That’s how low The Thread has gone. What can I do but…feed the beast.
Oh, sure, now try to talk about something other than “squeee!” and “how cute!” and “mmmm, now I’m hungry” after that.
(Latest tally: 10,034 entries swamped by 965,742 total comments.)
What is this “Bible” of which you speak?
See, and this one just went on my to read list.
I’ll check my bookshelves for things other people might like when I get home.
Walton, Dumping of Awesome by Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen at #499. Yes, a whole book and believe it or not, fascinating. Why are you not studying, get your mind off excrement and back to the law. Assuming there is a difference. :^}
Ol’Greg – so, can these “Bibles” be bought in stores?
It’s midnight. You know what? I’ll go to bed. Throughout the last few days I kept myself up to participate in the longer threads here; together with the pollen (I think the birches are in full bloom) that means I didn’t get enough sleep…
Jadehawk, if you want to feel like you can both speak Bulgarian and read Cyrillic, tell me.
It’s a written form of the mythology to which most of the locals here subscribe. Most of them know it mainly from an oral tradition, making it highly improbable that even by reading it, you will understand the beliefs they have based on their interpretations of it.
Others may know one written version but not another, and may have limited reading comprehension, making for some entertaining developments.
Please tell me that typo wasn’t intentional.
Thanks for the book hints. The Redhead has two on the way for her birthday coming up.
Better engeneer* in some pathways for nitrogen fixation and amino acid synthesis or we’d still need to eat protein. Uh, purine and pyrimidine synthesis too. Where will we get micronutrients?
*just made that up–in the OED by 2025!
L
M
A
O
!
!
!
“Please tell me that typo wasn’t intentional.” – Smile
Ol’Greg – “It’s a written form of the mythology to which most of the locals here subscribe.” Ah, thank you for the clarification. So, some sort of local pagan worship, a death cult I would imagine. Fascinating. I assume you are immune to this…well, for want of a better word, mental illness, yes?
Ol’Greg, I don’t believe I’ve ever read a more apt description of anything. Indeed, that was the aptest.
JeffreyD:
The Complete Book of Cheese – Robert C. Brown
The Archaeology of People – A. Whittle
Medieval Households – David Herlihy
Excrement in the Late Middle Ages, Sacred Filth and Chaucer’s Fecopoetics – Susan S. Morrison
Food in Medieval England, Diet and Nutrition – Editors Woolgar, Serjeantson, & Waldron
The Prehistory of Food – Gosden & Hather
Forbidden Words – Allan Burridge
A History of Limb Amputation – John Kirkup
Surviving The Swastika, Scientific Research in Nazi Germany – Kristie Macrakis
These have all gone onto my list. Thank you! I’m so sorry to hear about your spouse being unable to join you. Any word on when it will be possible?
hmmm, “engeneer” or “gengineer”?
I’m not sure if any ancestors of ours were ever autotrophic. …But actually I have to look up the definitions again. There’s photo-/chemotrophic, litho-/organotrophic, and auto-/heterotrophic for where the energy, the electrons for reduction reactions, and the carbon come from, and I forgot which is which… we are chemorganoheterotrophic, and plants are photolithautotrophic, but different combinations exist.
Indeed. They worship a vast creator being, who is described as cruel but just and highly fickle. However they believe he was appeased by the sacrifice of a human being believed to be his own son or alternately and sometimes concurrently was his own self as a mortal.
Much is made of the fact that this character rose from the dead after his sacrifice, and many believe he will come again.
It’s quite brutal and uncivilized. Surely you wouldn’t think such superstition would affect me!?
Sven:
Engeneer, as in “I’m an engeneer with good torque.”
;p
gengineer
Hey, I’m just the big idea guy. I like to let other people sweat the details.
Caine, ma belle fleur du mal – Re spouse: Nope, we may just cancel it until later this year, if I decide to return after summer. If not, maybe we will make the trip anyway.
Good you liked the books, all are interesting in their own odd to flat out bizarre way.
Ol’Greg, glad to see you laugh. The Excrement book is odd and wonderful.
Enjoying the byplay, but my heart is not really in it, so will close for the night. Wave and smile.
I thought we do make those? At least purines? Uric acid is a purine, after all, and some of us make so much it causes gout.
Can’t look it up now, however. To bed at last!
Ol’Greg – “Surely you wouldn’t think such superstition would affect me!?”
Of course not my dear lady, but such hysterical madness can leave an effect on all us if exposed too often. Is this in fact the death cult with the saviour on a stick?
I’m reading Richard W. Judd’s Common Lands, Common People: The Origins of Conservation in Northern New England. I recommend it to Jadehawk especially.
engeneer
I like it! I came up with one today, too, to describe you, Bill Dauphin, and me. We’re codepedant.
:)
JeffreyD, if you’re still here Heathrow just opened again. First plane in was from Vancouver.
Yeah, that’s probably right. My biochem is largely forgotten.
Whatever actually happened, we’ve *sniff* lost our way: war, famine, poverty, environmental destruction—all from one tiny little mistake made long ago.
This *indicating a morose-looking bowl of salad* is Patchouli, a garden salad. Ripped from her roots and doused in olive oil, the best life she can hope for is to be served as a side at Red Lobster. A life so full of promise and the potential for seed cut short by an uncaring world’s selfish hunger.
But you can help.
For the price of one mid-range vehicle a day, you can help fund research into a cure for this crippling and debilitating need to consume other living things. To find out more about how you can help the Brownian Foundation, call or click at…
Brownian:
No self-respecting salad would call herself Patchouli. She deserves whatever she gets. Hmmph.
Ol’Greg – Further to my last, and before I retire, In my youth, I was exposed to a sub-cult known as judaism, or the jews. The god object of that cult actually told his male followers to chop off the tip of the penis. Really, it is true, they believe and practice it to this day. I have proof.
maureen.brian – I just checked the Heathrow site before shutting down and saw that. Keeping my fingers crossed, but have serious doubts the flights will be anything close to normal for a bit and there is a possible new ash cloud. Hard to type with fingers crossed.
Ha! Shaker’s Law knows no exceptions.
Now on ScienceBlogs: Elephants, tapirs and peccaries reached South America over three times earlier than previously thought – they were already there some 9.5 million years ago, instead of only 3.0, when the landbridge (Panama) formed.
For the tapirs, that was presented at a Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting some 10 years ago. Good to see something has been published!
I’ve just left a one word comment on Mooney’s blog where he announced his book:
I’m only going to recommend two books:
Robert K. Massie’s Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
John Keegan’s A History of Warfare. Keegan considers Clauswitz’s famous statement “War is the continuation of politics by other means” and decides it’s too simplistic. Keegan shows wars are fought for all kinds of reasons besides politics.
Gag.
Yawn.
I love that after four hours or so of that post being up, the “Yawn” is the only comment on Mooney’s pronouncement.
Walton (@499):
You really think a book about excrement in Chaucer is weirder than this:
SRSLY?
PZ, spammer du jour using ID of “gsciens”.
Oh goody! I just got a robo-call from “Americans for Prosperity” personally inviting me to attend a local teabagger protest tomorrow! Alas, it’s in the middle of the work day, so I’ll have to miss it. Darn.
Home too late to wish JefferyD a good night! Oh well, perhaps he’ll read it in the morning.
Books I’ve read recently that I think were interesting:
The History of Limb Amputation is also going on my list of things to read. Here are some I’ve liked.
Poison in the Pot: The Legacy of Lead
Weeden
Wisconsin Death Trip
Lesy
I, Pierre Riviere…
Foucalt
The Heidegger Controversy
Wolin
The Barbarian West
Wallace-Hadrill
(if you really like the period of migrations the way that I do…)
The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a state hospital attic
Penney and Stasny
(this is biased but still interesting)
Conjure in African American Society
Anderson
Disposable People
Bales
(not as well researched or written as it could have been but worth a read)
…. those jumped out at me ATM.
That and many books on infectious disease. I could read about disease all damned day.
If you like art..
Bosch
Dixon
The Originality of the Avant-Garde and other Modernist Myths
Krauss
Bill:
I don’t think a book about limb amputation is odd at all. It was a hallmark in medical practice, and was a main ‘treatment’ in wartime. I’ve gotten more than a few odd looks when people notice The Body Emblazoned, Dissection and the Human Body in Renaissance Culture by Jonathan Sawday on my shelves. The way that medical practices have developed and changed over the years is a really interesting subject.
Then again, I don’t think a book about excrement in the late Middle Ages is odd; it was a major factor in everyday life.
Speaking of foreskins. This dude… takes the cake.
You see, I’m not from your country so the context maybe I don’t know.
But DAMN!
‘Tis Himself, I’ve just read this horripilating post at Good Math, Bad Math: Shocking Fraud from Financial Scum; if you get the chance and have an inclination to look at it, I’d be rather interested in your (brief) opinion.
Actually water and waste disposal in various cultures in history is really interesting.
Seriously.
Our relationship to our own poop is fascinating.
But this is from a girl who also enjoys reading about the life cycles of various parasites.
So… ymmv.
Here you go giving his book a good review. Cures insomnia…
Now on ScienceBlogs: Elephants, tapirs and peccaries reached South America over three times earlier than previously thought
link’s broked.
fyi for all who were previously interested…
feeling much better of late, though apparently just due to gradual healing rather than any treatment.
still don’t know what brought on the liver fail.
…just glad it’s finally apparently over with after 3.5 months. Missed the whole damn summer down here
>:(
Now it’s off to find work…
cheers!
Cicely,
Glad to hear I’m not the only one. :)
Paul,
Harriet, Jordan’s widow, and Tom, the human publisher at Tor, made the decision to split A Memory of Light into three books. You can read Sanderson’s post about the decision here. It wasn’t his decision to make, and Jordan was kidding himself if he thought he really could end the series in one book. The Gathering Storm is a really tight book, especially compared to the last few from Jordan, and it barely managed to tie up Egwene’s plot while actually furthering Rand’s crap toward a real resolution.
The only Wheel of Time book I’ve been disappointed with was Crossroads of Twilight. After the climax to Winter’s Heart I waited and waited to find out what happened next and instead I get a book full of minutiae. It was a big letdown. Knife of Dreams was much better and I finally got the feeling that the series was coming to an end. The Gathering Storm is one of my favorite books of the series. There’s some of it that I didn’t like (Sanderson doesn’t have Mat’s voice down yet), but it was an excellent story and sets up the next book wonderfully. Also, Sanderson writes female characters much better than Jordan ever did. I cannot wait until November to get Towers of Midnight.
