It grows like a fungus


The infinite thread keeps growing, and its spores populate yet another post.

The end of that video is a little disturbing. Is that our fate? Once you’ve done here, Pharyngula will collapse into rotting mulch for maggots, and the spores will move on to colonize other blogs?

Comments

  1. Blind Squirrel FCD says

    Amanita Muscaria

    Would anyone think me odd if I admitted to eating those? On the East cost of the USA, I hasten to add. Totally different animal than the European specie, quite pleasant.

    BS

  2. Walton says

    (By the way, #500 is partly tongue-in-cheek. For the record, I’m strongly in favour of legalisation of all recreational drugs: if you, as consenting adults, want to use hallucinogens, that’s fine with me. I just don’t understand why someone would want to take something that warps their mind.)

  3. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    DRUGS ARE BAD.

    All drugs are bad when taken in excess, that’s why you’re suppose to follow the direction on the lables of the bottle. Now take your 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine. ;)

    (Course, there was a time whe I needed 2-acetoxybenzoic acid to function regularly)

  4. John Morales says

    Hm. Walton,

    “(I include alcohol in the “bad” category, despite my own occasional excesses in this regard.)”
    […]
    “I just don’t understand why someone would want to take something that warps their mind.”

    Why do you apparently exclude alcohol from this category?

  5. WowbaggerOM says

    Walton wrote:

    I just don’t understand why someone would want to take something that warps their mind.

    Because of the fairly simple reason that seeing the world through a warped mind can be profoundly entertaining. LSD’s good for that.

    What’s so great about the unwarped mind anyway?

    Another thing that being warped can do is help you remove, temporarily at least, a lot of the psychological baggage you’ve attained throughout your life and can’t seem to put down.

    And sometimes, once the warping’s over, it allows the unwarped mind to look at the world in a different way.

  6. Brownian, OM says

    DRUGS ARE BAD.

    Geez, who let Nancy Reagan in here?

    Life is bad. Drugs help.

    Despite the occasional, er, spirited comment here, I’m generally regarded in meatspace as a very non-judgmental and easy-going guy. ‘Shrooms are the only drug I know of that turn me into a jerk, and they do so in a specific way: I feel the need to tell random strangers exactly what I think their issues are. Under their influence I have walked up to groups of bodybuilders and lectured them about being overly concerned with body image and other superficialities. Also, their souls were mauve.

  7. boygenius says

    Amanitas? Or the fun kind?

    The “fun” kind (I assume you mean Psilocybe Cubensis) can impair your motor skills to an extent. My one and only experience with Amanita Muscaria resulted in a exponential loss of motor function. Not a good time was had by all.

    Cyanescens, Panaeolus, Azurescens are similar in effect to Cubensis but are generally more potent (by weight). Amanita Muscaria is in a class by itself as far as effects are concerned.

    It has been suggested that the Vikings used Amanita Muscaria to induce their “Berserker Rages”. From my own experience, I don’t know how effective one could be in battle while under the influence.

  8. Walton says

    As explained, my comment was tongue-in-cheek. Don’t take it too seriously – as mentioned, I haven’t slept very much this week, and am continuing to function only by excessive consumption of Diet Pepsi, so my comments are not likely to be particularly rational or coherent for a while. :-)

  9. Pygmy Loris says

    Damn, is it too late to try-out for the Self-Pity Olympics?!

    Though I have a Masters, it’s an M.A. in anthropology, which is only useful for decorating the wall of my tiny apartment. I’ve been trying to write my dissertation proposal for quite some time, but I can’t seem to just do it. My current job prospects are negligible. The previously mentioned M.A. overqualifies me for most available work, but without the PhD I can’t really get a job in my field. If I get my act together, finish my PhD, publish the five articles I have half-done, and prepare to publish a bunch more, I can look forward to a job search that, if successful, will probably result in either a postdoc or adjunct position that doesn’t pay enough to cover my student loan payments. There’s also the very real possibility that the large gap in publishing history will mark me as a bad bet and I won’t be able to get any position. :(

    Languages: One. Though I can get by with German.
    Age: 29

    Seven years ago I was a promising, rising star. Now, I’m treading water, and I’ve disappointed a whole bunch of people.

    Poor, poor pitiful me :(

  10. Rawnaeris says

    @ Walton, my last semester at Uni, I wrote a 6 page paper, and turned it into a 15 min. speech in one day. One of only two all-nighters I’ve pulled. Bawls is the only reason I survived that. Did I mention I gave the speech the same day?

  11. Alan B says

    #502 Blind Squirrel FCD

    Amanita Muscaria.

    That well-known and definitive source of all information biological (I jest) suggests that there may be 3 separate clades, separated geographically so the European and N American might well be different in their taste and “properites”. Incidentally, Wiki suggests a size up to 8 inches across or more. I have seen one which I estimated as being as big as a dinner plate.

    In the genral discussion on mushrooms I don’t think anyone has mentioned the giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea. It has 2 major advantages:

    1) It is edible when not too old i.e. while the flesh is white – slice and fry in butter. (Since it can be a foot across it makes a serious meal.)

    2) In appearance there is nothing else quite like a giant puffball, certainly not to my knowledge in the UK and hence your chances of mis-idenifying it and poisoning yourself are very slight. Care is needed, however, when it is young. Look it up if you have any doubts. Even better, avoid it when small unless you are sure of yourself.

  12. Brownian, OM says

    I just don’t understand why someone would want to take something that warps their mind.

    What Wowbagger said. They’re not that different from the sauce, they just affect you differently.

    Besides, it’s not like you’ve never warped your mind with booze. See that girl over there? Not bad, huh? Now have three pints of your favourite brew. Now look at that girl over there. Is she not the hottest thing you’ve ever seen? I think she likes you. C’mon, go tell her that joke. You know, the one about the, the, the funny one. Yeah, that one. About the *hic* guys and that other guy. With the hair. You know who I’m talkin’ about. Hey, ‘member that one girl we knew? You know wha’? I todally wanted to have her babies. No, she should have uh, *hic* my baby. You’re a fuckin’ funny guy, y’know? Hey, hey. Shuttap. I wan’ tell you somethin’. No, shuttap. You’re like, the best guy, okay, an’don’let’nobody’tellyayernot’kay? Hey, hey. Listen. Fuck man, le’s do some shots.

  13. Pygmy Loris says

    Ack! I really shouldn’t publish my own self-pity on the internet. Sorry to do that to you guys and gals.

    My excuse is a very bad day. Nothing seemed to go well and I’m coming down with a cold.

  14. Blind Squirrel FCD says

    Cyanescens, Panaeolus, Azurescens

    Are you mixing genera and species here? The species epithet is uncapitalized for clarity.

    BS

  15. John Morales says

    Walton,

    I haven’t slept very much this week, and am continuing to function only by excessive consumption of Diet Pepsi, so my comments are not likely to be particularly rational or coherent for a while. :-)

    See? You don’t need drugs to impair your mind, you can just let lack of sleep achieve it.

    I suspect your DP consumption is more a placebo than a help, habituated as you must be.

  16. Walton says

    I suspect your DP consumption is more a placebo than a help

    You shouldn’t have told me that! Now I’m going to fail my degree. Damn you. *shakes fist*

    :-)

  17. Alan B says

    #502 Blind Squirrel FCD

    Totally different animal …

    ??? Animal ???

    I’ve only just got over that fungi are not plants and now you tell me they are animals??

    Sorry BSFCD – I couldn’t resist it!

    [Ed. He should have done, but he didn’t…]

  18. SteveV says

    Alan B #472
    Of course I’m a heretic – I thought that was the point of being here?

    Strawberry Jam’s ok if that’s your thing but one of my great memories is a jar of wild raspberry jam from a WI stall somewhere on Dartmoor – indescribable!

    Sorry for the hiatus – Miss M insisted I come to look at the email she got from the Archbishop of Westminster. The prick sent his prayers even though her very first line to him made her atheism completely clear. No reply from the Pope yet..

  19. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    You’re a fuckin’ funny guy, y’know? Hey, hey. Shuttap. I wan’ tell you somethin’. No, shuttap. You’re like, the best guy, okay, an’don’let’nobody’tellyayernot’kay? Hey, hey. Listen. Fuck man, le’s do some shots.

    For some reason, I felt that this part of the conversation would deteriorate to the point where the two coversing gentlemen are now engaged in intercouse with eachother.

    I need more ethanol.

  20. WowbaggerOM says

    Pygmy Loris – how about we make you feel better by illustrating our own, mostly unused, educations?

