Aug 27 2011

Episode CCXLIX: Madman in the sky

Categories:

Open Thread

by PZ Myers

I’ve decided that this is how I want to commute to work from now on.

Via The Kid Should See This, a fabulous collection of freaky cool videos.

(Last edition of TET.)

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682 comments

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501

ChasCPeterson

30 August 2011 at 8:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Umm, actually,

Even if what follows is true, or is supposed to be funny, any comment beginning like that is going to be perceived as obnoxious.

hth
502

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

30 August 2011 at 8:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Therrin,

I figured it went this way:
Fur unq nyernql xvyyrq gur Qbpgbe ol gur ynxr, fb jura Nzl fubg ure fur (fbzrubj) raqrq hc va Arj Lbex jurer fur ertrarengrq. Zryf zragvbarq ertrarengvat va Arj Lbex naq orpbzvat n gbqqyre. V’z abg fher ubj fur raqrq hc gurer, gubhtu. Vg fnvq gung vg jnf fvk zbaguf yngre, fb fur rvgure gvzr geniryrq be gbbx n ernyyl ybat gvzr gb qvr sebz n fubg jbhaq.
503

Birger Johansson

30 August 2011 at 8:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Evolution in action: Monsanto makes GM crop with “integrated” Bt pesticide. Bugs grow resistent to pesticide. Bugs spread out from fields with Monsanto crops, hurting farmers with ordinary crops relying on similar pesticide. Monsanto says “OK, now we will make yet another GM crop with some other pest-fighting ability”. Monsanto stocks increase in value. Farmers lose money.

Researchers identify insect resistance to Bt pesticide http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-insect-resistance-bt-pesticide.html

GMO corn falls prey to bugs it was supposed to thwart http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-gmo-corn-falls-prey-bugs.html

Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/08/monsanto-gm-super-insects
504

ChasCPeterson

30 August 2011 at 8:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What? What? Unforeseen ecological and evolutionary consequences of first-wave profit-motivated genome engineering?
*gasp*

Why, there’s no way that that could have been, y’know, foreseen.
505

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

30 August 2011 at 8:28 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I feel like helll… I wasn’t feeling too good yesterday and now I’m feeling worse. I also need to get double-sided tape cause Snip doesn’t seem to understand that when I pull him out of the spot under my computer desk eight hundred times, it means I don’t want him to lay down there. (Too many cords, it gets really hot down there and I don’t want him to nibble on anything and get shocked. Plus I’ll probably kick him.)

In dream territory, I had another dream about a transitioned me going on a date with a firefighter… and then Snip woke me up, and I lost my cute firefighter :( Stupid cat I was having sexy dreaam!! (But again I looked good, I totally need to find that dress!!!)

Set: 54 seconds (cat distracted me or it’d be faster.)

Gonna go make tea and curl in my computer chair…
506

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 8:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If I have to decline one more adjective to make it agree with a noun I’ll lose my mind.

Das ist aber ein schlimmer Gedanke und eine schlimme Vorstellung.
As a German native speaker, that didn’t come too hard on me, what got me was the sheer number of possible endings that would require you to know exactly what declination you were in.
OK, what really got me was the fact that it’s not used and I simply have a hard time learning languages not using them.
I remember being tortured in school with tasks of endless memorizing and it just didn’t work.
I later found my own ways to remember things, but none of them were any help wih Latin.
It also didn’t help that I chose the hard way and learned 6 school-years wirth of 4-5 hrs a week in 3 weeks. But I wouldn’t have managed to endure 3 full semesters otherwise.

@Monsanto
Is there anybody who’s surprised by this?

@Bachman
God really must have given up about Europe, considering that there are hardly any “real christians” living here.
507

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 8:48 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh, forgot:
Katherine, if cats are like children, then Snip has learned that sneaking under your desk is the perfect way to get your attention.
BTW I’m absolutely convinced that transitioned Katherine will be gorgeous. I’d already murder to have your legs
508

Birger Johansson

30 August 2011 at 8:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PZ: “I live across the street from my office. I’d take the scenic route.”

Catapult + net? Cable car?
509

theophontes

30 August 2011 at 8:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hi Kitty

It sounds as if your kitteh is looking for safe warm place to call home within your home. We went with a solution like this (Link to cat climber), which takes up about half of our tiny lounge. At least the kittehz are happy. And they can get into the ceiling bulkhead from where they peruse the world with cynical derision.
510

Antiochus Epiphanes

30 August 2011 at 9:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If I have to decline one more adjective to make it agree with a noun I’ll lose my mind.

Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I’ll decline.
511

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 9:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sympathies to SallyStrange and Strange Boyfriend :(

By common accord between the two of them, daughterSpawn is about to officially split up with her (mutually) first ever proper boyfriend, after a long two years (they’re only teenagers), as they have both just got into uni and will be leaving in a few weeks – for different unis in different parts of the country. They’re probably right that it won’t work long distance when they’ve both just moved to new places and have to find their feet with all new people while coping with the first taste of undergraduate lessons and student living – but part of me can’t help feeling sad; they’ve treated each other pretty well all this time ::sigh::
Why does it seem that one can keep a strong friendship going at a distance almost indefinitely, but not necessarily a romantic/sexual liaison?
512

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 9:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chas,

any comment beginning like that is going to be perceived as obnoxious.

Not exactly the response I was aiming for. Oh well.
513

theophontes

30 August 2011 at 9:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Spawnphontes has just arrived back from Melbourne. Melbourne is now in the news (Link – top liveable cities) for the very best reasons. Congratulations to antipodian pharyngulites.
514

Lynna, OM

30 August 2011 at 9:26 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And … it’s another, “We’re number One!” moment of mormon madness for Utah.

The University of Utah’s NPR radio station, KUER, carried a story about Utah’s college students. Turns out Utah is number one in percentage of females who begin college, but do not finish.

Since 1940, studies showed a pattern of Utah women outperforming their national counterparts in getting college degrees. But in the past fifteen years, that has dramatically changed, leaving Utah in last place for its percentage of women who finish college. KUER’s Tasha Cook examines the perceptions and cultural expectations leading to the high drop-out rate.

Link to KUER podcast.

Women who do graduate from college in Utah receive degrees in lower-paying occupations.

A survey found that only 39 percent of Utahans felt that women should have the same level of education as males. Utah women toe the line, agreeing that men should attain a higher level of education.
News story and more details here: http://www.usustatesman.com/utah-women-falling-behind-1.2335274
515

Lynna, OM

30 August 2011 at 9:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Prime example of Mormon Madness — they refuse to let members see their own records.

The Stake President blog is satire, but he bases his satire on real events and on real LDS Church policies. Here’s his post about The Danger of Members Seeing Their Own Membership Records:

As a stake president I sometimes run the risk of coming under the condemnation of the Lord for not ensuring that bishops, clerks and other leaders are properly trained in their duties.
     We had an instance just last week where Jim a less active member maliciously took advantage of a bran new ward clerk by asking him for a copy of own his membership record. The clerk unaware of the policy but wrongly thinking that it should be everybody’s right to see what the Church records show on them gave him a copy. Jim then got all upset at the bishop because as he had suspected there was an annotation on his file regarding some unresolved church discipline.
     The church has put policies in place to prevent this sort of situation from happening. During tithing settlement each year members are given a copy of their Individual Ordinance Summary and are encouraged to check it for accuracy, but these summaries are different than official church membership records.
     To quote from Handbook 1 for Stake Presidents and Bishops under section 13.6 “Official Church membership records should not be shown or given to members. Under no circumstances may membership records be given to anyone other than the bishop or a clerk.”
I resolve to do a better job as a stake president going forward to ensure that leaders are properly trained so that members will not be exposed to the information that the Lord would have us keep confidential.

The comments below the post are hilarious, and scary:

Also, when I was a financial clerk, we never revealed to members that we could use their information as means for determining which members were in a good financial state to donate to Proposition 8, or to the Mit-for-World-Ruler secret funds. It’s good that members don’t know what we know. It’s better to appear inspired.
516

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 9:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Kitty
If you start the training now, you can teach Snip to sit on your shoulders.
or you could get a snugli.
or resign yourself to having a cat on your lap every time you make a lap.
517

Rey Fox

30 August 2011 at 9:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

When I saw this in my Onion RSS feed, I thought they might have screwed up and put an actual news headline in.

Tea Party Congressman Calls For Tax Breaks To Put Out Raging Wildfire In District
518

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Why does it seem that one can keep a strong friendship going at a distance almost indefinitely, but not necessarily a romantic/sexual liaison?

Don’t ask me, I’ve been with somebody I only see at the weekends all my adult life.
If you accept it, see the advantages it has, trust each other and get used to it, it can definetly work out.
519

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 10:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I suspect if they were going to see each other every weekend or thereabouts they’d give it a go – but as it is, they’d only see each other at spring break, santaclaus break/New Year and in the summer.

Me, I’d be quite happy to have a setup something like what you describe!
520

Ibis3, féministe avec un titre française de fantaisie

30 August 2011 at 10:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Giliell Yeah, I found it much easier to learn once I was in a class where it was spoken. Unfortunately, I’ve lost most of it since with no one to practise with.
521

theophontes

30 August 2011 at 11:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Lynna

… they refuse to let members see their own records …

Are they are trying to create a state within a state? The mormon state taking on all the predilections of a police state though.

It’s good that members don’t know what we know.

If they told the truth for a single day, they would die. (Nothing
unusual for a religion there.)

………………..

[mormon profile] I have tried logging in in Hong Kong too. No luck. Either they have a server problem, or they are lying, and all the “profiles” are just marketing ruses.

