Comments

  1. David Marjanović says

    =8-]

    Harr.

    Madman Chester tries to type something on my keyboard (He doesn’t weigh enough yet.)

    *squee* :-}

    On every golden scale!

    Tu șarpe balaur,
    cu solză de aur,

    […]

    umm, why did brevity go all bluey with dashes underneath?

    ~:-| It didn’t…

    Finke seems to be taking lessons from Peter Jackson on how to explain a narrative.

    Heh.

  2. hotshoe says

    NPR’s First Listen program is currently featuring Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute To Fleetwood Mac. I can’t link to individual tracks, but right now I’m enjoying “Angel” as sung by Marianne Faithful.

    17 different covers by different bands – some bring a viewpoint to the song they’ve chosen which is more interesting than the original (and we would probably disagree on which “some” they are, oh well). Not missing Stevie Nicks, not at all.

    You can listen to individual tracks in any order for the next couple weeks, probably until the album is officially released Aug 14th. Then the NPR audio will go away.

  3. opposablethumbs says

    Alethea, I’m so sorry for all of you who are left bereft. Will keep making my quite-often (very tiny, alas) contributions to our local cancer research charity.

    :(

  4. ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐ says

    John,

    I’m rather bemused by the pushback to Dan Fincke’s blog policy, and more so to the way people just don’t get him.

    What is your evidence that anyone doesn’t get him?

    If he had said here is a list of things I’ll moderate or ban for, he’d have gotten little or no pushback.

    I argued with him because he was initially making dubious claims, and then outright false claims like that I was insisting “some insults are just hunky dory.”

    And then he does the all caps MY BLOG thing, because apparently is/ought distinctions don’t apply to bloggers; anyone who says this claim is not true is really saying this is how your rules should work.

  5. John Morales says

    ॐ:

    What is your evidence that anyone doesn’t get him?

    I need not adduce evidence, inasmuch as I’m but expressing an opinion, and the claim itself is evidence of my opinion.

    (I didn’t intend to make an universal claim, either — but you have a point: I should have written some people)

    I will note that IMO some people seem to imagine he asks for dispassionate arguments, and that some people believe he equates all types of insults as being equally bad — this despite his repeated and explicit claims to the contrary.

    I will further note that I’m in some ways white-knighting, something that is not to my satisfaction and which I also imagine he would not appreciate, even were it needed.

  6. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    I’m sitting here crying because I’m so livid. Responding to Mark & Rich at WWJTD brought out a lot of anger in me, but it also brought back my memories of M.
    I miss him so fucking much.
    I want my best friend back.
    I want to hear his voice again.
    I want to see his face again.
    And I know that I will never, ever get to do so again and this is one of the most horrible feelings to have.

  7. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    John:

    I will note that IMO some people seem to imagine he asks for dispassionate arguments, and that some people believe he equates all types of insults as being equally bad — this despite his repeated and explicit claims to the contrary.

    I would be one of those people.
    When you have a list of terms that you will not allow and said list includes jerk, asshole, nigger, cunt, and stupid (among others) it reads just like all those words are of equal weight. But they aren’t. Some are plain insults. Some are gender based slurs. He’s saying he doesn’t want any insults, gendered slurs, or ableist slurs and in the process, I’m of the opinion that not being allowed to even use the word “jerk” robs me of my ability to be passionate.
    If you have the time, look at THIS post at WWJTD that I just wrote. I used more than a few insults (which I cleared with JT first) because I felt passionate about the subject (hell, I’m still fired up about it). To remove the insults would rob my comment of much intensity. That intensity reflects exactly how I feel and I dislike the idea that at Dan’s blog it’s *mandatory* that I water down my passion so he can maintain civility. As if civility works for everyone. I think I’ve posted here long enough that the regulars know that some of my posts will contain insults, but just as often, I can post without them. I don’t like being terribly hamstrung by what I can and cannot say. That’s why I doubt I’ll post at CWH again (and one of the reasons I don’t post at Greta’s much; I like her and she’s a wonderful blogger-hell, she’s the reason I even *found* FtB, so I’m incredibly grateful-, but I don’t like always having to be so nicey nicey, especially when it comes to subjects I feel strongly about)

  8. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    So is everyone going to be waiting with breathless anticipation Monday when the Mars Rover {hopefully} lands?

  9. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    chigau:

    cicely
    Those adorable ratlets eat
    .
    .
    .
    .
    peas!

    And that is perfectly fine. In fact, they can have *all* the peas in the world as far as I’m concerned. I know cicely will be devastated if there are no peas left for hir, but xe will deal.

    ****
    Alethea:
    My condolences on the loss of your friend. Virtual hugs sent your way.
    This may not be kicking god, but maybe it will bring a smile to your face: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fuck-God-and-all-of-its-faiths/124937560906820

  10. John Morales says

    Tony, your pain is evident and it moves me; before you wrote to specifically to me I’d read your comment and it impelled me to overcome my disinclination to provide JT with more hits and looked at the thread and wrote a comment to Rich.

    I don’t particularly want to respond to your claim, but out of respect for you and Dan, I do:

    [1] When you have a list of terms that you will not allow and said list includes jerk, asshole, nigger, cunt, and stupid (among others) it reads just like all those words are of equal weight. But they aren’t. Some are plain insults. Some are gender based slurs. [2] He’s saying he doesn’t want any insults, gendered slurs, or ableist slurs and in the process, I’m of the opinion that not being allowed to even use the word “jerk” robs me of my ability to be passionate.

    1. Perhaps it reads thus, but let me quote Dan from his original rules post:

    “I have acknowledged degrees numerous times. The problem is I don’t want the emphasis to be on “lesser” at the expense of “wrong”.”

    2. Please believe me when I tell you that your comment above about M was one of the most passionate things I’ve ever read, and it moved me. I quite literally had tears in my eyes.

    If you have the time, look at THIS post at WWJTD that I just wrote. I used more than a few insults (which I cleared with JT first) because I felt passionate about the subject (hell, I’m still fired up about it).

    Be aware that Dan has explicitly and unequivocally stated one can make personal charges when warranted.

    There is only one insult I can see in your comment (“What, are you 12?”), and it could easily be rephrased as a personal charge; the rest of your comment is powerfully passionate but I honestly believe that it would not breach Dan’s rules.

    If you wish me to, I will on your behalf put that specific question to Dan on his blog and report on his response.

  11. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    John:

    I don’t particularly want to respond to your claim, but out of respect for you and Dan, I do:

    That really means a lot to me.
    Thank you.

    1. Perhaps it reads thus, but let me quote Dan from his original rules post:

    “I have acknowledged degrees numerous times. The problem is I don’t want the emphasis to be on “lesser” at the expense of “wrong”.”

    I don’t know if this is the time for me to try and look at Dan’s comment policy in a new light. I still feel heightened emotions and I don’t know that I could assess clearly enough whether I’m right or wrong. However, I can say that even if I allow for him to be focusing on how *wrong* it is to use any of those terms, I don’t agree that it *is* wrong to use all those terms. Specifically because of how much lesser some of them are. My privilege may be showing, but I’ve seen no demonstrable harm from the use of stupid/jerk/asshole that in any way compares to nigger/cunt/fat-ass (I know the latter isn’t on his list, but I’m reasonably certain it is in theory and I wouldn’t use it anyway). That’s not to say that being called a jerk/asshole/stupid can’t be harmful, but I still think the only words that should be off limits should be ones that are demonstrably harmful to a minority group and aside from personal anecdotes, I haven’t seen anyone present evidence to support that theory (mind you, I haven’t checked in on Dan’s blog in a few days).

    2. Please believe me when I tell you that your comment above about M was one of the most passionate things I’ve ever read, and it moved me. I quite literally had tears in my eyes.

    I do believe you. Thank you very much.

    Be aware that Dan has explicitly and unequivocally stated one can make personal charges when warranted.

    I do recall that, but I have to wonder who determines when something is warranted. Given that it’s his blog, I get the feeling I’d need to clear anything with him first and I don’t like the nature of that. I guess maybe I’m too spoiled by Pharyngula and being able to speak your mind responsibly. As I mentioned before, I don’t always engage others with insults, but I want to be the judge of when and where it is appropriate to do so. I don’t want to be told like a parent telling their child not to do something.

    There is only one insult I can see in your comment (“What, are you 12?”), and it could easily be rephrased as a personal charge; the rest of your comment is powerfully passionate but I honestly believe that it would not breach Dan’s rules.

    Ah, my apologies, the post I was referring to as insulting was the one in which I responded to Mark, rather than the one you read (I was responding to Rich in that one). That said, I still think even that comment would breach Dan’s rules, given how he responded to both Natalie Reed and Grimalkin. My comment is emotionally charged and hostile and the latter is something Dan doesn’t want (IIRC, he accused Natalie of being hostile to him).

    If you wish me to, I will on your behalf put that specific question to Dan on his blog and report on his response.

    I appreciate that, but no.

  12. John Morales says

    Tony, thanks.

    I’ve just read your comment to Mark, and yeah, not something you could do under the much more restrictive rules at CwH; you didn’t mince words.

    (I’ve just expressed my opinion to Mark there, FWTW)

  13. broboxley OT says

    peppered bacon, muenster cheese, tomatoes lettuce on toasted pumpernickel for breakfast with foglifter fresh ground coffee for breakfast. I love having time to make breakfast

  14. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Tony, you commented a while back about my eloquence. Well, I have to say that you’re no slouch in that department. I just read your comments to Mark and Rich. Holy fucking hell that was fantastic! I’m sorry they triggered such emotion in you and I hope you’re feeling better by the time you read this, but at least that emotion resulted in not just one, but TWO epic clue-by-four posts. Fantastic work my friend.

  15. broboxley OT says

    Chas, warm faygo moondrop (mountain dew replacement) and pbj prepared the night before is the monday-friday commute breakfast

  16. Beatrice says

    Hy from Florence (Italy)! It’s hot. Fucking hot, even.

    The city is beautiful and we’ve been walking around all days so we’re taking an afternoon off. Which I am of course using to visit here for a bit.

    I see we’re still on the old ET, anything new?

  17. Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD says

    Apparently Monday there may be some information Beatrice.

    Caine – Love the new ratpics, also the zombie duck.

    Offers virtual *hugs* to Tony.

  18. says

    Hy from Florence (Italy)!

    Hi Beatrice! I hope you’re enjoying yourself, it sounds exciting, being in Italy. (It’s exciting to me.) PZ said there would be new rules laid down on Monday. By the way, one of Esme’s ratlets is now named Beatrice. I hope you don’t mind.

    Ariaflame, thank you. :)

  19. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    And I just read your 12 above Tony. I give to you all the hugs/chocolate/booze*, all of it, others will just have make do until more can be manufactured.

    I also make you the same offer I made to Alethea above: If it isn’t too painful or revealing could you tell me want caused M’s death? I would like to make a donation in his honour so that some tiny good may come from it.

    Oh, yes, yes, and hell yes! I can’t wait for the Mars landing.

    *Should you want it of course.

  20. Nutmeg says

    Tony: I just read your comments at JT’s.

    *standing ovation*

    I am so sorry that things are so terrible for queer people in the US right now.

  21. Beatrice says

    Caine,

    I hope you don’t mind.

    Don’t mind? You might have heard the happy *squee* reaching over the ocean.

    I’m having a great time. We are a bit away from the center so we have to walk a lot, since we’re too cheap to pay for the bus tickets. The good thing about that is that we have a good reason to either cross Ponte Vecchio or see it from the parallel bridge several times every day.

    I loved the Accademia, and not just for Michelangelo’s David. I could have been happier if one room didn’t have mirrors on the floor. Yeah, of course I was wearing a dress that day.

    We bought a yearly membership in Friends of the Uffizi which gives us free entrance into several galeries and museums. It’s great because there is no chance to properly see everything in the Uffizi galery in one day. And thanks to the card, we can skip all the lines and take a special entrance. Since we got it a bit cheaper (since we’re less than 26 years old), I call that a bargain.

    I’ll probably share some photos when I get back.

  22. Beatrice says

    Since I just dropped in, I’m not sure what’s going on with people. So here’s just one huge *hug* for Tony.

    (sorry if it’s a bit sticky, it’s really hot here)

  23. says

    Beatrice:

    The good thing about that is that we have a good reason to either cross Ponte Vecchio or see it from the parallel bridge several times every day.

    I loved the Accademia, and not just for Michelangelo’s David.

    Oh, I’m so jealous! Yes, take photos. Lots and lots. For sharing.

  24. KG says

    Beatrice,

    Florence has an excellent museum of science, IIRC, with many beautiful old scientific instruments. Unfortunately, I don’t remember its name, but if you can locate it, it’s well worth a visit. Some of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany were notable patrons of science, and one of them founded the museum.

  25. says

    Another congress critter reveals the depth of his stupidity, and then doubles down.

    Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) is refusing to back down from his outrageous declaration that requiring private insurance plans to cover birth control for women is equivalent to Pearl Harbor or the September 11th attacks.

    Kelly originally made the ridiculous comparison on Wednesday morning, saying in a press conference on Capitol Hill:

    I know in your mind, you can think of the times America was attacked. One is Dec. 7, that’s Pearl Harbor Day. The other is Sept. 11, and that’s the day the terrorists attacked. I want you to remember Aug. 1, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.

    Kelly’s tone deaf outrage was caused by the fact that many parts of the Affordable Care Act that directly impact women’s health took effect on August 1st. As this infographic from the Center for American Progress illustrates, as of yesterday women will receive a number of preventative services — including HIV testing, counseling for domestic violence, and access to contraception, among others — with no co-pays.

    For women, this represents a tremendous step forward. For Kelly, however, it apparently represents “the day religious freedom died in America.”

    On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Republican refused to back down from his attack. Kelly’s spokesman told Newsmax that “The HHS mandate is an undeniable and unprecedented attack on Americans’ First Amendment rights.”

    “Our freedoms and way of life have been under attack before, from both internal and external threats,” he continued. “If we fail to defend our constitutional rights, we risk losing the freedoms that so many brave men and women have given their lives to defend throughout the course of our nation’s history.”…

    Link

  26. says

    I suppose a lot of you failed to attend Glenn Beck’s Under God: Indivisible rally in Arlington, Texas. Shame on you. Your priorities are all messed up.

    You missed a speech by Republican lobbyist Ralph Reed.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb98uyjoxPM

    Video also available here: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/reed-if-christians-beg-gods-forgiveness-then-hell-have-mercy-our-land-november

    More highlights from the rally, which about 6000 christians attended:
    – Bishop Harry Jackson said gay people “want to recruit your kids”
    – Tony Perkins said hate-crime laws are a sign of “chaos” (the laws, not the crimes)
    – Glenn Beck noted that the religious right is making “the leaders of the world … pee their pants” by wielding “the sword of righteousness.”

  27. Beatrice says

    KG,

    You probably mean Museo Galileo.
    It’s on my list already and I hope we’ll make it there on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it.

  28. Pteryxx says

    Arlington Texas… damn, if I’d known (and had the spoons) I ought to have gone to protest and argue, or at least drive around in a beslogan’d car so as to be a moving target.

  29. says

    The State of Florida already pushes a lot of money into religiously flavored institutions, but now the Republican Governor and his cohorts want to funnel more money to sectarian educational institutions. Link.

    Excerpts below:

    …Amendment 8, named “Religious Freedom” and placed on the ballot by State Sen. Thad Altman (R-Viera) and State Rep. Scott Plakon (R-Longwood), states that “no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding or other support … and delet[es] the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.” The measure will require 60 percent of the electorate in order to pass.

