The attack beasts of Pharyngula have been talking about their pets, so here are some vicious carnivores devouring their prey.
Talk about whatever you want.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
The attack beasts of Pharyngula have been talking about their pets, so here are some vicious carnivores devouring their prey.
Talk about whatever you want.
Thank you, Bill. Hopefully, things will become normal quickly between my sister and me.
Really? It only ever got a fall…none of your business. :P
Sanction, much appreciated.
Lynna,
This is the thing that amazes me about the LDS church. The way it has brainwashed members into being so concerned about other mormons. It was a huge deal among m1
Sorry about that guys. The cat just walked across my laptop and managed to preview and submit a post before I could move him. Talented guy :)
so #504 should go on to say:
It was a huge deal among my Baptist relatives when one of my cousins married a Catholic, but they got over it. She can still go to Baptist church, and there’s no issue of her getting into heaven.
The LDS church is so restrictive and insular. I cannot imagine trying to escape.
Not sure if I have linked to Sue-Ann Post before here, if I have apologies, thought Lynna(and others hopefully) might find it funny.
She’s a lesbian ex-mormon comedian over here and had a gig at the GAC, of which Wowbagger just reminded me in a blog post he put up about that weekend.
I’ll let him link to it, if he wants to…
Indeed. Pygmy Loris’ cat gets my Molly vote this month.
My cat Chloe hasn’t posted anything for me as yet, but she has deleted numerous emails by rolling on my keyboard. I’m sure she’ll add posting to her repertoire when opportunity represents itself. And quite possibly start posting her own thoughts on a variety of subjects, most of which will relate to the birds that live in our yard based on her vocalizations about them.
Ignoring the fact that Formula 1 is a waste of money, space and used to piss me off when Albert Park was no good for jogging for weeks because of it, it’s certainly no fun when
godMichael Schumacher is trundling behind in 11th place !!I assume it’s his bad neck.
(It does funny things to you when you drive around the course in non-Grand Prix times btw, one tends to just go through the curves a tad more aggressively than usual, it’s good fun, especially since the speed limit is meant to be 50…)
Here is NonStampCollector’s view of the GAC !
Seems like a really nice guy, and his name is Steve…:-)
Hmmm… got sidetracked when the spawn and her bf decided to come home for the (rest of the) weekend… which oddly enough turned into a long session of late-night West Wing DVD watching.
Pygmy Loris (@503):
My sister’s cat once recorded the outgoing message on her answering machine! The way we reconstructed it after the fact, he must’ve stepped on the Record button and then just stood there meowing and purring for the allowed duration of the OGM.
He also used to type on her computer. At one point, I discovered (and bought for her, for Christmas) computer software (Windoze only, or I would’ve gotten a copy for myself) that purported to train cats to stay off the keyboard: It claimed to be able to statistically identify certain non-word strings of characters as catlike typing, and the software would cause the computer to emit a tone that’s annoying to cats whenever such strings are detected.
Never actually worked, of course, but it was one of the funniest gifts I’ve ever given! ;^)
BTW, regarding the ice cream I mentioned @477, it’s mostly one of the recipes that came with my ice cream machine (Cuisinart ICE-20), but with a couple tweaks of my own:
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
1 4-oz. bar 60% cacao chocolate
Green creme de menthe liqueur to taste
Chop chocolate into small irregular chips and place in freezer
Chill milk and cream in refrigerator
Put milk and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved
Add cream and peppermint extract and whisk lightly (don’t whip)
Chill mixture in refrigerator for at least several hours (up to overnight), or in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes (do not allow to freeze)
Churn/freeze mixture in ice cream machine per instructions (a total of about 22 minutes for my machine; YMMV)
Roughly 4 minutes before the end of churning, add the chilled chocolate chips
Drizzle in creme de menthe as desired to add color and additional mint flavor.
Yields roughly 2 1/2 pints
There: No cooked custard and no raw eggs, yet the final product is rich and tasty. The creme de menthe is my own addition: Many recipes for mint chip ice cream suggest green food coloring (without it, the ice cream is white, and visibly indistinguishable from regular chocolate chip), but I thought it would make more sense to use something that would actually add flavor as well as color. The alcohol content of the finished product is negligible (any significant amount of alcohol would interfere with proper freezing). I also discovered, after my first batch failed to set up properly, that it’s important everything be cold when it goes into the churn. The chocolate has a nontrivial amount of thermal mass, and if you put it in at room temperature, you may have difficulty.
Right out of the churn, this will have the texture of soft-serve, but I always harden it in the freezer before serving. I bought, at a local restaurant supply store, a case of lidded paper 1-pint buckets (sold as soup containers) that are perfect for portioning and storing ice cream.
Bon appetit!
Hey Jadehawk, although my plans atm are to arrive in Europe June 27, can you let me know if you can make it any earlier so to make it to this convention in Copenhagen? I would consider changing my flight plans if you would go with me…Would be nice to meet the euro atheists !!!
Lynna, sorry to hear about your cat woes; I’m not at all surprised by the cop’s response. One of my happiest days was leaving SLC. I don’t know of anything that will get the cat stench off your plant, perhaps repeated spray downs/rinses with insecticidal soap? Have you tried planting Rue? It won’t work on all cats, but most of them hate it with a passion, especially if you crush a stem full of fresh leaves every day. Be careful doing that though, Rue has a nasty effect on the skin. Gloves are best.
It took me three sittings, but I finally finished watching Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
It actually wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. Yes, Ben Stein playing the scripted sceptic is painful to watch, it was completely biased in the way a Penn & Teller episode is, and a million other things wrong with it. But it is worth watching, if nothing else to see how a quasi-conspiracy can be weaved into a narrative which didn’t really support it. As a propaganda piece, I give it 6/10.
Wow, that Bird character on the dangerous nuts thread is something else. I’m amazed his brain hasn’t exploded from the sheer amount of bullshit he’s shoveled into it.
Caine,
Bird doesn’t accept “space-time.” This tells me that he’s a solipsist and whatever he decides is true must be true.
‘Tis, I saw that comment of his about space-time. My jaw did some dropping on that one. Saying these types of people are loony doesn’t even begin to cover it. I don’t think there’s one single thing he wouldn’t scream “conspiracy!” or “you can’t prove it!” over.
I’ve encountered the wacky birthers on the net before, but this one…oy.
Argh. I just don’t have the mental energy to read and understand all these posts properly, so it all rolls together in my mind… apparently Obama was born in a giant tub of primeval mint chocolate chip ice cream, outside space time, and was brought to life by cats pressing buttons on the keyboard. And his birth certificate was doctored by a quack who claimed he’d been to Harvard, but no one could understand him because he was speaking an obscure German dialect. Or something.
A masterful summary, Walton.
