This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Is she doing yoga?
Tried that once. It was fun, but I didn’t anticipate how sore I’d be after I finished.
Ok, Brits, I love you, I’m half descended from you, but pasty barms? Seriously? This is a thing that exists?
A change in the dynamic happened here at Casa la Pilerroja. The Redhead had her catheter removed due to problems, and I had to run around to find a “fracture bed pan” (we already had a normal contour bed pan) for her use. Needless to say, no local drug store carried it, and the local medical supply store had moved. *sigh*
Anyway, night may become less restful due to attending to two methods of elimination rather than one. *double sigh*
Nerd, If you have a Red Cross nearby, query them about a lower profile bedpan…. they come in various heights so you might be able to get something that works as you await the fracture pan. (I do time at a local Red Cross and we often have stuff like that donated even though it is not on our loan-list and so cannot officially be loaned.) You might, if you choose, casually ask the volunteer on duty if they have something around; you never know. Wishing you restful nights.
I was able to find and purchase the bed pan. The Redhead and her CNA’s are happy. The medical supply store had moved about 4 miles west. And not where the map said they would be in the plaza *arg*.
Thanks for the tip.
PZ, I’m sorry about the troublesome blood work results.
I can help you worry about ’em, if you like; I’ve got experience
–
Tony!:
*holding up hand*
I’ll take one of those, thanks.
*sniffle*
–
–
That woman is obviously in great pain.
Or, possibly, I am, just thinking about attempting such a contortion.
–
carlie
What’s the problem?
Sounds yummy to me.
Tony!
I think it’s a variation of the Pigeon Pose.
.
I’m having internet issues, google is there for you.
Ugh, that was the longest busy signal for this site I’ve had in a long time.
It doesn’t quite explain why hipsters all look the same, but it might. They’ve been oscillating together for long enough.
Bill Cosby wanted to be memed. Well, he got his wish, but I doubt that’s quite how he pictured it.
In photographs, the diversity of US veterans, and they really tried to capture diversity.
A self-absorbed look at appreciation versus objectification, yes, specifically about street harassment. Never once does it mention a woman’s right to walk down a street unimpeded, never once does it mention the fact that the beauty around him was not placed there to be appreciated, but is an incidental accident of two randomly colliding schedules… No, it’s all about his willingness to refrain from objectification and his right to appreciate beauty.
At least, that’s how I read the piece.
Crossing all fingers, toes, tentacles and any and all other appendages, limbs and/or extremities for you, PZ.
Oh, I didn’t see the pic until just now. Oddly enough, I can do dat. Not elegantly, I hasten to add, but more bendily (I inherited (some) bendiness from my mum).
Today, hopefully, humans (the ESA Rosetta team) will land a probe (Philae) on a comet (67P). Here’s what the comet sounds like, its magnetic oscillations speeded up 10 000 times.
So that’s what Rock Music is.
Passing the Bechdel test http://satwcomic.com/besties
Lincoln University president Robert Jennings tells students some girls lie about rape because the sex didn’t turn out how they wanted it to.
CNN [video]
He then apologizes saying he meant the message to be about personal responsibility. Yeah, because that’s the problem. Women just aren’t being responsible. Mr. Man tells us so.
Ignoble-ass citation practices. Because you shouldn’t be careless when citing your studies in obscenities and anal emphatics.
Some desert art that’s kind of cool.
Today’s dose of cute: Slow loris with an umbrella. So happy!
rq, that art is wonderful and creepy.
I’m going to attempt a slow and quiet day today, maybe work on the watercolor class some more. I think I’ll skip the finger painting part, as I am not in the mood for mess. The good thing about these online crafts classes is that I’m not getting graded on my work. The bad thing is that I’m not getting graded, so there’s less incentive to actually do the work. First world problems, I know, I know…
I really need to find some sort of “normal” off the computer social life, I guess.
Just to document my coming out as an atheist bisexual. I came out to a pretty woman today as a chimp, eh, bonobo, who likes to suck cock, too. I am looking forward to feel another cock feasting my sweetheart. (Confessing to a drink or two to be honest about this.) ((Damn, Pieter, you should’ve made me…))
Anne
Let me know when you do. :)
rq,
I will if you will. Cup of tea? I have Yorkshire Gold this morning.
Anne
Don’t mind if I do.
Cookie?
rq, yes, please, and thank you.
Elder Daughter’s meeting with her prof was canceled, so she’ll be home all day. She’s trying to set up another meeting for tomorrow. Which means our plan to go to the art museum tomorrow may have to be put off. Again. We keep trying, and things keep coming up, and it gets put off. Well, the exhibit of Asian horse art will be there for a couple more months. We’ve got time.
Could I invite anyone to comment on Michael Shermer’s new found belief in Ghosts? A friend posted this on my wall and all I could think to do was post the sex abuse timeline from freethoughtblogs and comment that I don’t take his opinions that seriously.
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/11/08/founder-of-skeptics-society-rattled-after-witnessing-a-paranormal-event-michael-shermer/
Long post to follow, but I’m finally caught up. Yay!
bassmike – I hope you are feeling much better and will soon be able to leave the quarantine area of the Lounge. (I didn’t know we had a quarantine area, but it is a good precaution.)
opposablethumbs – *pouncehug* I hope you are well.
We Are Plethora – Welcome!
cicely – *return pouncehug minus the blueberry yogurt ’cause I ate it all*
We started a new D&D campaign on Friday. I’m playing a fighter named Violet with a fondness for dyeing her hair purple and a penchant for hitting things, especially Orcs (which are plentiful in this particular campaign). She also possesses some skill in appraising things that she acquired growing up on the road in a trade caravan. It was almost a very short campaign for Violet. In the last fight of the session, she and the cleric were unconscious and bleeding out toward the end of the battle; fortunately our two companions were able to kill the Goblins and keep us alive. =)
FossilFishy – Your song at #435 in Lounge 480 was simply beautiful.
Giliell – *pouncehug* I hope you are well. I wish I could have helped with your Tamora Pierce’s books project, but I’m significantly out of the age range. Good luck!
Dalillama – *hugs* I’m sorry you are having such trouble with your neighbors. I hope you are feeling better.
Portia – *pouncehug with chocolate* – Did you eat all the homemade caramel corn?
Anne, Lurking Feminist Harpy & Support Staff – *hugs* and *lots of chocolate* – Caring for an aging parent and dealing with all the related matters is always a challenge. Good luck.
rq – *pouncehug with chocolate*
May I join you? I’d love to ride a comet around the sun.
Squee! =^_^=
Azkyroth – *hugs*
Rowan – *hugs* – I’m sorry your brother behaved so badly. And I understand all too well the problem of crying when you are angry.
Beatrice – *hugs* and *chocolate*
Akira MacKenzie – Congratulations on your weight loss!
Wilbefort – *gentle hugs* and *liquid chocolate* I am so sorry about everything you have experienced. Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestions that haven’t already been made by someone else. I can, however, empathize. When my TMJ was at its worst, I was basically on a liquid diet for about nine months. That said, I was not limited to using only a straw. (Indeed, using a straw actually made my jaw hurt worse on most occasions.) I hope your recovery is as swift and painless as possible.
Also, welcome!
Nerd – *hugs* Your loving care for your Redhead is inspirational.
PZ Myers – I hope you feel better soon and that your scary blood tests turn out to be something benign. Please take care.
So humans just landed a robot on a comet. Ten years in the making. Well done!
rq,
Yes! Isn’t it wonderful? *happy dancing*
My dad worked for Jet Propulsion Lab, so I kind of grew up along with the old unmanned space programs. I still geek out over this sort of thing.
Yeah. Wow. Watching the live stream. Was just too young to remember the Moon landing, I wasn’t quite three yet, though I remember later landings, one on an AM radio in my dad’s car. Very cool.
We can haz landing on comet. Confirmation about 10 minutes ago, if I am understanding correctly.
Pretty cool.
Anne
I’ve been geeking out with the livestream, and even got the 7-year-old to cheer! He’s all, “That’s really the first time anyone has done that??” and I was like, “YES!!!”
Huh, you’d think by now he’d be used to stuff coming back to haunt him…
Azkyroth,
Brilliant.
Rachel Maddow produced a great segment to update the story about the Gilbert, Arizona decision to rip pages out of an honors biology book. There’s also some related local voting information.
Link.
The Gilbert, Arizona school board also wanted to rip pages out of four other biology books. The Maddow Show posted all of the supposedly offensive pages at :
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/arizonahonorsbiologycom
GMO trees could rescue American chestnut from invasive fungus
(Pssst – stop with the comments about “live stream.” It reminds PZ of his prostrate problem.)
Speaking of yoga,
India’s Modi names yoga minister in major reshuffle
@Lynna, OM
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, these threads fill up fast! I don’t mind if you share the story on an ex-Mormon board, just leave out my handle. :)
Reginald
*pfft*
Next you’ll say we can’t talk about comets, either! CENSORSHIP!!!
Thanks, theoreticalgrrrl @39.
In other mormon news, here’s a cartoon that addresses the recent LDS essay about Joseph Smith’s polygamy:
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/1812515-155/com-bagley-cartoon-facebook-lake-salt
The comet* photos are beautiful and awe-inspiring.
*I originally typed “comment,” which would have been a very embarrassing typo. :D
Someone “found God” at a very convenient time, again, #25?
I’m still having a Moment of Wonder about the comet landing. Speaking of which, 6 reasons you should care.
And I dunno ’bout the rest of you, but for all the whiners who think it’s a waste of money, it’s actually quite uplifting to be in the doldrums of a life period of one kind or another, and to look up and see such amazing things happening. Sure, we can’t eradicate systemic racism, but we can put a little refrigerator-sized robot on a tiny, fast-moving object billions of miles away. That counts for something, right?
So, go, science! and go, scientists!, keep our eyes beyond the earth and remind us that fantastic things can be accomplished – things that transcend geography or location or individual differences, simply by the sheer scale of the project. And then turn our eyes back to the earth and remind us of how fragile it is in the face of the stunningly boring yet life-threatening emptiness that surrounds us.
(One day, I want to (a) see a liftoff and (b) be in the control room (or as near as they allow ignorant folk) for something like this. Hah. But one can dream.)
Now to tackle the problems down here on earth… cookie for strength, anyone?
Knives and doom sound scary. Best of luck with tests, PZ.
Anne:
I use D&D for nearly all my “normal” off the computer social life.
Works like a Charm.
Roll a Saving Throw.
–
Hekuni Cat, that *pouncehug* is past its ‘Best By’ date; but that’s okay! Here’s a fresh one!
*pouncehug*
and since the blueberry yogurt has totally gone off, it has been replaced with
*lemon chiffon yogurt*
:D
My current character is a female elf named Ellemir, who likes to put a preemptive round of arrows into anything that looks like a potential threat. *thwip!*
Perhaps she and Violet could hang out.
You know—after all the Threats have been eliminated.
*thwip!*
In recent years, I’ve been mostly running sensible, support-classed characters—usually the Lone Voice of Sanity in any given group.
When we changed to 5e, I decided that I was sick and tired of staying in the van.
The looks on the guys’ faces were priceless—and the DM was simultaneously amused and appalled.
*big, toothy grin*
–
Azkyroth:
*rimshot*
–
cicely,
D&D, don’t talk to me about D&D. My ex was heavily into wargaming, old-style with pencil and paper. Many’s the night I spent trying to stay awake while playing until the wee hours with him and his buddies…
If there was some sort of artistical community around here I could hang out with even though I’m not really an artist, that’d be nice. Unfortunately, that sort of thing all seems to be down in south OC, and out of my reach.
Eh, it’s not like I’m any good with people anyway, I just get bored and lonely sometimes. I’ll live.
Hey, Hekuni Cat! *slightlybelatedbutenthusiasticreturnpouncehug*!
Yes, the refrigerator on the comet is breathtakingly amazing :-)))))). It never, ever, ever ceases to knock me out that we humans are capable of such extremes of wonderfulness and shittiness; that human achievement in science, art and technology is so, so far ahead of our deeply crappy performance in terms of how we (not always, of course, but all too often) treat each other.
opposablethumbs
Heh, the refrigerator that harpooned itself to a comet. :D
Marriage equality comes to South Carolina.
Daily Kos link.
Anne, I know that feeling. Hey, I seem to have a bunch of hugs here … would you care for one?
Newly elected Republican tries to be further into LaLa Land than Michele Bachmann:
Ernst’s skill in the hog-castrating arena may be her only skill.
opposablethumbs, thank you, and here’s a hug for you.
Yes!
The xkcd cartoon is lovely :-)
Hug happily received, thanks! :-)
Berlin news outlet covers the polygamist past of mormon founder Joseph Smith. German language article. Link.
Hey, they should have named the probe Ahab. After all it harpooned itself to a great white
whalecomet!Love, love the refrigerator harpooning itself to the comet. To quote the xkcd cartoon: !!!!
Ray
You missed that boat by at least 10 years. ;)
rq@59,
Ha! Not the first time I’ve been that far behind, I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Hrumph, considering everything else going on in my life, may not even be the first time today.
Ray
Ah, but they say living in the past is always greener because the golden age of the good old days.
Or something like that.
rq@62,
I’ve been accused of looking backwards through rose-colored glasses a few times, I think. Not sure what effect that would have on the perception of the greenery either on this side of the fence or the other.
As you said “Or something like that.”
All in all it’s probably better to look forward. That way I’m less likely to trip over unexpected obstacles (or my own feet).
Ray
Green grass through rose-coloured glasses? Probably a dull shade of brown. :P Best to look forward, indeed! (And, every now and then, down at your feet, in case you’re not stepping into any shit.)
Good luck with what you seem to have going on in your life.
De-lurking long enough to comment on my current D&D character: a psion/rogue (based on Kim from Patricia C. Wrede’s “Magic and Malice” books). Kim (yes, I kept the name) is an atheist, sort of. She believes the gods exist, but she doesn’t worship any of them, since none of them has ever done anything for her. I could see her converting if she was convinced one of the gods cared about her well-being, but that hasn’t happened in the campaign yet.
Pictures of the comet landing. No ugly shirts to be seen, not in this series.
Persisting in promulgating bad ideas, that seems to be the modus operandi of the Republican Party in Texas (I’m including Texas Tea Partiers):
Link.
Yet another use of the phrase the Supreme Court handed to religious fanatics: “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Lynna
There was some extra there.
Hekuni Cat
Heh. I nearly caused it to be a short campaign for one of the other PCs in the game I just began yesterday; Grainne (that’s my character) has a huge body mass, a massive Health score, and additional resistance to toxins from her fiendish ancestry. She can therefore put away soursop rum by the pint and not feel it, and it simply didn’t occur to her that the same wasn’t true of the other burly warrior in the group, who is a)not as big, b) has only human ancestors, and c) has a specific intolerance to alcohol, and thus barely survived the toasts Grainne kept pouring.
In other news, someone unhappy with our refund policy sent a note threatening physical assault and arson, so that just made our day.
…any chance you can direct them to the apartment downstairs? :)
The New York Review of Books published an interesting article in which the supposed supremacy of student test scores from Shanghai is exposed to be a sort of narrow, and in some cases false, representation of “good education.”
This is important information, since many of the panicky responses to “fixing our broken education system” in the USA are based on false information, and/or on misinterpretations of test scores. A few excerpts below:
Esteleth re JAL: We’ll send a small contribution to her rent. Sorry to hear she’s having difficulties.
Oh, crap. I copy pasted a bunch of stuff I didn’t intend to include. Then I did not preview nor proofread. As a result, comment #61 is mostly a wall of useless text. My sincere apologies.
The link is good, for anyone interested in the subject.
*hugs* for everyone and good night.
Y’all probably don’t know it, but you’ve been great for me today. (And now you know it.)
People knew about Joseph Smith’s plural marriage, why is it news now?
Smith used the threat of hell to coerce under-age girls into plural marriage. He did what Warren Jeffs did, what Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper did (with threats of hell instead of abduction and chaining a girl to a tree). How do people reconcile that?
Surfacing to say hello (Hello!) & to wish people well, especially Nerd of Redhead & The Redhead. Don’t forget to take care of yourself, Nerd.
rq,
The same to you, and have a good evening. [returns hug, with interest and chocolate]
*spins the posting error Wheel of FortuneI*
You win a free glass of swill of your choice, and a trial batch of Chikken Soop made by the Pullet Patrol.
The soop does a good job of fertilizing plants. *hint, hint*
G’night rq, was doing some plumbing repair work & lost track of the thread. @64, Dull shade of brown & stepping in shit? Yeah, sounds about right. Now I get to fold laundry, then it’s off to bed so I can get up before dawn to go to work, Woo Hoo!
Good night/morning/afternoon/evening (as appropriate) to the rest of the horde.
*Clenched tentacle salute* (Are the kids still doing that?)
Three doctor appointments for only follow up in the last two weeks. Tracking for the project.
Hi, Ray.
G’night, Ray.
For your reading pleasure or analysis as the case may be: What the U.S.-China climate deal means to the world.
WHEEEEEE my new half-price vacuum cleaner has arrived! Just assembling it and it is so light to push around, not like that rotten weighs-a-ton screaming thing I’ve had.
Well, that sucks. :D
No sign of investigation in 1,111 New Orleans sex crime-related calls
Wouldn’t it be awesome if “… what in the holy fuck…” really was part of the article?
I am ‘rupt for at least two Lounges. Sorry, folks.
rq @44, I think, re the uplifting science of Rosetta
They took this shot… TEN YEARS AGO. I am totally astounded that they shot this bullet ten years ago and hit the bull’s eye. TEN fricking YEARS. I Fucking Love Science.
A small bit news that makes the poll at Time magazine a bit less depressing in that there is knowledge to use with respect to it. The poll was manipulated by 4chan (comment I left at B&W). So people still suck, but it’s less likely getting rid of the word feminism is on the minds of as many people.
*hugs to all who need them*
I’ve had one of those days, and I’m sure many others here are also having a rough time and could use support. Extra hugs to you :)
I’m so tired of the culture at my work place that I’m considering bringing headphones everyday. Literally tired of it all. I feel so exhausted when I come home, and it’s all from social pressure, not work pressure. On the bright side, I think it’s motivated me to get off my ass and work to go for my previous goals again. So perhaps this can be the tipping point to help me leave a work place that seems to think it’s so liberal or friendly or whatever to people who aren’t straight, white, cis males when it’s anything but.
News about next year’s big screen reboot of the Fantastic Four
(spoilers)
.
.
.
.
.
Toby Kebbell, the actor who plays Dr. Doom revealed some…interesting information about his character:
I don’t like this.
Tony
Cue gratuitous sexism and nerds not knowing any better around women. Oh, and probably the Ultimate Hottie falling for his geeky charm and horrible way in social situations after he puts enough pressure on her and just doesn’t hear the Nos. Mmmm, sounds appealing!
Or, you know, as he’s the villain, this movie will highlight how… actually, I’m not sure. Will this movie defeat abusive internet commenting forever?
I keep thinking Dr Doom is a good guy. I wish there was a good guy named Dr Doom. That would be awesome.
rq:
Dr. Doom is traditionally an egomanaical scientific genius with delusions of grandeur and designs for world domination. Not sure why the filmmakers decided to make him an internet troll.
Ohai.
I have a similarly-describable problem, despite being white and cis-and-straight-male-passing. So probably not very similar at all.
I have also concluded I really can’t afford to leave my current job for about a year. :( Well, judging by the general class of employment I’m contemplating (CA state, which among other things has mandatory retirement savings).
But after that, things may get better.
Also, I had a set of 6oz glass bowls attack me tonight. They missed, but one of my 13×9 pyrex lasagna pans was a casualty. Thankfully, at least it was the chipped one. I needed a freaking drink. I haved some quantity. :/
Supposedly there’s a side continuity where he wins and does such an amazing job running the earth that all his former enemies formerly apologize to him. (At least, the straight, white, male ones).
Then he gets bored…
Azkyroth @84
I’ll be demandin’ me money back if it doesn’t! :P
OH FOR…
…
Anyone know offhand what assumptions about body fat percentage go into BAC and how much it skews the results?
Azkyroth
It’ll be a year (maybe even two) for me as well, but actually working toward doing what I want will make me feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, which will hopefully help me to not feel so exhausted, depressed, and directionless anymore. I can certainly hope anyway.
I’m sorry you’re having a similar problem. It really sucks being stuck in a hostile environment (which won’t even admit it’s hostile) for so many hours a week because your livelihood depends on it. :(
(…because I KNOW I SERIOUSLY shouldn’t be driving now, and won’t be, but the calculator’s telling me “0.062” and that seems low. >.> Uh, just in case anyone was worried. If that’s not presumptuous…)
They’re already playing Christmas carols as part of Muzak (or whatever variation thereof that the drugstore I went to tonight uses). What the fuck, America?
