Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 3022
MeFi post:
Massacre at Fort Pillow
>>War is dehumanizing to the participants. All sides. All wars.
Not the Cola wars.
Obviously written by someone too young to remember Pepsi commercials from the 80's. It was absolutely dehumanizing to realize that advertising executives thought I was that dumb.
But shush anyway! I promise I'll never make another sombre post like this. But I just want to remind people about Fort Pillow without a lot of snark.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 6:01 PM on July 1, 2008
MeFi post:
Bicycle Lock / Planter - get your bike out of the hall
It's £135. That's rather expensive for something that won't actually prevent bike theft. I always assumed that it was some sort of societal hangup that was responsible for Britain's refusal to have any serious legal penalties for property crime. Now I'm thinking maybe it's lobbying from the alarm system companies, CCTV sellers and people selling stuff like this.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 4:20 AM on July 1, 2008
MeFi post:
"He makes Gozer look like little Mary Sunshine."
Is there a particular reason English writers look to Welsh for macabre sounding words?
Because if there's a language that could be described as "heavy" or "earthy" to native English-speaking ears, it's Welsh. It sounds like it could be used for heavy duty linguistic tasks like arcane stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 4:52 AM on June 25, 2008
MeFi post:
13 People In A Volvo
I've lost respect for all things related to England.
There are a bunch of angry Welshmen spitting consonants, pricing trips to your house and wondering whether they can carry their farm implements onto the plane.
GERALLT: Cefin, we'll staaab HuronBob with our muck forks, we will. 'Twill be lovely!
CEFIN: Caff cwmbyllt moddwn ddyffllddwff!
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:02 AM on June 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Blue Collar Babies
All you have to do is drive through Gloucester to know why this happened. It's a beat-up town beholden to a dying industry in New England (commercial fishing). Those girls don't see a bright future that they could wreck by becoming pregnant. In fact, having a kid is probably the only positive milestone they can imagine.
I don't know what the big deal is. If they didn't get pregnant in high school, they'd do it shortly after. And the kids turn out exactly the same--... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 2:13 PM on June 19, 2008
Even if these young women got out their notepads and made careful budgets of their Burger King incomes,
Dude, they don't have jobs. Part of the attraction of getting knocked up for these kids is that the state pays you to stay home and watch The Price Is Right while you yell at little Brandine to keep quiet.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 3:20 PM on June 19, 2008
You sound like one of Rush Limbaugh's douchebag dittoheads ranting about "welfare queens." I know you like to play the contrarian, but I know you're not one of them, so cut it out.
I honestly think that the aid the women receives plays into it. I'm sure they all have older friends/realtives/acquaintances/parents who are already on the state with their own babies, and I'm certain that the standard of living provided by state aid is as least as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 5:10 PM on June 19, 2008
it seems premature to claim that social services cause teen pregnancy.
Do you honestly think that if there wasn't a welfare safety net, uneducated and unemployable girls would would aspire to get pregnant? I realize that these girls are at both an age and social stratum where long-term planning is very, very hard; however, if having a baby meant providing for it all by yourself and not getting subsidized housing, the thinking would be "I'm soooo... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 7:43 PM on June 19, 2008
On the other hand, I linked a study with some 5,000 participants finding no correlation between social services and decisions to become pregnant, suggesting that a sense of entitlement had nothing to do with the story in this article
You linked to a story about not providing additional cash payments for additional children doesn't prevent women already on welfare from having more children. Do I have to reiterate that I don't think the girls are aiming... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 8:29 PM on June 19, 2008
Also there is no evidence that these girls are poor or grew up with an intimate knowledge of the welfare system.
Yes there is. They live in Gloucester and elected to get pregnant in high school by shabby dudes.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 4:43 AM on June 20, 2008
It's amazing that there are people commenting here actually defending the girls' actions. Dreama would hug the girls and tell them to pump out more kids to waste resources that they didn't pay for. I'd be appalled, but I need the occasional reminder that American liberalism is comfortable with people like that in its tent so that I won't ever be tempted to return to it. I almost want to become a full-on Maoist just out of spite. Holy shit!
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:03 PM on June 21, 2008
It's weird how fixated you are on the welfare thing.
I'm a recovering Communist and I'm still deeply offended by parasites of all varieties. I should call my Sponsor because I can think of a few people I'd like to see in a gulag right now.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 4:19 AM on June 22, 2008
children are not parasites and have no control over who they're born to
I was referring to the mothers. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
but you sound like when you ran screaming you accidentally stumbled into Ayn Rand and haven't realized it yet.
