Posts by shuttersparks@qoto.org
(DIR) Post #AZQqLhsp4sKSmLhbhA by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-09-04T18:35:22Z
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@freemo Hmm, well, that makes you unique. I've never run into anyone that used iron gall ink in a fountain pen.Why would you? The performance of good fountain pen ink is vastly superior to iron gall. If you want permanence, use Noodlers cellulose-reactive bulletproof ink. You can't get more permanent than that and it doesn't corrode the paper like iron gall does.
(DIR) Post #AZQrT6swcSC4Inqxn6 by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-09-04T18:47:55Z
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@freemo Interesting. I messed with iron gall years ago, but I wouldn't get it anywhere near my FPs. I'll stick with what they were designed for and enjoy the marvels of modern chemistry, like bulletproof ink.Each to his own. Part of the fun of fountain pens is doing your own thing. But I think you've found the answer to the rust problem. Gold should solve that.
(DIR) Post #AZkRXuAfLfk3RutOlM by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-09-14T05:31:39Z
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@freemo The rich are running out of rich things to do. Also, the world has plenty of idiots. Some of them are rich.
(DIR) Post #AZwCxOCdM79xxI1kDg by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-09-19T21:43:18Z
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"The church should direct the government..."I'm going to guess that she truly doesn't know what the founders said about this.https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3540071-boebert-says-she-is-tired-of-separation-between-church-and-state-the-church-is-supposed-to-direct-the-government/#USPol #politics #boebert
(DIR) Post #AZwEaLOPpwZYUKg23E by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-09-19T22:02:58Z
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@freemo Hah. "...the wall of separation between church and state..." ---Thomas Jefferson
(DIR) Post #AbkPxVdvu9PpPfys9g by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-11-13T00:58:01Z
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@lowqualityfacts Well now, that's as low a quality fact as I've ever seen.
(DIR) Post #AdG9wys6iOztrLdGvw by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2023-12-28T06:21:34Z
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@rms Dumbest thing Social Security ever did was loaning money to Congress. They've never paid it back and the debt shows up as a line item in the budget that Congress can point at as an "expense".This is why Congress will never repay it.
(DIR) Post #Ai5szWXVkx15q01Rgm by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-05-20T18:50:39Z
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Why is there a gun? O.o
(DIR) Post #Ake9K1b7ReOPPLHJNw by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-08-04T06:14:11Z
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@KydiaMusic @kwramm @bojacobs Exactly. It's a cluster of neuroses, starting with serious self-esteem problems. And so, societies with self-esteem problems are ripe for fascism to take hold.Another red-flag for me is a society that loves the concept of revenge, which the USA is. Americans love the idea of getting revenge and this is one of the things that makes Trump so attractive. Trump frequently threatens revenge and this turns his followers on.All of this stems from a populace that is unhappy and feels put down, which much of the USA also feels. Racists feel put down. The rest feel they can't get ahead because the system is rigged. Which it is, by the wealthy, but they don't understand it. They don't realize that the wealthy people they idolize are the very ones who have rigged the system and destroyed the middle class.
(DIR) Post #AkiQ1f6wmq1aJ6ppom by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-08-07T06:38:18Z
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@rms A problem is there are some in Israeli government that think Israel is immune to such accusations.
(DIR) Post #AleMQg03ULuJefxXvs by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-09-04T05:31:08Z
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@rms Yes, things will get real when food and water come up short throughout the world. And it will. For the past 25 years, the Pentagon has seen this coming problem as the biggest threat to global security and stability.Pentagon war planners (very smart folks) are no longer studying war scenarios against Russia like they used to. They're studying and modeling what's going to happen and how do we react when India runs out of food and water?
(DIR) Post #AmFjLHhFuHNOcu563M by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-09-22T06:12:19Z
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@rms Yes. This didn't happene under the U.S. Tax Code in force in the 1950s and 60s. Hmm. I wonder why. ;-)
(DIR) Post #AmqhkMXAul8k3u6Q8u by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-10-10T02:18:40Z
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@futurebird You're not alone. This association has been happening in my brain since 2020.
(DIR) Post #AnvGwDuigEXQnvFJqa by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-11-06T05:36:10Z
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@billyjoebowers It's certainly the problem here in West Virginia. Here is the epicenter of under-educated, greedy, self-centered, parochial know-it-alls. Just the kind of people Trump appeals to.But if Trump wins, they'll get theirs -- what they deserve. Hahaha. Stupidity has a price and they're going to pay it.
(DIR) Post #Ao9oTWs5EcEXr9wPTs by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-11-18T05:25:41Z
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@futurebird @whknott Agreed. Statistics is very important for understanding the world. What made math hard for me when I was young was the preconception that "math is hard". So I expected it to be hard, and it was, until I realized it wasn't.The other roadblock for me may be limited to a few people such as myself. I have a hard / impossible time learning things for which I see no purpose. Algebra was hard because uses for it were not discussed. "Just memorize this algorithm for factoring." Why? "So you pass the class." That doesn't work for me.When I reached calculus it was clear how extremely useful it is. Now I needed algebra. The algebra came to me quick, easy, obvious, because I saw a use for it. I was endlessly puzzled over why two years of algebra in Junior High was so damned hard. And I didn't learn anything in that time.
