[Lounge #446]


new-year-2014

This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.

Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread

Comments

  1. bluentx says

    ‘Kay.. seems that too many comments in the thread (don’t know where the line– ‘to many’ is, tho) makes it more difficult to log in. Had no problem once the page changed.

    That one of your ‘phone headaches’ Tony?

  2. bluentx says

    Oh, and before this thing turns on me…

    To quote The Great Og: “My fucking pipes froze!” 25ish (F) w/ W(orthless) C(alculation) F(actor) of 17.

    In an area of rare temps like this *hugs* to those who are homeless or have less shelter than I.

    I know *hugs* aren’t enough….

  3. rq says

    Sympathies to all those with water pipe problems!! :( *hugs* and a wish for running water to be restored quickly, with no damage to the actual pipes!
    And may everyone in the path of the snow and storms to come stay safe, and stay warm!

  4. rq says

    Currently in a FB fight over this image. Never mind the fact that my MiL treated me this way, I should lighten up because it’s just a joke.

  5. bluentx says

    Not toooo long ago, I would have thought that was funny and ‘just a joke’, too. (Some of it anyway.)
    Funny how hearing (and reading) other perspectives can change yours.

  6. bluentx says

    Amending # 507:
    Just yesterday… yesterday (!) I was thinking about a conversation I had over twenty years ago. I realized yesterday (!) how wrong I was in the position I had taken!
    Remembering that conversation for this long… I think maybe l had always known there was something ‘not right’, but it didn’t click until 2014! I credit my new ‘insight’ to having learned much from reading here.

    Now, if only I knew where Ann was to say, “You were absolutely right! I apologize!”

  7. rq says

    CaitieCat
    Almost? :/ I see it “as bad”. Possibly even a bit worse, but I can’t really pinpoint why. I’d have to find the ‘dating my daughter’ list and compare, but this one seems to have an extra dose of malice towards the girlfriend. But maybe I’m just reading it that way.
    Either way, it got laughs because there’s less of this kind of list going around. Somebody probably thought they were gathering points for equality, when really, all they did was enforce some rigid binary gender stereotypes (about mothers, about women, about boys/young men and their (in)ability to choose wisely, etc.).

  8. A. Noyd says

    @rq
    Maybe try posting this in response, first. The OP and the comments talk about why trying to play watch-dog over your adult children and chase away their lovers is a failing strategy, and what to try instead.

  9. bluentx says

    Plus reinforcing the ‘awful MIL’ canard at the same time.
    (Really, they’re not all awful. I loved my first one. :)

  10. rq says

    bluentx
    I wasn’t as lucky, but mine wasn’t all bad and we got used to each other.

    A. Noyd
    Thank you! Even though I’m deep into it already, I think I’ll put that up for educational purposes. I doubt it will help. What hurts most is that this high school friend is currently working as a high school teacher… and should be among the first people to point out that such thinking is wrong. *sigh*

  11. A. Noyd says

    @rq
    Whoops, I wasn’t clear. I meant “first” before you unfriend people, since you can’t really reply after you do that.

    Also, what I can’t get over with that list is how pathetic it makes mothers seem. Like their only accomplishment is having raised a child, so they have to feel jealous towards the child’s lovers.

  12. rq says

    A. Noyd
    Ah, that makes more sense, I should have read more in context with my unfriending comment. If there’s a response, it’ll be this evening (time zones!), but yeah, I put it up, so we’ll see. But this isn’t the first time she’s posted something verging on the disgust with ‘good intentions’. She’s not the worst of the lot, but as a mother who hopes to have independent children, I find it insulting that I should take so much possessivve interest in their romantic lives. As if I can’t teach them to make the right choices.

  13. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Uh, I get an error message when I click your link rq. Image search terms?

  14. says

    For Caine: My rattie Jules is all healed up from that encounter with Intruder Rat. He and Verne are cuddling with me while DutchBaby cuddles with her daddy. So that all makes up for me having locked my keys in the car earlier today.

  15. says

    Wow. It’s now cold enough we’re getting frostquakes here – apologies for the Daily Fail link, but it was the first one I came across. Woken up by a tremendous bang, and since been kept awake by the building making really loud banging and popping noises, as water inside the walls is popping bricks out of the facing, and in the ground is causing miniquakes (frost-heaving of the ground, resisted by frozen-ness, lets go suddenly with a bang).

    It is sure some kind of cold out there. -27 now, and the wind chill’s south of -40.

    Holy crap, those bangs are loud. I hope no one in the building has combat-related PTSD. They’re making me jump half out of my skin.

  16. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    You know, for once I’m not bitterly envying people who live in places that actually have a winter instead of “Summer, FUCK YOU, summer, half-assed-fall-spring-thing.” O.o I hope everyone’s all right.

  17. says

    Heya
    I’m feeling slightly better. Not well, but better to the extend that I don’t keep myself awake coughing, so I catch up on sleep. Fortunately, my instructor is sick, too, so I can catch up on a bit more of it.

    *wraps a warm blanket around Thetys and all others affected by cold-cold*

    pets and babies
    Our friends’ dog immediately fell in love with our kids and would sleep for hours guarding the little one while asleep. Since he’s twice a shepherd by breed (Australian Shepherd and Collie mix) he loves to “shepherd” them, too, running behind them.
    He also immediately became the BFF when our friends’ son was born and now they’re doing what puppies of all species do: share biscuits.
    Still, that’s not what happens with all dogs. Friends of mine had a dog where the shelter lied to them. When they had their first-born the dog became agressive, trying to bite the baby, no matter what they did. Some time later they met the previous owner: they’d had to give up the dog for exactly that reason, but at the shelter they’d passed off the dog as “very child-friendly”, because my friends had told them they were planning to have a baby soon.

  18. A. Noyd says

    Oh yeah, I think the Apple Store guy who transferred my cellular plan to the new phone was really jealous that I still have unlimited data. He suggested I start listening to streaming radio everywhere just because I could.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    rq (#518)

    As if I can’t teach them to make the right choices.

    Or teach them to figure out what to do when they’ve made the wrong choices, as people inevitably do. I feel really fortunate that my mother tried her best to do that.

  19. bluentx says

    Anyone have suggestions for/ experience with finding obituary information in California? I’ve looked at the local newspaper site but not having much luck (especially with this phone).

