A.M. Links: Las Cruces Shuts Off the Gas For Unpaid Speeding Tickets, Egypt's Sinai "a kind of Wild West," Kazakhstan Thanks Borat

• Mitt Romney got a clean sweep in yesterday's Republican primary contests. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, coal executive Tom Smith won the race to challenge Democratic Senator Bob Casey in November.

• The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico wants to shut off your gas and water if you don't pay your speeding tickets. "The city is notifying offenders by mail that they have until the due date stated in the letter to pay the fines or make satisfactory payment arrangements," a Las Cruces press release warned. "Failure to comply will result in termination of utilities services."
• News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch testifies before a British inquiry a day after his son James' testimony resulted in calls for the resignation of the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
• Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has turned into a "kind of Wild West," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel Radio. "We are taking action to deal with this reality, and we are taking action – by the way – in cooperation and continuous discussion with the Egyptian government, which is also concerned about this," he said.
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees criticized the Hungarian government for its policy of long-term detention of asylum-seekers. "No other country (in Central Europe) is taking such extreme and harsh measures as Hungary does, and in no other country do we hear so many similar reports of abuse in detention," said Gottfried Koefner, the Commissioner's representative for the region.
• Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov credits the Sacha Baron Cohen character Borat for the country's recent tourist boom. "It was a great triumph for us and I am grateful to Borat for helping to attract tourists to Kazakhstan," he told lawmakers Monday.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov credits the Sacha Baron Cohen character Borat for the country's recent tourist boom.

What the hell kind of tourism interest is that character generating?

[Ed]

The existent kind?

[plu1959]

People who want to see Jew Eggs firsthand, is my guess.

[Lost_In_Translation]

no publicity is bad publicity. Im sure some people are just going there to see the stoning of the jew festival.

[Groovus Maximus]

They're holding out for Ali G.

[R C Dean]

Any country that gives awards to prostitutes is going to get tourists.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I hear the Secret Service is planning a visit there.

[Borat]

This is Natalya. She is my sister. She is number-four prostitute in whole of Kazakhstan. Niiice!

[rac3rx]

This didn't make Kazakhstan very happy...

[Abdul]

fu.....st?

[Abdul]

fu.....st?

[invisible furry hand]

Hello Hara-Kiri Kitty: Cartoon Figures Hit Rock Bottom in Berlin

[Groovus Maximus]

At first glance, Berlin artist Patricia Waller's textile sculptures look like child's play. But another look reveals that many of the expertly crocheted likenesses of beloved cartoon and pop culture figures are in the throes of death -- or close to it. Hello Kitty plunges a Samurai sword into her gut, Winnie the Pooh hangs in a noose and SpongeBob SquarePants prepares to ignite a suicide bomb strapped to his waist.

Heroic Mullato is in Deutchland?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I had to avenge poor Minnie.

[Hell's Librarian]

Some of these are pretty clever, but the Minnie Mouse one isn't one of them.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed. She just made a sculpture out of something she saw on a 4chan rule 34 thread.

[Groovus Maximus]

Patricia Waller is a /fur/?

[WTF]

"At first glance, Berlin artist Patricia Waller's textile sculptures look like child's play."

Actually, they look like something you'd see on Cracked.

[mr simple]

But one figure displayed at Berlin's Deschler Galerie has been met with unanticipated emotion. Slumped facedown and alone in the corner of a dark room is Minnie Mouse, portrayed as a rape victim with crocheted streams of blood running between her legs. Seeing what Waller calls the "embodiment of innocence" in such state has shocked gallery visitors.

Science H Reason. I guess if you're going to go there you might as well take it to the edge.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

What is innocent about anything by Disney?

[Loki]

I had to laugh at some of those. The Superman faceplanted into the wall was pretty funny, and when did Spongebob join Hamas?

[RBS]

Superman was funny, Bert as a wino and William Tell are also pretty funny.

[RBS]

Errr Ernie.

[Loki]

Yes, Ernie's the wino. Bert died in a meth lab explosion years ago.

[sarcasmic]

'It's better to be skinny than to be fat.'

John would disagree.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....ustry.html

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ms. Vodianova looks like Leif Garrett in drag.

But hey, de gustibus non disputandum est.

[Groovus Maximus]

Rule 34 does not discriminate.

Leif Garrett delenda est.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Leif hit this back in the day.

Then...heroin.

Leif deletus sui

[invisible furry hand]

Leif hit this back in the day.

Good God. She should just change her name to Vagina Dentata and be done with it

[Proprietist]

Poor John, whatever happened to that guy? Did he finally get fed up with the daily chubby chaser jokes? I was pretty sure he had posted since registration, but he seems to have vanished.

[Proprietist]

Maybe John could not survive long without his mutually parasitic relationship with MNG?

