I know some of you don’t bother to watch the videos on TET, but watch this one. You won’t regret it.
You hear me? WATCH IT. It’s the atheist message, and it’ll be a good 12 minutes, I promise.
(Episode CCCXIII: We’ve known we’ve been warming for a long time.)
My five year old may well have flushed my wedding ring down the “tulip”*. At least, she reports that she last saw it in there. And then flushed.
*A euphemism of her own design that I find too adorable to correct. Sue me.
Portcullised, so I think I should repeat this:
.
Oh look:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/equal-civil-marriage/
This might (maybe, might – I don’t know) be worth actually not crashing but for UKnians to respond to (I assume they want answers from UKnians only).
Anyway, just thought I’d mention it in case anyone hasn’t seen it already (I don’t think it was on the thread earlier, was it? I could have missed it, of course).
Oh, and pass it on!
Rey:
failure to grok on my part. Sorry.
Actually, I have to rescind that statement about the watches. I had a wind-up Spiro T. Agnew watch in the early 70s. I never wore it because I couldn’t tell time yet. I wish I still had that watch.
That sounds cool. So does that mean that Chariman Mao wore an Alethea H. Claw watch?
I know you don’t want to hear this, but, wedding ring down the tulip aside, the little humans are much easier at this age than when they get older.
Did anyone happen to read the description of the Christian College in Oakland where the shooting happened yesterday? I’m not making a post hoc analysis here, just pointing out another batshitty poseur “college”.
Talking about the video “dust that sings”.
My only complaint is that it says that science has nothing to say about morality, which I disagree with. (I take after Sam Harris’ view.)
Other than that it’s a great video.
A masters in Asian medicine? Do you suppose they mean some of the top-notch medical research being done in China, Japan and Korea?
Oh. Nevermind.
Hey everyone, this is the final post on my non-nym blog about the Nations, which I know people’ve been getting tired of. Tomorrow… I’ll probably write about the Mesan people.
AE – oh, I’m so sorry. I think it’s my fault. We just found my wedding ring after a close to 3 year absence (it had been at one point put in a lockbox that was then forgotten about in a closet specifically to avoid toddler hands, and no one remembered that’s what happened to it). The law of conservation of wedding rings thus required that another one somewhere else go missing. :(
AE – and, as anyone whose brain was psychologically scarred from watching Sleeping With The Enemy knows, rings can be heavy enough to stay in the bottom of the toilet even after flushing.
(SERIOUSLY DON’T WATCH THAT MOVIE ARGH)
Also, hugs to Walton – come back anytime you have the energy and time and want to.
This morning, as I was waking up, the theme song from “Here Come the Brides” popped into my head.
So to google… I remembered the names of most of the lead characters and actors.
Someone might be making a movie.
Bobby Sherman is a cop.
Two things – “Dust that Sings” first rate.
This from Information is Beautiful:
http://infobeautiful2.s3.amazonaws.com/RhetoricalFallacy_SameSexMarriage.png
An interesting dissection of an article by Cardinal O’Brian which appeared in the Daily Telegraph. There is one true statement at the start – and the rest is just what you’d expect.
Nah, this is on me. You get some more rest and feel better.
Beautiful. Thanks for posting it.
The creationist troll/Poe is now an anti-woman troll/Poe. To be found on the Irrational Humans thread.
Dr. Audley
Sorry if I missed an earlier announcement.
Congratulations!
Fuuuck… now I’m crying again!
Saw an ad for maternity clothes on the “Irrational Humans” thread and started to cry. The image of a pregnant woman makes me cry now… cause I know I’ll never be that T^T
Katherine Lorraine, #17,
{Sends virtual hugs via the USB port}
{Puts virtual arm around shoulders via USB port}
{Makes crap joke to alleviate tension and attempt cheering up}
Louis
@Louis:
:(
*hug*
@ Kitty
(cross post from TZT)
Check out this program: Fractal Planet generator.
PS: Oh, … and *hugz*
@Theophontes:
Neat looking program. Not exactly perfect for my needs.
@ Alethea
Pix or it didn’t happen. (SRSLY, I’d like to get myself one.)
Kitty
*hugs*
on the Video : Well done, good find, PZ.
Carlie @9 : have to agree. unnamed movie was horribad.
Has anyone information on Karen Kingsbury’s “Even Now” (from the Lost Love series of novels). She is a xtian writer, so tends to garner xtian (non)criticism.
Using fables to sell fables? This shit is getting weird already.
Theophontes, I have no idea who that author is but christian romances do have a market niche.
*hugs Og, Nerd, and Kitty*
—
*big sigh of relief* I got all As! One of them (Aeschylus) had a minus after, but that’s okay. I don’t mind. I also got a 95 on the good paper and a 94 on the bad one, along with a note with regard to the bad one that I should meet with the professor to talk about it because it could have been much improved. I think that’s unnerving despite the 94 but I dunno.
—
I also had very strange nightmares last night. I think vampires were involved. Possibly also werewolves. Typically that is not the kind of thing I get nightmares about. Honestly it’s kinda refreshing O.o
Hugs to Nerd, Og, Kitty, AE, and Walton, in no particular order.
Good job, CC.
Remember that rapey Belvedere Vodka ad? The actress in the ad found out about it. That photo was actually a joking simulation of her “being forced to recreate a photo from her childhood for her parents, while sitting on the lap of a family friend,” taken from a stricklyviral.com video titled “Awkward Moments, #542, The Baby Picture.”
She’s now suing Belvedere. I hope she takes them for a shit-ton of money. And I hope the actor sues them, too, for that matter, as they’ve portrayed him as a rapist without his permission.
@ Janine
She is rated #1 (citation???) in the US in her niche (“Inspirational”). Fiction to sell fiction. What is amazing is that there is no secular critical review that I could find. ((did I just volunteer myself))
@ CCCP – Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher)[Pulchra]
Well done! (How was your Euripides? Just curious.)
Theophontes, why would you do that to yourself? There is too much interesting things to read.
Do not go down the rabbit hole!
CC(C),OM
Well done!
*confetti*
People are reading that shit. With the babble we know very well how to respond (having read that crap before) now people are reading this kind of shit and having it part of their belief system (what else?) yet it remains totally off our radar. It feeds the Liars-for-jeebus bullshit, yet slips past any form of criticism.
(Hey, I’m not about to leap in front of a flying bullet here.)
Theophontes, I agree with Janine. The xtian romance won’t even have sex scenes to balance out the god-blather.
*Group hug with Katherine in the middle.*
@ Ms Daisy Cutter (OM!)
The book feeds the propaganda. (& “… enemies closer”, etc.)
The image and text are very rapey. The video (one can argue) is simply creepy (and obviously just setting up the rapey ad).
(I imagine the weasel is: “It looks rapey… but really… here is the back story.[plays video to “explain” the bullshit])
WTF… the whole thing is so fucking creepy. I hope she can win her case against them.
Carlie, #35,
{Ahem}
We currently have a queue for that sort of thing. ;-)
Louis
Louis
Remember, the queuea are no longer confined to three dimensions.
Theophontes, Belvedere fucked up w/r/t copyright, too. IANAL but I suspect that’ll make it easier for the plaintiff(s).
Ching Ming Festival 4 April (the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 15°. ~5 April)
Jesus-on-a-stick day 6 April (approximately the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 15°.)
This is about the last real chance to spend your time looking after the dead, before the work of spring starts on the farm. (Or is it just co-incidental that the farmers’ life is the same old same old wherever you happen to be in the northern hemisphere.)
Chigau,
As ever, you make an excellent point. I forgot the n-dimensionality of the hyper-queues. Excuse me, I have to do MATHS!
Louis
When I was born it was jesus-on-a-stick day.
This year my birthday falls on jesus-rising day.
I expect the apocalypse.
I’m all for the newt-equality act but only as long as it excempts New Gingrich from it. He is neither cute nor does he have a heart.
Since I announced it over on the Irrational thread, I figured that I should probably let TET know too:
Guys, I’m pregnant. :)
(And I cannot tell you how much I want a whisky, a cigarette, and a hotdog. In that order.)
@Audley:
Despite my cripplingly depressing statement earlier.
*hugs* Congratulations!
Audley, this page suggests that a very occasional hotdog won’t harm a gestating fetus.
Would it be safe to increase your Vitamin C intake to offset the nitrate consumption?
Louis, this one is only a platonic vers…
Squeeeeee!!!!! Congratulations, Audley!
Audley, I picked a good day to drop by it appears. Congratulations and good luck.
Congratulations, Audley!
Dhorvath, OM: – Snap!
Computer people, help!
Journal editors apparently want page proofs by tomorrow afternoon. They’ve waited until now to let me know that my figures aren’t good enough. I’d prefer to offer them some decaying porcupines, but I’m going to have to meet their requirements.
1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?
2. Is there any way to get a screen capture that’s 600dpi or above?
3. Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?
4. Is there a pre-installed or free program (for Windows) for editing pictures? One that’s better than Paint. I’m trying PowerPoint now.
Very very very not impressed with the editors. They’ve had these figures for months, they could have raised concerns at any point.
Oh, Kat. I’m so, so sorry I missed your post from earlier.
I don’t know what to say, except it’s not fucking fair to you. I know it’s irrational to ever think that the universe is or should be fair, but I don’t know how else to express how I’m feeling.
Hugs and love to you.
Ms Daisy,
Nitrates aren’t the only problem. Apparently, hotdogs are a breeding ground for lysteria– they can be eaten if you cook the crap out of them first, but I’d rather just avoid them altogether.
It’s funny, I never cared one way or the other about hotdogs until I found out that they are ooooo! dangerous.
Grats, Audley!
I just wanted to stop by and point out this article on Science Daily:
Death Anxiety Increases Atheists’ Unconscious Belief in God
The original paper is behind a paywall, but I’d really like more details about their experimental design so I can have a better idea about how warranted their conclusions are.
Nutmeg – are you associated with a university, I assume? Photoshop is your best bet, and it may be that there’s a department on campus that has a license for it. Check with your IT; they ought to know who has what software installed in labs/computers/etc., or they should know who to ask. They ought to be able to get a copy to you in a hurry. It has a learning curve, but nothing too awful. Even a version of Photoshop elements would be better than what you’re working with now.
Thank you very much, everyone!
I know I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but you all know that when I have my baby, I will not be sacrificing it to the Great Atheist BBQ™, right? :)
You say that now, but wait for a couple of weeks of sleepless nights during teething. Things change.
Watching this video I am struck by its poetry, and think how that beauty is so often missing in the atheist discourse. I am a professional artist and as hard headed an atheist as you are likely to meet. However, I often find it tough to reconcile the two modes of thought in one mind. As someone who is tuned in to cultural expression, I know that, at best, art represents an associative “logic”, the clashing of images, ideas, the finding of resonance between depiction and experience, which can touch another mind in unexpected and illogical but nonetheless compelling ways.
I can support this while recognizing that, though it does not meet the standard of empirical knowledge, it does fulfill a human need to communicate.
While I scorn the practices of faith, I can still see, in a trick-crystal refraction, the same sort of need being met by the discourses of belief.
Perhaps we need more poetry and art and music, as well as our intellectual rigor, to counter the forces of dogma.
Congrats, Audley! Allow me to offer *an assortment of strange food items that the popular media suggests you may be craving right now*.
Happy gestation!
{Kevin Kline}Disappointed!
Congrats Audley.
@ Dr Audley +1
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……..
The hive is spawning!
(Not really, I am just being irrationally happy. Conga Rat Elations!)
@ Nutmeg
Try this program: GIMP (windows) Download while I try to answer your other questions…
Of course not.
We only use Christian babies for the barbecue. Much more succulent.
o_O
O_o
W…TF.
Is that a challenge?
…Aaaaah yeah. Alemannic (in the wide sense) is Something Different™.
Ah. I have to be careful, too, even though it doesn’t quite go that far.
Tsssss. What to think when the cat jumps on your bed early in the morning: “Ah, it’s the cat.”
Depends.
…Yours is hexagonal???
*joins*
Hey, maybe you’ll be able to give milk. I hear some otherwise unremarkable men can do that. (…And then there’s that bat species where all adults can.)
*throws Jadehawk’s™ Totally Biodegradable Confetti™*
Of course, of course. We must not eat our own, after all. Besides, without a Purpose™ xe will be bland and tasteless.*
Seriously, congrats and many good thoughts being thought you way.
Rob
*hopefully I didn’t take that too far. I’m been quite out of the loop until recently.
Thanks, carlie. I think there are a couple of labs on campus where I could probably use Photoshop.
At the moment, I think I’ve recovered decent versions of most of my figures. The original versions of the figures that will be the hardest to do anything with are on our shared “analysis only” lab computer. Of course, that computer is with my labmate who has some heavy-duty sequence alignment to do. So I have to wait until he gets back to me about meeting so I can work with that computer.
Grrr…
Actually, there may be people here who know the specifics of this. If you’ve used the program STRUCTURE, how did you get a high-quality version of the standard bar plots? Everything I can get seems to be unacceptable.
Sili,
Some of us aren’t that picky. We’ll eat ANY baby!
Once again, thanks so much everyone! I ♥ the Horde!
*hugs for Audley*
No. Unless it’s a vector graphic. If it’s a photo, start from scratch.
Assholes.
Oh, they’re quite bad already.
@Audley:
Thanks and *hugs*
I’ll just shake my fist at the universe and cry inwardly whenever I see or hear about pregnant women (like I said, despite my envy of your situation and the sadness I feel, I’m extremely, extremely happy for you.) Even if they come up with uterine transplants for transsexuals… I doubt it’ll be any time soon :(
CongaRats to Audley, joins group hug for Katherine.
Thedifference.
Here’s wishing you health and happiness, Audley! Hope you get plenty of whatever kind of support you want, as and when you want it.
(ooh, one of the babies at the pro-choice rally on Friday had a sign (on the push-chair) saying “hatched by choice”. Very cute)
(also ooh, that reminds me – when I was gestating DaughterSpawn, I got myself a t-shirt printed with Warning. Alien on board. in the biggest letters that would fit. (It was at a time when that scene from the film Alien was still easily recalled by a fair few folk) (I still have the t-shirt))
Kat,
I’m shaking my fist at the universe for you, too.
Augh. Group hug reaching critical mass. It will soon implode upon itself, creating a hug singularity from which no person will be able to escape!!
*hugs* *puppies* *kittens* for Katherine. Life is incredibly unfair sometimes.
@
Baptise your babies to increase moisture content (alternatively buy a Romertopf.)
@
Not completely true. You can increase the size of the image and manipulate. Only try this in the absence of other options. (All increases in quality must be added by hand.)
Huge, huge hugs to Kat if I could and if I may. ::kicks universe:: It is totally bloody unfair.
Katherine, that pressure is quite unfair and it is perfectly okay to be upset by it. Hugs added to the singularity.
Nutmeg:
1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?
DPI is dots per inch. So, it’s relative to how big you want the image. If you need an image that is 3 inches across, you need 1800 pixels across.
2. Is there any way to get a screen capture that’s 600dpi or above?
No; standard computer monitors are usually 72 or 96 dots per inch. You could take a screen shot 6 inches across, but it’d be reduces to less than an inch at 600 dpi.
3. Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?
Yes and no. Upres-ing images (res = resolution) doesn’t increase the actual sharpness by itself, so you might as well use the low res version. There are other tricks that can help, but it’s not really something a printer is going to want you to do.
4. Is there a pre-installed or free program (for Windows) for editing pictures? One that’s better than Paint. I’m trying PowerPoint now.
There are quite a few out there. Paint and Powerpoint aren’t going to do real image editing for you. There are even online ones like FotoFlexer, but they’re not going to help unless you can get a higher res image out of your source program.
Never used the software and I can’t find a manual for it online (seems to be freeware). There should be an “export” or “save as” option, I’d expect, with a variety of options. However, what you want to look for is likely either something like a TIF or PNG (usually high-res image files), or potentially a vector-based graphics format: EPS, AI, DXF, and CDR are the major ones I know. Any of those will allow someone with a vector-based graphics program (like Adobe Illustrator) to create a graphic of any size/resolution.
Not sure if any of that helps.
….
<–>
….
*hug*
Katherine, you might want to look up and read some stuff on infertility – there are a lot of other women who have gone through similar pain, and there might be articles/stories out there that could help at least from the standpoint of commiseration. It’s so hard; once one of my best friends and I had a horrible time connecting when she was in the middle of yet another set of failed fertility treatments while I was pulling my hair out over having just had another baby and now so many babies to deal with, and it took us years to navigate past that mutual minefield.
*throws kittens in the middle of the hugs*
@Ing:
Oh no!! You fool, you’ve doomed us all!!!
*hug singularity*
@Carlie:
Yea, though commiseration still doesn’t deal with the primary problem. But thanks.
@ Nutmeg
600 pixels per inch (~equivalent)
Cannot change settings. You can zoom in and then stitch images together (I do this often with google-earth.)
Yes. But you have the problem I set out above. You will meet their absolute requirements perhaps. (A bright red pixel will simply become four red pixels. The whole picture won’t really become clearer of its own accord.)
As linked to above. (It is good enough for 98 % of users. Of the remaining 2%, half find Photoshop better and half find GIMP better. (I prefer GIMP, but use both. But then GIMP is free and I am cheapskate. If you really do want to spend money (why?) then also consider Paint Shop Pro (30 days free trial). It is probably the easiest to use.)
