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Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Shhh—don’t wake the baby skunk.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Aaaaw, so cute.
Thank you all for the commiserations on Carrot. ♥
Caine:
*hugs*
Dare I say it? That baby skunk is cuter than any kitten I’ve ever seen.
Hi there, can anyone help with an info request?
I am looking for a couple of well written articles, one on the nonsense of homeopathy and another on the scam of those magnets sold as treatments for all kinds of ailments (“bad energy”, cancer, heart disease, arthritis etc).
If anyone knows of any good blog posts, web pages, magazine essays etc that could be handed to someone without a scientific background, I’d be really grateful.
Thanks!
Caine, sorry about Carrot! Hugs to you and scritches to the ratlets.
Any Minnesotans out there, I have a question which should be silly, but with climate change I’m not so sure: How reliably can one expect snow in January in northern Minnesota? Good bet, certain even in a warm year, don’t count on it?
I’ve been seeing a lot of “Who is John Galt?” bumper stickers around town, mostly on Lincoln Navigators and Honda Pilots. I’m betting none of them have read any of Rand’s work.
What we need is a John Galt Objectivism Songbook, to which I would contribute the following:
“This Land” (after Woody Guthrie)
This land is MY land, this land is MY land,
From California to New York’s Island,
From redwood forests to the gulf stream waters…
This land was made for me, me ME!
Dianne, good bet.
#5: Certain.
We had a very warm year last year — we even had a midwinter thaw, which was unusual — but the lakes still froze over and we had a small amount of snow, maybe an inch or two on the ground, most of the winter. And I’m in central Minnesota.
It was pathetic, though. It was nothing like my first winter here, when the snow piled up to the middle of the windows on my house.
mudpuddles, you could do a lot worse than checking out skepdic on any such topic.
So, since it was only short before the portcullis:
If you want to send some support for Jen write me a mail
The extra-special emailadress is gilsays-loveforjenÄTyahoo.de
I’m absolutely willing to organize and beat the drums, but it would be great if somebody in the States could collect the final letters/items because we’re going to be out of money and time if everything runs via Germany
And yes, I’m going to politely annoy the fuck out of you.
The skunk says support Jen or it will visit you when it’s grown up.
mudpuddles
Science based medicine is a good start.
And this is an immensely funny video on the subject.
@ Mudpuddles #3 : for Homeopathy, look at Dr. Steven Barrett’s website “Quackwatch”. it’s not the slickest website ever, but in there is contained a good article written on Homeopathy and debunking it, including a copy of the original piece on the subject by Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes, the grandfather of the supreme court justice.
Dr Barrett’s article can be found http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html
and his copy of Holmes’ debunking is at : http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/holmes.html
Dr Barrett also has articles on magnet-woo and other nonsense. Some of the material is a bit dated, but it’s a good resource.
Can we call him a flower if we want to? He doesn’t mind.
PZ:
Same here in ND. We barely had a winter last year. It was cold enough, but very little snow. Everything has been suffering this year due to the lack of snow melt.
I’m not a football fan. But I’m starting to LUV Chris Kluwe (the Minnesota Viking who wrote the “cockmonster” letter about equal marriage to the Maryland Delegate). Here’s his latest: http://blogs.twincities.com/outofbounds/2012/09/10/out-of-bounds-blog-no-9-why-symptom/
Caine and PZ:
Upstate NY isn’t quite the same as the upper midwest, but we are known for snow. Last winter we had a grand total of 2 snowstorms (right at the beginning and end of the season) and that was it. Hell, I only broke out my winter coat for a couple of weeks– it was warm enough to get by with a down vest and a pair of gloves most of the time.
Of course, not having the snow made this summer’s drought even worse. We’ve only had a handful of rainy days all year and when we did, it was often quick moving thunderstorms that don’t do anything to help the plant life. I’m hoping for a snowy winter, but I’m not holding my breath.
@dianne – I’m assuming by “northern MN” you mean Duluth and points north of there? If so, then certain. As PZ says, it was a warm winter; here in Minneapolis we hardly had anything worth shoveling. But there was plenty of snow up on the iron range.
Caine,
Commiserations regarding Carrot.
Re: Winter. When I lived in the USA it was in Buffalo (how I retain a love of your fair nation I will never know! ;-) Actually, I quite liked Buffalo. It was mostly seen double through a drunken haze, frankly it could have been anywhere). Proper winters. Looooooots of snow. I miss it. But then I can afford to miss it, I knew I didn’t have to shovel it off my drive for the next 50+ years.
Louis
The best thing I read all day (concerning “Tantric sex”):
So I’m asking because the small one wants to go dog sledding and there’s a place near Eli that does dog sledding tours for beginners, but am not sure whether there’ll be enough snow (and we’re looking at January!) It sounds like a reasonable bet though. Hope it works out and is fun. She likes being outdoors in the snow but isn’t up for serious trekking or cross country skiing and her last preferred sport (downhill skiing) isn’t exactly carbon efficient.
“The Deafness Before the Storm” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html?_r=1
Bush was told on more than one occasion that Al Quaeda was out to strike inside the USA.
There were a couple of days here (South of France) last winter where it not only snowed (gasp!), but the stuff stayed on the ground for over a day. Up to about ankle-deep. (Fully grown long pig’s ankle, not a Nac Mac Feegle’s ankle.) First time I’ve ever seen snow on a Mediterranean beach. I vaguely recall seeing a few attempts at snowmen as well.
Tiny puggles are cute…but wait till they grow up. Spiney Norman was actually an echidna!
— — — —
“The skunk says support Jen or it will visit you when it’s grown up”
And it will be accompanied by a dozen honey badgers…
Giliell
I sent you an email.
Wifi is down so I’m not commenting much, but email is easy on my phone.
Let me know what I can do.
I need some advice.
I come from a long line of obsessive-compulsives and hypochondriacs, so after some rather painful tooth trouble a couple of weeks ago I’ve started worrying about meningitis and other head-related infections. Every time I feel warmer than usual, I check my temperature and I’m constantly checking my neck for pain and stiffness. Last night at work, I had a pain in the back of my head and neck that worried the hell out of me. Was it a just a tension headache, pain from being hunched over a keyboard for 12 hours, or are bacteria left over from the rotten tooth I just had pulled about to infect my brain and spine?
The disgusting thing is that part of me realizes that I’m probably OK. I’m just over-reacting because I had a rather scary tooth-related infection in my lower jaw a couple of years ago that required them to put sew a rubber tube into my mouth. However, the rest of my mind is screaming How do you KNOW you’re all right? YOU DON’T!!! Get your ass to the emergency room, now! You’re going to die in feverish agony! The only thing that’s holding me back is that I didn’t schedule an unforeseen illness with my employers. (They are real assholes about sick time.) That, and the thought of getting a spinal tap… brrrrrrr!
What the hell should I do?
Portia
Got it!
I’ll send a reply to everybody who replied so far tonight.
Giliell,
I caught whiff of skunk over on Wheel’s and Butterflies and was ALL out of tomato juice. So you have email.
The honey badgers reminded me I should have told someone to spoon the rotting porcupine, but oh well.
Yeah, last winter was mild here in the Midwest. They only had 132″ of snow at dthe MTU Keweenaw Research Center in Dah YooPee. It’s usually above 200″. Here in Chiwaukee, barely enough to get the snowblower out a couple of times.
Dianne, call the dogsled folks and ask if the have a wheeled version should the snow be lacking. There’s a pretty active dogsled group in my small Aussie town, I’ve repaired a bunch of their wheeled, er, sleds for the lack of a better term. Might not be the exact experience your little one wants, but maybe a close second?
Akira: I can’t tell you what you should do based on an internet description of your symptoms, but I have a couple of pieces of general advice and questions:
1. How do you schedule an unforeseen illness? Yes, your employers are assholes. I’m guessing you have a system similar to the one my employer uses for non-MDs, which lumps all time off (sick time and vacation) together and punishes anyone who takes “unscheduled” time off. This strikes me as particularly stupid in a hospital where you want to discourage people from coming to work sick and passing the illness on to extremely vulnerable patients, but I’ve been told several times in so many words that it’s none of my business. Sorry, just had to get that rant out. Do you have a union or supervisor that you trust that could help you with this problem?
2. Do you have a thermometer that you trust? Does knowing that you have a normal temperature provide any reassurance or just feed into the OCD?
3. If you still have any tooth pain or jaw pain, go see a dentist. Tooth pain is an indication for an emergency visit. You will not be considered a hypochondriac.
4. I don’t think you have meningitis based on what you’ve told me, but I’m not there and if you think you have it or any other major problem, that’s what emergency departments are for. Trust me, they’ve seen flakier complaints than yours. If they haven’t, go find a larger hospital to go to, because the doctors at the one you’re at are seriously inexperienced.
5. Spinal taps aren’t particularly fun procedures to perform or especially well compensated so you won’t get one if it’s not indicated. Sorry if that’s overly cynical, but I’m hoping that knowing that there’s no secondary gain for the doctors or hospital in performing the procedure might calm your fears a little.
Blf:
Oh my!
All joking aside, it seems that lately we’ve been hearing more news stories out of Europe (especially France) about deaths cause by unusual weather patterns (too hot during the summer, mostly) and I have to wonder how that happens in industrialized countries. Is it lack of A/C and elderly care?
Akira:
How’s your health insurance? Could you schedule a visit with your GP just to ease your mind a bit?
Fossilfishy, thanks! The little one is very into dogs and I think she’ll be happy to hang out with dogs and run around outside, even if snow isn’t involved.
we’ve been hearing more news stories out of Europe (especially France) about deaths cause by unusual weather patterns (too hot during the summer, mostly) and I have to wonder how that happens in industrialized countries. Is it lack of A/C and elderly care?
When I was growing up in Dallas, there were stories about a few people dying of heat exhaustion and heat stroke every year and there were often calls for spare fans to be donated. So it’s been happening in industrialized countries for the last 30 years.
I do think that part of the problem in France and other parts of Europe is that because it’s traditionally not dangerously hot people don’t take the heat seriously enough or know how to cope with it. Heat can kill just as much as cold and measures need to be taken. If A/C is impractical, fans, water (both drinking and taking externally, i.e. jumping in a pool), avoidance of exertion in the hottest part of the day, hats, etc are measures that can be taken and reduce the risk of heat stroke.
@ Setar:
Even more annoyingly, there’s sort of a point buried in it. I find myself in some basic agreement that shaming masturbation is bad.
Hey look, I did that in one sentence, instead of an 8 page thread with giant walls of text.
Look at what we have to put up with.
It’s not just you Yanks that have gigantic dribbling political arseholes spouting ahistorical quasi political rhetoric aimed at rallying a vile sense of exclusive and unpleasant nationalism.
We have Boris.
Luckily he is near universally viewed as something of a joke. No one is quite sure how he keeps getting elected, it’s possibly being done on a bet. We do have a weird sense of humour over here.
Louis
Dianne:
God, I hate this.
Mr Darkheart gets “personal time” which is (as you said) all of his paid time off. Basically, if you take an unscheduled day, you will receive a written warning and after 3 written warnings, you get a disciplinary note in your HR file. So, essentially, even though he has 5 weeks of PTO, he only gets 3 “sick days” per year before he starts being negatively impacted on performance reviews.
*head shake* I can’t even figure out how that shit is legal, you know?
Snow? Oh crap, I still have my Spring flag out. Time for the apple tree flag before Cool Bear needs flyin’.
OMG Flower! (#12)
Presumably just ‘JAQing’ would be fine (unless professional tire-changers object).
Reminds me of the old story about the farmboy who happens across his grandfather in back of the shed with his pants down. “Grampa, what…are you beatin’ off??!”
“nope, just beatin’.”
@Audley: I don’t know. It strikes me as immoral at least. And stupid. Especially for a hospital. One person deciding “oh, I’m not really sick, it’s just a little cold” and coming to work with influenza could kill hundreds! And extend the stay of thousands of patients unnecessarily as everyone tries to figure out why they suddenly spike a fever out of nowhere. So there goes any potential cost savings from not allowing people to take off “unnecessarily”.
Of course, a similar, if usually less extreme, principle holds for any place of employment: One person coming to work with a contagious illness can cause a company wide outbreak. And FSM help you if you work with customers…influenza pandemics are spread this way.
Louis @34:
I didn’t know that Matt Lucas was mayor of London.
Plus, I don’t really see how ‘JAQing off’ shames masturbators per se. Clearly the metaphor is about masturbating publicly. Nobody cares what stupid leading questions one asks when alone and not online. (you should hear some of mine)
Indeed, we have…;)
Amateur peas are bad enough…
I’ve never heard of making a pea, Pro or Amateur, into a bumper sticker. Doesn’t seem like a good idea. Would probably dissolve the car.
Which I suppose might be a help in slowing GHG emissions?
Dianne,
I’d love to be able to do a study about lost productivity during cold and flu season in Mr Darkheart’s office alone, since people are pretty much forced to come in when they’re sick. It’s a shitty way of looking at the problem (employee health should be a goal in and of itself), but I feel like that would be the only way to get through to employers.
I do love all of the flyers you see around during winter that are all “Don’t go to work if you’re sick!” Ha! That’s a pipe dream.
.Dianne: There’s still some question as to the utility of electric fans during a heatwave.
This is a 2912 Cochrane review on the subject.
Shit I think I borked the link. Here’s the whole mess.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/14651858.CD009888.pub2/asset/CD009888.pdf;jsessionid=4977B6F7BCB38A71AD7E95A9397F7914.d02t02?v=1&t=h6z3rh2g&s=320ac66b5ba1ac70f622cd5331da82de28562611&systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+15+September+from+10%3A00-12%3A00+BST+%2805%3A00-07%3A00+EDT%29+for+essential+maintenance
I don’t know about the “more”, albeit it is possible. This summer was hot (locally) albeit I don’t believe it compares to the killer summer several years ago. But it rained several fecktons in the UK (I was really hoping we’d see the first Underwater Olympics); as I recall, this summer was had the most rain in something like c.100 years(in the UK (and probably also Ireland)).
Lack of A/C is an issue. So is, I also suspect, as was previously mentioned, unfamiliarity with excessively hot weather. And specifically in France, there’s the “everyone (including medical staff) takes August off” phenomenon, which was a factor in the killer summer some years ago — The hospitals allegedly didn’t have adequate staff during that heatwave.
I’m afraid I’ve got no clew about elderly care here in France (or much of anywhere), it’s not really on my radar. I’ll guess it’s reasonably decent here in France, but I know there are issues in the UK.
With the caveat I’ve no idea what the trend is, I’d guess that any increasing problem is multicausal. There’s no one reason for an increase (if there is one) in hot weather related deaths.
Fossil Fishy,
404 error on your link there. The second one that is.
Blf:
It could just be my perception or US news picking up on the stories of heat related deaths more. I just recall being flabbergasted and saddened hearing that people were dying from the heat during the last major heat wave in Europe.
Dammit. It works for me.
Trying again with just the summery page.
Uaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
My application for changing my university course has been approoooooved!
*serious happy dance*
So, I’ll talk to the faculties again and they tick off what I#ve done so far and I’m back on track!!!!!!!!!!
+++
USA: your system sucks and is bare any reason.
I know you know this but this is still pure and undilated madness: People who are sick are sick. They should not be in the workplace.
First they don’t do much anyway, second they infect other people. Employers lose more money by that.
Seriously, if Mr or his bosses notice that one of the colleagues is sick they have to send them home. Paid, no consequences. If they think that this person shouldn’t drive they have to get them a taxi.
Fossil, is this the review? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22786530 (link to abstract only)
I’m just glad my workplace values worker health. They have probably the best and most substantive health plan I’ve ever seen and 100% of the premiums are paid by them.
Pat Robertson on what to do with an uppity wife.
Become a Muslim so you can beat her.
“these days”
We don’t condone wife beating THESE DAYS… WTF?
Sorry, HuffPo linky there
Seriously, if Mr or his bosses notice that one of the colleagues is sick they have to send them home. Paid, no consequences. If they think that this person shouldn’t drive they have to get them a taxi.
Glad to know there’s some sanity in the world.
The alleged benefit of the “force people to work” system is a decrease in “unjustified” use of sick days, i.e. someone who calls in because their back twinged slightly last night. Or something. IMHO, if you have someone who you do not trust to not abuse their sick days, you probably shouldn’t be employing them.