    Have seen a (short on details) item online that may mean a close relative may have died five years ago… and no one bothered to pass the news on!
    My family is weird and this person dropped out of sight several times over the years but I’d like to know– ya know?

  20. rq says

    Fun in the cold.
    And I have to say, I’m a fan of winter. I really am. But the thought of having to wake up every 2 to 3 hours at night to go down and put more fuel into the furnace because of the frost-quaking cold outside… Kinda puts the damper on it.
    So, I’ll amend that to I’m a conditional fan of winter. Temperatures up to -35°C, please. I can handle that.

    Stay warm, everyone!!
    CaitieCat, while on the one hand I envy you having the opportunity to experience such a strange natural phenomenon (I think blf previously remarked it was the silurians digging their way up), I don’t envy the specific conditions that have caused them. Stay warm, stay safe, and be well!!

  21. bassmike says

    Commiserations to all experiencing problems with the cold. I hope you all can stay safe and warm. We’ve been fortunate enough to miss the bad weather that is plaguing other parts of the UK. All I can say is that it will get us the next time, or the one after that. That’s weather for you!

    pets and babies: a friend of mine had to give one of their dogs to someone else because it showed aggressive behaviour toward their newborn child. I guess it depends where the dog thinks the new arrival fits into the pack heirarchy.

    rq your list ‘rules for dating my son’ is something that years ago (to my embarrasment) I would have found mildly amusing. But now I find it tiresome, patronising and predictable. With regard to FB friends: I have unfriended someone due to their excessive number of posts pushing extreme religion.

  22. bluentx says

    Thanks for the hugs, rq.
    Guess that makes up for that cruel return email earlier… “What winter?”
    :))

  23. carlie says

    Dammit – temp is 0, wind chill (I know, but) is -19, but is school closed? Nooooooo. The city schools are closed, but all the suburbs are on. I am not sending my kids out to the bus stop in this, so that means driving to school duty. ARGH

  24. carlie says

    I apologize for complaining about school and driving when there are people with serious house problems. I realize my problem is minor – was just letting off steam.

  25. bluentx says

    Bassmike:

    “Extreme religion” as in:
    1) hateful
    2) excessive, repetitive Praise Jesus posts
    3) ???

    I get #2. That’s why I rarely check my FB anymore.

  26. carlie says

    Tethys – my sympathies!

    My house is 110 years old and the kitchen is a complete amateur plumbing kludge.

    Mine is 50 years old and has amateur hour remnants everywhere too. We do have shutoffs on most of the pipes, at least (but not all, and those do require the whole house turnoff). I hope you’re able to get it dealt with quickly.

  27. bassmike says

    bluentx ‘extreme religion’ as in: Allah is the only true god and everyone should conform, men must be ‘real’ men, women must know their place, homosexuality is an abomination and evolution is not true. Also some very worrying links to pretty extreme preachers.

    He was an ex-work colleague who’s views I always found problematic. It was no great loss de-friending him.

  28. rq says

    bassmike
    I have two categories: the excess religion (also known as I wish I was a Republican even though I live in socialist Canada and don’t plan on moving but I’ll re-post all homophobic and religious rants I find), and then the stereotype perpetuation (and propagation). I haven’t yet unfriended (if I say de-friended, I probably mean something else, right?) anyone, though I’ve come close – but it’s bound to happen sometime.

  29. bluentx says

    Reason #2 to aviod FB for me… Not until after friending (some I’ve known for more than 30 years) did I find out how they really feel. Hateful towards practically everyone, regressive in their political ideology, gun crazy, but oh so pious! Ugh!

  30. rq says

    Anyone heard of “Mipsterz”? Here, take a look. I suppose if you live well in America, you can afford to be so casual about hijab/faith-as-fashion. It all looks pretty, but the whole thing just screans Privilege!!! to me, while at the same time I understand their desire to change people’s views of what it means to be a woman in islam.

  31. ledasmom says

    CaitieCat:

    Woken up by a tremendous bang, and since been kept awake by the building making really loud banging and popping noises, as water inside the walls is popping bricks out of the facing, and in the ground is causing miniquakes (frost-heaving of the ground, resisted by frozen-ness, lets go suddenly with a bang).

    A few years ago when we had a rather impressive ice storm here, we went out to check the damage (in our case, another piece off the dying-but-not-fast-enough street tree we are lumbered with). Every minute or so a branch fell within earshot, sort of what I would imagine a crystal chandelier would sound like when it hit: thump in a confusion of tinkles. It was quite effectively disturbing.

  32. birgerjohansson says

    Reading suggestion for 2014: Glen Cooks tetralogy Instrumentalities of the Night begins with the highly recommended “The Tyranny of the Night” (review at British Amazon is confusing it with another title, see American Amazon)
    The writing skill of Cook easily trumps that of Robert Jordan, Raymond Feist, Hobb et al.
    The era resembles our 12-13th centuries, with a flashback to 10th century Norway. The geography is the same as our world with different names. The problem is there are so many names the reader may be overwhelmed.
    -At Amzaon.com you can find a useful list of names at “Most useful customer reviews” by E.Allen http://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Night-Book-One-Instrumentalities/dp/076534596X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389086155&sr=1-3&keywords=glen+cook+instrumentalities+of+the+night
    Some minor geographical alterations: Memphis and Cairo are represented by a single city. Alicea (Carrara) is to the east of Sonsa (Pisa) instead of the west. Dropping sea levels are merging Corsica and Sardinia to the island Artecipia.
    Andequelez (Petra) is not quite as old as stated. Tariq’s rock (Gibraltar) is joined to North Africa by a narrow isthmus. The distances of the Arctic probably prevented arctic hunters from having a single, common god of winter (Kharoulke the Windwalker, possibly a Wendigo).

  33. birgerjohansson says

    Ignorance can be a worldview, a religion or an ideology. Ignorance can be a whole way of life.
    We still have November here in northern Sweden. Rain, rain and more rain.