(The situation this side of the pond: I have seen quite a few mormon missionaries in Hong Kong. None in Shenzhen that I can recall. Some or other evangelist got stopped at the border the other day with a large suitcase full of bibles. Unfortunately I couldn’t hang around to see them impounded. In Wuhan I stumbled upon a “coffee house and language club” near the university that was completely infested with goddists. It would appear that under the pretense of teaching a language over a cup of coffee the less scrupulous are trying to flog their religious message. These guys obviously have no problems with misleading people to push their agenda.)
522

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 11:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Opposablethumbs:
Well, I was more speaking in general terms. I think people are too afraid of this idea to really give it a try.
Your daughter and her friend are still quite young, so who knows, but maybe one day they come back to each other knowing that this is the person they want to be with because they are right for each other and not because they were highschool sweathearts.
523

Walton

30 August 2011 at 12:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Why does it seem that one can keep a strong friendship going at a distance almost indefinitely, but not necessarily a romantic/sexual liaison?

Assumption of facts not in evidence. :-) In the internet age, I don’t think it’s necessarily impossible (or even excessively difficult) to maintain a relationship at a distance. I know lots of people who have done so successfully. But YMMV, of course.
524

theophontes

30 August 2011 at 12:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Just thought to share this with all the astronomical kitteh lover’s on TET:

MeerKAT passes first test &
KAT-7 scopes out Centaurus

(So good to hear good news out of South Africa, rather than more idiocity from Malema.
525

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 1:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Gilliell, I think you’re right – and maybe it takes a certain amount of (age and) experience to be able not to get tied up in knots and to take a longer view. Anyway, whether they ever get back together or not, I certainly hope they stay friends!
526

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

30 August 2011 at 1:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Destroyed Vermont bridges: :(
-

Thanks Josh. I shall definitely be in need of some commiseration. When the time comes. Fuck, I am so in love with that man.

*hugs* You know where to come, when the time comes.

Good news about the brakes, though. My very “favoritest” vehicle-related nightmares begin with malfunctioning brakes.
-

Yeah, to me, a cupboard is the small thing up on the wall you keep cups and dishes in. Hitler wouldn’t fit in one.

Nonsense! This is why there are trash compactors.
-

Why does it seem that one can keep a strong friendship going at a distance almost indefinitely, but not necessarily a romantic/sexual liaison?

Because their squelchy bits aren’t in proximity; meanwhile, there are probably endless other, more readily available, squelchy bits close at hand, some of them with acceptible personalities attached.
-

If you start the training now, you can teach Snip to sit on your shoulders.

This is not necessarily a good thing. It works well when kitteh is small, and is incredibly cyoot, but having a full-grown kitteh launch floor-to-shoulder and then apply the brakes may cause a hull breach, to say nothing of ruining shirts.
-
527

Midnight Rambler

30 August 2011 at 1:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Just completely out of the blue: does anyone know what the story is with Comradde PhysioProffe? All of his non-recipe posts have the appearance of being written while completely hammered.
528

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 2:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This is not necessarily a good thing. It works well when kitteh is small, and is incredibly cyoot, but having a full-grown kitteh launch floor-to-shoulder and then apply the brakes may cause a hull breach, to say nothing of ruining shirts.

Ah. This is where you must remember Inspector Clouseau and Cato.
529

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 2:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Walton:

In the internet age, I don’t think it’s necessarily impossible (or even excessively difficult) to maintain a relationship at a distance. I know lots of people who have done so successfully. But YMMV, of course.

You get a clear no-yes from me.
Surely, the internet and modern transportation have made things easier. But some problems remain.
Sex is frankly a problem. Spontaneous hook-ups require a lot of planning.
Family is a problem.
And what is a huge problem is that the person I love and trust most in this world isn’t here to keep me warm tonight and give me hugs because I’m worried about my gran.
I know if I called him he’d be here in 90 minutes, and that’s a great comfort, and I don’t think I could do it if he was overseas.
530

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 2:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Walton #523 – well I think they might find themselves texting and facebooking a lot … but they’ve decided to call it an official split as they’ll see each other so rarely (and perhaps because they know they’ll need all their energy for grappling with the whole living-away-from-home-for-the-first-time thing). Their decision – I just can’t help feeling a bit sad about it, though (because they’re both really sad about it). Still, worse things happen at sea …
:-(
531

Sili

30 August 2011 at 2:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What a peculiar speechpattern Bernie Sanders has. His Pros. Ody is allhiggle. Dy. Piggledy.

And at the end of the day he tends to go forward and speak in clichés.
532

Sili

30 August 2011 at 3:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Midnight Rambler

Just completely out of the blue: does anyone know what the story is with Comradde PhysioProffe? All of his non-recipe posts have the appearance of being written while completely hammered.

Yes.

This has been tonight’s edition of Simple Answers to Simple Questions™, thank you for playing.
533

Gav D

30 August 2011 at 3:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Not related to anything in particular, but I have something I’ve wanted to debate/get opinions on on for a while and this seems like the best place for some intelligent responses!

I believe that it is immoral to have any restrictions on immigration to any country. I am lucky enough to have been born in the UK. This means I am afforded tremendous opportunities in life such as quality education (for free) quality healthcare (for free) a relatively prosperous economy in which to seek employment / business opportunities etc. etc.

I see no reason why someone who happens to have emerged from a different womb on a different continent should be denied these opportunities. I also don’t believe I’ve ever read or heard any justification for restricting immigration, other than ‘it would make things worse for those of us who are lucky enough already to be here’.

Am I wrong / missing something / stupid???
534

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 3:22 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Am I wrong / missing something / stupid???

No
There are several people here who share that opinion.
What’s often missed is the fact that most people actually quite like it where they live (except for cases of war and stuff). If they have the possibility there to make a living, most of them stay there.
So if our governments really wanted to reduce imigration they’d do something against poverty in those countries most imigrants come from. It would probably be even cheaper than “fortress Europe”. BUt they don’t, which leads me to the conclusion that what they actually want is illegal imigration. People without rights, living in the grey areas, cheap labour, handy scapegoats.
535

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 3:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

When I saw this in my Onion RSS feed, I thought they might have screwed up and put an actual news headline in.

Tea Party Congressman Calls For Tax Breaks To Put Out Raging Wildfire In District

Occasionally, I get an email meant for people in NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center). Some are sad, some are quite amusing.

Back in 2006 or -07, I got an email, with an attached response. The GOP Department of Agriculture was concerned that spending at wildfires was getting out of hand. For an example, the DC political appointee noted that, from 2000 to 2005, the fuel costs for every fire had tripled and that all Incident Commanders need to bring fuel costs back down to the 2000 levels. The attached response wondered if the Political Appointee in question ever had to buy gasoline since, from 2000 to 2006, the price per gallon of fuel had, approximately, tripled.
536

Ibis3, féministe avec un titre française de fantaisie

30 August 2011 at 3:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh, Walton, I meant to say this earlier, but if you’re ever in need of a monarchy fix, you don’t have to go all the way back home. Just come on up to Canada. (Or, I suppose, Turks & Caicos or Bermuda.)
537

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 3:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

SallyStrange,
I am sorry to hear that. Amicable doesn’t mean easy, but it sure beats the alternative. I hope you will forgive my celebration of that brightness. Hugs if you need ‘em, and if the freak out comes don’t feel any worry that people here won’t understand.
538

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 3:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

if you’re ever in need of a monarchy fix

Fixing them (neuter or spay) would, in the long run, solve the whole monarchy problem (the problem being, what the fuck are they supposed to actually do, other than providing a great deal of comedic ammunition, accumulating money at an obscene rate, and, generally, ascting like morons).
539

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 4:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Opposable thumbs,
I can understand your sadness, I can also understand their decision, but I wonder how much it is due to being sold an ideal of relationship that doesn’t truly exist? My high school sweetheart went to a different school for university, given it was only about four hours for us to cross that divide, but it meant about once a month to see one another. This was before either of us had the net savvy to communicate by way of email, so the odd expensive phone call was how we stayed in touch. A good relationship isn’t just about volume or pervasive proximity, but the quality of the time that is shared. We enjoyed each other and made time to see each other because of it.

Where I am going is that we were constantly told that long distance relationships don’t work, that we would find new people at school and move on, that we would grow up and not even recognize each other, etc. I think it a shame to decide ahead of time that this is so rather than going to the different schools and experiencing how the relationship evolves once there.
540

Carlie

30 August 2011 at 4:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If you start the training now, you can teach Snip to sit on your shoulders.

Ugh. My cat likes to sit on shoulders. It’s like having a heavy furry parrot. I’m always “What do you think you’re doing??” as she’s making her way up there.
541

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 4:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I think it a shame to decide ahead of time that this is so

Exactly!!!!!
542

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

30 August 2011 at 4:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

People without rights, living in the grey areas, cheap labour, handy scapegoats.

I think that could be part of it, certainly, but another part is probably that it’s much easier to sell fortress Europe to the voters than it is to sell a hike in foreign aid – or anything that even looks like money being “given away” abroad.
543

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

30 August 2011 at 4:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Now I wished I could have that as a computer shortcut, too
Good night, everybody
544

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 4:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I googled “furry parrot”.
The internets be wondrous strange.
545

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 4:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chigau:

I always forget about Google when things like ‘furry parrot’ come up. Then I Google it and get”

Urban Dictionary: Furry Parrot

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Furry%20Parrot – Cached

When a girl is on her kness, you walk up behind her after just shaving your pubes , skeet on her shoulder and put the freshly shaven hair on the semen.

and I realize that there is a REASON I don’t Google things. Rule whateer-the-fuck-the-number-is raises it’s bizarre head and, well, um.
546

The Sailor

30 August 2011 at 5:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis – “Fixing them (neuter or spay) would, in the long run, solve the whole monarchy problem ”

What, are you bored? There may be people on this forum that object to that and much rending and gnashing will result.

