Remember those numbers are not particularly reliable since most law enforcement organizations are reluctant to and in some case are legally prohibited from releasing statistics on gun violence or deaths. The Brady center relies mostly on news organizations and what few LEOs that will cooperate with them.  Hence the…

I agree. Use of Weapons is arguably his best novel, and it was technically his first novel. It was mostly written back in the early 70's, and as complex as it now is, it was even more complex back then. Supposedly it was impossible to follow unless you could think in six dimensions (which I think is mostly a bit of…

Please spell it right with a “J” “MarjieQ.”

“Congresscritter.”

Look up “Whackadoodle” on Wikipedia and see a photo of MTG.

I used to be heavily into the air-cooled VW community (Those vans are even more stupidly priced than this is these days.) One of the guys I know through that had a really nice pop-top camper-bus that he’d tricked out. The whole nine yards, including heavily tinted windows.

This is not a “moped” because it has no peddles. It’s not even a scooter because it’s not a step-through. It’s just a weirdo small motorcycle like what was common in Europe at the time, and yeah I have heard of them before.

I am making no assumptions about this particular mother, or this particular situation. I was making a comment on the attitude of the commentators here. They’re all making the same assumption about people with autism, regardless of this situation.

Ah yes. The mechanical thing designed specifically for pussies too afraid to learn how to ride a motorcycle to pretend they are riding a motorcycle. All the disadvantages of a motorcycle without the advantages of a motorcycle.

I see a lot of “autism is no excuse!” comments on here, and a lot of parental blame. These people have obviously never been exposed to someone with autism, particularly some of the more severe forms.  I know autism is a common excuse that terrible people use for their actions, but the reason this is common is because…

Anyone remember Jimmie Carter?

$450 would rent a nice house at the beach for a weekend too. I have family friends who have done that.

Many ages ago in the 70's when I was a kid, I was part of a HUGE extended family. We would all gather together for Christmas at my Grandmother’s and we’d all give presents to pretty much everyone. This rapidly became problematic as my generation started to fill up (I’m the oldest of my generation.) In 1986 my…

It was.  Sadly she doesn’t cook anymore.  She’s gone more than a little off her rocker, and can barely walk.  I have a running argument with my Cousin on who’s worse: His mom or my mom.  (Sisters.)  My Mom has an excuse.  She’s had a stroke.

My Aunt back in the 80's took a Chinese cooking class, so for several years in the early 90's we did a big family Thanksgiving tadoo that was all Chinese food. That’s when I learned to make epic fried rice, and chicken lo mein. She’d make a bunch of other stuff, and we’d buy potstickers. (It wasn’t worth it to put in…

Since learning how to properly cook a turkey I have stopped reading any “advice” by other people on how to cook a turkey. Everyone’s got their favorite “trick” and blah blah blah. There’s no trick to it, and people have been cooking large birds the way I do it for centuries. No, I’m not going to share my method. It’s…

He’s claiming he is a “trained first responder” with emergency medical training...

Oh gods yes. Hackers is objectively terrible on most every level, but is still stupidly enjoyable. It even gets a number of things correct about “hacker” culture, although many of them are way out of date. For instance Phreak “phreaking” in 1995 is a touch anachronistic. While still done, it was nothing like as…

Around here a law was passed (and not an unreasonable one) that all underground fuel tanks must have sensors installed around them to detect any leaks. I know a family who owned four 7-Eleven stores that all sold fuel. Once that law was passed the two older ones without the sensors simply closed their doors. One…

I’m not liking the goofy US-style quipping at each other. Spike doesn’t say “I just want to kill her a little bit.” That’s something that came out of the Joss Whedon era of US television. Spike (Bebop Spike) is more lackadaisical and his jokes are lame.