RationalWiki talk:What is going on in the world?/0002

This is an archive page, last updated 25 July 2008. Please do not make edits to this page.

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Archiving

1. Let's archive this talk page, it's really long. Maybe all except this thread, or even this one if it gets acted on.

2. Should we start creating archives for the page itself? The "old" entries need a home, and make editing the page clumsier than necessary. human^{be in} 13:33, 6 September 2007 (CDT)

1. Done.

2. Does anyone care? It would be just as easy to delete them as to archive them. human^{be in} 19:01, 9 September 2007 (CDT)

I say archive them, so that my golden wisdom can be preserved for eternity. :D (Semiseriously, I say keep 'em. We're not short on server space, are we?) --Gulik 20:09, 9 September 2007 (CDT)

I did. human^{be in} 23:45, 9 September 2007 (CDT)

Giving the template another title

Something other than "according to ahem some people" - maybe, "How the Other Half Lives," or "If You Believe This You'll Believe Anything," or something? I tend to use it for like random news. Would another title be appropriate?-αmεσ (!) 20:25, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

I really like the present title. It conveys exactly the sort of bewilderment and astonishment that we want to convey. Gauss 21:07, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

How about "What?" or "WTF!" (nothing wrong with the currnt title actually) SJG^sjg 21:55, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

I'm outvoted.-αmεσ (!) 21:56, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

So let's keep it as it is? human^{be in} 22:06, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

Holocaust in British schools

I remember when the tempest was going around about this earlier in the year (or was it as long ago as last year)? I did a little looking into it, and found that it's nowhere near as sinister as a lot of people think. There's a bit more here from the venerable Beeb. --Kels 08:21, 4 October 2007 (EDT)

Insane article

Don't you think it's either too mad to be true or a troll's instruction manual. It seems to be a bit too explanatory of methods to be used as a defence, more like attack. Susan^{talk to me} 07:35, 15 October 2007 (EDT)

Gay Bowel Syndrome, Americans Against Having Fun, Conservapedia and Ken....

Sweet Jeebus, Ken actually found some people who are a bigger bunch of tools than he is. I cannot wait until he comes here to gloat about it....oh, wait. Yes I can...PFoster 18:37, 16 October 2007 (EDT)

Are you ready for the RAPTURE?

Here's one that's good for lolzes:measuring the rapture. It's beaooootiful! Susan^{talk to me} 05:16, 18 October 2007 (EDT)

plainlinks thing

can those "span" tags go above and below the "live" entries, rather than being "around" each one? Just curious, since if it would work it would be simpler. I guess. human 16:56, 22 October 2007 (EDT)

I tried, I couldn't get it to work...-αmεσ (historian) 16:57, 22 October 2007 (EDT)

Same. Thunderkatz^Ho! 16:59, 22 October 2007 (EDT)

Ah, ok. Yeah, I've seen that before, where wikimedia doesn't like html tags that "cross" bulletted lists (among other things). No biggie, thanks! human 17:00, 22 October 2007 (EDT)

Done.

I just had to replace the individual cases of

*<span class="plainlinks">...</span>

around each item with

<div class="plainlinks">
*...
*...
*...
</div>

around each list. --Imroy 18:32, 5 December 2007 (EST)

A Parting Gift...

http://web.archive.org/web/20010201161100/http://www.global100.com/

Not saying world whatever.thingy isn't full of nutjobs, but (doing the kind of diligent research that RW encourages) I saw that they claimed the "most popular" distinction between 1999-2001. So, a trip to the wayback machine was in order. Excellent research tool, you should keep it bookmarked. Aziraphale 10:55, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

Going in a bit deeper, http://web.archive.org/web/20010330192539/www.global100.com/chart.asp?chart=7 gets to the ranking WND claims. global100.com is "currently available", by the way. So, yes, apparently WND was rated the top website over some period of time by global100's users' votes. Whatever that is worth! Thanks for the tip. human 16:19, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

Yep, I don't know that it's worth anything at all (the other sites on the list are...interesting?... it's clearly not a traffic-based survey) but the statement, on its own, is accurate.

If one of you had a few bucks to spare and nothing to do, buying that domain and putting up a screed against WND would probably reach your target audience. Aziraphale 17:20, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

We should do it! Make it a redirect to RW!-αmεσ (historian) 18:12, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

I'd contribute. ----Иight¤Ṭrain ^{♦Τalk ǃ} 21:42, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

Nice idea, kids, but the asking price is 7500 euros. I don't think we have that much in the kitty, even if we sold pictures of the kitty that were really cute, and then sold the kitty's pelt on fleaBay... human 18:25, 27 October 2007 (EDT)

don't know if this should go here

Old stuff on wikipedia from our gay-hating friend Ed Poor Jrssr5 09:39, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

How would we phrase the draft entry?-αmεσ (historian) 10:07, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

Could refer to something about gays being the source/cause of disease. His thought process makes my head hurt, so I don't know the best way to present it. Jrssr5 10:18, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

How about, [Wikipedia sysop: "gays are disease bags."]-αmεσ (historian) 10:51, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

that works. Jrssr5 11:10, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

Curved Lumber

The link doesn't work for me--says the search has expired. --Gulik 01:03, 14 November 2007 (EST)

i don't know where this should go

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7108676.stm

but i think it's something we should cover. suggestions? airdish 04:01, 23 November 2007 (EST)

Dinosaurs and Chimps and Liberal College Students Oh, My!!!

