Snowden Seeks Asylum in Russia, DOJ Adds More Restrictions on Journalist Searches, Too Sexy for Iowa: P.M. Links

• 

  Source: Right Said Fred

  Edward Snowden will seek asylum, at least temporarily, in Russia. Fortunately he's already there.

• Try not to be too attractive in Iowa. The state's supreme court has upheld its ruling that employees may be terminated if bosses worry they just can't keep their hands off them due to "the sexy."
• The Department of Justice will significantly scale back the way it handles searches of journalists' records in order to track down leaks. The department says they'll stop referring to journalists as "co-conspirators" in order to justify searches and will toughen requirements that media outlets be informed in advance of the search so they can challenge subpoenas in court.
• The Department of Agriculture has helped solve one of America's most pressing problems: The shattering of baseball bats during Major League Baseball games. Phew!
• Police arrested a 12-year-old in Detroit for breaking into a bank in the middle of the night. Detroit still has banks? Do they still have money in them?
• Eliot Spitzer has submitted petition signatures to run for New York City comptroller.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Department of Justice will significantly scale back the way it handles searches of journalists' records in order to track down leaks.

Well, at least they'll say they will.

[Episiarch]

They've been so honest up to this point, I think we can trust them.

[Pro Libertate]

I looked the DOJ in the eye and "was able to get a sense of its soul." They're okay, really.

[Tonio]

When you stare into the abyss, PL....

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, they have good hearts.

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Da!

/Putin

[A Serious Man]

Try not to be too attractive in Iowa. The state's supreme court has upheld its ruling that employees may be terminated if bosses worry they just can't keep their hands off them due to "the sexy."

At least the majority of Jezzies don't have to worry about that.

[Thane-kin]

Majority?

[Andrew S.]

Check your outside beauty privilege.

[Episiarch]

But I can't!!!

[SweatingGin]

We'll get you a Harrison Bergeron style mask.

[Episiarch]

What if I'm allergic to latex?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

I'll alert Warty.

[Brett L]

I, for one, am enjoying the shit out of this entirely foreseeable consequence of sexual harrassment suits.

[Coeus]

We just need one more law, then it would be perfect.

[CE]

At least the Iowa Supreme Court defended the freedom of employers to fire who they want to, if only in this one case.

[cavalier973]

But where does it end?

Also, what if an employer lies, and tells his cross-eyed haint of a secretary that she's too irresistible to keep around?

[Thane-kin]

I had no idea that Estelle Costanza was so political.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The state's supreme court has upheld its ruling that employees may be terminated if bosses worry they just can't keep their hands off them due to "the sexy."

That's good, though, right?

[alan_s]

As far as I'm concerned. People should have the right to terminate anybody they want to for any reason. The fact that this is even contestable in court is the sad part.

[fish_remote]

What about Us?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Department of Agriculture has helped solve one of America's most pressing problems: The shattering of baseball bats during Major League Baseball games.

Aluminum?

[CE]

Yeah, but then you get the shattering of pitchers' faces when a line drive nails them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's not the Agriculture's problem.

[A Serious Man]

The Department of Agriculture has helped solve one of America's most pressing problems: The shattering of baseball bats during Major League Baseball games. Phew!

Solution: BAN IT.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Cyclist pedals for his life trying to out race wolf in Yukon

[Ted S.]

I imagine those wolves don't want to be outed.

[Tonio]

Racist wolves?

[Warty]

I don't think I'd be willing to bike in the Yukon without at least a .357 revolver. Too much shit that would love for me to be dead. Carrying a pistol in the wilderness has to be legal in Canada, right?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

has to be legal in Canada, right?

ahahahaha

[Pro Libertate]

My tiger friend has got the sled
And I have packed a snack.
We're all set for the trip ahead.
We're never coming back!

We're abandoning this life we've led!
So long, Mom and Pop!
We're sick of doing what you've said,
And now it's going to stop!

We're going where it snows all year,
Where life can have real meaning.
A place where we won't have to hear,
"Your room could stand some cleaning."

The Yukon is the place for us!
That's where we want to live.
Up there we'll get to yell and cuss
And act real primitive.

We'll never have to go to school,
Forced into submission,
By monstrous crabby teachers who'll
Make us learn addition.

We'll never have to clean a plate
Of veggie glops and goos.
Messily we'll masticate
Using any fork we choose!

The timber wolves will be our friends.
We'll stay up late and howl,
At the moon, till nighttime ends,
Before going on the prowl.

Oh, what a life! We cannot wait,
To be in that arctic land,
Where we'll be masters of our fate,
And lead a life that's grand!

No more of parental rules!
We're heading for some snow!
Good riddance to those grown-up ghouls!
We're leaving! Yukon Ho!

[CE]

He should have just smashed his water bottle and taped it to his hands to fight off the wolf, like Ra's Al Ghul would have done.

[Coeus]

He didn't have that particular set of skills, acquired over a long career.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Guess where else Germans left a mark?

[Rich]

On a cheeseburger?

[jesse.in.mb]

On my bedpost?

[CE]

Belgium? Poland? France?

[Pro Libertate]

On sitcom history?

[A Serious Man]

Mon Dieu: At least 6 people have been killed and 26 injured in train wreck just outside of Paris.

[a better weapon]

Trains are the future! Mass transportation will save us all most of us.

[Brandon]

Market failure. Increase the involved agencies' funding.

[Ted S.]

Ayn Rand celebrated all six of those deaths.

[Enough About Palin]

The fuck?

[Ted S.]

There's a passage in Atlas Shrugged where one of the trains gets trapped in a tunnel killing the passengers, and Rand goes into detail about each passenger and why they deserved to die.

[DesigNate]

That hardly qualifies as celebrating.

[The Late P Brooks]

Police arrested a 12-year-old in Detroit for breaking into a bank in the middle of the night.

Maybe he was looking for toilet paper.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Leave Detroit alone, they livin' in Mad Max times now.

[Killazontherun]

Serve the booze and shush it, Moe!

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Do you agree?
John Goodman's top 5 performances

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walter Sobchak should be all five of them.

[Episiarch]

How can they not have Barton Fink on there?

Also, it appears I need to see Matinee as that looks awesome. John Goodman playing William Castle? I'm there.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

How can they not have Barton Fink on there?

I know, right!

[Episiarch]

I mean, it's the Coen Bros movie that was made for him.

