t know if armed conflict is where we’re at yet. Not that I don’t think we should be. It’s that the general populace is too comfortable. We, apparently, need our lives to hurt more. To be affected more. Is it sad? Absolutely. Is it very much against everything that the founding fathers envisioned, especially when drafting up the 2nd? Absolutely. They would be completely disgusted with all of us. Myself included.

I’m a USAF vet. My ancestors literally fought in the revolutionary war, and signed The Declaration of Independence. I’m going through the motions this year, but I don’t feel it at all. I’m pissed that we’re multiple stages into a nazi regime. I’m profoundly flabbergasted at how anyone could be for this. How anyone that is for it, can’t see that they’re going to be the “out” party. Some already are seeing it.

I’m incredibly disappointed that the news has gotten so out of touch that they just rolled over and lapped up the rhetoric. Local news is all sunshine and rainbows while ICE kidnaps people, and a corrupt POtuS breaks the constitution left and right. While he deploys military against its own citizens. While rights are stripped, aided by a corrupt SCOTUS. While the rich get richer off of our backs. While the checks and balances are obliterated.

You can go on away from here with your personal attacks.

I’ve watched all of them. I was a TF fan as a kid. I watched it every morning before school and on Saturday mornings. The movies just…I don’t know. The first one was the best of the live action. Bumblebee maybe. All of them felt more machine like, except the stupid peeing…wtf…

That said, they were not great. The story, on concept, seemed ok. The execution sucked. The acting was not great. The tropes were un needed, didn’t even really fit in, and just plain stupid at best. Mostly they were irritating. Like someone dragging their nails on a chalk board in the middle of a mediocre movie.

The last couple felt more like an attempt at hero porn. [que “heroic” music, lame Walberg lines where he wields some weapon that makes no sense, then lots of booms. Don’t forget the meaningless jumping, falling all over the place, and special forces that lean more on the special than forces.]

The only good thing that came out of them was the limited re release of the OG toys. I managed to finally snag an Optimus and a couple others.

I had a series of 3 stomach surgeries and I delved into some shows I wouldn’t watch. I stumbled on this one. I really loved the premise. It is one of those late night SyFy feeling movies. The end did get weird, but I like where they were going with it.

I think it’s more that most people don’t want to see views that don’t align with their own or challenge their current ones. There are those of us who are naturally curious. Who want to know how things work, why things are, what the latest real information is. That does require that research and digging. It can get exhausting if you don’t enjoy that. If it isn’t for you, then you just don’t want things to clash with what you “know” now. Others will also not want to admit they were wrong. They’ll push back and look for places that agree with them.

I hadn’t either. I received one a few weeks ago, after seeing this thread. Still no idea wtf is going on with it. I just deleted it.

I think I see the issue. There is no real official militia. Those who call themselves militias here are white power, neo nazi, or the like. They are very much in favor of everything going on right now because it affects “those people” the most.

Then we have those who are armed individuals. Statistically, last I looked, the majority of firearms are owned by right leaning individuals.

There are those of us that are pissed off about everything, or left leaning, but we have no real means to get together and coordinate any type of uprising. Dig through my comments and you’ll get a good rundown of why.

The best we can hope, those of us that are against all this shit, is arm and defend our own as best we can. That is really more for crazed right side folks who see some reason to start being stupid. Which has happened here and there already, or attempted to. We’re not talking door to door, but groups that have planned raids on peaceful protests, or have shown up in hopes of provoking a peaceful protest into a riot of some sort.

I’m on SSDI and VA disability. I can’t work. I’m terrified every time they even breath in the direction of either place. I’d be super fucked. Even losing SSDI would destroy us. That’s about 3/4 of our mortgage payment. So many other vets are in the same boat.

The problem with resistance to fire is that all the stuff that makes a car comfortable for us to use is also flammable. Foam, fabric, tires. All flammable. We an slow down things, but any accelerant will negate that.

While we do have flame resistant fabrics and foam in there, there is no way to engineer it completely out. Cars are mainly engineered, safety wise, to resist crashes and impacts. Engineers don’t really sit around and think, “Man, what if someone lights this bitch on fire?” On an ICE, they try to position the fuel tank to where it isn’t easy to hit directly.

Getting caught requires someone seeing you. Camera, person, whatever. As for the other evidence. Gas is easy to get, and there are millions of suspects that all hate Musk and see his products as the a symbol to him. A few may royally fuck up, but it’s gonna be a hard case to vet out.

For or against? Not one owned by someone. I’ll leave it at that.

Musk? He can go fuck himself with a barbed wire baseball bat dipped in citric acid.

Had ours replaced 2 years ago. All on insurance dime as well because of wind damage. Roof was 20 years old though.

I just found out our company is going to start peak hour surge rates that will be double the normal ppkwh. They’re also proposing buying up another power company that is under multiple lawsuits for negligence that caused a large wildfire which hit a small town. I expect prices will go up if/when that happens as well. Last thing is, they’re getting rid of the 1:1 energy credits, but people with it will be grandfathered in. So now is the time for me.

I ran numbers all day yesterday and I think I have a solution that will benefit me, financially and for energy, on multiple fronts. Hopefully it works out!

With everything going the way it is, I really don’t know why more are not putting solar up if they can afford it. It’s like renting a house (no solar) with nothing to show for it at the end of the day vs buying a house (putting up solar) and you have something to show for it at the end of the day. Even if the house isn’t as good as when you bought it, you at least have something to show for all that investment. Something with a value.