John Morales #539
Chu-Carroll’s post is one of the best summaries of the CDO/CDS mess I’ve read. I’ve read much worse explanations by economists (hell, I’ve written a worse explanation myself). I’m quite impressed.
Chu-Carroll is quite right in describing the fiasco as legal fraud. The selling and reselling of what both the buyers and sellers knew was worthless paper was quite amazing. The purchasers hoped to get their profit from the deal and not get stuck holding the bag when the bubble finally burst.
For those who haven’t read the post, here’s the link to it again: http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2010/04/shocking_fraud_from_financial.php
Ichthyic:
I’m really glad you’re feeling better, but it’s a bit on the scary side not knowing what caused the problem.
coming in late on the book discussion: I’m reading The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. Fascinating.
Ichthyic, good to hear you are doing better.
Chu-Carroll’s post is one of the best summaries of the CDO/CDS mess I’ve read.
indeed!
thanks for the pointer; I’ve just sent that to several of my friends I’ve had debates with over the sources of the recent collapse.
Books, hmmmm…
Race is a Four Letter Word by C. Loring Brace
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (completed by Brandon Sanderson)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Conservatives Without Conscience and Broken Government by John Dean
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Nickel and Dimed: on (not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Who Let the Dogs in? by the amazing and much missed Molly Ivins
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, about the Dust Bowl
The Rising Tide by John Barry, about the Mississippi flood of 1927
Republican Noise Machine by David Brock
One recommended to me by a pharyngulite long ago: The Closing of the Western Mind: the Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman
There are many more that I read, but I just can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Ichthyic,
Glad to hear you’re doing better!
Pygmy Loris:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Have we gotten close enough that these aren’t considered fiction anymore? ;D
As I mentioned before, I got a temporary position with the Census, and I wanted to mention one of the aspects of training to y’all.
As a federal employee, census workers have to take an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution. You get the opportunity to say you have a religious objection to oaths, but not a non-religious objection to this particular oath. The oath ends with “so help me God.” I just didn’t recite that part, but I was wondering what everyone here thought of that. It’s superfluous and I really feel that it’s inappropriate. The oath doesn’t bother me, but the god part does.
Caine,
It’s scary isn’t it? The part of Fahrenheit 451 that I found most disturbing was that the book burning started much more innocuously as the population simply quit reading. Filling heads with facts rather than encouraging the development of critical thinking is a disturbing idea. OTOH, I keep reminding myself that we are by and large much more educated than 100 yrs ago and I will never let go of my books.
I just didn’t recite that part
sounds like a good response.
I’m sure the constitutionality of including the phrase in an oath required of a federal position has been judged as “tradition” rather than promoting a specific religion.
…my guess as to why it’s still there, anyway.
Books,
The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery is an eye-opening natural history of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea (all of which are very different places).
It spends quite a bit of time on the environmental damage wrought by Aborigines and Maoris before Europeans arrived. IIRC, Aborigines and their fire-hunting technique were responsible for the extinction of a great deal of marsupial megafauna and for destroying most of Australia’s rainforests, which were replaced by bushfire-prone eucalypt forests.
Dust, yeesh! That What Kills Birds page is horrible. Since it’s not practical to ban windows, I’m still up for banning cats.
Ol’Greg, #394, unfortunately there are far too many feral cats in Australia for anybody to exterminate. Literally millions upon millions of them, most of them in parts of the country largely uninhabited by people.
Re invasive species, for a fascinating but depressing read have you seen the Invasive Species blog?
JeffreyD,
Tell me you’re just talking about the foreskin. If not, how much are we talking about?
Pygmy Loris – there is a secular version of the oath that is supposed to be an alternative. There have been cases where people weren’t told about it or were penalized for it (I remember something about a notary public who was rejected and was the first rejection in decades), but it’s supposed to be there, for the little that’s worth.
Pygmy Loris,
Meh. I’d have recited it without a qualm (maybe with a wry grin and a certain sarcastic demeanour).
It’s just a meaningless formalism.
Wow that’s horrid. There must not be any natural predators for them I guess? I can’t imagine over the last few hundred years that Texans have been more conscientious about stray cats.
I’ve heard they had success in some cities with pigeon problems by going ahead and importing falcons to eat them.
I imagine though that would have too many consequences there :(
One would think the Dingos would get them. ;)
Then again feral cat populations here would get killed out at about the rate that populations of… everything do.
I remember in one of our houses that there was a housing development going in nearby. It had all been scrub. Miles and miles of untouched cedar scrub. But they started digging it up and all these animals came through. It was sad. Over the next year or so we had so many wild animals trying to survive, but most all of them died or were killed. Pigs for instance. There were little populations of pigs hiding in the older neighborhoods, but they had killed some ones dogs so the hunt was on and eventually AFAIK all the pigs were killed along with everything else.
And now there are houses on the hillside little houses made of ticky tacky…
Ol’Greg, Pygmy Loris,
Dingos? Pssht! They’re an invasive species too. They’re just the domesticated dogs that the Aborigines brought with them from Asia.
But whatever sort of environmental damage dingos have done over the past 40,000 years (and you can bet it’s been plenty) they’re now apparently considered beneficial because they eat feral rabbits.
I don’t know what sort of predators cats would have down here (eagles, snakes and dingos perhaps) but but they’re doing it wrong.
Now I’m rambling but this is something I’ve often wondered about. There are landscapes and animals that matter and landscapes that don’t. I was just thinking as I typed that something along the lines of “But that’s not important, I mean not compared to the amazing wildlife in Australia…”
And then I realized that no one here gives a damn about the land here. It’s ugly. People come to this part of Texas and they’re like “Fuck, this is ugly.”
It’s not even impressive like the west, with it’s barren harshnes, and it’s not impressive like the east with the pines.
Dallas is in the middle of green but ugly land, but it’s not *really* ugly I don’t think?
I mean, just because no humans value it…?
Around here feral cats get eaten by coyotes, snakes, large birds, and bigger cats I think.
Ichthyic,
Glad you approve :)
Carlie,
I didn’t want to actually object since I live in a rather Xian area. Drawing attention to myself in that way wasn’t something I wanted to do on the first day of work. I can see that someone who did object would be judged. Xianity is so ingrained in people’s consciousness that they don’t even think about their god-bothering being a problem for someone else. :(
John Morales,
Well, I do try not to say things I don’t mean when I’m atually taking an oath. To me it kinda defeats the purpose, but to each their own. If you had such an expression on your face, you’d probably make me giggle, though.
Ambulocetacean, I don’t know what might eat cats in Oz, but here in ND, Eagles and other large hawks, coyotes and psychopathic kids with guns take out a fair amount of them. The predatory birds here will take out small dogs too, something more than few pet owners have found out in a bad way. It ain’t pretty.
You could think of a thing to say that sounds like “so help me god” but is much funnier. And mumble it sort of.
My brothers and sisters and I would do this in at mass when receiving communion growing up. The priest says “Body of Christ” and you are supposed to say “Amen” before he slips a little bitta Jesus on your tongue…the following words and phrases sound a lot like “Amen” in this context:
“Your mom”
“Hot damn” or “God damn”
“Onion”
“Anagram”
“Dream on”
etc…
The trick was not to giggle on the way back to the pew, because that would piss the maternal unit off.
Just some starter substitutions for “So help me God”
“Please help me up”
“Don’t have a cow”
“No yelping dog”…
And you just practice so your mouth looks right but the words are different.
Have to submit this one to the siblings. They really were the experts.
ambulocetacean,
The indigenous people of Madagascar did much the same. There used to be gorilla sized lemurs, but now they’re all gone :( It makes me so sad that I missed giant lemurs by a few thousand years.
You would not believe how many people I have argued with about this. Apparently dingos are a special kind of canid, not a dog and anyone who says differently (you know, because of the evidence and shit) is crazy. For some reason an astonishing number of Americans have some sort of romanticized notion of dingos as not-dogs, wolves who swam there from Asia or some stupid shit. I once talked to someone with a freaking Master’s who thought dingos were a marsupial like the Tasmanian tiger or a kangaroo.
Caine,
That’s just a sad consequence of having a “dog” so small you can carry it; birds of prey can carry it too. :)
I’m not a big fan of small dogs. They’re yippy, annoying, and by and large the worst behaved dogs I have ever come across. The owners don’t seem to get that just because your dog is so small I could eat it in one sitting doesn’t mean I want it jumping on me and biting me.
Really? I rather liked that book. It was nowhere near Winter’s Heart, but I found the plot interesting and liked how it covered everyone’s reactions within a couple days of the Cleansing. For me, the truly disappointing book was The Path of Daggers. Nothing memorable happened except Rand spending a book marching around and killing his own soldiers. /yawn
I don’t think it’s that romanticized. Most wild dog like creatures are in fact not true dogs.
Foxes, jackals, racoon dogs… I think people get used being told that the dog-looking animal isn’t really a dog.
Then ya’ll go and throw some wild dog in their face and they’re like… “no you’re not fooling me. I know that’s not a dog.”
Ol’Greg,
That’s an interesting hypothesis. I’ll have to ask some more questions next time someone argues with me about dingos.
Paul,
Crossroads of Twilight is the only book in the series that sat on my shelf for more than a day before being read. I think it just wasn’t enough after the awesomeness that was Winter’s Heart. Knife of Dreams more than made up for it, but then Jordan had to go and die, and I had to wait four freaking years for The Gathering Storm.
TrineBM:
David Marjanović:
No, see, they’re all in hell, and the conductor is dead, so it’s a pun on “carrion.” Unless it isn’t.
Pygmy Loris,
No problem with that, if you mean the substance of your oath, it stands on its own.
What purpose is there to So help me god?
None that I can see, other than to emphasise you’re serious about your oath.
Much like “cross my heart and hope to die” :)
PS in the circumstances you refer to, I very probably would’ve kept a solemn and straight face when saying it, if I wanted to keep the job.
