Sep 04 2011

Episode CCLI: Living without religion

Categories:

Atheism, Open Thread

by PZ Myers

This is the promo video for CFI’s “Living without religion” campaign — nicely done!

We await the communicators who will complain that it is unscientific and destructive.

(Last edition of TET.)

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685 comments

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501

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

7 September 2011 at 6:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thank you to Dhorvath and others last night for talking to me about my kitten problems. He’s adorable, but stressing me out. I took the initiative and taped thin cords to some of the objects they’re near as well as put all my electronics with cords away. I called my counselor to talk, just a kind of “this is what’s up” sort of thing.

And now my face is on fire because of all the dust I riled up.
502

Therrin

7 September 2011 at 6:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Apparently 1911 was quite the libertarian paradise in the US (I love how one small quote sets this guy off–in a good way).
503

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

7 September 2011 at 6:36 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Therrin:

That was a lovely piece!

—

Set: 1 min, 21
504

starstuff91

7 September 2011 at 6:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My lab report is done and my graph is pretty. I just wanted to announce this to someone.
505

SQB

7 September 2011 at 6:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And now my face is on fire because of all the dust I riled up.

At least your goats are not.
506

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

7 September 2011 at 7:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@SQB:

The Three Goats would never be on fire, they have carried us over the bridge so the troll doesn’t eat us.

I have to take a picture of the cinnamon Orbit package – it’s got goats on fire on it.
507

Algernon

7 September 2011 at 8:22 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Therrin, wow… thanks for that link! My great aunts and uncles were actually from that era, and my grandparents from just a few years after. I’ve never understood how it was romanticized so much. Even my grandmothers rather fortunate family suffered, which is how she lost her hearing. I don’t understand why people want to return to those times, as if they imagine that *they’ll* be fine so fuck absolutely everyone else.
508

Erulóra Maikalambe

7 September 2011 at 8:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

But I have all the mechanisms I need to cope and … well, I’m just quite happy to be me.

I still have a lot of work to do there. I’ve never found adequate ways to compensate for my … quirks. I’m just unproductive and forgetful.
509

Antiochus Epiphanes

7 September 2011 at 8:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My lab report is done and my graph is pretty. I just wanted to announce this to someone.

Awesome. See you in an hour.

Or wait. You’re probably not in my lab.

Getting my e-mail and blog reading confused.

Sorry. But seriously. Good work on that graph. Legible = Gradable. Daddy like.
510

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 8:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Moments of Mormon Madness add up to statistics from hell for high school students in Utah. A theocracy does not do well when it comes to education, as we all know, but mormon-dominated school boards and state government also negatively affect the physical health of students. They’re feeding them junk food in order to make money, and they’re denying them sex education in order to …. in order to …. aw, fuck, there is no reason.

Utah high school students are the least likely in the country to learn about condoms at school — and the most able to buy chocolate.

I have a solution for this. Can we make chocolate-flavored condoms, and sell them in high school vending machines?

That’s according to the School Health Profiles 2010 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…. also pointed to Utah’s highest-in-the-nation ranking for schools that sell junk food in vending machines …
Nearly 92 percent of Utah secondary schools allowed cookies, crackers, chocolate, salty snacks, soda pop or sports drinks to be sold on school grounds… High schools can make thousands of dollars a month selling junk. A 2010 proposal to make vending food healthier was rejected by Utah lawmakers who said parents should take responsibility for guiding what their children eat.

The national average for high schools that sell junk food in vending machines is 62%, which is still way too high. But 92%? Really, Utah? No only are the schools making money off promoting unhealthy eating habits, but the vending machine companies are really raking in the dough.

…Utah schools have nearly barred the topic of safe sex. Utah had the lowest percentage of high schools in which students were taught these points: The efficacy of condoms, the importance of using condoms consistently and correctly, how to obtain condoms and how to use condoms correctly.
Utah law forbids the advocacy or encouragement of contraception in public schools. But Lynn Meinor, manager of the health department’s communicable-disease prevention program, said teachers can and should be teaching students how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. Rates of diseases such as chlamydia continue to rise among high school and college-aged students in Utah….

Full story in Salt Lake Tribune.
511

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 8:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

To the question up-thread about BYU getting federal funds for student housing: You found a hole in my knowledge of how the mormons run their empire. I don’t know.

As a follow-up to my post about Utah high school kids not getting sex education (@510), here’s a typical post from the Readers Comments below that story:

You know what, I wouldn’t have a problem with the liberals’ sick obsession with teaching kids how to use condoms, IFFFFFFFFFFF the liberals had even a shred of morals and would teach the kids that sex should be reserved for marriage. Liberals want to subtly teach kids that casual sex is awesome and should be engaged in as soon as possible, and that you’re abnormal if you’re NOT screwing your girlfriend when you’re 14. Since the liberals utterly refuse to teach kids correct principles, I certainly don’t want them teaching horny CHILDREN how to use condoms (which the liberals KNOW they will interpret as a “go” signal).

Yea yea, we’ve all heard the liberals say a million times that “kids are gonna do it anyway blah blah blah.” This of course is 1% truth and 99% lies because when you teach horny kids how to use condoms, as they sit in a room loaded with girls they’re already eying constantly, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

The liberals don’t want to teach our kids the truth, that if you engage in sex when you’re still a kid, it messes with your head BIG TIME. It messes with your future too, in ways you cannot anticipate.

It’s creepy how the liberals are obsessed with pushing sexual experimentation onto our kids, or pretending that it’s somehow normal.

Every discussion of sex in schools should start with the preface of “your wife” or “your husband.” If you liberals refuse to do the right thing, then quit whining and crying that we won’t let you show our kids how to put on a condom. Libs are just plain perverts.
512

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 9:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And, here’s another comment from a Salt Lake Tribune reader, just to prove that there are intelligent people in Utah (a lot more intelligent people are needed in Utah, in order to dilute the anti-human influence of mormonism):

A recent report found that between 2004 and 2008,
Utah’s teen birthrate grew by over 30%. During that time, chlamydia
rates increased 70% among teen girls, while the rates of gonorrhea also
rose at nearly that level.Lynn Beltran, the HIV and STD program manager at Salt Lake Valley Health Department explained, “People want to say we don’t have a STD problem among teens here in Utah. We are here to say absolutely we do have a problem.
Quoted from the Deseret News ([Deseret News is a mormon-run news source. The reader quoted from that source because many mormons don't trust other news sources.]

More alarming is that the fastest increase in teen pregnancy is occurring in girls age 15 and under. I am not terribly worried about the girl who marries at age 18 and becomes a mother at age 19 – she will likely have a healthy baby. I am extremely concerned about girls under 15 having babies. These infants have a very high rate of infant mortality, prematurity and low birth weight, not to mention the difficulties that are faced by the mother.

So many Utah mothers think, I’ll just teach my own daughter and son to live the law of chastity, stay morally clean and virtuous. Good for them, they are saving their children’s lives and if what they are doing works, I fully support them, but I also see young girls, some of whom do not even have a mother at home who come in crying. One young 15 year old was being raised by a single Dad. She was pregnant. I’ll never forget what she said to me, “I didn’t even know that part of my body existed”. We told her that we were going to measure the height of her uterus to see how the baby was growing, she didn’t know what a uterus was. It is so difficult to care for these teen moms who have been raised without a healthy form of human reproductive education. I honestly think we are placing both the mother and the unborn child at risk. Little concepts like “don’t drink alcohol” while pregnant because alcohol can cause fetal alcohol syndrome just sail over their heads. They just ask, “what is fetal”?

If I had my way, I would battle abortion by teaching every single student about developmental biology and human reproductive health. Reverence and respect for life, for sexuality are one thing, ignorance is another.
513

onion girl, OM (Social Worker, tips appreciated)

7 September 2011 at 9:25 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I am so excited! We’re at #197 now!
514

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

7 September 2011 at 10:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

onion girl,

Voted :).

Did I understand it right that tomorrow I can vote for you again?
515

cannabinaceae

7 September 2011 at 10:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I think I heard JS Bach groan.

Was that a typo? I was just playing some JS Bach on the organ, myself. Well, my keyboard on the “Cathedral Organ” setting.
516

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

7 September 2011 at 10:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh, and you are #194 now!
517

Richard Austin

7 September 2011 at 10:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

WRT photography in the US:

If you’re in public, you have minimal rights to privacy. It’s generally polite to get permission, and for commercial photography I think you generally need a release unless the person is unrecognizeable (this has more to do with profiting from likeness/endorsement laws than from consent), but for personal non-commercial use (up to and including journalism, which is usually covered under non-commercial laws), there’s pretty much no restriction as long as it was done in public in a place where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Now, this gets complicated because many of the places we frequent aren’t technically public: places like malls are actually private and can have their own restrictions or regulations on photography.

Interestingly, you also need (or should get) a commercial release if a building you’re featuring prominantly in a photographing is well-known and recognizeable. It’s called a property release. This doesn’t apply to things like skylines, obviously, because you’d need a few dozen releases for most cities; it’s more if you’re using a specific building in an endorsement or for commercial use.
518

theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

7 September 2011 at 10:48 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Erulóra Maikalambe

I’ve never found adequate ways to compensate for my … quirks. I’m just unproductive and forgetful.

I guess everyone is different, so I can only share my experience and not draw conclusions on other people. I hope something will be of use.

Quirks: Like walking around erratically when I speak on the phone. If it is a small space, I make small circuits. Alternatively turning upside down on the couch. I have no idea why I have this powerful urge to move about while on the phone. Generally I don’t like phones.

Unproductive: 90% of my working day is utterly wasted.

Memory: I don’t think it is as much a case of being bad as getting distracted and not paying attention to what I was supposed to remember. I need to write stuff down or risk forgetting things even in the very short term.

Physical Activity: Personally I was very physically active, especially at University (I guess it needed that most there.) Aside from all the activities described previously, I would do things like swim out to sea and then several kilometers along the coast. Obviously very dangerous, not that it ever bothered me. I would also run to the next city on a whim to pop in to friends for tea. The round trip was longer than a marathon. And the funny thing is I am not a sporty person.

Meditation: Yeah, I should do this more. I used to have an aquarium and wasted thousands of hours staring at fish. Very relaxing.

Work: I am lucky to have my own office space and results based criteria. Colleagues are used to my style.

You should not be hard on yourself. As someone mentioned upthread, a lot of the currently sedentary life/work environments are simply not what humans where designed for. Choose those that play into your strengths. I have found a very inspiring example to share:

Gillian and I had lunch one day, and I said, “How did you get to be a dancer?” She told me that when she was at school, she was really hopeless. She couldn’t concentrate; she was always fidgeting. The school wrote to her parents and said, “We think Gillian has a learning disorder.” I think now they’d say she had ADHD. But this was the 1930s, and ADHD hadn’t been invented at this point. It wasn’t an available condition. People weren’t aware they could have that.

So Gillian’s mother took her to see this specialist. She sat on her hands for 20 minutes while her mother talked to this man about all the problems Gillian was having at school: She was disturbing people, and her homework was always late, and so on. In the end, the doctor sat next to Gillian and said, “Gillian, I’ve listened to all these things that your mother’s told me. I need now to speak to her privately. Wait here — we’ll be back. We won’t be very long.”

