akbogert

@lykopis: :(

Aside from disseminating information, links, videos, and photographs, I don't much use Facebook. I rarely have actual conversations there in any form; merely comments on some article or picture a friend happens to have shared. I hear what you're saying about feeling tethered or bound; that's a big reason people have for deleting theirs, and I know a lot of folks who feel their life is less stressful because of it. It's useful for getting one thing out to lots of people (like photos), and for sending invitations to things/keeping track of RSVPs, but aside from that it's a cluttered, stressful nightmare. That said, I think it's fair to say that Facebook and other networks can be nice if used carefully, in small doses, and only with people with whom you really feel comfortable being connected in that way. In fact, all else being equal, I think I singlehandedly justify my continued usage with the photo-sharing thing.

Your situation sounds fairly terrible. I know people, particularly girls it seems, are pretty flippant with the way they use the word "whore." It's incredible how easily it's used and how difficultly it's expunged. And it's quite true that the Internet spreads a ton of damaging misinformation so quickly as to almost make it factual (amazing how many stories have to be "corrected" or redacted because they were based on complete fabrications). With the news, at least there's the risk of tarnishing the reputation of the organization which helps prevent too much faulty defamation, but with social networks it does seem there's a lot more "oh well, oops" than "oh dear god what have we done we're so sorry how can we make this up to you." I'm glad you were able to turn it into a positive experience though. Extreme catalysts can produce impressive reactions.

@lykopis: You flatter me. I'm by far one of the least interesting people I know. I was quite serious when I said this was all just a ruse to learn more about others...I hope you and others continue to fall into my (not all that) clever trap.

*grins maliciously*

You're not the first person I've heard speak with such disdain for phones, for like reasons (though most of them still had Facebook accounts, though they hated those too). I'll admit I'm curious, in a hopefully-not-taken-as-sadistic sort of way, as to these horrors about which high school educated you.

@Vance Astro said:

There is an awful lot of feminist threads for a forum with like 8 females on it.

As was pointedly argued by an earlier photograph of the revered Patrick Stewart, femininity is hardly prerequisite to feminism.

@lykopis: I'm actually pretty confused, not by what you said, but by what I said with which you take issue. Romeo, I felt, echoed your sentiments in my example, and quite reasonably so.

The way I see it, if you had hoped to like it, you probably did.

@spinningbirdcake: Oh yeah, they definitely lost customers for that one (and that's not hyperbole; I know people who use them as hosts who announced that they are migrating hosts this week).

I should clarify that many of the ads are funny (enough, anyway, to warrant fairly popular "Best of" countdowns for the next few days, and all-time best countdowns as well), but as actual marketing tools are pretty bad commercials. Some of the most memorable advertisements you recall just about every part of except the product they were advertising.

Personally, I take the hardline stance and say yes, it's wrong.

However I also believe that copyright law (and not just for comics) is wildly outdated. As has been said, when you download something twenty, thirty years old that's completely out of print and has become (in physical form) a highly prized collector's item, you're not directly hurting anyone at all. I'm not saying that intellectual property is without value, but really, what tangible thing has been lost to the creator, publisher, or any owner of those physical books, if there is no legal way for people to acquire their work? As far as they're concerned, they're done making money off of it because they sold all the copies of it they planned on producing. No, it doesn't legitimize theft, but I feel that in an era characterized by things like iTunes and Amazon if a company can easily make digital versions of their content available to a wide and willing-to-pay audience and fails to do so, they're almost asking people to pirate. Once upon a time the difficulty of a second printing for a limited run was a legitimate financial excuse, but these days I just don't understand at all why digital versions aren't more readily available. To use one example, I can't comprehend why something as sought-after as Gail Simone's Deadpool run is a running joke among would-be collectors for the impossibility of securing it. Supply is ignoring demand, and it's no surprise a broken market leads to broken methods of procurement.

Anyway, again, I'll never actually condone piracy, but the industry is stabbing itself in the back with its outdated distribution chokehold.

You know, he described why I love this book perfectly, which is funny because I haven't been able to articulate that. This gives me great hope.

@spinningbirdcake said:

@evilvegeta74: No my point is that they've never been funny. As far back as I can remember they haven't been funny so there is no "par." They're just bad commercials.

To be fair, if this were even remotely close to a majority view there probably wouldn't be people fighting over who gets to spend millions of dollars to show them.

I agree that this year's were even less memorable than usual. The football game, on the other hand, turned out to be one for the record books. Real star of the night, though? Twitter during the power outage.

I imagine all the suspender plucking you do puts some major wear and tear on those things...how often do they snap? Do you have a monthly suspenders budget? How many different pairs of suspenders do you own? What are three creative uses to which you have put suspenders (beside mere plucking)?

How was your annual "sit in the other room" day?