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TROPHY CASE

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I'm sure you have it worse though.... by kmikes33in funny

[–]diamond 13 points14 points ago

Actually, I think Godwin's Law needs to be revised a bit WRT cases like this.

The original intent was to call out people who ratchet up the level of rhetoric in an online argument by comparing their opponent's position to that of Hitler or the Nazis. I.e., "Hitler also believed in gun control!", or "The Nazis would have loved to use abortion to eliminate unwanted races!".

But there is another way the Nazis can be brought into an argument, and that's what the person in this screenshot is doing. Specifically, he's using the Holocaust as a deliberately extreme example to show the person he's responding to that he or she really doesn't have it that bad after all. IOW, deliberately using the Nazis (an icon of evil in the 20th century) to immediately define the extremes and put other positions into a different perspective.

Not that this is always a valid technique (like Egress99 said, it's a bit overpowered for this specific case), but it can be. For example, if someone was questioning my support of the First Amendment, I might respond by saying, "Not true. I would defend even the right of Neo-Nazis to express their opinions." Some might cry "Godwin's Law", but that really doesn't apply.

On a side note, I've always felt that Reductio ad Hitlerum is horribly misnamed. I know it was probably meant as a bit of a joke, but it bothers me because its name implies that it is a derivative of Reductio ad absurdum, and the two really have nothing to do with each other. Reductio ad absurdum is, if used properly, a valid logical technique that can be used to great value. But Reductio ad Hitlerum is clearly nothing more than a shallow logical fallacy. If anything, the case I describe above would better be described as Reductio ad Hitlerum.

Fuck everything about this: US Rep Walter Jones (R-NC) introduces bill that would allow churches to engage "in partisan politicking," such as endorsing candidates from the pulpit, "without losing their tax-exempt status"; he likens the current tax provisions as "communism" by mepperin atheism

[–]diamond 17 points18 points ago

That's hilarious.

Cutting private institutions free from the government feedbucket and forcing them to compete in the free market? COMMUNISM!

Heckuva job, Wally.

Google v. Oracle: no patent infringement found | Ars Technica by speckzin Android

[–]diamond 3 points4 points ago

Man, I wish I could get paid $150,000 for 9 lines of obvious code.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 0 points1 point ago

Hmm. Interesting. I don't think I've ever disagreed more with a movie review. I almost felt like the guy writing that watched a completely different movie from the one I saw.

Although he didn't come right out and say it, I couldn't help feeling his main source of disappointment is the fact that the movie was very different from the popcorn-action-flick that it was marketed as. Which is a fair point, but that's not really the movie's fault; Hollywood has a history of screwing up the marketing for movies that don't fit into neatly-defined genres. In fact, the director and editor of the movie often have little or no input into the creation of the trailers.

(Oh, and on a different note: There was a post-credit scene? FUCK.)

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 14 points15 points ago

Why hunt elephants?

What commonly 'sexy' thing are you turned off or disgusted by? (NSFW) by Waltzinblackin AskReddit

[–]diamond 1 point2 points ago

trashy and cheap

You say that like it's a bad thing.

My father once told me that in most offices/careers, you will find that 10% of people tend to do 90% of the work. Have you found this to be true in your workplace?s by 1ncognitoin AskReddit

[–]diamond 10 points11 points ago

I think it also depends on the personality of the employee. Personally, I wouldn't feel very good about myself if I was sitting around doing nothing productive for long periods of time -- even if absolutely nobody cared. Other people, I suspect, wouldn't be bothered by that in the least.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 3 points4 points ago

Good point. I don't know how I missed that. Maybe he was concerned that, if they waited until ascending to launch depth before confirming the order, he wouldn't have enough time to prevent the opposing faction from taking over and launching the missiles.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 0 points1 point ago

Just be careful with the merge. Those are some pretty hairy conflicts to try to resolve.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 40 points41 points ago

As a friend of mine once said, it's futile to analyze the behavior of aliens in a story for logical inconsistencies. They're aliens; we couldn't possibly predict the choices that they would make. Just think about all the weird shit humans do; if we were a fictional story on some alien planet, there would be thousands of complaints about how the story doesn't make sense because our behavior is ridiculously irrational.

My theory on Signs is that it wasn't an invasion with the intent of taking over the planet and/or wiping out humanity. I saw it as a sort of trial or ritual, where the aliens deliberately put themselves in a dangerous situation to test themselves and prove their strength. Sort of like ancient Native American coming-of-age trials, or Extreme Sports, or safari adventures.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 2 points3 points ago

the entire movie was terrible

Really? I was actually very impressed with it. What didn't you like about it?

