timschochet's thread- Mods, please move this thread to the Politics Subforum, thank you (1 Viewer)

[skol asylum]

Here are the results of this week's ABC Washington Post poll for the GOP nomination for President:

Bush 14%

Ryan 11%

Paul 10%

Carson 8%

Cruz 8%

Christie 7%

Huckabee 7%

Rubio 7%

Perry 5%

Jindal 3%

Kasich 2%

This is the most wide open nomination I can recall in my lifetime. Going into 2011, Romney already had 25-30% of GOP support with his his opponents all in single digits. Eight years ago, Giuliani was the favorite going into 2007 with around 20%, McCain was at 15% and dropping, and none of the other candidates had any support at all.

The fact that the leading guy here has only 14%, based almost entirely on name recognition, is just shocking to me. There are NO favorites this time around.

Huntsman would be better than any of those names.

 

[jamny]

Mike Lee 2016

 

[timschochet]

Here are the results of this week's ABC Washington Post poll for the GOP nomination for President:

Bush 14%

Ryan 11%

Paul 10%

Carson 8%

Cruz 8%

Christie 7%

Huckabee 7%

Rubio 7%

Perry 5%

Jindal 3%

Kasich 2%

This is the most wide open nomination I can recall in my lifetime. Going into 2011, Romney already had 25-30% of GOP support with his his opponents all in single digits. Eight years ago, Giuliani was the favorite going into 2007 with around 20%, McCain was at 15% and dropping, and none of the other candidates had any support at all.

The fact that the leading guy here has only 14%, based almost entirely on name recognition, is just shocking to me. There are NO favorites this time around.

Huntsman would be better than any of those names.

Either he's not running or his numbers or so low at this point that they don't matter.

Actually I can't see Huckabee running either.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Yeah, I have no idea who the Republican nominee is going to be. Should be a fun race.

 

[skol asylum]

Bush v Clinton

Again

Yeah, that will help our fractured political system a ton.

 

[timschochet]

Bush v Clinton

Again

Yeah, that will help our fractured political system a ton.

I really don't think Bush is going to get there. I think he is more of an anathema to conservatives than Romney or McCain ever was. I really don't think he will pull this off.

It's a wide wide open race at this point, but something in my gut tells me that if Scott Walker runs, he'll win the nomination. (And maybe the Presidency as well.)

 

[Gr00vus]

Meanwhile...

Clinton 62%

Warren 12%

Biden 9.8%

Sanders 3.4% *

Cuomo 1.3%

Webb 1.3%

O'Malley 1.0%

* Bernie Sanders is registered as an independent, so he would have to switch over if he even wants to get into debates with Hillary (unless for some reason they just let him in.)

Conversely, these have got to be the most lopsided numbers ever for a candidate who is not currently the President- not even the Vice-President!

I'd vote for Barry Sanders.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Tim, can I get your thoughts on the 2009 Peruvian political crisis?

I applaud your bravery asking this in the thread instead of by pm

I laughed.

 

[jon_mx]

I would say it is either Bush or Christie.

 

[timschochet]

I can't get a read on Walker- he reminds me somewhat of the biographies I have read on Richard Nixon- he's not a great speaker, he's abrasive, he's partisan Republican (but not necessarily partisan conservative)- he comes across, like Nixon, as an everyman kind of guy-

And like Nixon he wins close races again and again. And the Dems HATE him! Consider that he was in 3 of the most heavily fought elections in a swing state in the past 4 years: governor, recall, and governor again- each time with outside money dedicated to his defeat- and each time he won. That's pretty amazing. I can see this guy going all the way.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

And Jeb should be a heavy favorite, it's about money money and money & the Bushes have it. Northeast banking TX oil & FL name recognition. You're dreaming about him being too "moderate", George Jr. couldn't even speak & he ran as the "education president." And he won. Please.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Let's see George Sr. won. George Jr. won. Jeb??? Nahhhhh.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Love Webb as a Demo and I might consider him if it gets as far as LA and if Sandrrs runs indie then Hillary's shot, though that likely wont happen.

