My travels have meant I have failed to keep up with my TET obligations, and the last thread is overfull. So, in honor of disgusting excess, I bring you…MEATCTHULHU. Epic Meal Time. Bacon+Octopus.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Portcullis’d.
The best soap I have ever used in terms of quality and skin-friendliness is Chagrin Valley. Worth every penny and truly extraordinary, although not as fun and perfumy as some other brands (that’s a plus for folks like you though Audrey; they all have subtle botanical scents).
Shit, I said Audrey. In my defense, I was distracted by my talkative family. AudLey.
Man it would figure that PZ would new thread me seconds before I post my wall o’ text.
Ah, well. Benjamin, if you’re interested in a long-winded response filled with actual new suggestions, here it is:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/10/15/episode-cclxi-saved/comment-page-2/#comment-104053
Wow Stevarious, you really nailed it there.
Stevarious, excellent comment. Crystallized a lot of factors that I was just starting to formulate from nagging feelings.
Portculised: repost.
Plus also: what Stevarious said.
—-
@Sally, I think you are right. While I did talk about depression, there’s nothing about depression that says you can’t ALSO be a misogynist arsehole. The one thing that obvious depression does is suggest that you might not stay a misogynist arsehole forever.
That’s if you’re prepared to work at changing it, which Ben isn’t. We are talking here to a man who thinks that buying a lunchbox is too complicated and difficult an action to take.
I pointed out back at #105 Ben’s pattern of obsessively refusing to accept any and all possible solutions in favour of clinging tightly to his problems. Of course Ben sailed right over that to whining that meds & CBT don’t wooooooork.
I didn’t even suggest doing the full-on CBT, just step 1: identifying the thought patterns. They seem very blatantly obvious to me, speaking as a depression-prone person who HAS worked at it.
Yeah. The lightbulb has to WANT to change.
New thread. Quick, fill it before PZ’s plane lands!
Well, to add an extra layer of depressingness to the thread, I’m currently reading an awful majority opinion authored by Justice Scalia in an asylum appeal from 1992. Damn, that guy is a total asshole.
Algernon:
Sorry!
chigau:
I didn’t spoil anything! Honest!
Caine:
My copy (wherever it is) of The Light Fantastic has the original UK cover. A couple of years ago, I picked up Mort and Reaper Man with the original US covers, which are still pretty cool.
Stevarious:
Hey, I’ve seen you around. Welcome to the shark tank, my friend. Pull up a chair and there’s a cup of tea with your name on it.
Seconded.
Hello everyone! I’ve been busy over the past couple of weeks and my laptop has died, so now I’ve missed the past 3 TETs.
Fun stuff has happened though. I went to a CFI conference this weekend as well as protesting with my city’s Occupy group. I was on the local news and my picture made it into the AP wire! The media seemed to like the sign I made.
I was vegan for 16 years, but lately discovered how imbalanced certain aspects of my nutrition are, & my doc made me promise to eat a little meat and/or fish. So I had bacon & the first couple pieces were actually good – I enjoyed them, as totally greasy & different from my normal meals as they were.
But it took hardly any time before I got to the point where it was starting to gross me out.
Then I saw this. Ugh. I’ll be happy, if I really need to medically, to eat sushi a couple times a month and bacon a couple times a year, but watching this, oy, I would honestly suffer quite a lot rather than eat a burger meatloaf. Uch.
Wow that was just fucked up.
kristinc:
hee hee hee. It’s okay, really! I fuck up people’s ‘nyms all the time.
I just get pissed off when obvious trolls can’t bother to actually read my ‘nym. When I see a whole buncha comments addressed to “Audrey”, it makes me wonder if they’ve actually bothered to read what I’ve written.
“ma-ma”
My child language text book does say that between the ages of 6mo-10mo, “Canonical babbling”, including “Reduplicated Babbling”, occurs for the first time. But I’m not familiar enough with the L1 Acquisition literature to know whether reduplicated babbling can also be morphologically complex. I’ll see if this will keep up, or if he will start using the individual names…
Japanese
This is incorrect Japanese. First of all, an error many Westerners make, excessive usage of the first person singular. In such a context, it is perfectly clear that the speaker is referring to herself. Also, 滞在 means stay in the sense of “long-term stay at a specific location”. And if this is supposed to be an imperative, why is there no imperative on 滞在 (although the use of that word in the desired context would be nonsensical). The correct Japanese would be 近寄らないで, in the sense of “don’t approach (me)”, or even, as imperatives are regarded as impolite, “ちょっと近寄りすぎだよ” “you’re quite a bit too close (to me)”
That said, if the Japanese person in question would need to say such things, it would already been a huge social disaster, because saying no verbally is regarded highly impolite (pro-tip for Westerners conducting business in Japan: if your Japanese business partner says he (unfortunately it’s usually a he) will think about your proposal, that means “no”). But then Japanese people usually don’t touch each other at all (they bow instead of shaking hands, though they are aware Westerners do shake hands and will often accommodate them), even hugging between parents and children is uncommon beyond childhood, and also keep their distance.
Finally, why did you bring Japanese into this? To me, this doesn’t make any sense at all and doesn’t help your point in the slightest, this looks like one of these linguifications to me.
Equality in the boardroom
Also, the German government is debating the issue of under-representation of women in the boardroom. Interesting enough, two female ministers from the same conservative party, the labour minister, and the women, children, youth and seniors minister (the exact title is escaping me at the moment) are putting forward their proposals, ranging between asking the industry to promise to do better and enacting a law that stipulates such. The MRAs will be out in force on the German internet *sigh*.
here’s a nice table with the proposals/policies by the German blue chips
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,792261,00.html
Zielsetzung means “target”, if it says “weltweit” it means “worldwide”, “in Deutschland” means “in Germany”. “k.A.” means “N.A.” The figure under status quo is the current figure in Germany (leadership positions)
Saw Kevin Smith’s Red State last night – has anyone else seen it?
Yeah, I saw it about a month ago. I liked it.
Stevarious
last thread
Well done!!
(bookmarked)
Hellooooo!
I’m here.
The bus driver today called me Ms. Lunchbox. It made me grin forever. My friend started watching Dollhouse (he’s addicted already!), and it’s nice to be able to share that with him. I’ve started working on actually taking helpful suggestions rather than shooting them down (noticed that was our theme in the last thread) so I’ll be staying late on campus and taking a cab home tonight instead of just whining and then waiting for a bus for an unspecified amount of time and then walking the rest of the way home in the dark. (Which was my other plan.)
Also, I bought myself a journal – it’s very pretty – to write down only the good parts of my day. I had a bit of a freakout because I remembered that the last time I had such a journal it was because I was told to by bestfriend/evildom, but at some point, I just have to stop letting him influence the things that I do for myself. And I think this will be a nice thing to do, to sort of help me focus on good things by either finding or making something good every day.
The bad thing is that I’ve started having dreams about him again, but we’ll hope that’s just because of the other processing that I’m doing (I’m writing a story about it) and it’ll pass. The other bad thing is that my old scholarship organization had another event, and pictures showed up again, but this time I looked at them only long enough to hide the post, then clicked away. See? We’re learning.
—
pteryxx, thanks for that link! I know you meant it for Ben but I needed it.
—
I’m so glad you all had fun at Rhinebeck. It looks awesome, and I hope I’ll be able to go to one of these big meetups someday.
It is a fell meat, and perilous to man’s health, unless washed down with a demijohn of a certain distillation …
http://tinypic.com/r/msol7m/7
How did that go? There’s been so much trouble in some places. So far I’ve been kind of amazed at the way my city has acted. It’s odd. Also I’m a little surprised by most people’s reactions. A lot of people are more like “well what is it about” or “but what does that have to do with us?” than anything which is pretty different and much more open then I thought I’d see here. I’ve lived here most of my life and the people in this city still confuse the crap out of me.
pelamun
私から離れて滞在.
is straight out of google-translate.
Which can be useful but mostly is jaw-dropping hilarious.
Walton have you read this The Nine
My uncle who is a big reader and a Lawyer suggested it to me. I asked him about the Louis Brandeis bio that’s 900+ pages and he said The Nine was the best book he’d read on the SCOTUS in a while.
@Algernon
It went really well. We protested in front of our state capital building, which is right at the intersection of two major roads. There were hardly any police there and no one was arrested. Lots of people honked and cheered as they drove by. A few people shouted to “get a job” etc, but not many. It’s funny how some people are against the protest because they think they’re not part of the 99%, when they actually are.
We couldn’t get a permit to sleep in front of the capital, so we moved to a nearby park in the evenings. We packed up at the end of this weekend (we even cleaned up after our selves) and we’ll probably be back out again next weekend.
chigau,
I suspected as much. Which is why I never use it. Using Google Translate to make a point (in this context the implicit premise was that this was correct Japanese) is even more so a case of linguification, and shows disrespect towards foreign languages.
@Dr. Audley
Thanks for the tea, but I’m actually have to drink and run. Gotta get on the road!
Laters all!
Sounds good. I’ll add it to the list of books I want to read when I have time. (For the time being I’ve got Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Tolkien, a kind gift from triskelethecat.)
Stevarious:
No problem. It’s herbal, PMS symptom relief tea that my sister blends, so I’m not sure that you’d really want it, anyway.
No, I don’t believe that whatever herbs are going to ease cramps, but damn, this shit is delicious.
Walton:
Justidiot has a blog post with the title Caine, Fleur du mal is a lying she-hag. He’s just adorable.
pelamun:
To be fair, Google Translate does pretty well with basic ideas or concepts for European languages. I’m working on a project where I have to create HR systems and ID tags in local languages, and Google Translate is my best friend. And yes, I’ve had the things I’ve created in Italian and German verified by people in Italy and Germany, and they’re accurate.
I’d agree that complex sentence structure probably isn’t going work; most of what I’m doing is single-word or concept translations (Night Shift, mandatory holiday, 2nd shift salaried, etc.). And I’ve got no idea how it does for any of the non-Latin languages.
Lovely. If you have his attention, you must be doing something right.
pelamun
I use google-translate daily.
Mostly to find kanji.
If I want actual sentences, I use my 2-cubic-metres of dictionaries, grammars and phrase-books.
And my 日本語の先生.
Indeed… he’s a total asshat. And he’s not even the worst of them, unfortunately. I don’t think I can stand to go back to ERV again.
(On the same thread, bhoytony accused me of “crying like a baby” on a thread on which I hadn’t, in fact, ever posted. When I pointed this out, he didn’t bother to apologize or concede his mistake, and instead continued ranting. Apparently finding threats of sexual assault objectionable makes me a “whiny middle-class mummy’s boy”, or something of that nature; I can’t be bothered to go back to the cesspool to find the exact quote.)
My mom has very sensitive skin, so she has been using Dr. Bronner’s soap since forever. It comes in bars or in refillable bottles, usually at your local crunchy granola food co-op. Just a thought. I like the almond oil one.
Jessa:
Oh, he mentioned many of the Horde in his post. He lurks here, then makes slimy posts about things he doesn’t like. Which seems to be everyone and everything.
Walton:
I wish that wasn’t true, but it is. He’s often the more moderate voice, which is another indicator of just how fucked up the people at the slimepit happen to be.
Aren’t hags usually shes? Does this imply the existence of he-hags?
“Finally, why did you bring Japanese into this? To me, this doesn’t make any sense at all and doesn’t help your point in the slightest, this looks like one of these linguifications to me.”
Because I understand Japanese about as well as I understand body language.
So, I’m missing some good stuff.
Walton is a “lemming”???
Caine is a “lying she-hag”???
jeeez
I spent the day (yes, the whole fucking day) at cakewrecks.
That made me happy.
(I also did three loads of laundry, did the dishes, made pickles, made chicken stock and other stuff)
Sally:
Ooh, Dr. Bronner’s. We have a quart bottle of the Hemp Lavender.
I buy unscented shampoo the same place where I buy unscented lotion (which I have to admit I buy in order to scent it with what I feel like wearing rather than other people’s stuff) which is a wholesale place. It’s not so much a hippie place as a maker’s place though. I like it because you can buy by the gallon which is convenient.
I have super-long hair these days so I can just keep refilling the pump.
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/
Since I’m always buying fragrance and other stuff I end up with a lot of samples, so I tend to blend the ones I think go nicely and make a little mini batch of lotion with them. So far I have been happy with their products, but it is probably important to mention that I have no real allergies to anything.
I just like to play with making my own stuff.
Sally:
Heh. I’d happily bet that’s a question he hasn’t pondered.
Between him and the idiot in the Atheist church thread arguing that he had a perfect right to go digging and use my real name, this isn’t one of my better net days.
Geiger
liar
liar
liar
Oh that’s just nasty. I’m sorry to hear that.
Sally:
Awesome, thanks. If I get the chance, I’ll check out the co-op in town tomorrow.
I don’t have sensitive skin or allergies to perfumes, I just hate smelling artificial (and, let’s face it, usually kind of disgusting) scents all day long. It’s even worse if I actually do want to wear a scent– I hate it when my perfume clashes with my shampoo or whatever.
Algernon:
Thanks. He only used my first name, but still…and he’s still arguing that he had the right to do it all these posts later.
Hey look, Geiger the liar can respond to pelamun’s somewhat offhanded remark about using Japanese, but not to Stevarious’ insightful post containing exactly what Geiger claims to be looking for: novel suggestions.
Fuck off, Geiger.
@Algernon
Sounds really nice. I didn’t realize, mostly because I never thought about it before, that you can buy basic shampoo & soap for mixing. Interesting. I’m not that gung-ho about making my own soaps, I guess. I’d rather be knitting.
Richard,
I’m partial to the work of human translators, and thus may be overly biased against machine translation. But yes, for things like you describe them, that should be fine. Or even if you’re lost in Japan and you don’t speak a word of Japanese and only have your iPhone on you, then by all means that’s fine too. But as long as you’re having the end result looked over by native speakers, it should be fine. The number of companies embarrassing themselves with home-cooked English translations of their websites is staggering…
Actually, I do have to admit I have used it recently. I was trying to understand the internal structure of the Hindi word for “atheism”, and was looking at the Hindi Wikipedia site. And it was useful too, because Google Translate failed to translate the part where the word was broken up into its components…
If I may be a bit nit-picky, what do you mean by “non-Latin languages”? This strikes me as Western-centric perspective, many many languages that are not Indo-European are written in the Latin script. Take most African languages, South American languages such as Quechua, Asian languages such as Indonesian, Tagalog, and of course also the non-IE languages spoken in Europe: Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish and Basque.
“Hey look, Geiger the liar can respond to pelamun’s somewhat offhanded remark about using Japanese, but not to Stevarious’ insightful post containing exactly what Geiger claims to be looking for: novel suggestions.”
I’m still writing my response to that, douchenozzle.
Audley – I forgot to mention, Dr. Bronner’s was actually founded by this nutty guy who basically made up his own version of, like, pan-Abrahamic religion, and his nutbar rantings are printed all over the sides of the bottles. It’s actually pretty hilarious. “ALL-ONE! ALL-GOD! EVERLASTING ONE!” Stuff like that, plus bowdlerized versions of Kipling’s “You’ll be a man” poems.
What can I say? It’s a good product. And the proceeds help rainforest conservation.
I have, in my house, gifts of, a lot of home-made “artisan” soaps.
They ALL shed oatmeal, flax, rosemary, thyme, etc.
It’s Ivory for me.
I’m pretty confused now. I’ve missed way too much. Why is everyone mad at Ben? And what’s ERV and J*sticar or whatever? Can someone please help explain this to me so I don’t have to read several weeks worth of TET?
I guess I should have made a wager on that “probably” after all.
Sally,
Of course he didn’t– it would cut into his whining.
Algernon,
Thanks for that link. The conditioning shampoo base looks like it’s what I’m after. :)
Damn. That’s an obnoxious thing to do.
Btw, Caine… I’m not sure if you saw my second post yesterday, but I’m sorry if I came across as lecturing you about the whole John Newton thing. I realize I often sound more self-righteous than I intend on these kinds of topics, and I apologize for that. It’s not up to me to dictate to other people how they should and shouldn’t feel.
Oooh, douchenozzle. Have I finally gotten under your skin? Good. You need to be discomfited. Anyway, please spare us. No response is needed. Just read it, absorb it, and follow the suggestions.
If I may jump in, my assumption was that this was referring not to the alphabet but to the spoken language. Since the grammar structure of Latinate languages is pretty similar to that of English, it’s less likely to make spectacularly bad translations within that language family group. With, say, Hindi, where the grammar structure is dramatically different, you’re more likely to get fantastically fucked up translations.
Latinate languages is probably too small a group. English shares grammar structure with the Germanic languages even more, actually.
And send low-income kids to camp in the forest.
I use the peppermint for housecleaning when I’m not using Zote bar soap.
For unscented shampoo, try baby shampoo.
Yeah, hags are female. It’s one of the many things that my H stands for. It’s odd how many vituperative terms for women start with H. Harpy, Hag, Harridan, Hoyden, Hyena, Harlot, Ho.
Pratchett’s Wee Free Men use it non-pejoratively. Young Tiffany is a hag.
Benjamin:
The only douchenozzle present is you, Benjamin. You have been pulling this same shit over and over and over and over. The first few times, people were very sympathetic, empathetic and compassionate. Just about every one of the regulars talked with you and tried their best to help out. It has been crystal fucking clear for a very long time that all you want to do is whine and play the martyr. You have zero interest in changing anything, let alone yourself.
People are now way past tired of your shit and your games. Personally, I’m not only tired of that, I’m sick and fucking tired of you constantly changing your nym as I have you and tired shtick killfiled.