    I’ve got a BPsych and a BA in Communications (Professional Writing). The former I use for nothing beyond pointless (and unhelpful) self-analysis; the latter I use for little more than writing theatrical reviews and composing snarky posts for the entertainment of you lot here.

  21. boygenius says

    Oh, and Walton, if you ever decide to experiment with psychedelic drugs; please don’t. If you insist on experimenting, PLEASE have a trusted, experienced, sober “sitter” to guide you.

    By experienced, I mean someone who is not only familiar with the effects of the substance, but also experienced with helping others to deal with the possible adverse reactions.

    Some people are cut out the right cloth to handle being flung (sometimes) violently away from reality. Some are not. From what little I have gleaned about your personality in the nine months or so that I have been reading Pharyngula, you would fall into the second camp. (This is not a judgment of your character.)

    On the other hand, if you want a very experienced sitter for your first voyage, just send me the airfare and I’d be more than happy to oblige!

  22. Blind Squirrel FCD says

    Alan B: A muscaria also varies in properties between the East and West cost of America. Be warned!! I have seen potentially lethal or seriously inconvenient errors in wiki on the subject of mushrooms!
    The only drawback to eating giant puffballs is their IMHO complete lack of taste.

    BS

  23. Brownian, OM says

    Yeah. Sorry to hear that Pygmy Loris.

    As for myself, I am considering whether or not to finish my master’s, but if I wasn’t particularly interested enough in it four years ago, I don’t think it’s gonna be any better this time around.

    Hey Walton, do you have Reading Week (or something similar) over there in Dear Old Blighty? All the uni students here had the last week off, ostensibly for studying, but most use it as a short spring vacation to drink. One year a few friends and I drove to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. I ended up trading beads for someone’s bra and then putting it on outside my clothes and barfing fuchsia all over myself as a result of too many hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s Bar. Man, I miss undergraduate life.

  24. Walton says

    Some people are cut out the right cloth to handle being flung (sometimes) violently away from reality. Some are not. From what little I have gleaned about your personality in the nine months or so that I have been reading Pharyngula, you would fall into the second camp.

    FWIW, I think you’re right. That’s why I would never risk taking psychedelic drugs, under any circumstances. I respect the right of other people to make that choice – that’s one respect in which I’m very much still a libertarian – but I would never do it myself.

  25. boygenius says

    BS said,

    Are you mixing genera and species here? The species epithet is uncapitalized for clarity.

    BS

    Yes, yes I am. I got carried away with making sure my HTML tags were correct and neglected the other. Was also using the casual descriptors for brevity.

  26. David Marjanović says

    So I probably should list what I had in the canteen today: onion soup; what is probably daube de bœuf (amazingly, all of it was edible, no connective tissue or something left behind!) with steamed potatoes*; the kind of chocolate cake I could live off.

    * Steamed potatoes are rarely served, and when they are, I avoid them because they tend to be undercooked and/or dried out. Today they weren’t. I chose them because they looked better than the dry** and, today, overfried “French” (Belgian!) fries.

    ** The French are capable of roasting potato products and then removing all fat. The result can be completely dry, as if freeze-dried. In that case I have to pour olive oil over it… oh, yeah, olive oil and vinegar are available on every table, like salt and remarkably stinky pepper.

    Should Toilet Paper Go Over or Under?

    78 % over; all states except California over.

    Oh, my long list of inedibles does leave a couple of delicious, complicated meals… :-9

    Should have added that my behavior on the dig will surprise you in this respect. Practically all the food there is incredibly good.

    Do other kinds of spices cause you problems ginger, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, cinnamon, etc? (Or onions and garlic, which I don’t consider spices; they’re staples.)

    No. All fine with me. :-)

    Yesterday’s couscous sauce… mmmmm… :-)

    “People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.”

    Is that supposed to be funny or stupid or something? It’s entirely true. In fact, I just put it into my quote collection.

    How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator ?

    How do you find out an elephant was in the fridge?

    Why do elephants have red eyes?

    Anyway, I have to finish yet another goddamn essay by tomorrow morning. (For some insane reason, I have a seminar scheduled for 9 am on Saturday morning.) I’ve barely had time to sleep all week. :-(

    I’ll headdesk myself to sleep. I hope you can sleep for the rest of the weekend!!!

  27. Walton says

    Hey Walton, do you have Reading Week (or something similar) over there in Dear Old Blighty?

    Many British universities do have reading weeks, but Oxford (notoriously) doesn’t. We have unusually short terms compared to other universities – three terms of eight weeks, a total of 24 weeks a year – so the work tends to be very intense.

  28. Stephen Wells says

    @Walton: I once drank a compound of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, cooked up in a saucepan of milk, when trying to stay awake in that late-undergraduate phase.

    This… did not help.

    Diet Pepsi is better than that, but not by much.

    BTW, would you mind letting me know your email address? You can drop a line to sawells dot 2007 [at] gmail dot com. Us UK academics should stick together, and I wanted to drop you a note off-thread.

  29. Kel, OM says

    What’s so great about the unwarped mind anyway?

    Having an unwarped mind is fine for most the time, though I couldn’t imagine wanting it all the time. Alcohol does me just fine for warping the mind, though I think I’m getting old. Had 3 pints last night and a glass of wine and I woke up hungover today. Only a few years ago I was able to drink at least twice that amount and wake up feeling just fine.

  30. Walton says

    I’ve now finished my essay and am going to bed, as I have to be up early tomorrow morning.

    Stephen: My email address (for Pharyngula purposes) is walton_m AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk.

    BTW, has it occurred to you that lack of sleep may be caused by lack of self-discipline?

    Yes, very much so. In common with many students, I don’t have great self-discipline and find it very hard to concentrate on work during the day; I tend to get easily distracted (not least by discussions on Pharyngula). Since my degree requires a lot of independent study, it all ends up taking longer than it needs to.

  31. Stephen Wells says

    @528: reading week at Oxbridge? Ha ha ha ha ha. Do you realise how much money the colleges make from conference bookings out of term? Anyway, eight weeks of term were plenty in 1350, so that’s your lot.

  32. Brownian, OM says

    For some reason, I felt that this part of the conversation would deteriorate to the point where the two coversing gentlemen are now engaged in intercouse with eachother.

    Well, yeah. That’s why straight guys drink. And never ,ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, tell anybody about what happened that night. We’re just bros, man.

    That particular scenario is a very good argument for not drinking, IMO.

    Well, sure, but where’s the fun in that?

    Some people are cut out the right cloth to handle being flung (sometimes) violently away from reality. Some are not. From what little I have gleaned about your personality in the nine months or so that I have been reading Pharyngula, you would fall into the second camp. (This is not a judgment of your character.)

    He’s right, and it’s not a judgment. I haven’t done hallucinogens in over a decade, but back then I always had a sitter, and good thing too: somebody needed to explain to the body builders that they shouldn’t take it personally. Also, get those mauve souls checked out.

  33. Pygmy Loris says

    Wowbagger and Brownian, OMs,

    Thanks.

    I had a meeting with my advisor today, one of the aforementioned “disappointed people.”

    Combine that with the Olympics and I’m feeling terribly underachieving right now.

    Anyway, did y’all hear that Plushenko is complaining that he deserved the gold because he completed a quad in the free program and Lysacek didn’t. Apparently he thinks the medal is for single most difficult jump, not for a whole program.

  34. Brownian, OM says

    Many British universities do have reading weeks, but Oxford (notoriously) doesn’t.

    Anyway, eight weeks of term were plenty in 1350, so that’s your lot.

    I should have remembered.

    I just had lunch with a friend who did his biology post-doc there with his fiancée. If anybody who was there about four or five years ago remembers a swarthy, 5’0″ microbiologist with a lithe, blonde 6’3″ girlfriend, that was them.

  35. Rorschach says

    Just saw Tiger Woods’ slimy “apology” press conference, and threw up a little in my mouth.What utter BS.What’s he apologising to TV spectators to ffs ? It’s too late to win the sponsors back, anyway.
    Looked medicated too, and has put on lots of weight.

    Link

  36. otrame says

    Re those mauve souls, you do know don’t you that mauve is the “emergency” color everywhere except on earth, right?

    (at least that is what the Doctor says)

  37. Carlie says

    Dania – I was just referring to people who don’t like veg in the first place. :)

    Great veggie side dish – Chop broccoli rabe into chunks, and sautee it in a hot pan with loads of chopped garlic and olive oil.