[kinnath]

Matinee is a fine movie.

[Ska]

Barton Fink was my first thought.

[A Serious Man]

Replace King Ralph with Barton Fink.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Edward Snowden will seek asylum, at least temporarily, in Russia.

So he's a Russian spy instead of (or in addition to) a Chinese spy!

[Rich]

The court said such firings do not count as illegal sex discrimination because they are motivated by feelings, not gender.

"Sorry, Zelda, Ima have to let you go. I feel you're just too ugly."

[Thane-kin]

VIDEO GAMES AND THE INTERNET ARE SCARY

[MJGreen]

Aww, that's nice of the DOJ...

[Hugh Akston]

Try not to be too attractive in Iowa.

This has never been a problem.

[DesigNate]

Except the handful of Playboy Centerfolds that hail from there.

[kinnath]

It may be rare, buy Iowa does produce a few beautiful women.

[Mickey Rat]

Yes, Hugh is never too attractive in any state.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

O HAI GUYS HERE IS MORE INFO ON THE TAR SANDS HEALING WALK IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW

[Bobarian]

Alt text that refernces itself is better than nothing, but only microscopically so.

[a better weapon]

No worse form of attention whoring than creating self aware alt-text, amirite?

[Thane-kin]

Origin of "demisexuality"

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

What's the origin of people not having a motherfucking clue what prefixes actually mean?

[Rich]

Demigoddamn!

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Demi Moore?

[Coeus]

Replacing of latin with gender studies in the curriculum.

[Ted S.]

"Demisexuality"??

[Thane-kin]

Demisexual: You are only sexually attracted to a person once you have an emotional relationship to them. Friendzone 101.

[Ted S.]

Um, thanks?

I would have thought "lithromantic" meant having an attraction to rocks.

[Ska]

Or to printing.

[MythicalLibertarianWoman]

I like the "skoliosexual" one. That sounds like a person who is only attracted to someone who had scoliosis.

[Coeus]

hehe.

Genderescent (plural: genderessence): Non-white trans people. According to some blogs, "no, white people do not ever get to use this." So... yeah. Racism.

[Jerry on the boat]

Apparently these people only have sexual intercourse when they slug down an expensive bottle of French wine first.

[Warrren]

I drink the wine and then fuck the bottle. I'm self-sufficient that way.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Oenosexual?

[Warrren]

I'm vintage.

[Warrren]

I'm semi-dextrous.

[Atanarjuat]

TL;DR

[Thane-kin]

Short version: some teenager on a role-playing forum made it up to describe her character.

[Atanarjuat]

Oh. Hey, thanks. I was really more turned off by the format than the length.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

In other words, a slightly less stupid origin than is the case for most of the feminist lexicon.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Evidently, Marcotte is now a PUA. To wit:

Tsarnaev's supporters insist that they have purely intellectual reasons for supporting the young man accused of causing three deaths and 14 amputations. They believe the government set him up. But they sure do spend a lot of time sharing pictures of him on Tumblr, squealing over any behavior of his that can be construed as "cute," and clucking maternally over his well being.

[...]

So what's in it for the women? I think the answer is in the fantasy many women have of loving a dangerous man who then, by virtue of this love, eventually reveals a gentleness he doesn't show the rest of the world. It's the old "my love tamed the dangerous beast" fairy tale of romance novels and Disney movies.

It's a race to the bottom when it comes to feminist and PUA regard for women.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Link: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_.....emale.html

[Anonymous Coward]

So what's in it for the women? I think the answer is in the fantasy many women have of loving a dangerous man who then, by virtue of this love, eventually reveals a gentleness he doesn't show the rest of the world.

A good inspiration for the title of my next newsletter.

"YOU DON'T KNOW HIM LIKE I DO" AND "I CAN CHANGE HIM": 12 Ridiculous things that women believe and how you can exploit them.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Alternate titles...

She Fell Down the Stairs: A Guide To Creating Your Very Own Lifetime TV-Approved Marriage In 12 Easy Steps

Denial and What It Can Do For Your Love Life

[jesse.in.mb]

Could we all just watch Not Without My Daughter instead?

[NeonCat]

No, we have to watch Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? since it has the most awesome title ever.

[Ted S.]

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad

[NeonCat]

Okay, M,MISWD is the most awesome Lifetime movie title ever.

[Ted S.]

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is that whore outside with her head uncovered? And where is her male relative to supervise her?

[jesse.in.mb]

I think that's the end when she finds the US consulate. I wanted to find a screen grab with her holding her daughter and the giant fucking US Flag in the background symbolizing her salvation, but google images was being uncooperative.

[Rasilio]

" It's the old "my love tamed the dangerous beast" fairy tale of romance novels and Disney movies."

You know the stupidest friggin part of this. Marcotte has never actually watched the movie. If she had she would have realized that the Beast fell in love with Belle first and changed his entire nature to appear more attractive to her and only then did she start to recognize him.

I mean really Disney's Beauty and the Beast is ridiculously over the top feminist move ever fucking made, it's central message is...

Boys, the only way to get a girl is to stop acting like yourself and change everything about your personality to be what ever it is that she wants and really your life is empty and worthless without a girl

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It's ridiculous to conflate the common princess fantasy with the sickness behind the Tsarnaev fan club.

The princess fantasy (and it is a fantasy, don't get me wrong) is to be loved and have everyone make you feel special and unique. It isn't to get beat by an abuser. Marcotte and other feminists want to pretend that something more insidious is at play because they want to believe that the patriarchy is programming women at an early age to be their playthings. When it comes down to it, believing that women en masse are yearning for an abusive fantasy (and that without being steeped in feminist bullcrap, they'll continue on that course) is every bit as demeaning as anything a PUA has had to say on the subject.

[Coeus]

Hybristophilia "is a paraphilia of the predatory type in which sexual arousal, facilitation, and attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent upon being with a partner known to have committed an outrage,cheating, lying, known infidelities or crime, such as rape, murder, or armed robbery." The term is derived from the Greek word ???????? hubrizein, meaning "to commit an outrage against someone" (ultimately dereived from ????? hubris "hubris"), and philo, meaning "having a strong affinity/preference for".[1] In popular culture, this phenomenon is also known as "Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome".