What, precisely, do you assume I’m lying about?
You think I *enjoy* this?
I intend to, but I’m still working on the logistics. I can’t afford to print out 500+ comments.
And that’s where you’re wrong about me.
Here’s the thing: that’s the part I want. I couldn’t give two shits about sex, for precisely the reason you give: I can just cough up $200 and visit someone with negotiable affections. What I want is an emotional connection.
Well, if you’d stop reading so much into my statements that I never actually said, maybe you’d see what it is I’m really saying.
Yeah, this imaginary person you keep constructing in your head is a real douche. But he’s not me.
Sally:
Hey, I’m up for some amusing bathroom reading. ;)
I haven’t had a whole hell of a lot of luck with “natural” shampoos*, but I’m willing to give anything a shot once.
*I wish I could remember which ones, but this was years ago when I was still living with my parents. Mom’s all about the all natural stuff, even if it doesn’t work very well.
Walton:
I didn’t see it, I’m hopelessly behind again. Anyway, you have no reason to apologize to me. I was tired and seriously cranky, I shouldn’t have gone off on you. I’m sorry for doing that.
Geiger
FSM IPU
It shames me to think that I once empathized/sympathized with you.
He posted a stupid sexist comic, refused to admit it was sexist, went OTT at Algernon and said a bunch of stupid shit, then said more stupid misogynistic shit, then whined a lot. Oh, and said a lot of seriously disturbing things about how he interacts with women – apparently, he is worried that something he does will be “mistaken for assault,” which will result in him being unfairly maced for making a social misstep. In short, he’s just on another Ben Geiger Tear™.
(nitpicking myself) forgot Estonian.
Which I have been trying to say is not a good example at all. This is linguification, you should not use such examples again, it didn’t help your point in the slightest.
The acquisition of body language in your own culture and the acquisition of a foreign language are two completely separate processes. Actually, when learning a foreign language you also have to acquire cultural knowledge as well, including Japanese body language.
To the others: sorry if I went off a bit on SIWOTI syndrome, you know how it goes…
Oh – and I can’t believe I missed this in my summary – he tossed around some more suicide talk, despite the fact that it was repeatedly pointed out as triggering to a lot of people here.
Benjamin – I reposted my comment that you said you missed at the end of the last thread. I’d still like to know your take on it.
@ StarStuff
People are mad at Ben because Ben wants pussy but can’t understand why he should have to be capable of interpreting basic nonverbal signals before he can have pussy. He’s been doing an astounding impression of a narcissistic, manipulative, gaslighting, rapey misogynist whining about how “mysterious” women are since about 6 hours ago. But, you know. He’s not a misogynist. Because he says so, that’s why.
As for ERV, well. Probably you should just click on Rorschach’s ‘nym and read his blog post about it. It’s the dregs of the Elevatorgate controversy, and the misogynists are still having a woman-hating party (including disturbingly specific violent imagery against Ophelia Benson and other female bloggers standing up for Rebecca Watson), hosted with enthusiasm by Abbie Smith.
Whoa. Nice straw man. Too bad it’s completely untrue.
Can’t forget that he also doesn’t want clear verbal signals that say no. He just wants signals that don’t say no. *rolleyes*
Making shit up again, eh?
Thanks Cipher and Sally. I’m much less confused now. I’m I correct in assuming that this stuff with Ben is in the last thread? Because I might go read it to catch up.
pelamun:
I actually meant non-Latin-based. Mostly I meant that I can “punt” with Latin-based languages (I took 4 years of French and have lived in SoCal long enough to know some Spanish, and of course I speak English fluently so I know a lot of the roots), but I’ve got no idea how useful it is for anything else. It wasn’t meant to be a qualitative statement on languages or even on Google Translate, more on my lack of knowledge (e.g., “I’m not qualified to judge how well it translates anything else” – “I’ve got no idea how it does for…”). I can recognize about 200 Chinese characters and that’s about the extend of it :)
Ben, seriously? Look at how everyone here is responding to you. It’s not us. It’s you. If this isn’t what you mean to say, stop saying it.
And leave the lies uncorrected?
Yes, Ben. I’m making shit up. (Again…?!) Alternatively, I read that part where you were complaining that what happens if you ask explicitly whether a woman is flirting with you is that she says no and tells you to fuck off.
Muse:
Until people here started twisting my words, I probably would have taken your advice. I still may. But I’m fed up with people twisting what I say into something evil.
Then read for comprehension next time.
I said she was likely to mace me *instead* of telling me to fuck off.
Just like the last time you accused someone of making shit up, this one is extremely easy to verify. You yourself posted the following as an excuse why you can’t be bothered to actually get out and try practicing social interaction:
And of course you’re going to try and gaslight and claim that that’s not what you meant, but just as with the macing, it’s clear that this is something that scares you quite a bit, the prospect of facing either a verbal OR a nonverbal rejection. Classical Cipher is correct: you just don’t want to hear “no.” Which is why you seem super rapey.
script does not equal language. Machine translation a la Google Translate is still mostly operating wrt written language.
However, certain scripts are harder to parse than others. Especially the Japanese script system mixing three types of script, two syllabaries and one logographic script makes parsing very hard for humans and computers alike. Also Chinese and Thai use scripts without spaces between words, which create additional problems as well.
I do agree that the more languages are related to each other the better results for machine translation will be. But I wasn’t sure if that was meant as Germanic languages aren’t Romance languages (Latinate languages are all extinct now). Indo-European might be too wide, as Hindi is IE as well, but typologically quite different from English, and lexically as well. Perhaps the term Standard Average European (SAE) might be a good one, usually encompassing the major European languages, English, French, Spanish, German, and their closest relatives such as Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and the continental Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish).
What you’re saying IS evil.
What Sally quoted, Ben, not the Mace comment. That was a different idiotic comment by you.
Again: It’s not us. It’s you. You’re saying evil shit. Sorry, but you are. And now you’re saying outright that you don’t respect the people here enough to not hurt them and not say triggering shit to them. Fuck you.
Bullshit.
I give the respect I get.
yawn
Too bad my assessment is easily supportable by simply reading what you yourself have written today. Your protestations notwithstanding.
You say you want intimacy, not sex, but you also demonstrate that you do not want to have to do any work to really listen to a person and get to know her. Ergo: you do not want intimacy. Who knows what the fuck you want; you sure don’t.
Damn. Checked back in too early.
You could just as easily say: “you also demonstrate that you do not want to have to eat a car piece by piece.”
More lies. You just can’t stop, can you? You started out getting lots of respect. You gave none. Now you’re getting none in return.
Precisely correct, except you’ve got the parties backward.
…And if you bury somebody, you have to bury them very deep in the ground, cause otherwise Kongamato will come dig them up and eat them.
It makes sense.
Ben – what exactly has kristinc done to you? She’s the one who said she was being triggered.
What has any of the couple of people here who’ve said they were triggered done to you.
For that matter, even if Sally were the one who said she was triggered, why would you want to hurt her – why would you want to hurt anyone here?
Was this your pissant, passive-aggressive way of asking me to back up my assertion? Because I can.
Claiming an inability to learn to grok nonverbal cues, and demonstrating a refusal to even try to learn to grok them, is incompatible with desiring intimacy.
I’m happy to hear it. Sometimes people do use “Latin script based languages” synonymous with “Western languages”, and I just wanted to be clear about this.
“Latin-based” is an ambiguous term. But certainly, the Romance languages that are the descendants of Latin all have quite striking structural and lexical similarities, though French and Rumanian are outliers for many reasons.
Then, most European languages have been coining new words using Latinate roots (and also some Greek ones) for centuries now, which has led to many “internationalisms”, which now also have found their ways into national languages of totally different language families, such as Indonesian or Japanese (even though I’ve studied Indonesian much less than Chinese, it’s easier for me to follow an Indonesian newscast than a Chinese one as the Indonesian one is full of technical terms that are the same in English). Within the European languages, English is an extreme case of accepting Latinate roots into its vocabulary, more so than its West Germanic relatives.
For fuck’s sake, Ben, stop shitting in the pool.
We get it. Really. You’re all defensive ‘cos you don’t want to listen to what we have to say. You’re defensive ‘cos we’ve pegged you long ago, but you don’t want to admit it ‘cos then you’d actually have to think about what a flaming misogynist you are.
It looks as though I missed a response to me, so here it is:
Bull fucking shit. According to Jules, she had expressly stated that she was tired of that kind of come-on, but you fucking did it anyway. So, you ignored her wishes and acted like a total creeper. (Oh my, doesn’t that sound familiar?) So, what is it, Ben? Are you a akward guy that never crosses the line or are you a creepy asshole?
How about you take the fucking hint and find something else to do with your time so you’re not annoying (or worse, triggering) the rest of us? This isn’t (and it’s never going to be) helpful or constructive at all and quite frankly, I’d rather have a conversation about shampoo, pie, and Snuff, not feeding into your need to be the center of attention.
If you didn’t enjoy it, you wouldn’t do it.
Is it possible for you to ever tell the truth?
I’ve been trying my entire life.
Ben, there are a lot of people here. You might think some of us are disrespecting you. But there are people here who are being harmed by what you’re saying who aren’t even really engaging with you. kristinc, for example, and Jessa. I think you know that. You just don’t give a shit, right? You don’t feel like caring whom you hurt?
Jessa:
Benjamin will not quit. He’s getting attention and that’s all he cares about. What good is a pity party without attention? I suggest killfiling, but he morphs often to avoid them, so you have to repeat kfing.
Not everyone that you triggered may have posted here. There are a lot of lurkers. And I, for one, have not posted anything disrespectful to you.
What Stevarious said.
Also, I’m not a therapist myself, but Benjamin, your therapists SUCK. You need new ones. Seriously. If you’re seeing them on a health care plan, there have to be others. Maybe they just suck in general, maybe you don’t trust them, but something about that interaction is not doing anything for you, so keeping on seeing them won’t change anything. There have to be others to choose from.
I’ve mentioned my problems with CBT before – schema therapy Worked For Me when CBT couldn’t touch any of it (and seemed pretty stupid besides). You might want to look into it. IIRC, the whole profile test is even online so you could take it and self-score and compare it to the descriptions just to see if it sounds more like something that’s in tune with what you think is wrong.
Hell, if reading other people is so hard, you might even go check and see if there are any autism and related services anywhere, and if they take adults as clients. People who specialize in those areas can diagnose spectrum and other related disorders better than general practitioners can, and could recommend exercises to learn how to read people better.
Hi Caine! How’s your day going? Are you working on your contest entry?
Inventer des néologismes, c’est le fun!
Do tell?
I think you may want to re-think this analogy, Benjamin.
Listening to women and getting to know them is really, really not akin to eating a car piece-by-piece. Trust me on this. (And if you honestly think it is, why do you want a relationship with a woman in the first place?) :-/
No, I’m defensive because you’re lying about me.
Everything I’ve said has been the truth.
Is it possible for you to ever accept what I write without twisting it?
Dangit, I haven’t had to use a killfile since the move to FTB! I was content to scroll past anything I didn’t want to bother with. Clearly though, Geiger is going to continue posting as long as his martyr complex or whatever it is gets fed.
So, where can I get the killfile program?
Here you are, Sally!
Anyway…
as much fun as personality disorders are there’s a hell of a storm suddenly outside! Wow!
Ahhhh… That’s better. Thanks, Caine.
Wait… “An Hero”? Seriously?!!?!?
BWAHAHAHAHHAH
This. Or possibly you’re not getting the right kind of therapy, or not being open enough with your therapists (as Stevarious suggested on the last thread). I don’t know. But I can attest from personal experience that therapy really can help with these issues.
Honestly. That’s the best advice I can give you.
But please, please, please be willing to get help and deal with these issues. It’s important. Your suicidal ideations are scary, and are really making me worry. And sharing these things with people on the internet is not a substitute for getting professional care.
Carlie:
I recall you going into detail about this for Benjamin at least twice. You’re being nice and helpful, but it’s not going to have the desired effect.
CC:
Fine, for doing absolutely nothing. Literally. Last night, I decided to finish re-organizing my studio. I ripped the last of the carpet out and moved mass quantities of heavy stuff. I’m so frigging sore today I can barely move! (Mister already lectured me half to death.) :D I did decide to do the contest entry in a mix of pencil and cosmetics.
Sally:
So, where can I get the killfile program?
Right here.
Ben:
Oh aha ha ha ha hha! *wipes tear*
Dude, I’ve been reading this thread all day long. You’re just mad ‘cos no one’s letting you back peddle. Sucks to be you, buddy. Being made to face your own statements sure is so hard, isn’t it?
Except the lies and exaggerations, obvs.
You didn’t answer my question: Are you saying that Jules lied about the creepy back rubbing incident?
Benjamin, here’s a word of advice from your fellow ‘undateable’:
Don’t date anyone right now. You lack the empathy, among other things.
Aww, I want a storm! I’ve got mist, though, which is also lovely.
This is where I call bullshit. Maybe I’m reading your stupid metaphor wrong, but you SAY You want intimacy more than sex. OK. That’s fair enough. But then you compare the process of said intimacy to ‘eating a car piece by piece?’ What kind of person likes intimacy and getting to know people, but compares it to something so tedious as eating a car piece by piece? BULLSHIT.
I think, speculating freely here, that by ‘intimacy’ you mean ‘sex you don’t have to pay for.’ Please, correct me if I’m wrong.
pelamun:
Yeah, I’m a bit of an amateur language geek: I used to play World of Warcraft, and I actually spent a lot of time looking up roots for town names and various other words and phrases, just because I could. I have nowhere near your understanding of them, but I know enough to know I don’t know. You know?
Err, thanks Classical Cipher, and Caine!
Anyway, the Walton is sleepy and is going to bed soon. (To dream of house-gnomes and garden-gnomes and herb-gnomes, perchance.) Best wishes to everyone.
Audley:
I’ve had men pull the creepy back rub. There’s zero reason why Jules would lie about it. I’m pretty sure she would have never bothered to bring it up if a certain someone didn’t feel the need for yet another pity party.
By “back peddle[sic]” you mean “point out what I *actually* said, instead of what I’ve been accused of saying”.
It’d be a nice change.
I don’t remember, exactly, but I do know that I didn’t intend it as a comeon. And today was the first time she told me it was that disturbing.
Pelamun, you must be a linguist, yes? What is this “linguification” you were speaking of? I agree, the way Geiger was using Japanese was quite disrespectful (like most everything he does), but I’m curious about this concept. I’ve never heard of it before.
I’m going to kick myself for getting drawn into this but my PC is chugging along processing a large bunch of photos from a shoot this weekend so………….
Benjamin, until you quit being a whining, narcissistic, attention whore you stand no chance of getting whatever it is you claim to be wanting.
It’s easily the most unattractive character flaw I’ve witnessed in a while.
Seriously.
Got halfway through reading the last thread. I stopped because I didn’t want to read any more of that bullshit. It certainly wasn’t looking too good for Ben. He really should shut up before he makes an even bigger idiot of himself. Also, it would really suck if this thread went the way of the last and became a thread about Ben whining.
So, in the spirit of moving along: did you guys hear that Herman Cain is leading the polls? Also, he’s an idiot.
Caine:
Oh, trust me, I doubt Jules is lying. Why would she?
Ben:
[sic], really? *eyeroll*
But by all means, you know how to link and blockquote, go ahead and give us the relevant posts where you prove that you’re not a creppy fucking asshole.
So the letter or email or whatever she sent you (which caused you threaten suicide again) was a lie? Maybe you should go back and read what she wrote so you can get your story straight.
Rev. BDC:
What was the shoot?
Algernon and CC:
No stormy weather here, but walking to the store for smokes I saw the most amazingly patterned and deeply colored sunset. It had like these sillhouetted darker clouds forming a fish-scaley pattern, and deep oranges and purples, and other colors that of course no common language can really describe. Makes me wanna take up painting again almost.
I killfiled Benjamin until he gets over his self-pity party.
Or “creepy fucking asshole”, if I was paying enough attention.
StarStuff!,
Herman Cain, really? I don’t doubt you, I just can’t wrap my head around that.
I know this feeling. It’s so inspiring isn’t it?
Yeah, he says that people are going to clamor to have their taxes raised with his 9-9-9 plan.
The best thing about the 9-9-9 plan? It has a bunch of 9’s in it. People love 9s. They have a psychological affinity for them. I heard about a study one time that showed that the sales of a book actually went up after they RAISED the price from $25 to $29.99, but I can’t find it right off the bat. Cain, being a veteran of retail, is probably aware of this tricksy bit of psychological pricing.
He’s a con man.
On the subject of weather: it’s been really nice here. Clear out and slightly cool, which was perfect for the protest. Hopefully it stays that way because my Freethinkers group is supposed to be chalking this Sunday. Rain would wash our hard work away.
On that topic: does anyone want to suggest things to write for the chalkings?
Yeah, it’s pretty stupid. He said in an interview the other day that if you’re poor, it’s your own fault (he was asked about Occupy Wall Street).
Rumanian
it’s an Eastern Romance language, which is also part of the Balkan Sprachbund, and a substantial Slavic superstrate.
The Balkan Sprachbund has some cool features that are quite uncommon within Romance, like postposed articles, avoidance of infinitive (the process is complete in some languages, but Rumanian is not among them). The Slavic superstrate shows itself in words like război “war” (this is analogous to guerre “war” in French from Franconian, actually cognate to the English word “war”). However, these differences are alleviated by the fact that Rumanian has borrowed a lot of French words since the 19th century.
