Useless Conversation

[ghost]

I think I am going back to paper books.  Cheaper and I am finding searching ebooks painful.

Half-Priced books is awesome.  Discount and resellers are really a great way to get books.

[Cheddar]

I think I am going back to paper books.  Cheaper and I am finding searching ebooks painful.

Half-Priced books is awesome.  Discount and resellers are really a great way to get books.

Yup.  And I am finding holes with ebooks; example robert aspirin. Also, its a bitch dealing with multiple copies, such as philip k dick.  And I dont want other authors; give me what I searched for.

[Ingmar]

New job though and I get to work on the kind of games I like to play at least.

I look forward to your attempt to make an even worse UI than Cyanide!

[Nebu]

I think I am going back to paper books.  Cheaper and I am finding searching ebooks painful.

I'm a big fan of Amazon.  Since I'm not a collector, I buy used books.  I can often find what I want for less than $5. 

[schild]

Last night I went to a sissy bounce show at a club in Austin. I don't really feel like explaining what that is as its mildly irrelevant. All you need to understand is that it's a very cultural thing that comes from a place that simply doesn't exist in most American cities. New Orleans is one of the strangest and deepest places (culturally speaking) in America.  Austin is, if you haven't visited, one of the whitest places on Earth. We have a culture, but generally it's "Welcome to Austin, please don't move here. Also, have some good food and overhyped music." So when you take a bunch of already culturally alternative black people from New Orleans and plop them in a club in Austin, shit is gonna get weird fast.

Now the club I went to is owned by one of me (and Brofellos') good friends. Other friends of ours were running the door or a bar. So, like, we're no strangers to the club. As much as we can walk in and drink any time, on a Saturday night the rest of the club is going to be regulars as well. What "regulars" means in Austin is "25-50 year old white people that probably listened to punk, house, or shoegaze music once upon a time and is now old - but we'll drink anyway." Everyone else is a UT student. EVERYONE. Austin is a place where young people retire. It's the Portland of the Sou - ahem, Portland is the Austin of the North. Also, we have like 4 street kids total. ANYWAY.

What was likely going to be relatively culturally rich and interesting very quickly turned into a sort of weird minstrel-esque side show. It was very, VERY uncomfortable. I felt like the white people that led Nas to creating this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDfWAr8ut_I . Unfortunately, I don't know whether to blame Austin (as Austin's crowds are very predictable) or the bounce group that had a white guy come out at the beginning that looked like a misplaced Bro or the guy who thought they should take twerking on tour.

I don't blame myself, but I feel terrible for having been there.

[Brofellos]

TL;DR An all-white crowd turns music from New Orleans into a weird slave auction/'Camptown Ladies' scene from Blazing Saddles situation.

[schild]

TL;DR An all-white crowd turns music from New Orleans into a weird slave auction/'Camptown Ladies' Scene from Blazing Saddles situation.

Made progressively worse by having a white frat bro with a fauxhawk being the lead in to the show.

[Brofellos]

*Lights sprinklers, runs around in a circle shouting 'COLONIALISM!'*

[HaemishM]

I felt like the white people that led Nas to creating this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDfWAr8ut_I .

I don't even know what the fuck you just said, but that's the first time I've seen that video.

 

[schild]

You're from a place that is culturally bankrupt and less diverse than a salt shaker. So, yea, that's roughly the correct number of  from you.

[HaemishM]

You're from a place that is culturally bankrupt and less diverse than a salt shaker. So, yea, that's roughly the correct number of  from you.

HAH HAH YOU ARE CORRECT SIR.

Strangely enough, it's getting a shitload more diverse in the last 5-10 years. I mean, it's still Crackerville, but it's getting a bit less lilly white in the capital.

[Teleku]

Huh, weird.  I know it's Texas, but due to all the tech companies, Silicon Valley connections, university, and general liberalness, I always imagined Austin being more diverse than that.  Or at least maybe a little closer to the Bay Area than you describe.

[Merusk]

Perhaps because it's still Texas and corps locating there are still going to have the old-school whitey genes.

[schild]

Indians and Asians in tech don't really "up" the diversity in a city. (Yes yes, I know tech people can be of any racial background, that's not really the point here though)

Tech doesn't change the diversity in any city really. It's the whitest of cultures.

[Teleku]

Hmm, I suppose that's true in a more isolated type city.  Guess I always take for granted the huge amount of immigrant communities who make up the Bay Area (and California in geneal), whose children then all go on to work at the local tech companies.  Different dynamics at work in Austin I guess then.

