Post a controversial opinion

I grew up in a place with ridiculous amounts of snow and a small ski area about a five minute drive from my parent's house. Season passes were like $80 when I was a kid and there was always used gear available at local stores and ski swaps.

My sister and I spent basically every single Saturday and Sunday from 1987 until 1993 at the hill (skiing for the first two years and snowboarding for the rest) and it was one of the best and most formative experiences of my life, and if I won the lottery and never had to work again I'd probably spend as many days as I could every skiing (which I've gone back to because snowboarding isn't as much fun and is a lot more work when you're old IMO).

― joygoat, Tuesday, February 5, 2019 1:50 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this does sound rad. happy for locals & ppl working the mountain who are able to do it on the cheap

fgti thats a great story. there are many varieties of family stories i have heard from friends about getting to mtns, involving so many different kinds of economic roots, from hard rock mining families in ouray, to midwestern educators in minturn, to actual shepherds above gunnison. people get in all places for reasons productive, or extractive, or social, or religious, or aesthetic. It’s...actually interesting to me at least.

Surfing prob would've gone the same way as golfing and skiing if it was as easy to buy up water "real estate" and set up surf resorts

You go back in time to the 70s

ahhhh I had wondered

Surfing prob would've gone the same way as golfing and skiing if it was as easy to buy up water "real estate" and set up surf resorts

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, February 6, 2019 3:42 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A better comparison might be boating in general? Because conditions for surfing are quite rare but water access is available in lots of places. Like skiing, boating has high up-front costs in most cases unless you're a local in which case it's nearly universal--you benefit from full-time access, off-season prices, personal connections to the resource, etc.

Well, yeah. "How can anybody but a rich person possibly have ever bought land?" They're like almost 70, lol. Still skiing, too!

The 2016 Democratic primary was good and the idea of a 'repeat' should not frighten people: two serious, experienced politicians debated a lot of major issues and the party was forced to question and clarify a number of its stances, ultimately shifting the Overton window in a progressive direction; the candidates mostly avoided name-calling and muck-raking; it was shown that a grassroots-based, non-corporate-funded campaign could be a serious contender; a significant number of young people became engaged; there was some bs but it was mostly fair; and, ultimately, the candidate with the broader base of support won, became the first female nominee for a major party, and won the popular vote in the general election, while the losing candidate ended up influencing the ideological direction of the party. The fact that the Democratic nominee won the election in 2008 and not in 2016 had more to do with the earlier election coming after eight years of the most disastrous, unpopular Republican Presidency of my lifetime than with the 08 primary being any less divisive or 'problematic'. The reason we still litigate the 2016 primary more than the 2008 primary (or more than Republicans debate their 2016 primaries) has more to do with who won those general elections than with any properties of the primaries themselves. (I lived in the US during both btw.)

I think it feels more miserable bc social media + internet politics were so much more a part of our lives and why everyone might really be dreading this next one.

I don't know about golf, you've made skiing sound more the scientology of mountains.

― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski)

i have no idea what this means

ehhhh golf is an expensive sport that ppl might build an identity around but, like, skiing (and lots of other mountain sports) are things ppl will go to great lengths to build their entire life around (eg buying land in utah so they can ski everyday)

every ski town has a more than a few ppl that moved there to ski bum in the 70s or w/e and have spent decades making choices around employment/friends/partnership/etc in light of how it will impact their ability to ski as much as humanly possible. see also: dirtbag rock climbers that spend years living out of their pickups and working odd jobs to keep gas in the tank and ramen on the table

i have no idea what this means

It had been a long day! It was loosely along the lines of 'you've made skiing sound like a cult, which you join and pay increasing amounts to achieve enlightenment (can fly, speak to god etc)'.

oh, thanks! i just thought it was a delightful turn of phrase

oral sex > all other kinds of sex

i can move it to a new iltmi controversial opinions thread if you all prefer

What about floral sex? Pistils, stamens, damn.

first you get the honey then you get the flower then you get the stamen

(will never not shoehorn it in)

Knew a guy who called his prominent chin "the shoehorn".

in reference to his oral sex technique?

tentative marcos otm

Hard agree, though all forms of sex are excellent

My boyfriend picked my nose once and it was excellent

haha otm

Hard agree, though all forms of sex are excellent

My boyfriend picked my nose once and it was excellent

― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, February 8, 2019 1:31 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...with what?

out of a line-up

Tweeze his nosehairs and lick his tears

This is my fantasy.

"Russian Doll" on Netflix is an embarrassment, missing wide in a self conscious attempt to capture East Village hipness (never mind this is not really a thing), with try-hard dialogue and cringeworthy performances, not least Natasha Leone playing to the back row with her Jimmy Breslin impression.

Groundhog Day>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

yep its bad

lol yeah I was all "what's this stupid thing my roommates are watching" and then finding out it has a gushing ILX thread -__________-

Ready Player One is much more enjoyable than any Star Wars movie.

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/9e/9e91c0d37bbcf84fbdf1bf9280ec18d2a8e334ad3bcc6184b0bc974b5c8f24b8.jpg

This thread always comes back to Star Wars.

trenchant run

"Russian Doll" looked a bit smug from the opening 3 minutes that I watched

Sorry I'm wandering into this discussion kinda late but I do love that some people have already posited one controversial opinion I hold that all drugs should be made legal and regulated just like tobacco and alcohol. Portugal's done it already and it hasn't killed off their populace, so I honestly don't think it would do much societal damage.

Also, I question the benefit of being selfless. Like, I gave up my youth to take care of one parent or another and locked myself into an existence that rid me of the ability to enjoy my twenties and (most of my) thirties like the vast majority of people, and am still feeling the ramifications to this day. Being selfless helped destroy my life and my parents ended up dying anyway, even if as one of my friends claimed they'd have died years earlier without my intervention. But I didn't get a chance to go to clubs or bars, be a foolish young drunk person, travel inexpensively the way only young people can, go to lots of concerts, divest myself of stifling religious beliefs, etc.

Oh, and while this isn't an opinion so much as an unpopular assertion, I have never seen a single Star Wars movie... even though a very dear friend of mine was actually in one of them!

I have never seen a single Star Wars movie

You haven't missed a thing.

But I didn't get a chance to go to clubs or bars, be a foolish young drunk person, travel inexpensively the way only young people can, go to lots of concerts, divest myself of stifling religious beliefs, etc.

also, haven't missed much here either tbh

I question the benefit of being selfless.

The more selfless the action, the less likely it is to benefit yourself. This is axiomatic.

Being selfless helped destroy my life

I am truly sorry to hear that. I hope there is time enough left to you to repair some part of the damage. But please consider the possibility that your envy of the happy, irresponsible youth you imagine others enjoyed may be based in your lack of firsthand knowledge of that reality.

Thanks for making me feel better about things, y'all. Also, this thread has made for pretty entertaining reading, even the enraging parts.

<i>I am truly sorry to hear that. I hope there is time enough left to you to repair some part of the damage. But please consider the possibility that your envy of the happy, irresponsible youth you imagine others enjoyed may be based in your lack of firsthand knowledge of that reality.</i>

Thanks. I think part of this rant stems from my very recently having turned 40 and feeling as though I wasted my youth on a fruitless pursuit. I'd done a lot of catching up after my mom (my final living immediate family member) died almost four years ago in that I went to as many concerts as I could, visited NYC twice, went on a cruise, etc., but I felt like I would've enjoyed those more with the energy and vigor of a young person. Perhaps this is one of those "grass is greener" moments, but it's honestly far more entertaining having anecdotes handy about being twentysomething and stumbling around the streets with your fellow drunken friends, than the ones I have of visiting my dad in hospice or staying with my mom at various hospitals and the merits/drawbacks of various hospital cafeteria menus.

travel inexpensively the way only young people can

wb dee, and fyi very few youth hostels have age policies.

Sorry I'm wandering into this discussion kinda late but I do love that some people have already posited one controversial opinion I hold that all drugs should be made legal and regulated just like tobacco and alcohol. Portugal's done it already and it hasn't killed off their populace, so I honestly don't think it would do much societal damage.

I know a few people who have said they'd almost certainly wind up dead if this was the case so idk about this one. Being able to legally buy stuff like fentanyl seems like a really really bad idea

I think people should be able to legally buy things that would kill them because if you're stupid enough to ingest something that could kill you, on purpose, you've pretty much got it coming.

"stupid"

"stupid"

lol xp

Sorry I'm wandering into this discussion kinda late but I do love that some people have already posited one controversial opinion I hold that all drugs should be made legal and regulated just like tobacco and alcohol. Portugal's done it already and it hasn't killed off their populace, so I honestly don't think it would do much societal damage.
I know a few people who have said they'd almost certainly wind up dead if this was the case so idk about this one. Being able to legally buy stuff like fentanyl seems like a really really bad idea

― frogbs, Tuesday, February 19, 2019 12:32 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what does it not being legal do to stop people buying it?

i can buy fentanyl walking home from work if i like.

A straight-edger? In my vagina?

Portugal has not legalised all drugs, it has decriminalised them (which yes is a good policy)

that's basically the "only outlaws will have guns" argument - it being illegal creates an extra set of hoops and risks and it's difficult to just impulsively get your hands on a bunch. I get that it's stupid but opiate addiction makes you do stupid things. of course I do agree that 'possession' is a stupid thing to criminalize

idk how controversial this is, but it pisses me off how every time suicide appears in the media there is heaps of "if you need help it's there" and "here is the phone number for the samaritans" and never even the merest hint of "this is what's wrong with the world we've made which is making people not want to live in it any more" or "actually the help you need is not available because the government (and the public) doesn't want to pay for it"

I vote otm as opposed to controversial.

yes, seriously otm, and thank you for posting that