I’m getting some popcorn;-)
547

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

All Hail Tpyos: whateer = whatever
548

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 5:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I thought you meant whate’er.
Y’know poetical-like.
549

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What, are you bored?

One of my many personality disorders is that I cannot resist a set up. Someone tosses it out there and I’m all over it like scratches on eyeglasss.

There may be people on this forum

Forum? I thought this was a thread. When did it become a forum? And why wasn’t I informed?

that object to that and much rending and gnashing will result.

True. But, if so, it’s not like I’ll really defend my statement. After all, defending a joke would be like being the lawyer for a Republican.
550

Brownian

30 August 2011 at 5:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Rule whateer-the-fuck-the-number-is raises it’s bizarre head and, well, um.

Rule 34 my ass. I hate Urban Dictionary. Ninety percent of it is a bunch of dumb shit nobody’s ever actually done (or, if it has been done, it’s been done so fucking infrequently that there sure as hell isn’t a consistent term for it) that some dumb kid wrote because s/he thinks it’s fucking funny.

It’s like listening to the teenagers on the bus talk loudly about how wasted they got and how much sex they had on the weekend thinking they’re going to scandalise the rest of us. I’d tell them to shut it, but I don’t want to draw attention to myself and the fact that I’m carrying two ounces of weed and a vibrator in my briefcase.
551

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 5:22 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brownian,
Hot date with a baggage checker later tonight?
552

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brwonian:

I knwo that many Urban Dictionary terms are bullshit. But the image was still nto e something I needed right after dinner.
553

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brownian:

Sorry. Mispelling another’s ‘nym is egregiously bad. I apoligize.

“Knwo” and “nto e” I are in honour of Tpyos.
554

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 5:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So before dinner would have suited better?
555

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 5:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yesterday, in the LRT station, I listened to a teenager praying aloud to god to get home on time, “please god, that’s all I’m asking…”
556

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So before dinner would have suited better?

Oh, hell, no. Then I wouldn’t have been able to eat dinner. And before you ask, during would have been just as bad. I’m pretty open minded, but I’m disturbed that someone could even come up with this.
557

The Sailor

30 August 2011 at 5:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ogvorbis – “Someone tosses it out there and I’m all over it like scratches on eyeglasss.”

All hail Tpyos! BTW, if that’s original, I’m stealing it. If it’s not, I’m still stealing it, just from the original owner.

Ogvorbis – “After all, defending a joke would be like being the lawyer for a Republican.”

***snork-chortle*** The Kid Is Hot Tonight!
558

Brownian

30 August 2011 at 5:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brownian,
Hot date with a baggage checker later tonight?

Okay, I’m not really carrying those things now. But I did once mistakenly bring them to the office (I had them with me and didn’t end up making it home before I came in to work. The pot really stunk, too. I couldn’t open my bag all day.) The point is, fuck you, obnoxious bus kids. Go front to someone who gives a shit. I’m trying to read my goddamn Kindle here.

But I wonder if that would work. “Hey, baby: what say you and I forget about the cocaine in my carry-on, and I show you my idea of a full body scan?”
559

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 5:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sailor,
Your link has some borking.
___

Ogvorbis,
Nay, I wouldn’t suggest eating while surfing anyways, your keys get sticky.
560

Brownian

30 August 2011 at 5:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I knwo that many Urban Dictionary terms are bullshit. But the image was still nto e something I needed right after dinner.

Was dinner a cream soup garnished with dill and shredded carrot?

No worries about the tpyos. I understand you’ve experienced some severe trauma.

Yesterday, in the LRT station, I listened to a teenager praying aloud to god to get home on time, “please god, that’s all I’m asking…”

You’re in Calgary, right? Is the west end LRT extension work that bad?
561

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 5:44 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

All hail Tpyos! BTW, if that’s original, I’m stealing it. If it’s not, I’m still stealing it, just from the original owner.

That may be an original. I’ve never used it before and I don’t recall reading it or hearing it. Steal away.

***snork-chortle*** The Kid Is Hot Tonight!

Who you callin’ a kid? you whippersnapper!

Nay, I wouldn’t suggest eating while surfing anyways, your keys get sticky.

And if you think I’m Googling ‘sticky keys’ or any variation thereof, you’re nuts.

Was dinner a cream soup garnished with dill and shredded carrot?

No. It was canned tomato soup, spiked with course ground pepper and olive oil, with homemade croutons and brie crostinis. Sorry.
562

Carlie

30 August 2011 at 6:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t know – a clean break when going to college can be a very good thing. I dealt with several friends in college who went still dating their high school sweetheart, and they were usually moping around, and sad because the sweetheart wasn’t there, and spent their Friday nights on the phone instead of out getting to know people. It was like they were only half there most of the time. It sounds to me like the kids are being realistic.
563

Sili

30 August 2011 at 6:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yesterday, in the LRT station, I listened to a teenager praying aloud to god to get home on time, “please god, that’s all I’m asking…”

Well, God does seem to be remarkably good at micromanaging, while ignoring the big picture.

Perhaps this kid will even be rewarded for not asking to get laid. Or praying to not be pregnant after getting laid.
564

The Sailor

30 August 2011 at 6:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I borked a link , I haz sorry.

I’m even sorrier to link to Loverboy. My excuse is Ogvorbis is hot tonight.
565

Dhorvath, OM

30 August 2011 at 6:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie,

It was like they were only half there most of the time.

I sure wouldn’t want to see anyone playing that game either. Moping about their current situation and/or idealizing the past aren’t healthy. I was just thinking that if it’s not going to work, let it fall because of that, don’t do a pre-empt in case it doesn’t work. Obviously, I am not in possession of all the details that went into their decision, and I can well appreciate that they have made an adult decision rather than insisting that they are special or immune to growth or some such nonsense.
566

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 6:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The Sailor:

I clicked your link. I think I prefer the borked version. Bleah.
567

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 6:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You’re in Calgary, right? Is the west end LRT extension work that bad?

Churchill Station, Edmonton. I think she was performing for her friend because they had both cut class.
At least she wasn’t kneeling.
568

Midnight Rambler

30 August 2011 at 6:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sili:

Just completely out of the blue: does anyone know what the story is with Comradde PhysioProffe? All of his non-recipe posts have the appearance of being written while completely hammered.

Yes.This has been tonight’s edition of Simple Answers to Simple Questions™, thank you for playing.

Okay, I’ll try that again – can someone explain what the story is?
569

David Marjanović, OM

30 August 2011 at 6:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*hugs for Classical Cipher and Cath the Canberra Cook*

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

The city of Moratalla in southern Spain has cut the cars and the cell phones for its police officers (they still have their phones, and can still be called, but they can’t make calls anymore). Reason? Lack of money.

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

So, finally… from subthread 248, which I’ve caught up with till comment 450…

It’s not normal.

And your feathered ankylosaurs are normal? What about the nodosaurs? It may be my dream, but your the one insisting that ankylosaurs had feathers.

Well, given Tianyulong, I can’t guarantee the opposite anymore…

I forgot – are you coming to Rhinebeck in October, or perhaps to Las Vegas or LA in November?

No, no, and no.

:-(

Gays’ Official Spokes Human

Win.

Me too. When I get stressed, I don’t eat dinner. Which sucks cause I’m skinny.

As far as I’ve been paying attention, which isn’t far, stress has no effect on my appetite. Nothing other than infections seems to.

And he did such a memorable job that she didn’t notice the “job” he did on her at the time, and had to be tipped off after the fact. “Uh, yeah, about that baby bump; hail Mary full of…um…grace….”

:-D

J’adore [les] ananas.

Parfait, quoi. :-)

And with all that insecurity and bitterness I’m afraid I’m in for another “hubby’s evil twin” nightmare, which is by far the worst one I ever had and which is a reocurring one :(

:-( :-( :-(

*hug*
*lavender pillows*

Oh, and since I feel I’m whining a lot, here’s something funny:
Today my daughter examined whether there were by chance any mice living under my breast. :)
I swear that kid has an imagination that would make a lot of so-called fantasy authors weep

You do know what musculus means…? :-)

The wiki page for that Paleo Diet thing says that they don’t eat salt. First of all, their food must taste like crap because of that. Second of all, you need salt to live. I imagine that the people following this diet are mostly health conscious, which probably means they work out and drink a lot of water. If you sweat a lot, drink lots of water, and don’t eat enough salt, you will have problems.

If you eat enough meat, you’ll have enough salt. That’s not at all a problem.

I don’t think I could easily eat that much meat, though. I’m more one of those starch-eaters like Paranthropus. But not everyone is like me.

Sometimes you work with artists that are so talented it inspires you. Occasionally you work with artists that are so fucking great they make you just want to lay down the instrument because you will never add or approach anything as good.

David Marjanović is one of those people.

Of the latter? That’s seriously sad. :-( How can I become one of the former?

Or one of them complaining about having a wet bum because of the sand, or the trouble they had the next day to get the sand out of places it should never have been in the first place.

I’ve read the woman should absolutely be on top for precisely this reason.

(My e-mail provider sometimes reprints articles from Mens’ Health Magazine. There are gems of bizarrity in there.)

DavidH – I’m a passive-aggressive snot, so I’d probably go to the coach and say “Oh gosh, Coach, Junior told me about the pastor coming to the team meeting. Did you know that schools all over the US get sued for that kind of thing and they always lose? I couldn’t stand it if the school lost money, or if you got into any trouble over this. I think it might really be a bad idea to have him come directly to the practices, because it scares me to think of the school getting dragged through national press and a huge lawsuit over this!!!”

