This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Isn’t it weird how a baby anything, even an armadillo, is cute?
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Baby flies aren’t very cute.
@208 Alethea fascinating! Who knew? No doubt lots of people other than me…
@219 JAL OOOH don’t get me started on books. No, really, don’t unless you want a long long comment..Oh, and I have accidentally gotten myself two copies of Shari Tepper’s After Long Silence. I liked it, dunno if you would.
But since you like Ursula K Le Guin, have you tried Octavia Butler? They remind me of each other.
@224 Joe At my house we have a really old grandfathered Roadrunner plan that was taken over by Comcast…we have business class internet, unlimited, I’ve tested it at 20-25 Mbps (generally we run several instances of online games and at least two of Netflix and often WiFi for several phones and a laptop as well), with 4 dedicated IP addresses…all for about $40 per month. No cable, as no one watches it.
@227 Tony Netflix: ikr? It’s the best most awesome thing ever!! I have never actually followed a television series week by week, unless you count Star Trek: The Next Generation when I was in elementary school (my mother loved Star Trek; I remember it but not much about waiting for it to come on). The only way I’ve ever watched TV series’ is on DVD or streaming. We’ve had Netflix for 1-2 years and watched all of a lot a of TV series’ and some few movies.
@237 cicely hiya
JAL:
I think you can handle them just fine. You’re very intelligent, so no worries. I’ll go ahead and pick those up for you as I find them. Sagan in particular is good to read when it comes to expanding your knowledge base and sharpening up your critical thinking skills. He wrote for the layperson, too, so there’s nothing terribly technical.
deborahbell,
Comcast wanted about double for the same plan, so I played them against Verizon FIOS until they cut themselves to the bone to keep me.
Should we start naming these cute little Lounge animals?
Oh, and PZ, where are they all being kept? Is there a nice virtual enclosure out back?
@4 Joe Yeah I don’t think the plan we have is available any more. It’s pretty nice though!
@5 Tony how evil of me would it be to copy the platypusi picture for a cell phone wallpaper…I am sorely tempted.
Just a Lurker—Can you please let me know if you got the Horde Fund I transferred to you several days ago? When I don’t hear I worry.
Which I immediately read as , and wondered where the flippers would go.
Deborah:
I don’t think the wallpaper police would come lookin’ for ya. :D
Josh I was debating whether to write platypi or platypuses and I guess decided to word smash. I have an excuse! I’m sick and not thinking clearly!
Which might bode ill for having signed up for a new cell phone plan today…
Caine You are no doubt correct. I just don’t want to..steal someone’s photo. See above about not thinking correctly. Brain is vacillating between OMG CUTE!!! and “duuuuhhhh what now?”
Oh, jeez Josh, I’m sorry I thought I replied! I did get it and am transferring it to my bank already. I swear I though I let you know and thanked you and dianne. I’m late saying this apparently, but thank you both for helping me out.
This one time, in the Marine Corps… :)
I accidentally kicked an armadillo really really high into the air. I was out in the woods playing paintball, and an armadillo climbed up my leg. I swear the damned thing went 30 yards up.
Deborahbell:
Business class internet? What, pray tell is that?
As for Netflix, I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’ve long been behind the times on technology. To this day, I have never owned an Ipod or an Mp3 player. The first plasma tv I bought was about 3 years ago (curiously, I just found out from my boyfriend that I have a *plasma* tv in my bedroom, where I thought I had an LCD tv all this time). I’ve never had satellite radio in my car (and I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want that, because radio stations SUCK! ass). Aaaaaaaaand now that I think about it, none of that actually had one blessed thing to do with Netflix.
I think my point was that when it comes to technology, I’m occasionally, maybe, possibly, definitely behind the times.
Why when I was in high school (1990-1994), I was excited to get a calculator watch.
Awesome, JAL. I wasn’t trolling for thanks, really, I was just concerned:))
Trawling, rather.
Armadillo climbed your leg? Wondering if I’d find that cute or creepy.
Deborahbell:
On the 50 point scale of evil, that only ranks about a 15. That’s not even malevolent (which is around 25). You’re going to have to work harder.
Josh, don’t insert gay joke here. It wasn’t cute or creepy, it happened in the space of less than a second. I felt it on my leg, I looked down and said “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” and I kicked like I was Jean Claude Van Damme and/or David Lee Roth. If I had kicked any harder my knee would have caved in my chest.
Brett McCoy:
Ursula Vernon’s baby flies are very cute.
A moose once bit my sister…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo
“The nine-banded armadillo also serves science through its unusual reproductive system, in which four genetically identical offspring are born, the result of one original egg.[16][17][18] Because they are always genetically identical, the group of four young provides a good subject for scientific, behavioral or medical tests that need consistent biological and genetic makeup in the test subjects. This is the only reliable manifestation of polyembryony in the class Mammalia,…”
For your own cell phone? Zero evil.
For sharing with others?
Joe:
No need for insertion jokes.
It only touched you for a split second before you jerked…your foot.
*dies laughing*
Ok, I needs a little assistance here.
K gave me his Wii (wow, that has connotations) before he left. He has Netflix set up on it, but we never discussed HOW it works.
Can someone give me some pointers? What is the queue? How does it work? What about money? Ugh. I feel inept.
Tony:
The Netflix queue is just “movies you’ve marked to watch later” so nothing to stress out about there. How it works is that you give them your email and payment information, and for $7.99 a month you get to watch as many movies and TV shows through the Wii or your computer as you can tolerate. Literally… I’ve watched well over 100 GB worth of streaming movies and TV in a single month.
You have to hook your Wii to your Internet connection and to your TV, or you can watch Netflix on another gaming system, most newer HDTVs, any computer, and most smartphones and tablets.
Found out where the blood came from – Zoe has a massive (adult size) full bite on her butt. Very deep. Just got some antibiotics into her, she boggled for me. Sweetheart. One of the adults is going to be fucking hung out to dry if I find out who it was who bit her.
@14 Tony Business class is what businesses get. Extra support, special technical department with extended hours, more technical support options with fewer charges.
I have the odd distinction of having never in my life purchased a television. As a child our televisions were hand-me-downs from my step-father’s mother, who did buy a couple of new ones in my living memory. When I moved out on my own a roommate brought a 12″ television with a built in VCR and left it when she moved out. Later I got a free 19″ television from FreeCycle that had a color shift problem – everything looked blue and there were lines through the screen. I didn’t watch it much so it didn’t bother me. Some friends of mine occasionally came over for movie nights and it really bothered them – or perhaps made them feel sorry for me. They gave me a very similar 19″ television that didn’t have that problem, and I used it until I moved in with BF who has a fairly old but nice and large television.
I bought my first cell phone about 13 years ago, though, and have purchased a couple of computers in my life – the last about 5 years ago; I’m using a hand me down desktop currently as there are tons of those to be had in our house.
I went without a microwave for six months and didn’t really miss it, but would terribly miss a toaster oven. I haven’t ever had satellite radio except in rental cars, but I agree, I was just telling someone I want one. I think I want one in the kitchen too. Generally I stream podcasts on my cell phone rather than radio – the one radio I have is gathering dust somewhere.
I worked for a cell phone company for over 5 years, until just recently, and got addicted to internet on the phone, so I am stuck needing that unless it just isn’t an option, and I generally have the latest and greatest (actually, I was in a program to test new devices, so I have used upwards of 20+ phones in the last couple of years, which eventually gets annoying).
I love technology and gadgets, but I don’t necessarily spend tons of money on them. :)
I was in highschool in ’95-99 and I remember having a calculator watch too, but maybe it was a little before high school. In high school we had a 386 computer with Windows 3.1 on it that I played tons and tons of Minesweeper and Solitaire on. I think maybe we got that free too. Oh and in…um…about ’94 or ’95 my dad had a cell phone, not the very earliest ones but before they had screens. Unfortunately all he remembers is having it – not how much it cost, which intrigues me. I think it was horrendously expensive to talk on it because there was no chatting on it.
Awwwwwwww. A baby armadillo! :)
Improbable Joe:
Y’know, that is really great for you. That said, I’m getting a bit fucking tired of hearing about it. Not all of us have superfantasticgreat unlimited fucking internet for superfantasticgreat low prices.
OMG
WTF
was that?
My understanding is that one of the benefits of a business Internet account is that you are assigned fixed IP addresses, which allow you to host your own websites from on-site servers. Maybe not a big deal if you have a personal website where you post pictures of your ratlings(!!) but maybe a big deal if you’re selling homemade goods and you update your inventory on a regular basis. If you’ve got the coding skills or have paid for third-party software, it is easier and sometimes cheaper to host your own website and manage it yourself, rather than pay someone else to host it for you and deal with things that way.
Plus, if you’re a business you have an IRS number, and it streamlines “business deductions” on your taxes every year. My wife is an independent contractor, has one of those numbers, and can write off a little bit of our cell phone and Internet charges every year.
@18 Tony 15 huh? that sounds worrying. Maybe i’d better not. :)
@23 strange gods for my own phone, to squee every time I look at it. I like your 0 better than Tony’s 15…
@26 Tony Netflix is already set up? So you don’t have to set up the WiFi for the Wii or download the application for Netflix or anything? Are you going to take over his Netflix account or get your own? I just asked and supposedly a Netflix streaming only account (without DVDs by mail) is $7.99 per month. You would set up an account on their website and put in a method of payment online, and then you would have account credentials (ours is an email address and password) that you could then put in the Wii Netflix application. I haven’t ever actually signed into Netflix on the Wii…I just click on Netflix and it loads. It shouldn’t be too hard to sign out of his Netflix account and into your own, though, if you look at the options in the application.
As to the queue, when you are looking at the information for a specific movie or television show, there’s a button that says “Add to instant queue” (or “remove from instant queue” if you’ve already added to the queue). You know how the main screen has categories like “Science Fiction” and “Emotional Romance Movies with a Strong Female Lead” (seriously, some of those categories are WEIRD) that you can scroll down through the categories and across to see teh movies/shows in the category? Well the instant queue is the very top row of those categories. It’s basically to save things for later. So if I’m watching Monk and Warehouse 13 and MI-5 and Star Trek: Voyager all of those are in the queue at the top and I can select them without having to search for them when I want to watch the next episode. Or when I come across a movie I want to watch sometime but not right now, I can add it to the queue so I remember it.
Oops, someone already said some of this. Oh well.
Joe:
Thank you my friend.
K gave me his Wii which is what I’m watching stuff on. I’m guessing from what you say that he is charged monthly from Netflix. I’ll need to get with him. Thanks again.
If The Innocence of Muslims left a bad taste in your mnuth, check out International Guerillas, a movie about Muslims banding together to kill a hilariously over-the-top Salman Rushdie. This movie makes Inglorious Basterds look like Schindler’s List: at one point, the protagonists dress up like Batman to take down Rushdie.
Referencing old Lounge thread…
@ Improbable Joe: You poor bastard (no reference to your legitimacy!)…. that’s how Comcast draws you in. If you’ve had it for a long time without ridiculous rate hikes, then you literally a demonstrable miracle, and the Randi Foundation should pay you $1m dollars.
@ Tony •King of the Hellmouth•: I know, right? That’s why I can affirmatively claim that chinchillas will bathe as often as you give them fresh dust. Once, we gave our chinchilla an aluminum baking pan full of dust to roll in. I really wish I’d taken a video.
@ Caine: It’s worth noting that the quality of streaming Netflix provides is notably lower than most streaming. I’d hazard IJ only thinks he’s downloaded 100 Gb of data. :) Xe thinks Comcast provides a great service, so I rest my case based on that alone.
@33 Joe yeah BF has some small business things going on, and he does host websites, a personal one with software on it (PHP and MySQL at least) and some that he hosts for other people, and we have a Unix server that you can reach by IP address if you have a user account set up – I log on and play around on my Android tablet with ConnectBot sometimes. The 4 IP addresses thing is the main important thing to him I think.
I had a … uhm… “delightfully” awkward pre-birthday lunch today. I have a friend that, as we’ve gotten older, I’ve had a harder and harder time wanting to stay in contact with. I’ve managed to reduce the frequency of seeing him to about once or twice a year. And as I’ve grown up… he hasn’t. I’m becoming more aware, thanks to places like this, of things that are wrong. He is deeply entrenched in societal norms and his religion.
Today was supposed to be a pre-birthday lunch, which I thought meant some decent food and light conversation and catching up. But the first hour was a discussion on hate speech and the riots that killed americans, because my friend is Muslim. He felt that hate speech should not be protected and when I pointed out that laws against hate speech, especially against religion, are too easily taken further than expected by the naive. After all, if I say “I don’t believe God exists, and that you are wrong”, it could be taken as hating that religion and voila.
It was a fascinating conversation in that I could now much more easily see how he attempted to slide around my points, and I did take some pleasure in mentioning the incident with the little girl who supposedly burned pages of the quran. He had no idea any of that was happening.
It was less fascinating to have him talk over me, and utterly dominate the conversation for 2 hours to talk about what he wanted to talk about. He eventually got onto comic books and I mentioned the website eschergirls and how women are portrayed compared to men and he was off and running again on stylization and we shouldn’t mock people who have sexist drawings and had I heard about this that and the other website.
The only reason why the conversation ended was that I allowed myself to enter into a food coma and stopped paying attention. Once I was no longer focused on him, he was ready to head out.
:/ He wasn’t this bad when he was younger. Makes me sad.
In other news…. turning 30 in 10 days. O_O Does this mean I have to be all mature and dignified now?
I had satellite radio in my car for a few months. I found out that except for the top 40 pop stations, the sound quality on the other stations was somewhat… terrible, even on factory standard car speakers. No way I was paying $15/mo for that. So, now I listen to internet radio from my phone (streamed to my car stereo via Bluetooth) with Slacker, Aupeo, or 8tracks instead. I’d try Pandora, but it’s not available anywhere except in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Slacker even let me pre-cache particular stations so that I don’t need continuous data service. I get more variety than I’d ever get with XM, and I can skip past the terrible songs I don’t want to listen to. And the audio quality is somehow slightly higher than XM.
deborahbell:
I remember my first cell phone. It was one of those huge bag phones. Cumbersome and took up a lot of space. But it was so cool having it (at the time)!
I didn’t bother. I mean, really, it’s just another day, right? This human need to chop up time in to countable bits and pieces if pretty arbitrary, if you think about it.
Caine,
I’m sorry… I don’t know what to tell you. I negotiated this price by playing some serious hardball, so I know that most people don’t get it cheap like I do. I was lucky in that Comcast dropped their data limits around the same time I negotiated the cheap rate. And part of the reason I have this access is because I live in the heart of a semi-major urban hub, and I have to live with the congestion and crime that go with it. Lots of trade-offs, and I’d rather be back where my Internet wasn’t so awesome and I didn’t feel like I had to carry a fucking gun to walk my dog, or even lock my car door.
Tony,
If your friend is still paying for Netflix, it doesn’t cost him any extra to run a second device, and they probably don’t even notice if you live in the same town. My wife has driven to Parts Unknown for work and she’s able to use the same Netflix account as I used earlier today. I’d still suggest being cool and offering to give your buddy a 6-pack every month to offset his Netflix investment.
PatrickG,
Not too long, 5 months or so. But that’s fine, because I might be moving in the next 60 days, and in the meanwhile I’ll tell them the same thing after I saw that $260 bill they sent me: I’m not paying it. They can lower it, or I can give them back their equipment, one or the other.
rowanvt:
Only if you want to be. I don’t remember being noticeably more mature and dignified at 30. Admittedly that was 20 years ago, so my memory could be faulty. :D
Daisy— “Baby flies”. . .you have a career in marketing. They are adorable, though.
Deborahbell—A woman after my own heart. Every single piece of furniture and almost all my (extremely well-stocked and kitted out for serious cooking) kitchen tools is second-hand, a gift, or scrounged from Freecycle or similar. And no, my house isn’t a dump; it’s quite comfortable and cozy.
The last “new” thing I bought was a top-of-the-line Henckel chef’s knife, because no kitchen can do without one.
rowanvt—Your friend is a douche and you needn’t have lunch with him anymore. But I suspect you came to that conclusion already:)
deborahbell,
In that case, I believe you are morally obliged to make your platypus wallpaper!
JAL – If you get a minute, could you e-mail me at camandpete at the yahoo mailservice?
deborahbell and JAL:
I may be a little slow on the uptake here, but did I see that you two are fans of Ursula K. LeGuin? She’s one of my favorite sci-fi authors. It’s good to see some other bookish types around. Have you read any Ted Chiang? I think you might find him interesting.
Everyone else, umm, hi. I’ve recently de-lurked myself after a good year or so of reading. It’s been nice to actually interact with all of you rather than just lurking.
@ Improbable Joe: I managed to use a gender neutral term once, but not twice. Sorry if I’ve offended.
blogofmyself, Welcome in! Glad you’re hear and speaking up.
Thanks for the opinions on butter duck. I think I’ll probably try it when I get a chance, but I’ll make a very small batch.
ImaginesABeach: email sent.
–
Haven’t heard of him. I’ll have to look him up.
Check your fine print. If you don’t give them back the equipment, they will most likely charge you the full market rate (i.e. not what you negotiated) for the entire term of your service and charge you a replacement cost. In particular, look for clauses that read along the lines of “Contract violations will void any promotional deals”.
Seriously, do not underestimate Comcast when it comes to the ‘if you owe us $0.01 we will fight you to death’ business model. If you’re willing to fight, more power to you, but be aware!
