Ukraine Meetings Begin, Whistleblower Protections Expanded, Obama's Budget Wants All of the Money: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: castle79 / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

  Russian President Vladimir Putin says the armed men around military instillations in the Crimean area of Ukraine are not Russian troops, prompting a "Really?"-style response from Secretary of State John Kerry, who is now in the country. The White House has announced a $1 billion aid package for the country, and meetings between Ukrainian and Russian ministers have begun.

• In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court has declared that whistleblower protections provided to public companies also apply to contractors for said companies.
• Edward Snowden will be speaking at the South by Southwest Festival, though it will be via teleconference from Russia.
• President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich. Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet."
• RadioShack could be closing about a fifth of its stores, as many as 1,100 locations. I remember back in the late 1970s when they sold the earliest home computers (and remote control cars and transistor radio kits) those places were like that generation's version of the Apple Store.
• Another Bitcoin site has shut its doors. Bitcoin bank Flexcoin has closed down after hackers stole all their currency.
• The latest idiotic school "zero tolerance" nonsense has a 10-year-old boy in Ohio suspended for making finger guns.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Edward Snowden will be speaking at the South by Southwest Festival, though it will be via teleconference from Russia.

Obama's teleprompter has threatened to arrest Snowden's video monitor.

[Tonio]

Heh.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Slammer]

Howdy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

RadioShack could be closing about a fifth of its stores...

I thought that Super Bowl commercial was going to bring them back from the brink.

[Pro Libertate]

Too bad. They taught me BASIC on a TRS-80 with a cassette drive.

[Auric Demonocles]

Pro Lib, I assume that you learned to program on rocks.

[Pro Libertate]

Nope, TRS-80. . .a more primitive mechanism than your advanced "rocks."

[Auric Demonocles]

That's probably true. I've at least heard of rocks.

[Pro Libertate]

Have you seriously never even heard of the TRS-80? I'm surprised. You should read up on it to see how little a computer could once do. Or, phrased differently, how much they could do with so very little.

[Auric Demonocles]

Nope. According to Wiki they were discontinued 7 years before I was born. The oldest computer I can name off the top of my head is the Macintosh 2 (I imagine this means there was a Mac that came before it, but that probably doesn't count). This is because a hand-me-down one of these is what I had until sometime in the mid-to-late 90s.

[Pro Libertate]

I wasn't kidding about the cassette. Seriously, a tape player was hooked up to the computer for data storage. I think the original machines had something like 4K in RAM, so the cassette must've been measured in some low number of K as well.

[SweatingGin]

I forget the model, but my first programming was on a little thing with 2k of ram (also cassette storage -- actually had headphone jacks to connect a standard cassette deck).

With 2k of ram, you could write a program to pick random lottery numbers. It could only do 5 numbers, though. The 6th would overflow the memory.

[Pro Libertate]

2K? Fuck, that's getting down to just an order of magnitude or so of counting on my hands and feet.

[pan fried wylie]

2K? Fuck, that's getting down to just an order of magnitude or so of counting on my hands and feet.

Yeah, but it could still do a couple tens of thousands of those lil operations a second. So still of marginally more utility than fingers and toes.

[Pro Libertate]

Stone knives and bearskins.

[Ted S.]

Wow; it was discontinued even before I got my first computer, a TI-99/4A.

I remember programming it to flip ten virtual coins at the same time, before "virtual" was used for such things and before I ever heard of the word "pseudorandom".

[Jerryskids]

When I bought my first computer, I looked at the different ones available and went with the TRS-80 mostly because I knew that, even if I didn't know much about computers, Radio Shack knew and would always be on the cutting edge of computer technology. It's not like their systems would ever be obsolete.

[Scott S.]

I had a TRS-80!

[Brett L]

The 'ol TRaSh-80. Back when Radio Shack was a player in the home computer market. And it did kick ass for its time. And gave a former prof of mine endless stories about switching from 8 to 16 bit registers on the "upgraded" model.

[tarran]

I actually still have my TRS-80 Color Computer. It's in the attic somewhere.

The cassettes containing all my programs, including the first video game (a *very* primitive combat flight simulator) I ever created, are turned up recently while I was cleaning out my basement... in a box that also contained all my favorite intellivision game cartridges.

[Pro Libertate]

Any hope the data on those cassettes is still intact? And is there a way to transfer it to modern computer formats?

[tarran]

Honestly, I wouldn't bother; I was 13 years old, and teaching myself basic. Saying the programs sucked is an insult to sucky programs.

One of the programs was awesome; it went something like:

10 LET I=1
20 POKE I,0
30 PRINT I
40 LET I = I + 1
50 GOTO 20

My dad thought it would be an interesting exercise to show where the program resided in the memory, and encouraged me to run it.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the EPROM in the TRS-80 Coco was not RAM, but more RAM that didn't lose its state when the computer was powered down.

The program stopped working when it got to about I=1,000, and now I had a very expensive brick.

Fortunately, because my dad had encouraged me to do this terrible thing, he paid for the repair... 🙂

I also have the Assembler, Logo and Zaxxon expansion cartridges somewhere.

[tarran]

AAAH

It should be:

Unfortunately, it turned out that the EPROM in the TRS-80 Coco was not ROM, but more RAM that didn't lose its state when the computer was powered down.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I learned on this.

Yes, cassette storage until the boss bought one of the first floppy drives.

[Jarl ? the booty]

I have a Timex-Sinclair 1000 which I bought at a junk shop, but no AC adapter. Oh well.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Me too! My dad took us to programming classes after we went to swimming.

[Mad Scientist]

RadioShack has suck-diddly-ucked for so long I can barely remember the last time I actually found an electronic component I was looking for in there. Every year or so I wander into one hoping to find something simple like a micro switch or a relay but find nada. If 1100 locations close, no one will miss them.

[SweatingGin]

I need a small LED, a fuse, and a handful of resistors.

"Can I get you batteries? Or a Sprint cell phone?"

[Mad Scientist]

They also carry the new line of CB radios!

[Mokers]

Last time I went into one, they didn't even have any three prong adapters.

[William of Purple]

Why do they need your address to buy batteries!

[Zeb]

Used to be the last 4 digits of your phone number.

[Raven Nation]

+1 Cosmo Kramer

[SIV]

Radio Shack was OK for a few years after they acquired Allied.

[Zeb]

Yeah, it has been useless for years. I'm amazed that they have lasted as long as they have since they tried to become more consumer electronics oriented.

[Nick M]

RadioShack: "You've got questions. We've got questions."

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The latest idiotic school "zero tolerance" nonsense has a 10-year-old boy in Ohio suspended for making finger guns.

And if the school had installed a cop to stop mass shootings that boy would be dead.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Are kids allowed to pretend to be superheroes? Because pretend Superman is a lot more dangerous than any single pretend handgun.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You apparently saw Man of Steel. Smallville and Metropolis took it on the chin.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I skipped Man of Steel because I figured it'd be like the final scene in the third Matrix movie where they fight for 50 minutes and nothing happens because they're invincible. I think it was Suderman's or Loder's review that confirmed this for me. I'll check it out when it's free on Netflix.

[Auric Demonocles]

That was pretty much the case. It's a big problem with the character.

[Auric Demonocles]

I imagine the real punch that goes along with the imagined super powers hurts a lot more than the imagined bullet that goes along with the imagined gun.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

But if we've learned anything from lefties, it's that violence is okay, as long as it's not done with a gun.

[Jordan]

Unless it's done with a gun which belongs to the State. Then it's doubleplusokay.

[Mad Scientist]

Lefties don't mind guns so long as they're carried by authority figures who were duly trained by democratically elected TOP MEN.

[PD Scott]

There's always that one pretend supervillain with the pretend kryptonite.

Why the other kids can't pretend they're wearing bulletproof vests is beyond me.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The only time I was ever really disciplined in school was when in third grade me and bunch of other boys got in trouble for roughhousing when we pretended to be X-Men during recess.

I may have accidentally hit a kid in the face, so I got like a week of no recess detentions along with 10 other boys.

[The Other Kevin]

We had an incident recently at my kids' school. A high school kid had some rifles locked in his trunk. Was supposed to drop them off at a relative's house but forgot. One of his friends ratted him out, he was arrested, and per Indiana law, has a minimum one year expulsion. Nobody felt the least bit threatened. Shame the kid didn't just keep his mouth shut.

[Auric Demonocles]

That "friend" is a piece of shit.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Stupid, idiotic friend.

Rat.

[R C Dean]

That's a "friend" who is due for a "frank exchange of views" in a deserted corner of the parking lot.

[Warty]

Don't miss the comments.

Just me ? 7 minutes ago
The policy is stupid. But since the class was told repeatedly that the behavior would not be tolerated the child had plenty of warning. Maybe the next time he will take it seriously. His parents should make him study at home for 3 days and teach the child that there are repercussions when he does not listen.
1 ? Reply?Share

[Certified Public Asskicker]

His parents should make him study at home for 3 days and teach the child that there are repercussions when he does not listen.

[Ted S.]

His parents should file a 1A lawsuit and bankrupt the fucking administrators.

[Some call me Tim?]

Where did you get the idea that children have free speech rights in a public school???

[Rhywun]

FTA:

"The bigger issue is that we need more behavior health and counseling at school so we can look at the root cause of why this child is acting out and being disruptive," said Tavares.

Just... wow.

I have a feeling that the kids growing up in this environment are going to need even more counseling to reverse the brainwashing they got in school.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I can't stand logic like that.

I know it's bad but you shoulda listened!

