I’m a Pacific Northwest boy at heart, so how could I not enjoy these gorgeous timelapse scenes from Oregon? Although I have to protest that there aren’t enough scenes from the coast or the green valleys of the Willamette — but then, it’s got an astronomy bias and the skies are not clear as often. I suppose a timelapse of winter skies like seething gray oatmeal is just not as photogenic.
(Episode CCLXXVIII: Evolution, sorta.)
I dreamed that Herman Cain was seen carrying a red lightsaber at recent campaign events.
He refused to allow independent researchers to inspect it, but scolded the media for suggesting that he might be a Sith.
As I woke up I was still piqued at the nerve of that guy.
Only if she starts wearing a tiara.
Quick good evening
Bill D.
Sorry about your cat
Weed Monkey
Glad you’re OK and glad you had the courage to confront the asshole.
Brother Ogvorbis
Really, you fascist, saving people from dying in fires!
Alethea
It smells good, it looks good, I’ll tell you how it tastes in 2 weeks when it’s ready to eat, but I’ll give you the recipe tomorrow.
Esteleth,
That is pretty awesome news. Yay you and have some of this here libation.
___
chigau,
Not Lee Valley! Don’t ever go there without cash in hand and a shopping list, they are evil and always have more things to add lurking around the waiting area.
Janine,
The chances of me preferring the Streisand for any piece are pretty low.
And I have surfed the tube of you all the way to Faith No More doing Lady Gaga covers:Poker Face
wtf
That was… interesting.
congratulations, Esteleth.
I’m just back from watching The Muppet Movie in a theater. For those like me who watched the Muppet Show, you’ll enjoy it. For those unfamiliar with the Muppets, you’ll hate it.
Alright, I have just returned from lunch with my advisor and my parents. Had the supreme pleasure of watching them attempt to mix sake and champagne.
My newly-attained advanced degree informs me that this is a bad combination.
*sips the grog leaking from the usb* Ahh, much better.
Myeck, I am totally an elite, but only in the sense that everyone is elite. I am not wearing a tiara, but I AM rocking my “I’m not that kind of doctor” shirt.
Conga rats to Dr. Esteleth!
Congratulations Dr. Esteleth. Fandamntastic!
And you were worried about it.
@’Tis, What about those of us who watched The Muppet Show and hated it?
(Maybe “hated” is a bit too strong. “Didn’t like.”)
Oh, and re. AE @#461, if you can scam a ton of cash first, just think of it as the Robert Maxwell gambit. ;)
If you hated it, why did you watch it?
what a minute
people don’t like the muppets?
This was a world (distant and dim, I know) where there was only one TV, only three channels on it, and there was nothing else to do on a Saturday night.
However, right now, I’m posting on the internet instead of watching X-Factor. Progress!
Bill, so sorry about your cat. I was surprised when ours died just how much it hurt. Hugs to you and your family.
Weed Monkey, good on you for standing up to that guy. He needs to know that other people think his attitude is vile, and I’m glad you got away unharmed.
Esteleth, yaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!! (flailing Kermit arms)
I don’t believe such people exist. :p
The best review of the Muppet movie I’ve seen yet is from Pop Culture Happy Hour, also one of my favorite podcasts. I thought the movie was much better than I expected it to be, and the parts it flopped a bit I didn’t mind too much.
The Lee Valley store sounds awesome. Want! I’m going to a chocolate expo tomorrow, so I’m excited. A couple dozen vendors or so crammed into the New York state plaza along with a model train expo and a tree lighting extravaganza. I’m bringing two epipens and a bottle of Benadryl. I’m worried because they’re all small vendors and those kind don’t always separate out the nut products, but I called the chocolate fountain guy (who is the one my nut allergic son is dying to see) and found out that all of their stuff is nut-free, so we’ll just hang out at the cascades of molten chocolate the whole time if we have to.
Although, on the upside, we did have Life on Earth.
Bill D
Hugs for your loss.
Esteleth
Congratulations! Champagne and chocolate!
Chigau#496
I once got home from an afternoon’s shopping trip to find three messages on my answering machine from the bank asking if my credit card had been stolen.
Good news!
PZ might want to mention this.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (Mikey Weinstein’s organization) has received a single pledge of $70,000 in matching donations.
I can’t find this written on their website, but you can confirm it by calling them at 1-800-736-5109 extension 3
or emailing; the address at militaryreligiousfreedom.org is trish.corrigan
Conga Rats, Dr Esteleth!
Beatrice, the Billings Method is a variation on the rhythm method that’s been around since about the 1970s. You’re supposed to use a thermometer to check for ovulation, which supposedly narrows down the interval during which you are supposed to abstain. It’s Catholic-approved! Because it doesn’t work very well!
Like abstinence?
Thanks to all who offered condolences on the loss of our kitty. We buried her in the backyard (not entirely sure that’s legal here; I was at great pains not to find out), under a faux-stone coaster from the gift shop of the Mark Twain House (in Hartford) that says “Here Lives a Very Fine Cat.” That’s not an heretical (from an atheist POV) comment about life after death; just the most appropriate thing we had at hand to use as a marker.
***
Esteleth (PhfD):
Just, as Dr. Rachel Maddow used to say on her old Air America show, not that kind of a doctor! Congratulations.
