Sadly, I doubt there are too many threads in the atheist blogosphere that that shouldn’t be applied to at the moment. The assholes have had their privilege threatened and they’re out in force.
mythbrisays
@ixchel
That’s not necessarily a universal approach. I lurked for a long time before I started commenting, and it comes down to individual style. Some Pharyngula commentors will give newbies or clueless/ignorant commentors a chance to prove that they’re willing to converse in good faith, and will reciprocate. Only when those commentors reveal themselves as trolls or unwilling to be intellectually honest will they give up and resort to insults (usually still accompanied by evidence). Others come down hard immediately. Others go back and forth between the two approaches.
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
But what accounts for transphobic radical feminists seeing transwomen as men in the first place? That can be accounted for by the ambient transphobia.
Actually, no. Not entirely.
I’m going to stick a trigger warning here, because of the bigotry.
A substantial part of the transphobia in radfems is because of their views of sex and gender.
That is, that gender is entirely societal, and that it thus doesn’t “really” exist. That in Feminist Victory Utopia Land, there would be no such thing as masculinity and femininity, only people who happen to have penises and people who happen to have vulvae. So if you have a mind/body disconnect, then this is purely because you don’t agree with what society says about men and women, and if society said something else that you did agree with, your mind/body disconnect issues would evaporate.
Also, sex (defined by chromosomes/genitals) is thus immutable. Also, since SRS cannot make functional organs, it is best understood as a purely cosmetic thing of no inherent value (and cosmetic surgery – carefully distinguished from reconstructive surgery – is highly suspect because of the pressure to make someone “patriarchy compliant”). So it is not actually sex reassignment surgery, it is a mutilation and an attempt to make a mocking facsimile of something it is not and can never be.
So since (1) gender comes society and not from the person and (2) sex is an immutable fact, then transition, inherently, is impossible.
So if you have an XX karyotype and a vulva, then you are a woman, full stop, forever and ever amen. And if you say that you are really a man, then that means that you have internalized the societal messages about what masculinity and manliness are and (1) want the perks of being a man and (2) are so damaged by the patriarchal shaming of your own body that you have rejected it.
This is the transphobic radfem logic.
Obviously, I do not agree with this. But saying that radfems are transphobic because they’ve bought the transphobic line from society is overly simplistic (it has been pointed out by trans-friendly radfems how very interesting it is that their rhetoric lines up with bigotry). Of course, many of the transphobic radfems also deny that there is such a thing as transphobia. Some trot out the “but phobia means “fear,” and I’m not afraid!” line, but most argue that transphobia is not a thing, because it is really just misogyny/homophobia/shaming of the noncompliant.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
I also want to mention the Redhead took the phone call about the health insurance and it caused her BP to skyrocket. Definitely not good. Now to fix dinner, which is planovers.
Okay, ratlets 2 slideshow, including Rubin’s crew. Oh, Esme’s crew is so freakin’ active now, it’s not possible to manage them myself outside the condo. I need one of those little corral deals. They discovered pistachios today and are captivated by them.
mythbrisays
@Caine
Never underestimate the fascinating qualities of pistachios!
Have you read The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins? It’s a YA fantasy series that has quite a few rat characters. You might enjoy it. The first one is called Gregor the Overlander.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
No, that doesn’t follow. It’s sending a message out over the loud speaker and not being concerned with who hears it since it’s a general broadcast.
If it’s sending out a message and not caring who hears it,
then it’s not outreach to men qua men.
And you won’t be able to come up with a rational reading of the original comment that suggests feminism should not be talked about in places where men could overhear.
Mythbri, no I haven’t, I’ve put it on my booklist. Thanks! I haven’t had a rat yet that doesn’t love pistachios. One of these days, I must buy pistachio ice cream for them and blow their little minds out of the water. :D
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
That’s not necessarily a universal approach.
Fair point, but it is an accepted approach here.
mythbrisays
@Caine
Here’s another interesting thing about pistachios, although your rats will probably find it less so.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Ing,
I think that original comment and meaning was well explained by its author in follow up.
Yeah, so do I.
And I think your response was outrageous.
If a black activist said “I do not exclude white people from antiracism. I just see no need to work with THEM on their issues”, would you respond by calling them a bigot?
I really like raisins, but mildly dislike sultanas. In US-speak I think that’s yes to the big dark ones, no to the small golden ones. Also, dark raisins plus hazelnuts plus dark choc-chips in cookies FTW.
If your cookies burn on the bottom, you may just be leaving them in too long, or your oven might be too hot or badly uneven. You can test this with an oven thermometer. Also, never put them on a bottom shelf right above the heating element: the radiant heat will be higher than the general oven heat. A pizza stone simply helps to even out the temperature.
I wish we could ditch “femininity” and maybe use “femme” for the appearance stuff. Femininity carries soooo much more baggage than just the shiny. It’s not some neutral thing that fell out of the sky: it’s socially constructed as a lesser role. It includes a shitload of deference and submission behaviours, as well as at least an appearance of inferiority (giggle giggle math is hard). If you’re an assertive woman, and kick-arse good at some non-pink-collar job/study, then you’re not socially feminine. No matter how many pink sparkly things you wear, you’re still an uppity bitch who needs to be put in her place.
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
High fives to Alethea.
—
Experimenting with reorganizing the links roundup at the moment.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Esteleth, that’s an interesting point. It concerns some issues I haven’t been able to process to my satisfaction yet, so I can’t respond sensibly except by saying: thanks.
WMDKitty is really. fucking. stupid. See this thread for confirmation. (Penile circumcision discussion, in case people are burnt out on that one.)
How the hell did she conclude that I don’t believe ANY sort of invasive surgery for children is ever appropriate? I wish I could pay her the compliment of calling her disingenuous, but I can’t.
thunk, safe behind a toasty heat shieldsays
On the road.
Also threadrupt.
I’ve been trying to write quizbowl, but I just can’t get myself to do so. FFFuuuuuu…
Also that resume.
thunk, safe behind a toasty heat shieldsays
Daisy Cutter:
Yes, WMDKitty is completely wrong.
Apparently what is done to young boys’ bodies is completely about her sexual satisfaction, in that twisty logic.
She’s being self-centered and, unless her reading comprehension is really poor (which is entirely possible), she’s lying through her teeth.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
er…sorry SGBM poor use of terms.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Coolest thing happened today. So I drive a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere (summer car). It’s in gorgeous shape, navy blue, 50,000 miles. Pulled into the auto parts store cuz I had an exhaust leak. Needed a gasket for the muffler/manifold connection. Nice old dude behind the counter did a double-take when he saw Francine and said “Where did you buy that?” I told him it was a local car. He came out to the car and we took out the original owner’s card from beneath the hood (credit-card sized punched-metal card with the buyer’s name, the dealership, the VIN, and the warranty number on it).
“Goddamn. . .I thought that was it. That’s my father-in-law’s car!”
This dude remembers riding in the car when it was brand new off the Chrysler lot. Said his FIL used to keep it garaged, plastic covers on the seat, and raced it up over 120 mph (in its highest gear. . third?!?). He was so taken aback I thought he was going to cry. Got on the phone to his wife to tell her I had her dad’s car and was taking good care of it. Made me promise to call him first if I ever sold Francine because he’d like to give her to his wife.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Sarcasm?
No.
Of course I wish you’d gone for irrational in the first place, but I appreciate that you reconsidered right afterward. I know it’s a process of rehabituation.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Setár @483. Fuck, that shit is absolutely beyond the pale. It speaks to a lack of awareness and basic human decency in your mother that’s positively scary. Internet hugs if you want them.
Alethea: Sorry for the late reply. I ran headlong into pre-schooler wrangling, followed by desperate, thumb on the ffw button, Tour de France catching up, followed by sleep so sound that I missed the bed wetting incident entirely.
Anyway, my wife and I own the pushy store in M yrtleford and we have a house in O vens. If you’re ever this way again feel free to drop in, and that goes for any of the Horde who find themselves in alpine Victoria.
Ms. Daisy Cutter and carlie, thanks. I do have a dusty and neglected blog but, well, I think I should make something clear here.
I write these things because I enjoy doing so, and I post them here because it’s the only way I can think of to give something back to this community. I’ve learned so much from PZ and the Hoard, things that have made me a demonstratively better person for which I’m extremely grateful. This place is also filling a need for intellectual stimulation that I can’t seem to find in my current meat-space life, and I’m also very grateful for that.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time, energy and/or education to be one of the heavy lifters in the threads that need such effort the most. Hell, I barely have the time to hold a conversation in TET on a topic that takes me no time to think about. But what I can do apparently, is write things that move at least some of the readers here. Such writing suits my situation because it doesn’t need to be timely. I can write a few sentences and go back to turning wrenches or what-have-you and mull over what to say next.
And in all fairness I’ll admit that I’ve enough of an ego to enjoy it when people like what I’ve written and that motivates me too.
Anyway, I hope I’m not being too obnoxious about it. The style I write in can make it seem all about me, me, ME, which is a hazard of being a one-trick pony kinda writer. If I was really good at it I could invoke the emotions I’m looking for without having to drag out stories from my own life. The personal details I put in are intended to facilitate a mood or emotion in service of a greater point and sometimes that fails very badly indeed, as when I tried to express sympathy for Katherine and ended up provoking internet hugs for me instead.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
And so you can visualize Francine looks almost exactly like this, except her hubcaps are a little more staid (though just as chrome-y).
Dhorvath, OMsays
It may come as small surprise, but I am not the person I was this winter. Things are great, I have a space that people seek me out in for my professional opinion and service and it is sweet. Leaves me less time to hang around here, but it’s invigorating. What’s new by you?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Josh, it’s a small world after all. That’s happened to the Redhead and me a few times over the years. Always interesting.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Not the person you were this winter? Well, that’s cryptic, but I hope it’s all for the good. Congratulations on professional success; it’s awfully nice to find, isn’t it?
Does the controversy over harassment policies have a name? I think DJ Grothe and TAM2012 get their own section, but the things after Elevatorgate and before that I don’t know what to call them.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
How IS the redhead, Nerd? Details!
ImaginesABeachsays
If anyone was wondering, when canning Dilly Beans, if the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons divided among 6 pint jars, and you can’t do basic math and use 1 teaspoon per jar, the HOT will overwhelm the dill.
Dhorvath, OMsays
Josh,
Not intending to be cryptic, just that big changes come from switching out of the self employed and back to the boss and a paycheck lifestyle. It’s working well in any event.
Speaking of big changes, my chest has been better, although not perfect. Can I ask how your condition is treating you?
ImaginesABeachsays
That should have said 3 tablespoons of powdered cayenne pepper. I even previewed.
Of course I wish you’d gone for irrational in the first place, but I appreciate that you reconsidered right afterward. I know it’s a process of rehabituation.
It’s a trope so I rattled off the title without realizing it.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Dhorvath—ah, thanks for clarification. That is a big change for sure. Glad to know your chest is better too. Fingers crossed that’s a permanent improvement!
Heart disease seems to be doing a whole lot of nothing to me at the moment, which is awesome. “Pray” it stays that way. Still having the ridonkulous panic attacks occasionally whenever I feel a muscle twinge, but they’re manageable. Worst thing I can complain about is getting my new bike stolen. . . that was my cunning plan to keep weight off and get my work-out in on the commute so I didn’t have to go to the gym. Ah well, I’ll get another in a few weeks.
Honestly, it’s first world problems.
Dhorvath, OMsays
Indeed, but I do have a soft spot for stolen bicycles.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
ImaginesABeach: Yum! I routinely double and more the suggested hot spices. Such is the price of youthful overindulgence in spicy foods.
What the hell is drip-drip-dripping in my kitchen that I can’t find the source of? This is going to drive me mad.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Does the controversy over harassment policies have a name? I think DJ Grothe and TAM2012 get their own section, but the things after Elevatorgate and before that I don’t know what to call them.
Cipher, I was thinking about this a few days ago and I think our coverage should be broader — I became aware of an earlier phase of the debate back in 2009* when it wasn’t about harassment policies per se but about the very idea of doing “stuff” to make science and atheism conferences both more welcoming to women/POC (any kind of stuff at all, you know, would be totes misandry, reverse racism, etc).
Maybe “diversity at events”?
*IIRC, the megathread “Baby Bear’s lament” touched on this.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Josh: Often times bicycle theft is the result of folks with substance abuse problems, or at least in my city that was the case. I know of a couple of instances where the stolen bike was recovered fairly cheaply. All it took was knowing someone with ties to that community. They put the word out that a bike of such and such type was being looked for and arranged for it to be purchased back, no questions asked. It’s an effective strategy in part because cheaper bikes sometimes never end up in a pawn shop or the like where they can be recovered. They end up circulating in the community as a form of currency until they get so trashed as to be valueless.
I think you’re right, ixchel. I’m having trouble wrestling things into formats that make sense right now, but that’s a good goal. I just created an article for Misogyny Wars, which wouldn’t really be sufficiently broad to include that, but we can always merge it into a better one.
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
lol, douchegate
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
Flew on the company’s private plane last two days for a biz trip.
Not having to deal with security and terminals and lines and a number of other things…
I need to travel like this all the time.
Wowbagger, Deputy Vice-President (Silencing)says
Cipher wrote:
Does the controversy over harassment policies have a name?
How about: “the conference policy clusterfuck”?
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Fossil Fishy–
I suspect it’s exactly that—folks with drug abuse problems—that got my bike stolen. I live in a marginal neighborhood with some very down and out people on the next block. Pretty desperate, most of them. I’m never gonna see that bike again.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Also I was thinking let’s not link directly to Thunderfoot’s posts from the wiki, because fuck him, he might still get paid for those hits for all I know; we can link to his critics, who in turn link to him so the whole story is nevertheless available to those who care.
Dhorvath, OMsays
Fossilfishy,
It seems we get a different report. The thefts I hear about are targeted by model and specs, not opportunity. Still, nice to hear that some people can get bikes back while other people can get some resources in your neck of the woods.
The new student loan deal just caused me to lose my funding.
Fuck you, Republicans. Grad students do almost half the instruction at colleges and a good section of the administrative work.
FUCK THE FUCKING FUCK OUT OF YOU, REPUBLICANS.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Ugh. That’s terrible news, mouthyb. I’m so sorry to hear that.
Owlmirrorsays
Does the controversy over harassment policies have a name? I think DJ Grothe and TAM2012 get their own section, but the things after Elevatorgate and before that I don’t know what to call them.
Controversy about relevance/weighting/implementation of egalitarian humanistic values
I think Event Diversity would be the way to go on that front.
However, that doesn’t cover the specific problems of harassment policy nor more awareness of sexism being issues which are very necessary to address. I’m beyond tired of the -gate suffix, but if one wanted to go that way, safetygate?
I think on that particular front, I’d rather go with something which addresses the actual chill* and effect it has on women in regard to conferences, organizations, etc.
*Now I’m thinking of an ancient TV show which I loved as a sprog – Chiller Theatre. That might not be a bad name for the whole mess, actually. :D
I think the key issue goes beyond that. It’s not just diversity at events or inclusiveness. We are failing at a fundamental level to get people to understand how to be a decent person and why its important.
Fuck diversity, TAM and everything is showing that these subcultures are having an issue with decency.
Nutmegsays
mouthyb: That sucks, big time. I’ve been there (and I am there, for the forseeable future). I hope you can make arrangements to finish your degree and maintain a decent standard of living.
And, in solidarity: Fuck the Conservative government and their cuts to NSERC and SSHRC funding.
It’s part of the compromise the Republicans hammered Congress with when they threatened to double the interest rate. Graduate students are no longer eligible for Stafford loans, which means my department is going to be empty.
Many of us won’t be able to come back. I just got an email telling me that the Fed has withdrawn the loans which pay my tuition.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Fucking bastards, mouthyb. Fucking bastards. I wish I could do more than scream impotently.
It’s part of the compromise the Republicans hammered Congress with when they threatened to double the interest rate. Graduate students are no longer eligible for Stafford loans, which means my department is going to be empty.
Many of us won’t be able to come back. I just got an email telling me that the Fed has withdrawn the loans which pay my tuition.
WE WILL RUIN THE ECONOMY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER DAMN IT!
Pteryxxsays
…and fuck ‘compromise’.
(for the last half hour, I’ve been staring at Caine’s first ratlet pic and the grippy pink tail. That’s how I cope now.)
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
We are failing at a fundamental level to get people to understand how to be a decent person and why its important.
I have to stop hyperventilating, and see if my credit union would be willing to give me a stop gap.
I’ve spent the entire summer applying to jobs that I’m not just qualified for, I’m amazingly qualified for, and no one is interested in hiring me. I keep trying to get in at government jobs or jobs on campus which would pay tuition and enough to pay all my bills. No fucking luck.
Also as a side note. Am I the only one who finds the overlap between Dawkins fanbois (at times) and the big resistance to the concepts of privilege and patriarchy sadly ironic? I mean, Dawkins was the guy who came up with the idea of memes…yet people fapping off to him seemed to be utterly hostile to the idea
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
I’m near tears on your behalf, mouthyb. Well, and on mine, since that’s where I’m headed next year. Fuck. *hugs, chocolate, anything that will temporarily help*
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Josh, I wrote a reply to your inquiry about the Redhead, but it went to moderation when I tried to post it. I’ll try again in the morning, when my eyelids aren’t at quarter mast.
Ok am I wrong or does it really look like the Republicans were insisting that they get to impoverish people one way or another? Is this just blatant self sabotage for the election?
On a side note: I can’t imagine a better way to fuck up the economy in the long term than preventing people from obtaining the necessary training for white collar and profession jobs. It’s not like you can get up in the morning and just become a fucking scientist.
In a year, Congress gets to review whether or not undergrads should be allowed to get Stafford Loans.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Ing, Dawkins’ feet of clay on privilege questions was one of the most crushing things I had to contend with (for first-world values of “crushing”). I sent him a letter back in 2005 and he responded to me right the next morning, commiserating about the sorry religiosity-soaked state of the US. I was elated as this was a guy whose popular science books gave me the education in the scientific method and evolution (yes, of course, at a dilettante level) that I never got even in university.
I volunteered for RDF at an atheist conference in 2007 and worked for his booth, having a great time. We had lunch with him and pal-ed around with the big names. Was wonderful.
Watching him utterly fail—and encourage hostility toward—on feminism has been disgusting. Seeing his fanbois (and I used to be one) are nothing but a frat pack makes me sick and angry.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Actually Josh, my point was that your bike is quite likely still somewhere in your neighbourhood. IIRC it wasn’t a really fancy model and those are the ones that have enough resale value to have been offloaded somewhere. The person who took it could very well be still riding it around.
I spent a summer doing community outreach for a not-for-profit bicycle society. They paid me to go to the inner-city and set up a mobile repair shop to fix the bikes of the disadvantaged community there. I wrote about it here. What I noticed was that there were two classes of bike thief. Those who did it because that was the only way they could think of to make a living, to support their habits. And those for whom it was a profession. You never see the professionals and no bike of any worth is safe from them because they have the tools and skills to defeat just about any lock.
The others though, I met quite a few of them. I went to great pains to assure them that I did not care where their bike came from. The things they brought me were horrible, big box store, bike shaped objects. The kind of things that many snobby bike stores refuse to work on. They were stolen because they were easy to get, not because of value.
Anyway, I’m digressing. If you can make contact with someone in your area with ties to the substance abuse community it’s very likely you could get your bike back for very little money. Assuming of course that you can convince them that it isn’t some kind of set up.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Sorry about that, Nerd. I know all of us are waiting anxiously to hear about you and the Redhead, so whenever you get a chance. . .:) Do sleep first.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Fossil Fishy-thank you for the insight (really). I don’t think I have the stomach for it though. Not only do I not have any obvious connections to the community who may have a member who stole my bike, but I don’t want to. Not out of snobbery, but because I don’t want to get caught up in an underground economy of theft and intrigue. I don’t need the bullshit. It’s bad enough that I have to call the cops several times a year to stop domestic violence before some poor woman gets her head bashed in. I’m not a social worker and I will not do anything to encourage any more contact between me and folks with those problems. Don’t need it.
I’ll suck it up and buy another bike that I keep under better lock and key.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Ah shit mouthyb, that’s horrible. I wish there was some way to make those in power really see the harm they cause people with those decisions. The disconnect is so great that they can just slash and burn and never have to confront the pain and suffering they cause.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Besides. . .it’s likely that the person who stole my bike has a hell of a lot more need for it (either for transport or resale potential) than I do. Not that I’m willing to just put my shit out unlocked or theft, but yeah, I don’t wanna go trawling through a neighborhood of desperate people looking for a bike I can afford to replace.
Shame on you! You should know by now that the disconnect is a willing one and that they actively don’t care. Do we need to go sit aside and reread Atlas Shrugged again with the reminder that a book that promotes the Rich causing horrific industrial accidents to kill poor people because they deserve it for being moochers is considering a seminal work in Conservative culture?
