Reason Morning Links: Global Bank Tax Talk, Americans Fed Up With Feds, Greece Gets a Bailout

• New poll: Two in three Americans unhappy with the federal government.
• Chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast resigns after plagiarism scandal.
• Google experimenting with high-speed broadband network.
• EU to bail out Greece's government debt.
• British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says global bank tax could be coming soon.

Comments

[SugarFree]

Chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast resigns after plagiarism scandal.

Without a job how can he possibly afford his plastic surgery addiction?

[Suki]

Maybe he has rich fans?

[FrBunny]

Clearly, if I were a serial plagiarizer, I would have scanned my own drafts with such [plagiarism-catching] software before submitting to the Beast. And the material copied - facts, figures, the most mundane information, not great prose from another writer ? is yet further evidence that my focus was on breaking news...

Another I-was-wrong-but-not-really resignation. Just disappear. I promise this letter will be the first time most people have ever read you.

[Pro Libertate]

Didn't we, in effect, vote plagiarism into acceptance when we elected Joe Biden to the vice presidency?

[J sub D]

No, we voted idiocy into continued acceptance* when we elected Joe Biden to the vice presidency.

* Dan Quayle - 'nuff said.

[Pro Libertate]

The last twenty years has seen some real inexperienced/stupid nominees and elected officials. Not that we didn't have them before, but you'd think it would be impossible for a Quayle, Edwards, Palin, Obama, Biden, Bush, Clinton, et al. to even get away with running for office, let alone getting nominated or elected. Of course, we'd probably nominate Kim Kardashian.

[R C Dean]

Clearly, if I were a serial plagiarizer, I would have scanned my own drafts with such [plagiarism-catching] software before submitting to the Beast.

No, that's what you would have if you were a smart and hard-working serial plagiarizer.

Plagiarism is basically laziness, so there's no such thing as a hardworking serial plagiarizer. If you rewrite it to the point that it doesn't even look like someone else's (and beats the screening software), its not really plagiarism anymore, is it?

Excuse FAIL.

[FrBunny]

Excellent point.

[Hazel Meade]

Rich daddy ?

[Suki]

Iran 'makes first batch of 20% enriched uranium'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8510451.stm

[Bob #2]

This "global bank tax" is Gordon Brown's pet project. I'm not exactly sure that him talking it up can be any sort of indication of how likely it is to actually be implemented. It'd be kind of like how in 2002 Bush started rambling about his nonsensical plans to invade Iraq and...

oh shit...

[Aresen]

The Canadian and Swiss governments will tell Brown to stick it up his wazoo.

Brown will be out of office by June anyways.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Soros: Globalize Regulation Or Lose Global Markets

Did Political Ignorance Help Cause the Financial Crisis?

[Suki]

Good morning JL!

[Suki]

Bill Nye the Science Guy says being a Climate Change denier is unpatriotic.
http://www.businessandmedia.or.....63234.aspx

[Pro Libertate]

I'm okay with pooh-poohing this years' winter as disproving AGW--it of course, does no such thing--but I think skepticism of AGW claims is more than warranted. Certainly it isn't "unpatriotic."

Otherwise, love that Bill Nye.

[Suki]

Check the video from that article. Science Guy could use some fashion pointers from the President of France.

[Naga Sadow]

Bullshit! Nye is boss. Scientist by day and, with a simple flick of his wrist, a pop collared mackdaddy by night.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

I agree that Bill Nye is the man.

[Naga Sadow]

BRINGING THE HIGH FIVE BACK!!

*high fives Art*

[Episiarch]

Bill Nye was also the "superhero" SpeedWalker on Almost Live!.

[The Angry Optimist]

You're officially disinvited from hit & run, Suki.

[Warty]

I officially thought this had been official policy for some official time now, officially.

[Episiarch]

The official policy is now that JohnSukiBotWhateverTheFuckItIs is douchebag target numero uno. Maybe a little JohnSukiBot: The Novel?