[Eduard van Haalen]

I would have though that "mutually parasitic" was a contradiction in terms.

Perhaps the term "symbiotic" would be better? Could John suggest something?

[Dave C]

He was posting here over the weekend. Who knows, maybe he can't post from work any more.

[invisible furry hand]

Genuine German headline:

Shitstorm, nein danke!

[Hell's Librarian]

That would be a great name for a band.

[Bee Tagger]

The paragraph edition of A.M. links, brought to you by Ed Krayewski.

[Brett L]

Still looking for the Goldilocks links eh? Krayewski's too long, Riggs' too short...

[Groovus Maximus]

Why, when Balko was in charge of Morning Links...

[Rich]

Drinks all around!

[invisible furry hand]

at least the Krayewski kiddy posts before 9am East Coast time most mornings, which is good for Pac Rim people. Riggs seemed to be having sleep-ins

[Groovus Maximus]

Orgies, to be more precise. Probably with Patchouli and Organic Wimmins. I have it on good authority that lots of macrame was involved.

[T]

Macrame? Is there no end to the deviance around here?

[invisible furry hand]

So Riggs was late because he wanted to hate-fuck a hippie. Well of course that makes his tardiness all perfectly acceptable then

[Groovus Maximus]

Hippies. Plural. Prolific randiness is all important to the Padawan associate editor, spunky one.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The city is notifying offenders by mail that they have until the due date stated in the letter to pay the fines or make satisfactory payment arrangements," a Las Cruces press release warned. "Failure to comply will result in termination of utilities services."

And if that still doesn't convince them, the city will begin shutting off neighbors' utilities as well. And then it will block your ability to purchase milk. And after that, the sun will be blocked out.

[Auric Demonocles]

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I shall do the next best thing: block it out.

[robc]

And here is the negative of registration. This wasnt posted by Montgomery Burns.

Im okay with registration, but I do hate that we lost the ability to spoof names for comedic purposes.

[Rich]

I do hate that we lost the ability to spoof names for comedic purposes.

Ditto. I emailed TPTB about this. They did not respond.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And their lack of a response was a response. "Pound salt." You can consider registration Reason's Patriot Act. And you are now in commenting GITMO.

However, can't you sign out and then sign in with the same email addy but different screen name? I haven't tried it personally because my screen name is too awesome, but I thought someone else here said that works.

[Hell's Librarian]

However, can't you sign out and then sign in with the same email addy but different screen name?

Nope. Tried making a different handle with same email, and was told is was already on file (or words to that effect).

[By Jove]

I guess you're right, you can't just click on your name, update your profile, then come back in with a new handle.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Of course, it is a pain in the ass to do and a little time consuming. It's all a matter of how far you're willing to go for the joke.

[Bee Tagger]

How do you know that person wasn't you signing out and signing back in as Bob Arctor without your conscious knowledge?

[BakedPenguin]

Remember the walls of text with the insane rantings of a vicious, deranged harpy? Remember all the ruined threads?

I'll take that trade off, personally.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

If you do miss it, I understand you can head over to Sloopy and Banjo's blog and get in on the action.

[Mourning in America]

Where is it?

[Groovus Maximus]

I'll take that trade off, personally.

Agreed. Anyone who complains should really review the 1000+ comment clusterfucks.

[Monty Burns (normally Loki)]

I do hate that we lost the ability to spoof names

You can't? Seems to work fine for me.

[Monty Burns]

I'm sorry, what's the problem with registration again?

[Ex Nihilo]

See, this is why it is a good idea for cities to run utilities (and other essential services).

[o3]

so people dont pay their speeding tickets? >cause n effect is teh hards

[Ex Nihilo]

Please explain how a speeding ticket is related to heating or cooling your house? How does this not violate the rights of the other people in the house?

[T]

I'm just wondering if they're doing this only to the offenders who have the accounts in their name. If the account is in someone else's name, like a roommate or a SO, will they cut the power off to your address? Because I see a whole host of lawsuits coming if they do that.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Details man. We can't let details get in the way of things.

[tarran]

I think I can help. O3's posts (correcting for their incoherence, bad grammar and utterly failing attempts at spelling) tend to promote the following idea:

"All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state. "

[o3]

actually i was having fun w ex's conflation of unrelated premises. as to ur comment, the constitution IS a lub-rahl reform of government, so doah!

[Ex Nihilo]

actually i was having fun w ex's conflation of unrelated premises

I guess I should have used the /sarc tag.

[WTF]

English, please.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Remember how we commented yesterday that Marion Barry speaks Dipshit? I think o3 takes it to another level and speaks Pidgin Dipshit.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I would presume they would actually match the name of the ticket to the name on the utilities account... which I don't have much of a problem with. Now, if they shut off the utilities based on address regardless of who is responsible for the ticket, that's retarded.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Does the city own the utilities in Las Cruces? Or are they strong-arming some utility company?

