Miscellaneous Links for the Miscellaneously Inclined: 2011 Edition!!!

[Grefter]

There isn't a great deal to think about.  Someone made a choice.  There is plenty of armchair analysis you could bandy about, but I think that is disrespectful to all the people involved.

[Sierra]

http://flavorwire.com/188138/the-30-harshest-author-on-author-insults-in-history

I think Faulkner hasn't really got the hang of this.

[Nephrite]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/magazine/my-ex-gay-friend.html?_r=1
Fascinating artile about a gay man who went straight.

Hey look at that, someone who things being gay is all sorts of awful things and that he got converted because he was "weak." Super.

[metroid composite]

There isn't a great deal to think about.  Someone made a choice.  There is plenty of armchair analysis you could bandy about, but I think that is disrespectful to all the people involved.

Yeah, this is obviously a very unusual person, but not someone you could make generalizations about.  It's just an interesting individual to read about.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

But if I can't use the example of a single person to make broad, sweeping statements about all people everywhere, how will I find the time to get to know people one by one?

[Captain K.]

I learned today that all gays are Fundamentalist Christians.  Good to know.

[Shale]

And all fundamentalist christians are gay.

[Cmdr_King]

I think you have that in reverse.  All fundamentalists christians are secretly gay.  Just look at republican sex scandals!

Edit: dammit!

[Shale]

The good news: Matt Smith playing Batman.
The bad news: It wasn't videotaped. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Hunter Sopko]

http://flavorwire.com/188138/the-30-harshest-author-on-author-insults-in-history

I think Faulkner hasn't really got the hang of this.

Mark Twain's #4 was the best one. Hands-down. The Faulkner/Hemingway duo were amusing too.

[metroid composite]

http://www.queerty.com/ancient-coins-prove-that-rome-was-once-the-chucky-cheese-of-prostitution-20110621/
(NSFW) Ancient Roman prostitution coins (mildly pornographic...or rather: as pornographic as a 2000 year old faded coin can get).

http://io9.com/5813493/the-first-cancer-vaccine-that-works
Interesing cancer cure.  They make a virus that has the DNA of the tumor, and then train the immune system to attack the cancer cells.  The theory is that this could be used to attack almost any type of cancer, they don't need to target the tumor (unlike radiation therapy).

[Anthony Edward Stark]

http://www.queerty.com/ancient-coins-prove-that-rome-was-once-the-chucky-cheese-of-prostitution-20110621/
(NSFW) Ancient Roman prostitution coins (mildly pornographic...or rather: as pornographic as a 2000 year old faded coin can get).

Hey, I wrote a paper on those last year.

[Captain K.]

I think you have that in reverse.  All fundamentalists christians are secretly gay.  Just look at republican sex scandals!

Edit: dammit!

But wait, the Democrats just had a sex scandal too!  Therefore:

Republicans=Democrats=Fundamentalist Christians=Gays
1=1

So everyone is gay, except perhaps Ross Perot.  More research needed.

Fabulous!

[Shale]

But Weiner texted pictures of his dick to women!

Republicans = gay
Democrats = morons

Case closed.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

If sending pictures of my wang to women is dumb, I don't want to be the least bit intelligent...

...Just like a Fundamentalist Christian! Holy shit.

[Yoshiken]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/magazine/my-ex-gay-friend.html?_r=1
Fascinating artile about a gay man who went straight.

That is fascinating, but I'm not sure exactly what to think about it.

This. Part of me is utterly horrified to see the really extremist views coming from someone who was once at the heart of the movement, but another part is just amazed to see this reaction.
That said, a few things stood out to me. One major thing was in the poetry he wrote in the past, it says he'd rather be referred to as queer over gay, as gay is apparently designed to segment and persecute. Seems kind of odd to me, given the original meaning of the word queer. ;s

On the whole, though, it's a fascinating read, for all that it's somewhat odd.

[Grefter]

It isn't a particularly shocking trend for someone with a background in Queer theory to seek an alternate label to one that at the time was fairly aggressively used to persecute and negatively identify an individual.

If you are interested in that branch of Sociology then I highly reccomend you check it out for yourself.  The article name drops some of the more prominent theorists.

[SnowFire]

http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/
(or to cut straight to the relevant part)
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137386121/bill-clinton-plays-not-my-job

In 2005, President Clinton founded the Clinton Global Initiative to address "the world's most pressing challenges." Next week in Chicago, Clinton is hosting the CGI America meeting, with a focus on job creation and economic growth in the U.S.

And because there's no possible segue from such important work to a show as silly as ours, we'll just come right out and say it: We decided to quiz the former president and Rhodes scholar about the My Little Pony show. The famously well-informed leader answers three questions about Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Bah, those Pony questions were too easy. Even if you'd never seen the show, you could easily answer them.

[metroid composite]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-things-gay-people-are-going-to-hate-about-gay-marriage/?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=News&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module
Cracked article in response to legalizing gay marriage.

http://kotaku.com/5815052/team-fortress-2-is-now-free-free-forever
TF2 is now free-to-play

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35460/US_Supreme_Court_Decision_Justice_Scalias_Opinion.php
Supreme Court strikes down California game censorship law.

http://poorlydressed.failblog.org/2011/06/24/fashion-fail-like-some-lox-with-that-bagelhead/
Japan.

EDIT:

Bah, those Pony questions were too easy. Even if you'd never seen the show, you could easily answer them.

The second question was at least a little ambiguous.  It could have been "B: a title, such as Fluttershy the Inventive."

[superaielman]

Breyer and Thomas being the only dissenting votes is just goddamn weird.

[Cotigo]

http://consumerist.com/2011/06/new-services-adds-your-drunken-facebook-photos-to-employer-background-checks-for-up-to-seven-years.html

I don't like this one bit.  Title says it all.

[Shale]

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/06/capcom-tries-to.php

Capcom is trying out a new form of anti-used-sales assholery by making it so once you create a save file in Resident Evil Mercenaries, you can no longer start a new game from scratch. Ever.

[metroid composite]

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/06/capcom-tries-to.php

Capcom is trying out a new form of anti-used-sales assholery by making it so once you create a save file in Resident Evil Mercenaries, you can no longer start a new game from scratch. Ever.

As someone who is really into replay value, this makes me pretty upset.

Well...ok, no, it depends a little on the game.  Like, this would be atrocious in a Touhou game.  But there's also games that I play once, enjoy, and never have any real inclination to return to.  Kinda like the difference between a movie I'd rent and a movie I'd buy.  I would, however, expect that the price in a "rental" situation would be lower.  Like, the price of that game had better be half that of a full-price DS game (so...$15?  Yeah, I'd be okay with it if it was $15).

[Lord Ephraim]

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/06/capcom-tries-to.php

Capcom is trying out a new form of anti-used-sales assholery by making it so once you create a save file in Resident Evil Mercenaries, you can no longer start a new game from scratch. Ever.

One thing that would bother me the most (okay a lot of things bother me with this idea) is what would happen if the save file got corrupt? Usually with most cartridge based games you just hit new game and make a new save over the corrupt one.  There better be a fucking warning that displays when you save "DON'T TURN OFF THE POWER WHILE SAVING OR THE GAME WILL BREAK!"