Here’s a PSA. Stay away from those tanning salons, people!
(Episode CCXCIV: Taking orders)
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Here’s a PSA. Stay away from those tanning salons, people!
(Episode CCXCIV: Taking orders)
Thanks, Walton. For my part, I think I was being a little needlessly protective because I felt responsible for kicking off a round of general criticisms of her by expressing my frustration here, which was not my intent. It was understandable that people would talk about the problem, which is what I’d done, after all.
By the way, Namazie’s “Enemies Not Allies: The far-Right” (um…duh) in which she “argues for greater care in distinguishing between allies and enemies” [!!!] is a really weird and questionable work.
Ansel Adams seascape (maybe)
BTW janine, I totally absconded with your comment, as in FB:
I know some wickedly funny people:
“Epstein will not be able to come to class to day because Epstein just died.
Signed,
Epstein’s Mother”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
BTW 2, to all: I love me some McSweeneys
If your divine savior is going to take human form, and become mortal, then alerting people to his advent is probably the last thing you want to do. Instead of telling it on the mountain, aren’t you better off keeping the whole thing under wraps? You know—pay off the wise men, put the shepherds into the Witness Protection Program, and send out a press release telling people, “Calm down, that star everyone noticed the other night was actually a weather balloon.”
Looks like probably not:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/03/ansel-adams-photographs-yosemite-rick-norsigian.html
(I hadn’t known anything about that.)
Ansel Adam’s work stands on it’s own. “Writing about Art is like Dancing about Architecture”.
Dancing about Architecture sounds like a good idea.
Adams did do photographs of refugee and Japanese internment camps, and my favorite is a cluster of headstones in Hawaii. I would like to attribute his lack of native american portraiture to simply liking to photograph nature more than people, but I guess there’s no way to know (unless in the refs you gave he specifically said.)
“Dancing about Architecture sounds like a good idea.”
Ahem, ‘about’ and ‘around’ iz not the same! But, yes, also, too, I agree;-)
+++++++++++++++++++
Yo, FTB, why do you hate poor people? I have dial-up and it takes me 10 tries to load the thread!
I don’t think he was arguing that it was about photographing people in general,* but about images of nature that excluded people. Adams and others presented an image of “wild nature” that cut humans out, which had (and has) political ramifications in an era in which the people whose presence is erased are being kicked off of the land so the oil-drilling, strip-mining, water-guzzling richer white people can have their faux-wild wilderness “preserves.” Dowie’s just saying, I think, that Adams and others contributed to the myth, which I think is true. He doesn’t have references or quotes (you can read the section on Google Books), but speculates that Adams and other artists might have been influenced by George Perkins Marsh’s Man and Nature.
*But I don’t think I knew about the refugee camp or headstone photos, which sound very interesting.
SC, maybe you could start a fight with SGBM about this topic. That will probably drive everyone else out.
SC – that makes sense.
The other pics I didn’t know about until I saw the exhibit- the ones with people in it weren’t nearly as popular (which supports your point).
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/190014339
The headstones one is amazing – it has a freakin’ rainbow in it. A black-and-white rainbow.
Thanks, Carlie. I think I’m going to make the Inscription Rock one my wallpaper for a while…
I’m watching ‘Bran Nue Dae’. It’s funny, but why are most of the songs US country music? I like it but I don’t get it.
Sailor: If LM and SC have a discussion on the endless, I’ll read every word of it. You, I skip.
I think writing about art is far from useless, but maybe that’s because I don’t freebase pure creativity like some artists apparently do.
If I ever get myself up to Taleisin and House On The Rock, I’ll have to come up with some appropriate moves.
Over on the Recovery from Mormonism forum, Steve Benson and others are discussing yet another flurry of offended mormons flooding onto the internet to object to having their “sacred” rituals discussed.
Mormons are offended by the words “dunk” and “necrodunk” as applied to proxy baptism of the dead. Mr. Benson writes that
Excerpt above is from a longer post at http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,401063
That’s true, but when it comes to beliefs, there are many choices and characterizing them all as “bad” or “worse” isn’t accurate or helpful. It isn’t bad to have evidence for beliefs.
Well, surely any sacred ritual is going to become mechanic when it’s scaled up to large numbers of people like that.
Kinda pulls back the curtain on the whole notion of sacred, but don’t tell anyone I said that.
slignot @66
Post your question here: http://exmormon.org/phorum/list.php?2
You don’t have to register to post a “New Topic” and you will get all kinds of well-informed answers.
Thomathy, Happiestsadist,
I never actually lived in Toronto proper, grew up in Brampton and if you know anything about that city you know that means I did my recreation elsewhere. Nightlife, shopping, art, and history pretty much meant a trip to Yorkville and hopping the Subway into town.
Re: shoes and feet, I have tiny feet. Like, in US sizing, I wear a women’s six. This means that my feet are 24.5 cm long. That’s fucking tiny. I also wear double-wides (my feet are 8.9 cm wide a the widest point), have high arches (my arch goes up over 3 cm on the inside over 1 cm on the outside), and supinated ankles, which means I walk on the outside of my feet rather than flat on them. Finding shoes is a nightmare.
Then someone suggested I try children’s! My feet are the size of the average 12 or 13 year old’s, and a child’s foot, proportionally, is wider than an adults, which means I’m only a single wide in children’s shoes. Plus, they’re cheaper and typically sturdier for similar quality. The only real downside is dress shoes. If I need something to go with a suit, neither ballet flats nor mary jane’s (my usual go-tos) really do. In those cases, I have to bite the bullet and go to a specialty store and pay through the fucking nose.
For everything else, I get to squee at the OMGCUTE designs.
Re: photography, I love Ansel Adams’s work. I have no skill at photography, but I love the pretty.
Buy ’em all up. Kids don’t deserve boots like that.
Fuck that shit. Just measured my foot. My feet are 20 centimeters long and 8.9 cm wide. That ratio (my feet are only 2.25 times longer than wide) is just ridiculous.
@Sailor:
There’s an option in Firefox Tools – Options – Content tab to uncheck “Load images automatically”. Along with Noscript etc, this ensures NOTHING loads unless you specifically select it – not banners, logos, gravatars, nothing.
It really helps dial-up FTB. I can load a long thread like this one on 1 out of 3 tries now, instead of 1 in 10 (or never).
(Also, in Noscript, allow Freethoughtblogs and Googleapis so that Previewing posts works.)
Antiochus Epiphanes, FY very much!
Incidentally: WANT.
And now, I’m off to a bulb show.
The State of Utah has adoption laws that punish unwed fathers, and that encourage unwed mothers to put their babies up for adoption (usually in a two-parent mormon home). Utah’s laws and mostly-mormon courts make it difficult for fathers from other states to keep their children if the mother flees to Utah to have the baby just so the child can be adopted into a “moral” home as soon as it is born. The adoption laws and customs play right into the hands of the LDS Church.
The LDS Church wants to get its hands on as many babies as possible, and the adoption services available in Utah have been found to be coercive and sneaky in many cases.
Now a persistent unwed father from Colorado is battling the system, and he may actually win.
Link to story in Salt Lake Tribune
From the readers’ comments:
Another article concerning unfair adoption laws in Utah.
