This one forum I'm on has a sixty-some-page thread on what happened in Ferguson last month. I decided to read through the whole thing ( Read more... )

For a long time I've been toying with the idea of an alternate-history story in which the Confederacy wins the American Civil War and remains an independent slave-holding nation, but is eventually toppled by a slave uprising and becomes, basically, African America. (Truth be told, the idea was inspired by very early reports about the Disney movie ( Read more... )

Actual, serious (if rhetorical) question I encountered today:

"If a [My Little Pony fan] artist was found paying for sex and cutting off bits of their body to give to a prostitute, would you want their work taken down ( Read more... )

I realize the mass exodus from LiveJournal in the past few years has led me to forget that it exists myself, but the trip I just got back from is the most eventful thing that's happened to me in ages and is likely to stay that way for some time, and I have a lot to say about it ( Read more... )

Quite a while ago, I mentioned Weird Al's "It's All About the Pentiums" and how most of the lyrics can be updated to fit present day computer lingo... all except the titular line. Well, recently I noticed some dated language in the bridge of his 1992 song "When I Was Your Age", which goes thusly:

Didn't have no telephone, didn't have no fax ( Read more... )

Sometime last year, I was at the local thrift store (well, a local thrift store; there are three within reasonable driving distance around here), and came across a novelty doll, in its original packaging, that was clearly designed to be bought as a gag gift. It was called "The Perfect Wife" or something like that, and claimed to talk when you ( Read more... )

Ever try to puzzle out a technique for something, and have a "Eureka!" moment, but then it seems so stupidly simple that you're sure someone else thought of it long ago? Because that just happened to me ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation to the Steam for Linux beta. Why? Because I had decided on a whim to apply for one. I have none of the relevant experience, but I figured it worked for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Source Filmmaker. Either I am one lucky son of a gun or Valve is more generous with their betas than they let on ( Read more... )

I have a thing I do, often, where I'll start humming random notes and try to work it into a hook or a melody, and then if I manage to come up with something I like, I'll either hum it into my microphone or punch it into my MIDI editor and save a copy. It's not much, and I don't expect anything to ever come of what I create, but it's a hobby of ( Read more... )

We've been talking about it for the longest time and wringing our proverbial hands over the expense and how we don't need another car just yet, but last week our ancient Dodge Neon finally got a problem too expensive to bother fixing. Worst possible time for it, too, because we've got the big family quasi-camping trip next weekend, and we haven't ( Read more... )