(DIR) Post #Aoh5mG0XaBEyIeqUnA by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2024-12-04T06:45:01Z
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@futurebird Been there done that in the 1970s. These days it's stamps. (As in decorative rubber stamps and ink.) Hahaha.
(DIR) Post #Apn0nD6DdbWN1FBOcq by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2025-01-04T06:22:43Z
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@RickiTarr True. But small-minded people think otherwise."There are just two genders, male and female. This is obvious." Well, actually, no. Nature is much more complex than your simple black and white model. And this design is intended. It maximizes survival of a species that depends on sexual reproduction.If humans had just two genders, we would be unique amongst all mammals. We don't. Neither do lions. Have you ever watched two male lions having sex? No? Quite a few male lions prefer sex with other males. Didn't know that did you? You know, ignorance makes you look stupid and makes you do stupid things that end up hurting you, personally.Learn something, read books, stop listening to propaganda, pull your head out of your ass, I mean, the Bible, written by ignorant shepherds 3,000 years ago. See how the world really works and enjoy it.
(DIR) Post #Apn0nESEbEj3DoUUa0 by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2025-01-05T06:26:26Z
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@rastinza @RickiTarr Sorry for the delay. Work interferes with social media. Hahaha.True, I gave a brief series of comments, knowing that most people in my circle already know about these things. I wasn't writing a tutorial.I would hope that most people these days understand the basic concepts of human sexuality. It's not simple, it's extremely complex. Science is still a long way from understanding all the complexities. It will be a long time yet, if ever, that we understand all of it.At the fundamental level there's male and female, and one might assume the two are automatically attracted to one another. But this is not the case. We know this from observation for thousands of years. Then there's intersex, which I'll ignore here.There's genetics. Female and male are XX and XY, right? But no, there are many other variations in chromosomes.Then there are complexities of brain development that we don't understand. The chemistry in the womb affects the fetus in ways we don't understand that result in effects after birth.One of my grandkids is trans. She's an adult now. She was born with female hardware between her legs but from age 3 or before she knew she was male. Her brain is masculine but her hardware is female and this created all kinds of problems because her siblings, all male, didn't understand.Here's a concise article that touches on the important parts: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/gender-science/201701/three-gender-myths-almost-everyone-believes-shouldn-tWhen it comes to answering the question of "why", the shortest answer is "because it works". As living creatures, our most important function is reproduction -- passing our genes on to the next generation for further adaptation. From Nature's point of view, this is our ONLY function. All the other stuff, like our big brains, is decoration and came about because it enables us to reproduce better.Nature / evolution / adaptation is very effective at keeping what works and eliminating what doesn't work. You can depend on this. Nature has had 150 million years to tinker with mammals and find what works and what doesn't. We are mammals, lions are mammals. So, while 2 sexes plus intersex, and 56 identified genders may seem very odd, it works. It works so well that billions of humans are infesting the planet to the point of destruction.This is all you need to know about why. Science will be investigating the chemistry of why for decades if not much longer, but that won't change what is.
(DIR) Post #ArhjXUXiNFQbkQ3r8q by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2025-03-04T06:10:02Z
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses Trump:“So, you voted to build a wall.Well, dear Americans, even if you don’t understand much about geography, since for you America is your country and not a continent, it is important for you to know, before the first brick is laid, that there are 7 billion people beyond that wall.But since you don’t really know the term “people,” we will call them “consumers.” There are 7 billion consumers ready to replace their iPhones with Samsung or Huawei devices in less than 42 hours.They can also replace Levi’s with Zara or Massimo Duti.In less than six months, we can easily stop buying Ford or Chevrolet cars and replace them with Toyota, KIA, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Volvo, Subaru, Renault or BMW, which are technically better than the cars they produce. These 7 billion people can also stop subscribing to Direct TV, and we don't want to do that, but we can stop watching Hollywood movies and start watching more Latin American or European productions that have better quality, message, cinematic techniques and content.Although it may sound incredible, we can skip Disney and go to the Xcaret resort in Cancun, Mexico, Canada or Europe: there are other great destinations in South America, East America and Europe.And even if you don't believe it, even in Mexico there are better hamburgers than McDonald's and they have better nutritional content.Has anyone seen pyramids in the United States? In Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Sudan and other countries there are pyramids with incredible civilizations.Find out where to find the wonders of the ancient and modern world. None of them in the US. Shame on Trump, he would have bought them and sold them!We know that Adidas exists, not just Nike, and we can start wearing Mexican sneakers like Panam. We know more than you think.We know, for example, that if these 7 billion consumers don't buy their products, there will be unemployment and their economy will collapse (within the racist wall) to such an extent that they will beg us to tear down this ugly wall.We didn't want to, but....You want a wall, you get a wall. Sincerely yours."
(DIR) Post #Avb4SxZMayLamO6Vyi by shuttersparks@qoto.org
2025-06-28T18:06:50Z
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@Nonilex I remember schoolmates using crutches, wearing leg braces, and in wheelchairs from polio. My girlfriend 55 years ago suffered permanent damage from whooping cough. My father-in-law suffered permanent damage from mumps. My uncle died at the age of five from diphtheria.