Comments of flamingophoenix (74)
Comment on post We got married!:
2014-09-21T08:38:27+00:00
Congratulations!!!
Comment on post Mere Christianity: on morality:
2014-01-31T20:58:59+00:00
This was my guess! (But I was afraid to search, so.)
Comment on post sick link saturday: :
2014-01-25T14:01:27+00:00
I'm glad you appreciated the Ask/Guess stuff. I found it incredibly enlightening in explaining my difficulties with other people (I am heavy, heavy on the Ask).
Comment on post Farewell sweet Prius (2004-2013):
2013-07-06T08:54:27+00:00
So glad you're okay! (Just David was in the car, right?)
Don't feel too bad about the annoyance, either; stress is stress, even if it's less than it might be otherwise.
Comment on post Going to India!:
2013-01-27T19:55:33+00:00
NEAT! Have fun!
Comment on post The Eyre Affair review:
2012-12-09T18:14:23+00:00
Out of curiosity, were you a Jane Eyre fan previously? Or had knowledge of the Crimean War? For whatever reason, this book didn't capture my interest -- it was written wittily enough, but it didn't tickle the "this is the best ever!" part of my brain. Everyone else I know loves it, though...so I'm wondering if it's just that I never read Jane Eyre?
Comment on post link friday: same-sex marriage, Wii U!, scandals:
2012-11-16T16:23:27+00:00
Dang, if only I hadn't been a raging bigot in high school, I would have had an easy way to get out of Confirmation! ;-) (Long story there.)
Comment on post link friday: same-sex marriage, Wii U!, scandals:
2012-11-16T16:22:50+00:00
Upvoted!
Comment on post links that made me angry:
2012-10-04T22:50:34+00:00
I know, right? How could the customers *possibly* have chosen to continue buying that brand of lard? Oh, wait...
Comment on post links that made me angry:
2012-10-02T19:21:02+00:00
:-(
Today a person was arguing that if the market was totally free, companies would *not* endanger customers in favor of the bottom line...
Comment on post a sensitive kid:
2012-08-03T21:00:59+00:00
Collective punishment is always upsetting.
Comment on post let's all calm down re Chick-Fil-A:
2012-07-22T15:19:19+00:00
I think that's a great solution!
My general outlook is that I'm inclined away from CFA, but I don't intentionally boycott it.
Comment on post on personal responsibility and the Coast Guard:
2012-06-26T18:09:25+00:00
Yeah, if it's the kind of thing where they tried to get out but couldn't, that's one thing...but if they were just like "Hurricane wheeee!" then fuck that noise, y'know?
Comment on post Penguin pictures!:
2012-05-14T20:50:45+00:00
Penguin!!
Comment on post a few holiday pictures:
2011-12-18T10:39:26+00:00
Awesomesauce! Go team Perler. :-)
Comment on post a few holiday pictures:
2011-12-17T21:03:35+00:00
Out of curiosity, did you pay for the Perler bead icon? How much? I'm planning to make some pixellated items for sale at a geeky craft show this winter, and I'm wondering what the price point should be. It's a tremendously cheap medium, but it also has the potential to be charming (as your icon shows!) so...I'm not really sure where to go with it. Advice is appreciated!
Comment on post finishing Android, starting Windows Phone 7. And happy car milestone!:
2011-11-19T09:01:45+00:00
Yaay, Prius!
Comment on post mostly politics/economics links:
2011-10-23T11:44:37+00:00
Ahh, hyperbole.
Comment on post jumping on the complaining bandwagon (re Netflix):
2011-09-20T17:01:41+00:00
This sounds like a job for a Greasemonkey script!
Comment on post Happy DADT Repeal Day!:
2011-09-20T16:00:16+00:00
Hooray!
Comment on post Marriage Map: cartogram, more crazy reviews:
2011-09-01T21:58:03+00:00
Your icon is like a baby Simon's Cat of JOY.
Comment on post webOS woes:
2011-08-18T20:36:13+00:00
I saw that and thought of you! :-( How sad.
Comment on post the best part of linking up...:
2011-08-12T20:50:44+00:00
This!
Comment on post crazy webOS app reviews: Marriage Map:
2011-08-07T20:46:25+00:00
Could you message him and say "Those of *your* 'persuasion' can use this map as an indicator of where not to go!"
Comment on post link smattering:
2011-08-03T21:05:33+00:00
I start to see Marilyn about 3 feet away.
Comment on post link smattering:
2011-08-03T21:05:04+00:00
I don't understand the short-sighted one. Do they mean far-sighted (i.e. you need reading glasses)? Because I've got terribly nearsighted vision in my left eye, and I can see the screen just fine. It's far-away things I cannot see.