~*~*~*~*~*~
Tony (#93)
Maybe because, minus the “scientific genius” bit, that’s a pretty good description of GamerGaters? So he’s the rare one of that sort with an actual talent for something.
My work environment is more passive-aggressive than hostile. Shared a laugh with a client-going-on-business partner on the phone earlier: “Really? Man. I’m trying to get $AZZY’S_BOSS to let me know when he’s gonna be coming down here, ya know?!” “Me too.. D;”
Plus aside from the culture issues I’m kinda badly underutilized and there’s no fucking way I’ll meet the PE requirements before retirement age if I stay here, frankly. >.>
But, yeah. :( *hugs*
If they’re rewriting Dr. Doom {ffffffkkksssskkk} why not make it The Fantastic Five?
Six?
[they could include Orcs]
(I dunno. I feel like there’s a point where negligence of communication becomes “hostile” by default.)
Tony
Scientific genius? Delusions of grandeur? Probably an internet troll?
Dunno, but I thnk I know a guy with a cool shirt who qualifies… except for the world-domination bit, but who really knows about that part.
toska
Crappy about the work environment :( I hope working towards something better will give you the patience and strength to survive, but remember, self-care is #1, so take care of yourself, too. (Headphones? Headphones!)
Azkyroth
Can’t really help you with the blood alcohol, but be safe!!
Also, good luck with changing your work environment eventually, too!
Azkyroth
Yeah, I guess my issues can be described as passive aggressive (except when I’ve brought it up and it becomes actively hostile), but when it’s just about every day, it sure feels like hostility.
Fortunately, our other business partner had some useful thought-fragments about the mounting system for the thing $AZZY’S_BOSS told me he “needed to think about” three days ago. >.>
Something like Crass Commercialism meets The Music of Erich Zann.
Could be worse. At least we’re not still in FTB’s *glowing angel eyes* OH! LITERALY EVERY OTHER DIAGNOSIS IN THE ENTIRE DSM ARE MISUNDERSTOOD ANGELS AND NO ONE CAN EVER HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING
…,no I fucking didn’t.
Eh? Angels?
toska – you maybe could with the headphones, esp. if you say they help you concentrate on your job. “Oh, these? You know, I read something about how calm music helps you focus so I thought I’d try them out, and you wouldn’t believe how much more I’m getting done!” *placid smile* *turn back to screen/paperwork*
Mr. Abbott is a true badass
Just got arrested again in the same week for giving out food to homeless people.
I just love his attitude towards it all:
Respect, sir. Respect.
Threadrupt parachute in again but I have to tell someone this or I’m going to flip some tables in real life and I don’t mean that metaphorically.
Patient A has not been taking their medication as directed. When asked, they said that they couldn’t afford both blood pressure medications and blood thinning medications and asked which one was more essential. Tough question given that missing either could kill them. Social worker stymied on how to make this generic, 60+ year old medication affordable to this privately insured patient.
And then there’s patient B or rather person that I want to be patient B. Patient B was lured to the US by a human trafficking ring and suffered a major medical illness while here. B is now in a shelter for victims of human trafficking but, being an “illegal immigrant” is not eligible for any form of insurance. I’m willing to play dumb about the office visit charges and we’ve got a patient fund (funded by a semi-annual bake sale) to help with some of the diagnostic costs but the treatment’s going to cost thousands of dollars per month and we just don’t have that.
This country sucks so bad. I want to join Philae on the comet.
Hullo
*pouncehug* right back at Hekunicat
Oh, you don’t need to be a young adult now, only when you first read the books…
+++
Slight grumbling: I’m at a loss looking for literature. Our university library seems to have almost nothing and almost nothing seems to be exactly the number of titles written on gender in YA literature. You’d think that after decades in gender studies there’d be a bit more…
+++
Oh, we’re talking about RPGs, right?
Because we had RPG night yesternight.
I often feel that one of the problems with RPGs is that while you can simulate physical skills with a dice roll, this doesn’t hold true for the thinking parts.
Currently we’re investigating a series of murders in a town up north (our group is from what would correspond to the Middle East, so we’Re obvious outsiders). Now, my character is supposed to be the warrior whose job it is to do the dirty work while my BFF U. is my in-game cousin, a brilliant archaeologist. Think of the two of us as Lara Croft split in two: my character got the looks and the kicks, her character got the brains. Problem is that my friend is a bit stubborn and tends to be monodirectional when thinking. She also approaches things with the diplomacy of a wild boar that stepped into a nest of ground wasps. So I often find myself playing both roles.
OTOH she might just have gotten our group killed. way back she made a pact with an archdemon and now she just ordered the head of the magical academy to jump out of the window which she did. And because our DM loves to torture us the final scene of the night was (talking to me): “You run down the stairs and out of the door and fortunately you will see what happened next time. I hate him.”
And since we’re always talking gender: It’s sad how neither of our DMs seems to be able to get out of the “pretty = desirable” mindset. It mostly makes their male NPCs flat. While it’s great fun for everybody to let the gendered expectations of the guys from the more patriarchal North and our characters from the weird patriarchy-turned-kind-of-matriarchy South clash, all the guys do when they woe my character is to boast, try to damsel her* and offer expensive gifts.
*which often results in broken noses, bur not mine
Errm. Me being suddenly, acutely bitter about stuff that happened mostly several years ago on Pharyngula and related spaces and starting to impulsively type an oblique comment about it, then having my browser randomly switch focus fields to the “Post” button before I could finish typing and then think better of it. >.>
Sorry.
All is not as well as it could be on the comet. Philae is in a shadow.
Nerd
I think they’ve lost it completely at the moment.
It did, after all, land three times (with the first time a bull’s-eye hit). And one leg is in the air.
Philae is probably also going to come off when the comet becomes active and float away randomly into space. It still sounds better than the US right now.
I wanted to mention that a “friend” of mine has given up on the Catholic Church because it is insufficiently conservative, and has converted to the Orthodox Church (greek orthodox, I assume, but didn’t ask).
Political discussions with him are … difficult.
dianne
Unless they manage to fire the harpoons, I think they can try that eventually.
Although it will probably fly off anyway, it’ll just stick a little longer.
(Incidentally, Mars is closer and is also currently occupied by one sarcastic tweeting robot. Might be more within the budget.)
Crossposted from comet landing thread;
Next time Shirt Guy is on TV coverage of a space mission, they should run this music video on a monitor behind him:
Goddammit! Sorry for taking up bandwidth with link at comment # 121
Azkyroth: far as I can tell, 0.08% BAC is a threshold above which no sane person could claim you’re safe behind the wheel, no matter how good the conditions are. It isn’t a threshold below which you’re necessarily a safe driver. Generally, more alcohol makes you a worse driver, it’s not just no-effect … no-effect … BAM drunk.
Certainly, with one 12-oz beer, I can feel that I’m slowed down a bit, and I prefer not to drive. I pretty strongly prefer not to drive to parties for this reason.
Incidentally, Mars is closer and is also currently occupied by one sarcastic tweeting robot. Might be more within the budget.
A bit too close. And I thought Mars had several robots at this point. Getting a bit crowded, isn’t it?
theoreticalgrrrl @75
Surprisingly, some mormons really did not know the full story. One guy said he’d been a mormon for 40 years and never heard the dirty side of the issue. Other mormons pointed out that only Emma is depicted with Joe in church sculptures, paintings, and printed material. Many mormons are remarkably well-insulated inside their bubble.
As for the question about how mormons reconcile the new information, some of them refuse to read it (not “faith promoting”) and for others there is a standard set of delusional accommodations.
One commenter on the SL Trib site, Cam Torres, took the trouble to reply to the 15 most often used explanation/excuses from TBMs (errors are in the original):
Nerd @78
Thank you for being so kind about my wall-of-text mistake @71. I do have some reservations about the fertilizer/soup concoction.
Lynna:
Reading these revelations of Smith…I knew in broad strokes that he was a con-man and that he had multiple wives. For some reason I never connected that to the Mormon church’s opposition to marriage equality based on the “one man, one woman” pseudo-argument. Now that I have…
Does anyone have something large and highly breakable? I feel the need to smash something.
Or maybe an old building needs demolishing.
numerobis @119:
Difficult…or impossible?
As quoted by Markita @82:
Not everyone is happy. The Republican/Tea Party contingent of the USA has lost one of their major talking points.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-balks-obama-us-china-climate-deal
Maddow Blog link.
Saad @85:
I saw that article and it made me so sad/mad that I was speechless for awhile. Idaho officials are being investigated for having done something similar (not quite as bad, but still an obvious lack of followup on rape cases).
dianne
Several orbiting, but only a couple functioning on the ground. Ah well. 67P it is.
Just submitted white paper pre-proposal. Will now have contorted hands for a few weeks from crossing fingers that I can get invited to submit a full proposal. Naw – they are going to find a reason to reject it. Sigh. Looking for research funding in the States is only slightly less painful than repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot.
I love this – they want you to condense a full 30 page proposal into a 3 page executive summary with budget details and the whole shebang “to minimize the labor and cost associated with the production of detailed proposals” except you pretty much have to have outlined the full proposal to create the damn thing.
And re-reading the announcement again it looks like you can actually submit a full proposal even if they say that there is little chance of getting funding for your project. All proposals “will be reviewed regardless of the feedback provided on the white paper” Huh?
Okkay, well ack. Feeling brain dead now.
Need chocolate!
Tony:
I have a really, really old bicycle you could smash up. It is so old that it can’t be fixed. I also have a garage roof that needs repair. You can tear off all the old stuff if you like.
Regarding the mormon essay on old Joe’s unethical ways, I think the mormon leaders are already sorry they ever commissioned that essay. The essay itself tries mightily to spin and to soften the historical facts, but just the airing of the spun and softened facts has caused an explosion in mormonism. People are crying, there is much gnashing of teeth, weeping all night, walking around with stunned looks, and so forth.
That essay is a testament to the cluelessness of mormon leaders. They thought they could issue it and sort of hide it at the same time. They thought their all-powerfulness would override the facts and the sheeple would remain obedient.
The article in the Salt Lake Tribune has garnered more than 6000 comments and is still going strong. There are more than 300 other media outlets that have picked up the story, including international outlets. Unfortunately, many of these new outlets repeat the mormon spin that Joseph Smith “spiritually” married other women, and that he did not consummate the marriages. (We have first-hand historical accounts from some of the women that correct this lie.)
Mormons in Honduras are weeping.
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1429025,1429736#msg-1429736
Learning new things at work is fun! Would be more fun if I had a bit more time left for sleeping.
Description of the current sales techniques being taught to mormon missionaries. Disgusting, dishonest, passive-aggressive … etc.
*huge heap of hugs & chocolate*
One of these things is not like the others…
There are no doctrinal differences between the Greek, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Georgian etc. etc. Orthodox churches; they’re just governed separately (“autocephalous”, meaning “self-headed”) and use different languages for liturgy.
Anyway:
Epic link dump of legend!!!1!1!
Open-access paper: despite lacking so much as external ears, birds can hear where a sound comes from – in terms of elevation, that is. The paper explains how they do it.
Another open-access paper! The fossil record of plants, analyzed for the first time but with a cringeworthily ancient method, reveals only two mass extinction events, and they’re not at expected dates.
Article and gallery in German about Erdoğan’s new extra-huge palace that was illegally built in a nature reserve after the highest administrative court forbid it and Erdoğan said “go ahead, try to stop me”. The constitution court is on it now.
Short article in German: local hunters have chased Boko Haram out of a village in northern Nigeria, killing at least 75 of them.
“Michael Moore anonymously pays the medical premiums of his biggest critic”
“‘You Americans Have No Idea’ – Another Open Letter, This Time From Canada & This One Hurts”
“No idea how good you have it with Obama”, that is.
I’ve never had so many tabs open. o_O
Hurrah! I just made my first public post at Fullmetal Feminist in over a year. I really do think the current brain-med regime is getting a bit of traction on the depression. I cannot express how amazing that feels. I mean, we’re not talking “Yay, I’m cured!” It’s more like if there are 256 shades of grey, I moved from about 10 shades from black to 15 shades from black. But given the last year or so, that feels a bit like spinning on the top of a mountain in my child-minding gear, singing. Not really, but still. Also in good news, got my pshrink appointment, and it’s on Arbitrary New Orbit Start Point Eve.
Today, I’m also getting a bit of work done, after yesterday dealing with some cleanup issues (dismantled the Great Wall of Cola, the rampart of double-stacked Coke cans around my bedroom, and recycled the lot). After the work and my afternoon liedown, I’m going to get started on sorting the laundry.
rq, I’m gonna answer your email today, for sure. Trying to get better about that. Part of the problem is that I find typing anything lengthy on the tablet or phone to be exhausting. On my laptop, I’m up in that 140wpm range (happy legacy of a p/t job in university transcribing interviews for profs). On the tablet/phone, it’s one-finger at best, and since I’m usually using those when I’m already lying down, it’s that much harder; I have to half sit up to get any non-frustrating speed of typing going, which defeats the purpose of lying down.
I don’t know if I mentioned the tablet; I visited some new friends about a month ago, and when they heard that I’d never even used a tablet, let alone owned one, they gave me their old Nexus 7. It’s not huge, but it’s plenty big enough to watch my shows on when I’m lying down, and I love that. I’ve also got an app on it called WalkBand, and I’ve been using that to mess about with composing/orchestrating music again. The app provides virtual rock-style instruments – guitar, bass, drums, keyboards – with recording facilities and so on. Main problem is that there are two areas of knowledge in which I have never been able to make any advance in my understanding, these being musical theory and electricity. I have no idea why I suck so badly at theory; my math concepts and skills are excellent, and I’ve got very good pitch, but I’ve just simply never, ever gotten it. Despite this, I’ve played in concert bands, orchestras, and rock/ska/blues bands without needing it. :)
Please note this is not a request for aid in either subject; at 48, I’m pretty sure I know my abilities, and that i’ve tried literally dozens of different methods to learn these things, and simply failed. For whatever reason, I don’t grasp them, and I’m okay with it.
Been LOVING that Netflix has SO MANY excellent foreign TV shows available; in recent weeks, I’ve watched the French Les Revenants, the Anglo-French The Tunnel, Spain’s El Gran Hotel, Sweden/Denmark’s Bron/Broen, Italy’s Romanzo Criminale, Belgium’s Salamander, and LOADS of good British shows (Wales’ Hinterland, England’s Scott & Bailey, Call the Midwife, The Bletchley Circle, Happy Valley, among others). Also the Australian Secrets and Lies, which was gripping. Throw in a growing selection of good anime, and Caitie has the happies with her TV choices. Also, Netflix is SO MUCH CHEAPER than cable, and it’s got a lot more on it that I want to watch.
So there’s my update. All the hugs to those as needs or wants ’em.
“Low-information nation”
“Mitch McConnell’s Senate agenda”
“Voter Suppression Laws Already Deciding Elections: Washington Post”
…and yet: “The missing story of the 2014 election“, by a Republican who isn’t deluded about everything like the rest of his party.
A few parts of the same thing seen from the other side: “Not only did North Dakota’s ‘personhood’ amendment get crushed, so did its Republican sponsor”
Unrelated, except maybe in global context:
“It’s been in the news. Now it has been confirmed. As of this past weekend, Raymond Leo Burke, America’s highest-ranking cardinal at the Vatican, was officially removed from the Vatican’s Supreme Court, and demoted to chaplain of the Knights of Malta, where he will reign with much less responsibility. The ultra-Conservative and anti-gay cardinal […] continuously challenges the jurisdiction of Pope Francis […] and the Catholic Church’s new receptive stance on homosexuality.”
Here we go again.
Two stray un-neutered male cats that obviously had owners in the past that now seem dependent on our small group of apartments. The shelters are as busy as ever, and we have 3 cats already (formerly 4, we were breaking our lease with another stray). Phase one: putting up fliers around the neighborhood begins…
And on it goes.
“Oh, It’s On – POTUS Readies Sweeping Series of Executive Actions to Combat Global Warming”
“Obamacare premiums falling in 48 major cities”
Bernie Sanders wants to run for president – and why that’s good, even though H. Clinton is much more likely to win.
“American Indians won the right to vote in 1924, but some officials still haven’t gotten the message” – lots of history, some of it scarily recent, and all of it harrowing to read.
“American Indian voters and Indian organizers gave N.D. Senate edge to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp“… though she’s all for more drilling.
“Democrats should’ve run on economic populism. Instead they ran on ‘not really Obama’ and got creamed” – a long list of proposals.
“President Obama: FCC should reclassify internet status to preserve net neutrality” – with poll-like web form for thanking Obama “for his leadership on net neutrality”.
“AT&T: Nice internet you got there, it’d be a shame if anything happened to it…”
“Sign the petition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Confirm all of President Obama’s judicial nominees right now, before it’s too late.”
“Veterans to Palin-You’re an idiot!”
Long post full of history on how the Democratic Party lost the Deep South, a process now completed because the ridiculously disgusting “John Barrow (pronounced “bare-ah”) lost his re-election bid for Georgia’s 12th Congressional District to Republican businessman Rick Allen”. There will be no more Democrats from the South in the new Congress.
yeah… I definitely had a WTF?? moment when i first saw that.
meanwhile, here in NZ, the government has matched dollar for dollar the money the industry wanted to spend to roll out fiber.
The government made a point of noting how improving the infrastructure of NZ will enable further creativity and productivity; speeding our tiny nation’s access to the rest of the world.
I often think the US government has simply forgotten what investing in infrastructure even means since Clinton left office.
Pets recreate yesterday’s comet landing. Kyoooot (poor dog).
Voices of women from the past condemn Joseph Smith:
Additional notes from Steve Benson:
Good evening
David!!!!
How did your conference go?
Mr. sends greetings, he really enjoyed the trip to the museum
1924? Amerind people didn’t get the right to vote in the US until 1924? Heck, WOMEN got the vote before then and we know what white American men think of women.
Duggars request kissing photos from couples. Same-sex couples oblige. All together now, caaaaaaaaaaan you feeeeeeeeeeel the looooooooove toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…
Here is another troubling detail with which the mormon essay on polygamy does not deal:
Yeah, that’s Joseph Smith proclaiming a revelation about polygamy (desperate attempt to extricate himself from all kinds of condemnation) after and during his practice of “marrying” lots of women other than his wife.
Joe Smith’s official scriptures declare polygamy a crime. Mormon leaders removed this troubling text in the D&C thirty years after Joseph’s death. Joe had no say in its removal, which was a political/economic ploy.
Supreme Court justices Scalia and Alito are hobnobbing with some of the worst of the rightwing dunderheads. They are doing so in order to earn some cash by speechifying. They are breaching all kinds of ethical codes.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/11/justice-antonin-scalia-federalist-society-supreme-court
Oh, Cait, don’t worry if you can’t get to email today or particularly soon. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well! :) *hugs*
[Ow! head-desk way too energetically] Right Wing Watch link.
According to the right-wingers, Obama should not be making any moves to, you know, govern before “sacred” holidays. Insult to Gog an christians, I guess. I don’t know. This is hard to parse.
Right Wing Watch link.
Glenn Beck has been talking about net neutrality for several days now. Don’t ask me to explain this.
Link.
rq @147, that is just freaking awesome! The Duggars asked, and they received.
What the Duggars are doing ain’t kissing, that’s trying to poke a hole in your partner’s cheek with your nose.
Caitie
Yay for moving further to the lighter side. Though they keep telling me that the dark side still has all the cookies…
Giliell
I think ‘chaste’ is the word you’re looking for. :D
Ha! Aliens! It had to happen sooner or later.
‘rupt again, *hugs* for CaitieCat and anyone else who wants them.
Lynna
Honestly the thing that first strikes me when I read transcripts of right-wing commentators isn’t the bigotry, it isn’t the dumbass policy positions, it’s not the gleeful ignorance. The thing that first strikes me is that not a one of them appears to be able to reliably form a coherent sentence.
Question:
When discussing civil rights, when is it proper to capitalize the phrase? Is it only when referring to the Civil Rights Movement?
(I feel really stupid asking that question, but I was writing a post about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and used the phrase ‘civil rights leaders’ and couldn’t remember if it was proper to capitalize ‘civil rights’ in that context)
Tony
I really don’t know, but I think it’s okay to not capitalize if you’re using the phrase ‘civil rights leader’. That looks more correct than ‘Civil Rights leader’. [/opinion]
Hugs for all!
