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bwg (2)

Almost one year after Congressional Republicans tried to limit the definition of rape to only include "force" (previously), the Department of Justice is redefining the term--but this time to to expand it dramatically:

The outdated definition that has been governing national rape statistics since 1929, “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will,” has been updated to "penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” According to Susan D. Carbon, director of the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, the previous definition “excluded an untold number of victims.” For the first time, men will be included in national rape statistics, as well as those raped while unable to give consent due to intoxication or other mental and physical incapacity.

posted by zombieflanders on Jan 6, 2012 - 47 comments

Were you at the royal wedding?
posted by wpenman on Apr 30, 2011 - 97 comments

Lack of Belief in gods by Qualiasoup. SLYT; 10.00; "Explaining the concept, refuting common objections and giving a number of reasons that atheists are sometimes 'fervent'."
posted by bwg on Jan 22, 2011 - 106 comments

My brother often informs me that I live 'the life of Riley'. The other night while re-reading Bill Bryson's Made in America I noted he mentioned the origin of the phrase was a popular 1880s song (possibly 1883) Is That Mr. Reilly? by Pat Rooney, in which "the hero speculates on what he would do with a fortune", and revived for use during WWI. Curious, I found several possible origins, though the song remains the top contender. Dictionary.com defines life of Riley as "a carefree, comfortable, and thoroughly enjoyable way of living. The term became popular and eventually 'The Life of Riley' was used as the title of an American radio sitcom (Wiki), followed by a movie and television series. It was used again with the alternate spelling 'The Life of Reilly' in 1995 as the title of a short film from Ireland, and in a 2006 movie starring Charles Nelson Reilly. In 2009 'The Life of Riley' was the name of a British television comedy. Now that's a phrase with staying power. It's the name of an Irish band, an online store in the UK, it was used by a sign maker, and quite obviously, as the moniker of several drinking establishments, such as the Life of Riley Tavern in Portland, Oregon; The Life of Reilly - Irish Pub & Restaurant in Baltimore, in the United Kingdom as the 'Life Of Riley' in Glasgow, Lanarkshire; and 'Life of Reilly Pub' in Harrow, Middlesex; and with a strange possessive at the 'Life of Reilly's Pub and Grill' in Long Beach, New York. Let's also not forget the mysterious MeFite LifeofRiley, whose stats stand entirely at zero. My main reason for writing all this is to ask: how many Mefites use this term? I do, but unfortunately my brother is wrong: I don't live the life of Riley. I might one day, if I win the lottery . . .
posted by bwg on Dec 18, 2010 - 29 comments

Knoword is a game where it's good to be loquacious.
posted by tehloki on Dec 17, 2010 - 53 comments

Why we urgently need to bring the concept of society up-to-date This post is taken from Disputed Questions: a series of debates organized by Neil Turner for the Open Anthropology Cooperative. I would like to argue for the motion: One of the major challenges of anthropology is the redefinition of the concept “society.”
posted by infini on Aug 8, 2010 - 13 comments

It's never easy to talk about sex. It all depends on your definition.
posted by monospace on Oct 1, 2009 - 18 comments

Self-described 'culture-jammers' Adbusters identify the greatest threat to our way of life - the hipster. [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave on Aug 1, 2008 - 282 comments

Perverse Polarity: Bipartisanship is another name for date rape? An examination of all of the talk about how polarized we are as a people, and what the facts actually are. Yet even when journalists' own evidence plainly shows that one party has become more moderate and the other more ideologically extreme, they can't bring themselves to say so.
posted by amberglow on Jun 23, 2004 - 17 comments

Defining Terrorism with about 109 definitions of terroism, defining what it is and isn't is no easy task. Its no wonder the govt. officials want to stop using the word in the media. this is an in depth look at terrorism and why its important to define it. Is one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter? The article even incudes diagrams for the visual persons like myself.
posted by redhead on Oct 15, 2001 - 12 comments