  34. birgerjohansson says

    Suppelemntal list of names for Glen Cook’s novel:
    Sturlanger = Vikings, Gedanke = Siegfried / Sigurd, Eiref Erealsson = Eric Bloodaxe of Norway. Shallow Sea = Baltic. Grand Marshes = Pagan territories near the southern Baltic.
    Dreanger = Egypt. Ruins of Andesqueluz = Petra? Lucidia = Syria /Ottoman Turks subject to Caliphate of Baghdad. Calzir = Moorish state in southernmost Italy.
    A-Khazen (capitol of Calzir) = Cozensa or maybe Sybaris /Copia Thurii.

  35. birgerjohansson says

    Current project: Build a wide-diameter version of “Stargate” to exchange air between North America and Sweden. Or make that North America and Australia.

  36. rq says

    Hmm. Interesting. Though Koenigsberg doesn’t strike me as being particularly south on the Baltic Sea. Maybe Gdansk? Although upon further query via GoogleMaps, they’re both rather equivalent in their south-ness.

  37. birgerjohansson says

    rq, the fourth book in the series is coming out this spring. The third book left off with the protagonists getting ready to to kick Aesir ass. And Heris, the sister of the original protagonist is doing the heavy lifting.

    Yum, Mock The Movie transcripts at Lousycanuck for Slugs, the Movie and Atom Age Vampire. http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/

  38. says

    Unless I badly misremember, isn’t Gdansk pretty much as far south as you can get in the Baltic, barring inlets and such? I remember the bit in…Commodore(?) Hornblower* where he takes a small group of weird little vessels (including two bomb ketches) into the Baltic on an extended raid/support for the besieged…Prussians, I think? Been a few years since I read it.

    Anyway, short of that great big inlet behind the big sandbars outside Koenigsberg, isn’t Gdansk the southest there is?

    * The book, not the person. Though the book is about the person. But it’s way back in my office/bedroom, and it’s COLD back there, on the north corner of the apartment. Brr. So I’m not positive.

  39. bassmike says

    rq ignorance is something some people take pride in. Others want to reduce it as much as they can. Are you referring to something in particular?

    CaitieCat it must be very frightening to hear all that noise. I hope things get better soon. Please accept some virtual earplugs.

    Re FB: I have learnt a lot about people I know from their FB entries. Some people don’t seem to realise quite how public it is.

  40. rq says

    I think Gdansk is usually classified as south-Baltic. I’m not sure about Koenigsberg. There may be a (formerly) major German city that dips lower than Gdansk, though. *shrug*

  41. rq says

    bassmike
    Just the same FB post I was going on about this morning. Apparently calling out abuse is ignorance, since I should filter stuff from the world to make my life a positive experience. Then I wouldn’t be so angry and resentful, because our reaction to how people treat us is dependent on our attitude, and if we just change our attitudes, we can change our lives!!!! … And all of that makes me ignorant, because I have ‘insulted’ (scare quotes not mine) someone’s sense of humour. Oh and by the way normal people don’t go around ‘insulting’ people’s sense of humour on FB, by the way. Just in case you were planning to do so in the future.
    Sadly, this has been an unfriending moment.

  42. says

    Is it purely confirmation bias, you think, that every time I hear anything about Facebook, it’s things that remind me why I stay away from it?

  43. birgerjohansson says

    I think Stettin is pretty far south. Alas, I cannot spell the Polish version of the name.

    Funny that everything east of Elbe was west Slav territory until the ninth century (much of it remained so until the twelfth century). The language transfer was mostly cultural, except in East Prussia. Hitler was sooo wrong about Germans not being related to slavs. In fact, “Berlin” is derived from the Sorb name of the town.

  44. birgerjohansson says

    Hornblower… I think Dubya was an anti-Hornblower, always grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.

  45. rq says

    Dalillama
    Does that link not work??
    A Dutch girl, and she sings. Rather well, in fact. I’ll try to find another link.

  46. Esteleth, [an error occurred while processing this directive] says

    A pair of exchanges I’ve had in the past few days:

    Ex-Viking: I’m doing the Walk to Erebor! Anyone want to join me?
    Me: ???
    Ex-Viking: I’m walking the distance from the Shire to Erebor.
    Me: In Norway in January?
    Ex-Viking: YEP!
    Me: You should walk to Orodruin next.
    Ex-Viking: That’s the plan. I’ll have Samwise [her dog] to keep me safe too!


    Friend: I found this essay that compares Arsenic and Old Lace to a Japanese horror film about lesbian toilet zombies.
    Me: LESBIAN TOILET ZOMBIES?!
    Friend: Yes.
    Me: This film is…?
    Friend: Uh, it’s about Japanese lesbian toilet zombies. *shrug*

  47. says

    rq
    I didn’t try the link. I’m generally disinclined to watch videos, so I prefer to have some kind of information about what’s in it before I do so. I have been directed to this particular video several times now with headings like “You will be amazed” or ‘This 9 year old will amaze you” or the like, which is in turn part of a very popular way of promoting videos involving gushing about how wonderful and amazing the video is without saying why or what’s in it. I find this practice to be endlessly frustrating, and I don’t open videos without at least some idea of what’s going to be in them. I don’t mean to jump on you particularly, and I apologize if I’m less than usually tactful; I”m not at my best today.

  48. says

    Well, and the anti-Hornblower (from the novels, not the show, which had a very different HH) in other ways, too. HH was desperately insecure, famous for being seasick at anchor in a sheltered harbour on his first night afloat, unassuming and prone to deflect praise, and with a constant internal monologue telling him he wasn’t good enough, even as he built a career to rival Nelson. He loathed flogging and any form of torture, and during an imprisonment in Spain, he intervened to save the crew of a ship dashed on the rocks near the coast, and then, having given his parole, went back rather than take the easy route of escaping. Lying was unthinkable, where his personal reputation was concerned.

    He was portrayed as quietly brilliant, but never believing it, thinking his top-rank skills in arithmetic and simple maths (making him a fearsome whist player, and I don’t even know what whist is) are at best ordinary, and something everyone else can do. He’s unpopular among the “old boys’ network” of the Navy, being of at best middle-class background, and would be thought of as rather a serious nerd, today, I think; he’s also loved by the men because he considers their needs, within the needs of the service.

    Bush, of course…is none of those things. Desperately oversure of his very limited abilities, he achieved everything based on “being the lucky sperm/egg combo” (admission to Yale, avoiding Vietnam, politics, money, a stolen Presidency, et c., et c.), he is/was a popular frat-boy type, a jock, son of a former US Navy fighter pilot and upper-class scion of New England (before rebadging as “super-Texan” to win the governorship, something that still annoys some Texans I know), militarily inept, unthinking, contemptuous of the working classes, and one of the biggest lying liars who lie EVER.

    Oddly, though, HH’s best friend/first lieutenant/later flag captain? Bush.

    Wait, did I say all that out loud? Might be a bit of a Napoleonics geek, secretly. *shifty eyes*

  49. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    Tethys – I’m so sorry about your water pipes. *warm hugs*

    bluentx:

    Now, if only I knew where Ann was to say, “You were absolutely right! I apologize!”

    I know exactly what you mean, only her name is Vicki.

    Dutchgirl – Yay!

    Dallilama – *hugs*

  50. Portia, semi-bait says

    Dalillama: *hugs* (I’m rupt but I see others giving you hugs and I’d never miss a chance to toss one your way)

    Hekuni Cat: *pouncehug!!!*

    Prescription: Hugs. Take as needed. Avoid operating heavy machinery. The other person might get in your line of vision during hug administration.

    I’m waiting on a phone call back so I can subpoena the right person for my jury trial in exactly seven days. My first jury trial will be on Friday. It’s prosecuting a speeding ticket (Exciting!!11!!) but I’m nervous. Never actually selected a jury before. Two in one week will be a fun challenge.

    It’s been a stressful morning. I am giving myself a five minute break in order to decompress my brain.

    Update on the Mail Situation: I went to the Post Office and it was after closing but they are so nice that they have told me that if I am there around 5pm and they are back in the mail room, to jsut knock on the door if I need to pick up a package or something. So I did that, and explained my conundrum with the piece of mail I received for the neighbors. And they said “Oh, yes, you only got that because there was a substitute carrier yesterday. I always send their mail back when it comes to your box.” Hooray! They are already on it!!! I’m very relieved. They started to explain how the neighbors could go about setting up their own box and how they’d help and I said ‘Yep, they definitely know that, I told them how helpful you all are!” So. I’m pretty happy about all that.

  51. Esteleth, [an error occurred while processing this directive] says

    Portia, someone is taking a speeding ticket to a jury trial?!

    *boggles*

  52. Portia, semi-bait says

    Esteleth:
    Ha, yes. And they claim they weren’t in a school zone.

    Hopefully all the potential jurors who have been taken from their jobs and other activities/obligations think like you do ;)

  53. Portia, semi-bait says

    To clarify: Friday’s jury trial is the speeding ticket
    Next week’s jury trial is a DUI.

  54. Esteleth, [an error occurred while processing this directive] says

    The first and only time I’ve been seated on a jury was the following case:

    D00d was pulled over for doing 55 in a school zone, 5 minutes after the last bell had rung.
    D00d blew a .2 on the breathalyzer.
    D00d had a suspended license.
    D00d was driving a car with out-of-date registration.

    D00d countersued, alleging “harassment.” Because the cop (who had recognized him as someone who had a suspended license) had followed him for 3 (!!!) blocks with lights on before the d00d finally decided to pull over.

    The DA, in summary, said that they were thankful that the d00d was not being charged with vehicular homicide (see “doing 55 in a school zone, 5 minutes after the last bell”).

  55. rq says

    Dalillama
    *hugs*
    Well, it won’t change your life, but she does do some wonderful singing. Rather religious, but no worse for that, if one considers that many operatic pieces suitable to her voice are religious in nature. The one I linked to (I believe) isn’t a religious one. And for a nine-year-old, she really has an amazing voice… Which may or may not survive puberty.
    *hugs*

    Hello, Portia. Sometimes I wonder where you get your clients. ;)

  56. blf says

    Penguin-shaped holes in the walls are an early warning. You just need a flexible definition of time.

  57. says

    If they’re supersonic at the time, the hole in the wall may be the first indication that a penguin is, in fact, arriving.

    And the sonic boom + oily feathers thing is not pretty indoors.

  58. says

    Flying Spaghetti Monster and politics:

    […] Schaeffer wore a colander (a strainer typically used to drain water from spaghetti) while Town Clerk Allison Dispense administered the oath of office to him before the board’s reorganizational meeting. When the OBSERVER asked afterward why he wore a colander on his head, Schaeffer said he was a minister with an even more unique organization – the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

    “It’s just a statement about religious freedom,” he said. “It’s a religion without any dogma.”[…]

    http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/592593/-Strainer–things-have-happened.html

  59. Portia, semi-bait says

    Gross.

    rq:
    Luckily, I’m not the one that has to deal with the clients on these two cases. I’m the prosecutor. Don’t want to give more details in public : )

    Esteleth:
    That’s a powerful closing argument, I’m presuming it was effective?
    Sad how reckless people are.

  60. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    Portia – In addition to your pouncehug, I’ll gladly take one of your prescription hugs. It will greatly improve my day. I hope your day improves as well.

  61. opposablethumbs says

    Fuck. I’d like to leave a pile of hugs for the Horders in the Steubenville thread too.

    And extra ones for Dalillama, and a hello!hug (aka a slightly more reserved and Brit-like version of the well-known pouncehug) for Portia.

  62. cicely says

    And Today is Another Day!
    While today’s weather’s Official Flight Plan does not call for cracking the freezing mark (from the under side), at least it’s expected to not get lower than 20 or so tonight.
    Perhaps…perhaps we dare stop that damned, incessant dripping???

    bluentx:

    * Don’t tell you know who, but they use Horses. (Not as CPR dummies, for transportation cross-country!)

    Do They supply Their own handbaskets?

    *hugs* for bassmike, and I’m sorry that your positivty has fled. Hopefully it will soon return.

    opposablethumbs, clearly you’ve done something very right with SonSpawn!
    :)

    Now, Tony…just because Beatrice is doing exorcisms doesn’t mean she’s gone over to the Dark Side! Maybe she’s just wanting to banish the exonomes back to their native dimensions.
     
    (Later)
    Oh, Tony!, of course I will still like you, despite your perverse desire to have ado with The Horses!
    After all, I still like rq, and she’s an outright Advocate for the Beasts. I think that Portia is Horse Tolerant, and I know that Caine has spoken of Them approvingly.
     
    I suspect pea poisoning, in some of those instances.
    (Can’t call it food poisoning, ’cause peas aint’nt food.)
     