Dhorvath, OMsays
Fossilfishy,
Thanks for the reminder. I tend to middle or high end clientele, their bikes are not sold in city, but generally parted and shipped away. Recovery is not a common, (hell it’s not rare,) tale.
Good lord did I ever abuse capitalization there. I Apologize
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Fair enough Josh.
If you want advice on the best way to secure a bike let me know. I is a professionaly bikey sorta person who’s never had a bike stolen in 20 years of pedal powered commuting. Mind you, the last four years I’ve been living in a small rural town and haven’t locked my bike once the whole time. :)
Tethyssays
(for the last half hour, I’ve been staring at Caine’s first ratlet pic and the grippy pink tail. That’s how I cope now.)
Heh, I do the same thing. I dearly covet the black ratling with the white nose in Rubin’s litter. It is the ratling on the far right in the last picture with its pink ratty paws up in the air.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
I’m still trying to get Cher to tweet me. Lord, this is going to be a year-long project. Good thing I have Fag Endurance™.
I dearly covet the black ratling with the white nose in Rubin’s litter.
We’ve been cooing over those little white nosed babes from day one. :D Of course, I’d be thrilled to place any one of them with someone from the Horde.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
Ing! I’m from The Great Pinko North and am living in the Antipodean Union of Socialist Servants of Ignominy. Please forgive my lapse of proper Randoidian programming.
Pteryxxsays
(continuing cuteness derail) Hey Caine, now that they’re popcorns, any luck sexing them all? Esme’s batch, that is?
(continuing cuteness derail) Hey Caine, now that they’re popcorns, any luck sexing them all?
Yep, although we’ll have the vet verify on the 6th, when we take Esme in for spaying. I don’t have them all sexed yet, they are incredibly squirmy units. Lotsa girls. :D Right now, they’ve discovered they can run and that’s pretty much all they want to do right now – run! run! run! up the ladder running! down the ladder running! run! run! run into the wall! boom! run! run! run!
Josh:
♫ “I wanna sex “[your rats]”up” ♫
Hee. I do wish we lived closer, I’d set you up with a rat condo a couple of ratties. :D
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Hee. I do wish we lived closer, I’d set you up with a rat condo a couple of ratties. :D
And I’m ready for it. Shit, those little fuckers are so damned cute. I’d force the cats to like them or suffer the consequences.
And once I got a big ol’ mammalian pig-pile I’d call up Audley and aks her to contribute some turtle to the love pile.
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
Mouthyb has provided several awesome links discussing intersectionality theory, but we lack currently a basic Intersectionality 101 type article. Wikipedia does a decent job with it, as far as I can see, but if anyone has any better suggestions, that would be lovely.
drbunsen le savant en colère dans une robe d'été belle (la robe est aussi en colère)says
mouthyb and Cipher,
Wow. Great work on the feminism links page over at p-wiki. That’s a fantastic resource now.
Josh, Official SpokesGaysays
Speaking of “love pile,” fuckin’ felids are puking. Again. MUST I deal with this at 1 am? Can’t they just stare out into space and be satisfied?
drbunsen le savant en colère dans une robe d'été belle (la robe est aussi en colère)says
p-wiki
Like p-zombies, only squiddier
Wowbagger, Deputy Vice-President (Silencing)says
Fuck hyperskepticism. Fuck it in its fucking ear. I am so fucking sick of whiny pissant dudebros insisting that not believing women can find conferences unsafe space is only the reasonable application of ‘skepticism’.
For fuck’s sake: these are not extraordinary claims; ergo, they do not require extraordinary evidence.
If these fucking idiots were as skeptical about everything else in their lives as they’re dishonestly choosing to be about this issue, they’d never leave the house for fear they’d be killed by a rain of fucking cows, since – after all – no-one’s ever done a study that proves you aren’t going to be killed by a rain of cows.
Combine this bullshit attitude with an astonishing predilection for JAQing off and you have what is nearly every comment from the anti-policy crowd on the blogs and Twitter.
Fucking assholes. This is why we can’t have nice things.
I volunteered for RDF at an atheist conference in 2007 and worked for his booth, having a great time. We had lunch with him and pal-ed around with the big names. Was wonderful.
Paula Kirby seems to have quite an influence on him, is my impression on seeing the two together a few times, and that’s a matter of concern seeing how she has behaved recently, but apart from that, and despite “Dear Muslima”, I still think that he probably at least in parts gets what we’re saying, and I’m personally not throwing him under the bus (mind you, I think him and Rebecca will never be besties).
But then, it’s 3pm, I just woke up after a week of night work, and I feel like exhumed roadkill.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
I still think that he probably at least in parts gets what we’re saying,
lol
citation needed
ibyeasays
The news from mouthb about Graduate school makes me wonder whether my Undergrad education I am going through is worth it. Because my plan is to get a PhD. And I am putting my parents in sever financial strain because of it, especially since they are charging me out of state due to our undeserved undocumented status. I hate the Republicans so much for doing this to all of us college students.
Tethyssays
I’d force the cats to like them or suffer the consequences.
I’m positive my cats would luuurve the ratlings. That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Pets eating pets is horribly unpleasant.
Yet somehow I find myself mentally planning where to put a rat condo, how to build the doors and ladders, and how to get out to Chez Caine.
I think they’re all adorable. Is the pale color called champagne?
I tried to see what the various colors were at the rat site, but eye color seems to play an important role in making determinations of color for rats.
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
Nooooo I’m not prepared to deal with the latest edition of People I Love Saying Problematic Shit right now
*throws everything out the window*
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
{TMI warining. Rambling whining vent}
—
—
—
—
—
Fuck.
Threw out the furniture and cleaned up the floor junk underneath it. That made me feel like shit. Seeing all the dirtiness and crap. It just screamed laziness and incompetence. It’s cleaned up now, walls and baseboards included. The rest of the house is a mess. Don’t have the energy left to clean it up. Now sleeping on the floor and sitting in stupid uncomfortable chair. Still have bed bugs. Still have roaches. Still look like a meth head. Have to go to get Little One’s shot and get her school stuff done. Have to go turn in copies of my documents (birth certificates,SSN cards) to DES for renewing my food stamps for the millionth time even though they have a million copies of it.
I’m going through panic mode, worrying about cleaning and what people will think of me when I’m running errands. I’m scared someone is going to call CPS because of how I look. My scabs, my teeth, our washed in the bath tub clothes doesn’t really show good parent. I’ve been threatened and had issues with CPS before over bullshit. Will have to go through this again? It just keeps repeating. Same errands, same issues, same fucking cycle. Roomie is working now, but I’m still worthless. I’ve been applying for jobs and just realized I’m a fucking moron because I forgot to change my phone number. All those jobs and it was the wrong fucking number to call me. Trying to clean up but having a 5 year old and Roomie that just pile their shit in the corner doesn’t help. That’s not picking up. Roomie hasn’t cleaned shit since he started working. I’m trying to do it all and failing. Doesn’t feel right to move or pick up his stuff. Even though it’s a fucking mess. Godfuckingdamn this is frustrating.
I fucking suck and I hate everything. This crappy small apartment that somehow is dirty when we have nothing in it. Stupid crappy jobs that I can do just fine but can’t get hired. How does it look to go to job interview in clothes I try to clean in the bath tub covered in scabs? Those little fucking bed bugs bite the fuck out of me. It itches like hell. NO ONE ELSE is getting bitten like I am. Not the Little One or Roomie get fucking bit everywhere. I’m the sacrifice, everyone else looks normal. How the fuck am I suppose to do this? I feel like fucking shit every time I walk out of the house to get stuff done. It’s no wonder I’m not employed.
Fuck.
—
—
—
{TMI Whining Vent Over}
I know, right. At this point that notion is most likely just nostalgia on my part.
Tony aka The Psychic Octopus [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Markita @471:
I picture this grinning rapist starting his own religion.
Hopefully it will be a solo religion that he creates once he gets 2 consecutive life sentences.
~~
birgerjohanssen @480:
this “Boggle” creature you spoke of intrigued me, so I looked up the Cal Leandros novels. There’s a book trailer on the author’s website that was interesting in a small way, but overall, didn’t entice me.
Setar:
Damn. My sympathies for the way you were treated by your mother. Was this a constant through your childhood? Or did it stop at a certain point?
~~
Josh @497:
Can you set the transporter for Pensacola please. I’ll be wanting a few of those won tons :)
~~
JAL:
Bed bugs.
Aw geez. I’m sorry. That’s sounds fucking awful.
Hope you are able to get it all taken care of soon.
Are they similar to scabies (in the ‘having to sanitize and clean every piece of carpet and furniture, as well as every living thing in the home’ way)?
Are they similar to scabies (in the ‘having to sanitize and clean every piece of carpet and furniture, as well as every living thing in the home’ way)?
Scabies goes away. Cimex bedbugs often don’t, and the only alternative then seems to be to get new everything.
thunk, safe behind a toasty heat shieldsays
Ouch. Now in Toronto and very tired after a lot of backseat driving.
JAL:
Oh fuck. All the sympathies for what you’re going through. Shame people judge job suitability based on bedbug bites.
Caine:
I hope the rats prosper and find good homes. I’m afraid I’m no good with pets, though.
Interestingly, Wiki sez that Cimex can’t survive more than 7 minutes of 46C/115F heat, or 15 minutes of −32C/−26F cold.
Even more intriguing : “Bed bugs can be detected by their characteristic smell of rotting raspberries.”
I’m positive my cats would luuurve the ratlings. That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Pets eating pets is horribly unpleasant.
That is unpleasant, however, rats & cats really isn’t that big of a deal. Most people don’t let their rats free range, except perhaps for short outings in a confined space or for shoulder rides, etc. Our first rat, Ash, made a point of biting every cat in the house, even the ones that weren’t remotely interested in him. Rat bites are extremely painful and the cats got the idear. Also, a lot of rats aren’t the least bit afraid of cats and will charge them full on, brimming with curiosity and bossiness. While cats will happily stalk a rat walking/running away from them, they get very flustered and clumsy trying to get the hell away from a rat who is running hell for leather straight at them. Alfie did this, on top of cornering cats and climbing on them. The cats did not like Alfie. :D
Even if you want no interaction, that’s easy enough. Set the rats up in a space where you don’t allow the catses. If you search ‘pet rat’ on yootube, you’ll find a ton of videos of rats and cats interacting. (I don’t recommend this if you’re on limited bandwidth or have a crappy connection or don’t want to lose days worth of time.)
Yet somehow I find myself mentally planning where to put a rat condo, how to build the doors and ladders, and how to get out to Chez Caine.
Hee. Or how we could get to you, seeing as you’re in MN, right? Rat condos are easy, but a large wire cage with plastic bottoms can be had for under a hundred bucks, which is about what putting a condo together costs.
I think they’re all adorable. Is the pale color called champagne?
I don’t have the slightest idea. Oh, Pteryxx…
Giles, who is a remarkable pale gold colour, is flat out gorgeous and it looks like we’ll have a couple more of those in Rubin’s crew.
I tried to see what the various colors were at the rat site, but eye color seems to play an important role in making determinations of color for rats.
Really? Rats have black eyes, except for odd-eye ones. Hmmm, looks like I have more learning to do.
JAL, I wish to hell I could do something to help. I’m so sorry for all the shit you’re dealing with. Do not beat yourself up over the housecleaning. I’d give you 10 to 1 my house is much more of a mess than yours, I hate cleaning.
chigau (女性)says
Caine
With twentymumble rats, I think your opportunities for learning will be very large.
I hope the rats prosper and find good homes. I’m afraid I’m no good with pets, though.
Thanks, Thunk. We’ll get by, one way or another. We may end up keeping them all as we aren’t comfortable putting them in a pet store.
As I said earlier, I’ll be working on getting downstairs in a fit state again (It’s a mess from previous flooding) and moving my studio and the rats down there. It’s a *huge* space.
With twentymumble rats, I think your opportunities for learning will be very large.
No doubt. They are an absolute delight, I gotta say.
birgerjohanssonsays
Tony aka The Psychic Octopus [safe and welcome at FtB]
-Rob Thurman’s books are aimed at young adults (at least the Cal Leandros series). I would recommend Kate Griffin for “heavier” urban gothic (and without the blazing guns/explosions that are so common in the genre).
— — — — — — —
Anxiety disorders in poor moms likely to result from poverty, not mental illness http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-anxiety-disorders-poor-moms-result.html
Not knowing where the next meal is coming from is stressful.
— — — — — — — —
A good night’s sleep could keep you out of a nursing home http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-good-night-nursing-home.html
I am doomed.
Pteryxxsays
Heck, I know almost nothing about *pet* rat colors. I’d just relay y’all to that coat color guide that what’s their name linked back when Esme’s ratlets were just fuzzing up.
I didn’t find that specific guide, but here’s another:
JAL: I’ve been in situations like that. No bed bugs, but I’ve lived in a tiny, perpetually dirty apartment in bad neighborhood, where the holidays were greeted by SWAT team busts of crack houses across the street, shifted bullets and needles out of the tiny lawn in front of my place and listened to constant fighting/domestic violence. Oh, and the constant cockroaches…. the constant giant cockroaches. And the sleeping on the floor because of gun fire.
I seem to remember you mentioning that you’d like to know other people who are going through or have gone through poverty. (raises hand)
I literally make $740 a month, unless I manage to pick up a second job, and I support a family of five. The student loans were how I filled out that gap, but it looks like it’s time to get on food stamps again.
I’m sure someone’s already mentioned it, but you can get boric acid powder and put it around the outside of doors and windows, as well as down the drains and it can discourage roaches. I also used to do a bleach water scrub of the walls with a plastic scrubby brush. Sometimes this worked to remove a little of the dingy nastiness, but the fumes are nasty.
I’m so sorry to hear about the bed bugs and the jerk roomie.
Pteryxxsays
whoops – and here’s a simpler rat color guide, with pictures of actual rats:
I sometimes fantasize about winning the lottery and buying up blocks of houses, and calling it ‘housing for smart people’, so I can house the people I like for super cheap.
It’s one of my favorite ‘if I was rich’ fantasies.
Pteryxxsays
according to the wiki on bed bug eradication, no one method or single session will work… it takes a combination of temperature/pesticide/diatomaceous earth to clean building and furniture, hot water washing and hot drying to clean fabrics, and sealing mattresses. Even getting rid of everything won’t do it as they just re-infest from tiny crevices in the building itself, or from adjoining apartments.
I don’t have worthwhile suggestions, except that maybe bagging and dusting the bed itself might cut the biting down enough to not go bananas from it. *headshake* I’m sorry, JAL.
Pteryxxsays
mouthyb, likewise. I’d live in a Horde commune. It makes a world of difference just to have other trustworthy adults around that can help each other out.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
Scabies goes away. Cimex bedbugs often don’t, and the only alternative then seems to be to get new everything.
Basically. We’ve tried everything else. We’re still doing a lot of those things Tony listed. It’s just gone too far. I couldn’t sleep because every time I go to lay down, I’m swarmed. Finding 15 every night is common. Finding ones so small and light colored they blend in with my skin, like this (Gross out warning for that link, lots of pictures.) We’ve had them for months now.
We’ve thrown everything out we can. Once Roomie gets paid, it’s washing everything as many times as we can. We’re looking to get new blankets/pillows too, so we can just toss what we have.
Seriously, nightmare stuff. There’s one thing that was the worst moment ever for me.
WARNING! SKIP IF YOU DON’T WANT NIGHTMARES. Very GROSS! ALSO TMI!
—
—
—
—
—
—-
—
—
—
—
—
–
–
–
–
–
–
—
—
—
Once, when I was sleeping I woke up to one biting my cheek. I go to kill it. They pop like pimples, often spraying blood. I got sprayed by blood on my face. I felt it by my eye. I was freaking the fuck out thinking it got in my eye. Honestly, I have nightmares with bed bugs. They giving me diseases, or sucking blood out til I die, weird ones where they make me a vampire after so many bites. Absolute paranoia that they are crawling up inside me or biting my vulva. It’s fucking terrible. Fuck bed bugs. Kill. Them. All.
—
—
—
—-
—
–
–
–
–
–
—
–
—
–
—
–
—
TMI NIGHTMARE STUFF OVER. CONTINUE SAFELY FROM HERE>.
chigau (女性)says
JAL
*hugs* and a can of RAID.
—–
There is a family of skunks in my back alley.
(by family, I mean including babby skunks!!!)
(my camera is crapped-out so I can’t prove it)
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
*flail*
Went to the midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises. Overall, excellent.
(major spoiler behind the rot13)
Gnyvn ny-Thy NAQ Ebova fubj hc!
Nyfb, Ongzna naq Gnyvn ubbx hc. Irel frkl.
Ahem.
*flail*
And now, it is 3:30 in the fucking morning, and I have to be at work at 9.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
Thanks everyone for the sympathy. It helps venting. mouthyb
I literally make $740 a month, unless I manage to pick up a second job, and I support a family of five. The student loans were how I filled out that gap, but it looks like it’s time to get on food stamps again.
I’m sure someone’s already mentioned it, but you can get boric acid powder and put it around the outside of doors and windows, as well as down the drains and it can discourage roaches. I also used to do a bleach water scrub of the walls with a plastic scrubby brush. Sometimes this worked to remove a little of the dingy nastiness, but the fumes are nasty.
I’m so sorry to hear about the bed bugs and the jerk roomie.
Holy shit! I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that. =(
Yep, know all about bleach water but thanks for trying to help. Been using it and doing everything we can, it’s just not going to go away. The entire complex is infested. I definitely want to talk to other people going through stuff like us, but it sucks because no one should be in this situation. I feel terrible for the crap you’re dealing with.
Pteryxx
according to the wiki on bed bug eradication, no one method or single session will work… it takes a combination of temperature/pesticide/diatomaceous earth to clean building and furniture, hot water washing and hot drying to clean fabrics, and sealing mattresses. Even getting rid of everything won’t do it as they just re-infest from tiny crevices in the building itself, or from adjoining apartments.
I don’t have worthwhile suggestions, except that maybe bagging and dusting the bed itself might cut the biting down enough to not go bananas from it. *headshake* I’m sorry, JAL.
Yep, been doing the sprays, the diatomacerous earth (a tip I got here awhile ago), hot water washing, seals on everything. Already dusted and sealed the bed. Been doing all that for months now. We know throwing it out won’t stop it, but it will help me sleep tonight at least. We still have our supplies and rituals to go through. It’s not going away. The ENTIRE complex is infested with bed bugs and roaches. Except the complex manager and maintenance man apartments of course. Those get sprayed regularly. My mother who’s known the manager for 20 years had to have her social worker threaten to report the complex to get the manager to spray my mother’s apartment. Everyone else is fucked.
Every once in a while she’ll have the maintenance man go around knocking on doors to spray for roaches. WITHOUT ANY NOTICE. The maintenance man says tough shit, you aren’t prepared. (Since you need to remove pets, food and move out stuff 3 feet from the wall) And he walks away.
Ask for bed bug help and she says it’s too expensive to spray, go buy it yourself.
JAL: I wish I could help. I really, really wish I could help.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
JAL: I wish I could help. I really, really wish I could help.
I know, thank you. This makes it easier to deal with, especially when I’m up all night like now.
I wish I could help you too. That really fucking sucks about that stupid law. I used to work in Financial Aid so I was watching for that law. I heard it all working in that office, it’s heart breaking.
Pteryxxsays
…
…okay, now I want to go gnaw on your manager’s face until SHE’s embarrassed to go out because of the rash. What a worthless, uncaring POS.
Pteryxx, fascinating stuff, thank you for the links! I’m now looking at http://www.nfrs.org/varietiesmarked.html and we have, under the ‘varieties marked’ category, Badgers, Hooded, Variegated, Chinchilla and Squirrel. :D Chas was a squirrel. How silly that sounds. Giles looks closest to a Topaz or Silver Fawn.
I sometimes fantasize about winning the lottery and buying up blocks of houses, and calling it ‘housing for smart people’, so I can house the people I like for super cheap.
I’d buy a big ass piece of property and materials for house-building (there are ways to do it on the cheap and green) and build a co-operative. Lots of work, but sustaining in every good way. I wish, I wish.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
…
…okay, now I want to go gnaw on your manager’s face until SHE’s embarrassed to go out because of the rash. What a worthless, uncaring POS.
I know right? The salt in the wound is how she’s all sanctimonious. Yep, you sure are nice to let us pay later for rent when Roomie gets paid on the 10th. Of course, never mention that there’s so many empty apartments that no one is moving into and without our rent you’re fucking screwed. Doesn’t make it okay to never fix anything. Doesn’t make it out for you to only take care of your own problems.
“Oh, but my grandbabies live me since my son is unemployed! We can’t have these bugs around the babies!”-Manager
What about my child you asshole? My child is only a year older than your oldest grandson. I’ve told her that she got all huffy and she said I need to take care of my own.
She’s supposedly retiring. I can’t wait. My mother has the number to her boss hoping to go up the chain to get shit fixed. NOPE!
Tony aka The Psychic Octopus [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Caine:
Thanks for the slideshow link.
