Roach

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• Commented on Stormtrooper ballerina
  From the site, this disturbing picture: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AGXlKNxtdl8/SvDFDzubvfI/AAAAAAAAAu4/dwa8c5ctzhg/s1600-h/16437_1182579778748_1655832483_451072_2023182_n.jpg Whoa....
• Commented on War Pigs
  Sabbath rules. So Xeni, does this mean you're going to change your middle username to "Walker"?...
• Commented on Dead Fish and Gluttony: Why Too Much of a Good Thing is Threatening the Gulf Ecosystem
  There is something funny about someone named Rabalais doing a bit on fish gluttony....
• Commented on Neutrality takes no side but that of convenience
  Odd that no one's touched this line from the OP: "The measure is a cipher for a deeper weakness: the assumed inability of Swiss culture to withstand the influence of another." They're very likely right to assume that inability....
• Commented on Dr. John's weird New Orleans psych music
  Great video! I've listened to some of his music but I'd never seen him before. Very interesting....
• Commented on Animated video for Flairs' "Trucker's Delight" (NSFW)
  Best comment on YouTube? "I am twelve and this is awesome"...
• Commented on Holy water dispensers to combat swine flu
  didymos, don't spread falsehoods. This is a Catholic Church, and the blessing you cite (from wikipedia) is from the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Catholic blessing (from your same source) is as follows: 'RITE OF BLESSING Father, You give us grace...
• Commented on Vatican conference on ETs
  Two good sci-fi novels on Catholicism and alien life are The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and Eifelheim by Michael Flynn. The Vatican's never had an issue with ETs (even in the Middle Ages there was a belief in earthly...
• Commented on Sapolsky's outstanding Stanford lecture on "The Uniqueness of Humans"
  If I may pull a Takuan: http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/chesterton/everlasting/part1c1.htm...
• Commented on Freemasonry, Dan Brown, and the New New Age
  I like your conclusion. Contemporary Freemasonry seems so vestigial - all the Masons I've met can't compare, certainly, to Ben Franklin, but more to the point Freemasonry itself is like a lazy soldier during an extended peacetime. It's devolved into...
• Commented on Venezuela bans violent video games: a first-person guest essay
  Guido - I should be clear that I have no problem with valid criticism of other nations. And clearly the irony in the bit on Finland etc. was lost on me - your later comment made it clear. That the...
• Commented on Venezuela bans violent video games: a first-person guest essay
  I love this line: "The only thing more puzzling to me than liberals being eager of supporting this, is that social conservatives hate him despite his strong family values, opposition against vice and low taxes for the rich." It shouldn't...
• Commented on Bad Science Begets Ridiculous Results
  Deals with the devil are symbolic (or Protestant anti-Catholic agitprop from the Reformation era). They are very weak as actual theology. The amount of cheating at all levels of education is expanding massively, however, and many institutions are attacking it...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  I don't think you understand how insurance works yourself, IEK. Risk is not aggregated to maximize profit; it is so that rare, costly emergencies can be paid for out of the pool which is bigger than any one person would...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  Airpillo - Thanks for the reply. I know that the public option is generally regarded as competition. I don't think it is, however, and it's certainly not fair competition (not that we have that now). The reason is that the...
• Commented on Father kidnaps daughter's killer
  Unbelievably awesome parenting. There is the law, and there is justice, and sometimes the two do not overlap....
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  "Single payer has lower administration costs, and lower costs pretty much all 'round." Do you have a source that takes into account differing standards of care? I've heard this both ways. The other issue is that single payer might be...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  Modus - "You say that as though there's no rationing now. " No, I don't. I don't say it as anything of the kind, and I think conservatives ignore that that is rationing - although it is a very different...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  Two problems I can see so far with his statements: 1. There will be no bankruptcies because there will be none allowed, not because there will be no cases anymore where such would have occurred. Universal healthcare only works if...
• Commented on How To Eat a Horse
  Cook one for a bishop; maybe he'll make you a monsignor....
• Commented on The Magicians: a fantasy novel of wonder without sentimentality
  Cory - is there a bit missing after 'Austin "'? Haven't read the book, but Grossman was also recently in the book world news for his divisive essay "Good Novels Don't Have to Be Hard Work" - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574377163804387216.html...
• Commented on Investment banks borrow money from gov't at 0%, lend it back to them at 3%
  While I certainly don't like everything going on on Wall Street, this explanation seems very fishy. Especially this part: "For someone to make money trading, there has to be someone on the other side of every trade who is losing...
• Commented on Why Your Idea to Save Journalism Won't Work (a checklist)
  Not bad, although calling it "a fundamentally broken business model" may be begging the question a little bit....
• Commented on Rich Fulcher gives Hollywood the finger.
  Wait, does the humor come from a grown man and self-styled comedian, which is a creative profession, being unable to think of anything better to do than something only 13-year-olds find amusing and daring? Or is it that it contains...
• Commented on OUTRAGE: documentary outs anti-gay politicians who are secretly gay
  @24 - "Try this, something people say is wrong but do themselves, really isn't wrong. See also, drug consumption, masturbation, sex (of any kind) etc." See also torture, declaring unjust wars, ripping off investors, etc. Every bad thing is attractive,...
• Commented on Mad Men on Sesame Street
  So you want to lie to everyone you know, ignore your children, and cheat on your wife repeatedly?...
• Commented on Trailer for movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road
  In a lot of ways, I found it less bleak than any of the Border Trilogy. At the very least, it supports the barest sliver of moral absolutes - don't eat people - even in a world that may be...
• Commented on Downward Facing Dollar
  Johnny Cat - unless you're being deliberately obtuse, I think the joke Antinous was making derives from the Yoga position Adho Mukha Svanasana, or "Downward Facing Dog," relating it to the title of the post. I may just be that...
• Commented on Comics in the Classroom
  One has to be careful, however, that comic books serve as a link or a partner with other forms of writing (and usually the more difficult ones to comprehend) like novels or poetry. Certainly, comic books can be just as...
• Commented on Perfect Daily Mail headline
  @Talia - This seems to be a contradiction: "It's all those single parent households that are the problem. Not the fact that with the mother working, there is no one at home at all..." Isn't the reason no one is...