If thou gazest long into the Pit, the Pit will also gaze into thee

Say what you like about RoTJ, but it at least has the redeeming feature of the Emperor, who IMO brought a presence of genuine evil to the baddies that Vader, cool as shit though he was, couldn't match. As such, Palpatine/Sidious was the one saving grace of the prequels - a thankful respite from that mewling desecration of Vader's cultural legacy, AKA Anakin Setar.

Skip to 10.04 to see the look on Palpy's face as he starts torching Luke with Sith lightning. That fucker meant it:

[youtube]mv9G9rwWihg[/youtube]

Lsuoma wrote:

Matt Cavanaugh wrote:

ROBOKiTTY wrote:Meet this wasteful, pretentious hipster: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/m ... ntire-year

Make it go away!

Why am I not surprised the pretentious twatbox lives in Seattle? Jesus H. Particular Christ on a Crutch - this city attracts all the fucking wierdos!

Yes, Feefles, McHorse, etc., I'm looking at you as prime exemplars: please just fuck off to Minnesota or the People's Lunatic Republic of Chernobyl, and leave us sane folks in peace. Pretty please?

Oddly enough, an existence which features someone who changes their name to 'This is Beautiful Existence' feels decidedly less beautiful to me.

What a fucking berk.

zenbabe wrote:[youtube]hEcjgJSqSRU[/youtube]

The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

[youtube]m0d_7tJquGw[/youtube]

Southern wrote:

zenbabe wrote:[youtube]hEcjgJSqSRU[/youtube]

The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

That's the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_Begins

I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

Southern wrote:

zenbabe wrote:[youtube]hEcjgJSqSRU[youtube]

The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

No idea, but it did help me laugh off the movie, which made me so disgusted and mad and grrrrrr! that I can still feel the effects of the emotion, like the residual effects of a supernova.

Those ranting against Libertarianism, don't understand it. The difference this time round is that niggers will get to choose whether they want to be slaves.

Yeeeeeehaw!

[youtube]3WE9ncNIMMY[/youtube]

Really? wrote:

Southern wrote:

zenbabe wrote:[youtube]hEcjgJSqSRU[/youtube]

The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

That's the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_Begins

I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

I don't think he has many originals to his repertoire (that isn't parodies of other songs), but "Hardware Store" from Poodle Hat is my favourite.

Really? wrote:I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

Nitpicking but when Al doesn't do direct parodies he does style parodies, imitating a category or genre of songs instead of a specific one.

Oh, and also his polka mashups.

Mykeru wrote:http://wy3mg1xgify37n21x223cw7xl1.wpeng ... amanda.jpg

Yeah, keep telling us how you have to beat off the menz with a stick, you massively gruesome hose-beasts.

I dunno I thought Donna Noble was an okay companion.

My new year's gift to all:

http://www.blastr.com/2014-1-2/bsg-alum ... ndar-shoot

Pitchguest wrote:

Really? wrote:

Southern wrote:
The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

That's the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_Begins

I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

I don't think he has many originals to his repertoire (that isn't parodies of other songs), but "Hardware Store" from Poodle Hat is my favourite.

Oh, you would be wrong, friend. He has originals on every album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... 2_Yankovic

My favorites include "Pancreas," "One More Minute," "Close But No Cigar," and ""Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet near Mars."

Sunder wrote:

Really? wrote:I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

Nitpicking but when Al doesn't do direct parodies he does style parodies, imitating a category or genre of songs instead of a specific one.

Oh, and also his polka mashups.

Fair enough. I consider the style parodies to be "original" because he's composing the words and music...he's just challenging himself to write a song that sounds like the Beach Boys or Devo or a 1950s a capella group or whatever. Billy Joel and other artists do the same thing; he's written songs in an attempt to sound kinda like Ray Charles, etc. I love when artists "play" in this manner.

Mykeru wrote:

Lsuoma wrote:
Yes, Feefles, McHorse, etc., I'm looking at you as prime exemplars: please just fuck off to Minnesota or the People's Lunatic Republic of Chernobyl, and leave us sane folks in peace. Pretty please?

Here's hoping DC chickens migrate.
....

Yeah, keep telling us how you have to beat off the menz with a stick, you massively gruesome hose-beasts.