Opinions vary on this issue of having corrupt adoption practices in Utah. Some mormons are saying basically, “Too bad. If the guy wanted to be a father, he should have married the mother,” and “If an unwed woman has sex, that’s reason enough to take her baby.”
Stories detailing the kind of pressure that LDS Social Services can bring to bear when it wants to place babies in true-believing mormon homes: http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_ldsss.html
I’ve got size 12EEEE feet.
And you know what they say about guys with big feet, right?
(That’s right. We can’t find shoes that fit.)
O Gosh, I totally borked that link! Let me try again:
Fabulous shoes on sale for $40 for 2 pair
Fashionistas beware. And this, right after I posted the RadFem Fuckability is pro-capitalist linky on PET. Ah well. I am nothing if not self-contradictory.
But we would need some sort of government to do that. A government that may have to scale up in size for all those babies, one could call it a…I dunno…big government.
More mormon necrodunking news:
Link to story at Business Insider.
Excerpt:
Yep. They not only baptized the guy, they made sure he was “sealed,” or celestially married to his wife forever and ever.
Mormons would point out that the proxy baptism and sealing ceremonies are only offered to the dead guy and that he can reject both if he so desires. But mormon theology also says that only worthy mormons can be sealed in marriage. I would guess that they figure the dead atheist did accept the baptism, became a good mormon, and then prompted his living relatives (via the Holy Ghost) to perform the proxy sealing ceremony as well. Dead atheist Romney relatives can’t get any respect.
I guess if your big government is an arm of the majority church, then it’s all hunky dory.
Imagine how awful the Afterlife would be if you are enjoying a mug of mead and some dancing boys and girls when, suddenly, a bunch of Moronis come and drag you off to holyundyworld.
A severe haunting would be in order.
I wonder what you have to do as a mormon to be assigned as a missionary to proselytize in the Outer Darkness where all the dead atheists are hanging out.
Lynna: Don’t they all have to spend two æons out there, in their starched white spacesuits?
You have just described Utah.
With the added mormon flip of reversing the meaning of words, with no sense of irony. Big = Small.
@Lynna, your second link in #526 doesn’t work (the unfair adoption laws one)
More details on the Angel Moroni and cohorts being outfitted in special space suits can be found here:
http://www.scari.org/Mormons.United.html
I think the exact number of æons should be thoroughly debated. This is important stuff.
That’s true, but as others have mentioned, sometimes in life the choices are between bad and worse.
ah but when comparing extreme religion to moderate, don’t forget there is a 3rd party option.
and if you really have forgotten, it’s probably just because it’s so obvious you’re living it.
the goal should always be to underscore any tiny steps towards moderate religion with the idea that religion itself should be completely abandoned as an idea.
it’s not an either/or thing, it’s tactics AND strategy.
you can apply tactical choice to encourage moderation in religion, at the same time strategically manipulating the information involved to lead towards abandonment.
win win.
from long ago: I didn’t know about Guatemala’s civil war and genocide, either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efra%C3%ADn_R%C3%ADos_Montt
…I’m starting to think allies are so important just to make it difficult for the haters to kill ALL of us. I mean, yeesh.
Also, I have visions of a sort of dictator/civil war/genocide-of-the-week blog, or maybe a desk calendar. >_>
I am having beer for lunch. And lo, it was good.
Esteleth
Was that beer as lunch or beer with lunch?
In the Czech Republic, they have a saying: “hunger is just thirst in disguise”. Then they drink beer. ;)
Yet. :D
Did I tell the story about my brothers and the spool yet? Before I was born (my half-siblings are much older than me) my family lived on a Navy base with their house at the bottom of a long, bucolic slope. The pre-teen boys from housing would all roam around the base in a pack and one day they found a great big cable spool and decided the take turns riding inside it as it rolled down the slope. My brother points out that at least he got his turn to ride before it went out of control, escaped down the slope and crashed through the picture window of my mom and dad’s house.
The blog that would really ease my parenting frustrations at this point would be ShitMyKidsRefuseToDoAroundTheHouse.com.
Just a quick note – I’ve just been listening to the skeptic wire podcast and there’s a poll they need pharyngulated wrt to mayors in support of gay marriage.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Mayor-Castro-signs-same-sex-marriage-pledge/ftfuKG7hdUel3wXH1u3JRw.cspx
Chigau, as lunch. But I have to go to work briefly in a few, and I’ll get some food while I’m out.
Changeable, on one side I’m Czech of the Bavarian variety. So, I agree.
@537
Sorry. My apologies.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/53187858-82/adoption-parent-parents-adoptive.html.csp
*flail*
Well, I tried to go to work. My cells, cheeky buggers that they are, require regular feeding. So, I went out in a fucking snowstorm, drove to campus, and tried to feed them.
I don’t have 24/7 access to the lab! I tried calling everyone I could think of’s office phone, plus the phone in the lab, to no success.
So, I drove home and sent a panicked all-points email. Hopefully, someone will be able to either let me in or feed my cells for me. They may be alright until tomorrow, but they will almost certainly not be alright until Monday.
*flail*
There may be some good news coming out of the State of Washington soon.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/AP-Support-building-for-gay-marriage-bill-in-Wash–137116858.html
Of course, the mormons and some catholics are right in there donating money to fight gay marriage. National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is active in the state. Ads spouting proven lies are proliferating.
More on adoption difficulties in Utah:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53200751-78/wyatt-utah-adoption-court.html.csp
Unscrupulous social services agencies in Utah encourage unwed mothers to give their babies up for adoption, and to hide the fact that they have done so from the fathers. At the very least, the unscrupulous agencies try to get the babies adopted by true-believing, two-parent, mormon households before the father can find out what’s going on.
The adoption lawyer involved in the case cited at the link above is a mormon, and has been charged with questionable adoption practices in the past.
Link for comment.
I am indescribably, boiling, fuming angry.
After we found out the kid had lice, I asked Mr Kristinc to check my head. Check very carefully, I said. Please look very very carefully.
Nothing, he said, not even a flake of dandruff.
Then I started getting itchy and asked him to check again. Nope, he assured me he was 100% confident I was completely clean.
Finally the itching drove me to pull a louse comb through my hair several times and of course I am covered in the fucking things. Just covered.
d of course, exactly how am I supposed to get rid of the things? Even the louse shampoo says to comb through every day for a week to look for eggs and surviving lice. And demonstrably, I cannot rely on him to do it. What the actual, everloving fuck?
Dhorvath! Hello neighbour! I’m not originally from here, but I like it. The pretend winters are lovely, I’ve never gotten used to Maritime ones.
I should not still have a flailing paranoia of lice at this age. I mean it made sense sort of when I was a little kid with past-my butt curls, but not as a semi-shit-in with headfuzz. My immense sympathies, kristinc. How the hell did he miss that?
Ugh, that sucks so hard kristinc.
I had lice once as a kid, and it was terrible. The worst of it was another parent (it had gone through the school, which is how I got it) who sent their kid to school positively crawling with the things, because they “couldn’t be bothered” to do anything about it. They calmed down a bit (marginally) when the school sent the kid back home and threatened to call Child Services.
kristinc, I am so sorry! Your husband’s a total dolt about this.