But a more common problem is people who come to work when sick. Even if they don’t face negative consequences or at least don’t officially face negative consequences. Because everyone knows that if they don’t go to work their colleagues will have more work and no one wants that, even if only because they don’t want to take crap form their colleagues. And if they have a work ethic (as most people do), then you practically need a dart gun to keep them from working. I’d like to see the system reward people for staying away when they’re sick, to counterbalance these pressures.
Okay, so a bunch of us in the endless thread IRC were discussing this. We want to set up an A+ IRC, open, but to do so, we need good and active mods. I simply can’t do it by myself.
We also need (ideally) coverage for all the time zones. So!
Who wants to volunteer to be an IRC moderator?
Giliell,
hee hee. You’re funny! Americans don’t get time off!
All of the studies in the world can be done showing that we’re doin it rong and nothing would matter– granting sick time increases productivity, working over time decreases productivity, whatever– but unless you work for a select few employers, there’s no way corporate culture is going to change. They’re not there to make their employees happy or comfortable, employers exist to wring every last bit of profit out of exhausted, sick, and frightened employees.
I can’t tell you the last time Mr Darkheart didn’t work an extra hour or two a day or the last time he took a Saturday off or the last time he took a vacation/sick day or the last time he had a raise. His boss has him working on projects for two different departments because upper management won’t let them hire anyone new. Why bother? They may be seeing more profits than they’ve had in decades, but if they can squeeze the extra work out of a handful of employees, they’re going to.
Sorry to dump. I understand why Mr Darkheart is doing this (he is getting paid overtime and it’s not as if he really has job security), but I’m starting to feel really frustrated with the situation.
“I don’t think”!!??!!
You aren’t sure?
“Well, maybe we do and and maybe we don’t condone wife-beating, but I need to check the manual on that…”
As a supervisor myself, I have most certainly sent sick employees home. But my bosses value safety above all else and we can’t have our guys driving around while they’re ill.
Audley, have some hugs if they’re wanted! I sympathize with you and Mr. Darkheart, but don’t have any really useful ideas. This sort of thing is why I sometimes think that the real corporate and Republican agenda is to keep the economy bad and the employees in line. Can’t have people quitting for better jobs, can we?
I haz a shaym…again. I don’t know why the hell I typed Wheel’s and Butterflies, rather than Butterflies and Wheels. Why the hell did I make wheels possessive? My only defense is – I was HIGH!
High on what?
Vegemite and Froot Loops, dammit! Or some other combination of dreadfully evil things. I dunno anymore. I hand in my pedant badge and hang my head in shame because I suck at Anglish.
FF,
Much better, thanks.
He’s getting paid overtime?
As the sole IT person in a $150 Million / yr company with 12 locations in 8 States and 300+ employees, I feel your pain. I never stop working.
Except I’m full on salary. No overtime.
I work extra hours every day. Work almost every weekend (though a lot of that is from home) and I travel constantly.
But as you said, it is job security.
And I do not have a pregnant wife at home so it’s a different situation for me in that way.
It does suck, but that’s the unfortunate economy we are in.
Hopefully I win the lottery then I’m buying a floating city.
With flying pigs and bars that never close.
Dianne,
Thanks, I will take all the hugs!
I am incredibly lucky though, because I can get away with working a flat 40 hours a week (well, for certain values of “work”, my job is super boring right now, so I’m chatting in the Lounge instead) and no matter what, Mr Darkheart prioritizes me over his job. He may be working a lot, but he’s making time for the birthing classes we’re signed up for (as an example) and he’s there for me during doctor’s appointments and whatnot.
mudpuddles:
Just woke up to see your question about homeopathy. I’m sure someone (probably *several* someones) has answered your question, but more information never hurt someone.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/45.pdf
and
Rev,
Mr Darkheart earns time and a half for every hour above 40 in a given week, as long as it has prior approval. But, somehow, he is still considered to be salaried. I have no idea how in the hell that makes sense, but whatever.
@ John Morales, Giliell, DLC… thank you, thank you, thank you! They’re all a great help ;)
mudpuddles:
Forgot about the magnet therapy part of your query:
http://www.skepdic.com/magnetic.html
Also, Rev, he works for one of the largest/oldest insurance companies in the world. This company has been pulling record profits for the past 2 years at least, without compensating their employees or even hiring anyone new.
It sucks, but he’s stuck (at least for now). :(
Rev @52:
If only his wife was waiting at home with a frying pan, ala The Flintstones, I think Pat would learn a valuable lesson about life and women.
ImagineABeach:
Oh, dear me.
I can’t handle this.
Waking up to people outside of FtB with some grasp on reality.
Someone hold me, I’m think I’m going to fall over.
Everything Kluwe asks is exactly what I was thinking. It’s the same as ridiculous not-pologies. It’s the same as Michael Vick’s expression of sorror after the dog fighting years ago. It’s the same as Akin a few weeks back. It’s not enough for you to publicly say that you’re sorry. I want to know if you understand your error. Do you know *why* you were wrong? What steps are you going to take to prevent such idiocy in the future? How will you try to make amends? Just stating that you apologize for saying something doesn’t mean you understand why your statment was fucked up.
So the pea slamming starts early. I’ll show you blf. Another pound of peas goes into the swill.
It’s a social problem, and can’t be dealt with at the individual level. There’s a book by a sociologist, Heatwave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, that came out several years ago (haven’t read it), and there are whole subfields in the social sciences that study the unequal impact (by race, class, sex, age) of and political responses to extreme weather and natural disasters, which have been very active especially since Katrina.
I vaguely recall reading in French papers, in the wake of a large number of deaths several years (a decade?) ago* during that huge heat wave in southern France, about how the French government was making a big effort to properly address it as a public health issue – providing warnings, transportation to cooling stations, hotlines, proactive care for vulnerable elderly people, and other services – and I think I remember reading that it had been effective (though I could be mistaken). (Of course, this doesn’t address the fundamental problems that lead to these vulnerabilities, but it can save lives in emergency situations.) If the numbers are back up it’s worrisome, especially if it’s the result of cutbacks to preparedness programs.
*Ah. It was 2003.
hmmm, let me see. What *does* the Bible say about beating your wife?
I’ve always hated hearing the “when did you stop beating your wife” question, but hearing Pat’s opinion about that makes me queasy.
Until or unless he repeats the same policy five times, in front of different audiences, we can’t get a handle on Mitt Romney’s slippery policy points.
Well, I think he has made the God point clearly. This is what he said yesterday:
Theocracy anyone? More breeches of the separation between church and state?
This is what Romney said on Saturday, after inserting the Pledge of Allegiance into his speech.:
For what it’s worth (nothing, according to the Romney team), Obama is the one who made sure “God” was reinserted into the Democratic platform … unnecessarily. Neither Obama, nor anyone in his administration is trying to take “God” off our coins — that’s a right-wing conspiracy theory.
Romney thinks he is Ronald Reagan with God’s stamp of approval. This deeply delusional man graduated from Harvard. Now that’s a mystery.
Patricia:
Oooooh, a new Olympic sport!
BadPEAminton
Bowling with peas
PEAlliards
US PEA Open
Is this the right place to de-lurk, crash into the group conversation to spread some pro-evolution education joy and then re-treat again?
Anyways…
Over the weekend, an addition to the local zoo (I know, controversial topic, but let’s focus on the evolution part here) was opened here in Rostock, Germany. It’s called the DARWINEUM! (Darwin + museum, if that wasn’t obvious) While providing the apes and several other animals with greatly improved environments it also contains an exhibition on evolution, specifically showing how humans evolved from single-cell organisms, and pro-science interactive displays.
Unfortunately, the number of English language resources on this appears to be rather limited, but to give you an idea:
http://www.darwineum-zoo-rostock.de/english.html (only one page in English but clicking through might give those interested some insight)
http://www.websrbija.com/darwineum-opens-in-rostock.html
http://architecture.mapolismagazin.com/rasbach-architekten-darwineum-rostock
They’re also on facebook, which I cannot access right now to link.
Even a great great grandson of Charles Darwin visited to join the opening ceremony which was excitedly announced in the local news days before.
And while there were a number of protests and discussions surrounding the construction, they focused solely on the issues of money and location. I don’t recall even one person complaining about the name and the focus on evolution or requesting that “the controversy” be taught!
Though I guess this isn’t too surprising in the heavily atheistic former east Germany…
Ok, back to work – just had to share a little evolution-positive news from this part of the world. All is not lost! :-)
That’s becoming an increasing problem over here, too.
And the colleagues will chime in and shame the person who’s sick to add pressure.
Of course this leads to increased costs in healthcare and such, but at the moment, especially if you’re easily replacable, employers don’t care much if you drop out after a year because you’re burned out.
+++
Re: people in Europe dying in extreme temeratures
I think it sounds worse than it is. Many numbers are estimates. So, did the old lady’s heart stop because of the heat, because of the age, because of a combination of both?
I think that compared with the US it might actually be a case of having more data and actually giving a fuck about it.
Although it’s always a problem to get old people to drink enough.
BuzzFeed has a report on the most anti-gay piece of political mail this year.
“The Committee to Save the Eric County Republican Party” is upset with state Senator Mark Grisanti, a Republican. You see, Grisanti voted for allowing gay marriage.
This is how far right-wing fanatics force moderate Republicans out of office.
Images from gay porm are included in the mailer.
Here’s Salon’s coverage: http://www.salon.com/2012/09/11/anti_gay_ad_in_ny_attacks_gop_supporter_of_gay_marriage/
As in appropriate on 9/11, a lot of journalists are taking a look back at 9/11/2001. The New York Times tells us that George W. Bush was given more warnings of an imminent attack than have already been delineated previously.
Excerpt:
That’s the document we’ve all heard about before. The White House declassified that daily brief in 2004, thanks to demands from the 9/11 Commission. That brief was explained away as not containing enough detail, no actionable detail.
Contrary to what Jeb Bush claimed in his speech at the RNC, George W. Bush did not do a good job of protecting the country. And now a bunch of Republicans surveyed in Ohio think Mitt Romney killed Osama Bin Laden. Ignorance is too deep. We are drowning.
SC,
Thank you for the link to Heat Wave, it looks fascinating and horrifying.
Like I said, I’m not sure if there are more heat related deaths (nor do I know where I could check) or if they’re just on my radar more.
Mudpuddles, also look at the work of Joe Schwarcz at McGill University. He does a lot of debunking of pseudoscience and alternative medicine at the Office for Science & Society.
The other September 11th. From last year, and very good, despite it being published in Forbes.
I live in southern New Hampshire. The winter of 2010 was harsh by our standards: Constant snowstorms, drifts so high that they created accident hazards for drivers attempting to enter main roads, temperatures as low as −14° Fahrenheit (−25° Celsius). Last winter? I don’t even think we got six inches (152.4 mm) of snow, and temperatures never really dipped much below freezing.
Caine, I’m so sorry about Carrot.
Portia, I’m very sorry about your great aunt.
The shit Jen is getting…. no words. Giliell, I’ve just emailed you, but I’ll ask the Lounge as well: How about sending Jen consumable items like candy, little “nips” of booze, things like that? (Does anyone know what her tastes run to?)
Setar:
Given your frequent radical rants and exhortations to “war,” I think you’re the last person who should be talking about “ponies” in politics. Which, btw, is a term frequently used to dismiss people’s civil rights as petty desires. ()
kc909, years ago I heard someone sing the parody “This land is my land/It isn’t your land/I’ve got a shotgun/So you better get off it…” I have no idea if it was off the cuff or someone had written it down.
Audley, in addition to what Dianne, blf, and SC say, buildings in most of Europe aren’t designed to accommodate severe heat, because historically that has not been a major problem over there. Same reason A/C was never installed on a widespread basis.
I was really hoping that telecommuting would become more of a “thing,” but that seems reserved only for employees of a certain social class or above, especially the ones allowed to take two-hour martini lunches. Bosses of peons want “face time,” and they want it when they want it. I cynically doubt that there will be any widespread change to the abusive anti-labor bullshit that you, Dianne, and Akira describe until another pandemic hits us and kills thousands.
PatrickG:
As Chas says, nobody is shaming masturbation. They’re shaming public masturbation; i.e., whipping it out in front of other people without their consent, which is akin to sexual assault.
Dianne:
That’s been clear for decades.
Lynna:
Harvard is and has long been the place where the U.S.’s elites have their overweening sense of entitlement capped off with instructions on how to fulfill it. “Liberal university,” my ass.
Hello, Pandurata.
Louis @34 : I’d cheerfully trade you Boris for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brewer
Veterans Today posted an article yesterday in which journalist Gordon Duff makes the claim that Romney’s mormon draft deferment was not legal.
Excerpt:
Regarding sick time – I work for a hospital in Southern California. We get two weeks paid sick time in addition to (and completely separate from) our vacation time. This is for the obvious reason that having sick employees around immune-compromised patients is a bad thing. Even then, we have people coming to work who shouldn’t be here.
Extended interview with a mormon woman whose leader in the roles of Bishop and Stake President was Mitt Romney
Excerpt:
I’m up for it, but we need a designated collection point for it, ideally someone who’s going to be at the same place/time with her sometime in the near future.
(Later: I’ll email you when I get home tonight.)
–
–
Baby skunks are cute. But they get over it.
–
Huzzah!
–
So after reading page of Bible scare quotes linked by Patricia, I somehow ended up clicking through to AiG’s page defending the Biblical value of pi:
what?!
pandurata:
Thanks for sharing that.
I looked through the pictures on the Dawineum site. Cool pics found here.
The fistbump in pic @7 is cute!
cicely:
The become real stinkers don’t they?
Heck, I think adult skunks are cute, from a distance. :)
Thanks, Ms. Daisy Cutter.
—
Who has smile-inducing internet content? I know you all have got the good stuff.
Republican candidate for office in California gets the science wrong when it comes to abortion.
This is one of the lines of rhetoric that enrages me the most. When they try to co-opt the interests of women, as if they ever ever cared. It makes me even angrier than the lies about science.
GOP Delegate Says that Children with Disabilities are God’s Punishment for Past Abortions
nms @89;
Look closely at AiG’s “justification” for the Bible’s value of pi.
The diameter, measuring the inside is 10.
30 is the outside. That makes the actual circumference of the circle with diameter 10 to be 30 – 2 hands breadths.
So this means the Bible tells us that pi = C/d = (30 LESS 2h)/10 = a number LESS than three.
AiG makes the bible EVEN MORE wrong.
Epic fail, no?.
Portia @95, I agree with you.
It’s infuriating when they use the “we’re doing this for your own good” excuse to take away women’s rights.
After being infuriating, they use pseudo-science to add insult to injury, proving that the guys doing things to us for our own good are also the proud owners of defective brains.
Also, if you correct AiG’s math and grant them the right sign, what you end up getting is pi = (30 + 2h) / 10 which gives, roughly, 31.4 = 30 + 2h, a hands breadth being about 0.7 cubits.
And that makes the supposedly vast basin of 10 cubit diameter about 14 hands breadths wide (16 to the outside of course). It’s barely bigger than a washbasin, or a wheelbarrow.
Unless we’re talking about the hands of Nephilim, of course.
Lynna, exactly. It reminds me of the conservative hand-wringing over sex-selective abortion in countries like China and India. They give zero fucks about women’s rights in any other respect. I mean, maternal mortality rates are absolutely shameful worldwide, and it would not be expensive to fix were it a priority to these asshats that have all the money. /incoherentrantendingnow
nms – Here’s a well known biblical fact – dragons and unicorns
So, Romney rips off Obama’s website. Is there nothing original in the Romney campaign?
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/10/romney_rips_off_obama_website/
Uh-oh. Nipplegate.
Facebook got all upset when a New Yorker cartoon showed a bare-breasted Eve.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/cartoonists/2012/09/nipplegate-why-the-new-yorker-cartoon-department-is-about-to-be-banned-from-facebook.html
Excerpt:
buildings in most of Europe aren’t designed to accommodate severe heat,
I’m not sure that’s completely true. When I was in Germany last summer there was a heat wave and I was impressed by how easy it was to keep buildings cool by opening the windows at night (when it got below 25C) and then closing them during the day (when it got above 35C). Insulation works. Who knew? But in terms of being built to ventilate or deflect heat…no, they’re not really. Nor is AC used regularly. It’s a carbon inefficient mess, but AC can save lives in some situations.
Whoops. The math in my second post is wrong. If you keep AiG’s assertion that 10 cubits is the INSIDE diameter, then either pi is LESS than 3, or a hands breadth must be a NEGATIVE value (so the bible says that human hands are imaginary?).