I think my favorite is #5 (the solo little rat trying to climb; is that their condo?), but several of them made me get all tingly and cutesy inside. They’re all so ador…um, precious.
****
mythbri @12:
from your link on pistachios:
They take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide, even after they’ve been harvested. Ships have to keep them in a well-ventilated place so they don’t suck all the air out of a place and suffocate cabin boys.
Suffocated by a nut?
How does that happen?
****
Ms. Daisy:
Ew. Leviticus was right: Shrimp is evil.
Thou doth blaspheme in casa de PZ. Tolerated shall that not be!
Blackened shrimp over a bed of cheese grits, topped with scallions and crumbled bacon=nummy nummy in my tummy!
****
FossilFishy:
Mind you, the last four years I’ve been living in a small rural town and haven’t locked my bike once the whole time. :)
This small town level of trust is so foreign to me.
I’ve met several people over the years who come from smaller towns and many of them say the same thing: no one locks their cars or homes*.
I find that so eerie.
I’ve never lived somewhere that break ins were common (at least no more so than any other populated area), but I was raised to lock car doors when you get out. Lock the house behind you when you enter/leave. Secure latches on fences. Lock garage doors or back doors. I was never fed any fearful lines about thieve, just that they exist and locking doors is one way to discourage them (sometimes). So the thought of living somewhere that doors and cars aren’t locked is so alien to me.
*during the day. They said at night things were locked.
****
Caine@104:
argh.
It’s 2:55 am here and the site is down, so I can’t see any of the rattie pics. Drat. Maybe when I awake tomorrow.
****
Josh:
Speaking of “love pile,” fuckin’ felids are puking. Again. MUST I deal with this at 1 am? Can’t they just stare out into space and be satisfied?
If it makes you feel better, I had to clean up doggie diarrhea on the carpet today. Kiara, (T’s dog) ate 2 boxes of protein bars T had for post gym recovery food sometime Wednesday evening. Thursday afternoon, after she *just* peed outside, she comes back inside and drops running messy dog poop on the carpet. What. Fun.
Oh, and I love my cats (and cats in general, except for hairless ones; they freak me out), but I hate cleaning up hairballs, or their undigested food when they’ve eaten too fast.
Bedbugs are the worst. I had an encounter with them when I lived in Surry Hills (inner Sydney) 20 years ago. I am allergic, I swell up in enormous red bumps for each bite. I didn’t have to trash absolutely everything, but the futon and mosquito net went. They like to move up in the daytime, and they were nesting at the top of the mozzie net in the seams. ew ew ew ew.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Tethys @115:
Yet somehow I find myself mentally planning where to put a rat condo, how to build the doors and ladders, and how to get out to Chez Caine.
I hear that!
I’m mentally picturing a series of interconnecting tubes running along the ceiling across my living room, down the hallway and into my room where the main condo would be. I can see a little rattie running across the house, staring down at the cats unable to get him/her. That is until the cats did some crazy ninja trick where they somehow reach the tubes (probably using parkour–heh! Parkour Kats)
****
JAL:
Fuck. That sucks.
My sympathies. Big time.
Any idea how much longer you’re going to have to deal with the bed bug problem?
****
birgerjohanssen:
Kate Griffin-
In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life – there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic.
Enter a London where magicians ride the Last Train, implore favours of The Beggar King and interpret the insane wisdom of The Bag Lady. Enter a London where beings of power soar with the pigeons and scrabble with the rats, and seek insight in the half-whispered madness of the blue electric angels.
Enter the London of Matthew Swift, where rival sorcerers, hidden in plain sight, do battle for the very soul of the city … http://www.kategriffin.net/books/a-madness-of-angels/
Now *that’s* what I’m talking about. That’s a description that speaks to me and does it in such a captivating way that I want to read this novel yesterday…
Reading the ‘about the book’ info for each book just makes me want them aaaaaaaallll.
****
successfully boiled and peeled eggs. Thank you all.
Now onto brick or stone for the oven and the chocolate chip cookies I bought a few days ago (EZ bake)
My night was made chatting with a new guy at work (D). He was relating the circumstances behind him losing his last job. Apparently his previous General Manager made comments of a negative nature using the word ‘gay’. Though the comments weren’t directed at D, he informed his manager that he wasn’t cool with the guy saying that crap. No one was around except the two of them, and D stood up for what’s right (he even used that as an excuse to quit; apparently he didn’t need to work there, it was more out of something to do). I told him then and there that my respect for him increased quite a bit (and took the time to mention a few of my other ‘don’t use words’, and *why* they shouldn’t be used).
D is young, around 21/22. He’s part of that continuing surge of young people who believe queers should be treated just like everyone else and that it’s nothing flamboyant or spectacular or abnormal about 2 guys kissing or 2 women holding hands.
Please world: fill up with more people like D, and less people like Pat Robertson.
****
Caine: Yep. A large parcel of land, building supplies and volunteer architecture. I’ve also lived in a converted warehouse, which turns out to be kind of awesome for creating unique spaces. You can build walls, create lofts, etc.
As long as there hasn’t been improper disposal on the property, you can put together a rather nice garden. Industrial spaces, like an abandoned Wal Mart in the middle of nowhere, sometimes have rather large attached lots.
And it wasn’t even politics, just telling someone to not support obviously quote-mined false balance. No, that’s a “minor point”, and I need to shut up about the false-flag-waving “feminist” who just wants “both sides” to “get along”. And FSM forbid I accuse them of perpetuating the very sort of chilly climate that enables everything from the Pitizens on up to Gabby Giffords’ shooting.
(Can we start talking about uncompromised liberal views being subject to a chilly climate now?)
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Pteryxx:
mouthyb, likewise. I’d live in a Horde commune.
You mean being neighbors with…sharing a community with…being friendly to….gulp…people who don’t victim blame? Or use gender based insults? Or who treat others with respect and dignity? Who show genuine concern and a desire to help those in need? Who are egalitarian? Who believe in social justice? Who have discarded the supernatural (and in most cases, woo)?
You want to be a part of *that*?
I do too.
***
chigau:
(my camera is crapped-out so I can’t prove it)
there are one of two possible responses:
1-Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I don’t believe you have skunks out back. Prove it or you’re a liar.
2-Rebecca Watson put the skunks out back.
:::is that what it takes to be a TF cronie or MRA or slimepit denizen? Or was that not subtle enough:::
[I’m guessing you caught the wee bit of sarcasm…]
Beatricesays
*hugs* to mouthyb and JAL.
I’m sorry you are going through such hard times.
—
It makes me feel ashamed that I complain so much about no job opportunities when I have so much privilege – still living with parents who can support me without too much financial strain.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
THIS blogger is interesting. She (yes, she is the correct pronoun) also has a post that shows support for Ophelia Benson and other bloggers concerning The Harassment Conversation (THC?)
excerpt:
I have always wanted to have an attitude of ‘each to their own’ about religion. But my ‘each to their own’ always has a caveat of ‘providing it doesn’t hurt anybody else’. Well, this stuff fails the test. In the aforementioned Joanna Brooks’ book, The Book of Mormon Girl, she mentions that during the Prop 8 fight in California, where the Mormon Church raised $82million for the yes vote (against gay marriage), there was at least one Mormon gay suicide. As Joanna herself said in her aforementioned tweet, one suicide is too many. Incidentally, Joanna, according to her book, worked on the No on 8 campaign.
David Marjanovićsays
JAL and mouthyb, I wonder if you’re cases for the Horde Hoard. Josh, you never replied to my e-mail about how to contribute to it (…unless it ended up in my spam folder, which I haven’t looked at for weeks).
I’d go a step further and say raisins are an abomination.
*clenched-tentacle salute*
I’m allergic to nuts (interestingly including walnuts and peanuts); their tough texture also doesn’t go well with the brittle texture of baked goods.
The reason bruxing and eye boggling occur together is anatomical: a part of the muscle that pulls up the rat’s lower jaw passes through the eye socket, behind the eyeball.
There isn’t even a separate eye socket. Mammals* in general have lost the bone bridge between the eye socket and the temporal fenestra (the window in the skull roof that contains most jaw-closing muscles). Primates (in a narrow sense) are among the few that have regained such a bridge.
* Indeed mammalomorphs.
What it does is slows down how fast your oven heats up and evens out any hot or cold spots.
Do American ovens not have hot air? As in, air is heated directly and distributed in the oven, as opposed to the bottom and/or the top of the oven being heated and radiating heat? Over here, that’s almost always one of the settings.
What is cooking spray???
I defy you all.
Raisins are awesome!
*sigh* I knew you had to have some flaw.
I detest the taste and scent of coconut.
Interesting. I can stand those, but find the texture of coconut fibers very annoying. Like cartilage, they’re too tough to be chewed; no matter how long I chew, they stay in my mouth till I spit them out. If I eat a cookie with coconut in it, all the dough will sooner or later disappear, and I’ll be left with a ball of purified coconut fibers in my mouth.
Tempus sugentes maximus
What?
Ultimately though, if we ask why do feminist flavors of transphobia exist at all, I expect the answer is that patriarchy already existed. I see no reason to think that feminists would have independently invented transphobia in a world where it didn’t already exist.
If patriarchy didn’t exist, would there be feminism in the first place…?
Kong Olav ble døpt som mormoner tre år etter sin død
King Olav was baptized as a Mormon three years after his death?
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Stauffenberg’s assasination attempt. It would be nice if somebody celebrated it by whacking Assad or Mugabe.
Assad’s brother-in-law and his minister of defense were killed yesterday or the day before.
I know in my case “it’s for the lurkers” is always a rationalization for indulging SIWOTI syndrome.
Why do you bother rationalizing? I don’t :-)
WMDKitty is really. fucking. stupid. See this thread for confirmation.
I just replied. “Always growing and learning”? She’s got a lot of learning left to do, and maybe even some growing-up.
Setár @483. Fuck, that shit is absolutely beyond the pale. It speaks to a lack of awareness and basic human decency in your mother that’s positively scary. Internet hugs if you want them.
Seconded.
It’s a trope so I rattled off the title without realizing it.
The new student loan deal just caused me to lose my funding.
*headdesk*
HULK SMASH
WE WILL RUIN THE ECONOMY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER DAMN IT!
It’s the economy, stupid!
Good lord did I ever abuse capitalization there. I Apologize
I see what you did there :-)
p-wiki
Like p-zombies, only squiddier
^_^
(I apologize for my complete lack of contributions to p-wiki for… almost ever since it was founded. I’ll probably have time again soon.)
I feel like exhumed roadkill.
:-D :-D :-D
The news from mouthb about Graduate school makes me wonder whether my Undergrad education I am going through is worth it. Because my plan is to get a PhD.
Do you need to stay in the US during your education…?
And now, it is 3:30 in the fucking morning, and I have to be at work at 9.
What is the point of a midnight showing?
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
birgerjohanssen:
is there a movie in the works based on a Kate Griffin novel?
I literally want to read all her novels.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Setar, it’s safe to say that Michelle knows whether or not she is a feminist.
She may be something like a libertarian feminist, perhaps, who we’d disagree with about most things. And we can sensibly debate whether this or that idea is accurate or helpful — i.e. “extreme over-reaction to a non-event” is obviously a flawed claim.
But I gotta say, it really is not okay for a man to tell a woman that she is not a feminist, or that she ought to be this or that kind of feminist instead. Feminism is ultimately not for us; we may learn much from studying feminism but it exists for the liberation and empowerment of women.
As such it is inappropriate for a man, who necessarily has less stake in the liberation and empowerment of women than any woman does, to dictate how any woman should navigate life under patriarchy — and telling her that she is not a feminist, or that she should be this or that kind of feminist instead, amounts to such. Those debates can make sense among women because women can need solidarity; the question, for instance, of whether Abbie Smith is a gender traitor, is appropriate for them whose gender is being betrayed. But that ain’t men.
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Ultimately though, if we ask why do feminist flavors of transphobia exist at all, I expect the answer is that patriarchy already existed. I see no reason to think that feminists would have independently invented transphobia in a world where it didn’t already exist.
If patriarchy didn’t exist, would there be feminism in the first place…?
I imagine not, but what I should have suggested (and was vaguely thinking) was to compare with a hypothetical patriarchy that oppressed women but did not also involve transphobia.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
David:
Midnight showings are:
1- a way for studios to get a liiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more money by releasing the movie literally at the beginning of the day, rather than waiting til movie theaters open around midday. Midnight sales for many movies can be in the $1-$5 million range.
2- a way for those vampires like myself who are up late to view a movie before the rest of the world does (not that it matters much, since the people who haven’t seen the movie will be asleep when night owls are done viewing, so it’s not like potential conversations will happen).
Oh, and cooking spray to prevent baked goods from sticking.
Or if you’re sauteeing food, you can use cooking spray in place of butter, lard, or oil.
****
I can’t decide if I want to fix cornbread or not. I love the stuff. I would fix a pan of it as a teenager and devour it all on my own (during the holidays, my parents would fix two pans-one for me and the other for them and my sister).
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Not to rain on anyone’s desire to see The Dark Knight Rises, but this shit is so messed up:
A masked gunman shot 14 people dead and injured up to 50 at a showing of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises at a cinema in the US city of Denver, police said.
Local radio station KOA, citing witnesses, said a figure in a gas mask had opened fire at the showing in a mall in the suburb of Aurora and set off a smoke or teargas bomb. It said initial police estimates were of 30-40 people injured. http://www.guardiannews.com/
These people went to the movie looking for an enjoyable experience. 14 of them fucking died, and @ 50 are injured? What the fuck is wrong with the person that they would do such a thing?
Nightjarsays
While cats will happily stalk a rat walking/running away from them, they get very flustered and clumsy trying to get the hell away from a rat who is running hell for leather straight at them.
That’s true of cats and hamsters too. I had cats and hamsters simultaneously for many years (just cats now, but I miss the little rodents a lot) and never had a problem. Cats get all confused when presented with uppity pet rodents. :D
***
I defy you all.
Raisins are awesome!
*sigh* I knew you had to have some flaw.
Nonsense. Owlmirror’s right about that too.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitternesssays
I appreciate all the hugs and sympathies.
There’s no need to get another fund for me going. Roomie just starting working. First check wasn’t a full one and went quickly. He gets paid again in a week. After that check we’ll be all caught up on all the bills (well the important bills anyways). It’ll be tight like always after that but pending any disasters we’ll be straight.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Limbaugh revisited:
“I refuted this within hours of [an] article in the Washington Examiner suggesting that Bane would be tied to Bain Capital and Mitt Romney appearing,” Dixon told Comicbook.com ahead of The Dark Knight Rises’ release in cinemas in the UK and US on 20 July. “Bane was created by me and Graham Nolan, and we are lifelong conservatives and as far from leftwing mouthpieces as you are likely to find in comics.”
Some critics, including the Guardian’s Catherine Shoard, have identified a different political affiliation in Bane’s determination to overturn Gotham’s wealthy, established order, one that Dixon said he was far more inclined to accept.
“He’s far more akin to an Occupy Wall Street type if you’re looking to cast him politically,” said the 58-year-old writer. “And if there ever was a Bruce Wayne running for the White House it would have to be Romney.”
Ing, weren’t you just talking about Chuck Dixon?
***
For anyone who’s an English major (or really skilled in English), why is the word ‘an’ in brackets in the above quote?
****
Arpaio has said the lawsuit is a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration as a way to court Latino voters in a presidential election year. Justice officials say the department began its initial civil rights inquiry of Arpaio’s office during the Bush administration and notified the sheriff of its formal investigation a few months after Obama took office.
The plaintiffs, which include the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, aren’t seeking money damages and instead are seeking a declaration that Arpaio’s office racially profiles and an order that requires it to make changes to prevent what they said is discriminatory policing.
Tony, no that pic isn’t in the condo, that’s just a beer box that’s being climbed. I dispensed with their box today, they don’t stay in it anyway. :D
Nightjar:
Cats get all confused when presented with uppity pet rodents. :D
Yes, they do and it’s very funny to watch. There’s nothing like a tiny package of pure uppity for upsetting a cat.
David Marjanovićsays
“Congress OKs Minimum Wage Freeze At $4.18 for American Samoa”
Gah – – –
And it wasn’t even politics, just telling someone to not support obviously quote-mined false balance. No, that’s a “minor point”, and I need to shut up about the false-flag-waving “feminist” who just wants “both sides” to “get along”.
To be fair, she didn’t even understand your accusation of false-flag waving, and you never explained it to her, instead killfiling her. I had to do it instead.
1- a way for studios to get a liiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more money by releasing the movie literally at the beginning of the day, rather than waiting til movie theaters open around midday. Midnight sales for many movies can be in the $1-$5 million range.
I see.
Oh, and cooking spray to prevent baked goods from sticking.
Or if you’re sauteeing food, you can use cooking spray in place of butter, lard, or oil.
So… is it not fat?
I only know:
1) smearing cake molds with margarine all over on the inside, or smearing pans for things like potato “noodles”;
2) putting bakery paper on pans for Christmas cookies;
3) silicone molds instead of smeared metal molds, and silicone sheets instead of bakery paper.
during the holidays, my parents would fix two pans-one for me and the other for them and my sister
Awesome!
Nonsense. Owlmirror’s right about that too.
*sigh* I know you had to have some flaw.
For anyone who’s an English major (or really skilled in English), why is the word ‘an’ in brackets in the above quote?
That should mean the word was missing in what Dixon sent to comicbook.com, most likely as a typo.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
I think I’ve seen it all now. This site is amazing.
The creativity in designing living spaces with existing materials is off the chart. I love it. I want to visit some of these places. Hell, I’d *live* in some of these places!
****
Who knew that vodka can kill pesky insects, as well as nagging doubts at the bar? Pour a little of the saucy spirit in a spray bottle and squirt on the little buggers, or yourself as a repellent. But please don’t take aim at any beneficial bees!
“I refuted this within hours of [an] article in the Washington Examiner suggesting that Bane would be tied to Bain Capital and Mitt Romney appearing,” Dixon told Comicbook.com ahead of The Dark Knight Rises’ release in cinemas in the UK and US on 20 July.
For anyone who’s an English major (or really skilled in English), why is the word ‘an’ in brackets in the above quote?
It’s an indication that the original quotation didn’t include it, and that it’s been inserted by the quoter to make the sentence grammatical or more comprehensible.
For anyone who’s an English major (or really skilled in English), why is the word ‘an’ in brackets in the above quote?</blockquote
It’s an indication that the original quotation didn’t include it, and that it’s been inserted by the quoter to make the sentence grammatical or more comprehensible.
Brackets like that are one way in which people conventionaly indicate that some text has been elided (aka snipped). Generally people use the brackets to cut out some text which doesn’t add to the point they want to make by using the quote, and add their own paraphrase within the brackets.
Sometimes this is done with the purpose of increasing clarity by snipping extraneous content, sometimes the full content is snipped to misrepresent the statement which is being quoted.
You can’t tell which is which until you go and look at the original text whether the paraphrase within the brackets is justified (or at least neutral) or not.
Anyone know if there’s any truth to this claim that vodka kills insects (presumably mosquitos)?
Enough of it obviously does. Alcohol poisoning works the same in all Biochemistry As We Know it.
Generally people use the brackets to cut out some text which doesn’t add to the point they want to make by using the quote, and add their own paraphrase within the brackets.
What? No. That’s strictly forbidden if there’s no […] in front of it.
Generally people use the brackets to cut out some text which doesn’t add to the point they want to make by using the quote, and add their own paraphrase within the brackets.
What? No. That’s strictly forbidden if there’s no […] in front of it.
Not what I was taught. The brackets indicate an elision, if you put an ellipsis within the brackets you’re showing that you’ve not added any context, but if you put words within the brackets then that’s understood as a paraphrase.
e.g. To be, or not to be, that is the question:
[…]Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
vs
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
[should we struggle against adversity, or should we surrender to despair?]
Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
theophontes (坏蛋)says
@ David Marjanović
Did you ever see the dino’s I posted for you?
carliesays
David – cooking spray is fat in an aerosol form. That gives you a quick, even cover across the whole pan using very minimal amounts of fat.
The ovens that move air around are here called convection ovens, and only the most expensive ovens have that option.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
This was going to moderation, so I’ll remove the links, but I’ll italicize the words I had linked:
How IS the redhead, Nerd? Details!
Well, she still has limited mobility in her left arm and left leg. She can walk with a hemi-walker short distances (a hundred feet or so). She can’t deal with stairs yet, but we have installed stair lifts to the second floor, and in the back hallway to exit the house. We just need a small ramp (~7″) built there to allow egress/entry. Which being out of sight of the street, and “temporary”, means it doesn’t have to be built to ADA codes. The biggest problem she has is getting her pants/underwear up and down for the commode (try it one handed, when you also need the good hand to steady yourself). So I have to get up a couple of times at night and assist, and come home a couple of times during the day (work is five minutes one-way from the house). She has access to full cable TV and unlimited phone access, and she makes use of that. We get some in-home therapists once/twice a week for a while, which helps. She’s set up on the main floor with a hospital bed, commode, microwave, and access to a TV, dinning room, and kitchen. I’m doing the cooking, laundry and cleaning. Time to put her to bed. Some assembly required, as we say.
