Town Quixote's

[Town Heretic]

Gazette Bonus, Sunday Late Night Mailbag

Dear Gazette,

Forget soots. Clothing is over rated, especially when it's imaginary. Me? I'm starting COOTS...whattaya mean what does it stand for? :mmph: Get off my grass. That's what it stands for...wear a hat like you care where the sun is. That's what it stands for. It's for the God given, American right to wear pants as high as you want. To go to bed so early you can eat lunch with supper. To drive slow enough people behind you think they're in a parade or a funeral procession...To remember when music was music and men were men, but not where you left your dad blasted car keys...that's what it stands for...It's a "What are you looking at?" snarl in the mirror because you forget your glasses and don't know it's a mirror. And even if you did you'd be pretty sure you could take yourself in a fair fight. That's what it stands for. So join in or step off, or up, or whatever it is I just forgot because brother, that's what I stand for.

What's this about anyway? I forget. Well, whatever it is it's new and I don't imagine I'll like it...bunch of commies stealing anything they can get their hands on...first its your rep and then it's your Bible...

Sincerely,

Buck "Bucky" Buckerson, Editor Emeritus (as told to yours truly)

 

[patrick jane]

Gazette Bonus, Sunday Late Night Mailbag

Dear Gazette,

Forget soots. Clothing is over rated, especially when it's imaginary. Me? I'm starting COOTS...whattaya mean what does it stand for? :mmph: Get off my grass. That's what it stands for...wear a hat like you care where the sun is. That's what it stands for. It's for the God given, American right to wear pants as high as you want. To go to bed so early you can eat lunch with supper. To drive slow enough people behind you think they're in a parade or a funeral procession...To remember when music was music and men were men, but not where you left your dad blasted car keys...that's what it stands for...It's a "What are you looking at?" snarl in the mirror because you forget your glasses and don't know it's a mirror. And even if you did you'd be pretty sure you could take yourself in a fair fight. That's what it stands for. So join in or step off, or up, or whatever it is I just forgot because brother, that's what I stand for.

What's this about anyway? I forget. Well, whatever it is it's new and I don't imagine I'll like it...bunch of commies stealing anything they can get their hands on...first its your rep and then it's your Bible...

Sincerely,

Buck Buckerson, Editor Emeritus (as told to yours truly)

awesome. ya know, you got talent, you should be a writer. serious talk -

i loved it, you remind of a great guy i know named Al Braasch, he's the only one i can imagine saying that. and he does say amazing things like that off the top of his head (it turns out he heard it somewhere and memorized it), but once in awhile i swear it's creative genius. you kinda look like him too now that i think about it. i stalked him too. Kidding -

really good, Buck Commander - Duck Commander

 

[Arthur Brain]

Gazette Bonus, Sunday Late Night Mailbag

Dear Gazette,

Forget soots. Clothing is over rated, especially when it's imaginary. Me? I'm starting COOTS...whattaya mean what does it stand for? :mmph: Get off my grass. That's what it stands for...wear a hat like you care where the sun is. That's what it stands for. It's for the God given, American right to wear pants as high as you want. To go to bed so early you can eat lunch with supper. To drive slow enough people behind you think they're in a parade or a funeral procession...To remember when music was music and men were men, but not where you left your dad blasted car keys...that's what it stands for...It's a "What are you looking at?" snarl in the mirror because you forget your glasses and don't know it's a mirror. And even if you did you'd be pretty sure you could take yourself in a fair fight. That's what it stands for. So join in or step off, or up, or whatever it is I just forgot because brother, that's what I stand for.

What's this about anyway? I forget. Well, whatever it is it's new and I don't imagine I'll like it...bunch of commies stealing anything they can get their hands on...first its your rep and then it's your Bible...

Sincerely,

Buck Buckerson, Editor Emeritus (as told to yours truly)

:rotfl:

 

[Town Heretic]

:cattyfan: Gazette People Section's Word of the Day

Scissors: screwing with Hooked on Phonics graduates since 1987.

