The Default Thread

[miscorrections]

Don't you just hate it when 14 year olds come after you and make you have sex with them?

[algunz]

He's a priest. Forgiveness is his forte.

[amyzzz]

What about the victims?

[algunz]

Didn't you read? The priest or the coach or the teacher is the victim here.

[heart cooks brain]

Didn't you read? The priest or the coach or the teacher is the victim here.

did you see how they were dressed? totally asking for it.

[algunz]

Those robes and short shorts are an invitation. Sluts!

[amyzzz]

There is this article which states that pedophiles may be born being sexually attracted to children:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/opinio...html?hpt=op_t1

[miscorrections]

Just because there may be a biological basis doesn't make it any less terrible.

[heart cooks brain]

it definitely doesn't absolve some asshole from insinuating children were or are responsible for seducing a grown man.

[SoulDischarge]

Just because there may be a biological basis doesn't make it any less terrible.

Right, but, god, that has to be horrible. Not that there's any excuse and of course it should never be acted upon, but fuck, what a horrible horrible thing to be. Like that guy in Capturing The Friedmans who pretty much knew he was a monster but couldn't seem to stop himself. I can't imagine the fucking hell it must be to be attracted to one thing for that one thing to be so fundamentally terrible. It kind of makes sense why so many priests are pedophiles. You're stuck either living a life of celibacy or committing terrible acts, so it's probably best just to try to make something noble out of your abstinence. And then fail horribly as you realize it doesn't really prevent you from anything.

[miscorrections]

Oh sure, it's gotta be torture for those folks. I can't imagine it as anything but a 100% miserable existence for all parties involved.

[algunz]

"One cannot choose to not be a pedophile, but one can choose to not be a child molester."

[tricorne]

This is an ad from 1912.



I suppose what we have to decide now is how somebody's going to earn the right to be exclusively referred to as such.

[chairmenmeow47]

Right, but, god, that has to be horrible. Not that there's any excuse and of course it should never be acted upon, but fuck, what a horrible horrible thing to be. Like that guy in Capturing The Friedmans who pretty much knew he was a monster but couldn't seem to stop himself. I can't imagine the fucking hell it must be to be attracted to one thing for that one thing to be so fundamentally terrible. It kind of makes sense why so many priests are pedophiles. You're stuck either living a life of celibacy or committing terrible acts, so it's probably best just to try to make something noble out of your abstinence. And then fail horribly as you realize it doesn't really prevent you from anything.

i know someone serving time for being caught with child pornography. he was always attracted to younger girls. no matter how many times we (his theatre peers) tried to reason with him about how it was inappropriate to act on his attractions, he never got it. i couldn't imagine being attracted to someone in such a harmful way. i don't think it is something that can be fixed either; it's just a matter of not acting on your attractions. what a sad, shameful, secret life.

[tricorne]

Hug Me Jacket: Coat for the Cold and Lonely

Here is the perfect parka for the long, dark, and lonely days of winter. "Everybody needs love, don't they?" asks emerging menswear designer Si Chan on his blog. Chan says he designed his eccentric kelly green puffer jacket, which features a row of clasped hands running up the front, to make the wearer feel "warm and hugged."

While Chan, who recently graduated with top honors from London's College of Fashion, purposely exaggerated the padding to resemble a kid's stuffed toy in order to emphasize the warm and fuzzy vibe of the jacket, there's also something a little creepy about it and some of the other touchy-feely items in his collection of six outfits. The grabbing hands conjure up straight jacket from a future planet or tree branches-turned-arms from a child's nightmare.

Chan explains that hugging hands are a symbol of what makes it possible for humans to "express love" and "depart from loneliness" and he insists his vision is sweet, not sinister. A photo from his blog titled "Inspiration" bears that out. It's a sun-washed snapshot of him as a giggling toddler being given a loving squeeze by his older brother. If only a jacket could make one feel that good.

The "Hug Me Jacket" is a prototype but the designer tells Yahoo! Shine he would like to produce it for sale online this winter. The cost would be about £800 ($1,1200).

[miscorrections]

That guy's face just about sums it up.

[TomAz]

Is that Will Butler?

[M Sparks]

What about the victims?

He forgives them too.

Like that guy in Capturing The Friedmans who pretty much knew he was a monster but couldn't seem to stop himself.

[Tangent] I was in a two screen theater once and Capturing The Friedmans was playing on the other screen. I stepped out of my movie to the bathroom and there was a guy with two kids at the counter trying to get a refund because he thought it was a Chevy Chase family comedy. [/Tangent]

Terrifying

[bmack86]

Voyager 1 is at the outer edge of the solar system and on the verge of breaking into the open space between stars. It'll be the first man-made object to go outside of our solar system. And it's still kicking. What an awesome little machine.