As they went out of the room, he turned on the radio sitting on his desk. When they got out of the room, he said to her mother, “Just stand and watch her.” The minute they left, she was on her feet, moving to the music. They watched for a few minutes, and he turned to her mother and said, “You know, Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.”

I asked, “What happened?” and Gillian said, “She did. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was. We walked into this room, and it was full of people like me. People who had to move to think.” Who had to move to think.

She eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School and had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet and became a soloist. She later moved on, founded her own company, and met Andrew Lloyd Webber. She’s been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, she’s given pleasure to millions, and she’s probably a multimillionaire. Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.

(Citation: Sir Ken Robinson,Schools Must Validate Artistic Expression.)
519

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

7 September 2011 at 10:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Quirks: Like walking around erratically when I speak on the phone. If it is a small space, I make small circuits. Alternatively turning upside down on the couch. I have no idea why I have this powerful urge to move about while on the phone. Generally I don’t like phones.

Me too! All of it – moving around while talking on the phone and generally not liking talking on the phone.

I generally have trouble standing still unless I’m doing something that prevents me from walking around. Waiting in any kind of line is more of a torture because I can’t move out of it then because of the wait itself.
520

chigau ()

7 September 2011 at 11:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t answer the phone.
I listen to the messages.
521

Katrina, radicales féministes athées

7 September 2011 at 11:36 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Therrin, thanks for that link. I’ll be passing that one on.

But now I feel old. My grandmother was fifteen and teaching school in 1911. My grandfather was a boy living in Alaska.
522

chigau ()

7 September 2011 at 11:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Because of this
http://xkcd.com/
I just wasted a half hour chatting with a ‘bot.
523

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

7 September 2011 at 11:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Darvocet works nicely to kill pain.

I…I thought/hoped they’d taken that stuff off the market. Darvocet: the drug of a thousand nightmares.
-

I have a washer and dryer now! I’ve never been so happy to do laundry in my life.

Yay! :)
-
P-TI: :( :( :(
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Any ideas on what it could be?

Squirrel? The ones that intermittently pass through our attic (when they’re not trying to eat it) make a “fluttery” sound.
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How are you citizens of the thread?

Tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk. With added ragweed.
-

Does anyone ever try any of the other games? Quiddler, which seems suited for the Scrabblers out there (yes, I’m looking at you, Brother Ogvorbis) and Xactika.

I do the Quiddler every day. :)
-
524

The Lone Coyote

7 September 2011 at 12:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was diagnosed with ADD before I was diagnosed with aspergers. I dunno if the AS ‘nullifies’ the ADD or I was misdiagnosed or what, but I remember being on ritalin. It wasn’t really good for me. It worked, but I felt like hell constantly.

I used to have a fairly hardline stance about medicating kids with ritalin, based on how it made me feel, but apparently it really does help some people. Pot is the only thing I medicate myself with now.

Sometimes I wonder if my issues are deeper than Aspergers syndrome. I have yet to meet anyone else who has such a hard time ‘feeling human’ as me.
525

Stonekettle

7 September 2011 at 12:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Therein@502
Thanks for the shoutout, but given the forum I would have thought you would have linked to the God Whisperer post instead. :)
526

Ms. Daisy Cutter

7 September 2011 at 12:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Crap, looks like my comment from yesterday never showed up, due to 2 hyperlinks.

Ing, congratulations on the engagement. Sally, congrats on the job, sorry about the BF. Gileil, I am sorry to hear your grandmother is not doing well. PTI, I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s friend. Algernon, I hope things get better for you.

Walton: Google “Building 19″ and “Ocean State Job Lot.” They’re regional discount chain stores that have sections of nonperishable food that is both cheap and high quality. If you’re in Cambridge, you likely do not have a car, but perhaps one of your mates will. I’d suggest the OSJL in Dedham, because it’s very close to the Boston city line and because it’s large and therefore has more variety. Building 19s all more or less have the same amount of floor space.
527

Stonekettle

7 September 2011 at 12:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Urf. The last comment should have been addressed to @therrin vice “therein.” I’m typing on glass with a very persistent autocorrect.
528

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 12:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Richard Austin:

There’s a distinction between “public property” and “public place”; the two are not synonymous. For instance: Malls are not public property, but they are (usually) public places, and a courthouse bathroom is not a public place, even though it’s on public property.

You have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place. Whether the owner of the property allows photography is another question entirely.

I took a few photos of a Christmas tree at a local outdoor mall last year. Security quickly came by and told me to stop shooting, as the mall’s owners required permits for “professional photography”. (One drawback of an SLR.) That’s the owners’ right. However, the people in the photos I took can’t complain, unless I sell those photos (without cloning them out).
529

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 12:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place.

But don’t I have a reasonable expectation that my loss of privacy will be limited to that public location and for the time that I’m in that public place? Something like this project would mean that when I’m in a public place, I lose my right to privacy from thence on out in any medium whatsoever for anything that anyone could capture of me while in that public place. There’s a big difference between “people will see my face at the mall if I go to the mall” and “people will see my face all over the internet if I go to the mall”.
530

Rev. BigDumbChimp

7 September 2011 at 1:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’ve done my fair share of crazy climbing before, sketch stretched out aid on sandstone in Zion, Ice Couloirs in the Tetons, chausey conglomerate in Maple canyon, but this will make your butthole pucker.
531

Rev. BigDumbChimp

7 September 2011 at 1:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’ve done my fair share of crazy climbing before, sketch stretched out aid on sandstone in Zion, Ice Couloirs in the Tetons, chausey conglomerate in Maple canyon, but this will make your butthole pucker.

Whoops forgot link
532

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 1:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie:

But don’t I have a reasonable expectation that my loss of privacy will be limited to that public location and for the time that I’m in that public place?

No.

(Keep in mind that I’m not a lawyer.)

There are four privacy torts:

* Intrusion of solitude: physical or electronic intrusion into one’s private quarters.
* Public disclosure of private facts: the dissemination of truthful private information which a reasonable person would find objectionable
* False light: the publication of facts which place a person in a false light, even though the facts themselves may not be defamatory.
* Appropriation: the unauthorized use of a person’s name or likeness to obtain some benefits.

Unless the photographer commits one of those torts, they are allowed to use their photos anywhere. (The no-commercial-use rule falls under ‘Appropriation’.)
533

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 1:19 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

RevBDC:

I saw that a long while ago… and my thought then is the same as it is now:

“Knowing my luck, I’d get about 3/4 of the way to the top and have to take a dump.”

Also, I’m surprised those guys can even climb a tower without their gigantic gonads getting in the way.
534

Psych-Oh

7 September 2011 at 1:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

On ADHD: I spent my entire graduate career studying ADHD and the effects of Ritalin on motor processing and error processing. I am partial to Ritalin because I’ve seen how it works on both kids and adults with and without ADHD. I’ve also had the chance to experience it myself (of course we run ourselves through the experiments!) and was amazed at how my accuracy and speed improved on the tasks under Ritalin.

Gotta pick up boy kidlet from school…
535

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

7 September 2011 at 1:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Good evening

Well, gran is home. She seems already more “awake” than she was all the time in hospital, I hope that if the weather turns fine again as promised, we can get her a bit out in the garden, to sit in the sunshine.

Fun Story:
You remember that my daughter went to kindergarten yesterday unkempt because she didn’t get dressed on time. Today she got dressed on record time, zipper up and everything.
Well, this afternoon I found out why that was: She never bothered to take off her PJ trousers :)
536

Richard Austin

7 September 2011 at 2:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Lone Coyote:

Sometimes I wonder if my issues are deeper than Aspergers syndrome. I have yet to meet anyone else who has such a hard time ‘feeling human’ as me.

Growing up, I’ve always felt like an outsider. Always. There isn’t a situation anywhere, online or in person, even with my best friends or romantic interactions, where I haven’t felt like there was a significant sociological barrier between me and the other person(s).

In small groups (myself and one to 3 other people), it’s less noticeable because I’m being actively included; it larger groups, it’s almost unbearable, which is a large part of the reason I avoid parties and large social gatherings.

Still, it’s always there: this feeling of being a foreigner who knows the language but is missing most of the idioms. That, combined with some of my biological quirks, led to the common joke that I’m an alien or an android (something that people I barely know come up with on their own, so there’s “something” they’re recognizing as well).

I’m definitely ADHD, dyslexic, and slightly OCD, and have been told I’m on the AS spectrum “somewhere” (I haven’t had a formal diagnosis of that; it didn’t seem to matter much). Like you, I don’t know that this disassociation is related or something else entirely.

But it does mean that the word “lonely” doesn’t have much meaning to me – in the sense I interpret from others, I’m never -not- lonely. Some days it’s worse that others; that’s what long drives along the shoreline are for, letting the wind dry the tears where no one can see them.

And, because it’s probably something neurological, I also know that saying this doesn’t help reduce that sensation, but it might help intellectually.
537

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

7 September 2011 at 2:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

We smell bad, we’ll eat all your food, and worst of all, we SHED.

You have teenagers/young adults?

I thought/hoped they’d taken that stuff off the market. Darvocet: the drug of a thousand nightmares.

[Googles] They did. I didn’t actually read the bottle. [actually looks at bootle] Apparently, I’m taking vicoprofen, which is hydrocodone and ibuprofen. Anyway, it works. Pain reduced. Swelling reduced. Wallet reduced.
538

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

7 September 2011 at 2:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis: I’m relieved. There used to be a problem with doctors wanting to prescribe Darvocet for me as pain relief, notwithstanding that my records clearly state that I react badly to that stuff, and that I would always explain that to them ahead of time. I was so pleased that as of the New Years MRSAcre, it was no longer apparently compulsory.

Hydrocodone did the job nicely for me. No nightmares, no sinking pit of hopelessness, no being unconscious for unreasonably long times.
-
539

Sili

7 September 2011 at 2:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Whoops.

I somehow managed to use the Vulcan LLAP hand when gesturing in class today. When did I become a Trekkie?
540

Ms. Daisy Cutter

7 September 2011 at 2:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Antiochus, #415: Sounds like you need something to pull you out of your own ASS.
/ba-dump-tssh

Brother Ogvorbis, #428: I hear that the Republican cloakroom in Congress has a spunking couch in the back. You might want to put a towel down before you sit on it.

Lone Coyote, #464: Here’s the link to that post. At least the couple didn’t get to the point at which the guy was yelling “Release the Kraken!” in bed.
541

kristinc

7 September 2011 at 2:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Richard Austin: when I still had religious belief I was able to tell myself that I felt different/isolated/other because the divine had special plans for me, and that all my difficulties and traumas were some sort of necessary test or annealing. It’s kind of more difficult now that I don’t have that security blanket. Makes me wish, sometimes, that I could still believe.
542

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

7 September 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brother Ogvorbis # 537

[actually looks at bootle]

Bootle? Isn’t that the name of a boat? (Gerald Durrel’s childhood boat, the Bootle-Buntrinket, which he shared with numerous animals but mainly the dogs Roger, Widdle and Puke)
543

The Lone Coyote

7 September 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ogvorbis: I’m 26. The young adult is me.

Richard Austin: I know about the isolation. I remember reading a book about AS when I was young and first diagnosed that mentioned sorta ‘not feeling human’ as being fairly common. “Robot” or “android” seems more common, in my case, I just feel like an animal. For the longest time I thought of myself as some sorta wolfman, but I’m really just a very bizarre primate.