Other psychologists, such as Leon F. Seltzer, has offered explanations based on evolutionary psychology. Serial killers, in his view, are cases of alpha males that tend to attract women. This is because such males were good at protecting women and their offspring in our evolutionary history. Women nowadays may consciously realize that it is unwise to date a serial killer, but they are nevertheless attracted to them, as he notes "as a therapist I've encountered many women who bemoaned their vulnerability toward dominant men who, consciously, they recognized were all wrong for them."[3] As evidence of women's preference for dominant men, he refers to the book A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam.

[Warrren]

Pubis hubris?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Bah.

Some subset of women =/= all or most women

As I see it, PUAs and feminists both have a vested interest in asserting their theories of how females develop and thus find ways to "prove" their cases by finding some subset of society (in this case, obsession with a serial killer) to unreasonably argue their points about society at large by analogy.

There's no real reason why Disney movies have anything to do with serial killer obsession -- but for Amanduh, any port in a storm is good when it comes to "proving" that women are unclean unless they've been baptized in the feminist movement.

[Coeus]

Actually, hybristophillia is at one end of the spectrum of desire. Much like ebophilia is at one end of the desire spectrum for men. Almost every mental condition in the history of humanity exists on a spectrum that includes what we would consider "normal".

The disney movies are not a part of this phenomena, as you demonstrated (quite well) up thread.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Almost every mental condition in the history of humanity exists on a spectrum that includes what we would consider "normal".

That's admissible as far as it goes, but taking from this statement the lesson that, say, Chris Brown is the ultimate "alpha" or that acceptable behavior at the right and left of the Bell Curve translates to level of desire in the middle is a bad lesson to draw. I'm sure you'll agree with me that a well-adjusted female, if she is on some level attracted to behavior of men like Tsarnaev, is nonetheless repulsed by (and rejects) said behavior on a rational level and that it is unreasonable to thus characterize her as "wanting" it. It's also unethical to conflate biological capacity for enjoyment with consent.

There are certain nature/nurture arguments that PUAs cultivate to an unreasonable extent.

[Coeus]

Agreed on all counts.

[Coeus]

I'm sure you'll agree with me that a well-adjusted female, if she is on some level attracted to behavior of men like Tsarnaev, is nonetheless repulsed by (and rejects) said behavior on a rational level and that it is unreasonable to thus characterize her as "wanting" it.

Though I will add that, as I age, I see rationality going further and further out of style, among both sexes.

[A Serious Man]

Bipartisanship: Learjet Lizzie Warren and Colonel Tigh submit Senate bill to restore Glass-Steagall Act.

The latest political threat to Wall Street came from an unlikely pair this week: Elizabeth Warren, the liberal first-term Democratic senator from Massachusetts, and John McCain, the veteran Republican senator from Arizona defeated in the 2008 presidential election.
Ms Warren and Mr McCain teamed up with two others to introduce a bill in the upper chamber that would restore some provisions of Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era legislation separating commercial from investment banking that was repealed in 1999.

The move is not quite triggering panic among the big banks, since many lobbyists believe there is not sufficient support for the legislation to advance in Congress and Obama administration officials are also known to be sceptical.

[Thane-kin]

Learjet Lizzie Warren and Colonel Tigh submit Senate bill to restore Glass-Steagall Act

...how dare you!

[A Serious Man]

IT'S IN THE FRAKKIN' SHIP!!!

[Killazontherun]

I can't move my arm so well, li'l squaw; you'll have to shake it a bit for me first to get it started.

[Anonymous Coward]

sceptical

America fought a war so we would be free from incorrect POME spellings like "sceptical."

[Rich]

Breaking: Z jury has a question.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

is it "can we have Chinese for lunch, I'm sick of Subway?"

[Rich]

Is it "what is a 'defendant'"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

They synchronized their periods already?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

WARNING WARNING: UNLICENSED ASPHALT REPAIR

[DJF]

Hopefully he does it better then my city workers, they seem to like turning potholes into speed bumps. They can't seem to figure out that too much is just as bad as too little.

[Thane-kin]

Best app ever

[np]

Big Brother around the world:
http://www.dailymotion.com/vid.....ex_redband

in Germany:
http://www.dailymotion.com/vid.....er_redband

(NSFW; just click the green button)

[np]

Cristina Del Basso who apparently became famous after her stint on Big Brother Italy:
http://www.dailymotion.com/vid.....age-ca_fun

[Episiarch]

Jesus, those tits are egregiously fake.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Man We're prudes in N.America

[NeonCat]

Children must never be exposed to women's breasts! Moobs are okay, but women's breasts are the gateway to Hell!

[fish_remote]

Moobs are okay.....

Charles Schumer approves.

[Coeus]

This comment must be a figment of my imagination. We all know that male politicians never get comments on their looks.

[jesse.in.mb]

Clearly I haven't done a good enough job of objectifying Aaron Schock around here.

Consider his looks commented on.

[Coeus]

Not bad, but he could use some bigger pecs.

[jesse.in.mb]

He also needs to butch up his wardrobe.

[Coeus]

He also needs to butch up his wardrobe.

I once saw two homeless guys blowing each other in a city park. And that was the gayest thing I'd ever seen...

Until today.

[Irish]

I'm normally a straight man, but I might make an exception for Aaron Schock.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm normally a straight man, but I might make an exception for Aaron Schock.

Funny that, he's a straight man too, but I don't think anybody would be surprised if he went gay for you too.

[Coeus]

Funny that, he's a straight man too,

Unless that picture was taken on Halloween, or he's a silent member of Outkast, I ain't buying it.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Another Deep Thought from Matt Yglesias:

But at the end of the day we, as a society, need to decide whether we are OK with measures that will reduce the amount of financial problems by, in part, reducing the amount of credit that's available to people[...]

if you reimposed some kind of usury laws limiting credit card interest rates, some people would be unable to get a credit card and they'd be upset. But in both cases, I think ultimately you'd do more good than harm, just as the past 30 years worth of anti-smoking regulations have done a lot to improve public health even while annoying people.

Eliminating credit for no reason. Any other ideas from medieval economies we should be implementing, Matty? Something restricting Jews to their own ghettos in Imperial cities, perhaps?

[Ted S.]

Carbon taxes are really sumptuary laws.

[Episiarch]

This is what makes SadBeard so amazing. He just proposed medieval-style usury law, and I guarantee you he has no idea.

