joshuatxuk

which one? there's Volor Flex but also Ghostek and Nocow

She's a big exception to the usual "good ones die first" trend with celebrities, I know a lot of people were dreading this day. I can't imagine the existential loneliness of being that old.

she seems tame in comparison, like I dunno the starter level pokemon of these batshit insane right-wing reps currently in office

no idea what the rep is of these plugins but they are free right now https://bluelab-plugs.com/plugins/

Same here, y'all increasingly bring me up to speed with the best in electronic music every year. My old ass is more and more reliant on what I hear on the local public radio station, spotify recs, and skimming r/indieheads. That is if I'm not just re-listening to old favorites.

I don't disagree with your logic or concerns but unfortunately gun buybacks and regulation just doesn't work because the people who it's intended to de-arm and regulate 100% refuse to participate. When they go in the U.S. it's literally a shitshow of people cashing in on crap they inherited or would not be able to sell for as much on the used marker. It's not akin to the buybacks in Australia that worked and I think part of that is because there's a massive, massive difference in the state of both countries systematically. I tout the consideration of people who are gun wary to arm up anyway as a pragmatic worst case scenario recommendation not some absurd "starting an arms war with the far right nutters will help" - it's more of a plea that things are looking so dire and dangerous for maligned and vulnerable communities that the last thing they need to do is make it harder for them to acquire means of adequate self-defense. Gun free zones and heavy anti-gun regulation generally works and is considered reasonable in liberal leaning (if not outright liberal/progressive) cities and states. They are bubbles essentially for many there and it's hard to justify gun ownership especially as crime is far lower than it was in the 70s and 80s. But even NY and CA have very, very far-right pockets. In liberal states in the PNW it's def one extreme or the other. Gun control in America has been historically racist, classist, and indirectly directly oriented toward de-arming people rich powerful and historically white Americans wish to oppress and control. If civil unrest escalates to the point of civil war / government failure the people in the most danger are going to be the ones in rural areas or even suburbs where they will be surrounded by gun owning extremists with local allies in the forms of corrupt sheriffs and cops. Owning a gun would very easily be necessary for them to defend homes and properties and/or escape to safer areas. MLK notably carried a gun until he explicitly decided personally he would be a pacifist, and felt that would be more powerful for his cause. It was a personal decision, not an outright position he believed in as many of his peers attested to gun ownership as a precaution and historical asset in the decades before. I would point to the fact that countries with far less gun violence don't just have fewer guns and stricter laws but far, far more stable governments and robust healthcare, public services, public infrastructure, higher standard of living, etc. Those metrics the U.S. is often so behind or woefully lacking go hand in hand with the incidence of gun violence here - not just mass shootings but suicides and financial stress induced robberies and murders. Those things being improved in this country would mitigate it greatly, it's essentially really. The irony of the US gun control issue is people would not need guns if they had a safe and providing society in place. That won't happen until we can get and keep progressives in office. The call for aggressive gun control is understandable but it's putting the cart before the horse and to be very specific it very well might cost more Dem efforts to flip seats in the next election. There are a lot of otherwise apolitical or even liberal people who get sucked into the GOP vote via guns. Abortion is the other, but honestly that one just maintains religious right votes. To truly go after guns in a substantive manner would prompt the kind of civil war right-wingers dream about. Dems could very well score better with working class voters if they lay off gun control for the next few cycles. Bernie Sanders literally did not touch it for decades in order to safely ensure his reelections there. It's a seemingly contradictory and tough pill to swallow but I feel like it's a necessary one.

It's incredible how much the mythos of the Wild West permeates when the reality of history is far different. This can be said of right-wing gun culture's deluded, childish yet very dangerous world views and rhetoric. Some of the first municipalities to ban guns were Wild West settlements. Wyatt Erp literally enforced a law that all citizens turn in deadly weapons when entering the town, the opposite of "open carry." https://chipschweiger.medium.com/history-of-the-american-west-the-reality-of-guns-and-the-wild-west-151af6e0a055 Marx's views on gun ownership are more blunt than the 2A. https://www.factcheck.org/2019/09/marx-engels-quote-falsely-attributed-to-reagan/ Obviously vanguard communist party states (USSR, CCP, Vietnam, Cuba, etc) don't have U.S. style firearm rights and distribution but they all have a well-established marksmanship culture coupled with conscription. China has steered away from it but to this day Vietnamese students learn how to field strip and operate AKs. Reagan spearheaded gun control in the 1970s explicitly to de-arm Black Panthers. Both major gun control laws after the NFA in the 1930s and NRA endorsed regulations in the 1960s were under Reagan and Bush in 1986 and 1989. In fact Clinton's Assault Weapons ban was a bi-partisan follow up. The irony of the gun debate in the US is a lot of gun control was implemented before mass shootings became increasingly deadly and frequent. The problem is the US keeps defunding and undermining public health and resources and what little gun control it has implemented has done very little, especially for white males who are the main demographic of both mass shooter and right-wing militia gun and ammo hoarding. This also falls very much on urban vs. rural lines which is exploited by the GOP a lot unfairly, but something I think many don't consider is guns used to be a household fixture as a tool and basic self-defense option, especially pre-war and pre-suburbs America. It was more universal aspect of American life before the increasingly divided ID politics of the last 50-100 years made them so understandably controversial.

