Comments

  2. says

    Saad@#4:
    What’s wrong with peeing sitting down?

    I’ve done it that way for a long time. It’s better for reading, and it splashes less.
    When I was in basic training (ft dix, 1983) I got my whole platoon to do it that way, using the simple argument that it’d take us less time to clean our barracks, and we’d be spending less time playing with eachother’s pee. Sold!

  4. emergence says

    Nerd, I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I hope that you do alright. I don’t really know what else I can say.

  5. Caroline says

    Hi Nerd of Redhead,

    My deepest sympathies to you and your family, so sorry to hear of you loss.
    Cal

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

    Nerd of Redhead,
    I’m so sorry for your loss.

  8. Ice Swimmer says

    Nerd of Redhead, I’m sorry for your loss. My deepest sympathies. It’s the day we’re never truly ready for.

  9. fusilier says

    Nerd of Redhead

    My sincere sorrow and sympathy for your loss.

    fusilier, who usually lurks
    James 2:24

  10. Rob Grigjanis says

    Nerd, my condolences on your loss. If wishes are worth anything, I wish you all the strength you need.

  13. Hairhead, Still Learning at 59 says

    Nerd, this must be awful for you — all my thoughts and support are with you.

  14. A. Noyd says

    Very sorry to hear that, Nerd. I know you did everything you could to give the Redhead more time and make life enjoyable. She was lucky to have you.

  15. Brisvegan says

    I am so sorry to read of your loss, Nerd. My deepest condolences.

    Though I don’t comment much, I read several FTB blogs daily. Your love and caring for the Redhead shone through your comments. I am sure you made her days brighter.

  19. Ray, rude-ass yankee, Bugblatting Flibbertigibbet says

    Nerd, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Best to you and your family.

  22. lostbrit says

    Nerd -- it may count for nothing and I certainly dont know you, but my heart breaks for your loss. I am really sorry you have had to endure this.

  24. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    on another topic:
    .
    Making japanese nukazuke (a variety of pickle) requires daily hand-mixing with your naked hand.
    Because of this requirement, my nuka-pot now contains one (1) false fingernail and some cucumbers.
    When the cucumbers are removed from the pickling medium, they will be well-washed before serving.
    No fingernail will be served.
    .
    should I tell anyone?

  26. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    For the last five years, I have had to get up in the middle of the night to put the Redhead on the commode, or change her diaper. Made me chronically tired when I was working, but not after I retired and could sleep in.
    The last couple of nights I am finding I’m waking up and alert after about 6 hours sleep. Is this the new pattern, or the body simply not adjusted to not needing to get up in the middle of the night?

  27. Badland says

    Nerd,

    Body memory has me incapable of sleeping past 0600 no matter what comes before. That’s when the kids would wake up, and I’d go collect and sequester them and let my beloved sleep as long as she could.

    My take, which is mine, is you’ve trained yourself to need less sleep. For the first time in five years your nights are your own and you can take that reduced sleep consecutively.

    I fill that extra time with books and horrifying myself with you ‘Muricans latest shenanigans…

  28. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    When it rains, it pours. A minor problem, we had a small icy rain/snow in the area Wednesday morning, and the windshield got iced over. I turned on the wipers, they didn’t move and turned them off. While I was scrapping the ice, a metallic *snap* from the wiper area. Didn’t work afterwards. Hopefully the repair shop can fix it today, as Monday they are expecting rain (40F predicted).

  30. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Partial success with the wipers. The ’95 Probe didn’t have the part available, and none of the generic rebuild kit bushings fit. but the repair shop is jury rigging something to make it work temporarily, with some help from RainX. Part of the day I can get a ride from my sister-in-law who is flying in for the funeral to minimize my usage.
    The part is being ordered from a junk yard, and will be replaced after the funeral, so I will have a working car to go car shopping in.

  31. says

    Nerd:

    Partial success with the wipers. The ’95 Probe didn’t have the part available, and none of the generic rebuild kit bushings fit. but the repair shop is jury rigging something to make it work temporarily, with some help from RainX. Part of the day I can get a ride from my sister-in-law who is flying in for the funeral to minimize my usage.

    I’m glad your sister will be with you. Oh, the malice of inanimate objects is always with us. Never ending, it seems in my case.

  32. says

    Chigau:

    It it 10:00 AM MST.

    All the blogs are set to NY time, because if they are set to our individual times, it fucks up the recent posts somehow. This post says “3:22 pm”, while my actual time is 2:10 pm.

  33. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    Caine
    I grok the TimeZone thing.
    It is the 13 minutes that confuzzles me.
    .
    I clicked on Tech Issues.

  34. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Weird dream last night. Some pixie like creatures came and got the Redhead’s pixie soul, and took it off for comforting. The dream was comforting to me, but I know pixies don’t exist. I suppose dreams like that are why the afterlife myth came to be.
    I think I’m getting a handle on why I only sleep about 6 hours. 1) Needed another blanket as I was slightly cold. 2) Intestinal gas that needs to be expelled, so it quits roiling through the abdomen. I then remembered I usually farted at some point when I got up to service the Redhead. Tried to go back to sleep and almost made it, but I thought I heard the phone ring. Instant panic alert. It turns out it did ring the one time, one of her CNAs probably called without seeing the time before punching in the numbers. I do want her to call as I need to give her the final check.

  36. Ice Swimmer says

    Giliell @ 35

    The Reuters news is from November 2016. How has the situation developed?

    In the the EdF web pages, the have a list of outages. Now, (January 15th 2017, 23:44 EET), six plants seem to be on 0 power (Porcheville 2&3, Combe d’Avrieux 1, Bouchain 7, Paluel 1 and Cruas 1) and Bugey 4 is on less than half of full power and two others are a bit under full. Altogether, these make a bit over 4 GW power not available because of outages in 9 power plants.

  37. Ice Swimmer says

    And I fucked up. The EdF page is a bit hard to use and decipher. Combe d’Avrieux is a hydropower station, 123 MW and Bpuchain 7 is a gas turbine plant, 575 MW. There is still a lot of nuclear power offline (over 10 plants on zero power, which makes up easily more than 4 GW).

  39. Ice Swimmer says

    Had a nice weekend with a friend and his family. We hung out, played board games and went to a public lakeside sauna with big winter swimming facilities, multiple pumps to keep the hole in the ice open and heated stairs to the water (not hot, but heated well enough to keep them ice-free).

    Lake water felt quite different from sea water. Even at 0 °C (water temperature), the lake water felt less intensely and “sharply” cold than sea water felt on Thursday (there was ice on the sea). The lake had been frozen for much longer than the sea as there were people ice-skating and skiing on the lake ice, while the sea ice has melted and come back multiple times.

  41. cicely says

    rq:

    Sooo… what’s the point of it all if the patient can avert their eyes or have the volume turned down? To waste everyone’s time and money?

    To demonstrate to the religiously-conservative constituency that they are punishing them unwed mothers of presumably-minority ethnicity (’cause nobody else has abortions, donchaknow!), while reassuring the rest of the electorate that they’ve pulled its teeth; Vote To Re-Elect [Their Name Here] as [Official Designation]! ?
     
    Of course, this relies on the disinclination of the fundamentally-religious to read outside of their cherry-pick of just one book, and their willingness to believe whatever lie they’re told, when the subject comes up.
     
    Otherwise, I got nuthin’
    --
    Saad:

    A bill decriminalizing domestic violence clears the first stage in Russian parliament

    Fuuuuuuuu….
    --
    Nerd, I am so very sorry for your loss.
    *big, fluffy hugs and/or other-and-acceptable gestures of sympathy and support*
     
    (later)
    RainX is incredible stuff!
    Once-upon-a-lot-of-years-ago, we were driving to Darkest Western Oklahoma (by the scenic route, by which I mean, through a whole lotta nowhere) and it started to rain. One of our blades flew off. We continued onwards and damned if the other one didn’t fly off—only now, it was raining so hard that it was only the presence of the RainX that made seeing/driving even possible.
    --

  42. blf says

    I wasn’t even aware France was apparently facing an potential electrical shortage this winter. (And YES, EdF webpages are confusing, almost by definition — be happy you don’t have to try and use the fecking things to interact with EdF!)