Pygmy Loris:
True, but I’m not just talking about things like chihuahuas, around here, dachsunds, a wide variety of terriers, poodles, etc. get swooped upon and taken. I’ve seen two taken, the screaming and struggling was horrible, (it’s awful enough when it’s a rabbit) the second one struggled to a point that it was eventually dropped. Of course it didn’t survive, but it was bad to look at, what was left.
I’m not a fan of most small dogs either. Most of the people I’ve run across with small dogs seem to think because they are small, they don’t require training. (I know plenty of idiots with big dogs who think the same.) The people who live across our back road have two small something or others, damn things *never* stop barking. I think about getting my shotgun out way too often, especially when they bark non-stop from 2:00 a.m. to 12 noon, when someone mercifully puts them in house for an hour or two.
Lemurs the size of gorillas? I’d like to see that.
Dingos are nice-looking dogs but I don’t think there’s anything special about them. Half of the mangy street mutts in South-East Asia are clearly dingos.
Urgh.. I’m a smoker and I just learned that I’m going to have to spend days cleaning the nicotine stains off my walls and ceilings before I can paint them.
Off to the shops now to buy a stepladder and loads of sugar soap or something…
Most people I know who have them don’t walk them either, contributing to their neurosis.
They get locked up inside a house all day and then maybe taken to a dog park once a week.
I think the things go insane from that. I really do.
As the rabbi who supervised my conversion (long story) to Judaism said, “When someone asks if you believe in god, the only possible response is “What do you mean by god?”
This is my big beef with the Boy Scout program – you have to believe in something bigger than you. If you call it Captain Proton, or the natural world, you’re out, but if you call it god, even if your definition of god is “the natural world,” you’re fine. Last I checked, there aren’t many official atheists who actually believe that they themselves are the biggest thing in the universe. BSA actually have an official statement to this effect, which is one of the most intellectually dishonest things I’ve ever read.
My husband is vocal about not registering or participating because he calls himself an atheist; I call myself a pantheist on Boy Scout days and bite my tongue a lot in the interest of making my son’s life easier. (He’s thrived in Boy Scouts and it’s mostly about knots and how to avoid poison ivy.) Oh, and I’m also really vocal about how much I disagree with the BSA’s hypocritical nonsense and how hurtful this policy is to our son and to people in general. Which annoys the other folks in our troop, who are all irritatingly religious and wish I would just shut up.
Basically I’d have had no problem with the SHMG part of the oath, whereas I have a huge issue with the “in Jesus’ name” nonsense at the end of public prayers. I do tend to leave out the “under God” part of the pledge of allegiance, partly to tick off the Boy Scout people I know who are always listening to see if they can catch me leaving it out, and partly because I know that it got inserted as a McCarthyism thing in the 1950s, which offends me on a whole lot of levels.
Ambulo:
Me too, and here’s how to do it:
1. Get Greased Lightning, and spray it all over your walls. It will melt the buildup, and let you wash it off. You may have to do it twice, with a water rinse. Try using a mop to make it a quick job.
2. Get a good, sealing primer to put on before the paint. You always use a primer anyway for a quality paint job, so this is no extra step, really.
3. It’s a myth that smoke buildup under a coat of primer and paint starts “bleeding through” and “makes it impossible to paint no matter how much you do.” It’s like the antismoker’s version of the Amityville Horror, with blood oozing through the wallpaper.
Clean it, primer it, paint it (and do all three well), and you’ll be fine.
And to the non-smokers here: please don’t tell us “just smoke outside,” or “why are you so stupid. . why don’t you just not smoke?” We’ve heard it all before. For those of us who choose to smoke, our homes are the last place we can do it. Please spare us the sanctimony – you’ve got the rest of the world smoke-free. Let us have our homes:)
This public service announcement brought to you by SpokesGay Cigarettes – If it isn’t SpokesGay, it ain’t smokin’™!
Ol’Greg:
The noisy creatures across from me don’t get locked up in a house enough. Being a dog owner, I know your point is valid though. Dogs require a committment, and I really can’t stand all the idiots who get a dog[s] when they have no intention of doing the things they need to do.
Dogs do need attention, they absolutely need walks/runs/exercise. They need stuff to chew on, chase, etc. The reason most dogs bark constantly is boredom. It’s really not that difficult to train dogs, I don’t why so many people think it’s this huge undertaking. Mine don’t leave my property, which isn’t fenced, mine don’t bark unless there are specific circumstances (someone on the property, someone at the door, someone being threatening towards me.)
TrineBM:
But some of his “gebrauchsmusik” pieces are fun to play.
Not wanting the joke thread to die, here’s a different take on yours:
A jazz musician wakes up in hell. The devil welcomes him, then turns him over to a demon, who is to show him around.
“So you’re a jazz musician,” the demon says. “We have a pretty good band here. You’re welcome to play with them. In fact, they’re rehearsing right now. Let’s go listen.”
As they approach the rehearsal hall, they hear absolutely wonderful music. When they go in, they see Miles, Dizzy, Bird, Trane, all sorts of big names, just burning.
“The band’s great,” says the musician. “How could this possibly be hell?”
The demon whispers, “The devil’s got a girl friend who sings.”
Josh, OSG:
Amen. *Makes note to look for Greased Lightning.
Thanks for that, Josh. I’ll have to see if I can get Greased Lightning or something similar down here.
Haha… most of the smokers I know *prefer* to smoke outside, but I can’t bitch at you because I enjoy the hookah some times and I don’t like cold, wet, hot, rainy, or sunny weather.
So… inside it is.
ambulocetacean,
Archaeoindris were the largest of the sub-fossil lemurs. Wikipedia has an artist’s rendition of what they looked like. There were other species that weighed more than 100 pounds, the sloth lemurs(Palaeopropithecus) and Megaladapis were two of the biggest. Many of these species went extinct just a few hundred years ago. There are reports that some of the indigenous people alive at European contact remembered the extinct lemurs. It’s just so sad what our over-hunting has done.
Some tips, Caine:
1. Dilute the GL in water, and put it in a spray bottle that does a fine mist. The GL bottle kind of, um. . .just spurts. You know what I mean.
2. Going over the walls every few months with a magic eraser-type mophead and water does wonders, not just for smoke build-up, but handprints, etc. A high-powered furnace filter also helps.
3. Spring cleaning is always a little more intensive for a smoker, but it’s worth washing the walls down once a year to stay on top of it. Nobody likes grime or old stank, even smokers. I find when I keep to this routine, people who come to my house say, “Oh, my, I never would have guessed a . . . smoker. . .lives here.”
Of course, they think that’s a compliment, but since I can hear the italics in their voice, I’m secretly plotting how to strangle their prissy asses when the other guests aren’t looking. :)
Caine,
What awful people! Not only do they allow their dogs to disturb the neighbors, but leaving small dogs outside in ND at night isn’t very nice either.
Actually even us non-smokers have to deal with smoke buildup, at least if we heat our homes with woodstoves. So thanks for the advice.
Ol’Greg, if you are referring to wild boars in #560, they are an invasive species.
And they killed Old Yeller. :(
I know, Ol ‘Greg. Some of them actually do prefer it and don’t mind, esp. if the weather’s nice. More (in my anecdotal experience) live with people who can’t stand smoke, or are so pressured by the idea that smoking is “low class” that they won’t admit to smoking inside, even in sub-zero weather.
To each his/her own. I bought this house, I own it, and I’m not freezing my ass off in the winter. If anyone doesn’t like it, they don’t have to come to dinner and eat my food.
Josh,
They can have my cigarettes when they pry them from my cold dead hands! Dennis Leary actually has a great bit about that. (I rarely smoke in my place, but at the boyfriend’s we all smoke inside.)
Josh, OSG:
Hahahaha. I know just what you mean. Thanks. It’s past time for a rip everything apart clean, including getting the awful carpet up and out of here. There is a perfectly serviceable hardwood floor under the nasty, cheap carpet the previous owner put down (improperly, I might add).
Josh,
I, for one, will never complain about you smoking in your own home. I don’t smoke much inside mine because I rent and I don’t want to have to spend too much time scrubbing the walls when I move out.
Speaking of home maintenance:
I have been vexed by my fucking hot water heater for two days. I know Caine recently went without for a long time, so I feel bad complaining, but. . .
This infernal appliance has something called a “thermocoupling” on it. It’s a safety device. If the pilot goes out, this electro-sensing unit shuts off the gas completely.
To relight, you must hold down this big red button, light the pilot, then keep holding the button down for “a minute” (ha ha) before releasing it. Ostensibly, this heats up a conducting coil, which tells the sensing unit: “Pilot is lit, gas is not leaking, is OK to gives sum gas.”
Mine is busted. No matter how many times I relight it, no matter how long I hold down that fucking button, the damned flame goes out when I release it. I’m betting the “safety” unit is bad.
Does anyone have a cheap home work around?
Ha!
You’ve probably heard the one about the European explorer, deep in the tropical rain forest, hacking his way slowly through the jungle with a local guide. Constantly, just audible, there are drums. 24/7 the drumming continues, often a long flat groove but occasionally rising to a frenzy before simmering back down–but never stopping. Freaks the guy out, and he keeps asking his companion “What’s with the drumming? It freaks me out!” (pantomiming Gene Krupa and then McCauley Culkin). The local dude, who naturally has only a little European, always gives the same reply: “Drums play: good. Drums stop? bad!” [repeat the slogging, asking, and replying 2 or 3 more times]
Then one day, without warning, as they rested for a moment before fording a crocodile-infested river, the drums suddenly STOPPED.
Guy wheels around to look at his guide, who is frozen with a scared, cringing look on his face. “What is it?” he asks, “What does it mean that the drums have stopped?!?”
The guide shakes his head slowly from side to side and looks down at his feet in evident dismay and dejection.
“bass solo”
Whoa! Archaeoindris was awesome! I wish they were still around, though they’d probably be going insane chewing car tyres in zoos.
Eh, I don’t choose to smoke. I just haven’t succeeded in giving up yet. It’s amazing how much vitriol is directed at smokers these days.
I wish Australian governments would just ban tobacco like Bhutan did. Instead, they prefer to spend an enormous amount (but small proportion) of the billions of dollars in tobacco taxes we pay on billboards and TV ads that tell us that we’re stupid and dooming ourselves to horrible deaths.