For those that were defending SadBeard as not necessarily being stupid...yes he is. He's really fucking stupid. Because you have to be incredibly stupid to be that unaware.

[hamilton]

I kinda think he's just contracted some awful disease or something that's eating his brain. I seem to remember reading his stuff once upon a time and thinking, well that's a well-thought-out argument, even though I can refute it.

His latest stuff is just mind numbing, and the tweets are such pools of stupid that I get mad when libertarian columnists retweet them even for the purposes of argument.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I remember one article where he argued in favor of outlawing currency as Fed Reserve policy. Outlawing currency.

You've gotta be huffing some serious glue to think that one up.

[a better weapon]

How do you suppose he squares this with CRA and access to housing financing for low income families?

That face... so punchable.

[Warrren]

Barter it up bitches!

[Anonymous Coward]

The people who smoke cigarettes aren't confused about the health risks. People are aware that they ought to find more time to exercise. Nobody is exactly being tricked into thinking that eating doughnuts is good for you. But it's tempting. Just like consumer credit is tempting, even if you know that over the long run you will enjoy more consumer goods and higher living standards if you avoid it.

And yet, more and more laws are passed to make it harder for people voluntarily smoke, to buy evil and delicious foods without being subject to calorie counts and "nutrition facts", or indulging in cheap credit (following the lead of our wonderful federal government).

It's almost as if some people in the country are trying to control citizens' behavior.

[Ted S.]

Oh, there are people who want to tempt you with "cheap" credit, if it's in the form of student loans.

Somehow, I have a feeling that's not what they had in mind.

[Irish]

We should just convert the United States to Orthodox Catholicism. That way, no one would use credit because it is against Jesus, and the only bankers would be Jews who don't have to obey the dictates of the Pope.

It would be just like that other wonderful period of economic growth, the 1200s.

[Irish]

I just realized what's most hilarious about this. Yglesias doesn't like individuals taking out credit that they can't afford, but his entire economic philosophy is based on government taking out credit that it can't afford.

How does he not see the problem here?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

It's all part of the magic that happens when you go from the individual to the collective. Just like with the Walmart thing.

[MJGreen]

Translation: "Will you be OK making other peoples' lives worse because you don't expect this to affect you?"

"...PS we don't care what you think, we'll do it or not do it regardless."

[Night Elf Mohawk]

some people would be unable to get a credit card and they'd be upset suing.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Something restricting Jews to their own ghettos in Imperial cities, perhaps?

Well, that did go hand-in-hand with anti-usury laws, now that you mention it.

[Juice]

Yup, extending credit is just like smoking cigarettes.

[A Serious Man]

For the first time in years, scientists get a true color image of an exosolar planet.

The alien planet's blue color was pinned down using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Although the planet might be the same color as Earth from space, scientists think that HD 189733b is a "hot Jupiter" ? a gas giant planet that orbits very close to its star. It takes 2.2 Earth days for the planet to travel fully around its sun.
[...]
The exoplanet's weather is less than ideal. Its atmosphere is more than 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius) and the planet rains glass sideways in 4,350 mile per hour (7,000 km/h) winds, according to Hubble officials.

I say we invade like those aliens who were averse to water invaded Earth in 'Signs'.

[Episiarch]

Will they be able to stop us with some sort of sports implement too?

[Atanarjuat]

It takes 2.2 Earth days for the planet to travel fully around its sun.

That seems insanely fast.

[Invisible Finger]

What are people in Egypt protesting?

Ask a person who is there: Hernando de Soto:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....-most.html

[CE]

No fountain of youth in the desert?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Egypt could really use a Pinochet or an Ataturk.

[Outlaw]

http://now.msn.com/police-offi.....n-st-louis

Good dog!

[Outlaw]

Also, paging sloopy. Think you oughta take a look at this one.

It's Christmas in July.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Wowzers

[Episiarch]

Oh my that's rich.

[A Serious Man]

Awesome.

Neither officer knew if the dog had been wounded, since it quickly ran away. Although it's lucky that the officer wasn't seriously wounded, his partner might need to spend some time working on his aim.

Um, why can't they just shoot a rubber bullet at it or something since obviously loud noises and projectiles can scare a dog away without the need to kill it?

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

In recognition of the dog/Balko/testicles relationship central to Reason.com's identity, I move that we term all future dog-positive stories such as this one "Outlaw nutrubs."

"I was having a shitty day until I visited Reason, but then an outlaw nutrub gave me back my mojo."

[Warrren]

Yes. A 1000 times yes!

[DesigNate]

Seconded.

[CatoTheElder]

Easily the best news story of the week.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Grid Girls from around the world

[Jordan]

Noice. Needs moar asians though.

[Thane-kin]

What's a grid girl?

[SugarFree]

Tron hookers.

[Thane-kin]

TRON: Legacy was a terrible movie.

[Episiarch]

Olivia Wilde?!?

[Thane-kin]

Is she a hooker? How much?

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, but you can't afford her.

[Thane-kin]

Maybe she'll take orphans in lieu of cash?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I can't really improve upon the title for shock value, so I won't try:

Blocking Walmart is a Favor To Competing Businesses

The logic that consumer sovereignty should be the trump here can be contested. Tom Slee took this precise example as the centerpiece of his rather good book No One Makes You Shop at Walmart: The Surprising Deceptions of Individual Choice. Perhaps as individuals, DC residents would prefer the superior price/service mix offered by Walmart to that offered by competing firms, but as a collective we might have aesthetic or ethical reasons for wanting to bolster Walmart's competitors.

Freedom Is Slavery, War Is Peace... you know the drill.

[Jordan]

I like how they don't even pretend that they aren't legislating to help favored businesses.

[Episiarch]

as a collective

Fuck you, scumbag.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

The real shock is how not-insane the comments are.

[Invisible Finger]

Couldn't you at least list the author so I wouldn't have give that fascist Yglesias a fucking click?

[Irish]

If we wanted that as a collective then you wouldn't have to pass a law forcing us to do that. We'd just kind of do it ourselves.

[Episiarch]

A collective without force? What the hell are you talking about? The whole point of a collective is force!

[Pro Libertate]

Remember that bit where I said someone (don't recall who) would join the Borg even if it turned out they only took volunteers? Matt's one of those.

[Anonymous Coward]

but as a collective we might have aesthetic or ethical reasons for wanting to bolster Walmart's competitors.