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
Do American ovens not have hot air? As in, air is heated directly and distributed in the oven, as opposed to the bottom and/or the top of the oven being heated and radiating heat? Over here, that’s almost always one of the settings.
Those are called convection ovens here in the US (and maybe elsewhere).
Most do not have that capability but many mid-higher end ones do.
Dogdamn I’m going to be giving my readers an emotional 180 in this book. I have Karthus and Trisha re-enkindling their long relationship (implied sex, won’t show it in book. It’s a fantasy not a porno.) Mara and Valkir will be drunk, cause he takes her to a tavern to celebrate the end of one of his really old cases as well as extending an olive leaf by giving her access to one of his best contacts. Bartenders know everything. Owin will be investigating a mystery in the case that confused him, which always excites him, and he’ll discover a key link between everyone involved.
Tony,
“The producer of the film (there is a producer, this does not, I hasten to add, yet guarantee there will be a film) calmly assures me that Matthew Swift, one of my main protagonists, is in his early twenties.”
I am glad that there is already an interest in filming the novels, but it can take decades for a project to get off the ground…
— — — — — —
About Swift’s age, I think he is mature enough in his choices to be older than early twenties. Lots of hard choices to make if you end up a demi-god and with the responsibilities of that power.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Katherine:
Bartenders know everything
If that’s the case, how do I parlay that into being independently wealthy?
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
Ok listening to some coverage on the shootings in Aurora and the idiot on the phone is talking about the financial impact of the shootings on the Batman film box office take.
Well, bartenders may know everything, but it is a limited set of knowledge. Usually related to hearsay and conjecture, whispered drunken confessions, a lot of it not really super-useful to the ear of an officer of the peace.
But the bartender does work at the docks during the day – so he gets to see a lot of weird things going through, unusual deals and things like that – the opportunity to let the city guard know of shady dealings.
Interesting reply there. I have some thoughts about some of the things you said. I of corse realise this doesn’t represent your views but I’ll respond to them anyway for the sake of the argument.
But what accounts for transphobic radical feminists seeing transwomen as men in the first place? That can be accounted for by the ambient transphobia.
Actually, no. Not entirely.
I’m going to stick a trigger warning here, because of the bigotry.
Yes, I need to remember to do this too. I’m not easily triggered myself, but others may be.
So: Trigger warning!
A substantial part of the transphobia in radfems is because of their views of sex and gender.
Yes, that is my impression too as I pointed out in an earlier post.
That is, that gender is entirely societal, and that it thus doesn’t “really” exist. That in Feminist Victory Utopia Land, there would be no such thing as masculinity and femininity, only people who happen to have penises and people who happen to have vulvae. So if you have a mind/body disconnect, then this is purely because you don’t agree with what society says about men and women, and if society said something else that you did agree with, your mind/body disconnect issues would evaporate.
This argument is sort of a Russell’s teapot argument. There is however evidence suggesting gender can not be reduced to just internalised oppression. I do however agree with the argument in part as far as children goes. I am a little skeptical to the label ‘transgender children’ (when the meaning implies transsexual children) that are very young. Like the case I wrote about on my blog the other day where a child started to insist they were a boy already at the age of 2. That is a symptom of the gender conformity pressure that exists for children today. Experiences may vary, but when I grew up in the 80s, I experienced no such pressure. And I was arguably very gender variant in my interests.
Also, sex (defined by chromosomes/genitals) is thus immutable.
Which of course ignore the fact that there is not a one-to-one correlation between chromosomes and genitals/assigned sex. Intersex is actually quite common though not usually visible. I have several intersex “symptoms” though I have never checked it out further.
Last time I brought up intersex in a discussion with radfems, I was accused of appropriating their identity. I did no such thing, but they tried to deflect the argument as it clearly was an inconvenient fact.
Also, since SRS cannot make functional organs, it is best understood as a purely cosmetic thing of no inherent value (and cosmetic surgery – carefully distinguished from reconstructive surgery – is highly suspect because of the pressure to make someone “patriarchy compliant”). So it is not actually sex reassignment surgery, it is a mutilation and an attempt to make a mocking facsimile of something it is not and can never be.
Firstly, it is not universally true that SRS do not produce functional organs in the sexual sense. Reproductive, no. But then, it isn’t actually the organs responsible for reproduction that are reconstructed anyway, it’s the ones involved in sexual activity.
[That said, I know of one trans woman who still had a proto-uterus (from the foetus stage I assume) that started growing when she started hormones. It was discovered because she started menstruating internally where there was no opening to expel it.]
Anyway, sexually functional vaginas are not uncommon. Penises I know little about, but it is a lot more complicated. Many trans men who do get the surgery keep both. In total, most trans people do not get SRS anyway as your identity is not defined by what you have between your legs. Which is why I find the radfem argument that it is rather strange. When trans people transition, genitals often becomes a non-issue.
Possibly TMI, but for me personally it is a little important because my original configuration isn’t sexually functioning anyway. I have nothing to lose.
Secondly, the argument that SRS is mutilation, usually on the form: “trans women are mutilated men” is a very strange argument to me as it seems to uphold the idea that a penis is a superior and identity-defining organ. That seem to be a very patriarchal idea.
So since (1) gender comes society and not from the person and (2) sex is an immutable fact, then transition, inherently, is impossible.
This is of course their argument, and it is their mantra. In my experience they are not interested in any focus on the weakness of the assumptions this argument hinges on.
So if you have an XX karyotype and a vulva, then you are a woman, full stop, forever and ever amen. And if you say that you are really a man, then that means that you have internalized the societal messages about what masculinity and manliness are and (1) want the perks of being a man and (2) are so damaged by the patriarchal shaming of your own body that you have rejected it.
(1) This is the conspiratorial bit of the argument. Trans men are only after the male privilege and trans women are only after women’s spaces. As if any transsexual person would go through all that for something as trivial as those goals (relatively speaking of course). The suicide rates in the community should be evidence enough that such arguments are absurd.
(2) This is of course the main problem trans women face in our early lives. The pressure to conform to masculine roles. Many of us spend many years faking it. I got fed up with that and have great fun experimenting with pushing gender expression borders. Although I’m drifting into gender neutral territory, I still read as male when I use a tight sports bra and loose clothes.
I also know quite a few transgender people who are non-transsexuals and express themselves as they wish without letting society pressure them. Funny enough, most of those I know are people assigned female at birth. Julie Bindel have said she identifies as transgender in such a way too. Although most of these transgender women are not hostile at all to transsexuals, some are because just being masculine women works for them. Therefore, it seems, it should work for everyone. It is the good old “People are only as tolerant as they need to be to accept themselves.”
The masculine-conformity point is also reflected in the “trans women are just really really gay” argument. As gay people have sort of a “get out of jail” free card to femininity. At least to some extent. This argument of course completely ignore the fact that quite a large proportion of trans women are not interested in men. Myself included.
All these points support the fact that transsexualism has little or nothing to do with sexuality or genitals in general. The radfem arguments are pretty much contradicted by the majority of experiences trans people have. This leads me to conclude their views are dogmatic in nature and not based in reality at all.
This is the transphobic radfem logic.
Obviously, I do not agree with this. But saying that radfems are transphobic because they’ve bought the transphobic line from society is overly simplistic (it has been pointed out by trans-friendly radfems how very interesting it is that their rhetoric lines up with bigotry). Of course, many of the transphobic radfems also deny that there is such a thing as transphobia. Some trot out the “but phobia means “fear,” and I’m not afraid!” line, but most argue that transphobia is not a thing, because it is really just misogyny/homophobia/shaming of the noncompliant.
We’re getting at a chicken and the egg type argument here. The logic may not be transphobic in itself as it hinges on a very idealised and reductionistic gender theory. But the point is that this argumentation is used to back up actual transphobic actions and speech. Which came first, I don’t know.
I do agree that transphobia in society is to a large degree misogyny as it affects trans women in a very different way that trans men (not to say trans men have it easy either). And the hatred towards trans women that many straight cis men express, which is also often the cause of murders, is deeply homophobic in nature.
I dunno. I’m excited, goldurnit. And ya’ll know I was having questions killing off Eans, so I’m not spoiling anything more than you already know. There’s still a whole lot in the story you don’t know about, and the conflict and resolution in the end of the book has yet to even be determined.
Tony the Parkour Kat [safe and welcome at FtB]says
Therefor, the Dark Knight shooter couldn’t be cowardly. Nope.
Pteryxxsays
Katherine: IMHO, as long as talking it out here doesn’t interfere with your actual writing drive, TET’s such a small audience that I don’t think spoiling it *for a potential readership* counts. If some folks don’t want *their own experience* spoiled, again IMHO, that’d only call for rot-13ing so you can still seek feedback.
Caveat: talking about it in great detail, or posting excerpts, could interfere with future publication contracts as this is a publicly readable site.
TET’s such a small audience that I don’t think spoiling it *for a potential readership* counts.
Actually, Pteryxx, I was talking about spoiling the book for those of us on TET. I have no doubt that most of us would be interested in purchasing and reading Kat Lorraine’s book,* however, there isn’t much incentive if you know the whole plot.
*Perhaps I should speak for myself here. I’d be interested in purchasing and reading Kat’s book, however, I’d rather not know so much about it ahead of time.
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
Didn’t we once have a HUGE thread on if killers like this were cowards?
I vaguely remember going back and forth with someone over this for a while.
Waltonsays
The news from mouthb about Graduate school makes me wonder whether my Undergrad education I am going through is worth it. Because my plan is to get a PhD. And I am putting my parents in sever financial strain because of it, especially since they are charging me out of state due to our undeserved undocumented status. I hate the Republicans so much for doing this to all of us college students.
That’s really shitty. Especially that you were denied in-state tuition. It continues to make me incredibly angry that we live in a world where people are openly discriminated against, deprived of civil rights, and even detained and deported, just because they were born on one side of a national border rather than another.
(Just one of the many reasons why comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is needed now. Unfortunately, thanks to asshole racist activists like Kris Kobach and FAIR, it’s not going to happen any time soon.)
I hope I will still be hanging around when Katherine’s book gets published so that I know to order it.
That’s why I haven’t read the spoilers. If I read them, I will not know the whole plot but will create scenarios in my head. That way, when I actually read the book, I’m risking not liking it because it doesn’t conform to the ideas I got while reading the spoilers.
And I’d e-mail the Poopyhead and ask him to delete or rot13 my post but can’t remember my Gmail password so it’s gonna be there until I have an opportunity to take a quick break and get my cell phone out.
Beatricesays
Oh, and I don’t really mind that parts of the plot are being posted. I simply skip those.
Reading that post about Hillsong. I was a member there once :)
Hi Jadzia! I’m a tiny bit, er, tired right now and must retire. Feel free to send me a mail throught the blog, I’d be interested in your experiences with them. Cheers.
FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker)says
I for one am glad to know that Katherine is willing to kill off a main(?) character. One of the things I hate about fiction, especially fantasy, is how the heroes are by and large invincible. In life everyone is vulnerable, everyone is mortal, and that fragility of existence is one of the things that makes love meaningful. I want to love the characters in the stories I read as fully as I possibly can for fictitious beings and that means a willingness to creating real vulnerability for characters is something I cherish in a writer.
Tony, I’ve got a few personal safety issues that make it so I can’t sleep unless the doors and windows are locked. I lived in dodgy neigbourhoods for years, to the point that when the medivac helicopter was circling the paddock next door looking for a landing spot my first impulse was to run around and lock down the house. The only times I’d seen helicopters with searchlights prior they were always searching for someone who had done something pretty heinous. It’s taken me a couple of years to get used to leaving my bike unlocked and I still marvel that nothing has happened.
Hi Jadzia! I’m a tiny bit, er, tired right now and must retire. Feel free to send me a mail throught the blog, I’d be interested in your experiences with them. Cheers.
Sure, I’ll see if I have the time over the weekend.
I sort of want to write a blogpost about that church as I experienced it. It is 10 years ago now and I haven’t been in contact with anyone from that time since 7-10 years ago.
I knew most, if not all, of the staff at the city branch of the church. They were mostly well meaning though misguided people. But even then I was suspicious of, and uncomfortable with, most of the senior staff.
I was also there when John Howard opened the then new building.
Antiochus Epiphanessays
Anyone know if there’s any truth to this claim that vodka kills insects (presumably mosquitos)?
Yeah, but you don’t want to go that route. They become incredibly maudlin first.
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
Jadzia:
For what it is worth, I agree with everything you wrote. I find the transphobic radfem argument ridiculous, and based on views of sex and gender that are way over simplistic.
I also think that the transphobes started with their bigotry and then moved backwards to find a justification, rather than coming to their bigotry honestly.
I do think that misogyny and homophobia play a big role in transphobia, of course, in all the examples you cited – they are all closely connected (homophobia is largely rooted in misogyny, for example). But it is also its own thing, and many of the transphobe radfems do not acknowledge this.
Beatricesays
Caine’s site isn’t under maintenance any more and I can see the ratlets. Eeeee!
I don’t want you to do that, Kat! I’m just thinking of your future sales. I mean, you would like to get a bit of pocket money out of this, right? :D
I agree with FossilFishy that it’s cool you’re willing to kill a main character, however, it’s not so great that I now know exactly which character, by name, that will be. See?
Pteryxxsays
Again IMHO, I think having detailed plot critique and feedback can be extremely valuable; also my memory’s so bad that spoilers mostly don’t bother me, heh. Please, keep the spoilers (and enthusiasm) coming; just rot13 ’em first!
Waltonsays
Personally, I can enjoy reading a novel even if I already know how the plot goes. When I really like a book, I usually re-read it often, and my enjoyment isn’t particularly diminished by the fact that I’ve read it before. But I know I’m unusual in that regard.
I’m really looking forward to Katherine’s book! Especially as it features monarchies.
I just spent 2 hour and 45 minutes taking a 75 minute records security course because, in order to make sure that the online training course worked properly, I had to disable half of the internet security protocols in IE. Additionally, it took me 15 minutes just to log into the site as, since I have a common first name/last name combination, and my login is that combination (apparently I was the first with my fn/ln combo to set up an account?), someone with the same name resets my password about 25 times a year. I get the email notifications, contact IT, and have just given up on ever actually having a password that hangs around. Plus, because of wiring and fibre-optic work here at the park, things kept hanging up and it takes five minutes to actually get from the login screen to the course each time it hangs up. Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
=========
TRIGGER WARNING
For the past week, I have been having nightmares and (small scale) panic attacks. I know that something is trying to move from stored to active in my internal memory (and I know that is not how it works, but that’s how it feels). Cameras. That’s what keeps coming into my mind — 35mm single lense reflex film camera. I know who’s holding the camera — my cub scout leader. I am so fucking scared of what the camera is pointing at but it is pointing at me. And I don’t know why, nor do I want to know why.
For the past year or two, these memories keep surfacing in nightmares and, well, I guess I have to call it flashbacks and feelings of pain. And every time one of these memories comes into my active memory there I things I never dreamed of. And I keep hoping that this one will be the last and it never is.
/TRIGGER WARNING
It is cool and rainy here today. We may not hit 70F. And it is raining — not a gully warsher, but real soaking rain. The grass already looks a healthier shade of tan.
thunk, safe behind a toasty heat shieldsays
Ibyea:
Oh ouch. Stupid phobias of undocumented migrants.
I wish I could help. *hugs etc*.
Mouthyb:
I’d live in a Horde commune.
Anytime! Especially given my blinkered family.
thunk, safe behind a toasty heat shieldsays
Pteryxx, caine:
Spoilers don’t bother me at all, even though I’ve a really good memory.
For what it is worth, I agree with everything you wrote. I find the transphobic radfem argument ridiculous, and based on views of sex and gender that are way over simplistic.
I also think that the transphobes started with their bigotry and then moved backwards to find a justification, rather than coming to their bigotry honestly.
I don’t know enough of the history of radical feminism to know the origin of the transphobia of some. But I have been wondering about this. It is usually how any form of bigotry is defended and I don’t for a second believe they somehow were surprised to find that their views were compatible with a transphobic view.
I do think that misogyny and homophobia play a big role in transphobia, of course, in all the examples you cited – they are all closely connected (homophobia is largely rooted in misogyny, for example). But it is also its own thing, and many of the transphobe radfems do not acknowledge this.
As a physicist I could explain it easier this way:
And yes, transphobia is its own thing too. Examples are enforced conformity to gender binary.
Pteryxxsays
*offers hugs to Ogvorbis*
Any chance you could see a counselor about this? I fear it’ll keep getting worse before it gets better.
Ogvorbis: Dogmaticus sycophantussays
Pteryxx:
I have seen a counselor in the past to deal with the idiocy from September, 2001, and that has helped a lot in dealing with the panic attacks. And I do think about seeing a counselor or psychiatrist to deal with this but I keep telling myself the worst is over, it can’t get worse. Maybe I’ll be right this time?
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
Bleh.
At work. Got to work on time. Now staring blearily around.
My intention is to get the absolute necessities done, then go home. Because sleep, and I am no good to anyone half-asleep. Seriously, keep me away from the scalpels and the dangerous stuff!
I would totally live in Horde commune. We would have to have a pet area, of course. Though I suppose that Daisy’s dog, the ratties, my cat, and all the others could learn to live in harmony.
Pteryxxsays
Ogvorbis: …I dunno, IIRC this is the third time you’ve mentioned this looming memory in TET. I think that shows it isn’t going away until dealt with, one way or another. Denial just doesn’t seem to work that way, I’m sorry.
Beatricesays
*careful hug* for Ogvorbis
Pteryxxsays
I would totally live in Horde commune. We would have to have a pet area, of course. Though I suppose that Daisy’s dog, the ratties, my cat, and all the others could learn to live in harmony.
Maybe if it’s a warehouse, such as mouthyb recommended, it could get divided up into flexible spaces as big or small as various pet owners need or want. Besides, some people have more stuff, and some need more private space or just privaCY than others. I for one *like* working in shared kitchen and workshop space, making extra food, sharing tools and such. Extroverts around the middle, perhaps?
(…maybe I’ve been playing too much Minecraft recently…)
carliesays
Og – a counselor could help it get over with more quickly, and possibly give you some coping strategies you haven’t already come across. And lancing it that way might keep it from popping out when you least expect it. *hugs*
Anyone know if there’s any truth to this claim that vodka kills insects (presumably mosquitos)?
Hm, how much vodka do you have to drink for it to affect the mosquitos biting you? ;)
Beatricesays
If you ever start that Horde commune, I would like to apply.
Then I’ll just have to do a little editing and change the name of the character so there.
That works. :D
Sili (I have no penis and I must jizz)says
The ovens that move air around are here called convection ovens, and only the most expensive ovens have that option.
*boggle*
I haven’t looked, but I doubt it’s possible to get one without convection here. They’re generally considered more energy efficient as well.
Ogvorbis: Dogmaticus sycophantussays
IIRC this is the third time you’ve mentioned this looming memory in TET
Sorry.
Matt Penfoldsays
I haven’t looked, but I doubt it’s possible to get one without convection here. They’re generally considered more energy efficient as well.
They are only more energy efficient in that sometimes you do not need to pre-heat the oven, which is only the case when the cooking time is longer than 15-20 minutes.
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
Sili:
more energy efficient as well.
This is America. We don’t need to steeenkin efficiency! It is all a New World Order conspiracy, anyway. The UN is going to come and confiscate your children if you tell them about Jesus.
^^ Not far from beliefs that some people actually have, BTW.
Beatricesays
IIRC this is the third time you’ve mentioned this looming memory in TET
Sorry.
I very much doubt that was a complaint. Don’t apologize, please.
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
Oggie: *hugs* if you want them. Please, do not apologize.
Pteryxxsays
Gah… sorry Ogvorbis, I didn’t mean that as a criticism, just an observation on how seriously it’s weighing on you. Three instances is a heuristic I use on myself to catch my own avoidance of PTSD-related issues. I’m sorry for being so insensitive to you… please, keep talking, and consider getting some help?
David Marjanovićsays
The brackets indicate an elision
In science writing, for a very wide definition of science, they indicate an insertion, except that […] indicates an elision.
Did you ever see the dino’s I posted for you?
No. :-(
David – cooking spray is fat in an aerosol form. That gives you a quick, even cover across the whole pan using very minimal amounts of fat.
Ah. Sounds like a good idea.
The ovens that move air around are here called convection ovens,
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
and only the most expensive ovens have that option.
Interesting. Over here, only the oldest ovens lack it.
[That said, I know of one trans woman who still had a proto-uterus (from the foetus stage I assume) that started growing when she started hormones. It was discovered because she started menstruating internally where there was no opening to expel it.]
How was that discovered? From the pain? :-S
Og – a counselor could help it get over with more quickly, and possibly give you some coping strategies you haven’t already come across. And lancing it that way might keep it from popping out when you least expect it. *hugs*
Seconded.
