Comments

  1. says

    Nerd

    pre-drilling on home improvement show. Either you drill or you don’t. When you drill isn’t important,

    Incorrect. When using screws (and certain other fasteners), one either drills a guidehole beforehand (i.e. pre-drilling, as in drilling previous to performing another action), or one does not. This is a relevant distinction to make when discussing the usage of such fasteners.

  2. says

    There surely must be some type of laws against this ‘border milita’ bullshit. If there aren’t, there really need to be. Why aren’t these guys getting ominous visits from the FBI and the BATF?

  3. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Why aren’t these guys getting ominous visits from the FBI and the BATF?

    Ooh, oooh, I know, pick me, pick me. : /

  4. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    either drills a guidehole beforehand (i.e. pre-drilling, as in drilling previous to performing another action), or one does not.

    I understand the difference between a smaller pilot hole (which I would allow as pre-drilling), and the actual drilling of the hole to the final bore. Which is drilling….That is my objection to the use of the term. They appear to use the concept interchangeably, and usually the final bore is the result of their action.

  5. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    *ahem*
    *straightens bowtie*
    Because racism, xenophobia, white supremacy, violent toxic masculinity, classism, tribalism, nationalism, and, um, dehumanization of immigrants.

  6. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Oh, I like your option, too, Dalillama.
    I would wag my finger at them, so hard. Wish people with actual legal authority would do something, though. It’s screwed up and scary that they run free like that

  7. says

    Dalillama @505, here’s the Houston Chronicle’s take on the border militia:

    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Militia-groups-plan-to-patrol-border-5605339.php

    […]

    The groups, who identify themselves as “Patriots,” “Oathkeepers” and “Three Percenters,” are using social media, blogs and a 24-hour hot line to recruit and mobilize volunteers to travel to Laredo, carry firearms and attempt to assist law enforcement agencies on the border.

    However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it does not “endorse or support any private group or organization from taking matters into their own hands as it could have disastrous personal and public safety consequences.”

    Chris Davis, 37, a truck driver listed as commander for the militia group, said he believes law enforcement agencies welcome the help.

    “Everybody realizes something has to be done, and we are here to look out for our fellow man while ensuring our national sovereignty,” said Davis, who served in the Army and National Guard and has been involved in Open Carry Texas events, including last year’s rally at the Alamo.

    Davis, who lives near San Antonio, said the militia group is in preliminary stages of recruiting and training volunteers and will move to Laredo “in a few weeks” when it has “enough trained manpower.” He wouldn’t give a number for the minimum threshold of volunteers.

    The group will secure the border in a “legal and lawful manner,” Davis said. […]

    Davis is the same guy that posted a YouTube video saying that people crossing the border should be shot on sight. The group is trying to look good in front of the press, but if you dig a little, they look very bad indeed.

    The statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection makes it sound like the militia group will have to caught redhanded “taking matters into their own hands” before law enforcement does something to stop them.

    Here’s the start of the previous discussion.

  8. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    The statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection makes it sound like the militia group will have to caught redhanded “taking matters into their own hands” before law enforcement does something to stop them.

    This is the problem that law enforcement has in these situations. They can talk to people, and let them know they are keeping an eye on them, but unless there is cause (like caught in the process of acting like they are law enforcement when they aren’t), arrests can’t follow.

  9. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    And my commode bar padding passed the Redhead’s use test. *confetti, champagne corks popping, whistles*

  10. ck says

    Lynna, OM wrote:

    The statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection makes it sound like the militia group will have to caught redhanded “taking matters into their own hands” before law enforcement does something to stop them.

    I assume that this means someone would have to produce a body riddled with bullet holes before any action could be taken against them.

  11. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I assume that this means someone would have to produce a body riddled with bullet holes before any action could be taken against them.

    Not quite. Nobody without a badge can pretend to an “officer of the law” at any level. And threatening to kill somebody without the proper authority in such confrontations is crime. But yes, it must come close to the bullet riddled body.

  12. says

    This is the problem that law enforcement has in these situations. They can talk to people, and let them know they are keeping an eye on them, but unless there is cause (like caught in the process of acting like they are law enforcement when they aren’t), arrests can’t follow.

    I invite Portia or other legal types to correct me, but isn’t this criminal conspiracy? Pointing guns at people and saying you’ll shoot them is assault at the least. The leader of these assholes is on video saying he’s going to assemble a like minded group to do this, and has begun assembling such a group. Seems pretty clear cut to me.

  13. says

    Tony!

    Most parents they say are tricked into sending their children to programs like this.

    Yeah, I call bullshit on that. “Hey, here’s a program we can’t legally do in a place with human rights protections. You should send your kid to us!” What the fuck do they think is going to happen?

  14. says

    Dalillama:

    Oh, I thought she was asking to go visit them with ominous legal warnings.

    Not a course of action I’d recommend given how irrational, trigger happy, and anti-women these militias are. Unless Portia were accompanied by the FBI.

  15. says

    I suddenly have this image of Portia as an action movie star taking down these militias running rampant across the country. Oooh, and she can infiltrate them and gather intel, and totes be like Jennifer Garner on Alias. She’ll have state of the art technology (including all the military grade weaponry lying around) and be able to call in any extra operatives she needs.

  16. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    I heat the term “pre-planning” a lot, but I don’t get it. Either you planning to plan, or you are planning. I never did any “pre-planning for this project, or any of the others I have worked on over the years. It was always planning to make it successful.

    I agree with you, Nerd, on the use of “pre-planning.” That triggers a “dafuq” reaction in my brain.

    I suppose “pre-planning” is coherent if it means “gathering the information and resources needed to develop a plan for the specific task at hand, and ensuring everyone who needs to be involved in determining that plan will be available to do so.” In practice it probably usually means “whoa…someone oughta, like, plan this or somethin’, man!”

    Another pet peeve, pre-drilling on home improvement show. Either you drill or you don’t. When you drill isn’t important, nor does it deserve a prefix.

    This one makes less sense; it’d basically mean “a thing that arrives with holes already drilled into it.” I’m not sure how that makes sense for something they actually show you happening.

  17. says

    Nerd, congratulations on the successful completion of your project; you are both handsome and handy! [/Red Green]

    Beatrice, hugs if you want them.

    Those border militia types terrify me. Loose cannons indeed.

    I picked up my new specs this morning. Looks (haha) like I’m going to take a while to adjust to them – new stronger prescription and larger lenses with a consequently larger area for each of the distances, so I have to refind the focus spots. I am fuzzy of vision and brain.

  18. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    In practice it probably usually means “whoa…someone oughta, like, plan this or somethin’, man!”

    Except in my safety training, it usually means follow the SOPs already in place, and cover whatever you need to do using those principles…

  19. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Addendum to #526. “When in doubt, ask your supervisor….”

  20. carlie says

    Another pet peeve, pre-drilling on home improvement show. Either you drill or you don’t. When you drill isn’t important, nor does it deserve a prefix.

    Are they talking about drilling a pilot hole? I could see that described as pre-drilling, I guess.

  21. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Jennifer Garner?

    Oh, hell no. This is a woman who hauls 40 pound hoses UP LADDERS. Nonono nono.

