LA ICE protest

Plot twist. He was going to the No Kings Protest as a peacekeeper.

And his wife finally saw the light. As her kingdom came crashing down. As she recognized her husband for the beautiful individual he is. Or at least the one he identifies as.

His wife also knows him better than he knows himself, it sounds like. People are interesting.

You did know these assholes were/are burning The Stars & Stripes?

Shuutttt the FUUUUUCK UP, foreigner!

(checks non-moto, see's a whole bunch of people commenting about Ukraine and the middle east)

Never mind! Carry on.

Don't worry dude, we'll have them in prison for a year for this type of shit behavior. Law and order.

And I agree this is really shit behavior, too.

 Ask and you shall receive. Where do we draw this confusing ass line?

But, it it a constitutional right.

I'm not going to deny this didn't happen but I went to two of the protests and I saw zero moments like this which is why I often bring up the importance of attending things vs choosing to believe the very specific moments that are fed to you to cause a specific reaction.

That said, in the worlds of Voltaire(?) – modified for this situation of course – "I disapprove of them burning the flag, but I will defend to the death their right to do it." 

Couldn’t be much more outside than you, Quebec. How about mind your own business for a change, eh?

Watched many interviews from the plethora of live streams that were going on for four days. Some of the comments would be hilarious if they werent so tragic. Pathetic display of pseudo protesting, waving the flags of the countries they have no interest in returning to, while burning and looting in large numbers.

Super chill, though.

I’m just making the point that it’s not patriotic to burn the American Flag.

Bwaaaaahaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa

I love that he thinks he's winning....

People identify as all kinds of shit. The nice thing about this place is you can be whatever you want.

The interesting part of us people, we love to blindly assign titles and labels to strangers on the Internet. 

Without really giving ourselves the same genuine scrutiny. 

Not true......

I'd argue that, while I personally wouldn't do it (at least at this moment), burning the American flag falls under the first amendment right and is thus, patriotic.

And you are thus, a doggone*idiot for arguing that.

*Edited for the soft.

Fair. Seems individual thought is viewed as less than optimal content, for some members to consume.

Nice thing? We don't need to engage with shit that doesn't serve us. Unless trolling serves a purpose. Because sometimes I agree, it does, and can serve a valuable purpose. In some weird way. For me, engaging with you fine folks the past few days has helped open up my perspective. Self serving shit!

Just seein' the light.

EDIT - Added one sentence to complete my thought.

Now my cognitive dissonance is making my head hurt again. Agreed haha. I do hate that it has come to this, and people think this is how they need to send a message. But I don't pretend to understand everyone. As hard as that probably is to believe for some folks here.

Although I do genuinely try and understand people. I like understanding complex shit. Ain't much more complex than us. Here I was obsessed with machines...

This is not the first time the world has called me a fuckin enigma though. That is one of the more polite variants of people assigning things to me haha.

I think we are all here for the same reason...and it is a self serving one, whatever that means to each person here.

Actually the opposite. I think what he is showing is a legitimate sign of pretty high intelligence, empathy, and compassion.

Opinions are like assholes...

Shocking that you agree with your mentally touched twin. 

Keep editing, homie.

Hey CaptainRon, I’d imagine that statements like this could be directly connected to you having to create new usernames. 

Just a thought. 

With all due respect of course. 

Your grammar looks like it has improved during our exchanges. Feels like I am making some kind of difference. Seems like you are applying a ten second rule, before quickly sending off an emotionally charged response.

I could actually learn something from you, too.

EDIT - This was aimed at @EVH4Ever As I don't want to assume everyone's comprehension is equivalent.

Definitely your right to see it that way. I was raised in an era where burning the American Flag was definitely not considered a patriotic act and far from it.In fact it was not even a topic for discussion. Obviously you’re not alone in your belief. I’m actually, constantly amazed at how much the world has changed as well as peoples views on a variety of topics , especially things that I view’d as set in stone.

My friends dad used to say “argue with an idiot and become one yourself.”

We have been a poorly tuned motor for a while. We've just been so caught up with suspension settings as root cause, we didn't stop to think maybe the motor itself is causing things to be unsettled. Well I think a lot of us recognized the motor was fucked up (not me, I just thought my own motor was fucked up). When your valves are tapping, it is annoying but you can still ride.

When you don't adjust your valves, more shit breaks over time, and shit gets louder. You also start losing confidence in your machine...

We are a broken motor making really bad noises right now. A healthy motor is the sum of all of its individual components, functioning within spec, that is designed, and revised, as things evolve, and technology takes hold of our world more and more.

As we've left the strictly real world, and quickly entered this strange psuedo real/online world, this engine got some really weird ECU updates, where some bugs have been crawling software updates.

Fuck...I miss a set of brass jets. I can tune a carb. Big brother had to lock that down too in the invisible black box. I want less black boxes.

