Monday, July 15, 2013

I Got Fronted and it Feels Like A Hug

I checked in at the Big House Blog and There I was one more time. 'Fronted' because yesterday, one of us misinterpreted an Althouse vlog reference of the movie quote from Network (1976) - "I'm as Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going To Take it Anymore". The commenter thought that Althouse was saying she, herself, was mad at her commenters. When the reference was really about something else entirely.

I'm commenting up front to say I don't believe Althouse is Mad at her Commenters. You guys and I are her commenters, btw, that's how we started. I posted a Who Am I post and it barely broke 20 comments. Message received, not so loud but clear enough, I'm under no illusions.

Commenter Freeman Hunt asks a question in the James Bond Open Thread that feels somehow appropriate here, in some tangential lighthearted context that I know Althouse could stich together with the appropriate strings that get Betamax all excited.
"Is the Internet not the best venue for unemotional people to give hugs? I submit that it is."
And then she follows up...

"Or maybe my thinking is that immediate internal states are something you have but external states, immediate or otherwise, are something you choose."
And more...
"Emotions are wonderful."
"And no, I'm not talking about oneself versus the environment. I'm talking about how you feel inside versus what you express outside. Internally, people have immediate reactions to things. That's tough to choose at the moment of an event, but the pattern can be affected over time. Long term internal states are mostly chosen, I think. External states, apart from true reflexes, can be almost entirely chosen, in my opinion. (Then those go to affecting the pattern of internal states and so on.)"

After someone says she might be stoic, Freeman Responds...
"But I'm no pantheist. And I don't think that all emotions, even negative emotions, are bad.
But do I believe in the stiff upper lip? Sure."

116 comments:

Icepick said...

First?

Icepick said...

Yeah! And I just might be the first idiot to do a "FIRST" on Lem's blog! It's HISTORY, baby, HISTORY!

Icepick said...

Although the best first comment on a post here has to be this:

I don't give a shit - I'll walk right in here butt naked, drunk, and frisky. Where's the jacuzzi?

bagoh20 said...

The reason that post didn't get much was because another one came up and people are in the mood for general stuff now that a couple current events have passed.

Let's not let the atrocities of this current administration drift away like smoke. They are serious issues: The IRS being a cesspool of waste and anti-Americanism, the travesty that is the DOJ, including taking sides and politicizing the Zimmerman affair among others, the clusterfuck known as Obamacare, and every other clusterfuck with the word Obama in it.

BTW, an obscure blog that I follow, and which you might get some good post ideas from is "dinocrat.com" .

Icepick said...

I just checked. I AM the first idiot to do a "FIRST" here. I am _so_ proud!

bagoh20 said...

Damned straight, Icepick, and I meant it. If I ever find where this place is, you'll all be sorry.

Icepick said...

Lem for President!

Icepick said...

AS for the Obama Administration - it's been one disaster after another. We've now reached a situation in which laws are enforced in an entirely arbitrary and capricious manner, and the entirety of the federal government is there solely for the benefit of the President and his cronies and they're actively trying to screw over the rest of the country.

And the country approves of this.

The Republic is dead. Rule of law is dead. And the social contract is dead.

It's too depressing to talk about. I'm sure, though, that if edutcher where here he would just tell us that if only more Republicans had cared last fall....

No, I'm going back to nonsense, because the world itself is now a complete and total clusterfuck.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Lem for President!

Did I say I was severely conservative?

Icepick said...

Did I say I was severely conservative?

Ah, crap, you're not another Romney, are you?

Icepick said...

Damned straight, Icepick, and I meant it. If I ever find where this place is, you'll all be sorry.

Well, Bagoh isn't drinking enough that it's affecting his memory. He clearly remembered it.

chickelit said...

Lem, if you get "fronted" on the subway, I believe they call that frottage. (rhymes with garage and bissage)

Icepick said...

Which begs the question, just how many parties HAS Bagoh crashed while walking in butt-naked, drunk and frisky? America demands answers!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Ah, crap, you're not another Romney, are you?

lol.

Read the post... I got fronted...

I'm poking fun at me. commenter as I was.

I have go somewhere now but I will be back soon. I'll be on the phone, which is just as good as...