    Portia’s secret identity is Samantha “Chefs-do-that” Caine/ Charly “Suck-my-dick” Baltimore.

    Selling her short as Jennifer Garner? Puhleeze.

  22. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Correction to addendum to #526. “When in doubt, ask your [stupidvisor] is the cop-out of not being ethical and moral.….”

  23. The Mellow Monkey says

    Well fuck. All two years of traffic my blog has received before today combined is about half as much as the traffic my blog post from last night has received. I’ve got comments on moderated since I’m not sure I want any of them.

    I do hope it’s at least made a few people think more critically about this whole situation re: the co-creator of Cards Against Humanity.

    Now, having just read a comment in moderation about how I’m just like Fox News, I think I’ll go have a drink. After seeing this firsthand, I cannot fathom how agonizing it has to be for those who’ve publicly called out their well-connected rapists.

  24. says

    Sovereign Citizen-like whackadoodleness from Utah:

    Authorities arrested a 47-year-old Utah man Thursday that they say had been plotting to kill police officers and blow up a police station with the hope the attacks would cause an uprising against the government.

    FBI agents and police in Tremonton arrested John Huggins on Thursday on a charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device, U.S. Attorney’s Office of Utah spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said in a statement Friday evening. […]

    Huggins built an improvised explosive device and possessed explosive materials and instructions for making bombs, FBI Special Agent Steven Cadiz said in court documents.

    In February, a “concerned citizen” contacted Tremonton police to report Huggins threatened to blow up a Bible study group and had buried bombs around the city of Ogden, Cadiz said.

    Police later determined that information was incorrect, but Huggins had threatened to blow up the Tremonton Police Department and wanted to assassinate two officers before the bombing, according to court records. He also planned to blow up bridges and other infrastructure to prevent emergency responders from being able to help, the court records state. […]

    Investigators searching Huggins’ trailer later found a homemade explosive device similar to a grenade and other explosive material, Cadiz said.

    Rydalch said the investigation was ongoing and Huggins could face additional charges when the case is presented to a grand jury.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/12/-john-huggins-bomb-police_n_5580183.html
    http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58175998-78/huggins-bomb-agent-wrote.html.csp

  25. The Mellow Monkey says

    gworroll, a woman the co-creator dated in college has accused him of rape. He made a statement (titled “Gossip” when he posted it on Twitter) in his defense, which included the claim that rape culture prevents people from saying when their boundaries have been crossed, so if they did something she didn’t want to do it was rape culture at fault and not him.

  26. says

    Went looking. Rape accusation.

    Still reading through stuff, will be looking up the original accusation shortly.

    His apology/denial wasn’t the absolute worst I’ve seen, though it is problematic in parts, such as the veiled threat of legal action. If he was, in fact, falsely accused, it’s totally reasonable to seek a lawyers advice on what his options are. But I’m not sure what the point of mentioning he did so, and what the lawyer said, if it wasn’t meant to be a veiled threat. For someone as social media savvy as he claims to be, I can’t easily buy cluelessness. I might say something like that as I just braindump everything out to a blog post, but I’d expect him to know a little better, save the response as a draft and look it over the next morning to make sure it’s as reasonable as he thought it was.

    Of course, if he wasn’t falsely accused, the parts that make it seem relatively decent just become that much worse, and it seems more like he’s trying to shoot things down without causing more trouble for himself if it does come before a judge.

    The attempts at direct contact are problematic. If he wanted a chance to discuss it privately, he almost had to have had options for indirect contact to see if she was interested in talking it out. Like, oh, maybe the lawyer? Or mutual acquaintances from school?

    Still, not the worst denial/apology I’ve seen. Maybe the bar is just set incredibly low for these things.

    I did see a Reddit comment I liked about it- the post headline called it a false accusation, and someone rightly pointed out that “false” implies the claim was investigated and demonstrated to actually be false. Which hasn’t happened here. “Unproven claim” works, but “false accusation” is a stretch at best given the currently available evidence.

  27. cicely says

    What Gives Beer its Bitterness & Flavour?

    The Sexual Politics of Autism

    Hints of Life’s Start Found in a Giant Virus
    by way of Not Exactly Rocket Science

    Fox News is by far the worst. But that doesn’t change the fact that MSNBC isn’t a saint.
     
    Which is why I only take my news from The Daily Show.

    And The Colbert Report.
    John Oliver’s show looks good, but I don’t have HBO, so I’ve only seen the Good Bits people have linked to.

    *hugs-back* for rq.
    Trip organization sounds…unpleasant. Sanity-reducing, and not in a good way.

    Portia and Azkyroth:

    running into two exes in one day! Just what I needed! hooray!

    Depends on how fast you were going, doesn’t it? :P

    And the mass of the vehicle in which you run into them.
    :D

    *haz-mat-suited hugs* for Rawnaeris, and I hope the weekend goes better.

    *pouncehug* for The Mellow Monkey.
    Welcome Back!
     
    (Later)
    Additional *hugs&ethanol* in the wake of the Hostility of the Comments.

    I am also a round.

    “Pre-planning” is what happens in my head before I can draw it out on paper and see if it is actually feasible. Then comes either the planning (involving lists and sketches on paper), or the deep-sixing of the unviable project—which is sometimes followed (usually at some inconvenient later time—like just as I’m trying to sleep, or when someone is trying to talk to me) by the mugging of my mind with alternate pre-plans for the same project, which then go to the planning stage.
     
    It’s all very—if not exactly well—organized.

    Hurrah for the success of Nerd’s commode padding project!

    Tony! and Dalillama:

    Most parents they say are tricked into sending their children to programs like this.

    Yeah, I call bullshit on that. “Hey, here’s a program we can’t legally do in a place with human rights protections. You should send your kid to us!”

    “And a shit-ton of your money, too!”
     
    You’d think, if they didn’t see a red flag on the possible danger to their kid, they’d at least worry about danger to their money!
    </cynicism>

  28. cicely says

    *sigh*
    Please to be inserting
    avo:
    right after my last link, and before “Fox News”, thx.

  29. says

    MM:

    which included the claim that rape culture prevents people from saying when their boundaries have been crossed, so if they did something she didn’t want to do it was rape culture at fault and not him.

    This idiot doesn’t understand Rape Culture AT ALL.

  30. says

    Tony-

    MM:

    which included the claim that rape culture prevents people from saying when their boundaries have been crossed, so if they did something she didn’t want to do it was rape culture at fault and not him.

    This idiot doesn’t understand Rape Culture AT ALL.

    Yeah. The more I think about it and read and consider other peoples responses… he’s got no idea. I’m thinking I was right in suspecting my reasonably positive reading was more due to other denials/apologies sucking horribly than this one actually being any good on its own merits.

    I’ve seen a few blog posts from people that apparently knew both of them, and so far, in that group, they seem to find the accusations entirely plausible. Not seeing any defense of him from anyone who knows both parties.

