I watched that movie specifically because of Willem Dafoe, because: duh. I either loved it or was immensely disturbed by it, and years later I remain on the fence as to which. I tremble to suspect “both.”

Actually, no. Feel free to do a little more research, and you’ll find: Surprise! Ex-military make, on the whole, very good law enforcement officers — precisely because of the extensive training we receive in small arms, rules of engagement, escalation of force, use of deadly force, and methods of de-escalating…

I expect the medical institutions to still be largely privately run, because I’m not advocating the government take over the means of production, just that they eliminate some profiteering from what should be considered — in my opinion — a public good. As they’ll still be privately run, they’ll conceivably compete to…

Team 100 Duck-sized Horses over here! Think how brittle those legs would be — sure you may get a bunch of really uncomfortable calf-level bites, but you’d easily wreck them. Slip on a pair of tap shoes and make a grimdark Mary Poppins dance number out of it: hop-shuffle-step-fallap-ball-punt those little fuckers.

I realize this article is largely tongue in cheek, but the discussion could benefit from a breakdown of what contamination is, what radiation is, and the three things that will help minimize exposure: time, distance, and shielding. Radiation is what kills you, through several methods of cellular damage; this…

You’re quite welcome! I don’t get to gush on the Christianization of Norse/Germanic culture in Western Europe as catalogued in Old English poetry that often; I appreciate the opportunity. \m/ The Wikipedia page for The Harrowing of Hell is a great starting point for additional reading, obviously edited by folks far…

Root Cause analysis would show that those costs rise due to a number of factors, chiefest among them 1) the demographic make-up of the risk pools (sick vs. healthy) and 2) profiteering in several tiers (insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, and healthcare professionals). You…

Well, where you should stand on that is: an income-based, single-payer system which removes the insurance-company tier of profiteering from healthcare mathematically works out to lowered costs for 90%+ of the general public — because while, yes, it becomes a tax (a tax on the ENTIRE risk pool), you eliminate premiums…

Thanks! I’m SUPER fun at parties! :-) As far as audiobooks, I sincerely doubt it... and direct translations are more likely to bore than thrill — the real excitement comes from the historical context and import with respect to the Christianization of the Germanic tribes and British Isles. But! If you’re up for some…

All good. :-) [Ed: It’s hard to make it through the first two seasons without developing an genuine appreciation for the skill in animation, quality of writing and message, and talent of voice cast (which notably includes John de Lancie!).]

Whoa, there, boy (or girl, or whatever—was just making an equestrian joke, not an assumption about your identity). Let’s not conflate Bronies and these a-holes. I suspect there is VERY little overlap between the two demographics.

Poultry farms are awful, especially when burning their offal. Having grown up in Amish country, I can honestly say that I love the moist, pungent odor of freshly-spread manure in the spring. Not a joke. Love it.

Which is a goddamned shame, because the Gospel of Nicodemus is some good, good shit... focus of the Crucifixion there is still the pre-Anselmian focus on the Deceiver being deceived (wherein through the action of attempting to take the soul of the Christ, due to its partial divinity, Satan violated his compact with…

You’ve actually hit the nail on the head. This here is the crux of the issue: they have a persecution/victim complex. Hell, Christianity was actually designed as a slave religion to help the enslaved to not only accept, but be happy with, their lot in life because of the promised rewards to come in the everlasting…

Anybody that take the concept of any god so seriously that they are willing to do fucked-up shit to their fellow man and feel righteous about it is a disease — this is not an exclusively Christian phenomenon. The flabbergasting part is that these people rail against the threat of Islamic theocracy from one side of…

Holy crap... down to the detail of the baby on the floor as chamber pot!

Yes... from a long, storied line of Sicilian O’Mearas. :-)

Are you perhaps from Pennsylvania Dutch Country? Your syntax would suggest so (e.g., our standard example: “Throw father down the stairs his hat.”)... [This is not in any way a dig at you — just made me smile to see the ol’ hometown area syntactical construction.]

I made it the whole way through... it was okay. Three stars. Utterly lacked the charm of Trainwreck or the clever social commentary of Inside Amy Schumer, though. Mostly unrelated: I miss George Carlin.

I’m late in replying, so this will likely go unread, but: the threat to carriers from an SLBM launched by a Type 032 is likely fairly low, based entirely on how nuclear-capable ballistic missiles are designed to operate and how they are targeted. Considering an aircraft carrier is a mobile target, the Type 032 would…