Dude, seriously, you are such the caricature of an internet tough guy, it's fucking awesome. And I admire your commitment to the charade, too.

Just remember, some people aren't in on the joke and might take you seriously and think the incredibly stupid shit you're claiming you have done is a good idea.

Just saying "that's not cool" would do more than sitting around passively when you do see it happen.

I won't shit on people who don't say anything when they see something happen - maybe they're afraid, I don't know - but I certainly will applaud people who do say something.

Actually, what I want is for people to quit being assholes to each other over pointless bullshit, but that's not going to happen. It's not so much "treat me better" but more "treat EVERYONE better." That's not a man thing, a girl thing, a woman thing, or whatever - it's a person thing. And to be honest, the whole "men should put up with constant verbal abuse because they are manly" thing (paraphrased, of course) is pretty fucking stupid.

If one is incapable of engaging in an activity without a massive amount of insanely crude shit talking, perhaps one should not be spending time around other people until one becomes more civilized, no? In online gaming, fortunately, we have many options for removing those who won't remove themselves. Ignore lists exist for a reason, and being willing and able to kick or ban people who routinely go out of their way to shit on other people helps as well. I don't take shit-talking personally, as the person doing it knows nothing about me, but that doesn't mean I care to have my gaming time be an unending stream of abuse. I give people engaging in it 1 chance, and if they keep going after I politely request they tone it down, they (usually) functionally cease to exist for me. And, I should say, my threshold for what I consider egregious is pretty high, though usually some kind of highly targeted insult (usually to race, gender, etc.) will do the trick.

The reason for trying to cultivate a more civil community is not that I want to control what other people do or how they behave. It's that I really, really like gaming, I enjoy gaming online, and I want it to thrive and be something more people can partake in without feeling like they need to take a shower after every round because of all the terrible people they run across. A community dominated by trolls will die off very quickly; the best communities I've seen online are ones that have a bit of cultivation/moderation so that the absolute shitlords at least get weeded out.

Thousands of viewers, 10 or 20 complaints. That seems like a pretty good ratio to me.

And, of course, if you have good ideas for video interviewees, why don't you send them to me instead of complaining? Please make sure to include contact info. My email is robinATroblimo-com.

Thanks!

Also Israel. Another successful socialist state in the European/American/Canadian/Australian model.

Or how the citizens of Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden actually do pay their taxes without demur.

Don't just rely on the anecdotes that confirm your preconceptions.

When it comes to blittin'

Do I have to go to the Urban Dictionary to find out what "blittin'" means? My guess is it's something dirty.

Except the ANC "won", and they were still labeled as terrorists afterwards.

You may have noticed how with the death of Nelson Mandela, the only mention of "terrorist" came in the form, "I can't believe that monster Margaret Thatcher called Mandela a terrorist way back in the bad old days".

Today, "terrorist" is what you call the other guy. It has no meaning any more.

Wouldn't you expect someone who runs privacy organizations to have already rooted his phone?

It sounds like the bloatware is his biggest problem, and I just got a Moto X for the same price as an LG Optimus. Vanilla Android and no bloatware.

I'm afraid to google "fat aggie".

I'm going back to my 1942 Corona typewriter with the "t" slightly raised.

Can't wait for an app that would allow anyone to be completely anonymous, even from the almighty Goog'lord.

The NSA's probably got them in stock.

It had nothing to do with the invention of self-service pumps.

Uh-huh.

Economic data is historical data. It can produce correlations, never, ever Cause and Effect. Someone please design for me a control system based on correlational data.

In other words, "I can't produce any data showing where job growth slowed or people lost jobs because of a higher minimum wage, thus all data is garbage".

Which is why the economic growth rate is, over the last 100 years, inversely correlated with the power of economists and our government.

You think it's economists who are behind the movements to raise the minimum wage? You think government wants this and working people are against it? Maybe you should look at this:

http://www.politico.com/story/...

"On minimum wage, voters support raising the federally mandated minimum, 72 percent to 27 percent, including a majority of Republicans, who support it 52 percent to 45 percent"

And surprisingly, even 61% of small business owners support raising the minimum wage. Now why would that be?

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/...

Your argument that a raise in the minimum wage is something thought up by economists and government is just provably wrong.

Which is why the economic growth rate is, over the last 100 years, inversely correlated with the power of economists and our government.

You complain about "correlations not being causation" and then come up with THAT argument, which is based on a spurious correlation? Every rise in the minimum wage has been not the result of eggheads in government, but because of a groundswell of demand from the people who are, you know, actually doing the work.

There's not a single person in national elected office, House, Senate, or White House who has a PhD in Economics. Not one. There are people with other kinds of PhDs and professional doctorates, but not one single economist. But, you argue, economists control everything. Here's a correlation for you, "People who espouse neoliberal economic theories are highly likely to throw any kind of argument at the wall, based on no data or even any kind of provable theory." If anything, if you want spurious arguments and assertions based on nothing but feelings and doctrine, go to an Austrian School economist or someone who believes that crap.

If all you have available to "give" are poor imitations of intelligent debate,

For a group of people who love throwing around words like, "Marxist" and "Tyranny" and "Collectivist" and "Fascist" and "Moochers" and "Leeches" and "Parasites", I'm not sure you're in a position to judge what is and what is not intelligent debate.

Yes, what passes for a libertarian in 2014 is a thin-skinned mental undergrad with a grudge. A Republican who read once read a book. Any push back at all and they holler, "Mom, he's hitting me back!" Bitter and brittle, they march around just knowing that society could be so wonderful and free...if only. Protected by the notion that they'll never have to actually perform. And whenever libertarian policies are put in place, the resultant failure is always blamed on not having gone far enough. So, if only they had really gone a few steps further, it totally would have worked. In that way, they are just like the handful of hard core communists left. "If only they had really gone all the way with libertarianism/communism, it would totes have worked". It's actually a lot like your basic extremist follower of any other New Age belief. "The coffee enemas would have cured their cancer, but they just didn't stick closely enough to the regimen." Or, "The faith healing would have totally worked, but the patient didn't have enough faith." It's an argument that can never be won, which is why most people have given up and have just taken to ignoring them.

There is a reason no society in the world, in history, has ever tried to fully implement a fully libertarian system. Because even those most desperate for liberty - especially those most desperate for liberty - can recognize full-blown crazy when they see it. But I have to say, it would be a great treat to see a libertarian live for one day in such a society.

There's also a reason that of all the times the John Galts of the world have decided that they're going to create some floating libertarian utopia somewhere beyond the evil grip of the choking fist of government around their skinny necks, it's never ever happened. Because in the marketplace of ideas it loses every single time. Even libertarians know the idea is crazy, but they've become in love with the vast amount of self-regard that such a philosophy affords them, safe in the knowledge that they'll never be called upon to actually, you know, live like that.