The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Joe Rybicki:

I've only had the time to skim most of these comments, but I have to ask even at the risk of redundancy: Am I the only one who thinks there's a very distinct possibility that Cheryl is, in fact, Christopher Hill?

Perhaps it's my overactive whatsit getting the better of me, but wouldn't it be convenient to be able to place the blame for all this upon a known scammer whose current whereabouts are unknown?

I'm tempted to go further and propose that Lanaia is also, in fact, Christopher Hill, but I can't see the upside to that particular scam.

Wow, sounds like a great night for the Tor camp. Congrats to all.

I have to ask: What's with the crown? I see Scalzi, Cory, and at least one person I don't recognize wearing a lovely coppery crown in several of Kathryn's pics.

PJ:

Dress to Kill.

Watch. NOW.

"Did I leave the gas on...?"

It seems to me that government's role is to protect its citizens from each other, and from outside threats. This idea supports concepts of welfare, gun control, and drug regulation (an important distinction should be made here between regulation and prohibition), while failing to support preemptive war, stem-cell bans, or the idiotic assumption that we as a society have a right to not be offended by anything, ever.

Unfortunately, this philosophy doesn't fall neatly within any of our country's political demarcations, making it very hard for me to find appropriate bumper stickers.

Nancy: Thanks for that link. Beautiful, and so gut-wrenchingly true. Reminds me of a trip my parents took us on in the summer before I started high school. We started in Ohio, angled down through Texas to San Diego, up to San Francisco, and back across through Colorado, etc. It took a month, and it was glorious.

My sister, who had lived in Japan and traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, hated every minute.

I could never understand that. The idea that you need to leave America to really experience stuff, man, just strikes me as so ludicrous. It seems to assume that the US is a homogenous entity, both in culture and in setting. See: elections of 2000, 2004 -- make that every aspect of politics -- for evidence to the contrary.

I think it comes from a type of self-hatred: Nothing familiar can be good.

I know this has nothing to do with the topic, and I thank you all for your indulgence. Good day.

I'm confused by the anti-Libertarian sentiments in this thread. How does the Masses As Clueless Goobers philosophy get interpreted as Libertarianism? My (limited) understanding of the Libertarian ideal is that it relies on people being smart enough to govern themselves on personal issues, take responsibility for their own decisions, etc.

"People are stupid and need to be governed strongly" sounds a lot closer to our current system. Which is pretty far from Libertarian, as far as I can tell.

I know contradictions don't exist; somebody check my premises.

Also, what does it say about me that every time I try to write "Libertarian" I end up with "Libraritarian"? Discuss.

This question brings to mind something I've always wondered about Buddhism. My understanding is that Buddhism (or at least the Tibetan variety) claims that all life is sacred, and moreover, that all life is -equally- sacred. ("That mosquito could have been your grandmother!")

Considering how many microscopic creatures (e.g. germs, bacteria, viruses) we large animals obliterate just by walking around, eating, breathing...wouldn't a Buddhist be obliged to kill himself?

Follow-up question: Would the resulting karma be positive or negative?

Discuss.

Anyone find a check-in page yet? Post a link if so, please.

Thanks.

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