Submit to the hive, drone! The hive is life! The hive is love! The hive is all!

[NeonCat]

I love Big Queen?

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer Killer Queen.

[New West Republic]

At least he's willing to admit to lefty ban-boners are sometimes engorged by aesthetic concerns. I mean, fuck people who can't afford good taste, right?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I say we invade like those aliens who were averse to water invaded Earth in 'Signs'.

"OK men, we have the technology to navigate interstellar space, but we decided to use crop circles instead. Now strip naked, put down your weapons, and walk around slowly to conquer that planet full of a material that dissolves your exposed flesh but is harmless to the armed, clothed people we're conquering!!!"

[Pro Libertate]

If and when aliens finally visit, I think we're in for a shock with the gigantic technological advantages they'll have (regardless of their benevolence or lack thereof). I doubt seriously they'd be the least bit vulnerable to anything we can do.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Even if we unleash Warty?

[Stormy Dragon]

Why do you doubt that? Our soldiers have gigantic technological advantages over neolithic savages, yet they will still die if you hit them with a big rock hard enough.

We may not be able to exploit that vulnerability sufficiently to prevail against them, but the idea they'll be completely invulnerable is unlikely.

Of course, invading a planet to begin with really makes no sense. Given how common planets are now, why waste the effort of a military invansion of an occupied planet when there's an almost innumerable supply of uninhabited ones you could take without resistance?

Just in our own solar system, for example, pretty much any resource you can get on earth is available on mars, and all we could do to stop you is sullenly give you the stink eye from millions of miles away.

[Stormy Dragon]

Actually, that would be an interesting idea for a book. Instellar locust type aliens show up and begin strip mining mars while completely ignoring the earth. Focus on how humans suffer irrational rage at 1) not being able to stop it, 2) being ignored, 3) having to admit they're not really being negatively impacted by even though it's emotionally humiliating.

[Episiarch]

I like this idea.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, I like this. I saw something a little like this concept in of all things a book featuring science fiction art (Spacecraft, 2000-2100 A.D.: Terran Trade Authority Handbook. They tied together all of the images with a backstory.

Anyway, one of them had a planet with mysterious aliens that came and went without any acknowledgement at all of the humans on the world.

[db]

How do we know that Mars hasn't already been strip mined by aliens (or ancient humans)?

[Pro Libertate]

It has. That's what happened to the atmosphere and the water. Venus' inhabitants suffered from runaway AGW.

Or not.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Who says it hasn't?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.....oe_on_Mars

... Hobbit

[Mickey Rat]

Already been written:

"The Jupiter Theft"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQgOxnUEtc

[Juice]

Reading a synopsis, it sounds pretty fucking good. Going on half.com to look for a copy.

[Pro Libertate]

While I'm sure it's possible that a interstellar civilization could not have total superiority to us, technologically, I have a feeling that won't be the case if it actually happens.

[Stormy Dragon]

I'm not arguing they won't be technologically superior. I'm arguing your assertion that "technologically superior" == "completely invulnerable".

[Pro Libertate]

If they can get here, the likelihood is that they would be far beyond us technologically speaking. Yes, I can come up with scenarios where they might be vulnerable to us, but is that likely if they have a massive technological advantage?

[Rasilio]

I have seen exactly 1 plausible alien invasion story that had us on equal enough footing to where the war made sense. That was in Niven and Pournelle's Footfall where the aliens did not have FTL technology (they used a generation ship to get here) and had some severe gaps in their knowledge of sciences because they were the 2nd intelligent species to evolve on the planet after the first killed itself off in some sort of environmental catastrophy, this lead to them developing very quickly in areas where their predecessors left behind usable information but left them blind to areas which we had investigated and even there when we finally won it was only because we had a better understanding of their psychology than they had of ours.

Outside of that, if aliens ever did want to invade our world it is highly likely we would all be dead before we ever realized what had happened

[Episiarch]

Plus, they were elephants, so they never forget. To kill!

[Virginian]

There was one where the key to FTL and gravity is incredibly easy to discover, but humanity missed it. Which means the aliens invade with muzzeloading cannon and muskets. Which obviously ends poorly for them.

[Juice]

It's called The Road Not Taken.
http://pastebin.com/aJQfubrK

Also there is The High Crusade where medieval knights are visited by aliens and easily vanquish them, take their starship and eventually establish a galactic empire based on feudalism. A few hundred years into the future they return to Earth where humans are shocked to find out that armor-clad knights rule the galaxy.

[Calidissident]

Hypothetically, there could be a situation where the aliens were advanced but no so advanced that they could kill us all without effort, terraform whatever planet they want, go anywhere in the galaxy or universe in a reasonable amount of time, etc. Let's say their home planet is fairly close by, so that FTL travel isn't necessary. I could see a situation where a group of aliens on that planet might want to flee their home planet for whatever reason (political/religious oppression, economic opportunity, etc.) and head to Earth to colonize. Still might be some difficulties to be worked out in this scenario, but roughly speaking, I think it's plausible

[Pro Libertate]

It only works without FTL. With it, there's just too much awful for us to contend with. Like FTL objects used as weapons.

[Calidissident]

Agreed. Although given that our current understanding of physics leads to the conclusion that FTL is impossible it's not at all an absurd premise for a story.

I suppose another "realistic" scenario would be one where the aliens, again, have advanced but not super-advanced weaponry, can't just destroy the planet with nukes or something equivalent, and for whatever reason (small home planet, the way they breed, etc.) have a small population, and so despite having a technological advantage, they're massively outnumbered to the point where it's an even match.

But I feel like in every alien invasion scenario, it always comes down to some special "trick" (computer virus in Independence Day, pathogens in War of the Worlds, etc.) as to why the aliens fail

[Coeus]

There's a whole series of stories, can't remember who made them, about Earth being invaded by a much more technologically advanced species. But they were so stupid, we took the planet back in a year or two. And then the rest of the galaxy.

[db]

Any relativistic weapon used against a habitable plant is going to render it pretty much uninhabitable. Unless the goal is to mine the planet (at which point, why not just go after Mars as Mr. Dragon points out above), they're not very useful in conquest.

[Coeus]

What if they want slaves? Or just to neutralize a possible threat, but not willing to go all the way with genocide?

[Stormy Dragon]

What if they want slaves?

