Friday morning links

I have question for the blog owner.

I currently run wordpress and I am seriously thinking about dumping it and switching to this blogging software.

Can someone, hopefully the blog owner, give me some advice on how they like the software? is it worth the switch from Wordpress?

Just wondering, Thanks.

-Patrick

#1 Patrick in Michigan (Link) on 2012-12-28 06:25 (Reply)

It's a well-known fact that conservatives don't get irony.

QUOTE:

Kuhner: Jamie Foxx and the rise of black bigotry

While an argument can be made that some black comedians reinforce negative stereotypes, and push the limits of acceptability, when the argument begins with this,

QUOTE:

Kuhner: The actor recently hosted “Saturday Night Live,” delivering a rant that was supposed to be funny. It wasn’t. In fact, had a white person delivered the same monologue but simply exchanged the word “white” for “black,” his career would be over.

.. it displays blindness, not insight. Take a look at this classic Eddie Murphy skit. See if it would work, in any sense, by reversing the roles.
http://vimeo.com/29861855

#2 Zachriel on 2012-12-28 09:26 (Reply)

I especially like the part where he gets an 'no doc' loan at the bank because he's white. Why, it reminds me of how the CRA worked to help create the housing crisis. The only thing about that is that those loans weren't reserved for white people. They were for ANYBODY regardless of their ability to pay - but especially minorities since they had been "red lined' out of a decent mortgage in the past. In fact, I recently read that Obama had sued banks along those same lines before he started his career as a politician.

As for Jamie Foxx's comments about his new movie, personally, I don't think exchanging white for black applies. From what I understand the whites he was talking about, were slave holders. However, his comments were not directed toward slave holders but white people. Big difference. He, and I assume the movie (I am not likely to even take the opportunity to see it for free), also fail to note that for the most part, it was other blacks in Africa who sold the slaves to white slave traders - something that is usually lost in the discussion.

Foxx has already said that race is everything to him which makes him sound an awful like Rob Parker. So much for the content of one's character.

#2.1 mudbug on 2012-12-28 12:32 (Reply)

Irony has a different meaning. That would be a small problem in many comments, but in yours it is key. Your point is to disparage the social intelligence of an entire political group of fellow citizens, as if it is significant in understanding modern culture. In such a situation, precision is essential.

Out-group and in-group humor, top-dog and underdog humor are indeed different and cannot expected to be otherwise. The difference may make the humor. However, just because one group finds it funny and another does not does not mean the former is socially superior and "gets it" in both senses of that phrase. The assumption that you have here, that because the superior folks find it funny it proves they are superior, shows a rather stunning inability to observe oneself and ask even the most elementary of questions.

It is just possible that Foxx is indeed displaying bigotry, and the fact that some find that funny is analogous to the uproarious humor the Nazis found in Jewish stereotypes.

I mean, they were smart people, the most cultured and educated on the planet, and they all agreed such things were funny. How do you propose to discern between the two? Just so you know, I see the main difference as ascendancy of fashion. The old in-group, top dogs of America are being kicked out since around 1970, and the ascending group is reveling in its power. They think it is underdog humor, but it is just New Nazis, flush with their own success in 1935.

#2.2 Assistant VIllage Idiot (Link) on 2012-12-29 22:49 (Reply)

"It's a well-known fact that conservatives don't get irony."

Assistant VIllage Idiot: Irony has a different meaning.

Case in point.

#2.2.1 Zachriel on 2012-12-30 07:57 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Mark J. Perry: The top 1% of US taxpayers pay almost as much in federal income taxes as the entire bottom 95%, and half of that bottom group paid no taxes at all in 2010

From Carpe Diem

Cpranger: So, there is something to this kind of post being disingenuous:
“The total effective tax rate for the richest one percent (30.0) is only about five percentage points higher than the total effective tax rate for the middle fifth of taxpayers (25.1). All Americans pay taxes. Everyone who works pays federal payroll taxes. Everyone who drives pays federal and state gas taxes. State sales taxes affect everyone who shops, and state and local property taxes affect everyone who owns or rents a home (the tax is passed on to renters in the form of higher rents). Most states also have income taxes, most of which are not particularly progressive.