[RBS]

Look, rules are rules, ok?

[Raven Nation]

I had a student once write an essay on slavery in which he declared: "Slaves were only punished when they didn't obey their masters."

[mr simple]

"The bigger issue is that we need more behavior health and counseling at school so we can look at the root cause of why this child is acting out and being disruptive," said Tavares.

You see, what these boys need is not suspension, but counseling to know why play acting is bad. We desperately need to hire more non-teachers at school to quell all imagination and not improve learning.

[Mad Scientist]

We don't need no education...

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Fingerbang bang bang Fingerbang bang bang bang bang
I'm gunna fingerbang, bang you into my life.
Girl, you like to fingerbang and it's alright.
'cause' I'm the king of fingerbang, yea, that's right .
I'll just fingerbang, bang you every night

[Fist of Etiquette]

In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court has declared that whistleblower protections provided to public companies also apply to contractors for said companies.

But as long as they blow their whistle to their immediate, offending supervisor?

[PD Scott]

I recall a Doonesbury from the 70s. Uncle Duke was Governor of Samoa. His aide, MacArthur, suspected he was taking bribes.

As recollected here (sorry, can't find the actual strip):
MacArthur wants to report Duke to the authorities. Duke says, "Who is the highest authority on the island?"
"You are," MacArthur says and then promptly informs Duke that he suspects him of taking a bribe from an oil company.
"I'll look into it," Duke says with a straight face. Investigation over.

[Matrix]

The latest idiotic school "zero tolerance" nonsense has a 10-year-old boy in Ohio suspended for making finger guns.

I wish someone would have posted this in the MLs.

[Tonio]

...or commented on that upthread.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So A.M. links.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Edward Snowden will be speaking at the South by Southwest Festival, though it will be via teleconference from Russia.

And he's sure to find a like-minded audience in Austin.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich.

If the past few years has taught him anything, it's that class warfare wins elections.

[Auric Demonocles]

President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich. Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet."

FOUR! MORE! TRILLION!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

But he got spending under control! DONTCHA SEE?! DONTCHA?

[Rasilio]

The funny thing is how are they defining rich here?

Because a rough back of the envelope calculation shows that $651 Billion somewhere around half of all income above $400,000 a year. That would mean an effective federal tax rate of somewhere well north of 65%

[Auric Demonocles]

Wasn't the standard they used two or three years ago like $250k?

[Rasilio]

Well based on 2011 numbers (the latest year available)

the top 5% (Adjusted Gross Incomes $167k a year and up) earned $2.8 Trillion and paid $589 Billion in Federal Income taxes.

the top 1% (Adjusted Gross Incomes $388k a year and up) earned $1.5 Trillion and paid $366 Billion in Federal Income taxes.

So if these $651 Billion in new taxes were spread over the top 5% it would basically double their effective income tax rates to about 45% (throw in state, local, and payroll taxes and you're looking at somewhere near 65% depending on where you live) and if they just socked it to the top 1% their effective tax rate would triple 65% and their total effective tax rate would be somewhere well north of 80%

[NotAnotherSkippy]

And they still wouldn't be paying their fair share.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The rich are getting their sticker shock this year.

3.8% & .9% medicare taxes, top marginal rate increase, personal exemption phase outs, itemized deduction phaseouts, capital gains increase to 20%, itemized medical floor increase...

But yes, moar!

[R C Dean]

Is that $651BB per year, or over ten years?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Another Bitcoin site has shut its doors. Bitcoin bank Flexcoin has closed down after hackers stole all their currency.

I can just picture a hacker Bonnie and Clyde duo tear-assing around the web robbing Bitcoin exchanges.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Another Bitcoin site has shut its doors. Bitcoin bank Flexcoin has closed down after hackers stole all their currency.

I can just picture a hacker Bonnie and Clyde duo tear-assing around the web robbing Bitcoin exchanges.

[Brett L]

Wow. Now 2 places "got robbed". Either their security was for absolute shit or conspiracy.

[Juice]

It's the first one.

[cavalier973]

Yeah, I'm glad I keep my real money in a real bank, where it can never be stolen.

[The Late P Brooks]

"You'll poke your eye out, Kid."

[Bo Cara Esq.]

SoCon Mother Fights 'Pornographic' Shirts by...Buying All of Them?

"Popular teen store PacSun is selling pornographic and sexually explicit tshirts in their 600+ stores and online. Many of the stores are displaying the tshirts in their front windows, forcing all who walk by (including young children) to be exposed to the objectifying material.

One mom in UT was so outraged that she bought every tshirt in stock at one location."

http://pornharms.com/pacsun/

[RBS]

That story is at least a month old at this point.

[Ted S.]

Didn't you post this one already?

[Zeb]

Well, she went for the non-coercive response, so that's nice.

[waffles]

651 billion! Where can I get some of that action?

[Ted S.]

Alt-text: "Just put your lips together and blow."

[Overt]

"Another Bitcoin site has shut its doors. Bitcoin bank Flexcoin has closed down after hackers stole all their currency."

I haven't been paying too much attention to the bit coins. But when this happens, do other people lose their money? i.e. the customers of said bank?

Is there a way to "buy" a BC's with dollars and stuff it in a virtual mattress where some other company can't lose it on your behalf?

[waffles]

Yup. You store your private key on a piece of paper (or anything really). You could also put it on a flash drive or any kind of media storage. You could even tattoo the key on the inside of you girlfriend's thigh.

[Cytotoxic]

Why the hell does anyone store their BTCs on a server?

[waffles]

Coinbase has made me extremely lazy.

[Firework Surprise]

Just moved my Coinbase Bitcoin to the wallet on my home computer. Not sure what is going on here, but looks like these places are getting picked off.

[SweatingGin]

The ways these places are getting hacked -- it was bound to happen sooner or later. Lots of incompetence from some of these operators (SQL injection, just read about one that let withdrawals go negative, etc.)

[Surly Chef]

For some reason the tattoo idea got me all worked up. Must be the MDMA afterglow. Bought with bitcoins.

[waffles]

Funny you should mention that...

[Surly Chef]

You don't have to store the coins in an online bank. You can keep them on your computer or make a wallet on a physical drive and store them there. Unless you've just bought them with physical currency, or a bank transfer, I don't see the reason to keep them in an online bank. Especially now.

[Overt]

So what are all of these bitcoin banks? Are they just fly-by-nights making it so you don't have to keep your wallet nearby?

[Surly Chef]

Partly. I think their primary function is to facilitate buying. Unfortunately as Waffles stated it makes people lazy and they just keep them there. Also downloading the blockchain is time consuming.

[Clich? Bandit]

google Brain Wallet

[waffles]

I have one! My passphrase is cartoon rabbit socks, I never forget it.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Patrick Stewart appears on Colbert, helps mock the idea that anyone has been harmed by the awesomeness that is Obamacare

Still love Patrick Stewart, but it's best we ignore his socialist politics.

[John]

yes

[Pro Libertate]

Look, what do you expect from a British actor? I just ignore their politics so I can enjoy their work. Just saw him as John of Gaunt in the BBC Hollow Crown series (the Richard II episode). Very good, as usual, as were most of the other members of the cast.

[LynchPin1477]

So what's with the claim that the Kock's paid for actors in ads? Were the stories true, but just using actors to deliver? Or were they actually made up?

[Sudden]

I'm pretty sure that every ad uses paid actors. These people are grasping at straws in their efforts to discredit.

[LynchPin1477]

OK, this is too much. Via the original link

Recently, it had come out that actors had been paid by the Koch Brothers and other factions against the Affordable Care Act to play up the horrors of the law in ads.

Now here is the ad in question.

Anyone who claims they thought those weren't actors is being totally disingenuous. Grasping at straws doesn't even come close.

[Geoff Nathan]

I was at a party Sunday night filled with my 'prog' friends, and they were all outraged about these ads (there's one targeted at Gary Peters, our local congressman). That stuff's all made up, they say--nobody's really losing coverage.
I decided to remain quiet, since I'd never even seen the ads. Now I have. Oh well...

[MJGreen]

Hahaha, what the fuck? They don't even claim to be real people. You don't see them, or anyone, speak. Far as you can tell from the ad, the narrators are not the people we see in the choreographed shots (and they probably are not).

How pathetic.

[PD Scott]

My unemployed sister (who I'm ashamed to say voted for O! twice) was complaining about trying to sign up for Obamacare. She was unhappy about the fact that if she signs up she will get a subsidy, yes, but if she actually gets hired by a company with healthcare benefits she would either be stuck with O-care for the year or have to pay however much it would have cost her without the subsidy.

[Sudden]

One of my ex-wife's friends, a huge liberal, posted a facebook rant the other day about how her health care was cancelled and when she signed up through coveredca.gov, she ended up with payments doulbe what she was paying before and it didn't even cover her birth control.

The schaudenfreudean smile on my face nearly broke the moniter with its radiance.

[Homple]

But she blamed the Republicans and the insurance company, yes?

[califernian]

well who else is to blame?

[Juice]

to top it off it was terrible and unfunny

[MJGreen]

Laughing at people losing their coverage or having to pay more is the epitome of compassion and empathy.

Remember just a few short years ago, when 'inadequate' health coverage and the rising prices of insurance were the Most Serious Issues facing the country? How viciously would Colbert and others rip anyone who mocked the idea that 20-somethings were suffering because they didn't have health insurance? How viciously were people criticized for laughing at Sandra Fluke's situation?