    Add some parmigiano-reggiano sprinkled on top, and it’s a perfect recipe for just about any vegetable. That exact combination is how I learned to love greens. Throw in some cherry peppers and maybe a little ham of some type, and it’s divine.

  38. Carlie says

    Pygmy Loris – if it helps any, you’re not alone; there are people I can barely handle the thought of facing because I’ve been such a letdown in the research arena. They might even not hold anything against me, but then I’m not sure which would be worse: to be a disappointment, or to think that they never thought I would amount to much anyway. :(

  39. frankosaurus says

    Apparently he thinks the medal is for single most difficult jump, not for a whole program

    in the old scoring system, he’d be right. But you have to marvel at the ruthless egos of these figure skaters. Behind the powder puff outfits and faux-tan lurks the soul of a disgruntled postal worker who just found out he’s been wearing powder puff outfits and faux-tan.

  40. Rorschach says

    Hi Wowbagger,

    I laughed for five minutes straight on reading this. Well, at least we’ve got our conversation starter

    The friend I spoke to is not actually going to the convention, so not an issue lol, we just had a chat about commenters here last night, and this came up, I thought it was hilarious…:-)

    Bit hard to believe it’s only 3 weeks to go now !

  41. Stephen Wells says

    @543: I’m the second most carnivorous person I know, my wife comes first, and the first meal I ever cooked for her was a vegetarian curry. She still married me.

    I like to pre-roast a bunch of peppers, and some chunks of aubergine and courgette, and some slices of onion, with olive oil and a little seasoning, under the grill. When the roasted veggies are chopped up they become unstoppable flavour sponges; cook ’em up in a big heavy Le Creuset pan with oil and garlic and chillis and root ginger and a couple of spoons of one of Patak’s spice blends and maybe some tomatoes and…

    If anyone needs me I’ll be in the kitchen.

  42. Kel, OM says

    Bit hard to believe it’s only 3 weeks to go now !

    Shit, I better organise time off work and accommodation and all that stuff. Aside from buying the ticket and getting a lift to Melbourne I’ve done nothing :P

  43. David Marjanović says

    Damn, is it too late to try-out for the Self-Pity Olympics?!

    Join the hugging and crying.

    Publish your papers – if nothing else, they’re something a small part of the world has been waiting for (perhaps without knowing it).

    Being unemployed and having spent a few years getting a PhD is more fun than being unemployed and not having done anything interesting in a long time.

    Languages: One. Though I can get by with German.

    Das sind dann schon zwei.

    Bawls is the only reason I survived that.

    Link doesn’t work.

    About the *hic* guys and that other guy.

    The one with the ears?

    (Not original.)

    Ack! I really shouldn’t publish my own self-pity on the internet. Sorry to do that to you guys and gals.

    Watch this.

    Pay attention to how the guy in black says “hǎo de gōngfǔ” at 3:39.

    Then imagine him saying, in the same tone of voice, “self-discipline is way overrated”.

    I’ve only just got over that fungi are not plants and now you tell me they are animals??

    Almost. :-) Animals and fungi are very closely related to each other; only the choanoflagellates are even closer to the animals, and only the nucleariid amoebae were even closer to the fungi last time I read about this.

    5’0″ microbiologist

    Insert way too obvious joke here.

    …Oh, it’s almost only 1/4 to 2 at night. The best-case scenario outlined above has not come to pass.

  44. Brownian, OM says

    Patak’s spice blends and maybe some tomatoes and…

    Speaking of Patak’s, does anyone have any recipes for achar?

  45. WowbaggerOM says

    The friend I spoke to is not actually going to the convention, so not an issue lol

    Great – thanks for getting my hopes up!

    Well, I’ll have to ask you then – what was it about my comments that made me seem like I’m in my sixties? The only thing I can think of is my love of semicolons…

    Bit hard to believe it’s only 3 weeks to go now !

    Yeah, it’s not far away. I’m currently overcome with excitement for the Fringe; I don’t expect GAC-nerves to hit me ’til Friday morning when I’m on my way to the airport – or, more likely, when I’m running around like a headless chicken because I didn’t get organised and pack the night before.

  46. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    I’m just back from dinner with the wife. We had lobster* with a green salad (no iceberg lettuce, I’m happy to report) and boiled potatoes. If you ever come to visit I’ll be happy to take you to The Fisherman in Noank. One of the best restaurants around here, and we have some very good restaurants. The S&P Oyster House and the Captain Daniel Packer** Inn in Mystic, the Norwich Inn in Norwich, and Paul’s Pasta here in Groton are all excellent restaurants. Bravo Bravo in Mystic has good food but is overpriced compared to other good restaurants in the area.

    *My lobster joke: A woman goes to the Stonington Docks as the lobster boats come in. She wanders from boat to boat, looking at the lobsters but not getting any. Finally a lobsterman asks her “Lady, what are you looking for?”

    The woman replies “Why doesn’t anyone have any red lobsters like I get in the restaurants?”

    **Daniel Packer is no relation to Alferd*** E. Packer. I asked.

    ***Packer’s real first name was Alfred. When he was in the Union Army during the American Civil War he had his name tattooed**** on his arm. The artist may have been good at tattooing but was poor at spelling, the tattoo read “Alferd.” Packer liked the name so much he went by Alferd for the rest of his life.

    ****I’ve never understood why someone would have their own name tattooed on their body. Are they afraid they’ll forget what they’re called?

  47. Rorschach says

    what was it about my comments that made me seem like I’m in my sixties?

    IIRC, she mentioned your maturity.

    :P

  48. Pygmy Loris says

    Carlie,

    They might even not hold anything against me, but then I’m not sure which would be worse: to be a disappointment, or to think that they never thought I would amount to much anyway. :(

    That’s a thought I’ve had many, many times.

    David M,

    Publish your papers – if nothing else, they’re something a small part of the world has been waiting for (perhaps without knowing it).

    You have no idea just how few people will care if I publish those papers. I can say that preliminary stuff was well received at conferences, though.

  49. SteveV says

    Pygmy Loris

    Someone will care, which is much, much better than no-one knowing.

    As a hero of mine said “Publish and be Dammed”

    slightly different context I know, but still…

  50. Brownian, OM says

    Insert way too obvious joke here.

    Ha-ha! I can’t believe I never saw that myself.

    Relax. I mean, you keep taking it, you don’t have to cope with the withdrawal symptoms.

    Way long ago I was hospitalised for complications arising post-appendectomy. They made me fast for three days before goop oozing out of my wound indicated a staph infection.

    While having my wound reopened a little more each day via a surgeon sticking his fingers inside me and manually spreading the stitches until they broke was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced, the second most painful thing was the caffeine withdrawal.

  51. Pygmy Loris says

    While having my wound reopened a little more each day via a surgeon sticking his fingers inside me and manually spreading the stitches until they broke was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced, the second most painful thing was the caffeine withdrawal.

    OW! That is all.

  52. SC OM says

    SC likes that tune, IIRC.

    Oooooo! I doooooo! Byooty! I’ve been smiling for over 8 minutes. Thanks, boygenius.

    Maybe because they both speak spanish ?

    In truth, I don’t. (Though I was able to fool a U. into thinking that I do. :)) I just get no practice, and even with it I’m such a perfectionist that it’s hard to just go with it and talk.* I do read, understand, and write (when I’m in practice, pretty well), though.

    (And I’ve always imagined Morales as quite handsome. ;))

    I would have thought that my embarrassingly vast knowledge of seventies era pop music and my love of underground music of the eighties and early nineties gave away my age. It does not bother me to admit it, I am 43.

    Huh. I thought we were exactly the same. I’m actually younger, but a bunch of us are right in the same range. I was disturbed that I got PZ’s reference yesterday:

    (I also was thinking of my car-radio alter ego, which enjoys some…interesting tunes, as Rip Tide, so….)

    All this talk of ages makes me wonder if Ben Goldacre reads The Thread.

    That link was great. (I have zero interest in younger guys.) What does it have to do with Ben Goldacre?

    I’m a master of self-pity; it’s more-or-less my only talent. :-(

    I’m sorry. That was great.

    Big wild mushroom fan and hunter here.

    OK, you’re forcing me to post my mushroom saying (read in Omnivore’s Dilemma and appreciated by Patricia in the past): “There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.”

    * Yet another thing that’s aggravated by living alone.

    Very wise.

    ***

    So, the twin themes of the day for me have been jokes and people thinking I’m drastically younger than I am.

    First, neg.

    Then, I go in to get my egg & cheese sandwich this morning. Conversation:

    Guy at the counter: You seem like you’re in a hurry. [This is actually the case about 95% of the time – I’m hyper and jittery by nature.]