    (Even Later)
    Didn’t you know—in this here USAia, foolball is religion!

    *hugs* and an extra-large heap of sympathy for Tethys.
    I’m sorry about your pipes.
    1/4″ refrigerator lines….

    *pouncehugback* for Hekuni Cat—today featuring strawberry yogurt. Yum!

    Intermission!

  63. Esteleth, [an error occurred while processing this directive] says

    Portia,
    It was effective. Not quite as effective as the defendant, who decided that “fire lawyer and then insult the jury” was a quality defense.

    The jury, upon reaching the deliberation room, deliberated for less than a minute and then spent 15 minutes discussing Da Bears.

    The verdict: guilty, and ughh that pass! What was Ditka thinking?!

  64. rq says

    I see that there is. *shudder*

    +++

    Hekuni Cat *waves frantically*

    cicely
    I don’t eat peas. I follow Horse out of the goodness and clearness of my mind.

  65. Portia, semi-bait says

    cicely:

    I am Horse Advocate, hear me whinny!

    Esteleth:
    Nice :)
    This morning the defendant in another case thought it wise to berate the Public Defender in open court. The judge advised him otherwise. It was enjoyable to watch.

  66. dianne says

    Portia: If you see me on your jury panel, DO NOT pick me. I’d be inclined to throw every book I could find at someone who took a speeding ticket to a jury trial. Or, I guess, do pick me, seeing as you’re the prosecution.

    Can I ask a dumb law question? (Yeah, I know: I just did.) I got a completely unsolicited email asking if I’d testify as an expert witness in a case. How did they get my name? Did someone just go through every person of the relevant specialty in the relevant area or did I get on someone’s list somehow?

  67. Portia, semi-bait says

    dianne:

    Hard to tell. (And you sound like a great juror ^_^) It could be that an attorney or some middle-man agency found you by your specialty, or an agency could have you on a list of some kind. (Your question is not dumb!) Regardless, I think it’s totally fair to ask “How did you find me?” I usually frame it with “I like to know who to thank for the referral” but you could approach it however you want. Hope it works out well for you either way :)

  68. dianne says

    Thanks, Portia. I asked my division and they said, “Just push delete and don’t worry about it if you’re not interested” so I suppose I don’t have to worry about it further…I get ridiculously nervous about legal stuff because I’m never quite sure if I’m going to write “an” instead of “the” and accidentally change the whole meaning of a statement or something.

  69. cicely says

    Portia!
    *pouncehug*

    rq:

    I follow Horse…out of my mind.

    Fixed it for you.
    :D

  70. Portia, semi-bait says

    dianne:

    Ha, I understand the caution. My poor assistant is constantly changing things like “involving” to “regarding” or something like that because I’m always micro-processing language.

    Caine and CaitieCat:

    Thanks for saying the eloquent things I got too flustered to muster in the Steubenville thread. At first, I didn’t want to make the thread All About Me by defending lawyers, but wow he took it to a new level.

    cicely: Hugback : )Thank you

  71. dianne says

    Hugs, if wanted, to Portia. The Steubenville thread is getting pretty nasty. Are you ok?

  72. Portia, semi-bait says

    dianne:

    Sort of? Not really. Kind of. I will be. Thanks for the hugs and for asking.

  73. Portia, semi-bait says

    dianne:
    You already did.

    These things just take a minute. I’m going to make some tea I think.

  74. says

    It is, yeah, dianne @ 597.

    *hugs* Portia, I’m glad I could help a little. It’s how we make it stop: we organize, make it so we’re not individuals trying to stop systems, but new systems replacing old. Your hurt is my hurt, my hurt is your hurt. I speak up because I know how speechlessly rageful I can get when someone pulls that kind of shit.

    -=-=-

    Time for my afternoon nap. I try to wait until post-dark, which is at least an hour away yet, but I’m sore, it’s bloody cold (tip: flax-seed warming/cooling packs make wonderful footwarmers when placed inside a blankety foot-cocoon. I find about 1:15 to 1:45 in an 1100W nuke, depending on the size of the pack, works well (mine is about a kilo in weight, a little over 2 pounds). Makes them warm enough to be warming, without being distractingly hot to put your toes on. :)

    Also, thank the uncaring universe for little luxuries and good landholders. They’re replacing all the toilets in the building the last couple of days, part of a general program of small renovations/upgrades to modernize the building somewhat (it’s a pre-1970 structure, by a few years). Nice thing: this one is quite a bit taller. As I am, despite my shrinkingness, still 5’9″*, it is helpful to have a taller seat so it’s easier to get up and down when I’m in rough shape.

    Throw in the time when the landholder actually lowered my rent to reflect the local lowering of property taxes – only a couple of dollars a month, but still, voluntarily disclosing and complying with landlord/tenant laws even when that results in collecting less income! And people try to say lawyers are inherently bad people. The lawyers who own this place are eminently practical and sensible people.

    Naptime. Latahz Loungahz.

    * I am shrinking. Probably several more cm by the time I’m done; I’ll probably end up one of those curled-up question-mark-y old ladies you see bothering people nicely on the bus. Nicely, though. Interminably, but nicely.

  75. rq says

    CaitieCat
    Have a nice sleep! Thanks for being such an awesome commenter and supporter of lawyers. I warned Portia, but I wasn’t in a position to say anything at the time, and I’m really glad you (and Caine!!) were out there.
    *hugs*

    Portia
    *hugs*

  76. says

    Schlaf schön, Caitie

    *hugs* to all of you, especially those hurt/triggered by the Steubenville thread. I consider putting up a monitor note if the derailment continues.

    +++
    Ahhhh, kids, German religious indoctrination and me.
    So, of yourse, with christmas school got all Jesusie. I had talked with #1 about it that the story about Jesus is a nice story, and while some people believe it’s true, there’s no reason to do so and that after everything is said and done, it’s a fairy tale like Snowwhite and Cinderella.*
    Now because it was the 6th they had to draw the three kings coming to lil baby Jesus.
    She drew everything fine, and she included an “angel”. Well, actually it is an Alicorn*. A beautiful one. Well, if the things a fairy tale she can obviously make it her fairy tale.
    Step one towards world domination.