    Here is an up-to-date report (in English), France braced for power shortage as big freeze looms (as corrected on 13-Jan-2017):

    The French power system looks certain to face a shortfall of at least 1.5GW in available capacity in week 3 compared to the previous severe cold spell with comparable demand, ICIS calculations show.

    (ICIS is firm that, amongst other things, deals in power trading, and hence is a biased observer; however, as far as I know, their reports are reasonably accurate.)

    In addition — possibly related — there is a scandal going on involving AVERA, a French company which makes reactors(? or component for reactors?), some are faulty, and as it too-typical in the nuclear industry, the faults were covered-up; e.g., counterfeit / false paperwork relating to quality / testing. AREVA is also in financial difficulties (not sure if this is related to the scandal or not), and is being effectively fully nationalised (it is already mostly-owned by the state); that is, public monies are being spent to buy the company and and, something…

    EdF is apparently also having financial problems, but I have no idea just what is going on here…

  43. blf says

    AVERA → AREVA.

    There is also a company called AVERA, but they are an insurance(?) firm and presumably not-involved in the French nuclear power follies…

  44. says

    Blf:

    The French power system looks certain to face a shortfall of at least 1.5GW in available capacity in week 3 compared to the previous severe cold spell with comparable demand, ICIS calculations show.

    That’s scary. It’s very bad to be without power in very cold weather, been there, done that, have generator.

  45. says

    @blf #42

    …and as it too-typical in the nuclear industry, the faults were covered-up; e.g., counterfeit / false paperwork relating to quality / testing…

    FTFY

    I am not working in nuclear industry, and I have seen my share of suspicious paperwork. Like measurement reporst for things that are impossible to measure, allegedly performed tests that defy laws of physics etc. I even had serious clashes with my supervisors when they tried to bully me into false reporting. VW had its recent scandal, Toyota, GM and many others in automotive industry to. If one were to search, one would I am sure find similar cases in food industries and healthcare as well.

    It is, alas, a widespread problem. And there does not seem to be any political will to do anything about it -- how could there be when even the customers do not want to do anything about it, because they keep voting into office people who promise to deregulate everything. Or regulate the wrong things -- like putting the biggest tax burden on people with medium to low income etc.

  46. Ice Swimmer says

    blf @ 42

    AREVA is a company building nuclear reactors/power stations. At least one cause of their financial difficulties is the huge 1.3 GW (if it ever goes on-line) reactor project in Finland (Olkiluoto 3), which is several years late and costing them huge sums. I’ve taken to calling the Olkiluoto 3 a Self-Opposing Nuclear Reactor. A part of the delays was due to shoddy work, which had to be repaired, other factor is that the reactor technology is new so there isn’t prior experience about it. The nuclear safety officials here have been less than impressed with the practices of AREVA.

    AFAIK, EdF is in the process of buying AREVA or doing a merger with it.

  47. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I interrupt to to bring the following item. Today I led the service to celebrate the Redhead’s life, not mourn her death. Those attending offered their own stories. I was pleased.
    Afterwards, a luncheon was held at a restaurant we frequented. A good time was had by all.
    Tomorrow, after the windshield wipers are fixed, I will go and look at the grave and pick up the death certificates.
    You may now return to your regular programming.

  48. says

    Nerd:

    Today I led the service to celebrate the Redhead’s life, not mourn her death. Those attending offered their own stories. I was pleased.

    That sounds wonderful, Nerd. I hope there was much laughter and love in all the remembrances.

  49. blf says

    There is an article / bookreview in today’s dead-tree edition of the International New York Times (ex-IHT) about New York psychotherapist Nancy Colier’s new book, “The Power of Off”, about smartphone addiction (Hooked on Our Smartphones). In it, Ms Colier is quoted as making several assertions(?) which strike me as dubious (enumerated in bold for ease of reference, albeit I’ve omitted the hyperlinks):

    […]
    “(1) Most people now check their smartphones 150 times per day, or every six minutes,” Ms. Colier wrote. “(2) And young adults are now sending an average of 110 texts per day.” Furthermore, she added, “(3) 46 percent of smartphone users now say that their devices are something they ‘couldn’t live without.’”
    […]
    Ms. Colier, a licensed clinical social worker, said, “The only difference between digital addiction and other addictions is that (4) this is a socially condoned behavior.”
    […]

    Um, really? Whilst Ms Colier is clearly writing about USAliens, and my own experiences / observations are mostly in France, the four enumerated claims still bother me:

    (1) 150 times a day, or every six minutes: That’s ten times each hour, for c.15 hours, including mealtimes. I seriously doubt I’ve ever seen anyone that obsessive, including those who do check their smartphones during meals.

      I myself have gone weeks without checking — and have missed genuinely important messages as a result — and thus tend to check once a day now, after the phone self-powerups in the morning (I have it set to poweroff at night): I (deliberately) need to reenter my passphrase then, so it’s simple to continue on and check…

    (2) An average of 110 texts per day: Meaningless number (I assume “mean” is meant) — I’d be more interested in the median value. I’ve no doubt some people send that many, or even much more, daily, but most are, I suspect much less. For one thing, typical plans here in France are limited to a few hundred texts per month; at a rate of c.100 daily, you’d use up your monthly allocation within a week or less.

      Me? Without checking the phone to get exact values, I believe it’s about 100 texts for all of last year, in total. And even fewer voice calls. (And no data downloaded at all!)

    (3) c.46% say “couldn’t live without” a smartphone: Plausible, albeit I want to believe otherwise…

      Obviously I’m not in that group, and I daresay almost all people I know in-person (both in France and elsewhere) are not either. (I do know a couple who almost certainly are in that group, and who used to be, and perhaps still are, obsessive users.)

    (4) Smartphone addiction is condoned: It is? Perhaps, maybe, among teenagers, but I cannot say I’ve noticed that trend… but I could easily be mistaken, and / or conflating with my own dislike of obsessive / impolite use (e.g., not looking where one is walking, standing in the middle of the walkway, usage during meals, and so on…).

    Since I haven’t (yet) checked the hyperlinks in the original for the above claims, it is certainly possible I’ve misunderstood the claims, or ignored important caveats (none(?) of which are in the quoted article). Plus, of course, I’m using personal observation, which is not data in any very useful sense.

    The book itself could be interesting, and the INYT article does end with a few sensible suggestions for those who are concerned.

  50. blf says

    Ice Swimmer@46, Thanks for the heads-up on the Finnish reactor project. I think that is the same one which once was, and perhaps still is, being cited as the model for future reactors in the UK. (There is an EdF — and hence presumably also AREVA — connection there, but the details have slipped my mind.)

    I haven’t been following the AREVA scandal, but my understanding is the French government owns something like 80% and is now in the process of buying out the minority shareholders. I suppose they might be doing that via EdF (which is also, I think (without checking), majority-owned by the government)?

  51. blf says

    Charly@45, Yes, I’ve had my own discovery of suspicious paperwork: At my last job, the last thing I happened to be working on may have been a case of just that. (The fact it was the last thing I worked on is entirely coincidence and indisputably has nothing to do with the elimination of my position.)

