I hung out with my friend Robert Darby for his podcast. This is the result. Hope you enjoy it
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VOTE!
Well it has been a while since I wrote a blog. In fact the world has changed so much since the last time I sat at my desk and pecked away with my two most accurate fingers it is hard to know where to start.
If anyone expects me to tell you where I’ve been or what I have been up to here is an update- I’m not dead. Now that we have that out of the way lets ramble through some stuff…
First and foremost you all need to register to vote. I cannot stress this enough. If you are already registered then it is of utmost importance that you actually vote this November. This is not a drill. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic this election is probably the most important one in your lifetime and hopefully in your children’s and grandchildren’s lifetimes too.
Years ago I warned about Donald Trump being elected president of the United States and the fears I had that he did not have the ability nor the desire to lead the country. I think it is safe for me to say I was correct. I am not happy about being correct it is simply an easily supported fact.
In addition to being correct the worst of my fears has also become a reality. We find ourselves in a situation where we need leadership to help us best get through it. I’m not saying without leadership we are doomed….well some of us are but as a whole I am not worried we will fail. It is just much more difficult and it will take longer and it will cost us more in both money and lives.
Donald Trump has failed. Anyone who doesn’t see the writing on the wall at this point cannot and should not be taken seriously. To support him now can only be explained by stupidity or a self-serving agenda. That is to say- people who now stand behind this ineffective, divisive and inept clown are either too dumb to be trusted making their own toast each morning. Or they hope to get something out of supporting him even if it costs people’s lives or their livelihood. So as we approach November I want you to take note of every single politician, TV personality, writer, shoe salesperson, or homeless person who still supports Trump. Those people can not be trusted to make intelligent and/or selfless decisions. Keep that in mind because someday it may help you avoid getting caught up in some bullshit involving those people.
Now that we know the type of person who still can manage to say Trump’s name without throwing up in their own mouth, it’s time to do something about them. That is where the voting thing comes in. I do not want to hear any of the the usual “my vote doesn’t count” bullshit. I do not want to hear “all politicians are crooks/liars” and I don’t want to hear any other excuses or morally superior banter about corruption and effectiveness the election system. It is simple….We cannot allow Donald Trump to win another term as president. And the best way to prevent him from winning re-election is for all of us to vote
We need to show with overwhelming numbers we are not divided. Trump’s attempt to drag our country down into the swamp rather than drain it must fail spectacularly. We must send a message. We must take our country back because it has been hijacked by an idiot.
We are almost all guilty of taking what we have for granted and it’s time to realize it. It is time to put both hands back on the wheel instead of holding them out the window so we can feel the wind rush through our fingers. There will be no more wind if we do not avoid hitting a wall or driving straight off a cliff.
Lies are only facts, that haven’t happened.
~ Moonchild Corneille
There are countless examples of Trump lacking the leadership abilities needed to be an effective leader. If I had to pick one that should be easiest to see and understand it would be this-
At the time of this blog post the Washington Post has President Trump at 19,127 false or misleading claims in 1226 days. Keep in mind that number only applies to the things Trump says in public. Think about what the actual number must be considering every word that comes out of his mouth public and private. Anyone who dismisses this number by saying “all politicians lie” has a poor grasp on reality.
The reality of it is..The average person lies anywhere from 1.6-2 times per day and those tend to be “white lies” like “those glasses look great on you”
Now let’s consider what people are lying about. When Trump is saying things that are in public view and can be fact checked it is seldom about petty things. He is lying about things that have a direct effect on large numbers of people. Sometimes he is lying about things that could cost people their lives such as a viral outbreak. It is without question Trump’s lies have cost many people their lives (the total number is as yet unknown) and done serious harm to our economy (the severity is also unknown) the level of both cannot be known because as of the writing of this blog things are still playing out.
Right now the number of deaths in the US from corona virus stands at 122,000. Donald Trmp has been heard on multiple occasions bragging about how low that number is and how it could have been in the millions. Yea it could have been in the millions. And I suppose Trump could have told 50,000 lies at this point so the 19,000+ number is great.
Using that logic a good defense in a serial killer case would be “Hey I only killed and raped 24 women. I could have killed and raped 50 women” Who in their right mind is going to nod and say “that’s a great point”?
Trump is already warning that the upcoming election is going to be “rigged”
If he knows this to be true then why the hell doesn’t he tell us what is is going to do to prevent it ? I’ll tell you why. Because you can’t provide a way to prevent some imaginary shit you made up in your head from happening since it isn’t going to happen in the first place.
