Comments

  1. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Portcullised for the first time. Where’s my sticker?

    …it was just whining anyway. it’s just as well.

    Ice cream, I want ice cream.

    Hope you get home, Peez.

  2. says

    Portcullised, but at least it didn’t eat my comment.

    Arpaio’s claim is that he is operating within Arizona laws, so that if someone wanted to stop him they would have to change Arizona laws first.

    IANAL, but I’m pretty sure he’s not operating within Federal law, and that means the feds aren’t actually required to give half a shit about Arizona law. (AFAIK)

  4. Portia, who will be okay. says

    IANAL, but I’m pretty sure he’s not operating within Federal law, and that means the feds aren’t actually required to give half a shit about Arizona law. (AFAIK)

    Supremacy clause FTW!!!

  5. glodson says

    From the last thread:

    As long as you don’t count the first three (but mostly the first and the third) Die Hard movies as “brain dead action movies”, we’re good.

    I wasn’t thinking of those. I was thinking of the Sly, Arnold, Van Damme and all that vehicles with no real plot.

  6. Erik says

    Just getting the word out, and this seemed like a good place to do it. But I wanted to let people know that there’s some troll working to dox (post personal information online without a person’s consent) people associated with FTB and/or the Atheism+ forum.

    The targets appear to be more or less random–consisting mostly of whoever the troll is able to successfully Google (we’re not exactly talking a 1337 haxx0r here), but people should still be on the lookout on Twitter, Reddit, and elsewhere for your information being posted if you think there’s any chance of it being found via your name or username.

  7. consciousness razor says

    Dalillama, from the previous thread:

    Therefore, if what one actually wants is for people who are living in wretched poverty to not do so anymore, one is advised to recommend a solution that could actually theoretically be implemented (for instance, he says that the U.S. government won’t, this year, be giving out much foreign aid, but he fails to make the case that my time and money are better spent giving what little I can directly then working to ensure a larger amount of foreign aid in the future). Put differently, his ‘solution’ is no such thing, it’s merely mental wankery.

    I think the point was rather to get people to recognize that it’s any kind of problem at all. There’s so much wankery about how “everyone else has nice TVs, so why shouldn’t I” that people fail to even think of it as a problem that they can and should do something about. So it would be pointless to simply explain to those people whichever solution you think is best, because they weren’t looking for one or are quite satisfied with the “fuck you, I’ve got mine” solution which they’ve stumbled upon somehow.* People all need some kind of “abstract,” general understanding of it — yes, even you — just to see that it is a problem and what is problematic about it, no matter how it might be resolved.

    *Perhaps by reading other philosophers, or by simply making up their own home-brewed philosophy which is most likely ignorant and/or inconsistent. But if you’re under the impression that philosophy is no more diverse than theology, because you’re most accustomed to dealing with godbots cranking out the same tired ‘philosophical’ arguments over and over, that possibility might not come to mind.

  9. robro says

    Janet Stemwedel has a piece in SciAm online titled, “More on rudeness, civility, and the care and feeding of online conversations,” in which she cites Pharyngula, and links to Chris’s post on “civility” recently, in a very positive way.

  10. Nepenthe says

    Is this what it feels like to be normal? I got out of bed this morning, having only slept for 8 hours. Note the noun got out of instead of oozed or stayed in. Also note the number with only one digit.

    Then I did Things. Not avoided or wanted to do but took a nap instead or worried about, but did. And there’s still more day left! This is insanity!

    Thank you chemistry, thank you Big Pharma. Thank you thank you thank you.

  12. says

    But if you’re under the impression that philosophy is no more diverse than theology, because you’re most accustomed to dealing with godbots cranking out the same tired ‘philosophical’ arguments over and over, that possibility might not come to mind.

    I’m not at all under that impression, at least when limited to Christian theology; there are enough sorts of theology in the world that I would guess they do equal the diversity of philosophy. My opinion of philosophers is shaped not only by religious apologists, but by jackasses like Dan Fincke, and for that matter readings from the historical philosophers that people like him and Edwin Hodge (over at Crommunist) have insisted are required to truly understand philosophy: Aristotle, Nietzsche, Plato, Locke, Rousseau (I don’t recall specifically who recommended which, but none of them provided a damn bit of evidence for their premises, and some of whom (I’m looking at you, Nietzche) actively derided rationality and empiricism. My experience with any philosophers that have been recommended to me has been almost universally negative, and the exceptions are limited to those who base their arguments on some type of evidence. (Even then, I also am not fond of the writing style that is popular among those who describe themselves as philosophers. I’m not fond of Daniel Dennett’s writing, but at least he has actual content and references to external reality.)

  15. broboxley OT says

    on eating fish
    back home we have dried salmon, smoked salmon, poke fish (dried smoked salmon preserved in barrels of seal oil) frozen salmon tom cod, whitefish and some halibut. Poke fish is served as a side dish to cooked salmon or for in between meal snacks. We also have dried ptarmigan, geese and seal meat to make dinner with when we are not having salmon

    I still love salmon and miss it a lot. The farmed atlantic salmon we have around here I would feed to a dog team at home.

  16. consciousness razor says

    My opinion of philosophers is shaped not only by religious apologists, but by jackasses like Dan Fincke, and for that matter readings from the historical philosophers that people like him and Edwin Hodge (over at Crommunist) have insisted are required to truly understand philosophy:

    I won’t insist that, for the record. It certainly helps to not be completely ignorant of what millennia of people have already thought about an issue; but if you really want to reinvent the wheel, I suppose that is at least possible.

    Aristotle, Nietzsche, Plato, Locke, Rousseau (I don’t recall specifically who recommended which, but none of them provided a damn bit of evidence for their premises, and some of whom (I’m looking at you, Nietzche) actively derided rationality and empiricism.

    That’s quite a claim. So when Aristotle, to pick an example who’s as empirical as ancient philosophers get, did give evidence for his claims and even made some effort to distinguish between different kinds of evidence, is there some reason why that doesn’t count?

  17. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Yay for Nepenthe!

    -`-`-`-`-`-

    I wish I could figure out a way to not be so personally insulted every time that S goes to a damn football/hockey/whatever game. I was a little wistful that he went to Chicago this weekend without me, but now I see it’s for a Notre Dame* game and I just feel…angry. I lost out to sports so often that it seems the wound is still there Blah.

    Moar ice cream.

    *Notre Dame should fall into a sinkhole.

  18. rq says

    Portia
    Can I share the ice cream with you?
    It’s been an up-down kind of day.
    On the plus side, Latvia won 4-man bobsleigh in Sochi (just to show the Russians that not playing fair on home turf does not work) and I saw Damcat, who is apparently trying to return home but is too terrified to actually do so. He appears to be fine, and mostly looking for warm shelter because it has started to rain. Why he’s nervously slinking around and away from us, I don’t know, but he’s just that type of cat. I’m glad he’s ok. Probably hungry, poor thing – ah well, his food’s out by the shed, out of the rain, so whenever he’s ready.
    On the minus side… Ech, not worth it.
    I’d rather just have some ice cream. :)

    Nepenthe
    Hooray! :)

    Beatrice
    re: Die Hard
    I only recently saw the first movie (because the one that always gets shown is the second one). I was surprised at how good it was, for a reasonably brainless action movie. Young Bruce Willis? Thank you very much. A far better suspenseful action movie than many made these days, best marked by the lack of exaggerated pyrotechnics. I loved the low-key feel of it.
    I enjoyed the third one, even with its racial issues (at least I could spot them this time). The fourth one was just terrible (acting taking a dive – also another movie where I could pinpoint the moment when they could have made it a slightly more empowering movie for women, but didn’t). I’m trying to decide whether to go see the fifth (because FX) or just download it eventually…
    So, no, I’m not going to group those in with Arnold, Stallone, Seagal, etc. *shudder* Husband has a weakness for Seagal because childhood, but honestly, it’s difficult to watch him for anything more than a minute. *barf*

  19. Beatrice says

    I’m sure there was some mention of Alan Rickman in rq’s comment about the first Die Hard movie, but I somehow didn’t see it.
    Khm.

    *hint*

  21. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Glad the Damcat has surfaced.
    Here, have a big ol’ scoop. It’s Toasted Almond Fudge. Omnomnom.

  23. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Ooooh, Tony, yes let’s have an ice cream party. Everybody’s invited to my house. We can make a run for more if we need to. No shortage of sugary consolation here.

  24. Tethys says

    Portia

    I wish I could figure out a way to not be so personally insulted every time that S goes to a damn football/hockey/whatever game. I was a little wistful that he went to Chicago this weekend without me, but now I see it’s for a Notre Dame* game and I just feel…angry. I lost out to sports so often that it seems the wound is still there Blah

    I am familiar with that feeling of resentment. I found that it helped to understand that anger is a stage of the process of grief, and the end of a relationship is a death of sorts. It creates a lot of baggage that must be sorted out before you can move forward.

    Give yourself permission to mourn. Anger and resentment are normal parts of the process.

    You will not only eventually be ok, you will be a better person for knowing what you need in a relationship.

  25. Tethys says

    It’s Toasted Almond Fudge

    This happens to be my favorite flavour of ice cream. It is especially delicious if you use ruffles potato chips as edible spoons.

  26. rq says

    Uuuuuhhhh Portia that’s one of the best flavours ever.
    Beatrice, you did not see the giant neon sign flashing Alan Rickman all over the place?? For shame. I’m sure it was there… Oh, I see. *ahem* Forgot to plug it in. :P

  27. opposablethumbs says

    Happy day to Cerberus, anniversary conga rats to iJoe, commiserations to Tony (I don’t think there’s anything wrong with thinking that – it’s just because you were looking forward to seeing him, after all. And you didn’t say it! Um, it might well almost certainly would have been in my thoughts for a moment there too, under the circs!).
    .
    Making people depend on tipping is evil. People should be paid a decent amount for their work, and not have to depend on customers’ unreliable good will.Tipping should be extra , not instead of, ffs.
    .
    Yay Nepenthe!
    .
    And Segal is a total waste of good pixels; he’s rubbish, even amongst his brain-dead action-hero peers. Not even fit for a mindless-violence movie night. Feh.

  28. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Socio-gen,

    As far as utilitarian philosophers, I can’t. Peter Singer is the only modern utilitarian philosopher I know of* who is writing for popular audiences. This is not to say there aren’t others; given the size of the field I’d expect at least a dozen popular authors, but I don’t pay enough attention to know.

    I poked around at http://www.felicifia.org/ and found a thread about introducing people to utilitarianism, and the recommendation was (wait for it) Singer.

    The website I gave last thread is not Singer’s own; it’s a fan’s site, and it was recently handed over from its original webmaster to someone with more time, who downsized it. The older and more complete website is in the Wayback Machine.

    *I lied; I know of one other, but he is all about futurism and transhumanism, unpopular topics here, and I’m not in the mood to be harassed today.

  29. glodson says

    Seagal did one thing. He is the only star of brain dead action movies that made me root for the villains.

  31. glodson says

    Chuck Norris is a star? I always thought of his “fame” being retroactively created by an undying internet meme.

  35. vaiyt says

    Seagal

    Watched one of his movies. The one where he blows up an helicopter by shooting at it with a pistol.

  41. Socio-gen, something something... says

    Portia

    I’m almost ashamed in the current climate to admit I was a philosophy major, ha.

    But you got better. *wink*
    —
    Jadehawk

    Landscape architects?? How did they even end up in the class?
    —
    Jessa

    I’m so sorry for your spouse! Yeah, restaurants find any way they can to get around a) paying a real wage, and b) paying you at all.
    —
    Lynna

    Joe Arpaio – the very definition of “bully with a badge.”
    —
    deborahbell

    It’s a horrible job and those who do it deserve far bigger rewards than they get. I think that’s why many (most?) former servers are so conscientious about over-tipping. We’ve been there and know what they’re going through.
    —
    Nepenthe

    Wonderful! Wishing you more days of the same!
    —
    strange gods
    Thanks anyway. Not that I have much time to read anything that isn’t related to my classes, but I’ll poke around the web.

  44. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    Tigger – I hope you feel better soon. *hugs*

    lexi – Good luck finding a home for your kitten.

    Jessa – *hugs* for both you and your husband.

    rq – I’m glad your cat has come home.

  45. Owlmirror says

    The action-hero/philosophy crosstalk makes me think of mashups: Philosopher as action hero ; action hero as philosopher.

    Nietzsche: I’ve got my will to power right here !!! *budda-budda-budda*

    A film title: Aristotle: Final Purpose (sort of like “Die Hard” . . . Maybe with a tagline like: “Have I got an ostrakon for you!”

    “As Europe goes up in flames, . . . they Kant stop the signal!!”

    Meanwhile, Van Damme, Stallone, and Willis have a three-hour discussion in a café about the appropriateness of violent action.

  46. glodson says

    If it is an action philosopher mixup, I would figure that Nietzsche would kill god with a mecha.

  48. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Good morning, Lounge! =^_^=
    Thank you everybody for the hugs and good wishes. I have an appointment with the doctor 24 hours from now. Fortunately, the medical centre expanded last year and now has a phlebotomist and pathology lab collection facility, so if I do need a blood test for diagnosis I don’t have to travel anywhere else.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Giliell, good night! =^_^=

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Nepenthe,

    Is this what it feels like to be normal? I got out of bed this morning, having only slept for 8 hours. Note the noun got out of instead of oozed or stayed in. Also note the number with only one digit.
    Then I did Things. Not avoided or wanted to do but took a nap instead or worried about, but did. And there’s still more day left! This is insanity!
    Thank you chemistry, thank you Big Pharma. Thank you thank you thank you.

    Woohoo! =^_^= I’m delighted for you, that’s awesome! May it last forever!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Portia, it must feel horrible to have that reaction. I’ve seen friends feel that way and I feel so sorry for the way that they hurt. It sucks. I know I’m weird, but when Hubby wants do do something similar (like spend a weekend in Sydney playing chess/out bushwalking/sailing) I feel relieved when he doesn’t invite me along. I get to spend the weekend doing things I want to do and then he gets to tell me all about it when he comes home. I feel very fortunate that my brain doesn’t do the “Help! He’s abandoning me!!!” bit. Ever.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    rq, hooray that you’ve seen the cat and he’s OK. Perhaps he’s getting food from a neighbour’s cat.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jessa, *Hugs*

    So sorry about your husband. I do hope he finds somewhere to work that actually appreciates him properly.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Cerberus, so pleased you had/are having a good time with your partners!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Re. Mark Harmon. Hubby is a great watcher of NCIS, and so is one of my friends. So, inevitably, one Tuesday evening when my friend was visiting they had to watch it together so I watched too. I commented that Mr. Harmon was strangely attractive, despite the character he plays, much to the astonishment of my friend who didn’t think much of his looks. We were pondering why I would think that way when I turned and looked at hubby, then back to the screen and it hit me: apart from the daft hairdo that Mark sports on that show, he and hubby look nearly the same. Stupid prosopagnosia; without that, I would have known immediately that the actor merely reminded me of Hubby.

  49. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Give yourself permission to mourn. Anger and resentment are normal parts of the process.

    You will not only eventually be ok, you will be a better person for knowing what you need in a relationship.

    Thanks, Tethys. You gave me a lot to think about on my walk. I need to process my reactions to the things he does in a different way, now.

    And the potato chip in ice cream…great idea. I will have to give it a shot.

    rq
    I’m sorry, but I have to differ with you here. The best ice cream flavor is Bear Claw. Indisputably.

    :)

    I’m off to an impromptu Oscar party with two of my best friends. Which is great timing to distract me from moping! They’re good at that. And so is their red headed two year old.

  50. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Whoops, a bit got cut off:

    *Lovely kittens and the most gorgeous Pirates I’ve ever seen!!*

  51. rq says

    Portia
    Not a cashew fan. :/ Walnuts and almonds. Don’t understand people’s fascination with hazelnuts, either.

    Did Tony make it back up? I hope your love interest is better soon. For both your sakes. ;)

    Thanks for all hugs and good wishes for my errant feline. Hoping he’ll ask to be let in soon. I miss his sweeping whiskers.
    Good night!

  52. says

    The day Joe Arpaio is finally taken down by the federal government for his many and varied crimes can not come soon enough.

    Right now, he is very much at the point where he’s throwing up double middle-fingers at the very idea that we have laws in this country and it’s just costing way too many people their lives, safety, and health.

  54. rq says

    PS lexie !!! re: kitty adoption:
    I have one request for more info from cousin in Canberra and two other potential ‘yes’es. How can I get more info/photos…? I can be reached via email at taarpinsh at hot mail dot com.

  57. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Spent some time this afternoon making a a batch of open faced “sammich” for the Redhead. Diced salami, onions, green pepper, mushroom, and mozzarella with pizza sauce on toasted brat bun. Heated oven/broil until cheese is melted and browning. Between these and the tuna salad, should be an easy lunch week.

  58. carlie says

    How is the Redhead getting on these days, Nerd? Improvement still, or are there natural plateaus she hits sometimes?

  59. Hekuni Cat, MQG says

    Nerd – Thank you for posting updates about the Redhead and life. They make me smile. *hugs*

  60. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    How is the Redhead getting on these days, Nerd? Improvement still, or are there natural plateaus she hits sometimes?

    Nothing dramatic, as the recovery from a hemorrhagic stroke is much, much longer than an embolism stroke. When I take the splint off her arm in the morning she splays he fingers so I can remove the cloth sleeve. Later, this goes away. Minor, improvement, that will hopefully continue.

  61. ck says

    Why exactly are sheriffs elected in the U.S. anyway? I’ve never understood this. Almost everywhere else, this job is done by appointed officials with limited duties, and no authority to impose such policies unilaterally. Electing your sheriffs, judges, etc, seems to corrupt the idea of justice more than anything as the enforcement of laws becomes subject to the whims of the elected official in office this week.

  62. says

    Just getting the word out, and this seemed like a good place to do it. But I wanted to let people know that there’s some troll working to dox (post personal information online without a person’s consent) people associated with FTB and/or the Atheism+ forum.

    Linky?

  63. broboxley OT says

    ck 61 LAPD is not elected and corrupt. Appointment of law enforcement leaves law enforcement beholden only to the appointer. Elected law enforcement leaves law enforcement beholden to at least some of the electorate.

  64. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Tony, I hope J is OK and it’s nothing serious.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    lexi, well done for raising your kitten so well, and for being so kind as to look for another home. I hope you are successful, for your sake as well as kitty’s.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Nerd, thank you for the update on the Redhead. I’m glad she’s doing well and I’m sure she’ll continue to improve.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ck, I agree with you. It seems weird to have such an anachronistic office in the 21st century in a country that likes to think of itself as the leader of the world.

  65. triamacleod says

    Beloved horde, please don’t jump on me but I have a polite and sincere request that I am hoping you might be able to help me with. (help as in pointing me to reputable links as all I seem to be finding is Xtian sites bemoaning atheism and why we hate god or philosophical pages regarding is man his own god, etc).

    I am trying to create an infographic regarding the atheism family tree. The most recent areas are pretty clear (A+, gnu atheism, anti-theist, etc) but prior to the late 1800’s it doesn’t seem to exist under anything but a blanket term. I’m trying to find information on secularism, humanism, realism, etc and how they fit under or along side the umbrella of atheism. I saw earlier posts referencing philosophy so I am hopeful that someone, or many someones, with more knowledge than myself can give me a friendly shove in the correct direction.

