Random Stuff IX: Rogue Admins

[marsoupial they/them]

I think we've all had our fair shares of politick. I, for one, certainly have. 

The Shard is a community, and not only that, a family, for those of us who commit to this wonderful website. To see people get put down and discarded like this breaks my heart. 

The lovely thing about this website is that, even though we all live in different places, have different interests, and have different opinions, we can all gather together under our love of the works of one Mr Brandon Sanderson. 

We wouldn't recognize each other if we passed by on the street, or if we saw each other on the news, but on this site, we are friends. We all need to take that into consideration. 

There are real people behind each post. Real, human people. (Except Kobold. He's magic.)

Let's not let our political ideas cloud our priorities. This is a site, a forum, a community, where everyone should be loved and respected, regardless of anything and everything. 

So let's keep it that way, eh?

And now, back to your regularly scheduled random.

[Claincy he/him]

Hmmm, time for something random and positive. Here's a video of our dog chasing rainbows:

And another of him as a puppy (I may have posted this one before):

 

[marsoupial they/them]

7 minutes ago, Claincy said:

Hmmm, time for something random and positive. Here's a video of our dog chasing rainbows:

And another of him as a puppy (I may have posted this one before):

 

Oh... my... goodness.

[Pagerunner he/him]

Hey, hopefully some less divisive election news: DC voted to become the 51st state! We might see the flag change for the first time in almost 70 years. But I thought Puerto Rico already had a (carefully worded) referendum that could start them on the path to statehood, as well. Does anyone remember how that turned out?

Due to pure partisanship, both will have a hard time going straight through Congress, since either would add a guaranteed 2 Democratic Senators. They'd need to cut a deal to probably add an extra state that would pretty confidently swing Republican, to maintain the balance of the Senate, to get buy-in. It's kind of like the slave state/free state compromise (uh oh, this comparison is going downhill fast) that split Maine into its own state when Missouri was added. I've heard that maybe splitting New York state from New York City could be a balancing act. Same with Chicago and the rest of Illinois. East/West Texas would probably be more reliably Republican, but I think Texans like their state right where it is. Not sure how Michigan's Upper Peninsula would vote as its own state, but I think its population is lower than Wyoming, so I don't think it would be a good candidate.

There's also the possibility of ceding the land back to... Maryland, I think it is? (There was originally land from both Maryland and Virginia, but one of the states took it back already.) That would give them representation, but in states that already lean Democratic, like the district, so that's why they like statehood proposals better.

But if DC and Puerto Rico push through as states, and maybe 2 new red states to balance them out, that could leave us with anywhere between 51 and 54 stars on our flag! I like our current design of 4x5 inlaid with 5x6; it's simple and elegant. 54 could be a nice 6x9, but I'm having a hard time visualizing anything for the other ones. (53 is prime, but it could be 5x5 and 4x7?)

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

9 minutes ago, Claincy said:

Hmmm, time for something random and positive. Here's a video of our dog chasing rainbows:

And another of him as a puppy (I may have posted this one before):

 

What did we do to deserve dogs?

[marsoupial they/them]

Just now, Pagerunner said:

Hey, hopefully some less divisive election news: DC voted to become the 51st state! We might see the flag change for the first time in almost 70 years. But I thought Puerto Rico already had a (carefully worded) referendum that could start them on the path to statehood, as well. Does anyone remember how that turned out?

Due to pure partisanship, both will have a hard time going straight through Congress, since either would add a guaranteed 2 Democratic Senators. They'd need to cut a deal to probably add an extra state that would pretty confidently swing Republican, to maintain the balance of the Senate, to get buy-in. It's kind of like the slave state/free state compromise (uh oh, this comparison is going downhill fast) that split Maine into its own state when Missouri was added. I've heard that maybe splitting New York state from New York City could be a balancing act. Same with Chicago and the rest of Illinois. East/West Texas would probably be more reliably Republican, but I think Texans like their state right where it is. Not sure how Michigan's Upper Peninsula would vote as its own state, but I think its population is lower than Wyoming, so I don't think it would be a good candidate.

There's also the possibility of ceding the land back to... Maryland, I think it is? (There was originally land from both Maryland and Virginia, but one of the states took it back already.) That would give them representation, but in states that already lean Democratic, like the district, so that's why they like statehood proposals better.

