How (and why) to Ramble on your goat sideways
So on Monday I sold an antique coal scuttle to a prop company in NY that's going to use it in a film and yesterday I sold a antique brass bed to The Juilliard School in NY.
eBay always does this to me, right when I'm already crazy busy.
At least these were 2 worthwhile sales.
eBay always does this to me, right when I'm already crazy busy.
At least these were 2 worthwhile sales.
Boost Pope
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Pretty much everyone who crossed Mal in such a way that we know this won't be the end of it.
The former Mrs. Reynolds (after having allowed Jayne to spend some quality time with her.)
Patience, leader of Whitefall.
Badger the Well-Hatted Man.
Mr. Niska.
The un-named fella in "Out of Gas" who shot Mal and tried to commandeer his ship.
And others.
We know that's he's capable of it. At the end of Train Job, he casually kicks Mr. Niska's henchman Crow into the intake of the idling engine. That was the appropriate response to this situation (putting aside the potential for damaging / destroying the engine, of course.)
I just don't see why Mal, as an outlaw smuggler, continually finds himself bound by the Fairness in Heroics Act of 2497.
The former Mrs. Reynolds (after having allowed Jayne to spend some quality time with her.)
Patience, leader of Whitefall.
Badger the Well-Hatted Man.
Mr. Niska.
The un-named fella in "Out of Gas" who shot Mal and tried to commandeer his ship.
And others.
We know that's he's capable of it. At the end of Train Job, he casually kicks Mr. Niska's henchman Crow into the intake of the idling engine. That was the appropriate response to this situation (putting aside the potential for damaging / destroying the engine, of course.)
I just don't see why Mal, as an outlaw smuggler, continually finds himself bound by the Fairness in Heroics Act of 2497.
Boost Pope
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I don't know precisely what the root cause was, but I fixed it by doing something I should have done a week prior. I reverted back to an older MSQ file.
Immediately prior to the first occurrence of the problem, I had made some minor changes to both the spark map and the VE map. Something in there caused the FUBAR, and I intend to find out what, after I've gotten all of the fallout from upgrading to the current codebase sorted out.
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Know someone thinking about going to school, or going back? Talk to them about petrochemical engineering.
Mechanical engineering, design engineering, etc.
Originally Posted by Bloomberg article
Engineers and similar professionals earned an average $183,000 to $285,000 in 2012 depending on their position and background, a 20 percent to 50 percent jump since 2009, NES Global Talent data show. Wages in energy and mining have grown at nine times the rate of all industries since 2008, and starting salaries for petroleum engineering graduates are about $98,000, up 9.7 percent since 2008, according to PayScale Inc.
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I also believe it's because Mal is basically a decent guy. He doesn't kill if he doesn't have to. He has no qualms about killing when the situation warrants, but is not a cold blooded murderer.
Boost Pope
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That was kind of my take on Atherton. (I couldn't remember his name.)
He didn't really need killing, he just needed humiliating. And that's exactly what Mal did by sparing his life.
Contrast with Jubal Early, the sociopathic bounty hunter who boarded Serenity and attempted to kidnap River in his Boba-Fett-Esque little ship. That fella needed killing. Letting him float away into the black seemed a tad hollow- like some other ship was going to come along and rescue him after the credits rolled. That fella would have made a nice plinking target for Jayne once he was a km or two out.
He didn't really need killing, he just needed humiliating. And that's exactly what Mal did by sparing his life.
Contrast with Jubal Early, the sociopathic bounty hunter who boarded Serenity and attempted to kidnap River in his Boba-Fett-Esque little ship. That fella needed killing. Letting him float away into the black seemed a tad hollow- like some other ship was going to come along and rescue him after the credits rolled. That fella would have made a nice plinking target for Jayne once he was a km or two out.
Boost Pope
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See post # 16144.
One thing I find troubling...
Having at least temporarily resolved The Issue, I decided I should probably upgrade to the current stable code, which is 1.2.0a. (I have been running the pre-1.2 alpha 2 code until now.)
Having done so, and making no other changes at all, the quality of my idle has decreased. It now wants to droop, then overshoot and oscillate, whereas previously it was almost silly how utterly perfect it was.
It seems like every single thing I've done lately has caused my idle to break in some way...
