Man, I loved Pulp Fiction and all, but what the hell was up with Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2? Did Tarantino just want to tell us that he loves every movie he has seen ever? He's seriously losing his edge. Maybe he can direct the next Star Wars sequel.
Cutting carbs isn't that bad and can even be beneficial. Artificially inducing or prolonging ketosis is however as bad as weight-loss ideas get, from what little reading I've done on this topic. The scary thing is that when I say this to any Atkins convert--and there are many in my chosen profession--I am told either that I don't understand what I'm talking about (which is true), or that I share a bias with the established medical professions against radically new ideas (which isn't). Thanks to this thread, though, I looked it up in Wikipedia, and now have better ammo to use in these arguments.
No, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I think online discourse is too friendly. I think people grant their opponents far too much. Everyone has become accustomed to having dozens of agreeing responses for anything they say online, no matter how unreasonable. That is why someone can say, for example, that "that religion" (meaning Islam) is incompatible with democracy, or that gay marriage is an offence to individual rights, and invariably someone will pipe up with a "Bravo! How civilly said!"
Sure, one can be civil and reasonable, but reasonable must come first. Who here is arguing for a "virulent, bile-spewing rantfest"? The height of civility in society is to smile politely at people you disagree with, not break out in laudative verse whenever they show up.
To address the general point, I think one of the prime frustrations of online liberals is that we never seem to be able to find a satisfactory presentation of the opposite position on any given topic. I too would love to have a pet conservative who would give me a well-constructed argument whenever I said "jump!", but that isn't likely. The best we are left with is reading people like James Lileks or Eugene Volokh. I don't think any chatty forum like a *Filter can hope to do better.
(The conservatives have the opposite problem, of course.)
No I am not being sarcastic. F8xmulter might be superficially civil, but I don't find much logical consistency in the stuff he writes, even in that thread (though it would be pointless to redo those arguments). Civility at the cost of reason seems a bit expensive to me, though perhaps not to MoFi at large. And now I've said... too much.
The UHH dates back to X11R1 for chrissakes. It is probably older than some monkeys here. Very small portions of it are still relevant. The chapter on X, for example, has nothing meaningful to say about modern X installations.
Keep in mind that the majority of the 'book advocates LISP-machines. What is a LISP-machine, you ask? Precisely.
Well, if you can read Japanese, you could search 2ch.net or 2chan.net for "sada-chan" or "sadako-tan". There are threads with elaborate ASCII-art scenarios, etc. See also this. Haven't found any other flash, though.
Oh dear! OK, let me try to explain. Ringu is a really scary Japanese horror movie. The main character is a girl called Sadako who has some sort of psychic power, and long black hair that covers all of her face but for her (demonic) left eye. At the time of the events in the movie, Sadako has been dead for many years, but her life story is somehow deeply linked to a sequence of bizarre deaths. The common thread in all these deaths is a videotape that mysteriously kills anyone who watches it exactly one week later. You should see Ringu if you haven't yet. It is made without any poor-lighting effects or lound booming noises like Hollywood horror-flicks, but it manages to get deeply under your skin.
Sada-chan is Sadako's shoujo anime (little girl cartoon) counterpart. She would fit right into contemporary sugary high-school-girl drama shows like Azumanga Daiou or Aishiteru ze Baby. She flashes wide smiles while saying things like "Ohayou gozaimasu. Sadako de~su. Nokori isshuukan wo gambarimashou!" ("Good morning. I am Sadako. Please do your best in the last week of your life!") or "Sadako ga norotte imasu. Hoka no wazawai wa dokka ni itte ne~ ♥" ("Sadako is cursing here. Other calamities please go elewhere 'k? /xoxo")...
I suppose it's hard to get the humor unless you've seen the movie and are at least somewhat familiar with these anime shows.
Thanks for that additional point, polychrome. This point probably even has the most non-conservative support. I find it the most baffling because to say "we probably shouldn't have gone in, but now that we have we should support the effort 100% and definitely shouldn't leave" seems to excuse the initial misjudgement. This pernicious loyalty-at-all-costs seems to have become a prime characteristic of the U.S. these days. We probably shouldn't have let a handful of corporations run our elections, but now that we have we should support them 100% and definitely shouldn't press for review or reform. We probably shouldn't have pressed for Social Security piratization, but now that we have we should suck it up and coolly watch the program disintegrate. We probably shouldn't have authorized torture, but now that we have we shouldn't worry about it and nominate the architects of that decision to cabinet posts.
