Comments

  1. Portia says

    I decided to just get blasphemous over there. Maybe their fee-fees will get wounded and they’ll flounce. I wonder though…if this is an assignment, are they being graded? And how? A point for each time they make us say a naughty word at them? For each time they ask us to disprove an unfalsifiable assertion?

  2. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    I think I’ll need to wash my brain in bleach after this.
    Kudos to everyone who can follow and distinguish what those fools are saying. I just see the same nonsense repeated over and over and over again again again ag *thump* sorry

  3. Portia says

    At least there’s a limit on it. Are the 20 minutes up? Or is that just when he’s sending in the next round? I think I’ll literally go shower and come back and see what they’ve recited by then.

  4. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Back in high school, I remember a Freudian Psychoanalyzer progamme in BASIC. And no matter what response you gave, you got some shit about, “And how does variable make you feel?” (with variations). The Hovindmindless over on Thunderdome feel like that ‘game’. Simplisticly tossing out random words from our comments and asking “Why do you believe in variable?”

    So apparently Hovind programmes his students with BASIC.

  5. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    There was so many of them… I couldn’t see the sky from all those things flying around and dropping turds all over the place! I couldn’t… I couldn’t even see. Too fast… *sob* I just want some peace! *wail*

    No seriously, I couldn’t follow all those “conversations”. And I’m using the term conversation loosely.

  6. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Oh good, no more groups after all.

  7. Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven says

    The lounge is open to discussion on any topic, am I right?

    The lounge is not open for picking fights. Being smarmy and dishonest is inherently fight-picking, especially around decent human beings with functioning backbones.

  8. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    I like it, Og. Alliteration is fun.

    Portia, prithee, a plague of presupposisitionalists is thine.

  9. broboxley OT says

    well enuff with the creobots, I has marching band pit crew duties to preform later.
    I really would have thought that we could of had a real theological argument until I bothered to look up his creds. Bah, what a snakeoil salesman. No background at all

  10. says

    Well, now that the godbots are gone, I’m going to go get ready for work. I am a tutor here at my university, and Fridays are the day I tutor Astronomy. Ahh, science. A good hour of star formation and nuclear fusion is just what I need after all that mess.

  11. Nick Gotts (formerly KG) says

    Could they be Turing Machines? – Janine: Hallucinating Liar

    No, that would be overkill, finite state automata would be quite adequate for presup argumentation. (See Chomsky hierarchy – yes, same Chomsky.)

  12. broboxley OT says

    What I cant figure out is that they dont believe in evolution but even a cursory glance at the history of their own religion would show an amazing survival of the fittest construct from ad 33 to present

  13. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    broboxley:

    Wife and I had the whole evening figured out: I stop at Subway to grab two subs for dinner, walk in the house, change while she loads up my lunch cooler with drinks, and down to the stadium so I can announce for the marching band. Luckily, I looked at the schedule. The game is Saturday night.

    Free night!

  14. says

    Good evening
    Thomathy
    All teh best for the surgery and get well soon.

    ryan wilkinson
    Thank you for your apology.
    I hope it is sincerely meant and will really lead to changes.

    +++
    Ahhh, the fun of private healthcare*
    A very good friend of mine is married to a ploice officer and let’s just say they’re in trouble and part of it is financial. The pressure they’re under has led to severe mental health problems for both of them. Now, for him to get help he would have to pay the therapist and then hand in the bills to get them refunded by his insurance. Since part of his trouble is that he’s deep in debt he cannot access healthcare even though he has insurance…

    Germany has public and private healthcare and ironically tenured public servants have to have private healthcare

  15. Patricia, OM says

    Damn, I missed a fuckwit fest? Did I also miss the baby?
    Dang.

    In the good news column, my doctor has decided to take me off one of the meds that she thinks may be causing my gawd awful symptoms. Yeah!

  16. dianne says

    I used the analogy “like the curve for global warming” today. Everyone immediately knew that I meant a curve with a lot of fluctuations but a clear trend towards increase over time. Is that a good sign or a bad one?

  17. David Marjanović says

    YAAAAY DARKBABY YAAAAAY!!!!!

    ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

    Remarkably cute for a newborn (judging from the Fb photo I’ve seen).

  18. dianne says

    Germany has public and private healthcare and ironically tenured public servants have to have private healthcare

    Wha…huh?

  19. Portia says

    I am *not* obsessively checking Audley’s blog for pictures. Nope. Not. Ahem. *shifty eyes*

  20. ImaginesABeach says

    I have resisted requesting an invitation to join PET for a long time. This DarkInfant wait has forced me to change my mind. Who should I e-mail for an invitation? I will try not to tick people off if I’m permitted to lurk there…

  21. Ichthyic says

    Ichthyic, do you have any news about this statue of Gollum?

    They put it up a couple of days back, i haven’t seen it yet though.

    looks impressive from the photos!

    I’ll take photos myself and put them on facebook when i see it.

  22. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Audley:

    The DarkInfant is adorable. Long legs (or it may be the angle?). I don’t remember my kids straightening out their legs until they were a coupla two-t’ree weeks old.

  23. Ichthyic says

    @Louis:

    Ichthyic,

    Hmmm but one can have veal with white wine if one so chooses…

    Mind you, since I am going through a BBQ-neonate phase atm, a robust red will cope best with my sauce…

    Louis

    NUH UH!

    ‘Cause SCIENCE sez!

  24. opposablethumbs says

    DarkDaughter already has an evil glint in her eye.

    Yup. No doubt about it (thank you for the photo link, Audley!) – she’s scheming …. planning to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!11!!!elebenty!!! mwahahahahaha damn I think I hurt something ow too much eebil laughter can be harmful to your health too many hours of work today can be harmful to what is left of my brain …

    Sleep as much as and whenever you can, Audley and Mr. – don’t forget, that’s the important bit, SLEEP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET and (of course, obviously) fuck housework and all that sort of nonsense.

  25. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Good news. No rain in the area tonight (despite lots of clouds). I can grill!

    Wife and I actually have a steak. A real, honest-to-FSM 3cm thick steak. Not sure how our tastebuds will react.

  26. mildlymagnificent says

    SLEEP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET

    The rules taught to me for the first three months were:

    Never stand when you can sit.
    Never sit when you can lie down.

    And sleep when the baby sleeps.
    Using baby’s sleep/nap time for catching up with work of various kinds can wait until baby is *mumble* weeks old.

  27. chigau (棒や石) says

    Audley
    Only one picture?
    c’mon.
    Y’all must have taken at least 700 by now!

  28. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    I came to this conclusion today while driving the beautiful fall drive between Asheville and Knoxville today

    If I see truck nuts on your vehicle all it says to me is “Hey I’ve got an ounce of meth in here!”

  29. Ichthyic says

    ROFLMAO.

    the comments on it are fantastic.

    the first one is even good:

    “But who will protect the people from Democracy if not Mitt Loaf?”

    LOL

  30. Rey Fox says

    “Give my truck nuts to my grandchildren!” -Dying redneck, last night’s “Birdemic” Rifftax

  31. Ichthyic says

    Yankton

    I want to build up a certain modicum of cultural cache, then endorse a Republican candidate just so, upon being asked to appear with him (her, if the head of Jean Kirkpatrick ever runs), I can break into a terrible, three hour performance piece culminating in me releasing my chocolate sauce enema onto a giant parchment in a rough approximation of the american flag.

    It is a dream I have…

    LOL!!!

  32. Tony–Queer Duck Overlord of The Bronze– says

    In other news, I heard yesterday that Meatloaf endorsed Mittens.

    ****

    I’m not happy with James Croft. What is the deal with so many people who want everyone to discuss issues in the same manner*? Why do so many people think *every* member of the Horde acts the same way? What’s with the blanket generalizations? You’d think James or Baal didn’t actually *read* threads.
    I am not going to feel bad calling someone a shitty fuckwit if they display behavior like oh, say Wooly Bumblebee or Justin Vacula.
    Nor am I going to be nice to someone who uses ableist slurs or gendered insults. Yes, I’m going to probably curse at them. Can’t handle it? Grow a backbone or STFU.

    *no, he didn’t say that. But he seems quite against the overall tone at Pharyngula. If we removed the cursing, profanity and insults that are used here, what would that leave, I wonder…?

  33. Janine: Hallucinating Liar says

    Son: “Daddy, what’s a clusterfuck?”
    Dad: “Here, sit down and watch this video.”

  34. Ichthyic says

    I can’t quite pick it out for sure, but in the beginning, it sure sounds like Mittens is singing the WRONG lyrics.

  35. Ichthyic says

    they ALL look drunk on that stage to me.

    then again, it’s possible that this is because they always look punch-drunk to me anyway.

  36. ednaz says

    Tiny little itty bitty!

    Translates to ‘What a beautiful sweet little baby!’.

    Thanks for the picture Audley. : )

  37. ednaz says

    Janine: Hallucinating Liar @ 55

    O.K. I watched it.
    What the hell was that? LMAO! Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything – it would have been all over my screen.

    Clearly sometime after Bat out of Hell was made, Meatloaf’s evil twin killed him and took over.

  38. Ichthyic says

    from Patricia’s FGM article:

    But the practice remains poorly understood, both by supporters who assert it is an Islamic mandate, and by opponents who, according to some activists, do more to sustain the practice than end it.

    now why does that idiocy sound so familiar, I wonder?

  39. ednaz says

    Ing: Intellectual Terrorist – I just read the synopsis of BloodRayne. It looks like fun. And it will be o.k. because it’s the evil meatloaf that burns to death.

