December 31, 2013
— Ace Kind of what I've been thinking of late.
I make a big exception for John Ekdahl's behind-enemy-lines list of passionately anti-war celebrities who have apparently been kidnapped during the Obama administration.
But most of this is just very easy content and very dumb linkbait.
There is a desperation to get clicks now, and it's apparent in the language used. It's not enough to post 14 hilarious interviews from Ellen in 2013. We have to post "14 Ellen Interviews From 2013 That Made Us Literally ROTFL."
That's a real Buzzfeed article, by the way.
This guy is so annoyed by Buzzfeed he runs a site called Buzzfeed Minus GIFs, in which he quotes Buzzfeed's actual words -- you know, minus the pictures.
For example:
18 Stages Of Getting Addicted To A New TV ShowOk, so everybody is talking about it. Maybe I should give it a try. Download the first season. Watch the first episode. It seems nice. Watch 5 more episodes. It really is great!! Watch it nonstop for days. Download all seasons. CANÂ’T STOP WATCHING. Suddenly you get to the latest episode. And for now on you have to wait an entire week for the next one. You feel anxiety. The season ends and you have to wait MONTHS for the next one. The waiting. MORE anxiety. You feel empty. Lonely. But the next season starts and itÂ’s all happiness again. And thatÂ’s how you know youÂ’re really addicted.
Or even:
The 19 Worst Things EverThis. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This.
One book I've been talking about lately is Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.
The idea of the book (which, frankly, is better than the book itself) is an elaboration of Marshall McLuhan's aphorism, "the medium is a message." Which is something [I] never understood until reading this book. The aphorism stands for the proposition that every medium -- whether it be writing, speaking, song, epic poetry, telegraph reports, news journalism, or television -- has embedded deep within it a preference for certain modes of expression and certain types of stories, and thus each medium contains within it an embedded philosophy of thought which cannot be wholly separated from the actual content of the communication.Thus, the medium itself, to an extent not appreciated enough, is part of the message it carries.
Now, Postman's book contrasts two different media, print and television. His book documents the long fall of America from a print-based method of political discourse to a television-based one. The early New England colonists, he points out, had a literacy rate of 95%, which was unheard of in the world at the time (and is rather high even today). They consumed printed material -- pamphlets, books, all of it -- and even spoke in that fashion. For example, he notes that Lincoln's speechifying, which may sound overly-complex for spoken argument today, was in fact fairly common of the style of rhetoric at the time, and people had no particular trouble following it.
Nowadays, we've lost our ear for long spoken sentences with lots of dependent clauses, and it's all we can do to make sense of them even in print, where we can take our time parsing them out.
This is part of his point: The method of communication breeds a certain method of thought in a population. To Americans living from 1730 to 1870, Lincoln's speeches were not overly-complicated or difficult to follow. They were accustomed to long complicated thoughts in political speech.
This has all changed since the television became the chief conveyance of not merely pop entertainment but, crucially, of political expression and culture itself. I will not belabor the long litany of sins he lays at the feet of television. Suffice to say that he believes that much of the superficiality and stupidity of the modern world is due to television's promotion of a certain style of thought, which is to say a certain style of thoughtlessness: Fast cuts, short sentences, information stripped of context, a disdain for abstractions -- indeed, a disdain for anything that cannot be filmed occurring in the here-and-now.
And the carnival barking-- Dear Lord, the carnival barking. Everything on TV is the best, the latest, the most spectacular, the weirdest, the most shocking. That sort of endless Hype of the Present Moment seems to give a big middle finger to All History Which Has Come Before.
Society is increasingly expressing a preference for the quickest, shallowest, most meaningless sorts of writing. It's the writing equivalent of jelly-bellies.
It's what I call the Nummification of Culture.
We are indeed becoming a more childlike people. We are more and more shirking the expected obligations of adulthood, such as marriage and procreation, and even more basically, we're rejecting the obligation of adults to actually think, in terms of numbers, and of best outcomes, and so forth.The national mode of thinking is now Nummy. "We" -- and by we I mean Americans, not "we" meaning us here right now -- increasingly think in terms of cute, and easy, and glib, and dumb, and fun.
...
We are indeed becoming a more childlike people. We are more and more shirking the expected obligations of adulthood, such as marriage and procreation, and even more basically, we're rejecting the obligation of adults to actually think, in terms of numbers, and of best outcomes, and so forth.
The national mode of thinking is now Nummy. "We" -- and by we I mean Americans, not "we" meaning us here right now -- increasingly think in terms of cute, and easy, and glib, and dumb, and fun.
A horse on a couch. This has nothing to do with anything I'm writing,
but market research says that I'll lose 50% of readers at this point
if there isn't a Funny Animal Picture interrupting the text.
...Years ago, when Titanic ruled at the box office, Hollywood began chattering: Will culture -- I mean, popular culture -- be determined by the tastes of the 16-year-old girls who turned that film into a billion-dollar bonanza by repeat viewings?
I think they rather overshot the mark. The culture is now dominated by the tastes and preferences of Tweener Girls. Or, in reality, 50 year old men and women attempting to channel their inner Tweener to appeal to a population which has decided that they were fools to have ever turned 13 at all.
You know, thirteen -- when you lost your innocence. When you stopped thinking Smurfs were All That and a Bag of Gummy Bears.
...
We are drowning in nostalgia and crushing debt and we can't see the latter because we've checked out into our Happy Place to chase the former.
I can't blame the White House or BuzzFeed for these trends. They're pushers, but they didn't create the sad addiction. This stuff works in America.
But why? Why does it work?
When did we all check out of adulthood to revert to tweenerhood? And when did we stop thinking that might be a little indulgent and shameful?
This isn't Buzzfeed's fault or anything. They are merely responding to the signals the market is sending, and the market is sending the signal "Dumb is Easy, and Easy is Holy."
Thanks to @rdbrewer4 for the horse picture.