  31. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Been one of those days here at Casa la Pelirroja. First I was working on the commode bar cover to kill time so I could run off to the grocery store after a commode break. The expected 10:30 am became 3:30 pm as she fell asleep (but I completed the cover). Too late for the lunch meat run, and buying my lunch sammich. Then I fell asleep from about 5:45 to 7:30 pm. Now a grumble storm is moving through our area. I think we’ll both sleep through it.

  32. says

    A US anti-gay pundit went on air to attack gay men, saying men choose to be gay for a ‘cheap orgasm’.
    Peter LaBarbera, a self-confessed opponent of gay rights and founder of anti-gay group Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, was a guest on the James David Manning’s radio show (8 July).

    http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/men-turn-gay-%E2%80%98-cheap-orgasm%E2%80%99-says-anti-gay-us-pundit110714

    It’s true. It’s much more expensive to achieve orgasm by masturbation. Where does he get these factoids? I can’t imagine him having any gay friends. Add this “reason” to all the others that make no sense. I guess he pulled it out of his ass. Now if only he’d pull his head out of there.
    What a maroon (no offense to the Horde member of the same nym).

  33. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    The Sexual Politics of Autism

    Gender politics, really.

    My tentative conclusion is that the higher rates of diagnosis of autism in boys probably have two inputs:

    1) differences in the way boys and girls are treated, including different interpretations of similar behaviors and gendertyping-influenced expressions of similar impulses.
    2) certain of the genes involved being on the x-chromosome and recessive.

    I don’t know what the relative importance is, but the former is very, very unlikely to be much less than 50%.

  34. says

    Oh, and this bit from the above article:

    LaBarbera advocates teaching children being gay is against God’s plan, and they should challenge anyone they meet who identifies as gay by saying: ‘Are you really? Because I don’t think God wants homosexuality, it’s not part of God’s plan for anybody’s life.’

    Please. I dare one of these bigots to ask me.
    Give me the chance to say “Yes, I’m gay. I love sucking a big veiny cock. You should try it sometime.”

  35. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Tony:

    Give me the chance to say “Yes, I’m gay. I love sucking a big veiny cock. You should try it sometime.”

    I’m rupt, but you made me laugh with this. Once, law school friend of mine and I were at the big secular rally thingy in DC, in 2012. He decided to debate a protester, who held a GIANT banner than said something like “HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN” They went round and round about the verses in the Bible, and finally, the protester blurted out “What are you, a Sodomite?” and my friend responded gleefully “I love sodomy!” The protester had nuthin. It was fantastic.

  36. says

    I’m not one to watch videos (and I’m seeing a lot more of them on the sites I like to visit-grrr). I prefer reading material. That said, sometimes I’ll watch videos. I watched a short behind the scenes documentary for John Legend’s new song/video ‘You and I’, which is about a diverse array of women coming to terms with what they see in the mirror. The documentary was fascinating, raw, and poignant. I’m glad I watched it.
    http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/watch-laverne-cox-empowering-john-legend-music-video-you-i130714
    (scroll down the page; the doc is under the video)

  37. says

    Tony-

    I have a somewhat similar fantasy- I want someone to call me “lousy cocksucker”. My prepared response “That’s horribly offensive- I’m quite good, actually.”

  38. says

    gworroll:
    It’s funny how bigoted men think that’s such an insult to gay men. Even the heterosexual men who unthinkingly use ‘cocksucker’ as an insult (those that don’t intend to be homophobes) don’t think about it. I’ve had coworkers try to insult me with that, and I love being able to stare and them and remind them who they’re talking to.

  39. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Tony:

    That’s like when men have called me a pussy. I look at them. Depending on the person, I say “Yep, I do have one of those. What’s your point?”

  40. says

    Portia:
    Have you ever gotten a response after that?

    ****

    Once a week or so I walk to the 7-11 by my house for stuff. I was in the mood to munch tonight so I took a stroll up there. It’s probably a 15 minute round trip. My neighborhood is fairly quiet at 1 am. There’s rarely anyone outside, and few cars on the road. Nonetheless, I always make sure I’m wearing bright clothing (tonight it was a yellow shirt with khakis). I don’t obscure my face, and I carry my cellphone in my hand. In the back of my mind, I’m always thinking of Trayvon Martin. It’s not a *huge* worry, but given that I am a PoC, and I do live in Florida, it’s something that I think about when I’m walking by myself at night. I wish I didn’t have to think about that though.

  41. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Tony:
    Usually it’s eyerolls (“She can’t let anything go“) or “You know what I meant.”
    Meh.

    Really sorry you have to worry about that. It’s just not right.

    *hugs*

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

    cicely,

    John Oliver’s show looks good, but I don’t have HBO, so I’ve only seen the Good Bits people have linked to.

    I’m not sure, but I think most of it ends up on the show’s Youtube channel:
    Last Week Tonight

    Nerd,

    have I ever said how much I admire you making such a big effort to make the Redhead confortable and happy? Well, I admire that.

    Tony,
    As Portia said, that’s just not right.

  43. Nakkustoppeli says

    Mr LaBarbera was in a good company to say his bullshit. James David Manning also says things that are ridiculous: The good reverend is a birther and accused Obama of being a long legged mack daddy, suspected that Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich (born Newton Leroy McPherson) are partially black (one of their ancestors being possibly a black, liberal educated sleeping car porter) because they have or had “black” names and are erratic.

    Pastor Manning also thinks that white homo demons will get black men away from their families.

    I haven’t figured out yet if Rev. Manning is all serious, seeks attention or what?

    These Young Turks clips are about him:
    Mack daddy
    Romney and Gingrich
    Homo demons

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

    hey folks, I’m in need of advice, badly.
    It’s related to those pesky human relations.

    As I mentioned, I’m on a business trip abroad. Director of the branch of our company here left my colleague a message for me saying that he’s inviting me for lunch this weekend, and left me his number to call him.
    I don’t know whether it was his or my colleague’s adition : “if you want, of course”

    She sent me that email with his number on Friday, and it’s already Sunday past noon. If I wait much longer, I will be really rude, I’m probably just skirtign rude rigth now. Or worse?

    Anyway, do you think it would be acceptable if I sent him an email thanking him for the invitation, saying that my weekend was quite filled with soem sight seeing and preparations for monday lessons I’m giving, and mentioning that if he’s willing we could postpone the lunch for some afternoong this workweek when my colleague will also be here?

    Rude? Ok-ish? Fine response? I already screwed up badly by ignoring this?

    Help!

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

    Well shit, I should have asked earlier. Now I’ve progressed into worrying myself into a nausea.

  46. opposablethumbs says

    Beatrice, fwiw I agree you should send him that email – with one very minor amendment; don’t be quite so specific about what your weekend was filled with. Do mention your professional preparation work, ’cause that’s Srs Bzns, but leave the rest vague, (prior commitments/a couple of things I’d commited to earlier – depending on how you normally talk to this person) so that he doesn’t feel he’s been brushed off for something minor? What do you think?

    So sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier, I’ve been so engrossed in my lesson preparations that of course I take so seriously … not those actual words, obviously (wording takes me hours!), but that kind of flavour maybe???

    So, well, yes I agree you should contact him but no, don’t worry about it. (I know that’s easier said than done). Also the fact that you are going to suggest lunch later in the week is good; the whole thing is not a “no” but a “yes, later” (and the fact that your colleague will be there is of course the big bonus).