It helps to cultivate a wide-eyed innocent look while doing so.

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Actually, fire is very healthy for forests. Reproduction, fire management, and tree health are all positively affected by fire.

That depends very strongly on what type of forest it is.
570

Carlie

30 August 2011 at 6:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Nooooooo… I thought there was going to be Marjanović at Rhinebeck!!!
571

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 6:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well, given Tianyulong, I can’t guarantee the opposite anymore…

Wow. I had no idea that they had found evidence of feathers in marginocephalians. If I remember correctly, Nodosarus and Ankylosaurs are on the same part of the tree as the Marginocephalians, right? So you may be correct.

That depends very strongly on what type of forest it is.

Speaking strictly about naturally occurring forest fires (not forest management fires or fires used to clear forests), can you give me an example? I guess I tend to be Americo-centric on this shit.
572

Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan

30 August 2011 at 7:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Of course! You weather one hurricane, and along comes the news that there’s another brewing. Whether it actually hits the area or not is one thing – the mere fact that it could, well, nyaaaaaargh! *headdesk*

Oh yeah, hi everyone. Got power back about three hours ago, which must mean it’s here to stay.
—————————————

I thought Rhode Island got it bad, sounds like Vermont is neck-and-neck with. I don’t suppose the covered bridges could be rebuilt? No scratch that, it’d kind of take away the historical attraction I guess.

As to the whiners who commented on the video…and you don’t watch ANY movies that have profanity in them, right? Yeah, that’s what I though, you pack of prissies. Why doe sit surprise anyone that people swear when they see something awful happen?
—————————————

Hugs and lots of chocolate/vodka/whatever to those who need ‘em. Skimming the thread doesn’t tell the whole story, but it told me enough to learn that some people have been having some sucky days lately.
—————————————

Re: #425-
I think many evolutionists interact with other humans quite well. Much better than some Christians do (and I’ll wager Willis and his like-minded ilk would fit that category).
—————————————-

And now I’m off to do more stuff, since I no longer have to worry about candles burning down to nothing.
573

sandiseattle

30 August 2011 at 7:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well…. tried to take care of the kittens today. Bubba managed to get all three of them, plus the Mister into the little enclosure we’ve been feeding them in and zipped em in. Waited some 6 hrs for the Humane people to come by and then the Mister and one of the kittens escaped :-( They gave us a trap, but I don’t think we’ll see either of our escapees for a day or two.
574

Lynna, OM

30 August 2011 at 7:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

theophontes @521

… In Wuhan I stumbled upon a “coffee house and language club” near the university that was completely infested with goddists. It would appear that under the pretense of teaching a language over a cup of coffee the less scrupulous are trying to flog their religious message….

Sounds all too familiar. Mormon missionaries used to employ equally deceptive techniques, especially in China and in Japan.

Here’s a description from an ex-mormon that served his LDS mission in Japan:

The main characters were Delbert Groberg (son of the the temple president and little bro of the GA), successful oil-industry executive; and Yoshihiko Kikuchi, successful executive and Japan Area Administrator at the time. Between the two of them, they cooked up a plan to increase baptisms in Japan, historically a terribly-performing venue for missionary work. Often missionaries spent two years there with zero contacts of any kind, let alone baptisms.
     The plan was to alter the methods of consumer targeting, contacting, teaching, and baptizing. It was streamlined and tailored to appeal to and/or take advantage of certain general behavior patterns in Japanese culture. It was designed to establish and increase a charismatic approach to conversion, not unlike that of American Fundamentalist tent-meetings and mass-baptisms, but again refined to take advantage of Japanese culturally normal behavior patterns.
     Please keep in mind that the language used to sell this plan to church big shots and missionaries was probably VASTLY different than the language I’m going to use to describe it:
• Missionary apartments were relocated to areas near major pedestrian shopping and transportation traffic centers.
• In Tokyo, existing chapels were used as teaching centers, and when distance from a chapel rendered that option unfeasible, offices were rented with the intent to use them for the same purpose and as branch meeting-houses. In outlying areas, missionary apartments were to be used as teaching centers as well as branch meeting-houses.
• Missionaries were no longer to waste their time tracting. They were instead instructed to use the major traffic centers as a resource pool, and make street contacts through a variety of cheap tricks, the most popular being to offer English lessons and tutoring (imagine a 19-year-old farm boy tutoring someone in English…).
• Missionaries were to target teens, young adults, and needy types in their street contacting. These were “easy marks.” They were to take advantage of a certain Japanese reluctance to directly disagree or contradict in face-to-face interaction, and were given techniques on how to establish an easy rapport and how to get the “mark” to constantly agree with the missionary. A patter was developed so that the missionary could steer the conversation and control it. Then the missionary would get the “mark” to agree (easy by that time) to go with him/her and talk briefly about Something Very Important.
• The missionaries were to MAKE CONTACT AND NOT LOSE IT. They were to bring the “mark” to whatever teaching center had been designated and begin indoctrination immediately.
• The six missionary discussions were rewritten and condensed into six five- to ten-minute presentations. It was dramatized and made very charismatic. Missionaries were advised that they could “teach” all six discussions at once “if so directed by the spirit.”
• Following the mini-discussion presentation, missionaries were instructed to challenge the “mark” to baptism, immediately.
• If the “mark” accepted, missionaries were to contact their zone leaders and schedule a baptismal interview. Zone leaders were never more than ten or fifteen minutes away by train.
• Apartments/teaching centers/meeting-houses were all equipped with makeshift “baptismal fonts.” If the “mark” accepted and passed the “interview” (who would not? almost nobody failed it!), the “mark’ was loaned a white jumpsuit or shift, and baptism immediately followed the six lessons and interview, witnessed by the Zone Leaders. Confirmation followed, again witnessed by the Zone Leaders.
• The entire process (contact to confirmation) was timed and refined until it was streamlined down to approximately 1.5 HOURS. It could be — and most frequently was — all done at the same time.
• The missionary was to exchange contact information (address and phone #) with the “new member,” give them a Book of Mormon, and give them a small map showing them where church services were held, times, etc.
• The contact was “allowed” to depart.
• New baptism statistics were posted weekly in the mission newsletter, to increase the level of competition among the missionaries.
• Missionaries were required to meet regularly for “mutual encouragement” meetings (rah-rah sessions). Zone or All-Mission Conferences were scheduled to raise the excitement level even further and sustain it at fever pitch.
• Never let up on the pressure to perform.
     I’m probably missing a few details here. The whole concept was packaged and sold as a Two Hour Secret Adventure!!! I honestly have no idea how those six mini-lessons appealed to Japanese teenagers, but that is the closest thing I can come to for an explanation. Naturally when they went home and talked to their parents about what they’d just gone through, they were probably met with a huge negative response.
     In retrospect none of this sounds like very much, but at the time, it was revolutionary in Japanese missions. Baptisms SOARED. Suddenly missionaries who couldn’t baptize one person in two years were baptizing dozens of people EVERY MONTH. The mission swiftly averaged over 1,000 baptisms every month. News of this naturally spread like wildfire: something was happening in Tokyo! What nobody knew, realized, or admitted at the time was that the huge bulk of these “conversions” were teenaged Japanese girls.
     I’m sure other missionaries in Japan were thinking “what the hell?!?” Kikuchi spread the love around, and other missons in Japan were soon using some variation of the new techniques, but none were as ragingly successful as Tokyo South Mission. Kikuchi and Groberg did have one thing going for them: they got the system up and running, and when it was going they did what it took to keep it going. The application of peer-pressure and leadership expectation was high, to say the least. Every missionary suffered some degree of personal emotional pain in the process. The psychological cost to everyone was astonishingly high.
     I’m sure the longtime members in Japan were shocked and horrified (I actually only met ONE all the time I was there: a branch president in Iwata). They were the ones who had to deal with all these incoming membership records of new people who, even when contacted, never displayed any more interest at all in the LDS religion.
     By 1982, the church in Tokyo had become a paper tiger. Naturally, like all Ponzi schemes, it was destined to collapse at some point. When it did, the scheme’s protagonists were relegated to the scrap-heap. Who knows where Delbert Groberg is today? Yoshihiko Kikuchi, for all his much-vaunted love of his native land and people, emigrated to Utah. Probably hoping to become the Japanese version of Brigham Young or something. Few Japanese members chose to follow him….

Here’s the discussion thread from which I excerpted the above details:
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon555.htm
575

Mr. Fire

30 August 2011 at 7:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*ATTENTION ATTENTION*

…

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.
576

Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls

30 August 2011 at 8:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

*Applause, now hide the silverware, as the mobility has just increased greatly.
577

Rey Fox

30 August 2011 at 8:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

Great, soon she’ll be jumping canyons in high winds. Ask Og about that.

Nooooooo… I thought there was going to be Marjanović at Rhinebeck!!!

S’far as I know, there will be. That was Og talking to DDMFM.
578

Wowbagger, Madman of Insleyfarne

30 August 2011 at 8:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Great segment on the radio (Triple J) just now: singer/songwriter of Brisbane band Ball Park Music was just talking about how reading The God Delusion helped him all the way to ditching his belief in God, and then he was inspired to write a song celebrating life – and here it is: It’s nice to be alive

I already really liked this song – I like it even more now!
579

myeck waters

30 August 2011 at 8:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Congrats, Mr. Fire, and welcome to the world of OHMYGAWDHOWDIDSHEGETTHAT.
580

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 8:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

Oh, shit, are you in trouble now. Seriously. Childproof a foot higher than you think she can reach. Now. Because she will get into things you cannot imagine. Girl, at the age of 12 to 14 months, climbed onto a table and dove into a large bowl of potato salad. During a party.

