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So, I want to engrave some things. Most of these things are going to be iron, steel, or aluminum tools, but I'd also like to engrave some less durable items, such as plastics. I've done a couple searches, and I'm looking at engravers ranging from about $80 (US$) all the way up to about $180,000. I suppose that if I searched, I could find some cheaper, and almost certainly more expensive.

So, I'm looking - and all that I can really see, is how ignorant I am. I have almost zero idea what it is that will make a long-lasting engraver. Will one of those ultra-cheap engravers from China last for ten years of light-to-moderate use? Probably not - but what do I know? Is it necessary to spend thousands of dollars for the same thing? Newegg has a variety of engravers, for less than $400, but the biggest, most powerful among them has a disclaimer:

Engraving Material Note:
1.can engraving materials:wood,bamboo,plastic,paper,leather,bank card,rubber
2.can not engraving material:metal,stone,ceramic,shell,light-reflecting material,transparent material

Seems pretty obvious that I need something bigger, and more expensive, than a $400 engraver. Can engraving metal, dammit!

Does anyone here have experience with non-industrial laser engravers? (Industrial? Quarter million dollars entry level?) Power ratings, sizes, brands, whatever - any information is welcome!

NASA to Discuss Upcoming Launch of Next Planet Hunter

Join NASA at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 28, as astrophysics experts discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Reporters can attend the event in person at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington or participate by phone.

The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Scheduled to launch April 16, TESS is expected to find thousands of planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, orbiting the nearest and brightest stars in our cosmic neighborhood. Powerful telescopes like NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope can then further study these exoplanets to search for important characteristics, like their atmospheric composition and whether they could support life.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

John Oliver’s Gay-Bunny Book Is Outselling the Mike Pence Book It’s Trolling

John Oliver’s Marlon Bundo Book Sells Out In A Day; Another Printing In Works

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo

Worst Pence bashing since Trump:

“Trump thinks Pence is great,” Bannon told me. But, according to a longtime associate, Trump also likes to “let Pence know who’s boss.” A staff member from Trump’s campaign recalls him mocking Pence’s religiosity. He said that, when people met with Trump after stopping by Pence’s office, Trump would ask them, “Did Mike make you pray?” Two sources also recalled Trump needling Pence about his views on abortion and homosexuality. During a meeting with a legal scholar, Trump belittled Pence’s determination to overturn Roe v. Wade. The legal scholar had said that, if the Supreme Court did so, many states would likely legalize abortion on their own. “You see?” Trump asked Pence. “You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.” When the conversation turned to gay rights, Trump motioned toward Pence and joked, “Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!”

That's all, folks.

Isn't that what the government types keep saying?

So why is it that the head of that self-same government doesn't play by those rules? Does he think the law doesn't apply to him?

In my mind, those who are privileged to represent us should be *more* forthcoming and avoid even the hint of any conflicts of interest, illegality or lack of transparency.

Why then does our current administration fear the Mueller investigation? Let's get to the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

Which is why it seems odd that our 'fearless' leader is acting like a frightened animal:

A lawyer for President Trump called on the Justice Department on Saturday to end the special counsel investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, shifting abruptly to a more adversarial stance as the inquiry appeared to be intensifying.
[...]
Mr. Dowd said at first that he was speaking on behalf of the president but later backed off that assertion. He did not elaborate on why he was calling for the end of the investigation, saying only: “Just end it on the merits in light of recent revelations.”

People close to the president were skeptical that Mr. Dowd was acting on his own. Mr. Trump has a history of using advisers to publicly test a message, giving him some distance from it. And Mr. Dowd’s comments came at a time when members of Mr. Trump’s legal team are jockeying to stay in his favor.

Hours later, the president echoed Mr. Dowd’s accusations of corruption in the theoretical “deep state” that Mr. Trump has long cast as a boogeyman working to undermine him.

”There was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State,” he wrote on Twitter.

In the end, the truth will out. Let's hear it. Whether it's that there was no collusion with the Russians or if there was. That's actually less important than making sure we have the facts.

Word of the day: Ableist.

How I saw Stephen Hawking's death as a disabled person

• https://twitter.com/MitchellToy/status/973774076803248128
• https://twitter.com/afiqhusyairi1/status/974195115739701249
• https://twitter.com/ayfchang9021/status/974446485113729024
• https://twitter.com/DEADCLOWN45ACP/status/974368607948935168
• https://twitter.com/DJSicFanny/status/974286742571319301
• http://iignatz.tumblr.com/image/171932503530

Snapchat pulls 'awful' Chris Brown and Rihanna advert
Rihanna's Criticism Sinks Snapchat's Value by $800M

Related: Reality TV Star Wipes Out $1 Billion+ of Snap's "Value"

First on CNN: Emails show Ben, Candy Carson selected $31,000 dining set

"I Hope We Have No Crackers Here": EBF Staff Sanction Racial Slur

Queen Elsa came to Boston and pushed a police wagon out of the snow

An Unwanted Kiss on ‘American Idol’

Fitbit just unveiled its $200 answer to the Apple Watch — here's what it can do

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Black Panther has a 6.8 on Douban, described as the Chinese IMDB, compared to 97% on RottenTomatoes and a 7.8 on IMDB.

“A torture for the eyes”: Chinese moviegoers think Black Panther is just too black

Some moviegoers disliked Black Panther because they felt Marvel was trying too hard to be politically correct (link in Chinese). While many reviewers on Douban stopped short of leaving overtly racist comments about the film, many discussed their discomfort of being surrounded by so much blackness.

“Maybe the Chinese are still not used to a film full of black people,” wrote one reviewer on Douban (link in Chinese). The commenter said he had to pinch himself more than 10 times to stay awake during the movie because “Black Panther is black, all the major characters are black, a lot of scenes are black, the car-chasing scene is black—the blackness has really made me drowsy.”

Another reviewer who came into the theater late made a similar observation: “When I entered the theater, a bunch of black people was fighting in the night… I’ve never been in a theater so dark that I couldn’t find my seat.”

Someone else said the experience was worse in 3D (link in Chinese): “The film is filled with black actors and actresses. Also, because the film’s colors are a bit dark, it’s nearly a torture for the eyes to watch the film’s 3D version in the theater.”

The movie made $63 million on its opening weekend in China, which should put it around #30, a couple spots behind Iron Man 3, which had awkward content shoehorned into its Chinese version.

He Became A Celebrity For Putting Science Before God. Now Lawrence Krauss Faces Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct.

BuzzFeed News has learned that the incident with Hensley is one of many wide-ranging allegations of Krauss’s inappropriate behavior over the last decade — including groping women, ogling and making sexist jokes to undergrads, and telling an employee at Arizona State University, where he is a tenured professor, that he was going to buy her birth control so she didn’t inconvenience him with maternity leave. In response to complaints, two institutions — Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario — have quietly restricted him from their campuses. Our reporting is based on official university documents, emails, and interviews with more than 50 people.

Many of his accusers have requested anonymity, fearing professional or legal retaliation from Krauss, or online abuse from men in the movement who have smeared women for speaking out about other skeptics. A few allegations about Krauss made their way onto skeptic blogs, but were quickly taken down in fear of legal action. So for years, these stories have stayed inside whisper networks in skepticism and physics.

In lengthy emails to BuzzFeed News, Krauss denied all of the accusations against him, calling them “false and misleading defamatory allegations.” When asked why multiple women, over more than a decade, have separately accused him of misconduct, he said the answer was “obvious”: It’s because his provocative ideas have made him famous.