For me, I just wish I met someone who ‘spoke my language’, so to speak. My ex is fairly close but in no way the same. At the very least she knows how to deal with me though, so there’s that. I have a few friends, and even if they don’t understand me at least they don’t hate and reject me, so there’s that too.

Where it really discourages me is dating. I know I’m a compassionate type, gentle and respectful (a noble savage?) and slow-tempered, all good traits, yeah, but I’m pretty sure most women want a guy who can actually fit into human society and feels comfortable there.

/end self pity.

I’m attempting to turn my figs into wine. I’ll probably screw up, but I don’t usually do anything with them and I hate seeing fruit go to waste.
544

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

7 September 2011 at 3:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sorry, that was of course the Bootle-Bumtrinket.
545

Classical Cipher, OM

7 September 2011 at 3:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was diagnosed with ADD before I was diagnosed with aspergers. I dunno if the AS ‘nullifies’ the ADD or I was misdiagnosed or what,

IIRC, ADHD and AS are considered “comorbid” conditions. They’re often associated and their symptoms overlap but one does not necessitate the other.

Sometimes I wonder if my issues are deeper than Aspergers syndrome. I have yet to meet anyone else who has such a hard time ‘feeling human’ as me.

Well, I have a horrible time with feeling human, but I get the impression you and I might not mean the same thing when we say “feeling human.” My experience of self was fragile and transient (getting better), I felt that I did not exist in any real sense and was only an empty shell that could sometimes manage to fool strangers, and I used to distinguish myself from others on the grounds they were “real people,” whereas I was something other than that. My brain still does this, though I’m pushing back against it pretty steadily now. I consciously created (and still create, albeit hopefully more wisely and healthily) personas that would allow me to “pretend” more easily to be human. This preceded my significant traumas, but was exacerbated by them to a kind of breaking point.
546

Sili

7 September 2011 at 3:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Why is Buddy Roemer running for the Republican nomination?

Republican?!
547

Sili

7 September 2011 at 3:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Anyone started getting spammail from Gadaffi yet?
548

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 4:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well, shit. Literally.
My cat seems to be on her last life (she’s definitely used several up in the last year, as I’ve written far too much about). She’s been acting “off” the last few days, even with pushing more subcutaneous fluids, and I finally took a good look at the litter today. Definite internal bleeding, possibly from both far up the intestine and closer to the end (without getting too gross, there are both types present). Just since Saturday, because the last time I cleaned the litter then it was fine. Although her bloodwork was really good in July, she’s lost weight again in the last month (I’m sure she’s under 4 pounds now) and she’s too frail to deal with any more interventions. We’re going to watch for a couple of days, but I’m guessing we’re going to have to make the appointment before the end of next week.

In much lighter news, the campus finally opened a pub for the first time EVAH tonight, in the building directly next to mine. It’s only open for special events, from 5:30-8 on Wednesdays. What do I do? Teach 6-9 on Wednesdays. Blech.
549

kristinc

7 September 2011 at 4:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m so sorry to hear about your cat, Carlie. It sounds like she’s been a really lucky cat to have humans who care about her so much.
550

chigau ()

7 September 2011 at 4:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie
Sorry about your kitty.
*hugs*
——
What do you teach?
Any room for a field-trip?
Say to the building next door?
551

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 4:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thanks, kristinc. I can’t complain at all; she’s had more than a year past when we thought we would lose her, so it’s all been extra time. I just don’t see any way out of this one this time.
552

Richard Austin

7 September 2011 at 4:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie: Teach at the pub.

And, sorry about kitty :(
553

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 4:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

chigau- biology lab. :)
554

Dhorvath, OM

7 September 2011 at 4:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ogvorbis,
Sorry to hear about your dental woes. Still, teeth are good for you, they make eating so much easier. Sorry it’s so expensive.
_

And the spunking coach has me concerned. It’s not sticky is it?
___

Squigit,
We had some people who pull that duty on a thread a while back. I don’t think this company is likely to be on the up and up.
___

Carlie,
What you have there is a classic space alien cat zombie. Watch out, they like to steal fuzzy things. (oh, I guess TLC may have a point as well.)
___

Ing,
Sounds like a real prize. Performance is just that, what you perform. Take notes at least, if it comes to escalation having detailed notes with dates can go a long way.
___

Kristinc,
I had issues with that site until I found the rebuttals. I can’t really believe some of the things that people write in without some serious doubt clouding my enjoyment.
___

PTI,
Oh, I was hoping for some people a little further from the household. I don’t know as husband will be much use, I know I would have trouble.
___

Mattir,
I have only the net to go on, but your children seem very well adjusted and schooled to me. (‘Course, I ain’t so take as you wish.)
___

Therrin,

Unless the “you” in this case is very limber.

Depends what you mean by service.
___

Josh,
You have come a long way from the initial aftermath. Maybe more time will continue that trend?
___

Beatrice,
I don’t want to click that link for fear I may see something I don’t want to.
___

Giliell,
Congratulations. Progress is gratifying.
___

Katherine,
You can do this. It’s just a bit much to deal with when you weren’t expecting it. Anytime you need advice, I will be glad to share my lifetime of cat obfuscation.
___

Lynna,
Chlamidia is up 70%, “but don’t teach our kids how a condom works”. If they were doing something to help we wouldn’t need to step in. Bloody child abuse, that’s what it is.
___

Theophontes,
I stand and walk while on the phone, I am an animated arm speaker though and not having my hand free to gesture always seemed to me the reason I move my feet instead.
___

Stonekettle,
That’s made some rounds as well.
___

Rev,
That climb is nutty.
___

Benjamin,
Gonads have nothing to do with bravery. Please don’t do that.
___

Carlie,
I am so sorry to hear that, but the extra year has sure been a treat, yes? Every cat deserves a people like you.
555

chigau ()

7 September 2011 at 4:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie
The Effects of Beer on the Undergraduate – 101
WED 6-8
12 sessions
No dissections.
(must be 18 or older)
556

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

7 September 2011 at 5:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t want to click that link for fear I may see something I don’t want to.

Just the faces of people heavily bundled for winter. No nekkid pictures, but still pretty personal with close-ups of people’s faces during a private moment when they thought they were glancing at themselves in a mirror. The photos are actually really good, it’s just the whole concept that’s bothersome – the photographer was hidden and not only people didn’t know they were being photographed, but they weren’t even told later (until they got invitations for the exhibition – sorry, I forgot where I read that part).
557

Dhorvath, OM

7 September 2011 at 5:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That really makes me uncomfortable. I may never see a public mirror the same again.
558

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

7 September 2011 at 5:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I may never see a public mirror the same again.

Well, this might make you even more paranoid, but the photographer was actually in a darkened store so technically, people were looking at a mirroring surface of the store window. So, much more common than a public mirror.

Also, thanks for the dancing advice yesterday (about the wedding), even thought it won’t work for me. I’m not very comfortable with strangers touching me, so I’ll probably avoid dancing as much as possible. I am going to sneak in a book though, so Therrin, thanks for that one.
559

llewelly

7 September 2011 at 5:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Dhorvath, OM | 6 September 2011 at 1:58 pm:

Llewelly,
Yup, gotta keep him under thumb and quash any independent thought.

I think your reading is pretty uncharitable, but perhaps I should have been more clear.

It was intended to make people laugh. There’s always a tension between rules that are necessary for practical or safety reasons, and a child’s need to explore. Use of eating utensils as percussion instruments is an interesting one, becuase some parents are ok with it, while others forbid it. Among those who are mostly ok with it, restrictions vary (“Not my GOOD table!”, “Not when mommy has a headache”, etc).
560

Dhorvath, OM

7 September 2011 at 5:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hey, dancing isn’t everyone’s bag of tea, it gets me through though. Hope you have fun however you sort the wedding out.
561

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

7 September 2011 at 5:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Bootle? Isn’t that the name of a boat?

And I wasn’t eventaking the medication at the time.

Ogvorbis: I’m 26. The young adult is me.

Twenty-six? That’t not a young adult, that’s a little kid.

And gerrof me lawn, ye damn whippersnappers!

=======

Carlie:

Cyberhugs.

Sorry to hear about your dental woes. Still, teeth are good for you, they make eating so much easier. Sorry it’s so expensive.

The good news is, I can pay for it over 18 months. And even better news, I am going back on the NIFC call out list as of Sunday and should, with any luck, be at a forest fire out in California (I hope) by Monday. Which means about 130 hours or more of overtime.

And the spunking coach has me concerned. It’s not sticky is it?

No. Merely a mental construct. Whether your mind is sticky, after imagining said mental construct, is up to you. And your mind.
562

Dhorvath, OM

7 September 2011 at 5:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Llewelly,
Ah well, that would just be me being an insecure parent then. I guess I was primed to be defensive, my apologies for ruining your joke.
563

opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces

7 September 2011 at 5:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie, I’m really sorry to hear about the cat. It’s always hard to deal with, even when you know it’s coming :(

Definitely a fortunate cat in her choice of people, though – she picked one who would look after her and not let her suffer.
564

Alethea H. Claw

7 September 2011 at 6:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie, so sorry to hear about your cat. *hugs* if you want them.
565

Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan

7 September 2011 at 6:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh Carlie, it’s always sad to lose a pet. But your cat has had a good long life, and I bet if she could talk, she’d say thanks for giving her a good home.
———————————–

I was supposed to see J tonight, but after telling him about C., he suggested we cancel. I think it’s finally sunk in that I really won’t be hearing about what C.’s next big adventure will be. I’m not numb, I’m not really crying, I’m sort of…bummed? I’m sure it’ll all come back at some point and I’ll need to crank up the music to drown out my sobs.
————————————

I hate earaches. I hate when they turn into ear infections just when you think you’ve got the problem licked. I think maybe being exposed to cold air while my co-worker gave me a ride home tonight did it, but I was in pain by the time got home. Two Aleve later, and I’m sitting here with a “stuffed” or “swollen” feeling in my left ear. Sounds are muffled, but I can still hear, so maybe it’s not too bad yet. The problem is…

I REALLY don’t want to take pills for this. They can make me really loopy, and I can’t be loopy while at work. I thought sleeping with my head elevated was doing the trick, as I heard that sometimes the fluid just needs a little help with draining out via the Eustachian tube. It seemed to be working…

*googles for the nearest GP or perhaps Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist*
566

kantalope

7 September 2011 at 6:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Something new to be outraged about: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/07/140234451/under-suspicion-at-the-mall-of-america

NPR reporting that security guards at Mall of America are getting people investigated by the FBI. One guy probably got fired for (gasp) admitting to security guard that he was a Liberal.

yay America…yay.
567

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 6:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PZ has written about religious-based academies for troubled teens before. (Here’s one example.) Basically, the religious aspect allows the schools to get away with murder. And that’s not hyperbole.

Utah has more schools for troubled teens than most states. In Utah, it’s mostly mormons who run these gulags. They have been sued before, but now the legal heat is going up.

Even the mormon newspaper, Deseret News, has reported on the latest lawsuit.

