Random Politics & Religion #00

Washington DC

They're one of the few groups of people he is very careful not to alienate.

Offered without comment.

http://gawker.com/word-trump-written-in-chalk-terrifies-harms-emory-st-1766477207

Offered without comment.

http://gawker.com/word-trump-written-in-chalk-terrifies-harms-emory-st-1766477207

I could maybe get drunk enough to enjoy nascar.

So are Utah people Utopians, like Michigan people are Michiganders?

Utahns.... Which doesn't sound great, but I grew up in Indiana where we're called Hoosiers even though nobody has a clue wher the word came from or what it means.

Utahns.... Which doesn't sound great, but I grew up in Indiana where we're called Hoosiers even though nobody has a clue wher the word came from or what it means.

The Word Hoosier
Jeffrey Graf
Reference Services Department
Herman B Wells Library
Indiana University - Bloomington

Like barnacles, a thick crust of speculation has gathered over the word "Hoosier" to explain the origin of Indiana's nickname. Popular theories, diligently and often sincerely advanced, form a rich, often amusing body of folklore. Those theories include: "Who's here?" as a question to unknown visitors or to the inhabitants of a country cabin; Hussar, from the fiery European mounted troops; "Huzzah!" proclaimed after victory in a fight; Husher, a brawny man, capable of stilling opponents; Hoosa, an Indian word for corn; Hoose, an English term for a disease of cattle which gives the animals a wild sort of look; and the evergreen "Who's ear?" asked while toeing a torn-off ear lying on the bar room floor the morning after a brawl.

The best evidence, however, suggests that "Hoosier" was a term of contempt and opprobrium common in the upland South and used to denote a rustic, a bumpkin, a countryman, a roughneck, a hick or an awkward, uncouth or unskilled fellow. Although the word's derogatory meaning has faded, it can still be heard in its original sense, albeit less frequently than its cousins "Cracker" and "Redneck."

From the South "Hoosier" moved north and westward with the people into the Ohio Valley, where it was applied at first to the presumably unsophisticated inhabitants of Southern Indiana. Later it expanded to include all residents of the state and gradually lost its original, potent connotation of coarseness in manners, appearance and intellect.

As for the word itself, it may derive from the Saxon word "hoo" meaning promontory or cliff or ridge or rise or hill. Jacob Piatt Dunn, a diligent scholar of the word, believes a Saxon beginning, and such a meaning survives in various place names in England. There is some sense in the notion, too, that those who applied the insult and those to whom it was applied (and who understood it) came primarily from British stock.

The unusual (ier or sier) ending has always been difficult to explain. Might it be from "scir" the old form of "shire?" The Hoo Shire would then be the Hill Country, the High Places or the Mountain Region. Would that meaning then extend to those who lived in the hills, making them the "hooscirs" and later the "Hoosiers," the mountain people, hillbillies by another name?

Yup, some interesting theories have come up, but nothing conclusive yet.

The election in Cormorant, Minnesota, was open to everyone, but Duke the dog won the most votes from the town’s citizens.

In the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist attack, the most important thing that we can all do now is come together and call Republicans racist.

I don't know about the Republicans but there probably is something to be said for the media covering the ***out of Brussels and ignoring similar terrorist attacks in the Ivory Coast and elsewhere.

Terrible attacks, all. It's just frequently disturbing how warped our distorted of world news continues to still be in this day and age at the whim of mainstream media.

The media lopsided? Tell me it isn't true!

They cover those attacks here but Belgium is getting more attention since it's so close to us. Once they happen they get a lot of mention though.

Everyone
How many of you would pilot an attack drone if asked?

So...two guys wearing USAF uniforms show up on your front door and they are like "Hey You! You're good at video games and we would like to make you a drone pilot!"

then if you agree they come in and load a program onto your PC and teach you the controls and stuff and basically you pilot the drone to the locations they give you and take out the targets they spot with green laserbeams or someshit.

You can log on any time you want

you can play for as long as you want

the program will only let you fire on targets illuminated with the green laserbeam

they could probably even set it up to autofire at the illuminated targets so all you would have to do is fly back and forth

who is in?

The most recent attacks are also covered non-stop because of the ties to Sweden (one of them lived here, the guy who was shot when they arrested Abdeslam)