Success the first: I succeeded in my quest to microwave poach an egg, or at least got closer enough for edible results. It still needs some fine-tuning, but nothing blew up.
Success the Second: I drove the Elder Daughter and myself, on the freeways (eeek!), to the art museum in Santa Ana, and home again on the freeways (eeek!) with a detour for takeout lunch at the very crowded local shopping center.
Things are going well. Maybe too well. *looks around furtively for hovering shoes* Perhaps I should hide in a corner for the rest of the day, just to be safe.
Go Anne! (Within the speed limit, that is.) :)
Thanks, rq. And I am a cowardly driver – I always drive within the speed limit, much to the ire of some other drivers.
CaitieCat, it’s very very excellent to read you’re doing better.
Well I know that much….
Right, but it seems like the line matching that description is drawn in the wrong place (too high) based on my experiences, so I’m wondering about factors that would make my actual intoxication level diverge from what calculators would predict.
a bit rupt.
Hekuni Cat:
I have barely dented the popcorn. Want some? : )
dianne:
I’m sorry you are on the front lines with so many people battling our awful system. I’m glad that you are there, though, doing what you can to help people and doing so admirably. I really do admire you.
Cait:
I’m really glad that you feel a smidge better, and hooray for a device that lets you watch shows in a comfortable position!
Anne @162
I once blew up a mug doing that, broke it in half :D But it’s nommy if you get it just right. I like poached eggs.
Azkyroth:
A big one is tolerance, I think. I have heard a lot of reasons from defendants as to why they weren’t impaired in spite of a high BAC, but body weight isn’t one I’ve come across. And defense attorneys are creative ^_^ That is to say, I haven’t researched the subject exhaustively, but I haven’t heard that.
But wait, I just realized that you were saying basically that you feel more drunk than your BAC prediction. Well, diabetes is one thing that would mimic the effects of alcohol intoxication and be exacerbated by alcohol. I’m not a medical expert by any means though.
Also random *supportivegestures* for the apparent incidence of being reminded of unhappy feelings.
–
Azkyroth
Personally, I suspect that the lines are simply drawn in the wrong place and impairment sets in earlier than they show; there is unfortunately a whole lot of cultural baggage associated with both driving and alcohol that throw judgments on these kinds of things. Basically, no one wants to hear that no, you really can’t drink and then safely drive, pretty much at all, and our infrastructure is so fucking car-centric that actually enforcing that would be functionally impossible.
Tony:
When it’s a proper noun, like the name of a movement, that’s a reason to capitalize it. You’re talking about a specific and unique sort of thing, like you’re talking about an individual person, but it’s a name for a specific group or institution or even something like a specific place/time. Or a cardinal direction, now that I think about it… Or it could be a lot of other odds and ends here and there, presumably because no one ever checked whether our rules made any sense before we started inventing them. :) It’s hard to say anything very general.
Anyway, if you’re talking about the rights themselves or something related to them, just as general sorts of nouns that are floating out there and referring to a large class of things, that usually isn’t capitalized. I can use the word “cats,” for example, and I don’t mean something like the Platonic ideal of Catness itself, the essence of what it is to be a cat apart from any of its particular instances, which is supposed to be some kind of unique and specific thing. But if I were doing something like that, then really naming this bizarre thing or even personifying it (not just nouning it with a run-of-the-mill noun-type word) would be a move that I could make which could be expressed with capitalization. Or if I wasn’t necessarily carrying all of that baggage, but I wanted to make it seem extra-super-special and important, then maybe I’d go with “Cats” with a capital C anyway, just for emphasis. But that’s also not Cats, the musical.
Here at Casa la Pelirroja, we take a bowl (salad bowl I think, about 6″ diameter with a round curved bottom), lightly grease it, add the egg (extra large), puncture it (or else kablewie), and nuke it for 40 seconds. Adjust for egg size as needed, or hit it with a series of 10 second bursts until done. That is the “poached egg” I use in the “faux”, which is a pseudo eggs benedict for the Redhead. Her recipe, not mine.
Thanks, Nerd, I’ll make a note of your method. I do poke the yolks, with a knife even, but sometimes they go boom anyway. I used a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup this time; it worked better than the ramekin. I like poached eggs, and I will not be deterred from my quest.
So today Mum puts a bread roll in the microwave to warm up, but does it for three minutes instead of thirty seconds. I find out about this when I look up to see (and smell) the lounge, kitchen and dining room full of smoke, and hear the smoke detector shrieking. Several hours later, after having extraction fans on and all the windows and doors open, the place still stinks of burnt bread. Background: Mum’s 82, and no, she doesn’t have dementia, but she did have a mini-stroke a couple of years ago. Her short-term memory is … gah. Part of it is jut not paying attention, I suspect, because my memory’s nowhere near as good as it was, either, and I know I should concentrate more! But damn, I feel trapped sometimes; no more going away, I wouldn’t feel safe leaving her. I don’t know if she feels equally trapped, or at all; being at home has always been her ideal. I doubt I’d qualify for any carer respite, even if the very idea of a stranger coming in didn’t appal Mum completely (it doesn’t thrill me, either).
I want to get an adult-sized one of these for use in the Lounge (the coccoon one, not the stroller mitts). For to sit under the table in the corner within.
2kittehs
At 82, it’s probably easy to type in that extra 0 that turns 30 seconds into 3 minutes, which… does not increase any feelings of security. :( *hugs* and I hope the house airs out sooner rather than later, the smell of burnt sucks. :P
*Hugs back* It is very easy, rq. Last night it was “Why is this tuna mornay dried out?” Um, not, that’s not dried out, that’s still frozen. Last night’s missing zero obviously migrated to today.
I read that as “the smell of burnt socks” and I can only say I’m grateful it wasn’t that!
2kittehs
Ew, burnt socks. :P I’d rather not experience that, as well!
I’ll keep an eye out for the wayward zeros, and hopefully they’ll settle into their proper places for your mother, too!
microwaves
Don’t leave them unattended.
Speaking from [popcorn] experience.
*hugs as needed*
*Hugs happily accepted*
I’ve got a list up of how long to cook things, and whether they’re microwave/oven. I just hope she reads it (it’s on top of the microwave). The Burnt Bread was bad enough, I really don’t want a repeat of the foil-in-microwave incident.
2kittehs
I suspect she knows how long to cook things
but those numbers on the display are not always easy to understand.
I once tried to cook uncovered onions in the nuker.
*sparks* everywhere!!
onions now go between two plates
Onions cause sparks?
Now I’m sad I don’t have a microwave.
Sparking onions? Eeeek!
She actually said she thought it takes three minutes to heat the bread. She heats it for her lunch every day, so either she wasn’t thinking, had a brain fart, or was making the first excuse (given that I had reacted WHAT THE FUCK? to what looked like the house being on fire).
Good morning
Short: AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH
No inter-library loan of e-books
*head->desk->wall*
Fortunately one of those I definitely need was only 4.50 on Amazon, but I cannot spend 60 bucks on ebooks on pure chance that I could use one
2kitehs
Ehm, that could have been me. I need to make a grain bag for my hot pack shoulder dragon because I’d forgotten to turn the microwave to medium instead of full power.
rq
What’s the use of snogging if you’re doing it chaste?
alcohol
Yep, being used to it is a major factor. I remember that in Cuba I could drink half a bottle of rum and still get up in the morning, while after pregnancy and half a year of breastfeeding I got drowsy on three liquor filled cocolates (Mon Cherie, if you know them). Right now I drink very little alcohol, one glass of wine, or one glass of whisk(e)y, rarely wine with dinner and whisk(e)y afterwards, and only at the weekend, so I get pretty intoxicated pretty easily.
In Germany this is also used to decide whether you may have made a mistake once or whether you have a severe problem with alcohol: If you can still walk and talk at a level where the occasional drinker would already fall over, you can kiss your driving license goodbye for a looooong time.
I’ve not posted for a while, but I have been following the lounge……makes me sound like some sort of stalker. Hmmm
It’s been a combination of annoyance at work (Good old British understatement); illness at home; child waking in the night and stuff. So still feeling a little down.
Anyway, I thought I’d pop in and say hi. Primarily to express my pleasure at CatieCat feeling somewhat better. I don’t know why, but it makes me inordinately happy to hear that you’re feeling better than you were. I sincerely hope that the improvement continues.
I have a general question, but one that I would really appreciate a reply from any trans people to (I don’t like that sentence, but can’t think of any other way of putting it). As most of you know, there’s a tradition on British pantomime of men dressing as women to be the ‘dame’. In full disclosure: I have dressed as a dame for our orchestra kid’s concert. Is this tradition a harmless anachronism or is it insulting to trans folk? I don’t know where it stands in comparison with drag queens etc and I don’t know whether it’s mitigated by the fact that the principal boy is a woman dressed as a man. It’s something I’ve been thinking about and I would appreciate other folk’s views.
(crossposted)
Mano Singham: “Democrats are free at last! (To sell out their supporters)” http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2014/11/13/democrats-are-free-at-last-to-sell-out-their-supporters/
Obama is said to actually feel relieved by the Democrats losing the majority.
Now, without that pesky majority the Democrats can make deals with the Republicans without caring about what their voters think. When called out, they can blame everything on the Republicans.
2kittehs – depending on what you qualify for, there might be an elder day care in your area that your mom could go to. I don’t know if it would suit her personality, but a friend of mine has had each of her parents (at separate times of their lives) do that, and for them it was really good. It got my friend a few hours alone a week, and got the parent out doing something interesting and meeting other people their age. I know they didn’t have any money besides Social Security and army pension, so it must have been Medicare-paid.
Hi all. Another 5 year+ lurker here, coming out of hiding to point you to the facebook page of ‘Biblical Creation’. Despite the assertion of the guy behind this, he DOES block people who disagree with him, even if they remain civil. The guy’s been posting the usual crap for quite some time now. I myself was blocked in the midst of a discussion with some christian followers of him – just at the point where I got them to doubt.
Anyway, he’s just posted a familiar video of a P.Z. Myers, who is stumped when confronted with some basic questions about evilution.
If you have a minute to spare, and point out (in a civil way) that his posts are very untrue, you will probably be blocked – but the guy behind this bullshit page would have to quit his dayjob to block all except the few willfully blind who keep believing his every word :-)
https://www.facebook.com/1mill.creationist
2kittehs @172
I’m so sorry you feel trapped. It’s really too bad that you don’t feel free to leave her alone anymore, for both of you. *hugs*
Hello, halmatrix, welcome to the Lounge.
PZ Myers, stumped…sounds about right ^_^
I think I’m getting a headache from repeatedly slamming my head into the desk because that is less painful than dealing with what is happening.
Yes, I’m kind of despairing on my literature research. First I couldn’t get the e-books, now I wanted to loan some dead tree versions via inter library loan, but for the love of dog I couldn’t find the button that said “loan”. I read the tutorial. Twice. And then again. After 30 minutes it hit me: Our intra-library system works like this: you search the catalogue, you choose a book, you click loan and then you enter your user number and password. For the intra-library loan you can browse the catalogue, choose a book, but the “loan” button will only appear if you logged in on your home library home screen first. But nobody will tell you. There is no “log in” on the intra-library page. There is no hint “if you want to order a book you need to be logged in first”. There is no fucking hint in the godsdamn tutorial.
I just can’t
General hugs to all, with extras as needed. Too sleepy to get specific, but I do care.
Innovations in capturing starlight (in IR) will help astrophysicists detect planets http://phys.org/news/2014-11-capturing-starlight-astrophysicists-planets.html
Avoiding modal noise in optical fibers.
“No one has done that until now,” Crepp said. “One of the biggest noise sources for finding planets has been eliminated entirely. When you do that, you can find smaller planets like terrestrial worlds located in the habitable zone.”
— — — —
Leonid meteor shower best views before dawn November 17, 2014 http://phys.org/news/2014-11-leonid-meteor-shower-views-dawn.html
— — — —
New way to move atomically thin semiconductors for use in flexible devices http://phys.org/news/2014-11-atomically-thin-semiconductors-flexible-devices.html
Can we use a thin solar sail as substrate for a computer? In that case, we could blow a space probe to Alpha Centauri with a laser…
— — — —
The Onion: China Vows To Begin Aggressively Falsifying Air Pollution Numbers http://www.theonion.com/articles/china-vows-to-begin-aggressively-falsifying-air-po,37429/
The Walton heirs have more money than 79 % of Black Americans put together. Recently, however, they’ve promised to pay Wal*Mart employees more than the federal minimum of 7.25 $/h. Petition to them to pay 15 $/h from right now onwards.
Hear, hear.
“Bei unerwünschten Wirkungen und Nebenwirkungen fressen Sie die Packungsbeilage und erschlagen Sie Arzt und Apotheker.”
:-) :-) :-)
The conference was very interesting and very exhausting as always! :-)
Yeah, and then only in theory. Before 1924 most of them weren’t considered citizens.
Exactly.
You know, this is fascinating. It’s nothing but amusing anymore at this point. :-)
Facesnuggles?
2kittehs
Is there any way you could start having caregiver visits while you’re at home? That way you and your mum could find one that you can trust her to be alone with? You want to take care of yourself too.
Also re microwaves, my personal worst was trying to microwave popcorn in a Pyrex container and melting the Pyrex.
David Marjanović
Thanks for the link to the GOPlifer article. That cheered me up. If a Texas Republican thinks his party is in deep trouble after this election, I feel a little better.
* ** **** ** *
Can I whine about having my jaw wired shut? It makes yawning and sneezing dreadful.
Yeah, publishers make it next to impossible for libraries to do just about anything with e-books. It’s maddening.
Wilbefort
Whine away, it’ll keep me from whining. :)
Hugs, Wilberfort and rq. You can both whine if you want to. I have decreed it so.
I did the grocery and drugstore shopping, and while I was at the drugstore, I decided to check their cookies on the off chance they’d have the ones Aged Mum wanted. The special fiber cookies in chocolate chip I found at a grocery store far away. Of course that’s the kind she wants, not the oatmeal raisin ones that the nearby grocery store stocks. The drugstore had the kind she wanted. I got two boxes. Which of course means she won’t want them anymore, but that’s just too bad. *raspberries*
As soon as I catch my breath from all the dashing about, I’m going to have another go at the watercolor class. So there, life.
Hey all. Sorry I’m completely rupticated.
Good wishes to all.
Wilbefort, if ever a person had good reason to vent online by typing, I’d think having your jaw wired shut (which presumably makes it a tad difficult to vent aloud) is one of ’em. Please do, and I hope it makes you feel a fraction better.
Were you able to get hold of any high-calorie drinks?
(you melted pyrex!?! I thought that was un-possible)
Kirk Cameron knows how to save Christmas. Women are responsible.
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/kirk-cameron-urges-women-to-save-christmas-by-cooking-decorating-singing-141250143.html
opposablethumbs
I thought it was unpossible too! and it was the old, real Pyrex, not the new stuff. And in the microwave!
For high-calorie drinks, I’m making do by using lots of milk, (pasteurized) eggs, nuts, peanut butter, cheese, and vegetable oil. The Soylent looked really interesting, and I was about to send an order, when I read in the fine print that new orders take 2 to 4 months to deliver. O.o
I am lucky, I guess, that one of my front teeth is missing. My two front teeth are artificial, since a childhood escapade, and one came out in the assault, so now I have a tooth-sized gap right in the front that I can point the straw at when I’m drinking.
But man I want to open my mouth and brush ALL THE TEETH so badly….
Weird definition of “success”.
FSM but I sympathise with that. How long do you have to go (I apologise if you said earlier) – I’m guessing it’s of the order of weeks?
Do you think unsweetened mint tea / infusion of mint leaves would help make your mouth feel a little refreshed? Or even a mouthful of water with a dab of toothpaste dissolved in it!
Wilbefort,
I’m so so sorry. That must be horrible for you.
Oh yeah, I guess having your jaw wired shut must be bad too.
(tasteless? too soon?)
rq
I’m rinsing with mouthwash and I went out and bought a Waterpik. It works well on the outside, and the surgeon said it’s keeping my teeth clean. It just doesn’t feel like enough. >.>
November 25th will be 6 weeks with the wires. It’s a broken jaw, so standard broken bone healing times apply I guess. I was told 6-8 weeks, and I really hope they come out at 6 weeks.
Lol Beatrice but I like milk. I really really like milk. Which is good since I’m drinking a few gallons every week now.
* ** **** ** *
Hah! someone bought my stolen phone! He called me because it was locked and showing my number, but wouldn’t leave his name. I gave his number to the police, and they’re going to try to get the name of whoever he bought it from, and get the phone back to me. I kinda feel sorry for the guy but I hope they catch whoever sold it to him.
Continuing the happy news, I just did the official part of starting my other two new blogs. One will be for gaming (The Expansion Board), and the other specifically for my Football Manager writing (The Gaffer’s a Bird!). Neither has any writing or customization yet, I’ve got to do the graphics later for both, and I’m hoping to start writing on each by Monday.
I AM SPARTAKEESIAN!
So, buy a stolen phone and then use it to call the person it was stolen from?
huh
Wilbefort
Hoping for 6 weeks for you.
All that milk is probably helping to calcify your jaw :)
Anne
Thanks for the offer, but I’m just going to go on about death in the family and the godsdamned heating system in this house, which is no talk for a Friday night. I’ll stick to tea, cookies, and being morose from the shadows.
Here’s some straws, Wilbefort, and a toothpaste sludge to refresh your teeth. How long until your jaw is once again released?
Crap, borked both links. Let’s try again.
The Expansion Board
The Gaffer’s a Bird!
The explanation for the names is a) the Expansion Board is an adjunct to Craig’s The Gamers’ Table, and b) the “gaffer” in football is the team manager/head coach, and in the vernacular, I’m a bird. A few years ago FM started allowing players to be women in-game – it makes almost no difference at all, except that every time I start a job with a club, I get questions about whether I think sexism will be a problem, and the pronouns are right (mostly; there are a couple of spots with errors). But it sure made me feel a lot more welcome in the game.
rq, it won’t bother me – I’ve whined about my family here often enough. You can always hide out in the pillow fort and make faces at the people who annoy you.
Ugh, sorry, Wilbefort, I did not refresh so you answered my questions already. :) Ugh, 6 weeks. Here’s hoping all that milk will have done a fine job of setting it where it should be, and the wires can come out!
Yay, Cait! Or should I just go ahead and call you Spartakeesian from now on? :)
Anne
Just don’t worry if I rumple a few sheets or pull a few feathers while I’m at it. :)
Yay for CaitieCat and your new awesome blogs! Not that I know anything about either subject, but congratulations anyway!
Can I also whine for a moment?
I’m going to be out of town next week to hold classes for clients. That’s 8 hours per day plus preparation. I also have a whole list of regular tasks I have to finish, to entertain me afterwards.
I’m not happy.
Yes, USalian Thanksgiving is the 27th. I reallyreallyreally want those wires OUT on the 25th.
Beatrice
Is your compensation commensurate?
CatieCat
Congratulations on the blogs! I’m still determined that one day I will take part in a desktop RPG, so I may check out that blog.
* ** **** ** *
rq
I have found a large supply of pillows that are stuffed with hugs, perfect for building fortresses. You may have as many as you need. More than you need, even, take as many as you want.
Wilbefort
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a pre-turkey day recovery for you.
Wilbefort,
I get daily allowance when I’m on a trip and since I don’t spend much, I can save up quite a bit. But I doubt I will be compensated for all the overtime. Besides, I don’t want to be compensated, I want to rest.
Spending 8+ hours talking and talking and talking is exhausting enough.
Beatrice
Is it the full week? :( I hope you get a slightly less packed schedule for a couple weeks afterwards! (I know, I know…)
+++
I’m sad. Philae just landed on the comet, and chances are that it will go to sleep forever in a short while. Because it bounced twice (so landed three times), it is in suboptimal sunlight and cannot get enough solar energy to keep itself powered. Also, chances of it powering back up later, when the comet is closer to the sun, are very low. It feels so bittersweet – not to take away from the accomplishment in the first place, but the lost opportunities for new data…
Kind of like this, via Ophelia Benson’s retweet.
Beatrice,
Because of reasons, I’ll be spending the next three weeks with clients. Because of similar reasons, I’m afraid the additional workload will be more or less constant.
Beatrice
Wow that sounds really stressful. I hope you get the overtime pay and that you get some time off after. Is this something they want you to do often?
I like to remind myself about these things, too. And that sucks. Any chance of a vacation soon?
I’m sorry, Wilbefort, I just had to giggle about the overtime pay. I don’t know about Croatia, but it’s definitely not a thing over here.