    Me: Yeah, I’m teaching in a little while.

    Guy: You’re a teacher?**

    Me: Yeah.

    Guy: Here?

    Me: Yeah.

    Guy: Then why don’t you come here more?

    Me: I come here. [walks away …*Wait, what?*]

    Then, I go to dinner in the harbor on my way home, for fresh fish to ease my food soul. So I settle in at a little table in the bar area, where there are two men and a woman already sitting a few feet away at the bar. As I’m awaiting my food, they start to include me in their conversation.*** People are telling jokes – mostly blonde jokes, a few about a neighboring town, and one Native American joke (not about Native Americans, but one a Native American dude had recently told the bartender). They start laughing about how I must be getting offended. Then one guy asks me what I’m going to be when I grow up [!], and they’re all astonished when I tell them what I do. Anyway, they go to pay their tab, and I see one guy asking the bartender if he can get my drink, but I wasn’t having a drink since I was driving. So he bought my whole dinner.**** I fucking love this town. The woman was saying that it was the least he could do after the blonde jokes. …And then I realized…they think I’m really blonde! Very funny.

    So my head is huge and I’m in a fine mood, even if not fully recovered.

    :)

    *If forced by someone not knowing any English or drinking, I can. French is the same, but a little scarier. I think I told a guy in Nice once that I wore my dog to the beach. :/

    **In his defense, my hair can make me look unprofessional. I have flower-child hair – it’s long, it’s curly, there’s a lot of it.

    ***Because in RL I’m sweet and bubbly. Sweet and fucking bubbly. Anyone want to make something of it? I thought not.

    ****Cue idiots about how women have all the advantages.

  53. WowbaggerOM says

    While having my wound reopened a little more each day via a surgeon sticking his fingers inside me and manually spreading the stitches until they broke was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced, the second most painful thing was the caffeine withdrawal.

    Jesus H fucking Christ that sounds appalling. One of the things I’ve never experienced (and would like to keep it that way, if possible) is intense physical pain of any kind. Really, I think the worst that I’ve suffered is being kicked really hard on the ankle by a booted foot; admittedly, that did make me nearly black out.

    It didn’t help that I was on stage performing at the time and couldn’t a) scream my lungs out or b) strangle the guy (who was playing my sidekick) for doing it.

  54. Blind Squirrel FCD says

    “There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.”

    The worst thing about being a Mycophagist? There are no new mushroom jokes, and there never will be.

    BS

  55. Carlie says

    The worst thing about being a Mycophagist? There are no new mushroom jokes, and there never will be.

    Oh, you’re just being a spore loser.

  56. Jadehawk, OM says

    “People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.”

    Is that supposed to be funny or stupid or something? It’s entirely true. In fact, I just put it into my quote collection.

    it’s hilariously, obliviously self-referential. Imagine Sarah Palin saying it, but replace “weird” with “clueless”.

  57. Brownian, OM says

    OW! That is all.

    Yeah, yeah. I know. Totally sucked. Finally, after about four days of this some bigwig surgeon flies into my room doing the 6 AM rounds and he’s got his eight-year-old in tow. (I think it was his day off and they were going to work on their short games, but he had to stop in to yell at his residents.) He takes a look at the wound and declares it won’t heal unless it’s completely open, but they don’t have any scalpels in the surgery ward–Albertan readers might take note that at the same time, in the same hospital, Premier “Let’s destroy healthcare so we claim privatisation is the only solution” Klein was recovering in a private room from a fractured rib incurred while boozing it up in hot tub: “See? My cuts haven’t caused any problems!”–so the surgeon breaks off the end of a swab, inserts the wooden shaft under the remaining intact stitches, and uses a syringe to scratch away at the fibres like Sly cutting through a static line in Cliffhanger. (I asked him to give me a shot of Demerol and come back in a half hour but he’s got an early tee time or something.) And the whole time his son is leaning over me, watching the action, and all I can think is how I’m glad to be part of this kid’s learning process but I really want to use some choice words but I can’t because the kid is only eight and so I bite my tongue.

    I’m glad I only had one appendix.

  58. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    Because in RL I’m sweet and bubbly. Sweet and fucking bubbly. Anyone want to make something of it? I thought not.

    I’m not going to touch this with a ten-foot pole. Or even an eleven-foot Hungarian.

  59. Nerd of Redhead, OM says

    I’m not going to touch this with a ten-foot pole. Or even an eleven-foot Hungarian.

    Smart man…

  60. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    “Ass: The Other Vagina.”

    There is an extremely rude song, a parody of The Red Flag, with something similar as the punchline.

    Or so I’ve heard.

  61. Brownian, OM says

    It didn’t help that I was on stage performing at the time and couldn’t a) scream my lungs out or b) strangle the guy (who was playing my sidekick) for doing it.

    I’ve been in that situation! I used to perform in very amateur–as in, only a few of the cast had any dramatic training whatsoever, and I wasn’t one of them–Fringe plays. We’d do a “pass the hat” kind of thing and perform in the basement of a local pub. The show we were doing was a spaghetti western, and I was playing the white hat. The opening video sequence (we loved us some multimedia) revealed that I’d once been a quick draw but was double-crossed by one of my partners and was now an itinerant drunk, so I spent much of the play drinking and then passing out on the floor (cue mystic vision of my Indian guide who’d been killed in the double crossing. Yeah. We were not groundbreaking by any stretch, but we had fun!) I ended up pulling a stomach muscle in the second show, and so I had to play the rest of the run in complete agony every time I had to get up off the floor.

    I got the audience back though: instead of another gun fight, the black hat (betcha didn’t guess that he was my double-crossin’ former pardner!) and I had a Bon Jovi karaoke duel for the deed to the town and the love of the woman. I’m not a bad singer, but I have limited range and “Wanted Dead or Alive” is outside of that.

    For all of that, that show was one of my favourites, not the least reason being that I only got bloodied in the opening video sequence rather than live every night. The writers were big horror fans, so most shows had GWAR-level amounts of fake blood being sprayed about. (We also did a show about a group of amateur actors doing a dinner theatre adaptation of Reservoir Dogs. So meta!)

    Man, do I miss those days.

    Anyways, I wanted to wish you a hearty “break a leg” in your performances.

  62. SC OM says

    The opening video sequence (we loved us some multimedia) revealed that I’d once been a quick draw but was double-crossed by one of my partners and was now an itinerant drunk, so I spent much of the play drinking and then passing out on the floor (cue mystic vision of my Indian guide who’d been killed in the double crossing.

    Ooh! Cheesiest, most formulaic TV opening ever:

  63. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Some guy on the train today was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Ass: The Other Vagina.”

    ROFL!!!

  64. Brownian, OM says

    oh! Cheesiest, most formulaic TV opening ever:

    It’s not cheesy if you call it an homage.

  65. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Brownian

    Hari Mirch Ka Achar

    225 g fresh green chillies, dices as fine as you like and take the seeds out iof your want the achar milder

    300 ml vegetable oil
    1 tbs paprika
    1 tsp turmeric
    1 tbs mustard seeds
    1 tbs fennel seeds
    1/2 tbs salt

    Throw your chilies intoa sterilised jar. Warm the oil slightly and chuck in the spices and salt to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Then pour it over the chilies, give the jar a shake, leave it somewhere warm and keep shaking it every now and again for at least a week before you eat it.

    I used to make this all this time and you can add other stuff such as diced limes, eggplant etc etc. Experiment and enjoy.

    This recipe comes courtesy of my ex-bitch mother in law as my first hissband was Indian. ( my second was English and I’m currently contemplating Sth Africa for future possible husbands as I thik it will add a pleasing hemispherical symmetry to my life. What can I say, I’m a one woman U.N.)

  66. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    SC:

    **In his defense, my hair can make me look unprofessional. I have flower-child hair – it’s long, it’s curly, there’s a lot of it.

    Come on in to SpokesGay’s House of Style (TM)! I’ll get ya fixed right up with a smart up-do*. If you’re not into that, may I suggest Mr. Ray’s Wig World?**

    *No, I’m not a walking, talking, teasing stereotype, but I play one on the Interwebz.

    **Special SpokesGay points for the first person who gets the reference.

  67. Bride of Shrek OM says

    SC OM @578

    That there was some true mulleted awesomness. I think I counted at least four Alabama waterfalls in the first minute alone. Of course I am fairly obsessed with the mullet in general ( I am wearing my “fear the mullet” shirt as I type).

  68. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    **Special SpokesGay points for the first person who gets the reference.