    In particular, a customer alerted us to some odd measurement results they got when checking a critical security-related feature of the chip I was then working on. I reproduced those results, which indicated a potentially-exploitable flaw existed. Big DummyCo’s own (previous) measurements had not found any flaw, a result supposedly confirmed by an independent testing laboratory: But what I found was that the lab had used Big DummyCo’s own testing software — not their own — and those Big DummyCo tests were seriously “artificial”, using the relevant feature in a manner that would never be found “for real”. There’s nothing apriori wrong which such artificial testing, but (simulated) “real life” testing is also needed. That wasn’t done, nor — perhaps more importantly — any truly independent tests, until the customer did their own…

    How much of that is malice, and how much is simply incompetence, is unknown to me. I suspect it’s mostly incompetence, but knowing the Pointy Hair involved, cannot rule out a degree of malice.

  52. says

    Nerd

    Today I led the service to celebrate the Redhead’s life, not mourn her death. Those attending offered their own stories. I was pleased.

    That sounds good. I think it’s an aspect where secular versions are usually much superior to religious ones. As we have no deities or thoughts of an afterlife, our farewells centre around the person and their lives.

    +++

    blf< @49
    NOw, I’m a big fan of my smartphone. Apart from the pure gameplay which probably makes a big part of my usage, I use it for texts a lot. I suppose the 150 messages refers to things like Whats App as well. And those are very useful, especially when coordinating things with groups.

    .46% say “couldn’t live without” a smartphone: Plausible, albeit I want to believe otherwise…

    I couldn’t live without my coffee in the morning
    I couldn’t live without chocolate
    I couldn’t live without…
    That’s a very colloquial phrasing with a value of WTF?

  53. blf says

    Caine@44, The apparent pending shortage of generating capacity in France may not be all that scary: Broadly speaking, there are power interconnects throughout Europe, and France / EdF should be able to buy surplus power from other countries. Whether or not there is adequate surplus power available is unknown-to-me; I also have no idea about the costs or other financial considerations. (And I think the UK–France interconnect (under the channel) is currently not operational from some reason? I seem to recall that normally the it’s the UK buying power from France…)

  54. blf says

    Giliell@52, Some of the redacted text in the quote (@49) implies “couldn’t live without” should be read as showing distress (withdrawal?) when the smartphone isn’t available for a day or more. Nonetheless, your point is taken (and is something I clearly missed), that phrase isn’t very meaningful.

    I’ve since chased some of the original’s hyperlinks, and they were all to webpages without immediately obvious references. I didn’t look any further, but am now even more suspicious of the numbers quoted.

    And something of an aside, WhatsApp has a serious security flaw. Your messages are not private and can be intercepted & read by a third party: WhatsApp vulnerability allows snooping on encrypted messages. And, Should I be worried about the WhatsApp encryption vulnerability?:

    […] A way into a supposedly secure, end-to-end encrypted, private messaging service could be a “goldmine” for surveillance purposes and is “a huge betrayal of user trust”, according to privacy advocates.

    The amount of private information sent knowingly or unknowingly through WhatsApp could be vast and therefore is a very attractive target for surveillance. […]

    Given teh trum-prats, le penazis, and other authoritarian regimes, I wouldn’t use WhatsApp even if you are not trying to avoid surveillance.

  55. blf says

    Well, it certainly is cold here in (South) France, it’s freezing (0℃) now-ish, c.22h30, with no clouds so will drop below freezing tonight. This is about as low as it typically gets in this area. No polar bears have been sighted, and the mildly deranged penguin is complaining it’s still too warm…

  60. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Going back to a previous discussion on LED bulb, since I don’t need the Redhead’s approval (she’ll haunt me with her disapproval, have no fear), I just ordered enough LED candelabra bulbs to replace all the tungsten bulbs in the two big chandeliers. Small changes are happening.

  61. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Sure would be nice if he pardoned Leonard Peltier.

    Can’t argue with that. *Clenched fist salute*

  62. says

    Sure would be nice if he pardoned Leonard Peltier.

    Too fucking true, and Mumia Abu Jamal along with him.

    +++

    Attention, whining ahead

    I’m sick as fuck and I have been all week. Of course I could take sick leave, but it’s the very first week of teacher training. You’re getting all the vital information now and I’d never catch up if I missed this. I would also be “the person who wasn’t there” for the rest of the training.
    And because of Murphy’s Law life can’t take a break elsewhere. This morning was on of the three days a year when I didn’t have bread in the house and wanted to buy the kids breakfast at the baker’s van in front of the school. Only that they’re apparently sick as well*…

    *And have been all week, as the kid’s teacher told me when I apologised that I’d need to disturb them a few minutes past 8 to deliver breakfast. She also told me that there’s kids who have been without breakfast for the third day in a row now because either the parents couldn’t be bothered or the kids decided to increase their pocket money…

  64. blf says

    Apropos of nothing much, I was wondering this morning why the lair was so cold, colder than I expected despite the cold (for this area) weather. Also much brighter.

    After several litres of coffee, and successfully determining where the floor is in relation to the ceiling, I realised I’d neglected to close the outer heavy wooden shutters last night. The main purpose of the those shutters, as mentioned previously, is to shade the sun and trap the cool night air inside during the hot summer days, but it also works in reverse, keeping the cold air away from windows (which are not double-glazed). Forget to close them, and the essentially uninsulated window is a rather good source of cold…

  67. blf says

    Today, of course, is Penguin Awareness Day, but you all knew that, even if the cheese offerings & cheese scarifies to-date have been a bit low. Some rancid cheesehaired is trying to usurp the day, so the mildly deranged penguin suggests including copious helpings of vin, cheese, beer, cheese, and grog, and moar cheese, with your donated cheese offerings. Also earplugs, as long as they don’t play “La la la!”.

    First Dog on the Moon has additional requests, This is a call to arms on climate change. And by arms I mean flippers! (cartoon): “On Penguin Awareness Day Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin issues a rallying cry to fight climate change. It’s so easy to fall into despair”.

  69. rq says

    I went. Can’t see me in the pictures (the link is the last in the gallery, so scroll left, I just really like that sign on the right). I tried to carry as many of my friends with me as possible (symbolically, of course), and while I forgot the extra pair of shoes, there was an extra pair of pants in my purse.
    To all of my Murkan friends marching, please be as safe as possible, watch out for each other, and courage!

  70. rq says

    Also someone (Giliell?) somewhere mentioned crowning himself as king. This resonates:

    At CNN, anchor Chris Cuomo emoted about how the word “inauguration” derives partially from the word “consecration,” which, he said, is apt, because the ceremony is a sacrament of democracy, and in that sense, divine power radiates from it.

  73. StevoR says

    News (coverage -maybe some new details?) :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-21/global-womens-marches-kick-off-in-new-zealand,-australia/8200236

    Excerpt :

    Post-inauguration women’s marches in Australia and New Zealand have launched a global human rights event expected to attract over 2 million people worldwide.

    Women’s March Global, a movement sparked by a march in Washington timed to coincide with Donald Trump’s first day in office as US President, said 673 sister walks were planned worldwide.

    An estimated 2.2 million people were expected to take part in the events across seven continents, including Antarctica.

    See also : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-17/why-im-marching-against-donald-trump/8184812

    Trump :

    “Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another — but we are transferring power from Washington, DC, and giving it back to you, the American people.”

    Source : Trump’s inaugeral address Aussie ABC online news.

    So I guess that means given how the American people voted for Hillary Clinton instead of him by about three million votes or so he’s resigning immediately in her favour and handing over power to her then? No?

    Fact : Trump is one of only five POTUS’es to lose the popular vote (Dubya George II the Lesser being one of the others.) Obama and Bill Clinton both won the popular vote by a good margin -- as did Hillary Clinton.

    Cite : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin

    (Yeah, I know wikipedia; far from flawless -- but it is the globe-wide people’s online encylopedia & think this entry is pretty right. )

  74. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Yippee, I found my E20 (standard sized light bulb) to E12 (candelabra bulbs) adapters. The two extra LED candelabra bulbs will become ensconced in the sconce above my computer desk. Let there be light!

