Boogie_Man

I often give myself stern talking tos when I made ignorant sysadmin decisions

Do you feel that Caesar must necessarily have been militarily and politically dense because of the war crimes he committed?

Is the unstated central thrust of your statement that someone who philosophically supported slavery at a time when it was a widespread practice must necessarily be of average or below average intelligence? If so, I'd argue that you're committing two common missteps I see frequently:

1. Conflating intellectual greatness with moral goodness. These are separate categories.

2. Applying current moral standards to a previous time. You must compare him to others if his time.

Slavery is unquestionably immoral, and it's perfectly reasonable to argue that someone completing philosophical work to support slavery is committing a moral wrong, but you have to keep in mind the society into which this person was enculturated and the time at which he lived.

The Catholic Church does retain elements of Aristotelian metaphysics in its theology. A great example is the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, wherein subject and accident terminology is utilized to explain how bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ while retaining the characteristics of the original elements. Church history is fascinating, even if one isn't a Christian.

A Livestream of the world's oldest functioning lightbulb, which has been in near continuous operation since 1901.

Here's what appears to be the exact quote from an article:

I was the shadow of the waxwing slain

By the false azure in the windowpane;

I was the smudge of ashen fluff—and I

Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky.

I think I did alright for recalling it from several years ago. I will in fact, retract my agreement and classify your criticism as overly harsh.

You're not wrong, but it was from memory. I invite you to look it up and post the correct version.

The Penguin Classics edition of TBK contains a character guide which is indispensable for western readers.

"I am the shadow of the waxwing slain

By the false azure in the windowpane

I am the smudge of ashen fluff

And I lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky"

I am ashamed that I will never command my native language as well as a man for whom it was a second. I don't even know if whom is right there.

>No one gives a shit how "thin" or "powerful" your gadget is. They care what it means to them and their values. Apple, of all organisations, should be mindful of that.

My identity? Why, I'm an iPhone™ product(RED)© AIDS (or as I've recently taken to calling it, HIV+AIDS) REALief-Responder® and I can assure you Zero (0) of the child laborers have STDs.

Offloading and/or obfuscating complexity doesn't remove it.

Hyperbolic internet rhetoric has resulted in the need to phrase everything as if you're a psych ward patient who cries when it rains because the sky is sad. If everything is a pitched battle between good and evil, anything less than screaming and beating your chest is weakness in the face of existential threats. The squeaky wheel gets the grease so everyone is squealing as loud as they can. Textual histrionics from people laying on their couch or sitting on the toilet staring at a little screen.

It's the same as typing "ROFL LMAO" when you actually just lightly exhaled through your nose.

It's infantile and distracts from "meaningful discourse". They're allowing themselves to be seriously psychologically manipulated (or are playacting along with it), but it just happens to be in a negative way this time.

Cultural and religious traditions bind us to the past and the future.

They're illiterate, which is a tragedy.

The smack to the head sent him into a parallel dimension with a different speed of light and he's just now finding out.

The article in the comment you responded to contains the following information:

"Since COSIC was based in Leuven, Len was living in Belgium during Bitcoin’s development. This is salient given that a number of facts suggest that Satoshi was based in Europe...

Satoshi’s writing exhibits spelling and word choices idiosyncratic of British English such as “bloody difficult”, “flat”, “maths”, grey”, as well as the dd/mm/yyyy date format. However, Satoshi also refers to Euros rather than pounds. These clues leave us with a paradox: they suggest Satoshi was European, yet someone with the requisite skillset and exposure to Bitcoin’s primary influences would likely have been American. Much of the Cypherpunk community coalesced conferences and meetups, part of why a disproportionate number hailed from America and especially SF. The jobs where one could have gained cutting-edge professional infosec and crypto experience were similarly concentrated in the US.

Strangely enough, Len used the very same British English as Satoshi even though he was American."

Pinball machine isn't happening for reasons unrelated to the cost. Sorry to disappoint HN.

You're making good points. 1. I neglected to mention that I confirmed the owner owned the machines. The employee I spoke to said she was going to approach the owner about purchasing the pacman machine herself. 2. The location seems like it's being kept alive by bowling leagues. I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't there in five years. They quite literally do not turn the lights on in this section of the building. 3. You're right that I'm off on the price, but I'm starting with 400. If he wants to try to sell it online and ship it or deal with the arcade two cities away he can, but it's a question of how much it's worth it to him. I bought a grandfather clock six months ago for $100. It never hurts to ask. I won't weep or be rude if it doesn't work out. I've found I can get great prices on low volume stuff.

I don't particularly think it will work out, I just need to try so I can throw my hands up in the air and answer my original question in this thread with "I don't own one... because they're too darn expensive".