[chairmenmeow47]

Voyager 1 is at the outer edge of the solar system and on the verge of breaking into the open space between stars. It'll be the first man-made object to go outside of our solar system. And it's still kicking. What an awesome little machine.

do they know for sure? i mean, i know we've been waiting for awhile, but i thought they didn't have a way to know for sure when it left the solar system.

[algunz]

Truly an awesome little machine.

[bmack86]

do they know for sure? i mean, i know we've been waiting for awhile, but i thought they didn't have a way to know for sure when it left the solar system.

I read an article where they said that it's currently in the plasma cloud that is created at the edge of the solar system by the sun's radiation, and that they expect it to have quite a bit less turbulence once it gets outside the solar system.

The scientists said that it could be a few days, up to a year and a half.

[canexplain]

Well it 428 in the morn ....... life is odd not working.. cr*****

[algunz]

You better this morning, Ron?

[tricorne]

Bucky Fuller was born in 1895 and died in 1983. Think about that. Really think about it.

[algunz]

He saw a lot.

[tricorne]

People were still developing rudimentary radio transmission and swapping wax cylinders during his early childhood. By the time he died, he'd probably heard Thriller. I wonder if he liked it.

[canexplain]

grrrrrrrr cr****

[M Sparks]

Fun fact: One of his last projects before he died was starting a wax cylinder-only record label.

[chairmenmeow47]

wow, 60 million dollars a year to pay for the world trade center memorial. 12 million for security alone. plus memorabilia sales. jesus christ what the fuck is wrong with this country??!!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...0/1?csp=34news

WTC memorial an awesome spectacle, but at a steep price

NEW YORK (AP) -- With its huge reflecting pools, ringed by waterfalls and skyscrapers, and a cavernous underground museum still under construction, the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center is an awesome spectacle that moved and inspired some 4.5 million visitors in its first year.

But all that magnificence comes with a jaw-dropping price tag.

The foundation that runs the memorial estimates that once the roughly $700 million project is complete, it will cost $60 million a year to operate.

The anticipated cost has bothered some critics and raised concerns even among the memorial's allies that the budget may be unsustainable without a hefty government subsidy.

By comparison, the National Park Service budgeted $8.4 million this year to operate and maintain Gettysburg National Military Park and $3.6 million for the monument that includes the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Running Arlington National Cemetery, which has more than 14,000 graves and receives 4 million visitors a year, costs $45 million annually.

Officials at the 9/11 memorial say they face unique challenges that make comparisons to other national memorials difficult.

The foundation plans to spend at least a fifth of its operating budget, or around $12 million per year, on private security because of terrorism fears. Visitors to the memorial plaza pass through airport-like security, and armed guards patrol the grounds.

"The fact of the matter is that this was a place that was attacked twice," said Joseph Daniels, the foundation's president and chief executive.

Just operating the two massive fountains that mark the spots where the twin towers once stood will cost another $4.5 million to $5 million annually, said the foundation's spokesman, Michael Frazier.

Foundation officials didn't respond to requests for information about other costs at the site, including the anticipated expense of running the museum, which is still unfinished and might not be anytime soon.

The museum was supposed to open this month, but construction all but ceased a year ago because of a funding squabble between the foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land the memorial sits on.

Daniels said it will take at least a year for the museum to open once construction resumes, meaning the site may not be fully complete until at least 2014.

The failure to open the museum on time has thrown off the foundation's financial planning. Officials had expected to use the museum, being built mostly with money from various government agencies, plus private donations, as its main source of revenue.

While visitors will be allowed into the above-ground portions of the memorial for free, the foundation plans to charge people to descend into the museum's exhibition space, where they will see portraits of the nearly 3,000 victims, hear oral histories of the tragedy and view artifacts such as the staircase World Trade Center workers used to flee on Sept. 11, 2001.

The admission price hasn't been set. But if the museum gets the 2 million visitors a year the foundation expects, a $12 fee, like the one charged at the memorial to the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, would cover 40 percent of the operating costs. More money will be generated through fundraising and the sale of memorabilia.

In addition, the foundation and several elected officials have proposed that the American public pick up one-third of the operating costs.

So far, Congress has balked. A bill proposed by Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye, that would have had the National Park Service contribute $20 million per year ran into opposition from Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who noted that the federal government had already spent $300 million on the memorial project.

A National Park Service official, William Shaddox, testified at a hearing that $20 million is more than the agency can afford, and larger than the entire annual appropriation for nearly 99 percent of the parks in its system.