Posted by: Ace at
01:17 PM
| Comments (377)
Post contains 1242 words, total size 8 kb.
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:22 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Ronster at December 31, 2013 01:23 PM (Rru72)
Posted by: BCochran1981 - Credible Hulk at December 31, 2013 01:23 PM (JpFMR)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:23 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: rickb223 at December 31, 2013 01:23 PM (cB3Ay)
Posted by: rickb223 at December 31, 2013 01:24 PM (cB3Ay)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:24 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: OG Celtic-American at December 31, 2013 01:25 PM (vHRtU)
Posted by: redc1c4 at December 31, 2013 01:25 PM (q+fqH)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:26 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:26 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Kasper in Arlington at December 31, 2013 01:27 PM (OVmhO)
H. G. Wells estimated 802,701 AD.
Turns out he was about 800,000 years too optimistic.
Posted by: ZBBMcFate at December 31, 2013 01:27 PM (Rw5vP)
Posted by: OG Celtic-American at December 31, 2013 01:27 PM (vHRtU)
Posted by: armadillo at December 31, 2013 01:27 PM (qQk+U)
now we have been regaled recently here that Upworthy is the new and improved must win battlefield for the right, but the lists post requires less intellect than I just took to scratch my eyebrow.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:28 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:28 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 01:29 PM (KhJ2y)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:29 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:29 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:29 PM (VYM4n)
800, 500 or so anyway....
what irks me is they revel in their idiocy.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:30 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 31, 2013 01:30 PM (8ZskC)
I've said it before and I'll say it again, read Moby Dick. It is the king of dependent clauses. It might just make you literate and appreciative of really good writing.
Or bore you to death. Either/or
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:31 PM (6TB1Z)
The alt text is also killer.
I have a not thought out at all theory that part of the retreat into childishness is the destruction of rewards for hard work. It used to be that you buckled down and worked hard and became a grown up and yeah it sucked but you had a house and a car and some small measure of security and respect. Now? You buckle down and you work hard and yeah it sucks and then your mortgage gets sold off in some kind of exotic default swap and all the people who were given mortgages without good credit or, you know, a job stopped paying their mortgages and now your house is worth half of what it was even though you tightened your belt and keep making the payments. You work hard and stay at the job you hate but it has good benefits and a great retirement plan and then the markets vomit because hey yeah so that whole we'll never bail out Detroit thing. Yeah. You work hard and you try to raise your kids right and then you get a call from the school and Tommy's being expelled because he mentioned that he was excited that he was getting to go to the range with his mom that weekend.
You work hard and you give time and treasure to candidates who claim that they will stop the growth of Leviathan and then they get elected and not only do they not do what they say they will, they shit on everything you believe and say you are the problem.
Why the hell should you be an adult? Or, tl;dr, as Insty keeps saying, if being a parent were an ideal, everyone would want a mini van not an SUV.
Posted by: alexthechick - Really Universe Really? at December 31, 2013 01:31 PM (Gk3SS)
Read to your children. Read out loud. Read out loud to your family. Read it again. Read the classics. Read.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 01:31 PM (P6QsQ)
They usually involve an automobile, a seedy part of town, twenty dollars, and local access to crack cocaine.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at December 31, 2013 01:31 PM (SY2Kh)
You can be masterful in a burst of brevity. Iowahawk, Ace, GayPatriot, and others are masterful at it.
Hell in my prior incarnation during the election I had a few direct hits.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:31 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:32 PM (ZPrif)
The Invisible Hand would make a great Asylum movie. I'm thinking women's locker room.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Beagle at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (sOtz/)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: BCochran1981 - Credible Hulk at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (JpFMR)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: ace at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: Set lobe free at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (R6JT1)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 01:33 PM (KhJ2y)
and we accomplish this by shilling for it nonstop, and BETTER aiding the degradation of the ability to think by encouraging an ever widening devolution of the use of sequential thought in communication.
Aces FJ....aces.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:34 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: caption for horse on couch photo at December 31, 2013 01:34 PM (wAQA5)
Posted by: armadillo at December 31, 2013 01:34 PM (qQk+U)
Posted by: ace at December 31, 2013 01:34 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:35 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:35 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:35 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:35 PM (QupBk)
It's like gays mistakenly believing their insular little 3% world is representative of some larger shit. Hahahahaha.
We were bumbling along a hundred years ago, and we'll mostly be bumbling along in another hundred. Nothing really changes in human nature or aspirations that much. Any marked deviance is transient.
Bacon abounds.
Posted by: Kate58 at December 31, 2013 01:36 PM (oLZsm)
If I use Deja-Loo I'll need some depends before supper.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:36 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:37 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: real joe at December 31, 2013 01:37 PM (xXhgd)
Posted by: OG Celtic-American at December 31, 2013 01:37 PM (vHRtU)
Vaguely on topic: http://tinyurl.com/oqqdyfb
Posted by: Jean at December 31, 2013 01:37 PM (4JkHl)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (ZPrif)
Bacon abounds.
Man, that's poetry right there is what that is.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Tom Hagan at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (2ljO9)
I have only used Twitter in the mass media online wars.
Kate my problem is of the 80 or hell let's agree 90% who never play online idiocy the app how many are literate in the classical sense and perusing traditional media(which leans largely moonbat) with a wary eye/ear?
I am dying to know.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Beagle at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (sOtz/)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:38 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:39 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: rickb223 at December 31, 2013 01:39 PM (cB3Ay)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:39 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 01:39 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 05:26 PM (ZPrif)
Holy shit this. List making is Cracked entire business model, also Bleacher Report.
Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at December 31, 2013 01:39 PM (WdbF7)
Posted by: OG Celtic-American
No. I'm sort of hoping they go all CG and we can get rid of the annoying Hollywood culture of idiots and outsource it all to animation teams in sweaty SE Asian workshops.