Heh. Heh. Heh. Have fun.
581

Carlie

30 August 2011 at 8:19 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yay Mr. Fire!!!!
582

Wowbagger, Madman of Insleyfarne

30 August 2011 at 8:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis wrote:

Girl, at the age of 12 to 14 months, climbed onto a table and dove into a large bowl of potato salad.

Newsflash: Not only are atheists eating babies (well, toddlers) but they’re breeding them to commit suicide in bowls of side dishes to make it even easier!
583

Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan

30 August 2011 at 8:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yay Mr. Fire! Now start locking stuff up because she’ll have her hands on it and running before you can say, “peachy keen.”
584

Lynna, OM

30 August 2011 at 8:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So, despite the alarming hovering of her father, Mr. Fire, the Little Spark has decided to walk.

And to fall often on her padded bum, a short distance to be sure.

Mr. Fire, give up now. Your daughter rules.
585

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 8:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Newsflash: Not only are atheists eating babies (well, toddlers) but they’re breeding them to commit suicide in bowls of side dishes to make it even easier!

At the time, I considered myself a universal deist. I didn’t admit/discover/realize my atheism until I was about 40, only five years ago.
586

cannabinaceae

30 August 2011 at 8:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m not vegan, but if I were, I would say this:

“Seitan is my Motor”
587

cannabinaceae

30 August 2011 at 8:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Goddamnit
588

cannabinaceae

30 August 2011 at 8:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Guess I’ll just go downstairs and finish up all that popcorn I made for the Hurric’n.
589

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

30 August 2011 at 8:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“Seitan is my Motor”

You’re a seitanist? Damn. You never know.

Of course, Girl is vegan and she is a serious cereal killer (one to two boxes per week, with the concommitant almond milk). And she also commits hummuside (she can go through four to six ounces per day).
590

Mr. Fire

30 August 2011 at 8:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thanks, folks.

Mr. Fire, give up now. Your daughter rules.

They got me a long time ago.
591

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

30 August 2011 at 9:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

One of my many personality disorders is that I cannot resist a set up.
[extraneous material cut]
Forum? I thought this was a thread. When did it become a forum? And why wasn’t I informed?

I has a disappoint.

A beyoootiful set-up like that, and you passed up the chance to go for “why wasn’t I inforumed?”

*shakes head sadly*
-
592

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

30 August 2011 at 10:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

*applause* and *confetti*.

Be warned that some enterprising children can and will construct ramps out of stuffed animals in order to maximise their grabbing-things-you-thought-were-out-of-reach pleasure. And run away with them, giggling hysterically.
</PSA>
-
593

ChasCPeterson

30 August 2011 at 10:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Heh. Heh. Heh. Have fun.

My daughter’s 15, and I approve this message.
594

bullofthewoods

30 August 2011 at 10:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A cat joke for the hoard.
The stuttering cat

A teacher is explaining biology to her 4th grade students.
“Human beings are the only animals that stutter,” she said.
A little girl raises her hand. “I had a kitty-cat who stuttered.”
The teacher, knowing how precious some of these stories could become, asked the girl to describe the incident.
“Well,” she began, “I was in the back yard with my kitty and the Rottweiler that lives next door got a running start and before we knew it, he jumped over the fence into our yard!”
“That must have been scary,” said the teacher.
“It sure was,” said the little girl.
“My kitty raised her back, went “Ffffff!, Ffffff!, Ffffff,
but before she could say “Fuck!,” the Rottweiler ate her!
The teacher had to leave the room.
595

chigau (™)

30 August 2011 at 11:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mr. Fire
*horror story*
The Mom was sitting on the toilet when her newly walking Offspring strolled in carrying the biggest, sharpest knife in the drawer.
This had been obtained by the Offspring opening said drawer (over hir head), lifting out the knife (over hir head) and diaper-waddling to the bathroom carrying the knife.
*/horror story*
Nothing bad happened.
Your life just got way more interesting.
596

Tethys

30 August 2011 at 11:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Where are all the threadizens? Only two comments since ten o’clock? Hmmm, is this thing on? (crickets)

Caine and Kamaka are probably having an awesome time right now, and are going to the dino museum tomorrow.
I am not. I haz a small jealous.
597

Midnight Rambler

31 August 2011 at 12:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Og @571:

Speaking strictly about naturally occurring forest fires (not forest management fires or fires used to clear forests), can you give me an example? I guess I tend to be Americo-centric on this shit.

It’s extremely bad for Hawaiian forests. Instead of having a closed canopy and open space underneath, they often have a relatively open canopy but a dense understory of shrubs and smaller trees. All (including the larger canopy trees) are very vulnerable to being killed quickly in a fire. With every fire that comes through an area, more and more native cover gets replaced with alien plants; mostly fire-adapted grasses, which both suppress native plant recovery and carry the next fire better. More open areas also allow easier access for goats and cattle that prefer to eat the softer native plants.

You could argue that most of the reason why fire is so bad is due to the effects people have had with bringing in all this crap. It would have still been bad without people though, just extremely rare, and it would have eventually (after 100+ years) recovered to native forest again instead of alien grassland.
598

chigau (™)

31 August 2011 at 12:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This is baffling me today:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/08/is-an-ad-featuring-a-battered-woman-offensive-or-artistic.html
it also has a really stupid poll.
599

psanity

31 August 2011 at 12:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

SQB,

Thank you, thank you. I owe you one (1) internetz, or at least one Pharyngulaz, since current limits on my time have made it daunting to even start reading threads, knowing the jungles that lie ahead. Now maybe I can catch up a bit. I should have thought to check the wiki, but the gumbys made my brain hurt so much.

Sili @ 531,

I think Bernie talks that way to keep from blinding people with his intellect and cogent grasp of reality. Protective coloration. Even in Vermont, it must be hard for someone really smart and sensible to get elected.

Josh, glad you’re on high ground. I’m heartbroken about the bridges, too. I hope they’re well enough documented that they can be rebuilt/restored. It’s not the same; wooden structures tend to be replaced piecemeal over long periods of time, though, and it’s better to have them than not.

When I went to the wiki, I noticed that an important recipe was somehow overlooked, for Hungarian Mushroom Soup. It was posted by nigelTheBold way long ago, and it looked so good, and the following conversation about umami was so enticing, that I bought a pound of mushrooms that weekend. It is fabulously delicious, and I should have said something at the time, but I was lurking, and, y’know. So thank you, nigelTheBold, and thank you, Pharyngulites, for being here and making the world a better place, with food, conversation, and principles.
600

SteveV

31 August 2011 at 2:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Because everything is better with lasers
601

theophontes , flambeau du communisme

31 August 2011 at 2:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Lynna

They were to take advantage of a certain Japanese reluctance to directly disagree or contradict in face-to-face interaction, and were given techniques on how to establish an easy rapport and how to get the “mark” to constantly agree with the missionary. A patter was developed so that the missionary could steer the conversation and control it.

I can see how just such a ruse should work in China too, for similar reasons. Every fine attribute of the average chinese student could be manipulated: friendliness, openness, a strong desire to learn, a desire to avoid conflict, a school background very respectful of authority, … there are just so many opportunities for the religious con-artist. And then one could also use the fear of losing face to make the mark feel guilty.

On the other hand (as also noted in your article), how long does the influence extend? They will likely just as happily drop the religious drivel over time once the novelty wears off. Aside from a few Buddhists, practically everyone I know in China is atheist. There is however a tendency for belief in ghosts for example, even among the nominally atheist. (Though many people follow old traditions without actually believing in ghosts.)

Anecdote: I have heard that many of the evangelists arriving in Wuhan not only speak Putonghua on arrival, but Wuhanese. ( N’rubraaH! … impossible dialect) Strait into the linguistic breach and lying for jeebus from the instant the wheels squeal on the tarmac.
602

amblebury

31 August 2011 at 3:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mr.Fire – aww, lovely. Was she beaming from ear to ear at her cleverness? Or was it ‘concentrate face.’

bullofthewoods – excellent.
603

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

31 August 2011 at 3:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Congratulations to Mr. Fire!!! (and seconding, thirding, fourthing the advice to get all breakables and dangerous items (i.e. everything in your home that is smaller than a bus) to much higher ground than you thought. Go for the ceiling, stat! Or you’ll only have to move it all again five ~~minutes~~ months later. Mobility can progress fast).

Hope that SallyStrange and Strange Boyfriend are OK with how the separation works out for them (if not OK now, soon). Big sympathies.

Part of me thinks daughterSpawn and boyfriend are being realistic, part of me thinks they might be jumping the gun. But only they know, so I’m shutting up about it (to them, that is! Sorry, didn’t mean to bend your ears with it so much, just that Sally’s predicament put me in mind of them) Mainly I’m just sad that they’re sad that the decision is forced on them by circumstance (though I’m glad that neither of them compromised on which uni to apply to in the first place, but both simply went for the one they thought was the best fit for them and their subject)
604

theophontes , flambeau du communisme

31 August 2011 at 4:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Kitty

Apropos finding a comfortable place for Snip: House designed around cats. (Link). Good to see some architects have their priorities sorted.
605

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

31 August 2011 at 5:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s funny because it’s true : G-male, the perfect boyfriend (if you hate your privacy) (linky)
606

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 6:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@theophontes:

Ehee, that’s wonderful. A bit over the top, but awesome nonetheless. I don’t have a house though, so I need to think small.

@Beatrice:

Oh lordy that was funny.

“Google… We’re really good listeners.”
607

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 6:19 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hello there

*gnash*
The little one made me eat a peice of choclate cake for breakfast, I will have to suffer all day for this.