Attorneys representing 350 former students and 150 of their parents have renewed their claims of fraud, breach of contract and allegations of abuse against a Utah-based organization running schools for troubled children.
     The lawsuit filed last week in 3rd District Court against the World Wide Association of Specialty Schools jump starts claims of damages filed back in 2006 in federal court — a case dismissed at that level because of jurisdictional issues.

Tenets of the case, however, remain the same, alleging the umbrella of schools charged thousands of dollars a month in tuition but failed to deliver on educational promises and psychological treatment plans.
In addition, the suit outlines of host of abuses students say were perpetuated on them while in the care of the schools, including:
• Unsanitary living conditions
• Being kicked, beaten, thrown and slammed to the ground
• Sexual abuse
• Chained and locked in dog cages
• Forced to lie in urine and feces as a method of punishment

WWASPS, owned by Utahns Robert Lichfield, Brent M. Facer and Ken Kay, has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and investigations over the years resulting from allegations always flatly denied and rejected by its attorneys.
     Multiple ancillary programs and services are alleged to be part of a network that supported schools operating in Mexico, Jamaica and throughout the United States, including Utah.
     Some of the schools have been criminally investigated by state or local authorities, including an expansive probe by the New York Attorney General’s Office of Ivy Ridge Academy near the border of Canada and the United States…

Ivy Ridge was operated by a Jason Finlinson, said to be Robert Lichfield’s, son-in-law, and Casa by the Sea was operated by Narvin Lichfield, Robert Lichfield’s brother.
     Such relationships also go to the heart of this latest lawsuit that alleges a network of related, or closely related individuals, operating in a single enterprise that “skimmed such large amounts of money off the amounts paid by parents that little was left to provide services and care for the children at the boarding facilities.”…
The plaintiffs seek a court order a jury trial and unspecified damages.
568

SallyStrange

7 September 2011 at 6:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have a normally very nice pleasant facebook feed (thanks to my family being a.) small b.) liberal c.) extremely non-confrontational.

So, my brother’s baby mama is rapidly becoming the most annoying person on it:

Some people are soon not going to have friends if they don’t stop talking crap and causing drama.

I wrote, “I agree with the sentiment, but do you really need to share it with everybody? That’s also drama.”

OH NNOOOEES, confrontation in the Strange family!??!! What will happen next??

I suppose if I block I can still see pictures of my niece via my brother’s feed.
569

SallyStrange

7 September 2011 at 6:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh looky, she didn’t take it personally! My nervousness was all for naught!

Thank you Sally, I truly never thought of that and I mean that in all honesty. I just needed to express how deeply annoyed and hurt I was.

I offered to let her vent to me via email if she needed to.

It’s funny, I’m sure you guys would be surprised to know exactly how non-confrontational my family is. I mean, it’s ridiculous. I guess my current personal style is a bit of an overreaction to that.
570

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 6:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Lon Harvey Kennard served as a Bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also set up the Village of Hope orphanage in Ethiopia.

He adopted six Ethiopian children.

[sigh] You know where this is going.

Kennard sexually abused the children.

Story in the Salt Lake Tribune.

In case any ex-mormons are reading this and want more details, I think Kennard served as Bishop in Heber City, Utah.

So far, the 47 charges of felonies committed by Kennard have been reduced to 3 via plea bargaining.
571

The Lone Coyote

7 September 2011 at 7:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Is all this mormon stuff coming out fairly recently? It’s all pretty sick, but is it a sign that authorities are at least starting to crack down on the fuckery?
572

Katrina, radicales féministes athées

7 September 2011 at 7:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

{{hugs}} for Carlie and very, very, gentle hugs for kitteh. I recall you and I sharing elder-kitteh nursing stories last winter when mine used up one of her lives. When I snuggle up with her tonight, I will be thinking of you two.
573

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

7 September 2011 at 7:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Is all this mormon stuff coming out fairly recently? It’s all pretty sick, but is it a sign that authorities are at least starting to crack down on the fuckery?

No, it means that it is getting harder and harder to sweep this stuff under the rug. There have always been, and always will be, extremely religious people who actually have a working conscience, a real sense of right and wrong. The difference today, and in the future, is that, thanks to modern communications, it is much easier to report (anonymously in many cases (or semi-anonymously (and no, I do not know, nor am I asserting, that the criminal was exposed through an anonymous tip))) instances of abuse — abuse of children, abuse of authority, and other forms of abuse. It doesn’t mean that it will stop the abuse, it just makes it more likely for the abuse to be reported and acted upon.
574

crowepps

7 September 2011 at 7:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Giliell – the 9/11 anniversary is now descending into farce — the trio of out of town, fundamentalist evangelical advocacy groups who started a petition whining about how the bereaved families were ‘excluding God’ by not inviting clergy to say (JudeoChristian) prayers at their dedication ceremony have now been joined by nominally liberal, out of town evangelical clergy including Jim Wallis, also whining.

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/pr-news/525868-top-national-and-global-evangelicals-urge-unity-not-division-on-9-11

The insensitivity of traveling in from out of town to harass bereaved people into allowing changes in their traditional memorial that make you the center of attention even though the deceased wasn’t a member of your church and you never met him/her doesn’t seem to have occurred to anybody.

The fact that many of the deceased were Jewish or Muslim or Jain or Bahai or atheist or Catholic doesn’t seem to bother them.

Nor does the blatant unconstitutionality of demanding that Mayor Bloomberg, a government official, force private citizens to include in a semi-public ceremony religious figures whom they don’t want to include and listen to the spouting of prayers the families don’t want to hear.

Because, you know, the whole POINT of 9/11 was to give Jim Wallis a chance to get on TV so he could offer the salvation of Jesus to America.

This country is now officially nuts and makes me sick.
575

cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

7 September 2011 at 7:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie, I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty. *hug*
I wish there was something I could say that would help.
-
576

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 7:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Is all this mormon stuff coming out fairly recently? It’s all pretty sick, but is it a sign that authorities are at least starting to crack down on the fuckery?

No.

It’s a sign that the authorities can no longer sweep the fuckery under the rug as easily as they did in the past. The authorities still don’t crack down until they are absolutely forced to do so by very determined victims.

In the most recent child molestation case by the mormon bishop, the children turned him in. From what I’ve read, the kids worked together to give evidence to the authorities, with one grown son gathering nude photos and other pedophile/child abuse documents from the father’s computer. The oldest (now adult) female victim called the police with the charges.

It’s a sign that at least some victims have not been persuaded by church leaders to just send the perpetrator to his or her local church leader for counseling.

It’s a sign that at least some victims realize that they can get help if they work hard enough at it, and if they go public with their stories.

The Church leaders themselves do not crack down. They talk a good line. They have a paid PR department that talks a good line. But they never do anything in the way of cracking down on their own initiative.

You seldom see other authorities in Utah cracking down either — at least not on their own initiative. They have to be pushed hard by victims.

It may be a sign that a slightly reduced percentage of police, judges, and lawyers are mormon than in the past. Though I wouldn’t bet on it. Positions of power in Utah are still largely in the hands of white, male, mormon true believers.

You’ll note that the mormon bishop has already plead his sentence down from 47 to 3 felonies.

Remember, it was a Utah court that let Warren Jeffs go on a technicality (a Texas court finally convicted Jeffs). Even polygamist mormons, who are supposed to be beyond the pale in mainstream mormon eyes, get a break in Utah. It’s the State of Utah that wants a lawsuit against polygamist Kody Brown dropped: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52527809-78/utah-state-law-wives.html.csp
577

Stonekettle

7 September 2011 at 8:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Dhorvath OM

Stonekettle,
That’s made some rounds as well.

Yeah, I know. The huge pile of hate mail tipped me off. Nobody can lay down the misspelled hate like people of God, eh?
___
578

Lynna, OM

7 September 2011 at 8:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

the 9/11 anniversary is now descending into farce

And … here’s the mormon version of the farce:

Belnap, who grew up in Ogden and graduated from BYU, was working on Wall Street at the time as a lawyer for Citibank … He also was — and this is relevant to his story — president of the New York New York Stake for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…
     He looked up and saw a large gash in the side of the South Tower of the WTC; it was bellowing smoke and more paper … “There were all these people leaving Manhattan, walking across the (Brooklyn) bridge in slow motion, heads bowed, covered with ashes, their arms limp at their sides,” he recalls. “It was like the Last Days. Surreal. Nobody was talking or laughing.”
     As he continued north, shopkeepers offered food, water and use of a bathroom to passers-by. “Suddenly, New York was changed — it was a warm and nice place,” he says.
     Belnap finally reached the stake center, where he stayed late into the night, communicating with leaders in Salt Lake City and assisting efforts to track down church members…. most of the contacting was done through a phone tree that had been established three years earlier….
     ”It was a testament to being prepared,” says Belnap….
     Belnap was tempted to follow the crowd, but felt compelled to walk the other way toward his office. “I had the most unmistakable push on my right shoulder to keep moving — a physical nudge,” he recalls. Belnap was one of the few moving upstream in this river of people. “I passed all these faces going the other way,” he says. “My natural inclination was to follow them.” Again, he felt as if someone pushed him on the back. “By the time I got to my building I was running all out,” he says….
     Belnap and his co-workers were told to abandon their office and report to the basement. When word came that the second tower had fallen, they were told to evacuate the building. They gathered their belongings and disappeared into the cloud outside, heading east, away from the disaster.
     Not Belnap. He went back upstairs to his office on the 15th floor. Since arriving there in the morning, he had been calling local church leaders, trying to account for the well-being of 3,500 members of his stake….. Belnap, along with other local leaders, arranged to have the stake center stocked with provisions.
     It was now 1 p.m., and Belnap had been on the phone for hours, long after everyone had been told to leave and the lights and power were out. A few days later the New York Times would print a map showing where the phone outages had occurred; Belnap happened to work on the one block in lower Manhattan that had phone service.
     ”That was providential,” he says……

As usual, the petty mormon god provides phone service to a worthy mormon male, while failing to prevent a major disaster that kills thousands.
579

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 8:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thanks everybody. I feel bad because I’ve “cried wolf” on her a few times already, but she just kept popping back up! We had to take her to the vet to board for a few days at the end of July, and the vet walked in and said “I’m looking at this bloodwork from February, and I don’t understand how this cat is still here.” Then they did a recheck, and all of the rotten toxic levels from Feb. had all gone down by half. So her kidneys are hanging in there, it just looks like other stuff is failing now all at once. The litter blood problem looked…significant, so I don’t think it’s a temporary thing she can get over (especially since she was borderline anemic last month as well). So that, plus the confusion that’s gotten more prominent recently (she’ll stand and stare and not be sure what to do, and pace like she doesn’t remember where she meant to go), plus the way she’s been mincing and half-sitting like her hips and knees hurt, and that she’s not perking back up in response to the fluids like she usually does, all add up to not good.
580

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 8:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I keep watching this video that a friend posted today, because OMG humanity is so adorable. What’s interesting is that it really shows how close laughing and crying are; there were a couple clips that made me catch my breath in sadness for a split second before I processed that they were laughing.
581

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 8:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I love Google Voice sometimes.

I got this voicemail today. Care to count how many Constitutional violations and instances of outright stupidity are contained within?
582

triskelethecat

7 September 2011 at 8:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I had a GREAT time with Josh on Saturday night, and posted pix of me, Josh, and Francine (who is absofuckinglutely gorgeous) on the FB site. Got home safely and sanely, and am doing well today.

