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My wife has a PhD from an Ivy and is a writing professor at a major university. If I bought her a dictionary, she's tell me to +++++ off. I'm just saying, I know a lot of reasonable women who would take it as a message... that's all.

Those coastal elites are really ruining America.

Give your wife an exercise bike for Christmas and see how she reacts...

That sucks. You bring a guy like Tedford in for stability. He's not jumping off anywhere after a successful season like a younger up-and-comer. Nothing left to prove. Even in my hate for the dogs, I hope that they find someone who has general success and has a losing record against the spartans.

I was at brunch at a yacht club in Sausalito once. Didn't get the sense that they were fond of being around people of color.

This sounds bomb. Too bad I finished off the turkey a couple days ago or I'd have done it. I did do a turkey buffalo sandwich with Frank's red hot and blue cheese this year, though. It was pretty good.

Look, friend... one of two things is going on here. 1 – You’re being a troll. An ideological troll, but a troll nonetheless. You have certain clear ideas about racist moron liberals like me (even though I’m a libertarian) who work in journalism or academia or both, and about education, and about women voting, and so on and so forth. You pursue an agenda on here to advance those ideas through a kind of caricature of yourself, one that is true to your beliefs and your own internal monologue but which casts aside any of the normal social constraints that require you to act like a human beings to people in real life. The role of a troll is to generally wreak havoc and be an overall pain, and you do that successfully while also asserting your unique point of view and even occasionally making a good point or offering a good insight. It’s a delicate balance. But as a troll, you also couldn’t help yourself if or when someone makes a generally sincere post about something going on in their life, one in which you see an opportunity to make one of the points you often make, over and over, in a particularly boorish way, disregarding the fact that the post did nothing to state any kind of political or social point, did not call you out in any way, and related to nothing in particular that impacts your life, whatsoever. 2 – You actually believe the stuff you just posted, and you honestly think that you are in some way making anyone think more deeply or with any greater perspective in this instance about education, science or the things they should pursue in life to advance knowledge, their own personal happiness or the betterment of the world. You actually interpret the things you post like this as direct, helpful and no-nonsense. You think that by needlessly belittling people and by demonstrating a lack of knowledge about a field you find to be unnecessary anyways, you’re doing them a favor because you’re making them evaluate their choices in life and forcing them to be more critical thinkers. But either way, you’re being a dick and I think you’re not accomplishing particularly effectively what you are trying to accomplish. Whether you’re aware of this or not, you’d be doing us both a favor if you buggered off of this thread and kept to insulting me if or when I make a statement to you, about you or on topics related to any sort of public debate. Let’s get something straight, too. Nothing you post on here or on this board makes me feel insulted, or uncomfortable or hurts my feelings. I don’t take you seriously enough for that to happen. But I do find you to be a net positive on this board. Your schtick is a lot like the smell of cow crap I get a whiff of whenever I drive home… it’s objectively unpleasant, but it signifies a familiar, comfortable place. So keep doing what you’re doing, bro. Just remember that there’s a time and a place, and you’re doing your thing right now in a place that’s inappropriate. In spite of all the snarkiness on here, snarkiness to which I contribute (sometimes to my regret, I’ll be honest), I do think this is a place where people can occasionally be sincere and where people who haven’t met each other act like a community despite their differences. I would hope that even you would see the value in that and learn to read the room better in the future.

But that's the thing, Blues... you do have a dog in this fight. Clearly you do, or else you wouldn't have taken the time to go into a thread where someone posted something that has no impact on you, and makes no commentary about anything that matters in your life, and minimized the OP. And you wouldn't still be defending it with all sorts of unprovoked attacks on someone's livelihood and professional pursuits, and by trying to convince yourself and whoever might still take you seriously that you're the one who is just having fun and playing it cool. It's really weird. Even for you.

I haven't either. Doing fine so far, and have made it through the hardest part. Which is why it's so weird that my current situation, which literally has no impact on your life whatsoever, seems to bother you. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I would like for you to explain it to me. Honestly, why are you so grumpy about me finishing some exams and writing a proposal that you find it necessary to keep a conversation going over multiple days with the intention of minimizing it?

Do you know what a meme is? Because I haven't posted a single one. Speaking of knowing what you don't know... Seriously though, what is it about you that finds it necessary to try and chip away at things that bring people joy? It's weird, man. Weird.

Skills at pointing out the fact that you're being an a-hole without any provocation? You make that effortless. If I was writing my dissertation on that topic, you'd be the first mentioned in my acknowledgements. I get that your shtick is novel and adds a little spice to the mix around here. But right now, you're throwing way too much nutmeg into your shit stew, my friend.

Your relentlessness might be the most impressive thing about you. Can you pretend that I have taken your wisdom to heart and dropped out of school, so you can +++++ off and bother someone else already?

I dunno, if tools shits on something it almost makes that thing seem more legit. I enjoy when poster post the occasional life event, so I try to contribute. I hope he tells whoever posts the next baby pic that they have a liberal moron racist baby.

There is never a need to defend against Bluetools' bloviating, and in fact when he starts going off on someone like he is here it can usually be read as an argument for the veracity of the argument he's raging against. But for the record, environmental history doesn't claim to be a science field, and environmental historians don't claim to be scientists. It is a just sub-field of history that studies the relationships between people and their environments, how both change over time, and how those changes impact both. Historians study people, always.