Methinks I'm not the only one not honouring the imposed "boycott." PFoster 00:05, 4 December 2007 (EST)

But who can blame you? That's hilarious. Andy: "All educated people are liberal". Are we sure he's not a parody? DickTurpis 00:21, 4 December 2007 (EST)

Omaha

I've commented out the Omaha shooting one. It seems in bad taste to use this tragedy to have a dig at our opponents. There's no need to get in the gutter. Totnesmartin 18:43, 5 December 2007 (EST)

Ok, fair enough. --Imroy 18:45, 5 December 2007 (EST)

However, nor does it invalidate the points made in the orginal comment. Genghis ^Marauding 19:37, 5 December 2007 (EST)

But, if we'd waited until they had commented ... - now they won't, having read this. Susan^{purrrrr ...} 19:48, 5 December 2007 (EST)

Length

Looking at our current main page layout, I propose that we let this list grow to 8 or ten entries before moving them out. There's a plenty o' room. human 20:31, 17 December 2007 (EST)

I agree.Sterile^{minichatroomthingy} 12:12, 20 December 2007 (EST)

Y08 Problem

If I'm not around and the "days until the presidential election/inauguration" doesn't count down properly, look at Template talk:Presdays and Template talk:Electdays. Sterile^{minichatroomthingy} 11:57, 20 December 2007 (EST)

Canada

To be fair, the Catholic school boards don't get a hell of a lot of respect. The Conservative candidate lost the last provincial election here in Ontario, largely because he suggested using public funds on the Catholic system, which has been seeing a decline. He was surprised to find that most people in the province really, really didn't like the idea. The GC ban was bad, but they were roundly and publically criticized for it, which is a Good Thing. (also, students can just go to the public library and get it, so no problem) --Kels 11:39, 25 December 2007 (EST)

Homskollar rant

I just took a look at it, and I can't stop giggling at the idea of a screed about so-called "abuse" is written by a guy named "Don Boys". Even better is this line from the text, "Homeschoolers--come out of the closet!" XD --Kels 21:35, 29 December 2007 (EST)

Bombing the Nazi camps

I believe this is actually somewhat legit. I have read (a long time ago; not recently) commentaries suggesting that we should have done so. Many prisoners at that time would presumably have died, but the camps would have been put out of business for the future. I'm not endorsing that view—things are always clearer in hindsight. But, once we knew for sure what was going on (about August 1942), there are those who pushed for bombing. IIRC, the official response was that the best thing we could do to end the holocaust was to use our precious bombing resources to destroy the Nazi regime.

I would suggest that maybe this ought to be taken out. Gauss 18:52, 11 January 2008 (EST)

Am I missing something?

Because I don't see how this implies Bush suggested bombing the camp itself rather than the railroad. NightFlare^{Speak, mortal} 03:38, 12 January 2008 (EST)

If you read it again, you'll see... Bush just said we should have bombed it and his wif... I mean, Sec. of State had to clarify SirChuckB^{Call the FBI} 14:02, 15 January 2008 (EST)

Exorcism

I heard that the nazi pope today promulgated a new text reviving exorcism. If so, this would be front-page material, but I can't find any documents online to corroborate this hearsay, except a times article from 1999. My proposed front page addition doesn't ahve the necessary link, therefore:

"cquote|In 1999, the Catholic Church revived the rite of exorcism, and apparently, the most recent Pope has revived the revival of exorcism."

Can anyone else find the article I'm looking for?-αmεσ (historian) 23:32, 22 January 2008 (EST)

I dunno, but cquote doesn't work like that... and I couldn't fix it for you. Crappy template... human 11:14, 23 January 2008 (EST)

There's something here. It's not correct to talk about a 'revival' of exorcism, though, since it never went away in the first place. Also, Ames loses five street cred points for that Nazi quip. I really expected higher standards. --AKjeldsen^Godspeed! 12:32, 31 January 2008 (EST)

stupid people and guns

Note: a second gun could have saved the man. If one of his (hopefully slightly less intoxicated) friends had been carrying a gun s/he could have shot the gun out of the man's hand before he blew his head off. Any takers? --BillOhannity^godvelocity. 21:21, 29 January 2008 (EST)

I won't bite that (hrm... if two of them had guns then maybe two of them would have won the Darwin award; win-win), but I will say that it's unwise to use "stupid people" as an argument for banning. We might as well ban cars, butter knives, fireworks, alcohol, matches, anything bite-sized, shoe laces, pens, pencils, scissors, vacuums, meat, grills tables not featuring smooth corners, fertility medication... Lurker 21:30, 29 January 2008 (EST)

