Happy Halloween

So, another year's Halloween has come and gone. Given my lack of any cohesive social circle, and the decade or so I've spent working from home or in other situations not conducive to it, I can't remember the last time I celebrated the holiday. Maybe next year; this year I've been too tired and too busy to plan anything.

In all honestly, I get a little depressed around this time of year. I should love Halloween. I think I do, but I don't really have anyone to share it with, and if I had some kind of extensive friend-or-family unit, I'd just be too terribly annoyed with them to bother.

But before I went to bed the other night, one of my favourite horror-themed YouTubers posted a delightfully good video, and it's one that I'd recommend you watch. He's done a comprehensive run-down on the various major Slenderman series as well, so if you've got about 12 hours to kill and are interested in an enthusiastic analysis of independent horror, give it a watch.

Ladies, gentlemen, and various multiforms, I now concede the floor to a fellow animatronic cat, one Nick Nocturne, as he takes yet another unauthorized dig into the files of the SCP Foundation. Hopefully he'll make it out the other side in one piece.

Only the Mildest of Hot Takes

I've started a new job recently, and between having to learn a bunch of new stuff and existing in hours that I previously never saw much of, my brain's a bit scattered. Too scattered to really dive in-depth on any one thing at the moment. So while I have a moment's pause, I'm going to fire off a few quick things in regards to things going on in the world today.

From the "You Really Asked For This" Department:

#WomenBoycottTwitter is a great idea.

Twitter's censorship of Rose McGowan is a result of Twitter applying the censorship regime that feminists mobs pressured the company into adopting in 2014.

Lesson: Don't want to be censored? Don't call for censorship. The worst will use it.

— Julian Assange 🔹 (@JulianAssange) October 13, 2017

He's incredibly correct. I've been saying this for a long time. You really don't want to start pushing corporate censorship, de-platforming, and the like because inevitably it's going to be used against you or an ally of yours. Like poor Rose McGowan. There was, after all, recently a sentiment that Twitter wasn't doing enough to combat harassment. Guess they are now, huh?

From the "I Totally Didn't Write This Myself, We Just Have A Very, Very Smart Audience: Department:

In this, the age of games journalism being far, far too intelligent for the plebeians that read it, it's rare to see a comment that agrees so readily with the author of the piece, let alone gets called out as a good comment by that piece's author. Luke Plunkett totally didn't write that comment himself, guys. That's clearly a gamer, one of "the good ones" I guess. 

From the "Stay In Your Lane Or Pay The Price From Allies" Department:
Successful black woman in tech dares to utter the verboten suggestion that white men may, in fact, be diverse and is promptly dogpiled by the internet and forced to apologize for suggesting that diversity is more than melanin and genitals.

From the "I'd Like To Stop Talking About This, So Why Don't We Keep Talking About This" Department:
Anita Sarkeesian doesn't want to be remembered as the woman who survived Gamergate. I don't want to be remembered as the man who survived my ex-wife, so I don't talk about her anymore. Then again, if I got paid for speaking engagements about her, I might reconsider that stance.

From the "Why Do We Take Our Political Opinions From Hollywood?" Department:
Harvey freakin' Weinstein. Harvey freakin' Weinstein and the fact that two people have already apologized for making a joke at his expense, that Jimmy Kimmel all of a sudden "doesn't want to be American's moral compass" and would rather not discuss the issue, and the resonance cascade of Hollywood liberal elites getting outed as sexual scumbags in Weinstein's wake. And I thought the Joss Whedon incident was bad.

Content will return to it's former not-terrible status as soon as I've adjusted to this new work/life balance thing.

A Quick Update

Looking over the blog, it appears that I haven't posted anything for an entire week. That's terrible.

