Re: You can't spell v-o-l-a-t-i-l-i-t-y with a "why?".
 

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Earthquake in Italy
 

This is strange:

WaPo

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Am I wrong in thinking that seismic activity in Italy is volcanic-related, rather than tectonic? If I'm not wrong, where are Pierce Brosnan and Anne Heche when Italy needs them?

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

I know you can't post here unless you have independent expertise on the topic, and the internet doesn't count, but on the radio this morning I heard it explained that Italy is "splitting apart," with the Adriatic portion moving northeast, hence the earthquakes along the central mountain range, the name of which I have already forgotten. No need to thank me.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

I thought most volcanoes are where tectonic plates meet. Either way, surely Italy can always use more Anne Heche.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

i believe there are quakes througout the coastal European countries. Plates are jamming into each other, maybe from Africa or Asia.

I believe that has been going on for a long time, but will reserve final judgement for now in case Ty can blog-prove cheney is somehow to blame.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

a polite sock who insults another sock on one of the PB or FB would not insult the same sock on the other within the same day.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Damn.

I hope someone's monitoring that.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Are you saying we need $140m for radon gas monitoring in addition to the $140m for lava flow monitoring?

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Only ones I've actually been on aren't. Now I have to look ...

None of the plate maps show a plate boundary in Italy.

But the NASA map shows the Adriatic being squeezed b/t Italy and Greece, although still not a plate boundary. Interesting stuff.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Maybe the guy is a crank who got lucky.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

narrative fallacy?

Say he was right . . . what would it have gotten us? Everybody moves out until an earthquake hits?

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

I think Etna is a hot-spot, like Hawaii, not one of those subduction zone volcanos. I believe I learned this from the Magic School Bus.

In other news, did you know that if you go down into Etna, you can go through the Earth and come up in Iceland? Or maybe it's the other way around.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

So Iceland's financial crisis can be laid at the feet of the mafia?

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

It is generally volcanic in origin, hence the presence of radon gas being a predictor.

Porn
 

Perhaps this is the wrong board, but could the anti-porn guy in this online debate about the Univesity of Maryland porn kerfuffle had less to add to the discussion? "We should assume its obscene and all porn is inherently dangerous" are not terribly convincining arguments in a world where porn is readily accessible and widely consumed.

Re: Porn
 

Maybe a world where porn is not readily accessible and widely consumed would be a lot nicer?

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

That'd be my guess. Remember the guy who predicted SF's '89 quake --- and even jokingly suggested it would hit during the As/Giants world series game?

Re: Porn
 

In what possible way?

Re: Porn
 

Perhaps, but we will never know, both because of our pesky little constitution and because prohibition would never work.

Pompeii had stone phalluses all over the place and got destroyed by a volcano.

Think. About. It.

Re: We will never agree on this and therefore it is pointless to talk about!
 

I think they should have listened to a crazy man with radon detectors.

Re: Earthquake in Italy
 

Brendan Fraser.

Re: We will never agree on this and therefore it is pointless to talk about!
 

Well, sure. You hear about that. You hear about Sodom. You hear about New Orleans. You hear about all the fun, porn-rich places getting demolished.

You don't hear much about the boring places -- but it's because they're boring, not because they don't face the occasional bout of Biblical wrath.

Re: Porn
 

Thank you. I was unable to form coherent thoughts when I first read that comment. The hyperventilating was making my hands shake. I needed someone to articulate my thoughts there concisely.

Re: Porn
 

how about this? when you were a kid and had a Penthouse under your mattress there was something exotic/magical about the thing. Do you think anyone today looks at porn as carrying any cache at all?

It's the difference between being one of the Wright brothers, and being on the 6:10 La Guardia to Reagan Delta shuttle flight.

Re: Porn
 

Put me on the Concorde. It's my personal belief I should be able to see all women nude at least once. Even those you wouldn't think I'd want to (just out of curiosity).

But in fairness, you have a point on the hardcore stuff. There's definitely "too graphic," and that does kill the romance of the thing.

Re: Porn
 

Women prefer the softer porno. The women like something with more stories and costumes, that'll transport 'em to another place and time. That's right. Women don't like close-ups of oversized genitalia! That's just never gonna turn 'em on.

Re: Porn
 

One of Flower's penises was 8 oz uncooked. Is that oversized?

Re: Porn
 

I draw the line at close-ups requiring speculums. But I do like to watch in something frilly.

Re: Porn
 

was?

Re: Porn
 

I would think the "Uncooked" would have confirmed that for you.

Re: Porn
 

ummm, maybe you forget, but flower makes sushi.

Re: Porn
 

Assume for the moment that "contemporary community standards" are applied by a community other than the "users of the Internet" community. Exactly what part of the Miller test will be failed by a grainy, four minute clip of a sloppy blowjob by two anonymous actors working without plot, setting, theme or characterization?

I'm not saying I agree with the anti-porn guy, especially when it comes to Internet porn, but there's a lot in the First Amendment cases that give fodder to the view that sexual depictions are tolerated only by some communities and only when accompanied by some artistic or literary merit. Fifteen years ago, a college campus might very well have constituted a community whose standards (and feminist sympathies) were violated by one of those four-minute clips, yes?

Re: Porn
 

"Users of the internet" is pretty nearly everyone these days, so I'm not sure how you can put aside something so pervasive. But even if you do, the paid consumption of porn on hotel entertainment systems alone is pretty significant.

But I don't know how you (or the anti-porn guy) can draw any conclusions about whether this film is obscene without having seen it. And, by the way, on the descriptions of the film in question, and the snippets of it that have actually appeared in local news reports, suggest that it isn't without plot, setting, theme or characterization.

But clearly I am not the right person to be making obscenity determinations, as I don't think anything is obscene. Or at least don't think that combatting the obscene is a good use of resources.

Re: Porn
 

Has Catherine MacKinnon retired?

Re: Porn
 

Can I ask a couple dumb questions? Why is this debate being raised? Why are these kids doing this? (Other than usual college idiocy.)

I can't find a deeper back story explaining why these kids aren't just getting loaded and trying to have actual sex with each other like every other normal college kid in the country. And why is this idiot state legislator flipping out about this issue (Other than for political gain) when he ought to be laughing it off as silly college nonsense?

Whatever happened to defeating silly arguments by ignoring them? Is that a lost art?

Re: You can't spell v-o-l-a-t-i-l-i-t-y with a "why?".
 

This is a mischaracterization and complete bullshit.

TM

Re: Porn
 

Honestly, I'm not exactly sure why they planned the original screening.

Arguably, that is what the students did.

Re: You can't spell v-o-l-a-t-i-l-i-t-y with a "why?".
 

I don't doubt that we were talking past each other, but I am just as happy to leave it at that.