David Thomas Moore

Yes,,, your boy has taken a ride in the 4 man bobsled,,, but im an adrenaline junkie and needed to try skeleton. And now I’ve officially joined the team and am gonna try to start competing.

66 years old going 66 mph.

It's not really "acting" per se -- plenty of people's characters are just themselves in kit (of course, some people act their little socks off). It's storytelling. And drinking. And shouting.

Oh, I agree. My point is that the original post seems to be indicating that people might be afraid of endorsing a candidate because the left will reject him, which I feel is unlikely -- for, if anything, the very reasons you give.

Ewa, you should definitely come to LRP!

Heh, yeah, we met a few times back in Nine Worlds days.

you saw what i did there

a lego model of a handsaw about 15mm in length shown on the palm of the photographer's hand

fellas please don't touch this it's still a little saw

the screeshotted poster falls down at the first hurdle - if the centre-left were actually scared of the left "throwing a temper tantrum" they might have actually tried supporting anyone the left supported even once, for even a moment, some time in the past

Lord Huntingdon

celsius is the SI measurement in that it is integrated with other SI measurements, fahrenheit is the Imperial measurement in that it is integrated with other Imperial measurements

If not, can we name him?

"So what's this film about?"
"There's these two friends who work in shops and they hate it."
"And what happens?"
"...happens?"

- a conversation I expect to have with my kid sometime in the next couple of years

It's not the pocketing of the tablet that's the important part -- it's composing, inscribing and firing a cuneiform tablet complaining that the tablet of Ea-Nasir was missing from the museum and then swapping that tablet for the real tablet.

And it's not just a right-wing malaise: left-wing politicians may better see the need, but they're more vulnerable to criticism for it. The press loves to accuse left-wing parties of wasting public funds.

The *feeling* that excess resource is *wrong* is untouched by the actual economic or policy logic.

But no matter how much maths you do to show that keeping that excess capacity is actually *cheaper*, averaged out over the whole year, than cutting it and paying extra to cover peaks, a certain type of legislator (and voter) just sees empty beds and idle staff.

Especially because -- and the pandemic should have made this clear -- unexpected peaks generally hit multiple areas of services simultaneously (e.g. people need more help heating their homes *and* get sick more during cold snaps).

In practice, of course, providing the level of cover needed at peak times (even if only just barely, at a mad scramble) at *all* times actually costs less than cutting excess cover at low demand times and paying extra to cover peaks. This is true in pretty nearly all cases.

They may suggest that the savings from cutting unused resources in quiet times can make up for the extra costs of short-term cover (agency staff, etc.) at peak times.

They may insist that demand can somehow be reorganised (as though injured people can be told to come back in less busy times), or that underused resources in one area can cover stretched resources in another (as though a nurse can work in a job centre).

And penny-pinchers will be tempted to look at the time when demand is lightest, note that there are resources going unused (beds empty, staff sitting idle), and see them as wasted.

and that's leaving out big, unpredictable swings like e.g. global pandemics(!), or even less dramatic things that can cause demand for a service strained for a period of time

to explain: every service the state provides is going to have ebbs and flows; there will always be times of the week (e.g. Friday night when people are pissed), month (e.g. the last week before payday), year (e.g. winter when the cold kicks in) or whenever, when demand is higher

one of the problems with budgeting services is that the most cost-effective way to run services is to budget a little bit too much (but not too *much* too much)

but not as much as a SPOON

'coz its more use for eating SOUP

and a fork isn't much good for that unless it has got many vegetables

and then you might be better of with a

CHOPSTICK

unlike THA MOON

The problem, I suspect, is that there is so much Gen X/early Millennial culture that is wholly impenetrable until you can fully internalise the spirit of ironic detachment.

"It's funny *because* of how shit it is" is a deeply strange concept.

but

but

but they like THA MOON

We have surviving eighteenth century letters (so a good while later than this, but still) where the author, having filled a page with text, turned it 90° and filled it again, because it doubled the available space and was actually pretty practical to read this way (not *ideal* but not illegible).

This is actually super clever. Given you had limited space (paper or vellum were *expensive*) and didn't have the benefit of mechanically-space out type, aligning the text in each box differently would let you fill each square with text while still keeping the divisions clear.

you know I was supposed to be in that movie but they edited me out. i was gonna say the titular line. heathcliff and cathy were like making out and I look to camera and i say, "i sure am sick of wuthering these heights"