[R C Dean]

No, the epitome of compassion and empathy is passing and implementing a law that causes people to lose their coverage or have to pay more.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Trigger warnings hit real life. Or kind-of-real life (college).

[RBS]

HuffPo should just change its name to Trigger Warning.

[Anomalous]

Trigger please!

[jesse.in.mb]

Can't we just throw them in front of everything all the time until they become laughable, like the really crude attempts at political correctness in the '90s?

[Juice]

Kind of like the disclaimer at the beginning of South Park, "No one should ever watch this show."

[waffles]

trigger warnings are a trigger for me.

[mad libertarian guy]

This is absurd.

The entire point of college is to expose students to thoughts that might be disturbing to them. The entire fucking point is to get students out of their comfort zone and address ideas rationally. Is "being made uncomfortable" really a valid excuse to miss class?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It's not to get everyone thinking the same?

[Homple]

"The entire fucking point is to get students out of their comfort zone and address ideas rationally."

That may have been true in 1910.

Now the point is to get students indoctrinated with lefty ideology and completely and irremediably PC whipped.

[VicRattlehead]

Register your gun, pay your tax
Your lips are brown from kissing ass
Sorry guys I can't make it
Maybe next time, think I'll pass
Don't make them mad, don't make them sad
A fate for you that's worse than death
you're a slave and you don't know it
It always happens to the best

PC whipped, PC whipped
Don't you know you're PC whipped
PC whipped, PC whipped
Don't you know you're PC whipped

They wants to be involved with you
In every little thing you do
Always has to add its two cents
It's obvious who wears the pants
Your friends all hate you, you don't care
Cause you've been trapped in Their lair
And hopefully on day you'll see
That speech isn't granted, it came for free

[SusanM]

While I'm kinda down with you guys here about trigger warnings being bollocks, I'd like to ask if maybe you're taking this a little too far?

[R C Dean]

No amount of ridicule and abuse is too much to heap on any "trigger warning".

[SusanM]

Carry on with the ridicule by all means - but does it really indicate that a Maoist Cultural Revolution is underway?

[Coeus]

Dear god. We need to put up banners at that college.

"Trigger warning for reality: Grow up and get thicker skin, cause the world doesn't give a fuck."

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

God Coeus, you just have to microaggress, don't you?

[RBS]

Somebody is getting a letter from the Militant Atheists of America...

[waffles]

that's pretty much macro. Micro is like, you look nice today.

[Warty]

Of course Oberlin is mentioned. This is the place that shut down classes for at least a day because some kid wrote "nigger" on a wall.

[Brett L]

Oh, great. Now we have to shut down the thread because you didn't precede it with "TRIGGER WARNING".

[RBS]

some kid wrote "nigger" on a wall.

faints

[Ted S.]

And it wasn't a racist, but an "anti-racist" trying to make some sort of point about how evil the non-existent racists were.

[VicRattlehead]

Trigger warning- The Dutch word for the shade black is present in this article

[Homple]

Every classroom and student-accessible space should be equipped with a fainting couch, a smelling salts dispenser, and a readily accessible emergency kit of clutchable pearls.

[SweatingGin]

Stealing this description.

[PapayaSF]

That would make a good single-panel cartoon.

[SIV]

I'd show every class I Spit On Your Grave followed by a pop quiz. Next week it would be Entrails of a Beautiful Woman

[mad libertarian guy]

I made it a point to show every class I ever taught things that would make them uncomfortable. On fucking purpose.

Specifically, Chasing Amy and/or But I'm a Cheerleader.

[LynchPin1477]

the student who sponsored the proposal, decided to push the issue after attending a class in which she "felt forced" to sit through a film that featured an "insinuation" of sexual assault and a graphic depiction of rape. A victim of sexual assault, she did not want to remain in the room, but she feared she would only draw attention to herself by walking out.

I feel sorry that she was assaulted, but I can't imagine anyone not excusing her if she told them the reason. And if they didn't excuse her, well, it's not like she is going to fail the class for missing one session. Tell the professor to fuck off.

[Matrix]

High fat diets are bad for you.
High carb diets are bad for you.
Now high protein diets are bad for you

Might as well drink... Awww fuck!

Well, guess we're screwed.

[Rasilio]

In health news today researchers have determined that the leading cause of death is life

[Clich? Bandit]

Evidence shows research causes cancer in rats.

[jamesrk]

dont worry the united appeal for the dead is there for them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Occg29DsI7k

[Juice]

What about The Zone?

[np]

Pro-Ukrainian vandals throw paint at Lenin monument in Krasnoyarsk

Police are probing an act of vandalism in Krasnoyarsk where the Lenin monument was pelted with red paint and had a pro-Ukrainian slogan written over it.
.....
"According to the material posted on the Internet, a black and red cloth has been hung at one of the local bridges, with a phrase 'Siberia with Maidan' but the police have yet to find it.

[Boisfeuras]

"According to the material posted on the Internet, a black and red cloth has been hung at one of the local bridges, with a phrase 'Siberia with Maidan' but the police have yet to find it.

Well, it's Russia, so the bridge it was on was probably stolen.

[jesse.in.mb]

Soviet animation from 1934: Soviet Toys

It's kind of like Voltron, if Voltron were trying to syncretize Christmas traditions by changing from a bunch of Soviet soldiers with capitalists hanging from nooses from their arms into a Christmas tree.

[Warty]

It looks like an evil Terry Gilliam cartoon.

[SusanM]

Not as good as Worker and Parasite

[MJGreen]

That's one of my favorite jokes from the Simpsons.

[Sevo]

"President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich. Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet.""

It's a mark of how bad it is that I'll agree with Boehner.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet."

He can say that every year and always be right.

[Coeus]

Black activists and politicians force Trader Joe's grocery out: Claim it would attract too many whites

But hey. Just keep bitching about those "food deserts".

[Pro Libertate]

Let me just say that if you don't want Trader Joe's, there is something seriously wrong with you, your world view, and your shopping habits.

I'm just thrilled that Tampa is finally getting one.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Surely you're aware of this site?

It's how I found out about Trader Joe's bags of frozen Chimichurri Rice, the best rice in the universe.

[Pro Libertate]

I was not--thanks. I'll now plan my buying when ours opens later this month. We only go sporadically to the one in Sarasota.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

If the Chimichurri rice isn't the best rice you've ever had, I'll let you kick me in the balls. It's that good.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, okay, though I should warn you that we have a Peruvian restaurant nearby.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I stand by my claim.

[Pro Libertate]

It's a really good Peruvian restaurant.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I can assume that you've acquired a taste for panca pepper then?

The base for the TJ rice is tomato, panca pepper paste, shallot, onion, garlic, lime, and creme fraiche.

All of this food talk is making me hungry for dinner. Lomo saltado, I'm thinking...

[Pro Libertate]

The place we go to also has fantastic ceviche.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My wife won't let me until the baby is born. I'm glad I can still drink, though.

[Juice]

TJs has cheap wine and good cheap beer. That's about all they're good for. The food is way meh and it's always so packed that I can never get in and out so I never go.

[Pro Libertate]

There's more there than that. Some of it is not great, some is expensive, but they have a number of reasonably priced private label products. For instance, we bought a bunch of nuts there for about a third of what they'd cost at, say, Publix.

[Juice]

I get m'nuts at Costco.

[R C Dean]

I've never been in a TJ's that didn't let me get in and out much quicker than a standard issue "grocery" store.

They have good solid quality on the private label stuff. The fruits/veggies are usually fine, if not quite up to Whole Paycheck standards. The meat, I couldn't say.

[Juice]

Well, I'm in DC and every time I've gone to TJs it's hell. You get in line to park. Then you get to the door and you're basically in line now. You get your stuff as you go through the store and you're basically still in line until you check out. Then you're in line again to leave to garage. Maybe Tuesdays at 10 am it's dead, but I've never seen it any other way than what I described above.

[Pro Libertate]

I think you have your answer right about the part where you said you lived in DC.

[Tonio]

It's really about forcing those small corner markets to carry fresh produce. The fantasy is that those markets are locally-owned (trans: owned by people of the same ethnicity that predominates in the neighborhood). Yet they can't do that (yet) so they are working around the edges of the problem by preventing established chains which do carry fresh produce and healthy food from opening in those neighborhoods.

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought they were owned by an elderly Korean couple.

[Pro Libertate]

Clearly, what they need is the classic Korean grocery, with cheap shit, including produce. Long ago, when I was dating and poor, I used to get cheap roses from a Korean grocery store here.

[SusanM]

It wouldn't be complete without an old couple who treat you (and everyone - equality!) as if your mere existence offends them. It's that local charm which makes it truly special.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm seeing an opportunity for a giant grocery store chain that simulates the local charm in such a manner.

[SusanM]

Well, I've got experience in retail management and being a surly bitch so I'm down.

[Juice]

Was it a lovely glass rose in its own handy protective glass sheath?

[Pro Libertate]

No, they were real bunches of roses. Usually short-stem, but otherwise decent. And priced the same every day of the year.

[Juice]

I was just joking.
I was referring to these:
http://www.google.com/search?q.....e&tbm=isch

[RBS]

The ones that have like 5 heads of lettuce, some cucumbers, a few apples and a random assortment of condiments to go along with the three boxes of cereal and the well stocked beer section?

[JD the elder]

The funny thing to me is that I used to live in a moderately poor neighborhood (about 80% Black, about 23% below the poverty line, and this in a place where the cost of living was in the 90th percentile for the US) and there were fruit and vegetable stores all over the place. That was one of the things that really brought home to me that it's not about income, it's about culture.