[Naga Sadow]

I'd watch it. The pirated version that is.

[BakedPenguin]

You want the graphic novel version?

[Episiarch]

Certainly. As only you can provide.

[Suki]

Looking forward to your blocking me MNG.

[The Angry Optimist]

No, really, you've been asked nicely. Now please go.

[Suki]

No, really, you are not the boss of me.

[Naga Sadow]

TAO, you fool! You could have pulled a Warty and offended her enough to cause her to speak out against the brown people! Then she could have been banned. But you chose the high road with polite rudeness. Loser.

[Suki]

+1 😉

[The Angry Optimist]

Didn't say I was - just thought you should see in plain text that you really are not welcome. Given that this has been made abundantly clear, continued persistence on your part makes you boorish or desperate or both.

[Suki]

You no longer have permission to address me.

[The Angry Optimist]

Can I address John Tagliaferro instead, or do you have to do some kind of "Three Face of Eve" switchover for me to do that?

[Suki]

Better ask him about that.

[Episiarch]

JohnSukiBotWhateverTheFuckItIs, I don't recall giving you permission to steal my bits. Not only are you terribly unfunny, you're unoriginal too. How...unpleasant.

[Nurse Ratched]

Don't you really think you're overdue for a nice enema, TAO?

[FrBunny]

So, Episiarch = Warty = MNG = TAO = Charles...

Basically all of H&R is you, your Inflate-an-Asian?, and one guy that hates you.

Sounds fun.

[Warty]

Wait, you're joe, right?

[SugarFree]

I thought I was joe, just in a deep period of self-loathing.

[Naga Sadow]

I AM SPARTACUS!!

[The Art-P.O.G.]

I'm not sure if that would be more of an M. Night Shyamalan turn or a Charlie Kaufman term.

P.S.: I get to be Cesar/Neil

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Dammit, Naga, I was talking to SugarFree, not you.

[Naga Sadow]

Bah! *waves hand dismissively at ART*

[Pro Libertate]

The Art, Naga. He's like OSU.

[Naga Sadow]

OSU? You calling him a loser?

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Them's fighting words...

[Naga Sadow]

Whoa! I didn't call you a loser. Pro Lib did.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

I love tOSU. We're both winners. As for you, I wish you would've lost to Ludo Kressh. Or Ludacris, even.

[Naga Sadow]

Osu does NOT equal winner, sir. Pro Lib is obviously having fun at your expense.

[Pro Libertate]

Not this time. I was just talking about the the. Not the group, just the definite article. The Art has that in common with that school and with certain other institutions.

[FrBunny]

I thought I was Dan T once for an entire year. Turns out I wasn't.

[Naga Sadow]

Dan T or Dave W?

[SugarFree]

Ah, a babbling idiot from the past...

[Naga Sadow]

Me? Or Dan T? Dave W?

[SugarFree]

Dan T. It's a blast from the past.

You're not a babbling idiot, Naga.

[Naga Sadow]

Well good. Cuz I was gonna stir things up Dave W wise by calling out HFCS three times. Crazy shit would go down, man.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

I ruined threaded comments. Sorry, ya'll.

[Naga Sadow]

They were already brokeded, Art.

[robc]

They started brokeded.

[BakedPenguin]

He made them more broke. Broke them worse!

[Suki]

Worser, but not yet the worsest.

[Naga Sadow]

Pipe down, Art. This is fun. Give into the madness.

[Naga Sadow]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

[Naga Sadow, Lord Protector]

Malfunctionable theaded comments. They simply couldn't keep up with our shenanigans.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

See, you guys are posting in sequence at least. It's madness upthread!

[Gus]

I wanna be Smacky, so I can spend all day exploring my hot body.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Ha ha ha, awesomely done, Lurker Gus!

[Naga Sadow]

Gus you tard'. Now you've ruined the fun. Idiot.

[SugarFree]

Gus has the right idea.

[Charles]

FrBunny, I am all of those, and none.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

[T]

Then lose some weight, fatty.

