The Superficial writer kinda sucks compared to the wwtdd writer.
Yes. I don't know how long each writer has been at each site, but WWTDD is usually more clever, but also nastier.
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MY brother and his coffeeshop made the London Times.
He was recruited to play the Oregon Obamaphile latte liberal and did a good job of it! In other circumstances he would be much more interesting.
Jesus can verify that The Bipartisan Cafe (TM) is in a nondescript area of town! Really! A step above shabby, and two blocks from the street where gypsies sell used cars!
I thought WWTDD was written by you and Labs.
Since Emerson failed to end his comment with the "play" sign, I guess we're going have to keep talking about his brother.
I don't mind talking about Emerson's brother. Is he basically law-abiding, John, or has he inherited that propensity to evil of which Cotton Mather spoke?
Also, this Van Damme character looks like might be hitting the performance-enhancing drugs.
Blood can't be denied, MC (as Kathleen Parker recently taught us all). We go for long periods without wickedness or evil, but then BOOM!
Emerson's brother has a pony-tail and a soul patch? No wonder Emerson is on my case about hating hippies.
The problem with all snark
Hrmmm.
He unleashed his trademark super-high kick to show that, yes, he's still got it. What exactly "it" is remains open to debate.*
*But not really; The man has Smurf nuts. Boom! Case closed. Now, who wants burritos?
Translation: 'He has muscles and large testicles! WHATTA LOSER! He should be a hollow-chested anemic typewriter monkey like ME!'
Calling that a problem doesn't work because don't think that's snark, I think that's just... wrong. As in self-inflicted auto-flame.
Blood can't be denied
But Bloodsport can!
max
['{snork}']
max, that's asserting that he has small nuts due to steroid abuse, not large ones.
Emerson's brother's café's neighborhood's stock has risen since John was last here. It's the latest in gentrification, apparently, with a populist-chic restaurant to match the coffeeshop. I believe it was recently featured in Sunset magazine as the "it" neighborhood—which is ludicrous, because my neighborhood has yet to exhaust its itness, but we'll let them dream for a bit anyway.
The thing I love about the Van Damme photo is that above the neck he looks like the quintessential EU bureaucrat. Does everyone in Brussels look like that?
I would pay $50, if not more, to watch EU bureaucrats participate in a full-contact underground martial arts tournament.
Could we get a link for the boner thing?
Just for the record, that is.
Sorry, hadn't actually watched the vid yet.
Didn't understand ogged's timeframe.
The guy who writes WWTDD used to write The Superficial.
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I'm filling out my ballot, and I haven't followed the Senate race as closely as I should have, so I just want to make sure Steve Novick is my man, and I come across this. Dude, you just sealed the deal.
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True fact, my cousin is "the girl" in Bloodsport. She still gets residuals. Worst shoot of her life, Van Damme was a real jerk.
Van Damme was a real jerk.
I knew it! Never trust a man who only looks like an EU bureaucrat from the neck up, is what I always say.
A HARD LEFT HOOK FIGHTING FOR YOU!
I know the country has more pressing issues to deal with right now, but the degree to which we are now comfortable with people with disabilities being in the public eye really deserves some attention. We're only a couple of generations past the point at which many physical disabilities were enough to bar the people who had them from any semblance of a regular place in society, to say nothing of leadership positions. And the whole Atwater/Turnipseed electro-convulsive therapy thing was just a few decades back. Try smearing someone for getting treatment for their depression now and see what happens. There's lots of people who fought and suffered to make these changes, and not only are they now vindicated, but their example should spur all of us on to keep up the fight for full equality and human rights.
Try smearing someone for getting treatment for their depression now and see what happens.
You drive up their negatives and drive down their positives, that's what happens. In at least 350 out of 435 Congressional districts. You would have to be a bit more subtle than Atwater, but it would still hurt, and an oppo researcher would be crazy to overlook it.
I agree with your general point about the erosion of the disability taboo, but I think mental illness (even treatable conditions like depression) is still no-go territory for a political candidate, or even for people in a lot of occupations.
He's a short handicapped person. A tall guy with a hook would be fine.
28
I agree, particularly for electroshock.
I can't figure out whether 29 is a clever pun or Ben being a dick. I'm going to go with clever pun.
Really? I dunno, my experience of people's response to mental health issues would indicate that you might grab a few of the 27% crazification factor folx on something like that, but presumably you wouldn't be running with that angle unless you already had those people in your pocket. I might be being too optimistic, but look how mainstream even going into treatment for substance abuse has become. I think you'd be playing a pretty dangerous game in a close race.
Ben's just being sad and prosthetic.
look how mainstream even going into treatment for substance abuse has become
For celebrities.