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

Congratulations.
Mine now reaches the door handle which means that the toilet as my last safe place is gone…

Kids, they’re such fun, especially now with one of them asleep and the other one in kindergarten.

But the first steps weren’t when things became “interesting”. The ability to crawl and drag yourself up on the furniture provided the same possibilities for mischief long before.
608

SQB

31 August 2011 at 6:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’ve been with somebody I only see at the weekends all my adult life.

Without wanting to pry into the details of your private life, would you mind revealing the background of this unusual (in the most literal sense of the word) arrangement?

Mine now reaches the door handle which means that the toilet as my last safe place is gone…

What, your toilet has no lock on its door?
609

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 6:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Without wanting to pry into the details of your private life, would you mind revealing the background of this unusual (in the most literal sense of the word) arrangement?

No problem. It’s easy, he works in a city neither of us wants to really live in or raise our children in a region we don’t particularly like.
He never moved his centre of living from here to there. He’s from the place we live in now (small world, his gran is a schoolmate of my gran). When we first met he’d already been working there for over 10 years, still he spent every day off “at home”. Which is a rather usual phenomenon.
So we have everything here, our families, our friends.
Problem is, he’s a highly qualified professional working in the chemical industry for one of the biggest chemical companies worldwide. They pay rather well and there are simply no jobs for somebody like him here.
The distance is just big enough that commuting makes no sense, so he’s got a small flat there and comes home on Friday evenings.

What, your toilet has no lock on its door?

It has a key. That key is safely put away since daughter #1 locked herself in.
610

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 7:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Giliell:

I have the same situation at my apartment, except that it’s a tiny feline invading my privacy rather than a tiny human.

If I don’t open the door, Snip will sit and meow like mad… Then I let him in and he just kind of watches. It’s eerie.
611

SQB

31 August 2011 at 7:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I let him in and he just kind of watches. It’s eerie.

Of course, you do know how to get back at him, don’t you?
612

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 7:09 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@SQB:

Yes, but I don’t want him to use my bed in protest. Cats need their privacy or they get fussy.
613

Birger Johansson

31 August 2011 at 7:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

(OT) Patti Smith collects Polar Music Prize in Stockholm Aug 30
http://www.thelocal.se/33550/20110503/

— — — —
ERV at Scienceblogs has an interesting explanation of how (some) measles variants can be used to kill (some) cancers.
614

SQB

31 August 2011 at 7:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Might as well install a catflap in the toilet door and put his box in there (actually, that makes sense to me (a non-cat person, so YMMVW), since it’s just one place in the house to stink up (why people put the litter box in the kitchen is beyond me (perhaps they like the smell?))).

Giliell, your husband works in the Ruhrgebiet, I assume?
615

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 7:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@SQB:

His litter is in the bathroom.
616

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 7:22 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Giliell, your husband works in the Ruhrgebiet, I assume?

Near miss. Ludwigshafen, Rheinlandpfalz. Ruhrgebiet would be a no-go, too
617

SQB

31 August 2011 at 7:28 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That explains everything. He just wants to make sure you use your own toilet, not his.
618

Mr. Fire

31 August 2011 at 7:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mr.Fire –aww, lovely. Was she beaming from ear to ear at her cleverness?

She was positively screaming with delight.

In fact, she’s almost too smart. Parental decisions are being removed from strategic day-to-day planning. Baby Fire is beginning to learn at a geometric rate. She becomes self-sufficient at 2:14 a.m. Eastern Ti-

wait
619

ChasCPeterson

31 August 2011 at 8:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

ERV at Scienceblogs has an interesting explanation

Poor Abbie. She keeps throwing up these sciency virusy posts, but all the comments are still hoggling about Kyle’s mom or some shit.
And so she reaps what was sown.
620

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

31 August 2011 at 9:18 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/prolife-mps-refuse-to-back-down-over-bid-to-change-abortion-advice-2345862.html

Tory MP Nadine Dorries would like to take a leaf out of the US forced-birthers’ handbook. Just baby steps to begin with – at least she says she doesn’t want abortion counselling offered by Catholic organisations – but she wants “taxpayers’ money” taken away from organisations that provide abortions. Funny how it’s only “our” money when it’s going somewhere she disapproves of …

She thinks there are too many abortions carried out in the UK. Oddly enough, her solution seems to involve 60,000 unwanted babies being born – instead of more and better sex-ed and contraception availability.

One of the (anonymous) women whose comments are quoted in the article is brilliant, though. Apologies for the long quote – she puts it very well:

‘They just want to restrict our access’: Anonymous, 30, healthcare worker

“I was 17 and I was coerced into sex with someone who thought a baby would bond us forever – he actually wanted me to be pregnant.

“I had to sit my A-levels with morning sickness and then arrange an abortion. Because of all the other things going on in my life (leaving school, planning university etc) and because the whole thing was so traumatic, I waited until I was 8 weeks pregnant before going to a GP.

“Because I saw a sympathetic GP and was able to see a gynaecologist quickly, and because the waiting list in my area was short, I was able to have an abortion at 10 weeks, which meant a lower risk of complications.

“I don’t think the advice is a real issue. It’s a red herring. An abortion/termination of pregnancy is a medical procedure. Every medical procedure you have in the UK, you have after being fully informed and signing a consent form. To say women need extra counselling for one particular procedure is patronising as well as derailing from the more important issue, which is the agenda of some members of the government who want to restrict access to abortion.

“The requirement for ‘independent’ counselling is going to delay abortions, and it isn’t necessary. There is no evidence for it.

“In any case, I didn’t regret having an abortion, and I feel I was informed well beforehand. To be honest, though, this is a data-rich age and I was already well informed – I had read about what it would entail beforehand.

“Why can’t we just assume people will know their own minds, as with any elective surgery?”
621

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

31 August 2011 at 9:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The little one made me eat a peice of choclate cake for breakfast[...]

<Bill Cosby>Nutrition!</Bill Cosby>
-
622

theophontes

31 August 2011 at 9:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Kitty

Try this! (Link: Teh solution to kitteh loo.)
623

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

31 August 2011 at 9:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hoo, I just surprised myself by taking the liberty of issuing not one but two porcupine invitations on the homeopathy Silly Brits thread. I certainly hope I got the wording right on the requisition form and delivered them to the right address …

A bit forward of me, as I haven’t really been around here enough to be sure of porcupine (requisitions), handling of, protocols and proper procedures!
624

Weed Monkey

31 August 2011 at 9:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I sold an old engagement ring (that I just found more than a decade after I wore it) to one of these businesses that are buying gold at the moment (and advertising fiercely). They paid me just enough to buy a case of cheap domestic beer, a pouch of rolling tobacco with papers and filters, and a small bag of salted cashew nuts. Cheers!
625

Benjamin "I can has MacBook Pro?" Geiger

31 August 2011 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Giliell:

Did the little one make you have grapefruit juice, too?
626

Janine, The Little Top Of Venom, OM

31 August 2011 at 10:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have never watched nor do I ever plan on watching Dancing with The Stars but

this story fucking steams me.

Some people are very upset because Chaz Bono will be dancing on the show. Some of the sample quotes sent to ABC.

“HUGE HUGE fan of this show since season two and eagerly await each season to get my dancing/entertainment ‘fix’!! But when I heard that Chaz Bono was going to be on, I was sick. Not that I have anything personally again her/him, I just don’t want that lifestyle choice continually flaunted in the media esp ABC,”

“Chaz Bono How low can this show sink. Well you have certainly addressed the gay commuity. Guess this will not be a family show any longer!!!! Lost my family!”

“YOUR choice to bring Chaz Bono into the mix goes too far. I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7 and 9 year old are watching. If you want the ‘anything goes’ hippy culture, then soon that is all you will get. You’ve lost us. In case any of you are wondering … no, we are NOT tolerant. We are not tolerant to allow any and all influences to come unfiltered into our home and especially to our children. This is truly a sad farewell.”

None of this surprises me, I am well aware of the hatred and overkill that is shown to transgendered murder victims. But it still dismays me that some people toss off such casual and baseless hatred. Now I wait for groups like AFA and CWA to organize boycotts.
627

Psych-Oh

31 August 2011 at 10:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

Hooray for BabyFire!

Funny how it’s only “our” money when it’s going somewhere she disapproves of …

Isn’t that always the way?

Off to Home Depot on my lunch hour for toilet parts.
628

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

31 August 2011 at 10:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Midnight Rambler:

Thank you. I forgot about the opportunities created for exotics and invasives by fire. In a natural ecosystem, though (one without invasives), fire in the Hawaiian forest ecosystem created meadows and a multi-generational mosaic.
629

Rey Fox

31 August 2011 at 10:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The little one made me eat a peice of choclate cake for breakfast, I will have to suffer all day for this.

A little music.

Some people are very upset because Chaz Bono will be dancing on the show.

Well, it will be a bitter pill for the over-50 crowd that is the primary audience of that show. By the way, I think you accidentally blockquoted your link.
630

Squigit

31 August 2011 at 10:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Good (late) morning, Thread.

I proudly wish to announce that my daughter walked for the first time today.

You are no longer allowed to have anything sharp or breakable lower than 3x Daughter’s height in your home.

I have absolutely nothing to do until my move on Saturday. All of my books are packed up, I have no transportation or money, and I am bored nearly to tears.
631

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

31 August 2011 at 10:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The little one made me eat a peice of choclate cake for breakfast,

But did you have grapefruit juice with it? (a la Bill Cosby)
632

Janine, The Little Top Of Venom, OM

31 August 2011 at 10:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Rey Fox, you are right. Here is the link that I neglected before.
633

Janine, The Little Top Of Venom, OM

31 August 2011 at 10:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well, it will be a bitter pill for the over-50 crowd that is the primary audience of that show.