PatrickG, I’m clearly cis straight male asshole, so you can’rt offend me with gendered terms. Lucky me, all that privilege. I’m not white though, and as long as you don’t make that mistake we’re golden. Like one of my closest friends said, I only have to do two things in this life: stay Puerto Rican, and die. :)
Joe:
Well, it is my boyfriend’s account, who is currently in Hawaii for 6 months. I know he has Netflix on his Ipad, which he uses frequently. He knows it’s active, because he gave me the Wii and we just watched several episodes of Wallace and Gromit before he shipped out. Even so, I’ll ask him if he’s cool if I continue using it. Something doesn’t feel right using his account, even if he’s not getting charged.
Rowan:
Hell no.
one counterexample.
Do not tempt me further.
PatrickG:
They can try. I haven’t had steady employment since 2007. They can take what I offer, or they can get nothing and pay their lawyers more than I’m worth to try to come at me for money I don’t have. :)Sometimes poor is better.
Chas:
Aaw. I think that’s rather cute, in an alien sort of way. Cute is in the eye of the beholder and all that.
Tony,
I hear you, and I agree that he should know you’re using his Netflix account as well as his Wii. I doubt he will mind either way, and if he does he can change the password and shut you out.
Improbable Joe:
As a fellow white cis male… I’m glad I didn’t offend. I’ve had three missteps when it came to accidentally assigning gender to people, so I tread carefully. :)
That said, I once failed to pay Comcast a $25 late fee (for non-payment of my bill for the month after my cancellation date. They’d attached a “severance fee”, which I didn’t see — having moved — and didn’t pay.). They spent much more than that pestering me via phone and after they learned my new address, and after I’d “resolved” the situation (i.e. removed the severance fee), sent me to collections for the late fee. Murderous vampire, Comcast is.
Anyway, be warned, and be cognizant of the fact that they’re more than willing to destroy your credit rating for $0.01.
@ Chas:
Awww, look at that mouth! He’s like a baby Oliver Twist just saying ‘please, sir, can I have some more?’
Bring on the others, that was pretty cute. :)
We haven’t used the Henckels very much since we bought one of these:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,40733,40738&p=52770
totally threadrupt, doing repairs and ubunto updates
Setar, on libertarians give them the historical record on taxes and charity
during the western dynastic era taxes were 10% for the churches therefore 10% for charity, food assistance etc. 10% for the ruler for roads, defense, community projects as a base with additional special causes levies to about 30-35% of income
Because in todays world that charitable giving is not mandated by law and we have no state church to confiscate property of non charitable giving the state must replace the charities.
If it took 35% (from everyone)to run medieval england it should take about the same amount to run modern US and Canada
@broboxley OT: But taxation = slavery!
Snark aside, have you had success confronting libertarians in this way?
Just thought I drop a note that I’m feeling a lot better since last week. I went to the doctor and he thinks I’ve got a low-grade infection. He prescribed some antibiotics. Since then I don’t feel as fatigued, I’ve lost that watery, dizzy feeling in my head, and I don’t feel the urge to go combing medical websites to try to diagnose myself. (“Let’s see… Headache, dizziness…. OH MY ZOMG I GOT A BRAIN TUMOR!!!”)
While at the doctor, I also discovered I had lost 19 pounds since my last check up in January. Back then, I tipped the scales at a little over 350. This prompted him to send me down to the lab to check for diabetes. (Good news, my blood chemistry is ok.) I think the primary reason is that the horrific nights-and-weekends work schedule I started back in June keeps me from stuffing my face as much as I used to. I feel slightly encouraged by this. For so long I thought that I could not loose weight; that my waistline was a slave to the genetics that made most of my mom’s side of the family morbidly obeese.
If I can loose 19 pounds without trying, imagine how much I can loose if I put some actual effort into it!
I know we have a lot of youngsters reading here so I am re-reading a monster classic that would be useful to the younger folk on how the heck we ended up here
“Generation of Swine” Hunter S. Thompson Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80’s
Gonzo Papers Vol. 2.
Good historical reference with free never happened history thrown in.
@40 ckitching I have only ever had satellite radio in rental cars and they generally have had better speakers than my own car, so maybe that is the difference for me. But I haven’t had the problem you describe. Of course, I’m mainly listening to the news and talking channels – PBX, NPR, BBC etc. Sound quality is less vital there.
Still, streaming from my phone to my own car I find that I have to turn the volume up to 2x what I would put it on to listen to the radio just to be able to hear anything from the phone. That is from a rather huge number of different phones (I think I deleted 40+ from my work email account authorizations a few months back, though some were multiples of the same model because they would send me a new one to test new software rather than do an over the air update). So while I often stream from my phone to my car radio, I haven’t found that to be a particularly good sound quality option.
@46 Josh I have a black leather recliner that I love that I got free from FreeCycle. BF keeps trying to get rid of it, and I keep saying no we should get rid of the broken recliner in the bedroom if we need to get rid of something. I grew up not ever buying anything new, and not having a particularly comfortable home, and I do prefer buying my clothing brand new – I hate clothes shopping anyway, so finding what I want and getting out is easier in a new store with multiples of sizes – but I don’t see any need to buy something new when what I have will work, or if I can get it cheaper used.
I suppose I should admit the last new thing I bought was a cell phone, today…but I just quit working for a cell phone carrier and had to move my plan to retail.
@50 blogofmyself I haven’t read many by LeGuin yet. I like her but haven’t gotten many of her books yet. I haven’t heard of Chiang before; I am only finding a couple of books on Amazon by him, a collection of stories postulating Christianity to be literally true (according to the brief glance I did at the description) and a novel that sounds interesting but the description ends with “Above all, it’s a story about recognizing the will of Allah and accepting it, no matter what form it takes.” If I happened upon those descriptions while searching Amazon they would be a turn off to me; since I have someone to ask about them, I am interested to know if that is the guy you are thinking of and if so, how you experienced the stories.
I have read nearly all I could get of Shari Tepper, Iain Banks, Jack McDevitt; I really liked a couple of China Mieville’s books and found when I explored the rest of his bibliography that they were none as good as the first ones I read; James Alan Gardner is really interesting; you have to be in the right mood to read Neil Gaiman; I am anxiously awaiting the next by Patrick Rothfuss; I was severely disappointed recently when I looked up Octavia Butler and found that not only had I read all of her work but she actually died :(; and I will stop there so as not to go on too long.
@63 PatrickG I once had a store credit card charge me a late fee because I paid online on the due date but after the cut off time, and then charge me a late fee on that, and they didn’t send me anything about it until they started calling me two months later. I was on paperless billing and they were sending me 3-4 advertisement emails every day, so if I got an email bill I didn’t see it in that barrage. Fortunately it was a new card and they were nice about it and took all the fees off, and switched me to paper billing. Now they only send me a bill when I spend something on the card.
blogofmyself –
I bookmarked your comment on Cuttlefish’s “she said no” post. I seriously considered starting a fan club, but I’m not much one for joining stuff.
#67 Patrick G
yes a little they have to admit that forced charity will not be covered by voluntary contributions altho they do tend to argue for harder work from the volunteer. Also note that the 10% ruler nut also covered public support for the arts or the medieval version of same. That swings them sideways
#67 Patrick G also that enforcable 10% charity included medical care for the indigent.
I got rather lucky when Sonera (one of the two big ISPs in Finland) built fiber optics to my neighbourhood, and the apartment building I live in decided to join. Baseline 2/2 Mb net is free, and when I made a two year contract I got it upgraded to 10/10 for 5 € per month.
After making the contract it still took me months to gather the 100 € pre-payment they wanted because my credit is shit. Bunch of assholes, thinking a few coins a month is a risk.
*sigh*
Why am I such a shitty activist?
I want to form an atheist (+) meetup at my school. I know there are enough secular types here. I’ve been trying to start one. Why am I so timid? I don’t have very many friends either, and the ones I have I’m too scared to talk to. Never mind my laziness.
Any tips on this? Or other stuff I can go out and be activist about? The things done by other youngsters today put me to shame.
Don’t feel shame. Do what you can, strive to do more, but if I compared myself to Rebecca Watson*, PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson, Jessica Ahlquist, etc, etc. in terms of what I’ve done for the movement, I’d just go hang myself.
That said, have you contacted the Secular Student Alliance? They have startup kits and a whole lot of resources for new groups. Or is it that the SSA group on your campus isn’t as friendly to the (+) part?
* Any shame you feel is her fault, btw.
@75 thunk, Blob Alert! I dunno about being an activist. I am working on just being able to be my real self in offline life, being willing to disagree with people even if they might not like it. But I have had trouble with friends, feeling afraid to call them, afraid to bother them, afraid they will be annoyed with my presence. I don’t know any way around it; sometimes I have felt that way about people because they legitimately didn’t like me and were pretending they did, and I found it best to let those relationships fade. Other times, I found that just reaching out works, and to keep looking for friendships until I found some that would sometimes reach back, because it’s exhausting to always be the one doing the reaching.
I wish I knew some people who were skeptical. In my life people are divided into quietly religious, those who do what they want in their lives and don’t judge other people and never talk about religion or religious practice, but if you ask them they will tell you they believe in god and go to church and if you have a problem in your life religious platitudes suddenly come out, even if they know you are an atheist; and the actively religious, who preach to others, have weird religious conversations in public and at work and assume that anyone who isn’t actively complaining is in agreement. It’s probably a function of where I live (the midsouth) that is in the Bible belt, but it’s a big enough city surely there are some atheists here somewhere…
A sentence that should have gone in there (I fail at self-editing)… “The SSA may very well have received other inquiries from people on your campus who are equally reluctant to ‘make a splash'”.
We don’t have one. Previous atheist group never even heard of it.
And of course, no one else cares.
Caine
Thanks. It’s nice to be out and talking to people.
deborahbell
LeGuin is great. I recommend The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. The former is more about gender and sexuality, while the latter is more about science and anarchist politics. Her writing is absolutely lovely, which is what first brought me to her.
I don’t know that those descriptions of Ted Chiang sound quite right. Maybe they’re consumer reviews? I really liked his short story collection Stories of Your Life. My favorite is the title story, which is about linguistics, aliens, and time-perception. There is one story there that imagines that God is real and physically does stuff, but he put such a dark and interesting twist on it that even I enjoyed it. Overall I found him to be a lyrical writer with some solid science-based stories.
I’ve been meaning to read some Iain Banks. I’ve heard his culture novels are fantastic. I’ll have to move him up on my list. I remember when I fist found Octavia Butler and then discovered that she had already died. That was a sad day.
ImaginesABeach
*blush*
Thank you. You just absolutely made my week.
thunk, Blob Alert!:
I’d still encourage you to contact the SSA, just to see if there’s been interest expressed by other students. You might get lucky and find some like-minded people. If it doesn’t work out, I hope you can find some outlet via forums like this one*, and maybe try to get to a meatspace environment outside of town if/when you can.
I don’t know where you’re at, but it sounds like a fairly… unpleasant area for nonbelievers. And I live in Kentucky, home of the Ham Museum.
* I hope that doesn’t sound trite; places like this are a resource and a treasure.
thunk, Blob Alert!
I have a similar problem. I want to be more active in the atheist (+) movement, but don’t know how to go about it in real life. The atheist group on campus doesn’t seem like it would be too open to A+ ideas. Besides, as the fact that it took me years to stop lurking here will attest, I’m rather shy and bad at meeting people. But I’m sure we can both find a way to do something, yes?
blogofmyself, welcome!
thunk, Blob Alert!:
One quick note re: activism… I’ve been reluctant to suggest reaching out to other groups in your area that do good work (it sounds like you want to tie your secular values into good work without that, but that might just be me misreading you).
Are local environmental issues pressing to you? It’s something of interest to me, and if you wanted I’d be happy to help you find a local group in your area that does watershed/wetland/ecosystem/river restoration work. Typically not the most intellectual of activities, but it’s real impact and you get to see lots of cool stuff. :)
That’s my pet thing, but what about voting rights, civil liberties, reproductive rights, etc. etc. I’d say identify what you feel passionate about, and try to find a national group that can refer you to a local affiliate/chapter. Some groups struggle with using volunteers, but others are remarkably good at it.
@ broboxley OT: I’ll have to try that sometime, but the variant of libertarian I run into tends to be of the ‘run wild, be free, kill em off’ school of thought. Might makes right, and let the hindmost care for themselves.
@80 blogofmyself Those are the two I read by LeGuin. I really liked the Dispossessed the best. I also have The Word for World is Forest. I just know she has a much larger biblography so I have lots more to get to.
The Culture novels are the ones I like by Iain Banks, though I’ve read some others of his.
The reviews I was quoting from for Chiang were the official Amazon product descriptions. I guess maybe they are trying to appeal to the religious base? The user reviews mainly talked about the writing being beautiful.
Joe:
K just told me he’s fine with me using his account until I’m financially able to create my own. Strangely, he said that he can’t use Netflix in his cabin on the ship, because he’s stuck in a metal box.
Aaaaaaaaaaan fuck. Now he says we can’t Skype either!
FFS!
My second poem to be accepted for publication, and my first actually to see the light of day:
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/drunkenness.htm
I would have posted it on the ruder thread, just as proof I’m not a coward, but this one is right at hand, and I don’t have the energy right now to go looking for the other one.
Tony,
Lose access to a boyfriend, gain tens of thousands of movies and episodes of TV shows?
Weed Monkey:
How far did you get through Season 5 of Buffy?
RE: libertarianism: What I’ve noticed with the people I’ve interacted with on the subject is that they seem to have very simplistic ideas. They aren’t willing to consider any nuance or complexity, that what works in one case might not work in another, that moving one piece might resolve one problem while creating a different one and that moving pieces around is a juggling act of figuring out which problems are less bad and which benefits more desirable, rather than a matter of just moving things and getting perfection really easily.
They remind me of time management advice columns that consist largely of “stop watching so much television, lazy bum” which my mother used to complain about when I was a child.
Joe:
No challenge at all.
I’ve watched plenty of tv in my time. Some of it has been good. Some of it has been awful.
If I had to choose, the other half of that equation interests me FAR more.
Tony, the last episode I watched was Smashed (season 6), but I was a bit drunk and eventually dozing off so I’m about to watch the end half of it again in a while…
The musical piece Once more with a feeling was a real treat. :)
I read The Dispossessed two or three times as a youngster–greatly enjoyed The Word for World Is Forest and The Left Hand of Darkness–as well as the Earthsea books. It was only some years later that I read one of her earliest (and less well known) novels–City of Illusion–and found it to be among the most moving things she’s written.
In it, a man whose memory has been destroyed wanders over a desolated and depleted earth many centuries after an alien invasion. Quite elegiac in tone! I was living in Greece when I read it, and I was encountering face to face the poignancy of uncovering a former civilization. The book caught that feeling entirely and perfectly.
Tony,
I’m with you… TV can be crap, but the other half of the equation is ALL THOSE MOVIES! :)
I’m kidding, but only barely. I’ve had relationships that in hindsight I wish I could have the time back and wasting that time on old Godzilla movies would have been a better investment.
@ Josh
Check ur email. And snailmail (a large manila envelope filled with rare artworks, wads of cash and the ORIGINAL title deeds for the entire island of Manhattan!)
@ Caine
I do not think Theo needs to know this, but his virtual sisters have been rather misbehaved. Spawnphontes bought them
drugscatnip, and they got stoned out of their skulls. They are currently sleeping it off, prior to demanding food to suppress the “munchies”. I have gone to work and left the others to deal with.Weed Monkey:
You watched Smashed while you *were* smashed?
Oh, and Once more with feeling is one of the few musicals that I’ve enjoyed.
Did you know that bunnies are evil?
****
Joe:
Whoa!
Godzilla too?
You rock.
The original movie is the best. Gojira can’t be beat.
I’m so glad the real Godzilla kicked the ass of the fake American version.
Hopefully the next American version of Godzilla (in 2014) will at least be good, if not great. My biggest worry is that without the metaphor of the destructive forces mankind could unleash using forces we don’t understand , the movie loses tremendous thematic punch.
Assuming my ex ever told the truth about anything, you are right. :(
Tony:
I assume you mean the scene from Godzilla: Final Wars where Godzilla swats the CGI version into the Sydney opera house and then blasts it with his nuke breath, with music from Sum 41? That’s in my top 20 movie scenes of all time.
Theophontes:
Considering the way they have all been acting today, I’d pay good money for a crate of rattie downers.
A True Story of Wild Nature Encounters.
Did you know that when armadillos root about in search of their dinner they make sounds like a little old man hunting for something that should be right where he put it down but, damn, he can’t seem to find it?
I know this because of the time in Florida on a perfectly lovely evening I took a stroll down a dirt track into the woods. Having gone not very far I spied the familiar hump of a foraging armadillo just a few yards down the way, along a fence line that ran parallel to the track. The wind, being in my favor, nudged my curiosity. I engaged stealth mode.
Crouching lowly and moving slowly while avoiding brittle grasses and twigs (did I mention that their hearing is particularly acute?) I drew close. His course, or the courses he was eating, took him just on the far side of a fallen log of impressive girth and I eased up on the near side just ahead of where I thought he’d move.
Now, sometimes it’s hard to remain perfectly quiet. When you are observing someone (critters are their own selves so I refer to them as such) who is totally absorbed in some earnest pursuit but is going about it in an unselfconscious fashion that just happens to be hilarious, well, stifling laughter is near impossible.
So here he comes now, snout in the ground, rooting. Bracing against his claws he tears the sod. Small roots and runners snap and pop audibly but there is another sound. It goes, “hmph, rpp, snrt, hff and php”, just like Unk used to do while tightening bolts on the old Farmall.
As he drew abreast of me across the log, a swirl of the breeze carried just the smallest hint of my presence his way. He stopped and put his nose in the air where it twisted about in the most prehensile way, like an embryonic pachyderm’s snout. His front feet gripping the log, he sat upright and he was squinting, eyes near closed and crow footed and his nose was waving about and we were face to face less than two feet apart.