Comment on post Poor Economics review:
2011-07-31T19:09:11+00:00
Wow, the Brazil thing is fascinating. Who knew? (Really, it's all interesting.)
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-02T18:31:21+00:00
Yeah, I think that might have been a connotation fail...
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-01T14:49:23+00:00
Yay, happy medium!
I started out with a lot of free, iffy-quality furniture and some free, high-quality furniture. (See also the Sam Vimes theory I linked above - having family with spare furniture is a huge advantage.) Over time, we're replacing our less-good furniture with better furniture - e.g. instead of the barely-a-double-bed Ikea foldout futon with the wooden arms that dig into your legs when you sit down, we now have a regular sleep sofa (leather, so our allergies won't trigger) that's as least as comfortable for our guests, and which is more comfy to sit upon.
I haven't bought new chairs yet, but eventually I will replace the terribly uncomfortable chairs that I inherited when I moved up here. (The seats are completely flat, and the backs are pretty straight.)
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-01T14:46:13+00:00
Indeed.
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-01T14:32:40+00:00
Jeeeez, you weren't kidding about the comments.
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-01T14:32:09+00:00
I think the *key* in that article is the "on the wrong things" part.
Of course, it may not be *possible* to buy yourself nice things. But if you can, you should.
This was something I learned fairly early, but it took me a while to completely shake the frugality bug. My grandmother is a super-frugal person, and bought low-quality stuff quite often. After a while I talked to my parents about it, and learned about how it's better to buy one good thing than 50 bad things you'll just have to replace. Case in point: When I was a teenager, I used to buy $3 athletic sandals from the A&N bin. They would wear out in no time, and I would spend a lot of effort taping them back together with duct tape before giving up in disgust and buying new ones. (I haaaaated brand names; that's a different story.) Eventually, though, I broke down and bought a pair of Tevas when I was 15. Well, I'm 27 now, and I wore those same shoes to the grocery store this morning. There are permanent foot-impressions where the rubber has worn down in the tops, but the soles are as solid as ever.
Hmm...the thing about washcloths is a bit weird. But okay!
Comment on post it's-been-a-little-while links:
2011-06-01T14:25:27+00:00
I think it's nice to get a little message from people. I don't really expect much on my birthday anyway (once you're an adult, birthdays kind of lose their point) so I'm starting from a cost basis of 0 here, but still. :-)
Comment on post "It Gets Better" and Republicans:
2011-05-12T16:01:07+00:00
Yes. True. :-(
;-)
Comment on post "It Gets Better" and Republicans:
2011-05-10T17:28:53+00:00
Yes! True. :-)
Comment on post "It Gets Better" and Republicans:
2011-05-10T13:20:34+00:00
The "Republicans and Democrats are the same" thinking is still around, but I think it's more about how they are both completely in the pockets of corporate interests. Oh, and there's some attitude about how the Democrats claim to support some of their base (gays, women, etc.) but then don't actually support them in practice -- they just "fail to support" less horribly than the Republicans do.
This is in the actually law-passing arena, not the arena of ideas. Ideologically, yes, they are very different.
Comment on post no time links:
2011-04-25T20:59:52+00:00
Boo, paywall. Is it about refined sugar?
Comment on post Happy @TheAtlantic day! and more links:
2011-02-15T16:35:19+00:00
I agree re: density and sprawl. The problem is that people tend to want their own land, which creates sprawl. (I blame your beloved state for part of this.) :-D (j/k) So, how do we fix that?
Oh, I guess there are other factors too: e.g. noise through the walls. That's a huge part of why I love living in a detached house: no fucking neighbors vacuuming at 11 PM.
Comment on post motley links:
2011-01-16T17:44:16+00:00
It will take a loooong time before a computer will be able to accurately wreck a nice beach. ;-) But it's neat that the first steps are being taken, at least! (The margins of error in speech to text, machine translation, text to speech are *huge*.)
Comment on post motley links:
2011-01-16T16:52:33+00:00
Ugh, that article-writer lost all cred with me by pointing out that his/her WoW-playing non-paramedic friend was -- gasp! -- FAT. Oh, the horror!
Comment on post motley links:
2011-01-16T16:50:48+00:00
WoW seems like most anything else -- possible to misuse, but safe in moderation. If you're refusing to buy your sick SO soup because "I owe it to the people in my guild to finish this raid," your priorities are out of whack. But if you just play it sometimes to have fun, there's nothing wrong with it. Know yourself and your limitations, is what it comes down to.