Posted by: Jean at December 31, 2013 01:40 PM (4JkHl)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 01:40 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: ace at December 31, 2013 01:40 PM (/FnUH)
Cracked is a humor site, and nobody thinks it represents deep thought. It's just junk food for people who need a bit of fun. There's nothing wrong with that. I know nothing of Buzzfeed.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:40 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 01:40 PM (KhJ2y)
I was not speaking of Ace shilling for them, I was speaking of YOU shilling for them.
I have perused Ace's thoughts on List-o-rama voluntary illiterate "commentary" for a long while....
I have also been treated to your "analysis" of Upworthy.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:41 PM (TE35l)
Need to make a convincing argument that your client should buy your product or service? Shut up and give this Powerpoint presentation full of graphs and stock pictures.
Deciding on a new place to live? Why waste time driving around and talking to people? Pull up the Forbes Top Ten Most Livable Cities list.
Your car engine acting up? Fuck it, you won't fix that shit yourself without a Cray supercomputer anyways- take it to the shop.
Want to share the news of the day with a buddy? Text them a link instead.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at December 31, 2013 01:41 PM (SY2Kh)
--------------------
What is CGI?
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 01:41 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:41 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 01:41 PM (HVff2)
Posted by: Totes Nummified at December 31, 2013 01:42 PM (wAQA5)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 01:42 PM (aDwsi)
Yup, we're doomed to stagnate on this dirt ball because the majority of mankind is worried about being gifted a great lifestyle and lolcats.
I think my march into bitterness was not so much about Obama but about an America that can be so easily conned by Obama.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:42 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:42 PM (QupBk)
Don't read it because it's deep, read it because with a bit of persistence, you'll develop a taste for really good writing, and that is its own reward.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:43 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: BCochran1981 - Credible Hulk at December 31, 2013 01:43 PM (JpFMR)
Real life not so much.
Humans have always wanted this sort of distraction but could never achieve it.
Now, thanks to technology, we can. So we do.
I know I'd rather live (even if falsely) in somewhere where it was nice and clean and fun and I wasn't expected to do the dirty jobs of life.
Of course I also know that that wouldn't last too long.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 01:43 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: I can haz INGSOC at December 31, 2013 01:43 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:43 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: Beagle at December 31, 2013 01:44 PM (sOtz/)
Cracked is Mad magazine with less relevance.
Birdfeed on the other hand has pretensions of adequacy as a political site.
It is dangerous.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:44 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 05:40 PM (6TB1Z)
Tell that to the writers.
Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at December 31, 2013 01:44 PM (WdbF7)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:45 PM (VYM4n)
And there's the difference between libs and conservatives in a nutshell. They think they'll make a new man who won't have the same flaws as those who came before. We know better.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:45 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 31, 2013 01:45 PM (nzKvP)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:45 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at December 31, 2013 01:45 PM (eHIJJ)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 01:46 PM (KhJ2y)
The writers *are* Pajama Boy's siblings...it is not important they know they're hacks so long as society knows they're hacks.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:46 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 01:46 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:47 PM (ZPrif)
That being said, most debates today are not even a challenge. Most people read a Wiki or snip of an article re-posted on a blog with mind numbing commentary. Once you get about two-levels down in the discussion many people today start to dissemble and just make stuff up.
Unless it's a debate a some obscure episode of "Lost" or "Idol", many people can't even hold a ten minute conversation.
It is actually sad, the nation is mostly filled with idiots who can't even perform basic math. God forbid the register ever breaks at Wendy's. Those kids would have a nervous breakdown trying to count back change.
Posted by: Marcus at December 31, 2013 01:47 PM (MDwlR)
Like, ya' know, I'm not buying this sh*t. Don't impact me at all, Bitchazz.
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at December 31, 2013 01:47 PM (eHIJJ)
Quite, "I'm an American and I do MIGHTY things used to make the heavens tremble...."
now MIGHTY is trying to undo the laws of supply and demand with a hopium induced smile.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:47 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:47 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 01:48 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:48 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 01:48 PM (KhJ2y)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon, tween a rock and a hard place at December 31, 2013 01:48 PM (g4TxM)
Posted by: Flavius Aetius at December 31, 2013 01:48 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: NCKate at December 31, 2013 01:49 PM (Auy5s)
10 crazy things you can eat and STILL lose weight!!
Posted by: buzz fluff at December 31, 2013 01:49 PM (Ua6T/)
Posted by: Beagle at December 31, 2013 01:49 PM (sOtz/)
Posted by: akula51[/b][/i][/s] at December 31, 2013 01:49 PM (54dkR)
Oh please. For me that was positively cheery!
Posted by: alexthechick - Really Universe Really? at December 31, 2013 01:50 PM (Gk3SS)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 01:50 PM (Usdw3)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 05:41 PM (QupBk)
FixedÂ…
That's why diasporas are useful. If you spread out enough, while part of humanity is going to hell, another part is moving forward and can regenerate the rest. That's the best argument I can think of for space exploration-limit the infection.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:50 PM (6TB1Z)
...this is just very easy content and very dumb linkbait
And there are guys we know who got major bank from Salem Communications for just that sort of thing.
So, AIDA I guess.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at December 31, 2013 01:50 PM (kdS6q)
Posted by: NCKate at December 31, 2013 05:49 PM (Auy5s)
----------------
Yup. I can stick most of it outside and it will be fine till whenever. No worries about thawing here.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 01:50 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: Something a horse on a couch might say at December 31, 2013 01:51 PM (l3vZN)
Wait. You mean people PAID to go on this thing?
hahahahahaha!
Posted by: grammie winger
We paid via the eductrazi tax milking system.
Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at December 31, 2013 01:51 PM (DL2i+)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:51 PM (QupBk)
Oh it is, see Toby I am actually more qualified to excel in a stagnant destabilized fluid world than one that rewards the greatest minds or skills of mankind.
When I was a lad, I was inspired to either apply myself to creation or destruction I chose destruction.
I have many times regretted not mastering an engineering or hard science discipline rather than focusing on History, Poli Sci, and Militaria but the rise of F$A tells me I may not have chosen unwisely after all.