Caine, Bird itself has strongly implied HIV does cause AIDS, and that the holocaust did happen, so there’s two things it presumably won’t cry “conspiracy!” or “you can’t prove it!” over. (It hasn’t absolutely clearly said so, but I expect that level of coherence is beyond it.) And I (and others) had to ask eight times before we got an answer. This is a mooron’s mooron.
blf, yes, I caught that. It was certainly an implication. Of a sort. Normally, I’d enquire as to “several” as a response to “did the holocaust take place?” but Game Bird* doesn’t seem the sort actually clarify anything.
*I swear, I keep reading his name as Game Bird.
Walton, that was pretty funny.
yeah, you’re unkilled.
General amnesty.
I keep reading him as Bird Brained. His claim to be using the scientific method is sets my goat afire…
Nerd, considering that he believes in the expanding earth theory, his notion of scientific method is seriously out there. Somewhere.
That’s actually sorta a relief. I though he sounded like he was about to drop dead from having walked up too many stairs.
Someplace in that thread, and also maybe on its blog, Less-Brains-Than-a-Stuff-Turkey said something to the effect that an experiment isn’t valid unless it’s testing more than one, but not more than six, ideas. In the same(?) comment there was something great about a hypothesis, something to the effect you couldn’t have one unless you had two.
I pretty much skipped over that inanity, perhaps because my brain was already Klein-bottle shaped from earlier and other inanities, or maybe due to a good vin and lack of sleep. (I was laughing so hard I was up for almost 24h!… SIWOTI, anyone?)
Hmm, sounds like a reified version of Platt 1964:
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/science64_strong_inference.pdf
blf:
Uh…okaaay. I wonder if that has anything to do with believing in six impossible things before breakfast. :D
Platt 1964 in a better pdf:
http://www.psy.jhu.edu/~yantis/pdf/platt-1964.pdf
Rorschach, you had linked to Sue Post some time back, but I’d hadn’t seen that particular video. Great fun. I loved her impression of herself, with that smiling mormon inanity between the two chopped-off braids (“plaits”, as she calls ’em).
Pygmy Loris mentioned how astounding it is that mormons get all up into everyone else’s business, and that it’s even worse for church members. They can form little intervention committees at the drop of a hat, giving them multi-saint power to harangue girls who are thinking of marrying outside the Returned Missionary fold, to present dire-warning choruses to guys thinking of attending any university other than BYU or BYUI, and to slime-love a reluctant mother into having yet more babies. There are no boundaries. Everything in your life, from your innermost thoughts to your innermost thighs, is fair game and needs a Piss-Poor Prophet Prescription.
Oh, yeah, and Rorschach, thanks for the link to Non-Stamp Collector, who was nicely awed by Professional Poopyhead and other major atheist lights he met at the conference. I love all the pics of PZ obligingly getting his photo taken with his fans.
Walton @516, that was the best thread summary ever.
Kel (#492)
Impossible. While you’d think the “treating the individual” skills he employs for his beloved profession would make that easier, it’s maintaining belief in the goodness of that profession that keeps him from acknowledging we’re not just PZ’s willing puppets. His is so common an attitude that I actually wrote out weeks ago three of the options that the quack and his ilk could use to explain the unanimity of our response to him:
1. You believe you’re right and you are right. Everyone else is wrong and they are unwilling or afraid to admit it as no dissent from the dogma prescribed by the blog is allowed. They are arguing only to please their master and keep their place among the pack.
2. You believe you’re right and you are right. Everyone else is wrong, but they sincerely believe they are right, and are independently telling you how you are wrong.
3. You believe you’re right but you’re wrong. Everyone but you can see this and is independently telling you how you are wrong.
It’s very telling that the quack and so many other hostile visitors to Pharyngula choose number one. If I’m in a situation where I’m disagreeing with several people at once and I’m confident I’m right, I’ll assume number two while staying open to the possibility I’m wrong after all. But then, I have a greater desire to find the truth than to be “right” at any given moment. To rely on number one would merely invoke a few self-aggrandizing and absurd ad hominems rather than doing anything to legitimately support my beliefs. But it seems to be a very popular refuge for those unwilling to consider themselves wrong.
A. Noyd: But we are the willing minions of PZ. Notice the button we have to push to comment — it says ‘submit.’ That (to some) says it all.
I submit that A. Noyd has indeed edged us closer to truth.
But so I really wanted to mention something I learned about the other evening from a couple of friendly bartenders. I’m sure I’m like the next-to-last to hear about stuff like this, so apologies if this is eye-rollingly old hat already, but hey, I’m old* and it was new to me: ChatRoulette. Apparently it’s like an intertubes hub-service where anybody with a ‘webcam’ can log in, totally anomymously, no ID, no registration, and be connected at random to somebody else in a minimalist video-chatting situation. And so either of you can disconnect at any time and get randomly connected to somebody else etc. Supposedly, but as is easily imaginable, it’s rife with idiots and exhibitionists and creepy voyeurs who cover up their camera, etc., but my pint-pulling friends were telling me about various creative uses–instant portraits, weird games, etc. And apparently the emergent r0xx0r of the platform is this dude Merton, who plays the piano and improvises songs about the people who present themselves on his monitor. Here’s the evidently already famous viral vid:
and I think that’s pretty funny.
But then so the twist is that apparently there was speculation online that Merton was really Ben Folds, which he’s not, but Ben Folds heard about it and covered Merton’s schtick in a concert situation, and this is also pretty funny IMO:
*As are many of my hats
The Quack reminds me of a quote from Eric Hoffer:
Walton,
Hilarious summary, there!
I was trying to read the dangerous nuts thread last night, but that Bird guy’s repetitive crazy hurt my brain. Who knew there were birthers in Australia?
The Rat is learning lessons from Less-Brains-Than-a-Stuffed-Turkey (Bird) and Less-Brains-Than-a-Stuffed-Moose (Palin), Pope Benedict condemns ‘petty gossip’ over child sexual abuse scandal:
The Grauniad commments:
It didn’t happen! This is a fact! You lie!
Straight out of Bird’s playbook.
It’s all the media’s fault! I’ve done nothing wrong! You lie!
Straight out of Palin’s playbook.
Sven,
Jon Stewart covered ChatRoulette in his usual way.
Yes, it’s just damned awful. *eyeroll* His wording comes across as both bitter and spiteful as to “dominant opinion” no longer being controllable by the church.
oooOOOOoooohhhh, evil temptation.
Let me search my furniture for change, and I’ll get back to you on this tomorrow.
On the subject of (lazy) bachelor cooking: I’m having pasta again.
But you’ll be pleased to know that I’m no longer just having it plain.
You’re going to try cooking it in boiling water this time, rather than frying it?
Walton – funny summary, sometimes you suprise me. I need to edit my stereotype of you :)
Twin names not to pick, even for kittens – I was on a bus recently and there was a mother who was shouting at her misbehaving children. How could anyone name their chldren Dolce and Gabbana?
