^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.

No I was not aware they were capable of breaking unemployment rates down by race. I looked up how they actually determine unemployment rates. It is by a finding a pool of people they feel represent demographics the census shows them and calling them to ask if they are working or not.....basically. Then they use that to state the overall unemployment rates. I read that they don't use the number of people drawing unemployment benefits, I mention this because I suspected the unemployment fluctuations were because lots of people were being dropped from the counting when they exhausted their benefits. However I now believe that the way they sample could account for a pretty big fluctuation considering they might get a sampling that isn't true to reality.... I couldn't determine any other kind of metric they employ that even sounds remotely like they verify anything they claim as fact.

My experiences with their department is that they just routinely gave me wrong information or sent me documents in error. Causing me to have to contact them to find out what was going on....and having to call them 2-3 times to actually get in contact with someone who would take the time to answer my questions. And then those answers were 50/50 on their accuracy as well. It's one thing to be overburdened, it's another to create more work and hassle for yourself and everyone else involved.....it may have been a stalling tactic but it ain't fun to be denied by letter, then told on the phone you were eligible....filling out your weekly form to find out you were actually denied. Spending the week getting that straightened out, waiting a week because they say it'll take a week. Then find out your denied again.....spending another week straightening it out and a month has gone by before you get forward progress.

Didn't go to a college that had frat houses that I was aware of, and I commuted so I didn't spend a lot of time on campus as it more of a commuter heavy college. They certainly didn't have anything greek "official" within sight of campus. Didn't care if I was in a frat, club, or group. I'm just saying it was announced on the college radio that these clubs were around for these folks....not based on interests such as chess or even a greek/frat system.

And I don't really care what races Im around as long as they are on an even footing with me and have the common courtesy to take showers, wear deodorant, and try to control their breath or at least not get up in my face with stank mouth. Oh and if they must speak a foreign language at least try to include others in the conversation if we're working on a group project or having a group conversation. I've been trying to pick up other languages, but man...native speakers when they get going I can't tell what the hell they are saying.

And....what is "white culture" if everyone is included? Like.....country clubs? I figured they were more "rich culture".

>> ^longde:

@<Porksandwich I can sympathize; but did you know that the black unemployment rate is twice that of whites? I think the demographics of this shitty government agency reflect the fact that, before the downturn, whites who have better options in the workforce chose not to take those jobs. And during the downturn, the public agency you saw just happened to be one which didn't have much turnover. I bet they laid people off though, and the inefficiency you witnessed is due to individual employees doing jobs meant for 2 or 3 people. As far as college groups, there are indeed white groups that exclude others. Just take a walk down frat row for instance, where you may see the occasional token in some of the houses. The asian/black/latino groups you saw cannot exclude white people, and in my college experience, some white people did join those groups to get exposure to other cultures. But most whites didn't; they either ignored or complained about the groups.
Also, it seemed like every year, there were whites who started a Whites Club----but these organizations never lasted, because what's the point? The damn campus is majority white, and everything is tailored towards white people and white culture. And, as I said above, if you really want to be around whites only, there are plenty of options on campus to do so, not limited to frats. This truth, incidently, extends to greater society.

>> ^EDD:
House connecting with a bunch of college kids all of a sudden is retarded.


er... frat House?

College is all about encountering people with relatively strange and new beliefs and ideas. The bible lady wasn't harassing anyone as far as I can see. But the kid has his finger in her face; I don't like that. Let him do that to someone his own size and sex, and see what happens.>> ^raverman:
Lol, Agreed! It is totally inappropriate to preach unreasoned ideas demanding they be accepted and using threats and misdirection about a mythical place of punishment or reward to avoid actually debating any provable facts.>> ^longde:
Fail. What revolting behavior. College is supposed to be about reasoned debate of ideas, not purile screaming and antics (at least outside the frat house).
Screaming and using misdirection at someone you disagree with. This is a future Fox News Host.

I take it you never actually went to college then

>> ^longde:

Fail. What revolting behavior. College is supposed to be about reasoned debate of ideas, not purile screaming and antics (at least outside the frat house).
Screaming and using misdirection at someone you disagree with. This is a future Fox News Host.

Lol, Agreed! It is totally inappropriate to preach unreasoned ideas demanding they be accepted and using threats and misdirection about a mythical place of punishment or reward to avoid actually debating any provable facts.>> ^longde:

Fail. What revolting behavior. College is supposed to be about reasoned debate of ideas, not purile screaming and antics (at least outside the frat house).
Screaming and using misdirection at someone you disagree with. This is a future Fox News Host.

Fail. What revolting behavior. College is supposed to be about reasoned debate of ideas, not purile screaming and antics (at least outside the frat house).

Screaming and using misdirection at someone you disagree with. This is a future Fox News Host.

<pointing at them from the roof of a frat house, shaking with rage>
NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!


But seriously, wtg nerds. Cool stuff.

Yeah, frat brothers in the run-down frat house at the end of Fraternity Row, you know, the place that has the worst-smelling carpet from all the vomit, beer, piss and the occasional shit.

This video is a historical document, and rocketing up to the top 15. Go.

Thank you America, for also validating Mad TV's earlier prediction. http://www.videosift.com/video/Mad-TV-So-You-Think-You-Can-Dance-Obama-vs-McCain

Victory.

At 4:35 - where was that? Somebody's frat house? Regardless, yay America today!

quantum asshole, i (ass)ume you are making a joke. that is what real republicans really stand for. you seem to be able to read and write unlike me and my liberal brothers who went to trade school and pay more taxes than you and your republican college prep butthole brothers. oh yeah, everyone really know what went on in those frat houses. we are too proper to mention it.

Constitutional_Patriot : This video has been posted before on this website before it vanished off Youtube, most people actually know about this already. Even then, the American people don't really seem to care about Skull & Bones because it's always been explained away as some kind of frat house in Yale by the media, and paid attention to as much as the collusion between big oil, Enron, KBR, Haliburton with the administration which is a far bigger issue in my view.

Rotty : You are nothing but a militaristic chicken hawk who trolls this website making incendiary comments that have no basis in reality or logic. You are the one that requires serious reprogramming.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Frat house geniuses. Painful to watch for some reason.

Set and setting.

Frat house = verrrrrrrrrrrrrry bad. Probably in the top 10 worst places to trip list