The good parts of my soul are the sadder for it even as my brain tells me it is good to understand the OODA loop.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:51 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Angel with a sword at December 31, 2013 01:52 PM (hpgw1)
Posted by: Hobbitopoly at December 31, 2013 01:52 PM (jQUem)
Posted by: eman at December 31, 2013 01:52 PM (EWsrI)
Well, we're part of it, aren't we? We like Caturday and dumb animals videos and the Morons sure do like those cheerleaders with the sharp elbows.
In the '80's, I liked dumb MTV music vids. When I was a kid in the '60's, I watched "Flipper" and "Bewitched." Perhaps that made me lose a few brain cells, but I also liked "Charlotte's Web" ('60's) and Paul Johnson's "Modern Times" ('80's).
I don't know - I guess the problem is not liking viral dumb pop culture stuff, it's when that stuff is the only thing in your head, when you never go any deeper than that.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 01:53 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 01:53 PM (VYM4n)
Oh, I dunno, knowing the exact dimensions of Kim Kardashian's capacious ass is reward enough, isn't it?
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon, tween a rock and a hard place at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (g4TxM)
But it's all good. The people who have been calling it illegal for years, various law enforcement agencies and narcotics officers, some who have given their life to prevent the sale and distribution- I am certain they are happy about it.
Oh and the legislators, who said it was illegal, who for years connected the dots about the fact pot was a gateway drug and responsible for many tangential costs to our society- now think it is all good since they get a cut of the action.
Popcorn anyone?
Posted by: Marcus at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (MDwlR)
Posted by: Naes1984 at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (zeV2E)
I'm honored. Sincerely I know I post a lot, and I know I cloak a lot of what I post in gibberish. When I write seriously I sometimes do in fact have a point and data.
We are arguing over the crumbs on the table from the WW2-1990s capital flow.
We are not baking more pies.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: AmishDude at December 31, 2013 01:54 PM (xSegX)
Posted by: Animal Farm at December 31, 2013 01:55 PM (R6JT1)
10077 is the zip code for San Maurizio Canavese in Piemonte Italy
that
100077 is the zip code for Tashkent Uzbekistan
OR
Singapore
Or
Fengtai, Beijing, China
You're welcome.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 01:56 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 01:56 PM (HVff2)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:56 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 05:56 PM (HVff2)
------------------
So, party's at your house then? I got meatballs.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 01:57 PM (P6QsQ)
I knew of the Beijing Zip Code....
and thanks...
I wound up with this long ago because "sven" my favorite number was taken.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 01:57 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: awkward davies at December 31, 2013 01:57 PM (WK8VM)
Posted by: Null at December 31, 2013 01:58 PM (xjpRj)
Posted by: eman at December 31, 2013 01:58 PM (EWsrI)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 01:58 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 01:59 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 01:59 PM (Usdw3)
It will be interesting indeed to see what happens in the next 50-100 years, as automation simply renders human beings obsolete in the sense of needing to work to provide value to the rest of society. What will happen to the naturally industrious 10%? What kind of a life will the lazy 90% have, and will they be happy? I seriously doubt it.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 01:59 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Piercello at December 31, 2013 05:30 PM (P4dpU)
Which ever one takes your fancy.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 01:59 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: the goddess, irony at December 31, 2013 02:00 PM (8AHeV)
Posted by: Lincolntf at December 31, 2013 02:00 PM (ZshNr)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 02:01 PM (VYM4n)
Now? Fuck it, I press that entry on my phone. I just talked to my mom on the phone but I'll be damned if I know her number.
If I need to navigate to a place I've never been before? I don't consult a map and memorize the route, I punch it into my phone and the GPS gives me the shortest route and tells me exactly when to turn.
I don't necessarily think we've become dumber- for every Abraham Lincoln there were a hundred people who couldn't read- but easy, instant access to information and global communication has an impact on us.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at December 31, 2013 02:01 PM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon, tween a rock and a hard place at December 31, 2013 02:01 PM (g4TxM)
Posted by: Beagle at December 31, 2013 02:01 PM (sOtz/)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:02 PM (0LHZx)
You cannot encapsulate the arguments for a Constitutional Republic in pics of Platypi and Lolcats with a 12 item list made up of 36 sentences.
A lot of what works in our system as rendered by the founding is counter-intuitive to the unquiet mind.
Don't worry FJ You are correct nobody will read the Founding Documents without coercion or compulsion.....
I am no longer as worried I am preparing for the Post American America.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:02 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:02 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (Usdw3)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon, tween a rock and a hard place at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (g4TxM)
136 One of the problems of the modern world is that if you consciously steer clear of reality television and other idiocies, and immerse yourself in the classics--or at least very-well written, high-quality literature, you find you have fewer people with whom to communicate with on a daily basis. If everyone at work is talking about the garbage they sat through in front of the television the night before, and you haven't a clue to what they speak of, you look out-of-touch. Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 05:50 PM (Usdw3)
Yep, you nailed it. I found that to be true in high school, when I had a great Irish lit teacher who made me enthusiatic about Yeats and Joyce. I'd walk out of her class all fired up and I had nobody to talk to about it.
That's why I thought -at that age- that academia would be the place for me. Because I naively imagined professors sitting around in rooms with fireplaces and wood panels talking about Shakespeare and Moliere. Except now they sit around and talk about queer studies and how great Alinsky and Marx were. And those who want to talk about the Western classics are reactionaries and sexist. So I'm glad now that I didn't become an academic.
But yeah, I know exactly what you mean. There's a whole big block in my mind that wants to talk about that stuff - but if I do, at work or among my family - they'd think I was just being snobbish and boring. So I talk sports with them. I like sports, but it's like a part of me is starved.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (fb5Xr)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (QupBk)
I actually think the looter culture started after the USSR tanked.
All that money spent on the cold war had to go somewhere.