***
Re lesbian vs. gay as a noun: I think I agree with ahs and Crip Dyke (assuming I’m understanding them correctly) that the reason saying “a gay” is an insult is that most people who say it that way mean it in a homophobic way. It’s not simply that it’s reductive: Calling me “a Democrat” similarly reduces me to just one aspect of my being, but it doesn’t insult me. Calling a woman “a lesbian” reduces her to one aspect of her being in an ostensibly identical way as calling a man “a gay” does… except that in the first case, it’s (in most cases) simply a shorthand for the aspect of her being that’s under discussion, where in the second case, the usage is almost always encountered in a homophobic context.
Another curious linguistic case is queer, which seems to have been almost entirely reclaimed as an adjective (which I say with reasonable confidence, as the father of the Editor in Chief of Q Magazine </SmugParent>)… and yet remains an intolerable homophobic slur if used to call someone “a queer” (at least, if the person using it that way is straight; dunno if that usage is acceptable within the queer community).
BTW, I was aware of the place-name origins of lesbian, but that connection is pretty distant and historical, as evidenced by the fact that the term (in its sexuality context) is almost never capitalized (except by those who also capitalize Gay and Straight, and generally use capitalization as if they were writing German). Besides, IIRC the real Lesbians (i.e., the current residents of Lesbos, of whatever gender or orientation) would kinda’ like a word with the rest of the world about that word! ;^)
***
The Sailor:
I put my fingers in my ears and started singing la-la-la-la-la when you mentioned Jeremy Clarkson: I’ve suspected for a while now that he might be an obnoxious right-wing douchebag, but I love Top Gear, and don’t really want to know.
Generally, I hate it when I discover that performers and athletes whose work I enjoy are assholes off the stage/field. Makes me feel guilty for continuing to enjoy (if I do continue) what they do that I enjoy.
I got out of Lee Valley for under $300!
and that includes a “Low-Temperature Stirling Engine Kit” and three knives and some other stuff.
Bill, my condolences on your loss.
Esteleth, Conga rats, Doctor!
I want that stirling engine kit. Envy blooms.
Carlie:
Rodents of unusual size?
I have always loathed Jeremy Douchebisquit Clarkson. His idea of humour is to “banter” about eating meals where the main ingredient is an endangered species; he’s racist, misogynistic, nauseatingly self-satisfied and an utter tosser. And a right-wing “I’ve got mine” libertarian, as far as I can tell. Really, tout pour plaire.
I kind of don’t like him much, can you tell? Which matters not a whit, obviously, but it feels pleasant to say it.
Bill, I really try to separate the artist from the art but it does get difficult at times.
p.s. That sounds like a wonderful monument.
+++++++++++++++++++
a “Low-Temperature Stirling Engine Kit”!?
Extremely low temp? All that matters is the temp differential.
***stray thought*** I’ve wondered before why satellites aren’t powered by closed cycle steam or Stirling combined w/ batteries.
Shittitifuck. Wankbollocks. Shite. Shitting dicknipples. COCK!
IRT Top Gear: It’s pretty much acknowledged that James May is gay, right? They don’t explicitly say so, which I think is kinda cool, it shouldn’t matter.
I do like to drool over the hot cars, and the celebrity lap times are fun to watch, but it’s fairly formulaic.
In Earth orbit, solar panels with batteries are sufficient for powering the satellites. For deep space probes, where solar panels are insufficient, heat from radioactivity is used to charge the batteries. Which is why some environmental groups dislike the robotic space program, since there is a minute chance plutonium could leak into the environment from a bad launch.
If he is, he’s not out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May
And if he is, then he should be out, and it should be explicitly acknowledged somewhere in the straight media, because it does matter.
James May?
No. I have the book. No.
My (gift for sibling) Low-Temperature Stirling Engine Kit will be here in time for xmas.
OR HEADS WILL ROLL
Sili, Tourette’s much?
++++++++++++++
IRT the OP: When I was 16 I quit school and hitchhiked out to Cali from the Midwest. I met up with friends outside of Eureka and we traveled to the Willamette Valley to visit their friends.
They took us to some hot springs out in the woods. The sheer scale of everything took me aback. Pine cones the size of pineapples, trees that you could make a house out of.
The folks we were visiting made their home out of driftwood. Driftwood being the Douglas Firs they could fish from the coast with their Army surplus 6×6 truck & winch. I helped split shakes to complete their roof.
I was luck to visit during the dry month. I remarked to our hosts when we were at the hot springs that ‘everything looks like it’s underwater.’ He replied that for 9 months of the year it might as well be.
[/coming of age story]
Uh, no. He’s been living with the same woman for 11 years now.
And even if you don’t, you have the Pfft, under “Partner”. ;)
Hee!
Is there an internet rule that when posting, someone else (hi Caine!) will say the exact same thing a minute or two quicker, therefore making you look a bit silly?
Because if there isn’t, I’m *claiming* it.
ahs & changeable moniker, I could be wrong. His personal spin-off show seems to be ‘out’. Subtle references on Top Gear seem the same. Like I said, I could be wrong. And you’re right, it shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Ahh, I waz wrong about James May.
The Sailor
re coming of age story.
Sounds nice.
(except for all the fucking trees)
[/prairie girl]
changeable moniker:
Hi CM! Jinx, you owe me a drink. :D
Yes. One on the tab for whe{n,re}ever.
I don’t watch Top Gear, but my wife does and I catch bits of it.
As I see it, Jeremy Clarkson’s schtick is being boorish.