    Is this a popular culture reference that only non-nerdy older gay men understand?

  69. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Is this a popular culture reference that only non-nerdy older gay men understand?

    Older gay men? Non-nerdy?

    Thin ice, Pikachu, thin ice.

  70. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    ..and exactly where are SpokesGay points redeemable?

    Wherever fine hair products are sold.

  71. Brownian, OM says

    Thanks, BoS!

    My mom got remarried last summer to a Scot who’d lived in Jo’burg for a few decades. They’re there now, in fact, so I can ask them to scout around if you’d like.

    What can I say, I’m a one woman U.N.

    I’m all for the miscegenation myself. Never married, but if I can find a nice señora from south of the Darién Gap I’ll have all the continents covered. (Not that I ever set out to do that, mind you, it’s just one of the perks of living in a multicultural country.)

  72. SC OM says

    Come on in to SpokesGay’s House of Style (TM)! I’ll get ya fixed right up with a smart up-do*.

    :) Nah, I like it, and it is professionally cut. But it is what it is. An up-do fools no one. I’ll straighten it for fun, but it’s like wearing a suit – feels like a costume/disguise.

    Wherever fine hair products are sold.

    :D!!!

  73. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    :) Nah, I like it, and it is professionally cut. But it is what it is. An up-do fools no one. I’ll straighten it for fun, but it’s like wearing a suit – feels like a costume/disguise.

    Ah, but never underestimate the power of the up-do. It gives a woman a certain panache, if it’s worn right. And, there will come a time when flower-child hair won’t be a charming quirk anymore:) Just your SpokesGay looking out for ya!

  74. Brownian, OM says

    I think I counted at least four Alabama waterfalls in the first minute alone.

    Ha-ha! The fellow who hired me when I first got into cancer surveillance sports a full-on waterfall. I have no idea why he wears it–he doesn’t like NASCAR, play hockey or anything like that. He’s actually famous for it too, at least among people who work with cancer registries. I’ve actually had the following exchange at multiple conferences:

    Conference Attendee: “So, where do you work?”
    Me: “Alberta, Canada.”
    Conference Attendee 2: “He works with Bill*.
    Conference Attendee: “Bill who?”
    Conference Attendee 2: “Bill with the hair.”
    Conference Attendee: “Oh geez, yeah, what is the deal with that?”

    I need to send him Josh’s way.

    *We no longer work for the same organisations but we’re still good friends so just in case he’s reading Pharyngula I’ve changed his name.

  75. WowbaggerOM says

    Brownian, #576 – damn, that sounds awesome. And that kind of wacky show is what Fringe is meant to be about; that it’s gone as large-scale and commercial as it has is a little disappointing. Eventually it’ll get so big there’ll be a Fringe2 to take it back to its roots.

    Anyways, I wanted to wish you a hearty “break a leg” in your performances.

    Thanks, but no performances for me for the moment – it’s all reviewing and a seeing shows (I’m aiming for 35 in the next three weeks before the GAC) right now. My next on-stage appearance will Tempest in May/June.

  76. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    walking on thin ice

    First you insult me, Pikachu, then you vex me with Yoko-fucking-Ono? Demerit points all around:)

  77. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Conference Attendee 2: “Bill with the hair.”
    Conference Attendee: “Oh geez, yeah, what is the deal with that?”

    I need to send him Josh’s way.

    Damn it Jim, I’m a homosexual, not a miracle worker!

  78. SC OM says

    And, there will come a time when flower-child hair won’t be a charming quirk anymore:) Just your SpokesGay looking out for ya!

    :) Honey, you have no idea how many people are looking out for me. But no, it’s simply unprofessional, and I don’t care at all about that.

    I’m set for the future. There will be salt. There will be sand. It will be lovely. Or not. I won’t care.

  79. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh, SC, I have a feeling if we knew each other in real life, we’d be friends there too. Cheers.

  80. SC OM says

    Damn it Jim, I’m a homosexual, not a miracle worker!

    Fantastic.

    ***

    Wowbagger – Enjoy the festival! Take it easy and don’t let yourself get worn down and sick.

  81. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    First you insult me, Pikachu, then you vex me with Yoko-fucking-Ono? Demerit points all around:)

    Because I’m EVIL

    Demerit points all around:)

    *shudders at memories of frat pledging

  82. SC OM says

    Oh, SC, I have a feeling if we knew each other in real life, we’d be friends there too. Cheers.

    Oh, I have no doubt! Where are you again?

  83. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    *shudders at memories of frat pledging

    Yeah. Shudders. And shivers. Don’t lie, tart.

  84. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh, I have no doubt! Where are you again?

    I live in a suburb (ha – it’s two miles away) Burlington, Vermont. And you?

    Which brings me to another question – any Pharyngulites near me? If so, we should organize a grand get-together. I’m a good cook, and I have a guest room. It would be Tentacular Fun (TM).

  85. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    Yeah. Shudders. And shivers. Don’t lie, tart.

    What do you mean?

  86. SC OM says

    [Now I feel like I’m intruding on something.]

    I live in a suburb (ha – it’s two miles away) Burlington, Vermont. And you?

    Boston area. I forgot how NW Burlington was. How long does it take you to get down here?

    Which brings me to another question – any Pharyngulites near me?

    I think there may be – at least a few.

  87. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    SC:

    Boston area. I forgot how NW Burlington was. How long does it take you to get down here?

    Google maps says it’s about a 3.5 hour drive. That’s what I remember from my trips to Boston.

  88. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    That doe-eyed innocence won’t work on me, pocket monster.

    Surely you don’t think that my frat pledging experience was anything close to a p0rn0graphic interpretation of it?
    lol

  89. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Surely you don’t think that my frat pledging experience was anything close to a p0rn0graphic interpretation of it?

    Well, I’m hoping? :))

  90. Brownian, OM says

    Damn it Jim, I’m a homosexual, not a miracle worker!

    Bumper-fucking-sticker! I am holding my sides.

    And that kind of wacky show is what Fringe is meant to be about; that it’s gone as large-scale and commercial as it has is a little disappointing.

    We had a lot of fun. The writer and his wife, both of whom would act, are also Fringe reviewers so we were aware of the criticisms of off-Fringe shows as stealing audiences away from artists who’d legitimately drew lots to get a real space with real technicians and paid substantially for the opportunity and so had an incentive to at least break even. (I don’t think one gets technicians with their shows in Edinburgh, but I think they do in Melbourne and Adelaide. Correct me if I’m wrong.) Our compromise was to use a “pay what you can” model, so audience members with no money to spend could still enjoy at least one Fringe show. All in all, after production costs were paid we usually recouped just enough apiece to pay for the pints we’d drink over the course of rehearsal.

    The oddest thing about having little acting experience outside of those shows is that all of my experiences were in the same small, intimate barroom theatre-in-the-round. In the early years we’d never turn away audience members so we’d have to act around audience members sitting on the floor and occasionally on set pieces if we packed the house. You had to learn to keep focused pretty quickly. My goal in acting as a hobby was to get to the place where the only things holding me back were a lack of talent, training, and experience, rather than my anxieties or fears. It took me years, but it was a really good feeling to get off the stage and be able to say “Yeah, I gave it everything I had tonight!” though that may have been the two-month diet of draft beer and Jägermeister .

    I think there’s something gained by the increasing commercialisation of Fringe festivals in that the more well-known artists can afford higher production values, but the price we pay (besides higher ticket costs) is in cheapening the idea of fringe.

    Nonetheless, the Fringe is one of my favourite aspects of Edmonton.

  91. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Brownian, link me up with these Fringe festivals? I don’t know what they are, but they sound like a hell of a lot of fun.

  92. SC OM says

    http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/02/roger_ebert_is_dying.php#comment-2288936

    Thanks, Nerd – #2 was what I was thinking of. I just want to say that I can’t address his most recent writings head on, but I have immense and increasing respect for Roger Ebert. I wish him true joy.

    Google maps says it’s about a 3.5 hour drive. That’s what I remember from my trips to Boston.

    That’s nothing! I know Sven has your address. Let me get it from him and we (maybe when MAJeff is here?) can all get together soon!

  93. Brownian, OM says

    [Now I feel like I’m intruding on something.]

    I’ll pretend this is one of the quieter lounge rooms in a big club and quietly notice that my drink needs refilling at the bar. ;)

  94. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    That’s nothing! I know Sven has your address. Let me get it from him and we (maybe when MAJeff is here?) can all get together soon!