    Also is there any technical name for the pitters? Would they be orthodox atheists? Dictionary atheists? My personal feelings aside, I would like this graphic to be as technically correct and non-flame war causing as possible.

    Thank you.

  66. mildlymagnificent says

    Back to the food we’re totally. sick. of. theme from prev thread.

    My father was always a bit pleased with himself for eating a baked rice pudding. There he was, soldier back from war, family pleased as punch to see him, special meal to celebrate. His mum cleared the plates from the roast lamb and came back with Ta-daaa! “your favourite dessert” – baked rice pudding. After six years of army catering where rice pudding was served most days of the week, he never wanted to see a rice pudding again. But he smiled, said thank you to his beaming mother, and tucked in.

    Which came to mind a few years ago when I read about some of the problems in feeding refugees. You’d think that starving people would eat anything. But apparently the sameness of porridgey mush day after day, meal after meal, means that people will revert to malnourished if they’re in those camps for any length of time – because they just can’t bring themselves to eat enough of the food that’s supplied.

    Philosophy As long as you’re not interested in a quick path to philosophical mastery, you might like Janet Radcliffe Richards. Her focus is ethics, bio-ethics and feminism. I’ve only ever read one book of hers, The Sceptical Feminist , and it was excellent. A nice solid chunk of fairly dense reasoning about justice and equality as ethical concepts, then the remainder of the book is how that reasoning plays out for various areas in feminism. I haven’t read it for a long while but my recollection is that it wouldn’t have lost a lot in the 30 years since it was published. Certainly she’d be a nice counterpoint to the maundering on in polysyllabic deepity words that passes for philosophy in some circles.

  67. says

    but prior to the late 1800′s it doesn’t seem to exist under anything but a blanket term.

    Epicurus? Hrafnkell? Diderot? Remember that the term atheism wasn’t coined until the 16th century or so.

    Also is there any technical name for the pitters? Would they be orthodox atheists

    To me they’re assholes. Whether they believe in gods or not.

  68. cicely says

    The instruction book that came with the ukelelelelelelele has got me confused. Perhaps YouTube can help….
    –
    *hugs* for Tigger.
    “Glandular fever” = mono?
    –
    lexie: I’m not struggling atm, but can I fave some cake anyway? ‘Cause that sounds delicious!
    Also, welcome in…though I thought I remembered you from some time ago??
    –
    Hi, Jafafa Hots!
    *pouncehug*, Beatrice!
    –
    Hi, thunk! 63 degrees here, but snow expected on Wednesday, which implies ferocious headaches for cicely on Tuesday. Bummer.
    :(
    –
    Socio-gen: *pouncehugback*, and would I lie about such a thing as my (obvious to the most casual of observers!) sweetness?
    :D
     
    Also, your great-aunt should be whipped with a Horse.
    –
    Tony: Sorry your Sunday plans came unstuck. At least you are (unlike some people I’ve have dealings with) capable of realising that J didn’t do it on purpose, just to inconvenience and annoy you.
    –

    “Skinflint” is the only word that comes to my mind.**

    Or “assholes”.

    […]it’s the ones who can afford it who refuse to be generous.***

    Assholes.

    ***and they’re usually Republicans or Libertarians.

    And Assholes.
    –
    Jessa: Sorry to hear about Spouse getting fired. Assholes.
    :(
     
    This sort of shit is why unions and other checks on Unfettered Capitalism are needed.
    –
    Arpaio is something you don’t want to get on your shoes.
    –
    –

  69. says

    Comciousness razor

    So when Aristotle, to pick an example who’s as empirical as ancient philosophers get, did give evidence for his claims and even made some effort to distinguish between different kinds of evidence, is there some reason why that doesn’t count?

    Being demonstrably wrong? He made a nice try and all, but it’s not an accurate model of the world, and we’ve got vastly better ones now. Everything that may once have been useful in Aristotle has been superseded by newer science; his worldveiw is not relevant in the present day.

    Owlmirror#45
    Well, IIRC Plato was a wrestler before he got into philosophy.

    brobxley

    ck 61 LAPD is not elected and corrupt. Appointment of law enforcement leaves law enforcement beholden only to the appointer. Elected law enforcement leaves law enforcement beholden to at least some of the electorate.

    That’s exactly the problem with Arpaio: He’s beholden to some of the electorate. Specifically, the white bigot section of it. The LAPD, on the other hand, is beholden to the LA City Council, which is collectively beholden to a much larger section of the electorate. They are also vastly more competent and professional, despite the many problems in the department, than Joe Arpaio or his department could dream of being, precisely because they are beholden to an actual governmental body. They actually have such a thing as an internal affairs department, from which corrupt and criminal officers must conceal their wrongdoing, for instance. There is also a huge problem with corruption in law enforcement generally in the U.S., much of which stems from asset forfeiture laws relating to the drug war, and more recently pressure from private prisons, all of it aided and abetted by good old fashioned authoritarianism and bigotry, but that’s a separate issue from the question of elected law enforcement (and judges), which is a dreadful idea.

    ck
    I have no actual clue why the hell sheriffs are elected, but probably some justification like the one broboxley used.

  71. broboxley OT says

    #69 Dalillama, Schmott Guy elected sherrif back in the day was slightly more than law enforcement. In places that a judge was many days travel locals wanted someone local and respected (in theory) to enforce laws and keep the peace, two different things

  72. ck says

    broboxley OT,
    According to wikipedia, the LA sheriff’s responsibility is only for policing outside of the city (LASD), the jail system and security within the courts, so the corruption of the LAPD would seem to be irrelevant to the election or appointment of the sheriff. Connecticut doesn’t even have sheriffs, so they must be a complete hotbed of corruption, right? If I had to guess, I’d bet that civilian oversight (in terms of funding, powers of investigation and enforcement) is nearly non-existent in LA and that an “us-versus-them” attitude to oversight has been allowed to fester and grow within the department.

  73. cicely says

    Nepenthe: Hurray! for a normal day.
     
    Sometimes it’s amazing how much difference a little pill can make. Minimal dose of Ritalin, and *boom!* Son was able to ace his arithmatic classes, and read in a coherent fashion!
    –
    Portia: *hot fudge* for your ice cream?
    –
    rq: Hurray! for Damcat sighting. Hopefully he’ll calm down and come in out of the rain soon.
    –
    Re Die Hard: Young Bruce Willis…well, okay. Young Alan Rickman, on the other hand…*fireworks*
    –
    Moar Alan Rickman. Solely in the interests of avoiding any accusations of age-ism.
    –
    Tony: Nope, sorry. There is no excuse for Chuck Norris.
    –

    Don’t understand people’s fascination with hazelnuts, either.

    Probably all of that Equine Mind Control you’ve subjected yourself to.
     
    Hazelnuts…and pecans!
    –

    The day Joe Arpaio is finally taken down by the federal government for his many and varied crimes can not come soon enough.

    Right now, he is very much at the point where he’s throwing up double middle-fingers at the very idea that we have laws in this country and it’s just costing way too many people their lives, safety, and health.

    I endorse this opinion, 100%.
    –

    What next…peas and carrots in fried rice?

    I hope not, ’cause thems fightin’ words. Srsly, if a Chinese restaurant insists on putting peas and/or carrots in their fried rice, they shall have my business no more.
    –
    Best wishes to the Redhead.
    –

    Electing your sheriffs, judges, etc, seems to corrupt the idea of justice more than anything as the enforcement of laws becomes subject to the whims of the elected official in office this week.

    …making it a feature, not a bug!
    </sarcastic cynicism>
    –

  74. consciousness razor says

    Being demonstrably wrong? He made a nice try and all, but it’s not an accurate model of the world, and we’ve got vastly better ones now. Everything that may once have been useful in Aristotle has been superseded by newer science; his worldveiw is not relevant in the present day.

    Ah, I see. Because he got a lot of things wrong, which no one was disputing. That’s why you claimed he didn’t provide “a damn bit of evidence,” without providing a damn bit of evidence for it, ironic as that is. Would you say that no scientist who relied on evidence could ever be wrong? No?

    Look, whine about ‘rationalism’ or theology all you like. In fact, I’d happily join in if you did. But philosophers aren’t all ‘rationalists’ or theologians. Besides Aristotle, you even cited Locke, who was an empiricist, for fuck’s sake. (And I won’t hesitate to mention that he was often wrong. So what?) If you had picked somebody like Leibniz, sure; then at least you wouldn’t be misrepresenting his positions too badly, even though that still wouldn’t tell us anything about other philosophers (or calculus, for that matter). Yet you make it sound like philosophers are predominantly a bunch anti-science loons, deriving everything from first principles or speculating incessantly about angels dancing on pins. Which simply isn’t true. That is a fact, and your opinions and ignorant impressions of philosophers will not change that.

  78. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Taco Sunday? But it’s Monday lunchtime here…

    Perhaps I should have tacos for lunch?! =^_^=

  82. Owlmirror says

    The most recent areas are pretty clear (A+, gnu atheism, anti-theist, etc) but prior to the late 1800′s it doesn’t seem to exist under anything but a blanket term.

    Have you read Doubt: A History, by Jennifer Michael Hecht?

    Atheists/agnostics/skeptics/humanists/freethinkers were influenced by earlier philosophers who expressed challenges to religious dogma. Many weren’t entirely atheist, either — Hecht also brings up examples of religious doubt. Obviously, religious doubt was something to be overcome rather than embraced, but it was nevertheless expressed, and she draws attention to some instances of it.

    Also is there any technical name for the pitters? Would they be orthodox atheists? Dictionary atheists?

    Given that the rift appears to be over feminism/social justice, perhaps “anti-social-justice” or “pro-privilege”.

    My personal feelings aside, I would like this graphic to be as technically correct and non-flame war causing as possible.

    Heh. Given that the split was caused by a flame-war, I suspect that you will not have much luck…

    “Free Speech Über Alles Atheists”?

    Or how about the term they’ve taken for themselves? If they don’t like it, they should come up with something less unlikable. They can come up with some substitute if they so desire.

    “Slymepit Atheists”

    (Gesundheit.)

  83. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tigger Gran—for what it’s worth, I’ve always found Mark Harmon handsome and sexy.

  84. triamacleod says

    I’ll have to add that book to my reading list, thank you, Owlmirror.

    I didn’t realize they had named themselves slymepit atheists (o_0), it does sound like they like to wallow in it, doesn’t it. I’m leaning towards privilege atheists, ivory atheists or conservative atheists.

  85. says

    Jadehawk

    Landscape architects?? How did they even end up in the class?

    fuck if I know. oh, and I forgot to mention they were grad students (it’s one of those 400/600 classes), hence a lot of the entitlement. because of course they knew better how to make a good presentation that I do; I’m just a lowly undergrad.

  86. Have a Balloon says

    Oh great. Some jackass lawyer in the UK has decided to come out and say that the really important thing we need to change about the way sex offences are prosecuted is to give anonymity to the defendants. Because there’s such a stigma around false allegations. Because innocent until proven guilty. Because being accused of rape is life-destroying. And everybody is agreeing with her.

    Anti-rape campaigners point out that it will reduce the rate of reporting. They point out that rapists rape more than once and knowing who is accused might encourage other victims to come forward (Jimmy Savile, John Worboys etc). They explain that the rate of false reports is infinitessimal. They point out that men accused of rape are hardly ever stigmatised, because nobody who knows them believes that they could possibly have done such a thing, and that lying woman just wants revenge on him.

    But no because FALSE ALLEGATIONS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY WHY DO YOU HATE MEN?

    I am so mad and upset and scared right now. Why does this keep happening?

  88. broboxley OT says

    Jadehawk! you still in fargo? Can someone live there for $1500 a month for food and lodging for two? Have a potential short term contract there for 6 months.

  89. Owlmirror says

    I didn’t realize they had named themselves slymepit atheists

    I beg your pardon, but that’s not what I meant (although I suppose it is what I wrote; I was sloppy).

    They called their forum the “slymepit”. While this was originally from a term of abuse made towards the original thread, they embraced it and registered the domain with that name.

    So, since they like the term so much, why not call them slymepit atheists?

  90. Have a Balloon says

    broboxley OT

    It’s like the first thing they teach you at medical school is that “wellness” is not a word, and that’s how you tell a medical doctor from a woo-merchant. :P

  91. ck says

    broboxley,

    Okay, but I don’t remember claiming that somehow CT was corruption free, only that I haven’t heard that it’s some kind of hotbed of corruption. In fact, I’ve found it extremely difficult to find any facts and figures on the relative levels of police corruption within the U.S. In fact, this is one of the reasons I suggested that the problem comes down to civilian oversight rather than elected officials.

  93. triamacleod says

    Owlmirror,

    Thank you for the clarification. It makes slightly more sense now although I still don’t understand the reveling in muck. I’m torn between using slymepit and ivory atheists at the moment. Ivory is much easier to fit into the graphic but if they like and chose to adopt the slymepit moniker I’m hesitant to save them from it.

  94. broboxley OT says

    ck Oh, well here you go

    Sixty-three miles up Interstate 95, in this affluent little seaside town, which some locals like to think of as Greenwich in a lower gear, the fly in the punch bowl is a sprawling exercise in police corruption that’s been dragging on for almost two years. In a town of 18,000 with virtually no violent crime, 8 officers, so far, on a force of 24 have been accused of taking part in or turning a blind eye to crimes including burglaries, the electronic stalking of women, sex with prostitutes and worker compensation fraud.

    link for lots more
    http://www.google.com/search?q=conneticut+police+corruptionj&oq=conneticut+police+corruption&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    people from elsewhere read the popular press and assume that stuff happens mostly in southern and border states. From history the politics of the north east is entwined in privilege, controlling jobs, votes and the means of production and law enforcement answers to that first, people second.

  95. says

    Happy Monday – it’s OK. I’m back at work where the browser has ads. The one advertising “AUSTRLIA WIDE” delivery in big red letters is not inspiring confidence.

    Tigger, I hope your ailment is a nice short term one, not the dreaded GF!

    My bloke has done off to Vietnam for a couple of weeks and I am seriously JEALOUS. I kept telling him while I was away it would be all champagne & lobster & drug-fuelled orgies for me. So far I’ve managed cheese on toast, a blood orange soft drink, and a David Attenborough DVD. Must try harder.

  98. glodson says

    I don’t know how it is in other states, but we elect our judges in partisan elections as well as our sheriffs out here. It works out as well as you might expect.

    And random thing: my daughter and I made brownies. I screwed up and didn’t check with a tooth-pick.. so they had a nice hard crust but were almost like batter on the inside. So, we ate a ton of them.

    Also: in a shocking bit of news to no one, some people are really fucking stupid.

  99. Ichthyic says

    blood orange soft drink

    Frank’s? If so, I’m actually drinking a glass as I type this, just for one of those “coincidental” moments.

  100. Socio-gen, something something... says

    ck:

    Electing your sheriffs, judges, etc, seems to corrupt the idea of justice more than anything as the enforcement of laws becomes subject to the whims of the elected official in office this week.

    It depends on the state as to how bad elected sheriffs are. In PA, they were originally the only law enforcement in the state. Nowadays, they have limited powers and duties (courthouse protection, serve warrants, tax sales, prisoner transport, oversight of the county jail in conjuction with the commissioners) in order to prevent “Sheriff of Nottingham”-types from doing an Arpaio and making their own laws. Technically they are also supposed to serve as a fire break for the people — standing between local cops and PA State Police — since the sheriff was also traditionally the leader of the local militia. Not so much in practice.

    Elected judges… I’m torn. On one hand, I don’t think justice should be served by someone who’s going to be campaigning for re-election, even if it is only every 10 years (in PA, for county courts). On the other, I would really not like justice being served by whatever crony of the commissioners or governor got the job. At least with elections, they’re sort of accountable to the people, rather than the political bosses.

    While I’d prefer public financing of all elections, I think it ought to be mandatory for judicial ones.
    —
    mildlymagnificent

    Janet Radcliffe Richards. Her focus is ethics, bio-ethics and feminism. I’ve only ever read one book of hers, The Sceptical Feminist , and it was excellent.

    Thanks! I’ve added that to my list.
    —
    cicely

    would I lie about such a thing as my (obvious to the most casual of observers!) sweetness?

    Only until the peas and Horses gave you away…. :D
    —
    Jadehawk

    fuck if I know. oh, and I forgot to mention they were grad students (it’s one of those 400/600 classes), hence a lot of the entitlement. because of course they knew better how to make a good presentation that I do; I’m just a lowly undergrad.

    I feel lucky now that I only got philosophers!

    Yes, what could you possibly know about how to present on a subject of social interest in a class about social change/movements? *sigh*
    —
    Have a Balloon

    Some jackass lawyer in the UK has decided to come out and say that the really important thing we need to change about the way sex offences are prosecuted is to give anonymity to the defendants.

    Oh fer… *headdesk*
    —
    broboxley
    I’m on the other side of the river from Jadehawk, but virtually the same place. Yes, two people can live in Fargo-Moorhead for $1500/mo. Rents around here run around $500-800/mo (depending on neighborhood, amenities). My monthly expenses (rent, utilities, food/household needs) run about $800/mo in the winter, $600 in summer. But I live and eat fairly cheaply so YMMV.

  101. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Josh, oh darling Grandson, I’m pleased that you have such good taste in men! Just hands off Hubby, OK? =^_-=

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Alethea, actually your progress so far sounds absolutely perfect to me. Nothing to cause hangovers, food poisoning or STDs! =^_^=

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Have a Balloon, aaaaaarrrrghhhh… *Tries, and fails, to get concussion from pillow*

    Bloody stupid…

  102. cicely says

    Socio-gen

    Only until the peas and Horses gave you away…. :D

    But peas have no voices…and Horses lie. And are not in any way above lying by telling the truth in a deceptive way.
    –

  107. mildlymagnificent says

    Elected law enforcement leaves law enforcement beholden to at least some of the electorate.

    I prefer what I’m used to – ministerial responsibility. If we have a senior police officer or legal bureaucrat who’s gone off the rails they can be sidelined or suspended while there’s an investigation or they can be sacked (with lots of termination of contract pay) if nothing else will solve the problem. The minister responsible might also be demoted from their cabinet position if the government feels that confidence in the force will not be regained unless there’s a completely new person at the top of the chain of responsibility. Of course, if it’s bad enough, the whole government might get thrown out at the next election – but that’s democracy. In my view, that’s a much, much better arrangement than electing sheriffs, prosecutors, judges and other legal functionaries. They should be employed on qualifications and merit alone.

    But this needs saying, structure alone doesn’t save you from corruption within a police force nor from abuse of power. All police forces have corrupt officers. All forces have officers who will abuse their power over citizens in certain circumstances. The big issue is whether the culture both within the force and within the larger legal and social framework lets these things go, is resigned to things as they are, is actively engaged in similar practices, or has processes and procedures to reduce the incidence and to discipline individuals who violate the rules and regulations.

  108. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Aah! Adorable puppiness and Tonyness! =^_^=

    And, sorry Josh; I was thinking this but I forgot to type it:

    *Great big granny-hugs* =^_^=

  112. glodson says

    You have alerted the media to this, no?
    This is one of those things everyone has the right to know.

    Sadly, the media is often a major source of the stupid. It’s been one of those days though.

  113. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tigger—hahah! I shan’t worry your hubby. With my hands. . . but might get eyeprints on him.

  114. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    I empathise, glodson. Hubby was awoken and kept awake by sirens in the early hours of Saturday morning (about 2am). Some young (21) idiot was driving at speed around the suburb and when spotted by police tried to outrun them. He inevitably lost control of the car and crashed. He then did a runner, was caught (with drugs still on him) and when police examined the car (a five-seater saloon car/sedan) they found eight passengers, one in the boot (trunk). It’s astonishing no-one was killed or even seriously injured.