 

[hagmania]

If we can have a face off between TIM and EMINENCE with the winner having money deposited into the charity of their choice I AM IN!

GO!

I once offered $100 for Tim to join a game of werewolf and that went nowhere. I doubt the YouTube Face-Off is going to happen.

So tim is a Rud alias.

 

[skol asylum]

It would be pretty entertaining at least if Gore threw his hat in the ring and started attacking Hillary.

 

[TheIronSheik]

So is this the political thread now? Just asking for a friend.

 

[Loan Sharks]

I'm not sure why, but this thread reminds me of this classic video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ0o2P_JLnQ

Should be pinned really or at least put in the FFA FAQ.

Crying. Hilarious.

Thanks Joe that makes my weekend. lol

The funniest part is I clicked on user TrucklovesJoe and the only other info is a "like" for the video "See my dong" which is about Brett Farve crotch shots.

 

[CowboysFromHell]

Islam Deserves No Respect From MeInteresting article, relevant to the earlier discussion. It's a bit long, but I found the embedded video interesting. I tried reading the Quran myself at one point, but it's difficult to get through. My general feeling from the parts I did read was that it very much supports the "us vs. them" mentality.

 

[Gr00vus]

So is this the political thread now? Just asking for a friend.

You should probably send a PM to Tim.

 

[krista4]

1971 was the greatest year ever in popular music. Consider these albums, which I list in no particular order:

Carole King- Tapestry

Jethro Tull- Aqualung

Humble Pie- Rock On

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young- 4 Way Street

The Doors- L.A. Woman

The Rolling Stones- Sticky Fingers

Marvin Gaye- What's Going On

Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells A Story

Joni Mitchell- Blue

The Allman Brothers- At Fillmore East

Funkadelic- Maggot Brain

The Who- Who's Next

John Lennon- Imagine

Cat Stevens- Teaser and the Firecat

Don McLean- American Pie

Van Morrison- Tupelo Honey

Elton John- Madman Across the Water

Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin IV

Sly & The Family Stone- There's A Riot Going On

Traffic- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Badfinger- Straight Up

David Bowie- Hunky Dory

What do you consider the best year for movies?

 

[krista4]

Here are the results of this week's ABC Washington Post poll for the GOP nomination for President:

Bush 14%

Ryan 11%

Paul 10%

Carson 8%

Cruz 8%

Christie 7%

Huckabee 7%

Rubio 7%

Perry 5%

Jindal 3%

Kasich 2%

This is the most wide open nomination I can recall in my lifetime. Going into 2011, Romney already had 25-30% of GOP support with his his opponents all in single digits. Eight years ago, Giuliani was the favorite going into 2007 with around 20%, McCain was at 15% and dropping, and none of the other candidates had any support at all.

The fact that the leading guy here has only 14%, based almost entirely on name recognition, is just shocking to me. There are NO favorites this time around.

That's a helluva list.

I don't mean that as a compliment.

 

[timschochet]

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

there are a lot of similarities in ters of personality and appeal. I'm not saying Walker is a crook.

 

[timschochet]

And Jeb should be a heavy favorite, it's about money money and money & the Bushes have it. Northeast banking TX oil & FL name recognition. You're dreaming about him being too "moderate", George Jr. couldn't even speak & he ran as the "education president." And he won. Please.

Tje Republican Party has undergone a lot of changes since 2000.

 

[TheIronSheik]

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

there are a lot of similarities in ters of personality and appeal. I'm not saying Walker is a crook.

Walker is a ranger. Texas Ranger.

