Comments

  1. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Ooooops….. I was speaking with a tree trimmer and his helper the other day. A need an estimate on taking out some trees. I casually and truly unthinkingly referred to my neighbor across the street as the “head of the local Mormon mafia.” Then I said, “I hope neither of you are Mormon and offended by that.” The tree trimmer says, “I’m not, but he is,” pointing to his helper.

    Funny thing, they still haven’t gotten back to me with an estimate. My hubby said that I should be more careful. I thought about that……. and no……………. I truly do not care how many Mormons I offend. We are awash in religionists of all stripes up here on the mountain and I refuse to be a closet atheist.

    And did you know that spell-check automatically capitalizes “Mormon?”

  2. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Okay, the soup talk yesterday was the last straw. I have been meaning to attempt making a gumbo for some weeks now, and today I go for it. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

  3. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Dalillama,

    I’m pretty sure there’s porn involving that out there.

    I’m pretty sure there is, and I know that the only time I’ve ever seen it is in last night’s nightmare.

    Creative fucking brain.

  4. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Morgan, I too believe that offending people for ridiculous beliefs isn’t necessarily a bad thing (if egoistical/more conducive of your own well-being than their changing their minds). However, “mafia” implies severe criminal behavior, so I am not sure if that’s really the way to go. There might be some law-abiding mormons out there.

    Note that I don’t care too much about being hyperbolic in this instance, though.

  5. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Gorogh

    Yes, it was hyperbolic, but somewhat justified. The weather up here on the mountain is rough on houses and there are a lot of builders, carpenters, trades people, etc. Because my across-the-street neighbor is a very successful and wealthy builder I have asked him for referrals a few times. We are very new here and I was using the resources at hand. In both instances the work cost me much more than it should have. I was subsequently warned by other neighbors that in fact the Mormons have a tidy and time honored kickback system and we newbies are especially vulnerable. Lesson learned. No respect.

  6. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Ah – now I get it. My thoughts were under the wrong assumption that you were referring to mormon social structures in general as “mormon mafia”. What you’re saying makes perfect sense though, cartel-like behavior right? I meant no offence.

  7. A. Noyd says

    Tony (#484)

    Tomato and rice soup ? O.o

    That plus a grilled cheese sandwich is the ultimate comfort food.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    Dalillama (#500)

    I’m pretty sure there’s porn involving that out there.

    I’d be surprised if there was a lot, though. Porn isn’t usually about women’s genitals doing things. That’s heresy. It’s about women’s genitals having things done to them. By men—their real owners.

  8. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    A.Noyd

    I’d be surprised if there was a lot, though. Porn isn’t usually about women’s genitals doing things. That’s heresy. It’s about women’s genitals having things done to them. By men—their real owners.

    Excellent point. And the rampaging female genitals in last night’s nightmare were roaring angry and on a rampage. Hey, I like alliteration.
    On a serious note, it is pretty obvious that I harbor a shit tonne of anger that erupts in my dreams. I’ve had a lifetime of therapy, I understand it, but it is never completely under my control. It is one of the reasons I prefer being mostly a hermit. But hey, I make great soup.

  9. says

    You know you can cook when you can recreate grandma’s cherry pancake recipe from scratch :)

    I also love modern detergent. Yesterday’s cherry stains (you should have seen the little one) are all gone. A-fucking-mazing

  10. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich is a heavenly combination, especially on a rainy day. Me mum was so so not creative. She gave us Campbells tomato soup and sandwiches make of Wonder Bread (yetch) and Velveeta processed cheese.

    My variation, on the other hand, is a follows: Cream of tomato soup is quick and easy to make, grab any recipe. Make the soup, but then add a touch of garlic, a bit of smoky Paprika, a splash of Tabasco Sauce. Add some precooked aromatic rice.

    The sandwich: Thick slice some very good sourdough bread. Spread a very thin layer of spicy mustard on each side. Layer on some good Gruyere cheese. Toast on both sides in a buttered cast iron skillet or use a sandwich press.

    Viola! Lunch bliss.

  11. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Giliell

    You know you can cook when you can recreate grandma’s cherry pancake recipe from scratch :)
    I also love modern detergent. Yesterday’s cherry stains (you should have seen the little one) are all gone. A-fucking-mazing

    Kudos to you! I wonder if many contemporary kids will grow up with those skills and memories. People cook real food less and less these days. It must have been great fun with the little one. That image is a heart warmer.

  12. says

    morgan
    To be honest, that’s a once in a blue moon on a Saturday we have no other plans dish. Sounds totally like an easy meal, right, nothing fancy, but it’s a hell lot of work.
    My grandma was a “housewife”: She farmed, cooked, washed, sewed, made preserves and jam and everything in order to make ends meet. By the time I was a kid the hard times were over, washing machines and electrical irons and freezers existed in normal people households.
    My usual during the week dishes are much plainer because I can spend at the most 30 minutes for a meal.

    +++
    And since it suits the day, one of my favourite jokes:

    A poor farmer finds a chest on his field. He opens it and a fairy emerges
    -“Thank you, thank you good man. I have been trapped for a hundred years by an evil sorcerer. To show my gratefulness, I will grant you three wishes.”
    *”Well”, says the farmer, “being a poor farmer is not much fun, I would rather like to be a prince”.
    Lightning flashes and instead of his poor rags, the man is dresses in a splendid uniform with rich decorations.
    -“And your second wish?”
    *”Now, as a prince I also need a castle!”
    Another lightning flashes and he’s standing in a beautiful room in a glorious castle.
    -“Your last wish?”
    *”Every prince needs a princess!”
    A third lightening flashes. The fairy is gone and a beautiful young woman opens the door.
    “Franz Ferdinand, are you ready for our trip to Sarajevo?”

  13. says

    Giliell:
    Hahaha.

    That does make me wonder what I’d wish for if I our wishes could become reality. In years past, I would have wished for world peace or something like that. Given how I feel about autonomy and freedom of choice, I wouldn’t want to wish for anything that changes people without their approval. So wishing for an end to social ills might not be a good idea. Even aside from that, a really devilish fairy could just wipe out all life on the planet, so peace would-sort of-be achieved. If I wished for something like eradicating a disease, would something rise up to take its place? I’d probably wish for something selfish (especially given my current financial state), but even that I’d have to word carefully. GAH. This is harder than I thought.

  14. says

    Back from the theatre where I was volunteering as House Manager, as I will again this evening. Bloody hot here for southern Ontario, 33 C right now, but thankfully a bit of a breeze, so the walk wasn’t too brutal.

    Acitta – are you local to the K-W Ragord? Because that’s pretty close to where I am, too. Funny to see that bit of daily bumwipe being mentioned in the Lounge. Not surprised to see they printed a nasty review of something atheist, there’s a pretty strong Christian community hereabouts, and they’ve got their hooks into the Ragord in a big way. :(

  15. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Giliell

    To be honest, that’s a once in a blue moon on a Saturday we have no other plans dish. Sounds totally like an easy meal, right, nothing fancy, but it’s a hell lot of work.
    My grandma was a “housewife”: She farmed, cooked, washed, sewed, made preserves and jam and everything in order to make ends meet. By the time I was a kid the hard times were over, washing machines and electrical irons and freezers existed in normal people households.
    My usual during the week dishes are much plainer because I can spend at the most 30 minutes for a meal.

    Yes, I get that. I have a lot more time than most people to prepare things like this, and I never had any children to raise that take up so much time.

    My parents were depression folks. Not educated. My father was born in 1912, my mother in 1918, myself in 1949. My mother did all of those things too because she had to, and thus, I learned how to do them too. What is mostly seen as “craft” activities today were absolute necessities then. Anyway, when I cook complex stuff I always make a lot and put it in the freezer. Makes life simpler.

    Anyway, you took the time to make Grandma’s Cherry Pancakes with the little one. And that is wonderful.

  16. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Giliell,
    you remind me:

    last week, I watched the first episode of a show.
    I knew nothing about it in advance. It looked nice, about life of a Jewish family in Sarajevo some time in the first half of last century, lots of daughters, lots of heartbreak and kinda fearsome feminist sisters running their own store…. and then one of them gets engaged and the suitor asks her father whether he can take his fiancee and her sisters to the welcome of Franz Ferdinand the next day.

    Me: NOOOOOOO!

  17. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Gorogh:

    Dexter: Hey you put your in god, I put my faith in science.

    I’ve never watched the show, so I don’t know anything about the character of Dexter. I don’t know which definition of faith he’s using, but I tend toward disliking this line. The number of believers watching this show is likely quite high, and I fear that line validates the silly belief that scientists have religion-like faith in science. ‘Trust’ or ‘confidence’ would have been better, IMO

  18. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Does anyone know why I can’t see Tony’s new gravitar? The only thing I see is the comment number.

  19. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    CaitieCat,

    Heh, yes they are good.

  20. Portia says

    I’m rupt but I finally have a new computer

    Tony!
    Re: Dexter. The character goes through a lot of identity crises in the show, and one of them is whether he should have faith in a deity. He eventually decides that what he can see and hear and feel is what matters, and people who believe in a god can do whatever floats their boat, basically. The storyline is a little annoying in that “believers have comfort, I would be happier if I could believe” way, but overall it’s ok. I’m watching the final season of Dexter now. :)

  21. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    morgan:
    That may be my fault. I forgot that it takes time for the gravatar process, so when it didn’t go through immediately, my impatient ass tried to upload a new one. I did that twice. Then I got something mixed up with my Facebook page, so it switched my gravatar from an image of me to the image of the transgender flag that I had as my FB profile image for a while (I wanted a way to show my support for the trans* community in addition to speaking out against transphobia). Basically, I think I gummed up the works for a bit. Things seem to have settled down, and my profile image is the one I want, which is also the gravatar image.

