The Stephen Hawking thing was just too funny to let go, so I didn't.
#33 and #34, It was in Ozma of Oz, the third book in the series.
Serge @ 494
Courtesy of colossal workplace boredom, I give you a large jpg of Captain Nemo looking out the porthole of the Nautilus. Not the Disney version, alas, but boredom at work doesn't mean there's no work to do.
A friend just pointed me to the following which strikes me as something y'all will like: http://eco-comics.blogspot.com/
Shadowsong @13 - I was with you until Fall of '03 when somebody on NPR (can't remember for the life of me who) said something along the lines of, "If we change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples then what next, plural marriages?" Thirty seconds later I'd changed my mind because all of a sudden the conversation was about me too and I actually thought about some more.
The thing is, getting rid of civil "marriage" and giving same-sex couples equal rights are two completely unrelated issues. Answering demands for the latter with a sudden interest in the former is an evasion, and one unworthy of the discussion. Twenty years from now when gay marriage is normal and I'm still not getting a plural marriage I'll be with you on the front lines of the civil union fight. It's just not relevant now.
Several months back I got spam with the subject line, "Hot naked men for playgirls like you," as the subject line. Encouraged by the blow for gender equality I actually open the email...
...which proffered Paris Hilton sex tapes.
I was in Grant Park last night watching the speeches with the rest of Chicago. I was floored that there was minimal booing when McCain appeared on the screen, quite a lot when he mentioned Palin, but otherwise the audience was quiet and respectful. Most people seemed to agree that if that version McCain had been running, we'd still be waiting for the results instead of watching him concede. I found bits of the speech abrasive, but it didn't seem like anybody in my immediate proximity felt the same way.
As for Nader, well, give the man his due. He's doing an excellent job of remaining a solid punchline election year after election year.
fdeblauwe @ 11, heads up, the link in your post directs to http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/Word%20Face-Off. The link in your name works, though. Interesting stuff.
Brenda, as somebody who frequently skims the comment threads here and rarely posts because I literally do not have the time to engage in this format of discussion properly, I can assure you that based on the times I have posted the people here are quite happy to engage with somebody who fundamentally disagrees with them on issues. I vehemently disagree with huge tracts of the platform generally accepted around here, but when I pop in to ask for clarification or, (because I'm baking brownies that weekend and deluded that I'll be able to keep it up) to disagree, everybody is quite on point and civil. I can think of one post from one poster in one thread over a year ago that might be an exception, but that's it.
You are not being pounded on because you disagree. You are not getting picked on for pointing out things the people here deliberately ignore. You've stated your arguments badly (see my post trying to dissect your logic last weekend and your response to it if everything else in the thread is too inflammatory) and gotten defensive when people demanded better of you. Honey, they wouldn't do that if they didn't think you were capable of providing it - they'd ignore you.
Feeling left out and excluded is a powerful thing, but it's not something anybody here is responsible for. Put up your feet, take a breath, and either drop it and wait for next time or try to start over fresh.
This bill is very frightening to many of us. If you have a different point of view you'd like to share, please do so. I'd like to discover that I'm wrong on this.
Brenda, I'm rather thrown by most of your post. What are you proposing for dealing with the microwave gun? Shutting down YouTube? Censoring it? Putting alarms in microwaves that alert the authorities when they're tampered with? Putting cameras in everybody's house so you can see if they're tampering? Each of those solutions has serious problems for implementation, and you will stomp all over the rights of everybody not building microwave guns in order to catch the one person who actually does. Then there's the issue of whether or not it's actually illegal to build the microwave gun, or just to use it. I'm allowed to own a gun (most places), the problem is when I use it to shoot my neighbors for being obnoxious. (Also, could I have a link to that video? I'm curious about how that's supposed to work, given the short range of microwaves.)
For the deadly laser pointer you're stretching my suspension of disbelief, and I watch Doctor Who. I argue that we don't need to start legislating against deadly laser pointers until they're actually a threat and that we should then treat it the same way we'd treat any other potentially deadly device, which would depend on where and how it's used etc. etc. The best way to prep for that eventuality is to deal with what's going on now that'll serve as a precedent when it arrives.
Your suitcase would require a lot of training to use, and we're a long way off from it existing, so you are again presenting a threat that isn't reality-based given the current state of reality. I'm not interested in giving up freedoms I have today because of something scary that might happen next decade. We can talk when the scary thing actually shows up.
I'm really lost at your global warming point. Are you arguing that in preparation for the collapse of society due to climate change, we should start getting used to authoritarianism now? I rather think we should build and plan with an eye toward the future climate trends, plan for the effects on agriculture a longer growing season and more extreme weather patterns will cause, convince people that while hybrid cars are nifty and all they're just a distraction from a real solution to the impending absence of oil, etc. These are all things that can be done without taking away my right to have extensive telephone or IM conversations with my sister without the government listening in.