Phew! I’m knackered. Been out persecuting Christians all day.
Ugh. You can’t be serious.
‘Fraid so.
Just remembered that when I was a kid my father had a work colleague called Mr Down.
We children used to get dragged along on vists to his house sometimes. He had three chidren.
Ben, Eileen, and Ida.
The parents were really proud of their hilarious choice of names. They always introduced the children by their full names. Even as a seven year old I knew it wasn’t funny.
Ring-Tail:
I went to school with the younger brother of Jenny Mae. Which wouldn’t have been that bad except her last name was Faulk.
I also knew a girl named Bobbie Jo (yes, this was down South — why do you ask?). Until 9th grade she went by her parentally initiated nickname of BJ. Until someone finally took pity on her and told her the alternate meaning of the letter combination.
@ Gyeong :
If you, or anyone, wants to mock Tweelight vampires even more, there’s always this:
Buy ’em here! Only a buck!
This Chatroulette video made me laugh myself silly. (SFW)
Don’t mock. As a kid I snacked regularly of uncooked spaghetti.
*ahegm*
@ Lynna:
Welcome back!
Glad to hear that the outing was worthwhile and that no further complications have arisen, brainwise-speaking.
Great, RTL.
Now I has a sad.
Random thought…
If a homeopath/naturopath argues that people are doing what he is in fact repeatedly guilty of, is he committing the fallacy of tu quackque?
If a namedropper argues that people are claiming to have once known someone famous, is he committing the fallacy of tu kwοkwi?
Iambilly – I actually had to look “BJ” up in the Urban Dictionary. Do’h! (Told you I was knackered after persecuting Xtians. All that Bishop bashing* wears one out).
OMG! How could I have possibly forgotten? There was a girl in my sixth form, who I really fancied (but was too shy to ask out), called Norma Dick. She probably got married as soon as she left school.
*How bizarre:) After looking at the UD for “BJ” I decided to look up that “B the B” euphemism too, and got this page. Never heard that one before.
As I just wrote on the Copenhagen thread, I would very much like to come. In fact, I’m excited to the point of… that kind of internal shivering that manifests as physical weakness. Problem is, I have no income, so I’ll have to ask my mother to shell out quite a lot for transportation to let some of my social cyber-life into meatspace, and that preferably without being too clear about it being a conference on a topic that she probably… doesn’t… like all that much. Plus, this is not exactly a rich family.
Day saved, except for the above.
yeah, ok. upon further inspection of my finances, I can totally do this Copenhagen thing :-)
Great. So now we’ll need to start a Send David to Copenhagen fund alongside Get Walton Laid and Just What the Hell is Wrong With That Woman Anyway.
And none of this is deductible!
Jadehawk, I’m rather surprised and flattered that you’ve kept the “Hardcore Left-Winger” epithet I bestowed upon you. At this rate, I might have to return to being the Extra Special Dumpling of AwesomeTM.
it amuses me to have it, for now.
go back to turning your brain to mush with law-trivia now.
Obviously, as soon as I get a postdoc position (Berlin in the fall looks fairly probable right now; I need to reply to that e-mail…), I’d pay it all back in case you’re actually being serious.
What, if anything, else did I want to write… I’m distracted today, because my sister has come to help me move. I’ll spend all of tomorrow and at least half of the day after getting out of Paris and installing myself back at my parents’ home in Vienna.
do the proper Gen Y thing and ask bank-of-mom* for a loan first, then we’ll see about availability of funds from the bank-of-Internet :-p
– – – – –
*I did mention that the trip to Germany to see the worldcup is being funded by my super-awesome grandma? we’re such walking stereotypes for our generation :-p
The initial reaction is favorable: “we’ll see” (when I’ll come) how I’ll get to Copenhagen cheaply. Assuming Kristjan Wager’s offer stands.
:-)
Are we? What are the stereotypes? I didn’t even know Generation Y was mine :-)
it is, though by some definitions we’re the oldest members of it. Also occasionally known as the Net Generation, another stereotype for it is that we’re not all that eager/able to become truly independent, partially because our parents have spoiled us rotten and are still willing to fund us even though we’re old and are supposed to have had achieved economic independence years ago (or because of the shitty job-market since 200; take your pick :-p ).
Well, I think you’re just about young enough that you can still do the Interrail thing, but to make full use of that, you’ll have to tour Europe for the rest of the month as well.
Just saw my first (planned) Iridium flare. Not nearly as impressive as expected – that is, I’ve seen satellites like that before. But perhaps the full Moon was blinding me.
since 2000 that is. and of course I notice that dropped zero just as I hit submit
*sigh*
And employers now check your credit report. Made some late payments? Had a credit card go into collections before you could scrape together the minimum payment? No job for you.
heee heee…a Gen-xer (my cohort) would have made plans to ride the rails to the convention hobo-style, but then failed to get the appropriate time off from the requisite low-wage job at coffee-house/second-hand communist bookstore/& cetera. A boomer (like my dad) would have made good on the threat, and brought 10,000 friends, 20 tons of weed, eight baloney sandwiches, and a bottle of Ripple. They would have turned Copenhagen into a refugee camp for a week. No one would have bought tickets to the convention though, or even had much of an idea why they were there. My own Da hitched from Fairbanks, AK to Bethel, NY for some music festival they were having there in the summer of 69. Through Frisco, that was a trip of some 6,000 miles (one million kilometers for non-Americans)*
Seriously, though…it’s a day’s drive from Paris to Copenhagen–and you guys have some excellent public transport right? Is it hard to hitch-hike or ride the rails in Europe? I will note that finishing a dissertation and landing a post-doc are much more laborious than what my father was doing that summer…primarily hitching around, IIRC. Still.
I don’t go to these things because I am a slacker.
*9656 km if you demand precision.
Trains have a tendency be horridly expensive. Unfortunately. So much for rampant socialist communism. (Don’t get me started on the closure of the Danish railways.)
the trains aren’t that expensive if you have a mommy who knows how to stare salesmen (and hospital personnel, and assorted other inconvenient people) into submission :-p
Calling the Pharyngulite Horde!
We have one righteous, upstanding Catholic, Mary O’Nette, over in the “should the pope resign” thread blaming the church’s child raping on “liberalization,” the “pansification” of the church, and NAMBLA. I’d very much appreciate some help giving this wicked woman the tongue-lashing she deserves.
You can start here.
On the subject of people naming their kids bizarre names oblivious of the mirth factor, a few years back in my kids’ daycare there was a woman with twin boys
.. Maverick and Attilah. On questioning I found out a) why yes, her favourite movie WAS Top Gun and b) no she hadn’t really read any history of Asia. ( In case you’re wondering Atillah was a total little shit who had a serious case of nominal determinism- he laid waste to the daycare)
.. they also ahad a singleton sister, Trinity (because her second favourite movie was The Matrix) :-(
Amd my girlfriend, who works in a daycare, currently has a kid under her care called Zeppelin. I’m trying to find out whether her parents are hard core German aircraft fans or whether they’re just a couple of old stoners.