[EJ]

I think they own water and they tried to set up there own electric utility, but I don't know if they succeeded. El Paso Electric Co definitely provided electricity there for years.

[Ex Nihilo]

I would presume they would actually match the name of the ticket to the name on the utilities account... which I don't have much of a problem with.

So the fact that your wife, kids, maybe parents that live there as well and are being punished is ok with you. Why not issue a bench warrant instead? You know, make the person responsible for the ticket pay the penalty.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That would mean going to court and making a case. This more like National Security Letters.

[T]

A bench warrant takes like 5 minutes in Texas. Don't show up to court and they issue one. I can't imagine it's much more difficult in NM.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because having me arrested and probably causing me to lose my job wouldn't punish them, right?

[Ex Nihilo]

Because having me arrested and probably causing me to lose my job wouldn't punish them, right?

That would be a secondary effect, not primary. If you are the one who commited the offense, you should be the one to pay the penalty.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Does being a secondary effect mitigate the impact at all?

The idea that a parent can be punished in a meaningful way without necessarily impacting the children negatively seems flawed to me.

I wonder if the hypothetical wife, kids, and parents would rather go without electricity for X period of time or see Dad arrested and newly unemployed.

[Ex Nihilo]

Does being a secondary effect mitigate the impact at all? Yes

The idea that a parent can be punished in a meaningful way without necessarily impacting the children negatively seems flawed to me.

There will be negative impacts from any punishment. The $200 paid for the fine means there is now $200 less to buy necessities for the family. But you are not engaging in collective punishment for an individual's act, which cutting off the utilities would be.

I wonder if the hypothetical wife, kids, and parents would rather go without electricity for X period of time or see Dad arrested and newly unemployed.

They would probably rather not go through any of the above.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Does being a secondary effect mitigate the impact at all? Yes

How does being unemployed as a secondary effect differ from being unemployed as a primary effect?

They would probably rather not go through any of the above.

Maybe she should've married someone who paid his obligations. Given that she didn't or there wouldn't be an issue for her, why would she prefer arrest and possible unemployment to some indeterminate time without electricity?

[Ex Nihilo]

How does being unemployed as a secondary effect differ from being unemployed as a primary effect?

Whether the individual losses his job or not is somewhat of a distraction from the point I was trying to make. I was getting at the individual vs. collective punishment aspect.

I agree that there are secondary effects that are unpleasent for all concerned and all else being equal the family would rather be incovienced with no utilities rather than no job.

[R C Dean]

Still seems pretty arbitrary. If I happen to have utilities in my name, the city has another stick to beat me with, but if the utitilities don't happen to be in my name, I get better treatment.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I'm not sure that refraining from turning off the utilities under the name of someone else is really treating you better. It's more like not treating the person actually responsible for the utilities worse just because you are irresponsible and live at the same address he does..

[R C Dean]

You're getting better treatment (you're utlities aren't being turned off) based solely on the rather arbitrary fact that your utilities aren't in your name.

On the flipside, all the people in your house are being punished for your parking tickets if the utilities happen to be in your name.

[SugarFree]

The surest way to reduce the number of unpaid speeding tickets is to fire the officers whose only job is to set up speed traps in order to generate revenue: less tickets, less unpaid tickets.

[Ex Nihilo]

The surest way to reduce the number of unpaid speeding tickets is to fire the officers whose only job is to set up speed traps in order to generate revenue: less tickets, less unpaid tickets.

Then you would just have to up the "war on drugs" to make up for the revenue shortfall. Like they do in Maine. Those assets aren't going to seize themselves, you know.

[Brandon]

You don't have a problem with speeding tickets in general?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Why don't we just have the cities own all of the land and charge us rent?

Oh wait, they already do that.

[Rich]

Good luck with this. "Las Cruces kills children by salmonella poisoning and dehydration."

[Lost_In_Translation]

Let's be fair...the seniors will die first

[Rich]

"Las Cruces forces children to subsist on dead seniors."

[Loki]

Soylent Green is people!

[gaijin]

Respect our authoritay!

[sarcasmic]

Feds want to criminalize chores.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04.....rm-chores/

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Feds or ADM? Or is there not a meaningful difference at this point?

[Ex Nihilo]

But chores teach really bad things like having a work ethic, self-sufficiency, and resposibility. We can't have that, otherwise how will we ever convice them that the government will provide everything you need?

[Rich]

Be sure to keep that varmint rifle locked up, too.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Damn kids taking jobs away from real Americans....

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Figures. This seems like it's been designed by big agriculture corporations. Goes well with the estate taxes that kill the family farm system. Now the small farmers not only have complicated estate transitions, but they can't properly train the next generation.