French
the internal subgrouping of Romance is subject to debate. But let’s go with
– Ibero-Romance
– Gallo-Romance
– Italian (some also split up Italian into two, but Italian dialects are very very diverse)
– Rumanian
Now, the distance between Ibero-Romance and Italian is masked by their phonological similarities. In this respect, French, as the major language from Gallo-Romance, has developed the furthest away from the other branches. Examples
– final vowels have been lost completely (ignoring the schwa here, which is usually dropped anyway). porte v. porta, huit v. ocho
– final consonants have been dropped more than in other branches. This can be seen very nicely when comparing verbal paradigms. In French, aime, aimes, aiment are all pronounced the same, while this is not the case for the other branches. This also has had grammatical repercussions, like the obligatory usage of personal pronouns in French, which can be omitted in the other branches.
– some other more specific sound changes like C before A becoming CH, but there might be more. cher v. caro (with additional vowel change A > E). But to a certain degree, each and every language has sound changes unique to itself.
But as far as learned vocabulary goes, French and Latin have been important sources of loanwords and neologisms throughout Europe, so these again are alleviating factors.
So, Herman Cain is leading the polls. There really is a sucker born every minute.
And wait, killfile works on FTB? I don’t see that link which we used on SciBlogs, so how does it work here?
————————————–
Enya kick for the past few days. I guess it beats other stuff. And “I Wanna Be Sedated” is a pretty good song. Simple, but good.
Algernon
That would be nice. All I have is frost. HARD frost. Before I’m ready.
There
arewere still tomatoes out there …StarStuff:
It’s nice that one of those fuckers finally admitted that’s how they feel, I guess.
Yeah Algernon. It’s the colors. I draw a lot, but I haven’t played with colors in a long time. This autumn seems to be a really nice and colorful one all around, in previous years I seem to recall the leaves just turning brown and brittle and blowing off everywhere. This year, colors everywhere.
Here is Herman Cain on Occupy Wall Street.
G’night everyone. Must return to reality tomorrow after the awesome weekend at Rhinebeck.
I’ve got it open right now. I’d post it here with her permission (since it was sent as a private message).
Apparently SQB wrote a version for FTB. Just follow one of those linkys up there, directed at me… Ah, here it is.
Kinda boring. My buddy is a contractor and does a bunch of house rehabs of old Charleston historic and just old homes so I shoot them for his portfolio. It’s steady “extra” pay and some of the work he does is pretty amazing. Plus I’ve gotten some good contacts out of it.
Rev. BDC:
I love old houses. Restoring them is a ton of work. Speaking of work, that sounds like a nice gig.
Aww, I hope you feel better tomorrow. I like lying around doing nothing, but it’s definitely a lot less appealing when it happens because you’re sore. But hey, at least you got your studio finished! And I think pencil and cosmetics is a cool idea. I’m excited to see how that turns out. Hey, did your spine sculpture arrive? (I might have missed that.)
Richard:
oh yes, there are 6000-8000 languages on this world, and most of them haven’t been described properly yet. There is too much we don’t know yet, and might never know….
Sally:
it shows, does’t it :D…. Linguification, verb linguify, was coined in 2006 by one of the principals of the most influential linguistics blog there is, Language Log.
There are several subtypes, I think, though I haven’t done a good study. But the most egregious examples are those that also throw in some ethnic stereotypes like “the X have no word for Y”. Or also some that mix an argumentum ad autoritatem, like “the Chinese say there is risk in opportunity”, which we had come up a couple of TETs ago. I don’t know if Pullum would see Ben Geiger’s utterance as an example of linguification, but due to the fact that you can’t meaningfully use foreign language acquisition with the acquisition of body language in your own culture, I’d say it is.
Hey, if you like Enya, you might enjoy Enigma.
One of my favorite laid-back bands from my angsty teen days. Perfect for staring pensively out the window during a storm. Here’s a full length version of one of their songs, the other link just gives you samples. Heck, you probably already know of them.
Thanks for the linguistic explanations, pelamun! Most fascinating.
“meaningfully COMPARE foreign language acquisition…”
Eh, fuck it, Ben. I’m going to bed and quite frankly, I don’t fucking care right now. In fact, I don’t even want you to post a private correspondence– just a simple “yes she wrote the letter” or “no, she lied” would have sufficed.
Anyway, do us all a fucking favor and shut the fuck up about all of your fucking problems.
another correction to 131: Rumanian is not a Slavic superstrate, but it is a language WITH a Slavic superstrate.
I don’t assume particulars. I only assume that, based on your high level of deceptive behavior here, and you own statement that you are getting therapy, and the comments from others that your behavior has not changed for years, that either your therapist is incompetent or you are not honest with him/her (or you lied about getting therapy, which would not surprise me). And I’m much more inclined to believe the latter from your behavior.
Yes. Absolutely yes. You’re buzzing with excitement and energy right now. Your fingers fly across the keyboard as you come up with more and more comments that you think are witty, or pointed, or just infuriating. You are in your element, your happy place, right here, right now. Dozens of people are paying attention to you, are heaping completely unjustified abuse on you, and you are right and they are completely wrong and you wouldn’t have it any other way. You abso-fuckin-lutely love this shit.
If you didn’t, you would have left hours ago.
Did you think of, maybe, emailing a link? That’s how we do things here in the 21st century.
I’m perfectly happy to be wrong. If you’ll note, my comments were directed at the person you are portraying yourself to be. Feel free to demonstrate otherwise.
Look. If there’s only one thing you take to heart from my previous post (and I can see it hit close to home because you didn’t respond to it) it’s this: (and I’ll bold it so you can’t miss it)
The only reason you will get a faceful of mace from any woman is if you commit assault. If you are not able to tell, for whatever reason, what actions will count as assault, then you are way more fucked up than you seem to think you are, and you absolutely should not be dating anybody.
If it’s a strawman, then stop making your comments out of straw. Because that’s what my argument is made out of – your comments. See the part above in bold. And then come up with a cogent response to it, or don’t talk to me. Because I am done feeding your little complex.
CC:
No. The show isn’t over until the 22nd. We won’t be able to pick it up until the 24th.
Here’s a shot from a FROG he did for some investor type. Guy said he wanted it to look the captains quarters in an old ship.
Not an old house but kind of cool wood work. The reflections were a fucking bitch.
Actually, I just remembered that Dave Chappelle used that song in one of his skits, and it was extremely funny… but I can’t remember which skit it was. Anyway, I like this song better.
My therapist doesn’t reveal her email address to patients for HIPAA reasons.
The rest isn’t worth responding to.
Please don’t. This has got to fucking stop before the shit gets any deeper. I can believe that you might not out and out enjoy this, but I think you’re getting some kind of validation that you crave because otherwise you wouldn’t keep spamming us with your glib one-liners. It’s not healthy for you, it’s not healthy for us. All I can say is to walk away. Take a break. Get some professional help. If it ain’t working, get more. We could keep going in circles until everyone here has killfiled you or the Overlord bans you (which, at this point, I would not object to), or you could be the bigger person and just take a fucking break. And don’t bloody well tell me that this is what’s keeping you from taking drastic measures, because for one thing, I don’t believe it, and for another, it still doesn’t give you the right to hold everyone hostage in that way.
Enough. Is enough.
Sally, I LOVE Enigma! Been a fan since college. I hope to one day get to see a live performance, same for Faith and the Muse.
FTB killfile installed. Now to put it to use.
I invite others to join me in killfiling BG. He’s one of those rare trolls who won’t explode.
Ah. I probably knew that. Ah well. Anticipation :)
—
I’m working on my homework, everybody! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Oh god, I have killfile again. Ecstasy!
Comment by Benjamin “An Hero” Geiger blocked. [unkill][show comment]
Now I’m off to bed.
Really? Why is that?
RevBDC:
I’m not sure if there’s a valid reason under HIPAA, but at least that’s the reason they told me.
Unfortunately, there are a shitload of poor and middle-class people who buy into that here in the US. Many evangelical Christians have bought the whole prosperity gospel bullshit hook, line and sinker.
If you are middle class, haven’t been laid off, downsized, rightsized, or been subjected to management attrition programs, then, obviously, you believe exactly the right things about exactly the right things and are worshipping the great asshole in the sky just as you should. If you have been laid off, downsized, rightsized, or managerially attrited, or if you are just plain poor, then, obviously, you are not believing the right things about the right things and your worship of the great sky asshole is wanting (or he is testing your faith). The beuty of the prosperity gospel is that if it happens to someone else, it is that person’s fault; if it happens to you, then the great asshole in the sky is testing you.
So, to a large segment of the voting population in the USA, Cain is right: it really is the fault of the poor. If they would only join a PGMegachurch and give thousands to the preacher, then they, too, would magically join the ranks of the gainfully employed at a living wage.
Not sure which is more pernicious: the prosperity gospel with its concommittant blame game, or the idea that paying less taxes magically increases revenue. Both are very damaging to effective government and social policies that actually do some good.
pelamun
do you read old feminist sci-fi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Tongue_%28Suzette_Haden_Elgin_novel%29
http://patients.about.com/od/yourmedicalrecords/ss/hipaamyths_4.htm
OMG, I totally read “Native Tongue” when I was, like, 14 years old. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. I had forgotten about that. Wow.
yep
Oh, and I finally saved up enough to be able to buy another palaeontology book. I just ordered Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World (Life of the Past) by John Foster. I just have to wait for October 24 through November 8 for delivery. My toenails are tingling with anticipation.
chigau,
I haven’t read the novel, but I have heard of Láadan. I’m a little bit interested in constructed languages myself.
It is interesting as a thought experiment, but this is not the way language works. We have seen this with the failure of Esperanto to gain wide currency (and even Esperanto is basically a SAE language, not a language that is equally easy to learn for anyone).
I also disagree with Elgin’s assessment of Klingon. I don’t think the linguist who invented it wanted to make it as “masculine” as possible, but rather as “exotic/alien” (from a SAE p.o.v.!) as possible. Of course we wouldn’t expect an alien race to have a similar physiology to humans and probably thus their language if at all sound-based, should very well have sounds that cannot be pronounced by humans, but that’s suspension of disbelief to you…
Feminist sci-fi? That exists? Please tell me more.
ZOMG, I found an anime series that’s a futuristic homage to Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. Check it out: Samurai 7. Haven’t watched but a few pieces of the first episode, but it looks pretty awesome.
Rev. BDC:
Wow. Gorgeous and that’s a fab shot, too. I can see how problematic it would be.
There is a category on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Feminist_science_fiction_novels
So Sally, is it a novel worth reading? Maybe any novel with a linguist as protagonist is worth reading – for a linguist, that is.
It doesn’t just exist, it’s a thing.
Ursula Le Guin, James Tiptree (pseudonym), the aforementioned author, Elizabeth Moon (check out Remnant Population), and more. Other folks can help me out, I’m sure. My most recent discovery was of Lois McMaster Bujold.
Sally Strange:
There’s also Deep Forest, which is similar but with a more tribal sound (and I mean that literally). Chicane can be similar as well.
But some of Vanessa Daou’s music is just sexy (video’s not my thing, but I love the piece).
Is this a joke?
She has only one email address?
Bah shit. Sorry.
It’s an old habit I’m trying to fix.
Well, good luck with that, fucknose.
The mentions of Dr. Bronner’s Soap always make me feel a little nostalgic. It’s one of those things whose availability here in Eugene, Oregon after I moved really made it clear that I had travelled somewhere very different from the backwater town I grew up in. There was also this odd treat called a Guru Chew. And the guy parading around downtown with a “the pope is 666 sign.” This stuff didn’t exist or happen where I grew up.
I got a catalog today from some company called “Fungi Perfecti” trying to sell me mushroom products. Oddly, none of their medicinal mushroom products is actually intended to treat any disease. One of their special products “promotes normal cell growth.”
And they’re all backed by the Stamets P Value System. Wait, wait–you mean THE Stamets P Value System? The one named after the guy who founded the company that’s trying to sell me shit?
But they assure me that these are all bona-fide products. Yes, they guarantee it’s a product.
La la la. I have to watch a Kurt Russell movie now.
Hard to answer. That was 20 years ago. For a 14-year-old girl, definitely worth reading. Probably part of my feminist awakening, now that I think about it. I recall it definitely made me think harder about the way I use language and how it affects the way we think. And, if I recall correctly, the plot did draw me in. But then, at that time, the back of a cereal box would draw me in. I’m leaning towards “yes.”
re: HIPAA requirements
The issue is more than the customer is likely to send or request personally identifiable information through email without encrypting it, which is against HIPAA rules. So, it’s easier to say, “No, sorry, I can’t exchange email with you” than to risk the fallout if something gets sent that shouldn’t.
Disclaimer: I work in a cancer research and treatment hospital, and we have to sign documents about this stuff.
I would presume she has at least two (one at work, and one for personal use). I’d only be interested in her work email, though.
####
You can relax now. I’m going to bed.
I have a pre-existing therapy appointment tomorrow anyway, so this ought to be interesting. There’s a chance I’ll be posting from the inside of a crisis ward tomorrow.
From the depths of time (my formative stuff):
Joanna Russ, Suzy McKee Charnas, Jessica Amanda Salmonson …
to the book-shelf!
Yes yes, I’m sure we’ll all feel terrible.
Believe it or not I catch myself on that one all the time!
Yay books! Specifically sci-fi books :D
I haven’t read much sci-fi, and what I read wasn’t feminist. Unless Handmaid’s Tale is sci-fi.
—
I don’t like the Oxford Classical Dictionary very much. I think this makes me a bad student.
Richard Austin, nice. I like Deep Forest, they’re kinda like an electronic version of Baka Beyond.
Only without the Celtic bits, I suppose.
Gnight all.
Handmaid’s Tale is sorta sci-fi, under the category of “alternate future” sci-fi. However, I recently listened to an interview with Margaret Atwood and she said that that’s the closest she’ll ever come to writing sci-fi. She’s not up for world-building, she prefers to write about the real world, or something very similar to the real world. It was on On Point radio, they did a whole hour with her. I only caught the end, but it was very good.
Cain on abortion: No ‘exceptions for rape and incest’
““Not for rape and incest,” Cain replied. “Because if you look at rape and incest, the percentage of those instances is so miniscule that there are other options.””
Yet another statistician on the GOP running list.
++++++++++++++++++
Fpfft: Research indicates that 46% of children who are raped are victims of family members (Langan and Harlow, 1994). The majority of American rape victims (61%) are raped before the age of 18; furthermore, 29% of all forcible rapes occurred when the victim was less than 11 years old. 11% of rape victims are raped by their fathers or step-fathers, and another 16% are raped by other relatives.[33]
pelamun
Wow, an actual linguist who has actually heard of Láadan.
I guess I’m not in the 1980s any more.
—
oh sad
from wikipedia
Better late than never, I hope, but I got around to posting ‘No’.
First and last time I will ever go there.
@Sailor
WTF?! I didn’t know such big percentages of rape were done by the freaking family!!
I haven’t read much sci-fi, and what I read wasn’t feminist. Unless Handmaid’s Tale is sci-fi.
I think that counts as sci-fi. I loved that book.
Thanks for the books suggestions, everyone. I love sci-fi but it can often be very misogynist.
Now I’m off to finish my dinner (it’s a burger with queso, chili, bacon, onion rings, and barbeque sauce) and go to bed. ‘Night all.
This was supposed to be blockquoted.
Going back to the discussion of makeup and the patriarchy, late last week one of my friends posted this:
“At the end of my interview today, the woman added, “I forgot to tell you, please don’t wear makeup to the kindergartens.” She is tripping if she thinks I’m ok with that.”
And in a comment:
“How can I go out in public without makeup??? And ride the train without makeup???”
Fortunately, she appears to have gotten another job. But it’s a strange thing for me to see. Further data point: She’s living in Japan currently.
Further notes from the patriarchy: I went to the Mizzou volleyball game tonight. They played Central Arkansas, whose official mascot is the Bear. Their womens’ teams, however, are called the “Sugar Bears”. Seriously. I…I don’t even.
And while I am overall in a pretty good mood, I had some choice swear words on another friend’s Facebook wall when he posted this:
(Warning: May induce violent rage in even the most pacifistic souls)
Rick Santorum Calls ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketch Poking Fun At His Anti-Gay Marriage Views ‘Bullying’
I’ll take “Incredible Tone Deafness” for $5000, Alex.
The only Atwood I’ve read so far is Oryx and Crake, which had plenty of speculative science in it.
Rey Fox: I loved Oryx And Crake. There are some awesome moments of dark twisted humor in it.
Well, Margaret Atwood did write some sci-fi in The Blind Assassin…
Enya fans might also like Loreena McKennitt (her earlier stuff is more Celtic sounding, and then she did a few albums incorporating some Middle Eastern and North African flavours).
I think I’m glad I missed the end of the last ET.
Ibyea:
Seriously? While the media and the cops and just about everyone else loves to call instances of rape within a family incest and molestation*, it adds up to rape. The person who started raping me at 3 and kept it up the following 6 years certainly wasn’t a stranger.
*Yes, I know molestation covers a wide range of sexual assaults, however, it bugs the hell out of me when it’s used to avoid calling a rape a rape.
Ibis3, did you get my response about the support Rebecca Watson project?
StarStuff!, here is a site that can serve as a starting point.
Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia
Caine
c’mon, you know that Rape™ is committed by a stranger, probably dressed in black and wearing a mask, who leaps out from the bushes and drags you into an alley.
All the rest of that stuff is, like, y’know, a misunderstanding.
Caine, I have no desire to bump up Justicar’s traffic. But I am still curious. Has he called me out?
Thank you.
Liberals killed Jesus. Herman Cain says so.
Chigau:
Yes, silly me, not perpetuating the stereotype. No good can come of it, I’m sure.
Janine:
In that particular post, no. However, I only saw that because one Zachary Bos in the Atheist church thread responded to me using my real name and went on to say how he had done a search on me previously. Curious, I searched my nym and there was Justidiot’s post.
I did not stick around to do any further reading. I’m sure a fair amount of the Horde has been blamed for this, that and the other there. The post with me in the title was a lot of copypasta from a couple of threads here, along with who posted what. It had to do with donkane1, the geneticist, who proved to be particularly dense in a specific subject, namely, sexism.
@Caine
I know those cases are rape, just as priests who molest children are rapists. It’s just that I didn’t think rape done by family were that common, and I haven’t seen that many news about it. People who do that must be seriously messed up. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do something like that. If someone forced me at gunpoint to do something like that, I would rather die.
@Janine
That’s awesome. Since I am a liberal, that means I am part of the group that killed Jesus. I feel so powerful. Plus, we are better off without Jesus anyways, so it is a plus all around.
You’re a fucking liar, Ben. Why didn’t you do the same thing to my brother or sister-in-law?
Do you simply make a habit of running your fingers down any back that happens to be bare? Do you always place your hand on someone’s lower back to lead them from one place to another?
Here’s a question: what fucking cue were you operating on that led you to think physical contact was the appropriate choice for our interaction? Because I’m thinking your thought process went something like pretty-want-to-touch-nice-lady-not-running-away and that’s about fucking it. You didn’t even try to read cues. And you neglected an explicitly stated verbal history that had gone on for months.
Know why I never explicitly said it was disturbing until now? It’s because I don’t waste time catering to sick fucks. I was enraged by your reaction, and my brother and sister-in-law can attest to that.
I’m setting it out on here because your pity game needs some concrete discrediting. It’s not just assumptions, Ben. It’s not just mean folks picking on you. You are not bad at reading cues–you are devoid of empathy and compassion. You ignore cues so you can have a handy excuse for your behavior.
Fuck you.
PZ brought the banhammer down on Franklin Percival for using Algernon’s name on this blog. He should do the same for Zachary Bos. Not that this helps out with Justcar’s bullshit.
Damn but that monument of shit draws attention even when you do not want to acknowledge it.
Ibyea, who knew that that Roman Republic and the first couple of centuries of the Roman Empire was a liberal force?
Wow, what a waste of food.
Also, i am not clear on how this relates to The Great Cthulhu, other than involving tentacles.
Didn’t think we’d make it into another thread before I got back but oh well. Had to do some wading, yay for the page down key.
Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart OM, liar and scoundrel:
Thanks! I was thrilled.
I will do my best to hop in, but I’ve got to finish my dissertation here soon too. As long as no one offers me a porcupine I’ll probably stick around. Hehe.
Dhorvath, OM:
:) I was pretty excited to share. Glad you enjoyed.
@Janine
Oh… So THAT’s what he meant. Now that I read the article you linked, I see what he meant. Darn it, I slightly overestimated his intelligence. Only very slightly.
ibyea:
No more than any other rapist. (If you don’t understand my saying that, read Meet the Predators.) Child rape is very common.
Jules:
But Jules, that must have been your fault! A bare back, what were you thinking? :eyeroll:
To everyone else, that’s the last I’ll say of it. We met, had a nice enough talk, he decided to get a little handsy, he asked for feedback later, I told him that if he’s bad at reading signals he shouldn’t get physical unless she does it first (I was nice, because that’s just how I fucking roll), and he started up the eating-a-gun routine. At that point, I knew he was a disingenuous asshole.
I would’ve spared the public story, because it’s boring, but his schtick is still the same, so I figured I’d throw it in.
Honestly, I was shocked by it, given his time on here. We’d even discussed Elevatorgate, which had just started. He got that. It was a good talk. And then I guess he figured, “Why not touch her a bit? The back is safe. Just don’t let her meatmountain brother see.”
Anyway, I won’t engage it any further. It wasn’t traumatizing or anything. Just another frustration in a long succession of frustrations that go along with being an attractive, outgoing woman. It would barely register as a blip if he didn’t fucking post on here.
That’s not because he isn’t a misogynist, though. It’s because misogynists are everywhere.
NOTE: I have nothing against flirting or touching or sex. I just don’t like people treating me as if they’re entitled to it from me.
Ooh, Laadan. Loved it at the time. I suspect it’s perhaps a bit too strongly Sapir-Whorf for modern linguists to enjoy?
@Caine
I also knew that most rapists were people the victims knew. Which is still very screwed up. But I thought people cared more about their families or something, so incidences from within family would be much rarer. Apparently I was too optimistic about humans.
Aw. I missed fun Margaret Atwood talk.
Does she not see Oryx and Crake as scifi? Huh.
That too.
But since I haven’t read the novel, within the context of the novel, is it an artificial language, or a naturally evolved one? Many linguists take a dim view on engineering language change, be it entire languages, or parts of them.
No, I don’t think that was what she was getting at. It was more like, that’s as far as she really wants to go in extrapolating futures and worlds. Now, I haven’t read Oryx and Crake, only Handmaid’s Tale and another novel, definitely not scifi, but whose name escapes me. I guess I’ll have to read it. Hey, maybe I’ll get an audio copy. Iain Banks is great but I never want to hear the ending. The funnest part of his books is just trying to take in the fabulous pictures he’s painting. They’re on such a vast scale. Reminds me of another Scottish scifi writer, Ken MacLeod. I read The Star Fraction, there are intelligent spacefaring kraken-type creatures. Cool stuff.
…Is Iain Banks Scottish? I just kind of assumed. Based on his very Scottish-sounding name. *checks TPfftOAK* Yep, he is.
Seems as though some guy named Ben had the floor tonight! Jessa gave me the blow by blow as I sat on our couch trying to finish a book I was reading…Poor sap.
I just wanted to say “HI” to everyone I met at Rhinebeck this weekend…I had a blast. I met some of the coolest people ever! I’ll try to get on here more often from now on!
The language is engineered. It’s a tool of resistance, to facilitate plotting and consciousness change among the women, who are enslaved.
ah, yeah that also sounds like the strong version of Sapir-Whorf, whereas now most linguists only acknowledge the weak version of it. But I need to get my hands on it, and have a read myself…!
Benjamin,
Random people on the internet are not obligated to give you shit. Rather than being grateful for people being empathetic and trying to help you out, you act like a complete asshole to them because they aren’t giving you the single piece of advice that will turn your life around and get you women. Then you start with the suicide threats. We’ve seen it a dozen times now and that’s not hyperbole. Quite frankly, you’re WAAAAAY past the point where unqualified random people on the internet can help.
Next time you feel crappy, don’t come here. Call your therapist. Call the suicide hotline. Seek out professional help. It should be obvious even to you that you coming here isn’t working. I strongly recommend you show this and the previous thread to your therapist. You don’t have to print it all out, just provide a link on a piece of paper. If your therapist isn’t working out, change therapists.
I’m seriously thinking PZ should ban Benjamin unless Benjamin provides evidence that he is seriously working on getting professional help. At the very least, Benjamin should have to stick to a single pseudonym since many people here have him killfiled.
Arggh, I knew I should have just skipped to the end of comments. I kept reading hoping for more reports from the meet-up, and then it turned into another Ben “poor misunderstood horny wah” Geiger tantrum.
Stevarios, excellent post. Bookmarked for future pity fests.
Good things: I spent this afternoon watching a friends 5 year old daughter and her two dogs. A good time was had by all except the cats, who spent the afternoon hiding upstairs.
Friend also colored my hair, which is a huge moral booster.
Begone foul white roots, or at least go all white so I can dye it fun colors not found in nature.
And I learned a new coding trick. ♥
@omcdurham
I am so jealous of you. I wish I could have been there. :)
As for Benjamin fucking Geiger…
What a con artist.
He’s a perfect example of the type of guy we mean when we talk about rape jokes. Like, think back to what started this. Geiger posted a comic that bought into the toxic trope that women deliberately attempt to confound communication because bitches be crazy. Some guys might cut that comic out and post it on their dorm room door because it’s hilarious that someone would think that way. But a guy like Geiger will go by the dorm room door and think, “See? I’m right! Everybody knows that bitches be crazy. You just can’t predict whether they are going to fuck you or mace you. It is literally impossible for me to tell! And that is okay, because bitches ain’t shit.”
But here, we called Geiger out on his willingness to perpetuate toxic patriarchal values. And then we outed a hardcore misogynist. I draw two lessons from this: first, the confrontational style really works to draw out people’s true views. Geiger was really good at hiding his true self behind a smokescreen of mental illness and playing on people’s sympathy. Coming at him hard made him reveal his lack of humanity. Second, the privilege “theory” thing. I mean, this whole episode was born out of our decision to challenge Geiger’s privilege. That has been very fruitful, and look: Geiger himself has now demonstrated, once again, that there is a link between sexist jokes and misogynist attitudes.
Sci-fi feminist novels? Most anything by Sherri Tepper falls into that category. I especially like “Grass”, “Beauty”, and “The Gate to Womens Country”.
Sally, I got the audiobook through Audible (I believe you said you have an account). It’s really good. It’s about as happy as Handmaid’s Tale. So there’s that.
omcdurham, it was great meeting you too. I’m glad we random strangers from tge internet didn’t scare you :-)
Sally
I really commend you for your clear, logical, calling out of Ben. I do hope he shows his therapist the thread and gets the help he so clearly needs. I have little patience for whining and prefer to just scroll on past.
There was this guy who tried to raise his child bilingually with English and Klingon. It was difficult because while Klingon has a word for ‘supernova’ it had none (at least at the time) for everyday items like ‘table’ or ‘diaper’. Apparently as the child got older (s)he flat out refused to use Klingon.
Seconded. Definitely a pair of posts I’m keeping in my brain housing group. Thanks for that.
@ibyea:
From what I gather, this is an annual event and I plan to go next time.
Rock Beyond Belief happens March 31 near my neck of the woods, in Fayetteville, NC. It is a free show, with speakers and music.
@ Jules:
Thanking you and everyone else for accepting me into the Horde!
The only artificial language with any meaningful population of native speakers is Esperanto. Ethnologue estimates 200-2000 (though Ethnologue is not always a reliable source, but I’d be surprised if it would be substantially more than 2k). Esperanto has a vigorous international movement, with a lot of opportunities to use it, and a growing body of literature. Such conditions are conducive to the emergence of many many vocabulary items, incl. everyday and scientific ones.
From the Pfft
Klingon doesn’t have that. Also, though I’m not a language acquisition expert, children often respond negatively if a parent speaks a language only imperfectly. So if neither the family nor the peer group uses Klingon consistently, then there is no way for the child to acquire it.
I am carving a wooden pig. The girl from PoF told me her absolute favorite animal is pigs. And a pig is a pretty convenient shape for carving.
‘Tis fun, I’ve never tried to do a pig before.
Sally: One positive thing about it all, for me, is that those two women I mentioned previously, who tried to help me like we tried to help Benjamin, and who I treated just like Benjamin treated us, received and accepted my apologies with surprised gratitude. As I predicted, they seemed more happy about the ‘I get it now’ than the ‘I’m sorry’ part.
I really liked Gate To Women’s Country, but the couple of other Tepper books I’ve read left me flat. It seems like she heavily relies on the trope of a perfect enlightened individual or race showing humanity (in very, painfully literal and methodical ways) how messed up we are. And then humans react in ways convenient to the plot. Meh. (I read the one about the holy mural and the one about the strange friend from high school days).
@pelamun, there are three books in the “Native Tongue” series. The later ones deal with the constructed language becoming natively spoken by a new generation. Suzette Haden Elgin trained in linguistics in the 1960s, and her SF is heavily linguistic.
Oh look: you can learn Laadan -http://www.laadanlanguage.org
Richard Austin,
I was always amused at the town Qeynos in EverQuest.
—
Rev BDC,
That looks freaking awesome. Do you have an outside shot (just to see what it looks like)?
—
Sally Strange,
Can’t see the Netflix link (not a subscriber), but if it’s this one, it was pretty good (at least worth watching once).
Alethea,
yeah, I actually know more about the language and its grammar than the story. But I’ll definitely check the novels out.
It’s probably best for me to withhold any further comment on Láadan before having a chance to read them…
Closed comments on my ERV post now, I should have known it would fill up with idiots. Apologies (and thanks) to those who responded to the haters there.
Still with the passive-aggressive bullshit, I see.
Oh, as to nym-changing….too much of it going on !!! I don’t know half the people in here anymore because opf all the nym changes, and I’m a founding member of this thread (and get off my lawn !).
sigh
Reading Hemant Mehta’s take on Ms. Viki Knox receiving a suspension after some bigoted remarks towards gays were found on her facebook page. (The standard gays are going against the will of God bs mixed with ‘I have gay friends’ gibberish)
Not surprised he’s come out defending her (sorta been his MO for the last few months with any case involving homophobia and students) but one of his first points really grated my skin.
How can anyone compare viewing a set of dogmas or beliefs as wrong to viewing a group of people as inferior or ‘evil?’ Is thinking a child’s belief in Santa Claus silly the same as thinking because they’re white they will and (should) burn in hell?
That’s fucking ridiculous. The two are in no shape way or form comparable.
Now I do think there are some grayer areas (a Christian teacher who thinks Muslims are all going against the will of God, or vice versa.) and my own feelings about this aren’t wholly made up but, Jesus!, not only is that bad reasoning he’s basically conceeding believers are right when they charaterize our disapproval of religious values or doctrine as bigotry. Gah!
120 comments so maybe someone there will convince me I’m wrong.
RE: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/10/07/calling-all-radical-homosexuals-take-this-survey/
I decided to take one for the team and do their petition with my real email address. I was curious to see what they’d send me. It’s pretty clear from this response that they weren’t the slightest bit interested in the results [SHOCK, HORROR!] because every answer I gave was the opposite to their stated mission. The whole exercise is clearly a money grab. They must be assuming that anyone who provides a valid email agrees with them. Slimy bastards.
Embedded links have been redacted. My comments and edits in square brackets and bold.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Eugene Delgaudio
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Welcome to Public Advocate
Dear [FossilFishy],
Thank you for your recently signed petition. I am excited to know you are an American [Canadian ex-pat in Australia you fuckwit] who is willing to take a stand for pro-family values. [I love my family, including all three of my child’s grandfathers, it’s one of the reasons I oppose you, you douche-canoe]
Here at Public Advocate, fighting for and defending the family values our nation was founded [citation needed you carcinogenic bilge slime] on is what we are all about.
If you are looking for a hard-hitting [Oh, I don’t doubt you’re HARD-HITTING when you can get away with it you left handed sugar pop] pro-family organization with a history of victories against the growing radical Homosexual Lobby [It’s a FABUlOUS lobby you wrought-iron propeller beanie], look no further than Public Advocate of the United States.
Founded in 1981, Public Advocate quickly took center stage as the nation’s leading family advocate with over 400,000 united pro-family activists.
Time after time, Public Advocate has beaten back the attempts of the Homosexual Lobby [I’m sure you wish you could beat someone in the FABULOUS lobby you weeping friction burn.] to pass legislation aimed at making homosexuals a special class of citizens.
But, victories these days have been harder and harder to come by. [have you tried lube? You retrograde porcupine receptacle]
Which is why I so excited to have your signed petition!
With it, I will prove [You have no idea what that word means you sticky paged doorstop] to Congress that the American people still hold traditional family values dear.
And if you believe the threat of the Homosexual Lobby is being blown out of proportion, think again. [Oh, I did, and the conclusion that you’re just an LD50 away from being listed on the GHS remains the same.]
At this very moment, individuals and organizations with hundreds of millions of dollars that comprise the Homosexual Lobby are working to pass their radical agenda. [I should fucking hope so you Twinky eating Shatner stealer]
Here are just a few names and organizations you may recognize: Tim Gill, Barney Frank, Pat Stryker, Jared Polis, Cindy and Meghan McCain, The Advocate, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign. [Thanks for the list of good people I hope it hurt you to type it you adexterous filler of negative space]
All of these people are working towards what they call “equal rights” for homosexuals, when in reality, the rights [You have no idea what the word means you unwashed pubic hair triming] they are trying to acquire would be unique to homosexuals only.
A Thought [You’ve never thought in your life you vacuum pated ambulatory coat-tree] Control bill was just recently passed. This bill puts into law regulations that deem so-called “hate speech” as illegal. [Hate speech, HATE SPEECH!? I’ll show you hate speech you interobang demanding garlic/baramundi gaseous exhalation.]
This has me worried, and I hope you are too. Because who is to say what language will be considered hate speech?
Don’t believe me? In Canada and Europe pastors have been thrown in jail [Citation desperately hoped for, you tamping spike lobotimizer] for preaching Biblical teachings against homosexuality.
This very well may be the reality of Thought Control [Oh there is, it just isn’t coming from the government you child programming zombifier, shit these are getting weaker, must lift game…] in the United States.
I hope you know how serious this issue really is. [Oh I do, you event horizon of decency, knowledge and reality.]
Which is why, as President of Public Advocate, I have devoted my life to protecting family values and defending our freedoms.
I want to leave a legacy I am proud of, knowing the United States is still the nation I grew up in.
But without your support, this year alone we could see Barney Frank’s so-called “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” put into law. [You might as well consider the damned thing passed for all the help you’ll get from me you destructively resonating bag of ill-wind.]
We call this the “Gay Bill of Special Rights” because [your privilege hasn’t just blinded you it’s reamed out your entire visual cortex you maggot infested surgical waste] it doesn’t eliminate discrimination, it destroys workplace protection from radical homosexuals whose only mission is to spread their agenda.
