Secrets of the City

I have to remind myself about the crosswalks in Saint Paul. I have been guilty of (unwitingly) breaking this law before. Try crossing the road from the Sears parking lot to the Capitol complex sometime and you will see what I mean. Only about one in 10 drivers stop. Same for Dale St., in front of Sweeneys.

Is commenting way down? We are at like 87 comments for the day. I’m concerned the Mnspeak market share is dropping and the ad rates will plummet.

We’re going to have to start doing the commenting of two-and-a-half posters around here. I got it. I’ll bring my A game.

Hey, Sturdevant, you see that thing about the polar bears? Damn shame.

Screw you, andyst. I’m sick of your liberal bullshit. “Polar bears.” Right.

Listen you Fascist, I’ll “polar bear” you. I’ll “polar bear” you but good!

Yeah? You talk a good game, andyst, but where’s the beef?

Can’t you idiots learn to shut up? You’re both missing the point entirely.

There we go.

A job well done. That was worth at least half of an “MSP More To Life” sidebar ad.

Is commenting way down? We are at like 87 comments for the day. I’m concerned the Mnspeak market share is dropping and the ad rates will plummet.

I started tracking this a few weeks ago. Max was able to boost comments with a well-timed Michele Bachmann thread, but that gain was short lived. I expect him to pipe up any minute and say the fundamentals of MNspeak remain strong.

I expect we need an infusion of new blood. It happens every so often. I’m sure we’ll see some new folks pop up in the next little while, and then we’ll get some new discussions going. There’s only so long the same old crowd can discuss the same subjects before we start to feel like we’ve heard and said it all already.

I, for one, am dead set against any kind of a Mnspeak bailout.

Unless, of course, it includes subsidies to people with moustaches. That’d be fine.

That polar bear was probably afraid Palin was coming back to WI and was trying to escape.

What mjm said.

It would be neat if TPTB could put together some sort of stock ticker like graph of MNspeak comments.

Um, Andy? Is everything okay? How’re you feeling?

Feelin’ fine, art. And as soon as my moustache is subsidized, I’ll be sittin’ pretty.

Poor Zero the polar bear! Why wouldn’t they help him out? Bastards.

I can’t emphasize the importance of the Science Debate thing enough. There are so many decisions we make without knowing nearly as much as we could and it saddens me; I suspect the downturn in the use of science to inform public policy happened when it began to run into the non-reality-based Republican ideology. If I had to choose one thing out of the many things I can’t stand about present-day conservatives, it’s the shitting on science.

Note also the list of people from Minnesota who are on board. It’s basically a list of the worthwhile politicians and institutions in the state.

former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson
The Science Museum of Minnesota
University of Minnesota,
The Will Steger Foundation
Macalester College.

R.T. Rybak,
Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum and Tim Walz,
former state Sen. Steve Kelley, who now directs the Center for Science, Technology and Policy at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.
Minneapolis native Peter Agre, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003, was one of 31 Nobel laureates who joined.

OK. I don’t know about any of that socialized facial hair billion-dollar bailout stuff. I blame my public school education for my fiscal illiteracy…

Meanwhile, you do realize you were arguing with yourself on mnspeak, right?

He was just trying to help out with the commenting crisis.

It’s not a “crisis,” Max! That sounds too panicky! Don’t panic! Nobody panic!

Well, perhaps it’s not a crisis, but now would be the time to invest in comments, while the market is down.

While I agree that science is an important policy issue I don’t think a debate focused on science would do the democrats any good with the scientist hating US public.

Whats with the helicopter footage of that sad bear with no commentary?

So you’re telling me Andy was engaging in a kind of comment insider trading?

He was definately faslely inflating value.

Huh. And now it looks like Lehman Brothers is giving Mnspeak comments a “sell short” rating.

I think we all need to be more like Bob and double post on a regular basis.

I think we all need to be more like Bob and double post on a regular basis.

I’ll double down on some Mnspeak comments.

I’ll double down on some Mnspeak comments.

Why everything is just fine! We have some quality comments here every single day! Don’t you worry about a silly thing like numbers!

I’m not concerned. I actually think the quality of the comments is way up, if the number is somewhat down.

Also I dollar cost average my Mnspeak comments, so good or bad, I do fine.

Here’s an idea: have an hour or two per week where people can comment without logging in. Then we can ride the wave of anger over the asinine things people will say on the internet.

And that way we can finally find out about the state of kwatt’s digestive system again.

And good ol’ just sayin’ and the fake Larry Craig and all those witty jerks can comment again.

Just increasing the number of comments without a commesurate growth in the comment economy is pure comment inflation. Soon we will all be pushing wheelbarrows full of thousand comment notes, and we won’t be able to buy anything with them.

I move that when we anthologize MNSpeak comments in book format, it be titled Those Witty Jerks.

Sweet! Great idea, andyst. It would work for the film version as well.

Oh I get it. I don’t comment as much (do to a desk move) and now the quality of comments are up?? That’s comment racist Max.

I was trying to be polite about the subject, but, yes, that is what I was saying.

Bacon

Since people with facial hair are often hiding deep, most likely dark, secrets, I think any subsidies paid to them would taint the reputation of MNSpeak, once the scandals inevitably break.

mb, your desk move has proved you were the lynchpin, the keystone, the everything. The overall conversation has dragged.

Also, I should talk to you offline about, oh, never mind.

Fine, I’m putting my pants on and I’m never taking them off again.