 

[timschochet]

1971 was the greatest year ever in popular music. Consider these albums, which I list in no particular order:

Carole King- Tapestry

Jethro Tull- Aqualung

Humble Pie- Rock On

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young- 4 Way Street

The Doors- L.A. Woman

The Rolling Stones- Sticky Fingers

Marvin Gaye- What's Going On

Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells A Story

Joni Mitchell- Blue

The Allman Brothers- At Fillmore East

Funkadelic- Maggot Brain

The Who- Who's Next

John Lennon- Imagine

Cat Stevens- Teaser and the Firecat

Don McLean- American Pie

Van Morrison- Tupelo Honey

Elton John- Madman Across the Water

Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin IV

Sly & The Family Stone- There's A Riot Going On

Traffic- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Badfinger- Straight Up

David Bowie- Hunky Dory

What do you consider the best year for movies?

i don't think there is any dominant year like this one for music.

 

[timschochet]

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

there are a lot of similarities in ters of personality and appeal. I'm not saying Walker is a crook.

Walker is a ranger. Texas Ranger.

Would you vote for Chuck?

 

[jon_mx]

I see similarities between Walker and Hitler. I mean they both part their hair and everything.

 

[jon_mx]

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

there are a lot of similarities in ters of personality and appeal. I'm not saying Walker is a crook.

Walker is a ranger. Texas Ranger.

Would you vote for Chuck?

You want to live, don't you?

 

[timschochet]

Tomorrow- a 1 hour drive to south Orange County (Mission Viejo) to see The Nutcracker,. because our friends' daughter is in it. (I think she has all of ten minutes of stage time.) I had to buy 4 tickets for $22 a piece.

Monday- Hannukah dinner for the entire family at a Jewish deli. But I gotta make my own potato pancakes because my daughter is allergic to eggs.

Wednesday- normally we go to my father-in-laws church for a Christmas eve service in Pacific Palisades (about an hour north of my house.) This year though, somebody got the brilliant idea that we should all go to my wife's sister's church instead- in ####### Oak Park. That's 2 hours away, (provided traffic is light which it won't be) and I have to drive back the same night.

Thursday, big party at my father in law's house in Malibu.

Friday- My daughters are begging me to take them shopping.

Sunday- forget football, my wife got tickets for us to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. That was her gift to me- 4 tickets that showed up on my credit card. I'm defying gravity!

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Potato pancakes=

 

[timschochet]

Potato pancakes=

With applesauce and sour cream- awesome!

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Potato pancakes=

With applesauce and sour cream- awesome!

My grandma made them with apple sauce, never tried them with sour cream though. Interesting.

 

[NCCommish]

Tim- people can suck. Especially anonymous board people. Hell, that isn't even true any more. See comments on any online newspaper article, YouTube- even the Facebook. A lot of miserable folks looking for a way to feel better about themselves. They are lost in that regard.

I don't get involved in a lot of regular give and take on here any more. I find it exhausting. How you and several others on here maintain the numbers that you do is beyond me. There is so much else to do.

Maybe it's a good time to find other things to occupy some of your time. #### those guys.

Agree totally. Don't sweat it, Tim. If people are upset with what you have to say, that's on them.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Tim- people can suck. Especially anonymous board people. Hell, that isn't even true any more. See comments on any online newspaper article, YouTube- even the Facebook. A lot of miserable folks looking for a way to feel better about themselves. They are lost in that regard.

I don't get involved in a lot of regular give and take on here any more. I find it exhausting. How you and several others on here maintain the numbers that you do is beyond me. There is so much else to do.

Maybe it's a good time to find other things to occupy some of your time. #### those guys.

Agree totally. Don't sweat it, Tim. If people are upset with what you have to say, that's on them.

The funny thing is, most of those people are staying out of this thread. Without the persistent stalking, Tim is essentially proving that he's a desired internet commodity.

 

[NCCommish]

Tim- people can suck. Especially anonymous board people. Hell, that isn't even true any more. See comments on any online newspaper article, YouTube- even the Facebook. A lot of miserable folks looking for a way to feel better about themselves. They are lost in that regard.

I don't get involved in a lot of regular give and take on here any more. I find it exhausting. How you and several others on here maintain the numbers that you do is beyond me. There is so much else to do.

Maybe it's a good time to find other things to occupy some of your time. #### those guys.

Agree totally. Don't sweat it, Tim. If people are upset with what you have to say, that's on them.