It *is* a lot like TV, actually. (Requiem for a Dream!)
Comment on post Congresswoman shot in head at public event:
2011-01-08T23:24:55+00:00
(Reposting from elsewhere, but this sums up my opinion well.) So, I think the deal is this:
1. A bad thing happened.
2. Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, etc. have encouraged this precise bad thing to happen.
3. Even if #1 turns out to be unrelated to #2, I think that criticism of #2 is warranted.
4. It is good that discussion of this subject (inciting people to violence with our political rhetoric) is happening.
5. It is bad that it took a tragedy before the violent rhetoric got MSM attention.
Comment on post on firing people for remarks made outside their job:
2010-10-30T16:52:46+00:00
I posted about the NPR thing here.
Comment on post clearing out some tabs:
2010-04-14T17:37:11+00:00
Jeez, really? That's terrible advice! You should never take on that kind of debt to send your kids to a private college - that's what in-state schools (or even out-of-state public schools) are for. You also never raid your retirement account. If you're that strapped for cash, consider community college, or graduating in three years - but private school does *not* offer enough of a relative benefit to justify that.
Comment on post Rich Dad Poor Dad review:
2010-03-15T21:16:21+00:00
Agreed. "They exploit themselves"? What the fuck, man. So not worth my time to read.
Comment on post daily weight tracking - one year later:
2010-01-14T20:29:40+00:00
BMI is fairly arbitrary, but it's pretty good to ballpark around. Just don't treat it like gospel and you'll be fine.
And agreed that 1 lb/month is good! Especially because you have kept it off. (Also I kinda love the chart.)
Comment on post Curious about Roman Polanski:
2009-10-10T22:01:54+00:00
Concur! The Salon article summed it up pretty well for me: "Roman Polanski raped a child."
Comment on post reviews of stuff I generally like:
2009-09-17T17:25:15+00:00
Oh yeah, Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli is amazing. I recommend Princess Mononoke and The Cat Returns as two other good films of theirs.
Comment on post I'm in a hurry to get things done...:
2009-06-05T20:09:09+00:00
William and Mary's group Reveille does a good rendition of it.
I believe the original is by Alamaba. "In A Hurry," if I'm not mistaken.
Comment on post marriage: the gayening:
2009-05-20T18:25:45+00:00
I like your subject line! :-)
And good point re: divorce percentage. 50% of marriages may end in divorce, but that's probably because after-first marriages have a higher divorce rate than first marriages. (Right?) (I guess I should read the article, huh.)
Comment on post Seriously, Texas?:
2009-04-23T18:11:56+00:00
If you don't secede, then TEH GEYZ will come and eat your children!!!
(Or something. I don't follow the mindset myself.)
Comment on post browser of choice?:
2009-03-21T21:18:44+00:00
I use Firefox; Patrick uses Safari.
Comment on post we got rings!:
2009-03-10T21:29:19+00:00
Awesome! I'll tell Chris.
Comment on post we got rings!:
2009-03-08T14:54:58+00:00
The scanning gun was the best part about having a registry.
Comment on post we got rings!:
2009-03-08T14:54:14+00:00
Yay rings! We got ours at greenkarat.com, which was super fun. Hooray for recycling! ;-)
Be careful with titanium; if your finger swells, many hospitals can't cut it off (they have to get special equipment). Or so I am told by another friend with a titanium wedding ring.
Comment on post hello married people/people who know about weddings:
2009-01-26T17:25:37+00:00
I don't know jack about Austin, but have fun with the reception planning! Yay!
Comment on post $1 coins!:
2008-12-08T19:47:14+00:00
OH MY GOD I want to do this!!! 1% rebate FTW!!!!
...okay, I'll calm down now.
..EEEEE!
Comment on post $1 coins!:
2008-12-08T19:46:10+00:00
I agree. It depends on the front pocket, though--if it's too shallow this doesn't work well.
Comment on post $1 coins!:
2008-12-07T14:31:33+00:00
And also what's lightweight. I don't carry change, ever. I barely even carry cash (though I do carry some). I don't object to the $1 coins -- in fact, since they *seem* to be environmentally sounder than dollar bills (longer shelf life), I think I support them -- but in my household, they will meet the same fate as quarters: tollbooth cup and/or roll jar. (Non-quarter coins just go straight to the roll jar.)
Comment on post i'm kinda busy, but here are some links I enjoyed and thought you might enjoy as well!:
2008-11-21T06:38:57+00:00
Yeah, but Dogma was kinda dumb. I'm hoping it's more like Avenue Q.
