Ugh, 300. I never really understood the praise for it. Sure, it's stylish. Past that, it's just empty. There's no plot, and what characters there are are as flat as could be imagined. At least previous films about doomed defensive actions (say, the various movies about the Alamo) had recognizable characters. And my…

Stop the presses!!!! Hollywood exec is an awful person!!!!!! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT?

On the one hand, you would think that large armed forces in Westeros would have learned the importance of having lookouts and scouts, so that they aren't surprised like we've seen them be in nearly every episode this season.

Let's be honest - the only way that we can really learn anything is through watching a character say it on a cable-TV prestige drama series.

I saw that episode of Mad Men too!

With digital signals, static is essentially a thing of the past. You either get a channel or you don't. If you have a marginal signal, you'll get artifacting, but you won't get a static-y picture.

For me, just plain old Sculpin is better than any of the flavored variants. It used to be my default go-to west-coast IPA against which I judged all others. I do buy it less now that they sold out to Constellation, though. But being based in San Diego means that I have a plethora of other breweries to buy from.

She's probably the worst character on the show in terms of the pain/deaths she's caused to other people (Ramsay is probably a close second, but I think blowing up the Sept and consequently engulfing a good chunk of King's Landing in wildfire probably resulted in more fatalities than anything Ramsay did).

Time is a flat circle.

Post of the Day, and a strong candidate for Post of the Year.

Oh fine:

I believe there was an article in The Atlantic Monthly, actually, that talked about Jon Stewart's Daily Show and its part in the growth of the alt-right.

tldr version: You know nothing, Jon Snow.

I think you're likely overstating how organized and effective these trolls actually are.

I think that leftists using 'neoliberal' as an derogatory term makes sense, though. Neoliberal economics are actually relatively right-wing (that is, they're firmly capitalist in nature). If you care about economics and want to see the economy move more towards a communal/socialistic model, 'neoliberal' as invective…

Screw Orwell. Never use a shorter word where a longer one will do!

What evidence/source do you have for Russia tampering with voting rolls? That's a first to me.

I don't think that's the issue that most critics have, though - it's more that there is a perception (accurate or not) that many are trying to make the classroom into a safe space, when the western ideal of education going back at least to Socrates has involved (rightly or wrongly) challenging ideas and deconstructing…

I think sophistication makes a pretty big difference though. A sophisticated troll is no longer a troll - at worst he is a polemic raconteur, and more frequently he will engage with those he's arguing with, as opposed to just trying to get a goat as cheaply as possible.

Note that I said they hew *closer* to classical liberalism, not that they're actually classical liberals. Though Classical Liberalism doesn't really predate capitalism, and Adam Smith's economics are pretty firmly baked into many classically liberal ideals.