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

    opposablethumbs,

    I have never met the guy before, so I have no framework, but I agree that mentioning trivial stuff could eb a bad move.
    The problem is that I couldn’t have any obligations here since I’m in a strange town for the first time, and don’t know anyone here (even if he doesn’t know that now, he’ll now when colleague inevitably mentions it when we do meet).

    Thanks for the advice, I’ll go with the vague part + work preparation.

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

    Also, he left his phone number and I’m answering by email :/

    But I didn’t know when to call (weekend) and it’s easier via email anyway.

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

    So, not to complicate things, something along the lines:

    [colleague] forwarded your message. I appologize for taking so long to respond, but some minor preparations for Monday managed to get prolonged into the better part of the weekend.
    Thank you for your invitation. I would suggest, if you’re willing, that we arrange a lunch later this week when [colleague] will be able to join us.

    Regards,

  50. says

    Beatrice
    That’s perfectly ok in most circumstances in the modern world. I do that kind of thing all the time because I hate talking on the phone, and no one objects (except people who haven’t got email, but that’s a valid reason) .

  51. blf says

    when we came home something hit me like a ton of bricks :

    Don’t stand in-between the penguin and the cheeseboard !

  52. opposablethumbs says

    Beatrice, that sounds good to me!

    If you’ve already sent it, I think it’s perfectly fine. If you haven’t sent it yet, I might consider deleting the word “minor”, but I really think it’s perfectly acceptable as it is.

    Now I’m sorry – I meant to keep watching the thread this morning to see what you said, but I got distracted with a stupid problem, I’m trying to finish a piece of work that must get sent off today and I have a stoopid problem with OpenOffice (the latest update is not “seeing” the dictionary any more, so spell-check is now unusable – and I like to have it for picking up typos at the proofreading stage, which is TODAY – which I have not yet fixed because I am a total moron and lately my godsdamn incompetence with things most computer-using people including a lot of kids could fix is really getting me down. Sorry)

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

    I hit send and then I hit refresh on the Lounge :)

    So minor was left in, it was meant as a “you know how it is, some “minor” work and then you end up with a working weekend” friendly-coworker-joking-thing.

    I’m sorry openoffice is troubling you, opposablethumbs. If you can’t find any better solution, you can past the work text into the comment space here, but be very careful to click preview and not Submit comment.
    … if you like living on the edge, of course :)

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

    well, crap the guy just called
    and I didn’t hearbecause sound on my phone is off, and when I called back the line was bussy and now I’m very nervous.

    I just have no idea about how to deal with people. *sigh*

  55. opposablethumbs says

    He was probably just calling to check, before receiving your email. Now he will have read it, and will know that you are busy. So he will realise you’re not on the phone because you’re doing your final prep for tomorrow.

    Sorry it’s all being so stressful! But I bet it will be totally fine next week. I often (really often) find that I have been stressing over interactions and the other person has barely even noticed anything (sigh).

    Not a bad idea to use the preview, but this damn thing is over 30 (A4-equivalent) pages long and over 4 thousand words with loads of fancy formatting so I’ll probably just check it by eye :-)

    I do hate being such a klutz, though :-( (but it seems I don’t hate it enough to overcome my aversion :-((( )

  56. blf says

    I just have no idea about how to deal with people.

    It’s actually quite easy. There are two approaches (and it is possible to use both at the same time, if desired):

    (1) Realize they are not the mildly deranged penguin, and therefore have no reason to bite yer head off. If they do, it’s an accident, so insist on an apology.

    (2) Pretend they are peas. RUN!

    Either or both approaches always works. Hence, you don’t have to worry about making the wrong choice, or even about being consistent.

  57. says

    Thanks for the well wishes folks. I managed to eat ice chips last night. Discovered it partially numbed my throat, so this morning I got brave and starting with several ice chips, I ate 4 four! spoonfuls of chocolate pudding by alternating between the two. I had food!

  58. opposablethumbs says

    Damn, Rawnaeris, I meant to send you some get-well wishes too – this sounds unusually horrible. I hope you are able to go on getting a bit more food and water into yourself, and that you get better soon!

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

    done, from his words, he was as enthusiastic about this lunch as I was. So yay ( it sounds like colleague kinda promissed in his name)

  60. blf says

    Beatrice, So you used method one. He’s not the mildly deranged penguin, and therefore didn’t bite yer head off. See, easy…

    (This is not to say the mildly deranged penguin always bites the heads off of longpigs. She only does that if you won’t let go of the cheese, moved suddenly — like when trying to use method two — whilst holding some cheese, or she feels like it…)

  61. says

    thumbkin, dear lady, if it would help, you could e-mail the file to me, and I could run it through Office proper (business requirement, for me, can’t take the risk of OO’s occasional blips in compatibility issues) and send it back? I have the UK dicts installed by default.

    If it’d help. :)

    If you want to, you can reach me using the magic words cave plus babe followed by the numbers 2 and 1, all at google’s e-post thingy, no spaces or dots other than those Al Gore intended, Peanut Butter Unto Him.

  62. opposablethumbs says

    Sounds like it was all the right move, Beatrice – I’m glad. He’ll probably be much happier having any meeting that may eventually happen with the other colleague present too, so as not to have to have a one-to-one with a stranger-to-him and maybe he felt awkward in case he failed to keep you entertained/is bad at small-talk etc etc.

    Maybe it’s all other-colleague being a very-sociable type and assuming everyone else is too :-)

  63. opposablethumbs says

    Beatrice, thank you very much for that link. I had got as far as the vaguely right area of the openoffice site, but not had time/too frazzled to go any further yet. I will now be able to start straight from the right place, so thank you!

    And thank you so much for that kind offer, CaitieCat! I have in fact juuuust managed to finish going through the damn text. I had to check it against the original anyway, as well as just for typos, to make sure I hadn’t accidentally missed anything out – but that was really kind of you and very much appreciated.

    Cool Horde is cool :-)

  64. says

    Soo… The good(?) news is that they are keeping me a day loner than originally thought.

    The bad news is they have no idea WTF is up with my throat. So they are now sending blood samples out to external labs to see if they can isolate it with tech not available at the hospital. So I’m apparently a mystery paitent.

    aside from pumping me full of antibiotics, I don’t think they’re even all that worried about the pneumonia. At least it’s common and they know how to treat it on autopilot.

    Thanks opposablethumbs (why did auto correct try to turn that into opposeable thumbscrews? My phone is weird)

    other actual good news is that my company is very liberal with sick time and will pause my projects (all independent, no one else needs my stuff) until I’m able to come back.

  65. says

    Thanks Tony!

    A lot of my whinging here is because there are folks on Facebook, friends of friends of friends that I don’t want to talk to about it.

    but here? Ya’ll are fuckin awesome.

  66. David Marjanović says

    It’s true. It’s much more expensive to achieve orgasm by masturbation.

    Subthread won.

  67. says

    Rawnaeris, I hope the doctors figure out exactly what you need ASAP. I’m glad your work is supportive of your need for sick leave; the less you have to worry about, the better.