    …the measure will open the door to the kind of voucher system recently implemented in Louisiana…

    …the measure is “a shady way of opening the door for school vouchers for all,” and FEA attorney Ron Meyer noted that the state could no longer turn down religious institutions that requested state funds, as the religion-state barrier would have been sufficiently blurred.

    A recent op-ed from voucher-backer Jon East — who last week highlighted his support for Louisiana’s much-maligned voucher standards — emphasized that the amendment’s focus would be less on vouchers and more on combating recent encroachments from “secular humanists.” …

    …The Tampa Bay Times makes a salient connection. Its July 31 headline reads, “Amendment 8 is not about vouchers, school voucher group says.” After the recent progress toward vouchers in Louisiana and Georgia, Amendment 8’s language would seem only to remove one of the final impediments to implementing such a system in Florida.

    From the Tampa Bay Times article:

    When Florida voters head to the ballot box in November, they’ll be able to decide whether to end the state’s longtime ban on using taxpayer funds to assist religious institutions….

    Link.

  30. birgerjohansson says

    Is there any legal way the more progressive parts of Florida can divorce the regressive parts, and set up a state of their own? Then the xians can have state-sponsored snake-handling events without dragging down the rest of Forida.
    — — — — — —
    Nutmeg
    The Scandinavian countries are practically English-speaking by now. But if you move over here, remember that Swedish and Norwegian are close enough so a speaker of one can make himself understood with a speaker of the other, even if one of them has poor English (useful for a cosmopolitan immigrant). When speaking with Finns you probably have to use English.
    — — — — — — — —
    How large is Harper’s majority? A few by-elections might shake him up.

  31. Tethys says

    – Glenn Beck noted that the religious right is making “the leaders of the world … pee their pants” by wielding “the sword dildo of righteousness vindictive ignorance.”

    FIFM

  32. chigau (違う) says

    My beer tin has Braille on it.
    I wish that big-stupid-ball-of-“fire”-in-the-sky would give me half an hour of sitting in the shade before I hafta move.

  33. says

    FossilFishy – “As the son of an emotionally abusive alcoholic father I know a little about such an upbringing. I’m trying as hard as I can to not be him.”

    Yes, I can totally see that and understand that. You’re right, my childhood was less than lovely for similar reasons. That’s probably why I really appreciate the way you write and the way you emote with words. That was always beyond my father and so, for a long time, I thought it beyond men’s capacity.

    Then I grew up and met many lovely men but still, your words are moving in a joyous way.

    Today I saw four fathers alone with their daughters in the swimming pool at this hotel and they were just wonderful. I know, logically, that it’s normal for fathers to love their daughters but emotionally it still astounds me.

    I appreciate you and good fathers everywhere. (And good mothers! I had a good mom so I tend to take that for granted which I should never. I have had friends who’ve never had that pleasure.)

    Tony – I SO hear you. My dear, dear friend Cory killed himself in 1994 because he had been HIV+ since he was 17 (ten years) and he saw no way out. He was sick of his pill cocktail and found a shotgun easier. It was not long after that the drugs got so much better and all my friends who had been suffering were suddenly not swollen-faced nor ill all the time. But Cory was still dead.

    I’ve been furious with him on many days, desperate to talk to him on others, and just sad about it most days. There’s a gap there that won’t be filled. I understand how you feel.

  34. says

    Little Chas has figured out that if he follows Mum around to different levels of the condo while the rest of the crew is sleeping, he can get extra nursing time, all to himself. Poor Rubin, can’t even eat in peace.

  35. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Thank you all so much. I have to say the warmth and compassion that the Horde displays fills me with hope and joy.

    John:

    (I’ve just expressed my opinion to Mark there, FWTW)

    Now that I’ve calmed down a bit, I wonder how much good my remarks to Rich and Mark were. The former flounced (supposedly) and the latter was about as trolly as one can be. I take solace in the hope that there are lurkers who read my responses who can see the harm unthinking religious beliefs can have.

    ****

    FossilFishy:

    I’m sorry they triggered such emotion in you and I hope you’re feeling better by the time you read this, but at least that emotion resulted in not just one, but TWO epic clue-by-four posts. Fantastic work my friend.

    Thank you.
    Those posts are examples of why I don’t want to tone down my language across the board. I’m perfectly capable of engaging people without the depth of anger and use of insults that I used. There are times that I do want to be able to use those tools and they should always be an option, even if it’s in worst case scenarios.
    I’ll never know for certain, but I think my ability to engage others and get my point across have increased during my time here at FtB, due in no small part to the influence of other commenters.

    I give to you all the hugs/chocolate/booze*, all of it, others will just have make do until more can be manufactured.

    I’m glad to be welling up with tears at the moment. The kindness of others is a much better reason to move me to tears than unbridled anger.

    I don’t know how to link to a specific comment, but I go into detail about M’s life and death @ comment 212.

    If it isn’t too painful or revealing could you tell me want caused M’s death?

    It was a drug related heart attack. It still seems so odd that a 29 year old in relatively good shape could have a fatal heart attack.
    ****

    Why is the day/date portion of comments clickable?

    ****

    Ariaflame, thank you.

    ****

  36. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Beatrice, Nutmeg, Dalillama:
    Thank you. Sometimes I wonder if I mention M too much IRL, or online. Then I smack myself and remember that he was a tremendously important part of my life and talking about him when it’s relevant to a discussion shouldn’t make me feel bad, because I’m not trolling for sympathy. I’m simply talking about someone who made a profound impact on me, and who’s influence-even posthumously-permeates my life.

    ****
    Krasnaya:
    I’m so sorry to hear about your friend Cory. My condolences. The loss doesn’t become any easier with time, does it?

    ****
    Tethys:

    – Glenn Beck noted that the religious right is making “the leaders of the world … pee their pants” by wielding “the sword dildo of righteousness vindictive ignorance.”

    Oh thank you so much for that!
    I needed that laugh!

  37. chigau (違う) says

    Tony

    Why is the day/date portion of comments clickable?

    I don’t know why but if you click it, that location goes into the address-box and you can copy-paste it into your comment.
    You actually did that with your link to your story of M.
    (and tonnes of *HUGS* for you)

  38. says

    Tony:

    Why is the day/date portion of comments clickable?

    It takes you directly to that post, so if you want to bookmark a specific post, like I did one of Alethea’s recently, you click that and bookmark it. You can also right click that to copy the link location in order to direct someone to a specific post.

  39. carlie says

    an ant just crawled into my keyboard

    and two just crawled out
    omgomgomg

    FFS, stop pressing CTRL+C while they’re in there!

    :)

    So, as if JCPenny wasn’t getting awesome enough what with the Ellen DeGeneres thing and the giving needy kids free haircuts and almost free glasses all month, I actually went shopping there today and they have a whole nice workout clothes section for fat ladies. Who knew?*

    *I have avoided shopping at JCPenny my entire adult life because ugh, my MOM shops there, duh. Now they are either cool enough or I am old enough that the demographic fits. I’m afraid it’s probably the latter.

  40. Tethys says

    Tony

    My condolences on your loss. Grief is very hard, please feel free to share it.

    I really miss my friend Brian.
    *warning-link will piss off any person with a heart, and trigger warning for pedophile priests*

  41. broboxley OT says

    got 5 thick cut boneless pork chops
    1 cup progresso Italian bread crumbs supplemented with
    garlic powder 3 tablespoons Jamaican jerk powder in a large plastic bag
    pour soy sauce over the pork chops and shake up in bag until all are well coated
    45 minutes at 400 F in over turning once 1/2 way
    served with mashed potatoes, corn and thick beef gravy

  42. cicely says

    *hug* for SallyStrange.

    Me, I’m doing well: I got a real job!

    Huzzah!

    *hugs* for Tony. I’m sorry. *moar hugs* and a *beverage*

  43. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Broboxley: that sounds incredibly delicious. Especially the jerk seasoning.

  44. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    *listens to the oncoming grumble storm out the window*

  45. David Marjanović says

    *fresh pot of happiness tea for Sally*

    chigau, every once in a while, take your keyboard, turn it upside-down, and hold it in the air with one hand while tapping it with the other so the dust and the breadcrumbs fall out. Every time I do that, I’m amazed at how much comes out.

    With laptops, use a corner of a piece of paper or something similar to get the dust out from between the keys.

    By the way, one of Esme’s ratlets is now named Beatrice.

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

  46. says

    Nerd:

    *listens to the oncoming grumble storm out the window*

    Thundergrumbling and rain last night here. Cool and overcast today. It’s a nice break from the heat.

  47. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Thundergrumbling and rain last night here. Cool and overcast today. It’s a nice break from the heat.

    Could be your system, as its coming in from the plains. Supposed to cool us off too.

  48. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    today is a bad day. Is this the place I go to vent?

    *voice of Frasier Crane* “We’re Listening”.

  49. Pteryxx says

    This is the venting-place. (There’s also #TheEndlessChat, but there’s just me and one other person atm.)

  50. says

    Well, Dr. Crane…

    I suffer from major depression, and the drugs I’ve tried don’t really help and come with lots of side effects, and dealing with shrinks makes me so angry I can’t stand it, so I don’t even bother anymore. It isn’t a big deal, I’m not suicidal or anything, except it sort of colors everything else that happens.

    My wife has decided to change careers, kind of out of the blue. She wants to be a “consultant” which means huge money and lots of out-of-state travel. Obviously I can’t go with, I’ve got to hold down the household and take care of our five furry kids, and I’m working on an engineering degree and school starts in a few weeks. She’s also been fired from three jobs in less than a year, so we’ve burned through all of our savings. To take this new job, my wife needs all kinds of money that we don’t have for insurance and rental cars and other odds and ends before she gets paid.

    So, I’m selling my #1 guitar. It is tough for both of us, because my wife helped me pick it out and it is the nicest thing I’ve owned in my entire life, and I grew up poor and never had anything remotely nice, and I sold two other guitars to help pay for it and my wife paid for the rest. It has been symbolic of a lot of stuff in our relationship, and I really thought I’d have it for the rest of my life.

    And now the guy who I was selling it to is jerking me around. Bad enough that I have to sell it, but now he’s playing games with me and I’m just so frustrated with the whole situation and I need the money but I don’t need the grief, and I feel humiliated to be unable to tell him to just fuck off.

  51. Pteryxx says

    Jeez Joe, not your *guitar*. *offers anklehugs*

    …are you sure it’s only the symbolic part that’s so awful? I mean, YOU are good with the necessity of doing this thing?

  52. says

    Pteryxx,

    It was my idea… and my wife teared up when we talked about it initially, and again today when we were talking about it. If/when my wife starts her new job, she’ll be making so much money that I should be able to buy a much more expensive guitar to replace the one I’m selling, so if it were just about the guitar as a guitar it shouldn’t bother me at all. But it does bother me, a lot. It is the fact that when I put it on layaway(yes, that still exists) I was looking at cheaper import guitars and my wife said “No, don’t even look at those guitars Joe, you need a Les Paul or nothing.” It meant and still means the world to me that my wife thinks I’m worth enough to have nice things, when I’ve never had nice things or felt worthy of owning them. My parents made me make due with crap, and I’m semi-crippled because of it today, and then they bought my younger brother the best of everything and I’m still bitter about it.

    So for my wife to say “get the best guitar they have” was an incredible thing for me, because of her belief that I deserve good things. Having to sell it makes me feel terrible, almost like I’m sure my wife would feel if she had to sell her wedding ring set.

  53. Pteryxx says

    …which is, selling something all but irreplaceable, meaningful and special, for a *chance* at your spouse’s new job… er, Joe, buddy, I don’t like the sound of this.

  54. broboxley OT says

    Joe, unless she is a contract employee the “firm” should be providing a company credit card for expenses like that. If she is a contractor like I am then the hourly rate should roll in weekly and the rate should be high enough to cover expenses. I would have her ask some questions, doesn’t sound right.

  55. says

    er, Joe, buddy, I don’t like the sound of this.

    I’ve got to second Pteryxx here, Joe. Something so deeply felt by you should also be shared by your wife. Seems to me the guitar, at least *this* guitar should be off limits.

    I’d be a little worried about investing money into this gig when she’s been fired so often…but that’s me, eh?

    *hugses and booze and bacon and chocolate and everything else good to you*

  56. Pteryxx says

    seconding broboxley… not my field and I don’t know anything about it firsthand, but any job that requires a bunch of big expenses be paid up front *by the new employee* has a bad smell about it to me. A lot of people get ripped off by employment scams in just such a way.

    Also, if you have a bad feeling about this jackass buyer, GFTO. I’d hate to see you commit to selling something so precious and then get played. Just my 2c Joe… I’m sorry for you that it’s come to this.

  57. says

    As for my wife’s job… the contract specifies reimbursement, but we have to come up with the cash up front. She has to pay for the rental car, and then turn in the receipts. She also has to pay for insurance as a subcontractor, which is a once-a-year expense of several hundred bucks.

    I don’t know what to do, but we need the money and there’s not really any other source besides my guitars. We’ve sort of maxed out everything else, and this opportunity requires being able to move quickly in the short-term. And I was just accused of trying to sell counterfeit guitars, so I’m in a really terrible mood.

  58. says

    For clarification, she’s not paying the employer any money at all. She just has to book the hotel and rental car, and turn in receipts every week. Reimbursement is specified in the contract.

  59. Pteryxx says

    …I’d still be very wary of that contract, if there’s any way they can wiggle out of it on technicalities. I don’t know the field though.

  60. Pteryxx says

    y’know, they specify reimbursement in health insurance contracts too, and look how well THAT works out. :p

  61. says

    Pteryxx,

    My wife was referred to these subcontracting jobs by the same nationwide recruiting company that got her one of the last two jobs. The jobs might be a bad fit, but they aren’t a rip-off. They are national agencies that provide these services on the up-and-up. And if I’m not mistaken, my wife has worked with people who have worked these temporary contract jobs, she’s been in her field for 20 years and knows her way around the industry.

  62. says

    Oh man, super hugs for Tony and Joe.

    Joe, is there no-one that you can borrow from? Can you pawn instead of sell? It sounds like it’s a cash-flow problem, and once you get over the hump it’ll be OK. Could this be a case for the horde-signal?

  63. chigau (違う) says

    On another topic:
    it appears that the (fucking) magpies have eaten every cherry.
    Who has a recipe for cherry-fed magpie?

  64. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Improbable Joe:
    My heart goes out to you. You DO deserve good things and kudos to your wife for being wonderful.

  65. broboxley OT says

    OK Joe, that sounds perfectly legitimate, sounds like a remote contract and I have done those. Normally I prefer to build the expenses into the hourly rate but I have done it their way as well. Yeah, you cant get out of the workmans comp either as a subcontractor. I would say borrow if you can against the guitar. Heck I would rather do a title loan than sell a keepsake but I understand your need.

  66. Pteryxx says

    Joe, I still don’t see a tip jar on your blog… but your guitar has a *name* ? Man… every instinct I have is screaming not to do this thing.

  67. says

    Alethea,

    I’m not sure what a “horde-signal” does, besides descend on someone screaming “CUPCAKE!” with armfuls of dead porcupines ready to be deployed. We’ve already borrowed too much from my in-laws, and my parents just bought a new house and are sort of strapped themselves paying for my deadbeat brothers.