You can only make it work if you make 10 cubits the outside diameter and 30 cubits the inside circumference, which then gives you a value of a hands breadth of just over 0.2 cubits. That makes the basin 45 to 47 hands breadths wide, about the size of a small room.
The Romney campaign’s “victory wallet”
Am I the only one who finds the phrase “victory wallet” ominous? Kind of…1984ish or something.
Hands clasped in prayer might as well be.
Oh, dear, oh dear. This is so sad.
Not.
Arizona’s Birtherpalooza has been canceled thanks to low ticket sales.
What!? You don’t want to hear Sherrif Joe Arpaio and Pat Boone entertain you with whackadoodliness?
This was supposed to be the “premier birther event” of the election season.
I am so disappointed.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/birtherpalooza_canceled.php
One conspiracy theory, (and one which I am repeating here because I really believe it):
Yeah, that’s gotta be it. The random caps convinced me.
Arpaio is in trouble for not investigating these murders. Maybe Pat Boone will take up the investigation, and we can reschedule Birtherpalooza.
Fuck 9/11. That is all.
Lynna: Nothing new under the sun.
Dianne,
I thought that “victory wallet” sounded like a WW2 era throwback– like “victory garden”. You know, pointless in today’s context.
But “freedom wallet” could work!
well, we’re catching up on it. At least some are. The building I live in was built in the 1960’s and given better insulation in 2007.
It’s a serious blessing in summer and winter.
So, there’s one waffle left, who wants it?
I’m glad I had made the dough already. Yesterday’s soup has turned sour and tomorrow’s dinner was only meant for me, so we really needed the waffles to fill our stomachs.
Amphiox – Now see here! If gawd said the seas are that size it’s true. And further more, you smarty pants, the Titanic sinking in it proves it. So there. Pffft!
Hey everyone! We just finished transcribing Cristina Rad’s youtube video on GirlWritesWhat: http://goo.gl/EyKjK
Thanks to everyone who invested time and effort into this!
I’ll let them know Beatrice. :)
99. Amphiox easier to do redneck pi for ancient math
Last night, the rats discovered the joy of toilet paper. Woke up to two brand new rolls spun out all over the floor. *sigh*
Caine, wait until they figure out how to flush and have one end of the roll in the toilet.
Whee!
Fucking Karmakin. Elevatorgate apparently had nothing to do with sexism but with
And that stupid fuckstick has the nerve to whine about how badly he was treated by feminists.
Ah, Karmakin. Still repeating the same old “both sides were wrong in this” and “we could all get along if you* were more civil”.
*you=FTB commenters (obviously)
I have no idea who Karmakin is. Should I?
He’s a whiny little shit. It galled me to see Stephanie Zvan cut him so much slack on a previous thread because he has social anxiety and it therefore affects his perceptions. Boo hoo hoo, many of us have social anxiety and we aren’t given free reign to use it as an excuse to talk out of our asses.
Also, gotta love this person, who whines about and whose Facebook handle is .
He’s whining about being banned from the A+ subreddit. Here’s an example of his brilliant argumentation.
Janine, Karmakin has hung around FTB for a while now. He seldom shows up here on Pharyngula.
I remember his handle from Pandagon, ages ago. He once asserted that because it takes a village to raise a child, it’s abusive and unsociable to not let the neighborhood children play on your lawn.
Karmakin occasionally wanders into threads about A+/sexism in the atheist community/elevatorgate/etc. and starts pointing out how we are uncivil and how there were a lot of misunderstanding following elevatorgate. Things aren’t really all that bad, but the two sides have trouble communicating. We are actually closer than we thing. Blah. Shit like that.
Sexism is “social privilege and observance of cultural norms”.
(I HATE that threaded/embedded commenting.)
Caine,
YAY TP! I tell you, other people’s rats are like other people’s kids… fun, because you don’t have to clean up the mess!
He’s also backing up known troll Baal on the issue of tone in this thread. Note this:
LOL WUT.
Janine:
They better not! There are quite a few of the rats who prefer a water box to a litter box, though. They have a water ‘box’ in the bathroom. If I start finding toilet paper in it…
Improbable Joe:
Hahahaha. Yeah, thanks a lot. ;)
π(Bible)≈2.872
I need a subscript tag to properly Science
True Science™ is revealed knowledge.
In case you are familiar with the work of using solar sails to accelerate space payloads, it might be apropriate to forward this song by Swedish band Agnes – “Into the Sun” http://soundcloud.com/joaopavao/agnes-into-the-sun :-)
.
(Sweden has a lot of cool bands that I actually thought were British and ´Merican)
Y’know, Jasper used to be one of my favourite names. I am so glad I didn’t call any of the rats Jasper.
So, everybody who sent me a mail today should have one back now, please shout loudly if you haven’t
Oh hai! Does anyone else want to read Bill Donahue’s latest drivel? No? I’ll condense it down for you:
Shorter Bill Donahue: We know that Obama hates religion because he does not give his daughters Christmas presents* and even atheists like Christmas presents! Also, he doesn’t talk about God often enough**. And the Democratic Party removed the word “God” from its platform***. War! On! Religion!1!!
*Nobody gave their kids Christmas gifts before Dickens came along, so it’s not part of Christian teachings or anything, but whatevs.
**When talking about Jefferson specifically.
***I had no idea that President Obama wrote the party platform!
MediaMatters posted a Today In Dishonest Fox News Graphics
that is revealing.
There’s a photo of the misleading graphic at the link above.
A chart illustrating the true stats is also available at the link.
I’m parking it here for awhile. Sick and tired of having to hammer away that a huge amount of domestic abuse is just fine cause the bible says so. There’s not one damn dish left in my house to throw agaisnt the wall on that subject. *snort*
Fox News contributors who also work for the Romney campaign (a fact seldom revealed on Fox News):
John Bolton
Elaine Chao
Walid Phares
Pete Snyder
Just one example of the way in which these undisclosed conflicts of interest affect new sources in general, and not just Faux News:
Is there any Grog left? Maybe some Sangria?
I just spent a lot of time swimming in the bile over at
Mike McCreight’s blog.
For the benefit of some of the deeply misinformed individuals over there, who can’t seem to understand the issue with online harassment, I left this missive:
“To all those who think online harassment is ‘not a big deal’:
“Cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet, email or other electronic communications to stalk, and generally refers to a pattern of threatening or malicious behaviors. Cyberstalking may be considered the most dangerous of the three types of Internet harassment, based on a posing credible threat of harm. Sanctions range from misdemeanors to felonies.
Cyberharassment. Cyberharassment differs from cyberstalking in that it is generally defined as not involving a credible threat. Cyberharassment usually pertains to threatening or harassing email messages, instant messages, or to blog entries or websites dedicated solely to tormenting an individual. Some states approach cyberharrassment by including language addressing electronic communications in general harassment statutes, while others have created stand-alone cyberharassment statutes.
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-res…”
That site also has a chart that shows the 30+ states in the US with laws against cyberharassment.
Yeah, that’s really not much of a problem at all…”
How is Sheriff Joe A not in jail by now???
My sister’s ex-partner is called Jasper. Before I became acquainted with your rodent friends, I’m afraid I might have described him as a bit of a rat!
<blockquote.There are quite a few of the rats who prefer a water box to a litter box, though. They have a water ‘box’ in the bathroom.
Ha ha, a rat bidet!
ARGH.
Well, there’s CPP’s latest.
And here’s a tweet from DBag Chopra.
I read the main article on Yahoo! News about Egyptians breaking into the U.S. Embassy today and one item made me so angry that, as an American citizen, I had to file this complaint with the U.S. Department of State (which sort of thing they do not make easy to do, I might add):
“Reuters is reporting that our embassy in Egypt today issued a statement that read in part, ‘We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.’ It is in no way an ‘abuse’ of free speech to criticize or even mock anyone’s religious beliefs. I am bitterly disappointed that any U.S. embassy would issue a statement such as this that appears to retreat from our defining national commitment to free speech and I respectfully request that the statement be retracted.”
One other item in that article annoyed me: A graffito was supposedly scrawled on the embassy walls to the effect of, “If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action.” Sorry, Random Egyptian Vandal Protester Person, my speech might anger or offend you, but it does not cause physical damage. Speech and action are not equivalent — I do not accept your “freedom of action” at all if it means that you consider it OK to trespass on or destroy my nation’s property, or possibly physically assault or kill someone, because your delicate feefees have been upset.
Tony – There’s always sangria! Todays swill is pea based. It’s already had the percent doubled due to blf’s sass.
kristinc – hey thanks for picking up on my comment over at Aronras place.
Ms. Daisy:
I knew it!
I just knew the little shit whining about how he was banned over ‘criticizing feminist ideology’ was spouting some MRA bullshit.
He doesn’t seem to realize that there’s no room for male privilege denial in A+. It exists.
Whoa. Insider dope on the Cato Institute and their plan to go from merely a soul-sucking appendage of the Koch brothers to a full-blown reincarnation of Ayn Rand.
Link at Slate.
This change will affect, does affect, the right-wing approach to war. And not in a good way. I won’t repeat the details here. The article at the link does a pretty good job of it.
“Cato will become a more Objectivist organization.”
Patricia:
Thy evil knows no bounds :)
And, since you can never go wrong with the classics…
Silky hen
Tibetan fox
Dianne:
Yes, that was my little quip about my empoyer’s sick leave policy. “Sick days” aren’t for being ill, they’re for arranging visits with the doctor or dentist and only if you schedule them two weeks ahead of time. I too wonder how that is fucking legal, but hey, this IS the United States of America Inc. where our business is business.
I’m feeling better. I may have found the source of my neck/head discomfort. The pain I felt last night returned about 30 minutes after I started my shift, so it’s probably caused by sitting at my desk, huddled over a keyboard. That, and I was having a pretty stressful time, yesterday. I did call my GP and scheduled an appointment to see him Thrusday (my “Saturday” as it were) and we’ll talk then. Otherwise I’m not presenting any of the other symptoms of meningitis: lethargy, light sensitivity, loss of appetite (indeed, I wolfed down four Korean BBQ tacos for lunch), confusion–well, no more than usual– fever, etc. I guess I’m really OK. When I get like this, talking about with someone helps me realize that it’s all in my head; however, when I’m left to my own devices I can worry myself into anything.
For instance, I used to work the night shift at a local gas station where I had the responsibility of locking up. On night I had forgotten to lock the door, and the boss chewed me out over it. After that, I became obsessed with making sure that door was locked. Driving home at 1 am I suddenly wonder if I had locked up. It’d nag on me until I turned around and drove back. Sometimes I would occur hours after closing and I’d have to get out of bed at 3 or 4 am and drive 20 minutes there and back again to check that fucking door!
And don’t get me started on all the times I wondered if I left a gas stove running.
Mormon leaders are trying really hard to make it seem like the LDS Church is completely neutral when it comes to the Presidential race.
In real life, the neutrality is only skin deep.
It’s not officially official, but lots of mormons are using LDS Church organizations and mailing lists to make overt or thinly veiled pitches for Mitt Romney.
Part of the problem is that mormons view their leaders, like Severts, as representing LDS, Inc. But LDS, Inc. pretends that it leaders are all volunteers doing their own thing. The underground campaigning for Mitt Romney thrives in this gray area.
Every time one of these mormon-related campaign efforts is outed, LD$, Inc. merely repeats the standard “not us, we don’t do politics” line. Meanwhile, mormons carry on with the politicking, but clam up a little more when it comes to letting the gentiles get a whiff of the activily.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54868744-78/church-members-lds-political.html.csp?page=1
Ron and Judy Tobler back Romney.
I’m Internet Famous!
I wish he hadn’t put the bit about ‘everyone who doesn’t agree 100% is a delusional douchebag’, though. I was trying very, very hard to avoid excusionary language like that in my post.
Quick, someone tell me why the same people who say that atheism can’t handle the inclusion of progressive values are now insisting that A+ make room for people with regressive values. Talk about fucking entitlement!
Nick:
Hahahahaha. Now I’m extra glad I didn’t name any of them Jasper.
Damn.
I’m getting shades of Ben Goren after reading Jasper…
Stevarious, exclusionary language is GOOD. It does us no good to form A+ because we need a place to do XYZ, and then allow people who are against doing anything about XYZ to hijack the whole thing. People who oppose the goals of the group should by obvious necessity be excluded from the group.
From the comments below the Salt Lake Tribune article about mormons crossing the line and using church resources to campaign for Romney:
@ Ms Daisy Cutter
Meh. I think there’s a minor argument for saying that’s not self-evident in the term, but y’know, I really don’t care. All I’m saying is he could have made his point in one paragraph, no manifesto needed.
Improbably Joe,
I don’t have a problem with exclusionary language in general or on principle. It was just that in this specific case, I was addressing a person who honestly seemed to agree with A+’s purpose, just not its methods. That is to say, not a troll but a person that might actually be won over. (I’m sorry, optimism is one of my many flaws.)
And I don’t accept that everyone who disagrees is delusional, or selfish, or a fuckbagge. I prefer to leave room for the fact that people can just be wrong.
Improbable Joe.
My apologies.
Some asshole barged into my thread about getting free marketeers out of A+ and started throwing “soft science” bullshit all over the place. Help requested.
Stevarious:
:falls over laughing: Oh, I’m stealing this, yes I am.
Stevarious – I left a short comment about your post. Very much what I was hoping people were going to say. That guy sort of has a thing for using the work fuck.
Joe – Only in Merica are we so blessed!
*ducks*
Caine:
I wish I could claim credit, but that’s Physioproffe’s word.
Thought so — but I thought that Physioproffe added an ‘e’ to all of his fucks…
Stevarious,
Why assume good faith in the face of so much bad faith, and especially why assume that your effort is best spent inviting in people who oppose you and want to undermine you on the off-chance that you can magically change their minds? Might as well invite a bunch of Christians into an atheist group, since we’re all about the outreach…
BTW, that person you were addressing seems to think that the goal of atheism is increasing our numbers, period. That’s fine if you think pure numbers matter more than making sure those people are decent folks. What good is an atheist movement that includes woos and quacks and non-skeptics of all sorts, place racists and sexists and homophobic douchecanoes?
Stevarious:
I’m still stealing it. Already used it, in fact. Besides, you get credit for bringing it to my attention.
Patricia, you should be thrashed about the head and shoulders with a shit-dipped sea bass for your impertinence! Good day!
Fucking Murrca. We’re “blessed” with people who think we should be nicer to theists, and also think that rape and death threats are OK.
Oh, and since we’re on about Comradde PhysioProffe, I feel like for the remainder of the conversation I should be referred to as Improbablle Joee or something. :)
From the article:
ugh
Another poster on the thread I linked above:
Which words in this post indicate that the poster is of a libertarian bent?
All of you that could use a laugh today. Two of the walls in the Pink are done. The washing machine could go back into it’s place.
Now try imagining a pair of middle aged humans trying to wrestle a Maytag extra heavy duty washer by themselves.
yep, you guessed it, two pissants trying to hump a bull elephant.
Improbably Joe:
Because not all people are the same. Just because there are many, many trolls pretending to be reasonable to waste time, doesn’t mean that everyone who disagrees is a troll.
It’s not hard to tell whether a person can be convinced – usually only one or two back-and-forths will demonstrate it. But there ARE people that can be convinced.
That’s one of the parts that’s going to make a point-by-point so easy. Either she gets that one pretty easily or she demonstrates that she’s not worth the effort very quickly.
No good at all – you’ll get no argument from me.
Improbable Joe #169:
And that the only alternative to our broken, discriminatory, classist system is a totalitarian dictatorship, and that it’s acceptable to raise this specter every time someone tries to push and make things better for everyone that isn’t a rich white guy or their syncophant.
Improbable Joe!
Jeez how did I make that typo twice??
Cut n Paste from now on.
Joeee – Thanks for the sea bass! Just what the pea swill needs.
Not enough flair. Improbabble Jeaux.
Stevarious:
If it helps, I always type Improbably and have to backspace the y and type an e.
Three Loco: “We are Farmers: bum bu-bum bum-bum bum-bum.” http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681474/assisted-by-diplo-goofball-rappers-three-loco-remix-farmers-insurance-jingle
Damn, when my family was farming in Sweden we never had any such “interesting” crops.
Mock The Movie coming up on Thursday!
“Mock The Movie: Hercules, plus VLC live tweet stream!” http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/2012/09/11/mock-the-movie-hercules-plus-vlc-live-tweet-stream/
Hey folks ,
long time lurker here. Am getting a capcha screen before it lets me on to the site and says it is due to an infected IP. Have run scans and have not been able to find anything. Any one else face this ? Any suggested remedies?