It is obvious to me that this crap is a signal Trump knows he is in trouble. I think any reasonable person could come to that conclusion based on what Trump has shown us up to now.
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.
~Maya Angelou
I’ve got more to say about this trust me. Let me wrap this rant up by making the following point.
This cannot and must not be about political parties. It is time to set that bullshit aside at least until we correct our course. How bad does it need to get before people can stop making choices not based on their own moral compass but on what a single person of the same party tells them to choose?
Stop being sheep for fucks sake.
ReapSowRadio-Viral
On this podcast Reap talks to his daughter about cotton candy machines and social distancing and stupid people.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
ReapSowRadio Coronavirus Sucks
ReapSowRadio comes out of retirement to rant about the current state of affairs. Robert Darby is the guest and Reap rants….a lot
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
ReapSowRadio Resurrected 2018
ReapSowRadio Returns….
Reap and Brian Allen return to pod-casting by telling you where to trade food stamps for lap dances and drugs, where to hide those drugs from the cops and Brian shares an extremely interesting story about a frog loose in his house…maybe
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Resistance
Did you miss me?
Before I jump into this hot mess we have found ourselves in let me update anyone who is curious.
Tom Raspoptnik lost his attempt to win against me in court (he lost)
Tom Raspotnik and his creepy “wife” are currently defending themselves from a lawsuit claiming they are guilty of copyright violations. Looks like they are going to lose that case too.
To sum it up Tom Raspotnik is still the same loser he has always been…business as usual.
I am currently living in Reno NV. I have a great job which I enjoy very much. I have an apartment I like very much with a great view of the Reno downtown skyline. I have also become a grandpa, my grand-daughter is a very cute and extremely busy little girl. My daughter is a great mother. She has her own apartment and a good job, nice car…I guess I succeeded in raising her. What do you know about that?
Ok enough about me lets discuss what is going on in this great country. I think we should start out by asking one question…
HAVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS?!
Yes, I’m afraid they have.
Donald Trump is about to officially become the POTUS. Just typing that scares me. I do not get it, I’ve tried to understand it, really I have. I’ve tried and tried to put myself in the shoes of the people who support Trump. I’ve listened to the explanations for why people support him like
“They feel abandoned by the Democrats”
“They have watched all the jobs leave town and nothing replace them”
“Donald Trump tells it like it is”
“Donald Trump is going to drain the swamp”
Don’t misunderstand me I know how Donald got elected. He snuck in under the radar. Too many people dismissed the possibility of Trump actually getting elected so they didn’t step up to vote against him. They underestimated the number of stupid people who would actually vote for an idiot like Trump. What I can’t understand is why those people have become so stupid that they can support Trump.
The Murderer of Truth
First of all, the guy is a liar. I don’t mean the typical politician who lies to get votes. Trump takes that stereotype and not only embraces it, he gives it steroids, lots of steroids
Check out Politifact. They check out statements made by politicians to see how true they are.
Not only is Trump a huge liar but he seems to have a poor grasp on reality.
One instance stands out to me most. During a rally where Obama was speaking a Trump supporter was being heckled by the crowd. Obama stopped his speech and repeatedly told the crowd to calm down and leave the man alone. He reminded them that in this country it was ok to have a different opinion.
The next day Donald Trump told a crowd at one of his rallies about the incident. He said the president “spent so much time screaming at this protester.” and described Obama’s reaction to the protester as “a disgrace”. Check it out-
It’s one thing to have a different take on a story, that isn’t the case here. Trump’s version is completely wrong. He also consistently denies saying things that are well documented or even recorded on video. It’s very easy to use google and prove Trump said the things he denies ever saying but he continues to stick to his story. It is nothing less than amazing.
The Twilight Zone
When you attempt to point out the obvious lies Trump has been telling to his supporters the usual response from them is to call you “one of those liberals” and to tell you to “get over losing the election and quit whining/crying”
This drives me crazy. How does expecting someone to be honest make me a liberal? Is that the distinction now? Liberal= honest Conservative= liar
99%… If You Can’t Beat ‘Em Make ‘Em President
How so many working class people came to the conclusion that Donald Trump was the one man who save them from whatever problems they have is another mystery. Remember the “Occupy Wall Street” protests? What the fuck happened to all those people? I guess they just gave up and said “fuck it might as well give in. Not only did they give in the doubled down and let Trump get elected. No protests, no marching, no yelling. I did hear about one group who tried to close down a highway in protest but somebody drove through the human blockade and killed one of them….that pretty much took care of that.