[Warty]

Who has been banned from here, anyway? As far as I know, it's just been Lonewacko and you, TAO.

[Suki]

So TAO is an expert. I am beginning to see how this works.

[Naga Sadow]

Aren't you banned from being within 1500 ft of a school/church/daycare? How do you get power under that bridge in Miami?

[T]

A really long extension cord?

[Naga Sadow]

But doesn't he have to have somewhere to plug it in?

[SugarFree]

Can we stop with the anal sex jokes, please?

[Naga Sadow]

Sorry, SugarFree. After your whole Steve Smith incident I should be more compassinate.

[SugarFree]

"I don't rape goats, Wesley. I make love to them."

[Episiarch]

Which episode of TNG was that again?

[Naga Sadow]

This brings up an excellent question? Does Steve Smith watch TNG? Or is he above that sort of thing?

[SugarFree]

It's actually from Wanted, but not the shitty movie version.

[Pro Libertate]

The one where Picard kills Wesley.

[Episiarch]

That episode only exists in our dreams, ProL.

[Pro Libertate]

Or in a future fan version of TNG. Or a studio reboot: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Kill Wesley.

[Marc]

Remind me why TAO was banned. Did it have something to do with posting Chris Kelly's personal info, or did I hallucinate that?

[SugarFree]

Yes, exactly that.

[T]

Just as a hypothetical question, would it be acceptable to link to a google maps page pointing out the location of someone's house?

[Pro Libertate]

That's an interesting question. Given that Reason put my house on the cover of an issue a while back, I'd say location privacy is not high on their list of priorities.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, I know. But it's funnier to imply that they sent the satellite photo of my house to everyone.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Actually, that kind of explains it. Because it wasn't my house on the cover.

[Pro Libertate]

[Cut to Pro Libertate, with a shocked expression as the camera jumps closer and closer to his enfreakenoutted face.]

[BakedPenguin]

I got that issue. They had a picture of my mailing address.

Ha ha privacy invasion FAIL.

[BakedPenguin]

WTF? Threaded comments really are broke. The Art POG, what did you do?

[The Art-P.O.G.]

There's no time to explain! To the Art-mobile!

[2010 Voter]

Two in three Americans unhappy with the federal government.

Here's to two in three Americans voting out every incumbent in November.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Those 2/3 are spending their time trying to make ends meet, while the other 1/3 are moving Heaven and Earth to reelect the government that pays all their bills.

[mitch]

I hope you are right, but I fear that the breakdown is:

1 in 3: I hate the Feds for stealing my money!

1 in 3: I love the Feds for giving me stolen money!

1 in 3: I hate the Feds for not giving me enough stolen money!

[sage]

1 in 3: I love the Feds for giving me stolen money keeping me employed in a useless position!

[Grandma]

global bank tax could be coming soon

Oh, dearie me!

Will they be taxing my mattress?

[Nick]

Is your mattress a bank?

[Grandpa]

That's where she keeps her silver dollars.

[NeonCat]

You don't want to know what you have to do to make a withdrawal.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

You're a sick kitten, NeonCat.

[Can You Believe This Shit?]

Biden: Iraq one of Obama's 'great achievements'...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....palin.html

[Mike Laursen]

He actually said that it will be one of Obama's great achievements, not that it is already one of Obama's great achievements. The former is idiotic, but not quite as idiotic as the latter.

[Mike M.]

I knew all along that we would know once and for all when victory in Iraq was achieved when the democrats finally and inevitably tried to take the credit for it.

[Look At These Iranian Protests]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....state.html

[SugarFree]

Teaching Feminism K-12

With bonus content from my favorite commenter...

SarahMC
02/09/10
I think a Gender Studies class would be fabulous, but I think kids need to learn all sorts of anti-oppressive stuff in school. Anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, etc. But that will never happen so I barely see the point of talking about it. I can hear the white men screeching already.

[Maverick]

That is a delightful comment. A series of feminism classes would fall in line perfectly with new age learning. Just remember that it's not about being right or wrong; it's about nurturing good feelings.