First we had the Savings and loan thing. Then there was the internet bubble, then 9-11, then something happened in 2008 and we had to save the financial industry from their fraud and folly.
Then it was bailouts for Industries and their fraud and folly.
Pretty soon we going to run out of excuses to keep inflating the balloon.
Or
POP
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:03 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: Hobbitopoly at December 31, 2013 02:04 PM (jQUem)
Cracked has a decent article about Simo Hayha. That alone justifies their existence.
Posted by: buzz fluffy at December 31, 2013 02:04 PM (Ua6T/)
Posted by: eman at December 31, 2013 02:04 PM (EWsrI)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (fb5Xr)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (VYM4n)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (HVff2)
It's plain as day for anyone who was extant in the 80s to see. Hell the media was bitching about it before they decided that, "yes it is enough to be king of the shit hill." The crisis is when the media personalities with the training in the disciplines in play are subverted by the demands not to offend the powers that B by risking their Q-ratings that we get to where we are.
James Pethokoukis, CNBC's few sane commenters they all know what we're doing is unsustainable but since the engine doesn't explode they are afraid to point out that Helicopter Ben wears no clothes.
Loading...>>
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (TE35l)
Ace got fired from Buzzfeed over the I hate Buzzfeed blog and got hired by Cracked?
Or did I miss something?
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 02:05 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at December 31, 2013 02:06 PM (LA7Cm)
I think what makes television so bad as a medium is the constant race to the bottom, content-wise. Everyone has to be more shocking, more obscene, louder, with more crass thoughtlessness and than ever before or it's somehow a failure of artistic vision. The offhand reference to carnival barking didn't quite get the entirety of how this is what's going to kill the West. TV's going to keep diving headlong into the muck of cultural failure until it's actual reality TV gladiator contests, fucking, and poo flinging. Then it'll be gladiator contests with fucking and poo flinging. Then they'll add more explosions. Then what? Hard to get much lower, really, but they'll try to find ways.
Posted by: Cato at December 31, 2013 02:07 PM (i+Vw2)
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 06:03 PM (R3gO3)
--------------
I'm very fortunate to have a family that constantly asks one another, "What are you reading". And then has a conversation about it.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:07 PM (P6QsQ)
Share your thoughts, in generalities, please.
Posted by: OG Celtic-American at December 31, 2013 02:08 PM (vHRtU)
Here in Commiefornia, the default position in all argumentation regarding the legalization of weed is that "the prisons are chock full of innocent people whose only crime was having a toke, man". They always go on to make huge claims about the money to be saved by avoiding this.
I heard that so often that I looked up the numbers of people who actually ARE in prison in Commiefornia for weed offenses and for no other serious crime. (There is a state prison census.) It worked out to about six-tenths of one percent.
So, yeah, innocent tokers behind bars in great numbers, myth busted.
I figure that what will happen in states like CO and WA is that they will recapitulate the Amsterdam experience. Where even the Dutch said, "Whoa there," after they saw what full legalization was causing.
Posted by: torquewrench at December 31, 2013 02:08 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: New Yorker Magazine at December 31, 2013 02:09 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 31, 2013 02:09 PM (BC6cY)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:09 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: BlueFalcon in Boston at December 31, 2013 02:10 PM (KCvsd)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo
Anyone who thinks a government can determine what is right or good, to say nothing of should, is the problem.
So, yes.
Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at December 31, 2013 02:10 PM (dwArK)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 02:10 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 31, 2013 06:09 PM (BC6cY)
--------------
Oregon Muse floated the idea of a book club for morons on the Sunday book thread.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (6TB1Z)
It depends how you use the tool. The first GPS waypoint I take is at my car. If things go badly, I need it to navigate. If things go well, it is a morale indicator late in the day (0.37 miles down this dirt road to the car) By using it I can avoid some planning.
Posted by: fluffy at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (Ua6T/)
The coasts and the "wasteland in the middle" have wildly divergent views on the proper role of government, the meaning of "American" and economics
The United States as Rendered will not survive the 21st Century.
There will either be 2-5 nations on this soil, one nation that has either overtly destroyed the US Constitution "legally" or gone so over the top in ignoring it the rule of law is a punchline or one nation who has conquered this one.
I do not see any remedy where the "elite coasts" and the "Paleo-America" can reconcile their differences.
We argue they are incorrect, they argue we are unworthy of life.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (TE35l)
@204: Exactly. Legalizing pot may not be quite so bad if it was your father's pot, but the stuff they've got now is about a hundred times stronger, and I knew stoners that had fried their brains to the point of being incoherent when sober before they got out of high school. Then again, the powers that be like it when their constituents are too stupid to live without their help.
Posted by: Cato at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (i+Vw2)
Posted by: gloria stultorum at December 31, 2013 02:11 PM (R6JT1)
I know my Mother could confuse the kcuf out of me and she only had a high school education. (the equivalent of a Master's degree these days)
Of course I was only 5 or so at the time (and until I left home).
Later on I could get the better of her now and then but that always ended in tears. (mine) That's because I quit asking for her input. I just went ahead and did what I wanted to do. No messing around about permissions and rules.
She could get me reversed from where I was headed verbally in less than a sentence or two. And I'd think that it was what I really thought until maybe an hour or so later.
Wasn't until I was about 28 that her verbal jujitsu started to fail and I could see where she was headed and stop her cold.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: RWC at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (Q6HBD)
Horse, water, some assembly required.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: The Mega Independent at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (4/o9U)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (ZPrif)
Truck driver... Office assistant... Forklift operator...Housekeeper... Ooooh! Here's one: "ObamaCare Navigator", sez right here, No experience necessary, will train.
Posted by: lady reading want ads to her horse at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (wAQA5)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:12 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Grey Fox at December 31, 2013 02:13 PM (VUDJK)
I lost my temper with Lad10077 last month he got a D on a pretty important Math paper.
Heard probably at 120 decibels was "dear God boy you have the entire fucking Library of Congress at your fingertips I had to walk 5 miles to get to a Library if it was after school."