    Oh, yay! Yeah, I’ve emailed Sven, but don’t know if he has my address. You can email me at spokesgay AT gmail.com. And we’ll have fun, fun, fun, ’til our daddy takes the T-bird away.

  95. OurDeadSelves says

    It has taken me all night* to get to this point in the thread and…

    … I have no idea what wanted to say.

    *Well, I took some breaks. To wit: I actually made soup for dinner, instead of just opening up a can. (To all you pea-haters out there: I make some pretty damned yummy vegetarian** split-pea soup that just might change your minds.)

    ** Well, it’s vegetarian until I garnish it with bacon.

  96. SC OM says

    You can email me at spokesgay AT gmail.com. And we’ll have fun, fun, fun, ’til our daddy takes the T-bird away.

    Will do. It’s so sad when it’s New England in winter, but I’ll play along.

    :)

  97. Lynna, OM says

    SC @564

    Because in RL I’m sweet and bubbly. Sweet and fucking bubbly. Anyone want to make something of it? I thought not.

    LOL. Loved that.

  98. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    Well, I’m hoping? :))

    If watching people argue until 5 am on whether the ladies (we’re co-ed) should wear pearls at our initiation is the same as a group of lean-build young men foundling each other, then sure. lol

  99. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    If watching people argue until 5 am on whether the ladies (we’re co-ed) should wear pearls at our initiation is the same as a group of lean-build young men foundling each other, then sure. lol

    Then you’re in the wrong fuckin’ frat. Sigh. I have much to teach you, young grasshopper.

  100. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Anybody have any hair spray? My hair’s fallin down, right down offa my head!

    RickR, you’re going to a home for girls.

  101. Nerd of Redhead, OM says

    Above 600 posts again, in 37 hours. Will this thread still be open when I wake up tomorrow? Only PZ knows for sure. ‘Night all.

  102. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    And RickR, I missed you! Don’t be a stranger ’round these parts. Especially when I’m trying to find my way to Chili Verde .

  103. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    And you were quite right to report this behavior, Miss Judefine, but that is enough!

  104. RickR says

    Have no fear, Josh my lad. I may not post often, but I’m always around, usually avoiding work like the plague!

  105. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    And if you little munchkins are very, very good, SpokesGay may someday tell you about the time he actually ended up in a Home for Girls. Yeah, really.

  106. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Have no fear, Josh my lad. I may not post often, but I’m always around, usually avoiding work like the plague!

    Well, after showing your posts to my best friend George (you know, from the “this comment” thread), he insists I propose marriage to you.

  107. RickR says

    Well, I’ve never been in a Home for Girls™, but I’ve always wanted to start one- Satan’s School for Girls:

  108. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    Sigh. I have much to teach you, young grasshopper.

    But you muss learn to accept that I’m inept.

  109. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Well, I’ve never been in a Home for Girls™,

    Well, trust me. No one wants to end up in a Home for Girls (TM), especially when one is a 16-year-old gay boy. But what’s not evident in the beginning is the comic potential for later story-telling. It’s better than any story arc on the Golden Girls, even better than a Very Special Episode.

  110. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    Anybody have any hair spray? My hair’s fallin down, right down offa my head!

    Wouldn’t glue be more effective than hair spray? *Asks the man who uses a buffing cloth instead of a comb*

  111. Brownian, OM says

    Brownian, link me up with these Fringe festivals?

    Here’s a link for the Edmonton one, the biggest in Canada. Lots of cities have them, and Melbourne’s and Edinburgh’s are both world-renowned.

    It’s held in my bohemian (for Alberta) neighbourhood, so I’m lucky I’m within stumbling distance, though it means I can’t drive my car for a week unless I want to lose my parking spot. People buy green onion cakes, curries, and doughnuts, wash ’em down with shitty draft at the beer tents, and watch buskers. Oh, and there are plays too, I hear. Throw in a beach, Tim Capello, and vampires, and I would be golden every August.

  112. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Wouldn’t glue be more effective than hair spray? *Asks the man who uses a buffing cloth instead of a comb*

    ‘Tis, I love you, but stay out of this. You straight men can’t tell the difference between pomade and hair conditioner. I just can’t be bothered:)

  113. RickR says

    One of my favorite things to do is turn on HGTV and laugh about how all the Candians mispronounce “house”!

  114. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tonight, on Spokesgay™ Theatre, a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE….

    . . in which SpokesGay breaks all broadcasting boundaries:

    – Chiclet: “I’m glad I had an abortion”

    – Dawn: “Sigh. I’ll never have another”

  115. RickR says

    And piss on the sciblogs software for telling me I’ve made too many comments in too short a time. Don’t they care that I’m trying to have a conversation here??? FUCK THAT NOISE.

  116. RickR says

    Thank dog for “Project Runway” because, without it, I would never have learned the meaning of “crinoline” or “bias cut”.

  117. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    RickR, while you’re dallying around bitching about SciBlogs, would you grab me a double egg-salad on white toast?

  118. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Here’s a link for the Edmonton one, the biggest in Canada. Lots of cities have them, and Melbourne’s and Edinburgh’s are both world-renowned.

    Brownian, I appreciate it, but the link is hella boring. Lots of blah, blah, blah (no offense to you), and no action.

    Do you have a link to any performances?

  119. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    You bet, hon.

    Just so long as you don’t leave to find happiness in the auto in-DUS-try.

  120. RickR says

    Josh, speaking of John W., have you ever read “Shock Value”? I never laughed so hard in my life. Back in ’81, I went to a theatre in Hollywood that was showing “Polyester”, and had my copy signed by John, Russ Meyer, and Edith Massey herself, god rest her soul. What a sweet, strange lady she was….

  121. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    RickR:

    Yes, I have a copy of “Shock Value,” and it’s fab. It’s not signed like yours, though. Oh, how I envy you! And Edie Massey. .oh, don’t you just want to cuddle her and smooch her?

  122. RickR says

    Well, yeah. In real life, she was incredibly friendly and sweet. She loved the fans. What a doll…

  123. RickR says

    I never got to meet Divine, though. Sad. But I’ll always remember her for her exclamation “I want tits bigger than my head!!”

  124. RickR says

    Oooh, so you got to meet Edie, Rick?

    Oh yes. And John, too. I used to work for Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles, and they were early champions of Waters. The Nuart theatre in west L.A. showed “Pink Flamingos” Saturdays at midnight waaaaaaaaay back when. And they commisioned this no smoking announcement for the chain-

  125. windy says

    Apparently I’m predictable. Sigh. Or… how many correct guesses would be expected by chance?

    Sven:

    Watch for eye-poppingly animated tentacle porn @ 0.39 and again at 1:34.

    And the tongue action at 1:18. I had missed that when this first made the rounds.

    SC:

    Because in RL I’m sweet and bubbly. Sweet and fucking bubbly. Anyone want to make something of it?

    I shall call you ‘Bubbles’. *looks oblivious*

  126. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Sadly, no. The best I can do is a picture of me as the white hat (third photo down) in the aforementioned spaghetti western.

    Ah, thanks. You’re a good-looking guy, as I suspected:)

    I wasn’t trying to make fun of the Fringe productions, just to point out that all that verbiage is really, really fucking dull, and not the best way for them to present themselves. I trust you know that’s not a criticism of you, or the performances. Really, though, show the work, and cut out the verbose Po-Mo promo.

    OMG. . .did that woman really voice the Down’s Syndrome character on Family Guy?

  127. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh yes. And John, too. I used to work for Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles, and they were early champions of Waters.

    I’m officially jealous, Rick. What great memories to have!

  128. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Sadly, no. The best I can do is a picture of me as the white hat (third photo down) in the aforementioned spaghetti western.

    ..right above the photo we’re I reckon he’s doing an Egon Spengler impersonation.

  129. https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawncr0FDc8gdl7yJBz0SJ15D0etcTIOtL0s says

    From John Waters to mashed spuds: with Gruyere!

    Joe’s been cooking out of a book a friend gave us, of recipes reconstructed from testimony of and against conversos and crypto-Jews in the Spanish Inquisition. Depressing but tasty.

  130. Bride of Shrek OM says

    ..good grief my typos are getting bad. Now I’m putting in apostrophes where none are needed. Damn you and your influence to hell Rev BDC
    *shakes fist at screen in admonishment*

  131. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    Say, I wonder who is the youngest ccontributor here.

    I think it’s either me or walton.

  132. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Say, I wonder who is the youngest ccontributor here.

    I think it’s either me or walton.

    Putting yourself out there as “chicken,” Pikachu? Please. I thought you were above such cheap tactics as, “Giggle-snort, I’m like sooooo young and stuff. Tee-hee!”