Improbabble Joe is something.
Hey, everyone.
I think I found the perfect logo for the A* crowd.
I stole it from here.
I thought it was this.
May I please remind the Lounge Denizens to please use the title attribute when making a link to an image for blind or vision-impaired members.
This has been your Daily Groupthink Accessibility Reminder.
trinioler, I agree that vision-impaired members deserve some consideration, but because you told me to do it that means YOUR MOTHER IS A HAMSTER AND YOUR FATHER SMELLS OF ELDERBERRIES!!!! I’m going to send your home address to far-right militias and tell them you’re a terrorist, and also call you names on Twitter. Nobody takes away my FREEDOM!!![/libertarian]
Boy howdy, you really told him a thing or two. If he says anything back let his aunty’s have it.
Oh wait..I’m an aunty.
Aw damn, what is the title attribute and how do I use it? I’ve been trying to remember to write out the link as a separate word so that it’s clear that THIS WORD HERE IS THE LINK (although I don’t always), but how do I title attribute it?
9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB
/obligatory
carlie here’s an example <a href=whatever title=”Descriptive title of whatever”>
Please tell me this drivel is not being transcribed. Once a pun plague breaks out the scribe will be sticking things in his own eyes.
At least one person is not at all happy that Shannara is becoming a TV show.
didn’t look like bullshit to me.
The current troll must never have seen what happens to the easter chick.
Heat: yes, it is dangerous, especially where people are unprepared. Apparently many old people don’t feel so much thirst and may forget to drink and become dehydrated, so they are more vulnerable. And no, reports of excess deaths due to heat waves are *not* often over-stated. Public health people calculate these sorts of things based on the normal background mortality rate, you know. We’re not stupid.
I don’t know why I don’t learn, but I am always astonished and horrified by US working conditions. This is what I have: entitlements to 23 days holiday leave (not counting public holidays); 10 days “personal” leave for sickness or caring for sick family; assorted other leave (e.g. bereavement, jury service) and a flex time system. And good parental leave, though I’m not a parent so that one doesn’t affect me. I’m supposed to get a doctor’s certificate if I’m sick for 3 or more days in a row, and to call (or email) within 2 hours of my usual start if I’m taking a sick day.
Why do you have such crappy conditions in comparison? Because you don’t have a decent union movement, duh. What is THAT so? Well, that is a long and complicated and at times very ugly story. One which the rest of the world would do well to pay heed to; it’s easy to forget that our benefits were hard won and need defending. Australia has been declining for a long time now; I’m in one of the unionised hold-outs but a lot of union-busting campaigns have been successful and, surprise surprise, things are getting worse.
Sorry to bother eneryone, but I have a question that has been lingering in the back of my mind for some times now, and I wanted to know if anyone could give me a few pointers.
I just read this post by Stephanie Svan:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/2012/09/11/the-search-for-slavering-dogs/
Here is the question: I’ve enjoyed Jerry Coyne’s blog for some time now, and while I don’t check it that regularly, I have never seen him take a firm stance on feminism or social justice in the atheist community one way or the other. However I have run on a number of allusions on FtB that he is not exactly a friend of the A+ movement. I have done a quick search but did not really found any solid reference of his positions on the issue.
If someone could point me in the right direction, a post of him on the subject for example, I would be grateful.
I can post in TZT if it is a contentious subject.
Kassad, while I find Jerry Coyne’s blog worth reading, he has given hat tips to the likes of Justicar. Other denizens of the slime pit, past and present are regulars in the comments. But the same can be said about past and present regulars of this blog.
kassad, I read Coyne’s blog too. You will not find a straightforward post by him on the subject; he seems to view himself as above petty internet drama. He has made it subtly clear, however, in passive-aggressive little quips, gratuitous allusions, and comments on others’ blogs that he is not an A+ kind of guy. He seems to have no time for feminism and finds the whole thing annoying.
What is not being transcribed Patricia?
I am fucking PISSED. Just picked up my 14yo daughter from a 9/11 event. She is in ROTC so was in uniform. A male teacher told her she cleaned up real nice. A FUCKING TEACHER! Hunted him down and asked if he said that. He claimed he said she looked nice. I threw his quote back at him and said that it was a really sexist remark.
He starts giving me the old “in the military” bullshit. My whole extended family has active military on both sides of the family. I said that it was sexist and slutshaming of him to deign to decide what a 14yo girl looked nice in and that I was highly offended as well as my daughter being offended. Why after the 44 years since I quit the 8th grade do we still have that bullshit in our schools!
Janine & ChasCPeterson:
Thanks. I recognize some of the trolls from here in his comments section, but never saw them do anything on WEIT so I just assumed that he did not know they could be assholes (jackrawlinson comes to mind). But guess posts by Justicar (at least that’s what somone said one commenter at AlmostDiamonds and you seem to confirm it)?! That guy is toxic. Well, sucks.
*wipes hair from eyes*
*blinks in stark astonishment at seeing ‘fuckstick’ and ‘fuckbagge’ in The Lounge*
*nervously wonders why the Lounge isn’t as friendly as he expected*
*considers leaving, swallows hard, does in fact leave, regains nerve and promptly changes his fucking damn bitch of a pseudonym, returns*
*timidly searches the room for a pint of leftover grog. Or sangria. No luck*
“Hmmmm, no trolls in here…..”
*momentarily distracted by contemplating moral underpinnings and social aftermath of the French Revolution*
Hello friends! What is your favorite kind of cheese?
*meh*
Point Reyes Blue.
…damnit, now you have me thinking about it D:
Dad?
As far as I know, the only front-page appearance at Coyne’s by The Justicar was this video, and it was posted by Coynes relief pinch-blogger Greg Mayer.
In a comment once, TJ implied that he had submitted a guest-post, but it evidently didn’t get used.
I’m sure Mayer didn’t know what an asshole TJ is. Coyne might not even know; TJ plays nice there.
@204 Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven – my favorite is Cheez Whiz. Really, any kind of squeeze cheese is fine by me.
@205 Ms. Daisy Cutter, Vile Human Being – Yes Luke, I am your father.
*smiles giddily; Star Wars puns are fun*
*looks around sadly for Nerd of Redhead…. lonely*
#202 Raymond
that was when the sans coulottes used the proletarian class to take over for the first truly communist government in current historical time. Worked fine until the union corse started manipulating the bread production process and got one of their little pissants promoted to general. The country has been gone to hell since.
Hey folks, I thought I’d pop in before bed and share something happy for a change…
My doggy has a doggy friend!! The newest neighbors on our street arrived with their very own pit bull puppy names Pinky. Apparently she was the runt of the litter and one of the other dogs hurt her back leg and that’s why they have her. She’s an indoor dog and is well trained and as sweet as sweet can be, and when they let her out to do her business she cuts through a little hole in the fence separating our houses and plays with our Ginger. It is SO ADORABLE! She stays with us on our walk, and when we’re done Pinky follows us home and tries to come inside with us, and then she goes home to her yard.
….
*cries*
A lot of my posts lately have been fairly negative, mostly because I’m a bit burned out from school and Canadian politics is depressing. But today I have some (small) pieces of good news to share:
1. I think that I am finished lab work for the first chapter of my thesis! Now it’s just lots and lots of analysis, and lab work for the other two chapters.
2. A cute girl flirted with me in a store today. Between the plaid shirt I was buying and the fairly awesome earrings I was wearing (green buttons with white polka dots), I actually managed to ping someone’s gaydar. Yay!
3. It’s new glasses day! Only the lenses, because I couldn’t justify the expense of new frames right now. But I still love the feeling of everything being so crisp and clear.
Janine, this person is eerily saying precisely what I might say about this (and probably better than I could), except for the struck-out bit:
(Eeeeeeeery!)
I like a good cheese, but really, nothing beats the cheese in classic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handi-Snacks"cheese-n-crackers packs. Something about that little red stick, probably. And that it tastes like my childhood. :)
FUCK. And my typos didn’t even then lead to the right article, because I screwed that up too. SOURCE
trinioler – I am dense? If that all comes after the href and before the bracket, where does the actual link go?
trinioler – The drivel that is acceptable in the lounge. Alot of what is said here is particular to this thread only. I would hope no poor sod is given the task of transcribing it.
(Much of said drivel is mine.)
@208 broboxley OT. Interesting point, and I agree with your conclusion that France has gone to hell (most of it anyways), but modern communism didn’t yet exist during the time in question.
I’m curious if you would you care to elaborate upon what you believe “worked fine” before General Bonaparte came to power?
If you’re feeling generous, do you consider external manipulation of the bread production process to be inconsistent with the machinations of a command economy?
ChasCPeterson:
I hope so.
broboxley OT:
Well not really.
they ARE fine manipulators though.
Hé! Attends une seconde!
Carlie – Don’t feel bad, I bork links half the time. I also loose track of my turnips if they number more than five.
Carlie,
It doesn’t matter what order you use the title/href attributes.
The link goes in the place where href=”whatever”.
Like so: href=”http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/09/11/lounge-366/”
Raymond:
I’m pretty sure it was a joke. There was no communism before the Consulate (or after for that matter).
And what part of France went to Hell? I’m not opposed to the qualification but I’d like some precisions.
To be honest, I had actually forgotten the significance of today’s date until I was at a KwikTrip buying some goodies with a check.
“Oh yes, it’s THAT day’,” I said after filling out the date.
I’m sure the scene would send the conservatives I know howling, but what can I say? I’m an godless, American-hating liberal with other things on my mind rather than jingoistically dwelling on one really bad day 11 years ago.
Carlie:
Carlie, you just did a descriptive link in your post, SOURCE. It goes like this:
<a href=”Place Link Here“>Place Descriptor Here</a>
trinolier, what is this “title attribute” of which you speak? Is the “title” not the site to link to?
–
They’re making Shannara into a TV series???
*wretching sound*
–
Havarti.
–
I wasted part of today reading that Pat Robertson thread. Other than that I got my kraut chopped and soaking over night in a brine bowl.
1 head of cabbage, chopped medium to fine.
2 tblspns pickling spice (cloves picked out)
3 tblspns salt
fat handfull of fresh dill
cover with cool water
In the morning it goes into the crock – then out in the garage to consider cabbagy thoughts for two weeks or so.
There was an undergrad business major/business firm mixer thingy in the atrium of our science complex today (I think they had it there due to the hugeness of the room). I couldn’t help but notice that most of the students wore unfitted jet black suits with gaudily coloured, poorly fitting shirts, and polyester ties that matched the shirts. I was deeply disturbed. /suit pedant
carlie, it’s fairly straightforward — basically, it’s like the italics or bold tag, but also has an optional parameter for which you can provide a value.
Look at an empty anchor tag with this parameter, the
titleattribute:<a href="" title=""></a>
The
hrefis the hyperlink reference, i.e. the URL of the resource to which you are linking, and goes inside the quotation marks.The
titleis the alt-text that shows on hover and is accessible to sight-impaired people using the right software, again this goes inside the quotation marks.The text you provide for the link (the visible part) goes between the angle brackets.
So, putting it all together:
<a href="the URL goes here" title="the alt-text gotes here">the link text goes here</a>EG:
<a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/09/11/lounge-366/comment-page-1/#comment-453549" title="this describes this link, which is to your comment">this is the link to your comment</a>becomes
this is the link to your comment
<a href=”example.com/img.jpg” title=”What img looks like”>Click Here!</a>
Use the title when you’re linking to an image.
trinioler – Are you going to post a wiki page of those HTML codes? My old page of them is from Sciblogs/Seed and doesn’t work here. i.e. Comic Sans code is very different here.
Raymond:
No luck there, sorry. I don’t know *who* possibly drank it up. Nope, sure don’t.
Not used to fuck sticks or fuck bagge’s eh? :)
The rumors are just those: rumors.
We’re a friendly lot here.
Typically the ones whining about how mean they find us are ones that jump in, step on toes, double down, piss people off, and never apologize. Then there are the people who use gendered insults or homophobic slurs. They aren’t usually met with hugs.
Since you’re not one of those, you get hugs (if desired).
We are quite happy for that too. Nice, safe space here.
Rosie Gouda.
Now the most important question you’ll ever answer here:
Peas- Yea or Nay?
Patricia, comic sans is just <q>text</q> like .
Sweet. I also got new glasses a few weeks back. Obligatory geeky picture is here (with bonus wild hair).
And there’s this thing called bellavitano espresso I’ve been seriously digging lately. (It involves espresso. And cheese. How could it not be awesome?) Tho’ there’s also this nice 10 year old cheddar I should mention…
(/And that’s just this week. I’m shamelessly promiscuous ‘n fickle where cheese is concerned. My affairs have been many and passionate, and there will be more, I vow. There will be many more.)
Peas: Variable. If poorly prepared (or canned), peas are a form of weapons-grade disgusting. If well prepared, they can be quite good.
*Looks around innocently*
I blame LOUIS for drinking anything missing. It’s always Louis. He’s on some binge because the Empress of Blandings is still spurning his advances.
Not that I would threaten to tell his Mrs. Discreet thats me.
A.R.:
[…]peas are a form of weapons[…]
I’d say this covers those little green fuckers perfectly :)
Patricia:
Perhaps you and I should go buy some Sangria, since Louis drank it all up…(::innocently stares at ceiling as he jets out the door::)
A.R. – That pea remark earns you an extra turn at the spanking couch.
Carry on.
But not doing that removes all my best trolling angles. [Weeps]
Seriously, I’ve been lurking at FTB for a couple of months now and I’ve finally decided to stick a toe in the water.
Tony – Remarks like that disparaging the delightful pea will be charged to your bar tab. Watch it bub. The Peoples Pea Party never sleeps.
Just for a basis of comparison, how does the idea of beer of some sort infused with one or more mushroom flavors sound?
Welcome Rodney!
I’m told supper is ready. Hopefully Nerd can keep Louis out of the grog.
Good night sweethearts!
Azkyroth: If said beer is infused with certain chemical compounds derived from a certain genus of mushroom, I would say that you have a product!
Patricia:
Well I hope the PPP take the time to pee… ::ducks::
****
Rodney:
Welcome! It’s always nice to have a new voice in the Lounge.
Fret not dear friend.
For His Divine Poopyhead created the Thunderdome for that. Trolls are welcome to post there *all* they want.
Every now and then I’m wrong (I think it happens once a month…). I thought for sure Stephanie’s post about Coyne’s “slavering dogs” comment would have some trolls whining about how hypocritical FTB is to whine about mean words when we do it all the time. 33 comments in and *no* troll!
Rodney, Welcome in! Glad you’re joining the party. You did just fine in the rebellious woman thread.
AJ, you look fabulous, dahling! And I love the hair.
I have to pick one kind of cheese? That’s downright cruel!
Cheese?
random: more neat stuff from Cracked (usual casual ickiness warnings apply)
http://www.cracked.com/article_20009_7-bizarre-ways-you-didnt-know-911-changed-world.html
I actually know someone who does whale feces research. Quite a fascinating field in reality.
Hey hey hey! Who likes watching well meaning privledged people face fault on trying to be progressive in media! I DO! I DO!
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/09/11/buffy-season-9-comic-first-gay-male-slayer/
Thankee kindly, Caine.
(/I like my hair ‘interesting’. Always have. I think it just seems more in character, I guess. It’s always a bit of a drag having semi-periodically to cut it, tame it for a bit. Glad it’s still growing back, as yet.)
John:
I love me some Wallace and Gromit!
Ing:
Uh, wow.
When the money starts flowing again, I can’t wait to get back into comics.
I’m curious to see what they do with a male Slayer.
At the same time though, I don’t get what would make a male with no apparent connection to the Slayer mythology a Slayer. As the commenters mention, there have been men in the Buffy mythos who have slain vampires. I’m sure this will be addressed though.
I do like your idea of having a trans Slayer though.
Of course, if he’s going to “Batman it”, I wonder how this will be different than Robin Wood. He trained for a long time to be able slay vampires and even though he was somewhat effective, he was still human. Even the Potentials had *slightly* greater than normal human abilities (prior to activation).
Billy the Vampire Slayer, enh…
Jeez people here are subversive… a female Doctor, a male Slayer?
(Laurie Croft vs. Indiana Joan FTW!)
@JM
A female doctor at least makes sense and the door has been opened for it by End of Time and Doctor’s Wife.
Ing, I can’t help but note you’ve addressed the issue of the male Doctor but not that of the female Slayer by reference to possibilities within canon.
(This is your opportunity! :) )
Indeed, the PPP is vigilant! Particularly when they’re procrastinating!
