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Daniel Keys Moran
@fatsam@mstdn.social
mastodon 4.7.2Born at 318 parts per million carbon dioxide. On 2025/02/14 it was 427.44 ppm.
"He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me."
Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.
1455 Followers
715 Following
50 Posts
Joined October 28, 2022
Father:
Five kids, who are most of what I brag about.
SF Writer:
45 years since first publication in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.
Databases:
44 years since first dBase II programming. 37 years of SQL.
Replying to
Hearing that women have it harder than men wouldn't surprise me. But either way, doing the work is better than not doing the work. And the sort of people who *would* mock that are assholes.
Wear whatever the hell you like as long as your junk isn't hanging out.
Replying to
@cstross@wandering.shop
"What would you have done if Hamas had kidnapped your daughter," I was asked once.
I would not have gone to the neighborhood where I thought she was being held and started murdering women and children indiscriminately. Is it possible to be worse than a murdering kidnapper? I'd say that qualifies.
This was new to me.
"Recognising that, since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide ..."
3 pages.
https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf
RE: https://flipboard.com/@tomshardware/tom-s-hardware-c60sbsq8z/-/a-SMbP_XgxRie4ux0pkhpxfw%3Aa%3A1829740277-%2F0
Yeah, we're either in the hockey stick part of the Singularity, or this crashes hard. I know which one I think is happening.
Replying to
@cstross@wandering.shop It annoys me when people call that a war.
Before 10/7, Israel had killed Palestinians at about 20x the rate Palestinians had killed Israelis.
Today it's at least 50x.
Want to lower abortion rates? Make contraception highly available. Don't want to do that? You're lying about abortion being murder.
You can reach that conclusion by a number of different paths, of course.
During the Viet Nam War, a reporter asked AJ Muste, "Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?"
Muste replied: "Oh, I don't do this to change the country. I do this so the country won't change me."
Fellow elsewhere called himself an artist, then retracted it.
Folks, like Stephen King's algorithm regarding "professional" -- if you ever cashed a check -- if you ever reached one person with your work and made their daily path easier, you're an artist for my purposes.
John D. MacDonald on enshitification, long before that useful word was coined.
The failure to accept error is the root of fascism, I think. Of course everyone makes mistakes. But when you've internalized that admitting to error is weakness, you can't fix it. And people who point out your error must be doing so with malevolent intent. It's an infinite series, or would be for humans who lived forever. Now you've made three mistakes:
- the initial mistake
- the refusal to learn from it
- the blaming of those who point it out
"Fox News for people who can read."
Man, I can't tell you how bad I wish I came up with that.
"This sad little lizard told me that he was a Brontosaurus on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is in short supply."
If fash were as harmless as the lizards, we could indulge them too. But murder is the core of all fascism.
I'm a big fan of the concept of smart glasses. I'm blind in one eye, anything that helps me navigate the world a little better is a good deal. The use case for a camera on those assistive devices is obvious.
There is no need for them to store video or photographs to provide that functionality.
Watching the rest of the world live in the future is annoying.
https://insideevs.com/news/794295/chinese-ev-headlight-movie-projectors/
I've never been called for jury duty but once, my whole life: I called in the first day and they told me not to come.
Just got my second request. There's near zero chance any prosecutor's going to permit me on a jury, so it'll be a wasted day at best.
"Is Jesus as important as Kobe?" asked Connor.
"Not in our house," said FatSam.
- Connor at seven.
LeBron is leaving the Lakers. He got us a ring: I didn't want him to come and still wonder what would have happened if we'd developed our young talent instead of signing him into our cap space.
... But the young talent became AD and then Luka, with a ring along the way.
Good luck, Bron. You busted your ass every time I watched you.
Used to be possible to be a bright, decent person and vote Republican. Not since Bush the Younger, maybe, and certainly not since Trump. You're stupid or you're awful, and most often both.
I hear McConnell is brain dead.