The illusion of that little old man became sharper and was for all the world like that poor old timer was hunting his glasses which are, predictably, perched upon his brow (did I mention that their eyesight is poor?).
As he tested the air. I leaned slowly back and turned my head to exhale downwind. I leaned back in even closer, to regard him the better. My mirth rose until the least little laugh caught high in my throat, practically inaudible to me. Not to him.
He levitated. A full yard straight up and swapped ends (did I mention how agile they are, especially when alarmed?) before he touched down. Under the fence he went and in three seconds he had bounded beyond view into the brush, my now raucous laughter hard on his heels.
There was nothing to do then but to turn back towards home in the fading light, a wide smile leading my way. A most delightful evening stroll.
Should you ever spy an armadillo rooting for his supper at dusk and the wind is in your favor, do engage stealth mode. You won’t be able to keep from laughing either, I’d wager.
Joe:
Nope.
That’s not at all what I’m talking about :)
Among the *many* things the Broderick version of Godzilla got wrong…
Where is the radioactive breath?
There were 2 cases where it looked like Zilla used the breath, but those are questionable. Not to mention, it’s Godzilla’s main offensive weapon. You simply do NOT create a Godzilla movie and downplay such a weapon.
Then there’s the question of how an 60m gigantic lizard weighing 500 tons can move through NYC silently the way Zilla does.
@Tony
There’s a question of how a 60M gigantic Lizard weighting 500 tons can move PERIOD.
ZOMG I am getting so hooked on fitocracy. And on Lindt Excellence Coconut Intense. We will not be discussing whether these addictions are compatible, mmkay?
Hell if you’re going to question it maybe they should have explained that Zilla generates some anti-grav field that lets him exist without collapsing into a mess of pasty goo and splintered bones, and thus also allows silent movement.
Or alternatively, his bones are hollow. And filled with radiogenic helium.
Ing:
Look, I can suspend my disbelief only *so* far.
I can take a 60m tall radioactively mutated lizard that weighs 500 tons.
I can’t accept that lizard moving silently through NYC.
Yeah, I know, makes no sense :)
Ing:
I don’t know much about the science behind it, so I’m wondering: what’s the limit to the height/weight/mass of a living creature before it can’t move?
@ Caine
Is there anything like “ratnip” that you could give them?
NSFR:
Don’t let the rodents see this linky: Nepeta cataria L. var. citriodora (Becker) increases penile erection in rats.
Nepeta cataria is catnip. The take-home message appears to be to keep it away from the ratties!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akaname
I’m going to go clean the bathroom.
Loved your armadillo encounter account, Crudely Wrott!
Good morning
Hey, no running water today, ain’t that great?
Tethys
When I picked up #1 from kindergarten last week she was playing in the other group with the dress-up box. She was wearing a frilly princess-dress and so did the boy who played with her.
Seriously, which kid doesn’t love “bling”? Only tzhe boys get taught that it’s not for them.
kristinc
I have a complete set of clothing for me, including a tricorn and cutlass.
But there were more known female pirates in the history of piratry than there are in contemporary toy-sets…
+++
Speaking of kindergarten, I did the fill-in-300-pages-of-data for the little one today who was playing there in the meantime. When I told her it’s time to go now she said “no, I don’t want to!”
I think everybody is going to have an easy next week when she starts there.
carlie
What Caine says, if possible.
I found that if I just allow me to “pass out” without any “but I should be doing X instead” for a bit it helps me to get back on track later again. Shaming myself is absolutely counter-productive.
Sometimes alcohol can be OK, but if you think it’s a dangerous road to go down, take care.
I don’t trust myself with alcohol and problems, so it’s a no-go for me.
Tony
Meh, that’s sad. Fingers crossed for financial stability.
Caine
Ouch, I hope Zoe is OK
rowan
No.
Easy answer to easy questions ;)
Akira
Yay for improved health.
Did they check your thyroid along the way? If fatigue and infections are a problem, that could be the source.
hi blogofmyself and welcome
You have all such interesting wildlife where you are. I only have squirrels and rabbits (who are cute)
Ok, I’m totally threadrupt, since several iterations before the move to the lounge.
*Looks around.*
Ooh, really comfy! =^_^=
*Spies baby-animal-tank*
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Update:
I had cardiac ablation for atrial fibrillation on Wednesday the 12th. Already, the procedure would appear to be a success; my blood oxygen levels have shot up (to 96%! Yay!!!), I’m no longer permanently exhausted or in arrhythmia or feeling that I’m suffocating.
Thanks to the great people at the hospital in Sydney, especially Dr Man-of-Mystery (the electrocardiologist) who did such a good job, and the anæsthologist (sadly, I don’t know his name) who actually listened to me when I told him which drugs were fine for me and which weren’t so, for the first time ever, I had no anæsthetic after-effects at all.
I can’t believe how much faster my brain is processing things now. I was aware, in a vague sort of way, that my thinking had slowed down over the last year but looking back at pre-op me, just a week ago, it’s like looking at a frail nonagenarian.
Perhaps I can keep up, now! =^_^=
The only fly in the ointment is that the tiny wound where the instruments were inserted into my femoral veins is refusing to heal at the moment. I’m keeping it clean, and hopefully it will seal itself when I finish the ten day course of heparin injections (needed to prevent stroke).
FtB was totally down for me last night. :(
On Netflix and the Wii – the search function on the Wii is crap. You’re much better off browsing and searching on netflix online on the computer. Even without signing in with a password, you can find everything they have. Then go to the Wii version and search for it directly by name. You can have two devices streaming at once, so if it’s just him and you, it will be fine. (more can be authorized, but only two can be used at the same time) Just remember that either of you can see exactly what was recently watched no matter which of you did it.
Welcome, blogofmyself!
Azkyroth and Gileill – thanks. I forget I even have it in the house, so it’s not a big thing for me. I like drinking, but not enough to really enjoy it that much.
Hope everybody has a great day today.
@Tony:
This:
http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/2/21701757/
has some info on this topic.
Tigger_the_Wing,
That’s excellent news! Hope your recovery proceeds smoothly.
I ate armadillo once, in Brazil. Regretted it ever since.
Optimal refrigerator http://www.xkcd.com/1109/
— — — — — — — —
tbtabby:
-Is this the film with an evil Salman Rushdie who -when cornered at the send- shoots wildly around him with a German Mp40 machine gun, until he is literally struck down by lightning???
— — — — — — —
cardiac ablation
-My brother had that in Berlin a year ago. His health is much improved.
Never mind armadillos, I want a nodosaur.
— — — — —
tpyo: should be “when cornered at the end”, not “send”
Someone should make a parody of a propaganda film, something that would end up like “Springtime For Hitler” in “The Produces”.
-A Birther account of the early life of the Kenyan Usurper?
Western history as described by Sarah Palin?
(Indiana Jones blowing up the Nazi nuclear bomb factory in Norway, John Wayne almost winning the Vietnam War for USA until he is betrayed by liberals)
PZ you poopyhead!
You’re such a mammal-centrist! Baby warm-blooded creatures may be unbearably (heh… puns) cute, but what about the love for our cold-blooded… cousins twice removed?!
Reptiles get no love :( Poor scalies, I think they’re downright adorable!
Look at this cute little guy! Wouldn’t you just wanna pet his little – *checks Google, 4 inches is still little* – head?
Jack McDevitt has a good even quality, but without peaks. Iain M. Banks has written good books and some very good books.
I find Sheri S. Tepper somewhat of an acquired taste. And some of her books fail the “suspention of disbelief” test.
For instance, “Grass” would be a great book, but a couple of jarring details ruined the credibility, both in terms of how the humans interact, and in terms of geology.
Tigger,
congrats on your successful procedure! Maybe best not to post doctor’s names in here? Privacy and all.
All I’ve been doing for the last few days is play guitar, so sorry for no blog posts and few comments.
Tigger_the_Wing –
Yea! for medical science. And for doctors who listen. and for feeling better.
Yay for Tigger
*grumble*
Having no water sucks
Gilielll@113
I’m not sure. I can get a print out of the results from the bloodwork from my doctor’s the patient portal, but I’ll be dueced if I can understand any of them. (BA in Journalism, after all.) Anyway, if it is/was an infection, it was most likely caused by a dental abscess. I recently had a bad tooth pulled. Fortunately I’m on some high quality antibiotics now and things seem to be going nicely.
Oh, I’m sorry about the privacy thing – I didn’t think!
birgerjohansson, that’s good news about your brother!
Medical science, learning from earlier procedures, modern information technology – don’t we live in fascinating times?!
How long will you be without water, Giliell? Not long, I hope! We were without potable water for a couple of years once, and had to fetch it in several 2 gallon containers daily. No fun.
1) Massively ‘rupt.
2) Hi all.
3) I now own (well…have a mortgage on) a new house (well…new to me). Cue ~ six weeks of hard labour (I have the next 3 to 4 weeks off work) to get the place ship shape and Bristol fashion.
Erm….this is a good thing. I think. [/FirstWorldMiddleClass”Problems”]
I’m actually super happy about it, decent area, great local school for the Boy, still near to my wife’s work to ease her commute (mine still sucks but I can deal with it). It’s just currently a massive shit hole in need of UBER work.
Erm…woot! (the “erm” is because I am scared!)
Louis
Akira MacKenzie, glad you’re feeling better.
@Louis:
Grats on home ownership! I don’t plan on having a mortgage until I absolutely need one.
Of course I also didn’t plan on buying a car until I absolutely needed one, hoping I wouldn’t need one until I moved away from the city, but looks like I’ll need one sooner than later…
Yay, though.
You need to tie everything down?
Confetti and champagne for your restored good health, Tigger_the_Wing!
.
Louis you jammy sod, 3 to 4 weeks off to sort out your new place – sounds wonderful (daunting, but wonderful). Now I have visions of you ensconced in something from “Grand Designs” ;-D
Just concentrate all your efforts on getting one room only really habitable, so you all have somewhere where you can shut the door on the chaos for a bit from time to time and pretend it’s not there until you’re ready to face it again (rather than do bits of several rooms). YMMV, IANAB&D, COD and SWALK, feel free to ignore, obviously.
Skeptic bat-signal ! “Polish ‘Exorcists’ Get Their Own Magazine” WTF!!!! http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/09/16/polish-exorcists-get-their-own-magazine/
Will they have a nude demon on page 3?
PZ, get into a phone booth right away and change into you red stuff*. You are needed in Warszaw.
*insert compulsory fetischist joke
Yay, Tigger!
Congrats, Louis! Are you actually in the new house yet? My tip – in addition to the good advice by opposablethumbs to make one room habitable, make sure that when you move, you pack a suitcase that has not only clothes to wear for the next few days, but also a couple of towels and, most importantly, a shower curtain AND the little clip thingies/rings for the rod. After moving things and getting dirty and sweaty, that’s the first thing you’re going to want, and showering in a space with no curtain is messy.
Secondary – if you need darkness to sleep, be sure at least one room is curtained first thing when you get there, too.
Well, that seems like a reasonable amount for the Vet to pay, albeit I’d have though a mischief of forty-foot high killers would have been able to “negotiate” a higher protection fee.
At all times? Um, like, ah, when you need the toilet, what…
(Puzzled how a fory-foot higher killer rat could fall into a toilet. Step on, yes, but fall into?)
Thank you! I was trying to remember that very verse / quote this weekend (and failing miserably).
@ Crudely Wrott
Heh! Well writ!
@ Tigger
Gentle hugz through the interwebs.
@ Kitty
[gillie baby] Awwwwwww! Your proposal is seconded AND thirded!
@ birgerjohansson
I used to read “Casket and Sunnyside”. That shit is as surreal.
Liz Cheney says Obama has abandoned Czechoslovakia.
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/09/16/liz-cheney-claims-obama-has-abandoned-czechoslo/189922
— — — — — — —
(and if you claim Czechoslovakia no longer exists, it is obviously because Obama handed it over to Nazi Germany)
Was it Santorum who said the Rebublicans will never win over the smart people, like academics? I would substitute the term “literate”, as ten-year-olds would be overqualified for participating in debates for GoP.
@ blf
lmgtfy
You must really hate ducks. And butter. And other edible foods. Your senses of taste and texture must adore concrete and polyester shirts. Yer mother was a hamster and yer father’s farts were banned under the Salt ][ treaty.
Climate change, look to the past for what the future holds
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/us/drought-perspective/index.html that first picture doesnt bode well
Isn’t armadilli the plural of armadillo? If it’s not, then it should be.
Back at the cottage. There’s still truckloads of ‘shrooms in dem dere hills, as soon as I will be arsed to go pick them up. Right now, not a chance. Typing is the most strenuous exercise I seem to be able to do at the moment. Typing, and stuffing myself with chocolate.
—
There have been reports of summer cottage burglaries in the neighborhood (luckily not too close) now that the holiday season is pretty much over. So, we bought a sign with two dobermans saying ‘beware of the guard dogs’. Shifty promptly proceeded to chew a corner off it.
somehow a picture of Dan Akroyd in a Police uniform comes to mind
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Police-Vandal-with-spelling-problem-hits-Pa-car-3871104.php
Giliell,
I used your dough recipe for apple pockets that you shared a couple of iterations ago, making plum pockets instead. Delicious!
There’s a lot of plums right now, but next time I’m making the original apple pockets. Can you believe that I’ve never eaten them? We usually made either apple pie or apple strudel.
Thanks for the recipe. If you ever decide to start a food blog, I’ll be all over it. :)
Thanks for the gratsies and advices. (All advice will be stored away and acted upon when we move in in ~1 month’s time. We are turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse…well…a faux silk purse with latches and wood effect thingies).
Re: Grand Designs…yeah…erm…no.
This will be “B+Q special with minimal taste, maximum lime green and shocking pink”.* I’ve decided my job as parent is to cause the Boy large degrees of psychological harm. I shall of course be nude whenever his friends come over.
This decision, I must stress, has not in ANY WAY been influenced by me having to clean his piss off my sofa this afternoon whilst I was on the phone making appointments.
Louis
* Actual design may differ from that advertised and all designs may have to be Approved Of by both my mother, and my wife. My mother in law may also make an appearance. All I want is a bit of space in the garden shed to look at. By “may” I mean “will”.
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/09/19
Stevarious,
I am waiting to use that precise one.
See also: how many numbers are there? I can prove there are twice as many numbers as numbers.
Look at the wheel turning, the inside spot on the wheel is turning just as fast as the outside spot, but, like, the outside spot is covering greater distance so must be going faster OMG HOW DOES THAT WORK?
Etc.
I fully expect his first breakdown before his sixth birthday. Anything less and I’ll have been slacking.
Louis
Louis dont forget the old gasser “look, the moon is following us”
For chrissakes. There are voters alive today who had not even been conceived yet when Slovakia and the Czech Republic became independent from each other. GET WITH THE TIMES, REPUBLICANS.
@133 birgerjohansson
Sadly, PZ isn’t here. But since I am in Warsaw at the moment I went to Empik (large bookstore chain) and guess what – there it was! I thumbed through it but didn’t care enough to buy it even for it novelty value. What is surprising is very high quality – glossy paper, lots of colors and professional edition, all the bells and whistles. With price tag of 10 zlotys (about $3) it’s pretty obvious that it has to be heavily subsided by some or other Catholic organization. As to the content – exactly what you would expect. Something about angels, something about how to spot signs of demonic possession, something about why atheistic science is wrong, some interview with “famous” exorcist, some ex-possessed testimony… Usual para-religious bullshit.
Frankly, I’m not sure what is the intended target. It gives the new-agey vibes, but it’s explicitly anti new-age, so these folks are out. I predict that within half year – maybe year they flop like many other.
The nice thing is that the magazine was tucked in the far corner on the top shelf – even the swimmers monthly has better presence.
Oh, I forgot. If somebody is curious, I checked, and they do have web page: Egzorcysta. In Polish only and partially “under construction”, but they have surprisingly good design and graphics.
Strange factoid: Kirk Cameron was the face of a PC game called The Horde. Scroll down to #8.
Carlie, you are too willing to follow the whims of the reality based community.
Hehehe
Good. Yet another study has proven what we already knew: tax cuts for the rich do not spur economic growth.
How many times do you think this needs to be repeated, and in how many ways, before Republicans drop the idea that the recovery is weak because rich people (excuse me, “job creators”) are burdened by too many taxes?
Quote is from Talking Points Memo. A PDF of the actual study is here:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/PDF/0915taxesandeconomy.pdf
Hooray Tigger!
Louis – In other words you bought the Duke of Windsors old Fort?
blf – So now you have something against elderberries too? No cordial for you bucko.
Lyanna, OM:
Probably when ignorant voters stop believing it, or blaming it on Planned Parenthood*. Not holding my breath, as so many people refuse to believe their lying eyes.
* Can’t remember where (hell, might have been on FTB) and can’t find it quickly, but a while back I saw coverage of some ridiculous screed about how declining prosperity is due to losing all the aborted baybeez that would be workers by now. No study will penetrate that level of delusion.
Okay, this Todd Akin thing with “legitimate rape” just won’t go away. This time Todd Akin has his wife Lulli Akin to thank for bringing the issue back to prime time. Now it is her husband who is being raped, and who is being subjected to tyranny on a par with that which prompted the American Revolution.
I’ll take incoherence for the win.
The Family Research Council kicked Todd Akin off its roster of speakers for the Values Voter Summit, so I can see why his wife is upset. The FRC preferred fake ex-terrorists to the rape apologist.
The Akin family is just the gift that keeps on giving…
blf – Free babble quotes whenever you need them. Just as good as peas right?