[sarcasmic]

Big Agriculture has lobbyists. Small farmers do not.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Can we just burn DC yet?

[sarcasmic]

I'd settle for burying the bureaucrats alive in mass graves.

That way the office buildings aren't needlessly destroyed.

[Loki]

It amy be possible to get my hands on a Neutron bomb. Just don't ask me how, and if anyone asks you didn't here that from me. This post never happened...

[Loki]

*may be possible

tipeing is teh harrd

[juris imprudent]

If you don't destroy the buildings you will just get another infestation of bureaucrats.

[DJF]

How about banning the use of air conditioners within 20 miles of DC. We can argue that the original intent of DC was of a hot sweaty place where politicians would not want to stay for long. Once they got air conditioning you will notice that the Fed gov expanded rapidly.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Walling them in a la "Escape from New York" seems appropriate

[invisible furry hand]

One of the kids quoted in this has also been running a small business as a teenager, but says these regulations would have stopped him.

Excellent, who needs entrepreneurs anyway?

[fish]

One of the kids quoted in this has also been running a small business as a teenager, but says these regulations would have stopped him.

Not if he started a small business as a free lance regulator!

[Brett L]

I say we cut every other job in the federal government Roman legion decimation style (only, obviously, with the same number of black and white tiles, otherwise it would be decimation and not halving). Draw one color, you're still employed. Draw the wrong one and we stab you in the neck with a gladius.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I would prefer hanging them by their wrists and beating their legs with lead rods until their bones turn to jelly. Then dropping them to the ground and letting the dogs have at them.

[sarcasmic]

He's nothing but a low-down, double-dealing, backstabbing, larcenous perverted worm! Hanging's too good for him. Burning's too good for him! He should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive! Steeeeeeeern!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The Loc-Nar as a symbol of the bureaucracy. Seems appropriate.

[tarran]

No, we should use the decimation process: the survivors would beat the unlucky guys to death with clubs.

And anyone who shirks will swap places with a unlucky guy.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Bureaucrat Royale

[Gray Ghost]

I seem to have tripped up the spam filter/character filter too.

Anyway, from the farm chores article --- fuck trying to directly quote from it --- it mentions that FFA/4H training will be replaced with a 90 hour Fed. Gov't training course. Which will, of course, be free.

Farmers are pretty independent. What happens if they blow these regs off? The article does mention inspectors from DeptAg, maybe DoL, looking after migrant workers. Can the farmer deny access to those inspectors, or is it a condition of the multitude of federal money farmers take? (And without which, their farm would be economically uncompetitive.)

[Gray Ghost]

Oh, and Reason PTB, it might be worth it for some of your more technically minded, problem solving commenters to decipher the intricacies of your comment filter. It certainly isn't worth the time for casual posters like myself to try and figure out the merits of this apostrophe versus that one.

Thank you for registration, but please fix this issue.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing and McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. But no more: In a recent meeting, the mega-bank told the firearms company that its business is no longer welcome.

I just called Bank of America and informed them I'm moving my accounts.

[Bee Tagger]

"You have to do what you must" was Fox's reply, he said. "We have to assess the risk of doing business with a firearms related industry."

That really seems like an implication that they expect more restrictive gun laws in the near term.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

They also need to assess the risk of pissing off their clients. I'll have everything except one account closed by the end of the day, and that one will be gone by close of business Friday. Looking back, I should have done this when I sold off my BoA stock in 2005.

[R C Dean]

That was my reaction, BT. They are connected as hell to the administration, and might have gotten a wink and a nod on second term plans.

[Groovus Maximus]

Means little with admins in general and this one in particular. Ask, say, Google. They said the right things, and most likely greased a palm or two.

[JW]

Every time I read an article about BoA, I wonder again how a company so incompetent can stay in business.

Of course, I know why, and if I had any business with them, I'd move it elsewhere, but I never saw any value to their services years ago.

[Emmerson Biggins]

OK. I'm refi-ing next week. For reelz this time.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The McMillan group of companies may have the last laugh: It is considering no longer accepting Bank of America credit cards for purchases.

Most people have more than one credit card. The group should do this.

[MattJ]

It's my understanding that when a business agrees to accept credit cards, they don't make agreements with banks, they make them with Visa/Mastercard/Amex/etc.

Their terms with Visa et al would likely not allow this.

[Invisible Finger]

I understand the anger, but if you have nothing but checking and savings with them, closing the accounts only helps them (it reduces their liabilities).

Not paying loans, now THAT will hurt them - reduces their assets.

[Proprietist]

They profit off of loaning his money out or investing it. Closing his account gives them less funds to do this with.

[FlyoverCountry]

Yes, shrinking the deposit size of the bank is the more important aspect. Plus, from the consumer standpoint, it's a hell of a lot easier to close a checking/savings account and move it elsewhere then it is to stop paying a loan.

