Commenter Archive

Comments by Mike Schilling

On “Conservative Kaelism

Most people don't realize that birtherism is actually more common among Democrats.

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"States rights" has meant opposition to civil rights laws for 60 years now. Opposition to federal overreach that swallowed the Patriot Act but balks at PPACA and a return to the previous marginal tax rates is difficult to sympathize with. And the Alaskan Independence movement is pure oil-money FYIGM.

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That the Southern wing of the Republican Party doesn't fetishize the Confederacy, or that that isn't the bulk of support for secession? Both seem correct to me.

On “The League Of Ordinary Gentlemen In 2012

We value our commenters and always welcome their feedback. Now, how may I provide excellent blogging for you today?

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The captain was an older guy, but there were no sexy young things trying to jump his bones. I bet he was POed that they kept rejecting his transfer to a Late Heinlein book.

On “I’m No Mathematician, But…

"They taste like ... ladyfingers!"

On “Conservative Kaelism

That's a ridiculous thing to say. I don't know why I even try to talk to people like you.

On “I’m No Mathematician, But…

Are you forgetting Hannibal Lecter?

On “Conservative Kaelism

Just to be pedantic, here's what Kael actually said:

I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them

That is, she knew that her own circumstances (living in New York, and being surrounded byDemocrats) was unusual. The idiots who attacked Nate Silver lacked that insight.

On “I’m No Mathematician, But…

At 20, according to the Derb. Musberger was only panting after that 23-year-old bag Katherine Webb because his glasses were dirty.

On “Guns & Human Nature

Widespread citizen ownership of guns has historically been the foundation for thug castes: e.g. the KKK and the anti-abortion terrorist movement.

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A bit more than seven years older than Grant, according to IMDB.

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I always root for the werewolves. (Carrot is a lucky man.)

On “The Dream of Azawad.

There are a few useful mnemonics:

It's clear on a map because Zaire was the bigger one.

If they're identified by capitals, the former Zaire's kept the African name Kinshasa, rather than renaming it back to Leopoldville (for obvious and excellent reasons), which the other one has always been Brazzaville.

The former Zaire was the bloody, corrupt dictatorship, so it is of course the Democratic Republic of the Congo while the other is simply the Republic.

On “I’m No Mathematician, But…

Yeah. Now, Jackson and Van Buren, Werewolf Hunters I could see.

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The classic example, I think, is The Manchurian Candidate: Angela Lansbury played Laurence Harvey's mother, though she's only three years older (when the film was made, they were 37 and 34).

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No one ever signed Clayton for offense.

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I'm kind of one, and I was puzzled by Moneyball. It's set in 2002, when Miguel Tejada was 28. He was played by a 41-year-old Royce Clayton.

On “The League Of Ordinary Gentlemen In 2012

Yields a falsehood when appended to its own quotation.

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My favorite example of that is Heinlein's Starman Jones, which is one of his top juvenile novels. The FTL technology it portrays requires people to do the flight calculations and then translate the results from decimal into binary (all by hand), because the computers on board interstellar spaceships couldn't handle any of that.

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When I was at Berkeley, Qunie visited and gave a talk on the reification of universals. I don't recall what he said very clearly, but I do recall how thrilled all the philosophy faculty was to have him,

On “What Would Liberals Do?

Not flexible enough:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Being an enemy combatant, though, leaves much room for interpretation.

On “The Most Amazing Marriage Proposal Ever

My proposal to the wife was much more tame

Other than tying her to the railroad tracks.

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