The Vent and Rant Thread

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

This person is insisting that he was "in publishing" for 27 years, and therefore, knows everything, positively everything, better than everyone (yes, everyone!) else. When he said he was being slandered...well, I couldn't really let THAT go, could I? Someone who was in publishing, for nearly three decades, doesn't know that slander and libel aren't the same thing? Hmmm...I'm smellin' limburger here. I believe that the besmirching of the good name of X, is a requisite element of the case. Thoughts? I think it's impossible to defame an anonymous or pseudonymous person. Or an imaginary one. Whichever.

IANAL, but aside from the correct definitions of slander and libel, there's another consideration: it's not slander or libel if it's true.

The essence of such laws is that the one accused of breaking them is deliberately and maliciously spreading falsehoods to damage another's reputation.

My response to your poster insisting 27 years in publishing and superior knowledge thereby would be "Given the ignorance you've displayed on various related matters, I don't believe your claims. Post verifiable documentary evidence of your claimed experience, or I will continue to disbelieve you." I'm not outright accusing him of lying. I am demanding supporting evidence.
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Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

IANAL, but aside from the correct definitions of slander and libel, there's another consideration: it's not slander or libel if it's true.

Indeed. And while IANAL, I ran a division of a company--Strategic Planning and Legal--and dealt with legal matters, documents, and lawyers all day long. I did mention that to the others--if'n it's twoo, ain't no defamation. Truth, as they say, is an absolute defense in cases of Libel/slander/defamation.

The essence of such laws is that the one accused of breaking them is deliberately and maliciously spreading falsehoods to damage another's reputation.

Exactly right. The malice is an essential element of the thing.

My response to your poster insisting 27 years in publishing and superior knowledge thereby would be "Given the ignorance you've displayed on various related matters, I don't believe your claims. Post verifiable documentary evidence of your claimed experience, or I will continue to disbelieve you." I'm not outright accusing him of lying. I am demanding supporting evidence.
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Dennis

GMTA! (It's our in-office acronym for "great minds think alike.") I said that, although somewhat less directly than you did. I simply pointed out that while posting pseudonymously had the benefits of allowing him to say pretty much anything he wanted, it also deprived him of the imprimatur of gravitas to which he felt he was entitled. I said, pretty clearly--step up, say who you are, and then we'll all defer to your vastly greater experience. Oddly enough--whoda thunk it?--he didn't. He's simply continued with his lamentations of being maligned and slandered (his word), because people have actually stood up to him and said "no, you're not right."

I've never understood that tack, in a forum/list debate. If you repeat someone's assertions back to them, displaying the flaws/illogic, etc., you're "slandering" someone or "lying about" them. Hunh?

Ah well. I just thought you lords and ladies would appreciate the 5-year scenario, and this other bit, which honestly, is giving me the giggles. Slandered. {snort} The five-year book saga? Believe it or not, we have another one that's been languishing longer than that. LOL.

Hitch

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I've never understood that tack, in a forum/list debate. If you repeat someone's assertions back to them, displaying the flaws/illogic, etc., you're "slandering" someone or "lying about" them. Hunh?

I've seen the like.

My current shake-my-head-in-bemused-wonder example comes from a chap who calls himself Vox Day. (His real name is known, so he's not hiding behind a shield of anonymity.)

Vox under his real name is a published SF writer. He and his followers believe publishing has been essentially taken over by Lesbian feminists, making it increasingly difficult for them to get published. (I know the editors at an assortment of trade houses, and while they are mostly female and on the opposite side of the political fence from Vox, they also check their politics at the office door, and purchase decisions are "Is this a good book my house can sell?" matters.)

He previously gave fits to the folks who administer the annual Hugo Awards via ballot box stuffing and block voting for stuff his faction liked. (At least one Hugo nominee who Vox's followers liked and nominated asked that his work be removed from consideration, because he didn't want to provide any support to Vox and company.) The Hugo voters responded by voting No Award in categories dominated by those tactics.

His current effort is a search engine intended to compete with Google. It learns your beliefs, and concentrates on finding and displaying links that support them. This is magical thinking at its worst: if you believe it, it must be true, and here's an Internet link proving it!

Whatever it is, no matter how outrageous, you can find someone who believes it, and has a website about it. There's a chap in Bangkok, Thailand that really believes the Earth is in fact flat, and has been spamming various LinkedIn forums with links to a video and a couple of books he's written about it. Precisely how you can manage to believe that in our current day and age is a mystery to me, but he manages to do it.

I would ROTFL if the underlying motivations and trends this behavior illustrates weren't sources of despair.
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Dennis

[Katsunami]

.I'm smellin' limburger here.

Limburger cheese? You've got that there?

That stuff deserves an entire own book full of rants. I eat most anything, but Limburger cheese is gross. And it stinks.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Limburger cheese? You've got that there?

That stuff deserves an entire own book full of rants. I eat most anything, but Limburger cheese is gross. And it stinks.

It appears you haven't encountered Époisses de Bourgogne

Another stinky cheese, but quite tasty if you can get past the smell.