  133. Jadehawk, OM says

    Say, I wonder who is the youngest ccontributor here.

    well, there’s the “colorblind” and uh…”genderblind” occasional drive-by troll named alex who’s still in high-school. He’d have to be younger than the two of you, but I don’t know if trolls count.

  134. frankosaurus says

    Nonetheless, the Fringe is one of my favourite aspects of Edmonton.

    It was the first fringe festival outside of scotland wasn’t it? nonetheless, I think Winnipeg’s has overtaken Edmonton for populatity. But Winnipeg has always been a little more on the fringe side anyway.

    My favourite aspect of Edmonton is the giant baseball bat monument. It’s magnificent

  135. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh, hell, why do you have to show up here, fuckosaurus? Don’t you have a sewer to patrol?

  136. RickR says

    Say, I wonder who is the youngest ccontributor here.

    Well it sure as hell ain’t me. I’m 48.

    “Caprica” is just coming on, and I’m trying to decide if I like it or not. Maybe if it had spaceships or something…

  137. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    “Caprica” is just coming on, and I’m trying to decide if I like it or not. Maybe if it had spaceships or something…

    I’m trying to decide whether to watch that. I was so addicted to BSG, I’m afraid of having it ruined. Do report, won’t you?

  138. RickR says

    If a show looks interesting, I’ll give it a chance. I’ll watch 4 or 5 eps to see what it’s about. I dropped “FlashForward” because it was shit. The jury’s still out on “Caprica”…

  139. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Say, I wonder who is the youngest ccontributor here.

    I think it’s either me or walton.

    ..if we applied the law as in Logan’s Run to Pharyngula you two would be the only ones stil standing.

    I’m such a complete dag for mentioning Logan’s Run. Next thing I’ll be quoting Blakes 7.

  140. frankosaurus says

    Oh, hell, why do you have to show up here, fuckosaurus? Don’t you have a sewer to patrol?

    I don’t understand. Why so rude?

  141. RickR says

    I’m such a complete dag for mentioning Logan’s Run.

    I loooooove “Logan’s Run”. Pretty people running around scantily dressed. Bright colors. Washington D.C. covered in vines. A great score by Jerry Goldsmith. And Farrah Fawcett’s hair.

    What’s not to love?

  142. Brownian, OM says

    Not quite yet, frankosaurus, but they’re pretty big. Winnipeg is much too far for me to stumble home with a snoot full though, so my loyalties are here.

    Heh-heh. When the bat was first built, it could be spun around by passersby on loud, creaky bearings at any time of the day or night. Local residents loved it, but they welded it static for some reason.

    We’ve also got the world’s largest cowboy boot. (Texas has two that are slightly larger, but they’re a pair. Again, outside of stumbling distance = fuck you Texas and your bullshit boots.)

  143. RickR says

    Well, if Caprica sucks, Rick, you can always tell it to get back to its cell.

    Indeed. Don’t they show it where you live?

  144. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Indeed. Don’t they show it where you live?

    No (well, probly, but I don’t have a TV). Besides, bumpin’ pussies is violation of jail rules.

  145. RickR says

    No (well, probly, but I don’t have a TV). Besides, bumpin’ pussies is violation of jail rules.

    Oh well, you can always watch it online.

    The only reason I have a TV is to watch Food network and “Millionaire Matchmaker” on Bravo.

    And “Lost”. I’m a “Lost” addict. Best thing ever done for television.

  146. Jadehawk, OM says

    The plot and acting?

    after I read Logan’s Run, my boyfriend asked me about the book, because the movie made no fucking sense. turns out the movie fucked up the book, completely missing the point. figures :-p

    I think I might have seen it, too, but that was when I was 15 and trying to teach myself English by watching the English movie channel. I don’t think I understood WTF the movie was about at all… might not have been the fault of my crappy English, though, from what my boyfriend reports about the movie :-p

  147. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh well, you can always watch it online.

    The only reason I have a TV is to watch Food network and “Millionaire Matchmaker” on Bravo.

    And “Lost”. I’m a “Lost” addict. Best thing ever done for television.

    I’m disappointed in you, Rick. This is the first time you haven’t come back at me with yet another John Waters movie line.

    Are you conceding?

    :)))

  148. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    Putting yourself out there as “chicken,” Pikachu? Please. I thought you were above such cheap tactics as, “Giggle-snort, I’m like sooooo young and stuff. Tee-hee!”

    Oh, I’m not too young for that.

  149. Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM says

    Little lizard, the undead thread has gotten fabulously gay tonight. I thought you were out to defend the rights of right thinking and believing folks from the people in this thread.

    Changing subject. Hey! No-Longer-Bride! I thought you were looking for a cat fight! You called me a CRUSTY OLD COW! I answered your challenge. I said that you will become A CRUSTY OLD COW very soon, perhaps just in time for the convention!

    My claws are out! Show me your! (Wait a second, could a cow make use of cat claws?) Let’s get to it.

  150. RickR says

    The plot and acting?

    Oh, I never said it was any good. I said it was lovable.

    Like my last boyfriend.

  151. Sven DiMilo says

    Excuse me for interrupting the whole Gay-O-Rama thing you guys have going on here. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m home from the bar, caught up on the Thread and fain must Comment:

    re: clarinets: I am given to understand that of all musical instruments, the frequency output of the clarinet most closely approximate a pure sine wave, i.e. has the fewest overtones.

    re; shrooms: I have seen beautiful A. muscaria in Alaska, but would not dare to eat them unless I knew someone who had done so more than once. Of the bluer variety, I can speak more confidently, having most recently induged when the Dead played Madison Square Garden last year.
    I like ’em. I once had a fairly lucrative concession in such fungi; college daze dontcha know.

    What Wowbagger said.

    Pygmy Loris @#512: oy, what to say. It’s a crappy game for sure, but to play you have to ante all the way up. Sucks.

    Brownian @#515: Hey! What the–ha! Motherfucker!!

    I have flower-child hair – it’s long, it’s curly, there’s a lot of it.

    eyebrows–I have to admit it–up
    way up

    sweatshirt that said “Ass: The Other Vagina.”

    I cannot. stop. laughing about this.
    help
    me

    I’m currently contemplating Sth Africa for future possible husbands

    hmm, nonononono, I’d have to advise setting your sights on someplace more…mmm…in the vicintiy of, y’know, like, I dunno, New York City?
    if asked.

  152. RickR says

    And Josh, in a Waters cage match throwdown, you would win in a heartbeat, leaving me a quivering puddle of well-coiffed ooze. Just sayin’.

  153. Rawnaeris says

    Man, people. I leave for less than and hour and the New Englanders are planning a get together, the rest of you folks have filled up this thread and all kinds of craziness has ensued.

    I think we can expect a portcullis soon.

  154. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Excuse me for interrupting the whole Gay-O-Rama thing you guys have going on here.

  155. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Janine

    Bugger, I was hoping you’d forgotten. You see I like to think myself the master of the scud attack insult. You know, mouth off then fuck off before the other party has noticed. You are too crafty for that though my sensai, your bitch radar is firmly in place and I have pinged it.

    It’s like some sort of Dorian Gray curse. I can feel myslf turning into a crusty old cow rapidly. By the convention I shall be a mere husk of my former self and it will be ALL YOUR FAULT.

  156. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    God damn it. Blockquote fail. Sigh. Trying again:

    Excuse me for interrupting the whole Gay-O-Rama thing you guys have going on here.

    Ha! Well, thank fuck someone did. I was getting sick of my own self, truth be told!

    Welcome back home, Sven, and cheers.

  157. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    RickR:

    leaving me a quivering puddle of well-coiffed ooze. Just sayin’.

    Mmmm. Noted. Baby.

  158. The Silent Moose of Doom says

    Paul W, #448:

    I can post some recipes if anybody wants to try spicy veggies that even veggie-haters usually like.

    *raises hand*
    Yes please! I’m vegetarian, but pretty much devoid of clue when it comes to spices.

    Rawnaeris, #491:

    I wonder what brand/model clarinet they are playing. The tone is pure yet harder than most of the instruments I’ve played. Mine has an innate softer sound, to get that kind of hard sound I would have to use a crystal mouthpiece.

    It sounds almost… resin-ish. But that can’t be right…

  159. Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM says

    It’s like some sort of Dorian Gray curse. I can feel myslf turning into a crusty old cow rapidly. By the convention I shall be a mere husk of my former self and it will be ALL YOUR FAULT.

