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Joined 4 months ago
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Cake day: March 3rd, 2024

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  • Right, it’s been demonstrated for years why it’s a broken system, but ironically the only ones who can change it are those in power because of it. State and local are a different matter, and there has been progress in some states to use multiple pick systems. The gerrymandering though…I’m from NC, so I know all too well about a corrupt state congress, drawing lines to benefit one side, and lots of voter intimidation in certain areas (that would vote Democrat, of course). When I was in grade school decades ago I read about using computers to draw fair voting maps and how it could help representation. Decades ago…and fixed maps are still a thing.


  • The baffling part is how not only are we stuck with a two party system that keeps any significant changes from getting a foot hold, but also how we have so few choices with the parties we have. In a country of millions of leaders in various forms, we have nothing to pick from outside of Biden, and he’s potentially losing to someone with Trump’s long track record of failure both in politics and business. Remember when Trump running for office used to be a regular late night show joke for years?

    The only hope for change in politics is local races, and even lots of those are pretty sad. “Get out and vote”, yeah, but years of doing that hasn’t really helped much, so pardon my pessimism. I’m not George Carlin level just yet, but I always understood his point.








  • I’ve come to the conclusion that all these breach notices and the free stuff they offer for X months is a huge scam to get you sign up up for something. Either that, or every company has woefully underpaid/incompetent IT people. I’m waiting for the next news story to break on another company that somehow got passwords or identity info hacked that was stored in plain text…something I learned how to not do back in the 90s with basic HTML and PHP.

    In short - I don’t believe them. They all are using the same form letters, it’s a scheme that they’re all in on.





  • “It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

    We do have a number of great communicators out there, many are Youtube channel creators. They just aren’t as likely to get to the majority of regular people since someone would need to start looking for answers to trigger the algorithm.

    Some of the best Sagan public moments were on the Tonight Show with Carson. And Carson being a great host knew when to shut up and let a guest talk, but I think when Sagan was on Carson shut up because he was fascinated with what Sagan would say.


  • Samsung? We got one used and it’s great for the drying part, but when I went to research how to change the “melody”, and I’m being generous here, to a chime or something else…nope. You get that, or silence. So we use silence and listen for the sound of it stopping. That song is terrible, and for there to be no options at all in a modern appliance…why was this a good idea on the drawing board?