[Chris]

And having a sweet-ass ponytail.

[brotherben]

My ass hair is long. But not that long.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Thanks for that mental image, double b! And thanks for reminding us that there are such enlightened people elsewhere on the internet, SugarFree!

[Maverick]

Would SarahMC add anti-ass hair to her list? Ass hair has long oppressed the peoples of the world. I feel good about this.

And speaking of assholes, I thought I'd share a funny website that I recently found. Emails from an Asshole. Right or wrong, it's a feel good site.

[SugarFree]

Since she has proudly proclaimed herself overweight and indicated numerous times that she doesn't shave anything, I bet she's all for ass-hair.

But sorry boys... she's mentioned having a boyfriend on many occasions. She'll just have to be the one that thankfully got away.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Maverick, that site is soooooo awesome.

SugarFree: just think: some guy out there really goes in for pudgy, hairy, self-righteous blowhards. On second thought: yeah, I've been almost that desperate before.

[SugarFree]

I just can't imagine the self-loathing it takes for a guy to date a woman who reads and comments* on Jezebel, Feministing, Feministe, Shapely Prose and runs a group blog of her own. Seriously, WTF?

*Not only comments, but manages to usually be the most extreme voice on any topic.

[Nick]

Art, with all the STEVE SMITH rapes that have occurred it's not really that surprising he has offspring somewhere.

[Suki]

Mav,

The disguised weapons section is awesome!

[Maverick]

The disguised weapons post is great. There's one post where he exchanges emails with some surrogate mother outfit that's over-the-top funny. I hope the archives contain an exchange between him and some jezebel.com type . . . feel really good about that possibility.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Niall Ferguson: A Greek crisis is coming to America

[SugarFree]

I've been told the key is to relax.

[NeonCat]

Thank you, that was an interesting and disturbing article.

You know, a lot of our liberal commenters like to say libertarians have a magical belief in markets, but looking at the reasoning of the Obama administration, that GDP will rise at a certain rate and therefore the massive expenditures won't be a problem? how can one consider our free market beliefs magical and not consider the administration's expectations delusional?

[Suki]

If you don't believe in their Maossiah then you are just wrong and should be burned.

[Xeones]

Isn't "The Greek Crisis" Epi's stripper name?

[SugarFree]

Yep. And don't go looking for the video of what he does with ping pong balls.

[Suki]

That's him in the ancient Fatboy Slim video?

[Episiarch]

I've told you repeatedly, John: you neither get to address me or even talk about me. Remember, schizophrenic Japanese schoolgirls portrayed on the internet by schizophrenic 12-year-old boys have no rights.

[T]

Damn, Epi, no wonder everybody thinks you're a 'typical radical libertarian asshole'.

[Episiarch]

I thought they just thought I was an asshole. The radical libertarian part, even though I'm an anarcho-capitalist, is just a bonus.

[Pro Libertate]

He just seems worse today. Yesterday, I gave him my power-of-assholey to deal with brotherben, who claims to have enjoyed the abomination that was The Wild Wild West movie. Therefore, Episiarch has additional assholeness. And he may have POAs from other commenters, as well.

[Johnny Rico]

Okay. Now it's starting to feel like Quatchie-stalking. Please. Put down the asstroglide and back away from brotherben.

[SugarFree]

"This Episiarch fellow... he's a crook and a proper tea leaf, but he's got the ADAM, and that makes him the guv'nor."

[Ska]

It wouldn't surprise me to find that Episiarch looks up to Fontaine as a personal hero.

You pick up the sequel? It's been pretty amazing so far.

[SugarFree]

Not yet. I'm saving it as a Valentine's Day treat for my wife.

30+ plus hours of me not talking to her while I play will be sweeter to her than any box of candy, more beautiful than any rose, and more thoughtful than any card.

[T]

I'm hoping it shows up at some point without my intervention. Lord knows I've dropped enough hints.

