No, they’re Soviet pliers he bought in the 40’s. They look similar to these:

Note the pinchy parts on the outside of the pivot that will cut you if you’re careless while opening the pliers.

My pliers. They’re passed down from my great-grandfather. He bought them used.

The problem with violence is that the bad guys are usually better at violence.

That’s the neat part…

Are you near NYC?

It’s not an element. It’s a chemical that was used for stripping paint, but the government banned selling it to the public as a paint stripper just because people kept dying.

I’m a spiteful libertarian. I do not tolerate the government’s attempts to protect me from my own bad judgement. Therefore I legally bought a gallon of it from a chemical supply company. (Why did I think I would need a gallon?) I tried to make my own paint stripper from it but I couldn’t get it to form a gel. (How could I have known that randos on the internet could provide wrong directions?)

I haven’t gotten rid of it because it was expensive so now it just sits in my freezer. I’ll give it away for free to anyone who wants to come pick it up…

I have a gallon of methylene chloride.

Part of what makes Lemmy interesting is that so many people here disagree with me. I only block the profane ranting sort. I do, however, sometimes just stick to lighthearted topics for a while when I already have enough stress in my life.

I’m going to copy-paste a relevant post I made recently in response to a discussion about being baited by trolls:

My own rule is simple: I should only interact with another person online for as long as I enjoy doing so. Often I have a hard time letting someone else have the last word, especially when I feel insulted, but I’m getting good at it.

It helps to remember that many arguments are actually performances: the other guy isn’t really trying to learn anything or even to change your mind. He’s acting for an audience of people who already agree with him. When he repeats the things they want to hear, they praise him for owning the libs or something along those lines. There is never anything to be gained by being the patsy for that circle-jerk.

I would be surprised if hostile countries thought that Lemmy was popular enough to bother infiltrating. They probably haven’t heard of Lemmy at all.

I think the explanation is simply that Lemmy’s users are all contrarians, or else they would be using Reddit. Frequently they are of the international leftist sort due to the founder effect.

There’s a legend that the Roman Emperor Tiberius executed the inventor of flexible glass.

After the inventor swore that he was the only man alive who knew the manufacturing technique, Tiberius had the man beheaded. He feared that the glass would devalue gold and silver, since the material might be more valuable.

So y’all better watch out with any plastic…