(I'm personally not all that fond of Danish Blue Cheese, but do adore Stilton, which is in the same family of veined cheeses.)
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Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Limburger cheese? You've got that there?

That stuff deserves an entire own book full of rants. I eat most anything, but Limburger cheese is gross. And it stinks.

My parents adored Limburger. Smeared on a good rye, with onions. Oh, yeah...not something anyone did if company were coming in any time frame shorter than a week, lol. I've had it, but that was decades ago, and I've not really developed a taste for it.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It appears you haven't encountered Époisses de Bourgogne

Another stinky cheese, but quite tasty if you can get past the smell.

(I'm personally not all that fond of Danish Blue Cheese, but do adore Stilton, which is in the same family of veined cheeses.)
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Dennis

I've heard about the Époisses, but haven't had the pleasure. I am a big Stilton fan. Mr. Hitch is not. (Of course, he is also ignorant of the joys of a homemade apple pie with cheddar, too, so...he's simply a heathen. Fortunately, he has compensatory qualities.)

Hitch

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Limburger cheese? You've got that there?

That stuff deserves an entire own book full of rants. I eat most anything, but Limburger cheese is gross. And it stinks.

MMMMM, Limburger and Surströmming. The Northern European answer to chemical warfare.

[Katsunami]

You know what's ironic?

It's impossible to make Limburger cheese in the Dutch part of Limburg. The law prescribes that a cheese cellar (where the stuff is ripened) has to be tiled in the Netherlands, and that seems to cause some of the needed bacteria to not be present. (As far as I understand it, from Wikipedia.)

[badgoodDeb]

Ewwww -- so limberger is really rotten cheese?

My mom used to get it occasionally. The whole family would rib her till it was finally gone.

[Katsunami]

I don't know if it's rotten; I suspect it isn't, but there is definitely some sort of fermenting going on (but it doesn't produce acohol). I don't know, I'm only a cheesy guy, not a cheese maker

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

My parents adored Limburger. Smeared on a good rye, with onions. Oh, yeah...not something anyone did if company were coming in any time frame shorter than a week, lol. I've had it, but that was decades ago, and I've not really developed a taste for it.

I haven't acquired the taste either. I think it's one of those things you appreciate because you grew up with it, and may not learn to appreciate if you haven't.

I've heard about the Époisses, but haven't had the pleasure. I am a big Stilton fan. Mr. Hitch is not. (Of course, he is also ignorant of the joys of a homemade apple pie with cheddar, too, so...he's simply a heathen. Fortunately, he has compensatory qualities.)

For me, Brie is top cheese, with Stilton second. (But Brie really needs to be served at the proper temperature, where it's just beginning to get runny. Too many folks serve it without letting it warm properly. If you serve it fresh from the refrigerator, you're doing it wrong.)

I like smoked cheeses, and have a "grew up eating it" fondness for American cheese.

I love a good homemade apple pie, and a good cheddar, but generally prefer them served separately. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is my preferred addition to apple pie.

An old friend, decades back, was a cheese maven, and had "cheese days" at the office we both worked at where he'd bring in a variety of them. Pretty much every culture in the world makes cheese, and some of them are very odd, like a weird Moroccan braided cheese I believe was made from goat's milk. In NYC, I can get Queso blanco because it's a staple at places catering to the Hispanic market.

But then, if it's food, you can find it in NYC.
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Dennis

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ewwww -- so limberger is really rotten cheese?

My mom used to get it occasionally. The whole family would rib her till it was finally gone.

If that shocks you, you really don't want to know what you are eating. A lot of cheese contains fungus (examples Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzolla, Danish Blue), like some of the ones mentioned here. I heard a story once about the origin of Roquefort (I don't know if it is true though) that it was 'invented' by a shepard that had moldy bread next to his cheese. As he had nothing else to eat, he ate it and enjoyed it.
As mentioned above, Surströmming is basically fermented herring. There are a lot of examples of people eating (or drinking) food that is fermented or molded. Not all bacteria/fungi are bad of course.

That being said, I like my blue cheeses but never liked Limburger though. A bit too much for me. I am the only one though, my family doesn't like it. A good thing though that they never want a piece of my pizza with Gorgonzola on it.

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I love a good homemade apple pie, and a good cheddar, but generally prefer them served separately. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is my preferred addition to apple pie.

Hmm, warm apple pie with some good custard. Yummy. Never had applie pie combined with cheddar though.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

That being said, I like my blue cheeses but never liked Limburger though. A bit too much for me. I am the only one though, my family doesn't like it. A good thing though that they never want a piece of my pizza with Gorgonzola on it.

Lock your doors and windows, I'm coming for that pizza...

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

...
As mentioned above, Surströmming is basically fermented herring. There are a lot of examples of people eating (or drinking) food that is fermented or molded. Not all bacteria/fungi are bad of course...

I once had a Swedish friend who was in the US on a technical work visa. One Christmas he went home to Sweden to visit family and brought back a tin of Surströmming. When he opened it in a house full of people, he cleared the place of a couple of dozen people. I was across the room and nearly vomited from the smell. He related that in Sweden, there are neighborhoods where it is illegal to open a can of the stuff.