Well, to be fair, I've seen the pictures of those conferences. There's a lot of ugly, desperate men at them:

http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... lopods.jpg

Lsuoma wrote:

Matt Cavanaugh wrote:

ROBOKiTTY wrote:Meet this wasteful, pretentious hipster: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/m ... ntire-year

Make it go away!

Why am I not surprised the pretentious twatbox lives in Seattle? Jesus H. Particular Christ on a Crutch - this city attracts all the fucking wierdos!

Yes, Feefles, McHorse, etc., I'm looking at you as prime exemplars: please just fuck off to Minnesota or the People's Lunatic Republic of Chernobyl, and leave us sane folks in peace. Pretty please?

Winnipeg. They can all go to winnipeg.

[youtube]hUkCJDkG3fg[/youtube]

Southern wrote:

zenbabe wrote:[youtube]hEcjgJSqSRU[/youtube]

The best thing to come from The Phantom Menace (also, is it true that Al wrote the song before the movie came out, relying only in rumors about the script?)

He wrote it, but before he filmed it he went to an early preview and ended up making a few changes:

The song was entirely based on Internet "rumors." I gathered all the leaked info I could about the movie from all the various Star Wars websites (TheForce.net was particularly helpful), and was able to piece together the basic plot of the movie. We had planned to release my "Running With Scissors" album the month after "Phantom Menace" came out. But because of the lead time involved in recording, mixing, pressing, and physically getting an album out in the stores, I had to write "The Saga Begins" about two months before the movie came out. The folks at Lucasfilm have always been very friendly towards me, but they politely declined my requests for an advance screening or a peek at the script. Thankfully, the storyline according to the Internet followed the filmed storyline pretty accurately. Just for safety's sake, we didn't do the final mix on "The Saga Begins" until after I had seen the movie (I paid to go to the $500-a-ticket charity screening, so I could see the film a couple days before the rest of the world). I remember I changed a couple lines after seeing the movie - very minor tweaks. Like "He's probably gonna marry her someday" was originally "I HEAR he's gonna marry her someday," because according to an Internet rumor, in one scene Anakin tells the Queen to her face that he's going to marry her (which, as it turns out, wasn't in the final cut - but everybody knows how the storyline is going to go anyway, right?)

http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/int ... eirdal.asp

Really? wrote:...

Oh, you would be wrong, friend. He has originals on every album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... 2_Yankovic

My favorites include "Pancreas," "One More Minute," "Close But No Cigar," and ""Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet near Mars."

OMG. "One More Minute" is one of the best break-up songs in the history of break-up songs.

[youtube]yWhpk-8QLFQ[/youtube]

Tigzy wrote:Say what you like about RoTJ, but it at least has the redeeming feature of the Emperor, who IMO brought a presence of genuine evil to the baddies that Vader, cool as shit though he was, couldn't match. As such, Palpatine/Sidious was the one saving grace of the prequels - a thankful respite from that mewling desecration of Vader's cultural legacy, AKA Anakin Setar.

Skip to 10.04 to see the look on Palpy's face as he starts torching Luke with Sith lightning. That fucker meant it:

[youtube]mv9G9rwWihg[/youtube]

What I found interesting about the second and third movies is that other than as a distraction for the emperor, luke is completely unnecessary. Which, if Lucas were not such a hack, could have made a great subplot, and still could for Episode VII, wherein Luke finds out that the galaxy has not only gotten used to not having the Jedi around, but realize they're probably better off without them, and his only real purpose was to distract the emperor so they could get the real work done.

I've noticed there's a paucity of discussion regarding whether or not I'm a cnut, whatever that is.

He was a Danish king.

Remember that mad Witchwind "PIV is always rape" blogpost? Somebody has some fun with it:

[youtube]MGMRd16Izko[/youtube]

Tribble wrote:

Really? wrote:...

Oh, you would be wrong, friend. He has originals on every album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_so ... 2_Yankovic

My favorites include "Pancreas," "One More Minute," "Close But No Cigar," and ""Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet near Mars."

OMG. "One More Minute" is one of the best break-up songs in the history of break-up songs.

[youtube]yWhpk-8QLFQ[/youtube]

And "You Don't Love Me Anymore" is one of the best you-should-totally-break-up-with-that-lunatic songs ever.