Sounds like it to you because that's the only philosophy you can think of that's strongly against idleness. But Rand was actually more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 11:25 AM on June 22, 2008
MeFi post:
Jon & Kate Plus 8: raising twins and sextuplets on reality TV
Also that's a clear abuse of insurance to have fertility treatments when you already have two kids. Man, I wish them the worst.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 2:57 PM on June 6, 2008
From the Wikipedia article:
According to Kate, "I began to feel like we could do this! With God's help, of course!"
If God had wanted you to bear 6 children at once, He wouldn't have made you infertile.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 2:59 PM on June 6, 2008
Mayor Curley, it's very very unlikely their insurance covered fertility treatments. Fertility related expenses are excluded in most policies. People usually pay for it themselves.
In Massachusetts, it's legally mandated that health insurance cover X attempts at IUI and Y attempts at IVF per 12 months. I'm sure it's not the only state that does this.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 9:18 PM on June 6, 2008
I never understood the drive of people who have never experienced the heartbreak of infertility to be so certain about what someone else should do with her own body.
It's what they should do for the PLANET and for the shockingly large part of the American population that absorbs its examples and ethics solely from television.
And I'm saying this as someone who has dealt with the heartbreak of infertility. No snark intended. I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 9:35 PM on June 6, 2008
Say what you want about their decisions but reducing infertility to God's will is ludicrous, ignorant and frankly insulting to the people that suffer from this condition. It's causes are varied and affect both men and women.
If Kate can suggest God's helping her out, I can say He actually curses her. Neither of us know God, and God doesn't will anything anyway because He's a fictional character like Ethan Frome and Spiderman.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 9:45 PM on June 6, 2008
Something to let the assholes upthread know how much their words hurt, because you are talking about my children too, not just the Gosslins.
JESUS FUCK! ARRGH!
You're like the fifth person to accuse people here of shitting on fertility treatments. No one has fucking done that! No one!
People are remarking on the sheer number, the pregnancy as spectacle, the real-life "Every Sperm is Sacred"... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:14 PM on June 6, 2008
Mayor Curley - it seems like you have issues in general with women and the choices they make with their "weary cootches".
I assure you I don't. Just the ones that breed in the style of dalmatians; and the braindead, superstitious ones who make broad assumptions when they're irritated and have nothing better to fire back with.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:20 PM on June 6, 2008
and now they are doing the best they can to raise eight children to be smart and kind and polite, with a lot more success than the families with one or two kids that end up on the Nanny-emergency shows, so more power to them.
You're conflating television with real life. If they're such awesome parents then why are they selling their children as spectacle for you to watch?
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 12:37 PM on June 7, 2008
MeFi post:
New Yorkers and their quirks
I loathe New Yorkers. But I don't think that they're particularly rude.
Objectively rude actions are universal stuff like farting when you're right in front of me or being too loud in public. This happens everywhere. New Yorkers are not particularly objectively rude.
Subjectively rude is when someone violates the non-universal social norms that you're accustomed to. As someone from the Northeast, New Yorkers generally work the way I prefer-- no... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 11:36 AM on May 20, 2008
It's a way of non-New Yorkers coping with their fears of cultural and urban inadequacy.
Douchebag. You're definitely special, but not in the way you want to be.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 11:38 AM on May 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Because It Is There
Watch it now. We only have rights to stream it for a month.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 6:26 AM on May 14, 2008
I imagine there's something financially or technically prohibitive about doing that?
We have been adding stuff to the more modern versions-- you can see classic stuff like "A Class Divided" in the player. I do all the encoding amongst lots of other stuff, so it's an occasional thing. There will probably be more stuff added this summer when the series isn't in production.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 7:11 AM on May 14, 2008
MeFi post:
Who's on first? YOGURT IS!
I really, very dearly hate the "It's [generic female experience] good!" commercials.
I will eat nothing but yogurt for a year if they make one last commercial where a tiger breaks into a dayspa or something and eats those bitches.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 9:27 AM on May 10, 2008
MeFi post:
Warum nicht wir betrunken erhalten (und schraube)
Getting drunk to increase one's chances of obtaining sex seems to imply one of two things:
1. That being drunk makes you more attractive.
2. That being drunk makes you less selective.
It's actually "being drunk lowers your inhibitions, which increases the chance you'll actually approach someone." Talking to people is a key step in getting laid to those of us who do not rape, but you need confidence to do... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 3:19 PM on May 9, 2008
MeFi post:
it tore me up every time I heard her drawl
>Yeah? Did you also order tonic when you wanted soda?
I'm not old enough. As far as I could tell, this usage has pretty much disappeared among people under 70.