The funny thing is, most of those people are staying out of this thread. Without the persistent stalking, Tim is essentially proving that he's a desired internet commodity.

Tim and I don't see eye to eye on things many times. But this idea that he is worst poster ever here is ludicrous. I have seen much worse. And even been stalked by some of them. Tim is OK as far as I am concerned.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Tim- people can suck. Especially anonymous board people. Hell, that isn't even true any more. See comments on any online newspaper article, YouTube- even the Facebook. A lot of miserable folks looking for a way to feel better about themselves. They are lost in that regard.

I don't get involved in a lot of regular give and take on here any more. I find it exhausting. How you and several others on here maintain the numbers that you do is beyond me. There is so much else to do.

Maybe it's a good time to find other things to occupy some of your time. #### those guys.

Agree totally. Don't sweat it, Tim. If people are upset with what you have to say, that's on them.

The funny thing is, most of those people are staying out of this thread. Without the persistent stalking, Tim is essentially proving that he's a desired internet commodity.

Tim and I don't see eye to eye on things many times. But this idea that he is worst poster ever here is ludicrous. I have seen much worse. And even been stalked by some of them. Tim is OK as far as I am concerned.

Agreed, not even close to the top 100 posters on a bad day.

 

[Reginald Cornsilks]

Local place makes latkes but tops them with corned beef and thousand Island. Apple sauce on the side.

Friggin delicious.

What do you use to bind the potatoes without eggs, Tim?

 

[timschochet]

Been thinking about Krista's question about the greatest year for movies. I did some checking around, and Huffington Post has made a pretty good argument for 1993:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/21/1993-best-year-for-movies_n_5008958.html

Oscar Worthy

"The Fugitive"
"The Piano"
"Philadelphia"
"Searching for Bobby Fischer"
"Schindler’s List"

Comedic Perfection

"Groundhog Day"
"Mrs. Doubtfire"
"Robin Hood: Men In Tights"
"Benny and Joon"
"So I Married an Axe Murderer"
"Wayne's World 2"
"Dazed and Confused"

Regular Perfection

"What’s Eating Gilbert Grape"
"The Secret Garden"
"The Pelican Brief"
"Carlito’s Way"
"Sleepless in Seattle"
"Rudy"
"Jurassic Park"

Guilty Pleasures

"Leprechaun"
"Addams Family Values"
"Coneheads"
"Surf Ninjas"
"We’re Back! A Dinosaur's Story"
"Super Mario Bros."
"Cool Runnings"

Best Childhood Movies Ever

"Free Willy"
"Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey"
"Rookie of the Year"
"Dennis The Menace"
"Hocus Pocus"
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"
"The Sandlot"

I certainly don't believe with all these choices. ("Wayne's World 2" is comedic perfection? Please.) But overall it's a very impressive list. I don't know how it compares to other years though.

 

[timschochet]

Local place makes latkes but tops them with corned beef and thousand Island. Apple sauce on the side.

Friggin delicious.

What do you use to bind the potatoes without eggs, Tim?

Thousand Island? Umm, I don't know.

Everything I've tried hasn't worked. I might just get some of those frozen hash brown patties and fry them up in some olive oil. She'll love it.

 

[Henry Ford]

Been thinking about Krista's question about the greatest year for movies. I did some checking around, and Huffington Post has made a pretty good argument for 1993:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/21/1993-best-year-for-movies_n_5008958.html

Oscar Worthy

"The Fugitive"

"The Piano"

"Philadelphia"

"Searching for Bobby Fischer"

"Schindlers List"

Comedic Perfection

"Groundhog Day"

"Mrs. Doubtfire"

"Robin Hood: Men In Tights"

"Benny and Joon"

"So I Married an Axe Murderer"

"Wayne's World 2"

"Dazed and Confused"

Regular Perfection

"Whats Eating Gilbert Grape"

"The Secret Garden"

"The Pelican Brief"

"Carlitos Way"

"Sleepless in Seattle"

"Rudy"

"Jurassic Park"

Guilty Pleasures

"Leprechaun"

"Addams Family Values"

"Coneheads"

"Surf Ninjas"

"Were Back! A Dinosaur's Story"

"Super Mario Bros."