[youtube]kWD5gdpt4Dw[/youtube]

zenbabe wrote:

Overwhelm the opponent with a tidal wave of nonsensically arranged word salads.

I was reading a forum recently, and one fellow used this as a rebuttal:

This is a result of affirming the consequent, which is confused by many with modus tollens, but the latter is valid whereas the former is a fallacy.

He also name dropped Aristotle and Rousseau in an attempt to prove his intellectual superiority to well...everyone. He also kept trying to talk about 'Greek modalities' to further prove how great his intellectual truly is...

*intellect, should read that, not 'intellectual' haha

Tribble wrote:That's why I laugh when Libertarians pretend they're in between 'liberals' and 'conservatives.' They're not even close and they're the ideological extreme opposite of socialists and, as far as I can see, it's more like this than their claims of splitting the difference:

Socialists --- Liberals --- Moderates --- Conservatives --- Libertarians

Glad to hear it. Most people have somehow become convinced that the opposite of a Socialist is a Nazi; presumably not ever actually having read the manifesto of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Perhaps there's hope that some day racist lunatics will no longer be so lazily labelled 'far right' by uncritical journalists? Like the original Nazis, the BNP are lefties to a man - they just want to make sure that only the right people benefit from the largesse of the State.

Tigzy wrote:Say what you like about RoTJ, but it at least has the redeeming feature of the Emperor, who IMO brought a presence of genuine evil to the baddies that Vader, cool as shit though he was, couldn't match. As such, Palpatine/Sidious was the one saving grace of the prequels - a thankful respite from that mewling desecration of Vader's cultural legacy, AKA Anakin Setar.

Skip to 10.04 to see the look on Palpy's face as he starts torching Luke with Sith lightning. That fucker meant it:

[youtube]mv9G9rwWihg[/youtube]

Anakin Setar! :lol:

And yeah, the Emperor was pretty damn cool but those fucking Ewoks though. Dear Christ. Those horrible, shitty Ewoks.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/1171 ... 8f4c_o.gif
What a way to shit on the trilogy.

Pitchguest wrote:
I love Weird Al. (I kinda like his originals even more than the parodies.)

I don't think he has many originals to his repertoire (that isn't parodies of other songs), but "Hardware Store" from Poodle Hat is my favourite.[/quote]

Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo once said that Weird Al's "Dare to be Stupid" was the best Devo song ever.

paddybrown wrote:He was a Danish king.

Remember that mad Witchwind "PIV is always rape" blogpost? Somebody has some fun with it:

[youtube]MGMRd16Izko[/youtube]

Appears Diana had a good time doing that video even got a bit hot and sweaty in the end.

As we're on the subject of Star Wars, I thought you all might like the Imperial March on ukelele and penny whistle:


[youtube]FI_DospPY28[/youtube]

another lurker wrote:zenbabe wrote:

Overwhelm the opponent with a tidal wave of nonsensically arranged word salads.

I was reading a forum recently, and one fellow used this as a rebuttal:

This is a result of affirming the consequent, which is confused by many with modus tollens, but the latter is valid whereas the former is a fallacy.

He also name dropped Aristotle and Rousseau in an attempt to prove his intellectual superiority to well...everyone. He also kept trying to talk about 'Greek modalities' to further prove how great his intellectual truly is...

[youtube]aprcqLMY2QY[/youtube]

Matt Cavanaugh wrote:http://blatantblithe.files.wordpress.co ... walk-6.jpg

Notice her belt at the bottom of the sign? I want a write-in option "Dropping your pants in public" on her sign.

Oh yes.......Mykeru is the nicest cnut I know of.

ianfc wrote:

paddybrown wrote:He was a Danish king.

Remember that mad Witchwind "PIV is always rape" blogpost? Somebody has some fun with it:

Appears Diana had a good time doing that video even got a bit hot and sweaty in the end.

I was wondering whether the camera would pull back to show her riding cowboy...

Mykeru wrote:I've noticed there's a paucity of discussion regarding whether or not I'm a cnut, whatever that is.

I thought it was a universal constant, like the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation -- 6.67384(80)×10−11 m3·kg−1·s−2 It's solved, the equation works and there's nothing left to discuss...