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 32 points33 points ago

Well, this was only a short time before his fatal encounter with the wolves at the end of the movie. They don't make it clear exactly how long, but it could have been as short as 5 or 10 minutes. And it was obvious that, by that point, he was completely at the end of his endurance.

Alright Reddit! What are some of the biggest movie plot holes that you know of? by DrToonzin AskReddit

[–]diamond 2 points3 points ago

They're also pragmatic and know that the universe is a dangerous place. There is ample precedent of Vulcans having weapons technology (even if they don't use it unless absolutely necessary).

The biggest goof in Jurassic Park. by DreadnaughtHamsterin movies

[–]diamond 0 points1 point ago

One of the best examples of a technology reaching near perfection at the moment it becomes obsolete.

Interview with "Prometheus" writer Jon Spaihts. A good read if you like sci-fi, and an amazing one if you like writing. by Saintbabain scifi

[–]diamond 2 points3 points ago

And I'm fine with that. Every form of commercial creativity needs big money-makers to thrive.

But Hollywood has become so financially top-heavy that they can barely afford to do anything but the big money-makers anymore. That's why pretty much every movie produced anymore is a sequel, a remake, or based on a hit book (or a freaking board game). Truly original works don't have a chance unless they're lucky enough to catch the interest of someone like Keanu Reeves.

What trivial act would you like to ban or make illegal? Personally, I would like to outlaw public speakers who start off by saying, "I can't hear you!" or "Let's try that again!" by danger_mcboomin AskReddit

[–]diamond 2 points3 points ago

I had some dumbass give my Android app a 2-star review on Amazon because he couldn't get it to download and install. He acknowledged that it probably wasn't my fault, but "I haven't had this problem with any other apps."

Idiot.

erikpdx describes his "best. poop. ever." by climaxmoldin bestof

[–]diamond 5 points6 points ago

Two possible outcomes:

1) She dumps you

2) She's The One.

Good luck, man.

It's Official! Google Blog: We’ve acquired Motorola Mobility by technopwnin Android

[–]diamond 1 point2 points ago

I'll bet the Moto acquisition played a key role in that change of strategy.

Despite what they've said publicly, I'm sure that Google would love to take advantage of this new in-house expertise in hardware design and manufacturing to build the next Nexus. But they know that this puts them on thin ice with the other OHA partners. Despite Florian Mueller's inane babblings, the last thing Google would want to do is alienate their partners that have helped make Android such a huge success.

So by expanding the Nexus line, they get to have it both ways: use Motorola Mobility to build a true Google Phone the way they want, while easing fears among the other manufacturers that they are going to play favorites.

erikpdx describes his "best. poop. ever." by climaxmoldin bestof

[–]diamond 24 points25 points ago

Are you familiar with Rate My Poo? If that site was designed for anyone, my friend, it was designed for you.

DAE go to sleep every night saying that you will do something better such as wake up earlier or extercise after waking up, but when you wake up, you just decide no and go back to sleep. by narwhal_lover72in DoesAnybodyElse

[–]diamond 0 points1 point ago

All the fucking time.

I'm really hoping to break this habit this summer. I've started biking pretty regularly, and I work from home. Once the school year ends, I won't have to drive my son to school every morning, so I should be able to wake up at 6:00 or 6:30, go ride for an hour or so, and be back in plenty of time to start work.

But saying it is a lot easier than doing it...

What "amazing fact" or colloquialism do you know is actually wrong, and you're sick of correcting people about it? by TestZeroin AskReddit

[–]diamond 0 points1 point ago

Apart from that, there's a huge margin of error in what the phrase "from space" means. Does it mean low earth orbit? Some of the Mercury astronauts reported being able to see individual ships and buildings from that altitude (of course, they were all test pilots with exceptional eyesight). Does it mean GEO, or from the Moon? You won't be able to see anything but continents and oceans from that height.

Has there ever been a conspiracy theory that was proven to be true? by ghiiirocker1in AskReddit

[–]diamond 4 points5 points ago

Similarly disturbing, though on a somewhat smaller scale, is the fairly credible allegation that Richard Nixon very nearly had a reporter assassinated.

CyanogenMods Music Player "Apollo" now available. by TallGlassin Android

[–]diamond 6 points7 points ago

They're normally all about their APIs

No, they really aren't. Google offers some useful APIs, but not nearly as many as you would expect -- and certainly not as many (or as well-supported) as other companies like Amazon. This is exactly what Steve Yegge's accidentally released rant a few months ago was about.

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