You stop paying that loan, and they'll get their money one way or another, and fuck your credit.

The best thing to do is to refinance all of your existing BofA debt with other banks that don't totally suck balls and live on the gov't teat.

[FlyoverCountry]

Yes, shrinking the deposit size of the bank is the more important aspect. Plus, from the consumer standpoint, it's a hell of a lot easier to close a checking/savings account and move it elsewhere then it is to stop paying a loan.

You stop paying that loan, and they'll get their money one way or another, and fuck your credit.

The best thing to do is to refinance all of your existing BofA debt with other banks that don't totally suck balls and live on the gov't teat.

[kwais]

They don't lose much when you don't pay your mortgage, because of the sweet deal they got from the govt with the bailouts.

[B.P.]

I own some BAC stock that I've held onto since the 1980s that is worth about 1/10th of what it was several years ago. I figured I'd just hold onto it forever in case it ever rebounded. Now I'm at a loss as to what to do. I suppose I could hold onto it for board voting purposes. I used to get pissed off reading about the millions BAC would give to affordable housing pressure groups like ACORN.

[rac3rx]

We moved ours not that long ago. They didn't give a shit. They did, however, manage to have tons of technical glitches and bureaucratic snafus, etc. that prevented them from closing our accounts, and I ended up wrapped up in their shit for 3-4 months trying to get accounts closed.

It ain't going to be that easy.

[Bee Tagger]

coal executive Tom Smith won the race to challenge Democratic Senator Bob Casey in November.

If I learned anything from the ads he ran that, without permission, trepanned their way into my head, I learned that Tom Smith will never vote for Barack Obama and that someone else did and that's why I should never vote for that person.

[Groovus Maximus]

coal executive Tom Smith

BURN HIM!

[o3]

if we could still use spoof-names, i woulda posted as the EPA saying what? >this registration has removed spontaneity from H&R.

[EPA]

ur lzy orrrinzz

[Also EPA]

and stupid.

[Rich]

Would someone *kindly* enlighten me as to how to get around this "word that is too long" crap?

[sarcasmic]

Replace directional quotes when you cut and paste.

[Rich]

Thanks, sarcasmic. Sounds like a job for a machine ....

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Also, ellipses, em dashes, or, apparently, anything you can't type directly on your keyboard.

[Rich]

Damn. Bring back Mary! 😉

[robc]

We live in an ASCII world (at least here at H&R). Stop copying from sites that use smart quotes.

I have hit that problem exactly once. I dont know what the fuck the rest of you are doing.

[Hell's Librarian]

We suck and Reason hates us. I thought that had already been established. 😉

[robc]

And this site does support those characters, as you can see below.

"Look at my quotes, they're tilty"

[Rich]

Hey, Dude, I've had this problem purely within H&R.

[robc]

Hey, Dude, I've had this problem purely within H&R.

I get that. I think they are blocking UNICODE. You either use ASCII or the proper html for your funky shit, like I did for the tilty quotes above.

You cant copy the smart quotes directly, you need to copy the html instead.

[juris imprudent]

I had this fracking issue quoting from the reason article. I could understand if I was quoting some other site - but the one I'm commenting on?

[Pro Libertate]

I ran into a problem yesterday when trying to type the HTML for the ligature, ae.

Also, no Greek. I object to that on principle. Otherwise, I'm good with the changes. Other than the lack of an ability to post inline video, of course.

[Zeb]

They should at least allow Greek and Latin. All good monocle wearing industrialists should be up on their classics.

[Pro Libertate]

This is my position as well, but I'm wiling to wait for such refinements. Having to use Latin letters for Greek words is so gauche.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's just not your fortay?

[Pro Libertate]

Fort?.

See, some work.

[robc]

Hail C?sar, in all his html glory.

[Pro Libertate]

How? Are you just typing it in? The HTML kicked me out the last time I used it.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

You mean it wouldn't let you use ? or ??

[Groovus Maximus]

Nope, it won't let me use ligatures at all. Or what Pro'L Dib posted either. I can't even copy paste it.

[invisible furry hand]

the only ligature you should be using is one to stop a warm arterial spray against the hospital walls. Or strangle a burglar in a desperate fight for life. Anything else is jes' fancy book learnin'

[Groovus Maximus]

The first one is the most important, since it is an occupational hazard. Second, that's why I pack heat. Third, I have to impress you somehow.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Third, I have to impress you somehow.

Just tell her you are the ? and the ?.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Just use the ascii code page number alt-145 for ? and alt-146 for ?.

[robc]

or & aelig;

(no space)

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Here's a link for those interested.

[Groovus Maximus]

Sparky, if I don't leave for UKR (not likely) I will treat you for at cost. TNSTAAFL. Thank you for the link.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

    What's neat is if you use ASCII spaces you can type over here.

