Headline to Piketty's newspaper summary of his book: Save capitalism from the capitalists by taxing wealth
What does the fox say?
Yes, it has to be from 2014
So, "Intellectual and political debate about the distribution of wealth has long been based on an abundance of prejudice and a paucity of fact. " is right out I guess?
I transcribed Ken Early's response to the DAQRI "augmented reality" platform.
"You don't have to know anything about anything to know everything about everything!" appears to be the promise. But I was looking at this with hatred and fear. I was like "But, what's the point? You're telling me that was all a waste of time? You're telling me my mind is just like an old woman's house? She thinks it's well furnished, everyone else is like nah, it's just full of useless bric-a-brac. If it had a new owner, they would just throw this out."
A one-line summary of the Ebola hysteria would be good also. How about
"I understand the concerns about humanitarianism, et cetera, but don't you think we should at least restrict travel on dogs?"
This led to repeated bans from local casinos, eventually a lifetime ban, and finally his nuclear weapons were taken away.
"I'm here for your sightlines. I don't care about your affinities." (Hilary Mantel, "The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher")
8 should read "7: That one isn't that good either"
More likely it shouldn't have been written.
7 was my thought exactly. But, you know, Slate.
The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is the only acceptable time for annual retrospective lists of this, or any other, variety. Any retrospective lists published earlier than that are just embarrassing filler material produced to satisfy the unending media cycle.
Unfogged mouseovers are crowdsourced and make better lines. Where's my "Nothing looks as rented as a rented bird"?
7: Sturgeon's Law is most definitely not suspended for "best of" exercises.
Sturgeon's Law is an embarrassing excuse for people who don't want to admit that their favored sort of thing just mostly does suck. (You can tell because generally it's invoked in response to criticism directed at something that's putatively a member of the 10% that isn't crap—which one would certainly expect of the entrants on a best-of list!)
"Portland Police arrest 35 in Black Friday vegan strip club riot", from my Facebook feed, and most likely yours too, must be a strong candidate for the best line of 2014. Best headline anyway.
"Police warned angry goat on roof 'only respects one man'"
17: Yes, of course Sturgeon's Law (or any particular invocation of same) is likely to be crap. 17:parenthetical.last is precisely contrary to the point. I remain aggressively unembarrassed.
18. Labeled "Satire." I guess it's better than most recent Onion headlines, though.
Yes, sadly, the incident in 18 didn't actually happen. The club is real, though; the menu is vegan, and the dancers' costumes can't include leather and wool and such.
I cannot recall any fantastic lines that were written in 2014. Although since it is allegedly better to have loved and lost than to have never loved, I have been told some memorable things in the context of dating.None of these 2014 statements count as that remarkable, but they humored my easily humored head.
"Can we talk about how you said you had an athletic build?"
"Men don't appreciate the importance of strategically jerking off."
"umm, have I mentioned that you don't do me from behind enough?"
"Our first date felt like I got mentally fucked in the back seat of my car." [is this good or bad!?!?]
Text message: "my friends want to know if I have a boyfriend."
Were all these said by the same person?
5 statements, 3 women. Each woman has made at least one statement. The challenge for the reader is to guess which woman goes with which statements.
Or, to put it another way, which statements go together: are they two pairs and a singleton, and which are paired, or are they a triplet and two singletons, and which are the triplet?
Maybe all 3 women said all 5 things.
And which commenters are the women?
30: Everyone post their SAT score gender.
17, 20: But yes, intellectually lazy.
Woman 1 made statements 1 and 2.
Woman 2 made statements 3 and 5.
Woman 3 made statement 4.
23 et seq are funny. Re the OP, I enjoyed Schumacher's Dear Committee Members - full of good lines.
So did you start doing woman B from behind more often?
So did you start doing woman B from behind more often?
This is not the important question. The important question is how often you were doing woman B from behind when she made this statement.
The important question is how does one jerk off strategically.
I don't understand how it could be tactically either.
39: This is discussed in There's Something About Mary. Although I sense the scenario is different here.
I suspect most of my efforts have been all willy-nilly.
Using quick pincer movements try to trap it in a pocket then destroy at will - and don't forget to concentrate on your schwerpunkt. Or is that tactically jerking off?