Irritates the hell outta me, actually, this doing and saying stupidities as if they’re a good thing.
(So, of course he’s gonna have to apologise on a regular basis, when he oversteps the mark)
I like trees, they have roots and give me shade.
I used to be pretty fluent with elvish script—but that was, let’s see, more than 30 years ago, and it has mostly trickled out of my mind. Ah, well.
–
*confetti* and *applause* and *champagne*
–
Is there any reason why I couldn’t/shouldn’t use the hemisphere molds intended for baking, for molding silicone jellyfish, come the Happy Day?
–
Whyfor?
–
I like trees because they provide a home for many things I like to eat.
and trees burn.
I like trees just fine, my property is full of ’em. I’d prefer Ents.
You are a woodpecker?
Cicely:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/62296243/jellyfish-flexible-push-mold
and
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/wellmolded/1180443/jellyfish-_silicone_mold-_soap_candy_cake_resin_plaster/supplies/handmade_supplies/edibles
I didn’t say this, and I hope I didn’t imply it.
It should matter.
It matters to straight folks to be seen with their dates or partners, and have their relationships, flings and one night stands recognized and praised.
Public recognition of queerness should matter not only now for the sake of normalizing, but also in the future for the sake of normalcy, like straight people’s displays are normal.
Oh, I’m so glad I’m not decorating the pine tree outside this year, Pier 1 has octopus ornaments. I’d go broke.
I might eat a woodpecker.
Forests are mighty fine habitats for all kinds of tasty plants and animals.
I don’t want to live in a forest . I’d rather live on the edge.
The perfect ornament. Sigh.
If only. I just needed to went.
Class is gonna be all fscked up Monday.
Lost a kid this morning. Not one I knew well, but still annoying. As chance would have it, he was the last one I saw Friday, and I snarkily asked if I’d see him Monday – he had a habit of not showing.
–o–
Congrats, Dresteleth!
cicely, All haile typos!
++++++++++++++++
ahs, it shouldn’t matter.
It should matter.
It matters to straight folks to be seen with their dates or partners, and have their relationships, flings and one night stands recognized and praised.
Public recognition of queerness should matter not only now for the sake of normalizing, but also in the future for the sake of normalcy, like straight people’s displays are normal.
I think it’s time for me to properly de-lurk. I’ve been enjoying reading Pharyngula and the comments for nearly a year now, so I should probably try to contribute in some way. Of course, I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said by someone else in the thoroughly brilliant Horde, but I’ll try.
About me: female, early twenties, grad student in [unspecified scientific field] at [unspecified Canadian university]. I’d give more details, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some people I know in real life lurk on Pharyngula occasionally, and I’d rather be anonymous here. I was an evangelical Christian in high school and stopped believing in God early in my undergrad, after developing the critical thinking skills necessary to realize that the evidence and arguments for the existence of God were nonsense. I’m lucky to have a (mostly) non-religious family and be on a career path where atheism is accepted/expected.
I’ve learned a lot by lurking here. After I stopped believing in God, I still had some internalized atheist-phobia, for lack of a better term. A substantial part of me thought that atheists, without the motivation of religion, could not be actively good. Reading here has shown me how wrong that idea was. I’ve seen members of the Horde consoling each other over the deaths of pets and family members, offering to help with medical bills, and providing advice and encouragement. All this is on top of the tireless work of Pharyngulites who, armed with wit and snark, take on endless waves of misogynists and homophobes in hope of educating them and the lurking masses. If this isn’t evidence that atheists can be good, I don’t know what is. So thank you!
tl;dr: New commenter thinks you’re all awesome.
I love when I try to explain to a straight man how and why it does and should matter, he fucking thinks he understands it all better than I do.
Your comment effectively amounts to “get back in the closet”.
Try thinking about it a tenth time before you run your stupid fucking mouth.
ahs,
Not for all — for me, it’s the relationship with my partner itself that matters to me, that it be praised is irrelevant (and that it be recognised only practical).
(But yeah, I am speaking from a position of privilege; being here has achieved that much (my awareness of this))
In my (limited, but direct) experience, the environmental angle is a thin veneer over the conflation of nuclear energy with nuclear weapons. I recall being at a protest of one launch (Cassini?) at which a protester personally told me that what he opposed was the “weaponization of space.”
Of course, there’s been plenty of overlap, over the years, between space exploration and military policy, and between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons programs… but the RTGs that power deep-space probes couldn’t be further from weapons.
Hey, Nutmeg. Welcome, etc.
(Seriously!)
Nutmeg
Welcome.
I’ve been here for only about 2 years.
It’s swell!
ahs, was #561 directed at me?
I thought this was a pretty funny way to think about church.
Hello, Nutmeg! Delurking is always welcome.
ahs:
That’s a fact. Everyone wants to see themselves reflected in society, in a regular, everyday fashion. You can tell when certain companies wake up to that fact and decide to feature women or people of colour in their ad campaigns. (Kind of like Trojan recently courting the female / married couple (hetro) market. They aren’t noticeably courting the lesbian market though.
We have a long way to go in regard to seeing the normalization of GLBT life.
Welcome to TET, Nutmeg!