[Groovus Maximus]

? I feel so pretty and witty and bright! ?

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Nobody is ? to you Groovy. No homo.

[Pro Libertate]

I did that yesterday, and it didn't work. No other special characters, no links, and no copy/paste.

[robc]

I did that yesterday, and it didn't work.

I see two possibilities:

1. They are slowly fixing certain exceptions.

2. You fucked up yesterday.

Let Occam's razor lead you.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm fine with it being user error, but I know I just typed in the HTML code. Previewed and everything.

I guess it's all ASCII from now on. How primitive.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

I found last week that there are codes that have to have a certain amount of text on either side to display. Did you try putting just the HTML and nothing else? For example, ? works fine as long as there's text.

[Pro Libertate]

No, it was within a sentence.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

?ingle code.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

> codes and < text.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

Best I can tell, once it brings up the error message you have to reload the page before trying something new or you'll just keep getting the error.

[NotSure]

You can post this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....kitanatahu
But not the word itself, what is the purpose of this 50 limit anyway ?

[sarcasmic]

Catching characters that are specific to Microsoft Word or other software lessens the chance that someone is pulling a HERC like trolling move.

[Hell's Librarian]

HERC is at least entertaining.

[Pro Libertate]

I love HERC like a brother. Well, like someone else's brother.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Don't forget HERC's beat poetry alter ego, PALEACRITA.

[R C Dean]

Umm, NTTAWWT?

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, what kind of family do you have?

[Ska]

No homo.

Also, fried chicken.

[o3]

I havent had good fried chicken, and i meant really good, since i moved back north of the mason-dixon line

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

The best fried chicken I ever had was in Shilin Night Market in Taipei. Surprised the hell out of me.

[Hell's Librarian]

I should note also, I thought some of WI's screeds were also entertaining, but not his/her subsequent trolling behavior. HERC at least did it right, posting once or twice and then not engaging.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

I wouldn't mind if some primitivist with social skills started posting here. It's an interesting point of view that I expect to hear more from in the future. But if you're going to be a dick, I don't care if you're zombie Friedrich Hayek, I'm going to block you.

[Zeb]

Yeah, the thing about primitivism is that it isn't really so wrong. It's just not applicable in any way unless you think that you can kill almost everyone. But still an interesting thing to discuss if you are not just doing it to annoy people.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, if we ever really take over the solar system, terraforming whole worlds, hollowing out asteroids, etc., there's going to be room for all sorts of nonsense. For instance, perhaps Ceres will become home to primitivists, who will accept relocation, then live in nature, like Grizzly Adams.

[NotSure]

I asked him about this once, he said Earth belongs to the primitivists.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

We libertarians can't throw stones when it comes to implementation of our ideas. If White Indian hadn't been a complete backberth, he could have started some interesting conversations about how dramatic increases in prosperity have historically gone hand in hand with slavery and tyranny. Those are two of the first luxuries a society buys when it has the resources, and I think you could make a good case that if it doesn't make a libertarian free market society impossible, it dooms it to extreme cyclicality, at the very least.

[Hell's Librarian]

Actually what irritated me about WI's screeds was his racist insistence on the notion of a Noble Savage. When you are trying to survive hand-to-mouth, you aren't gamboling freely across the plains without a group a heavily armed warriors to back you up (e.g. you aren't nobly sharing resources with like-minded pure souls). Because there are other gamboling bastards who want those resources as well, and who are just as hungry as you and your family.

[Pro Libertate]

That's total nonsense and completely ahistorical.

Mankind has some serious flaws, many of which come out in force when we get in large groups. As Khan wisely said, "Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity, but improve man and you gain a thousandfold."

[o3]

khan also attacked kirk, so he had to go dooownnnn

[Brett L]

"That's total nonsense and completely ahistorical."

Well since it was coined by a Frenchman who was writing about cultures (mostly American Indians) who he had never interacted with in order to put forth a semi-coherent philosophical system... yep. And somehow it gets recycled to even less coherency every 30 years or so. Margaret Mead, flower children, econuts. All the same drek with different polish.

[Pro Libertate]

We really veered off course with the Romantic movement. Not that everything from the Enlightenment was perfect, but it gave us capitalism, science, and limited government; Romanticism gave us communists and Nazis. And bad art.

[juris imprudent]

The earlier Romantics were not bad artists - say Blake for example. Romantic derivative art - yeah, that sucks.

[Brandon]

Is that the new owner of the Jags?

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

I thought his insistence that the concept of property was a neolithic invention was his most absurd moment. I guess when one of my cats fights the other because she took his chair, it's just because I've brainwashed him with my FIBertarian city STATist ideas.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Revenge of the Squirrels

[fish]

"The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one"

That's some first rate knowledge there!