We wouldn’t be using metric if we didn’t ;)
Gyeong, Owlmirror, Sili –
http://www.spacetime.com.au/store/cart.php?target=product&product_id=712&category_id=105
that t-shirt goes with this video
The astute Walton thinks Mary O’Nette is the banned troll Pilty. I wouldn’t be surprised, and, of course, he is showing his own lack of morality by by-passing his ban. Something about religion seems to warp the minds of some folks.
I sure wich to hell that the USA would convert to metric units. Abroad I always find it inimidating at first, but intuitive after ~2 days. I do all my molecular labwork in metric units of course, and have gotten pretty good at eyeballing quantities. However, children’s medicine dosage and baking in the US generally present measurements using the British system…and as a result I am often forced to seek some measuring tool at like 2am. You know, for making brownies and the like.
1 tsp is about 5 ml.
1 tbsp is about 15 ml.
Or, 1 tsp is about a dime diameter in your cupped hand, 1 tbsp is about a quarter diameter in your cupped hand. A quarter-cup is about 3 tbsp.
That’s as close as I usually get for measurements in cooking, and it seems to be close enough. :)
Children’s medicine, of course, I do exact. I keep a measuring spoon thingie from the pharmacy in the medicine cabinet specially for such things.
The US is officially on the metric system, and has been for over a hundred years. You won’t find the official yard or pound at NIST. Kilograms and meters will be found. There was an attempt to change over from common usage in the ’70s with traffic signs, but it failed due to lack of political will. It started with the right idea, mileage signs in both systems. But when it came time to drop the American units people rebelled. They probably went too fast. Five years miles first, kilometers second. Five years reversed. Then drop the old units. But pounds/feet/quarts are god given units…never mind no mention of them in the babble.
Way back when, my mother expressed amazement at how effortlessly I was able to convert grams to ounces (or vice versa). It took her a few years to figure out the reason I had this “talent”. ;)
I completely forgot about the registration fee of the conference. That could be tough.
On the other hand, I have attended one conference for free. It was where I lived, and I didn’t participate in the conference dinner or the like… the tea & cookies, however, fall under “loot”.
That’s completely true in my case, but that’s just my autism :-)
Vienna, not Paris, starting the day after tomorrow…
As mentioned, the trains (in the western countries) are good but seriously expensive, except for special offers that have to be booked months in advance and are not exchangeable/refundable. A flight with a low-cost airline, if one is available, could come out cheaper.
Hitchhiking? Forget it.
Miracle!
Wow!
In Hungary, Attila is a completely normal name (I’m related to one). That’s because, in the late 19th century, Hungarian nationalists tried to make Attila a national hero due to some confusion about which language family Hungarian belongs to (…and a bold assumption about what kind of language the Huns spoke).
Josh:
Took a look at what the little puppet had to say (seriously, how stupid is that handle? Some people just don’t make any effort) and replied.
Carlie,
Slight correction to your post: there are 4 Tbsp in a quarter cup.
When you live alone and often cook for one, you learn how to halve or quarter everything. :)
What I really need is a kitchen scale, though.
Thanks, Pygmy Loris. I must overmeasure the tablespoons enough that it generally comes out the same. :D
Step 1: Get palm tatoos.
Step 2: Bake-o-rama
I confess that I do not bake.
Regarding hitching: A joke! I have never been to Europe* [:(]…but have traveled extensively and cheaply in N. America and Southern Africa. Travel in Europe sounds both more civilized and more expensive. I have only hitched a hike when absolutely compelled to, and confess have never ridden the rails. Although if for some reason I find myself bereft of the people and things I love, this is totally my plan: Riding the rails from Bangor, ME to San Francisoc CA and rafting from the northeasternmost navigable drainage of the Mississippi to N’awlins. And then I will die with a belly full of bourbon and a heart full of bittersweet memories beneath the full yellow moon of the warm gulf waters. Or maybe Cuba first, then die.
*This is really ridiculous, but the only traveling that I have ever done (or am likely to do in the near future) is to collect plants. Most of the European stuff is spoken for. I knew a Serbian scientist who did her collecting work primarily on the north coast of the Mediterranean. Poor thing.
Game Bird is back, crowing about his “magnificent fucking blog” after a brief moment of expressing concern over swearing.
yeah, I know. I think it’s because she got all her practice on Polish socialist bureaucrats. Now she rulez at getting her way.
last year she managed to get the counter-dude to sell her train tickets to Berlin at the extra-special-internet-only-special-conditions-apply price which was like half the actual price of the ticket.
And when I had my nose-job, the OP was scheduled in May for October; when I mentioned that I wasn’t gonna be in the country by then, I just got a flat reply that I should move my travel plans then. So I went home, whined to mommy, and mommy got the OP moved to mid-June
I wish I had her “people skills” :-p
Carlie,
Yeah, I don’t think it’s too big a deal to be off a little, but when I’m following a recipe for the first time I get a little anal about everything being right.
We’ve got the next goats on fire folks, thanks to Game Bird and his magnificent, alcohol addled righting [sic]:
Well, I better go talk to my travel agent then asap, seeing how quick the tickets sold out over here !
Bye bye Thailand, hello Denmark !
I won’t be staying at Kristjan’s place tho….:-)
Wait, wait. . what is that you say? B-b-b-bird is the word?
elitist
What’s with all the loons today? When it rains it pours… Maybe the right really ain’t taking this health care bill well.
Ugh… as a Gen Y with a 401k who helps support a parent I’ve always gotten a little angry when I encounter that stereotype.
Gah! But where did I put that blockquote!?!?
While that bit sings, my personal preference is, if we’re going to adopt a Pharyngumeme from said wank, we should totally go with ‘Your pants are not in order.’
(/But honestly, either way’s good.)
Oh look, they’re trying to protect the pope by saying it’s the Jew’s fault. (3rd picture down)
AJ Milne:
Hmmm. “Your pants are not in order when you ride the lying tiger!”
Gyeong, speaking of the pope and his evil minions, you might want to chime in on this thread: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/03/should_pope_ratzi_resign.php , a.human.ape’s comments in particular. See #77.
Meerkats!
I’ve been too distracted to post much, but I’ll be offline completely for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow. Evidently the cathousesitters have their own laptop. Ours does not function, alas, like the madonna.
Aloha!
Aloha, Auntie Ron! You’ll be missed.
Van der Meerkats
Opus: Nice “research.” Better try again. Harvard Extension runs a premed program for those of us who worked full-time at Harvard during the day. All the same classes, but the profs don’t coddle us like the undergrads. I think 345 started the program with me and 45 graduated. 80% standard medical school admission rate during the years I was there.
Dear AJ Milne: How fabulous of you. No one needs to direct you to threaten violence, you’ll do so on your own. Why don’t you get a shirt that says: “I’m an atheist and I’ll kick your butt” and wear it around. It would be a great reminder of what a tiny minority you live in. Meanwhile, the numbers of people who use my stuff because it works is growing, not shrinking. So you are proud that you’re: 1) ignorant of any context of my comments 2) ignorant of why I’m here 3) delusional that you are being constructive in some way and 4) violent. I hereby give you the honorary KKK hat.
Tis himself: Very disturbing.
Kel: I’ve provided evidence, and I will do so again, just for you. Have a look at my website. Under what do I treat I’ve compiled medline abstracts that discuss various alternative therapies. Not all the studies are positive, but when you look at something like back pain, massage did very well in comparison with conventional treatment. Name your illness of choice, and let me see if I can give you some medline data on possible treatments. I did that for Dr. Novella within his specialty of ALS, and I’m still not sure what happened to him that stopped him from replying to the posts.
I should point out that the information I’m providing about “Myers telling you to do something” is not based on opinion but thirty years of research by that author who surveyed American atheists before coming to the conclusion that many of them held authoritarian beliefs. I’ve simply been puzzled by the continuing profanity without logical reasoning I experience here.
A. Noyd: No, I’m not making any assumptions about this site. I’m quoting research and you are responding with profanity. Pretending to be reasonable/logical while still not providing any research is sidestepping the issue. Either provide medline data to support your claims 1) I harm people or 2) I am a quack. I’ve provided multiple studies that show I 1) do not harm people and 2) multiple aspects of what I do are well founded in what should be standard medical practice. You have not. It’s called research and is something I do and you don’t.
Tis Himself: How about reading the thread, then responding with research? Otherwise, you have given a quote for many of the posters here.
The sarcastic fringehead! Something very familiar about them…
Quack says,… well, not much, really. Have you met the Kwokster? You two would have a lot to talk about.
Yawn!
Gee Quack, how about you support your quackery with research from a peer-reviewed rigorous source. And remember, anecdotes are not considered research.
Standard pseudoscience tactic. Claiming that it’s growing, claiming criticism is unfounded, claiming that criticism is oppression. Then stupid insults.
(Emphasis mine.)
Wow. You really do lie your ass off at the drop of a hat, don’t you?
Ergo: you really got no case, don’t you?
Oh. Right. We already knew that.
But in case anyone’s following along from the margin, lyin’ sad sack o’ shit Quackboy is now gonna try conflate the colloquial ‘kick your ass’ above as violent/akin to the behaviour of the KKK, notwithstanding it is in the context of blog in which, yes, his ass doth continue to be kicked gloriously and royally, if rather more obviously metaphorically.
(/But as if you’d expect him to do otherwise, when he abandoned even the faintest pretension intellectual honesty long, looong before he ever started posting here.)
Also, growth doesn’t indicate that it works. Growth may very well indicate that there is a problem with the health care system that result in desprate people seeking out those false “alternative”. If anything, it shows you are a bottom feeder. (No insult to benthic creatures intended.)
Some late night music.
Some bands I’ve seen live
in the last year or so
performing these numbers
(but not at these venues).
What a coincidence, my mum is a trained masseuse. I’m well aware of what massage can do for treatment, I still use it when I can.
I want to point it out very clearly, I’m not dismissing all therapies that go under the name “alternative medicine” as being systematically false. I’m asking for evidence for a particular treatment. You’ve made broad sweeping claims against western medicine and talked about alternative medicine in general, so if massage is your shining example then I’m a bit worried as to what other “treatments” you use.
Firstly I’m not an american. Secondly, if a study said that many atheists were once fundamentalist Christians who had a bad experience, would you automatically assume that I’m an atheist because I “hate God”?
Your slur only serves to demonstrate how little you want to actually engage people here. You’re trying to diminish any criticism against you by pretending that we are being subservient to an authority figure when it is nothing of the sort.
I’m puzzled that you think it’s been profanity without logical reasoning, are you reading the same posts as I am? I’m also not surprised that you continue to linger on profanity instead of actually providing a cogent argument yourself.
Okay, how about this? List about half a dozen or so of your most commonly used therapies, and then show the meta-analysis of the evidence for them. Drop the antagonism and actually make a positive case on here.
Gee, sorry you were part of that other 20%.
Yeah, indeed. And it always does amaze me how much these asshats can presume in a few, short words. Note the claim:
Three claims there, actually, a few of ’em serious mouthfuls: 1) the numbers are growing, 2) his stuff works, and 3) 1 follows from 2.
As you note: 3) does not necessarily follow. Note also, that 2), as usual, he hasn’t even tried to substantiate (as if–hell, he’s as much as admitted in who knows how many of his meandering BS posts it really doesn’t, except as placebo), and even 1), tho’ presumably it’d be an easy one for him, he didn’t try to quantify or substantiate either.
File under: ‘Lyin’ so long he doesn’t even care what’s real.’ Nor show any interest in determining the same.
(/But please, Quackboy, do keep playing. I wanna see what else isn’t in your hand.)
My wife swears she had a HS schoolmate named Richard Rumplick. That’s right: Dick Rumplick! Worse yet, he was the principal’s son. Frankly, I have no idea how the young man made it out of school still alive!
Along the same lines, a friend of ours who’s a nurse says that when she did her rotation in the maternity ward, she saw one infant girl named Female (pronounced Fe-MAH-lay) and another named Babygirl… in both cases because the mother thought what the hospital printed on the ID band meant they’d named the baby!
Bill:
That chestnut of an urban legend was used in Paul Schraeder’s remake of Cat People. Ruby Dee played Female.
Quite.
See also ‘When you’re not wearing any pants, talk about anything else.’
He’s got, as any number of people here have now noted, zilch. Asked for decent studies, oddly, this isn’t the subject he wishes to pursue…
Nah. Interestingly enough, he wants to talk about how his critics are ‘authoritarians’… On the strength of a single paper he’s found on said subject.
Here’s a funny thing, Quackboy: first, that isn’t so much what I’ve observed here. Yes, there’s a certain community spirit: the more charitable would tend to call it more solidarity than anything else. As in: yeah, we’ll watch each other’s backs. It’s what people with generally common goals do.
But this view of mine, amusingly enough, is actually rather irrelevant to what you’ve been asked again and again, remember*?
You keep on rabbitting on about ‘logic’, but you’re the one I’m noticing here who wouldn’t know that animal if it bit him on the ass**. So: pop quiz, again, kiddo: if everyone here were a mind-controlled zombie groovin’ directly on the freaky waves beamed out by Dr. P.Z Myers, Commander O’ All Atheists, and marching in glassy-eyed lock-step (as opposed to merely noticing independently you are hilariously, obviously, spectacularly full of shit), would it make any single one of your snake oil ‘cures’ any bit more likely actually to work?
