Ahh, the old "B-b-b-but you're a bigot against bigots, so there!" play. How puerile. All viewpoints are not equally valid.

Excellent post.

I think my re-read of Ender's Game suffered because it came on the heels of finishing Anathem. In terms of little dudes uniquely positioned to save the world, Stephenson's Erasmus is just so richly drawn compared to Ender, whose only real obstacles are to (a) kick ass as the smartest little dude ever, and (b) not…

Just a warning, when I re-read Ender's Game as an adult I was pretty disappointed with it and I couldn't bring myself to continue with the series. I don't think it helped knowing what I now know about Card himself, but I think even without that bias, his writing style and story-telling just doesn't hold up. The…

Yeah, that moment (I'm assuming we're thinking of the same one) bothered me too, because the inaccuracy led to a very important decision. But it didn't bother me as much as the truly horrific dialogue. And Cuaron could've been a bit more subtle with the theme. But damn it was gorgeous. Simply stunning.

Mmm.... thai iced tea...

Agreed. I just listened to to a Big Picture Science podcast with her as the guest the other day. It's unsurprisingly a great listen:

Also of note, he was a Lamarkian.

Yeah, where are the movies about not getting yourself trapped in a stagnant, unfulfilling life surrounded by shitty people in the first place? Where's my parade?

@The Curse of Millhaven: It isn't? It was previously believed that all life on earth had a common ancestor- that there was one and only one single origin for everything that has ever lived. Now there's a seemingly independent source of life on our own planet. The implications are pretty significant.

@PatricianAtlantan: It's East Williamsburg.

@jdodd4: Shottie trigger-man on a Snoop tour has got to be up there in terms of resume conversation starters.

@ladyofargonne: You're right, there was definitely a "seven minutes in heaven for the hip-hop generation" aspect to them. Which is probably why I don't see them anymore. Sadly, I don't smoke pot with 16-year-olds much these days.

Whatever happened to "shotties" or "shot-guns", when someone puts the lit end of a blunt in their mouths and exhales, thereby blasting smoke into the lungs of the person inhaling on the other end.

@Elemnop: Oh boy.

@dannkherb: Huh. All those many, many times of desparation when I've resorted to this method, and I never thought to add a carb.

@CanadianSL: So when irritated by a banal, insubstantial reply, you basically respond, "it's a free internets, I can say what I want."?

@CanadianSL: Her comment did not "infer that your dissenting opinion was invalid", you inferred that from her comment. You inferred this despite the fact that her actual comment implied no such thing.

@CanadianSL: Her thoughts and yours aren't mutually exclusive, even though you responded as if they were! Weird, eh?

When I was in high school, I got caught taping Larry Lester's ass and I had to go to detention on a Saturday. All in all, it wasn't that bad. I made some friends, met a nice girl and learned a thing or two about myself.