[Tonio]

Rich, You need to strip out all the "special" characters which this website doesn't like. The quick and dirty way to do this is to fire up Notepad (Start, Programs, Accessories in WinXP). Paste the text into notepad, then cut and copy the text here.

Without getting too far into the weeds - Notepad is a really simple text editor and don't hold with none of those fancy unicode or high-ascii characters. Also strips HTML tags.

[Rich]

Thanks, Tonio.

[Hell's Librarian]

Actually, Notepad did NOT strip out Smart Quotes. I don't know why, but I cut and pasted stuff directly from NP and still got the error. The only sure way at this time seems to be to go thru whatever is being quoted and try to strip out MS Word punctuation.

[Groovus Maximus]

Correct, Demonic Curator.

[Ken Shultz]

Las Cruces Shuts Off the Gas For Unpaid Speeding Tickets

And if you think that's bad, wait 'til you see what they do to senior citizens who don't return books to the library.

[o3]

soylent green?

[KDN]

Hopefully not. Senior meat is too tough and flavorless.

[o3]

that's why marinate was invented

[FlyoverCountry]

Marinade was invented to marinate tough meat.

Asshole.

[invisible furry hand]

Mother of three, 40, who got sexual kicks from crushing animals in her stilettos escapes jail sentence

[Rich]

** attempts to resist urge **

And how those animals got into her stilettos, she'll never know!

[Ken Shultz]

If the stilettos don't fit, you must acquit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

As to the timeline regarding when Israel's patience might run out with Iran, the Prime Minister repeated what he has said in the past: this is not a matter "of days, but also not a matter of years."

How long does it take to count to ten in Hebrew?

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

achat
shtayim
shalosh
arba
chamesh
shesh
sheva
shmoneh
tesha'
eser

That long.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Needs more phlegm

[robc]

So...forever?

Im pretty sure I will never pronounce "two" correctly.

[Bee Tagger]

if you don't pay your speeding tickets. ""The city is notifying offenders by mail that they have until the due date stated in the letter to pay the fines or make satisfactory payment arrangements,"

Mark that letter as URGENT and make bills payable only in person and they may have stumbled upon a perpetual revenue machine.

[Ken Shultz]

Why not cut out the middle man?

Paying cops to write tickets is expensive! Not to mention the court costs.

Why not just send people letters? It'd be like NPR during pledge drive week, right?

[plu1959]

Or a cross between NPR and the Mafia.

[Mourning in America]

You're bustin', my Schweddy Balls here!

[Jerry]

How about an up-front charge for tickets people haven't even caused yet. You get reimbursed at the end of the year if you didn't cause any tickets (less administrative fees of course).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Traffic Penalty Withholding Tax - Brought to you by Milton Friedman

[Lost_In_Translation]

What...you mean like speed cameras in the UK?

[Drake]

Who the Hell seeks asylum in Hungary?

[DJF]

People who want to enter the EU

Its a scam, refugees are suppose to report to officals in the next country they enter but instead they go through several countries until they find a place with the best welfare benefits. Countries are required to treat refugees the same as citizens so they can't refuse any benefits.

[Jerry]

They have to apply in the country where they initially entered the EU. Hungary is one such a country, Greece another. It's harder to get into Germany because that would have required a plane ticket of some sorts, and you're more likely to get send back on the same plane you came on.

[DJF]

But they are suppose to apply in the first country they enter that does not persecute them, not the first country which allows them entry into the EU.

Most of these refugees come from countries which are no where near the EU.

[Jerry]

I'm not sure what the status on transit countries is.

[NotSure]

Besides the whole using Hungary as a gateway to the rest of Europe, in absolute terms the living conditions of Hungary are better than the majority of the people in the world.

[B.P.]

And Magyar women are scorching hot.

[shrike]

Obama surges past Ron Paul in donations from active military.

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/s.....s-1.175495

[MP]

Lighten up, Francis.

[Suki]

Dottoes!

[Brett L]

Hey shrike, how's that whole Budget Control Act going? I mean, now that the Senate has voted to violate it to save the USPS?

[shrike]

Hey, its still the largest spending cut in US history (which isn't saying much).

Yes, I know it only cuts projected spending.

[NotSure]

False, I did the largest spending cut in all history, I decided to spend 200 quadrillion next year, then decided to spend only 100.

[o3]

thought crime confession. FEMA Kamps await...

[R C Dean]

the largest spending cut in US history

As you already admitted, it isn't a cut at all.

The largest spending cut (whether as a percentage of the budget, or in reduction of actual dollars spent YOY) is the post-WWII drawdown, where actual spending was actually cut by about 60% from 1945 - 1948.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/site.....st01z1.xls

That reduction was relatively modest in dollar terms due to inflation since then ($63BB), but that's still more in actual cuts than either Paul Ryan or the soon-to-be-broken budget deal have proposed. Correct those dollars for inflation, and you're talking more like a $750BB reduction in actual spending over three years.