    I think I’m going to wind up at the pawn shop, and hope my wife starts getting paid fast enough for me to get my guitar back. In the meanwhile, the guy calling me a thief selling counterfeit guitars is threatening to call the cops on me.

  68. says

    @ Tethys
    Condolnces as well, I know how rough that is.

    @ Improbable Joe:
    As someone above said, is there any chance you could pawn the guitar, and have a chance at getting it back? Even if you have to sell it, don’t let it go to the guy who’s jerking you around. It should go to someone who will appreciate it. You do deserve to have nice things, and it’s heartbreaking that you’re in this position. You have my sympathies as well. L is trying to sell the flute my brother gave him for our wedding, because money is short and his arthritis is so bad he can’t play anymore, and wants to see the flute played by someone.

  69. says

    Joe:

    I’m not sure what a “horde-signal” does, besides descend on someone screaming “CUPCAKE!” with armfuls of dead porcupines ready to be deployed.

    The horde-signal is where we all kick in a few bucks to the Horde emergency fund. Josh usually administrates the funds. I’d be happy to kick in some money. If you want help, scream! We’ll do what we can.

  70. broboxley OT says

    Joe, tell the rant and raver he doesnt possess enough money to ever touch your guitar and piss off. Then try other sources.

  71. Pteryxx says

    I just got my month-start funds; I can chip in a small money order, if someone oversees. Uh, Joe, do you have a Paypal account?

  72. says

    Pteryxx,

    Tip jar? Sounds like begging, and I’m not comfortable with that. Unless you can stage a benefit where Elton John sings “Candle in the Wind” and I get a billion dollars. All Gibson Les Pauls are called “Lester”, it wasn’t original to me. And no, I’m not happy with it either. I think I’m going to try pawn shops and try to get it back when the cash flow gets better.

    broboxley OT,

    The company she’s contracting with has contracts with specific companies for car and hotel… part of why it feels legitimate rather than like a scam. There’s a discounted corporate rate, and then there’s reimbursement.

  73. Pteryxx says

    Actually, having contracts with specific companies for hotel and car, and then reimbursing employeees for hotel and car, sounds like a kickback scheme to me – it sounds MORE like a scam.

    And this better not be a macho thing about not accepting help freely offered, Joe *glares* it’s part of what folks do here because the world is fucking unfair if we DON’T help each other out. (Just IMHO. I have a bug up my butt about it being somehow dishonorable to accept help.)

  74. says

    Well… if you guys want to contribute to make my life easier, there actually IS something you can do that won’t make me feel like too much of a shithead.

    I’ve got four cats and a dog, and they all eat pretty good premium food that winds up costing me a few hundred dollars a month. I can live on mac and cheese, and scrambled eggs, and canned corned beef hash, and ramen noodle poop, but I can’t ask my kids to start eating garbage. So, if Josh usually handles the funds, anyone who feels obligated to contribute can send him whatever you feel comfortable with and he can turn it into Pet Smart gift cards and contact me and mail me the cards.

    I’m sort of overwhelmed that anyone would even consider doing that, and I’m not worthy and wouldn’t remotely accept on my own behalf… but my puppy, and my kitty-boy, and my kitty-girl, and my kitten, and my pretty-kitty would all appreciate it.

  75. broboxley OT says

    Pteryxx big companies do have good contracts with hotels and car rental. Actually a job that laid me off in 2001 had such a contract with a major car rental and all these years later I still get their rates which kick ass. Having Joe mention that makes me feel a whole lot better about the contract

  76. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    I’d be happy to do it as usual. That’s what (even virtual) friends are for, Joe. You’re just another happy recipient of the Pharynguhorde fund disbursements. With the consent of the last donor to the pot the Spokesfamily was a recipient this month. It was the second month in a row my dad’s been outta work and $500 to $700 out of my income to go to mom and dad two months in a row was really starting to hurt.

  77. broboxley OT says

    http://www.facebook.com/mbteenager and a comment, I like this commenter

    Amy Leigh Peterson Most Beautiful Teenager
    This Facebook page is legitimately demented. Not to mention some of your pics border on child porn. All these girls submitting their pictures, wtf is wrong with you?? You need validation from random weirdo perverts on the Internet? It’s girls like you that are the reason men objectify us, and the reason we still don’t have equal footing in society. And this whole grading system- 250 likes is Ugly? Who ever the fuck is behind this needs a serious fucking reality check and ass-kicking. What are you trying to prove here? My guess is you’re some old man pervert just getting his rocks off. This shit is wrong on so many levels. And everyone who’s a part of it, needs to grab a fucking clue.

  78. Pteryxx says

    Thanks broboxley, I withdraw my concern on that front. (though it still seems a smelly way to do business in general, but eh.)

    Josh, I’m on that. I’ll have to snail-mail you on Monday, natch.

  79. says

    Fucking #FTBullies, ruining my life by being so goddamned generous and making me and my wife cry! How dare you be so good and decent? For shame!

  80. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    See, that’s the thing. If we lived in a decent society that didn’t punish the shit out of us for being whacked by “the free market” this wouldn’t be necessary. Nor would it seem so over the top to help other folks out. We have a diseased mentality in the US.

  81. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Josh usually administrates the funds

    Pedants Corner: That’s a back-formation. The verb is “to administer.” And no, my UK friends, you cannot “orientate” someone. You can only “orient” them. No matter how many times you say it:))

    Thanks—I had to get it out!

  82. Pteryxx says

    actually we’re just being good and decent to troll the fuck out of all the hateful greedy victim-blaming “I got mine; fuck you” douchecanoes out there. Nothing pisses them off more than kindness and tolerance. #FTBullies ~;>

  83. says

    Thanks folks… there really aren’t words enough to express how I feel right now. Well… unless someone wants me to start quoting Jerry Maguire. “We live in a cynical world. A cynical… world. … … … *choke back a tear*… … … … *shake head slightly, perfect hair moves a half-inch… … …”

  84. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    I’ve discovered I really, really, really like riding my bike. How could I have forgotten how much fun it was the last time I had one as a kid? This is definitely the way to get about town or spend exercise time (when it’s not too godawful hot).

  85. chigau (違う) says

    On yet another topic:
    it’s so hot and humid here, I just placed a frond of fresh catnip right under the kitteh’s nose and she can’t be arsed.
    and
    I tidied the house-plants today and the jade tried to kill me.
    So I pruned it.

  86. says

    chigau,

    It is so hot and humid here that I can fling a frosted mug straight up 5-6 feet, and it comes down full of ice-cold water condensed out of the air like magic.

  87. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Same here Chigau. Still 88F at half past eight. I did take the bike about a mile to the store but only because the sun had gone down. I’ve spent all day in the downstairs with a heavy curtain sealing off the staircase and the door to the kitchen. . air conditioning struggling to keep the small living room and dining room cool.

  88. broboxley OT says

    hope it is nicer tomorrow really need to fix my pickup so I can get the canoe into the lake before fall.

  89. chigau (違う) says

    I haven’t been on a bicycle in over 25 years.
    I have a lovely one from the next-door-neighbour but I’m too scared to try it.
    (the neighbour is a buddhist and a blacksmith and a bikesmith.)
    (I ♥ some parts of my neighbourhood)

  90. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Why be scared? It really is true that you never forget how. Not even a little. It’s just like you’ve been riding every day non-stop. Great fun.

  91. chigau (違う) says

    I’m scared ’cause I’m oldish and I break easily.
    … although I do have a lot of elbow-knee padding. and a hard-hat …
    tomorrow, when I’m sober

  92. ImaginesABeach says

    I got a PayPal account so that I don’t have to send Josh a paper check via snail mail (I’m slowly joining this century) but I’m not real clear on how to use it – I entered Josh’s e-mail address and the amount in the appropriate fields, but it’s telling me that “this recipient is not yet registered” which seems awfully unlikely.

    Anyone? Help?

  93. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Clarification: Paypal requires your email account to be your real name, so it’s not spokesgay. That’s just the way to get in touch with me so I can give you my real-name email account.

  94. ImaginesABeach says

    Thanks Alethea. I emailed Josh. I’m glad to hear there is a seekrit involved, it’s not just that I’m slow to figure things out.

  95. ImaginesABeach says

    Funds are a little tight right now, since we just had to empty the savings account to replace the air conditioner. If you are still in crisis next month, Joe, feel free to mention it again.

  96. chigau (違う) says

    kitteh awoke and is currently appreciating her catnip.
    (she has 17 years and is lethargic in her appreciation)

  97. chigau (違う) says

    It’s That Time of the Year.
    The duplex-next-door is having the seasonal influx of renter(s).
    I identify a single female moving into the basement suite.
    (her brother (sameish age, sameish facial bone structure) is a (very strong) whiny, sucky-baby)))
    [did I get that () right Og?]

  98. broboxley OT says

    Chigau #123
    3 open parense 6 close parens
    shell parse error
    dunno about grammer :-)

  99. ImaginesABeach says

    And with respect to my 120 above, don’t think I don’t know just how fortunate I am to 1) have savings that can be emptied and 2) be comfortable emptying those savings for an air conditioner that gets used for about 2 1/2 months a year.

  100. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    PharynguFund Alert—We are replenishing the fund to help out Joe (stop with the embarrassment, I already told you I was a proud recipient:)) so he doesn’t hafta have such a shitty time before new household income kicks in.

    Anyone who wishes to donate, small or large, no questions asked, all donations appreciated, can email me at spokesgay at teh googlez mail. From there I will give you my PayPal acct. or snail mail address.

    For those of you who don’t know, the PharynguFund is an ad-hoc help-out-a-Horde-member-having-a-tough-time-financially thing we do. I collect the money, deal with the banking, and get the money to the recipient. I keep all donors anonymous but I do email them with a tally of the money received and disbursed.

  101. says

    Okay, Josh, I went ahead and sent a little bit to your account.

    Joe, I couldn’t send much, the ratlets are eating us out of house and home right now, but I hope it helps.

  102. says

    FTB is eating my posts, trying again.

    Okay, Josh, I went ahead and sent a little bit to your account.

    Joe, I couldn’t send much, the ratlets are eating us out of house and home right now, but I hope it helps.

  103. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tip for budget living:

    See if you have a freecycle.org group for your area (just go to that website).

    If you do, join it. It’s people trading stuff, giving away stuff, and taking away stuff you don’t want. There’s no selling, it’s all gifts. I’ve received the following, free:

    Baby stroller for Audley
    Weed trimmer
    Dehumidifier (I’m using it right now)
    Sundry household cleaning chemicals
    Bags of baby clothes for nieces and nephews

    Also, check if your city has a junk swap shed at the dump or recycling drop-off center, a place where serviceable items can be left to be picked over. From mine I’ve picked up:

    Plates
    Flatware
    Books
    Mixing bowls
    A costly glass shade for an antique kerosene lamp (yeah, it fit!)
    Cutting board
    Wall-mounted barometer/hygrometer

    etc.

    Almost every piece of furniture and dishware in my house is second-hand, freecycle, or “junk shop treasure” (I do spend the requisite money on top-quality kitchen appliances such as German knives, Kitchen-Aid, etc.) Though modest, Horde members who’ve been here can tell you it’s a comfy, well-appointed little Hobbit house.

  104. chigau (違う) says

    We do garage sales for tools that people discard to go electric.
    meat grinders
    grain grinders
    fruit juicers
    etc.
    (silly, silly people)

  105. says

    I don’t want people to think that I don’t know how fortunate I am. I have stuff. I don’t need more stuff. I have stuff I can sell and maybe make a few bucks from. My own employment situation is bleak, but my wife has a career where she can make money eventually, once she finds a slot. I have negotiated my cable bill to a reasonable level, and I can probably maintain my Internet and phone for a few more months. We’ve hit a pretty big bump, but if we can get past this we have a pretty bright future ahead of us.

    We have some good furniture that could last another 5-6 years, and some great furniture that could last 15-20 years. Sort of the Sam Vimes economic theory, for you Discworld fans, we bought good things that will never break when we had the money to do so. We’ve got pots and pans and a knife set that we bought with wedding gift money back in 2005 that might easily outlive me. Our dishes are 5-6 years old, and as long as no more of them fall off of counters we could go a few more years. We’ve also got some old stuff like my wife’s grandfather’s hope chest that has lasted close to 70 years at this point.

    It kills me that we need help, as fortunate as I feel that we are. It amazes me that anyone would be willing to help us. Again, thank you all so much, every little bit takes a little pressure off of us, and gets us a little closer to where we need to be.

    …and if anyone wants to buy a 2007 Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus for really cheap, I’ve still got one. :)

  106. says

    Joe:

    We’ve also got some old stuff like my wife’s grandfather’s hope chest that has lasted close to 70 years at this point.

    I have a cedar chest which belonged to one of my great grandmothers and it’s well over a hundred years old at this point. It will definitely out live me, I’ll have to specify it to someone in my will at some point.

    The ratlets are currently eating us out of a house at the moment, so I couldn’t send much, but if you’re still in need a couple of weeks from now, I can kick in some more.

  107. ImaginesABeach says

    Holy shit! Condoms are expensive. I haven’t bought any in 15 years. How do people afford to have sex?

  108. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    How do people afford to have sex?

    1. Planned Parenthood or your local gay resource drop-in center

    2. Saran Wrap

    3. Hands

  109. says

    ImaginesABeach:

    Ummm… well. Ummm. How can you afford to get to the point where you can have sex, and the few more dollars for the condoms is what stops you?

  110. ImaginesABeach says

    Also, did you know that you can buy vibrators at chain drugstores these days? Now I don’t have to worry about middle of the night vibrator emergencies any more.

  111. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Joe: I’m in. I have a guitar that’s not worth anything to anyone but me. It’s been modded* and prodded, bashed** and crashed to the point that any re-sale value is long gone. But the thing has been through the wars with me. It’s also intimately associated with my expressing of emotions for that’s what music making is. I understand this attachment to an object on such a level that your post gave me fear goose-bumps. The fact that your guitar can be considered an act of love between you and your wife makes the whole thing even more moving.

    chigau: I own small bicycle shop and in my 40..mumble years I’ve only driven myself to a work day twice. My wife has training in teaching folks with disabilities how to cycle.

    It’s only partly true that you never forget how. What you don’t forget is the ability to balance on two wheels rather than two legs. That ability is a subconscious one and as such it can be overridden. What people who’ve been off the bike for a long time tend to do is to try and consciously balance and that is very unlikely to work. The conflict between the inner ear and conscious attempts to balance also tend to make one tense up and that too makes it harder to balance.

    The best strategy is to lower the seat until you can get your feet flat on the ground while seated. If you or someone else can take the pedals off so much the better. You’ll need a 15mm spanner and remember that the left hand pedal is a left hand thread that needs to be turned the opposite way from normal to get it off.

    Once you’ve done this, find a flat piece of ground and push yourself along with your feet. This ability to put your feet down comfortably helps fight the tension inherent in learning to balance again.

    Lift your feet up from time to time once you’ve got a reasonable speed up and put ’em back down should wobbling occur. Each time you do this your inner ear is remembering how to balance you. Continue until you can coast along, feet up for several meters at a time. If the confidence is there, pull the seat back up and put the pedals back on and off you go. If more is needed find a slight slope that allows longer times coasting and continue until confident.

    Good luck and have fun!

    Tony I made a donation in M’s, er, initial, here.