It is not just the over fifty crowd that is transphobic. I have memories of being confronted by a bunch of teens who were muttering about a “wannabe bitch”. I felt fortunate that no one in my group got hurt.
634

SQB

31 August 2011 at 10:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t get it. What’s so bad about chocolate cake that you “will have to suffer all day for this”?
635

Janine, The Little Top Of Venom, OM

31 August 2011 at 11:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chocolate cake?

The excess of fat on your american bones won’t soften the impact as you sink like a stone.
636

Squigit

31 August 2011 at 11:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Some people are very upset because Chaz Bono will be dancing on the show.

Probably a remnant of my conservative upbringing, but transgender makes me a little uncomfortable. I try very much not to be, and I’ve never discriminated against, insulted or badgered anyone who is transgender, and I certainly don’t think any less of transgender people.

I’m trying very hard to change this about myself. Reading comments on this blog and the snippets I’ve gotten recently from Katherine, have helped.
637

Psych-Oh

31 August 2011 at 11:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I am really glad that Chaz Bono will be dancing. I’ve never watched the show- but I might now. It is so wonderful to expose an audience, who would never voluntarily expose themselves, to people who are different from themselves.

And yes, I just said “voluntarily expose themselves”… *cue the giggles*
638

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 11:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Janine:

Yesterday, I was in a chat room (random chatter, nothing specific) and people were talking about Lady Gaga when someone came out with:

Sir Gaga. You can’t call a man a woman.

I was incensed because a) Lady Gaga isn’t a transgendered person and b) even if she was, the fact she identifies as a woman means you call her a woman! The chat room is the kind where people of all sorts – very notably GLBT people – hang out.

Those people are the sort who’d refuse to acknowledge my femaleness, the ones who’d still call me “he” even after transition. Transphobia is sad, and an even higher wall to climb over to true equality.
639

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

31 August 2011 at 11:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Squigit,

You are not the only one here with that particular shameful confession to make. I used to feel “uncomfortable” too, but all it took was a bit of self-education on the internet and reading posts by people like Katherine, as you said, to realize that the only one responsible for that uncomfortable feeling was me. I now feel very embarrassed for ever thinking something like “But I don’t know in which gender to refer to them” because that just shows how little I cared to understand transgendered people, instead pretending that I was owed some kind of explanation.

I guess I’m due for another Thank you! to Pharynguloids for teaching me a lot of good stuff. ;)
640

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 11:36 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Squigit:

Ehehe, I’m glad I can be the one turning you over towards the fabulous side >:D (no, not the faaabulous side. That’s Josh’s territory.)
641

Classical Cipher, OM

31 August 2011 at 12:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have a friend who has been having obsessive thoughts about death (not suicidal thoughts – fear of death) with no apparent (to hir) external cause. It hasn’t been going on too long (a week) but it is causing hir a lot of anxiety and xe is having trouble focusing on other things. Is there a bright line when this goes from the normal effects of mortality to something problematic?
642

Janine, The Little Top Of Venom, OM

31 August 2011 at 12:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was incensed because a) Lady Gaga isn’t a transgendered person and b) even if she was, the fact she identifies as a woman means you call her a woman! The chat room is the kind where people of all sorts – very notably GLBT people – hang out.

Katherine, I know this will come as no surprise to you, this is for the straight people, but there is a lot of strife in the LGBT community. There are plenty of lesbians who do not like transgendered women, witness the on going feud between the Michigan Womyn’s Music festival and Camp Trans. A lot of gay men do not much like the more flamboyant gay men. Some gay men and lesbians do not much trust each other and resent their issues being lumped together. Ask Caine about how she is rendered invisible because she is married to a man. I can easily go on but I think my point is made.

There are a lot of gay men and lesbians who are just as fearful of transgendered people as many straight people are. They are just a committed to the idea of a fixed gender identity as any member of the AFA.
643

Muse

31 August 2011 at 12:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The whole “oh noes Chaz Bono” reactions posted here make me wonder what those people talk with their children about… I sincerely doubt that Chaz will be doing anything other than dancing (presumably lead). Why would a discussion of his gender ever even come up with their children? Do they generally discuss people’s gender presentation with their children?

Regarding how to address someone. The general rule is usually to address someone the way they are presenting unless it’s be specified otherwise. Also, at least in some community, which pronoun do you prefer is a perfectly acceptable thing to ask (the answer is not always he or she. I know folks who prefer it, they, and zie).
644

Richard Austin

31 August 2011 at 12:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I honestly think a big part of the problem is that one of the major “attacks” against homosexuality is a challenge against gender identity – that, because one is gay, one is “trying to be a girl”, and that because one is lesbian one is “trying to be a man”. So, a lot of what gays and lesbians end up spending their time fighting against at the start is the mixing of gender and sexuality.

I also think part of it is that there is a distinction between gender and sexuality, and most people in general – including most gays and lesbians – don’t seem to “feel” the distinction (whether they know it intellectually or not). Remember, being homosexual doesn’t automatically make one a superhuman*.

This doesn’t excuse the behavior, obviously, but it might help to identify the source.

For me, the big “ah ha!” moment came when I framed it as something else entirely. I have a very specific mental image in my head of how I look; there was a time when how I looked didn’t match with how I felt (it still doesn’t, entirely, but this was pretty severe). That’s a very trivial kind of thing, and I don’t mean to detract at all from the monumental struggle that is being transgendered, but it gave me a small piece of what it feels like to have that discontinuity between who you are inside and how you appear on the outside.

*Except maybe Josh.
645

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 12:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Muse:

Seems to me like it’ll be coming up somehow initiated by parents in that situation. Chaz dancing and mom points at her TV, “Look there [daughter]. That man is actually a woman.”

I figure no child watching it will be able to see anything but a man dancing with a woman while they’re watching the show.
646

Muse

31 August 2011 at 12:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Katherine – that’s exactly my point.
647

Psych-Oh

31 August 2011 at 12:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I want to know what kids stay up late enough to watch “Dancing with the Stars” anyhow? My kids are up in bed by 7:30.
648

chigau (™)

31 August 2011 at 12:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Janine

There are a lot of gay men and lesbians who are just as fearful of transgendered people as many straight people are. They are just a committed to the idea of a fixed gender identity as any member of the AFA.

This is news to me.
Although with a few moments of thought, it really shouldn’t be.
649

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

31 August 2011 at 1:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Seems to me like it’ll be coming up somehow initiated by parents in that situation.

I’d say you’re almost certainly right. Sonny and Cher is probably not even on the map for kids these days, therefore Chastity Bono (as an accessory to the duo and their TV show) isn’t either; to the extent that older kids are aware of the Chastity/Chaz transition, I’d say that it’s bound to be about the transition, and therefore no surprise to them; no more Shock! Horror! than it was before the DWTS issue came up.
-
650

Psych-Oh

31 August 2011 at 1:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Was this already posted about transgendered kids? Transgendered Kids Kudos to those parents.
651

Walton

31 August 2011 at 1:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Cross-posted in part from the Eagleman thread. I’m sure this will be controversial, but it’s something that I feel obliged to say.

I wish PZ, and others here, would stop promoting Sam Harris’ work. Harris is an authoritarian, a shallow thinker, a proponent of anti-Muslim bigotry (he promotes the xenophobic lies, favoured by the far right, that Islam poses a “threat to Western civilization” and that Europe is in danger from “creeping Sharia”), and an apologist for war and torture. Even where Harris is right on a specific issue, I’d argue that encouraging people to read Harris’ work on any subject has the effect of causing people to perceive him as an intellectually respectable and serious figure, which he is not. In my view, if someone defends torture and promotes bigotry, he or she should be ostracized by the mainstream intellectual community until s/he recants his or her views.

It’s all very well to say that someone can be right on one issue and wrong on others, and that an opinion should be judged on its own merits rather than on the basis of its source. Of course this is true, and I’m not arguing that Sam Harris’ opinions on atheism should be regarded as wrong merely because of their source: in fact I agree with him almost entirely as regards the arguments for the non-existence of deities. But I would argue that promoting Harris’ work in particular has the negative effect of encouraging people to take Harris seriously; and that it’s also unnecessary, since there are many other atheist writers (the late Bertrand Russell, for instance, and PZ himself) who are far more intelligent, insightful and perspicacious than Harris has ever been.
652

slignot

31 August 2011 at 1:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m still a bit embarrassed that my initial reaction when I heard about a high school crush’s transition was complete shock coupled with a vague resentment that I had no idea that she wasn’t male like I though she was. I had a real “shouldn’t I have known that” reaction where I made it all about me instead of being happy that she was finally able to be herself openly and honestly. It wasn’t about me or the fact that I had a crush on her when she still presented herself publicly as male, and I didn’t get that until later. The one thing I’m glad about is that I kept that shit to myself rather than inflicting it on her.