Returned to the parked car on Saturday after a spot of culcha (one is vewy culcha’d doncher know. Actually Spawn was playing in a mini-festival) to find all the cars on the street had generously been adorned with a sort of pseudo-newspaper inviting people to come to an event called “realise” and find a cure for all their ills (money, relationships, immigration status, drugs … you name it). The references to prayer were tucked away in small type (I only found them because I was specifically looking for them), and there is no reference anywhere to which particular evil empire is behind all this crap.
Was about to throw it away, but decided to use it as a teachable moment instead and asked Spawn#2 what he thought it was about. First-glance guess, drugs. Second guess, religion. A chance to have a chat about organisations taking advantage of the vulnerable. All that talk about “you don’t have to face it on your own” “you can’t solve this on your own, but just come to this free event and find the answer to all your worries”. Full of testimonials.
Preying on the vulnerable, how despicable can you get.
Reminded me of one of the Les Luthiers numbers, if anyone happens to know them – El sendero de Warren Sánchez (“Yo era un infeliz” – the whole thing was exactly like that. For realz.)
Oh, yeah, that one’s my favorite.
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1990/06/05
I guess you have to use a wheel nowadays… records are pretty hard to come by.
But since Todd Akin can’t get pregnant, how are we going to determine whether he is being legitimately raped or not?
Hello, everyone! Totally [Lounge]rupt, so here’s a pile of hugs, chocolate, tea, beer, and kittens for all!
Anyway, I’m excited because DarkFetus’ nursery is almost completely done– we’re just waiting on the changing table which should be arriving on Wednesday. But the crib is all set up, all of her clothes and blankets have been sorted, washed, and stored in Mr Darkheart’s old dresser, we’ve got a rocking chair (which my MiL used when the Mr was a baby), and instead of a dinosaur theme, we’ve got pirates all over the walls. Seriously cute. We’ve also got all of the miscellaneous stuff, too: pacifiers, bottles, diapers, cloths, etc etc etc.
Really, I feel like she could pop out any day now and we’d be ready for her. :)
It’s like the Akin family doesn’t even understand the forcible/non consensual part of rape…
@122 birgerjohansson On Tepper I would have said that some of her books were too preachy, and some of the more feminist ones were too pushy on gender essentialism, rather than suspension of disbelief. The Gate to Women’s Country, for example, presented men as genetically bent on senseless violence for machismo’s sake, with that genetic bent something that could be carefully bred out. Grass I remember really liking but not much about it otherwise – I don’t remember having trouble believing it, but my suspension of disbelief mechanism is rather stronger than others, I think, and my knowledge of science and biology is low so I might not have caught some errors that would be glaring to others.
I agree with you on McDevitt and Banks both. I read everything by McDevitt because his ideas are just so interesting, but some of his books just go on and on and on and sometimes he gets stuck in a rut on a type of story – especially the *POV character in terrible danger with impossible odds to save them and we come up with multiple tactics which all almost work until the most ridiculously over the top idea ends up working at the absolute very last minute* one. Deepsix was the worst for both going on and on and the terrible danger thing.
@165 Dr. Audley KITTENS!!
Tony, they do not need to understand. Rape does not happen to good groveling christian women. If a woman gets raped, she must have deserved it. That is all they need to understand.
Hooray for having the nest ready when the chick arrives!
Deborah:
Okay, you caught me. I lied. My fat, sassy cats are heaped in the hug pile, not kittens. :)
Patricia:
Yay! Thanks.
Audley, initially I read that as you waiting for the charging table. Weird images ensued.
Strange gods:
OH HOLY HELL WHY DID YOU SHARE THAT??
*curls up in the corner and cries*
@170 sad face. But cats are good too!
Patrick:
The funny thing is, I orginally wrote “charging” and not “changing”. :D
Proof of psychic powers! Paging James Randi…
How do you get a house to dance with the stars and spout ignorant claptrap in only six weeks?
Ok. I cleaned the bathroom yesterday… more or less. Everything is going to be alright.
*whimper*
Beatrice #177 huh, I was going to wait a month or two then PARTAY!
Yarr! Just in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day on wednesday.
Plenty of good pirate shanties appear to be on offer across the net – see http://www.talklikeapirate.com/songs1.html for a fairly long list. Also available are many fine piratical (and better yet, *airship* piratical) songs from Abney Park via youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVRgviIEONs
Is it leprosy that armadillos carry? Less cute.
kesara:
Thanks for the link. That was exactly what I was looking for. Some of the stuff was a bit above my head, but I grasped enough of it.
****
Louis:
Conga-rats on home ownership! Will you be indulging in the ritual of territory marking?
That sounds like a demonic house.
There’s a soccer mom in Alaska who may be able to help. After all, her home allows her to see Russia from the back yard. That takes some Exorcist level possession.
Theophontes:
Ah. That rules out bringing some in for them to play with – catmint grows wild all over our property. I’ve noted zero difficulty on the penile erection front among the boys.
I’m dragging Naughty Marvin off to see Best Exotic Marigold Hotel this afternoon. Watching Judy Dench and Maggie Smith won’t hurt him a bit.
#182 Tony the only thing the soccer mom in Alaska could see from her backyard is a troll called McGinniss
On the other hand I used to see Bear Bombers from my front yard in Alaska with nice polite pilots in f16’s that would come and greet them
This is definitely true. Now catching up on the rest of the new thread.
Yep. On the other hand, they’re one of the few animals that can get the disease itself so they’ve been useful lab animals. Back on the first hand, they have been a major vector for the something-thousand leprosy cases in the USA.
SpokesKitteh is kyoot.
–
I do.
I liked it at first; but as my knees went south, using that chair became increasingly painful, and since knees on the lower plane are what keep you from sliding right off, that’s where the weight goes. The time came when I was unable to find a position in which I could use it any more, so now it are a cat support.
Short version: If you so much as suspect that your knees might be thinking of plotting violent revolution, do not buy that chair.
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Mine did/does.
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Caine, my Midnight-cat used to eat my super-spotters. Of course! They were the hardest for me to replace! (And I had to get them at Hobby Lobby, too, also.)
“Obligate carnivore” my ass.
*grumble*
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I lose myself in a book, ideally something light-hearted and humorous. Pratchett is good for this.
–
Didn’t miss it! In fact, I even commented on it. But I know…I’m very forgetable…people forget about me all the time…even when I’m standing right there, poking them with a stick…even when I’m poking them really hard…but it’s okay…don’t mind me…..
*exaggerated sigh, theatrical dabbing of invisible handkerchief at eye*
</melodrama>
But, seriously—when you has money, hold a contest for SpokesGuitar Part Two: The Re-choosening?
–
–
I was wondering what do people here think of Chris Hedges? I just read American Fascists and found it a fascinating yet scary read. Is there any more of his stuff I should check out? Or avoid like the plague for that matter?
On seating: I got one of these a few months ago and I love it.
More from the link provided by kesara earlier:
Is there any truth to this?
I watched Chris Hedges in a Charlie Rose (I think) interview, he scared the crap out of me.
On a much happier note – SQUEEEE!! The National Geographic ship Sea Lion is tied up to our new local dock! First ship! Of course I stopped my car right in the middle of the road, and gawked.
Tony:
Hmmmm, I don’t find infants to be particularly cute*. Toddlers even less so.
And what about all of those cute animals that don’t look like infants? Like turtles and bumble bees and elephants?
*Come on. Does anyone find amateur Ed Kochimpersonators cute?
Audley:
excellent points.
I know I find *some* baby mammals adorable or cute, but not all of them. Hell, I find some human babies to not be terribly cute.
On a separate note, I stumbled on this privilege checklist roundup. I think I’m going to go get lost in some of the links.
pretty good stamina
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/09/17/quite-a-show-bathroom-sex-romp-caught-on-camera-at-yankee-stadium/
cicely,
Sorry I missed your comment… my head is barely wired up properly these days, I don’t know if I’m coming or going. Which is weird, because I’m mostly just sitting.
Re-choosening? I don’t know… when I have money it is likely to be less money, and if I can’t find the previously chosen model new, I might have some luck in the used market. I really miss my Stratocaster, it had a bell-like chime to it that the “cheap” Korean guitar I’m using now can’t come close to matching. In my darker days I fear I’m going to be stuck with this as my only guitar… forever! *mad cackle*
In the plus column, my wife started working today, so there might actually be some money coming in someday. I feel bad for her, her feet hurt since she hasn’t had to do much walking in the last 6 weeks, and she got a new pair of shoes while she was unemployed that she’s yet to break in completely. Her hotel room has two TVs though.
Yay! New laptop!
Boo! Getting things to work.
Don’t let anyone tell you that those things are auto-litter trained.
They’re much cuter when they aren’t shitting on your couch.
And it wasn’t even our damned armadillo!
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*consoling scritches* for Zoe. Poor little ratling.
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If so, then I am Doing It Wrong.
:D
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Hi, blogofmyself; have I welcomed you in? If not, consider yourself welcomed.
:)
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I really enjoyed LeGuin’s The Lathe of Heaven.
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My favorite episode!
:) :)
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Akira and Tigger: congrats on improving health.
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Louis, before moving into your new house, don’t forget to strap on your flamethrower and check for pea infestations. Best you burn ’em out before your lives and personal possessions are at risk. And make sure that the garden shed is not really a disguised stable.
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I remember reading that it is so. Way less cute.
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Improbable Joe, Deborahbell:
I’m on on Ep. 7/S3 of Warehouse 13, with 6 episodes left. They don’t have any of S4 yet. Do either of you have recommendations of other cool shows (in the same vein or close) to watch?
Good evening
The washing machine is running, so is the dishwasher an I just had a shower. Cause tonight I have water. Come tomorrow I won’t but they’re expecting to finish the works tomorrow. A pipe burst on the 6th floor and flooded everything downwards. I love living in the topmost storey of this building :)
Also, my friends’ house has been broken into. While he was at home, doing some work in the attic. Together with their dog. Who slept. But woke soone enough to scare them away before they could steal much, but boooh, scary, we’re going to sleep there on Saturday.
Louis
Congratulations for the new house
Is your son just annoying the living fuck out of you or may he just need some more time for the whole potty thing?
@Sili
Congrats!
Helpful advice: Ninite.com for installing piles of commonly used software really really easily.
Tony, it’s not sci-fi, but have you seen the “new” Sherlock series yet? Some of it is on Netflix and I was really impressed. Especially by the way the canon Victorian sensibilities were seamlessly adapted to a modern setting. Also, the idea seems to have been that people familiar with Holmes mythos will find something familiar in every episode but not necessarily know the answers to all the mysteries in advance, which is really neat.
Tony, have you watched Eureka yet?
Hmmm. I think this is going to be another OMG moment, when people are exposed to unfiltered Romneyism. It is not pretty.
A clandestine video of Romney talking to his fellow millionaires reveals that he holds about half of the citizens of the USA in utter contempt.
Several video segments and text here:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser
My friend had her kidney transplant this morning. The surgeon reported that it was successful and she’s in recovery now. I’m just over the moon for her :D
So, I know I’m not really a regular, but I don’t have anyone IRL to talk to this about.
I just realized that the statute of limitations is coming up for the rapes/sexual assaults I experienced. And while I never intended on reporting (practically archetypical bad witness/who cares sort of situation, plus the subtle threats given to me about what should happen to those evil sluts who falsely accuse good guys like him *spits*), I’m not really sure how to feel about this. Like… I guess before the possibility was there. Even though, rationally, I know that unless he does something “worse” to another woman, he would never go to prison or anything, this totally closes the door on that. That, while there’s a possibility that he might go “too far” *eyeroll* in the future and have to confront some responsibility for that, what he did to me? He will never take even a modicum of responsibility for it. (Or for what he did to the women before me, for that matter.) Not even to be inconvenienced by perfunctory questioning or even told what he did was, to some people, wrong (I sure as hell won’t do it; what should happen to evil sluts as described above is not something I’d put past him or want to experience).
Fuck.
Well, anyhow, that up there is a damn adorable disease reservoir.
Nepenthe, is there a crisis/shelter in your area you could call? They might have counselors who can help you weigh all of your options, and if you decided to do something now they might have people who can help you through it.
Deborah:
That’s how it has been for me. I long ago stopped bothering with the people who take and don’t give. Life’s too short.
Have you seen this yet?
I am more into fantasy than s/f, but in the latter category I recommend Maureen McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang.
I agree with you w/r/t libertarianism. It is akin to how conservatives tend to be very linear thinkers who are not good at seeing “the whole picture.”
Thunk, I’m not trying to discourage you from activism, but not everybody is cut out to be an activist. It’s not shameful. You do what you can within the limits of the character traits, energy, time, and money you have. Also, as you get older and more confident, you may find you have more inner resources for activism.
Tigger, great to see you again! I’m glad your surgery went well.
Congrats on the new house, Louis. If you’ve got a talent and the strength for handiwork, you’re ahead of the game.
From Broboxley’s CNN link:
I misread “Jostad” as “Joad.” I wonder why.
Broboxley, it’s not funny that somebody secretly filmed two people having sex in a bathroom, and even less funny that a major news network has posted the video. Voyeurism is a violation of consent, and there is at least one person here who is triggered psychologically by discussion of voyeurism.
Puppygod, re the exorcist magazine:
Money that could have gone toward feeding the poor or into settlements with sex-abuse victims. Oh, wait, I’m being naive again, aren’t I?
w00dview, Chris Hedges is very good on economic issues and exposing the dominionist right. However, he is an extremely sanctimonious, atheism-hostile liberal xtian, with a degree from a seminary IIRC. Ignore him on anything having to do with religion.
Tony, I would be wary of that “privilege check” site. At the current top of page 2, they link to a “singlet” privilege checklist — that is, privileges “enjoyed” by people who don’t suffer from “multiple personality disorder,” à la Sybil (which has been debunked). A number of Tumblr special snowflakes affect MPD, claiming to be of
Yay Tigger! So glad you are doing well. I wouldn’t worry too much about the doc’s privacy – they are a mildly public figure already, and you said only good. It’s more you: you become easier to identify the more info you post. I’m pretty easy to ID, but I don’t much care.
‘Grats on the house, Louis!
Here’s another map of gay marriage rights. This one covers much of the globe.
Hell’s teeth, Nepenthe. I only wish I had something to say beyond hoping you get through this.
I hope what carlie said is a possibility for you.
Nepenthe:
I am so sorry for what you’ve been through. I wish I had some tangible help to offer.
I do think carlie’s suggestion could be helpful.
Ms Daisy Cutter, thanks for the tip. Just seen that one of his books is called “I don’t believe in Atheists”, might give that one a miss, seems to just be the same old stuff about how shrill the New Atheists are. Shame because, as you say he is very good at exposing right wing propaganda for the what it is. Quite nice to see a Christian call out the religious right. Would be nicer if atheists got a bit more help in that regard rather than just be thrown under the bus, though.
*sigh* So I very nearly got outed by a leader at my local CFI branch in her response to my post on Butterflies and Wheels.
Luckily managed to get it edited and redacted for my own safety. *sigh*
Well-meaning allies will be the death of somebody.
I got very very stressed about this and had a blood pressure drop, so I left work early, and came home. Consumed like 8 cookies.
So stressed, but starting to calm down.
Nepanthe:
Adding to general sentiment here, I’m so sorry for what you’ve suffered. I can’t offer any specific advice, but as others have said, carlie’s advice might be useful.
Also, I believe the A+ forum is setting up a safe space for victims of sexual assault to share coping mechanisms and generally offer support (I believe they’re allowing a pseudo-pseudonym environment, as well, so you wouldn’t even have to be associated with your comments here, if you didn’t want to be). I’m not sure it’s up and running yet, perhaps people more familiar with it could offer more info. I don’t presume to say that’s something you’d be interested in, but thought I’d offer a resource.
Threadrupt
but
if akaname
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akaname
is going to lick up the …um… stuff in by bathroom why should I bother?
Ms. Daisy:
Thanks for the advice about that privilege site.
****
kristinc, Improbable Joe:
Thanks. I’ll have to check out both series.
Oh, and kristinc I’m glad your friend made it through the kidney transplant without problems.
****
Giliell:
It’s very kind of you to stay with your friends over the weekend.
#208 Ms Daisy. I apologize to anyone that my upstream post triggered. I assumed from the various reporting that there was nothing secret about the taping or the event and that it was like a few of the bars I frequented when single where it was understood the end stall was for sex so don’t pollute it with waste matter.
Threadrupt again, but I have a request/note of interest (at least for those of us in BC).
Tomorrow morning at about 10:30 AM one of the more prominent local Occupiers/feminists is going to be interviewed on CKNW regarding the one-year anniversary of Occupy. Apparently the last time a prominent Occupier was on this show, it was downright awful for them with loaded questions and such. I’d love to know what happens this time, but have no idea if I’ll be able to even wake up in time.
Holy cow.
So, Large Office Supply Chain is having a clearance sale. I got their email. Oh look, backpacks for super cheap! And Child 1’s backpack is getting frayed! So we go off to the local franchise to look. Hm, not quite as cheap there. Go back home, look online again, yes, same thing $20 cheaper. Print off page, go back, ask if we can have that one for the online price. Cashier says sure! Then it won’t go through. She calls over someone else to help. Turns out, after several minutes of looking, that it’s a different SKU#. But, I ask, what’s different? Same brand name, same model name, looks identical to the picture, same list of features, same original price. Nope. No can do. Helper (superior) is insistent that it’s a different backpack because it’s a different SKU#, no go.
So I went home and ordered it online at the cheaper price, free shipping to store. Now, although I just bought the same thing I had my hands on in the store, that franchise does not get any profit from the sale, does not get to get rid of their inventory, and has to put up with the hassle of me coming in to pick it up, all because the supervisor refused to believe it was the same thing and override the system to do the discount. I’m undecided whether to point this out when I go to pick it up or not. Not like whichever manager is on duty then would care.