    *I’ve shed all doubts about “indoctrinating” them with atheism. Sure, I’m still raising them to think critically, but I also give them accurate information. I wouldn’t hesitate to tell them that there are no unicorns and dragons and that the earth is roughly 13 billion years old and that we are indeed apes. So why should I act as if the Jesus-story was still up for debate?

    *That’s a Unicorn with wings. Or a Pegasus with a horn

  77. David Marjanović says

    Me: In Norway in January?

    To be fair, this January is extremely weaksauce, like last year’s. Europe has been having early-November weather ever since, uh, early November.

    Friend: Uh, it’s about Japanese lesbian toilet zombies. *shrug*

    Now I’ve heard of everything.

    I think Stettin is pretty far south.

    It’s very far north, almost at the coast.

    Alas, I cannot spell the Polish version of the name.

    Completely regular: Szczecin. That’s not a joke. :-)

    Funny that everything east of Elbe was west Slav territory until the ninth century

    Even some areas west of it were, like everything east of the Saale and the coast all the way to the gates of Hamburg.

    The language transfer was mostly cultural, except in East Prussia.

    That was just as cultural, AFAIK, but Old Prussian was a West Baltic language, not a Slavic one.

  78. David Marjanović says

    Uh, I haven’t caught up and don’t currently have time to do that. :-]

    and that the earth is roughly 13 billion years old

    Universe: 13.82 Ga.
    Earth: 4.56 Ga.

  79. Tethys says

    The poor plumber has been here. So far he has replaced both the cold and hot section of supply lines that were burst, and then we discovered that the dishwasher has its own hot water supply line which was leaking inside the kitchen cabinetry.

    That line did not burst, but it did freeze and ruin my dishwasher.

    Thanks for the sympathies. I’m happy to have running water, but I am rather upset with how much I had to pay for two hours of work and $20.00 of materials.

  80. bluentx says

    Pipes still frozen (despite warmer temps) and I think I need one of those exorcisms for my refrigerator. (First freeze-up with new fridge and ice maker.) Maybe weird sounds coming from fridge are a sign of thawing feed line to the IM?
    Keeping fingers crossed no damage to well pump. I found it was trying to work (rrrrr! rrrrr! rrrr!) but (probably ?) working against the frozen (water-filled) pipe.
    Nodding to mentions of old house (1919ish) and hard to access kitchen plumbing. So far no sign of broken pipes but we shall see.

  81. bluentx says

    @ 537:
    “…Then I wouldn’t be so angry and resentful…”

    So, that’s my problem… “too sensitive”. I just thought I was tired of “suffering assholes/fools”.

    @ 569:
    ” (Dubya) …. something that still annoys some Texans I know. ..”

    All things mentioned plus slandering Ann Richards in his first (gov) campaign. What a sleazebucket and hypocrite!

  82. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    rq: *pouncehug and chocolate*

    Portia – When I was a legal secretary, I was forever changing “My best guess is” to “I believe that”; I didn’t think they were paying him $180/hour* for his best guess. :D (I also fixed grammar and other odd phrases, but that’s the one I really remember.)

    Also, *hugs and support*

    *This was many years ago, he was an expert in his field, and his per hour rate reflected that.

    Tethys – Ouch, about your dishwasher, but I’m glad your plumbing has been repaired.

    bluentx – If internet exorcisms will do the trick, I’m happy to help, but appliance evil spirits are hard to expel. *hugs*

  83. says

    Ok, just got off work, and see that the Steubenville thread is is getting nasty. I hadn’t checked it out yet, but I’ve got time now.
    Hugs to anyone having a difficult time with that thread.

  84. yazikus says

    Hello Loungers! I hope your holidays (if celebrated) were lovely.

    I’m so sorry for those with climate related problems (Frozen pipes!!) and hope they are soon resolved.

    The only unfortunate weather occurrence where I live is the ‘death fog’. It rolls into town having passed a slaughter house and a paper mill, and smells so terrible.

    I’ll never catch up the lounge thread entirely at this point, as school just kicked off again and works is pressing me for as many hours as possible. I do a couple hours in the morning, head to school for three classes do my homework, head back to work. But it is good busy! Thanks again to those who helped counsel me on my decision to take this leap and do school!

    I kind of feel like I did my good deed for the day. After my psychology class I was mentioning game theory (I know I know, unhealthy fascination) to the teacher, and one young guy, probably 18 overheard and was like, are you talking about PUAs? And I said yes, and he was like “Wow, I never thought I would hear anyone in real life talk about that, especially not a girl! Sometimes I just find myself on a pua website, but they say some stuff I’m not sure about” (I’m definitely visibly old enough to not get called girl). So as we were leaving I directed him to Manboobz, which he said he was going to go find right away. So, maybe one less future pua? Who knows, but I’m going to feel good about it.

  85. bluentx says

    Tethys:
    Commiserations on plumbing woes, but I’m jealous. You got a plumber to come that quickly! ? In winter! ?
    Three years ago I had to wait 5 days to get a ‘copper sweating’ job done. Then found other leaks ( I could fix those myself). I too have virtually no isolation/cutoff valves.
    At the same time, I learned that my gas plumbing was like Swiss cheese and lost all my propane. I was on a waiting list for three weeks for the gas p. redo and with out heat for the whole month of February.
    It was a relatively mild winter that year but still… February!

    Hekuni Cat:
    *Hugs* appreciated and I’ll let you know about the internet exorcisms. :)

  86. says

    yazikus:

    (I’m definitely visibly old enough to not get called girl).

    That’s something I had to actively work to stop doing. I haven’t completely shaken it yet, but I usually correct myself if I slip up.

    My sister put up a new photo of herself on FB yesterday and my father commented on it, saying “That’s my baby girl”.
    My response: “Dad, she’s hasn’t been a baby in a long time. And she’s not a girl.”

  87. says

    Speaking of cold weather, I recall a really cold winter in North Alabama (I lived there from 1988-2003) when the heat in my apartment went out. My roommate and I went over a week without heat. That area gets ice, snow, sleet, etc during the winter, so it got pretty cold. I remember sleeping in layers of clothes (he did too) and being quite unhappy.

  88. says

    Back from the clinic; since I was able to register for classes this term after all, I can get back on the university health plan, so I can go to the student health clinic for followup. This consisted of taking my blood, having me schedule an ultrasound for my gall bladder, and telling me not to eat for the rest of the week.