[waffles]

Look. Some people just plain don't like white people and if they let a Trader Joe's go up the place would be swarming with them in no time. Then the property values might go up as white people move in and displace the authentic urban cultural heritage. This cannot be allowed.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

$20/hr + 401K jobs in an economically depressed community and they turned it down? Top Men.

[waffles]

The scourge of white people cannot be overstated.

[Mad Scientist]

Them's cracker jobs!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Obamacare enrollees hit snags at doctor's offices
...Aliso Viejo resident Danielle Nelson said Anthem Blue Cross promised half a dozen times that her oncologists would be covered under her new policy. She was diagnosed last year with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and discovered a suspicious lump near her jaw in early January.

But when she went to her oncologist's office, she promptly encountered a bright orange sign saying that Covered California plans are not accepted.

"I'm a complete fan of the Affordable Care Act, but now I can't sleep at night," Nelson said. "I can't imagine this is how President Obama wanted it to happen."

To hold down premiums under the healthcare law, major insurers have sharply cut the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state's new health insurance market....

[Jordan]

"I can't imagine this is how President Obama wanted it to happen."

"If Comrade Stalin only knew!" That never gets old.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"I'm a complete fan of the Affordable Care Act, but now I can't sleep at night,"

How can, I ask again, can any serious person be a 'fan' of piece of policy?

[Zeb]

Because politics is all about social signaling to most people.

[Auric Demonocles]

"I'm a complete fan of the the law, but I can't imagine the president wants the law that we have!"

[Jerry on the boat]

"You can keep your doctor, health plan, job."

[Tonio]

Another isolated incident made up by you tea baggers! /derp

[Ted S.]

We told you so, but you wouldn't listen....

[Palin's Buttplug]

Docs have been joining other HMOs for years. No patient is entitled to force their insurer to contract with a certain practitioner.

[Jordan]

So, since things have changed in the past, no changes can be attributable to Obamacare? Your desperation is so pathetically obvious.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, all good changes can be attributable to Obamacare, even if they are just the continuation of preexisting trends.

[Overt]

Except for the whole, "If you like your doctor, you can keep him" promise. And yes, that was a promise made in addition to "Keep your plan".

[Don Mynack]

Yes, I agree, the idiots on Obamacare did not know this, and probably should have.

Now who's fault could this possibly be?

[PRX]

I'm a complete fan of the Affordable Care Act

so even the 8% get fucked over. and they like it.

[Jerry on the boat]

Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the budget proposal "his most irresponsible budget yet, that we, Republicans, will sign on to."

FTFY.

[Tonio]

[Radio Shack stores] were like that generation's version of the Apple Store.

Nope. Never been a cult of Radio Shack like there was always a cult of Apple. And apple stores were about packaged solutions, the 'Shack was always about DIY, at least until they decided to abandon the hobbyists.

The real beginning of the end was when RS was acquired by Tandy Leather Company (for reals, yo). Tandy thought that it was just another line of hobby stores, then mismanaged the brand. Interesting trivium - the "T" in TRS-80 (their first computer) stood for Tandy and led to the hilarious mocking "trash eighty".

[Pro Libertate]

I thought they blew it dropping the hobbyist angle, too. If they could've kept that until today, they might've done quite well, with all of the DIY/maker/3-D printing going on.

In fact, maybe they should start retooling to support home-based fabrication.

[Tonio]

The problem is that the hobbyists tended to make small purchases. However they failed to see the forest for the trees - hobbyists tended to make many small transactions but the lifetime revenue for a single hobbyist was pretty big.

Better treatment of customers would have encouraged hobbyists to purchase their stereos and other big-ticket items there.

Lastly, they went batshit about snoopiness when they started demanding your home phone number for cash purchases of small components.

[Pro Libertate]

Many years ago, I remember they did a lot of things with clubs and the like. I took a programming class with them (BASIC), for instance, but I think various hobbyists would meet at the store and buy stuff.

[Warty]

Viktor Yanukovych dies from heart attack, unconfirmed reports say

[Pro Libertate]

No fucking way.

[Warty]

Comrade Newscaster Denisovich: Comrade Yanukovych met with Comrade Putin to discuss his performance in the recent crisis.

*shuffles papers*

Comrade Newscaster Denisovich: In other news, Comrade Yanukovych died today of natural causes. Now here's Comrade Weathergirl Tanya with the weather.

[Pro Libertate]

Gosh, maybe Russia should try a new system of government after all these centuries. Thuggery is so medieval.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

+1 John F. Kerry

[Ted S.]

It's Pravda; he could just as likely have been abducted by aliens.

[jesse.in.mb]

Maybe he was just carted away in invisible Russian armored vehicles

[Tonio]

"In the end all forms of death can be classified as heart failure." -Heinlein (quoted from memory)

[Zeb]

What about having your head crushed by a 16 to weight? I'm pretty sure death woudl occur before the heart fails in that case.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

The heart stops receiving signals to continue beating and fails. "Classified as heart failure" is the key to this [removed]context of the original quote helps, too.) A bullet to the brain by Comrade Executioner is declared heart failure by Comrade Coroner.

... Hobbit

[The Bearded Hobbit]

[removed]?

WTF?

.. BH

[Juice]

Substitute brain for heart and he's right.

[R C Dean]

Heinlein probably wrote that before "brain death" was a thing. Back then, it was definitionally true. You were dead when your heart stopped.

[Tejicano]

And all forms of death can be classified as "natural" too. For intstance, it would be rather un-natural to still be alive after being run over and ground into the pavement by a tank.

[William of Purple]

but how's Lou Reed holding up?

[Brett L]

Polonium induced?

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Sea Bass. Ill tempered sea bass.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Uh-oh: Scientists revive 30,000 year old amoeba-infecting virus from Siberian wastelands

Frozen for more than 30,000 years, this new type of giant virus called "Pithovirus" has survived under extremely harsh conditions of northeastern Siberia. They are called "giant" because unlike "regular" viruses they can be seen using an optical microscope.

Found about 30 meters below the surface in the permafrost (the permanently frozen layer of soil found in the Arctic regions) region, the virus ? 1.5 microns long and 0.5 microns wide ? infects only amoebas, according to the international team of researchers who published their findings in a paper titled "Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology" in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[snip]

?In addition to improving the understanding of viruses, the "revival of such an ancestral amoeba-infecting virus used as a safe indicator of the possible presence of pathogenic DNA viruses, suggests that the thawing of permafrost either from global warming or industrial exploitation of circumpolar regions might not be exempt from future threats to human or animal health," according to the paper.

Great, now we need to add plagues to the threats of global warming. Planet of the Apes is inevitable.

[Cytotoxic]

Holy shit you can see it with an OPTICAL microscope! That thing is like Jonah Falcon of viruses!

[BardMetal]

+ 1 Richard and Sal

[Tonio]

Well, some sort of apocalypse, and probably a biological one.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're not ill-tempered amoeba.

[rts]

Trinity Western same-sex policy should be tolerated, hearing told

Excluding law school graduates from practising in Nova Scotia because they attended a university that prohibits same-sex intimacy would be discriminatory, the university's president told the province's bar society Tuesday.

Bob Kuhn, president of Trinity Western University, told the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society in Halifax it would be unfair if it did not recognize law school degrees from his school because of its community covenant that requires students, faculty and staff to respect Christian values.

"That's an audacious example of prejudice," said Kuhn.

[Ted S.]

If they can use the power of licensing like this, they need to use it to force upon the lawyers the same shit that the lawyer-legislators want to force on the doctors.

[R C Dean]

Now, if we're talking about banning law grads from schools that don't give away free contraception, count me in.

[Cytotoxic]

"Buying opportunity of a generation for gold" according to an important guy who heads some company.

http://business.financialpost......d-goodman/

Where it gets interesting: He believes the world's second biggest economy [China] wants the gold standard back and is determined to buy enough bullion in order to eliminate the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

So if China kills the USD as a reserve currency and replaces it with The Gold Yuan, what happens to commodity prices? Is it like when Volker raised interests rates and caused them to crater, except instead of Volker raising rates it's China supplanting the USD (and thereby effectively raising rates)? I imagine this would be rather brutal for Russia and OPEC. Not to mention Proggie dreams for Total State USA.

[Pro Libertate]

I find China entirely not scary. They're incredibly dependent on the U.S. and Europe.

[Jordan]

I hope they do it. The dollar losing reserve status would be a great victory for liberty, since the Fed Gov would be utterly fucked.

[Ted S.]

It's too bad a lot of innocent Americans would be fucked, too.

[Jordan]

We're already fucked. This just pushes the day of reckoning forward, reducing the amount of harm the government can do in the meantime.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm a little concerned what China could do with its reserve status but so be it. You are right it has to be this way.

[John]

First thing is the US stops running an account deficit. That sounds great for China except that it means we stop buying a whole lot of their shit.

Having an economy based on propping up exports like China is just as bad under the gold standard as having one that has artificially propped up consumer spending like the US. The short term effects of a real gold standard would be to screw both the US and china.

[Cytotoxic]

That short term effect is the necessary re-adjustment both countries must go through. China will sell less stuff and just buy it for themselves. Exports are not inherently good. China's pain will be in the US treasuries it bought that will be worthless. It looks like they are going to not only stop digging (China just sold treasuries on net) but they may even bite the bullet and take a loss on the rest.

[John]

China will sell less stuff and just buy it for themselves.