Thanks.

Freeman Hunt said...

And now I'll effuse for a moment:

You know what was on sale at the store this weekend? Rack of lamb.

Will be ready to eat in fifteen.

bagoh20 said...

" just how many parties HAS Bagoh crashed while walking in butt-naked,"

I was welcome until I started wearing Inga's panties. People got all bitchy then. It was a confluence of the woman haters and the homo haters. They found hating me as a common bond. I'm a uniter - not a divider.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
deborah said...

They found hating me as a common bond. I'm a uniter - not a divider.

I'd rather fight than switch.

rcocean said...

Still wagging the finger. "You're all just a bunch of haters".

Meade as Atticus Finch.

Boring.

Icepick said...

I got fronted....

WOOOORRRRDDDDD.

Icepick said...

I was welcome until I started wearing Inga's panties. People got all bitchy then.

And who can blame them?

bagoh20 said...

you sound like you hate, you know, "homos". You don't, do you?"

Well, no. I mean I actually was a homo until I found out what the secret handshake was. When I said I was quitting, they tore off my epaulettes and shirt buttons and kicked me out...... eventually after some other stuff went down. All a standard part of the ceremony, I'm told. But no, I hold no resentments.

I do however hate hyphenators ever since that incident in the coat room in 7th grade English class. Foul business that hyphenating. It's ungodly.

Icepick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Darcy said...

Um, hello, Althouse.

(You miss us! You REALLY miss us!)

:)

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chennaul said...

Meade said...
"(rhymes with garage and bissage)"

And it tastes a little like chicken. Little.

July 15, 2013 at 7:07 PM

******

Dearest Meade--(and I mean that Canadian stye.)

That reminds me--I neglected to respond to your outstanding invitation to quote>\:

"Bite me."

Un-regretfully I will have to decline as I am not willing to foray into the unknown frontier of answering the hypothesis--

Does Cardinal taste like Chicken.

My suspicions is that it is close but I do not wish to investigate this per your research offer.

Sincerely--(again Canadian style--and I mean that...)


Madawaskan

Chennaul said...

Correction:

My ^suspicion^ is.

Feel free to negate all value due to poor grammar.

The Dude said...

Yeah, I think my rabies diagnosis stands - the foaming at the mouth, the loss of balance, the change of habits - yep, someone needs to do the right thing.

Anonymous said...

Bagoh, I want my panties back now, thanks.

Icepick said...

Shit. There goes the neighborhood.

ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

Guildofcannonballs said...

Through the sleepless nights.

Throughout the endless pain.

I remember you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivFYVAntpw0

rhhardin said...

If you're going to argue for same sex marriage, it seems to me, you have to deal with the best counterargument, not the worst.

I didn't see any of that.

deborah said...

Althouse asks:

What emptiness are your jaws clamped around?

Anonymous said...

And I hope you didn't stretch them out.

Anonymous said...

Bagoh, I knew you were trying to smoke me out, heh .

bagoh20 said...

"And I hope you didn't stretch them out"

I bet you actually hope I did. We both do.

Guildofcannonballs said...

This is all you need to know about you, regardless of normhouse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivFYVAntpw0

Rocketeer said...

I submit that being Christian and being Stoic are not mutually exclusive. I'm no pantheist, either. I do think, however, that negative emotions are generally bad.

Heck, I think that Marcus Aurelius missed being considered homo naturaliter Christianus by 200 years.

Anonymous said...

My jaws are clamped around a chocolate bar right now Lindt's 70%.

rhhardin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

(trying screwed up links again)

I was noticing how much more musical Andras Schiff is than Glenn Gould on the prelude to Bach English Suite 3.

Gould is usually pretty good but his choice of what to feature isn't great here.

Also his appoggiaturas are clunky.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I cannot remember a time when I didn't have a problem with what Norm from Cheers did.

I hate Boston.

I really do.

I hate New York too.

The City that is.

Rudy is gone yo.

rhhardin said...

I go for the Lindt 90%

70% is mostly sugar.

deborah said...

If you're going to argue for same sex marriage, it seems to me, you have to deal with the best counterargument, not the worst.