I think the perceived value of knowledge was inversely proportional to its ease of availability.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:13 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:13 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: BlueFalcon in Boston at December 31, 2013 02:14 PM (KCvsd)
Agreed. It was never the case that the average man read great literature, although colonial New England probably came closest. The difference is that then, the literate were opinion leaders. Now, we have Paris Hilton.
Posted by: pep at December 31, 2013 02:14 PM (6TB1Z)
Not really, no.
Take a poll in the reddest of red Middle America states and see how many people are cool with closing the Dept of Education, eliminating farm subsidies, and phasing out Social Security.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at December 31, 2013 02:15 PM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 31, 2013 02:15 PM (BC6cY)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 02:15 PM (HVff2)
grammie winger: My sister and my brother-in-law read, although they stick mainly to current best sellers. (Both read "The Monster of Florence" after I did and we had a great talk about it. And I wouldn't have known about that book if Ace hadn't written about it. So thanks to the Ewok.) I can talk to them about books. They're the other conservatives in the family, BTW.
My two brothers don't read, have never read. They're the libs in the family. All of their knowledge, political and otherwise, comes from TV.
I was the only one in my family who was a huge reader as a child. My father, a blue-collar, first generation American was not, but he was, for some reason, extremely proud of having a bookworm daughter. One thing I loved about him is that he always made a point, from the time I was 8 or so until I was 29 (the year he died) to ask me for a booklist for Christmas. He didn't care if I wrote down 25 books, he didn't care if he had no idea who the authors were, he got those books for me.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 02:16 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:16 PM (aDwsi)
I carry a spare set. I'm naked without my compass.
Posted by: fluffy at December 31, 2013 02:16 PM (Ua6T/)
Posted by: Grey Fox at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (VUDJK)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (0LHZx)
Eh, you might be shocked.
You can make very compelling arguments that the Gilded Age of the Edwardian period was in fact the peak of Western Civilization so far as wealth and learning on an egalitarian scale went.
Were we able to nudge them away from the Jim Crow style soft-apartheids and keep World War One from occurring I think we'd all have been better off.
Morality blew its brains out on Flanders field.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (g4TxM)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:17 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 02:18 PM (Usdw3)
Posted by: cSPAn Fist Laddies at December 31, 2013 02:18 PM (R6JT1)
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 06:16 PM (R3gO3)
-----------------
That is so sweet. What an awesome thing to have for a memory between you and your dad.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:19 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: RWC at December 31, 2013 02:19 PM (Q6HBD)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:19 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: rickl at December 31, 2013 02:19 PM (sdi6R)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 02:20 PM (HVff2)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:20 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:20 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Grey Fox at December 31, 2013 02:20 PM (VUDJK)
Posted by: toby928© at December 31, 2013 02:21 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Hobbitopoly at December 31, 2013 02:21 PM (jQUem)
I'll concede that point.
Now ask "the unwashed masses" of middle America how thrilled they are with the war on coal, the notion they should either live in a city or live like a caveman, or devouring medicare to pay for F$A's Pogo Pills....
Yes too many in the middle have picked up bleed off socialism, but what the modern left is selling is not even LBJ full blown socialist collectivism, it is instead Leninist "brutal abacus" style carnivorous collectivism.
Bob needs X so I am taking your Y....
it is always thus, but heretofore we've been able to conceal it because of our massive wealth and production potential.
That ship has long since sailed IMHO.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:21 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:22 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at December 31, 2013 02:22 PM (RLTt1)
Posted by: eman at December 31, 2013 02:22 PM (EWsrI)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at December 31, 2013 02:23 PM (g4TxM)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:23 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:24 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:24 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: toby928© establishes prior art at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Grey Fox at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (VUDJK)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (fb5Xr)
Posted by: toby928© establishes prior art at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at December 31, 2013 02:25 PM (HVff2)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 31, 2013 02:26 PM (nzKvP)
Posted by: vasectomy cuts indifferens at December 31, 2013 02:26 PM (R6JT1)
Posted by: toby928© establishes prior art at December 31, 2013 06:25 PM (QupBk)
----------
Darn. That would mean putting down the laptop.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:27 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:27 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: toby928© establishes prior art at December 31, 2013 02:27 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 31, 2013 02:27 PM (BC6cY)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:28 PM (0LHZx)
Oh I have already penciled in falling off the wagon as he leaves office.
His "sudden, but long term pondered release commutation list will either give me a stroke or force me to be chemically fortified.
As I said upthread it is not HIM who is the issue it is a nation that though HE was a great idea and was spouting the things this nation needs to excel.
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:28 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at December 31, 2013 02:28 PM (g4TxM)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (Usdw3)
And a moo moo there
here a moo there a moo
everywhere a moo moo
Old Mcdonald had a farm
(and a moo moo until he had to put it down.
Steaks for everyone)
E I E I Ohhhhhhh
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: Britney Spears at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: 21st Century Schitzoid Hat at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: Lincolntf at December 31, 2013 02:29 PM (ZshNr)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:30 PM (0LHZx)
The great pharmaceutical research scientist W.J. Clinton solved the latter problem. You smoke the marijuana, but while doing so, you avoid inhaling. Presto!
For those of us who kinda figured that the inhaling was the point of the procedure, this seemed pretty ludicrous. But the press, who you have to figure as a group are reasonably well experienced with how marijuana is smoked, meekly accepted that explanation from WJC. Along with a long list of other ones.
Posted by: torquewrench at December 31, 2013 02:31 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: rickl at December 31, 2013 02:31 PM (sdi6R)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:31 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: TenthJustice at December 31, 2013 02:31 PM (BUaSt)
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:31 PM (P6QsQ)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:32 PM (ZPrif)
A hollow argument in my humble opinion when our distinguished opponents are arguing and infantilizing America to the point they choose our toilet's flow, our light bulbs, our drink size, our ability to smoke the relatively harmless tobacco in public etc etc etc
You want an anything goes society I *may* be game but let's not legalize medicinal LSD and have Nanny Bloomby outlawing my Large Hershey's Choco Milk glass please?