  75. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Dang, they broke the LED bulb order of 10 + 6 = 16 into two shipments. The 10 arrived today, and is installed. The 6 order should arrive Tuesday (to paraphrase Carnac the Magnificent, *may an unclean camel….*). More light over the computer, and 3 bulbs missing from each of the downstairs candelabras.

  76. says

    I remember somewhere reading that using LED lights might lead to wasting energy, because people would not take care switching them off when not needed or might use more light than they otherwise would due to the lower electricity bill.

  77. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I remember somewhere reading that using LED lights might lead to wasting energy, because people would not take care switching them off when not needed or might use more light than they otherwise would due to the lower electricity bill.

    The tungsten lights were running 24/7/365 due to the Redhead’s wishes. There is also the problem that in my old house, I don’t have switches everywhere, like newer houses, so I can’t turn on the living room light until I get totally downstairs, with bad illumination for the last few risers. The only light for the stairs is on the landing, with five risers up and eleven down. The down is the problem, as the last few are in shadows without first floor/outdoor illumination.
    I expect the situation to change with time as my sleep schedule changes, but coming down the stairs at 3-4 am, some first floor light is comforting, and safer than if it wasn’t there.

  78. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Charly, it is a fair assessment to say that at the moment, I’m not being entirely rational. I’m still doing some things because that was what I did prior to the Redhead’s death. I’m sure my waking at 3-5 am is due to the fact that I had to get up in the middle of the night during that time period, almost invariably at her intercom call, to deal with her bladder needs. If she didn’t call, I needed to initiate things. The body memory hasn’t gotten the message yet that I don’t have to get up. And it may take a long time for the message to get through. It gives me a bit of comfort if I go downstairs during that period, and the TV and lights are on. They don’t have to be, and won’t be given time.

  79. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    In October, October 2015 I awoke to the SO having a heart attack right beside me.
    I did the CPR and ambulance-call; we did a week+ in hospital, 3+ month rehab, ongoing med adjustment.
    It’s all now part of the the flow … just go with it…
    .
    I cannot sleep unless the table-lamp in the kitchen is on.
    This is just since the heart attack adventure.
    I’m OK with my quirk.

  81. Lofty says

    On the subject of LED lighting and stairwell safety, my home has a truck sized deep cycle battery in the basement. From it runs a small network of low voltage lights, including sensor lights at both outside doors, the clothes line, the freezer on the landing and the top and bottom of the stairs. Each major living area has at least one LED light available to switch on in the event of a power failure. The kitchen has six low voltage lights and a gas stove so the most important things, a warm drink and meal, can still be provided in a blackout. The battery is kept charged by an automatic charger and some solar panels in summer. It sure beats stumbling around in the dark on the way to find a torch when the power fails. Best of all it’s all legal for me to install myself.

  82. says

    I remember somewhere reading that using LED lights might lead to wasting energy, because people would not take care switching them off when not needed or might use more light than they otherwise would due to the lower electricity bill.

    I live with somebody who notoriously turns on all the lights but never turns them off again. It can’t get worse with LEDs. But we’re having movement sensors installed for the basement stairs. That money will pay off in no time.
    He also never turns the Senseo coffee machine off after use, so it heats up an extra portion of water.

  84. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Had a joyful act today. The Redhead got a subscription gift to Reader’s Digest when we got married, and made me renew every year. She only read the jokes. Like all magazines, they have fallen on hard times, and since their demographic is aging baby boomers, they have started, based on their liberturdian leanings, of trying to scam seniors into constantly renewing their subscription, multiple times during the year.
    Today I got to write on the scam renewal form: Deceased. Send no more magazines. No renewal. Keep any refund. BYE.
    Hopefully they will get the hint. If not, I have a brick pile for any postage paid return envelope….

  86. Kreator says

    @rq: Why can’t we have at least one reasonable superpower? Is that so much to ask?

    @All: For those of you with strong stomachs, I recommend watching this short animated music video, it’s got me laughing for a while. Hint: it deals with Trump and the title of this thread.

  87. says

    Kreator:

    Hint: it deals with Trump and the title of this thread.

    I know how trivial this is, but I kept wondering about Trump’s first night in the white house. Did he demand a different bedroom from the Obamas? Demand the bed be replaced? Or just piss in it?

  88. Kreator says

    I actually think he might have peed a little in every corner of the house, Caine. You know, marking territory.

  89. says

    Kreator:

    I actually think he might have peed a little in every corner of the house, Caine. You know, marking territory.

    It’s much too easy to picture that. Somewhere, a political cartoonist is missing out on a great idea.

  90. says

    Fuck this world. I like youtube. There is plenty of knowledgeable people in there, plenty of scholars, artists and artisans presenting their work. It is possible to learn a lot there, in an entertaining way while eating dinner.

    But I just learned that one blacksmith whose work I was enjoying voted for Trump. An intelligent man, with university degree, poor as church mouse, and suffering from depression and anxiety disorder (probably). And he voted for Trump anyway, because “patriotism and 2nd amendment foreign powers blabla”. I did not watch the video on his secondary chanel after I read in the commens that he voted for Trump under it, and I unsubscribed from his primary blacksmithing chanel as well.

    Just as I could not read Dawkins’s books anymore after his “Dear Muslima” and subsequent digging of a huge hole, I just cannot watch this mans videos anymore too.

    I never really enjoyed life, but Trump made it even less enjoyable than it ever was.

  91. rq says

    Kreator
    There’s still China and India somewhere out there… … … ………………………………..

    Charly
    This seems to be as good a time as any to tell you that I’ve been really appreciating your comments here and elsewhere on FtB (well, Pharyngula, because I don’t go out much to other blogs to comment). Thanks for being an awesome internet personality (and I found your descriptions of yourself to be eerily similar to how I would describe myself re: social situations and taking a year to warm up etc.), you make comment sections fun, interesting, and good exercise *nodnod* (along with a host of other people, but you, yes, certainly).

  92. says

    rq:

    This seems to be as good a time as any to tell you that I’ve been really appreciating your comments here and elsewhere on FtB

    Seconded, heartily so.

  93. cicely says

    Had the Plague.
    Got better.
    --
    Caine:

    Sure would be nice if he pardoned Leonard Peltier.

    That was my very first thought, when I read about his pardoning Manning.
    But he didn’t.
    And it’s a safe bet that the new guy *spit* won’t.
    --

  94. rq says

    So, National Day of Patriotic Devotion, everyone, eh? Should I start calling you “comrades” now too, or should I wait for the official diagnosis?

  96. StevoR says

    Our national song :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjkrjYitgeA

    Sums us up so well. So many of our multitudinous, different stories.

    So.
    Now.
    What do we do with our fortune to be born and / or immigrate here* unlike the rest of the world?

    What do we do for ourselves to make our nation even and ever better and for the rest of world to show how good we really are and how much we can add to and improve the world?

    Whatever we call this day -- Australia Day, Invasion day, Survival day**

    * Naturalised Australian citizen typing here.

    ** I think we should have a public holiday for our First Peoples. I think we should should acknowledge and appreciate them and what we stole from them and did to them. I live on Kuarna / Peramangk (overlapping boundaries?) land. I’m not going to say this (tomorrow US time) should be Australia Day.

  101. blf says

    Bessie Coleman !
    The name rang a bell, but I confess I had to read the above-linked(@97) Ye Pffffft! of All Knowledge entry to remember just why… Apologies, Ms Coleman.

  106. rq says

    Didn’t he get punched again? Spencer, I mean.
    And ZUckerberg is an asshole of the highest (lowest?) degree.

  109. rq says

    I like the closing of that article, Giliell:

    But Sapna Cheryan from the University of Washington notes that in Bian’s study, the 5-year-olds had a kind of gender arrogance, which persisted in the boys but disappeared in the girls. “Do we want a society where each gender thinks they are smarter, or do we want one where boys and girls think the genders are equally smart?” Cheryan asks. “If the latter, then it may be boys’ beliefs that we should try to change.”

    “Similarly, do we want a society where people would rather play the game that requires being ‘being smart’ over the one that require ‘hard work?’” she says. “We as a society should figure out what we value before concluding that it is the girls we need to change.”

  110. says

    rq
    I really liked that as well. I’m sick and tired of the kind of feminism that correctly identifies gendered traits and then runs with male supremacy and decides that the boy traits are really superior.
    I remember one critique of Frozen saying “it’s not feminist because in the end Elsa goes back and uses her powers to do good for others”. Or all the “Ew, Lego Friends is bad because juice bars*”.
    Being kind is good. Caring about others is good. Working hard is good.**

    *I don’t deny that Lego Friends has some very stereotypical sets. But they also have kick ass astronomy sets. All kinds of sports. And have these people ever taken a look at the boys sets and the propagation of violence in them?

    **Also in “Patriarchy hurts men, too”: Many lads fail and seriously fuck up once their expectation of being brilliant and reality clash. And since they believe it’s an innate character trait they have no tools and resources to mend things and get back on track.

  111. rq says

    Giliell
    That’s one of the things we’re trying to teach ours -- that no one is born brilliant, you have to work hard, and it’s okay not to want to work hard on some things because you don’t like them (seriously, basketball just isn’t for Eldest), but sometimes you have to try working hard at least for a little while because you just might end up liking it or it has major benefits for later ventures (piano falls into this category).
    But the idea that you can pick something you think you like and then be brilliant at it -- no, that idea has got to go. We’re trying to instill the idea that first ideas won’t always succeed, but that doesn’t mean you quit, that means to step back, see what didn’t work and why, and figure out a way to fix it and build on the failure. It’s not as easy as it sounds. :P

  112. says

    that means to step back, see what didn’t work and why, and figure out a way to fix it and build on the failure. It’s not as easy as it sounds. :P
    Tell it, sister.
    Currently I keep suggesting to #1 that she should just imagine that we’ve already been through the bribing, the begging, the threatening, the shouting and the crying and just do her fucking tasks…
    But seriously, your boys will be much better equipped to deal with life’s inevitable roadblocks than many other boys.

  114. rq says

    she should just imagine that we’ve already been through the bribing, the begging, the threatening, the shouting and the crying and just do her fucking tasks

    “Did these methods work for you last time, or the time before, or the time before that?”
    “No…”
    “What makes you think they will work this time?”
    “…”
    “Maybe save your energy and do your homework?”
    “But *whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine*!”
    … ad nauseum …
    One day I will have to explain the difference between productive persistence and banging your head against the wall.

  115. says

    “Did these methods work for you last time, or the time before, or the time before that?”
    “No…”
    “What makes you think they will work this time?”
    “…”
    “Maybe save your energy and do your homework?”
    “But *whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine*!”
    … ad nauseum …
    One day I will have to explain the difference between productive persistence and banging your head against the wall.

    I thought I put a sticker on the laptop camera, how come you can still see us?
    Today they get their half term report, only that I already got the talk for the little one (they don’t get marks in grade 1) and it was almost embarrassingly positive. I’m not that confident about the one I’ll have for #1…
    But at least she seems to agree with us that “because my best friend goes there” isn’t a good enough reason to choose her new school…

  116. Saad says

    Giliell, #107

    Also remember the words of one of the most badass women of all badass women

    That is awesome. And of course I had not heard about her as a war hero.

    That’s saved for montages of white dudes getting medals set to inspirational music.

  117. rq says

    That’s saved for montages of white dudes getting medals set to inspirational music.

    Because white dudes need to be reminded that they can be awesome, too. Their egos shrivel up into nothing otherwise. Can’t have that. Plus she’s a commie. *shrug*

  118. rq says

    Giliell
    Actually, I think you’ve been sneaking peaks at our evening routine.
    At least we don’t have to change schools, when the end of grade 4 rolls around, grade 5 will be in the same building (even though technically not primary school anymore -- it’s weird, it goes something like primary, elementary, middle, secondary, university, and I’m used to thinking that primary = elementary). It’s the transition from 9 to 10 I’m starting to worry about, because that’s when you ahve the option to start choosing slightly more specialized (i.e. language-oriented, science-oriented) schools, instead of doing the regular program (no, no arts-oriented schools, should have been doing that since they were born (or along with regular school since grade 2 or so), hey too bad your kid’s not a musical genius who really want to be a musician, otherwise we could still squeeze him in somewhere!).

  119. says

    rq
    We like to separate our kids early. The German school system is horribly stratified and my state is one of the worst on top of that. Now, it’s a general trend to have a total STEM focus, fuck languages and arts and the regular Gymnasium is a sink or swim system.
    We want the kid to go to my former comprehensive school where she can also get her Abitur (high school diploma) but has one more year to do so. They are also an integrated full day school, don’t do that homework bullshit and have lots of arts and drama classes. Being a comprehensive school that cannot just kick out difficult kids they are also more able and willing to deal with kids like her. Their “come and see day” is tomorrow and if they don’t totally fuck up, we can tie that down.

  120. rq says

    While admonishing the nit-picks of others, sounds like a nit-pick itself. Esp. considering the target.

    Giliell
    The comprehensive school sounds like a good option!
    The regular system here is pretty comprehensive (you can select a direction of interest in the last years of high (middle) school), but the homework load is pretty heavy right from the start. Besides ruining childhoods, there’s quite a large physical strain on the kids lugging the all the books to and fro. Buuut then, I’m not a fan of the local system as a whole. At least later on there are quality schools for specific directions, but those really come into play around the ageo f 16 and 17.

    Something fun. If you scroll down just right, the images stand still in the middle of your screen.

  121. blf says

    Totally stuffed: Cern’s electrocuted weasel to go on display:

    Stone marten, which met its fate at the Large Hadron Collider, to become part of Rotterdam museum’s exhibition on ill-fated human-animal interactions

    The singed fur and charred feet are testament to the weasel’s last stand: an encounter with the world’s most powerful machine that was never going to end well.

    Now an exhibit at the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, the stone marten met its fate when it hopped over a substation fence at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva and was instantly electrocuted by an 18,000 volt transformer.

    The incident in November last year knocked out the power to the vast particle accelerator […]. The partly-cooked corpse was duly secured for inclusion in the museum’s Dead Animal Tales exhibition.

    “It’s a fine example of what the exhibition is all about,” said Kees Moeliker, director of the museum. “It shows that animal and human life collide more and more, with dramatic results for both.”

    The stone marten is the latest dead animal to go on display at the museum. It joins a sparrow that was shot after it sabotaged a world record attempt by knocking over 23,000 dominoes; a hedgehog that got fatally stuck in a McDonalds McFlurry pot […]

    It was another unfortunate incident that spurred Moeliker to establish the exhibition in the first place. In 1995, a male duck flew into the glass facade of the museum and died on impact, a fate that did not deter another male duck from raping the corpse for 75 minutes. The incident ruffled feathers in the community but earned Moeliker a much-coveted IgNobel prize when he published his observations . “I was the one and only witness,” Moeliker said. “I’m a trained biologist but what I saw was completely new to me.”

    […]

    The mildly deranged penguin suggests there is the place to put whatever the orange-haired thing on teh trum-prat’s head, even in the unlikely event the creature survives the encounter.

  125. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    Why do the media characterise land with no golf course or shopping mall as
    “undeveloped”?

  127. says

    I’m reading about meromictic lakes, and come across this name: Ingo Findenegg. That is one of the best names ever.

    Oh gods, I need sleep.

  131. StevoR says

    Not sure if folks have already read about this but weatehr spotetd on the Hot Jupiter planet HAT-P-7b which is pretty stunning all things considered :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-13/weather-observed-for-first-time-on-an-exoplanet/8112994?site=science/news&topic=latest

    Plus an amazing photographic project and living object here :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-24/photographing-one-of-the-worlds-tallest-trees-in-styx-valley/8206910

    Then there’s this non-living jaw-droppingly magnificent object :

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2017/01/26/juno_image_of_jupiter_looks_like_an_impressionist_painting.html

    seen up close yet -- and still seventeen thousand kilometers away by dedicated team of scientists and beautifully discussed by Phil Plait.

  132. StevoR says

    Think some folks here may find this worth checking out if they haven’t seen it already -- from Colorado via a British group – An abortion doctor on Trump’s win: ‘I fear for my life. I fear for my patients.’ :

    http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/11/an-abortion-doctor-on-trumps-win-i-fear-for-my-life-i-fear-for-my-patients/

    Excerpt :

    In fact, one week ago I received a chilling letter from Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the most ferociously anti-abortion member of Congress, who chairs the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.

    The letter demanded that I submit a wide variety of documents, including patient medical records in cases of gestations greater than 22 weeks. I have until Nov. 21 to comply.

    The panel is looking for evidence that I am selling “baby body parts.” It has the power of subpoena and can cite me for contempt of Congress if I don’t comply by the deadline.

    It is frightening. It is a witch hunt.

    I am a physician helping patients, and I am being treated like a criminal.

    The star chamber proceedings of the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives is a target identification program for the anti-abortion assassins. It is terrifying. …
    – Warren M. Hern, MD.

    That deadline has now passed & I don’t know what if anything has since happened there – article posted on the 11th November last year.

    Noted this in a comment on the Freethinking Ahead blog here :

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/freethinkingahead/2017/01/28/abortion-in-texas-good-news-and-really-really-scary-news/

    Also noted there is this group of radical Christian extremists in Florida who actually, openly, want to impose the death penalty on women who have abortions as well as their doctors. See :

    http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/09/florida-christians-want-to-kill-women-who-have-abortions/

    How very flippin’ “pro-life” eh?*

    From their own website which I will not link too although it can be found easily enough incl,. from the above link :

    Here is a proposed timeline to which I believe most abolitionists Christian Taliban Coathanger Abortion Lobbyists (ed) would agree.

    1) Abortion is outlawed by virtue of the government’s recognition that preborn children have full and equal human rights from the moment of conception until the end of their lives.

    2) The most strenuous possible penalties (nice euphemism? – ed.) are put in place for aborticians (doctors, midwives, reproductive health care specialists – ed.) and their staff and assistants. Obviously because of the ex post facto provisos in the Constitution, they would not be liable for their actions before the abolition of abortion.

    3) I would personally be in favor of a swift and not-particularly-painless execution for these murderers, (doctors, midwives, reproductive health care specialists – ed.) but not every abolitionist Christalibanical Coathanger Abortion Lobbyist (ed.) will agree. Let us say that the consensus position would be closer to this: aborticians (doctors, midwives, reproductive health care specialists- ed) who continue to practice after the abolition of abortion should be severely punished.

    4) After abolition, the question of what, if any, punishment the government should apply to abortive mothers is murkier and undecided. Most would propose that punishments be considerably less severe relative to the aborticians’ (doctors, midwives, reproductive health care specialists – ed.) penalties. Some would say that, to allow time for the implications of the new legal framework to sink in to people’s minds and hearts, we should slowly ramp up the severity of the penalties, such that a woman who seeks out an abortion one week after abolition would be punished less severely than a woman who seeks out an abortion 20 years afterwards. We do not necessarily believe that the best course of action should be to apply the death penalty to abortion immediately after criminalisation. The mother bears some guilt, but those who know for sure what they are doing bear much more.

    Emphasis incl. italics & lexical changes for accuracy added -- Fixed It For Them – & no I will NOT allow these misogynist bullies to sully the word “abolitionist” by hijacking it and calling themselves that. This is an extremely nasty group that wants to enslave others not free them. Reading their website FAQ section in depth shows them to be pretty clearly racists as well.

    So watch this space – no, watch this hate group – because they are deadly serious and they have a POTUS who they think and hope agrees with them and may well let them have their way here.

    * Does that really need a sarcasm tag?

  133. StevoR says

    Ordovician trilobite eggs found fossilised :

    http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/trilobite-eggs-04570.html

    A research team led by Western Illinois University scientist Thomas Hegna has announced the discovery of two pyritized, egg-bearing specimens of the Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus eatoni.

    Chaco Canyon (New Mexican) archaeological findings of interest here -- imported corn & some implications and still many unanswered questions :

    According to a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the ancient inhabitants of Chaco Canyon likely had to import corn to feed the multitudes residing there.

    http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/chaco-canyon-relied-imported-corn-04499.html

    Miocene Giant Otter species discovered in China :

    http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/siamogale-melilutra-giant-otter-04557.html

    The ancient creature belongs to a little-known genus of extinct otters called Siamogale, according to the paleontologists. This genus goes back at least 18 million years and was previously known only from a single species from Thailand, Siamogale thailandica.

    Named Siamogale melilutra, the new species weighed around 50 kg (110 lbs) — almost twice as large as the largest living otters.

    Apparently this critter had a combo of otter & badger-like features if I’m gathering correctly here.

    PS. On a very different note -- if some here haven’t seen the latest Digital Cuttlefish post The Thing About Torture…” incl. a Tripod song you may wish to do so WARNING Possibly upsetting torture references. Plus whilst Trump has been blocking many innocent Muslims from entering the USA with virtually no warning and wrecking many lives; a deal signed with the previous Obama administration for America to take in refugees who had sought to flee to Australia but who were then detained in appalling conditions and arguably illegally, certainly unfairly will apparently still go ahead despite this. See ‘Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull speak on phone, US deal to go ahead’ item on the Australian ABC online news site.

  134. says

    Saad
    Sending hugs as well.

    +++

    Small comfort: Judges have stopped the deportation of those muslims who were already at US airports with legal visa.

    +++
    Oh, and our own wannabe Trump Seehofer is full of praise about how quickly Trump tramples all the mechanisms of democracy and goes through with his ill thought out decrees*.

    *Apart from the constitutionality, the Trump administration doesn’t even check feasibility.

    +++
    To call my kids “loud” is like calling the ocean “wet”: technically true, but doesn’t cover the magnitude of it.

  135. rq says

    To call my kids “loud” is like calling the ocean “wet”: technically true, but doesn’t cover the magnitude of it.

    I see you’re still watching us.

    As for singing Trump’s praises, oh yes, here too -- he’s so decisive and confident, our president should have such powers! Yes, yes, should. I’m glad xe doesn’t.

  136. says

    he’s so decisive and confident, our president should have such powers!

    Yep, because being mindful, seeking input from experts and affected groups, checking whether a law is constitutional, those are suddenly bad things.
    I’d like to hear those people if such power got used in such a way by a leftist ruler…

  137. blf says

    To call my kids “loud” is like calling the ocean “wet”: technically true, but doesn’t cover the magnitude of it.

    Slightly damp, that is, a few pins dropping…

    (The mildly deranged penguin says if they aren’t loud enough — which they cannot be (she likes LOUD!) — then reduce the amount of cheese they are being fed (so they scream even louder for moar!) and send the excess cheese to her…)

  142. Ogvorbis: A bear of very little brains. says

    (I am cross-posting this on Lynna’s Moments of Political Madmess thread.)

    On Sunday, Wife went to the gym to work out. I went a couple of doors down to a cigar store and lounge and smoked a very enjoyable Hoya de Monterrey corona. As I sat and read my book (The Worst of Times: How Life on Earth Survived Eighty Million Years of Extinctions), I, quite unintentionally, listened in on a conversation near me. They were discussing Trump’s executive orders, gag orders, and so on, and were deploring the policies — they knew that this would hurt our security, hurt our economy, and, in some cases, kill people. Yet they loved the idea behind the idiocy. One of them actually said that it is worth every penny to see liberal traitor’s heads explode.