Have I missed the logic in your point entirely?
Brenda @ 96
This is probably pretty meaningless coming from me given my voting track record, but there are things about which one should not compromise. There are things about which pragmatism is appropriate - I was willing to give Obama a shot on universal health care which I think is a very nice idea that can't be implemented effectively in this country. I was willing to risk destroying what stability Iraq has by getting out too early if it meant we got out at all. I was going to swallow a tax hike to fund a program that would make it easier to graduate from college without massive amounts of debt despite a mild allergy to taxes. My support of him was one giant pragmatic compromise, and I found very exciting. I've spent the last year doing a lot of, "Who knows, maybe he's right and I'm being too uncreative/cynical/penny wise and pound foolish."
But there are lines I absolutely cannot condone crossing. This is one here. If it's not for you, fine, but do think about and decide where your lines are so that you know when their under siege. I don't plan to accept defeat on my issues, and I don't expect to win, so I'll be there railing with you when the time comes.
Lizzy, I heard about this on the evening of June 26th. The morning of June 27th I called his office in D.C. and sent an email. I am still phrasing my rejection as a conditional "If he votes for it, then I'm not voting for him," but I don't expect a reversal. I don't trust him anymore.
Mez @ 79, you are quite right, I meant a capital"D". Thanks for the catch.
heresiarch @57
You're hearing it now. I'm not a democrat, but I was a big supporter of Obama from a few weeks after he announced his candidacy until Thursday before last when I heard the comments he made quoted earlier upthread. I wasn't voting for him because I liked his policy, it was because I liked his politics, and I thought he would put a stop to the egregious things the Bush administration has done with its two terms. Supporting this bill tells me very clearly that at best he'll stop doing egregious things, but he isn't going to undo anything. That's a deal breaker.
If Obama doesn't change his mind and vote against the bill when the time comes, he loses my vote. And I am one of those people who has been recruiting friends and family to the cause - many of them disenchanted Republicans, most in swing states.
It was really nice while it lasted.
Bruce Cohen at 69
Just a small pet peeve, but the children you're referring to demonstrate, at best, what happens when a child is socially isolated past a certain age. Language isolation is just a side-effect and we can't really draw conclusions about language development based on this.
A better example what's gone on with the development of Nicaraguan sign language. It's almost an ethical version of the forbidden experiment, there are a few flaws with it (on the experimental side, not the ethical bits) and the results are robust enough to be considered near definitive.
Quick references for the curious:
Genie the most famous of the feral children talked about these days.
Nicaraguan Sign Language.
Re: Michael Roberts at 15
Try Elizabeth Bear's Dust. The writing style didn't really do it for me but the ecology involved was so fascinating I read to the end anyway.
Also, Heinlein's Red Planet. I always found his Martians interesting and I think this one shows them off the best.
Good luck to your daughter - I had similar reactions and experiences as a kid and the adults were much less receptive. Things get much, much better in college and at least in my experience continue to improve from there.
Did anyone, with the possible exception of Barack Obama?
About a year ago I was with friends in Hyde Park, Chicago, when somebody mentions that this local guy everybody loves was probably running for president. I'm not originally from Chicago and I didn't ever get into the local political scene while I was there, so my ideas about who he was were a bit vague. Two weeks later I knew a lot, and in front of the same group of friends went, "You know, I'm disgusted by both major parties, and I've been disgusted by the democrats longer, but I'd actually cast a vote that matters if he's at the top of the ticket."
"But you don't agree with his policy," says a friend.
"I don't care. I'm not going to get a candidate with a policy I agree with. I like his style, I approve of his methods, and at this point, I'm willing to vote for style and methods."
A room full of people started nodding and agreeing. Other people, other rooms, more head nodding. "But he'll be running against Hillary Clinton," somebody points out. "Nobody outside of Illinois knows who he is."
So I call my parents, life long Republicans from Virginia who quit voting when the party went south, and mention that I'm thinking of hopping into the mainstream to support a local guy nobody's ever heard of. "You mean Barak Obama? Lot's of people know him. I've been thinking about him too."
People knew. It's been a really fantastic year for those people.
Naomi @ 64
Woops, that should have linked here. I'm not entirely sure how the wrong URL wound up in there. This is probably what I get for trying to post while cooking.
To make up for it these blogs are also full of linguistics fun.
I find his/her is too clunky for speech and having a grammatical hold in spoken language gives "their" a leg up for written language. Then again, Baltimore English has a new gender neutral third person pronoun.
FYI Patrick at #28, as of when I first checked this post around eleven AM CST today, the link you intended is what was there. Didn't recheck the links later to tell you when things might have reverted to something unintended.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 7 |
| 2008 | 13 |
| 2007 | 26 |
| 2006 | 19 |
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