    :thumbsup:

  40. Patricia, OM says

    Ichthyic – FGM was kind of below my radar until a PBS or OPB documentery aired called Half the Sky . It was so horrible it actually made me cry. I’m waiting for the book version to come in, and then I hope I have the courage to read it. *shudder*

  41. Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven says

    …well that was weird.

    Take eight onions, chop, toss in a big pot with a cup of homemade chili powder and a stick of butter, saute for about an hour starting on high heat and working down until very brown. Try a sample. Tastes disgusting.

    …try a sample with a few shreds of grated extra-sharp cheddar. Tastes AMAZING.

    Yeah, I don’t get it either. O.o

  42. Portia says

    Patricia –

    I read that book for a class last year, and it is terribly horribly heartwrenching. It’s also, as you would expect, inspiring, moving, and uplifting.

    There are some parts that are a little bit “both sides are wrong” when it comes to addressing reproductive rights in developing countries, but other than that I heartily endorse reading it, if you can stomach it.

    I actually haven’t seen the documentary, because the night it was aired I couldn’t get PBS to come in on my tv. Sad. Now I’m going to have to look for it online again…

  43. Portia says

    …try a sample with a few shreds of grated extra-sharp cheddar. Tastes AMAZING.

    Yeah, I don’t get it either. O.o

    It’s simple. Extra-sharp cheddar is magical, wondrous, glorious stuff that makes everything taste better.

  44. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    FGM was kind of below my radar until a PBS or OPB documentery aired called Half the Sky . It was so horrible it actually made me cry. I’m waiting for the book version to come in, and then I hope I have the courage to read it. *shudder*

    I learned about FGM in college reading The Hidden Face of Eve and did a presentation on it. That’s definitely one of the books that really woke me up and altered my world view.

  45. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Cross posting from the Please Stay Safe thread ’cause this is important:

    If you’re capable of leaving please go, go now. I had a near miss with a deadly bushfire and have rode out two flooding events, and though none of those directly harmed anyone or anything I care about I have not come out unscathed. These acts of nature, vast, inhuman and unstoppable can have lasting physiological effects.

    Watching the waters rise, creeping meter by meter towards your home, as you frantically pile rugs atop furniture atop furniture, knowing that should it not peak soon you’re likely to lose everything is a dread that gets inside you. Every spring I watch the forecasts obsessively. On every rainy day until the snowpack is gone that dread gnaws at me and I get short with those I love.

    Watching the sky light up from horizon to horizon just over the ridge as your family sleeps in the room upstairs, knowing that one wind change is all that stands between everything you love and the inferno is an event that never leaves you fully. A week of sunny summer weather and I’m watching the skies and the weather radar, hoping for rain while dreading thunderstorms with a gut churning tension.

    Perhaps I’m of a weak psychological temperament, a case could be made for such. But if you can leave, I’d suggest doing so. Riding out the tempest is not worth the years of gnawing dread that can come from hearing the wind claw at your roof and batter your walls with a force beyond human reckoning. Knowing intellectually that we are frail and fragile in the face of natural onslaught is enough, learning to feel the visceral truth of that fact is a pain to be avoided if at all possible.

    Be well, be safe, be smart my virtual friends, I will be thinking of you.

  46. Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven says

    …okay, made the rest of it.

    Going to a Halloween party tonight. Made chili onion macaroni and cheese, with the cheddar and a variation of my usual sauce recipe.

    This was a really good idea. :3 (Maybe I should have added 3 tsp of cayenne instead of 2).

  47. Portia says

    From facebook:

    “I do not care what the circumstances may be, the Christian should never be agitated, the Christian should never be beside himself, the Christian should never be at his wit’s end, should never be in a condition in which he has lost…It implies a lack of trust and confidence in Him.”
    -Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

    You may not be human. You may not have emotions. Even though Gawd gave them to you. Even though he created you. In his image, no less. Even though emotions are often impossible to control. Congratulations, one more thing to feel irrationally guilty for!

  48. Esteleth, Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo says

    I was looking at the weather map. Scary!

    I live far enough inland that the worst I’m likely to see is rain*. The weather report for the next 10 days is rain.

    * Barring unforeseen circumstances like Sandy deciding to jump into the Great Lakes, that is. In that case, I’m 10 miles inland, but rather up in elevation. Nearish (2 blocks) the river.

    However, I have many friends (and a sibling) in New York City, as well as several others down in the DC area. Meep!

  49. says

    Also, I entirely blame my fellow students for my being behind on my drama paper. As long as they keep sending me campus-wide emails with absolutely cretinous language mistakes, thus forcing (forcing I say) me to post on Pharyngula about it lest my head explode from the throbbing vein in my temple, I’m not going to get anywhere finding out what critics think of Oedipus. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

  50. cicely says

    Tigger: here are pics of my cane, in various seasonal dress; you have to click on the names to get them to come up, for reasons I know nothing of. The first three (with the lemon yellow octopus) are all of last year’s Halloween outfit; the jack-o-lantern one is what The Well-Overdressed Cane is wearing this Halloween.

  51. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Another, final, cross post. Clearly my state of mind on this issue is not good.

    Another thing to consider:

    When making assessments of personal risk we are just as subject to the cognitive biases as at any other time. I’m not sure it’s proper name but a friend of mine calls the relevant bias the turkey fallacy.

    For 999 days of a turkey’s life it’s fed and cared for. On the 1000 day, just before Thanksgiving, it awakes expecting to be fed and cared for despite having a 100% chance of being killed that day.

    We intuitively base our risk assessment on our personal experience and if you’ve never been harmed by a hurricane your brain is telling you that you’re going to be fine regardless of actual risk. A sample size of one is way too small, listen to the experts and believe them, prepare now, and if you’re going to go, leave early.

  52. David Marjanović says

    Caught up with this subthread till my own comment.

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    What Microraptor probably did with its hindwings. Read the comments, too.

    Petition to sign: Some of the votes in Ohio will be cast on electronic machines that belong to one of Mitt (R-Money)’s biggest campaign contributors. Two of the directors of that company were even present at the “47 %” speech.

    Petition to sign for investigation into Republican voter registration fraud in Virginia.

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    Why do people call Romney the Governor, when he is no longer is ?

    American custom: all titles are for life. Former presidents are always “Mr. President”.

    This twitter thing sounds less and less appealing.

    …Yeah.

    BABBY FORMED!

    THREAD WON!

    Jesus for President!

    He’s already King of Poland! :-)

    Also, Caine, your little something of four boxes of books has certainly arrived just now!

    :-o

    :-o

    :-o

    It’s a Pokemon??!??!? :)

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

    Also, the Adopted Kitty is seriously channeling the Little One right now. He’s entangled in her necklaces, boas and hiding up the piles of boxes like a badly constructed fort. It’s adorable.

    ^_^

    (Contains the usual “I can’t tell you how to vote” disclaimer, but is clear in its intent to scare employees into voting Republican.)

    Is “I can’t tell you how to vote, but” the new “I’m not racist, but”?

    A good boss will not tell his employees how to vote.

    A boss who doesn’t want to go to fucking jail won’t tell his employees how to vote. Don’t paint not being an outrageous criminal as being some kind of extra-noble gentleman.

    IIRC, being human is also a required qualification for POTUS.

    Are you sure?

    FossilFishy:
    […]
    You should write greeting, birthday, holiday…any cards.

    Eulogies too.

    Seconded!

    the Lord High Cardiologist

    Sounds awesome.

    I guffawed and pushed DarkInfant the rest of the way out.

    My doc, who has been practicing for 35 years, has never had a patient “laugh a baby out.” Needless to say, he was impressed. :D

    So am I!!! :-)

    I wonder if Doc will experiment with his next patient…

    “laughing is working doctor!”

    “uh, ok, try sneezing!”

    + 1

    I swear the little one did that to me. It was one of those late night nappie-changes and she didn’t only poop in my face and on the couch but she also hit the wall 2m behind me…

    Wow.

  53. broboxley OT says

    #94 David Marjanović

    A boss who doesn’t want to go to fucking jail won’t tell his employees how to vote.

    do you have an American state or federal statute that jails an employer for telling employees their preference for them to vote in an election?

  54. broboxley OT says

    Backslider tonight. The football game was in a horrible for driving venue. The school had a new yardman/emperor that dictated that football buses park in front of band buses and band equipment trailers were not allowed in the reserved parking or adjacent.
    So we parked 2 trucks with 2 trailers next to each other at a 90 degree angle across the lane from the buses.

    From prior experience at this school I decided to create a 2 vehicle gap in the traffic so the 150 band kids would be able to unload their instruments without dodging cars. 15 minutes before the game ended traffic started piling up with people wanting to pick up kids from the game. They park, in a driving lane and refuse to move. So this line is moving 1 car length every 5 minutes.

    I block the lane with carts, explain to each driver why I need that gap and move them right up as soon as a car length opens up ahead.

    A blonde thin coulter looking woman in a new escalade is next in line. Hold up my hand explain to her that as soon as the car in front of the gap moves up she can pull behind them. As soon as I turn around she hits the gas determined to occupy that 2 car length gap.

    I slammed my palm into her windshield where her face was and gave her a look. She rolls down the window screams!. “Don’t touch my car! do you know who I am?” I glared at her and told her “I know exactly who you are” then thought, “you fucking rich white trash bitch”

    Now I wouldn’t call my wife that, I tell my daughter not to use that term and from hanging out around here I should know better but still, I was that ” ” close to boil out into a whole range of gendered insults on her arrogant behind. Best part was after 10 minutes there was a space so I let her move up the 2 car lengths she sat there for 1/2 hour, steaming as the road was well blocked at that time.
    shit happens :-( and I get to do it all again tomorrow

  55. chigau (棒や石) says

    Bowling was fun.
    (even though it was 10-pin)
    (next (if I have my way) is darts)
    (I will kill them all win.)