Also, I just heard a story on NPR the other day about how weak unions have gotten, and how the number of strikes per year has gone from in the hundreds to fewer than ten. That matches my experience; teachers in my district went on strike every time their contract was renewed. I think I had more strike days off of school than snow days. But now the one in Chicago is national news, because they’re so rare. Very sad.
@191 Tony I often say that “cute” applies to anything that is smaller than it ought to be. So, yes, infant animals are cute, but small books, bottles, boxes, cars, etc. are cute also. The only rule I’ve found is “smaller than I expected”. So smart cars are cute and Hummers aren’t. I have literally caught myself saying out loud “Oh it’s so CUUUTE” about a fairly plain cardboard box that was about 1.5″ on all sides – it had labels on it so it appeared to be a miniature of a larger item which made it “smaller than I expect”.
@193 Audley In real life, a lot of babies and toddlers aren’t all that cute, and I’ve never been a fan of the baby art photographs that are often popular – the babies in strange getups or posed on flowers and buckets etc. I do think adult looking clothes on small children – especially blue jeans – is adorable, probably in the same vein of the “smaller than it ought to be” thing. A little kiddo being good and mugging for the camera can be adorable in some instances though.
@198 Cicely I think I read the Lathe of Heaven. I can’t offhand recall the subject, but the fact I remember the title indicates I probably liked it. I read about 5-7 books a week – I’ve finished one since we started talking about this I think – so the mediocre and unmemorable tend to disappear from memory. :)
@199 Tony Weren’t you in S1 of Warehouse 13 yesterday? That’s fast. :) Have you watched Eureka? It’s a related show with a few crossovers, so very much a similar style, though the magic is more ‘magical science’ and less ‘magical emotionally charged objects’. Dunno what you’ve seen, but I think Doctor Who is sometimes in a similar vein, though somewhat more serious than those two. (Its crossover show, Torchwood, is significantly darker than Doctor Who, IMO – I liked it but I wouldn’t put it at all in comparison to Eureka and Warehouse 13.) Dead Like Me is a cool concept show, but shortlived (because one of the stars was an ass, apparently) and doesn’t appear to be on Netflix. Have you seen Heroes? (the writer’s strike kind of ruined that one, but we enjoyed it anyway) Farscape? Firefly? Dollhouse?
Remember how I was talking about weird Netflix categories? One I got today was “Raunchy movies from the 1980s” and another was “Goofy Crime Comedies”. Who makes these up?
@202 kristinc I almost mentioned the new Sherlock Holmes series! I love it, but only 3 eps are on Netflix so far :(
@206 Nepenthe ((HUGS)) That is beyond awful and I’m sorry. :(
@208 Daisy I hadn’t seen that article, though I saw the calendar thing on his website when I wrote that comment, because I went to check and see if he had a new book coming out. It doesn’t really surprise me; I’m sure if I thought about it when they were fresh on my mind his books wouldn’t come out well on say, the Bechdel test. I treasure books like Octavia Butler’s that push my mental default white character (her characters are often POC but it is not pointed out immediately, just like a white character’s appearance is assumed to be obvious by most authors) and who writes about gender and sexuality in informed ways, and often find many of the good storytellers with voices aren’t very good at some of the issues that are important to me.
On the other hand…I’m conflicted on the pin up calendar thing. He kind of seems like kind of an asshole when you look at his blog, very self centered, but I kind of liked the pin up calendar aesthetically (as a woman who likes to look at women sometimes). If it wasn’t coming from a sexist place, would it still be offensive? Cause I’m struggling with having found it something I would actually probably like to have.
Thanks for the rec! And I read lots of fantasy too; I don’t wander the horror and supernatural/gothic romance sections much, just because that’s not interesting to me, but I would say science fiction and fantasy go halfsies in my reading.
@220 carlie That sounds very frustrating. But my experience in retail says that they probably would have had more hassle and frustration and got in more trouble by overriding the price than by doing the established site to store process. I worked in a cell phone store and we were expected to do 200+ activations monthly of new service plus all the upgrades of existing customers and we had a budget of about $1,000 for discounting for the entire month, including company error (so if something was just ringing up wrong and we fixed it as we were supposed to do, that came out of our discounting budget). With phones costing $200-300 these days, that was either 20 people getting a $50 rebate waved or 4-5 people getting a free phone. Also, did you hear about the Staples story that was written up in the news? Apparently, if people are buying a computer that is advertised on sale and when they go to the store to buy it they aren’t willing to buy any accessories, the sales reps are telling them they are out of stock or having them buy online at the terminals in the store because if they don’t have an average of $200 in addons to at least computer purchases they get fired. I don’t know if that carries over to the other sale items, but it may; they may really rather you buy it online than that your sale purchase counts against their discounting or addons or something. Obviously they probably wasted more than $20 of the company’s time and resources between your three trips and the various employees that had to get involved and shipping a special order just for you – but I say it’s just more proof the free market isn’t perfect.
I got a job today. I quit mine the end of August and spent a couple of weeks visiting family and friends (and getting broken up with, timing of which really sucked), and I’ve been looking for several months even before I quit, and hadn’t been getting any calls or interviews. So I was a little astonished today, the interview was about 10 minutes, only asked me a couple of technical questions which I didn’t even get completely correct, and not only offered me the job, assumed I’d take it, had me sit down and fill out a huge stack of paperwork (about 1/4″ stack, I swear), and sent me to a drug test.
I guess I’m happy to get something, and I know I’ll be good at it but not sure if I’ll be happy with it long or even medium term. I think I’m just intimidated by it a bit, the speed of it, the size of the place (easily the largest building I’ve been in other than an airport or mall), the security (leaving is like going through airport security, because it’s an electronics repair place and they want to make sure you aren’t taking stuff home with you). And I hate making decisions when I’m sick and off kilter emotionally. So yeah. I feel like I should be excited but I’m worried.
Deborahbell@222:
Oh yeah, I started watching W13 on Friday night. Right now I’m 3 episodes from the end of Season 3.
Still waiting to get to work. Thankfully, this weekend I’ll be bartending at Deluna Fest, which is a *huge* music fest here in Pensacola, Fl. I’ll be working all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be nice to work. Hopefully I’ll make money for utilities so that the power doesn’t get cut off; and of course I need rent money.
Deborahbell:
I remember watching the first episode of Dead Like Me years ago. It didn’t “grab” me.
I love Joss Whedon’s work, so Dollhouse is a natural for me.
I also want to watch Sherlock and Torchwood.
I was going to snark about red vs blue political colour identification until I read this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_colour
I request that everyone be moar precise and not use colour to identify political stance.
@224 Tony Rooting for you! Looking for a job right now sucks really hard. I don’t remember ever having this much trouble. I applied to 500+ jobs over a 3 month period and I heard something back from less than 20 of them.
@carlie
Thank you for the kind words. I talked to a person (or very good chatbot) on the RAINN website and I think I’m going to try to talk to my therapist about it tomorrow. I’m not particularly enthused about talking to therapists; more than one has said that it’s not very important, or that they can’t help me with that sort of thing, etc. If that doesn’t work, there’s a crisis center that I, ironically, was going to try to start volunteering with.
@opposablethumbs, Tony, PatrickG, deborahbell
Thank you all for the support.
Now I’m going to watch videos of… kittens.
Occupy Protesters’ Rights Must Be Protected, U.N. Says; U.S. Says Nothing. Of course not.
Macro created by an OWS member attending #S17 this past weekend.
On the lighter side, I heard that the NYPD was towing away government vehicles this weekend. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the responsible parties were chewed out this morning, as they undoubtedly were.
Tony
OMG
If you can watch more of Dead Like Me, do so.
It is wonderful!
Even the straight-to-DVD-movie.
(youèll hafta excuse me for a bit while I kick my netbook across the yard to fix the È is an apostrophe thingy)
*hugs* to Nepenthe. A lot of us here have struggled with depression; it’s amazing how common it is.
In my case the things that really help me are sunshine, exercise and drugs. (I can get away with a low dose these days.) Also, the whole CBT counselling and some related stuff helped me to feel better in an analytic way – I learned how to identify standard cognitive distortions like catastrophising, and thereby to detach a bit from my worst thoughts, and thus find them less distressing. Meditation and relaxation were a help at my lowest points. Lying flat on my back and listening to a relaxation could work, when just getting up and going for a walk round the block was too much to consider.
I haven’t finished it, but so far, Transfer is excellent.
Its a foreign sci-fi film about mind-transfers. Elderly couple “buy” two young, healthy black bodies. The host personalities wake up for four hours each night, and there’s a lot of slavery overtones.
Its very sparse dialogue, very well-written, well-acted.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270120/
“”””””””
good then
Nepenthe – big hugs. I feel helpless just saying “go find a professional”, but that’s what they’re there for and they’re better at it than I could ever be. And crisis centers often hit that sweet spot of not being quite so tied to paperwork and legalese and procedure that therapists are, but still know their way around the system.
deborahbell – yay job! And thanks for the explanation. I hadn’t thought of them having a limit on their discounts, so that makes a little sense. I just wish they had at least acknowledged that yes, it was the same thing, but the system isn’t set up to do that, rather than stare at two identical things and claim they were different. Even if it’s a ruse, “I’d like to help you but I can’t because SYSTEM” makes me feel better than “No, you’re wrong, and we won’t help”.
Two amazing things just seen on twitter:
x-ray of a stingray. I had no idea.
This image is not photoshopped. Wow.
@234 carlie Yeah, and I think the right thing to do would be just do the discount, and I can’t be sure what problem exactly they would get into for the discounting, but unless they were just really idiots, likely they could see the problem and something internal was making it impossible or not worth it to comply with your request. Unfortunately, they didn’t see their way clear to explain it, either because it was long and convoluted, or something that might just make you madder (like we will lose our commission and it counts as a negative against us so we just refuse to do it) or because they assumed you wouldn’t care. Also, I remember having a call center job once where a big rule was that you never ever said anything negative about the company, the other employees, or the products of the company. So if someone really messed up a customer’s account, it was not okay to say “wow they messed that up but i’ll fix it for you” because that was throwing your coworker under the bus. Instead you had to find a way to apologize “I’m so sorry there was this error/misunderstanding I’ll fix it right away”. It was really freeing when I moved to a retail store where I could just honestly say “that phone is crap, don’t buy it” and “yeah I don’t know why they did that, I’ll fix it”. So there’s always weird rules behind the scenes that often are meant for things that make sense but implement sometimes strangely. At that call center we weren’t supposed to say things like “i can’t because POLICY” or “I can’t because SYSTEM” and instead talk around the issue and make everything sound good even when it wasn’t.
carlie:
Warning: Cracked.com link.
Anyone in the US with grade school kids? A couple years ago, I was at Goodwill and Target had sent over a whole bunch of unsold black wheeled backpacks, which Goodwill was selling for $1.50. So I bought 6 or so. My kids are now in middle school, and their lockers are not big enough for wheeled backpacks. I have 2 left. I’d be happy to send them off to anyone who can use them. If no takers by the weekend, I will probably take them to Goodwill.
Carlie @220:
In the retail chain I work in, if the style (or SKU) numbers are the same but the date coding on the items are different, we can’t give a discount on the more recent item when the earlier item is discounted. It’s frustrating and annoying, but perhaps something there was something similar going on with the item you ended up having to order off the internet?*
deborahbell @223:
Yay for job getting!
Nepenthe: :( All I can do is offer virtual hugs and support.
So, a while back in the introductions thread, I said I’d try to comment more, etc. But I haven’t done it. :( I’ve commented a few times here and there, but I’m still really intimidated by this blog. As much as I want to participate, commenting online (anywhere online) terrifies me. I have no idea why. I think I may try hanging out here for a while before moving onto other threads.
That said, I would like to ask for advice (again) from The Horde, because I admire the intelligence and range of experiences represented here. So, here’s the thing:
I’ve been working this retail job for a year now and I got promoted. I was given all the responsibilities of a manager, but was still not making a living wage. I resigned my position-effective today-due to issues with a verbally abusive manager. I have another part-time job, but it is expected to be over at the end of November. I’ve also been volunteering at a place that is in my field and was approached about a month ago with a “Hey, we were talking about you the other day and we think you’re doing really great work here, and were wondering if you’d be interested in a future position with us?” He did go into some detail about not being able to offer benefits but did tell me I’d be making significantly more than my retail job is paying.
My question is this: At what point do I go to him and say “Hey, you mentioned this a while back and I was just wondering what’s up?” And how do I say it without looking desperate? This is a place I’d really, really like to work and for most jobs in my field, I lack the necessary experience.
*I’ve been working in retail too long and felt the need to say something. :(
Oh, I love Dead Like Me. I watched it when some channel played it at like 11pm on Sundays long after it got cancelled and got hooked. I was so frustrated not watching it in order, so I bought both seasons on DVD and watched all the episodes several times now. I haven’t been able to get the movie though. I wish it hadn’t been cancelled.
@239 Squigit I definitely empathize with not knowing how to approach the person who talked to you about a job! It’s uncomfortable. That said, it’s important usually to say something. I think I might say something that assumes they were not moving on it because you already had a job, which gives them an out and you a reason to bring it up – something like, “Hey, I wanted to ask you about the job we were talking about a while back. My job situation has changed and I’m going to be available soon for a regular job and I wanted to know if that option was still on the table as I go about my job search.”
@240 JAL Well, the movie all Netflix has, so you can get that! I always read up on shows that got cancelled that I liked, so I can see what happened, and with Dead Like Me, the older male character that was the leader of their little group decided not to do it anymore. Apparently he’s really nasty to work with too.
I don’t have and will not be able to get Netflix though. I’m sure I can look into buying it or something from somewhere.
Really? You mean Mandy Patinkin? I freaking love him. How could Ingo Montoya be an asshole to work with? That sucks. I’m so disillusioned. =(
JAL – check your e-mail.
Ok, I swear I read it somewhere, but I take it back now because I can’t find it again. All the stuff I can read online is about the creator leaving and possibly poisoning the well, and the new showrunner thinking it wasn’t his baby so he didn’t want to run it. Studio said ratings – but they had been saying it had 3x higher ratings than other good shows right before that so no one believes it. I dunno where I read about Mandy Patinkin but it was a few years back so who knows.
A quick note about Rattitude – I changed the theme because it allows me to post much larger sized photos. So, if you see your rat or just want to see a shot larger, click on it and there ya go. :) There are new photos up and will be every day. I have some nice fishing for vegetable photos for tomorrow.
Squigit:
I think you should inquire if the position is still available. It’s something you enjoy doing. Just ask your manager for a few minutes of his/her time and inquire.
kristinc, hurrah for your friend’s successful surgery! To Modern Medicine!
*raises glass*
–
Nepenthe, do you take *hugs* from well-meaning strangers on the Internets? If so, please, have some.
–
*hug* for trinioler. *moar cookies*
–
That’s what I thought!
–
I still miss Farscape.
:(
–
deborahbell, congrats on your New Jobness.
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Oh, sorry ImaginesABeach. I’d thought I sent a reply but apparently I saved it as a draft and didn’t send it. I sent it now though.
Thanks cicely. Already had one person figure out it was me…
with all the focus on the violent protesting happening around the world, I thought this was good to see:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/behead-mother-hands-herself-in-after-sydney-muslim-protest-violence/story-fndo317g-1226476236307
Okay, Reddit has rare but shining moments of awesome:
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/101yrc/update_my_son_just_came_out_to_me_as_trans/
Dad sought help on how to handle a son that came out as a lesbian trans-woman to him. Decides to just accept her as she is, and be the best supportive dad he could be, including using the right pronouns.
Any other wiki admins online right now? I’m having a minor technical issue that someone else might be able to work around.
This is one of the coolest shots I’ve seen in a long time: A drop of music.
If I ever have free time again, Imma try this.
trinioler:
That is so fucking awesome!
Thanks for sharing that link.
(…still threadrupt up to my comment.)
carlie:
This might be in part because the media (at least, from my experience) has become more than willing to take up the Right’s screaming that the strikes themselves are the problem, in the name of…”balance”.
It makes me want to throw things, and I see it everywhere. Which is why I asked the Horde to possibly listen to the Bill Good interview — he’s a respected journalist around here, and I don’t want to be falsely ascribing the same bias to him. Even though the Occupiers have expressed that he was awful in interviewing one of them last year. CBC’s local affiliate also apparently fucked up their report on the one-year anniversary of Occupy Vancouver both by stating the wrong date and interviewing someone who didn’t actually represent the movement, but I never got around to watching that to find out.
I hate the mainstream media and wish there were better resources on fucking false balance out there.
—
Musing: A post popped up on FB either yesterday or the day before regarding the OWS one-year anniversary stuff. Apparently, NYPD were doing ‘snatch and grab’ arrests (they quickly go into the crowd, arrest someone, and then get out), and seemed to be targeting known leaders. It’s suspected that they’re using facial recognition to pick out said people.
This seems to me an indicator that the authorities still don’t understand a non-authoritarian movement. They think the movement can be killed by removing the “leaders”, and seem unable to understand even now the concept of a leaderless movement.
I’m beginning to believe that this is indeed a psychological issue. It seems that authoritarians don’t just love projection — they’re really incapable of doing otherwise.
Tigger_the_Wing, good news indeed. Being able to think clearly is a wonderful thing–and it’s amazing how much more it is appreciated when you can suddenly do it again. (I know this from personal experience.)
Louis, congratulations. Even after eight years of house ownership, it still takes me by surprise that it is all ours and we are responsible for it. :D
kristinc, excellent news! I hope your friend’s recovery is swift and smooth.
Nepenthe – *hugs*
deborahbell – Congratulations and good luck!