Nutmeg: Seconding GIMP. Good tough and free. If you need the familiarity of Photoshop, you may be able to install a trial version from Adobe. Also seconding university computer labs. Re your lab partner who has the computer you need: I’d say, don’t wait for them to get around to responding. Go hunt them down, call, knock on doors, whatever you have to do.
Oh, also: for SIMPLE image editing (resizing, adding text, rotation, color shifting and such) there’s also Irfanview. It’s free and simpler to learn than GIMP or PS. One of its great strengths is batch editing.
http://www.irfanview.com/
theophontes: GIMP looks good. I’ve downloaded it even if I won’t be able to use it this time around.
Richard Austin:
I suspected it would be something like that. The program will only save images as jpg files, so I’m not getting the resolution I need. I’m not sure if there’s anything that can be done about that. I may have to think of a polite way to tell the editors that this is the best they’re getting.
Walton (not that you’re still reading, are you?), take these *hugs* with you on your Internet hiatus. Use as needed.
–
Alternatively to “y’all” or “youse”, you (numerically indeterminate) can just say “you” and point. Oh, wait—it’s rude to point. Or so “they” say.
–
:D :D :D :D :D :D
Thanks, Jules! That made my morning!
*scurrying off to post link on FB page*
–
<q>Insert stupid here</q> gives
–
I’m 53? 54? Something like that, anyway, and I had a wind-up watch when I was in junior high school.
In fact, now I think about it, the last watch I had (something like 8 years ago) was also a wind-up. I still have it. Over-wound.
Luckily, I’ve never made any claims to “cool”-ness.
–
–
I’ll have to watch the video this evening.
–
*hugs* for Katherine Lorraine. So sorry….when I think of all the parents who should on no account have been allowed to raise kids….it’s beyond unfair.
–
CC: *high fives* Well done!
My dreams last night involved chocolate pudding, in vast quantities. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the context; I just awoke to an overwhelming sense of puddingness.
–
Congrats, Dr. Audley, on your future offspring! *hug* We need more Pharynguspawn!
Chocolate chip dill pickle ice cream?
–
We only BBQ fundie babbies. Besides, in evolutionary terms it doesn’t make sense to eat our own, where other resources are abundant.
–
Nutmeg: another thought – outsourcing. Maybe some of us with PS or GIMP could carry out work on your figures for you, as long as we have the same specs? If most of the figures just need instructions carried out, and not your personal judgment on each one, maybe we could do them in parallel. NB: not sure if this breaks confidentiality or some such, anyone?
The editors should have told you EXACTLY what file format they will accept, not just the resolution (dpi/ppi). If they didn’t, make them tell you now. Sending the wrong format, especially JPG, is probably an absolute deal-breaker for printing.
@ Pteryxx
Or rather try this: GIMPshop (free).
@ Nutmeg
Further to Pteryxx. If you want me to do a trial for you, send to theophontes at hotmail dot com.
I need to go to bed now though. I can look in a few hours. (Send existing problem image and a description of what you need done (or printer’s whine).
There’s a box in my office. It’s full of disks that contain software that is over 5 years old. No one (besides me) has opened the box in all the years I’ve been here. The person whose box it is left a month after I got the job.
Why is this box still here?!
Bureaucracy!! *shakes fist*
Cicely,
Oh please don’t. I’m having a hard enough time with normal food at the moment.
(I want a barfy-face emoticon.)
More hugs added to the Katherine Hug Singularity!
I’ve done my duty with the box though.
I’ve straightened it up so now it’s nice and clean and not all over the place *success!*
Knut7777:
There’s a reason conservatives are all for cutting study of those subjects out of the schools as “frills.” (Actually, various reasons.)
Audley, I present to you: puke.gif.
Pteryxx:
It’s kind of you to offer, but I think all the editing that needs to be done is done now. I managed to find the edited versions of my images as PNG files, which is somewhat of an improvement. For some figures, I’m going to be limited by the image-generating capacity of my analysis programs, and that’s all there is to it. It’s a decent-sized journal, I’m sure they’ve dealt with stuff like this before. I can get all my images as PNG or BMP files now, at least.
I’m meeting my labmate tomorrow morning, and I have late afternoon/evening commitments, so I’m going to spend some time playing around and see what I can get.
Puke.gif if exactly how I feel right now. :-/
Maybe something like this?
:-o——x
Many conga rats to Dr. Audley! A speedy recovery from illness/gloom/existential nausea to all in need of one.
I shall stay far away from the hug implosion. I shall instead offer appropriate drinks, and offers of my uterus if they ever manage uterine transplant.
I’ve been working on something like this. I think that a lot of art that deals with more “happy” subject matters tend to be pretty and whitewashed. Sometimes “good” things can be ugly too. Addressing subjects like birth or life that is free of woo, not depressing but also not “attractive” can illustrate the “realness” of living.
aaarrrrggghhhh, I can’t get the words right. Basically, life/living/love/birth is not always pretty and does not need a bunch of woo and magic to make the lack of beauty OK. It is already OK. Just as you can be good without god, you can be beautiful without pretty.
hmph, I give up. maybe my work can explain because my words are damn sure not doing it. *pouts*
some of my sculptures on etsy
Cool work etsy.
I should say Blacksmith.
Do we at least get to shovel great bloody gobbets of placenta down our maws? It doesn’t seem like an atheist rite unless there’s some cannibalism involved.
Good evening
Audley
Woooooooo-hooooooo
Congratulations!
Wow, didn’t know that hotdogs carried lysteria, too (probably not popular enough in Germany to be considered noteworthy.
Here’s my one and only advice for pregnancy related health: Don’t read on the internet it will drive you crazy.
I know the puking. Puked non-stop for three solid months with #1…
Katherine
(((Big hugs)))
CC
Yay! Congratulations to you, too
+++++
Two personal updates
The bad news:
Well, today I visited my gran/parents/the rabbits, mostly also because my mum’s cousin is here for a visit to do the “grannysitting” while everybody else is on holiday.
When we were leaving she (the cousin) gave me a big long hug. That could not be accepted. So when I wished my parents a happy holiday and happy easter, my dad thanked me and returned the favour while my mum remained silent.
But when I complain that she always gave me the silent treatment, that’s my imagination.
The good news:
Had a looong phonecall with Mr.’s aunt. Actually she called to ask when we’re on holiday so she can plan the big family day. Then she asked about my gran and my mum and I ended up just telling her that I don’t really talk to her anymore and everything and, well, there was somebody on the other end of the line who’s been there, done that and just fucking knows how I feel and it felt so good.
Also, it’s raining, which is also good news.
We’re you joking, PZ?
trying googling “eating placenta”.
There are recipies.
Placenta pate.
Blacksmith, I’ve always used :-x to connote nausea.
Re your comment at #100: You’re not speaking solely of kitsch, but kitsch is a big part of what you’re speaking of. Milan Kundera defined it as “the absolute denial of shit,” i.e., any aspects of life that people find hard to deal with, and linked it to totalitarianism.
Those are some really neat sculptures you have there, btw.
Oh god, PZ, are you trying to make me barf (again)?
Be careful what you wish for– come early November, you might just receive a box full of placenta in the mail.
My next band will be called Box o’Placenta.
Not to be confused with Placenta Helper™.
Hey, you can have the placenta turned into neat little pills.
They work wonders*
*you know, like miracles
It sounds positive to me. Xe thinks you can improve from a 94. And noticed.
I forget what part of your college career you are on, but the “not living up to your potential” talk is a good sign, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time.
++++++++++++++
Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart, we don’t eat atheist babies! That would be just wrong!
(And Conga rats are dancing!)
+++++++++++++++++
Nutmeg, this is a standard request from printers.
No, you can’t do a screen shot, yes, you need Photoshop, or (free) GIMP. Go into the ‘image size’ menu and select ‘600’ instead of ’72’.It will blow up on your screen and look horrible. Hit [CTRL] [-] (Control and minus) and knock it down for your screen to about 16%. It will look about right.
What everyone else said +1. Get someone who specializes in this to help. It’s part of my job, this is WHAT I DO, and all my colleagues come to me for it. It’s not difficult, it’s just not what you do. Ask for help. Your UNI/department/adviser are there for this reason.
++++++++++++++++
Katherine, Kodak has an app to make you feel better
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/kodaks-april-fools-joke/
I wish I could help more.
++++++++++++++++++
I’ve had watch wounds, that’s why I shifted the face to the inside of my wrist.
Now that I work with lasers I don’t wear any jewelry … outside of my clothes. (Well, there is the gold earring, but it’s surface is curved in 3D and behind my field of view.)
Us laser folks are always being complained about by the security folks because we never have our lanyard passes exposed.
Fuckem. My eyes are more important than your badge.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Ye Olde Blacksmith, nice emoticon, but there’s no splash. Or ricochet.
@The Sailor:
Thanks for the cheering up.
Congratulations Audley. Kat, I could bring the LOLstar over here and fire a beam of LOLcats into the singularity if you think it might help.
Congrats for Audley, chocolate for Katherine.
My daughter is 8 now and her placenta is still in the bottom of the deep freeze. This spring I’m going to finally get around to burying it under a rose bush, like I intended to when the little squirt was new.
PZ, I go for a thin crust and adda few toppings.
Ms. Daisy Cutter, I’ve always been fond of Nabokov’s Russianized notion of kitsch, namely poshlost, which he lovingly defined as ‘philistine vulgarity’. So apt.
@AR:
I’m worried what would happen if one fired concentrated LOL into the center of a hug singularity…
DO IT! FOR SCIENCE!
Owlmirror (last thread), that makes sense. My mother’s people came from PA (long before her time, but there was a contingent left that they kept in close contact with).
Audley, hooray! ♥
<bossy> Definitely avoid all the listeria sources. I read an article recently on what may be the mechanism that wreaks such havoc on pregnant women and their fetuses, and it was pretty scary. Also, go to the dentist. Apparently bacteria just love placentas if they can get their grubby little…paws?…on them.</bossy>
*joins hugpile singularity for Kat* It really isn’t fair, and I’m sorry.
If you call having an itinerant Alabaman with no German language skills, no visa, and no cash turning up at your door expecting to be put up in exchange for cooking for you on the weekends a “challenge,” then yes, it’s a challenge.
*removes glove, slaps DDMFM with it* The ball is now in your court, good sir. (And no I do not care that I’m blending dueling with basketball. I’m AMERICAN.)
I’m glad you liked it. It was the illustrations that really did it for me.
>:-C~
Only for those hosting aliens.
I’ll have the LOLstar hyperjump over from TZT. Though I think it will need to remain some distance away from the singularity to prevent it from being drawn in. I can only imagine what would happen if the Internets-powered LOL reactors that power the LOLcat beam were absorbed into the hugs.
Ms. Daisy Cutter, Gynofascist in a Spiffy Hugo Boss Uniform @ 107:
Great link! Thanks!
I think it does express some of what I’m trying to do. Yes, strip an idea of ALL the bullshit BUT leave the idea recognizable with a sense of awe/wonder/appreciation (or scorn, as the case may be.)
one of the biggest things I want to strip off is this notion that atheists have no sense of wonder or appreciation of life. I, hopefully, convey that I/we can and do posses that awe and love for life. We just do it without a bunch of hokey supernatural claptrap.
Of course, the above does not apply when the underlying idea is scorn and ridicule for religion/woo.
OMFSM! A LOLcat beam sent into a *hug* singularity?! The result would be unimaginable! And since I can’t imagine it…therefor GOD! *gasp*!!!!!!
{Flash of light, the LOLstar appears 10,000 kilometers from the singularity}
OK, let’s get the beam powered up.
Jules,
Yes, mom. :p
*puts on goggles*
Gotta be safe.
There’s descreening, which pretends to increase resolution, but actually invents information that isn’t there in the original. Don’t even think of it.
In my experience, journals like EPS images… but you’d probably need Adobe Illustrator to make one. TIFF is certainly good if it’s not too big.
I’ll bite. *bites glove* Cash is not, presently, a problem. Do Americans even need a visa for EU countries? Even the other way around, all I need instead of a tourist visa (90 days) is to fill in a “visa waiver” form at an embassy website and send a token amount of money, and that only once every 2 years or so (unless I’d use up the 90 days earlier).
Not sure if anyone is interested but the ‘polymath’ has updated his blog http://www.jonathanbishop.co.uk/3270/unplugged-and-uncut/genesis-3-is-refutable-by-science-rise-to-the-challenge/ — including a picture of PZ, who he claims “has already failed the challenge. Even though he can’t provide me with any evidence that my hypothesis is wrong, he has been very abusive because I dared question his religious biases as an Atheist.” Oh, and refers to him as “disgraced lecturer”. There’s more crap there – though I probably shouldn’t be recommending you go look because, I swear, it’s like looking at a train wreck – I wanted to stop but a kind of horrified fascination kept me reading.
Hard hat. Check.
Steel-toed boots. Check.
Ear plugs. Check.
Hi-vis vest. Check.
Oh, and, have a look at this abstract. It’s theoretically possible to weigh a single proton now; the practical difficulty, which can probably be solved by chemical means, is to have that proton bind close enough to the middle of the nanotube.
Ye Olde Blacksmith: Nice work!
I have a tomahawk that I forged in a firepit from a railroad spike that holds a decent edge, it was my camp hatchet for a while until I retired it with honors in favor of a shortened norse ‘hawk and a rifleman’s ‘hawk from Cold Steel. (Though it held a good edge, I didn’t make the eye as secure as I’d like it).
I still use my beloved short sword for various bush activities, but that one was ground, not forged.
cultureclash@5
Actually science has nothing to say about morality as so far as biology, chemistry, physics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, etc., etc.
Ethics, sociology, sociology, ethnology certainly do. Hard science vs. morality bound “soft” science. I think the video speaks to the former.
Of course the individual scientists-Einstein, Bohr et al, had a tremendous amount to worry about, otherwise why would they have written Roosevelt. However they, in essence, unleashed the “Genie in the bottle”. So did Feynman and Oppenheimer. Where does morality begin and end.
What did Oppenheimer say he thought when he saw the first detonation of the first fission device? “We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu (Krishna) is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”
Anyways, we are all being torn apart by the tug of war between dark energy and dark matter, the real dark overlords. Meh.
Skimming through the pro-slavery thread I’m left with one question:
Why on earth is it actually called a blowjob?
Something like…
*dons pegagoggles*
THIS
Ye Olde Blacksmith: Wow, I’m usually more interested in actual tools and weapons than ‘art’ when it comes to metalwork (though I do like them tastefully arted up as long as it doesn’t interfere with function), but that Mokune-Gane stuff is breathtaking! What metals did you use, copper and silver is my uneducated guess?
OK, the weapon is charged, now just to target the center of the singularity. Kat, I’m going to warn you that exposure to large numbers of LOLcats in this manner can be very dangerous. Shooshing may be heard.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Ye Olde Blacksmith@100
Very neat stuff. The link at etsy really shows an impressive creation. A little “Gigeresque” with a cephalapod influence.
Crap, I leaned on the button and fired the LOLstar before I wanted to!
Coyote:
Thanks. The mokume is copper and nickel-silver. I made it old school with a coal forge. Fun stuff.
I used to make a lot of knives, hawks and home decor. Lately though I have been moving away from “traditional” blacksmith fare into more expressive stuff. Harder to sell, to be sure, but more fulfilling at the moment.
Audley – be sure to stay as far away as possible from the What To Expect When You’re Expecting book. If someone tries to give one to you, throw it out the car window on the thruway. That thing is evil.
A. R, all your links end in a formatted quotation mark. WTF?
The pics are on the awesome side of things, though.
Aaaaagggghhhhh! The bombardment begins! Prepare yourselves. Don’t forget your pants!
Or forget them, whichever you prefer.
Yeah, just remove the quotation mark from the links.
Congratulations Audley!
I wonder if you’ll consider names from H.P. Lovecraft’s canon, as my daughter does. No children yet, but she does have a chicken named Azathoth.
Hey Alethea, it would be lovely to get together. I am on Facebook, on the PET, too. I’ll send you a message there.
Carlie,
I’ve got Your Pregnancy Week by Week, which seems pretty good. Lots of basic info, without being OMG, YOU’RE GONNA FUCK EVERYTHING UP!!
Amblebury,
I’m considering family names, but I’ll float the Lovecraft idea past Mr Darkheart. :D
Ok maybe I’m an idiot about stuff like this but I just read that one of my favorite bands has been forced to move venues for a concert because of religious conflict with the owners. Religious people do this type of stuff all the time when they don’t agree with something so why can’t atheists do it to religious people or organizations for the opposite reason?
Almost wants me wanna be a Christian.
Audley – I had that one! (a few editions ago). It’s really good.
First world problems sob story – I’ve been coveting a particular lunch box for over a year now, but it was a bit pricey. Came into a little money and decided yay I can buy it, but checked the amazon ratings first. Apparently it’s a piece of crap, and even after a redesign is still too prone to breakage. Now I have to continue my search for the perfect lunch carrying unit that magically makes me want to make and eat healthy lunches all the time.
Carlie @147
You could get one of These. I got one for my 8 yr old daughter and she loves it.
Yes, my daughter loves Buck Rogers.
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
/proud nerd papa moment
I know! I have the coolest stories, right?
Oh, wait, you mean the boy scout? … *crestfallen*
Carlie:
Yay!
I realized how good that book was when in my 8th week and I had some minor abdominal cramps*. I flipped open to week 8 and BAM! right there in black and white: mild cramping is totes normal.
*Unrelated to ALL OF THE OTHER FUCKING PAIN I’M EXPERIENCING AT THE MOMENT.