I don’t know how long your hair is, but if it’s longer than a few inches just cut it short. My mother had thick hair down her back in the late 70s and caught my lice I got from Headstart. She cut it all off rather than live with the uncertainty of whether she got them all.
If it makes you feel any better I got crab lice twenty years ago. They came back twice after I tried to eradicate them. While I was living in a group home, trying to hide the horrible condition and my eradication procedures from my peers. I think head lice are easier to get rid of.
@kristinc
Shave?
My hair is short and straight and I could buzz it off (I wore it buzzed for a couple years not long ago) but dammit! I just decided to see if I liked growing it back out!
And that’s not even really it, it’s that it defaults to my job to comb out and care for anyone else in this house who has lice. If Mr Kristinc doesn’t have them after a week of sleeping next to me it’ll be a miracle, and his hair is long and curly and sure as shit I’ll end up combing him out for a week, but my hair? yeah, probably going to end up buzzed off.
It’s a manifestation of caring without being the cared-for in return, and it’s really upsetting.
@krinstinc
So shave him too. It’ll be an important lesson for him. :)
Family buzz cuts.
Ugh ugh ugh
My landlord just called me to say that apparently my hot water heater has busted. He’s working on fixing it, but now I have no hot water. This day is getting better by the minute.
I was about to ask if he’s even realized that he’ll likely get lice as well. Why the fuck should it just be your job to deal with this anyway?
I think you’re really right to be upset. That sucks.
Thanks for the internet shoulders, everyone, I was about ready to blow a gasket.
Ugh, Orange Utan (love your nick btw), as if I would want to look at him with a buzz cut every day. Trust me, it would be bad. I’m not combing his fucking beard though, he can kiss that goodbye if he has the crawlies.
If you can get them (not sure about the US), malathion-based treatments (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/skin-and-hair/medicines/derbac-m-liquid.html) have proved very effective chez CM.
I second shaving the guy who did such a lousy job of helping. >_>
Also, Orange Utan, if you played CoH a few years back, Spackle says hi.
Esteleth: “I have no hot water”.
Sympathies.
On Thursday, I woke up to find we had no heating, no hot water. After 20 minutes looking for the instructions for the boiler, then reading them, I discovered the solution was to press its “Reset” button, which I did.
Instantly, heating. Hot water took a while, though.
Yes, I was late for work.
(Next time, I’mma just gonna press “reset” no matter what.)
@Pteryxx
Not me.
Yep. He has ’em.
FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs_malathion.html
It’s a bit smelly, but it works.
Malathion is prescription only here. Fortunately, the ones we’ve got seem to be susceptible to ye olde pyrethrins.
My train to Berlin goes in less than 20 hours. I haven’t yet bothered to do anything about organizing an Internet connection there, so I may not have one at home for a few days, and I may not be able to spend lots of time in my new supervisor’s office in the museum… I expect threadruptcy. I hope I’ll find time to look at everyone’s photography sometime.
Dinosaur rainboots! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) *expected hugs for CC*
*sterile Internet hugs for kristinc*
Day saved.
I like your way with words. :-)
Mealworms are the larvae of Tribolium beetles. Was that your point? Are they selling cheap maggots as mealworms?
+ 1
Mine are a bit longer, but otherwise similar. My metatarsal bones diverge, and they have more similar lengths than usual. Finding shoes is a nightmare – shoes in different widths are sold almost nowhere; it’s rare for widths to be even mentioned at all. So, I commonly wear shoes that are around 2 sizes too long and still not quite wide enough.
Esteleth:
The cells can’t thank you for that, so I shall do so on their behalf, for cosmic justice: Thanks!
kristinc – make him comb out his own damned lice, if you have to do yours!!!
Not too hard – they do come off on the comb, so even though you can’t see yourself do it you can check the comb after each runthrough, and if you have your hair gunked up enough they can’t run off before you catch them. The eggs are the worst part, but if you’re combing every day you’ll get them all as they hatch.
Carlie, I’m not at all sure that I can comb my hair effectively without missing any spots. And he is so (cultivatedly) helpless about anything having to do with hair I would be terrified he would miss some on his head and spread them back to me. No, for the peace of mind of knowing they are really really gone, I’ll have to comb and check his damned hair. :/
kristinc:
I still like the “shave him bald” idea.
PS: If I got lice, I’d shave myself bald. I’d probably shave (most of) my beard, too. (I’d keep a goatee, probably, and maybe a mustache.)
I second Benjamin – if he can’t check himself properly, shave him bald. :) It will grow back.
So sorry you’ve all got it.
I’m feeling frustrated, for entirely little reasons. I had bellydance today and I came out already sore and near tears with frustration (I do not understand bodies, I do not understand how other people are doing movements, and I cannot get my body to do the things that I tell it to do even when I do understand), then I got all the way home and realized I’d forgotten to do something important at the library that I absolutely have to do before Monday, so now I have to go back to campus tomorrow (which is just a hassle). On top of that, I told my friend I wouldn’t talk to him unless he did his homework and he didn’t do his homework so now I have to not talk to him.
Waah.
@Sailor: (Hello Sailor!) It’s true. The Australian Aboriginal community is remarkably fond of country music. Personally, I prefer blues and rock – much of which is also American. You yanks are not a total loss to world culture ;)
Oh, and my landlady prefers me not to eat in my room, and I feel like an asshole doing so anyway, but I’m feeling so stressed already that being outside of my room might push me over the edge. So now I’m trying to decide if it’s better to be hungry, feel like an asshole, or risk having a meltdown in the dining room.
DDMFM: How exciting. If you mentioned it in an earlier thread, I missed it…what will you be working on?
In seriousness, I would appreciate a Freethoughtblog focused on political and social conditions in Latin America, something that seems to get covered remarkably little in mainstream media, and something about which I know far too little. I would have heard very little at the time about the 2009 coup in Honduras if it were not for SC, for instance. (I didn’t thank her at the time, because in those days I was a right-wing idiot and was also suffering from severe emotional problems, but I’ll thank her now.)
====
Ing, way upThread,
Actually, as it happens, this is strangely appropriate today. John Sentamu – the Anglican Archbishop of York, second highest cleric in the Church of England, and someone I previously respected very much for his outspoken advocacy of peace and racial justice – made some horribly bigoted comments about same-sex marriage today.
I was very hurt, personally, by what he said. If a run-of-the-mill white fundamentalist bigot somewhere had said it, I’d have sighed and moved on, since I expect things like that from them. But from someone who I had respected, and who is one of the leaders of the church in which I grew up, to which my family belongs and which is the established state church in my home country, it’s actually very hurtful. I feel like he’s rejecting and stigmatizing my identity as a bisexual person, and, even more so, those of all of my friends who are in same-sex relationships. And he is someone who should know better; he knows about oppression, he knows what it’s like to be stigmatized and discriminated-against, and he’s been right on so many other issues in the past. I hope he reconsiders this myopic, prejudiced stance. I think he’s generally a fundamentally decent and compassionate person, which is precisely why it hurts that he said these things.
So up to a point I think you’re right; faith can cause otherwise-decent people to do irrational and harmful things, and I think that’s a problem. Of course I don’t think it’s a reason for cutting off progressive religious people or declining to work with them (and I don’t think you were saying it was), but I think there are real problems with a morality which is led primarily by scriptural commands rather than humanistic values, however the scriptural commands are interpreted.