It's a good look for him.
Connor and I are on our way up to the Bay area. Jodi's watching Charlie *and* Raylan for four days, so that'll be two little dogs losing their minds because Connor and I are gone -- Raylan's never seen me go away, since I've had him. But Charlie and Raylan both know this house, and Jodi, and they'll be OK.
I'm not ecstatically happy about next year's Lakers team, but I am hopeful. Young guys who can still improve -- Austin Reaves, 28, is now the Lakers oldest player.
But watching the Celtics burn down their own house, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT.
There are only about five supplements that are of any proven worth. Longevity supplements are not among them.
312 of 334 studies were borked. This isn't even a scandal in my mind, just pathetic.
I had five kids, plus am apparently completely shameless: I worked for Rupert Murdoch once. So I don't lecture people about how they keep themselves and their families together.
Except for ICE. Burn in hell, you scum.
Asked what Heinlein would have thought of Trump.
Guessing? My suspicion is that he'd be genuinely sorry liberals and people of color and LGBTQ and feminists and non-Christians had forced white Christian straight CIS Americans to embrace someone as awful as Trump.
Replying to
That "helping other people enjoy themselves" can involve a lot of violence, stopping bad guys, though.
Replying to
The gallows pictured was built by fascists on Jan 6, 2021.
There's probably not a person on this planet who hasn't been persecuted once or twice because of what they are. Even CIS white men get that sometimes. The gap between what happens to me and what happens to other people is that the cops in my neighborhood are not overwhelmingly composed of the people who've (on rare occasions) persecuted me because of what I am.
I try to acknowledge for resentful white guys that what they're feeling is real. It is.
I can forgive people for what they did while under the influence, within the broad limits of doing no permanent harm.
But I don't forgive you for taking a drug you couldn't handle. If it's the first time, you're young, I can work even with that. People make mistakes and being a judgmental asshole doesn't help. Otherwise?
You're the one who took the drink, popped the pill, lit the pipe. And you were straight then. That's on you, forever and ever.
Celtics choked up a 3-1 series lead to the 76ers.
I only have 2.5 things I want, every playoffs:
1, Lakers win.
1, Celtics lose.
.5, Clippers lose.
Clippers lost in the play-in, Lakers advanced yesterday, Celtics out today.
What a good day.
NPR. I suspect the phrasing is intentional, but if it's not, I could explain it.
Replying to
I didn't forget MASH; planning a rewatch soon. Probably move something out of that 15.
One of my all time favorite writers.
Replying to
@FunkETown@mastodon.sdf.org Oh, certainly mine too. I thought you were kidding. The OG BG is a kid's show.
Replying to
@steveperry@mstdn.social Studio 60 isn't in my top 20 probably ... but the end of Ep 3 is one of the best moments in TV history.
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@steveperry@mstdn.social Unless you mean the actual Lonesome Dove tv show, starring Newt? It was pretty bad as I recall.
RE: https://hachyderm.io/@evacide/117038708561273760
Nobody in the fascist movement gives a damn about what happens to children. This is about controlling adults.
Quoting
You would think that all of these people pushing for social media bans for kids would be interested in whether or not these bans actually work...but no, I guarantee we will keep on seeing age-gating bills. https://theconversation.com/more-than-80-of-kids-still-using-social-media-despite-ban-new-esafety-report-finds-288808
Open quoted postFolks, Israel has 100 nukes, something like that. The hysteria about Israel's "right to exist," "from the river to the sea?"
Israel is going nowhere. You can safely condemn its genocide in Gaza now.
Findings: In this cohort study of 1865 older adults without dementia followed up for up to 15 years, higher diet quality was associated with lower dementia risk. Among participants at higher risk, only a dietary pattern with lower inflammatory potential showed consistent inverse associations.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850780
Replying to
@Buford@twit.social I stopped "Expanse" in S2, mostly because my then-wife wasn't enjoying it. I'm planning a full watch.