thouartfrugal

Not calling you out personally, Lauchs and I do apologize if it seems that way. Just that reading in your question the usage of "your side" and "the other side" brought to mind once again the fact that many people I know have come to view politics a team sport. Didn't decide anything about your beliefs.

In this study, were the terms "conservative" and "liberal" self-applied by the subjects? People do adopt those labels for themselves, but I would urge careful consideration before doing so. Where they can be useful in describing one's position on a specific issue, when applied directly to the person they are needlessly reductive. Exactly the sort of thing that facilitates the mental assignment of oneself or others into an imaginary camp on one side of a false dichotomy.

The essence of what you are saying makes sense to me, and I do understand those terms are routinely applied to people both by themselves and by others. But your post, though well-meaning also serves to perpetuate the "conservatives vs. liberals" view of political discourse. I realize I may be Sisyphus under the boulder here, but it's my challenge to the United States political duopoly.

Do you consider yourself a partisan? The pervasive notion that there are "two sides" and you must be on one of them, it results in ordinary citizens viewing one another with suspicion and fear. It's a useful lie that serves the interests of those who would foster division in order to maintain the cultural status quo.

Not calling you out in particular. Just that I think about this every time something is posted that perpetuates this false "our team, their team" narrative because it's a powerful, insipid tool of oppression against the common person. True, people differ on contentious issues, sometimes irreconcilably. But if we are made to view one another as dyed-in-the-wool adversaries over that, we will fail to discover our common interests much less promote them through solidarity.

Not denying that the two major political parties in the United States do hold seemingly unassailable dominance in major elections like the one we're entering, largely due to determining winner by first-past-the-post. And yes, sadly it's very often the case that a meaningful vote will support one of those parties. But it doesn't have to be this way forever. In fact, I will be able to vote for city office candidates by ranked choice starting this year!

Sorry for the rant. Not an expert. Just a dude who wants to love his neighbor.

John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory

Was lucky enough to have a sit-down cabinet version of Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (Sega, 1983) at a local arcade. Very comfortable with the controls built into the chair. Along with having set all the games to free play, the operator had the volume cranked on this one so Nimoy's voice would resonate inside!

More than one A but you are not among them! I don't often see movies on the big screen, in part for fear of something like this. Think you handled it gracefully. I might have walked out immediately and asked for a refund.

Gonna go with Donkey Kong (1994). Made for a handheld (Game Boy) but also prominently features an enhanced mode enabled by running it on Nintendo's Super Game Boy accessory for the SNES/Super Famicom (actually mine's an SGB2–even better).

Nice pick! Was my first experience playing a Rogue-like game, though I wouldn't know that term for at least two decades.

Also happens to be a technology specialist, a pilot, and one who must suffer (amputation).

I'm as old as my tongue, and a little older than my teeth.

Gift-wrapped with a card and all, decades ago to my former significant other. That it was so long ago, and that I don't remember what the present was would seem to speak volumes against the significance. Damn my cold heart!

Last time I felt like giving somebody a gift was three years ago. Burned a DVD of Spicediver's fan edit of Dune (1984) and sent it to an old friend in a case with a printed color slipcover. With the first part of Villeneuve's adaptation set to debut I wanted my friend to see this great version of a flawed film we enjoyed together in our youth.

Few months ago I gave a few Famicom game cartridges to a former co-worker because his wife collects Hello Kitty stuff. Not really being generous; was happy to get rid of them as those characters kind of give me the creeps.

Really enjoyed re-watching this series! Very dense and intricate in terms of setting and story lines compared to other science fiction shows on air at the time. Even if I wasn't so young then I believe I would have had difficulty following along week-to-week. Now, if I'd known about usenet...