I actually got overtime pay – twice in a year. No false modesty, it was really deserved. Especially that second time… I think everything in the next decade or so is going to be compared to that job with “compared to…., this was a walk in the park” or “well, compared to…. , (s)he’s not all that difficult” and the all-time favorite “if I haven’t started smoking (again)* in….., I never will”.
Things should slow down a bit around Christmas. When clients take days off so can we (if not days off, then at least working at a slower pace).
But then again, I don’t even write in all the hours I actually work. I know that I won’t get overtime every month, so I just enter 40 hours per week.
*depending on whether it’s me or a colleague talking
2kittehs, Wilbefort, Beatrice, Giliell
*hugs* and sympathies for your assorted travails.
Venting:
Drama Llama texting me. But I will be the Drama Llama Ding Dong, because I am just that lonely.
I was listening to WBEZ on my way home, and I think it was All Things Considered on, and there was a segment on on-line harassment. First person mentioned was Rebecca Watson. Then they mentioned the gamergate harassment. By then I was home.
Horde, I need some techno advice. I have a tablet that I got for free from Verizon. It runs Android. It ain’t great, but I use it as an e-reader and for various other simple ‘net surfing things. Well, the beast is faltering and obviously not worth trying to fix. So what do y’all recommend. The only function I REALLY need is the Kindle app, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna spend huge bucks for a dedicated kindle. That said, I’m truly ignorant of what is out there is what makes one better than the other. And I am the epitome of cheap. Not gonna spend a lot of money. Any advice?
The best buys from a consumer magazine were (cheap) EVGA Tegra Note 7, Step up Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Apple iPad Air, and expensive Samsung Galaxy Note Pro12.2.
Nerd #227, thanks for the heads-up. Here’s the NPR segment:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/11/14/363837837/victims-of-online-threats-say-perpetrators-arent-being-caught
Thanks for the suggestions and hugs, everyone!
Morgan
This $60 FastTouch tablet at Amazon looks like the most highly rated tablet under $100. The biggest drawback appears to be a very low amount of installed memory, 4 GB, and it’s a fairly small tablet at 7″. It should be good for reading books with the Kindle app, and it is expandable with micro SD cards if you need more room. It’s about half the cost of a name brand, and it’s very highly ranked for a low-priced off brand, but that could be because there’s a really low number of reviews.
For myself I would probably spend a little more (~$100) and get a name brand. There’s a refurbished Acer here that looks much nicer. You get a much better tablet with 16GB of memory for a little more. It has a larger clearer screen, and you get better components all around in a name brand.
Also, (sorry Nerd) The EVGA Tegra Note 7 has many poor reviews at Amazon, with complaints about the USB port breaking so it can no longer be charged.
Apple sells refurbished iPads starting at around $250. iPads really do set the standard, and Apple gear is amazing quality.
Crap. Sometime ago (I want to say yesterday but I know that’s waay wrong) there was a comment about not being shocked about liberal men being sexist because they just use women’s sexuality for their own pleasures still.
It was worded way better than than and I’m sure there was an example of such. However, I can’t remember it or what thread it could be on. I’m writing a review with a character than fits that description perfectly and was hoping to find it and quote. Or at least find inspiration from it and make my own example. Right now my brain is stuck on trying to remember the comment’s example. Like having part of a song stuck in your head but clueless as to what it is and where it came from.
If someone could remember or perhaps point me to likely threads I can search through, I’d appreciate it.
*hugs*
beatrice
I hope you DO get a nice christmas break
++++
Lynna @199
You didn’t even quote the worst about the Cameron piece. His description of the “joy” you show is, of course, the picture perfect version of the decoration and the baking and the cooking. Who cares if the woman actually enjoys those things. Nonono, you gotta do them and you gotta show your joy, damn you, woman!
+++
Ahhh, reverse psychology
#1 had another fit of “I don’t do my homework, I won’t do my homework, you can’t make me do my homework, I know this stuff anyway, you’re mean!!!!”
She basically ruined everybody’s Saturday since I wanted to do college stuff and Mr. wanted to take them to an indoor playground, but no way like this.
After 4 hours of of literal kicking and screaming I took away her stuff and told her she was no longer allowed to do it and I would write her teacher a letter explaining it. At which point she begged me to return the workbook and the the shit within 10 minutes.
*sigh*
Just wanted to remind people of JAL’s need for some emergency funds. We’re coming down to the wire, and we’re about $90 short of our goal. Every little bit counts.
‘Rupt, but I wanted to share today’s What The Fuck?!
Dallas area teacher fired over Ferguson tweets
No idea what the remarks were (the article doesn’t give specifics).
But compare that to:
High school teacher back in classroom despite reportedly saying she would kill all black people if she had 10 days to live.
Oh, FFS, some conservative peeps in Maryland will do anything to avoid mentioning a Muslim religious holiday:
Here’s the most frustrating part: students in public schools will get the major holidays off, as will personnel working in all other state agencies. So, in essence, Christmas and Yom Kippur are still school holidays, just not named. And the dreaded Eid al-Adha is not a holiday, and is not named.
Everybody is mad. Muslims, Jews, Christians and Bill O’Reilly: O’Reilly said the calendar changes are the “first salvo this season in the ongoing war on Christmas. They just wiped out all our traditions because [of] these people.”
Washington Post link.
More on Maryland banning the mention of religious holidays to avoid mentioning Muslim religious holidays.
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/md-bans-religious-holidays-on-school-calendar-357155907529
azhael:
I got quite a chuckle out of another dimension filled with breast milk.
Hi, I have not been able to read the posts for a while, sorry about that, and kind thoughts to all who need them and hopes for a better tomorrow.
I was taking part in an online discussion about men harassing women on the street, and thought of you all when the ol’ “oh, how horrible to be a man in today’s society!” folks rolled in. Of course, they never explain what is so horrible about treating other people with respect. So far as I know, treating other people with respect will not stop you from buying a house, getting a driver’s license or a bank loan or stop you from being hired for a job. I can not for the life of me see what the horrible bad consequences of being polite to strangers could possibly be.
The other thing they kept doing was changing the scenario; we have a man being aggressive and disrespectful to a woman in public, and they kept changing it to a man smiling and being very friendly. Why not just throw in some puppies if you are going to make shit up? Gaaah…
Sorry, rant over. Thank you for being a sane group of people that one can talk to. Best wishes to Wilbefort for having all the hardware come off soon, that is awful.
Tony, if Dungeons & Dragons is an accurate representation of reality, and it obviously is, then there is an excellent chance that the Dairy Plane is out there, trying to leak into our plane through a nipple rift.
kestrel @241:
Didn’t you hear?
It’s tough being a man these days because we get, like, criticized and stuff.
It’s. SO. Hard.
On his “Last Word” show, Lawrence O’Donnell hosted a segment discussing the mormon church’s recent “more transparency” essays. Interesting discussion.
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/nyt-mormon-founder-had-up-to-40-wives-357695043847?CID=sm_FB
And here is the New York Times article by Laurie Goldstein that was featured during the discussion: Link.
Excerpt:
Another excerpt from the NY Times article:
Thanks Nerd and Wilbefort for the tablet advice. The damn things are tooooooooo expensive but the free ones aren’t worth what you pay for them. I’ll continue with this one until it completely gives up the ghost then hope someone takes pity on me and gets me a nice Xmas present. We shall see.
Why is it that I have huge trouble logging on in the Lounge? Anyone else have this problem?
Wilbefort
Rather, they refuse to conform to the standard, which is one reason I refuse to buy, own, or use iproducts of any sort. When they start using standard microUSB connectors and microSD card slots, then we can discuss their ahderence to standards, but not before.
JAL #234
I saw the post you’re referring to, I want to say it’s in the shirt thread but I couldn’t find it with a quick search there.
Tony! @243: NO! Say it ain’t so…
ROFLMAO :-D Thanks for the smile!
Morgan!? @246: no trouble here… sorry, can’t help. Maybe a temporary thing? One hopes?
It’s just that Apple hasn’t told their customers they want standards-compliant products yet.
Wow. JUst had the biggest emotionalist breakdown wiht Husband re: recent family deaths (incl my father and I can complaing butI”m grateufl for him and everything.) and our general lives right now which seem to have spent the last month in constant emotional turmoil for one reason ro another.
Also, previous, had an encounter in the grpcenry store line: Someone’s daughter was reading a headline about the foreign minister who just came out “Proud to be gay” and daughter was going on about this and then commented ‘if I was gay a I wouldn’t be proud’ and her mother says “Well if you were like that [ gay] may be you would be proud” so daughter kind of shuts up, and I couldn’t say nothing so I said ‘thank you, I have some gay friends, and it means a lot that you would respond that way’ and Woman in line just said ‘well, if they’re born that way, what are they to do?” and I could barely hold back the tears because it’s not often such an openly not-anti-gay attitude is expressed.
Sorry, I’m kind of all over the place emotionally right now, just wanted to share. Tpyos all mine.
And yeah. I’ll get myself together one day soon. Right now, I guess just some sleep can help me. Will update on Ferguson come tomorrow morning.
rq:
I’m sorry for the emotional turmoil you’re in. I wish I could offer more than e-hugs. Take all the time you need to get in whatever condition you feel necessary. We’ll all be sitting here supporting and loving you.
rq, sorry about your boiling emotions. Please do take care of yourself. There are lots of comfy hidey places stocked with multiple hugs for you here in the Lounge. We care about you deeply.
rq
Take care of yourself.
rq, I’m not surprised that you’re in an emotional whirl, you’re dealing with a lot. Take care of yourself, too. *hugs*
[voice of Frasier Crane]
rq, we’re listening.
[/voice]
rq
*hugs*
So, question.
Online sources suggest cost of owning a cat is typically in the $300-600 range per year, assuming no unusual health problems or obsessive spoiling.
That sound right?
One of those days. I’ve been asking the Redhead since about 10 AM what she wanted for breakfast/brunch, and when. No response. Now I’m talking about dinner and when, and still getting *that look*.
*sigh*
Hugs, if wanted, to rq and Nerd.
Azykroth, yes, that lower figure for costs of owning a cat sounds about right to me in my area. I’m able to buy both food and clumping-type litter in bulk at the ranch store nearby. There is a local low-cost spay/neuter program so we were able to get the cat “fixed” (cat may not have seen it that way) for a very low fee – $25.00 if memory serves here. You can buy and give your own shots if you feel capable. I am accustomed to doing a lot of vet work for the livestock so giving a shot or two to a cat does not seem like any big deal to me but you might feel differently. In my area the cat is safest if always kept inside (coyotes, dogs, cars etc.) so we’ve never had to have stitches due to fighting or whatnot.
The shelter in question offers pre-fixed/shotted/microchipped cats, so that’s out of the way. I’m hoping to get a mellower-than-median cat, so self-shotting might be viable. It’d definitely be an indoor cat.
I’d been assuming ~$100-150 a month; $3-600 a year wouldn’t be too bad acshully. Particularly if I can still parlay a basic homebrew setup out of Christmas presents and knock my “maintenance beer” costs down.
rq
I have some hugs here if you need them.
I’m sure someone here is a Gerry Anderson fan, and perhaps by extension a Barry Gray fan. Here’s an excerpt from the recording session for the theme to UFO, in which they run through the tune several times, and you get to hear Gray’s voice. Even if you aren’t it’s a nice toetapper of a tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23I8sD4WMqY
rq
*hugs*
Azkyroth
The expense they don’t tell you about is the temptation to buy (moar stuffs for kitty!) every time you peruse the cat aisle. Maybe that’s just me….
But really, I buy pretty expensive food and expensive “natural” litter (because breathing the clay stuff when I clean it really bothers me), and I still come in under $100 a month for two cats, not including all the toys and beds and scratching stuff I sometimes splurge on.
Speaking of cats, I may have found a possible reason for Kayta’s weight loss. She won’t eat hard food anymore. She only eats moist food (but she eats the hell out of it, so she still has an appetite). I guess maybe it’s easier on her teeth (she is almost 15).
Come to think of it, that may be why Cassie has *gained* weight. If Kayta wasn’t eating as much food, yet her bowl was going empty, then Cassie was eating for two! For years, I would feed them at the same time, with the same food. I’ve taken to separating them and feeding Cassie dry food, and Kayta the moist stuff. I hope this puts some weight back on my tabby kitty (and takes some off the chubby one).
Oh and now she’s giving me this look that says “You’re going to feed me some of that warm pound cake with lemon sorbet, right?”
Tony!
I hope Kayta starts gaining back some weight with the moist food! Teeth problems suck :(
I would offer hugs to you cats, but I know how most cats feel about hugs ;)
rq;
Take your time, take care of yourself, and remember we love you.
*hugs*
–
I busted my butt at fire training today. 9 hours at the burn tower, breaking doors and throwing ladders and hauling hoses and “rescuing” dummies. Then tonight was the fire dinner. Annual dinner where the Chief does a little talk and people get recognition, etc. I’ve been on the department for 6+ years. This makes the second year in a row I didn’t get my five-year recognition pin. I feel petty but petulant about it. Also a yearly tradition is the video. This year it included a clip of the chief saying ‘We really value the diversity on our fire department. We don’t just need the strapping young lad to join us, we need the young lady, too. Maybe she won’t be the one breaking down the doors, but we need that diversity and that brings a lot to the department.” I think you can guess where this went off the rails for me…especially when every muscle in my body is screaming from the exertion I put in today, all to be better able to actually contribute and help and work. But. No. I’ll always be the “young lady” who is relegated to bringing the men their water or whatthefuckever. *rageflail*
*Portia collapses into bed*
Goodnight all. I’ll be cheerier tomorrow. Thanks for being a place I can vent about the stupid world we’ve got ourselves here.
Finally got the Redhead fed (planned over steak, mac & cheese, green beans) and night meds taken. Now to bed.
*saturation-hugging the Loungers*
–
Seasonally appropriate cartoon
I so want to paint some plywood zombie additions for the local McDonalds’ manger displays….
–
Anne, I’m sorry that my D&D talk brought back unfond memories for you.
:(
Are there crafts stores or some such near you, that perhaps have cheap arts-and-crafts-related classes that you might attend?
–
Yellow Thursday, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of having a psionic character…but found the AD&D supplemental rules cumbersome; plus, there was so little perceived need for it, what with magic
hoggingfilling the niche to overflowing.–
Belated Hello! and well-wishing for ButchKitties.
–
*hugs* and encouragement and moral support for toska; I’m sorry your workplace sucks.
–
Tony!:
I don’t like it, either.
–
Azkyroth:
*doffing hat*
I am sorry for your loss.
*presenting large floral display*
Delighted that they failed in their attack, however.
–
chigau:
I’d watch that.
Also, *pouncehug*.
:)
–
Saad:
Indeed.
–
dianne, that’s terrible.
*hugs* and sympathy and solidarity.
–
cicely
*hugs returned*
Portia @267:
Yeah, as I was reading, my eyes did the O.o thing right where the chief mentioned “the young lady not breaking down doors”. Here you are busting your ass and proving your worth as a firefighter and here he is saying “she’s not a guy, but we need her”.
Sorry for the douchespeak. And sorry you didn’t get your recognition pin (again).
I hope your sleep is restful and relaxing.
****
toska @266:
Actually, Kayta seems to like hugs. I took a few pictures of she and I hugging which I shall never post anywhere bc I look like crap in them (she looks adorable though).
Portia
I’m sorry about the sexist crap and not getting your 5 year pin. It sounds like you deserve more appreciation, for sure. Because you’re awesome. Try to enjoy resting after all of that work though! :)
cicely
*hugs* to you as well.
Tony!
I have one cat who loves hugs and cuddles, and one who always thinks “Oh gawds, is this over yet?” They’re certainly individuals.
Giliell, our group’s game night was last night, as well! And just this evening I shot an inquiry to the DM, asking how 5th edition D&D deals with the “held or sleeping creatures/characters” problem, in the context of dead-of-the-night throat-slitting. “Diplomacy of a wild boar that stepped into a nest of ground wasps” is the very least of this one barbarian/berserker character’s incitements-to-party-assisted-suicide; he also does things like yank open doors as my character is checking them for traps, shouting while the party is attempting Stealth, and bandying about the Name of the chaotic evil deity whose machinations we are currently attempting to foil.
I really don’t see that I have any choice but to shank him in his sleep; he has twice my character’s hit points.
–
numerobis:
*raised eyebrow*
Insufficiently politically and socially conservative, or insufficiently liturgy-specificly conservative, or both? I know there are Traditionalist Catholic Churches that are conservative to various degrees. And that Mel Gibson was in some way involved with one—but it’s been a long time, and I’ve slept since then.
–
California City Bans Homeless From Sleeping Outside: If They Leave, ‘Then That’s Their Choice’
FUUUUUUU….
–
*vast heap of chocolate* for pHred. Best of luck for your proposal.
–
*targeted hug-dump* on David Marjanović.
With *chocolate*.
And *sprinkles*.
:)
That…is indeed one legendarily-epic link dump. Or 3.
(Later)
And there are people who still don’t think that they are citizens…or that they should not be citizens—not while maintaining any slightest hint of self-determination or tribal identification. I met one just a couple of weeks ago…about a week before the recent elections.
–
CaitieCat, I’m glad to hear that some things, at least, are going better for you.
:)
–
Anne:
Hurrah! for Successes!
–
*pouncehugging* bassmike.
Hi!
–
Microwave-burnt popcorn….
*shudder*
I remember it as clearly as if it was a flashback….
–
*hugs* for rq, Portia and Nerd
Wilbefort, I hope you go Wireless before Thanksgiving.
:)
–
*hugs* and sympathy for Beatrice.
–
*hugs* for awakeinmo.
Drama Llamas are obviously in alliance with the Horses.
–
*hugs&tissues* for rq.
We’re here for you.
–
Tony!, I hope your cats do well on the New System.
Our Pixel-cat is having to go to meat-food, because she’s around 15, and the kibble seems to be a problem. I wish she would put on a couple of pounds; she hasn’t really bounced all the way back from when she was sick—in August-ish?
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*Hugs* for Portia. Are you the only one being passed over for the 5-year pin?
–
Caught up! Yaaaaay!
–
Tony!, has Katya had a checkup about this weight loss? At her age it could well be hyperthyroidism. Plenty of medications available for that, fortunately.
Isn’t it great that I planned my trip for the afternoon so that I could work until then? Yes, it was a brilliant plan. If only I actually managed to start working at some point this morning…
Good morning
*hugs and tissues* for rq
Remember it’s ok and healthy to feel bad about bad things
+++
cicely
In my case the problem is more with the player than the character. I love her, I do, she’s among my most favourite people, but she’s really a bad RPG player. On average I like it when characters have a bit of tension as her and my character do. Her character is the boss of the group in general, but my character is responsible for her safety, so they’re often at loggerheads.
+++
pets and costs:
For me, the biggest issue is the non-calculatable gambling of major medical bills.
Also: I present Pünktchen, the world’s only climbing rabbit. His new favourite place is on top of his hutch, under the (sloping) garage roof. Nobody knows how he gets up there, he must climb over the wood stacks. Problem is that it’s almost impossible to get him down and with people going around stealing pet rabbits we can’t just leave him for the night and wait until he gets hungry*
*So much for the horrible abuse all pets suffer according to Peta. The rabbit obviously hates having a warm, dry and safe place where food magically appears.
Adding to the large and varied delivery of Multiple Hugs (extra-warm, in this weather) for rq. I hope you are all right. With the events of the last few months, well I guess a lot of us would like to send you the best hugs we have. And also for Diane – and for Portia, for those different things that have been going on. You both work so bloody hard to try and help people who desperately need it.
I’m very glad that the Horders jointly and severally exist and do all the things you do. You’re a microcosm of a lot of what is best about – well, about human beings.
Thinking about Taylor’s apology, and about the “mainstream” mentions of online misogyny in general, I’m clinging to a slender thread of optimism.
Dalillama, Azkyroth
Ha. Time to add Apple to the Deep Rifts? I shall build a fort and throw apples at mine enemies!<
rq
I can certainly empathize with being overwhelmed. Life can get to be Too Much at times. I tend to sleep to recover myself too; I hope Husband lets you sleep in as much as you need. Hugs on offer.
Portia
Is it time to speak about the 5-year pin to someone? Someone obviously missed it last year; I would guess that once your 5-year anniversary has been missed, it's not likely to be noticed until your 10-year comes around.
Morgan
Wordpress puts up an error window with nothing in it every time I log in and nevertheless logs me in. I’m using a Google account.
Julien Blanc and assorted other cronies from RSD apparently want to give bootcamps in Amsterdam this december, as well as next year.
