kimmy

I think this might be the stupidest conspiracy theory to catch widespread media attention since the kooks claiming that Bristol Palin was Trig's real mother. Am I forgetting any really stupid conspiracy theories that have caught fire in the media like this? I'd say the Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theory, but I'm not sure it really caught the fancy of the media like this. -k

Perhaps the fact that Gordie Howe is both a beloved Canadian and a Detroit sports icon made him a far better choice than anyone else to name a bridge between Canada and Detroit. -k

It's clear that it's more than "a handful of kooks in Bastrop County" and it's clear that they're not talking about forest fires. Perhaps in your travels to Texas you've interacted mainly with educated professional people, and people in major centers, and your experience with these people has given you a favorable view of Texans in general. -k

HAHAHHAHAA no. -k

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Discovery Channel: Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark! -k

Apparently so. I challenged what-his-name to prove this happens to male reporters, and he delivered. -k

I dunno, it does seem like the Sharks have underachieved for years, not sure how much of that is McLellan's fault but he must bear some responsibility I would think. Still, it sounds like it's almost a done deal. Hall and Eberle seem to like playing for him at the World Championships, from what I read. To me, the best thing about Todd McLellan is that he's not Dallas Eakins. I think that's an excellent quality to bring to the table, and pretty much a prerequisite to be a successful NHL coach. I was hoping that now that Dallas is out of hockey, he could come back to the forum so that I could continue explaining magnets for him. -k

Honestly, are you going to post the same crap in every thread? Does every single discussion on the board have to be about your pet ideological agenda? Are you that juvenile? -k

ok, I was wrong. Apparently the phrase is not directed at the reporter. I don't think you can fault people for not "getting" it, though. Getting "Rick-rolled" is funny to people who know the context, but somewhat annoying to everybody else. And FHRITP is likewise apparently hilarious to people who know the context, but it's crass and boorish. -k

I imagine the scene at the Alberta legislature looks a lot like this right now: -k

To 12 year olds... I think you're full of it, but I'm open to being proven wrong. Tell you what. There's a lot of FHRITP video clips on the internet. If you can find one where it happens to a male reporter, I'll concede that you're right. -k

People apparently find different actions different degrees of upsetting. Crazy, huh? For example, I bet people would have been twice as mad if this guy had been shouting racial slurs at a non-white reporter, or anti-Semitic slurs at a Jewish reporter. At the very least, people wouldn't be trying to defend it as "kind of funny" or "boys being boys". -k

I think that transformation started way back in season 1 when she was watching Cersei in action. She wasn't the same girl by the end of the first season that she was when they set out for King's Landing. We definitely saw it last season when she lied to her Tully cousins to cover up for Littlefinger. I think that was kind of like her "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" moment where she let Littlefinger know that she wanted to get in the game. -k

This isn't shouting down speakers they don't agree with (which I also despise, btw). Rather it's just harassing a female reporter for being female. -k

You get back to us when mooks start ambushing male reporters and shouting FHRITA at them during their news segments. -k

I've seen this around the internet for months, and I find it pretty pathetic that anybody over the age of 12 finds it funny. As internet fads go, it's stupider than planking, but not quite on a par with filming videos of your buddies smashing stuff in convenience stores. Why would somebody want to go on TV and announce to the entire city what a gigantic loser they are? Apparently so that they can get the video on Reddit so that the entire world will know what a gigantic loser they are. I don't know if it's something they should be fired over, but I can't say I feel terribly sorry for them either. -k

Oh, of course. But that whole "everybody gets a fair trial" thing is clearly out the window. -k

I'm very intrigued by the upcoming clash between Stannis and the Boltons. I like Stannis. He's as cuddly as a cactus. But underneath that prickly exterior is a guy who believes in law and honor and a dad who loves his daughter. The Stannis we've seen since the Battle of Blackwater makes it seem like summoning a demon to murder his brother was really out of character. I think his obsession with claiming the throne played into that, and to some degree Melissandre's manipulation helped it along. As with just about everybody else on the show, he's got both good points and flaws. I can't imagine what role Shareen will play in this, but I am sure she plays into it somehow. I seem to recall Melissandre being convinced it was important that Shareen come north with them. I wonder if she has some blood magic planned for Shareen. It seemed as if Sansa's eyes lit up momentarily when she heard that Mrs Bolton is expecting. She might be thinking "What would Littlefinger do in a situation like this" and notice that she could play on Ramsay's jealousy and insecurity to put an end to Roose. Sansa also has some unknown number of Stark loyalists to draw on. She also has one of the toughest swordsmen in Westeros nearby planning to "rescue" her, which might not be a good thing. Brienne could end up screwing everything up for Sansa. Then again Brienne could also end up putting an end to Stannis to avenge Renley. Whatever it is, I can't help think that somehow Sansa will have victory snatched out of her hands, as is Stark tradition. Man, I can't believe Dany fed that dude to her dragons. Man, I can't believe Dany is going to marry that douche. Just a couple of episodes, Roose was explaining to Ramsay how marriage is the most powerful way to obtain unity. Feeding that dude to the dragons while his compatriots watched was also a pretty ruthless move. Seeing Ser Barry dead on a slab seems to have convinced her that trying to persuade people with kindness and fairness just wasn't cutting it. -k

When #gamergate first started, it was because they wanted to "get" Zoey Quinn. Here was this annoying woman who had criticized the gamer community, and when they were provided dubious evidence that she'd slept with a video game reviewer who might have promoted her game, it was their big chance to vindicate the gamer community by discrediting her. Except the reaction from outside was so overwhelmingly negative that the initial narrative was abandoned as they attempted to do damage control. "No no no, it's not about Zoey Quinn at all! We're concerned about the integrity of video game reviews!" "This is nothing personal against her, this is about gaming journalism!" The brighter minds in the gamer community pleaded with everybody to stop talking about Zoey Quinn at all and refer to her as "Literally Who?" as they tried to erase the earlier disastrous narrative and push the new "journalistic integrity" talking points. The complaints about video game reviews are a fig leaf that was hastily produced to cover up the gamer community's very tiny and unappealing dong. -k

Absolutely. This is utterly ludicrous. I know that some pro-Palestinian activists have used rhetoric that might qualify under the legal definition of hate-speech, and if they want to target some of those types using hate-speech laws, then have at it. But the idea that the whole concept of a boycott against Israel is hate speech is laughable. They can't seriously think they have a legal leg to stand on. This sounds like the kind of crackpot idea that some fringe-party candidate would come up with, not a cabinet minister of the Canadian government. I can't decide whether this is hilarious or pathetic. -k

We were discussing direct power over life and liberty, and there's no greater example of someone having direct power over another's life and liberty than a cop taking someone into custody and killing them. Both, actually. I expect there'll be political pressure to review Maryland's "Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights", and I expect the police will be implementing changes to make sure this doesn't happen again. In theory, perhaps. In practice they're also instruments of covering their own asses. As we saw repeatedly during the Braidwood inquiry, they're certainly capable of doing plenty of stuff that no politician authorized them to do, both when it comes to snuffing a suspect as well as covering up for each other after the fact. Your own source said that the track record of holding police officers for crime is "very problematic", so I'm sure you can appreciate why citizens who've seen years of injuries and deaths in Baltimore police vans were likewise not optimistic that justice would be forthcoming. So first you were saying that rioting wasn't needed to bring outside investigators into the situation. Now you seem to be suggesting that the reason the state attorney got involved is that she was influenced by her husband, who was in turn influenced by the riots. Don't those two ideas seem contradictory to you? Was this situation going to get due scrutiny without riots? Or is this scrutiny because a state attorney is married to a city councilman? Is all of this just really unfair to the cops? Are they getting railroaded because Ms Mosby has an undue bias? Before you seemed to be of the view that justice would come without rioting. But now you're echoing the cop talking points about how prosecutorial bias. Do you feel like these charges should just be thrown out? If, by some chance, they manage to find 12 people dumb enough to believe that none of the police charged bear any responsibility for Freddy Gray's death, then no, I don't support further rioting. However, I suggest that even if these goons get acquitted, there will still be changes made within the Baltimore PD. -k

Obviously accountability doesn't mean anything if you're dead. That does not dispute the fact that accountability was a founding principle of the United States. Given the contents of the constitution and the causes of the War of Independence, you'd have to be mental to argue otherwise. -k

I don't think Pam Gellar was surprised. I think that was kind of her whole point. I would have preferred she had been wrong, but unfortunately she was proven right. -k

Ok, here's what bugs me about the SJWs in gaming. If you're playing a game, you gotta go ten outta ten, or else why are you even playing? So for example. I'm upgrading my rig. I'm installing a quad core processor and dual graphics cards and water cooling. Ten outta ten. I'm going to the game shop. I'm buying a game. I'm walking right past World of Borecraft. I'm picking up Elf Princess 2: Zorkon's Revenge. Ten outta ten. I'm creating my character in the character creator. My elf princess is a total babe. Luscious ass. Tits like cantaloupes. Ten outta ten. I'm out in the woods. I'm killing orcs. There's hi-def blood and gore everywhere. Ten outta ten. I'm upgrading my gear. I'm taking my +1 magic wand and throwing that crap in the garbage and swapping in a +5 wand of fire. I'm throwing out my leather armor and putting on Elvish chainmail of speed. It's like ripping out an 8-track and swapping in a DVD. Ten outta ten. I get to the necromancer camp. I'm smacking the crap out of necromancers. There's heads and hands and guts flying all over the place. Ten outta ten. I find the necromancer priestess. I kick her ass. I'm ripping off her robe and mask. She's skinny. She's got this little scrunched up SJW face like Anita Sarkassian. Two outta ten, would not bang. Gaming experience ruined. Childhood ruined. Rage quit. That's why I don't want the SJWs in gaming. I'm not gaming for a two outta ten experience. You gotta go ten outta ten. #gamergate -k

My experience with MMO is pretty limited, but for the most part it wasn't bad. I played Star Wars: The Old Republic for quite a while, and found that most of the people I met online just wanted to play the game. They talked about the quests, or shared Star Wars themed banter, and planned strategy and missions. I'd say probably 90-95% of my interaction with other players was quite positive. The exceptions were not threatening in nature, but sexual in nature. There were sometimes players who saw my attractive Sith sorceress on-screen character and wanted to "role-play" sexual situations, or ask me questions of a personal nature. It really wasn't that bad. My willingness to tolerate that sort of thing was roughly proportional to how much I needed help in the quest I was working on. There are some creepy and pathetic people in MMOs, but there are tools to block contact with them. And you can complain to the moderators if it's out of hand. I only blocked a couple of players who I just didn't want to deal with. I actually felt a little bad about blocking these guys because I wasn't angry at them, I just felt sorry for them. -k