    *Warning guitar geekery ahead, warning! Replaced: single coil pickups with stacked humbuckers, 5 way switch with three mini switches giving all possible pickup combinations, floating bridge with Hipshot Trilogy bridge, tuning pegs with locking ones, tone control with single volume pot, frets with super jumbo ones, nut with graphite one. Re-radiused fret board to a more modern flatter surface. Relocated strap pegs so it’ll hang more ergonomically. The only thing I haven’t done is take a router to the body, it’s a frankenguitar of the finest kind.

    **There’s a nick on the headstock that I’m particularly fond of. I once turned around and sheared the top off our bass players beer glass. He was left standing there soaked in beer with the stump of a glass still in hand. The look of absolute loss, that was his one free beer from the rider, on his face still makes me laugh.

  112. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    #s 42, 43 and 58 Keyboard cleaning

    Yep, had ants at work one time. I find one of those rubber bulbs that can be used to clean lenses with air pressure works well. Sometimes it’s astounding what comes flying out. If there is a severe problem (mould deciding to grow way down inside), you can put the keyboard and a no pest strip into a plastic bag. Leave the keyboard in over night, and you pretty much get all the wild life with minimal deposits into the keyboard.

    Last of all, I recommend a stiff makeup brush or a water colour brush that can get under the keys and flip things out. It’s faster than the piece of paper, and to me, it seems to get more stuff out.

    Does anyone else use unflavoured vodka to clean screens and keys? I find it relatively cheap and widely available. After, there should be perfectly good vodka left over to go into a martini (or drink of choice).

    David is right about turning over the keyboard and tapping it, too.

  113. ImaginesABeach says

    Joe –

    I work for my state’s Medicaid program. The people we serve are poor. Six bucks for a couple of condoms is a big deal when you are living on the edge. And with states across the country trying to defund Planned Parenthood, reproductive health services are getting harder for people to find and afford. My state’s Medicaid program covers condoms (lots of them, we actually cover up to 90 at a time) but I’m not sure all states are as generous.

  114. says

    FossilFishy:

    Finally, some guitar geekery! I bought this Les Paul based on it having the most acoustically resonant body of any of the guitars I tried. The only problem was that the pickups were too high-output and when combined with the resonant body created a too-big booming tone. I finally settled on a set of Seymour Duncan Alnico II Slash signature pickups, which are very smooth, vintage-sounding pickups with just a little bit of high-end bite. The pickups really balance out the natural tone of the wood, and it sounds incredible with the rest of my gear.

  115. Pteryxx says

    did somebody say late-night vibrator emergencies?

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/sex-toy-delivery-service_n_1247339.html

    You already ordered pizza and a DVD on Netflix — now you can have late-night entertainment of condoms and lube delivered right to your door.

    It’s a new take on one of New York’s most cherished classics: bike delivery service. Only this time it’s vibrators rather than dim sum coming to your doorstep. Babeland, one of the city’s sex-shop staples, is heading the campaign, The Brooklyn Paper reports.

    “We’ve had people call and say, ‘We desperately need it here within the hour,'” said Steph, a Babeland sex educators who only gave her first name to the paper. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

  116. says

    ImaginesABeach:

    If you can’t afford a condom, you can’t afford to have penis-in-vagina sex, because you sure as hell can’t afford a kid. There are free/cheap condoms to be had, and if you’re not responsible to seek those out, you’re not responsible enough to have sex.

  117. says

    Rubbers have always been expensive. They were expensive back in the ’70s, they are expensive now. That reminds me, though, I got another “please send money!” appeal from PP, time to send off another donation.

  118. ImaginesABeach says

    I have issues with the thought that some people are too poor to have sex. It’s not even a matter of “they can’t afford to have a kid.” That only applies to heterosexual PIV sex. How about gay men? No risk of pregnancy there. Condoms are preventative health care. They should be affordable.

  119. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    I’ve got a drawer full of condoms thanks to Planned Parenthood. I grab a fistful every time I pay a visit.

    But I thought all that Planned Parenthood did was kill babies.

  120. says

    Improbable Joe:

    There are free/cheap condoms to be had, and if you’re not responsible to seek those out, you’re not responsible enough to have sex.

    I think you’re missing the point by a mile, at least. For all the emphasis on safe sex and contraception, rubbers cost money and 6 bucks or more can simply be way too much money when you don’t have money to begin with and have none to spare.

    Also, cheap rubbers often land you with the very thing you were attempting to prevent. As ImaginesABeach pointed out, Planned Parenthood clinics are being de-funded everywhere and a lot of them have been closed. Access to free rubbers isn’t as simple a matter as it could be, and where you can get free ones, you aren’t handed a nifty box of 90 or a hundred so you can keep that rascal covered for a while.

    Like all contraception, rubbers are something which should be covered, health wise, but we all know the shit state of health coverage in the U.S. – it ain’t helpin’.

  121. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Joe, my friend Eric lives in Central Virginia and LUVS HIM HIS GEETARS, amps, etc. He’s got an awesome collection of vintage and new-but-retro-styled tube amps.

  122. says

    Sally:

    You are personally bankrupting PP with your condom hoarding. Just take what you need, instead of taking based on your aspirations. I know how it feels, you have one crazy weekend where you burn through 20 condoms in three days, and you think that you need 200 a month, but you just probably don’t. If you take a few less, and you come close to running out, a trip to PP could be a well-needed break… right?

  123. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    @ improbablejoe

    In Canada, threatening to call the police as a form of leverage against another person is likely a kind of extortion. (Threatening an ordinary civil action is not.)

    The threat is a real warning sign that you should not deal with whoever said that to you. I don’t know where you are geographically, but it seems to me you can do better than this jerk.

  124. says

    Sally:

    I’ve got a drawer full of condoms thanks to Planned Parenthood. I grab a fistful every time I pay a visit.

    I’m glad they are there for you. However, as someone who lives in a state where all but one clinic has been shut down, and that clinic is about 5, 6 hours away from me, that’s not any sort of help. If I was very poor and in need, I’d be in a lot of trouble, with no help to be had.

  125. ImaginesABeach says

    My last comment on condoms (probably) is that “seeking out free condoms” is easy to say when you live in a city, but if you live in a rural area, those free condoms may be an hour or more away, and may cost $15 in gas.

  126. Alukonis, metal ninja says

    My comment totally just got nabbed in the spam filter.

    ImaginesABeach, just google “cheap condoms”

    The first hit takes you to “discount condom king” and you can get a 36 pack of Trojans for $22, free shipping in the US.

    I never buy condoms in stores, always online in bulk for me. But then I was the one in college people were always bumming condoms from, so, I didn’t get to use all of them myself :(

  127. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    Adding to this one, Josh:

    Pterryx, I like that better! Aggravated and depraved Malicious benevolence with malice aforethought committed by multiple offenders.

    *Whew*

  128. says

    Josh, I’ve got just the one amp… it is a tube amp… it is almost “vintage”… and there’s a cool story behind it. I sold my big awesome amp to help fund our moving to Virginia. 6 months or so later, we had a few extra bucks and I went to try to find a new amp at the local Sam Ash guitar store. I tried a bunch of expensive new and used amps, and I was thinking about putting one on layaway. I was sort of done playing guitar, and the sales guy started playing through more amps trying to sell me on one. Finally I point at the ugliest, crappiest-looking amp in the whole place and said “try that one out?”

    No kidding, it was the best sounding amp in the building. It sounded better than the $1400 Fender amp and the $1000 used Marshall amp, and all the other stuff we tried. It is a Peavey Classic 50 from 1991, and it looks every bit of 21 years old. It also sounds like an incredible vintage amp. I said “hell yeah, I’m going to buy it” and the sales guy was like “yeah dude! check this out” and played on it for a few more minutes. I said “no, really, I want to buy it” and the sales guy said “of course you do, listen to this!” and played for another few minutes. Finally I said “no, you need to stop playing, I want to buy it and take it home right now!” He still felt is was necessary to yell at everyone else working that day and show them the cool $300 amp that killed everything else in the store.

  129. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Joe: Mines a Tokai Strat copy from from Fender’s CBS era. I’m pretty sure it’s not one of the models that got Tokai sued, which now have collecter’s values, but it was a good guitar in its day. Now of course it’s so idiosyncratic that I can’t imagine anyone else wanting it.

    In my yoofths I would have started a Gibson/Fender flame war right about now. :) For myself I could never get a the Gibson bodyshape to hang right and I preferred the sparkle and quack of Fenders to the growl and roar of Gibsons. Elvis Costello was big hero of mine for instance.

    How did you decide on those pickups? When I chose the Seymour Duncan stacked humbuckers, (damn, I just realised that I can’t remember if I went with the Hot Rails, or Cool Rails, it was a few years ago, I’m pretty sure it was Cool…) they gave me a CD with samples of the sounds of all the different pickups on it. I spent weeks listening to it over and over. It was frustrating because the perception of tone is such a subjective thing that my favorite would change from one listen to the next.

  130. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    ImaginesABeach

    I work for my state’s Medicaid program. The people we serve are poor. Six bucks for a couple of condoms is a big deal when you are living on the edge. And with states across the country trying to defund Planned Parenthood, reproductive health services are getting harder for people to find and afford. My state’s Medicaid program covers condoms (lots of them, we actually cover up to 90 at a time) but I’m not sure all states are as generous.

    Arizona is definitely not that generous. I got the IUD as soon as I could after my child. I’m good for 10 years,, well 5 more years now. (Holy shit time flies.) Was not going to risk being screwed out of birth control. Insurance went through fine covering it but I still had to fight the doctors. My original OB/GYN refused to give me the IUD. I had to search for a doctor that would do it.

    There are enough issues getting birth control, I don’t think we need to pile on to shame poor people about not being able to afford it.

    I have issues with the thought that some people are too poor to have sex. It’s not even a matter of “they can’t afford to have a kid.” That only applies to heterosexual PIV sex. How about gay men? No risk of pregnancy there. Condoms are preventative health care. They should be affordable.

    Exactly. It just rankles me and it reminds me of religion policing sex when people say things like Tony did.

    Tony

    Ummm… well. Ummm. How can you afford to get to the point where you can have sex, and the few more dollars for the condoms is what stops you?

    Been there done that. Have known lots of people in that situation. Guess what happened? It’s really hard to just stop having sex, especially when stuck in the shelter cycle. You are stuck that poor for years and you can’t always get BC, especially in red states like AZ. Some people live their whole lives in this cycle. It doesn’t work and while you are correct about if you can’t afford condoms, you can’t a afford a kid, saying so does nothing but make you like an ass. (To me anyways).

  131. says

    Sally, Caine:

    I was kidding. I didn’t actually think you were hoarding 200+ condoms at a time. I sort of thought that using the number 200 would make it clear that I was engaging in hyperbole. It was a failed attempt at humor, and I apologize.

  132. ImaginesABeach says

    It’s a very small drawer, for fuck’s sake.

    I’m sorry to hear that. I love thinking that there are people out there with lives that are quite interesting.

  133. chigau (違う) says

    huh.
    That bit of “showers” (fucking bucketing downpour) was unexpected.
    Oh well. god doesn’t send a water bill.

  134. says

    And I apologize for suggesting that poor people shouldn’t have sex. Obviously I let my privilege get the best of me there, because while I think there should be more discretion, there must also be a commitment from society to assist people in making good decisions. I didn’t mean to be nearly as flippant as I was.

  135. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Aw fuck, my bad Tony. Was talking to Joe and thank you Joe for the apology.

  136. says

    JAL, that was Improbable Joe you’re quoting, not Tony. I’m sorry you had a hassle getting an IUD. As I had no success getting a sterilization when I went looking at 17 years old, I decided on an IUD (Copper 7) instead.

    I went through PP and Christ, did the doc ever give me grief over my choice. Spent an hour and a half trying to talk me into the pill, even though it was medically contraindicated for me. I was astonished. I was lucky I got the damn thing, especially as I hadn’t had kids.

  137. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    @improbablyjoe

    Caught up. See comment re: guitar buyer is not needed. So glad!

  138. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    FossilFishy:

    Tony I made a donation in M’s, er, initial, here.

    I literally cannot stop crying.
    This is one of the most wonderful things someone has ever done. Thank you so much.
    I want more wonderful people like you in this world.
    I truly cannot express the depth of my gratitude that you would do that for someone you’ll never know.

  139. broboxley OT says

    Im glad I dont have to buy condoms for the last however years. I think that they should be subject to a monopoly trust investigation because there is no fucking way they should be that expensive. hmmm, a sprayon that is impervious to sweat water, acid and other chemicals, with an elasticity to take a load that breaks down and washes off 60 minutes after application. Someone could make money with that.

  140. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    For those who need condoms, I don’t know about other cities, but here in Pensacola, as well as New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, and Mobile, condoms are free at most gay bars. I think they want people to patronize the establishment, but they don’t mind if people take one or 10. They want people to have safe sex. You can usually find them right next to the main entrance.

  141. says

    FossilFishy:

    I’ve heard great things about those Tokai Strats, and wouldn’t mind owning one myself. And since I’m all over the place musically, I’ve got the Les Paul AND a Stratocaster. Sometimes I want sparkle, sometimes I need the growl… and sometimes I want to play serious heavy metal, so I’ve got a Schecter with EMG pickups and a Floyd Rose. :)

    The way I picked the pickups? I know I started by reading a ton of articles online that led me to pick Alnico II pups over Alnico V or ceramic pickups. After that, I was swayed by the bass/mid/treble distribution of the pickup, plus the aesthetics of the zebra/reverse zebra pickups. I went a little hot/bass-heavy with the Texas Specials in the Strat, and the Slash Alnico II pickups are a similar pickup in humbucker form. That means I don’t have to tweak my amp or pedals too much when I switch guitars.

  142. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    JAL, that was Improbable Joe you’re quoting, not Tony. I’m sorry you had a hassle getting an IUD. As I had no success getting a sterilization when I went looking at 17 years old, I decided on an IUD (Copper 7) instead.

    I went through PP and Christ, did the doc ever give me grief over my choice. Spent an hour and a half trying to talk me into the pill, even though it was medically contraindicated for me. I was astonished. I was lucky I got the damn thing, especially as I hadn’t had kids.

    Oh god, I hate doctors that do this. “But if you get a STD you could be made infertile or having major issues.” I understand and don’t give a shit, I will take the risks. Give me the IUD. The first doctor brought up “what about your future husband? What will he say when you’ve become infertile from this?” He was a forced birther.

    My lord, every woman I’ve talked to has stories like this. It’s fucking annoying.

  143. says

    Lyn M:

    Thanks. There was something wrong with that guy, just based on him saying he was on his way to my house and then questioning whether or not I was selling him a counterfeit when he should have been less than 10 minutes from walking through my door. Considering it was nearly a week-long negotiation, you’d think he would have asked those questions up-front.

  144. ImaginesABeach says

    Tony – I’m guessing your condom advice only works if you live in or near a city. I’ve never gone looking for gay bars in rural areas (actually, I’ve never gone looking for gay bars) but I’m guessing they are as limited as Planned Parenthood in most rural areas.

  145. says

    JAL:

    I’m sorry you had to go through ANYTHING to get an IUD beyond the basic doctor’s visit. I think part of me being a little bit of an asshole about condoms is that I’m aware of how tough it can be for women to get contraception, so I tend to be a bit less sympathetic for men who claim hardship in getting condoms. It isn’t quite fair, but that’s my first unthinking instinct.

  146. ImaginesABeach says

    Joe – I’m female. I was buying condoms. In fact, most of the male condoms that my state’s Medicaid program covers are dispensed to FEMALE recipients.