There’s a petition asking for the mayor of Amsterdam and the minister of justice to ban him from entering the country and/or make it impossible for him to host said bootcamps.
https://secure.avaaz.org/nl/petition/Minister_Opstelten_en_burgemeester_Van_der_Laan_Zeg_NEE_tegen_Julien_Blanc_en_RSD
Please sign.
erikschepers:
Signed.
Well, the kid gets a new rabbit tomorrow. A black doe, which is nice because it saves a trip to the vet for neutering (the buck is already neutered, but two bucks will only coexist is captivity if both of them are neutered, if they do at all)
+++
Thanks for the heads-up, eric.
Any chances of getting the location to cancel the events anyway? People seem to have a lot of success with that, be it because the locations were unaware of what is actually going on or be it because they notice that it might damage their reputation with the general public.
cicely, there used to be several small shops I could drive to and take classes, but they’ve mostly gone out of business, alas, and Michael’s doesn’t have anything that calls to me. Our local bead store got too successful, and I refuse to line up at 5AM in the vain hope I’d be able to sign up for a class when registration starts at 9AM. I do keep an eye out, but lately there hasn’t been anything. It’s a good suggestion, though.
Also, the ex left me with all flavors of emotional issues and self-doubt, but – if I hadn’t been with him, I’d never have met my Husband of 31 years.
Portia, I’m so sorry that the Chief is treating you so shabbily. You are awesome, and far too good for the likes of him. I’m sure that the actual other firefighters appreciate all you do. *hugs*
Wilbefort, I hope your jaw and choppers are released from bondage and ready for Ritual Sacrifice With Pie Day. *hugs*
Giliell, Pünktchen thinks he’s a cat?
*hugs for everyone else, whether you think you deserve them or not, because I say you do*
I haven’t had breakfast yet, but I did find my page of vintage fish images with the flying fishies, in the vision quilt class file on my online class flashdrive, just where it should be. I printed them off in several descending sizes, so I can use them on the watercolor map. I like having a nice new printer. But I should do something about breakfast before I fall over in a heap.
erikschepers
Signed. Took me a few moments to figure out that Verenigde Staten in the country list was USalia.
The führer of Turkey insults the First Nations of the Americas (and rationality), Muslims discovered America, says Turkish president: “Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims Muslim sailors reached the American continent in 1178…”.
And yes, The Grauniad also got it wrong, saying (in the above elucidated part of the quote) “exactly 314 years before Columbus”. However, that is not the point (in this case). In this case, you have a extremely odious fascist insulting everyone on the planet by denying the existence of both the First Nations and archaeological evidence.
I suggest a mustard-and-vin sauce, with a side of MUSHROOMS!, spinach, and garlic; and cheese to follow.
Rabbits also like carrots, so some stewed carrots with a touch of pepper would be a good starter.
erikschepers,
Signed
Multitudinous hugs to all who need/want them.
Portia, if I had a way to drop a polite note of reminder to your chief, I would. Wouldn’t even be anonymous.
Groan. I hurt like a summabtch. I am not a headache person. But I woke up last night about 2:00am with a ripper of a headache. I hesitate to take aspirin and such because it conflicts with other meds I take. Result, the whole body huuuuurrrrrrttttttssssssss. It is 34 F outside right now. I’m going to bundle up and go for a long walk up and down mountains. It will either cure me or kill me. I’ll let you know which.
Portia Sorry you are having your contributions ignored and belittled.
erikschepers, signed also. Thank you for the link.
Why yes, I did expect wifi in my hotel room to work.
LOL/sob
It’s so nice to see someone stand up the Ted Cruz’s nonsense regarding net neutrality. Of course, Cruz is not the only Republican/Tea Partier jumping on this anti-net neutrality bandwagon — loads of dunderheads jumped on the nonsense wagon as soon as President Obama made a case for net neutrality.
Way to tell it like it is, Al Franken.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/franken-cruz-wrong-net-neutrality
As a followup to my comment #293, here is Right Wing Watch’s summary of five conservatives who simply fail to understand net neutrality.
Excerpt:
The more I read about net neutrality, the more I want to know what’s going on behind the scenes. When Senator Cruz compares Obama’s call for net neutrality to Obamacare, he’s obviously being his normal political self and spouting nonsense. And I love Al Franken, he’s one of the best Democratic Senators we have, and watching him poke holes in Cruz’ rhetoric is fun. But it’s all political theater; neither leaves generalities to go into any detail.
For more serious treatments on net neutrality, Ben Thompson’s essays on his blog, Stratechery, are very interesting. He’s pro-net-neutrality, and he talks in some detail why the current status quo is bad for new entrants.
Tony:
Thanks for the understanding. It really does help it feels less demoralizing. It feels like “She’s not a guy, but she makes us look like women can exist here, so we need her!”
Ugh.
toska:
Thanks:) I slept hard last night and just woke up from a nap. I feel a little less sore ^_^
Anne:
Oh, gosh, that’s so nice of you to say. Very little chance the others give any more shits than he does, unfortunately. It’s getting to the point where I feel like there’s maybe one person who cares if I show up to anything. Ah, well. I’ll see how much longer I can weather it.
*hugs*Did you get breakfast?
Beatrice and ajb47, thank you. It makes me feel less crazy to have people here who get it.
Lynna @294
These people make my head hurt. Unregulated highway system…uh huh…how far does the stoopid have to go?
And the first post on my gaming blog is up, huzzah! Just a welcome post right now, but I’ll be posting my Firefly board game review tomorrow morning, and I’ve got plans for a couple more posts this week.
Portia, I’m sorry your chief doesn’t recognize that he’s got a superhero working for him. It’s always the way with a secret identity. :/
rq, all the hugs.
Others as need hugs, you are welcome to the fragile ones of this busted bod, such as they are. :)
I would not mind at all if Ted Cruz mounted a logical argument against net neutrality, but he does not, and neither do his cohorts. They have an anti-Obama-at-all-costs stance, and that’s all.
Where they are going with this is a politics-of-emotion-alone, that is, they have removed reason entirely. Even bad reasons are left out of the equation. Looks to me like a good way to continue the downhill slide of most of the infrastructure and most of the governmental systems that were previously the foundation of the USA’s superpower status.
blf #286
I’m not sure why the term ‘discovered’ is supposed to be more odious coming from Erdogan than it is coming from, say the Guardian talking about Columbus. I’m not saying it isn’t odious, but you seem to be particularly offended by Erdogan saying it. Nor is this claim original to Erdogan; the idea that North African seafarers reached the Americas in the 11th or 12th century dates at least to the 1960s, although as you note there is no real evidence for it. The first trans-Atlantic contact with the Americas is still, AFAIK, via the Greenland Norse in late 900s. Trans Pacific contact has been pretty much continuous between the peoples of the American Northwest and those of the Siberian Southeast.
Portia
Sorry you have to deal with so many assholes.
From Lynna’s 293
No, being asshole monopolistic profiteers is what’s been stopping them from wiring the country, and will continue to do so. For-profit industry never has and never will build sufficient infrastructure, and I’m sick unto fucking death of supposed progressives pretending it will.
@Portia: I am so sorry your fire chief does not appreciate you. It’s not like that everywhere, which is no help to you but I keep thinking maybe things are changing… grindingly slowly…
Our local fire department has a woman who was given an award for bravery by the state (at the insistence of the chief). She had picked up the kids from school and was headed home, when she saw a place on fire. She called in the fire dept. and state police, ordered the kids to stay in the truck, pulled the home owner out of the fire and physically prevented the owner from going back in the house, saving her life, then proceeded to run the entire scene putting the fire out. She was completely in charge of that incident. She totally deserved that award.
The chief here likes having women because he feels they are more reliable and learn better. He told me that some of the guys complained about women on the department and said the women could not pull them out of the fire in an emergency, and he shot back at them, “How many of these *guys* could pull you out?” and the answer was like, one. Besides which, a lot of the women CAN pull a guy out and have done so. I hope you are able to keep going in your department but I know it can be really challenging and may not be worth it in the end but there are SOME people out there who really appreciate you.
Sigh. *dramatic flop on couch*
All of my things are breaking this month. This is why I can’t have nice things. First it was my watch I got for my birthday present last year. Then the home computer blue screened and shuffled off this mortal coil. Then it was my great shoes that got oil on them (but that did mostly all come out, but it was scary waiting). Then I found out my eye trabeculae are all for shit, because the pressure’s building again. And I have to take my car in tomorrow because it sounds funny. Then today my mp3 player broke when the cord caught on the stupid drawer pull in the kitchen (for the millionth time) and ripped the jack all wonky. I’m hoping this forces me to learn to live in the moment with my own thoughts, not able to be as distracted by the vagaries of modern life. It’ll be like 1900 House. Or maybe like 1940s House. Geez, I’ve watched a lot of tv. [/end whine]
rq, you can have all the feelings you want. We’ll be here whenever you want us.
Portia – your chief is an asshole. I don’t even know what else to say. I’m sure if you brought up the pin he’d say “Oh, I didn’t realize I overlooked you!” *and if you mentioned what he said at the dinner he’d say “Oh, I wasn’t talking about YOU!” Are there any other districts or stations you could go to? We have towns close enough together here that you can live in one and be a firefighter in another; don’t know if it’s like that where you are.
*I first mistyped that as “overlooed you” and then corrected it but I was all “THAT’S RIGHT IT IS OVER-“LOO”ED BECAUSE HE’S PISSING ON HER PARADE” and then I wondered why I’m thinking like I’m drunk when I haven’t had anything more potent than jalapeno cheese dip today
Love you all, going to watch Canada’s Smartest Person now so I can feel like I know some of the things.
carlie, hugs and empathy.
The brakes on my car groan when I apply them at low speeds; i.e., as in parking lots. Sounds like a job for Click and Clack, or the one that’s left anyway. “Can you make the noise?”
Anyway Husband drove Amazon around the block. He says she’s fine but I should take her in next week maybe. Um, next week is Ritual Sacrifice With Pie week, and we’ll have to drive in my car to Altadena, not to mention all the driving around doing pre-RSWP shopping. Take her in on Wednesday or Friday, he says. I already told him I need my car Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings this week. So I guess I’ll be driving to my mechanic first thing tomorrow. I was gtoing to stay home and work on Stuff tomorrow and not drive anywhere. Grumph.
Portia
Next year, crochet your own 7 badge.
If they don’t give you your 5-year, stick the 7 on your forehead.
erikschepers: Signed.
–
Pixel-cat is certain that cats are allowed to eat gluten-free brownie-inna-cup.
–
I ♥ Al Franken.
–
And since we bring up Columbus and the Americas, here’s a little something from xkcd on the subject.
–
Dalillama:
With the possibility, though not confirmed rigorously enough to result in anything resembling a consensus on the idea, of Polynesian contact.
–
*hugs* and sympathy for carlie.
–
A cartoon that perfectly illustrates the infantilizing nature of catcalling.
i found this amusing.
Cait
Hooray for blogs! I look forward to reading that. I ♥ Firefly.
And yeah, I guess my cover identity is just too good….all they see is a girl. I’ve always said I enjoy when people underestimate me in the courtroom…
–
Dalillama
thanks. Backatcha. : /
kestrel
That’s awesome that women are actually valued around your area. This bit you mention really speaks to me, because it’s the first thing assholes like to say about me being a firefighter. So I’ve been crowing particularly loudly about the fact that I hauled a 220 pound guy down a ladder yesterday :D But it’s so annoying, because NO ONE, like you say, virtually no one, deadlifts a victim out of a fire. You use physics, you use teamwork, nobody does it solo by virtue of their Big Manly Muscles™. It’s so frustratingly obtuse and sexist and rarg.
That woman firefighter sounds absolutely kickass. So refreshing that she retained incident command. Thank you for the kind words, too. It does help. Even the validation that it’s ok to be worn out by it. :)
P.S. I’m not sure we’ve properly met before this but it’s nice to talk to you, and hello:)
carlie:
That. Really. Sucks. I’m sorry entropy is hitting all your things all at once. *hugs*
I could join a neighboring department if I moved. I can think of one that’s possibly worse and one that’s possibly better as far as I know. And yeah, I don’t really want to bring up the pin because it’s supposed to be an acknowledgment and appreciation…not something a person wants to demand. : (
Anne:
Grumph indeed. : ( Sorry bout the car troubles.
chigau:
I like that, a lot. rq offered to make me a medal to pin to my uniform :D
–
the fire instructor tonight was a condescending jerkface who told me I did well for a female three weeks ago. He was teaching arson investigation. I bit my tongue when he misstated several laws and talked over me and bloviated about how people are always guilty… *deep breaths*
Oh, and he threw in some disgusting casual racism for good measure.
–
Time to watch Scandal and chill the fuck out. Whew.
Hugs all around
Can’t focus on anything. Been trying to work on some things that I’m writing, but Fucking asshole neighbors are giving me a headache. I swear between the door slamming, yelling, and the loud music (which is new), they haven’t shut up for fifteen consecutive minutes in the last two days. Fucking useless management won’t do anything about it either.
Feminist twists on Princess Bride quotes: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/gender-equality-as-you-wish
This is one of those times I appreciate the existence of twitter.
toska
I laughed out loud, for real. Thanks for sharing ^_^
Dalillama:
Hope you got some sleep. I’m sorry they’re so awful :(
Found on Ed Brayton’s blog.
WHAT! THE! HELL! ?????????
“Glenn Beck is going to release his first movie next December and it’s about — I swear, I’m not making this up — Santa Claus turning into a warrior in order to protect the baby Jesus. While riding camels in the snow. Or something.”
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2014/11/16/glenn-beck-is-making-movies/#comment-376870
Comments: “I hope there is a scene where Santa bellows “There can be only one!” while brandishing a candy cane.”
(snip) “I think this movie would certainly be worth watching, if only for the climactic scene where Nicholas leans over the dying Christ and whispers “Jesus …. I am your real father.”
Dalillama @300
Infrastructure is a public good, therefore most Tea Partiers are against using public money to fix it. Yes, the politics around infrastructure are all messed up. Tea Partiers think every conservative-run business built its own roads, and the boot straps with which it pulled itself up.
Progressives need to throw the pie-in-the-sky attitude out the window.
As a commenter at the other blog mentions, this would make a good Xmas compainon film :”Rare Exports”
http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=2pH9IyqTk1E (I split the URL to prevent slowing down uploading the thread. You can cut and paste the complete URL to see the trailer)
If you build infrastructure that helps a religious dunderhead like the owner of Hobby Lobby, you might accidentally also help the unemployed and underemployed. We can’t have that. Only the Hobby Lobby doofus had proven worthy of using the infrastructure of the USA. Well, that guy and the owners of Big Oil, etc. /sarcasm
We have a shortage of bootstraps.
Lynna, Dalillama I agree with you 102%
rq
Do whatcha gotta do. We’re all here for ya.
Portia
I agree that you should make your own pin. And seriously what is wrong with that chief?
Whatever. I think you’re awesome.
Beatrice
Crap. I hope the wifi ended up working.
carlie
I think maybe I walked by your house. Sorry for all the ruination.
Dalillama
Sorry about the neighbors.
Hugs and peanut butter to all.
With all of these political, social, and environmental problems that get a lot of press here, I’ve been finding it awfully hard to get excited about that space thingie that some folks landed on a comet.
Mr. Deity recently addressed the mormon way to “know truth.” It’s a great video.
Mister Deity was a mormon for 27 years, so he knows whereof he speaks in this case.
Mormon “testimony” is the result of emotional manipulation; and it is a “truthiness” search, as Mr. Deity calls it, that is based on feelings alone, feelings which the church encourages you to have. Not reliable. You begin with bias, and then it gets worse.
Mr. Deity goes on to destroy through empirical investigation the Book of Mormon — all of the factual details can be proven to be wrong. “Unmitigated horse shit.”
*hugs & several sorts of chocolate for cicely and Portia and carlie and Giliell*
I’d pay to see that.
Aw…
Co-founder of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books is dead at 78
Thank you, everyone. *cake and cookies for all*
The support really helps.
Had an interesting day today, more about that later – PZ hasn’t closed down the Good Morning, America! thread, has he? my comment box has disappeared. :( I have things to post.
The State of Cats: solid and liquid.
Dalillama, I’m sorry that your neighbors are such unmitigated assholes.
I had so hoped that slashing your tires was their final, parting shot, preparatory to moving somewhere far, far away.
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birgerjohansson:
I would pay money to see this.
First-run, even.
:D
–
Lynna:
Yes, indeed!
“Once you go fact, you don’t go back.”
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Well, crap, here’s yet another way in which the state of Utah protects bad actors in the business arena. Figures. Can’t allow all those complaints against mormon multi-level-marketing schemes to be read by the public.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/1828682-155/complaints-division-consumer-company-state-information
From the Utah Division of Consumer Protection web site: “The consumer has a right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to be heard, the right to consumer education.”
From the reader comments section:
rq
I sent PZ a note about the Good Morning America thread.
Dalillama@300, I did not say the use of the term “discovered” was “odious”. What I said (@286) was “a [sic] extremely odious fascist”, rather obviously meaning Erdogan.
chigau
Thanks, I’ve tried several things and I’m hoping the comment box reappears for me, since it could be my browser being all ‘noooo’, but I can comment here, so… Thanks.
Annnnd PZ has replied because the thread is older than three months. Yay!
I am over the moon and way on a comet about this news. Go, international bobsleigh federation!
Also, love is not enough. Most of which I can agree with, minus a few problematic points, but I like the sentiment and the argument against the overt romanticization of relationships (there’s just a wee bit of victim-blaming in the article, that’s all).
Stephen Harper and his (in)tolerance for women – going to TW that one, for general discussion of domestic violence and other rather painful items re: violence against women.
A short piece on the school of doubt, aka sexism in science and its
nonexistence and effect.Born colourblind, this man now hears colour with antenna implanted in skull. Kinda wicked!
Religious dunderheads are now arguing that, thanks to religious liberty, they do not have to appear in court. Say, what? In this case, it is Catholic dunderheads who are saying that representatives of St. Vincent de Paul School do not have to go to court to face charges from Emily Herx that they discriminated against her when they fired her.
As you might expect, the diocese has never filed a male teacher for undergoing fertility treatment.
Mother Jones link.
Ohhhh, chocolate!
++++
Portia
You’Re one of the most kick-ass of all kick-ass people and your chief should have his one kicked as well.
+++
carlie
Extra special non-breaking hugs
+++
Mümmelie has landed, I repeat, Mümmelie has landed.
Ehm, I’m talking about the rabbit. Sweet creature but still very shy, of course.
+++
Ahhhh, never ever say anything positive about somebody who’ll prove you wrong immediately.
This afternoon I mentioned to Mr. that my mother was showing signs of actually respecting my boundaries and authority as the mother of my children, since she’d asked me if it was OK if she bought the kids a Fílly advent calendar.
Yeah, fuck that.
Today, #1 decided to behave like a complete brat. First she actually tried to wrestle with me about a Lebkuchen after I’d told her that she wasn’t to have any more of them.
Then destroyed her sister’s game on purpose. Mr. told her that if she did it again he’D take her to the car and they’d wait in the car. Immediately my mother wrapped her arms around her, protecting her from her evil parents. She misbehaved again, Mr had to practically wrestle her out of my mother’s arms. #1 promised she would behave, was let go, only to turn around to kick her sister. Then I had to wrestle her out of my mother’s arms because apparently we are evil monsters who mistreat the child since we don’t accept that she hurts others and does whatever she wants.
WFT?
+++
On a more positive note: Two swimming pools in Berlin have now special times for trans* and inter* people so they can swim in a safe environment.
Oh, and I liked this take on shirtstorm, too.
Hi. Can someone please remind me how one goes about changing their picture? Brain is dead. Thanks.
Test
Thanks, Anne and cicely and Portia and David and Giliell and everybody.
awakeinmo – I don’t think it’s your fault :)
It can never be just spark plugs, can it? Car total is going to be around $600, and it has to get done because apparently the biggest part of it is a pipe that is broken and pushing exhaust fumes into the car cabin. Blech. I think there’s still room on the credit card, at least.
Hugs to Giliell and rq and Portia and Dalillama and everyone who needs them.
OMG translation word salad, transferring some new age information on Latvian traditional symbols into English, and it just does not make sense.
+++
*majorhugs* to the lot of you, esp. carlie, Giliell, Morgan, Portia, Dalillama. All of you get hugs, just want to shout-out to those people.
And thank you again for being wonderfully (though distantly (yet effectively)) supportive.
Via Gravitar, which you used to set it up in the first place. Hopefully you wrote down your password in a safe place.