But if DC and Puerto Rico push through as states, and maybe 2 new red states to balance them out, that could leave us with anywhere between 51 and 54 stars on our flag! I like our current design of 4x5 inlaid with 5x6; it's simple and elegant. 54 could be a nice 6x9, but I'm having a hard time visualizing anything for the other ones. (53 is prime, but it could be 5x5 and 4x7?)

Whoa. New states! This is legitimately historic!

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles: Dogs are a gift from the Great Sandwich Gods that should be cherished.

 

Good night, friends. Good night.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

12 minutes ago, Claincy said:

Hmmm, time for something random and positive. Here's a video of our dog chasing rainbows:

And another of him as a puppy (I may have posted this one before):

 

I guess he really wanted to taste the rainbow  

[Kaymyth she/her]

1 hour ago, Oversleep said:

Did you... did you just disregard whatever a person has to say based on their gender?

No.  She called into question their perspective on the subject by calling out their privilege.

And yes, @aeromancer, I watched the video.  I read the article.  They were both disgusting.

And if anyone wants to call me out on not playing nice, that was the nice version.  There are so many things I want to say right now that I know I shouldn't.  The Shard isn't the right venue for that.

I will say this much - There are a lot of women on the Shard.  There are people of color.  There are a lot of LGBT people.  There are some religious minorities (I'm one of those).  YES, we're scared.  Not because we believe that every Trump supporter is a racist, sexist, homophobic bigot, but because ENOUGH of them are who are making themselves more visible.  The KKK was out in full regalia on an overpass bridge in North Carolina this morning.  LGBT suicide crisis hotlines are getting record numbers of incoming calls.  People are afraid, and I honestly don't care anymore if our fear hurts anyone's feelings.  These are people's LIVES we are talking about, not just idealogical arguments.

[Mistrunner]

Let's all talk about puppies now, hey?

I hate confrontation please be nice to each other this is making me sad I love you guys also I really want a dog

[Claincy he/him]

Roger command, deploying additional puppy video in 3..2..1

 

1 hour ago, Silverblade5 said:

I guess he really wanted to taste the rainbow  

Anything shiny on the floor is a lot of fun to chase. He can generally tell what is causing the reflection but he doesn't care because it's fun 

[Chaos he/him]

We should try to minimize political discussion here. Thanks! This is a can of worms I don't really want to moderate, honestly. I've kept an eye on it and I am worried it is getting heated.

I understand it is a very emotional moment. It is for me as well. But let's be cautious to everyone. I didn't shut this down last night because it seemed harmless enough and some people do need a bit of solace. But it's worrying me now. There's plenty of ways to cope.

I've gone with drinking, personally.

[Mistrunner]

7 minutes ago, Claincy said:

Roger command, deploying additional puppy video in 3..2..1

Anything shiny on the floor is a lot of fun to chase. He can generally tell what is causing the reflection but he doesn't care because it's fun 

Your dog is adorable.

Speaking of maybe not so adorable animals, today in my forensics class (the one with the teacher who has three snakes, a rat, a turtle, a tarantula, two axolotls, a tank of betta fish, and more) someone tried to hold the tarantula for a bet and things got kinda interesting.

Now, this guy is a big, tough football player. He got the tarantula in his hand fine, and he thought he'd won the bet easy. But when he tried to put it back in its tank it just stayed on his hand. So his buddy, also a big, tough football player, decided he'd do it. He had a glove on his hand, so he figured he'd be fine, but when he got it to move onto his hand, it kept going. It ran up his arm and onto his back and this big, tough football player started shrieking and jumping around. At this point it was relative chaos in the classroom, and people also had out two of the snakes and the rat, so the biggest and toughest football player of them all was in the corner because he nopes out at the sight of basically all of the animals. The teacher came over, trying to calm the tarantula kid down, and got the tarantula back in its tank.

It was quite exciting.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

My history teacher showed a slideshow of Middle Ages torture devices. It was quite amusing watching everyone else's reactions. 

[Quiver he/him]

Posted this elsewhere, bit: apologies for my own heatedness. I think I got a bit too stressed from too many things, political and otherwise, and I snapped a little.

(No Cosmere magic yet. Then again, this is Earth, so I should be testing for epic powers instead, yes?)

Sorry everyone. I'll try do better.