Caine, I’m looking forward to checking out the new Rattitude, but it must wait until tomorrow (or I guess that’s later today given the time). Thank you, thank you! ♥ ♥ ♥
Squigit, I’d agree with the others that it’s a good idea to ask about that possible-job-conversation – a month or so is not too soon, I’d imagine.
Put the emphasis on the positive “how great it would be to do more/devote even more of your time, energy and skills to this-thing-in-your-field”, I suppose, not on the negative wanting/having to get out (or do less) of the retail work. (not that this actually is negative in real life, sheesh. Just that I imagine it might make the person feel (even) more enthusiastic too if it’s all about wow how wonderful this is rather than argh how lousy the other thing …?)
Was it this thread where the “bad child names” discussion was happening a while ago?
If so…I suddenly recalled a claim by an acquaintance to have once shared either a high school or GE classroom with a kid whose given name was “Gangster.” :(
Good morning
Yay, coffee, yay breakfast, yay thyroxine.
I HATE blood testing days.
kristinc
So great for your friend. I hope she has a speedy recovery and the new kidney works fine.
Tony
Oops, missunderstanding. We’re not going to our friends to hold their hands. It’s a long-planned visit to celebrate My BFF’s birthday (Uhm, said friends is the daughter and son in law of my BFF. Yes, weird thing, but my BFF is 16 years older than me and her daughter 6 years younger)
Remember, this is Germany. So, you still might get your house broken into, but you’re not getting shot.
Caine
Wonderful pictures. The ratties seem very keen on their veggies.
Armadillo http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2735#comic
— — — —
Old video games…from a Lovecraftian perspective! http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2736#comic
— — — —
Fighting herbicide-resistant weeds “Engineered plants can use phosphite” http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7415/full/489181d.html
Hekuni Cat:
You’re welcome! Ah, I changed again, so no extra clicking is required, the photos are posted the size I want in the first place. :D
Giliell, they do love having a veggie wading pool, it’s fun for them, and a monster mess for me. Gytha was being too adorable in every shot, it was difficult picking out just a couple.
For all the pea hate here, I never see the ratses pet vegetable hate – carrots. Every single one of them acts as though I plopped cyanide on plate when they see a carrot. Don’t like them raw, don’t like them cooked in any manner, don’t like ’em.
Only if they are too elderly or have gone over to the
darkpea-side.The mildly deranged penguin has indicated that if you install a non-booby-trapped penguin-flap/door, she’ll try to remember to use that instead of the wall when unsupplying your cheeseboard.
ERROR – to make the links work, delete the ” #comic ” at the end of the links.
Tpyo: I first spelled links “kinks”, caught it in time.
This was just mentioned in a comment over at Ed’s blog, Encyclopedia of American Loons. An excerpt, for Andy Schlafly (#346):
I suspect there are hours of reading fun to be had there…
Caine:
Gah!
What’s wrong with them?
Raw carrots dipped in ranch dressing sprinkled with red pepper flakes are fatabulous! They make great snacks. Broccoli works with the same dip as well.
I do agree though, that cooked carrots are not tasty. I dislike the mushiness if they’re too cooked, and I just prefer my carrots cold. By themselves as a snack, or atop a salad. NOM NOM.
Yipiehhh, my Surlies just arrived!
On the other hand, I am now convinced that the stuff I sent the other way over the pond some time before my Surlies were shipped has been lost. :(
Hunt launched after Halliburton loses radioactive rod in Texas desert:
If I am reading the rest of the article correctly, it seems the geniuses didn’t bother to lock the storage container.
And now, for an intermittently-scheduled de-lurk.
Caine: Rattitude is amazing! And I know I don’t comment very often, but I love reading about the rats, because they’re all adorable. And can I request extra-special scritches for Perdita X, please?
.
.
Louis: Conga-rats on the new house – hopefully you won’t have *too* much work to do to make it habitable/to your tastes. (Well, I say “*too* much… but when we bought this house nearly 2 years ago, we ripped out all the inside walls, the floors, etc, and built a giant extension-y bit round two sides of it (the extension is ~1.5x the size of the original), to turn the 2-bed we bought into a decent 4-bed. I guess it’s all relative?)
Anyway, enjoy the joys of home-ownership.
.
.
Tigger & kristenc: That’s good news :) I wish you (Tigger) and your friend (kristenc) all the best in recovery.
.
.
I leave a pile of hugs, and a plate of warm chocolate cookies, which might actually materialise if I can ever find the motivation to clear the kitchen enough to get started.
What the???
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.” They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
But there is a tradition of this, apparently.
Handled by Nightjar.
At ease!
Tony:
The thing is, rats are supposed to like carrots. Other people have rats who like carrots. Other people have rats who love carrots. I’ve yet to have a single rat that will get near them, let alone eat them.
When I do up a vegetable wading pool for them, like in the most recent pics, I use a bag of Birdseye mixed veg, which includes carrots. I now pick the carrots out, because if I don’t, the rats forcibly toss them as far as possible from anywhere they are. It’s not good enough to dump the carrots and go after the stuff they like, oh no, they throw the damn things.
Sarahface:
Thank you and of course you can! I just managed, not 10 minutes ago, to get a couple of photos of Perdita X. Accompanied by much squeaking on her part. She’s not the most social gal. :D I’ll have the pics up in the next day or two.
A carrot, thrown hard and pointy-end-first by a forty-foot high killer rat, might be effective against peas.
As I recall, horses like carrots, so perhaps it’s a defensive strategy against those buggers. I imagine a horse trying to bite a delicious-looking incoming carrot that nice Ms\r Rat has thrown its way would be something like a tank hit with an armour-piercing shell.
Or maybe they are just annoyed there’s no electric powercables for dessert?
I once had a rabbit who would eat the green of the carrots with delight but look at you like you tried to poison him if you suggested he might eat the carrot itself.
The current rabbits would fight the 45ft killer rats for carrots.
blf:
This is a distinct possibility.
Giliell:
In this case, there would be no fight. The rats would happily cede carrots.
Thank you to everyone who offered hugs. Internet hugs are much appreciated. (And are better than real hugs because I don’t have to touch anyone!)
Morning is better than night.
And *gasp* ratties! Amelia is gorgeous.
Well, it turns out I did find the motivation to make the cookies, which have turned out delicious, if very very rich and quite sweet.
I think I need some fruit to balance eating the one I tried…
I’m about to undergo open-computer-surgery in a bit, aka the re-installation of Windows and everything else, due to the increasing decrepitude of everything and stuff crashing all over the damn place more and more frequently. This is an old computer and it’s showing the strain … (or probably the signs of my ignorance and neglect).
I’m going out shortly and may not be back for some time …
Wish me luck! See you on the other side! (eventually. I hope. Could take a while)
Nepenthe:
Hee. Amelia is a personality writ large, too.
Opposablethumbs, good luck! See you soon.
Jesus Christ. I just got an email from my boss– he expects me to drive 3 hours down to our main office in NJ to attend a meeting on Thursday.
As a recap: I’m 8.5 months pregnant and that’s my fucking wedding anniversary. Can I get a “hell no”?
Audely – argh! Can you skype in?
Audley:
I think boss gets a Hell No.
Carlie:
Lately, I’ve been lucky if I can check my email– between Verizon’s shitty service and our own hardware problems, I’ve been spending too much time swearing at computers.
I may be able to send a minion in my place, though.
Caine:
How about Oh Fuck No?
Mitt Romney: spot his gaffes — quiz.
I got 10 out of 12.
I’ve no idea which two I missed, the “Show Answers” link is currently borked… ;-(
Hi, Caine. Just stopping by to express condolences for Carrot.
Please give Neville a scritch and make sure he gets his fair share of peas so that he can grow into a 15 meter tall rat that can fight demented penguins.
Any Randy Newman fans? He just released a new song, “I’m Dreaming”.
Your cheeseboard is doomed! DOOOOOOMMMMMEED!!! May you forever be last in the queue for the bacon. Yer mother smelled of fish in the Salton Sea, and yer father was a toadstool.
@trinolier
I clicked and saw that the post had been removed. A user, _oogle, went after the father and got his post removed for being fake/trolling reddit. And you know who _oogle is? [Trigger Warning for Bigotry: Transphobia!] This kind of shithead.
That’s a really bad outcome to what was a great, moving story.
Yer mother smelled of fish in the Salton Sea, and yer father was a toadstool.
BWAAAHAHAHA! Flattery will not save you, blf!
Wait, a post on reddit can be that easily removed and yet all that rapey and stalkery shit stays?
for the ui folks, skeuomorphic lazy design or?
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669879/can-we-please-move-past-apples-silly-faux-real-uis
steam phunk is cool as a subset but not mainstream
Sorry, trinioler. :)
Oh FUCK ME.
swigs a 4l bottle of fukitol
Fuck Reddit.
@257 Hekuni Thanks!
@259 Azkyroth I know someone who named a son Royale Payne (Payne as the middle name) and a daughter Blue Berry and another daughter River Brook. She says these names show that they have a sense of humor in their family. :/
Re names: This story is probably apocryphal, but it’s amusing anyway: Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Payne were planing their wedding. They elected not to use a hyphenated last name after marriage.
blf – I got 11 of 12 of the Romney gaffes, and I live in the US. Your success suggests that you should spend less time paying attention to American politics and more time preparing cheese.
I’m looking for my birth certificate and/or social security card to take to my new employers for ID purposes, and not finding them, I’m looking kind of everywhere. So I ran across a stack of greeting cards I’d been given over the years for birthdays and such, and letters and things – a file of keepsakes basically. Sorting through it, I found one from “the Carmelite monastery” where a catholic friend had apparently “enrolled” me for prayer. Apparently based on this I was supposed to share in whatever “prayers, sacrifices, and good works” of the nuns at the monastery by proxy, no doubt for some fee my friend paid.
I thought the ridiculousness needed to be shared. Especially since there’s a handwritten note inside the card that apologizes for some delay in getting the card out to me, which happened due to illness at the monastery – I think this was for a birthday and so apparently they didn’t even get it to me at the time my friend requested! (I really don’t remember any of this, the card says who it is from and I know him and this sounds like something he would have done, and it’s addressed to me, but I don’t remember it).
#300 deborahbell file it under “cosmic debris”
Sorry, more self-indulgent joysqueeing for my friend:
Here she is after surgery.
Okay I’m done now.
And I have a china cabinet to finish painting, blurgh. So I should go do that. Any minute now. Yup. Uh-huh.
interesting but sounds like an awful lot of work, and ass kissing, I imagine there is a lot of ass kissing involved
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/sermons_talks_interviews/kingfolletsermon.htm
Also too, FUCK people like my inlaws who won’t donate organs because Gawd wants all their bits to rot in the same physical location. FUCK ’em.
(When I explained this to my eight-year-old, her response was “That’s why God is a dick.” I admit I was too pleased with the general sentiment to correct the gender based slurring.)
On bad names for children, my grandmother was given the names Mary England (as it happens, she was Mary England Myers). Although this may have been because she had an ancestor with the surname England, according to my mother she so hated the pun (Merrie England) that she refused to give my mother or uncle a middle name. (My son doesn’t have one either, but that’s just because we didn’t get round to thinking of one by the time we registered his birth.)
@301 broboxley I thought file 13 was appropriate. :)
@303 broboxley That is about as readable as some of the cards from my mom and dad I ran across.
blf/287, re the Romney quiz, it’s:
Romney, Romney, Palin, Romney, Quayle, Romney, Quayle, Bush, Romney, Bush, Romney, Johnson
I cheated and looked them up. Or some of ’em. The Bushisms especially kinda stand out, I find… There’s something very ‘him’ about those. And the Quayles are both pretty famous. And the Palin thing I’d heard about (and I’d say there’s a unique Palin slimy/histrionic quality about it, too).
So it was actually mostly the Romney ones I wasn’t real sure about. Apparently, I’m not keeping up these days.
Hey all. I’ve been super busy for the last month and a half or so, as I’ve been writing up a storm. 70,000+ words of genre fiction in that time and I’m actually making money off of it this time. Not bucketloads or anything, but I’m actually going to be able to pay bills. Whoo.
Trouble being, of course, that after you’ve been poor for a long time and finally get to make a living, it’s a little hard to silence that panicked “onothemoneywilldisappear” voice in the back of your head. So rather than letting myself relax at all, I’ve just been frantically writing as much as I can as quickly as possible.
I hope everyone is doing well. Once I reach my word count goal for the day, I’m going to try catching up in here.
Kristinc:
*high fives!* for your friend.
And I totally agree with you about organ donation: fuck anyone that wants to keep ’em after they’re dead.
Wait wait wait…
Reddit will remove stuff for fake troll complaints. But not kiddy porn or creepphotos?
Reddit needs to be burned to the ground
Dianne:
I shall do so! :D Along with Perdita X, I also got shots of the elusive Neville last night. I’ll have them up some time today.
Totally out of the thread-loop, (is that what threadrupt means?) but I am going crazy! Roomie decides to tell landlord she’s breaking the lease and leaving me with almost twice the rent ( I was already paying more than half) and then I come home to a broken washing machine and a flooded kitchen. Ack! Off to find a mop.
We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
The moderators of Ask Reddit did it, which are a separate(but slightly overlapping) group from the admins.
Audley!
INSPECTOR SPACETIME!!!
First episode!
Go Lexington!
For we have done the unthinkable. We have accomplished an awesome task. We will shine in history for as long as mankind exists. Because….
We put up a billboard!
It says “Don’t believe in God? Join the club. LexingtonCoR.org”
And the shit is really starting to fly. CoR’s media guy is racing around like a troll without a bridge doing interviews all over the place. Christian groups are not pleased, though they do seem to look forward to us all going to hell, based on the comments. We’re also a sign of impending Judgment. Good times!
Some amusing coverage here where the picture of the billboard somehow is cropped to remove the word “Don’t”. Cute.
Friendly Atheist covered it as well.
Go
WildcatsLexington!Woo hoo! Thanks, Carlie! ♥.
I just emailed the link to myself so I can watch it after work/birthing class. :)
…whoever’s responsible for that should be locked in a room full of flavored light sockets.
Deborahbell:
-I like broboxley’s suggestion of cosmic debris. In fact, you should build your own ship (something I saw both Wallace & Gromit do as well as HG Wells in Warehouse 13; I never knew constructing your own vessel for space travel was that simple) and send the card into orbit, where it can be *actual* space debris.
318# Tony, Actually that is Frank Zappa’s term for it
@312 Portia A situation like that started me on a problem with credit card debt. My roommate was a friend that I didn’t want to lose, so I didn’t make a deal out of it, and I was young and didn’t know I could break the lease with just paying a penalty (I thought it would ruin my credit or something) so I stayed in the apartment alone and put bills on credit cards. Later, I got a roommate but the credit cards snowballed. :(
I have used one of the roommate websites online with some success a few years ago when a different roommate moved out. It seems easier than locating a close friend that wants a place to live at the same time you do.
@315 PatrickG It never occurred to me that my city might have an atheist group. I’ve struggled meeting people since I moved here 3 years ago, and the only friends I have locally are from work and ex-BF’s friends. Everybody suggests attending a church to meet people even after being told I’m an atheist. I even looked for book clubs and exercise classes. Never thought about there being an atheist group here, and it looks like there is (maybe they should advertise! LOL).
@318 broboxley Yeah lots of people build spaceships so easy. But for a card? I probably ought to recycle it, that would make them mad.
dangit! sorry about the page load folks, will remember to href it next time
kristinc:
To be filed under stupid things I did not know about religion. This is worse than spices are evil, because there is tremendous benefit to be found by donating organs. Is there a biblical verse that forbids organ donation?
****
Nick:
Such an odd name for a child. Only way to make that worse- replace ‘England’ with a name starting with an ‘A’. Imagine the confusion hearing ma’am and thinking someone is calling you.
Mary A Myers…isn’t PZ’s trophy wife named Mary? Perhaps her parents gave her the name as a piece of advice: Marry a Myers, they’re amusing, even in the face of rotoviruses.
@322 Tony I suppose there is some bible verse they would use to support refusing organ donation, but I don’t know what it is. I think the general idea is that you need to be bodily together so you can be bodily resurrected to go to Heaven. I know some people and certain religions don’t like cremation because of this idea.
Of course, since there is only so much viable matter for making bodies on the planet, likely what was once someone else is now me, and how that was supposed to work out, I have no idea.
@ [via] cicely
Try an exercise ball. They are good for bad backs by not sitting awkwardly and increasing the strength of stomach and back muscles. Get a size of about 500-600 mm diameter. You want about 450mm ass-above-floor when sitting. Also, do not sit for long periods of time on the thing. Build up gradually or you will strain said muscles.
@ chigau
Never clean your bathroom! If teh akaname don’t get fed it’ll come after YOU!
The blue|red divide of ‘Merkin politics means the opposite of what it does with the rest of the planet.
@ Caine
Rat artwork. Wow, kewl! (Needles to say, Theo is bound to be modelling soon (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)
@ opposablethumbs
Post your specs. Sounds like time for linux.
The Marigold Hotel was fun, except for the gay character once again being portrayed as having spent an endlessly unhappy life. Turned out not to be just a chick flick, equal parts of male aging angst too. There were seven people in a theater that seats 100.
Okay, Perdita X, Neville, Gytha & Vasco are up at Rattitude.
Oh shakesville. I can call mitt romney a sociopath in my comment there, but if I refer to him as “mittens” a moderator edits it. what.
I have no idea. They’re Catholic, which I feel is often overlooked for its degree of whackadoodle superstitious bullshit (although admittedly the Mormons are enough weirder to merit the attention).
They plan on being cremated, btw. Only since the word came down from On High that that was okay. Apparently God can caulk ashes together fine but not schlep your slice of liver or your heart back? I dunno, man. Iron chariot wheels and all that.