  147. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Tony, you’re more than welcome. Doing this sort of thing is my answer to prayer. I want some demonstrable good to come out of the inevitable tragedies in life, no matter how tiny that good might be. At the moment I have the privilege of having a small amount of disposable income and using it to make the world a better place makes me happier than buying more shit could ever achieve.

  148. says

    JAL:

    My lord, every woman I’ve talked to has stories like this. It’s fucking annoying.

    It’s well beyond annoying. It’s infuriating to be treated like a little child who couldn’t possibly know their own mind or be aware of all the possibilities. I made an informed choice, based on my inability to get what I actually wanted.

    My doc at the time brought up the whole “could cause infertility! Horrors! Terror!” crap. I looked right at her and said “that would be fucking perfect. Is there some way to make sure it causes infertility?” She finally shut up and agreed to the insertion.

  149. says

    Improbable Joe:

    so I tend to be a bit less sympathetic for men who claim hardship in getting condoms.

    ImaginesABeach is a woman. Also, what in the hell makes you think it’s men who are the primary buyers of rubbers? I have news for you – it’s women who are the main buyers.

  150. says

    ImaginesABeach,

    I don’t think I assumed a gender for you, and if I did I apologize. And I think I knew in the back of my head that most of the male condoms are purchased/acquired/carried by females… which is a shame, because the person doing the penetrating should be the one to deal with making penetration safe. It isn’t like we expect other drivers to buckle our seat belts for us.

  151. broboxley OT says

    ImaginesABeach
    didnt realize that you were female. A single dodgy condom can be had at most truckstop restrooms for 75 cents….shit wait, those machines are in the men’s restroom. Does anyone know if the flying J and Pilot truck stops have condoms in the woman’s restroom?

    If so $3.00 gets you 4 condoms, tell the partner that they need to step up after 3.

  152. chigau (違う) says

    Most of the MDs I know won’t admit it but they all take a course called
    “You Are a God – 101”.

  153. says

    Caine,

    That’s sort of the issue I have… the person with the penis who plans on penetrating someone else should be the primary purchaser of the condoms.

  154. ImaginesABeach says

    The person who is at risk of injury in a car crash buckles their seatbelt. The person who is concerned about the consequences of unprotected sex makes sure condoms are available and used.

  155. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    I went the other way Joe. I have an extensive pedal board using a homebuilt switching system that I put together from Craig Anderton’s book “Electronic Projects for Musicians”. It’s housed in an old computer case and has table legs that unscrew and hold down the cover when not in use. The signal is routed through two loops and combined back together and fed into a Roland Jazz Chorus. The idea is to have the biggest possible array of sounds available without switching guitars.

    To that end one loop has a volume pedal on it and I can switch the various effects into and out of that loop. If I want a little distortion I put it into that loop and bring up the right amount with the pedal. The nice thing about this method is that even when I go full crunch the clean channel allows the sound to have a relatively unaffected attack. There’s also fun to be had by putting a delay on the clean channel so you get a rhythmic pulse under the sustain of the distorted channel.

  156. broboxley OT says

    Caine, understood. First mate insisted on one because of heavy prednisone issues. Didnt want any chance of getting pregnant. I have no idea how she got IHS to do it but they finally agreed. I really dont understand the resistance to it. Maybe some medical type can explain because a uid is much more effective as birth control than the pill with a lot less side effects.

  157. says

    Jeez… you folks make everything so complicated. I wind up reacting, and defending positions that I don’t actually hold. Great fun! And by “fun” I mean I terrible time, because I wind up feeling like a terrible person who isn’t getting his point across.

  158. says

    Planned Parenthood will happily give away handfuls of condoms for free if you need to use their services for anything, as my partner discovered when he was using them to get his T. Which is wonderful, but useless for us specifically.

  159. ImaginesABeach says

    broboxley – I’m married. And financially secure. I can afford to purchase condoms by the gross and it doesn’t matter which one of us buys them, as we have a joint account. TMI, but I realized recently that my IUD is now 10 years old, at the tail end of its life. And when I told Mr. Beach that contraception is now his job, he said he prefers condoms to vasectomy. I’m guessing he’s forgotten what sex with a condom feels like. We will see if he changes his mind. The whole condom conversation came up because I was surprised by the cost and because as someone working in my state’s Medicaid program, I think about the effects of the cost of health care on low income / low asset folks a lot.

  160. says

    Improbable Joe:

    That’s sort of the issue I have… the person with the penis who plans on penetrating someone else should be the primary purchaser of the condoms.

    I won’t argue that it would be nice if more men took responsibility on the contraception front, however, that’s simply not the case. At least when it comes to hetro men. Some men do, and that’s nice, but all too many of them simply can’t be counted on when it comes to contraception.

    It’s not just rubbers, either. How many men do you know who pay for whatever contraception the woman is using? Or at the least, split the cost? For many women, contraception is not covered by a health plan and it’s expensive.

  161. says

    FossilFishy:

    That sounds amazing. I’ve often wondered about creating a more complex switching system, but I also sort of love having a couple of guitars that sound and feel completely different. I’ve got stacked overdrives/distortions that give me everything from pure clean to slightly dirty blues to soaring leads to insane metal crunch.

    What I’d like is a second amp to run a stereo signal for the chorus/delay/reverb so I can have the sound sort of bounce around me as I play.

  162. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Caine

    It’s well beyond annoying. It’s infuriating to be treated like a little child who couldn’t possibly know their own mind or be aware of all the possibilities. I made an informed choice, based on my inability to get what I actually wanted.

    Oh absolutely. I never considering getting my tubes tied because I knew it wouldn’t be possible anyways. I really seriously do not want to have another child. Getting pregnant again scares the shit out of me. Doesn’t matter how long I haven’t had sex, one damn time and my family could be screwed. Another child would ruin us. Why would anyone make me bring that child to term? Who in the hell thinks that situation would work out at all well?

    My doc at the time brought up the whole “could cause infertility! Horrors! Terror!” crap. I looked right at her and said “that would be fucking perfect. Is there some way to make sure it causes infertility?” She finally shut up and agreed to the insertion.

    Ha!
    When I was calling around to talk to doctors, at the end of my rope I finally starting saying “I’m a single mother. I’m living in a shelter and have no job. Barely educated. Do you want to support the next child I have? No? Then give me the IUD!”

    The doctor I found that finally did it was awesome. He was old and old school, remembered how shit was before Woe V Wade. I fucking loved him as a doctor. He unfortunately passed away since then. =(

    Joe,

    I’m sorry you had to go through ANYTHING to get an IUD beyond the basic doctor’s visit. I think part of me being a little bit of an asshole about condoms is that I’m aware of how tough it can be for women to get contraception, so I tend to be a bit less sympathetic for men who claim hardship in getting condoms. It isn’t quite fair, but that’s my first unthinking instinct.

    Thank you. I get that it’s a automatic assumption thing. You’re just wrong is all. Condoms shouldn’t just be gotten by men. It’s really common (in my experience and from women I’ve talked to) for men to not bring a condom to pressure the woman into doing it raw. Predators abound and too many men buying into toxic masculinity. Condoms help against diseases too and too many people forget that. Think that being on BC is enough and don’t use them.

  163. ImaginesABeach says

    Just a reminder – as of August 1, health insurance in the US covers birth control pills and IUDs (for most women.

  164. says

    Caine,

    You’re absolutely right, and even more so when you consider how many men in politics are against insurance paying for women’s contraceptives. Sex with two or more people involves TWO OR MORE PEOPLE, and all parties involved should ideally be responsible for all of the costs involved.

  165. Amblebury says

    Most of the MDs I know won’t admit it but they all take a course called
    “You Are a God – 101″.

    That explains a lot. Apologies to doctors here, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, many of your colleagues really are fairly lamentable specimens of humanity.

  166. says

    Broboxley:

    Maybe some medical type can explain because a uid is much more effective as birth control than the pill with a lot less side effects.

    There’s a great deal of resistance in inserting an IUD in a woman who has not given birth, as it’s supposed to be much more difficult, have more side effects, etc. My experience was great – I had no problems, no ill effects, no cramping, no problems whatsoever. My periods remained the same too.

    I don’t know about the current IUDs, but back when I was got one, the possibility of infertility happening was on the high side.

    More than anything, though, it’s the same old song – you’re made for breeding honey, and this might interfere. After all, you might want to marry and your man won’t want you if you can breed, you know. :eyeroll:

  167. Pteryxx says

    not to mention an IUD’s immune to contraceptive sabotage. No pressuring, no “forgetting” to bring a condom, no whining, no flushing pills and the guy doesn’t even need to know it’s there. I really, really wonder just how much resistance to sex ed and even *talking* about IUDs as an option instead of condoms and the pill is rooted in keeping those damned wimminz and their uteri under proper control. Like, why don’t those jerks whining about poor unfit mothers (read: minority) talk about getting them IUDs? But no, they go right to saying unfit mothers should get invasive surgery to have their tubes tied. WTF is brutalizing women so important to these … people?

  168. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    not to mention an IUD’s immune to contraceptive sabotage. No pressuring, no “forgetting” to bring a condom, no whining, no flushing pills and the guy doesn’t even need to know it’s there. I really, really wonder just how much resistance to sex ed and even *talking* about IUDs as an option instead of condoms and the pill is rooted in keeping those damned wimminz and their uteri under proper control. Like, why don’t those jerks whining about poor unfit mothers (read: minority) talk about getting them IUDs? But no, they go right to saying unfit mothers should get invasive surgery to have their tubes tied. WTF is brutalizing women so important to these … people?

    Yep. That’s one of the reasons I was so adamant about getting the IUD. I was in an abusive relationship and it was full of “but you’re talking the pill, you could be cheating on me! Don’t you love me? How can I trust you while you take them? We don’t need a condom, why are you asking for a condom? You got another man on the side?”

    There is also my fear of being raped again. No fear of forgetting the pill, or happening during the week the nuva ring is out. I always have birth control and it isn’t coming out til it’s time to get a new one.

  169. says

    Pteryxx:

    not to mention an IUD’s immune to contraceptive sabotage.

    That’s a fact. They are also highly efficient.

    WTF is brutalizing women so important to these … people?

    Women aren’t full humans, remember? Bitches ain’t shit and all that.

  170. broboxley OT says

    caine,
    my first lady was upset before we got too serious because she couldnt have kids. I went hurray! because I really dont care. Second was allergic to the pill, didnt really want any more kids after the first but without a long term solution like a uid it didnt work so well. Love them all but really….. I could have made better choices back in the day.

  171. Pteryxx says

    Women aren’t full humans, remember? Bitches ain’t shit and all that.

    I sorta get that, I think (I don’t GROK it and I hope I never do…) but even so, why can’t they just leave the subhumans alone? Why does ‘bitches ain’t shit’ entail owning them, hunting them, torturing them and killing them? And going to all this trouble to institute systems to hurt them even more? A lot of these folks wouldn’t treat their livestock this way. (Though some would, especially in Congress.)

  172. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Caine:

    I have news for you – it’s women who are the main buyers.

    I was never aware of that.
    Sadly, it fits with the observation I’ve made regarding some men*: they expect women to be the ones to be responsible during sex. I’ve pointed out to several men over the last few weeks that it’s unfair that the onus for safe sex is on the woman. I’ve flat out told guys that they should go buy condoms instead of relying on a woman to constantly take birth control. It takes two to tango, and the men are as much responsible as the women are.

    *speaking of heterosexual relationships here.

  173. Pteryxx says

    oh… and these women-hating men *police each other* to make sure all the other manly-menz hate on women sufficiently too, or else they’ll turn on THEM. WTF?

  174. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    ImaginesABeach:

    I’m married. And financially secure. I can afford to purchase condoms by the gross and it doesn’t matter which one of us buys them, as we have a joint account. TMI, but I realized recently that my IUD is now 10 years old, at the tail end of its life. And when I told Mr. Beach that contraception is now his job, he said he prefers condoms to vasectomy.

    You know, I just now realized that I operated under the assumption that married couples didn’t use condoms. I don’t know why I believed that, but that’s one more unevidenced opinion out the window.

  175. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    I was never aware of that.
    Sadly, it fits with the observation I’ve made regarding some men*: they expect women to be the ones to be responsible during sex. I’ve pointed out to several men over the last few weeks that it’s unfair that the onus for safe sex is on the woman. I’ve flat out told guys that they should go buy condoms instead of relying on a woman to constantly take birth control. It takes two to tango, and the men are as much responsible as the women are.

    *speaking of heterosexual relationships here.

    Diseases! Doesn’t anyone remember the diseases? Birth control pills etc don’t work against them. At the least everyone should buy condoms because of all the fucking STDs around.

    Wrap it up. Unless you’re in a committed relationship where you’ve been tested clean and trust your partner(s) to not contract anything condoms are necessary.

    Not ranting at you, just in general. It’s infuriating. So many people don’t worry about STDs where I am. So tired of people complaining that it doesn’t feel the same and want to cry on my shoulder when they get gonorrhea. Don’t assume yourself is clean unless tested (especially women since so many diseases symptoms don’t show up) and don’t believe people when people say they are clean. They are most likely assuming too.

  176. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    And like Tony, I just realized I making assumption. I was going under the assumption we weren’t talking about married people since I don’t know any married people.

    My bad. That’s what I had in mind in my rant.

  177. Pteryxx says

    Don’t assume yourself is clean unless tested (especially women since so many diseases symptoms don’t show up) and don’t believe people when people say they are clean. They are most likely assuming too.

    seconding: don’t assume you yourself are clean EVEN IF you trust your partner. A lot of trusted partners lie.

  178. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    seconding: don’t assume you yourself are clean EVEN IF you trust your partner. A lot of trusted partners lie.

    Oh, very very true. Roomie’s last GF of 5 years ended up giving him syphilis.

  179. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    @ Tony and JAL

    Here’s one for the books. I was at risk because my ex was having bathroom sex as an in-the-closet gay man. We were trying to have our second child.

    Sometimes you can’t win for losing.

    (No, I didn’t know then.)

  180. says

    Pteryxx:

    Why does ‘bitches ain’t shit’ entail owning them, hunting them, torturing them and killing them?

    It’s what a lot of people do with their animals, right? There’s a reason women and their bits are referred to as animals all the time – heifer, cow, fox, beaver, etc. Besides, it all goes back a long way. Women were considered to basically be livestock, and often of less value than actual livestock.

    Tony:

    I’ve flat out told guys that they should go buy condoms instead of relying on a woman to constantly take birth control.

    Unfortunately, men often don’t take proper care even when they do buy one. If I had a dollar for every man I’ve seen with one stuck in his wallet, which is the worst possible place for one, and it’s usually fairly ancient, too.

  181. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Ok, since you all are talking about stuff I know absolutely nothing about, I decided to learn some stuff (amazing how quickly you can search for info).

    The Mirena IUD may reduce period cramps and make your period lighter. On average, menstrual flow is reduced by 90 percent. For some women, periods stop altogether.
    http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/birth-control/iud-4245.htm

    Damn. If this IUD is covered under health care, this could benefit a tremendous number of women across the country!

  182. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Caine:

    There’s a reason women and their bits are referred to as animals all the time – heifer, cow, fox, beaver, etc. Besides, it all goes back a long way.

    Really?
    Damn.
    I’d be interested in reading more about that. Would you (or anyone else) be able to steer me in the right direction (googling “women treated as livestock” turns up some questionable sexual sites).

  183. carlie says

    Damn. If this IUD is covered under health care, this could benefit a tremendous number of women across the country!