  56. chigau (棒や石) says

    I’ve been washing my hands for about a half hour and my socks are in the laundry basket.
    Am I clean enough?

  57. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    cicley: And I’m very susceptible to the confluence of beauty, function, humour and skillful craft. But lest I be accused of excessive flattery I will say that Tigger’s effort also rocks, if for no other reason than the rhetorical trap her design lays.

  58. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    What general area are you in, Ing?

    Latest GFS runs seem to take it toward NYC, though.

  59. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Am I clean enough?

    Dunno.

    [holds up a silhouette of a bowling pin]

    What does this look like?

    I used to play darts regularly. There’s nothing better than hurling sharpened steel around whilst drinking. We had a rule that if it bounce back and you caught it, and it drew blood, you scored whatever you were aiming for. Mind you, attempting even basic math whilst drinking made me sad.

  60. Patricia, OM says

    Portia – Thank you. I was so moved by the documentery. I’m so ignorant. I don’t even grasp what a fistula is.

    Hard as this will be for most of us to believe…a person that works in the same office that I volunteer in (Rethuglican) is involved with Kiva! I have to process all of this. Probably won’t be easy.

  61. Patricia, OM says

    I offer my house as a refuge for anyone hordlings fleeing the wrath of GOD on the East coast if you are on a flight stuck in Portland, Oregon. Yeah, it will take me over an hour to rescue you, but I’ll do my best.

  62. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    Ing:

    You’re at Ground Zero, it seems. Prepare for hurricane-force winds, and TS-force winds for an extended time (over 24 hours possibly), massive rain totals of up to 30 cm, and a storm surge of 2 meters at a spring high tide, if you are near the coast.

    Even if it misses, the sheer size of Sandy will still produce much of the same effects.

  63. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    Ing:

    Also, power may be out for two weeks or more. Be sure to stock up on food, water, activities, etc. (see the dedicated thread).

  64. chigau (棒や石) says

    FossilFishy
    re: bounce back rule
    Ours was “if it bounced back past the line-on-the-floor” you threw again.
    I never saw this happen. Ever.

  65. Patricia, OM says

    I’m off to bed sweethearts, but if anyone thinks they need me before I get up PZ, Nerd and Janine have my email, I don’t look at it, but I will until Sandy is over in case someone needs a haven.

    Be safe.

  66. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    You weren’t playing with the same folks as me then. We had a couple of guys who tried to bury the dart all the way in with every throw. I’ve seen it bounce all the way back across the line, usually sliding along a tile floor or the like for the last little bit. Though once I saw the guy damn near catch it as it flew past his knee. Blood was never spilled though, so no one ever got to score because of it.

    And for the record, I suck at darts. There was only one guy I could beat regularly and that was because I fluked out the first time we played. He was good enough to bother going in competitions and the fact that someone as bad as me beat him got in his head. It wasn’t so much a case as me beating him as him defeating himself. I’ll admit I got a certain malicious entertainment out of watching him get frustrated about it. The things we do for entertainment eh?

  67. chigau (棒や石) says

    Patricia
    Sweet dreams.
    I am also to bed.
    (I, too, am too far from the impending to really matter. But anything I can do, I will.)

  68. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    Oh indeedy. The only better thing was drunken lawn darts. They were banned in Canada 4 years after I passed the drinking age. Sometimes I wonder just how exactly I survived to reproduce.

    Sleep well.

  69. says

    Good morning!

    Squeeeeeee Darkbaby!
    Hope the hair stays

    +++
    Dianne

    Germany has public and private healthcare and ironically tenured public servants have to have private healthcare

    Wha…huh?

    Well, in the olden times when health insurance was invented (did you know that the first German health insurance was invented 750 years ago?), medial bills were something middle-class people could pay out of their pockets. So, when you were a poor worker you had to have insurance while better off people could decide to either buy private insurance or leave it. It’s only a few years ago that it became mandatory to buy health insurance, mostly because people who were formerly privately insured couldn’t pay their premiums anymore and you can’t change back to the public system (which is OK. The public system is financed solidarily: the more you earn, the more you pay, up to a cut-off line while private insrance is calculated on risk, so you put a stop to yung healthy people leaving the public insurance and pay less on private and come back when they were old and had to pay high premiums).
    Now, tenured public servants were traditionally middle-class, kind of poor-safe and it was also cheaper for the goverment to have them privately insured.
    So, yeah, even with medical insurance he’s cut-off from healthcare cause he can’t pre-finance it.

    cicely
    Your cane is great!

    Ing and other affected Hordlings
    Keep safe! Hope it doesn’t hit as hard as feared.

    +++
    Fuck, it’s snowing!
    I ran around in a T-shirt on Monday!

  70. carlie says

    Ing – Purchase College has already called off classes for Monday and Tuesday and told all the residential students to GO HOME, that’s how threatened your general area is.

    I’m in the second or third rung out of the “here’s how screwed you are” color bands of doom, and our forecast still just says “eh, there may be some rain” too.

  71. opposablethumbs says

    Um, you lot are tucked up safe and warm with loads of food, water, batteries and nappies, right Audley? And everything on PZ’s list? (I can’t remember and have zero geography skillz so I’m not sure if you’re even anywhere near the relevant areas, but if you are I hope you have everything you need!).

    Goes for all of you in the potentially affected areas, obviously. Though you may not all need nappies.

    (One of my brothers lives in a very high hurricane risk area, so I tend to prick up my ears and get a bit nervous when I hear this stuff.)

  72. says

    Opposablethumbs:
    Not yet. Being in the hospital for damn near a week will do that to you.

    From what I’ve looked at today, we’re far enough east that we’re not in Sandy’s direct path, but we’re still in for wind and rain. We’ve got bottled water and batteries and whatnot, just need to make a trip out to the supermarket tomorrow to stock up on foodstuffs.

  73. says

    Audley
    Squeee!

    Ichthyic
    Can I bugger you again?
    So I got myself the Hyundai a7 and am close to sending it back because I can’t get the fucking thing to get a PDF from my PC and open it.
    I know I’m a mouse-pusher but really, this is just not working for me…

  74. says

    Aw, Audley! Congratulations. She’s so beautiful! And so extraordinarily lucky to have you as a parent.

    Thanks for posting a link to her pic. I’ve never been prone to panic attacks, but I’ve been reading about the storm this morning and am damn near hyperventilating. For some reason seeing your baby sleeping and knowing she is so loved instantly put a huge grin on my face and made me feel calm and happy.

  75. AshPlant says

    Rey Fox: might as well take him up on the offer for now, the Line isn’t getting any shorter :P.

  76. AshPlant says

    Oh,it was aimed at Ichthyic. Welp.

    Giliell: ‘bugger’ does not mean ‘pester for advice’. It’s just a little closer to ‘sodomise’. :P

  77. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Hi Horde,

    I’m going to be in Massachusetts this weekend, probably to return early Sunday afternoon to Vermont. If anyone needs to evacuate their house I have a spare bedroom, cats, and oil lamps. It’s unlikely anything beyond a brief power outage will happen here in Northern Vermont. Should you need a place to stay, email me at spokesgay at teh Google mailz.

  78. says

    Ash Plant

    Giliell: ‘bugger’ does not mean ‘pester for advice’. It’s just a little closer to ‘sodomise’. :P

    I just noticed that I mixed up bugger and bother

    Just file it as super-duper-offering to Tpyos

    Ichthyic
    Please kindly exchange verbs above

  79. birgerjohansson says

    The human sacrifices I performed to ensure the safe arrival of Darkbaby seem to have had unforeseen effects on the North American weather system. I feel like Wiz in “The Wizard of Id”. Usually I just feel like Sir Rodney.
    — — — — — — —
    “the third most beautiful baby in history” …but she still lacks the characteristic “Stewie” profile that goes along world conquest ambitions. Oh well, we cannot all be archfiends. There must be some good people* around to privde a greater contrast for the villains.
    *Darkbaby and Lisa Simpson.
    — — — — — — — —
    Cold, clear weather in North Sweden today. All the interesting weather has gone to you.

  80. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Audley,

    She’s adorable.

    Keep the updates and/or photos coming, every one makes my day a bit brighter. Congratulations to your little family again!

  81. says

    Thank you, everyone! Not only is she the sweetest lil’ burrito ever, but the pediatrician just stopped in and she’s totes normal! Goin’ home today!

    Birger:
    Thank fuckin goodness she doesn’t look like Stewie! I can’t imagine pushing that outta my vag!

  82. says

    Audley:
    Yup, looks like a baby.
    Kidding! Beautiful. Congratulations.
    (That’s what my former sister-in-law said when my daughter was being proudly shown around by her grandmother many years ago.)

    ‘bugger’ does not mean ‘pester for advice’. It’s just a little closer to ‘sodomise’

    In the 90’s Canondale made a bicycle trailer called the “Bugger.” In my orientation working at a company that also made bike trailers, we were told that the name wasn’t very popular, especially in England.
    I laughed for about ten minutes, causing everyone to look at me funny.

  83. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Not only is she the sweetest lil’ burrito ever, but the pediatrician just stopped in and she’s totes normal!

    She’s hiding her superpowers. A wise choice.

    Goin’ home today!

    Yay!

  84. Emrysmyrddin says

    I just noticed that I mixed up bugger and bother

    I saw this earlier but thought it’d be rude to point it out. That and I couldn’t stop giggling for a few minutes ;) (Being English, I played the post in my head as spoken by an Upper Class Eric Idle-esque Twit) :D

  85. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Can I bugger you again?

    And then you have idiots complaining about enthusiastic consent ruining the mood.

    I admit to not having much (any) experience, but “Can I bugger you again?” sounds like something that can only improve the mood. Laughing in bed (or other surface of one’s choice) seems like a good thing.

  86. opposablethumbs says

    as spoken by an Upper Class Eric Idle-esque Twit

    Ra-ther!
    .
    .
    re appearance of babies, some caregivers were a bit perturbed when I quite happily referred to hours-old Spawn#1 as ugly, and opined that all newborns look like squashed avocados (I was thinking the dark wrinkly ones) immediately on arrival. A few months later, my then SiL was a bit perturbed when I enthused over my brand-new niece as looking like a little monkey.

    Doesn’t mean I was any less enthused in either case, they were both adorable!

    DarkInfant is already past that brief avocado stage, I see :-D

  87. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    In my head that conversation goes:

    A: Can I bugger you again?
    B: Please do.

    (all said very politely and with great dignity right until the moment someone finally starts giggling)

  88. Emrysmyrddin says

    Gilliel, my apologies, I shall do so in future; and I would never laugh at you, but always with you, my dear :)

  89. Emrysmyrddin says

    Beatrice, yes, it was something like that ;)
    .
    Now off to find some Palin/Idle slash. Well, that’s just how my brain works.

  90. Matt Penfold says

    Being English, I played the post in my head as spoken by an Upper Class Eric Idle-esque Twit

    What’s with the Welsh name then ? :)

  91. Emrysmyrddin says

    Matt: One of my many many queer and obsessive fascinations is with the character of Merlin, wherever he may turn up :)

  92. Portia says

    Audley, I second the request for more updates and pictures. : ) As your energy allows, obviously. So glad DI’s check up went well.

    Patricia: No problem. Absorbing all the information, emotion-inducing as it is, is the big challenge of reading the book. For instance, I can’t even conceptualized being left to die by my family because there isn’t adequate medical care available and I’ve labored myself into a fistula. *shudder*


    Everyone stay say who’s even a little in the path of the storm. I’ll be thinking happy thoughts in the Midwest.

  93. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    Audley:

    we’re far enough east that we’re not in Sandy’s direct path

    Keep in mind Sandy is so large that direct effects might extend from Virginia to south Maine…

  94. AshPlant says

    I used to love a children’s book called Dogger, which was about a stuffed dog. One day, we were making insects out of junk and cardboard in nursery, and I proudly showed my offering to assembled parents and so forth when I brought it home. They asked me what it was called.
    “Hmm.” went my thought processes. “A toy dog is called Dogger. This is a toy bug.” Then I announced its perfectly logical name loudly to the room.

    Being a parent must be such fun sometimes.

    Speaking of parenting, congratulations are due the Darkhearts, I believe! Woot!

  95. says

    I’m sure if I should post this in one of the current political threads, or here in the lounge. Seems Gary Cass, Republican religious doofus from San Diego, is hot and heavy into blasting a hole in President Obama’s claim that, “my compass is true.”

    Cass has additional political concerns, all of which come straight into his dulled-down brain from a sadistic God. A few excerpts:

    “You can’t be a Christian if you don’t own a gun.”

    “Harvard is animated by the spirit of Antichrist.” Other universities are “perverted factories of unfaithfulness.”

    We Americans have elected politicians with a “broken moral compass, with no biblical moral compass”

    Progressive Christians “have murdered their own souls, destroyed their own churches, and have undermined our nation.”

    “… the Satanic doctrines of Karl Marx.” (I heard that Marxist shit on NPR this morning, when they interviewed a Romney supporter.)

    YouTube link.

    Cass was the featured speaker at a Texas conference called “Deliver Us From Evil.”

  96. opposablethumbs says

    Fond memories of Dogger, I have.

    Me three (reading it to Spawn, that is). Awesome big sister to the rescue :)

  97. says

    More foul coupling of religion with politics news: Florida voters will be faced with a very long ballot, one which includes not just presidential candidates and other political races, but which also allows them to choose yea or nay on a ballot initiative that would change the state constitution to allow public funding of religious ministries. Say what? I guess the tax-free status isn’t enough for them.

    New York Times link.

  98. Emrysmyrddin says

    And this:

    The divorce, which was legally approved a few weeks ago, means that Rosemarie Fritzl can no longer draw on her 77-year-old ex-husband’s pension, the Austrian weekly News reported.

    Pah.

  99. says

    The divorce, which was legally approved a few weeks ago, means that Rosemarie Fritzl can no longer draw on her 77-year-old ex-husband’s pension, the Austrian weekly News reported.

    Damn, I didn’t know Austrian law was that fucked up and didn’t have shared property in such cases.

  100. says

    Ing – Purchase College has already called off classes for Monday and Tuesday and told all the residential students to GO HOME, that’s how threatened your general area is.

    I’m in the second or third rung out of the “here’s how screwed you are” color bands of doom, and our forecast still just says “eh, there may be some rain” too.

    Here’s what bad

    I’m essential services. I am required to even if it’s cancelled try to come into work.

    I think I may be getting sick though *cough cough*

    Even more fuck you, we’re good on food+water, but have no land line phone and cell phone is a discontinued product so store will not provide a back up battery. This is because fucking Verizon wants to punish poor and responsible people who are fucking frugal and wise enough to take care of their equipment and not replace it after a frelling year.

  101. says

    Salon published an article detailing ten filthy rich tax dodgers who are, hypocritically, part of a “Fix the Debt” coalition that is intent on inflating the debt to new heights and/or squeezing more out of the middle class and lower middle class. Oh yeah, and don’t forget squeezing the poor and elderly by putting the screws to all their “entitlement” programs.

    These guys have put together a $60 million budget to lobby for shit like a “territorial system” under which corporate foreign earnings would be permanently exempted (instead of being taxed when they are returned to America), as journalists Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger note in the article.

    Who are these guys? Romney lovers.

    Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric: Perhaps no tax-dodging U.S. corporation has done more to drain the U.S. Treasury than General Electric. Over the last 10 years GE reported more than $80 billion in U.S. pre-tax profits and yet paid a federal corporate income tax rate of just 2.3% …

    Jim McNerney, Boeing: …The aerospace giant enjoyed a $605 million tax refund in 2011, despite reporting more than $5 billion in U.S. pre-tax profits. …In fact, Boeing is a serial tax dodger , having paid federal corporate income taxes in only two of the last 10 years. …

    Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs already operates 37 subsidiaries in tax havens ….
    Brian T. Moynihan, Bank of America: Bank of America survived the 2008 financial crash with the help of a $45 billion bailout. Today, Bank of America sits on $128 billion in cash — $18 billion of it is overseas —and much of that is sitting in the company’s 115 tax haven subsidiaries ….

    David Cote, Honeywell Corporation: Over the last three years, Honeywell received more than $2.7 billion in federal defense contracts and reported more than $2.5 billion in U.S. pre-tax profits. And yet thanks to corporate deductions, tax subsidies, and loopholes, Honeywell has claimed $377 million in federal tax refunds during this period.

    More detail at the link.

  102. Tigger_the_Wing says

    Cicely, your cane designs are gorgeous! =^_^=

    Audley, DI is beautiful. Thank you for the pictures. She has such a contented look about her. I’ll bet being laughed into the world helped mightily! Or it may be her having fooled the doctors into thinking she is normal, thus freeing her into the world to carry out her Ebil Plans®…

    I hope Sandy behaves and suddenly fizzles out; if not, I hope everyone is safe. FossilFishy, your writing is, as usual, awe-inspiring.

    Is Long Island threatened? My sister lives there. As it happens, it’s her 50th birthday today. She told me her husband and son were planning a surprise (she found out because her son said “I’m not going to tell you what your birthday surprise is!” even though, knowing nothing about it, she hadn’t asked) and I hope this doesn’t spoil it.

    Gilliel, your polite request almost made me LOL, which would have woken my hubby who is snoring beside me (please ignore mistypes – they aren’t deliberate offerings to Tpyos (how could they compete with Gilliel’s?!) as it’s 2:50 am and I’m typing in bed, in the dark, on a laptop with a very dim screen.

    Lastly, I had a wonderful Saturday. I’m still feeling deliriously happy. Having got the go-ahead from the cardiogist to take whatever tablets I need to take whenever I need them, I got to go for a bicycle ride with hubby for the first time in months (and found the electric motor hadn’t suffered from the neglect (hubby had been charging the battery regularly)). I even did some shopping (my wheelchair travels in the trailer (not a ‘Bugger’!) and hubby pushed me round the shopping centre). When I got home I only needed a short lie-down, then I did somw gardening (which I had been missing nearly as much as the cycling) then entertained two lots of visitors before being invited to dinner by neighbours.

    It was amazing! Before the heart procedure, anu one of those would have wiped me out for days.

    Thank science and education for modern medicine! =^_^=

  103. Nick Gotts (formerly KG) says

    I just noticed that I mixed up bugger and bother – Giliell

    “Bug” would have been OK – it’s a colloquial alternative to “bother”, often encountered in the form: “What’s bugging you?”.

  104. says

    Right-wing views of Colin Powell’s endorsement of President Obama:

    If it wasn’t Obummer’s skin color that made turncoat Colin Powell endorse obummer, then must be his atheism, communism & marxism. [tweet from MaY HeW]

    When you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to look at whether that’s an endorsement based on issues or he’s got a slightly different reason for endorsing President Obama. I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him. — John Sununu, top surrogate for Mitt Romney.

    Colin Powell, interestingly enough, said that Obama got us out of Iraq. But it was Colin Powell, with his testimony before the U.N. Security Council, that got us into Iraq. — John McCain

    Yep, Powell misled the world with that testimony before the U.N., and he in turn had been misled. And he has acknowledged how badly he fucked up. McCain, on the other hand, sold the WMD angle harder than almost anyone, and still says that invading Iraq was the right thing to do.

    More comments from the right wing:

    Race trumps intelligence. Of course, Colin is rich enough to ride out the Obama Depression. — posted on October 25, 2012 8:43:34 AM EDT by SoFloFreeper

    Duh! The famous O.J. jury logic. ’ I be black, He be black, He be innocent’ — posted on October 25, 2012 8:45:24 AM EDT by 2nd Amendment

    Rumor has it that Colon was an AA success. [AA = Afirmative Action] — posted on October 25, 2012 8:46:29 AM EDT by Paladin2

    Can anyone identify any specific major accomplishments Powell achieved, other than being named to high positions in his military and diplomatic careers? IMO, he has AA written all over him. — posted on October 25, 2012 8:49:04 AM EDT by ScottinVA

  105. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Wow, I was surprised when I read people claiming that this Savile pedophile scum molested people right there in the Top of The Pops.

    Disturbing video ahead:
    .
    .
    .
    [If you don’t want to watch:
    Savile, surrounded by teenage girls. A girl sitting right next to him suddenly jumps, with a yell, and tries to move away from him. He laughs and says “I tell you something, a fella could get used to this, as it ‘appens, he really could get used to it.”
    (as it happens, he was pushing his hand under her skirt)
    ]


  106. says

    More responses from the foaming right wing to Colin Powell’s endorsement of President Obama:

    What do you expect from a fellow Affirmative-American? Pray for America –posted on October 25, 2012 8:50:12 AM EDT by bray

    Indeed. And it is ironic/hypocritical that both Powell and Obammie the Commie were ‘made’ by ‘The Man’ they love to hate. — posted on October 25, 2012 8:52:39 AM EDT by Ghost of Philip Marlowe

    Until Obama came along Colin Powell was the quintessential affirmative action poster child. A mediocrity in the military who would have never advanced beyond the level of Colonel had it not been for pigmentation and a mediocrity as Sec of State.The only reason he became a Republican after being a Democrat was because it was Republicans who advanced his career beyond his level of competence. — posted on October 25, 2012 8:58:32 AM EDT by chuckee

    He got his education and any of his high positions due to affirmative action. He was unqualified then. He is unqualified now to speak with any veracity. — posted on October 25, 2012 8:59:13 AM EDT by Vaquero

    Colin Powell has lost all credibility! Shameful! Only about race with him. He is a disgrace to this country. — posted on October 25, 2012 9:00:52 AM EDT by JFC

    Colin Powell endorses Obama for second term. The “black” thing trumps all. — posted on October 25, 2012 9:05:25 AM EDT by The Sons of Liberty

    It saddens me that he chose the color of ones skin over the content of ones character. The only bright spot is Condi stayed with her core values and I am hoping to god that Allen West does the same. These are the people that should be influencing the black community. Not Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. — posted on October 25, 2012 9:17:35 AM EDT by EQAndyBuzz

    Funny you should bring up OJ. It was following the OJ trial that rumors of Powell having a problem with whites first surfaced. At the time there was talk of Powell running against Clinton in 1996. After the rumors surfaced Powell decided not to run. Now I guess we know the rumors were true. — posted on October 25, 2012 9:18:16 AM EDT by IMR 4350

    Colin Powell has a dream that someday everyone will be judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. — posted on October 25, 2012 9:33:51 AM EDT by P-Marlowe

    Last election cycle, Colin Powell proved he was a racist. This cycle, he proves he is an idiot as well. –posted on October 25, 2012 9:49:44 AM EDT by Vigilanteman

    HIS SUPPORT OF OBAMA IS NOTHING MORE THAN ABOUT RACE, PERIOD!!!!!” — posted on October 25, 2012 10:09:16 AM EDT by sheikdetailfeather

    Well, now we know why Colin Powell took such care to expand his endorsement announcement to include his reasons for choosing Obama, and his reasons for rejecting Romney. Didn’t work as far as stemming the “it’s about race” slime tide, but at least Powell tried.

  107. says

    Right wing groups like Freerepublic are listing the names (and nationalities, of course) of UN election monitors as a way to rile up all the Rambo wannabes. They have threatened violence against these U.N. election monitors.

  108. says

    Larry Summers provided considerable detail in refuting Romney’s auto rescue claims, the claims he made as a last minute bid for Ohio votes during the last debate.

    Talking Points Memo link.

    Excerpt:

    Not only did Romney’s proposal to entice banks with guarantees not make “any financial sense,” Summers added that it wasn’t even clear that it was his proposal in the first place. Romney only started dropping references to it late in the campaign. His only suggestions for federal aid at the time were warranty guarantees and possible help working out post-bankruptcy financing.

  109. says

    This is a follow up to my post @172. Not only are right-wing groups threatening to harass U.N. poll watchers in the U.S. election, but Republican officials are also beating their chests.

    Take, for example, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott:

    … In a letter dated Tuesday to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Abbott threatened to prosecute any of its monitors who step within 100 feet of a Texas polling place on Election Day. The threat came even though U.S. State Department officials earlier this year had invited the monitors to observe the election.

    “If OSCE members want to learn more about our elections processes so they can improve their own democratic systems, we welcome the opportunity to discuss the measures Texas has implemented to protect the integrity of the elections,” Abbott wrote. “However, groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas.”

    The letter provoked a swift response on Wednesday from Janez Lenarcic, the head of the international group’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, who wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing his concern that the threat of prosecution was contrary to the U.S.’s obligations as an OSCE participant.

    “The threat of criminal sanctions against OSCE/ODIHR observers is unacceptable,” Lenarcic said in a news release about the letter. “The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections.”…

    Link.

  110. Emrysmyrddin says

    Disturbing video ahead

    Fucking fucking fuck
    .
    Just like old Harry
    .
    ‘Don’t mind him, he’s old and confused. Just don’t tell your mum’
    .
    fucker

  111. says

    Audley: Oh my goodness, DI is absolutely beautiful.

    Those of you who are in areas that will be affected by hurricane Sandy: Please be safe. It’s always better to be too prepared than not prepared enough. As I said in the other thread, if any of you are coming to central NC or get stuck in the Raleigh or Charlotte airports, let me know. I’d be more than happy to pick you up and let you crash here for a while.

  112. Rey Fox says

    “You can’t be a Christian if you don’t own a gun.”

    “Harvard is animated by the spirit of Antichrist.” Other universities are “perverted factories of unfaithfulness.”

    We Americans have elected politicians with a “broken moral compass, with no biblical moral compass”

    Progressive Christians “have murdered their own souls, destroyed their own churches, and have undermined our nation.”

    My favorite part of that story is how Cass heads the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. I can see why he wouldn’t want anyone else horning in on his racket.

  113. cm's changeable moniker says

    We’re home!

    Congratulations. TinyDarkHeart is in da house.

    Also, cyoooot! ;-)

  114. birgerjohansson says

    Audley Z,
    Regarding cats and babies: If the cats are not used to toddlers running around, they can sometimes get so stressed that they start to pee everywhere.
    So in a year, when Darkinfant starts walking/running you should be prepared to find a new home for any of the kitties who starts peeing all over the place.
    It’s not anything physical wrong with the cat, it is just becoming a nervous wreck. When such a cat gets a calmer home, the pan-peeing stops after a few days.
    — — — — — — — — — — — — —
    It was easy for Stewie to get out. His older brother Chris was a whale even as a fetus and pretty much wrecked Louise, Stewie could practically walk out upright. U-uulp.

  115. Patricia, OM says

    Gilliell – In western USA a bugger is also a hardened piece of mucus in your nose, or something small, i.e.

    Did you see the size of that bugger I just blew out of my nose?!

    Isn’t he just the cutest little bugger?

    From an old book I read about Scotland called The Hills Is Lonely comes this jewel of bugger…

    He bugger, she bugger,
    Quick come little bugger!

    Now I’m all buggered out.
    :D

  116. Mattir says

    So, dear Lounglings, the evil moderators of doom on the FB group are going through the list to make sure that everyone who is a member still wants to be a member. This will ensure that our oversharing of pictures of our cats and calls to enlist Horde support in battling the foolish relatives who argue about homeopathy, Tea Party politics, and Rebecca Watson are directed at people who actually wish to participate in such time-wasting activities. So, should you wish to continue, please pop over to the list and say something in the appropriate thread. And if you wish to join in this wicked activity (frankly, the only thing many of us use FB for), drop me an email at Mattir 17 at Teh GeeMail.

    This is what I decided to do with my free weekend – having cancelled the Cub Scout overnight, the rain, wind and general storm stuff promptly slowed down, so I have a couple of free days before the awful weather starts. Fooling around on FB seems like a great option.

  117. opposablethumbs says

    I don’t even have FB because, well, eeebilness – but if I ever did, it would be solely in order to knock on your door chez the Pharyngu-group. I can’t really think of a better reason to go on it.

  118. ImaginesABeach says

    I took GirlChild to buy a Halloween costume for her to wear to her school’s Fright Night tonight. At 13, she is just about the same size as I am, so she needs an adult costume, rather than a child’s costume. After looking at the costumes available, she said, “well, it looks like I’m stuck with being a prisoner, because everything else is ‘slutty police officer’, ‘sexy nun’ ‘sleezy alien’ and stuff like that.”

    And she’s right. What the fuck? Do they really think that every female over the age of 8 wants to wear a tight costume with a top cut down to her navel, and a skirt that shows her woo-ha?

  119. cicely says

    Thanks, Giliell and Tigger. :)

    I’ve always felt that babies, like other meats, need to be removed from the oven a bit before they actually look done, since they will continue to cook for a while, thereafter. Hence, the usual “unfinished” look to a newborn. Just let it set on the counter top for a bit before serving; it’ll be alright.

  120. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Another day in the Redhead living a more normal life. She had me take her to a local Gem and Mineral show to purchase some “cheap” jewelery. She came home with earrings, pendants and chains, bracelets, and rings. Excuse, she is going to the Opera next week and needed to match the outfit…

    First use of the handicapped parking placard, priceless. Boos to the motel for not having automatic doors on the entrance/exit to the convention area, and no unisex handicapped bathrooms (so I can go in and assist).

  121. carlie says

    Yay Nerd! It’s so good to hear that there’s been so much progress.

    We’re home! The kittehs are not impressed.

    Our cat lost almost 15% of her body weight when we brought home the first baby, and never gained it back. She was a bit, um, high-strung for awhile.

  122. Dhorvath, OM says

    I’ll take it over the alternative.
    ___

    Our kitty is old too. Old and has heart disease. Heart disease, like the vet said, “Take him home, snuggle him, feed him tuna,” etc. Say goodbye in short. I have had the fire burning for seven days straight, he so loves to sit by a good burn.

  123. John Morales says

    Dhorvath, ack.

    (Ponderings upon mortality are our privilege, and bittersweet is the best we can hope for)

    My sympathy is yours.

  124. Tony–Queer Duck Overlord of The Bronze– says

    Dhorvath:
    I’m sorry to hear about your cat. Those little felines are wonderful pets.

  125. John Morales says

    [TMI]

    Tony @208, alas I sound like a ‘wog’ to Aussies y como un extranjero a los Españoles.

    (but only in reality, not in my thoughts)

  126. says

    Good morning
    So, Hurricane on the East coast, Tsunami on the West coast. I hope you’re all safe.

    Also, talking about smaller disasters, end of Dayligh Savings Time, a totally useless thing that means major mayhem in all families with small children.

    Audley
    Welcome home !
    +++

    Pets:
    Best wishes to all your old pets. My sister had to put her dog down this week. No way too early, if you ask me, the poor lad was 18 years old, almost deaf and blind.

  127. Tigger_the_Wing says

    Tony @208, alas I sound like a ‘***’ to Aussies y como un extranjero a los Españoles.

    The first time I heard that word, shortly after arriving in Adelaide, I was completely horrified. A word that is just as evil in the UK as the ‘n’ word is in the US, and used as a slur against the same people. Then, immediately, I was confused; the person being attacked with the racial slur was as white as his detractors. It was a long time, witnessing many similar incidents, before I was able to work out what on Earth was going on (given that I couldn’t exactly ask, as that would have involved saying the word).

    For some reason that still escapes me, some European Australians use racial slurs against other European Australians whose ancestry is from a different European country. That particular word is applied, inexplicably, to Italians.

  128. Tigger_the_Wing says

    When I first arrived in Adelaide, in 2005, the twins went to Magill Primary. The local Catholic school was full. For which I am now, of course, extremely grateful. As are my atheist twins. =^_^=

  129. opposablethumbs says

    I hate the end of daylight saving time :((((

    Makes no significant difference in the morning, and means that evenings are now night :(((((

    I haz a SAD

  130. carlie says

    I haz a SAD

    I see what you did there.

    It’s next week here in the States, because the legislators FINALLY realized a few years ago that changing the time to make it dark earlier the week before children went streaming onto the streets to demand candy was stupid.

    Dhorvath, I’m really sorry. We lost our cat last year, and it’s so hard.

  131. mildlymagnificent says

    Tigger, that brought back memories. Magill was one of the schools we looked at for ours in the mid-late eighties, but we didn’t send the kids there. Can’t remember why. They went to Norwood Primary – the head teacher at the time was certainly a nice bloke. (Might have been because day care for the preschooler was literally across the road then.)

    So St Joseph’s at Tranmere was full in 2005? Didn’t know that.

  132. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    There’s some rainy snow/snowy rain here, at 3°C. Just the right weather to make me want to sleep the day away.

  133. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Good morning, everyone!

    Good morning, Audley. How did the DarkInfant sleep last night? Hell, did the DarkInfant sleep last night?

    It’s snowing here and -7°C.

    10/10ths cloud cover, light mist, 55F. Wind is starting to pick up. Looks like Sandy will pass to our south and then head north on our west side. Which means shitloads of rain and an extended (24-30 hours) wind event. Should be fun*.

    Wife and I realized that we have reached the point at which the only radio we actually have is the one in the car. Once the cable and internet give out, I suspect I will spend time in the car listening to the radio.

    * For a given definition of fun.

  134. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Good morning. Ghosties and ghoulies will be around this afternoon, temperature low 40’s with mild wind. The Redhead will be out spreading potential tooth decay dressed as a handicapped pumpkin. Now to sort the loot into several bags. Might have to do a quality control check on some.

  135. says

    Oggie,
    At the moment, DarkInfant is a decent sleeper and an excellent nurser. :) She slept for about 2 hours at a time for almost 8 hours last night. We got up at about 7:00 for a diaper change and a cup of coffee, then we both had a little snooze on the couch.

    Nerd:
    Yay for the Redhead! Your updates on her progress make me happy– please give her my continued wishes for better and better strength and coordination.

  136. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Audley:

    Fantastic.

    That’s the way Girl was as a baby. For the first week, she slept off and on in 8-hour chunks and started sleeping all the way through the night at 1 week. Boy was a different story. He was on an 8-hour awake and screaming followed by 3 hours of sleep followed by 8-hours awake and screaming for the first three months. Oddly, the first night he slept all the way through was the same night I got home from the Army.

    Enjoy snoozing and snuggling.

    Oh. And helping her plot to take over the world, of course.

  137. says

    Fuck
    I have a very bad toothache.
    There’s always the possibilty that a tooth is “upset” after a root canal. There’s also the possibility that a tooth needs to go. I’m only mightily pissed should the tooth decide to go after we did three sessions to save it and that it hurts like hell now. Also my denitist’s is closed next week.
    Shit.

    Audley
    That’s good. #1 was a pain in the ass when it came to sleeping. The little one was much better. I was the latest pic on your blog. Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute.

  138. says

    Mormons fuck with Halloween, turning into a mormon Fall Festival: the text sent out to members of the LDS Church, via Ward email lists (in my area at least), reads, in part:

    I warmly invite you all to the “Fall Festival Party and Uplifting Costume Parade”

  139. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    “Uplifting Costume Parade”?

    I’m guessing they don’t consider zombies and monsters uplifting.

  140. says

    Ex-mormons on the Recovery from Mormonism forum routinely cycle back to the issue of the Vietnam War, and of Romney’s mission in France that kept him out of the war. Today, an ex-mo brought up a detail I hadn’t considered before.

    Don’t lets forget, Black men couldn’t get the priesthood or serve missions or be deferred at that time. [couldn’t get a mormon mission deferment] Romney was in France selling racism in the 1960s.

    Neck-snapping change of subject, prepare yourself.

    “Uplifting Costume Parade”?

    Codpieces and underwire brassieres.

    Hordes of little mormons running around my neighborhood in codpieces and/or push-up brassieres would be entertaining. Even better if both uplifting costume pieces are worn by the same kid. Aren’t there even devices or pieces of clothing designed to boost one’s ass?

    And then there’s always Patricia’s polished brass bustier.

  141. Ogvorbis: broken and cynical says

    Thank you, Lynna. That shoudl haev been “Codpieces, bustiers and bustles.” Oh, my!

  142. says

    I’m not up to speed on [Lounge] contents, as usual, so forgive me if this has already been posted:

    Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

    That’s Inquirer Television Writer, Lee Winfrey reviewing The Wizard of Oz.

  143. says

    Col. Lawrence Wilkerson states the obvious:
    http://gawker.com/5955445/former-colin-powell-aide-states-the-obvious-my-party-is-full-of-racists

    Video at the link.

    Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.

  144. says

    So, the New York Times has endorsed Obama. And the New York Post has endorsed Romney. The NY Post wasn’t satisfied with one endorsement editorial. Oh, no. They published twelve anti-Obama editorials to back up their endorsement. The editorials are right-wing red meat, including rants about Obama’s “radical agenda,” the “cost of ObamaCare,” supposed lies the President told, and a doozy by John Bolton on the Nobel Peace Prize. There’s more, including an editorial that rests on calling the President “pathetic” … you get the idea.

  145. Rawnaeris, FREEZE PEACHES says

    Firstly, everyone in the line of Sandy, stay safe.

    Secondly, I got i a debate with my my mom about religion that ended with her stating, “why are you atheists so angry?”
    Needless to say since I did the only thing I could think of and said, read this book by Greta Christina.
    Here’s to hoping she actually reads it. Once she decided I was angry, (I wasn’t for the record, I was passionate) she completely stopped listening to what I was saying.

    I hope it answers her questions better than I can. Especially since she was Gish galloping me with more canards than I can even remember.

    *sigh*

  146. carlie says

    I feel stupidly paranoid – we are in the next-out layer from the storm path, and previous storms have always ended up passing us by, but I went ahead and went out for a few things anyway in case we lose power. The Wal-Mart was a madhouse, even on Sunday morning. They were out of stuff like water gallons and propane already. I have some water, some canned food, some dry mixes, crackers, etc. We could go probably 4 days without power if we needed to. We have a wood stove, so we can use it for cooking and heating if needed.
    And we’ll probably only get 2 inches of rain and a few branches down. But hey, I can eat the food for lunches the next couple of weeks. Hope everyone in the actual path is prepared.

  147. Rey Fox says

    Once she decided I was angry, (I wasn’t for the record, I was passionate) she completely stopped listening to what I was saying.

    I don’t get it. When someone’s angry, that’s when they should be listened to.

    Thing is, people who say things like this, I highly doubt that they’re anti-anger on principle, the anger just needs to come from the right points of view.

  148. dianne says

    Small one was a terrible sleeper as a baby and is still not that great at it. I’m starting to look forward to her teenage years…Eh, who am I kidding? She’ll be the insomniac teenager type who plays moody music until 3 am.

    We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be for Sandy. If it’s really an Irene sized storm, there’ll be no problem where we are. If it’s larger…who knows? I’m more worried about power and water outages than any direct storm damage to the house itself at this point.

    @238: The Wizard of Oz is pretty unwholesome when you look at it too closely: not only the two killings, but also theft, illicit use of opiates, bullying an old man, and un-IACUC approved genetic manipulation of monkeys all appear at one time or another…

  149. Emrysmyrddin says

    I’ve had a few friends on FB post pics of the water, slowly encroaching further and further up their streets. Stay safe, everyone x

  150. says

    Hope you’re all warm and dry.
    I still have my tooth minus the root canal fillings.
    It should get better now, according to the dentist, and it damn better has to because at the moment I have toothache and a numb tongue because the anaesthetics didn’t work any more, of course. Except on my tongue…

    +++

    The Wizard of Oz is pretty unwholesome when you look at it too closely: not only the two killings, but also theft, illicit use of opiates, bullying an old man, and un-IACUC approved genetic manipulation of monkeys all appear at one time or another…

    LOL
    Never looked at it like that.
    We’re currently reading a Russian version of it as a bedtime story.

  151. says

    Bloomberg’s mandatory evacuation order covers Zone A, which includes Brooklyn’s Coney Island and Manhattan Beach; Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens; South Beach and Midland Beach on Staten Island, and Battery Park City in lower Manhattan. There are about 370,000 people that make up the population of Zone A.

    Looks like my daughter will have to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Sandy. she lives in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan.

  152. says

    Lynna:
    Best wishes to your daughter. I hope that she is safe and that evacuating is as stress-free as possible.

    Emrysmyrddin:

    I’ve had a few friends on FB post pics of the water, slowly encroaching further and further up their streets.

    Eep. That would make me very nervous. I hope that they are all safe.

    carlie:
    Hey, it’s better to be too prepared than not prepared enough. Besides, crackers are tasty with or without the hurricane.

    Audley:
    That newest picture is just too cute. I’m glad that you are all safe, happy, and getting plenty of sleep.

  153. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    7 pm, Brob.

    Note that pressure is down to 951-ish mb is Sandy. That’s 8 from last night. She’s getting more powerful.

    If government agencies tell you to evacuate, Do It.

    Carlie: You needn’t be thinking of yourself as paranoid. We haven’t seen this type of storm before, and it’s a sensible precaution to stock up, even if you may not be in the direct path.

  154. dianne says

    Small one’s school announced that they’ll be closing Monday. The mayor hasn’t started any evacuations, but has said, “run everybody!” to those in low lying areas (that is, has suggested that people get out of flood prone areas…)

  155. says

    Hope she can crash with friends or family.

    Lynna, hope daughter evacs safely, I guess mass transit will be shutting down shortly.

    My daughter does have friends in a non-flood zone of Manhattan. I just talked to her on the phone. She’s packing now, and she is taking the ingredients for homemade mac & cheese so that she can make comfort food for everyone at her friend’s house. She can catch a taxi to her destination — that’s if the subway system is shut down. If all else fails, she can even walk to her destination.

    She didn’t seem stressed. This emergency is less stressful than having terrorists fly planes into buildings near her apartment building.

    She made sure her iPhone is charged. We wouldn’t want this little weather event to interrupt our Words With Friends game.

    Her husband can help carry necessities and their little dog.

    I keep trying to get my daughter to rifle through the closet of the male half of her couple of friends. I mean, she’s there overnight. A little borrowing of his sartorially magnificent shirts should be fine, right? He has a black cotton shirt that is embossed with a subtle pattern and that has pink-lined cuffs and collar.

  156. says

    Thunk,
    I love having an amateur meteorologist around!*

    Actually, I’m kind of surprised we have no regulars who are professional meteorologists. I mean, if anyone is going to deny the existence of God, it’s weather forecasters.

    *Were you thinking of studying meteorology in college? I hear that the University at Albany has a decent program… ;)

  157. Mattir says

    Well, I have kindling, 3 wheelbarrow loads of seasoned white oak firewood, 20 gallons of gas for the generator, enough batteries to power our weather radio and headlamps for a couple of weeks, 2-1/2 pounds of dark chocolate from Trader Joe, plenty of food, a full house propane tank, topped up air pressure in the well’s huge water tank, full tanks of gas in both cars, 20 gallons of bottled water, and cleaned gutters. We took down the scariest large tree around the house last spring, and while there are a bunch of others that could fall on us, I’m not so worried about them. I’ve checked on several elderly neighbors, done a sweep around the yard for loose stuff that could get blown about, and made the kids empty all the house trash cans and compost pail. Given that my mother has always managed to be both hyper paranoid AND strangely incompetent and unprepared for weather emergencies, I am really really proud of myself for striking a sensible, non panicked middle ground in which I am fairly calm, know I’ve done what I can, have emergency evacuating plans in case we have an encounter with a tree, and am looking forward to seeing the Mattir Fambilly remaining calm and competent. Perhaps we’ll choose a good read-aloud book to enjoy during the next few days. And I will spin a whole bunch of yarn, which is also good.

  158. thunk, Blob Alert! says

    Audley:

    Were you thinking of studying meteorology in college? I hear that the University at Albany has a decent program… ;)

    Yes, I am thinking of this. Thanks for the tip.

  159. says

    Perhaps we’ll choose a good read-aloud book to enjoy during the next few days. And I will spin a whole bunch of yarn, which is also good.

    All of which you can do without electricity. Just think of the number of people who may decide to read a book!

    Hope springs eternal as far the books go. I may be completely wrong on that score. I still clearly remember the most memorable moment from my many book-signing events. A young couple, male and female, walk up to my table. The female glances briefly at the photo on the cover. The young man says, “Do you want me to buy that for you?” The young woman answers, “No. I already have a book.”

    Not “this book,” and not “a book like this,” but “a book.” Well, I’m glad she’s all set then.

  160. broboxley OT says

    a book harruph, I have 8 bookcases in the house 6 of them filled with books one with vcr tapes and one 1/3 filled with encyclopedias. It will be full as soon as I get some free time to sort my double stacked shelves upstairs.

  161. cm's changeable moniker says

    Just logged in to work to check on storm preparations. Apparently, one floor of CorporateHQ™ got flooded already.

    During “routine maintenance”, someone activated the sprinklers.

    *facepalm*

    Seriously, though, if you’re in Sandy’s way, stay safe.

  162. says

    Totally off-topic, but I saw this and needed to share:
    What Male And Female Scientists Say About Women In Science

    “Morphological differences and biological differences [make men better at] hardcore math and physics.” — male assistant professor, genetics

    “[There are] some brain differences between men and women that explain it.” — male grad student, biology

    “On balance [women are] just less interested in math.” — male professor, biology

    “Physics is more difficult for girls and you need a lot of thinking, and the calculation, and the logic. So that’s maybe hard for girls.” — male grad student, physics

    “Physics is more abstract and biology is more concrete. Women are less likely to like abstract things.” — female associate professor, physics

    Women are apparently bad at math and physics! Oh my goodness, I’m so glad I know. I’ll make sure I stop tutoring astronomy right away. Obviously my male students must be better at it than I am anyway. I’ll call up the AP Board and tell them they must have scored my calculus exam wrong, since there is not way I got such a good score. I’ll make sure I stay away from science from now on, since it’s just too difficult for my poor little lady-brain.
    The best part is that some of these statements come from professors. And they wonder why more women don’t choose to work in the STEM fields.

  163. Tony–Queer Duck Overlord of The Bronze– says

    re: Wizard of Oz:
    One of my favorite writers, Peter David wrote a column some years ago called But I Digress. In one particular entry, he rips apart The Wizard of Oz in a way I’d never thought of:

    By contrast, Dorothy in the first film is a perpetual victim. She is swept along by the tide of events. She counts on her friends to protect her. She never plans, merely cries and desperately wants to return to a land where she can live in black-and-white and be assaulted by pigs. Oh, sure, she defeats the wicked witch, but it’s by accident. She was trying to extinguish the Scarecrow.
    http://www.peterdavid.net/archives/001354.html

  164. Tony–Queer Duck Overlord of The Bronze– says

    I hope everyone in the path of Sandy remains safe and sound. As I drove to work yesterday across the 3 Mile Bridge, I noticed the waters in the Gulf looking extremely choppy. Then I remembered that Sandy has effects that are reaching significantly farther than the main storm.

