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Outlander  ·  3256 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How Washington Derailed Amtrak

Yea, I was only about a quarter of the way through until my show buffered and I haven't gotten back to it yet.

Thanks for pointing that out though; it makes sense of some of the longer delays.

I'll give it a good read sometime tomorrow.

Outlander  ·  3257 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How Washington Derailed Amtrak

You would think that the routes would be scheduled so as to minimize these kinds of traffic delays to a matter of minutes. Amtrack doesn't share it's track with anyone else, does it? Technical issues are more understandable for long delays, but seem like they should be much less frequent.

Do you usually ride Amtrack, or is there another railway you use?

Outlander  ·  3257 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How Washington Derailed Amtrak

I recently tried to take the Amtrack from Austin to Dallas, departing at 9:31am. At 9:29am, in the waiting area, I received an automated phone call telling me that my train would be late. I asked the young man at the ticket booth how long the delay would be and he said that our train would be pulling into the station at noon at the earliest.

How do trains get delayed over 2.5 hours? It doesn't make sense to me, there's no traffic on the tracks.

I was really excited to ride the train, but I ended up catching a ride with a friend who happened to be heading north that morning so I wouldn't be late. Hopefully I'll get a chance to ride in the future, but I'm not going to count on it being on time.

Outlander  ·  3257 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: GDP and the Front Bottoms made an EP

I've never heard of GDP but I guess he's a friend of theirs from Jersey... Anyways, thanks for the new Front Bottoms songs. One of my favorite bands recently.

Outlander  ·  3272 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 118th Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

New album by Geographer. Good stuff.

Outlander  ·  3346 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: January 28, 2015

I was pretty worried for a minute. I got my hubwheel up to 8 dots a while ago and have been lurking ever since without a wheel. But I wouldn't have anywhere to go for internetting if I had to bump myself up before I could contribute again (although this could be the push for a hubwheel, guys).

Outlander  ·  3435 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What did you have for dinner hubski? I had cereal anda gin tonic

crunch?

Outlander  ·  3446 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Hoover Dam of the Twenty-First Century?

Thanks! I had never heard of storing energy as compressed air but that's pretty cool.

Outlander  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Hoover Dam of the Twenty-First Century?

I'm not sure I understand the energy transfer. Is it wind turbine to (electricity?) and then into a giant compressed air tank for storage that's turned back into electricity when needed across the desert? I'm not saying it isn't viable, I'm just not sure I understand.

Outlander  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots [Album]

Great album. I've seen them a few times and the best opener to any concert I've been to was when they came out to "Do You Realize". I was up in the lawn and I was absolutely blown away.

If anyone gets a chance to see these guys live, do it!

Outlander  ·  3456 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Shakey Graves's New Album Released!

Yea, just let me know what you wanna do. Hopefully I'll have a date if this doesn't work out, but I think that's being too optimistic at this point.

Outlander  ·  3458 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is your favorite beer?

My all-time is Pacifico. If you like a nice cerveza, give it a try with a lime. Other than that, I am always down to try a new IPA.

Outlander  ·  3458 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Shakey Graves's New Album Released!

That's absolutely the Stubbs I'm talking about. Are you gonna be in Austin for it? I was going to go with my cousin, but I think she just bailed, so I'm probably Shaking it alone

Outlander  ·  3459 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Shakey Graves's New Album Released!

Hey, I think I'm going to see him at Stubb's too! I haven't checked out the other band he's playing with yet, but I've got plenty of time. And thanks for the shout out, I'm digging this album!

Outlander  ·  3466 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: (Almost) 365 Days of Hubski

Thanks for doing all of this 8bit. I haven't had time to contribute on Hubski lately, but I still lurk and I can always make time for Hubskina.

Knowing anything about football is not going to help you understand this article, but I did still put the link up on my fantasy league message board.

Outlander  ·  3506 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Take out your phone, your camera and show the scene you are in RIGHT NOW!

You and your kitty remind me of a friend I haven't seen in a long time. I hope you and my friend are both doing well!

Outlander  ·  3531 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What iPhone games does hubski play?

This is really all that I play on my phone these days. But I'm being beaten by the computer most of the time on setting 4/10 so I guess I need a bit more practice.

My biggest issue is opening. I know that there are whole books about how to open a match, but for some reason, I prefer not to use them. It's not paying off, so maybe I should go back for a look.

Outlander  ·  3532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, can you quit if you want to?

Nicotine yes, most things, no.

I'm not sure I want to quit yet, but I'm also young and always find myself addicted to a new buzz. I think I could quit either smoking or dipping cold turkey at a moments notice, but I may be overestimating my own resolve.

Outlander  ·  3533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What I Talk About When I Talk About Writing

Sorry, it looks like I edited my last comment while you were writing this one, but I think you captured and quoted most of it anyways. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me this morning, so I took it off. Thanks for the response though, you dug at parts that I find true about that post in any state I'm in.

