A.M. Links: Boehner Says Obama Risks Default By Not Negotiating, Gunmen Target Security Forces in Egypt, Nobel Prize For Medicine Awarded

Credit: White House/wikimedia

• Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said that Obama is risking a default by not negotiating with Republicans.
• Security forces have been targeted by gunmen across Egypt. The attacks come a day after more than 50 people were killed in Cairo in clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
• The 2013 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology has been awarded to two Americans and a German for their discovery of a transport system that allows cells to deliver life-saving proteins and molecules to the right place at the right time.
• Secretary of State John Kerry says that U.S. authorities are "very pleased" with Syrian officials who are cooperating with a United Nations mandate to destroy the Assad regime's chemical weapons.
• The Al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi is being interrogated on a Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea after being seized by U.S. commandos in Libya over the weekend.
• The Taliban have killed two people in an attack near a polio vaccination team in Pakistan.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said that Obama is risking a default by not negotiating with Republicans.

I wouldn't have thought so before this all started, but it appears time might actually be on Boehner's side.

[Tim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajsNJtnUb7c

[Ted S.]

I thought the Youtube link was going to be to this.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrlPKW4mU30

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That was for Epi. I know he loves the new and improved ST.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Terrible.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

NO NEGOTIATING WITH TERRORISTS!

/DU

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Time was on Romo's side, too. There's still plenty of time for Boehner to fuck it up.

[Mike M.]

Crunch time is never on Romo's side.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Pick notwithstanding, I'm not hanging this one on Romo. Lord, guy put up 48 points. Nah. The Defense. That's who I'm looking at.

He's no Eli. I can't believe he has two rings.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Elite QBs don't get paid to play well for 57 minutes.

[robc]

Elite defenses dont get paid to play well for 0 minutes.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Bingo, robc.

[mad libertarian guy]

The dude had over 500 yards and 5 TDs. That should be enough to win any NFL, even if the QB does throw an untimely pick at the very end.

[Libertymike]

Romo's performance yesterday was one of the best in NFL history, period. He outplayed Peyton Manning.

[Clich? Bandit]

He outplayed Peyton Manning.

LOL, i see the coffee has some good stuff in it this morning.

Yesterday was an exercise in zero D all around but in no way did Romo "outplay" Manning.

[Libertymike]

Well, he threw one more TD pass and he threw for about 100 yards more than No. 18.

In my view, assessment of performance must, necessarily, include EVERYTHING. That is why I think most fans put over value post-season performance in their assessments of a given player.

Ted Williams is generally considered the best hitter of all time. Should we discount this because he hit around the Mendoza line in the 1946 World Series?

Applying the principle to yesterday's game, I thought Romo was a little bit better than Manning.

How many players in the history of the game have thrown for 5 TDs and over 500 yards in one game?

[Libertymike]

BTW, you may have caught my battle with Auric D last week about the best 4 games a quarterback has ever had.

Auric thinks that Flaco's playoff run last season constitutes the single best 4 games ever by a quarterback. Many fans would agree.

I think Peyton's first 4 games this season constitute the 4 best ever by a QB. Although, in my view, Romo outplayed Manning yesterday, there can not now be much doubt that Manning's first 5 games this season constitute the 5 best games ever by a QB with 20 TDs offset by just the one pick.

[Ruckus]

Romo threw for more yards, more yards per attempt, and more TD while having no where near the protection that manning had. If he didn't outplay Manning, then at worst it was a draw.

Hell it was a 3 point game where almost 100 points were scored. It was practically a tie anyway.

[B.P.]

Romo had a great game, but nowhere near the protection? Romo stood around for minutes on end for several plays looking for an open receiver.

[Virginian]

Exactly. The Cowboys OLine is vastly improved, which is why Romo is having such a good year. He's always had the skills to play well, but idiot Jerry has neglected to build the line.

Protection for Manning is more interesting, simply because he's getting the ball out so quick that the pass rush is almost a moot point. By the time the rush beats the block, the ball is out.

WRT to yesterday, the Broncos had a healthy dose of running, which is why Manning's numbers are lower then Romos. And while you can criticize the Dallas defense for fading down the stretch, the Boys were up 14-0 early because the defense made big plays.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm glad I'm not alone on this one.

[carol]

If I had to put my faith in Boehner then I would say that we are all screwed, but he is getting an enormous amount of help from Obama. Shutting down memorials, kicking old people from their home, trying to close the ocean, shutting down the Amber Alert site but keeping Let's Move up, on and on. Optics, how do they work?

[Mike M.]

It's incredible what you can get away with when you have 90% of the scum media fully dedicated to you under all circumstances.

[Suthenboy]

At some point it should occur to them that the one they are defending is a solid gold asshole. The only reason I can think of for them to continue carrying his water is that they share his contempt for the American people.

[Raven Nation]

omlet/eggs

[BigT]

The only reason I can think of for them to continue carrying his water is that they share his contempt for the American people.

It's race-guilt. America's original sin - racism - is so ingrained in them that these folks would do anything, ANYTHING to show they ain't racist.

[waffles]

The government may be a mired in this thoroughly tiresome shutdown mess but at least the Fist runs on time.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone walked into my office and started yapping at me just as 9AM EDT (the greatest time zone in the world!) rolled around, but I managed to fire off that comment anyway. That out of the way, I was able to appear to focus on whatever it was she was saying to me.

[Juice]

I hate Eastern. Central was where it's at.

[kinnath]

http://xkcd.com/

[Lord Humungus]

You ask, What is our policy? I will say; "It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy." You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory?victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

[Lord Humungus]

The one of Mark Twain is very good:

The Civil War in COLOR for the first time: Painstakingly remastered images of a divided America that recreate era in amazing detail

[Eduard van Haalen]

Very good, but where is mila jovovich?

[Rich]

Hooking up with Lewis Powell.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Poor girl!

[Aloysious]

+1 history

[Enough About Palin]

Ulysses S. Grant looks a lot like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.

[sarcasmic]

Oversharing much? Milla Jovovich flashes black bra in snapshot of 'most awesome dressing room ever'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-ever.html

Milla and Paul wed in 2009 and have a five-year-old daughter named Ever.

WTF is it with celebrities giving their children stupid names?

[Brett L]

I honestly think its the SAG requirement that every member have a unique name for any credits they might have.

[sarcasmic]

I remember a certain actor talking about registering, and they already had a Sam Jackson. And a Sammy Jackson. And a Samuel Jackson.

[Brett L]

Sammy Davis Jackson Jr?

[Zeb]

That's why Samuel L. Jackson has the "L". I always think it's funny when big stars have to use their middle name or something because someone no one has ever heard of already registered the name.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If they have normal names they might grow up well adjusted and never write their tell all memoirs.

[carol]

A co-worker just mentioned that Bob Geldolf believes that all humans will dead from climate change by 2030. I replied that I don't put alot of stock in the ramblings of a man who named his kid Fifi Trixibelle.

[Zeb]

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what Bob Geldof believes if his kid was named Jane either.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I've had a crush on Simon Le Bon since I was 12 years old. When I found out about his hatred of Bob Geldof, I fell head-over-heels in lust.

[Zeb]

I like weird names. I think it is cool when people just make up a name for their kid. Having a normal name is overrated. And having a stupid yet unusual name is far better than the stupid names that become trendy.

[H. ReardEn]

Having a variant spelling of a common name is the stupidest thing ever. Forever the poor kid will have to spell it for everyone.

[Mainer2]

No. The stupidest thing is having a variant pronounciation of the common spelling. "MEE-shell Norris" on NPR spells her first name Michele.

[Juice]

Heh heh, she's pronouncing it correctly.

[Isaac Bartram]

I believe the standard English pronunciation of the name is as Mainer2 suggests.