 

[Totton Linnet]

I definitely feel better....do you think I might get a star by next spring?

 

[Town Heretic]

moved

 

[Tambora]

You forgot to mention that I an still #1!
Oh, and pretty. You forgot to mention how pretty I am.
Wonder why everyone keeps leaving that "pretty" part off?

 

[Town Heretic]

"The Buckerson stops here, at TOL."

Buck "Bucky" Buckerson

 

[Town Heretic]

You forgot to mention that I an still #1!

You know, that's absolutely right. I'm not sure how that happened, which is nice for a change.

 

[patrick jane]

we're still havin' fun and you're still the one - (song)

TAMBORA # 1 REP REAPER

 

[Eeset]

Oh, and pretty. You forgot to mention how pretty I am.
Wonder why everyone keeps leaving that "pretty" part off?

What? Now you are phishing for lies?

 

[Angel4Truth]

What? Now you are phishing for lies?

Wow how nasty you are.

 

[Town Heretic]

I like traffic, though take the fighting elsewhere Eeset. But I typically try to give anyone who visits to read the Gazette a day to do that...so thanks and I'll open later tonight or earlier tomorrow. And do come back. It's nice to hear other voices in here.

The Rep Record Gazette​

So in the midst of all the chaff being put in the air...

...What's really absurd in all this is that anyone takes ultimately meaningless reputation on a website full of strangers so seriously.

I guess it depends on how you look at the word. Seriously enough to game the system as though it mattered? Or seriously in being disappointed by that? So I suppose it varies.

But all that is beside the point of it being Knight's site to operate as he wishes.

Sure is. I think I made that point a bit ago when I wondered aloud why all the soots members weren't automatically installed in the HOF. I mean, literally, why not?

I'd bet both of us know the answer to that, which is that unless you ultimately want a site consisting entirely of a small number of ideologically aligned people and a handful of oblivious crackpots you have to give those outside of the inner circle something they can claim fairly and squarely. That's something you protect, because sure it's pinball, but if you're putting a quarter in you still deserve an untilted surface..

Had a notion...

...Why doesn't the site allow people to hide the reputation number. That way those of us who value the message/support but disdain the number could happily putter along beside those who find the digits meaningful or just fun, whatever?

Wouldn't that be a solution for everyone?

But I'll tell you a secret. No one is ever going to offer that to you. So keep that in mind the next time someone who could tells you that rep doesn't matter....they'll be right, of course. But they won't believe it.


Tam asked a reasonable question...

Since we are discussing ....

Why was there no mention from you to make your rep score invisible before the reset when YOU had a incredibly large amount of rep to display?

It's a fair question. I answered it early on, but it's easy to miss in all the posting going around and I'm happy to relate it.

Before that answer though I think it's important to recognize something you bring up in the question itself, a recognition of the time when I and some soots and any number of people from different backgrounds and affiliations had really large rep. A thing that is no longer true or even, as it sits, possible.

Now, back to your question. What I said in my earlier remark is that it's been a while since I'd even thought about the number. Mostly that's because I'd topped out a very long time ago. Mine wasn't moving. You didn't know that because I never made any sort of deal about it, didn't complain my rep wasn't being represented fairly and proportionately, etc.

I just used it as a message system, sharing a joke, praise, a raised eyebrow or the like without having to tie up a thread to do it or resort to profile page memos. And I liked it that way.

Then the reset happened (and a complaint that followed on it by I forget who) and it made me think about the thing for the first time since I couldn't tell you when.

Then I decided to set out precisely why all the chaff in the air amounted to a distraction...

Oh really? How can you say that? Especially since we just had a reset and folks are repping like crazy!

This isn't the first time we've had a reset. I caused one of them.