    This was an epiphany for me. I really did not fully understand what has been going on. There are people out there — professionals, business owners, bankers, lawyers, judges — who so hate, so detest progressive ideas and ideals that they were willing to vote for someone KNOWING that if he actually put in place the policies he campaigned on would hurt the country just so that it would annoy progressives, liberals, and the rest of the left wing fellow-travelers. No respect for law, no respect for the ideals of our country, no respect for professionalism, no respect for human beings, just a desire to annoy liberals.

    I can (in a very depressed and depressing way) almost understand the protest votes of rural whites who are, thanks to modern economics and economic policies, seeing their towns die — this was a vote for someone other than those in power. But I could not quite grok the urban professionals who supported Trump. They (and this is a very limited sample) treated this as a joke, as if who is in charge really does not matter, but, if it will annoy those Social Justice Warriors, it is worth it even if it puts an immature authoritarian sociopath in charge.

    Has anyone else run into this phenomenon? Who cares what it does to the country: if it annoys people I don’t like I’ll support whatever happens?

    (Usually the discussions center on sports and cars at this cigar lounge. The main reason I go there this time of year is that I can smoke indoors. The owner is a really nice guy, a centrist (socially progressive, economically conservative (but he sees the need for government to do things that the free market cannot do)), who also owns the restaurant Boy manages, so I’m happy to support him.)

  143. says

    Ice Swimmer
    Mr. Conservative Christian Seehofer* would probably like to do a mini-Trump on immigration. But really, this disdain for planning, thinking, the political process, experts, it’s worrying.

    *who had a kid out of wedlock with a young mistress in Berlin while his ageing wife sat at home but who totally thinks a child needs a father and a mother

  144. Ice Swimmer says

    Giliell @ 143

    I see. While the political and administrative processes and procedures aren’t perfect, they are there for good reasons.

    *who had a kid out of wedlock with a young mistress in Berlin while his ageing wife sat at home but who totally thinks a child needs a father and a mother

    He must have confessed that to a priest and chanted some Hail Marys so it must be OK now… I’d better go and take a shower.

  145. Saad says

    Everybody saw the tweet that came out of Richard Spencer just a few hours after the Quebec mosque terror attack?

  147. AlexanderZ says

    Ogvorbis #142
    This is a common joke in Russia:
    God tells a man that He will grant him any wish, but his neighbor would receive twice as much of whatever he wished for,
    In response the man asks God to tear one of his eyes out.

  148. says

    I have a question. I noticed, that Giliell and rq sometimes have avatar besides their nick, and sometimes not. Maybe even other people, but by these two I noticed it and remembered it. It bugs me no end. How does that happen?

  151. cubist says

    sez charly: “At least comedians have a short time of fun before the camps get built and the paramilitary groups organized.”
    Humor can be serious—humor can be deadly serious. For instance, Mel Brooks is on record as stating that the reason he makes jokes about Naziism, is that he wants to make Naziism so ridiculous that it can never be taken seriously again. More directly applicable to the Angry Cheeto’s regime: While His Orangeness wants everybody to fawn over him and worship him like unto a god, it’s kind of hard to get that kind of reaction out of someone who’s too busy laughing in his face.

    Weaponized humor: It’s not just for bullies, alt-Reich hangers-on, and 4chan shitlords any more.

  153. says

    Also, last night I watched a film and a documentary about Hannah Arendt. I want to sit the entire USA down and make them watch it.
    I’m also convinced that that Nazi bastard Heidegger just couldn’t take it that he was outclassed by a Jewish woman.

  157. blf says

    Avatars are actually a sentient lifeform that feeds off networking packets, and are particularly fond of wifi-sauce. When one doesn’t show up, that usually either it’s sleeping or visiting the bit-bucket, a networking problem or bottleneck someplace (too few packets for a decent meal), the wifi is tastier somewhere else, or they are being attacked by peas (which is a bit more urgent than staring out of the screen and scaring you…).

  159. StevoR says

    For anyone else here who’s in Adelaide SA or nearby enough to come there’s an anti-Trump rally on @ 5pm today (Fri. 3rd Feb.) :

    ***

    Anti-Trump Rally
    Posted by Noah Schultz-Byard 331pc on February 02, 2017
    WHEN
    February 03, 2017 at 5pm -- 7pm
    WHERE
    Rundle Mall (King William St. End)
    Adelaide, SA 5000
    Australia

    ***
    Source : http://www.sarahhansonyoung.com/anti_trump_rally

  162. says

    Crossposted from the Speakeasy:
    I need to ask the US/UK people a small favour. I’ve been wondering about what contemporary play to read with my 12th grade and then it struck me: why not read Hamilton? I can see there’s a book, but I don’t know if it contains the actual script. Could any of you have a look at it in a bookshop or library?

  165. rq says

    I wish people who call themselves ex-pats would just come out and say they’re immigrants. I’m not ashamed. Work is finally treating me like one, too (have to do the state language exam because none of my education happened locally, so they have no proof that I know the national language, never mind that I’ve been writing reports for over ten years now -- it’s a trilemma of feeling the ridiculousness, realizing they need the paperwork in case of audit, and feeling personally affronted about them doubting my abilities).

  166. says

    rq:

    I wish people who call themselves ex-pats would just come out and say they’re immigrants.

    I agree. We were talking the other day about the dire business with immigrants here, and I said, well, we’re gonna be immigrants in a few years. Rick sez “ex-pats”. I say “no, immigrants. Happy to be emigrating!” Immigrant should not be a dirty word. People have been emigrating from the beginning.

  167. rq says

    Immigrant should not be a dirty word.

    The only reason it’s seen as dirty is because it has somehow become a marker for skin colour. I hate that. When people say things about not wanting immigrants here, I turn around and tell them I’m an immigrant. You know what the next thing they say is? Bet you can guess: “Yeah, but not that kind of immigrant”. Well, fuck you very much for making your ideas clear on that issue. My grandparents were that kind of immigrant (i.e. refugees). So fuck you twice, because you insulted my grandparents and you’re racist as fuck. (But of course, for some reason my grandparents being refugees, that’s completely different, even though war is fucking war, so yeah, you’re racist.)
    Also I’m still not entirely sure on what’s so bad about economic migration.
    Anyway. Going to bed now. Sent you some flowers. Without horror show appendices. :)

    (Also,

    Now I need to ask my boos if that’d be OK…

    It has taken me this long to wrap my brain around that typo. :D)

  168. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Sometimes it’s the little things that get you. I removed the Redhead from our dental insurance several days ago, which I paid six months in advance (1/1-6/30). The refund check for her coverage was made out to the “estate of *redhead’s name*”. About the only “estate” she has now is her checking account, which she did not name a beneficiary on. That will come to me, as by state law, it would be divided equally among her spouse and children, but we were childless, so it comes totally me as the spouse. Another round of paperwork. Sigh. I miss her.

  170. says

    Nerd
    *big hugs*

    rq

    It has taken me this long to wrap my brain around that typo. :D)
    *gg*

    +++
    No, immigrant shouldn’t be a dirty word. I once did a simple test with one of my classes: Everybody who has a parent or grandparent not born in Germany stands up. Half the class was standing. Drove my point home rather nicely…

  172. says

    One of my temporary coworkeres was a blonde woman from Hungary whose maternal grandparents were from Croatia. She had a real difficulty to explain to her immigrant-hating grandmother that they are immigrants themselves.

    “Immigrant” is becoming a new euphemisim for “dirty n*r”.

  174. StevoR says

    We’re all alive and thus all part of history. So. How do we choose to shape it with what we choose to do with our lives, our words and actions, now?

    We may not play huge roles or be able to do that much, but with what we can do, what will we do? Think and be kind. Please.

