Massively worse. No contest. Like the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it!
There’s an old pit thread about penguins that I came across while searching for something else that’s pretty cringy. I hope I’ve grown since then.
I spent more of my time yesterday looking at some of my old posts, which are only four or so years old. I guess I’m pretty cringe-resistant but they were mostly fine. Some of my bold predictions didn’t age well.
You too? If I may quote myself about my level of COVID-19 concern:
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is “the risk that my dryer lint will coalesce into a giant bunny that overthrows the U.S. government” and 10 is “the risk that my ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, who has just set fire to the office I’m occupying with a flamethrower and shot my co-worker, will now try to shoot me with the gun in his hand,” my worry level is about a 2. Sure, this could turn out to be very contagious, very deadly, and infect lots of people but public health officials are paying attention to it and trying to minimize the dangers of a contagious outbreak. It is very unlikely to affect me personally. I’m much more worried about getting run over by a car when I walk to the train.
And on the topic of overthrowing the government, here was my take on a question about how Trump could lose the election and try to stay in power. Hari_Seldon asked well before the election results were known how voters would feel if Republican legislators in PA, FL, MI, and WI just substituted Republican electors for the Democratic ones voters chose, to throw the election to the House of Representatives. I confidently responded:
Trump is an insecure man who understands he doesn’t have the support of the military, intelligence, or civil service so he can’t hold power after Inauguration Day. He would also terrified of facing real consequences when he can’t pardon himself. There is no chance he tries.
Okay, so I tried to give Trump just a modicum of credit but even that was too much.
relentlessly