4chan isn't free
Arrakis ain't free. The dunes of Sibaya Ridge gotta be drenched in the blood of the Harkonnen. Shaddam Husseino Corrino is not my Emperor, he is a water-fat offworlder with no sons. Sietch and Ichwan Bedwine, not Sardaukar and Landsraad ok :DDDDDDDDDD Bless the Maker and His water.
It's also not inappropriate because the gun was being transferred to Dominick as a trustee.
even if the exact legal verbiage was never used
A gun trust between two non-related people had better be on paper if it's going to hold up in court.
I think the reason nobody complains about it is that the genre basically died after Garrett P.I. took it, added in high fantasy and still managed to be better than average; and everything made since then has been Oh Mr Darcy grade garbage.
a handful of companies are going to own the future
Exactly. People are dubious about the country, the economy, and the dollar, but the smart money knows that the companies, for the most part, will be fine. Ownership is power, and the companies own a lot. Whatever may happen to the dollar, owning a share of those companies will give you a cut in whatever is to come.
We're not anywhere close to a communist revolution that would put the companies in jeopardy. Rather, we're close to a conflict between social statists and libertarians, and the companies can live with either of those outcomes.
breakdown
It was more of a drawn out joke.
I've been working conventions since about '04, so I've got opinions on most of them.
Everyone calls Dashcon the worst convention ever, but my favorite train wreck of a con is still Reactor. Filing bankruptcy on your hotel and disappearing, only to change your name and re-book with the same hotel, AND THEY TAKE YOU BACK is a feat that will never be topped any time soon. You need a pretty fukkin desperate venue to pull that off, and that was definitely Purple Hotel.
Every convention has its specific culture.
Worldcon attracts cliquey literary types.
San Diego Comic-Con markets directly to Josh Whedon fans and cosplay whores.
Anime Detour is for potheads, PAX (both of them) is for SJWs who think they're edgy and cool, and any con run by R.K. attracts sex pests because it's run by several.
In the case of Dragon Con, it's an 80k person convention where the average attendee is just there to buy some shit, get a photo with the 801st (assuming they aren't IN the 801st), and then get blackout drunk.
There was never a world where Dragon Con could make a literary award and make it have the weight of the Hugo, because of the character of the convention.
that never really materialized
Because awards are about trying to please the masses
No, the Hugos are not about the masses at all.
The only people who get a vote are Worldcon attendees.
The mistake is thinking the Hugos OR Worldcon matter. They don't. A better solution would be to start a new convention to compete with Worldcon.
At Iowa State, there's an annual 26 hour team radio contest called Kaleidoquiz put on by the local FM station.
As part of the events, there is a road trip contest that involves driving the four corners in a circuit (they use various methods to ensure that a circuit is actually driven). The contest is 26 hours because that's how long it takes to drive the circuit starting and ending at Ames.
But we've got things to see right on the interstate.
We've got the Brownell's store and the world's biggest truck stop.
The government just went out and made it law, and people complied.
Yes. And you ask us when it will end.
To which we ask you, when are you willing to storm the Bastille?
Americans understand this. Next week the Supreme Court WILL strike down the vaccine mandate. But we intuitively know what would happen if they did not. What would happen if ALL civil means of disagreeing with the policy were exhausted. That all would be left would be uncivil means, and people would start dying. And when a whole third of the country is saying "fuck no", it would get messy fast.
The only reason America isn't already torn apart in civil war is the belief that the system still works despite an incompetent executive and an absentee legislature.
Make a fuss? Get myself arrested?
Do you understand why the American government must tread on eggshells?
Because in this country there are a hundred million gun owners and only five million armed public servants.
So what? I can't really fucking DO much
You can gamble your life to make the government fear you, or you can fear your government. This is the choice the Founders made. This is the choice your ancestors refused to make.
That the price is higher today does not change the nature of it.
You can curse your ancestors all you want for being shortsighted and lazy but that does not change your situation.
An Afghani goat herder understands freedom more than you do. We occupied their country for twenty years and they drove us out.
When will people wake up?
You tell me.
I'm in a red state, you're the one in Australia.
You're the one who has to tell yourself: "I don't want to die, but I refuse to live like this."
You tell me when you're ready to say that.
That is really, really sad.
You really have never seen Belushi do his samurai skits?
Or Norm Macdonald's Bob Dole?