You can still hear "tonic" from people in their 30's raised on the North Shore. Specifically Saugus and Melrose.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:50 AM on May 2, 2008
MeFi post:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class
she's a law professor not an economist or sociologist: it seems like a long time to spend listening to an amateur talk about something outside their expertise.
She's a well-known expert on consumer issues related to finance and credit. She has some interesting things to say in FRONTLINE's "Secret History of the Credit Card."
That said, I think the gloomiest and doomiest of these experts are talking out of their butts.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 4:57 AM on May 1, 2008
MeFi post:
Danish Wind Turbine Loses Battle with Wind
ook I think it def has two strong sides which tag it as "controversial"
Yes, because the tiny opposition to the Cape Wind project has a LOT of money. If a couple hundred poor people were going to be inconvenienced, it would have already happened. "All the power in the hands/Of the people rich enough to buy it" etc.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 9:27 AM on April 29, 2008
MeFi post:
The future of Ubuntu Art
I've had my wife using Kubuntu for a few months now in a sort of experiment-- we just moved, and the setup at our old place was a mess. I had my pc, from which I do a lot of work stuff on, my work laptop (a Powerbook), my wife's PC (running XP Home), an old G4 Powerbook for the living room and an ancient Compaq running SUSE 8 as a file server for our music and movies and shared files.
I got to thinking that my wife used her computer sparingly, so I could use her machine... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 7:01 PM on April 28, 2008
MeFi post:
My chrome is shining just like an icicle
My home town (a smallish college town in Maine) had a bicycle sharing program in the early 90's. There were green bikeracks around the town and green bicycles that you leave at any of the racks when you were finished with it.
It took about two weeks for townie dirtballs ("Grits" in the local vernacular) to throw all of the bikes into the Androscoggin river. That was the end of the program.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 1:05 PM on April 27, 2008
MeFi post:
The Rapture is Not an Exit Strategy
Why would you join the military if you don't want to deal with idiocy? Reasonable people don't tend to take jobs that involve killing the people who are living over our oil. I grew up in a town with a base on it, and I can tell you from attending open floor time at school board meetings that rational thought, regard for personal freedoms or even an understanding of grammar are not required to enlist in the military. I would call a soldier if I needed something burned or date raped, but not if I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 7:07 AM on April 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Domestic Violence Discrimination in Housing
It's an awful situation. For perspective, I used to volunteer at Alternatives For Battered Women in Rochester, NY and currently make an annual donation to the Elizabeth Stone House here in Boston, so it's an issue that I feel strongly about. Women in that situation need to be given a chance to start over.
However, I don't think I'd want to rent to one. For one thing, the women at the shelter I helped out at were constantly sneaking around to meet their abusers, so... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 6:48 AM on April 24, 2008
Well, the landlords are trying to run a business, not provide social services follow the law that bans discrimination against victims of domestic abuse. I'm not surprised they would prefer a tenant who can't break the lease without penalty prefer to crime to non-crime.
FTFY
So because it's The Law, it's just and appropriate? Think again. More Thoreau and less Stalin, please. And don't get me started on "fixed that for you.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 7:35 AM on April 24, 2008
I hear what you're saying Mayor Curley and sure, it makes sense, but when you're on the run it's hard to be rational and take responsibility for yourself. That's where having an advocate to help can make all the difference.
I don't think it's the issue of being on the run. It's the fact these women tend to be desperately, cyclically poor and as like other people in the category, they don't have life skills. No one's taught them how to do all the stuff... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 8:13 AM on April 24, 2008
Employed women are less likely to go to shelters and more likely to find their own temporary housing with friends, family, or motels, because they're more likely to have resources and contacts to fall back on. They're still going to need long-term housing
I made the point a few comments up (after you stopped reading, obviously) that women of better means don't tend to end up in shelters and have an easier time getting back on their feet. I also suspect... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 10:43 AM on April 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Studying Really Pays Off!
Lakes said he doesn't believe that an external motivator, like money, can trigger the intrinsic love of learning and achievement that Cushman is hoping for.
No kidding. At least they'll have pleasant memories of easy money when they're pumping gas in the heat for a living.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 6:15 AM on April 22, 2008
MeFi post:
The major urban infrastructure that smelt it, dealt it
I would think that the earthy smell of manure would be welcome on a Sunday in London, where two nights of public urination tends to make the Sabbath the worst-smelling day of the week. And pretty soon it'll be hot enough to smell homeless folks' blankets.
(I'm not ragging on London by any stretch. I've spent plenty of time there, think it's wonderful and it's been the focus of most of my travel daydreams lately. But for a city that looks pretty tidy, I find it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor Curley
at 8:08 AM on April 20, 2008