I think I equated her transition as similar to when another good friend came out as gay partway through high school and I wasn’t the least bit surprised, even though I’d had never once consciously thought about his sexuality.
653

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 1:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Walton:

Doesn’t that ring of the sort of response as dismissing anything Ken Miller says because he’s a Christian and believes in theological evolution? Miller is really smart, and totally correct about evolutionary stuff, except when he gets down to really tiny levels where he sees God. Should we dismiss Miller and ignore him even if he gives an awesome drag-down of a Creationist thought?
654

Dhorvath, OM

31 August 2011 at 2:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Most anyone is different from how we perceive them. Some people just can’t accept that a person would want to assert their self image in place of others misperceptions.
655

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

31 August 2011 at 2:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Holy shit! I sometimes wish that I were a fundamentalist — religious, political, social — so that I could create new definitions for words and then mock people for not knowing my new definition. Of course, that would be very fluviolacustrinian of me to assume that all would defenestrate my violence, right?
656

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

31 August 2011 at 2:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Your violence gets thrown out of the window in a riverbankly and lakeshorian manner? …..????……..? :)
657

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

31 August 2011 at 2:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I finally get why you (Pharynguloids in general) find libertarians so fun to play with. MRA & misogynists hit a bit too close to home, for me at least, and creationists don’t have much of an argument besides “By the power of God and his merry band of dinosaurs I command you to bring me a transitional fossil”, but libertarians….. They can provide hours of amusement. No matter what crazy scenario you throw at them, they will somehow elaborate on it in libertarian terms….which then gives a dozen new crazy scenarios to work with.
I think I’m hooked.
658

Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

31 August 2011 at 2:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Your violence gets thrown out of the window in a riverbankly and lakeshorian manner? …..????……..? :)

You just need to go (insert random web page link) to understand the definitions I am using and if you won’t go there you are a junior poopy head!

The constant redefinition of ‘aggression’ in the libertarian thread is driving me up the wall. And, of course, his definition is the only possible correct one.
659

kristinc

31 August 2011 at 2:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

seconding, thirding, fourthing the advice to get all breakables and dangerous items (i.e. everything in your home that is smaller than a bus) to much higher ground than you thought. Go for the ceiling, stat!

Nthing.

My advice to new parents in my family is always “If you love it, pack it away. Don’t put it up higher. Put it into storage. Otherwise you’ll end up contemplating infanticide.” And I mean it, because I was continually shocked by my babies’/toddlers’ capability for finding and ruining precious things. Maybe I shouldn’t have been after the first three or four times, but every time I was certain they couldn’t get to something they managed. It only stopped when I removed important things from the house entirely.

So I urge all parents of toddlers to skip my heartache and put irreplaceable and favorite objects into storage for several years, minimum.
660

Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan

31 August 2011 at 2:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“By the power of God and his merry band of dinosaurs”

LOL!
————————————-

Anyone know a thing or two about emergency radios? Now that it’s calmed down a bit around here, I want to buy one for the next big natural event that gets the fundies squawking. Aside from knowing a hand-crank is a good idea, well, what else should I know? And if there are any recommendations for emergency radios, feel free to post them.
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And now that we have power, I guess it’s time to…nah, it can wait. Was gonna go pick up some milk but feh, a few more days of drinking evaporated milk mixed with water can’t hurt. I already stopped at the farmer’s market to pick up a few things, dairy can wait.
————————————–

I’ve decided that a few weeks of a big blank space on the back of my door might be good for me. Time to go rip that poster down and rip it to bits. Or burn, haven’t decided yet.
661

Midnight Rambler

31 August 2011 at 2:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Doesn’t that ring of the sort of response as dismissing anything Ken Miller says because he’s a Christian and believes in theological evolution?

I think that’s applicable to people like Hitchens and Dawkins, who certainly say some disagreeable or outright obnoxious things now and then. But has Harris really contributed much that wasn’t like Walton described? Granted, I haven’t read his books, but from his essays and blogs it seems like everything he says is shallow thinking, without much thought for implications, consequences, or the real world.
662

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 2:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Good evening

@chocolate cake
Nope, no grapefruit juice, but half a banana

I don’t get it. What’s so bad about chocolate cake that you “will have to suffer all day for this”?

about 500 calories.
I’m desperately trying to lose some weight.
Actually I really need to lose a lot of weight, but that’s too depressing.
So the rest of this day was mostly fruit.

Talking about strange food habbits, the little one tried rabbit food today. When my aunt tried to intervene telling her “That’s for the rabbits”, she got a cool “no, that’s for Madita” back.

@transgendered people
Maybe that’s my privileged hetero liberal point of view, but I’m lost as to what people perceive to be the problem.
OK, I had my gender identity questioned as a kid (loud tomboy, me), but never as an adult, but well, it’s totally not my business what other people identify as.
Yes, I would have a problem if my husband started wearing my dresses (oh, wait, he has..) and suddenly identified as a woman, but for the rest of the world I don’t have the right to give a shit about.
As for kids, unless you indoctrinate them, they don’t even notice anything special. Neither of my kids has asked so far why their uncle is kissing another man or why female friend A is married to female friend B. It’s just normal.

[bleeding sarcasm]
Hey, today I’ve beaten my sister. She may currently lead in the race for the “worst daughter award”, but she just can’t beat me at the “worst mother award”.
My horrible crime?
Playing in front of the house, I told the girls that if they had any kind of vehicle, they had to turn before they reached the neighbour’s daughter’s car. They’re young, they’re clumsy, they’re fast, no need to damage the girl’s first car.
How can I put somebody else’s property before the right of my kids to have fun on 100% of the street instead of a meager 70% of it? How can I aspire to teach them respect for other people and they’re needs?

*sigh*
*hugs lavender pillow*
(Thanx, David)
663

Midnight Rambler

31 August 2011 at 3:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis:

Thank you. I forgot about the opportunities created for exotics and invasives by fire. In a natural ecosystem, though (one without invasives), fire in the Hawaiian forest ecosystem created meadows and a multi-generational mosaic.

That’s not beneficial though. Because severe disturbance like that was so rare, there isn’t a suite of specially-adapted early and mid successional species that take over after a fire. Instead you just have a very small subset of what was there before, so diversity plummets. Other processes, like ohia dieback and severe droughts, create mosaics without wiping out the diversity.
664

Dhorvath, OM

31 August 2011 at 3:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Giliell,
Fun is for today, lessons are forever. Good on you for caring about the difference. Hugs because of the judge hanging over your shoulder.
665

Patricia, OM

31 August 2011 at 3:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wow, still on this thread.
Work sucked yesterday, granted I live in a huge county, and we get veterans from three Washington counties coming in too, but man six new death claims really saps the joy out of your life.

Finished my 2nd sock of a pair this morning, so that’s happy!
666

Patricia, OM

31 August 2011 at 3:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

666 for a 4th time?
667

chigau (™)

31 August 2011 at 3:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis @655
There sure were a lot of ~~polysyllabic~~ ~~high falutin’~~ big words in that post.
@658 Yeah. The redefining of ‘aggression’ is making my head spin.
668

chigau (™)

31 August 2011 at 3:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Patricia
Show off:)
669

Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls

31 August 2011 at 3:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

When I heard Chaz Bono was going to be on DWTS, all I thought was, minor celebrity, good fit. The Redhead watches, I don’t.
670

Gyeong Hwa

31 August 2011 at 3:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

666 for a 4th time?

PATRICIA IS THE ANTICHRIST AND WILL USHER THE 4 HORSEMEN OF APOCOLYPSE!

And because of that, I will invite her for wine and strawberry pie!
671

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 3:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Congratulations, Patricia
Now you only need 662 more :)

Dhorvath:
That’s not the judge, it’s the inquisition…
I also fail to see how fun ends when there’s still enough room to run/rid/push a wheelbarrow. OK, fun ended when the kid decided to ignore me, but, well, that’s her decission.
672

Brother Ogvorbis, Chewtoy for Libertarians

31 August 2011 at 3:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chigau:

Yes, I do tend towards polysyllabic and polyphonic words, not to mention archaic structures of sentence, but I have an excuse.

I play to my audience.
673

Dhorvath, OM

31 August 2011 at 3:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Giliell,
I didn’t expect the inquisition.
Our little guy is pretty good about stuff like that because it’s a firm line that we use regularly. How else do people learn to respect other’s property?
674

chigau (™)

31 August 2011 at 4:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis
I am part of that audience, fur shur.
Nice new ‘nym.
675

Patricia, OM

31 August 2011 at 4:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Pie? That sounds good!

We’re over run with peaches right now, so for supper it’s teriyaki chicken, with a peach, baby lima bean, cornd and cilentro salad, with lesbian lemon olive oil.
676

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

31 August 2011 at 4:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Dhorvath:

How else do people learn to respect other’s property?

In my experience, a lot of them don’t
I admit I’ve been changing some of my parenting lately, but not that much. Not disturbing the rest of the world unnecessarily was always something I found important.
I expect a lot of tolerance for kids. They are kids after all, but I also expect them to respect other people’s boundaries (and other people to respect theirs)
There are social rules and norms that are important, especially if you want them to be able to navigate in that societx once they’ve grown out of the cute child.
677

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

31 August 2011 at 4:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother O

You just need to go (insert random web page link) to understand the definitions I am using and if you won’t go there you are a junior poopy head!

ah, I get it now – it’s all clear to me! :-D

kristinc

I was continually shocked by my babies’/toddlers’ capability for finding and ruining precious things.

Not precious, exactly, but … did you know that cream crackers are exactly the right shape and size to fit into floppy disc drives? (remember them?) And that six-inch nails fit in there quite well too, as long as you put in at least half-a-dozen in a row? Oh, and paperback books fit into VCRs rather well…
678

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

31 August 2011 at 4:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PATRICIA IS THE ANTICHRIST AND WILL USHER THE 4 HORSE~~MEN~~S OF APOCOLYPSE!

Fixed!

And they will be all garlanded with pea vines.
-
679

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

31 August 2011 at 4:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Dhorvath:

NO ONE expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!
680

Dhorvath, OM

31 August 2011 at 4:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I just really want the comfy chair right about now.
681

Rev. BigDumbChimp

31 August 2011 at 4:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I know it’s still technically August (at least here), but first Pumpkin beer of the season.

Not bad.
682

PZ Myers

31 August 2011 at 4:19 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

NEW THREAD!