Comment on post i'm kinda busy, but here are some links I enjoyed and thought you might enjoy as well!:
2008-11-21T06:36:28+00:00
I left the Catholic Church because I realized I didn't agree with most of the theology AND the non-theological bits (anti-gay, etc.) were making me uncomfortable. But it took both of these things for me to up and leave (and the leaving took 7 years). Just throwin' that out there.
Comment on post closing ads:
2008-10-30T18:20:02+00:00
Agreed.
The ad implies that Obama will cave to Iran's pressure to remove our military, but since Iran is the one wanting bilateral talks (right?) that really shouldn't be an issue.
Comment on post closing ads:
2008-10-30T18:18:01+00:00
Ahahaha, the wink (with no text) is PRICELESS.
Comment on post seriously, is it election day yet?:
2008-10-20T18:31:09+00:00
Unless you've checked out every candidate and all their competition, I agree that voting a straight ticket is dumb.
Comment on post Ike:
2008-09-12T17:19:47+00:00
Best solution!
"While up above the waves my doomsday squad ignites the atmosphere..."
Comment on post things that, upon further reflection, really piss me off and have come up recently:
2008-09-03T17:33:14+00:00
I think Patrick and I would be each half man/half woman in that test. What rubbish.
(Then again, we try to be very egalitarian in our relationship--we actually think the gender-role-free gay relationship model is the healthiest way to do things. So...yeah.)
Comment on post panhandling:
2008-08-26T21:16:17+00:00
Also, I made my own post about this.
Comment on post panhandling:
2008-08-26T21:14:22+00:00
1. I never give money to panhandlers.
2. I do give money to buskers.
3. I do give money to people selling things like Street Sense.
4. People approaching my car might be panhandlers, or they might be carjackers.
5. People approaching me on the street might be panhandlers, or they might be muggers who want to know where you keep your wallet.
Basically, I'm a jaded bastard.
Comment on post why is my laptop crashing?:
2008-08-19T21:03:29+00:00
Maybe this is a stupid question, but why are you using a laptop to play games anyway? Isn't that what towers are supposed to be good for?
Good luck getting it fixed anyhow! And I don't think games are stupid, especially when you use them to socialize with people you already know and love. So yeah.
Comment on post new poll on gay marriage:
2008-07-22T18:01:28+00:00
Hiya! :-) (I guessed.)
The "separate but equal" problem is why I want the word "marriage" completely gone from the civil lexicon.
In such a world, Patrick and I would be civil-unionized, an example hetero Catholic couple would be married and civil-unionized, and an example gay Unitarian couple would be married and civil-unionized.
But I agree that that would be a hard sell...
Comment on post new poll on gay marriage:
2008-07-22T17:59:51+00:00
I'll admit that I'm still not 100% comfortable with the idea of multiple marriages (as my other comments would suggest), but I sympathize with you on the "definition of family" bit. A lot of my family grew up in non-traditional settings (e.g. random relatives living with other relatives) and a lot of them got shafted for health insurance as a result. There should definitely be more leeway in terms of what's allowed. I just get skeeved out by the thought of, say, subsidizing the FLDS or what have you.
Comment on post new poll on gay marriage:
2008-07-18T18:38:53+00:00
I think that would be a good solution--you have your marriage package, your living will package, etc--and it would solve my (already commented) concern about poly marriage: you would make each of these contracts individually.
I think that total abolition of government marriage would be a bad thing for things like inheritance, etc--how many of you guys have wills? I know I don't (yet). And even if you have one, a will can still be contested by angry family members. I don't know why marriage is considered stronger than a will--they're both just legal contracts, when it comes down to it--but that does seem to be the general opinion.
Comment on post new poll on gay marriage:
2008-07-18T18:33:36+00:00
My concern with poly marriage is this: Who makes the medical decisions for any given spouse? You can't exactly put it up to vote, and waiting for consensus could potentially be life-threatening.
That said, if poly people want to make their own legal contracts, more power to 'em. I just don't think it would *work* as an automatic system the way two-equal-partners marriage works.
Comment on post new poll on gay marriage:
2008-07-18T18:28:58+00:00
Any progress is good news!
(This is Emily from MD, btw.)
As a straight person who just got married in a purely civil ceremony, I would not object to the semantic distortion involved in declaring "marriage" a religious ceremony with no legal standing and "civil union" a civil procedure with no religious standing, so long as it gave gay people the right to equal protection under the law. Individual churches could decide whom they would and would not "marry," the State would marry unionize everybody, and it would all be fine.
But that's just my opinion...
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