    Sympathies for those with plumbing problems; that sucks.

    Yazikus

    After my psychology class I was mentioning game theory (I know I know, unhealthy fascination)

    Not at all; game theory has many very useful applications, and is an entirely worthy field of study. PUAs appear to know approximately as much about it as libertarians do about economics, i.e. they know quite a lot of buzzwords connected in a cartoonish fashion that bears only a passing resemblance to the real world.

  89. bluentx says

    Hallelujah (so to speak)!

    Got a functioning pump, flowing water and still no signs of breakage!
    I may get a bath tonight after all!

    I think Lounge Hugs are magic… or something……

  90. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    …wait, is PUA “game” supposed to actually have some relationship to mathematical game theory?

  91. yazikus says

    Tony,
    I guess it just threw me off coming from someone clearly younger than me. I’m sure he meant no harm. And as for the cheese link- did you see the cheese cakes?? Not like cheesecake, but huge cakes makes of cheese. Amazing!

    Dalillama,
    Nice to hear that, I felt a little sheepish posting about it at all. I do find it fascinating.

    Congrats Bluentx!

  92. says

    Universe: 13.82 Ga.
    Earth: 4.56 Ga.

    DM: Giliell is just taking a life-begins-at-conception approach. All the items that would go into the Earth existed, they just had a bit of banging into one another to do before the Earth became its recognizable form.

  93. Tethys says

    bluentx

    Got a functioning pump, flowing water and still no signs of breakage!
    I may get a bath tonight after all!

    Hooray! I am celebrating running water by having a bath tonight also.

    I live in the city, so there are many plumbers. I could have had them out last night for an emergency fee.
    I plan to buy myself a pipe cutter, thread cutter, and some spare fittings to keep on hand so I can do my own repairs to the plumbing. It will be extremely cheap insurance.

  94. says

    yazikus:

    I guess it just threw me off coming from someone clearly younger than me. I’m sure he meant no harm

    It’s entirely possible, though given the sexism our culture swims in, infantalizing a grown woman by calling her a girl is still sexist.

  95. bluentx says

    Tethys:
    Bath not just a celebration here but a definite necessity. No basement here, had to belly crawl under the house to check for leaks. Yech! Nasty under there, but I did double duty while under there. Threw some moth ball crystals around to discourage critters.
    Sometimes home ownership is such fun.

  96. cicely says

    cm’s: Hmmm…I must remember to do up a Wall of Cheese spell, my next time Behind The Screen. Thank you for the inspiration!
    :)

    yazikus!
    *pouncehug*
    (I think I remember that we are on *pouncehugging* terms. Yes? No? Substitution of *non-intrusive gestures of welcome and general glad-to-see-you-ness* is available.)
     
    (*Crunch-n-Munch™* is also available. Takers? Just hold out your bowls/cupped hands/open mouths.)
     
    Anyways, any pua nipped in the bud is a Good and a Joyful Thing. You are a Public Benefactor.

  97. bluentx says

    Cheese and Crunch and Munch talk. You’re torturing the Schmott Guy!

    Wait….have I said anything about f**dstuffs lately?

  98. says

    In order that my pancreas should hopefully start to mend. I am undergoing a relatively mild bout of acute pancreaitis, (relatively mild in that I’m not hospitalized), and doctor’s orders have me on clear liquids for a week.

  99. says

    Le Sigh…

    A conservative judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit argued on Monday that women who were 150 miles from the nearest abortion clinic because of new restrictions passed by the state last year could drive at least 75 miles an hour and their rights would not be infringed.

    At a Monday hearing in New Orleans, lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights explained to a three judge panel that the new abortion restrictions meant that women in the Rio Grande Valley must make a 300-mile round trip to the nearest clinic in Corpus Christi to obtain care

    […]

    Jones, who was appointed to the Fifth Circuit by former President Ronald Reagan in 1985, is currently facing a judicial review for suggesting that Hispanics and African-Americans were “predisposed to crime.”
    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/07/audio-judge-says-women-150-miles-from-texas-abortion-clinic-can-just-drive-faster/

    Yeah, that’s not an obstacle to having an abortion…

    Le Sigh, The Sequel:

    “There’s just one problem,” he said. “The Earth isn’t getting warmer. In fact, it’s because of the Sun. The Sun is now showing signs that we’re headed for something very, very different: global cooling.”

    “It’s getting warmer in Jupiter, and they don’t have any SUVs driving around in Jupiter,” Robertson explained. “I mean, it has nothing to do with greenhouse gasses. It has to do with the axis of the Sun.”

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/07/pat-robertson-global-warming-is-a-scam-because-there-are-no-suvs-on-jupiter/

    That’s probably more ‘Le Stupid’ than anything…

  100. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    bluentx, Tethys – I’m happy to hear your plumbing woes are under control.

    Dalillama – I’m very happy to hear you will be on the university health plan for your follow-up medical appointments.

    cicely – Those spells in #629 are so funny. I think they will probably show up in some form in our D&D session on Saturday, for which I am plotting even as I type this. They’ll never expect cheese–chocolate and/or coffee, yes, cheese never. They’ll also never be expecting the Penguin. =^_^=

  101. says

    Tony
    I can’t locate an image online, but there is a gaming supplement I own with an adventure titled “Gun Bunnies and Zombies”, in which the titular Gun Bunnies were a rabbit warren which achieved sapience TMNT-style after a mutated virus and a nuclear war, and were taught language and how to act as semi-anthropoids by an aging survivalist whose shelter abutted the warren. They are… peculiarly socialized and very heavily armed.

  102. says

    Good morning
    Ahhh, my instructor at school decided it wouldn’t be worth going there for us for two meager hours so I have the morning off.
    Good wishes and warm blankets to all those hit by the weather and cheers for unfrozen-unburst pipes

    yazikus
    Yay!

    I’m definitely visibly old enough to not get called girl

    That school I mentioned above? There are only kids there from 10-16. Now, we’re a group of 4 interns and while the youngest is just 20 and could be easily mistaken for 16, the rest of us isn’t, especially not me and C.
    Before the christmas break C. had to do some teaching and she’d prepared some videos. Now she needed to connect her laptop with the projector and was working on it with S. when a teacher who didn’t know them burst into the class and shouted at two clearly adult women waht they were doing there and whose computer they were messing with, because women are girls and girls are students and he’s their superior.

