The Off Topic Topic

[Razgovory]

I'm fairly certain that New Jersey is a better place than Missouri.

[grumbler]

Duke Lacrosse reference?

Almost certainly.

Jacob:  number of years ago members of the Duke Lacrosse team were accused of rape by a stripper and were charged with same after a team party.  Ultimately charges were dropped and prosecutor resigned.  Was a big story at the time (white Duke kids, black accuser, black prosecutor).

it was a bit more than that.  The accused were kicked out of school, the accuser told wildly different stories about the case (and who the perpetrators were), the woman who was with the accuser stated that she was with her the whole time and there was no rape, several people the accuser identified as having been present during the attack had undeniable evidence that they were elsewhere in the state, and the prosecutor was disbarred and jailed for making false and misleading claims to the court during hearings.  The case was prosecutorial misconduct on an unbelievable scale.

[merithyn]

I'm in a seminar for work about "How to connect with a mentor". It's interesting-ish, but the presenter is so Southern Californian that it's  hard to take anything she says seriously. Mind, this is not a young woman. She's gotta' be close to my age. Still, her accent is annoying as fuck, she's way too chipper for anyone of any age, and her jokes are overly stupid.

On top of that, she's hyped up her TedTalk at least 10 times in the last nine minutes. Oh, and she wrote a book! Did I mention that she's written a book? SUPER cool she wrote a book!

This may be why I've never much cared about going to L.A.

[mongers]

I'm in a seminar for work about "How to connect with a mentor". It's interesting-ish, but the presenter is so Southern Californian that it's  hard to take anything she says seriously. Mind, this is not a young woman. She's gotta' be close to my age. Still, her accent is annoying as fuck, she's way too chipper for anyone of any age, and her jokes are overly stupid.

On top of that, she's hyped up her TedTalk at least 10 times in the last nine minutes. Oh, and she wrote a book! Did I mention that she's written a book? SUPER cool she wrote a book!

This may be why I've never much cared about going to L.A.

Have you made 'friends' with Joni Mitchell by accident?

[PDH]

It is called "Lower California" for a reason.

[Eddie Teach]

Americans rank the 50 states and DC:



Florida? Really?

Lovely place October-April.

[DGuller]

Hmm, Arkansas or New Jersey?  Let me think about that one for a moment.   

[Barrister]

Duke Lacrosse reference?

Almost certainly.

Jacob:  number of years ago members of the Duke Lacrosse team were accused of rape by a stripper and were charged with same after a team party.  Ultimately charges were dropped and prosecutor resigned.  Was a big story at the time (white Duke kids, black accuser, black prosecutor).

it was a bit more than that.  The accused were kicked out of school, the accuser told wildly different stories about the case (and who the perpetrators were), the woman who was with the accuser stated that she was with her the whole time and there was no rape, several people the accuser identified as having been present during the attack had undeniable evidence that they were elsewhere in the state, and the prosecutor was disbarred and jailed for making false and misleading claims to the court during hearings.  The case was prosecutorial misconduct on an unbelievable scale.

I'm shocked that you think my two line summary of events didn't cover enough detail.  Shocked I say!

[garbon]

I'm in a seminar for work about "How to connect with a mentor". It's interesting-ish, but the presenter is so Southern Californian that it's  hard to take anything she says seriously. Mind, this is not a young woman. She's gotta' be close to my age. Still, her accent is annoying as fuck, she's way too chipper for anyone of any age, and her jokes are overly stupid.

On top of that, she's hyped up her TedTalk at least 10 times in the last nine minutes. Oh, and she wrote a book! Did I mention that she's written a book? SUPER cool she wrote a book!

This may be why I've never much cared about going to L.A.

I believe my whole family is from Southern California. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any of them like that.

[grumbler]

I'm shocked that you think my two line summary of events didn't cover enough detail.  Shocked I say!

I'm shocked that you thought that you were conveying the significance of the Duke Lacrosse case to Jacob in your two-line summary of events.  Shocked, I say!

[grumbler]

I'm in a seminar for work about "How to connect with a mentor". It's interesting-ish, but the presenter is so Southern Californian that it's  hard to take anything she says seriously. Mind, this is not a young woman. She's gotta' be close to my age. Still, her accent is annoying as fuck, she's way too chipper for anyone of any age, and her jokes are overly stupid.

On top of that, she's hyped up her TedTalk at least 10 times in the last nine minutes. Oh, and she wrote a book! Did I mention that she's written a book? SUPER cool she wrote a book!

This may be why I've never much cared about going to L.A.

I believe my whole family is from Southern California. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any of them like that.

Yeah, when I lived there you'd run into the occasional Valley Girl or Valley Dude, but most folks were just folks.

[The Brain]

Hmm, Arkansas or New Jersey?  Let me think about that one for a moment.   

Yes?

[Sheilbh]

Good piece in the Economist on the risk of Europe's Calhounian moment - other countries are looking at the German Constitutional Court's approach on EU matters as a bit of a model. The Polish government is going to the Polish courts because they argue that certain European laws conflict with Poland's constitutional order.

There's similar huge pushback by the French state regarding European rulings on retention of data which impacts intelligence services in Europe and the French consider unconstitutional. At least the French are considering resolving this by potentially amending the treaties rather than domestic judicial supremacy.

But it's very striking.

[Tonitrus]

Nevada is #4?

There is probably a huge portion of (Trump) Americans that only translated that as "Vegas baby!" and voted accordingly.

[alfred russel]

Nevada is #4?

There is probably a huge portion of (Trump) Americans that only translated that as "Vegas baby!" and voted accordingly.

So I see this a lot--that Vegas is very Trumpy--but...Nevada is a blue state (though not as blue as a place like California) and Vegas is the super democratic part of the state. Based on zero data and just my own guess, I bet most people who visit Vegas are democrats or lean that way (pulls disproportionately from S. California, attracts a younger crowd, probably pulls disportionately from more secular / less religious people).