Thanks Nerd. I already tried that and for some reason it is not working. I have this effect on machines sometimes. Do you know if there is a lag time between when you upload a new image and when it appears where it is supposed to?
Thanks again.
Oh hooray! It is now working. Magic.
Morgan
Umm, gravatar.com? Proper email and the like? That’s how I do mine…
Goddammit so much. I just ruined a burner and our teakettle by leaving the one on the other for too long.
Dalillama, [hugs]. These things happen.
Dalillama, Mercury must be in retrograde and Jupiter is aligned with Hollywood Blvd., or something.
Many hugs. I hope things get better, or at least stop getting worse.
So, my son, a 5th grader, went to his first school dance tonight. And his parents weren’t there to witness it — whoa, a drop off dance!. He came home wearing a face that had obviously done some kind of aerobic exercise. Red cheeks, slight perspiration. He seemed to have had a really good time. I’m just happy he had a good time with his friends because he is, well, dramatic is the best word.
Slightly disappointed that no-one has any thoughts on my 183. Ah well.
Anyway, in an attempt to catch up:
*pouncehug* returned to Cicely . Thank you!
Here’s hoping that things improve for rq and Dalilama . Portia I hate that you have to work doubly hard to get half the recognition that you deserve. When I hearyour problems and combine that with the whole Shirtstorm backlash I feel so powerless and ragey. And I was already in a ragey mood too.
Conga rats for ajb47’s son.
Sorry to anyone I’ve missed out. *hugs* to all.
Hi bassmike! Hope you’re well. I saw your 183, but didn’t answer because I realised I didn’t feel able to say anything useful. I have mixed feelings about traditional British panto (um, apart from not often liking it much!) – I mean, I think the genderswap tradition certainly has the potential to be subversive, but can also go the other way (with much of the Dame role predicated on finding the notion of an older woman with sexual appetites ridiculous, for example, and ugly-old-woman-looks-like-a-man .. it’s dodgy). Although the Principal Boy is an unusual, I think? (I’d quite like to know if others know more about this too!)
Assorted greetings and hugs to the far-flung Horde. And I’m happy for ajb47’s son :-)
Is there a way to look up which threads your latest posts were in? Sometimes I try to check back on a thread that I posted in but can’t remember the title.
I know the subscribe option is there, but I’d prefer to not get an email each time there’s a reply. Just be able to find those threads on my own.
I have a little request for my fellow Pharyngulites – perhaps you can help me.
Every year at our language school in Barcelona I tell a Christmas story to the kids (it lasts about ten minutes). I generally find an illustrated story, scan it, make it into a powerpoint and tell it to the kids. To give you an idea, the best one we’ve done has been Raymond Briggs’ ‘The Snowman’ – no religion, no Baby Jesus, just a snowman who comes to life and a nice little message about the impermanence of existence.
The problem is that I’m running out of good, short stories without an obvious religious angle on them. Last year, I did a version of ‘The Selfish Giant’ by Oscar Wilde. It does have a religious message, though, but despite that it was a good tale because Oscar Wilde was brilliant.
This year I’m probably going to do ‘The Polar Express’, which is overtly about belief, and it irritates me that I can’t seem to find anything more suitable.
Any ideas?
opposablethumbs thanks for the reply. You seem to feel much the same way I do: a kind of wary ambivalence.
Saad
I usually just keep the tabs open until conversation subsides. Can’t really help more than that.
bassmike
*hugsback*
I pretty much didn’t reply because I was hoping some people with more knowledge of the field and its various mines might chime in. Sorry about that. :(
It’s annoying enough being on hold for half an hour due to a website screwup (it’s the postal service this time, but the complaint is universal these days.) What makes it incredibly annoying is the way they play the same fucking ad every thirty seconds, about their fucking website and the difference between registered and certified mail and all kinds of bullshit that I don’t care about, and if the fucking website worked, I wouldn’t be on the phone in the first damn place, would I? It’s not just them, everyone now plays the same fucking recording every thirty fucking seconds about things that anyone calling already knows.
Oh, and I love this: If physical diseases were treated like mental illness.
Honesty and transparency in voice mail recordings should be required by law: “Your call is important to us. Please wait while we ignore it.”
All voice mail systems should be required to respond to the spoken phrase “GIVE ME A HUMAN,” and the entire upper management team of any company which is found operating a voicemail system which does not have an option to directly access an operator should be publicly flogged. >.>
Oh, no, this is after the IVR, while I’m waiting for the human. Although I hung up after an hour (literally, my phone times calls) on hold.
Just another way for rich people to get richer at our expense. They could easily hire enough people at a living wage to handle calls nearly immediately. But they’d have to take a small cut in profit, so that’s out. Instead, they offload that cost onto us, by making us waste our time waiting endlessly and unproductively on the phone.
This is the corporate mentality in a nutshell: push as much into externalities as possible, and let society bear the cost – as long as you don’t have to raise any taxes to do so. Every time you’re stuck on hold with some company, they’re stealing from you to pad the owners’ pockets.
Not just wasting time, but sometimes even giving up and not going through with it at all (for whatever reason). So they just avoid dealing with people altogether. Win-win for them! Win-win-win-win-win!!
Things not to do on your Hawaiian vacation: Have problems with your pregnancy. A Humboldt, Saskatchewan couple face a $950,000 bill after an extended stay in hospital, including the premature birth of their daughter. Saskatchewan Blue Cross refuses to pay the bill.
http://ckom.com/story/hawaii-hospital-birth-may-bankrupt-saskatchewan-family/456560
Why is this a thing?
Azkyroth @ 360
Because you don’t know how much salt is in the butter, and because not everything you put butter into needs salt. (But mostly the first one, I think — better control of exactly how much salt is in your food.)
Ghastly sexist new-age wooist piece. And no room for improvement. :(
And apparently you don’t ever need to keep butter for more than two weeks.
Also, I wasn’t aware mainstream cooking recognized a category of “doesn’t need salt.” >.>
Anyone in Toronto? Friend of mine doing a talk on research in the Canadian Arctic. I’d go, but… I have to wash my hair.
Azkyroth
I’m confused. You have butter that lasts more than two weeks?
Speaking of salt…
I just caved and had a couple of McDonald’s hamburgers for lunch. I’ve not eaten at McDs for ages. Work is crazy and I didn’t have any cash, so I had to rush and go somewhere that took plastic…so…
I ate two hamburgers — arguably one of the least offensive things on their menu — about half an hour ago. I now feel awful. My stomach aches a bit, I have a headache, and I’m imagining/feeling that there is salt and lard coursing through my veins. AAAAGH FUCK.
Gonna go drink a few litres of filtered water now. I predict a bowel movement from hell in my near future.
I find that salted butter lasts for several months in the refrigerator (I don’t use it that often, except for baking or certain recipes) whereas “2 weeks” is repeatedly given as an upper limit for unsalted.
Azkyroth
It’s just that I’ve never known butter to last more than three days, fridge or no fridge. *shrug*
Had a friend who used to put a slab of butter on a cheese sandwich. Came down with stupendous hemorrhoids. The doc said it was caused by the cheese…… and not the butter?
I initially misread your comment as saying that voice mail systems are starting to make this demand and found the concept…ominous.
Amusingly enough, some of them actually do.
Respond to, it I mean, not make the demand.
I would assume the issue is *lack of fiber* although dairy products and (white, I assume) bread tend to be on teh constipating side.
In my friend’s case, it was probably a lack of moral fiber. He was a boyfriend who very unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped me because I was treating him like a boyfriend. Go figure.
Janice Dickinson also says Cosby raped her
Damn, is he about to be the American Jimmy Savile?
johnlee (#350)
If books about Santa are okay, how about Olive, the Other Reindeer? (And if you’re teaching English, it naturally lends itself to a mini lesson on the “all of → Olive” pun.)
Need to test something: √
Fucking Pitters.
They’re over at FA spreading the usual ration of bullshit, and one of them is whining about how I’m “doxxing” a certain doctor (one that we all know and rather dislike) when all I did was repeat publicly available knowledge.
They’re still hung up on the porcupine, too. And Oggie.
Fuck, I wish they’d just stay confined to their little playpen in the corner, because they’re shitting up a space I rather enjoy.
*sigh* I hate how my subconscious can come up with standard phrases and idioms to use in business correspondence (emailing a potential employer, in this case) but my conscious brain doesn’t recognize them. So I look at what I’ve written and can’t tell whether it’s right until I do a web search and come up with 70 million hits.
As if the fuckers downstairs weren’t bad enough already, they committed some kind of kitchen atrocity earlier that’s left our entire apartment permeated with a nauseating smell like rotting broccoli.
DL, you have my deepest sympathies. Conflict with a neighbour, especially an asshole or assholes, is hugely stressful, and even more so when you’re trapped, unable to move out cause that shit costs, or even to go out much when things are tight. It feels like you can never rest from it.
I don’t have any solutions, just wanted you to know you’re understood, and that I both empathise and sympathise. I hope a solution presents soon. It’s very difficult to cope with stress at work AND at home at the same time, because there’s just no way to rest up from either.
Anyway, gentle and grokking hugs offered. If I lived closer, and knew someone who needed killin’, I’d offer a crisscross, a sort of Strangers on the Internet deal. :)
This is how I will now picture all you gender social justice warriors out there. Okay, fine, I have a couple of people specifically in mind, who are totally awesome and totally awesome.
Hey all you Murkans trapped in the path of that rather impressive early winter snowstorm, stay safe and stay warm!!!!!
Not just USans, either. All along the east and north shores of the Great Lakes, it’s been pretty heavy. We’re 100km or so from the nearest upwind shoreline, so we only got maybe 10 cm for our first big dump of the season.
I was worried for MyMouse, though, as she’d never encountered Buffalo under Lake Effect, and was driving up from Bawldmoar on Sunday night. It took her 20 hours to drive the ~1000km to get here, where usually it takes about 11. She did get through when it had only dumped 45 – 60 cm, so was able to get through.
She also said that the Burlington Skyway (the high bridge over the entry canal to Hamilton harbour) was so windy she worried that she’d be blown off it in her little Honda Fit. I waited til she got here to tell her I’ve seen long truck/trailer combos be knocked on their sides by the wind at the top of the Skyway.
Thankfully, she got here safe, and having had a good sleep, is now happily ensconced on the couch in the living room, bingeing on Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix. Tomorrow we go out to get my pics for my passport, so I can spend Cthulhumas with part of my family (MM, and FoxyJenny, and WolfyDave, and DavesJen, and a couple other of WD’s girlfriends (Polyamoury: it’s complicated, but at least there’s lots of sex! :) )).
So if any of y’all will be in the area of the East side of Bawldmoar between the 16th and the 27th, email me, or if you don’t have my email, drop me a line over at Fullmetal Feminist.
Hugs and love and protective growling to those as needs ’em.
Good morning
I haz new headphones. And they are bright blue and red and have monster and dinosaur stickers!
I need to go to college to get college work done. I know it’s fucking ridiculous that I drive 15 miles to sit in a room all by myself when I could easily do that at home, but silly me just can’t do it. If I’m home I’m permanently distracted by home things. And I need headphones in college because it’s kind of loud here. The radiator will either be cold or make babbling brook sounds, so I need headphones as much for blocking out sounds as I need them for listening to music.
In ear plugs suck, so I looked for on ear ones, but I really didn’t want to spend huge bucks. Apparently the only ones in the 20€ range where people do not constantly complain about things breaking are those we bought for the kids some time ago.
+++
German standard sentence is “We’re sorry, all our staff are occupied at the moment. Please wait. The next free line is reserved for you”
That’s what they’re telling the other 20 people waiting as well. I prefer the one hotline where they honestly tell you that
it’s going to take 30 minutes if yu want to wait that long. Also, at least in Germany the length of waiting time and re-shuffling time is directly correlated to the cost of the hotline. If it’s free you have short waiting lines…
+++
I like salted butter, especially under jam and marmelade…
It reminds me of the Finish fish soup my mum’s cousin and her husband nce cooked for us when they were staying with us. It was delicious, but my mum remarked “wow, it’s really heavy, how much cream did you put in this?”, to which her cousin replied with indignation “there’s no cream in this at all! Only skim milk!” We were amazed that they could make something taste like that without cream, until the next morning when my dad wanted to make a sandwich and couldn’t find the two sticks of butter anymore…
++++
Dalillama
My sympathies. The people under our flat are only very loud. They’re the kind of people who think that conflicts are best resolved by shouting.
++++
Hope that all of you in the way of the snowstorm are warm and dry
There’s a new face on That Guy With the Glasses…and he’s reviewing God’s Not Dead!
Cait
Thanks for the addition, it’s funny, only America has made the news here. :P Must be totally disconnected from Canada by the time it gets here.
Stay safe and warm, you, and all your dear ones, too!
Poetry plus math? Yes please: In Praise of Fractals. Not your standard Euclidean geometry.
Wall of snow in Buffalo. O.O
rq – that is a sinister-ass storm. Thing learned how to open doors.
Somehow we missed most of the weather yesterday – Spouse saw that half the thruway was closed, but we had a busy evening and didn’t have a chance to look into it and see why. Then this morning it was ALL OVER the news. (We’re a few hours away).
Speaking of which, anyone within driving distance of Ithaca – they have a titan arum ready to bloom any minute now. I’m gonna take some students if it works out that we can go.
People who work from home have it made in the winter! It’s awful to be up early on a freezing morning and have to get dressed and leave the house. Ugh!
rq, carlie,
is this the arctic relative to The Blob?
Hugs and hot tea for all and sundry. That storm is very scary; my brother got lucky – he’s here in So Cal for a conference and visiting Aged Mum, not home in Toronto. He’s going to have an interesting time getting back, though, especially as he won’t fly or drive – he takes the train whenever he can get away with it.
Anyways, all of you in cold and snowy places, stay safe and warm.
Venting follows: Work on Aged Mum’s house is sort of progressing – the roofer can’t (or won’t) work because the storage container for everything that was in the attic is blocking the driveway, and the heating guy found a water leak under the house, so now she needs a plumber.
Her reverse mortgage closing is receding into the distance, and I have no idea where we’ll find more money to keep her going until then – we (my household) are not only tapped out, we’re further in debt because my car needed major brake repairs this week. My brother has left a check at AM’s for me that will (tentacles crossed) keep her solvent through the end of December, but after that BiL will have to sell more stocks or something. Gaaaahhhhh.
By the way, if anyone wants to see the results of my watercolor zen (I know, wooey, but that’s the title) class, you can click on my name and it’ll take you to my Dreamwidth journal.
carlie
It has also apparently been weirdly localized, with huge amounts in one area, and only a couple of inches a few miles away.
Saad
You missed the biggest annoyance of all: cleaning the sidewalk/driveway/car!!! (Me, I don’t mind the bundling up, or the cold, or the snow in particular. It’s the necessity to get rid of it somehow, with my own manual labour, that gets me down in the end…)
birgerjohansson
I would say yes.
Anne
For some reason, I really like your attempt at a contour drawing.
Also, your work reminds me how much fun it was to play with watercolours. Acrylics are a whole different game.
Oh, COLD we have. It’s -12C, with wind chill at -20.
Jenny Trout tweeted this, and some of the responses are hilarious. So be glad, men, that women do not have an army of dinosaurs at their beck and call anymore!
(It’s from this, hilarious in its own right.)
In regard to weird phenomena spotted in nature:
“The American Conservative”
– This is apparently a magazine for the three or four Republicans who are not batshit crazy.
One of the articles:
“Obama Is a Republican; -He’s the heir to Richard Nixon, not Saul Alinsky” (which is what progressives have been saying since bloody forever)
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/obama-is-a-republican/
Another article: “Distributism Isn’t Outdated http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/distributism-isnt-outdated/
WTF? Can conservatives write this without being shot as RINOs ? They even have articles by Bruce Bartlett, for fuck’s sake.
Mano Singham comments other articles in the magazine, in relation to “The Surge”:
“In a recent issue Daniel Larison roundly condemns the Iraq war that George W. Bush started against Iraq and all the conservatives who supported it at the time, not sparing those who now express some reservations
In doing so, he violates the central right-wing dogma and says that *the US has lost the war in Iraq*.”
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2014/11/17/daniel-larison-on-the-iraq-war/#more-27618
Larison’s article:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-u-s-lost-the-iraq-war/ (from The American Conservative)
— — — —
“Why the 2007 surge in Iraq actually failed” (from Boston Globe) http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/17/why-surge-iraq-actually-failed-and-what-that-means-today/0NaI9JrbtSs1pAZvgzGtaL/story.html
Excerpt: “To believe in the myth of the surge is to absolve Iraqis of their responsibility to resolve their differences. It gives the US government an unrealistic sense of its own capabilities. And it ignores the roots of the conflict now stretching from Damascus to Baghdad.”
— — — —
The surge didn’t ‘win’ anything. It bought time,” writes retired Lieutenant General Daniel Bolger in his new book,“Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.”
— — — —-
A church I pass on my way to work had “Lord, make me a channel of your peace” on their sign. This morning, I noticed that some clever person changed it to “Lord, make me a Chanel purse.” :)
rq, 393
Good point. At least it’s bone dry here right now. Cold, but no snow/rain.
Although, snowing does have its benefits as far as not having to work goes. :)
On a note unrelated to weather,
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3548
UnknownEric the Apostate
*snort*
What’s that quote attributed to Al Capone about stealing a bike and asking for forgiveness because God takes care of those who take care of themselves?
—————————
*waves*
Hey everyone! Rent as all been paid up and we’re good. Roomie’s next two checks will be enough to get rent paid next month on the first since they aren’t doing the previous arrangements. His motorcycle is still acting up but he’s carpooling this week and going to be doing what maintenance he can. Next week and the following Monday are going suck because he’ll have to use his motorcycle since his schedule changed due to Thanksgiving. But *crossing fingers* that the stuff he can do will be enough to get through that time without it completely fucking him over.
I’ve finally been able to get up into cleaning and organizing mode so we can fill out work orders. These new managers/owners are supposedly going to actually do them!
Little One is making short order of chapter books nows and with Roomie’s new job, I’m hoping we’ll have bus money to spare for going to the library soon since her small stack is already mostly through. They don’t have a school library this year due to their school being demolished and re-built so they’re only borrowing classrooms from another school in the meantime. It really sucks because she’s got two book reports due every week now and I want her to keep it up. However, with an all day pass for me being 4 bucks and having to pay for hers (though I can pay money to fill out forms and get a reduced fare ID, after paying full fare to get there) it’s going to suck. Just getting there for her is pain enough, paying off my library fines so I can get books too is a fucking dream. (bitter, sad laugh) But if Roomie’s bike can fixed for a small amount of money and he gets hired on after his 3 month contract (he should, they hire basically everyone else and he’s doing phenomenal), maybe a dream not too far off. Well, me getting hired somewhere or finding work I can do from home would be best but honestly, I’ve given up on that idea ever coming again.
But hey, this comment spurred me to look up the bus fare issue and get the form plus location for reduced fare and I finally filled out the FAFSA like I’ve been meaning to so I can go back to school in January. Funny how that works, I should try it more often, lol.
rq @386, loved the poetry/math combo. Thanks for the link. An excerpt:
Thanks for the wall-of-snow links up-thread. I really liked the video of the couple who suited up and went blizzard surfing.
Cutting food-stamp aid, even when they don’t have to, that’s Republican governors for you. They have their reasons:
This should go well with the walls of snow and other bad weather that god is sending around to ennoble the poor.
Pence and Walker have based their curtailment of food-stamp aid on the assumption that all able-bodied adults can get a job. Here’s a little reality check:
Diversity is not really important to Republicans. They say it is, but it isn’t. They recently selected their Committee Chairs and three leadership positions, all white men and 1 (one) woman.
Plus, they gave the woman the housekeeping job. Representative Candice Miller will oversee, among other things, the cafeteria, office supplies, and bathrooms. Maddow show link.
I would kill for a snack.
I only bought potato chips the first evening (Sunday), and I’ve been managing to keep myself from buying any snacks the whole 3 days afterwards. It’s good that I’m too lazy to change and go out.
There’s just something abou being in a hotel that makes me more susceptible than usual to junk food cravings.
Yay yay yay yay yay! ^_^
There’s air in it, blocking the flow. In some designs it can be let out by hand.
Heh. The opposite of a Blue Dog: their party left them long ago, but they cling on to the name just for the sake of tradition.
I bet that none of the makers of Faux Noise reads that magazine.
Full of win.
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And now, at last, the link dump.
First, it turns out iguanas have lungs with unidirectional airflow, just like monitors, crocodiles and birds – in spite of having extremely simple lung anatomy. Paywalled paper, Ed Yong’s blog post.
