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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#133801: Aug 1st 2016 at 2:01:14 PM

Diggler is basically just an online version of Colbert. Whoever's actually doing him is basically doing a comically ridiculous (but satirically on point) faux pundit.

At least one pundit noted Diggler was about as accurate as 538 (if not more), but at way less of the pretentiousness cost.

majoraoftime (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#133802: Aug 1st 2016 at 2:13:12 PM

I see no reason to vilify Thiel over it. He may be odious in other ways, but the interest of the very wealthy in longevity treatments is as old as civilization itself — if it becomes popular enough, it'll spur all kinds of R&D investment that, like all such things, will eventually trickle down to the masses.

I just think it's funny because Thiel is basically a supervillain – an obscenely rich, sociopathic German who hangs out with white supremacists and wants to build a capitalist paradise on an oil rig, while he sucks blood from his slave boys to extend his life. The life extension company he's working with is even called Ambrosia!

edited 1st Aug '16 2:15:46 PM by majoraoftime

Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#133803: Aug 1st 2016 at 2:14:24 PM

[up][up][up] It sort of does by default since it's clear that there hasn't been an October surprise that's actually flipped the popular vote in the past 40+ years.

Honestly I think the whole concept of October Surprises might be a bit overstated. People are likely locked into their choice enough by then that it would take a truly epic scandal to sink an otherwise promising candidate, and a truly epic scandal would sink a candidate no matter what month it happened in.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#133804: Aug 1st 2016 at 3:26:19 PM

Apparently in every single election since 1972, the candidate ahead in the polls 30 days after the conventions ended won the popular vote on election day.
I know you said that there's a chance the pattern simply won't hold, but it's worth emphasizing that "no X has ever" or "every Y has always" statements regarding elections are basically worthless. There simply haven't been enough American presidential elections for that sort of statement to be statistically relevant. Relevant XKCD (because there's always a relevant XKCD).

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#133805: Aug 1st 2016 at 3:39:19 PM

Sayings like that just kind of sound like people being superstitious; even if there's some factual basis it's not like this is an 'ordinary' election.

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#133806: Aug 1st 2016 at 3:39:41 PM

The problem with the XKCD is that some of the broken streaks are obviously irrelevant. For example "beating someone taller than you".

Leviticus 19:34
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#133808: Aug 1st 2016 at 3:43:48 PM

The problem with the XKCD is that some of the broken streaks are obviously irrelevant. For example "beating someone taller than you".
That's basically the point. "X has never happened unless Y has also happened" is not evidence that "Y must happen for X to happen". One candidate being taller than another is equally (ir)relevant as winning specific states and the like.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#133809: Aug 1st 2016 at 3:57:48 PM

More fun with Trump and music. He's been playing The Beatles "Revolution" at rallies. What an idiot.

SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#133810: Aug 1st 2016 at 4:04:18 PM

[up] Hopefully, he'll get sued.

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#133811: Aug 1st 2016 at 4:06:25 PM

[up]It would serve him right. Besides, this is the kind of music Trump should be playing:

Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#133812: Aug 1st 2016 at 4:26:30 PM

I think the Trump/Puccini thing is kind of unfair, both to Puccini and Trump (but mostly Puccini). Not only are the pieces he's playing super-famous, but as the article discusses, Puccini supported Mussolini through misguided liberal nationalism and "luckily" died before Mussolini did anything particularly evil.

There would be a better case if Trump played Respighi, although even he was more of a "useful idiot".

Although he died long before Hitler took power, I'd also say that playing of Wagner would be a better case, since while there is some debate/defense of Wagner, he has a popular culture reputation as a "bad dude/Nazi" in a way Puccini doesn't.

edited 1st Aug '16 4:29:18 PM by Hodor2

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#133813: Aug 1st 2016 at 4:30:06 PM

[up]Oh I don't think it means anything. It's just funny.

chartoc Since: Apr, 2010
#133814: Aug 1st 2016 at 5:16:45 PM

Cherry on top the crazy sundae of Stein: saying that wifi harms kids brains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQjaSJP2Xg

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#133815: Aug 1st 2016 at 5:53:48 PM

[up] It's because wifi is Australian, isn't it?

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#133816: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:02:18 PM

So Trump recently signed a campaign pledge with Enough is Enough stating that he'll crack down on internet porn and obscenity, because one must Think of the Children!. Coincidentally, the NY Post (in as classy a move as can be expected of that particular paper) published photos of Melania Trump's nude photo shoot from the early '90s - with appropriate censoring, but holy fuck does that not help their case.

That said, one of the other sites I visit (an Image Board) has had problems recently with a bot posting a handful of very obvious CP images, which the mods quickly delete - so trying to trace that would be laudable, but it's the old Liberty vs. Security argument.

Edit - here's another source that has an interview with one of EiE's spokespeople, who jumps right onto the Slippery Slope Fallacy with this statement.

"Bestiality and anal sex online, that's the new normal," she says. "This entire sex industry is tied together, so it's like fighting the drug war ... just completely ignoring the obscenity laws [but combating child porn] would be like saying, 'We've got a war on drugs, but we're only going to concentrate on meth and heroin.' That's not going to do a very good job."

edited 1st Aug '16 6:15:47 PM by ironballs16

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#133817: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:22:08 PM

Anal being "the new normal" is how I got turned off by mainstream porn industry products. I recall that being the viewers wanting to vicariously experience sexual dominance?

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#133818: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:22:26 PM

Pornography made by consenting adults, of consenting adults, and meant for consenting adults is not generally harmful, and may even be beneficial in terms of giving people a safe outlet for their fetishes (caveat: I am not a psychologist). As with many things, the bad apples tend to spoil it for the rest of us, but it's also worth noting that porn is almost literally the backbone upon which new media technologies have become adopted. It's as ineluctable as sex itself, and wiping it out is about as likely as blowing up the Sun.

edited 1st Aug '16 6:24:08 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#133819: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:28:52 PM

Honestly, if the government tried to attack porn, I wonder what exactly the hell they'd accomplish, or do.

What's stopping regular people from doing their own thing? (That is, regular people who take nudes of themselves/their spouses/partners) Make doing so a felony? It would be driven underground, but still be made.

From what I heard, porn is illegal in India, and they have huge problems with sexual assault and abuse.

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#133820: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:29:06 PM

Sigh I leave for half an hour and you guys are already discussing porn...

In seriousness: I've read there is a serious (as in, can't be dismissed out-of-hand) school of thought among psychologists that Catharsis actually makes the problem worse. For example, punching a pillow only makes you angrier. But that's just what I've read.

edited 1st Aug '16 6:32:39 PM by Protagonist506

Leviticus 19:34
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#133821: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:38:25 PM

Porn is love, porn is life.

Inter arma enim silent leges
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#133822: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:42:02 PM

[up][up]

The way I've heard it theorized is that having that reliable, safe outlet for anger makes those using it more likely to express that anger later than if they kept it in. So for the porn-y equivalent, it'd boil down to porn addiction - and in either case, it could very well be better than, as someone else mentioned, possible sexual assaults in the libido's version of a Rage Breaking Point.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#133823: Aug 1st 2016 at 6:56:00 PM

Oh shit, I fucking CALLED it.

Seriously, if THIS doesn't sink this guy, nothing will.

EDIT: Upon reading the pledge, it appears to be specifically talking about CP (which, FTR, I'm also against) and preventing kids from accessing porn. But considering the official GOP platform is "all porn is evil, even between consenting adults", it's not hard to see this as a potential slippery slope.

edited 1st Aug '16 7:23:04 PM by speedyboris

pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#133824: Aug 1st 2016 at 7:08:16 PM

Trump himself is an obscenity. He should be banned from all media.

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#133825: Aug 1st 2016 at 7:10:40 PM

That would be his own Ironic Hell, if you think about it


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