It's not discrimination (well, it is technically, just not in the common use of the term), but to base your hiring decision solely on a person criminal history is painfully short-sighted.

Employers have a right to look at an applicant's history and make logical decisions based on that person's actions, especially for sensitive jobs, since certain crimes display a fundamental problem in an individual's trustworthiness and personality. The judicial system is (unfortunately) *not* really designed to reform criminals, it is designed to punish criminals. Prison time will not change someone's basic tendencies unless they choose to do so themselves as a result of the experience or self-insight.

At the same time, employers have to be willing to talk to applicants, learn more about them and their past and behavior, and form a deeper impression of that person in order to make a more informed decision. Just like more HR departments are starting to learn that education on paper does not necessarily equate to qualification for a position, the reverse is true about and individual's past mistakes.

Basically stop just trying to label people and use your brain. :)

@Ewen: yeah, but D&D obsessors aren't exactly well respected either, and more importantly, it's not nearly as big of a group. Since it's an isolated fantasy obsession (both in terms of small group size and the fact that it's mainly behind closed doors, like "true" otaku), it's equally derided by many people, but seen as sad/pitiful instead of outright hated.

The craziest D&D people I've met, you wouldn't let get close enough to hate. :)

I've never read the books and never will (I'm a guy and a Dresden Files fan), but I think a big part of it is just that some of the Twilight fans tend to take it way, way more seriously than any of the rest of us regard those "male fantasies". There's a deeper emotional attachment there for some fans that just makes the rest of us feel those people and the entire Twilight community are, frankly, bonkers. If the fans took it more in good humor and as light fantasy like most people do with other materials, there wouldn't be such a stigma.

It's a soccer ball in a couple of countries, a football everywhere else. It doesn't matter, get over it. :P

It takes very little to give a concussion, the head impact from something like a soccer ball can cause the brain to take a pretty decent rebound inside your skull. It's highly unlikely to be lethal though, even for a kid.

That doesn't mean balls should be banned in schools though, it means the parent should be paying attention to his/her surrounding when on/near the field, just like they teach the kids to do. (I remember getting scared out of my wits in jr high with horror stories about a kid scalped by a discus).

I don't see that the poor eating at mcdonalds was ever "conventional wisdom", aside from those near colleges being frequented by starving college students. I certainly never saw it that way, and anyone who's ever worked at one wouldn't. Fast food is frequented primarily by people (in the US anyway, it's different in other countries) with kids and those who prioritize the rest of their lifestyle over proper diet. That's pretty firmly centered around the middle class.

It's the people who *work* at mcdonalds who are typically seen as either poor or youth.

err, crying kid.

coughing kid and inattentive mother should be flipped so the kid can kick your seat the whole flight.

@ Miss Cellania: "I'm a blond from a long line of hillbillies, so that's what I know best. Whether someone considers themselves dumb or redneck is a matter of opinion"

Dumb or redneck are subjective, but being blonde and having a hillbilly heritage is a cultural background and a racial characteristic, same as any of the above. That's why people comment that it's silly - we don't all take these associations as vindictive, even the supposed target.

True racism is very different from garden variety stupidity, and we'd do well as a culture to differentiate the two before going overboard.

You could also look at it this way - those who wear the wackiest costumes are often those who understand the best the difference between fantasy and reality. And have you ever seen Japanese television? People often make fun of the their own culture better than anyone else, that doesn't make it wrong. I won't deny that most of the costumes in those posters are tasteless, but the premise is a bit flawed. The real lesson is to not be a total ass, and unfortunately, that message never seems to get across. These posters are akin to asking a bully not to beat you up and take your lunch money.

I just have to say it... any researcher truly surprised by this (at least the fact that IQ fluctuates in general), can't have too high of an IQ themselves.

Or they've at least forgotten most of their college years.

weirdest van... maybe, but far from the weirdest vehicle, there are a couple of vehicles in town with WAY more weird crap on them than this :)

Err, I mis-spoke about it being from the puree, the sugar is added... getting overambitious in my comment. Still, it's not that much sugar.

Reading the whole article, it sounds like the concern may be partly because of students using tons of the stuff, like the comments about putting it over stew and such. That's more than we generally use it, and I know there are places in Europe where it is much more heavily used that over here. That just make the anti-American commentary even more misdirected though. The other movements seem reasonable.

If you really want to be anti-American, rant on us for having schools that qualify french fries as vegetables, not ketchup... ;)

@kbad - the ketchup I have in front of me (trader joes store brand) is 2g of sugar per 17g serving, and that's entirely from the puree. That's a far cry from a 1:3 ratio. There is far more sugar in a soda or juice (or glass of wine). Heck, there's more sugar in many salad dressings. The sodium content is a bigger concern, especially when compounded with the salt of the foods it's typically consumed with, but even then - the ketchup isn't the main issue.

This is a total power trip.

Shame this is completely meaningless, it's obvious even from the results that some states are based on maybe one or two responses. Also, the answers to the questions were loaded in how they were phrased, so it wasn't really a scale.

I'd be curious to see the same thing done properly - this is just someone's exercise in making an infographic.

He was not arrested, he was detained. Here is a better article: http://www.lbpost.com/life/greggory/12188