Posted by: Sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:32 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at December 31, 2013 02:33 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Britney Spears at December 31, 2013 02:33 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:33 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 06:18 PM (Usdw3)
Joey Bagels, I had a few of those old profs with tweed jackets and pipes in college. (My college Shakespeare professor was terrific.) That was in the late '70'and early '80's. The faculty who had come of age pre-1960's hadn't yet retired. The hippies I had (one smug ass who told me that "true" Marxism hadn't really been tried yet) were still TA's. When I went back to grad school 10 years later, the old guys were gone.The Marxists had taken over and all my professors were exactly like the fool you had. I lasted 2 semesters.
I recently read an interview with the late Jacques Barzun (born in France in 1907, came to America in 1920, taught at Columbia until 1967, died in 2011. He wrote a zillion books but from "From Dawn To Decadence," a cultural history of the West, published in 2000, is absolutely great. I think he read everything worthwhile written in the past 500 years - he lived long enough to do so.) He said he thanked God he had gotten out of academia at exactly the right time, because the barbarians were taking over.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 02:33 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: Lincolntf at December 31, 2013 02:33 PM (ZshNr)
Posted by: Vince Foster at December 31, 2013 02:34 PM (oFCZn)
Posted by: Lincolntf at December 31, 2013 02:35 PM (ZshNr)
No. They knew he was lying and they went along with it cause they thought it was funny.
Clinton doesn't do the middle finger scratching his cheek classless move like Obama but he had his moments of figuratively giving the finger to the country and laughing about it to their face.
Everyone knew he was lying but no one had the guts to call him on it.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:35 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: Roman Polanski at December 31, 2013 02:35 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: soothsayer at December 31, 2013 02:35 PM (fb5Xr)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:36 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: Zombie Jimmy Saville at December 31, 2013 02:37 PM (AymDN)
I keep having to point out that this has been studied, where a random cross-section of criminal perps have had their blood drawn and spectroanalyzed to see what intoxicants are in their systems at the time of arrest, and from those numbers it appears that being high on THC is no barrier whatsoever to engaging in crime. It is quite prevalent.
Amsterdam's non-drug-trade crime rate didn't go down either after weed and hash became freely available.
Posted by: torquewrench at December 31, 2013 02:37 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: grammie winger at December 31, 2013 02:38 PM (P6QsQ)
I really wanted this link to go to your Amazon affiliate store.
Posted by: HeideRadieschen at December 31, 2013 02:38 PM (nMYaa)
Posted by: Britney Spears at December 31, 2013 02:38 PM (RJMhd)
IF...they weren't so fucking hypocritical. You want to ban pot? Fine. As soon as you ban booze, cigarettes....
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo
If you're older than 14 and you're still making a "but Dad -- you smoke CIGARETTES!" sort of argument, there may not be any hope for you.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at December 31, 2013 02:39 PM (kdS6q)
Posted by: garrett at December 31, 2013 02:39 PM (0GtXP)
Posted by: sven10077 at December 31, 2013 02:39 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at December 31, 2013 02:39 PM (RLTt1)
Posted by: Caliban at December 31, 2013 02:39 PM (2ArJQ)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 31, 2013 02:40 PM (nzKvP)
Posted by: teej at December 31, 2013 02:40 PM (Nsomq)
Posted by: HeideRadieschen at December 31, 2013 02:40 PM (nMYaa)
Posted by: garrett at December 31, 2013 02:40 PM (0GtXP)
It's gonna get COLD.
I figured we'd have cold winter. Just hope not too much snow.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:40 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: RWC at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (Q6HBD)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (0LHZx)
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: Britney Spears at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: garrett at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (0GtXP)
Posted by: JoeyBagels at December 31, 2013 02:41 PM (Usdw3)
Posted by: Caliban at December 31, 2013 02:42 PM (2ArJQ)
Posted by: Carrie Nation at December 31, 2013 02:42 PM (oFCZn)
Posted by: eman at December 31, 2013 02:42 PM (EWsrI)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:43 PM (0LHZx)
should be like the old old west. When the trappers came out.
The only law was yourself.
The only rule was whatever you got away with.
They could designate a few wilderness areas as no holds barred.
anyone in such areas were on their own and anything goes.
Fence it gate it and put an admission fee. (just enough to pay for carting out the dead bodies)
Only allow minimum armaments/equipment.
think people'd pay for that? You betcha.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:44 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: mugiwara at December 31, 2013 02:44 PM (9K17N)
Posted by: wooga at December 31, 2013 02:45 PM (vvB6e)
Posted by: garrett at December 31, 2013 02:45 PM (0GtXP)
Or has a Grateful Dead sticker on his VW bus?
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at December 31, 2013 02:45 PM (LSDdO)
Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 31, 2013 02:45 PM (0LHZx)
"Barzun also said that to understand America, you needed to understand baseball."
Yep - I love his baseball essay - he described baseball as a living chessboard and gave wonderful descriptions of the roles of each player. I forgive him for being a diehard Yankee fan.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 02:47 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: Naes1984 at December 31, 2013 02:48 PM (zeV2E)
Posted by: teej at December 31, 2013 02:48 PM (RYVE/)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 31, 2013 02:48 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: mugiwara at December 31, 2013 02:49 PM (9K17N)
Posted by: Piercello at December 31, 2013 02:49 PM (P4dpU)
Posted by: rickl at December 31, 2013 02:50 PM (sdi6R)
Deadline Detroit noted that PolicyMic is similar to websites like Buzzfeed that use a 'a behavioral analyst' to generate viral headlines before assigning them to a writer to produce a matching story.