One thing I find troubling...
Having at least temporarily resolved The Issue, I decided I should probably upgrade to the current stable code, which is 1.2.0a. (I have been running the pre-1.2 alpha 2 code until now.)
Having done so, and making no other changes at all, the quality of my idle has decreased. It now wants to droop, then overshoot and oscillate, whereas previously it was almost silly how utterly perfect it was.
It seems like every single thing I've done lately has caused my idle to break in some way...
Boost Pope
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I played with TOR a few years ago out of curiosity.
My impression was that it seemed to provide bandwidth similar to that of a 14.4 dial-up connection, with latency comparable to a multi-hop satellite connection.
Fun fact: TOR is principally funded by the US Government.
Fun fact #2: TOR is fairly insecure. There have been a number of successful attacks against it which have exposed the IP addresses of targeted users. In fact, by using TOR, you are probably making yourself a bigger target simply by participating in a network which, by its very nature, attracts suspicion and hackers.
Fun fact #3: You are also opening yourself up to criminal liability by acting as a TOR node, such as the case of William Weber who was busted last November and has been charged with distributing child pornography. Weber himself was not engaged in the act, however someone else was anonymously torrenting child **** through the TOR system, and some of it wound up exiting the network through one of Weber's computers.
Fun fact #4: Cleanfeed. (This scares me more than SOPA.)
My impression was that it seemed to provide bandwidth similar to that of a 14.4 dial-up connection, with latency comparable to a multi-hop satellite connection.
Fun fact: TOR is principally funded by the US Government.
Fun fact #2: TOR is fairly insecure. There have been a number of successful attacks against it which have exposed the IP addresses of targeted users. In fact, by using TOR, you are probably making yourself a bigger target simply by participating in a network which, by its very nature, attracts suspicion and hackers.
Fun fact #3: You are also opening yourself up to criminal liability by acting as a TOR node, such as the case of William Weber who was busted last November and has been charged with distributing child pornography. Weber himself was not engaged in the act, however someone else was anonymously torrenting child **** through the TOR system, and some of it wound up exiting the network through one of Weber's computers.
Fun fact #4: Cleanfeed. (This scares me more than SOPA.)
Jayne, on the other hand, better fits the description of a true psychopathic career criminal -- consider his cavalier and apparently impulsive murder of the electric net operators at the end of Our Mrs. Reynolds.
Boost Pope
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Jayne's a complex character. I don't think he fits the definition of a psychopath, as he really has no tendencies at all for manipulativeness, superficial charm, egocentricity, etc. He's just a simple enforcer whose loyalty is to the highest bidder.
Mal, by comparison, tips the scale way too far in the opposite direction. There's a difference between not being a cold-blooded killer and being *way* too forgiving of those who have tried to murder you and steal your ship. Ain't no reason in the verse justifies that sort of forgiveness.
Mal, by comparison, tips the scale way too far in the opposite direction. There's a difference between not being a cold-blooded killer and being *way* too forgiving of those who have tried to murder you and steal your ship. Ain't no reason in the verse justifies that sort of forgiveness.
But I'll grant that it's complex.
Consider the end of "Ariel". Jayne has betrayed Mal and when pressed (under threat of death) admits it to Mal. Jayne, assuming Mal will let him die, asks Mal not to tell the others of his betrayal -- an indication that he does have some emotional connection, or, at the very least, some measure of shame or embarrassment for his actions.
On the other hand, just moments after realizing that Mal does not intend to kill him, he rather glibly asks, "Can I come in?" as if all is back to normal.
Mal, by comparison, tips the scale way too far in the opposite direction. There's a difference between not being a cold-blooded killer and being *way* too forgiving of those who have tried to murder you and steal your ship. Ain't no reason in the verse justifies that sort of forgiveness.
Additionally, as he reveals with the "If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed" line, he lives by some internal code. It doesn't always make sense to those around him, but it serves as a guard against becoming like those he despises -- the dishonorable (on both sides of the law).
So I can accept that he shows too much mercy to his enemies. He fears becoming what he hates most -- someone who has power over others and abuses it. When faced with anything other than an immediate life-or-death situation, he repeatedly chooses to show unwarranted mercy.
This could all be wrong, though. I'm just thinking.