What do you think is the best counterargument? I don't think it is what the traditional meaning of marriage is. Language morphs over time.

Anonymous said...

90% is too bitter for me, I prefer a bit of sweetness.

rhhardin said...

90%

Try a much smaller quanitity, say a quarter of a scored square.

Also it's better if fairly warm so that it doesn't fracture when chewed.

Icepick said...

I go for the Lindt 90%

70% is mostly sugar.


Sigh.

Icepick said...

Somewhere Euclid is very sad, and he's getting no comfort at all from Newton or Gauss.

Joe Schmoe said...

Lem, I guess being fronted is better than being rear-ended.

Icepick said...

Lem, I guess being fronted is better than being rear-ended.

Can't we give the gay marriage thing a rest already?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of sweet, anybody read the Althouse post that links to a new study that shows that the obesity gene FTO keeps you fat by making you hungry? If both your parents have the gene, you have a 70% of being obese. Ghrelin the hunger hormone is elevated and the brain is extra sensitive to it, hence fat people. Bad genetics makes for huge appetite.

Some good news, a new study shows that exercise can have a DNA level effect against fat cells.
here

Guildofcannonballs said...

Don't give it a chance.

Why not not give it a chance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2smz_1L2_0

With A R T about, present, prescient, and not quite but linked, why not enjoy humanity with cause?

Anonymous said...

Rh,
I have eaten the 90% with hot creamy coffee. Letting it melt in my mouth with a sip of hot coffee is quite delicious.

She was so sweet, chocolate wouldn't melt in her mouth, or was that butter?

chickelit said...

Inga asserted: Bad genetics makes for huge appetite.

Man, I just hope nobody ever correlates obesity with race.

Trooper York said...

It seemed to be a sort of monster, or symbol representing a monster, of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive. If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful.
(The Cult of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft 1926)

chickelit said...

@Troop, has there been a Joan Rivers sighting?

edutcher said...

I think Lem's right about Ann not so much being mad at the commentariat as she is burned out.

YMMV.

PS Is the She Devil of the SS' avatar supposed to be herself in the womb?

Trooper York said...

Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism. But it is not from them that there came the single glimpse of forbidden eons which chills me when I think of it and maddens me when I dream of it. That glimpse, like all dread glimpses of truth, flashed out from an accidental piecing together of separated things — in this case an old newspaper item and the notes of a insane professor....
(The Cult of Cthuhlu, H.P. Lovecraft 1926)

Anonymous said...

Yeah whatevah....what does it take to summon a bra fitter?

deborah said...

Chick, how's your Joan Rivers imitation?

chickelit said...

deborah said...
Chick, how's your Joan Rivers imitation?

Raspy. I struggle with female voices.

Icepick said...

Man, I just hope nobody ever correlates obesity with race.

Don't worry, if they do it will only be to show that white Hispanics are tubs of goo.

Trooper York said...

Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: There is one outside chance for a cure. I think of it as shock treatment - as I said, it's a very outside chance... Have you ever heard of exorcism? Well, it's a stylized ritual in which the rabbi or the priest try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's been pretty much discarded these days except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of an embarrassment, but uh, it has worked. In fact, although not for the reasons they think, of course. It's purely a force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession is what helped cause it, so in that same way, a believe in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
(The Exorcist, 1973)

deborah said...

Raspy is what her voice is. Kinda. Maybe do Marge Schott?

ndspinelli said...

There are some people who crash a party and never leave. Somehow they always find the party, even if everyone tries to keep it secret. They believe they're the life of the party, but everyone merely tolerates them. Sometimes someone takes pity on them and engage them in conversation. That rarely happens twice.

Hagar said...

If Althouse isn't "Mad as Hell" at Ritmo, she must be the only one that isn't.

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I've known about this party since the beginning. Lem invited and stated that Inga was welcome here and Bagoh called me out to play. So if you and your buddy want to bully someone, fine, but remember I am a guest of the host, Lem.

Joe Schmoe said...

A-Rod could use a hug right now, since he may be suspended up to 150 games for PED use.