    I really ought to be more patient.

  22. Portia says

    I was gonna do some cardio but we’re doing search drills tomorrow at a house that was donated to the fire department. I think crawling around with 100 pounds of gear and a halligan will be quite enough exercise for one weekend.

  23. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Ahoy hoy Portia *waves* That was a total spoiler with Dexter’s conclusion on the religion thing, BUT I am thankful for it! Having watched too many apologetic or atheism-misrepresenting movies, I was really afraid they’d make him into a believer, too.

    Tony, the show is good enough – not as aesthetically appealing as Hannibal (although I don’t get all excited about the latter… I liked it, but then I liked 24 too, with a critical distance of course), but they give it a good try to interpret the protagonist’s psychopathy. He is a forensic analyst who restricts his killings to “evil persons”, and to do so has to stay ahead of the investigations performed by his police colleagues. Well, that’s one major recurring themes, at least.

  24. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    p.s.: The gumbo turned out great. Also, turns out I already feel – was it “threadrupt”? All I accomplished today besides the gumbo was getting ingredients, mess up my kitchen, and speak with my wife for two hours. NO clue where the rest of the time went.

  25. Portia says

    Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer.

    I’m so sorry about the spoiler! *hangs head in bad TV-watcher shame* You’re very gracious, I’m sorry to have spoiled that plotline. Rupthood strikes again.

    I’ve been meaning to try Hannibal, I’ve heard good things.

  26. says

    Anytime you introduce into education a for-profit factor and less regulation, education suffers — not across the board, but way too often. Also, I don’t trust the charter-school-mania coming from the Tea Party and Republican camps.

    This news out of Detroit only confirms my suspicions:

    Charter schools spend $1 billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency.

    Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year.

    A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more.

    Charter schools as a whole fare no better than traditional schools in educating students in poverty.

    Michigan has substantially more for-profit companies running schools than any other state.

    Some charter school board members were forced out after demanding financial details from management companies.

    State law does not prevent insider dealing and self-enrichment by those who operate schools.

    The Detroit Free Press did the investigative reporting that backs up this excellent article.
    http://www.freep.com/article/20140622/NEWS06/140507009

    […] In September 2005, Emma Street Holdings bought property on Sibley Road in Huron Township for $375,000. Six days later, Emma Street sold the parcel to Summit Academy North, a charter school, for $425,000.

    Who made the quick $50,000 at the school’s expense? The founders of Emma Street, two men with close ties to the school — one was president of Summit’s management company, the other was married to Summit’s top administrator. […]

  27. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Ah please don’t mind, Portia, it’s fine. I am actually relieved to know.

    Let me know what you think of Hannibal, I enjoyed it a lot. They did a nice take on the Red Dragon-setting. Loved that movie btw; if I was gay, I’d totally go for Ralph Fiennes. Looking forward to the next James Bond in that regard.

  28. Portia says

    Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer
    Let me know if you have a different interpretation of the plotline, it’s been a while since I watched it:)

    I watched Silence of the Lambs, against my normal move-habits, after an incident at work where I was called Clarice and needed to get why. Yeah…work is creepy sometimes.

  29. says

    Since the fracas over the excommunication of mormon feminist and civil rights lawyer, Kate Kelly, the national press has been keeping a closer eye on mormon excommunications, or threats of excommunication.
    NPR posted an article and a podcast about John Dehlin.

    Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are cracking down on members who openly dispute the doctrine of the faith. Earlier this week, a Mormon feminist was excommunicated for pursing membership in the all-male priesthood of the church. Now another member, John Dehlin, is facing the same fate — for questioning scripture and speaking out on behalf of gay Mormons. […]

    “I realized that the [suicidal tendencies] of LGBT individuals in Utah and within Mormonism was really an epidemic,” Dehlin says. “I’ve also had very close members of my family and many friends come out as LGBT, and so that was my initial impetus.”

    Dehlin says modern Mormonism doesn’t allow church members to ask tough questions about the faith. He wants his podcast to be that kind of forum. […]

    Dehlin’s public dissent of Mormon teachings has caught the attention of his local church leader, who sent him a letter demanding he stop producing his podcast.

    “I was deeply saddened when I read the letter,” Dehlin says. “It’s highly unusual for someone to receive a letter that says, ‘Please resign, and if you don’t resign we’re going to excommunicate you.’ ” […]

  30. Portia says

    Oh, and Gorogh, I went back and Ctrl+F’d your Dexter comments, and I assure you I was equally annoyed for that whole storyline. It was almost like they did consider a conversion story then aborted the plan. *shrug*

  31. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Uh. Okay – depending on context, that sounds really creepy indeed. May I ask what sort of work that is? It sounds a bit to uhm… pop-culturey for a psychiatric hospital.

    p.s.: Mh I’m a bit drunk. Hope I won’t regret posting, I get logorrhoic at times. And no I didn’t steal chigau’s rum.
    p.p.s.: Just “Gorogh” is plenty!

  32. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    @”sounds creepy indeed” and the rest of my 544 was referring to Portia’s 540. Gotta be extra careful with previewing.

    Furthermore, there sure is a lot of pouncing going on… *worriedly assumes a safe position with back to the wall*

  33. Portia says

    I’m a criminal defense attorney. I visited a client in jail. I probably shouldn’t say more but it’s a few rungs below the creep factor of the actual movie.

    You’re not being inappropriate at all, if that’s your worry. I’m only jealous that I’m not also a bit tipsy:)

    I’ve got some trial prep to do before that gets to happen though. Biggest trial yet happens on Monday. *deepbreaths*

  34. says

    Moment of Mormon Madness, water rights category.

    The Mormon church, which has a large ranch in White Pine County [Nevada], has asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal of a ruling giving the Las Vegas area millions of gallons of water annually from two rural counties.

    The Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns the beef-producing Cleveland Ranch and says the state’s ruling will dry up its water resources, according to court documents. […]

    State Engineer Jason King, after extensive hearings, allowed the Southern Nevada Water Authority the right to pump 84,000 acre feet of water from White Pine and Lincoln counties. […]

    The Mormon church said in its Supreme Court motion filed earlier this month that the King ruling would conflict with the existing water rights of the ranch.

    The church says its 7,000-acre ranch in Spring Valley has an estimated 60,000 acres of grazing rights and is a major source of beef for the church’s welfare program.

    The ranch runs about 1,750 head of cattle a year and has been in operation since at least the 1870s. The church, in its motion, says it has more than 40,000 acre feet of water rights. An acre foot of water is equal to 325,851 gallons. […]

    I will just say that all of the LDS church’s “welfare” programs, including ranches all over the west and truly huge ranches in Florida are suspect. I think they are doing a little welfare work in order to hide larger for-profit enterprises.

    Here are some excerpts from the comments below the Las Vegas Sun News story.

    White Pine County is nearly controlled by the LDS Church. […] Most of the ranches in the area are owned and operated by LDS Mormons, even the FLDS Mormons who are polygamists, so it is no surprise that the LDS Mormon Church would sue over the water rights […] There are knowledgeable and resourceful LDS Church members that have pledged insuring that pipeline never delivers one drop to the people of Southern Nevada. These same individuals have access to explosives, blasting supplies, guns, ammunition, and even heavy construction networks capable to disrupt this pipeline, should it get built (they will make money building it, only to know critical areas where to destroy it—very clever). […]
    ————————-
    Does anyone else find it odd that the Mormon church claims this will greatly impact their “welfare program” when this same organization has 300,000 acres in Florida raising 44,000 head of cattle which they sell to feed lots for slaughter on an annual basis? There are many, many cattle ranches within the Mormon power structure, here and abroad. Assuming a few hundred thousand desperately hungry Mormons in their welfare program, that would be a whole lot of ground beef (around 80 pounds/year/recipient in the US alone).
    ——————
    It takes around 2,500 gallons of water to produce ONE pound of beef. Time for people and churches in White Pine and Lincoln counties to find something less wasteful to do. […] Maybe the Mormons should find something else to do besides raising cattle in the middle of the desert where it takes 2,500,000+ gallons of water to raise ONE steer to adulthood.
    —————
    The cult operating under thier Deseret Farms moniker owns well in excess of 120,000 mostly non-irrigated acres of prime ranch land in southern Alberta, where thousands of cattle are raised every year. I don’t know if the cattle are sent to market and turned into beef for the welfare program but I think they are turned into $$’s for Cult HQ.

  35. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    To any newbies:
    http://pharyngula.wikia.com/wiki/Pharyngula_Commune

    A few years back, a bunch of us came up with idea of a post-apocalyptic Commune populated by ourselves and family members. We had a lot of fun picking out roles that we would all fill in this dangerous new world. Thought it might prove to be interesting reading for some people.

  36. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I’ve never wished I knew stuff about drugs until now.

    I take that to mean illicit drugs. Several of us here work in/near the ethical pharmaceutical business. Feel free to ask if you have questions.