    Caitie

    Danke sehr, Giliell. ‘S war geil. :)

    Now that leaves me wondering what you did. Just a language tidbit: “geil” is often used to say that something was really good, but that something is something that’s an action-action. So, a wild water ride would be geil. An action movie could be geil. And the most common thing (and AFAIK original meaning) is sex. If you’re geil you want to hump somebody.
    So, if you describe your nap as geil my dirty fantasy gets all excited ;)

    Dalillama
    Best wishes, I’m glad you could get a health care plan *hugs*
    Still, remember there’s a button handily labelled as “”Horde Signal”

  103. Nick Gotts says

    Dalillama,

    Wow, five days without food sounds extremely tough – my sympathies and best wishes for a full recovery.

    Also commiserations to all having problems with cold weather and water pipes – we had our own water problem over the holiday, nothing to do with the weather in our case, but being without running water is pretty demoralising. Fortunately we have specific insurance for emergency plumbing cover – but with it being Christmas, arrival of the necessary parts still took over a week.

  104. rq says

    Dalillama
    Many happinesses for having a health plan!!! I hope you improve rapidly, and I hope everything from here is controllable, and I hope going back to school gets you everything you want out of it! (Especially a job.)

    Sympathies for those with plumbing problems, and cheers for those who managed to have them fixed!

  105. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Did anyone else know this was a thing: Foreskin Man?

    Sounds like it’s over my head.

  106. rq says

    A. Noyd
    It looks terrible. And thank you, thank you, for continuing my education. *shudder*
    (By the way, I don’t think the Captain Awkward link was read at all yesterday. Sadly. Oh well. I’m proud to be the FB-unfriending coward; with friends like I have in the Lounge, how can I possibly go wrong?)

  107. A. Noyd says

    @Azkyroth
    *groan*

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    @rq
    I don’t think it’s cowardly to defriend people who are being self-centered, hypocritical assholes. Especially not when they play that “respect my humor/opinion/belief/whatever” game, as if all such thoughts are worthy of respect, and only a bad person wouldn’t agree. Meanwhile, they’re definitely not respecting the idea that they could be hurting people. And if they didn’t read the link (or at least skim it, ’cause it was pretty long), that just reinforces their unwillingness to challenge their own position.

  108. rq says

    A. Noyd
    What struck me most is that a couple of other people kept telling me to filter the world and to not associate with people who make me feel bad (actually I was told to just shut off all my social media)… And then I get called a coward for actually doing what they recommend. *sigh*

  109. carlie says

    Huh – makes me wonder more how inept Spouse’s doctor is. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis last year sort of by exclusion of other problems, but has been given fuck-all of instructions on dealing with it other than “avoid bad foods” and the equivalent of “stop coming in every time it hurts because it just does that now”.

    Currently dealing with Child 1 being sick, AGAIN. This happens up to a couple of times a month – he wakes up with a headache and nausea and lightheadedness and says he can’t go to school. I don’t want him to miss any more now because he’s going to be out for a solid week at the end of the month already with oral surgery. It does sometimes happen on break, but that’s hard to track because he just stays in bed all day and that’s what you do on break anyway. I just don’t know.

  110. carlie says

    called a coward? For unfriending someone? That can be seen as an overtly hostile act by some people – I’m surprised it runs all the way down the continuum to being considered cowardly too. Jeez. friending is not some kind of weird social obligation. It’s your feed, you see what you want in it, and you decide who you want to have see your information. I just don’t even. It sounds like those complainers need to be unfriended too.

  111. bassmike says

    rq unfriending someone is not cowardly, it’s self preservation! Why should you be a ‘friend’ to someone whose views you find abhorent? That’s not the definition of ‘friend’ for me.

  112. rq says

    bassmike and carlie
    I think, given the reaction I got, I’m rather glad I did it. And I would have been fine if she continued to think it was an amusing list… but she could have at least acknowledged that I have a valid opinion, too.
    I did explain about self-preservation, too. But I think that person will have to be blocked completely.
    Anyway, I’ll probably stop going on about it. It’s just surprising to find unreasonable people among your friends, Facebook or not. (BFF has been very receptive to information I send her about GMOs and natural remedies, and she has taken to sending me feminist-related articles, out of interest… She and I may not agree (on the GMOs and natural remedies), but we can try to inform each other about things of interest to us both!)

    carlie
    Good luck with Child 1 and may he be well soon!!
    And good luck with the pancreatitis in Spouse, too.

    +++

    This is much nicer to look at.

  113. bassmike says

    carile sorry to hear about child number 1. I guess the root cause is hard to pin down as it’s a vague set of symptoms and unpredictable.

    carlie, rq and anyone who’s interested: The whole unfriending thing reminds me of the way people react when you call people out for sexism/homophobia. There’s a certain degree of eye-rolling as if to say ‘you’re not going on about that again are you?’ I find it frustrating as I feel these things need to be pointed out each and every time they occur. RANT MODE OFF

  114. rq says

    Portiaaaaaa, I’m only on the continent next June. You’re throwing out invitations three months early! ;)

    +++

    I have realized that Youngest does a better job of saying “Jupiter” than the word for dog. Weird.

  115. says

    Giliell: So, if you describe your nap as geil my dirty fantasy gets all excited ;)

    Would it help be more clear if I said it was Affe geil? I was, after all, in my bunk. ;)

    Further, deponent saith not. (that is to say, I meant it, wanted to make a laugh, glad I hit the mark – tricky to make jokes in not-native!)

  116. katybe says

    @Carlie, #656 – forgive me if I’m suggesting something you already ruled out, and I don’t know how old Child 1 is, but I used to get something similar as a kid – on a fairly regular basis it would build up into a migraine bad enough to have me vomiting repeatedly, and I missed a lot of school when I was 5 or 6. Then someone suggested an eye test, and as soon as I could see without straining my eyes, it all stopped. And it tended to happen more on school days because that was when I had to read stuff on a board at the front of the class – when I wasn’t in school, I still read, and would eventually make myself ill with the strain, but it took a lot longer when I was reading stuff I could hold right in front of my nose, and definitely happened less in holiday time.