"Cool Runnings"

Best Childhood Movies Ever

"Free Willy"

"Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey"

"Rookie of the Year"

"Dennis The Menace"

"Hocus Pocus"

"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

"The Sandlot"

I certainly don't believe with all these choices. ("Wayne's World 2" is comedic perfection? Please.) But overall it's a very impressive list. I don't know how it compares to other years though.

Close. Off by a year. 1994 was the best year for movies.

Great comebacks: Pulp Fiction with Willis and Travolta wins the Palm D'Or and a screenplay Oscar.

Great Adaptations: Shawshank comes in as a non-Best Picture behind Forrest Gump

Great Franchise Movie: Star Trek Generations

Great Action movie as career vehicle: lots to choose from, but Speed probably owns it

Plus Vanya on 42nd Street, When a Man Loves a Woman, Boyle's Shallow Grave, Leary's The Ref, Reality Bites, Quiz Show, Natural Born Killers, Naked Gun 33 1/3, Love and a .45, Lion King, Legends of the Fall, Interview With a Vampire, Hudsucker Proxy, Guarding Tess, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Ed Wood, Dumb and Dumber, The Crow, Clerks, Bullets Over Broadway, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Ace Ventura.

 

[krista4]

Damn. I had no idea in my mind of the best year for movies before I posed the question, but now y'all have me thinking. As you might imagine, my list and my argument is going to look very different from what you've posted, even if I come up with the same year.

 

[msommer]

Tomorrow- a 1 hour drive to south Orange County (Mission Viejo) to see The Nutcracker,. because our friends' daughter is in it. (I think she has all of ten minutes of stage time.) I had to buy 4 tickets for $22 a piece.

Monday- Hannukah dinner for the entire family at a Jewish deli. But I gotta make my own potato pancakes because my daughter is allergic to eggs.

Wednesday- normally we go to my father-in-laws church for a Christmas eve service in Pacific Palisades (about an hour north of my house.) This year though, somebody got the brilliant idea that we should all go to my wife's sister's church instead- in ####### Oak Park. That's 2 hours away, (provided traffic is light which it won't be) and I have to drive back the same night.

Thursday, big party at my father in law's house in Malibu.

Friday- My daughters are begging me to take them shopping.

Sunday- forget football, my wife got tickets for us to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. That was her gift to me- 4 tickets that showed up on my credit card. I'm defying gravity!

Watch some college ball on Saturday would be my advice...

I've got a relatively light schedule this year.

Regular get together with friends on the 23rd canceled since host's mother has the big C and is getting chemo in France (where she lives). First time in 30 years it's been canceled.

24th Christmas eve with kids and wife

25th all the family gets together in my dads house, everyne brings food, I'm smoking some turkey legs

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

And Jeb should be a heavy favorite, it's about money money and money & the Bushes have it. Northeast banking TX oil & FL name recognition. You're dreaming about him being too "moderate", George Jr. couldn't even speak & he ran as the "education president." And he won. Please.

Tje Republican Party has undergone a lot of changes since 2000.

Tim look at your own poll Bush is already in first place.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I can't get a read on Walker- he reminds me somewhat of the biographies I have read on Richard Nixon- he's not a great speaker, he's abrasive, he's partisan Republican (but not necessarily partisan conservative)- he comes across, like Nixon, as an everyman kind of guy-

And like Nixon he wins close races again and again. And the Dems HATE him! Consider that he was in 3 of the most heavily fought elections in a swing state in the past 4 years: governor, recall, and governor again- each time with outside money dedicated to his defeat- and each time he won. That's pretty amazing. I can see this guy going all the way.

This thread is a trip. Walker is Nixon? Dude are you smoking trumpet vine? Come on.

there are a lot of similarities in ters of personality and appeal. I'm not saying Walker is a crook.