Is anyone here a Dungeons & Dragons nerd? I don’t play the game myself (I am too shy and antisocial for that but it seems fun, even if combat apparently takes ages), but I always liked reading manuals and writing stats and stuff…
I recently thought about a setting with transhumanist main characters (I’m not sure if I should call them player characters as I am likely the only one who will ever play it, and maybe not even that) who basically try to achieve immortality and improve the world in pretty radical ways (such as killing evil gods) and also defend it from existential risks.
Besides typical adventures against liches and the like, the player characters would combat a secret organization that is actually lead by the head of a major human religion (and based on a certain public intellectual who thinks human mortality is a blessing in disguise) while also being hunted down by Inevitables due to their life extension plans.
This secret organization is pretty benign by general standards, as they fight generic forces of evil and help the poor, but their moral code is not really too good besides such things, compared to the one the main characters wish for.
I already wrote a bit about the setting and what I want the characters to eventually find, but I am pretty inexperienced and have trouble thinking up names (more for locations and towns than characters) and am unsure about the pacing of it.
When would be a good time for the main characters to come into the organization’s radar?
When should war break out through the realm? I was planning for there to be one after a certain incident.
I was planning to have the search for knowledge and alchemical materials to be the starting push in the story, making the characters go out and get involved with the plot. I had some ideas about what should happen next but am mostly uncertain.
-The main characters (all based on my friends and me)-
*Note: There is no protagonist or group leader.
All of the main characters are a tightly-knit group from a mainly human village, and are all humans themselves, but other characters can be recruited from various places and backgrounds.
1-The Witch:
This one is based on me. She’s nice to her friends but can come off as really unfriendly and annoying to others (due to correcting mistakes frequently and not speaking much to people who are not friends already). She hates going outside and the lack of exercise made her pretty delicate and damaged her health.
She has an intelligent raven familiar named Lisa who is probably her best friend and likes to act silly and scare people.
Her motivations are typical transhuman motivations, pretty much.
*She looks like a thin, sickly and pale woman with very long black hair. She wears classic witch robes and a pointy hat, all black.
2-The Rogue:
A lazy but fun young woman. She is somewhat of a non-sexual sadomasochist and a prude (neither me nor the person this character is based on consider it a bad thing. I am a pure and innocent virgin myself)
She’s also prone to spacing out and can be selfish, but is ultimately on the good side of things, especially when it is something serious.
*She has long brown hair and green eyes. She likes to wear hats or hoods and usually also wears pants and a long scarf.
3-The Cleric:
This cleric is not devoted to any deity but to the abstract values of Good and Healing.
She gets mad at her friends easily yet always comes back, she can be the typical tsundere at times. She’s also pretty stubborn at the start but will likely develop for the best if things go well.
*She has short brown hair and blue eyes and starts out with scale mail armor. She wears simple clothes in her everyday life.
4-The Fighter:
A self-trained and young fighter (male-bodied but considers gender to be a non-factor in their identity, being pretty genderless. This character does not really care what pronouns are used with them though.)
This fighter also has great artistic skill and is very intelligent and perceptive. They spend several hours a day obsessing over certain topics or practicing their drawing.
*The fighter has blond hair and also wears scale mail armor. Their casual clothes are varied.
———
Some goals the main characters have include promoting and teaching rational thinking, popularize and advance transhumanism, neutralize or minimize existential risks, completely destroy evil or obstructive deities and advancing freedom and equality (though the D&D world seems to be post-feminist, at least among humans, there are still several racial issues going on)
I really wrote a lot…I’m sorry ;~;
@JM
Canon in Buffy is firm, Slayers have to be women because they’re the product of an ancient misogynist curse that binds a demon to a female (cause females be chattel and all) you can’t have an ‘honorary’ Slayer because it specifically is the power set and connection to a shared unconscious. However, given that souls exist and we known in Buffy verse that you can be born without a soul by accident it seems perfectly possible to have a trans Slayer. So no, either way no male Slayer.
the idea of a Male Slayer has the annoying stench of co-opting on it. “Something only for women? Why lets get a man in there regardless of how little it makes sense!” and frankly some disturbing tropes of homosexuality (Slayer=Woman, Gay Male can be a Slayer means…what he’s less of a man? More womanly?) It’s a dumb idea that is going to annoy a lot of the target audience they’d want to appeal to.
I’m at #198 in the “What can you do” thread.
How does it end?
No.
Never mind.
*deep breath*
*dive back in*
Also they frelling did as close to a male Slayer as you can get with Robin.
I think I shall form an opposition party to the Peoples Pea Party. The Revolutionary Anti Pea Party, for we must overthrow the shackles of oppression of the peas.
Good morning
Oh dear, I dreamed that TF wanted to take over the world and I killed him by imagining to throw my ceramic kitchen knife at him.
My brain’s weird.
Nutmeg
Sounds like a good day
Hi Raymond
Alethea
I never thought so. It’s probably a difference again between actual science and media reports but really, they make it sound like young healthy people dropped dead on the streets.
I have two old grandmas and heat gets to them. When we had a few really, really hot days, despite the fact that the house is okish insulated, people made sure gran had enough to drink and wheeled her around from one cool place to the next, it was a big strain on a weak heart and it could have ended in death. Everything exceptional is a big strain on a weak heart and we are very conscious that she could die with every little problem there is. And the heat affects many people, so I expect it to be the final straw for many weak hearts.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for better insulated houses and take care that old people drink enough.
Kaguya:
Although it’s been a while, I used to *love* doing that as well. I’ve never played the game either (nor had any interest in doing so). I like to read about the mythological worlds created by D&D writers.
I have to say, I tend to prefer character driven stories, so when you write about ‘making the characters go out and find the plot’ it’s hard for me to think from a plot driven perspective. I’ll give it a try though.
Perhaps you could tie the search for the alchemical materials with the start of the war. Maybe their village wants to avoid the war, and have figured out a way to ‘hide’ their village with the right alchemical materials.
Ing:
re: Buffy
When the Shadow Men created the first Slayer, I can understand why they thought only one was necessary. In time though, as the human population increased, just one of them *should* have been ineffectual in turning the tide. If the job is to fight vampires, demons and the forces of darkness, it’s one girl and one BIG world. Seeing how the Watcher’s Council was the direct descendant of the Shadow Men, why was there never any attempt to create more Slayers (there’s a story there)? I don’t recall any indication of a limited number of vampires and demons around the world, but for a Slayer to stem the tide of the forces of darkness, it would have to be a really small number of them throughout human history.
Ing @260, you do not disappoint me.
(Thanks)
ibyea:
Ok, fine.
I’m going to found the Green Peas Project…
@Tony •King of the Hellmouth•
The characters themselves do want to avoid the war, but their hometown is pretty much doomed to be involved when the larger human faction the town aligns with comes to ask for conscripts…unless the characters do something really creative.
I do think starting the war at the beginning of the story might work with little adjustment. It would be a great way to introduce them to the lawful good half-elf ruler of that independent port city to the west…
The circumstances of the war involved a small group of attackers from the southern (somewhat weaker) human nation taking hostages in a church and eventually causing a terrible massacre in a city belonging to the northern nation.
This leads to rage from the much more powerful northern human faction. The citizens on average become more xenophobic and paranoid regarding magicians (magic was the main source of death in the massacre event).
In the end, the hatred the northern humans have towards their old allies leads to massive irrationality and stereotyping. The original plan was that the main characters would help defend the half-elf’s city (she was accused of being with the enemy due to wanting to remain neutral) and figuring out how the massacre was actually caused not by southern nationalists or agents but by followers of an evil god who desired slaughter and fear.
The main characters would also try to support a northern duke who was against the war, seeing through the irrational hate of his fellows.
The greedy dwarven ruler (who oppresses his people and will also be dealt with eventually) is also lured in by the northern humans and their promises of spoils.
——–
The war was probably meant to be an important arc in the story, sort of a reflection about USA’s reaction to 9/11.
Ing:
Also, the rules on Slayers did change significantly by the end of Season 7.
Then magic was eradicated at the end of Season 8.
It’s entirely possible the writers are using this as some sort of basis for a male Slayer.
For the life of me though, I can’t figure out what they think a male Slayer will bring to the table.
Tony, I’m with you! Baby peas only, though, and dried split peas for soup.
Giliell, sorry to be snappish, I must have misread you. Young people can be vulnerable, especially the gym junkie type – exercise in high heat can strain anyone. But old people are indeed more at risk. BTW, if you have no air conditioner, a pretty good cooling option is to aim a fan at a wet sheet. Or aim it straight at you wearing damp clothes, or sleeping under a damp sheet, if you can tolerate that. (Try it if you’re not sure: the pleasure of feeling cool might outweigh the annoyance of wet clothes.)
OH FUCKING HELL A SOPHISTICATED LIBERTARIAN SHOWED UP IN MY FUCKING ATHEISM+ THREAD DENOUNCING FREE MARKETEER LIBERTARIANS AS ANATHEMA TO SOCIAL JUSTICE.
RAGE. RAGE. RAGE. INCOMPREHENSIBLE AMOUNTS OF RAGE. DO THESE GUYS HAVE A FUCKING RADAR OR SOMETHING FOR WHENEVER ANYONE TRIES TO ASSAIL THEIR IVORY TOWER OF PRIVILEGE. GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUGH.
I HATE LIBERTARIANS
Only one kind of cheese? One? ONE?
The mildly deranged penguin is sputtering in disbelief (and also, probably, from inhaling a bit too much of the possibly-sentient tunneling cider’s exhaust fumes). She’s so annoyed she’s started scribbling away to see if she can adopt her experimental anti–pea-pod device for use against limited cheese choices.
It’ll be awhile, though…
The anti–pea-pod device is progressing fairly slowly. For one thing, they don’t make Saturn V’s any more. And it’s hard to strap more than a few together, much less getting all seventeen of them to ignite simultaneously. The launches are, well, a bit, ah, “erratic”, shall we say. (Believe me, watching seventeen Saturn V’s strapped together and doing several loop-the-loops before heading straight towards the observation bunker is exciting.)
And the actual pea-pod–piercing “business end” is still mostly hypothetical. Does anyone know a good Black Hole supplier?
So it’ll be awhile before the limited cheese choices have anything to worry about. At least a day. Then you may panic. Unless the peas get you first!
Setár
Here.
Have a nice cup of herbal tea and picture taking all the Libertarians on a nice, long, deep, back county hike and leaving them to form a Libertarian Utopia.
Without existing infrastructure.
Except the grizzly bears and moose.
oh, and
Cambozola
I had wunna those ‘did I mess up by trying to do a good thing’ moments last night. Posting on Rebecca Watson’s SkepChick blog, I had in mind the idea that Jen wants to fly under the radar for a while, do some zen mantras and stabalize. So I wrote a response to Rebecca’s post, and used her name where I would have put Jen’s. Afterwards I was thinking it seems disrespectful to do that considering the Atlantean task of carrying the load on her shoulders that she has carried for so long and not mention her specifically.
Is it better to deflect attention away while Jen doesn’t want it than keep her name in public scrutiny when the Slymepitters can be coaxed away by their own density?
Scientologists step up campaign against The Master: “Church of Scientology reportedly planning publicity drive to undermine Paul Thomas Anderson film based on L Ron Hubbard”.
(My apologies if this comment / link is a batsignal attracting the co$ feckheads / trolls, albeit the horde’s collective teeth to need to be kept sinny.)
blf:
Any fans of Killer Tomatoes?
Are the People’s Pea Party (or is it Pea Party People?) genetically modifying Peas to help them take over the world?
We must take this threat seriously.
They are stealthy. Even now they could be in your bed, waiting for the right moment. Waiting for you to open your mouth, so they can enter and take you over. Once they do, now and forever, you shall be Pea Brained!
(I’m tired, so I can’t think of a way to make a Pea Nile or Peabody joke…)
Evidence of Saudi complicity ? “Re-Open the 9/11 Investigation Now” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-graham/911-saudi-arabia_b_1868863.html The relation to a OPEC country apparently trumps trifles like “justice”.
“Don’t Blame Romney if Obama Wins” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincoln-mitchell/dont-blame-romney-if-the_b_1875895.html
…because if a party consistently antagonise minorities in a country made up of minorities, that party will eventually get fucked.
.
Mutant scientolog hordes? Bring them on!!! (sharpens anti-zombie machete)
— — —
Re: slaying undead.
I get irritated by even well-written zombie novels by the inefficient tactics people use to cull zombies.
.
When raiding a warehouse or hospital for supplies they try to sneak in, inevitably suffering horible casualities.
Anyone with two brain cells would first set up a killing zone and draw out the critters from the target building and surrounding areas. Afterwards, you can send in people to whack the remaining critters in the building. Final phase: gather supplies at your leisure while your friends bulldoze gunk from the street outside.
Something fishy in California: rotten smell traced to Salton Sea, sounds like “fun”:
The mildly deranged penguin denies all responsibility: First, she prefers her sashimi still swimming; Second, the fumes from the tunneling possibly-sentient cider aren’t as pleasant (she likes cider with a bit of a bite); and Third, the tunnel doesn’t seem to be heading in that direction.
However, the exact route of the tunnel is unclear. Last night I was awoken by a group of rather upset Leprechauns, and a giraffe, running out of the tunnel. Exactly what their complaint was unclear as no-one here speaks faerie — or perhaps Old Irish with a brogue so strong it’d probably deflect peas — but all of them, including the giraffe, vanished as soon as the mildly deranged penguin tried to catch them. (She obviously wanted to test the cheese at the end of the rainbow hypothesis.) Haven’t been seen since.
GWAR. I want to write stuff in my notebook. WHY ARE ALL OF MY BRAND NEW PENS FAILING EVERY THREE WORDS.
Giliell, I’m late I know but I just tried to send a message re Jen to that loveforjen email address you gave and it bounced. Any alternative? (it was “gillsays HYPHEN loveforjen”, wasn’t it?
Did you forget to feed Tpyos?
“Only around one in 20 of those surveyed in Britain, France and Germany by YouGov held a positive view of the Republican presidential nominee.” — Romney election triumph would sink US reputation in Europe, poll finds.
Aha! I just realised I sent my email to tpyos, instead of to you. That may explain it. (now this post is going to cross with one from you saying what I got wrong, I expect :) )
Probably make lots of people all the more determined to vote for the tosser – damnfools in Yerp being uppity and opining when asked?
This is not at all a funny. Dipshites are now harassing Jen’s dad.
Oh hell. The Twitter assholes just went too far — they went after Julia Gillard, and now there is a campaign to hold them accountable that is being supported by prominent Australian politicians.
Now who do we know who has received misogynistic abuse on Twitter?
birgerjohansson @279:
When the Zombiepocalypse happens I want to be on your team.
Setár, ain’t just Twitterers who attack our PM (Julia Gillard).
Her Rights at Work (R-rated version) |
The Political Persecution of Australia’s First Female Prime Minister
I decided to be confident and apply for IELTS in November instead of December as I previously planned. Or maybe that was overconfident.
On the other hand, I usually try harder and perform better when under a bit of time pressure.
John #299: saw that. -sigh-
—
FSMdamnit, the liberturdian in my kick-out-liberturdians thread is a troll, because their four posts not in that thread are apologizing for AVfM, one going as far to say that AVfM’s posters are somehow anti-misogyny! Fucking laughable. Also expected.
Found at Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science site, Conspiracy theory paper starts conspiracy theories:
Alethea
Hihi, I spent a summer in the Caribbean. I found a fan indeed much more agreeable than AC. Sleeping with wet hair was something, too.
My home “AC” is that the laundry rack is in the bedroom as well (but this house is wonderfully insulated anyway
opposablethumbs
This one came through ;)
+++
Precious kids moments
The little one: This is a church. We mustn’t go in there!
No, I never taught her anything like that, I just mention when they ask that we don’t go to churches
heh. My kid’s 16, and she still feels that way. I feel a little bit bad about it. Some churches are cool inside.
Setar, it’s supposed to be opt-in, isn’t it? Why are you attempting these political purges?
Wait, it can’t be true that the whole women-beating thread is a public hole-digging by Jasper of Maine?
Tell me my computer suffers from a strange virus…
…and why are you surprised that if you start a forum thread (on the internet) about group X is a bunchy of meanypantses and we don’t want their kind around here, then a memebr of group X is going to show up to argue about it?
And please stop shouting at me.
I see there’s an apocalypse coming on December 21 this year. I always forget these dates. There’s been so many of them.