We have been treating our country like a late stage capitalistic publicly traded entity. Value engineering our engine, removing critical components that we need to ensure  the engine performs as we would all like it to. In the name of saving a buck. Because our debt is insane. But I don't think our debt is insane, because everyday Americans suddenly became more expensive..

If anything, it sure seems like we are reducing the value of everyday people like you and me...

Just thinkin and stinkin...yes I am a little nuts haha. We are all. We huck motorcycles off massive mounds of dirt for fun. That is not normal behaviour...

Or, enter the lions den, and understand how he eats. The lion will most definitely keep you in check...

Great quote.. Even better if you can jump the line, and gain a ton of experience quickly by engaging with an expert. This is something I'm decent at.

We sure have a lot of them here. Well respected members. I personally love a community that displays mutual respect.

Knowledge and understanding is a powerful thing.

I think the important part, which is hard at times, is to stay true to yourself along the way. But, at the same time, be open-minded to growing yourself.

EDIT (more thought no one wanted to read)

I've had more friends die than my parents, and they are 25-30yrs older than me. I've seen too many people, lose their battle with this world, too soon. And I am tired of just watching shit burn.

So I am waking up, and seeing the light, in my own way. Hopefully someone else here is too. Because if one person has any snippet of something meaningful from me spewing my self serving shit here (hint, we all are, I just use too many words), this has been a worthwhile endeavor. I am definitely learning.

In my reality, I generally try to position myself as the dumbest one in the room. I'm ok being ignorant, but I fucking love learning. Self serving shit! 

Golf Clap to you Sir…..👏

Thanks dude. The world has been telling me to shut the fuck up since I first started spending time in it. Easier to live in your own world, too. But that isn't what it's about as you miss one of the coolest things about life. Deep connection with other life.

The second I started finding my voice, everyone said I was fucking annoying. They are not wrong.

But I'm kind of done sitting back and shutting the fuck up, too.

I appreciate your posts here. I know way too many vital members names, because I have been lurking and reading here for a pretty long time. Hell, I remember way too many produce codes from when I worked at the grocery store 20yrs ago. I couldn't tell you what I wore yesterday.

I guess I just got too immersed in the motocross stuff. This was my first endeavor into non moto. Because of a topic that resonates with me. Self serving shit!

I like shifting, I like using a clutch. It's nice to have options. Don't make it only Stark Vargs. That would be boring as shit. No air filters is nice, though.

No matter what happens, I think I'll figure out something to nerd out on and find motivation in.

I guess my goal, maybe, is to stop removing the human element from everything we do and interact with. Our world is doing that way too quickly for us, already. And I am also guilty of contributing to this, too.

Thank you for being a key component of this Vital engine, brotha!

EDIT (too many words)

In my reality, I spend a lot of time and energy making machines behave as close to humans as possible. And I try and combine humans and electro mechanical systems. So they talk to, and work together in unison, even though they speak very different languages. 

And no two stumps (amputations) are the same. Often time it happens in emergency environments, with not the most skilled or experienced doctors doing the job. Then we try and make life happen again, as normal as possible. Fascinating shit! Self serving, but also serving others. Value engineering.

First builds on the hydraulic cylinders I designed shown below. I also programmed and cut these parts, too. Self serving for sure, I fucking love this stuff.

I also fucked up an expensive dyno setting the test up. I'm great at breaking things. But I'm also decent at fixing things. Probably because I'm so good at breaking them.

Working with SKF to design some new seal lip profiles. Amputees don't want to hear any mechanical noise whatsoever, not even seal drag. Kind of took me back, as I thought sounding like Terminator would be fuckin badass. But I'm ignorant, and learned.

When I was 13, I'd walk along the creekbed in NJ with my friends and we'd collect golf balls that found themselves in the water. We'd fill egg cartons with balls and sell them back to all the rich golf dudes. This was not DJTs course, but the Fiddler's Elbow course a few miles away. 

We had fun, made money, and cleaned up the environment.

Value engineering.

We spent summers scrapping shit. We'd drive all over finding stuff to tear apart, drag out, and scrap for money. Destroying shit is fun, we made money, and we cleaned up our community.

Value engineering.

And we did all this immersed in our own world. Self serving, keeping ourselves occupied. But I realize, I made the world around me better, too...

Be the change you wish to see in the world. I was accidentally decent at one element of this, but completely sucked at the human component. That is what in focusing on now, personally.

I worked (illegally) on a farm stacking hay at 13. I made cash (no tax), and used this money to buy my first RM80.

I hope you folks have a good day. Life is pretty fuckin sick!

EDIT (self serving)

Saw this family while eating lunch by myself. I'm on my phone. All three of them are sitting together, glued to their phones. We are eroding our ability to connect on a human level.

I don't like this part.  But it's an evolution that we all kind of involuntarily got wrapped up into eh.

You go to a concert, which is $2,000 nowadays, and 80% of the people there are so focused on capturing the video on their phone, most of them forgot to actually enjoy the moment they were in, in the real world.

Are you under the care of anyone?