I wasn't even talking about that. Nixon couldn't get elected governor. Nixon was a commie red baiter, Walker is nothing of the sort. Walker is a reformer and budget cutter, Nixon was establishment, a hack and a spender. Nixon wanted desperately to be the "every guy" but failed miserably, he was socially awkward, uncomfortable with people and the media; Nixon was also met with suspicion on the right as well as the left. His political career was dead in 1962, he said so himself. Walker is well liked by many in WI, he doesn't come across as a trickster or like he is hiding anything. If he is hated it's by union people on the left, but not for his personality and he doesn't seem to have any opponents in the GOP.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Islam Deserves No Respect From Me

Interesting article, relevant to the earlier discussion. It's a bit long, but I found the embedded video interesting. I tried reading the Quran myself at one point, but it's difficult to get through. My general feeling from the parts I did read was that it very much supports the "us vs. them" mentality.

Yemisi Ilesanmi is a Nigerian woman, resident in UK. She holds a Masters of Law (LL.M) degree in Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights. She is a trade unionist, human rights activist, an author, a poet .....

She is a passionate campaigner for equal rights, social justice and poverty alleviation. Her debut book 'Freedom To Love For ALL: Homosexuality is Not Un-African' is available in paperback and kindle editions on Amazon (www.amazon.com/dp/1481864815).

In sometimes, what she thinks as a past life, she was-

- National Women leader/Assistant National Secretary, Nigeria Labour Party.

- Vice President, International Trade Union Congress

- Chairperson, ITUC Youth Committee

- International Labour Conference (ILC) Committee Member on Applications of Standards

- Founder/President, National Association of Nigerian Female Students

Here is a link to an interesting video about three surprising things you probably did not know about Islam and the Quran. This subject may affect you in the near future, so take the chance to inform yourself now, before it does. Well, it already affects my country Nigeria and the world in general.

Sahih International –

Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.
Religion of peace , my foot!

If as a friend did, you are screaming, “Stop being so Islamophobic! it’s the same as being Homophobic”, you probably don’t know the meaning of Islamophobia or maybe you are deliberately misusing it to suppress dissent and silence questions about your religion.

Phobia is an irrational fear of something. For example, homophobia is an irrational fear of homosexuals manifesting in dislike and prejudice against homosexuals. I do not have an irrational fear of Islam; therefore, Islamophobic is used here in the wrong context.

Also, any decent human being has a reason to have a RATIONAL FEAR of any belief, religion or ideology that commands the killing of children or adults who do not belief in your God. That, my dear, IS NOT AN IRRATIONAL FEAR.

I must say, there is nothing that puts the fear of a religion in one more than reading from its precious holy book where Skyddady/Allah/God gives graphic details about just how believers should decapitate those he finds unworthy, including children of unbelievers. If i am not afraid of that monstrosity, what exactly should i be afraid of?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Were the Crusades that bad? I have always seen them as a response to Islamic conquest of Christian territories over several centuries. And was the Spanish Inquisition really that big of a deal? Sure it was brutal, but from a historic perspective it was not that large scale, maybe a few thousand people.

"Who started it" is a good point. The muslims first stormed across the pagan and Christian middle east and North Africa and right up even into Europe. There was definitely a power vacuum after Rome fell too and the caliphates rushed in to fill it.

 

[Mister CIA]

I brought you something to eat Tim.

 

[phrozen]

Generation 1 - leading posters were domerjohn, saheeb's warrior, bash monkey, Joe t, etc. Lots of funny topics, some funny fishing among people who didn't know fishing existed yet, good times had by all.

Generation 2- leading posters were shuke, gm, scoobygang, shining path, bigbottom, oh and by the way, shick! and Joe. Lots of smart, funny people leading the way in posts.