I have a pretty good explanation, though:

1. Last weekend, I received word that my part of Florida had the power restored, so I made plans to return home. 
2. Monday, the person I thought I was going to get to visit on the way home had to beg off on account of sick kids, so that changed my schedule and meant that I was probably leaving too late in the day to make it home in one trip. 
3. Fortunately, a lovely friend in Columbia, SC offered his guest room to me and I spent the night. So that's why there was no Monday post. 
4. Damn near the rest of Tuesday was spent driving, and by the time I arrive home I was flat-out brain-fried and only wanted to rest. So, no Tuesday post. 
5. Wednesday was spent unpacking. No, really. It seems to take me twice as long to unpack as it does to pack, because putting things where they belong (ordering them) takes a lot longer than putting them into suitcases (a mild form of disordering them) -- fighting entropy always takes effort. Plus I had to wash dirty clothes, remove the wrinkles from clean clothes that got mashed in the suitcase, etc. 
6. Thursday was a headache in the morning and then recording the podcast in the afternoon, so I did actually accomplish something visible that day... you just don't get to see the fruit of that effort until tonight, when the podcast drops. Then my internet went out until morning. 
7. Friday was just an utter cluster of everything that could go wrong actually going wrong. Most notable was when my keyboard stopped working for no apparent reason, and trying to get it fixed took up most of my time. Then I had to go shopping for a new one, and I didn't find one I liked, so I ended up ordering a new one on Amazon. 
8. Yesterday was Salem Saturday. 

And the sad irony of the situation is that next week I will have to start packing all over again, because Friday-Sunday is the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas. I'm so freaking tired of travelling, y'all, and I'm going to do it again on Thursday.

Plus I have to finish my speech.

And I've been invited to model for a Concealed Carry Fashion Show at GRPC, which is 50% flattering and 50% terrifying.

So basically... I'm fine, my family is fine, my dogs are fine, my house is fine, but I'm probably going to be an Amazing Stress Bitch this next week, so please don't hold it against me if you don't hear back from me until October 2.

And many thanks for being my readers despite my flakiness. Much love to you all!

These Raptures Are Getting Tedious

By my count, I have now lived through three major (and countless minor) Raptures:

1. The Great Rapture of '88, which actually was delayed until 1989, inconveniencing nearly everyone. 
2. The Silent Rapture of 1994, predicted by Harold Camping, actually did happen despite what many naysayers claim, we just can't remember it. 
3. And now, today, as I'm trying to go about my daily routine, another Rapture happens.

I got up today - a day like any other day - had my coffee and took my shower. I got dressed and forgot my wallet, so had to turn around and get it. I stopped in at Subway to get a good breakfast. Bacon, egg, and cheese on multigrain flatbread. Megan's a good Sandwich Artist, and always keeps a few eggs in the refrigerator for me, because she knows I'm terrible at waking up early. Unfortunately, when I got there, she'd already been Raptured, so there was nothing but a visor and a pile of clothes draped over the counter and no egg in the refrigerator.

Having to forego breakfast, I decided to pick up some groceries, so my next stop was Target. Target, unlike Wal-Mart, doesn't have door greeters, so I didn't notice anything amiss when I first passed through the automatic doors and walked past the Starbucks near the entrance. I thought the store was surprisingly empty, but it wasn't until I walked up to my usual checkout aisle that I noticed that Cheryl, the pretty older woman who always has a bit of an extra smile for me, was gone. Another frustratingly empty pile of clothes on the floor next to her register.

Unable to obtain groceries, I left the food spoiling in the cart at the registers and decided to go pick up a package from the post office. As you can imagine, this went as well as the rest of my visits - the entire post office had been Raptured. I'm not kidding. Every person in the place, customers included, was gone. In fact, the front windows, all of the packing materials, and an entire wall of PO boxes were gone as well, but whether that was from looting or some new kind of Rapture I'm not qualified to say.

I've now returned home, and I intend to spend the rest of the day fuming in frustration, watching Star Trek on Netflix and playing video games, as I apparently can't get anything done thanks to these annoying Rapt

[note: the preceding is all that exists of this article. The author cannot be located, but this was found in his home]

A Quickie from Salem

Guh.

I feel terrible. Doctor says I have piriformis syndrome, which means, in layman's terms, there's a muscle somewhere in my hip that's squeezing a nerve that causes pain anywhere between my groin and the outside of my left hip.

I am on medication for pain and relaxation at the moment, and can barely concentrate, so my commentary on the Sanders/Cruz Healthcare debate will have to wait.

In the meantime, someone forwarded me this, which is a screengrab of a page from All New Fathom by Aspen Comics, and you're right, progressives. We do need more women writing comics. Gail Simone can't hold up her gender all by herself.