No more procrastinating. Must… go… to… hardware… shop…
@Josh (#595)
My propane furnace has this problem from time to time and the issue is that the feed line for the pilot needs to be cleaned. I don’t know how to fix it, though – I always call the gas company to send their official plumber guys. I’m generally opposed to cheap home work-arounds for things that can explode dramatically.
I really don’t know. This was actually in Austin area, not here in Dallas. I thought maybe they were javalinas but those may only be south and really I wouldn’t know one from a wild boar probably!
They were short pigs, and very wild and mean!
Pygmy Loris:
Thank you for the sympathy. :) The dogs are quieter over winter, as they aren’t outside all the time, which makes Springtime much more unpleasant than it should be. When we first moved to Almont, they just had Wilfrid, who is a Border Collie mix, who barked constantly. Then the man who owns the house lost his job, and went to work in the oil fields. His time is divided between the oil fields and his horse farm. He’s home about once every two months, for a week or so. After all that happened, his wife got the two small things, and pays no attention to them whatsoever.
When the Mr. is home, they do bark less, as he’ll put them in the house. The Mrs. is uh…well, she’s not one you could talk to about the situation. I’ll have to wait until Gary and Russ (the mayor) are hanging out at the saloon and have a little chat with them.
Pygmy:
That’s because you have manners. It amazes me how many people seem to forget theirs altogether when it comes to cigarette smoking (I say “cigarette,” because many pot smokers I know are astonishingly, stupidly, prissy about tobacco smoke).
When I have pot lucks or dinner parties at my house, I willing restrict cigarette smoking to my one upstairs bedroom (where I don’t usually smoke), because I know it bothers many people. Either that, or cigs get smoked out the backdoor/window.
I do this because I like to share hospitality, and I like my guest to enjoy themselves. But I do not have to do it, and it’s astonishing how many people these days seem to think they’re entitled to “my smoke-free air” in some one else’s house. Incredible sense of entitlement – galling, really.
Ambook:
You’re totally right, of course. I’m the king of cheap, but even I’m not prepared, really, to risk a gas explosion. Sigh. I guess I’ll call Vermont Gas tomorrow. Oy, the first couple of years owning your own house sucks you dry.
Oh, listen to me. What a pampered priss. Strike all that above. If I’m lucky enough to own a house, I have nothing to complain about. :)
Josh, OSG:
You don’t want a work around for this. Either the thermocouple is filthy (give it a good whack with your lighter, if it’s just dirt, that should shift it enough to light. Gotta do that with my oven now and then.) If it’s really serious filty, it needs an actual clean, if it’s bad, it has to be replaced. Call someone who is qualified to take a look.
I had to replace that once. Don’t try to work around it. Potential explosion hazard. I think you will need a part like this. They have a couple of other models for various hot water heaters.
Ol’ Greg @ 540:
I’d always wondered: How did medieval urban centers manage to get enough clean water to everybody? And then I discovered – often they didn’t. People drank what by our standards would be godawful filth, and either died, developed resistance (and maybe blamed the Jews), or learned to sterilize what they were drinking, either by boiling it (boring) or adding small beer (yay).
When I was a baby, I was apparently, quite literally, a bullshit artist.
How about the ones that burst out of your thorax and have the ability to wipe out a squad of space marines?
Thanks Caine. You and ambook and Nerd have talked some sense into me. I’ll shell out for the gas repairman (though I reserve the right to resent it).
Oh, listen to me. What a pampered priss. Strike all that above. If I’m lucky enough to own a house, I have nothing to complain about. :)
Feh. Complain all you like. Just because there are worse problems in the world doesn’t mean that you’re not being annoyed, inconvenienced, and/or endangered by your own problems.
MrFire:
The water is the reason why generations of people didn’t drink it all (except in cases such as tea, where the water was boiled) but drank alcohol instead. Beer really wasn’t considered to be a big deal, everyone drank it.
Josh,
Aww, shucks. It’s just the way I was raised. Unless they’re doing something truly dangerous to you it’s rude to complain about what people do in their houses. Similarly, if someone invites you over for dinner, you choke down whatever they made unless you’re actually allergic (or can’t tolerate it for another reason). Being social animals makes life a little inconvenient and uncomfortable sometimes, but I’d rather eat my friend’s gross food than lose them as a friend. Any real friend will put up with a little smoke in my house in order to be my friend.
Two of my friends do have severe reactions to cigarette smoke. Before smoking in restaurants was outlawed ’round here, they could not eat out because the reactions are so severe. For those friends, we usually hang out at their houses or just go out. They don’t complain about my smoking, and they understand that my house is my house.
Pygmy – a little more of that empathy and reciprocity would go a long way in this world, huh?
mmm.
Not quite literally, unless your parents let you play in the streets of Pamplona or something.
Yes, I’m codepedant.
I actually turned off the eeeeeepc for an hour or so and I finished a book!
Non-fiction. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Everyone on earth should read this book. Especially if you have been reading some of the fine ‘tho gloomy books on some of the reading lists presented here.
I will buy the sequel Stones into Schools tomorrow, while the Significant Other is having the growths cauterized from his bladder.
I’m not fucking worried.
Since this is Teh Thread, and one is allowed to be random:
1. What is it with your mouse scroll wheel not working if it comes across an embedded Youtube video in the middle of the page? Why does the scrolling function suddenly stop, and is there a way around that?
2. The B minor harmonic scale, descending, with the left hand, is extremely difficult, even if my teacher Sylvia doesn’t understand why. It’s cuz #3 finger (“roast beef”, for iambilly) gets all stuck up between F# and A flat, then #4 finger has to hit F#, then you have to put your whole damned thumb all the way under to hit E natural. It’s a sorry mess.
kiyaroru:
I would be. Best to you both, I hope it all goes well.
Pygmy:
I’d rather eat my friend’s gross food than cook.
Bwa-ha!
LOL!
Well, you’re quite right: I figured it was worth sacrificing my integrity for the – YMMV – ‘joke’.
And I now feel that, in admitting that I stretched the truth in order to describe myself as a bullshit artist, I have demonstrated that I am, in fact, a bullshit artist.
Josh, the underlying operating system keeps track of the mouse location and its output; your browser gets that info, and determines on what page element it’s supposed to operate on, and takes the appropriate action.
The video window element (probably implemented via “Flash”) can’t scroll (since the window contents already occupy the entire window), so nothing will appear to happen.
Just keep the mouse pointer away from those elements where the scroll command isn’t applicable or implemented — i.e. somewhere else on the page.
Thanks, John Morales. That’s what I’ve been doing. Damn you for not having a perfect solution for me (j/k).
Josh:
My sympathies, Josh. I think hitting the G is harder than hitting the E, because my thumbs have to do that sort of maneuver quite a bit. The A#-G does feel pretty awkward, even for a harmonic minor scale, although C# harm. min. was a particularly hard one to learn for me.
I suggest practicing only (F#-G-A#-B-A#-G-F#…) repeatedly, only as fast as you can with zero mistakes and even rhythm. You could even try alternating between G# and G, just to make sure that stupid left-middle finger knows who’s boss.
However, I’m under no illusion that what I’ve just written is helpful, so once again, I offer my sympathies.
Josh,
I really think so. I really, really do.
Ol’ Greg: I thought maybe they were javalinas but those may only be south and really I wouldn’t know one from a wild boar probably!
They were short pigs, and very wild and mean!
“Short” suggests javelinas but “mean” sounds more like feral hog/hawg/boar, AKA Razorback if you’re in Arkansas. I was amused to read an account in some huntin’ & shootin’ magazine about Stalking the Dangerous Ferocious Wild Javelina just a year or two after I’d spent some quality time with them in Arizona and IIRC south Texas. We’d waded through a herd of them one time because they were hanging out on both sides of an open gate we needed to use. We were loud and polite and they just kinda sidled over and let us through.
We had some barbecued wild boar on Kaua’i, as I may have mentioned, and it was so good we went back for more. They’re hell on the landscape there (and everywhere else AFAIK) but the Polynesians brought them in way back when so getting rid of them completely seems to be out of the question. There are hunting seasons for them: Bow; Gun; and Dogs & Knife. Srsly. Makes the gunnies in that magazine look like wimps, I’ll tellya.
Dallas is in the middle of green but ugly land, but it’s not *really* ugly I don’t think?
I mean, just because no humans value it…?
I bet somebody does. What’s left of it unpaved, anyway.
Has anybody mentioned Parasite Rex?
Icthyic, I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend. Must be a Miracle from God, right? (snkr) Who’s the patron saint of liver troubles, I wonder.
Josh, et alii, I’ve thought for years that the anti-smoker shit smells strongly of red herring. I mean, “smoke-free” bus stops? On main streets with bazillions of cars and trucks? Riiiiight.
I speak as a never-did-smoke old-fart asthmatic.
I’ve known some perfectly civilized small dogs, including a toy poodle with immense dignity and a bunch of chihuahuas who spent lots of time outdoors and weren’t yappy or trembly at all. This makes me extremely impatient with the owners of small dogs who are neurotic and noisy. No fucking excuse.
Now that I’ve had a good dose of Pharyngula and the lovely people here, I must sleep. Doing paperwork all day when you’re really tired doesn’t work out very well.
Holy fuck! Yet another continent hit by Catholic Church pedophilia:
Church pedophilia scandal grows in Latin America
Ron:
A quick search comes up with “Saint Erasmus*, patron saint of gastrointestinal and liver diseases.” Erasmus doesn’t show up on this list though, so who knows?
*In Christian times a Bishop of the Church, Saint Erasmus, was identified as patron of gastrointestinal and liver diseases.5 He was born in Antioch during the third century and was tortured by being forced to wear copper heated clothing around his abdomen. Later his dominion over the bowels was indicated by images of him holding a spit around which intestines were wrapped. His feast day is still celebrated by both Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches on 2 June. Source.
Let’s hope you don’t bump into insane nut and CNN political contributor Erick Erickson who said:
Not to scare you or anything…..
Isn’t it weird though that the people who settled Madagascar came from (roughly) modern-day Indonesia? Look at a map. That’s far, and they made it in canoes.
Hmmm….all-knowing Wikipedia puts dingos arriving in Australia closer to 4,000 years ago.
It’s too bad they helped wipe out the Thylacine (aka, Tasmanian tiger), which were basically a marsupial dog.