The French pronunciation is closer to MeeSHELL (emphasis on the second syllable), so I'd have to say that Norris' pronunciation is an affectation that either she or her parents came up with.

I have no problem with people using alternate pronunciations but those who use them should not complain when other people use the standard one.

[tarran]

What.... the.... fuck?!?

Is it just me, or does it sound like a recruitment pitch for some maoist guerilla cadre? T

WORLD INITIATIVE

This is a call for pioneering, iron-willed young adults ages 17?19 to come together in an extraordinary initiative that aims to avert the looming global ecological and resource-related disaster.
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A TRAILBLAZER?
You undergo an intensive, 12-month-long training program, studying a vast array of topics related to conservation and sustainability.
Next, you become a member of a task team and formulate?at unprecedented clarity and detail?an array of mitigation measures on a planetary scale, enlisting many people along the way.
Finally, these task teams become the seeds of change.

SUMMARY
Our existing pro-environment endeavors do little more than rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. World Initiative intents to go the distance.

[tarran]

This initiative has two phases. The first is a yearlong intensive program for young people training them to become global leaders expressly primed to tackle the planetary issues that plague our world. Augmenting this program are eminent professors and experts from around the world. Among other things, the young adults will undergo rigorous study of all pertinent aspects of the crisis. They will be coached in effective campaign strategies. They will undergo intensive permaculture course. They will go on an expedition to the Amazon basin and Andes, immersing themselves in the local culture. They will be trained by ex Special Forces people to build up inner strength and fortitude. They will become Trailblazers.
During the second phase, the young adults will break up to task teams and develop an array of technological, logistical, economic, and political mitigation measures. Concurrently, they will reach out and enlist numerous MGOs, experts, and the public at large to flesh out those measures and have those task teams morph into becoming the seeds of a worldwide change.

[tarran]

THey have a different website for signing up.
TRAILBLAZERS

The objective is to prepare the members in myriad ways for the extreme challenges that lay in store for them. In its own way, the Trailblazers Training Program would be as rigorous as the training programs of special operations forces (e.g. Navy
SEALs) of the military.
The training program (Boulder, CO area) is going to be a combination of total nature immersion, rigorous academic studies, character-building experiences, and the honing of one's thinking and organizational skills. In participation of eminent experts from around the world, this unique training program aims to turn the participants into effective global leaders and warriors in the service of humanity and the planet at large.
The bulk of the training will be conducted in a classroom setting and will also include some substantial outdoor and experiential components.

[tarran]

The Trailblazers Training & Screening Program (TTSP) is a substantive twelve-month academic and outdoor program. Its main feature is highly rigorous study of a wide array of topics related to sustainability, economics, and international relations. The head instructor is Daniel Rirdan, educator and author of the notable book The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse. Augmenting the academic teaching is an international team of guest lecturers, coaches, and workshop leaders: eminent professors and experts who include Guy McPherson, Professor emeritus of natural resources and the author of ten books on the subject; Dr. Dickson Despommier, director of vertical farm project; professor Frank Biermann, chair of the Earth System Governance Project in Europe; and Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the inaugural Director of the Global Change Institute in Australia and one of the foremost researchers on ocean acidification and climate change. On less academic topics, Kelly Rigg, founding director of Varda Group, will lead a workshop on effective campaigning; John Buck, CEO of the Sociocracy Consulting Group, will conduct a week-long workshop, imparting the participants effective organizational and decision-making methodologies.

[tarran]

I've been reading these sites all morning and I am seriously creeped out...

[Gene]

I'm sure none of these folks will end up as eco-terrorists.

[Rich]

I know you're being sarcastic, Gene; but behold: During the second phase, the young adults will break up to task teams and develop an array of technological, logistical, economic, and political mitigation measures.

That's pretty explicit.

[Ted S.]

Where the hell do you find this shit?

[tarran]

English libertarian Bishop Hill recently added ads to his site to get revenue, and these guys placed an advert. I suspect its because the good Bishop writes extensively concerning the global warming cult.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I can see that.

I'll get scared when they start putting up pictures of clowns.

/shudders.

[waffles]

It's a jobs program tarran! But instead of doing anything productive it looks like they're making an army of indoctrinated "permaculture" warriors. Wait, what in the actual fuck is a "permaculture"? Is it like a fungus you can't remove?

[RBS]

All of those names sound made up.

[The Last American Hero]

Sounds like a job for Rainbow 6. Where the hell is Tom Clancy when you need him?

[Redmanfms]

Sounds like a job for Rainbow 6. Where the hell is Tom Clancy when you need him?

Clancy's dead baby, Clancy's dead.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

The Shining Path is rebuilding?

[tarran]

The thing is, if I wanted to build a terroristic movement, and had money this is exactly how I'd do it.

These kids will have money (the tuition requirements filter out the poor), little experience in the world, will be moldable... for two years everything they see and hear will be controlled, and the tough experiences will build up an esprit de corps.

At the end, you will have a pretty good idea who were the bright, tough, psychopaths that will industriously break the eggs you need to make your world-changing omelette.

[Jon Lester]

Or until your headquarters comes under attack; then you can liquidate your staff while making your getaway.

[SugarFree]

This initiative has two phases. The first is a yearlong intensive program for young people training them to become global leaders expressly primed to tackle the planetary issues that plague our world. Augmenting this program are eminent imani and experts from around the world. Among other things, the young adults will undergo rigorous study of all pertinent aspects of the crisis. They will be coached in effective campaign strategies. They will undergo intensive culture courses. They will go on an expedition to Syria and Libya, immersing themselves in the local culture. They will be trained by ex Special Forces people to build up inner strength and fortitude. They will become Trailblazers.

During the second phase, the young adults will break up to task teams and develop an array of technological, logistical, economic, and political mitigation measures. Concurrently, they will reach out and enlist numerous mosques, experts, and the public at large to flesh out those measures and have those task teams morph into becoming the seeds of a worldwide jihad.

Less than ten words.

[R C Dean]

They will be trained by ex Special Forces people to build up inner strength and fortitude.

This surprised me, but I guess you have a few hard-core lefty useful idiots even in the Special Forces.

[Rasilio]

"The first is a yearlong intensive program for young people training them to become global leaders expressly primed to tackle the planetary issues that plague our world"

So it takes 4 years to get a college degree that qualifies you to teach preschool but these guys think they can train 17 - 19 year olds to be "global leaders" in just 1 year?

Sounds more like a cult indoctrination to me

(and I would be shocked if the hottest females in the cadre were not pulled aside for extra 1 on 1 training by the leaders along the way)

[sarcasmic]

Mom's outrage after sporty 11-year-old daughter is sent home with a letter from school calling her overweight
A 5'5", 124 pound girl has been called fat by her school in a letter sent home to her mother
The determination was made by comparing her body mass index to peers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....chool.html
"I'm not fat! I'm big boned!"

[Drax the Destroyer]

.........wut

[Jordan]

If those photos are accurate, that girl is not fat in the least. But even if she was, it's none of the school's fucking business.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Apparently sarc's libertarianism doesn't extend to fatties. Fatties need to be controlled and told what to do by Top. Non-Fatties.

[sarcasmic]

That comment makes you look fat.

[invisible furry hand]

shut up, she's celebrating her Kurves

[Kaptious Kristen]

No, it's not an illusion - I actually am fat.

[sgs]

Yup.

[Andrew S.]

5'5", 124 isn't anywhere near fat.

[Juice]

But her one stat will go into the giant pile of stats just like this and, lo and behold, we have an epidemic that needs funding.

[tarran]

My GP is a professor at Harvard Medical school.

Invariably he has students with him as he conducts my physical, and invariably he lectures to them, "Mr Tarran here is a very good example of why the BMI is of very limited utility... while he could stand to lose a few pounds, he is by no means obese. Stocky people like Mr Tarran here will always be incorrectly labeled as obese."

