Fourth estate, sorry ..... boy, I'm making flubs left and right today.

But mostly Right. :-)
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:26 AM on June 27, 2006

[...] being seen as emotional and passionate about the issues of the day, was often considered more important and influential than one's opinions on the issues themselves

Isn't that one of the cores of the Religious Right Republicans' creed, where "conviction" is a virtue and "intellectualism" is vilified?

I'm a moderate, which a lot of the RRR (and frankly the extreme Left as well) consider a Bad Thing,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:37 AM on June 27, 2006

[...] moderate is seen as bad, because "if you stand for nothing you'll fall for anything".

Ya, I've heard that catchy little rhetorical legerdemain before. Well heck, they're so wrong it's shocking. I am a firm advocate of Moderation. With conviction! Rather than belt the extremies with a tire iron like I am sure some of them deserve, I'd be content with biffing them rapidly with a Nerf bat. I mean, how moderate is that?
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:52 AM on June 27, 2006

@Neiltupper: I have no idea. I'm Canadian, and as such I speak of the more militant lefties Up Here that can be found in the NDP.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:04 AM on June 27, 2006

Saying that NYC isn't the centre of the universe is adopting the same attitude Western Canadians like myself exhibit from time to time: we gnash our teeth at Eastern Canada, make disparaging remarks about "Tranna" and claim that the West can do it on its own thankyouverymuch. But at the end of the day, the East does rule the West, regardless of what rhetoric we might want to fling about.

What happens in NY doesn't stay in NY.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:42 AM on June 27, 2006

In the Age of Blog, I thought the correct phrasing and spelling was "you get teh ghey..."

I just can't keep up with all of this new nomenclature.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 6:19 PM on June 26, 2006

@psmealey

I'd only ever heard of Free Republic before. I visited the site just now, and holy crap you weren't kidding about angry and bigoted. A lot of them seem to be under the same Kool-Aid induced delusion, which is kind of freaky.

I also got the impression that the moderators there made sure that only those messages that toed the Hard Right line are allowed to remain. It reminds me of the Fascist Groupthink you might find in science fiction... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 3:31 PM on June 8, 2006

Holy crapola. Coulter just declared herself "the Mark Twain of Conservatism" or somesuch. On Lou Dobbs. National television. Without blinking an eye.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 3:58 PM on June 8, 2006

Could I have her picture tattooed to my ass? 'Cause next time I get my ass kicked I won't feel so bad.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 6:47 PM on June 8, 2006

I have a crush on Paula Zahn. Ann Coulter is more like that snotty rich-bitch that no one intelligent likes but they steer clear of her because her Dad's the mayor.

Loads of fun talking about her though.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 7:12 PM on June 8, 2006

Doesn't anyone else here have a crush on Paula Zahn? Enough about who killed whom!

That Paula. She has legs that go up to her neck.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:14 PM on June 8, 2006

The only times I get twitchy around changes in speech are when it's a struggle to understand the speaker. Listeners, for all intensive purposes" insteadeven active listeners, shouldn't have to do all of the work of obtaining clarification while the speaker just spews.

If you say "he just axed me" when you meant "he just asked me," don't be surprised if I offer my condolences at you being fired.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 6:42 PM on June 5, 2006

By god I really botched that post. Apologies. I meant to say:

The only times I get twitchy around changes in speech are when it's a struggle to understand the speaker. Listeners, even active listeners, shouldn't have to do all of the work of obtaining clarification while the speaker just spews.

If you say "he just axed me" when you meant "he just asked me," don't be surprised if I offer my condolences to you for being fired.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 6:43 PM on June 5, 2006

I think proper names should be pronounced as they are at their origin, or at least an effort should be made. Montreal should be pronounced "mon ray AL" for example. If nothing else, you'll sound more cultured than the dork over yonder who says "Tor ON tow" instead of the clearly more proper "Tranna."
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 12:13 AM on June 6, 2006

@jonson:

Yes, because the appropriate penalty for a mugging should be death. We get it, Kwantsar, you're a dick. No need to keep beating about the bush...

And apparently you're illiterate, because they were packing a shotgun. If I were in the same situation and cornered, I bloody well would do what it took to protect myself, including shuffling them all off their asshole-ish mortal coils.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:17 AM on May 31, 2006

@petermcdermott

Meaning you'd give them your wallet, like the rest of us...

No, I'd run if I could. If I was cornered...well, I've learned enough about the criminal mindset to know that I might as well try to take at least one of them down with me rather than cower and hope they won't hurt or kill me.