For all you Red Sox fans out there, of which I am one, say a prayer of thanks tonight to the Baseball Gods, because if the players' union didn't jump in and quash the deal at the last second, then A-Rod, his bad hips and purple lips, his 150-game suspension, and his grotesque contract would all be the property of the Boston Red Sox right now.

The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

Anonymous said...

Lem said on Friday July 12th!

"Please feel free to share your own stories, impressions, apprehensions and whatever Inga wants to say. (At Lem's we love Inga)".

So I suggest you apologize toour host Lem and find your own manners.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is it ok If I correct/improve/touch up something I see in my writing later... after I've already clicked on Publish?

Or is that a no no?

I remember (like it was yesterday) Althouse had meticulous procedures about that.

I figure as long as a post is being commented on... its alive... so it can get revised.

Paddy O said...

I think it's okay as long as it's just minor editing.

If you're changing a main point, or taking out a major section, it's good to note it. And it's good to note major additions at the end of the post.

That's how I roll, on the rare times I do so.

rhhardin said...

On a dog walk I was hearing my baby monitor playing Mass in B Minor a quarter mile away, a new record.

The baby monitor on my hat relays what's streaming on the computer.

I gather a temperature inversion is sending some radio waves bound skyward back to earth, so you get 1/r spreading instead of 1/r^2 and can hear things much further away.

edutcher said...

Inga said...

Oh my, I've known about this party since the beginning.

Of course, you did.

Just like LeChiffre in "Casino Royale", you see everything around you.

Lem invited and stated that Inga was welcome here and Bagoh called me out to play. So if you and your buddy want to bully someone, fine, but remember I am a guest of the host, Lem.

So are we all.

Keep that in mind; you were outed because you wanted to play Unanimous and play little comment games with yourself (which sounds really weird).

If Troop can throw you out, anyone can.

edutcher said...

PS Get ready for a round of, "Brava, Lem"s, if the proprietor says he likes bacon.

chickelit said...

Lem, when I write I often leave out entire words or use too many. I think it's OK to fix that sort of thing that spell check doesn't catch. But if you change the meaning of what you wrote you should so say.

Anonymous said...

Ed, I'm not going to slip back into a tit for tat with you, as on Althouse, it's boring . I won't do it so stop trying. You are only making yourself look bad by continuously attacking. Give it a rest, aren't you tired of it?

I think there are several commenters here who want to recreate an Althouse comments section here at Lem's. I think not one of us is too old to learn from past mistakes, are we?

Paddy O, Freeman Hunt and Caplight have been saying some really great things, I think we all could take them to heart.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That's what I thought Paddy.


edutcher said...

Inga said...

Ed, I'm not going to slip back into a tit for tat with you, as on Althouse, it's boring . I won't do it so stop trying. You are only making yourself look bad by continuously attacking. Give it a rest, aren't you tired of it?

I think there are several commenters here who want to recreate an Althouse comments section here at Lem's. I think not one of us is too old to learn from past mistakes, are we?


Same old passive-aggressive act, bait someone else and cry when the object responds.

We'll see how this ends.

bagoh20 said...

"Lem said on Friday July 12th!"

Nobody is perfect. Lem is new at this.

I heard through the tubes that Althouse closed the comments down solely because Inga kept agreeing with her, and it was destroying her self-esteem.

All makes sense now, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

So what happens when Althouse works the kinks out of a restricted membership version of her blog?

She will, you know. She's not going to let her site ranking slip into obscurity. She's a competitive person -- not that there's anything wrong with that! -- and I doubt there are enough pure readers to keep her traffic up where she believes she belongs.

As others have mentioned, I suspect Meade has an agenda here beyond nudging us to hit a pay-pal link for his buddy, Lem. We are not to forget the Mother Ship from whence we came.

At least the half people here will be invited back. What happens then? Does Lem's Levity shrivel into another blogspot tumbleweed?

Are there enough commenters to keep conversation in both places going?

edutcher said...

bag, you nailed it.

deborah said...

Pedantic pointer:

Passive aggressive means to fail to do something in order to show your aggression. Such as not sending a birthday card or constantly showing up late for meetings. The term first came into use during WWII to describe soldiers that would make up excuses to not perform duties that were life-threatening. Which of course for them was a survival technique. (Sorry to barge in.)

Anonymous said...