    Very, very stupid.

  115. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Renewed dedication to heart-healthy, frugal cooking this weekend. I was whisked back in time to a 70s commune:

    Today’s from-scratch menu

    Celery-potato pureed soup with scallions

    Mesclun salad with chopped veggies, chickpeas, and coriander-marinated tofu. Green Goddess dressing with low-fat yogurt and fresh pureed parsley and dill

    Whole wheat yeast crumpets baked in a skillet

  116. says

    Janet Radcliffe Richards. Her focus is ethics, bio-ethics and feminism. I’ve only ever read one book of hers, The Sceptical Feminist , and it was excellent.

    my reading list is growing faster than I can work through it. so glad i decided to take a year off from school after getting my B.S.; maybe I’ll finally manage to catch up on all my reading.

  117. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Naughty Josh!

    I’m not sure now whether I should post this…

  119. Portia, who will be okay. says

    cicely

    Sometimes it’s amazing how much difference a little pill can make. Minimal dose of Ritalin, and *boom!* Son was able to ace his arithmatic classes, and read in a coherent fashion!

    When S takes a Xanax in the morning, his day is amazingly different. He says he “doesn’t feel anything” though. : /

    Portia: *hot fudge* for your ice cream?

    Ooooh, not yet. I do have bananas I will eat with it next time, though. Banana splits are my favorite ice cream dish because it tastes like real food instead of just empty sugar in my belly.

    Joe

    TACO SUNDAY!!

    Mmmmm I was gonna have taco night but my friends P&R made veggie stew. It was hearty and healthy and yummy. Almost as yummy as tacos…

    Also, is today “kick a philosopher day”? Because I have a special pair of boots for that. With buckles. :)

    Eep! *scurries away in terror*

    Have a Balloon

    Some jackass lawyer in the UK has decided to come out and say that the really important thing we need to change about the way sex offences are prosecuted is to give anonymity to the defendants.

    Jebus. The way some people think…

    It’s like the first thing they teach you at medical school is that “wellness” is not a word, and that’s how you tell a medical doctor from a woo-merchant.

    It just occurred to me that wooists:M.D.s::legalzoom:lawyers. Of course, it’s a little less possible for a physician to say “Sure, go to that hack, it’ll be more business for me when you ask me to clean up the mess.”

    Alethea

    So far I’ve managed cheese on toast, a blood orange soft drink, and a David Attenborough DVD. Must try harder.

    Blood orange soft drink? I love blood orange. Now I’m gonna google and find some somewhere.

    glodson

    And random thing: my daughter and I made brownies. I screwed up and didn’t check with a tooth-pick.. so they had a nice hard crust but were almost like batter on the inside. So, we ate a ton of them.

    I had tasty brownies tonight too that were chewy and crunchy in excellent proportions.

    Tigger

    Very, very stupid.

    Wow, that hardly covers it.

    =`=`=`=`=

    So we thought the Oscars were on tonight and were a little disappointed. But we watches an enjoyable movie instead. And ate too many brownies.

    `-`-`-`-`-

    Trigger Warning: non-descriptive discussion of sexual assault:
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    I was thinking about the ways in my life that I have been fierce and rude in the face of a creep. I thought of an instance that I hadn’t considered sexual assault until today. I might write it out in a bit when I’ve processed it a bit more. In sum, I was assaulted (superficially) in retaliation after I averted what looked like a rape-to-be. It made me think of the point in the victim-blaming discussion where someone said that “rape prevention” is just a woman figuring out how to get a rapist to pick someone else.

  122. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Seagal, Schwarzenegger and Stallone together don’t measure up to half a Sammo Hung.

    *snerk*

  123. says

    True Fact™: I once won tickets to a concert by Panda Bear (from Animal Collective) using the word pangolin.

    (contest was to come up with good unused animal names for bands and what kind of music they would play, I suggested several including pangolin.)

  125. Nepenthe says

    General

    Thanks for all the well wishes. This frog is trumpeting its joy for life as I am.

    Beatrice
    Nah, 43 seconds today. I can never keep track of which ones I’ve found already.

    re: drug effects

    I can’t be sure that this is due to new meds, but I know that one of my other drugs works like clockwork. If it’s 5pm and I’m feeling suicidal, I’ve forgotten my Lexapro. If I forget my Lexapro, by 5pm I will feel suicidal. End of story.

  126. thunk, new years, new dreams says

    4 min 6 sec. I’m sleepy. Failbrain did not see sets right in front of my eyes.

  128. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    I suck at it too, Tony. I took five minutes to find the first three, then about 15 seconds to find the last three. I’m weird. =^_^=

  129. ck says

    broboxley wrote:

    people from elsewhere read the popular press and assume that stuff happens mostly in southern and border states.

    I must not be communicating what I mean well. I could find instances of corruption for any city, or any police force. I mentioned CT only because it was one of few states that don’t have sheriffs, elected or not (Alaska and Hawaii being the others, and both of these are unusual for other reasons). The best I could find in terms of laying out the prevalence of corruption was an infographic on state corruption (including state government officials, etc) from USA Today. I’m well aware that there are nasty, racist policies being enforced by police everywhere (“Stop and Frisk” was an NYPD thing, for instance). I’m just not seeing where you’re getting the idea that elected sheriffs reduce corruption. If nothing else, the fact that those with felony convictions are prohibited from voting means that many of the people who may be victimized by police corruption are unable to even vote against the corruption.

    mildlymagnificent wrote:

    I prefer what I’m used to – ministerial responsibility. […] In my view, that’s a much, much better arrangement than electing sheriffs, prosecutors, judges and other legal functionaries. They should be employed on qualifications and merit alone.

    I would tend to agree with you. I have no idea what makes for a good prosecutor, judge, or sheriff, and election promises from these kinds of positions just seems wrong. With the rise of for-profit prisons, I think electing these positions becomes even more problematic. I am especially in favor of blame for corruption travelling up the chain of command more often than it usually does (i.e. “Are you corrupt too, or merely incompetent?”). I’m not pleased to see how often the low level people are expected to “fall on their swords” and be sacrificed to protect their superiors who almost certainly were involved, too.

  132. says

    so, this is a thing. Don’t know what to think of it. On the one hand, it owns that stereotype so hard, it’s hilarious i a parody kind of way. On the other hand, I get a whiff of hipster-sexism//”one of the guys”-ism from it, and in the hands of that kind of gamer dude, it is likely to be turned into Fatal-lite.

    opinions?

  134. says

    I have a request:

    My brother-in-law George is currently studying for his high school science teaching credentials in eastern Washington state. As part of that, he is taking a course on classroom management. He tells me that the textbook for the course (Classroom behavior management for diverse and inclusive classrooms by one Herbert Grossman), is significantly misogynistic and gender-normative, and subtly racist. He knows how absurd the book is, but I’m wondering if there are better books for the techniques of elementary and high school teaching that don’t promote such inaccurate and harmful stereotypes.

    Can anyone recommend such books? Ideally, George could then point them out to the teacher of his teaching course.

  135. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Jadehawk, I held my nose and watched the video all the way through. My reaction? Yeuch.

  137. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    So, apparently at least one of the people in my Thermal Fluid Systems group thinks that calibration curves are “using the pressure transducer/thermocouple as an on/off switch.”

    Agreeing to write the abstract and edit the whole report was an unfortunate call. I wonder how much we’ll lose if I just add a footnote of “This is beyond my skill to heal – it needs elvish editing!”

  138. Nepenthe says

    @Tony

    My hypothesis is that it requires a different mode of thinking than most games. I’m laughably bad at chess. Literally, my chess playing has caused groups of geek boys to chuckle and then offer to lose for me because my playing was so painful to watch. On the other hand, I’ve not won one game of Set ever, including my first game. Sequence thinking vs. visual thinking.

    Of course, lady-brains aren’t able to do visual thinking, so this is clearly wrong.

  139. joanimal says

    @CK

    You asked a very complicated question.

    Canada and England have national police forces (I think.) Whereas the United States has an unbelievable number of police forces and there is no single standard so all these police forces can differ (they don’t necessarily, but they can.) As far as why, the only answer is history. All these entities came into being at different times in the last several hundred years.

    As an example, I live in the state of California: Sheriffs Depts are typically county law enforcement with elected sheriffs and Police Depts are typically municipal law enforcement with appointed chiefs. An example is the Los Angeles (County) Sheriffs Dept (LASD) and the Los Angeles (City) Police Dept (LAPD).

    And it only gets worse:

    The Los Angeles International Airport used to have it own police dept until it was absorbed by the LAPD. The Los Angeles Unified School District has its own police dept. The University of California at Los Angeles has its own police dept. The transit authority uses LASD, but in other states some transit authorities have their own police dept. Most cities in Los Angeles County have their own depts: Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale. Glendale, Pasadena…its actually a long list.

    Then there are the California state police which provide police services in state parks and the California Highway Patrol which patrol the state constructed highways.

    Then there is the federal law enforcement with the Postal Police (post office), the national police (national courts and other federal property), the FBI, ICE, each military service has their own, and god knows what else.

    And I only mentioned the agencies that I know of. There may be more.

    Each state is different. Each county may be different (depending on that states laws.)

    Control of the police here in the US is always local, so corruption, where it exists, must fought locally. We have a diverse population so there are always locals who benefit from corruption along with the victims of corruption, complicating any fight against corruption as well as the reporting on corruption.

    Even if you could see stats on all depts in the US (and you cannot ‘cuz who would compile it?) it would be overwhelming. I am guessing there are over a thousand different law enforcement agencies in all 50 states.

  141. joanimal says

    Sorry about the wall of text…and I forgot this.

    There is also the definition of corruption which varies.

    For example, when I was with the LAPD, the dept defined corruption as stealing or taking bribes. It did not define unwarranted force or racial profiling as corruption.

  142. protoplasmoid says

    ah. So this is FtB. whelp. Had to deal with the whole account thing all over again.
    Anyway,
    Ogvorbis-
    I sent an email to you. I hope you get it. I still feel odd sending it, but I really could use all the help I can muster.
    for everyone else, Does anybody know anything about how to do the adulthood thing without college and without scraping the bottom of the jobs barrel? Yech.

  143. says

    Hi,

    I spend time on Eric Hovind’s facebook page refuting the stuff that the throws up there, but there is a segment in a video that goes beyond my expertise. I’d really be interested if PZ could explain why the point made in this video does/doesn’t mean anything. It’s about how DNA code can be read forward and backwards, and there are overlapping messages as well, so when a point mutation happens, it’s likely to be detrimental to at least one of the messages. As far as I know, using English as an example of how DNA works usually means they are starting off on the wrong foot, since in DNA the codons always spell a “word”. But my understanding here doesn’t go deep enough to respond to what is said.

    The specific thing I’m looking at getting feedback on is the last 7ish minutes of this video, the link should take you to the right spot.

  145. says

    Good morning

    I can add something to the following website, reading it also lowers your intelligence
    http://naturalsociety.com/leading-geneticist-human-intelligence-slowly-declining/

    So, they’ve finally found a method to reliably measure that shit?
    *kidding*

    michaelbush
    “Psychology applied to teaching” by Snowman and Biehler is a pretty good basics book.

    +++
    Speaking about Horde-sourcing:
    Can anybody of you push my nose towards a book where the Self and the Other are defined in a citable form? I fukken know the concepts, but to use them in a term paper I need a source I can cite…

  147. lexie says

    Thanks for the well wishes regarding the kitten to all those who gave them. In case any of you want to see cute pics, here is a link to some pics my brother took of her when she was two weeks old.
    .
    http://galleries.pixelsplusmore.com/Other/cat/27506356_tsmb5W#!i=2314741243&k=dP989ns
    .
    Thanks rq, you have email.
    .
    Cicely, of course you may have carrot cake, it is being sent via usb now I hope you enjoy it.
    .
    Tony, your puppy is very cute.
    .
    Just curious but what are the times you are all comparing?

  148. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    I am not a biologist, and I last studied biology formally in 1978, so all my knowledge is basic at best.

    I have no idea what is meant by “can be read forward and backwards” as I thought that calling it ‘reading’ is just a way of simplifying what actually happens, which is actually just chemistry and physics matching molecules together.

    But that said, I’ve always understood that one of the reasons there can be so much variation in sexually-reproducing species is because inheriting a faulty copy of a gene from one parent can be offset by inheriting a perfectly-functioning one from the other parent. The difference is in genes on the X-chromosome, which, in XY individuals don’t have a second copy.

    Yes, some single mutations are fatal; particularly in XY embryos, which lack a second copy of certain genes which are only on the X chromosome. XX individuals have to inherit a faulty gene from both parents; which usually proves fatal in the womb. Gene mistakes are probably a reason for the high proportion of natural abortions compared to live births. They are also often the reason for birth defects that may not have been fatal in the womb (because the fœtus can rely on the mother for most of its metabolism) but often prove fatal perinatally.

    Others (like colour blindness) are little more than a nuisance to the organism and thus continue to be passed on.

    In other words, yes, point mutations can be lethal but aren’t necessarily. On the other hand, having a single copy of a mutated gene can actually be beneficial. (See Sickle Cell Disease vs. Sickle Cell Trait)

  149. Have a Balloon says

    CK and joanimal

    It’s getting more complicated in the UK as well. We sort of have a national police force, but it’s subdivided into counties (I think, or maybe smaller). So there’s a Sussex Police and a Yorkshire Police and so on. It used to be that each police force had a sort of police commission overseeing its operation, that comprised several appointed people. Plus each force has a Chief Constable.

    However last year the government decided to introduce elected police commissioners in some areas. It was universally derided as being a bad idea. Nobody wanted this because it would have replaced a group of people overseeing police operations with just one individual overseeing police operations. The role of a police commissioner would be to decide the priorities of the police. I don’t think they’re involved in the day-to-day running of the police forces, but they can go to the Chief Constable and say “you there! I have decided that this month, the police will focus on mugging. Go and arrest some muggers. Take away all those police officers you have investigating pickpocketing and put them on mugging.” This sort of thing.

    But the government ignored the people and put Police Commissioners up for election. What’s worse is that many of these commissioners are associated with political parties, although there were many independent people standing as well. The country was more or less divided: do we refuse to vote at all, or do we spoil our ballots?

    Well, the elections ended up showing the worst or second-worst peace-time turnout ever. The proportion of spoiled ballots, while small, was about 10x what it usually is. It was pretty clear that people did not want these commissioners and they had absolutely no mandate. Several police commissioners, once they were appointed, the first thing they did was apply for a new Chief Constable. So a whole bunch of Chief Constables quit in disgust.

    So now we have a system where police priorities are being decided by elected officials with ties to a political party. As an example, in my area, I would really like to see the police tackling more violent crimes. I’d like them to get better at dealing with sexual offences and domestic violence. But there’s no popularity in dealing with that kind of crime, so the police commissioner has begun what can only be described as a crusade against illegal cycling. Because anti-social cycling is very annoying and very visible. And it’s incredibly frustrating! Because an equivalent crackdown on dangerous driving would be seen as a ‘war on the motorist’ so dangerous drivers can get away with murder (and I genuinely mean that) because the police commissioner doesn’t want to go there in case it loses him votes.

  152. ck says

    joanimal,

    I knew things were somewhat complicated in the U.S., but I didn’t quite realize it was quite that complicated. In Canada, there is the RCMP, which is national, but there are also provincial police in Ontario and Quebec, and most cities or large towns have their own dedicated police force. There are also other police agencies for the postal service, fisheries, parks, railways, environmental, customs, and Parliament’s security agencies. Some universities have campus police, but as far as I know they’re just security guards, not actual police.

  153. says

    I need to get back on stimulant meds for ADD.
     
    I WANT MY ATTENTION SPAN AND PRODUCTIVITY BACK!
     
    I’m just tired of this… this thing where I’ll have the occasional flash of brilliance, like, an idea for a story, or a great opening line, or a drawing, but by the time I’ve located the needed supplies, my brain has fogged back up and I’m distracted by something else and even if I do sit down and try to commit something to paper (or screen), I. Got. NOTHING.
     
    I don’t want to deal with side-effects again, though. My sleep is already fucked up in so many ways (I barely manage to maintain a consistent wake-up time — noon), and my moods are extremely… variable… as it is. I don’t want to further fuck up the delicate balance I’ve found, but godDAMN, this inability to express myself, this inability to produce, to focus, to start something and then FINISH it?
     
    I would just about kill* to get past it.
     
     
    * Not literally!

  156. says

    y’all, I’m so pissed off right now. the wellness center at the university sent me a “wellness survey” which I took, stupidly enough.

    It gave me an “F” grade in sexual health because I don’t use condoms in my 6-year-and-counting exclusive relationship (wonder if it had given me a different score if I had clicked “married” instead of “committed relationship”?)

    It also gave me an “F” on spiritual health. why is that even a thing?! Fuck that, I’m not ill because I’m an atheist.

    grrrr

  157. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Don’t let it get to you, Jadehawk; keep telling yourself that anyone who uses the woo-word “wellness” isn’t worth giving the time of day. Anyway, I don’t think it would have mattered how you answered – they won’t get you through their doors if they give you an ‘A’ in everything, will they?! How else will they get to part you from your cash?

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    *Scritches for WMDKitty*

    I hate it when the choice is between functioning in one area, vs functioning in another (or, in my case, at all). I’m on a 10µg/hr Buprenorphine patch, which I have to change weekly. Without it, I’m curled up in a corner in unbearable pain. With it, the pain is manageable and I can physically function again – but my brain is soooooo slooooooow.

    Sometimes I forget to replace the patch on the day it’s due. Twelve hours later, the menfolk had better watch out because I’m alert and able to make life difficult for them; I’m also in pain and want to make life difficult for them!

    I have a list of things I want/need to do and have been wanting to do since November, but what with the sedative effects of the patch and this damned bug I cannot even get started on any of them.

  158. says

    Anyway, I don’t think it would have mattered how you answered – they won’t get you through their doors if they give you an ‘A’ in everything, will they?!

    well here’s the thing: 1) they already have me in the door, for my depression (the wellness center is the gym + health clinic on campus); 2)it’s not like they’d get money from me for getting me in the door, since students get to use the gym and the clinic for free; 3)giving me a genuine score would have maybe convinced me to go. I’m quite aware that I’m not physically very fit, and I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to convince myself to use the free gym while I still can.

  159. lexie says

    Tigger, link worked properly this time. Thanks, it’s fun but I am not very good and am not game to reveal my time.

  160. lexie says

    That sucks Jadehawk. It’s so wrong that spirituality is considered necessary for health and to be a well rounded person. At uni in one of our classes we had to look at our overall life balance and mental health etc and one of the areas we were rated on was spirituality which meant that I ended up being a very unbalanced person (ok my lack of spirituality was not the only reason I was unbalanced but getting zero on that section seriously exaggerated my unbalanacedness).

  161. says

    Jadehawk
    Head-> desk
    Probably they’d give me a F, too, ’cause we only use condoms.
    Or it wouldn’t matter since we’re mawwied and that magically makes everything different.