====
So tomorrow, as I mentioned, is the 100th anniversary of Anna LoPizzo’s death during the 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike. It’s really depressing to me that a hundred years later, immigrant workers – especially women – still get treated horrifically badly; and the pattern of exploitation and abuse both by government and by corporations hasn’t ended. I can see some horrible parallels between the violent response to the 1912 strikers and, say, the response of the authorities to the women detainees (mostly asylum-seekers who were survivors of torture and rape) who went on hunger strike at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Britain. I wrote a blog post today on the subject.
Hooray!
I got a call from my landlord. Apparently the problem was that a drain the basement got backed up, leading to a flood in the basement, which hit the water heater, which put the pilot light out. They cleared the drain, the water went away, the pilot light was relit, and now – I just checked – I have hot water!
*dances*
David M.,
*hugs* Hope it goes well.
CongaRats. That deserves a hot spiced grog. *hands tankard to Esteleth*. Enjoy.
CC – lots of hugs. It might get easier the more you do it, or it might just be that your body doesn’t move that way. Are there any tai chi classes locally? Those can also give you training in feeling where your body is in space (propriaception?), and the movements should be a lot easier.
Thanks, Nerd!
*sips grog*
I think I’m going to go take a hot bubblebath and then go to bed. :D
Yay for hot water!
http://www.skinnies.co.nz/
This is a relatively new sunscreen, the best I have ever used, and they ship overseas. It’s waterproof. There are a few reviews of it on the web. It’s a chemical sunscreen, as opposed to a physical one, I think there may be some debate as to which is better, but I know the consistency in physical screens of higher SPFs is not nice.
So umm… long time ‘n all… Haven’t been around much, I know. Y’know. Busy. Priorities. Trying to keep peace. Stuff like that.
But, hey, no reason, but… ummm…
Are there other unbelievers married to believers here?
And have any of the rest of you had your lovely wife come out of the bedroom where she was trying to put your six-year-old to sleep and hiss at you that your campaign ‘to turn her children into atheists ends here!’
… ‘Cos, ummm… just for the record, and for what my say-so here is worth, I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any such campaign, and I generally wasn’t getting into heavy philosophical discussion with the six-year old about deities, presence/absences, etc… And, okay, yes, so apparently he’s pretty bright and he worked it out about me… And I’m guessing maybe/probably after he came home from school telling me some classmate had told him he was going to hell if he didn’t believe in Jesus and I told him not to worry, and that people who say stuff like that are probably just trying to scare others into going along with their thing…
Oh, don’t look at me like that, Hon. Whatinhell was I supposed to say?
And okay, sure, he has been asking questions, lately. Which, sure, does get awkward, makes it hard to work out what to say. As I did tell her, quite some time back, look, I’d keep quiet, say little, let them work things out, and yes, that’s consistently what I’ve tried to do. Sans not actually saying shit I don’t believe.
… or that’s my guess, that that’s when he put it all together. But I’m not sure how my Muslim-raised wife would have preferred I handle that, either, and dammit, what are ya gonna do… Jesus, huh? That guy? He and his people, they say a lot of stuff. And I really do wish they’d just shut the hell up, for a change, for the sake of what little remains of my marriage, y’know?
Oh. Also. Would you consider someone badmouthing Pratchett grounds for divorce? ‘Cos I’m leaning that way right now. As, apparently, I was trying to ‘brainwash’ my rather precocious more ‘n ten-years-old daughter ‘cos I let her read the guy, and listen, in my defense, she just started taking ’em out of the library ‘cos I was reading some, and she’s read more of it than I have, now. And I didn’t even know the guy was an atheist, tho’ I guess in retrospect, okay, maybe I might have guessed…
But in my defense, honest, I just thought he was a generic wiseass. Really. And anyway, we generic wiseasses, we stick together. And honey, I love ya and all, but ya really shouldn’t have gone there.
This is the part where you all say ‘these mixed marriages never work out’, right?
I kid. I think. Just kinda… What the hell. I don’t even know what this is. But seriously, again, it really keeps coming back to me: the whole game here just seems to me that I can’t say anything. At all. Ever.
I know. I know. I’m airing dirty laundry here. Not really right. And this is probably just going to be exhibit 602 at my forthcoming divorce hearing. When upset, my husband whines online about me on the internet to unbelieving strangers…
But dammit, I can’t deal with this anymore. Have to vent somewhere.
I really shouldn’t hit ‘Submit Comment’ here, should I.
Yeah. No. Anyway. I’m gonna. Fuck it. Can’t get anymore nutty than what I’m already dealing with, right?
Don’t answer that.
(/Just the rest of it. Please.)
Hey AJ Milne? I’m too young to have any advice or understanding about being married and that sort of things, but *hugs* here are some hugs anyway.
Ignore comment. Misread after lots of wine
I think I need to move out. :(
With my coat, hat, gloves, collar, and iPod all on, while allowing myself to rock as needed, I still almost burst into tears in the dining room for no reason. I can’t keep this up.
AJ Milne
… um *hug*
sorry, best I can do
Regarding lice… has nobody mentioned electric combs?? Look ’em up. I got lice in NZ. The electric comb seemed to do the job. It’s a very fine-toothed comb that electrocutes and kills any animal it comes into contact with. Of course, shaving kids may be easier than this. But for an adult, electric comb might be the way to go.
Sympathetic: *hug*
Blunt Honesty: These mixed things do work out some time…but I don’t think they can when one partner inherently doesn’t respect the view of the other and/or cannot accept the possibility that children would disagree with them and agree with the other parent.
If you think things are getting bad I might suggest you preemptively suggest and seek out marriage counselors so that you can ensure you find one who isn’t going to be religiously biased and will acknowledge the issue is one of intolerance on spouse’s end.
I’m a tad threadrupt and don’t have time to read the rest of the thread right now, so I hope no one else has mentioned this already. But anyway, here’s one to file under Elevators (Even Hotel Ones) Can Be Dangerous Places For Women:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/28/mexico-beating-saturday.html
She was in a medically induced coma in Mexico for a while and now is home in Calgary awaiting facial reconstruction surgery.
[Personal comment: I don’t know what to make of his claim that Ms. McNabb was naked. Somehow, it seems like wishful thinking, or perhaps he doesn’t know English for “in a bikini” or something? Of course, I’m not entirely convinced that this guy is the perpetrator, since the PTB in Mazatlan were surely pressed to wrap this up quickly, but I’m sure the CCTV footage won’t show something entirely different from his statement.]
AJ: Damn, that sounds awkward. I don’t have any advice to offer, but I do understand some of the difficulties. (I’m not married, but I do come from a religious family who I love and with whom I have a close relationship.) It’s not easy. But love conquers all. I’m sure you and your wife will get through this. *hugs*
(However, Pratchett is awesome. And enjoyed by plenty of believers as well as non-believers, in my experience.)
Not necessarily true. And if it doesn’t work out you shouldn’t necessarily take it as a failure or sign that affection and love wasn’t real or strong enough.
Yes. That’s true, of course, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I was trying to be positive and supportive, but I’m sorry if I chose my words poorly.