    It’s covered under mine. I’m near the end of my second, going to keep getting them until menopause hits. I’ve heard of a few women who have had a lot of trouble with them, but mine has been the best thing ever.
    All this condom talk is interesting to me, knowing nothing about the things.

  184. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Tony,

    Damn. If this IUD is covered under health care, this could benefit a tremendous number of women across the country!

    True but it’s very much different for every woman. I generally recommended the IUD in general but don’t do specifics since I’ve known several women who couldn’t stand the Mirana. It made them really sick from the hormones and they weren’t sensitive to other hormonal birth control before.

    Not having a period personally freaks me out, who else would you know if you get pregnant quickly? It’s a great free way to tell. What if you don’t find out soon enough and can’t get an abortion due to that? That’s just me though. There are definitely a lot of women who love and greatly benefited from the Mirana.

    Caine,

    Unfortunately, men often don’t take proper care even when they do buy one. If I had a dollar for every man I’ve seen with one stuck in his wallet, which is the worst possible place for one, and it’s usually fairly ancient, too.

    Omfg. I know right? I had to educate my Roomie on that. He got offended like I was attacking his manhood or something. I don’t get it. If you must keep one in your wallet to impress your dudebros or keep your man cards, fine but don’t fucking use it. That just ruins it and you may be regretting that choice for the rest of your life.

  185. Pteryxx says

    …I’ve known several women who couldn’t stand the Mirana. It made them really sick from the hormones and they weren’t sensitive to other hormonal birth control before.

    general note: there still are non-hormonal, copper-only IUDs that also work just fine, with slightly less effectiveness (something like 98% vs 99% effectiveness, as a wild stab at remembering.)

  186. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    general note: there still are non-hormonal, copper-only IUDs that also work just fine, with slightly less effectiveness (something like 98% vs 99% effectiveness, as a wild stab at remembering.)

    I know, that’s what I have and what the women I was talking about got after the Mirana. I was just bringing up that the Mirana isn’t the only one and isn’t necessarily the best option.

  187. Pteryxx says

    JAL: yep, that’s why I said ‘general note’. Sometimes folks assume IUD = hormonal birth control and thus rule it out as an option, without knowing it doesn’t have to involve hormones to work.

  188. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    LJAL: yep, that’s why I said ‘general note’. Sometimes folks assume IUD = hormonal birth control and thus rule it out as an option, without knowing it doesn’t have to involve hormones to work.

    Oh, duh. I sometimes forget that this place is open and think people are talking directly to me with replies like that. I feel like I have to address it. My bad.

  189. John Morales says

    chigau:

    yay menopause!

    [TMI]

    My wife had hers last year*.

    Quite literally: fucking awesome!

    <big big grin>

    * I shacked-up with her when she was still 17 and I’d just turned 19.

    (No children, not by accident)

  190. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    This madness with Chik Fil A has made me realize that our education system is worse than I thought.
    From BlagHag:

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/2012/08/so-you-were-just-called-a-bigot/#comment-93928
    Nah.
    You’re the bigot. I mean, you’re one of the American lefties, right? The ones who helped the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis go through?

    People need educating on even more basic words and concepts:
    Belief
    Evidence
    Faith
    Religion
    Proof
    Bigotry
    Discrimination
    Free Speech
    Atheism

    ****
    Learned a new cool word: Chick Fil A holes

  191. thunk (Фарингюловская Народная Республика) says

    Hia all. Happily out of the loop here.

    But with the contraception discussion, ouch. just ouch.

    Haven’t had much experience with anything yet, though. Random browsing and you folks is about it.

  192. thunk (Фарингюловская Народная Республика) says

    Chigau:

    Lol. I’m quite sure I will.

  193. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Richard:
    Damn. You warned me and I was still horrified.
    [from your link]

    Reflecting contemporary ideas about women’s inherent weakness, Charles Darwin, in his groundbreaking book On the Origin of the Species, argues, as part of his theory of evolution, that only the fittest males succeed in gaining sexual access to females and reproducing. As a result, males continually evolve toward greater “perfection.” Females, on the other hand, need not compete for males. As a result, they have limited sex drive and, more importantly, can never evolve fully. In addition, Darwin argues, the stress of reproduction deprives women of the energy needed for either physical or mental development. As a result, women remain subject to their emotions and passions: nurturing, altruistic, and child-like, but with little sense of either justice or morality. These ideas underlie social acceptance of “romantic friendships”–intense, passionate, sometimes life-long, relationships between women who are presumed to be heterosexual.

    :::blinks:::
    Little sense of justice or morality?
    Would that Darwin could read the comments from many of the female Pharyngula commenters…

  194. Pteryxx says

    Little sense of justice or morality?

    IIRC, that’s why women couldn’t be allowed to vote, and the women agitating for the right to vote just couldn’t understand that they were wrong to do so, because their sense of justice must be broken if it led them to believe women voting was a good thing. QED.

  195. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    May I just say I love when ya’ll provide links. The site Richard provided earlier, http://www.fwhc.org/index.htm provides a wealth of information, much of which I did not know. The information found on this site is of great benefit when discussing issues of women’s health with others.

  196. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    Who was it who said that men deny women an education then mock them for the lack of it? Goes back some time, I think.

  197. Pteryxx says

    also note that fwhc.org is the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Washington State, an operator of clinics providing abortion services, and they have a donation button on their page. ;>

  198. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    I just had the oddest most meandering conversation with my step father about religion. He asked what they are supposed to say to the Little One about religion since both him and my mother are religious. He surprised me by being more than okay with what I said and not brainwashing my child with religious crap. He apparently has a degree in theology from Rayman (?) Bible College. I told him theology is just old white man bullshitting and I wasn’t playing that game. He’s surprisingly liberal in some areas and completely ignorant and stubborn in others.

    Heh. I’m confused yet very happy he’s not a total brainwashed fundamentalist moron. He’s still all doomsday and Apocalypse, must be a higher power crap. My mother is a liberal wishy-washy karma hippie christian. Roomie clings to heaven to see his dead father again one day and doesn’t know what to believe after that. This is will make a very interesting family to grow up in for the Little One.

  199. John Morales says

    JAL, be grateful; seems to me he loves you and your family, and gives you credit.

  200. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Aaaaand Step Dad is totally asshole again. Roomie is black, hates the n-word doesn’t even use it himself. Step dad keeps using the word. It doesn’t matter if step dad is using it against a white dude or just talking about the word in general. He promised to stop using but won’t stop saying sorry and saying “the n-word doesn’t really mean black people” crap. He doesn’t get it. Roomie is now talking about leaving.

    God fucking damnit stupid step father, I will lose you before I lose Roomie.

  201. John Morales says

    :|

    Assholes can love, JAL, whilst remaining assholes.

    (And don’t I fucking know it, being one myself)

    I take it you mean ‘nigger’ when you refer to the ‘n-word’ &msash; etymologically and historically, it has but one meaning and is nothing but a slur.

    (A very, very stupid one, since people are people)

  202. John Morales says

    [meta]

    Bah. I really should preview, given how often I tell others it’s the thing to do.

  203. Lyn M: dropping the f-bomb since 1962 ... of death says

    Thank you, John. That was an interesting read, but it doesn’t seem to be the quote I was thinking of.

    I can’t turn it up on google either, so I must not be using the correct key words. I could swear she said mocked for the lack of it, but … oh well.

  204. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Assholes can love, JAL, whilst remaining assholes.

    Oh I know it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him push out Roomie by being an asshole, whether he loves Roomie or want, whether he means to not. I’d cut step dad off or severely limit him before I’d let that happen. I’m grateful on the religion count with him but step father has…issues and is very resistant. We’ve had this conversation before because I don’t want it said around my child. He knows Roomie doesn’t like yet keeps repeating himself and won’t leave. He digs in and disagrees with Roomie not liking the racist slur. Keeps saying “but it’s not racist! It means ignorant!” Roomie has left to take a walk and is thinking about moving out because this keeps happening. I don’t blame Roomie. I’d explained the situation to step dad. He’s upset that he hurt Roomie and is going to stay scarce for a bit. He says he’s going to stop saying. I told him he would go before Roomie would and who I would choose if it came to that. Maybe that will finally get through to him.

    *sigh*

  205. John Morales says

    JAL, that sucks.

    Maybe tell him it’s no different to using ‘redhead’ or ‘blonde’ as a slur.

    But, whatever you do, I urge you to live by your principles with due allowance for pragmatism.

    (Because you have to live with yourself all your life)

  206. John Morales says

    … and that came out wrong.

    I meant that it’s no more sensible or justifiable, but clearly neither redheads nor blondes have historically been subjugated and abused by reason of such.

    I’m sorry for that.

  207. says

    I’ve recently taken to censoring n_r, f_g, c_t and t_y not because I’m prissy, but because the sheer repetition of them, even if it’s in a conversation deploring them, can be hurtful. Like a trigger. Natalie mentioned this on one of Fincke’s earlier threads, IIRC. I was kind of getting overwhelmed with all the c_nting going on in the last year or so, just sick of seeing the damn thing.

  208. Pteryxx says

    I’ve recently taken to censoring n_r, f_g, c_t and t_y not because I’m prissy, but because the sheer repetition of them, even if it’s in a conversation deploring them, can be hurtful.

    I saw that censoring in some unrelated thread or other, and generally I like the look of it. It sacrifices nothing for words I might discuss but don’t *use* per se. I’m planning to start censoring them too; it sets discussion apart from the ‘how dare you censor me I’ll call anyone whatever slurs I like’ crowd.

  209. 'Tis Himself says

    Tony •King of the Hellmouth• #256

    One of my defining characteristics is I sail. My father taught me to sail when I was 8. I’m now 64 and I still sail. I also like to link to pictures of sailboats.

  210. 'Tis Himself says

    I don’t mind censoring words that are harmful to others. If that’s all that Daniel Fincke was promoting I’d have no trouble with it. It’s his heavy-handed justification and his fixation on naughty words instead of trolling that I object to. Fincke will let a polite troll slide but will come down heavily on someone calling the troll a shithead.

  211. John Morales says

    Himself:

    Fincke will let a polite troll slide but will come down heavily on someone calling the troll a shithead.

    I’m pretty sure you do Dan a disservice, there.

    But time will tell.

    (Unlike JT, he has not yet screwed the pooch)

  212. says

    I’m not advocating for banning the words, and it’s not related to Fincke except in a very tangential way. I just think there’s a hurtfulness to it for some people, that I can reduce at minimal cost.

  213. Louis says

    Is the ZOMG NORTY WERDZ-athon still going on?

    Ah well, internet as usual it seems.

    Louis

    P.S. Fuck. There. I said it. Can we get over the collective vapours now? Only time will tell. Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

  214. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    (Unlike JT, he has not yet screwed the pooch)

    I’m not sure about Australia as I’ve not yet heard anyone use that phrase here but in Canada it means to be lazy as in: The boss was away to day so I just screwed the pooch.

  215. KG says

    He promised to stop using but won’t stop saying sorry and saying “the n-word doesn’t really mean black people” crap. He doesn’t get it. – JAL

    Well I don’t know the guy, but I’d say he “gets it” perfectly well, and that using it when your room-mate is present is a dominance move.

  216. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Well I don’t know the guy, but I’d say he “gets it” perfectly well, and that using it when your room-mate is present is a dominance move.

    Huh. Didn’t think of that. It makes sense, especially considering his personality and that the last several times he’s done it, he was talking about calling someone a n_r and then fighting them. He actually said before when people have told him to stop using that word, he said he fought them to see who’s “top dog”.

    Why the hell didn’t I notice that? No wonder Roomie is feeling threatened. Doesn’t matter that step dad said he’d stop saying it for Roomie and wouldn’t fight him, that’s total dominance shit.

    o.O

    Thank you for this.

  217. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    So he’s a member of the Church of Luma Day Saints?

    Um. I don’t even know what to say his religion is, it’s all very meandering. He admits that the bible is contradictory and that if god is the God from the bible, he’s tell god to fuck himself. Hates mormons and the Catholic church, especially for protection child molesters and doesn’t think religion should be protected as it is in America. Says scientology is clearly bullshit and the bible was corrupted by the people who wrote it, for their own gains. Yet he still says there must be a higher powerful intelligent being who starting the big bang but doesn’t think god has determined the fates and whatnot. He says he follows science like the big bang and evolution. He says for religious text he follows more to the koran but not exactly, follows bits and pieces of different things. How he decides what to follow from where, I don’t know. Says that he does follow morality like not murdering due to his belief that it’s against his god’s will, but doesn’t say all morality must come from god. He doesn’t think I’m immoral for not believing in god. He kept mentioning somebody’s name but can’t remember it, Adam something. It seemed really important to him, kept saying “Do you know what Adam (something) says about this?” He believes in the Apocalypse, specifically he’s currently preparing for the Mayan prediction. Yet before he’s talked about preparing for the apocalypse from the bible. Is pro-life, believes in souls, is pro-gay marriage and equality (supposedly, we’ll see) is a total ass about immigrants which is ironic considering how he says he hates the white man for what the did to the natives.

    Fuck if I know what he’s about. He was drunk and the conversation was so weird. Kept jumping around. All that is all I know about his beliefs about religion and honestly not looking forward to our next conversation. :/

  218. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Er, sorry my last comment was not well written. I was trying to remember all that he said and wasn’t paying attention. I really should have edited that one.

  219. birgerjohansson says

    Chigau,
    “We do garage sales for tools that people discard to go electric”

    I recall a comedy show, I think it was summer 1983. The stand-up comedian considers the subject of “second-hand sex toys”; “-Are they clean? Who cleans them”.

    The same artist sang the text
    “I don’t wanna be Jesus, coz’ I’m allergic to the cross,
    I don’t wanna be Buddha coz’ (forgotten)
    I don’t wanna be Moses and have to worry about the cost (?),
    I want to be God!
    -Oh make me the Lord,
    because I am so bored
    Immortality is not enough!
    Oh, god how I want to be god!”

    It stuck in the memory, because the Reagan victory and the rise of the Moral Majority had led to a purge of American TV comedy. “Risky” lyrics were rare. For satire, Europeans would generally watch Brit TV (and Spitting Image was just around the corner).

  220. carlie says

    I like saying curse words specifically because I grew up being told it was a sin. Now I can say them any fucking time I want! Halle-fucking-lujah! :)*

    At about 3am last night, I decided that yes, we desperately needed more fans in the house. Apparently everyone else in town beat me to it, though, because the first three stores I went to had barren, remnant fan sections. Finally got what I wanted at Walmart. Had to resist buying out their entire stock.

    *I never did have the urge to use gendered slurs, though, and don’t use those.

  221. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    It’s looking more and more like the asshole who shot up a Sikh temple in WI today thought he was going after Muslims.

    At least from the few eye witness accounts I’ve heard.

    I said to my wife when I saw the mews a Sikh temple was attacked that my bet was it would be someone confused on who Sikhs were thinking that since they wore turbans they just have to be those damn muslims.

    I’ll wait to see the truth of the story but it would not surprise me at all if this was the case.

  222. broboxley OT says

    yeah Rev BDC, Sikh turbans are different, Sikh religion is different and the report claims the shooter was white wearing a sleeveless t-shirt.

  223. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    yeah Rev BDC, Sikh turbans are different, Sikh religion is different and the report claims the shooter was white wearing a sleeveless t-shirt.