But dag on I want it. Elvira is calling to me.

You've also given me great information in this thread, thank you.

You're making good sense about the pitfalls, and I think these might be great for me to bring up when negotiating price. It looks to me like the machine is in pretty good shape for its age and being a bowling alley machine. It also has a topper (that I didn't get in the photo) and seems stock. https://ibb.co/pZV1Vx5 When I arrived the lights in that area weren't even turned on in that section of the building because, as they said, most of the machines are broken. It can't be making him money if it's not even worth it to the run the lights. The out of order paper in the machine looks like it has been there for 5+ years (it could be used on different machines when they go out but I don't think so).

If I can swoop in and buy it for $500 or less I think I'm going to. I have to keep it low on the off chance I end up with a paperweight. My wife won't be thrilled about the booby lady pinball but at that price she can't get too mad. I'll home it at a buddy's house for now if it comes to it.

I'll keep you posted about any developments, thank you again for your help.

This is the best, most helpful message I've ever received in response to something I've typed on the Internet. I'll take it to heart, thanks boss.

Edit: to further take advantage of your kindness, let me ask you a question: it looks like an old bowling alley near me has several machines reported to be non functional, including an Elvira and the Party Monsters. In your humble restoration opinion, would it make sense for me to stop by and give them the old "eh it's busted? Maybe I can do something with it. Sell it to me for $400?" type spheel and see if I can dump ~$700 into it to get a functional machine for a good price? I wouldn't be looking to resell. https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/elvira-and-the-party-mon... https://www.afpinball.com/restorations/system-11b-mpu-batter...

If I may ask, are you making a worthwhile profit on the machines you sell, or are you doing it for the love of pinball? I used to know a guy who claimed to have done this with claw machines and made a lot of money. (Yes he had a ponytail)

There's a bit of a gap between 2 and 12. Can you elaborate?

There is zero (0) reason I don't currently own a pinball machine. There are several listed on my local Craigslist right now for between $500 and $2500 USD. I could simply play pinball whenever my heart desired. The fellas who bankrupt early and rode with someone else when we play cards could have something do. I could maintain it obsessively, finding original manuals and schematics. They don't depreciate significantly if maintained. Am I a moron for not owning one? Why don't you people own one?

This is correct, thank you for clarifying! The information was relayed from an intoxicated man to an even more intoxicated man, so I didn't get quite all of it. Time to get reading!

Historically being an antipope didn't mean that you were anti Catholic, it meant you believed yourself to be the true Pope in opposition to the Pope in Rome. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope

My fun fact: Some antipopes resided in Avignon France, and a (delicious) wine from that region (allegedly, I'm not a wine guy) is called Châteauneuf-du-Pape (House of the New Pope) for this reason.

I don't personally feel that the "hacker ethic" is just doing whatever odd thing to do it. I think it's more of a desire to see how and why things are they way they are, and to tweak it so it is better. Riding a unicycle for attention vs creating a self leveling unicycle. But I'm not really qualified to say, and I defer to those who are.

>Even if not said directly, the implication is "you're doing something I find funny."

Yes. I will frequently find what other people are doing to be funny, even absurd. I will often vocalize it. You will not convince me this a moral wrong. I am, however, open to other people vocalizing this about my behavior. Recently, I purchased one of every bran flake cereal in the cereal aisle to determine which was best. I received light jest from the public who viewed my cart. It made sense, because what I was doing was bizarre. I was not injured. It was not an attack. I probably shouldn't do it regularly.

I do attempt to avoid jest about things people have no or minimal control over (race, disability, disfigurement, sexual orientation) or that are core pieces of people's life (religion or lack thereof, financial status, spouse). I am willing to be corrected by someone passionate about a subject. I am also very willing to be wrong, if someone demonstrates that unicycling is actually a way better method of transportation.

Unicycling is fedora-like because you're going out of your way to do something that's less efficient. You know it's going to provoke a reaction because it's unusual. It's different than something like a guy with no legs because he didn't chose to have no legs. If you just love unicycling keep your chin up fight the good fight believe in yourself, but don't imply you're "under attack" because people go "huh that's weird I have to say something let's try gentle humor". The people with pithy comebacks in this comment section are doing it correctly.

I hear what you're saying and you're right in that there is nuance. I normally will give a light glib comment about something and then wait to see if I get any back. If I do it's good fun and I'll do more but if I never do I know the person isn't ready or willing to engage on that level. I find that people usually use the "It's just a joke" line after saying straight up rude things rather than light remarks.

Additionally: what motivations does one have to ride a unicycle instead of a bicycle? I can only think of reduced storage space being a practical benefit.

It seems like this is an either-or. Either sympathetic or jerring. I think that cracking jokes can be neutral.