Thankfully, we have Blake Northcott:

Panel by panel, that's InfoWars's Paul Joseph Watson, Cenk Uygar and Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks, Anita Sarkeesian, Youtuber Chris Ray Gun, YouTuber Shoe0nHead, and Milo Yiannopoulos's Twitter account being banned (link unavailable for obvious reasons).

Don't believe me?

@SM117H @ChrisRGun @HiTechControl @shoe0nhead I can neither confirm nor deny that was a reference to @scrowder's allegedly hilarious video.

— Blake Northcott ✨ (@ComicBookGrrl) February 10, 2017

Not what you were hoping for? Oh... well you go tell her that she's womaning wrong. It's not my place to, and the meds are kicking in. Knock yourselves out.

Note: Erin may have already gone to bed. If so, any mistakes are purely mine and do not reflect our glorious editor. 

December is Upon Us

It's Dec 1st and I'm already sick of Christmas.

I realize no one wants to hear my complaining, so I'll keep this short by saying that this is the time of year that's hardest on me, due to a combination of stress and Thou shalt have Christmas Spirit or Else from my family and generally not having enough time to myself or quiet in which to think. So of my readers I ask the following:

1. Please be understanding as I try to get through what is, for me, an overstimulated high-pressure hell. 
2. Please be patient with me when I vent or otherwise write things you don't want to read.
3. Please don't think I've given up on the blog if I just disappear for days at a time. Next February is Lurking Rhythmically's 10-year anniversary, and I'm not going to miss that for anything. 

Thank you all for your continued readership. I'm going to try like mad to bring you quality nerdy content, but some days that may not be possible. 

Me as 3 Fictional Characters

I'm probably a week or two past the "this is still cool" date of this meme, but what the heck:

Salem's Moment of Inspiration

I am obscenely busy this week recovering funds from a Paypal snafu and drama from work, so I'm forced to phone it in. But I won't leave you empty-handed.

Have a truly inspirational piece of work in my absence. I mean it this time. No sarcasm. This is one of those videos that I feel everyone that's ever been in a rough place really needs to see.

A Quick Recommendation This Week from Salem

I'm incredibly busy at the moment. I'm between work meetings, I just built a new chair to attempt to stave off my spine falling to pieces, and DOOM releases in a mere few hours.

That, with the double-post of last week, leaves me with little time to formulate my thoughts on Civil War, and I plan on talking some more about it next week. I may catch a matinee some time this week to see it again. In the meantime, a rogue commentator has put out an excellent piece of parody work in the vein of Weird Al, and has faced a DMCA claim for his trouble.

Here's the video, but there's also a link to his bandcamp page where you can download the song for free, or pay him if you like. I'll see you all next week for a talk on Civil War, but in the meantime if you've been hesitating on seeing it, don't. It's fantastic.

A Short Thought and a Shout Out

I'm mulling over some news from a doctor, and also have no real, tangible thoughts on anything this week (and there's Rifftrax Live tonight!), but I do have a small, important thing I'd like to say on a topical issue. And after we've got the serious thing out of the way, I'll end it on a fun note.

Bathrooms
They're a big, nasty topic these days. There's a lot of misinformation and a lot of anger. Personally, I'm unconcerned with who uses what bathroom. I'm not sure why there's a differentiation, anyway. Bathrooms are bathrooms to me, and the only real difference is the number of stalls and presence of urinals. That said...

• To the extreme far left: moderate conservatives are not calling trans women men in dresses.They're expressing a concern, perhaps poorly worded, that actual scary cis-het males are going to dress in drag to assault women and children in restrooms. Given your usual statements regarding cis-het men, I'm surprised you aren't more aligned with them.
• To the extreme far right: please calm down. Who is allowed in the toilet probably isn't going stop a predator from entering a restroom just like a gun-free zone isn't going to keep a badguy with a gun out. In fact, the this fear of cis-het men entering restrooms dressed like women is starting to sound a lot like the androphobia expressed regularly by radical feminists.
• To the moderates on both sides: Talk to each other, for crying out loud.

Something a little more upbeat
Remember when I said I wasn't really a Star Wars fan? I've sort of softened a bit, mostly in part to The Force Awakens. So, even though I was posting the Fourth Doctor like a jackass yesterday, here is a concession. May the Fourth be with you, even if I'm a day late.