    +++
    There and back again.
    Dropped off littel one at kindergarten and did shopping while leaving #1 alone at home for the first time. Cue mummy anxiety. I don’t think she moved out of the armchair even once…

  162. Tigger_the_Wing, Ranged Throngs Termed A Nerd With Boltcutters says

    Never mind, lexie; I used to be pretty good at puzzles but that one has always defeated me. I even managed to ignore its very existence for about a year until I got pulled in by someone else requesting a link. I think I’ll delete the bookmark again!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jadehawk, I can understand why you might be telling yourself that you ought to use the gym while it is free, but perhaps you are a lot like me. When I had trouble taking up the chance to go to a free gym, I realised that if I were the kind of person who would enjoy a gym, I’d be going to one already. So I decided I’d better find a way of keeping fit that I’d actually enjoy. So I cycle, when I’m able.

  163. says

    Tigger, link worked properly this time. Thanks, it’s fun but I am not very good and am not game to reveal my time.

    yeah, I suck at it too. I’m sure it’ll go quicker with practice tho

  164. says

    Probably they’d give me a F, too, ’cause we only use condoms.

    no, if you’re using condoms you’re fine. that’s literally the only BC option available on that survey, so whether you use no BC or use three non-condom-forms, it comes out the same.
    tho yeah, I bet they score married couples differently

  165. says

    So I decided I’d better find a way of keeping fit that I’d actually enjoy. So I cycle, when I’m able.

    there isn’t a form of fitness that I enjoy. From my perspective, the “runners high” and related forms of sports-induced-euphoria is entirely mythical. all i get from exercise is mental boredom and physical pain.

    so my exercise is limited to biking to and from campus.

    but dear god do i need to find some tolerable form of exercise, before my back completely gives out on me.

    still pissed at the wrong/irrelevant scores tho.

  166. ck says

    Giliell, professional cynic wrote:

    Cue mummy anxiety.

    Just don’t ever describe the horrible imaginary situations your anxiety generated to your child. I’ll never understand why my mother did this, but I never found it helpful for me to know these things.

  167. says

    so I started screwing around with the survey in the incognito browser. apparently it lowers your score the more sex you have even if you’re married and always use condoms. dafuq?

  168. rq says

    Giliell
    I know the feeling… Even running out for the two minutes it takes me to buy milk (or did, at least) would put me in a near-heart-attack state.
    But we taught Eldest our cell phone numbers and how to dial them on the home phone, just in case. Now all he wants to do is practice. :P

  169. rq says

    Jadehawk
    Because married people don’t have sex because marriage, duh. And unmarried people just shouldn’t be having sex.

  170. says

    Because married people don’t have sex because marriage, duh. And unmarried people just shouldn’t be having sex.

    that… unfortunately makes sense.

    boyfriend just suggested that I should reclassify sex as “vigorous physical activity”, thus giving me a higher physical health score and also a higher sexual health score because now I’m not having any sex at all; I’m merely engaging in vigorous physical activity :-p

  171. says

    triamacleod @65,

    just to clarify what I said earlier: If you want to put together a genealogy of atheism, there is no need to mention the pitters.

    The slymepit is not some kind of sub-branch of the atheism movement, it is a club of a few haters with a web forum and Russell Blackford.

  173. says

    all i get from exercise is mental boredom and physical pain.

    I have a crosstrainer at home. It’s boring to exercise for me too, so I either have a movie or TV show on the telly, or have my Ipod on and listen to some audiobook. I find it makes the time fly.(I listen to audiobooks all the time, on the commute to work, on the walk to the shops, during exercise, on planes, you name it)

  174. says

    ck
    Actually my worst fear was that she would realize that she is alone alone alone and start crying 5 minutes after I left the house and would cry for the remaining 25 minutes.

    Jadehawk
    That sounds more like somebody made their personal issues and judgement into a questionaire….

    +++
    Well, the only good thing about this new health woe is that I need to collect my data first anyway and I don’t need much concentration to copy-paste screenshots…

  175. thumper1990 says

    I was planning on getting a wordpress account anyway, since I’m commenting a bit more regularly now, but Erik’s post at #6 prompted me to finally go do it. Considering some of the problems other posters have had, posting under my real name doesn’t seem the best of ideas.

    There doesn’t appear to be any trolls on this thread, so in the interest of full disclosure and as a show of good faith, I was previously posting as bradleybetts.

  176. thumper1990 says

    @Jadehawk #165

    there isn’t a form of fitness that I enjoy. From my perspective, the “runners high” and related forms of sports-induced-euphoria is entirely mythical. all i get from exercise is mental boredom and physical pain.

    I never got “runner’s high” or anything, though I did feel better after excercising, but I seem to get some form of high from weightlifting. I caught sight of my pupils in the mirror at the gym once; I looked like I was on E. Good old seratonin :)

  177. John Morales says

    thumper1990, creating the account is a good first step, but that’s a weak nym.

    (You can edit your settings on the “dashboard” so as to change your display name)

  178. opposablethumbs says

    Jadehawk, any good if you take books/journals/kindle to the gym and read while on the running treadmill/crosstrainer/bike? I quite like being able to read there UNINTERRUPTED !!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!! (consuming fury at interruptions at home)

    Though mind you, if you’re cycling anyway in RL I guess that’s not much of an advantage. Just a thought.

  179. says

    Huh, that sounds like a truly dreadful questionnaire.

    As to the exercise thing: if you want to ignore it, the books & videos on the treadmill can be effective. If you want to concentrate on it, martial arts or dance adds some brain work remembering movement patterns, which makes it less boring. Weight lifting is nice for feeling strong. Yoga is very mentally relaxing and also a good physical challenge. Maybe go for the quirky and try circus skills, fire twirling, hula hooping and such.

    Or for the geekier among us. “Zombies, run 5k!” is an iphone game that trains you to run in gradual sessions with game missions & zombie chases. (It was on sale for $2 the other day.) And there’s lots of online support – weird workouts on nerdfitness, strong women on stumptuous, good reading on fitandfeminist etc etc. Personally I’m addicted to fitocracy. There’s a few of the horde on there that I know of, but most seem to be inactive.

  181. Beatrice says

    Jadehawk,

    How about starting very very slowly? Just about ten minutes in the evening with some exercises for your back. Turn up the music and time it for three songs.
    Once you get used to it, add a song.

    I got myself into exercising again that way. Now I’m used to it again (after not exercising in years). Well, I’ve been doing for only two weeks now, but I don’t plan to stop. :)
    It does good to my back, after sitting in front of the computer every day.

  182. Beatrice says

    Ok, I did try pilates this fall. But I don’t even count that as exercise. It’s slow and booooring and I gave it up quickly.

  184. thumper1990 says

    @John Morales

    It was my nickname at school, I’ve been using it as an online name for ages. You mean weak as in it would be easy to trace me through it or it’s just a bit rubbish?

  185. Ogvorbis: Now with Boltcutters! says

    Good morning.

    Waiting for another shoe to drop.

    But after all that I have remembered, how much worse could it be?

  186. AlanMac says

    Guess which country just announced the creation and opening of the “Office for the Promotion of Organized Religion and the Inhibition of Godlessness.”

  187. opposablethumbs says

    Hi thumper1990. Glad to see you’ll be sticking around (though with my sieve-like memory it may take me a while to sort the names out).
    .
    Ogvorbis, I hope you’re OK.

  188. Ogvorbis: Now with Boltcutters! says

    Guess which country just announced the creation and opening of the “Office for the Promotion of Organized Religion and the Inhibition of Godlessness.”

    Glennbeckistan? Bushistan? People’s Republic of Rovia? Romne?

  190. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Dalillama
    Thanks for the tip. I’ll get to Chicago eventually, and I’ll remember to check Trader Joe’s. When I lived there it was the closest grocery store to my apartment, and it had a free parking garage, and it was grocery heaven.

    Jadehawk
    That video set off my “warning, douchbro” alarms. It might depend heavily on who the creators are, but I think it’s too far over the line to be effective parody or satire. I also found myself wondering once again where an artist thinks a nipple is supposed to be on a woman’s breast in an illustration with such a low “neck”line. Nipple-free breasts in those sorts of drawings creep me out. The nipple, if it existed, would have to be on the bottom side of the breast. /tangent.

    Tony
    Oh, yes! Now I remember you alerting me to the existence of a blood orange liquor. Now I once again will google it, find it, want it, and decide I don’t have the disposable income to spare, ha.

    Don’t feel bad, I can’t get past finding five sets either. *shrug*

    Jadehawk, again

    there isn’t a form of fitness that I enjoy.

    Me neither. Except maybe swimming in the summer time. Even then though I mostly lounge around.

    I’ve been forcing myself to walk for 30 minutes at a time. Listening to Rachel Maddow as a podcast really helps the boredom. That and Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. : )

    Ogvorbis
    Morning. Hope the shoe drops lightly.

  195. says

    by the way: the pitters finally discovered “Meet the Predators”. And what do they do with it? They use it to claim that the 6% in the study is so close to the hypothesized 4% of society that are sociopaths that rapists must be all sociopaths, and therefore nothing can be done to convince them to not rape.

    Oh and also, we should tell people to be careful around alcohol.

    *facepalm*

  196. glodson says

    @195

    Yea. I guess there’s nothing we can do about it. Might as well ignore the problem! Man, they are so good at the logics.

    What a bunch of jackasses.

  197. thumper1990 says

    @Opposeablethumbs #187

    Hi Opposeablethumbs :) Thank you. Don’t worry about forgetting, I’m exactly the same way.

  198. AlanMac says

    I didn’t think this august assembly would require spoon feeding. However go to the CFI Canada facebook page and check for yourselves.

    This is the price Harper paid to the more secular Muslims in Southern Ontario to secure his majority government.

  199. Matt Penfold says

    I didn’t think this august assembly would require spoon feeding. However go to the CFI Canada facebook page and check for yourselves.

    Googling the phrase “Office for the Promotion of Organized Religion and the Inhibition of Godlessness” turned up nothing. If you cannot be bothered to correctly identify an organisation, do not blame us.

  200. rq says

    Harper doesn’t give a shit about the Muslims. If he did, the prison system would still have imams to offer spiritual support, in addition to the Christian chaplains still allowed.

  202. ChasCPeterson says

    anyone who uses the woo-word “wellness” isn’t worth giving the time of day

    Bullshit; the term is very often woo-free these days (e.g. the US CDC)

    I am not a biologist, and I last studied biology formally in 1978, so all my knowledge is basic at best.

    And yet you thought you’d essay an attempt anyhow?

    why?

  203. says

    I can’t tell what this “Office of Religious Freedoms” is supposed to do, so I can’t tell whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

    That Harper made this happen is a point against it. OTOH, I just found a religious columnist that hates the fuck out of it because it might make Canada even more ungodly.

    So, due to lack of information, I’m withholding my judgment on that thing.

  204. David Marjanović says

    I can add something to the following website, reading it also lowers your intelligence
    http://naturalsociety.com/leading-geneticist-human-intelligence-slowly-declining/

    LOL, indeed! Athens in 1000 BC? Like, srsly? Like, the ruins of a decaying Bronze Age kingdom?

    …Oh. And then it goes on to fluoride. Riiiiiiiiight.

    so glad i decided to take a year off from school after getting my B.S.; maybe I’ll finally manage to catch up on all my reading.

    Why are you taking it off, if not to catch up on the reading? :-)

    (Maybe I should’ve done that a couple of times. I hardly read books anymore. :-( )

    so, this is a thing.

    I like the chainsaw in the video.

    (Not having sound here in the museum, that’s all I can say. The “article” under it isn’t very helpful.)

    there isn’t a form of fitness that I enjoy.

    Me neither; too boring to do alone, and I’m too autistic to, like, change my life. But I end up walking a lot: the bus between home and the subway station only goes once every 10 minutes*, so I can often walk there before the next bus catches up with me, and I often miss the last bus at 18 minutes past midnight so I have to walk home from the subway. Takes 15 minutes at full speed; definitely counts as exercise. Also, there are stairs to climb – I’m on the 3rd floor of a museum with 5-m-high rooms.

    * Except during rush hours. Well, in the morning rush hour I sleep, in the afternoon one I sit in the museum and procrastinate or *gasp* work, having only come from the cafeteria a few hours earlier.

    They use it to claim that the 6% in the study is so close to the hypothesized 4% of society that are sociopaths

    Because 6 totally isn’t one and a half times 4. *headdesk*

  206. glodson says

    AlanMac, citing a story isn’t spoon feeding. And given what you said about it, the story doesn’t really follow with what you said.

    “Office for the Promotion of Organized Religion and the Inhibition of Godlessness.”

    And the actual office seems to be this. Maybe it will be more pro-faith than one would like, but the promotion of religious freedom is good as long as it includes the freedom to reject religion. And the last part of your claim is inflammatory. Can you back that claim up or was that just hyperbole?

  207. David Marjanović says

    It’s about how DNA code can be read forward and backwards,

    DNA/RNA strands have an inherent direction. All copying and repairing is done in that direction. The two strands in a double strand have opposite directions. Genes can be on either strand.

    There are a few viruses that manage to put different genes on opposing stretches of the two strands, but that’s not at all common elsewhere.

    and there are overlapping messages as well

    Different reading frames make it possible to have, in theory, up to 3 genes on the same piece of strand. (ACTGATCTGCATAGTC can be read as ACT GAT CTG CAT AGT or CTG ATC TGC ATA GTC or TGA TCT GCA TAG.) Some viruses manage to do a bit of that. Again, not at all common elsewhere. Our genes are nicely separate with lots of junk DNA in between (and even inside them – introns).

  209. says

    Thumper:
    Obviously each individual is the one who determines how much anonymity they should have online. Some choose a maximum level, revealing precious little of themselves. Others, like myself choose to reveal a good bit (I use my real name, just linked to a picture of myself and occasionally talk about living in Florida). I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with using your real name.

  210. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Tony
    I miss your photo until just now! Cute puppy : ) Looks rather like the only dog I ever had, if she had some fluff added.

  212. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Which eyelid? Sometimes it helps for me to pull my top one over the bottom one and then blink a couple times.

  213. says

    by the way: the pitters finally discovered “Meet the Predators”. And what do they do with it? They use it to claim that the 6% in the study is so close to the hypothesized 4% of society that are sociopaths that rapists must be all sociopaths, and therefore nothing can be done to convince them to not rape.

    Let me guess, the evidence for this was a reference from a paper by Pull, Oute, and Ass
    True skeptics, true skeptics.

    +++
    So, my raw data collection is almost done. I should have taken into account when planning this paper that it would involve reading about 600 Tweets by potentially horrible people I’m not supposed to yell at.

  214. glodson says

    Tony: Gah! I hate that. If you can’t get it out by blinking, try flushing your eyes. It can be messy, but it will work.

    I think.

  215. rq says

    Tony
    Folk medicine says, get someone to lick it out. (GROSS!) Otherwise, blink lots, let the eye tear, try not to rub it. (Yeah, it’s annoying…) If it’s stuck to my lid and I can see it in the mirror, I usually try to remove it by finger. Just don’t use any sharp objects!!
    Also, adorable puppy (dog? :D). And you have a great smile (this is my opinion).

    One day I will be as brave as you, and I will post a photo of myself. Heh.
    One daaay…

  216. Matt Penfold says

    How do you get a dust particle out from under your eyelid???? Gah, this is fucking annoying!!

    Fill a jug with water, and leaning your head to one side over a sink pour copiously over the affected eye. Repeat. Try to keep your eye open when pouring.

    Assuming you do not have an eye bath.

  217. richardh says

    try flushing your eyes

    And in the absence of flushing equipment, rub the other eye to induce tear production without making things worse by scratching the eye with the foreign body.

  218. thumper1990 says

    @Tony the Queer Shoop #209

    Obviously each individual is the one who determines how much anonymity they should have online. Some choose a maximum level, revealing precious little of themselves. Others, like myself choose to reveal a good bit (I use my real name, just linked to a picture of myself and occasionally talk about living in Florida). I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with using your real name.

    Hey Tony :) Yeah I’m OK giving out little bits of info, like which bit of the country I’m in, educational background etc., and my first name, but I try to avoid giving out my real name in full and definitely my actual address and all the other stuff that goes without saying. The reason my ‘nym was my real name was because I just wanted to leave one comment so just logged in with my Google account, which displayed my real name, and then just kept logging in with that when I came back. I thought it was about time I got off my arse and sorted a wordpress account, since I’m clearly going to be sticking around :)

  219. thumper1990 says

    Oh, and in response to your eye thing, if it’s under the top lid try grasping the lashes and pulling the lid out over the bottom eye lashes, then opening the eye. The lashes scrape off whatever it is. Try and get a good water on before doing it though :)

  220. David Marjanović says

    Sometimes it helps for me to

    …You mean this happens to you often? :-S

    I guess my glasses are a much bigger privilege than I thought!

  222. ChasCPeterson says

    David-thanks for giving a clear and succinct answer to the transcription question. (I do not actually think about DNA until after a second cup of coffee, if then.)

  224. Beatrice says

    Giliell,

    Rev. already posted that in the Thunderdome. Considering the massive trigger warnings that thing needs, maybe we should restrict ourselves to talking about it there?
    /just a suggestion, considering the nasty topic

  225. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Wow. I was panicking about money this morning, and was working on a file. I hadn’t opened a letter from this client because I presumed it was just the signed employment contract. With estate planning, I have the client pay for my services after it’s all signed and finished. The envelope contained a check. I feel like crying, I’m so relieved. It doesn’t solve all my problems, but it makes the edge of the cliff a little further away.

  226. Beatrice says

    I didn’t mean that you intentionally posted here after seeing the topic on Thunderdome, just that we will hopefully not talk about it here too, leaving the Lounge a safe haven in case anyone gets triggered.

    Sorry for sounding accusing in the previous comment.

  228. cicely says

    Some young (21) idiot was driving at speed around the suburb and when spotted by police tried to outrun them. He inevitably lost control of the car and crashed. He then did a runner, was caught (with drugs still on him) and when police examined the car (a five-seater saloon car/sedan) they found eight passengers, one in the boot (trunk). It’s astonishing no-one was killed or even seriously injured.
    Very, very stupid.

    Tigger, that is, indeed, some very impressive stupid.
    –

    Agreeing to write the abstract and edit the whole report was an unfortunate call. I wonder how much we’ll lose if I just add a footnote of “This is beyond my skill to heal – it needs elvish editing!”

    :D
    –
    WMDKitty: *scritches*
    ADD/ADHD romps merrily throughout my family tree, most obviously in the guys. We did that gig with my brothers, just before ADD/ADHD was a thing, at least where we lived; then, later, with Son. But at least The Husband and I knew to look for it!
     
    Brother2 described His Brain On ADHD as, his mind running too fast, and he couldn’t slow it down enough to synch up with the outside world—while, of course, he couldn’t very well speed the world outside his brain up. The result was not a sit-com.
    –
    Jadehawk: Well, if that’s their criteria for for sexual health, then The Husband and I would get an ‘F’, too—we use Hysterectomy.
    –

  229. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Well, if that’s their criteria for for sexual health, then The Husband and I would get an ‘F’, too—we use Hysterectomy.

    *snerk*

    glodson
    Thank you. Money stress* is honestly the biggest reason I’m interviewing for this other job.

    *Not really not having enough money, but rather never knowing how much I will have or if it will be enough to get me through the month.

  230. glodson says

    Portia: Good luck with that. Here’s hoping you get the other job.

    Thinking back to my years a waiter, I know how inconsistent earnings can be troubling. A bad week at the wrong time can be devastating. It didn’t help that I can be remarkably short sighted at times. “Hey, I am way over budget, let’s buy shit!”