Oh. Right. Guess who I forgot who I was dealing with, here for a second…
So, using small words: That was a rhetorical question, oh sadly dense one. I’ll answer it for you, too, since you are, apparently, more than a bit slow on the uptake when you choose to be:
No, dear Not-A-Real-Doctor. No it wouldn’t.
(/*Notwithstanding this, the bookies are taking bets on whether Quackboy here will willfully miss this point entirely and contest this view of things anyway… A little like someone so incredibly bad at chess, he goes after a piece no longer actually on the board. Get in now while the getting’s good.)
(**/The bookies are also now taking bets on whether Quackboy chooses to conflate this, too, as a threat of violence. Going once…)
AJ, the Quackass, he knows we’re violent, because he’s been getting his ass kicked from one Sunday to next on a regular basis, and he’s afraid of blood, ya see, and all this verbal ass kicking is producing some sort of psychic woo blood, making him come over all faint and stuff. He resents being fainting couch material, and we’re so cruel as to induce regular fainting spells. See, violent. Mm hmm.
I hate to miss out on all the Sunday Sacrilege fun, but my neurologist has had his wicked way with me, and I’m on restricted sittin’ on my arse time. I’m over my limit, and starting to feel it too, so I’m headed out for the night. Have fun!
I see the fraudulent Duck of Placebo dropped by again for another inane content/intelligence free post. Still no hard evidence he is anything other than a victimizer of his poor patients. They might as well take a teaspoon of sugar for all the good the Quackster can do for them. And it is a whole hell of a lot cheaper. Qvack, why aren’t you citing JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and other top rate medical journals? Or do you have nothing, and you know it? In which case, shutting up would be the intelligent, nay only choice. Qwack, why don’t you become a repo man? That would be a step up morally for you, and you can still fleece folks. Still the ignorant amoral loser.
I’ve got some logic-free profanity for you right here, Mahoney:
Please fuck off. Please.
I just saw this article:
Church billboard not offensive, rules watchdog.
Amusing read.
Mahoney, Maloney.
baloney.
Comment by Quackalicious blocked. [unkill][show comment]
Much better.
Uhm, yes, and it’s going to get even better if people here keep going to godless conferences everywhere on the globe together…:-)
Which brings me to….
You see, my hotel bills for this trip(or any other I might decide to undertake) are practically already paid for, goes off my pre-tax income every fortnight, so I can claim those bills through work afterwards, isn’t it fabulous to live in a first-world country !!
Did that for 4 weeks after back surgery, no sitting whatsoever allowed.Makes one glad that laptops were invented.
the_manxome_foe, heh, yeah, it’s amusing alright.
Me, I’d’ve been tempted to appease¹ the complainants, by caving in and changing it from
“Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow”.
to
“Lucky Joseph. God was not a hard act to follow”.
—
¹ Well, by appease I mean to further infuriate. :)
Idiomatic speech seems particularly hard for some people to grasp.
FYI, when kicking ass in a chess tournament, no actual ass is kicked
For some reason I keep being reminded of Bosch:
Meester snyt die Keye ras – myne name is lubbert das
Caine:
Mebbe so… OTOH, while I have no direct knowledge of the case, this was represented to me as direct personal experience by an actual personal friend (i.e., I didn’t just hear it on teh intertooobz) who has no particular record of Just making shit up. Funny story either way, though, eh?
Ol’ Greg:
“DISCLAIMER: No actual ass was harmed in the making of this chess tournament.” ;^)
argumentum ad populum is a fallacy. just because you have more customers, doesn’t mean you’re right. it just means you’re a skilled liar.
oh sure; voluntary holders of the ultimate anti-authoritarian stance, one that makes one of the most hated minorities in the U.S., have authoritarian personalities. BWAHAAAHAAAAAA
and nevermind that a significant portion of people here isn’t even American.
There are some smells that cats don’t like. Rue, the herb, is one of them I think. Pinesol, or was it Lysol, makes them feel ill. Um, there’s actually one shrub that smells like cat-piss.
I do let my cats out, rather guiltily, or rather they have a cat door and a fenced yard. They are neutered. I tell my neighbours they are welcome to throw a lump of mud or a clothes-peg or some water if they want to discourage the cats. They have litter boxes indoors but the ones that go out generally go under our porch or in our garden and save the cat box for rainy days.
While reading this thread I’ve let one of them in the bedroom window four times. It’s raining, and he’s been going out the cat door and come in via the porch roof, wet and friendly. At one point he appeared tossing around a dead roof rat. The ones that go out are all fierce mousers and ratters. Usually I find half a rat underfoot. The previous neighbours decked their entire yard so of course there are rats living under it–luckily not Norway rats but the smaller ones that are more like Very Large Mice. They also catch birds that come into the yard, or try. The younger ones dig up earthworms and eat them.
Cat names: Steel & Flint, Granite & Slate, Agate & Basalt… try to avoid hissing noises.
Boygenius @ #454, anything but Facebook: they lay eternal claim to your postings, much like the Catholic church if you’re baptized.
But how will you know that what you practise doesn’t work and what he practices does unless you read him keep deriding people here as being PZ’s intellectual lackeys and claim that the evidence is on his side without actually discussing it?
Too many kooks in the world, can’t deal with all of them.
And I have satellite dishes to line up, got to have your priorities right…:-)
You’re just saying that because you’re in the pocket of Big Pharma… you don’t offer healthcare, you give your patients what Big Pharma tells you to. Quacky here can save you and you won’t even give him the respect of reading call you a sheep to the authority of PZ?
Oh and Quacky, if you’re going to respond to me – at least please try to understand where I’m coming from. I provided you with a link…
I bloody wish I was !! That would mean I had free holidays in Thailand and a better Laptop !
:P
hahaha, got to love the implausible conspiratorial rantings of those trying to sell snake oil. Just like on Expelled where Darwinists were controlling the flow of grant money.
Yep, those wealthy wealthy Darwinists…
monado#627
No worries. I’ve never been on Facebook. I don’t even click on links to Facebook pages. Meh.
Josh OSG from the Gamey Bird thread #91:
Nope. Never sold burritos, just knew where to buy the good ones. Never sold acid at a show, just purchased it. If you wanted the real deal, you needed to know someone affiliated with The Brotherhood of Eternal Love aka “the Family” (or their successors). (That said, you should probably still keep your jaundiced eye cast upon me. Just in case.)
Sorry your experience was less than optimal, to say the least. It’s regrettable that the scene kind of fell apart in the later years, and a lot of people were just there to capitalize on crowds of folk who didn’t know how to navigate the craziness. I’m of the opinion that Jerry died just in time to keep the whole thing from imploding.
Oops, that should be:
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love (or their successors) aka “the Family”.
I didn’t have one bit of profanity in what I wrote, Maloney. Even if I did, it wouldn’t have any bearing on whether what I said was right or wrong. I can make everything I write laden with profanity at every possible juncture, but it doesn’t make it wrong.