Gah.
OK so spring quarter started yesterday and in about an hour I have to actually go to the first class of this course and beg the instructor to let me in even though the course is full (all the courses are full) and it’s an English composition course focusing on women’s issues and using Maya Angelou as a text so I really really want to get in but I have never been to college and I am completely and utterly frozen with terror right now and I can’t even breathe I swear holy shit so scared.
You really don’t want to read Pro WPF in C# 2010, Chapter 1, “System DPI”, around about page 9. It has all become rather complicated, even if it can be expressed in this simple formula:
[Physical Unit Size] = [Device-Independent Unit Size] * [System DPI]
Why do I know this? I don’t even do this. *shakeshead*
kristinc, you probably want to be a bit early, for the begging.
Good luck!
Giliell,
The only thing I have read on that relates to it being a below job and the words drifting together.
Good morning, everyone.
Congrats, Dr Audley! Hugs & kittens for Katherine. Love your work, Blacksmith – especially some of the jewellery. (Squid pendant! Ladybug! Eeeeee!)
Support the GIMP recommendations. It’s not easy to use straight off, but then neither is photoshop. Lots of new concepts needed, unless you’re already a graphics whiz.
Theophontes: It’s one of these – http://youtu.be/mGN0lHz3rJA
kristinc – good luck! In my experience, a lot of courses are full on day 1 but people drop out rapidly, so that by week 3 there are vacancies.
That’s great. A nice Sancho Panza cigar is in the USB for yo. . . . No. Wait. Um, some Johnny Walker Black is in the USB for yo. . . . Er, a hoddog? Um, a bikkie?
I was referring to the artful twizzling.
When Wife was pregnant with Boy, she decided she wanted a Garlic Dill Pickle from a particular deli in the Emerald Square Mall. So we drove all the up from Rhode Island to Massachusetts (yeah, I know, it really isn’t that far) and she had the pickle.
We then, after visiting the hobby shop, walked out to our silver Subaru wagon, got in, and drove out of the garage. She told me, “Pull over! Now!”
I pulled over. She opened the door and vomited. Right into the map pocket.
Are they as good as dried frog pills?
Wife and I once had to clean New England Boiled Dinner off the walls and ceiling in the bathroom.
kristinc: Good luck! Hopefully your university is like mine, and lots of people will drop the course in the first two weeks.
New post – but it’s really just a picture.
Oggie:
Eeeeeew!
This morning while digging around in my bag for tissues, I discovered that Mr Darkheart had shoved a bunch of plastic bags into one of the pockets*. I think he might be a little bit worried that I’m gonna vom in
hisour car.*It’s not a purse, really. Think ginormous tote bag.
You know the giant 32 or 44 ounce buckets o’ soda? Wife always kept one or two of them, with lids, behind the front seat of the second Subaru wagon. They have a nice firm circular opening — with a baggie, you might vomit down the side (I’ve sort of done that: the remains of a bean soup that had hung around too long went right down the outside of the plastic trash bag).
Oggie:
Oooooo, good idea!
In fact, I’ve got one with Captain America on it. (Why yes, I do find the though of barfing into Chris Evans’ cranium to be highly amusing.)
You’ll need more than one. Wife just tossed them — while full.
Just came across this and thought the people here might find it interesting. It combines cephalopods and horror stories. It’s the grave of H. P. Lovecraft in Providence, Rhode Island. (Scroll down to the bottom and click on the photo for a larger size.)
Oh.
Patrick Fleury. Not Vincent.
Had a vortex the fuck moment there.
Psssst! Hey guys! I got my second killfile from an irrelevant commenter. Partay@@!!!
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/04/03/irrational-humans/comment-page-1/#comment-302995
Hmmm…I actually haven’t ever been to an EU country. My last time over there was before all that fanciness. I think I didn’t even have to get any kind of visa because I wasn’t there for a total of 90 days at one time. I was there for ~3 months, gone for 2, back for 1.
The question is, will I be able to get in on any of that socialized medicine action? Because I gots to get sumadat shit.
I thought of another skill I could contribute to this domestic partnership, which could be either awesome or horrifying for you: I’m very, very good at making new friends due to my extreme sociability. Would dragging random strangers home from the coffee shop be a good thing or a bad thing? Just for a quick nightcap.
(NOTE: Skill may be slightly inhibited due to potential language barrier.)
It’s very thoughtful of him. And precious. But not in a sticky, vomity way.
Talents I’m most proud of:
1. Being able to vomit directly into almost any size cup
2. Being able to pull out my navel and make it any outie
3. Being able to remove the foil from a wine bottle without tearing it
4. Being able to put any baby to sleep
5. Being able to flawlessly conceal my cylon heritage
But the vomiting one is definitely the best.
If you’ve heard the infamous Fresh Air interview, you don’t need another reason to despise Gene Simmons… but now you’ve got one. Since when did rock and roll become a frickin’ right-wing thing? And Romney’s an empty-suit right-winger, at that!
***
Also, congrats to Dr. and Mr. Darkheart…
…and is it too late to dive into the Kat hug singularity?
***
Finally, Giliell (@131):
Chevy Chase: [talking into the phone] Noooo.. you’re not supposed to blow on it – that’s just an expression. [looks up at the camera] I have to go. [hangs up the phone]
;^)
I’m slightly more impressed by your ability to remove a wine bottle’s foil without tearing it than with the vomiting one, Jules. ‘Course, I’ve also wished I could tie knots in a cherry stem with my tongue, so eh.
——————————————
So, one of the parents at school asked me to teach her English. Today was our first lesson. She’s only been learning for a year, but already has a good grip on tense, a good vocabulary, and more. She does struggle with some words, both nouns and verbs, and sentence structure trips her up, although I think she’s relieved that sometimes a sentence is the same in both English and Spanish (as in a direct translation, without any extra words needed). For plurals and such, her son is learning those in school now, so working alongside him might help.
At first I didn’t want to charge her. But she asked again today, and after a few moments of thought, I told her, “Five dollars.” According to my friends, this is a good rate, since we’re only together for an hour. At three days a week, it’s an extra 15 bucks in my pocket. Even if I only do it for a few months, not bad. I’m not even sure she’ll need me that long.
—————————————
Welp, looks like another rejection from a contest. Still got two to go, but I’m already considering just sending in regular submissions instead of only entering contests. Got to be better than chewing my nails while trying to distract myself.
——————————————–
Maybe it’s because I saw it the first with J, but I’m finding it hard to watch Red Riding Hood all the way through. And riffing. Can’t stop myself from ridding here and there. It’s possible that in hindsight, Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, the grandmother, and the many references to wolves in mythology and folk tales are the only things saving the movie from being a waste of time.
Ridding = riffing. That’s my offering to Tpyos for tonight.
grumpypathdoc @ 135
The cephalapodian influence comes from Lovecraft and *blush* here. I’ve been an avid reader for a number of years and I guess it kind of seeps in. :) Any Giger-ness in them would be completely subconcious.
The forged iron squid (my avatar) is directly from here. I made it after a particularly good post by P.Z. and just couldn’t NOT make a squid pendant.
Oh, I forgot that I can do that too. And tie balloon animals (though not with my tongue*).
I been outta the loop. Mind if I ask what you’re up to?
*Dammit. I really wish that I could tie balloon animals with my mouth now. That would be so badass. If anything with balloon animals can be said to be badass.
Maasai warriors take to the cricket pitch
[video]
PTI:
You’re doing a good thing to teach her, and it’s probably a kindness to let her pay something, if it makes her feel better… but $5/hr strikes me as a ridiculously low rate for private tutoring. McDonalds would pay you more than that to sweep the floors. If you’re just trying to be nice, or burnishing your karma, good on ya’… but if you start to think of tutoring as a business, you need to charge more: Even as an inexperienced tutor, you shouldn’t charge “real” customers less than $15-$20/hr; experienced teachers can easily ask $30-$50/hr.
I can do that! I’m a chemist!
Oh … you mean they have to wake up again? …
Nevermiiiiind …
Horde, we have a Nice Contemplative Guy:
EXTERMINATE!
Sili, why u hate babby? Iz snuggles and dimples.
Iz also shit piss cry.
Life sucks.
I may not be commenting again for awhile. I have just pawned everything I own of worth and am still short on rent. I am currently keeping my laptop because internet is payed for until the 12th to try and find shelters or a job still.
I’m screwed again. I hate this state. I cannot keep a job despite my awesomeness because they can fire you at will. I’ve gone from temp to temp job and am now unable to find even that. Due to this temp jumping my resume looks like shit. I’ve tried being a debt collector but I was too nice, since I’ve been there, done that and couldn’t harass little old ladies for part of their SSI. I’ve tried selling but that didn’t work either. I’m fucked. My poor child is fucked. She deserves better.
I hate this whole country. Now I’m crying and won’t even be able to read Pharyngula to try and keep my sanity. Fuck. I’m sorry.
Wait. Is xe talking about a woman’s life ending?
Or am I being ridiculous in assuming that women are considered fully conscious human beings by this fuckwad?
Also I love that xe included that as a qualifier. “I don’t take these matters that lightly.”
No Jules. He’s talking about the fetus. The MOST IMPORTANTEST EVER THING WOMEN NO HUMAN JUST SHOW HUMANISH REFLEX.
Barely. Especially if they’re borrowed.
Funny thing about talking up babby snuggles is that I am not particularly snuggly myself as a rule. If very, very comfortable with someone, I will snuggle. I do not share beds with people. Sleeping does not work with other humans breathing on me.
Thank Christ. You’re the only other person I’ve ever met who gets this. The thought of someone else in my bed while sleeping. . moving, giving off heat, snoring, getting eyeprints on the back of my head. . squicks me the fuck out.
And no, puzzled onlookers, I’m not averse to sex. At. All. But when I’m done get the fuck up off me and go to the guest room. If you want to live until breakfast.
Oh, Lurker, I’m so sorry!
Dumb question, but have you tried waiting tables? Quick cash, better than most low-end service jobs on a per hour basis, much of it untaxed. I did it for 10 years.
Just_A_Lurker *hugs* where are you? Can we help?
Just_A_Lurker, I’m so sorry. Have you tried getting help from Modest Needs? You sound like a worthy candidate. I know I’d chip in.
It’s just a short-term emergency solution, but shit, it’ll help you get by a bit longer.
Good luck.
Interesting. Some of the best sleeps of my life have been on a crowded hotel room floor at a con with a trusted friend on top of me.
I have a big kitty litter bucket that I use as a barf bucket. It does a good job; no overflow problems in the 6-ish years in which it has served in this capacity.
–
At my urging, a woman who does balloon animals for the kiddies (well, mostly for kiddies) at a local pizza place learned to do a very nice balloon octopus…and to make it into a hat.
:)
–
Crap onna cracker, J_A_L, that’s terrible. Where are you?
–
I think rage is what a full human would feel in response to that, but I’m just a woman, so what do I know.
Trust. I also do not mind using my bed for the sexin’ (although there are many other wonderful places where that can occur as well). I just cannot sleep if someone else is in the bed.
When I get into a new relationship, it’s always an issue, like the sex doesn’t count if I go sleep on my couch afterward.
(Usually I’ll just kick the person out, but if the night has involved drinking, I’ll go sleep on my couch. I figure it balances out.)
That’s not to say I haven’t been roped into bed-sharing. But I hate it.
Why the fuck am I listening to Santorum-For-Brains?
Listening to him speak bothers me as much as listening to dubya did.
Knut, kitsch refers strictly to works of art in various genres, while poshlost is an entire mentality. The Pfft!:
There are certainly similarities, but poshlost seems to imply much more overt sexuality and moral dubiety. Kitsch, OTOH, attempts to throw a cutesy lid on top of the boiling pot of human nastiness
Blacksmith, no problem. I honestly don’t think, though, that it’s our job to convince either theists or accommodationists that we appreciate life and natural wonders. Many atheists have already written reams indicating so. It’s there if our critics want to find it.
Giliell, it’s called a “blowjob” because it was preceded by the slang term “playing the skin flute.” How do you play a flute? You blow.
JAL, I am so sorry. Is there anything we can do to help?
Josh:
I don’t know why but I died laughing at this phrase.
I can’t sleep with a snorer, but giving off heat can be a good thing. At least in the winter, and especially in a poorly insulated building. As for moving, I’d be more worried if they didn’t move, you know? I have a bad back and trying to drag a few hundred pounds of dead weight would throw it out again. Never mind trying to dig a six-foot hole in the backyard before morning…
Well, we had somewhere between 6 and 12 tornadoes here today.
No damage at my house or my families places, thankfully.
110 airplanes damaged at DFW due to baseball hail.
Sitting in an airport under tornado lockdown, sucks.
Hi, Rawnaeris! Stay safe…
A professor acquaintance of mine apparently spent some time in a circus with his wife. He uses balloons to illustrate VSEPR rules.
And I don’t like babbys because they turn into people. I don’t like people.
Wouldn’t know what it’s like to sleep with people. Cats hogging the duvet are bad enough.
Thank you everyone.
Thank you for the link to Modest Needs. I will get my landlord to email me the documents they need to I can apply tomorrow hopefully. She has a scanner and all that jazz, and is generally helpful. I will let you guys know when I get it done. I really hope it helps. I’m kind of out of options. I thought I would get another job so I didn’t apply to shelters before so someone else who needed it could get in. Now I’m fucked cause every place has months long waiting list. I should have known better. I’ve been here a year and everything has been fine. Tight and uncomfortable but we’re doing better. Now all my progress is trashed. Little One finally had her own room and is so happy here. That’s the part that breaks my heart.
I’m in AZ. I really don’t know how else you guys could help. It’s just cash I need and unfortunately there’s no guarantee it won’t happen next month. Though I would be more prepared and would be able to try for the county rent help again. The thing is everybody need help and so it goes quick.
I’ve tried waiting tables in the past. Even got my food handler’s card before through a program to try for those kinds of jobs. I haven’t done any fast food, they simply won’t hire me. No experience mostly, especially against people with years of service. My waitress attempt fell straight though, because I was working there when I had my first MS attack. I went blind in my right eye. I can’t get diagnosed yet, even though I had a really bad second attack where I literally couldn’t feel my legs except for a tingly pins& needles feeling. It was all the way up to my hips.
I’m just fucked and I feel bad asking for help. Especially here. I love it here, you guys help keep my sane. What if I fuck up again? What if it doesn’t work out? I don’t want the lingering guilt knowing that I literally failed everyone, including you guys.
Make it a sensible format, and I will watch it. Make it flash and I will ignore it.
One of the questions they ask you in OKCupid is (and I’m probably paraphrasing slightly here), “Which would you prefer: Sex without sleeping together, or sleeping together without sex?” Numerous women who I’ve browsed the questions on have answered “Sleeping together without sex.”
I…just don’t…understand.
(Sex with the lights out is another one I don’t get)
Learning is fun! I used my skillz in a burlesque routine once. And to entertain family at Thanksgiving.
Why do you think I keep finding new babbys?
Pets are also not allowed. My old kitties used to jump on my head in the night.
That was almost as weird and obnoxious as waking up to find a human staring at me while I
drooledslept so sweetly.Good. With your medical issues, I’d say you sound even more qualified. If you can just get enough to give you some breathing room, I’m sure a more long-term solution can be figured out. Keep us posted.
Rey:
Well, sometimes it just happens like that, you know? The lights are already out when you start to get frisky…
But, I agree. Intentionally turning out the lights before sex is kind of creepy to me. I like to see
whatwho the hell I’m doing.Maybe they’re trying to create a setup in which sex will remain optional instead of being expected? They might be trying to filter out the rapey ones who will demand sex because “ur profile said so!”
Or maybe they really just don’t like sex all that much. To each their own, I guess.
If there’s more than two people, it becomes an adventure!
You’ll like David then.
It’s not really relevant, since you won’t be staying here, but the bedroom door closes, so you can keep the buggers out with me as I sleep in the living room.
I sometimes seem callous on here with the timing of my posts. JAL, I really don’t know what to say, I just hope to heaven that things get better for you.
Does Dr. Marjanović jump on people’s heads at night, or is your cat’s name David?
I’m taking this as an invite.
Dr. Marjanović doesn’t deal well with dust and subsequently pets.
He sleeps exceedingly quietly with his hands above the covers. And he doesn’t complain about my snoring for some reason.
J_A_L:
I’m’a donate to Modest Needs tonight, just in case. Let us know if/when your application is in, so we can recommend it for funding.
If something more direct would help, I’m up for that, too. Don’t feel bad about needing help: You ain’t heavy; you’re our sister!
Well, I got in. Currently having a prolonged and massive panic attack.
I have at best a 23 kg baggage allowance. There’s not way in hell you can sneak into my suitcase.
Yyyyeah.
JAL, y’know, folks here give gifts AS GIFTS. They’re not some sort of exam you could fail at. I don’t have much but I set money aside to donate. Someone always needs it.
Might not be much help, but if you (or anyone) wants to try waiting tables, I see there’s a bunch of Buffalo Wild Wings in Arizona. Every BWW I’ve been to in the south has treated its employees well; and they hire all shapes, colors and sizes, not just youngsters or eye candy.
kristinc:
Yay for getting in! *confetti*
Hope the panic attack resolves soon.
Thanks, everybody! *confetti dance party* I’m all excited!
theophontes, the class where I had Euripides turned out great :) Just a regular ol’ A in it.