  231. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    RE: NCIS/Gibbs/Mark Harmon

    As far as Gibbs is concerned you are so not the only one he effects. I disagree SO much with his politics and all that but dammmmn he does something fierce to me. There’s times where I loathe him and the rest of the cast for the things like treatment of transgender people. Seriously, one episode I wanted to punch the TV (I eventually just changed it) and it still occasionally pops up with “HAHA Tony (character on the show) made out with a dude or he/she!”

    Yet other times I’m so “OMG, I would so bone his brains out.” Can’t even say it’s Mark Harmon either because there’s flash backs of Younger Gibbs and I respond with “I so want to go back in time to date Young Gibbs….After making him real first.” >.<

    It makes no sense and I can't defend it but the fact remains for me: Gibbs makes me all *grabby hands*.

    I also meant to talk about other things on the Thread but now can't remember what. I got distracted by Gibbs and am actually watching a re-run on TV now. There's nothing on TV on a holiday.

  233. Gen, Uppity Ingrate. says

    Given the recent “Civility Pledge” shenanigans, I’m totally going to drive by and drop this into the Horde’s lap. I searched and didn’t find anyone referencing the paper, although there was a similarly named discussion on SciBlogs back in 2010.

    Civility and Its Discontents:
    Sexuality, Race, and the Lure of Beautiful Manners
    http://ojs.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/pes/article/download/1873/584

  234. Portia, who will be okay. says

    It didn’t help that I can be remarkably short sighted at times. “Hey, I am way over budget, let’s buy shit!”Ha, exactly. I did this last month and bought…slightly more expensive groceries. Now I’m a little depressed by what I count as extravagance, ha.

    Thanks, rq! I interview on Wednesday. I’m trying not to be nervous.

  235. says

    Good morning…

    Chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight… I use orzo, and a little shot of lemon juice.

    After 3.5 long months, I FINALLY have my music room more or less set up. All it lacks is a futon and a little desk, so we can use it as an extra bedroom for Thanksgiving, and in the meanwhile I’ll have a place to put a little set of speakers so I can play guitar along to jam tracks…

    *quick furniture rearranging*

    Now I don’t need a desk. I moved the nightstand from the guest bedroom into the music room. The closet in the guest bedroom has hanger poles and empty drawers for storage, the music room closet doesn’t have either. And now I have a place to put speakers and my tablet.

    So why am I so depressed? I had a really good weekend, I don’t really have anything to complain about, I even almost feel healthy for a change. Fucking brain chemistry… you can’t beat it, can you?

  236. Portia, who will be okay. says

    As a bonus, the check was for more than I remembered quoting to the client. (My memory was wrong, not their check-making.) Woot!

  237. glodson says

    Portia:

    It is funny, but we still do that here. The thing is that it bites us on the ass occasionally. I made a mistake and bought just a little too much over Christmas. We made it through, but it was rough for awhile.

    At least your spending was groceries. Back when I was really bad about it, I would come home with a pile of DVD’s and games, fully expecting to more than make up for it the next day. I usually did. The key word being usually.

  238. Pteryxx says

    *waves to JAL*

    re TV… BET has been running all of Roots yesterday and today, and damn, for so much material I never knew (thanks, US fundie schooling! NOT) it’s astonishingly familiar. The senseless hate, the worthless promises, the old-boy network pulling all the strings for their fellow haters while cutting those that would be a lifeline. Fake offers of peace, and blaming the oppressed for whatever troublemaking gets done upon them. All this stuff has been tried, and I’m embarrassed for ignorant whitish folks like me who thought all this was a new thing in the world with Occupy and the internet.

  239. Portia, who will be okay. says

    glodson:

    Ouch! I usually splurge (when I do) on gifts or clearance-priced clothes or eating out. I would be a lot more solvent if I didn’t eat in restaurants so often.

  240. says

    Yay Portia, bigger check is a better check!

    As far as splurging on groceries… I approve. At least then when you run out of money a couple of days before your next payday, at least you’re looking at being able to eat well. Bad enough to be broke, even worse to be broke and hungry, broke and unsatisfied after the third night of eggs and rice.

  241. says

    Portia
    Yay for a check. I know what the fluctuating pay thing is like too, last job I had I was paid by the call, at a rate based on a dozen other variables.
    Tony
    Cute picture and cute puppy.
    Jadehawk

    by the way: the pitters finally discovered “Meet the Predators”. And what do they do with it? They use it to claim that the 6% in the study is so close to the hypothesized 4% of society that are sociopaths that rapists must be all sociopaths, and therefore nothing can be done to convince them to not rape.

    Leaving aside all the other things that are wrong with that idea, the estimated 4% isn’t universal. That figure is for the U.S., there are other places with lower (and higher, I think) rates, implying that that, too is at least partially socially induced..

  242. glodson says

    Portia:

    I wish we had the money to eat out more. As it stands, I cook dinner. But I can make some good, and cheap dishes. I think we are going to do a chicken and rice dish tonight. It is really good, with a few chipoltes in adobo in with it. Maybe tomorrow we’ll do a chicken gumbo, and follow that up with some pancakes on Wednesday.

  243. Portia, who will be okay. says

    I’ve recently started getting into finding cheap ways to make good food. I was going to try polenta for the first time tonight. S made a pumpkin polenta once that was to die for, I think I’ll give it a go. Feel free to toss some recipes my way, glodson :)

  244. glodson says

    Speaking of frivolous and ill-advised spending, we spent a great deal of money getting stuff for our garden this weekend.

    I think I’ll be playing in the dirt with the little one this afternoon. She wanted to try and plant some strawberries. We also have a tiny greenhouse thing in her room now. I think it will be good for her to watch some flowers grow.

  245. glodson says

    Portia

    Alright, I can post links to most of them as I make them. Some turn out better than others. And some I’ve adjusted. They stuff I make tends to make a ton of leftovers though.

  246. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Gardening is a such fun activity with interested kids. I’m sure she will enjoy watching as what she planted becomes something new.

  247. opposablethumbs says

    We’re making pizza tonight. Eating out is strictly birthdays only, and it looks like it’ll be stopping altogether …
    .
    Tony, I think I forgot to say – great photo, and adorable dog).
    .
    I could do with more hours of work, is what I could do with. Got some really lovely feedback on the last bit of work I did, which is nice, but fine feedback butters no parsnips dammit.

  248. jose says

    Hi,
    I’m leaving here a comment that should go here but I’m having some technical difficulties posting it there. For some reason the page just goes back when I press Submit. Just so Ophelia knows I’m not ignoring her. Hope you don’t mind. The comment:

    Ok that’s fair enough. The scope of what he’s trying to do is indeed way more ambitious: to settle a millenia old discussion philosophers have been having, no less. It was dumb to try to draw a parallel.

    Anyway, here’s the podcast if you have some free time, it’s worth it.

  250. Socio-gen, something something... says

    *grumble grumble* Stupid school cancels classes after 1:30. Would have been nice if they’d done so before I walked here in blowing snow. At least I managed to beg a ride home with a friend.
    — —
    Tigger
    I think that Set link should’ve come with caution warnings. Holy addictive, even if I suck terribly. (I haven’t gotten below 12 minutes.)
    —
    Jadehawk
    I hate these sort of “wellness” surveys. After my physical at campus health last month, the one I took implied I’ll probably drop dead within months. Probably because I’m middle-aged, single, smoke, not in a committed (read: monogamous) relationship, and having sex more frequently than they think a 44yo woman ought, even if she is using condoms. And, y’know, atheist.

    I avoid pretty much all forms of exercise. The most I do, willingly, is a mile-ish walk once a day, at a brisk pace. (In warmer weather, it’s 2-3 miles.) Just fast enough to be slightly out of breath, but not so fast that I’m power-walking or running, and I vary my routes now and again. I’m considering trying a yoga program but… meh.
    —
    Portia
    Glad you’ve gotten some extra space between you and the cliff!
    —
    JAL
    Yup, I dislike so much of the NCIS and it’s dudeliness (it’s a word, right?), although at least they continue to let Abby and Ziva be strong, independent characters. (Unlike Bones which has been utterly destroyed by Brennan’s descent into “the Mighty Wang of Love™ and mommyhood made me a real person!” and Booth’s super-manly homophobia. “You don’t fold another guy’s underwear!” <–actual dialogue.)

    But Mark Harmon…. *rowr*

  251. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Double damnit, the rain started before I got my walk in. : ( And it’s so warm out there. Not warm enough to make a rainy walk enjoyable, unfortunately.

  252. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Pharyngula beer nerds, anyone coming to Brewvivial in Charleston SC this weekend?

    If so look for the handsome large balding (ok bald) guy with a camera working and drinking and not having to stand in any lines. That will be me. Or some other guy.

  253. says

    All right! ProPublica has managed to unearth the truth behind some of the dark-money-supported, tax-exempt, “social welfare” groups that have backed conservative politics.

    … the decade-old State Government Leadership Foundation has been able to keep the identities of its funders secret. Until now.

    A records request by ProPublica to the IRS turned up a list of the original funders of the group: Exxon, Pfizer, Time Warner, and other corporations put up at least 85 percent of the $1.3 million the foundation raised in the first year and a half of its existence…The donor list is stamped “not for public disclosure,” and was submitted to the IRS as part of the foundation’s application for recognition of tax-exempt status. If approved, such applications are public records.

    The foundation and other similar nonprofits are allowed to take anonymous and unlimited donations from individuals or corporations. That’s because they are classified as “social welfare” nonprofits, which are supposed to benefit the community at large, and not just one group or political party.

    …the State Government Leadership Foundation paid for Republican redistricting consultants to draw new congressional district maps in North Carolina. The resulting gerrymander helped flip the state’s congressional delegation to Republicans.

    That’s somebody’s definition of “social welfare,” but not mine.

    In recent years, the foundation has also funded TV ads targeting Democrats during the 2011 Wisconsin showdown over collective bargaining rights; attacking President Obama in Virginia over his energy policy; and accusing teachers unions of “destroying our children’s future.”

    The foundation also gave $1.25 million in 2011 to the Indiana Opportunity Fund, a state-level nonprofit that ran anti-union ads featuring Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels….

    …the group’s protestations that it has nothing to do with the GOP seems at odds with its recent activities….

    Full story here.

  254. Portia, who will be okay. says

    i’m putting on a podcast about willpower while I go out for a cigarette. Not sure if it’s ironic, but it makes me smirk.

  255. glodson says

    @251

    They never do anything that cool when I visit. One of the things I do miss about living in SC is being able to drive to the beach.

  256. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Well this is one of the premier beer festivals in the South. Very cool event. If you’re into beer, Charleston has become a cool place to live. That and the 8 billion great restaurants.

    The heat? The heat can go fuck itself.

  257. glodson says

    Oh, Charleston was great. It has been a couple years since I was last there. I hope to go back this Summer. Great place to visit.

    As for the heat… try living in Fucking Texas. In the summer, the cool days are only in the 90’s. Having consecutive weeks of 100 plus degree temperatures every day is normal.

  258. Portia, who will be okay. says

    That was interesting. A <a href="http://tippie.uiowa.edu/news/story.cfm?id=2879&quot; rel="nofollow"University of Iowa study says that resisting the cookie makes it harder for me to stop procrastinating.

    Will power, the study found, is a finite resource, one that can be easily depleted. Which is why, when faced with a “do-I-or-don’t-I” kind of decision, you might find it easier to do the right thing when you haven’t already used up your reserve of self-control by forgoing that extra cocktail earlier in the night.

    More rationalization fodder!

  260. John Morales says

    thumper1990 @184, “weak” was a poor way to express myself; it seems to me you wanted ‘thumper’ but it was taken, so you had to settle for that.

  262. says

    glodson
    I don’t do gardening. But I practise balconing :)
    Sadly, this year spring was so cool that the tomatoes never managed to grow. This year I need to start raising them inside. To me it’s important that the kids get the connection between “food on the table” and “plants outside”. And since I can do something about it, we plant the balcony.
    Typically in summer there’s just enough space left for a chair for Mr. and me to sip a Pastis in the evening.

  264. glodson says

    When my wife asks why the brownies I made last night are gone, I will just explain that I’m hoarding willpower.

    This is the best excuse ever. Science, you give us such great things.

  265. glodson says

    Giliell:

    I tried that once. The year I tried it when we were living in an apartment, it was one of the hottest on record. My poor plants sprouted just in time to be killed by the merciless heat.

    Here’s hoping we do better. I really want the strawberries and the herb to grow.

    But I think I better be careful. The little one has a sketchy idea of what we do outside over what we do inside.

  266. says

    glodson
    Well, I don’t live in Texas but Germany and that only gets more sun in Fox-universe. Our balcony is ideal for tomatoes. It is roofed and faces westwards, so they don’t get direct rain, don’t get direct midday sun but still get warmth way into the night.

    +++
    Thank you all for talking about exercising today. It reminded me that my illness and injury break was over.

  267. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    Unlike Bones which has been utterly destroyed by Brennan’s descent into “the Mighty Wang of Love™ and mommyhood made me a real person!” and Booth’s super-manly homophobia. “You don’t fold another guy’s underwear!” <–actual dialogue.)

    Oh, god really? So Bones and Booth finally got together and it ruined everything? I haz a sad. Now, I’m glad I stopped watching it. I looked into reading the book series it was spawned off of but it was so different from the show (first few pages at least) that I couldn’t read it while I watched the show. Guess now with Booth and Bones having a daughter (it was a daughter in the book, so I’m guessing) the books make more sense.

    I used to love that show but admittedly haven’t watched in several seasons. I loved Brennen but was a bit annoyed with the whole “you need to be more emotional like you’re suppose to” crap. There was a lot of pushing of religion from Booth and the whole “respect my beliefs no matter what” crap. I know there was a show about a trans woman but I can’t remember anything about it, like whether or not it was transphobic though it probably was unfortunately. =(

    Ugh.

  268. says

    Ooohhh!!! I hate Bones too!

    I really hated how over time the whole “Bones is emotionally stunted/repressed” became “Bones is a thoughtless, self-important idiot.” It went from being an organic part of the character that in many ways made her more sympathetic, to being forced and clumsy and made her seem like a terrible person. After a while it just drove me away, especially after Bones and Booth hooked up and they just had her be shitty to him in really obvious ways.

  269. Esteleth, Ficus Putsch Knits says

    Just overheard the following conversation:
    Person 1: So, I pulled the primer sequences used the paper. They’re completely different from the ones that we have in stock! And yet they’re the same gene. How strange.
    Person 2: …the primer is also only a 20mer.
    Person 1: So?

    I am alternating between laughter and facepalming.

  270. Beatrice says

    I only occasionally watched Bones. I went to the wiki page just now to look up what was going on in the last seasons.
    Ew.

  271. says

    Can I please have some hugs?
    My roommate borrowed my car and I told her I needed it back by 3 pm. I havent heard anything from her since 2:14. I have called and texted and now I am worried.
    I do not know if she is ok.

    God I am shaking.

    On top of that, J just told me that he has been casually talking to someone for several months and yesterday they decided to move to the next level.
    WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
    I feel like I am absolutely incapable of making anything work. I cannot begin a relationship. I cannot maintain a relationship. I meet someone who fills so many of the important qualities I am looking for and we are practically neighbors and it falls apart.
    I feel so alone.
    I cant stop crying.
    I just…excuse me…

  272. rq says

    I enjoyed some of the books that Bones characters were based on. But I didn’t like the show from the beginning, although I always hoped Booth and Brennan would hold off on the relationship crap. The books are all a bit more complicated, relationship-wise, and a bit more seriosu.
    Don’t know about the books spun off from the show.

    +++

    DamCat seems to be making an effort to return – the more it snows, the closer he comes, to the point where he’s eating from his bowl beside the door. Still outside, though.
    But at least he’s hungry no longer.
    Good night, all!

  273. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Tony
    You can have all the hugs I’ve got. C’mere and we’ll have ice cream and hugs and stoopid tv shows. I’ll make tea, too. I’m so sorry :(

    I’m sure the roomie will get back to you soon. I’m sure of it.

  274. rq says

    *hugs* for Tony. :(
    I hope your roommate is ok and simply running late; I hope you get your car back; relationship-wise, I hope things look better tomorrow! :( (I know, it’s not much consolation… I just… Your run of bad luck must end sometime!!) *hugs* and thumbs in a jar that I will hold constantly for the next three days (at least) on your behalf.

  275. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Night rq!

    As an addendum Tony, I feel crummy today too, so you have my immense sympathies. I’m having an “I wish I could do more” moment that you’ve described feeling in the past.

  276. Beatrice says

    Tony,

    *HUGS*

    There is nothing wrong with you! You are a lovely person, and you are a good person. We can’t give you non-virtual hugs, but remember that you have friends here.

    I hope you’ll hear from your roommate soon.

  277. says

    <big *hugs* for Tony
    Added to the above, your roommate is almost certainly just running late/distracted. On the relationship front, you’re a great person, and it’s not your fault that people keep jerking you around.

  278. dianne says

    Tony, here are some more hugs for your hug pile. And hopes that your roommate is simply stuck in an unexpected traffic jam, fuming and thinking “I promised to get the car back to Tony by 3-dammit!”

  279. glodson says

    Tony: Big hugs. Wish I could do more, but I can only hope that your roommate is just dealing with traffic.

  280. Parrowing buıʍoɹɹɐd says

    Tony, hugs, hugs, and more hugs. I know in the waiting time it feels like it’s taking forever for the person to get back to you. I hope that she is okay, but having been in your shoes many many many times, I know that there can be lots of reasons that she hasn’t gotten back to you that are very hard to come up with when you’re the one waiting (other than her not being okay). Phones mess up quite often, people run late, people forget, etc. I am so so sorry if it turns out that she is not okay and I don’t want you to think you are being unreasonable by worrying. I just want to offer any comfort and perspective I can from constantly being in the same situation.

    I’m also very sorry to hear about J. There is NOTHING wrong with you. You are an amazing and special person and have been unlucky lately. I know it absolutely sucks but I am certain that it is not because of you. Sorry if this comment was inappropriate in any way, but I felt like I could really relate on both counts. Again, hugs. And your puppy is adorable and she looks like she loves the hell out of you :).

  282. Ray, rude-ass yankee says

    Tony the Queer Shoop@270, Sorry to hear you are sad. Life can sure be a roller coaster. I hope it gets better for you soon. Hugs, chocolate, rum, whatever it takes!

  283. says

    It is hard to not believe in fate right now. No relationship has ever lasted longer than three months and now I cant even get a date off the ground. It feels like I am destinedto be single my entire life and thats thescariest thing I can imagine.
    I wish I had someone to just hold me right now.

  285. Socio-gen, something something... says

    JAL
    From the first episode of Season 7, it’s been all downhill on greased skis, and yet, I can’t stop watching. At this point, I just want to see how bad it will get while wishing painful, flaming death on all of them. I hope a meteor hits the Jeffersonian.

    This season has been all “let’s fix Brennan” and “let’s see how much utter stupidity we can throw in before fans start mailing us bags of dog shit.” A few episodes ago they had this whole ghost of a victim watching them blah blah needs to move on blah blah (Cyndi Lauper reappears! Blergh). Last week, (I haven’t seen it because it just became available on hulu today) Bones apparently has a near-death experience and gets some kind of “Oh my atheism was wrong” message.

