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Agreed. The only unrealistic bit was the guy in the crowd who suddenly twigged that they were lying to him. Most people this satirises are not that self aware.

Most of us here are whine connoisseurs.

Watched it last night. Lots of fun. I thought it a great and accurate parody of the Trump administration and Fox News.

My girlfriend accused me of cheating. I told her she was starting to sound like my wife.

As long as everyone thinks they’re in the middle, and everyone else is an extremist, we’re waiting for that cold day in hell. I remember Rushmc saying he was pretty middle of the road. It all depends on the road you’re on, and the signs you’re reading, and whether you accept others’ readings of those road signs. Wendy P.

Hi Ken, Re: been able to connect with so many people. IMO it was the tv show that did it. He was seen as someone in charge, who could make the tough decisions. People did not seem to realize that he was reading from the script. Jerry Baumchen

15 years. Still not believable.

Or we could hire a couple Hollywood guys to create fictional a war in Albania, complete with video footage to feed to the media. Do you think Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro might be available?

In this corner we have the American Republican Chrisssssstiaaaaaaans. And in this corner we have the Anti-American Progressive Heeeeeaaaathens!!! Fuck me. When does this stop and when do we learn to work back towards the middle.

A weeping woman bursts into her hypnotherapist's office… "Doctor," she cries. "I have been faithful to my husband for 15 years, but yesterday I broke that trust and had an affair! The guilt is killing me. I just want to forget that it ever happened!" The hypnotherapist shakes his head. "Not again…"

You need to answer a few questions first (I don't need the answers, but you do). What languages do you speak? English only is going to limit you. Spanish opens up a lot of places. What sort of climate do you want? Warm all the time? Hot? Cold sometimes? I live in Wisconsin. It really sucks sometimes, but the change of seasons makes it worth it. I'm not sure how well I'd tolerate, say, Southern California. I know I wouldn't tolerate Florida or Arizona well. What kind of 'critters' can you tolerate? Jerry suggested Australia. It's a really nice place, but the critters are pretty impressive (not in a good way). Spiders the size of dinner plates. The world's 10 most deadly snakes (yes, all 10 of the 'top 10'). What kind of politics can you tolerate? How much corruption? There are lots of places with nice climate, low cost of living, otherwise quite nice, but corrupt as hell. The 'elite' do what they want, own the cops and the 'little people' have to just take it. As much as we bitch here in the US, we've actually got it better than most places (for now, anyway -Off to SC with that). What are your job prospects? I remember you're in health care (not exactly sure, nurse of some level?). That's a skill that is useful most everywhere, but valued differently in different places. Many of the 'more civilized' places are pretty strict on emigration (permanent resident). There are more questions like these, but this is what I could think of. Good luck with your search.

Yep. The goal is to get us to a place where most people are immune _enough_ to the most recent strain that hospitals are not overloaded, and death rates drop to flu-like levels. Paxlovid will help with that a lot, as will universal vaccination.

The unintended double entendre not withstanding, we really need to do better than fund things for a couple of years planning to come back later with more money. Yes, he's a douche for being a dick head negotiator. Yes, he's an ignorant bigot praying to be reelected by other ignorant bigots who need to hear him say that poor people buy drugs with their kids lunch money. Yes, naming your boat after a John Denver song should be disqualifying for the meanest elected office. But also, yes, we live in a better country when a handful of newbie progressive congress critters get schooled on how the world really works.

The problem I find is that sooner or later I will read something so outrageous that I can't stop myself from responding. And that invariably leads me into a downward spiral of tit for tat messaging. It is far better to as John keeps saying, not feed the trolls. And the best way for me to do that is not to read them.

Some people can just read people and ignore the more trollish ones. Others can't. I have a lot of trouble myself, but then again I can't block people here since I try to read everything. The big downside of blocking people is you narrow your exposure to other opinions and points of view. However, sometimes what you are blocking is simple thoughtless malice - and you don't get any real value from reading such posts.

While simultaneously claiming victimhood. But to Bigun's point, as annoying as that is, they have as much of a right to exist as any other religion.

The way I'm stacking the layers is leg strap on the bottom, followed by a MLW layer, then the other legstrap layer, then finally the second MLW layer on the top. That's the way it is on the one I'm copying. I do read everything that's written here but I often just go away and think about for a while rather than reply immediately. One of the reasons why I put this on a public forum is that when I was starting out, there was precious little in the way of reference material, and this way it's all available for others who want to read about these things.

I have nothing to contribute to this discussion from a technical standpoint. But I want to comment that it's absolutely amazing to see folks with decades of experience in this sort of thing freely contributing and sharing to help the 'new guy' get it right. This is basically 'doctorate level' harness design and construction stuff. Both theory and practical. Way, way, waaaaaaay beyond my skill/experience. But the fact that Jerry, Lee & Rob are willing to help at the level they are is REALLY cool.

is looking cool more important than safety? i don't care much about functionality, they all work, but if one were to be safer than others that is where i would put my money. they could even solve the problem of changing thread so often by only using white thread for all sewing and not using white for any part of the rig. it may not stand out a lot against yellow or some other colors, but would against everything at least enough to inspect.

Hi Lee, Re: I don't see manufacturers volunteering to produce unsightly rigs. My having now known of two rigs where the reserve risers were not completely stitched ( one in which all four risers were not stitched ), I think anything to ensure this does not happen again is very important. I see the contrasting stitching only needed on the reserve risers; and, possibly on the ring-to-harness attachment. This is covered by the 'mud flap' so is not normally seen. Here is a photo from the Javelin manual: Re: it makes less then perfect sewing blatantly obvious I would consider that a good thing. Jerry Baumchen

At one of the pia meetings before the symposium where all of the mil contractors and government purcurment people get together to bitch at each other this was one of the topics of conversation. I'd did indeed come from a joint not being sewn. Not a heat issue. All the contractors were trying to come up with mechanical jigs and clamps to hold every thing straight during sewing. There was a lot of suppressed grousing under all the "please please can I keep my government contract?" Underneath all the ass kissing was the universal sentiment that hot glue was better faster easier and more accurate. There was a faint hope that the speed would pick back up if they could ever get the clamps to work and not slip but that arranging the peaces and getting them clamped straight even and on the mark was... Challenging. For small production glue is so much easier and has a proven track record. As a rigger I could get behind the idea of contrasting thread but I don't see it flying estheticly. Also it makes less then perfect sewing blatantly obvious and I don't see manufacturers volunteering to produce unsightly rigs. Lee

Dan, of all people, deserved better. So sad. Thanks, Wendy. If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb