This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Go back to sleep, squirrel. It’s still snowing.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
That nap looks cozy. I would like to go to there.
Mmm… I’ll be there soon. Trying to convince myself that, since I’m not actually working (which is what I stayed up to do), I should switch off and go to bed. It’s taking a while.
I know that feel, rq. “I really should just go to bed since I’m not working. But…” : )
As soon as Time Machine finishes, I’m going to the gym.
*sneezes*
Oh, bugger.
That’s North Carolina State Senator Tommy Tucker (Republican, as if you couldn’t have guessed).
Charlotte Observer link. Sometimes I love local and regional newspapers. They pay attention.
Tucker’s arrogant statement came on the heels of complaints about his latest proposal which is that local governments should no longer be required to publish legal notices about government decisions. For example, a plan to build a sewage treatment plant in your neighborhood does not require notification nor discussion.
This reminds me in some ways of the Emergency Manager law in Michigan which the Republican-dominated state government has used to simply dump all the local elected officials, cancel all contracts, and then do whatever the hell they please.
Republicans are failing when it comes to comprehending the concept of democracy.
Ok, fine, I’m calling it quits.
But before I go, here are some photos of the ice three years ago – mind, this is after all the major flooding/ice going had subsided. This is what was left behind.
(This is also an opportunity to overcome my fear of myself: I am (distantly) visible in two photos. Hey, I show my children all the time, why am I afraid to show myself? And it’s not like it’s all up-close-and-personal portraiture. Still. It feels like a big step. Three year old photos. Go me!)
Good night!
Wow. That’s a lot of ice.
(*applause* for what seems like a positive personal step? :) )
Sleep tight!
The latest FBI briefing on the Boston bombing shows two white guys as suspects. Video and still photos are up on FBI.gov.
At this time, the briefing is ongoing.
How appropriate is it to be really relieved/happy about that detail?
Link for FBI surveillance video:
http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston
The two “suspects” are currently classified as “persons of interest.”
@rq
those photos are amazing. Do you mind if I ask where they were taken? Totally stunning though, the buildings like little toothpick structures, easily crushed.
PS Portia That seems to be a common idea… I hope it’s a white guy – I’ve seen articles about it all over the place. A turning point in society’s discussion of racism? Or an effacing maneuver – if s/he’s white, we can ignore it easier?
Good night for real! :)
Ech yazikus while I’m still here… (bad flounce!) town called Pļaviņas, in Latvia. On the river Daugava. :)
The FBI noted that photos previously published by the Washington Post are not photos of the persons of interest and that publication of the wrong photos is causing a big waste of time.
Hello Everyone!
I am awake but not very alert. I stayed up too late last night…this morning…whichever! Reading on the computer, I’m such a menace. :p
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Ogvorbis
Now that’s an exciting dream! I loved the way your Boy saved the day. Krispy Kremes and whiskey! Dang! : )
Now I know how to thwart a tyrannosaurid.
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Oh! And loved the groaner! : D
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rq
I really enjoyed the pictures from your walk. Were those crocus peeking up through the grass?
Your little ones are so adorable. : ) Yay for getting outside!
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If you don’t want to be pissed off, send it to me. I woke up annoyed ’cause the alarm ruined a really interesting dream I was having. So I’m already ready. : ) *thumbsup*
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dianne
Exactly!
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FossilFishy(Anti-Vulcanist)
Yay for House!!
Is there an ETA for it’s arrival??
I’m nosey. : )
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carlie
Hope your free fish warms up soon. : )
If the person is white, we are less likely to get in a war with another country that person’s ancestors or that person once called home.
The crime is no more horrific at all. it’s not more excusable or less tragic. But we invaded *Grenada* fFs. If it turns out the bomber’s born in the US of parents from Cameroon, Tonga, or the Dominican Republic, we’re a bit more likely to turn one tragedy into many. And if the bomber is born of parents from Morocco, Malaysia, or Oman, we’re even more likely to turn one tragedy into many.
It’s not that I hope it’s a white person – I don’t care. I *do* hope that our government doesn’t start bombing villages because an expat bombed our marathon.
The two young men (guessing they are in their twenties), while appearing to be “white” with dark hair could still be Middle Eastern. We don’t have enough information to tell for certain.
We can tell that it is not two black guys, but that’s about as far it goes.
@rq- goodnight! sorry for keeping you up! I thought it looked similar to places on the baltic sea that I’ve been to.
Krasnaya Koshka
Good to hear from You! Good Luck on your check-in. : ) Look forward to your update after.
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Crip Dyke
Good Luck on your test. I know you’ll do great, ’cause you’re brilliant. *thumbsup*
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rq @ 6
As a fellow hider, I must say – CONGRATULATIONS!! This IS a big step and I am so proud of you! *big hugs*
And thank you for more awesome pictures. : )
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Portia @ 9
THIS. So much.
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Up-thread I noted that the FBI called the two guys “persons of interest,” which they did. But I should clarify that later in the press conference the FBI referred to the two guys several times as “suspects,” and also noted that the suspects should be considered armed and dangerous.
I have been advised by some of my fellow Pharyngulites to post this here. Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly’s organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions, has created a new poll on their site so you can make your voice heard about what you think will reduce gun violence. (Yes, I know it is an internet poll.)
http://action.americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/page/s/poll
There is also a petition to Congress to sign in the parent page.
http://action.americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/page/s/tell-congress
David Marjanović, from the previous thread.
I met her for the first time under very difficult circumstances. She was trying to keep her dying cat alive. I was going to Russia so I brought her (what I thought was) very good “korma” (food for animals). I was California-centric at the time. She was charismatic and so deliberate in her movements. Every motion of hers meant something. I was entranced. She also has a blog that six thousand Russians read so I had read her blog but really, who was I? A stupid American google-translated piff in her life. I only found her because I LiveJournal-searched “Russian lesbian” and she was first on the list, because she’d last posted.
After I first met her, I could not stop thinking about her. I went home and I was obsessed with her, a bit. But I knew it could never work. I wrote on my own blog about how much I was obsessing on her and she replied. We met in Prague two weeks later and shazam.
Our first year together was pretty difficult. We had to keep tossing the “slovar” back and forth or just sit and angrily type on our laptops. But mainly it was bliss. So it was worth it. We used online translators and body language and I already knew she was a great human from her blog and I had a blog of ten years so she could translate and read me, too. It was our blogs that got us through, really. That and her gorgeous face.
Salon’s coverage of the FBI briefing notes that “Internet sleuths identified one suspect’s cap.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/18/reports_fbi_to_release_picture/
Here’s a link that provides a good photo of the hat one of the suspects is wearing. This is the “internet sleuths” results:
http://imgur.com/xZLjPHl
Wired posted a detailed article about photos submitted to the FBI, including a panoramic image taken with an iPhone 4 by one of Wired’s freelance contributors.
@Koshka,
Makes my tale of moving 400 miles across a border to a country that predominantly speaks my mother tongue after furiously exchanging e-mails for a month look quite restrained in comparison!
Ms Crip Dyke & I met because I was searching for a book, and she had mentioned it online. I liked what she had said, and e-mailed her that – with absolutely no expectation that a person across a national border, even one as easily crossed as the US/Canada border, would ever be more than a distant friend.
7 weeks later we got together in person. 14 weeks after that, I had made being located in Canada a more important priority than, say, having a massively awesome rep in choosing a law school. 21 weeks after that, I was entirely moved out of my old house and attending law school across a border from all my old friends & family. And *I* have a hard time imagining getting together without speaking the language. Wow.
Well, thank goodness for your blogs! Good luck on the interview tomorrow.
Thanks, Crip Dyke! Life is an amazing thing. You just never know. I thought I was done with relationships at 38.
I was hunkered down into my bullshit job, but still taking Russian lessons because why not?
Thank you, ednaz! You’ve always been such a wonderful supporter of everyone.
News anchors are reporting that the FBI says the evidence associated with the Boston bombings is beginning to lean toward domestic perpetrators.
Too early to say definitively.
I just went and looked at the 8 pictures on my news feed.
They weren’t very clear IMO.
Could be white or middle eastern. Middle eastern covers a huge amount of human variation territory.
They seemed to be slightly below average height for American white males but who knows what that means.
It’s odd that no group has claimed the atrocity. Again, who knows what that means.
If they are competent murderers, they should be a long ways away by now. It’s been long enough they could be anywhere in the world. Hmmm, I suspect a lot of airports have security personnel holding those pictures and watching the lines right now.
It was theorized that there were at least two of them. Those pressure cookers full of nails and ball bearings were heavy, too heavy for one person to easily carry.
It does seem there were two of them. Which sort of rules out the lone crank in his garage.
Hopefully they will find them soon. They almost didn’t solve the Olympic Park bombing. Rudolph eventually plead guilty, but I doubt they had enough evidence to convict him otherwise.
I think we can expect to see better photos of the Boston bombing suspects soon. They said they were still working on them.
The news this week has been lousy. Here is a video of a sloth cuddling and grooming a cat.
anuran I just watched that whole thing. Cute. I can’t believe the cat was so patient!!!
Also, my mom just sent me an e-mail with four exclamation points. Internet is weird sometimes.
Love the comment about wanting to watch Kristin Bell watch that video. :D
If anyone hasn’t seen Kristen Bell and sloths: here
At the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, baby sloth.
It may not mean a lot to many people here, but hearing this from Britney Griner meant a lot to me.
Wish it could have happened a year ago.
Good luck with your check, Krasnaya Koshka – hope it goes perfectly!
Thank you, opposablethumbs! It’s actually not until next Thursday but I’m freaking out now.
About a month ago, I came into the lounge scared and sad after suffering a traumatic event. And everyone was very supportive. But now I get to come in here with GOOD news. After almost 2 years trying, I’m pregnant. I’m just so excited I had to share, though I know I’m not too well known here.
p.s. any morning sickness advice is welcome, blarg.
Forgive me, Crip Dyke, but I don’t know who Britney Griner is.
Krasnaya Koshka
Your 22 got something in my eye. A beautiful human experience, difficulties and all, told beautifully. Thank you for sharing that. And best of luck on your check.
Dutch Girl!
Congratulations! So glad to hear about this joyful turn in your life after what you’d been through.
rq and enaz
The builders are saying that we’ll be in by the end of May. That’s a month over what we estimate the contract stipulates. I can live with that. Today they finished putting up the walls on the shed. I’m sort of going to miss our 1/3 of a shed. It’s been that way so long that that is how I think of it now. :)
FossilFishy, I’ve loved you for a long time, as a great father and a great guy. You given me hope many times. Thank you!
Ogvorbis:
I *should* have known that. I think I was recalling the conveyor belt, and forgetting that they are deep fried, rather than baked, like the MUCH BETTER Dunkin Donuts. Let the flaming begin (in honor of Chris Clarke).
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cicely:
I like the glazed donuts only. Even then, they have to be fresh from the
ovenfryer. I used to like the crullers, but as I’ve gotten older, I find them faaaaaaaaaaaaaar too sweet.I like Dunkin Donuts because they bake theirs-AND, more importantly-because they have the Chocolate Glazed Donuts (and donut holes), which are lightly glazed with just enough glazey goodness to hit that sweet spot.
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dianne:
The Ancient Aliens are using helicopteres now?
I didn’t like bagels when I was younger. I *really* didn’t like cream cheese. I haven’t tried either in over 10 years, so perhaps I might like them now. But fresh Krispy Kreme donuts are high on the list of goodly treats.
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One thing I do not understand is why Donuts are served as freaking breakfast. Every restaurant I’ve worked at, as well as the resort I work(ed) at have donuts as breakfast whenever there is an employee meeting in the morning.
Not bagels, blueberry muffins (totes my go to favorite), cereal, oatmeal, or anything even *remotely* good for you. Not even plain donuts (which, when fresh, are quite nice with a glass of chocolate milk). No, they like to use deep friend Krispy Kreme donuts. If you’re extra lucky, you’ll get glazed with sprinkles, or even the awesomely nasty creme filled ones.
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Lynna:
Now I have an image of Captain Planet whipping out some JD to save the day…
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In anti-abortion news:
Once more, it is all about letting a woman die, rather than giving her a life saving abortion, even in the face of a nonviable pregnancy (even if it was a viable pregnancy, and even if her health wasn’t affected, she should have the right to have an abortion if she chooses; it is not the business of any government to dictate what a woman can do with her body).
Dutchgirl #40:
If you’re actually vomiting, make sure you have something in your stomach to throw up! Undiluted gastric juices are vile, and dry heaving is even worse. Even plain water makes it slightly better. And of course if you are actively throwing up, it’s important to keep hydrated!
Very basic, plain, carbohydrate foods seemed to help me (plain toast, plain crackers). Just munching on these throughout the day made me feel slight better (or at least seemed to).
Of course ginger is always touted as THE remedy against nausea: there is some (weak) evidence to support this. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10793599
Congratulations, and hope the sickness goes away soon!
Iceland’s Incest App
I did not know that Iceland had such a small population.
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Ok, the notice is seven years old, but it is getting exposure now. While I’m slightly confused, I am happy to hear that one McDonald’s has adopted a pro transgender bathroom policy.
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Giliell:
Hugs.
Sorry the little one has angina :(
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rq:
Your friend doesn’t seem to be the skeptical kind. Does she often believe things that people tell her without verifying the claims?
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Krasnaya:
I imagine this has something to do with my desire to have someone important in my life. In a society that constantly reinforces the idea that you’re not complete/whole if you don’t meet the love of your life, it would be hard to avoid absorbing this message. Even though I don’t believe that I’m incomplete, the level of import that I grant to having someone to share my life with is still likely affected by that social message.
I hope your worries turn out to be unfounded, and that you’ll continue to be able to live in Russia with your gf. You deserve it.
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rq:
I don’t know how you do it, living with so much ice on a regular basis. I get cranky when the temp dips below 50 F.
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re: white men behind the Boston Marathon Bombing-
How long before someone comes along and whines that people are being racist by hoping the bombers are white?
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Crip Dyke @16:
I totally agree with you.
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Dutchgirl:
I remember your post about that horrifying night. I hope you’re doing better with regard to that incident.
Congratulations on the pregnancy!
BTW, you don’t have to be a well known person to come here and find support. You are going to be welcomed no matter what. So pull up a chair, have a seat and get comfy (if that’s what you want to do).
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Dutchgirl – Congratulations! (Unfortunately I don’t have any advice to pass along regarding morning sickness.)
Howdy, Krasnaya Koshka; long time no read! Hope your check-in goes well.
:)
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*grooooooan!*
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Sniny new Thread!
That squirrel is obviously dreaming of how it plans to eat my house, when it grows up.
:(
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Yes.
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Congratulations, Dutchgirl!
*fireworks&roses* but no *champagne*. We’ll save that for the young’uns’ boffo debut.
:)
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Be nice if it catches on.
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You and me both, Tony!
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*nodding*
Though if pulling up a chair and getting hideously un-comfy is your thing, you can do that, too—though I, for one, may wince in unsolicted, unwanted sympathy.
:)
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Curious Chloride @45, I’ve been taking ginger pills and sipping ginger tea. I don’t think its really helping, but my burps taste like ginger now. I’m not vomiting much, mostly just feel like I’m about to. Dry bread does get boring though, doesn’t it.
Tony! @46, Thanks! I am doing much better. The detective and the DA seem optimistic, although they’re not telling me much. I’m much more focused on Lima Bean than evil-headed bastards.
Hekuni Cat, thanks. No advice is cool too. I believe I will get plenty on many subjects whether I ask or not.
And now, its nap time.
My doctor thinks cinnamon helps with nausea—and the cinnamon burps are for free!
:)
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Ginger Burps could be an interesting band name or adult beverage…
Or take ginger and cinnamon and have The Spice Burps!
:) :)
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Then again, if the nausea continues despite such combined treatment, The Spice Hurls.
*running away fast*
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Yay for Dutchgirl!!!!
Has anyone here seen Easy A?
Totally burnt out a day too soon & took a break to watch a movie. I really, really like it. The parents are hysterical.
@Cat
I didn’t think a lot of people would know Britney Griner, but as women athletes go, she’s a pretty big deal. There’s a lot of freak by parents – especially in places like Texas – about letting their little babies go to a college if they’re going to be on a sports team -showering naked! Gasp! – with lesbians. I think in women’s professional sports its not nearly such a big deal, but college sports teams really have had a problem with out queer women. Having the #1 woman college athlete come out as queer – even if she did it with a month left in school 2 weeks after her season was over – might make a few people reconsider. They may not want their precious baby girl playing with big scary lesbian, but they would love to have their precious baby girl dishing assists to the tallest, strongest, most dominating forecourt player in women’s college basketball.
And…there are a lot of queer women athletes who feel pressure from their programs not to come out because of that dynamic. It’s “not good for recruiting” to have too many lesbians on your team. And so queer women live in the closet because they want talented people in the class below them to play with. Of course, since they may be closeted, an athlete doesn’t realize when she doesn’t have to stay closeted, and the cycle continues. Even the women on the UConn team, which won the title again this year, look up to Griner. If she thinks its okay to be out & queer, maybe the players themselves, and not just their parents, will be less afraid of being out or playing with someone who is.
Anyway, that’s totally rambling. I could probably have said “high profile basketball player” and you could fill in the rest, but I am happy about this. Women’s college basketball is the only sport that really interests me.
Dutchgirl
Congratulations. As far as nausea goes, we’ve had great luck with aloe vera juice, although the taste does take some getting used to.
Hey all y’all (<— Lookit! I speaks a bit of a dialect!)
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I don't get the time to engage in conversation, but I still read, and…fucking A, you Americans have had the week that shit built. I'm so sorry.
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Speaking of dialects. Dunkin donuts. Are these a pastry that are eaten at baptisms?
I’m going to really spark a war now… I don’t like Dunkin’ OR Krispy Creme. I, oddly enough, prefer the donuts at my local supermarket.
*dives for cover*
Dutchgirl, grats on the hordelet! I hope the nausea goes away soon.
Parsnip is now an ancient 7 days old. He also weighs 153 grams, up from a mere 108 when he was 2 days old. He was passed around at work today from coworker to client and back again and everyone marveled at how plush his fur is and how big his feet are.
…I wanna meet this guy some day. O.o
Amblebury:
I am so borrowing ‘the week that shit built’.
Btw, if you dont have Dunkin Donuts where you live, what do police officers munch on?
Rowanvt:
S’allright. Your awesomeness cannot extend to every corner of your life. We can grant you this questionable culinary preference.
Just dont start appreciating peas. Theres a mildly deranged penguin and a queer shoop we can send after you. Plus cicely will send her equine allies…
:::ducks:::
But… but I like peas. Fresh peas still in the pod and off the vine. And uncooked spinach. Cooked spinach is nasty.
I… I have a kitten and I’m not afraid to use his cute!
Rowanvt:
Ok. You win.
You have me in stitches laughing at the kitten comment. I think I woke my neughbors with my laugh.
Btw, you are correct about spinach…
My neighbors even…
Congratulations, dutchgirl!
Oh, and congratulations dutchgirl! As far as the sickness goes, I found keeping my blood sugar up was the only thing that helped. Which confuses those who think pregnancy sickness is some sort of gastric infection. Yes. They exist.
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They munch on crime, Tony, they munch on crime.
Hahaha, spice burps! I should use that as a threat. More effective than kitten cute?
Azkyroth#58
As long as you’re cis and straight, I’m sure he’d love to meet you too. (He’s local, and a couple of my friends have worked for him, which is what I base the previous statement on)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy#Possibility_of_human_tetrachromats
While it’s a little more correct to state that some women have the ability to see more colours (and, in addition, some men have a biological inability to perceive all the colours that most people see, because of problems with the genes for opsins on their X chromosome), your BFF is not entirely wrong.
YAY FOR THING LIVING IN YOU :D
Figures. :(
Dollars to donuts it’s the “men have no idea what ‘mauve’* is” bullshit.
*granted, I still find it hard to process that name not corresponding to a more-yellow-than-orange yellow-orange earth tone…
<_<
Haven't seen if anyone on FTB picked this up yet…
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/18/harvard-atheists-shocked-at-exclusion-from-boston-bombing-memorial-service/
A volunteer for the Harvard Humanist Community lost both her legs, and her daughter was also severely injured. Her family's asking for donations here:
Where my mind went:
http://skin-horse.com/2010/todays-comic-157/
http://skin-horse.com/2010/todays-comic-158/
(Skin Horse: Bending gender preconceptions since 2007!)
…magenta has more purple-pink than it has red. Dafuq? O.o
Congratulations, Dutchgirl!
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rowanvt, it’s good to read updates about how well the kitty is doing
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Pteryxx,
:(
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Azkyroth, I have no idea how mauve looks. Brownish? [google] Oh, purplishly-greish. Huh. I’ll forget by tomorrow anyway.
For Manly Mauve you can google Don Johnson wearing mauve Miami Vice. : D
Any of you ever hear a Limpkin? No? Go here.http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/limpkin/sounds
One’s been calling from the pond across the street for the last couple of hours.
Shake N’ Bake? Ancho Cherry BBQ? Beercan Gruiform?
Congratulations, Dutchgirl! : D
I can’t eat Shake N’ Bake anymore. It’s a phrase used in veterinary medicine for a snail bait toxicity case. The snail bait causes muscle tremors/spasms that ratchet up the animal’s temperature into fatal levels unless the tremors are controlled. Shake n’ Bake.
I have an exam tomorrow, and while I know the material reasonably well, I can’t focus on studying, but am nervous enough that settling down to sleep isn’t going to be super-easy :(
Azkyroth
Best of luck.
Azkyroth, I have found a burst of physical activity helps if followed by falling asleep listening to music. I choose music either without words, or words I don’t understand (I usually use Enya), and I make myself ‘think’ the music. The music itself becomes my thoughts and I fall asleep faster and sleep better, especially when I’m stressed.
Maybe something like that can help you?
I started to do one of those answer everything comments but it got silly.
*hugs* for everyone.
esp
Dutchgirl: congrats. Eat bland food and drink lots of water.
Krasnaya Koshka. That was the best love story I have heard in a long while.
As a color, a shade of purple-grey.
I attended an athletic event in Sweden a while ago.
There was a team from Iceland. Maybe a dozen people.
They looked like they were all family and they all looked like the SATW comics.
(complete with sparkles)
(they were really, really pretty)
(really)
Good morning!
Thank you to Krasnaya Koshka and Crip Dyke for sharing their impressive love stories. It made my morning a happy morning!
And so did Dutchgirl‘s happy exciting news – congratulations! I do not envy you, as I do not wish to go through all that again, but I’m glad you have succeeded, and I can only hope the side-effects go easy on you. I see the ginger tea/bland foods have already been suggested. Sometimes water with a touch of lemon can help, and keep a glass by the bedside.
What sometimes* worked was waking up slowly (if possible) – don’t jump out of bed at the first alarm, set about 3, to give your body time to lounge about in half-wakefulness for a while, maybe while doing some mild stretches.
*Sometimes.
Owlmirror
Thanks for that paper on colour-seeing – I was tempted yesterday to go out looking for it, but seeing as how the argument was that Guys only see 16 colours! We do not know what pumpkin or mauve is!, I don’t think it will help much. But I will read it, and then I might send it to her, by pointing out the significant differences between the (entirely sexist) claims from the list and the actual science. This will take time. I was actually thinking of a study that compared seeing the colour red between men and women in Europe/America and Asia. Hints?
(Yes, Tony, she seems to be in a phase where anything that sounds vaguely plausible and conspiratorial is True. I convinced her on the fluoride issue, not going to try for the GMOs, but if she starts going into biological gender roles and all that, I’m going to have to try to do something. You’re awesome, by the way!)
So yes, Azkyroth, you got it – I owe you… dollars? Donuts? Let me know. I only responded because her husband tagged the list with ‘It’s funny because it’s true!’ and I was not in a sexism-is-funny mood at all. Good luck with your exam!! *hugs*?
I like cooked spinach. In lasagne and salmon strudel with champignons. MMMMMMmmmmm.
But fresh is many, many times better.
*waves* for ednaz (Manly Mauve? Really? :D), Beatrice, chigau, Dalillama, Portia, rowanvt and everyone else!
PS yazikus – If I may ask, which places in the Baltics have you been to?
Azkyroth & CripDyke — Best of luck on exams!
Krasnaya — best of luck to you, as well!
Dutchgirl — Congratulations on the parasite! For the “morning*” sickness, I’d suggest bland foods (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, and the like) and plenty of fluids.
As for me, we dropped Partner in Seattle on our way to the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival. My baby sister and her husband made a documentary, uh, documenting her search for her birth parents. (It’s called “Closure”, if anybody is interested.) It turned out really well — and no, I’m not just saying that because I’m, like, obligated to; I really enjoyed it.
*because we all know it ain’t limited to mornings!
Ok, going to ask for help on this one – need a good post/article on casual sexism – what it is, how it works, and most especially, how it inhibits the choices we make. Preferably not too long, not too caustic, but clear and to the point. More than one is ok.
(Yeah, I got a response: It’s still funny, you said it’s true yourself, so you should just laugh at it and brush it off; people have a choice in how they act, they don’t have to abide by this list; when some real woman-hating stuff gets around, I’ll be all over it! [/short version] So while the reply seems pretty dense, there were a few things in it that says this person can be saved. (Or at least, brought to the thinking-trough.) Please help me!)
Good luck with the exam, Azkyroth!
And congratulations Dutchgirl! Hoping the nausea is conquered (or just goes away) soon, and that everything goes smoothly.
Anyone watching MSNBC or some other news? There’s been a shootout in Watertown, Mass., explosions, and the Boston Globe is reporting one of the Marathon bombing suspects is in custody. They’re talking to someone and apparently all this happened right outside his apt. Now there’s a bomb robot going through a car across the street he says.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17817173-chaotic-scene-in-boston-area-after-explosions-gunfire-fatal-shooting-of-mit-officer?lite
On CNN here in Australia, and following on Twitter. Stretching the laws of probability a bit to think that the 2 suspects hunted hours after the FBI put out the photos of 2 suspects for the marathon bombings are unrelated events.
Local news says the two incidents (shooting and marathon bombing) aren’t related. But it all seems a bit suspiciously temporally close.
Oops, and refresh on local news does connect the two events: shoot-out at MIT followed by a chase followed by a suspect in custody.
My mistake – but not yet any direct link to the Boston marathon. Officially.
Good morning
Yay for Dutchgirl!
No magical recipe, sadly, but deep sympathies. With #1 I would have been happy if it had just been morning sickness (no I wouldn’t have, because I wouldn’t have known) because I puked all day long to the point that my mum asked me if she should order pizza or if she should just flush the money down the toilet.
Azkyroth
Good luck!
re: Havard Humanists
1. It’s shitty that countries (the USA is not alone in this, Germany does it, too, with 30% non-religious) pretend that everybody is a believer in times of need
2. Would it be too much for the government to say “you were victims of a horrible crime. The attack was against all of us so we will all share your medical bills, you are fully covered.”?
3. Epstein is an asshole for making it all about him. Sorry, that article reads more like ” They didn’t call my name, me, me, me, I, I, I” han about the victims.
4. Serves them right. So they licked the Interfaith boots clean, they were good doggies and they’re still left at the door. But my hopes are not high that it will make them realize this.
rq
So, do we get to declare all great male artists in history to be women in drag and refuse entrance to guys at art-school because what do you want there if you can’t tell the different between magenta and carnation and cannot even learn it?
+++
Talking about art, I fear my brother in law is becoming An Artist™ (which is not to be confused with an artist).
So he had his exposition and I’d thought I’d give back a bit of constructive feedback suggesting that he might want to work with models or at least a big mirror. Because he has obvious problems, especially when it comes to female breasts. He places nipples (in men and in women) at the highest visible point of the armpit, about 2″ below the collarbones, which is NOT where nipples are, especially not in heavy-busted women. And yes, the tit that’s further away from the viewer shouldn’t be bigger than the closer one.
The reply: “Oh, but that’s totally irrelevant!!!”
Duh, if I were a painter and wanted people to look at what I want to say with my picture I wouldn’t want them to be distracted by “there’s something seriously wrong with those tits”.
Dude, you’re not Picasso. And even he first mastered the art of drawing human bodies correctly before he went to deconstruct them.
Giliell
I like your argument! Thanks!
As for your BiL, well… :/ Perhaps he’s going for an extremely-sexist cubism that people will understand in about 50 to 100 years. You know, Check it out, this is how they saw bodies in the 21st century! *giggle* They were soooo weird!
(Alternatively, some lessons in anatomy and anatomical drawing might come in handy…)
So it is the marathon bombers. Black hat dead, White hat suspect at large in Watertown area.
fuck, I used to live in Watertown.
Leaves the question, who’s the naked dude in custody?
Update.
According to the news, one bomber has been killed, one cop at MIT killed, and one guy is on the run, probably with an assault rifle and grenades.
They still don’t know who they are. The report says they are white or middle eastern, which doesn’t narrow it down very much.
Also said they had grenades FWIW. Whoever they are, they seem well organized.
It’s late here, probably know more tomorrow.
the naked guy who was taken into custody later died. Same guy.
Weird, I saw the footage of his arrest and he was walking unaided and looked uninjured(from afar and through the TV).
Second suspect apparently surrounded, ? has explosives on him.
Boston Police Scanner feed
who the fuck knows what’s going on:
(source)
Well, I guess I’ll head off to college and come back to some news with a chance of being correct tonight
Part of the headline in Croatian papers “quotes” the police saying “Explosives are everywhere”. I’m presuming everywhere is supposed to be Watertown. Um. :/
it’s obviously (hopefully) sensationalist crap. still…
According to the BBC:
If so, that can’t be the person being walked to the car unless there are some very poorly disciplined police officers involved.
Nick @108,
naked guy is cleared now from what I read.
As an aside, CPR on an arrested trauma victim is theater and utterly pointless, since you aren’t going to fix the multiple holes that caused the arrest in time anyway.
It seems that during the police chase they were throwing explosives out the windows. Also they were using them during the firefight.
Watertown, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge, Waltham, Arlington, that whole area is under lockdown. Mass transit suspended. No automobile traffic allowed. Businesses closed. Everyone stay home and lock your doors is what they’re saying.
That damn Limpkin is still squawking! Albeit, not incessantly as before and somewhat less enthusiastically. Poor fella needs give up and get some sleep. Probably too damn tired to do anything by now, even if a hottie flew in with the rising sun..Give it up, buddy. Try again tonight, it’s Friday!
According to BBC, AP are reporting that the suspects are “from a region near Chechnya”. The Police have not confirmed this.
Thanks to all who sent ‘well wishes’ concerning my recent emotional downturn. Feeling better this week despite all the ‘depressing’ news items.
Thanks, rq,. I need that! Bookmarked…
… and this ^ plus the update @639. Glad to see Wellesley school the principal.
*waving back at and pounce-hugging*, Cicely!
[You groan at Og’s Hadyn joke and then come up with ‘Spice Burps’ and ‘Spice Hurls’ !?]
BTW, congrats to Dutchgirl. Good job on all the … ahem…hard work. As nothing worked for nausea abatement in my case, I just hope you’re not blessed as I was with All Day/ All Night Sickness for seven of the nine months!
NBC News have apparently named the suspects, and says they are brothers – I don’t have a link.
Nick Gotts
From Chechnya… White Muslims??? However will the public process this one? /snark (I know, they’ll take it from the Muslim angle. *sigh*)
But my heart goes out to Boston, it cannot be easy living in this state of anxiety and uncertainty. I hope the second man is in custody soon!
+++
Yup, it’s a record-breaking flood year here, this year… Remember those photos I put up last night? Three years ago? Here’s what that same place looks like now. They broke previous records (all historical ones) at 9.30 this morning. They build a retaining wall (?) last year for something close to a million lats (that’s 2 million USD, approx.), and even that has been overcome. This town is upriver from us, and it’s usually one of the last stop points for ice (there’s a sharpish bend in the river just downstream from it where the pile-up always begins), so we should be ok in any case, but there’s more ice heading its way down the river, and it’s arriving sometime today/tonight.
Ordinarily, I’d love to be all over this – if I had a second car, I’d pack up the kids and go down with the camera – but seeing as how water levels on the road are at 70 cm and they have a helicopter and all available firefighting units standing by for possible rescue needs, I think I’m just going to sit quietly at home and be glad we bought a house on a hill!
(Yesterday, the next town over – which, incidentally, is called Ogre (YES, I live next to a town called Ogre) – almost lost its mayor, who was pulled into the river when the dam they were reinforcing was broken. Luckily, he and the other man who fell in got out of the river, but it was a close one.)
Sorry for straying off the Boston Marathon. Or not talking about the Texas explosion. I am thinking of both those places. I just need a bit of distraction with local news.
Probably. And they may be correct.
Aaaannnd… listening to rorschach ‘s link to Boston scanner traffic… They are now talkikng about ‘controlled detonations’ ?!
Well, I remember how they turned from Freedom Fighters into terrorists in no time after 9/11.
I think if Yugoslavia still existed and broke up now the story would be a different one.
+++
rq
It’s totally OK to talk about other things (and as Stephanie Zwan said, to look away). The people in your neighbourhood matter, too, and I hope they got their stuff up the sairs before the houses were flooded.
+++
And something totally different:
I received the second best grade possible for my term paper. “Excellent paper”. I has a happy. Maybe I really should see if there’s a conference I could submit it to…
Giliell
Oh wow, congratulations on the grade!
Maybe you should look into a conference!
wut
(Chechnya’s about 2500 km east of the former Yugoslavia).
ChasCPeterson
If Yugoslavia were to break up now, the Muslim population would be seen differently now than it was then. I’m pretty sure that’s what was meant (no specific relation to Chechnya as such).
Boston police have just twitted (The Grauniad): “#WANTED: Suspect identified as 19 year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev [white hat] of Cambridge. Suspect considered armed & dangerous. pic.twitter.com/jFdHLGsrGc“.
The Grauniad adds: “It has also been confirmed to the Guardian that the dead suspect [black hat] is Tamerlan Tsarnaev.”
Forget those guys in Boston. Felch Grogan tweeted this last night.
Yep. The slymers have just accused freethoughtblogs of responsibility for the Boston bombings.
What a maroon.
Fucking hell. Any criticism of that tweet will of course be shrugged off because “it’s just a joke.” Those fuckers really don’t have a shred of compassion do they?
FossilFishy
They’re compassionate as all hell, hey – we don’t have a sense of humour. :(
Honestly, the mind boggles constantly at these people.
Baboons? Was that twitter looking in a mirror or something?
PZ #123
Golly. That Felch Grogan fellah has a bright future in comedy.
Giliell –
Grats on the grade!
rq –
It’s flooding here too. : / Well, not here, as I’m in Des Moines. But at home it’s flooding. The fire department sent out emails about filling sandbags. I feel equal parts guilty and relieved that I’m not there at the moment. : p (They’ll get lots of volunteer help).
So I’ve been dealing with a pretty bad off and on depression. On top of which, I’m a stressed out wreck cause of work issues. And then I caught a cold, and now my right ear is blocked. Yay.
*sigh* And of course now I’m back in the “oh no one wants to hear about Kitty’s issues, she’s a little whiner. She’s not dying of cancer or losing her home or having crazy ex-boyfriends come to stalk them” type of mood, so now I’m making myself feel worse.
Yay.
Portia
Ah, spring! What’s not to love? :) I hope everyone’s ok, and that it keeps to a low and manageable level with no big losses for anybody.
Your problems are not trivial. I’m really sorry you’re dealing with yucky sickness on top of everything else. *hot soup* and *hugs*. : (
Katherine!
Tell me about Kitty’s issues!
Yep springtime is a joy. : p (I think I was unclear, Weather Gods. When I said I wanted winter to end, I meant I’d like to skip straight to summer. Thx.) We have a list of what gets flooded at what water level. From about 10 inches of flood to about 19 inches. I think we’re supposed to top out at 13 inches. We’ll see.
@Katherine/Kitty.
Parsnip wants to hear about your cruddy day/work/health. Please indulge the 8 day old kitten.
Portia
I think the weather-gods are demanding more peas.
Please leave your pea-popsicles closer to the water.
It did. Remember that warm hour a few days ago? That was your Summer.
rq, it’s really funny you should say that, because yesterday someone described the hail as “pea-sized.” O.o
*paging cicely, cicely to the Lounge please, there’s one all tee’d up for you*
Kitty
*hugs*
We’re listening.
See? They’re sending you a hint, Portia!
I suspected as much. Ah well, time to have spiced cider and pumpkin pie again, eh?
rq
Good point…The Power of The Pea is Plentiful and Perpetual. Feeeeear them.
—
I checked in before the seminars started today at 8am. Packed all my stuff into the car but I don’t think I’m checked out of the hotel room yet. Seriously considering napping in the room during the second session since the checkout time isn’t for 3 hours.
Azkyroth – Good luck on your exam.
Kat – *hugs*
This is bad, but not as bad as it could have been. The probable bombers are white so hopefully people will shut up about “Arabs” for a while, but they’re Islamic so probably they won’t shut up all that much. No one seems to be claiming that they’re state supported so no invasions planned using the bombings as an excuse, but they are immigrants so expect a bunch of new laws restricting immigration in the US and probably other countries in the next few months.
While we’re calling people “evil” though, what about the people who disregarded safety regulations and cut corners, eventually causing their fertilizer factory to blow up and the people who allowed the factory to be built near houses and schools (or schools to be built around a potentially explosive factory) rather than risk offending donors by passing or enforcing zoning laws?
I did secure myself another feline. I got rid of the one who was a massive drain on my happiness, and now I have another one who is much sweeter and much more willing to be my friend.
Say hi to Houdini.
@rowanvt:
Kitty wants a picture of Parsnip… will make her happier I think.
Forgot to add my good wishes to the pile for Azkyroth! Good luck!
–
*scritches* for Houdini.
“got rid of”
?
Go Giliell!!!
Leave for my torts exam in 5 hours.
12 hours from now I’ll be done, done, DONE.
Of course, I’m panicked that I only have 12 hours.
Katherine,
A cat that is miserable in a particular home and pees everywhere can become a calm, well-adjusted cat in another home. Sometimes you cannot tell why a particular cat is unhappy with a particular home.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
New POTENTIALLY* habitable planets.
The star Kepler 62 is a K2 dwarf with 20% the luminosity of the sun. It is in the Lyra constellation, 1200 light years away.
It has five known planets, two of which may be hospitable for life.
The planet Kepler 62 e is at the inner edge of the habitable zone (orbital period 122 days) and has a radius 60% larger than the Earth.
Its sibling Kepler 62 f is 40% larger than Earth and has a 267 day orbit, well within the habitable zone.
The star Kepler 69 is a G dwarf in Cygnus 2700 ly away. It has 80% of the luminosity of the sun.
The planet kepler 69 b is too close, but 69 c is at a distance compareable to Venus and is possibly habitable. It has a radius 70% larger than the Earth.
(* just because it is within the habitable zone says nothing about other factors like thickness of atmosphere, presence of a magnetic field, tectonic processes, axial tilt or abundance of water)
Incidentally, a “brown dwarf” star has been discovered at roughly the same distance as Barnard’s star.
Katherine
Houdini looks awesome! Is there a reason for the name, besides the physical resemblance? :)
O hai!
The Top 5 Most Irritating Terms In Evolution Reporting!
kthxbai
In a crock pot or graduation to crackpot?
Durex’s vibrating pants: foreplay gropes its way to the future:
They should rename it “fundiewear” to better match the purchasers of p0rn.
*waves poms-poms wildly and does arhythmic chant for Crip Dyke*
Almost there! You can do it !
Yes. Our old cat Midnight got stressed by our activities fostering cats for the local humane society, and started peeing on everything in sight. Which led to us freaking out and yelling at him whenever he got up on the furniture, which increased his stress, which made him pee more. It was horrible: unhappy cat, or learn to live with urine-scented everything.
It was all resolved when Skatje took him away to her new apartment in Madison. He’s apparently calm and well-adjusted again.
@rq:
He can break out of cages, apparently.
Katherine
Have you tested this yet? :o If yes, this is impressive.
They’ll do what an old acquaintance has just done, which is text message people randomly to rant about how Chechens aren’t actually white.
Sigh. My hermitage doesn’t work when assholes can still contact me.
Isn’t Chechnya in the Caucasus region? As in, why white people are incorrectly called Caucasian? They’re more Caucasian than any of the rest of us. Not that it matters.
Home, sweet home
Apparently I don’t have to stay in class until 5pm, it was a big confusion and it all cleared up nicely including two additional free days.
And it’S somewhat nice coming home, waiting for the family to arrive…
Good luck for you, Crip Dyke
Chas
What rq said.
Katherine
Gorgeous kitty. He looks a bit like my friend’s cat, the one who loves to share catfood with the little one :)
Giliell,
Oh, you mean poor Bosnian Muslims would have gotten all the blame to go with the general shit card they got dealt?
—-
Katherine,
Your problems aren’t trivial. Share them if that would make you feel better.
—–
Portia,
I guess this proves God exists and still can’t aim for shit.
—
Beatrice
Here’s a few *hugs* just for you.
Sounds like you could use them.
rq,
Did I come off as that cranky? I am a bit, but didn’t realize it was so obvious :)
(Thanks)
rq:
Today must be ‘Tony learns new stuff’ day. I found out earlier that Prohibition in the US did not cause alcohol consumption to increase. Now I just found out what strudel and champignon are.
****
FossilFishy:
Yeah, you are likely right. But to preempt those slymers:
people died in this tragedy. Many people are wounded. Many more have had their lives shattered. There are some things that you should not joke about. Take your humor, shove it, and shut up for once. This is not the time for your irrational hatred of FtB.’
Katherine:
Sorry to hear about your depression. Hopefully you will come out of this on-cycle quickly.
Of course we care about you and will listen to you.
Have you made any more progress on the second book?
*hugs*for Katherine and Beatrice.
Your problems aren’t trivial at all, they’re very important, even if it feels like they’re insignificant compared to other people’s. We’ve most all been there, I think. I know that sometimes I feel bad bringing my stuff up, especially when other folks are having troubles too, but that’s part of what we’re here for, giving and getting support when we need it.
I’m cranky today for sure. I think I’ve just had to deal with people for too long without a significant break. Introverted tendencies are showing themselves. Hopefully the two hour drive down to my gramma’s house this afternoon will be enough of a recharge/decompress period.
Buried alive: the premature obituaries:
blf@152,
3 Dead Trolls in a Baggie predicted those smarty pants back in the 1990s, sort of:
I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to embed the video, but I screwed up.
So the tip of one of my fingers has been slightly swollen and mildly tender since Tuesday. I di not know why. I did not jam it or anything similar. Perhaps an animal bite? In any case, it has not gotten worse and only registers about a 3 in the annoyance scale. Any thoughts in how to get the swelling down?
Tony
That happens to me sometimes. Unfortunately, the only thing I’ve found that helps is time; it never lasts longer than a week, IME.
Moar hugs for portia
Have you been around to see StevoR’s practice of giving “Western” status to any non-Western nation that looked advanced or progressive enough to him? It’s more or less like that.
Thanks, Dalillama. Hugs back.
—
yeah, I recall “learning” that Japan is a Western nation.
I’m a little foggy brained right now, so I’m trying to parse what you said correctly. I hope my comment didn’t come across as StevoResque.
Tony
An anti-insect-bite cream / salve of some kind? Soaking in warm saltwater may help take the swelling down, too, plus has disinfecting properties.
Check to see if there are any puncture wounds and keep an eye on it. If it gets any more annoying, you might want it checked out.
Also, I can’t believe you didn’t know what strudel was. I think traditionally it’s made with apples (original, and still the best!) but my mum had this great recipe with salmon and spinach and mushrooms and rice and boiled eggs in a crispy flaky pastry jacket. Yumyum.
+++
re: having insignificant problems
I’m sure we’ve all been there, and it’s one of the reasons I stick around here. Some days I feel like nobody’s responding to me or ignoring me or doesn’t want me here, but I know (no matter how much I don’t believe it sometimes) that, if I was to come out and complain about anything here, I would get a supportive response. Even if I am being ridiculous. Nobody would be outright dismissive. And actually, just thinking of some issues in those terms, it gets easier to deal with them, without even posting about them.
That’s why this place rocks so much, all the time.
My birthday is coming up (not that imminent, don’t worry) and it’s making me cranky even though I’m not of the mindset that getting old(er) is bad, and heck, I’m not even that old, but I hate being reminded that I should be doing all kinds of other things instead of letting the world pass me by (thank you, advertising, pop culture and mass media!). How’s that for insignificant? I’m living some people’s dream and I’m bothered that I can’t be doing something else. *sigh*
Speaking of imminent, Youngest is threatening bipedal locomotion any week now… He’s already capable, when he doesn’t notice he’s doing it. Here’s to the human race!
We know more this morning.
1. The two brothers were from Checknya.
2. They were Islamic extremists.
3. They may have had terrorist training in Checknya. One report says they spent a year back there.
4. They seem to know what they are doing with homemade bombs and weapons. They grenades they had seem to have been home made.
As to what Checknya and Islam has to do with bombing a running event in Boston, I’m not really seeing it. I may never see it either, not being a fan of random violence and murder. Oh well, it’s winding down and we will know more by the hour.
Except for the retaliation by our terrorist wannabes. Usually after something like this, a few mosques are fire bombed and a few random Moslems attacked. If the police are smart, evey mosque in the USA will have some sort of watchers. They usually attack them at night for obvious reasons. The mosque nearest my house was fire bombed not so long ago…by xian terrorists.
It’s already happening: http://jezebel.com/it-took-two-whole-days-for-a-random-muslim-to-get-assau-476156729
Why are white people called white anyway?
I’m a pale pinkish tan.
raven:
I’m pretty sure it’s just in contrast to the time when “colored” was an acceptable term for anybody not in that pale pinkish group.
Portia:
You are safe. You came off as Portia-esque. Yoy are nowhere close to the individual you used as a comparison point.
Yeah, white people are so white. (I’ve loved this poem for a long time.)
They lived in Imnan square, one of them went to CRLS.
(I look slightly olive in fluorescent lights in winter. Spooky. But my legs are almost always glaring white, I should use them as reflectors.)
The attorney giving this presentation just said that someone with a living will might be in a situation where they “need an IV for food and water” …*headdesk* Sure hope they don’t pump mashed potatoes into anybody’s veins.
rq,
olive/grey, but close enough
Are you me?
Thanks Tony.
Well that was anticlimactic. Damnit, I coulda slept in 45 more minutes D:
Portia
As long as the pumping isn’t done by the lawyers themselves, I’m pretty sure patients everywhere are safe…
Beatrice
Dunno… We’re both short, but I don’t understand a word of Croatian. You don’t seem to have any children. Alter-ego?
Azkyroth
I gather it went better than expected? Are congratulations and a stiff drink in order?
Now she’s telling me the opposite of what my EMS instructor told me about Do Not Resuscitate Orders. Sigh.
Portia
Which is what?
rq, dunno.
But I wish I/we could get some colour into my/our legs. I only tan a little bit, but it still looks really disturbing when my arms are several shades darker than my legs.
Portia, etc:
That’s how it is in Russia, funnily enough. People from the ethnically-russian territories (also ukraine and belarus) are white. (hi!) People from the Caucasus (e.g. Chechens, Georgians, Armenians) are “Caucasian”. And given that they are darker than the former, they’re the ones considered “black”, or “coloured”. With consequent bigotry (there’s a lot!)
Also, I’m having another day of “ARRRRGH why do I look so cis-male!” I hate it. still stuck on not knowing what to do.
According to my EMS instructor (a veteran paramedic and fire chief), if you are presented with a DNR that is an original, not a copy, and it all appears correct, you can respect it. But there’s no real legal liability for disregarding it and performing lifesaving measures anyway.
According to this lecturer, federal law* requires that such measures be administered regardless.
*I use bolding because that’s what she does with her intonation every time she says it.
Beatrice
I know what you mean… And I leave them out in the sun for hours, sometimes! They barely turn red! The rest of me changes colour all the time, except for my legs. I’m going to try again this summer, since I now have a backyard with a high hedge and no random passer-by can see my legs all that easily and I can wear shorts all the time.
+++
Heh. The first photo is a friend of mine, she works with metal. Some of her jewellery can be seen here.
It’s just weird seeing people I know showing up random places on the internet like that.
Thanks for the perspective, thunk. It’s interesting, if depressing, to hear about ethnic/race dynamics in other areas of the world.
—
As for gender stuff, I’m so cis that I don’t have a lot of constructive advice except to try to give yourself room in your mind for the uncertainty. Sometimes getting comfortable with discomfort and not getting caught in a self-blame cycle can make it easier to get through a tough time. If not helpful, toss this advice out. Here’s a pile of hugs, make withdrawals at your leisure.
thunk
Yeah, it’s similar in Latvia – anyone with black hair is automatically ‘black’ and a ‘gypsy’ (= untrustablllle!), including Italians and Portuguese. Which was confusing, because sometimes people would be talking about ‘black’ people, and I’d look around seeing all these dark-haired people, and I wouldn’t see what they were talking about. Until it clicked, and I was sad – it means a lot of my friends from back home would have a hard time visiting, since they’d be automatically looked upon with suspicion and a lot less respect. :(
Portia
Weird. Does federal law say that? (Should I bold it too?) Or is she trying to compare it to assisted suicide (which comes to mind – you can’t let anyone die, never mind help them do it, even if they wish to)? Sounds like a bodily autonomy issue to me. (Am I wrong?)
Also, thunk, if you wish some *hugs*, I have some on reserve, but unfortunately, no good advice. :( Sorry!
portia; thanks, that’s actually helpful. Hi discomfort! It’s probable that the way I’ve constructed my identity requires it.
because I’m too timid to do the big things (I hate clothes shopping, for one.), and don’t know enough of the small things.
thunk,
I’m sorry, I can’t remember – have you decided to let your hair grow long or not? (I remember you were asking about that some time ago)
I can’t really offer any help besides virtual *hugs* and a willing ear… er, eyes.
Beatrice: Yes, it’s past shoulder-length.
threadrupt.
Dropping in to say 2 hours til I have to leave…
Have 1/2 the defenses down. Then it’s just Damages and Vicarious Liability. I might just get all my notes and thoughts organized b4 this thing starts (so I don’t have to use precious time during it).
=======
I did notice Thunk.
I’ve been through some of that. “Getting used to ambiguity” isn’t for everyone. Don’t feel compelled to do it.
Also, it’s perfectly acceptable for you to make decisions to express gender in a way that does not feel authentic, but does feel safe.
Seriously. It’s like my jazz musician friend playing greek folk music in a greek restaurant as the house band. He did it ‘cuz he needed the money. Sure some people thought he must be greek, or thought he must be primarily a player/lover of greek folk dance music. He was doing what he needed to do to get by.
I hope you can get to a place where you can give yourself that permission.
As for just not wanting to look cis male b/c you don’t wanna look cis male?
That’s a hard one. These changes take serious time. One thing you could do right away? Hair removal on your face. No matter where you end up with your expression, beards are not mandatory. It’ll also make things much more flexible later.
thunk,
Hmmm, you started that one thing that is making you more comfortable so that’s good. I don’t really know what else you can do, besides maybe what Crip Dyke suggested.- keeping facial hair to a minimum.
rq
As far as I know, respecting a DNR isn’t anything like assisting a suicide. It’s the difference between being passive and being active.
Also as far as I know, federal law doesn’t require emergency medical assistance when the person has made it clear via DNR that they don’t want it. That’s technically committing battery, even though, as I said, there’s no real legal liability. There are several interlocking legal principles that come into play, obviously.
It is a bodily autonomy issue, you’re right. But where the EMR can get off the hook on that is a principle called “implied consent.” (Or the Orwellian “involuntary consent”). If someone is unconscious, an EMR can just assume they’d want help and give it to them. So if there’s anything wrong with the DNR (like the family member or nursing home staff presents a photocopy) it’s better to just start CPR or whatever because you don’t want the liability of letting someone die when you didn’t have the right paperwork.
Portia
Ah, that makes it a lot clearer.
I was just wondering what parallel she was trying to draw in saying federal law requires that action is taken.
Yeah, I have no idea what she was on about. But then I am, as I mentioned, foggy brained today.
crip dyke:
well, I don’t have a beard anyway, and only a really small vellum mustache, so I’m *mostly* good on that front.
and really, part of my problem is that I feel like a genderfluid person who really wants to be feminine. and sometimes, it almost feels as if I’m forcing myself to do something. Sometimes it doesn’t. and…yeesh. I call this gap between “is” and “ought” meta-dysphoria.
Note to self: the correct translation is not Council Ingredients.
+++
Proud Parenting Moment: the Excitement of Science
The kids are out in the yard, and Eldest and Middle Child went out for their ‘practice’ walk. We’re on a very quiet dead-end street near the forest, so while it’s still light out, we let them take a short walk along the road to ‘practice’ their road-walking skills along a stretch of road where they are always visible to us. Anyway, they came running back in with some rocks they’d picked up (a habit they’ve picked up from me), with Eldest excitedly shouting ‘Mum, come look! I think I found a fossil!’ (I’m inside, trying to work, so this required stepping all over the kitchen in muddy boots, but it’s exciting.) Results so far are ambiguous (it’s a dirty rock), but he may be right.
I’m so proud.
Aw rq that’s really cute :)
octopod mentioned Aquaria (a game, a comic – dunno) on Thunderdome.
If anyone is in contact with our Aquaria, say hi!
@Thunk:
I’m right there with you. I feel so disgusted looking at myself most days cause I don’t fit right or look right or anything like that. It bugs the heck out of me, and it probably adds to the depression.
*hugs*
Portia, you around.
I read something that suddenly confused me about imputed intent vs. transferred intent. I think I know what I’m doing & the other person is wrong, but I don’t wanna go in without checking with someone that I understand this correctly.
a. Imputed: I intend to commit false imprisonment against you without touching you, and end up committing a battery.
b. Transferred: I intend to commit false imprisonment against George Bush and end up accidentally falsely imprisoning Barack Obama.
am I right?
Beatrice and Portia – *hugs*
Crankiness must translate really well into comments, I guess, since all you nice people are sending hugs. Thanks Dalillama and Hekuni Cat, and *hugs* back.
…but really:
*steals all the hugs and runs away*
Muahahaha!
No, really, I’m off to bed. Yes, I know it’s only 20:40. I’ll read a bit, and probably fall asleep on top of the book.
Imputed intent is when the courts determine what you must’ve intended by your actions, even if the actions themselves don’t support it.
A common example is if Person A finds out that their spouse is having an affair, and in a fit of jealousy, sets fire to their spouse’s lover’s house, intending to burn it down. Except, oops – the spouse’s lover was sleeping in the house at the time and dies. Person A can be charged with an intentional homicide, because a reasonable person would’ve foreseen the possibility that someone would die in a residential house fire.
Transferred intent, you have exactly right. it’s when you mean to cause harm to one person, but harm another person instead.
so in my example above, let’s say that Person A intended to kill their spouse’s lover when they set fire to the house. Except, oops – the spouse was actually sleeping there at the time the fire was set, and the lover had left to go run an errand. Spouse dies, lover survives, and Person A still gets charged with an intentional homicide, even though they never meant to kill the spouse.
Beatrice
Sounds like a good plan. Been ages since I was able to do that. Have fun!
And good night.
I’d like to ask somebody speaking German whether you could recommend me any German atheist who also speaks/blogs publicly about it (and possibly other issues, too, like PZ Myers). I care foremost about him speaking/writing in German language as I am trying to learn German this way.
Is Giliell around? I have a baby pic for her!
Monster rattle! http://audleyzdarkheart.blogspot.com/2013/04/monster-rattle.htmlMonster rattle! http://audleyzdarkheart.blogspot.com/2013/04/monster-rattle.html
Cute DarkBabby!
—
it’s snowing
A legacy of racial pseudoscience:
Recommendation: Do not visit Pamela Geller’s site today, or any day.
First comment I saw there was a call to NUKE SAUDI ARABIA.
Audley – DarkBaby is very cute.
*hugs* for Katherine
Can those people who want to NUKE SAUDI ARABIA find it on a map?
What effect would NUKING SAUDI ARABIA have on petroleum production?
Thanks, everyone!
Sorry about the weird post– apparently my phone burped.
Interesting. Is imputed intent only relevant to criminal law, or is it applicable for civil cases too? What are the usual defenses?
Squeee! Dark Baby is getting so big! I love the monster rattle. : )
Audley! What’s been going on?
Delicious monster.
Well, I’m out for the night, too.
And hopefully the local flooding will have subsided by morning, leaving only giant piles of ice everywhere that aren’t a danger to anyone.
Good night!
Since Beatrice took *all* the hugs… : D
and there’s so many people ready for one , I’m gonna leave a big pile of hugs here on the table.
Everyone, please help yourselves. : )
One of the comments at Portia’s #176 link:
” One day my dad came home and told us he was stopped by the police for looking like a “terrorist.” My dad’s Blatino, but he gets confused for Middle-Eastern all the time […]”
Sam Harris take note. This is a result of trying to profile Muslims.
Judgement Day.
–
From WTF, Evolution?
“Magnificent ass-flappers”.
*snortle*
–
Tony, why are you spreading Their lies? You know that I have rejected Them and all Their works.
–
Wise move! Use the Cute, for only It can save you from the peas. Or from pea-related retribution.
And cooked spinach is nasty stuff. No question about it.
–
Good luck on your test, Azkyroth!
–
:) :) :)
–
And how the hell are you going to shade from white, to pink, to rose if you can’t perceive the difference??? Turn in your paintbrushes, dude!
–
Marián Konček@215
I’m not sure about a blog, but you might check out the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, a humanist organization: their front page has some news items and links in German.
Their speaker Schmidt-Salomon is a philosopher and he’s written some interesting books. (Though I’m not sure I’d recommend “Manifest des evolutionären Humanismus” or Jenseits von Gut und Böse” for learning German – would depend on how advanced you are. Books available on amazon.de) He does speaking engagements, and you can find him on you-tube.
.
If you’re looking for blogs, do you have an ID on wordpress.com? Then you can go the the German topic reader de.wordpress.com and search for topics like Humanismus/Atheismus/Atheist – then you can scroll through, read the odd entry, and see if you find a blog you like.
Thank you.
Azkyroth @224 –
No, imputed intent can be applied in civil cases (torts) too, when it’d make the difference between a negligent tort or an intentional tort. The idea is that a reasonable person would’ve foreseen this result. Available defenses depend on the facts and circumstances, of course, but the main idea would be that the end result was not reasonably foreseeable. You could argue that the disconnect between the original act and the ultimate result was too great – too many intervening circumstances or something like that. Or you could try to present evidence showing that the result wasn’t reasonably foreseeable, and show why not. Or, I guess, you could present evidence that you didn’t have the capacity to make that kind of connection and thus shouldn’t be charged with an intentional crime, due perhaps to a developmental disability or mental illness.
In the house-burning example above in my 213 – Person A could argue that they set the fire on a Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. when all occupants were always at work. And in fact, they took care to make sure to do it at a time of day when nobody would be home. So it wasn’t reasonably foreseeable that there would be a person asleep inside.
ednaz,
Not much! Just busy with my growing little spud– she takes up a lot of time, so usually I don’t have energy to do much more than fart around on facebook these days. Life is good though.
How’s things?
Thanks to blf for this time sink:
http://americanloons.blogspot.fr/?m=1
But…but…you don’t understand!!! Groans and airborne vegetation are the Accepted Form of Applause for stinky-bad puns!
–
Awesome…and maybe you should.
:)
–
Kitty, please take this *pile of hugs*, with the reassurance that your problems matter, too. It’s not a competition, with all of the sympathy awarded as a prize to the Sorriest Human Alive.
–
I see it; and I’ll swing on it later; I think we’re closing the office early. Yay!
*flailing arms Kermit-style*
–
Cicely:
Are you in a link mood today?
*squee* Darkbaby! *squee*
Judgment Day: *like*
Donate 15 $ to Mayors Against Illegal Guns so they can lobby Congress, and get a bumper sticker that says “change gun laws or change Congress”!
Funnily enough, this hasn’t been done in German in a long time. It only survives in English.
*goes back to squeeing over the Darkbaby*
Non-USian Lounge Lizards:
Please don’t think I’m ignoring the rest of the world. I’m reading (at least) The Lounge. It’s just hard -between Boston and the Texas explosion (relatively near to me)- to keep up! * [Now listening to WBR-FM Boston feed.]
I’ve also been having problems with my internet access. Haven’t been able to submit some of my comments since early this morning (fingers crossed for this one).
–
*http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-who-finished-boston-marathon-seconds-before-bombing-witnesses-texas-explosion-days-later/2013/04/18/f197860a-a87c-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html (Personally trying to ignore all the God-botting comments in this story, but it is Central Texas/the Chastity Belt of North America after all.)
WBUR Boston that is…
The new betta fish made a bubble nest! So I guess all the stuff I bought made him happy.
All you non-music people. [/*tsktsktsk* from my bed]
Hadyn Haydn
Elitist!!!!
Come on, kids! July 4th is too far away–let’s go see the fire (works) down the road!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/texas-plant-explosion-video-130847649.html
(Let the video(s) play through for a (real) sense of what that happened.)
Did I say congratulations to Giliell? Damn, I didn’t! Congratulations, Giliell, and chapeau!
extra hugs to Kitty and thunk. I’ll just snag a few from the current pile for myself, but I’m leaving another whole bunch here for everyone else.
I’m trying to keep up with reading everybody, but not managing to keep up so much with commenting – however, I would rather like to send DarkBaby one of those snuggly but very light kisses on the top of the head if I may because mmmmmmmmm she really is kind of irresistible.
*hugs* to thunk too. Wish I could offer more advice too, but I don’t know what to say.
And on a lighter note…
Speaking of doughnuts—
Anyone familiar with the Austin (TX) area–Three Little Words: Round Rock Doughnuts! Nom, nom, nom!
I almost miss the contractors that were at the (water) plant last year. They made a big mess (mud tracked into the control building, etc.) but a couple of times they DID leave extra RRD’s! (I almost cried the first time I saw the RRD logo on the box! At that point I hadn’t had a Round Rock doughnut in over ten years!) *
–
Round Rock, TX is an hour (and a half ?) drive from my work site.
Why yes Murphy, I would LOVE for today to be the day of emergencies and aggressive animals when I am utterly exhausted and almost feel too stupid (as in the phrase “I can’t brain today, I have the dumb”) to be at work.
I really enjoyed the lizard that hadn’t eaten for 2 weeks and that died while I was trying to get some fluids into it.
I loved the cockatiel that prolapsed all her intestines and that we had to euthanise.
I was gleeful to deal with the aggressive cat after his neuter because we forgot his pain meds and the nail trim.
I was super-duper thrilled that the rather iffy catahoula mix with seizures from yesterday was back today with a temperature of 106.4 F and it turns out he may very well be a Shake n’ Bake (snail bait toxicity) on top of being epileptic. I also really liked the valium fucking precipitating in the IV line, requiring us to change out the extension set and gently wrangle a dog that keeps giving us the look in order to do the valium straight IV. Even better was the owner creeping on me and calling me a goddess (I wasn’t there when he said that and after that the other women I work with ran interference so I was able to completely avoid him for the rest of the time he was there). *horrified*
I cannot contain my enthusiasm for the cat that came in just before I was scheduled to leaved that had been run over by his owner as he lay in a field and appears completely paralyzed with a degloving injury to a hind leg and blood coming from his penis and well as being in respiratory distress.
I think I am done with today.
From the last thread: *hugs for Hekuni Cat*
Anyone need a Friday Smile?
rowanvt
I admire you so much.
Have some rum or fresh bread or home-made pizza.
I also have some massive indifference from the cat on my lap but I’ll keep that.
rowanvt:
@#79 (previous thread):
How could you rowanvt = How could you! Now I’ve got that tag-line from the old Shake’n’Bake commercial in my head: [ “An ‘I helped!” , says the little girl with the Golmer Pyle voice.]
*Curses upon you! ,rowanvt//!
@ bluentx
How do you think I feel? I LOVED shake n’ bake! I ate the crumbs rather than whatever we put them on. I was practically addicted to the stuff and then I go to tech school and learn the vet med version AND got to witness one on my emergency clinic overnight and I’m traumatized and can’t eat it anymore. ;_;
I really want to talk with someone who is mature about how heartless our society is and what we can do to fix it.
The kid running around Boston apparently was a good student but was just thrown away by society and the only solutions I hear are to further isolate and disassociate people who share the same religion, language, or upbringing as him. As if that wouldn’t merely make things worse!
bluentx #251
After extensive research (*ahem* I won’t say youtube) I must dispute you.
it’s not “helped” it’s “he’ped”. (possibly “hewuped”)
Could be nothing buuuutttt…
http://tunein.com/radio/WBUR-FM-909-s27654/
Tony! The Lonely Queer Shoop wrote:
<sarc>
Oh, but Tony, you just don’t understand Sam’s sophisticated
theologyphilosophy. He doesn’t want people like your father profiled, he wants those who look like they could be Muslim profiled. You know what Muslims look like, right? What, with their brown fur, hooves, antlers, and glowing red nose, they’re hard to miss. I simply don’t know why you FTBullies can’t understand this!</sarc>
chigau (違う);
I stand corrected! “He’ped” ‘is …uh… correct?
Oh, FSM!
Franklin St.– Boston, A ”body/person’ in/under a boat in the area…?
Ck:
I knew something that complicated would whizz past me.
****
Rowanvt:
I am dropping off an airmail package of hugs, chocolate, and scented candles for you. I wish I could restart today for you .
More gun fire just now…
I’m listening on the police scanner. No gunfire, but they did release a couple flash-bangs with the warning to the officers to NOT fire in response to it.
Clarifiction: Don’t want to ‘panic’ anyone :in the area.
Gun shots… some think “the suspect’ is cornered????
Tony, thank you very much. I have so far consumed about 4 cups of milk and 2 ginormous chocolate chip cookies in a fit of pique over murphy decided to provide evidence for his existence. :P
Now pardon me while I go stare at my snake that is refusing to lay her eggs.
Following this remotely:
Franklin St.– Boston, MS—
Boat/suspect= booby-trapped?—
Different part town but not far from ‘fire fight’ of last night….
Threadrupt as fuck, guys. I apologize for that.
But, uh… am I the only one feeling like today was another Monday? Because today? Was a total fucking Monday, despite the calendar’s claim that it’s Friday.
Thank the gods for cannabis!
Geese!
Flying North!
Yay!
WMDKitty- I no can has the cannabis. Have severe adverse reactions just from second smoke of it off clothing. ;_;
Parsnip has turned into an ANGRY kitten. ANGRY ANGRY ANGRY!!!
“Thou hast awakened me. Where is thine offering, as is my just due?”
http://imageshack.us/a/img441/3277/parsnip8days1.jpg
“Thou hast not provided me with mine offering with sufficient haste. Behold mine just retribution!”
http://imageshack.us/a/img163/5447/parsnip8days2.jpg
“I doth see that thee hast been most properly chastened by mine wrath. Thine offering is acceptable. Thou mayest leave mine presence.”
http://imageshack.us/a/img705/2254/parsnip8days3.jpg
Just wait until Parsnip’s eyes are open.
Then there will be WRATH.
“Suspect in custody___ alive?” !!!!
The stand-off outside of Boston is over.
rowan
Well that sucks.
re: Parsnip
Damn, that level of cute needs to come with a warning label! Good thing I have my hed wrapped in dukky-tapes — keeps the branez in if your hed asplodes.
Suspect 2 is alive and in custody, apparently.
(although perhaps injured)
I couldn’t find my CHRG*
*Scroll down to “C”, browse from there. No, there is no hyperlink directly to “CHRG”, I checked.
WMDKitty! :
Nothing profound to say–just:
Hey! PNW(non-hot chili-lovers) We can we live together!! ‘
Another press conference about the Boston Bombing in about 15 minutes…
I know this has been the week that shit built, but fuck–this is absolutely horrifying.
HUGE trigger warning for rape:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. http://m.ibtimes.co.uk/delhi-girl-raped-bottle-candle-genitals-mutilated-459216.html
Tony
Ffffuuuuuuuuuck.
WMDKitty:
I know.
I was at work when I came across the story. I had to struggle to hold the tears back.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2013/04/20/no-other-species-can-do-it-only-human-can/#comments
Well good, they caught “white hat”. Alive, although apparently seriously wounded. Hopefully he’ll survive to provide information and to spend a lifetime in a shitty little cell. Methinks there will be much joyous, if bittersweet, celebration in Boston.
Someone told me that they went to school on Tuesday? Is that true? I can understand attempting not to raise suspicion, but that’s some balls right there.
Also, if there’s a heavily armed terrorist loose in your neighborhood, and you walk outside and see blood on your boat why would you lift the tarp? I’d be piling furniture in front of the door before my thumb got done dialing 911.
My dad worked in Watertown, I found out. One of his first jobs after he got off the boat.
Ragutis #280
You make me sad for your country.
Sounds like attempted Unsympathetic Magic under the Law of Similarity. Check the lawn for hoofprints.
Alternatively, an ice giant misunderstood that whole “Peas be upon him!” thing.
–
Portia, you are welcome to my share of the cider…but hands offa my pumpkin pie!
–
No! The Power of the Pea is Pestulant and Putrid. Looooooathe them.
–
Hello, Houdini-cat!
–
…or existence of Horses, presence of wild magic fields…presence of pea fields….
–
*hugs* for Beatrice.
–
And also *hugs* for Portia, even if I *hugged* her earlier. I can’t remember. Cannot brain. Haven’t got that far down the Thread. Too lazy to scroll.
–
*hugs* for thunk. No suggestions, but lotsa sympathy.
–
Audley!
*pouncehug*
DarkInfant!
*squeeee!*
–
Well, damn. My entire 229 looks like one huge <blockquoteFAIL> Sorries, everyone. All I can say in my defense is that it looked okay-ish (for a post with two linkies in it) in Preview.
–
Adding *hugs* and *fuzzy kittehs* to the communal pile that ednaz started.
–
Yes, as a matter of fact; but what with the Evil Gall Bladder and its Sinister Machinations, I am seldom able to indulge. ‘Cause I hate pain.
(Possible trigger for vegetarians/vegans)
However….
–
Oh, no! So sorry about Suckday, rowanvt. Have these *hugs* and some *chocolate*. And some *extremely strong alcoholic beverage*
–
Parsnip is indeed fearsome in hir fluffycute wrath.
–
Tony:
*long pause*
I have no words.
None.
–
How so? (Terrible grammar aside)
cicely:
I thought I was the one to deliver the adult beverages… :(
And yes, beyond unadulterated rage, I have no words either.
A FIVE year old FFS.
(It would be unacceptable for any age, but 5 is just that much more abominable)
Ragutis #283
For a start.
Okay. A 5 year old?!
That’s it, I’m done. I want off this planet.
Suspect taken alive much better than shot dead. First, there’s been plenty of death already. This man, if mentally responsible and determined in civil court to be guilty, deserves incarceration for life, IMO. I believe in rehabilitation, but right now I just don’t see how this man can be allowed back on the streets. We can revisit the question in 20 or 30 years, if you wish. Also, any information we can acquire about methods or motive may be useful in preventing further acts of terrorism by others in the future. And I don’t mean acquire the way Bush and Cheney meant acquire.
And yes, I’m frankly shocked (if what I was told is true) that the suspects so brazenly thought they could just play it off by going back to their daily routines.
You can call me a coward if you want, but after the week’s events, particularly the Hollywood-esque bullet and bomb exchange of the previous night, if I saw something like that, I’d be calling the cops. As I’m sure the cops themselves would prefer. The guys with the kevlar and guns can look under the tarp. I’m not one of those NRA nuts that hears spurs jingling with each step I take.
Oh, and as far as I’m concerned, Bostonians have every right to feel relief and indulge their freedom from a terrifying week. I doubt thoughts of the dead and wounded will be buried too deep, regardless the volume of cheering.
I would not be the least surprised to be told that I expressed myself poorly, but I am a bit if my reaction is deemed unreasonable or depressing. Then again, I’m sure I have plenty of room to grow, so please respond if I have not alleviated your concerns.
Ragutis:
To be honest, I’m not certain what point chigau was trying to make with “you make me sad for your country”, even with comment @285.
I’m sure clarification will be forthcoming though.
****
WMDKitty:
You know, initially I was going to agree with you (wanting off this planet), but upon further thought, I don’t want off this planet.
I want assholes like the rapist in the New Delhi article off this planet. I want all those people who cannot act like decent human beings to go elsewhere. It really shouldn’t be that hard. Do not rape. Three simple words. Yet so difficult for so many to do. I will not concede this world for them. This is the only chance at existence we get (so far as I can tell). I want to experience this world as much as I can, and I do not think I (or you, or any of the other decent human beings on this planet) should feel like *we* should be the ones to leave when *we* aren’t committing heinous acts of inhumanity.
(I hope you don’t see this as criticism of you. It is not. It is just me recognizing that those of us who are good people should not feel like we don’t belong on this world because of the actions of the assholes out there)
Tony
Either way, I wanna be somewhere away from them. I’m so sick of, every time I turn around, man, every fucking time, it’s something else. Another rape. Another suicide. Another act of terrorism. Another murder. Another beating.
I’d love to just, I dunno, send all the assholes to Venus, or something, some place incompatible with life. I’d settle for Antarctica.
Tony wrote:
“[T]hat’s some balls right there” is somewhat sexist language, but that’s about I see as plainly obvious. I suppose the celebration thing could be read as celebrating the death of one, and reveling in the torture/imprisonment of the other, rather than relief that the dangerous phase of this incident is now over, and people can start looking at getting on with their lives. And I guess if you started there, it could taint the entire rest of the post with the same sentiment.
threadrupt, but donedonedone.
I am so tired. But I’ll get on tomorrow & see how everyone is.
Yay for me.
–)->
The “balls” thing is definitely a sexist and poorly considered word choice. My bad. And “shitty little cell” sounds like I wish the man to be treated inhumanely.
Beer or no beer, I see a few ways that I should have definitely expressed myself both more clearly and appropriately. I don’t know if chigau’s issues with my post go more deeply though.
If I went out to my back yard and saw one of my tarps covered in blood, my first thought would be
“someone needs help”
and I would act accordingly.
I would respond similarly under normal circumstances (I hope). But if I was a resident of a Boston ‘burb this week, I’m afraid the chickenshit side of me would likely prevail. Not saying I’m proud of it. And it would not be a terrible stretch to call that the prudent decision, I believe.
Anything else, or are we good-ish?
Ragutis
I think I would still take a looong stick and lift the tarp to see what’s under it.
We’re good.
Good morning
So, my parents are coming back from their holiday today. Mum broke her arm. And I think I’m a bad person because somehow I’m more sad and concerned for my sister’s sake whose “holiday” will be over by that and who’ll be expected to do 99% of the granny-sitting instead of 90%.
rowanvt
*hugs* (quick, before beatrice wakes up) for a shitty day and squeeeeeee for parsnip
CD YAY for being done
Hugs for thunk, too
NO, beatrice, don’t nick other people’s hugs, here are yours
Audley
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
white people
I don’t think that you can see the social nature of race any better than in the concept of “white people”. Who is white and who isn’t depends on name, origin and place of residence.
Freddie Mercury?
White
Farrokh Bulsara?
Not so much
Me in German supermarket?
White
Me in Turkish supermarket?
Not so much
Poor Parsnip developed a constipation. And so I just toddled down to the E.C. where, because I am a registered technician, they believed me and gave me a syringe and a red rubber catheter. And so Parsnip got his first enema and he produced shortly thereafter a monster poo. Now he has a reason for the angry. :P
Aaaaah, the joy of foster kittens and being a vet tech. I get to spend my whole day sticking things up butts. Did enjoy joking with one of the doctors that sometimes I swear I sound like I work in the porn industry.
Today’s comment: “Good grief he has dirty testicles! It’s taking forever to get these clean. AND he’s so relaxed his penis is sticking out.”
See, this is good information
Well, if it’s a really long stick… OK.
Can’t apologize for where we might truly disagree or differ, but sorry if I was shit at making my points.
Cool.
My 299… @ chigau, if it’s not obvious. The cat testicle thing, I think I’ll avoid.
When I was in the midst of the abscess tooth etc.
I had my ear
power-washedsyringed.The syringer was astonished at the wax in my ear and commented continually.
She finally got IT out.
IT was the size of a *pea* and had been in my ear for *jeez how old are you?* years.
Uuuuunnngghhhhh…
…okay, what did I just drop my issues onto without looking? x.x
But my experiences at work can lead to all sorts of delightfully awkward conversations! My family makes a point of never asking how my day was during dinner. :D
Chigau, did you hear better out of that ear after? That is a HUGE ball of wax to have sitting in there.
rowanvt
The wax had been stuck just short of the eardrum.
Something moved it on to the eardrum, which deafened me.
The power-wash removed the lump and I’m back to normal.
The syringer was really impressed by the persistence and size of my waxball.
Tony, oh fuck. I want them off this planet too – or at least somewhere where they can’t harm people any more.
.
.
rowanvt, that is some internationally-recognised serious-grade cute. Parsnip is looking wonderful.
.
Congratulations CD, you made it through!
.
Ears and the things in them – I once went to a pretty nice pub gig, a loooooooooooooong time ago, with music that was good but unfortunately loud enough to be physically painful. So I stuffed some paper tissue in my ears and enjoyed the evening.
Um …. some of it was found to be still in there, something like a couple of months later.
.
.
I have a sort of question.
What with this being the Lounge, and multiple simultaneous conversations being the norm, and some of them being light-hearted while others are deadly serious … I worry about being callous because I want to take part in several at once, even though that is pretty much SOP here.
That wasn’t exactly a question, but I’d like to ask it anyway.
opposablethumbs, you’d like to ask it, eh?
What’s stopping you from so doing?
Opposablethumbs:
I do not follow any sort of rule for commenting. Most often I respond to comments that interest me in some way. I do try to welcome delurkers, and offer support on a regular basis. I say comment on what interests you. Unless you want to, there is no need to participate in every conversation going on.
Hadyn/Haydn — sorry. Very little sleep this week. 9/11 nightmares (all three of them) have been coming hot and heavy. With a few scout nightmares thrown in just so my mind can fuck with my mind.
——–
Twice this morning, once on radio, once in my office, I have heard, “How could these young men do this after being welcomed to America with open arms?” When one of our volunteers asked that in my office, I asked him if he really thought that Muslims felt welcome in the US considering the propaganda campaign to portray all of them as terrorists. he had no ansewr.
Excuse me while I do a little victory dance.
It’s just that the kids, once again, have seasonal clothing that fits properly (you know, for however long that will last). This applies especially to Eldest.
And picked up a few things for myself – at 30 santims apiece, it’s worth the hassle wandering through a few downtown shops on my own with three critters at my heels.
I feel successful, and now it’s time to bonfire the afternoon/evening away.
rq:
Yeah for clothes that fit the child and the season!
Not to worry, though. At least one of them will experience a growth spurt and outgrow the clothing within two weeks. Why? Because that is what children do.
opposeablethumbs – do not try to keep up with all of the conversations. That way lies madness, or at least getting nothing else done in your life.
Hooray for successful clothage! So, is this bonfire like a flamey type thing, suitable for the roasting of impaleable edibles such as marshmallows and hotdogs? ‘Cause I could get behind that.
Mind you, there’s something similar going on 500m away or so. One of our neighbours is hosting a dog-sledding event. There’s dozens of tents and what seems like hundreds of dogs. I can just see the glow of a bonfire through the trees. But I’m not going to investigate and further than peering out the windows. Twice in the last hour there’ve been multiple gunshots. The first time I ran around locking doors and checking windows. Events in the world have me on edge apparently. By the second instance I realised that they’ve set up some kind of target shoot out back. Yup, there’s a bunch of liquored up proponents of an obsolete and climatically inappropriate form of transportation playing with what sounds like large calibre firearms out there. Joy.
FossilFishy
… Dogsledding? Ok.
Rural Australia for the win?
And yes, we’ll be doing some roasting later on. First roast of the season, although we’ve already had the barbecue out a couple of times. I wish we could get some real marshmallows around here, but the poor substitutes will have to suffice. Still not decided on hotdogs or hamburgers, will probably have some kind of a parallel thing going.
Ogvorbis
I fully expect Eldest to outgrow his new clothes by the end of May at the latest. Which is why I bought seconds a full size too large, just in case.
(Although what they usually manage to do, for the clothing I have on reserve for autumn, is to outgrow those during the summer. At least Middle Child gets some of Eldest’s castoffs, but considering their level of activity outdoors, it’s quite a bit less than I could hope. But the activity level is a source of gratitude, even though some days I just wish they’d eat less and grow a little bit slower.)
Yup, dogsledding. They use various two and three wheeled homebuilt contraptions. I’ve had to repair a couple of them and I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t dodgy. I still find it humourous that after all those years in cold and snowy Edmonton, my first encounter with dogsledding was in Australia.
Can’t remember if I told this story here. Ah well, I’ve been hanging around long enough that I’m running out of the good stuff. Repetitions are all but inevitable from here on in.
Re children growing:
One morning I was eating breakfast next to The Small Fry and happened to notice that her feet had grown quite noticeably.
“Hey honey, when did your feet get so big?” Says I.
“I’m getting bigger Daddy. Bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger…” and so on until she ran out of breath.
“How big are you going to get?”
“As big as you Daddy!”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“But with hair.”
Ouch.
And with that I bid you a fond goodnight and may your morrow be so very to.
FossilFishy
Good night!
(I’m laughing on the inside… In our household, the children will be growing up to be as big as daddy – but with shorter hair.)
The kittens are awake.
They’re feeding. I caught them in the free-for-all for mummy’s teats. As I mentioned, I do not envy her at all.
They’ve all settled down to a nice quiet feed now, though. Probably purring like a jet engine.
@rowanvt:
Teh kitteh would probably not have survived without you. You’re wonderful and deserve a lot of praise for your work this week.
@ Dutchgirl: I couldn’t be happier for you.
@ Tony & WMD kitty: Yeah. What you two said.
@chigau: You say…
I hear:
Crip Dyke
Not quite orcs…
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/04/19/also-i-know-ill-probably-get-flamed-for-this/comment-page-1
They’re all snuggling now… I don’t want to interrupt my feed by commenting there.
A real pile of kittens. Aw…
I’m fluctuating between nearly crying and dancing in my seat to the music on the radio. Hey, moods? Make a decision already and stick with it.
Progressive Catholic nuns are in trouble … again, or still.
I’m sure the group that runs Nuns on a Bus was hoping for a more reasonable approach when a new ass was seated in the Pope’s chair, but no luck there.
ABC News link.
Pat Robertson reminds us that playing Dungeons & Dragons has “literally destroyed people’s lives,” video at the link. Right Wing Watch link.
Psychedelic Portuguese Man-of-War Photos Prove God Is a Stoner.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was, apparently, already a disaffected young man, but an event in Utah may have made him more angry.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/56184538-77/boston-boxing-gloves-golden.html.csp
As an aside to Lynnas post above about the LCWR, I think the name is clunky. It is an organization that represents nuns, so why is the W not in the beginning. Also, are they trying to downplay their Catholic roots? Using ‘religious’ rather than ‘catholic’ makes me wonder if they are trying to appeal to a broader fanbase. And maybe it is just me, but I do not think of an organization as being a conference. Certainly an organization can hold a conference, but *be* one? Maybe it is an archaic usage of the word.
Meh…there I go again overthinking.
No. It’s a common term among catlicks. There’s not just the priesthood and the laity, there’s also “the religious”. Religious communities are a bit different, Jesuits is one example among the men. All of the women religious orders count as “the religious” because they’re openly barred from priesthood, but they’re also not laity.
Katherine
Did your old cat get a new home?
— — — — — —
Meet the new pope, same as the old pope.
— — — — — —
Cut funding to authorities who enforce safety in chemical industries = Stuff blow up.
Actually if the two guys in Boston had used their brains, they should have started working as lobbyists for the people who want to cut taxes further. Effective way of harming USA and you even get health care and a pension plan.
— — — — — —
I spotted the first hedgehog of the year, sitting in some bushes and scratching his side while being completely unconcerned by the people passing by. Almost half the ground is bare, but plenty of snow left. Roads and pavements were dry and the sky is clear.
Thank you for that explanation. Like Tony, I was wondering about the choose of words. Tribal language barriers.
Arrggghhh! I meant “choice of words” not “choose of words” in comment #332. I don’t even know how that happened.
Mildlymagnificent:
Oh, I see.
Thank you for the explanation.
Lynna @333:
Perhaps you briefly succumbed to a moment of mormon madness..?
Oh, fuck, no! I hope not. I fight those daily. I am a female ninja warrior goddess of defeating moments of mormon madness … but I am tired.
I think I’ll go do something that makes me happy. That usually works. Something non-mormon-approved, like having coffee in the garden.
For lovers of fennel everywhere.
Lynna
Mormons aren’t allowed to have gardens?
rq,
What the..? We are now allowing
peoplecorporationspeople, I guess… to patent plants?Fuck.
And fuck capitalism.
rq:
I think Lynna was referring to the mormon ban on caffeine.
Tony
I know about that one, but she seemed to be looking forward to something particularly noxious to Mormons, which is why I was wondering about the garden.
Beatrice
Well, really, they’ve been patenting genes for ages. And there was that woman who wanted to patent the sun. And some guy recently claimed to own the moon because he says so since the 1980s.
People are weird.
+++
The name Tamerlan is always making me think of this guy, mostly due to this movie. (Both Night Watch and Day Watch are decent movies, by the way, if looking for a fun supernatural-ish vampire-and-magic story.)
That ain’t fennel. Nigella sativa is sometimes called “fennel flower,” but more commonly “black cumin.” The plant usually known as fennel is Foeniculum vulgare.
LOL. Like most religious nutters, mormons were kicked out of the best gardens, those in Eden and in Missouri, (which may be one and the same depending on your degree in mormon scholarship, (otherwise known as “apologetics for all our brain-busting contradictions”)).
Now mormons are encouraged to maintain large, imperfect gardens and slave camps of children to maintain them. Mormons “love to pressure can foods.” For this activity, they often grow their own. Most wards have a “Food Storage Specialist.”
Most mormon families are assigned to work in LDS church canneries and food processing plants, in addition to doing their own home gardening and canning,
PDF link to “Canneries and Food Processing Plants” on lds.org.
There are mormon women who quietly rebel against the ideal “mother of Zion” by having fewer children and smaller gardens (or no gardens). Previous generations were more likely to consider home canning of produce to be one of the essential virtues.
Lynna
I would have thought No gardens was the order of the day, seeing as how there is One Perfect Garden of Eden and no other shall compare or something like that. Something related to coveting that which you don’t have or god having the one ideal and perfect version not to be imitated… :)
Thanks for the clarification!
Chris
Thanks also for clearing things about about fennel. I thought there was something wrong with that Latin name, but time being what it is here, I let laziness rule.
(I like real fennel as a tea.)
Happy 4/20, guys!
I saw an interview with Mitt Romney on CNN, (Mitt being an expert on what to tell the faithful when God traumatically amputates their legs and all). Regarding the Boston bombings, Mitt basically said that God has a plan we cannot understand, that the comfort he sends in times of trouble often comes in the form of Mitt or Mitt-like creatures, and that adversity makes us stronger and forces us to go to inter-faith services where even we can agree with President Obama. It’s all good in the long run.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had a Twitter account.
Excerpt from Mother Jones story:
Le Sigh. Why is there a correlation between nurturing religion and trash talk about women? Well, yes, I do know the answer, but I’m tired of it being true. It seems to me that a 19 year old kid who spent most of his youth in the USA might grow up to discard some of religion’s trash talking about women. And not believing in evolution …. ??
If I ever have a thesis, I’d love to present it in 3 minutes or less. Looks like a lot of educational fun!
Speaking of trash talking women, I had two Israeli gentlemen having lunch at my bar last week. They inquired about the owners and I mentioned that one of them came up with the menu based on HER background (she is Hispanic). That elicited shock from one of them…as in ‘a woman owns a restaurant?’. The other turned to his friend and mentioned that things are different in 2013. I had to employ restraint, but I had a few choice words I would liked to have shared with them.
*refreshes the hugs pile plus imaginary knitting* hai guize.
This may come in handy:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/04/20/hpv_vaccine_cases_of_virus_declining_in_australia_due_to_immunizations.html
An ex-mormon who posts as “Tupperwhere” said this about mormon canning culture:
Amusements:
A cat, dressed in a shark suit, riding a Roomba, chasing a duckling.
House Lovecraft.
CIDU
–
More yucky responses to the Boston bombing and to the killing or capture of the perpetrators:
“It’s too bad Suspect #1 won’t be able to be legalized by Marco Rubio, now,” conservative pundit Ann Coulter tweeted Friday.
More yucky responses to the Boston bombing:
Jeffrey Kuhner says “leftists have perpetrated most terrorist atrocities in America.” Kuhner had a lot more to say, all of it equally off-kilter, as reported by the Washington Times.
Rick Green echos the blame-the-liberal theme and goes one step further:
I think this is based, in part, on the fact that the younger of the two bombers posted weak endorsements of President Obama on his twitter page.
James Robison links the Boston bombing to legalized abortion: “While Americans and freedom loving people around the world openly express their horror at the heartless destruction of the innocent, should we not examine our own hearts as a people? Our great nation has silently allowed the termination of more than fifty million little innocent lives to be taken in the wombs of their mothers. Hitler murdered over eleven million people in the Holocaust, and Stalin almost twenty million. America has doubled that and the casualties are still mounting.”
Another comment from an ex-mormon about working in LDS-owned canneries, after having been “called” to do the job for free by their Bishops:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/20/us/boston-details/index.html
The younger of the two Boston bombers may have killed his brother:
Another link regarding the fact that the younger of the two bombers may have killed his older brother:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/04/20/boston_bombing_suspect_dzhokar_tsarnaev_may_have_killed_his_brother.html
This is Wisdom, what carlie is dispensing to you, here. Surf lightly on the crest of the [Thread], and be not troubled by the Things that lurk beneath the waves.
Still, there is also Wisdom to be found in advice to keep a sharp eye open for Frisky Tentacles.
–
FossilFishy, under the influence of
I read your
as
One of our neighbours is roasting a dog-sledding event.
With accompanying visual.
–
Good morning.
Here’s the bad news: government conspiracies are real? Ok, robbing banks to test security isn’t exactly on par with some of the things people come up with, but…
And here’s the good news: Horses are masquerading as Dogs as a cover to get close to people. Alternatively, Clifford is real.
Thanks, cicely, for the shark-kitty. Wasn’t expecting that and had the best laugh of this morning.
So this is what the flooded town looked like yesterday, and – oh look! – these rail tracks are closed due to flooding (it’s the passenger route from Madona to Gulbene…). And this guy’s insurance company will be pissed off because they asked all kinds of municipal services to improve certain structures to avoid precisely that result.
And water levels are expected to rise in the Daugava still. They opened one of the hydro stations to lower levels upriver, but apparently it hasn’t helped too much and was done too late to save most of what is now under water.
We’re still safe.
Every time Lynna posts about the LDS church, I always read LSD. It is rather funny.
rq, your second link @359 is borked. I fear to delve into the depths of this iniquity…yet I must. Or We Are All Doomed.
Nooooobody expects Shark-Kitty!
–
Recruiting models outside an eating-disorder clinic.
Just when I thought the fashion industry couldn’t sink any lower…
Ummm… does anyone here know how to fix unresponsive keys o a keyoard?
I’m hopinng I ca just clean out the keyoard, ut… umm… it’s on my lappy, so it’s ot a separate uit, ad I have o clue how to clean this without orkig it further.
Shark-kitty?
Sh-itty
Sh-at
Shar-tty
Sharkit (I rather like this one)
****
WMDKitty:
No idea here. It seems like your N key is not working right. I have a spare keyboard if you want. It is for a desktop, so I dunno if that could work.
Hi Tony and carlie. I know what you mean – I don’t even try to keep up with everything, that’s way beyond me! But actually I was thinking more about the fact that sometimes I want to say something about one thing that is happy/frivolous/silly/light-hearted and another which is devastating and very serious, and I feel a bit odd and worry about seeming possibly callous to put both things in the same comment.
I agree, cicely – carlie is certainly wise! – and one can never be too wary of Tentacles from the Deep :-D
I see that quite a number of Horders have been cooking out this weekend – we had the first of the (hopefully many) whole-house barbecue parties last night too. It got a bit cold by 1am, but it was a lot of fun! One of our neighbours is an incredible cook … gorgeous roast pork and roast lamb wraps with home-made hoi-sin style sauce and loads of rocket salad … wow.
And there was music, and SonSpawn embroidered clarinet accompaniments to pretty much anything and everything and much enjoyment was enjoyed. Wish you could have been there!
I made a chocolate cake. With rum. Just because.
Watching the site from work. I’m very pleased that FTB is advertising me a Shaman lesson with one George Tupak.
Helpful info graphic about women in math. I’ve definitely bookmarked it.
Beatrice
I’d love a piece of that cake.
If you would like some kefir-marinated chicken legs with rosemary in return (barbecued), please!
cicely
Is this better?
Honestly, I know not what else to call that but a horse in disguise…
Hi there
So, the long and the short of it
1.) I haz shiny new phone :)
2.) Cute kids story:
I told the kids yesterday morning that their grandparents were coming home because their grandma broke her arm
Little one: “did it fall off?”
3.) I almost had a serious fight with my mum.
Remember those conversations we had about adults forcing kids into contact? She constantly tried to touch, cuddle & kiss #1 who, at the moment, totally can’t deal with the broken arm at all. Maybe my mother could remember that the exact same injury turned her own mother from a mostly independent person into a total wreck and that the kid might be afraid. I cut her short when she literally said (in that hurt feelings voice) “Oh let yourself be touched by me!” WTF?
4.) To keep my sister from breaking down we’re going to a thermal Spa on Thursday
5.)rq
Oh damn, I hope those poor people got their important stuff out
Hmmm, I really liked the books, but while Night Watch was an entertaining movie, I felt it fell short of the book. How did they connect Day Watch to it? IIRC Night Watch covered just the first of the three stories, not even mentioning Sweta around whom the whole thing revolves….
And of course I forgot…
6.) My mum actually managed to trigger me by reacting to #1’s refusal to be touched with her “What’s wrong with you, what’s the matter with you?” bullshit…
7.) The little one gave us an UTI scare this morning when she went to the toilet every 5 min and then wet herself. With her single kidney that’s not something to joke with. But one trip to the emergency pharmacy and 1 test strip later it turned out that it was just the combination of too much drunk bath water and too distracting Sunday morning TV (the two best kids shows on German TV run on Sunday mornings)
rq,
*drool*
Yes, please. While we’re trading, you can totally come over here and cook for me for a couple of months. *nods*
—
Giliell,
I’m glad the health scare for little one turned out to be nothing. Regarding your mum… Ugh, maybe another serious talk when the kids aren’t around or it will be useless and just upset you?
Hi, all.
Threadrupt.
Last night, Boy was asking how he could get hold of a few kilograms of dioxygen difluoride. Should I be worried? I mean, after all, he’s a history major, right? So what’s the worst he could do?
Giliell:
Hugs to you. Families can be such a wonderful pain in the butt, aren’t they?
beatrice
I have kind of given up on “serious talks” with her, because, you know, while there’s always a problem with everybody else, she has none and never causes any. Mental healthcare is for losers like me. And I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if she understands or if it breaks her heart. I’ll set down the rules and that’s the end of it. I will not allow her to do that shit to my kids. I couldn’t fight when I was a kid myself, but I’m damn well going to protect my kids.
Ogvorbis
Dunno, what can you do with that stuff?
I’ve always feared incompetence more than malice.
Hmmm, I’m wondering if there’s already fresh aspergus in Palatinate….
Giliell,
Well then, good for you. Still, I realize that each new instance when she acts that way hurts you, so… *hugs*
Public schools are spending taxpayer dollars to employ a charismatic woman, Pam Stenzel, to tell students lies about sex, about STDs, about rape, and about abortion.
Stenzel is especially popular in schools systems that promote abstinence-only sex education (the “education” label is not meant to be ironic).
Excerpt from coverage in Salon:
A partial list of Stenzel’s lies:
She lists arthritis as a sexual disease.
She thinks a degree from Liberty University qualifies her to proffer medical information.
Birth control given to high school girls makes them 10 times more likely to contract a disease.
HPV infections cannot be effectively managed with medication.
If young women contract Chlamydia, there is a 25% chance they will be sterile.
Infertility in women has risen over 500% in ten years.
Premarital sex destroys your ability to bond. (This is a favorite trope in mormon communities as well.)
Condoms are never safe.
Stenzel’s slut-shaming campaign almost slammed the door shut for one young woman’s higher education:
Giliell
Sveta was in Night Watch, but with a completely different sort of role. And Anton’s role is completely different in the movies. I read the books after I saw the movies, and was a bit surprised at how different they were – then again, having read Game of Thrones and having watched the first two seasons, they’ve done a whole lot of story-shifting, too. But in both, the essentials are the same. :) They’ve changed the relationships the most, they’re a lot more complicated in the books.
Far as I recall, Day Watch (the movie) is only loosely connected, but it’s a far, far better movie. There’s an amazing car commercial in the middle of it.
Beatrice
Trouble is, I’m not a big fan of cooking all the time. But if you let me out of the kitchen once in a while, I’ll consider it a vacation. Do I get paid?
More yucky responses to the Boston bombing:
[Raises hand.]
Giliell
Also, *hugs* for the family situation, and I hope the spa with the sister is as relaxing as it needs to be (at least for the duration)!
Lynna
I read this piece on suspending the Constitution in this case from (I think) a notorious Senator of yours. :/
Oldest star in the universe? YouTube link.
rq,
But, but, but … I thought constitution was set in stone as were its amendments (some of which were set in stone some time after the constitution was set in stone as unchangeable) couldn’t even be amended, let alone completely suspended!
Parts seem to be missing in the sentence above, but you get the point.
—
Also, rq, I would pay you in chocolate and my undying gratitude.
Repeat of link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/04/19/senator-lindsey-graham-says-suspend-the-constitution-for-boston-marathon-suspect-and-designate-him-an-enemy-combatant/
Yeah, Lindsey Graham, has been really busy spreading his anti-American ideas. He hit the morning TV shows, filled up his Twitter account with nonsense, and has had a starring role on Fox News programs. He was so ubiquitous that I left him off my lists of worst reactions to the Boston bombing, thinking everyone had already seen him pimping the concept of denying due process to American citizens.
Graham needs to go sit in a corner until he restores enough brain cells to think clearly.
All too true story of mormon parents putting the reputation of the LDS church before the welfare of their children: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,868354
Another sign that it’s a good thing the authorities stopped the Tsarnaev brothers when they did:
@Lynna, #327
From your link about the portuguese man-o-war photographs:
Srsly? Srsly????
:sigh:
Beatrice
But is it good chocolate?
Crip Dyke @388, proof, as if we needed it, that some people see sexual organs in every representation, whether of art or nature.
Oh, hey, pareidolia I get. Weird, but whatevs. I’m reacting to:
emphasis mine.
Obligatory Star Trek.
Hmph, I see how much my undying gratitude means to you, rq.
Lynna, Crip Dyke
re: vaginas in art
I have a friend from high school who is now an artist… He hides a vagina in every painting he does. Every single one. He’s been doing it since forever.
I prefer the Georgia O’Keeffe-type tactic of presenting vagina-like forms in art. It is up front, not hidden, and celebratory. http://www.okeeffemuseum.org
BTW, Georgia O’Keeffe denied that she intended to depict female sexual organs.
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/natural-and-still-life-forms.html
They just don’t look like nice, sensible sexual organs like dicks, I guess.
I’m now wondering what those other crazy sexual organs are.
Kind of ‘rupt, haven’t been feeling terribly social, but hopefully things are going ok for folks at the moment.
Cat peenz? Spiky! Echidna peenz? Four-heads and disturbingly mobile! Duck peenz? Reeealy looong!
Animal kingdom is full of abso-fucking-lutely crazy sex. Don’t get me even started about plants…
It looks kind of like this when he does it.
Hey, Dalillama! I hope you feel ok otherwise.
Good night, folks. If you feel bored, some poor guy who’s been raised by wolves needs an education here: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/04/21/snappy-one-liners/comment-page-1
Really, I’m a bit worried about all these boys being kidnapped by wolves. Do you think it’s a government conspiracy? Or rather, a worldwide conspiracy, considering guys who had spent all their youth away from humans seem to appear all over the world.
Someone should investigate.
By vagina do y’all mean vulva?
Good point. We started the conversation in response to someone’s else using the term “vagina,” but after that, we should have clarified our points.
In my defense, I did use “female sexual organs” @396.
*yawn*
Thanks all of you for the hugs
And please somebody tell me that I’m just too stupid to turn on fucking pagenumbers on a kindle version because without them I’m going to be fucked…
rq
That is clearly a bear in a dog suit.
Maybe it got tired of shitting in the woods?
–
*hugs* and sympathy for Giliell.
–
You might…have some cause for concern.
–
Okay… am I, like, invisible, or something?
Still needing help on the keyboard front — having to push certain keys multiple times to get one lousy “n” or “b”.
Advice? Solutions? Cleaning hasn’t helped.
Dalillama, there is a *hug* right here, with your name on it.
–
WMDKitty, I am not qualified to advise you on Matters Mechanical or Electronic…but I’ve heard that it’s okay to spray out a keyboard (unplugged!) with water, then leave it alone ’til it’s dry.
–
This is an extremely bad idea. There is a a specific keyboard that recently entered the market designed to do this, but others cannot. WMDkitty, possibly try popping off the offending keys, swabbing the area with rubbing alcohol and replacing them?
Cleaning was no bueno. Been digging in there with tweezers and shit, got the lint & crud out. Still fucked up. :(
See? That is why you should not take tech advice from me.
–
Ugh. I’m about to go to sleep. I’d meant to be getting up about now. :(
Hello everybody.
*hugs* all around.
Good for you for sticking to your guns and looking out for your kids so well, Giliell.
—
I’m back from Missouri. Tired. Frustrated with my dang washing machine which will not drain. Irrationally terrified of the work I have to do this week. Kind of headachey. Want to curl up.
Might make a smoothie to get some spinach in my diet today.
—
Anyway, hope y’all are doing ok.
Hello WMDKitty,
Sadly I have found that fixing keyboards is a thankless task. I suggest you go to ebay and get another one or ask the Horde to donate one. Keyboards are pretty cheap nowadays.
On another atheist group forming: this article in our local paper has a comments section that is typically predictable. I have left a comment, under this username. Wait and see if it is published, this paper does usually publish my comments.
It’s not so much a matter of swapping in a new keyboard, I’m on a laptop. 2 USB ports, one always occupied w/ wireless mouse, other used for charging devices (phone, ipod) almost constantly. Plus there’s nowhere to really store said keyboard. My setup is intentionally small b/c I’m in a studio, and I’m in a wheelchair — space is at a premium.
WMDkitty:
Remap n, b to other keys – you’re probably not using the menu key (which you might not have) and you really don’t need that many ctrl or alt keys :D
Or get a keyboard that has more USB ports on it? I used to have one of those floating around.
WMDKitty, enter your laptop model and “keyboard” into your search box, see what comes up. I replaced my son’s Dell keyboard for about $25 and an hours work.
Why it should be autism acceptance, not autism awareness .
Youtube should have videos on cleaning laptop keyboards – they have them for everything else.
So we’ve been having a saga of window estimates. Thanks to the estimate guy at a big name improvement chain that shall remain nameless and orange, we’re about to save ourselves about $1500 by not using them. We had entirely decided to use them but were having trouble getting the guy to email us a hard copy of our estimate (which he also hadn’t left with us), and also having trouble getting an answer on whether we could get a particular sale price, so brought in a local contractor whose estimate was far cheaper, he seems great, and we like the windows he uses too. So win-win for us and local businesses.
On the small world-ness of the internet: SallyStrange retweeted an interesting comment by a person awhile back, and then I followed that person, and then yesterday that person tweeted pictures of someone I know IRL, who they also know. Whoa.
Sweet deal with the windows, carlie :)
—
I forgot until I went out to eat with my grandma that she has a script for introducing me. “This is my granddaughter, [Portia]. She’s a lawyer. And a firefighter.” :D Every. Single. Time. Makes me feel very brag-worthy, even if it does get repetitive.
@Lofty
Sadly, with the advent of computers-for-people-who-don’t-want-to-learn-to-deal-with-hardware, it may not actually be possible for someone to replace their keyboards anymore. One of my friends has a Lenovo Ideapad – you can’t even remove the battery, never mind the keyboard/RAM/hard drive/fan.
(Incidentally, ability to upgrade components is a thing I look for in a new computer.)
@WMDKitty
Might I ask what model of computer do you have? It’ll let us offer more applicable advice.
Portia!
*hugs*
What part of Missouri, if I may be so nosy as to ask?
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carlie: Hurrah for getting a good deal; and if the Big Orange Improvement Chain has to miss out on a sale/contract, too bad for them—you gave them every chance.
–
You are brag-worthy, Portia. Repetitively brag-worthy, even.
:)
–
It’s an acer aspire, about three years old, Wal-Mart special.
424
WMDKitty — Survivor
o.O
I have the same computer – from the same place on special from that long ago. I’ve pryied up the keys to clean them and I’ve been able to put them back okay – except for the few that broke…
Unfortunetely, I have no idea how I did it correctly or went wrong wrong. =(
Have you tried the air pressure can spray thing? That might be worth a shot. I can’t afford it so I’ve never tried it but maybe. I’ve just been turning it upside down and shaking everything out of the keyboard as much as possible. My keyboard is ridiculously bad after all this time though.