Essentially, what you’re doing is irresponsible. The literature shows that herbal remedies and other forms of CAM can cause harm and other negative side-effects, with little benefits other than a mild placebo effect (if even that). I can provide citations and links, but since it seems you haven’t been following links or citations, I won’t really bother.
Actually, it seems more evident that you found a term that feeds your paranoia and decided to use it. Honestly, “authoritarian”? No one’s called the Gestappo on you.
This mindset of the conspiracy theorist Maloney interests me the most, though. Myers never called for violence against Maloney, yet here Maloney says that because he was sent hate mail that threatened physical harm (supposedly), it is the same thing as Myers condoning or even instructing others to physically harm him. He conflates any type or amount of criticism to a personal assault on his dignity as a human and as a threat to his life.
We can even see evidence of this way of thinking from Maloney in a much earlier appearance on this blog with:
“Please examine the history of propoganda(sic). It’s a simple equation: dehumanize and advocate violence against those dehumanized. We aren’t people, we don’t have feelings.”
No one on this blog has advocated or promoted physical violence against Maloney. Yet there he mentions it again. He mentions the profanity here so much because it adds yet another layer to his paranoia. Profanity cannot simply be a harmless expression of anger or simple contempt for him. No, it must be a sign that the conspiracy is out looking for him, to catch and hang or burn him. My enemies must want to destroy me completely if they’re against me, he thinks. After all, to Maloney we’re part of the larger conspiracy that’s out to shut down his practice and force people to put foreign chemicals in their body that don’t work/don’t work as well as CAM. It’s part of the reason why we’re PZ’s lackeys instead of individual agents.
If we were all individual agents, Maloney’s scenario would be highly implausible, if not impossible, because we would have all almost certainly arrived by way of different methods to the same conclusions. Now that we’re under PZ’s cult of personality, he can explain why we all have the same viewpoints: because we all got them from the same source. And that source, PZ, is either from the conspiracy and purposefully making his life more difficult, or he’s so brainwashed by the conspiracy that he is essentially an agent or extension of them. In other words, no amount of links or citations from us will work for Maloney because we are all under the influence of someone who’s brainwashed or an agent of the conspiracy. There will be no convincing Maloney that he is wrong because he is a true believer in this nonsense.
To a conspiracy theorist like Maloney, everyone who is not with him is part of the conspiracy. We are not individual agents, we are a “mob attack” although there has not been any physical violence committed by anyone in this argument, and all part of a shared “authoritarian” mindset (implying our similarity to fascists, Nazis, etc.). We are all against Maloney not because we found his arguments lacking, but because we must be brainwashed. To him, there cannot be any other option (or he has certainly not mentioned such). We have to mindlessly follow PZ or be under the spell of the propaganda from pharmaceutical mega-companies. To Maloney, we cannot simply be wrong. He feels any attack is persecution, and any persecution plays to his fantasy of the “one man against the world”.
As an aside, you made the same “prosecution”/”persecution” mistake that you criticized Sven for earlier.
Oldie but goodie :
The Hitch on Q&A back in 2009….
The sad reality it seems, is he truly believes that. Even more sadly, I wish this were atypical. But from what I’ve seen an gathered being around many who buy into this kind of thinking is that the genuine belief in the efficacy of their particular brand of woo woo is only matched by their hostility to science and reason.
The difference between someone who is open minded and who isn’t is that one who is open minded follows the evidence no matter where it leads. Those who are ideologues will sing praises when the evidence is on their side, and will decry the very foundations of that level of inquiry when the evidence is not.
Like I keep saying quacky, I’ve grown up around people who think like you. I’ve seen how people are able to convince themselves of the reality of woo woo far greater than mere “alternative therapies”, yet they do it with a genuineness and kindness that doesn’t so often express itself in everyday life. My experience has taught me that these are people who want to help others, they want to heal, they want to be helpful. But the ideology often gets in the way, they go for what seems to work as opposed to what does work. It’s that difference between personal perception and actual progress where this argument lies…
I see that the Quackster has responded to my post re his Harvard education. He said:
This, my quacking friend, is a chance for me to model some behavior with which you are quite clearly unfamiliar. Watch, and I’ll take it step by step:
First, the process in the abstract:
Step 1: Review the evidence. Compare it to previous belief.
Step 2: Make decision. Is previous belief still justified?
Step 3: Revise belief, if necessary.
Step 4: Communicate results of steps 1-3.
The process in this case:
Step 1: Hey! The quackster has answered! Oops, looks like he’s got me this time!
Step 2: I think my response was not correct!
Step 3: If the Quackster isn’t lying through his teeth he did do two years of premed at Harvard!
Step 4: Hey, Quack!! You out there?!? I was wrong!
I realize all this is right basic for most readers of this blog but felt that you have clearly demonstrated a need for an introductory lesson on how to respond when your beliefs are challenged. Hope this helps!
PS: Purely for curiosity, am I correct that you are considered to be among the 20% who failed to gain admission to a medical school, since your academic endeavors at Woo U. (or is the U of Woo?) clearly don’t meet that criterion?
Did the Thread die? That last post is marked 6:50 AM.
It’s gone dormant perhaps.
Temporary lull. There was some real lunacy going on yesterday and last night, and a lot of folks got, and still are, sidetracked. We’ll be back…
Everyone is off playing on other threads, I believe. I don’t have time to catch up on those right now. Gotta do some writing…
Distractions. Sins of omission is running hot (and will probably get closed soon) and Graeme Bird is entertaining many of the regulars.
Graeme may well get banned soon — he’s reduced to spluttering stupidly now. That may well revive this thread.
This is the undead thread. It can not and will not die. Just clap until it starts moving again.
Of course things pick up on a day I’m too busy to play. Will be for a bit though, probably to the relief of some.
Professor Myers,
Are you going to explain why – having banned numerous people in the past for much more trivial offences – you have decided not to ban “a.human.ape” or “shonny”? a.human.ape keeps posting sadistic fantasies about torturing and killing religious people, and has made openly homophobic attacks on other commenters; while shonny is a blatant anti-Semite who described Ben Stein as “a living argument for the Holocaust”. (I’ve already posted the latter link in about ten other threads, but can find it again for you if you wish.)
If a religionist behaved the way that a.human.ape and shonny have been behaving, you would certainly have banned them ages ago. It’s up to you, of course, to decide what kind of behaviour is acceptable on Pharyngula. But you ought to apply a consistent standard to atheists and believers alike.
Ol’ Greg:
I belatedly noticed you mentioned a middle school teacher in another thread a while back.
I’m guessing his initials are J and K; if so, I know him. (I haven’t seen him for a long time, but used to see him regularly for years, years ago, in an atheist group I was a charter member of, and that he was later co-chair of. Did you ever show up there?)
