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Grippe

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Posts posted by Grippe

  1. 10 minutes ago, BTW said:

    I've really enjoyed the books I've read featuring augmented humans and the abilities they create.  Some my fave's have been Neuromancer and Ramez Naam's Nexus series, and Brown's Red Rising.  Any one know of any other great "Bio-Punk" titles I should check out?

    Scalzi - Old Man's War series.

    Or - if you really want to go crazy, look at the Bobiverse series.

  2. 10 hours ago, fellside said:

    Read The First Law Trilogy recently.  It's one of my favorite fantasy series I've ever read.  I probably enjoyed it more than Thrones or Kingkiller.  Abercrombie is coming out with a new book in the same universe in September.  I think it will be another trilogy.

    He wrote some wonderful stand-alone books in the same universe such as Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country etc.

    • Like 1
  3. 11 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

    I have some reason to believe that Chris Warren has some mental issues he should get addressed.  That's not a slam on him, it's a condition that I suspect he needs to address to have a good life.  I'll leave it there.

    Is entitlement now classified as a mental issue?  Because, shit, it's an epidemic in the US (/no CR).

    • Like 1
  4. 12 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

    Just finished the Wheel of Time. Was a fun series but now i have no idea what to read. Suggestions?

    That depends upon what you enjoyed about WoT - was it the coming of age or the epic scale of the storyline?

    If coming of age fantasy is what you enjoy there are a ton of authors out there which fit the bill: Eddings, Williams, Hobb, Sullivan and so on.

    If epic fantasy is more of your boat try: GRRM, Lynch, Abercrombie, Lawrence, Rothfuss, Sanderson, etc.

    Want to take a ride on sci-fi? Scalzi, Corey, Brown, Card and others.

  5. On 5/20/2019 at 11:32 PM, Sejjr said:

    You should probably avoid VW, Mercedes, IBM, Ford, Bayer, Kodak, Porsche, and Coca Cola while you are at it.

    Nothing changes. Fucking Nazis.

    Apollo and other NASA rockets. (WVB)

  6. 17 hours ago, You don't know me said:

    Well, the boy swore in.  Holy shit it was a bit dusty in that room.

    Now for the funny (and maybe humble brag, I don't know) part.  As soon as we got home, he had an email from West Point.  Said something like "your academic achievements have drawn our interest and we highly recommend you to apply for admission".  He pretty much ignored it, but they have sent 3 more in the last week or so.  Now he's thinking about it.  It seems very late in the process to me for him to try to get into a service academy.  My thought is that maybe West Point has a prep academy like Navy does and they would consider sticking him in there for a year.  Thoughts?

    They, in fact, do - USMAPS.  My dad used the prep school to get into West Point back in the 1950's, when it was then located at Fort Belvoir, VA.

  7. Yes, you can - the fact that my personal IRA was with Fidelity made it easy (in-company transfer of assets).

    As to why - for early retirement, the penalty for borrowing/withdrawing was significantly less on the 401k than the IRA.  The numbers aren't astronomical (below 7 figures) but the timing (wanting to retire before 60 which is coming up fast) helped it make sense.

    • Like 1
  8. 16 minutes ago, LebongJames said:

    USAA for checking

    Barclays for online savings

    Wealthfront for personal Roth IRA outside of company managed Voya 401k

    I'm close to this - I used to use a local Credit Union for Savings/CD but their security was hacked twice so I moved my savings to USAA in addition to checking.

    I rolled my personal IRA into my company managed Fidelity 401k but also keep a separate TSP fund that outpaces everything else I have experienced (prolly because there's no corporate margin to grow).

    On a hunch, I'm going to open an international account in China (under one of the big four there, most likely BoC or ICBC), it won't be much but it will be a start.

  9. This is the best show on TV right now, period.

    Sandra Oh is the best actress (fuck me, thespian) of this period, period - prove me wrong bitches.

    I seriously want to see some scissoring, is that wrong?

  10. The wife and I haven't ventured over there yet - we've been holding out until I get my Miata project overhauled so we can check it out in an open aired go-kart.

  11. 13 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

    Very nice pics!

    BTW, The Crazy Water is a retirement home now.  They've done a good job redoing the public spaces.  My grandmother moved out (and on) about 10 years ago, so not sure if they've redone the rooms since then.  At that time, they had decent accessible bathrooms, but were essentially studio apartments.  The room my grandmother was in didn't have any cooking facilities.   All of that was downstairs in the main dining area.  

    http://crazywaterhotel.com

    There's a ton of work being done on the west wing currently - I haven't seen anything official as a description but it appears to be a gut remodel (they've erected waste elevators and chutes for dumping massive amounts of debris out the windows, with 3rd street filled with industrial waste bins.

    The city is sponsoring a lot of murals in the city as well.

    • Like 1
  12. 2 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

    That 3rd from last photo I posted is not the Baker but the Sabine in Port Arthur. The rest are the Baker though.

    That town is dead. I also went into the abandoned hospital in town and the abandoned army hospital on the edge of town. Before we went into the hotel we sat with a lady on the steps and talked a bit about the town and hotel. She said there was no work and most of the men would leave town for oil field jobs.

    I get wanting to save the hotel, but I do not see how it can be done. It will cost a ton of money and it’s not a destination for hardly anyone. It was in better shape than the Grim and the Sabine, but still in really bad shape. It would need major structural fixes to make it safe.

    PS - property values here in the last 6 months have jumped rapidly. The chamber of commerce has gotten in gear to brand MW as a "gas tank" destination from DFW for antique and second hand shoppers.

    Oh, and they cook a lot of meth here too, I am sure that will bring in more money.

  13. Brat, no worries at all about hijacking the thread. There are some amazing pieces of architectural history in our state that need to be saved.  The Baker is a big one 🤣

    • Like 1
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