The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by mdlake:

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Posted on entry To boldly spoil: Trek thread ::: May 19, 2009, 09:48 AM:
I went to the theater expecting to see things I wouldn't like, and I saw them. I also expected an amusing visit with old friends, and got that, too.

Ever the old school advocate, I got past the bits I didn't like through extensive preparation: every time I worried about what canon or character they might break, I reminded myself that the original Star Trek series didn't care a rat's ass for consistency.

Often those inconsistencies BECAME beloved canon. Kirk sometimes upheld the law, and often blew it off, according to what the writer du jour found convenient. That fed into what we now perceive as Kirk's limitless arrogance, but it started out as short-sighted plot necessity.

And you know? That reminder made it all okay. Spock and Uhura getting it on, touchy-feely Sarek, lame Romulan villains, all of it. The details were unreliable, but the overarching decision to write to the desires of the moment were deeply true to the original Star Trek.
Posted on entry Bank of America: utter slime ::: February 10, 2009, 09:31 PM:
Don't think this is limited to BoA, either.

My brother died last May. Officially, it was an accident, but it looked to me like suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, especially when we began going through his papers and found he'd been out of work and stuck with a toxic mortgage.

When I called his mortgage holder--Countrywide, I believe--out of courtesy to report his death and explain my parents and I were trying to make sense of his records, the first question was "...and which of you will be taking care of his financial obligations?" Not financial affairs, financial obligations. The possibility that none of us would cover his debts was not even addressed.

Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to say we were considering our options. At the time, negative equity seemed likely, but wasn't certain. When I asked for the information necessary to decide whether to go to probate over the house, the bank flatly refused to release any records on the mortgage or the property valuation until AFTER someone had agreed to claim ownership, including any attached debts, hoping the catch-22 would force our hand. We had to resort to hiring an independent evaluator.

They suckered Dan into a bad loan, tried to sucker his grieving relatives into accepting responsibility for it, then resorted to financial blackmail when that failed. Hell is too good for some of these creeps.
Posted on entry Obeying the Law is for Wimps ::: September 18, 2008, 09:39 PM:
> McCain selected someone for his vice president

If my end of the rumor mill is reliable, McCain *wanted* to select Lieberman or Ridge. But, maverick that he is, he let party insiders tell him he couldn't.
Posted on entry The Libertarian Party: racism for smart people ::: July 09, 2008, 11:38 AM:
Descriptions of Helms as a "consummate gentleman" put me in mind of Dave Barry's observation that "a person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person."
Posted on entry McCain, sockpuppets, and comment spam ::: July 03, 2008, 10:32 AM:
One might think your paraphrase is satire, until realizing it's not so very far from "You have free speech so I can be heard" in Rudy's infamous freedom-is-about-authority speech. Or from Bush the lesser's formulaic proclamations that he understands people are angry, desperate, grieving, frustrated, skeptical, being driven into poverty, or otherwise upset at the screwing he's giving them.

We've already got people expressing the sentiment quite literally.
Posted on entry Literary Divination, A Parlour Game ::: March 17, 2008, 12:14 PM:
The self-help Tarot for our Prez, who has neither accomplished
anything for himself, nor shown much talent for introspection, and
would prefer literature-lite. I clipped some subtitles for length.

This covers him, defining the problem space: The Logic of Failure

This crosses him: You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way

This crowns him, representing the best possible outcome: Enforcing International Law

This is beneath him, the foundation...which the querent has made his own: Laws of the Jungle

This is behind him: More Scams from the Great Beyond!: How to Make
Even More Money Off the Creationism, Evolution, Environmentalism,
Fringe Politics, Weird Science, the Occult, and Other Strange Beliefs

This is before him: What Color is Your Parachute?

The significator: The 12 Steps to Self-Parenting for Adult Children

His house: Self Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life

His hopes and fears: Burying the Secret

Culmination: The Last Self-help Book You'll Ever Need: Repress Your
Anger, Think Negatively, Be a Good Blamer, And Throttle Your Inner Child

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