If passed, the Gay Bill of Special Rights would require workplaces to meet a quota of homosexual employees, forcing [citation not just needed but fucking demanded you Promethean eagle] employers to choose a radical homosexual over a potentially more qualified candidate.
And no workplace will be exempt. Churches, daycares, nursing homes, private schools, you name it, all will have to adhere to these regulations. [I should think so, you goat igniting psychic bigfoot]
And Obama is even looking to push for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year, which would remove the protection our soldiers have from the Homosexual Lobby. [Already done, hooray! Try and keep up you unsecured mortgage bundled and force-fed into a under-regulated “free market”]
And even the Healthcare bill is filled with numerous paybacks [Shit, seriously? Why the hell does anyone stay hetero in the US then? You unregulated mitosis in the pancreas of a liver fluke.] to homosexuals, giving lower healthcare premiums to “unmarried” homosexuals than married couples, all paid for at taxpayer expense.
I hope you understand this threat is real. . . and imminent.
And I also hope you will consider making a donation to Public Advocate to help protect our family values.
Public Advocate will never waver from the firm conviction [And why would you if the bucks keep rolling in from those who value their fears over their compassion you furry Lifesaver from the bottom of Mum’s purse that’ll be “fine if you give it a wipe dear”.] that political decisions should begin and end with the best interests of American families and communities in mind, and that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman.
Public Advocate has been 100% dependent on the financial support of contributors, we do not receive any government or taxpayer money, nor do we want it.
I would appreciate it if you could help support Public Advocate by making a charitable contribution, please click here. [No. Ah fuck it just NO.]
No matter the amount, be it $5 or $50 or more, every dollar you give is greatly appreciated and will go a long way towards defending our pro-family values. [Seriously, NO!]
It is my hope to keep you up-to-date on the fight for pro-family values through email alerts. [Oddly, yes I hope you do to. This has been very cathartic.]
There are some tough battles coming up very soon and I am going to need your help if we are to win. [Look I know you asked nicely and mostly used your “nice” voice and if you eat all your broccoli you can have some chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream for dessert but sometimes you don’t get what you want even if you ask nicely….yes, I understand, but that’s the way it is because I’m the adult here. Okay? Right, it’s straight to bed then and NO stories…..”]
Thank you for your support. [Go fuck yourself with the putrefying remains of the quill laden quadruped of your choice you diamond studded, oak leaf clustered, gold fucking standard example of compassionless, bigoted, greedy homo (not so) sapiens sapiens. It’s rare that I run out of insults that please my sense of the absurd but you’ve managed to do it in one little email so take this parting gift of lube, it’s 95% Ghost Chillies for that special feeling down under, you Youtube comment thread.]
Sincerely,
Eugene Delgaudio
President,
Public Advocate of the U.S.
P.S. Public Advocate is the leading force in defending the conservative pro-family values our nation was founded on.
Please consider a donation to Public Advocate to help defend our pro-family values from the Homosexual Lobby’s attacks.
Because Public Advocate of the U.S. lobbies to fight the radical agenda of the Homosexual Lobby, contributions are not tax deductible for IRS purposes. This email was not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense. Public Advocate’s website is http://publicadvocateusa.org/.
To help Public Advocate grow, please forward this to a friend.
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chigau (#32)
Find them in what way? Are you looking up the reading of something someone else wrote, or do you want to figure out how a particular word is written?
~*~*~*~*~*~
pelamun (#80)
And yet, trying to read long strings of hiragana or katakana hurts my brain because it’s so hard to find where words start and end.
Btw, BG, although I do not wish to get involved in this, even if you somehow found the magic bullet of how to convince women to have sex with you, because of your narcissism and underlying neurosis, it is rather likely that you will experience further problems such as premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction when attempting to have intercourse. That is why you need therapy and work on your issues. I do believe that removing your ability to post on Pharyngula might actually help you, and encourage you to work on these matters.
Piggie is done!
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/148/pigcarving.jpg/
Yellow cedar, covered with dark brown boot polish.
Good morning
Stevarios
Welcome to TET.
That was an incredible post.
Benjamin
Now, out of the top of my head, I can think of three ways to bring this thread to your therapist and neither involves a printer or an email. But I won’t bother telling you, because it’s futile.
I tell you something, though:
When I’m teaching, I hand people homework. If one person comes back telling me they didn’t understand it, I explain again, but assume that the problem lay on their side.
If three or more people show up with confused faces or did something I totally didn’t want them to do, it means that I sucked at explaining.
If large numbers of people get a totally different message from what I’m communicating than what I’ve been trying to communicate, it’s my fault, it means I messed up communication.
So, if everybody here, even people like Stevarious who wasn’t aware of the past Benjamin Geiger(tm) episodes gets the impression that you’re a misogynistic asshole who doesn’t care for other people and who is only manipulating them for his own ends, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are, but it means that’s what you come across like.
But given what Jules wrote, I think you’re really good at communicating your true utter self.
Starstuff
Good to see you back, I was wondering about you.
Soap
For a long time I only ever bought soap, but then friends talked me into using it as well. I love it. I could try sending you folks some French soap, as long as it’s less than a pound, it’s even affordable
pelamun
Well, I think this whole discussion about more women COEs in Dax-companies is a bit of smoke and mirrors. It totally doesn’t adress the problems most women have in this country (like the fact that the creche here that was supposed to open in August still isn’t open. I know at least one woman who had to turn down a job because of that)
Crip Dyke
Does it have to be meat and fish or wouldn’t dairy and eggs do the trick, too?
Fuck. I started to read his quote and my retinas inverted. I clicked on a link to Rihanna’s new song, and my retinas curdled and my eardrums atrophied and fell out.
What the fuck is up with pop videos? Dancing used to be a fluid and erotic, or at least sensuous and flowing movement to the flow of the sound, but all I ever seem to see now a days is this stuccato, disjointed, rapid-fire bursts of contrived contortion unrelated to the music, FFS!
I mean, that shit is bad, man.
Cain, that shithead is bad, man!
WHAT THE FUDGE?! I don’t have facts but I happen to believe….
He sounds exactly like Ben! Please, I apologize, sorry for that. I gotta get outta here and find somebody that speaks fluent klingon to talk some sense! It’s like music to my ears, after that sojourn into the twilight zone. I got to take a shower, bleech…..
omcdurham, glad to hear you had fun at the meet-up. Welcome to TET!
TLC, that is an adorable piggie (and you have pretty eyes).
Rorschach, that was a great post and thank you for it. I’m sorry the idiots descended so quickly.
Wow, cool, now I’m even more vegetarian than before!
Thank you Kristinc :)
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2011/10/17/tree-kangaroos-come-first/
Darren Naish, you have done it again sir.
Thanks, Caine.
I’m a little bit surprised that this and similar articles on H.R. 358 don’t get more attention. It’s a thoroughly appalling piece of legislation that should have any modern democracy up in arms.
Benjamin, man!
Use your nous, forget your internal rationalisations.
This is TET.
One, maybe a couple of regulars might indulge in other than straight-talking here (hypothetically), but all of them?
You. Are. Being. Straight. Talked. To.
[I weigh out of this, henceforth and forthwith]
Rorschach,
Weren’t you posting under ‘clinteas’ in those early days? :P
Walton, you should (I think) be reminded that perhaps a touch of prudence about publicly and blithely expressing certain types of opinion is not a worse long-term strategy than otherwise, for someone on your uncertain career path.
(If you’re routinely aware of this and do it nonetheless, you’re way ahead of where I was at that point and this is wasted on you)
Hi! You’re awesome. So far everyone that I’ve met from Pharyngula has been a terrific person in person.
Ben – you’re really hurting people on here. It may be unintentional, but that doesn’t make it any less painful for them. Please go back and re-read how this all started this time again after you’ve calmed down, and try to analyze why people were upset with you, and figure out some strategies to recognize it and cut it off sooner when you’re told that you’re being upsetting. You don’t have to worry about nonverbal cues on the internet; it’s all verbal. But you have pay attention to the actual verbal information you’re being given. Heck, have your therapist make up a flowchart with you to follow or something (if someone says x, you respond in y manner).
And that’s all I think I can say about it.
First App who used to be someone else I dont remember now,
yes, one nym change in 4 years, surely thats manageable ? But some here seem to change theirs every 6 hours now…
Walton: And J*sticar has declared me to be a “lemming”.
Lemmings are no worse than any other rodent species. The bogus claim about collective suicide is up there as one of the most resilient urban myths, alongside the claim that the water in your bathtub will automatically circle the drain in different directions depending on which hemisphere you are in.
Personally I think lemmings are cute. Maybe J*sticar is angry with lemmings for supplying the lynx and arctic foxes with enough food to survive? “J*sticar, lynx-hater”!
— — — —
This week, we started having frost during the nights. :-(
Birger Johanssen: Lemmings are also, in my opinion, quite attractively patterned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lemming_(1).jpg
They are, fur lack of a better word, absolutely adorable!
Pelamun!
WTF what with this blinding me with esoteric erudition?
I don’t like it!
…
(No, no… — I love it!)
— ObMusical Interlude —
Dreadlock Holiday
—
(Carry on)
One for David M (whose pics I just reviewed on the FB page of the Rhinebeck event, and I notice Jadehawk there too, you seem to have kept a low profile guys !
Oh, epic link fail !!!! Sorry.
Aw, now I’m jealous that I can’t see the pics! A lot of people who were there are still traveling, so might be relatively incommunicado for awhile yet.
Does anyone here have an opinion or sources on the claims of the Transcendental Meditation Movement, and all the scientific studies they always bring up? In particular the middle east study, beyond what’s on wikipedia? I’m in an interwebs discussion with a guy whose only argument is the mantra “look at all those peer-reviewed studies”.
Walton
My mother claims that lemmings are indeed mythical creatures like unicorns. Even though she’s seen one before in the wild ;)
So, you’re a pretty, intelligent, mythical creature, according to Justi.
You should be flattered.
OK, and I have way more to do now than I have time for. But lunch first. I seriously need sugar for the brain since I tried to open the apartment door with the remote for the car.
Oh, and again, I feel this might have been missed:
Does anyody have good fudge recipies to share?
Giliell – I’ve only ever made the fudge recipe on the back of the marshmallow fluff jar. :)
Fudge is sadly just not in my sphere of life, because I never think to make it and we don’t dare buy it from candy places because they always have effin’ nuts strewn all over the goddamned place, so even if you buy the plain stuff there’s probably nut excreta all over it.
[meta]
Jules, you ring with the ring of truth.
(Or I’m a dolt)
Rorschach,
Awe, come on! ‘Nym changes are fun!
(I’m sticking with this one, though.)
You know, I would give my left boob to have a killfile on my phone.
I have a really crappy one that fails 100% of the time. Do you want that one?
Why do I get the impression that it includes and old semi-incontinent cat or parts thereof?
:)
Hmmm, no thanx
Eric Berne, author of Games People Play, had one called “Yes, But” in which the instigator says, “I have this problem” and everyone else offers solutions. To each solution, Instigator replies, “Yes, but <I can ‘t do that because blah blah blah>.” The game ends when everyone gives up, baffled and the Instigator feels satisfaction that the problem is too special to be solved. Benjamin, does any of that seem familiar to you?
Why do I get the impression that it includes and old semi-incontinent cat or parts thereof?
No. No cat. Just incompetence on my part.
I can make tamales, eggrolls, souffles, breads, stir-fry, ragu Bolgnese, lasagna, omelettes, goulash, you name it, but fudge has failed every single time. I’m just not cut out for fudge.
So I have just discovered Rimjin-gang, which is an underground North Korean magazine reporting on what really happens there.
Now we know what the US will look like if the Republicans get elected again.
Correction: I think it’s called “Why don’t you? Yes, but.”
Not to be confused with genuine problem-solving.
Aren’t 1/3 of the adult males in N. Korea in the Army (presumably because that’s the best place to get enough to eat)?
Brother Ogvorbis, OM, is fudge-making something you do on rainy days? I’ve read that when the air pressure is low the sugar doesn’t get hot enough to crystallize. It seems improbable; but it’s true that the one time I made fudge on a cloudy day it refused to solidify and I ended up with a sort of butterscotch syrup.
Audley, most phones have a “block number” feature.
Or is this e-mail?
Gotta run but remind me later and I’ll post a couple of simple fudge recipes.
…on the other hand, Wikipedia’s article on education in DPRK reads like it was written by someone with a gun pressed to their skull…
Links about extending life, and interesting ways to dispose of your carcass afterwards.
“Scientists sequenced DNA of oldest woman in hopes to unlock long life secrets” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-scientists-sequenced-dna-oldest-woman.html
“Weird Ways To Go: Mummification, Fireworks And Freezing Your Body After Death” http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/10/17/weird-ways-to-go-mummific_n_1015901.html
One etymologist who died of tropical disease in Africa had demanded his body would be used to feed the larvae of a species of insect he found particularly interesting. Personally, I will have my head shot out of a cannon -hitting and killing someone I don’t like. Or dump my corpse from a high-altitude bomber to crush the roof of Ken Ham’s creation museum.
Monado, even the army is starving, and furthermore it’s much closer to 500 per 1000 are in the military.
Giliell, fudge is one of those confections I can’t stomach. Perhaps allrecipes.com will have a good one. They have user ratings and feedback.
Monado, just saying hi! It was so great to meet you. Next time, we’ll take more time.
John, unfortunately, my phone doesn’t accept FtB comment linkys, so I’m not sure which one you’re talking about. This whole comment-by-phone system is…challenging.
g’morning…uh…let’s see…
geiger
geiger
…
geiger…
ah, Dr. Bronner’s!
The liquid peppermint is the only soap I have used since 1979.
They’ve tweaked the formula a couple of times, but it’s still the shit.
Jules, my link was to 18 October 2011 at 5:07 am, but only as an exemplar.
(I know we know people know what you think of me, BTW)
Dr. Bronner’s is great as soap, but it does not work for me as shampoo.
I like the lavender.
Spent many a night in Zion in my tent before a big climbing reading the crazy that is the Dr. Bronner’s label. There’s some serious crazy on there.
I just love the way Jules can openly call herself attractive (you are, of course and that’s not backhanded… your confidence is encouraging)
The outside shot is just a garage. That’s the FROG (Family room over garage) that was converted to that ship idea as an office.
ChasCPeteson:
All one!
I love that stuff. I use the bar in the shower, though.
Monado,
I can’t use a killfile on comments sections when I’m browsing on my phone– no Greasemonkey for the Android browser. :(
Aaaand in other news, I just got a text from my bff. His mom died last night.
Shit.
I just love the way Jules can openly call herself attractive
Well, she is attractive I guess, as a matter of fact. Not my cup of tea, but attractive nonetheless. Same with you Algernon, obviously attractive to anyone not vision-impaired. It’s funny how I have completely abandoned the whole caucasian idea of beauty these days, and dont feel attracted to white people at all anymore.
Caine:
But at least you’re a she-hag with talent. I had a browse around your photos the other day; I wish I had your eye.
First Approximation, Shevek:
What the hell? Why would anyone do that? It’s not quite Steve Martin’s “may I go mumble dog-face to the banana patch” routine, but it’s still crazy. Your kid is not your toy or lifestyle accessory. Raising them bilingual is a good thing, but FFS pick a real language, one which will be of use outside Star Trek conventions.
Algernon, I think it’s a combination of slight aspie-ness and a personal need to remind myself that I get lucky breaks through no effort of my own. Sure, there are downsides, but I think I’ve gotten a lot of good just from a bit of luck in the genetic draw (including being an extrovert).
Audley, I’m sorry to hear that.
completely OT:
I happen to be watching a classic Looney Tunes cartoon (Baton Bunny) and I just had to say, whoever CAPTIONED a wordless, orchestral cartoon full of musical puns, is my hero today. ♥ ♥ ♥ That is all.
:-( That’s depressing. Are you ok?
Rebuilding the genome of a hidden ethnicity http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111014/full/news.2011.592.html
Hmmm… well in general there never is any telling what people will find beautiful and what people will not, or what their expectations of you will be no matter where you are.
But it is nice to have an appreciation of yourself I think.
I’d rather not bring my appearance into it one way or another, frankly.
…
Audley, my condolences. That’s horrible.
Hi, thread. Anyone have recommendations of a good place to ski in the Alps for a family with an 8 year old, one parent of modest ability (blue runs in US), and one of good ability (black runs in the US)? Places that are less crowded and have fewer drunk skiers are preferred.
FossilFishy @240:
(crowdvoice) Ooooooh!
Aaaaaah!
Ooooooh!
Aaaaaaah!
…
*standing ovation* (/crowdvoice)
(srsly, you had me at Promethean eagle. *swoons*)
At a corporate conference, where a motivational speaker tried to say “push for SUCCESS!” but instead flubbed and came out with “push for SEX!”
Thanks everyone.
Walton:
For the time being, yes. It was a little weird getting a text about it and I happened to be in the Mazda dealership getting my car’s oil changed, but I managed to keep my shit together out in public.
I’m dreading calling my mom, ‘cos that’s when this is going to get real for me. Right now, I feel a little dazed.
At a corporate conference, where a motivational speaker tried to say “push for SUCCESS!” but instead flubbed and came out with “push for SEX!”
Nervous speakers are sometimes advised to imagine the crowd naked to help them feel more comfortable, but this is taking the imagery a bit too far…
I’ll take it…
It’s actually a pretty good coping strategy. Rather than attempting to succeed, I’m planning to fail, but also prearranging the alibi. In this case, the recipe is bunk; thus, it is not my fault.