  165. Nutmeg says

    “Physics is more difficult for girls and you need a lot of thinking, and the calculation, and the logic. So that’s maybe hard for girls.” — male grad student, physics

    *rage flail*

    I went into biology because I like it, not because my puny pink lady-brain can’t handle numbers, asshat.

    (I would have minored in math, but my university’s math department has a reputation for hiring profs whose spoken English is so terrible that students can’t learn from them. And that’s on top of the mediocre-at-best teaching and giant class sizes that are standard in first and second year. I miss numbers, now.)

  166. carlie says

    My kid’s high school just announced they’re doing the Wizard of Oz in the spring. And for the Kansas parts, they’re dressing the whole cast in grayscale, including makeup. Can’t wait.

  167. says

    Re: Wizard of Oz

    Oh, sure, she defeats the wicked witch, but it’s by accident. She was trying to extinguish the Scarecrow.

    She has much more spirit in the Russian version. There she melts the wicked witch because she is angry at her .

    In good news, the toothache gets less. Not gone, but the permanent pain is gone.
    And I can eat mac ‘n cheese

  168. cm's changeable moniker says

    Mundford & Sons fans? Click here, right now, and click “Listen Live”.

    That link’s going to make no sense once the programme ends. :-/

  169. cazfans says

    People need to remember that when cell phone towers go down and your cell phone keeps looking for them and not finding them it uses up battery pretty quickly. Best to have and agreed times to power up and check. Of course if the towers remain up & working this won’t be such a problem.

  170. says

    Tigger_the_Wing @165,

    I had a wonderful Saturday. I’m still feeling deliriously happy. Having got the go-ahead from the cardiogist to take whatever tablets I need to take whenever I need them, I got to go for a bicycle ride with hubby for the first time in months (and found the electric motor hadn’t suffered from the neglect (hubby had been charging the battery regularly)). I even did some shopping (my wheelchair travels in the trailer (not a ‘Bugger’!) and hubby pushed me round the shopping centre). When I got home I only needed a short lie-down, then I did somw gardening (which I had been missing nearly as much as the cycling) then entertained two lots of visitors before being invited to dinner by neighbours.

    It was amazing! Before the heart procedure, anu one of those would have wiped me out for days.

    Thank science and education for modern medicine! =^_^=

    I’m so glad to hear you had a Very Good Day and the promise of many more. Keep on truckin’!

  171. ibyea says

    The stupid thing about that statement on biology is that you do need math and logic for it. Anyone who says that about biology doesn’t know what they are talking about.

  172. dianne says

    About 75% or so of my papers in-gasp-a subfield of biology known as “medicine” are essentially programming/math papers. you can’t get away without math in biology. Got to admit I’m pretty bad at abstract algebra though. Lost concentration somewhere after theoretical calculus and never really regained it.

  173. carlie says

    Why is it that people are routinely considered to be stupid if they aren’t good at math, but being bad at writing and spelling is worn like a badge of honor?

  174. dianne says

    Because traditionally men are considered more likely to be good at math and bad at language?

  175. Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist says

    Why is it that people are routinely considered to be stupid if they aren’t good at math, but being bad at writing and spelling is worn like a badge of honor?

    In scientific circles or in general?

    Because I often encounter people who wear their “I never did well at math” as a badge of honor. That’s after I get the surprised double take when they find out I’m a weirdo who studied math.

  176. says

    In the movie, Dorothy melts the witch on accident while trying to put out the Scarecrow. In the book, she throws the water at the witch in a fit of temper after having been mistreated for a while. IIRC, in the book she also solves a handful of problems on their journey. Didn’t L Frank Baum write the book for a young female acquaintance of his? Maybe he understood girls a little better than so many men of his generation.

  177. dianne says

    In the later Oz books, a MTF gender changed child becomes queen of Oz and is the actual ruler, not just the figurehead. These books, for some reason, never got made into movies…

  178. carlie says

    Beatrice – I guess I’m thinking of the “I’ve never been good at spelling” retort, and the reliance on spellcheck, etc. I guess most people are defensive about whatever it is they’re not good at.

  179. says

    Audley @178, I still remember our cat sitting up on its hind legs to peer apprehensively at the new baby without touching the bassinette.

    Dhorvath @203, so sorry to hear about your old cat. It’s hard to say goodbye.

    Tony @208, things do sound different from inside your head, because you’re hearing both by bone conduction through your skull and through the air. Usually it sounds lower and richer. I’m always dismayed at how high and childish my voice sounds.

    Lynna, OM, @231, I want an Uplifting Costume, too!

  180. says

    Rawnaeris, FREEZE PEACHES @242

    I got in a debate with my my mom about religion that ended with her stating, “why are you atheists so angry?

    Needless to say since I did the only thing I could think of and said, read this book by Greta Christina.

    Here’s to hoping she actually reads it. Once she decided I was angry, (I wasn’t, for the record, I was passionate) she completely stopped listening to what I was saying.

    I hate that. Tell her that if your rights are being threatened, you should be passionate.

    Is “FREEZE PEACHES” a reminder to yourself or us?

  181. Ichthyic says

    Why is it that people are routinely considered to be stupid if they aren’t good at math, but being bad at writing and spelling is worn like a badge of honor?

    huh, it was exactly the opposite when i was a kid.

    everyone was “expected” to be bad at math, but if you were a poor writer, reader, or speller, you were considered a bit on the dim side.

    interesting.

  182. Tigger_the_Wing says

    mildlymagnificent

    Tigger, that brought back memories. Magill was one of the schools we looked at for ours in the mid-late eighties, but we didn’t send the kids there. Can’t remember why. They went to Norwood Primary – the head teacher at the time was certainly a nice bloke. (Might have been because day care for the preschooler was literally across the road then.)

    So St Joseph’s at Tranmere was full in 2005? Didn’t know that.

    It was particularly disappointing because (a) it was literally just round the corner from the place we were renting, whereas Magill was quite a long walk away; (b) I went to a St. Joseph’s R.C. Primary school myself, and the name made me feel nostalgic; and (c) I really thought, at the time, that a Catholic education was pretty decent even though I was already having great issues with the church itself. Magill, to my mind, was ludicrously large for a primary school. A sign outside claimed that something like 65 different languages were spoken by the families of students. The twins were put into a class of 34, in a year with three classes of similar size, having just come from a school with a grand total of 2 teachers and 15 students aged from 4 to 12. (Their year group, 5 students, was by far the biggest; when they left in June the school was finally closed as too small).

    Of course, the twins were feeling disappointed for a different reason. We had moved to Ireland in 2000, where they discovered that they would have to stay on at primary school for an extra year compared to all the friends they had left back in England (where the change to secondary schools happens at 11+ instead of 12+). Then we come to Australia and find that their final school year ends in December instead of June. They were complaining that they’d never get to secondary school! They did, of course; despite the apparent (to pre-teens) interminable extra 18 months of primary. They went to Norwood Morialta for a couple of years, then we moved to Canberra. Poor kids. They’ve attended six/seven different schools in three different countries (one twin didn’t do years 11 and 12 which, in Canberra, are usually held in separate ‘colleges’ to high school).

    Funny-ish story: at first, their new classmates at Magill refused to believe they were even related, let alone twins. Firstly, they look nothing alike and secondly, despite five years in Ireland Number 3 Son still had an English accent whereas Number 4 Son had picked up quite a strong Irish one. =^_^=

    chigau (棒や石) and Markita Lynda—threadrupt

    Thank you! =^_^= It is so good to be off the downward spiral and on an upward one! Astonishingly, despite not getting much sleep Saturday night (between Hubby’s snoring, Number 3 Son playing an online game in the adjacent bedroom which required(!) chat and laughter all night and hubby’s laptop’s standby light doing its weird dim-to-bright-enough-to-read-by-to-dim routine*, it’s amazing I finally nodded off at all) I managed to get up at the usual time on Sunday and had a morning out with hubby after dropping Number 4 Son and his friend off at archery. However, when we got back I fell sound asleep on the balcony sofa for the afternoon!

    *Last night, in frustration, I put a foil sticker over it. Bliss!

    Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls

    Yay for more good news about the Redhead!

    Tigger waves pom-poms

    *\ =^_^= /*

    I love the idea of a pumpkin wheelchair! I’m currently collecting materials to turn mine into a Davros chair. I need to get my skates on, because there’s only 26 days until the event I need it for!

    Everyone in Sandy’s path

    Stay safe! I still hope it fizzles out and doesn’t do the damage forecast.

  183. Dhorvath, OM says

    While I hope that Sandy fizzles as well, I am pleased that people are taking it seriously. Big weather is never small news. Take care if you are in the area.

  184. Rawnaeris, FREEZE PEACHES says

    @Markita Lynda, freeze peaches just cracked me up on the last free speech thread. Its part of my nym for the giggles.

  185. Ichthyic says

    Lost concentration somewhere after theoretical calculus and never really regained it.

    Ditto. After 2 years of Statistics (applied and theoretical), which I felt was the bare minimum necessary to have a good grasp on what was needed for the best design of field experiments, I decided I likely should also have an understanding of advanced linear algebra (matrices being the main reason).

    boy was I wrong about that. I think I slept through 3/4 of that course.

    …and this, coming from someone as just mentioned having taken 2 YEARS of statistics!

    These days, you can pretty well just use modelling and analysis software on your ‘puter to friggen’ to design your experiments and analyze them, no maths or statistics knowledge needed.

    still, I don’t think all that statistics modelling was a waste. I find I have a much broader vision and can at least argue with journal reviewers that disagree with my results because they didn’t like the models used, etc.

    It’s resulted in publications that otherwise wouldn’t have been if I had to rely on saying something like: “Well, that’s what SAS said to use!”