I am owned by several dogs and cats. I have been playing non-computer roleplaying games for almost five decades. I am interested in all kinds of gadgets, particularly multitools, knives, flashlights, and pens.

  • 21 Posts
  • 627 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • USAID is one of the few cases where the President probably can shut it down, because it was created by an executive order. That is not true of most other agencies that are currently being gutted.

    Under the Constitution, the Congress passes laws to create agencies and control the budget. The President is responsible for executing those laws, but does not have the power to remove them or change them. Malicious compliance is a violation of the oath of office. Failing to comply at all is just plain illegal. If Congress were doing its job there would be a quick impeachment and removal from office.

    The problem we face is not that the Constitution allows most of what’s going on. It is that the checks and balances in the Constitution rely on the majority of Congress and the courts to act in good faith. The founders never imagined a situation where a majority of those people would be so corrupt that they would allow a situation like this.









  • A lot of what is being done right now violates the Constituent. That doesn’t matter unless someone enforces it, which is not happening. Congress should be responding, but the Republican majority are either in favor of the takeover or too afraid to oppose it. The courts have been helping some, but the Supreme Court (and many of the lower courts) have been taken over by people who support this.

    Unless some congressional Republicans grow a conscience or a spine, there isn’t anyone at the federal level who will defend the Constitution.



  • That lies at the root of most of our problems. There are more than enough resources to support everyone at a reasonable level if they were distributed fairly. People with empathy think that’s the way it should be. People without it are happy to have everyone else suffer as long as they benefit. Our political system, our press, and large parts of our cultural heritage all favor the latter.

    How can anyone think that a few people having billions of dollars is reasonable in a world where there is hunger, homelessness, and lack of medical care?


  • “Downplaying the financial strain his policies could impose” translates as “lying”. He knew perfectly well what would happen. He also knew that if he told the truth about it he was unlikely to be elected. So he lied. That pretty well describes his entire campaign.

    What worries me is that Trump no longer has any reason to care what people think. He doesn’t need their votes or their support. And while people keep talking about how he wants to be loved, I don’t think that’s true. He wants to be important to people, but he can achieve that through fear and intimidation too. Which is what he’s doing now.

    At this point I don’t expect any elected Republicans to stand up to him. Those who had a conscience have been driven out or have put it in storage for the duration. Sadly, our greatest hope is that the ultra-wealthy who financed this mess may turn on him and put pressure on the legislators they own to do something about it.



  • I have never been without friends. There have been a few times when I didn’t have any that were close by, but I kept in touch. There is one person who’s been a close friend for 45 years now.

    I have noticed that it’s gotten much harder to find friends over the last few decades. Our society has changed in ways that make it harder to meet people and harder to get to know them. Online can be a good start but it’s very difficult to progress from that.

    Putting yourself in situations where you meet and interact with people, in person, definitely helps, but that’s not easy for introverts like me.


  • I think you’re right that some kind of “menu” button that presents additional options would be best. Eventually there will be other options and it will be necessary…

    I think most people will adjust the volume once, but may want to change the octave while playing. If my assumptions are right, the octave change feature should be the most accessible one, replacing the current volume buttons. The volume, and any other features could be handled through the menu button.

    My ideal solution would be to provide a menu button and two function buttons. Then have a menu option to configure whether the functions buttons acted as octave up/down, volume up/down, or controls for whatever additional features get added.

    I’d also like to put in a pitch to add support for the “scrolling” feature that some watches now have. It could control the opposite feature of whatever is assigned to the function buttons, making it possible to adjust both octave and volume on the fly. It does seem like it should be a lower level priority, since not all watches support that feature.