Tony:
Orthodox Jews don’t allow the body to be messed with prior to burial (no embalming, organ donations, etc.), but I’m still looking for the justification.
As far as Christians go, it might be to perserve the whole body for the end times (the Book of Revelation says that the dead will rise when the horn has been sounded) or (after a quick Googling) because of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
But, on the other hand, this could be advice to eat right and exercise.
Tony, the organs-rotting-in-the-same-place thing is because of the perception that come the Rapture, Jeezus will raise the dead from their graves to Join Him In Heaven. Apparently the All-Powerful One can’t reconstitute the missing bits. (And what are the pious and god-fearing victims of accidental (or deliberate) dismemberment to do? I’ve never heard/read this question answered in a way that doesn’t imply that missing organs Ain’t No Thang, which see the whole “no reconstitution” thing.)
This is also a reason why some Xians are against cremation, incidentally.
–
#330 Audly and Tony. Some American tribes practiced mutilation and desecration because they figured in the afterlife it would be hard for an enemy to schlep after you without all their parts connected or missing eyes to see you with. As for the ME folks it may be simply a “dont cut off parts when we are dead because it may just be a coma” prohibition.
Good evening
So, we made it to Ikea, got a new living-room table, two absolutely non-behaving children and another lesson in people are assholes. The kids forgot two plushies in one of the playing corners. (Yeah, Mr. was checking on them. How am I supposed to let go of taking care of everything if every time I don’t something like this happens?) We noticed pretty soon, like 30 minutes. They were gone, but they were not brought to any of the information desks. I have a small hope that they find them cleaning up where somebody just put them.
What kind of asocial asshole do you have to be to take an obviously beloved kiddie’s plushie with you? I don’t blame any kid who picked it up, that’s how children are and, how are they supposed to know that these two were different from the 7000 other plushies there, but there must have been an adult who participated in this and I hate that person.
Caine
Wonderful rat pictures, as usually. Especially good since they contain lots of Gytha. Tickles and a treat for her ;)
kristinc
I’m happy for your friend.
Yeah, never understood that “body in one piece” thing either. Most of them don’t oppose blood or plasma donation and actually, if that god is capable of scratching together the molecules of the first christians after 2000 years that should be easy.
I still carry my old paper donor card from 1976, even though Oregon has a notation on our drivers licenses. I’ve probably aged out of any parts being any good at this point. *snort*
http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/09/dirty/
Ophelia needs hugs and support.
Also, Mallory, Chas and Amelia.
Theophontes:
Hint received. :D Eventually, I want to do atcs of all of them, but everything is in abeyance until The Darkheart Duckie Project is done.
Caine – Neener, neener my projets got mailed yesterday.
*dodges flying peas*
The cat and I are having a conversation about my pancakes. It goes like this:
MROW
Nope.
MROW
Nope.
MROW
Nope.
MROW
Nope.
Patricia:
Pppphhhbbbbbbbttttt. *sticks out tongue at Patricia*
I’m working as fast as I can, my fingers are about to fall off. Things left to do: pantograph on Devil Duckie, finish Pirate Duckie and Ninja Duckie, put quilt together. Oy. I could use tentacles.
Oh, and the Halloween sleep pillow.
kristinc,
Let me guess. It ends with
MROW
*sigh*
NOM NOM NOM
Awe, that’s like my Maggie cat and french vanilla coffee:
MEOW
No.
MEOW.
No.
MEOW.
Okay, fine.
*lick lick lick*
(She will try any coffee, but will only drink french vanilla.)
Kristin & Audley, at least you have the option of saying no.
Me: Gets tea, sets tea on desk. Leaves momentarily. Comes back. Finds three rats perched on tea mug helping themselves.
Caine – Too bad I don’t live closer to you. I can embroider and quilt much better than I can knit. *le sigh*
Oh the tears of the banninated:
“I was kicked off CFI ostensibly for publicly challenging the decisions and conduct of the secretive and inconsistent admin group. But no specific incident precipitated it to happen when it did. had an A+ meeting, then apparently sent his footsoldiers in the CFI admin group to go do his bidding, and they started kicking people off left and right so could join back up”
I HAVE FOOT SOLDIERS. MWAHAHAHAHAHA.
Patricia:
You’re ahead of me, I can’t knit at all.
Threadrupt, and no time to catch up (I’m posting blind, so apologies if this is posted right after someone’s serious tragedy).
I’m deciding whether or not to go tonight to a Take Back the Night rally in a town just down the road. On the one hand, I think getting-off-the-couch-activism is a good thing to participate in. On the other, it’s raining and blustery, and I’m lazy, and I don’t know anyone. And I’m this >< close to finishing the story I've been working on for a couple of weeks. Then again, it might be a nice boost to be surrounded by a bunch of people who care about women and stuff. The rally starts at 6, the walk at 7, so it will probably be a couple of hours all together. What do you say?
No, I’m a mean human. I finished my pancakes, put the plate away, then *after* he gave up disgustedly I called him and made him sit for the last dollop of pancake batter.
Audley, coffee? I shudder to think of my cat caffeinated.
Pfffffft like the cats won’t do that. I’ve had so many mugs and glasses smashed by cats tipping them over to get to the goodies.
Ibis:
Dress warm and go.
Canadia strikes me as unpatriotic.
Ibis3: I’m not very social, and I would say go. When I have something like that on my schedule and I’m not looking forward to it, I try to give myself permission to leave after a certain time if I’m not having fun. You could go to the rally and then leave before the walk if you’re not enjoying yourself.
Threadrupt and still fighting a stomach virus. I think I might be on the downhill side, though….finally.
—
PA Supreme Court sends Voter ID back to Commonwealth Court
Thank Spud! A non-ugly A+.
:dissipates once more:
Thanks. It was suggested when the old laptop conked, and I remembered it.
Ended failing on Itunes and some other thing, though.
The NYT has a story about a history professor working on a piece of text that refers to “Jesus’ wife”. I’m astonished. I didn’t know there were serious scholars who still supported the idea of a historical Jesus.
… How did we miss jury nullification being not only allowed but celebrated in the United States??
Almost ready for my date tonight. I went to the hairdresser and got my hair cut, and the way she styled it looks pretty good. So I just need to go home, eat dinner, throw my contacts in, and put on some mascara.
And get out of the house while looking good without my folks suspecting I have a date and making awkward comments, because I’m an utter coward and I haven’t come out to them yet. I’m feeling almost ready to tell them, though.
*nervous excitement*
#335 Diane, when your specialty is 1st century Copt chances are you will run across that name now and again. Im pretty sure there was a Roman around that time called “Biggus Dickus” even though there isn’t a lot in literature supporting that
“Study shows crows able to infer actions of hidden agent” http://phys.org/news/2012-09-crows-infer-actions-hidden-agent.html -Those feathered dinosaurs are clever!
“Scholar: Jesus talks of wife in ancient script” http://phys.org/news/2012-09-scholar-jesus-wife-ancient-script.html
“World’s first mum-to-daughter uterine transplants in Sweden (Update)” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-world-mum-to-daughter-uterine-transplants-sweden.html
“Rare cancers yield potential source of tumor growth” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-rare-cancers-yield-potential-source.html
And, most important: “Irish scientists developing new material to increase shelf life of beer” http://phys.org/news/2012-09-irish-scientists-material-shelf-life.html
Cue references to “Young Einstein”. Also, kudos to PZ;s Irish relatives for their efforts.
You sure about that? The Japanese article (which has more pictures!) seems to say that an akaname is spontaneously generated from bathroom crud. So it shouldn’t be born if you keep your bathroom clean.
Mmmm. Sort of. I’d argue we don’t have a major red party, so it’d be blue for Republicans, and gold, yellow or orange for Democrats.
Anyway, our color scheme is rather new.
I like it, too, because at least it doesn’t wrongly imply that the Democrats are mostly reds.
Deborah:
I can go you one better. I once saw an obituary for a Royal F. Payne III. Not Royal Payne, but Royal F. Payne. And the third dude in his family to carry that name.
Kristinc, I have that conversation with my cat every day. Also, “Canadia” lacks Walt Wawra refs.
Dianne, I heard that story on NPR this afternoon and had the same reaction. Here’s an article. The claim is that some early xtians believed Jesus was married, which is not what the media are claiming.
@kristinc, ~ringy dingy~
They are just plain un-Amuriken!
Yay Nutmeg, and good luck!
I want to drop some praise for the Google Chrome browser. I had a big long comment mostly written over on the AXP blog, like 20 paragraphs, and the power failed for half an hour. When it came back, I opened Chrome, it asked whether I wanted to recover the pages, I hit yes, and lo and behold, it recovered my entire comment.
I’ll just leave this here.
This too.
dianne:
In part 2 of “Tony has more to learn about Christianity” we learn that our intrepid hero was unaware the Jesus was married…
Also, this pic says it all, it really does.
Nutmeg:
Sweet.
I’m so happy for you.
A date.
I really hope it goes well.
I hope you don’t truly think this. There is nothing cowardly about not coming out. There are so many factors that only you can weigh in determining when/where/if it’s right to come out. I used to think it was cowardly until I realized that everyone’s circumstances are different and I have no right to judge anyone else’s life. Please don’t think bad of yourself b/c you haven’t come out to them.
You are a good person.
Please don’t forget that.
#367 Tony, lets see, a 33yo rebbe? Of coarse he was married, how else would he support his studies?
@Skeptifem
I don’t know what reasoning they were using over there, but given that it’s Shakesville, I’m sure it’s as twisted and arcane as it usually is.
Another thing I love about Shakesville, and Melissa in particular? How any criticism of the site results in modding and banning, and when banned people talk about her off-site, they’re part of some conspiracy to talk shit about her and make her look bad and blah blah blah. That’s right, Liss, you can do no wrong.
/tangent
Tony, Dianne, have you read any Bishop Spong? Apart from having a hilarious Pythonesque name (right up there with Cardinal Sin) he is a Very Nice Christian. Super nice, pro-feminist & gay rights and all that – and also super big on the metaphors and ineffability and stuff. He’s not sure that even the resurrection should be taken literally. The heretic.
Anyway, he wrote a book in which he suggested that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife. Rabbis are supposed to be married, you know! And there was other internal textual evidence supporting it but I forget what.
Back from getting blood pressured and vampired at the docs. She’s a real pip my doc, always wanting to use some gadget on me that I’ve seen used at the vets on cows.
Is somebody going to make up a vatican denial bingo card for the latest jezus wife scrap? I hope they run out of fainting couches.
Alethea, broboxley:
Thank you both!
I’m just full of ignorance today.
Patricia, I googled ‘pip’ (never heard it before) and came up this:
Is this how you’re using the term?
Caine:
They don’t like carrots, but do like tea. Interesting.
I wonder what would happen if they drank an Icepick (sweet tea and vodka for those unfamiliar)…
Tony – Yes, that’s how I used the word, and with sarcasm. My doctor comes up with sadistic tests she tries to get me to have.
[A. R imagines inebriated rats] Do it, FOR SCIENCE!
Ah, the joys of invoking Banana Man. Now to sit back and watch the libertarian flail hopelessly.
Tony: I freaking LOVE science! (BTW, can anyone get a PDF of that article? If so, send it to my usual e-mail for such things. Apparently, our library doesn’t have issues that far back, and doesn’t have archival access)
Gotta cook supper. Work next two days, since it’s for the county I won’t be using the computer to comment. Read ya later!
A.R.:
Science SUX!
Faith ROCKS!
God rulz.
(do you have *any* idea how much resistance my fingers put up typing that B.S.?)
was exchanging a business email with a young lady somewhere in the bowels of western europe. Just got an out of office reply.
“I wont be in the office until Jan. 13th 2013 due to maternity leave” what ever happened to planning on using your 2 week vacation to have you child, recover and get back to work? Bet she is getting a salary while at home as well. Romney will be getting an email about this state of affairs, you betcha
@ broboxley OT
There is graffiti in Pompei that says pretty much the same thing (refering to the artists themselves of course). I could only find this one though:
If anyone wants to look further, start here:
The Bawdy Graffiti of Pompeii and Herculaneum
My date went pretty well. There are some potential issues in terms of relationship compatibility (she’s vegan, I’m omnivorous; she doesn’t have a lot of career direction, I’m very career-oriented). But she’s smart and makes good conversation, and we have some similar hobbies and values. I think there will probably be a second date sometime soon, and we’ll see where things go from there.
It’s so weird! and cool! for me to go on a date with someone I actually find attractive. I don’t know what to say about it exactly, but it was very different from all my previous dating experiences. In a good way. :)
***
Tony:
♥♥♥
Don’t worry, I don’t think that I’m a bad person. I’m not sure exactly how to explain this. Me not coming out to my parents yet is more of a social anxiety thing than anything related to me being gay. I’m not too worried about their reaction; I’m more dreading the awkward conversation and feeling sure that I’ll screw it up. So I don’t exactly feel like I’m a failure as a queer person. It’s more that I feel bad about my anxiety around confrontation and talking about feelings, and I regret that those factors have contributed to me not coming out yet.
But I’ll get there. Every week I feel a little more ready. I’m out to all of my close friends now, and everyone’s been great about it. Coming out to my family is just a larger hurdle.
@ broboxley OT
On CNN just now [Donald trump defending Rmoney]:
Er … yes , have you ever wondered why?
well theophontes (坏蛋)#386 proves that Monty Python does excellent research. Medieval scholars raved over their accuracy in “Holy Grail” and as an amateur myself, the work of “Life of Brian” was very accurate as well.
In less analytical terms:
I went on my first date with a girl, and it was a success.
*sparklers* and *cake* and *beverages* for everyone!
Nutmeg:
It’s great to hear your date was enjoyable. Good luck with the second one :)
well #388 theophontes (坏蛋) I also find it very interesting that the Libyan co-ordinated attacks on the embassy were on sept 11th a date not only interesting to americans but also interesting to muslims for a different historical event. That the Libyan government insists that america was warned of potential attacks and the whitehouse is insisting that it was a spontaneous response to a hate video on youtube that was uploaded months ago.
reading HST and his notes from the 1986-1988 reminds me that the venality of american politics and news organizations are not new lows, just different players in the same hawg pit.
Anyone here interested in both feminism and comics?
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/09/18/parting-shot-new-catwoman-writer-ann-nocenti-calls-selina-kyl/
@ Nutmeg
Good news!
A bit like removing a plaster… (Quickly! I am sure it will go very well. Good luck.)
@ broboxley OT
This? —> Linky.
Quick question: How are people requesting Monitor attention in threads?
Pretty much just like you did there. I suspect that if nobody is listening on whatever thread you are, then come to the lounge. But it probably won’t help right now. All a monitor can do is email PZ – and he has a filter for their email addresses so it doesn’t get lost in his spam.
There is no power to drag him forth from his slumbering and puking metamorphic vermiform. Dead PZ lies dreaming, and he won’t wake until he’s good and ready.
[sigh]
Over in Oz, conservatives are conservative: Lower House votes down same-sex marriage bill.
over here in Hobbitton, ours passed the first hurdle, and was voted 80% in favor by all representatives.
80%
now, it goes to public review by comittee, and then back for another floor vote.
It seems to be inevitable here, that marriage equality will finally be a reality.
some good news.
On the leaving your organs to rot / don’t donate idiocy, I found this, What Does the Bible Say About..Organ Donation?:
The British NHS has a page on xiannutiness and organ donation, as does the BBC, implying some people do have a mythology-based objection to the concept, but there’s no obvious clew why…
A faerie-bothering site insists there’s no problem for any of the Abrahamic mythologies, but does list a few objecting faerie-tales:
I didn’t see moronism mentioned, so no idea there…
@ A.R
Check this out (scroll to “monitors”)
@ John Morales
D:
@ Ichthyic
IIRC you are in New Zealand?
@ A.R
heh! I see you are on the list … sorry.
@ Alethea
Would Chris Clarke not have some powers?
Oh dear, we’ve got another conservative in the A+ forum.
They sure know how to waste words. Or perhaps all those words were meant to conceal the one little nugget of false balance:
Neat, eh? It’s almost as if they didn’t expect anyone to read the whole thing, so they could get away with that little rhetorical bait-and-switch.
@theophontes
Yuss, Ichthyic is in New Zealand. We have drunk beer together.
Damn you, XCKD!
The power of woo
Today, i went to my catholic playgroup for the last time since the little one starts kindergarten next Monday. I chatted with a mum there who had been there for almost as long as I had. Her oldest is a boy with disabilities and the poor guy really has it hard.
He is vision impaired, hard of hearing and has developmental retardation. Lots of surgery, ergotherapy, medication, hospitals…
And now that his condition has really improved he broke his leg.
So, hospital and surgery again. And now his mum has put some “Eye of Allah” beads bracelets around his wrists to keep bad luck from him…
Not that they’re muslims or anything…
Preparations for IELTS are boring. I was measuring my time for the reading comprehension part, as recommended, and I’ve finished it in 30 minutes. Just like the last time. Admittedly, I’ve made one mistake this time.
The allotted time is 60 minutes.
The two things I should worry about are spelling and freezing up during the oral test. Only one of those problems has anything to do with my English. The other is something that ruined a lot of my grades at the uni.
If peas won’t do it, then leave some cheese nearby. And wait, albeit probably not for long. The mildly deranged penguin has been known to wakeup fossils, Entwives, and something that we’re not too sure what it was but it ran away with a sonic boom and the neighbours complained about the clawmarks. And that’s only when leaving the lair to go get the cheese…
Fire tornado captured on film in Australia (video at link).
Ok, who / what is the Great Sky Faerie mad at? Since the faerie’s spacial and temporal aim is so bad, it might not be Australian (as unbelievable as that seems), or recent or even in the past.