[Ska]

Hopefully you brought that little girl with the glowing eyes back to the park you found her at.

[SugarFree]

He's an anarcho-capitalist.

[Suki]

EpiMNG, you are really weird. You might want to go see a professional for that level of weird.

[Naga Sadow]

Wait. Guido=Greek now? I'm so behind the times.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

They're all sort of olive-skinned people with aquiline noses. Why not?

[Naga Sadow]

You're suggesting Guidodrift? Interesting concept but wrong. Here is how to tell.

Epi and his new haircut.

[SugarFree]

The guy at 26 seconds is a virtual duplicate of Epi. Long lost brother type stuff.

And he has the same voice too. [shudder]

[Naga Sadow, Lord Protector]

Is his collar popped round the clock?

[FrBunny]

I read somewhere that by 2018, Italians will actually outnumber humans.

[Episiarch]

Well, we have to take that crown from the Irish at some point, don't we?

[Nipplemancer]

every greek dude I've ever known was a guitard, some more guitarded than the italians.

[Johnny Longtorso]

I love you guys. When the financial end times come we really need to form our own survivor biker gang. Call ourselves Balko's Bandits.

We will wear leather jackets without insignia, in honor of The One Garment. We will go down in oral history until civilization rebuilds itself and we are the genesis of a new religion.

[Suki]

Can I keep my truck if I promise to carry the spare parts and gas in the back?

[Naga Sadow]

No. I turn in my libertarian credentials if the end of the world comes and I survive. I turn warlord over those who remain. Beware.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Damn, I just hope I don't die as testament to your ruthlessness.

[Marc]

No. I turn in my libertarian credentials if the end of the world comes and I survive. I turn warlord over those who remain. Beware.

See, this is why we get called closet Republicans.

[Naga Sadow]

Look bro. All bets are off in the event of the apocalypse. That's all I'm saying.

[Marc]

Yeah, you say apocalypse now. But before long, you're calling "warlord" every time an atheist marries a homosexual or a foreigner looks at you funny.

[BakedPenguin]

I already have my anti-zombie compound almost complete. Your gang won't rule over my land.

[Naga Sadow, Lord Protector]

*pulls sword*

Who's land?

[T]

*BLAM*

Not yours.

[BakedPenguin]

Thx, T. You get 10 cases of spam and 30 gallons of water.

[Ska]

No Sugar Bombs?

[BakedPenguin]

I'm pre-diabetic.

[brotherben]

BP, remember to let a number of fatties in. The Zombies always catch them first.

[BakedPenguin]

Trying to get a spot for yourself, broben? Actually, you do have a point. Okay, you're in.

[Tonio]

We will go down in oral history...

Heh.

[Nick]

I was going to start a dynamic duo of vigilante crime fighters.

Top Hat & Monocle

[The Art-P.O.G.]

If that's not already a comic, it should be, dammit.

[BakedPenguin]

I might have to steal that...

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

I piss on your feeble plans to rule.

Everyone knows that Cheney will pull the strings of his web from an undisclosed location, while his artificial heart goes "ta-pockata, ta-pockata".

[Naga Sadow]

Pfffffffffffffft. Look, I'll be a great Lord Protector over those who remain. I'll get feudalism rockin' again. Rule by the gun, sword, and flagrum in my realm. I'll throw some wenches your way if you wanna be one of my marchwarden's, Kant. Absolute, corrupt power can be awesome.

[Maravingian Bloodline]

Keep dreaming, skippy.

[P Brooks]

I think kids need to learn all sorts of anti-oppressive stuff in school. Anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, etc.

Some not-insignificant portion of those two out of three people who disapprove of the federal government's performance think they are not doing enough.

[P Brooks]

I turn warlord over those who remain. Beware.

MaunderingNannyGoat was right, all along!!! The Hobbesian Maelstrom will consume us all!

Ooooooooh nooooooooo!

[Naga Sadow]

MNG? I haven't decided whether to make an example of him or simply have him fight lions with only a simple blade for my amusement. Decisions, decisions.