Why come all the way across the galaxy to get slaves when they could just make their own? Slave that would probably be much better anyways having grown up in the culture and can do anything the owners are likely to think of them doing?

Or just to neutralize a possible threat, but not willing to go all the way with genocide?

For the same reason the DOD isn't organizing military campaigns to the amazon to neutralize army ants.

[Coeus]

Why come all the way across the galaxy to get slaves when they could just make their own?

Biological science limitations? Religious doctrine? Why go all the way to Africa, when you can just use your own?

For the same reason the DOD isn't organizing military campaigns to the amazon to neutralize army ants.

Lemme tell you about a little place called "Africa".

[Stormy Dragon]

Africa wasn't invaded for the purposes of taking slaves. The slaves were taken by people native to the region and traded to people showing up from outside.

[Coeus]

Africa wasn't invaded for the purposes of taking slaves.

True, but the traders damn sure made the long trip back to get more.

And the point about Africom still stands.

[Pro Libertate]

I recall a Superman novel I read as a kid (released with the Christopher Reeve movie but not a novelization) that talked about aliens coming to Earth and stealing Xerox machines. Apparently, we were supposed to be the best at making copiers in this part of the galaxy.

[The Last American Hero]

Then 550 years after they enslave us, they can engage in debates about whether the war between the planets was about slavery or the right to sip mint juleps on a wrap around porch.

[Stormy Dragon]

Even then there's no reason to invade earth. If they have the technology to come here at sub light speeds, they apparently have the ability to sustain a livable environment even in deep space for years, if not decades, at a time. That being the case you again have to wonder why they don't just take mars without resistance instead of wasting resources fighting us for earth.

[Pro Libertate]

Now I agree with this. If they can make it here, there's little reason to invade. Definitely not for resources, which are available elsewhere much more easily.

Might kill us off, I suppose, but that's a different matter. Hopefully, no one would bother at this point, bottled up as we are on Earth.

[Calidissident]

"If they have the technology to come here at sub light speeds, they apparently have the ability to sustain a livable environment even in deep space for years, if not decades, at a time."

What if they can only live through cyrogenic sleep? Also, who wants to live their entire existence on a space ship? Maybe, they don't NEED to colonize Earth, but then again, Europeans didn't need to colonize the Americas, Africa, or Asia. Also, Mars isn't habitable, and just because they have interstellar travel doesn't necessarily mean they can terraform a planet.

[Stormy Dragon]

Europeans didn't need to colonize the Americas, Africa, or Asia.

Yes they did. Because there wasn't an equivalent unoccupied continent they could occupy instead. If every planet in the universe is occupied by sentient races, then yeah, a space faring species will start fighting for more of them. But the vast majority of planets are likely empty.

Yes, fighting for more resources makes sense when all the resources have already been claimed. Fighting for resources when there's plenty of unclaimed resources does not.

Also, Mars isn't habitable

Given we know nothing about alien biology, Mars is just as likely to be habitable to them as Earth is.

[Calidissident]

You just got Shamalayned!

[A Serious Man]

They also can't open pantry doors or break down a boarded up window/door even though they are supposed to be like super strong and stuff.

[The Late P Brooks]

Blocking Walmart is a Favor To Competing Businesses

No shit. Is there anybody not employed by MSNBC who even bothers to pretend this is untrue?

[Invisible Finger]

I didn't know the purpose of government was to grant favors.

[CatoTheElder]

What else is it good for?

[Juice]

Actually, the TV was on when I got home (and the woman was cooking) and I got there right at "Let me Finish" on Hardball (with a guest host). The guest host was arguing against the anti-Wal Mart law and for all the right reasons. I was shocked.

[A Serious Man]

This is just awesome: Huffington Post in apoplectic fit over the fact that Texas State Troopers were confiscating tampons, maxi pads and other projectiles at the State Capitol while permitting open carry.

State troopers are confiscating tampons, maxi pads and other potential projectiles from those who are entering the Texas capitol to watch the debate and vote on a controversial anti-abortion bill. Guns, however, which are typically permitted in the state capitol, are still being allowed.

Which is more icky: a gun or a used tampon?

[np]

How about a gun that fires used tampons?

[SugarFree]

Stay out of my fucking dreams.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

They weren't used.

[A Serious Man]

Oh I know, I'm just saying. In the comments and on Twitter some people were (hopefully facetiously) suggesting just that though.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

It does seem a bit troubling that according to the guards this is their normal rules--so what, you can never go watch the legislature in session while you have your period? Because you might throw a tampon at someone? That doesn't seem right.

[Thane-kin]

so what, you can never go watch the legislature in session while you have your period

Sounds appropriate

[Episiarch]

God, nicole, let me mansplain this to you. There is a danger of bears being present in the capitol, and this is merely a precautionary measure.

[Ted S.]

Jesse's not going to be happy if you shoot the bears.

[Episiarch]

Quite; that's for him to...ahem...do.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm confused why you'd shoot a bear instead of tame it with a bottomless mimosas brunch.

[A Serious Man]

It is a dumb rule.

[jesse.in.mb]

Wait, they let women into the capitol building in Texas? I would never have guessed.

[Irish]

Someone needs to cook the representatives' dinner, rub their feet, and walk around in mini-skirts while the men, drunk at the end of a hard day's work, leer and make lewd comments.

You clearly don't know much about how they do things in the Texas State Capitol, Jesse.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Duh, it's not like they would have the maids, cooks, nannies and typists wait outside.

[Warrren]

I wonder if there is a convenient place to smuggle a tampon.

[Anonymous Coward]

Positive law derpage:

You have a legal right to carry a gun in the capitol. However, there is no law allowing you to carry a tampon in the state capitol, therefore it is right and proper to ensure the smooth function of the legislative process by confiscating these unregulated potential projectiles.

/positive law derpage

[Coeus]

Open carry?

[db]

Fucking bioweapons.

[A Serious Man]

Guess who wrote this:

Permit me an impertinent question (or three).

Suppose a small group of extremely wealthy people sought to systematically destroy the U.S. government by (1) finding and bankrolling new candidates pledged to shrinking and dismembering it; (2) intimidating or bribing many current senators and representatives to block all proposed legislation, prevent the appointment of presidential nominees, eliminate funds to implement and enforce laws, and threaten to default on the nation's debt; (3) taking over state governments in order to redistrict, gerrymander, require voter IDs, purge voter rolls, and otherwise suppress the votes of the majority in federal elections; (4) running a vast PR campaign designed to convince the American public of certain big lies, such as climate change is a hoax, and (5) buying up the media so the public cannot know the truth.