But no, as I see your eyes lighting up there, I don’t want your cat. Even if it is in the recipe. You may, however, take this as your defensible failure. You have failed to sell the cat, yet again, but let’s face it: this cat doesn’t exactly sell itself.
In related news, I’m in day 2,200, give or take, of my ongoing midlife crisis*. Still leaning toward dropping out and becoming a punk rocker. On the basis that I still have my hair, so could prolly still just pull off a Mohawk, but who knows how much longer that will last. Further bulletins as events warrant.
(*/Is it a ‘crisis’, exactly, if it lasts better than six years**? It is a little more crisisy this morning, tho’, if that counts for anything… My quiet desperation may even become briefly–if barely–audible as my growling ‘fuck I’m bored with my job’ under my breath. With the phone on mute.)
(**/And if not, how do they defend ‘the financial crisis’?)
I don’t just mean sexual attraction. That varies widely. But as Rorschach indicated, a basically attractive face is still pretty universally recognizable and appreciated, even across races (although my extreme whiteness, including my very pale eyes, has freaked out a few young children not used to seeing white folks).
Studies have shown even heterosexuals have preference for attractive members of the same sex. And babies prefer attractive faces too.
I’m not really all that fancy, but you don’t have to be for it to have an impact.
Something about outrunning bears vs slowest runners from bears…
Hi everyone, de-lurking to vent about HR 358 that Rorschach mentions @251. My congressman (Tim Murphy- R, PA) is a doctor, and he voted for this bill. It still baffles me how a physician could support a bill that’s so harmful to patients. It’s anti-choice, anti-woman, anti-patient, anti-life… why am I still surprised?
Hehehe… a friend of mine (Chinese-Vietnamese) often tells me I should go to look for a boyfriend in China because I’d be exotic and then regales me with stories of how well appreciated he was in Sweden. It’s funny.
Well, he makes it funny because he’s freaking hilarious, that is.
There’s a murder trial underway in the UK at the moment, and I was struck with a detail from a BBC news report. The defendant in this case confessed to a prison chaplain, who then passed on the information:
Emphasis added. So, it seems this chaplain would be willing to cover up for you if you commit murder, but only if you’re religious.
No offense to Rorschach, but why do people assume that doctors will be nicer or more caring than any other professional, or care about a wider variety of people than any other professional? Lawyers are a good example.
My congressman (Tim Murphy- R, PA) is a doctor, and he voted for this bill.
You know what to do. Are you from Montgomery county by any chance? The statement I keep hearing about that area is that they hate poor people.
It still baffles me how a physician could support a bill that’s so harmful to patients.
Beats the crap out of me, but some do. He’s probably against universal health insurance too. If so, that would prove that he’s not really a misogynist: he hates everyone.
PZ has just brought the banhammer down upon Zachary Bos’ head. He also removed Caine’s name from the comment.
Roy Zimmerman wrote a song for the Occupy San Francisco protest.
… and Dr. Audley ZD, I’m really sorry to hear that. I’d try to say something all deeply philosophical about it here or somethin’… But y’know.
And Jules, it’s really good to hear from you.
And that’s as far as I’m going to go toward a Marjanovićing, here. Have been trying to keep up/catch up. Sorta. But damn. That’s a lot of Thread.
why do people assume that doctors will be nicer or more caring than any other professional, or care about a wider variety of people than any other professional?
Not being nicer is one thing and I agree that there’s no evidence of doctors being nicer than anyone else. What I don’t get is the voting against self interest. HR358 makes life harder for physicians by limiting their options for patients who need or want an abortion. Maybe Murphy hates his colleagues as much as he hates women?
Well that’s probably simple. He’s just not a very smart doctor.
Is that how chaplain confidentiality works?
If so, that’s nuts. And in the US it’s preferential legal treatment to the religious, a violation of the Constitution.
Caine – you may want to ask PZ to expunge the name from your blockquote at 114 in the same thread. Don’t know if it’s quoted anywhere else, but I noticed it there.
Thank goodness. I just skimmed that thread, but holy SHIT that guy was a blockhead and an eternal self-hole-digger. The nym thing and the lack of apology in favor of a herd of teal deers really suggests poor socialization at a young age.
When you get right down to it, his cardinal sin was being BORING.
AJ Milne:
Thanks, I understand. It’s deeply shitty that she died, but I don’t think there’s much else to say, you know?
In England (unlike the US), there is no doctrine of “clergy-communicant privilege” or “priest-penitent privilege” in the law of evidence in court proceedings. (Such a doctrine used to exist, but was abandoned after the Reformation, since it was seen as a distinctly Catholic concept.) The only such professional privilege remaining in English law is that protecting communications between solicitor and client.
In the US, by contrast, the law protects the secrecy of confidential communications with priests and ministers of religion; such communications cannot normally be adduced as evidence in court, and the court will not compel a priest or minister to disclose such things under threat of contempt of court. (For instance: In re Grand Jury Investigation, 918 F.2d 374 (1990), in which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Lutheran minister could not be forced to give evidence in a grand jury investigation in relation to anything said to him in his “spiritual or professional capacity”.) The doctrine originally applied to things said to Catholic priests under the seal of the confessional, but it has since been expanded to encompass other ministers of religion and spiritual advisors (since it would be unconstitutional to apply the doctrine only to a specific religion). There has been debate about whether it violates the First Amendment; on the one hand, it involves granting a kind of privilege to religious communications that would not apply to non-religious communications, but on the other hand, to force ministers of religion to break their obligation of secrecy (particularly in the Catholic Church, in which confession is a sacrament) could be regarded as an interference with their free exercise of religion.
Wanted to add my condolences to Audley as well.
(It should be added that the “clergy-communicant privilege” has been extended in some cases to people other than traditional clergy, such as spiritual advisors and marriage counselors. Clearly it would be unconstitutional, and stupid, to restrict this right only to the traditional Christian practice of confession.
But as long as it applies across the board without discrimination on the basis of religion, and applies to counselors, spiritual advisors, etc., as well as clergy, I’m personally perfectly fine with a very broadly-defined right of professional secrecy; I prefer the US legal position to the English one in that respect. It should be possible to talk to someone about one’s problems without fearing that one’s words may later be used against one in court.)
Yeah. Guess it’s a truism well enroute to cliche, but funerals are always a bit of a high bar, that way…
But, y’know, come to think of it, I guess, at least, they’re something of a great leveler, as a consequence, right? Insofar as we all get to feel what it’s like feeling just incredibly socially/conversationally awkward, for a bit. They’re your moment, if you’re not usually, to know what it’s like to be that guy who’s always like 80 percent sure he’s going to say something just incredibly gauche, and which will make everyone cringe, and which will forever thereafter be burned into everyone’s memories. You’re not even going to open your mouth, ‘cos the moment you do, you figure they’re still going to be saying, fifty years later, something like: ‘Yeah, remember when Marnie died, and AJ tried out what maybe would have been a sorta okay if weak joke otherwise about her and her strange anxiety about seafood, when he heard, and it turned out she actually had died, after all, after getting some bad shellfish, and it just went incredibly, painfully flat, and no one said anything else whatsoever for like ten minutes, just sat there either stunned or sobbing? Yeah, good times…’
Yes, that’s the bright side. Such as it is. Me, I usually just send a card and flowers. And a card without words. If there are any in it, I make sure to white ’em out before signing.
(/Wait. I really shouldn’t have written this, either, on that principle, should I have? Anyway.)
I think there are two aspects to confidentiality that you might be confusing here.
I can see the argument you are making can be applied to actions that have already been carried out. However what if the person talks of actions they have not yet carried out, but indicate they intend to do so. It is the difference between a person confessing they have committed a murder, and that they intend to commit one. I can see your argument about not requiring the disclosure of the former, although I am not sure I agree, but I am at a loss to understand a justification for the latter.
A gay former Utah resident directed my attention to a great piece on being gay (and female as well, actually) in very conservative portions of Utah: Out in the West. It’s very well written and does a better job than I ever could in giving a clear feeling of what it feels like living here: the persistent low level frustration of cultural pressures you make your peace with because there is so much to otherwise love about this place.
It should be familiar to anyone who has lived in the Morridor or even spent a substantial amount of time here.
The insights of how gay youth in the church are treated is now a very familiar story from lots of friends now.
The one thing I couldn’t identify with was Bolognini’s eventual realization that there is a difference between the church and those members who belong to it, and how she could no longer see all of them as inhuman cogs in the oppressive structure here. Having Mormon family members growing up, I was a different kind of outsider than she is; I could always see my family members as simultaneously overall nice people who saw no contradiction in supporting oppression.
But I completely understand the creepy conversion approach that comes once you move into a ward zone. It happened the very day we were moving in to this house almost three years ago, and the nearest creaky old dude, who I think introduced himself as a bishop at the time, came over to try to get us to go to church (he simply assumed we were Mormon). And rather than deal with explaining I was a happy atheist (and having him assume that meant I didn’t know about his faith and sending the proselytizing dogs), I lied. I told him by implication that I was Catholic by asking about the closest parish. It has sadly been my experience that since the biggest religious group after Mormons are Catholics, that there is something of an uneasy pass if you’re Catholic.
I feel guilty about this sometimes, because I was too cowardly to out myself as an atheist, but I know that I’ve avoided being bothered for it. I have not had a single incident since then. Mormon women in the neighborhood have reached out in a totally secular way, where you grab food or play board games without a single mention of church. I haven’t been shunned by my devout neighbors, which is nice.
I am out as an atheist to the liberal neighbors: the nice agnostic tattooed couple kitty-corner, and the nearest gay couples. I’ve so far been able to walk a line of friendly neighboriness to both the super-Mormon young couple next door who I think ignore our pride flags each year, and being more forthcoming to the more liberal neighbors.
Yeah, I’m not sure how the US legal position deals with that scenario. I’ll look it up later if I have time, but most of the cases I’ve seen have involved giving evidence in criminal proceedings in relation to a crime already committed.
AJ:
I don’t blame you– condolence cards are even worse than wedding cards. Have you ever tried to find one that just says “my deepest sympathies” or something along those lines? Damned near impossible ‘cos they’re all Jesus-y and weird.
Slignot, thanks.
Algernon @311 and Dianne @312 (and later comments, it’s hard to keep up!)
Eh, I guess my default assumption is that a physician would not support legislation that’s actively harmful to patients. Not so much because they are “nicer”, but because it’s part of the job description. Isn’t it?
I did leave him a rather nice message explaining how Republican anti-choice measures have inspired me to volunteer at my local PP clinic (Pittsburgh, BTW). Sadly, I fear he’s not likely to be voted out anytime soon. It’s a rather gerrymandered district.
Audley – I’m so sorry.
Disgusting excess is exactly the words that I would use! Thank you for pointing this out, but it’s sad to see this idiotic fetichization of meat becoming ever more popular in programmes like man vs food. On their website it confirms that they’ve been on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and have performed at a number of comedy venues, as well as being a Youtube sensation. One recipe that jumped out is “truffle oil fried chicken with chocolate chip waffles; Foie Gras; St. Arnold’s chicken fried bacon (wtf!), candied bacon, duck fat poached eggs, pecan leek bacon and creamcheese filling with jack daniels and bacon sauce.” Try pointing out to people that swallowing this garbage may be somewhat unethical and you’re likely to be met with derision, although no doubt they would complain that they are and always have been conscientious omnivores who deeply care about the environment and animal cruelty.
Yep. Terrible as hair-shampoo. Leaves it limp and dull. (but smelling pretty good)
(btw, I love that the French for ‘shampoo’ is apparently ‘shampooing’. What’s up with that?)
Odd fetishistic attitudes towards high end food seem to come and go in periods of history. Ethics aside, that just sounds *NASTY* in general. Who wants to eat like Henry VIII?
Well, I like fruitcake. It’s hard to find really good fruitcake too.
Susan Sarandon called Ratzinger a Nazi.
Bill Donohue called Sarandon ignorant and obscene.
TMZ has a poll.
Algernon:
One might argue that it is impossible to find “really good fruitcake” – as in, it doesn’t exist, much like “military intelligence”, “cold fusion”, and “users who actually read the manual before using the software.” They are myths.
I once heard a tale of a VP in Accounting who received a business expense report where the receipts were stapled and not taped and who still paid it on time. I think the teller was delusional, over-stimulated on K-cup coffees and those cheap vending-machine cinnamon rolls.
(Every fruitcake I’ve ever encountered could have been used alternatively as the cornerstone of a Masonic temple or a close approximation of neutronium.)
Bill Nye is coming to my university next week and I’m going to go see him! I’m so excited!
Oh man. I wonder if he would sign my “science – it works, bitches” t-shirt…
Not on my head it doesn’t. But there’s a good reason for that.
And after a long day of climbing/biking/skiing/whatervering there really isn’t anything better than the Dr. Bronner peppermint ball wash. Refreshingly cool and tingly.
too much?
So much it took me two reads to “get it” and one to make sure I read it right.
‘
I’m pretty sure I saw that one debunked on snopes.com, but I’ve had home-made fruitcake that was really good (and soaked in rum) for certain. I’ve made a sort of poor-man’s fruitcake that I really like, but it’s not like the real thing. I guess if I wanted to try it now would be the time.
No. You spared telling us what part of you gets all tingly.
Just left it to out imaginations.
OK, now I feel sick.
Actually peppermint body stuff does make me feel a little queasy. The first time I ever got really drunk it was on Barcadi and peppermint cordial. Never been able to touch either since.
Rev:
That sounds… unpleasant.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I’m gonna bounce up outta here for the rest of the afternoon, I think.
Algernon:
See, this is why I can’t have nice things. -sigh- (I’m allergic* to alcohol.)
…
On a totally separate and potentially fucking awesome note:
This is basically applying the concept of microloans in aggregate to the US. Not sure of all the details, but it has the potential to be really significant.
Crip Dyke,
I eat meat and bacon can gross me out as too fatty. Those meat shows make me sick so I can’t watch them.
___
Audley,
That’s hard. For me, having close friends to distract me was priceless when my mother died, I don’t know if it’s what he will need, but he will need something. Hugs, ’cause you will need ’em.
___
Richard A,
But I like fruitcakes.
(Bah, forgot the *: no, I’m not really “allergic” to alcohol, but it’s easier saying that than “I go straight into alcohol poisoning from even the slightest amounts, like even balsamic vinaigrettes can trigger it.”)
Oh I see.
@Richard Austin
Truly a tragic affliction you possess. You have my deepest, sincerest, most heart-felt sympathy.
I love balsamic vinaigrette!
A. Noyd, 241
First: I’m a big lover of kanji/hanzi, BUT the use of syllabaries or Latin script in Japanese or the use of pinyin in Chinese would make the writing system a lot easier. But we don’t always choose the easiest way.
What most people don’t realise is that in case of romanisation (or kanaisation), you wouldn’t string them all together (or as in the case of pinyin, one by one).
The biggest problem with Vietnamese romanisation is that they chose not to string words together. Proposals for pinyin romanisation all have rules about how to write words together, which will make parsing much easier and lower potential for ambiguity.
Have a look at Korean, which has mostly replaced hanja with hangul. They do use spaces (postpositions, similar to Japanese, are written together with the word they follow, so we’re talking about phonological words here). One problem though which would be faced by Japanese too if it were to go the Korean route is that the Chinese vocabulary has been phonologically simplified to a considerable extent. For instance, a lot of characters are read KAN in Japanese, in Chinese they correspond to characters that could be read KAN, GUAN, GAN, QUAN, XIAN, JIAN etc., and additionally in four different tones. In certain subject matters, it is very hard for a Korean or Japanese speaker to follow without the written language due to the higher degree of ambiguity (the problem might have been overstated by romanisation proponents, but it’s there)
Now, let me just speculate why your brain hurt.
1. habits: you’re just used to the kanji being there. It might be unfair to compare a kanji-kana-majiribun you’re used to to a all-kana text you’re not used to.
2. katakana: if you’re an intermediate learner. It has been experience that intermediate learners of Japanese have a good command of hiragana, but not so much of katakana, because katakana are used less frequently than hiragana.
3. psychology: sub-consciously, after investing so much time in mastering the Japanese writing system, we (as in we who have learnt the writing system) need to justify this investment internally. So of course a romaji or kana only writing system must be inferior!
Audley, my sympathies. I hope you have support around you.
[DELETED]
[OK, that’s it, creepy stalker dude. You’re banned. Do not come around here any more.
Everyone else, if he shows up, let me know by email so I don’t miss it — his posts will be deleted as soon as I see them. –pzm]
Jim,
Please, take a look at what you just wrote. Do you think that anyone would welcome having their breakup aired in front of their friends like this? Do you think that anyone would like personal information, things like geographic location, just posted to an open internet site? Do you think that anyone who has said they need time to think and has repeatedly rebuffed your incessant communications would be more welcoming of that kind of action? You didn’t just make things better, you made them worse. Please don’t ever presume that something like this is okay, it’s hurtful, it’s manipulative, and it’s creepy. Do you like being those things?
Oh for fuck’s sake
So I realize it’s not your fault that I’m descending stairs as I read this, but I still feel like you owe me a new ankle.
Jim,
A simple “I am sorry and I will move on.” would have sufficed, in a private message while you were at it.
Jim.
Back the fuck off. You did give geographic information with the where you were willing to move. You refused to respect a request for space and when you couldn’t get an answer any other way you took it here.
How is that fucking respectful of Kat, of the blog, of anyone?
Jim, you need to SHUT UP and GET OUT. Now.
Wow, Jim. I know it’s hard when people don’t want to talk to you. But taking a billboard out in their zipcode isn’t a good strategy.
I try to keep my relationship stuff pretty quiet. You say you wanted to apologize to her, but why apologize in front of all of us? Honestly, it’s scary and stalkerish, especially since this person has complained that you’re bothering them too much. I don’t know you, yet here you are creating a scene around some one I do know a little. It suggests a real lack of respect for boundaries.
Look, it sounds like things just ended. Well that is painful. But the more you dig the deeper the hole gets.
This is called obsessing. Once you’re away you can forgive yourself. Seriously. But you won’t get that from anyone else.
I never thought I’d be this eager to talk about Rev. BDC’s balls.
I heard they are minty.
Jim – let it go, let her go. You’re being creepy now. Kat knows how to get a hold of you if she wants to. Let her. Right now you’re showing you can’t take or respect a no, or a request. Seriously, drop it.
Indeed. So many of them are full of cringe-inducing platitudes, religious or not. And bad poetry. (Little cheesy rhyming couplets are the worst.) It’s bad enough in birthday and Valentine cards, but I’ve seen sympathy cards that were so tacky as to be almost grotesque. I have to wonder who keeps buying those designs.
Goodness me jimklingenberg, how did you possibly think that it was a good idea to post that here. And I thought I was socially inept.
yeah – finding a non-religious sympathy card that doesn’t invoke a better life or that crap is really hard. I really want a pretty card that says I’m sorry for your loss.
Muse,
I buy blanks and write what I want in em.
I come down on Miss Manners’ side here, for once: like “thank you”, the best way to say “I am so sorry for your loss and I’m thinking of you” is to write it yourself. I have pretty blank cards for these things.
I know when I’ve gotten personally written notes saying “I’m thinking of you” or even “I am so pissed on your behalf right now” they mean approximately a bazillion times more than a printed card saying the loose equivalent.
For sympathy cards I usually just go to one of those fussy card shops where they have a lot of attractive designs, or to a museum gift shop, and buy blank cards with an attractive (to me) image or colors I think the person in question would like.
I really *hate* cards with sentiments in them. Frankly, I prefer a note card or stationary sheet with a letter.
Shopping for cards is painful in my family, given many factors. The worst one for me is buying a card for my father. Most of them make me want to vomit anyway because of the glurge, or are so filled with stereotypes that don’t apply I couldn’t send them without embarrassment.
Next to that, sympathy cards are definitely the worst offenders. Strangely, I do not feel that way about the ones I have gotten from people though. I guess I appreciate the thought and time taken to send something.
Tell me about it. Well it is done now. The best thing is to move away from this moment. Go now and it will be the first step in making things better for yourself.
Close the window. Walk away from the computer. Goodbye and good luck!
Dhorvath: crossposted!
Jim: FOR ZODS SAKE SHUT UP. What part of shut up do you not understand? Pro tip: it doesn’t actually mean “post another repetitive reply”.
Hello – I’m new here (well, commenting-wise).
I had something far more profound to say, or at least something with more substance; but at this point it would feel like beating a dead horse. So I’ll just use this as an introduction, and try not to be a lurker.
wait, so the dude’s name wasn’t really ‘Beau’?
kristinc,
Does that mean I owe you a drink now?I mean, I am good for it and all, just want to make sure I get the correct fixings.
A bit late to the pile on but this was not the place for that post. It makes you trying to contact Katherine in the days after the break up seem like a minor annoyance.
It is not fair to judge a person from one post. But if this is an example of your actions, I can understand why she broke up with you.
Pro tip backatcha: nobody on the internet is required to follow the imperious commands of kristinc.
Dhorvath, that made me laugh because my 7-year-old JUST learned “Jinx! YOU OWE ME A SODA!” as if it were a new thing.
Chas:
Yeah… I’m kind of disappointed, too.
(I never could stick a flounce. :P )
Chas, seriously, you don’t think shutting up is painfully obvious as the only even remotely appropriate action Jim could take in this situation?
Reminds me of when one of my coworkers caught West Nile and I wanted to give her a “Get Well” card, but had a hard time finding nice ones that didn’t assume that we were lovers or relatives or something.
I mean, part of it is imperious command, sure, but a lot more of it is urgent advice.
In this case, shutting up is the best thing Jim can do, and no because kristinc, I and others said so. Think of the situation. This is best kept private.
Rey,
Yup. A couple of months back, one of my customers died suddenly. I wanted to find a card that said something nice to send to his employees. After going to three separate stores, I only found one that didn’t mention Jesus or “God’s plan” or some bullshit like that.
The atheist thing aside, how fucking unprofessional would it be if I sent a card like that?
(I suck at writing nice sentiments. Plus, my handwriting is horrible. Ah well.)
If I had to shop for cards like a normal person I think I’d go nuts. When it comes to sad or somber occasions, blank cards with a personal note are always best, but for anything happy, I go to town with the most context inappropriate card I can possibly find. It takes more effort to find a really good inappropriate card that will get a laugh out of your recipient, but the more specific the better.
After a while, some of them have faded in my brain, but some recent ones off the top of my head:
*Cousin’s wedding: Congratulations on graduating from nursing school
*Friend’s birthday: Card for a child during Rosh Hashanah with a bee asking if the child knows how much they’re loved. On the inside, adorable spread bee arms with “This much!”
*My mother’s most recent birthday: An 86th birthday card.
*Brother-in-law’s birthday: A thank you card from a child titled “For my bus driver!” on the cover.
*Father’s most recent birthday: A humorous get well card with a stool sample joke.
*Friend’s bridal shower: Not so much a get-well card as a “yay, you go well” card depicting the recipient as an ass-kicking “Cancer Vixen.”
Last year for spouse’s birthday, I decided to do a cake on the theme of a crazy over-the-top child’s dinosaur birthday card. It was holographic and would shift from one image to another, with a dinosaur labeled a cake-osaurus above a cake full of candles. It was too obnoxious not to use. So I made a cake-osaurus cake, complete with erupting volcano. Because I hate myself and don’t actually need to be able to use my fingers after baking a birthday cake.
I don’t remember who we gave it to now, but spouse and I found a wonderful braille sympathy card a while back. It may have been given for mother’s day.
I think PZ should delete comment 351. Definitely inappropriate to post that in a public blog.
slignot:
Ha! I love that!
Last year (the year before?), my mom was all excited because she bought me a cliched “ha ha! You’re old!” birthday card. Her birthday’s a week after mine, so I shot back with a sympathy card for those “hard times ahead”.
She laughed her ass off, then called me “a little shit”. :D
Ah, geez. Kat, have a hug from DDMFM. I’d give you one, but he’s the best hugger I’ve ever met–hands down–and I say you deserve the best.
Hell, Audley, why don’t you take one too.
And I’m gonna step in line myself. Just ’cause hugs are nice.
Slignot: when my niece was about 3 her dad let her pick out a card for her mom. She picked one that she was probably attracted to because of the big smiley face on the front.
The inside said “I hear there’s a new baby coming to your house!”
It was meant to be Mom’s birthday card.
@Audley, that’s awesome! I love giving sympathy cards, and the more loony they sound, the happier I am. It’s a way to embrace awful, saccharine cards that’s actually fun.
My Grams has a hard time articulating how she feels, so I get lots of cards with strategic underlining.
MMMmmmm. Cow, pig and cephalopods! That’s a great start ’cause I so dearly loves to eat ’em all.
Thing is, where are the peas? I keep waiting for the peas!
Please let there be peas.
@kristinc, that’s brilliant!
And it reminds me where we got started on the idea in the first place. I got the idea from spouse back when we were just friends during high school. His older stepbrother started the whole thing with a birthday card for a friend:
Cover showed an African American baby in some kind of tribal garb, had the words “Your baby doesn’t know it yet”
Inside: “but he’s being born into a proud heritage.”
Spouse’s brother also gave her joke gifts of a squeegie that had a soap compartment in the handle and a buckwheat pillow that was hard as a rock.
What made the gifts particularly appropriate to her was that she (white) was dating someone black against her parents’ racist wishes.
Crudely Wrott,
How the hell are you doing?
Argh, not gifts, *card* that’ll teach me to post while I’m on the longest rambling phone call ever.
-hands PZ a nice glass of scotch as compensation for the janitorial duties-
Thanks for the hugs, Jules. And I agree, David M hugs are excellent.
Blarg, I’m putting off making phone calls to friends and family, but I really should let them know about bff’s mom.
Shit, shit, shit. I think I’m going to wait until Mr Darkheart gets home from work.
Birger Johansson says: “One etymologist who died of tropical disease in Africa had demanded his body would be used to feed the larvae of a species of insect he found particularly interesting. ”
Was he hoping to teach it a new word?
Thanks PZ. I was going to avoid posting because of that.
I should note that all* of the Rhinebeckers were excellent huggers. It’s just that hugging DDMFM is like wuggling a dozen cuddly kitties and puppies whilst eating maple cotton candy.
*Except Sili, who I’ll vouch has a good firm handshake. Someone else can cover his hugging skillz.
On cards: my college graduation card said “Nephew, have a monstrous birthday!” My gifts were a bra and some yarn. I had funny friends. And so practical.
I still wear that bra all the time.
Kitty, I’m sorry it was necessary at all. Hugs you want them.
Katherine,
I am sorry too. Add my hugs to the pile.
*giggles madly*
I got a hug from DDMFM, too!
There will be peas in our time. Peas with honor.
How did she get peas on her again?
<a href="http://www.chron.com/default/article/Suit-Detained-woman-forced-to-listen-to-Rush-2204356.php" Suit: Detained woman forced to listen to Rush Limbaugh
Ugh.
Basically, the cop in question is pretty obviously a racist scumbag.* And aside from the baseless arrest, making someone listen to Rush Limbaugh constitutes inhumane treatment in itself. I’d rather listen to nails scraping down a chalkboard.
(*I almost said “racist pig”, but that would be needlessly cruel to pigs.)
That is really disgusting, but seriously it says everything about the sort of people who think Rush is Right.
Whenever I read these frequent stories about racist police officers abusing power, I get incredibly freaked out. I never know how to even respond beyond wordless angry gibbering.
My dad instilled in me a distinct caution about knowing your rights and standing up for them, but I’m more afraid of police than I was when I was younger. My parents were quite conscientious about using opportunities to teach me about unequal treatment that I needed to be mindful of.
One instance that comes to mind is when we were bringing a load of lumber or something in the back of the truck (can’t remember precisely what, it could also have been a bunch of landscaping rocks). The bed was completely covered by a secured tarp and the truck’s contents were not visible. A local officer pulled us over in a rural area and after walking all around the truck trying to figure out what was in it, asked my dad and uncle if he could look under the tarp. Was told no. He was not happy, but accepted that answer and let us go.
As soon as he left, my dad explained that had the color of their skin been different or had they been younger, the officer would not have even hesitated, but would have bullied them into whatever he wanted. I don’t think my dad had ever been introduced formally to privilege, but he knew damn well that he had it and that it wasn’t fair.
Well, I see Zachary Bos got himself banned. Now I have to deal with an email from him. Christ.
Good evening
Well, that’s a lie. It’s a fucking bad evening.
I’m heading for another episode of “my mum the alcoholic and my dad the idiot”. And since grandma is still too weak to leave the house I’m more firmely in their grip than ever.
I’ll just be over there and bang my head against the table.
One absolutely positive thing:
Daughter #1 was a brave heroine at the dentist’s today. The dentist was great, too, but I’m really proud of her.
TLC
Completely forgot:
Love your piggy. I once had a friend who carved the most beautiful items in the world. I have a little wooden treasure box with Lord of the Rings motives I wouldn’t give away for anything.
Relative Ogvorbis
I know what you mean with the incompetence. I fail at pancakes*. I cooked 5 course meals for 12 people, I can make Bohemian dumplings, I can roast a perfect goose and create cakes that look as great as they taste, but no pancakes…
cards
Definetly better over here. You always get a choice of neutral ones without crosses and stuff
Audley
Shit that’s bad. I hope you and your friend are OK
*not the sweet American style, but the soft, savoury ones my gran used to make.
It has the same effect on me. These people make me very, very angry. Unfortunately, police brutality and power-abuse is an endemic problem in the US and across the world, and there is a culture of impunity in many places.
And you’re entirely right that there is a huge racial and socio-economic bias in policing. Not to mention that the whole criminal justice process is something of a blunt instrument, and usually tends to make things worse rather than better; sending someone to prison, with all the trauma, stigma and life-wrecking that it entails, usually guarantees that xe will end up committing further crime after being released. (This is why I’m extremely sceptical of the ability of the criminal justice system to solve social problems, and why I think we need to re-think the whole concepts of “crime” and “punishment” as understood in our society.)
I am intrigued.
Caine, the “Your name is Tucker” has exploded into sexist bugfuck insanity. And, yes, Zerple is in the middle of it. Plus there is a charmer by the name of Markle.
But one person delurked long enough to express her admiration for the likes of you and me as well as oniongirl, Audley, Jadehawk as well as the other foul mouth feminist that infest this blog.
(I guess this is a Caine signlal.)
@Inane Janine, I find I can’t even keep up with these agonizing sexism threads anymore, let alone contribute. I really want to fee like progress is happening, but charmers like these make it hard.
Audley, my condolences.
Moggie:
But at least you’re a she-hag with talent. I had a browse around your photos the other day; I wish I had your eye.
Thank you!
Muse:
Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal, I do business on the net and it’s not a ton of work to find my gallery site. It was a shock (and creepy and unpleasant) when used by ZB because it made it seem as though he knew me. Ugh.
Kat Lorraine, I’m sorry to see there are unpleasantries surrounding your recent break up. Stay strong.
Janine:
Gee, I am so surprised. :eyeroll:
I’ll be there shortly, I’m just catching up and waking up. I have to go get the dogs out and fed and get the rats their tea, then I’ll be in the mess.
Yay! That’s good news.
Slignot, most days I do not have the patience to continue as long as I have today. I am grateful that there are others to do it. But sometimes, you have do do it. But I got a very nice response from a russian woman. As frustrating as it all is, she helps to make this worthwhile.
Oh! I have a dog-free day today! Mister took them with him. Yay!
Hello again, Dhorvath!
I’m doing very well. In fact, almost too well. I’ve made it to Goldsboro, NC after waiting out a pesky hurricane in New England and dodging rain from TS Lee on my way south. The reception that I’ve received from family and new friends here is so very sweet and accommodating that it’s taking a while to get used to. How very fortunate I am!
My slowly crumbling spine is still a major impediment but I’m surrounded by love and generosity and just plain ol’ fashioned good will. In balance a welcome and heartening net gain.
Did you know that down here I get called “Mr. Crudely”? I hear it is the custom of the natives of this verdant land to so address one’s elders. (Now I have to get used to being so honored for something as simple as being, well, older.)
Cotton harvest is in full swing and farmers are driving their harvesters past the house daily. I really need to watch one work up close. I love big machinery that do delicate tasks.
I see that there are two threads lately that featured, at least in part, compromising the privacy of individuals. I took K. Bos to task in the other one. Too bad he had to run headlong into the banhammer but then it’s too bad that bugs fly headlong into the zapper. Really, I’ve seldom found a group of people that are more polite more often than the Horde. (‘Course, transgression of rules, written or otherwise obvious, need to be met head on and the Horde, again, is not bashful about doing so. Refreshing, innit?)
Now that I have an InnerTubes connection that’s working I’ll try to keep up better than I’ve been able to lately. No illusion of catching up, of course.
Peas to all.
*funny, can’t get preview. I’ll just wing it then*
Yay!
No fucking kidding. Kept me at my screen for far too long, and exploded some time around when I had to go to class for a couple hours. No, I will not be around for that one anymore.
Meanwhile, hugs to Gilliel and Audley.
Glad I missed the Jim post. Sad that Katherine has to deal with that bullshit!?! Ugh.
*hugs* to Audley and Gilliel as well.
The Tucker thread is indeed a clusterfuck. I should walk away, I’ve posted enough and I’ve got things to do. If you see me posting there later on, tell me to get off the internet and go do laundry or something! Eh, no, don’t. If I’m posting there it’s because I want to. But seriously. It’s easy to get drawn in. I find it a little addictive because the lines of right and wrong are so clearly drawn, and yet so many otherwise rational, caring people are on the wrong side of the line.
edit my #418: Not K. Bos, Z. Bos.
Must have been thinking of the boxer that Curley fought in an old Three Stooges episode, K. O. Bossy. Nothing else explains my error as well. ;^>
Hmmm, there’s some creepy shit going on it seems. I’m glad I missed it. Instead I was busy buying a pregnancy test.
And, it didn’t even work. Goodbye 16 dollars! She’s already taken two that were negative, but every other sign apparently points to the ex being pregnant.
Including the moodiness. Must tread lightly. I’m not a coward and I wouldn’t do the cowardly thing, but I gotta confess, the possibilities are scary.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/17/romney-adviser-women-arent-discriminated-against-anymore/
A legal adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign recently told Newsweek that women are no longer discriminated against in the United States.
Romney announced the formation of his “Justice Advisory Committee” in August. The group is co-chaired by former District of Columbia federal appeals judge Robert Bork.
[What the hell would Bork know about justice?]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Seems like everybody needs/deserves hugs today (except Crudely!:), so can I just offer a group hug, w/ or w/o swill, your choice.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Katherine, saw that above and as soon as it disappeared into the ether it was gone from my mind. It was wildly inappropriate, and sad. And maybe manipulative, but mostly it is gone from our happy, squabbling, little home here.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am jealous of Rhinebeck, I’ve seen pics, so it DID happen. That’s a lotta people.
The alternate get-together also seemed charming.
