User talk:Phiwum

What is going on? World Blogs Clogs Elections The Bar (talk) (talk) (talk) (talk) (hic) Welcome to RationalWiki, Phiwum! Check out our guide for newcomers and our community standards! Tell us how you found RationalWiki here! If you are interested in contributing: Read what our articles are intended to be Check out the to-do list See our help page and Wikipedia's formatting cheatsheet If writing a new article, consider writing up a draft And most importantly: Pull up a goat and have some fun!

Welcome to the rabbit hole! Blue (is useful) 20:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

Sysop

I am going to stick an oily sysop guide in your ear. Ace ^{of Spades} 02:15, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Boy, you people got low standards. Phiwum (talk) 04:31, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

>.>

Didnt mean to undo you edit, sorry--Mikalosa (talk) 19:36, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Okay, good to hear. I was pretty pissed when I saw that you had done that, but accidents happen. Phiwum (talk) 19:37, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Shopping for a boat?

Shopping for a boat? That covers a multitude of sins from a small rowboat to a canal barge to luxury yacht to an oil tanker - just being nosey but as the one-time owner of a 7m yacht I'm interested at where in this spectrum you're looking. Bad Faith (talk) 14:43, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm looking for a small coastal cruiser sailboat (though I'm almost exclusively a day-sailor, a little cabin is nice). Phiwum (talk) 01:51, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

actually i have seen it

its rare but it does show up sometimes, alongside the opening religious dialogue with "well my religion is true, your wrong and your going to hell" route. --il'Dictator Mikal 16:11, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Is yinz a local?

Pens fan, hmm? I make about 5 games a year. Aboriginal Noise ^{Oh, you want to hit people with garbage cans?} 18:57, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

I lived in Pittsburgh for about eight years while attending grad school (CMU). I started watching hockey while there (the Lemieux/Jagr/Francis years, after their second cup). I live in the Boston area now, but the Pens are still my team. Phiwum (talk) 20:23, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Were you there for the Superbowl riots? I became a Steelers fan during my time in the 'Burgh, not because I care about football, just because I wanted some riots. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 20:32, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Er, I don't know anything about those. I just googled them and I guess they were in 2006 or so? I was living in the Netherlands from 2001 to summer 2006, blissfully missing the Penguins really, really sucky years. Which I assume were caused by my absence. Sorry, guys! Phiwum (talk) 20:38, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Pardon my buttinski, just saw this on RC. Grandson has dodged a bullet; after his dad finished up at U Pitt they moved closer to Lake Erie, so he will gradually lose the yinzer diphthongs, as he develops a perfectly neutral US English accent. I still have ex-inlaws in Mt. Lebanon, but I don't like to talk about it. Er, I should not have told you that... Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 20:48, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, '06 and '09. Imagine a bunch of drunken Steelers fans all rushing out of the bars simultaneously and trashing the entire city. But the real fun begins when they bring out the horsies. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 20:53, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

A horse who has been trained to quarter, or step on the diagonal, is actually pretty good at pushing pedestrians around. Or so I was told by an old horse artilleryman; a smart horse makes a worthy partner in some situations. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 20:58, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Well, I am certainly no Yinzer. Much as I love Pgh --- and it truly is the best damned city I've ever lived --- when I got there I purposely played up my 'til then non-existent Okie accent. I even worked to teach it to foreigners. I got a German colleague to understand most of the difference between the one- and two-syllable versions of "shit", as well as how to nest modalities ("You might oughta duck.") But I digress.

Lived in Shadyside, Bloomfield and Point Breeze. Bloomfield was the best. I loved that town. Phiwum (talk) 21:06, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

By odd coincidence, Point Breeze is a rambling rustic restaurant on the shores of Chargoggagogg-manchauggagogg-chaubunagungamaugg, also known as Webster Lake. In a previous century, SWMBO played a few gigs there. Pgh is a nice enough town; I could stand to live there, if I hadn't planted my roots here in the hinterlands outside of 495. My kids somehow missed picking up the Mass accent, though. I don't remember much about my brief stays in OK, around Lawton. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 21:31, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry that I don't recognize the abbreviation SWMBO, but if you're a musician, then surely you ought to respect Lawton, OK as the birthplace of Leon Freakin' Russell. I love that man. Phiwum (talk) 22:49, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Bloomfield is a fun place. I particularly like the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern and Howler's Coyote Cafe. I'm from a bit east of Pittsburgh proper, but I am a grad of Pitt. Aboriginal Noise ^{Oh, you want to hit people with garbage cans?} 23:09, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

