Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@anthracite YOU. ARE. A. FUCKING. GENIUS. <3 <3 <3 I had been wondering why they were so weak compared to the fans I grew up with...

(er, "_couldn't_ catch a nasty case" -- my allergies are still getting used to NOLA and my brain is rather croggled tonight :) )

@Leucrotta I mean, it kinda does. You know how low I was this time a couple years ago. Hell, you've known me long enough to know what kinds of hell I put myself through in the LJ days.

And on a historical scale, yeah, that gets better too. This time *might* be the time we finally all dive off the cliff, but... nothing is sustainable, and entropy eats the bad things as well as the good.

There I go Jeff Wingering again. I hope it's at least helping, because I really do believe it. I can not begin to tell you how many Absolutely Final Doomed For Sure This Time brinks I've been perched on the edge of in my life. *hugs tight*

This week has also kind of re-proven to me that good news comes out the blue sometimes, too—but it's one of those "can't talk about until the time is right" pieces of good news, so you're gonna have to just trust me there.

Every so often, I see a leftist say something that's so dogmatic, callous, and obtuse that I really start to wonder if we're not just patiently waiting our turn for the Republicans to clear the stage so we can become the next Bad Guys.

There's no faster path to that, than thinking that belonging to the "Good Guys" somehow magically exempts you from fundamental considerations of other people. There were an awful lot of good, earnest Western leftists who gave, say, Stalinism a leg up because it was nominally Their Side and that was the end of it.

It's going to be a while until we hit that point, and right now, honestly, I'm willing to permit a little skullduggery in the name of defeating a very well-organized and determined enemy, doing horrible things in the here and now like putting migrants into camps.

But if there's one thing I've learned from history, it's that ANY ideology can be infected by Badmeme and turn on humanity. Look at the contrast between the Sermon on the Mount and, say, Jerry Falwell. Hell, even the Buddhists managed to rationalize having an imperialist warrior culture. I don't believe for a moment that, given the right strain, the FALGSC crowd could catch a nasty case, too.

This is why you have pains in the ass like me around. I'm here to ask the annoying questions and drag you back kicking and screaming if you ever start sniffing around that abyss. Because dammit, I've already lost one faith I genuinely loved to it. Damned if I'm gonna lose what little faith I have left. 🐯​

(Not a subtoot & not about anyone in particular. Just sniffing at the prevailing winds again. We do that. 🐯​❤️​ )

@JulieSqveakaroo Me too, believe me. That article pulled me out of a real dark place today.

I never thought reading about an organization described as the "Caucasian Panthers" would leave me with such a sense of hope...

https://www.theroot.com/the-caucasian-panthers-meet-the-rednecks-armed-ready-1821943540

(Spoiler alert: Apparently they've gotten this nickname because their predecessors actually worked directly with the original Black Panthers... I admit I only had time to skim the article, but it's definitely sounding like they're trying to be the Good Guys...)

@troodon *high five*

In exactly the same situation here! I think it's probably just tons of grass spooge in my case, though. I knew spinning the Allergy Roulette wheel one more time was gonna be one of the costs of living down here, though—and I'd MUCH rather have this than getting my allergy to cat dander back!

Baron K has not been having the finest week of his life, exactly.

Art by Loupgarou. Angry mouseboi by Peggy and me.

"The fish of the righteous are beset on all sides by the stupid humans and the stupid stupid Earth people, who in the name of power and iniquity, chop down jungles and steal our fish. Blessed is the cat who, in the name of charity and good will, bites the jugular of the unbeliever and, yea, shepherds the antelope through the valley of darkness into the warm belly of peace. And I will chew on thee with great vengeance and furious stripes those who wreak extinction and starvation upon my sisters, and you will know my roar when I lay my fangs upon thee—see if I don't!"

--St. Montecore 25:17

(This is not the passage I actually quoted at the Return To Order idiots. Its canonicity... somewhat disputed by the Terran church. =^_____^= )

You know what the really nice thing about being an ex-Christian is? (I mean, besides the part where I was a _total_ asshole before that phase, and it taught me some actual empathy because SOME OF US ACTUALLY READ THE FUCKING MANUAL FIRST?)

When I bitch out pseudo-Christians, I can do it in the guise of a True Believer and lecture straight down to them from the pulpit, the same way they try to do with us.

Today I left a very curt voicemail jeremiad for those idiots who demanded Netflix cancel the (giggle) Amazon Prime adaptation of Good Omens. In the unlikely event they don't hang up the moment I say the word "Pharisee," they're gonna be spending the rest of the day looking up some very unflattering NT verses that they apparently... skipped the first time through.

I really wish there were a polite, universally accept shorthand for "I'm trying to concentrate on something, so kindly fuck right off."

Did laundry for Peg and me today, and she had two bundles of clothes that needed to be air-dried. She went over the drying instructions with me like four times, and I had already sorted them away from the other laundry in the cart...

...when the fucking dryer's coinslot jammed. And then the attendant tried to argue with me, because apparently the display says "$1.00" when the cost is actually "$1.25," and he just... kinda assumed that the most common error was the error that was happening. (Also a HUGE pet peeve of mine.)

After like five minutes of trying to get through to him, I finally got him to come LOOK AT THE FUCKING COINSLOT, WHICH HAD TWO QUARTERS VISIBLY WEDGED IN IT. He gave me a half-assed apology... then hung around breathing down my neck until I had loaded up all the laundry, giving me "helpful advice" I did not need about HOW FUCKING DRYERS WORK.

I was so distracted by his chattering, guess what I loaded straight in to the dryers without noticing? I'm just so pissed. This has happened to me so fucking many times before. If you want me to do something right, FUCK OFF AND LET ME FUCKING DO IT.

Used to happen in my college fraternity, too. (Yeah, fraternity. Long story. Short version is that our house chaplain had a 12' long handmade dragon plushie named "Snowdrop." We... weren't entirely like the other lads. :p )

Mostly baby techies, they were, and they just loved to come up and lecture me about how to solve the "problems" they were ACTIVELY CREATING by watching me work and distracting the fuck out of me.

Get me a fucking cabin and a shotgun. I don't want to talk to anyone but Peggy in person for, like, the next month. >_<

@hummingrain This is yet another of my issues with humans. They always blame the cat. =>__<=

it wasn't me!

https://boingboing.net/2019/06/22/mars-rover-has-detected-methan.html

@Soreth *cues up Nancy Sinatra riff*

check out purple buddy​

(I have absolutely no idea what's responsible for the stylish palette swap. I had Chaos Bullets and so many other upgrades by that point, the game was magnificently broken...)

@001zlnv All previous human occupants have already been eaten for your safety. *nod*

@Balinares What kind of savages do you think we are?!? D: They're both MANDATORY. It's like military conscription, only fattening. :)

@Phorm Fine. Vaporized, bottled, and stowed in the glove compartment. I SAID GET IN THE FUCKING SHIP. <3

@JulieSqveakaroo Um... it's a bit fishy. 😼​