November 2011
October 2011
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The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, were obliged...
– If you haven’t read Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, I highly recommend it. I have cracked up laughing several times at the sly snark he employed against the edifices of organised religion. It seems very likely to have been one of Mark Twain’s inspirations.
The Age of Reason is...
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Doctor Who ExCo
horrorwine replied to your post: As preparation for my long weekend away… You’re teaching a for real Doctor Who class? Would this be an ExCo or at least something I can take?
Yep. Jacquelynn and I, fresh from a fantastic experience teaching the...
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As preparation for my long weekend away…
…I’m syncing seasons 1-4 of Doctor Who (plus The Lodger and The Doctor’s Wife) and all of Firefly to my iPad. For research purposes. So I can work on the Doctor Who class I’m teaching next semester.
Life is good.
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I ATEN'T DEAD.
…but as I’m going a way for a weekend, I thought I’d better warn you all, just to be on the safe side.
If you got both of the references to British humorists in this brief post, you are probably an Anglophile. And have very good taste.
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femaelstrom:
sarahstocracy:
oceanvibes:
thedailywhat:
Mock Moral Outrage of the Day: Fox and Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade have a conniption over Grinnell College’s transgender-friendly gender-neutral facilities, remain the absolute worst while doing so.
“They want to be a place welcoming to all.” The hell you say.
(Oh, and Grinnell actually began...
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Via the ever-helpful Eush, Shakespeare's best...
Demetrius: "Villain, what hast thou done?"
Aaron: "That which thou canst not undo."
Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother."
Aaron: "Villain, I have done thy mother."
But where says some is the King of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he...
– Thomas Paine, in Common Sense
The rule of law, with no one set above it, remains one of the greatest achievements of the human race.
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Huh.
When exactly did Tumblr start allowing you to privately answer asks? Or is that a Missing E feature somehow?
Wiktionary » Dutch wife →
A long body-length pillow that can be held or wrapped around one’s body while sleeping.
In East Asia and Southeast Asia, a wicker or bamboo tube the size of a person for use in the bed. In the summer heat, the open bamboo structure is cooler than fabric pillows or sheets. The Dutch wife is embraced by the user- this position exposes the maximum amount of the body to cooling breezes.
...
Again, just one chamber in session this week. This time it’s the House; the...
– The Week Ahead in Congress - Blog - OpenCongress
The people who care most about politics in this country seem to almost universally despise those who participate in it. Mostly because the politicians seem to do their best to avoid doing any actual work.
shanabanned:
if obama ever opens up submissions i’m sending him homestuck porn
Get on that: http://barackobama.tumblr.com/submit
And I think one of the Republican weaknesses has been that we rely too much on...
– Newt Gingrich on Cain’s Rise
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
It really is interesting watching Gingrich try to drag the candidates and the party back from the brink of wilfully ignorant self-annihilation. I wonder if he’ll be successful in the face of things like Perry’s...
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Yes, there always going to be rich and poor. But we used to live in country...
– cleversimon:
Cookie_Monster is my second-favourite gimmick commenter on The A.V. Club. (#1 is still the bacchanalian alter ego of Jonathan Frakes who posts in their Star Trek: TNG recaps.)
Emphasis in the last paragraph mine. It boggles me when people argue that regulations and worker rights...
cantfindmenowcanyou:
jwisser replied to your post: I’m drunk. People should talk to me. :)
HIIIIIIII!
HIII, Jonas. My buzz has actually worn off quite a bit. :(
But I’ve been meaning to tell you…I almost came to Oberlin last weekend! Andrea Gibson (an amazing slam poet) was apparently there on Saturday and I wanted to go SO BAD. But…I already had tickets to the Pens vs. Sabres game, and I...
The concept of Cool Japan (クールジャパン), along with that of “Gross National...
– Cool Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In other news, Japan remains the weirdest country.
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A good morning for frank, positive discussions of...
First, we have Fisting and God’s Will (via Fisting Day, in turn via a friend who will remain nameless). I’ve encountered the Sex in Christ website before, and aside from the vague creepiness of its title, it’s pleasantly sex-positive for a Christian website. The page on fisting, in particular, notes that it can be an incredibly spiritual experience and that there’s biblical...
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Classes taught at Hogwarts (but not mentioned in...
What the Hell is a Credit Card?: Muggle Money 101 (guest lecturer Arthur Weasley)
Cloaks and Nightgowns: What Not to Wear When Out Where Muggles Can Bloody Well See You, You Utter Muppet (unofficially taught by Professor Minerva McGonagall to those who dearly need it)
Cockroaches Aren’t Candy: A Guide to Food in the Muggle World (With Dissenting Views Presented Strenuously By Headmaster...
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As late as Thursday afternoon, Cain’s campaign website made only a few broad...
– Cain Adds To ‘9-9-9’ Plan, Angering Unions | Fox News
thesimplebest:
In case you’re wondering, requirements for qualifying as an “opportunity zone” include getting rid of minimum wage laws, issuing school vouchers, and adding right to work laws.
While I personally support both unions and right...
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Jon Stewart on the Republican Party’s hypocrisy regarding the Occupy movement.
It really is amazing how they want “the people” to “take the country back”, but when the people actually try to take the country back, the Republican Party thinks it’s class warfare.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for a moral majority in the United States right now, the 70%...
Hey Guys, it's October 18th. Who's thinking about...
typingfrantically:
horrorwine:
nightsinwonderland:
typingfrantically:
Gimme your novel in one sentence!
Mine: In a post apocalyptic america, a girl and her friends try to find a place to live and escape the remnants of the now-totalitarian government.
I don’t think I can do it this year, but I think I am going to start reworking a previous years’ novel, and hopefully at least somewhat...
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The number and share of Americans living in multi-generational households rose...
– Daily Number: Fighting Poverty in a Bad Economy, Americans Move in with Relatives - Pew Research Center
But of course this is because my generation is lazy and feels a sense of entitlement. It has nothing at all to do with the economic crash caused by the greed of certain members of our...
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From the service logs of Advance Station Five:
thesimplebest:
“Good morning.”
“Ugh. You know it’s not.”
“Come on, work with me here. Some forms should be observed.”
“No. If it were morning, I’d be burned to a crisp already.”
“Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the hibernation chamber today.”
Silence. The crackle of radiation over an interplanetary link. Then:
“Are you serious, Station Five?”
“Hmmm?”
“Are you...