Amusingly, the troll a.human.ape also described me as a “liberal extremist”. :-)
I very rarely ban people for a few stupid comments; it takes a consistent pattern of annoyance for the banhammer to drop. I usually prefer to let them hang themselves with their own rope for a good while and let the other commenters rip them to pieces. Look at Graeme Bird, for instance. He’s saying even more hateful and inane stuff — I’ll give him a little slack to see how deep he goes before pulling him up abruptly.
Piltdown Man, for another example, got banned not just for stupidity, but for tedious predictability — everyone knew exactly what he would say and exactly what would push his buttons, and he just kept droning on and on about the same little obsessions. And he’s demonstrated his one-track mind ever since, as he’s practically guaranteed to turn up under a new pseudonym if the Pope is mentioned. The people you name have written some repulsive things, but they’ve also shown that they respond to criticism (not necessarily with changes in behavior, but at least they can carry a conversation), and also express a diversity of views. Those are cases where I’d rather let the commentariat shred them a new one, and see if they adapt.
If they don’t, if they turn into a broken record, then I ban.
If you read the Dungeon description, you’ll see I was rather straightforward: you don’t get banned for being a Republican or a creationist or generally stupid. You get banned for being repetitive and boring and consistently sending discussion threads into loopy land.
Professor Myers @#651: OK, that’s fair enough. Thank you for explaining.
Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, there are a whole lot of people who have the freedom to post here who I cannot stand. If I smacked everyone I detested with my mighty axe of bannage, the discussions would quickly depopulate.
I might add that some groups of people who particularly piss me off are conservatives and libertards, and people who suck whole threads into pleas for affirmation and pity.
So don’t ask for more frequent application of banning, Walton. There have been quite a few times I’ve rolled my eyes and reached for the ejection button when you’ve posted. My forbearance is a good thing, and you for one ought to appreciate it more.
Yes, those were his initials! Wow, small world :D
I don’t know where “there” was but either way the answer is no. I’ve never actually gone to any groups, although I know that there are at least two here in Dallas. I’ve talked with a friend of mine about going from time to time but am actually terrified of being the new person anywhere.
whoops
I certainly don’t advocate more frequent application of banning. I strongly believe, and have frequently said in the past, that free and open discussion is a good thing; the frequency of such discussion is something I like about Pharyngula. And yes, I do appreciate the fact that you let me post here despite disliking many of my opinions. I didn’t intend to imply the contrary.
I was just inquiring as to an apparent inconsistency in the application of your policy. You’ve now explained the reasons for your decision, and I accept it.
PZ (@653):
Indeed. IMHO, your forebearance (and that of the larger community here) has enabled a significantly positive evolution in Walton, who can now refer to himself as a liberal without it being entirely ironic (though I think liberal extremist is still a bit of a stretch).
As a wise man (IIRC, it was Michael Valentine Smith) once said, “waiting is.”
It was a joke based on what a.human.ape called me.
And now for something completely different: Thank Dog the Family Values Conservatives© are here to save us from our liberal sins!
Also, Walton: Just.Stop.Digging! That is all.
Have to say that Graeme Bird is so batshit crazily combustible, there’s not much oxygen left for any other thread.
Frankly, though, he’s kind of pathetic. Talk about predictable–his response to any evidence presented is “You wrong. A lie. You Stupid.”
Alas, I tried to introduce him to verbs, but it seems not to have taken.
I may have missed a mention of it, but did anyone else notice that Not Exactly Rocket Science and Gene Expression moved to Discover? I’ll refrain from commenting on the latter, but the former is a loss. Does anyone know why Ed Yong chose to go?
Oh – a_ray, you may find this thread interesting:
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/03/gerlich_and_tscheuschner_oh_my.php
Something of a Lenski vibe developing, it seems…
Walton:
You’ve definitely gotten more liberal politically/philosphically (or perhaps gotten more in touch with your preexistng inner liberal), but jebus can you be earnest sometimes!
Yah, I got that; my point was that even though liberal extremist is a joke, liberal really isn’t, anymore, when applied to your earnest little self.
And BTW, don’t you have some studying to do? ;^)
@661
When asked why he moved, Ed said:
Matters little to me where his blog is. I’m slightly bummed I won’t see his posts as “most active” or anything on Scienceblogs. Trying to decide if I’m going to bother with a feed. I dislike using feeds, but I do enjoy his science posts.
Thanks, Paul. From that thread:
Ass.
SC – I did see that. Kind of a shame.
Speaking of moving things around, I’ve gotten more and more squicked out with Facebook and their “we say you have control but you really don’t” policies and am thinking of starting my own place. I know a lot of you have your own blogs – any recommendations on hosts that are really privacy-conscious and not too difficult to use? I don’t mind paying (a small amount) for space, so I don’t have to limit to free blogware/hosting.
@665
Well, yeah, he’s a commenter on Discover Blogs. I’ve been thinking lately that if one wants to read there regularly without spending too much time in SIWOTI overdrive, one really needs a killfile that runs off a whitelist instead of the normal blacklist. The common poster there is much more lazy, disingenuous, and dishonest than SciBlog commenters are used to, and trying to make any sort of progress is simply an uphill battle.
666 passed, will this beat the portcullis?
And also a former Scienceblogger, and a friend of PZ’s…
http://evolvingthoughts.net/
“Recovering Sciencebloggers” is on the bottom right, underneath the stats and above the regular blogroll, which does include Pharyngula.
(w00t! Neighbor of the Beast!)
If you ignore the Intersuction meltdown, where else have you noticed this?
(The Loom, Bad Astronomy, Cosmic Variance, and 80 beats being the ones that I have sampled, and which I have found worthwhile for postings, and reasonable commentary, I think)
So’s Laden (well, friend, not former Scibling). Doesn’t mean we can’t say they’re being asses when they’re being asses (Recovering Sciencebloggers? Come on.). Well, PZ could ban the practice, but he hasn’t yet.
@669
Thanks for calling me out, that was somewhat dickish and catty. I’ve seen some pretty bad commenters on Bad Astronomy and Cosmic Variance, but it would be unfair to say it’s greater than SciBlogs (I mean, I also read erv, heh). The Intersection cesspool just colors my perception too much, and the tone you hear on Discover about how the commentariat is much better than that on SciBlogs (so I had to be an idiot and make the same accusation back, /sigh. I need coffee).
Apropos of nothing, but today Mr. ODS and I went out to lunch. Sitting directly behind us was a very VERY vocal Christian Scientist.
He defended faith healing by stating, “Only 30 kids in the past 30 years had died as a direct result of failed faith healing. Do you have any idea how many children die in hospitals every day?”
What. The. Fuck? Totally ruined my sandwich.
And author or this tripe:
http://evolvingthoughts.net/2010/03/06/on-the-need-for-grownups-thoughts-from-kansas/
Ass, I say. :)
Comment overload! GO HERE.