Yes.
ahs:
At the risk of putting words in The Sailor’s (virtual) mouth and making you think I’m straightsplaining, I’ll gingerly venture that I think “what y’all have there is a failuh t’ communicate”: Looking back at his original comment, I read him as saying that it “shouldn’t matter” to viewers of a TV show about cars whether or not one of the hosts is gay; not that it “shouldn’t matter,” in a larger sociological sense, that gay people are out.
It seems to me that the latter assertion would, as you point out, be tantamount to opening the closet door and inviting folks to step back in, but the former doesn’t strike me that way.
But I could be wrong about what he meant, or in my interpretation of what it means. Wouldn’t be the first time, as you know.
Sorites problem. We can’t have the latter without the former. There are, of course, gay car freaks who need to feel welcome, and homophobic car freaks who need to feel unwelcome.
I’d considered figuring out what this Homestruck thing is. Thanks for the warning. No way in hell I’m putting that much effort into getting entertained. I’m simple and intellectually lazy.
Urrf! This…
..came out sounding stupider than it really was. Try this expanded, clarified version:
Nutmeg:
Welcome.
Who is this brilliant horde to which you refer? Hell, I’m ahistory major, for Pete’s stake, and they let me in.Nutmeg:
Welcome.
Who is this brilliant horde to which you refer? Hell, I’m ahistory major, for Pete’s stake, and they let me in.
First off, I resent the comparison. Train wrecks are, in their own way, rather elegant expressions of mass (lots and lots of mass) and velocity. The classic Newtonian physics on display as four 200 ton locomotives, pulling sixty loaded freight cars (each weighing about 30 tons plus the load (which may be up to an additional 170 tons (12,000 tons plus the 800 tons of locmotives (and this is not a huge train))) at 60 miles per hour (Speed = 60mph = 1609.3mps) is spectabulous.
So, if E=.5mv^2, then the energy in this one train is:
.5(10,886,216kg) * (1609.3m/s)^2)= 5,443,108kg * 2,589,846m^2/s^2 = 14,096,811,481,368 kgm^2/s^2 (but I think my conversions is fucked up but that is, no matter how badly I screwed up the equation, one shitton of energy) which is just over 14 billion joules.
Anyway, the scary beauty of a train wreck is a fantastic example of classic physics (and it is a pleasure to watch). Cain’s self-destruction was not classical, was not elegant, was not spectabulous, and comparing it to a train wreck is, according to Wife, an insult to train wrecks.
Not only that, we do not call them train wrecks anymore. A boiler explosion is not a spontaneous disassembly, or a catastrophic pressure vessel failure, or an unplanned depressurization. A head-on collision is referred to as a hard coupling incident. A derailment is an offrail excursion.
So I take issue with your statement on two levels.
ahs:
Fair enough. Perhaps The Sailor really only meant to be declaring that he was not among the latter? Sometimes it’s hard to sort out when the right answer is “don’t make a big deal out of someone’s sexuality” versus “do make a big deal out of someone’s sexuality.”
But I am but an egg; waiting is.
@Nutmeg. It sounds like you need a “why I’m a pharyngulite” series of posts.
PAGING PZ!
And wow did I manage to somehow screw up the part of the message welcomng nNutmeg. However, it did illustrate my oint.
Father Ogvorbis:
The Great Tpyos put it in my heart to read this…
…as this…
…and I immediately wanted to ask where I can sign up for classes in ahistory! ;^)
Plausible at #541.
That’s why I posted #553.
Bill:
I think the ahistory courses are at places like Liberty University. What they teach is not, repeat not, history.
Bill, thank you, that’s what I meant.
ahs, you just want to fight, I don’t want to. It doesn’t matter how you change your ‘nym, you are still just an asshole who wants to pick a fight. GFY.
Caine, ahs, re normalisation: (via Mr. Fire on FaceBook): Possibly the Most Beautiful Ad for Marriage Equality We’ve Seen
No, you fucking scumbag. What I want is to not be lectured by a fucking straight man about gay visibility.
Go fucking hang yourself in the closet.
“14 billion joules”
Speaking of Jules, why doesn’t she comment here more?
And where is blf?
John, you’ll get no argument outta me, however, 2 points:
1) It’s the Advocate, which I have long subscribed to, which is a gay mag.
2) It’s Australia, a much more reasonable place than the U.S.
And what a liar you are, Sailor. If you didn’t want to pick a fight then you would have either taken some time to think about it or given a substantive reply instead of your dismissive #558.
Hi Nutmeg, welcome to the shark tank. You get a welcoming bowl of popcornz, a dirty (looking only) glass/tankard of your favorite swill or grog, and a 10 e-ducat chit for the Pharyngula Saloon and Spanking Parlor™, Patricia, Princess of Pullets, Proprietor.
@ahs, twenty-ish years ago, I went on holiday with my girlfriend and her gay cousin, whose boyfriend, whilst we were all in the pool, averred that I was cute.
Strangely, the world did not end.
Nobody changed.
Everything was fine.
I do, however, remain mystified as to “cute”. Especially since I look like James May.
—
And there I round out the night. Night All!
Newt is the professor
Good talk, everyone; now I’m off to make gluten-free[1] tiramisu for a local Democratic holiday party tomorrow.
New learning for the day: Distilled spirits, even those made from wheat and other gluten-containing grains, are gluten free. It always made intuitive sense to me that gluten wouldn’t survive distillation; today I was finally arsed to look it up.
***
[1] No, I’m not a woo-filled diet faddist: My wife has a legitimate medical concern.