You've shattered my precious mental image!!!!   

[MrHat]

Indians and Asians in tech don't really "up" the diversity in a city. (Yes yes, I know tech people can be of any racial background, that's not really the point here though)

Tech doesn't change the diversity in any city really. It's the whitest of cultures.

And then there is Texas Relay Weekend.

[Sky]

I'm a big fan of Amazon.  Since I'm not a collector, I buy used books.  I can often find what I want for less than $5. 

So far I've stuck with reputable sellers and every single time the condition has far exceeded what they listed. I got a copy of Rush guitar tab (the OOP one with La Villa Strangiato) and from the description it was all marked up and ragged. Got it, almost new, very slight wear. For a tab book with crap glue binding, that's amazing...it's already in far worse condition from my cracking it open.

Diversity, we've got Irish, Italians AND Polish.

[Salamok]

I feel sad that I was just about to type this joke when I read ahead and saw that I was beaten to it. I also feel sad that Texas caused this joke to immediately pop in to my head.

Why exactly do so many of you continue to live in that shithole?

Austin is the only city in my top 10 places I would like to live that I can afford.

[Hawkbit]

Jesus FC.  I moved from Ohio to Washington nearly two years ago.  We still own property in Ohio, but we rent it out.  Guess who got jury duty summons from Ohio?  That's right, me.

The critical mistake was that I told my tenant to open it and scan it to me, as opposed to just having her send it as 'not at this address'.  As I've learned so far, that counts as me receiving the notice of summons.  Now the court of common pleas is trying to make me come back to Ohio to serve.   The only way to try to get out of it is to have my tenant mail the physical copy to me, fill it out, mail it back in to the court and hope it's all done in time.  It's 2013 and I can't even email or fax the request.

The woman at the court was such an unhelpful bitch, she actually said at one point that they were going to force me to come back.  Because that's all very sensible.  Hopefully they'll include fare like they do here in Seattle.  Here you get a temporary bus pass along with the summons, which is pretty damn cool.  I'm going to guess that Ohio isn't going to provide airfare. 

The funniest part of the whole thing?  Calling the board of elections in Ohio and they told me that I have not been on their list for nearly two years and that the court "must be working off some old list".  Way to keep up with the times, Ohio. 

[Paelos]

Ohio's tax code is also up there in terms of the most ridiculous and pointless including their sad devotion to complex municipal tax codes. They are one of the worst in the USA in terms of getting businesses to stay in the state.

It doesn't shock me they are behind the times in other areas.

[Selby]

Way to keep up with the times, Ohio. 

Even California with its stupid rules and regulations responded to "not living in the state anymore" as a perfectly valid excuse to get out of jury duty, you didn't even have to use the form letter, just call in to the Jury Board and everything was taken care of.

[Merusk]

That's because while Ohio's population is large enough to give them a whole lot of delegates, the state still has very large tracts of Rural areas that fulfill all the Rural/ Southern Rural stereotypes. 

Now tack-on that the State Congress has lead the way in gerrymandering for rural and Republican bias for over 20 years, and ta-da. At this point I'm only surprised they haven't had a state board of ed discussion about creationism in schools like the Southern states have had.

[Hammond]

Got to love the smell of burnt popcorn when you walk into the office. Break room is totally on the other side of the building and they bring it back to their desk.   

[Fabricated]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

[Nebu]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

Congratulations.  You're beginning the best years of your life.  Damn, I loved my 30's.

[ghost]

The thirties are pretty damned good, yeah. 

[RhyssaFireheart]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

Happy birthday, youngin'! 

[Cyrrex]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

I turned 40 about a week ago.  Eat crap.

[Sky]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

Wow, your opinion almost means something now!

 

[Engels]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

Wow, your opinion almost means something now!

 

I've decided that 30 is the new 20 so nope.

[Ironwood]

30 fucking sucked for me and continued to suck for years.

Your 40's are where the fun's at.

 

[Merusk]

Welp, I'm 30. *drinks*

Wow, your opinion almost means something now!

 

I've decided that 30 is the new 20 so nope.

You're wrong.  40 is the new 20, because all the decision makers are in their 60s and refuse to or can't retire.

Welcome to job stasis!  Longevity is the bane of mobility.

[ghost]

From what I've seen 30 is the new 15. 

[Samwise]

From what I've seen 30 is the new 15. 

This.   

[Miasma]

30 fucking sucked for me and continued to suck for years.

Your 40's are where the fun's at.

 

God I hope you're right.