No they won't. They won't have the money since the US will no longer be borrowing money and giving it to them in return for good. China's economy is completely out of whack and its export sector has risen way out of proportion to its domestic demand.

As I say below, if you think propping up exports doesn't have the same bad effects as propping up consumption, you are mistaken. It is all the same central planning distortion of the market.

[Cytotoxic]

You're aware that if China doesn't lend America money they can just keep it for themselves to spend?

Yup China is way out of wack. A gold standard will fix that.

[John]

You're aware that if China doesn't lend America money they can just keep it for themselves to spend?

You are aware that if the US doesn't spend the money, there will not be any money to keep. Moreover, under a gold standard, the US likely doesn't pay back much of the money the US owes them.

The US is much less likely to fall into chaos and revolution over that than China. A gold standard would doom China as we know it.

This is why I find it difficult to believe they are trying to institute one. But if they are, they are more insane than I thought they were.

[Cytotoxic]

You are aware that if the US doesn't spend the money, there will not be any money to keep.

What?

Moreover, under a gold standard, the US likely doesn't pay back much of the money the US owes them.

That probably won't happen anyway. China may just bite the bullet on that one.

A gold standard would doom China as we know it.

RIGHT. Becoming the de facto World Currency Master will doom China because of a readjustment.

[John]

If you think a gold standard would create a "defacto world currency master", you really don't understand what that term means. The point of a gold standard is that there isn't a world currency master and nations are no longer able to artificially manipulate the values of their currencies.

Such a system certainly has its virtues. But making countries whose economies are built around artificially devaluing their currencies "masters of the world" is not one of them.

[John]

Without the ability to manipulate its currency to obtain an artificial advantage due to lower prices, China's industry would have to compete on even terms with the rest of the world. That won't be good for them since they have neither the value added of the Europeans, Americans, South Koreans or Japanese nor the wage advantage of India or Malaysia. They would be totally fucked.

[Cytotoxic]

They would be under severe stress-the kind of stress that would motivate and force their industry to change for the better instead of just getting a devaluation hit. Oh, and commodities would be cheaper to import which I doubt would be bad for manufacturing.

If China goes gold, they replace the USD as reserve currency. That makes them more or less World Currency Master at least so long as no one else wants to step it up. In the world of fiat, the half-assed gold peg is king.

[Brett L]

I'm not sure they understand how much (read: little) gold there is in the world. All the gold ever mined in the world is only worth about $7 trillion. So good luck with their gold standard.

[Pro Libertate]

And Auric and I will fuck that up when we flood the market with space gold.

[Auric Demonocles]

I prefer to think of it as paying for the damages caused by the delivery of the gold.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, that depends on how much we're paid to deliver the gold more slooowwly.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well yes, naturally we could afford to pay for some better retrograde thrusters if they paid a ..."slight" premium.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course, since we'll have all the precious metals and high-end carbon we could possibly want, payment will have to be in services and manufactured goods. And maybe land.

[Auric Demonocles]

Dude.... Please.

Payment in redheads only.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm fine with my brunette wife, but, of course, I have no objection to you receiving your share in whatever form of the Destructor you desire.

[jesse.in.mb]

Payment in redheads only.

Your wish is my command.

[Pro Libertate]

That's cold, man. Auric's young, too, and you can permanently scar him with photos like that, even when the link doesn't work, like yours doesn't.

[jesse.in.mb]

On some subconscious level I didn't really want to destroy his innocence. And that photo of Carrot Top certainly would've shattered him.

Would this be more of a kindness?

(or does the link even work?)

[Pro Libertate]

I'm sure Auric would approve, though he prefers more naked torso, I imagine. At his age, he has trouble walking by National Geographic covers.

[Auric Demonocles]

The torso doesn't necessarily have to be naked, but it is nice to see either way.

[John]

That just means you fix the price of gold higher. The actual amount of gold doesn't matter, unless you reject paper currency, something they won't do.

The bigger problem is that it fixes the amount of money available, sans increases in its velocity. That is not necessarily a bad thing in the long run. But in the short run, it would make running a trade surplus of deficit unsustainable.

That would hurt the US by making us live within our means. But it would hurt China much worse. The US, even with its debt, still has a huge domestic economy for its industry to rely on. It would hurt, but it wouldn't kill us and would do us good in the long run. China, in contrast doesn't have that. When the US trade deficit went away, so would its trade surplus. Without a non export based domestic consumer economy to pick up the slack, the resulting crash would be epic and probably result in a full scale revolution in the country.

So I wish them luck with their little gold standard project.

[Cytotoxic]

Um. I think the Chinese would be a-okay buying stuff they didn't export with the monies they like to save in what would be the world's first non-shit currency since at least 1974.

[John]

No they wouldn't be okay. Their economy is totally out of balance. In the same way our consumption is based on floating currency, their industries that are based on feeding that consumption are based on the same bullshit.

Going to a gold stardard would prevent them from artificially devaluing their currency. When that happens, all of the industries they have build based on it, will collapse because there will not be any domestic demand to pick up the slack.

This is what happened to Japan in the 1990s, when the yen returned to its natural value. In China it would be a hundred times worse since their economy is much more dysfunctional and warped than even the Japanese one was.

People who think artificially propping up exports is the way to prosperity are no better than the people who think giving easy credit and propping up consumption is. They are just two sides of the same central planning Keynesian coin.

[Cytotoxic]

Yes...and those Keynesian hate the gold standard for a reason. China's correction is going to come-too much bad debt everywhere-a Gold Standard makes it harder for them to fuck up the readjustment like Japan did.

[R C Dean]

Couple things:

This isn't about China putting the world back on the gold standard. This is about China displacing the dollar as the reserve currency. In order to do that, they need to have the world's biggest pile of gold. Don't ask me why, but that's the way its always worked.

Likely, they already have more gold inside their borders than any other country right now.

The switch to a yuan reserve won't happen in an instant. It will happen more gradually, as more countries/companies agree to keep their books and settle their debts in yuan rather than gold. Eventually, there will be a cascade.

For the US, loss of reserve status will be economically ruinous. For the Chinese, gaining reserve status will be beneficial, in the long run and on net.

[VG Zaytsev]

A couple of points on the dollars status of world reserve currency.

1) That status is a historic anomaly. China may be merely seeking to eliminate that anomaly by creating a system similar to Bretton Woods in which gold served as an anchor to keep current accounts somewhat balanced.

2) The dollar's status is very destructive of liberty.

3) The dollar's status is driven by us military supremacy and specifically the petro-dollar arrangement.

4) The dollar's status will not gradually fade away. It will end quickly following some military catastrophe.

5) Which is most likely very far in the future as there are currently no real threats to US hegemony.

[jesse.in.mb]

Men in speedos frolicking like idiots in snow banks, pretending they're swimming.

Not normally what I'd go for, but I appreciate be-speedo'd hijinks.

[Clich? Bandit]

Not gunna click...

I'll take your word for it.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I like it! They're such sports.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Despite the problems with the health-care law's implementation, Democrats maintain an edge over Republicans on which party Americans trust to deal with the issue, by a margin of 44 percent to 36 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....tid=pm_pop

But John/Episiarch keep saying that Obamacare will kill the Dems in the midterms.

Who to believe? The new polls or two internet loudmouths?

[Auric Demonocles]

I believe the 8%.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

In the 34 states with Senate races, 50 percent of voters say they favor Republicans and 42 percent favor Democrats.

Also 8%.

[Auric Demonocles]

Boom. Awesome.

[John]

You have to love what a retard Shreek is. He takes some meaningless nationwide number and then assumes that will translate to these various red state Senate races the Democrats are about to lose, as if the various brain dead people in California or Massachusetts are going to do a Democrat running for Senate in Arkansas or Louisiana any good.

[Sevo]

John|3.4.14 @ 5:08PM|#
"You have to love what a retard Shreek is."

No, I don't. I despise the lying piece of shit.

[Pro Libertate]

Huh. "John/Episiarch." That may be a first.

[Tonio]

Alternately, when two otherwise diametrically opposed people disagree with you maybe it's a wakeup call that you're an idiot.

[Auric Demonocles]

On a more productive tangent that anything buttplug will send out:

How is one supposed to pronounce "Episiarch"? There were some different attempts at the happy hour. For the record, I've always thought "Epi" like the pen, and "sarch" like starch when I say it in my head.

[Tonio]

Ep-PEE-see-ark is how it reads in my mind. It's a reference to an alien race in the works of David Brin.

[Auric Demonocles]

I keep telling myself I'll get into the Uplift series "soon".

[R C Dean]

The first couple of Uplift books are good. After that, more "meh".

[Pro Libertate]

It's not a "reference." It's a theft of the intellectual property of Mr. Brin. Who I hope will sue Episiarch until he is forced to change his name to Ned Stark.

[Auric Demonocles]

But... I like Ned Stark.

[Pro Libertate]

Who doesn't? But, since he's dead, it's legally okay for "Episiarch" to use his name. Or maybe I'm just making that up to set him up for further litigation. You never know.

[Auric Demonocles]

Let's call him Tywin Lannister then.

[GILMORE]

" It's a reference to an alien race in the works of David Brin"

....

....

Wait a second, did that motherfucker write a book where raccoons were the most advanced species on earth?

[GILMORE]

SORRY! Wrong guy

http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/The_Architect_of_Sleep

David Brin wrote The Postman...which I read around the same time as the above noted Raccoon-Universe book (mid 1980s)

unsurprisingly, Furries dig the book.

