# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 652
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13021 "2014-02-23T20:14:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You may already know this, but its such a fun fact: they didn’t use their number system for anything but notation. The did their calculations on an abacus and wrote down the result in Roman numerals. > > OK, maybe everybody already knew that but me. Still, it was fun finding out. There was evidently a puppet film or a dimensional animated film that depicted a roman soldier doing long division in Roman numerals. I’ve never seen it, but there were three stills from it in my World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid. I don’t know if it represented some sort of reality\*, or was just meant to illustrate how difficult Roman Numerals were to calculate with. \*I doubt if the Romans would’ve used the rest of our mathematical notation, even without the Arabic numerals. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13022 "2014-02-23T21:19:41Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You may already know this, but its such a fun fact: they didn’t use their number system for anything but notation. The did their calculations on an abacus and wrote down the result in Roman numerals. > > OK, maybe everybody already knew that but me. Still, it was fun finding out. How do you do long division on an abacus? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13023 "2014-02-23T21:28:05Z")
Slowly. > **[Division on the Abacus | ScienceBlogs](https://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/09/25/division-on-the-abacus)** > > Now we're going to try something challenging on the abacus: \*division\*. Like multiplication, abacus division is close to the way you'd do it on paper. But just like doing paper division is trickier than paper multiplication, abacus division is... ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13024 "2014-02-23T21:51:27Z")
[Wingnuts of the Week: Friday Roundup.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017177006) Most of them already covered in this thread, but I think [this one](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/20/mcconnell-opponent-bevin-suggests-gay-marriage-could-lead-to-parents-marrying-children/) is news: Matt Bevin, the Tea Party challenger to Mitch McConnell, says gay marriage could open the way to parents marrying their children. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13025 "2014-02-23T22:07:56Z")
Well, as long as it’s straight incest and not gay incest… ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13026 "2014-02-23T22:17:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Wingnuts of the Week: Friday Roundup.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017177006) Most of them already covered in this thread, but I think [this one](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/20/mcconnell-opponent-bevin-suggests-gay-marriage-could-lead-to-parents-marrying-children/) is news: Matt Bevin, the Tea Party challenger to Mitch McConnell, says gay marriage could open the way to parents marrying their children. He needs to be careful saying stuff like that, it might upset his base. He is running in Kentucky. They might be offended Having their marriages compared to gay ones. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13027 "2014-02-23T22:26:27Z")
“Juliet, you come down here! You’re mah sister and I love you!” - Romeo of Appalachia ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13028 "2014-02-23T23:06:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Matt Bevin, the Tea Party challenger to Mitch McConnell, says gay marriage could open the way to parents marrying their children. With the simplistic rhetoric that some gay rights supporters use (and I speak as a fellow supporter), I don’t blame them for saying that, even though it’s obviously dumb. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13029 "2014-02-24T00:13:13Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I’m curious what the borderline pornographic sex ed material is like. It must be pretty raunchy, because the sex ed I got in Catholic school 30 years ago was pretty explicit. If you’re teaching sex education (to anyone over the age of puberty) without it being at least \*pretty explicit \*you’re doing it wrong. A certain amount of explicit is required. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13030 "2014-02-24T00:58:02Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > With the simplistic rhetoric that some gay rights supporters use (and I speak as a fellow supporter), I don’t blame them for saying that, even though it’s obviously dumb. Could you provide an example of the rhetoric that would support that correlation? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13031 "2014-02-24T01:35:44Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Could you provide an example of the rhetoric that would support that correlation? Marriage is for everyone. Marriage is a right. Anyone who loves each other should get married if they want. Etc. Sure, they’re mere slogans, but sometimes that’s all they had to offer. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13032 "2014-02-24T01:54:08Z")
Gee, you’re right. In light of that, “someone might want to marry their refrigerator,” all of a sudden makes tons of sense. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13033 "2014-02-24T02:18:57Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Gee, you’re right. In light of that, “someone might want to marry their refrigerator,” all of a sudden makes tons of sense. The example was marrying children, not refrigerators. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13034 "2014-02-24T02:21:16Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Marriage is for everyone. Marriage is a right. Anyone who loves each other should get married if they want. Etc. Sure, they’re mere slogans, but sometimes that’s all they had to offer. But the argument doesn’t make any sense in the context. The issue of SSM is not the right to have sex, it’s all the related family-based rights, such as inheriting property and making medical decisions - next of kin have those rights, in the absence of a written direction otherwise; unmarried partners do not have those rights unless there is written direction. Things can get complicated when an n.c.m. parent has several children with opposing wishes, and, now that you mention it, an all encompassing legal agreement like a marriage, rather than several different documents, might be a good idea. Legal marriage is not about sex; it’s about family. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13035 "2014-02-24T02:41:57Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Marriage is for everyone. Marriage is a right. Anyone who loves each other should get married if they want. Etc. Sure, they’re mere slogans, but sometimes that’s all they had to offer. We nearly always have “consenting adults” in the fine print. We don’t necessarily put the fine print at the bottom of every single SDMB post. Maybe we should, so idiots don’t go around assuming we believe dumb stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13036 "2014-02-24T03:08:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Juliet, you come down here! You’re mah sister and I love you!” - Romeo of Appalachia (But it still ends badly. **Intra** -clan feuds are the worstest!) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13037 "2014-02-24T03:10:05Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > If you’re teaching sex education (to anyone over the age of puberty) without it being at least \*pretty explicit \*you’re doing it wrong. A certain amount of explicit is required. Nonsense. “This is a dime. When on a date, hold it between your knees at all times. If it drops, use it to call your parents to take you home. No, don’t ask why.” See? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13038 "2014-02-24T13:13:06Z")
She’ll be a grandmother before she finds a phone booth that still takes dimes. Or a phone booth, for that matter. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13039 "2014-02-24T14:19:06Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Arizona, other known as “New Mexico’s evil twin”, [is at it again](http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/arizona-senate-panel-votes-to-dump-common-core/article_512d157d-054f-5bc0-8a29-2076f69cc35a.html): > \ > > Yes indeed - Senator Melvin is opposed to _ **algebra** _. This might very well be the all-time champion Stupid Republican Idea. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13040 "2014-02-24T14:20:20Z")
> [@j666](#): > > But the argument doesn’t make any sense in the context. The issue of SSM is not the right to have sex, it’s all the related family-based rights, such as inheriting property and making medical decisions - next of kin have those rights, in the absence of a written direction otherwise; unmarried partners do not have those rights unless there is written direction. > > Things can get complicated when an n.c.m. parent has several children with opposing wishes, and, now that you mention it, an all encompassing legal agreement like a marriage, rather than several different documents, might be a good idea. > > Legal marriage is not about sex; it’s about family. Yes, I know all that, and you know all that - but those dolts out in Kentucky apparently don’t. They need it all explained to them, rather than just having simplistic slogans thrown at them. That’s my point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=651) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=653)