So at least one doc is fighting the good fight.

[Drake]

The BMI is absolutely meaningless. The military constantly hassles Soldiers and Marines on the same basis. If they are weight-lifters, they fail the BMI and have to get measured for body fat.

[SugarFree]

I view BMI like a view IQ: It's a terrible measurement for the margins, but nails the broad middle of the bell curve.

If you're IQ is 70, you probably aren't very bright; if your BMI is 30, the overwhelming odds is that you are fat.

[sgs]

"if your BMI is 30, the overwhelming odds is that you are fat."

That is, frankly, moronic, and also wrong.

[Virginian]

No, he's dead bang on correct. If you grab 10 people with a BMI of 30, yes one or two will be strong people with a lot of heavy muscle on their frames.

But the majority of them will be just plain fat.

[sgs]

"if your BMI is 30, the overwhelming odds is that you are fat."

And aren't you professional writer or something?

You write like you think, all fucked up and wrong.

[SugarFree]

Ah, did somebody miss out on his juice box? It's OK, little buddy. Just take a nap.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I get this too. I'm overweight apparently because I'm 5'6" but have more muscle percentage than the average male.

At one point I was lifting fairly heavy in the gym and weighed about 185 lbs. My BMI was 29.9. I was 0.1 points away from being considered obese. BMI is a completely useless metric.

[Drake]

When I was in the Marines I had a friend about your size. He passed the fitness test with no problem, but they wrote him up for being overweight. At one point he took off his shirt and asked the Captain to point to the fat he was supposed to lose.

[invisible furry hand]

The letter also lists the girl as being two inches shorter than she currently is...

Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain

[Bryan C]

Remember, teabaggers. Michelle Obama's Let's Move! site is all that stands between your children and this same horrible fate.

[Zeb]

Yep, BMI is bullshit. She looks athletic and healthy. Muscular, fit people often have high BMI because muscle is dense.

[sgs]

Not according to IntelligenceFree, who idiotically insists "if your BMI is 30, the overwhelming odds is that you are fat."

[sarcasmic]

Teenager learns how to get SHRIMP to clean his teeth by imitating behaviour of fish off Bali

Russell Laman imitated the behaviour of the surrounding fish swarm to entice the cleaner shrimp into his mouth
The 13-year-old queued with the waiting fish and then opened his mouth when the shrimps came near

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-Bali.html
Good thing he's doing that in a free country like Indonesia. Try that shit in the United States and some jerk from the federal government will find an excuse to fine you and lock you in a cage.

[Tim]

The shrimp tooth cleaning industry is totally unregulated and the time is ripe for government to step in.

[sarcasmic]

If they outlawed fish pedicures, there's no way they'd allow shrimp teeth cleaning.

[SugarFree]

Florida po-po love triangle.

"No, I don't want to smell your baton."

[Ted S.]

I presume the assaulter is on a paid vacation?

[SugarFree]

Yup. Although this is something a cop might actually be fired for. Kill all the dogs and skells you want, but don't attack a fellow Sandman,

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

+1 Runner

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wow, a good old fashioned hair pulling!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Meow! Hiss!

[invisible furry hand]

The Literary Review is taking nominations for his year's Bad Sex Award. See some previous nominations here

I'd nominate anything by SugarFree but the judges don't deserve that

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

"Introducing, Warty Hugemannnnnnn!!!!!"

*BOOM* [Judges heads explode]

[SugarFree]

The winner:

Then, Bobby starts scrabbling frantically across the carpet for Mr Condom, sending five or six multicolour Durexes flying through the air, and he struggles getting the packet open and Georgie has to roll Mr Condom down Mr Penis for him and she has to help insert him into Mrs Vagina. They shag at double-speed: Inthekitchenthrydospoon
sonthebreakfastbaramongstallthecutlery
theninthebathroomtheyshowereacho
therwithhotkissesandGeorgiekneelsonthepisser
whileBobbydoesheruptheshitter
thenintheloungtheybounceupanddownontheso
fatheninthebedroomthey
squeakthespringsofthemattress. Meanwhile, down in Vaginaland, Mr Condom's beginning to feel a bit iffy. He's overheating. For some reason, the shagging seems to be twice as fast this evening, and he grimaces as he gets flung willy-nilly in and out of the pink tunnel. He starts getting friction burns, hanging onto Bobby's stiff penis for dear life, headbutting Georgie's cervix at 180 beats per minute. 'Help me!' he yells in the darkness, feeling himself melting. The sex only seems to be getting faster though, and Mr Condom squeezes his eyes shut as Bobby groans and the friction starts getting unbearable and Mr Condom thinks he's going to be sick and the searing pain the searing pain and Bobby groans again and suddenly squirts a gallon of white molten lava from his Jap's eye, exploding through Mr Condom's heavy reservoir end and Mr Condom screams and screams and vomits ice cream into Georgie's vagina.

[Lord Humungus]

after reading that, I feel like frickin' Raymond Chandler.

[SugarFree]

All of the examples are worth reading. Stilted purple prose about a subject few of them seem to have any experience with.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Seems to me if we celebrate James Joyce as an artist, this guy deserves some credit too.

[Lord Humungus]

Welcome to our future:

California's New Feudalism Benefits a Few at the Expense of the Multitude

As late as the 80s, California was democratic in a fundamental sense, a place for outsiders and, increasingly, immigrants?roughly 60 percent of the population was considered middle class. Now, instead of a land of opportunity, California has become increasingly feudal. According to recent census estimates, the state suffers some of the highest levels of inequality in the country. By some estimates, the state's level of inequality compares with that of such global models as the Dominican Republic, Gambia, and the Republic of the Congo.

At the same time, the Golden State now suffers the highest level of poverty in the country?23.5 percent compared to 16 percent nationally?worse than long-term hard luck cases like Mississippi. It is also now home to roughly one-third of the nation's welfare recipients, almost three times its proportion of the nation's population.

[Drax the Destroyer]

It's easier to homeless in warmer climes.

[Jordan]

Oh you mean that sclerotic markets caused by a gargantuan regulatory state leads to stratification? Well, I never!

/Progtard

[AuH20]

Clearly, the solution is to raise CA's income tax even higher!

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's all Arnie's fault.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So.

How does the DB pin this on Bush, the GOP and conservatives?

Would be difficult I gather given that the Dems have ruled that state, no?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Arnie

[AuH20]

No, I think they'll go with the techno libertarians of Silicon Valley. Which aren't that numerous or anything, but they seem to be driving the progs insane.

[Mokers]

Because of the way CA taxes housing, Young, new buyers effectively subsidize the lower taxes of the old and wealthy. It leads to artificially inflated prices all over the state. Of course the answer to all the problems is doubling down on the "anti-poverty" measures and subsidizing everything else. They allow things like high speed rail to continue because they think this will help the poor.

THIS IS WHAT CALIFORNIANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

[AuH20]

Seriously, is it something in the water?

That was also the state that invented the SWAT team.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

[Golden Girl] Betty White predicts Cleveland Browns will go to next year's Super Bowl

The Browns, of course, let her down.

[Matrix]

you're just loving that, aren't you?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Yep.

[Clich? Bandit]

Jesus Christ it is the singularity of the ML...we are all doomed.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

They should be available as pall bearers when she cashes in.

[Kaptious Kristen]

That's so meta

[Matrix]

DOJ blocks ATF whistleblower from writing a tell-all book about Fast and Furious
"because it would have a negative impact on morale," --- riiiight

That might work for the military, but to apply it to a civilian agency is BULLSHIT!

"Truth is treason in the Empire of Lies" - Ron Paul

[Jordan]

He's obviously a ratbagging teafucker.