  37. Portia says

    Thanks, Nerd. I should have clarified, I do mean illicit drugs. I have no idea what cocaine salts are, or if it’s just the technical name for powder cocaine.

  38. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Ah, I remember when Portia went by
    Portia, sporty and glam, pelted with pastries

  39. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Portia @546, interesting. I wrote a lengthy paragraph describing my ambiguous relation to the legal vocation, but it turns out it was incoherent rambling. Maybe another day.

    In any case, kudos for putting up with it. From a psychological perspective, some cases will likely be difficult to relate to and/or, well, cope with. I also imagine it to be both frustrating and disillusioning at times… but then, I am not sure if that is not the case with other professions, as well. Oh and if you liked Silence of the Lambs, do watch Red Dragon.

    Lynna, the mafia decriptor which Morgan used earlier is starting to get more meaning.

    Thanks for the link Tony, I shall take a look!

  40. Portia says

    Tony!
    I had forgotten that, thanks for the smile:)

    Gorogh,
    Yes, it’s all of the above. There are happy moments that balance it out. Lots of highs and lows. Still not over the client who was murdered after I won her case. But I heard her murderer might go down for something else, Al Capone style, so that’s something.

  41. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Damn it. I keep forgetting to mention things: Good luck for Monday’s case, Portia, and the tenacity for a good preparation.

  42. Portia says

    And Gorogh, when you’re up to it, I’d be interested about your predilections towards legality:)

  43. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    . I have no idea what cocaine salts are, or if it’s just the technical name for powder cocaine.

    Cocaine is an alkaloid, meaning basic compound. Salts are formed with acids, typically hydrochloric, (chloride salts), hydrobromic (bromide salts), or sulfuric (sulfate salts). I think the typical cocaine is the hydrochloride (cheapest and easiest to crystallize) salt.
    Crack cocaine is the free base form, typically formed by reaction the salt form with sodium bicarbonate. The Wiki article seems to be the free base (crack) form.
    A quick difference, the free base form is a “ghetto” problem, the hydrochloride salt is use by those in suburbia and lack of tan. To say that racial profiling isn’t built into the charges and penalties wouldn’t be far from wrong. About a 10^-30 meter wrong.

  44. Portia says

    Ok, so cocaine salt is powder (suburban) cocaine? I looked at Wikipedia but got confused. I really appreciate the help.

    Crack=base
    Powder=acid (salt)
    ?

  45. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Portia:
    :)

    I always wondered what the difference was between cocaine and crack.

  46. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Gorogh:
    I’d be curious to know what skill set you feel you could bring to the Commune.

  47. Portia says

    Tony!
    :)
    I had heard before that crack was cocaine cut with baking soda (or thought I knew that anyway). But salt? Never heard that one:)
    Apparently crack has an incredibly increased addictivity (making up adjectives, don’t even care). That may or may not be true though. I want to research it but I have to stick to research that will be productive for work right now:)

  48. Portia says

    Well, Gorogh has rum or some other delicious intoxicant. That’ll be useful in the Commune.

  49. Portia says

    The more I do this job, the more I hate the drug laws. Not that being a lawyer is a prerequisite, it’s just….hard not to feel defeated sometimes.

    Iowa triples the second on second offenders. Triples.

  50. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Tony,

    I’d be curious to know what skill set you feel you could bring to the Commune.

    Don’t be. As experimental psychologist, my only tangentially relevant skill in a post-apocalyptic society would be that of a naysayer or advocatus diaboli. That position still open? But I’ll look through the list to see if I find anything more useful really. Oh how serious is this supposed to be btw?

    And Portia, I have no rum, that was chigau. And xe ran out of rum yesterday I think (presumably that’s why xe’s been so nonresponsive lately). Furthermore, I myself have just run out of my Fosters, and even if I hadn’t, I’d be hard pressed to share it! But I have to say this, I almost got into brewing mead once (and am going to, once I’m back in Germany)… come to think of it, that could actually serve a communal purpose.

    carlie, this cam is awesome. Will have it on screen on my secondary monitor for the remainder of the evening. To be honest though, I cannot stand bird sounds… there is one particular obnoxious specimen that starts to scream and yell ornithological obscenities in front of my window, usually around 5am. One major reasons to have my earplugs ready.

  51. carlie says

    Ooo, looks like a large shell piece next to the puffin – must have hatched! Maybe tomorrow will see baby.

  52. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    The mother (or father? Don’t know anything about the species…) just left. There is in fact a little bird-like creature… oh no… tentacles… it’s growing tentacles and…

  53. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Gotta love how the number of watchers is rising continuously now. News travels fast in the web.

  54. says

    I’m afraid most of my skills aren’t great for the post-apocalyptic world, being largely concerned with the written word (translation, editing, layout, proofing) or artistic (painting, drawing, some music).

    Though…I was a sincerely excellent shooter when I was in the Canadian army; I rated expert with the Sterling SMG* (a difficult and unwieldy weapon to use accurately) and proficient with my FN rifle. Never got to shoot pistol while serving, but did well with grenades and there was one time I filled in on an artillery crew – it was practice, and our unit was working on cross-training, so people could be quickly seconded to other jobs/units in the event of casualties; I was, it won’t surprise most of you to hear, a communicator, a signaller, in the CF. I can drive with a trailer comfortably, and drive in blackout. I have the basic skills of a Canadian soldier: small arms, winter survival, escape/evasion, unarmed combat, English & French, Morse code, camouflage (I was really good at this, won a couple of contests for innovative use of environmental stuff to hide my radio detachment – a 1.25-ton pickup with a huge box on the back, something like this). I can also do some pretty basic repairs to some kinds of radios, and repair and install land-line telephones or military field-phones, but not the solid-state microchip stuff they’re doing now.

    So maybe some of that might have use.

    I can also referee ice hockey and football/soccer, and I could teach several languages. :)

    * Which the astute eye will recognize as the basic Stormtrooper “blaster rifle” from Star Wars (the folding stock is folded, giving that heavy-looking bit under the front of the weapon).

  55. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Hmm okay the fascination didn’t last long, numbers are dropping like, well, bird droppings.

    Anyway, I checked out the Pharyngula commune skill list… In general, skills where mobility and tenacity are required I might be well-suited for, if it weren’t for my poor eyesight. I could certainly follow a bunch of trackers and other people around who do the whole visual perception part (and wear well visible clothing). Oh and I’m a marvelous zombie bait.

    Provided my glasses were intact, I can also see (tehe) myself in gathering – not because I see exceptionally well (short-sighted, red-green color blindness), but because I’m alert and I love to roam around. Probably I’d be better suited for gathering wood and eggs than berries. Wonder what trap-gathering is… checking out the traps one set out? I could do that, too.

    If being obnoxiously pragmatic and absolutely no consolation during emotional crises is a survival skill, I could serve as a really bad counselor (“making people see that whatever happened to them, they’re at least lucky not to have my shitty deterministic worldview as well”). Yeah one could subsume that under generally useless skills.

    Oh and don’t make me do anything where concentration or memory are required. I hate those.

  56. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Nice Caitie. That sounds useful indeed.

    Just occurred to me that I might also serve to create a role-playing system and devise some statistically balanced rules for that (or, if required, re-create a few pre-apocalyptic role-playing games such as D&D, Palladium, DSA, Shadowrun, Star Wars, World of Darkness etc.).

    And generally keeping useless statistics I would be fond of doing, too. Useful? Not so sure.

  57. Portia says

    On leering at women in public: “We can’t very well leave our eyes at home”

    Sommmmme men. Blarg.

  58. says

    CaitiCat:

    I’m afraid most of my skills aren’t great for the post-apocalyptic world, being largely concerned with the written word (translation, editing, layout, proofing) or artistic (painting, drawing, some music).

    I think your such skills would be of great use, honestly. There will be children, and teaching such skills to them would be essential :)

  59. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    On leering at women in public: “We can’t very well leave our eyes at home”

    Sommmmme men. Blarg.

    Where is that from? And, Blarg indeed. And Tony, did you maybe reload an empty form or something? Sorry for your annoyance… I suggest you take in some Puffin tranquility!

  60. cicely says

    *nomming the extra chocolate*
    Best of luck with the Monday case, Portia.
    *thumbs up*

    As I recall, the Commune is still without dental expertise.
    *reading list*
    Sadly, it still appears to be so.

  61. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    CaitieCat:

    I have the basic skills of a Canadian soldier: small arms, winter survival, escape/evasion, unarmed combat, English & French, Morse code, camouflage (I was really good at this, won a couple of contests for innovative use of environmental stuff to hide my radio detachment – a 1.25-ton pickup with a huge box on the back, something like this)

    I also think some of these would be handy skills to have. Would you be able to teach people these skills?

  62. Portia says

    From the neighbors house “Get the fuck out of my house, go live with grandma and grandpa”

    …..um….

  63. Portia says

    Well, at least it sounds like the ejected person is an adult, but that did not sound good at all.

  64. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Mhhh… no does not. Do you know your neighbors? (even if I heard that from somewhere around here, I would have no clue even about whose voice it might have been…)

  65. thunk: Hevelland says

    Yowch, Portia. That does not sound good.

    Gorogh: No need to credit me, I yoink other people’s ideas all the time… I really should reference them though, it’s a nice thing to do.

