SMBC Comics Forum

That is sensible logic and I follow it entirely!

[quote="Kaharz"]People who seemed like reasonable, entertaining and lacking in dickishness turned out to be horrible to spend more than five minutes around.[/quote]
Well you're in luck because I am unreasonable, boring, and a massive dick online so clearly that means I am wonderful to spend five minutes around!

[quote="Kaharz"]Getting murdered probably would not be so bad compared to spending time with some of the people I have met from the internet. You know, as long as there wasn't a lot of defilement and torture first. But I guess a quick death is too much to ask from internet psycho.[/quote]
Hey, I take offense to that. I'm an internet sociopath myself and I do no such torture, defilement or killing. In fact, I met my best friend on the internet and saw him in Brisbane [i]without any of the aforementioned brutalities[/i]. So there!

We wean ourselves into dealing with each other in the real world with skype. I think I could handle been in the room with almost any of them, so long as I had the computer and computer games to play with during the awkward silences. I might need a second computer full of games if I'm in a room with Pyro. -_-

Getting murdered probably would not be so bad compared to spending time with some of the people I have met from the internet. You know, as long as there wasn't a lot of defilement and torture first. But I guess a quick death is too much to ask from internet psycho.

People who seemed like reasonable, entertaining and lacking in dickishness turned out to be horrible to spend more than five minutes around. I didn't have all bad experiences, and most of the people I personally chose to meet in real life were just a little to annoying to hang out with. They probably felt the same about me and my tolerance for people is pretty low in most cases. I have very few friends because of it. But some of my friends who have brought internet friendships into the physical world apparently have much worse taste then I do and the people turned out to be undeniable horrors.

I have a similar rule about people I meet at bars. Until I spend some time hanging around them while they are sober, I try to avoid having contact with them outside of the bar.

It's almost like you [i]don't[/i] want to get murdered..

Heh, I'm not very thrilling myself, but I have a strict rule about meeting people in the physical world that I met on the internet and that rule is "Don't."

[quote="Kaharz"]I'm hopefully transferring to UM in the spring. Not looking forward to it...[/quote]
I'd say we should hang out if you end up here but I'm pretty much the least fun person on earth to hang out with.

[quote="Edminster"]Nah I'm over in College Park, or near enough. Hooray for car insurance rates jacked up because of old people and drunken university students![/quote]

The first six months I was there I lived west of New Hampshire and my rates nearly doubled because the insurance company decided I was near enough to DC to be considered in it. Then I moved across New Hampshire about a block into PG county and suddenly my rates dropped again. Same zip code, was actually even closer to the DC line then last time, and had only moved about 0.5 miles but apparently it made all the difference. And yea, driving through college park always made me a bit homicidal, especially on a weekend night. I'm hopefully transferring to UM in the spring. Not looking forward to it...

[quote="Kaharz"]I'm sorry. I spent almost four years in Takoma Park, it was most bored I have ever been on a regular basis. If you are in VA, I'm really, really sorry.[/quote]
Nah I'm over in College Park, or near enough. Hooray for car insurance rates jacked up because of old people and drunken university students!

yaaaay shutdown averted!


for the next six days so they can bicker over this again.

I was listening to congressman Wolf speak about the budget crisis earlier today on WTOP and goddamn he is the slimiest man I've heard in recent memory. Every time a caller asked him a direct and simple question he deliberately avoided answering it because the direct and simple answer would make him look bad. Example:
"Congressman Wolf, which side has added riders to this bill that are causing such controversy?"
"Well, historically it's both sides that add riders to bills, I remember back in the seventies there were bla bla evade bla ba"

I ended up looking him up when I got home, and he's a real winner:
[list][*]Against [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_Act]ENDA[/url] on the grounds that it would destroy religious freedom [*]Believes abortions should be illegal
[*]Voted to make the USAPATRIOT act permanent[/list]
There are a couple more but I just don't want to think of this man anymore.

[quote="Edminster"]I currently live on the outskirts of D.C. [/quote]

I'm sorry. I spent almost four years in Takoma Park, it was most bored I have ever been on a regular basis. If you are in VA, I'm really, really sorry.


[quote]The US Govt shut down - from an ethical point of view[/quote]

[wipes hands on greasy rag, spits out some dip] Yup, there's your problem right there. That's why your government won't run no more. You ain't got no ethics in it.

I believe the ideal for representative democratic systems is 3-5 parties. Too many parties and no one group can get enough votes together to do anything. But when you just have two parties* they have to work to hard to differentiate themselves and split the vote that eventually you just end up with stalemates until one party self-destructs. Unfortunately, when you have more than two parties, coalitions will form to secure voting blocs and eventually you will end up with just two parties. Ooooh look another political system that doesn't work very well under stress, shocking.

And this is not the first time the federal government shut down. I remember it shutting down in the winter of 1995 to 1996 when a budget could not be agreed on.

[size=50]*Yes, I know there are many other parties in the US besides the dems and reps, but they don't have any real federal power[/size]

Oh, so it's just two parties having a tiff about spending. And here I thought it might be something important. i.e. I no longer care at all. -_-

Admittedly I haven't been following it that closely because the whole thing kind of pisses me off, so someone correct me if I'm leaving something important out, but this is my understanding of the situation:

Basically the Republicans want to defund planned parenthood (an organization designed to provide family planning and reproductive health services to mainly low-income women*) and environmental services and the Democrats won't. So basically the situation comes down to neither parties being able to agree, so we've got a gridlock.

Honestly this new strategy of the Republicans where they take a side on an issue (which is usually a horrible one to begin with) and refuse to allow anything to happen until they get is really starting to annoy me. They did the same thing to force the government to keep corporate tax cuts earlier this year.

*[size=74]Definition stolen from CTV[/size]

[quote="HBS"]You've set a new record for scaring off new members and making sure there's no intelligent posts.[/quote]

Are you kidding? Ed's scared off new members far quicker than that before! Shame on you for doubting his powers.

Also, wasn't he reading and replying to the posts? That seems to me that he was giving it some consideration at least. I just skipped over the whole thread out of horrified boredom. Though now I'm a tiny bit curious (because it was on the radio). What the hell does a government shut down mean? Did they turn the power off? Have they all gone home to drink champagne and whine about how nothing is happening? I understand nothing, but I want it explained to me in a very short, concise sentence or two. Nothing longer than that will be worthwhile to the writer, because I'm not gonna read it.