Josh, I do <3 you!
583

Bill Dauphin, avec fromage

7 September 2011 at 8:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Josh OSG:

Yes! I’m so glad you’re enjoying [Saturn's Children] as much as I did. . .I found it unbelievably compelling. And isn’t the actress who reads it just. . . wow?

Wow, indeed! I wonder if she looks as good as she sounds (a shallow thought, I know, but….). I recall a female morning radio DJ from my HS days who had the sexiest voice on the planet… but when I finally saw a picture of her, she was a perfectly ordinary looking middle-aged woman.

Of course, now that I’m a perfectly ordinary looking (to be generous!) middle-aged man, I’m finding perfectly ordinary looking middle aged women increasingly sexy: One does grow out of testosterone-soaked youthiness.

****
Mattir:

This is a skosh belated, but speaking as someone who’s argued with you in the past about homeschooling, let me just say that I have no concerns whatsoever about the wellbeing of your spawn. Whatever doubts I have about homeschooling in general, I have none about the wellbeing of youths in your care; be of good cheer, my friend!
584

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 8:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Bill D:

Numbitty 902, ‘THE STURGE’!
585

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

7 September 2011 at 8:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Two hours ago, the Susquehanna River was expected to crest at 38 feet (three feet below the top of the levee). A line of extremely heavy rain has set up and is going to train over Wilkes-Barre and the upper Susquehanna River basin. The county EMA will meet at 11 this evening and will most likely set a mandatory evactuation for the flood areas — most of the downtown area, including Girl’s college. Boy’s college, down in Bloomsburg, is already closed tomorrow.
586

SallyStrange

7 September 2011 at 9:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh Carlie, poor kitty.

My sister may have to relocate, she lives about 30 feet away from the Susquehanna.
587

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 9:19 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I hope everybody in the Susquehanna valley is ok. Ogvorb, good luck to Boy and Girl. I went downstairs to check the basement cat litter box (the secondary one) and stepped into a bit of a pile of water, but we don’t have it too bad in comparison.
588

llewelly

7 September 2011 at 9:21 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Beatrice, anormalement indécente | 7 September 2011 at 2:28 am

… The project Watching You Watch Me by Moa Karlberg.
In her own words:

… I have taken portraits of people through a mirror, when they are totally unaware of the camera inside. …

For some reason this caused me to imagine cameras secretly placed behind the mirrors in public “rest”rooms.
(And I can’t recall the last time I saw a mirror in a public place that was not a public restroom.)

But I can’t get over the fact that those people didn’t give their permission for those photos to be plastered all over the web. They didn’t even know. That kind of breach of privacy scares me. It’s not malicious in this case, but it still gives me chills.

The internet and cheap digital photography have made our traditional assumptions about privacy obsolete. You can no longer expect photographs of you in public places to be few in number and not widely distributed. Large companies have been collecting tons of private and not so private information about people for over a decade, it gets sold and resold, leaked and releaked, and more and more it’s getting connected to photographs.
Far more of our behavior than we are accustomed to expect is now recorded, and, potentially, databased in searchable form, possibly becoming a long term record.
Many formerly difficult violations of privacy are now trivial, and thoroughly automated. To make matters worse – manufactured fears about drugs and terrorism have granted governments sweeping powers to use technology to violate privacy at will.
589

Erulóra Maikalambe

7 September 2011 at 9:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PTI,

Take care of your ears. I’m not saying rush out and get medicated, but just be careful. I have tinnitus and hearing damage from an ear infection I had when I was young. It sucks.
590

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

7 September 2011 at 9:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

llewelly:

Mirrors are common in stores and hotel hallways, among other places.
591

SallyStrange

7 September 2011 at 9:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yup, sis has relocated. Boo. Nobody needs this sort of aggravation.
592

Carlie

7 September 2011 at 10:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wow, just heard that New York is going to probably close the thruway overnight from Verona to Albany. That’s almost half the width of the state.
593

Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan

7 September 2011 at 10:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Take care of your ears. I’m not saying rush out and get medicated, but just be careful. I have tinnitus and hearing damage from an ear infection I had when I was young. It sucks.

I’ll do my best.
594

Mattir-ritated

7 September 2011 at 10:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A question re the Mormon Madness: if they’re so sure that abuse makes people gay, especially women, then what’s with all the abuse? Is this some sort of twisted pro-gay-agenda with which I’m unfamiliar?

And thanks for the good thoughts re the Education of the Pests. Today was much better, since I got the new SD card, got a reader program set up on SonSpawn’s computer, and decided that attempting to do a 1000 calorie per day mostly protein shake diet was freaking stupid, even if appropriately medically supervised. As the psychologist at clinic pointed out, I’ve maintained a 40 pound weight loss for 5 months while eating (on average) around 1500 calories per day. I have hit a plateau, and it would probably be more productive to use the energy I have to exercise more rather than eating less. Why exactly was this total obviousness so freaking difficult to figure out? (Besides, of course, hoping to have a three digit weight number beginning with 1 rather than 2 before the PhybreHorde descends on Rhinebeck?)
595

John Morales

7 September 2011 at 11:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mattir,

As the psychologist at clinic pointed out, I’ve maintained a 40 pound weight loss for 5 months while eating (on average) around 1500 calories per day. I have hit a plateau, and it would probably be more productive to use the energy I have to exercise more rather than eating less.

Yes.

(Have at it!)
596

Alethea H. Claw

7 September 2011 at 11:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mattir, have you run across work by Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis? Yeah, she’s Yet Another Weight-loss Guru, with Yet Another Book (on amazon/kindle) – but she’s a real scientist, focussing on neurochemistry. She has a popular book out, the gist of which is that your body self-regulates very strongly. There’s no minimising the difficulties and she doesn’t go in for fat-shaming. Anyway, her approach is that you need to eat MORE, not less, when you hit a plateau. Trust your hunger, give your body what it wants, then go back to slow loss once you’ve convinced it that you’re not starving to death.

I’m no poster child, but she seems very sensible and I don’t know how well known she is outside the US.
597

Classical Cipher, OM

7 September 2011 at 11:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wha – augh! Just… what!
598

crowepps

8 September 2011 at 12:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Trust your hunger, give your body what it wants

No, no, that won’t work. What my body wants is stuff that’s really bad for it like chocolate. When my body whines at me I have to force myself to forego the 1,920 calories in the McDonald’s Big Box of 12 chocolate chip cookies and give it lots and lots of vegetables.
599

Patricia, OM

8 September 2011 at 12:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The spunking couch may be sticky, wherever, whatever it may be.

The Spanking Couch is upholstered in the finest Moroccan leather, 30 stitches to the inch, and it is never sticky.

This is Pharyngula!

*SNORT*
600

kristinc

8 September 2011 at 12:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

CC: not enough w’s in the universe for that ewwwww.
601

chigau ()

8 September 2011 at 12:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Patricia, OM
I think it was the spunking coach who was sticky.
I don’t know about the couch.
602

Tigger_the_Wing

8 September 2011 at 12:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hi threadizens! In no particular order:

Ing,

Hearty congratulations! =^_^= May your lives together be long, happy and healthy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alethea H. Claw,

I love your new ‘nym! =^_^=

But I thought Olive was the other reindeer!

LOL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mattir-ritated,

I have only ‘met’ you online, but from what I have read from you and about you your spawn could not have a better education anywhere on the planet than the one you are giving them.

As to your weight: a seriously obese friend was told to eat more when her bloodwork came back with a note that they suspected anorexia. Her doctor explained that the semi-starvation diet she had been subjecting herself to had prompted her body to go into survival mode and store every spare calorie it could in case the food ran out altogether. He told her that the answer was to increase her food intake to normal maintenance levels and gradually increase her exercise activity. Even then, the weight would not necessarily change very fast (in fact, it went up) as she increased her muscle mass, but he emphasised that it is her fitness levels that are more important than her weight. Three cheers for non-fat-shaming doctors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To everyone else with the unusual neurotypes,

Yay! I suspected there had to be a reason I love this place! =^_^=

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PTI,

I echo what Erulóra Maikalambe said, and for much the same reason (repeated, untreated, ear infections in childhood led to premature high-end hearing loss and tinnitus). Meantime, be kind to yourself. Earache sucks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brother Ogvorbis,

I’m glad your teeth are getting sorted out. Toothache is nearly as bad as earache (and sometimes seems to lead to it). And I usually make dental appointments for 2:30 (for the lulz).

Good luck to your offspring and I hope they keep safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beatrice,

I find the idea of constant surveillance really creepy, so I try not to think about it. I have come across pictures of myself in weird places on the net, linked from my Photobucket. Easy solution was to re-name the pictures and set my albums to private.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Classical Cipher,

Wha – augh! Just… what!

Indeed…

Was that really the groom’s speech (or a circular distributed to wedding guests)?! Good grief…

Well I never…
603

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 12:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Crowepps, two points:

1. If you really gave your body what it wanted ALL the time, eventually that sort of thing would go away. Those cravings come from deprivation.(Probably. There’s some argument for some kinds of fast foods being literally addictive.)

2. Dr Amanda’s “eat more” thing isn’t for all the time anyway. It’s about booting away the “starvation reflex” – which is a metabolic shift in dieters that has clear symptoms. Hunger for something substantial; weight loss plateauing; feelings of lethargy; and feeling cold.
604

theophontes , flambeau du communisme

8 September 2011 at 1:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ CC

{theophontes takes on green pallor}

Between the comments on the mormons and the baptists I am now completely godded out.

That bit about justifying pre-marital sex was really the last straw. They make me feel nausi…naus… Bleeeaugh!
605

Patricia, OM

8 September 2011 at 1:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chigau – Thank you for clearing that up.

I take high umbrage at any assertion that the Pharyngula Saloon and Spanking Parlor would provide anything less than the most stupifying, blinding, embalming quality grog.

Our swill is generously served in 20 gallon troughs, and single serving five gallon buckets.

I know there are some that complain that the OM’s get all the best part of the orgies, spankings and the oral sex, it’s true, but we don’t allow priests.
606

Classical Cipher, Mus Mugiens, OM

8 September 2011 at 1:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I might keep this in my name. Y’never know. I dunno.

I might be a little sleepy. Goodnight all.
607

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 1:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thank you, Tigger!

Classical Cipher, I wish I hadn’t looked at that. Ophelia Benson has been doing a series on the quiverfull and related movements. Raising little girls to be slaves – it’s heartbreaking.
608

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 1:40 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Classical, the mooing mouse??
609

Classical Cipher, Mus Mugiens, OM

8 September 2011 at 1:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Or instead I might use Murmur Muris. I think it’s prettier even though it doesn’t mean quite the same thing.
610

Classical Cipher, Mus Mugiens, OM

8 September 2011 at 1:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’d be using mugiens as in “roaring,” rather than mooing, but yeah, pretty much.
611

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 1:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh, the mouse that roared! Of course. Any particular reason?
612

Tigger_the_Wing

8 September 2011 at 1:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was disappointed that my ancient laptop can’t download kindle so I couldn’t get the free book others have mentioned. So, for those in the same position, here’s a consolation prize (courtesy of Dymocks).