Caine, points taken, but just imagine someone from the 50s, 60s or 70s being exposed to today’s mainstream media, even in the USA!
(This is generational change, it takes time)
Caine – “ahistory!
Newt is the professor”
***Snorkle!***
Congratulations, Doctor.
Anal seepage (ah no).
John:
I know, but there’s a lot of frustration, because we should be further along. Look how long it’s been since Stonewall.
Rey, did you mean Santorum?
G’night, all.
Tomroow is FRIDAY!!!!!
FWIW, Caine, a few years back, I used to be fairly non-committal when, in social situations, I encountered homophobia — it wasn’t my issue.
No longer, and I think that’s because of this place.
(Bah? ‘Tain’t much, true, but it’s something)
Father O, tomorrow I go back to work.
(Relativity strikes again!)
John:
Nope, not in this case. :)
Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I gratefully accept the beverage offer (I’ll go with hot chocolate) and reciprocate with mandarin oranges so tiny they’re adorable.
Quite Interesting might be the best TV show EVER!
Confetti, conga rats and *dance* for Estleth
John Morales – thanks for posting the ad here.
I’ve been reading 17th and 18th Century trial transcripts from The Old Bailey. Interestin’ stuff.
Its a quiet evening on TET. I see sailor and ahs are taking snarly exception to each other. I guess that is expected protocol here but it makes me rather sad.
——
Welcome to TET nutmeg!
—
Congarats to Esteleth!
—
Condolences to Bill on the kitty. Mine are 14 and getting more finicky every day about eating.
—–
Today it is snowing. It’s pretty and I hate it. Bah! Its cold and dark and I have way too much to shovel.
I also managed to go to the grocery store and neglect to buy necessary ingredients for most everything. I have salsa, but no chips. I have soup, but no crackers. /whine
I watched two movies so far this week-end. (Both free on Hulu.)
The Auteur. It was silly but entertaining. I give it a C+.
Shades of Ray. I thought it was very sweet, with some good characters, though I have a hard time seeing Zack Levi as 1/2 Pakistani. B+
One of the things I bought at Lee Valley was a $1 balsa-airplane.
I put it together and threw it at the cat.
She bit it. Alot.
It still flies, after a fashion.
The Ordinary’s Accounts are very interesting too. Lots of preachifying*, but as they are the published minister’s accounts, that’s to be expected.
This is a milder example:
Also noted: the Ordinary’s, when accounting the trip to Tyburn, once the prisoners were strung up, referred to this as the person being turn’d off.
Tiramisu accomplished!
The Redhead is hosting the Neighborhood Tea next Friday, so we have our holiday tree up already. Today I got a good work-out playing Packy the Mule, hauling stuff to the basement. I’ll either sleep well due to being tired, or poorly due to sore muscles. I hope the former.
Hi Nutmeg! Thanks for the mandarins. Are you sure they’re not kumquats? Or calamondins? They make the best marmalade.
Aww, Nerd — surely you’re not too old to get tired muscles from having a proper work-out with the Redhead?
<ducks>
Ooh, now I get to play with making text bold. Let’s see if this works.
Alethea: I had to look up calamondins. I don’t think that’s it. Unfortunately, the orange box doesn’t come with things identified to species. Tsk, tsk. They’re tasty, whatever they are!
Bill – I’m so sorry to hear about your kitteh. It is good to see you around.
Mandarin oranges are one of my most favourite foods. I also like kumquats. Yum. Used to eat them right off the tree in SoCal.
Esteleth – I am SOOO happy for you!
Bill, I can’t be more sad.
What an amalgamation….
@ Nutmeg
Welcome on board.
@ Bill
*hugs*
@ Bill and Alethea
Pix and recipes …. Puleez!
@ Josh and teh pharyngufoodies.
All your advice has really paid off. The creuset has already started to earn its keep: Linky – Buckwheat sourdough loaf.
@
BroggFather OgvobisFor the festive season, there is a model train display at one of the big shopping centres near our home. You would especially like:
Linky here.
Theophontes:
Woohoo! Conga rats on the bread and the Le Creuset!
Oh, and yes, congratulations Dr. Esteleth!
Theo– That is a fabulous-looking loaf. It’s got that perfect irregular hole texture in the crumb. Exactly as it’s supposed to be. Nice glassy, cracking crust too, I presume? See, what did I tell you? Obey me and Phoenicia, and you will have manna. Seriously. . enjoy!
I have a white/6-grain/spelt loaf sitting out to proof tonight. It will be encrusted with sesame seeds when it bakes tomorrow afternoon. Mmmm.
@ Caine
Woohoo too… :)
Who needs “free will” when one has the Hive Mind ™?
(You will be happy to note that the “pay for itself” meme played a strong role in convincing Theaphontes too…)
Theophontes
The bread sounds delicious. La Crueset is expensive and apparently worth it.
To all the music lovers, I highly recommend the documentary
Les Paul – Chasing sound. A+
What an amazing contribution he has made to the world or to quote one of the musicians in the film:
“All roads lead back to Les Paul”
Don’t stop watching at the credits, the jam session that follows will blow your mind.
I recently saw a comment on FTB, could have been here on Pharyngula. I want to find it again.
It was about cognitive decline from dementia in the elderly, and how sad it would be if life continued after death and confused ghosts wandered around not knowing who they used to be. And how Christians seem to think God preserves an optimal copy of the self which will be restored after death.