"Many conservative lawmakers and pundits focus only on those federal taxes that affect the rich more, like the federal personal income tax, estate and gift tax and corporate income tax. But as these figures illustrate, the tax system as a whole, including all the types of taxes that people pay, is just barely progressive.”
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/taxday2011.pdf

Zachriel: In addition, it’s important to realize that marginal income tax rates were dropped during the Bush Administration as the payroll tax surpluses could cover much of the resulting deficits. This policy was predicated on the promise to repay the trust funds out of future income taxes receipts. Apparently, they said the tax cuts would pay for themselves, or some such.

#3 Zachriel on 2012-12-28 09:50 (Reply)

Robot Ship Will Hunt Silent Subs

So what's the over/under on when all these drones and automatic hunter/killer machines become self-aware and form Skynet?

George Monbiot encounters the underclass

It seemed to me that the Occupy movement closely followed society in that there were the Haves and the have Nots and when the Have Nots wanted what the Haves had, it become somewhat contentious. I strolled through the Occupy thing here in Columbia - there were two distinct groups on the Capitol grounds and it was obvious - the ones with the Starbucks cups and pastries and those who were eating stale Krispy Kreme donuts and Kangaroo convenience store coffee. The Starbuckers had nice tents, name brand sleeping bags, dehydrated foods and the Kangarooers had blue tarps and blankets and not much else.

Funny how that works out huh?

#4 Tom Francis on 2012-12-28 09:58 (Reply)

Funny how that works out huh?

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.."

#4.1 John the River (Link) on 2012-12-28 11:13 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Boy uses Dad's AR-15 to shoot home invader

we liberals protest this outrage. the 15 year old should never have defended himself and his 12 year old sister with a violent assault rifle. we liberals believe the only safe course would have been to allow the home invaders to rape and burglarize, then, if possible, call the police to take a complaint.

when will this slaughter of presumptively innocent perps end?

#5 wirraway on 2012-12-28 12:11 (Reply)

Re: Invisible Animals

That snipe was amazingly difficult. Try spotting them before scrolling far enough to learn what you're looking for!

#6 Gwynne on 2012-12-28 12:11 (Reply)

Zachriel, you were misinformed.

#7 Sam L. on 2012-12-28 15:03 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Activist re-launches anti-toy gun campaign

The group will offer a personalized, frameable certificate to children and families that send the alliance a letter explaining “Why I will not buy toy guns for my children” or for children, “Why I do not like to play with toy guns.

”

QUOTE:

Why I do not like to play with toy guns.
by Amanda, age 11

I do not like to play with toy guns because they're dangerous. We were hunting Cape Buffalo in heavy brush when one of the beasts charged without warning. The only liberal in the hunting party was carrying a toy gun. Even though he got off several shots, the clicky noise and the sparks did nothing and he was carried off screaming. Later we found his remains, sodomized by buffalo horns.

I want my certificate. Now.

#8 wirraway on 2012-12-28 17:19 (Reply)

Knives:
Even in the UK this proposal from several years ago went nowhere.

The docs, of course, indirectly exempted their scalpels by saying they wanted to ban "long" knives (tableware steak-knife length or longer) not "short" ones (their scalpels, some chef's specialised boning knives?) without defining either "long" or "short." I know in many places, including where I live, buying a set of steak-knives at the supermarket makes you a felon since the blades exceed three inches...

And as I've pointed out before, knives have been banned for civilian use before: notably, the ones used to kill Julius Caesar were illegal to carry in the streets of the City of Rome.

#9 John A on 2012-12-28 23:57 (Reply)

animal camo pictures FaNtAsTiC! Except the vcayman and thwe adder are kinda cheating --they're covereed up underneath opaqeue --stuff you can't see thru --and would be thus hard to spot even if they were day-glo hot pink.

the rest is all legit tho, and wondrous!

#10 buddy larsen on 2012-12-29 06:07 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, December 28. 2012

Friday morning links