Maybe next time I can car pool with others from the Midwest.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Walton, it appears to me, (INAL, but I still have access to my Dad’s library and online PW;-), that privilege is still decided case by case and depends on the judge as much as anything. (i.e. Federal Rule of EVIDENCE 501 states that “the recognition of a privilege based on a confidential relationship… should be determined on a case-by-case basis.”)
The law giveth, & the law taketh away.
It’s about as inviolate as cheese cloth, including the times when a wife was compelled to testify against her husband, or they would prosecute her.
Our rights in the US have been gradually eroded by, what to me are, egregiously wrong interpretations of the Constitution.
I wish there was a system in Federal level of appeals, (I don’t think can decide the facts at that point, just the law, (amiwrong?)), so just the law should be put before them, not the case. When they’re dealing with a heinous crime it sure is easy for the em to bend the law to where they think that particular case should be decided. And generally, only high-stakes cases make it to a Fed appeal, much less the Supremes.
I said my piece in the Tucker thread and Markle is simply too stupid to live, let alone to bother replying to in any way. So, I’m out. Mister is home, and I’d rather spend some time with him.
Please for give the dropped words & tpyos (all hail Tpyos) I’m apparently typing with rented fingers today.
(Didn’t anyone get the etymologist/entomologist reference in my #395 to Birger’s #281?)
*yawn*
I’m going to bed now, and I’m taking the hugs.
TLC
16$ for a pregnancy test? Are they made of gold? I only ever bought the cheap 4€ variety and they were always absolutely correct (and always to my satisfaction)
As for the signs:
They mostly work in retrospective.
And they can vary a lot.
I’ve been pregnant 3 times.
The first two times, I completely lost my appetite for about a week. With the third one not a bit.
During the second one I vomited like mad, not just in the morning, for three months. No nausea with #1 and hardly any with #3.
Well, pregnancy #1 went wahoonie-shape, #2 and #3 went well. After that I had one prenancy scare and I could almost tick every box of common pregnancy-signs.
But you know, lots of them are present from time to time in everybody. Only that you notice them more when you’re looking for them. As for the mood swings: Fearing to be pregnant but not knowing can drive you fucking nuts, no aditional hormones required.
@Audley: condolences. I do encourage you to send a card; when my father died, it was heartening to see all the messages. Can you buy a blank-message card with a picture of flowers or nature?
@Kat: I totally missed the drama, so I don’t know what was said. But it sounds like *hugs* are in order.
@Caine, what I thought was especially hilarious was the way ZB acted as if he knew you, while not in fact even knowing your gender. Not just a creep but an imbecile!
@Richard Austin, about fruitcake – you must be American. Fruitcake should not be a brick, it should be moist and alcoholic. Mine takes about a litre of brandy or whisky. Since you can’t have alcohol, you should probably just abstain. Maybe try making a stained-glass cake instead. (I wonder if the US traditional hate of fruitcake dates to prohibition?)
The Sailor,
I in fact lauged aloud. Sorry the kudos didn’t make it from my brain to my fingers. It’s particularly sweet for me as I have the worst time keeping those two words straight so I had to read twice to figure it out. Humour that I don’t get first pass is divine.
___
Crudely,
So glad that NC is treating you well, I too hold a fascination with much of what makes our lives easier on the mechanical front. So the lure of the cotton harvesters sounds quite irresistable.
Take care.
Nah. My MIL gets a fruitcake from some monastery or other every holiday that I’m 99% certain is nonalcoholic (although it may contain brandy flavoring). It’s rich and dense and delicious, although you need to eat it in small portions.
I’ve never actually had actual alcoholic fruitcake and it might be even better, but it’s not the sole determining factor.
Alethea:
Yeah, not the swiftest boat in the water. I’m still not sure if he got that I’m not a guy. I still have to deal with his email. He actually wants to do business with me, using several of my photographs. I don’t think I want to do business with him.
I still love fruitcakes.
Yar.
Another full day for me. Doing my best to batter down the sexists in the “Your name is Tucker” thread – and falling for a few derails – and applying for jobs.
The PI I wanted to go work with – who’s hinted that he may have a place for me – got back to me. He does have a place for me, if I can get a fellowship.
*shrug*
Well, I’ll try, but that’s something I should have started perusing six months ago. So out the applications go!
Caine,
after all what happened, he wants to do business with you? The mind boggles…
Jim, you apologised – not the right place for it, but your apology is made and, well, I wish you good luck but you really, really need to stop now. Please don’t respond to this comment or to any others (and there may well be others) – just close this browser window and let it go, seriously – close it down now, don’t read any more that will make you want to keep responding because that would not be a good thing. This is really not the place.
of course the question would be, which name did he use in his email SCNR…
After catching up with about fiftyleven of the above comments I realize I’m amiss in not offering hugs to Caine, Stout Branch of Promise and Blinding Light, and to Dr. Audley, and Gilliel.
To Caine, in light of her being unnecessarily importuned.
To Dr. Audley and Gilliel for their sorrows.
And two hugs for Sailor, to make up for the one I didn’t get from him. ;^>
And a big group one for everyone else, including the chief Poopyhead.
It’s nice to be back. I’m so glad that you are all here.
*aahh — preview is back; hope there’s no tpyos*
Apologies, I should not have posted that last message – I screwed up on refreshing and checking where the thread had got to, so I thought I was responding right at the beginning, and didn’t realise my mistake until after I posted. I’m really sorry I fucked up like that.
Giliell:
A good thing for me to keep in kind. And with that, I’m off again.
Alethea:
Yeah, that’s my plan. Actually, I’m going to send two: one for my bff and one for his dad.
Coyote, good luck with everything. I’m sure that you’ll be appropriately supportive no matter what; you come across as very caring and as someone who pays attention to how the people in your life need you to treat them.
Hugs for everybody. What a week of badness already!
Without looking it up, I think traditionally fruitcakes were preserved with liquor, but there’s no need to now given modern preservation techniques so they could be made without.
I like fruitcake. I particularly enjoy traditional English Christmas cake,* which consists of a rich fruitcake topped with a layer of marzipan and a layer of fondant icing. (Similar to the “Simnel cake” traditionally made at Easter, although the fruitcake tends to be richer and darker.)
(*Not to be confused with Christmas pudding, which is a different dish, although it also contains fruit.)
Ophelia Benson hits the nail on the head today on the subject of corporal punishment and the defence of “reasonable chastisement”.
Pelamun:
Indeed. Oh, and he addressed the email thusly: Dear C,. :eyeroll:
TLC, this probably won’t be popular, but…if the ex is pregnant and you’re in the position of being named daddy, consider a paternity test. Just sayin’.
I love marzipan. That sounds soooo good.
I totally expect that I will once again fall madly behind in TET, but I am at least vaguely caught up on this one. :)
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Photos: I have set up a Pro Flickr account for the use of the Horde. We discussed doing so at Rhinebeck for the benefit of the non-Failbook Hordelings, so it is now available. Anyone is welcome to use the account to post photos or videos either privately or publicly. In order to use the account, you need the password, which you can get from me (oniongirlsays at gmail dot com) or any of the Horde members on Facebook (Kat, Muse, Nigel, First Approximation, Mattir, Audley, Dhorvath, Jules, et al) The only things I ask are:
1. That people only share the account information with other Pharyngulites by email so the info isn’t going everywhere.
2. If you’re posting pictures of meet-ups, make sure to ask the people in the photo permission to post, and whether you can post their photo publicly or privately.
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On a Rhinebeck related note, Muse and I are busing up to NYC tomorrow to hang out a bit more with Sili & DDMFM. So excited! :)
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Also, more tangentially Rhinebeck related–I did the entire festival using just my cane! Last year I was on a scooter and could barely walk a few feet without it. Maybe next year I won’t even need a cane! :) I don’t know if I mentioned it here or not, but I started Jenny Craig, and all the walking at Rhinebeck must have helped, because I lost 3.6 pounds this week. Which is a total of 21.6 pounds since I started! :)
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I should note that all* of the Rhinebeckers were excellent huggers. It’s just that hugging DDMFM is like wuggling a dozen cuddly kitties and puppies whilst eating maple cotton candy.
+1. Also, totally true. :)
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But one person delurked long enough to express her admiration for the likes of you and me as well as oniongirl, Audley, Jadehawk as well as the other foul mouth feminist that infest this blog.
*blinks* Wow. Really? That makes me feel really good. :) I feel like I don’t handle near as much of the heavy-lifting since I’m on so much less frequently. It really makes my day that someone thought of me! :)
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Kat, *hugs*. I’m so sorry he invaded your space here. Say the word and you know the Horde will help in anyway we can.
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And as much as I would love to keep attempting to catch up with all of you wondrous people, I am off to sleep as I must get up at o’dark in the morning to catch the bus to NYC!
OnionGirl, congrats on only needing the cane and the weight loss! That is great news.
Dang, here is Onion Girl trying to form the communities some “atheists need churches” types fail to recognize as happening. *gives tankard of aged grog (won’t say how many days) to Onion Girl, and raises own tankard in salute*
On today’s bugfuck insane thread, I got called “grandpa” by one obtuse person using the moniker of “Fizzy”. Yes, I am old enough to be a grandparent. But grandpa?
@Dhorvath, prevthread, #803: “this one is something else”.
Hmph!
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/07/episode_ccxxxiv_troll_hunting.php#comment-4611617
*peeved*
[that thread was derailed within a half-dozen posts, unfortunately]
—
I like fruitcake too. Especially when sozzled with brandy for a couple of months …
That group, especially “Fizzy”, couldn’t listen if their life depended on it. They were too busy preaching.
Janine:
I like “Grandpa Janine”. It’d just confuse the trolls a little more.
Caine,
Wow, this sounds like he is full of smugness….
Walton @323, nice.
(Thanks)
I accidentally ate some kind of seafood – lobster or crab, I think – this evening. I picked up the wrong pasta bowl at the cafeteria by mistake; by the time I sat down to eat and discovered my error, it was too late. It was really good, but I felt guilty for violating my vegetarian principles. :-( I still eat fish and seafood occasionally, but am trying to kick the habit.
====
In other news… another example of horrifying police brutality towards protestors. Watch the video. (And if past experience is any guide, I’m guessing the cops involved will face no repercussions at all.)
Audley:
Seconded!
The Pharyngula Labs/Kninja Knitters costume department could fit you out with a false hearing aid, and a cane to wave at whippersnappers if you so desire. Some of the swordscanes are quite creative…
DemetriusOfPharos, welcome.
Dang, got screwed up by the FTB change in the strike command:
Some of the
swordscanes are quite creative…Audley, Zerple is already quite confused.
I do not need to go out of my way to confuse them more.
What was funny, I made the same point about him comparing the possibility of a woman being raped to a woman marrying for money as being equally sexist as an other people. But that other person did not call him a fuckface like I did. He thanked the nice person for pointing out the error of his way. He complained that I said nothing of merit.
What a special fucking hothouse flower.
Oh Janine, I got into with Zerple a few days ago. Zerp only responded to me by calling me a troll. *eyeroll*
So, yeah, that one’s definitely special.
Grandpa… Janine? What the…
Oh for crap’s sake, I was too busy whining about myself that I missed a newbie*:
DemetriusOfPharos:
Hey there! It seems like things kind of suck around here at the moment (or maybe that’s just me), but pull up a chair and make yourself comfy.
Tea? Or beer, perhaps?
*Thanks, John Morales, for pointing that out.
So far, Audley, SallyStrange and I have been called trolls by Zerple. Who else have I missed?
This is as much fun as when the Rookie dubbed Nerd, Patricia and me The Gruesome Trio.
Walton:
1. For your angst, my sympathy.
2. But — since it was an error, no violation occurred!*
3. Stupid it is, to bash yourself over it.
—
* Spare me the self-damning rationalisation that you nonetheless went on to consume it, please.
I’d bet good money that our friend Zerp has accused Caine of trolling.
Welcome to TET, DemetriusOfPharos. Pull up a chair and have a drink.
It was already there; your eating of it did not change the total number of live fish in the world. It was an accident; you didn’t mean to grab it. I’d say it would have been more egregious to throw it away and get other food, thereby wasting some, but that’s just me.
Audley:
Probably. I’ve been accused of everything else.
With all of the time I have spent next to amps over the years, I do not understand why I have not suffered more ear damage. Plus, my back did give out on a couple of years ago. There were times that when I laid down, I could not even roll over, let alone stand up.
I am afraid I do not need to pretend that I am aging.
Bah, you’re not a troll Caine.
More of an ent.
I can totally see you stomping around the Pharyngula Forest, a tankard of
entdraughtgrog clutched in your leafy hand while you go “Burarum! Burarum!”*giggles inanely a the image*
Esteleth, Caine is too small to be an ent. But know I am trying to figure what she could be.
But she does seem to be drawn to Granny Weatherwax.
Carlie,
As would any reasonable person.
—
Walton, sure you’re not highlighting your own virtue in a perverse fashion by drawing attention to how, though you pleasure in the consumption of fleshiness from which you piously abstain except when a (genuine) error occurs?
Transposed words are so much fun.
@Inane Janine
Ooooh?! Judge
meCaine bymyher size do you?![sigh]
Incomplete sentence above, but I think the thrust of it is clear.
Esteleth:
I could live with that. :D As for my size, eh, I get yelled at about it now and then, by Josh OSG and others. (5’6″, 114 lbs).
Janine:
Yes. Esme and I have much in common.
I maintain that Caine is the perfect person to be bellowing “Burarum” and chasing after douchecanoes who invade the Forest and attack the trees.
Speaking of Esme Weatherwax, there’s a new bookmark for sale at Paul Kidby’s site, which reads “I Ate’nt Read”. Gotta have it.
You’re right, of course. I was just being silly. (I get foolishly neurotic about ridiculous things sometimes. And I don’t actually think it’s wrong to eat fish; I just get occasional guilt-trips when I enjoy things too much. I guess it’s my inner Puritan speaking.)
Tell you what. When we’re out. Just say something like that, I’ll vomit up my meal, and then you can eat it.
Like a little wolf baby!
Win win since it spares me the calories!
First off: I am tickled fucking pink that “douchecanoe” is a thing now.
Secondly, Caine:
I love the exactness. I have no idea how much I weigh– I can give you a decent guess, but it’s not like I can say “I weigh 192 lbs”.
It’s the attention to detail that I love.
And finally:
tushcloots, since it seems like you’ve got some sort of weird beef with me (and I’m not entirely sure why), if you’ve got something to say off-topic, let me know here. I’m genuinely baffled why you’ve reacted to me the way that you have over on the Tucker thread (and not to say a little pissed off).
Janine, winter is coming, and I should be able to use the transporter to send you a larger snowblower for a day. Go outside with a small shovel, get the neighborhood “wits” (half or quarter) laughing and rolling on the ground, then fire up the blower and bury their bodies under a foot of snow. ;)
Awww, how romantic.
Indeed you do.
I, on the other hand, am perhaps more like (a male version of) Magrat. Or perhaps the Bursar, though I’m slightly more in touch with reality.
I’m sorry. :-( I’m an idiot sometimes, and I say stupid things. Just forget I said anything. (Carlie got it exactly right above.)
I don’t think I’m *in* that book. I love Magrat though as a character!
Walton! Did you take your frog pills?
Awww… you’re not an idiot. You just make me pukey some times :)
*hugs*
I like to flatter myself sometimes by comparing myself to Susan Sto Helit, but let’s face it: I’m not that calm, I’m not terribly good with children*, and while my grandfather was crusty as all hell, he wasn’t Death.
*Except GirlFire, apparently.
Ha. From now on, perhaps you should adopt Ridcully’s technique, and just type LOTS OF DRYD FRORG P¼LLS every time I start behaving weirdly.
Onion Girl. I’m with Caine and Nerd. I think that’s a WooHoo! moment.
+++++++++++++
Dhorvath, apparently no one else caught the original. And my joke was not very good.
Thanks;-)
+++++++++++++
I can’t do the ‘Tucker’ type threads. They’re toxic. I appreciate all who can.
I contributed to the ‘Quaker’ thread.
That’s about as much stress as I can take.
++++++++++++++
In completely unrelated news: My bathroom that was swamped with sewage last Saturday?
I hired a crime scene clean-up person, (the same person who cleaned my kitchen when it turned into a horror movie), and my landlady agreed to pay for my hotel room and my clean-up person. W/o argument.
I went to a hotel room because I couldn’t deal with it, she looked at it this morning and said “I’ve seen worse.”
My bathroom is cleaner than when I moved in. She’s getting a bonus. I literally can’t put up with that shit. People who can deal with our shit should make a lot more money.
Walton, you definitely belong among the wizards :P
And you’re not a Duchess, as far as I’m aware. (Indeed, back when we were making up Pharyngula titles for ourselves, you expressly disavowed any pretension to nobility and invited everyone to address you simply as “Comrade Audley”.) :-p
OK, a serial-Walton-apology thread! That’s more like it!
Audley:
Getting weighed repeatedly on hospital scales will do that.
Indeed. I have many wizardly characteristics: Rincewind’s nervousness and fleetness-of-foot, Igneous Cutwell’s approach to housecleaning, Ponder Stibbons’ geekiness, and the Bursar’s instability. Plus, both of the academic institutions in which I’ve actually spent my adult life bear a remarkable resemblance to UU in many respects.
(Though I could only be a very junior wizard. My beard is decidedly unimpressive, and my physique has not yet attained wizardly proportions.)
Walton:
Nope, not in the least. Dead common, all the way back.
Oh, ha! I had totally forgotten about that! If I didn’t like “Dr. Audley” so much, I’d use that with my ‘nym.