    Watching that may just be the final straw for me. I’m already hoping this is their last season, but if it’s as bad as Kristina Killgrove’s recap suggests, I will be wishing the writers very painful encounters with scorpions. And flesh-eating bacteria. And sharks.
    —
    Joe
    It’s so disappointing because it started out so great! The first sign of trouble was the pathologist wearing heels and designer dresses while doing exams of remains* (because, of course, women have to look fuckable even while working with decomposing corpses!). Then “I’m an artist” Angela turned into “I’m apparently a computer wizard as well” Angela. Then it was Bones doing her “I want to be a real girl” thing. And even more “Booth is a manly man’s man.” *sigh*
    —
    Tony
    I don’t know what to say but ((HUGS)). You are a wonderful person and you deserve all the good things.
    —
    rq
    I tried the Kathy Reichs books, but… meh. I’m not much into reading mysteries so they just didn’t grab me. My aunt, on the other hand, loves the books and hates the show. (I think this is also because she was an enucleator for the Rochester Eye Bank for many years — she cannot ignore serious stupidity like wearing anything but scrubs and “things that can be burned in the hazardous waste incinerator or cleaned in the hospital laundry” around dead bodies.)

  286. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Tony,

    I agree with rq and Parrowing that it sounds like chance and not something about you. *Hugs* if you want them.

  288. glodson says

    @ Tony:

    Alright, I guess I’ll share a little bit of my past. For all of my twenties, I never had a relationship last longer than a few months. Hell, I never dated in high school, pretty much felt like a complete loser for much of the time. I felt like a complete fuck up. My little brother was married and had a kid, and I was living in a run down apartment with this racist asshole while my brother got his house.

    But then I finally met my wife. I didn’t know she would be my wife, but we’ve been married for nearly seven years, and we moved into our house. This all happened after I hit 30. I felt lost and just hopeless for most of my life. Still feel that way sometimes.

    I am sure things will get better. You just have to hold on past these bad days.

    Sorry, I hope the random guy on the internet sharing past miseries helps.

  289. Socio-gen, something something... says

    Whoops — solo asterisk was supposed to have a friend in my comment to rq, the part about my aunt.

  291. strange gods before me ॐ says

    study says that resisting the cookie makes it harder for me to stop procrastinating.

    Ego depletion is interesting!

    See ego+OR+resource+depletion+racism, or sucrose+stereotyping. If you know you’ll be interacting with people about whom you have some unconscious biases (and you do have some of these biases, that’s almost guaranteed), it might be a good idea to drink a sugary soda five minutes beforehand. Maybe another during the meeting.

    But I have less thrilling news for some of you.

    When my wife asks why the brownies I made last night are gone, I will just explain that I’m hoarding willpower.

    You can’t hoard it very long! This is not the optimal strategy.

    doi 10.1080/00224549909598404 Longitudinal improvement of self-regulation through practice: building self-control strength through repeated exercise

    The suggestion that exercise can gradually improve self-control helps put previous findings of regulatory depletion in context. One potential interpretation of those previous results, which we would not endorse, is that people should avoid exerting self-control because such acts deplete the limited resource. Our findings lend themselves to a more optimistic, socially desirable message: It is good to exert self-control on a regular basis because in the long run, these exercises will strengthen self-control and make a person less susceptible to the depleting effects of a single exertion.

    more http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=5484550433353929158

    It is still best to practice self-control whenever you can; this will improve your ability to self-regulate when necessary.

  295. cicely says

    there isn’t a form of fitness that I enjoy. From my perspective, the “runners high” and related forms of sports-induced-euphoria is entirely mythical. all i get from exercise is mental boredom and physical pain.

    Hey, me, too!
    –

    apparently it lowers your score the more sex you have even if you’re married and always use condoms. dafuq?

    dafuq is dabad, obviously…just as we’ve always been told.
    –
    ‘Morning. Ogvorbis!
    –
    *hugs* for Portia. I know that cash-panicky feeling all too well!
    And good luck on your interview.
    :)
    –
    JAL!
    *pouncehug*
    –
    *hugs* for iJoe. Nice music room! And don’t forget what we say about Depression ’round these hyar parts. Don’t believe a word that fucker tells you!
    –

    Damnit, USPS isn’t delivering today, is it?

    Nope. Presidents Day.
    OTOH, we got off work after noon because the mail doesn’t run, so I had me a bit of a nap—and now I feel very nearly hominid.
    –

    As for the heat… try living in Fucking Texas. In the summer, the cool days are only in the 90′s. Having consecutive weeks of 100 plus degree temperatures every day is normal.

    Plus in the summer the whole thing catches fire, in accordance with Tradition.
    –

    When my wife asks why the brownies I made last night are gone, I will just explain that I’m hoarding willpower.

    This is the best excuse ever. Science, you give us such great things.

    :D :D :D
    –
    *hugs* for Tony. Really big ones. With extra tentacles. And there is nothing wrong with you—you are AWESOME!
    –
    rq: Glad that there’s progress on the DamCat front.
    –

  297. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Also, doi 10.1177/0956797610384745

    Much recent research suggests that willpower—the capacity to exert self-control—is a limited resource that is depleted after exertion. We propose that whether depletion takes place or not depends on a person’s belief about whether willpower is a limited resource. Study 1 found that individual differences in lay theories about willpower moderate ego-depletion effects: People who viewed the capacity for self-control as not limited did not show diminished self-control after a depleting experience. Study 2 replicated the effect, manipulating lay theories about willpower. Study 3 addressed questions about the mechanism underlying the effect. Study 4, a longitudinal field study, found that theories about willpower predict change in eating behavior, procrastination, and self-regulated goal striving in depleting circumstances. Taken together, the findings suggest that reduced self-control after a depleting task or during demanding periods may reflect people’s beliefs about the availability of willpower rather than true resource depletion.

    https://cdn.anonfiles.com/1361229494973.pdf ( supplemental: https://cdn.anonfiles.com/1361229514351.pdf )

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6731653410108945389

    That might be a too-strong conclusion; but it suggests that beliefs about willpower at least partially mediate self-control. So, practice self-regulation and remember that you’re getting better at it. :)

  299. Cannabinaceae says

    Shucks, RevBDC, beer festival sounds like fun. I’ve never been to one b/c W.U. is not all that into beer, and there’s literally no way I would be able to go to a beer festival without needing a designated driver later.

    (Fortunately, B.I.L. and his neighbor are beer nerds, and B.I.L.’s neighbor’s W.U. has offered to drop us all off and pick us up later the next time a beer festival comes around to Multibore (well probably up at the county fairgrounds, although I think there may be something at Pimlico, unless I remember incorrectly)).

    We’ve been to Charleston a few times, but never Savannah, so we’ll probably elect to go there the next time we do a trip to The South*. I do like the 8 billion great restaurants in Charleston, and hope there are at least half that many in Savannah.

    *I’ve been informed that there is “essentially no difference”, and am always happy to return to the site of past pleasures, but I don’t really have much say in these things – generally we and a few other couples converge on some fun-sounding spot to hang out, do gluttony-n-stuff, and at least in my case (and that of one of the other folks), get relatively smashed**.

    **You can’t “drink all day” unless you start before noon***.

    ***Or (flexing my (invisible) abs): “six pack? I’m working on my twelve pack!****

    ****OK, I do exaggerate a little bit. After four pints of microbrew, I’m finished. Usually after only three, except on vacation.

  301. Cannabinaceae says

    I am another person who hates all forms of physical conditioning. I hate all sports*, but fear sedentary lifestyle-related diseases. I ride a stationary bike, and do crunches and pushups, and go for relatively long walks. And hate every minute of it (except the walking). Worse, I hate earbuds and headphones, and am somewhat clumsy and inattentive, so even if I did try to avoid boredom by listening to something while self-torturing, I would catch the cord on something and wreck the device** by yanking it laterally, breaking the plug.

    OTOH my blood chemistry has not yet crossed the line into borderline start-to-worry, and in fact got there from borderline start-to-worry after I started working out regularly, an observation that helps me guilt myself into working out every other day or so. Another thing I hate/fear is the idea of being on blood pressure or cholesterol medication.

    *Unless getting smashed in a bar while playing darts counts as physical conditioning, which it doesn’t.

    **I know this because I’ve tried it, and that is what happens.

  302. Portia, who will be okay. says

    SGBM @296
    You might be surprised to know that’s the sort of information I was hoping I’d get out of the podcast when I originally turned it on. I don’t actually need more excuses to indulge my baser impulses, ha. Thanks for expanding on the findings.

  303. says

    This discussion of exercise reminds me of some discussions I had with my ex on the subject of physicical fitness, and particularly fitness on a societal rather than individual level. She insisted that everyone ought to just go to a gym and work out regularly, and that was a solution. I contended that, leaving side the fact that many people lack the time and/or money for such a thing, there are a lot of people (I suspect most people, in fact) who simply aren’t going to do regular workouts at the gym (mostly including me; I can hardly ever stick with it.) Given this, I suggested (and continue to argue) that we need to make it easier for people to be active in their day to day lives, and thus maintain a basic level of exercise. This means, for instance, designing infrastructure to make it easy and pleasant to get where you need to go on foot or bicycle for the most part, and also making sure that there are dance studios, skateparts, dojos, etc. and that people have got sufficient spare time and income to take advantage of them. Most people really do prefer to do something while they exercise, IME, so it helps to make sure there are things to do that involve physical activity. Ironically,despite her arguing that everyone just needed to bootstrap themselves to fitness by their own willpower, and thus none of my recommendations were needed, she complained endlessly about the streets near her new home not having good sidewalks, and how it was really hard for her to get her morning runs in. She didn’t appreciate my pointing this out, either.

  304. says

    And the hits keep coming. The guy I had sex with last week (best sex of my life), who said he only wanted to play the field for a while, and not settle down just told me he met someone this weekend that he is talking to with dating intentions. So on top of J deciding to pursue someone else, I am made to feel like I am only wanted for sex.
    Fuck.
    Fuck.

  305. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Tony, I’m so sorry people are so inconsiderate.

    You are valued, and you are wonderful. You are compassionate and smart and kind and witty.

  307. says

    Tony,
    Seconding what Portia said. You’re a wonderful and loving person, and it’s not your fault that the guys you meet keep jerking you around. There are a lot of assholes out there, and you usually can’t tell in advance (Some people are blatant assholes from the get go, but it’s rare).

  308. says

    Hey cicely, yeah… depression is an asshole who needs a swift kick in the fork. I should be THRILLED because of my cool and awesome music room. And then I’m NOT, and then that liar starts telling me that I’m a terrible person for not being in better spirits all things considered. And an inconsiderate, shitty husband too… because I’ve spent all this money and my wife works hard and I’m not even happy with it.

    Tony, I’m sorry people are treating you bad. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you’re better off without either of those guys, if that’s how they’re going to treat you. You deserve better… shit man, you deserve the BEST.

  309. glodson says

    Ah, Tony. I hate that you got jerked around. Like people are saying, you are a great guy and deserve better.

  312. Nutmeg says

    *big pile of hugs* for Tony. That’s scary about T’s asthma attack. I hope she’s getting proper treatment. And I’m glad it wasn’t anything worse.

  313. carlie says

    Tony, I would want to hang out with you SO MUCH if we lived in the same town.

    On exercise, and having a jerkbrain: I actually like exercise. I did not know this very well until I started doing it by myself, although I had inklings of it in high school when we did a weight rotation once. I loathe with a passion anything team sport oriented, and I also am not happy with doing exercise out in public where people might see me. Here’s where it gets stupid: once i found out how much I liked certain types of exercise, particularly walking in not-populated areas (I keep trying to jog, but keep not sticking with it long enough to), it became something selfish, and therefore something I wouldn’t allow myself to do because there are so many other things I should be doing for my family and for work and so on. It went too weirdly in the other direction – instead of exercise being something I hated and was a chore, it was a treat I couldn’t bear to give myself because I didn’t deserve it. Yeah. So still, no exercise.

    The last few years I’ve managed to go in spurts – i’ll exercise regularly for a few months, then life intervenes and I quit altogether (because of the more important things, of course), then eventually get back to it. I’m in an upswing right now thanks to a friend flat-out buying me a gym membership for the year and making me go to keep her company, so hopefully this will get me over that “selfish” hump (I have to go, she paid for it and needs me to be there to talk to her!). Stupid jerkbrain I have.

  314. JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness says

    I enjoyed some of the books that Bones characters were based on. But I didn’t like the show from the beginning, although I always hoped Booth and Brennan would hold off on the relationship crap. The books are all a bit more complicated, relationship-wise, and a bit more seriosu.
    Don’t know about the books spun off from the show.

    Er, I meant the books that spawned the show, not the other way around. Sorry for being confusing.
    —
    —
    Tony, *hugs*
    I’m sorry. Dating sucks. Trying to date sucks. I hope it gets better and that you find someone.
    *more hugs*

  315. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Portia, glad to help! You cannot imagine how delighted I am when I get a natural segue to yammer about one of my psych interests. :)

  316. says

    RE: blood orange soft drink
    There’s a brand of soft drinks sold at the grocery store near me (in Tennessee) that is flavored with various fruits, including two varieties of orange – regular and blood. It took a bit of getting used to because it basically tastes like moderately sweet carbonated orange juice, rather than like orange flavored sugar water, because the ingredients are orange juice, sugar, and seltzer water basically. I was under the impression it was a Mexican soda, but a quick check tells me it’s a product of Italy, not Mexico, so likely what I thought was Spanish on the labels is actually Italian (or they ship to Central/South America as well as here and just label everything in both English and Spanish, who knows). The brand is San Pellegrino.

    I keep it around because I’m trying to drink less soda and it scratches that “must have a soda NOW!” itch without making me just want more like ordinary soda does.

    lexie
    Oh dear such an amazingly cute kitten. Almost made me cry!

    *goes off to want a kitten futiley*

    Tigger
    Ah, I’ve been wondering about the cryptic Set references too. I thought you guys were doing some weird exercise…

    I use to have that as a game on my phone. I wasn’t every very good at it. I did the puzzle you linked, took me almost 6 minutes.

    Portia
    I heard a story about willpower like that on the radio a year or so ago. It made a lot of sense, thinking of willpower like a tank of gas that fills up slowly and can get used up quickly. It fits with how I experience life. The example they used in telling about the study they were discussing was that the reporter and the scientist talking to her were sitting in a cupcake shop with cupcakes on the table in front of them “exercising willpower” not to eat the cupcakes. But that only lasted a few minutes – because it was a constant and present exercise of willpower. We all know if you want to avoid doing something you make it harder to do so it takes more effort – you don’t go to the cupcake shop when you are avoiding eating cupcakes.

    Generally if I’m avoiding something I think I shouldn’t do, unless it’s something I feel very strongly about (you know, morally, or something) by about the third time it comes back to mind I give myself permission to do it. Resisting the candy bar or whatever isn’t worth more effort than that. If it’s a passing whim, it won’t come back all those times.

    RE: Bones

    I couldn’t watch that show. I watched one or two episodes, but I found David Boreanz’ smarmy attitude insufferable by the end of Angel and he didn’t get any better in anything else I’ve seen him in. I kept wishing for something terrible to happen to him.

    Tony
    Oh Tony. :( I’m so sorry.

    Wow that sounds dangerous with the asthma attack. Yikes.

  318. cicely says

    … because I’ve spent all this money and my wife works hard and I’m not even happy with it.

    But you will be, on the up-cycle. Keep that in mind; that’s important.

    –
    *moar hugs* for Tony. At least you now know that T is okay.
     
    And I agree with carlie—I’d like to hang with you in Real Life, too. In fact, there are very few people here that I don’t think I would like to hang with…but instead, I’ll just have to settle for the Never-Ending [Lounge] Pajama Party, and hang with y’all here.
    –

  319. chigau (違う) says

    Without reading anything since 15 February 2013 at 1:38 pm Pharyngula Time,
    I’m back.
    While I blanch-for-freezing the 1kg of left-over broccoli and the 2kg of left-over cauliflower, I will go catch-up.
    I hope everyone is well.

  323. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Dalillama
    I like your public health solutions.

    carlie
    I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like people to see me exercise. There’s a lovely long river-side bike path a block away, but I have to walk a mile or so before it’s obscured by trees. For about a block. what’s up with that impulse, anyway?

    Tony
    Glad that T is okay now. Holy hell though, how long was she passed out?
    Seconding iJoe, you deserve the best the world has to offer.

    deborahbell
    The program I listened to was Stuff You Should Know. I like you policy of Third Time’s the Charm. : )

    cicely, quoting iJoe

    … because I’ve spent all this money and my wife works hard and I’m not even happy with it.

    But you will be, on the up-cycle. Keep that in mind; that’s important.

    This is something my mom told me fifty times before it finally sank in and I believed her. It’s so simple but so effective sometimes to remind myself that I will feel better, and this will pass.

    Tony
    Thirding the wanting to hang with you. I wish we could all really go to the Commune…but PJ Party will suffice : )

  324. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Tony
    it’s not too early to snuggle into bed and get some rest. But I’m happy to keep you company if you like. I’m really sorry you have gotten so knocked down today.

    chigau
    Hiya!

  326. Portia, who will be okay. says

    carlie
    That is cool. Very cool.

    `-`–`-`

    I am really hoping that the flickering lights don’t mean what they usually mean, which is that another winter storm with whistling wind is going to put out my power. I really hope.

  327. says

    Portia
    I heard about it on NPR, and the information sounded similar though I don’t know if it was the same study or not. One of their journalists was interviewing some scientists about a study or studies.

    RE: exercise
    The best I’ve ever been at being consistent with exercise was when I worked in a call center and they had a small gym in the building. I walked right by it on my way out of the building, and somehow when I didn’t feel like going out and driving home – not because I didn’t want to leave work, but because I was tired and just didn’t feel like walking out there and driving 25-30 minutes – I would wander in and work out for a while instead. It was a common enough feeling to have me doing that nearly every day after work. Going to a stand alone gym after work isn’t the same feeling; at that point I’ve made it out to the car and driven somewhere, I might as well just go home then. Then the momentum is against stopping somewhere in my experience. Onsite worked best for me. Of course, I don’t recommend working in call centers unless it’s all you can get; they generally are extremely high stress and high sensory input for little pay and benefits. *shrug*

  328. says

    Good call Tony… sometimes that’s for the best, and maybe you DO want to go to bed and just call it a night. I’d do it myself, except it is just 7 here and if I go to bed now I’ll be up at 2AM and not be able to get back to sleep.

    I’m currently locked in my office drinking a beer and watching Luther while my wife watches that hateful anti-humanity class warfare bullshit Downton Abbey. Thanks to the folks who recommended Luther, I’m about to start the second series.

    … and I just got an email saying that my amp’s replacement vacuum tubes are on their way, and I should expect them in a couple of days. This should be fun! I could electrocute myself, or blow up the amplifier!

  329. Portia, who will be okay. says

    I have now thought about having more cheesey pumpkin polenta with black beans and chorizo way more than three times, so it’s seconds for me! And then the bread goes into the oven.

    (Sorry, strange gods, I’ll practice my self control on something else : )

  330. carlie says

    Tony – I’m about to go to bed too, so it’s not too early! Already in my jammies, even.

    Portia – for me it’s not wanting to be laughed at, even if they’re only laughing on the inside and not directly ridiculing me. They will laugh because i’m too fat and trying to exercise. They’ll laugh because I’m not exercising hard enough. They’ll laugh because I was going every day and then I skip a few days in a row. They’ll laugh because even though I’ve been going awhile I’m not getting any faster. They’ll laugh because I’m not actually losing any weight doing it. Etc. and etc. The part of my brain with sense in it knows that no one in the universe is paying that kind of attention to me, but I can’t help it. So when I walk outside it’s either super early, super late, or on uncommon paths, or with someone else (then we’re just walking and talking, not exercising, see?). I’ve been surprised that the gym actually works, and I’ve even run into other people I know there by accident and not totally freaked out, but I think that’s because it has no mirrors and everything is arranged so you can’t sit and just stare at other people while you’re working out, so it feels more invisible.