[jesse.in.mb]

I think he cleared this up once, but I've forgotten. I always thought it was eh pee zee ark

[John]

If you google it, the name is of some kind of multidimensional shaggy Steve Smith like creature from a sci fi book series.

[Coeus]

I thought it was the portal master from the X-men cartoons. Tiny hairy aboriginal.

[jesse.in.mb]

Eureka, I have found it!

Episiarch|4.25.13

It's Eh-peas-ee-arc.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Eh-pee-see-awt-o-mee....

(not my joke)

[Auric Demonocles]

Wouldn't have guessed it was so Canadian.

(Though I'm pretty sure I saw that thread and just thought it was too weird to remember it that way)

[William of Purple]

who else was discussed at this 'brunch'?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

This was happy hour, not the brunch heard round the world.

[Auric Demonocles]

Ours had less bacon, but more drinking.

Probably.

Maybe.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I wish I had gotten in on the bacon action. Sloopy and EDG ordered bacon burgers, and as soon as the food arrived at the table, I knew I had fucked up. The bacon was 2 1/2 inches wide and slathered in bleu cheese.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm going by what Bernie Max-Smith says on TV.

[Pro Libertate]

It's pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove."

[Jerryskids]

I thought it a little funny that someone with the handle 'demonocles' would not know how to pronounce 'episiarch' - but then I got to thinking about it and suddenly realized you probably don't pronounce it 'deh MONO kleez' the way I do.

[Pro Libertate]

Actually, I believe that is the correct pronunciation of "Demonocles." Except when he's in Harvey Korman mode, then it's "Dee Monocles."

[Auric Demonocles]

I think you get a vote on this, but I agree with you anyway so it doesn't matter.

[Pro Libertate]

You forget, I was there at your christening.

[R C Dean]

heck with "Demonocles", I want to know how to pronounce "Auric".

Oh-rick?

Ow-rick?

Aw-rick?

TELL ME!

[Pro Libertate]

Isn't it more Or-Ick?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Actually, Mary was talking about the two of them last night in similar fashion.

[Pro Libertate]

What are you suggesting, Nicole?

[John]

Was she posting on here or did you go to her Youtube page.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Independents thread last night. An hour of pretty vile bullshit before everything got wiped.

Including a particularly tasteless comment about Groovus being dead.

[John]

Groovus died? I didn't hear that. That is terrible.

And Mary is really sick and dangerous. She is going to hurt someone or at least try to one of these days.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

No. She made it up to be a bitch.

[John]

She made it up because she fantasizes about killing the people on here.

Like I said, she is really deranged.

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, must've just suggested it to be offensive. I'm sure he's fine, making money and sweet love to his girlfriend. It's not like he hadn't stopped commenting here quite some time ago.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

She was all over the Independents thread last night. It was nuked.

[John]

Good. As it should be. She is really vile.

[Cytotoxic]

2010

[Palin's Buttplug]

2010 as in midterm elections?

Yes, that could doom the Democrats since their voters don't show up then.

When I see a poll that shows a significant number of voters shifting on Obamacare then I will change my outlook.

I am evidence-based. John/Episiarch are all gut-feeling based.

[Cytotoxic]

There is no reason to believe this won't be a repeat of 2014, your meaningless polls aside.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Why do you never actually read the fucking article when you post a link?

[BakedPenguin]

Sure, Tulpa, whatever you say.

[PD Scott]

Eterni.me will create a computer version of you for when you die.
FTA:
A new service promises to create virtual versions of its users that their loved ones can interact with after they have died. Eterni.me plans to collect as much data as possible about its users on which to base computer-generated avatars. The company says the experience will be "like a Skype chat from the past."
When users sign up, they will link the service to their various digital streams, such as Facebook, Twitter, emails, photos and geo-location history. Once data is being collected, Ursache says there are two main processes required ? "making sense" of it and then using it to "emulate" the user.
"Of course, 'making sense' and 'emulating' are still primitive today," he acknowledges. "But by periodically interacting with this avatar, you will allow it to make more sense in the next 30-40 years that you still have to live. This way, it becomes more accurate and knows more about you in time."

[PD Scott]

If your digital copy decides to take over your identity, what then?

[Pro Libertate]

Uh, huh. I'm still dead when I die, so I think I'll pass.

[PD Scott]

But it could dream of an electric Pro Lib!

[Ted S.]

It's been done.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't forget Pohl's Gateway series.

[PD Scott]

Did anyone else here read James Patrick Kelly's Wildlife? IIRC, in the book the Feds crack down on avatars of people it no longer considers alive.

It's been a long time since I read it but I thought it was a good read.

[Mickey Rat]

So a Beta Level Simulation?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....imulations

[Stormy Dragon]

President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion budget for 2015 seeks $651 billion more money from the rich.

"$651 billion more money"? Is that supposed to be English?

[Jerryskids]

Keep in mind these are the same people who keep referring to the price of Bitcoins whilst insisting that Bitcoin is a real currency. Real currencies use an exchange rate, not a price.

[Cytotoxic]

Oh how clever. Because it's not like it can evolve into money.

[William of Purple]

The New York Times has published a correction to an article published 161 years ago on the case portrayed in the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave.

[Pro Libertate]

It's all about them, isn't it?

[Auric Demonocles]

Oh god damn it. Now they're circling posts about the deliveryman at the Oscars getting tipped? A billion posts about one stupid picture wasn't enough? Fuck the damn awards shows.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, I avoid all of that as completely as possible, and even I know which picture you're talking about.

I DO NOT FUCKING CARE ABOUT THE AUTOEROTICISM THAT IS THE ACADEMY AWARDS. THANK YOU.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Harry Reid continues crusade against the evil Koch Brothers

The Senate majority leader again lit into Charles and David Koch on Tuesday, showing little regard for GOP criticisms of his previous attacks on the billionaire brothers. Reid refused to back away from his previous assessment that the brothers are "un-American," deeming their philosophy one "that benefits billionaires at the expense of the middle class."

"The oil baron Koch brothers are very good at protecting and growing their prodigious future and fortune. There's nothing un-American about that. But what is un-American is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest one percent," Reid said.

Give Dirty Harry credit for knowing that his base is retarded enough to buy into this.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, the Kochs fund NOVA because billionaires LOVE that show.

[John]

Meanwhile, the douche bag from Facebook is dumping millions for ads against Republicans who oppose immigration restrictions.

I guess not all "big money" is created equal. I am pretty sure the Fecebook Douche bag could buy and sell the Kochs a couple of times over. But the Democrats are all about keeping rich oligarchs out of politics.

[GILMORE]

"what is un-American is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest one percent,""

Meet Tom Steyer = billionaire Green Energy investor, Democratic campaign financier, and likely next secretary of Energy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

""I think he would be a fabulous choice for energy secretary," Podesta added, "and I've let my friends in the administration know that."

But it's not as if Steyer, 55, needs an official government perch to make an impact. Armed with his wealth and his political connections, Steyer has played a critical behind-the-scenes role in helping shape the country's national energy policy. He has helped bankroll two successful ballot initiative campaigns in California since 2010, including one last fall that closes a corporate tax loophole and steers $500 million toward energy-efficiency projects for each of the next five years. He has funded initiatives at the Brookings Institution and the Center for American Progress, along with major research centers at Yale and Stanford. And he has spoken with President Obama about how to pursue climate and energy policy in a second term."

[Overt]

Or Elon Musk, billionaire who happens to have gained significant largesse from NASA's contract with SpaceX or from subsidies for cars (Tesla) and cushy loan deals (Tesla) and still more from subsidies to solar (Solar City).

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Oh good, a rich Tony with as much understanding of science. Then again, this is the president who hired Holdren. Still waiting for that massive starvation in the 80's...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I remember a time when the left would go insane for being called 'un-American.'

Reid is some piece of work.

[DesigNate]

I have so much bile and vitriol for that man that I can't pick just one thing I wish on him.

[Slammer]

Warty, you need this guy to come hang out in your basement and interior decorate!

[Warty]

Author&Punisher; is fun.

[William of Purple]

Random Thought of the Day:
June, 1989. Some young East German graduates high school with dreams of rising up through the ranks of the Stasi.

Most crushed dream ever?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Playboy interview with Belle Knox, the Duke porn starlet (SFW, but some comments might not be)

PLAYBOY: You wrote that one of the main reasons you did porn was to pay for school and not be saddled with large student loans once you graduated. Would you be doing porn if Duke were free?

KNOX: No. If Duke had given me the proper financial resources, I wouldn't have done porn. They have nobody to blame for the scandal but themselves.

PLAYBOY: Is that what this is really about for you?the skyrocketing cost of higher education in America?

KNOX: Absolutely. My story is a testament to how fucking expensive school is. The fact that the only viable options to pay for college are to take out gigantic student loans, to not go to college at all or to join the sex industry really says something. We need to recognize that there's a gap between what middle-class and upper-middle-class families can pay and what they're asked to pay. We also need to stop looking at loans as a solution to fix our education system, because they're crippling our economy.

She identifies as a libertarian, which has puzzled a lot of her feminist champions.

[RBS]

KNOX: No. If Duke had given me the proper financial resources, I wouldn't have done porn. They have nobody to blame for the scandal but themselves.

What?

[Mickey Rat]

You thought she would not have an idiotic and self-pitying rationalization for her going into porn?

[Jordan]

2 things:

1). Playboy uses Kinja? Ugh. Worst commenting system ever!
2). They call this the PlayboySFW blog, but the first thing posted in the comments is a picture of her sucking a huge dick _

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Thanks for the heads up. I was not convinced it was SFW.