    I know that and you know that but The shooter had a 9-11 tattoo and there have been reports before, especially after 9-11, of dumbfucks beating up Sikhs thinking they were Muslim.

    Speculation so far but my bet is on this scenario.

  224. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    that was poorly worded

    The 9-11 tattoo is just one datapoint not any kind of definitive signal.

    and still all eye-witness accounts so far. And we all know how sketchy they can be.

  225. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Speculation so far but my bet is on this scenario.

    Given the stupidity of a paranoid bigot (I’m looking at your StevoR) who would try a shot-em-up, it is entirely plausible. Missing the real target with collateral damage to truly innocent bystanders…Cue theme to twilight zone

  226. A. R says

    Apologies for my six day disappearance, but I’ve had a flood of work, and no access to an unblockified internet connection. In fact, I probably won’t be doing much posting until next week.

  227. raven says

    Shooting at Sikh temple: 7 dead, including suspected gunman, police say

    You already know.

    It was a white guy with a 9-11 tattoo. The feds are calling it terrorism.

    We will have to wait for more info, but right now it looks like some idiot who can’t tell the difference between Sikhs and Moslems.

    There have been 700 attacks directed against Sikhs including three murders since 9/11.

  228. cicely says

    Much more satisfactory Game session this time. All hail MapTools! Now I will not be forced to rev up the chainsaw!

    *hugs* and concern for Improbable Joe. Please to be keeping us posted, ‘kay? Tight this week, but hoping to have a bit next week I could contribute.

  229. chigau (違う) says

    My kitteh has a very distinctive “meow” when she is about to hork up a wad of grass.
    This sound in the past has triggered in me: STOP whatever I’m doing and get the cat off the carpet!!!!
    She now heads for the basement and horks on the cement floor.
    Did I train her or did she train me?

  230. Pteryxx says

    Ing: naw, I gave up on him after seeing how he’s finessing his no-insults policy (in 2000+ words per objection no less) and after what he said to Natalie Reed in his original comment policy thread. Before that I kinda liked some of his posts.

  231. says

    Nope. Nothing to do with tone, initially, although I have seen him personally be an asshole and take the side of trolls on several occasions. My main problem is that he spends most of his time talking out his ass, and persists in referencing Nietzsche, a devoted anti-rationalist.

  232. chigau (違う) says

    I find that keeping-up with Pharyngula can suck the productivity out of most days.
    I don’t usually do other blogs unless someone here provides a link.
    (I know, I’m pathetic.)

  233. says

    Ok I read the thread Pytrexx is talking about.

    I do like how even he can’t fucking follow his own rules to the spirit rather than the letter as he’s quite fine saying that SG’s analogy was ‘bullshit’.

    Jerk is bad,
    stupid is bad
    absurd is fine
    bullshit is fine

    Because of the rules, now shut up!

  234. Pteryxx says

    Less than 2 hours to Curiosity, eeeee!

    Social hangout with Phil Plait here:

    https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c7c2fbd2gil25fjimln1jnr1134/110701307803962595019

    See also Spaceflightnow on Livestream:

    http://www.livestream.com/spaceflightnow?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks

    or NASAJPL on Ustream:

    http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL

    and from good ol’ sometimes icky Cracked:

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-you-should-be-excited-about-mars-today/

    The hard part for Curiosity is landing, though. It’s terrifyingly hard. From the atmosphere to the surface, it has seven minutes to go from 13,000 mph to zero. It sounds tough, and it is. That’s why the descent of the rover is referred to as the “Seven Minutes of Terror,”…

    […]

    As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once pointed out, the money required to send a satellite to Saturn is less than what Americans spend on lip balm in a year.

    […]

    In 2010, NASA’s budget was about $8.7 billion. In its entire history from 1958 to 2011, the total budget was $526.18 billion. In 2010, the U.S. military budget was $663.85 billion.

  235. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    I’m pretty sure Skylar is going to kill Walt at the end of the Breaking Bad series.

  236. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Dang, wish I could stay up and see if Curiosity makes a successful landing. But, I got to get up and go to work to keep the Redhead in health insurance…

  237. chigau (違う) says

    Jeeeeez!
    I’m on my patio and a skunk just came within a metre of me before we both freaked!
    It just ran away without spraying.
    Kitteh just sat on the step and watched.

  238. ibyea says

    Personally, I am counting down for the year New Horizon gets to Pluto and takes pictures of it for the first time ever. Now, THAT will be historic.

  239. says

    Ing:

    Does anyone like Camels with Hammers?

    I’ve tried to read a few times, but it leaves me meh. The ‘philosophize everything’ approach doesn’t appeal to me.

  240. ibyea says

    Hmm, my above comment sounds like I am dismissing Curiosity. Considering how packed curiosity is with scientific instruments, I am very excited to see what new things it will discover.

  241. Pteryxx says

    58,000 viewers on the NASA JPL stream!

    I’m geeking out in #TheEndlessChat if anyone’s THAT eager, heh.

  242. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Pteryxx:
    I’ve got the Mars Live streaming right now. I’m excited too!

    ****
    For anyone interested, Chris Hallquist has set up an open thread like TET. Not sure how permanent it is though.
    http://freethoughtblogs.com/hallq/2012/08/05/open-thread/#comment-29620

    ****
    Louis:

    P.S. Fuck. There. I said it. Can we get over the collective vapours now? Only time will tell. Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

    They *really* need to release that show on DVD!

  243. Pteryxx says

    rorschach: thunk made a chatroom #TheEndlessChat on the same server as the #Pharyngula chat in the sidebar, so we don’t disturb them. There’s a couple of us there now and again, atm it’s mostly me squee-ing, but all are welcome! Oh, and mibbit works if you don’t have an IRC client installed.

  244. Pteryxx says

    Vehicle is reporting that it is turning for entry and has separated (?) mass devices – they applauded

  245. Pteryxx says

    Mars is pulling Curiosity in – they expect quiet for a few minutes. The propulsion systems are turning the vehicle, so this stage is going very well

  246. Pteryxx says

    (I’m paraphrasing the closed captioning of the NASA JPL broadcast as best I can at speed.. not my forte! scuse my typoes and missed syllables)

    Now there’s just an alert silence and a few coughs in the control room

    5 minutes to landing

  247. Pteryxx says

    It’s still a spacecraft at this point, it has not yet become an aircraft, but the rocket maneuvering is working and ready.

  248. Pteryxx says

    30 seconds to entry! they’re all very quiet blueshirts

    Signal drop! indicates successful antenna change, heartbeat tones are back

  249. Pteryxx says

    ahhh, camera shutters starting to click all over the room!

    Starting to feel the atmosphere – vehicle has reported via tones that it has started guided entry!

  250. Pteryxx says

    Vehicle has passed through peak deceleration, it’s reporting Gs on the order of 11 to 12 gs

    Now getting telemetry from Odyssey

  251. Pteryxx says

    Intermittent contact (to be expected ) – now data is coming in via Odyssey!

    We have control and should be heading for the target area

  252. Pteryxx says

    We have found the ground! Priming engines in preparation for landing – down to 90 meters per second

  253. Pteryxx says

    We have lost tones from EArth at this time (this is to be expected)

    Standing by for parachute (?) separation

    We are in powered flight!

  254. Pteryxx says

    Down to 50 meters per second, 500 meters in altitude

    We found a nice flat place… 40 meters altitude

    Sky crane is started!

  255. Pteryxx says

    They’re all jumping up and down and hugging and screaming, the neat clean room’s completely disarrayed, hee

    We are receiving telemetry from Curiosity!

    (they said, in a few minutes, we should have images)

  256. Pteryxx says

    We’re looking at the shadow of the late-afternoon sun. There’s dust in the air, because we’ve just blown dust all over the place with our descent engines!

  257. Pteryxx says

    The 256 x 256 image came in! You can see the horizon in the background, and there is the wheel of the rover safely on the surface of Mars!

  258. Pteryxx says

    The Odyssey doing the relaying is about to pass out of range, so this is about all the pictures they’re going to get tonight… big cheers, well done everyone!

  259. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Fucking amazing. I can’t stop crying. It’s glorious to be alive to see this

  260. Pteryxx says

    Now they’re going back to the reporter interviewing folks. Eh! It’ll be all over the ordinary morning news.

    Thanks for staying up, y’all who stayed up with us!

  261. Pteryxx says

    Alethea, can you see the screenshot I got at least? Not as high res as the NASA pics on Twitter, I know.

  262. says

    I wonder if that cute Asian engineer is single…Now to the interviews ! What will it all mean for space exploration? For ‘merica?

  263. Pteryxx says

    Touchdown time of 10:14:39, which is in PDT, so you can do the conversion to UDT (laughter)

    Touchdown velocity horizontal 0.44365 meters per second

    Expected fuel remaining 140.6 kilograms. (applause)

    (and tilt of rover, heading, and exact stats for lat/long which I missed the math for)

  264. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    That room full of dedicated people so happy, so satisfied to see their hard, nerve-wracking work pay off. . .it’s one of the most moving things I’ve ever seen.

  265. Pteryxx says

    oops, sorry StarStuff, still kinda posting ALL THE THINGS by reflex! *breeeeeeeathe…. breeeeeeathe…*

  266. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    I’m so happy right now. Landing this rover on Mars is supremely amazing.
    Congratulations to everyone involved. Congratulations to every woman and man past and present who paved the way for this amazing event to occur.
    ****
    And thank you to all the bloggers and commenters at FtB who have helped mold me into the type of person who can appreciate the achievement. I’m incredibly happy to embrace science. At this moment, I’m feeling blissful. That’s something I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

  267. Sili says

    Ing:

    Does anyone like Camels with Hammers?

    I’ve tried to read a few times, but it leaves me meh. The ‘philosophize everything’ approach doesn’t appeal to me.

    He’s as verbose as Carrier, which doesn’t do well with my attentionspan, which is a pity, because I think the stuff he had to say about moral relativism after the Libresco Fiasco could have been important.

    –o–

    Apparently all Nasa websites are down …

  268. says

    The link isn’t working from here. Someone said most of the Nasa sites are down due to heavy load. They’re going through their checklist still on the live feed.

  269. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Also, that hot little fucker with the mohawk in the control room? Whoot! I want to help celebrate:))

  270. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:
    I’m right there with you.
    ****
    I’d like to propose a toast:
    To all those WOMEN & MEN-past and present-who helped make this possible.
    To PZ Myers for doing what he does and allowing all of us to come together in this safe space.
    To the entirety of Freethought Blogs. I can’t tell you how much my life has changed by discovering this place.
    To the Horde. You are some of the most wonderful, passionate, amazing, compassionate people I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with.
    To *humanity*. We may have our foibles and we may stumble-badly. At this moment, however, we truly are wonderful.

  271. says

    They’re doing handover to the ground crew now, essentially, who sit in another room and will take over from here on in. Next live feed will be when Odyssey is back in transmit range.

  272. Pteryxx says

    Also, that hot little fucker with the mohawk in the control room?

    I know right? They all look so different from one another, there’s no standard corporate look! And even a handful of women engineers in the room (still very few off-white folks, let’s work on that, NASA.)

    And the livestream and broadcast have concluded with the handoff to the data-gathering team… the landing team’s job is done.

  273. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Pteryxx:
    I’m glad there’s no standard look too. It allows for the individuality of each of them to be expressed.
    (Josh, you can have mohawk guy; I want someone else in there).

  274. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    I know right? They all look so different from one another, there’s no standard corporate look

    I noticed that right off and it left me gobsmacked. Rock on NASA.

    And even a handful of women engineers in the room (still very few off-white folks, let’s work on that, NASA.)

    Was looking out for that too. Not enough, but gettin’ there.

    The joyful scene there was so goddamn uplifting! Very, very welcome.

  275. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Since we’re now getting back to mundane interests:

    Tony: Are you talking about slicked-up handsome 50s hair guy? Rowr. I will have two bags, please, one for him and one for Mokawk Guy.

  276. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Fuck you Obama. Jesus fuckin’ christ. Can ANYTHING be an achievement of humanity and not a notch in the belt for the USA?

    Gack I hate this country sometimes.

  277. Pteryxx says

    …I started calming myself down, and then the Cosmos theme started playing in my head. *snif*

  278. chigau (違う) says

    mundane
    I don’t like zucchini.
    People keep giving me zucchini.
    Is this stuff really food?

  279. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Tethys:

    I really miss my friend Brian.
    *warning-link will piss off any person with a heart, and trigger warning for pedophile priests*

    Words cannot express how awful that is. I’m so sorry about your friend. Both you and his family have my sympathy-from the bottom of my heart.
    The punishment of that priest was laughable. He should *still* be in jail.

  280. Pteryxx says

  281. Pteryxx says

  282. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Jesus Christ. Obama’s advisor is using this as a USA-YAH! moment. This is humiliating.

    I’m sorry, world.

  283. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    “If anyone has been harboring doubts about the status of US exploration of space. . .”

    Oh fuck you.

  284. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    “Long live American curiosity”

    Thanks for fucking ruining the whole thing, US.

  285. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Except that hot engineer with the pompadour. Thank you for him.

  286. says

    Thanks for fucking ruining the whole thing, US.

    Somehow I doubt that the happy, cheering nerds I’m watching on my screen right now are thinking in such narrow national or patriotic terms or categories.

  287. ibyea says

    What is so amazing is that they have to send an object to an extremely precise location that is always moving in extremely high speed.

  288. Pteryxx says

    Comment from Jen’s:

    Nentuaby says:
    August 5, 2012 at 11:23 PM

    The communications part of this mission is what really gets me. Yeah, the rest is amazing, but we’ve moved large objects through the solar system before. What we’ve never done before is received their telemetry in the best excuse for real-time relativity allows.

    The use of the Mars orbiters as tracking and control stations blows my mind. MARS HAS INFRASTRUCTURE. We are becoming ESTABLISHED out there. The implications of that are just so profound…

    Comment from Ophelia’s:

    Sheila Crosby says:
    August 5, 2012 at 11:20 pm

    Just seen a tweet: “The nerds just took Gold in the 560 billion metres.”

  289. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    This press conference guy doesn’t know how to control a room.

  290. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:
    Yeah, I agree about making this landmark a cause for US celebration. UGH.
    This is an achievement for all humanity.

  291. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:

    Are you talking about slicked-up handsome 50s hair guy?

    Not sure. I only saw him once and it was brief. T and I were chatting and I stopped mid sentence to ogle.

  292. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh lord, this guy must be from Vermont. “We’re on Maeers.”

  293. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    “This feat is something only the United States can do.”

    Oh fuck this shit.

    Fuck it all.

  294. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tony: handsome 50s-hair guy is second from right on the panel on the dais. He’s dreamy as shit.

  295. Pteryxx says

    Josh, I see what you mean about the movie-star hair ;> to me, all of them turn sexay when they beam like that.

  296. says

    USA did it, my ass. For one, the signals that NASA received came via Australia. It’s quite pathetic and a little bit cringeworthy to suggest that such a big multinational enterprise is in any way the success of citizens of one single country.

  297. chigau (違う) says

    whatinhell (hot guy) videos are you looking at?
    meh
    Tell me tomorrow.
    really
    bed

  298. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    chigau:

    curiosity down safe

    Thought you were getting rid of all your O‘s :)

  299. says

    Adam Steltzner. That’s his name. He’s my new big crush.

    Great, lucky you! So how do I find out who Asian engineer lady is?

    The guy who is speaking now is great.

  300. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Right on the heels of the Mars Rover landing, and feeling joyous, T introduced me to Emeli Sande.