More positive reminder, a citizen who shot a cops in self-defense was acquitted by a jury not that long ago. It was a harrowing experience that cops tried to cover up but justice prevailed in that case. https://kstp.com/news/saint-paul-man-who-shot-at-minneapolis-police-in-self-defense-acquitted-of-all-charges-by-jury/6224974/

The case was never going to have a good outcome, if he was found guilty we would be seeing proud boys oathkeepers and a lot of cops out for blood. The outcome we got would be a cheerleading session for the far-right and their complicit allies. The only charge that could have and should have stuck was dropped. This isn't a gun culture or gun violence issue, it's a major indicator normalized right-wing vigilantism. If anything it's time for anyone but the right to arm themselves and train against this stuff. The cat is out of the bag - cops should be de-armed but won't and the far-right is well armed and trained and will be impossible to de-arm outside of a literal civil war. As brutalized as maligned communities have been in American history there are a lot of instances of minorities and poor and working class people arming up to deter and resist. The Reconstruction era black militias, Battles of Blair Mountain Battle and Athens, the Range Wars, the community anti-eviction posses during the Depression, various thwarted lynchings and massacres in the South, Wounded Knee Occupation, etc. These are obstructed and downplayed in history and narratives for a reason. I'm actually treating this as an ugly moot point that might even have a silver lining of bringing greater attention to mainstream folks to the fact that right-winger vigilantes are an informal paramilitary for cops. This is not an exaggeration and it's something too many in the center are ignoring or denying. The shitty after-effect is this sociopath will likewise be paraded around by the right, how that pans out is anyone's guess. expect him at cpac or becoming some wingnut intern. This kind absurd walking away from murder is not new. there was the guy who killed a Japanese student in Detroit in the 80s, the NYC subway guy who killed multiple people and was a right-wing hero, the trayvon martin murder...you know the Mỹ Lai massacre most agree now was horrendous? there was literally a top 10 hit defending the guy who lead it in the early 70s. The problem with gun culture in the US is the loud extremist part of it drowns out and degrades basic concepts of responsible gun rights. They excise and ignore the fact that Rittenhouse literally Last fall Michael Reinoehl, who defended himself in a similar confrontation, never made it to trial because he literally gunned down by feds while walking down a street unarmed. This case was going to be fucked regardless of the verdict. The hard reality has to be expected and reacted with positive efforts. My point is - I can't get too hung up on it, it's a futile and exhausting exercise. It's more motivation organize, be aware and be prepared for further violence and unrest. No doomsday prepping so much as strengthening ties and mutual aid, reaching out to people and being paranoid of everyone. That's the major difference between the far right and everyone else. They aren't on the defense, they are out for blood.

yes, my bad I type with a Texan accent

I should of just posted this earlier as a reply, way more succinct

There was a point where I was essentially an atheist, I was thankful for this - it was in an era when I had finally had the courage to breakaway from any sense of guilt in my protestant upbringing but was also fairly cynical and directionless at the time. I'm not now but I'm firmly irreligious and something that pivoted me back to exploring spirituality and existentialism in a more positive light was stumbling upon the book The Gnostic Gospels. I never really adhered to Gnosticism personally but I found it's tenets incredible in my unpacking of previous upbringing and perspective on the church and traditional concepts of god and faith. Your original post essentially reads as a damning summary of the demiurge. I drift into existential thoughts fairly often and I'm more and more comfortable doing so, even if it can strike me quite a lot emotionally and mentally. Probably from getting older, having kids, and getting to that age where I seem to know more and more people dying. It's a lot to reckon with, but there's also so much goddamn awe and wonder in this world. I'm perpetually struck by the seemingly cosmic coincidences and happy accidents in life. There's some grey area between religion and philosophy that I think explains everything but like everyone else I have no idea what that is. Watch a David Lynch film, read Vonnegut, listen a Grouper album, find some random Norm MacDonald interview on Conan. Go for a walk in the nature, find some show you love and binge watch it, eat a good taco or drink an indulgent beverage. Try something new. I never watched old Godzilla movies until last month when my 6 year old wanted to watch one. I've seen like half a dozen now and they are delightfully entertaining. It's easy and understandable to get in the throes of darkness, depression, apathy but it's also easy to be nice to random people, to laugh, and to enjoy the delightful little minutiae of existence.