A recent comment of mine - in moderation, natch - in response to one of Ophelia’s latest posts on the question “What is Toxic Feminism?”:

Steersman wrote:To answer that question you might try looking in the mirror. Or at the TERFs. Or at any of Melissa McEwan’s screeds, or those of Twisty Faster. Or, as corroboration, several of Jadehawk’s posts, notably the one titled I’ve served radical feminism the divorce papers along with this comment of hers in response to one of mine:

Jadehawk wrote:

Steersman wrote:And I would include Amanda Marcotte in those who seem to look at “feminism” through some very noticeably rose-coloured – not to say pink – glasses, at least as suggested by this recent article and comments by her ....

yeah, THAT is actually a valid example of No True Scotsman as a result of wanting to only the good parts of feminism to count as feminism. Except that she basically uses that strawman to express the same sentiment I have expressed here: that what’s called radical feminism is actually insufficiently radical and has become conservative in its preservation of certain patriarchal ideas.

I’ll have to amend my earlier statement actually, given that Amanda is somewhat notorious for also ignoring criticisms of her feminism from womanists or feminists of color.

That previous comment of mine got a rise out of Ophelia in any case:

Ophelia Benson wrote:
January 2, 2014 at 1:22 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment

“Steersman” tells me to answer that question by looking in the mirror. Cute.

My response – which doesn’t even show up as “Awaiting moderation”:

Steersman wrote:And I said a lot more to boot. That you don't post it more or less corroborates my point. Which I've also made in the Pit should you happen to be lurking about there again ....

Sunder wrote:IMO the parts of Jedi that take place in the Emperor's throne room are classic.

[youtube]agcc7w8YmHo[/youtube]

Tribble wrote:

Mykeru wrote:I've noticed there's a paucity of discussion regarding whether or not I'm a cnut, whatever that is.

I thought it was a universal constant, like the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation -- 6.67384(80)×10−11 m3·kg−1·s−2 It's solved, the equation works and there's nothing left to discuss...

So what you are saying is that the fine tuning argument holds because ... Mykeru.

Steersman wrote:That previous comment of mine got a rise out of Ophelia in any case:

Ophelia Benson wrote:
January 2, 2014 at 1:22 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment

“Steersman” tells me to answer that question by looking in the mirror. Cute.

My response – which doesn’t even show up as “Awaiting moderation”:

Steersman wrote:And I said a lot more to boot. That you don't post it more or less corroborates my point. Which I've also made in the Pit should you happen to be lurking about there again ....

Hey Ophie - get a real job. One that actually helps people. I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles. Please find some way to contribute. We need everyone pulling together to make the world a better place. Your simply bitching about shit doesn't really help. Kisses!

another lurker wrote: He also name dropped Aristotle and Rousseau in an attempt to prove his intellectual superiority to well...everyone. He also kept trying to talk about 'Greek modalities' to further prove how great his intellectual truly is...

Ugh... I've got a friend like this in meatspace. She's very impressed with her own state school degree (and the fact that she is now in a graduate program). If I had to guess, I'd say her IQ is slightly below average (she struggles tremendously with math and formal logic), yet she has all the confidence in the world, a walking demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Eventually, I did have to tell her that I thought nothing of her opinion. It made me feel like an asshole, but it's better than arguing with someone who presumes to be an intellectual but also subscribes to vaccine conspiracy theories.

PS - happy holidays everyone. I'm very upset I missed the baptism of the new thread :(

John D wrote: Hey Ophie - get a real job. One that actually helps people. I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles.

Was it this? It was this, wasn't it?



http://i.imgur.com/aUr8V4n.jpg

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:

John D wrote: Hey Ophie - get a real job. One that actually helps people. I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles.

Was it this? It was this, wasn't it?



http://i.imgur.com/aUr8V4n.jpg

If that wasn't LHD, I'd guess it was Feefle's car.

Keating wrote:

Sunder wrote:IMO the parts of Jedi that take place in the Emperor's throne room are classic.

[youtube]agcc7w8YmHo[/youtube]

Clerverly done, but not as funny as this one:

[youtube]vskHXtPuvBk[/youtube]

(I like Return of the Jedi. Don't even mind the ewoks. The trick is to remember it's a fun adventure film for kids, not Hamlet.)