Would you call this treason?

If not, what would you call it?

And what would you do about it?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

A statist?

[CatoTheElder]

You have to be more specific.

Hint: he's also a dwarf.

[Irish]

Whoever it is seems to be arguing that anyone who disagrees with them politically is guilty of treason, the penalty of which is death.

They are arguing for the death of their political opponents.

[Episiarch]

They are also arguing that even if this is done through legal, democratic methods, if you want to shrink the state you are committing treason.

Reich is a psychopath.

[Irish]

He also apparently believes that the right controls the media, which is just absolutely hysterical.

[Warrren]

Hmm, I guess I'll keep my guns then.

[Irish]

And Marcotte.

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

Goddamn it. Give us the source before we lose precious seconds reading that sociopath's dreck.

[Knarf Yenrab (prev. An0nB0t)]

And that should be directed to ASM. Blargh

[A Serious Man]

Nope, not Marcotte. The writing isn't bad enough.

[Irish]

Robert Reich

[hamilton]

That jackass Reich. I've seen the damn thing on enough of my FB friends' pages to know.

[Irish]

Yes! I got it on my second try!

Of course it's Reich. His entire Schtick is to claim that anyone who disagrees with him is

A) a Nazi
B) a Communist
C) a commienazi
D) Joseph McCarthy
E) treasonous.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You'd think a guy with the last name Reich might tread lightly on Nazi and hypernationalist critiques of others...

[Irish]

You'd also think that someone who claims all of his opponents are guilty of treason and sedition would be a little less quick to bring Joseph McCarthy into the conversation.

[Episiarch]

It's interesting watching the statist mouthpieces become less and less self-aware every day. They're turning into robots who are programmed to promote the state and nothing more.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Aaron Sorkin?

Nah, not enough walk-and-talk banter.

[Ted S.]

Matty Yglesias?

[A Serious Man]

Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....82032.html

[Mickey Rat]

"If not, what would you call it?"

The delusions of a depraved paranoid mind.

I am sure there is good pharmacological help for such people.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Little One has spoken, and thus it is so!

I wrote recently about the factors driving CEO pay seem driven more by convention than any concrete reality[...] For another example of that which has nothing to do with anyone being overpaid, check out this Wall Street Journal story about "Stung by Falling Prices, Mining Companies Take Ax to CEO Pay" and ask yourself what kind of sense that makes.

What the flying fuck would you know about it, Matty? You have never worked in a job where your performance affected your compensation or continued employment, and you live in a city where the people employed are likewise unencumbered.

[The Late P Brooks]

For another example of that which has nothing to do with anyone being overpaid, check out this Wall Street Journal story about "Stung by Falling Prices, Mining Companies Take Ax to CEO Pay" and ask yourself what kind of sense that makes.

I cannot even make sense of that sentence.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Click through and all will be Mattysplained to you...if you dare. (seriously, it's bad)

[A Serious Man]

Local San Francisco news station erroneously reports--on live television--the supposed names of the Asiana pilots: "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow."

For the last time! Anything you put on that teleprompter Burgundy will read!

[Warrren]

Hung Lo was not available for comment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yu Phun Ni approved that broadcast. I guess his career as a producer is over.

[Atanarjuat]

I used to work with a guy named Hung Cao.

[Tejicano]

There was a girl at my school with the last name Kakisaka. As pronounced in Japanese the "i" is silent so it sounds pretty much like "cocksucker".

We convinced her to pronounce it the way somebody from Omaha would say it.

[Sevo]

A Serious Man| 7.12.13 @ 5:11PM |#
"Local San Francisco news station erroneously reports--on live television--the supposed names of the Asiana pilots: "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow.""

Yes, she's blonde.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I Was Wrong Before. This Is The Best Drug Store In The World.

Thanks Matt, but I'm not sure I want my cocaine cut with fingernail trimmings or whatever they put in your batch.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

I have bought Knob Creek bourbon (pictured) from that very Walgreen's.

[A Serious Man]

How much?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Two bottles. I don't remember why I was buying booze downtown. I may just have been excited about them having it, since it was my first visit to the store (it's about a year old now) and I too was overcome by its awesomeness.

[Episiarch]

He means the price, nicole. Are you drunk already?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

The price is in the photo! I didn't get it! I mean it's $30 whenever MattY went there but who knows what I paid a year ago.

[Episiarch]

So, drunk and stoned. You really are the worst. Wait, I'd actually love to be drunk and stoned right now. You're even more the worst!

[A Serious Man]

$30? It's like $40 at my local grocery store. I've only tried it once and I really liked it.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

I always have it stocked, and I don't think I usually pay more than $35. But I never get it from my shit Dominick's, I don't think they carry it.

[A Serious Man]

I don't know enough about whiskey to know what is the best quality for price.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

I don't drink it, so I really couldn't say.

[Irish]

It was probably super expensive given the sales/liquor taxes in Chicago. I only buy booze when I'm across the county line. Buying alcohol in Cook County is the worst.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Booze prices actually don't seem that bad to me here since they don't seem to vary much between here and Indiana, unlike cigarettes.

[Episiarch]

No, buying hard alcohol in Washington State is the worst. There is a 20.5% tax plus a tax on volume, so X dollars per liter. A ten dollar 750ml bottle of cheap rum ends up being $16. A $24 750ml bottle of gin ends up being over $32. It's fucking ridiculous. But at least it's privatized.

[Irish]

A $24 750ml bottle of gin ends up being over $32.

This makes me sad.

[Episiarch]

It makes me angry.

[A Serious Man]

Be angry at yourself for living in Washington.

[Episiarch]

Weed is legal, dude. I actually should have put some in my pocket for happy hour later. Oh well, I'll just get legally stoned on my huge deck after.

[Pro Libertate]

Whoa. I can buy booze at Sam's. At a discount.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Nicole paid the iron price, Epi. She takes what is hers by right.

[Episiarch]

She does not sew?

[A Serious Man]

She rapes and reaves from the Stony Shores to the Reach?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

She mostly rapes, but she's been known to reave on occasion.