    I still won’t be useful for much except for meteorology, mathematics, geography, and being a sheltered young adult, but we need the intelligentsia sometimes…

    Put the commune in a volcanic island in the middle of the ocean; I’d prefer tropical climes, but sub(ant)arctic ones are conveniently out of the way (but hard to grow food on).

  66. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    middle of the ocean

    Okay in case I have a say in this: Noooooo! This one hates water! Especially the salty kind.

  67. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    meteorology, mathematics, geography

    Oh and that skillset of yours does seem to be very handy for growing crops, navigation and such things…

  68. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    I’ve been thinking for the last few months about how to justify the importance of certain rights.
    I’d been thinking that it’s great that I support free speech, but can I justify *why* it is important? I didn’t have an answer. I don’t know why I didn’t think to ask around here, as well read as many of you folks are. In any case, a friend of mine pointed me to John Stuart Mill, and from what little I’ve read about him on Wikipedia, he seems to have a lot to say about free speech.

    On Liberty involves an impassioned defence of free speech. Mill argues that free discourse is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress. We can never be sure, he contends, that a silenced opinion does not contain some element of the truth. He also argues that allowing people to air false opinions is productive for two reasons. First, individuals are more likely to abandon erroneous beliefs if they are engaged in an open exchange of ideas. Second, by forcing other individuals to re-examine and re-affirm their beliefs in the process of debate, these beliefs are kept from declining into mere dogma. It is not enough for Mill that one simply has an unexamined belief that happens to be true; one must understand why the belief in question is the true one. Along those same lines Mill wrote, “unmeasured vituperation, employed on the side of prevailing opinion, really does deter people from expressing contrary opinions, and from listening to those who express them.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill

    This is the type of thing I’m looking for. If anyone has recommendations of other authors who discuss the subject, I’d love to know. I don’t have any expendable income at the moment, so if there are any free resources online, that would be perfect.

    ___

    In other news, I am fixing cornbread the way my father taught me-with a dash of vanilla extract and honey, bc I like slightly sweet cornbread. There is nothing else in it, bc I do not like additional items (like jalapenos or even whole corn) in my cornbread. I will likely eat the entire pan. Though perhaps I’ll save half for tomorrow. I am unsure.

  69. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    thunk:

    I still won’t be useful for much except for meteorology, mathematics, geography, and being a sheltered young adult, but we need the intelligentsia sometimes…

    Methinks your meteorological knowledge will be quite handy no matter where the Commune is located.

    Put the commune in a volcanic island in the middle of the ocean; I’d prefer tropical climes, but sub(ant)arctic ones are conveniently out of the way (but hard to grow food on).

    To be honest, the request I make is nowhere that it gets terribly cold in the winter, or it does, only for short periods. The winters here in Pensacola are juuuuuuuuust bearable enough (although this year we saw colder temps than in years past, and for longer periods of time).

    ****

    My cornbread is ready! But I have to wait for it to cool off.

    ****

    chigau:
    Thank you. I’m going to try and keep this one (assuming I don’t screw it up again).

    Good night to you :)

    ****

    Gorogh:

    Okay in case I have a say in this: Noooooo! This one hates water! Especially the salty kind.

    I hope you at least like the drinking kind. It’s rather important :)

    I just saw your comment about being drunk upthread. Still have that buzz?

  70. cicely says

    Hot, fresh cornbread, slightly sweet (yesssss!), and dripping with butter.
    *drooooool*

  71. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Tony, drinkable water is fine, as long as I see the bottom.

    I just saw your comment about being drunk upthread. Still have that buzz?

    No. Unfortunately, I have to admit. Can’t do anything about it though, blue law in effect since 30 min… plus, I wanted to cut back a bit on the ethanol intake anyway; lucky for me, my liver is bad at metabolizing, so I get affected rather easily.

    Btw, I just finished the last episode of Dexter’s season 6. Holy shit. Must watch 7:1 or I can’t sleep.

  72. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    And as to cornbread, only had it once before and that was not very great. Just plain cornbread I think… too plain for me. I’d be willing to give other varieties a try though…

  73. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Gorogh:

    Btw, I just finished the last episode of Dexter’s season 6. Holy shit. Must watch 7:1 or I can’t sleep.

    The last show I watched like that was Warehouse 13. I watched the first two episodes and was hooked. I had to make myself go to sleep at 5 am instead of watching more.

    As for not liking plain cornbread, hey, that’s just more for me and cicely :)
    ****

    That reminds me, there was some show that Improbable Joe recommended a while back that I wanted to watch, but can’t remember for the life of me. ‘Community’ maybe? It was a show that he said took on a really cool twist mid season. That’s all I can remember. Drat.

  74. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Now I’m doing the “Which Norse God Are You?” game. The second question asks ‘what is your element’. Options are:
    Earth
    Wind
    Fire
    Water
    Ice
    Blood
    Lightning
    Love.

    When did blood, lightning, and love become elements? For that matter, shouldn’t ice be included in the water category?

  75. says

    I’ve been away for a bit and I think I missed something. Is Crip Dyke still doing the gender discussion/workshop? Was there a conclusion I missed?

    My avocado tree has way more fruit than we can eat, if you are in the neighborhood come and pick some.

    Dutchbaby is 7 months old, time to start planning the birthday party.

    I fixed my sewing machine myself after finding out it would cost $200 to service.

    Its been a good week in spite of the laryngitis.

  76. says

    Tony!

    That test is indeed random – I’m a witch/wizard, with a picture of Hermione. And I chose some “Institute” place, not Hogwarts, because it looked like there might be more interesting books. I’m afraid I’m way behind on YA fantasy and have no idea what Institute it was, or where.

    I could see myself as a Discworld witch, though.

  77. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Dutchgirl:

    I’ve been away for a bit and I think I missed something. Is Crip Dyke still doing the gender discussion/workshop? Was there a conclusion I missed?

    Welcome back. I saved your spot at the bar (where alcoholic or N/A beverages are always available).
    Crip Dyke did not finish the workshop. I suspect she had some meatspace things that have taken up her time. I’m sure when she is free again she’ll finish up.

  78. Portia says

    Dutchgirl:
    It’s hard to believe it’s been seven months since the arrival of Dutchbaby! Glad you’re doing well, sorry about the laryngitis. Big kudos for the fixing skills, I’m very impressed.

    And thanks for the reminder about the workshop. I’ve been out of the loop myself.

    Gorogh,
    Season six finale, yeah, disappointing. According to wikipedia, season six has the worst reviews. Season four finale is what reallllly stopped me in my tracks, though. I ♥ Rita. Even when they wrote misogynistic “crazy women are crazy” subplots for her.

    thunk! good to see you.

    I walked down the block the bar and took the long way ’round to avoid the strife next door. I don’t know my neighbors, so I have no idea what was going on. At some point it sounded like someone was standing in front of a car of the young adult who was trying to drive away after being told to do so. : /

    I have taken over the crown of Tipsy Lounger from Gorogh, it seems :)
    I walked home in a rain that was the beginning of a storm. I don’t think it will be bad. Just pleasant, it will cool the air.

  79. A. Noyd says

    morgan (#509)

    On a serious note, it is pretty obvious that I harbor a shit tonne of anger that erupts in my dreams. I’ve had a lifetime of therapy, I understand it, but it is never completely under my control.

    Sorry you have to deal with that. It sounds like a pain to manage if it comes out in your dreams.

    I took care of some of my own anger today by trying to inform Seattle voters at our pride festival that if they support the minimum wage increase they shouldn’t sign any of the petitions that are trying to put it on the ballot to get it repealed. Lots of them were already really happy about the increase and just didn’t know that it’s a done deal if we don’t mess with it (while others were mad that it didn’t go far enough). Some of them let me chat with them about their reservations and let me bring up counterpoints to their worries (usually that small businesses won’t survive or that poor people don’t “deserve” a living wage).

    I hadn’t planned to do this, but there were some extra-wingnutty libertarians (one of whom is this Craig Keller guy in this article) who had a booth (at Pride, FFS!) and were attempting to get signatures towards a full repeal. They made me so mad I spent the entire day attempting to thwart them. There were some other pro-increase, anti-repeal folks there from a socialist organization with flyers, which was nice. I ended up handing a lot of their fliers out.

    The libertarians tried calling the police over to drag me off. Multiple times! Their argument was that I was interfering with their signature gathering and that was against the law. (Ironically, they also kept muttering among themselves about how I was wasting my time.) The police were less than amused by being used this way, but they also didn’t think much of me because, in their opinions, I was probably trying to provoke the libertarians into something more physical or scream-y (when, really, I didn’t want to engage them at all, only the people they were bullshitting). At least they said they’d let me alone if I didn’t actually start anything.

    Luckily, I was in hyper-charming-and-articulate mode today. (It happens sometimes, much to my surprise.) So my anger at these pro-repeal douches translated well into talking with total strangers and, for once, making sense when I did so. I really hope me and the socialist org dudes were effective, because fuck the people trying to get our city to repeal something we need so badly.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

    Tony (#583)

    Lovely. Cleared my cache, cookies, and browser history and my gravatar pic disappeared. Sigh.

    Uh, it’s still there for me. Though, it changed to a different one after #584.

  80. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Season six finale, yeah, disappointing.

    Oh I didn’t quite mean it like that. The last scene of the last episode was really… unsettling. All in all, season 6 was in fact my least favorite so far… my general attitude toward it got much better since you commented on it up there, though! As to Rita, I like her too. All the more to struggle with Paul!