[Warty]

Personal responsibility? DOES NOT COMPUTE

Too poor to afford health insurance? Find other places to cut back answers the libertarian. Fast food making you fat? Learn moderation. Not enough money for school? Shoot a porn scene??

Through that lens, youth and soft tissue are just assets to be leveraged. The justification of selling your body to enrich your mind brings libertarian cynicism to its ultimate peak, with Knox the martyr on the altar of DIY thriftiness, personal responsibility and free speech.

The commenters there are tremendously bothered by her being a libertarian, too.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Yeah, there's nothing I can do. Thanks for the well wishes, though.

What is the lens through which they are something other than assets to be leveraged?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Whoops, meant to be quoting this: Through that lens, youth and soft tissue are just assets to be leveraged.

[Warty]

Personal responsibility? DOES NOT COMPUTE

Too poor to afford health insurance? Find other places to cut back answers the libertarian. Fast food making you fat? Learn moderation. Not enough money for school? Shoot a porn scene??

Through that lens, youth and soft tissue are just assets to be leveraged. The justification of selling your body to enrich your mind brings libertarian cynicism to its ultimate peak, with Knox the martyr on the altar of DIY thriftiness, personal responsibility and free speech.

The commenters there are tremendously bothered by her being a libertarian, too.

[John]

My story is a testament to how fucking expensive school is. The fact that the only viable options to pay for college are to take out gigantic student loans, to not go to college at all or to join the sex industry really says something.

Sure. But doesn't it "saying something" depend upon the idea that doing sex work is degrading? Otherwise, her story just says some students have to work to get though school. Big fucking deal.

But I am pretty sure the last time we heard from her she was explaining how doing sex work wasn't degrading. Well, maybe it isn't. I will defer to her experience on that. But if it isn't, stop fucking whining about how much school costs and having to work to get through it.

[Warty]

She's a kid. She's allowed to not be very good at explaining her position.

[John]

Fair enough. I guess I am just finding this story and this girl kind of boring.

[RBS]

IF she was sucking cock to pay her way through Durham Tech nobody would give a shit.

[John]

Exactly. Or sucking cock to take care of her kid and wasn't going to college, no one would care.

And the bottom line is she is doing it because she finds going to a less expensive school beneath her and is too lazy to work a more conventional job.

If sucking cock for money is that bad, go to a school that costs less money.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Libertarians for free college!

[DesigNate]

Cause that's exactly what she said.

Fuck you really ARE retarded.

[Slammer]

She's a woman, so she's obviously NOT a libertarian.

[Auric Demonocles]

You know, I took out loans and managed to pay them back recently, a total of 999 days after graduation. Nothing seemed crippled. Maybe she should just go to school for something that will pay her enough to not worry about paying back the loan?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Did you take out a lot? My first loan payment is due next week.

[Auric Demonocles]

A bit over 40k.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I'm a bit over 20K myself. Doing two years at community college was the smartest decision I've ever made.

[Auric Demonocles]

My loans were entirely from grad school, but since I'm currently making 30-40k more than my undergrad classmates it was a good decision.

[DesigNate]

2 and half years is damn impressive.

Not a day goes by that I don't kick myself for going into architecture and getting a master's, even though it's what I love to do and I feel I'm pretty good at it. Of course if the state hadn't determined I had to have a master's to practice I wouldn't owe anything so there's that.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Architecture. Ouch. Sorry, dude. I think commercial real estate is slowly coming back though.

[DesigNate]

Thanks. I'm working my way into doing both architecture and engineering and trying to diversify the company so we do our own development projects as well so that should help in the long term.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The fact that the only viable options to pay for college are to take out gigantic student loans, to not go to college at all or to join the sex industry really says something.

Really? Only 3 options?

[Warty]

And I continue to think she's cute as a button. Really slutty, really Jewish-looking girls are wonderful creatures.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

I don't understand her choice of majors. Libertarian: Check
Sex worker: Check
Women's Studies/Sociology? Uhh...

[GILMORE]

Pakistan Taliban offshoot blows up Pakistani Court, kills 11

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03.....ef=edition

What ensues in the comments section is an example of why India and Pakistan (as per the War Nerd's summary), "are too faggy to ever go to war"

I thought the comments @ Huffpo were the stupidest thing I'd seen all year. The fact that Pakistanis will turn any news item about their own domestic terrorism problems into how THE HINDUS ARE MANIPULATING THE MEDIA AND ARE TERRORIST PISS-DRINKING RAPISTS makes me realize that progressives are really just a first-world problem and maybe we should be glad about that

[Cytotoxic]

Pakistan must be destroyed.

[GILMORE]

You really don't do 'subtle', do you?

[Cytotoxic]

Would you prefer 'Pakistan must be penaltaxed' Mr. Roberts?

[GILMORE]

No, sorry for interrupting. Please, by all means, get the Indians to nuke Pakistan. I'm sure it will all work out for the best.

[Cytotoxic]

'Destroyed' could just mean 'dismembered into neighbouring or new nation-states. But nuking would be cool too.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Dwarf-shaming: Little person who makes money attending bachelor parties insists work is not demeaning

Marc, 21, from Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, charges ?150 an hour to accompany revellers and often finds himself handcuffed to the groom.

The demand for stag party midgets in Scotland is so great that some travel from as far afield as the West Midlands to help meet demand.

But not everyone is amused by the trend: disability rights campaigners insist the stag party trend is demeaning.

However, Marc says he is pursuing a worthwhile career and says he has a set of ground rules that keep his dignity intact.

'It's a different career,' he explains. 'I wanted to have a laugh and I just thought, "go for it". I get paid to go out and party with different lads, we get a lot of attention from the ladies and I get to enjoy myself.'

More or less demeaning than porn for the Duke girl?

[RBS]

Are the disability rights campaigners midgets too?

[Bam!]

I don't think that can rightfully be called a career.

[GILMORE]

The 'Bachelor Party Midget'-market also exists in the United States.

At least in Atlantic City.

I know this.

I also know that a midget, wearing a lycra body-suit and slathered in Crisco, is *extremely hard to keep hold of*. Especially when you need to pick him up and carry him back to the bouncer guy who refuses to let the strippers in until the midget is safely in his arms.

I read about this in the Economist.

[John]

Is that any worse than getting a reality show? It seems like every midget in America has their own reality show.

If you are a midget or a polygamist and don't have a reality show, you are doing something wrong.

[Juice]

Fingerbang bang bang Fingerbang bang bang bang bang
I'm gunna fingerbang, bang you into my life.
Girl, you like to fingerbang and it's alright.
'cause' I'm the king of fingerbang, yea, that's right .
I'll just fingerbang, bang you every night.

Making bang bang with your finger is bad, mkay?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Salon: Amazon murdered Radio Shack

There's a Radio Shack about half a mile from my house that I've been going to half a dozen times a year for the last decade. It has been a convenient option when there's a gizmo I want right now, like an Ethernet-to-USB adapter or an audio cable that will connect my computer to my stereo receiver. In an instant gratification world, Radio Shack always had a place.

But, evidently, not enough of a place. And for obvious reasons: when I compare prices on some of the things that I've bought from Radio Shack with what I can get from Amazon or other places online, it seems like financial malpractice to keep shopping there. And there's no getting around the fact that a tiny little storefront simply can't stock the vast array of parts and gadgets out there.

I'll miss that Radio Shack if it' is on the list of victims, but not as badly as I miss a good local independent book store. Buying cables or wifi dongles online isn't as emotionally wrought as participating in the possible death of the publishing industry. But I do wonder where the friendly, helpful Radio Shack staffers I've come to appreciate over the years will end up. Hustling to drag inventory around an Amazon warehouse, while looking over their shoulder at the robots coming to take those jobs?

Weep for the candlemakers and lamplighters.

[Bam!]

Do you know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin playing just for the helpful RadioShack staffers.

[Mad Scientist]

Most RadioShack staff would be more helpful if they'd stay behind the cash register doing something they're competent at, like texting their friends.

[croaker]

You've got questions, we've got blank stares.

I once tried to get a job at Radio Shack. Was rejected because I have a ham radio license and thus actually knew something about what RS sold.

[Pro Libertate]

I'll weep for Amazon, if it fails, because right now I love that company maybe more than I've loved any other company.

[John]

Amazon pretty much is the greatest thing about the internet. I don't really dig the porn and I have seen enough kitties in my life. What else is there beyond being able to buy all kinds of cool books and various other shit you could never find before?

[Pro Libertate]

Free two-day shipping for most stuff with Prime, access to Instant Video, with plenty of free shows and movies, cheaper stuff in general and lots of it, and, of course, the books. Not to mention the Kindle readers and tablets for getting your Amazon crack.

[John]

It is total crack. And my favorite thing is their marketing algorithms. I have found more great books that I would not have otherwise known existed because Amazon's marketing algorithm suggested them than I care to mention.

[Pro Libertate]

They're getting a good majority of my gifting spending. Heck, I just got my mom a Prime subscription, so she could blow all her money there, too.

[Sudden]

I don't really dig the porn

They do have those BBW sites too John. Y'know, for your kind.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Buying cables or wifi dongles online isn't as emotionally wrought as participating in the possible death of the publishing industry.

Christ these people are fucking fetishists.

[Surly Chef]

possible death of the publishing industry.

See it's not important that there are more writers writing more stuff. What's important is that you can physically pick up the book before you buy it to see if there is an emotional connection. It's seriously absurd. The "publishing" industry is not dying, it's at it's most competitive, with more writers competing for readership. What's dying is an inefficient delivery method.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Yeeeeeeeeep

[John]

They hate the death of the publishing industry because it destroys the cultural hold they have on society. I read somewhere where independently published authors are grabbing a huge share of sales over the publishing houses.