Or, because if it had happened to one person it would have been remarkable enough, but it wasn't just happening to one or two people, but to a large and exclusive group of them and happening when it wasn't happening to anyone else. That's why when the opening objections came in there wasn't a Glory to point to. She came on the heels of the complaints.

But forget that. Here is the narrative that illustrates the problem easily enough:

Two posters, call them A and B

Both arrive about the same time. Both develop a number of friendships and general good will. A is more conservative and gravitates to soots.

The reset happens.​

Inside a day B sees his rep received averages increase a good bit as people respond to the reset. Now B's old averages had managed, over time, to put him in the position to hit the rep ceiling and cause an earlier rep reset, only to move again to the ceiling and remain ahead of most until this one.

And, again, his averages and his participation are both up in the day or so following the reset.

A doubles his rep anyway, without a post, without being present.

How?​

Only two possible answers. Either a large group of people are moving through and repping her old posts or a small number with rep power they aren't capable of having without an undisclosed advantage are doing it.

Either way, people are gaming the system.

Because neither of those was happening to A before the reset and none of what began to happen was happening outside of soots like it was inside of soots.

And the number jumps were too great for an unweighted soots to have achieved with the average numbers moving on the board, so the thumb, one way or another, was definitely on the scale. Not even a question about it. And the only people who will ever tell you differently benefited from the thumb, directly or indirectly. Understand that and the day is won no matter what.

Oh, and now that we know it's pinball, feel free to play it, game it, ridicule it, because there's no dishonor in gaming the house when you know you're playing a rigged roulette wheel. :cheers:



And about an exception was crafted in a late attempt to skew perception...and some pointed from soots and said, "See?"

Maybe it's like the theory of evolution....lots of surmising and guess work. Apes sorta do act like us. Just saying.

Glory, I'm going to bet that your rep page would resemble a soots fest. Either in numbers or the work of a few whales.

And given how hard some on that side are scrambling to rebut it wasn't a surprise to me that someone from outside of soots would emerge with an equally inexplicable tally. Now what you won't find is that happening before a few of us who know better named the tune.

And no one tried to point to her again. Because that wasn't a bet anyone on that side of it wanted to take.

Now I'm bored with it and that, as far as I can care (the number being exposed and reduced, practically, to the message system I've used it for for a long while now) that's:

The end.

Tomorrow? Business as usual, when I'm free.

 

[Town Heretic]

The Thursday Short Form Gazette​

So there was kmo...

:reals:

Looks like the Chiefs' home end zone. lain: Only with more people.

Speaking of football...

I have to admit that when it comes to preseason games I'll nearly echo the sentiment I heard once about a World Cup from a non-enthusiast, "I wouldn't watch it if it was being played in my back yard."

While in the ManO was back with a swan song for blaming the dead...

...When, do you think, will society stop being a 'work in and about progress', and actually be a finished product? If the problem is society itself (which it is) - can society overcome itself, by its own volition?

I don't see any reason to think societies, which are dynamic in nature, will ever be finished products. At least not in this life. We struggle, collectively, against the worst part of human nature. It's ongoing as man is ongoing. And that nature, barred in one particular, will surface in another.

On the shooting victims...

...It's not an unsupported notion. It's supported by revelation, but you do not accept revelation, do you? Thankfully something needn't be accepted by you, in order to be true.

That's not the problem. The problem is that it needn't be true to be accepted by you and you've no way to test its truth. Well, that's one problem. The other is that nightmare of a metaphysical "they got what they deserved" caste system it creates.

How do you know it's not likely? ...Where's your statistical research and evidence that has lead you to such a definite conclusion?

It doesn't have to be and isn't advanced as definitive, only the reasonable position to hold absent some definitive reason not to.

You reject the truth, which confronts you

No, I'm rejecting your assumption, the way Job rejected his "friends" and noting that his friends believed as you do and were wrong. Job, a very great man, did nothing to bring evil onto himself.

...I wasn't, and haven't, been trying to prove anything.

Then you're succeeding wildly.