    That crown is well deserved I think.

    I’ll be off to bed now – have a great evening. Nightly storms can be very soothing.

  81. Portia says

    Goodnight Gorogh:)
    Nice meeting you today, and nice chatting with you.
    Rita is a rock – amazing how she survived and battled Paul.
    Sweet dreams
    I do love storms when they aren’t scary. This one now is just moderate thunder and lightning and a lovely cool breeze carrying the rain.

  82. A. Noyd says

    @Portia (#613)
    The storms here tend to sound like large buildings exploding or collapsing. On the one hand, it’s nice we don’t have a lot if they’re going to sound like that. On the other hand, I really like non-scary storms, too.

  83. says

    Good morning

    Portia
    *pouncehug*

    Dutchgirl
    Yay for Dutchbaby growing as planned. I’d love to get some avocados, but I think they might go bad on the way home

    Gorgoh
    The good thing about cutting back on booze is that you get drunk more quickly.
    I remember that when I lived in Cuba I was able to drown half a bottle of rum and just be at the “happy drunk stage”, but after pregnancy and breastfeeding I got light-headed when i ate 3 Mon Cherie at Christmas :)

    A. Noyd
    Wait, that wouldn’t be the same Libertarians who always tell us that they’re totally pro freedom and against the evil government police anyway?

  84. A. Noyd says

    Giliell (#615)

    Wait, that wouldn’t be the same Libertarians who always tell us that they’re totally pro freedom and against the evil government police anyway?

    Hilarious, right? If I’d wanted to engage with them, I’d have pointed out their massive hypocrisy, for sure. I mean, they were doing this while whining nonstop about government tyranny. Too bad no one sells self-awareness in a can. I’d’ve bought them a truckload.

  85. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Giliell,

    The good thing about cutting back on booze is that you get drunk more quickly.

    Yeah, I don’t actually want to be drunk more quickly.

    I want to be able to have two beers with my colleagues without getting obviously tipsy, going a bit drunk. It’s summer, it’s hot, tasty cold beer goes down better (and is cheaper) than juices but I have to sip the same one or take a risk with the second even if we stay at the bar for hours.

    In other news, Ophelia has a thread about J.K. Rowling. I haven’t read Casual Vacancy, but I have a lot to say about Harry Potter… and this is a nice opportunity to get it off my chest. :)

  86. opposablethumbs says

    ‘rupt-ish – just wanted to say, it is champagnebrilliantlovely to see you again Portia!

    And yay for A.Noyd!

    It is sunny outside for once, but I have to work. Not happy. I should stay away from the Lounge, really, but may not be able to do as I should :-(

  87. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Good morning everyone!

    Giliell @615, I anecdotally agree (is that an expression?) with your observation concerning alcohol sensitivity. I’m less sure about the science, but I can imagine some habituating effect on the neuronal side; not so much on the hepatic side, but then that’s just a hunch. Anyone know any better? Oh and I know the Mon Cheri-effect, too!

    As to rum, the second worst night of my life was owed to rum (or grog, more specifically) – I lay awake the whole night with cramps and stomach pain, waiting for morning to come so I could go to the doctor. I would still drink rum, but only in very controlled doses.

    opposablethumbs @618,

    It is sunny outside for once, but I have to work. Not happy. I should stay away from the Lounge, really, but may not be able to do as I should

    could have come from me. I don’t technically have to, but there’s a deadline coming up and I could relieve some stress by working a few hours. Let’s see if I will (does anybody know the English translation for Kuhl’s volitional psychology concept of Handlungs- versus Lageorientierung?). As for you, good luck! May you achieve your goals.

    Beatrice @617

    I think I have an addiction-prone personality (or defunct reward system or what have you). Up until now, I have good control over it (except maybe for gaming, but that fluctuates). With alcohol, control is mostly exerted on the purchase decision level; once I have it at home, I tend to consume it rather quickly. Anyway, while I enjoy the taste of beer or wine, especially in combination with a good meal, the taste is less important to me then the intoxicating effect.

  88. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Puffin looks tired. In dayligh, you can see the beautiful beak colors much better. Such a nice plumage, too.

  89. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Good morning Horde,

    Hooray for me. No nightmares last night!!!!! And yesterday I perfected the Watermelon Gazpacho. Yum.
    I’m getting ready for the Sunday morning trek through the woods. Lovely ritual.

    I looked up puffins… I had heard that they shed their colorful beaks each year. According to Wikipedia: “Puffins are any of three small species of alcids (auks) in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil. Two species, the tufted puffin and horned puffin, are found in the North Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.

    All puffin species have predominantly black or black and white plumage, a stocky build, and large beaks. They shed the colourful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak. Their short wings are adapted for swimming with a flying technique under water. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly (up to 400 times per minute)[1] in swift flight, often flying low over the ocean’s surface.”

    Have a lovely day everyone.

  90. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Hi Morgan, happy for your nightmare-free night. I like my nightmares usually (in retrospect), but they are so far and between they don’t affect my overall sleep quality. And I’d love to have a morning trek through the woods, except there are no trails anywhere in this town and the underbrush is really thick.

    And, and that annoys me most, I am annoyed that someone might think I am trespassing while going cross-country, and shoot me.

    In which heavenly region do you live not to have those problems, I wonder?

  91. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Oh and interesting @puffins. Do those beaks decay? Maybe the shedding process does not work on the whole beak at a time… mhm… otherwise there’s be nice colorful beaks lying around everywhere, I guess…

  92. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Grrrr… third or so typo in three posts. I’m not quite awake yet.

  93. says

    Spending today quietly on the couch, probably playing PS3 and watching the games. Paying for yesterday’s ‘indulgence’ with walking so much (just under 5km, says my phone’s pedometer), my knees and hips have joined the threnodic chorus for today. Yay, a five-part threnody. Mmmm.

    Thankfully, my doctor is not among those who feel there is some kind of moral value in having a bit of pain left over, so I am well-supplied with appropriately powerful meds. And a medical dispensary for the one med she can’t/won’t prescribe just opened in town, so there’s the possibility that I could begin to move away from paying the 犯罪者 for my meds. That’d be nice.

    Anyway, this is why I have the PS3. Inflicting imaginary death on pixelpeople is at its most basic a good technique for inducing dissociation, which is positive; the pain peaks at predictable points in my perambulations, and playing is perfect for the problem. As it were.

    Alliterative volubility: it’s a side effect. This is me, about as intoxamacated as you’ll ever see me anymore (alcohol + powerful pain meds = Very Bad For You). :)

  94. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Hey Caitie, hope your combined treatments help. Thanks for inadvertendly teaching me two new words (threnody and volubility). Is alliterative volubility in fact a documented symptom somewhere? I enjoy that immensely and always thought it reflected my slightly frontal personality, you know, perseverance and such.

    As an aside… Carlie my favorite bird is the noble kiwi, but I very much enjoy the puffins. Too bad the outside view does not feature audio, but thankfully I can just have both cams running.

  95. says

    Gorogh, no, I was just riffing. Sometimes when it’s really bad, it’s possible to overshoot slightly on my meds, and I get a little spacey. :)

    Sometimes literally: I’ll put on The Usual Suspects or the US’ House of Cards.

    Oh, wait, that’s Spacey. :)

    Right.

    What were we talking about again?

  96. says

    Moment of Mormon Madness, misogyny category. Mormon men have issued a resounding “NO” to mormon women seeking to play a bigger role in church leadership.

    For months, LDS feminists have been asking top Mormon leaders to address directly the question of female ordination.

    On Saturday, church leaders finally did, and the answer was no.

    Though the “blessings of [God’s] priesthood” in the LDS Church are available to both men and women, priesthood offices are reserved only for men, the church’s all-male ruling councils reaffirmed in a rare joint statement posted on the church’s website.

    The statement, signed by the Utah-based faith’s governing First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, went on to define “apostasy” as “repeatedly acting in clear, open, and deliberate public opposition to the church or its faithful leaders, or persisting, after receiving counsel, in teaching false doctrine.”

    The 15 men were clearly responding to this week’s disciplining of Mormon feminist and Ordain Women founder Kate Kelly, who was excommunicated […] she was being disciplined for “conduct contrary to the laws and order of the church.”

    Church members “are always free to ask such questions and earnestly seek greater understanding,” the leaders reiterated, but they added, “we feel special concern, however, for members who distance themselves from Church doctrine or practice and, by advocacy, encourage others to follow them.” [Uh, that doesn’t found like freedom to question. Doofuses.]

    That’s a “great step in the right direction,” Kelly said. “Now questions [about women’s ordination] can be asked in every ward and every branch in every place in the world. “The prophet of the church,” she pointed out, “said it’s OK.” Few other Mormons read the statement in the same way.