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

    Unrelated gripe:

    I went to the store today in search of a new wallet and handbag, as mine are falling apart at the seams.

    Apparently the latest fashion in handbags is either “ginormous totebag in garish colors” or “teeny-tiny thing that would hold 2 breathmints.”

    :/

  69. opposablethumbs says

    Thanks again for the encouragement, Beatrice. Followed the tutorial (had to remove my user profile and make a new one – this is apparently a known if completely nonsensical glitch). Problem appears to be at least partly solved, yay!

    I hate doing even ultra-simple stuff like this, it makes me break out in a rash and a cold sweat. So it was good that you encouraged me :-)

  70. blf says

    I went to the store today in search of a new wallet and handbag, as mine are falling apart at the seams.

    Duck tape.

    In addition to repairing said items, if applied properly, it will also make it hard to remove one from the other, and then to remove the money. Hence, you will spend less, as it’s too fecking difficult to pay for anything. This is often a good thing…

  71. says

    Don’t they have anything better to worry about?

    The Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor will analyze Marvel’s The Avengers comics for incitement of violence and acts of cruelty at the request of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media, Izvestia newspaper writes on Wednesday, citing a source at the press and mass media agency.

    The agency “has made a request for a review of the children’s magazine The Avengers, issue #1 for August 2014, designed for middle school age children, regarding the use of Soviet symbols, the presentation of the characters as Russian service personnel, and the incitement of violence and cruelty,” the press and mass media agency wrote in its letter.

    According to Izvestia, the request was likely filed because one of the characters, Vanguard (Krasnogvardeets in the Russian version), has the Soviet symbol – the hammer and sickle – on his breastplate. Vanguard is affiliated with the Winter Guard: three human mutants and a bear, a group of superheroes based in Russia. When the Avengers ask who they are, Vanguard answers: “We are servicemen for the Russian Federation.”

    http://rapsinews.com/news/20140709/271682821.html

    This is the image they’re talking about.

  72. says

    “красногвардеец” is “Red Guardian”, rather than Vanguard (which would almost be the same, with an added A to begin, and without the U), so it’s a bit of an odd translation choice. “Авангард” was also a pretty popular word to the Soviets, so it would have made, I think, more sense to just use the direct translation.

    But I think getting upset about how a comic book portrays the fictional analogues to your country is probably kinda silly, when you’ve got little things like ‘recently invaded and occupied a big chunk of a neighbouring country’ on your resume.

  73. opposablethumbs says

    Duck tape.

    I have a sibling who took this approach to things, and for many years regularly mended any torn clothes with a combination of safety pins and masking tape. Knee gone in a pair of jeans? Masking tape. Rip in a shirt? Safety pins. Safety pins tore through the cloth? MOAR MASKING TAPE. I guess it worked … after a fashion (and no, he wasn’t into punk)

  74. says

    When Her Ex-cellency and I first got together, lo these many decades ago, she was amused to discover that I owned lingerie which had been repaired with staples.

    She was less amused and more impressed when she realized, five years later, that my repairs continued to hold…:D

  75. says

    (it was just the spaghetti trap had come loose from the top at the back, so…*shrug* it worked, and it was more or less invisible, and it held for years, til I grew too big to wear it anymore)

  76. says

    CaitieCat

    “красногвардеец” is “Red Guardian”, rather than Vanguard (which would almost be the same, with an added A to begin, and without the U), so it’s a bit of an odd translation choice. “Авангард” was also a pretty popular word to the Soviets, so it would have made, I think, more sense to just use the direct translation.

    Back when he was the Soviet answer to Captain America, he did go by Red Guardian. After the fall of the Soviet Union, that kind of name was impolitic, so it was changed to Vanguard. This is also the explanation for the hammer and sickle on his chest, although it looks like the current version has ditched it in favor of the double headed eagle.

  77. opposablethumbs says

    I guess that could be useful in an Italian restaurant or grocery (or of course those groves where it grows on trees). Would it work for noodles too? :-)

  78. says

    Dalillama:

    Back when he was the Soviet answer to Captain America, he did go by Red Guardian. After the fall of the Soviet Union, that kind of name was impolitic, so it was changed to Vanguard. This is also the explanation for the hammer and sickle on his chest, although it looks like the current version has ditched it in favor of the double headed eagle.

    This isn’t completely accurate.
    The character they’re complaining about is Vanguard. Through most of his history in the mainstream Marvel Universe, he went by that name. In recent years, he’s taken on the mantle of Red Guardian.
    The name ‘Red Guardian’, is the code name used by multiple Russian superheroes (and indeed was meant as that country’s version of Captain America).
    More confusion is added bc the image the meatspace Russians are talking about isn’t in the mainstream continuity of Marvel Comics. The specific comic book they’re complaining about is Avengers #1, with a cover date of 2014. But there isn’t a mainstream Marvel Avengers comic with a #1 that is cover dated 2014. Moreover, the image with ‘Vanguard’ is by an artist (I don’t know who it is) that doesn’t work on the current Avengers book. I suspect the Avengers #1 in Russia is an all ages comic (hence the art) that is possibly a reprint.

  79. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    The zombies are learning to drive!

    …just now? About 2/3 of the drivers around here seem to BE zombies. >.>

  80. says

    Rawnaeris, Lulu Cthulhu

    Adding my hopes that you get better soon. From your description of swallowing, I thought strep throat, since that’s the one that kept me from swallowing. Never had that problem with the 27 times I’ve had tonsilitis. I’m guessing, however, that they have ruled that out since it’s kind of a common ailment and from what I understand, doctors go from common to not so common when diagnosing.

    Beatrice

    Glad you got things worked out for lunch. I support the use of email whenever possible and I am not one who has a social anxiety. I just have come to despise using the phone. Texts and emails are so much easier. I spend a half hour working out what I want to say before I call anyone but close friends or family.

    Giliell

    Hope you feel better soon.

    Also, I don’t know how expensive it is to masturbate, but some of us are incredibly lazy. That would be a better argument — men turn gay because they are too lazy to masturbate.

  81. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Anybody with knowledge of psychiatry and the drugs involved therewith, can you email me? bravo, then portia, at the googel post service.

  82. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Esteleth/blf:

    I went to the store today in search of a new wallet and handbag, as mine are falling apart at the seams.

    Duck tape.

    Okay, the pedant in me wants to remind you it’s Duct Tape, unless you’re talking about the brand that is, in fact, Duck Tape, or the famous pop-art poster from the 1980s: This isn’t that image, but the joke is the same.

    However, patterned duct tape is available all over, and comes in some truly rockin’ patterns that can look seriously cool. As you can see.

    1 or 2 rolls of really nice designer tape are still 1/10th the price of a new bag. And the rescued bag becomes a conversation starter. Though that’s not necessarily a good thing, if you’re on the shy side.

  83. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Okay, the pedant in me wants to remind you it’s Duct Tape, unless you’re talking about the brand that is, in fact, Duck Tape, or the famous pop-art poster from the 1980s: This isn’t that image, but the joke is the same.