David Marjanovićsays
They are only more energy efficient in that sometimes you do not need to pre-heat the oven, which is only the case when the cooking time is longer than 15-20 minutes.
I’m told you actually never need to preheat an oven; that just makes it possible to put exact cooking times into recipes.
And what takes less than 15 minutes in an oven?
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
*hugs to Og, if he wants them* Ogvorbis, you don’t need to apologize for talking to us about stuff.
—
*reading Monstrous thread*
*hugs to ixchel too, if he wants them* Looks like it’s getting pretty frustrating for you in there. Not showing signs of getting a whole lot better anytime soon. I’ll join you in a bit, but it’s my brother’s turn on the computer :(
—
*in fact, just here are hugs for everybody*
Esteleth, Who Knows How to Use Googlesays
[That said, I know of one trans woman who still had a proto-uterus (from the foetus stage I assume) that started growing when she started hormones. It was discovered because she started menstruating internally where there was no opening to expel it.]
I actually know an intersexed person who this happened to. At birth, the docs examined zir, decided that the penis was “adequate,” created a cosmetic scrotum, and sewed the vagina shut. Didn’t check the internals – zie has a complete and fully functional uterus and ovaries. Thirteen years later, zie started menstruating, but had no exit. Cue monthly agonizing pain and sickness, when zir body tried to re adsorb all that tissue.
Of course, zie is now, as a result of all this (and the near-constant infections) is too unhealthy to be a good candidate for surgery to re-open the vagina. Apparently there is a huge chance of zie dying on the operating table.
Matt Penfoldsays
The ovens that move air around are here called convection ovens,
In the UK they are called fan ovens. In fact term convection oven is often used to refer to conventional, non microwave, ovens that do not have have fans. Makes more sense, as without a fan convection will be how heat is distributed around the oven cavity whereas with a fan convection is not so important.
Sili (I have no penis and I must jizz)says
And what takes less than 15 minutes in an oven?
Biscuits!
(Probably the only thing I actually use preheating for.)
Matt Penfoldsays
I’m told you actually never need to preheat an oven; that just makes it possible to put exact cooking times into recipes.
And what takes less than 15 minutes in an oven?
Biscuits quite often need less than 15 minutes, pizza likewise.
And pre-heating can be important. Roast potatoes just soak up oil and become horrible is the temp is high from the start, and Yorkshire puddings will fail to raise unless they are hit with a high temp from the start.
{Friendly suggestion: get yourself your own blog)
I will. I won’t compete with anyone, though. There’s really more than enough stuff to blog about for everyone
Yes please David pretty please!
ixchel, the jaguar goddess of midwifery and war ॐsays
Cipher, you may be interpreting my extreme ratio of fucks as an indicator of greater stress than others. In this case, it’s a mostly calmly calculated response to indicate the gravity of the topic; I simply don’t believe I could be understood properly without all these fucks.
I am indeed stressed enough that I’m getting a headache. Thanks! for noticing. But if we could share some of my *hugs* with Caine and others, honestly I don’t need all of them.
Also, hello, Dhorvath. Glad to see you back and doing well.
Ing:
Ok am I wrong or does it really look like the Republicans were insisting that they get to impoverish people one way or another?
Nope. That’s been their goal all along. They just had to stiffle stifle it for decades after the Great Depression and the subsequent labor movement victories. Now that they’ve got the whip hand, they feel no need to any longer.
FossilFishy: See above, and see Ing’s comment. They do not care that they harm people, because they people they harm are “the undeserving.”
Josh, ’tis the season. At least yours don’t seem to still be shedding.
Aside from what Caine says about cats and rats, cats and rabbits can get along quite nicely, if owning a lagomorph were of interest to you.
Ibyea, have you considered emigrating to a country with better prospects for academics?
JAL, holy shit, I’m so sorry.
Setár, I have to be honest with you: The Giffords remark was really over the top, and I don’t see how liberal fence-sitting had any direct effect on Jared Loughner.
I do agree with your overall points, however. I’ve replied to Martha (and others) here.
Tony, kudos to D. at your workplace.
That quote from BVganfematheist…
I have always wanted to have an attitude of ‘each to their own’ about religion. But my ‘each to their own’ always has a caveat of ‘providing it doesn’t hurt anybody else’. Well, this stuff fails the test.
is interesting, considering that I’m currently reading this book, on loan from Josh. Dacey strongly argues that, by relegating questions of morality to the private sphere, liberals have ceded public influence.
What David/John/Tigtog said re the Guardian article. My specific guess is that Dixon originally used “the” instead of “an,” but the reporter used “an” to introduce the existence of the Examiner article into the Guardian article.
David, the rules about using brackets and ellipses to indicate omitted or corrected text likely vary from style guide to style guide. I’ve done copy editing; without referring to a specific guide, I will offer my opinion that brackets suffice for minor elisions and corrections, but you need ellipses if you’re omitting whole sentences or more.
Esteleth, I have a cat, not a dog. :P Also, OMFG at your #237. DDDDD: Zie would have major grounds for a lawsuit. The stress might be worthwhile if zie needs the help paying for medical bills.
Ogvorbis, why the hell are you apologizing?! Christ. Please don’t.
Cipher, OM, Fighting Fucktoysays
Caine, I certainly didn’t mean to imply that he was! That’s why I did the in fact hugs all around thing. But yeah, I probably should have been clearer about that. I know you and probably others in there were finding it really stressful too. I’m sorry. I’ll jump in as soon as I’m caught up.
In theory, sure. In practice, not so much. Your best bet will always be butter, margerine, or vegetable shortening (or lard, if you’re feeling sassy).
Re: preheating:
For roasts, the times are all estimates, anyway. But when it comes to baking (especially cookies, muffins, or anything done in batches), you always want to bring your oven up to temp first.
[That said, I know of one trans woman who still had a proto-uterus (from the foetus stage I assume) that started growing when she started hormones. It was discovered because she started menstruating internally where there was no opening to expel it.]
I actually know an intersexed person who this happened to. At birth, the docs examined zir, decided that the penis was “adequate,” created a cosmetic scrotum, and sewed the vagina shut. Didn’t check the internals – zie has a complete and fully functional uterus and ovaries. Thirteen years later, zie started menstruating, but had no exit. Cue monthly agonizing pain and sickness, when zir body tried to re adsorb all that tissue.
Of course, zie is now, as a result of all this (and the near-constant infections) is too unhealthy to be a good candidate for surgery to re-open the vagina. Apparently there is a huge chance of zie dying on the operating table.
That’s just horrible. The treatment visibly intersex people have had to endure in the name of the sacred binary just makes me angry. Cosmetic surgery for this purpose on babies is child abuse. Nothing less.
The woman in my example wasn’t visibly intersex, but got diagnosed when this problem was discovered.
Setár wrote:
Sadly, I doubt there are too many threads in the atheist blogosphere that that shouldn’t be applied to at the moment. The assholes have had their privilege threatened and they’re out in force.
@ixchel
That’s not necessarily a universal approach. I lurked for a long time before I started commenting, and it comes down to individual style. Some Pharyngula commentors will give newbies or clueless/ignorant commentors a chance to prove that they’re willing to converse in good faith, and will reciprocate. Only when those commentors reveal themselves as trolls or unwilling to be intellectually honest will they give up and resort to insults (usually still accompanied by evidence). Others come down hard immediately. Others go back and forth between the two approaches.
Actually, no. Not entirely.
I’m going to stick a trigger warning here, because of the bigotry.
A substantial part of the transphobia in radfems is because of their views of sex and gender.
That is, that gender is entirely societal, and that it thus doesn’t “really” exist. That in Feminist Victory Utopia Land, there would be no such thing as masculinity and femininity, only people who happen to have penises and people who happen to have vulvae. So if you have a mind/body disconnect, then this is purely because you don’t agree with what society says about men and women, and if society said something else that you did agree with, your mind/body disconnect issues would evaporate.
Also, sex (defined by chromosomes/genitals) is thus immutable. Also, since SRS cannot make functional organs, it is best understood as a purely cosmetic thing of no inherent value (and cosmetic surgery – carefully distinguished from reconstructive surgery – is highly suspect because of the pressure to make someone “patriarchy compliant”). So it is not actually sex reassignment surgery, it is a mutilation and an attempt to make a mocking facsimile of something it is not and can never be.
So since (1) gender comes society and not from the person and (2) sex is an immutable fact, then transition, inherently, is impossible.
So if you have an XX karyotype and a vulva, then you are a woman, full stop, forever and ever amen. And if you say that you are really a man, then that means that you have internalized the societal messages about what masculinity and manliness are and (1) want the perks of being a man and (2) are so damaged by the patriarchal shaming of your own body that you have rejected it.
This is the transphobic radfem logic.
Obviously, I do not agree with this. But saying that radfems are transphobic because they’ve bought the transphobic line from society is overly simplistic (it has been pointed out by trans-friendly radfems how very interesting it is that their rhetoric lines up with bigotry). Of course, many of the transphobic radfems also deny that there is such a thing as transphobia. Some trot out the “but phobia means “fear,” and I’m not afraid!” line, but most argue that transphobia is not a thing, because it is really just misogyny/homophobia/shaming of the noncompliant.
I also want to mention the Redhead took the phone call about the health insurance and it caused her BP to skyrocket. Definitely not good. Now to fix dinner, which is planovers.
No, that doesn’t follow. It’s sending a message out over the loud speaker and not being concerned with who hears it since it’s a general broadcast.
Okay, ratlets 2 slideshow, including Rubin’s crew. Oh, Esme’s crew is so freakin’ active now, it’s not possible to manage them myself outside the condo. I need one of those little corral deals. They discovered pistachios today and are captivated by them.
@Caine
Never underestimate the fascinating qualities of pistachios!
Have you read The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins? It’s a YA fantasy series that has quite a few rat characters. You might enjoy it. The first one is called Gregor the Overlander.
If it’s sending out a message and not caring who hears it,
then it’s not outreach to men qua men.
And you won’t be able to come up with a rational reading of the original comment that suggests feminism should not be talked about in places where men could overhear.
@Ixchel
I think that original comment and meaning was well explained by its author in follow up.
Mythbri, no I haven’t, I’ve put it on my booklist. Thanks! I haven’t had a rat yet that doesn’t love pistachios. One of these days, I must buy pistachio ice cream for them and blow their little minds out of the water. :D
Fair point, but it is an accepted approach here.
@Caine
Here’s another interesting thing about pistachios, although your rats will probably find it less so.
http://io9.com/5733837/when-pistachio-nuts-explode
Ing,
Yeah, so do I.
And I think your response was outrageous.
If a black activist said “I do not exclude white people from antiracism. I just see no need to work with THEM on their issues”, would you respond by calling them a bigot?
I really like raisins, but mildly dislike sultanas. In US-speak I think that’s yes to the big dark ones, no to the small golden ones. Also, dark raisins plus hazelnuts plus dark choc-chips in cookies FTW.
If your cookies burn on the bottom, you may just be leaving them in too long, or your oven might be too hot or badly uneven. You can test this with an oven thermometer. Also, never put them on a bottom shelf right above the heating element: the radiant heat will be higher than the general oven heat. A pizza stone simply helps to even out the temperature.
I wish we could ditch “femininity” and maybe use “femme” for the appearance stuff. Femininity carries soooo much more baggage than just the shiny. It’s not some neutral thing that fell out of the sky: it’s socially constructed as a lesser role. It includes a shitload of deference and submission behaviours, as well as at least an appearance of inferiority (giggle giggle math is hard). If you’re an assertive woman, and kick-arse good at some non-pink-collar job/study, then you’re not socially feminine. No matter how many pink sparkly things you wear, you’re still an uppity bitch who needs to be put in her place.
High fives to Alethea.
—
Experimenting with reorganizing the links roundup at the moment.
Esteleth, that’s an interesting point. It concerns some issues I haven’t been able to process to my satisfaction yet, so I can’t respond sensibly except by saying: thanks.
Mythbri:
Whoa, I had no idea. Certainly gives them an edge.
Gah. Now “privilege” started looking like a nonsense word, so I have to stop for a bit.
Ok you’re right. I didn’t understand.
Setár:
Yours too, huh? I’ve found my SSRI to be very helpful in cutting down on that, but of course IANAD and I’m not recommending anything at all.
Gaslighting is definitely abuse, and its effect is much worse in one’s formative years.
Your LIBOR link is borked, btw.
Josh:
Ew. Leviticus was right: Shrimp is evil.
Sympathies to Nerd on the medical bills and JAL on the bedbugs.
Esteleth:
Yes. This.
Caine:
/ded of teh cute
Also, the third pic reminds me of this macro. ;D
WMDKitty is really. fucking. stupid. See this thread for confirmation. (Penile circumcision discussion, in case people are burnt out on that one.)
How the hell did she conclude that I don’t believe ANY sort of invasive surgery for children is ever appropriate? I wish I could pay her the compliment of calling her disingenuous, but I can’t.
On the road.
Also threadrupt.
I’ve been trying to write quizbowl, but I just can’t get myself to do so. FFFuuuuuu…
Also that resume.
Daisy Cutter:
Yes, WMDKitty is completely wrong.
Apparently what is done to young boys’ bodies is completely about her sexual satisfaction, in that twisty logic.
WMDKitty is engaged in insane troll logic.
So a Mississippian friend just informed me of the existence of “comeback sauce.”
The Pfft! of all Knowledge says that it is sometimes spelled “cumback sauce.”
That’s…. completely unappetizing. (Also, it is probably a porn movie title.)
er…sorry SGBM poor use of terms.
She’s being irrational.
She’s being self-centered and, unless her reading comprehension is really poor (which is entirely possible), she’s lying through her teeth.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Coolest thing happened today. So I drive a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere (summer car). It’s in gorgeous shape, navy blue, 50,000 miles. Pulled into the auto parts store cuz I had an exhaust leak. Needed a gasket for the muffler/manifold connection. Nice old dude behind the counter did a double-take when he saw Francine and said “Where did you buy that?” I told him it was a local car. He came out to the car and we took out the original owner’s card from beneath the hood (credit-card sized punched-metal card with the buyer’s name, the dealership, the VIN, and the warranty number on it).
“Goddamn. . .I thought that was it. That’s my father-in-law’s car!”
This dude remembers riding in the car when it was brand new off the Chrysler lot. Said his FIL used to keep it garaged, plastic covers on the seat, and raced it up over 120 mph (in its highest gear. . third?!?). He was so taken aback I thought he was going to cry. Got on the phone to his wife to tell her I had her dad’s car and was taking good care of it. Made me promise to call him first if I ever sold Francine because he’d like to give her to his wife.
It was the sweetest most awesome thing.
Sarcasm?
I keep making these broken sentences. I think my brain is overheated.
Josh,
Dude, that’s the best welcome back I could imagine. A tear rolls now.
Josh: Aww. That’s so sweet.
Heya Dhorvath! How you doing?
Josh:
Awesome!
No.
Of course I wish you’d gone for irrational in the first place, but I appreciate that you reconsidered right afterward. I know it’s a process of rehabituation.
Setár @483. Fuck, that shit is absolutely beyond the pale. It speaks to a lack of awareness and basic human decency in your mother that’s positively scary. Internet hugs if you want them.
Alethea: Sorry for the late reply. I ran headlong into pre-schooler wrangling, followed by desperate, thumb on the ffw button, Tour de France catching up, followed by sleep so sound that I missed the bed wetting incident entirely.
Anyway, my wife and I own the pushy store in M yrtleford and we have a house in O vens. If you’re ever this way again feel free to drop in, and that goes for any of the Horde who find themselves in alpine Victoria.
Ms. Daisy Cutter and carlie, thanks. I do have a dusty and neglected blog but, well, I think I should make something clear here.
I write these things because I enjoy doing so, and I post them here because it’s the only way I can think of to give something back to this community. I’ve learned so much from PZ and the Hoard, things that have made me a demonstratively better person for which I’m extremely grateful. This place is also filling a need for intellectual stimulation that I can’t seem to find in my current meat-space life, and I’m also very grateful for that.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time, energy and/or education to be one of the heavy lifters in the threads that need such effort the most. Hell, I barely have the time to hold a conversation in TET on a topic that takes me no time to think about. But what I can do apparently, is write things that move at least some of the readers here. Such writing suits my situation because it doesn’t need to be timely. I can write a few sentences and go back to turning wrenches or what-have-you and mull over what to say next.
And in all fairness I’ll admit that I’ve enough of an ego to enjoy it when people like what I’ve written and that motivates me too.
Anyway, I hope I’m not being too obnoxious about it. The style I write in can make it seem all about me, me, ME, which is a hazard of being a one-trick pony kinda writer. If I was really good at it I could invoke the emotions I’m looking for without having to drag out stories from my own life. The personal details I put in are intended to facilitate a mood or emotion in service of a greater point and sometimes that fails very badly indeed, as when I tried to express sympathy for Katherine and ended up provoking internet hugs for me instead.
And so you can visualize Francine looks almost exactly like this, except her hubcaps are a little more staid (though just as chrome-y).
It may come as small surprise, but I am not the person I was this winter. Things are great, I have a space that people seek me out in for my professional opinion and service and it is sweet. Leaves me less time to hang around here, but it’s invigorating. What’s new by you?
Josh, it’s a small world after all. That’s happened to the Redhead and me a few times over the years. Always interesting.
Not the person you were this winter? Well, that’s cryptic, but I hope it’s all for the good. Congratulations on professional success; it’s awfully nice to find, isn’t it?
Same old shit with me, but life is pretty good.
Aaaw, so sweet, Josh!
Does the controversy over harassment policies have a name? I think DJ Grothe and TAM2012 get their own section, but the things after Elevatorgate and before that I don’t know what to call them.
How IS the redhead, Nerd? Details!
If anyone was wondering, when canning Dilly Beans, if the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons divided among 6 pint jars, and you can’t do basic math and use 1 teaspoon per jar, the HOT will overwhelm the dill.
Josh,
Not intending to be cryptic, just that big changes come from switching out of the self employed and back to the boss and a paycheck lifestyle. It’s working well in any event.
Speaking of big changes, my chest has been better, although not perfect. Can I ask how your condition is treating you?
That should have said 3 tablespoons of powdered cayenne pepper. I even previewed.
It’s a trope so I rattled off the title without realizing it.
Dhorvath—ah, thanks for clarification. That is a big change for sure. Glad to know your chest is better too. Fingers crossed that’s a permanent improvement!
Heart disease seems to be doing a whole lot of nothing to me at the moment, which is awesome. “Pray” it stays that way. Still having the ridonkulous panic attacks occasionally whenever I feel a muscle twinge, but they’re manageable. Worst thing I can complain about is getting my new bike stolen. . . that was my cunning plan to keep weight off and get my work-out in on the commute so I didn’t have to go to the gym. Ah well, I’ll get another in a few weeks.
Honestly, it’s first world problems.
Indeed, but I do have a soft spot for stolen bicycles.
ImaginesABeach: Yum! I routinely double and more the suggested hot spices. Such is the price of youthful overindulgence in spicy foods.
Beatles song in Scots Gaelic.
Julie Fowlis has a lovely voice.
What the hell is drip-drip-dripping in my kitchen that I can’t find the source of? This is going to drive me mad.
Cipher, I was thinking about this a few days ago and I think our coverage should be broader — I became aware of an earlier phase of the debate back in 2009* when it wasn’t about harassment policies per se but about the very idea of doing “stuff” to make science and atheism conferences both more welcoming to women/POC (any kind of stuff at all, you know, would be totes misandry, reverse racism, etc).
Maybe “diversity at events”?
*IIRC, the megathread “Baby Bear’s lament” touched on this.
Josh: Often times bicycle theft is the result of folks with substance abuse problems, or at least in my city that was the case. I know of a couple of instances where the stolen bike was recovered fairly cheaply. All it took was knowing someone with ties to that community. They put the word out that a bike of such and such type was being looked for and arranged for it to be purchased back, no questions asked. It’s an effective strategy in part because cheaper bikes sometimes never end up in a pawn shop or the like where they can be recovered. They end up circulating in the community as a form of currency until they get so trashed as to be valueless.
I suggest Douchegate
I think you’re right, ixchel. I’m having trouble wrestling things into formats that make sense right now, but that’s a good goal. I just created an article for Misogyny Wars, which wouldn’t really be sufficiently broad to include that, but we can always merge it into a better one.
lol, douchegate
Flew on the company’s private plane last two days for a biz trip.
Not having to deal with security and terminals and lines and a number of other things…
I need to travel like this all the time.
Cipher wrote:
How about: “the conference policy clusterfuck”?
Fossil Fishy–
I suspect it’s exactly that—folks with drug abuse problems—that got my bike stolen. I live in a marginal neighborhood with some very down and out people on the next block. Pretty desperate, most of them. I’m never gonna see that bike again.
Also I was thinking let’s not link directly to Thunderfoot’s posts from the wiki, because fuck him, he might still get paid for those hits for all I know; we can link to his critics, who in turn link to him so the whole story is nevertheless available to those who care.