...Reason, reason, reason. How much you seem to idolise reason

Reduces to "thinking, thinking, thinking--you have to think about everything." Of course. Why wouldn't I? Reason is only the enemy of those without it or whose desires would be thwarted by it.

...Tell me, are you not a reason-worshipper? Yes or No? Surely you can answer a simple yes or no question directly. I expect you not to deflect this question.

Ask a reasonable question. This is just an insult with funny punctuation.

I wrote: I worship God.

Why do you lie?

And that's about as clear a proof as can be regarding your posture.

There are surely many things which you value more than God.

No, but it appears to be like you to say so.

While in chrys' awards thread, now approaching month three...

Can't wait until you hang the Christmas lights in here...that's going to be something. lain:

Wondered about the composition of a nugget...

As my old PHD professor used to tell me... an 'expert' is nothing more than a 'normalspert' with an attitude.

There's nothing wrong with self effacing humor unless you use it to teach the wrong lesson.

And...

His point is that no matter how much you think you are an expert in a particular field, there is always someone better than you.

Except for the one guy.

So never call yourself an expert and never let anyone else call you one either.

Oh, then I think he's made a mistake. It doesn't matter that somewhere, someone knows more entirely or just on a point. If you follow your professor's notion no one would be anything because qualification of any sort is based on a criteria and how our skill-set and knowledge relates. Why should expert be the unreasonable cut-off? Why not the initial designation, like lawyer or physician? Because those are labels that note a particular level of education in a field. Not much different from further education and expertise.

Summed my response to the rep system being gamed...

And all this time we thought the administration was opposed to Calvinism.

An this happened...

To respond to the OP; Yes, the rep system is now and has always been a joke.

If you want to game it game away, the fact that it can be gamed means it is useless. Those who game it have to spend all that time doing it and then Knight resets it so think of all the hours they spent gaming for useless internet points that just vanish eventually anyway.

Well, once upon a time, without cadre or appeal, with goodwill from right and left, religious and non, the son of a door to door gravy salesman from Florida grew up in the midst of rep wars and rep famines, to be King for one, brief shining moment. (music swells)

Come here, my man. Tell me your name.

fool: It is fool, Milord.

Where is your home?

fool: I'm not going to tell you. You could be anyone.

Then listen to me, fool of who knows where. You will not fight in this rep battle, do you hear?

fool: (Disappointed') Yes, Milord.

You will run behind the lines and hide in your profile page till it is over. Then you will return to your home to grow old. Do you understand?

fool: Yes, Milord.

And for as long as you live you will remember what I, the King, tell you; and you will do as I command.

fool: (No longer disappointed") Yes, Milord.

Each evening from December to December
Before you drift to sleep, remember well,
Think back on all the posts where once you lingered, on TOL.
Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story;
And tell it strong and clear as you can tell:
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
in TOL.
TOL! TOL...
Now say it out with love and joy!

fool: (Bursting with it) TOL! TOL!

Yes, TOL, my boy . .
Now, run, Sir fool! Between the lines!

fool: (Radiantly) Yes, Milord. (He runs off...there's a sound of stumbling followed by a scream)

Run, Sir fool! Run boy! Through the lines! Mind the point.

PELLINORE: Who is that, TH?

Haven't a clue. Run boy! (another, more distant sound of falling, second scream)

Scene. [certain license taken for literary and educational purposes]

And still found time to chat with :rain:...

Why do I feel like everybody needs to be reminded of the real life lessons that are micro incapsulated here at TOL? Yeeeck. It is different things to different people and the real point is if all can find and hold on to the best part in my humble opinion.

Can you really have a humble opinion if you're trying to impress it on others? :idunno: All I know is that it gets me jittery, like when someone prefaces a remark with, "honestly" or "to tell the truth". I wonder what the heck they were up to before that. :noid:

But I keep thinking no one can totally mess up the rep system as long as you can convey YOUR message, yeah?

