^Thanks, @ChaosEngine, for having an open and inquiring mind. I do appreciate it.

Now the question is -- does language shape our thinking? "What if" women were always called women in circumstances similar to when men are always called men? (Context, context, yes?)

I remember where I was the first time I called myself a "woman." It was forty years ago, and I remember everything about that moment. It felt weird as heck. A responsibility was being assumed by me, it felt like. It was my nineteenth birthday, and I was lounging poolside at a UCLA frat house in the middle of the day.

In traditional societies, there were rites of passage, weren't there? Often brutal, but still. A marking of the transition from childhood to adulthood. The closest thing I have to that in my conscious life is that moment I chose to call myself a woman for the first time.

Do you remember the first time you called yourself a man, assuming that mantle of responsibility?

I suspect it is different for men, because the word is used so much sooner for you guys. "Look at the little man!" when you are three years old. I never heard "look at the little woman." Still, that moment of truly being called a man -- or choosing that word for yourself -- does it resonate?

Thanks for taking this seriously, chaos.

And I still would be interested in your wife's take on this. She married well, I can tell. You rock.

hey - you wouldn't call your country a cunt, would you?
>> ^vpvpvp:

What Frat is he in?

Whew ... good thing I dislike beer [or go to frat parties]! =oI

>> ^pumkinandstorm:

I wish this would happen in my car, but everytime I try to start something, everyone tells me to shut up.


i would too if only because this song has become the anthem for frat douche dicks the world over when the only part they know is the opera.

I love love love love love queen (i wouldve gone gay for freddie mercury) but ive come to hate hate hate hate hate this song.

Conservatives are a bunch of wealthy frat-boys who never grew up, never learned the value of community, never had to do a proper day's work in their lives.

I bet 90% of the Republicans in Congress couldn't live for a week in the shoes of an entry-level employee in manufacturing, agriculture or service. They'd be fired, they'd have no idea how to cook or (god forbid) actually CLEAN for themselves. They're so detached from the real world you can't possibly expect them to come up with realistic solutions for the complex problems facing 90% of Americans.

That makes sense. I have a friend who is unwilling (at least right now) to do the Tough Mudder, but he did a Warrior Dash this summer and said it was "easy."

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to do a TM at some point... =)

>> ^garmachi:

>> ^carneval:
I've been thinking about doing one in VT next year, if other athletic pursuits don't interfere.
It seems like a pretty cool thing; though coming from the viewpoint of a traditional runner it's hard not to see it as a bit gimmicky (ike I said, I'd still like to do it)...
Not as gimmicky as this, though: http://runforyourlives.com/

On the surface, it DOES seem a bit gimmicky to me as well. The zombie one looks fun, and there seems to be a rash of these things popping up all over the place just this year. I wonder if it's really a new trend, or "blue car syndrome..." Either way, everyone I've talked to who's done it says that it's incredibly challenging and not for the faint of heart.
We ran a Warrior Dash (3 mile version of the Tough Mudder) earlier this year and were a bit disappointed - it was fun, don't get me wrong, but it felt like a frat party which happened to have a mud pit and some joggers. I forget who said it, but the summed up the difference as "you can do the Warrior Dash with a hangover, but to do the Tough Mudder you have to sign a Death Waiver first."

>> ^carneval:

I've been thinking about doing one in VT next year, if other athletic pursuits don't interfere.
It seems like a pretty cool thing; though coming from the viewpoint of a traditional runner it's hard not to see it as a bit gimmicky (ike I said, I'd still like to do it)...
Not as gimmicky as this, though: http://runforyourlives.com/


On the surface, it DOES seem a bit gimmicky to me as well. The zombie one looks fun, and there seems to be a rash of these things popping up all over the place just this year. I wonder if it's really a new trend, or "blue car syndrome..." Either way, everyone I've talked to who's done it says that it's incredibly challenging and not for the faint of heart.

We ran a Warrior Dash (3 mile version of the Tough Mudder) earlier this year and were a bit disappointed - it was fun, don't get me wrong, but it felt like a frat party which happened to have a mud pit and some joggers. I forget who said it, but the summed up the difference as "you can do the Warrior Dash with a hangover, but to do the Tough Mudder you have to sign a Death Waiver first."

"My job as an artist is to hold up a mirror to society"? Who does he think he is, Lenny Bruce? Modern pop-culture is pretty much a frat-boy farting contest, there's no "artistry" involved. He was on MadTV for a few years, that's all I know of him and I can't remember one sketch he was in.

It's like a frat boy version of Karl Pilkington.

Sure is.. graphic, huh.
>> ^blankfist:

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
You know what would give more credence to your nonsense? Give George W. the credit due for simultaneously launching us into two poorly managed and unwinnable wars while drastically lowering taxes, thereby digging a grave for our country's economy for generations to come. If you want to talk about runaway spending, at least have the fucking intelligence to figure out that it happens worse when your ideological brethren are in charge. Otherwise you just come off as another proto-typical brainwashed conservative dupe. >> ^quantumushroom:
Even the St. Petersburg Times, proto-typical liberal rag-in-denial, has noted that His Earness's "Buffett Tax" will only bring in a couple of hundred billion over 10 years, nary a drop in the bucket. Runaway spending is still the problem.
Taxocrats pretend they want to tax "only millionaires" but it's the "common man" the left claims it's defending that will be taking it in the ass from the federal mafia, both in trickle-down higher taxes AND direct higher taxes.
As for The Bignose and Fatso Vaudeville Hour, I've never been offered a job by a poor man.


But we should also give credit to Obama for engorging the US cock that's been giving it to Afghanistan for a couple years now. And Libya got to taste the smegma'ed runoff, too. And it looks like the rape clinics in GITMO are still the frat boy party houses they were under Bush. So that's good.
Looks like Obama and Bush are giving each other high fives over our backs as we all take one in the ass and one in the mouth.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

You know what would give more credence to your nonsense? Give George W. the credit due for simultaneously launching us into two poorly managed and unwinnable wars while drastically lowering taxes, thereby digging a grave for our country's economy for generations to come. If you want to talk about runaway spending, at least have the fucking intelligence to figure out that it happens worse when your ideological brethren are in charge. Otherwise you just come off as another proto-typical brainwashed conservative dupe. >> ^quantumushroom:
Even the St. Petersburg Times, proto-typical liberal rag-in-denial, has noted that His Earness's "Buffett Tax" will only bring in a couple of hundred billion over 10 years, nary a drop in the bucket. Runaway spending is still the problem.
Taxocrats pretend they want to tax "only millionaires" but it's the "common man" the left claims it's defending that will be taking it in the ass from the federal mafia, both in trickle-down higher taxes AND direct higher taxes.
As for The Bignose and Fatso Vaudeville Hour, I've never been offered a job by a poor man.



But we should also give credit to Obama for engorging the US cock that's been giving it to Afghanistan for a couple years now. And Libya got to taste the smegma'ed runoff, too. And it looks like the rape clinics in GITMO are still the frat boy party houses they were under Bush. So that's good.

Looks like Obama and Bush are giving each other high fives over our backs as we all take one in the ass and one in the mouth.

@NetRunner "I'm not talking about making college compulsory, I'm talking about taking monetary cost out of the equation when discussing whether you go or not."

That will just distort the incentives, making people's decisions even less rational, which means more bad decisions on which degrees to get.

Seeing how the problem of college loans is make-believe, there really doesn't seem to be any reason to encourage lazy, talentless kids to spend 4 years going to frat keggers instead of starting their real life immediately.