I hope the Marine gets some kind of civil commendation for standing up to those vile predators.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:05 AM on May 31, 2006

@jonson:

I getcha. Sorry if I got a little barbed there.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:06 AM on May 31, 2006

@Drexen

Bollocks you have. It sounds like the guy in question probably didn't act in any way he couldn't have avoided, but the amount of dick-fondling machismo dripping off this thread is astounding.

My word, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

This has nothing to do with machismo, it has to do with being cornered and nearly knifed in the past, and if you'd kindly park your attitude up your arse, we'll all get along just fine.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 3:18 PM on May 31, 2006

@interrobang: First down! Move those markers!

@dios: pwned! Hypocrisy never looks pretty.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:22 AM on May 31, 2006

I love threads involving Chinese culture being analyzed by Westerners. Some of the insights are clever, educated and quite accurate, while some others just reinforce the "stupid, crude Westerner" stereotype.

It's all good popcorn material.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:48 AM on May 29, 2006

Strategery No. 2 was to establish permanent bases in the North. And that we got. Those are staying no matter what.

I dunno about "no matter what." Those Islamist have proven themselves to be utterly mad. If they see those bases as a "blight on Islam" you can bet one day there'll be a glass crater forming where one of those bases used to be.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:57 AM on May 19, 2006

illiad; surely you don't still think the people shooting and blowing shit up are all "islamists" and that's why they're doing it, do you?

Good heavens Odinsdream. Where did I say that's what I thought? Jump to conclusions much?

I just think it's more likely an Islamist will do something as extreme as set off a nuclear device than anyone else.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 2:20 PM on May 19, 2006

We are keeping those bases, by hook or by crook, until the kurds decide they hate us.

Nothing like overconfidence to blot out any concerns over what some freak might end up doing, eh what? ;-)
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 4:14 PM on May 19, 2006

Make it two beers so either way we both get to drink. And the bet should be that there aren't any glass craters or similar in Northern Iraq where there used to be a US base. Even one means that the freaks can get at them. You're on!

The suckhole part of this bet is that I don't really want to win, y'know?
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 4:47 PM on May 19, 2006

Religion is the byproduct of temporal lobe epilepsy. I remain hopeful that a cure will one day be found, and distributed globally in aerosol form.

Religion has never been the problem; it's always been greed, jealousy and a sociopathic desire for power that has buggered up what might've been a good idea.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 10:57 AM on May 15, 2006

"Pinky" has to be one of my all-time faves. The officer's scream sends me into fits of hysterical laughter each and every time I hear it. It was done with such feeling.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 1:11 PM on May 13, 2006

Debra Lafave is hawt.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 1:08 PM on May 12, 2006

"I want me some Moo Shuuuu!"
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 4:59 PM on May 11, 2006

Oh ferchrissakes people. You complain about Tucker for making $25 million while Tom "I can't act worth beans" Cruise pulls in hundreds of millions on a regular basis? With the exception of The Last Samurai I can't think of a single Cruise flick in the last decade that didn't make me want to yawn.

Tucker at least makes me laugh. Cruise does too, but I don't think that's what he's after.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 8:45 AM on May 12, 2006

@Mr. Six: I think you mean The National Post. The Globe and Mail has forever been a left-leaning Canadian paper. It's the Post that presents a right-leaning slant to National Canadian news coverage.

And about the U.S. and Canada: sure we're ostensibly democracies, but fundamentally I wonder if we're not really closer to being plutocracies.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 2:53 PM on May 8, 2006

The same crowd of people running your country for the last thirty years, interrupted only by Clinton.

Is that why Republicans seem to hate Clinton so much? I'm Canadian, so I don't have the benefit of cultural osmosis when it comes to U.S. politics.

I liked the Australian take on the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal: "Thank God we got the convicts and they got the Puritans."
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 3:38 PM on May 8, 2006

@ Mr. Six: Nothing is useful without context. Hold up the Globe and Mail and the National Post. Shine the same light on both. Which one is more left-leaning and which one is more right-leaning?

In this context, the Globe reflects Canadian left-leaning interests a lot more than the Post ever did, claims by hard-leftists such as L. Martin notwithstanding.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 5:23 PM on May 8, 2006

Relative comparisons with the Post or any other publication are non-sequitors, no disrespect meant.

How on earth does one consider left or right without a comparison as backdrop? If you're simply comparing the transformation of the Globe, that it was more left-leaning until recently, what use is that in any practical sense?