Off Grid for the Week

Hey all!  I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to scarce around here for a few days.

From tonight through Friday, I get to experience the exquisite joy of shooting other people's guns and using up other people's ammo at the Big 3 East Spring Media Event.

So today is being spent in a frenzy of packing, and yesterday was spent trying to get various BCP blog posts edited and prepared for future publishing.

I'm going to try  to have a SHTFriday post, but I kinda doubt I'll have the time to write it.

Anyway... all is well even though I'm going to be suddenly quiet for the week.

Ciao!

A Quickie With Salem

I'm afraid I will have to phone it in this week. I had planned on offering up my thoughts on Deadpool, but halfway through the movie I started experiencing some unpleasant sensations in my gut which led to a week of fun.

See, my refrigerator is a little old and busted. It ices up probably more often than it should, and I hadn't noticed until it was too late this time. I'd probably eaten one or two meals of stuff out of it that was being stored at maybe 50 degrees F by the time I noticed. Then, while it was unplugged for a day and a half to melt all the backed up ice, I was eating a lot of junk and fast food. Follow that with the bright idea of starting Friday morning off the right way with a big bowl of healthy oatmeal.. and my entire digestive system just ground to a halt. I spent a couple of days curled up in my recliner because lying down hurt and moving around hurt, and I've spent the last couple of days fighting my way through work and thankful I do so from home so that I can occasionally stop what I'm doing return to a fetal position.

I'm feeling considerably better now, if still not 100%, but I will do you all the service of refreshing my mind on Deadpool by going to see it during my week off of work that starts tomorrow, so that I may bring you a proper verdict on the movie. I swear, the sacrifices I make for you all. I'm glad you're all so grateful.

Anyway, in the meantime I'd like to bring just a few things to your attention that caught my attention the last week or so and that I wish I had more prepared, coherent thought about:

• British national treasure Stephen Fry was run off of Twitter after a minor, imagined offense this week, and fortunately unlike Joss Whedon, he has the good grace to claim he didn't just fall down some stairs. At an awards show, a friend of his was presenting an award dressed rather eccentrically, and he joked that she looked like a 'bag lady.' The comment was immediately seized upon as being misogynistic and one of Twitter's most valuable assets was relentlessly attacked for ribbing a pal. Personally, I think Fry has the right idea. Between their flailing stock prices and hemorrhaging executives and the institution of their Police of Vice and Virtue... what? Oh, sorry, their "Trust and Safety Council", Twitter is a sinking ship, and I'm glad. All it does is amplify misunderstandings and give bad actors an excuse to attack. As much as I harp on Tumblr, I'd rid the internet of Twitter if given the choice between the two.

• Next, we have long-time Gay Rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, being boycotted and branded transphobic and racist by an NUS LGBT Officer for supporting freedom of speech and standing against the practice of no-platforming. A man who fought for gay rights in a time when you'd still stand a not-insignificant chance of being lynched for being gay. A man who once tried to perform a citizen's arrest on Robert Freakin' Mugabe. I'm starting to see a real pattern here.

• Finally, a positive note: Something I've been saying for at least 3 years has now appeared on Everyday Feminism dot com! I'm not even archiving this one. I want them to get attention for having a moment of self-awareness, and I'm hoping it grows. Social Justice is giving bad people an excuse to act badly, and a cudgel to beat people they don't like with.

All right, everybody. I'm out for now. I've got one more night of work before I'm on holiday, and I'll somehow drag myself back to see Deadpool one more time just for you lot. I just hope you all appreciate the sacrifices I make.

I'm Still Alive

Yeah, I've been quiet for a while, but I felt I owed it to everyone to check in and let you know I'm all right.

This is turning out to be one of those weeks where accomplishing more than getting out of bed takes far more effort than usual. And I'm not even depressed!  I think it's a combination of my sleep schedule getting screwed up, over-extending myself on the weekend, and having real-life duties that have eaten much of my free time. But combine that with the fact that I do feel my monthly depression spooling up -- doubly so because Singles Awareness Day is in 4 days -- and I don't know when I'll have the energy, or the desire, to check in.

So anyway: I'm all right. I'm not in pain. I've no desire to hurt myself or anyone else. I'm just tired a lot, more than a little discouraged, and bracing for the emotional thunderclouds that are rolling in.