<continuing derail>
Yeah, I wish there was a good exegesis of the present reasons to support the Iraq war. The operative reasons, as far as I can make out, are:
1. The U.S. needs to have a (large and perhaps permanent) military presence in the Middle East to protect its interests (Jews and oil, mainly).
2. Terrorists are a borderless army bred of brutal and stagnant governments, and the best way to get rid of terrorism is to democratize the M.E., forcefully if necessary.
3. Taking down Saddam Hussein's govt. was an achievable task, and besides, he had it coming for a long time.
In my opinion, #1 is perhaps a valid strategic concern (but no reason to invade!), #2 is debatable at best, and #3 is a combination of miscalculation and emotionally charged nonsense. Reasons that have not stood the test of time include:
4. Imminent threat of nuclear or biological attacks.
5. Humanitarian intervention. (The U.S. invasion has been a worse humanitarian disaster than the last decade of Saddam's rule, and worse by orders of magnitude at that.)
Is there anything I'm missing? (Note: this doesn't even mention a single reason to oppose the war.)
I agree that it has had some impact, but it has been of the stroking rather than stoking kind.
And I disagree with Richer too. Stephenson's essay has only consumer PCs as its subject, not mainframe operating systems, and he talks more about usability than technical merit. Insofar as this narrow goal is concerned, and keeping in mind that his primary audience is almost certainly not technically inclined, I think his metaphors are okay. (The OS-as-car metaphor is certainly not his invention.)
I do agree about the mistakes, however. Emacs-LISP is unique among contemporary LISP dialects in not having lexical closures. This not only forces programmers to engage in any number of name-mangling hacks, but also constrains the garbage-collector into essentially a mark-and-sweep style. It is therefore a worst-of-breed. On the other hand, if Stephenson thinks elisp is beautiful then he is in good company: RMS has staunchly refused to allow lexical closures to sully his LISP dialect.
Man, I loved Pulp Fiction and all, but what the hell was up with Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2? Did Tarantino just want to tell us that he loves every movie he has seen ever? He's seriously losing his edge. Maybe he can direct the next Star Wars sequel.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Needing more bookmarks."
OTTOMH: del.icio.us (especially del.icio.us/popular/) waxy.org/links/ www.mono211.com/links/ www.kottke.org/remainder/ blort.meepzorp.com blogdex.net
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In " Protein linked to heart disease"
Cutting carbs isn't that bad and can even be beneficial. Artificially inducing or prolonging ketosis is however as bad as weight-loss ideas get, from what little reading I've done on this topic. The scary thing is that when I say this to any Atkins convert--and there are many in my chosen profession--I am told either that I don't understand what I'm talking about (which is true), or that I share a bias with the established medical professions against radically new ideas (which isn't). Thanks to this thread, though, I looked it up in Wikipedia, and now have better ammo to use in these arguments.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Conservative/Repub versions of Monkey filter??"
Conclusions about what? My complaint wasn't about f8xmulder or Fes.You're probably right. /bows outposted by Grignr 19 years ago
Anyway, I can't win this one. Have a good day all.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
No, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I think online discourse is too friendly. I think people grant their opponents far too much. Everyone has become accustomed to having dozens of agreeing responses for anything they say online, no matter how unreasonable. That is why someone can say, for example, that "that religion" (meaning Islam) is incompatible with democracy, or that gay marriage is an offence to individual rights, and invariably someone will pipe up with a "Bravo! How civilly said!"
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Penis fracture."
'Tis why I always wear a cup.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Conservative/Repub versions of Monkey filter??"
Sure, one can be civil and reasonable, but reasonable must come first. Who here is arguing for a "virulent, bile-spewing rantfest"? The height of civility in society is to smile politely at people you disagree with, not break out in laudative verse whenever they show up. To address the general point, I think one of the prime frustrations of online liberals is that we never seem to be able to find a satisfactory presentation of the opposite position on any given topic. I too would love to have a pet conservative who would give me a well-constructed argument whenever I said "jump!", but that isn't likely. The best we are left with is reading people like James Lileks or Eugene Volokh. I don't think any chatty forum like a *Filter can hope to do better. (The conservatives have the opposite problem, of course.)
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
No I am not being sarcastic. F8xmulter might be superficially civil, but I don't find much logical consistency in the stuff he writes, even in that thread (though it would be pointless to redo those arguments). Civility at the cost of reason seems a bit expensive to me, though perhaps not to MoFi at large. And now I've said... too much.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "UNIX Haters Handbook"
The UHH dates back to X11R1 for chrissakes. It is probably older than some monkeys here. Very small portions of it are still relevant. The chapter on X, for example, has nothing meaningful to say about modern X installations. Keep in mind that the majority of the 'book advocates LISP-machines. What is a LISP-machine, you ask? Precisely.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Conservative/Repub versions of Monkey filter??"