SWMBO stands for She Who Must Be Obeyed. Legend has it that some mad dogs or Englishmen encountered such a person once upon a time in Africa. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 23:15, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Maybe the Coyote Cafe is after my time, but I loved the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, Paul's CDs (recently sold, I understand), Nico's Recovery Room, Lou's Li'l Corner Bar, D'Amico's, Alexander's Pasta Express, Groceria Italiana, that other Italian grocer, whose name eludes me at present, and on and on and on. Oh, and that steak place, too. Bloomfield rocks. Phiwum (talk) 00:03, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Howlers was the site of my first time on stage with my old band. It holds a special place in my heart. we also played BBT a couple of times. I have no idea what Howler's may have been called beforehand. The other grocer was Donatelli's? Aboriginal Noise ^{Oh, you want to hit people with garbage cans?} 00:36, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, of course! Donatelli's! Thanks. (I've looked at photos of Howler's as well as its location, but I can't place it.) Phiwum (talk) 01:46, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

GOP demographics

Since you admit to being as stupid as Andy Schlafly, perhaps Norm Brownstein of National Journal can explain it; if you wanna remain ignorant, maybe former Clinton adviser Dick Morris can reiterate what he's been saying for 10 or 15 years now. Thanks, and God bless. nobs^{Corporations are people, too} 17:25, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

With due respect, I'd just as soon not chase this article or that in order to make sense of your own comments. I mean no offense, but I don't think the expected payoff is worth the expense. Why not simply explain what you meant in a few (or several, if necessary) sentences? Surely the two or three sentences I responded to don't require that I read two magazine articles and piece it together for my damned self? Who the heck are you, Nietzsche? Phiwum (talk) 17:35, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Ok, GOP needs 60% of the white vote (according to Brownstein) because of an aging population and decling birthrate. Whereas Obama & the Democrats need 80% of minority (black, Hispanic, etc). Long term trend goes against GOP (which you & Andy don't seem to understand). Hence, as Brownstein, Morris and others (notably Pat Buchanan and former Surgeon General Jocylyn Elders) have been saying for 20 years, the GOP must embrace minorities (meaning more tolerance toward immigration, gay rights, etc.) or face demise. Brownstein says 2012 is likely the last time black-white racial polarization will play in presidential politics. And I've been saying for more than a year now, the Christian Right's influence in the GOP, dominant since 1978, has been marginalized with the nomination of a Morman. It's the first step in building a "big tent", more moderate, less conservative, more mainstream GOP with the nomination of a cp:Massachusetts liberal or RINO. nobs^{Corporations are people, too} 17:46, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

There is a difference between failing to understand a fact (like, the GOP will need minority votes more in the future) and failing to understand your remarkably silly attempts to hint at that fact. Anyway, we'll see how the nomination of a "Morman" affects the Christian Right's influence. There's no doubt that this formerly centrist Republican is pretending to be a "severe" conservative, so the influence seems pretty apparent to me.

But no matter. I don't pretend to be an armchair political handicapper. I only wanted to point out that you have a horribly opaque writing style that presupposes your audience already knows exactly what the fuck you're writing about. This seems to rarely be the case, at least for me. Just express yourself clearly and you'll come off as less of an oddball. Phiwum (talk) 19:07, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Good criticism. It recalls Amadeus.

SALIERI: Do you know you didn't even give them a good bang at the end of songs so they knew when to clap?

MOZART: I know, I know. Perhaps you should give me some lessons in that.

SALIERI: I wouldn't presume. nobs^{Corporations are people, too} 23:07, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

"Censorship." lol. JubalHarshaw (talk) 21:15, 28 September 2012 (UTC)