If you want to do me a kindness, wish me well on the 14th. I'm never anyone's Valentine.

Monday Gunday: 3 Ways to Sling Carry

I had originally planned to write an article about the use of the sling and the different ways you can sling your rifle... and then I found this infographic which says everything I planned to say, but better and with more clarity.

So look at the picture and be informed. I'm going to run my antivirus to see if I can figure out what is causing my internet connection to drop intermittently and then I'm going to bed.

By the way, my sling of choice for my AR-15 and SKS is the Echo Sling. I've reviewed it and I recommend it highly.

Possibly the Tightest Group I Have Ever Shot

I took my mom's PMR-30 to the range to test out the red Center Mass Laser on her pistol. I don't have time to write a full post tonight, so this is basically a teaser until I can write tomorrow. 

Shot with iron (well, fiber-optic) sights at 10-12 feet. I actually shot better with them than with the laser. Weird, right?

May the Weather Be With You (tonight)

Salem isn't going to have a post for tonight, because he claims he has a long meeting before work, and that's when he writes his article. Myself, I sorta suspect he's sneaking out to watch the new Star Wars movie.

Ne that as it may, here is a delightfully nerdy and punny weather forecast performed by a charming and pretty Nottinghamshire lass.


There are supposed to be 12 puns in that forecast, but I only counted nine:

1. "if you Luke farther west"
2. "if you're Wookiee"
3. "the Force is strong though"
4. "the weather strikes back"
5. "Don't be a trooper"
6. "if you're forced to awaken"
7. "it will be on the Dark Side"
8. "Far, far away"
9. "there's a New Hope for some sunshine"

Which ones did I miss?

Traveller Tuesday: Collection Rejection

I'm still phoning it in this week, which is why this Tuesday article is being written & posted on a Wednesday.

For those paying attention to the 2e High Guard playtest, or who read last week's article on all the ways Collectors are broken, you will be heartened to know that all of our objections (not just mine) have been heard. Collectors have now been moved to the "Alternate Technology" chapter, alongside hyperdrives.

Well done, all!

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

Monday Gunday: Phoning it In

I took a mental health day today because the stress levels in my house are getting toxic, so here's a picture from last weekend (I think) where I took my Mosin-in-its-Archangel-stock out to the range and ran about 50 rounds through it... the scope had gotten jostled a bit while I put it into the new stock and I decided to re-zero it. I decided that I wanted it to be 2 inches above center mass at 25 yards because, through some ballistics that I barely understand*, that means I ought to be dead-on at 300 yards.

That's a 21mm grouping, if you don't count the flyer. (Damn gravity fluctuations... grumble.) I believe that's pretty close to 3 MOA, which is a much tighter grouping than previous tries with the rifle. I'm not certian if it's because the Archangel stock delivers better performance, or if I've just become a better shot through practice, or some combination of the two.

Clearly I need to shoot it more so I can give it a better report, but like the title says... I'm phoning it in today. 

* I shall try to explain. 

Because a scope is mounted above a rifle's barrel, the focal point must be adjusted downward so that it intersects the path of the bullet. This means that when you are looking through your scope at a target in front of you, your rifle's barrel is actually pointing slightly upwards, so your bullets will arc upwards for a bit until gravity and air friction slow it enough that it starts to come down.

Interestingly enough, all bullets do this, so the thing about ballistics is finding the points where the rising equals the falling. If you do that, then you can zero your scope at the shorter range where it's easier to see the grouping and know that you're good to a further distance. 

So looking at the Mosin-Nagant round, you see that it intersects at both 25 yards and 200 yards, so if you zero a Mosin at 25 you're good at 200. Based on some vaguely-recalled calculations from other people, 2" high at 200 ought to be dead-on at 300. 

Why 300? I dunno. Maybe I'm just feeling badass. 

http://www.7.62x54r.net/MosinID/20041231001.jpg

SHTFriday: Halloween Prepping

OK, I admit it: I phoned this post in so I'd have more time to work on my Halloween costume.

Don't judge. It's gonna be epic.

http://tygertyger12.deviantart.com/art/The-Hardest-Part-343710468

I'm taking the rest of the day off

Enjoy your celebration of work by playing all day, everypony!