As for the thing about the paper, it turns out that the professor agrees with me that I should have started the paper earlier than I originally thought necessary. She says I rely too much on my writing skills and I need to give myself a longer time to think things through. Oy. But she’s right, so I accept the stinging. I have to meet with her in a few days or something about it.
—
My Latin class is pretty scary right now. Thirteen grad students, my classmate from last quarter, and me. I kept catching myself shrinking so far down in my seat I was practically hiding under the table. 600 lines a week, copious secondary reading, and a 25-page term paper. I am filled with terror. But my other classes are light, so maybe it won’t be too bad.
My German class… well. My instructor is just going to have to deal with Particularly Eccentric Cipher, and that’s that.
—-
J_A_L, I really hope there’s something the Horde can do to help. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It isn’t fair at all. *hugs*
—
Audley! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee!
—
Giliell, I’m glad you were able to talk with someone who understands what you’re going through :/ *hugs*
—
kristinc, congratulations on getting into your class! I hope it’s awesome! (And I hope the panic attack ceases soon :()
Dr. Audley Darkheart, congratulations! Here’s wishing you an uneventful pregnancy!
Katherine, ((throwing self on group hug/pile)). Life an be so unfair. I hope it cheers you to know your writing is entertaining and I liked the map!
Carlie, what about these? http://www.amazon.com/Trudeau-Fuel-Triangular-Lunch-Bag/dp/B002WHV6N4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333507718&sr=8-1
I bought similar for my boys and they are great – keeps sandwiches cold, easy to clean, look cool too! (My boys have plainer ones, but they enjoy the “fuel” since that’s what I always snap at them when they grouse about the supper menu – “Just think of it as FUEL!”
Totally slipped my mind earlier: Congrats Audley!
(Er, carlie, why is What to Expect When You’re Expecting evil?)
———————————–
Jules: I entered a short story in several contests. Of those five places, three have rejected it.
————————————
Bill: I thought it sounded low, but figured that for one hour, 5 dollars wasn’t a bad start. She’s a single mom, too, so I’d rather she be able to afford tuition, bills, food and clothing for her and her son, AND lessons. If this turns into a serious business, I’ll increase the price, but for now I don’t see much reason to go higher.
—————————————
Sex with the lights on or off: I’ve done both. I don’t really mind either way, although my former fantasies tended to include low levels of light – enough to see what you’re doing.
Sleeping with other people: I can’t sleep in the same bed as a snorer. I’ve been told I snore, but all the same, when I wake up in the middle of the night for some reason, I do. not. want to hear the human impression of a chainsaw as I try to fall back to sleep. Since I’ve only shared a bed with someone post-sex once, I can’t give an opinion on that yet.
——————————————
JAL, that sucks big time. Really can’t think of what else to say, aside from I hope this doesn’t end with you and your kid out on the street and that you find some way to stay afloat. I can’t donate hundreds, but I could spare a few bucks for a collection.
—————————————
Yay for kristinc! Let us know how the class goes!
————————————-
Hugs for Katherine. I don’t have much of an inclination to have kids, but it’s never pretty to see someone who wants them, not be able to have them. And it’s worse when you see all the people who have kids, but aren’t good parents.
As for sex/sleeping together: No sex. Sleeping together is great. I used to sleep together with multiple people. It was nice. I actually really dislike sleeping alone, but I got used to it, then when I got back from visiting my friend I remembered how much I hate it :( On the other hand, it requires that I trust the other person a great deal and also that I don’t mind them touching me, which rules out pretty much everybody at this point.
JAL:
*hugs*
I can donate a bit if a suitable/safe method were to present itself.
Maybe a kickstart campaign or something?
I bought a Nook Tablet today, and it is good. My free e-book was The Hunger Games. :D
No opinions on the sex thing yet, but I can’t imagine sleeping in the same bed as someone. I hope that, if I ever find someone I want to live with, they will be okay with separate bedrooms.
J_A_L:
Fuck that noise, if you need a little help, you need it. We’ve all been there. I can kick in a little.
As the Beatles once said (although Cocker sang it better):
It is late here, but tomorrow I will research some methods by which we can provide some assistance to JAL. (unless someone has any better ideas.)
If that is ok with you, JAL?
JAL:
Girl. Girl. We all been there. For realz.
Y’all, I don’t know much about Modest Needs, but I’m willing to organize the collection and get some money to JAL like we did last time. Or, if Modest Needs is the better option, let me know. Email is spokesgay at g mail.
JAL: Please email me post-haste.
Nutmeg: I have a friend who feels the same way.
Blacksmith (@215):
I believe J_A_L plans to put in a grant application for Modest Needs, which aggregates donations for individuals and families with specific short-term needs. You can create an account there and donate, and then direct your funds to J_A_L’s application. If I’m understanding correctly how it works, her application requests a certain amount of money (e.g., the amount of the next rent payment), and once that much has been raised, she gets it.
I opened an account this evening; it’s dead simple.
Josh:
Modest Needs is new to me, too. It looks like a great platform, but it also looks like it might take a little time for J_A_L to get any funds that way; maybe a two-pronged approach (OK, folks, just pipe down…) would be best. Watch your inbox.
Bill @222
Sounds great. Am looking it up now. I will,however, wait for JAL to give the go ahead before initiating. Or, more likely, will go through Josh.
hehehehe…. pronged…*giggle*
Josh,
email sent.
Thanks, Bill and Blacksmith. Got ’em.
Time for bed. See y’all tomorrow.
Yes, I do plan on doing the Modest Needs tomorrow. I can’t do it tonight because on the application it required documentation for how much is needed and for what. I plan on getting my landlord to email me the information tomorrow, the office was closed by the time I broke down.
I’ve email you Josh.
Thank you again.
JAL:
If it’s an administrative nightmare to do Modest Needs or get your landlord on board, the Horde can take care of it without paperwork and quickly. We’re talking by email, so it’s all good. I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m trustworthy and I follow through, as does the Horde.
and if Josh doesn’t, WE’LL EAT HIS FAAAAACE or something. <_<
If you’d just eat off the first layer of skin, Pterryx, that would be just fine. Save me the cost of month’s worth of Retin-A (yes, for vanity, and for vanity alone).
For when you fucked a demon, right?
BIG HUGS to Katherine… oops now I’ve slipped beyond the event horizon and will be in a continuous state of hugging for a subjective eternity. And that’s OKAY!
I’m so happy for Audley! (Especially since she doesn’t live too far away and I’ll be able to pay a visit once the Bundle of Evil arrives!)
JAL, take it from me, someone who’s benefited from the Horde’s generosity, and is frankly far less needful of it than you: DON’T STRESS. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. Do whatever you need to do. The universe is mostly unfair, so just enjoy these rare moments when unasked for help comes your way with no strings attached. I mean really, think–if you were making plenty money and one of us were in your position, what would you want to do?
Baby niece has started growling a lot lately. She’s also standing up, as long as she has something to hold onto, and will probably be walking in a few months. Here she is, gnawing on Cephalopod:
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/5441/sadie002.jpg
Sally, you know that octopus gonna get her own back with that baby, right?
Congratulations on the pregnancy, AUdley
I carved a very stylized deer from some strange and interesting wood today:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2s0cr9g&s=5
Nice deer, Coyote.
TLC: Looks like a fallow deer to me.
I’ve just put on a batch of sourdough for bread and pizza!!! tomorrow.
I fed it some corn syrup ’cause it was looking little peaked.
That may have been a mistake…
Chigau, it’ll probably be fine. In the future, though, all sourdough starter wants is more flour and a little water. It’s virtually indestructible.
Josh
I’m more concerned with the possibility that, with it’s renewed vigour, it may eat us in our sleep.
corn syrup and starters: That really depends on the starter. Normally, you wouldn’t have a problem, but some starters are quite sensitive to spikes in sugars, especially those containing mostly bacterial leaveners. You can’t kill yeasts with sugar though. Don’t worry about ambulatory people eating starters though. Unless you happened to irradiate it with [insert techno-babble term here] radiation.
A.R: I wasn’t going for any particular species, but now that you mention it, it does kind of resemble a fallow deer.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that fallow deer were the closest living relatives of megaloceros, but I’m not sure.
Oh. and.
I found, in the basement freezer, a package of GirlGuide cookies.
The kind of package that is half chocolate cookies and half vanilla cookies.
It is in the Rules™ that one must eat one of each every time.
I don’t feel so good.
Good morning
Ogvorbis
Dunno.
I was a posh girl in the labour ward. After pooping, pissing and bleeding all over the place I just let them move me to a fresh bed and clean up after me.
My priority food was smoked slamon, lots of it.
PTI
Unless you do thos mainly for fun and mostly out of a charitable feeling, you’re selling yourself ridiculously cheap. I take 10€ for 45 min, so that’s more than 3 times your fee and I’m still cheap.
Just a Lurker
How can we help?
You know, cash is probably one of the easier things…
Co-sleeping with a partner
It actually took me some effort to learn this.
First time Mr. tried to sleep snuggled at my side I asked him what the fuck he was doing? If he didn’t get into his place and leave me alone at night he’d be sleeping somewhere else.
To this day he’s the one who enjoys having the kids in bed at night and I the one who insists on snuggling while alwake only.
kristinc
Chocolate is coming
((()))
Hope you get through it quickly
sex
I love it most in the afternoons although there’s hardly ever a chance for that. And some soft light. It’s not that I want it dark, but doing it in a spotlight isn’t very sexy.
Josh
You’ll get mail.
TLC
Nice deer.
Have you ever tried selling such things for knobs on walking sticks? I don’t mean the aids for people with walking problems but the long ones you’d take for hiking.
Or for medieval fairs. I know friends who paid good money for them.
also
My dear USAsian friends
I’ve had it. Your country is broken. I can’t fix it for you, that’s your job, but I’m fucking tired of hearing one of you being in trouble of starving or losing their home every other month. You are human beings and you deserve better than that.
Now, some of us can often spare a few bucks, but that might not corelate with the times somebody else needs it.
I therefore propose The Eternal Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund
How it works: There’s a paypal adress you can send your money if and when you have it.
Regulars who need help tell, and they get the money they need.
There’s no proving, no judging, no nothing.
We’re not that kind of people.
How about it?
Giliell: That’s actually a pretty good idea.
Unfortunately this wood, while beautifully colored and figured and capable of taking fine enough detail, is MURDER on tools. Including the ones nature gave me.
It was tough enough that my hand actually cramped up pretty painfully, something that’s never happened to me before. :/
Still, I like the result so it was worth it.
Had inspection of my rental house while at work today. Came back home, card from rental agent on my desk, “place looks great ! *smileyface* “. Is that supposed to happen ?
Chatted with one of my ENT collegues earlier today. Just 1-5 times of performing oral sex on a woman increases risk of oropharynx cancers in men and women 230-fold. Lifetime booze, 60-fold, smoking, 25-fold. No more muffs for me, but at least I can keep the drinks and smokes.
I don’t smoke, but I done me a whole bunch of oral over the years.
Meh, worth it.
Louis
I didn’t have a good night’s sleep in 4 years of marriage. There’s always some limb poking you, some bit or blob obstructing you from rolling over, there’s the doona gone from covering you, there’s the snore, it’s a fucking nightmare. How do people do it ?
1) Super king-size bed.
2) Deep Tempur™ mattress.
3) Huge duvet.
Louis
P.S. Added bonus: massive bed = good for Teh Groop Secks™.
How the fuck do some people think the world works and who the fuck they are?
There’s some construction work going on in the little park here and the people there are fucking not securing the place.
I’ve ranted about it here before. Tools not locked away, the cable hovering some 5″ above the ground.
So today I tried talking to the people there.
I swear I friendlily mentiond the problem of the hovering cable and asked them if they could please take care that it doesn’t happen again because it’s dangerous for people, especially since there are a lot of elderly people living here.
They told me it’s flat out not their problem, it’s mine, I have to take care and I could go and talk to their supervisor who isn’t there.
And I’ve had it. I’m going to call their fucking boss. And I don’t care if they get into deep shit. I tried solving the problem cooperatively, they didn’t want to.
And I’m going to tell their boss that if it happens again I’m going to call the authorities.
Should annything happen then, I’ll gleefully testify in court that they did it on purpose.
I know, sharing the same bed – it’s a romantic myth. For any number of people, many of whom are too ashamed to admit it.
My hubbie has restless leg syndrome, a deviated nasal septum, and his own bed.
Win-win.
Thank dog the internet is full of casual cuddlers™. Or so I hear.
Also, Rorschach, did your colleague provide a source for that?
‘Cos I bet there are some worried people out here right now.
Two duvets
Mr and I once slept a night in a hotel with a single one. That didn’t work out at all.
I would snuggle into it, leaving him freezing. He’d move closer to get som e warmth, I’d turn around in the duvet trying to get away from him until he was freezing and I fell out of bed.
Just_A_Lurker, #178 and 194,
Nasty stuff, you have my sympathy. Count me in for a few quid. Shitty situations need rectifying, dammit.
{Sends out Horde Niceness Signal}*
I’ve emailed Josh.
Oh and I triply second Pteryxx @ #209, Caine @218, and Sally @ #233. Hard as it is, take people’s generosity at face value. There are good people here. This is not a test, you cannot fail at being in other people’s affections.
Mind you, this does mean everyone who reads Pharyngula get to turn up at your house for a booze up. You can accommodate a few million, right?
Louis
*Very rarely used! ;-)
Hey, what do I need to do to contribute for J_A_L?
Amblebury, #254,
I’m not that worried. I know what the base rate of these cancers is. That’s kind of the key figure.
And not only that, you have to die of something. Trust me, you don’t want to be in the hospital dying of nothing. ;-)
Louis
Giliell,
The Two Duvet Solution can work. I’m not a fan, but I do not judge those who enjoy it.
I confess that the specifics of my above solution in #250 are almost essential. In other beds, with smaller mattresses and duvets, the sleep is definitely less wonderful.
Louis
OK, so Samantha Vimes has given me the lowdown on how to use these bloodybuggery tag-thingys
Fingers crossed…
“Oh … you mean they have to wake up again? …”
There are animals that can put the embryos in “storage” mode. A bit of germline GM of humans and we can emulate this…but I don’t see the fundies approving.
.
Actually, we need a lot of GM. Some long-lived birds don’t get cancer (apart from virus-induced cancers). Some people remain healthy even though they are 100 years old, and don’t get dementia. I want their DNA!
Failing that, I want GM that makes molecules who restrict water crystal formation. Then I’ll stay in a freezer until rejuvenation nanotech is available.
Funny, in that not funny way, I was just looking at another blog I follow, where a family have lost members to cancer, very young, and this is the photo she posted of the creation of her seven-year-old daughter.
http://www.lesbiandad.net/2012/03/wishful-thinking/
Jon Stewart pummels Sarah Palin for ‘infiltrating’ the Today Show with her Jesus fish earrings
#wankout2012 is here !
Porn stars vs Santorum
I LOL’d.
Modest Needs! I’ve been donating to them for years; they’re the very definition of Good People. However, there are some caveats that need to be highlighted:
If you want to donate money and be sure it gets to JAL, you should do it directly to them, not through Modest Needs. When you donate to Modest Needs you get to vote for money going to a specific grant, but if that grant doesn’t get enough votes to be fully funded, it won’t be funded at all. They don’t do partial grants. The administrators rank the grants internally due to need etc. and will distribute general donations to grants as needed, but with the voting business you’re just putting your thumb on the scales, as it were. If the grant need is time-sensitive, far down on the admins’ priority list to get money from the general fund, and doesn’t get enough votes to get to the full amount by the deadline, then the money involved gets redistributed back into the general fund.
The request has to be clear that it’s a one-time crisis need. I think your situation probably qualifies, JAL, but it would help to be clear when you submit the documentation that you have a plan for how to meet next month’s bill after this hump is passed.
And finally, money never goes to the donor themselves; what Modest Needs does is pay the bill. Hence all the documentation JAL’s landlord requires; the money will go directly to the landlord in payment of the bill, not to JAL. So if more people donated and voted than the amount needed, any “extra” would go back into the general fund.
The future is not hopeless:
“Advanced power-grid research finds low-cost, low-carbon future in West” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-advanced-power-grid-low-cost-low-carbon-future.html
— — — — —
“Scientists develop ultra-thin solar cells” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-scientists-ultra-thin-solar-cells.html
If these solar cells can survive the harsh conditions in space, the effect/weight relation might be good enough to make an ion engine propelled spaceship feasible, without the need to develop nuclear reactors for the purpose.
-For a manned mission to Mars, one might spiral the craft up to lunar orbit over months, and then make a slingshot past Earth, making a brief burn at perigeum. It would cut the time Earth-Mars time to a minimum, if the crew get on the ship in lunar orbit. And it does not have to cost a quintillion $$$
Previous ion engine spaceship projects: Marpost http://astronautix.com/craft/marpost.htm
ERTA (Russian space tug) http://astronautix.com/craft/erta.htm
Another post on my non-nym blog. This time it’s about the ogre races. Two of my favorite races in my world (my favorite are the tallis cause they’re a hyper-active, super-curious steampunk dragon race.)
And yes, I just realized how freaking awesome that descriptor of tallis is:
hyper-active, super-curious, steampunk dragon race.
Every single one of those adjectives is awesome!!
@ David Marjanović #125
Check this out (link to image)
1. original from screenshot
2-6 manipulation by program (after increasing scale as shown 600dpi)
7-8 “Marjanović” redrawn (with mouse… eeeuw. No digital pen here.)