Me: (link to essay: What is Conservatism and What Is Wrong With It?)Conservatism is wrong.(/link) Hell, the basic definition — ‘the status quo is better than change’ — is ridiculous on its face.
Conservative: SILENCE, INFIDEL! WE ALLOW SOME CHANGE! AND BESIDES, IF WE HAVE TOO MUCH CHANGE WE MIGHT LOSE STABILITY!! THE MISOGYNIST WHITE-SUPREMACIST HETERONORMATIVE CISNORMATIVE BINARY-GENDERED TRAINS RUN ON TIME!!!!!!!
I can’t fucking get over it.
The trains. The fucking trains. THE FUCKING TRAINS RUNNING ON TIME IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME BEING ABLE TO BE ME.
How do these fucks get away with saying they care.
How the fuck do people not see this total fucking bullshit.
…
because they care more about the fucking trains too I guess.
“Feathered Dinosaurs Drive Creationists Crazy” http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/creationists_and_dinosaurs_answers_in_genesis_teams_with_dissident_scientists_to_deny_feathered_dino_fossil_record.html Biblical literalists are on a campaign to “take dinosaurs back.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!
— — — — — — — —
“Women speak less when they’re outnumbered” http://phys.org/news/2012-09-women-theyre-outnumbered.html
— — — — —
Prejudice can cause depression at the societal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-prejudice-depression-societal-interpersonal-intrapersonal.html
— — — — —
Purple corn compound may aid in developing future treatments for Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-purple-corn-compound-aid-future.html flavonoids have a lot of good properties!
Yaaarrrr
Is that a big, dumb chimpanzee I see in the pulpit?
-looks at date-
…um…….YARR! =D
YAAAARRR
The question of the day: What will Mitt Lolmney do today to try and sabotage his campaign?
RBDC: This: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-tries-change-subject-233848226–abc-news-politics.html
-sigh- Arr…ask one simple question of austerians and watch ’em dance and never give ye a straight answer.
I’d like to see one dance off the plank, meself…
sheesh.
I really like the word “ye.” I might have to use it more often.
Yarr and all that.
Theophontes, I have no idea what power Chris Clarke has. You could always email him and ask.
Yaar maties!
seconding the xkcd cussing.
Ok, who / what is the Great Sky Faerie mad at? Since the faerie’s spacial and temporal aim is so bad, it might not be Australian (as unbelievable as that seems), or recent or even in the past.
Duh. He’s obviously mad at Romney for his stupid remark about 47% of people not paying taxes. Not the callousness, just the bad math.
Yo ho, GILIELL!
Guess who got a package in the mail today? :) :) :)
I assume you mean the pronoun, not the article:
<pedant>The article means the and should be pronounced the same.</pedant>Audley
Yay! Yarrrrrr!
I had been convinced it had gotten lost.
Glad it arrived after all (posted it almost 3 weeks ago)
So, #1 got a water pistol as a gift today. You’re allowed to guess the colour…
Pink.
*sighs*
The same guy in our local CFI who rejected social science papers because they’re not “strong” enough is repeating easily debunked MRA talking points, like a new one I never heard till now:
“Only 1/10 men could vote before women’s suffrage, because of property restrictions.”
Except, according to Wikipedia, property restrictions were eliminated at least 70 years before suffrage. Gee. No hyper-skepticism there, eh?
Giliell:
I don’t know what the hell is up with my mail delivery lately, but your package isn’t the only one that took damned near a month to get to me.
May I post pics of the shirts for the Horde?
Yarrr and such.
Has anyone seen him dash into a telephone booth…
Has anyone seen him in the secret underwater squid base…
Has anyone seen him petting a white cat… or releasing a kraken?
Has anyone seen him and poopyhead together at the same time?
I suspect he is either a poopypuppet (sockhead? poopyet? poopypet?), or will slowly devour poopyhead’s brainz.
1 in 10 men is a lot more than 0 in 10 women. What’s his point?
Dianne
And here’s a cookie for you!
Audley
Sure you can, it’s yours and the Dark Fetus’
Yarrr
Until those uppity cootie-infested wimmin messed things up, only the men who mattered, mattered.
Okay, here are the shirts! http://audleyzdarkheart.blogspot.com/2012/09/getting-love-in-mail.html
♥ ♥ ♥!
Oh my goodness, almost forgot the rattle! http://audleyzdarkheart.blogspot.com/2012/09/and-rattle.html
Oh, well, at least there’s some utility to a water pistol being pink. It says, “Oh, don’t worry about me…I’m perfectly safe and you can ignore me in favor of fighting the more serious manly threats…oops, you seem to be completely soaked. How could that have happened?” I enjoy being underestimated in water fights. Get her a good microscope though. Paint it pink yourself if you have to, but get one with a good lens.
It depends which country you’re talking about. In the UK, all men over 21 were given the vote in 1918, by the same act which enfranchised some women over 30; all women over 21 were enfranchised in 1928. But from 1884-1918, approximately 60% of men over 21, and no women, could vote. In France, the vote for all men was first introduced in 1792, and has existed continuously since 1848 (not including the colonies that were legally regarded as part of France), while women could not vote until 1945. In Switzerland the gap in time was even longer. However, the Corsican Republic (1755-69, suppressed by France) gave the vote to all men over 25, and according to some accounts, to women too.
The mildly deranged penguin approves (but disclaims all responsibility), Waiter, there’s a frog in my spinach (and there might be one in yours, too):
Eyeballs in sausage?
This bunch of haters is so busy being hyperskeptical, they probably don’t believe that other countries exist, much less that they have women in them.
Yeah, there’s no indication *which* country this guy was talking about. Maybe Canada? Couldn’t find anything on Canada.
well women could vote in 1869 in wyoming but native americans couldnt vote until 1921
In cheaper mass produced sausage there is allllllll kinds of things most people would find unappetizing.
You know the old saying about sausage factories.
And native american women?
Pteryxx
And here’s your internet, complete with chocolate coating
#444 Giliell
all native americans were emancipated in 1921, prior to that they were considered aliens residing within the borders of the united states.
Forgot about the states, Nationally emancipated 1921 but were excluded from voting in certain states until 1948
https://benchprep.com/blog/ap-us-government-politics-the-expansion-of-us-voting-rights/
broboxley
I think my joke has gone shipping with the pirates.
;)
Eeeee, Audley, that’s some great booty! Fantastic work, Giliell!
Giliell, thats okay, you made me look it up :-)
taliban in Canada
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/18/alberta-aboriginal-rock-etchings-defaced-with-drill-power-washer-acid/
Why is the Lounge so dead right now?
Why is the Lounge so dead right now?
Wondering that myself. Maybe everyone’s out watching the mildly demented penguin fight the 50 meter high rats for peas and cheese?
Nah, I’m just bored; leafing through Nouvelle Grammaire du Français and feeling too lazy to get up and make myself a cup of tea.
I’ve been watching movies of questionable provenance…
leafing through Nouvelle Grammaire du Français
If that’s what you do when you’re feeling lazy, I hate to think of what you might do when you’re feeling energetic and ambitious. Invent new languages? Challenge the Chomsky theory of linguistics? Decipher the Voynich manuscript?
Heh. I wish. My French classes are starting next week and I haven’t read a word of French during the summer. The book I bought for practice is still marked on page ten where I left it some time in July. And my grammar… *shudder*
I should be practicing french verbs.
*snorts, waving hand dismissively*
Bah. The ones in my nightmares are much bigger than that. Move faster, too. And they hunt in packs.
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Need close-ups!
The rattle is seriously kyoot.
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Lazy is quite a few steps up from depressed to the point of not being able to open a book. Lazy means that I don’t feel like anything I do is useless anyway so there is no point in trying, but simply…lazy.
A bit lazy is actually a big improvement to how I was just yesterday. Which I haven’t really realized until now. Huh.
(Er…I may have had too much coffee today.)
BTW, I know I’m late to the party but all I have to say about Prometheus is “worst scientists EVER!”
Actually, I would love to know what I would do if I ever felt energetic and ambitious.
I haven’t felt like that for a long, long time.
Beatrice,
I’ve noticed that when I’m really depressed, I usually can’t really tell HOW depressed I have been until I’m starting to climb out of it.
The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA), Illinois’ largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights advocacy organization, has released a statement confirming that Chick-Fil-A will no longer give money to anti-gay organizations.
Not I.
I was busy having a Penguin for lunch (not sure if xe was the mildly demented type or not).
I don’t believe I’ve seen a fire tornado (I like firestorm better). That was totes awesome (hopefully no one was hurt during that rare weather event).
Improbable Joe,
Yeah, and then I think that next time I’ll force myself out of it before I get that far down again. I think you can guess how well that works.
The no job*/no prospects/losing friends/no love life doesn’t exactly help.
*very grateful that I have parents who can support me without much financial strain. But I hate that I’m still dependent on them at 26.
And you’re the last person I should complain to, considering the financial trouble you’re in, while I have backup.
Sorry.
Beatrice, have you considered professional counseling? It can be useful for getting out of that cycle where you feel like you can’t do anything…so sit around doing nothing…so feel even more like you can’t do anything.
Beatrice,
Yeah, well… I convince myself that by being more active I’m somehow controlling my depression. It is clearly bullshit, but when the part of you that’s having “issues” is the lump you use to figure out issues in general, who knows what you’re going to think about it after the fact?
No job/no money/no family support/wife out of town sucks pretty badly too. And if I don’t get evicted, my rent is “only” going to be 10 days late. Well, not NO money… I owe so much on my credit card that they sent me a $50 debit card just to get me to return their phone calls.
Improbable Joe,
Again, sorry for complaining. I realize that my situation is unicorns and sugar candy compared to yours.
Beatrice,
Call it “group therapy” if it makes you feel better. I know I’m not remotely interested in competing to see who has it worse, and I know that feeling involved with other people makes it easier to not turn my focus inward. So you know, not making me feel bad and I’m not remotely comparing everyone’s problems and ranking them against mine.
Speaking of group therapy, I’ve been. The first time I didn’t say much, and thought everyone sounded like a bunch of losers. Second time I said a little and thought everyone sounded like a bunch of losers. The third time I said a little more, and realized I sounded just like the other losers. There wasn’t a fourth time.
dianne,
I should. I know I should. I’m scared of talking about myself to a stranger (have no problem with that here, obviously, but the idea of being face to face with someone and telling them these things freaks me out).
Also, a bit afraid of becoming a confirmed crazy instead of just assumed crazy.
Improbable Joe,
Well, I’m not sure “group therapy” would be the best name for this then.
I know I shouldn’t use crazy, I just didn’t know how to properly express what I’m afraid of.
And I didn’t really mean (just) depression. With all my freakishness, I’m scared of what would get unearthed if a professional decided to rummage through my mind.
I’m scared of talking about myself to a stranger
Heh. Whenever I’ve tried therapy, the first thing that happens is I get a bad case of “you can’t make me talk” and it goes nowhere. It might work like that for you, but it might not. Maybe it would be better to go in without high expectations…just to see what would happen or so. It might not work for you…then again, it might.
To change the topic from me: racoon mechanic!
I likes raccoons!
Good evening
Went to “parents’ night” or whatever you call it when the parents of all children in a class are drummed together for information and stuff.
I’m now an officially elected member of the parents’ council, don’T ask me why.
Interesting observation: Of course, the dads were scarce. And of those who came alone and not with their female partners, 90% were late.
Joe & beatrice
Hey, we can always cry together
*hugs*
Now I have to finish a roject, urgently…
Arrggh and ahoy, maties! ‘Tis hoped you be enjoyin’ Talk Like a Pirate Day a wee bit better than a keel-haulin’. *snicker*
I think I’m finally recovered from *action flick preview narration* Stomach Nightmare 2012: Horror From All Ends *end narration*
Maybe. I’m currently appeasing the body with saltines and applesauce and homemade chicken broth.
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Oh this sounds like a fun evening of straw-Gnu bashing…
Shoot, forgot to mention this:
For those watching Warehouse 13 — hulu currently has episodes 1-5 of Season 4. I’m hoping to finish Ep 3 tonight and maybe squeeze in Ep 4 as well.
Setár @#418:
Not an Austerian, but I answered that question for you in the previous Lounge; see the first part of this comment.
You should probably also look at central bank independence.
Is today Talk Like a Pirate Day?
OK: Arrgggg, mateys, I just pirated 15 movies off the Internet! Shiver me timbers, yo ho ho and a bottle of… beer?
I can’t pirate any more this month, I’m worryingly close* to my monthly 15GB. GBs over that are seriously overpriced.
It might actually be cheaper to get flat rate.
*and there’ll be an episode of Doctor Who to download this weekend!
ARRGGG
Giliell,
Let’s NOT cry, if you don’t mind. Didn’t you hear the news?
I have $50! Do you know what I can do with $50?!?! NOTHING USEFUL OR THAT COULD POSSIBLY HELP MY SITUATION IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM!!!
It is actually sort of freeing, to know that there’s absolutely nothing you can do to help yourself. It means you can take your $50 and buy some beer and some food and not feel guilty that you’re not putting it towards a bill, because your bills are so big that no one will even bother accepting a $50 payment.
This Moment of Mormon Madness will be added to the Telling Details category, a category in which details unwittingly reveal the true Crazy in mormon communities.
I mean, if you have to tell your sheeple to stop forming paramilitary groups whose aim is to replace the elected government ….
And you take the anti-paramilitary speech as an opportunity to remind the sheeple to store a year’s worth of food and water in case of, you know, Armageddon …
I hope that’s clear.
Beatrice,
I’m lucky that my provider has upped the speeds AND dropped the cap at no extra cost. I’ve not totally taken advantage, but I AM in the process of moving my entire 500+ CD collection to the cloud.
It means you can take your $50 and buy some beer and some food
Food? You’re going to buy FOOD? How shockingly decadent. You must not really be poor or you wouldn’t waste your money on such frivolity. (/Republicanism.)
*impressed*
From the reader’s comments section below the story mentioned @484:
Quotes are from the Salt Lake Tribune’s comment section.
It took me almost a month to get my entire music collection digitized before I moved to NZ.
worth every minute of that. I have my collection stored on a raid 0 array accessible over my network and ftp.
it is not only more convenient, but I no longer have to worry about scratches, decaying data on CDs, busted cd players, etc etc.
I store everything in uncompressed format, and then convert to whatever I need on the fly from wherever I am.
don’t even need cloud storage.
Beatrice: don’t be too impressed, I’ve been buying CDs for 20 years.
Dianne: “decadent” is the word. The Republicans insist you aren’t poor if you can afford to eat the macaroni AND the cheese in the same meal. Certainly you’re not poor if you have a refrigerator, or a microwave, or an oven. I guess you’re supposed to live in a shed made from recycled wooden pallets with a cot, and a hotplate, and a garden hose for showering and boiling water for ramen. And that’s it.
More mormons commenting on Apostle Oak’s anti-ammo-storage speech (see #484):
@Improbable Joe
Oh man I know that feeling. I remember an argument I had with a collections agent for my student loans. The fact that the absolute minimum payment he would accept (that was going to be directly subtracted from my paycheck without my consent) was larger than the actual amount I got paid took a great deal of explaining before he understood. And he absolutely would not accept a smaller payment. I asked him straight up, “You’re telling me that you would prefer no payment at all over a payment that’s ‘too small’ that I can make?” And he said yes.
Does anyone know WHY they have minimum payments that they can accept? There HAS to be a reason why they turn away money.
There’s a thread over on Ashley Miller’s blog from a couple of days ago that’s all about ‘poor people food’ – food that people with very little money tend to make. It resonated with me pretty hard re: my childhood, but also had some good advice for modern hungry people.
@Giliell, Approved Straight Chorus
As a dad who’s going to be 30 minutes late for the open house at my son’s school tonight, all I can say is that I get off work at 7 PM and the open house is scheduled for 6:45 PM.
I have no idea what THEIR feeble excuses look like, but there is mine.
Okay, just one more mormon comment to go with the Apostle Dallin Oaks speech advising mormons to stop stocking ammo and joining paramilitary groups:
Looks like, despite all his apostleness and all, Oaks won’t have much effect on mormons intent on beefing up their arsenals.
Does anyone know WHY they have minimum payments that they can accept? There HAS to be a reason why they turn away money.
I suspect the minimum payment is related to actually paying just the interest on the loan.
if you can’t pay at least the interest, then the loan agencies can place your loan in default, and sell it to a collection agency.
I’m not at all kidding.
Mormonism mixed with gun nuttery? Lovely…
Yeah, because stockpiling .22LR and 9mm ammo by the truckload is how you protect yourself from a corrupt government. How do you protect yourself against drones and tanks and bombers and the combined force of the world’s most expensive military? Maybe that huge Rambo-style “survival” knife will be the thing that tips things in your favor?
I guess you’re supposed to live in a shed made from recycled wooden pallets with a cot, and a hotplate, and a garden hose for showering and boiling water for ramen. And that’s it.
sheer luxury, I say!
Hey, I saw Avatar. If you believe in yourself, and justice is on your side, you can bring down those bombers with a bow and arrow!
I have a relative who works in social services in an urban area. She says that many poor people have trouble maintaining a good diet because they can’t pay their electric or gas bills — hence, no cooking. Also, many live in housing that does not include a stove. They end up eating the cheapest stuff on the menu of the closest fast food joint, or low-nutrition food from convenience stores that are not fully-stocked like grocery stores in better neighborhoods.
Maybe they should move in with some of the crazy mormons.
No, silly, he has GOD on his side.
The only problem is, so does the drone pilot. And those guys inside the tank.
There might be some conflict of interest there.
Okay, one more mormon comment explaining the need for stocking up on ammo. I am a glutton for punishment here. My eyebrows are stuck in permanently-raised position: