The Refuge of the Toads

[Guestus Aurelius]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

[gurugeorge]

The length is verging on Carrierosity here: hmmm....

*rips off gurugeorge disguise and gives finger while disco-dancing off into the distance*

[katamari Damassi]

Trump did better than I expected.
Cruz did well, although frankly, I don't think he would be the best republican to take the White House.

Clinton did worse than she should have. Warning signs for her campain: all the Dem. and Union functions I've been to for the last six months I haven't seen a single Clinton button or bumper sticker. This is in sharp contrast to eight years ago before the emergence of Obama.
The Pols I've spoken to, ( city councilmen, assemblyman, state senators, a couple of congressmen)
None are showing any great enthusiasm for Clinton, most were non committal.

Sanders did well he's close enough that even a good sound byte can push him past Clinton.


The biggedt loser of the day would have to be Clinton. Given the money, connections and name recognition she should have trounced everyone. She barely pulled out a win. We could be seeing 08' redux.

Melissa McEwen is stamping her hooves about how unfair it was to Hillary. That's good enough for me.

[katamari Damassi]

Speakers' fees are pretty much all these people have. They're not sacrificing them for a principle.

[comhcinc]

The Left is demoralized at the moment. It has to be quite difficult to come to terms with the fact that a) golden boy Obama's screwed up badly at home

How?

It's the economy, stupid :) Plus he's a divider not a uniter, has offered the opposite of hope and change, and his flagship legacy thingie, Obamacare, is a bit of a mess for a considerable minority of people.

His speechifying is also now boring - he's lost a good deal of his charisma and his stock of cliches is tired and worn-out. And in large scale democracy, where rational ignorance rules, charisma is about 70-80% (in terms of rectally-extracted statistics) of what people actually vote on.

The economy is doing better now that it was when he got into office. The market is up and unemployment is down. So no you are wrong on your first point.

Your next point is boiler plate sound bites.

Obamacare is a mess and they have done a poor job of selling it to people. When polled about obamacare people feel negatively about it. When you just ask people about the difference aspects of the law and don't make the connection people feel positively about them.

Your opinion on his speeches are just like your opinion man. It's also exactly what I would expect from someone who is against the guy. It is also also different from a lot of other people's opinion. I quit listening to speeches a couple of years ago when I found I just read them online so I don't have an opinion on that myself.

So you were wrong on one point. Right on another, and had an opinion.


Try harder.

[VickyCaramel]

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

I wish you guys would stop saying the Sherman was 'designed'. It was cobbled together!
It was a modernization of the M2 which was obsolete before it entered service.

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

I once spent 9 months drawing sherman tanks for a book that was never published.

[Shatterface]

The Left is demoralized at the moment. It has to be quite difficult to come to terms with the fact that a) golden boy Obama's screwed up badly at home

How?

It's the economy, stupid :) Plus he's a divider not a uniter, has offered the opposite of hope and change, and his flagship legacy thingie, Obamacare, is a bit of a mess for a considerable minority of people.

His speechifying is also now boring - he's lost a good deal of his charisma and his stock of cliches is tired and worn-out. And in large scale democracy, where rational ignorance rules, charisma is about 70-80% (in terms of rectally-extracted statistics) of what people actually vote on.

On the plus side he has brought about racial harmony.

[Billie from Ockham]

...I'm approaching certainty that the next president is going to be either Cruz or Rubio (and good thing too, on the whole, despite all the God-talk making my arse twitch)...

Yeah, over-turning Roe v Wade would be a "good thing," so four to eight years of Cruz or Rubio sounds great to me (and my teen-age daughter).

[Shatterface]

Speakers' fees are pretty much all these people have. They're not sacrificing them for a principle.

That should make them more concerned about de-platforming.

[cnut the great]

Is it possible to libel an online persona that does not have any connection (AFAIK) with a real person?

Legally speaking, probably not. But ethically speaking, making claims about unethical conduct certainly can have a substantial effect on people who enjoy writing prolix missives from behind the protection of an online pseudonym. (Just ask the writer formerly known as Avicenna Last.) So the rationale underlying defamation doesn't just go away, though it is somewhat attenuated.

[comhcinc]

Melissa McEwen is stamping her hooves about how unfair it was to Hillary. That's good enough for me.

I gave up having real life heros. They always let you down and you end up getting into pissing matches for every slight against your hero real or imagined. Mostly I just roll my eyes at these people these days. In fighting being funniest.

On a similar note a friend of mine made this observation.

If the Iowa results prove one thing, CNN does not know how to round. Rounded Clinton up and Bernie down to increase a 0.4% margin to 1%.

Which appeared right next to this on my time line.

My friend is a tenured mathematician with a Ph.d and Frank is Tv's Frank from MST3K who is really funny when he isn't being political which isn't very often these days.

[Shatterface]

I think if someone libelled an anonymous person like Banksy they'd have a legal claim just as Bankst would have a legal claim of someone was passing off a forgery as his work.

[Spike13]

I've been having a Dario Argento season this week and I now realise why the Blockbot admins look so familiar.

It's like they've all chosen to dress like a 1970s giallo serial killer.

You mean, you're watching all of his films over the week? Poor chap. Have some beer ready.

When I was a tyke the TV commercials for Suspiria scared the piss out of me. When I finally saw it as a teen, I could appreciate its campy goodness.

I remember those commercials, they were creepy as hell!

There was another movie around the same time that had a creepy butler type and a flying metal ball that drilled into people's heads. I forget the name of it.
I may be wrong, but I think they were double featured together.

[Dave]

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

You say that like its a bad thing. The ease of production of the Shermans was a major factor in our success. The US produced more Shermans in two years than the Germans produced panzers in the entire war, and the limiting factor wasnt production capacity but steel availability, tanks had to compete with warships for that. A neat summary of WWII is Germany declared war on the worlds largest navy and second largest economy. Then they also declared war on the second largest navy and largest economy. As a modern war, WWII was fought through the various participant's manufacturing base as much as it was on the battlefield, and choosing a design that could fly off the production lines was a way to capitalize on the US advantage in that arena.

[gurugeorge]

Your next point is boiler plate sound bites.

"Divider not uniter, no hopey changey" = greater racial tension in the US today than there has been for a long time, greater political tension in the US today than there has been for a long time (civil-war-ish feeling on the horizon), mild abuse of presidential power.

This is an outside observer's view, mind you (UK), but I was happy when he was first elected (it all sounded great to me, and he seemed smart, and he was first black prez), disappointed after his first term, and still disappointed.

So if I were a Dem, I'd be disheartened, and I wouldn't be very pleased with what the Dems have on offer. I mean really, an ancient crone rape apologist and an even more ancient commie? Is that seriously the best they can do? Look on the Right, apart from Trump you've got 2 studs with quite sharp minds and apparent sincerity (so far as these things can be judged).

Also, no, my impression from reading about him is that people are just getting tired of his speechifying (partly because they've heard it all before and have been disappointed). That's not subjective, it's objective, albeit difficult to pin down.

Of course there's always tribalism. The Dems might rally for some other reason than Trump, who knows?

(But I'm also going on something I read about turnouts and prospective likelihood of Dems v Repubs getting boots on the ground.)

[comhcinc]

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

I wish you guys would stop saying the Sherman was 'designed'. It was cobbled together!
It was a modernization of the M2 which was obsolete before it entered service.

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

I once spent 9 months drawing sherman tanks for a book that was never published.

Can we see them?

I think the reason the Sherman has to be defended is not that it was a poor tank but because of the prescription now is that it was a poor tank compared to the germans.

It's got that way because you have to make the germans look more formable so they make better bad guys in movies.

[Service Dog]

Seriously though, are you going full Atkins'?

Yeah. 'Keto'. Under 20 grams of carbs per day. Basically: tins of tonno-tuna/ sardines/ squid/ octopus, raw mustard greens, coffee with heavy cream, eggs, bacon, beefchickenpork, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pecans, avocados, olive oil. Jalapenos. Maybe a little gin. Hard cheeses-- but not until I learn which ones are ok.

It makes me more of a 'morning person' when I wake up, plus no sagging into a mid-morning or afternoon nap.

And here's the link to the Regular Car Reviews, which I find astute cultural commentary. I failed to link correctly, last night:
[youtube]-X4pvsoZ35k[/youtube]

[Sunder]

Political tension in the US has been rising steadily for decades and can't be blamed directly on Obama.

In fact, a big part of why I was disappointed in his first term was how often he failed to even attempt to stake out a strong liberal position and came to the bargaining table having already met Republicans halfway and prepared to concede more.

Sanders I at least think would take a stronger stance on economic issues, and I'm really hoping the majority of his trendy social positions will be forgotten.

[Spike13]

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

I wish you guys would stop saying the Sherman was 'designed'. It was cobbled together!
It was a modernization of the M2 which was obsolete before it entered service.

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

I once spent 9 months drawing sherman tanks for a book that was never published.

Cobbling is a form of designing.... You're mean... :P

[CaptainFluffyBunny]

...I'm approaching certainty that the next president is going to be either Cruz or Rubio (and good thing too, on the whole, despite all the God-talk making my arse twitch)...

Yeah, over-turning Roe v Wade would be a "good thing," so four to eight years of Cruz or Rubio sounds great to me (and my teen-age daughter).

Easy there, gramps.

Just kidding. One teenaged daughter and another will be in couple of years. Last thing we need is another Scalia in SCOTUS.

[CaptainFluffyBunny]

Actually, now I see what's happening on the front-page, Steers, just forget about it.

Fuck me but your a real racist cunt, aren't you.

Please. Given his definition of "woman", wouldn't you want to add misogynist to that list? Also douchebag whoremonger.

[Suet Cardigan]

I remember those commercials, they were creepy as hell!

There was another movie around the same time that had a creepy butler type and a flying metal ball that drilled into people's heads. I forget the name of it.
I may be wrong, but I think they were double featured together.

That would be Phantasm:

[youtube]xmcR8_2RinY[/youtube]

[comhcinc]

Your next point is boiler plate sound bites.

"Divider not uniter, no hopey changey" = greater racial tension in the US today than there has been for a long time, greater political tension in the US today than there has been for a long time (civil-war-ish feeling on the horizon), mild abuse of presidential power.

Civil war feeling? No. Are you saying Obama has done things to raise racial tension? What things?

This is an outside observer's view, mind you (UK), but I was happy when he was first elected (it all sounded great to me, and he seemed smart, and he was first black prez), disappointed after his first term, and still disappointed.

I am disappointed you people still think royalty is a good idea.

So if I were a Dem, I'd be disheartened, and I wouldn't be very pleased with what the Dems have on offer. I mean really, an ancient crone rape apologist and an even more ancient commie? Is that seriously the best they can do? Look on the Right, apart from Trump you've got 2 studs with quite sharp minds and apparent sincerity (so far as these things can be judged).

2 studs? So Rubio and Cruz? You think Cruz is a stud? You are the only person that thinks Cruz is a stud.http://gfycat.com/CornyDesertedAmmonite

Also, no, my impression from reading about him is that people are just getting tired of his speechifying (partly because they've heard it all before and have been disappointed). That's not subjective, it's objective, albeit difficult to pin down.

Yeah that's still an opinion.

[Ericb]

For the GOP winning Iowa usually doesn't mean much. Here's a role call of recent Republican winners:

1980 - George H.W.Bush
1988 - Bob Dole (Pat Robertson 2nd!)
1996 - Bob Dole (got the nomination lost the election)
2000 - George W. Bush (finally a winner)
2008 - Mike Huckabee
2012 - Rick Santorum

[some guy]

Speakers' fees are pretty much all these people have. They're not sacrificing them for a principle.

That should make them more concerned about de-platforming.

It should, but it is much more likely that it will make just them more concerned about expressing their own opinions that might run afoul of the SJW and other whiners.

[Billy The Hillbilly]

...I'm approaching certainty that the next president is going to be either Cruz or Rubio (and good thing too, on the whole, despite all the God-talk making my arse twitch)...

Yeah, over-turning Roe v Wade would be a "good thing," so four to eight years of Cruz or Rubio sounds great to me (and my teen-age daughter).

"US President Ted Cruz..."
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/200523 ... cide-o.gif

[Billy The Hillbilly]

"President Marco Rubio"

http://www.troll.me/images/giant-turd/giant-turd.jpg

:hankey: :hankey: :hankey:

[Za-zen]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

That was fucking excellent. Pyter spotted in the wild.

[jimthepleb]

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

I wish you guys would stop saying the Sherman was 'designed'. It was cobbled together!
It was a modernization of the M2 which was obsolete before it entered service.

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

I once spent 9 months drawing sherman tanks for a book that was never published.

I love this place. You people constantly surprise me!

[Karmakin]

The Left is demoralized at the moment. It has to be quite difficult to come to terms with the fact that a) golden boy Obama's screwed up badly at home

How?

It's the economy, stupid :) Plus he's a divider not a uniter, has offered the opposite of hope and change, and his flagship legacy thingie, Obamacare, is a bit of a mess for a considerable minority of people.

His speechifying is also now boring - he's lost a good deal of his charisma and his stock of cliches is tired and worn-out. And in large scale democracy, where rational ignorance rules, charisma is about 70-80% (in terms of rectally-extracted statistics) of what people actually vote on.

Eh, quite frankly that, all of that has less to do with Obama himself, and more to do with the aftermath of Rovian red meat politics, the rise of the Tea Party and everything that ensued after that. In short, the issue is actually with the GOP, not the Dems.

Actually saying that, let me just say that the same issues exist on the left...all of the SocJus bullshit you see is basically just Rovian red meat politics applied to low-level social issues. I'm actually shocked that sort of thing hasn't made it's way into the Dem primary more than it has, where it's mostly a side-show, I'm not really sure why it hasn't, although I suspect that people are taking Federal politics much more seriously than everything else.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Trump did better than I expected.
Cruz did well, although frankly, I don't think he would be the best republican to take the White House.

Clinton did worse than she should have. Warning signs for her campain: all the Dem. and Union functions I've been to for the last six months I haven't seen a single Clinton button or bumper sticker. This is in sharp contrast to eight years ago before the emergence of Obama.
The Pols I've spoken to, ( city councilmen, assemblyman, state senators, a couple of congressmen)
None are showing any great enthusiasm for Clinton, most were non committal.

Sanders did well he's close enough that even a good sound byte can push him past Clinton.


The biggedt loser of the day would have to be Clinton. Given the money, connections and name recognition she should have trounced everyone. She barely pulled out a win. We could be seeing 08' redux.

No 08' redux. Yes, the Wolkenkuckucksheim wing of the Dem party is just mad about Bernie, but this is more a Dean 04' redux. Besides, Bernie is not half-black. Besides, Bernie is a decent fellow, and won't resort to caucus fraud like obama did.

Bernie's high-water mark will be New Hampshire. Then the math is in Hillary's favor:
http://theweek.com/articles/602929/sorr ... in-hillary

FYI, zero national delegates were allocated in the Iowa Dem Caucuses.

[Za-zen]

I'm pretty sure I spotted Jamy Ian Swis as the MC at the their (wymyn politik advocates only) science convention. I'm also pretty sure (if recollection serves) Jamy came out of the closet as pissed off with the ideological purity brigades during the "hang Radford" crusade. I'm open to correction on this as his contribution at the time is hazy to me.

[John Greg]

Sunder said:

Ahermit's being a dumbass over at Mick's.

Yes, s/h/it is, but seriously, when is A Hermit ever not a total and wholly dishonest dumbass?

He's in the same school as latsot, Oolon, Morales, and a few of other Orwellian nightmares from the Inner Party whose names I forget.

[comhcinc]

Actually saying that, let me just say that the same issues exist on the left...all of the SocJus bullshit you see is basically just Rovian red meat politics applied to low-level social issues. I'm actually shocked that sort of thing hasn't made it's way into the Dem primary more than it has, where it's mostly a side-show, I'm not really sure why it hasn't, although I suspect that people are taking Federal politics much more seriously than everything else.

You saw a lot of black lives matter protest at Sanders rallies. For some reason. Lol the guy most likely to agree with them and often they would just shut him down.

The problem is SJWs is they will never make good political candidates. A Tea Party guy can run saying the government is bad and overreaching. Their basic claim (and this is of course cutting through layers and layers of bullshit) is that people can take of themselves and the government needs to be checked. SJWs on the other hand claim that people are a bigots and government needs to put rules in place to check them.

[Gumby]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

That was fucking excellent. Pyter spotted in the wild.

Which pitter? Have a time index?

[Billy The Hillbilly]

No 08' redux. Yes, the Wolkenkuckucksheim wing of the Dem party is just mad about Bernie, but this is more a Dean 04' redux. Besides, Bernie is not half-black. Besides, Bernie is a decent fellow, and won't resort to caucus fraud like obama did.

Bernie's high-water mark will be New Hampshire. Then the math is in Hillary's favor:
http://theweek.com/articles/602929/sorr ... in-hillary

FYI, zero national delegates were allocated in the Iowa Dem Caucuses.

'The Week' FFS

:angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming:

[Karmakin]

Actually saying that, let me just say that the same issues exist on the left...all of the SocJus bullshit you see is basically just Rovian red meat politics applied to low-level social issues. I'm actually shocked that sort of thing hasn't made it's way into the Dem primary more than it has, where it's mostly a side-show, I'm not really sure why it hasn't, although I suspect that people are taking Federal politics much more seriously than everything else.

You saw a lot of black lives matter protest at Sanders rallies. For some reason. Lol the guy most likely to agree with them and often they would just shut him down.

The problem is SJWs is they will never make good political candidates. A Tea Party guy can run saying the government is bad and overreaching. Their basic claim (and this is of course cutting through layers and layers of bullshit) is that people can take of themselves and the government needs to be checked. SJWs on the other hand claim that people are a bigots and government needs to put rules in place to check them.

I don't think that's their goal. That's the thing. They are doing relatively little, in terms of government rules, either achieved or even proposed.

What the goal is, is to encourage individuals (with an emphasis on the other), to "check" their own biases, and to counter-act for them in advance. I.E. to replace one bias with a different bias. No amount of government rules, by and large are going to get them the jobs and the money and the status. But injecting people with this new bias...that can get them there.

[JackSkeptic]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

Ooops, I just nicked this video and posted in the pits 'Zeitgeist' post without crediting you. Sorry.

Damn I'm one of those filthy plagiarists now. As tradition demands I blame the French (except Phil cos he's cool)

[Za-zen]

Sunder said:

Ahermit's being a dumbass over at Mick's.

Yes, s/h/it is, but seriously, when is A Hermit ever not a total and wholly dishonest dumbass?

He's in the same school as latsot, Oolon, Morales, and a few of other Orwellian nightmares from the Inner Party whose names I forget.

ahermit is one of those characters who is either that deliberately dishonest or intellectually stunted, that any reasonable person would conclude they can't possibly exist as a real person, and therefore has to be POE. But no, they really are just a SJW.

[Za-zen]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

That was fucking excellent. Pyter spotted in the wild.

Which pitter? Have a time index?

From timestamp 00:01 to 59:00, fat lebanese dood, you can't miss him, he's at the front by the podium.

[Scented Nectar]

Stop being obtuse. You're pretending like it's totally ok to publicly call someone a pedo without any foundation for the claim. And I'm not against jokes, but your joke was right on the heels of the realistic sounding claim you made in the tweet, which cancels out the joke when seen as a whole. And I think you know that.

You need to go back to the last thread and read what I have said. I never claimed to be in the right. I have always stated it was a shitty thing to do.

As for the joke being canceled out? That is complete bullshit. And stupid.

Now why don't you answer my question. Why do you feel the need to whiteknight steersman? He is here he can speak for himself.

Oh for fuck's sake. I give up.

[Tigzy]

The Radioactive Yeti has some blah up about some conference which gave her hope for the future of atheism or something. (The post actually starts with this: 'Late Saturday afternoon, we were arguing about armed revolution, and I was grinning my head off.' Bet she was imagining Dawk being led off at gunpoint to a re-education camp. With her as camp commandant, of course. Here's hoping hubby and Wee Tweeaboo braced themselves, as it probably left ol Zvan feeling pretty horny). Anyways, what's interesting is the picture.

I've not reproduced it here, as it's apparently copyright and I know it'll annoy Zvan to know she won't be able to bitch about the Pit stealing copyright. Anyways, have a look at it and see if you can settle something for me:

https://web.archive.org/save/http://fre ... fun-again/

To me, Zvan looks supernova white while Sicky-Fu looks gold. However, some are saying that Sicky-Fu looks black while Zvan appears a lighter shade of magnolia. Thoughts?

[comhcinc]

I don't think that's their goal. That's the thing. They are doing relatively little, in terms of government rules, either achieved or even proposed.

What the goal is, is to encourage individuals (with an emphasis on the other), to "check" their own biases, and to counter-act for them in advance. I.E. to replace one bias with a different bias. No amount of government rules, by and large are going to get them the jobs and the money and the status. But injecting people with this new bias...that can get them there.

Of course that's their goal. You can't do this lecture you can't go to this conference that's it I am going to the UN and demand they censor the internet.

[katamari Damassi]

You mean, you're watching all of his films over the week? Poor chap. Have some beer ready.

When I was a tyke the TV commercials for Suspiria scared the piss out of me. When I finally saw it as a teen, I could appreciate its campy goodness.

I remember those commercials, they were creepy as hell!

There was another movie around the same time that had a creepy butler type and a flying metal ball that drilled into people's heads. I forget the name of it.
I may be wrong, but I think they were double featured together.

Phantasm. Love that movie. Independent film made on a shoe string budget and was impressive as hell at the time.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I do, however, have to admit to a sneaking admiration for Sarkeesian['s] ... wazoo. She raises flipping great wodges of ... arse[...].

FTFY

[Za-zen]

I do, however, have to admit to a sneaking admiration for Sarkeesian['s] ... wazoo. She raises flipping great wodges of ... arse[...].

FTFY

It is odd, but she is such a blatant grifter, that you have to tip the hat at her chutzpah. I can imagine after the cut, her falling off her stool in uncontrolled fits, as she releases the suppressed laughter and asking "Are you sure I haven't went to far? that one ramped the whackery up to 9000".

[windy]

Oh, PuffHo. Please never change. (source)

http://i.imgur.com/0CfgGfD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/w1397OV.jpg

[ERV]

Richard Wiseman was on the panel of judges that awarded Skepchicks 'Blog of the Year' for UK Skeptics in 2011. I only know this because that year, UK readers nominated me for my XMRV coverage, which culminated in the original paper being retracted. The panel of judges disagreed with their readers on the importance of such skepticism.

Now Dawkins is out at NECSS, and Wiseman is the keynote.

This clique is a big fucking circle jerk.

[Really?]

Richard Wiseman was on the panel of judges that awarded Skepchicks 'Blog of the Year' for UK Skeptics in 2011. I only know this because that year, UK readers nominated me for my XMRV coverage, which culminated in the original paper being retracted. The panel of judges disagreed with their readers on the importance of such skepticism.
:D
Now Dawkins is out at NECSS, and Wiseman is the keynote.

This clique is a big fucking circle jerk.

Perhaps the man should change his surname.

Myers can keep his for how he has mired us all in the muck. And Carrier is safe in this respect, too.

[Tapir]

Can somebody link to the whole DJ, Fincke, Kwok, Smellody shit-show please. I've no idea where to look for it. TVM.

https://www.facebook.com/julia.galef/po ... 846532342#

Thanks for enacting the labour!

Also -

http://i.imgur.com/Gtq2c9l.jpg

[Aneris]

The Radioactive Yeti has some blah up about some conference which gave her hope for the future of atheism or something. (The post actually starts with this: 'Late Saturday afternoon, we were arguing about armed revolution, and I was grinning my head off.' Bet she was imagining Dawk being led off at gunpoint to a re-education camp. With her as camp commandant, of course. Here's hoping hubby and Wee Tweeaboo braced themselves, as it probably left ol Zvan feeling pretty horny). Anyways, what's interesting is the picture.

I've not reproduced it here, as it's apparently copyright and I know it'll annoy Zvan to know she won't be able to bitch about the Pit stealing copyright. Anyways, have a look at it and see if you can settle something for me:

https://web.archive.org/save/http://fre ... fun-again/

To me, Zvan looks supernova white while Sicky-Fu looks gold. However, some are saying that Sicky-Fu looks black while Zvan appears a lighter shade of magnolia. Thoughts?

The purpose of her post was to show off that she is listening to a PoC and that she attended a SJ conference. She's social justicier than thou. That's all.

[Spike13]

I only just hit play, so I can't vouch for its quality, but here is a new video of Gad Saad on political correctness in higher education:

[youtube]G5-oG0L6ZnU[/youtube]

That was fucking excellent. Pyter spotted in the wild.

That was an awesome bit of video!
If you've scrolled over, I highly recommend giving it a watch.
I'd like to see more from Mr Saad.

[tina]

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

Why can't we go back to talking about kitchen units? *sobs*

[Spike13]

Richard Wiseman was on the panel of judges that awarded Skepchicks 'Blog of the Year' for UK Skeptics in 2011. I only know this because that year, UK readers nominated me for my XMRV coverage, which culminated in the original paper being retracted. The panel of judges disagreed with their readers on the importance of such skepticism.

Now Dawkins is out at NECSS, and Wiseman is the keynote.

This clique is a big fucking circle jerk.

Regarding the Skepchicks, their name is way too glib for such an important group who holds their orthodoxy with such ferver. I propose The Miserable Sisters of Perpetual Victimhood or MSPV for short. Blue and pink haired shirts for everyone!

[dresq]

Pitchguest, don't think I don't see you trolling this poor, vulnerable man who had the heroic bravery to quit developing for R because he found a variable in a package's source code named "iGiveHead."

[SkepticalCat]

Regarding the Skepchicks, their name is way too glib for such an important group who holds their orthodoxy with such ferver. I propose The Miserable Sisters of Perpetual Victimhood or MSPV for short. Blue and pink haired shirts for everyone!

How about 'Perpetually Miserable Sisterhood'? :)

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The Sherman was actually a pretty good machine and it gets a bad rap. These factors need to be understood:

1) The Shermans had to be a medium size tank so they could be transported. The Allies couldn't field tanks as large as the Germans due to size constraints. This limited the armor thickness and gun size.

2) The Shermans were attacking defended positions with some big guns. The Germans had dug in defenses and were going to have better field position.

3) The Shermans were super reliable compared to their German counterparts which was key to victory. Keep them rolling.

4) The Sherman design was simple and easy to mass produce. We killed the Nazis with better production not better machines.

1) Nonsense. It was US tank doctrine what dictated the focus on medium tanks. When real life revealed the need for both more robust mediums and also heavies, the US turned to tank-hunters as a stop-gap, before finally getting around to developing an heavy (M26 Pershing);
2) Nonsense. Why do Americans' image of the War begin & end with Normandy? The Sherman's intended role was mobile warfare;
3) Nonsense. The PzKpfw IV was "super reliable". The first Panthers, being a new design rushed into service, had reliability issues. These were largely rectified;
4) True, but were we really only killing 'nazis'?

One other point was that the Sherman was built to go up against Panzer 1 and 2's.

It was designed at a time when tanks were smaller lesser armed, the evolution of European tank design rendered it a bit obsolete by the time the U.S. was committed.

It had many innovative features from the single cast armor to the awesome fun stabilization system.( German tanks had to stop to aim effectively , the Sherman's could shoot and scoot well.)

It was a very good design, just out classes by later generations of German armor.

It was slightly outclassed by the PzKpfw IV Aufs G (long 75 mm gun), introduced early '43.
Single cast armor streamlines production, but has certain drawbacks in the field.

When comparing tanks, it's important to distinguish the basic design from the armament and optics. The Sherman had inadequate armor, an interior layout that promoted brew-ups, and an unusually high profile. During a period when the Germans were continually tweaking the Pz IV to maximum effectiveness, and introducing the superb Panther and Tiger, the Americans were largely standing still in design, accepting large losses in equipment and crew as part & parcel of swamping the enemy with superior numbers.

[VickyCaramel]

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

You say that like its a bad thing.

Don't you know there's a war on?
Point is, both sides were muddling through best they could, getting things out as fast as they could. This alone makes the "what was the best tank" pissing contests pointless. Somebody already mentioned that it went through many variants, and in addition to this there were upgrades and modification, all in the space of three years. A tank was probably 2 versions old by the time it arrived in Europe. And as fast as the Americans were upgrading, so were the Germans.

Oh, and the size of the parts the factories could cast in one piece was a limiting factor.

Another neat thing about the Sherman was it's use of an 400 hp air cooled radial engine.( this was later replaced with a 36 cylinder 470 hp diesel) light weight, reliable. Quick to peak power.

Granted a gasoline engine in a tank was controversial to say the least, but given the situation and thinking during its design, one could see the appeal of it.

I wish you guys would stop saying the Sherman was 'designed'. It was cobbled together!
It was a modernization of the M2 which was obsolete before it entered service.

If somebody had sat down in 1940 and said, "Right lets design from scratch, a tank based on the lessons from the European war", then I am sure the Sherman would have been a very good tank and nobody would need to be here trying to defend it. But instead somebody sat down looking at the existing tooling of the M2 and said, "Lets see what we can make out of this pig's ear without completely retooling the factories".

I once spent 9 months drawing sherman tanks for a book that was never published.

Can we see them?

I think the reason the Sherman has to be defended is not that it was a poor tank but because of the prescription now is that it was a poor tank compared to the germans.

It's got that way because you have to make the germans look more formable so they make better bad guys in movies.

That is so true. When we beat the Italians we made them out to be completely useless (they were) so that when Rommel beat us our excuse was that he was a genius. Then it was because of the "Panzer 4 Special" then because of the "Tiger". The truth is that the German's superior tanks were a bit of rarity, and the allied equipment outclassed their equivalents. It was our tactics that let us down.

...I have all the drawings on a hard drive, maybe one day I will dig them out.

[comhcinc]

I think Nugent is the Mirror Universe Steersman.

[Brive1987]

And then you had the Ronson Sherman.

The Sherman was actually a pretty good machine and it gets a bad rap. These factors need to be understood:

1) The Shermans had to be a medium size tank so they could be transported. The Allies couldn't field tanks as large as the Germans due to size constraints. This limited the armor thickness and gun size.

2) The Shermans were attacking defended positions with some big guns. The Germans had dug in defenses and were going to have better field position.

3) The Shermans were super reliable compared to their German counterparts which was key to victory. Keep them rolling.

4) The Sherman design was simple and easy to mass produce. We killed the Nazis with better production not better machines.

The Allies had little choice but to use the reliable Sherman. It was a good tank for the job. Two obvious flaws in hindsight. They should have had a wider tread to reduce bogging and they really needed a bigger gun (which is really hard to do in a small tank.... the solution being the Firefly which had to have an open turret to fit the gun... design specifically to be a tank killer).

Ultimately the test of a tank is whether it can do it assigned task properly and keep it's crew alive - and this is always relative to its opposition.

The Sherman may have been effective in 1942 in North Africa against early model Pz IIIs and IVs. It may have been effective in the Pacific against mediocre Japanese AT options.

But it was murdered in Europe.

Classic story of knives and gun fights. At least the Americans had a whole kitchen draw of utensils to throw at the Germans.

The 3rd Armored Division entered combat in Normandy with 232 M4 Sherman tanks. During the European Campaign, the Division had some 648 Sherman tanks completely destroyed in combat and we had another 700 knocked out, repaired and put back into operation. This was a loss rate of 580 percent.”