9 using “ctrl” & “+” to increase size on screen and then taking screenshot (OK, it is the best way… but here I had the option)
YMMV. Definitely one could do this for graphs and see big improvement. Text … meh.
Try it with a wife and a 110 lbs. Labradufus
Oh Kirk, You’re so… um… cute? no you’re uh… a fucking disgusting brain washed moron.
Yes that’s it.
Kirk is the perennial winner of the most tragic child actor story.
K Cameron ? O Rly ? Surely, it can’t be that hard to find someone, anyone, less despicable ?
Just like Romney. But sadly for Romney, he doesn’t have the might of the Catholic Church behind him, just some fraudster cult with magic underwear. And good luck with that.
What Kirk Cameron presumably doesn’t realise is that – well, am I kidding myself or is he actually describing the GOP and Republican candidates?
Yeah, you know who else said that?
Hitler.
*scrolls up*
Ah fuck.
I have no citations, but I would guess that a great number, if not all, of the tyrants in history* probably said something like this.
He could have said “Hitler wore pants. Obama wears pants. OMG! Obama is a another Hitler!” and it would make about as much sense.
*if not to the people, then to his military.
Good morning.
I appear to have shaken whatever bug was making me shiver uncontrollably for that last five days.
My knee still hurts but is doing better — I’m down to a ‘1’ or a ‘2’ on the scale of 10 how much does it hurt thingie.
Mandatory monthly pregnancy tests? Aren’t conservatives the ones who freak out at the idea of the government recommending voluntary colo-rectal and breast exams because the government should not be intruding on private decisions that should be between a person and the person’s doctor? Or am I missing something important here?
===
Just_a_Lurker:
Shit. Been there. Not easy. Do you accept cyberhugs? If so, here come some.
Sounds scary. Is scary. Be safe.
Don’t you remember? Low carbon power can only be achieved through an unproven nuclear power design!
‘
=====
Sleeping:
Are Wife and I the only ones who prefer to sleep with our partner? When we are not able to sleep together, neither one of us sleeps very well. When we are both in the same be, we sleep like puppies.
rorschach, do you have a citation for that oral cancer stat?
I’m guessing, if true, that it refers to the cancers caused by the hpv virus. Same sort of jump in risk for cancer (cervical) for women who engage in vaginal sex. Or fellatio.
Also, not only oral cancers are caused by hpv – some penile and anal cancers are also attributed to infection by the virus.
So, if the appropriate reaction is to no longer engage in sexual behavior which carries the risk of cancer due to hpv virus infection, that just about rules out every kind of sexual behavior. Only giving up oral sex is like saying you’ll wash one hand from now on (and not your primary hand ;-)) to prevent colds and flu.
How about that hpv vaccine, huh?
J-A-L I hope you woke up feeling more hopeful and optimistic this morning. There are people out there who are thinking of you.
Oggie,
Nope. Mr Darkheart and I both sleep better with the other in the bed. Every time one of us has gone out of town, he’s told me that he can’t sleep without me. :) (And neither one of us is an easy person to sleep with– we both snore, I have whoa bad sleep paralysis and nightmares, we constantly fight over blankets, etc.)
To each their own.
Og – yes and no for me. I often end up sleeping on the couch when there is too much fidgeting/snoring (from either of us), and I do like having the space of the whole bed when I can, but it is also comforting to have someone else right there, and when separated for several days, after the first burst of “woo-hoo whole bed to myself!” I then miss having the other person there.
Help! Can anyone suggest a way to alert birds that my windows are not more blue sky to fly into? Oh it is horrible! I’ve got them flying into windows front and back of the house – repeatedly! One poor cardinal is flying into it over and over again. :( (Yes, I’ve drawn the blinds, already…no change :()
Nope, since we established THE RULES, I sleep better with Mr at my side, especially since we have children. The brain is a remarkable organ. When I’m alone at home it is capable of sorting “noise probably caused by kids” and “noise caused by something else” and only wake me up in case of the former.
If Mr.’s at home, it sorts by “fuck that shit he can get up”.
Nifty we have that at my office. We’ve tried putting hawk silhouette stickers, owl decoys, planting higher bushes, etc..
nothing seems to work
Rev.BigDumbChimp, this really stinks. :( Well, I tried opening the blinds and putting stuff by the window. She’s gone for now. There is a ceiling fan in that room. I am seriously thinking of hanging light things from the blades and putting it on to create movement in the room to catch their attention and hopefully turn them away before they hit the window.
Cardinals are my favorite birds – especially the elusive females (always there, rarely seen due to their coloring – we always see the brilliant beautiful males first) – so this is breaking my heart!
Sure. Make the birds think that there is a predator waiting in that nice piece of open sky. Use a decal or (even cheaper”) print out a silhouette of a hawk or other avian theropod raptor and tape it to your window.
SHould have indluced this with my previous comment. The linked site has multiple suggestions, including the hawk (multiple images per window area are suggested).
One thing I have done is to dangle CDs from strings outside the window. That will spin in the wind and reflect light.
I’ve used them to keep birds off my tomatoes and it does ok. Might work for the window too. You’ll just have to be that weird neighbor with the cds dangling outside his windows.
And I really need to learn to read what I thing I write.
All hail Tpyos!
Add flexible sheets of transparent plastic -the stuff in some garbage bags- on free-standing frames several inches outside the window frames. The slower deceleration will prevent injuries.
— — — — —
Technology will come through for the environment:
Breakthrough could slash R&D time for next generation of hydrogen fuel cells http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-breakthrough-slash-hydrogen-fuel-cells.html
And related news: Developing the next generation of fuel cells http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-fuel-cells.html
…and: ‘Tunable’ metal nanostructures for fuel cells, batteries and solar energy http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-tunable-metal-nanostructures-fuel-cells.html
Plus…”New metal alloy electrode designed for plus-sized ions” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-metal-alloy-electrode-plus-sized-ions.html
let me rephrase that first sentence. I haven’t dangled them outside my windows, just around a few plants. Not sure how I botched that but I’m sure it’s not a shock.
Pharyngula Alert: Those of you who want to contribute to help Just a Lurker please email me at spokesgay at gmail. I’m organizing the collection. Others can vouch that I’m trustworthy and will get JAL the money quickly.
Thanks!
Thanks RevBigDumbChimp and Ogvorbis. I’m printing off owl pix as I type. I really think the CD idea would work (birds at the feeder outside my kitchen window always startle and fly away if I move near the window), but am going to have to figure out how to hang them first.
Kristinc: Hope you’re feeling better today.
Sally: OMG CUTE!!! (And I’m not even a “kid person”!)
TLC: Very nice deer. Usually the only ones we see ’round these parts are teal.
Giliell:
Full sunlight can be very nice, so long as you have sunscreen. I’d add “and some modicum of privacy,” but that’s a YMMV thing.
Louis:
Too squishy. I’ve found a futon to work perfectly well.
Amblebury: That blogger should make sure to keep the Cure for Kancer away from the Nazis, who might draft it.
Rorschach, I don’t have to wait until May 5 for a “wankout”; I just have to keep my eyes on any threads here about abortion, GLBT rights, misogyny, or libertarianism.
Rev. BDC, as much as I detest Kirk Cameron, he would not be the first person to observe that the U.S. is very, very vulnerable to the rise of a “charismatic leader” right now. As the first Raw Story commenter says, “Right conclusion, wrong reasons.”
He’ll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you’ve been a good boy,
He’ll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy…
Og, glad you’re doing better.
Ms. Daisy – re charismatic leader observation – yes, that projection thing again with the Xians. ITA
Niftyatheist, who was it (‘Tis?) who said here a while ago that the wingnuts follow the strategy followed by the editors of Pravda? If they’re accusing their opponents of doing something, they themselves are either already doing it or planning to.
Ms. Daisy..I didn’t see that conversation, but whoever said it was right on the money IMHO.
The whole “activist judges” thing (along with “liberal media” etc) not to mention the sneaky undercover tricks, vote tampering…on and on it goes. I wrote a blog post yesterday about the Supremes bit (but other writers have done it, and better). How right wingers can bleat on about “freedom” and illegitimate power/government overreach while they cheer legislatures criminalizing a woman’s ability to control what happens to her own body, and now poised to cheer if the Supremes overstep their duty to rule on the constitutionality of aspects of the AHact only and might potentially rule to strike down a law that was duly passed by elected representatives is beyond me. Wait, it’s not beyond me – it just sickens me. Yes, that is it.
http://niftyatheist.blogspot.com/2012/04/attention-supreme-court-people-will.html
Dazed And Chinese-Bongwater
Love You To-Bongwater
You Don’t Love Me Yet-Bongwater
Love Life-Bongwater
That video led me to this one. It rocks. Sorry if it has already been posted in the previous 299 comments. :-)
I feel like shit, I think I have too much blood in my alcohol system. I need to rectify that.
++++++++++++++++++++
Nice work TLC!
++++++++++++++++++++
theophontes 777, it doesn’t matter how you manipulated it, we’re still looking at it on a 72/96 PPI screen.
++++++++++++++++++++
I have insomnia so sleeping with someone is a bad idea. I may be able to fall asleep with them, but at some point I will wake up and be able to get back to sleep for awhile. And I will probably blame them. You know, for breathing and shit like that.
I hate it when they breathe.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/03/nikki-haley-women-dont-care-about-contraception/
How … immaculate of her.
++++++++++++++++
Supreme court justices allow for routine strip-searches of inmates in US jails
5-4 of course. These fuckers need to be strip searched. They have no empathy, and need a quick short course in how it feels to be an American under their rule.
Get Up And Go-Rutles
Piggy In The Middle-Rutles
Ouch!-Rutles
Living In Hope-Rutles
Wait, what? Does she think that the mandate means that every woman will be forced to take a birth control pill every morning? What kind of shit doublespeak is this? Does anyone even notice the lies anymore?
Carlie, pointing out the lies is partisan and the lowest form of .
carlie – dog whistles again? The suggestion that “they” will make “us” take birth control, have abortions, etc.
Andybreeden, that video was awesome. He was just fantastic. wow
THEY CAN GIVE US CONTRACEPTIVES BUT THEY CANNOT TAKE AWAY OUR FREEDOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
Barack Obama threaten Chelsea Clinton with murder if his secret Kenyanness was exposed.
I’m proud to be an American where at least I can embrace conspiracies.
@ Josh
Sourdough: Further to the steps given in the previous TET (Linky) …
Here are the pictures.
Rorschach:
A lot of people don’t. I love Mister half to death, but he’s impossible to sleep with.
Wow, just watched Dust That Sings (I know, I know – I should have done that yesterday!) and it is amazing.
It is really thrilling to see all the great stuff that is available now for atheists.
Re sex and sleeping together. Mr Nifty and I find it works out great for us. I usually fall asleep before him (heh) which helps with the snoring problem (though we have discovered that drinking beer/hard liquor makes this a problem but NOT wine. Coincidence? Studies need to be done!). We both sleep like the dead (except that I have perfected Gilliel’s brain receptor thingie and can wake in an instant if family sounds/ sleep through thunder/coyotes/etc).
Sex by candlelight! :) All kinds of it!
I’m sure others have already suggested cutout silhouettes of hawks and eagles and other raptors, but this made me think of something that happened a few years back. Your cardinal may not be ‘accidentally’ hitting your window at all!
A lady back east got in trouble. She had the same problem you have, but she wasn’t a bird lover so she shot the poor thing with a pellet gun! Apparently, it was breeding season and the cardinal was attempting to fight his reflection. The noise was annoying her. Great reason to kill something, right? People are fucked.
Anyways, if your cardinal is repeatedly hitting your window, it may not be an accident. He may be trying to pick a fight with himself, as it were.
Hang brightly coloured ribbons over the glass, about 1/2″ apart. Either that, or place a bird feeder in front of the window, either one hanging on a hook or the kind with suction cups that will go right on the window. Those work a treat.
Laughing Coyote, you may be on to something! That would explain the persistence, even after hitting itself repeatedly against the window.
Although, would females also do this? I’ve got females doing it at least as often (if not more often) as the males.
I’m trying the owls, too.
And no, I cannot believe that someone would kill a bird because of this. I want to stand int he window waving my arms to alert the poor things so they stop hurting themselves!!!
Caine, that’s what I have in front of the kitchen window (that mostly stopped the problem there!). The windows out back are high and large and nowhere to hang a feeder but I am going to try the owls and perhaps ribbons too – maybe I’ll tack the ribbons up and hang the CDs on them at varying heights, then put on the ceiling fan to get them twirling. With a little luck, that might be enough of a distraction for them. Thanks!
The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa)
That deer carving is great! What kind of wood did you use?
Niftyatheist: Perhaps the females are ‘fighting’ over what they perceive to be superior nesting space?
I don’t get cardinals round these parts, but right about now the robins are gearing up for some pretty vicious fighting.
It’s neat to see, because the birds are completely engrossed in unleashing the inner therapod on each other and don’t really pay as much attention to other things. I seem to recall a battling pair whizzing right past my head and into a blackberry bush once.
As to how to prevent the birds from hurting themselves on your windows, that’s a tough one. I would suggest raptor cutouts, but as others have mentioned and from my own research, these don’t always work.
It’s not a short term solution, but I wonder if maybe planting tall bushes in front of the problem windows might break up reflections and make it look like a less attractive place to fly?
I love overzealous doctors. I smashed my finger in a door today, and it tore the skin. So I put a bandaid on it and then went to the Health Services room. I just needed a little antibiotic and a bandaid. Doctor gave me antibiotic, sterile strips to tug the wound closed, a gauze pad, a little stretchy net to go over my finger, and four bandaids for later use. I feel like he’s the kind of doctor you’d go in with a slight wrist pain and he’d have you in a full body-cast XD
Also, it’s hard to type without your middle finger.
Ye Olde Blacksmith: I don’t know what it’s called. It came from a tree on the corner of my front yard by the road. This tree has strings of yellow flowers, little smooth edged round leaves, and thorns on the younger branches. The growth wood is light colored, the heart wood takes on interesting shades of olive brown with strong grain lines.
I tried to use mostly heart wood in this carving, but as you can all see the line runs right down the eye and muzzle (and through to the chest), which I think gave it a pretty interesting effect, as is the similar lighter colored rump. It always feels good when natural features of the wood subtly enhance a piece like that.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mwY9HFMWkbsC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=do+female+cardinals+fight?&source=bl&ots=L7lH-y7HXE&sig=mrpL4MTHS6Jm8r43sCj00uSB2J8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GY58T6KZLOLo0QGPyJnrCw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=do%20female%20cardinals%20fight%3F&f=false
Apparently both male and female cardinals will fight reflections.
candles have sooo many uses. They’re quite illuminating.
Well, FUCK
I maded this lengthy post on WordPad, but it turns out that if someone bumps the back of the computer and dislodges a cord, the aether eateds it.
What I remember of it:
Giliell: Some of us are trying to fix this country, but we are outnumbered-and-surrounded-by self-centered, short-sighted fools; we’re reduced to bailing as fast as we can, just to avoid taking on water any faster.
General: A bit of TMI on the subject of sleeping with partners (with a digression on the problem of Sleeping with Strangers); an endorsement of the Pharyngula “We Got Your Back, Jack” system of emergency relief (Josh, Official SpokesGay as Exchequer); and congrats (to kristinc, I think?) on getting into a class. Nothing at all about peas, or Horses.
Oh, yes, and:
If Good American Women are compelled to bear to term every fertilised ovum, regardless of their financial and/or personal ability to provide for them, then presently we will have a labor pool of desperately poor Good Americans who will be unable to turn down those undesirable, poorly-paid jobs for which we currently have to depend on immigrant workers. Then, we can slam that southern border shut, by damn! and stem the flood of Brown People (who are tainting our American Culture (and gene-pool)); and since these desperately poor laborers will also (thanks to the gutting of the public school system, and the “education” available therefrom) be desperately ignorant, they won’t be able to drag themselves up the economic ladder. Bonus: they’ll also be easy meat for the corporate/political/religious leadership to control, keeping them in their Divinely-Mandated place in the scheme of things. Because this whole thing with poor people and immigrants having aspirations seriously blows chunks, if you look at it right, i.e., from the rarefied heights of Silverspoon America, where the 1% live.
Too cynical? Or paranoid?
–
cicely – I wish it was just paranoid cynicism, but I fear it is close to the truth. If it is tinfoil battery, then I am wearing one, too. All societies eventually go this way unless there are strenuous efforts to beat it back. That’s what the founding fathers/enlightenment thinkers tried to do. They got it, even back then, I think. But unless there is CONSTANT VIGILANCE and beating back of the never-ending insurgency of opportunists and authoritarians and oligarchies , we will go the way of feudalism/theocracy/fascism, too.
That is chilling. I wish I could chuckle and say WHOOPS! IMA CONSPIRACY NUT!! LOL!
Awesome link, Ing, thank you. I love cardinals! That pic of the male with his wings whirring at the car mirror is just what I’ve been seeing.
The Sailor – quite so! :)
Finger in door – very ow! But Kat, do they actually give you antibiotic for a cut, even a nasty one?
Ugh not “battery” — “hattery”
“The Tinfoil Haberdashery: Your One-Stop Shop For Conspiracy Theories!”
–
cicely
I know you do.
And I can’t help you.
I can only help keeping those of you afloat for long enough that I know of and care about and it drives me mad.
++++++
So, German police have a nice little scandal at their hands.
An 11 yo was raped and murdered.
They arrested an innocent 17 yo kid whose pic and name was made identifiable so he had to deal with threats, harrasment and basically has his life ruined in that town right now.
And then they arrested the guilty 18 yo.
Turns out he went to the police last November, not only handing them his collection of child-pornography but also telling them that he had abused a 7 yo girl. And they apparently put the whole thing in a drawer and went on to solve traffic violations or something like that.
They can’t even do their fucking job if the perp walks into their office and tells them to please arrest him because he’s a fucking danger to society
*tap*tap*
Is this thing on?
Giliell: O.o
That’s some world-class incompetence and stoopid, right there. Does this guy have an influential family or something?
–
It’s on, but everybody seems to be in other threads.
–
cicely
No, actually his stepfather was the first to go to the police to denounce him and talked him into going there himself. He was in a psychiatry ward for 8 weeks, too, but still, just let somebody who goes around practically screaming “Help me I’m dangerous” go back to his life and do nothing.
From Janine’s link at #309:
Wow, it’s like the ’90s all over again, except we have better computers and cellphones but everything else sucks. Was Vince Foster in on this conspiracy, too?
Kitty:
Hard to drive without it, too.
Yeah, people appear to be working on the Singularity and Irrational Humans threads.
Josh, you have mail. JAL, are you willing to give an order of magnitude estimate of how much money you need?
Audley, congratulations!
Just_A_Lurker, I am so sorry. *hugs* I’ve emailed Josh.
Katherine, *hugs*
kristenc, congratulations. Deep breaths. You’ll do fine.
Thanks, Hekuni Cat!
Oh, fuck my life. I know the universe isn’t conspiring against me but it sure as hell feels like it sometimes.
My landlord’s scanner/printer/do everything machine is broken. She offered to call places herself to explain but that doesn’t help with an online application.
Then my mother ran into my abusive ex on the bus. She took precautions and didn’t come right home and was sure she wasn’t followed. But it was on the bus that drops her off near home and he now has an idea where to look. I’m just thankful Little One wasn’t with her.
Fuck
Hey, Coyote, if nobody’s beaten me to it it sounds like some kind of locust tree. Black locust wood is legendary for its toughness.
I am not freaking out as much about school but still freaking out some. Hoping that by the next class we’ll have interesting things to discuss and that’ll distract me from being anxious. I really do look forward to discussing Maya Angelou and Barbara Kingsolver.
The instructor has the most interesting verbal tic I’ve ever heard in my life. You know how some teachers will invite the class to finish a sentence like so: “Maya Angelou wrote about what? Yes, exactly, she wrote about the life of a child in Stamps.” She uses the “what” from the middle of the sentence but without a pause for answers and in the same way as other people might habitually use “um” or “basically”: “As if you haven’t, what, put yourself into it.” I have never seen someone adopt a rhetorical question as an unconscious habit of speech and I find it completely fascinating.
I ordered 500g of high dye content henna today, that’s my big excitement for the day.
JAL: *insert flood of profanity on your behalf* frick, and I know what it is to be stalked.
*headshake*
At least your landlord sounds helpful. Any alternate means of printing the application material? I’m’a go onto Modest Needs and look…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnHoqHscTKE&ob=av3n
For Vicki. x
Catching up.
Carlie, thanks for the info re Modest Needs. I had gotten the idea that it was a good avenue, but that it wouldn’t reliably get money to J_A_L quickly; hence, the aforementioned two-pronged approach! (“Heh, he, Beavis… he said ‘prong’!”)
***
J_A_L:
Hang on; help is on the way! Do let us know if/when you get an application up on Modest Needs: I’ve got a donation sitting in my account that I’ll direct to your application. If you decide not to go that way, no worries: Plenty of other deserving folks on that site, and, like checking (or not) the campaign funding box on Form 1040, “this will not reduce the amount of your
refundemergency funds.”***
Giliell:
I’m up for that… in fact, I proposed something similar a while back. I’d be willing to commit to a modest monthly donation to such a fund on an ongoing basis.
re JAL: The little USB scanner I have only cost a hundred bucks and it’s available everywhere. If scanner access is going to be a game-breaker here, I’d freakin’ pay for a scanner at a store local to you so you could go pick one up.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16838111057
Pteryxx:
I, too, was thinking about how cheap scanners (and all-in-one printers) are, but I hadn’t made the mental leap to online purchase for local pickup.
That’s what’s so great about the Hive Mind: Some part of it will always figure shit out.
@Pteryxx, fyi, you can get a 3-in-1 (printer, scanner, copier) for even less:
http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-3050A-Wireless-Printer/dp/B0057UAB34/
Yes, it’s a give-away-the-razors-sell-the-blades thing, but still …
cm: Yeah probably, but my scanner’s tough as nails, kicks ass, works with GIMP with no fussing, and can be stuffed in a tote or backpack for quick getaways. It’s been part of my stalking-survival kit for the last few years, both for filing legal paperwork, and for whipping out at random convention tables/restaurants/hotel rooms for scanning artwork. So I plug it. >_> I don’t like all-in-ones, they tend to be temperamental and fragile. If I need to print something, rather than get into the cartridge racket, I use a library.
From what I gather of the ModestNeeds application process, it only requires scanning of supporting documentation and an online app. Printing doesn’t seem necessary to apply. Still, if this particular trick happens, JAL could request an all-in-one just as easily.
I think it came up during Patricia’s and Lynna’s illings.
I like the idea, for sure, but it’s gonna be hell to administrate. Demand will outstrip supply by I don’t know how many orders.
The tools are gonna be their biggest problem. It’s utterly ridiculous how much stuff is being stolen from contractors on site.
Dental dams.
Is this something the HPV jab will help?
Concern trolls are concerned.
Seriously, three idiot comments in (before I replied to the latter idiot) an eight-comment thread. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw. I’m going to go get unconscious now. Good night, everybody.
Pteryxx, was merely joshing. ;)
—
cicely: “The Tinfoil Haberdashery”
Millinery, please! Can nobody get this right?
If you want weird, I suggest:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/bobnichols/
(I have a thing about conspiracy theorists. Armchair psychologist, I am.)
—
niftyatheist and janine: “they” will make “us”
I can only repost (for the how-many-th time?) Hofstadter:
http://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/0014706
1964. Nineteen. Sixty. Four.
Before the moon landings. Before Woodstock. Before me. And, yet, still true.
How?
I’ve been doing a bit of Babble reading over at SAB, and I noticed that Jeebus only mentions teh gheys once. And he isn’t suggesting stoning them either. Linky.
Josh, just to make sure, is your email all lowercase?
—————————————–
I was going to ask about the dried frog pills, and then decided I could live a long and happy life without knowing.
—————————————–
Gillel, this English lessons thing isn’t a super-serious venture in the sense that I want to make a steady job of it. It was more of a, “Hey, why not? I got some time to spare at work most days to help you” thing. I also know that many who put their kids in our school, while they manage to pay their tuition, still have to watch every penny, especially nowadays. I don’t know how much this mother makes at her job. If I could be assured that 15 bucks wouldn’t bar her from making sure the bills are paid every month and that she can still feed herself and her son, I’d charge it. And since she’s the only one at the moment, it’s not like I have a reason to work out a sliding scale of payment.
———————————————-
I thought that was Ms. Jones.
No really, carlie, what makes that book evil besides making women who can’t conceive cry upon seeing it? I mean, I’m assuming that’s one of the reasons it’s evil…yeah I’m just going to stop there.
———————————————
Dear Nikki Haley,
I’m a woman who cares about contraception.
There are men who care, and would gladly take a pill especially made for them if it meant lowering chances of an unwanted pregnancy. WE care. Which is more than I can say for you.
———————————————-
Re: fixing the US – It’s like trying to stop a herd of rabid bulls with a firehose. Just when one victory is won, another problem crops up. It’s a never-ending chain.
I used to dream about the US having a future where houses ran on solar power and other “green” sources of energy. The pictures I saw in books always gave me a thrill, made me think, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could live that way and have cleaner air to breathe?” I used to think we’d one day get to where poverty no longer existed, and then we’d finally be able to focus on how to . . . I guess colonize another planet?
The last bit is so far off that it seems unlikely. The rest, well, I’m starting to wonder if the US will ever get to that point.
Hey y’all,
Dianne, I just saw your email that I overlooked-sorry!
Those of you who have donated warm the cockles of my heart. And the cockles of my other areas.
Yes, yes to the Permanent Pharyngulite Fund. Anyone a brilliant administrator?
What I like about this is that we don’t demean people by questioning their need, making them grovel and fill out paperwork, etc. Being poor is an exercise in deliberate bureaucratic humiliation in the US. Sure, we run the risk that someone will “take advantage,” but who cares? I’d rather that happen (and it’s vanishingly unlikely in this crowd) than say “fuck it” to others. But then I’m not a Republican.
Yes, my email is all lower case. I don’t think that matters anymore does it?
White house has put up a “Taxpayer Receipt” calculator.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/2011-taxreceipt
It’s just downright depressing how little of my tax bill goes toward things like science research, but so much of it goes towards the money pit known as the military.
“Undeniable” coming to Melbourne Atheist convention?
Get ready to slay ^^
leighshryock: That’s simply depressing. One should think that paying for science is a better investment in the long term than bombing brown people.
There are also still places to get scanning done; Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Kinko’s will scan and send to a specific address, fax, or I think email address. And also many libraries, especially if you explain the situation.
Josh, I sent you an email. Care to reply, Darling?
Whoa. I just saw *a television spot* for the FFRF on cable (msnbc) here in Dallas. Who’d’ve thought.
It was this:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/03/23/ffrf-will-air-a-churchstate-separation-tv-ad-on-cbs-this-weekend/
Was walking home with one of the kids from a store we don’t usually walk to, and saw a house with a plastic “No Soliciting” placard on the door. Under the placard was a hand-lettered, taped sign: AND NO JESUS CRAP EITHER.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oPNnYZPcV4&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Never send a raven to do a dove’s job.
Via Maddow: plans to ban masks, string, etc. at the Republican National Convention in Florida; but concealed handguns must be permitted.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/04/11021779-water-guns-no-real-guns-yes
I wonder if there’s a Justice for Trayvon march planned for the RNC.
So…
I’ve been away for like 2 weeks.
Work.
2 weeks of 18-hour days turn me into a pumpkin that comes home from work, shotguns a beer, and collapses into bed.
I love my job.
____
So, what did I miss? *skims the blog, reads the Irrational Humans thread*
Ew. Well, that looks exciting.
Congratulations, Audley! Best wishes for you and the upcoming Mini Audley! (*psst! want knitted baby things?*)
___
This past weekend, I was able to drag myself away from work (this was the point of the 18 hour days – getting Stuff™ done so that I could take a 3-day weekend off) and went to a con. I met Tamora Pierce, whose stuff I truly love.
She asked when I started reading her stuff and I answered “College.”
She looked startled (much of her stuff is YA) and I explained that I would not have been allowed to read her stuff (featuring magic, women who do magic, and LGBT people) before then. I further explained by describing my parents as recovering Christian fundamentalists (but they’re better now). She gave me hug and told me that I was a great person and that she was so proud of me.
It felt awesome. ♥ And she signed my book!
Kristinc: I just looked up the black locust on wikipedia and I think we might have a fit here. The flowers in the photo are white, not bright yellow, but apparently there are multiple varieties?
TLC: That’s very hard wood to work with hand tools. I have never done any caring myself (I’ve absolutist no artistic talent), but it looks fun.
Esteleth: Jealous! I grew up reading Tamora Pierce. I think her books were a factor in me becoming the kind of teenage girl who fished and hunted and didn’t take shit about it from anyone, especially guys.
E:
:)
Yes! That would be awesome.
Audley:
OK. I’ll start planning stuff. I have some time, though – October or thereabouts, yes?
E:
Good call. My due date’s at the end of Oct.
Okay! :D :D
I am presuming (given how early it is) that you don’t know the sex yet. In any case, I’ve never been big on the mandatory pink-or-blue thing, and somehow I doubt you are either.
Hmm.
*ponders*
Matching mama-and-baby hats? Blankets? HMMMM.
From the White People thread, cos I didn’t want to derail but this is a tangent:
That’s approximately how I get about homophobes, including the kind who fancy themselves “moderate”. I start shaking and go all tunnel-vision with rage. I can usually manage a few “what the fuck is wrong with you” comments but after that I just have to get the fuck out of there. It’s very frustrating because I would like to be a better and more active advocate in that area in particular, because it is important to me, but at this point I can barely engage with it on blogs because the rage is so large.
This is entirely due to privilege, but I don’t go into the same uncontrollable rage about overt racists because I don’t get overt racists. I mean, obviously they’re evil as fuck, but the rage is usually softened by a long period of trying to understand what the fuck they just said.
Paul Ballard should stop being on Battlestar Galactica. It’s distracting.
Me neither, caring is hard. Makes my head hurt.
Cassandra — first, that is exactly how I feel about (and react to) overt misogynists and second, that is exactly how I feel about Tahmoh Penikett (but I got used to Helo. Mmmmmmm).
Caine Signal Activate!
Sweets, if I failed to respond to your earlier email it was an oversight-I thought I had. You should haz mail now.
Oh lord (fans self). Not even exactly my “type” (well, really, I’m kinda slutty about types. . . I like all the menz) but he made my SpokesParts overheat on BSG. Especially when he wore a suit. Whew. . .
Another take on the classic theme of cats in cardboard boxes.
Is it bad that my first thought after that shooting was that they can’t use the line that it happened because God isn’t allowed in school this time?
Not caught up, but hello!
I’ve just had my first ever encounter with a fat-hating doctor – the respiratory specialist. Apparently my lungs are in quite good nick except for some residual scarring, and the collapsed segment is back up. Yay! And it’s now confirmed that I really do have asthma. Oh well, such is life. But also apparently my fatigue and shortness of breath are because I’m fat.
Yeah, right, that must be it. Never mind that I was just as fat before I got sick, and I was doing yoga and dance classes and able to walk 20,000 steps on the pedometer with no effort (as long as it was flat, admittedly.) Hello, a variable that doesn’t actually vary is a piss-poor explanation for an extremely dramatic before & after difference! But no. Lose weight you lazy fatty!
Eh, I’m going to try to ignore him and get some graduated exercise program going anyway. My GP is much better and I don’t really need to see this guy again now the lung questions are answered.
Alethea:
Fuck that shit. It’s not only obnoxious, it’s not good medical practice. When I had my heart attack the only fucking thing the head nurse cared about was “DO YOU SMOKE YES OR NO I DON’T CARE IF ITS ONE CIGARETTE A DAY!@@!!” Nevermind that I was, in fact, 40 pounds overweight with a lipid profile so bad the doctors had never seen a patient with my numbers.
Same shit. Prejudicial pigeon-holing.
Hey all, Thank you so much for all of your help. I have a PayPal account set up so funds can be deposited there from Josh. Yay! I am indeed breathing easier for a bit and find it easier to go through resources for next month.
Another freak out moment for me tonight. I logged in to my neglected facebook account because I wanted to subscribe to something to get a free character in a game. Easy enough right? Wrong! I logged in and was face to face with my ex as a friend suggestion. He was never there before, never looked for him, hell its not even under my real name. But Bam! There he was and I have a mini-panic attack. I blocked him and deactivated my account. Fuck facebook. Oh well, no PET for me. I never use it anyways.
Little Sophie Kitteh seems to be working her way back into remission from diabetes. I’m having to give her smaller and smaller doses of insulin because her blood sugar is staying fairly low and stable (though not perfect). Lord – you try measuring out .25 units of insulin in a syringe. No mean feat!
Well that seems horrible but I admit, I giggled.
Fuck the police
NSFW
Speaking of fucking Fecesbook, I had to reactivate it to communicate with some rellies pending a trip back home. Luck of timing let me see this ultimate campaign photo op from Bill Nye’s Planetary Society blog link.
Nichelle Nichols and The Nerd-In-Chief:
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003440/
Good morning
Easter is getting near, this morning we saw three rabbitses hopping on the lawn
JAL
Shit that’s bad, I hope you can stay hidden from him.
Assholes. How much of a fucking entitled asshole do you have to be if you can’t simply accept that it’s over
(((hugs)))
Alethea
Fuck that shit. One of my neighbours nearly lost her leg because all doctors just told her to “lose some weight”. When she finaly managed to get somebody to actually look at it it was an “uhm, you have a nasty infection there. If it’s spread to that part, we’ll have to amputate.
Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund
Well, I actually thought about something simply like a paypal account where people can just send money to.
I hate hate hate hayfever.
Now that I’ve done all the really necessary work I’m going to mildly dope myself up…
Absolutely.
Yar, one more race to explain about on my non-nym blog. The gnollen, a super-cute short dog-like humanoid race whose heads I want to pet :3
But they’d probably hate that :(
Facebook gives suggestions just because you know someone who knows someone. It’s very likely that the ex didn’t initiate the friend request, just thr Facebook noted that there was a mutual friend that might be of interest.
Audley
I started playing ME3 finally, and you weren’t wrong, it’s awesome! Although last night I did manage to blow up several thousand Krogan simply by going to the Citadel and triggering the ‘Udina’ mission before I’d got around to saving their leathery hides. Oops!
P.S. Congratulations on your pregnancy! That explains why you were feeling so crappy the other day (and most days, probably).
I’m home from work because of what Shakespeare called “a whoreson cold.”*
*King Henry IV Part II, Act III, Scene 2. Bullcalf talking to Falstaff
I’ve just seen this blog post about a homeopath who convinced a client to use ‘exclusively classical homeopathy’ to treat her CANCER. The patient is now dead.