The old publishing houses used to be free to just declare things that were outside the leftist dogma off limits. And since they owned the industry, there is nothing anyone could do about it.

But now anyone can publish a book. And that means the leftists who run these publishing houses no longer can keep people from reading what the want.

[Cytotoxic]

These people are ultra-conservative Luddites and thinly-veiled Jacobins to boot.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not like there won't be a market for printed books for quite some time yet, either. One thing that helps that is that ebooks aren't much (or sometimes at all) cheaper, leaving aside the pirate market.

[Overt]

If you stick to the best sellers...perhaps. But even then I have gotten a lot of the best sellers real cheap a year after their release.

But ebooks go further by offering a plethora of reads that are certainly inferior in quality, but who gives a fuck when they are $1.99 - $4.99 each.

[Pro Libertate]

Where I've really gone crazy with ebooks is the public domain books. For instance, I just downloaded most of the Sherlock Holmes stories (I'd grabbed some before, but this is most everything). Free or maybe a few dimes. I own hundreds of those, all in my wee little Kindle.

I fucking love technology.

[DesigNate]

If you wait a year you can usually get a best seller physical copy for way cheaper too.

[Pro Libertate]

I still buy a decent number of books from the library bookstore, where they sell donated books (and some discards, though much more of the former). Quite cheap, and still the best price, since most of the super-cheap books on Amazon aren't eligible for Prime.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Salon commenters are, to their credit, unsympathetic to Radio Shack or the article's point of view. Except for this gem:

Parson Jim 1 hour ago
The white male Bezos is destroying American jobs. We need collectives where workers can share in profits, not more patriarchal capitalist "companies".

Awesome.

[tarran]

I'll bet that idiot thinks Amazon turns a profit that is much higher than 0.5%.

[Bam!]

I'm pretty sure that comment is parodying Salon comments.

Or at least I hope it is.

[GILMORE]

WHITE MALE BEZOS DESTROY

What if jeff Bezos was a black woman? I wonder.

[Pro Libertate]

He is a white guy, but he was raised by a Cuban stepfather.

[GILMORE]

Do they not give out points for something like that?

BTW - I went to the article and read some comments; as noted, about 90% of them were like, "Fuck you dude = radio shack sucks and its going out of business because its *retarded*"

Kids apparently do *get it* sometimes.

[Pro Libertate]

Only if the stepfather was a Castro communist.

Radio Shack has struck me as an interesting business, because I can't figure out how they've lasted this long.

[GILMORE]

For a time I had a bizarre notion that a brilliant investor could take over Radio Shack and do a deal with Samsung/Google or some others and create a foil to the Apple Store that simply destroys them on price and variety by providing a retail destination where you could both test-drive new tech devices but also tweak and customize and do home builds etc. as per the original old-school IT model that persists in some spheres...

...needless to say, this brilliant investor was me, in that particular fantasy. Also, there was no such thing as best-buy, circuit city, etc. to actually be always undercutting on price so much.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not a bad idea, especially in this "maker" age. You couldn't win on price alone, but good service and maybe the messing around options you describe could be a winner.

[GILMORE]

Perhaps.

I believe the real deal is that even if my theory is a 'good idea', that from a deal-making POV, Radio Shack is financially a rancid P.O.S. with liabilities way in excess of whatever value might still lurk in the brand or its legacy wholesale electronics business. Even in the best of scenarios, they'd probably need to close *another* 20% of their retail outlets just to stem the bleeding. I think if you ran the numbers, you'd be better off just doing my idea 'from scratch' rather that buying into liabilities of a legacy model. As a comparison, I'd say its the same reason BBRY is going to die lonely and alone = no one wants to buy that fucker and own the disaster it built up around itself.

As an investment thesis, I've been playing the "End of Brick And Mortar" thing for a while anyway. The holy trinity of which was V,FDX,AMZN, but with a side order of EBAY and PCLN

[GILMORE]

*side note. Forget it, yeah, someone will buy blackberry sooner or later.

I was dancing on its grave this time last year, and have since ignored it.

[Pro Libertate]

Buy it in bankruptcy.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

What, workers can't buy Amazon stock? I must have been sleeping the day Congress passed that law.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Isn't that a little like saying George killed Lennie?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I'm heartbroken over a man I have yet to meet

Do I romanticize love? Yes. But shouldn't love be romantic?

...I want to think about him when he's not with me. I want to think I see him walking up the street, realizing immediately he's out of town or on the other side of town, knowing it's my subconscious simply missing him.

I want to wake up at 3:00 AM and see him there lying next to me... I've left a place for him in my bed, you know. Years ago, I purchased a queen-size bed, but I've never slept on "his" side. I'm leaving space for him to come into my life. Sleeping on his side makes me feel as if I'm giving up on him ever showing up. Sometimes I think about how I'll never lie in that bed with my man, our legs crossed over each other under the sheets, and talk about how many children we want together. And I'll probably never be able to surprise someone with the news that the first is on its way. Once in a while, I look over at the empty side of the bed. Just be there tonight, I plead to no one. It's sometimes devastating to be so alone.

I'm heartbroken over a man I've never met because we haven't yet met. But my heartbreak isn't a crash. It's a murmur. It hums day in and day out. You won't notice it. I hide it well in my beautiful, glorious life of other things.

Why do some women feel the need to write these kinds of articles and books?

[GILMORE]

They need something to counterbalance the screaming crazy wine-drunk nagging hags they eventually become.

🙂

Its like the butterfly that turns into the GODZILLABITCH

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

While the part you quoted is awful drivel, I kind of like that she's not willing to go the Stephanie route just to buy herself some babies.

[John]

Drivel is a good word. You could write that paragraph about anything; the job you have yet to get, the mother you never knew, the dog you have yet to buy, anything.

The better question is why did anyone think that was good enough to publish?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I can't account for the success of HuffPo. That is too much to ask.

[John]

I do expect the impossible sometimes. That is true.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Because...(pause)...there's a market?

[flye]

*Rufus puts on sunglasses* YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

[Mad Scientist]

Gawd, can you imagine dating a woman like that? She'd be all mooning and saccharine sweet, until you did anything at all to dispell her silly fantasy. No matter what you did, you'd always be a disappointment. Eventually she'd feel like you were betraying her very dreams and the relationship problems were entirely your fault.

RUN AWAY

[John]

It would be like dating a woman who can't get over her ex, only worse. Instead of constantly being compared to a real person, you would be expected to live up to a fantasy that lives in this woman's head. What a drag that would be.

[tarran]

Yeah, she sounds like she would engage in splitting.

Splitting (also called all-or-nothing thinking) is the failure in a person's thinking to bring together both positive and negative qualities of the self and others into a cohesive, realistic whole. It is a common defense mechanism used by many people. The individual tends to think in extremes (i.e., an individual's actions and motivations are all good or all bad with no middle ground.)

If you were ever wondering why Objectivism seems to attract really insufferable and emotionally crippled people, I would suggest you look no further than the above.

[Cytotoxic]

I were to call out your premise as bullshit, would you have anything to back it up?

[DesigNate]

Embrace your insufferability and emotionally crippled status. Then try to get it covered by the ADA.

[jesse.in.mb]

Americans with Disabilities Act

[Cytotoxic]

I'm Canadian. Does that count as a disability?

[Sudden]

In everything but hockey

[Surly Chef]

Yes, I don't even have to use my imagination.

[GILMORE]

"
reply to this

Mad Scientist|3.4.14 @ 5:36PM|#

Gawd, can you imagine dating a woman like that? She'd be all mooning and saccharine sweet, until you did anything at all to dispell her silly fantasy."

That's so silly... MR MAN.

[Juice]

Wow, you've perfectly put into words my first few girlfriends.

[Tejicano]

Why doesn't she imagine the woman that imaginary man is living his life with, figure out the gaps between that woman and herself, then fix them?

[Matrix]

Man found decapitated at home, police suspect suicide

Police say a woman who lives in the home found her husband dead in the garage.
His hands and feet were tied and the body had been decapitated.
Tulsa police told KRMG news the death was due to suicide.

Sounds legit

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Chief Wiggum works there.

[Mad Scientist]

So he cut his own head off with his tongue, huh? If he was that dexterous with his tongue, there's no way his wife murdered him.

[Pro Libertate]

I suppose that's conceivable, but how could that be your number one theory, given the obvious difficulties?

[Matrix]

It's easier to rule suicide than try to find the killer.

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe the time is finally ripe for Doyle's consulting detective, only now the standards are so low that you don't have to be a supergenius.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

There's some good stuff in the comments:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/i.....AA300_.jpg

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Posted by JennDT at 1:42 p.m. Jun. 18, 2013

"A woman who lives in the home found her husband."

That's a Wife, right?

[Pro Libertate]

Hmmm, one would think so. Maybe they're uncomfortable making such assumptions in these days of gay marriage?

[Cytotoxic]

I just got an idea: handjob-backed currency. Brilliant, no?

[Mad Scientist]

I'm not making change for you.

[Juice]

I laughed OL.

[JEP]

Starbucks would be the chief cause of inflation...

[croaker]

Radio Shack: You've got question, We've got blank stares

Radio Shack: Wanna buy a phone?

[ibcbet]

I'm amazed that they have lasted as long as they have since they tried to become more consumer electronics oriented.