Free short story (PDF):
Rain, by Alexander McCall Smith
613

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 2:36 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Good morning
I just bought an English wax-jacket, so now I can play an arrogant, English countryside noblewoman on the next Inspector Barnaby, prefferably dead ;)

crowepps
Wait, what? They’re bullying the families for having their memorial ceremonies the way they want them to have? How much of an asshole can one be?
Every religious person who has a shred of human decency left msut be equally abhorred by this.

Carlie
Sorry to hear about your cat.

Mattir
In my old flat, my budget gym was my stairway and a pair of small weights. I’d take them into my hands, put on some music and climb the stairs for half an hour. It wasn’t only good exercise, it was also cheap and didn’t require any kind of planning.

losing weight in general
Well, the problem is that millenia of evolution programmed us to get every calorie we could and not to let go of any weight we ever gained easily.
For the craving I found it best to have some of my most favouritest treats around in the most expensive version I could afford. Belgian choclates where a single piece costs about 50ct are something you eat in the evening, slowly, celebrating. Choclate where the whole bar costs 50ct is something you can eat in between.

I like the Weight watchers approach (which is generally also recommended by medical associations), because they never forbid any food and really try to change your eating habits. Because usually it’s not so much the problem of losing weight, but staying at that weight.
614

SQB

8 September 2011 at 3:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Login to this site: why isn’t it httpS? In fact, why not make the entire site httpS by default?
615

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 3:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Anyway, her approach is that you need to eat MORE, not less, when you hit a plateau. Trust your hunger, give your body what it wants, then go back to slow loss once you’ve convinced it that you’re not starving to death.

LOL, good luck with that approach. Trust your hunger, seriously, WTF ?
616

theophontes , flambeau du communisme

8 September 2011 at 4:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ SQB

Login to this site: why isn’t it httpS?

A lot of the social media is requiring httpS now (eg Facebook). My concern is that, being secure, it will get banned in China. :”(

@ Rorschach

Trust your hunger, seriously, WTF ?

Er, … if you don’t trust the signals coming from your own body, WTF then?
617

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 4:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Er, … if you don’t trust the signals coming from your own body, WTF then?

Science!
618

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 4:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Now seriously, my body tells me that I’m really going to need this fat in case the hunt goes bad by the time the next kid comes around.
Combined with a tendency to empty our plates (this might be cultural, might be part of our evolutionary heritage). There have been experiments where people were given soup and should eat until they were full. One half had a “magical” plate that kept refilling. Those participants ate considerably more than the other ones.
We also eat more when we have more choice. Again, tests with jelly-beans: the more varieties, the more people ate.
I think that culture does play a big part in this and early training: Formula fed kids get X ml of formula y times a day and parents have the tendency to make sure they drink it all.
Little kids get praised when they empty their plates and punished when they don’t.
It’s probably the worst combination of nature and nurture one can imagine in respect of “the signals from your body”.
619

Therrin

8 September 2011 at 4:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Be sure to check the book title.

From here.
620

theophontes , flambeau du communisme

8 September 2011 at 4:25 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Gilliel

Science!

kekekekeke…

Is there an app for that?
621

SQB

8 September 2011 at 4:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

On exercise: I always heard it was best to exercise before breakfast, since you apparently start burning fat quicker on an empty stomach.
622

SQB

8 September 2011 at 4:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Little kids get praised when they empty their plates and punished when they don’t.

We don’t punish our kids for not emptying their plates, as long as they took more than just a token bite.
623

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 4:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Er, … if you don’t trust the signals coming from your own body, WTF then?

I’m sure Chas can explain it to you much better than I could, seeing that you don’t seem to realise what’s wrong with that sentence in the first place.

I therefore have to resign myself to posting a humorous account of the plight of Fat People

;)
624

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 5:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I therefore have to resign myself to posting a humorous account of the plight of Fat People

Which he gets as wrong as a lot of other people taking the “It’s just because you eat too much, it’s your choice, just stop eating”.
Which goes along the same lines as saying “your lung problems are because you’re smoking, just stop smoking”.
It also makes the false equivalence of fat=sloppy, without discipline that is a common trope withing society.
Whatever slim people do to be slim, they get complimented at least on their discipline.
He says that joking about fat people isn’t like joking about gay people because being fat is something you chose, as opposed to your sexual orientation.
As somebody with an eating disorder, I can assure Rick Gervais and everybody else that it’s not that simple.

SQB
Neither do I, but it is still terribly common and was during the time when those adults who are now struggeling grew up, incluging me.
625

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 5:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

your lung problems are because you’re smoking, just stop smoking

I’m increasingly inclined to think that you’re really a bit dumb. There is a gazillion causes for “lung problems”, and a bazillion kinds of completely different “lung problems” with different causes for each and every one of them, so your comment on this, and the analogy you attempt, is entirely worthless.

Which he gets as wrong as a lot of other people taking the “It’s just because you eat too much, it’s your choice, just stop eating”.

And this is wrong why ? Why not stop eating if it’s making you fat ? You know, he also points out that you don’t wake up one day to realise “OMFG I’m fat !”. It’s kind of a process…You seem to be carrying some emotional baggage ralating to an eating disorder, as you say, so I won’t hold my breath for a rational answer. You don’t seem very bright at the best of times anyway. I’ll add humour-impaired to the mix.
626

Carlie

8 September 2011 at 5:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This just in: American Cancer Society would rather turn down half a million dollars than have to publicly admit it came from atheists: story here
627

Alethea H. Claw

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

Rorshach, you should read the science she’s got. It’s a specific situation-limited claim about metabolism and neuropeptides.
628

Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

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

And this is wrong why ? Why not stop eating if it’s making you fat ?

You know, because it’s a disorder? Just like “why not stop smoking if it gives you cancer” is a fucking stupid thing to say.
Hell, I thought you were a MD, where did you hide out when they taught about those things?

You don’t seem very bright at the best of times anyway. I’ll add humour-impaired to the mix.

I’ll leave that for the audience to decide.
629

First Approximation (formerly Feynmaniac)

8 September 2011 at 6:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

There is a gazillion causes for “lung problems”, and a bazillion kinds of completely different “lung problems” with different causes for each and every one of them, so your comment on this, and the analogy you attempt, is entirely worthless.

Obviously there was the implicit assumption that the lung problems was specifically because of smoking. Just like your assumption that the person is fat from eating too much and not from some medical condition.
630

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 6:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Why not stop eating if it’s making you fat ?

You know, because it’s a disorder?

Eating too much is a disorder now ? Eating cake instead of jogging is an illness ? Fine, you go with that, by all means. There are of course real issues here, for example that fatty and unhealthy foods are often cheaper and more readily available to people or families than healthy alternatives, and that is a problem we have to urgently address, and a tax on fast foods is very much needed to curb childhood obesity and cardiovascular disease in ever younger populations. But except from certain psychiatric disorders, taking in more calories than what you consume is not an illness. It’s a habit. If I go past 80kg, I go on the treadmill and forgo the carbs. It’s my decision. If you’re ok with being 125kg, I don’t mind, but it’s not an illness, it’s your decision.
631

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 6:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Also, of course, you can’t just “stop eating” or you will, eventually, die. And if you do take the fasting approach, you lose muscle, and on the rebound you will almost certainly get fatter than you were before. It’s very, very hard to make people change their weight permanently – whether a gain or a loss. The easiest way to get people to *gain* weight, though? No, not force-feeding – a severe crash diet, then wait 6 months.

It’s interesting that most people think NOT trusting your body is the way to go with food. You don’t need a clock or a calculator to tell you if you need to breathe. Hunger and thirst and sleepiness are pretty basic bodily functions. But we train ourselves, or are trained, to ignore them. To eat – or not eat – for comfort, or for guilt, or to please others, or out of habit. Retraining yourself to eat only when you are hungry, and to eat only enough to feel satisfied, not stuffed, is surprisingly hard work.
632

SQB

8 September 2011 at 6:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A lot of the social media is requiring httpS now (eg Facebook). My concern is that, being secure, it will get banned in China. :”(/blockquote>I see your point, but having the option would be nice, since right now, I’m sending my password unencrypted.
633

SQB

8 September 2011 at 6:18 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ow fuck, blockquote fail. Do we have a god or goddess for that?
634

First Approximation (formerly Feynmaniac)

8 September 2011 at 6:18 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If I go past 80kg, I go on the treadmill and forgo the carbs.

For many poor people this is difficult. Not all of them have access to treadmills. Cheap food is all salt and fat. Studies have shown a correlation between obesity and income.

Not to mention that companies start marketing their high-calorie crap food to kids at a young age. Get them hooked early.
635

Alethea H. Claw

8 September 2011 at 6:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And apart from the social problems, there’s a whole world of obesity research that very clearly indicates that dieting doesn’t work, and that the biology of weight gain/loss is one hell of a lot more complicated than calories in/calories out. Here’s just one little paper, from all the way back in 1995 – http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199503093321001 – demonstrating metabolic changes in response to weight gain or loss.
636

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 6:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Not all of them have access to treadmills. Cheap food is all salt and fat. Studies have shown a correlation between obesity and income.

Of course. As I said, this is something we have to address urgently, it is terrible that access to healthy food should be a matter of wealth. As for treadmills, walking an hour every day will do the trick nicely. I do it.
637

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

8 September 2011 at 6:26 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Set: 1 min, 48 – so confusing, way too many red cards
638

First Approximation (formerly Feynmaniac)

8 September 2011 at 6:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Also, I should mention there has been on work on the addictiveness of food high in fat and/or sugar. The analogy with just telling smokers to quit because its bad for them isn’t at all silly.

Yes, there’s an big issue with obesity, but just telling people to stopping eat isn’t very helpful.
639

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

8 September 2011 at 6:40 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh that was funny. I was walking by one of the news TVs and saw a commercial for “clean, natural American energy” and it’s about natural gas – the process to obtain said gas destroys the environment.

Gee, that sounds clean.
640

Carlie

8 September 2011 at 6:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yes, there’s an big issue with obesity, but just telling people to stopping eat isn’t very helpful.

Sure it is! They stop eating, they die of starvation, no more obesity problem.
641

Danaleigh

8 September 2011 at 6:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As for treadmills, walking an hour every day will do the trick nicely. I do it.

Because goodness knows most full-time working mothers have nothing but free time and no problem finding a whole hour every day to do nothing but walk.
642

SQB

8 September 2011 at 6:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

2 mins 8 secs
643

Rorschach

8 September 2011 at 6:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Because goodness knows most full-time working mothers have nothing but free time and no problem finding a whole hour every day to do nothing but walk.

Well, they could cut down on the carbs instead I guess, if all fails. I know, it’s a horror scenario.
644

Algernon

8 September 2011 at 6:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Blech… all this talk about fat is making me want to go puke my breakfast up.

Luckily I’m too late for work and bulimia never worked for me anyway :)…
645

cannabinaceae

8 September 2011 at 7:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If I trust the signals from my body, I don’t work out very much, I eat until I’m satsified, and I gain wait and keep gaining weight.

If I weigh myself every day, work out three times a week whether I feel like it or not, and restrict my food intake to the point that I feel hungry about 1/3 of the time that I’m awake, I can maintain or slowly lose weight, until I get down to about 160 lb, which I can then maintain until we go on another vacation.
646

First Approximation (formerly Feynmaniac)

8 September 2011 at 7:09 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As for treadmills, walking an hour every day will do the trick nicely. I do it.