[A Serious Man]

Hopefully in that order.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

It's true...and I will kill for fashion, so yeah.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You're probably bedecked like a whore right now, aren't you, Epi?

Tell me, did you take your Han Shot First t-shirt from the body of a corpse you made, or did you buy it in a market?

[Episiarch]

I am no coward! I beat up a nerd and took it from him! I have paid the iron price!

[Irish]

He made a follow up to that abortion of an article? Does he not even realize when he's being mocked?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

If Matty Y restricted himself to writing about things he realizes, he wouldn't have a career.

[Sidd Finch]

WHAT ABOUT THE ORGANIC BURRITOS!?

[Warrren]

Organic tofu burritos!

[The Late P Brooks]

Let me help you, Yglesias:

But at the end of the day we, as a society, need to decide whether we are OK with measures that will reduce the amount of financial problems economic opportunity by, in part, reducing the amount of credit that's available to people[...]

[NeonCat]

I guess I was wrong about Batman.

[Coeus]

Further updates on the acedemic who was excommunicated for his CAGW heresy.

[Hyperion]

Late to da party, but, Snowden has always only had one choice, for the forseeable future anyway, and that's Russia. The Latin American banana Republic dictators will sell him out for one easy payment of corrupto bucks from the Obamney regime. He's smart enough to know that. Putin doesn't need any of Obamas stash, and he's the only one with ballz (or nukes) enough to piss off Murika. So there you go.

[Thane-kin]

jesse, do you check your hotmail account?

[jesse.in.mb]

I do.

[Thane-kin]

So, you're ignoring me then

*runs away sobbing*

[The Immaculate Trouser]

He's not ignoring you, he's waiting for you to get desperate enough to send dick pics so he knows if you're worth his time.

Jesse is a master baiter; he knows how the game is played.

[Episiarch]

Dude, what the hell kind of wingman are you? Don't expose jesse's game!

[Thane-kin]

master baiter

ic what you did thar

[jesse.in.mb]

Jesus TiT, it doesn't work as well when they know the rules!

Actually, Thane, you were auto-swept into my spam folder. Replying now.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I'm sorry, I panicked!

[Thane-kin]

TiT is such a boob.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I'm really more of an ass man-- Oh I get it

[Thane-kin]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr.....qhv4l8.jpg

[Thane-kin]

I was swept into Warty's giant, gaping spam folder as well. It may be time for a less-sketchy email provider.

[Warrren]

I read that as sperm folder...

[Coeus]

Io9 finally drops all pretense that they are about sci-fi and are not Jezebel lite.

[Pro Libertate]

Sci-fi extra lite at best, with pointless feminist bullshit thrown in. And fucking Dr. Who all the time. Jesus.

[Episiarch]

If you read io9, you deserve what you get.

[Pro Libertate]

I read the comments once. I think I burned my brain.

[Episiarch]

I was merely talking about the articles. If you read the comments, you are either an idiot, certifiably insane, a masochist of the highest order, or some kind of superman from the future who has high-tech idiot filters installed in his neural net.

I'm thinking you're not the guy from the future, so that leaves...?

[Pro Libertate]

No, I'm from the future. Proof? Look at the date stamp.

[Episiarch]

Who is going to win the Superbowl this year? I have some bets to place.

[Pro Libertate]

Sorry, dude, I'm only a minute and some change in the future.

[Episiarch]

Then you are of no further use to me.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, I screwed up. They said I could go five hundred years or 1:45 ahead. Who knew?

[Warrren]

I have a thyme machine you can borrow.

[Thane-kin]

a guy who still has tenure at a major research institution

Somebody doesn't know what tenure is

[Warrren]

So they're saying evopsych is right up there with Wymyn's studies?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I don't buy everything that evo-psych is trying to sell, but if you're forcing me to make a choice between a flawed and overhyped movement based on empirical reality, and one based purely on BS pseudo-Marxist theories of false consciousness?

That's not even a choice.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

They write books about how rape is a natural part of human evolution.

How is this controversial? It's a fact that mammals in a state of nature reproduce without seeking consent.

This is all part of his and many other evopsych researchers' project to prove that humans haven't changed much since we were roaming east Africa 100,000 years ago.

Specious claim. Evo psych researchers outline *some* areas where humans have not changed significantly and attempt to argue based on empirical factors.

[Thane-kin]

It's controversial because morons will try to use EP to prescribe or proscribe certain behaviors via naturalistic fallacy, so other morons assume that anytime EP says something is natural, they are saying it is right.

[Sidd Finch]

This is all part of his and many other evopsych researchers' project to prove that humans haven't changed much since we were roaming east Africa 100,000 years ago.

This is exactly wrong. Evopsych/sociobiology types are criticized for believing in recent human evolution. Here's Steven Jay Gould, founder of the Sociobiology Study Group, Marxist, liar, and idiot:

"There has been no biological change in humans in 40,000 or 50,000 years. Everything we call culture and civilization we've built with the same body and brain."

[Sidd Finch]

To clarify, the Sociobiology Study Group was about harassing sociobiologists, not studying sociobiology.

[Thane-kin]

alurin

The tone of this article associates the field of evolutionary psychology with a few "douchebags". I don't think that's fair. There are plenty of serious, intellectually rigorous evolutionary psychologists who are not just trying to put a scientific stamp on their own narrow asshole belief system. It's an important scientific field (disclaimer: not my field). Miller is an asshole, period.

It's furthermore not really fair to lump in Stapel, who is a social psychologist. Which brings up the additional point that scientific misconduct (a la Stapel and Hauser) is a whole different class of offense from Miller's (unless of course someone is making up data to say that men evolved on Mars, etc.). If you want to write an article about people who use "science" as a thin veil over their prejudices, fine. But be careful about the breadth of your brush.

Today 2:06pm

[Coeus]

Bay area news station pranked.

Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU purportedly learned the names of the flight crew of Asiana flight 214, which crashed last Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, killing two. These?"Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow"?are not their names. The newscaster's credulous reading puts it over the top.

[Coeus]

dammit, missed serious posting it upthread.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hey, Coeus, have you heard about the Cleveland Browns fan?

[Warrren]

They have just the one? What a let down.

[Eduard van Haalen]

He's the only one we've been hearing about. And yes, I see what you did there.

[Coeus]

I had to google to get the joke Warren made, so yes.

[Warrren]

We don't need another hero.