question time about the DUmpster, Skins's island, the primitives, &c., &c., &c.

[franksolich]

note from franksolich: this is an old thread, from about two years ago, but in time for the beginning of the autumnal festivities in the DUmpster, I thought it would be a good idea to take this out of the DUmping Ground and put it back into the DUmpster, for the refreshment of long-time members and the illumination of newer members.

One may feel free to ask new questions.

By the way, "chris_" on this thread is not chris_; it's somebody else (I know not who) who didn't get sorted out during the chris_ crisis of two weeks ago.  The "Chris" on this thread is Chris.

* * * * * * * * * *

I get a lot of personal messages asking questions about the DUmpster, Skins's island, the primitives, whatnot.

As a moderator, and as a member who wants conservativecave to flourish and prosper, it's part of my job to be communicative and open with members, and I like that sort of job.

And so the more questions I get, the happier I am.

However, many when asking a question betray a sort of hesitancy or timidity about asking, which of course is nonsense.

In real life, I can drive people nuts with my own questions, which comes with the territory of being deaf, I suppose.  In fact, I betray no hesitancy or timidity when asking questions, having acquired the interrogatory manner of the KGB while I was wandering around the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all.

That 404-pound guy who shovels grain at the local elevator, for example; I've been questioning him right and left about the predicaments of fat people, so as to gain a better understanding of the plight of the gigantic primitive.

Or maybe it goes back further than that; when a little lad, I once politely inquired of an elderly lady--high society, no less--why she was adverse to the usefulness of bathroom tissue.

So one should not feel hesitant about asking questions.

One of the most frequently-asked questions concerns the odd numbering system on Skins's island, where comment #3 follows comment #57 which follows comment #19 which follows comment #127, and so on.  I assume I've answered that one enough that most here know what it's all about.

So everyone and anyone should feel utterly free to ask questions about the DUmpster, Skins's island, the primitives, and all else, either here on this thread or in a personal message.

[DixieBelle]

Great idea Frank!!!

[franksolich]

Great idea Frank!!!

By the way, madam, don't forget to vote for your top primitives, in the official ballot here.

Yeah, yeah, we all have six more days, but I thought it would be good to be pushy.

[franksolich]

By the way, there's a handy-dandy manual describing Skins's island here, in the DUmping Ground, which is the "reference secton" of the DUmpster.

DU for decent and civilized people, 2010 short edition

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,37163.0.html

It's not long; I promise.

Previous editions had been long, but this one's short and quick to read.

[franksolich]

Okay, so we had a recent incident, where a primitive mentioned us on Skins's island, and my fellow alum immediately doused that bonfire.

I'm not sure why it is the way it is, but while freerepublic is freely allowed to be mentioned--and even linked to--on Skins's island, any mention of our old home or this place, gets immediately deleted.

The rationale my fellow alum uses is that he does not want to give publicity to opposing web-sites.

As is his right; Skins's island is after all private real-estate, and Skins is free to make any rules he wishes to make.

It's kind of a grey area, I think; my fellow alum has every right to have the rules he draws up and imposes, but then on the other side of the coin, Skins's island is dedicated to free expression, diversity, and tolerance.

This is one of the reasons franksolich is glad he isn't Skins.

[BlueStateSaint]

It's kind of a grey area, I think; my fellow alum has every right to have the rules he draws up and imposes, but then on the other side of the coin, Skins's island is dedicated to free expression, diversity, and tolerance.

As long as you toe the line over there, and don't freely express opinions contrary to those of the hive, you're right.  Otherwise, the island is one of hypocrisy.

[franksolich]

We had a second sighting by the primitives today--which is all good, of course; we want the primitives to see us--during which time a primitive inquired about the origin of "primitive" and "primitives."

Yours truly proudly takes the blame for that.

I dunno when it was--we were at our old home at the time--other than some time during the second term of George Bush, when I came upon a thread where the DUmmies were discussing Richard Cheney.

The only thing distinctive was that the carpetbagging maternal ancestress, the mother of the misbegotten Bostonian Drunkard, the "Raven" primitive, was there.

It's easy to put words into pictures, and like Saul on the Road to Damascus, I was struck by how much the scene reminded me of primitives sitting around a fire, each of them passing around his own home-made voodoo doll of Richard Cheney, oohing and aahing and dribbling and jabbing pins at each other's creation.

Of course, one has to be careful with that "picture;" the primitives in no way resemble the more-civilized peoples of the South Seas, as Skins's island is self-admittedly 97% or 98% of European derivation.

As is my own pattern of thinking that evolves over time, at first I called them "Neanderthalics," fearing "primitives" might be too strong, but I was cured that misconception within a couple of months, and discarded "Neanderthalics" in favor of the more-descriptive term.

Since then, like an anthropologist, I think I've done at least an okay job describing the rituals, the rites, the ceremonies, the dances, the tabus, the manners, the tiers, of the primitives on Skins's island.

[kenth]

I would love for you to capture on film their undulating dance of the healing vibes.

[franksolich]

I would love for you to capture on film their undulating dance of the healing vibes.

