Are humans the only animals that commit suicide?

[molly bloom]

A normal person when saying what you said would pick some pretty obvious, well-known deserts: obviously the Sahara, maybe the Gobi, maybe the Kalahari.

Clearly I'm queer then.

No typical person in the West, even typical educated person in the West, would say the Taklamakan (whose name you separated for some reason)

The reason being that it appears in print as 'Takla Makan' and 'Taklamakan'. I love it when you're petty.

or the Empty Quarter

It even appears in Clive Barker's novel 'Weaveworld'. If you were going to suggest a place where religious fundamentalists bent on suicide bombing should go and kill themselves, where better than an 'Empty Quarter' ?

rather than googling the names of deserts,

Nope, didn't have to. I can think of the Atacama, Mocamedes, the Simpson, the Nullarbor Plain, the Great Sandy, all without employing a search engine. I've even been in some of them.

it would be silly and pompous to expect Westerners to know about the freaking Taklamakan

Well you obviously. You're the kind of American who can live in a city with a large African American population, not that far from New York, and not know that voguing was a gay African American dance style. I suspect there may be members of the Piraha* who know what Voguing is.

*deliberately obscure reference to irritate you.

It's not that you chose deserts in the Muslim world either because you avoided the Sahara but mentioned the Gobi.

I did indeed mention the Gobi, because I'd been reading about Baron Ungern von Sternberg and the murderous regime of Choibalsan. But don't forget China's Muslims in Xinjiang, not all that far away...

I am certain that you are a pompous try-hard

Well, I'll take that in the spirit in which it was intended, but I'll also do my best to overlook your obvious inferiority complex.

who probably googled deserts because you wanted to sound intellectual

Have you joined H.C. & regina in the 'Let's mention Google as many times as possible when we haven't heard of the some of the things molly mentions in his posts ! ' groupuscule ? Or are you on some kind of profit sharing scheme with Google ?

I think we should be told.

[molly bloom]

Alby is correct about Molly though. Molly is a poor communicator.

But you in comparison communicate your ignorance and crassness so well. For instance:

his autistic obsession

Would you care to confirm whether you mean 'Early Infantile Autism' or 'Autism as a symptom' ? I suspect you don't know the difference, which is why you feel free to bandy it about so glibly. Do us all a favour and stop using words you don't understand or are unqualified to use.

He likes to throw in things he's certain that no one has heard of,

There should be a lot that's new for you to hear about then...

typically with words that he hopes they don't know either because of their obscurity

Interesting. When I referenced 'Deliverance' and 'National Lampoon's Animal House', two relatively unobscure films, you claimed to have watched both. When I used a clip from the latter to make fun of the other half of 'Poly's version of the Dimmer Twins, you asserted that I was trying to make out that dear little reggie was a stereotypical fratboy.

This despite the rather obvious fact that 'Animal House' satirizes the character in question, Niedermeyer, as a rightwing blowhard O.T.C. member, with the 'Niedermeyer' entering American television as a trope.

You burbled on witlessly about 'Deliverance' being set in 'Appalachia' when the opening scenes of the film have Burt Reynolds' character saying the reason for the trip was that it would be on:

'Just about the last wild, untamed, unpolluted, un****ed-up river in the South.'

Now if you can't remember what you claim to have watched, and can't understand what I'm getting at even with fairly explicit references, then no, no, no, it ain't me babe.

[molly bloom]

Lack of interest in some particular region's geography is not lack of intelligence, as molly desperately wishes were the case.

I'm amazed you know what I wish or think. Can you tell how many fingers I'm holding up now ?

[molly bloom]

Simply idly noting his quirks will send him on a multi-post rant on your mental deficiencies.

Which of the two of us frequently describes others as 'retarded' or as being 'autistic' ? I leave that sort of thing to you and regina, the resident Brains' Trust (heavy sarcasm intended) .

[molly bloom]

He seems nice and smart.

I'm invariably polite, even when I'm mocking. Don't get angry, get scornful. I take the advice a friend in Canada gave me when he was working in a bank- the more stressed and angry and shouty the client, the more polite you are. They hate it...

I hope you don't take offence, molly. I'm not trying to be mean... just offering some feedback.

None intended, none taken. And hey, you paid me two compliments, so taking offence would just be ungrateful and churlish.

[DaShi]

I'm invariably polite, even when I'm mocking. Don't get angry, get scornful. I take the advice a friend in Canada gave me when he was working in a bank- the more stressed and angry and shouty the client, the more polite you are. They hate it...

Ugh, I ****ing hate those people.

[Aeson]

I just forced a cat to look at the entirety of this thread and it promptly drew a warm bath and slit it's wrists.

[MrFun]

So there are people irritated at Molly because he knows about some things that they didn't know about?

[Hauldren Collider]

So there are people irritated at Molly because he knows about some things that they didn't know about?

What is it with you and not understanding a single word anyone else writes? How the hell did you ever get a master's degree?

Also: LOL I can't read any posts for a full page. Ignore list

And as predicted, Molly's insecurities are in full display. I'm poly Nostradamus

[Al B. Sure!]

So there are people irritated at Molly because he knows about some things that they didn't know about?

It's not that and you know it. Why does he post obscure non-sequiturs? He's an arrogant ***** and a show-off. We're not bullying him. We're exposing him for what he is. He wouldn't be worth the effort if he wasn't so haughty.

[regexcellent]

I'm not going to bother reading molly's posts so would someone please confirm to me that they mainly consist of him explaining how in fact he didn't discover the names of deserts nobody gives a **** about on the internet, but rather from exemplary institutions of culture, knowledge, and intellectualism, thus further padding his resume as a high-brow font of wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

[Al B. Sure!]

I'm not going to bother reading molly's posts so would someone please confirm to me that they mainly consist of him explaining how in fact he didn't discover the names of deserts nobody gives a **** about on the internet, but rather from exemplary institutions of culture, knowledge, and intellectualism, thus further padding his resume as a high-brow font of wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

I skimmed them.

Once I saw things like this:

I can think of the Atacama, Mocamedes, the Simpson, the Nullarbor Plain, the Great Sandy

and this:

I'd been reading about Baron Ungern von Sternberg and the murderous regime of Choibalsan.

I said **** it. I'm not reading the rest of this crap.

[regexcellent]

Yeah I said that because frankly I don't give a **** if molly read about it on the internet, in Britannica, or in a rare book found only in the depths of the Oxford library accessible only after you defeat a mighty dragon. I just suspect that he's talking about the book guarded by the mighty dragon because that allows him to talk about how learned he is.

[Hauldren Collider]

He's not worth the effort. His incredibly lame insults and appellations are hilarious, though, and he's so easy to antagonize.

It just kills me that I predicted he'd go on a huge multi post rant to defend his sacred intellectual honor because he's deeply insecure, and of course he did it anyway.

[regexcellent]

I still like how he called me a drunken frat boy.