  331. Portia, who will be okay. says

    carlie:
    I can relate to that. I feel like a doofus when I go out walking because *sureeuss bikers* use that bike path and who am I? I’m just a dingbat with shoes on, wearing the wrong clothes to be exercising in, looking sweaty and out of shape.

    `-`–`-`-`-`
    I’ve been antsy and lonely the last few days because S hasn’t been talking to me. (And I’ve been not contacting him in order to not be needy). Now he is, and the second thing he says is he’s having a bad, low day. I guess I know what I’m good for in this situation now…he doesn’t wanna share the good times anymore.

  332. carlie says

    Portia – oh, yuck on S. And it’s so tempting to be that shoulder to cry on, isn’t it? If you’re empathetic and kind and there for S, then S will realize all the good qualities they’ve been overlooking… DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER

    Do not doooo it! You can simply say “Gosh, that sounds awful. Maybe you’ll feel better soon and have a better day tomorrow.” END TRANSMISSION.

  333. strange gods before me ॐ says

    he doesn’t wanna share the good times anymore.

    Also possible: he hasn’t had any good times to share.

  334. Portia, who will be okay. says

    carlie:
    That clip made me laugh out loud!

    strange gods:
    That’s possible, you’re right. He did have a leisure trip to Chicago this weekend for no purpose other than recreation, though, during which he didn’t talk to me but sparingly, in spite of saying he would. Oh, no, I take it back, he did call me on the drive there. Because he needed someone to keep him awake.
    Alright, I’ll stop whining now.

  335. Portia, who will be okay. says

    If you’re empathetic and kind and there for S, then S will realize all the good qualities they’ve been overlooking…

    This sounds like something Captain Awkward would say. I bet you read that column, don’t you? : ) I love it.

    And yeah, it’s probably where my head’s at. There’s an element of wanting to keep the connection alive, too. As well as needing someone to cry and rage at when I need him…no one can quite tell me “It’s ok, I can help you prepare that document and also you’re not a failure” like he can.
    /rationalizations.

  337. carlie says

    Portia – I think we all have been there!

    If you want the connection, then fine, but it could be a field strewn with land mines. If you can say yes, you want to keep some semblance of a relationship, knowing he’s not really in it and deciding so neither are you, and you’re both just kind of using each other for backup when needed, that… might actually work. But the big catch would be not actually falling for him because then it will hurt when he brushes you off.

  338. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Thanks, Dalillama. ^___^

    Carlie:
    That’s a pretty good summation…I’m gonna have to work on the emotional detachment element a bit, in order to avoid the hurt. I think that not caving into the urge to text him when he’s clearly disengaged is a good step. I’m giving myself credit for the baby steps, because it’s all I’ve got. Next goal, at some point, make my profile picture on facebook something besides the two of us. : p
    Thanks for reasoning that out for me, it really helped me have some clarity.

  340. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Thanks, iJoe, for the reminder. If I find I don’t have the spoons to give him an emotional boost, I’ll brush him off. I can do that. I can if I try. (I think, I mean I’ve never tried…)

  341. Portia, who will be okay. says

    I ran out of spoons for the discussion in the dome earlier, but I feel I should mention to you, strange gods, that I am intentionally leaving your last word there unchallenged. I just didn’t have the spoons today to continue the discussion. (Does that make this my first flounce?)

  342. cicely says

    This should be fun! I could electrocute myself, or blow up the amplifier!

    That’s the spirit, iJoe!
    :D :D :D
    –

  343. strange gods before me ॐ says

    I figured that; I also hope I successfully indicated that I don’t need a response.

  344. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Sheesh, could I have said “spoons” any more?

    Yeah, I have learned that when you need a response you’ll ask for it. : )
    I just like you, and wanted to not feel on my end like there was something hanging over my rhetorical head.
    Thanks.

  346. says

    Ugh, exercise. If I could go back in time and tell myself something, it would be to find some sort of activity that I enjoyed. I was convinced for ages that I hated ALL exercise, because I was so terribly traumatised by all my school sport classes. Yet at the same time I was busy cycling and dancing and walking all over the place quite happily. That didn’t count because ummm err just because.

    The main advice I have is to try ALL the things. Rock climbing. Belly dance. Soccer. Parkour. Karate. Cycling. Weight lifting. Hiking. Swing dancing. Boxing. Hula Hooping. Pilates. Trapeze arts. Ballet. Baseball. Running. Medieval combat. Synchronised swimming. Cheer leading. Somewhere in there, there will be something that you like. I’m told team sports are good because you make a commitment, but personally I would run a mile to get away from them (and I can’t even run 50m so that would take me ages). YMMV.

  347. says

    Portia: bread for me, I need something to dip into my amazing chicken soup. Best in the world!

    cicely: it actually looks like nothing it likely to blow up or kill me. The amplifier is designed so you don’t have to/can’t manually tinker with the voltages, and the company I ordered the vacuum tubes from knows what kind of amp I have and has a set of tubes picked out to not only work but to also give me a specific sound. So hopefully no fires or explosions or electrocutions.

  348. Portia, who will be okay. says

    iJoe, excellent, thick slices coming your way. If I wasn’t so stuffed, I’d suggest a mutually beneficial exchange :)

  350. says

    Portia, the least I can do is share the secret of my soup:

    I make stock from roasted chicken carcass and drippings, and I’ll toss the innards plus any wing-tips, skin, bones, or other leftover bits from other chicken I’ve cooked recently and frozen right in the bottom of the pan. I start roasting chicken at 450 degrees, and right around the time that the parts and bits and juices have all turned into a browned-but-not-blackened crusty mess at the bottom of the pan, I add a quart or so of water and lower the heat a little, and add water as needed. At the end of the cooking, you wind up with a ridiculously rich and savory broth at the bottom of the roasting pan.

  352. chigau (違う) says

    ॐ
    Thanks!
    That will wash-away the milky tea I just drank!
    Hi portia and cicely!
    —
    Thing move sooo quickly, here.
    I can just toss a heap of hugs for everyone.
    —
    We had some discussion about facebork.
    All of the adolescents (and many of the 18-35s) seem to think it is necessary to functioning as a human.
    .
    I still don’t understand why I would want to participate.
    Especially after a session with a middle-aged person who had managed to friend almost everyone in the universe (without meaning to).
    .
    Can I have more than one facebork page-thingy?
    one for Pharyngula
    one for professional
    one for personal
    ????
    —–
    I will catch-up on individual stories but right now I’m about
    memememe
    —
    sorry, I’ll never really catch-up.

  354. Cannabinaceae says

    I must say, that if there were a “Medieval Martial Arts” dojo* nearby, that’s one form of exercising at a gym I’d actually be tempted to do. The only one that comes to mind. This is due to my youthful reading having a large swords-and-sorcery component.

    And yes, I am rather enjoying The Mongoliad, why do you ask?

    *ha ha ha, perhaps that should be dœjœ

  355. says

    Hello, Monday? Could you please quit yanking me around? I thought enough was enough, but noooo you decided I needed to get bit by mosquitoes. Lovely. And don’t think I have forgotten you woke me up with a grain of something in my right eye. Yeah, fuck you Monday.
    (Obviously not asleep yet; I would have the same issue Joe spoke of if I went to sleep at 9:45…I work at 10 am and do not need to wake too early)

  356. says

    Also, Portia… I’ve trained myself in the fine art of bird carving to the point that I can have the meat separated from the bones of a 20-pound turkey in around 5 minutes. I use a really sharp knife and kitchen shears, and I know where all the joints are. So when I make a roasted bird, I’ve already got the stock pot on the stove and loaded with herbs and veggies. When the bird is done, I cut all the meat off, dump the bones and skin and pan drippings into the pot, and can immediately start simmering.

    I’d really like to make another turducken, come to think of it. I’m so much better at de-boning that it would have to be a much easier experience than my first try.

  358. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Can I have more than one facebork page-thingy?

    You’re not “supposed” to, but plenty of people do. You may have to register them from different email accounts. Pick the one you want most to not get deleted, and register that one first. You can use fake names, plenty of people get away with it.

  359. chigau (違う) says

    IJoe #352
    Yeah, I know.
    I just hope that everyone knows that I care.
    Even if I have missed the details of the most recent events, I still offer *hugs*.
    (or butt kicks)
    (as needed)

  360. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Yep, that’s thundersnow out there. The wind has left my power on so far but is toying with my internet. It’s just as well if I lose internet and not power. I have to go to Rotary in the morning. Sigh..

    Tony
    Apparently the last Monday, which gave everyone troubles, wasn’t listening. Sorry your day has been so awful. Lotsa hugs for you. Did you get the thing outta your eye?

  361. Cannabinaceae says

    I can take a bird apart, but I’m not very fast or good at it. Sometimes I like to roast the carcass before making stock, but usually I’m too lazy.

  362. says

    Portia, what did I tell you about skill-sets? You can’t do until you try, and a few tries later you can almost always do. :)

    And roasting a bird should be the cornerstone of any omnivorous cook’s repertoire. It is simple, very cost-effective, and when you do it right it is also visually impressive without any real additional work. The carving is sort of icing on the cake. I learned and practiced carving so that I could present a whole platter of meat to my in-laws a few years ago, without the bones. Plus, a carved turkey slides into a packed fridge a LOT easier than a half-eaten bird on a plate.

  364. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Good point about skills, iJoe :) My obstacle to bird carving is squeamishness, though. Not something I’m too interested in overcoming. The reminder to keep pushing my horizons is a good one though :)

  365. chigau (違う) says

    ॐ #357
    My current facebork thing is off my hotmail address (which I use for … Facebook. (and merchants))
    Everything on it is a lie except the photo, which is me, but unrecognizable (unless you were there).
    I’d kinda like to be on facebook but I really, really, really need to keep my various … “faces” as “separate” as possible.

  368. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Small victories, Tony, small victories. :) I’m gonna succumb to the melatonin now. Good night all, I hope you’re better in 12 hours than you were before. Especially you, Tony. *hugs* again.

  370. chigau (違う) says

    re. penguins:
    I would like to offer a lesson in “Why Anthropomorphism is Stupid” to the person who titled the embedded video.
    [not you, mythbri]

  374. Socio-gen, something something... says

    Tony
    Many more hugs to you. I’m glad the roomie is okay.
    —
    carlie
    I think a lot of my aversion to exercise is from past trauma in high school. I’m actually underweight due to the Addison’s, but in my head, particularly in a room of exercise equipment, I am 15, 50 pounds overweight, and trying to fake an injury to get out of gym class. (Seriously, I learned to forge my mother’s signature solely to write get-out-of-gym notes.)
    —
    deborahbell

    We all know if you want to avoid doing something you make it harder to do so it takes more effort – you don’t go to the cupcake shop when you are avoiding eating cupcakes.

    *lightbulb!* I didn’t get the willpower discussion before but it all suddenly makes sense to me.

    This is why I keep my cigarettes in a drawer in the bedroom when I’m at home — because I smoke far less when I have to physically get up and get them, rather than having them next to me on the desk or coffee table. It’s too easy to light up without even thinking otherwise. Just doing that, I cut myself from a pack and a half a day to about 7 cigarettes a day. (It varies, depending on how much I’m at home or in classes, but never more than 9/day.)

    But, if I’m around other smokers for more than a couple hours, I start smoking at their pace.
    —
    Portia
    *hugs* to you too.

    Not the same, but reading this (and carlie’s DANGER comment) made me realize that I’ve been braced for the FWB and I to end. I know it’s coming, I can feel the pulling away — lots of “too tired to drive overs” or “I don’t want to interrupt your studying” and “well…maybes” when it comes to making plans — but I’ve gotten myself caught in this idea that if I just do this or this or that that I can fix it. The ol’ I can make him like me again thinking.

    *sigh* Now that I’ve realized it, I almost wish he’d just say it, or that I could be brave enough to say it, because waiting for it is worse. Except that I don’t want to let go yet. So, I’ll probably just bury myself in my homework in order to avoid it all.
    —
    Alethea
    I think you’re right. I’ll just keep trying things. My two big problems with exercise are the body issues — being in front of strangers in a swimsuit or gym clothes is just asking for a panic attack — and the limitations on the types of exercise I can do with my sad bones/muscles. (Steroids do not do good things to them.) If isn’t low- or no-impact, I can’t do it. That’s why walking works for me — I can do it alone, no one really cares what I’m wearing, and it meets my need to be outdoors, breathing fresh air for at least a few minutes every day. But I really need to come up with something that gives my upper body more of a workout.
    —
    mythbri

    Look at the cute widdle penguin!
    —
    This is cool news: Belfast Giants abandon franchise after owner outed as sex offender

    The arena used an out-clause to get out of their contract with the team. The team’s players and managers walked out on their contracts. The arena owners created a new company; players and staff signed up en masse.

    The owner now owns 90% of a team that has no players and nowhere to play.

  376. chigau (違う) says

    Someone killed a moose.
    Since it was a road-side scene, I’m guessing that it was killed by contact with a moving vehicle.
    (I saw no vehicular debris, just the tidy dead-moose)
    (The scene was probably cleaned-up by the time we saw it.)
    400 pounds of food.

  378. Cannabinaceae says

    I once nearly plowed into a herd of elk in Crater Lake NP. “Nearly” rather than actually, because it was dark as heck, being around midnight, and I was driving pretty slowly, because I knew that it’s pretty common to encounter animals in the road in national parks, and did I mention it was dark as heck? Well, I guess since I was playing it safe, it wasn’t really that “near”. Came to a complete stop (still, rather a quick stop, though no squealing tires) and waited for them to move along, which didn’t take too long.

    And now, finally, I can go pick up W.U. at BWI. Her late and delayed flight is about to land.

    Later.

  380. says

    chigau,

    400 pounds of food.

    Did someone get to eat it? Because that would at least be a silver lining to the story.

    My parents have wrecked a bunch of cars over the years hitting dear, and I’ve totaled one the same way. Eating the fucker who destroyed the car would have been… something. Something yummy, if nothing else.

  383. says

    Hey sgbm, I saw you used my name. I kindly don’t read your posts because I think you have ill-intent towards me, and I would just as kindly ask you to feel completely free to never read one of my posts, since you clearly have a low opinion of me.

    If you choose not to do so, you are responsible for whatever hurt you feel. Not me.

  385. says

    What’s the phrase that pays? “Killfile”? I don’t know how to work one of those, but if I hated me, I’d totally killfile me and never read another one of my comments ever, ever, EVER again. And then certainly never respond to one of them, because that would just be unkind to myself. Why subject yourself to someone you hate/despise/have contempt for?

  386. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Joe,

    I do not have a low opinion of you.

    I am asking you to please stop.

    I have seen you stop for other people who asked the same thing.

    If you are doing it to deliberately hurt me then I am letting you know you have succeeded and you can stop poking now.

    If you did not mean to upset me then it would be nice to say so; but either way I am asking you to please afford me the fairness of doing for me what you have done for others.

  387. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Joe,

    I definitely do not hate you. If I upset you then I am sorry. I got the impression that you were trying to upset me, and if I misread the situation then that is my fault.

  388. says

    SGBM
    I am now incredibly curious as to why you think that Joe was trying to upset you? When you started posting your links, he was engaged in a perfectly ordinary culinary discussion of a sort which takes place here on a near-daily basis.

  389. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Not the starting but the continuing, and then the bacon comment. I have seen other such discussions stopped when a vegetarian is actively posting and indicates they find it upsetting.

  391. says

    sgbm,

    I seem to remember a time when I was nearly suicidal, and I begged you to let me off the hook, and you wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t give me an ounce of space. You didn’t care a single fucking bit that I was holding a loaded gun to my head, alone and depressed and under constant threat of violence and thousands of miles from my wife and hundreds of miles from any family…because your pride was affected. I’m pretty horrified just even being reminded of that night, because I’ve rarely felt that terrible in a long life of terrible.

    I’m going to give you what you were unwilling or incapable of giving me. I apologize for upsetting you. It was not intentional, and reading back I assume that it was my talk about eating meat that upset you. I don’t read your posts generally, because you’ve been cruel to me in the past, but it is not my intent to be cruel in return. I’m not planning to stop talking about eating meat, because recipe-sharing is part of this place to me and most of us are omnivores… but would it help you if I added a “trigger warning” to my posts containing that topic? I’m 100% willing to do that, and will be 100% polite if/when I forget to do so and you point it out to me.

    I’m going to drop the entire topic for tonight, and for the next few days, and give you the space you might need to weigh my offer. In any case, if you don’t refer to me again I’ll feel free to continue to not engage with you, and you can feel free to not engage with me if that’s easier for you. Maybe that’s the best kindness we can extend each other?

  392. says

    socio-gen – hating the gym is a sadly common story. I’ve come late to enjoying movement. I wish it had been earlier. This is good, and the comments are worth a read
    http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/gym-class/

    If you fancy sword fighting, you could look into fencing, SCA fighter training, kendo,and more. Regular martial arts without sticks would be good prep, too – karate or judo sparring would get the reflexes working.

  393. consciousness razor says

    You didn’t care a single fucking bit that I was holding a loaded gun to my head, alone and depressed and under constant threat of violence and thousands of miles from my wife and hundreds of miles from any family…because your pride was affected. I’m pretty horrified just even being reminded of that night, because I’ve rarely felt that terrible in a long life of terrible.

    I’m very certain SGBM (along with me and anyone else reading that thread) didn’t know what was happening until after the fact. Discussions on the internet can very quickly become confusing and hard to interpret.

  394. says

    SGBM, if you want people to stop talking about meat while you’re around, the please note that it’s not going to happen if you don’t use your words to ask for it, but instead just leave little passive-aggressive links to articles about vegetarianism lying about.

  396. says

    consciousness razor,

    None of you may have known, but I used the same language, and even stronger language. “Please stop” and”You win, I lose” and “I’m stupid and you’re smarter than me, but just please stop now”. sgbm is now saying “you’re wrong, please stop” when I said “you’re right, please stop.” I’m willing to stop, because I care more about not causing harm than about who has the stronger rhetorical point… but I’m not going to pretend that sgbm is making the same claim that I did, and neither should you.

  397. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Joe,

    I begged you to let me off the hook, and you wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t give me an ounce of space.

    That is not true.

    You didn’t care a single fucking bit

    That is not true.

    I apologize for upsetting you. It was not intentional,

    Thank you. I am sorry for my misunderstanding, and for thereby accusing you of trying to hurt me.

    you’ve been cruel to me in the past

    That is not true.

    I’m not planning to stop talking about eating meat, because recipe-sharing is part of this place to me and most of us are omnivores… but would it help you if I added a “trigger warning” to my posts containing that topic? I’m 100% willing to do that, and will be 100% polite if/when I forget to do so and you point it out to me.

    I have no idea. All I was asking was for it to stop tonight, because it has stopped before when others asked. It is hard for me to think right now. Thank you for your consideration.

    +++++
    Alethea,

    please note that it’s not going to happen if you don’t use your words to ask for it, but instead just leave little passive-aggressive links

    I understand how that applies to most situations. Please understand that I thought I was being deliberately tormented, and so I thought a request would be useless. I only finally asked when I became so upset that I didn’t know what else to do anymore.