    […] not many Mormon feminists will be satisfied by distinctions between the “blessings” and “offices” of the priesthood. […] “the ultimate decision-making power in the offices of the priesthood is precisely the main issue.” […]

    http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58126770-78/church-leaders-lds-statement.html.csp

    Readers comments:

    I as a single woman and parent have the priesthood in my home. I have sons also. Through prayer and being able to ask a worthy priesthood holder fron our ward for a blessing. You can not compare the Lord’s decision in ordaining black men to the priesthood to women. If you know the Lord, have truly, with your heart, listened in the Temple, you know that this is His church, His gospel and what Elder Oaks said on this matter and the recent statement from the First Presidency are from the Lord.
    ————–
    Mormon women already receive the priesthood every day in the temple to perform Priesthood ordinances like washings and annointings which men can’t perform, since it’d be highly inappropriate (or illegal) for a male stranger to touch a female under her clothes in places only her Dr. or Lover should touch her. So when it protects men it’s ok for women to have the priesthood, but when it comes time for that same woman to read 3×5 index card over some bread and water, that’s better left to her snot nosed pre-pubescent son, since he’s got a penis and all.
    —————-
    Doctrinally speaking, the hard-line stance the church leaders have taken is mystifying. In the LDS temple endowment, men and women receive the priesthood together without the slightest distinction. There is theological room, therefore, for women to be given ecclesiastical authority as well. But the leadership has chosen instead to retreat behind an interpretation of priesthood based on sexist ideas that are at odds with the daring vision of original Mormonism. On this issue as on all things sexual, the church has dug itself a black hole from which it may never emerge.

    Just like Prop 8 in a way. The church leaders think they can do whatever a bunch of over-80-years-old white men think is right and that no one one will question them. Or if people do question, a proclamation from the leaders will make the whole thing go away. Talk about clueless. This anti-women attitude is going cost them for sure — bad PR, women deciding not to tithe.

  97. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Good day all!

    ****

    Gorogh:

    As to rum, the second worst night of my life was owed to rum (or grog, more specifically) – I lay awake the whole night with cramps and stomach pain, waiting for morning to come so I could go to the doctor. I would still drink rum, but only in very controlled doses.

    I recently had a horrible experience with rum. As I’ve been at home for the last month, I decided one day to have a few drinks in the afternoon. I’d had a light breakfast, and around 1pm, I had several Rum Punches. Then I laid down for a late afternoon nap. I awoke around 7 pm, and felt worse than something the cat dragged in. For the next 4-5 hours, I was running back and forth to the bathroom. I never threw up, strangely enough, but the sensation was there the whole time. My stomach was in knots. I was clearly hung over, and was miserable. I only felt marginally better if I laid in bed and didn’t move. I suspect its bc I didn’t eat enough before I drank, and then when I did drink, I drank too much. Since I don’t work in a bar any longer, I’ve cut back on drinking, so my tolerance has diminished quite a bit.
    Suffice to say, I won’t be making that mistake again.

    ****

    morgan:
    Glad to hear you had a nightmare free night!

  98. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    What were we talking about again?

    That is difficult to ascertain, but my best guess right now is medication side effects, not necessarily adverse. I am all for a little associative loosening… perfect for brainstorming. Next question would be, what should we brainstorm about.

    … hell. Does anyone listen to the puffin audio right now? There was a weird sound there, two times in a row. Sounded like a moan, but definitely mammal-like. Are there seals or something in the area?

  99. says

    Uh-oh. Another rightwing religious whacko has won a Republican primary and has become a viable candidate.

    Last year, “Dr. Chaps” Gordon Klingenschmitt announced that he was running for a seat in Colorado’s legislature and his long history as a disgraced former Navy Chaplain who brags about having successfully performed an exorcism on a lesbian soldier and who has stated again and again that demonic spirits are behind everything from abortion to gay marriage to ENDA to President Obama to Madonna won him the support of the vast majority of GOP caucus-goers earlier this year, setting up a primary showdown against another GOP hopeful which took place last night.

    Klingenschmitt won that primary race by several hundred votes, becoming the official Republican nominee for House District 15 in the Colorado House of Representatives […]

    http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gordon-klingenschmitt-demon-obsessed-anti-gay-exorcist-wins-gop-primary-colorado

    From Klingenschmitt’s acceptance speech:

    However, we have some debt from the primary race. I just got a bill for $4,138 in printing costs and we have a few more bills outstanding, due this week.

    Can you please contribute to help us repay our primary debt for this election victory? Then we can start from a clean slate to run against a common-core anti-gun Democrat in Nov.

    From Right Wing Watch’s conclusion:

    Just let that sink in: a man who thinks that “Obamacare causes cancer,” that the Bible commands people to own guns in order to “defend themselves against left wing crazies,” and that the FCC is allowing demonic spirits to “molest and visually rape your children” is now a Republican candidate for office.

  100. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    I recently had a horrible experience with rum.

    Tony, that sounds like a seriously ruined day. Doubly ruined, since you were actually planning on improving it by a little intoxication, I guess.

    Lynna, is it a sign of cynicism if I am not surprised? It makes me wonder – has there ever been a popular religion founded by a woman/female prophet, which specifically excluded men from their higher offices? (I added the “popular” descriptor because I could imagine some forms of Wicca to go in that direction, but I am really clueless about that. Plus, Wicca certainly is no religion based on revelation…)

    It just seems so convenient to set things up the way mormons et al. did, because you a priori exclude 50% of potential dissenters to your way of leadership.

    daring vision of original Mormonism

    *chuckles*

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

    Well, I have successfully repaired my shoes.

    I have also super-glued two of my fingers together.

    You win some, you lose some.

  102. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Esteleth @634, hahaha. Well that might come in handy once Cthulhu rises and we’ll all transition to a more aquatic way of life. Seriously though, I hope no pain will be involved getting rid of that sticky situation. Ehm.

    Would anyone here know how to unsubscribe to follow-up comment notifications? I can’t seem to find it in the menu, and my mailbox is swamped with loungey news.

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

    Gorogh, there should be a series of checkboxes underneath the comment box. Take a peek at what you’ve got checked?

    In other news, you just know you’re reading about the Tudors when you find the sentence, “to be fair, he only beheaded two of his wives.”

  104. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Gorogh:
    You want to get to your WordPress subscription. If you check your email updates from the Lounge, at the bottom, there should be a link to the wordpress page to allow you manage your subscriptions. Hope that helps.

  105. Nick Gotts says

    Just let that sink in: a man [Gordon Klingenschmitt] who thinks that “Obamacare causes cancer,” that the Bible commands people to own guns in order to “defend themselves against left wing crazies,” and that the FCC is allowing demonic spirits to “molest and visually rape your children” is now a Republican candidate for office. – Lynna@632 quoting Right-Wing Watch

    In 4 years’ time, he’ll be ousted as a crypto-socialist RINO.

  106. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Thanks Esteleth and Tony, managed to turn off the email-flood.

    Nick Gotts, another word I learned today: RINO. Thanks for that.

    I’ll be off for some ESO role-playing. Talk to you intermittently throughout the day!

  107. Ogvorbis: Still failing at being human. says

    Esteleth @634:

    I have also super-glued two of my fingers together.

    Now’s your chance to learn how to count, add, subtract, multiply, and divide in base nine! There’s always a bright side!

    Well, not realy, but there is this time.

  108. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    Gorogh
    I live several thousand feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California, and I’m surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest. Pretty neat, although one has to have made peace with nature to live in a place like this. We have bears, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer and myriad other beasties including rattlesnakes, all of which have to eat. “Nature red of tooth and claw…”

    We also have an embarrassment of gun totin’ religionists and survivalists. A strange lot, to be sure.

    Today’s trek was accompanied by my honorary grandbaby. She just melts me. Almost four months old and the sweetest bebe ever. She never cries. If she is hungry or wet she just fusses a bit, and then is happy again. She was tended today by her “Tres Nanas.”

    Tony!

    Your avatar showed up for about two comments then disappeared again. I am confused, as usual. About your horrible experience with rum… Doesn’t surprise me. Rum is made from sugar cane, and as we all know, sugar is not the best thing to be ingesting, fermented or otherwise. However, it can be really tasty.

    Portia

    Good to hear from you again and good luck on the important case on Monday. Tentacles crossed.

    Today in “soup development”… A Portuguese delight called “Linguica and Beans.” I need a better name. It is made with Linguica sausage and red kidney beans and a bunch of other wondrous stuff. I’ve always made it as a main dish but today I am turning it into a soup.

    It looks like this is turning into a real company. The company needs a name.

    Caitie

    Feel better. Isn’t chronic pain fun? Yep, right, fun, fun, fun.

    Here are abundant hugs, exquisite chocolate and good wishes for all who want/need them.

    Now…. back to work.

  109. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    From Lynna’s link upthread:

    ” that the Bible commands people to own guns in order to “defend themselves against left wing crazies,”

    I don’t get this. Putting aside the ridiculous idea that the bible says anything about guns, what’s this about “left wing crazies”? What actions have those in the left wing taken that is similar to the right wing kooks who go on shooting sprees and mass killings (I don’t know how the doofus is defining crazies, so I’m going to define it as goes around killing lots of people)?

    This DailyKos article finds 3 liberal mass murderers in the US since 1991

    George Hennard Oct. 16th, 1991 Killeen Texas 23 killed, 19 – 22 injured.
    […]
    James Oliver Huberty July 18th 1984 San Diego California 21 killed 19 injured.
    […]
    Jiverly Antares Wong April 3 2009 Binghamton New York 13 Killed 4 Injured

    […]

    None of them killed because of Global Warming. None of them took their guns down to the immigration center to get Universal Health Care. What liberal has ever said an entire race of people need be eliminated? They killed out of hate and out of fear.

    This is what the Republican Party is selling,

    Here’s an interesting bit of information:
    (excerpt)

    Times-Union readers want to know:

    An email says that recent mass killers were all progressive liberals and most were registered Democrats. Is that true?