38: Maybe she'll put up a spreadsheet on Reddit.
That's all tactical. Strategically jerking off is done, e.g., in an elementary school, so as to be sent to jail and get free food, meet the right sort of gentleman, etc.
47: Cough gimmick infringement cough.
47: "all arms combined magnificently together".
"The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands"
Update:
The hammer dropped today--I was let go about an hour ago. Thanks to all for the advice--it was a huge help. It also resulted in my getting a 1-month's-pay severance package and it looks like (per the head of HR) I should be eligible for UI.
I had an interview today for a temp position back in my home state. It's only 8 weeks, but it will get me back where I can easily interview for other roles. If it comes to pass (two more gatekeepers to charm tomorrow), I start Monday.
Goddamn is this a whirlwind.
57: glad you have fair prospects Richard
Sorry things worked out badly in the last place.
57: Sorry to hear it, but if you're anything like me it's also gotta be a bit of a relief. And I'm glad at least you got severance and should get unemployment.
Sorry, Richard, though I second Josh in hoping it's a good thing in disguise and that you and your family end up better off in the end.
Woohoo severance and UI! You've got a little time to get your head straight, and get yourself into a better position now.
Why is urinary incontinence a good thing?
Thank your lucky stars you've never had to learn the answer to that question.
I was once stung by a jellyfish, but there was some kind of spray there. No need for urine.
Everyone is typing sloppily. Richard has a UTI, not UI.
It's not exactly a best line but I think one of the most memorable moments of the year for me may be a dinner conversation at which it was collectively realized that the line between "massive scientific project" and "giant real-estate scam" might actually be rather fuzzy. Does anyone know what land costs in Qi/nhu/angd/ao?
Both sorry to hear about that, Richard, and glad that it sounds like you're landing on your feet.
Yes, sorry to hear things have in fact come to that, RM, and glad to hear they're now at least potentially looking up.
I don't remember the full story, RM, but hope things turn out okay. Severance is good.
Thanks everyone. I had my first decent night of sleep in weeks last night and things feel better. It really is a weight off my shoulders. I keep thinking of work things I need to do and realize over and over that they're not my problems anymore. I just feel bad for all the people who now have to deal with my old boss.
Two interviews for this gig back in my hometown later today. If I pass the smell test, I'm flying out Sunday to start Monday. God.
Good luck. If you are leaving California, be sure to leave the taps open when you leave. Hit them where they hurt.
RM, glad things are looking up.
66: It's a third(?) tier city, but pretty close to Beijing/Tianjin, and on the coast in the general direction of Dalian so...who knows? Probably too high right now. Wait a few years.
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What would you recommend as a reading list for someone joining a big dotcom firm from a *completely* different technical background? Person requested some background reading on culture as well as skills.
Dwarf Lord and I decided for Close to the Machine, In the Beginning was the Command Line, Mythical Man-Month, and the Code Monkey song; and against The Bug, Godel Escher Bach, Microserfs, and Code Complete.
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RM, sorry not to have seen this earlier, but glad you get UI and severance. Way to stick it out into another month. Hope you can get a break for a couple weeks before the next (hopefully fancy and lucrative) long term position after the temp gig. Good luck.
Close to the Machine, In the Beginning was the Command Line, Mythical Man-Month
I like all of those, but think of "In The Beginning was the Command Line" as awfully dated at this point.
I also like "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering" but perhaps just because it tends to confirm my prejudices.
Everyone should learn about the challenge BeOS presents to other operating systems, now more than ever.
73 would make for a good guest post.
Which is to say I found it interesting but have nothing substantive to add. So, like most of Unfogged.
Unfogged: Not so much with the value added.
I thought of two other books that I would recommend. Both are also quite dated but they also both seemed related to my own emotional experience of working on big projects.
"Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder
"I Sing The Body Electronic" by Fred Moody
The Tracy Kidder book is (unsurprisingly) the better written but even older of the two.
Because I'm in the middle of reading the Doom Patrol Omnibus, I've been reminded of one of the best lines of 2014, from Elon Musk.
I'd forgotten that line until you mentioned it, but it was great. In greater news, though, I didn't know there was a Doom Patrol Omnibus! If anyone gave me Xmas presents I could ask for it, but I'm probably better off buying my own.