Bagoh, don't lapse into woman hater mode, now that I'm letting you keep my panties for another 6 months.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Do I have to search "cleaning windows" for you.

Okay then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYyVxQgnhDo

Do other than settle down or up or whatnot

deborah said...

Will Althouse go to her Aulthou.se idea? She'd have more control, maybe. Anyone can give anyone else their password anytime anyway.

chickelit said...

Inga Schwatzenegger

Anonymous said...

Ja,sehr gut! Dankeschoen Liebchen!

caplight45 said...

Does Trooper York have a magazine filled with loaded literary projectiles at the ready? Serious fire power tonight.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What emptiness are your jaws clamped around?

Althouse was saying she was mad as hell at the bad writing of people who are supposed to write better.

edutcher said...

deborah said...

Pedantic pointer:

Passive aggressive means to fail to do something in order to show your aggression. Such as not sending a birthday card or constantly showing up late for meetings. The term first came into use during WWII to describe soldiers that would make up excuses to not perform duties that were life-threatening. Which of course for them was a survival technique. (Sorry to barge in.)


No apologies necessary, Ma'am.

caplight45 said...

Does Trooper York have a magazine filled with loaded literary projectiles at the ready? Serious fire power tonight.

Troop keeps them in a 48FFF bra by his keyboard.

bagoh20 said...

Lem, You have an awesome real name. It sounds like the name a great concert hall or theater.

bagoh20 said...

"Althouse was saying she was mad as hell at the bad writing of people who are supposed to write better."

Well, that leaves me out. Must have been one of you people with an education. At least I can cut the grass and carry stuff, so she might tolerate me.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

I stand on the shoulders of gnats.

bagoh20 said...

Over 300 comments on that previous open thread, and none of them were Ritmo, so that's like 800 for people with only 10 fingers.

edutcher said...

OT and FWIW, but here's something to conjure with:

IRS found to have "improperly" accessed candidate and donor tax records.

And AG "my people" isn't interested in investigating
.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

bagoh20 said...

Don't gnats have 3 sets of shoulders? You can have a party, whereas the pitiful great man stands alone with his head in the clouds.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I was sending thank you notes back via the phone and I received some failure notifications.

So I want to take this opportunity to say thanks again.

Rh was killing me with the Ross P Obama & VP material this morning.

caplight45 said...

Years ago when I lived in Philly the ABC affiliate used the Action News! format. The opening was very dramatic. I remember one night the anchor, Jim Gardner, opened with something like, "Increasing tensions in the Middle East touch Philadelphia, congressman indicted in scandal and a tragic explosion claims fifteen lives in Texas, but the BIG story on Action News is dead fish in the Schuylkill River!

I don't remember the exact words but I think that is kind of what Bagoh was saying, whether we have comments at Althouse or we all love each other, there is still serious stuff going on not being addressed:

IRS still covering up and has not been held to account nor had their wings clipped beside maybe cutting back on luxury conferences.

Benghazi has never been dealt with.

DOJ and Holder are still subverting the rule of law in favor of the rule of agenda and "tribal" interests.

The economy is still in the tank.

Greens are colluding with the Dems to destroy domestic energy infrastructure to be replaced with unicorns and rainbows.

The destruction of our healthcare system continues apace.

The rule of law, congressional approval and oversight is being replaced by executive fiat.

The Gov't continues to be subverted by a ruling class of lib/prog elitists and their drones who treat us as subjects and not citizens.

So, from my perspective, maybe we ought to keep our eye on the ball and I would suggest that the BIG story on Action News is not, "Althouse closes comments on her blog."

rcommal said...

Dance away.

bagoh20 said...

rcommal, I watched it all, and now I feel funny inside.

chickelit said...

I can think of only one retort to rcommal's disco number:

(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman (1979)

chickelit said...

(Gotta love Ray Davies' dig at "Stayin' Alive" around 2m32s)

deborah said...

Althouse was saying she was mad as hell at the bad writing of people who are supposed to write better.

That's not what I got Lem. It was interesting that when I first read the highlighted material about the slanted floor, etc., I was assuming it was from an old post of hers, maybe referring to her early life after she left home and lived in a bad apartment. And I thought it was well-written. But if you follow the link, you are supposed to guess was it Obama or Palin who wrote it.