Thanks all.
Re counsellors: she won’t go. I’ve tried.
Okay. Honestly. It’s been a while since I tried. And I could probably try more… nicely. I guess. Trouble is, I think I’m a little bit out of nice right now… Kinda have been a while.
Honestly, hon, he’s six. He’s gonna ask stuff you’re not gonna be able to answer without eventually having to say ‘I don’t know’. He doesn’t need me coaching him or somethin’ to achieve that. I’m pretty sure it just comes with the whole being six thing.
Anyway. I gotta sleep. Or try to. But thanks. For the hugs especially.
Classical Cipher:
*Hugs*. I get you with the belly-dancing thing. I’m physically awkward about stuff (dancing, yoga, learning to drive took me longer than normal, failed typing class though I can type well enough now, and I totally suck at videogames…don’t have the patience to learn the controls before I’m totally bored). It takes me ages and ages to figure out how to imitate other people’s movements and practise them often enough for me to get the hang of it. Once I do, I’m usually okay or even good at some things (like driving), but getting there is hard. Once worked retail and they tried to train me on cash. They expected me to pick it up in two shifts. Ha!
*more hugs for the crappy living situation*
How reasonable is your landlady? Could you talk to her and tell her that you agree that eating in the dining room is preferable, but that you sometimes suffer stress and anxiety to such an extent that you need to be in your own space, and on those few occasions, you need to be able to eat in your room? (I don’t know if I’m accurately portraying the situation.) Would she accept it as an occasional/rare event?
And don’t feel like an asshole for dealing with your stress. It’s your right and duty to take care of yourself as best you can, as long as no one’s getting hurt.
AJ,
Yah, but no children ∴ no problem there.
In the news: South Korea floats socks to the North:
Hey Guys,
Here’s another poll about Jessica Ahlquist that needs to be Pharyngulated.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/jessica-ahlquist-prayer-banner-rhode-island-school_n_1237199.html
@ KG 496
Interesting, I better read up some more.
I have come across a similar counter-intuitive outcome wrt housing. There is a suggestion by Rod Burgess that low cost housing for the poor does not actually help them in the long run as it allows governments to fob off the problems (often onto the poor themselves) instead of finding more humane and long term solutions. In seeking to help the poor they often end up lowering the cost of labour.
We certainly cannot waste, in another place, what we saved in the first place. Nor ameliorate the problem by simply moving it on. (Inevitably this shifts the problem onto people who can least afford it and onto the environment. Whatever has the least voice.)
It certainly is a very complicated problem to create sustainable and equitous solutions. I cannot see though that we can get around it in the current way of going about things – either by increasing energy supply or increasing efficiencies. The monster itself has to be replaced. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul” is, as you have indicated, a large part of the problem.
I bring up housing, because housing and transport are two major sources of pollution and of resource (ab)use. There are also very many ways to make structural changes in these two fields that could allow (theo eyes the Merkins in particular) major strides to be made. This would require lifestyle changes though. Even though they may be for the better, how do you sell the idea to nations hooked on resource consumption?
(This problem gnaws at me constantly as I witness the path China is taking.)
@ Benjamin
Photography meetups: Here is an interesting link for you. I forgot exactly where you are in Florida, but you should find similar nearby (browse around the linky… the are lots of fantastic outings and photowalks). eg: Florida Center for Creative Photography.
@magistramarla
That’s a tricky one isn’t it? From what I understand, Jessica and the other advocates for secularism themselves originally suggested that the banner be altered, but the school administrators took an all or nothing approach.
theophontes:
I’m already a member of the Photographic Art Society, but they meet on Thursday nights and I’m in class.
Correction: The victim’s name in the elevator beating is Sheila Nabb, not Sheila McNabb.
AJ,
*hugs*
Power, control, ownership. Neither of you can ultimately control the outcome of your kid. I’m sorry your wife is dealing with stress this way. Since you’re seeking advice, to me, it doesn’t sound like divorce time. Maybe just relax and recognize your wife’s limitations time :/ Trust your kid. If you’re good and secure, and loving, and patient… your kid will admire it in time.
AJ, all my sympathies, that sounds like a miserable situation for you right now. There’s nothing wrong with answering your children’s questions and there’s certainly nothing wrong with them reading Pratchett.
It’s fine if you can settle on “we can both answer a question and let the kid decide for himself”, but I don’t think being silenced is a solution of any kind.
I wish I could offer something better, but I’ve never faced such problems, I’m childfree and married to an atheist.
Frankly, I don’t know how it is that folks with diametrically opposed views on the universe (she’s an atheist; he’s a Protestant believer) end up marrying each other. Did it not occur to you that really important existential questions, especially when you have kids were going to come up? Did you think this was on the level of “well, she liked salads for dinner, but I always preferred casserole.”?
The only solution is to CLEANSE THE EARTH WITH NUCLEAR FIRE.
You’re welcome.
Since I raged here when Google+ showed its nasty side, I’m now tempted to ask (again) : what do you think about the new google privacy policy?
http://gizmodo.com/5878987/its-official-google-is-evil-now
That is, no-more-privacy policy.
Help, please.
I recently read a study which analysed the voting records of Republican and Democrat politicans and scored them according to humanist values. The scores given were between 0 and 5; there was a considerable bias of Republican scores toward zero (many Republicans scored zero) and higher scores for Democrats. Only a handful of Democrats scored 5.
My google-fu isn’t up to the task of locating this webpage again. I’ve tried lots of searches; can’t locate it in my bookmarks; can’t see it in my browser history. Does anybody know this study?
@ AJ Milne
Really cool to have such precocious children – even if they are more work. From my jumbled attempts at parenthood (sample size, n=1) it pretty much comes down to just giving lots of love and support.
I would suggest going to a councillor, not just for you and SO’s peace of mind, but also to get some professional suggestions as to how to cope with kids. They are different to our generation and there is a lot of shit going down. Parenting is bloody difficult and kids don’t come with operating instructions.
We were beside our selves with worry during the Spawnphontes “tween” stage (warning: about to strike!). We ended up going to a councilor who managed to talk us back out from under the couch.
The bottom line… lots of love and support and then just hope for the best. There is nothing one can push.
@ Benjamin
Photogroup: The meetup linkies are often run one-off events, so they can fit into your timetable.
There are some amazing pics in your Art Photo group. (Shit, I have such a long way too go. I shouldn’t browse too long or I become disheartened.)
Here a recent composite picture I took and assembled today: Temple of Mamon. (It is inside one of the local banks. Really gives the feeling of a church.)
Good morning
Did I mention that sometimes Mr. needs a smack around the head with the privilege-hammer?
Yesterday, we spent most of the day putting together a new slatted frame (well, I put it together, he kept the kids out of reach) and doing some other repairs/cleaning.
So, when we were almost done, he said “When we’ve finished this, we’ll have a coffee and call it a day”.
I asked him if we were going to order dinner and he gave me a surprised look.
“but you like cooking!” was not a good reply for him…
kristinc
Well, I guess the window was a better thing to crash into than a concrete wall. It’s always better to be angry because of broken things than devastated because of broken kids.
Sorry to hear about the lice. Can youhave a friend do it for you? And get him to have his eyes checked…
And shaved.