Mmmmmm, no. That would be a message system. A rep system is about the number. Now you can use it as a message system, as I did for a fairly long time before the reset, or partly, since I was still giving a lot of folks numbers, just wasn't getting a bump from anyone coming in...which ultimately gave me an idea I like that will never happen, which is a system that ranks you on giving, not receiving.

And in a Christian environment you'd think that would be more important than a number to tell everyone how popular our posting is...but no one mentioned it, so.

Or get a good message, right.? And how beautiful are the feet of those who have a good message? Ive seen some great ones, I tell ya, and you know what? That can be priceless. And funny ones, and truthful ones... I could go on and on. Like the spice of life here.

A great many people here who can make you laugh or think on a given day.

Tomorrow? More cowbell.

 

[Town Heretic]

As per, shutting down for a day to leave the paper where anyone passing can read it without craning...open for business again tomorrow. :cheers: And with that...

The Sunday Morning Gazette​

Rainy days again, but a few smiles sprinkled through it, like breaks in the weather...

...cute and witty but not that funny considering what this whole thread is about!

I thought it was funny. lain: But you know, when you're picking at someone, even if you're only larking, it's the rare bird who gets behind it.

I think those who are most upset should join yours and AMR's rep club and be healed by y'all's warmth and light... But wouldn't they have to be your friends or at least willing to pat you up?...

...it's not a serious endeavor, only one designed to meet a goofy bit of nonsense within its own context. Like fighting pie with pie. :chew:

I think...the arrogance of thinking anyone really wants to hear our opinion is tempered by the reminder that we realize humbly that it is just our opinion.

Or just keep a sense of humor about it, because humility in a joint where the meat is argument is about as rare as a dance-pole in a nunnery...

What? What do you mean?

What did I say? :think: It's probably that.

...And I'm sorry but I didn't really understand what you were talking about below:

I don't know why you didn't. The first part was about the thing being mostly a message service for me and the second was my suggestion that it would be lovely if your reputation, that pesky number people are going out of their way to distort, reflected your generosity to others instead of its present indicator.

I almost understand the above but then I don't.

How close are you now? On a scale of 1 to 10 give me a letter.

And I not only almost understand that but I almost think it is referring to having a high moral fiber content in us...

And you know what that keeps from backing up in us. Opinion.

Then a soots friend of mine (no, really, I have a number notwithstanding, good people, just goofy in their own way) suggested...

The rep system is fine like it is.

Like a trust fund baby talking about the virtue of capitalism.

Stuff happens.

So does organized crime.

If one is not interested in using it or is offended by it, that person could simply exercise a little self-discipline and ignore it all together.

If those who gamed the system had exercised that same level of control no one would care.

I don't care.

I believe you, but you're sitting on 20k plus points.

While another soots friend suggested...

I don't think that the rep system has ANY appearance of evil or egoism.

I think it's been tainted for a while and now it's just a game. But it isn't a rep system any more than, say, Space Invaders. The rest is quarters and learning the timing.

Still a great way to encourage people though, so it has value.

Meanwhile MEshak was doing her best decoder ring dance...

Jesus says make every effort to inter kingdom because narrow is the gate that leads to life and only a few find it. So if you are one of popular ones, you better watch out.

Well, Jesus is pretty popular, so I'm not sure you got the right lesson out of that.

Seriously, the most abused bit of scripture ever. If everyone who loves Christ marched through that gate, compared to the larger part of humanity, it would be a pretty narrow gate. But no, that's not narrow enough for some. They have to restrict it to those who pass their litmus and meet their judgment, won't be comfortable to that narrowness perfectly matches the dimensions of their minds.

Well, nuts to that. I say, love'em all and let God sort it out, to borrow from De Montfort, after a fashion.

Then Tam cleared the rarified air...

Ummm, I didn't give myself one single rep point. Every single one of my rep points came from others, including you.

I think that's important. I suspect it was a real point of confusion for many, wondering if the soots people who posted impossible totals within that first day or so were actively giving themselves rep.

So thanks for clearing that one up.

Of course you weren't reping yourself. You were simply busy giving it to the other soots members who were largely and nearly exclusively giving it back to you and other soots members. Unless you guys began with weighted rep in which case the effort wasn't much, only exclusive...until a few people started doing math and then people who didn't think it was important at all and proved that by pumping their own numbers, exclusively, into the ether, found this or that person to move up the ladder.

If it had been any less important someone might have gotten carpel tunnel.

Before bybee brought up the 900 lb keg in the room...

Could it be that you are of that school of thought wherein everyone gets a blue ribbon?

Pabst? Nasty. I often thought it was a sarcastic creation. Maybe the work of a temperance group.

Wherein one does not earn a thing through merit but rather through breathing?

Like just being a member for years or being part of a social group?

And I'll wrap up with something guaranteed to confuse those who think I hate my own culture...

The South was never known for its intelligence.

Sorry Townie and SOJ. lain:

It's okay, kmo, we're accustomed to being underestimated by our neighbors north and west. :chuckle: But this nations only original art form, an amazing amount of great art in general, NASA and a rich history of intellectual accomplishment across a good bit of academia may have been mistaken under the drawl. Or maybe it's the bright lights of athletic accomplishment that blinds you to a richer, more vibrant people.

For those near Kansas City, football is a game where the object is to cross a chalk line with a ball, repeatedly, in order to outscore an opposing force. I think that part may have been left out of your manual.

Tomorrow? Exams... :mmph: And you thought you had it hard reading through all of that.

 

[Town Heretic]

Closed briefly for:

The Tuesday Afternoon Gazette​

Took on the issue no one wants to deal with...

AJ McCarron threw his first NFL touchdown in a preseason contest against the Bears on Saturday. I was happy for him, but it's still preseason. Or, to put it in perspective, it's on par with a regular season Chiefs' win. lain:

Before anna picked on me for using my God given accent and...

Oh, brother... The TOL eye-roll smiley is completely inadequate for my needs here so I won't even bother. :chuckle:

I really, really don't like the feeling of being manipulated, so when I sense something is being said or done because of an expected effectiveness on me, I can be pretty uncooperative. :chuckle:

Then don't put on make-up and wear a sack cloth out and about.

BAM, eye roll returned. The manners attend no matter my choice of brogue, but the expectations of my northern cousins are better served (and more happily) by the accentuation. Everyone is happy, charmed and amused...if for different reasons. :cheers:

And speaking of accents...

What is a source?

A source is a piece of evidence to support your argument or idea from somewhere other than yourself.

In some parts of the country a source is what you ladled over spaghetti. Just to clarify. Not here. Here it would more closely resemble a multiplicity of cutting instruments.

...Unbiased sources are traditionally based on empirical evidence.

Gathered, presented and interpreted by people with bias, which is also important. And unless the question is of a fairly limited variety, that interpretation and inherent bias isn't inconsiderable. Again, not to suggest an all things being equal approach, only noting that you can't move the boat without dipping an oar.

Meanwhile, in aCW's thread...

It sounds like you have an issue with God giving man free will.

It looks like you have an issue with reading comprehension.

...we're not talking about the grace of Jesus Christ

Pity, since it's about the only thing that matters.

Then Eeset tripped over something in chrys thread and...

Chrys, next year you should do a control freak award.

Maybe he'll give a "Careful what you ask for" award and you can have something for your mantel...or to mount to a pole of some sort, whatever works for you.

Had a word for the latest "they're taking our history" exclamation over the removal of a statue...

... and the eradication of history marches on ...

http://www.infowars.com/university-of-texas-removes-jefferson-davis-woodrow-wilson-statues/

You don't eradicate history when you contextualize it. Seems reasonable. It's their public image and the two men don't match up with it. Should USC have had to keep O.J.'s Heisman on display or was it their business? If your employee of the month turned out to be a pedophile would you keep the plaque up?