When I said that I command conversations, I don't think that I put that in the right way. I don't speak as often as a lot of people, but I've been told that when I do, my words have a bit more gravity than I intended. A large part of the way that I communicate verbally is the way that I present myself, and not necessarily the way that I present my ideas. This doesn't lend itself well to writing, and it is something that I need to work on.

I understand the difference you're making between friendly and hostile now, I'm just not sure that those are the terms that I would use for the audiences you are describing. It doesn't matter what we call them, that's just where the confusion came from.

And you make a great point about "interesting" rather than "strong" opinions when presenting an argument. It's just that "interesting" is a strange combination of substance and presentation that can be difficult for anyone to concoct over text to strangers. You're right though, and I think I'm going to spend more time trying to write anything rather than bouncing around just reading and wishing I could write as well as I would like.

Also, I would really like to know your lesbian/copter-splosion friend's nick-name if you don't mind sharing it.

Outlander  ·  3533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What I Talk About When I Talk About Writing

Why would you consider an audience that needs your information as friendly? I would consider this kind of audience that is going to break down everything you present them as more hostile than those who are reading for pleasure. The people who read for pleasure might be a little disappointed by your writing, but they can stop at anytime with no harm done.

[Large Edit for the nonsensical post here from last night]

Outlander  ·  3533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What I Talk About When I Talk About Writing

Whenever I write, I begin by writing the way that I would speak to a friend, and it always ends up being a mess of subtleties and phrasing that I have to edit out so that it can be understood by strangers on the internet. I never get to correctly express the meaning of the story in then concise way that I would like to. My spoken stories involve a lot of dialogue and backtracking that work while I am speaking, but I can't rely on inflection in my writing the way that I do while I speak. Maybe it's just a matter of working on my structure or word choice, but it's difficult for me to find the text that does my thoughts justice. I realize this is a common problem for any kind of writer, but I am so often dissatisfied with what I write that it gets deleted.

My issues as a writer often make me question how much of anything that I read that I am missing. Do y'all feel that you understand a writer's message most of the time, or does most of what everyone writes fall on deaf ears?

Outlander  ·  3540 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: HUBSKI: Chapter 1~!@#5$#@!

I don't think I could handle that much pressure. I would just kill off my character and let the mutees run rampant. And by rampant, I mean yelling offensive things at strangers, like the crows in Rapture-Palooza.

I guess it's too late to suggest that for this weeks movie, but it's a funny movie if you like Craig Robinson, Anna Kendrick, Rob Corddry, or obscene/apocalyptic humor.

Outlander  ·  3540 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Movie Club - Suggestion Thread

I actually re-watched it yesterday because it was raining and it felt like the thing to do. It wasn't as good as I remember, but I agree that the dialogue was one of the stronger points.

Julia Stiles with David Cross was a bit of a stretch, but I think it was partly to outline the fact that she's been with a lot of crazy guys in the past and was trying to settle for a more normal boyfriend. Maybe she reasoned that a "less cute" man at this point in her life would be more likely to be both single and mentally stable.

I've got to say that I enjoyed the ending. [vague spoilers ahead] It kept to what I thought of as the theme of making yourself comfortable in unforeseen and awkward circumstances. That's not the best way to put that, but I think it's clear that none of the characters are where they thought they would be in their relationships, and that the ending was a kind of collective and grudging acceptance of everything going on. Plus, I can't think of any better ways to end it without taking away from the realistic universe that it's set in.

And Shane's paranoia/conspiracy theory attitude definitely made him my least favorite character. They could have fleshed him out a bit more rather than just using him to be an annoying foil (for pretty much everybody's laid back attitude) to shit on.

Outlander  ·  3541 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: HUBSKI: Chapter 1~!@#5$#@!

I personally don't use the mute function but I haven't ever needed to. As a former prisoner however, I am very much in favor of jail-breaks.

And I would say I sound more like Chris Bosch than Johnny Yong Bosch, but it's your story, 8-bit.

Outlander  ·  3542 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Movie Club - Suggestion Thread

Let me know what you think, if you do. I've gotten mixed reviews from friends who've watched it.

Sorry, this comment is private.
Outlander  ·  3543 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Movie Club - Suggestion Thread

I'm definitely in.

My suggestion is It's a Disaster. It's on Netflix and has David Cross (Tobias on Arrested Development) as the new boyfriend of one woman in a group of old friends. They discover that they are advised to stay indoors during an emergency and all of their dramatic relationships and histories unfold in what I thought was a very funny movie.

The genital data should be used to create body pillows. You could fall asleep clutching onto your favorite mega-sized genitalia.

Outlander  ·  3544 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Fanciest Genderqueer You’ll Ever Meet

I don't see ze/zir gaining much ground in the near future. I understand that some people may be uncomfortable with gender assumptions and I wouldn't like to offend anyone if that is the case, I just don't see it entering most peoples lexicon.

And to play devil's advocate, is it offensive to someone who so strongly identifies with one gender to not recognize that with "ze/zir"? Probably not, but it may be used as a counter-argument. This isn't an issue that I've heard much discussion about except for a hokey sensitivity program at my university's orientation a few years ago.