In addition to what Danaleigh wrote, this is difficult for living in northern latitudes during winter. Also, for some reason, jackasses frequently feel the need to comment on obese people exercising in public. This isn’t to suggest it’s impossible to exercise, just that it isn’t as easy as you’re making it for many people.

Our bodies weren’t made for a sedentary lifestyle and a diet of calorie-dense food. While ‘eat food that tastes good’ is a good rule of thumb for hunter-gathers, it’s very unhealthy for those living in modern industrialized nations. Adjusting to this reality is going to take a lot more than just telling people to ‘stop eating’.
647

Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

8 September 2011 at 7:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

theophontes:

Er, … if you don’t trust the signals coming from your own body, WTF then?

Read. Especially the “Food and Feedback” section.

Rorschach:

You seem to be carrying some emotional baggage ralating to an eating disorder, as you say, so I won’t hold my breath for a rational answer. You don’t seem very bright at the best of times anyway. I’ll add humour-impaired to the mix.

Fuck you.
648

Carlie

8 September 2011 at 7:19 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Rorschach, you know I respect your knowledge as a doctor, but you’re indicating a bit of a lack of information about metabolism and weight research. The kinds of things that you’re talking about are normally good for preventing weight gain, but the problem is that people are so well-adapted to keeping weight on that once someone has gotten fat, there are all kinds of factors working against losing weight. There are a whole host of social issues that you seem to know about, but then discount (such as first saying “There are of course real issues here, for example that fatty and unhealthy foods are often cheaper and more readily available to people or families than healthy alternatives, and that is a problem we have to urgently address,” and then following that right up with “Well, they could cut down on the carbs instead I guess, if all fails. I know, it’s a horror scenario.”). There are also a lot of metabolic issues that come into play. There are some studies showing that fat people literally have different gut flora that extract nutrients differently than thin people do for example, studies showing that they have to do more physical work to get any weight loss, studies showing that their fullness indicators are screwed up all to hell, etc.

Some people are fat because they inherited alleles that let them store fat easily. Some people are fat because they went through crash diet fads and permanently fucked up their metabolism. Some people are fat because they eat generally normally, but have other health problems or lifestyle constraints that keep them from being able to exercise at all. Some people are fat because they gained weight in small increments over a few dozen years and can’t be bothered to do anything about it because they have other priorities. Some people are fat because they chose to self-soothe under stress with food rather than with alcohol or heroin. Some people are fat because they simply like to eat lots of calorie-dense foods. Some people are fat because they can’t afford to eat anything but cheap white bread and 20% fat beef. There are even some oddly intriguing preliminary data that a few people might be fat due to epigenetic markers gotten from their mothers or grandmothers who went through periods of starvation. It’s a bit like Anna Karenina: every fat person is fat in their own way. One answer won’t fit all.
649

SQB

8 September 2011 at 7:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And don’t forget HAdV-36
650

SQB

8 September 2011 at 7:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie, also, it’s a bit self-centred. “I have no problem staying slim and fit, so you shouldn’t, either”.
651

Celtic_Evolution

8 September 2011 at 7:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Roads in my county are closed… which would not be odd at all, if this were mid-February!

And I swear the next person that makes another stupid “I think I just saw animals walking two-by-two” joke is gonna get… well… probably just a sneer and a shaken fist… but by FSM it will be one doozy of a sneer!
652

Walton

8 September 2011 at 7:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Eating too much is a disorder now ? Eating cake instead of jogging is an illness ?

Addiction to food (or anything else) is an illness. Also, what Carlie said.

The idea that it’s all about “choice” and “willpower” is judgmental bullshit. It isn’t.

And this is wrong why ? Why not stop eating if it’s making you fat ? You know, he also points out that you don’t wake up one day to realise “OMFG I’m fat !”. It’s kind of a process…You seem to be carrying some emotional baggage ralating to an eating disorder, as you say, so I won’t hold my breath for a rational answer. You don’t seem very bright at the best of times anyway. I’ll add humour-impaired to the mix.

Oh, ffs. Don’t be such a dick. Seriously.
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Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 8:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well, you can usually simply try and exchange “fat” or “obese” in all the claims and joles with “anorectic”. See what happens.
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First Approximation (formerly Feynmaniac)

8 September 2011 at 8:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Obviously fat people exist because they haven’t been ridiculed or told to lose weight enough.
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Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

8 September 2011 at 8:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I just watched a coverd hopper (a railroad freight car built to haul grain (or other granular substances which shouldn’t get wet)) with some great graffiti. The graffiti was a well done Hello Kitty, 12-feet-high, but with a white skull in place of the kitty’s face, a la Skull Candy. And the artist was smart enough to paint around all the reporting marks, so it should stay on there for a while.
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theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

8 September 2011 at 9:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Benjamin

Especially the “Food and Feedback” section.

Thanks for link. I shall read it in more detail later.

Obviously it is not so simple after getting into the habit of eating/drinking badly. (Yes I’ve also been there.) Essentially, if you are eating healthily and getting exercise you will adjust accordingly. If things are out of kilter less so.

My argument is more that one must (eventually) be aware of one’s body and not rely on external regimes. Only then would one make the solution sustainable. There are just so many dimensions to the problems (eg health/psychological problems) of being over/under weight, there is no point in making simplistic “solutions” like exercise or diet regimes when the bigger problem is for example depression or insecurities or poverty expressing themselves through poor eating habits.

[Rorschach] Fuck you.

I would second you here, but Walton beat me to it.
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Algernon

8 September 2011 at 9:18 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

HAdV-36… my first taste of germ phobia. WTF?

How do people get exposed to that?
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Tigger_the_Wing

8 September 2011 at 9:19 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The BBC aired a programme looking at the obesity problem from the opposite direction,

Why Are Thin People Not Fat?

As someone who was seriously underweight until my mid-thirties, when I was diagnosed with gluten enteropathy and went on a gluten-free diet; and still isn’t overweight despite still eating plenty and being largely under-mobile, I found it fascinating.
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Algernon

8 September 2011 at 9:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hmmm… my family is “naturally thin” and I’ve found that after going to a ridiculously and unhealthily sedentary lifestyle with too much stress, I’ve upped my weight to what is considered average. I’m not happy with it, and I hate hate hate the way I feel… but even though I *feel* fat no one in their right minds would actually describe me as fat.

However, I am doing all of the things that should cause a person to get overwhelmingly fat. I eat too much high calorie food. I have to fight just to get ten minutes away from a desk, and on the weekends usually end up spending just as much time sitting because I’m catching up with people/work through the computer.

I injured my hip flexor and couldn’t walk for a while, and I drink too much.

I should be huge. I’m not. My dad is the same way. Ate very badly (I mean cartons of ice cream after dinner badly) and never gained that much.

I’ll probably die of a heart attack, but I won’t be fat. I’m definitely a poster child for the skinny != healthy.

Getting back onto a workout schedule and trying to get some exercise that I can actually stick with, enjoy enough to do at all, and that isn’t making some problem worse for me… is really freaking hard. Add to that, it comes out of the two or three hours I have to myself on any day (at most) which other people are constantly vying for… and which I’d frankly rather use to try and pathetically squeeze a moment of contact with something I love (like my music) into.

Life sucks…

I guess that’s where I’m going with that. Life sucks, and is it really so hard to look around at other people and figure it probably sucks for them too?
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ChasCPeterson

8 September 2011 at 9:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

the biology of weight gain/loss is one hell of a lot more complicated than calories in/calories out.

You are a First Law of Thermodynamics denialist?

Here’s just one little paper, from all the way back in 1995 demonstrating metabolic changes in response to weight gain or loss.

*shrug* It’s a (small) change in ‘calories out’, that’s all. Changes nothing about the basic relationship. It really, really is just in minus out. Take in more energy than you expend and the remainder is stored as fat. Period.

The point is that there are a lot of internal and external variables contributing to both ‘in’ and ‘out’, and these differ among individuals.
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theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

8 September 2011 at 9:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Brother Ogg

And the artist was smart enough to paint around all the reporting marks, so it should stay on there for a while.

Wait. They are going to leave the graffiti on the train? That is way impressive.

So often there is an impulse to “sanitise” the built environment. I wonder where the impulse comes from. Berlin went to town on “cleaning” up their act to conform to a more puritan sensibility. I really think that was the wrong approach, it always had such a beautifully expressive vibe. We should be doing things the other way round. The USA is fairly good in this regard in places like San Fran. Stunning graffiti.

There are even people who still believe that the cities of ancient Greece were these clean white tabula rasas for pondering Platonic perfection. The truth was that they painted all those statues in bright colours and readily expressed themselves in graffiti.
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Algernon

8 September 2011 at 9:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It also looks like in some people, the mechanisms to preserve the natural weight setpoint are stronger than in others. Increased heat production is obviously one way to maintain weight during increased energy intake. Some people (Michal Eades comes to mind) have also argued that as the number of calories eaten increases, the body starts to burn them by increasing small, almost involuntary movements such as tapping your fingers, moving your legs, etc. – physical activity which is not considered exercise but still uses up extra energy. I think this theory makes sense.

Oooh that was interesting. I’m twitchy, like tweaker-twitchy. I always wrote that off as ADD characteristics though. I don’t even know I’m doing it. Usually some one grabs my leg or something because it’s bothering them. Some one once asked me if I had a tic!
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Algernon

8 September 2011 at 9:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Berlin went to town on “cleaning” up their act to conform to a more puritan sensibility.

Stupid. The street art is what makes that city attractive.
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Giliell, connaiseuse des choses bonnes

8 September 2011 at 9:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My argument is more that one must (eventually) be aware of one’s body and not rely on external regimes.

To tell the truth, I have no idea if I will ever be able to get back to that state.
I became overweight and finally obese during childhood/early teenage years. Telling a kid who’s a bit on the chubby side constantly that I were fat and needed to lose weight actually didn’t work. I lost connection with my body. If I was fat anyway, I could eat that other piece of cake as well. Looking back at the pictures of 10 year old me and thinking back to how I felt and what I thought about my body simply don’t add up. In my memory that child was morbidly obese while I actually was mildly overweight.
I managed to lose weight at 20, but even though I kept it for 8 years, it was never just “normal eating and exercise”, going for the signals from my body. If I went by this, it would usually end in trousers getting tight and a more strict eating regime for a while.
It was about then when the binge-eating-vomiting started. And it went out of control when I became pregnant for the second time, when my usual tricks couldn’t be applied for the sake of the child and when I would seek comfort in food for the freaking fucking anxiety over another miscarriage or a stillbirth. Since that I’m back to keeping my weight with the occasional binge-eating again, only at about 30 kg more than what I had before the kids.
I’m currently trying to get out of this again. It’s not that I didn’t know all the stuff about healthy eating, or couldn’t afford to buy good food (though no time for the gym), but it’s fucking damn hard.
Eating disorders are hard to tackle because you simply cannot get around eating. You can avoid touching alcohol, or cigartes, but not food
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Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

8 September 2011 at 9:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wait. They are going to leave the graffiti on the train? That is way impressive.