[P Brooks]

Did Political Ignorance Help Cause the Financial Crisis?

Shouldn't that be, "Ignorant politicians"?

[P Brooks]

Naga- let him have a pointy stick.

[SugarFree]

"The human was impervious to our most powerful magnetic fields, yet in the end he succumbed to a harmless sharpened stick."

[Johnny Longtorso]

I'm not sure why this thread now has me thinking about Gamma World.

[T]

I was always an Aftermath guy myself.

[Johnny Longtorso]

We used to call that game "Before English". I take second place to nobody in my nerd credentials.

[T]

For complete incomprehensibility of the rulebook, Space Opera still wins. Hands down, those fuckers couldn't write.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Three words: "Chivalry and Sorcery". To this day, I don't own a computer powerful enough to fully calculate out a character.

[T]

Which explains why nobody actually ever played C&S, I suppose.

[Tonio]

Because it's lame?

[Episiarch]

But what about Star Frontiers?!?

[P Brooks]

And hang a big piece of highly aromatic three day old calf's liver on his oh-so-fashionable spiky slave collar.

[Naga Sadow]

I got the ruthless warlord thing down, P Brooks. I don't need help.

[T]

I turn in my libertarian credentials if the end of the world comes and I survive. I turn warlord over those who remain. Beware.

Let me know how that works. I may be willing to subcontract in an attempt to restart the arms race. My hand crank Gatling in .308 will hopefully be completed before the apocalypse.

[Johnny Longtorso]

My hand crank Gatling in .308

Alternate shot shells and deer slugs.

[Johnny Longtorso]

10 gauge.

[T]

There will be a whole lot more .308 available than there will be 10 gauge.

[Johnny Longtorso]

OK, 12 gauge.

[Johnny Longtorso]

HOUSE PORN OF THE DAY: John Edwards's New $3.5 Million Love-Nest

[dbcooper]

That's one damn ugly house for $3.5M. Looks like part of a strip-mall complex in Pleasanton, CA.

[(:)]

This thread wins the Special Olympics Gold for retardedness.

[SugarFree]

It's OK to post under your handle, SarahMC.

[Gus]

http://www.rwordcounter.org/

[SugarFree]

Neat site, but...wha? The entire internet has only used retard 28,000 times? Hell, I've used it maybe 800 times on this site alone.

[SugarFree]

And does it even count the variations? 'Tard, 'tarded, Ra-tard, fucktard, farktard, douchetard, queeftard, farttard, quailtard, cunttard, twattuard, bitchtard, tard-taint(ed), blowtard, hufftard, twinktard, chonitard, choadtard, jizztard, snottard or 'nettard?

[T]

You forgot 'tardo and 'tardo-kitty.

[SugarFree]

And guitard, frogtard, krauttard, and Polish.

[brotherben]

A bit Trigger happy today?

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Ooh, that was sly. I just caught that.

[R C Dean]

What, no libtard?

[SugarFree]

Well, I was expecting help. I'm not The Urban Tardionary, after all.

[Bingo]

Yeah, Hit'n'Run has been a piece of performance art lately.

[Mike Laursen]

Google experimenting with high-speed broadband network.

I believe they've had a high-speed backbone in place for a while now, for their internal use.

[Gus]

I think the word broadband is sexist.

[P Brooks]

But sorry boys... she's mentioned having a boyfriend on many occasions.

I bet he drives a Dodge Charger.

[SugarFree]

I wonder if his secret boyfriend ever gets to drive it.

[Episiarch]

Only when Sarah says it's OK.

[BakedPenguin]

But sorry boys... she's mentioned having a boyfriend on many occasions.

And he's real hot, and he lives in Canada.

Ona pony farm.

[Suki]

He's a ponyboy, LOL.

[P Brooks]

Just as a hypothetical question, would it be acceptable to link to a google maps page pointing out the location of someone's house?