I’ve almost restated it, but I need the particular words of that comment.
@ All
Slightly used pizza stone for sale. Free to good home. (You must collect.)
@ Josh
Thanks. I have seldom been quite so free from “post purchase dissonance” as I now am wrt my new cast iron pot. IIRC, your acquisition of Francine occurred under similar circumstances. (mea culpa)
You will notice I tossed the dough in some oats (“porridge”) before dumping in the oven. Very delicious. Time to give up my day job…
That’s actually a not half-bad premise for a psychological horror film.
Theo–
Oh, no, no. Keep it. They are indeed very good—even crucial—for crust on a good, thin pizza. Also for flatbreads of other sorts. Mine just stays in the oven all the time; it soaks up and radiates heat nicely for the dutch-oven baking.
And yes, I’ve never regretted buying Francine:) I do have to put her away for the winter though. Which requires getting the rustbucket Subaru to pass safety inspection. Sigh.
Theophontes:
It most seriously will pay for itself. :)
ahs, that was in one of the ‘why I am an atheist’ threads, probably this one: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/11/27/why-i-am-an-atheist-chris-j/
Ah shit, nope, that was the wrong thread. I’m certain it was in one of the recent ‘why I am an atheist’ threads though.
@ ahs
Jonathan Swift does a very good job of this problem in part three of “Gulliver’s Travels”. Check your edition for “struldbrugs”.
(Imagine you go to heaven and continue to age!)
I’m very partial to nutmeg. Welcome.
I lurk too, mostly. Emerging to mumble something from time to time, forget what I was doing, then amble off.
Yes, the Horde always struck me as being both brilliant a decent, in equal amounts.
Also funny. Put articulate in there too. With awe-inspiring stamina when it comes to dealing with bigots of any stripe.
However, if I were forced at gunpoint to choose one adjective, it’d be ‘diverse.’ Which is grand.
amblebury:
Yes it is. There is an amazing quality here, of people from all over the world finding out they have much in common while at the same time, discovering people and experiences completely alien to their own experiences. It’s a good mix. :)
And don’t forget we’re good cooks, too.
Josh:
Never! We also have damn good taste in cookware.
Esme is one helluva bully. Last night, I saw her repeatedly grab Chas by the ear (with her teeth) and try to pull him into a box. She finally met Mr. Waterbottle. She doesn’t much care for getting squirted. :D
I’d pay good money to see a three-way fight between Esme, Mr. Waterbottle, and Mrs. Butterworth.
My money’s on thick-n-rich.
Caine-yes!
Josh-yes!
Esme-tsk.
Rats are so smart, though. I doubt she”l have to renew the acquaintance with Mr. Waterbottle very often
Josh:
Syrup would definitely win, however, Mrs. Butterworth ain’t allowed in the fight ring.
amblebury:
Smart they are, however, they can also be incredibly stubborn.
Sili, I’m sorry. What happened? (Only if you want to share.)
–
And Caine comes through once again! Many thanks! My google-fu apparently is Feeble. Below Feeble; in fact, down-right Shitty. It doesn’t even appear on the Marvel Superheroes Universal Results Table, it’s so bad.
Question, though….will silicone glop stick to silicone molds?
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Welcome in, Nutmeg! *chocolate*?
–
…with Extreme Prejudice?
–
I understand that she has limited web access.
I’m…pretty sure that the peas got him. Either that, or the Variably-Deranged Penguin has sold him into slavery in exchange for a lifetime supply of cheese.
(Maybe the V-D P sold him to the peas?)
–
Mandarin oranges are awesome.
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And welcome in to amblebury, too. :)
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Speak for yourself! As a cook, I’m a tolerably-good clarinetist.
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Cicely:
Should work just fine. The jellyfish in the etsy link looks to have been made with clear silicone.
The Fermi Paradox, Self-Replicating Probes,
and the Interstellar Transportation Bandwidth by Keith B. Wiley.
(PDF preprint)
I would test a drop on the outside of your mold. If it does bond, you can use non-stick cooking spray in the mold as a separator.
Siri was totally done by nerds. Try asking it “how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”, or “what is the meaning of life?”.
Good morning
Wow, the last two days, weather really made me glad to live in the 21st century (in a privileged setting, of course)
Totally missed this:
Congratulations, Dr. Esteleth!
John Morales@640,
Thanks for that. Is the “A. Morales” referenced any relation?
The obvious conclusion from the Fermi paradox, given the feebleness of all arguments against a civilisation capable of sending out self-replication probes filling a galaxy within a few million years, is that there never has been such a civilisation in ours. (The most plausible alternative is that we live on a native reservation, and will encounter the galaxy’s owners in due course.)
So, why have no such civilisations developed, assuming they haven’t? The only actual evidence we have, other than the apparent absence of aliens or their artefacts, comes from the history of life on Earth, and of humanity – the first species potentially capable of giving rise to interstellar colonisation (which if it ever happens, will almost certainly be by intelligent artefacts, not naturally evolved organism as such).
Life got going quite early – at least 3.5bya, so whether this was autochthonous or arrived from elsewhere, it seems likely life is widespread. Multicellular life with central nervous systems, however, did not appear until roughly 600mya-530mya – the Cambrian explosion or shortly before. Nick Lane argues that the endosymbiosis event giving rise to eukaryotes was key, but although it seems likely to have been necessary, it’s commonly dated around 2bya, so does not seem to have been sufficient – 1.5 billion years is a long time, so some other bottleneck seems likely to have existed, although I don’t know what.