Also, when electeds go into treatment, there's a sense that they're doing it as a cover for bad behavior, and the medicalization of that behavior is a polite fiction. I think if people suspected that you actually needed help for something in a non-kabuki way, the electorate would be less sympathetic.
look how mainstream even going into treatment for substance abuse has become
Even if your premise is true (and I'm not sure that substance abuse treatment for a politician can ever be openly disclosed except as a means to distract attention from other, more grievous offenses against manners and morals), I wouldn't put mental illness in the same category.
Which of these can you say at work without fear of repercussions?
"That guy, he means well, but he's a lazy Mexican"
"That guy, he means well, but he's a a cripple"
"That guy, he means well, but he's kind of a homo"
"That guy, he means well, but he's an old geezer"
"That guy, he means well, but he's nuts"
"That guy, he means well, but he's kind of a homo"
Under what circumstances could you utter this at all? Like, some guy just tried to make out with you, to cheer you up, or something?
32: it started out as being a dick, and then became a clever pun after I noticed the pun.
"That guy, he means well, but he's nuts"
OK, I've never worked with someone who was actually mentally ill, but:
Seems to me that "he's nuts" is not actually shorthand for "has a diagnosed mental illness." I mean, I understand the point about where taboos are, but I'm not convinced the example is dispositive.
Is Van Damme's trademark move the super-high kick or the split & crotch punch?
36: Yeah, mental health is in a different category than those other "conditions", but would you put a statement like "I'm worried about promoting X, did you know he was committed to a psych ward 3 years ago?" into an email on your work computer? Not this is a perfect analogy or anything. Even at the level of a whispering campaign (and is such a thing really still possible outside of fairly small municipal elections?) saying "Candidate X doesn't deserve your vote because he's on anti-depressants and had electro-shock therapy in the past" is just begging for a bunch of denunciations of Candidate Y by every mental health agency and advocacy group in the country. Plus, then Candidate X gets to give a speech at some school gymnasium surrounded by his loving family and whoever the big patron of mental health causes happens to be where she explains how people from all over this great state have reached out to her to tell her about their stories of triumph over depression and how that was inspiring her to fight on. Like I said: a dangerous game.
Steve Novick and my dad have the same style of prosthetic arm. It really is useful (he hammers things and pulls hot pans from the oven), though my dad's never opened a beer for me like that.
Hey, Jon Lester just threw a no-hitter. That pretty much rocks.
42
Anti-depressants maybe but isn't electroshock still considered a high risk procedure which should only be used for people with severe problems which haven't responded to anything else.
42: You forget the second round. Post-gymnasium-Hallmark-moment some pundit or aspiring pundit digs up a story about electroshock and bravely applauds the candidate, nice guy that he is, but one in ten electroshock people suffer long-term hallucinations (or whatever made up stat it is), or talks to a taxi driver whose mother had electroshock and never was the same, changed personalities and lost her taste for home cooking. and heh-indeeds win the day. People are weird about mental illness.
A friend of mine say that in Germany they have prosthetics that make use of the extra possibilities of having a prosthetic arm. I don't have the details, but I was speculating that as long as you have an engineered artificial arm it might as well have a lot of features that normal arms don't, like maybe a visegrip, a ratchet, a retractable blade, a pry bar, etc. (A Swiss Army knife?) I never did get clear on what the German prosthetics had or what would be the best things to load on.
at the level of a whispering campaign (and is such a thing really still possible outside of fairly small municipal elections?) saying "Candidate X doesn't deserve your vote because he's on anti-depressants and had electro-shock therapy in the past" is just begging for a bunch of denunciations of Candidate Y by every mental health agency and advocacy group in the country.
It goes like this: the whispering campaign spreads the word that candidate X has been treated for depression (or some other psychiatric condition) and takes, let's say, Wellbutrin. Friendly blogs fan the flames, and eventually a respectable media outlet "reports on the controversy surrounding candidate X".
Well-intentioned NPR liberals (and it doesn't matter whether candidate X is Dem or Rep) speak up to say that stereotypes against mental illness are a relic of the dark ages and a manifestation of ignorance, etc. etc. Thus do even more people learn that candidate X is a nutcase.
Candidate Y stays supremely above the fray, saying "I respect and commend Candidate X for seeking help for his condition. I roundly condemn anyone who would make an issue out of Candidate X's psychotherapy and treatment with anti-depressants. Many decent, hardworking people seek psychiatric treatment for their mental illness, and the psychiatric drugs available today such as the ones that Candidate X takes are a blessing, and nothing to be ashamed of. Some close friends of mine with mental illnesses have gotten their lives back on track by seeking professional help from their psyciatric specialist and by taking antidepressant drugs, just like Candidate X has done.