I just talked with a dude from Purelight. He’s been cussed out and threatened. Just amazes me how short sighted people are and how they can get angry over something and they don’t even really know why.

Which definitely supports my theory that home value will only increase over time.

I’m working my numbers to add solar right now. Estimates are that we can offset 69% of our power usage. It will return 150% of our investment overall. That’s based on a very conservative rise of 5% in energy costs.

Adding solar right now is really no no brainer imo. Prices are only going to rise, and much more than the current 5% annually estimate out there currently. Panels last for a long time, and even at reduced efficiency towards the end of their life span, it is still a net gain. By then they’ve paid for themselves well, well before this point.

Right now they give an average home value increase of between 6% and 9%. I think we’re going to see that rise as energy prices rise. Especially if you can get a low carbon footprint rating on your home.

Things are only going to get hotter. I’ve been in e wa state for 27 years now. I’ve never seen the weather as wild as it is. It’s been getting steadily hotter and hotter. Breaking triple digits was super rare. Now it’s the norm. We’re breaking high temp records left and right. Not just summer either. Offsetting that increase energy use is going to be a must for everyone.

From “The Hunt for Red October”, to “you shouldn’t have started the war against russia then.”

Red Dawn to half+ our leadership bowing down to him, and a president calling him a good guy.

God damn what a wild ride.

The internet came way too quickly, or at least it evolved way too quickly for us. We should still be on 56k and surfing Limewire for what may or may not be what we’re actually looking for. 24/7 access to everyone all around the country, and world, was too fast as well. We can’t acclimate that fast. Our brains weren’t ready for it.

What we need is an mmo where you can make a difference. What do I mean by that? How would that work?

For start, the “you’re the hero” thing, where 12981891961899 other mother fuckers are in the background doing the same exact thing, or getting the same exact speech as your are, needs to go. Just make me a regular dude that is adventuring. Just like DnD tt.

How do you affect the world then? In DAoC, there were NPC raids on cities. You could go in and kill the leader, then the whole group would disband and run back to their village across the river. There were other similar events like this throughout the world. We need stuff like that. NPCs, or even players if you choose PvP, that affect the world. Instead of staying in one spot and just roaming a set path, they should be attacking the cities that they are mad at or revolting/gathering to revolt against. Make it so they can actually take territory. Take over cities. Assault capital cities. Even just randomly wander on a not set range. What I’d give to play an mmo where I have the chance to be randomly jumped by (level appropriate) NPCs. Even outside of a place they’re normally found.

This adds dynamic change to the world. It’s not a static area. It makes it so that beginner zones are abandoned as soon as most level out of them. You need to make sure NPCs don’t take over the city because you need that flight path/horse route/etc.

We could even have animal infestations. People aren’t killing farmer bill’s rats? They take over the farm and whatever he supplies isn’t available in the local city’s stores.

There are so many things that can be done with NPCs to make the world feel alive and more dynamic. Again, I’m not the hero here. I’m just an adventurer, a normal mercenary, that is trying to keep the enemy in line or the rat population from getting out of control.

My man, I watched an accident yesterday in a grocery store parking lot. A raised up truck was backing out and a car was behind it. The car honked. Laid on that horn. It was a loud horn. Truck didn’t even flinch. Backed right into it.

I’ve been passed by “loud” motorcycles many times. I saw them in my mirrors. I have a tiny blind spot, but I tracked them the entire way. What I didn’t do is hear them. Especially at highway speed, they’re undetectable.

It would add to the price, which would suck, but I’d love to see some sort of HUD assist system. Even if it was a wire frame or something that appears as a HUD on the windshield. Not bright enough to blind you or be in the way, but enough to see. User could adjust the color (within limits to maybe not negate the system). To me, we don’t take enough advantage of HUD tech and different types of vision that a computer could do that a human can’t. Make it come on with the headlights or something. That way it’s not on during the day.

I’ll add onto the answers already. I lived in both an inspection state (Virginia), and a non inspection state (Washington state). I was in Va for about 2 years. I never saw more janky ass cars on the road and broken down ones. I saw more in those 2 years than the 20+ years I’ve lived here in Wa.

When it came time for mine, all my neighbors sent me to a mechanic down the road. It was a long ass line, but moved pretty fast. No appointment needed. “WTF is this?” I thought. I got to my turn. The guy was in a short stool, like a dr’s one. He didn’t even leave it. I was in and out in 5 minutes. I’m anal retentive on our vehicle maintenance. So I’m not a danger, but man, I know how others are.

One of our neighbor’s friends brought his car by one time. When it was off, oil was flooded into the spark plug holes. I swore it would never start. He cranked it. It turned over right away and all the oil sucked back down into the engine. I’ve never seen anything like it, nor since. I’m still flummoxed by it.

I saw one car where the person cut the roof away from just behind the driver’s seats. Regular old car. They half ass put a piece of plywood and, what I assume, is plexiglass to act as a wall. The “bed” of the vehicle was now the passenger seat area. It also had some janky work going on back there.

Our inspection system is really shitty, even in the states with them. There are so many, “I know a guy”, things going on that they might as well not have them. Then there are exemptions as well. Year ranges exempt. They do no real good if they’re there. Completely defeats the purpose.

IIRC, when the remaster was in the works, they were asking for files from the community as some of the cut scene videos from OG were lost. I think there are a few low def ones in there still because no one had them. There’s also an issue with the Nod ending theme song. I only have it because I had the game on Saturn and you could play them like regular CDs once you got past the information tracks. So I burned it in .flac.