A skeptical blogger who has followed the subsequent court cases has been hit by this homeopath’s lawyers with ceast and desist/libel claims. The Streisand Effect would help a lot here.
http://networkedblogs.com/w2LgY
Loud!
Sweet. I managed to save the krogen, but without being too spoilerific, I doomed another species to a quick extinction. Ah well.
Funny story, I haven’t actually finished ME3. I got to the last mission, then BAM! morning sickness. I absolutely cannot play when I’m barfy, but hopefully, I’ll be able to finish up this weekend.
Catnip – yes, but if FB was giving Just A Lurker that suggestion for the ex, it was most likely also going to give the ex the suggestion of friending JAL. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve read that if the ex then sent a friend request, they would now (after the last set of privacy “improvements”) be able to see a significant portion of JAL’s profile even if they hadn’t approved the request.
*hugs* to Just_A_Lurker. When I joined LinkedIn (for work), I accidentally sent out a request to every single person I’d ever emailed from that email account (a few folks on here got it, even). Which gave my ex (who I’d been easily able to avoid because I now live in a different state) access to me again. He was separated from wife 3 and was crying to me about it. He actually said, “Sometimes I feel like calling you and asking, ‘Was I really that bad?'”
I didn’t respond. A few days later, my phone rang. I didn’t answer that either.
He’s a psychopath. He’s one of the few people in the world I actually hate. But that was over a year ago now, I think. The longer I go without having to deal with him, the better my life is. I hope you get your relief from your ex starting now.
^^^This. Except I don’t have SpokesParts. I have ladybits.
Work rant: I received files I’d been missing to complete a project yesterday. It’s over 30 hours of work. I was supposed to get them over a week ago, but fuck Jules, so I finally got them yesterday.
PM emails me this morning with the final files I need to complete the project (I have to cross-check all of them). She also adds this gem: “I thought I was going to get all of the assets yesterday?”
UM. There are not 30 hours in a goddamn motherfucking day. And there certainly aren’t 30 hours in this email, so I’m not entirely sure what the fuck you were thinking, but it wasn’t from this goddamn reality.
And then she sent another one. The subject line said URGENT. The body said, “We really need those files. It’s urgent.”
Oh. Well in that case…*gets in time machine*
ARGH.
Nevermind that I was, in fact, 40 pounds overweight with a lipid profile so bad the doctors had never seen a patient with my numbers.
Is it bad that my first thought was to wonder if your doctor was maybe not very experienced?
My “best” experience with high lipids was a patient who came in to the ER for something completely unrelated to heart disease (flu, or something like that) and had blood drawn. This being the ER, a major trauma case came in just after that and distracted everyone so his blood sat around for an hour or so. And got to room temperature. At which point, it looked like a tube of half blood, half lard. Which, as it turned out, it was. Triglycerides off scale. He’s lucky he didn’t have diabetes from it. Fortunately, it turns out that knowing that your blood turns to lard when cooled is an excellent motivator for lifestyle change and compliance with medication and he was doing ok the last I heard.
(Some details of the case changed or omitted to make the story HIPAA compliant, but the lard bit is 100% true to the best of my memory.)
Coupla things. You can make yourself unsearchable. It’s not just setting your account to private. You can set it where neither your name nor your email address will turn you up in a search. You can even set whether people who are friends of friends can see you, message you, or friend request you. If your profile is set to private or to friends only, no one who is not your friend can see you. But these are separate entities in facebook.
I cannot be searched. (I found out it worked when trying to get someone from Reason Rally to friend me; I finally had to find him instead.) However, I believe that friends of friends can still see me and request me.
You do have to be vigilant and go in and make all of these changes, because facebook defaults to being very, very open.
I finally figured out how to get my high school off of there. Trolls kept making creepy swipes at me using it, just to show me they were watching me, I guess.
I also set my pics to friends only after I got multiple messages from friends-of-friends complimenting my tattoos. They were tattoos not visible in my profile pic.
OK. Files have finished downloading. Time to get back in my time machine and finish the files yesterday.
Josh and Jules,
Hmmmmm I’m curious. Do I have SpokesParts? Jules above has contrasted LadyBits with SpokesParts. I do not have LadyBits, I have access to some, what I have is different, I checked. I also double checked with some documentaries on the internet.
Does this mean that all Parts are SpokesParts, or are my Parts mere Parts? Not special SpokesParts. I have some evidence in favour of SpokesParts status, I also have no type and am an unabashed slut-fiend of the first water. I blame Teh Evilooshun for making me want to share my Parts with many many peoples.
Louis
I stopped at my local quicky mart this morning to get my tub-o-soda (it is a cheap way to buy my diet soda and gets me bonus points to save money on gas) and I was subjected to an attempted witnessing.
Here is the conversation (as best I can rember (and, keep in mind, I am currently using a cane and have knee immobilizer and am wearing my uniform)):
Her: Good morning. Can I ask you a question?
Me (oh, great, another fishing or hunting question): Sure. How can I help you?
Her: What happened to your leg?
Me: Hurt it at work. Hoping I don’t need the knife again.
Her: You mean you’re considering surgery? A doctor?
Me: Yeah. It works.
Her: Did you ever think it may be something else?
Me: No. Pretty sure that a torn tendon really is a torn tendon.
Her: So you haven’t heard the Good News?
Me: What good news? Have they found a way to regrown tendons?
Her: No. The Good News of God’s love?
Me: Oh, I’ve heard it.
Her: Then you are praying for relief?
Me: I’m looking for relief, but I prefer stuff that works. Y’know, like hydrocodone?
Her: You don’t think prayer works?
Me: I know it doesn’t. Why would talking to an imaginary ghost change anything?
Her: What church do you attend?
Me: None.
Her: Why not?
Me: Because I avoid brainwashing scams like the fucking plague.
Her: There’s no need to be rude.
Me: Why not? You’re rudely coming up to a stranger, asking about — let me finish — asking about my medical problems and telling me that saying magic words to your personal version of a mythical being will make me better? Do I walk up to people and try to use whatever problem they are having to take advantage of them and get them to join a cult?
Her: I’m not part of a cult!
Me: So you don’t have a small in-group who all have to believe the same things in order to belong?
Her: NO! I’m a church-going Christian.
Me: How many have to be in a group for it to no longer be a cult?
Her: Christ was never a cult!
Me: You need to study your history. It started out as a bunch of small cults.
Her: No, it didn’t.
Me: Take a look at some histories of the early church. It’s interesting. And it may help you join the fastest growing group in America. My group.
Her: What group is that?
Me, smiling: Atheists. Non-believers. Those who realise that reality is real.
Her, with a look of horror on her face: You’re an atheist?
Me: Yup. As is my wife, both kids, my parents, and my sister.
Her: And you say I belong to a cult? You worship Satan! You’re evil!
Me: No. I don’t believe in any supernatural beings. There is no evidence any of them, including Satan, every existed.
Her: Then how do you explain evil?
Me: Narrow minded bigots like you who think that their personal version of god is the one and only thing to believe and anyone who doesn’t believe doesn’t even count as human.
She turned and scuttled, rather quickly, to her car. And left the parking lot.
I walked in, got my soda, and, while paying for it, the clerk asked: How did you get rid of PreachY Mary so fast?
Me: I was honest.
Clerk: I never thought of that.
Today, if the start is any clue, should be a fun day.
But think of the fun you can have when people ask which finger you hurt. Just show them.
No. Honest. The GOP really does want a world with lots of poor people fighting for a few jobs to create the goods that the small middle class and tiny upper class will buy. And no, I do not think they have fully thought through the economics of wealth.
Damn. Missed that one.
I’ll tell you anyway. Discworld.
===
JAL:
If you have a digital camera, even a cheap one, you can photograph the document, download it to your computer, trim it, and, viola, a multi-step photo copier.
Yes, there are. And that tree will eat chain saw blades fast. Where I lived in Maryland, they were called Ironwood Trees. For good reason.
Jules – thanks for the clarification. When I left facebook a few months ago it was set to even if private, people suddenly were starting to see things that their friends wrote on non-friend walls, and if you made a friend request then news feed stuff on that person started showing up even though they hadn’t approved you as a friend. I’m glad if they rescinded those updates.
I can has ergonomics! My boss approved me getting a footrest so I can work properly at my desk. Now I have to go to the internet and find out what height my chair is actually supposed to be at, rather than the choice between “either my feet are on the floor and my arms go numb from being at a 45 degree angle up to the keyboard, or my arms work and my legs dangle and cut off all circulation to my feet” options I’ve had until now.
Interesting, but maybe a bit simplistic.
“Using less effort to think, opinions lean more conservative” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-effort-opinions.html
Actually, in time-critical situations, it might make sense to go with the well-tried. For counter-intuitive solutions you need more deliberation.
Ogvorbis, what a great start to the day! Yours and now mine too! :D
“I was honest.” – “I never thought of that.” Ba ha ha! Classic!
Francine Scrayen who is not a medical professional killed her victim by selling bogus treatment in place of legitimate medicine.
If I still had a blog I would be spreading this far and wide. Someone tell popehat.
oh that sounds reasonable…
wait
WHAT
Ogvorbis @ 401
Brilliant! I wish I could respond so well. I don’t often get approached (6’5″ bald male with a permanent unintentional scowl) but on the few times it has happened my response is usually “oh, that’s what you stopped me for? Piss off”.
Blacksmith, how are you mate, hope all is well ! Good to see you around again…
Ogvorbis@401: There’s another aspect to the gnu-atheist angry response that the apologists don’t mention – it can be as freakin’ fun as a naked day at Disneyland with an entourage of 100 naked dream dates. Your report wasn’t quite that fun, but it was pretty close.
McCthulhu – resentful that McHastur is taller.#386 Thank you for that picture (and for mentioning Bill Nye!) – between that and Ogvorbis’ happy tale, my day is already complete!
Ogvorbis and A.R.: Very interesting. I suppose black locust would make for good tool handles and such?
Also, wikipedia says that the flowers taste good dipped in batter and deep fried.
Anyone got a recipe?
Right back at’cha Rorschach. Glad to be back. Although I’ve been lurking the whole time, I wasn’t really in any position to comment.
Had to move back to the States to help take care of my Mom. She fought melanoma for almost 2 years before losing the fight in November. We’re managing pretty well, I guess. Life goes on, right.
I want to say, now that I have started, that The Horde was
, in a weird sort of way, very important to me during that time. (and still is.) Reading Pharyngula during all of those hours down at MD Anderson was a very centering thing for me. More than PZ’s posts though, it was reading the comments that oftentimes got me through the day. This is the only online community that I have ever actually become emotionally attached to. It is very strange, having only met a few of you IRL, that one can become so attached to what could be seen as mere words on a screen, but there you go.
*Ok, Rob, that is quite enough.*
Let me just conclude with this:
Thank you Horde.
Oggie beat me to it, we call that Ironwood here in the Midwest, too.
We gave up trying to cut it down, or even split it. Silly me, I never thought of trying to carve it. I bet with all that gnarly, twisted grain one can do wonders.
+++++++++++++
carlie, one of my favorite days was when I got a promotion and could order a new workstation & chair. My monitors & keyboards are the right height and angle, and my chair is adjustable enough I can change height, lumbar and back angle. One setting just doesn’t do it for me. I also got trackballs, no more wrist pain!
+++++++++++++
Something I haven’t mentioned: I took Monday off to work on and perhaps launch my boat. I ended up helping 5 other boats launch. That’s OK, they’ll help me launch.
The last boat, a 28′ Catalina with a shoal keel, had a few problems with its trailer’s starboard rear support pad. since I was already wet up to my naughty bits (shrinkage!) I volunteered to wade on the trailer frame and use a big honkin’ crescent wrench and a 1 1/4″ socket wrench to adjust the pad.
The stern was already floating and when I got back there and started to work the boat was hit by the wake of a larger boat. The boat I was helping with lurched sideways and rolled, scraping me along and trapping me between the boat and the trailer. At 4 tons displacement this was not an ideal arrangement.
My back muscles were already quivering with the cold and the sudden pressure and twist has made me more useless than usual this week. I’ve missed 4 days of work. OTOH, they’ve gone by quickly due to the meds.
Pro-tip: Daytime TV is possible to watch, you just have to be medicated enough. Also, too, watching upside down with your back on the floor and your legs on the couch makes even soap operas interesting, as long as you use closed captioning.
No amount of drugs makes Faux Newz watchable.
Coyote:
I’m not positive, it could have been me, but black locust while hard, does’t make very good handles due to cracking and splitting. YMMV.
I would recommend keeping your deer slathered in Rennaisance Wax or Linseed Oil.
The Sailor,
Quality my friend, not quantity.
This one time, whilst an undergrad, I took an LSD laced peyote and Salvia divinorum cocktail and Bill O’Reilly almost made sense.
True story.*
Louis
* Despite the fact that when I was an undergrad I didn’t know who Bill O’Reilly was and I have no idea if he was on Fox or not. THAT is how good those drugs were.
Ye Olde Blacksmith: Way ahead of you there, linseed oil is my favorite finish for ‘pretty’ wood, that is, wood where you actually want to preserve the natural colors and grain (for plain wood like yellow cedar or my tomahawk handles, I use various colors of boot polish to good effect).
I think of honesty as an unintended consequence of atheism. I don’t have to lie to placate the ignorance of those who created god.
I’m 5’11” and always look grumpy (according to Wife, anyway).
When being witnessed (I think this makes seven in the last five years), my reactions range from what-the-fuck to amusement.
TLC: Sharpies of varying tip sizes also make nice highlights in carved wood. & leather.
I don’t think of Ironwood as hard as much as I think of it as tough.
++++++++++++++++++
Do I get bonus points for using ‘gnarly’ correctly?
Former California Guy wants to know.
The Sailor: Well, I found the hard eastern white maple much more difficult to carve. I used it for the wooden crossguard and handle scales on my short sword, and that thing has held up to a few years of hard use now without even loosening.
I think ‘tough’ is definitely a better word for it than ‘hard’. And despite (or because of) its toughness, it carves pretty nice.
Re: Witnessing: The town of chilliwack is stuffed full of churches. Not just churches with their own dedicated buildings either- every local school has a church that meets in the gym every sunday. (Pukesome, I know.)
That said, it appears to be the mormons who do the majority of witnessing. I find them particularly odious and have had to tell them to fuck off twice now. There’s something unutterably creepy about those suits and ties. If the getup is supposed to ‘put people at ease’, it fails miserably in my case.
I’ve resolved, next time, to engage them in a long and detailed conversation about Warren Jeffs.
Too late. The word has morphed again. You sicko!
Coyote:
Here is one of my last knives I made before getting tied up with “stuff”. I think you might like it.
Linky
‘Tis, I’m so glad you didn’t have any internal damage (that is, as long as you just didn’t leave that part out). Take it easy and rest.
TLC: Suits creep you out? I shall have to dig in my closet for non-suit clothing if I’m ever in your area.
A.R.:
Just stop shaving. I think TLC may not have a problem with hirsuit.
Oh, and DH666 is back on TZT for those interested.
Not to mention Yeach123 on the Creationist History thread.
Both have severe and willful reading comprehension problems. They are quite capable of reading what is there but, by the time it is filtered through the bible and biblical apologetics, any meaning has been lost to them.
Ye Olde Blacksmith, nice work!
Fun fact: Forging & hammering can produce a stronger joint than welding. Ya actually knock those carbon atoms into the lattice. Beat that carbon!
But I bet you knew that.
As far as commercially available; I really like my Linder stainless steel Sailor’s Tool. It was a gift from a friend, which always makes it special, and it can still shave arm hair after 2 years on my boat.
TLC: hey, I forgot to compliment you on the deer earlier. but also, REST YOUR HANDS. Doing something hardcore that makes them ache, rest and stretch and shake ’em out for a minute or two in every hour. That’s one of my crusades since I permanently damaged both my wrists using small tools. I’ll never be able to use that particular grip again for more than a few minutes at a time.
—
Facebook stalking: *headshake* I don’t dare use the thing. I got stalked enough without that. And undying hatred for idiot companies who play fast-and-loose with personal information.
This Moment of Mormon Madness is brought to you by the twisted/damaged ethical constructs that rule in heavily mormon communities.
This lack of respect for privacy, and for professional guidelines, has been discussed a lot on mormon and ex-mormon forums, but it’s rare that it ever makes the news, let alone the courts. It’s about time mormons were called on it.
Yes, this happens frequently if mormons seek counseling from LDS Social Services.
This is also par for the course in mormon communities. LDS business networks are closely aligned with church networks. Bishops refer church members to LDS-associated services which are in a position to make some other LDS man money. (Bishops are also one of the main sources of referrals to the “Mormon Gulag” for troubled teens, and to mormon services that pressure pregnant single women to give up their babies for adoption by mormon families in good standing with the church.)
Link to full story in Salt Lake Tribune.
Audley
I hope you feel good enough to finish it off. Apparently the ending isn’t to everyone’s tastes! Intriguing.
Oggie – “I think TLC may not have a problem with hirsuit.
***snicker x2***
A reader comments on the story related in #429:
To which I would add, why did the mormon Bishop listen when the therapist came to him to discuss her client’s purported porn addiction?
:D
I had a couple of tween-aged god-pedlars on my doorstep just last night. There was a whole herd of them, roaming the streets under the pastoral eye. After all, it was a nice evening, the kids needed something to do for Wednesday night church-time…perfect proselytising conditions! Well, unless you count the unreceptive audience….
–
Welcome home, Esteleth! You missed another iteration of Free-Will Theatre.