And I think the circle bed is stupid!

::flees from thread sobbing in despair::

Whoops. That was a more catastrophic response than I was prepared for.

How do I break this to cricle bed?

Way to go, sparber.

I’m not concerned. I actually think the quality of the comments is way up, if the number is somewhat down.

Whatevs. Yer mom.

Since people with facial hair are often hiding deep, most likely dark, secrets, I think any subsidies paid to them would taint the reputation of MNSpeak, once the scandals inevitably break.

Drink my ethanol!

The Rat is right. After all, Abe Lincoln hid the facts about The Amazing Screw On Head.

Not only hid the facts about Screw On Head, but Emperor Zombie! You just cannot trust the facial haired crowd!

A guy with a goatee will never look you in the eye.

This is Minnesota. You only make eye contact when you’re going to fuck or fight. Or both.

your forgot “fish”…only when you’re gonna fuck, fight or fish. (not fist, fish)

I just came across the old clip of bearded Bob talking to Angela Davis at Jason’s Station.

Note I never take my eyes off her.

I make eye contact … a lot, and fighting ain’t my style.

*Comment quality drops to new 9 day low*

But that little audience approval meter that CNN runs underneath MnSpeak comments just skyrocketed.

I make eye contact … a lot, and fighting ain’t my style.

This is why I internet married you.

mb my comments have been far fewer as well, so I take max’s comments as typical blogosphere attacking the mainstream media. He’s just jealous of my official press badge.

The high talk coming from a guy who almost got beat by Pete the PeeCup.

Quality schmaulity. I want entertainment.

Oh, and bacon and porn.

That requires too much personal information to register. I won’t do it.

Not anymore, Jason. When you were in Hawaii, I stole your official press pass.

By the way, tonight’s Good Question is “Why is Max so awesome?” I’m thinking about turning the question into a week-long series.

Speaking of the future of mnspeak, is it time to kill the aggregator and 7 Questions link and/or update them?

Oh, and the complete archives page only goes through April 2006.

Bring back Teucer! That’ll fix all our woes — at least his mom will. (Sorry Oliver, I just cannot help myself sometimes…)

Is Teucer banned, or just a commitment-phobe?

He’s not banned.

I just want to make sure that if this site tanks, Max doesn’t walk away with a golden shower.

Too late.

OMG, that made me laugh, Kevs. You win the internets today.

I wondered why it was so stinky in here. Bourbon and pee is not a good combo Maxie.

He’s not banned.

How does one get banned from mnspeak, I wonder?

See, that’s just the thing. Golden parachute-golden shower jokes were funny like three weeks ago, and even then not very. That I can “win the internets” with one shows how little value there really is in comments right now.

You can’t really get banned. If you misbehave enough, I might be tempted to shut down your current account, but you could always start a new one. It’s really just meant as a nusiance factor to discourage people from being too unpleasant.

Are you saying you probably wouldn’t ban someone for being too pleasant? Phew. I do so enjoy it here.

Piss off, you.

Seems that kwatt accidentally put his tightie whities on wrong today. I’m guessing leg hole around the waist?

That hurts.

I would think so.

I too haven’t been commenting that much lately, although I’ve sort of become a quasi-lurker.

Frankly, ever since I parked in front of Maz’s house and got the air let out of tires, which led me to have to walk home which in turn got me involved in a run down as Berfus was getting chased by a bunch of “gang bangers,” I’ve sort gone into recluse mode.

nate…bike riding tonight? I’m parked over by your house.

Speaking of Maz, I haven’t seen him around lately. Did he storm off in a huff again and I missed it?

And what happened to Berfus? I kinda miss him and his tenuous grasp of the English language.

I deleted Maz’s account after he called Keith Ellison a raghead. He had many warnings. It took a little while before his account went bye-bye, so he commented for about a week afterward, but that was the reason for his semi-bannination.

He could, of course, start a new account if he wanted. And if he crossed that line again, he’d have to start another new account.

Since registration went into effect, however, Maz is the only one to have had his account deactivated.

I miss Kevs responses to Berfus.

One of the reasons mnspeak comments are down. People are so busy doing the work of 2 1/2 people that they don’t have time to sit down and get their head straight, let alone comment on mnspeak.

But I do still like to watch.

You can name the conservatives gone, but how many liberals bolt this board?

I don’t wanna name names, but a certain canine that thrives in precipitation levels foul, personal insults at posters. But she’s laughed at, and praised for pithy, irreverent truths.

Oh, well. said enough.

I have deleted many more of raindog’s comments than I ever did of Maz’s.

Can someone be banned for overplaying their histrionic weariness with everyone else’s imperfections? Maybe for just a week or two?

(He asked hopefully.)

Can someone be banned for overplaying their histrionic weariness with everyone else’s imperfections? Maybe for just a week or two?

(He asked hopefully.)

Terrorist fist jab for Kurtis

Since I do my jabbing in the ring at people who generally expect it…..

Maybe you could elaborate, Kurtis.

Why do you assume I was talking about you, Rat? :bats eyelashes: All right, no need for me to be coy. I just mean that a lot of your comments have a kind of world-weariness about them, and seem to communicate disgust and disappointment with the of us. It seems that you’ve seen the sun when the rest of us have seen the flickering of candle flame against the cave wall, or, in any case, that you believe this to be so.

I’m not nearly that complex.

Oh, I was just bustin’ your chops anyway.