    I claim victory and, even better, now feel I achieved something with my life.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  160. Rawnaeris says

    @ SMD (Permission to shorten your tag?) # 706

    Good Lord, I hope that’s not a resin horn. Surely not for a professional gig?!

    /Brag
    I have a Buffet-Crampon R13 from 1957. I wouldn’t trade that aged sound for anything.
    /Brag

  161. RickR says

    It’s coming up to 11 PM here, and I haven’t even had dinner yet! Ciao, y’all. I’m going to forage….

  162. frankosaurus says

    Brownian @683

    okay, just looked into it. Edmonton has more ticket sales than Winnipeg, but Winnipeg goes on a few days longer, if I recall.

    One more piece of Edmonton pride: Not only do we have the most sophisticated garbage disposing system in North America, but we are also the most wasteful city per capita. Just more of us to love heh

  163. The Silent Moose of Doom says

    @ Rawnaeris #708

    Exactly what I was thinking.

    Selmer (Paris) Series 9 for me, from some nonspecific time in the sixties. It came to me via someone who didn’t know anything about clarinets, so he didn’t bother to remember the details.

    (He also sold it to me for less than AUD1000, though, so WIN.)

    The downside is that he didn’t realise that keeping it locked up for 20-odd years without oiling wasn’t going to do it all that much good. Another crack has opened up and I don’t have the money for a strip-down and refinish.

    *cries*

    I’ve tried newer R13s before and loved them, so I can only imagine how an older one would sound.

    Oh, and shorten away. :)

  164. Gyeong Hwa Pak, Pikachu para lang sa iyo. says

    After looking at Brownian’s profile picture, I have the perfect song for him.

    (For the record, I do like beards.)

  165. Rawnaeris says

    @SMD:

    I got mine from my last teacher, he sold it to me for USD 1400. According to him it was from one of the last years that Buffet still made their instruments by hand.

    I’ve never really played on Selmers. I’ve played on or owned several Buffets.

    I’m ashamed to admit that my first wood horn, an intermediate level Buffet, got a crack because I was never told how to properly take care of the poor thing. Luckily it was fixable.

  166. Sven DiMilo says

    Lewis Thomas:

    Perhaps the safest thing to do at the outset, if technology permits, is to send music. This language may be the best we have for explaining what we are like to others in space, with least ambiguity. I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.

    I think Bach + Coltrane would sum up a lot concisely.

  167. Pygmy Loris says

    Clarinets: I played a Vito clarinet from a pawn shop all through middle and high school. I didn’t realize how hard my clarinet was to play until I had to borrow a friend’s Selmer when I forgot mine one day, and I still made first chair! If I had spare cash laying around, I’d buy a new instrument, but alas, I am too poor :(

  168. Rawnaeris says

    Night peoples. I’ll have to check this thread back out tomorrow and see what amazing music has been posted.

  169. Ichthyic says

    so sue me

    man, it’s pretty rare to find a fellow Yes fan these days.

    I think it’s the ONLY band I have collected every single album they ever made.

    sometimes it seems a little… silly, but I always get a kick out of listening to it, even now.

  170. Rorschach says

    And in other news :

    Panel approves Bible classes for public schools

    I’m undecided about this.While it’s another thinly-veiled attempt to pimp christian religion in schools, I guess it will all depend on whether the teachers use this to preach, or to really study the bible as a literary text, including all the juicy/mad/genicidal/homophobic etc. bits. That could not work out as those retarded legislators had in mind.

  171. frankosaurus says

    If the call is out for music…

    Bad news Ichthyic, but I’m a Yes fan too. I refer to topographic oceans generally as an artsy, pretentious, but nonetheless innovative concept album. Can’t find any decent live clips, though.

    More 70s. ‘Member the band Angel? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n07qiAo1lM
    Why did the synthesized “chirp” ever go out of style anyway?

    How about Rush? Subdivisions? Bet it’s been a while

    And for eclecticity’s sake, Mehldau improvising counterpoint on All the Things you are. This is just mind-blowing

  172. Bride of Shrek OM says

    You know I think we should start a bet on what number post that PZ will can the current everlastings at. I’m thinking of $5 ante (virtual dollars of course, or we could call it a new denomination such as 5 Pharyngules) with the closest winner to have main bragging rights and serious kudos in the next thread.

    I’m in first, I bet 15 Pahrygules it’s getting killed at post # 928

  173. Pygmy Loris says

    BoS,

    I’m in first, I bet 15 Pahrygules it’s getting killed at post # 928

    I’m claiming #872

  174. negentropyeater says

    It’s saturday, usually a slow day, the north american contingent is now mostly asleep, so I’d say we get something like ten comments an hour max on this thread until the Squidmaster wakes up and kills it within the next 5 hours max.

    So I’ll go with Blind Squirrel’s 785 and add another 50 Pharygules.

    btw, what’s the current exchange rate for the Pharygule ? All I know is it’s traded on the Morris Exchange under the ticker PHY and indexed on the cost of calamari.

  175. phi1ip says

    Assuming PZ may well have a good excuse to have a sleep-in after much recent travel, I’m going to guess we’ll be in the 800s before the thread gets stomped: I’ll claim 828.

  176. Rorschach says

    portcullis @ 777

    Feyny,

    We haven’t had this in a while….

    Oh, thanks, that was fun ! And I have said it before, Bill or his writers read this blog ! The Bush billboard was in there….

  177. Leigh Williams says

    Paul W., I’d purely admire to have your recipes . . . all of them. I am so very tired of cooking the same five bland meals over and over. These people who live in the house with me have all kinds of food fetishes and stuff they won’t eat; but if I cut it up fine, blanket it with spices, and stick it on a bed of rice, it will suddenly become exotic and glamorous and they’ll attack it like starving chipmunks. This is my hope, anyway.

    Can you email the recipes to me? williamsstephens at gmail dot com.

  178. Pygmy Loris says

    The North American contingent isn’t entirely asleep. I went to Memory Alpha to check on one little thing, and the damn wiki sucked me in. The passionate love/hate relationship I have with my favorite wikis is entirely because they are the ultimate time sucking devices. Go on to Wikipedia to find out the average life-span of ducks and you’ll end up, hours later, reading about the history of model trains.

    My favorite wiki is TV Tropes, but I’m partial to Memory Alpha and the Marvel Comics Database.

  179. negentropyeater says

    but there’s also the possibility that he’s still half way on Irish time and wakes up a couple of hours earlier. Then the first thing he’ll do, assuming the trophy wife is still asleep, is to zing this thread.
    No, there’s little chance this thread goes beyond 800 (said with a highly confident tone that betrays no confidence at all).

    The 1,000,000 PHY question is now, what’s going to be the subject of the next thread ? After Calamari, Emma Peel, Fish and Mushrooms, a possibility is something that starts with the letter S, lives under the sea, and is edible :

    hmmmm, what about Scallops ?

  180. SpriteSuzi says

    Jadehawk,
    I can’t see that you ever got an answer on the Key Lime Pie question. I think you’d do well to use a Lemon Meringue Pie recipe, and just sub lime for lemon… I don’t have a favorite recipe, but I’ve always had good luck with anything from Alton Brown (his Free Range Fruitcake is AMAZING!!!)

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lemon-meringue-pie-recipe/index.html

    Use the meringue topping, or sub whipped cream instead.

    Hope it works out. :) Anything lime is good, anyway!

  181. Leigh Williams says

    Jadehawk, if the problem is obtaining sweetened condensed milk (and not milk itself), I make my lemon meringue pie to a similar recipe, but at the end of cooking, I stir in about 3/4 cup heavy cream to smooth out the citrus tang.

  182. Feynmaniac says

    What?

    Yeah, like I got nothing better to do than to artificially increase the number of comments to win the bet.

  183. Carlie says

    then you vex me with Yoko-fucking-Ono

    Hey now, she’s not that bad!

    I live in a suburb (ha – it’s two miles away) Burlington, Vermont. And you?

    Which brings me to another question – any Pharyngulites near me?

    *boggles* Central New York – not too close, but I do have a good friend here who frequents Burlington. I should road trip with her this summer and we can stop by for dinner and drinks. :)

  184. WowbaggerOM says

    Hey, what’s this? There was a whole 34-minute period where no-one commented on this thread. That’s just not good enough, people.

    I have an excuse; I was off seeing shows 3, 4 and 5 of my Fringesanity experience – including one excellent show about Rachel Corrie – the young American woman who died trying to stop Palestinian houses from being destroyed by Israeli bulldozers.

    That was pretty confronting.