But what intrigued me was the way she lifted the question asked from the quoted material:

"What emptiness are your jaws clamped around?"

A traditional Althousian poser, created to make us think, in this case, in relation to the New Order and what is really going on, and why.

rcommal said...

Careful, there, El Pollo. Who knows what I might break out in return. Or not. ; .

rcommal said...

bagoh20:

rcommal, I watched it all, and now I feel funny inside.

Cha-ant, cha-ant [chant-chantchant]

Cha-ant, cha-ant [chant-chantchant]

Yo! ; \

edutcher said...

What caplight said.

That's why I slipped in that little item from the Washington Times.

That was what Althouse really did - provide a forum so people could talk about what was going on. That was her original intent, create a coffee-house, not a soapbox, as she said in the vid.

To paraphrase Tony Quinn when Irene Papas asked him why Jimmy Darren didn't come back from the raid, she forgot why she came there.

Aridog said...

creeley23 said...

So what happens when Althouse works the kinks out of a restricted membership version of her blog? ... At least the half people here will be invited back. What happens then? Does Lem's Levity shrivel into another blogspot tumbleweed? ... Are there enough commenters to keep conversation in both places going?

Just personally, I doubt Althouse will become a restricted membership blog. There is literally no impediment now, Blogger can accommodate it with a "list" just like others have done. In short, I'm guessing were that her objective, it'd already be done. If it was all about ego over there, how much better to be able to anoint some and not others. Nah, I doubt that's Ann's thing....she want sot o influence people, and now, she can carry on without knowing how much. So be it.

I am quite sure there are enough commenters to keep Lem's place going, even if they join up elsewhere. I certainly appreciate another place to read discussions among some of the same people from Althouse. I'm fairly regular on Legal Insurrection, for example, more a reader than commenter, and that hasn't impeded my visits here.

For one, I'm not inclined to "ask for" access to a restricted blog, been there, done that, with LGF. My profile has my email, any operator wants my presence they can let me know. I figure if I was welcome I'd already have been invited ... and odd quirk I have, waiting to be invited instead of pounding on a door.

Others here now also read and comment elsewhere, some of them on restricted sites. Lem's LLL effort will stand on its own. It may have grown out of an action at AA, but it is not a product of AA.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aridog said...

Meade said...

Comments - as we knew them - will never return to the Althouse blog.

That, however, was not Creely's point.

Anonymous said...

Comments - as we knew them - will never return to the Althouse blog.

And who knows what that really means, like Meade's earlier blather about "selfish and emotional overreactions to minor problems."

I'm certain Althouse won't return to the wild west commenting that led to her meltdown, but the door is wide open for comments as didn't know them, whatever form that might take -- restricted membership, more proactve hosting, faster banning of obstreperous commenters, etc.

I still believe commenting will return to Althouse for traffic reasons and because it provided an interaction that at its best inspired her and she found enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

I am quite sure there are enough commenters to keep Lem's place going, even if they join up elsewhere.

Aridog: It's possible. I raise the question.

I see it in ecological terms. When two similar species compete for the same niche, it's usually winner-take-all.

At the moment Althouse commenters have at least three blogs to go to. They have overwhelimngly chosen Lem's.

If Althouse resinstates commenting, people could go to both blogs to have similar sorts of conversation, but my bet is that after a while the balance would shift and one comment section would thrive while the other starve.

Aridog said...

creely23 ...I can't really dispute your ideas on this...damnit, I've let myself become too focused on one site at times and have to smack myself upside the head to re-focus on a wider array.

Topics make a difference, to me at least. I yawn around the sundry sex and gender stuff... Beta male, zeta male, shmetta male...that is all a crock, to anyone who has studied animals in the wild as well as in domesticity. Humans are animals. The social construct-contrivance of the "beta male" is BS....imaginary at its finest.

As for sex issues...Bagoh20 has that sewed up in my view...and hilariously at that. So, when the intensity of Althouse focused on gender and sex variety, I read less and less, and said little.

Topical issues should make a blog, but I can't prove that it will...only that I know it does to me.