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:

John D wrote: Hey Ophie - get a real job. One that actually helps people. I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles.

Was it this? It was this, wasn't it?



http://i.imgur.com/aUr8V4n.jpg

I hold the patent on this shifter design!

Casting American libertarians as simply further right than American conservatives totally ignores the fact that libertarians want the government to stay out of citizens' private lives, whereas conservatives want the opposite.

I also don't think that libertarians are generally motivated by selfishness. I think that many of them are ideologically attached to the concept of "individual freedom" (as they define it) to the point that they'll only accept facts that support their beliefs. For these people it's rather like religion, and I don't think religious people are primarily motivated by selfishness.

There are also libertarians who want to keep government as small as possible because they're distrustful of it. But people from all over the political spectrum want to keep government as small as possible because they're distrustful of it—they just disagree over what "as small as possible means," and if you're convinced that "as small as possible" means "no social safety net because that will only make things worse for the poor," then you're rejecting reality and probably belong to the first group after all. On the flip side, if you're not distrustful of government, you're an idiot.

I waffle between describing myself as "moderate" and as "somewhere between liberal and libertarian." I want the government to stay out of our private lives completely, I favor the legalization of all drugs without need for prescription (except for things like antibiotics where overuse can be detrimental to society as a whole), and I support the social safety net and think the requisite tax burden should fall more on the rich than on the middle class. But I get disgusted with so many on the left who demonize the wealthy and act like nobody who gets rich deserves it (notice how they rail against not just corporate executive types but also doctors and lawyers and accountants; interesting that they rarely rail against movie stars or professional athletes).

Certainly there are people who don't deserve their wealth, and I'm in favor of the inheritance tax (I'd even be in favor of a wealth tax instead of an income tax if it were feasible—see below). That said, innovation and voluntary financial risk-taking should be rewarded when things pan out, and in-demand professions that require extensive training should pay better than those for which demand is low or little training is required. There's room for the public sector, and many types of markets need to be regulated, but people who think the private sector doesn't benefit society or that it can be wished away are kidding themselves.

Changing gears now.

Libertarians like to strip things down philosophically when they debate. The best way to debate them is to beat them at their own Gedankenexperiment game. Here is one way that's occasionally worked for me:

Ask a libertarian, "What should the government do?" Answer: military and judicial system (deter the use of force, enforce contracts, protect private property). Now ask, "Who benefits the most from these things?" Some of them are debatable (e.g., you could argue that everybody benefits equally from the military and from the deterrence of the use of force, though I wouldn't agree), but it's clear that none of these things benefit the poor primarily, while some of them definitely benefit the rich primarily. Especially the protection of private property rights, which is for many libertarians sacrosanct and an unquestioned assumption. The more you have that needs protecting, the more you benefit from a government whose job it is to acknowledge and protect your ownership.

But it's not a given that a government must acknowledge and protect private ownership of stuff. And all else being equal, nobody in their right mind would agree to join a property-protection collective whose members all pay the same premium—nobody, that is, except for people who already own a bunch of property that needs protecting. Libertarians would immediately understand the logic if we were talking about a private insurance company: the lower your premium, the less insurance you get; the higher your premium, the more insurance you get. The property-protection aspect of government is basically an insurance system, but the individual members don't get to choose their own plans. If the one-size-fits-all plan stipulates that all property is protected equally, then those who have more property should pay a higher premium. If instead you set it up so that everybody pitches in equally regardless of how much stuff they own, then nobody who doesn't already have a bunch of stuff will want in, and forcing them into the system is obviously coercive (not very libertarian, if you ask me).

That's my libertarian argument for a wealth tax. A flat rate would be just fine. Since it's not feasible, a progressive income tax and an inheritance tax will have to suffice, imperfect as they are.

Tax the rich not because they're evil, but because they benefit the most from a government that acknowledges and protects the fruits of their economic activities. Use the tax money for the libertarian purposes of military and judicial system, but also use it to help out those in need (within reason) and to make opportunity more equal.

TL;DR: I'm better than you. :cdc: :bjarte:

katamari Damassi wrote: I refuse to call Star Wars, A New Hope. That wasn't the name it was filmed and first released as. That was Lucas revisionism. And yes the first two movies are good and then completely turn to shit with Jedi. Lucas was equally interested in marketing toys and Joseph Campbell style myth at that point rather than film making. Both were really bad influences. The original Star Wars was simply an homage to the serials of Lucas' youth-much like Indiana Jones was.
Incidentally, there were never any sequels planned. Star Wars was expected to flop. If you actually pay attention to what little plot there is, Star Wars is a complete movie. The rebels win and the empire is destroyed. Vader was kept alive to keep the door open for a sequel but there was never a planned story for it.

This is one of the reasons I really like the original Star Wars. It is a complete film. There are no extraneous bits to that movie. No unnecessary scenes (unless you watch that abortion of a Lucas special edition, with the fucking digital slop poured over everything.) Overall, it's a competent and thrilling action fantasy film that I can still enjoy today. It's not as "omg deep" as the other two films, but I think it's a better movie for its simplicity. The Special Editions unfortunately fucking ruined entire scenes of all three movies.

Lucas seems like one of those guys who became famous by accident. Most of his movies are either barely decent or completely shit. Two of the three Lucas films weren't directed by him. The original Star Wars is about the only Lucas film I can really say is good.

It's kind of shameful that many of the Star Wars video games have better plots than every single Star Wars movie after Empire. I really need to play Knights of the Old Republic 2 again. For all its glitches and unfinished content, it's a brilliant game. Kreia alone is worth the price of admission.

[youtube]QCeg9AyFWVw[/youtube]

KiwiInOz wrote:

Tribble wrote:

Mykeru wrote:I've noticed there's a paucity of discussion regarding whether or not I'm a cnut, whatever that is.

I thought it was a universal constant, like the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation -- 6.67384(80)×10−11 m3·kg−1·s−2 It's solved, the equation works and there's nothing left to discuss...

So what you are saying is that the fine tuning argument holds because ... Mykeru.

If you change Mykeru slightly then the universe will cease to exist

Palpatine and the throne room jedi morality play is about the only reason I watch Return of the Jedi. Palpatine is great because he loves being so goddamn evil all the time. If there were kittens in his throne room, he'd step on them just to hear the sound they make when they die. Then he'd smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink bourbon while destroying more worthless rebel planets.

Star Wars is a lot of fun. The dialog and acting are atrocious, but it's sci-fi so who cares? The storyline and narrative arc are compelling, the score is just about perfect, and its camp-to-serious ratio is right where it should be. It's hard not to like.

The original trilogy, I mean. Should go without saying.

Lsuoma wrote:

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:

John D wrote: Hey Ophie - get a real job. One that actually helps people. I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles.

Was it this? It was this, wasn't it?



http://i.imgur.com/aUr8V4n.jpg

If that wasn't LHD, I'd guess it was Feefle's car.

I'm now seeing it as a latex octopus tentacle, and Meyers driving the car around Morris with Becky squirming on the gearstick.

jet_lagg wrote:

another lurker wrote: He also name dropped Aristotle and Rousseau in an attempt to prove his intellectual superiority to well...everyone. He also kept trying to talk about 'Greek modalities' to further prove how great his intellectual truly is...

Ugh... I've got a friend like this in meatspace. She's very impressed with her own state school degree (and the fact that she is now in a graduate program). If I had to guess, I'd say her IQ is slightly below average (she struggles tremendously with math and formal logic), yet she has all the confidence in the world, a walking demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Eventually, I did have to tell her that I thought nothing of her opinion. It made me feel like an asshole, but it's better than arguing with someone who presumes to be an intellectual but also subscribes to vaccine conspiracy theories.

PS - happy holidays everyone. I'm very upset I missed the baptism of the new thread :(

Yeah, this intellectual heavyweight has made a tour de force (see wot I did there) of putting the majority of his points into X and Y format, with abundant usage of the = with a dash through it.

It's just so :bjarte: :cdc:

Tigzy wrote:[youtube]QCeg9AyFWVw[/youtube]

[youtube]vskHXtPuvBk[/quote]

Tigzy wrote:[youtube]QCeg9AyFWVw[/youtube]

Aww fuck. Here it is:

[youtube]vskHXtPuvBk[/youtube]

James Caruthers wrote:Palpatine and the throne room jedi morality play is about the only reason I watch Return of the Jedi. Palpatine is great because he loves being so goddamn evil all the time. If there were kittens in his throne room, he'd step on them just to hear the sound they make when they die. Then he'd smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink bourbon while destroying more worthless rebel planets.