    …or being a pedant, in which case “Duck”ing is probably appropriate, and the tape may well be the closest propellable object. :P

  84. says

    Did someone hoist the pedant-signal? Technically, duck tape is the original terminology because the tape was made from cotton duck, a type of canvas (from Dutch doek meaning fabric or canvas).

  85. chigau (違う) says

    I always take a small roll of duct tape into The Field.
    It’s great for quick, temporary repairs of everything from gloves to trouser knees to back-packs.
    This year, I have HelloKitty duct tape.
    I can hardly wait….

  86. says

    Oooooh
    The Strain premieres tonight.

    Vampire fiction has long hewed to its Gothic roots, with rare deviations from the stake-fearing, sunlight-avoiding cornerstones.

    But with their new FX series The Strain, based on the bestselling novels by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, executive producers del Toro and Carlton Cuse hope to take a more modern – and more scientific – approach to bloodsuckers without losing the visceral thrill of bloody horror. Ahead of tonight’s premiere, Spinoff Online participated in a press call in which the two discusses their uncompromising view of vampire biology, the benefit to working on cable television, the design of their master vampire and the series’ five-year plan.

    “I’ve been obsessed by vampires for a long, long time, since I was a very young kid, and a very strange kid,” explained del Toro, who directed and co-wrote tonight’s pilot episode. “I read about vampire mythology worldwide and I familiarized myself with the Japanese, Filipino, Malaysian and Eastern European variations on the vampire, and many, many others. And I kept very detailed notes as a kid on where to go with the vampire myth in terms of brutality, social structure, biology, this and that. Some of those notes made it into my first feature, Cronos, some of them made it in Blade II, when I directed that, and most of them made it into The Strain.”

  87. says

    More of Guillermo del Toro’s thoughts on The Strain:

    The director of such films as Pacific Rim and Hellboy explained that vampire biology became the guiding force for how the secret sect of creatures lives in our world today. “The older the vampires stay alive, the more they lose their humanity,” he said. “They start literally by losing their heart. Their heart is suffocated by a vampire heart that overtakes the functions. And this was important metaphorically for me because the beacon that guides these vampires to their victims is love. Love is what makes them seek their victims. They go to the people they love the most. So they turn their instinct that is most innately human into the most inhuman feeding mechanism, so their heart is dead.

    del toro-strain2“Then shortly thereafter their digestive system is overtaken. Then, as we do in an early episode, their genitals fall off. And their excretion system becomes really, really efficient in the way that ticks, or lower forms of life that feed on blood do, a tick in order to feed needs to eliquate itself, and they are eliquating while they are feeding,” del Toro continued. “And in the series that comes with the big splashes of ammonia-infused liquid that they expel while they’re feeding. And then I know that they lose their soft tissue, their ears start falling off, their nose, if they’ve been alive for several years their nose rots and falls away, and they develop a tracheal opening to vent the extra heat from the metabolism and to project the stinger. So, I take a very biological approach. It’s not just, ‘Oh, that looks cool.’ I try to have it make sense biologically in the design.”

  88. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    At one time, the universe was held together with chewing gum and baling wire. Now it is duct tape and zip ties, with velcro somewhere nearby.

  89. carlie says

    Saw the tweets on the “Golden Ball” award for the World Cup, went to Wiki to find out what it was, and the entry for 2014 said “James Rodriguez who we all agree was 1000x better than Messini”. It was corrected within a minute. Heh. There will probably be constant monitoring on that page for awhile.

  90. says

    Seriously, there are at least three players I’d put ahead of Messi, and two of them played for the winning team (Schweinsteiger and Neuer, the other being young Rodriguez, as noted). Sentimental pick, not a reasonably objective one, IMO.

    As Gary Lineker (ex of my team – Spurs – and England) said,

    “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

  91. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    It’s Operation Keep Cousin’s-Baby and Myself Out Of Too Much Trouble this evening. I’ve never had a baby to myself in my own home – I mean, I’ve babysat a lot, even for this one, but not at my house. She’s not quite sure why she’s here but she has bananas so it’s not all bad.

  92. cicely says

    Does anyone here have any experience (good or bad) of using knee braces on unreliable-and-almost-certainly-arthritic knees?
    I’m looking at this one, because 1) unlike others (and not including the ones that are only an elastic “sock”), it is within the “Probably Affordable, Given A Couple Weeks’ Lead-Time” category, and 2) it actually seems to be available in a usable size (see yesterday’s comment wrt my being a round).
    The only question is…would wearing one actually be likely to help? I don’t consider merchandise testimonials to be reliable sources of information, so I have nothing at all to go from.

    Tony!:

    I’m always thinking of Trayvon Martin. It’s not a *huge* worry, but given that I am a PoC, and I do live in Florida, it’s something that I think about when I’m walking by myself at night. I wish I didn’t have to think about that though.

    I wish you didn’t have to think about that either.
    That no one did.
    :( :( :(

    Beatrice, thanks for the link!
    I know what I’m gonna be watching at work this week, while the paint dries.
    :)
     
    Also, Nerd—what Beatrice said.

    *hugs* for Giliell. *barf bucket*?
    I hope you all are soon over it.

    Rawnaeris, I hope they soon find out what’s up with your throat. But yay! for having in-taken food.

    blf:

    The zombies are learning to drive!

    I believe you have misread the article.
     
    The zombie was being transported to some form of incarceration, when it saw its chance to make a break for it.
    Its bid for freedom was thwarted by the density of traffic, and the quick response of the driver.

  93. blf says

    the pedant in me wants to remind you it’s Duct Tape

    No. The original name, dating from c.1900, was Duck Tape (which is now, but was not then, trademarked). The trademarked name “Duct Tape” only dates from the 1950s. However, Duck Tape as we now know it was developed until WW II, and the it is possible that “Duck Tape” nhas, at best, a loose relationship to the earlier name. However, it induspitaby preceded the duct tape name, and described a tape very similar to the current tape.

  94. blf says

    The typos in the preceding message are due to Opera having the most annoying set of “Hot Key” in both the known and unknown multiverses, and at least one of them causing a premature Submit

    I absolutely fecking HATE “keyboard shortcuts”, and encourage shooting any “GUI” designer who neglects to make it easy to ensue they aren’t any. This mean all of them, which would be a net gain to the responsible software engineering community.

  95. says

    Ok, all the pedants in the Lounge stand up and march! We’re taking this to the Octagon. The last one standing is the one who is correct (re: ‘duct’ vs ‘duck’).

  96. blf says

    The zombie was being transported to some form of incarceration, when it saw its chance to make a break for it.
    Its bid for freedom was thwarted by the density of traffic, and the quick response of the driver.

    That’s what THEY want you to believe……
    (Cue Twilight Zone theme…)

  97. blf says

    Does anyone here have any experience (good or bad) of using knee braces on unreliable-and-almost-certainly-arthritic knees?

    Sledgehammers do the trick more quickly and reliably.

    (So do, as the mildly deranged penguin would point out, pile drivers.)

  98. blf says

    The last one standing…

    Are nails, superglue, and Duck Tape allowed ?
    Are sledgehammers, pile drivers, and a mildly deranged penguin allowed ?

  99. chigau (違う) says

    At one time, the universe was held together with chewing gum and baling wire. Now it is duct tape and zip ties, with velcro somewhere nearby.