Most of the dances of the primitives resemble something malignant, not healing; most of the dances are based upon primitive arguments and disputes between themselves.

When the primitives start walking around the bonfire and wiggle-waggling their arm-pits at each other, one immediately knows a real primitive brawl is in the offing.

It's better than television, the images the primitives produce with their own words.

[Oceander]

Sounds like the damper, more fetid nether regions of Plato's cave.

[franksolich]

Sounds like the damper, more fetid nether regions of Plato's cave.

I once had a dream about going through DUmmieland; this was during the Scamdal of 2005, which interestingly predated any notion of Skins's island and the primitives.  There was no sound, only visuals in mostly green-and-black.

I was on a canoe, rowing down a very narrow, unmoving river.

The banks of the river were jungle; congested trees with all sorts of vines and stuff hanging from them, and the sky above wasn't visible because the trees were large and crowded enough that their tops reached over and touched the tops of trees on the other side.

Amidst all this strangling foliage were things that moved; it took a while to discern what they were, mostly reptilian beings with human faces of DUmmies.  For the most part they ignored me, too preoccupied with groaning and moaning and squirming and sweating and eating and defecating and greasily copulating; there were some dead beasts too, that just laid there, rotting.

DUmmies with faces of those involved in the scam tended to be fat-but-short snakes in the trees, the only ones who noticed the canoer in their midst.  They would snap and hiss at me, zing out their tongues at me, but never quite reaching me.  At times, I thought perhaps I should thwack one of them on the mug with the paddle, but instead just kept going.

Although nothing happened to me in the dream, it was a relief to reach clear skies again, and wake up.

I make no apologies for my interest in the primitives; hearing people have all sorts of diversion and entertainment, from television to radio to movies to concerts to chitchatting on cellular telephones, available to them.  I was not born with a rock inside the skull, but a brain, and was not made to merely sit around comatosely twiddling the thumbs.

One is compelled to do the best one can with what one has.

[Oceander]

I meant no offense with my remark about Plato's cave.  I would quite agree with you that there is both plenty of amusement value, as well as useful information to be had by studying the paleolithics, and it strikes me that you do the rest of us a great service by keeping tabs on them!

[franksolich]

I meant no offense with my remark about Plato's cave.  I would quite agree with you that there is both plenty of amusement value, as well as useful information to be had by studying the paleolithics, and it strikes me that you do the rest of us a great service by keeping tabs on them!

I saw no offense.

In fact, I was so flattered I ended up writing another piece.

But that's what this thread is for; discussions and descriptons of Skins's island, and of course the DUmpster itself.

[Oceander]

I saw no offense.

In fact, I was so flattered I ended up writing another piece.

But that's what this thread is for; discussions and descriptons of Skins's island, and of course the DUmpster itself.

Ok, phew! 

[Karin]

Actually, Frank, I'm still in the dark about the odd numbering system.  However, if you're sick of answering, I can muddle through life without knowing. 

When I first came here, in response to a link posted on a thread at Newsbusters, I encountered the word "primitive."  I had just assumed it had something to do with the name here, i.e. "cave."  I figured it was just in keeping with the caveman theme.  They were primitives, and we were something else.  A more advanced homonid, perhaps.  Now I know. 

[franksolich]

The system we have here, as well as used on sites such as freerepublic and our old home, lists comments in exact chronological order. 

As a thread grows, it tends to draw comments referring to comments, and not to the original post.

Here, as at our old home, if a commenter wishes to refer to an earlier comment, instead of punching "reply," he punches "quote," and so when his own comment shows up, the comment to which he was referring also shows up.

As easy as strawberries-and-cream for us, but difficult for those with lesser-developed cerebral capacities to grasp.

At freerepublic, which of course is older, it's a little bit more time-consuming, where one has to do the "<" and ">" stuff, but after one's done it six or half a dozen times, it's easy.

Easy for decent and civilized people, but difficult for those with primitive brains.

The bottom line being, all posts are shown in exact chronological order.

My fellow alum Skins knows the primitives well; he knows the primitives either can't grasp this, or are inconsiderate of others, and not willing to use any sort of "quote" function.

So on Skins's island, a primitive just "replies"--either to the original post or a comment.

And so we get the following happening:

original post
1. comment
2. comment
3. comment

But then a fourth primitive comes along, and instead of wishing to reply to the original post, the primitive wishes to reply to the second comment.

original post
1. comment
2. comment
4. comment
3. comment

After which a fifth primitive, replying not to the original post but to the first comment:

original post
1. comment
5. comment
2. comment
4. comment
3. comment

As a bonfire grows, one ends up with something like this:

original post
1. comment
5. comment
9. comment
2. comment
4. comment
7. comment
3. comment
6. comment
8. comment

One supposes this is okay, except except except.....

Readers of ordinary and greater sophistication read things from the top to the bottom, and sort of generally assume that what's closer to the top pre-dates what's closer to the bottom, of the page.

And don't forget the lying, mendacious nature of the primitives.