    If in doubt: I suggest considering; what leads to more happiness and less pain? More kindness and less cruelty, a better world not a worse one, a richer, more complex and diverse known cosmos where more people can flourish and enjoy (in the famous phrase) “..life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..” not less? What harm does X do and how can Y make people happier and the world better for each and every issue.

    Why would we not?

    My life’s philosophy in the proverbial nutshell. Think and be kind.

    Is this (good?) Utilitarianism? I don’t know.

  175. StevoR says

    @ ^ Vs & also posted in :

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/oceanoxia/2017/01/03/evil-utilitarianism-more-appealing-on-some-days-than-others/

    Yes. I haven’t always lived up to the sentiments expressed there to my eternal shame. I cannot now change that. Can only do now what I can do now.

    Re #159 NB. Apparently this rally will be on next Friday and continuing same time and weekday indefinitely.

    There is also an ongoing vigil for the (Aussie asylum seeking) refugees at a similar time every Friday on the steps of our (state) parliament house continuing too in case anyone here is interested as well.

  176. StevoR says

    How cowardly is Trump (& Turnbull, Abbott &others cross all this pale blue dot.) to be so irrationally, pants-shittingly afraid of people with nothing , who pose threat and only want a chance for hope so weak and so little of a threat?

    Tough?

    Hatred and fear do NOT you tough. Deplorable they make you. /Yoda speak.

    I wonder what Anousheh Ansari thinks of Trump’s racist, hate-filled & utterly counter-productive ban?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anousheh_Ansari

    Remarkable Iranian American space tourist she is.

    ***

    This music makes me bones vibrate and awes me :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=2H1wBoLw484

    ***

    Samantha Bee is spot on here too -- guess, a lot of you have seen this already but in case not / still :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RM2HtvLSLs

    Hope this is useful /enjoyable for y’all.

  177. cubist says

    Had an interesting conversation with an older woman in Jack in the Box last night. Among other things, I passed the URL https://5calls.org along to her, and showed her how it worked. She was pleased to know of this resource, and said she’d spread the word further. I expect there will be a few more snowflakes in the avalanche.

  179. StevoR says

    @172. Charly :

    One of my temporary coworkeres was a blonde woman from Hungary whose maternal grandparents were from Croatia. She had a real difficulty to explain to her immigrant-hating grandmother that they are immigrants themselves. “Immigrant” is becoming a new euphemisim for “dirty n*r”.

    When did a nation of immigrants*, a traditional “melting pot” of different peoples become so scared of .. immigrants? Two nations really (at least) the USA and my nation, Australia, too. Worst aspects of human nature?

    Trump fans and the Right-wingers generally seem to think its somehow “tough” and “strong” to fear migrants -- especially refugees. yet it really isn’t -- its actually gutless and weak as well as irrational. Its not strong or tough to turn away Syrian (& other) women, children** and men seeking a better life and a place to flee to from horrendous wars, is it? Doesn’t that reveal insecurity, weakness and downright pathetic cowardice instead? Perhaps pointing that out to them might help some of them reconsider their views? Maybe?

    * First People’s aside.

    ** Even babies in need of medical treatment :

    See : http://katu.com/news/local/infant-set-to-travel-from-iran-for-surgery-at-ohsu-stopped-at-airport-overseas

    A four-month-old Iranian girl who was scheduled to fly into Portland for a heart surgery appointment at OHSU next week will have to postpone the procedure after President Donald Trump’s recent immigration order.
    The infant, Fatemah, has a heart condition. Her family found out about it at a routine checkup, and her pediatricians say she needs to have surgery soon. … (Snip) .. Taghizadeh was told to apply for new visa’s in 90 days when the executive order is set to expire, his fear is that Fatemah doesn’t have that long. Instead he says he is hoping for a miracle.

    How piss-weak, soft and feeble do you have to be to be scared of allowing in a baby with a heart condition just because she’s Iranian?

    ***

    On another topic entirely, the technological progress here is absolutely astounding :

    http://www.universetoday.com/133220/race-image-exoplanets-heats/

    Incidentally, one of the systems mentioned here -- HR 8799 can be seen here with the unaided eye (dark enough skies permitting) just across from the first Hot Jupiter ever announced* 51 Pegasi :

    http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/hr8799.html

    * There was another Hot Jupiter type planet identified earlier~ish (HD 114762 b in 1989) but not confirmed until later & first thought to be a brown dwarf star instead so its complicated. 51 Pegasi was the most famous early discovery although the pulsar planets were found a couple of years earlier too.

  180. John Morales says

    StevoR above:

    When did a nation of immigrants*, a traditional “melting pot” of different peoples become so scared of .. immigrants? Two nations really (at least) the USA and my nation, Australia, too. Worst aspects of human nature?

    Surely you’re old enough to remember the Children Overboard affair?

    That’s when, here in Oz. 2001. Domestic politics, an epiphenomenon of human nature.

  181. says

    Christ, some days I hate having to pay attention to the news. Trump ‘retires’ at 6:30pm, gets in a bathrobe and watches tv and tweets. That’s one hell of a workday. :eyeroll:

  182. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    Here is an internets time-sink:
    This is a fabulous British TV series. It’s about history. and toilets. and food. and clothing.
    and and and
    The link is just an example:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvdWc4WcYXA
    .
    Lucy Worsley, the presenter, is intelligent, accomplished, articulate, clever, witty, willing to shovel shit, really well dressed, really cute for a…
    … just … all that…
    I may be in love.
    .

  183. Ogvorbis: A bear of very little brains. says

    Trump ‘retires’ at 6:30pm, gets in a bathrobe and watches tv and tweets. That’s one hell of a workday. :eyeroll:

    But Obama is portrayed by much of the main-stream news, and all of the right-wing liarsphere, as the laziest President of all time.

  184. StevoR says

    @180. John Morales : Yes, I remember the “Children (not) Overboard”affair. Was that before or after the Tampa?

    It was long after Malcolm Fraser (a Liberal PM even!) welcomed the Vietnamese “boatpeople” to our country to our collective gain. Not old enough to recall that in person but certainly read about it and know what we could do instead if we choose more wisely.

    It was also a bit of a rhetorical question but -- seriously -- thanks for the literal historical answer anyhow.

    Down memory lane -- stumbled on the youtube channel of Things of Stone & Wood just now incl. songs like Wildflowers :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTFMGbmv6lw&list=PLpgIrR9Gx4kekgP0azrH1l3uSKRvBn6Q4&index=4

    That whole ‘Junk Theatre’ album is awesome though adn makes powerful listening I reckon. (The Cruel Man Power song seems apt about now.)
    ***

    Also, seems this is close :

    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/we-only-need-one-vote-to-save-public-education-act-now/

    There is hope, maybe?

    ***

    Oh & A Street cat named Bob is a bloody excellent movie -- saw earlier tonight, worth watching. This :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PccD1ULea4A&feature=share

    is the cat and man. Respect to both.

  185. StevoR says

    Via Dana Hunter’s blog :

    https://the-orbit.net/entequilaesverdad/2017/02/07/promised-land-must-see-documentary-era/

    Things of Stone & Wood‘s song Fingertips :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFTNlG39pDg&list=PLpgIrR9Gx4kekgP0azrH1l3uSKRvBn6Q4&index=5

    Y’all may have seen already but in case not :

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-airport-inhumanity-20170206-story.html

    When the decade you live in starts echoing the 1930’s things are really not good and need to change direction.
    The “banality of evil” -- as Hannah Arendt famously observed.

  188. blf says

    I have this heavy sensation of wearing headphones

    Ah. You haven’t yet got to the point where you train the forty-foot killer rat to let you withdraw your head at the conclusion of the head-in-ferocious-looking-beast act…

  189. chigau (ever-elliptical) says

    I don’t really mind going to the dentist but I just hate it when the freezing wears off.