Welcome, I'm not on here very much anymore but I'm glad people are still stumbling upon WATMM. I remember being new and lurking here ages ago.

First Aphex Twin album I ever listened to. (Not including seeing "On" music video as a kid on Nickelodeon as a bump but that's a fuzzy memory I have in hindsight) My friend at the time mentioned him and how nutty his music was but I hadn't checked it out. At that point I was mostly listening to Chemical Brothers and some other more mainstream electronica. The moment I heard the opening of "4" is seared in my memory, I remember it being physically jarring to listen to and overwhelming. This is still one of my favorite albums even with the nostalgia aside and the scope and means of him making this music mostly demystified. I like how succinct it is and it's balance between pretty moments and playful but chaotic breakbeat "drill n' bass." Still sounds alien but warm and engaging. I don't think it's my favorite of his outright anymore but it's always been up there.

I have fond memories of stumbling upon the promotional website for this circa 2004. Not my favorite album overall but one I nonetheless listen to in awe on occasion. To be honest, and I hate saying this, but I can understand why it was met with lackluster reviews even if there were unfairly harsh. Especially in hindsight it's hard to understand why even those not keen on the overall album didn't gush over it's highlights: 20 years onward is particularly incredible when you think about the jump made he and others in the genre made from 1991 to 2001.

If we are going with music we actually listened to / heard in 1991 - in which case I was 5 - I have to say this

i heard about that during the Texas blizzard and it warmed my heart more than the actual heat from my friend's house who still had power

is this the crocodile hunter bit? I'm laughing just at the memory of it

This one is hurts a lot. Norm was a brilliant and unique comedic voice. He was inherently humorous and refreshingly normal yet perpetually adjacent to the bizarre and absurd. There was always this insight and wisdom behind his often overtly anti-humor and dumb jokes. I've binged watched and returned to his bits on youtube for years and years, especially when I need a mental reprieve. I wish he could of stayed for a few decades more but I'm grateful for his time he was on earth.

Nice. I actually had the "Ferric Bliss" and "VHS Headcleaner" playlists in an ordered sequence for the first few dozen songs but then I just started throwing other tracks in. You could probably play them on shuffle in other words.

@zero and @ignatius I bought mine online and picked them up via a FFL. Even my shift on gun ownership hasn't warmed me to the idea of buying or selling as a private party to private party. Not just morally or legally but pragmatically, seems sketch. TBH regardless of politics it's a big no no among most online gun communities, not just because of app and site policies but legally overall. In fact people perpetually follow and discuss ATF regs (which are TBH often arbitrary and contridictory), NFA forms and tax stamps, stricter state rules like in CA and NY, etc. Those nuts with big collections of gucci ARs and stuff will spend time and money ensuring they are violating any laws, even if they despise them. Again this is the online community of enthusiasts, collectors, hobbyists, etc. The one legal loophole I do see often is 80% recievers. These do not have serial #s and often are criticized as "ghost guns." They are legal to buy, build legal firearms with (i.e. AR style semi auto rifles, glock style strike action handguns) so long as they are personal use only. If you sell them or mod them illegally it's a violation. ATF is testing the water with these but they are still an option. It is not the same as 3D printed either, the components are publicly sold via authorized venders and makers. A lot of people using them are not paranoid anti-Fed nutters but geeks who want custom DIY models or people on a budget who want to aquire a self-defense gun without dropping a lot at a local gun store. It's an interesting topic often more nuanced than people think. 1st time gun ownership exploded last year as did numbers of non-white, non-CIS, and non-right wing owners and buyers. Ironically the rules and regs and fees deter law abiding working class and vulnerable folks from owning and getting training, those who are wingnuts gladly exercise their privilege in open carry states and have no qualms with spending money to buy more needless guns and hoard ammo. 2020's unrest and close call of 4 more years of accelerated fascism def pivoted things. I would not be shocked if things come full circle and Republicans start passing gun control again the way they did under Reagan in CA and elsewhere: as an effort to deny minorities and poor people from arming themselves as communities against corrupt local governments.

Remington has new owners, they went bankrupt and assets were divided up. Probably new owners doing. They were declining in QC since the Freedom Group bought them in 2007, the gun violence lawsuits just accelerated it. I'll DM you but you might be able to find a group to shoot with. SRA and LGO are pretty big now, there's another one I've done meetups with that is moderate to left. TX doesn't have public ranges but I know many private/pay ones are professional and apolitical - obvs. you can't bar RWingers but many do focus on safety and inclusion. It's been a big issue for POC, LGBTQA+, and liberal and left-wing enthusiasts.