The blogs and the whisperers begin circulating obscure research about the side effects of Wellbutrin. Is it true that it can make you have psychotic episodes and suicidal thoughts? Did you hear about that kid who totally wacked out and shot his parents because he was taking Wellbutrin? Once again, the MSM "report the controversy", and the NPR liberals tut-tut on the air about the ignorance and prejudice that feed such stories.
Meanwhile, Candidate Y's 30-second television add begins with jarring music and rapid-fire editing of scenes of crisis: "In today's dangerous world, the citizens of Your District want a representative in Congress who can stand up for them when the pressure is on. For decades, Candidate Y has been a rock solid advocate for the people of Your District. When the going got tough, he never stopped fighting for you. Candidate Y: Reliable leadership in tough times."
Has this magnificent invention been linked to here on Unfogged yet? It's so much better than the now-hackneyed pie-in-the-face. Can somebody who reads Russian find out if we can order some for next UnfoggeDCon?
39: it started out as being a dick
That's what she said!
44: Hey, Jon Lester just threw a no-hitter. That pretty much rocks.
I'm a Royals fan, but yes it does, given he's two years back from lymphoma, and one of my wives is currently dealing with Stage 1 breast cancer. Great motivator.
44: fuck! Really? That'll teach me to go and eat dinner.
49: that's awesome. It would be radder if it were autonomous.
It would be radder if it were autonomous.
As usual, there is a German compound noun to describe this concept: Schwanzgesteuert.
The husband of a former colleague was writing his engineering dissertation on auto-navigation of unmanned rotary aircraft. I think I see a commercial application for his research.
I am adapting the code used for just such a thing, so really all that remains is the dicking.
According to io9 it was pro-Putin protesters who unleashed the contraption to embarrass Kasparov.
whispering campaign
Yes, of course these exist. IME, most real decisions avoid scrutiny, are made behind closed doors or in sotto voce discussions between people with large budgets. Public discussion or an audience with a decision-maker can sometimes have effect, some people are more open-minded than others, etc., but a well-placed word suggesting unreliability is fatal if there is any real choice.
I am adapting the code used for just such a thing, so really all that remains is the dicking.
That's what she said.
54: So, come the Revolution, we can count on you to take out the Predator drones? Cool.
58: in some ways, yes. Yes, I do agree with you, if I think about it in the right way.
I feel funny.
59: hah! You can count on my dear predator friends to do my bidding, puny meat-human.
From the London Times link in 3:
Almost 2,500 miles east in the Kentucky Appalachian hillsides it is a different story. A short drive from Mount Sterling, in tiny communities clustered among the Daniel Boone National Forest, they do not hunt for sport.They shoot deer and wild turkey to feed themselves. Their freezers are filled with meat. Guns are passed from father to son like a rite of passage. And they are taught how to fight.
Go Appalachia!
62: I'm pretty sure you meant to say "You go, Appalachia!!!", PGD.
my dad's never opened a beer for me like that.
What good is he, then?
64: Well, the whole sperming me into existence thing, for one.
they do not hunt for sport. They shoot deer and wild turkey to feed themselves. Their freezers are filled with meat.
I accept the second and third statements, but the first is false in all but the most exceptional cases. I knew a couple of families who got most of their protein from game, surplus cheese, and the federal school lunch program, but they were unusual. And even they put far more time and resources into hunting than the caloric yield would justify; the time spent putting up the tree stand and setting out the salt lick for the deer, if spent at a minimum wage job, would have yielded a lot more meat.
All but an insignificant handful of Appalachian hunters do it first and foremost for enjoyment. The more practical among them also eat the meat, but the enduring popularity of hunting relatively unpalatable animals such as racoons and bears belies the motivation being ascribed to them in this article.
67: I would have figured you for a twink-enthusiast, Stanley.
69: one must seek out one's own people, after all.
Stanley, though, he's like a hairless-boy-boner factory.
Bear's kind of tasty.
I stress the word "relatively".
Whawt weel preevent him from takeen more hostidges necksmonth? The greatest scene in movie history.
The greatest scene in movie history.
Ah, so that's where Republicans got their foreign policy ideas from!
He's a short handicapped person. A tall guy with a hook would be fine.
Yeah, but he's a short funny guy with a hook. That's gold!
In fact, if Jesse Ventura had had a hook, he'd probably still be governor.
74: Not bloody likely. He was in baby blue camo with the "Allied Nations," a thinly veiled knock-off of the United Nations. However, Colonel Bison was definitely an existential threat to the region.
he looks like the quintessential EU bureaucrat.
Danny Bonaduce should move to Brussels.
49: How do you say cockblocker in Russian?
49: Following various links leads to a translation of Kasparov's response.