[WayneSpren he/him]

52 minutes ago, Silverblade5 said:

My history teacher showed a slideshow of Middle Ages torture devices. It was quite amusing watching everyone else's reactions. 

Yes, let's end this flame-speak of U.S. presidential candidates with civilized discussion of horrible instruments of torture. 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Hello.

[Arraenae]

 

3 hours ago, Mistrunner said:

Let's all talk about puppies now, hey?

I hate confrontation please be nice to each other this is making me sad I love you guys also I really want a dog

Or kitties. Kitties are adorable too.

Spoiler

 

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Quote of the day!

• The fun thing about mathematics is that it doesn't have to reflect reality at all; it only usually does so because that's more convenient for most things. Want to redefine "continuity", make a longer-than-infinite line, work in fractional or infinitely many dimensions, or split a sphere into two copies of itself? As long as you can formally define it and prove it works, there's no problem.

 

@Chaos should really like this.

[Sunbird she/her]

Owls are also cute. Especially when they're yawning.

Case in point:

Spoiler

Spotted Owlet from India.

 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

awww.

I wonder why I get paranoid when I’m high
I wonder why I say yes to everyone in my life
I wonder why I can’t run that fast in my dreams
I wonder why I feel short when I know my money’s tall
I wonder why I miss everyone and I still don’t call
I wonder why I can’t run that fast in my dreams

Although I guess if I knew tomorrow
I guess I wouldn’t need faith
I guess if I never fell, I guess I wouldn’t need grace
I guess if I knew His plans, I guess He wouldn’t be God

So maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay
Maybe that’s okay, maybe that’s okay
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay

I wonder why I feel emptiness and I sing these blues
I wonder why I feel hopelessness when I watch the news
I wonder why I can’t find my voice in my dreams
I wonder why they say hate your brother and hide your gold
I wonder why we all fear the things that we might not know
I wonder why I can’t find my voice in my dreams

Although I guess if I knew tomorrow
I guess I wouldn’t need faith
I guess if I never fell, I guess I wouldn’t need grace
I guess if I knew His plans, I guess He wouldn’t be God

So maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay
Maybe that’s okay, maybe that’s okay
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay

All this rust, I can’t explain
Is it by design or random fate, yeah

So maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay
Maybe that’s okay, maybe that’s okay
Maybe I don’t know, maybe I don’t know
But maybe that’s okay

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

there was a really cute staffie that came into the hostel and she had similar colouring to my Dexter back home and I really miss him and he's getting old and this was staffie was soooo cute and she was pregnant and I anted to buy a puppy but it wasn't the smartest or responsibilest thing to do and now I sads

[Claincy he/him]

One last dog video for now. Here he's playing with his water bowl which is, apparently, the best toy ever!

 

[Mestiv he/him]

Looks like I've missed a Highstorm comming through this place. I'd have never thought that a disagreement about the existence of wage gap can blow up like this on the Shard.

Anyway, we have our independence day tomorrow in Poland. There will be a couple of manifestations going through Warsaw. One of them is organized by far right wing, nationalistic movement. I wonder if they, just like the years before, celebrate our country's independence by vandalizing bus stops and other public infrastructure :/ 

[marsoupial they/them]

8 hours ago, Mistrunner said:

Let's all talk about puppies now, hey?

I hate confrontation please be nice to each other this is making me sad I love you guys also I really want a dog

Puppies are great. Let's talk about small cute animals for the rest of the day.

7 hours ago, Claincy said:

Roger command, deploying additional puppy video in 3..2..1

 

Anything shiny on the floor is a lot of fun to chase. He can generally tell what is causing the reflection but he doesn't care because it's fun 

Oh my! What a doggo!

6 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

Hello.

Hello! Is everything okay?

1 hour ago, Mestiv said:

Looks like I've missed a Highstorm comming through this place. I'd have never thought that a disagreement about the existence of wage gap can blow up like this on the Shard.

Anyway, we have our independence day tomorrow in Poland. There will be a couple of manifestations going through Warsaw. One of them is organized by far right wing, nationalistic movement. I wonder if they, just like the years before, celebrate our country's independence by vandalizing bus stops and other public infrastructure :/ 

Yeah, I think you have. And the Highstorm was heavy, man.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

The debate is over, and I'm sorry I got involved. 

Can we please drop it? I'm starting to feel like a pariah who isn't welcome. :/