Fossilfishy,
It seems we get a different report. The thefts I hear about are targeted by model and specs, not opportunity. Still, nice to hear that some people can get bikes back while other people can get some resources in your neck of the woods.
FUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
The new student loan deal just caused me to lose my funding.
Fuck you, Republicans. Grad students do almost half the instruction at colleges and a good section of the administrative work.
FUCK THE FUCKING FUCK OUT OF YOU, REPUBLICANS.
Ugh. That’s terrible news, mouthyb. I’m so sorry to hear that.
Controversy about relevance/weighting/implementation of egalitarian humanistic values
(i.e., anti-misogyny, anti-bigotry, pro-feminism, pro-minority-inclusion)
[Too many words, I guess.]
Controversy over implicit support of patriarchy (kyriarchy?) and explicit opposition to patriarchy
[Still too many words.]
Controversy over pros and cons of not being assholes
[Maybe too few words.]
Ixchel:
I think Event Diversity would be the way to go on that front.
However, that doesn’t cover the specific problems of harassment policy nor more awareness of sexism being issues which are very necessary to address. I’m beyond tired of the -gate suffix, but if one wanted to go that way, safetygate?
I think on that particular front, I’d rather go with something which addresses the actual chill* and effect it has on women in regard to conferences, organizations, etc.
*Now I’m thinking of an ancient TV show which I loved as a sprog – Chiller Theatre. That might not be a bad name for the whole mess, actually. :D
Mouthyb:
Oh hell. That’s absolute shit. I’m so sorry.
mouthyb, just what happened legislatively?
fwiw, I’ve *called* this mess ‘Harassmentgate’ a few times. <_< er, sorry about that.
mouthyb:
Oh, c’mon. They’re just doing their jobs, fucking over everyone that isn’t rich enough to fund republicans.
Seriously though, that sucks. My heart (what is left of it) goes out to you.
Mouthyb,
That’s shitty.
oh shit, mouthyb. Are you completely cut loose now?
I think the key issue goes beyond that. It’s not just diversity at events or inclusiveness. We are failing at a fundamental level to get people to understand how to be a decent person and why its important.
Fuck diversity, TAM and everything is showing that these subcultures are having an issue with decency.
mouthyb: That sucks, big time. I’ve been there (and I am there, for the forseeable future). I hope you can make arrangements to finish your degree and maintain a decent standard of living.
And, in solidarity: Fuck the Conservative government and their cuts to NSERC and SSHRC funding.
Oh no, mouthyb. I’m so sorry. That’s crushing.
It’s part of the compromise the Republicans hammered Congress with when they threatened to double the interest rate. Graduate students are no longer eligible for Stafford loans, which means my department is going to be empty.
Many of us won’t be able to come back. I just got an email telling me that the Fed has withdrawn the loans which pay my tuition.
Fucking bastards, mouthyb. Fucking bastards. I wish I could do more than scream impotently.
WE WILL RUIN THE ECONOMY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER DAMN IT!
…and fuck ‘compromise’.
(for the last half hour, I’ve been staring at Caine’s first ratlet pic and the grippy pink tail. That’s how I cope now.)
Agreed; that’s the scope for http://pharyngula.wikia.com/wiki/category:equality and http://pharyngula.wikia.com/wiki/category:humanism though I think.
At the moment, Cipher’s looking to focus on conferences for one subsection of one page.
I have to stop hyperventilating, and see if my credit union would be willing to give me a stop gap.
I’ve spent the entire summer applying to jobs that I’m not just qualified for, I’m amazingly qualified for, and no one is interested in hiring me. I keep trying to get in at government jobs or jobs on campus which would pay tuition and enough to pay all my bills. No fucking luck.
And now I hyperventilate.
{{{{Mouthyb}}}}
Also as a side note. Am I the only one who finds the overlap between Dawkins fanbois (at times) and the big resistance to the concepts of privilege and patriarchy sadly ironic? I mean, Dawkins was the guy who came up with the idea of memes…yet people fapping off to him seemed to be utterly hostile to the idea
I’m near tears on your behalf, mouthyb. Well, and on mine, since that’s where I’m headed next year. Fuck. *hugs, chocolate, anything that will temporarily help*
Josh, I wrote a reply to your inquiry about the Redhead, but it went to moderation when I tried to post it. I’ll try again in the morning, when my eyelids aren’t at quarter mast.
Ok am I wrong or does it really look like the Republicans were insisting that they get to impoverish people one way or another? Is this just blatant self sabotage for the election?
Thank you everyone.
On a side note: I can’t imagine a better way to fuck up the economy in the long term than preventing people from obtaining the necessary training for white collar and profession jobs. It’s not like you can get up in the morning and just become a fucking scientist.
In a year, Congress gets to review whether or not undergrads should be allowed to get Stafford Loans.
Ing, Dawkins’ feet of clay on privilege questions was one of the most crushing things I had to contend with (for first-world values of “crushing”). I sent him a letter back in 2005 and he responded to me right the next morning, commiserating about the sorry religiosity-soaked state of the US. I was elated as this was a guy whose popular science books gave me the education in the scientific method and evolution (yes, of course, at a dilettante level) that I never got even in university.
I volunteered for RDF at an atheist conference in 2007 and worked for his booth, having a great time. We had lunch with him and pal-ed around with the big names. Was wonderful.
Watching him utterly fail—and encourage hostility toward—on feminism has been disgusting. Seeing his fanbois (and I used to be one) are nothing but a frat pack makes me sick and angry.
Actually Josh, my point was that your bike is quite likely still somewhere in your neighbourhood. IIRC it wasn’t a really fancy model and those are the ones that have enough resale value to have been offloaded somewhere. The person who took it could very well be still riding it around.
I spent a summer doing community outreach for a not-for-profit bicycle society. They paid me to go to the inner-city and set up a mobile repair shop to fix the bikes of the disadvantaged community there. I wrote about it here. What I noticed was that there were two classes of bike thief. Those who did it because that was the only way they could think of to make a living, to support their habits. And those for whom it was a profession. You never see the professionals and no bike of any worth is safe from them because they have the tools and skills to defeat just about any lock.
The others though, I met quite a few of them. I went to great pains to assure them that I did not care where their bike came from. The things they brought me were horrible, big box store, bike shaped objects. The kind of things that many snobby bike stores refuse to work on. They were stolen because they were easy to get, not because of value.
Anyway, I’m digressing. If you can make contact with someone in your area with ties to the substance abuse community it’s very likely you could get your bike back for very little money. Assuming of course that you can convince them that it isn’t some kind of set up.
Sorry about that, Nerd. I know all of us are waiting anxiously to hear about you and the Redhead, so whenever you get a chance. . .:) Do sleep first.
Fossil Fishy-thank you for the insight (really). I don’t think I have the stomach for it though. Not only do I not have any obvious connections to the community who may have a member who stole my bike, but I don’t want to. Not out of snobbery, but because I don’t want to get caught up in an underground economy of theft and intrigue. I don’t need the bullshit. It’s bad enough that I have to call the cops several times a year to stop domestic violence before some poor woman gets her head bashed in. I’m not a social worker and I will not do anything to encourage any more contact between me and folks with those problems. Don’t need it.
I’ll suck it up and buy another bike that I keep under better lock and key.
Ah shit mouthyb, that’s horrible. I wish there was some way to make those in power really see the harm they cause people with those decisions. The disconnect is so great that they can just slash and burn and never have to confront the pain and suffering they cause.
Besides. . .it’s likely that the person who stole my bike has a hell of a lot more need for it (either for transport or resale potential) than I do. Not that I’m willing to just put my shit out unlocked or theft, but yeah, I don’t wanna go trawling through a neighborhood of desperate people looking for a bike I can afford to replace.
@Fossilfishy
Shame on you! You should know by now that the disconnect is a willing one and that they actively don’t care. Do we need to go sit aside and reread Atlas Shrugged again with the reminder that a book that promotes the Rich causing horrific industrial accidents to kill poor people because they deserve it for being moochers is considering a seminal work in Conservative culture?
Fossilfishy,
Thanks for the reminder. I tend to middle or high end clientele, their bikes are not sold in city, but generally parted and shipped away. Recovery is not a common, (hell it’s not rare,) tale.
Good lord did I ever abuse capitalization there. I Apologize
Fair enough Josh.
If you want advice on the best way to secure a bike let me know. I is a professionaly bikey sorta person who’s never had a bike stolen in 20 years of pedal powered commuting. Mind you, the last four years I’ve been living in a small rural town and haven’t locked my bike once the whole time. :)
Heh, I do the same thing. I dearly covet the black ratling with the white nose in Rubin’s litter. It is the ratling on the far right in the last picture with its pink ratty paws up in the air.
I’m still trying to get Cher to tweet me. Lord, this is going to be a year-long project. Good thing I have Fag Endurance™.
Tethys:
We’ve been cooing over those little white nosed babes from day one. :D Of course, I’d be thrilled to place any one of them with someone from the Horde.
Ing! I’m from The Great Pinko North and am living in the Antipodean Union of Socialist Servants of Ignominy. Please forgive my lapse of proper Randoidian programming.
(continuing cuteness derail) Hey Caine, now that they’re popcorns, any luck sexing them all? Esme’s batch, that is?
Caine,
♫ [your rats] ♫
Holy shit, Agnes & Oliver have figured out eating already! And Amelia has figured out tea and is drinking it already. Amazin’.
Pteryxx:
Yep, although we’ll have the vet verify on the 6th, when we take Esme in for spaying. I don’t have them all sexed yet, they are incredibly squirmy units. Lotsa girls. :D Right now, they’ve discovered they can run and that’s pretty much all they want to do right now – run! run! run! up the ladder running! down the ladder running! run! run! run into the wall! boom! run! run! run!
Josh:
Hee. I do wish we lived closer, I’d set you up with a rat condo a couple of ratties. :D
And I’m ready for it. Shit, those little fuckers are so damned cute. I’d force the cats to like them or suffer the consequences.
And once I got a big ol’ mammalian pig-pile I’d call up Audley and aks her to contribute some turtle to the love pile.
Mouthyb has provided several awesome links discussing intersectionality theory, but we lack currently a basic Intersectionality 101 type article. Wikipedia does a decent job with it, as far as I can see, but if anyone has any better suggestions, that would be lovely.
mouthyb and Cipher,
Wow. Great work on the feminism links page over at p-wiki. That’s a fantastic resource now.
Speaking of “love pile,” fuckin’ felids are puking. Again. MUST I deal with this at 1 am? Can’t they just stare out into space and be satisfied?
Like p-zombies, only squiddier
Fuck hyperskepticism. Fuck it in its fucking ear. I am so fucking sick of whiny pissant dudebros insisting that not believing women can find conferences unsafe space is only the reasonable application of ‘skepticism’.
For fuck’s sake: these are not extraordinary claims; ergo, they do not require extraordinary evidence.
If these fucking idiots were as skeptical about everything else in their lives as they’re dishonestly choosing to be about this issue, they’d never leave the house for fear they’d be killed by a rain of fucking cows, since – after all – no-one’s ever done a study that proves you aren’t going to be killed by a rain of cows.
Combine this bullshit attitude with an astonishing predilection for JAQing off and you have what is nearly every comment from the anti-policy crowd on the blogs and Twitter.
Fucking assholes. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Paula Kirby seems to have quite an influence on him, is my impression on seeing the two together a few times, and that’s a matter of concern seeing how she has behaved recently, but apart from that, and despite “Dear Muslima”, I still think that he probably at least in parts gets what we’re saying, and I’m personally not throwing him under the bus (mind you, I think him and Rebecca will never be besties).
But then, it’s 3pm, I just woke up after a week of night work, and I feel like exhumed roadkill.
lol
citation needed
The news from mouthb about Graduate school makes me wonder whether my Undergrad education I am going through is worth it. Because my plan is to get a PhD. And I am putting my parents in sever financial strain because of it, especially since they are charging me out of state due to our undeserved undocumented status. I hate the Republicans so much for doing this to all of us college students.
I’m positive my cats would luuurve the ratlings. That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Pets eating pets is horribly unpleasant.
Yet somehow I find myself mentally planning where to put a rat condo, how to build the doors and ladders, and how to get out to Chez Caine.
I think they’re all adorable. Is the pale color called champagne?
I tried to see what the various colors were at the rat site, but eye color seems to play an important role in making determinations of color for rats.
Nooooo I’m not prepared to deal with the latest edition of People I Love Saying Problematic Shit right now
*throws everything out the window*
{TMI warining. Rambling whining vent}
—
—
—
—
—
Fuck.
Threw out the furniture and cleaned up the floor junk underneath it. That made me feel like shit. Seeing all the dirtiness and crap. It just screamed laziness and incompetence. It’s cleaned up now, walls and baseboards included. The rest of the house is a mess. Don’t have the energy left to clean it up. Now sleeping on the floor and sitting in stupid uncomfortable chair. Still have bed bugs. Still have roaches. Still look like a meth head. Have to go to get Little One’s shot and get her school stuff done. Have to go turn in copies of my documents (birth certificates,SSN cards) to DES for renewing my food stamps for the millionth time even though they have a million copies of it.
I’m going through panic mode, worrying about cleaning and what people will think of me when I’m running errands. I’m scared someone is going to call CPS because of how I look. My scabs, my teeth, our washed in the bath tub clothes doesn’t really show good parent. I’ve been threatened and had issues with CPS before over bullshit. Will have to go through this again? It just keeps repeating. Same errands, same issues, same fucking cycle. Roomie is working now, but I’m still worthless. I’ve been applying for jobs and just realized I’m a fucking moron because I forgot to change my phone number. All those jobs and it was the wrong fucking number to call me. Trying to clean up but having a 5 year old and Roomie that just pile their shit in the corner doesn’t help. That’s not picking up. Roomie hasn’t cleaned shit since he started working. I’m trying to do it all and failing. Doesn’t feel right to move or pick up his stuff. Even though it’s a fucking mess. Godfuckingdamn this is frustrating.
I fucking suck and I hate everything. This crappy small apartment that somehow is dirty when we have nothing in it. Stupid crappy jobs that I can do just fine but can’t get hired. How does it look to go to job interview in clothes I try to clean in the bath tub covered in scabs? Those little fucking bed bugs bite the fuck out of me. It itches like hell. NO ONE ELSE is getting bitten like I am. Not the Little One or Roomie get fucking bit everywhere. I’m the sacrifice, everyone else looks normal. How the fuck am I suppose to do this? I feel like fucking shit every time I walk out of the house to get stuff done. It’s no wonder I’m not employed.
Fuck.
—
—
—
{TMI Whining Vent Over}
I know, right. At this point that notion is most likely just nostalgia on my part.
Markita @471:
Hopefully it will be a solo religion that he creates once he gets 2 consecutive life sentences.
~~
birgerjohanssen @480:
this “Boggle” creature you spoke of intrigued me, so I looked up the Cal Leandros novels. There’s a book trailer on the author’s website that was interesting in a small way, but overall, didn’t entice me.
http://www.robthurman.net/books/cal-leandros/
~~
Setar:
Damn. My sympathies for the way you were treated by your mother. Was this a constant through your childhood? Or did it stop at a certain point?
~~
Josh @497:
Can you set the transporter for Pensacola please. I’ll be wanting a few of those won tons :)
~~
JAL:
Bed bugs.
Aw geez. I’m sorry. That’s sounds fucking awful.
Hope you are able to get it all taken care of soon.
Are they similar to scabies (in the ‘having to sanitize and clean every piece of carpet and furniture, as well as every living thing in the home’ way)?
Scabies goes away. Cimex bedbugs often don’t, and the only alternative then seems to be to get new everything.
Ouch. Now in Toronto and very tired after a lot of backseat driving.
JAL:
Oh fuck. All the sympathies for what you’re going through. Shame people judge job suitability based on bedbug bites.
Caine:
I hope the rats prosper and find good homes. I’m afraid I’m no good with pets, though.
Interestingly, Wiki sez that Cimex can’t survive more than 7 minutes of 46C/115F heat, or 15 minutes of −32C/−26F cold.
Even more intriguing : “Bed bugs can be detected by their characteristic smell of rotting raspberries.”
Who knew !
Tethys:
That is unpleasant, however, rats & cats really isn’t that big of a deal. Most people don’t let their rats free range, except perhaps for short outings in a confined space or for shoulder rides, etc. Our first rat, Ash, made a point of biting every cat in the house, even the ones that weren’t remotely interested in him. Rat bites are extremely painful and the cats got the idear. Also, a lot of rats aren’t the least bit afraid of cats and will charge them full on, brimming with curiosity and bossiness. While cats will happily stalk a rat walking/running away from them, they get very flustered and clumsy trying to get the hell away from a rat who is running hell for leather straight at them. Alfie did this, on top of cornering cats and climbing on them. The cats did not like Alfie. :D
Even if you want no interaction, that’s easy enough. Set the rats up in a space where you don’t allow the catses. If you search ‘pet rat’ on yootube, you’ll find a ton of videos of rats and cats interacting. (I don’t recommend this if you’re on limited bandwidth or have a crappy connection or don’t want to lose days worth of time.)
Hee. Or how we could get to you, seeing as you’re in MN, right? Rat condos are easy, but a large wire cage with plastic bottoms can be had for under a hundred bucks, which is about what putting a condo together costs.
I don’t have the slightest idea. Oh, Pteryxx…
Giles, who is a remarkable pale gold colour, is flat out gorgeous and it looks like we’ll have a couple more of those in Rubin’s crew.
Really? Rats have black eyes, except for odd-eye ones. Hmmm, looks like I have more learning to do.
JAL, I wish to hell I could do something to help. I’m so sorry for all the shit you’re dealing with. Do not beat yourself up over the housecleaning. I’d give you 10 to 1 my house is much more of a mess than yours, I hate cleaning.
Caine
With twentymumble rats, I think your opportunities for learning will be very large.
Thanks, Thunk. We’ll get by, one way or another. We may end up keeping them all as we aren’t comfortable putting them in a pet store.
As I said earlier, I’ll be working on getting downstairs in a fit state again (It’s a mess from previous flooding) and moving my studio and the rats down there. It’s a *huge* space.
Chigau:
No doubt. They are an absolute delight, I gotta say.
Tony aka The Psychic Octopus [safe and welcome at FtB]
-Rob Thurman’s books are aimed at young adults (at least the Cal Leandros series). I would recommend Kate Griffin for “heavier” urban gothic (and without the blazing guns/explosions that are so common in the genre).
— — — — — — —
Anxiety disorders in poor moms likely to result from poverty, not mental illness http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-anxiety-disorders-poor-moms-result.html
Not knowing where the next meal is coming from is stressful.
— — — — — — — —
A good night’s sleep could keep you out of a nursing home http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-good-night-nursing-home.html
I am doomed.
Heck, I know almost nothing about *pet* rat colors. I’d just relay y’all to that coat color guide that what’s their name linked back when Esme’s ratlets were just fuzzing up.
I didn’t find that specific guide, but here’s another:
http://www.rattyrat.com/guidebook/colors.html
and a detailed article on coat embryology:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColorMutations.htm
Hooded rats are hooded because of delayed migration of melanocytes in embryo. Their white bodies come from melanocytes never making it that far.
http://www.ratbehavior.org/images/HoodedRatFetus.jpg
JAL: I’ve been in situations like that. No bed bugs, but I’ve lived in a tiny, perpetually dirty apartment in bad neighborhood, where the holidays were greeted by SWAT team busts of crack houses across the street, shifted bullets and needles out of the tiny lawn in front of my place and listened to constant fighting/domestic violence. Oh, and the constant cockroaches…. the constant giant cockroaches. And the sleeping on the floor because of gun fire.
I seem to remember you mentioning that you’d like to know other people who are going through or have gone through poverty. (raises hand)
I literally make $740 a month, unless I manage to pick up a second job, and I support a family of five. The student loans were how I filled out that gap, but it looks like it’s time to get on food stamps again.
I’m sure someone’s already mentioned it, but you can get boric acid powder and put it around the outside of doors and windows, as well as down the drains and it can discourage roaches. I also used to do a bleach water scrub of the walls with a plastic scrubby brush. Sometimes this worked to remove a little of the dingy nastiness, but the fumes are nasty.
I’m so sorry to hear about the bed bugs and the jerk roomie.
whoops – and here’s a simpler rat color guide, with pictures of actual rats:
http://www.dapper.com.au/whatrat.htm
I sometimes fantasize about winning the lottery and buying up blocks of houses, and calling it ‘housing for smart people’, so I can house the people I like for super cheap.
It’s one of my favorite ‘if I was rich’ fantasies.
according to the wiki on bed bug eradication, no one method or single session will work… it takes a combination of temperature/pesticide/diatomaceous earth to clean building and furniture, hot water washing and hot drying to clean fabrics, and sealing mattresses. Even getting rid of everything won’t do it as they just re-infest from tiny crevices in the building itself, or from adjoining apartments.