I didn't have cable or a VCR as a kid, but on weekends I'd watch an old VHS of Return of the Jedi and my cousins' house, over and over again. It was my favorite movie by a wide margin, even though I had no idea who the fuck this Han Solo they were trying to save was (or how he had gotten stuck in a big block of carbonite). It blew my mind when they told me that there were even more of these movies out there (I eventually found copies of the first two films at the library, jesus fuck, remember how shitty things were before the internet?).

So, it' possibly the nostalgia speaking, but I still prefer Return of the Jedi to A New Hope (with Empire Strikes Back bringing up a close second). There's also the fact that Lucas' direction in the original Star Wars is just stiff as hell. The man has no natural talent for the craft.

Damn, that Bora guy really needs to learn some humility:

Jan 02 2014
How does one make amends on the internet?

Bloggery

by PZ Myers

Bora Zivkovic is back, and he’s tweeting and blogging as if nothing happened…which rankles. I have to wonder what he has done or better yet, could do to make amends for the violations of trust, but a few months’ hiatus doesn’t quite seem adequate. I’m not a judge to levy a penalty, either, so I don’t know what to say, and it seems to me we lack any means of determining what is a sufficient price to pay.

Loss of widespread respect and of a good job does seem to be a substantial cost, but you’d think he’d come back with a little more humility…

John D wrote:snip
snip I happen to be an engineer... and while some people think of me a a "wage slave"... what I actually do is make cars safer, more fuel efficient, and more affordable. I have designed parts that have been built into literally millions of vehicles. Please find some way to contribute. We need everyone pulling together to make the world a better place. Your simply bitching about shit doesn't really help. Kisses!

What are your thoughts on the feasibility of some of the ideas for the future of transportation (e.g. ultra light-weighting, new drive trains, etc) proposed by the Rocky Mountain Institute?

With or without a replica of Conc H2O.

Michael J wrote:
If you change Mykeru slightly then the universe will cease to exist

Is Sacha around to do a translation for this?


[youtube]ubTlTKLas_o[/youtube]

free thoughtpolice wrote:Damn, that Bora guy really needs to learn some humility:

Jan 02 2014
How does one make amends on the internet?

Bloggery

by PZ Myers

Bora Zivkovic is back, and he’s tweeting and blogging as if nothing happened…which rankles. I have to wonder what he has done or better yet, could do to make amends for the violations of trust, but a few months’ hiatus doesn’t quite seem adequate. I’m not a judge to levy a penalty, either, so I don’t know what to say, and it seems to me we lack any means of determining what is a sufficient price to pay.

Loss of widespread respect and of a good job does seem to be a substantial cost, but you’d think he’d come back with a little more humility…

This pisses me off. If you commit an actual crime, and you get caught and serve your time, most lefties will say you've paid your debt and deserve to re-enter society with a blank slate. But commit an SJ infraction, like talking about sexual matters when there are ladies present, and you can never pay your debt, you are marked as a bad person forever. Nothing else you have ever done or will ever do counts in your favour - you are defined by the incident in question. Even apologising doesn't help - it only confirms you did it and are therefore evil and deserve eternal damnation.

free thoughtpolice wrote:Damn, that Bora guy really needs to learn some humility:

Jan 02 2014
How does one make amends on the internet?

Bloggery

by PZ Myers

Bora Zivkovic is back, and he’s tweeting and blogging as if nothing happened…which rankles. I have to wonder what he has done or better yet, could do to make amends for the violations of trust, but a few months’ hiatus doesn’t quite seem adequate. I’m not a judge to levy a penalty, either, so I don’t know what to say, and it seems to me we lack any means of determining what is a sufficient price to pay.

Loss of widespread respect and of a good job does seem to be a substantial cost, but you’d think he’d come back with a little more humility…

Benson is also moaning about Bora's lack of humility. I have to wonder if PZ has wondered what amends Oggy could make for his violation of those 3 girls.