Not much difference, really.

Then chrys and company were back with...

I am just using you to make my point

Obsession isn't a point. :nono: It might be a perfume, but it's never a point.

I think you are obsessed.

I call it focused and highly motivated

What do you call a cheeseburger? :chew:

You should take a pole really townski

Thank you, Charlie McCarthy. Good luck unlodging that shtick of yours.

And aCW had a notion...

I "got it" the first time:

Sure you did. Because that's what people do when they get something, ask you to explain it.

:think: Did this approach work in your Remedial Debate course?

Support: Openly promoting and defending things like strange sex marriage on internet forums; justifying sexual immorality by stating what people do in private isn't anyone's business, etc. etc. etc.

Ah, so you're still confused about what support means and you've added promoting to the list. At least we're getting closer to your problem. Here's an oldie you never had an answer for and it's still golden today: a person can be for the right to speak without agreeing to everything that is spoken under that right.

...Dust off a law book if this is too complicated for you.

Right after you dust off a dictionary, though there's literally no evidence that I'm missing a legal point. I'll wait while you look up evidence. oly:.

And...

When it comes to your standup comedy routine, don't quit your day job.

Normally I'd have to attend a funeral to find someone with your sense of humor. But then they'd bury him. lain:

...Save your little speech

It wasn't a speech. It was a simple sentence containing an argument you failed to rebut then and have just failed to rebut again.

You can support free speech without agreeing with every utterance, including that by the fellow who uses his to oppose free speech.

...There are many verses and passages in Holy Scripture talking about the righteous role of government; again show me where God solely intended it to be for the Jews.

It's established prima facie by giving the law to the Jews and calling them His people, separating them from the rest. It's one reason why the idea of spreading salvation to the Gentile was met with some resistance and attempt to push the early Gentile into the Jewish faith and form by those set apart. And you don't want that law anyway, you want parts of it.

Art Brain uses that line ad nauseum.

I bet he uses antibiotics and restrooms too. You giving up on those?

If you would like to stick to the thread's topic and show why things are better for one and all since homosexuality was decriminalized, then make your case.

...to answer on the point: better off? A society premised on equality before the law is better off when it meets its standard, whatever you or I think of any particular exercise. You're free to wear a flag predicated on enslavement or utter any particular stupidity you want to, to live where you can afford to live without someone telling you no because of that flag or the way you wear your hat.

If not, back peddle on out like you have done in the first three threads.

:chuckle: You should write screenplays with that sort of imagination. Though really, writing anything other than what you mostly do would be an improvement...so would a coma.

Then GF wondered (of aCW)...

You know nature makes mistakes. You can't be that much of a moron.

You might consider the sum of his answers as rebuttal.

Tomorrow? Emerson, caste systems, more fun with aCW and Trad makes a funny.

 

[Town Heretic]

The Hump Day Late Night Gazette
​

Knocked around a bit...

You know what this place could use?

BINGO.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Or at least a good card game. Remember the other place, the alternative when times were hard lemonade wasn't? You had games there...and maybe rabbits.

It's hard to remember.

Closed out a conversation on a differing perspective...

...The quickest way to appear more intelligent is to let a bunch of stupid people hang around.

The only way to appear intelligent is to be intelligent. Not to figure out a way to game Mensa then tell people IQ is overrated.

Had a word on respectful diversity...

I think diversity of opinion is the kelp of a forum ecosystem. Drive that out and you're asking for an eventual failure of the system to thrive, a reduction of it to a pool of predators and random idiot fish that might happen by. And who really wants that? :

Or two...

Yes, seaweed is of course one of the pillars of modern day civil discourse. lain:

In precisely the same sense and to the exact same degree civility and tolerance forms the bedrock of an actual underwater ecosystem, yes. lain:

Found myself humbled by...well, relatively then...