    The viral email lists the shooters in the killings at Fort Hood, Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Conn., as being registered Democrats. “Instead of registering and banning firearms,” the email says,”possibly we should register and ban progressive liberal Democrats.”

    A look at what’s known about the suspects pretty much debunks this viral email.

    The information in the email seems to have originated with Roger Hedgecock, a former mayor of San Diego and now a lobbyist, lecturer and conservative radio talk show host. In his radio broadcast, Hedgecock did not provide any evidence in any of the cases, making assumptions in some and inaccuracies in others.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/premium-news/2013-03-14/story/fact-check-email-was-wrong-about-recent-mass-killers-being

    Then there’s this:

    The break with reality/breathtaking dishonesty has gotten so bad that the right is even trying to portray the Las Vegas shooters from just a few days ago as “leftists”:

    Videos are surfacing of one of the terrorist Las Vegas shooters.

    Dressed in Joker face, Jerad Miller rails against “incarcerating innocent Americans and holding them indefinitely.”

    Despite attempts on the left to paint these terrorists as conservatives, the truth is they would’ve blended right in at a Code Pink rally.

    They were so radical, they were BOOTED from the Cliven Bundy protest camp.

    That choking sound you’re hearing is actually you trying to swallow the idea that “leftists” would travel to the Bundy Ranch to join anti-government militias. Anyone who believes that is probably gullible enough to send money to that prince in Nigeria that just needs help to move his millions out of the country. (Cash or money order only please!) Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at Joe the Imbecile Plumber’s list of “Democratic Killers” that’s been making the rounds and why almost every one of them is a lie:

    Nidal Hasan – Ft Hood Shooter: Reg­istered Democrat and Muslim. (Hasan had become a radicalized fundamentalist and there is no such thing as a leftist fundamentalist Muslim)
    Aaron Alexis, Navy Yard shooter – black liberal/Obama voter (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor)
    Seung-Hui Cho – Virginia Tech shooter: Wrote hate mail to President Bush and to his staff, registered Democrat. (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor)
    James Holmes – the “Dark Knight”/Colorado shooter: Registered Democrat, staff worker on the Obama campaign, #Occu­py guy,progressive liberal, hated Christians. (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor)
    Amy Bishop, the rabid leftist, killed her colleagues in Alabama, Obama supporter. (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor)
    Andrew J. Stack, flew plane into IRS building in Texas – Leftist Democrat (His manifesto was extremely anti-government and even more explicitly anti-IRS. Now what political movement do we know that loathes the government and IRS?)
    James J. Lee who was the “green activist”/ leftist took hostages at Discovery Channel – progressive liberal Democrat. (Hey, this guy is kind of left wing! He was so extreme he thought humans were a plague on the planet! He must have had quite a body count! But actually, as anti-human as he was, he didn’t kill a single person despite having all the time in the world to do it. So why is he on this list?)
    Jared Loughner, the Tucson shooter – Leftist, Marxist. (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor and I’d like to point out he shot a Democrat)
    Ohio bomb plot derps were occupy Wall St leftists. (Anarchists, not exactly leftists but they were planning to blow up a bridge. Yet, another zero body count)
    Harris and Klebold, the Columbine Shooters – families registered Democrats and progressive Leftists. (there is exactly zero evidence that political ideology was a motivating factor)
    Bill Ayers, Weather Underground bomber – Leftist Democrat. (40 years ago)
    Lee Harvey Oswald, Socialist, Communist and Democrat – killed Kennedy. (50 years ago)

    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right

    Right wing ideology has been front and center in over 100 plots, conspiracies, and racist rampages since 1995. I think I counted 109 examples.
    ____
    And then I found this, which puts a nail in the coffin (if not the final nail, bc my search wasn’t comprehensive-I don’t want to spend *all* day doing this):

    Sixties radicals may grow old, but they never seem to go out of style. In a trailer for Robert Redford’s recently released film, The Company You Keep, we are informed: “In 1969, a group of radical anti-war protesors began a campaign of bombings on American soil.” Redford plays a former terrorist, still in hiding “30 years after the notorious bank robbery that claimed the life of a guard.”

    Never mind that the actual Weathermen didn’t go in much for bank robberies and avoided killing anyone during their bombing campaign. Several ex-Weathermen were involved in the horrifically bungled Brink’s armored car robbery at Rockland County, NY’s Nanuet Mall. Carried out by the remnants of the Black Liberation Army (a hyper-violent fragment of the Black Panther Party) and a few ex-members of the Weather Underground, the crime left two police officers and a security guard dead. The attempted robbery, which ended in the arrest or death of all involved, took place on Oct. 20, 1981.There have been no deaths linked to American left-wing extremism since.
    […]
    But today there is no equivalent threat from left-wing extremists. Small bands of masked protestors periodically indulge in a bout of window smashing or throw rocks at the police, but bombings, bank robberies and gunfights with law enforcement are the province of fringe right-wing extremist groups. “Unlike the 1960s and 1970s, there are few, true left-wing extremist organizations operating in the United States,” Daryl Johnson notes in Right-Wing Resurgence: How A Domestic Terrorism Threat Is Being Ignored. Johnson is an expert on domestic non-Islamic extremism and a former senior analyst with the Department of Homeland Security, although his unit was dismantled in the wake of conservative outrage over its report on right-wing extremism in the United States. In January 2009, Johnson’s team warned of increased cyber attacks, which “are attractive options to leftwing extremists who view attacks on economic targets as aligning with their nonviolent, ‘no-harm’ doctrine.”

    http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/whatever-happened-left-wing-domestic-terrorism
    (bolding mine)
    Although I will point out that the bolded statement above is contradicted by the DailyKos link at the beginning of my comment.

  110. opposablethumbs says

    Tony! reminded me that this is probably the most sensible place to wonder – in the light of the current discussion about the latest instance of Facebookian perfidy –

    With apologies for the repeat:

    I don’t have faisbuc, mainly because I don’t know how to prevent it from connecting things I don’t want connected (e.g. like many of us I have more than one online presence that I want to keep non-overlapping, thank you very much dear bookofface people). My ignorance about how to control things like this also stops me from making the best use of google features.

    I would be very grateful for any info or pointers in this regard, or any suggestions of the best place to look for how-to guides (preferably suitable for someone only by the skin of their teeth right on the margins of the very bottom edge of competence with anything IT-related).

    Is it possible to have more than one faisbuc account using different names, and prevent them from linking up? While having only one computer – my concern would be that if a faisbuc account were linked with a particular email address, would it then help itself to anything and everything also associated with that same email address and link them without asking me (I should probably express that more clearly … but I hope you get what I mean?).

    For example, I once had to use google plus for something to do with work. For work I use email address X. However I also have a gmail address, Y, which is emphatically NOT for work. How can I make sure email addresses X and Y don’t get linked together somehow, such that work-me people, like work providers and correspondents and associates and such, could get pointed towards non-work-me writings I don’t want them to see?

    I’d quite like to have two feisbucs, one for the work-me and one for the NOT-work-me … but I’d worry about fesibuc talking to google plus and both of them helping themselves to my gmail address … and contacting people on my behalf in that ever-so-fucking-helpful way they have. And taking hours to make everything as private as possible, only for them to change all the settings next day and I wouldn’t notice for days …

    I’m guessing this question itself probably tells the IT-literate plenty about how very very IT-illiterate I am … :-\

  111. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    I, too, learned what RINO was today.

    ****
    morgan:
    My gravatar pic has-thankfully been consistent since late yesterday. I’m not sure why it’s not showing up for you :(

    We have bears, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer and myriad other beasties including rattlesnakes, all of which have to eat. “Nature red of tooth and claw…”

    Have you had any encounter with any of these creatures yet? The thought of bear and mountain lions in the area would freak me out I think.

  112. Portia says

    Time to wash the smoke and grime off of me and head to the office.
    Hi Giliell and opposablethumbs!
    *hugs*
    Giliell, can you email me?
    bravoportia
    google thingy

  113. Ogvorbis: Still failing at being human. says

    Portia:
    Did you get to do flamey-flamey today?

  114. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Interesting article at the Guardian by Laura Bates (creator of the Everyday Sexism Project) concerning the conflict between marriage rituals and feminism:

    (exceprt)

    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/28/can-a-feminist-be-a-bride-laura-bates
    Let’s face it, feminism can be exhausting. Not that I’ve ever doubted that fighting for equality is the right thing to do, in the midst of sexism, discrimination and abuse, obviously. I’m just saying the Onion had it right when it recently published an article entitled “Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show”. It’s not easy to go about your daily feminist business without encountering multiple dilemmas. Like how do you protest about a sexist Samsung advert when you’ve just got a new phone and can’t upgrade for another year and a half? How many films can you loudly accompany with a running commentary on their failure to pass the Bechdel test before your family and friends refuse to accompany you to the cinema again?

    The latest such dilemma I’ve encountered is a big one. Until I told my friends I was getting married, I didn’t know marriage and feminism could be considered mutually exclusive. I mean, just because a bride’s engagement ring is a symbol of ownership, and just because changing her name erases her identity as a separate individual, and just because the whole thing is ludicrously assumed to be the woman’s domain… Well, OK, marriage doesn’t look great in certain lights. But it was a commitment my partner and I wanted to make. It felt right for me. And surely at least a small part of being a feminist means forging new paths through old traditions?