[Rich]

But the officials said it was possible for an agent to be rejected for publishing a book for pay but get permission to publish it for free.

Alrighty, then.

[AuH20]

Profit is evil, Rich. It's what them corporationey corporations do!

[Rasilio]

So maybe he should ghost write the whole thing with a preface saying...

"The following is entirely a work of fiction, any resemblance to actual persons, events, or government agencies is entirely coincidential"

[sarcasmic]

Do as I say, not as I do! Anonymous librarians confess to breaking their own rules and a series of guilty pleasures (including 'vampire smut' and Fifty Shades of Grey)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rules.html
Which one is SugarFree?

[invisible furry hand]

that isn't even a challenge

[Bardas Phocas]

Of course I mis-read that as "Anonymous libertarians confess to breaking their own rules..." and imagined them driving on roads and collecting taxes.

[sarcasmic]

That's dumb.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Kotkin: So, California is looking kind of feudal these days, huh?
...As late as the 80s, California was democratic in a fundamental sense, a place for outsiders and, increasingly, immigrants?roughly 60 percent of the population was considered middle class. Now, instead of a land of opportunity, California has become increasingly feudal. According to recent census estimates, the state suffers some of the highest levels of inequality in the country. By some estimates, the state's level of inequality compares with that of such global models as the Dominican Republic, Gambia, and the Republic of the Congo....

[Lord Humungus]

A U.S. Default Seen as Catastrophe Dwarfing Lehman's Fall

Failure by the world's largest borrower to pay its debt -- unprecedented in modern history -- will devastate stock markets from Brazil to Zurich, halt a $5 trillion lending mechanism for investors who rely on Treasuries, blow up borrowing costs for billions of people and companies, ravage the dollar and throw the U.S. and world economies into a recession that probably would become a depression. Among the dozens of money managers, economists, bankers, traders and former government officials interviewed for this story, few view a U.S. default as anything but a financial apocalypse.

The $12 trillion of outstanding government debt is 23 times the $517 billion Lehman owed when it filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. As politicians butt heads over raising the debt ceiling, executives from Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Lloyd C. Blankfein have warned that going over the edge would be catastrophic.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Everything I've seen says there is plenty of current revenue to service the debt without additional borrowing. Is there not?

[Mike M.]

Yes. It's pretty annoying to have to debunk that lie every other day.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Sure, but when the Lightworker and Jack Lew decide that we need to make sure the orange cones blocking monuments and roads need to be paid for before debt servicing...

[Brett L]

Technically, they don't have a choice. Since the passage of the 14th Amendment, they can't repudiate any debt issued by the US.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Technically

That is in some thing written by dead old white dudes more than 100 years ago.

[Brett L]

"We'll pay you when Hell freezes over" may actually be a legitimate non-repudiation.

[Homple]

With goose feather pens in cursive.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's mostly hyperbole. Lehman didn't have the power to tax. The US does. Even with a temporary interruption, everyone knows that the government is capable of meeting its basic debt service obligations. However, it will be turmoil for those who have built their entire businesses around the ever increasing debt load of the US government. It also highlights how intertwined our government is in the financial markets, not only by regulation but by actual activity.

[Rich]

IIRC, Lew claimed on MTP that our cash on hand would vanish like ***snaps fingers*** that if the debt ceiling is not raised.

[Snark Plissken]

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology has been awarded to two Americans and a German for their discovery of a transport system that allows cells to deliver life-saving proteins and molecules to the right place at the right time.

AKA regulating vesicle traffic.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE AGAINST REGULATION!

[sarcasmic]

Nautical but nice! Instagram addict Bar Refaeli shares a photo of herself in a tiny bikini aboard a yacht

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....yacht.html

[Lord Humungus]

You can stick it where the sun don't shine...

Metro Detroit sex toy company offering free vibrators to furloughed government employees

Tom Nardone of Birmingham, the founder of the Detroit Mower Gang, a prolific pumpkin carver, bulletproof vest manufacturer, a married father of three and the creator of a successful Troy-based sex toy business named PriveCo, has harnessed the federal government shutdown to bolster name recognition for his company's website, vibrators.com.

For as long as the government is closed, his company is offering 200 free vibrators per day to furloughed government employees.

[Ted S.]

Batteries not included?

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Austerity.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

You need more name recognition for a site called vibrators.com?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Government Medicine Is Politicized Medicine
... Internal emails from the Care Quality Commission show that Labour tried to stop the watchdog from informing the public about failings at Basildon University Hospital, where patients were dying needlessly on filthy wards. The dossier of emails, released under Freedom of Information, state that Andy Burnham, the then Health Secretary, was "furious" when "graphic details" of the care failings became public.

Separate emails suggest that Mike O'Brien, the former Labour minister of state for health, told the NHS watchdog that "anything you do is political" in the run up to the General Election.

Executives at the watchdog decided that "given the political environment" a report into standards of care across the country should be "largely positive". ?

[Juice]

This is like when dumbasses complain about "stop politicizing education!!!"

Hey, man, you're the one that wants the government running it.

[invisible furry hand]

Airplane Lavatory Self-Portraits in the style of the Duth Old Masters

more

[Tim]

You can't handle the duth!

[Rich]

Nina Katchadourian whiles away long plane journeys by locking herself in the lavatory and pretending to be a 15th century Dutch painting.

Emphasis added. Paging TSA!

[SugarFree]

Nina Katchadourian whiles away long plane journeys by locking herself in the lavatory and pretending to be a 15th century Dutch painting.

How about fucking off back to your goddamn seat so someone can take a dump or have sex in there or take a dump while having sex in there?

[Lord Humungus]

Female robot used as a tour guide for Chinese art expo is taken out of action after being groped by over-zealous tourists

'But we designed it as an attractive female robot, and it seems more people are interested in grabbing the robot to have a snap made, or even fondling the dress to see what is underneath.

'As a result of the interference the robot keeps breaking down, and we have to put the human guides back into place.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Full on robot chubby!

[INFORG]

Good, I prefer groping the human guides anyway

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Fail Leviathan
...Apple responded by firing the guy responsible for the maps mess. And then it fired the head of its mobile-software operations and fired its retail chief. There are companies that just like firing people; Apple isn't really one of them, though it maintains a relatively formal internal standard of individual accountability. But sometimes things go so wrong so spectacularly that somebody has to go.

But don't expect Kathleen Sebelius to be walking the plank over the exchange rollout. That's not a bug in the political system ? it's an undocumented feature. The ability to command other people's capital and resources with no direct market accountability is the single most attractive feature of a career in politics; indeed, it may be the only attractive feature. The other benefits of a political career ? the oversized pay-and-benefits packages, the job security, the chauffeurs, the possibility of leveraging a political curriculum vitae into a very large payday in a private sector growing less private every year, etc. ? all those proceed from that one feature. The point of Obamacare is not helping economically marginal Americans secure health insurance ? there are easier ways to do that. Its raison d'?tre is a raison d'?tat: The administrative class in Washington is not held hostage by any special-interest group ? it is a special-interest group....

[Dead or In Jail]

S&P futures are off by 100. The stock market's going to get ugly this week if the Ds or Rs don't cave. My bet is the Rs will collapse and we won't get a stay of execution from the individual mandate. 🙁

[CampingInYourPark]

You might be right but 14 isn't 100

[Dead or In Jail]

Sorry, I was looking at the Dow. Rookie error.

[VG Zaytsev]

When did it become the federal government's primary job to make sure that the djia never ever goes down?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Don't you know that the index values are the entire economy?

[Lord Humungus]

May the John chub love jokes begin:

2013 Oklahoma State Fair Photo Contest: Semi-Finals, Part 1

I showed this pic to a very high-level girlfriend and the first thing she noticed was the fake Gucci bag. The second thing she noticed was the pile of vomit on my carpet. After that, things got as hazy as a pool of sweat near a butt crack.

