Into the Forums

As expected, the real-life business of the holidays has had a slowing impact on the Xpress forums. Surprisingly, however, a number of interesting and active discussions were taking place here at MountainX.com on the days when most people are more obsessed with stuffing themselves with turkey and dressing than, say, posting their thoughts on the internet.

With 2009 rapidly approaching, Xpress Multimedia Editor Jason Sandford thought it was time ask the forum crew their thoughts about the year’s news coverage in What are the year’s top local stories of 2008? Meanwhile, in his other life as a blogger over at Ashvegas, Sandford’s holiday post has a distinctly down feel, as forum poster bobaloo noted in Ashvegas Says “Bah, Humbug!”

Moving on to the discussion of nonlocal topics, last week’s thread about the naming of controversial minister Rick Warren to read the invocation at the coming presidential inauguration is still going strong. Other interesting threads include the examination of a joint currency for North America—the so-called “Amero”—and thoughts about “making an example” out of Vice President Dick Cheney for his actions during the last eight years.

Over in the Arts & Entertainment sub-forum, moderator Zen has done the entire internet a great service by informing us that the Bible has finally been translated into the lingua franca of our digital age: LOLcat.

Like many sites where strong opinions are the coin of the realm, the Xpress forums have their share of political and idelogical sparring matches. This week, forum poster bobaloo decided to bring that topic to front and center by asking about Labels and Politics. Meanwhile, forum regular The (PFKaP) asked the forum crew about blogs and websites they frequent, revealing some interesting insights. And capping off the general discussion sub-forum, we have a nice exchange about something many people are thinking about in this economy: What’s a realistic retirement age?

— Steve Shanafelt

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