Wed Mar 04 2026 05:37:04 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

as for "her"... I dunno. I feel like I've been around longer than she was - so if she goes away - it just didn't stick. That is just my observation. I know you like her - and I understand why - and I tried to make her feel like she should fight for her place here. I can't fix her.

In this case he's talking about trillcat, not Zoe. Trillcat lives in Israel.

Hi - yeah. checking in before I have to go into my shelter.. just got a pre-alert. poor miss 11 had to get out of the bath. 

I'm ok. It's been ... interesting.

I donno -- I just lie in bed with my laptop and my maltese and do normal stuff. and then the pre-alerts go, and I tell everyone to go use the bathroom, and then the sirens go, and then we go to the shelter - we have a bed, a mattress on the floor, and a gaming chair in there, so it's not bad, and the oldest has been mostly away since this thing started, so it's just 4 of us & Emma (the dog). 

I'm glad you and the family are ok.  Well, as ok as one can be in that situation. 

Sun Mar 08 2026 16:44:42 UTC from triLcat

Hi - yeah. checking in before I have to go into my shelter.. just got a pre-alert. poor miss 11 had to get out of the bath. 

I'm ok. It's been ... interesting.

 

Would it actually be that bad, if it is as bad as you think it is, anyhow? 

I mean - you probably wouldn't survive. But I saw a couple of things this week. 

One was a nuclear physicist talking about how the combined nuclear power of all the missiles in the world is dwarfed by the extinction level impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. By an order of magnitude. Even accounting for fallout and nuclear winter - his analysis was, "we don't have enough gunpower with the world's entire nuclear arsenal to kill the planet - not even to wipe out humanity." 

We would set it back - it might make Mad Max look like a weekend at Disneyland - but we would survive - and certainly build back to where we are given enough time. I think Canticle for Leibowitz is right - I think the Matrix is right - this isn't our first time around. We build up, and then we tear ourselves down, and then build again. It is in our nature. 

The other thing was people talking about how they want to jump up at just the right moment to leave an interesting flash shadow on the wall behind them. This is the basic humanity of our nature - to face whatever it is down and realize how trivial our individual existence is - but want to leave a mark. The ash statues in Pompeii? They outlived billions of people since - and will probably still be around after the NEXT time we wipe ourselves out. Immortal, in some sense. 

It always weirds me out the people who hate the society we have built and want to see it changed into something better - but not at the price of personal consequence or radical suffering. 

If we're going to reset - if we're really going to burn it to the ground and build it back - it means no more Uncensored. No more Starbucks, no more worrying about getting mugged on the L train. 

It probably means living in a cave, lice ridden, living a miserable life to die in your late 30s if you're lucky as an aged wizard. We're not just going to VOTE ourselves into this utopia that people want. At the very least - it means bloody, violent conflict. 

It absolutely means giving up your 72" flat screen 4k TV and broadband Internet. 

How bad do you want change? 

Thank you. Yaakov (the husband) and I were supposed to go away this week. It was going to be our first time alone without kid-related responsibilities since the oldest was born in 2007. (we spent 5 days away from our three in 2021 because we couldn't get them corona shots and us passports, but that was to go to the wedding of his oldest, so not exactly kid-related-responsibility free, plus we stayed in a motel so gross that there wasn't even a bible there.)


We were going to go to a resort in cyprus. I was so excited. Alas. 

Tue Mar 10 2026 23:02:10 UTC from Nurb432

I'm glad you and the family are ok.  Well, as ok as one can be in that situation. 

Sun Mar 08 2026 16:44:42 UTC from triLcat

Hi - yeah. checking in before I have to go into my shelter.. just got a pre-alert. poor miss 11 had to get out of the bath. 

I'm ok. It's been ... interesting.

 

 

I think the quote was, "They'll use rocks on the other side," 
Not... "They'll use 2400 baud Hayes Modems on the Other side." 
But I'd be ok if that was the truth. 

Wed Mar 25 2026 22:41:03 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

It absolutely means giving up your 72" flat screen 4k TV and
broadband Internet. 

BBSs over low speed links instead of commercial television?

Bring the bombs now please!

Right?  We'll be setting up a mesh of UUCP links and keeping ourselves happy while the TikTok crowd is trudging through the rubble, desperately trying to find someone to twerk in front of.

:D

Sat Mar 28 2026 21:38:33 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

 desperately trying to find someone to twerk in front of.

last i heard, since nearly everything is VoIP on the back-end, you cant use the old fashioned modems now unless you pay for a special line.   Not that i have verified by trying..  ( it effects FAX lines too .. from what i was told )

Fri Mar 27 2026 07:39:49 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

I think the quote was, "They'll use rocks on the other side," 
Not... "They'll use 2400 baud Hayes Modems on the Other side." 
But I'd be ok if that was the truth. 

 

So ww3 has been on a little pause since late Tuesday night (early Wed morning here) when the deadline ran out, Iran fired missiles, and after walking down 4 flights of stairs to get into the bomb shelter, my sister told me that there was a cease fire, starting at 3am. (this was at 3:10am) 

Tuesday night/wednesday was the last day of passover in Israel (it's an extra day outside of Israel, which I may someday explain, but not now), so I wasn't using my phone, but my sister has no such compunctions.

Anyway, my kids have been in school now for the first time since Feb 27 or so. 

But the talks broke down, so who knows when the missiles will restart and the schools will re-close, and argh.

Still glad to hear you and the family are ok.

Sun Apr 12 2026 21:28:55 UTC from triLcat

So ww3 has been on a little pause since late Tuesday night (early Wed morning here) when the deadline ran out, Iran fired missiles, and after walking down 4 flights of stairs to get into the bomb shelter, my sister told me that there was a cease fire, starting at 3am. (this was at 3:10am) 

Tuesday night/wednesday was the last day of passover in Israel (it's an extra day outside of Israel, which I may someday explain, but not now), so I wasn't using my phone, but my sister has no such compunctions.

Anyway, my kids have been in school now for the first time since Feb 27 or so. 

But the talks broke down, so who knows when the missiles will restart and the schools will re-close, and argh.

 

 

last i heard, since nearly everything is VoIP on the back-end, you cant use the old fashioned modems now unless you pay for a special line.   Not that i have verified by trying..  ( it effects FAX lines too .. from what i was told )

That's right.  The transformation is complete.  Voice now rides over data, not the other way around.

But I've heard the doomsday-survivalist thing played back so many times now that it doesn't really phase me anymore.  And if I had to guess, we bombed Iran because there was credible intel that they either had a nuclear weapon or were close to completing one.  (I'll believe that before I believe the people saying that USA is Israel's bitch and we do whatever they tell us to.)

Let's face it, the moment Iran has a nuclear weapon, they'll try to attack Israel with it.  Not really a desirable outcome.

Thanks nurb.

It's now been 6 days of ceasefire. It's oddly unnerving. We know what to do when there are missiles flying, and what to do when there aren't. but when they're paused and we're not sure for how long... it's really stressful. 

In my own tiny pocket of the country, we had to put my dad into a care home last week, and what preceded that actually got us to the point that missile attacks were the least of our problems. (though it's a good thing that neither of his attempts to elope from the hotel where we were staying coincided with a missile attack). 

I have much to recover from, and I know we'll be back under fire soon, and the kids will probably not be in school again, etc. In the meantime, at least I got my dog's haircut finally. (I was having anxiety over there not being a safe place to stop between my house and the "salon" (it's a room in a shack on a farm, but my friend works there and she's really good with the dog)