Overnight Open Thread 6/17/16 (tmi3rd)

Good evening, Morons and Moronettes. I'm tmi3rd, and I'm filling in for CDR M at the last minute, as real life intervened. For those of you who aren't familiar with me, I usually run the AoSHQ Weather Desk, and put stuff up when we have landfalling hurricanes or major severe weather outbreaks.

I also do the occasional fill-in on the ONT, and CDR M is pretty sure he'll be back in the pocket for tomorrow night.

So let's try to have some fun...

Let me get some stuff from my end out of the way first- at this point, guys, I think we're more or less up a creek, politically. I could be wrong, but judging from my Twitter morning, I don't see the right uniting around anything, and I tried to ignore polls in 2008 and 2012 at my own peril.

It's frustrating as hell because, particularly at the state level, things were (and hopefully are) improving. There's no doubt that at the federal level, the scene has been overrun with charlatans, and under the circumstances, we're looking at a minimum of four (and really more likely eight) years of what we just endured with Obama. Probably worse, frankly, but we'll have to see.

On the personal level, I've had to endure "polite" conversations where lefties feel more and more like they can drop the veil about their big-game intentions. On the other hand, my nominal political allies rage at me for AGREEING WITH THEM. For clarity- for AGREEING WITH MY ALLIES.

And just for clarity- some of my more impressive dustups with people have centered around them thinking that I have some sort of pull as a blogger.

Guys, I'm a med student. I put up, what, four, maybe five, posts IN A YEAR? C'mon.

I'm not going to give you the "can't we all just get along" bullshit, because that answer appears to be a flat NO at this point. The Never Trumpers keep coming up with what they hope will dethrone Trump, the Never Hillary people are praying that Hillary will find a new way to shoot herself in the foot, and each group has compelling arguments as to why they believe what they do. Frankly, I agree with both sides. I just don't think the two sides can find a way to bury the hostaet in time for the election. As such, in practice, we now have two pieces of one party. I just hope Democrats don't win the House, but I'm not optimistic.

In the meantime, though, if you've got a "protected class" friend, you need to take them shooting.

Take them shooting, engage them in conversation, and let them know your reasons why you do what you do. You'll run into situations where you can't talk them out of positions they didn't arrive at on their own, and you're not always going to be successful. But if you're serious about undoing the damage done so that our kids have any chance at all, it starts at the personal level.

I've heard plenty of doom and gloom today. I don't have time for that. I'm trying to find workable solutions that protect my family. Hence, my stance in the short term: win the one-on-ones so that the larger game can be won.

Okay, thanks for letting me get that out there. Now let's have some fun...

How's the weather out there?

It's important to be able to get a weather forecast that's reasonably accurate, and written in plain English. Check this one out. No agenda. No politics. Just weather.

Anyone like waterslides?

This is Verruckt (German translation, and it's missing the umlaut over the U, is "crazy"), and it's a cozy 168 feet up on the first drop. It's at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City.

Gonna have to try that sometime.

Or how about the Skycoaster in Kissimmee, FL? I've done this one.

The view really is lovely that far up, by the way...

I sounded like this (0:35 in) on the way down, by the way...

Tonight's musical selection...

As I mentioned, I'm a med student, and I typically study to trance, deep house, and related stuff. I hadn't heard of M83 until flipping through channels on the satellite radio on the road recently. I totally dig this tune, especially with the very impressive guitar solo at the end.

Tonight's cartoon selection...

Looney Toons - Ballot Box Bunny by JomJul

Seemed appropriate.

Oh, what the hell, one last musical selection...

White Nights has been playing a lot lately on some of the movie channels, and it seems oddly appropriate these days. This was one of the non-Lionel Ritchie tunes that I totally dug...

Okay, guys, that should do it... if you need to get a hold of me, come find me on Twitter. I've got to get up in the morning, so I'm off to bed, but when it comes to current events, have faith. Whatever's coming is probably going to be tough, but do what you've got to do to maintain your sanity. I think most of us are terribly alarmed at what seems to be coming.

Thanks for reading, and hang in there.

-tmi3rd

posted by Open Blogger at 10:20 PM

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