[invisible furry hand]

Basically, she was the Bigfoot of the Oklahoma State Fair.

STEVE SMITH'S wife or sister?

[mad libertarian guy]

Both.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

I think the Oklahoma SMITHS are the black sheep of the family.

[Steve G]

Some truly funny pics there, but I was expecting that blog to be run out of CA or NY or similar prog paradise with the amount of contempt for the great unwashed present in that post, but surprisingly it's HQ'd right there in OKC.
Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but making fun of white trash seems less and less funny and I find myself defending them to the ones doing the mocking.

[Virginian]

The only thing I find annoying about the white trash bashers is their lack of color blindess. They'll shit all over Jim Bob and Lurlene, but god forbid you mock Shaquadisha and Detrequan.

I think trash is trash, and fun to mock either way.

[Zeb]

That's why white people like black comedians so much.

[Zeb]

The thing is, white trash seem to be among the biggest fans of jokes about white trash.

[Steve G]

True, true. Almost as if they are trying to out-redneck each other in some cases. See "redneck olympics" as one example.

[Lord Humungus]

Man who forgot to flush arrested for burglary

An Oklahoma man was arrested on burglary charges after police matched his DNA to used toilet paper found at the scene of the crime, police said.

[Rich]

What a shitty way to get caught!

[Elspeth Flashman]

I lol'd.

[Rich]

Abu Anas is being held aboard the USS. San Antonio, ... officials said. ... [He] has been indicted in Manhattan on charges of conspiring with bin Laden

Bit of a disconnect, it would seem.

He has been described as an al-Qaida computer expert and helped to conduct surveillance of the embassy in Nairobi

Put that man to work on Democratcare! Just don't call him "Aba Anus"!

[Lord Humungus]

more like "New American Bubble"

New American Economy Leaves Behind World Consumer

New American Economy Leaves Behind World Consumer
By Simon Kennedy - 2013-10-07T09:02:33Z

The rising American economy isn't lifting all boats -- and may even sink some.

As the U.S. looks set to accelerate, economists from Bank of America Corp. to Morgan Stanley predict it will provide less oomph abroad than it once did, partly because of changes wrought by the financial crisis and recession. The new-look America is focused on greater demand and production at home and taps more of its own energy, paring the need to buy overseas in a trend reflected by the smallest current-account deficit since 1999.

A healthier U.S. even could come at the expense of emerging markets if it turns into more of a competitor than consumer by boosting manufacturing. Developing countries also risk being hurt once the Federal Reserve withdraws its monetary stimulus, driving their cost of borrowing up and their currencies down against a resurgent dollar.

[Floridian]

I am economically illiterate. How is this bad? If the dollar increases in value isn't that good for my savings and investments?

[trshmnstr]

It seems like a stupid premise. First, you have to assume a bunch of things like we're about to have an economic renaissance, other economies have sufficiently detangled from ours that they won't be positively affected by our growth, and that we're going to be growing in areas that directly compete with other economies.

Second, this is a global "zero sum economy" argument, which is less than persuasive.

[Lord Humungus]

Chaotic: The Amazon Warehouses

Chaotic storage is like organized confusion. It's an organic shelving system without permanent areas or sections. That means there is no area just for books, or a place just for televisions (like you might expect in a retail store layout). The product's characteristics and attributes are irrelevant. What's important is the unique barcode associated with every product that enters the warehouse.

[SugarFree]

This is what we are turning to in archives. Who cares where it is as long as you can find it when you want it? It's not stuff people are allowed to physically browse in the first place.

[Brett L]

Wait, its almost like physical location used to be the organizing principle but now technology has moved beyond that...

[SugarFree]

Not really. The old organizing principle was colocation (placing like with like) based on subject matter with a sprinkling of colocation by format (oversized or large print books with same.) This relied on the idea that physical browsing had utility to the researcher, either by subject matter or by author (for fiction.)

[sgs]

Thanks for that, but that's books, and we're not tlaking about books.

So, your post is, again, worthless.

[robc]

Now if we can get governments to understand that.

Why the state should be tied to specific pieces of land is beyond me.

Heck, even community doesnt work that way anymore. See the H&R community, for example.

[Adam.]

First comment on the article "Just think, one of those pallets has boxes and boxes of butt plugs on it." Awesome.

[BigT]

If only our local ButtPlug were put in storage.

[MJGreen]

I have the sudden urge to order a book...

[Lord Humungus]

Families hoard cash 5 yrs after crisis

Five years after U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis and shattering confidence worldwide, families in major countries around the world are still hunkered down, too spooked and distrustful to take chances with their money.

An Associated Press analysis of households in the 10 biggest economies shows that families continue to spend cautiously and have pulled hundreds of billions of dollars out of stocks, cut borrowing for the first time in decades and poured money into savings and bonds that offer puny interest payments, often too low to keep up with inflation.

[Rich]

Shunning debt and spending less can be good for one family's finances. When hundreds of millions do it together, it can starve the global economy.

Ha! Suck on that, "society" deniers!

[robc]

Its also bullshit.

In the long run, the economy will be stronger when individual have strong finances.

[Rasilio]

HYou know Keynesians really are amazing in their stupidity.

See if we had an actual free market in banking and lending all of those savings would result in depressing borrowing costs, lower borrowing costs would spur new business investment, new business investment would increase productivity lowering costs, lower costs combined with lower return on investments would convince consumers to start spending.

The keynesian theory only works if those people were litterally stuffing mattresses with cash to save it.

Otherise all that it ends up doing is time shifting spending patterns

[trshmnstr]

Nothing can be a more clear indicator that segments of our economy are built on people over-extending themselves. If a movement towards frugality and living within our means causes economic hardship in some sectors, then it means those sectors should probably be forced to adjust to those changes.

[R C Dean]

Anybody who thinks capital formation (achieved only by shunning debt and spending less) is bad for the economy is not someone who I will waste any mindspace on.

They can join the legions of bloviators who talk about the "government shutdown" and "default" if we don't raise the debt limit.

For me, those are markers that you are an idiot that I don't need to pay any mind to.

[SugarFree]

Kulaks! Seize it and put that money in the hands of people that will spend it on Mountain Dew!

[WTF]

President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho approves.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Secretary of State John Kerry says that U.S. authorities are "very pleased" with Syrian officials who are cooperating with a United Nations mandate to destroy the Assad regime's chemical weapons.

The Administration has Syria and Putin wrapped around its finger!

[Tim]

About the only thing they can do at this point is brag about what a great success Obama's clever fake out startegy has become.

[Brett L]

Wait, I thought we had to bomb them because they couldn't be trusted to do this.

[The Late P Brooks]

Next, you become a member of a task team and formulate?at unprecedented clarity and detail?an array of mitigation measures on a planetary scale, enlisting many people along the way.

Unfortunately, there are no more Hummer dealerships to burn down.

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Yes but you can destroy a piece of corporate art and franchise coffee house at the same time.

[Fatty Bolger]

Obama priorities: Union, yes. Missing children, no.

[AuH20]

So, how has someone on the interwebz not mashed together Obama and the shutdown stuff with that scene from V for Vendetta where the Chancellor is going off, yelling about how "We will show everyone why they need us!" ?

[AuH20]

The Michael J Fox show... actually doesn't suck.

[Jordan]

He has a show? I thought he was at the point where he could barely string a few sentences together. How exactly is that working?

[kinnath]

that is the show

[Rasilio]

It is actually part of the show.

He is playing a beloved NYC newscaster who was forced into retirement by Parkinsons.

After spending time with his family they all decide that they'd rather he went back to work.