I have clearly chosen the wrong confirmation name. Why not Erasmus??
Re: dingos as indigenous/non-indigenous species. I recall reading that they haven’t been in Australia nearly as long as Aboriginal people have been. Nowhere near the 40K years, but probably closer to 800 years, just as a matter of interest. The article I recall (but can’t link to because I’m at work with incredibly restricted access to the WWW!) mentioned that dingos inhabited the ecological niche formerly occupied by thylacines on the mainland, which may have been a significant factor in the decline and extinction of that species here, but not in Tasmania, since dingos didn’t cross Bass Strait.
So perhaps dingos are more “naturalised” than indigenous. However, I’m not at all edumacated in this regard – me, with my 10th Grade education – and happy to be corrected (as I know I will, if I’m wrong – hee). When I get home, I’ll try to find the article I refer to.
BTW, howdy, Pharyngulites! I’ve been lurking a lot lately, but still here, and still a card-carrying sapiensexual woman of Pharyngula. RRRrrrowww! [drool]
Caine (@537):
I don’t think it’s odd that it exists; I do think it’s a weird thing to be on the reading list — or recommended books list — of anyone other than a surgeon.
Then again, I don’t count weird as a bad thing! ;^)
Ol’ Greg (@540):
Indeed. Which reminds me of another book recommendation: The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson, about the use of mapping to understand and end the London cholera outbreak of 1854. Johnson’s other books include Mind Wide Open (about neuroscience) and The Invention of Air (about the life and times of Joseph Priestly), both of which I’ve read, along with Everything Bad Is Good for You (in praise of the cognitive benefits of gaming and watching TV, apparently; I haven’t read this one, but would like to) and several others.
Pygmy Loris (@549):
Since you’ve listed a couple recent political books, I’ll add: The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, by Thomas Frank. As a late-Bush-era book, it’s a bit dated now, but still instructive as a no-shit telling of the truth behind the joke (attributed to many, but I heard it from Al Franken) that Republicans campaign on the idea that government is incompetent, and when they get elected, they prove it. Franks’ thesis is that that’s not really incompetence; it’s a strategy.
See? Corrected before I even posted. I love this place!
Pharyngulette:
RRRrrrowww right back atcha. :D Good to see you back.
ronsullivan (@497):
Sorry to respond so long after the fact!
It has dawned on me in the course of this conversation that the whole indigenous species issue has different values depending on what species we’re talking about, and what locale it’s indigenous to.
Of course we should protect unique species that are threatened with extinction by invaders… but in my neck of the woods, hatred of nonindigenous species has more to do with a desire for nativist purity than any need to protect biodiversity by saving uniquely threatened life. I’ve seen friends rip out hundreds (maybe thousands) of dollars worth of perfectly lovely landscaping because they were informed by neighbors that their shrubs weren’t native to Connecticut… as if a landscaped suburban lawn were any sort of “natural” environment in the first place!
Either way, my point is that whatever management action we take should be aimed at making the environment better, not simply more original; I don’t take it as a given that the former always implies the latter.
I knew people would be tempted to call strawman on me, but the fact is that I’ve heard people take this position (or similar ones) plenty of times (see also my comments about folks who think preserving the lifeless landscape of the Moon [and the probably lifeless landscape of Mars] in their “pristine” state by keeping humans away from them). But more to my actual point, even those who would not make this argument explicitly, nor even accept it if presented to them, nevertheless invariably use language that makes that very argument implicitly. The delta between conditions before and after the arrival of humans is invariably described as “destruction,” as it has been in this thread WRT the original human inhabitants of Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, etc. People who would never say, in their own voice, “I think humans are less valuable than other species or aspects of nature” nevertheless inevitably fall into language that implicitly makes precisely that assertion. I think it’s a deeply enculturated thing with us, related (as I said before) to religious notions of special creation (and, perhaps, of the innate depravity of humankind) that even the godless among us struggle, mostly in vain, to rid ourselves of.
Those reference points would be purely arbitrary moments in time if it weren’t for the fact that we treat humans as distinct from, and external to, the rest of nature, which is kind of my point. In the roughly 400 years since my part of the country was colonized by Europeans, much of the land has gone from wilderness to farmland to industrial use and back, in many places, to wilderness again. It’s not uncommon, while hiking on trails through the deepest woods, to find the ruins of old farms’ stone walls, or the foundation stones of long-abandoned mills. And even before Europeans arrived, the native people had modified the local ecology through hunting, importing domesticated Mesoamerican crop plants, and building settlements. On what basis can you snap a historical line and say “everything that was already here by then is OK; everything that came after is wrong“?
None of this has been any sort of anti-environmentalist argument on my part. On the contrary, I’m all for aggressive environmental protection. I just think it needs to be done on the philosophical basis that people are part of nature, and deserving of our place in it, rather than, at best, a necessary evil that needs to be contained and minimized.
Thanks, Caine! I like it here; I’ve been reading and lurking for almost three years and sometimes feel like I ‘know’ some people here, but I also appreciate my intellectual limitations: without question, I’m the least erudite person in the room and definitely ‘riding the Short Bus’ when compared to the regular posters here, so I mostly keep my big trap shut. :-D I only wade into the conversations when the topic turns to something I truly know: food — mmm, baaacon — books or kitty cats or when some of our male Pharyngulants need reminding that looks and muscles aren’t the only assets that we nerd-women are attracted to.
[wonders: ‘Does that make me a geek-groupie?’]
Checking in for book suggestions and found more to add to the list – thanks all.
Bill Dauphin, OM, yes, weird is good. :) One of the reasons I enjoy getting book suggestions on this blog is that there is such a wide variety of interests. I may not look at the books on knitting or fabrics, but I have friends to whom I will pass on the suggestions and they will be happy. On the other hand, since I am omnivorous in my reading, I may enjoy them as well. Whenever I am in the library (right up there with the flush toilet as far as inventions go) I always just wander down an aisle outside of my main interest and pull a few books to take home. I find craft books fascinating although I have the manual dexterity of a spavined crab.
Ah, and the simple and wonderful joy of finding out that some of the people I like and respect are also smokers. I no longer feel like such a leper.
Spousal arrival – the UK flight ban has been lifted, but the schedules are still screwed up and more ash may escape. Fingers crossed.
Need coffee and cig at the front window so I can enjoy the morning sun. Will check back later and give more than a cursory read.
I am aiming not to post at all today until this evening, as I really need to get some work done. Once again, Pharyngulites, if you see me getting involved in a political argument, please tell me to fuck off and get back to work.
On an unrelated note: just as we were discussing his recommended book about medieval defecation, I’m not sure whether to take it as a compliment that JeffreyD appears to have described me, possibly inadvertently, as a particularly satisfying bowel movement.. :-)
Just ask for a cute one.
Walton, my DumpLing of Awesome by Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen, I must admit that it was intentional. I have the sense of humor of a six year old. Amazingly enough, at 60+ I also have the heart of a 16 year old…just not sure where I put it.
That said, you have grown and I now read your posts on purpose, mostly. Being compared to a satisfying bowel movement is a compliment, left handed to be sure, but a compliment none the less. I once heard Germaine Greer describe writing as like bowel movements. If it comes out in dribs and drabs your are unhappy. When it comes forth as a solid chunk, satisfaction is achieved.
And now, I will take my mind from the garderobe and move higher up the scale. Next subject – snot!
Now, Walton, DofA AHMQ, fuck off and study. You have dodged social invitations by claiming the need to study, so we expect to see good grades posted. :^}
Oh hell, forgot to append this:
For those interested by the Excrement book, or just weirdness in general, I also recommend:
Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage – William Rathje & Cullen Murphy
Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash – Elizabeth Royte
On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages – Valerie Allen
Trash: From Junk to Art – Lea Vergine, Editor
Morrison’s book, Excrement etc., has an excellent bibliography of similar works.
I also note that a lot of the old books I have mentioned in previous lists, such as Longmore’s book, Gunshot Injuries, are out of copyright and thus available for free on sites such as Google Books, http://manybooks.net/, and http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Oh hell, forgot to append this:
For those interested by the Excrement book, or just weirdness in general, I also recommend:
Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage – William Rathje & Cullen Murphy
Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash – Elizabeth Royte
On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages – Valerie Allen
Trash: From Junk to Art – Lea Vergine, Editor
Morrison’s book, Excrement etc., has an excellent bibliography of similar works.
I also note that a lot of the old books I have mentioned in previous lists, such as Longmore’s book, Gunshot Injuries, are out of copyright and thus available for free on sites such as Google Books, http://manybooks.net/, and http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Hmm. Naruto is getting desperate. It looks like Kishimoto is trolling for a Pharyngulation.
ARGH! Working link to the mid-Miocene elephants of South America.
Clausewitz, three syllables.
ROTFL!
…for instance the sudden disappearance of the since-then-Tasmanian “tiger” from the mainland.
Seconded and thirded! Aepyornis and Mullerornis the ratites! Stephanoaetus mahery the seriously big eagle! Plesiorycteropus the we-know-it’s-a-mammal-but-that-basically-is-it!
And the diversity of lemurs was really impressive. Not only gorilla analogues, but chimpanzee analogues, sloth analogues, and so on…
<scratching head>
~:-|
WTF.
Yeah. They all seem to think they’re the size of a regular wolf! Had one running at me yesterday.
They were indeed classified as a separate species, Canis dingo, by most or all people for a long time.
That would explain a lot.
In Madagascar it’s not clear how much hunting there even was. Habitat destruction is done on an enormous scale there, however.
~:-|
I thought this died out, like, 50 years ago or something?
:-D :-D :-D
:-o
Isn’t pot usually smoked together with tobacco?!? As in “that’s why it’s called joint“?
Or by drinking awful wine. That’s why grapes were grown even in England, even though the climate (unlike today!) wasn’t really like it.
Red Beans and Rice last night wasn’t, by any sense, perfect, but they were good. The timing in this recipe is entirely dependent on the rice. Get a GOOD rice – not Minute Rice, because it won’t be cooking long enough. My rice takes 30 minutes to cook. 20 minutes is okay. Beans need to be slightly mushy.
Red Beans and Rice(ish)
Red kidney beans
Sliced andouille
Diced tomatoes
Diced celery
Diced onion
Diced green pepper
Brown rice
Salt, pepper, thyme, oregano
Prepare the rice according to directions on package.
Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Toss all the veggies, beans, and spices in the skillet and mix. Simmer on medium-low while your rice is cooking.
Serve with a good hot sauce on the side.
AFIK, this is much more common in Europe than in the States. Don’t know why tho. In the U.S., a lot of people will mix tobacco and hashish (usually in a hookah or bong) because it’s hard to keep a big chunk of hash burning smoothly on its own.
As to the etymology of “joint”, Wiki doesn’t indicate anything to do with mixing the two.
/Dammit, now I have a hankering for some hash. ‘Scuse me, I need to make a phone call.
Wow, I haven’t seen any hashish for decades. Yeah, the mixing-pot-with-tobacco thing is strictly European. I think “joint” refers to the resemblance to a phalanx (finger-bone). “Twist another bone” as uh, people I used to know, um, said.
Elwood, did you receive my e?
Maybe at one point, but those damn kids on my lawn and their blunts.
Ah, yes, I have heard tell of this strange habit of the yout’, and I witnessed the aftermath in a motel-room dresser-drawer one time, but I do not understand the practice. One is forced to inhale the flavored-cigar smoke to get high then?
That’s insane!
Yes it’s strange.
What’s so wrong with a glass pipe or a bong.
I for one was never much of a pot smoker. I prefer(ed) beer, whiskey and some harder not so legal substances. But when I did occasionally partake of the green leaf I anything but a joint or a bong would wreck my lungs.
I get the feeling the next thread will feature a video on either weed or human excrement.
Either is fine by me.
Sven, just checked and yeah, I got your email. (I usually only check my inbox about once a week. Not much of a emailer.)
I’ll take a look at your list and shoot you a reply with my address later today.
My hash connection is a quadriplegic guy I know. I don’t know where he gets it from and I don’t ask. But it’s good and almost always available. :)
A thread about people smoking shit? (lame pun intended)
Wow. How do people even do this.
A different life I guess!
I vote not excrement*. I got sensibilities to consider, here.
*I know, I know…not a democracy. Probably should have entered this as a plea rather than a vote. But then again, look what the squidly overlord has done with botanical wednesday (which I begged for), turning it all lewd and salacious and whatnot. Giving me the howling fantods everytime I look at a perfectly innocent plant.
Yes please think of Walton. A thread on excrement could send the old boy into apoplectic fits.
X-D
It might even keep him off Pharyngula, for his own good… <toothy grin>
Josh:
Unless you play piano with your toes, that is not roast beef!
There’s a great book on just this point – David Barron’s The Beast in the Garden, about mountain lion/human interactions on the Front Range in Colorado. Basically people were busy viewing themselves as observers rather than participants and fighting tooth and nail (pun intended) to prevent biologists from harassing mountain lions into leaving populated areas. All of which ended when a bicyclist got eaten. Then people woke up and realized that the reason nineteenth century writers said mountain lions were afraid of people was because native folks had been aggressive about killing and/or harassing them for thousands of years. The current mountain lions haven’t been taught by mommy mountain lions that humans are bad news, and so view people as toothsome morsels of nutritious goodness. This is now changing.
My daughter was amused when we went to a scientific conference recently and she observed that all the guys there looked vaguely familiar (i.e. nerdy). Then I realized that they all looked like guys I might have dated in college or graduate school, before I settled down with my very own nerd. Is attraction to nerds is genetic or learned?
Personally, I think the next video should feature Unicorns. They are beautiful, ethereal, wondrous…also, they fart glitter and crap rainbows. How awesome is that?
On a personal note. Spousal unit will now be flying on Thursday for a Friday arrival. Do you have any idea how hard it is to type with your fingers crossed?
Speaking of which… here’s a timewaster.
:-)
absinthe -> moonshine -> antifreeze?
Although if I recall correctly, some of your harder substances were not actually liquid in nature.
Right. No anti-freeze but I’ve partaken in absinthe and plenty of moonshine (I am a southern mountain boy of course).
And yes not all liquid, though not so much any longer.
Ketamine?
I’ve never really understood the ban on absinthe, it’s just a strong drink with a mildly toxic bit of plant in it. I think you’d kill yourself with alcohol long before the wormwood got you.
It’s sort of legal here now, but only the crappy syrupy stuff.
Although I prefer the buffalo grass vodka for my mildly toxic plant in alcohol quota.
@ambook:
I hope it’s learned. I might have a chance, then :D
Isn’t it a hangover from when there was a serious risk of heavy metal poisoning from th production process?
Really? Aren’t you supposed to be the plant guy?
No thanks, though back in the day I tried it.
Not for me.
I heard an interview some time ago – I think on Skepticality – with a woman who makes absinthe. She said that the bad press absinthe got was because it was a very cheap drink, and people were choosing that over wine, and it was affecting the French wine industry’s profits. It was a bit more complex than that, but that’s the gist that I remember.
oh, yeah – on books – anybody else read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? excellent, and ultimately troubling, particularly in light of some of the “physical autonomy” posts we’ve had on various threads lately.
Haha RBDC and you got that post in on 666 too!
I don’t understand the attraction, based on what I’ve seen of high people there are a handful of drugs I would not want to try ever.
No swirling down the k-hole for me, no crack, no pcp, and hell naw to meth. I used to live and work surrounded by crack and meth addicts.
Sucks.
The lure of crawling around on the floor unsure of how to move various parts of my body and in which direction…
not so much.
Not to mention I’d probably get raped too.
@641
I just had to chime in my love of that. My ex got me into anime and that being one of his favorites, I got good exposure to it and now love it as well. =)
@JustALurker (669)
Naruto is probably one of my least favorite anime series. It got way too long for my tastes.
My favorites are very different. Ouran High School Host Club makes me collapse with laughter a lot of the time. I also really like the My Hime and My Otome series because of its story and cute girls. Onegai Teacher is pretty good, too.
portcullis warning
Always liked absinthe, you could get the good absinthe in places like Romania before it started to filter back into normal space. Hardest thing I ever tried was heroin and that was wartime. Used a few times, had no trouble not ever using it again. I do not care for hallucinatory drugs, prefer to keep some control. Same with alcohol, seldom inebriated to the point of not being conscious. Did do that a couple of times a few years ago, but had someone watching me I trusted.
I seriously don’t understand how you are the person you are, after having spent so much time in a crapsack world.
Can I interrupt for a minute? Because my mind, she is BLOWN.
I’m prepping to teach about antibiotics and killing bacteria and so forth. I always thought that bleach killed bacteria by disrupting the cell wall structure, but finally looked it up. It actually denatures bacterial proteins in the same way that heat does. You know when this was published? November of 200-fucking-8. We have only known how bleach works for a YEAR AND A HALF.
Ok, back to class prep. But seriously. I cannot get over this.
Fucking bleach – how does it work!?
I’m not sure I understand. But… thanx?
Most days I think life is wonderful. Yesterday wasn’t one of those days but yesterday is gone now. Fuck yesterday.
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist, yo’ motherfuckers lyin and gettin me pissed
Oh yeah, it probably helps that I don’t see it as a crapsack world. Sorry if I paint it that way :(
A very good piece on “wilderness” from a few years ago:
http://www.guernicamag.com/features/41/the_trouble_with_wilderness_or/
***
The historical parts of The Ghost Map were great. The latter parts should have been completely changed. Bad editing.
***
Last I checked, “Yawn” was still the only comment at that announcement.
***
I like absinthe.
MIDGETS + DWARVES – how do they work?
Boom! Inane Clownshoe Posse is in da house!
I KNOW, fucking scientists couldn’t even tell how fucking bleach worked? Until last year they probably still thought it was miasma or some shit like that.
Here‘s the study Carlie is talking about. It looks to be a bit more complex than simply denaturing proteins. But in retrospect it’s no surprise that bleach messes with proteins, as it’s well known to work against viruses as well as bacteria.
Yeah never tried crack or pcp on purpose, though pcp once not on purpose, long story, and I’ve tried meth once, also not on purpose. For whatever reason none of the above appeals to me. IANAP or D (I am not a psychiatrist or doctor) but I think I’m also fortunate to not really have an addictive personality. I just have never had the craving for any drug. Now I understand that I could change that by abusing any drug, but I’ve never been an “abuser” (definition of term may vary with your own mileage) of anything other than alcohol. I definitely drink too much.
Most all of my drug experiences are directly a result of social interaction and never went beyond that. There was a time that drugs were a frequent thing in my life because of where I lived and who I hung out with and what we did for fun. The whole ski town, concert attending, grateful dead, jam band culture sometimes breeds the whimsical treatment of drug use. Most of my close friends and most of my acquaintances were able to separate the drug use from “real” life and have since gone on to be successful, productive non drug addicted members of society. These people from these times in my life remain my closest friends in part because of some of the experiences we shared (not the drug use but the experiences that paralleled some of the drug use).
However, there are a few that did not make it. I have had two close fiends in college that died of heroin overdose. Once straight up and one speedballing. I tried heroin once, and never did it again.
And I do know of people that I wasn’t close to who have had a struggle with cocaine and alcohol addiction to this day. Once friend of my wife and I’s is 42 years old but looks like he is in his late 50’s and can not get a good job or grow up. Still thinks that the party is the most important thing. We try and do what we can to help the guy out but he’s so far down in the addiction that it completely rules his life.
So while the drug use for myself and many of my friends turned out “ok” (again your mileage may vary) for some we know it most definitely did not. It’s not something to take as lightly as I did when i was younger though I think I survived mostly ok.
Yes it does for some.
Yeah that sounds bad but isn’t really my experience with them.
An issue I’m sure that is on many people’s minds. And while it is no guarantee and I’m 100% sure that rape victims have said these exact words, we always surrounded ourselves with the friends we trusted the most. Not that I would know of all instances, but I sure never heard of any.
again, YMMV
The creepy thing is that some of the bacteria studied used heat-shock proteins to minimize the damage, which means that it’s entirely possible that there’s another mechanism out there too that NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT YET, because otherwise I would think resistance could have evolved fairly quickly.
In that you’ve come out a pretty wonderful human being after a horrific past. But like you said, fuck that past.
And there I was, thinking it was just an indiscriminate wholesale nuking agent. Subtlety is not the word that comes to mind when I think of a solution for which an appreciable fraction is elemental chlorine.
Apparently, hyperchlorous acid, the active ingredient in bleach, is also deployed by the human immune system!
The Catholic church in Melbourne has internally “substantiated” claims of sexual abuse against 100 priests but has only defrocked one of them.
Carlie, I trust you got the Insane Clown Posse references.
Blerk, I’m going to bed.
Yeah, but I got other coordinates in mah’ GPS.
The only drug I was ever curious about was LSD. Never did it, but it would be *interesting* I think.
I drink, but not that much really. And if they legalized pot I’d probably smoke it from time to time.
Are bacteria really small or just far away?
even indiscriminate wholesale nuking has a mechanism
Huh. I’ve massively overestimated how reactive hypochlorite is – I thought it simply burns everything down indiscriminately*. That’s a detailed and complicated mechanism they’ve uncovered there.
* Like chlorine trifluoride, only less so. :-)
Wow. I “only” knew about chlorine being produced by some white blood cells.
Kevin | April 21, 2010 12:07 PM:
Neither. Bacteria, in fact, are the tips of the trans-dimensional cilia of the Gooergsplornloch, a huge, hideous beast that lives in a nearby parallel universe, but extends its cilia into our universe to feed.
SO we shouldn’t be nuking his feeding units and angering him… er… her ah… um.. it?
So what happens when the trans-dimensional cilia of Gooersgspornlock try to feed on the mice (who are, of course, hyperintelligent pan-dimensional beings?
Ol’ Greg (@662) and others:
AFAIK, absinthe is entirely legal in the U.S. now, both for import and for domestic production. At least one recent new brand of absinthe is made in the USofA. I recall (sometime within the last several years) hearing a radio conversation about a study in which an antique bottle of absinthe was opened and analyzed. I wish I could remember the details better, but the gist was there’s not actually anything psychoactive in absinthe… except for a metric buttload of alcohol. Apparently its psychodelic reputation was attributable, in fact, to extraordinarily high proof, and nothing else. Or so I’ve heard, in any case.
That said, I’ve never tried the stuff, even though it’s now on the shelves of every liquor store I browse. The typical absinthe substitutes given in cocktail recipes — anisette, Pernod, etc. — have always had too aggressive an anise flavor for me. I’d love to try absinthe in the classic fashion… but $60 to $70 for a whole bottle of something I might drink only one glass of is a stretch for me. Someday, someday….
And BTW, I feel like a fucking square in this crowd now: Despite being a child of the 60s and having come of age in the freewheeling 70s, I’ve never done any illegal drugs except for pot (encounters with which I could literally count on one hand) and hash (once, and fairly ineffectively at that).
Fellow Codepedant SC (@679):
Re The Ghost Map, I agree that it’s got weak spots. In general, I find that Johnson’s work (that of it I’ve read, anyway) suffers from a certain looseness of construction that could be improved by tighter/better editing. I suppose I should’ve mentioned that in making the recommendation… but, on balance, I’ve gotten enough good stuff out of each Johnson book that I consider them recommend-worthy even with their flaws.
Rev… I’ve drunk absinthe, plenty of it. I’m certain it is just alcohol. It is actually a pleasant drunk IMO.
I like my whiskey and bourbon, and I’m fond of good vodka and gin so probably what is good to me is not good to others.
I’m not so crazy about tequila for instance, even if it’s very aged. Just other things I’d rather drink. I like red wines, very rarely a dry white, and I loathe beer and all things sweet.
@llwelly:
I knew it! Should I be concerned, then, that I’ve heard that bacteria live inside me?
Yeah I’m pretty tame these days.
I’ll have a beer or two after work and occasionally a glass of Makers on the rocks if I’m deep in some photo editing.
On the weekends I’ll partake more beer and bourbon watching a game, or at a friends bar or if there is music out or whatever.
I rarely got beyond that.
I just don’t bounce back like I used to.
At the very least, Absinthe does make the heart grow fonder.
Sorry.
Today is my Monday.
Oh boy, you’re gonna regret that when you move to national politics and run for President. Although I suppose posting under your real name on Pharyngula in the first place would be a bigger deal :-)
see Skepticality, episode 115:
Absinthe. The very name of this anise-flavored spirit has become synonymous with the forbidden. Associated with marijuana and other illicit drugs, it is said to cause hallucinatory and psychoactive secondary effects, delusions, criminal tendencies, convulsions, tuberculosis and death.
At the start of the 20th century, these beliefs were reported by the media, widely promoted by the French wine industry, and spread via propaganda posters. This led to a ban on absinthe in Europe and the United States (lasting nearly 100 years).
This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Cheryl Lins, owner of Delaware Phoenix Distilleries in Walton, New York, about how this once-accepted and popular drink came to be outlawed and misunderstood â and how it was eventually resurrected at the hands of skeptics and scientists.
Hi, all! It’s apparently Weird Gay Newz Day®:
First, I think Lindsey Graham is a raging asshole, but I don’t care whether he’s gay or not, and don’t think he should necessarily be outed if he is. Apparently these right-wing anti-immigrant nutbags disagree. With friends like that…, eh?
Next, apropos of some byplay we had a while back (esp. between Josh OSG [OM pending ;^} ] and Caine) about tensions between gays and bisexuals, this would be funny if it weren’t so damn sad.”
Finally, from yesterday’s headlines: You know the old line about “sure, let the gays marry; why shouldn’t they have the same misery as the rest of us”? Well, apparently in Texas, they can’t even have that! <sigh>
Here’s an interesting bit of news (not to change the topic) … UC Berkeley professor Peter Duesberg is under fire from the university for his AIDS denialism.
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109185/uc_berkeley_professor_under_investigation_for_cont
@Bill:
Wow… that’s just a really bizarre ruling. It’s also completely hypocritical. If Texas truly cared about the sanctity of marriage as not letting ‘dem queers’ marry – they should unquestioningly grant them a divorce?
‘Wut? Dem queer folk wanna get a separ…sepre… a divorce? Well darn tootin’ I’m fer it. Can’t be lettin’ dem gaywads foulin’ up our beautiful country wit’ deir gay lifestyle now! Hoot’n’holler, I’m gonna go make love to mah wife in good ole Christian missionary style and not even think about boys.’
Although on second glance, that accent might not be stereotypical Texan, but you get the point.
No one can prove it isn’t true! It’s not falsifiable! Science has nothing to say about it, so it can’t be rejected! Gooergsplornlochism is totally compatible with science!
(Sorry. I’m writing a response to an annoying comment on another blog.)
I’m not sure if this has been noted yet, but a rather insane group of Muslims have warned Matt Stone and Trey Parker they might suffer a slight, uhm, mishap.
I think I’ve learned a lesson today. Don’t dress Muhammad up in a bear suit.
Also – hangnails SUUUCK
@nigelTheBold:
Regarding Matt and Trey, GOOD FOR THEM!
We can’t be afraid of radical idiots who will bitch and moan if we ‘blaspheme’ against their god(s.) If we had to walk on eggshells just because we might accidentally offend some crazed nutjobs, we’d not be able to do anything. Heck, I bet there’s some crazy religious nutter who thinks that you’re murdering his god by typing on a keyboard.
Now, it’s not exactly something I’d call courageous – maybe ballsy – but they’ve been doing that sorta thing for a while now. Scientology has more money than god, and they made fun of it – AND IT WAS GLORIOUS!
Oh, I remember him…..
Duesberg was part of AN EPIC KOOKFIGHT. I don’t want to oversell it, but it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever listened to. Here’s how his opponent opened:
Rather than act shocked or outraged by this insane indictment by this titled-obsessed lunatic the senile Duesberg acts, as one commenter put it, like he was “trying to figure out if he was wearing pants and wasn’t fully sure he was even on a radio show and that he was the topic of debate”. Seriously, I wonder how he’s managed to have a job at a university.
Links on ERV to the debate don’t appear to work anymore, so if want to listen try here:
http://aras.ab.ca/audio/20080522-Duesberg-Horowitz.mp3
Ol’ Greg (@696):
I’m lukewarm on bourbon — no doubt the result of a traumatic high-school encounter with Southern Comfort (not really bourbon, I know, but a bourbon-based/flavored liqueur) — but I love other whiskeys, esp. scotch and rye. Vodka is great for proofing-up other things or crafting liqueurs, but for a white spirit I want to actually taste, give me gin (and the more aromatic and junipery the better). I’ve recently discovered an American gin (made in either Vermont or New Hampshire; I can’t recall which) that’s quite tasty. I obviously don’t have the bottle with me at work, or I’d give the brand a shout-out!
Tequila is for margaritas… full stop. (And, BTW, I’ll have mine frozen, thank you very much, and y’all can keep all comments about what “real men” drink to yourselves! ;^} )
Although… I do recall one very pleasant evening back in 1985, dancing and doing tequila shots in the International Club in Seoul’s Itaewon district… ah, good times!
Paul (@700):
Yeah, I think the stuff I’ve said here over the years about sex and religion will have already ruled me out for national office, if anyone’s paying attention!
Becca (@701):
Can’t wait for that episode to show up on my podcast feed!
By the way, expect Mooney or Kirshenbaum to say something ridiculous about New Atheists soon. Their frontpage looks pretty desolate, with ~60 comments in their last 10 blog posts (counting the UA post that only has a single “Yawn” comment, lol…).
@Kevin:
Damn straight. I don’t always agree with what Matt & Trey say, but I’m damned glad they say it.
Yeah. I love scotch. And I really like bourbon, as well.
That’s why I drink beer.
Point taken. Despite being a nasty clusterfuck, it can apparently be an intelligible nasty clusterfuck.
also
HYPO HYPO HYPO HYPOchlorous acid. Goddamnit. Next time I will just use HOCl.
Re: Matt and Trey:
About little after 2.00 in this video they have a conversation about this ordeal.
Kevin (@704):
Actually, the Texas AG’s opposition to gay divorce makes a certain kind of homophobic sense: He’s afraid that if the state grants divorces, that will be seen as a de facto recognition of the marriages (because how can you dissolve a partnership without admitting that it existed?)… and that would be a dadgum shame, y’hear?
:-)
<strokes Bill’s back>
I’ve never done any illegal or legal drugs unless you count caffeine (tea; coffee once; outgassed Coca Cola a few times when I was too sick for anything else). Oh, yeah, alcohol twice: once the whole family had eaten rotting ham, and the parents told everyone to drink a portion of some Schnaps or other (burnt horribly); the other time, my supervisor’s Russian wife couldn’t not display her hospitality, so she put a drop of vodka into my orange juice (made me feel surprisingly warm, so she never tried again).
I don’t see why I should try any such unpleasant stuff. What for? I never need to calm down or temporarily cheer up, I never want to lose consciousness or control (sleep obviously excepted!), I have no desire for hallucinations… :-)
Oh, uh… hang on a second. You distinguish “pot” and “hash”. Is there a difference???
LOL!
@Bill Dauphin (716)
Ohh, I get it. From a more rational mindset, I don’t see anything different about a gay couple and a straight couple, so yeah.
It’s kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kinda thing for them, haha. They can’t legitimize the marriage by divorcing the couple, but while doing so, aren’t they saying ‘no, you two have to stay married’ and thus technically legitimizing it?
Yes. “Pot” generally refers to the dried plant material. Hashish is a processed refined product that concentrates the trichomes (resin glands).
Since moving to California, I’ve discovered that “real” tequila can be drunk straight and actually be enjoyed for its flavor. As opposed to the Cuervo crap I drank in college that requires all the salt and lime and swallow as fast as possible (or mix in a Margarita).
I like them frozen also, but mainly to force me to drink it slowly. Frozen Margaritas last about as long as 2 or 3 on the rocks.
David M. (@717):
Well, I think I’ve just confessed to being the wrong person to ask, but I think so. According to the All-Knowing Wiki™, the difference between hash and other forms of cannabis is primarily in how it’s processed.
Anyway, I probably shouldn’t even have included that: In grad school, a casual acquaintance had a little block of what he told me was hash, smoldering under a drinking glass he was using to collect the smoke. He invited me to inhale some of the smoke, and I attempted to do so… but with limited grace or efficacy. I don’t recall it having any effect on me… though I’d come to this guy’s dorm room from a kegger, and it’s possible there was some minor degree of hash-buzz hidden in the background noise of the beer.
Re: Liquor:
I drink rum and coke. That’s my drink of choice. I buy somewhat expensive rum – Captain Morgan Private Stock – which is quite tasty although still a little bit on the ‘cheap’ side of liquors.
I have to admit, I’ve clicked over there a couple of times in the last day just to laugh at that big book announcement with the “yawn”. It’s still funny.
I also never did any type of drug. I was a Baptist. I never even had alcohol until grad school. Cigarettes I never went near because I am fairly certain, given that I tend to develop habits easily and that I kind of like the smell of tobacco, that I wouldn’t be able to stop if I started.
Oy…get a room, you two!
Potassium chlorate and phosphorus. It’s unfortunate that you can’t really see that well how little was required to make that explosion.
Clarification – I was a Baptist sucker who bought into the whole thing whilst my other Baptist friends were out partying without me.
Yeah DavidM, I have to say it’s nothing so great that I could say OMG you have to try it.
Mainly social, and I like to play with the different flavors. I really like Scotch, particularly scotches from Islay but also some that have been aged in various casks.
Same reason I like wine, but I guess yeah some times I like the emotional changes things like that bring on. Fun, but I’m attracted to playing with control and loss of control… so that’s different too.
I’m obsessed with trying things, new things, and once I find a sort of vein of new stuff I feel compelled to tunnel through it making maps I’ll probably never refer back to.
Carlie (@723):
[Still playing chicken with the portcullis!]
My parents were smokers who didn’t quit ’til I was in junior high school (and even after that, my Dad bounced around between cigars and pipes, and occasionally back to cigarettes for many years before finally truly quitting), and used to smoke indoors, in closed cars (with us kids in the backseat), wherever. And I myself smoked cigars and pipes (without inhaling) occasionally in HS, because I was part of a group of debater dorks who thought cigars and pipes went well with the age-inappropriate three-piece suits (<wince>) we wore to speech tournaments. And I agree with you that tobacco can smell lovely (esp. a good pipe tobacco or an unlit cigar). Even with all that, though, I was never tempted, even momentarily, to take up smoking cigarettes.
In fact, I was so thoroughly unpracticed at inhaling smoke that my few abortive attempts at partaking of the ganja were fairly pathetic (giving me more than the usual sympathy for Bill Clinton’s declaration that he “didn’t inhale”!). The only time I really got baked was the single occasion on which a companion and I baked some pot we’d been given (entirely without predicate or provocation, I might add: the package just arrived in the mail one day, and I would’ve been darkly suspiscious if the sender hadn’t been a trusted friend) into chocolate-chip cookies. With apologies to Alton Brown, that was… good eats!
Ol’Greg, it is a fact that much of Texas is as ugly as…much of Oklahoma.
Ooooooh! A double modal in the wild!
I was once given whiskey, made from some type of ‘super sour mash’, and found it nauseating. Also, I left the half-finished glass out overnight, and by morning, it had become a viscous semi-solid. What the hell’s up with that?
MrFire (@730):
Sounds more like epoxy than whiskey.
I’m not sure what that would be. Sour mash just means the old mash from previous distillings is used to start the fermentations of subsequent batches.
A lot of brands use a sour mash process, but it doesn’t mean they’ll have similar flavors.
Sounds nasty though. The whole point of filtering is *not* to have a thick chewy drink.
Pharyngulette @ 634:
Pfft, you shouldn’t let that stop you. Compared to most of the regulars here, I’m also on the ‘Short Bus’. In many ways, especially when it comes to science, I treat Pharyngula like a school. Great teachers here. I don’t speak up much about science, because others know much more than I do; however, that doesn’t stop me asking questions or mouthing off about everything else under the sun, and it shouldn’t stop you either. Diverse experience and a wide range of points of view make Pharyngula what it is, everyone’s voice is a welcome addition.
Walton @ 636:
Will do.
JeffreyD @ 658:
Yay! Digits crossed for you both. And yes, it’s hard to type this way. That’s why crossing toes is good. ;)
Drugs? Done plenty in my time. Weed, yes. Hash, yes. Speed, yes. Coke, yes. Acid, yes. And some other stuff. Never had a problem stopping and walking away from anything. Don’t do much of anything these days.
Yep. I ride the short bus too. It’s good. It’s a shorter walk to the door.
I also develop habits quickly. I began smoking cigarettes at 15 (the smokers got to take a break at the swimming area when I was a raft guide — I wanted the break). I was, within three weeks, passing a pack a day. I tried to quit and couldn’t, so I switched to a pipe or cigar. Which I still smoke. Occasionally. Except at a forest fire (where I smoke like a chimney).
I have smoked grass a couple of times. Gave me the munchies. Given my habitual ease, I have stayed away from ‘harder’ drugs. Though morphine is nice. It didn’t kill the pain, just separated me from it (after some bone surgery for a knee tendon).
I do drink, but not more than once or twice a week. I don’t need any new habits (I’m not a nun, after all).
Mr. Fire: I think you are doing it wrong. Whiskey should never be al dente. Unless combined with other things to make a barbecue glaze.
Carlie, don’t feel bad; I was also a non-partying Baptist. I felt very daring when, in my twenties, I tried alcohol, in the form of daiquairies. (I’m sure that word has too many vowels in it; nonetheless, onward!) Pot was never even an option; the second-hand smoke hurt really bad, and I don’t like it when my eyes swell shut. Hallucinagens in general seemed like a bad idea; my mind can deal up a dilly of a nightmare cold sober, so the thought of taking a hammer to the safeties just didn’t appeal. I might have been more tempted by something more anti-depressant, if I’d encountered any.
Ah, the absence-of-vices of my mis-spent youth! :P
DAVID!
Stop doing Mad Palaeontology™ on the cat!
Went to basic training and AIT in Oklahoma. Fuckin’ hated it.
And I also have a reserved seat on the Short Bus.
Wwwwwell. That’s not a particularly successful experiment. :^)
I just went to Oklahoma for the first time. Can’t say much about it though. I was in the East near the Texas border, and on some one’s lake resort.
So yeah, as far as I know, Oklahoma is a tree filled lake lined state populated by friends and friends of friends. Somehow though, I suspect if I had lingered beyond a couple days I’d be proven wrong.
Actually I will say though, that the landscape was really not ugly at all.
You and me too, Bill D. The only drug I’ve ever tried is dope and that was three times in the last 35 years. Peer pressure was the only motivation and the one time I was “successful” — that is, the only time I felt the least bit high — I spent the next several hours waiting for that annoying floaty sensation to go away. Guess my brain doesn’t have enough cannabinoid receptors or something.
And to enhance my “Square” credentials further, I don’t drink, either. Not because I’m some prissy wowser, but because anything more than three sips of wine and I’ll be doing a jig on the tabletop, trying to seduce strange men/women, dancing with the dog and otherwise embarrassing myself in hideous fashion.
Best stick with my singular drug of choice then: caffeine.
http://www.goslingsrum.com/
I should clarify this statement:
trying unsuccessfully to seduce strange men/women
Yes, that’s correct now.
Caine:
I’m not sure whether you, Pharyngulette, Ol’ Greg, and the other self-identified denizens of the short bus are being falsely (however charmingly) modest, or slyly bragging! ;^)
*sigh* you guys make me feel like my nym should be “boring becca” – only once did pot (magic brownies: I was anorexic, and a friend was trying desperately to get me to eat something. It didn’t work.) hash once. tobacco once. and alcohol and my meds don’t work, so even a glass of wine makes me feel ill. I don’t even swear much – never really learned how.
I’m another intellectual light weight here, too. I come for the science, but stay for the snark – and I learn a lot from the snark, too.
I’m mostly a SaH mom, so I don’t even have an interesting job to talk about (I’m on disability because I’m crazy. – even that’s boring, no interesting delusions or anything, just messed up neurochemistry.)
Nigel: But at least you ‘Sill’ remember it, right?
I’ve been to the Southwest corner of the Western Panhandle of Oklahoma. That’s it. On the same trip, we visited the Northwest corner of Texas’ Northern panhandle. That way I could say I’ve been to both states.
I think this guy is high on something.