I am never like Jesus. I am only a messenger.

Are there other messengers?

I don't know.

If you aren't a ringer for TOL's next Humble-Off I don't know who is.

And that's possible. lain:

Made a sporting wager...

I'll take your rep. :wave:

Don't let him. He'd only make a soccer shawl out of it and that would be ridiculous...and I mean the shawl too. lain:

Speculated on the lowest rep holder, by merit...

I can't say who merits the highest reputation, but I think we all know who should be at the bottom. Whose posts and conduct, day after day, week after week, year after year, have earned him the scorn and enmity of all but the feeble minded and new. Whose manner, argument and even spelling has led to a general sort of ridicule and disdain on the part of the larger membership...But really, there's no point, no point at all in naming names here. And I'm pretty sure kmo knows who he is without anyone pointing that finger and heaping coals and embarrassment on his tiny, tiny head. No point at all, except on his tiny head, of course. So let's none of us sink to the level of calling him out.

I mean, that would be crueler than handing a person a season ticket pass to watch the Chiefs play something very much like football, wouldn't it. lain:

Then, because some posts cry out for serious, sustained intellectual analysis...I thought I'd rather take this one...

People are stupid. :idunno:

That's a stupid thing to say...:think:...but a neat trap.

I mean, that's just a fact.

Isn't. In fact, it's contra-factual, which likely means the impression is funded illegally.

Mormonism and scientology exist. Need I say more?

No and I think I speak for everyone when I say that.

And what compounds the danger of popular stupidity is the fact that people are generally very poor at recognizing their own stupidity.

But do a bang-up job with the next fellow, or fellows.

Obviously, the people thought, the problem lied with Socrates, not with them, right? [To my mind, the death of Socrates is an irrefutable indictment both of "the people" and of democratic political systems.]

Or it's an indictment of the notion that you can say anything to the powers that be and get away with it just because you can plainly see that they're all wearing dresses. Don't be fooled. The English didn't learn that lesson and the Scots had to underscore it for them.

And that's why I support slacks for women. lain:

...[Catholicism] has been the home of exceedingly intelligent and learned men who devoted much of their energies to understanding, explaining and defending it.

Few men more intellectually able than Thomas Jefferson. He owned people. But your point was good too. :thumb:

Then...

... You don't want people to realize it and take it seriously. After all. It's your livelihood. You make money off of peoples' stupidity.

Look, let's focus on the particular thing here. Expanding the list of things you don't appear to fully understand will only drag this out.

In case any reader is interested: I once heard about a case in which one of the attornies asked the jury pool, during voir dire proceedings, whether anyone had a problem with accepting the medical testimony of a chiropractor as medically equivalent to a back surgeon's.That takes a special kind of stupid. And the attorney was looking to find it in the jury pool.

When I had a guilty client I mostly tried to pack it with philosophers. Best way to prolong the thing and even money you'd get a hung jury. . . or, failing, one everyone would agree should be.

I've taught university courses. I've graded papers. I beg to differ.

All that education and you still don't know better than to hang your opinion on the anecdotal. Remarkable.

On overthinking intellectualism...

...St. Paul wasn't exactly an average joe. :idunno:

But Peter was a fisherman. A guy you'd turn your nose from if Christ hadn't shoved him to the front of the line. God didn't pick Peter because he was an intellectual. He wasn't. He picked Peter because he was weak in ways that would magnify God's grace and strength, would by his nature lean into God, recognizing it...it's man's weakness that is his greatest strength when it comes to God...intellectuals are too often like the rich young ruler or a certain man staring into a pool. What we love shapes us.

Tomorrow? You can't get there from here. lain:

 

[Town Heretic]

moved.

 

[Eeset]

Are we to blame you for rainee leaving? Your prints are, after all, on the door sill.

 

[ok doser]

Rainee left because she wanted to.

Too bad - I was trying to give her a gift subscription when she went black.

She'll come back.

They always come back. :noid: