I've had bursitis in my hip since I was a teenager. It made giving birth tons of fun. You know you are messed up when your hip hurts more than labor.

I think I've been ageing rather gracefully. I've turned 30 this year and I look pretty much the same as ever just heavier. I've been looking about the same for the past 20 years or so.

Been fortunate to not have any conditions develop, yet but I'm sure they will happen eventually. Just glad to have normal blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. I've given up on getting my BMI down to “normal” I would have to lose way to much and be at a weight that, frankly to me, isn't healthy.

Hey, folks…long time listener, first time caller….

How is everyone doing?

Ah a new face. Hello. Can't speak for others but I'm good.

The gluten free diet is making me feel much better. Feel more human than I have in about a year.

rainingbells wrote:
How is everyone doing?

Fine thanks, apart from this annoying cold that's making me so tired. Turns out I got it from our admin ozoneocean and since we are on opposite sides of the planet, it must be one of those internet viruses you hear about. Anyway, pleased to meet you at last!

Ironscarf wrote:
Fine thanks, apart from this annoying cold that's making me so tired. Turns out I got it from our admin ozoneocean and since we are on opposite sides of the planet, it must be one of those internet viruses you hear about. Anyway, pleased to meet you at last!

Ya, it's a computer virus… you're going to have to install MaCaffee on yourself XD

rainingbells wrote:
Hey, folks…long time listener, first time caller….

How is everyone doing?

Hey man! It's been ages! How have you been doing?

Ran into a spot of bother. Lost mostly everything, did some time, got divorced. Now it's pretty much just me, my daughter, a dog, and an old RV. Trying to put the wheels back on things.

But, you know, still on this side of the dirt.

Glad to see The Duck is still around.

That's more than a spot of bother! You've had it quite rough :(
We're still hanging on here.

ozoneocean wrote:
That's more than a spot of bother! You've had it quite rough :(

Meh. As my comics illustrated, I was never fond of the State. My experience only helped to further explain to me how broken the system truly is when a victim of abuse can be so easily painted as default perpetrator simply because of their sexual organs. The State prosecutors never did their due-diligence.

It doesn't help when the Office of the Public Defender gets re-election campaign money from…the State Prosecutor. What? Smells wrong when the “defender” of the “people” gets donations from the “state,” who is designed to prosecute those people.

Modern society. It is what it is.

ozoneocean wrote:
We're still hanging on here.

I'm glad. The Duck is a worthwhile project.

Wow you have had it rough…! It is sad when the innocent men get wronged by the system, but… men really do most of the perpetrator-ing, and we are a profiling species (despite our best efforts to be otherwise).

Wish you all the best…

I don't love the justice system either!

Wow, your art is incredible!!!

That's awful. The more I hear about justice in the US the more arbitrary it sounds…
Actually it seems that was in most places, often dependant on wealth.
At least here none of those roles are elected or dependent on campaign money, so that's one thing cut out of the equation.

—————–

I'm enjoying our Bi-weekly after Quackcast DnD sessions. It's an interesting game.

Often public defenders are kids fresh from school almost as clueless as Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny.

And then there are the criminal attorneys who will play the system like experts so long as you have them under retainer.

But the thing is, in most areas all the lawyers know each other and pal around in the courts and negotiation table anyway. The guy who defended me for traffic court is now a judge who tried my disability claim. My best friend from college is an assistant DA in NYC, living the TV show. My wife was a legal secretary forever and my sister is a lobbyist in the state capitol. I know lawyers. The public defended will do his best and still go put for lunch with the prosecutor because that's how stuff gets done.

There's always a deal to be made, unless you're a sex offender. The system isn't very fair with them. My ex brother-in-law is one. My old boss got his record expunged for threatening someone with a gun, but sex crime? Around my brother-in-law's neck forever and all he did was talk dirty on the internet with s minor. (Actually a 40ish police officer. Dunno sounds like entrapment but proving it is impossible. )

I love having long hair.
I love love love it!
Ever since I was a teeny kid I admired men with long hair… Having it myself is a sort of a culmination of a childhood dream.

That said, it's getting a bit draggly again now… I only like my hair when it's big and fluffy, in nice loose curls. But when it feels draggly I start to want to have it cut again…
How can I stave off that impulse?

My hair used to be long down to the small of my back. But then I started going bald, so I cut it all off. I wanted to avoid the “bald guy with pony tail ” look. Now my hair is never more than about 8 mm in length

My hair is so curly that it looks like barbed wire and just never gets long. So back to the military haircut. And now my hair is even steel grey the color of wire, so no point in wearing it long. I shaved the beard when it became all grey because it made me look 70.

Hahaha! I have snow white patches at the sides of my beard. Makes me look ancient. So I always shave.

Not that I actually mind that older look, but it's easier to be a ladies man without it XD
-When that's what I'm going for.

Hello guys, sorry for being silent for so long. How is everyone?

MegaRdaniels wrote:
Hello guys, sorry for being silent for so long. How is everyone?

Recovering from emergency eye surgery back in March. Back to work with an eye patch to avoid the distorted vision as the eye clears. Fun. And pounded out a comic during my recovery and started a new script and am shooting a third without a script. Woo-hoo!

How are your eyeballs name Bravo?

ozoneocean wrote:
How are your eyeballs name Bravo?

I'm at work with an eye patch because the vision hasn't cleared yet in the one eye. The brain tries to make sense of what comes in from both eyes and if one eye is all wavy you get disoriented quickly. But with one eye you have no depth perception. :D
But I get plenty of practice for Talk like a Pirate Day.

^_^

I am enjoying Pit Face's little updates in the general talk description hehe!

ozoneocean wrote:


^_^

What a voice that guy had!!

KimLuster wrote:
What a voice that guy had!!

He did!

How do you explain that something is wrong to someone when the knowledge difference on the subject is just too great? :(

OK… my problem:
The theory of multiple universes is great and fun. The idea that we can time travel by jumping to another world is cool, the idea that our decisions create multiple universes is lovely… but the reality is that it's ALL SciFi bullshit.
It's not even a good “theory”

The whole idea started out as a way to solve some problems created with the extra dimensions in String theory, which is itself only one of a number of unified quantum theories of which there are about 5.
That's right, multiverses are just one interpretation of one part of a theory that is itself just one of a number of untestable theories.

It gets even worse though;
The anthrocentric idea that our decisions create different worlds is pure Science fantasy extrapolation. String theory does not need or involve that idea in any way.

It's like me theorising that Bravo must be wearing blue undies today… but instead of stopping there I then theorise that they must be blue because he is sad and that's why he chose the colour. Then I go ON to theorise that I can tell Bravo's emotional state by the colour of his undies and that this applies to everyone. Then I theorise that if we put everyone in yellow undies that would make them happy.
…All based on my theory of Bravo's blue undies which I never tested.

The chief problem is trash like this:
http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2014/02/10-mind-bending-implications-many-worlds-theory.html?m=1
This sort of thing is not science. It's fun and that's fine, but it's nothing more.

And this:http://www.social-consciousness.com/2017/04/the-smartest-kid-in-the-world-believes-cern-destroyed-our-universe.html?m=1
“Smartest kid in the world” no… He has a bright future as an actor or public speaker but his understanding of science is limited to Stargate.

This fellow does a fine job of discussing the origins of the mania here: http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=9968

The trouble with the whole thing is that people use it as an excuse to come up with all sorts of justifications for stupid ideas.
The idea that there are “infinite” worlds give an excuse for any crazy idea they have and they think that it's scientific when in reality it's based on something that is no more than a trivial foot note:
One of many possible explanations for one difficult part in the mathematics of one of the many unified Quantum theories.

Considering that the first article cited goes over the fictional use of multiverses before mentioning science and that the 10 propositions of the multiverse concept sound like movie pitches– I wouldn't find that much fault with it. Multiverses are fun but it's all become so much fantasy at this point and not verifiable science as the last blog points out.

It's become a fictional construct and philosophy rather than science. I personally don't feel the other 6 dimensions in superstring theory need to be hidden. They're just beyond our comprehension. They are unknowable to our brains or mathematics. Its Lovecraftian. 😉

I think it's jumped the shark to become a pseudo-science :D

——————–

Bodies are funny aren't they?
I was a skinny pipe-cleaner for years. Then I decided I didn't like that anymore and started exercising more and more, and that made me a lot hungrier so I started eating more.

I went from being quite underweight to being a normal healthy weight and a bit buff: bigger chest, legs, abbs.
Then I stopped exercising as much but had the same appetite so started getting flabby around the hips and tummy. But still at a healthy weight.
I put it down to me being older.

I decided I liked my old look so I started eating less and cut out snacks. That's really started to change things! the flabbiness went down, the muscles on my chest are smaller, and my face is thinner.

Not sure yet if I want to be a pipecleaner again, but I like the fact that my body is mailable and that the idea that age forces you inevitably into a certain shape is false.

Multiverse theories, like string theory, exist because the maths is solid, and they help explain things like inflation and ‘clumping’ in the early universe that other mathematical models struggle with (and maybe even the missing antimatter). While, by definition, we cannot see or communicate in any way with another multiverse, that doesn't mean they are not possible ways to test the theory … however, no practical experiments for the technology of today have been proposed. But, hey, it took a while for Einstein's strange gravitational wave theory to be testable as well. Perhaps in a hundred years experiments such as the proposed ‘car crash’ and ‘stretch marks’ ones that have been suggested may be possible and will confirm or deny the reality of the theory.

'Car crash' will look for the left over signs of an ‘impact’ from another multiverse as it was formed within or near ours. ‘Stretch marks’ is looking for evidence of inflation, and by implication a partial proof that a theory that accounts for inflation must be correct.

But, yeah, multiverse theories can be pretty kooky, especially in the media. And string theory ties itself in knots, literally.

One of my main issues with the multiverse stuff is the anthropic idea that a human making a choice would have any effect on it what so ever.
WHAT makes people think for a second that human choice means anything what so ever in the scheme of the universe? It's so infantile it's insane.
Why not cat choice, cockroach choice, flea choice?
To the universe how is choice any different from random chance that happens every femtosecond? Logically it's not since human choice like everything else is just an accumulation of those chances. If entire universes were created by such chances they would be infinite…

But yeah, that's all based on pure fiction.
The theory that involves other dimensions or universes doesn't require that.

I've been musing on “leadership” for a while. Mainly because I am often in leadership roles of various sorts. I'm not a particularly good leader, I just gravitate to that role.

The traditional idea is that leaders are born, which is a lot of rubbish really. Military officer training explodes that myth.

I've thought about what makes a good leader based on lessons from history and I've come to the conclusions that there are a few different things that can result in one. Leaders don't have to have the same traits.

1. Charisma
You can be popular and people follow you.

2. Intelligence
You know better than others how to do something- not necessarily because you're smarter though! Rather you have the knowledge or connections needed.

3. Rank
You're thrust into the role and people follow you because that is how human beings work, it's how all the systems in our culture work. Someone has to be in the role and people have to follow.

And other minor things like intimidation, forceful personality, wealth etc…

What often makes a “good” leader though is very often just being a great mascot. People underestimate that aspect but history proves it. Many “leaders” with zero experience, limited intelligence and ability have led people to amazing victories simply because they inspired devotion- people came together under them and did their best. Even when the leader WAS able the mascot factor seems to be very important. Think about Joan d'Arc, Napoleon, Steve jobs, Queen Victoria, Hitler: all VERY different leaders with not much in common but that mascot effect.
People wanted to follow them.

-I don't think on that stuff because I believe I have any of that what-so-ever haha! (I wish!) I just think on it because I'm curious.

Don't think Napoleon really fits in with the mascot. He had great intelligence and focused force of will. He was a driven personality who convinced his followers he loved them and shared their wants, needs and desires and inspired them to ever greater achievement. Hardly a mascot. Jeanne d'arc, yes. Julius Caesar? Alexander or Hannibal?

Certainly that element is among the feelings the followers have towards a leader, but it's more of a rationale for following than why they are willing to give their all the driven little man on the white horse. It's part of the affection followers feel for those in charge, but not the reason they follow.

But then I only taught the classes on military leadership. Have that Field manual still as well as some of the course curriculum guidelines.

Think about Little Round Top and what a couple of officers inspired the 20th Maine to do. The books all say it was 100% Joshua Chamberlain but he was only the prominent chronicler so he cast himself as hero. A teacher of classic rhetoric? Pretty easy stuff to pull a Julius Caesar reimagining of events. But still both did a lot and inspired much as leaders out front pulling men forward. The affection of for the leader is there but not as just a mascot.

But then consider Prince Hal or Old Nosey versus Henry V and Wellington. Affectionate nicknames of the guy in charge who leads and symbolizes the bravery and efforts of the led like a mascot but without that spark of intelligence and luck and seeming affection and care of the led – he wouldn't be leading them.

A mascot is more like the drunken fool colonel on the horse or the stupid British miles leading the lions into combat. But that's an exception and you don't truly succeed like that but instead blunder to victory because your opponents are bigger idiots than you are.

But rather than mascot, I prefer the term cheerleader . Some leaders psyche up the people and even train them, but when it comes time to lead them, they can't. Mclellan.