And why do I need to scratch my head now?
++++++
There is indeed, just as there is usually an independent candidate running for president in the USA.
Let’s face it, religion isn’t going to get away soon, so, yes, in the short run we have to pick our battles, and in that case I prefer German Lutherans over American Evangelicals and reformed Islam over Saudi Arabia.
Actually, I’m much more interested in what people do as opposed to what they believe in.
Who here wouldn’t pick Esteleth over Franc Hoggle?
That somebody is an atheist tells me pretty little about the actual person, just like “theist” tells pretty little. Sure, add other parts of information, like humanist, egalitarian, feminist, or creationist, anti-choice, authoritarian and I get a better picture.
AJ Milne
My sympathies.
Fortunately my spouse only believes in “something out there” and hates organized religion as much as I do, so we haven’t had any problems in that area.
Maybe you should talk about those things that get you into fights.
If you ask us how you were supposed to handle that situation, we’re obviously not going to help much.
Doesn’t mean that you can actually do what she expects you to do, but it’s a start.
Maybe get a mechanism to talk about such things so they don’t boil up in between.
Mr. and I have the rule that we don’t argue in public or make snide remarks towards each other in public or when the kids are around.
“Let’s talk about it later” is a safe-word that is respected and accepted, because we then do talk about it later.
It isn’t a magic cure-all solution, but IMO it prevents some of the more ugly fights.
CC
Hugs and chocolate are coming via USB port
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York and second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England has attacked plans to turn civil partnerships into marriages in name. They are already effectively marriages in practice.
He does so on the grounds it is not for the Government to overturn centuries of tradition. This is rather odd, given that Sentamu is black and presumably is happy the Government intervened to end slavery, a practice that lasted for centuries and could be considered traditional.
It is even more odd when you consider than Sentamu, who was born in Uganda, fled that country to escape persecution.
The BBC report is here.
Sometimes I cannot help but think the C of E is actively trying to make itself irrelevant.
AJ, send me an email if you want at carliesinternet at yahoo. Spouse is a devout Southern Baptist.
Josh- For a lot of them, the differences weren’t there at marriage – later either one spose got less devout or the other got more. Especially possible when married young.
kristinc, sympathies re the lice – I have two spawn, and went through the whole damn rigmarole at least 3 or 4 times spanning their years in primary school (and isn’t it funny how thinking about lice makes your scalp itch in a phantom sort of way?). I am the only member of the household with short hair; everyone else wears it long to very long. First few times we went the non-chemical route: masses of ordinary conditioner to immobilise the bastards, then painstaking combing – once every 4 days, three cycles (iirc) to get every last new hatchling. Last time, we just blitzed them with chemicals – except for me; with short straight hair I used to do my own head quite easily in the bath: masses of conditioner, fine-tooth comb very very scrupulously, wiping the comb off on a new sheet of toilet paper each time.
I also think your OH should shave his head until he gets a clue. Does he have vision problems, like being long-sighted? Although I suppose at a stretch, maybe just maybe, it’s just about possible to miss them; they do move fast (until you swamp them with conditioner).
AJ, that is a very difficult situation. Is it possible to have a discussion without the kids being present, and try to work out what expectations are and whether they can be met? I mean, she presumably doesn’t want to lie about what she believes in order to match you – she can’t expect you to lie in order to match her. But I think Algernon and others have nailed the crucial thing; as long as the kids get to experience you as loving and caring for them, and are encouraged to think for themselves that’s probably the best grounding anyone could have.
I do think it could be hard, though, when it’s something so pervasive as religious beliefs. I wish you luck and I’d like to send a whole lot of virtual hugs, if you’ll have ’em.
AJ: What they all said. If you answering a simple direct question like that is “campaigning” and letting a kid read Pratchett is “brainwashing” then… y’know, you’re not dealing with someone reasonable here. I’m sorry to say, I’d be frickin’ terrified. Start writing this crap down, PLEASE. By posting here, at least you have documentation.
—
poem quoted in Walton’s post:
That reminds me so much of the how-dare-they-buy-lobster-with-food-stamps jackass.
@ Sailor / Chigau
“Writing about Art is like Dancing about Architecture”.
Hehe.(Check out the linky above) I could not help but think of the Beaux Arts Ball of 1931. I am sure there was lots of dancing.
theophontes@606,
The best idea I’ve come across that might just possibly work within a reformed capitalist framework is “Contraction and Convergence” at international level, and “carbon” (i.e., GHG emissions, really) rationing within countries. The latter would work by allocating everyone a personal carbon allowance. Direct energy use in the home, and fuel for private vehicles, and your share of fuel for your use of mass transport, would come off this; the remainder of the country’s allowance under C&C would be sold to businesses to cover their emissions, and they would incorporate the cost into their prices. If an individual needed or wanted to use more than their personal allowance, they would have to buy additional allowance from those who used less than their allowance – so it would also act redistributively.
Of course, one only has to describe this to imagine how furiously the rich, at both country and personal level, would fight it.
Not entirely sure what you’re suggesting this as the solution to, but if it’s GHG emissions, it’s only too likely to be the one adopted, I fear, as desperate governments in the 2050s or so try to distract their desperate citizens by finding a war to fight.
It is Monday. And, once again, I have three emails yelling at me about something I didn’t do on a day I wasn’t here.
And I promise that I will try, very hard, to actually understand what has been written. And if I do not fully understand, I promise to remain ‘silent’ about it.
I wear an 11. My feet are narrow. But my arches (and thus my instep) are so freakin’ high that I have to wear EEE oe EEEE shoes, or go up to a 12 or 12.5.
I had a Smuttynose pale ale last night. Very good.
We lucked out the only time (knock linoleum (no wood ’round here (save for me head))) Girl had lice. No one else got it. Which is not to say it was easy.
I know this doesn’t help, but reading some of your comments make me both sad and happy that Kids are now almost-19 and 21.
Seconded.
Of course, my normal haircut is already a buzzcut, so . . . .
And if you do find yourself combing his hair? Remember that the steel combs can, if you don’t handle them just right, be very, very painful.
Yes, that was a hint.
I used to worry that, when the conservatives finally realize that AGW is real, the solution they will go for is nuclear winter. I meant it as a joke way back when.
I no longer find it funny.
Ogvorbis,
Way back when Tony Blair was leader of the opposition over here, I joked that as Labour always move right when they gain power, I feared that if he became Prime Minister, he would invade Poland.
Well, I was wrong about the identity of the invaded country.
@ KG
In spite coming across as a very good idea as a meta-level solution, I can see that one running into all manner of problems. Reading through it, one already gets the sense of not being able to personally contribute to the solution, that it is very much top down and dependent on the powers that be. We can push to support such a policy, but would likely be seen as a voice calling in the wilderness. Action is then very indirect and the “Energy consumption is good – wealth is linked to energy use” crowd will be out to block any efforts in this regard.
On the personal level, it must come down to values. So much of what is held in esteem currently is driven by a conspicuous and unquestioning show of consumption.