Wouldn't that be like complaining that FOX News is now left-leaning because Bill... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 8:16 PM on May 8, 2006

By the lean of the stories chosen by the editorial board of the paper?

Right...err...correct, but how do you determine the lean of the stories without a comparison point? I do agree it doesn't have to be another paper, but from the years I've read the Globe it's clear to me they lean left-of-centre in Canada. Which is, of course, a no more valid opinion than L. Martin's take, or even Wikipedia's.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:27 PM on May 8, 2006

Por kitay.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 12:11 PM on May 8, 2006

@melt away:

You must have some REALLY strange-looking 12-year-old boys in your neck of the woods.

InnocentBystander is probably referring to their backsides, and I concur. Check out the average Playboy model these days: huge tits, small waist, small hips and absolutely no ass to speak of. My Pez dispenser has more ass than most recent Playboy models. It's sad that so many of the chicks who wear the low-slung jeans these days... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:16 AM on May 7, 2006

tomplus: Yeah, I'm just speaking from what I heard myself. ;-)

But seriously. Candice Michelle (Ms. GoDaddy herself), for example, is considered muy curvaceous. Check out her booty [NSFW]. Compare that booty to someone like Vida Guerra [NSFW]. There is no comparison; despite Ms. Michelle's obvious charms, her caboose rates a dismal "mediocre" compared to real junk in the trunk.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:35 AM on May 7, 2006

This article reminds me of a really quite horrifying post I spotted on Another Forum. It read:

"Yes, I believe in the Constitution, but I'm a Bush supporter first and a Constitution supporter second."

I had to read it over a few times to be sure I wasn't reading a knock-knock joke or some satire; further posts from that writer confirmed that he was indeed one of those freakish "Bush Can Do No Wrong" freaks.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:24 AM on April 30, 2006

English is not everywhere in Hong Kong. Even during British governance only aorun 1% or 2% of the population were English-speaking (I was one of them).

Today, you'd be lucky if you could find any local not working at one of the major hotels or airlines who could speak English. Cantonese is what you want.

And for the record, I think the guy does come across as a total pussy, but I'm sure it's because he felt helpless because he... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 12:45 PM on April 6, 2006

expletive: no biggie, and you support your original point well that it simply takes a bit of patience and one can get around pretty much anywhere, language barriers be damned.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 1:12 PM on April 6, 2006

The babe in the b/g flick is Oksana d'Harcourt. She's hawt.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 8:24 AM on March 27, 2006

Er, where does the smoking pot is a sin logic come from? Is that in the bible?

Sort of. You can find it in The How to Crush Your Competition with Money and Politics Bible written by the alcohol, tobacco and cotton lobbies.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 8:57 AM on March 24, 2006

I will carry a brick with me from now on so I can clout people who uptalk over the head repeatedly, until they stop.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:11 AM on March 23, 2006

Just to make teece happy: I have yet to come across an uptalking teenager who thought that anything outside of the mall was worth discussing.

Just sayin'.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:13 AM on March 23, 2006

I find myself mimicking their inflections in some subsconscious attempt at empathy.

If you're able to monitor yourself and catch yourself doing it, you could always try switching to a thick Scottish brogue or whatever it is that irritates them. It would be kinda fun, oneupmanshipping on who can irritate the other guy more with language behaviours.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 11:33 AM on March 23, 2006

Although I agree with teece and languagehat that uptalking is not an indicator of low intelligence, I do maintain that uptalkers are lazy in that they don't bother monitoring how they sound when they talk.

And I don't have a problem with admitting I don't like listening to uptalkers. I think they sound silly.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 12:25 PM on March 23, 2006

But I'll bet that neeeeever happens.

Good heavens. Did I say that? Or even imply it? Cuz if I did, shame on me.

Oh wait, I didn't.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:23 PM on March 9, 2006

Here's the thing, she's on the hook for 18 years, too.

No, that's not the thing. She unilaterally decided to have the baby. She chose this. I don't see that being "on the hook."

The thing here is that if the woman changes her mind, the guy is powerless. If the guy changes his mind, she can abort the fetus, or put the child up for adoption. He doesn't have those options (nor should he, really).
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:25 PM on March 9, 2006

About the amount of rampant misandry I figured I'd find in here.

It's a new experience to me. I like women. Now I have to adjust that to "women who don't seethingly paint all men as walking, talking jism dispensers."
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 9:28 PM on March 9, 2006

I suppose the other option is to limit your sexual activity to ploughing the choccy starfish.
posted to MetaFilter by illiad at 12:08 PM on March 10, 2006