From reading those earlier threads, I think y'all are too quick to suck f8xmulder's or Fes's dicks. That's all. Hope this elevates the discourse.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Behold the healing power of anime!"
Well, if you can read Japanese, you could search 2ch.net or 2chan.net for "sada-chan" or "sadako-tan". There are threads with elaborate ASCII-art scenarios, etc. See also this. Haven't found any other flash, though.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
Also, thanks for reminding me that Hollywood had remade Ringu. I should watch that one of these days.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
I would rate Azumanga Daiou among the top five or six shows I've seen. (There's no accounting for taste and all...)
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "NBC: US Soldier Murders Unarmed Prisoner in Falluja."
Newsweek reports that the U.S. is seriously considering training Kurdish death squads to quash the insurgents.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Turkmenbashi has nothing on Kim Jong Il, "
bromstick?
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "Behold the healing power of anime!"
Oh dear! OK, let me try to explain. Ringu is a really scary Japanese horror movie. The main character is a girl called Sadako who has some sort of psychic power, and long black hair that covers all of her face but for her (demonic) left eye. At the time of the events in the movie, Sadako has been dead for many years, but her life story is somehow deeply linked to a sequence of bizarre deaths. The common thread in all these deaths is a videotape that mysteriously kills anyone who watches it exactly one week later. You should see Ringu if you haven't yet. It is made without any poor-lighting effects or lound booming noises like Hollywood horror-flicks, but it manages to get deeply under your skin. Sada-chan is Sadako's shoujo anime (little girl cartoon) counterpart. She would fit right into contemporary sugary high-school-girl drama shows like Azumanga Daiou or Aishiteru ze Baby. She flashes wide smiles while saying things like "Ohayou gozaimasu. Sadako de~su. Nokori isshuukan wo gambarimashou!" ("Good morning. I am Sadako. Please do your best in the last week of your life!") or "Sadako ga norotte imasu. Hoka no wazawai wa dokka ni itte ne~ ♥" ("Sadako is cursing here. Other calamities please go elewhere 'k? /xoxo")... I suppose it's hard to get the humor unless you've seen the movie and are at least somewhat familiar with these anime shows.posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "The land of the free?"
Thanks for that additional point, polychrome. This point probably even has the most non-conservative support. I find it the most baffling because to say "we probably shouldn't have gone in, but now that we have we should support the effort 100% and definitely shouldn't leave" seems to excuse the initial misjudgement. This pernicious loyalty-at-all-costs seems to have become a prime characteristic of the U.S. these days. We probably shouldn't have let a handful of corporations run our elections, but now that we have we should support them 100% and definitely shouldn't press for review or reform. We probably shouldn't have pressed for Social Security piratization, but now that we have we should suck it up and coolly watch the program disintegrate. We probably shouldn't have authorized torture, but now that we have we shouldn't worry about it and nominate the architects of that decision to cabinet posts.
posted by Grignr 19 years ago
<continuing derail> Yeah, I wish there was a good exegesis of the present reasons to support the Iraq war. The operative reasons, as far as I can make out, are:
In my opinion, #1 is perhaps a valid strategic concern (but no reason to invade!), #2 is debatable at best, and #3 is a combination of miscalculation and emotionally charged nonsense. Reasons that have not stood the test of time include:Is there anything I'm missing? (Note: this doesn't even mention a single reason to oppose the war.)posted by Grignr 19 years ago
In "The Command Line in 2004:"
I agree that it has had some impact, but it has been of the stroking rather than stoking kind. And I disagree with Richer too. Stephenson's essay has only consumer PCs as its subject, not mainframe operating systems, and he talks more about usability than technical merit. Insofar as this narrow goal is concerned, and keeping in mind that his primary audience is almost certainly not technically inclined, I think his metaphors are okay. (The OS-as-car metaphor is certainly not his invention.) I do agree about the mistakes, however. Emacs-LISP is unique among contemporary LISP dialects in not having lexical closures. This not only forces programmers to engage in any number of name-mangling hacks, but also constrains the garbage-collector into essentially a mark-and-sweep style. It is therefore a worst-of-breed. On the other hand, if Stephenson thinks elisp is beautiful then he is in good company: RMS has staunchly refused to allow lexical closures to sully his LISP dialect.posted by Grignr 19 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)