“Colorado begins using its weed money on education and health”
“They also mentioned two Klan members who are Florida police officers.”
“I’ve got the hood! I’ve got the hood!” – Dr. Evil
“U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals throws out pre-emptive lawsuit” and says: “Shell no!”
“This week, AT&T engaged in a little extortion over net neutrality, when CEO Randall Stephenson said that the company would halt its efforts to extend new high-speed Internet connections in 100 U.S. cities because of the possibility that the Federal Communications Commission might impose net neutrality regulations. This attempt by the company to throw their weight around on the issue apparently did not amuse the FCC, which has called the company’s bluff.”
(You may well know this already, but anyway:) Julien Blanc will not get the visa he wanted to come to the UK. One piece of good news, at least! (can’t be ruled out that the company will just send somebody else, but at least this piece of scum won’t be giving lectures).
And on it goes.
“Missouri governor declares state of emergency ahead of grand jury decision in Ferguson shooting”
An impressive/ridiculous declaration, with eight paragraphs in a row that begin with WHEREAS and are all part of the same sentence, followed by NOW, THEREFORE and the good man’s all-caps full name – but still (JAY) has to be smuggled in – and finally IN WITNESS THEREOF, so that you’d almost overlook this gem:
“I further order that the St. Louis County Police Department shall have command and operational control over security in the City of Ferguson relating to areas of protests, acts of civil disobedience and conduct otherwise arising from such activities.”
Doesn’t that sound lovely.
Or how about this single sentence:
“I further order, pursuant to Section 41.480, RSMo, the Adjutant General of the State of Missouri, or his designee, to forthwith call and order into active service such portions of the organized militia as he deems necessary to protect life and property and assist civilian authorities and it is further directed that the Adjutant General or his designee, and through him, the commanding officer of any unit or other organization of such organized militia so called into active service take such action and employ such equipment as may be necessary to carry out requests processed through the Missouri State Highway Patrol and ordered by the Governor of the state to protect life and property and support civilian authorities.”
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“For advocates of women’s rights to reproductive health care this is good news up to a point. It is likely that this issue will find its way back to the supreme court and I wouldn’t take any bets on how they would rule on it.”
“Kansas Must Cut $279M from Budget By July To Avoid Bouncing Checks” and then “another $436M from the 2016 budget”.
“It was as if the president felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. He no longer has to cater his actions to a timid Democratic Party that Howard Dean described as afraid and not standing for something. He no longer has to accept compromises to placate Blue Dogs, since they are mostly [indeed entirely] gone and his party now controls neither legislative body.”
“‘The House has now signed our death warrants and the death warrants of our children and grandchildren,’ Scott said. ‘We are outraged at the lack of intergovernmental cooperation. We are a sovereign nation and we are not being treated as such. We will close our reservation borders to Keystone XL. Authorizing Keystone XL is an act of war against our people,’ he said.”
“There’s Been HOW Many Pipeline Spills in Alberta in The Last Four Months??“
“Ferguson officer arrested for raping a woman in the jail. Read the legal filing here.”
“In the Perris/Menifee sting, one of the entrapped students was a 15-year-old special education student, who read at third grade level. According to sources with first-hand knowledge, after being relentlessly hounded by an adult cop in disguise, the child finally caved under the pressure. He got a vicodin pill that had been prescribed to him and sold it to the cop for $3. For this, the child was charged with a felony and did time.” Responsible for this is the school superintendent, who is an asshole and proud of it.
“German town pranks annual neo-Nazi march with clever counter protest” – “For every meter the neo-Nazis walked, local businesses and residents would donate $12.50 to a nongovernmental organization devoted to making it easier for neo-Nazis to leave behind their hateful politics.” With video! :-)
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And now the petitions. So, so many petitions.
“Tell the Supreme Court: Extend marriage equality to all Americans!” It has just arrived in Kansas, BTW. :-)
“As Florida’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi has a duty to uphold our laws and justice system with integrity.
But she could not care less. She’s been selling out Florida’s justice system to Washington lobbyists, socializing with attorneys who have corporate clients under state investigation.This behavior is wildly inappropriate – and a clear violation of Florida law.
Add your name: Call on Rick Scott to set up an independent investigation into Bondi’s blatant disregard for the law!”
The usual petition to end Citizens United.
Only eight petitions to go!
Fire the President of Lincoln University for saying women routinely lie about rape, complete with a rather concerning comment about himself (“us”, meaning men in general). The actual petition is at the bottom of the article.
“Tell Attorney General Eric Holder: No more excuses. Time for criminal charges against JPMorgan Chase”
“Tell President Obama: The election is now over and there are no more reasons to delay on executive action. We expect you to fulfill your promise by granting relief to all 11 million immigrants right away.” Points out that Latin@s generally didn’t vote.
“A recent poll showed that 81% of Americans want Congress to tackle comprehensive immigration reform. It’s time to take action, but I need your help to make sure that my colleagues [in Congress] get the message.”
Tell “the U.S. Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA), a law that would ensure that the U.S. government puts the full weight of its foreign aid and international diplomacy behind global efforts to end violence against women and girls.”
“ Dear Mr. President: As you prepare your budget request for Fiscal Year 2016, I ask that you continue the strong support of the United States for UNICEF by including $132 million as the U.S. Government’s contribution to UNICEF. This would maintain UNICEF’s funding at the level recommended by Congress in previous fiscal years.”
And breaking my own record:
Petition to “tell Speaker Boehner that if he doesn’t want President Obama to enact immigration reform, he needs to let the house vote on the Senate’s bill.”
“Congress: Expand Social Security!”
*phew*
British women as secret agents in WWII. Love it. Now for a movie series based on their experiences… *rubs hands expectantly*
Finally caught up again.
cicely – Yum! Lemon chiffon pouncehugs are very good. Here’s a *vanilla and cinnamon return pouncehug*
I think Ellemir and Violet should hang out; they have so much in common. Violet and her companions can usually be found at the Sword and Fist. Preemptive rounds of arrows at anything that might be suspicious is also Violet’s preferred approach to life.* If any potential threats get in range of her greatsword, they’d better back off. *slash* (or *slash, slash* if two of them are close enough and one of them dies, allowing her to use her Cleave feat.)
I too have generally played the “sensible, support-classed characters” so I’m having lots of fun with Violet. I look forward to hearing more about Ellemir’s adventures. Violet’s story will continue on Friday; I can’t wait. =)
*My husband and I generally play computer games with a very similar strategy. :D
opposablethumbs – *pouncehug with chocolate* – I hope all is well with you.
[whine] It’s cold today. We have a high of 36º F, which is warmer than the weather in Wisconsin where most of my family live and with no snow, unlike Buffalo where my brother lives, but Virginia is generally much warmer this time of year. [/whine]
Yellow Thursday:
Unless I’m playing a cleric devoted to a particular deity, this pretty much describes the attitude of most of my characters.
rq – I know this is very late, but *pouncehug with as many strength-inducing cookies as you need*
Dalillama:
Oops. Hopefully your burly warrior companion has learned xir lesson. :D
I’m sorry you have such bad neighbors. *hugs*
Tony!:
I don’t like this either, and I can’t understand why they would make this change.
Giliell – *pouncehug with chocolate and caramel*
Recognizing that I’m very late in replying, do you still need more input? If so, where do I post it here or email it to you? I thought you said you needed only a couple of sentences. Is this correct?
The problem I have had with our DM is that until I pointed out that all his NPCs were male, it never occurred to him that there should be female NPCs. *sigh*
David M – *pouncehug with American cookies* Thank you for the petition links you post. Some of them I have signed before you posted the links, but others I haven’t.
Portia – *pouncehug with chocolate* I would love some popcorn. =^_^=
I’m very angry that you weren’t given your five-year pin. If I had any crafting talent, I’d make you one.
bassmike – *pouncehug*
Wilbefort – *gentle hugs* I hope your jaw heals quickly.
While my jaw was not broken and wired shut, many years ago when my TMJ was at its worst, I was on a liquid/very soft foods diet for nine months, but I couldn’t use a straw because the sucking motion that made my TMJ much pain worse.
Beatrice – *pouncehug with lots of chocolate*
pHred – Good luck with your proposal.
carlie – *pouncehug with lots of chocolate* I’m sorry life has been so difficult for you of late.
Anne – *many hugs* – Good luck with everything.
CaitieCat:
Eek! I hope you can stay inside where it is warmer.
Older white male shoots a brown-skinned young man and kills him. The brown-skinned young man was not armed, and never even got out of his car.
So what happens? Older white male is fined $500 and gets a year of probation. That’s what passes for justice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Daily Kos link.
Seriously, do any of the legal types on here know of any further recourse we might have with these assholes? The manager says they claim they’ve been trying to make less noise (bullshit), insists that the vandalism of my bike is ‘just something that happens’, and that it sounds like a ‘neighbor issue’ (which it is; there’s a big fucking issue here with the fucking neighbors, and it’s you’re fucking job to deal with it). I tried calling the company that’s responsible for the property, but they don’t answer their phone, and the message I left got forwarded to the local manager, who is now one of the people I want to make a complaint against.
Also, Happy International Men’s Day! Because you’re worth it.
(That’s all a bit of a non sequitur, but for some reason it’s really amusing to me right now. But seriously, HIMD.)
Oh, FFS, is some dunderhead still allowed, in fact encouraged, to say this shit in public?
Right Wing Watch link.
Hekuni Cat
*pounce the hugs*
Someone in our group invented a franchise for our world. Well, not actually a franchise, but taverns would simply be called “rusty anchor” “silver anchor” or “golden anchor”. That’s an easy way to decide how much money we want to spend on food and lodging and be able to remember where we stay.
We have female NPCs (the world is suspiciously good, so is the material. Lots of dudebros screamed when one of the new editions came out and they simply used “he” and “she” alternating when describing the characters or what a magical character had to do to cast a certain spell. Only they should have taken care with the two or three professions that are gender specific) and both guy DMs have enough sense not to use sexual violence.
And yes please, I’d like to have your take, just send it to nym ÄT yahoo DOT de
Hekuni Cat!!! *pouncehuuuuuugs*
Also, I bought my first Ben Aaronovitch book today (alas, not THE first book) because of, I believe, JAL. Already loving it, for many reasons.
Republicans in the House of Congress have gone anti-science in a big way … again. This time they have backed up their anti-science stance with a bill that would restrict scientific input on the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board, and that would, simultaneously, increase input from industry “experts.”
In addition to H.R. 1422, which passed 229-191 , Republicans are not done trying to hobble the Environmental Protection Agency:
Salon link.
Roll Call link.
Stephen Colbert produced a sarcastic segment on food insecurity and on the lawmakers in the USA who want to cut food aid even more. Scroll down for video. Link.
Writing! I did some writing today: the next episode of my feminist Supernatural rewatch, S1E6: Skin.
Throw that on top of the bedroom tidying, the bit of paying work I got done, and the new client who e-mailed me. And filking up a song for the Hickory Dickory Dawk.
Yay pills maybe working! :)
Rents in this city are fucking outrageous. L and I have been looking for a new place ever since the rent hike, and seeing rents that are hundreds of dollars more than what we’re paying now, for smaller places. On the few occasions we do find something in our price range the only people who’ve even returned our emails are scammers. No one will return our calls at all.
The new neighbors have made this that much more urgent, as dealing with their bullshit is aggravating both our ulcers, not to mention L’s PTSD. Sorry to keep going on about it, but it’s been driving us up the wall for months now, and we have seemingly no recourse. The management firm finally answered their phone, at least, and the person I talked to promised to forward the issue to the person up the line from our building manager. We’ll see what happens, but I’m not holding my breath.
Think Progress also covered the bill that Republicans are using to restrict scientific input to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kmart is forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving. If they refuse, they may be fired. Think Progress link.
It is the year 2014 even in Kentucky, but Kentucky’s Southeast Bullitt Fire Chief Julius Hatfield still thinks it is okay to joke about refusing help to accident victims that are “n*****s.”
WDRB link.
And, because I’m having a productive day, Firefly: The Board Game – A Review.
X-posted from the Lounge:
Bill Cosby’s NBC show is no longer in development
Bill Cosby’s Netflix special has been postponed
TV Land will no longer air reruns of “The Cosby Show”
My thoughts on Cosby here and here.
Dallilama @425:
Shit. I was hoping some good fortune would come your way soon. So sorry you’re still having to deal with your asshole neighbors.
Hekuni Cat:
Good to see you ^_^ Thanks for the kind thoughts RE: my pin.
Dalillama:
Is there a “quiet enjoyment” clause in your lease? Lots of leases have them, and they say that the landlord will prevent third parties from interfering with your right to have normal use of your apartment. This would qualify, I would imagine. Of course, the remedy is to sue, probably : / There might be a legal aid office locally who could help out.
The ban on same sex marriage was defeated in Montana! Yep, I’m going to be celebrating that this week. *Sooooo happy my state wasn’t the last one to lift the ban*
Hugs to all who need it!
Dalillama
Forgive me if I am misremembering, but did you say before that you are a college student? A lot of colleges have a free renters advice service for students. You might want to check and see if your Uni has one and if it might be able to offer some advice. If I’m mixing you up with someone else, I apologize, and please disregard this comment.
******
Trigger Warning for discussions of rape. Even the headline of this article is TW-worthy.
CNN interviewer is a misogynist, victim blaming asshole to victim of Bill Cosby: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/don-lemon-joan-tarshis-bill-cosby-rape
I was so happy to see that Netflix and NBC seem to be canceling on Cosby, and it looks like public opinion is generally starting to turn against him, but seeing this interview was very upsetting.
toska
I’ve been seeing a lot of that on twitter – esp. since that interviewer also got a lot of flack for badly covering Ferguson events. The best follow-up question was: “So, when he kicks my teeth in, what should I do next?”
…
Some people’s idiocy never fails to surprise.
Dear body,
yes, I know they took about 30 ml of blood from you and then they gave you the flu vaccine, but honestly, this is no reason to act as if you had actually been stabbed twice.
+++
Anne
I like your watercolours book, it was sure a fun project.
+++
Dalillama
*hugs*
Thank you, Hekuni Cat, and *return pouncehugs* to you! I think the technical term for how things are going is “we’re having some ups and downs”. Hope you are having more ups than downs, and my most affectionate respects to the Horde (aka massive delivery of hugs).
Having had both deeply horrible neighbours and exceptionally nice ones I know what a huge difference it makes, and I am so sorry you have these shitty ones, Dalillama. I hope your building management do actually do something about it. Incidentally, I don’t know what the layout and other inhabitants (if any) are like, obviously, so please disregard with my apologies if not relevant – but is there any chance that there are other tenants who are also suffering the same kind of shit that you are from this household, and might anyone else be prepared to join in and give a bit more weight to a common complaint?
Hekuni Cat *return pouncehug with assorted confectionery* Great to hear from you.
Dalilama I sincerely hope you are able to get something done about your neighbours.
Well, my daughter seems to be getting the hang of potty training now. We’re getting less accidents and more voluntary successes….famous last words, I know.
I’ve been feeling rather down and verging on angry for quite a while now. Worried that it may not pass.
bassmike
Sledgehammer? Or will even that not help this time?
*hugs*
Is there any way to help you out?
oh so true: https://medium.com/the-nib/friendly-guys-d25649b31a50
bassmike
*hugs*
And yay for potty-training
++++
Also: Yay caitie
I hope this continues in the upward direction
+++
parental bragging ahead
The kid they didn’t want to let start school last year just scored her second A+ in German. In a test where one third of students failed. It’s always important to remember that even though she’s a handfull there are some problems I really don’t have.
+++
Also, either this soup turns out delicious or as evidence that some things shouldn’t be combined. Cooking leg of beef with ginger, cardamom, macis, etc
Thanks rq . The sledgehammer sounds like a good idea. I’ll have to see if there’s anything left from the redecoration of the lounge that hasn’t already been smashed to pieces. I don’t want to do anything to the lounge now that it’s looking so good and the bar is so well stocked and we have the magnificent Tony! mixing cocktails.
I’m afraid there’s nothing to be done for me via the Horde. All I can do is push through and hope that my perception improves.
I’ll be out the back making all the loud noise.
rq, Giliell,
Thank you for your kind words about my watercolors! As usual, all I can see are the flaws, and I keep thinking that since it was a class (or learned from a kit, or out of a book, or inspired by something else I saw), it doesn’t count as creative. This is something I’ve been trying to get past for years. Another fine example of impostor syndrome, eh?
bassmike, potty training, yay! Hugs are offered, and you can come and punch pillows in the pillow fort. Also I think there is still smashable crockery around here someplace.
Giliell, good on your kid! The soup sounds interesting, and like something Husband would think of. I hope it turns out good, or at least edible.
Giliell
That actually sounds pretty damn tasty!
Meanwhile, the weather on the US-Canadian border: But the meteorological “kick me” sign on the city hasn’t fallen off just yet.
Also, Canadian universities are failing sexual assault victims – big-time. Canadians, please remember this the next time there’s another public case out of the US and you want to be all proud of our record.
Oh, and life imitates art. For some reason, I really, really love this (not the cancellation, but the use of the gesture).
Cool vision;
Japanese blueprint sees modern Atlantis spiral deep into ocean http://phys.org/news/2014-11-japanese-blueprint-modern-atlantis-spiral.html
German Town Tricks Neo-Nazis Into Marching Against Themselves http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/neo-nazi-march_n_6187200.html
— — —
Social sensing game detects classroom bullies http://phys.org/news/2014-11-social-game-classroom-bullies_1.html
— — —
Boys who bully peers more likely to engage in sexual harassment http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-boys-bully-peers-engage-sexual.html
Well, duh! Assholes consistently behaving like assholes -who could have guessed?
— — —
Pilot projects: Giving money to homeless with no strings attached. https://decorrespondent.nl/541/why-we-should-give-free-money-to-everyone/35246939860-ec3a6c3e (excerpt) “In addition to giving eleven individuals another shot at life, the project had saved money by a factor of at least 7. Even The Economist concluded: ‘The most efficient way to spend money on the homeless might be to give it to them.’
Heterosexuals have egalitarian views on legal benefits for same-sex couples, but not on PDA http://phys.org/news/2014-11-heterosexuals-egalitarian-views-legal-benefits.html
Meh. It is a matter of getting used to it. Once, even straight people were not encouraged to display affection in public because showing public affection is SINFUL!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, women having their hair uncovered: SINFUL!!!!!!
Dresses showing the ankles: SINFUL!!!!!!
— — — —
(Stating the bloody obvious) “Business culture in banking industry favors dishonest behavior, study shows” http://phys.org/news/2014-11-business-culture-banking-industry-favors.html
rq
I hadn’t heard of Don Lemon’s bad coverage of Ferguson. Yikes. But he certainly isn’t alone in that one. I saw that he gave a not-pology about his interview with Joan Tarshis. You know, “I’m sorry if my comments offended.” That kind of fake apology.
********
For those who like playing games and have been keeping an eye out for more progressive games, this one looks interesting:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/295790/
This is the description:
As someone who’s very interested in other cultures, I’m excited to try it out. And I’m also a huge sucker for adorable foxes. ^_^
I hope everyone is well. Hugs for anyone in need!
I have a strange philosophical problem. It’s best presented through a question.
What is a catharsis for an atheist?
Apparently there is some confusion about that word and I’m interested in what people think. To me a catharsis seems to be the experience of mental compartmentalization failing. Or is it the resolution? The positive and negative connotations are confusing to me for some reason.
How’s our autoturret technology coming along?
Of course – sexual harassment and assault are just an overtly sexualized, gendered manifestation of the same basic mindset and impulses. I’ve said this before, though people tended to be unreceptive.
Actually, a lot of people, even young ones ffs, are still self-righteously and vocally opposed to public kissing by others.
A thing I’m constantly told by people with obvious ulterior motives doesn’t actually happen, and therefore the right response to being straight-up fucked with is to just shut up and take it and repress any feelings of anger. Sometimes citing “research.”
@ Azkyroth
So deceptive people don’t admit to it’s existence, and don’t want to talk about it when they are making other people feel messed with.
That might explain why the positives and negatives of it are hard to pin down.
Well, it tastes nice but surprisingly not very different from my usual beef soup basis. Added some more ginger
Brony
I don’t associate catharsis with religion at all, so it makes no difference for an atheist or a theist (to me). I may not be working according to the actual definition of the word, though, but it is definitely an emotional resolution – via an outpouring of said emotions, a chance to express the whatever-it-is that is building up strain and stress on the inside. Catharsis, for me, is most definitely followed by huge feelings of relief. I don’t know what that has to do with compartmentalization (except in the sense that catharsis may follow a more-or-less extended period of outward emotional restraint that is separated from daily tasks and duties). Dunno if that helps?