[BigT]

It would be more interesting if they had made him a serial killer or stalker or something. Who gives a damn about a newscaster with the shakes.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I saw the pilot. I thought it was really awkward and uncomfortable.

[SugarFree]

Yup. It was like Dick Clark on New Year's Eve.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Not only that, but WTF was with them casting someone to play his wife who is not his real-life wife, then casting his real-life wife as the "hot" neighbor with whom he contemplates an affair? So fucking icky and weird.

[SugarFree]

Yeah, I didn't get that either. It seemed ill-conceived all the way down the creative chain.

Have you ever watched Episodes? It's a good exploration of the sort of shit lakes you dive into while trying to make a network TV show. And the writers of the show went through it, so it's probably dead-on.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'll check that out - I'm fascinated by the business of TV.

[invisible furry hand]

Do! It's got the delightful Tamsin Greig from Black Books. Some chappy from Friends plays the arsehole version of himself, or so he claims

[Kaptious Kristen]

That Tamsin chick's hair is awesome.

[invisible furry hand]

Her co-star Stephen Mangan has some serious coiffure action going on too. Here's a rare photo of him with a beard

[SugarFree]

"How You Smellin'?"

[AuH20]

For a man with the physique of a 12 year old boy, he managed to get a stunner

[Rich]

How long until Marlee Matlin makes an appearance?

[Fatty Bolger]

Maureen Dowd: Welcome to Ted Cruz's Thunderdome

AN ape sits where Abe sat.

The year is 2084, in the capital of the land formerly called North America.

The peeling columns of the Lincoln Memorial, and Abe's majestic head, elegant hands and big feet are partially submerged in sludge. Animals that escaped from the National Zoo after zookeepers were furloughed seven decades ago migrated to the memorials, hunting for food left by tourists.

The white marble monuments are now covered in ash, Greek tragedy ruins overrun with weeds. Tea Party zombies, thrilled with the dark destruction they have wreaked on the planet, continue to maraud around the Hill, eager to chomp on humanity some more.

Maureen Dowd breaking into dystopian sci-fi? Warning: It only gets worse from here.

[Ted S.]

Bring on the delusional writing.

[Drake]

I love a happy ending.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Unless government can continue its growth unabated and unhindered, we will be dominated by evil wizards until a hero with a Sunsword and his friend Ookla arise from the ashes of DC to save us.

[Bryan C]

+1 Mok

[Hillary's Clitdong]

The white marble monuments are now covered in ash, Greek tragedy ruins overrun with weeds. Tea Party zombies, thrilled with the dark destruction they have wreaked on the planet, continue to maraud around the Hill, eager to chomp on humanity some more.

Slowly, Moonbeam crept through the ruins, continuing her search for the White House. She'd heard stories of the White House since she was a child. Her father had told her, before he died from lack of affordable health care, that the White House had been the location of the fabled Fountain of Benefits, from which anyone could drink. But now all Moonbeam could see was ruins.

Moonbeam had seen ruins before, of course, but she'd never seen something quite like this. She'd grown up in the Detroit work camps, and had seen the ruins of that great city over the fence every night. But Detroit had some life to it. Drug sellers peddled their wares, prostitutes plied their ancient trade, and security services sprang up to offer protection from the raids by marauding Galtists.

Moonbeam's reverie was broken by the sound of bubbling from the Lincoln Memorial Reflective Pool. The water bubbled, then swirled, then began to boil, and a foul stench issued forth from the brackish waters. Then, a low and terrible voice came from the depths: "I AM WARTY. PREPARE YOUR ANUS." Moonbeam began to run...

[Lord Humungus]

I like where this is going...

[invisible furry hand]

Maureen Dowd breaking into dystopian sci-fi?

Why not? Metallica might be

[Loki]

WTF?

[Rich]

The government shutdown has all but turned off the regulatory spigot, reducing the flow of new rules from federal agencies to a trickle.

Regulators and proponents of stronger protections warn that rulemaking delays will jeopardize public their own safety and health.

FTFY

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Let's not forget people who run things like sub-blogs named Regwatch. They're entitled to something to report on, after all.

[Rich]

During the shutdown they're reporting on Regis Philbin.

[Ted S.]

I think there's enough of a backlog for a site like Regwatch. 🙁

[Dr. Frankenstien]

How does this not help the economy?

[Jordan]

Okay, which one of you has the vanity plate "EVR1POOS"? I saw you today on my morning commute.

[Aloysious]

PB? Tony?

[Juice]

It's already taken? God damn it!!

[The Late P Brooks]

Tea Party zombies, thrilled with the dark destruction they have wreaked on the planet, continue to maraud around the Hill, eager to chomp on humanity some more.

Fortunately, the Chosen Ones, intellectual and moral giants such as Maureen Dowd, were transported to a beautiful floating Paradise in the sky, where zombie slaves satisfy all their needs.

[Coeus]

Good morning to all my bitches (you know who you are). Working days this week. Here's another Fark response to a reason article.

One of the final comments pretty much sums up the thread:

The Numbers
2013-10-07 06:57:10 AM
Wow is this thread ever a showcase for the effect of partisan blinders. Kid gets caught out embellishing details of his story and you guys go off the deep end trying to defend him. I mean, we've got just about every denial tactic out there going on in not even a very long thread. My favorite has to be the argument that single anecdotes don't equal data - perfectly true of course, but rather stupid to apply in defense of a guy who was held up as the anecdote that showed how well Obamacare could work.There will be genuine problems arising from Obamacare, however much you might want to deny them. Learning to deal with that without going full potato will actually help deal with all the BS criticisms that are also going to get dragged up.

[invisible furry hand]

without going full potato

oh, you kids and your crazy talk!

Seriously, I get the meaning - someone want to explain the origins of this phrase?

[SugarFree]

It's a replacement for "never go full retard" based on the "I can count to potato" meme.

[invisible furry hand]

Thank you Mr Free - this meme happily had bypassed me entirely

[Rich]

The term "ableism" had bypassed *me* entirely.

I learn so much from SF I can hardly stand it!

[SugarFree]

I learn so much from SF I can hardly stand it!

That's going on the wall.

[BigT]

I learn so much from SF I can hardly stand up!

FIFY

[Ted S.]

I don't care for the whole "internet meme" thing. Most of them are terribly unfunny.

[AuH20]

I hate how some people are trying to move the word "retarded" into nigger territory. I never hear the people who get so up in arms about calling something retard ever go to bat for dumb, stupid, idiotic, and imbecilic.

[Loki]

I hate how some people are trying to move the word "retarded" into nigger territory.

They are? Wow, that's fucking retarded. And queer.

[AuH20]

Queer's actually had a weird journey back into usage, as now it describes any sexuality/sexual identity that isn't straight and into liking your junk.

[Steve G]

If they want to take retarded out of my vernacular they're going to have to pry it out of my cold, dead larynx.

[UnCivilServant]

All right, we'll get you scheduled for a laryngectomy. How's 2:30 on wednesday?

[Steve G]

It'll be neither cold nor dead!

[BakedPenguin]

I wonder if actual retarded people have enough awareness to be offended by the term retarded.

[robc]

Recent comment of mine:

Just because you have a disabled license plate doesnt allow you to drive like a retard.

[RightofCenter]

We have a child of the "counting to potato" variety. Evil parents that we are, we've already made him count to potato once: "One, two, free, tay-to..." We had a good laugh and realized how we'd roast in Hell for that, then went on with our lives.

[Loki]

9 year old flies from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a bording pass or ticket.

All that security theater and its gets breached by a 9 year old.

[Rich]

officials are still trying to figure out how he did it -- and how he then got on the flight.

Just ask the kid, you morons!