–
Oh, hell yes! If only the plants could keep their sexin’ to themselves, instead of bringing enough for everybody.
–
Has anybody here heard about a “gall bladder cleansing” involving apple juice, olive oil, and fresh lemons? A friend suggested that I have one, but I am deeply skeptical; it sounds a bit alternativey to me, and the sources xe cited looked New Agey. Are there good, solid, science-based studies on this?
–
Duly eyeballed.
–
Jules, I’d send you some of my spare time, if I could; I’m not using it for anything more URGENT than reading TET and playing Civ III.
*hug*
–
Ogvorbis, have I ever told you that you’re awesome? If not, be told now. All I managed last night was a “Not interested” and shutting of the door. No artistry at all. I has an envy.
(Though I did get a very nice puzzled look as a return.)
–
Indeed. *hugs* and sympathies.
–
Suits on their own not so much… but being approached by cultists wearing identical suits even though it’s the middle of a suburban street and absolutely NOT a ‘suit and tie’ situation gives them a very creepy aspect for me.
Ye Olde Blacksmith: Gorgeous. I love file knives and railroad spike implements that preserve some of the steel’s ‘previous life’ like that, such as leaving the surface of the file mostly untouched. Something of what the tool used to be before being recycled.
My brother made a wicked double-edge file knife that he takes camping with him everywhere. More than one person has begged him to either sell it to them, or make them one.
For anyone who likes soft, plushy chew toys, there’s currently one at Justin’s blog. The practice model, soft on the milk teeth.
Those allergic to endless sentences and unbroken text better abstain though.
Another thoughtful comment from Salt Lake Tribune readers:
It’s heartening to see some clear-thinking comments posted below the story, but there are also the usual mind-numbingly stupid comments from sheeple. For example:
That last comment from an obvious church member ignores the fact that corrective action was taken only because John Doe had the guts to take his case to the State, and the State, for once, acted on the complaint.
During my wonders through the lawless badlands of teh intertoobs, I stumbled upon this article about the homophobes from the the Florida Family Association and the Family Research Council getting themselves into a pious, self-righteous lather about the inclusion of same sex relationships as romance options in Bioware games like Mass Effect and Starwars: The Old Republic.
Apparently, they engaged in a mass letter campaign involving a lot of whining about a supposedly ‘militant’ agenda to ‘force’ homosexuality onto children, and made claims that ‘teh dreaded ghey conspiracy'(TM) had compelled EA and Bioware into including the content somehow. They even threatened to boycott EA games if the inclusivist policy was not changed.
The good news is that EA seems to have done the decent thing and essentially invited the Family Research Council et al to firmly insert decomposing porcupines into their anuses (though, sadly, probably not in those exact terms), and have refused to back down from their progressive stance.
Maybe there is hope for the gaming industry yet if even a company so infamously mercenary as EA is prepared to take a stand on this issue, even though the truth is that they are still probably more motivated by their bottom line then they are by concerns over equality, since caving in to the homophobes would likely lose them more sales than it would garner for them.
Damn you Elsevier!!!!!!!! Why must you hide all of your papers behind an impenetrable (and ludicrously expensive) pay-wall!!!!!!!
Congratulate me, GenossInnen, I’ve just suggested to a patient that he use abortion for birth control. Patient has a condition that he does not want to pass on to his (hypothetical) kids. We discussed the risks and options. So I told him his options. Including prenatal diagnosis and abortion if that’s what he and his partner decide. Also including accepting that if the kid has it he or she may have some problems but has a good chance of living a “worthwhile” life, whatever that means. Ultimately boiling down to the statement “I can tell you what options you have, but only you and your partner can make the decision of what to do.” I’m left wondering a bit whether the whole conversation was legal or not.
A.R.: If you post a reference, I’ll see if my university will let me get a PDF. We generally have pretty good access.
dianne: congratz, prenatal diagnosis is under-recognized as an option. I’m glad you mentioned it so he knows.
Nutmeg:
Kurosu, T., Khamlert, C., Phanthanawiboon, S., Ikuta, K,. Anatapreecha, S. 2010. Highly efficient rescue of dengue virus using a co-culture system with mosquito/mammalian cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 394(2): 398-404.
dianne: Have you suggested Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis?
A.R.: Got it. You can email nutmeg underscore 001 at hotmail dot com and I’ll send you a PDF.
Because Elsevier is fucking evil, that’s why!
Have you suggested Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis?
Briefly, but I’m not sure he took it in. Too much information on a sensitive subject at once. The follow up conversation is next week.
Highly efficient rescue of dengue virus
Why is that a good thing? Kill it with nucleases!
Nutmeg: email sent
dianne: It’s a good thing when you want to create recombinant to assess vaccine function. PGD seems like a good option for your patient.
Oh, and did I mention that the fucking RCC opposes PGD?
Hi there
Well, my easter rituals have started.
Today we had spinach, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes, according to the christian tradition (accidentially one of my favourite dishes) and tomorrow I will insist on meat, the only day I do so.
Also packing tomorrow and holidays on Saturday.
That’s exactly what I’m saying.
Only it’s more like, “Why must you outsource project managers to India who have no fucking clue what they’re doing and who in turn make my life a living hell?!”
Yeah. I work for the devil.
I’ve been in the oil business. I’ve been in defense contracting. And I work for Evilsevier.
Say it with me now: Sell. Out.
OT: Ed just covered this excellent (HuffPo, sorry) article with video on exactly how police create a probable-cause fishing situation in a traffic stop. This is really important watching for everyone in the US, I think, to be ready to recognize these techniques when they’re used against us. Also covered: how trumped-up drug charges serve as excuses to seize money and vehicles, and how drug dogs alert when their handlers want them to.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/04/05/textbook-example-of-police-harassment
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/drug-search-trekies-stopped-searched-illinois_n_1364087.html
From the HuffPo article:
The “abortion survivor” myth: Coming to a theatre near you.
Also, as a NH resident: GAAAAAAAHHHHHH. And
Alethea: If you haven’t already, check out First, Do No Harm.
Christ, J_A_L. I’m so sorry. It all sounds like a perfect storm of suck.
Josh, I’m so glad Sophie is doing better. Also, having been unfamiliar with Tahmoh Penikett, I GIS’ed him… Guh. BRB, destroying Catholicism.
Og: Good job.
Sailor: Damn. I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt.
Gregory Greenwood: The gaming industry has some serious faults, but kowtowing to fundie screamers isn’t one of them.
Caine’s beautiful butterfly pictures a few days ago surprised me: I wouldn’t have thought ND would be anywhere near spring this time of the year. Central and southern Finland just had up to 20 cm more snow.
I guess that’s what the Gulf stream does. Our winters usually aren’t Siberian-harsh, they just last a very long time.
See also:
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/04/what_october_baby_gets_wrong_about_modern_womanhood_.html
So. The ‘Decent Human Being’ fund, would, essentially, be a kind of voluntary group insurance thing?
Biggest thing I can think of is, if it ends up with any real amount of money at all, it ends up becoming a tax liability to whoever is holding the purse strings.
I could contribute some to it, on a regular basis. Not much, but, then, it doesn’t take much to get a decent rainy day fund going.
Also, if the amount in the Decent Human Being fund reaches a pre-specified threshold, I submit that a portion of it should go towards a friendly charity?
I had a thought:
Conservatives: People who are convinced their wallets must be free but your vaginas forever in chains.
Louis
Josh:
Got it and have replied! :D
All right, I’ll ask, what constitutes a decent contribution to the Decent Human Being Fund?
$20? $50? $100? $1000?
I ask out of genuine intellectual curiosity. Also what sort of operating budget should it reach ideally?
Louis
P.S. Jules you work for Elsevier? I’ve published with them a few times.
Nutmeg: Thanks for the paper!
——–
I was just thinking: Pharyngulites who need access to an article can post a reference, and those of us with access can send PDFs. Thoughts?
@Louis: I was thinking about contributing $10-20/month.
Louis: IMHO, that’s not a great question. Some of us (waves) can’t donate crap, but those little fives and tens can still add up. I’d rather not hear how easy it is for some of y’all to donate amounts that would take me years to gather, though I’m glad you’re doing it.
Pteryxx:
Of course. Misogynists, regardless of their gender, loathe women who seek to live for themselves rather than entirely for others and stereotype them as either frivolous, unstable, and slutty; or selfish, hard, and cold. (With occasional crossover, as in Fatal Attraction.) The “Evil Career Woman” stereotype never goes away.
@Pteryx:
While I agree that disclosing donors and donation amounts might be in bad form and taste, complete transparency about the amounts currently available and how much is going in and out (but not necessarily to or from who) would be, IMO, important.
Pteryxx,
Yeah, sorry, I didn’t think of that. {Smacks self in head}
Question withdrawn.
It was a genuine question though, not an excuse to humblebrag! I never know if I’m doing too little or too much, but then I guess by virtue of simply being able to consider that question that way…
…well, I get it.
Louis
OMG, Dianne, I must have been your patient—I had lard blood too! It’s actually kinda funny in a morbid way. For several years my GP kept telling me my cholesterol was too high. The bloodwork came back with the phrase “markedly lipemic.” This made me giggle, “Are you telling me my blood is fat?” I asked the doc.
Well, yes. It was, in fact, mayonnaise with red food coloring. But none of this sunk in to my thick skull and I ignored it. My GP called me while I was in the hospital telling me how awful he felt for not being more aggressive about this with me, but I told him it was my responsibility. I was not a cooperative patient, I was dumb, and I ignored the risk. It was all on me at that point.
So how bad was it? Total cholesterol near 300, triglycerides at 780 (which made it impossible to measure my LDL), HDL below 40. All are drastically better now, what would be considered great if I didn’t have cardiac disease but not quite as good as they want me to get to (I probably never will).
Yeah, I’m just a bit sore about “what constitutes a decent donation”. I agree about transparency and cashflow for such a fund as a fund, definitely.
Continuing Pteryxx’s thoughts, I’ve always been of the “every little bit helps” mindset, and no one should be guilt-tripped into larger donations that they can (or will for any reason) pay. Honestly, setting a floor as low as $5 would keep that line open for any time anyone wants to toss a little money that way and not come off as insulting. Although there are fees associated with using Paypal, so perhaps $5 isn’t a high enough floor for fees to make it not worth the bother.
Louis:
I’d say any amount one can contribute. Seriously, whether someone has 50 cents or 500 dollars they can donate, does it matter? It all adds up. There’s zero need to shame those who could perhaps part with a dollar a month or embarrass those who could perhaps donate 200.00 a month (or a one time donation.)
All that’s really needed is someone to act as treasurer. *shrug*
In other not news, I’m reading Why Are You Atheists So Angry by Greta Christina. Highly recommended. Imma loving my Nook Tablet, too. What a joy to be able to highlight and write notes.
@Rey Fox: With the way that paypal fees work, $5 would yield about $4.50 to the fund. That’s a good bottom floor, since much less than that and an increasingly large amount of it gets eaten by paypal.
Examples from recent transactions:
$2 = $1.64
$1 = $.66
$.5 = $.19
Paypal’s also not the most ethical of businesses. I’ve been looking into a transaction-handling startup called Dwolla, that goes from bank account to bank account, directly, with no need for credit cards, which a lot of folks *cough* also don’t have. Dwolla charges 25 cents per transaction regardless of amount.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-11/tech/30381380_1_credit-card-interchange-fees-paypal
I’d rather think of you as our fifth columnist.
Some very hyperlipidemic blood.
Paypal also has a tendency to random freeze account. And they most certainly don’t like unregistered charities – look at the stunt they pulled with Regretsy around Christmas.
Aren’t we also gonna get into trouble with the Taxman pretty fast?
A decent donation is what you can afford to give and what you want to give. In several rounds of this ad hoc emergency fund we’ve had donations from $5 to $300. It’s all good and there’s no judgment whatsoever.
@Sili: as I barely touched on above, that’s a concern.
We would have a few options:
1) Register as a charity.
2) Have someone hold the purse strings that doesn’t mind being stuck with the tax bill.
3) Have someone hold the purse strings with the understanding that they can take compensation for their tax bill up to the amount of extra tax that the account costs them.
4) Don’t do paypal at all, do it all in cash or other liquid assets that don’t get reported to the IRS (Big nono to the IRS, if they want to consider it income, and you’ve been hiding it. I’m not a tax professional, so, don’t do this unless you talk to one.)
Pteryxx:
Well, whatever is set up, I’d appreciate being able to use my debit ‘pretend credit’ card.
I think the tax situation WRT the proposed Decent Peoples’ Ass-Saving Fund is likeliest to be the biggest hurdle (the second being administration). One possible solution, based solely on individual decision and initiative, might be for contributing Pharyngulites to privately collect what they can/wish to spare in a can; then, when funds are needed, package it up and send it to a single distributor (as Josh has been acting as our distributor). Unless the distributor-of-funds would incur tax liability as if it were income? Hmmm… I freely admit ignorance of the way(s) this could bite someone in the ass.
Still, the cause is worthy, and I know where I’ve got an empty can….
–
I know it’d never work, but it’d be nice to be able to go through the receipt and say yes/no.
I’m OK with paying this amount of taxes, but here is how I want it to be distributed, thank you very much.
Yeah, administration would be a burden. I run a 501c3 and I know how to set them up and incorporate them but I don’t think any of us has the time or desire to form a board, adopt bylaws, accounting, etc. Much better on an informal basis.
Sorry to piss on the parade like this, but as I’ve said I don’t much like people, so I tend to think of the worst thing I would do an then apply it to others indiscriminately.
Sorry.
A.R @474
Thanks a lot for that! So much for my bacon tacos tonight.
PayPal has the advantage of being available to donors in more than one country. It can also cope with varied currencies, unlike parts of the US banking system.
I’m on the textbook side. Helps me sleep at night.
Sili, aw, you made me feel better. You do have a soul!
Paypal bugs me. They locked my account for $0.30. Josh, I fixed it today, but it may take up to 5 days to go through. So if you don’t get it from me before then, that’s why.
In other news: Baby is the fun age where you can toss her around like a ball. She’s small for her age, so it’s even better. Iz squeerific.
I would make a comment about Elsevier being like the Evil Empire in Star Wars, but I’ve already associated it too strongly with the Catholics.
I want some pretty.
Raul Malo: Beautiful Dreamer
Amr Diab: Habibi (translation)
Eileen Ivers: Whiskey and Sangría
Neko Case: Somebody Led Me Away
On a completely unrelated matter.
I finally saw Rare Exports last night. Not a bad movie, I suppose, but wow it sure makes me miss Finland! Now I am jonesing for some lonkero, a sauna and some mämmi.*
*Guess which one I’m lying about?
After some further musing, the best bets are as follows:
1) Charity registration, or
2) Keep liquid assets on hand to donate directly to the recipient in times of emergency, or
3) Have a treasurer that is willing to accept the tax burden, or subtract an amount from each donation to pay for the tax burden (or a portion of it).
If there’s going to be any cashflow above $5k annually (total), 3 becomes a poor option, 1 looks better and better the more we’re talking about, and 2 stays about the same, regardless of the amount of cashflow we’re talking about.
Ye Olde Blacksmith
Mämmi, no question about it. I mean, it’s not bad, but there are so many better uses for malt and rye.
I saw Rare Exports last year when my parents and sister unexpectedly showed up and took me for a dinner and a movie for my birthday. The movie was OK, but I think my family was the most entertaining part of the evening. :)
Utterly trivial complaints 1 and 2:
1. I have a class in the same room at the same time with the same professor as one of my classes last quarter. I also have another class in the same room at a different time. I sit in the same place in both classes as I did last quarter. But both classes have like 1.5x as many people as my class last quarter. I am distracted by the fact that there are too many people.
2. My classmates do not seem to understand that they should sit in the same place from one class to the next, not just move all around and take other people’s seats.
Let me talk to my mother the non-profit accountant and see what her opinion on the whole thing is. Also – if we do this, I think we need to have more than one person with access – I’d suggest two or three, as that way there is some accountability. I’ll also say, that subject to the tax issue being resolved, I’m okay with being one of those people, but I’m not a terribly regular commenter, though I lurk, and so I’d not be remotely offended if people would rather a more known quantity.
In that case, I suggest that whatever rescue funding the Horde has been doing this year, be recorded by Josh or whoever else handles the gifting, so we can get an accurate picture of just how much total cash flow we’re talking about here. It also might be useful to graph the spread of individual donations: IIRC, there’re different tax implications for donations above/below a specific amount?
I must go and watch Rare Exports now.
——
Martin Rundqvist, of the Aardvarchaeology blog had his 40th birthday this week. His comments about counting one’s blessings are interesting. Working with what you like to do, surrounded by friends, being your own boss… I doubt the Rockefeller heirs can be happier than that.
“Birthday Party Speech” http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2012/04/birthday_party_speech.php
hell, look at me. I’m a liberal who was in the army and now works in a job requiring a uniform adapted from the military. I have a wife, 2 kids, 2.5 cats, and an American sedan. And I wear a cowboy hat. I’m like the poster child for GOP.
I was not aware that you could study classical Greek in kindergarten.
/snark
Fuck you, too, dear.
@Pteryxx:
Technically, the magic number is $12,000 for ‘cash gifts’. That is, for any individual gift, or for total received gifts.
Whether or not the IRS would consider this to be ‘cash gifts’, or ‘income’ is a different story entirely, and thus why I feel like tax professional advice would be handy.
*sticks out her tongue at you*
♥♥♥