Generation 3 - the cliques. Obc wanted to talk about their clique but shick wouldn't let them. 11 started dominating every thread and posting funny stories, but they were all really entertaining guys. Joe, scupper, jzilla, shuke, gm, bagger, tre, tu and such. Pickles appeared out of nowhere, because he had never posted here before. Labs had all the smart funny guys, like smoo, fatguy, shiny, scoob, biggie. If we had a politics thread, and we had plenty, it was dominated by smart, funny people. I know I'm leaving some great ones out.

Generation 4 - leading posters were zartan, mini zartan, mr. Dingles, zippy. It got a little silly with all the post padding but the main guys were still the main guys. This is also when some of the great posters emerged, guys like tanner and bentley and tufnel and Norwood and Norville and some of the early :e: guys. Another really fun group.

The generation after that took a major blow when shick stepped down. Then came the second bush election and it became all about politics, with thoughtful but one sided posters like Bueno, ncc, yankeefan23, Andy dufresne and Co taking center stage. Still a bright, funny lot, and the good posters stuck around quite a bit, but the politics became a major part of the forum.

Then towards the end of bush's second term, bgp was on full display, tyrranosaurusing his way around threads in his own, off kilter but never boring way. Some other topics spawned like werewolf threads, running threads, threads about video games, threads about tv shows or movies or books or bands or whatever. We had had so many drafts that they were no longer must read. Threads moved so quick that you no longer even tried to read most of the topics on page one. The community had become a bunch of sub communities, the top posters were getting older, and the new stewards of the forum were not as good.

Now instead of ***la debating Yankeefan over states rights and the whole forum reading shiny's post that this was like the Lincoln Douglas debates but with dumb people, there were actual dumb people involved. Actually dumb dumb people. Dumb dumbs. Politics threads had become a bunch of one sided people arguing red vs blue over and over and over again. The smart, funny people withdrew.

And then Tim showed up.

And from that moment, with Tim creating threads about that thing ayn rand said once, or that criticism that that other guy had about communism, or the things people say about Hitler, or a draft of boring people from Borington, or what this president did or that candidate said they would do, the conversation got a little smarter, a lot less fun, and a lot more prevalent.

Tim, you fish with dynamite in a school full of red and blue piranha. You throw bait in there and watch the worst of the worst rip it apart with their unsurprising opinions that they got from their same talking points and just when it seems like a new and interesting thought might appear, you post something intended to make it all about you again. It's impossible for the smart and funny people to get a word in edgewise even without you in the thread, but when you're active in a thread it makes it worthless for anyone else to try.

A lot of the great posters have left the board. Some died, some were banned, some got real jobs or just left or don't post as much or whatever. That left a void and by pressing as much as you do you became the self appointed steward of this Generation. But you don't pay funny threads. I'm told you make funny posts and I've even seem a few but you're starting this board in your direction at a time when nobody else is stepping up to steer it in their direction. You get the occasional eminence or blue magic, but the board craps all over them. A lot of posters hole up in their own little threads about the NBA or game of thrones or this video game or whatever. But of the few general interest threads that are started these days, a high percentage are started by you, and they're very rarely fun or funny. That makes people hole up more in their specialized threads, and post less in other threads, and fewer people start threads, and the place is just getting boringer and boringer.

I don't think that's all your fault by any means, but if you continue to make yourself the center of attention, you have some power over the direction of the board and the direction you've taken it is not fun. I know that other people could start fun threads or do more to fix the place but you have the mic. Use it for good not evil.

Mojo down?

 

[phrozen]

Fine, I'll say it. I feel like I basically ran this place for a couple of years in or around 2008 and I can't believe I didn't make Fred's post. How quickly memories fade.

I joined around the same time as you and enjoyed your threads. I don't post here as much as I would like, but your single in NYC threads were similar to what was going on with me but living in DC.You are a GB and I would help you in any way I could here or IRL. Well except for diet advice as it has been rejected in the past.

Things like Ashley York, your crush on a girl with one arm, buying a 3 digit number and pretending to be an April 03er, and never figuring out if Sulla was male/female, etc did bring you down just a peg .

You are a major net positive for the board and 2007-2009 would have not been the same without you.