China has got to the stage where people feel they will not be taken seriously without a large car, a Louis Vuitton (man)bag and the very latest cell phone. It is a mugs game that is far to often pursued without reflection on the larger consequences. It is not even a question of happiness. The ideal is out there and it is being pursued at breakneck speed. To live the resource rich, energy-inefficient lifestyle of the rich and famous. What is it about us particular human apes that we follow this course so unremittingly? There is a lot of lip service paid to ecologically sound lifestyles, but this serves as little more than a means to assuage guilt at the real driving force of reckless consumption.
Happiestsadist,
Nay, I spent nigh thirty years in southern Ontario, but my last seven birthdays have been on the wet coast. I am familiar is all.
___
Kristinc,
Get his eyes checked too. That seems beyond deliberate incompetence to me, (I mean, I don’t know him, but missing lice?)
___
Classical Cipher,
You need to do something, having a meal should not be a trial. I hope you can find a solution that doesn’t require moving. Hugs in the meantime.
___
Giliell,
He can’t field the kids and throw a meal together at the same time?
___
AJ
That sounds serious. I wonder if there isn’t more and would add another vote for counseling. Take care of yourself in the meantime, stress is an insidious cost.
AJ…I got nothing. No wisdom in this regard whatsoever. I’m glad that Carlie offered an ear, cuz I know that she knows what’s up. Good luck with all that.
theophontes, nice link, I [heart] NYC! (But I feel bad for the kid on the far left.)
I’d like more detail: how would you enforce the restrictions in practice? How would you prevent the development of an energy “black market”? I could be misunderstanding you, so perhaps my concerns are unfounded, but the prospect of trying to use prohibitive laws to police individual energy use worries me somewhat. The increase in prices for basic goods would also hit the poor very hard, although this could, of course, be mitigated by a more generous welfare system (as I imagine you would advocate).
I agree with you that climate change is a dire emergency, but surely there are other ways to address it? I’m no expert, and could be wrong; but I’d guess that the number one priority needs to be ending our dependence on fossil fuel as an energy-source as soon as possible. I’m in favour both of a large-scale expansion of alternative energy sources, and to the building of new nuclear power plants (despite the latter’s environmental cost), in an attempt to completely phase out coal, oil and natural gas power plants as soon as is feasible. Providing financial incentives to switch to hybrid cars would also, presumably, do a great deal of good, as would massive investment in public transport (particularly in the US, where the public transport infrastructure in many places is shockingly bad). And ending our society’s bizarre obsession with disposable plastic packaging would also be a useful step: we could abolish plastic carrier bags, for example, and incentivize manufacturers to wrap products in paper or other biodegradable materials rather than plastic. (And Styrofoam, clingfilm and disposable cutlery, all of which are non-recyclable, should be replaced by biodegradable alternatives: something which would be very easy to do, given that such alternatives already exist.) Of course all of my proposals will involve large-scale government action and expenditure on big infrastructure projects, something I’m entirely comfortable with. (Indeed, if one buys into Keynesian theory, such projects might well help to stimulate the economy.) So my dislike of your solution isn’t grounded on any opposition to government action – I fully support government action to address the urgent threat of climate change – but, rather, on an evidence-based scepticism of the ability of prohibitive laws to address social problems.
Sentamu, from the link @618:
Yeah, dictators are all about extending rights to formerly oppressed minorities in ways which don’t harm the majority, aren’t they?
Allo allo.
I overslept this morning. I woke up, looked at the clock, did some mental math, and concluded that if I hurried, I could walk into the Meetinghouse right around Rise of Meeting.
So, instead, I took a long shower and went to the store. My old apartment had wall-to-wall carpeting. My new place has hardwood floors. Beautiful, but cold on my bare feet. So I bought a few area rugs. I also bought a vacuum cleaner to supplement my little handheld thing. I brought the rugs home, and Morgan promptly flipped the fuck out. While the one was still rolled up, she thought it was a scratching post. I scolded her, and she glared. After they were all unrolled, she adopted an attitude of “WTF, I don’t UNDERSTAND” and mewed very pitifully. She seems to have gotten over it, as she is now taking a nap in my laundry basket.
@AJ
I’ve seen that sort of phenomenon as a kid. My parents’ marriage went through a phase where they fought frequently over the religion of us kids. Neither was – or is – an atheist, but a one was at the time a full-fledged Bible-beating fundie of the QF Dominionist stripe (she’s gotten better, fortunately), the other is a semi-progressive mainstream Xtian. There was a very tense decade or so when us kids were young. If she won’t go to counseling, I’m not sure what to suggest other than an ultimatum. Ask her if she realizes that she’s damaging her relationship with you, perhaps. *sympathies* Best of luck.
theophontes,
Well yes, Contraction and Convergence is aimed at the international level, as the basis of an international agreement, not the personal level. Action is needed at all levels.
Status competition. We have to try both to reduce that, by reducing socio-economic inequality, and to make it fashionable, for want of a better word, to compete to show how altruistic you are (you can see some of that going on at the level of the richest, e.g. Gates and Buffet). Exposing hypocrisy (lip-service) is a key part of this. I’m not saying any of this will work, but if we don’t try, we’re toast.
Walton,
Your carbon quota would be in something similar to a credit account: if you don’t have any carbon credits, it’s illegal to supply you with electricty, gas, petrol, air tickets etc.. I imagine you would need to relax this in some cases to prevent people who are not responsible for energy demand decisions, notably but not only children, freezing, overheating, etc. The system is designed to be redistributive, because the poor use much less energy than the rich, and you can sell your surplus credits and conversely, buy extra if you have the money and they are available – probably this would be managed centrally at least for households and small businesses, with the price set by supply and demand. Businesses would get an allowance of carbon credits free, so prices of basic goods would not necessarily rise, but in any case the poor would have income from their unused credits. Obviously it’s not perfect, but I don’t believe any combination of shifting to low-GHG energy sources and energy efficiency is going to suffice without large-scale behavioural change, although both are certainly essential.
Then why is he so eager to use the power of the state to define what marriage is and is not? If the state cannot define marriage, then any marriage between (or among) consenting adults is legal, right?
The Shafia jury has come back with a guilty verdict for all three defendants. That was relatively quick.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/01/29/shafia-sunday.html
AJ: Not wisdom as much as sympathy…My mother in law and her best friend live with us*, and we are ideologically completely incompatible. We are very fortunate that our daughter does not incline to magical thinking, and is immune to most of the nonsense that her grandmother surreptitiously tries to install in her head. It does fucking irk me, none-the-less. Because I have no natural affection for my mother-in-law, this is not much of a problem for me, but it does cause my wife no end of consternation.
*If they had other options, I would urge them to pursue those options.
There are good reasons for doing these things, but as far as GHG emissions are concerned, they are nugatory. Cutting down on meat and dairy, insulating your home, reducing its temperature a degree or two if this doesn’t threaten your health, cutting down on car use, not flying if you can possibly avoid it, even being a bit less clean (water heating is very demanding) are all much more important at a personal level. What’s more, many people appear to feel that if they recycle plastic bags and paper, that gives them the moral right to fly and drive as much as they like.