I don’t have worthwhile suggestions, except that maybe bagging and dusting the bed itself might cut the biting down enough to not go bananas from it. *headshake* I’m sorry, JAL.
mouthyb, likewise. I’d live in a Horde commune. It makes a world of difference just to have other trustworthy adults around that can help each other out.
Basically. We’ve tried everything else. We’re still doing a lot of those things Tony listed. It’s just gone too far. I couldn’t sleep because every time I go to lay down, I’m swarmed. Finding 15 every night is common. Finding ones so small and light colored they blend in with my skin, like this (Gross out warning for that link, lots of pictures.) We’ve had them for months now.
We’ve thrown everything out we can. Once Roomie gets paid, it’s washing everything as many times as we can. We’re looking to get new blankets/pillows too, so we can just toss what we have.
Seriously, nightmare stuff. There’s one thing that was the worst moment ever for me.
WARNING! SKIP IF YOU DON’T WANT NIGHTMARES. Very GROSS! ALSO TMI!
—
—
—
—
—
—-
—
—
—
—
—
–
–
–
–
–
–
—
—
—
Once, when I was sleeping I woke up to one biting my cheek. I go to kill it. They pop like pimples, often spraying blood. I got sprayed by blood on my face. I felt it by my eye. I was freaking the fuck out thinking it got in my eye. Honestly, I have nightmares with bed bugs. They giving me diseases, or sucking blood out til I die, weird ones where they make me a vampire after so many bites. Absolute paranoia that they are crawling up inside me or biting my vulva. It’s fucking terrible. Fuck bed bugs. Kill. Them. All.
—
—
—
—-
—
–
–
–
–
–
—
–
—
–
—
–
—
TMI NIGHTMARE STUFF OVER. CONTINUE SAFELY FROM HERE>.
JAL
*hugs* and a can of RAID.
—–
There is a family of skunks in my back alley.
(by family, I mean including babby skunks!!!)
(my camera is crapped-out so I can’t prove it)
*flail*
Went to the midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises. Overall, excellent.
(major spoiler behind the rot13)
Gnyvn ny-Thy NAQ Ebova fubj hc!
Nyfb, Ongzna naq Gnyvn ubbx hc. Irel frkl.
Ahem.
*flail*
And now, it is 3:30 in the fucking morning, and I have to be at work at 9.
Thanks everyone for the sympathy. It helps venting.
mouthyb
Holy shit! I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that. =(
Yep, know all about bleach water but thanks for trying to help. Been using it and doing everything we can, it’s just not going to go away. The entire complex is infested. I definitely want to talk to other people going through stuff like us, but it sucks because no one should be in this situation. I feel terrible for the crap you’re dealing with.
Pteryxx
Yep, been doing the sprays, the diatomacerous earth (a tip I got here awhile ago), hot water washing, seals on everything. Already dusted and sealed the bed. Been doing all that for months now. We know throwing it out won’t stop it, but it will help me sleep tonight at least. We still have our supplies and rituals to go through. It’s not going away. The ENTIRE complex is infested with bed bugs and roaches. Except the complex manager and maintenance man apartments of course. Those get sprayed regularly. My mother who’s known the manager for 20 years had to have her social worker threaten to report the complex to get the manager to spray my mother’s apartment. Everyone else is fucked.
Every once in a while she’ll have the maintenance man go around knocking on doors to spray for roaches. WITHOUT ANY NOTICE. The maintenance man says tough shit, you aren’t prepared. (Since you need to remove pets, food and move out stuff 3 feet from the wall) And he walks away.
Ask for bed bug help and she says it’s too expensive to spray, go buy it yourself.
Heh !
Richard Dawkins: Creationism at Giant’s Causeway ‘is intellectual baboonism’
JAL: I wish I could help. I really, really wish I could help.
I know, thank you. This makes it easier to deal with, especially when I’m up all night like now.
I wish I could help you too. That really fucking sucks about that stupid law. I used to work in Financial Aid so I was watching for that law. I heard it all working in that office, it’s heart breaking.
…
…okay, now I want to go gnaw on your manager’s face until SHE’s embarrassed to go out because of the rash. What a worthless, uncaring POS.
Pteryxx, fascinating stuff, thank you for the links! I’m now looking at http://www.nfrs.org/varietiesmarked.html and we have, under the ‘varieties marked’ category, Badgers, Hooded, Variegated, Chinchilla and Squirrel. :D Chas was a squirrel. How silly that sounds. Giles looks closest to a Topaz or Silver Fawn.
Mouthyb:
I’d buy a big ass piece of property and materials for house-building (there are ways to do it on the cheap and green) and build a co-operative. Lots of work, but sustaining in every good way. I wish, I wish.
I know right? The salt in the wound is how she’s all sanctimonious. Yep, you sure are nice to let us pay later for rent when Roomie gets paid on the 10th. Of course, never mention that there’s so many empty apartments that no one is moving into and without our rent you’re fucking screwed. Doesn’t make it okay to never fix anything. Doesn’t make it out for you to only take care of your own problems.
“Oh, but my grandbabies live me since my son is unemployed! We can’t have these bugs around the babies!”-Manager
What about my child you asshole? My child is only a year older than your oldest grandson. I’ve told her that she got all huffy and she said I need to take care of my own.
She’s supposedly retiring. I can’t wait. My mother has the number to her boss hoping to go up the chain to get shit fixed. NOPE!
Caine:
Thanks for the slideshow link.
I think my favorite is #5 (the solo little rat trying to climb; is that their condo?), but several of them made me get all tingly and cutesy inside. They’re all so ador…um, precious.
****
mythbri @12:
from your link on pistachios:
Suffocated by a nut?
How does that happen?
****
Ms. Daisy:
Thou doth blaspheme in casa de PZ. Tolerated shall that not be!
Blackened shrimp over a bed of cheese grits, topped with scallions and crumbled bacon=nummy nummy in my tummy!
****
FossilFishy:
This small town level of trust is so foreign to me.
I’ve met several people over the years who come from smaller towns and many of them say the same thing: no one locks their cars or homes*.
I find that so eerie.
I’ve never lived somewhere that break ins were common (at least no more so than any other populated area), but I was raised to lock car doors when you get out. Lock the house behind you when you enter/leave. Secure latches on fences. Lock garage doors or back doors. I was never fed any fearful lines about thieve, just that they exist and locking doors is one way to discourage them (sometimes). So the thought of living somewhere that doors and cars aren’t locked is so alien to me.
*during the day. They said at night things were locked.
****
Caine@104:
argh.
It’s 2:55 am here and the site is down, so I can’t see any of the rattie pics. Drat. Maybe when I awake tomorrow.
****
Josh:
If it makes you feel better, I had to clean up doggie diarrhea on the carpet today. Kiara, (T’s dog) ate 2 boxes of protein bars T had for post gym recovery food sometime Wednesday evening. Thursday afternoon, after she *just* peed outside, she comes back inside and drops running messy dog poop on the carpet. What. Fun.
Oh, and I love my cats (and cats in general, except for hairless ones; they freak me out), but I hate cleaning up hairballs, or their undigested food when they’ve eaten too fast.
****
“Congress OKs Minimum Wage Freeze At $4.18 for American Samoa” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/american-samoa-minimum-wage_n_1687975.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
What the…?
— — — —-
Feline home deity had puked on the carpet when I got home yesterday. Fortunately it was easy to remove.
Bedbugs are the worst. I had an encounter with them when I lived in Surry Hills (inner Sydney) 20 years ago. I am allergic, I swell up in enormous red bumps for each bite. I didn’t have to trash absolutely everything, but the futon and mosquito net went. They like to move up in the daytime, and they were nesting at the top of the mozzie net in the seams. ew ew ew ew.
Tethys @115:
I hear that!
I’m mentally picturing a series of interconnecting tubes running along the ceiling across my living room, down the hallway and into my room where the main condo would be. I can see a little rattie running across the house, staring down at the cats unable to get him/her. That is until the cats did some crazy ninja trick where they somehow reach the tubes (probably using parkour–heh! Parkour Kats)
****
JAL:
Fuck. That sucks.
My sympathies. Big time.
Any idea how much longer you’re going to have to deal with the bed bug problem?
****
birgerjohanssen:
Kate Griffin-
Now *that’s* what I’m talking about. That’s a description that speaks to me and does it in such a captivating way that I want to read this novel yesterday…
Reading the ‘about the book’ info for each book just makes me want them aaaaaaaallll.
****
successfully boiled and peeled eggs. Thank you all.
Now onto brick or stone for the oven and the chocolate chip cookies I bought a few days ago (EZ bake)
My night was made chatting with a new guy at work (D). He was relating the circumstances behind him losing his last job. Apparently his previous General Manager made comments of a negative nature using the word ‘gay’. Though the comments weren’t directed at D, he informed his manager that he wasn’t cool with the guy saying that crap. No one was around except the two of them, and D stood up for what’s right (he even used that as an excuse to quit; apparently he didn’t need to work there, it was more out of something to do). I told him then and there that my respect for him increased quite a bit (and took the time to mention a few of my other ‘don’t use words’, and *why* they shouldn’t be used).
D is young, around 21/22. He’s part of that continuing surge of young people who believe queers should be treated just like everyone else and that it’s nothing flamboyant or spectacular or abnormal about 2 guys kissing or 2 women holding hands.
Please world: fill up with more people like D, and less people like Pat Robertson.
****
Caine: Yep. A large parcel of land, building supplies and volunteer architecture. I’ve also lived in a converted warehouse, which turns out to be kind of awesome for creating unique spaces. You can build walls, create lofts, etc.
As long as there hasn’t been improper disposal on the property, you can put together a rather nice garden. Industrial spaces, like an abandoned Wal Mart in the middle of nowhere, sometimes have rather large attached lots.
Fucking hell, liberals can’t get anywhere these days — when I hit on a criticism of fence-sitters that is decidedly both accurate and close to home, can’t recant, no no no. SHUT UP! THAT’S OUT OF LINE! DON’T TALK ABOUT THAT! YOU’RE MAKING ME LOOK BAD! I’M ON YOUR SIDE! REALLY!!!!
And it wasn’t even politics, just telling someone to not support obviously quote-mined false balance. No, that’s a “minor point”, and I need to shut up about the false-flag-waving “feminist” who just wants “both sides” to “get along”. And FSM forbid I accuse them of perpetuating the very sort of chilly climate that enables everything from the Pitizens on up to Gabby Giffords’ shooting.
(Can we start talking about uncompromised liberal views being subject to a chilly climate now?)
Pteryxx:
You mean being neighbors with…sharing a community with…being friendly to….gulp…people who don’t victim blame? Or use gender based insults? Or who treat others with respect and dignity? Who show genuine concern and a desire to help those in need? Who are egalitarian? Who believe in social justice? Who have discarded the supernatural (and in most cases, woo)?
You want to be a part of *that*?
I do too.
***
chigau:
there are one of two possible responses:
1-Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I don’t believe you have skunks out back. Prove it or you’re a liar.
2-Rebecca Watson put the skunks out back.
:::is that what it takes to be a TF cronie or MRA or slimepit denizen? Or was that not subtle enough:::
[I’m guessing you caught the wee bit of sarcasm…]
*hugs* to mouthyb and JAL.
I’m sorry you are going through such hard times.
—
It makes me feel ashamed that I complain so much about no job opportunities when I have so much privilege – still living with parents who can support me without too much financial strain.
THIS blogger is interesting. She (yes, she is the correct pronoun) also has a post that shows support for Ophelia Benson and other bloggers concerning The Harassment Conversation (THC?)
excerpt:
JAL and mouthyb, I wonder if you’re cases for the Horde Hoard. Josh, you never replied to my e-mail about how to contribute to it (…unless it ended up in my spam folder, which I haven’t looked at for weeks).
*clenched-tentacle salute*
I’m allergic to nuts (interestingly including walnuts and peanuts); their tough texture also doesn’t go well with the brittle texture of baked goods.
There isn’t even a separate eye socket. Mammals* in general have lost the bone bridge between the eye socket and the temporal fenestra (the window in the skull roof that contains most jaw-closing muscles). Primates (in a narrow sense) are among the few that have regained such a bridge.
* Indeed mammalomorphs.
Do American ovens not have hot air? As in, air is heated directly and distributed in the oven, as opposed to the bottom and/or the top of the oven being heated and radiating heat? Over here, that’s almost always one of the settings.
What is cooking spray???
*sigh* I knew you had to have some flaw.
Interesting. I can stand those, but find the texture of coconut fibers very annoying. Like cartilage, they’re too tough to be chewed; no matter how long I chew, they stay in my mouth till I spit them out. If I eat a cookie with coconut in it, all the dough will sooner or later disappear, and I’ll be left with a ball of purified coconut fibers in my mouth.
What?
If patriarchy didn’t exist, would there be feminism in the first place…?
King Olav was baptized as a Mormon three years after his death?
Assad’s brother-in-law and his minister of defense were killed yesterday or the day before.
Why do you bother rationalizing? I don’t :-)
I just replied. “Always growing and learning”? She’s got a lot of learning left to do, and maybe even some growing-up.
Seconded.
This TV trope, to be exact.
…TV Tropes has an article about how people get lost in it…
*headdesk*
HULK SMASH
It’s the economy, stupid!
I see what you did there :-)
^_^
(I apologize for my complete lack of contributions to p-wiki for… almost ever since it was founded. I’ll probably have time again soon.)
:-D :-D :-D
Do you need to stay in the US during your education…?
What is the point of a midnight showing?
birgerjohanssen:
is there a movie in the works based on a Kate Griffin novel?
I literally want to read all her novels.
Setar, it’s safe to say that Michelle knows whether or not she is a feminist.
She may be something like a libertarian feminist, perhaps, who we’d disagree with about most things. And we can sensibly debate whether this or that idea is accurate or helpful — i.e. “extreme over-reaction to a non-event” is obviously a flawed claim.
But I gotta say, it really is not okay for a man to tell a woman that she is not a feminist, or that she ought to be this or that kind of feminist instead. Feminism is ultimately not for us; we may learn much from studying feminism but it exists for the liberation and empowerment of women.
As such it is inappropriate for a man, who necessarily has less stake in the liberation and empowerment of women than any woman does, to dictate how any woman should navigate life under patriarchy — and telling her that she is not a feminist, or that she should be this or that kind of feminist instead, amounts to such. Those debates can make sense among women because women can need solidarity; the question, for instance, of whether Abbie Smith is a gender traitor, is appropriate for them whose gender is being betrayed. But that ain’t men.
I imagine not, but what I should have suggested (and was vaguely thinking) was to compare with a hypothetical patriarchy that oppressed women but did not also involve transphobia.
David:
Midnight showings are:
1- a way for studios to get a liiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more money by releasing the movie literally at the beginning of the day, rather than waiting til movie theaters open around midday. Midnight sales for many movies can be in the $1-$5 million range.
2- a way for those vampires like myself who are up late to view a movie before the rest of the world does (not that it matters much, since the people who haven’t seen the movie will be asleep when night owls are done viewing, so it’s not like potential conversations will happen).
Oh, and cooking spray to prevent baked goods from sticking.
Or if you’re sauteeing food, you can use cooking spray in place of butter, lard, or oil.
****
I can’t decide if I want to fix cornbread or not. I love the stuff. I would fix a pan of it as a teenager and devour it all on my own (during the holidays, my parents would fix two pans-one for me and the other for them and my sister).
Not to rain on anyone’s desire to see The Dark Knight Rises, but this shit is so messed up:
These people went to the movie looking for an enjoyable experience. 14 of them fucking died, and @ 50 are injured? What the fuck is wrong with the person that they would do such a thing?
That’s true of cats and hamsters too. I had cats and hamsters simultaneously for many years (just cats now, but I miss the little rodents a lot) and never had a problem. Cats get all confused when presented with uppity pet rodents. :D
***
Nonsense. Owlmirror’s right about that too.
I appreciate all the hugs and sympathies.
There’s no need to get another fund for me going. Roomie just starting working. First check wasn’t a full one and went quickly. He gets paid again in a week. After that check we’ll be all caught up on all the bills (well the important bills anyways). It’ll be tight like always after that but pending any disasters we’ll be straight.
Limbaugh revisited:
Ing, weren’t you just talking about Chuck Dixon?
***
For anyone who’s an English major (or really skilled in English), why is the word ‘an’ in brackets in the above quote?
****
He deserves a LOT of jail time.
There should be no option for ‘no jailtime’.
****
what was that someone was saying about can’t. get. off. the. interwebz?
http://store.bottlehood.com/gentleman-jack-table-lamp/
Are we going to have to start up TheRaisinThread for all you shriveled grape lovers?
Tony, no that pic isn’t in the condo, that’s just a beer box that’s being climbed. I dispensed with their box today, they don’t stay in it anyway. :D
Nightjar:
Yes, they do and it’s very funny to watch. There’s nothing like a tiny package of pure uppity for upsetting a cat.
Gah – – –
To be fair, she didn’t even understand your accusation of false-flag waving, and you never explained it to her, instead killfiling her. I had to do it instead.
I see.
So… is it not fat?
I only know:
1) smearing cake molds with margarine all over on the inside, or smearing pans for things like potato “noodles”;
2) putting bakery paper on pans for Christmas cookies;
3) silicone molds instead of smeared metal molds, and silicone sheets instead of bakery paper.
Awesome!
*sigh* I know you had to have some flaw.
That should mean the word was missing in what Dixon sent to comicbook.com, most likely as a typo.
I think I’ve seen it all now.
This site is amazing.
The creativity in designing living spaces with existing materials is off the chart. I love it. I want to visit some of these places. Hell, I’d *live* in some of these places!
****
Anyone know if there’s any truth to this claim that vodka kills insects (presumably mosquitos)?
****
JAL:
I don’t know if this will help, but have you heard of THIS for killing bed bugs?
Tony,
It’s an indication that the original quotation didn’t include it, and that it’s been inserted by the quoter to make the sentence grammatical or more comprehensible.
Tony,
Mythbusters did it. Vodka makes insects drunk.
And in case anyone missed it: Gunman opens fire in Colorado theater over night.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/20/157090121/real-life-horror-many-killed-dozens-wounded-at-colorado-movie-theater
Enough of it obviously does. Alcohol poisoning works the same in all Biochemistry As We Know it.
What? No. That’s strictly forbidden if there’s no […] in front of it.
Not what I was taught. The brackets indicate an elision, if you put an ellipsis within the brackets you’re showing that you’ve not added any context, but if you put words within the brackets then that’s understood as a paraphrase.
e.g.
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
[…]Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
vs
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
[should we struggle against adversity, or should we surrender to despair?]
Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
@ David Marjanović
Did you ever see the dino’s I posted for you?
David – cooking spray is fat in an aerosol form. That gives you a quick, even cover across the whole pan using very minimal amounts of fat.
The ovens that move air around are here called convection ovens, and only the most expensive ovens have that option.
This was going to moderation, so I’ll remove the links, but I’ll italicize the words I had linked:
Well, she still has limited mobility in her left arm and left leg. She can walk with a hemi-walker short distances (a hundred feet or so). She can’t deal with stairs yet, but we have installed stair lifts to the second floor, and in the back hallway to exit the house. We just need a small ramp (~7″) built there to allow egress/entry. Which being out of sight of the street, and “temporary”, means it doesn’t have to be built to ADA codes. The biggest problem she has is getting her pants/underwear up and down for the commode (try it one handed, when you also need the good hand to steady yourself). So I have to get up a couple of times at night and assist, and come home a couple of times during the day (work is five minutes one-way from the house). She has access to full cable TV and unlimited phone access, and she makes use of that. We get some in-home therapists once/twice a week for a while, which helps. She’s set up on the main floor with a hospital bed, commode, microwave, and access to a TV, dinning room, and kitchen. I’m doing the cooking, laundry and cleaning. Time to put her to bed. Some assembly required, as we say.
Those are called convection ovens here in the US (and maybe elsewhere).
Most do not have that capability but many mid-higher end ones do.
Dogdamn I’m going to be giving my readers an emotional 180 in this book. I have Karthus and Trisha re-enkindling their long relationship (implied sex, won’t show it in book. It’s a fantasy not a porno.) Mara and Valkir will be drunk, cause he takes her to a tavern to celebrate the end of one of his really old cases as well as extending an olive leaf by giving her access to one of his best contacts. Bartenders know everything. Owin will be investigating a mystery in the case that confused him, which always excites him, and he’ll discover a key link between everyone involved.
Then I’ll kill of Eans. Brutally.
:)
*kill off, that is.
Tony,
“The producer of the film (there is a producer, this does not, I hasten to add, yet guarantee there will be a film) calmly assures me that Matthew Swift, one of my main protagonists, is in his early twenties.”
I am glad that there is already an interest in filming the novels, but it can take decades for a project to get off the ground…
— — — — — —
About Swift’s age, I think he is mature enough in his choices to be older than early twenties. Lots of hard choices to make if you end up a demi-god and with the responsibilities of that power.
Katherine:
If that’s the case, how do I parlay that into being independently wealthy?