A long time ago, a certain party was pissing me off. I seriously considered mailing him a satellite photo of his house, captioned, "We're watching you."

I decided it would be easier just to dispose of his body in his own septic tank ignore him.

It would have been fascinating to see how he reacted to the picture, though.
I kind of regret not doing it.

[Ziggy]

"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says global bank tax could be coming soon."

ridiculous...

[Ziggy]

how would that prevent another financial crisis and who would get that money??? this is insane...

[Citizen Nothing]

I hate to take issue with my main man, Jack Shafer, but most of the stuff in his plagiarism article seems pretty picayune. I probably wouldn't have blinked if some reporter had copied such passages from my stories.

[Suki]

+1 Use of picayune.

[Citizen Nothing]

Plagiarism is a growing problem, as some of the sentences from the article were certainly questionable, but one of Shafer's examples is:

"...a secure cell phone to prevent electronic eavesdropping..."

That's a working example of plagiarism?
Really, Jack? Really?

[Jennifer]

That's not the most stellar example of plagiarism in the Slate article, and if that were the ONLY cited example I'd agree this is much ado about nothing, but in light of all the examples given, I'd say the asshole is an even bigger plagiarist than Maureen Dowd.

I wonder, though: how many words or sentences do you have to lift before it officially becomes "plagiarism"? The lazy beast from the Daily Beast copied entire paragraphs, so he's pretty obviously a cut-n-paste plagiarist, but what about a single short sentence? I just did a search for "Barack Obama is the first African-American president" and got almost half a million hits, but there really aren't a hell of a lot of different ways to say that and I wouldn't consider it "plagiarism" if someone included that phrase in an article.

[BakedPenguin]

Yes, but it's still the best episode ever.

[BakedPenguin]

Damn The Art POG broke threaded comments. This one was supposed to be for Pro Lib / Episiarch's imaginary "Picard kills Wesley" episode of TNG.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Well...not only that, but the anonymity bot hasn't shown up yet, and I'm dying of anxiety waiting for it to enter the fray.

[Pro Libertate]

Agreed. Five stars.

That's five throwing stars in Wesley's head.

No animus towards Wil Wheaton, just that damned character. Kids and science fiction rarely make a felicitous combination. Off the top of my head, Paul Atreides is about the only palatable one I can think of in a major work.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

(killing) Word.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't think I didn't notice you quoting the movie again, Muad'Art.

[BakedPenguin]

Paul was already close to being a man, and he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

They actually put a couple annoying kids on Futurama deliberately. It doesn't really work as a joke - the episodes where they're heavily featured are the least enjoyable ones they have.

The Art - you broke threaded comments, a bot is gonna be afraid of what you could do to him.

[Pro Libertate]

I can't think of any examples for television or film of "good" kids in science fiction.

There are some book kids that are okay, I guess. Like Ender, if you like that series.

[alan]

Missed your comment when I mentioned this one below. We arrived at the 'okay' verdict separately.

[SugarFree]

All the kids in Heinlein work. (At least the ones you are supposed to like.)

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, I was thinking about the juveniles, too.

[alan]

Paul Atreides is about the only palatable one I can think of in a major work.

I have a neighbor a few miles up the road who wrote a science fiction novel about some kid in a Starship Troopers style political economy who has a talent for strategy, and the generals have him doing battle simulations that turn out not to be simulations.

It was okay, but the second book was annoying, and very, very creepy in a bad touch sort of way.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, and I guess all the pre-born Atreides were okay, too, though they were really adult-like.

[Dagny T.]

You guys, I know it's late for Morning Links, but Alexander McQueen is dead. A very sad start to Fashion Week.

[The Gobbler]

It's also a sad day for Suderman, who must be thinking: If only I had posted today's morning links. Damn!

[SugarFree]

At least he outlived his parents, Steve and Butterfly.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Wow, Butterfly McQueen's Wikipedia page is full of interesting tidbits (I initially had no idea who you were talking about).

[Citizen Nothing]

That's what Black History Month is for, TAPOG.