The Resistance
I’ve always believed you should stand up for what you believe in doing whatever you can no matter how small. That is what I will be doing here on an ongoing basis. That mean you should share and support content, do your own podcast, write your own blog, attend protests in your area, if there aren’t any start one. DO SOMETHING or accept whatever Tump does to you with a smile cause you deserve what you get.
To be continued
Up next- The United Corporation of America
Old School…..arcade games
I just came across a disc that I thought I had lost. It contains what I consider a priceless assortment of files. I thought maybe some of you could appreciate the memories they brought back. I’m gonna post some of my favorites along with comment, facts or tips. I’ll explain exactly what it was I found at the end of the blog.
Phoenix- Just fun. During the game three birds will attack all in a line. Let those birds fly all the way to the bottom and start to fly back up. As they are flying up, shoot all three in a row real quick (2 or 3 seconds) and you will get 200, 000 points instead of 200.
Tapper- Funniest part of the game- The customers were all dicks and the little move the bar tender does when he loses a beer –
There were three versions of Tapper released: Root Beer, Budweiser, and Sun- tary (UK).
The main character in the game (as well as the guy in Domino Man and one of the lumberjacks in Timber) is based on a Marvin Glass employee named Mike Ferris who had the same mustache and bald head and wore a red T-shirt all the time. This game was play tested in a Chicago-area Rush Street bar called the Snuggery with much positive feedback. Digitized belches were going to be used in the game, but they never made it into the final version.
- They called it SUPER PAC-MAN for a reason.
- Klax- It was written in just a few weeks on Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters hardware. But it was so good it seemed like it should have taken years. Unique puzzle game.
- Millipede It’s the kick-ass continuation of centipede. If “Continue Game” is turned on, you can keep continuing at a higher level each time. However, you must gain at least one extra man in each continued game to continue that game. This process stops when you reach the 300, 000 point mark. At this point, no matter how high your score gets (i.e. 400, 000, 500, 000 etc.), you will NOT be able to continue your game at a higher score.
- Joust- I will kick your ass at this game, yes I am talking to you.
Early machines had a bug that allowed players to rack up millions of points by standing on the middle plat- form and killing pterodactyls endlessly, or until they got tired and gave up.
Another bug that became a “cut -throat” feature was the ability to belly-flop and squeeze between tight gaps in staggered platforms.
- Ghosts and Goblins- One game I could never make it to the end of. I’m still bothered by that fact to this day
Weapon trick – After having defeated a level boss(es), the knight can fire two or three “invisible shots”; if the man is facing the right border of the screen while doing so, the shots will reappear in the following stage. This can be exploited to kill some of the skulls at beginning of level six
Gaplus-They were not called stages…they were called parsecs…awesome
Dig-Dug- Probably played this more than any other video game other than Joust. It was fun to blow those little things up
- Food Fight was designed for Atari by General Computing as part of a lawsuit settlement for an illegal speedup kit for Missile Command, in which they affixed their copyright. This was one of two games; Quantum was the other.
Inspired by the food fight scene in National Lampoon’s Animal House.
- Championship Sprint Amazing because 4 people could play AT THE SAME TIME!
- Crossbow The creepy sound effects are what made the game and the way your people melted when they got hit only made it more fun.
- Galaga 88 My favorite of the Galaga series
- Centipede-Cool cause you used a roller ball to control it. The first coin-op game designed by a woman. A grasshopper was in the original design, but was later removed from the game.
- Choplifter-Sometimes you would accidentally (on purpose shoot the guys you were trying to rescue and they made a funny little shriek. Must have played this one a million times. In the early stages, try to fly as low as possible – this way the fighters will not shoot you, and you are low enough to shoot the ground targets without being shot. Since this only works when you’re in the air, and not when you’re on the ground, it only works well on levels 1 and 3.
- Crystal Castles- One of the first “3-d” video games I ever played. Originally called Toperoids, this game was originally a 3D Asteroids variant, in which asteroids and other objects fell from the sky, endangering the player. The enemies coming down from the top of the screen was an artifact from the original concept.
- Crazy Climber- With the crazy 2 joystick controls. In the second building: when you arrive at the electrical sign, choose the left path. Then put yourself under the electrical wire (rightmost window of the left path) but keep both joysticks pressed. After a few seconds your climber will become red with white hair and electricity won’t have effect on it.