    Damn.
    Just Damn.

    I can’t express how blissful I feel right now.

  301. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    God damn it. Wife. Baby.

    Isn’t that always the way?

    Adam . . .I can show you things. . .

  302. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Rorscach, I dunno, but I noticed her too. Cute woman. Good luck…as you can see, NONE of them are available. Sigh.

  303. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh lord he’s so gorgeous I’m about to embarrass myself. Sigh. . .

  304. ibyea says

    @Josh
    I hate that kind of crap. Which makes me want to punch StevoR in the face (metaphorically). For him, it is not a great achievement of science and engineering made possible by many people working together hard, it is all about the US extending its dick to the rest of the world.

  305. says

    Oh, Adam is your crush ! Good choice, by far the guy who makes the most sense and comes across as down to earth and genuine. I would like to hear some data now.

  306. Pteryxx says

    oo, Xeni Jardin from BoingBoing is there! *cruuuuush*

    “Can you tell us about the image type and compression used to send these thumbnails back from Mars?”

    LAWL SO MUCH NERD

  307. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:

    Adam . . .I can show you things. . .

    Just a guess…don’t know the guy, but I think he might see those things* every time he undresses and takes a look down… :)

    *His.
    Not yours :)

  308. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tony, Adam is just too much. I’m smitten with science/spokesman/bryl-creem crush. He’s. Just. So. Dreamy.

  309. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:
    I take it back. After seeing the pic of him Pteryxx provided, I *think* that’s the same guy I drooled over.
    Can we share?
    You can have him Mon-Thursday and I get him on Fri/Sat?

  310. Pteryxx says

    …holy moley, via Greta: (emphasis mine)

    I love how crazy Twitter is going tonight. I love that people are gathering at Times Square chanting, “Science! Science! Science!” I think we needed this. Thank you, NASA. Life can suck sometimes… but today, humanity can be proud.

    Confirmation:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9454930/Nasa-Mars-Landing-live-blog.html

    glossedover Wendy Felton The crowd in Times Square just chanted “Science! Science!” I bet that’s never happened here before. #marscuriosity

    …I am… so proud… *snif*!

  311. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tony, I’m up for a plural marriage. We can negotiate Adam Time™. Just don’t use up all the science energy—I want to hear him tell me about gravity wells and such in my ear—and I promise not to muss his hair too much. At least not so bad that it can’t be combed back into that . . .sigh. . wavy thing.

  312. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Does anyone have a spare middle finger to add to my two? They’re both busy flipping off StevoR at the moment. I’m all for pride in my country and all (to a point), but that shit takes the cake. As if no one else around the planet contributed anything to the Mars landing. Not to mention all the people who have long since died who helped advance science and technology to the point that we can land the Rover on Mars.
    :::yeah, they were *all* American:::/sarcasm

  313. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:
    I plan on saving the talking for the post fun cuddling :)

  314. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    bryl-creem?

    Google is your friend, baby (and a little dab’ll do ya).

    Night all.

  315. says

    video

    They’re going to have a short pass over from Odyssey now, mainly to check that Curiosity has removed dust covers, deployed its arms, that kind of thing.

  316. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Josh:

    Google is your friend, baby (and a little dab’ll do ya).

    Night all.

    Gotcha. I thought it was some term you came up with. :::goes to look it up:::
    Oh, that’s why I’ve never heard of it–you need hair! I’ve been shaving my head since I was a sophomore in high school in ’91. It’s so much easier to maintain.
    I do have to admit I’m curious what I’d look like with dredlocks…

    Oh, and good night my friend.

  317. ibyea says

    Too bad it won’t have any windshield wiper to clean off its solar panel. The two previous rovers were always living on the edge after their expiration date because of that. :)

  318. John Morales says

    Tony,

    I do have to admit I’m curious what I’d look like with dredlocks…

    In order of difficulty:

    * Photoshop.

    * Use a wig.

  319. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    John:

    In order of difficulty:

    * Photoshop.

    * Use a wig.

    I’ve only just learned how to use the various tags that are allowed here. You think I’m ready to advance to Photoshop? Perhaps in a decade.
    Wigs cause my head to itch.
    I guess it will never be :)

  320. carlie says

    Hee. Josh, I just tried to look your guy up, and the first photo had this caption: “Adam Steltzner, NASA’s hipster rocket engineer”

    :D

  321. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    carlie:
    Now that Josh has gone to sleep, the guy is mine.

  322. John Morales says

    Tony, apropos of nothing, you seen Theopontes’ tardigrade corpus?

    Gee, would be nice to have an acquaintance with such a knack, sometimes. For whatever reason.

    <whistles innocently>

  323. says

    Hey, Taslima. “Awaiting moderation”. Seriously? Moderate away, but I’m already done with your blog. Why do people blog if they can’t deal with the feedback they get? Jebus.

  324. says

    rorshach, I don’t know what exact settings Taslima has or why, but I have the setting activated on my blog that sends all first-time commentors into automoderation, because I don’t want to make it too easy for sockpuppeteers and other malfeasants to derail discussions on my blog. Sure, ordinary commentors of goodwill get caught by that too, but why shouldn’t they?

    Taslima may also prefer to set the whole blog to automoderation during her sleep time. Given some of the comments she gets, why wouldn’t she rather that they only get published when she’s actually monitoring them live, and can respond right away? She seems to publish all sorts of comments there, what does it matter if they have to wait until she wakes up before she approves them?

  325. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Theophontes:
    Bwahahahahaha!
    Now imagine ME looking like that.
    Ah, that would be funny.
    Thanks :)

  326. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    tigtog:

    She seems to publish all sorts of comments there, what does it matter if they have to wait until she wakes up before she approves them?

    For all that I find her blog painful to read, I suspect you’re right on the money. Compared to some of the comments that have appeared on her blog, I just can’t imagine rorshach saying anything so bad as to deliberately be put in moderation.

  327. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    carlie:

    Hee. Josh, I just tried to look your guy up, and the first photo had this caption: “Adam Steltzner, NASA’s hipster rocket engineer”

    :D

    Josh decided not to be too greedy. He’s going to share Adam a few days a week. I need a new pool boy (of course I have to get a pool first. Details.)

  328. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    One Thousand Needles:
    Loved that link. Never heard of that site before. Hee hee!

  329. Sophia, Michelin-starred General of the First Mediterranean Iron Chef Batallion says

    You know all that huff we’re currently in the process of schooling upside the head in the vein of “Calling out bullies makes YOU the bully!”?
    I hate that my life is now entirely dependent on that. My (hopefully soon to be former) husband has taken everything form me. My autonomy, my self-respect, my ability to feel safe, my mental health and nearly had me take my own life away due to sheer bullying pressure – and then used that against me in a deplorable display of mockery.
    He’s now trying to take away my friends, too. Passive-aggressive thinly-veiled facebook comments have now become overt messages of “Soph is an evil bitch”.

    Got to love all the people I like flocking to support the poor widdle diddums. Of course, there’s only ever one side to the story when it’s the loud one, eh?

  330. Sophia, Michelin-starred General of the First Mediterranean Iron Chef Batallion says

    Sorry, desperately need to vent. Can’t engage the fucker or he’ll just squash me under the weight of horrible crushing hopelessness again, can’t post my own stuff on facebook because he’ll latch on to it and can’t just sit and wait it out because I’m fucking TERRIFIED.

    I really, really don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

  331. John Morales says

    Sophia, that sounds bad.

    Venting is good, but perhaps you can do something, too.

    You don’t have anyone you can trust with private communications to be an intermediary?

    (Because maybe people will have some ideas that will help you, and you can gain access to them without exposing yourself)

  332. says

    Sophia, that’s a great deal of crap you’re wading through, and it isn’t fair at all.

    Have you thought about suspending your facebook account for a while, just so that you’re not seeing these notifications all the time? It might help with not feeling quite so burdened by his bullshit?

    You could also set up a grudge tumblr just for the purposes of venting if you felt like it, under a new ‘nym? Share the link only with friends you know still have your back?

  333. Sophia, Michelin-starred General of the First Mediterranean Iron Chef Batallion says

    I wish I could. I’ve got the grand total of one friend I can trust, and she’s not talking to him either because I need to use her as a refuge in case things get even more ridiculous.

    Sadly, all the people I’d have thought to inform quietly of the truth of the situation are all seemingly supporting him unquestioningly. It makes me sick. I’m sitting here, powerless except for my lawyer and too afraid and depressed to even take care of my little son without help (due to his abuse, no less) and the people I counted as my friends don’t even have the depth of mind to wonder if there’s more to the situation.

    What he’s posted is pretty much a lie if you take the context into account. Just… argh. No more.

  334. says

    p.s. Sophia, have you read any of Captain Awkward’s wonderful advice posts? The commentariat there is awesome and usually have truly excellent recommendations and perspectives to offer.

    The entries under ‘manipulation’ (and ‘abuse’ too) might be especially helpful.

  335. carlie says

    Hi, Sophia.
    That’s terrible. Please start and keep taking screencaps of everything he’s doing like this, and hand it all over to your lawyer to be more evidence of how he’s treating you. If you haven’t done it before, most Windows operating systems have a tiny program called “snipping tool” that you can look for in the search box. It lets you draw a box around the screen and save it as a jpg image.

  336. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Sophia:

    My autonomy, my self-respect, my ability to feel safe, my mental health and nearly had me take my own life away due to sheer bullying pressure – and then used that against me in a deplorable display of mockery.

    That is disgusting.
    Who the hell is he to think it’s ok to treat you this way. I’m glad you didn’t take your life and I hope you’ll be able to put this guy in your past as quickly as possible.
    People like that piss me the fuck off. I’d love to have a few choice words with him.
    No one deserves to be treated like that.

  337. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Sophia:
    Have you thought about setting your FB profile to private? That way you could screen him out, as well as those friends of yours who are taking his side?
    Hell, I can’t speak for anyone else, but you can friend request me and we can help build a wall [of trusted friends & associates] around this fucker and his friends.
    And please don’t feel ashamed for needing to vent here. That’s one of the reasons for this space.
    ::HUGS::

  338. Sophia, Michelin-starred General of the First Mediterranean Iron Chef Batallion says

    Thanks everyone. I’m having a really dark week due to it being the week in which he’ll be getting corespondence from my lawyers. Basically, he’s decided (without actually knowing what’s going on) that I’m going to “severely limit his access to his son” and posted as such.
    If that were true, I’d agree it’s a nasty thing.

    Problem is, the poor kid’s just coming up to 5 months old. Currently he has four nights with me and three with his dad. Any professional will tell you that’s not normal and certainly not good for his development, the research says no nights away from the primary caregiver. We (my family and I, he won’t listen to me no matter what) even tried negotiating better pickup and dropoff times and were met with a complete stonewall – “It’s not happening”. That was TIMES for goodness’ sake. He’s intimidated us and blamed us from start to finish, and now since he can’t talk to me directly he’s lashing out at anyone close to me and now trying to take away the last vestiges of my happiness by getting everyone to side against me.
    I can’t speak up either – anything I say will be fuel for him and I simply can’t deal with another attack at this point, I’ve spent the last months in a state of constant terror, having multiple panic attacks and depressive episodes.

    The hardest part is not being able to speak up. I see close to every silencing tactic in the book being used and most of them working. It’s pretty torturous, seeing a blatantly nasty and arguably false statement being seized upon and swallowed by people you trusted. Not even an inkling I’m not a heartless beast? Sigh.

    If anything else pops up I’ll have to screen him out and maybe have a friend screencap any more nastiness. All I can do, really.

  339. KG says

    According to the BBC, the Sikh temple killer was Wade Michael Page, 40, a white US army veteran, who left the army after being demoted. A BATF spokesperson says he had tattoos “which could suggest the attack was a hate crime”. No shit. A press conference is due at 15.00 GMT (22 minutes time).

    Also according to the BBC:

    Wisconsin, which passed a law in 2011 allowing citizens to carry a concealed weapon, has some of the most permissive gun laws in the US.

    Cue gun nuts saying if only the victims had been armed…

  340. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Caine:
    What’s funny is that I haven’t had hair since ’91. I started shaving my head in high school so I wouldn’t have to deal with hair. It’s a lot easier, IMO, because I just have to clean and moisturize my head (a bald head with dandruff is funny looking). I can shave every day if I want, or wait four days.
    One of the more amusing aspects of not having hair is that the sweat produced when I eat spicy/hot foods drips down my face. People always laugh when they see me take a towel to the top of my head. I like spicy food, so I wipe my head a lot :)

  341. says

    Tony:

    I like spicy food, so I wipe my head a lot :)

    :D I’d say that’s better than getting it all caught in hair. Some peoples aren’t in the habit of washing their hair all that often.

    You’re terribly cute, ya know.

  342. says

    Sophia:

    Jeez, that’s a rough situation to be in. Maybe there’s a silver lining, if your not-really-friends made their true colors apparent before you confided in them and gave your husband even more ammo? I’ve got no useful advice besides telling you to try to keep your chin up for yourself and your kid, and don’t hesitate to look for whatever help is available.

  343. KG says

    Sophia,

    I’ve nothing particularly useful to say, but you’ll find a lot of support here – a good choice of venting place.

  344. says

    Republicans recently doubled down on denial of climate change. As one of their own, Mike Lofgren, recently said, facts bounce off them “like pebbles off of armor.”

    A couple of weeks ago, former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said his party will have no choice but to “eventually” come around on climate change — the facts, he said, will simply “overwhelm” Republican resistance.

    The facts, I’m afraid, are still losing. Just recently, Republicans have heard from Dr. Richard Muller; they’ve seen the satellite footage from Greenland; they’ve been confronted with national drought conditions and wildfires; and they’ve seen brutally-high, record-breaking temperatures….

    With more than a month left, the summer of 2012 is on pace to be one of the three hottest since 1950, according to an analysis by WeatherBank and AccuWeather. In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the preceding 12 months in the continental U.S. had been the warmest since record keeping began.

    Many Republicans on Capitol Hill point out that weather is inherently cyclical.

    Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) argued on the Senate floor, “It gets cold, it gets warmer, it gets colder, gets warmer. God is still up there, and I think it’ll continue in the future.”

    Link.

  345. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Caine:
    Thank you for the compliment.
    It’s funny that Oggie and I were just chatting a few days ago about our inability to take compliments well. I wish there was a bottle of Insta Self Esteem one could buy at a grocery store.

    ****
    Paul:
    I too am looking forward to PZ’s new rules (will he lay them out ala Bill Maher’s “New Rules”? :)
    Oh and what’s next-5 ways video games control your sex life?
    :)

  346. Paul says

    I wouldn’t say I’m “looking forward” to new rules. I have a feeling I know where they’re going to go, and may not want to stay around when they hit. If this needs a disclaimer, I of course don’t mean to imply that PZ shouldn’t do whatever the hell he wants with his blog and the comments attached. Well, aside from stuff like editing posts to add content without making it clear that such editing happened, or that sort of thing.

    The article doesn’t suggest real mind control (while David Wong titles his stuff like everyone else’s on Cracked, the articles tend to be rather serious). I do suggest taking a few minutes to read it if you didn’t just because the title is silly.

  347. says

    @Sophia:
    You have my sympathies as well. There’s not much help I can offer via this forum, but you have my support such as it is on this.

    @Tony:
    Looking good, dude. I just started shaving my head a few years ago, when my hairline receded enough to make my ponytail start to look silly.

    @ Curiosity:
    WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!