Posted by: Cracker Barrel Philosopher at December 31, 2013 02:51 PM (Ybu1V)
Posted by: The Electoral Hat at December 31, 2013 02:55 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: The Electoral Hat at December 31, 2013 02:58 PM (AymDN)
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at December 31, 2013 02:58 PM (DmNpO)
Posted by: rickl at December 31, 2013 03:00 PM (sdi6R)
I still remember fondly when the widow of Farnsworth, inventer of the TV, was honored at an Emmy telecast (this was when I still bothered to watch the Emmys.) I think they thought she's be all proud of her husbands invention, but instead she was very meh about it, which was fabulous of her. Or, FLAWLESS, if I use the correct Buzzfeed vernacular. She was very scornful of her husband's invention having brought more good than bad to the world in interviews; at the time that seemed almost sacrilegious, to my 80's child TV soaked mind, but now I get it. And commiserate.
Posted by: LizLem at December 31, 2013 03:01 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: LizLem at December 31, 2013 03:01 PM (BF+2f)
I experimented with pot in high school and smoked it occasionally in college. Never really liked it that much. What I do remember is that the kids in high school who were constant stoners were also the most unmotivated "Oh, uh, wow, man" types. I had a high school friend from "the wrong side of the tracks" (parents divorced; mom dated bikers who abused her and the kids) who rose above her circumstances. She got a job as a secretary at a local college and went to night school and got her BA despite the fact that she was never encouraged to do so. Her brother, who has smoked pot every single day since he's been 16, worked a dead-end job and lived at home until he was 40. I ran into him at a grocery store about a month ago. Don't tell me pot smoking has no long-term effects. All you have to do is talk to this guy for 3 minutes and you'll see them. It's very sad to see someone who is getting gray hair and still talks like "Beavis and Butthead."
And pot today is much more potent than the stuff smoked in the '60's, '70's and '80's.
Posted by: Donna V. at December 31, 2013 03:04 PM (R3gO3)
Posted by: MTF at December 31, 2013 03:07 PM (V68gr)
Average minds discuss events
Small minds discuss people
Extremely small minds on the other hand...
Posted by: AE at December 31, 2013 03:12 PM (HYceo)
Posted by: Joe who is always late at December 31, 2013 03:12 PM (69fz+)
If you want the real War and Peace experience, watch the interminable eight hour Bondarchuk epic version (with subtitles). You will suffer, just as you would if reading the book by Tolstoy.
Posted by: HTL at December 31, 2013 03:12 PM (QV8Gr)
Posted by: Harrison Bergeron at December 31, 2013 03:18 PM (qNZ3I)
How to tell the linked study is worthless: it gives specific numbers when they look bad, but no numbers at all when (it's safe to assume) they don't look so bad. Check this one out:
"[A]t a .08 BAC level, drivers are so impaired that they are 11 times more likely to have a single-vehicle crash than drivers with no alcohol in their system." Eleven times? That's a lot! Huge, in fact, especially when we think how badly the average sober person drives.
But why not give the ratio for multi-vehicle crashes? Because it's a whole lot less than 11:1? I can't think of any other reason not to. (By the way, it's also a lot easier to fudge the definition of single-vehicle "crash" - if I miscalculate and my tires hit the curb fairly hard, or the underside of my front bumper makes a horrible scraping noise on the curb and I have to back up a bit, is that a "crash"? If I hit another car that hard, it certainly would be, but that's the sort of thing I do now and then without being drunk at all.)
Back to the quoted study: "But 25 years of research has shown that some impairment begins for both males and females even after one drink." That's awfully vague: "some impairment"? How much is "some"? Not much, it's safe to assume, or they would have told us.
I won't quote the rest of Moocow's quotation, just note that it mentions "some loss of judgment", a "decline" (entirely unquantified) "in visual functions", and a similarly unquantified "decline in the ability to perform two tasks at the same time". So how impaired are people at .02% blood alcohol? I'm going to guess that the ratio is so small as to be trivial, nowhere near "eleven times", maybe something like 1.04 or 1.06 times more impaired than they are when sober.
Posted by: Dr. Weevil at December 31, 2013 03:33 PM (6g9W/)
Posted by: Chris_Balsz at December 31, 2013 03:34 PM (w4IDR)
Posted by: Chris_Balsz at December 31, 2013 03:41 PM (w4IDR)
Posted by: Dr. Weevil at December 31, 2013 04:00 PM (6g9W/)
Posted by: Crude at December 31, 2013 05:49 PM (znnUw)
Posted by: nunaya biz at December 31, 2013 06:35 PM (EilFB)
I'm thinking it's a good, normal response to being bombarded constantly with the link bait, and promotes better filtering capability on savvy people's part.
My theory on the subject:
The human animal is not currently wired to not believe what it perceives - when a hominid saw a predator approach, the ones among our ancestors who questioned the input got eaten.With the advent of print, that translated into people having a pretty well-known bias to believe what they read. All that was well and good, since historically there was a fairly high threshold for getting material into print - a market safeguard that insured that to some degree, most printed material had at least some intrinsic worth (L. Ron Hubbard writings being a notable exception).
Now, however, print is essentially free, there is no worth threshold at all. So now, worthless information can compete for our attention at a par with information of worth, but since worthless info is cheaper to produce, that's what you see a predominance of on the Web.
The good news is that IMO we are a flexible bunch, and we will adapt our own filters, both in our brains and potential in the tools we use. A good idea for product development (I am sure somebody is already doing it) would be intelligent filter systems (siri, anyone), which can insulate the user while still allowing information of worth through.
We've been adapting fer millions of years, I'm sure we're up to it.
Posted by: West at December 31, 2013 07:15 PM (iMxEz)
Posted by: Chris_Balsz at December 31, 2013 10:02 PM (NZp+v)
Posted by: MagdaMagda99 at December 31, 2013 10:21 PM (2/oBD)
Posted by: Chris_Balsz at December 31, 2013 10:29 PM (NZp+v)
Posted by: Hawk at January 01, 2014 06:37 AM (2dYnc)
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Posted by: EC at December 31, 2013 01:20 PM (doBIb)