    If I can get this on a t-shirt, I shall.

  100. Rob Grigjanis says

    Caitie @613:

    Seriously, there are at least three players I’d put ahead of Messi, and two of them played for the winning team (Schweinsteiger and Neuer, the other being young Rodriguez, as noted)

    Definitely. Anyway, it usually goes to a forward, the exception being Oliver Kahn in 2002. Defensive midfielders and defenders are almost always les gens oubliés, sadly.

  101. says

    carlie and CatieCat

    Yeah, I’d throw Mascherano on Messi’s own team as player of the tournament over Messi. Schweinsteiger had a great time, Hulk was fabulous even as his defense let him down.

    “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

    And then there’s this beautiful Onion headline.

    Portia @614

    How old is Baby? Younger babies can entertain themselves on a playmat for quite a long time. Also, not able to get in much if the best they can do is roll over a few times.

  102. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    ajb47
    She’s 11.5 months old. Crawls really well. Her mom sent her booster seat with the idea that her lil foodie would be happy in her seat while I clean my kitchen. I ran out of cheerios so I switched to oyster crackers. Her mom might not like the white flour…but…she’s happy as a clam as long as she has crackers ^_^

  103. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    In fact, I’m probably conditioning her to fuss when she’s out of crackers. But oh well.

  104. says

    So I tried to go out and play with my dogs. Within 15 minutes, I realized someone rang the Dinner bell, bc my legs (I was in shorts) were itching like crazy.
    9 mosquito bites.

    I FUCKING HATE MOSQUITOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  105. morgan ?! epitheting a metaphor says

    cicely, I have cranky knees, but not really bad ones. But I have a very good friend who has The Knees From Hell and your link shows precisely the type of brace she uses.

    Rawnaeris, many years ago I had mononucleosis which was wrongly diagnosed. They shot me up with penicillin which did no good. The primary symptom was a horribly painful throat and extreme fatigue. I could neither eat nor drink. And as far as I know there is nothing you can do but wait it out. I hope you get a good diagnosis and soon. And yes, ice chips are wonderful.

    Good cheer and ample hugs to everyone who needs/wants.

  106. says

    Tony @629

    You need to put your Off on. (Yeah, that’s kind of an old joke in my family from way back int he early 70s when we first started camping.)

    Portia

    In that case, you’re going to get some exercise. At least you’re able to pick her up and turn her around when she goes in the wrong direction. It’s possible, though I don’t know how likely, you can distract her with an animated feature of some kind. At least for a bit.

  107. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Baby is very mellow today. I fed her in her chair til she started dropping everything on the floor to indicate she didn’t want any more, now she’s on a big blanket with the toys I keep around for occasions like this.

  108. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Dear Fellow On-line Daters:

    Can we all agree that nobody would want to date anybody who didn’t “like to laugh”? We’re all agreed then? Laughing is a given? Okay. Great. Let’s let it go without saying from here on out.

    Cheers,

    Portia

  109. says

    Portia:

    Can we all agree that nobody would want to date anybody who didn’t “like to laugh”? We’re all agreed then? Laughing is a given? Okay. Great. Let’s let it go without saying from here on out.

    No. Laughing is a sign of the devil.
    Only sinners and devil worshipers laugh.

  110. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Tony:

    :D

    I’m thinking about putting that in my description, but I doubt people would get the joke…

    “I do not love to laugh. If you’re looking for a significant other that doesn’t take themselves too seriously but also knows how to be serious when it’s called for, look elsewhere. I am serious 100% of the time. Also I don’t like to cuddle, hang out with friends, or just stay in and watch a movie. I am your anti-cliche.”

  111. says

    http://io9.com/an-oxford-rocket-scientist-has-designed-a-better-saucep-1604446160?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

    With a conventional pan, explains Povey, the flame from a stove rises up around the pan “and a lot of that heat is dissipated into the environment. With a Flare Pan, the fins capture a lot of heat that would otherwise be wasted.” According to Povey, the pans use 40% less gas and cook 44% faster than comparable, standard cookware. That means they’re cheaper and quicker to use than conventional pans, a fact that has garnered Povey’s pots a 2014 Hawley Award from the Worshipful Company of Engineers for “the most outstanding engineering innovation that delivers demonstrable benefit to the environment.”

  112. carlie says

    Does anyone here have any experience (good or bad) of using knee braces on unreliable-and-almost-certainly-arthritic knees?

    Probably depends on the problem. Spouse uses one (an off the shelf from big box mart) b/c of a prior ACL injury and repair; it keeps his knee stabilized from moving side to side as much and helps support it when he wrenches it out of place and it hurts.

  113. says

    Tony re: Pots and Pans with fins

    Any one test them on electric stove tops? Not all of us have access to gas appliances.

    Protia

    “And fuck puppies and kittens.”

  114. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Tony:

    Here, it’s walks by the river. Also hunting.

    “I am not spontaneous. All activities will need to be planned at least six weeks in advance.”

    “Animals suck in general. Especially that little troll you call a puppy.”

  115. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Well now it’s sort of literally true: I am not being spontaneous. A guy messaged me today and asked me to go to a concert with him next weekend. : / I’m not so sure I’m comfortable with that.

  116. cicely says

    blf, while I concede that a sledgehammer can be used to quickly and reliably fuck up one’s knees, mine (being already fucked up) require a different approach to the problem.
     
    And while duc(t)(k) tape might seem like a possible answer (the problem being, essentially, to hold the knee into a minimally-painful, locomotion-capable position), I suspect that the down-side would be unacceptably large.

    Mosquitoes are an Equine plot.

    morgan ?!, thank you for the feedback; this is exactly the sort of thing I want to hear.
    :)

    carlie, thank you, as well. I suspect that preventing side-to-side motion may be an important key to diminished pain. ‘Cause I’m a pain-wimp, I am, and I Do Not Want negative reinforcement where walking is concerned. I don’t want to become two rounds!

  117. Rey Fox says

    Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do…except perhaps my wife and some of her friends…oh yes and Captain Johnston. Come to think of it most people likes a good laugh more than I do. But that’s beside the point.

  118. carlie says

    “I do not love to laugh. If you’re looking for a significant other that doesn’t take themselves too seriously but also knows how to be serious when it’s called for, look elsewhere. I am serious 100% of the time. Also I don’t like to cuddle, hang out with friends, or just stay in and watch a movie. I am your anti-cliche.”

    But do you like piña coladas? Getting caught in the rain?

  119. carlie says

    Jeez. I was just out, and it felt like a sauna outside. I joked that it must be 100% humidity.

    Came inside and checked the weather. 98%.

    Fuck. That.

    Now I wish we’d put the air conditioner in already. I grew up with this kind of humidity, but I am not used to it any more. This sucks.

  120. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    carlie:

    NO PINA COLADAS ARE LIKE BILE TO ME.

    I drink absinthe. Because I am different.

    A very nice federally-employed attorney has messaged me. I don’t know why I like other lawyers so much. It went so well the last time I dated one!

  121. says

    Portia

    Just to state the obvious, if you’re uncomfortable with his first suggestion, how comfortable will you be with others when thinking back on this one? Your comfort matters.

