Doesn’t make it illegal.

Just, eh, “complicated”.

Is it stupid to want that stuff in your home? Certainly not without lead condoms. Is it something I’m offended at the government wanting to scoop up? Certainly not.

Did the guy deserve full on hazmat?

Well, I’d probably have pulled out the full containment tent and taken a lot of selfies riffing off the E.T. Movies, but I’m a weirdo.

They could have probably played it cool and that would have been better.

The thing is that got through customs. It was probably declared by the company, since they already got paid and probably warn people to check “local import laws”.

It might not seem fun, but, the fun and games end when bad opsec leads to reporters getting invited to the triple sec.

Out of curiosity and for strictly not-remotely-nefarious reasons, how expensive would a megagram be?

I assume they just bought Ike, a centimeter cube of the stuff. (Which is a common thing for this kind of collector. Most solids come in centimeter cubes if they’re not particularly spicy.)

Also, I’m going to add here, the pickleball maffia.

you should probably run for it, Marty.

pretty sure… there’s nothing illegal about buying plutonium for a elements collection. Pretty sure, also there’s a lab supply somewhere in australia that keeps the samples in stock.

Also pretty the russians are having a pretty decent sale on polonium, if you’re looking for that.

“You pay me to do what I do, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Not only that, but they circulate bad information among themselves. Booklets about how every sports team has it’s own gang affiliation, etc.

We all know it’s the bowling teams that are the gangbangers. I mean look at them. total miscreants!

Probably not, but they’re obligated to respond- and more importantly, if you insist enough, file a report.

It’s going to annoy the shit out of both the cops and the gestapo enough that maybe the cops ask the gestapo to start acting like actual professionals and not thugs with brown-colored shirts

So… they’re the perfect familiar to keep an eye on one’s hidden base. (It may or may not be a castle with a tower,)

If I say ‘yes’, do I get to have an owl familiar?

Okay, if you think someone is being abducted- and yeah, she was- Don’t just stand their fucking recording on your camera.

CALL 911!

Those badges they pulled out? You can just buy them on your own. It’s not illegal. No crime is committed unless you actually impersonate cops.

if a cop flashes a tin shield, check their ID, not the badge. Cops are legally obligated to identify themselves. The badge is meaningless without the ID. You can get much, much less expensive options that would pass at a casual distance. Fun fact, it’s also perfectly legal to buy the full uniform, as well as the patches. one of my coworker collects agency patches the same way motorcamper types collect state patches.

The point being, we’re in Nazis America, and brownshirts are gonna be pretending to be cops.

Dick Durbin, once again living up to his momma’s spite.

(Why else would you name a kid “dick”- or at least a name that was always associated with a prick? At least as far back as mid 1800’s. Granted, he might actually be that old.)

Imagine, just if you will….

That’s not DOGE’s BigBalls.

Alright. Some one with a giant pair, you have a mission.

(Alternatively… somebody willing to google search for a giant pair….)

Imagine getting a signal invite by some guy named BigBalls so they figure out what happened.

As if I would listen to WhiskeyLeaks. Russian disinformation, probably.

Clark’s third Law, basically.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

replace “advanced technology” with “poorly understood natural phenomena”, and you have it.

Specifically of miracles- You assume they actually happened. Jesus almost certainly did not heal the sick, and Lazarus almost certainly did not return from the dead. Keep in mind the gospels were written 50+ years after jesus’s death, probably as the first generation of people were dying off, or more likely, the second generation.

As for modern miracles, none seem to have actually happened, or that prayer/divine intervention is the explanation given despite other things contributing to the “miracle”. (often cited example: praying for positive medical outcomes and going to the doctor. people will thank their god for the positive outcome, even though it was the doctor’s skill, knowledge and wisdom that caused it.)

Or like praying for a job while putting in the hard work to get a good job.

As for the euphoric experiences of the holy spirit coming down. it’s basically a sort of mass hypnosis. through communal worship and such, people are put into a suggestible state. (or at least a few are,) You can even put yourself into that state. Then, the person leading the affair makes all kinds of suggestions and you just kind of go with it. This is not to say that the experience of euphoria is any less meaningful; or that the leaders are some how malicious and exploitive. (well, I’d say they are, but that’s a different matter.)

Other “miracles” either didn’t happen or just misunderstood an interpreted as something else. (The star guiding the 3 wise men would have been seen by literally everyone in the region, for example. They came a long distance, possibly from persia. even if there was something there… following it to a house is ridiculous.)

For a less loaded example, I work as a manager in contract security. i had an employee of the sort that believed ghosts were real. This belief led him to ascribe supernatural things to something that wasn’t supernatural at all. Specifically, on his late-night rounds, there was a door that would keep closing on him. (it was a fire door being held open by the electromagnetic door holders. The EM holders shut off when the fire alarm is triggered.)

Turns out that it was a faulty door holder. But he was so very convinced that a ghost was closing it on him, so he didn’t put it in his reports or notify maintenance peeps. Didn’t even really bother to look into it. he’d just put the door back and go on his way.

The thing was, the magnet was old and it was loosing it’s strength- it was just strong enough to hold the door with nothing going on, and it kept closing on him specifically because as he walked through, his wake would push on it and cause it to break free. It was an easy fix- the door holder was replaced and they wanted me to talk to the guy because apparently it was like that for months or more, but he knew it was happening.

The thing with religion is that it’s designed to bypass your rational mind and gives you the easy answer. It’s designed to make you stupid so that you don’t get the real answer. It’s designed that way because when you get the real answer, you usually stop paying your dues.

You have a cat pillow. You ARE the cat pillow.

The short answer is to distinguish titles from the main body of text (or synopsis, lede, etc.)

It doesn’t need to be very readable because it’s used sparingly, and it’s more important that it stands out so you know what you’re reading, etc.

How to Get Attention and Keep It.
The untrue story of an internet troll who thinks the damsels are lost and knights assholes trying to take advantage. by some guy whose definitely not the troll.

I don’t think so, no.

It’s directly visible to the naked eye when there’s enough of it. Roentgen and Brandes both stuck their eyes right next to an xray tube to see it. part of the conditions include being dark-adapted eyes. other observations seeing it “through” the door.