Thanks for the info, trinioler and etc. You can rest satisfied that it will have immediate dividends. I teach some courses online, and I know for a fact that I have a few blind students this semester. All of my material has the links separated as links in-text (like the source I did upthread), but I didn’t know about the title thingy too. Now I’ll go back and edit all the links…. in all the pages… oh dear, this will take awhile…
Oh, and John, thanks John. I’ve copied your example into a reference doc so I can keep using it as a template until I have it internalized.
Not the only, but the best.
Blf, #287,
OH UNHOLY FUCKING SHIT!
I’m going to drink a relaxing tea and have a quiet moment because I want to punch several somebodies with quite severe prejudice!
And for the record I am not related to or in anyway physically, emotionally or financially related to Ms McCreight or her father other than by the bog standard intricacies of wider society and human evolution.
Louis
Check the Pffft! of All Knowledge…
Another helpful reminder is RationalWiki, plus, of course, there’s always Generalissimo Google™.
If you’re being serious, you’re talking complete shit. It’s not as if we don’t have plenty of experience of how totalitarian dictatorships behave. Even in those rare cases where they can be argued to have improved life for a majority (e.g. Cuba), those achievements are precarious, because they are so bad at managing political succession and adapting to changed circumstances. What kind of idiot regime appoints the octogenarian leader’s septuagenarian brother as his successor?
Nick, there is at least one counter-example: Franco’s Spain.
(Dictator did improve life for the majority*, and succession was well-managed)
—
* A fair bit of US aid was involved and he was on the “right” side in the Cold War, but nonetheless.
Nick
I think in that case you’re severely mistaken.
Apart from the actual life-improvement, I think that you can blame the Cubans for much but not for being unable to adapt to new circumstances. They survived a period in which 80% of their fucking trade just vanished over night. They managed to make sure that while people went hungry, nobody starved. They managed to rebuild their economy from that, find new partners, new ways, correct old errors.
Also the leadership problem is one that is pretty much an image problem from the outside. Sure, the power passed from Fidel to Raul, yet the rest of the government is pretty young, the leading positions in the rest of the government have long passed out of the hands of the old revolutionary generation.
As for societal change: Last I heard was that they were contemplating gay marriage as well, which might be the fastest change from criminalisation to full human rights we’ve yet seen.
Seriously, Chas? Libertarianism is not compatible with social justice. Libertarianism ignores privilege.
I almost forgot why I kept you in my killfile, but thanks for reminding me.
I thought that we all understood the problems liberturdianism has with social justice.
Guess not.
(I tried posting this once, but it seems to have been eaten by moderation. Oh well.)
Chas, seriously? Fucking seriously?
Well, thanks for reminding me why I have you killfiled.
this is a test comment
Okay, for some reason links to the Pharyngula Wiki (or, at least, the page on libertarianism) are being eaten by moderation. This isn’t right.
Setár, don’t worry about the protocol part of the URL (the HTTP:// bit) and it should post through OK — it won’t be a clickable link, but it will be enough for readers who care to follow it.
Eg. pharyngula.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Libertarianism
Um.
Japan moves to preserve tsunami ‘miracle pine’
Woolly mammoth remains may contain living cells: “Hair, soft tissues and bone marrow found on Siberian expedition, raising hopes that extinct creature could be cloned”.
Huh… Extinct? What then are the thugs recently seen at the thug-a-thon in Tampa Bay?
1.9 million $?
They clearly must be further along rebuilding that country than I thought…
Ahhh… after a long day of having the shit scared out of you by people purporting to help you, it’s nice to do a bit of righteous ranting. Some zen-like commenting at victim-blamers is also interesting though less therapeutic, something like a koan in that it’s almost entirely futile in its immediate effect, though go a bit meta and it may have a function.
I’d ask you to excuse my butchering of zen philosophy and flaunting my lack of understanding if such, but I don’t care. I’m feeling slightly better now and you can all just deal with that. Muhaha.
Also, gaming night with old school friends tomorrow. This is a good thing. DnD, I’m bringing home-made Japanese food and we’ll all laugh about incredibly stupid things whilst my very evil DM friend will cause our characters to soil their little pseudo-Germanic underclothing repeatedly by making everything seem like a trap.
blf RE: black hole: Have you checked with the Libyans? /now outdated Back to the Future reference
Good morning, everyone!
I had the first of three “prepared childbirth” classes last night and I left feeling pretty good, pretty empowered. I was a little anxious of the class itself because my doctors had warned me that it was taught by a midwife who is anti- epidural/pain meds and has been known to shame women who want pain intervention*. BUT! apparently her ass has been shit canned and the class is now being taught by an OB/GYN RN who has 30+ years of experience (both with delivering babies and with teaching the class at other hospitals in the area) and said right in the beginning that she’s going to go over all of the medical options from “natural” childbirth to how to prepare for an epidural.
Anyway, there was a 15 year old with her mom in the class, who said that she was planning to give her baby up for adoption. They left halfway through.
That was pretty heartbreaking.
*The hospital does offer a pain management/birthing class specifically for women who plan on having an epidural, but it’s booked for the rest of the year. That’s what I get for being a slacker, I guess.
TL;DR: Audley’s learning how to have a baby, y’all!
Audley,
You mean it isn’t InnateWholesomeHolisticNatureMotherKnowledge™?
Whoa! Who knew?
Louis
John Morales @311:
What the fu-hell? Because a taxidermied tree is a much better example of the tenacity of the species than leaving the tree the hell alone? And for almost 2 million bucks? They’re going to need that cash when the Fukushima Daiichi cancer victims start showing up in doctor’s offices.
Cloned mammoths: Has anyone ever considered what the fuck we’re going to do with our one mammoth should we successfully clone one? We can’t exactly breed more, and most behaviors displayed would be artificial, considering that it would have no mother to teach it basic mammoth-ness.
Louis:
I know, right? Real ass medical knowledge! *faints!*
A.R.,
Well eat it, obviously, DUH!
;-)
Louis
Audley,
Real medical knowledge?
Pharmaceutical conspiracy more like.
Louis
Yay Audely!
I’m sure the regular class will cover a bit of epidural stuff too, just in case. I was so glad mine did, so that I wasn’t surprised by stuff like the catheter that necessarily goes along with an epidural. (You want to put WHAT WHERE?)
Put it in a cage and charge people a fee to see it? They could probably get away with quite a large fee for that.
Carlie: Foley caths, always a good time…
So I was writing a book review and couldn’t think of a term for an issue I had with the story.
I’m now stuck in TVTropes.
“Official” dipshite gets his privileged arse kicked, Former Met police officer admits faking records in rape cases:
No obvious indication in the article of why the dipshite failed those women, albeit “[his] physical condition at the time of the charges would form part of his mitigation when he was sentenced.”
What? Physical condition? His penis wasn’t long enough or something…? (A genuine physical / medical issue could affect his emotional / mental condition, albeit that would then seem to raise the question of how appropriate it was for him to continue working in such a sensitive area.)
Oh, Mr. Epidural! I met him in March. He’s totes my BFF now, and I’m the worst case of needle phobia my midwife or most of the hospital staff had ever seen.
I did have a consultant anaesthetist administer it, so my amazingly good experience may have been an outlier, but holy mother of arse-loving cheeses did it makes things awesome.
Pain so bad that my eyeballs were rolling back in my skull as I screamed my throat hoarse before lolling in and out of consciousness -> OOH look at the tubes. Hey! Another contraction. Isn’t it nice to not have any pain but still be doing this. Yay! Time to push. Those last seven hours were actually pretty ok… OMG I MADE BABBY
…Wheelchair? FUCK THAT NOISE, I WANNA WALK (like a boss)
… no? oh yeah, I am kinda leaking huge amounts of red goo and have lost almost a liter of excess blood. Not to mention those stitches… yeah. Maybe a sit down would be ok.
HILARIOUS.
(Also, the horrifying pain references? They had me on an oxytocin drip, which made the contractions much sharper and closer together so I had no break between them. ‘Tis not always so bad for people wanting less pain relief. Mind you, the morphine or whatever that opiate is did bugger-all. … I LOVE YOU MR. EPIDURAL!)
RAGE
Are the People’s Pea Party (or is it Pea Party People?) genetically modifying Peas to help them take over the world?
Yes, both are. But the PPP is using lentiviral vectors and the PPP is using adeno associated vectors and it’s been causing Deep Rifts.
Carlie:
Yes, indeed! The RN said that she was going to go over the process for an epidural next week (we focused on “early labor” yesterday– physical changes, signs of labor, and relaxation techniques. Next week is the birth itself and the last week is post partum changes).
I’m really comfortable with her and her teaching style. I trust her when she says that she’s going to give us as much information as possible so we can make informed choices.
Louis,
It’s always a conspiracy! Unless of course you’re squatting in the woods while chewing on some herbs while you squeeze that kid out. Then it’s all good.
Also, YAY AUDLEY!
Yay for real, interesting, helpful information :D
Epidurals: I’m an epidural fan too. My labor pain went from 9/10 to 1/10 within seconds of getting the epidural. But I could still move and had light touch and proprioception on the sensation side of things. Practically the platonic ideal epidural. The main reason I can see for not getting an epidural is if you turn out to be one of the lucky women whose pain isn’t severe enough for them to want to bother with pain relief.
Sophia:
Yay! It’s always good to have some idea what the hell’s going on. :)
#145 friendly the defacer of the embassy wall may be within his/her rights under American Law
Fighting Words Doctrine
http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/fightingwords/casesummaries.htm
I don’t know about this. Is anyone else uncomfortably reminded of Imperial Walkers?
But think of the herbs and little goats! One is being viciously gnawed by a screaming monster, the other is being crushed and shat-on by that same evil beast.
And all the screaming will scare away the baby skunks.
And all the screaming will scare away the baby skunks.
Right. The only proper way to give birth is silently allowing the contractions to wash over you while squatting above a bed of moss. Alone. If you die, well, it’s all for the good of the species.
(Had someone actually tell me that women who had c-sections should not have them because they were “weakening” the species by surviving and allowing their babies to survive when they weren’t “supposed” to. There’s some chance that she’d forgotten that I had a c-section so I try not to assume that it was a direct statement of “you shouldn’t be alive”, but…)
Esteleth: Please check your Gmail; there are photos waiting for you there.
Hey Audley! They should mention the differences between a (“regular”??) epidural, which knocks out most-to-all sensation from the injection site down, and a “walking” epidural which leaves you more in control (sounds like this is the kind they mean?).
I’ve had one of each (the complete block kind was first time around and it was unplanned; the “walking” one was second time and it was planned); I personally think epidurals are brilliant (my own personal opinion only, obvs) but it would have been good to know that the walking kind doesn’t block sensation in the (third? fsm but I can’t remember) final stage of labour. Just so as to make a fully informed choice between the two.
Internetly hugs – instalment on its way, Audley for the use of.
Opposable thumbs:
If the RN doesn’t bring up the different epidurals in next week’s class, then I will be sure to ask. Thank you very much!
French revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-culottesand communism
what else do you call the inhabitants of a commune except communists? Where did you think the word came from? Marx and Engels based their body of work on the earlier French Ideas
And don’t forget to eat the placenta raw! Think of all the vitamins and minerals! Toxin free because it comes from your body!
IT’S ALL NATURAL
Kaguya
How special for you.
Ew.
Several species. Something will eat the corpse. And the herbs, goats, and skunks will all be safe. Main problem is there won’t be fresh baby to put on the weekend’s barbecue. Ah well, win some, lose some…
Stevarious:
After seeing a picture of what a recently delivered placenta looks like, I just can’t imagine taking that thing home and making a meal of it.
Ugh. Barf. Barf. Barf.
#346# Audley, mix it with oatmeal and stuff it into sheep intestines, Haggis!
Dear father in law,
When I told you you wouldn’t be able to fit your grandchildren and your son in the back of your car, you could have believed me.
Now we’ll have to see how to get everybody back tonight.
I really hope dear brother in law buys that car and does so tonight because I’m really fed up with the monkey dance everybody has to dance to get the dear guy wherever he needs to go…
Audley
Yay for actual information.
My kids didn’t give me time for an epidural…
How was the pain?
Now, on the one hand it wasn’t as bad as for some women. I didn’t puke, I didn’t faint and it lasted only for 60-90 min.
On the other hand I was still in the “nothing to see here, really, do something important instead” phase, so I’m probably a bit in denial, too.
That other woman sounds just vile. Shaming women for not being crunching granola enough.
I’d never paid much attention to Transhumanism as a, y’know, thing.
So I read the Pffft article.
What a load of crap.
Giliell,
Shaming women for their labor choices (no matter what they are) happens far too often. Hell, wasn’t I just complaining about a friend of mine the other day who said the c-sections weren’t natural, therefore they aren’t necessary*? It happens on the other side too– if a woman says that she’s going to manage the pain without an epidural, she will be criticized for that as well. She’s crazy or the relaxation/pain relief techniques don’t actually work or she’ll change her mind halfway through, or whatever. We just can’t win.
But, the awful midwife was sacked and that’s the best thing we could have hoped for, right?
*Yeah, tell that to a friend of mine who ended up having a c-section after 50 hours of labor. I suppose if she had been squatting over a bed of moss in the forest, chewing on some herbs by herself, everything would have been honky dory.
Ok, this does it.
I’m never going to have (biological) children.
Eeeee! I have a date next week!
So, my wife has a phone interview in 9 minutes. The biscuits will be done in 3 minutes. Can you say “cutting it close”?
Nutmeg:
Eeeee!
@Audley
Alas, it is an actual thing.
Via Boingboing, AT&T’s plans to block the FaceTime app will hurt deaf people who use it to converse in sign language:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/facetime-deaf/
Stevarious:
Oh, I know. There are plenty of recipes floating around the ‘tubes concerning themselves with how to prepare placenta.
But, come on people! It’s medical waste, for crap’s sake. If you had to have your gall bladder removed, would you ask to keep it so you could fry it up with some onions later?
Yay! I hope both the date and the interview go well.
The post office works until 19h, it’s now 18:14h. I still haven’t finished the motivational letter for a job I have absolutely no motivation* for, but am desperate. I finished the other letter and all my “faking it” went into it (it’s pretty good), there’s nothing left for this one.
*working for $280 a month isn’t exactly a good motivation
Godsdamnit, the rats (or a rat) ate through my laptop’s power cord. I cannot handle trying to post or read on my tablet, it’s pure suckitude. I’ll be gone a few days. I’ll just drop some *hugses* for those who will be in need.
Yay and good luck for Nutmeg’s date and BossNurse’s interview!
And cheers and encouragement for the covering letter, Beatrice. How much of the one you’ve already done can you recycle?
*threadcrupt*
@ Caine/Margaret
Here is a picture of Theo’s elder brother: Patches. (Note knick in right ear.)
…
Now typing this on my new netbook: X1 carbon I haz a happy.
Caine
I hope the culprit is OK.
‘See’ you soon.
Oh no Caine! Good luck getting back online soonest!
My wife’s interview went well, it looks like she has two job options if one of them falls through. After the Nevada debacle, she’s not putting all of her eggs in one basket again.
Improbable Joe!!—Check your email.
Since it’s for a job at the same place, different position, I could recycle quite a lot.
It’s been done and sent and I’m already back (obviously).
Shit I’ve written is puke-worthy, but I’m pretty sure it’s what they want to hear. Working together for technological development in Croatia…. blah
Josh!!-I checked it! Thank you! Thank you Horde!
I’m trying not to count chickens before they hatch, but my wife has a contract she’s signed, and she’s waiting on a background check to finish up, and she should start working Monday.
@Audley Z. Darkheart: My name is Legion, for we are many:
Just wanted to jump on the Epidural advice bandwagon. We had been to enough classes and had enough advice from nurses to make it a super easy decision. My wife and I had talked about it after finding out what it was about. I remembered that scene in one of the Star Trek movies where McCoy says ‘What is this? The Dark Ages?’ We have this medical procedure that can alleviate pain. The xians can take the whole ‘agony of childbirth’ thing because Eve and shove it. We decided to be twenty-first century citizens and use what science has provided. The anaesthesiologist was jaw-droppingly genius. If you could have seen the way his hands moved and picked up things from the tray, he was like some sort of hypnotist. I have never seen anything like it. We did it very early in labor. My wife didn’t feel a thing during insertion (my sister had the opposite during her epidural insertion, though, so demand the absolute best anaesthesiologist available. For some reason they had her standing, whereas my wife was lying comfortably on her side) The highest register of pain on the /10 scale my wife relayed to the nurses and doctors during the entire evening was a 5. It beats the hell out of the alternative. An added benefit is not being Bataan Death March exhausted afterwards. You will find the little bit of energy you saved to be IMMENSELY helpful in the hours and days afterwards.
An extra word of warning. All the medical literature is adamant about the benefits of breast milk. Good to know, however, don’t let this dogmatic attitude the nurses may have cause you grief. My wife’s breast milk did not come in for 2-3 days after delivery. Our little baby was crying until she was red. Finally, a rational nurse came in and offered to get us little bottles of formula and a little syringe device you can squeeze milk in alongside of the nipple of your breast. She said she wasn’t really supposed to do that. We were flabbergasted. We were burned out from lack of sleep (my wife’s water broke at midnight, she delivered the next evening and we hadn’t slept at all, and then only fitfully in the next couple of days. One particular nurse was so demanding on the issue she made my very tired and frustrated wife cry. If you encounter the breast milk Nazis and have the same situation, tell them to bite Bender’s shiny metal ass and let you feed your kid until you get the flow to do it yourself.
YAY!
yay for Mrs.Joe!
Audley, more breast feeding advice, if you can stand it. (Of course, as always, simply flush any advice that it not useful for you.) Anyway, my advice is use a little formula and/or pedialyte if you need it, even if you plan to breast feed. As McC2ulu mentioned, your milk may not come in very much for the first couple of days and the Darkbaby might get dehydrated without supplementation. (Or might not: it varies from individual to individual.)
And the dread “nipple confusion”? Might happen, but I’ve never seen it. My kid and my sisters’ were very clear on what they preferred and it wasn’t the rubber.
My anecdote: Due to a number of problems, I got dehydrated after giving birth and didn’t make much milk. Then critter got dehydrated and spiked a small fever. After considerable drama, she got some formula and then pedialyte. Then I started producing enough milk to supply a small dairy. But the pediatrician was still worried that she might be a little dehydrated and I was tired, so I went for a nap while my partner went to feed her a bottle of pedialyte as the pediatrician had recommended. He came back in half an hour, looking a little worse for wear, and said, “Well, I think we can conclude that she’s not very dehydrated and that she REALLY doesn’t like pedialyte.” Sniff. Baby’s first act of rebellion.
Yay Joe and Bossnurse!
McC2lhu:
Thanks. :)
One of the benefits of delivering in the hospital that I am is that they are all about choices. I’ve already met one of the lactation nurses and, yes, she wants moms to nurse, but she absolutely does not want the baby to starve, either.
As far as the milk not coming in for a couple of days– that’s actually really normal. Before the milk comes in, mom will be producing a small amount of colostrum, but she’s not going to get anywhere near the amount that she would with breast milk. So, I’ve gotta wonder why in the hell no one mentioned this to you or your wife.
Rodney Nelson, welcome in.
:)
–
With napalm!
–
Kaguya, sounds more as if you’ve got a potential novel, there, than an RPG.
–
…or perhaps, tunneling-cider instead of napalm!
Which I’m sure is also flammable. Perfection!
–
Yup.
They’re reliable, and very broadminded.
I hear.
–
Pea Nile isn’t even a river in Egypt.
–
Which is why it is so important to know the plural of “apocalypse”.
–
Now, why am I not surprised?
–
Epidural + extra oxygen = Awesome!!!
–
*high five* for Nutmeg. Enjoy your date!
–
Awesome! When will you know the results?
–
Audley:
/dipshit_doula
Caine, that sucks so much ass. Hope you can rejoin us soon.
Joe, hooray for the Bossnurse!
Historical misogyny… I’ve stumbled over a few things in the last few days. First, I’m reading “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” not the book but Richard Hofstadter’s original 1964 Harper’s article, and this jumped out at me:
The antecedents of Jill Stanek.
Also, Jonathan Swift unironically wrote a misogynist poem from the POV of a man who snoops around in a woman’s personal belongings and is shocked that she isn’t made of sugar and spice but is a biological creature who, you know, poops, fills combs with hair, covers blemishes with makeup, and so forth. Lady Montagu fired back at him with a poem ending in this couplet:
BAHAHAHA!!
*high fives for Boss Nurse!*
Also, dianne, McC2lhu and everyone else:
Yes, I am planning to take advantage of everything that medical science has to offer, especially when it comes to pain relief. As I (finally) explained to my crunchy granola mom, my goal isn’t to torture myself, my goal is to deliver DarkFetus as safely and comfortably as I can.
Heee hee hee, “wombynhood”.
Ugh. TW sexual assault/rape culture crap; bold my emphasis.
IMHO a good RPG is writing a novel with a handicap on someone else writing the characters
Cuttlefish has a truly nasty homophobic troll.
After the close of the Republican National Convention, I noted that all of the regular folks trotted on stage to tell stories calculated to make Mitt Romney seem human were all mormons.
There’s one mormon connection to the generous-and-kind-Romney stories that I didn’t list. Remember the oft-repeated tale of Romney closing a Bain office on a business day so that all the employees could join in the search for a colleague’s daughter? Well that turns out to be a mormon rescue as well.
One begins to wonder if Romney ever did anything altruistic for non-mormons. Has he ever done anything that wasn’t part of his Building the Kingdom focus?
Okay, so the ad doesn’t tell the viewer about the mormon connection. This would be a trivial or even irrelevant issue were it not for the fact that all of Romney’s good deeds have a mormon connection.
But wait, there’s more. Romney, and Bain and Robert Gay, are connected to the “mormon mafia” that supposedly ripped off Howard Hughes while Hughes was dying, and who ripped off Hughes’ companies after he died.
There’s too little real reporting, and too much conspiracy-flavored writing when it comes to connecting Bain to mormons who may have ripped off Howard Hughes, and to questionable sources of money from, as Romney put it, “Americans of Latin American descent.” The Americans of Latin American descent are families connected with death squads. And some also have connections to Howard Hughes.
I can’t sort out the conspiracy theories from the facts. Here’s some source material on the Romney connection to death squads: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/10/romneys_death_squad_ties_bain_launched
We do know that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reported assets of $5.2 billion dollars from the sale of Hughes airline stock in 1985. By 2002, the assets had dwindled to $15.8 million. The big dwindle took place under the supervision of mormon Frank Gay, a Managing Director of Bain Capital.
I officially love Kellogg’s promotion for buy 2 kellogg’s things (specially marked of course)get a coupon for a free Scholastic book, fucking works! It means I can brand name crap we already buy and get free books for Little One!!!
Also, I will so totally take any codes you guys don’t want or use.
Congrats Joe and BossNurse!
Carolyn Hax just featured the following letter:
Carolyn’s response is great, and there’s a shout-out to PZ in the comments, mentioning death threats that Skatje got from fundies when she was 12.
Too bad Hax is something of an accommodationist, scolding atheist commenters who call out liberal xtians on their bullshit. Although I guess a Gnu wouldn’t last long at the WaPo.
dianne RE creepy military walker: Yep. Exactly what I was thinking.
—-
Also, I have a rather poorly designed banner ad for a Rethulican senator on my version of the page. I am amused.
Good evening
So, picked up the kids at the birthday party (hey, at least I got dinner) and put them to bed. Let’s see: usually it doesn’t matter when we leave the house in the morning. Tomorrow it does. Tonight they went to bed late and pretty over-exited. Yay for me tomorrow.
Oh, and the the kids’ cousin wore a green hoodie with “Give Peas a Chance”
Audley
Yeah, the only thing I’d say is, don’t close your chances early. Do hum through the pain of labour if that’s your thing and everything works out fine. But get the information NOW, talk to the nice anaesthesiologist NOW because in most cases your baby hasn’t read your birthplan. When you’re puking for pain it’s the worng sort of moment to get the information.
As for breastfeeding: Have a bottle/syringe and formula at home. You won’t mind the 10 bucks if you can throw it away unopened. And if your health-insurance covers breast pumps, get one of them as well. With #1 I had to get all that stuff at the weekend and I was fundamentally unhappy, a total failure. With the little one I had all that stuff at home and was happy. The problems weren’t less (they were different indeed), but I didn’t suffer and neither did my child.
Oh, and now’s a good time to get pads for yourself, diapers, wet wipes and all that stuff already.
Nutmeg
Yay!
The girl you flirted with?
Joe
Yay, yay!
Caine
Urgh, See you in a few days
Giliell:
I hope DF hasn’t read my birthplan! That would be… unsettling. :p
My insurance doesn’t cover breast pumps, but I’ve a lovely auntie who offered to buy one for me. I should be getting it this weekend.
Trigger warning
“When battered women fight back stereotyping can kick in” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-battered-women-stereotyping.html
Hey folks, BossNurse sends her thanks for all the support over the last few weeks. She’s busy filling out a SECOND copy of the contract, don’t ask me why.
Improbable Joe: Congrats and tentacles crossed for you and bossnurse! Here’s hoping for some good news!
Giliell:
No, my date is with a girl I’ve been talking to online. I was surprised that the girl at the store was flirting with me, so I didn’t flirt back very effectively. Not that I’m very good at that kind of stuff anyway… But it’s exciting to have a coffee date next week! I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by how honestly excited and supportive my straight friends are. It really gives me some faith in humanity despite how crummy a lot of the world is.
***
All this birth talk is fascinating for me, even if I’m not planning on ever giving birth myself. When my mom was approaching her due date for my birth, my grandma (her mother-in-law) flew out here to “help”. Grandma was so “helpful” that my mom asked to be induced, to get it over with.
My mom did say that she didn’t get the epidural early enough, so it wasn’t very helpful. But it was a quick labour, at least, only a few hours.
My mom couldn’t breastfeed my older brother successfully, and there were people who shamed her for it. With me, my parents rebelled a little: straight to soy formula, and *gasp* no baptism! I think my mom’s Irish Catholic family were scandalized, but my mom seems proud of that.
Go Nutmeg! :)
The ACLU is responding to a Moment of Mormon Madness in Brigham City, Utah.
Seems the mormons built a new temple. They are having a brief open house before they close the temple for good to non-mormons. That’s all okay.
What is not okay is that during their open house, mormons also want to restrict free speech in Brigham City. They want to restrict free speech in public spaces that are not private, mormon spaces.
How many temples do the Morons need anyway?
Do Marginalized People Need To Be Insulting In Order To Be Empowered?
Read and weep. Or gouge your eyes out. Whichever comes first.
Fuck you Fincke.
Sorry, that should have gone to Thunderdome. It’s too anger-inducing for the Lounge, we’ll wake baby skunk.
I left Daniel Finke a short comment
(I suppose I’m inherently offensive to anwer his long diarrhea with so few words)
I don’t have to, but I enjoy it immensely.
I have a history where being angry made me wrong, to the point where I was just empty, unable to actually feel anything much, thank you for reinforcing that harmful pattern.
John Morales@306,
Well, Franco had a lot of leeway to make up, having caused about 500,000 deaths by starting a civil war, apart from the prisoners and the exiles. As for his actual period of rule, one would need to compare the improvement in living standards in Spain with that in comparable countries, and take into account the repression, which affected large numbers – I don’t know about you, but I feel that the risk of being imprisoned, tortured or killed for opposing the government is pretty important. As for the succession being “well-managed”, it certainly didn’t go as Franco intended. ETA removed his intended successor, blowing him over a 5-storey building, and Juan Carlos was canny enough to see which way the wind was blowing.
Giliell@307,
Reasonable points – but we’ll what happens when the Castro brothers die.
I … cannot be down with advice to plan on supplementing the first few days if you want to breastfeed. Everything I know about breastfeeding screams that it’s a faulty idea: the milk is a supply-and-demand thing, so unless baby is already not getting enough, feeding something besides breastmilk can throw a wrench in the works right off the bat. How are your breasts to “know” how much milk the baby needs if the baby’s not getting its milk from them?
Heh. My kid is at the other end of the spectrum: this is a church? Quick, let’s explore for cool stuff! Because we live in a town with a lot of older churches (that host some of the community events we go to) I’ve always taken her to politely climb staircases and look out interesting windows, etc.
I didn’t think about it until your comment about your little one but I suppose on some level it was a way for me to de-emphasize the “sacredness” of the space; I remember being fascinated with the same older churches when I was a kid but not being allowed to explore, feeling like I had to whisper and tiptoe, etc, which sucked.
Oh but churches like her Nana’s (a big modern Catholic one) are boring because people do things like talk about God. Bleah! Who wants to talk about God when they could climb stairs and peek out windows onto the roof?
Enough to fool the sheeple into thinking that mormonism is a growing and respectable religion.
They have to build new temples every year to keep up the lie.
If you check, you will find most temples are closed most of the time. They have days and times when they are open for weddings, endowments, and necrodunking. Most of time the temples sit there, metaphors for vacuous, empty, or false-front.
A few temples in the heart of the morridor are busy.
Temples are also a necessary income-generating mechanism. You can’t demand that the patriarch of the family pay his full tithe before his daughter can be married in the temple (and thus guaranteed eternal family life) if there is no temple in the area. So, lots of temples, but sparse traffic.
Amanda Failtrain Palmer continues to fail.
Same tack taken by some people attacking the Chicago Teachers’ Union: that since they love
teaching childrenplaying music so much, getting to do it should be “payment” enough.Great comment from Chris Siebert:
IMHO the fact that he’s never heard of her before is a factor in why he thinks she deserves a second chance or that she’s even persuadable.
Lynna, OM: Very interesting, and good to know!
kristinc
That’s what the pump is for.
Seriously, the supply and demand thing is one of those half-truths that hurt actual people.
#1 was starving at my breast. My boobs are huge and pregnancy didn’t make them any smaller. And she was a wee child and she just didn’t have enough power to get the milk out of them. So, yes, we had a wonderful feedback-loop: kid being too weak to empty my big boobs and get the “demand” signal up, kid not getting enough, kid getting weaker, kid not being able to suck enough…
You see the problem. She had lost the maximum 10% of birthweight quickly and didn’t gain much in the first 10 days.
I spent a whole Saturday doing the following thing: Nurse child. Child falls asleep while “drinking” because she’s too exhausted to go on, child sleeps for 15-20 min, child wakes up crying with hunger, back to nursing. At one point I broke down crying and then I opened the evil bottle of free formula I’d been given and my child, for the first time was happy and full (while I was crying). The next day my midwife supplied me with an emergency pack of formula. And then I got a pump. So, I let the kid nurse, then I would pump, pump, pump (moooh), then I would feed her the pumped milk, then I would feed her formula. Over time she grew, became stronger and was able to get the milk flowing herself.
The little one couldn’t even grasp my nipples, not even with one of those hats. So I pumped, fed with a syringe, gave her a little formula (everybody happy, no crying on either side involved). Formula decreased quickly, kid grew stronger, kid could grasp nipple (while I was leaking all over the place, not cool), happy breastfeeding ensured.
Oh, neither of them had any nipple confusion. #1 hated bottles and the poor grandmas had to spoonfeed her when I was at work.
That’s why I said: You won’t be sorry for the money if you never have to open the pack, but it’s invaluable when you need it.
Fun fact: #1 never ever puked as a baby. Now she has an easily upset stomach. The little one always needed 10ml extra so she could puke them over me. Today she can drink out of toilet with no belly bug resulting
Kristin:
So, women that don’t produce enough milk (like McC2hlu’s wife) are supposed to do what? Assume that their body is going to eventually sort itself out and maybe the kid’ll get to eat in a few days?
I have enough malfunctioning organs that I don’t assume that my breasts are necessarily going to work perfectly. I certainly hope they do (helllllllo, free food!), but I’m not going to torture myself or my kid if they don’t.
I have a banner for an upcoming concert featuring Christian rock acts, and organized by Billy Graham Ministries, apparently…
So do I win?
Anyway: I am also amused. Best guess is some not-very-bright algorithm somewhere put together ‘searches for music and instruments and gear and music software online’ and ‘religious terms occur on pages browsed’ and came up with: ‘Oh! I know! I bet this guy would just love Michael W Smith…’
I’m more than just a little insulted.
(/And no, before anyone asks, I will not be attending for anthropological reasons nor for shits ‘n giggles. Even if the horde were to sponsor the ticket. I do not exaggerate: I’m pretty sure even peripheral exposure to this stuff would cause me genuine and very real physical illness.)
Giliell, I totally understand supplementing or using other solutions if there’s already a problem. That’s different from planning in advance to feed baby something else even if there’s not really an issue, which is just shooting oneself in the foot in terms of successfully establishing breastfeeding. Baby is supposed to be hungry, because that’s what stimulates the milk (a breast pump is a poor second to a baby unless there are other problems). Keeping baby “topped up” with something else is just begging to create a problem.
Obviously, like I said, if baby is hungry enough to be miserable or to make mom miserable, then something has to be done, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
Do Marginalized People Need To Be Insulting In Order To Be Empowered?
Yes.
Is Skunkie still asleepy?
It’s funny ‘cuz it’s true!
AJ:
Pfffft, earlier today I had a banner for . Talk about missing their mark!
(You know, me being a pro-marriage equality New Yorker and all.)
I wonder if we’re going to get a third person to offer their just leave/divorce him advice. Then the Unholy Trinity would be complete…Sheesh.
Kristin,
Well, the rest of us were talking about what to do if something goes wrong, so I’m not really sure what the issue is.
Amanda Palmer is such a disgusting person, on all levels.
kristinc
No, the plan is to have everything at home in case you realize that things aren’t working out the way you planned.
It’s not the hunger that gets the milk flowing, it’s the sucking (oh and yes, pumps do get the milk flowing. Believe me, you’re talking to somebody who needed 3 “pee-sheets” in bed every night because I leaked all over the place. To see milk shoot out of your nipple like in a badly designed fountain is a thing to behold. And that was at a time when I was pumping exclusively.)
Tony, Anubis Prime threw out some victim-blaming early on, but he never hangs around to engage after he dumps a toilet-load of self-impressed rococo blithering into a thread.
Happiestsadist: Yep. Hipster assholism is being challenged more and more these days, so we can hope her star finally starts to fade.
Ms. Daisy:
According to that troll, he’s a truly nasty self loathing homophobic troll.
Pat Robertson again, playing Pot, Kettle with regard to Muslims.
Telling that all people thanking Fincke for his post appear to be guys. Probably they got a full douchecanoo full of insults and they now can’t take it anymore…
And I’m off to bed. Wish me luck tomorrow orning, appointment in the faculty.
Beatrice @393:
I’d like to read that, but I refuse to give Dan any traffic.
Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman are married?
Y’know what, let me tentatively retract that last statement.
Is there a benefit to an increase in traffic for Bloggers? If so, then I stand by my desire not to venture to Camels. If they receive no benefit, then I will go over and read the dreck (assuming I don’t fall asleep from his TL;DR posting tendency).
Tony,
It’s a verbal diarrhea.
I’ll just leave this part here for you. It probably isn’t the worst he wrote, but it makes me role my eyes so hard.
Chigau,
Yes.
I left an insulting term-free comment at Fincke’s. Funny that it shouldn’t show up.
Tony: Yeah. I didn’t say anything to the troll because the combination of self-loathing and utter shamelessness stunned me.
Also, you’re not missing much w/r/t Fincke’s post.
OK, now that I reread, I see that Dianne said “use a little formula and/or pedialyte if you need it even if you plan to breastfeed” which somehow was not what I read, so that’s where the disconnect came in.
There are peds and hospitals that still routinely advise starting with formula or sugar water “while the milk comes in”, fwiw. The mind boggles.
Well, of course. I never said they didn’t. They’re just not as effective at it as a baby (as long as said baby isn’t having gross problems getting milk). The reason I made a point about it isn’t because I think pumps are ineffective or bad, it’s because I’ve seen women convinced they’re not making enough milk because when they pump they don’t get very much.
I had fountain-boobs too. I feel really lucky that my milk let down so easily and plentifully that I never even needed a pump: I could get 4 ounces at a time just hand expressing into a cup. I probably would have done great with a pump too. Later I had a doctor tell me I have an extra set of mammary glands O.O I still have no idea if that is a Thing, or if she was shitting me, but if it’s true then it explains a lot about how easily I made a lot of milk.
I just re-read this and realized how misinterpretable (and hilarious) the emoticon was given the topic of discussion.
kristinc
I thought you were illustrating the text.
Gileill—Yeah, and they all use the same unctuous, toadying tone of voice. They’re forever reading his posts with “ever growing pleasure” (I bet), “extreme admiration” for his “brave moral stance.”
Gag.
Wouldn’t that have been more like OO.OO ?
Beatrice:
Thanks.
That confirms what I’ve suspected about Dan since he started whining about tone.
When the bigots are saying “let’s round up the gay and put them in camps to let them die off”, the last thing I’m worried about is addressing them without insults.
I wonder if Dan has read Chris Kluwe’s response to that bigoted politician…
Ergh. Libertarians. I point out a correlation/causation error in their treating history as reducible to a graph of GDP over time, and what do they do?
“Oh, look at the timing of child labor laws! The economy needed more educated workers!”
I’m going somewhere that has a lot of pot. And maybe some hard liquor too.
Josh:
I LOL’ed. Between Fincke and his commenters, the floor of that blog better have drains in it.
Caine – I’m sure the guilty rat isn’t Zoe. It’s probably Vasco that caused all of your problems.
By the way, I just finished prepping “Caine’s Indian Butter Chicken” for dinner for tomorrow. We have it about once a month.
Stacy is a disappointment in those comments.
kristinc: Weirdly, I have little extra nipples next to the, well, main, normal-sized ones. Still on the same areola, so I dunno if it counts as extra nipples. But they do react separately. I’m mostly just amused by them.
I’d have been so screwed back in the day.
On the other hand, in that case, I’d have had like four familiars.
0O.Oo
⊙☉
Haha! I would be amused with extra nipples too, especially if they responded separately. I would be tempted to pierce them. I just have the one set though. Apparently it’s the inner works I have extra of? She felt sort of in my armpit and told me they were there. Like I said, no idea really whether she was shitting me.
There are peds and hospitals that still routinely advise starting with formula or sugar water “while the milk comes in”, fwiw. The mind boggles.
I don’t think that advice is given routinely any more. More often there’s pressure to avoid formula at all costs. I agree that giving formula just because it’s the first day is silly. But it’s not that unusual to have a problem that needs a little formula and/or sugar water to get over a transient problem and then breast feeding goes well. I favor flexibility in this one.
I have considered piercing the others, but that seems like it would have a weird spider-eye kind of thing going, and I’m not entirely into my boobs as it is.
Extra actual inside bits is kind of amazing, though. But then, I think the healthy variations of normal in people are really neat.
Oh my fuck. . .I’m dying. . .
Think there was an episode of House like that, wasn’t there? A women had a mammary gland in her leg, then developed breast cancer in it.
Pteryxx #356: Shit like that is why I’m growing increasingly sick of smartphones being seen as “nice things”. Some of their functions can be fucking vital.
Happiestsadist: Your two extant familiars are big enough to make four out of.
How convenient – people who display neither thoughts nor consciences are thus excepted!
Oh, Cinnamon isn’t that big, though she can make sulphurous stenches enough for four little archdemons.
Can I just also say “fuck Islamophobia”? Every time there’s any violence in the Middle East, too many purportedly progressive people seem a little too eager to pick up the right-wing bigot framing, and use arguments that sound not far from Bush’s “they hate us for our freedoms” nonsense. “Muslims are just naturally violent” feels like bigotry even if it isn’t meant that way.
Erasing all of the complexities of the geopolitical landscape, eliding all of history before the last 48 hours, ignoring everything but the most facile explanations… it sounds like a whole lot of things to my ears, and none of them particularly good.
… maybe this isn’t the place, but I don’t want an argument I just felt the need to vent.
FWIW, I agree with you, Improbable Joe.
@dianne
When my son was born, the doctor was very evenhanded and encouraging toward my ex, telling her to breastfeed if she could but pump and bottle or formula if she had too or wanted to, he was very low pressure. I liked him a lot. He went over the benefits of breastfeeding, was clear as he could be that breast milk was superior to any formula on the market, but that the two most important factors were how comfortable she was breastfeeding and whether or not she wanted and was able to do it. Lots of mothers just couldn’t or didn’t want to for a variety of reasons, and she shouldn’t feel bad if she were to formula feed some or all the time because of biology or personal preference.
As soon as his back was turned, however, the nurses were really, really high pressure to breastfeed. Like, infuriatingly, obnoxiously so. Due to the shape of her nipples, it was actually quite difficult for her to breastfeed, so after many hours of trying to do that, she ended up pumping and bottle-feeding.
But those nurses…! It was a huge relief to finally be able to take them home just to get away from those damn nurses and their constant pressure and judgement.
It turned out that both of them were just peachy damned keen with pumping breastmilk and bottle feeding it for months, with almost daily supplementing with formula, because her breasts just didn’t seem to want to make enough for him. And now my son is 12 years old and two inches shy of six bloody feet tall, so I don’t think the formula did him any harm.
Sorry for swearing in here but ooh those nurses still make me so mad thinking about them all these years later.
*twitch*
Has anyone here ever travelled to the DRC? I’m planning a trip, and finding it difficult to get much insight from the interwebz. Really, anything other than CDC and world book information/opinion would be helpful at this point.
My son is formula fed now. Flat nipples and huge breasts meant for frustrating feeding and nigh-impossible attachment. I pumped for as long as I could, but since my nipples are also incredibly sensitive and painful, even pumping led to horrible cracking and pain.
I also had stomach surgery a few years back and I have about 200-250ml of stomach space. I can’t drink much water at a time, so my hydration levels are always pretty low. I didn’t produce enough milk even pumping as much as I could stand, so maybe provided one good feed a day. After six weeks of that I couldn’t do it any more, too much pain and time. When you’re juggling a newborn that won’t sleep, trying to pump milk and deal with a very… demanding… partner and depression/abuse/all of that stuff, it doesn’t really end up working.
Also, the PAIN. OH THE PAIN.
There is NOTHING wrong with formula. I advocate trying to breastfeed as much as is possible for the immune properties and the research, blah blah… but if you can’t, or if it’s making your life impossible then you should do what you need to and not feel any shame for it. Formula is made for feeding babies. It’s not squeezed out of a boob, but it’s as good as we can synthesize.
AE: If you want a virologists perspective on the DRC, my answer would be: HIV, Ebola, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever (has occured), Dengue Fever (again, has occured), Ebola, rotavirus, and the Hepatitis Alphabet.
My comment on breastfeeding: it should not hurt. You may be sore after from all the tugging at first, but the latch-on itself shouldn’t hurt, and the actual feeding shouldn’t hurt. If it does, there is something very wrong, and you should get to a lactation consultant ASAP. If the baby has a bad latch-on technique, things can get very bad in just a few days. Did you know nipples can get cracked and split all the way down the middle? Because they can. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
Joe:
No shit. Who else heard about the poor ambassador who was murdered and immediately wondered how that would be drummed up into another casus belli?
Stevarious, quoting the nurses:
RAEG. A “real mother” is a woman who raises a child, regardless of who birthed the child and regardless of how the child was fed as an infant. One might quibble about whether the title should be bestowed upon a woman who made a complete botch of it, but bodily functions shouldn’t have anything to do with it.
Not too surprised to hear about this sort of gender essentialism from nurses, however. With apologies to Joe and Bossnurse, it’s a highly gendered field with a tendency to draw women who believe strongly in traditional gender roles, despite many kickass exceptions (such as my best friend).
Also, swearing is entirely fucking welcome in here. Swearing at people who are also here is what is discouraged.
Hmmm…. *checks the rules*
Oh, I see. It’s just personal attacks that aren’t allowed. My mistake. I can swear all the hell I want in here, dammit!
Come to think of it, I said ‘fuckbagge’ in here earlier and not only was I not yelled at, I was thanked!
A second apology, for those offended by my dumbass attempt at not offending.
@AR
That is… depressing.
Still only goes to C, right?
Wow, I kept trying to think Amanda Palmer was just someone with a lot of blind spots who hadn’t been exposed to the idea of privilege and the amount she has, but she’s really just a selfish asshole, isn’t she?
No, he knows that’s false. He’s below it.
***
I confess: I’m amused by Fincke. I realized a long time ago that I had no interest in commenting at his blog, and almost as little in reading it. But just about every day I see that he has a new epic treatise on his Comment Policy. Why the hell is this supposed to be important? Set your policy, give a justification (or not), and enforce it. People will like it or not, criticize or mock it or not, choose to comment at or read your blog or not, and that’s it. Get on with the substance, man. Or, y’know, go to Patheos.
Well, Dan Fincke, look at what a fine kettle of fish your prissy commenting policy has brought about. You’re getting just the commenters you deserve (and just exactly the ones sensible people tried to warn you about in between your fainting spells):
Strike a blow for civility, Dan.
Stevarious:
For the umpteenth time: ‘fuck’ is a vulgarism (aka an obscenity), ‘damm’ is a malediction (aka a curse) — neither is an oath, which is to what swearing properly refers (and which I hear is often required (and granted respect)in a court of law).
</pedant>
AR: yeah. That stuff. I’m more interested in knowing what kinds of bribes are necessary to pay, and which aren’t. Or how good cell/satellite coverage is. Or avoiding culturally significant faux pas. Is silence golden or a sign of being aloof? Do I put money into a persons hand or place it on the counter. Who gets tipped and how much. Or how hotels work. Things of this nature. There is a new Bradt travel guide, which I’m sure will help, but it isn’t available yet.
Stevarious: Nope. We’re up to F now.
[addendum]
However, both cursing and swearing are forms of profanity when they
invoke deities.
Carlie: Yeah, pretty much. She has absolutely no excuse for being as absolutely awful in so many ways.
Josh: I like that Dan is getting exactly the company he deserves and is clearly happier with.
Giliell, good luck tomorrow morning!
–
Nope. Looks like it’s up to E, at least.
–
So when is Dan going to take his leave of us for the shores of Patheos?
Me too. I’m taking delicious and very-much-not-nice satisfaction in it. And I’m more than happy to promote his cause and his blog so that he may enjoy wider readership.
Giliell, good luck tomorrow morning!
–
Nope. Looks like it’s up to E, at least.
–
This may be a double post. If so, apologies.
–
I give it a month, tops, Daisy.
I find this snideness towards Prof. Fincke indicative of sour grapes syndrome.
(If you can’t cope there, fine; but to puff yourself up over that failure is… not something that I see favourably)
Giliell, good luck tomorrow morning!
–
Nope. Looks like it’s up to Hepatitis E, at least.
–
Test????
@460: Nope. There’s a hepatitis D, which is only contracted as a superinfection in people with chronic hep B (it’s somehow not a complete virus…I don’t remember the details.) There’s also hep E, which is a virus which is similar to A, at least in clinical manifestations, and is not yet in the US or Europe. As far as I know, anyway. That’s where we were the last time I paid any attention to infectious disease.
Also, I’ve been immunized against the normal stuff, hep A &B, yellow fever, and will be traveling with powerful antibiotic pills and ointments, as well as some doxycycline against malaria.
I’m still going to get sick, but not from those things.
Are we not allowed to link to Wikipedia, or something? My post seems to have been eated.
–
And I find you dishonest, opportunistic, and a deliberate (and embarrassingly transparent) false-flag provocateur. I’ll leave it at that since we’re not in Thunderdome.
He can have lovely conversations with Leah Libresco’s commentariat about how terrible it is that the are so when Catholics talk openly about trying to break up their marriages.
Oh, wait, there’s also a G. I think it’s a bit like C. As far as I know, F got skipped or is not yet proven or something.
How about this…anyone have any good sock recommendations? I will be wet all the time and will spare no expense to keep these dogs happy.
Did you mean to suggest I can’t “hack it,” John?
Or did G turn out to be a rumor…never an ID person around when you need one.
dianne: these truths are not setting me free. My liver is aquiver.
The Last Waltz is on, so
Coyote
And your door is a jar. :)
Now now, Josh, that’s very uncivil towards Morales. He just wants us to know, among other things, how morally superior Fincke is, that people who can’t “hack” constant harassment are weak, and well, a few other choice notes about consent and bodily rights.
Morales: quit distracting people from my sock problem.
Morales, shouldn’t you be off somewhere penning love letters to Kim Jong Un? I bet he makes the trains run on time.
My spleen is obscene :(
HappiestSadist, I know. I’m very uncivil.
But I am remiss in starting this up in the Lounge. I really should have done it in Thunderdome, so I’m going to stop and ask anyone who wants to debate it to go over there.
The beauty of this approach is that I have no intention of going over there to talk to Morales, so it will be an exercise in . . .solitary pleasure.
Yes this! Chances are excellent that it can be fixed, it doesn’t have to be something you endure with your toes curled the whole time.
Your spleen has been made redundant! Out, damn spleen, out!
But you don’t have to! You can go to Patheos…if only in your mind.