    My wife and I actually met online, in an old Usenet newsgroup that gave us a common interest. And we slowly found we had other interests in common. So it’s possible to find someone, it just may not necessarily be fast. Sorry if that sound like, “Duh, yeah.”

  122. carlie says

    Confession: I hate coconut (except coconut milk in curry, then it is wonderful). And I don’t prefer pineapple flavor in any form other than “here is a fruit mix with nothing but pineapple and muskmelon, have fun with that”.

    I have recently realized that, although I always thought of it as a frou-frou decorative kind of drink ingredient, Bailey’s straight is actually quite nice.

  123. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    ajb47:

    how comfortable will you be with others when thinking back on this one?

    Not sure I get your meaning. You mean that maybe it’s the person who makes me uncomfortable, not just the suggested activity/the timing?

    :)

  124. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    carlie

    except coconut milk in curry, then it is wonderful)

    Oh, yes, YES. I just recently discovered how much I like curry. A local Thai place does an amazing pumpkin curry.

    Also agree on the Bailey’s. Mmm. It’s not a weak drink at all.

  125. says

    Humidity is my kryptonite. I intensely dislike going into a bathroom after a shower has been taken.

    However, I am not into yoga, and I have half a brain.

    Also: Mmmmm, Absinthe. I have a bottle in my basement bar. La fée verte.

    Portia @658

    Yes, mostly. I’m trying to give you some support for what you’re feeling, and if you’re feeling uncomfortable, maybe there’s a reason for that.

    Tony @660

    Yeah, there are bound to be cliche characters and such. Also, my wife has read reviews that state it is gory, but it really hits its stride in the 3rd episode or so, once past the setup.

  126. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Ah, thanks, ajb47. I appreciate it. : ) Validation of my boundary-setting is always welcome. It’s not something that comes easily to me. He responded well, to his credit. I told him I don’t know him well enough for that, and he said he understood but figured it was worth asking. :)

    Now I’m talking to a lawyer who lives about an hour away. He described himself as “far left liberal” …so that’s a good start.

  127. says

    ajb47:

    Yeah, there are bound to be cliche characters and such. Also, my wife has read reviews that state it is gory, but it really hits its stride in the 3rd episode or so, once past the setup.

    Yeah, the first episode is a lot of setup and exposition dump, but I understand the necessity of it. I look forward to seeing some character development. There’s already been a little bit.

  128. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Does anyone here have any experience (good or bad) of using knee braces on unreliable-and-almost-certainly-arthritic knees?
    I’m looking at this one, because 1) unlike others (and not including the ones that are only an elastic “sock”), it is within the “Probably Affordable, Given A Couple Weeks’ Lead-Time” category, and 2) it actually seems to be available in a usable size (see yesterday’s comment wrt my being a round).
    The only question is…would wearing one actually be likely to help? I don’t consider merchandise testimonials to be reliable sources of information, so I have nothing at all to go from.

    My mom uses one part-time. I’ll try to get you more detailed information.

  129. says

    Portia, no problem. Your boundaries matter. I spend a lot of time thinking up posts and then editing them and then erasing half of them and then typing up some more and then deciding I have nothing to say and deleting what I typed and moving on.

    So I’ll go with: Just trust the boundaries you’ve set for yourself. There’s really plenty of space in them for spontaneity.

  130. says

    Yeah. Strep has been tested for at least 3 times and mono twice.

    All the weird tests came back negative too, so they’re doing a second CT scan sometime tomorrow.

    I’m off to attempt sleep. Wish me luck.

  131. says

    ajb47:

    I spend a lot of time thinking up posts and then editing them and then erasing half of them and then typing up some more and then deciding I have nothing to say and deleting what I typed and moving on.

    I’m curious why you do this. Seems like if you took the time to think up posts and you edit them, then at some point, you did have something to say. Obviously it’s your choice what, if anything, to post; I’m just trying to understand what you mean here. I apologize if I’m being too nosy.

  132. says

    Morning
    Collect your hugs at the door, I’m too damn tired to hand them out individually.
    Not all football fans are complete assholes, but I swear enough of them are.
    It also shows that most people are actually not behaving considerate towards their fellow human beings because they know that it’s right, but because they know that:
    -others would judge them
    -they would get into trouble with the police.
    Since neither happens at football events, they think it’s totally OK to drive around blowing their horns and setting off illegal fireworks until 1 am.
    Yes, I’m really grumpy.

    But here’s something Caitie will surely appreciate: football idioms taken literally

  133. birgerjohansson says

    Bad social policy, not ideology, blamed for the Arab world’s downward spiral http://phys.org/news/2014-07-bad-social-policy-ideology-blamed.html
    .
    Prehistoric ‘bookkeeping’ continued long after invention of writing http://phys.org/news/2014-07-prehistoric-bookkeeping.html
    .
    Are Neocons Getting Ready to Ally With Hillary Clinton?
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/opinion/sunday/are-neocons-getting-ready-to-ally-with-hillary-clinton.html?
    .
    Republican Jews Alarmed at the Prospect of a Void in the House and Senate http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/us/politics/republican-jews-alarmed-at-the-prospect-of-a-void-in-the-house-and-senate-.html

  134. opposablethumbs says

    I spend a lot of time thinking up posts and then editing them and then erasing half of them and then typing up some more and then deciding I have nothing to say and deleting what I typed and moving on.

    That’s me. A lot.

    I’m curious why you do this. Seems like if you took the time to think up posts and you edit them, then at some point, you did have something to say.

    Tony!, speaking only for myself, obviously, and not for ajb47 (it’s just that I identify quite strongly with their comment!) I often feel I have nothing worthwhile to say. That on reflection, the joke would fall flat, or the suggestion would be impertinent, or the idea would prove to be misconceived and ill-informed. In my case it’s lack of confidence plus fear of a negative response. What can I say, I’m a total weakly interacting massive particle.

  135. says

    It’s pretty much what opposablethumbs said in 677 (might have been speaking for yourself, but you nailed it for me, too). Add in that when I first got on the internet back in 1992, I actually read those little Netiquette articles on Usenet and am still trying to follow them. I find myself wanting to make sure my posts say what I want them to say and not say anything I don’t want them to say. And I have a strong aversion to posting “Me, too” type comments, so if I feel like I’m starting to say something that someone else said, I’ll delete my comment.

    Heck, this one is mostly a Me, too type post and I still spent a half hour on it.

  136. carlie says

    And I have a strong aversion to posting “Me, too” type comments, so if I feel like I’m starting to say something that someone else said, I’ll delete my comment.

    Except that often, the power of a statement comes from the number of people expressing it. If only one person says “I think this”, it just stands out there, especially if it’s in opposition to the cultural norm. But if a swell of other people say “I agree, I think this too”, it gains more weight. :)

  137. says

    carlie

    Even as I wrote that I don’t like Me, too comments, I thought of times that yes, it does make sense to post one. And blog comments are a different animal than newsgroup posts/threads. And I thought of putting that in the post, but then I worried that might muddle the post up so I left it out. Which is a reason I took a half hour to write a few sentences.