If you have the money, you can get a wireless keyboard and mouse that work off the same usb plug in. My Roomie uses one of those and his was $30 at Walmart. Of course, it means balancing a keyboard on top of the laptop but I honestly don’t any other ideas. =(
I have decided that these last 3 days were defective, and I am demanding an immediate refund from the uncaring universe. These days have been stressful, gross, and chock full of euthanasias and I’m just completely done with it.
And Parsnip decided to give me a giant cranky/worry because he decided to not urinate for 18 hours.
My dinner is going to consist of mint chocolate chip ice cream, because I want it and I think it will help the 3 day supply of heartburn.
Portia, the Firefighting Lawyer (or the Lawyerly Firefighter):
Brag worthy?
I should say so!
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-fertilizer-company-didnt-heed-disclosure-rules-blast-123833418–finance.html
Self reporting works… so well… so often… We don’t need no stinkin’ regulations!*/close Sarcasm of Disgust (TM)
–
*I’m sure I’ve already missed (numerous) defenses of ‘FREE ENTERPRISE’.
Tony:
At the beginning of law school, I learned that “lawyering” is a verb. : D It’s my favorite one.
And thank you. You’ve added to the *warmfuzzies* that cicely gave me. *hugs* to you.
cicely
North-central Missouri, about an hour south of the Iowa state line. Amish country. (Don’t get me started on the weird hypocrisy I saw everywhere). About fourteen miles or so from the Mormon Garden of Eden, which I had to drive right by there and back. Looks distinctly unremarkable, let me tell you!
And thank you for your kind words. *hugs* in return :)
rowanvt
I hope Parsnip starts behaving better, *hugs* for the bad days, and I heartily endorse your dinner plans. (Have I mentioned I think Parsnip is an adorable kitteh name?)
I just found out that one of my oldest friends (literally known him since birth) is back in town for a week from California. He moved there in September and just sort of dropped off the map. He’s got a lot of anxiety and non-committance and I don’t want to pressure him but I think I might actually see him this week. We’ve had romantic dalliances at various points in our lives but mostly I’m just happy to see him, maybe. He was around town with the whole crowd last night but I wasn’t here : ( Hopefully I can still see him though. :D
*I might have been a few minutes old when he was brought in the room as a three year old. Our mothers were each other’s midwives, essentially.
Coming to a
theater/novel near you!West Wing programming note: Dule Hill doesn’t look great with a mustache.
bluentx: If you know any literary agents, (or ghostwriters) send ’em my way :D
I hope to high hell the company that blew up West, Texas pays lots and lots of damages.
(Funny how conservaturds rail against “trial lawyers” and personal injury suits but that seems to be their only plan for remedy in situations like this one. Private person and private company, no regulation needed!)
*pouncehug* for JAL.
Just ’cause.
:)
–
*hugs* and moral support for rowanvt. Do very young kittens often have this kind of problem?
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Portia: Amish country seems to be extending into this (Springfield and surrounding) area. The Husband and I once almost rear-ended a buggy, on the way to an SCA event. We were, of course, in garb, so I’m sure the sheriff would have found a certain amusement in the situation…if not for The Husband’s incredible reflexes. Pre-dawn…on an up-hill…on a back road…possibly excavating for a mine….
And we have a fair number of Mennonites, of varying degrees of conservativeness. Hmmm…spell-check doesn’t like that word. Conservativity? Conservatarity? Conservarianism?
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Yes, along the highway, there were huge signs with the buggy silhouettes and orders to SHARE THE ROAD.
Scary to almost hit one.
I didn’t know you were in Missourah. : )
My grandma’s husband has such a thick accent I often have to ask him to repeat himself. He often referenced “Ah-oh-way Settee.” :)
Conservatarianism?
Is that a conservative libertarian?
(Add “conservaturdity” to your dictionary and no more problem :) )
—
As a sidenote, Califriend called like he said he would, which is majorly surprising given his track record. :) It’s been a crappy several days but being back around all you lovely people and the probability of seeing my friend is making me feel much better. I think it’s all the “feeling cared about” and whatnot.
What an odd coincidence! My sister lives not terribly far from there and is involved in the SCA, too. You might have gone to the same events.
Mellow Monkey, it’s possible. Do you know what Barony/Shire she’s in?
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We have a new commenter over in the July 4th thread. PZ recommended xe come here, and I tried to add to the welcome mat.
Portia:
Glad to hear your spirits are being lifted.
I hope you get to spend some time with your friend!
cicely, I don’t off the top of my head. I’ll have to ask her. I just found it amusing to see my worlds crossing over like that. :)
Thanks Tony : )
—-
Preemptive welcome to the newcomer if xe ventures over :)
—
I found out last Thursday that I can summon the nerve to tell off a guy friend in a social situation if he is making a woman I don’t know visibly uncomfortable. My telling-off skills had previously only been tested in the context of telling off an unknown man who was making a woman friend of mine uncomfortable. It kind of makes your guy friends pissed off at you, but *shrug* in the grand scheme of things.
Cicely, no they don’t. Which is why he is driving me bonkers.
I’ve even put her on my shoulder and patted her back. Yeah. I “burped” my laptop. Keys are still wonky.
May just have to suck it up and purchase an external keyoard.
http://news.yahoo.com/united-adversity-west-texas-prays-boston-sends-pizzas-201200641.html
Sappy, warm and fuzzy syndrome going on here…
But why the praying part (I don’t get that) .. use your medical training not your religious indoctrination!
Good Grief! Saw this on FB:
.
Also from this other church group:
*facepalm*
WMDKitty,
Laptop keyboards tend to be relatively easy to replace (people constantly pour liquids and debris into their laptop keyboards, so it makes sense if these are easy to replace). On most laptops, it’s a matter of carefully prying off the plastic cover above the keyboard, sliding the keyboard out (sometimes there is a screw or two that has to be removed first), and disconnecting its ribbon cable. Then doing all that in reverse when you install the replacement. However, some laptops are not this easy, and it’s very difficult to say without knowing an exact model. This site has a number of installation guides, if you wanted to see if it’s difficult to perform on your laptop. I’m not sure I’d buy from this company, though. You can find much cheaper replacements elsewhere (especially on eBay).
bluentx:
Loathe as I am to defend anything religious, *if* the prayers were accompanied by proper medical care, I won’t complain.
When prayer is substituted for proper medical care that’s when my ire is raised.
Ooooooh, do not get me started on the Westboro Baptist Church. I’m having enough of a facepalming, headdesk fest dealing with scottyroberts at the moment. But at his very worst, he doesn’t compare to that group (I’m actually out of adjectives to describe how vile I think they are; I really don’t think there are words to adequately express how I feel about them).
Heck, I imagine if we all (fellow Pharyngulites) expressed our opinion about that hateful group, we might break the Internet in half.
Agreed, Tony— as long as they ‘do the real work’. It just drives me crazy when supposedly intelligent people play the god card.
I almost did a hulk-smash to my Sirius radio the day after the Tuscon shooting. A regular commentator (supposedly an actual Dr.) from the ‘Dr. Radio’ channel was interviewed on a channel I listen to regularly. 5 times in a 3 minute interview this ‘professional’ used the word ‘miracle’ to describe Rep. Gifford’s survival of a head wound.
I kept asking, “What about the people on the scene? What about the EMT’s? What about the highly trained medical personell? WHAT FREAKING MIRACLE?”
WMD Kitty,
I found this video and this replacement keyboard. I search for my model but the keyboard is for several ascer aspire laptops and same for the video.
Man, I want to replace mine.
Ooooh and keyboard protectors!
This is why I don’t allow myself to window shop….
Good morning!
I begin with a major geography fail. (Sorry, all you Czechs out there!)
And that’s it for now.
More flooding, more water damage, more people angry at the government for not declaring a state of emergency on Friday.
Rob Ford (mayor of Toronto) wants to explain to women how politics works. Any takers? He says more females need to get involved.
(Does that sound like a fishing attempt for dates to anyone else?)
rq
I’m going to bed.
You can have the last of the rum.
and a few *hugs*
rq:
If I may inquire, roughly what time is it in your part o the world?
Oooh rum. Up for sharing rq?
Assuming there’s only one timezone in Latvia…
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=602
”
Huuummmm…What would be the Toronto/Ontario equivalent of “hiking the appalachian trail”?
Bluentx:
D’oh!
It did not occur to me to look around the internet to figure out Latvian time.
Tony
I’ll share… it is now just past 10.30 AM :)
bluentx
We do have only one time zone, thankfully. Except for that pesky city on the west coast that (recently) brought in its own currency and is trying to nab itself its own timezone, and will probably eventually try to secede… When the plutocrat currently in power (but in jail for embezzlement and on trial in the UK for more of the same) decides he needs no more elections.
monday morning
bah
Good morning
Well, mornings have vastly improve d with the new dinosaur collection cards.
Portia
Well, there’s hope that your friend will think about it and become un-pissed. Let’s face it, nobody want s to think of themselves as “that person”, so the initial reaction is quite understandable
Secession here, secession there… Does Rick Perry have a relative in western Latvia?
chigau!
Thanks for all the rum.
It was great.
(The hugs, too. :) )
bluentx
Actually, they’re learning from the quebecois. ;) But on a smaller scale.
I’m so proud of myself! I made all the phone calls myself! *victory dance*
Encouraging news: 56.4% of Latvians believe that religion (in this case, Christian versions of it) is a private family affair and should not be part of school curriculum.
According to a poll by “Populares Latvia”, which seems to be a libtertarian organization (they stand for free entrepreneurship, small government, individual freedoms and traditional European values).
@RQ:
Good! Now make my phone calls!
re: o2f2 upthread: Boy was not serious. Last night, he brought it up again and I explained that it was one of the most dangerous chemicals around. He said that he knows, he was trying to be funny. Sorry I was not clear about that upthread. Not getting a whole lot of sleep and my mind is not operating on all cylinders (which (when you have a four-cylinder brain (very low displacement (and educated in history, to boot))) makes me even dumber than normal).
Good morning.
XKCD makes me happy.
Katherine
It’s always easier doing someone else’s dirty work rather than your own. ;)
Cat has a Tick.
Gross.
Yay for getting phone calls made, rq! :D
Good morning world.
Want to make a rat happy? Tickle it.
Ugh, my work phone is still out from some heavy rains we had last week.
Go FOOF,
The mildly deranged penguin is quite fond of the stuff. Useful for mixing cocktails: “Shaken, stirred, or foofed?”
It’s probably nice and clean by now. Bring it inside to dry off. (Hint: Do not put it in the oven to dry…)
Today’s mission: Keeping calm and getting one thing done at a time.
That’s two things…
I’m already overachieving! Excellent!
Go, Portia, go!!! *pom-poms*
+++
In other news, I think the Ticked Cat is now inside the chimney and not coming out until we buy some treats. All because we want to take it to the vet.
SillyCat.
KEEP CALM
and
DO ONE THING
—
carlie: great rat article (re the research.) Apparently tickling rats for a few minutes daily mitigates their stress response:
…I have an idea for a portable stress-relief clinic. <_<
—
Salon links:
Tony: that 5-year-old is doing better. (Most of the article’s about protesting police indifference.)
Discussing whether the Tsarnaevs are white or not
A Girl Scouts chapter introduces a game design badge
Pteryxx
Looks like I need my eyes checked, because the Tsarnaevs keep looking white to me.
Swallowed a clock?
rq, that’s basically the idea… a lot of right-wingers are insisting they can’t be ‘really’ white, and it’s closely tied to the narrative of whether they’re terrorists or not, should be tortured or not, etc. I’m seeing more of that than ‘they’re Muslims!’ even, which I didn’t expect. It’s really stark how ‘not-white’ is just code for ‘not-human, torture away!’
…aaand apparently I should be working this into the Twitter thread somehow. >_>
Hi, horde. I have a request: Should I be unfortunate enough to be blown up in a terrorist attack some day, could you please make sure that no one drapes a US flag over my coffin or urn or symbolic bit of residual tissue? I have nothing against the US, but don’t want my funeral or memorial service or stake through the heart just to make sure ceremony to become an excuse for literal or metaphorical flag waving, no matter how much the person who killed me hates US-Americans.
Hello, I’m an atheist from a tiny lil’ rat hole in wyoming…I need intelligent people to rant to! Mormonism is the primary myth where Im from…
Hey sethmassine! You’ve come to the right place. There’s not a saturation of Mormons around me but two of my bffs are Mormons so I’m familiar with some of the more everyday *facepalm* material.
…how do you feel about peas?
Horses?
Grog?
Welcome, sethmassine! Rant away!
Hey, nice to know others must deal with mormon ‘logic’ lol. I dig peas, have ridden a few horses, and must admit I’m drunk and have no clue who this grog is :/
Peas AND horses. I like this one!
Mormon doctrine tends to make me blink in confusion every time I run into it. If it weren’t hurting people, sometimes fatally, I’d find it vaguely amusing. In college I was vaguely friends with two young women who shared a room in the same dorm as I was in: one was a fundamentalist Christian, the other a Mormon. It went about as well as you might expect. I don’t think either actually managed to convert the other.
Sounds like quite the odd couple…yeah, I was a christian for ten years. Finally, on the eve of my 17th birthday, I was visiting ICR (Yeah…) and saw a few holes in their “logic”, as well as my first confirmed sighting of the fabled Quote Mine (I hear tell there are dragons and giants in its depths). Finally, after crying like a baby, I couldn’t deny anymore how many facts were staring me in the face, so I began my long ascent of Mount Rational. wow, this turned into a Why I’m an Atheist post lol sorry, kinda tispy and isolated from intelligent people
My addition to the discussion up-thread about keyboards: I use a wireless keyboard and a wireless trackpad with my laptop. I don’t like reaching across the trackpad on my laptop to type. I like driving a larger monitor with the laptop, and being able to place the keyboard anywhere. I also like the larger surface on the wireless trackpad (which also responds to a lot of nifty gestures).
About limited USB ports on a laptop: you can purchase USB port replicator from a company like Belkin. Turn one port into four ports, for example.
Hello, sethmassine.
You may have ridden a few Horses, but do you Like them?
And watch out, cicely has spies eeeeeverywheeeerrre… Just like Master Horse, in fact.
*ponders*
Uh, I’ll be over there.
Nick
I wish it was just a clock stuck to his head right now as he’s stuck up the chimney. If encephalitis and Lyme disease weren’t such a big thing in these parts, I’d be worried a lot less about that tick.
‘Tis the season for a particular type of Moments of Mormon Madness. Mormon-led Boy Scout troops are better than your average troop at getting lost, suffering injuries, and generally revealing a lack of quality or good sense in the leaders.
KSL.com Utah link.
Photos of the area available at the link.
Soooo it looks like Stephen Harper will use the Boston bombing to make Canada even more like the States – by which I mean pass laws about pre-emptive arrests and imprisonment for failure to testify and the like. :(
Also, Facebook makes people more selfish? Not that I’m a huge fan, and don’t plan on getting this Home thing they speak of… Also saw/heard Zuckerberg speak for the first time on screen (third ad at the bottom). Can’t say he left me with a good impression.
Welcome, sethmassine.
Sure, a van with “come in and touch a rat to feel good” written on the side driving around neighborhoods – what could possibly go wrong? O.o
:D