Right. You can of course reject Aristotle’s theory about why we like tragedy for all sorts of reasons, but on the face of it, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with whether or not there is a god. You can also easily put it into more modern psychological or sociological terms which may not be about “purging” or whatever other problematic features you think it has. However, that all comes with the assumption that as atheist you can (in principle) give an account of what all of the theoretical entities are in naturalistic terms (or at least terms not involving gods): emotions, experiences, mental representations, meanings, morals, etc. The deeper issue is getting those sorts of things settled, and only then (if they make a difference in some way) coming to terms with any problems raised by the Poetics — which I would expect to be fairly anticlimactic, considering the kind of fireworks that would go off if anybody actually managed the first stunt. In any case, there’s no reason to believe a naturalistic account like that is impossible to begin with, so it’s a matter of improving on the work people in the cognitive sciences (and philosophy, arts, etc.) have already done to get to a point where we’re satisfied with the whole picture.
consciousness razor
For me, it mostly comes down to the fact that, as socialized animals, it doesn’t always seem acceptable to show our emotions as they come – you can’t go to work and be angry or cry from stress or grieve openly outside of firmly delineated locations and/or situations, because it is considered as an inhibition to actually working (or other social function). So we (I) repress emotions in order to maintain an outward socially acceptable demeanour – catharsis is the moment when you have a chance (voluntary or involuntary) to let loose, to provide an outlet to those repressed emotions. Which usually end with relief, because much of the stress is gone.
And I didn’t understand the rest of your comment, but that is not your fault, rather my lack of education in the more scientific aspects of how the brain works. Sounds intriguing, though. I sense google in my future.
@rq
This is where I have to admit something that might seem a little weird but I think that it’s true. In my head when people talk about philosophy it feels like religion. I think has to do with my fundamentalist conservative protestant upbringing (and maybe inheritance) somehow. But I know that is not true because of my experience with philosophy.
The connection to compartmentalization I’m seeing needs a small example. Assuming generically for a hypothetical person who has a logical fallacy as part of their views and behavior, a potential catharsis might be felt as a threat if that person is consciously or unconsciously deceptive. But a person who is not deceptive is one that I am concerned about in terms of the question. Just because a person is avoiding reality does not mean they have bad intentions.
The word is important because it has to do with a powerful emotional contrast that needs to be resolved in order to function as a person. But that is general enough to include quite a few emotional contrasts of different types of emotions and problems. Not all of them are equal in individual or social terms. Not all of them should be viewed by society in the same way. I’m having to take the idea very seriously at the moment.
I have issue with this statement, because restraining emotions is not necessarily avoiding reality – though in the case of plain denial, I suppose it could be. It can be a way of dealing with too many emotions in order to keep on functioning (for whatever reason). The cathartic point – yes, can be problematic. Because violence can be cathartic. But so can art, so can dancing, so can eating… In a lot of respects, I suppose it comes down to how (productively?) that energy is channelled.
I suppose I’m not clear what you mean as a deceptive person with respect to catharsis, or what logical fallacies have to do with it, because I think I’m still not understanding your point.
I would say that catharsis is actually a very private and very personal experience – no one can tell you what will be cathartic for you, though I could argue that there is a right way to experience catharsis (such as, don’t murder anyone). But I’m also not sure what role society as such has in the experience, if it should have any role at all besides the one required of it by the person experiencing catharsis.
This is interesting on my end. I’m trying to keep it general for usefulness, but it’s necessarily personal by it’s nature.
@rq
Denial is close to the reason why I am personally invested in this, but still complicated. I think I have a talent for sensing emotional sensitivity. When that sort of habit manages to grab onto a genuinely deceptive person who could be harmful it’s generally considered a good thing. So homing in on harmful deceptive behavior is good skill.
But I am seeing areas where I’m probably sloppy in general “emotionally sensitive” terms. I don’t want to pursue emotional sensitivities without care and thought.The concept of a catharsis is useful because it is close to what I want to be able treat more sensitively, but maybe I’m looking for something else? I guess the social connection is the fact that society has a role in conditions that create a catharsis (or at least under some conditions), and as you say it is a very personal experience. I’m part of society in this picture and when society intrudes on the personal things often get very complicated.
Having a software error message consist of “Contact your administrator for assistance” needs to be recognized as a form of torture.
Well, my point is pretty hard even for me to understand. Maybe somebody doesn’t particularly care about having a systematic, reductionistic description of the entire world and everything in it. One might be an emergentist, in a really strong sense, saying that there are completely free-standing facts and laws which aren’t in any way derived from fundamental physics. That seems sloppy and unparsimonious to me, but I guess it’s still an option.
Anyway, the idea I was getting at was that we ought to be able to say that essentially there are only “atoms and the void.” (It might be worth noting in this context that that wasn’t Aristotle’s view, which could raise some valid suspicions.) Of course, there are things like tables and chairs, for instance, but it’s not difficult to figure out how those are composed of the fundamental physical stuff (whatever that turns out to be, since that’s still not completely settled). The issue is that it is more difficult (but not impossible) to do when you get to other kinds of stuff we routinely talk about, all of the “mental” concepts and objects and so on that supernaturalists simply assert are not reducible to physical ones. We don’t want to assume intentions and meanings and teleology and such, right from the start, but only find out whether those can also be explained in terms of physical things which aren’t intentional or meaningful or teleological.
Let me give a simple example just to illustrate how easily we fall into this kind of thinking, without even noticing — while also not clearly explaining anything, which is the basic problem. Maybe it’ll be helpful.
Suppose there is a chord progression: [GBD] -> [CEG]. People have a very general tendency to say things like “the B wants to go to C,” because of the way we experience those sounds when put into that kind of configuration. It’s fine, in everyday conversation, to use that kind of description. You could teach a child about what they’re hearing like this, because it’s apparently very effective at getting them to use certain kinds of intuitions (this general tendency I’m referring to) which help them notice what’s happening in the music: what the point of this collection of sounds is supposed to be which they’re supposed to pay attention to, if they’re going to get why people listen to music (as opposed to simply hearing noises).
However, you shouldn’t take that statement literally. The note B clearly isn’t a person — it doesn’t have goals or intentions or things that it wants or anything like that — and it doesn’t somehow transform itself into a C or even “move” to it in any way. If that’s how you were actually thinking of it, then that impression you had of it was illusory in some sense. The B and the C are just two frequencies, which are two separate components of more complicated sound waves. So what you can do is give an alternative positive account which takes seriously the physics, psychology, sociology, history, etc., at which point you’re done. You’ve told the whole story from the bottom up, and you didn’t include metaphors or any other colorful language which was unnecessary and inconsistent with the rest of the story you’re telling about the entire world. You “simply” need the physics and so forth worked out, but that’s obviously still a work in progress.
…especially in products that have “Small Business” on the cover.
@ consciousness razor
You bring up fascinating points. I technically have problems with non-literal language according to psychology literature. I’ve realized that this is more complicated than mere pathology. Over the years non-literality has become something that I can’t help notice in language. It might even meet the definition for an OCD. Being overly literal has benefits, and drawbacks. A sensor for metaphors, analogies, hyperbole, personification…my family culture considers puns to be an art form.
I think on some level I’m trying to force a catharsis of my own since I’m always filled with intense emotion and it has the benefit of reorganizing your categories emotionally speaking.
@consciousness razor
This is some of the stuff that I obsess over but I know is something to treat with care. I know much more about what my head does, but why it does it in “ultimate” (socially focused) terms is such a tempting thing to just grab onto. But that risks evolutionary psychology’s social problems. So I try to find ways of depersonalizing what I read. I would like to think that I do a good job, but that seems a hard thing to measure.
Someone responded, and it doesn’t look like a scam. It’s not a huge savings, but it’s some, and it would get us away from the assholes downstairs. We’re trying to schedule a viewing tomorrow, waiting to hear back on the specific time. Tentacles crossed. Thanks for the support and advice as well.
Brony
I guess I’m not understanding the connection between catharsis and a genuinely deceptive person. That society can create conditions that make catharsis possible, okay – but I would say in more indirect terms, because of the personal nature of the experience. Some people find it easier to express emotions (in smaller chunks, as it were), and some would, in some way, personally create the conditions that make catharsis possible no matter what. I don’t know, I have to go to bed but I will think about this.
consciousness razor
That makes a lot of sense and I think I see your point now (the musical analogy, actually, really helped).
Dalillama
Crossing all possible tentacles for you. *hugs*
+++
With that, I turn to look out the window, and yell “SNOW!” in pleasant surprise. (No, nothing like Buffalo, just what a perfect snow should be – quiet, gentle, genteel and romantic!)
Crossing tentacles for you, Dalillama!
German town tricks neo-Nazis into raising thousands of euros for anti-extremist charity: “Far-right extremists inadvertently take part in ‘walkathon’ to raise money for group that helps rightwingers escape extremism”.
Michele Bachmann is retiring from politics, (so she says), when her current term ends. She won’t be in Congress in January. Before she goes, she seems determined to insult all manner of people, including immigrants. Here are some details on her latest round of stupidity and insult:
Washington Post link.
I don’t know why she thinks most immigrants are illiterate, nor why she thinks immigrants who are not yet citizens of the USA will vote (let alone vote for Democrats).
Moments of Mormon Madness in Nevada, politicians-stuck-in-1950 category.
Ira Hansen is getting quite a bit of press in Nevada now that he has been named as the Speaker for the Nevada State Assembly Republicans. The press has exposed Hansen’s misogyny, racism, anti-gay stupidity, and general backwardness. But the press has failed to note that the makeup of those negative traits has its roots in his mormonism. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has eight kids, and was closely connected to the Romney campaign. He thinks that:
– gays are disproportionally prone to child abuse
– “negros” should thank white people more for freeing them
– “Thanks to the ‘sexual revolution’ and the ‘women’s liberation movement,’ women chose to act as foolishly as men, and illegitimacy also went through the roof. … Abortions get about one out of every four children conceived.”
– Latinos dominate criminal activity
Maddow Blog link.
Wiki bio link.
Nevada News Review link.
Brony:
Sure. One thing to note (which I didn’t make clear at all, sorry) is that this is apparently something prior to language to some extent. Obviously, I’m using words here, so maybe you doing the experiment firsthand would be better than trying to explain it. With my example of the cadence, it’s not simply about the verbal (or mathematical, etc.) descriptions which people make up. Those are often non-literal or leave out certain kinds of details when representing the thing, but before we ever start talking about them our sensory experiences themselves seem to be of that sort. Not for everyone all of the time, of course, but generally. So I’m saying you hear that kind of progression as some kind of sonic “tension” which is being “resolved,” as a thing that “moves” or “transforms,” as something that “wants” to do this or that, which “means” something independently of you and everyone else inventing that meaning and sharing it with each other. That layer of your experience is doing some of that work before you come up with a way to describe it that actually does fit (approximately) the relevant parts of the experience you’re trying to communicate (to someone else or even just “to yourself” whatever that would mean).
Also, using these sorts of higher-level, non-literal descriptions might still be the best way to go in a lot of cases. Nobody with any sense would actually do music theory or economics or whatever by doing particle physics, followed by some psychology, along with all of the intervening steps you’ll need to take in this enormously complicated scheme just to end up at (very nearly) the same place you started before worrying about naturalism or reductionism or whatever. You wouldn’t need to make that derivation (if there is one) every time you talk about it, just like you don’t need to prove the Pythagorean theorem from first principles every time you use it. I also don’t mean to suggest that’s actually going to happen any time in the foreseeable future, or that when it does happen it’ll be useful for anything except tidying up the picture we’re painting about the world (or connecting all of the dots, however you want to put it). So it’s impractical in all sorts of ways, but it would still be nice to know that it all does hang together in a coherent way, that you’re not implicitly adding anything magical which would be inconsistent with the fundamental theory.
Don’t give the sophists ideas. >.>
Heh. I can see how that would go. “But if you can construct squares from triangles, why are there still triangles?”
consciousness razor, #476
Hahaha! I want that on a T-shirt.
Eminem’s excuse for being a homophobic misogynist cracks me up (bold emphasis mine):
I didn’t say those things! It’s this character I’ve made up. I have no control over the things he says even though it’s me.
What would your favorite movies be like with one letter removed?
Think ‘Fight Cub’, ‘Pup Fiction’, ‘Finding Emo’.
Tony, #478
Alien
The Big Seep
On The Ton
Lying Down to Rio
Oxanne (Steve Martin), The Right Tuff…
Tar Wars – or Tar Trek.
Clockwork Orang.
Princess Ride.
Fullmeta Alchemist.
One with the Wind.
Fred Green Tomatoes.
The Ood, The Bad, and The Ugly
*sigh*
I can’t remember if I mentioned this at the time it happened, but a couple of months ago, Gracie brought me a live mouse and let it loose in my little studio.
Two months, three traps, and several piles of mouse poop later… we still can’t find the little fucker.
On top of that, somebody sat back, watched, and did nothing to help. *side-eyes Gracie* You had ONE JOB, fuzzbutt! ONE! JOB!
WMDKitty,
Gracie probably feels she did her part – she brought her big hairless kittens the mouse, you’re supposed to catch it.
Giliell
Email sent. Let me know if you don’t receive it.
The world Violet inhabits has been around since basically the beginning of D&D. Our DM bought one of the original booklets and then went off and created this particular world with a lot of attention to details, including naming things like inns, which are franchises that show up in most of the towns and cities we visit. That said, the campaign with Violet is set on the frontier, which has been referenced in previous campaigns but was not fleshed out until just before our first session. It is an exciting work in progress.
CaitieCat:
I hope the pills are working; it’s always good when the pain medication does what it is supposed to.
bassmike:
Are you taking any new medication? I have had sometimes significant mood-related side effects from medication.
*hugs*
Dalillama
Good luck! And more crossed tentacles.
Two more women have stepped forward with allegations against Bill Cosby.
Reading the stories of each of the women, it’s clear that Cosby uses alcohol and drugs against his victims. And yet he still has legions of defenders, people unable to shed the image of Cliff Huxtable from their minds. As if that small screen fictional character is exactly the kind of person Cosby is in real life.
I’m sorry. Make that 3 more women have stepped forward. I just learned about Louisa Moritz.
I’m not sure if she’s one of the 13 women who agreed to testify against Cosby when Andrea Constand sued him.
Honest Trailers does The Little Mermaid.
Greetings and Salutations, Commentariat !
Looooooooong time lurker, first time poster.
Uneducated, rude, boorish. Geek, nerd, techie. Also, autistic and bipolar.
Why do i post now ? Because of the shirt and the Barbie ‘tech book’.
You see, there is this guy who i always respected, not only because of his intelligence and technical aptitude, but also because of his stance on progressive issues. Yesterday he sent a tweet wondering which was more sexist: ‘the shirt’ of ‘the book’ .
I argued both were equally bad and equally representative for the position of women in our culture/society.
To my massive surprise he judged the shirt as a none issue while condemning the book for it’s possible impact on children. The shirt thing was just a guy exercising his right to dress any way he wanted.
I directed him to the relevant threads here, because the issue is explained far better here then i ever could. (i ain’t that smart and surely not as eloquent as some folk here)
He tweets back that he is sorry for reading the comments (such unbelievable drivel) and equates the place to an #echochamber. All while having a daughter. Berating folk arguing in favor of women’s rights.
I, unexpectedly, have a hard time with this. It seriously saddens me and i seldom felt more alone then now. (i’ll chalk it up to not having taken my Sipralexa as i should have)
It’s hard for me to connect to people, and i feel i’ve just suffered a somewhat profound loss.
Since i have literally nobody to express these feelings to, i did it here.
Also, thank you all for the insights and education !
Apologies for having cluttered up The Lounge.
(ah, new tweet: his problem with this place is all the ‘ad hominems’ which are unnessary. Gob officially smacked)
Alain Van der Eycken @489:
Welcome to the world of the Unlurked. I hope you find the Lounge to your liking. If you need to de-stress, you should join us out back. We’re playing a rousing game of ‘pass the sledgehammer’.
It sounds like your friend is yet another person who confuses insults with ad hominem attacks. It also sounds like he didn’t read the many, many, many comments from people who explained exactly why Taylor’s shirt was sexist and how wearing it reflects his values. Perhaps you should ask him why he is dismissing the concerns of the many women (and men) who took issue with Taylor and his clothing choice.
In the meantime…cocktail?
Rq should be around any minute with the survey questionnaire for you (hint: horses are ok/good…cheese is awesome…peas are abominable…miracle whip should not be considered fit for human consumption)
‘unnecessary’
Doggone it !
Just one of those days.
Thank you Tony.
You’re always there to make folk feel at home.
Much appreciated.
Scary New Asteroid Impact Map Shows Space Rocks Hit Us ‘All The Time’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/17/asteroid-map-impacts-space-rocks_n_6166068.html?utm_hp_ref=science
Fortunately, most are so brittle they break up in the upper atmosphere.
— — —
Britain:
Stewart Lee: The Imaginary Liberal Comedy Cabal will crush the Ukips into dust http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/05/stewart-lee-the-imaginary-liberal-comedy-cabal-will-crush-the-ukips-into-dust
(Crossposted from Glenn Beck’s Santa film thread)
“Santa’s Slay” Starring Bill Goldberg, Douglas Smith, Emilie de Ravin
“Christmas horror comedy from first-time director David Steiman.
-A thousand years ago, the devil’s son lost a bet with an angel and was forced to spend the next millennium playing jolly old St. Nick (Bill Goldberg) and handing out presents to children every Christmas. Now, the thousand-year wager is over, and Santa wants revenge. He soon begins making up for lost time by going on a murderous spree.”
You know, I don’t think *this* Santa is fit to be Jesus´bodyguard.
Alain Van der Eycken
I often feel alone when it comes to progressive issues, too. I have very few meatspace friends (or even acquaintances) who are progressive, and none who are both progressive and non religious. I find this place is a comfort when I feel especially isolated, and I hope you do, too.
As for your friend, I would ask him why he thinks the Barbie book affects children while the shirt does not. Seeing as how the shirt was on an international broadcast during a historic moment, I would estimate more children saw the shirt than the book. And on top of that, a lot of men and boys saw the shirt, while likely very few saw the book, and men and boys are just as susceptible to having their views on women influenced as women and girls are. I’d argue the broadcast of the comet landing was seen by many more people, and what they saw were objectified images of women, sexist comments comparing the landing to a woman’s sexuality, and few women actually on the team. That’s not a great international face of women in STEM, if you ask me.
Not participating in Band Aid, and why.
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Alain Van der Eycken
Good morning! Or good evening. Or afternoon. Or night!! Wherever you are, welcome you are!
Please answer the following question so that we may seat you accordingly:
What is your opinion on: (a) horses; (b) peas; (c) cheese; (BONUS) Miracle Whip.
Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious, it’s just so I know how high to throw the penny that decides whether you get that comfy chair or that one for your first day here.
Also, may I say, thank you for directing your friend here, and I’m sad to see that he did not understand the substance of the comments. Perhaps, as his daughter grows, his mind will change, and you can help him out again.
Also, I think he should look at this.
(And the Barbie book was also horrible. :P )
Sometimes in life, you have to stop and smell the roses. Or eat all the treats, as it were.
OMG, you can create your own version of Feminist Hacker Barbie! hahaha I love the response this book is getting.
Hullo
Hekuni Cat
Got your mail, thank you very much. Good luck with the space invaders!
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Hello Alain van der Eyken and welcome
Sorry you’re having a hard time with your friend. Maybe you could ask him what he thought those women on the shirt are and do, what’s the reason for them to be dressed and posed like this and what that says about them being the only women you saw in that moment.
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Ahhh, when good grades are bad, or so it has started.
That German test #1 wrote, it was really bad in general. So many students got an F the teacher had to demonstrate that it was fully in line with the curriculum and what they actually did before*. And I understand that the kids who got bad grades are whining and there’s this solidarity between people when they failed. And after all it is undertandable that you’d rather attribute your poor results to the test and not yourself. So two classmates asked #1 what she got, hoping to have somebody whose results they could use to bust their egos. Well, that didn’t work out the way they planned….
She was confused why they reacted the way they did.
*that’s a regulation here to make sure class tests are fair. If more than 1/3 of students fail you have to show the test was not unfair to the students. I remember that we had a maths test once in highschool that had to be repeated because it was simply not doable, best grade was a D
Also, that Golden Retriever just ruined my eye make-up cause I was fucking crying with laughter