Some primitives have become adept at using the system to convolute, to lie, as was discovered during the Scamdal of 2005, taking advantage of the fact that it's natural just to assume the higher (on the page) the comment, the older it is.

That's why when I'm on Skins's island, I pay attention to the numbering sequence of comments; one can catch quite a few primitive lies doing that.

A couple of times here, I have posted bonfires, but not exactly in the order they appeared on Skins's island--instead in exact chronological order, to show the vast extent to which the primitives lie.

But I did that only a couple of times; it's a lot of work to re-arrange a thread.

It's just always easier to automatically assume the primitives are lying, some of the more creative lying ones using this as one means of that.

[franksolich]

When I first came here, in response to a link posted on a thread at Newsbusters, I encountered the word "primitive."  I had just assumed it had something to do with the name here, i.e. "cave."  I figured it was just in keeping with the caveman theme.  They were primitives, and we were something else.  A more advanced homonid, perhaps.  Now I know.

So that's how you found us.

In the interests of market research, I'm always interested in knowing how one finds us.

Originally, most members here were from our old home, but that changed a long time ago.  We get members from all over now, and if anyone found us in an interesting way, the rest of us would like to hear about it.

[Karin]

Thanks for that explanation up there, Frank.  It should have been obvious; now it is. 
Yes, somebody at Newsbusters said "If you want to read DemocraticUnderground without actually having to go there, go here instead:  CC."  That sounded perfect, so I hit the link. 

[franksolich]

Yes, somebody at Newsbusters said "If you want to read DemocraticUnderground without actually having to go there, go here instead:  CC."  That sounded perfect, so I hit the link.

Wow.

So someone at NewsBusters saw us.

Publicity's great.

[Chump]

And likewise, I was brought here from Moonbattery.com by Karin, who would post in a similar fashion by saying, "On CC I was reading what these morons at DU are saying about...<insert topic du jour>."  This is a great resource to watch the looney tunes without actually going to that frenzied asylum.

[Karin]

Sigh.  I've only been here a year or so.  Frank's last post on the ballot thread concerning the life achievement award made me realize my ignorance on some important matters.

1)  What was Fitzmas, as initiated by Boston Drunk?
2)  What was the quote on radio by Atman?

Thanks for any help. 

[Carl]

And likewise, I was brought here from Moonbattery.com by Karin, who would post in a similar fashion by saying, "On CC I was reading what these morons at DU are saying about...<insert topic du jour>."  This is a great resource to watch the looney tunes without actually going to that frenzied asylum.

I have to be in the right mood to wander the island because it can really make one feel ill.
Still though everyone should visit themselves because what you see here is really just the highlights.
The seething ugliness that permeates their beings can`t be imnagined completely unless personally experienced.

[BlueStateSaint]

I have to be in the right mood to wander the island because it can really make one feel ill.
Still though everyone should visit themselves because what you see here is really just the highlights.
The seething ugliness that permeates their beings can`t be imnagined completely unless personally experienced.

Neighbor, I'm starting to think that, to "wander the island," one needs to cobble up a suit similar to those worn by sappers in Iraq and Afghanistan--when they work on IEDs.

[Carl]

Neighbor, I'm starting to think that, to "wander the island," one needs to cobble up a suit similar to those worn by sappers in Iraq and Afghanistan--when they work on IEDs.

Large amounts of alcohol help too.

[franksolich]

Sigh.  I've only been here a year or so.  Frank's last post on the ballot thread concerning the life achievement award made me realize my ignorance on some important matters.

1)  What was Fitzmas, as initiated by Boston Drunk?
2)  What was the quote on radio by Atman?

Thanks for any help. 

Fitzmas, on May 12, 2006, was hilarious.

And I still bear a grudge towards the Bostonian Drunkard because of it; I had taken his word that Karl Rove was to be indicted that day--as did the primitives--and sat in front of the computer from early morning until suppertime, constantly refreshing Drudge to see the story.

And it never happened.  I had wasted a whole working day, wearing out the computer mouse punching on "refresh."

Fitzmas has been celebrated all over the internet (not just here) every May 12.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,7196.0.html

Once you get an idea of what Fitzmas was, the last link at the link above, the original "24 business hours" bonfire on Skins's island, is especially hilarious, where the Bostonian Drunkard tries, and fails, to explain what "24 business hours" are.

Pedro Picasso some time in 2007 (sorry, no link) claimed that Karl Rove and the Republicans intentionally lost the mid-term elections of 2006 as some sort of long-term plan to get the Democrats into trouble, so the Republicans would ultimately end up permanently in power.

The comment was picked up by Rush Limbaugh and widely quoted.

Oddly, Pedro Picasso seemed proud of this accomplishment, as if a retarded kid saying, "Look, mommy, I poo-pooed all over the  kitchen chair, and didn't I do good, there's such a big pile of it?"

I've always thought that Pedro Picasso did at least a million dollars' worth of damage to the reputation and goodwill of Skins's island, and that my fellow alum had a right to sue for damages.  Of course, Pedro Picasso doesn't have a million bucks, but I'm sure my fellow alum would be happy to take ten cents on the dollar.