Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

1 John 4:20

“Drinking water backwards.” And no, I’m not talking about an enema.

Say you have the hiccups.

Get half a glass of water. Bend over at your waist like you’re about to pick something up off the floor. While bent over, rest the glass against your upper lip and drink the water.

Poof Hiccups gone instantly. I know it sounds insane but it works.

I have a rule that “Nothing will be automated that cannot be manually overridden.”

Well, actually it’s my wife’s rule but it’s a good rule nonetheless. As a result, there’s a big panel full of relays in the basement that is the “last mile” for anything climate control or security related.

There have been a few times when it’s been handy. Like when the exhaust fan isn’t working and I don’t want to debug the ESP32 controller today so I just flip it over to “Manual”.

Best: My wedding. It was low-key and beautiful. The only thing I should have done differently was hire a photographer because the family members who were taking pictures did a shit job.

I’m honestly hesitant to answer the next part. I will with the disclaimer that it contains references to sexual violence. If that’s uncomfortable for you, please accept my apologies and read no further.

Worst: My brother in laws wedding. The ceremony was fine. After that, we stood there for a bit talking to my wife’s dad and step mom. Her dad basically admitted to mollesting one of my wife’s cousins when she was a teenager. He didn’t phrase it as an admission. He said she “accused him” of getting her drunk and assaulting her. And then he laughed it off saying that he couldn’t imagine why anyone would accuse him of something like that.

My poor wife stood there the entire time, speechless; gripping my arm like a vice. We excused ourselves and went back to the car. She cried the entire way to the hotel. One of the few times I’ve ever seen her do that. She said she thought he had only assaulted her. She never imagined he would do that to other girls, otherwise she would have said something.

It took every ounce of restraint in me to keep from knocking his teeth out while he was telling that bullshit story because I knew he had done it but I also knew my wife wouldn’t like it if I made a scene.

The lesson I took away from that experience, one that I try to carefully convey to my kids, is that if you are a victim of sexual assault, please, please, please tell someone. You may not be the first. But you most likely won’t be the last. I know it’s hard. I know it’s painful. I know you wish it had never happened. I don’t blame you. I don’t blame my wife for not telling anyone because I know how painful it was for her.

But here’s the thing. You can’t erase the past. But you might be able to make sure you’re the last victim, if you can find the courage within yourself to speak up.

And Hamas.

Dehydrate them. Dehydrated fruit makes for tasty and healthy snacks.

being exposed to too much AC

“AC” as in Air Conditioning??

Art Vandelay.

What size is your central AC (usually measured in “tons”) and what’s the total area of the space you’re trying to condition? Single story or multiple stories?

“We’re on a mission from God.”

Ecclesiastical Art Deco. There are surprisingly few examples of this. Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa is probably the best one.

Breaking News! Donald Trump enages in typical Donald Trump bullshit. More at 11:00.

I use Jellyfin with FinAmp for Android. Even supports offline caching.

Experienced parrots that are constantly wrong.

My wife asked me out. Only time a woman has ever done that to me. Only time she had ever done it. I thought she was attractive but I honestly didn’t expect that. Knowing what I know about her now, it took a lot of courage for her to do that.

She shot her shot and hit a bullseye. There are no good reasons for women to spend all their time waiting on men to initiate.

I have heard some people refer to Fox News as being, and I quote, “liberal.”

In fairness, these people are part of the MAGA crowd, so I assume they can’t actually read and have no idea what the word “liberal” means.

Starting out in second gear can sometimes help prevent your tires from slipping on slick pavement. Also useful if you ever drive a pickup truck with a “granny” [first] gear, which is only intended for getting you moving from a dead stop under heavy load.

Vehicles with manual transmissions have a backup starter if you find yourself with a dead battery. If you can get it rolling, you just put it in at least 3rd or higher and let the clutch out . Should normally start right up.

Learn how to stop and start going up a steep hill. Depending on where you live, it may not happen for a long time. But when it does, you’ll want to be prepared. It’s done with a quick but smooth motion. You “feather” the clutch, allowing it to drag enough to hold the vehicle in place but not so much that it stalls the engine. Then you let off the brake and simultaneously accelerate and let the clutch out until you’re moving up hill. Takes a little practice but not too hard to get down.

Reminds me of the time my inlaws switched to Patriot Mobile to get away from the “liberals at AT&T”. I don’t know which part of the grift is the most laughable.

A.) The fact that AT&T is not at all “liberal” and is very supportive of conservative politics.

B.) The fact that Patriot Wireless is an MVNO and at that time operated solely on AT&T’s infrastructure, so now your money is going to AT&T AND a third party middle-man.

MAGA is essentially just one giant con job.

Jellyfin, Immich, and Paperless-ngx are three of the apps I use the most but you do whatever works best for you. That’s half the advantage of self hosting. You can have a solution that’s custom tailored to your needs.

Wayne LaPierre effectively completed the transformation of the NRA from a gun enthusiast/conservationist club into an aggressive Republican/gun rights lobbying arm.

And then it came out that he was using the organization as his own personal piggy bank, after which he resigned.

I think the NRA will be dealing with the consequences of that for a long time. Turns out even people who are dumb enough to think teachers should have to carry guns as a defense against students with guns don’t like the idea of the CEO of the NRA getting rich off their dues.

The foaming at the mouth about “government tyranny” was just a load of bullshit to help rake in the money so Wayne could afford to take more personal trips on the corporate jet.