[Steve G]

I liked them blaming the shutdown even though that really didn't make a dent in their screening army

[Loki]

That too. Apparently the shutdown means they can't even keep unticketed 9 year olds off of flights, yet there aren't planes falling out of the skies left and right from terrorist attacks. How can that be?

[Coeus]

Marcotte continues her war against men valuing women for more than sex.

Our recent troll infestation?which was conducted, as many are, by trolls who wait until a Friday night because they know that the moderators, unlike themselves, are probably offline socializing and maybe even having sex?was an unpleasant reminder that a lot of the angry, entitled dudes described in the post blame feminism because they can't get all the sex they think they deserve.

Per usual, I am perplexed by the entire hobby of freaking out on feminists because your own repulsive personality makes obtaining sexual attention difficult. I get that feminists sometimes make an attractive target: Having been told your whole life by conservative forces that feminists are haggard man-haters who are bitter because they can't get a man, finding out how many are actually well-adjusted people who are certainly doing better in the sex department than you can be disconcerting.

[AuH20]

Wanna know what's going to be fun in 3 years? Seeing Marcotte explain how if you don't vote Hilary, you probably hate all women.

[Coeus]

Also, is she ever gonna finally read the texts of her self-proclaimed greatest enemies?

Social skills

I realize a lot of you read "pick-up" manuals and blogs and think that you've developed social skills, but most of the time, the answer is no. The "pick-up" community is based on a single, false premise: That women are non-human animals that have to be understood as a separate species. It's closer to the philosophy of dog training and less about learning how to be a genuinely skillful social person. True social skills start with understanding that other people?even women!?have desires and feelings just like you, and behaving accordingly.

Cause she obviously hasn't yet.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

I'm not a practitioner, but isn't the bolded part basically all of pick-up? I mean sure, you're out to manipulate those feelings, but you can't do that without acknowledging them.

[Zeb]

I think that the PUA thing is fucking lame and sociopathic, but you have to acknowledge that their whole thing is understanding the psychology and motivations of at least some types of women and the ones who succeed, at least, are pretty good at it.

[TeflonExpat]

"your own repulsive personality makes obtaining sexual attention difficult"
--Amanda Marcotte

But not for women. Marcotte never has and never will acknowledge that.

[Briggie]

I don't really get this whole thing about shaming "nice guys" that has been popping up lately. Yeah when you use being nice or friendly to deceive people or expecting people to give you what you want because you are nice, that is one thing, but I don't get what is wrong with getting to know someone and then wanting more from the relationship. They seem to be just carpet bombing anyone who isn't a dickbag and values women as more than just sex objects. Just because someone wants something does not mean they think they are entitled.

[Briggie]

For example, I don't get what is wrong with this:

from nice guys of ok cupid

Yeah the obligation to shave legs is a little controlling, but:

Your significant other's ex is coming into town, and he/she wants to go out to dinner with them alone. How do you react?

First of all that is sketchy as hell, and second of all, no woman I have ever been with would be ok with that if it were my ex.

[R C Dean]

Your significant other's ex is coming into town, and he/she wants to go out to dinner with them alone. How do you react?

"Sure, honey. I'll have the locks changed and your stuff boxed up by the time the check arrives. Where would you like your stuff delivered?"

[Coeus]

I don't really get this whole thing about shaming "nice guys" that has been popping up lately

Life is easier on women if all the unattractive guys don't try to act like the attractive ones (pushing boundaries, etc). This has lead to a major societal push towards "taming" men to act in ways that make women the most comfortable. There is no reward for behaving this way in the sexual marketplace. Men are slowly coming to realize this and are asking pointed questions. If you say that the guys who are acting in the way they're supposed to are "closet rapists who feel entitled to women's bodies" then you can avoid having that difficult conversation about the reason it's actually being pushed.

For example: Cleavage can make some men uncomfortable in the workplace. But it gives some women power in the sexual marketplace. I've never worked anywhere where cleavage was banned.

Men talking to random women he finds attractive can make women uncomfortable. But it gives some men more power in the sexual marketplace. There is now a major societal push against men propositioning random women he finds attractive.

The "nice guy" ranting is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from this current state of affairs.

[SugarFree]

Mary's in the comments:

Kizone Kaprow ? an hour ago ?
Speaking of misogynists, the frat-house boys at Reason.com are still obsessed with Amanda, reposting excerpts of her columns on a daily basis, followed, of course, by the wittiest rejoinders this side of "Two And A Half Men." Oh, you libertarians! Why is only one out of a thousand of you a woman? 'Tis a mystery indeed.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/10...

I'd suggest the editors get a restraining order.

[Bardas Phocas]

DC Area under tornado watch.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....e-updates/

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's because the chemtrail guys are on furlough.

[Loki]

I'm sure it's somehow Ted Cruz' fault. The government's Weather Dominator was turned off due to the shutdownmeggedon.

[Matrix]

Is it too much to hope for an F5 to level that place?

[Mongo]

No article on General Vo Nguyen Giap other than a mention in 24/7?

He was one of the top three military minds of the 20th century (Zhukov and probably some German dude being the other two).

[Eduard van Haalen]

Jane Fonda has gone into mourning.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

"...some German dude..."

At least pick a winner if you're going to wade into this.

[VG Zaytsev]

Douglass MacArthur wasn't some German guy and Zhukov throwing cannon fodder at the enemy until they ran out of ammo wasn't exactly an act of genius.

[Virginian]

Zhukov was a great leader and commander, but not a great military mind. He simply took the German armored warfare theory and did it better, mostly because he had better tanks to do it with, and America supplied the USSR with enough trucks to support fully motorized warfare.

[Mongo]

D-Mac could easily be Top 3.

Zhukov beat the IJA and the Wehrmacht so strength-of-schedule factors into it.

[Virginian]

Yeah to me great military minds contribute ideas and concepts. Zhukov brought no new concepts, he just executed extremely well. Similarily, people like Douhet or Liddell Hart were great minds, but largely irrelevant in terms of actual combat command.

[Rabban]

Guderian and Rommel may have lost, but FFS give some credit where credit is due.

[mad libertarian guy]

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology has been awarded to two Americans and a German for their discovery of a transport system that allows cells to deliver life-saving proteins and molecules to the right place at the right time.

Are you sure they didn't discover a transport system that brings death to children? Because that's how Obama won his Nobel prize.

[Loki]

Obama got his Nobel for "peace". Because nothing brings peace quite like blowing up pakistani children.

Oh wait, I get it, it was a Nobel "piece" prize, as in blow people up into pieces, not a Nobel "peace" prize. Nevermind.

[The Late P Brooks]

I don't care for the whole "internet meme" thing. Most of them are terribly unfunny.

How's your lawn doing? Footprint free?

[Mongo]

Internet meme culture was completely un-predicted by futurists - I'm greatly amused by memes.

[Coeus]

The truth would make us feel bad.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case from publishing a book, claiming his retelling of the Mexico "gun-walking" scandal will hurt morale inside the embattled law enforcement agency, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.

Apologies if this has already been covered.

[The Late P Brooks]

It's closer to the philosophy of dog training and less about learning how to be a genuinely skillful social person. True social skills start with understanding that other people?even women!?have desires and feelings just like you, and behaving accordingly.

Want a treat, girl? Sit up. Gooood girl.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I always insist on *her* putting the leash on *me* - wait, is this thing on?

[Briggie]

I don't know man, I have had my fair share of women who were into that sort of thing. Then again that might just be the girls I hangout with.

[Briggie]

That was supposed to be @P Brooks

[Juice]

Nope. They all secretly want to have their hair pulled and be smacked around a little.

[Eduard van Haalen]

New York Magazine interviews Antonin Scalia - he repudiates the "faint-hearted" part of "faint-hearted originalist," concedes that flogging is constitutional.

http://nymag.com/news/features.....a-2013-10/

[Eduard van Haalen]

The interviewer didn't recognize the word "ukase."