- “Bubbles was an attempt to come up with a non-violent, clean game, ” (no pun intended) says programmer John Kotlarik.
- Burger Time Those little eggs still piss me off.
The original Data East version hardware had a cassette module so games could be converted easily and quickly. Unfortunately, the cassettes were prone to breakage, and the systems were quickly junked. When Bally Midway licensed the game from DECO, they replaced the hardware with a dedicated hardware system.
- Carnival- This was another one of my favorite bowling alley arcade games.
- Berzerk was originally designed for the 6809E CPU, until it was discovered that the processor didn’t work properly. The board was then redone to run on a Z80. The speech was done using LPC coding, which cost $1, 000 per word to compress at that time. The game also originally had a monochrome monitor; when Defender was released in color, the company re-considered their display approach and re-designed the display using a color overlay board.
Evil Otto was named for Dave Otto, who worked for Dave Nutting’s Arcade Engineering group as R & D director at the time Alan McNeil did. Each Berzerk unit was “autographed” by the designer.
Mr. Peter Bukowski was the first person to die playing a video game, when he died of a heart attack playing Berzerk at the “Friar Tuck Game Room” in Calumet City, Illinois.
An interesting quirk: The space between your man’s head and body is not technically part of your man, so that shots that pass through this area (your “neck”) will not kill you.
- Zookeeper- Round and round you go trying to keep the animals from escaping…round and round and round
- Sinistar- The thing I remember about this game is when Sinistar came after you…you were fucked, fast and hard.
There is a project called MAME.
MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with images of the original arcade game’s ROM and disk data, MAME attempts to reproduce that game as faithfully as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME can currently emulate several thousand different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s through the modern era.
The ROMS are available on the net and some have been released for public use. Be careful cause possession of ROMS you don’t have a legal right to is piracy just like any other software. Just cause it’s old and cheesy doesn’t make it free to use. MAME is not difficult to configure with the ability to make basic video adjustments you can set it up.
I’m not sure how many games MAME supports now but years ago when I was messing with emulators there were over 3000 different variations of arcade games supported so go get yourself a computer joystick and take a trip down memory lane.
What’s in a Name? / Where is the Diversity?
PZ calls the rude inept simpletons who rule his comment section with the swift justice of a sharp rock but with half the intellect “the horde”.
I wondered where PZ came up with the name so I looked it up. Here are some of the results. You might find them interesting.
- The Evil Horde, more frequently referred to as the Horde, is a group of fictional characters featured in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoons, comics and toys.
Is this where PZ got the idea for ‘the horde’?
Okay, yea I can see that. Really does fit some of the posts I’ve seen and the type I picture expressing themselves in that manner.
Or maybe this-
- The Horde MC: A national biker gang with a reputation for extreme violence and racial bigotry. One visit to Farmington was a robbery that ended with the culprits arrested by the Strike Team. In season 6, the Horde are mentioned as buying a large shipment of meth. Ronnie goes undercover and this results in the arrest of three of the Horde bikers.
Hmmmm…racial bigotry. Doesn’t really seem to fit. Odd picking a name that has been represented in this manner. Didn’t PZ bother to check what the name would conjure up in people’s heads when they heard it? Guess not.
Or maybe this-
Seems a bit too sexy for PZ. There is the time he tried to hook up with a woman for sex on stage so maybe …
This looks like it has potential-
Or maybe PZ was thinking of the historical account of Horde –
-
After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed “Genghis Khan”, he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations. An estimated that 30 million people were killed under the rule of the Mongol Empire
During the Black Death plague the Mongol army was reportedly withering from the disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological weapon. The corpses were catapulted over city walls, infecting the inhabitants.
Well….that’s not good. Who the hell would name their regular commenters after that fucked-up mess? PZ must not have given much thought to the title. He may as well call them “The Clan” They were total assholes but at least they didn’t lob infected dead bodies at people.
Nah that name wouldn’t work either. Who would believe such a diverse group of people would call themselves “The Clan” ? In order to do that they would have to be all white people and that couldn’t possibly be…. Oh wait…..
Behold the diversity that is “the horde” !!
I’m a bit confused…. If a person of color goes into the comment section of PZ’s blog is this the group that is going to tear them to shreds? I know there have been victims of ‘the horde” who were minorities. What is up with that? Something about that doesn’t seem right.
Well at least we have the Freethought Bloggers they must be represented by some diversity right?