[Groovus Maximus]

Now, now RC. You are torching Shriek's perfectly good strawman.

[Invisible Finger]

Now THAT'S how WWII got us out of the depression.

[Ken Shultz]

Obama surges past Ron Paul in donations from active military.

Shrike doesn't understand why it's news when a marginalized protest candidate gets more donations than a sitting president, but it's not news when a sitting president gets more donations than a marginalized protest candidate...

LOL

So why do you think Obama's doing so well, now, Shrike? What is it that you're approving of?

Is it all of Obama's warmongering?

[Invisible Finger]

Stripes has about as much credibilty as Slate.

[fish]

The corps as a group donated $450 for the president.......kinda like leaving a quarter as a tip for a really shitty waitress.

Stand by for obligatory shreek signout! CHRISTFAG.

[Loki]

Meh, they know who signs their paychecks, and they want to keep their jobs after Obama gets re-elected because the Romney-bot campaign will be ineffectual and lame.

[Translucent Chum]

I recall someone from GR in Michigan on this board. Does the name Rebecca Bliss ring a bell? I'm guessing class of 90ish...

[Heroic Mulatto]

If your birth name is Rebecca Bliss, why would you even need a porn stage name?

[Translucent Chum]

Being in Bliss. Not just an emotion.

[fish]

Maybe if you wanted to tone down a birth name like....say....Jennifer Cunt.

[Groovus Maximus]

Or Jennifer Gash.

[fish]

Still too "porny".

[Brett L]

TRWTF is that the wife is a former Ecuadorian stripper. When? Pre-WWII? Did she wear a Lucha Libre mask on stage?

[o3]

brings to mind that jenna jamison classic "zombie strippers"...where a hard-on isnt all you get to take home!

[Bee Tagger]

"It was a great triumph for us and I am grateful to Borat for helping to attract tourists to Kazakhstan," he told lawmakers Monday.

Sounds like someone is very afraid they're about to be lampooned in The Dictator

[Brett L]

Sons of Breitbart gleefully corrupting White House Twitter campaign. I only hope that the kids on the left are watching, because I don't think former reason intern Taranto and Jim Treacher are going to be kicking Romney around like this if he wins.

[Quetzalcoatl]

former reason intern and noted high-school graduate Taranto

You forgot to include all of his credentials.

[Suki]

... resulted in calls for the resignation of the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Culture Secretary?

[Rich]

Culture Czar?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's the UK. He's in charge of promoting bangers and mash to the rest of the world.

[Suki]

What about building bridges of witches?

[Ken Shultz]

I looked it up...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_secretary

I thought that's what Prince Charles was supposed to be doing!

[Suki]

+1

[rac3rx]

No, he's the tampon to the throne, or some such.

[Loki]

Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov credits the Sacha Baron Cohen character Borat for the country's recent tourist boom.

"Niiice! High five!"

Something tells me he's never actually seen Borat.

[BakedPenguin]

IIRC, Borat was banned in Kazakhstan when it came out.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I know Obama has groveled in front of a lot of despots during his term, but I've never seen this picture until today.

Why didn't he pray at Yasukuni, then take a piss in the waters above the USS Arizona while he was at it?

[o3]

why u axe?
cause kenyans dont care about WW2.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I don't know why not. Many of them fought honorably in the King's African Rifles.

[fish]

HM don't harsh o3(s) mellow with facts man!

[o3]

oh no fish, i knew obama fought the colonials in africa like when the zulu's wiped-out the brits

[fish]

I wish, I wish, I wish I had some of what you usually get to smoke!

[o3]

script babieee

[fish]

WORD

[Mourning in America]

The economy in America was so bad...

How bad was it?

Mexicans flee Obama economy:

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....fence-to-/

[o3]

and they're fleeing in govt paid-for chevy volts!

[R C Dean]

Of course they aren't. They're Mexicans, not idiots.

[Loki]

The Ford F-150 is the Mexican's vehicle of choice, everyone knows that.

[FlyoverCountry]

I saw this on a liberal friends facebook and his post was "Lets see the republicans turn THIS against Obama! This shows how much of a centrist he is"

This fellow is no longer a friend of mine on Facebook.

[fish]

OT: Gingrich punches out!

[fish]

OT: Gingrich punches out!

[Formerly Almanian]

The fact that Britain even HAS a Culture Secretary - much less that this person is being asked to resign - shows the level of fail in the UK continues to reach ever-higherlower levels.

The sun never sets on the remnants of te British Empire. God save the Queen!

[Brett L]

Get your elephant guns ready, the Fthip are hiding in Saturn's rings, just as Niven and Pournelle fortold.