    Two years ago I launched the Everyday Sexism project, an international campaign to highlight the harassment and abuse of women and girls. Since then I have briefed politicians and party leaders, addressed the UN and worked with police forces, schools and businesses on treating women and girls with respect. Not once have I felt any desperate urge to break up with my boyfriend in order to dedicate myself to the fight. In fact, in the middle of what became a daily bombardment of rape and death threats, his support was what stopped the whole thing from falling down around my ears.

    But in the months after our engagement, I had to deal with a stream of expectations that were difficult to reconcile with my feminism. Loving someone, and saying that in front of family and friends, shouldn’t be controversial. Yet the whole ritual is riddled with patriarchal symbolism.

    I grew up with girls who knew they never wanted to marry and girls who had their wedding day planned in meticulous detail. Personally, I wasn’t completely decided either way. But if I ever thought about my wedding day, I certainly didn’t think about it as a day on which I’d be given from one man to another, like a piece of property. I never looked at the bride’s white dress and thought of her as a virginal gift to her husband.

    And now here I am, a couple of decades on, wrestling with candles, confetti and cake. I am dealing with a whole load of dilemmas I never knew existed. Such as: what is “bridal underwear” and why does it cost a fortune when it looks suspiciously like normal underwear with a fancy label? After years of deflecting questions about when we’d “tie the knot”, why am I being asked when I’ll be starting a family? And why, in God’s name, has no one banned the word “bridezilla”? I’m not over the finish line yet, but this is some of what I’ve learned.

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

    A bit of google followed by judicious application of acetone, my fingers are unstuck. They’re still covered in a film of glue that (I’m told) will gradually flake off.

  116. Portia says

    Ogvorbis:
    Yep, had some training. The neighboring department that we work with most had someone donate a large farmhouse. The house is slated for demo and instead of burn up a lot of nasty materials we had burn barrels in there to smoke it up and heat it up for search and rescue drills. I didn’t embarrass myself, so it was a personal success. I’ve also started noticing which officers of other departments affirmatively give me credit for knowing my ass from my elbow and which ones default me to “weak girl.” We had a new guy (like, a week on the department) and he asked me “Am I supposed to be terrified? Because I’m terrified.” I told him, he absolutely is supposed to be terrified, and it’s never supposed to go away, it’s just about managing the instincts telling you to get the fuck away from that heat. He got overwhelmed and overheated a couple times and had to pull out, and he acted embarrassed. I tried to tell him it’s okay, and everyone has been there. I hope he keeps pushing forward, he seems like a good egg.

  117. says

    Argg. I wish so much that our neighbors would learn to shut a door without slamming it. There are three other units in this building, and we know every time any of them leaves or comes home, because they slam the doors and shake the whole fucking building.

    Hi Portia!
    *hugs*
    Gorogh, CaitieCat
    As I told Portia when the Commune was originally being discussed, survival is for antisocial types with bomb shelters and more guns than brain cells. We’re rebuilding civilization.
    Gorogh

    As experimental psychologist, my only tangentially relevant skill in a post-apocalyptic society would be that of a naysayer or advocatus diaboli.

    Admittedly, pure research is a longer-term thing, but a competent psychologist is always good to have around, especially in a stressful environment like the end of the world.
    Obnoxious pragmatism’s also good. And statistics are essential.
    CaitieCat

    I’m afraid most of my skills aren’t great for the post-apocalyptic world, being largely concerned with the written word (translation, editing, layout, proofing) or artistic (painting, drawing, some music).

    And what human culture is without painting and music? For that matter, the written word is the bedrock of civilization, and there’s infinite need to keep it alive. Signals and languages are also good.
    Thunk
    I thought you were already on the list as our meteorologist. You can work with Caitie to put out an almanac, that essential tool of farmers without satellite weather prediction.

    Tony!#643
    The Daily Kos link doesn’t say that those shooters were liberal, nor is there any evidence that they were that I can find. Hennard was apparently motivated by misogyny, Huberty by racism, and Wong appears to have had some type of conspiracy theory that undercover cops were destroying his life. Meanwhile, Joe the Jackass’ list appears to conflate ‘registered Democrat’ with ‘raging liberal’, and also involves a lot of straight up making shit up.

  118. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Dalillama:

    The Daily Kos link doesn’t say that those shooters were liberal, nor is there any evidence that they were that I can find.

    Ah I didn’t give it a proper read then. Thanks for the correction (which drives my point home even better).

    ****

    In other news, my father transferred enough money into my account to cover rent. I probably don’t have to tell you folks how much stress that’s taken off of me. I thanked him and told him that I hope I won’t have to be such a financial drain on them in the future, as I feel I should be able to take care of myself by this point in life.
    Of course I knew his response would be the same as always: loving and unconditional support, combined with an understanding that shit happens.
    I love my mother and father.

  119. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    Ha so it’s not just the cornbread recipe.

    Of course I knew his response would be the same as always: loving and unconditional support, combined with an understanding that shit happens.
    I love my mother and father.

    This is awesome.

  120. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Good news Tony.

    Since it appears my cooking is adequate, the Redhead needs a wider wheelchair. The standard seats are 16, 18 or 20″ wide and 16″ deep. No problem upgrading the width. On order, in stock, and should be shipping early this week. Will submit a FSA request for reimbursement. The lightweight transport wheelchair is problematic though. The standard widths for the lightweight models are 17 and 19″, and weigh about 25-30 lbs. The Redhead has a 19″ model. But she has trouble getting out, and it turns out the width at the armrests is only 18″. The 20″ wheelchairs are heavy duty models and weigh about 50 lbs. The removable armrests almost doubles the price. Sigh.

  121. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Get a load of this:

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/28/fda-approval-means-robot-exoskeletons-are-one-step-closer-to-replacing-wheelchairs/

    “This revolutionary product will have an immediate, life-changing impact on individuals with spinal cord injuries,” said Larry Jasinski, CEO of ReWalk Robotics, the company that makes the machines. “This is truly the beginning of ‘ReWalking’ as a daily reality in the U.S.”

    Prior to FDA approval, the devices have only been available for use in rehabilitation settings. And while they are tremendously promising, there are still some limitations that may keep them from immediate widespread use.

    The devices made by ReWalk and rival company Esko use a computer to mimic the side-to-side sway of a normal walking gait. However, users can’t walk quickly or run, and battery life is still an issue. Current models can only run for two to three hours before needing to be recharged.

    Kozlowski told ABC that even short walks, however, can benefit paralyzed patients. The exercise will help them get more air into their lungs, improve circulation, ease chronic pain and improve digestive functioning, he said.

    I can only imagine how beneficial this could be to people with spinal injuries.

  122. says

    Can I solicit some hugs?
    I just returned from an unexpected trip to my parents.
    BTW it’s midnight here.
    At about 11 my sister called, crying. She’d been away and upon return found our mum unconscious in the basement. Do I need to mention that our father was away for the weekend?
    Apparently she had drunk herself into oblivion and didn’t manage to get upstairs again, so she simply passed out in front of the stairs. Totally rational decision, right? Why would anybody believe that she has a problem? She’s responsible. If she’s too drunk to get up the stairs she sleeps on the stone floor, that’s what sensible people do!
    She forbade my sister to call an ambulance and for some reason I don’t completely understand my sister does not dare to disobey such orders, so she called me. Since I’m an asshole anyway I called the ambulance, called my mum in law who came over to watch the kids and went there.
    Of course milady refused to go to the hospital and the paramedic said that since her condition isn’t critical he’d prefer not to call the police in the middle of the night, but they got her upstairs.
    I must say the male paramedic was wonderful. He talked to us about the situation, the possibilities and reinforced 25 + times that this was not our fault, not our responsibility, that it was our father’s job to take care of the situation when he comes back and then went back to tell my sister again that she needs to take care of herself.
    And as if supernatural things happened my father returned early. He had planned to return tomorrow around midday, but had left early because the roof of the caravan was leaking. At this point the paramedics and I left.
    Now I’m totally exhausted but my stomach is a red hot ball of pain, so I guess I’ll be up for a while…

  123. says

    Giliell

    Oof. Sounds like a tough night. I’m sure I have a hug or two around here somewhere I can spare.

  124. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Giliell:
    I’m so sorry. You’re welcome to every hug I have to offer. And that’s a lot.

  125. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Chimera kitty.

    Venus, a cute and cuddly feline living in North Carolina, has beautifully striking features about her. The chimera cat’s face is half-black and half-tabby colored, and in addition she has two different colors of eyes. Venus’ rare markings have made her a popular animal on the Internet, and a Facebook page and Instagram account depict her sweet and loving personality. She also seems to receive a lot of fan art, too!

    I was so focused on her face, I didn’t notice the eyes. Double cool!

  126. says

    Looked through the Gay and Lesbian nonfiction section for Kindle books. Found “Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution” for 99 cents. At that price I’ll give nearly anything a shot, and being bi, figured it was relevant to my life.

    Finished through Chapter 1. So far… I’m agreeing in points, disagreeing in points, and am pretty well undecided on others. This one is probably going to get a second read.

  127. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    *belatedly chips in with offering consoling hugs for Giliell*

    Good if you get some rest. Hope they can sort that out eventually.

  128. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I can only imagine how beneficial this could be to people with spinal injuries.

    Or strokes. The Redhead could benefit by walking, even if only one side needs augmentation.