After the Cambrian explosion, the upper limit of nervous system complexity seems to have risen fairly steadily, for whatever reason (most probably, just drift-expansion of a distribution limited on one edge), so I’d guess a species potentially capable of launching interstellar colonisation was highly likely to arise before the planet became uninhabitable as the sun gets brighter. It may be, however, that we’ve been very lucky in life not being wiped out by some natural catastrophe such as meteor strike or a nearby supernova.
Looking at our own current predicament, it seems very likely that we will succeed in causing the collapse of our civilisation before we could launch self-replicating probes; and if we do so, it’s by no means clear we’d get another chance. So I guess that the chances of a species potentially capable of launching such probes actually doing so is small, maybe zero, and probably such species are highly likely to bring about their own destruction.
Conclusions:
1) The Fermi paradox is only a paradox if you ignore the evidence we have that the probability of getting from the existence of planetary life to the capacity to launch self-replicating interstellar probes is very low.
2) In particular, complex multicellular life is probably very rare, and
3) Technological species probably all discover capitalism and this almost immediately brings about their downfall.
4) SETI is most unlikely to succeed.
KG, no relation, just coincidence.
Interview with Matt Smith in the Graun:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/03/matt-smith-interview-lord-misrule
Seems like a nice chap. Best not to read the comments, though.
On silicone: never worked with it myself, but a lot of people use a product called Ecoflex:
http://www.smooth-on.com/Platinum-Cure-Sili/c1115_1130/index.html
Thanks, folks.
Congrats Dr Esteleth. We don’t have the oral defence here for reasons of expense, though that may change due to increasing ease of video conferencing. It does make the final awarding rather a drawn out process though.
But yay on getting through yours!
I LOL’d. Give ET some credit !
KG:
You get this from a sample size of one?
rorschach,
I was at least semi-serious. Capitalism does look like a fairly easy system to fall into once there are sufficient surpluses generated by technological advance – Song China came fairly close to it before being invaded by the Mongols, and Japan (which was techno-socio-politically the most advanced culture outside Europe in the 19th century) was able to adopt it despite very limited contact with developing Atlantic capitalism before 1853. Once adopted, its expansionary dynamic looks very difficult to stop, short of disaster caused by resource shortage or pollution.
cicely, unheeded prophetess of the Equine Apocalypse
Can’t say much. It made the news, and this is a small country, so it’d be too easy to identify the poor sod. I only checked my workmail on a Saturday, because I heard my school mentioned on the news while having dinner at my sister’s.
May have been drunken accident, but I didn’t know him well enough to say if it could have been deliberate. I fear his classmates are gonna worry more about that. Even if was an accident, people are gonna ask if they couldn’t have done something. It must be horrible for whoever saw him last.
KG,
I know you were serious about it ! But since ET is unlikely to look like us, think like us or do stuff like us, to me it seems unlikely it might also be motivated by the same things that we find so irresistable. I don’t know, but I don’t like the thought that capitalism should be a universal phenomenon…Who’s to say that equal distribution of society’s products and achievements is not actually the “natural” way of things ?
GTG, good night.
Moggie@650,
Well, collapse through over-exploitation of natural resources has happended quite a number of times in human history (see Jared Diamond’s Collapse). All in human societies, admittedly. But a sample size of 1 is a lot better than a sample size of 0, which is what most of the other purported explanations for the Fermi paradox rely on.
1) In the absence of redistributive mechanisms, it’s easy to show that once there are surpluses, inequalities tend to grow without bounds.
2) In the only case we have access to, it’s clear that ruthlessly expansionist and internally highly unequal cultures have won out against self-contained and egalitarian ones.
3) The fact that ET ain’t here.
Dr. Esteleth, Congratulations, and welcome to the club. What was your dissertation subject, perchance?
I still remember my thesis as if it were yesterday. I had approached my adviser in January about whether he thought I could graduate in May. At the time, I had only a hint of a result. He was dubious but supportive. I finished my dissertation in 3 months, got comments and corrections and then tried to schedule the defense. The only time I could schedule a defense was on a Saturday afternoon. I gave a dry run to my defense the Friday before, and it was a disaster. So I spent the entire night totally redoing my transparencies (yes, it was that long ago). I finished at 8 in the morning, and submitted one last batch job to test one additional confounding hypothesis. Then I went home to shower and dress for the defense.
I made a chart of the last result up and put it into my back-up slides, and then trudged over to the defense. The committee was pretty supportive, and I only faced one hostile question—regarding the exact matter for which I had made up the back-up slide. YES! It’s as close as a nerd can get to a slamdunk!
After the questions, I went outside and waited for the committee’s deliberations. Only 10 minutes, and then I was Dr. Ray. Of course during those 10 minutes, I noticed I was wearing two black shoes that didn’t match. No one noticed, or if they did, it just added to my bona fides as a physicist.
As you are now through the defense, I can now tell a story about a friend of mine who was not as lucky as I was. His adviser went on sabbatical the year he wanted to finish, so he effectively wrote the thesis under the tutelage of another faculty member. When his adviser came back for the defense, he resented the fact, and essentially ambushed the guy during his defense and demanded all sorts of changes before approving the dissertation. I really thought we were going to have a homicide on that one.