True. These are useful lifestyle tips, and I try to incorporate as many of them as possible into my own choices (though I should be doing more). I’m almost entirely vegetarian, although I do eat dairy products (it would be virtually impossible for me to sustain any kind of reasonable diet without them, since cooking for myself while living in a dorm, with one kitchen shared between twenty people, isn’t really practical). And I don’t own a car and never have, though that, of course, is a privilege owing to the fact that I’ve happened to live in two cities where walking and public transport are convenient; many people, especially in the US, aren’t so fortunate. With regard to temperature, I’d happily keep the building I inhabit a few degrees cooler than it is, though I don’t have control over that.
I’ve had to fly much more than usual this year because of living in the US, though. I feel a little guilty about that. (I did consider travelling to Texas by train, but I gather that it’s very difficult to do so from here. The US really needs a much better intercity land transport network.) But most of the time I rarely have occasion to fly anywhere.
Oh, I certainly wasn’t suggesting that; I’m well aware that the first priority has to be reducing energy consumption and shifting to non-fossil-fuel sources of energy, which is why I put the latter first on my list of proposed policies.
dum dee dum
Pssst… AJ, she sounds threatened. I wouldn’t act angry even though you probably are because she’s degrading your values and putting you down.
Ask her why she’s so threatened, and whether she is threatened by you maybe? Maybe she’s having her own crisis of faith and it’s scaring her, or maybe she’s just freaking out because her babies are becoming strange people who act in unpredictable ways like the rest of the people in the world, etc.
But then I’m basically a robot (I grew up in a multi-religious home FWIW, and it’s rather simlar)
Could we blame the movie Police Academy. I hate that movie. And it was before Clinton was in office.
Or we could blame Prince.
I blame the Indians. (Not American, the other ones.)
http://www.kamat.org/kamat/toc.asp?path=/database/cd-roms/erotic_arts/
Well before Clinton took office. And before Police Academy. ;)
And the fruit bats:
http://boingboing.net/2009/10/29/nsfw-science-fellati.html
See the “nsfw” in the URL? It’s NSFW …
@Theophontes, sorry I missed seeing your reply before. Bedankt! En natuurlijk mag je mij tutoyeren.
Hey, I learned a new bit of vocab! Cool. Tutoyeren is a particularly funny example of the French loanwords in Dutch – since Dutch doesn’t actually include “tu” and “toi” at all. One might have expected jijjouweren?
Way way way up thread
Read some past comments and found that I sounded really really nasty and unlikeable.
HULK ESTELETH SMASH!
I have spent the past 45 minutes attempting to connect to the fucking internet. Finally got in. Spent another 25 minutes trying to get anything to load. Did some googling, found out that this is probably the fault of my OS. So, I’m going to restore to the previous OS, as I have the disks for this.
But first, I need to back up my hard drive.
Then, I tried to find a store that sells decent portable hard drives on a sunday evening. Promptly struck out.
So I’m stuck until tomorrow after work.
Probably my fucking internet will decide to turn itself of AGAIN just as I hit “submit,” so this probably won’t even post. Fuck it, I am so sick of this shit.
Here I am, alone in my apartment with a bed, a couch, and three boxes.
Also my computer and some cleaning products.
Weird.
Laughing a bit at Esteleth’s hulksmashrage. How do you piss off a nerd? Take away her internet access. I’d be doing the exact same thing.
Me too… every time my Internet access is interrupted even for a brief time, I realize just how dependent on it I’ve become.
Well I didn’t work out, but I did trim some of the hedges in front of the house. It was a very futile effort. I am all itchy and yucky, and there is a lot of hedge mess laying around (it got dark so I had to stop) and while the hedges are slightly less overgrown (they had passed the roof) they still look a mess. I hate yardwork, why can’t I just have rocks or plants that don’t need to be trimmed. It doesn’t help that they’re just *ugly* bushes. There are about three or four distinct species in there… including poke.
Also, a fly went into my mouth. I guess that’s all right since the whole fly was in there, but still.
I admit, my nerd rage is pretty funny. I’ve calmed down somewhat. Building houses in the Sims does that for me.
Ugh… the sunscreen video scares me. I have lots of black moles, and my Dr. is always looking at them. I even have black freckles on my palm. I’m always afraid I’m going to get cancer because half my family has had some kind of cancer. It’s scary :(
Cancer scares me too. In the planned curriculum for my course, I have one lecture to cover the basics of tumor viruses. Can I do it? (probably) Will it be adequate? (no).
That’s what I’m doing tomorrow, though. Tumor virus data dump at high speed. The students should be scared, too.
PZ, be sure that your students learn that Bill Clinton is to blame for oral cancer.
*snort*
Cancer scares me too. I’m already at high risk for skin cancer and it was no fun at all waiting to find out if my pancreas went rogue last year.
Cancer doesn’t really scare me. It pisses me off. It has taken the lives of several people I love and scarred more. *shakes fist*
And yes, I know I’m anthropomorphizing and that’s silly.
Still, I know very few people who are truly rational in the face of cancer.
But, in happy news: I’m coming up on 5 years. All my tests are clean. I am still cancer-free. Woo!
Family Guy taking on Christian Scientists tonight.
Tomorrow, January 30, is Fred Korematsu Day. Like thousands of other Japanese-American civilians, Fred Korematsu was detained indefinitely in an internment camp in 1942 by US military forces at the order of President Roosevelt; innocent of any crime, he was interned purely because of his race and ancestry. Famously, he unsuccessfully challenged his detention before the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States. In the process, the federal government lied to the Justices in order to justify his continued internment, a fact which finally emerged in the 1980s. (His conviction for disobeying military orders was formally vacated by a federal district court in 1983.)
Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1998, and died in 2005. He’s a hero of mine: someone who took a stand against racism, and for the human rights and dignity of every human being.
*Sets up a free round of grog/swill to toast a hero*
Mr. Korematsu’s name in kanji is 是松.
The first character can be translated as “justice”.
(the second character is “pine tree”)
*toasts*
Wow. I didn’t know that, but it’s amazingly appropriate.
(More about him can be read here.)
I want a different head. This one is stuffed with snot and pain.
:( :( :(
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Especially if he’s vain about his hair. Maybe it’ll teach him that Louse Patrol is required for the Common Good, and he has to do his part.
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*hugs* for Classical Cypher. And *chocolate*.
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*hugs* for AJ Milne.
The Husband is vaguely deist, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for. Neither of us pushed any agenda with Son, who never has shown any symptoms of religion. I know, that’s…not helpful. Sorry.
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Hurrah for cancer-freeness!
AFAIK, no one in my family has had cancer…but I figure that it’s just a matter of time.
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*raising glass*
Mr. Korematsu.
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One of my father’s closest friends in high school, Dave Fujioka, was sent to the Internment camp in CA.
I asked my dad why people at the time in CA put up with this.
He said, and I quote:
“It was just accepted as necessary at the time. None of us liked it, but all of us had been convinced it was the thing to do.”
I asked him (this was 20 years ago now), if he regretted not fighting harder for his friend and their family’s rights.
He thought about that for a while, and then calmly replied:
“no”
The idea of making someone like Mr. Korematsu a hero, would never even had occurred to most people during the time this happened.
My pop wasn’t a racist, fought in the Korean war as a marine, and was one of the nicest guys you ever met.
I can only conclude that the generations that grew up after the civil rights movement, grew up much more aware of what freedom really means.
I’m also glad I wasn’t born in the 20s or 30s.
NEW THREAD!