Ban my floor! I banged my head on it when I got drunk and fell down... Ban all hard surfaces! And, yes, arm all potential gun-shooters-out-of-hands-of-drunk-idiots! Six more guns in that room and there'd have been no tragedy! PS, I don't know many people with guns. Just a guy who offed himself down at the beach and another guy who killed a dishwasher he worked with by "accident". Oh, and an old friend who was into pirahnas, pot, and his gun collection. But he was totally mellow and wouldn't hurt anyone. I blame the pot. human 23:38, 29 January 2008 (EST)

This is old news but

I'm going to use that "show this to your privitizing friends" article to show people how government corrupts. If a business fails in its contracts, or is fraudulent, or breaks the law, it is the governments job to punish them. In this case, not only did the government not punish them, but they actively helped the company by funnelling traffic to the toll road. What's worse, replacing government run agencies with government-supervised private agencies, or a total break down of the rule of law? (I'll give you a hint: only one you can reverse without some sort of armed revolution). Lurker 12:14, 31 January 2008 (EST)

I don't think it is the concept of "gov't" that is corrupting there. It's (some) businesses taking advantage of pols they probably threw campaign cash (and booze and whores and yacht trips...) towards to corrupt the public process. human 22:10, 31 January 2008 (EST)

It's only called "Corruption" by simpering, bitter Liberals who couldn't get on the gravy train. To the True Conservative(tm), it's merely..."Synergy". --RobS 15:59, 4 February 2008 (EST) fnord

Side-by-siding Young Schlafly

I really really really want to do it :-). Would anyone be interested? Honestly, the opinion piece is poorly written drivel, so it shouldn't be hard...-αmεσ (historian) 14:48, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Go for it! By the way, a comment and a question: The Crimson article lists "Andrew J. Schlafly" at the top as the author, but "Andrew L." in the "about the author" thing at the end. It appears that Andrew Layton Schlafly is the head of CP. So Andrew J. is the kid? And the Crimson messed up? Also, how well established is it that CollegeRethuglican is A.S. the younger? Gauss 14:59, 31 January 2008 (EST)

I'd be curious to read it, though I'm not sure what can be said about an opinion piece written around a bunch of stale "Chuck Norris Facts". Its pathetic attempts at humor are pretty sad. Concerning the identity of CollegeRepublican, as far as I know it's complete conjecture. I'd be tempted to think if it were his son, he would have been pressured to do more than 2 edits after all this time. -DickTurpis 15:06, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Side-by-side is a definite... Chuck Norris what? Sterile^xx 15:27, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Well, as it's a Harvard student rag the author is unlikely to be Trashfly senior. But the "Andrew L" thing is odd. I have also had it on good authority that CollegeRepublican is AS Jr. and frankly it would be absurd of it was anyone else. Who else can you trust with sysopship out of the blue if not your own demon spawn? And the reason for the promotion was work outside of CP. Quite honestly I bet Andy's kids are sick to death of CP - "Daddy's always in is office obsessed with his wiki". I presume AJS only made his two edits when he was at home for the Christmas vacation ("Daddy, can you spare me a couple of thou I'm a bit short at the moment?"), once back at Harvard he's chasing pussy, getting stoned and writing the odd article for Daddy's favorite candidate. I also noticed that little PhyllisS got her edit rights pretty quickly despite only editing on six days in the past year. ("Phyllis, go to your room and edit my blog if you want that new ..."). Another kick in the nuts for Iduan et al. If you look at Facebook or one of those other social networking sites you will find his kids with hundreds of friends. They don't spend their free time editing wikis, they're socializing. Genghis ^Marauding 15:49, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Mom has a CP account? She has a page full of glowing praise, of course, but I couldn't find her user account. Is she "BethanyS"? "DanH"? "RobSmith"? (Just kidding.) Gauss 18:34, 31 January 2008 (EST)

No, sadfly enough (nice typo! I leave it), Phyllis is also teh assfly's daughter. human 22:09, 31 January 2008 (EST)

For what it's worth, I think we should leave Junior alone. As of now, he's a Maths student writing for his student paper and nothing more. The CollegeRupertPupkin thing was funny, but he shouldn't be held accountable for Assfly's fuckwittery. Sins of the father n' all that. I like to hope that he'll finish college and simply go and do some useful mathematical research or teaching. --Robledo 19:07, 31 January 2008 (EST)

I say no, sorry, let's do it. The fucktwit published the thing, so we can address it. Now, I do agree that there should be no broad assfly snark thrown in it - just address Jr.'s points as they stand. He supports Huckabee's testicles while he plays bass, after all. Or wishes he did. human 22:09, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Ew. Thanks for the mental image. Lurker 22:54, 31 January 2008 (EST)

Address what? It's a Huckabee puff piece with Chuck Norris gags. You go get those fish in that thar' barrel, tiger. Shoot em' good. --Robledo 22:16, 1 February 2008 (EST)

It may be a barrel, and a fish-like target, but it was written by a Harvard undergrad who is showin' off his "brainz" in print. I call fair game, even if it's as easy as pwning his dad. Let it be immemorial on teh innertubes! human 00:18, 2 February 2008 (EST)