Ok listening to some coverage on the shootings in Aurora and the idiot on the phone is talking about the financial impact of the shootings on the Batman film box office take.
sigh
@Tony:
Well, bartenders may know everything, but it is a limited set of knowledge. Usually related to hearsay and conjecture, whispered drunken confessions, a lot of it not really super-useful to the ear of an officer of the peace.
But the bartender does work at the docks during the day – so he gets to see a lot of weird things going through, unusual deals and things like that – the opportunity to let the city guard know of shady dealings.
@Esteleth
Interesting reply there. I have some thoughts about some of the things you said. I of corse realise this doesn’t represent your views but I’ll respond to them anyway for the sake of the argument.
Yes, I need to remember to do this too. I’m not easily triggered myself, but others may be.
So: Trigger warning!
Yes, that is my impression too as I pointed out in an earlier post.
This argument is sort of a Russell’s teapot argument. There is however evidence suggesting gender can not be reduced to just internalised oppression. I do however agree with the argument in part as far as children goes. I am a little skeptical to the label ‘transgender children’ (when the meaning implies transsexual children) that are very young. Like the case I wrote about on my blog the other day where a child started to insist they were a boy already at the age of 2. That is a symptom of the gender conformity pressure that exists for children today. Experiences may vary, but when I grew up in the 80s, I experienced no such pressure. And I was arguably very gender variant in my interests.
Which of course ignore the fact that there is not a one-to-one correlation between chromosomes and genitals/assigned sex. Intersex is actually quite common though not usually visible. I have several intersex “symptoms” though I have never checked it out further.
Last time I brought up intersex in a discussion with radfems, I was accused of appropriating their identity. I did no such thing, but they tried to deflect the argument as it clearly was an inconvenient fact.
Firstly, it is not universally true that SRS do not produce functional organs in the sexual sense. Reproductive, no. But then, it isn’t actually the organs responsible for reproduction that are reconstructed anyway, it’s the ones involved in sexual activity.
[That said, I know of one trans woman who still had a proto-uterus (from the foetus stage I assume) that started growing when she started hormones. It was discovered because she started menstruating internally where there was no opening to expel it.]
Anyway, sexually functional vaginas are not uncommon. Penises I know little about, but it is a lot more complicated. Many trans men who do get the surgery keep both. In total, most trans people do not get SRS anyway as your identity is not defined by what you have between your legs. Which is why I find the radfem argument that it is rather strange. When trans people transition, genitals often becomes a non-issue.
Possibly TMI, but for me personally it is a little important because my original configuration isn’t sexually functioning anyway. I have nothing to lose.
Secondly, the argument that SRS is mutilation, usually on the form: “trans women are mutilated men” is a very strange argument to me as it seems to uphold the idea that a penis is a superior and identity-defining organ. That seem to be a very patriarchal idea.
This is of course their argument, and it is their mantra. In my experience they are not interested in any focus on the weakness of the assumptions this argument hinges on.
(1) This is the conspiratorial bit of the argument. Trans men are only after the male privilege and trans women are only after women’s spaces. As if any transsexual person would go through all that for something as trivial as those goals (relatively speaking of course). The suicide rates in the community should be evidence enough that such arguments are absurd.
(2) This is of course the main problem trans women face in our early lives. The pressure to conform to masculine roles. Many of us spend many years faking it. I got fed up with that and have great fun experimenting with pushing gender expression borders. Although I’m drifting into gender neutral territory, I still read as male when I use a tight sports bra and loose clothes.
I also know quite a few transgender people who are non-transsexuals and express themselves as they wish without letting society pressure them. Funny enough, most of those I know are people assigned female at birth. Julie Bindel have said she identifies as transgender in such a way too. Although most of these transgender women are not hostile at all to transsexuals, some are because just being masculine women works for them. Therefore, it seems, it should work for everyone. It is the good old “People are only as tolerant as they need to be to accept themselves.”
The masculine-conformity point is also reflected in the “trans women are just really really gay” argument. As gay people have sort of a “get out of jail” free card to femininity. At least to some extent. This argument of course completely ignore the fact that quite a large proportion of trans women are not interested in men. Myself included.
All these points support the fact that transsexualism has little or nothing to do with sexuality or genitals in general. The radfem arguments are pretty much contradicted by the majority of experiences trans people have. This leads me to conclude their views are dogmatic in nature and not based in reality at all.
We’re getting at a chicken and the egg type argument here. The logic may not be transphobic in itself as it hinges on a very idealised and reductionistic gender theory. But the point is that this argumentation is used to back up actual transphobic actions and speech. Which came first, I don’t know.
I do agree that transphobia in society is to a large degree misogyny as it affects trans women in a very different way that trans men (not to say trans men have it easy either). And the hatred towards trans women that many straight cis men express, which is also often the cause of murders, is deeply homophobic in nature.
Just some thoughts on the topic.
Carry on :)
Kat Lorraine, do you think you should be spoiling your book to such an extent to potential readers?
Rev. BDC, this incident is going to bring out one helluva lot of stupid.
@Caine:
I dunno. I’m excited, goldurnit. And ya’ll know I was having questions killing off Eans, so I’m not spoiling anything more than you already know. There’s still a whole lot in the story you don’t know about, and the conflict and resolution in the end of the book has yet to even be determined.
Magnetic Liquid?
The imagination going on at this site is crazy good.
****
Don’t we have someone here with an appreciation for steampunk?
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/steampunk-watches#!/photos/14509/4
‘hovindtheory’ has just declared:
Therefor, the Dark Knight shooter couldn’t be cowardly. Nope.
Katherine: IMHO, as long as talking it out here doesn’t interfere with your actual writing drive, TET’s such a small audience that I don’t think spoiling it *for a potential readership* counts. If some folks don’t want *their own experience* spoiled, again IMHO, that’d only call for rot-13ing so you can still seek feedback.
Caveat: talking about it in great detail, or posting excerpts, could interfere with future publication contracts as this is a publicly readable site.
Alright :\ I’ll rot13 it from now on.
Sorry, exciteable kitty barfs spoilers onto TET. *cleans up the mess*
Pink – What’s up (live)
The Cranberries Zombie live
No Doubt – Don’t Speak live
Night.
@rorschach
O,o cool music.
Also, clicked on your link to (I assume) your blog. Reading that post about Hillsong. I was a member there once :)
Pteryxx:
Actually, Pteryxx, I was talking about spoiling the book for those of us on TET. I have no doubt that most of us would be interested in purchasing and reading Kat Lorraine’s book,* however, there isn’t much incentive if you know the whole plot.
*Perhaps I should speak for myself here. I’d be interested in purchasing and reading Kat’s book, however, I’d rather not know so much about it ahead of time.
Didn’t we once have a HUGE thread on if killers like this were cowards?
I vaguely remember going back and forth with someone over this for a while.
That’s really shitty. Especially that you were denied in-state tuition. It continues to make me incredibly angry that we live in a world where people are openly discriminated against, deprived of civil rights, and even detained and deported, just because they were born on one side of a national border rather than another.
(Just one of the many reasons why comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is needed now. Unfortunately, thanks to asshole racist activists like Kris Kobach and FAIR, it’s not going to happen any time soon.)
@Caine:
Sorry.
I’ll refrain from getting excited.
Richards and Friends Live acoustic – Wild Horses
I hope I will still be hanging around when Katherine’s book gets published so that I know to order it.
That’s why I haven’t read the spoilers. If I read them, I will not know the whole plot but will create scenarios in my head. That way, when I actually read the book, I’m risking not liking it because it doesn’t conform to the ideas I got while reading the spoilers.
And I’d e-mail the Poopyhead and ask him to delete or rot13 my post but can’t remember my Gmail password so it’s gonna be there until I have an opportunity to take a quick break and get my cell phone out.
Oh, and I don’t really mind that parts of the plot are being posted. I simply skip those.
Hi Jadzia! I’m a tiny bit, er, tired right now and must retire. Feel free to send me a mail throught the blog, I’d be interested in your experiences with them. Cheers.
I for one am glad to know that Katherine is willing to kill off a main(?) character. One of the things I hate about fiction, especially fantasy, is how the heroes are by and large invincible. In life everyone is vulnerable, everyone is mortal, and that fragility of existence is one of the things that makes love meaningful. I want to love the characters in the stories I read as fully as I possibly can for fictitious beings and that means a willingness to creating real vulnerability for characters is something I cherish in a writer.
Tony, I’ve got a few personal safety issues that make it so I can’t sleep unless the doors and windows are locked. I lived in dodgy neigbourhoods for years, to the point that when the medivac helicopter was circling the paddock next door looking for a landing spot my first impulse was to run around and lock down the house. The only times I’d seen helicopters with searchlights prior they were always searching for someone who had done something pretty heinous. It’s taken me a couple of years to get used to leaving my bike unlocked and I still marvel that nothing has happened.
rorschach
Sure, I’ll see if I have the time over the weekend.
I sort of want to write a blogpost about that church as I experienced it. It is 10 years ago now and I haven’t been in contact with anyone from that time since 7-10 years ago.
I knew most, if not all, of the staff at the city branch of the church. They were mostly well meaning though misguided people. But even then I was suspicious of, and uncomfortable with, most of the senior staff.
I was also there when John Howard opened the then new building.
Yeah, but you don’t want to go that route. They become incredibly maudlin first.
Jadzia:
For what it is worth, I agree with everything you wrote. I find the transphobic radfem argument ridiculous, and based on views of sex and gender that are way over simplistic.
I also think that the transphobes started with their bigotry and then moved backwards to find a justification, rather than coming to their bigotry honestly.
I do think that misogyny and homophobia play a big role in transphobia, of course, in all the examples you cited – they are all closely connected (homophobia is largely rooted in misogyny, for example). But it is also its own thing, and many of the transphobe radfems do not acknowledge this.
Caine’s site isn’t under maintenance any more and I can see the ratlets. Eeeee!
I don’t want you to do that, Kat! I’m just thinking of your future sales. I mean, you would like to get a bit of pocket money out of this, right? :D
I agree with FossilFishy that it’s cool you’re willing to kill a main character, however, it’s not so great that I now know exactly which character, by name, that will be. See?
Again IMHO, I think having detailed plot critique and feedback can be extremely valuable; also my memory’s so bad that spoilers mostly don’t bother me, heh. Please, keep the spoilers (and enthusiasm) coming; just rot13 ’em first!
Personally, I can enjoy reading a novel even if I already know how the plot goes. When I really like a book, I usually re-read it often, and my enjoyment isn’t particularly diminished by the fact that I’ve read it before. But I know I’m unusual in that regard.
I’m really looking forward to Katherine’s book! Especially as it features monarchies.
Pteryxx:
I have the opposite problem. :D
Caine: I know right? *beams*
Good morning, all. Happy Wednesday.
I just spent 2 hour and 45 minutes taking a 75 minute records security course because, in order to make sure that the online training course worked properly, I had to disable half of the internet security protocols in IE. Additionally, it took me 15 minutes just to log into the site as, since I have a common first name/last name combination, and my login is that combination (apparently I was the first with my fn/ln combo to set up an account?), someone with the same name resets my password about 25 times a year. I get the email notifications, contact IT, and have just given up on ever actually having a password that hangs around. Plus, because of wiring and fibre-optic work here at the park, things kept hanging up and it takes five minutes to actually get from the login screen to the course each time it hangs up. Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
=========
TRIGGER WARNING
For the past week, I have been having nightmares and (small scale) panic attacks. I know that something is trying to move from stored to active in my internal memory (and I know that is not how it works, but that’s how it feels). Cameras. That’s what keeps coming into my mind — 35mm single lense reflex film camera. I know who’s holding the camera — my cub scout leader. I am so fucking scared of what the camera is pointing at but it is pointing at me. And I don’t know why, nor do I want to know why.
For the past year or two, these memories keep surfacing in nightmares and, well, I guess I have to call it flashbacks and feelings of pain. And every time one of these memories comes into my active memory there I things I never dreamed of. And I keep hoping that this one will be the last and it never is.
/TRIGGER WARNING
It is cool and rainy here today. We may not hit 70F. And it is raining — not a gully warsher, but real soaking rain. The grass already looks a healthier shade of tan.
Ibyea:
Oh ouch. Stupid phobias of undocumented migrants.
I wish I could help. *hugs etc*.
Mouthyb:
Anytime! Especially given my blinkered family.
Pteryxx, caine:
Spoilers don’t bother me at all, even though I’ve a really good memory.
Maybe it’s different for others.
@Esteleth
I don’t know enough of the history of radical feminism to know the origin of the transphobia of some. But I have been wondering about this. It is usually how any form of bigotry is defended and I don’t for a second believe they somehow were surprised to find that their views were compatible with a transphobic view.
As a physicist I could explain it easier this way:
GenderExpressionHatred(X) = c_0*Transphobia(X) + c_1*Homophobia(X) + c_2*Femmephobia(X) + c_3*Misogyny(X) + c_4*Patriarchy(X) + … + c_N*Nth_Issue(X)
And yes, transphobia is its own thing too. Examples are enforced conformity to gender binary.
*offers hugs to Ogvorbis*
Any chance you could see a counselor about this? I fear it’ll keep getting worse before it gets better.
Pteryxx:
I have seen a counselor in the past to deal with the idiocy from September, 2001, and that has helped a lot in dealing with the panic attacks. And I do think about seeing a counselor or psychiatrist to deal with this but I keep telling myself the worst is over, it can’t get worse. Maybe I’ll be right this time?
Bleh.
At work. Got to work on time. Now staring blearily around.
My intention is to get the absolute necessities done, then go home. Because sleep, and I am no good to anyone half-asleep. Seriously, keep me away from the scalpels and the dangerous stuff!
I would totally live in Horde commune. We would have to have a pet area, of course. Though I suppose that Daisy’s dog, the ratties, my cat, and all the others could learn to live in harmony.
Ogvorbis: …I dunno, IIRC this is the third time you’ve mentioned this looming memory in TET. I think that shows it isn’t going away until dealt with, one way or another. Denial just doesn’t seem to work that way, I’m sorry.
*careful hug* for Ogvorbis
Maybe if it’s a warehouse, such as mouthyb recommended, it could get divided up into flexible spaces as big or small as various pet owners need or want. Besides, some people have more stuff, and some need more private space or just privaCY than others. I for one *like* working in shared kitchen and workshop space, making extra food, sharing tools and such. Extroverts around the middle, perhaps?
(…maybe I’ve been playing too much Minecraft recently…)
Og – a counselor could help it get over with more quickly, and possibly give you some coping strategies you haven’t already come across. And lancing it that way might keep it from popping out when you least expect it. *hugs*
Hm, how much vodka do you have to drink for it to affect the mosquitos biting you? ;)
If you ever start that Horde commune, I would like to apply.
@Caine:
Then I’ll just have to do a little editing and change the name of the character so there.
Interesting. I never realised you were a porcupine.
Kat Lorraine:
That works. :D
*boggle*
I haven’t looked, but I doubt it’s possible to get one without convection here. They’re generally considered more energy efficient as well.
Sorry.
They are only more energy efficient in that sometimes you do not need to pre-heat the oven, which is only the case when the cooking time is longer than 15-20 minutes.
Sili:
This is America. We don’t need to steeenkin efficiency! It is all a New World Order conspiracy, anyway. The UN is going to come and confiscate your children if you tell them about Jesus.
^^ Not far from beliefs that some people actually have, BTW.
I very much doubt that was a complaint. Don’t apologize, please.
Oggie:
*hugs* if you want them. Please, do not apologize.
Gah… sorry Ogvorbis, I didn’t mean that as a criticism, just an observation on how seriously it’s weighing on you. Three instances is a heuristic I use on myself to catch my own avoidance of PTSD-related issues. I’m sorry for being so insensitive to you… please, keep talking, and consider getting some help?
In science writing, for a very wide definition of science, they indicate an insertion, except that […] indicates an elision.
No. :-(
Ah. Sounds like a good idea.
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
Interesting. Over here, only the oldest ovens lack it.
How was that discovered? From the pain? :-S
Seconded.
I’m told you actually never need to preheat an oven; that just makes it possible to put exact cooking times into recipes.
And what takes less than 15 minutes in an oven?
*hugs to Og, if he wants them* Ogvorbis, you don’t need to apologize for talking to us about stuff.
—
*reading Monstrous thread*
*hugs to ixchel too, if he wants them* Looks like it’s getting pretty frustrating for you in there. Not showing signs of getting a whole lot better anytime soon. I’ll join you in a bit, but it’s my brother’s turn on the computer :(
—
*in fact, just here are hugs for everybody*
I actually know an intersexed person who this happened to. At birth, the docs examined zir, decided that the penis was “adequate,” created a cosmetic scrotum, and sewed the vagina shut. Didn’t check the internals – zie has a complete and fully functional uterus and ovaries. Thirteen years later, zie started menstruating, but had no exit. Cue monthly agonizing pain and sickness, when zir body tried to re adsorb all that tissue.
Of course, zie is now, as a result of all this (and the near-constant infections) is too unhealthy to be a good candidate for surgery to re-open the vagina. Apparently there is a huge chance of zie dying on the operating table.
In the UK they are called fan ovens. In fact term convection oven is often used to refer to conventional, non microwave, ovens that do not have have fans. Makes more sense, as without a fan convection will be how heat is distributed around the oven cavity whereas with a fan convection is not so important.
Biscuits!
(Probably the only thing I actually use preheating for.)
Biscuits quite often need less than 15 minutes, pizza likewise.
And pre-heating can be important. Roast potatoes just soak up oil and become horrible is the temp is high from the start, and Yorkshire puddings will fail to raise unless they are hit with a high temp from the start.
Cipher:
Yeah, right, because he’s the only arguing.
er, “unless the temp is high from the start”!
Esteleth, that’s horrible. Stupid incompetent privilege-addled doctors…
David Marjanović on Tetrapod Zoology said:-
Yes please David pretty please!
Cipher, you may be interpreting my extreme ratio of fucks as an indicator of greater stress than others. In this case, it’s a mostly calmly calculated response to indicate the gravity of the topic; I simply don’t believe I could be understood properly without all these fucks.
I am indeed stressed enough that I’m getting a headache. Thanks! for noticing. But if we could share some of my *hugs* with Caine and others, honestly I don’t need all of them.
AHAHAHAHA, “Douchegate.”
Also, hello, Dhorvath. Glad to see you back and doing well.
Ing:
Nope. That’s been their goal all along. They just had to
stifflestifle it for decades after the Great Depression and the subsequent labor movement victories. Now that they’ve got the whip hand, they feel no need to any longer.FossilFishy: See above, and see Ing’s comment. They do not care that they harm people, because they people they harm are “the undeserving.”
Josh, ’tis the season. At least yours don’t seem to still be shedding.
Aside from what Caine says about cats and rats, cats and rabbits can get along quite nicely, if owning a lagomorph were of interest to you.
Ibyea, have you considered emigrating to a country with better prospects for academics?
JAL, holy shit, I’m so sorry.
Setár, I have to be honest with you: The Giffords remark was really over the top, and I don’t see how liberal fence-sitting had any direct effect on Jared Loughner.
I do agree with your overall points, however. I’ve replied to Martha (and others) here.
Tony, kudos to D. at your workplace.
That quote from BVganfematheist…
is interesting, considering that I’m currently reading this book, on loan from Josh. Dacey strongly argues that, by relegating questions of morality to the private sphere, liberals have ceded public influence.
What David/John/Tigtog said re the Guardian article. My specific guess is that Dixon originally used “the” instead of “an,” but the reporter used “an” to introduce the existence of the Examiner article into the Guardian article.
David, the rules about using brackets and ellipses to indicate omitted or corrected text likely vary from style guide to style guide. I’ve done copy editing; without referring to a specific guide, I will offer my opinion that brackets suffice for minor elisions and corrections, but you need ellipses if you’re omitting whole sentences or more.
Esteleth, I have a cat, not a dog. :P Also, OMFG at your #237. DDDDD: Zie would have major grounds for a lawsuit. The stress might be worthwhile if zie needs the help paying for medical bills.
Ogvorbis, why the hell are you apologizing?! Christ. Please don’t.
Caine, I certainly didn’t mean to imply that he was! That’s why I did the in fact hugs all around thing. But yeah, I probably should have been clearer about that. I know you and probably others in there were finding it really stressful too. I’m sorry. I’ll jump in as soon as I’m caught up.
David:
In theory, sure. In practice, not so much. Your best bet will always be butter, margerine, or vegetable shortening (or lard, if you’re feeling sassy).
Re: preheating:
For roasts, the times are all estimates, anyway. But when it comes to baking (especially cookies, muffins, or anything done in batches), you always want to bring your oven up to temp first.
@Esteleth
That’s just horrible. The treatment visibly intersex people have had to endure in the name of the sacred binary just makes me angry. Cosmetic surgery for this purpose on babies is child abuse. Nothing less.
The woman in my example wasn’t visibly intersex, but got diagnosed when this problem was discovered.
NEW THREAD!