[Eduard van Haalen]

"[interviewer] Isn't it terribly frightening to believe in the Devil?

"[Scalia] You're looking at me as though I'm weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It's in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.

"[interviewer] I hope you weren't sensing contempt from me. It wasn't your belief that surprised me so much as how boldly you expressed it.

]Scalia] I was offended by that. I really was."

[Eduard van Haalen]

(fourth digital page)

[Eduard van Haalen]

Come on, man, this is top-quality trolling here! I only give you the best quality bait!

[Eduard van Haalen]

OK, fine, see if I post the shirtless Scalia photos now. Ingrates.

[Juice]

Scalia: "Ninth Amendment? WTF is that? Next question."

[Coeus]

Rationalizations combined with a pointed lack of research.

It's what the grievance mongers eat for breakfast.

An example:

In the early 1980s, a large group of American middle-schoolers were given the SAT exam in math; among those who scored higher than 700, boys outperformed girls by 13 to 1. But scoring 700 or higher on the SATs, even in middle school, doesn't necessarily reveal true mathematical creativity or facility with higher-level concepts. And these were all American students. The mathematical society's study of the top achievers in international competitions went much further in examining genius by analyzing the performance of young women in other cultures. The study's conclusion? The scarcity of women at the very highest echelons "is due, in significant part, to changeable factors that vary with time, country and ethnic group. First and foremost, some countries identify and nurture females with very high ability in mathematics at a much higher frequency than do others." Besides, the ratio of boys to girls scoring 700 or higher on the math SAT in middle school is now only three to one. If girls were so constrained by their biology, how could their scores have risen so steadily in such a short time?

Anyone want to answer her "proof"? A simple google search will give you the answer.

[Brett L]

Do they still score a 700 at 3:1 if we give them the 1982 test?

[Coeus]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

[Rasilio]

"I hate when people in a bar or at a party find out I'm majoring in physics. The minute they find out, I can see the guys turn away." Yet another went on about how even at Yale the men didn't want to date a physics major, and how she was worried she'd go through four years there without a date."

I call fucking Bullshit on this.

I WAS a physics major and I can tell you that each of the 3 females in our undergraduate program (about 25 total people in it) could have had her own friggin harem had she wanted one.

What she probably means is that she can't get a date with the hot guys from the Lacross team who are majoring in Communications or Marketing.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hey young Mr. Goldwater - where's a nice beefcake picture for us ladies and gays today?

[Warty]

Here. Have a Russian.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Unacceptable levels of chest hair.

[Warty]

It's true.

[Kaptious Kristen]

That's what I'm talkin about!

[BuSab Agent]

Blech!

This is more my speed.

[Kaptious Kristen]

A-acayipsin!

[BuSab Agent]

Ah you know his work! But the poor libertarian menfolks of HnR just don't understand the joys of Turkish techno pop performed by a smokin hot man.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm a general Turcophile, but I love Turkish pop too. Sezen Aksu is my favorite. I also like Yonca Evcimik.

[Kaptious Kristen]

BTW, I can't find Yonca's "Kendine Gel" as a download anywhere. Not on Amazon or iTunes. If you know somewhere I can find it, let me know!

[BuSab Agent]

gotta buy the cd and rip it.

[AuH20]

Mr Blair Underwood

Sadly, it is very difficult to find shirtless actors who keep some fuzz on the chest, as you like 'em, Kristen.

Also, the new Ichabob Crane has not yet posed shirtless, but he does have quite the beard.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I like that Ichabod guy. He would be much hotter if he shaved that hair off his head, tho.

And the show is actually quite good. I normally don't do 1-hour dramas, but this one has held my attention.

[The DerpRider]

I sorta like that show, but one thing really bugs me. The Four Horsemen are portrayed as evil, but aren't part of God's divine plan in Revelations? Shouldn't the presumably religious Ichabod being doing everything to help them?

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's a show about a guy being asleep for over 200 years and awaking to help some small-town cop. I don't think historical or Biblical consistency are what they're going for.

[The DerpRider]

I said I liked it. I just found that part odd. They could have stuck to a Salem's Witchy type of storyline with the HH being reanimated by their craftwerk...

[Eduard van Haalen]

Washington Irving would be proud! Now his little tale is being incorporated into the Apocalypse?

And, yes, God can turn the designs of evildoers to His own purposes. Suck it, evildoers!

"Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" Matt 18:7

[Eduard van Haalen]

I recall being scared to death by the Disney (?) cartoon of Sleepy Hollow.

Yes, to death, I'm posting from beyond the grave.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The TV show has pretty much nothing to do with Washington Irving's story.

[Kaptious Kristen]

In honor of the upcoming premiere, how about some Daryl Dixon?

[Auric Demonocles]

Saying the debt ceiling will cause default is as stupid as saying an alt-text ceiling would.

[Juice]

It will cause default because they will choose it to cause default.

[KeithC]

Now that I know that there actually exists another freedom-loving, [i]calcio[/i] aficionado, I can comfortably gush over the collective glory of Roma's three goals this weekend -- Totti's first, a daisy-cutter that left Handanovic rooted to the spot; Totti's PK, an unstoppable rocket; and the third, a brilliant counter-attack that sums up the beauty of Totti and more generally Serie A quite nicely. The only thing I'm unhappy about is that it's going to be very difficult for Michael Bradley to break into that starting 11 once he returns from injury, as I don't think he displaces any of Strootman, DdR or Pjanic. That minor quibble aside, I'm crossing my fingers that both Roma and Napoli can sustain title challenges.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Bradley was solid up until the injury. Strootman is turning out to be quite the workhorse. Totti's skills are wicked.

Not crazy about Inter's line up.

I see Verona is in 5th. Interesting but I don't think they can keep it up ahead of Lazio and Fiorentina.

I don't know what the heck is going on with Bonucci at Juve. All I know is they'd better get their act in gear for Real in Champions League.

Realistically, don't think any of them (including Napoli) can beat Bayern or Arsenal. Barca and Real I can Juve's style containing but not the other two.

[KeithC]

Yeah, I'm with you on Juve. Not sure what it is, but they've yet to be really convincing this season. I think Conte's got a bit of a midfield puzzle -- Pogba's probably good enough to start, but I'm not sure which of Pirlo, Marchisio or Vidal makes way. It would also help if one of Giovinco, Llorente or Vucinic stepped up and grabbed that second striker spot with Tevez, but none have really done so (Giovinco's goal this weekend not withstanding).

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Each of those midfielders you mentioned have a unique style. All are world class. Not only that, there's now Padoin and Asamoah in the mix. I guess it all comes down to Conte's choice of formation. It's a pretty solid mid he has.

Always liked Giovinco. Vucinic is KEY. I love that guy. He can do anything. I also feel Quagliarella is an under rated striker. I feel in 2010 he was as dangerous as he was capable of scoring stunning goals. Llorente is a huge ? at the moment. He looked decent against Gala.

Did I hear right? Allegri is next in line to take over from Prandelli for the national team?

Am I the only one who doesn't see how? And I support AC Milan!

[KeithC]

That is nuts. If Milan could manage to make it a straight swap and nab Prandelli, that would be quite a 'get' for them, though. I have to think Galliani and Berlusconi are going to consider him once he steps down after Brazil. Probably Montella, too.

Somewhat related -- I seem to recall that Allegri was extremely close to a move to Roma this summer. Never quite understood why Roma were sniffing around there.

[OldMexican]

Secretary of State John Kerry says that U.S. authorities are "very pleased" with Syrian officials who are cooperating with a United Nations mandate to destroy the Assad regime's chemical weapons.

Oh, so Putin DOES deserve the Nobel Peace prize after all!