And of course there are all the faculty rivalries that tend to manifest by one faculty member screwing over the students of another. I am glad you avoided all those complications.
Again, congrats.
KG:
I assume you’re being flippant with this number 3, since it’s a circular argument.
arids
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/sunday morning busybody
Dr. Esteleth, congrats! Sorry that I missed you party (and the cake!), but I hope you had much fun!
Bill:
That sucks. The limited amount of cooking I’ve done sans flour has been tough and I can never get the results that I want. Plus, (as I’m sure you know) there’s gluten in damned near everything.
I wouldn’t tackle something like gluten-free tiramisu out of fear of screwing up the ladyfingers– how’d it turn out?
cicely:
You mentioned the ReStore recently, right? I found out that there’s one within walking distance of my apartment. In the window they had this beautiful, marble inlaid “dry sink” for $110. If I had the money (or a place to put it, frankly) I’d buy it in a heartbeat and set up a nice little bar. They’re open for a few hours on Sunday, so I might check it out today!
amblebury:
Pffft. There’s nothing diverse about the Pharyngula Hivemind™. :P
Welcome in! There’s coffee and tea and doughnuts. Feel free to help yourself.
Also welcome to Nutmeg!
theophontes:
I’ll be over in a little bit to help you finish up the buckwheat sourdough. Looks delicious! :)
And in Audley news: I saw The Muppets on Friday. It was cute and funny and I enjoyed it a ton. Plus, the celebrity cameos were freaking awesome*.
*Spoiler alert(?): Dave Grohl! *swoon!*
@ Pharyngufoodies
Now that I am a member of the pot-set (no not you TLC), I made a very traditional South African meal. Absolutely delicious for those who want to try (not quite canonical, but very close).
Moggie,
No, there’s no circularity involved, because #644 and #655 have different (complementary) aims. The fact that ET ain’t here is an argument (not a strong one, I admit, since there are other possible explanations for ET’s absence) for the universality of capitalism, which was what #655 was about. OTOH #644 was an exploration of possible explanations for the fact that ET ain’t here. If B is a possible explanation for an observed fact A, then A is an argument for the truth of B – but only a strong one to the extent that alternative explanations of A can be ruled out. For example, an early period of inflation is a possible explanation of the flatness problem, and the observed flatness of the universe is an argument for an early period of inflation.
Theophontes, that sounds wonderful! If one doesn’t have marmite at hand, then what?
@ Dr Audley
You are always welcome. But you’re on the other side of the world from me, so you better make a run for the airport if you want some of this particular loaf. (Though I will always have a permanent supply coming out of the oven.)
Caine to theophontes:
I was just going to ask. I don’t know if there’s any place around here that sells marmite. Hell, I’m not even totally sure what marmite is.
Time to Wikipedia that shit!
@ Cain
Buy some!
(No seriously, you could also just add some beef stock.)
Coming soon… Bunny Chow ™ (and it’s vegetarian).
@ Caine
e (glue onto previous, Hial Tpyos)
@ Audley
In principle you could use Vegemite, or Bovril. Works well with the tomatoes to overdose one with umami flavours. Real comfort food. (In a pinch use beef stock. This stew will also thicken up if you cook longer and stir.)
Celebrate?
Sili:
Hugs. Sympathy. Helplessness.
Wife had three classmates who killed themselves their senior year. I knew two students (one in middle school, one in high school) who were killed (one car accident, one parental homicide). Scary.
Theophontes:
Mmm, okay. I was wondering about a healthy dash of balsamic vinegar instead.
No need – you got it right first time!
@ Caine
Good that you mention that. I added a dash of “modena” vinegar to the mix this evening.
One can also add a few drops to the mix when making bread dough.
More about bunny chow. There is actually a website for this refined gastronomical classic. Linky – history of bunny. (My guess was always: “bunny is fast” therefore bunnychow means fastfood, seems others disagree.)
Now … what about sourdough bunny?
Congratulations, Dr. Esteleth. Now you can move into the wild, wonderful world of post-docs.
Audley:
Oh, dear! Now I have to confess: The thing that made me think of doing gluten-free tiramisu was finding packages of GF ladyfingers in the store, while looking for something else on my wife’s shopping list. Making them myself would’ve been outside my skill set.
Furthermore, I just substituted them into a recipe I found on the web.
In addition to the ladyfingers, I also used some home-made coffee liqueur from my brother-in-law (that’s why I had to look up whether vodka and/or grain alcohol was GF). The first time I made this, it seemed that brushing the ladyfingers with the liqueur didn’t soften them enough, so last night I soaked them instead. Also, I found some coffee-flavored mascarpone, and substituted that for about 2/3 of the total called for in the recipe.
Sigh with relief.
In an ideal world, that could happen. However in the real world it won’t. There are too many selfish, greedy bastards around so that distribution becomes unequal very quickly.
‘Tis:
Heh. Mister actually likes the stuff.
@ Oggvader,KG,Tis
People have been confined to the spanking couch for less.
@ Ogg
Present for you at # 617
Obviously someone must or else it wouldn’t be on grocery shelves all over the world.
Actually marmite does serve a functional purpose. It is literally a way of converting industrial sludge into a “useful” product.
Bill D:
That’s okay! I’m betting that using store-bought ladyfingers would turn out better than trying to make them from scratch (and way easier). :)
Marmite (1)
Marmite (2)
NEW THREAD!