Well….there are mostly women…. that’s good right? Maybe the FTB bloggers with darker skin just don’t go to conferences or something, I really don’t know much about how that works at FTB. It would maybe be a good idea to help minorities feel comfortable about attending or maybe they could use some help with the cost. Discount tickets for those who aren’t being paid as well as other people. I’ve heard that happens. If you are going to talk about it so much then it seems action should follow. Jason Thibeault managed to get his trip paid for with donations didn’t he? Is Canadian a minority? I’m pretty sure it isn’t.
Going Postal On Atheists
Time Magazine did a report on a German footwear company that says the packages it sends are taking longer to reach their destination or getting lost completely more often than they should. The company is named Atheist Shoes and uses tape that bears the company name on the packages.
The company did its own test to see if the tape made a difference. While not an official study some of the results were interesting. One package sent to Michigan took 37 days longer to reach its destination than another unmarked package. A package with the ‘atheist’ tape was also more than 10x more likely to be lost. The company has stopped using the tape and says it’s delivery times have improved.
This could be just a stunt to bring some easy exposure to the show company. Such a story would be noticed mostly by atheists and the company brands itself as for “people who don’t believe in god(s).”
I thought it would be interesting to do my own test and see what came of it. I won’t be able to account for all variables but I think maybe we could see if there are any obvious delays that could call for further research. I’ll be sending envelopes instead of packages and I’ll print something like “ATHEIST INFORMATION” on the envelope.
Anyone who would like to help with this can contact me through the contact page. I’ll need addresses to send the letters to. Let’s keep em in the US since the company reported no problems with shipping delays in Europe…..figures.
Richard Carrier….rejected
So Richard Carrier gave a talk at the American Atheist convention in Austin….the fallout continues. It is amazing the severe meltdown and the cutting of the ties to reality Richard Carrier is going through over the downvotes his presentation has acquired on youtube. Am I being overly dramatic? Look for yourself Atheism…Plus What? The first few comments are enough to see what I’m talking about. If you get to Oolon’s comment you have gone one too far. Don’t bother. Since Oolon is the only person on the planet who is blocked from this blog comment section I won’t trash talk him, there is always twitter for that.
Anyway…..The lengths Richard goes to in order to defend his presentation is embarrassing. It’s like when we were kids and we played cops and robbers. There was always that one kid who never went down when he got shot. You would have your finger right up his nose and yell “BANG! YOU’RE DEAD!” and the kid would reply “You missed!” and then run off with the bank’s money like a criminal zombie with a gunshot wound to the head. Over and over Richard has faced fingers pointed right between his eyes and he just keeps yelling “YOU MISSED ME!”
It’s painful to watch. Richard is perfectly childlike in the way he avoids facing the fact he could, dare I say it? Be mistaken???! At the time of this post his video is at 18,129 total views with 654 upvotes and 4338 downvotes. Richard has been pulling out all the stops though. Actually spending time to ‘answer’ some of the commenters. This has not done him any good, in fact it seems to have brought to the surface some personality traits that Richard may want to focus on if he should ever decide to see a therapist.
There is an excellent reply to Richard Carrier by John Bullock which can be found here
However, like I said , Richard is having none of it. After Thunderf00t posts a video explaining some of the problems with Richards presentation the reply to it is this Is Thunderf00t a Sociopath?
Richard Carrier starts out with the usual character assassination that FTB are now known for and continues to make assumptions through the entire post. Richard Carrier has become just another over dramatic actor in the dispute among skeptics. Richards attack on Thunderf00t is met with a reply. If Richard Carrier was really as bright as some people say he is he would shut the hell up and go hide out for a while
Over and over again Richard has been handed his ass on a platter. Over and over Richard lifts the lid and then slams it back down and starts yelling at his server.
PZ Myers of course had to put in his $.02 and as usual it is way overvalued, so much so I’m not even going to link it. PZ Myers is more out of touch than Carrier when it comes to reality and social interaction. PZ also lives in a state that ranks at the bottom third when it comes to diversity so in his bubble of course it’s going to look like minorities are not being included. Maybe he should concentrate on getting his own state to be more welcoming to minorities then he can start bragging about he knows better than anyone else.
I guess the moral of the story is some people just can’t ever accept they are wrong and PZ Myers is always going to be a dick….Oh and I told you so Richard. Months ago when you first tried to separate the atheists/skeptics with your us vs. them bullshit. Which is EXACTLY what you did so stop telling lies.
I’ll leave you with one of my latest video replies to the skeptics posers