It takes about 20 gallons of rather expensive paint, or more, to put a new paint job on a covered hopper. And the paint ain’t cheap. Many railroads and private owners (the ones with an ‘X’ in the reporting marks) figure that if someone wants to paint the car for them, more power to the painter. I still disagree with artists who use private property for their graffiti (unless, of course, they have permission), but freight car graffiti has been around since the invention of freight cars and, in the grand scheme of the well-ordered universe, is just like the planet earth: mostly harmless.
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theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

8 September 2011 at 9:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ ChasCPeterson

Would you agree that:

First Law of Thermodynamics

Is the trivial part of the problem.

there are a lot of internal and external variables …

Is the non-trivial part.

?
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Lynna, OM

8 September 2011 at 9:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mattir:

A question re the Mormon Madness: if they’re so sure that abuse makes people gay, especially women, then what’s with all the abuse? Is this some sort of twisted pro-gay-agenda with which I’m unfamiliar?

That would be Satan, a.k.a. The Adversary, prompting all that abuse.

The Adversary is especially active in mormon communities because he knows mormons are the greatest threat to his plans to dominate mankind.

You would be surprised by how many mormon missionaries are tempted into masturbation, or even SSA (Same Sex Attraction) by the ever-busy Adversary.

Some people in the “outer world” (i.e., any part of society that is not mormon) mistake proper subservience and obedience to the priesthood as abuse. So there’s that when comes to the issue of abusing women and girls. The rest is Satan.

The whacked-out, anti-intellectual, godaddled, mindfuck that is mormonism is in no way to blame for the alarming number of pedophiles “called” as Boy Scout troop leaders or seminary teachers by LDS leaders. That’s Satan’s doing as well.

And since the outer world will tend to blame the church when it’s not the church’s fault, it makes perfect sense to hide as much of this deviance from the outer world as possible. And it makes more sense to call on god and on church leaders to combat The Adversary.

One of Satan’s most successful tactics is to turn potentially worthy mormons gay.

That some of these mormons are unwilling to fight SSA and choose to leave TSCC (The So-Called Church) instead is a tragedy that makes Jesus weep boon to civilization.

Okay, I hope you have the story straight now.
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Lynna, OM

8 September 2011 at 9:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Whoops, I forgot to close by strikeout tag in my comment. I meant to indicate that gay people leaving the mormon church is a boon to civilization.
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Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurdity

8 September 2011 at 9:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I should also add, though, that if the graffitist covers the reporting marks, dimmensional data, inspection markings, or any of the other stuff that must be on the freight car, then, at the very least, the owner will gray out the proper areas and reletter them. Or repaint the whole thing.

There is one particular graffiti artist I really admire. He works in chalk or white paint pen, and puts a stylized face (and xe manages to evoke age, weatherbeatenness, and fatigue with only ten or so lines) with long hair, and underneath xe writes, “Colossus of Roads.” Xe is an excellent minimalist artist.
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SQB

8 September 2011 at 9:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You are a First Law of Thermodynamics denialist?

Well, I don’t think Alethea H. Claw is. I’m not, but the problem could be in how the calories come out.

If you eat a lot, but shit most of it out without extracting much of the calories from it, you probably won’t gain much weight.

So the equation turns into (calories in) = (calories used) + (calories unused) Then, the calories used can be further specified into calories burned and calories stored. Finally, calories burned is comprised of those burned by just being alive (some people are always cold, some people are almost hot to the touch and seem to radiate; I’d like to bet that the latter are burning more calories than the former) and those burned by exercising — either in the gym or just by walking and cycling more and taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

But you know this, right?
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Carlie

8 September 2011 at 10:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Chas, how is “The point is that there are a lot of internal and external variables contributing to both ‘in’ and ‘out’, and these differ among individuals.” different than “the biology of weight gain/loss is one hell of a lot more complicated than calories in/calories out.”?

“Take in” and “use” are the complicated parts – we are machines, but not that fine-tuned. How much of that energy you extract from food is highly dependent on many factors (see all posts and links above), and how much energy it takes for your body to perform tasks is also dependent on how efficiently your body uses it.
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Psych-Oh

8 September 2011 at 10:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Algernon- I am a leg-shaker! I swear it works off calories. But it drives people nuts. Plus, when I get stressed, I just stop eating altogether and I go into hyper mode where I can barely sit down.

I come from a family that is mostly muscular. I have very few overweight relatives, and almost everyone who is overweight didn’t get that way until after 50. It is weird, but I can bulk up muscle really fast if I am working out or playing sports. I definitely got the luck of the genes. Compare that to the hubby, who has to watch everything he eats or he gains weight quickly. And almost everyone in his family is overweight.
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a_ray_in_dilbert_space

8 September 2011 at 10:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

ChasCPetersen: “You are a First Law of Thermodynamics denialist?”

It would appear that in your haste to acknowledge the first law of thermao, you have forgotten the second. Efficiency matters–efficiency of absorption, efficiency of conversion, efficiency of action… There is even a large variation in human body temperature as well as metabolism.

Yes, if you consume more energy than you need, you will gain weight. However, there are vast differences in how much energy individuals need, and in some cases, energy may not be the limiting factor that dictates how much food a person needs. Life–it’s less simple than you think.
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Erulóra Maikalambe

8 September 2011 at 10:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Eating cake instead of jogging is an illness ?

Yeah, that is exactly how I became overweight. It had absolutely nothing to do with having my legs pinned between two cars, thus pretty much ending most of my outdoor hobbies. Asshole.

I go on the treadmill

If I don’t want to walk the rest of the day, and don’t mind sitting around in excruciating pain, then sure, I can make it a whole 1/4 mile on the treadmill. Gee, why don’t I do that more often?

My wife and I eat the same food in about the same portions. We are the same height. I go to the gym 5 days a week and she sometimes makes it once. I weigh double what she does (hell, she actually weighs less than before she got pregnant two years ago). I think maybe there’s something a little more complicated going on here. But what do I know? I’m just a person too dumb to eat right and exercise. Dumb enough to choose to be fat.
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Richard Austin

8 September 2011 at 11:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Regarding weight:

I was “normal” weight until I hit my growth spurt/puberty about 13; for perspective, I grew 4 inches over one summer, from 5’7 to 5’11, going from slightly short in my class to one of the taller kids. It’s pretty easy to assume that my weight didn’t keep up with my height, and by the time I graduated, I was 6’1″ and 117 lbs.

A high-stress job and a dozen years later and I was at 200 lbs, which was way too heavy (even for 6’2″; I have a very small frame and long limbs, and my “target” weight seems to be between 155 and 165). After a few bad starts (including one which involved a congenital hernia surgery and ended with me at 142 lbs, much too low) over 4+ years, I’ve finally found a workout routine I can maintain and eating habits/foods that seem to be right.

My big problem is that I can’t just “go for a walk” or “simply eat less”: my metabolism is very resistant to building muscle but very good at extracting calories, and any aerobic or cardio exercise I do drops my lean mass quickly instead of fat. So, I have to do the extremely difficult task of eating sufficiently but doing weight training to get the “holy trinity” of building muscle mass, losing fat, and maintaining weight; otherwise, I end up really skinny (which has one set of problems) or overweight (which has another), neither of which is what I want.

I’m hoping that, if I can keep this up for 6-9 months, my body will get used to having the muscle and stop trying to burn it at the drop of a hat. But we’ll have to see.

TL;DR version: metabolic health is a very complex thing, and each person has different issues to deal with.
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theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

8 September 2011 at 11:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Lynna

That would be Satan, a.k.a. The Adversary, prompting all that abuse.

Who is Satan though? The jeebus bit is understandable. The pre-christian gnostics already had a “Saviour” long before jeebus came along. Much like the jewish “Messiah”. To them the god of the jews was ebil. They speak of “the accursed God of the Jews’ and identify him with Saturn and the Devil”. They identify Satan as yahwe.
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cicely, Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac

8 September 2011 at 11:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

From the link @Classical Cipher’s 597:

“I, coming as a representative of Christ,[...]“

So, he sees himself as God’s direct representative. Isn’t this how crazy religious sub-sects get started?

Far from the only thing wrong in that little screed, of course, starting with what seems to be the core premise, that women are only some man’s transferable chattels.
-
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theophontes, feu d'artifice du cosmopolitisme

8 September 2011 at 11:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Lynna

And further to your comments (& vs gnosticism):

Romans 1:27 [Paul rants on in this vein]:

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Hippolytus identifies this with the Naassene (link) sect. Sex of every stripe played an important role in their belief system. The snake in genesis is associated with sex on an animal level. If applied “spiritually” (perhaps what teh mormons are on about) it makes of man a god.

fucking ~~magnets~~ xtians, how do they work?
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Ms. Daisy Cutter

8 September 2011 at 12:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie: I’m so sorry about your kitty. I’m glad she lived a long life with a good human, however.

Crowepps: Jim Wallis is also anti-choice and homophobic; doesn’t really surprise me that he doesn’t give a shit about respecting the wishes of non-xtian 9/11 mourners. The fact that he gets fawning praise for supporting economic justice indicates the justifiably low expectations people have for American clergy.

Rorschach: Fuck off. I’m glad you’re not my physician. Try reading some of the anecdotes on this blog and maybe figure out why your glib, fat-shaming bullshit causes more health problems than it solves. Try not to mansplain to the dumb fat chicks there that if they only stopped shoveling chips into their gobs they’d lose weight.
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Ms. Daisy Cutter

8 September 2011 at 12:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ugandan Dommie and homophobe (I know, redundant) with ties to Rick Perry says that prayer cures AIDS.
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Benjamin "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻" Geiger

8 September 2011 at 1:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ms. Daisy Cutter:

Try not to mansplain to the dumb fat chicks there that if they only stopped shoveling chips into their gobs they’d lose weight.

I don’t know about there, but here, there is at least one dumb fat dude. Is it still mansplaining if it’s dude-on-dude?
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Classical Cipher, Murmur Muris, OM

8 September 2011 at 1:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I had an oddly positive and constructive nightmare experience last night.
It was about my bad ex – he was threatening me and was going to hurt me, which was the terrifying nightmare part, but I yelled at him to stay back and called 9-1-1 and the police came and took him away. And then they took me to a safe place.
I think my brain’s working this whole thing out.
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Psych-Oh

8 September 2011 at 1:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Carlie – So sorry about your cat.

fucking ~~magnets~~ xtians, how do they work?

Damned if I know. But the Xtian organization that works out of the office above me seems to be moving out. I’m wondering if they went under, or if they are just moving to another office space.
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PZ Myers

8 September 2011 at 1:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

NEW THREAD!
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SallyStrange

8 September 2011 at 1:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The obesity epidemic also has roots in bad city planning. Back in the 50s, when urban planning was becoming a widespread and well-respected profession, it was dominated by middle/upper class white men, like all other professions at the time.

Being men who drove to work and didn’t have to concern themselves with the mundane details of women’s lives, such as how to get the kids to school and back, how to get groceries, etc., they considered everything from the vantage point of the automobile. The concerns of pedestrians were simply not on their radar. As a result, we have thousands of communities designed in ways that make walking next to impossible. I’m sure you are all familiar with the environmentalist critique of the Levittown-style cul-de-sac suburb.

Sexism has far-reaching effects.