    +++++
    I will try to go offline now.

  398. says

    Now I understand why you posted those vegetarian links sgbm. I was confused. From the sidelines, I did not see Joe attempting to irritate you. He, along with others, occasionally discusses (sometimes at length), consuming animals. The only person I recall who does not like discussions of meat eating is SC. I will note for future reference that you do not like those discusdions either, and hopefully a trigger warning preceding such talks will be sufficient.

  399. says

    sgbm,

    You just called me a liar twice. How is that being kind, or trying to create a place for both of us to exist here? You want to be treated kindly and charitably while calling me a liar. You’re not extending TO me what you expect FROM me. While you’re off-line, why don’t you apply your magnificent, perfect logic to your own imperfect behavior?

  401. strange gods before me ॐ says

    I did not call you a liar at all.

    These accusations

    1) are false,

    2) should happen in the Thunderdome.

  404. strange gods before me ॐ says

    I did not call you a liar at all.

    These accusations

    1) are false,

    2) should happen in the Thunderdome.

    I am not making any demands. I made a request, I misunderstood your intent in this thread, I apologized for my misunderstanding which was my fault.

  406. didgen says

    I seldom post here, lurk a lot, I was wondering if anyone might have suggestions about how to deal with a delicate kind of problem. The other set of grandparents are very religious, well at least the grandmother is. It seems that she has discovered that we are atheist, and is becoming somewhat passive aggressive about it. I’d rather be live and let live but I don’t think that is going to be possible. She told her own son he was going to hell for not believing.

  408. says

    didgen,

    I’m not giving this as direct advice on how to deal with your family, but I’ll share what I did with mine. At some point I laid it all out and said “you can deal with it, or I can stop dealing with you. I don’t need you in my life if you’re just going to make me miserable by complaining all the time”

    It works, one way or the other… the question is whether or not you can handle it working out in a long-tern estrangement. I’m cool with that, your mileage may vary.

  409. didgen says

    Sorry, part two of my problem, my six year old grandson is asking questions about what I believe, and I’m not going to lie. At Christmas he said he felt like cutting his throat because he has never been happy, and that he thinks when he comes back as someone else he will be happier. That was when I told him that this was the life you get and that you need to do your best to enjoy the wonderful time ahead of you. I’m so stressed about this situation.

  411. didgen says

    Joe,
    for my part, I really don’t care about having any kind of close relationship with them I would like polite. I don’t understand how anyone could say something so evil to their own child. I worry that she may be saying similar things to the six year old and the four year old. I want the same things for them that I wanted for my daughter. A healthy balanced rational life.

  412. didgen says

    I have to go to bed, but any suggestions are appreciated. It helps just to be able to say something about it without having to worry about starting world war three.

  413. bluentx says

    mostly* threadrup (by two weeks)—

    Wha’d I miss?**
    –
    * only saw snippets of The Lounge over the last 24 hours.

    ** Didn’t miss the ‘code words’ for “meet in ******** for The Commune”, did I?
    My main fear is to miss THE CODE for disembarkation!

  414. rq says

    Good morning!
    Improbable Joe, I’ll join you in the meat-eating room, if you like. I have a question about a recipe you promised me a while ago, but that can wait.

    Socio-gen – You smoke like I do! The thing that saves me now is having to spend all day with the children, and not really having the time to root out the spare pack and light up. And Husband and I haven’t been out in ages, so we’re limited to the before-bed, too-tired-for-more-than-one cigarette. But I know when I’m out with smokers, it’s the death of me… I can’t say I like it, but it’s definitely a reason I try to stay away from other addictive things (like casinos). Too bad nobody warned me about the internet.

    didgen
    Wow. What Joe said, counselling for the son, and if the little ones are being told terrible things, that’s emotional abuse, and you should cut off all contact (I hope this is possible!!!). With the explanation that it is unacceptable to speak to children that way, it causes them distress, and until she reconsiders her opinions, actions and words to the children, you’re not going to take them to see her. The kids might be a good reason (if it’s more difficult just for the adults) to go through with it (the non-contact).
    You can add a note about how maybe, when they’re teenagers, you might be willing to let them visit, or you can go the whole way and say, when they’re 18, they can decide for themselves.
    But it definitely doesn’t sound like a healthy environment.
    /unsolicited advice

    Also, quick note re: Bones books:
    The original books by Kathy Reichs had the bonus that they’re written by a real, working forensic anthropologist. When I read them, I thought, wow, this person knows her science (also, she’s half-Latvian, but that’s beside the point). So when the show came out, I was a bit excited – you know, real science, none of this CSIspin-off… Especially since she was a co-author or advisor or whatever it is she does in a high capacity.
    So disappointing. :(

  417. rq says

    bluentx
    The Code will be written in the plaintive, vibrant powerchords of Improbable Joe’s SpokesGuitar and the mellow tones of whichever of us happens to have a mellow singing voice that day. It will echo through all the corners of the earth, calling all Pharyngulites to the Commune in *********.
    I doubt you’ll miss it. ;)
    How are you?

  419. says

    And rq? Trigger warning for anything that might upset vegetarians/vegans. We should work really hard to include those every time, just to be fair. Whatever nonsense sgbm and I are going through, we shouldn’t be generally disrespectful to vegetarians/vegans… honestly, they generally have a slightly better ethical position than we do.

  420. says

    **Vegetarian/Vegan warning**

    Oh… do you mean the “how to make bacon” recipe from a couple of months ago? Can you get rock salt? Because I think most bacon recipes are mostly about salt and a dry room for a few weeks. We should totally do this together, because I seem to remember that I’ve approximated it once or twice and found a few cool recipes. That, and I think something about salted/country ham.

  422. rq says

    ** vegetarian warning **

    IJoe
    I’m pretty sure I can, salt in this country seems to be everywhere. I’ll double-check, though, and yes, we could try doing it together!
    The ham would be nice, too.
    Getting a good cut of pork is no problem at all (market!).

  424. says

    **Vegetarian/Vegan warning**

    I’ll have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure salt-curing requires a room that isn’t exposed to moisture, so sort of a closet/attic where you don’t open it up often and there’s no exposure to the elements. You want the salt to absorb moisture from the pork, not from the air outside.

  425. bluentx says

    The Code will be written in the plaintive, vibrant powerchords of Improbable Joe’s SpokesGuitar and the mellow tones of whichever of us happens to have a mellow singing voice that day

    Damn! I knew I should have stressed (before now) that “I can’t play anything but the stereo” *.
    –
    *I can donate a guitar I’ve owned for 37(?) years but never learned to play.

  426. rq says

    bluentx
    The Call will go out irrespective of your musical abilities. You may reply by music, but you may also simply… arrive. ;)
    And I’m all about having musical instruments and never playing them. That’s why we have a piano – because a home isn’t a home without an old, out-of-tune upright. (Thinking of converting it into a bar/liqueur storage cupboard, actually…)

  427. says

    bluentx,

    You should be really careful right now… people donate really old guitars, and they can sometimes be guitars worth nothing, and sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars. I know people who have bought guitars at yard sales for under $100 and turned out to be worth around $5000, and I have read online about a guy buying someone’s guitar kept in a case under a bed for 40 years for $500 and it turned out to be a mint 1959 Fender Stratocaster worth $30,000.

  428. bluentx says

    rq:
    I feel like such a slug… volunteering my services (truck) right before your major upheaval (move) then disappearing. Some friend– sheesh!! How’d it go? (like I said- threadrupt).

  429. says

    sgbm didn’t call you a liar, iJoe, he said you were mistaken.

    he also didn’t claim you didn’t say the things you did back then. he’s linking to his own comments because he’s saying that you’re mistaken about a)him not backing off; and b)him not caring

    What a dishonest person.

    who’s calling whom a liar for no reason now?

  430. bluentx says

    iJoe :
    No, not that lucky. This 6-string was bought new (circa 1976 ?).
    No cool stories like buying an old suitcase at a fleamarket (for a few bucks) and finding original Beatles sheetmusic.[That story still fascinates me!]

  431. says

    Good morning

    didgen
    OK, I’m not quite sure about the family constellation.
    So, you are a grandparent, right? And you’re an atheist. Your daughter is the mother of those children and she and your son in law are also non believers. Did I get those things right?
    In that case I would suggest that you talk to your daughter and your son in law and share your concerns. Because they need to lay down the rules.
    As much as I understand your worries, it is their job to deal with this. And apart from the god-bullshit I find suicidal thoughts in a 6 year old very disturbing and I think that it’s something an expert should be involved in.
    Wish you all the best

    Tony
    I think it’s incredibly unfair of all these people to use you as their emotional dumpster on whom they can dump all their stuffwithout any regards for your feelings about this.
    (((hugs)))

    exercise
    Oh, there were times I was really, really fit and made it to they gym 3 times a week. Man did I have time. Nowdays I’m happy when I’m not too tired at 10 pm to get on the stepper for 15 minutes.

    Talking about salt: About 20 years ago, public health concern rose on the issue of people in Germany not consuming enough iodine, so it was added to salt. Nowadays it’s almost impossible for me to find any salt without added iodine because you need iodine, you have to consume iodine I don’t fucking care if it’s counter-indicated with Hashimoto’s, eat your iodine!!!!

  433. says

    then maybe you should not make incorrect statements and then make accusations against people, Joe. However, having clarified, I have no reason to “get involved” any further, for now.

  434. says

    bluentx,

    No, it sounds like you’re the cool story other people tell… “Oh, they got it new in 1976, and some blue person in Texas held onto it for 30-odd years and thought it wasn’t worth anything, and sold it to me for $1000… yeah, I found a collector that gave me $43,000 for it! Blue Texans are DUMB!”

  435. rq says

    Improbable Joe
    We’ll have to explore the house to find the driest room, but they’re all pretty darn dry… Basement, too, because of furnace. Promising!

    bluentx
    The move was uneventful, until everybody got the flu. :) Eldest is the last to fall (this morning). So, no settling in has been happening, and I’m using my extended recovery to continue being lazy. Oh, pictures (just the outside).

  436. rq says

    didgen
    I also see I misunderstood who’s who in the family, which makes what I said kind of moot. :( Sorry for giving bad advice due to misreading things!

  439. says

    Did I mention vacuum tubes? Because they are pretty neat! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I find old tech to be kind of extra-cool. So while I love the high-tech effects pedals on my board that can be reprogrammed by way of my iPhone, I also love that my amplifier was made when I was a sophomore in high school, and is based on the same basic technology that the classic blues and rock n’ roll players were using in the 1950s and -60s.

  440. Dhorvath, OM says

    That you think that is the heart of your friction with SG. How can you can claim inerrancy while misinterpreting someone?

  441. says

    all of these are incorrect:

    you wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t give me an ounce of space. You didn’t care a single fucking bit

    You just called me a liar twice.

    Oops… sgbm, you called me a liar THREE times.

    sgbm called me a liar a bunch of times

    That’s amazing, how he can quote himself to show that I didn’t say what I said.

    I’m quite aware that you don’t believe these are incorrect, and that me saying it won’t convince you otherwise. However, I feel it’s necessary to have this pointed out for the record here in the Lounge.

  444. says

    1)the grudge is from your side
    2)something that started here cannot be “dragged” here
    3)you did not try to make peace, you made false statements and then begged not to have them corrected. you’re repeating that pattern now.
    4)he’s not lying
    5)he’s not “playing the victim”

  446. says

    rq
    Half of Europe seems to be ill at the moment, either with belly bugs, or the flu or a cold.
    Our GP has as many as 57 patients a day, which is more than double the normal number….

    At least #1 is getting better.
    Slowly.
    But I can feel her ribs through the shirt…
    I think we’ll need to make a lot of cake over the next weeks…

  447. Dhorvath, OM says

    I do understand that this feels threatening, both to you and to others and that how I work is no longer the way this space works. This is no longer my space, I don’t come here often enough to claim that ground, I suppose I should remember that as well. Still, I see something that I wish could be otherwise and I pick at it because I have hope.

  448. rq says

    Giliell
    Is that how you fatten your children? :D (Good idea, though!)
    Glad to hear she’s improving!
    I know mine are all sick, but they have appetites as if they weren’t. And I’m most worried about youngest. It’s been now two weeks since the initial fever/sickness, and while he’s had a couple days in between where he’s improved, he’s back to being feverish and sleepless and generally looking small and pathetic again. We went to his GP and she said it wasn’t anything serious (i.e. pneumonia), but I think we’ll be going back, because he should be well by now. :(
    The flu’s aftereffects seem to linger quite a bit for adults, too, this year. Can’t shake the general weakness feelings.

    Improbable Joe
    This weekend’s not too good, but the next one?

  449. says

    Dhorvath, OM,

    Why don’t you try walking away? That’s going to be MY strategy. Maybe it doesn’t work, but really… is there going to be a “win” here for anyone, other than letting it go? No one is going to convince everyone, so maybe we just all agree that the Lounge is more important, and even the Thunderdome is more important, than any single fight. This whole thing started because I was ignoring sgbm, and sgbm was trying to make a point through links, and sgbm saw my comments as being attacks when I was simply ignoring the links and the whole point entirely.

    I mean, if you scroll back over the last 1-2 weeks, a whole bunch of what I’ve been talking about it Thanksgiving dinner.

    **Vegetarian/Vegan warning**

    I’m cooking dinner for 10-12 people, including a turkey and probably a ham too. So all the comments about cooking meat that I’ve been making over the last few hours have been part of that larger conversation that has been going on here for over a week, and not an attack on sgbm at all. I’ve got to feed a bunch of people who are expecting lots of meat, so that’s been on my mind and in my comments a lot lately.

    I didn’t start this fight, at all. It was really a carry-over from other things, don’t you think?

  451. Crudely Wrott says

    Since I haven’t been lurking or commenting much lately (due to unfortunate circumstances), when I ran across this resource I knew that I simply had to post a link here. Some of you may know of it but I’ll bet many don’t.

    Prepare yourselves.

    The Complete Works of H. P. Lovecraft. Free.

    Gird thyselves well before following the link; it will probably destroy you and all you know and love.

    http://cthulhuchick.com/free-complete-lovecraft-ebook-nook-kindle/

    And, ahh, enjoy.

  452. rq says

    Improbable Joe
    You got me… I just like to use other people as guinea pigs *tee hee hee* so that afterwards, I can do it right the first time, and gloat about how perfect I am! ;)

  453. bluentx says

    iJoe:
    The improbable (ahem) story I heard….
    Farmer in the ‘middle of nowhere’ has an old, rusty motorcycle in his barn. He calls the Harley-Davidson Co. to ask about it. Giving the minimal datails he has, the H-D contact surprisingly says, “We’ll send a company representative to see you immediatly!”. Harley guy arrives in record time on a private, corporate jet, goes immediatly to the farmer, demands to see the ‘junky’ bike, spends hours inspecting it and then offers the farmer thousonds of dollars for it.
    The farmer is curious but figures the ammount offered is more than sufficient so accepts.
    As the bike is painstakingly prepared for transport back to Harley HQ the farmer asks, “What’s so special about this particular bike? It doesn’t run. It’s not pretty in its present condition….”
    The Harley rep reemphasizes the farmers agreement to sell “as is”. Yes, says the farmer,”It’s yours, but why do you want it so bad?”
    The Harley rep reaches over the bike, unscrews the gas cap and shows it to the farmer.
    Inscribed on the inside of the cap is: ” To Elvis, with love Priscilla”

  454. Dhorvath, OM says

    Joe,
    I don’t really know how serious an answer you expect. I think that spaces ought to be defined by our actions in them, not the other way around. Which has made me feel increasingly uncomfortable here. (As an aside, I am wholly uncomfortable talking about food here any longer.) That’s easy for me to deal with, I have other outlets and don’t expect this one to maintain some idealistic reflection of my memory.
    Certainly within the current blowout I found myself with time to spend and thought I would drop in. Shit was going on, I thought I had best see what shit that was before I commented, and in commenting have made some people less comfortable and others more. This is what I expected to happen, but now having done so I am sure my inclinations in the future will tend to be different.
    Do I see this the same way as you? I don’t think we are even close to agreement. That doesn’t mean I don’t like you, want to get you back, hold a grudge, or what have you. It just means that I don’t agree. My reading and understanding have differed from yours, just as they have from others in the past and as they will from others in the future.

  455. Parrowing buıʍoɹɹɐd says

    Good morning.

    I’d really like to expand my skill set, especially when it comes to cooking. The main reason I can’t (or at least feel like I can’t) is money. I don’t feel like I can spend it on something that I’m not sure will work if I can’t afford to last minute replace it with something that will work.

    For example, I’d really like to figure out why, after years of baking it correctly, my cheesecake crusts always stick to the springform pan now. I was planning on starting to sell cheesecakes but I can’t now until I can fix this problem. If I had the money, I’d bake ten (or more!) cheesecakes in a row changing only one variable at a time. Then I’d develop my line of cheesecakes and eventually get so powerful that every cheesecake eater in the world would forsake all other cheesecakes, including those from the Cheesecake Factory, and buy only mine for eternity or suffer an existence devoid of cheesecake altogether! BWAHAHA.

  457. Crudely Wrott says

    Nice of you to say so, Dhovath.

    The link is courtesy of the web site Dark Roasted Blend. It’s usually part of my Sunday browsing but I’m a bit behind the curve of late. Interesting how timing works. Sorta like multiple meteors and such.

    You are most welcomed for the link. I hope you and others get the download (I’ve only a lowly desktop PC) and can thereby regale us with tales of ever growing woe and doom.

    In a jocular vein, that is. [/Father Mulcahey]

  458. bluentx says

    Parrowing:
    *Oooo,oooo- pick me! pick me!*
    I’LL BE A CHESSESECAKE TASTE-TESTER *
    Then I’ll have an excuse for being overweight (besides that other stuff).
    –
    *Ummmm- cheeeesescake-nomnomnom….

  459. rq says

    Cheesecake?
    Did someone say cheesecake?
    If it helps, Parrowing, I’m willing to scrape all the baked-on crusts from your springform pans, with a spoon. As long as there’s cheesecake attached, I’ll also do it without complaints. Every time it bakes on. (And I’m geographically closer than bluentx *hinthint*.)

  460. says

    rq
    “Fattening” is the wrong word.
    Keeping her from being more than slightly underweight.
    She mostly eats cake and vegetables.
    With a normal dinner she’ll leave the meat, eat a bit of potatoes/pasta/rice and dig into the veggies. But she’ll eat 3 pieces of cake for dessert.

    Parrowing
    I’m really fond of silicone cake-forms, they even come as springforms nowadays. And they’re not too expensive. But you should check with local authorities about what conditions you have to fulfill for selling food.

  461. Crudely Wrott says

    By way of apology, here’s an “r” for Dhorvath in case one is found to have gone missing.

  464. Crudely Wrott says

    Grammy Smith made the very bestest of cheesecakes I’ve ever tasted. I discovered that in 1955 when my father took me to Marianna, Florida to meet her. She lived in a house with a curved staircase!

    I would have slid down it more than that one time were it not for the pesky finial atop the newel post at the bottom.

    Grammy made the cheesecake totally from scratch and I’ve yet to taste any better, even accounting for the enthusiasm of my youth. Eight years later my father and I paid her another visit. She was in a much smaller house and she, herself, was smaller too. She had a cheesecake waiting for me.

    Less than a year later I got a postcard from my father, written on an airplane and mailed at an airport, that read; “En route Florida. Bury Grammy. Very tired, very sad.” To this day, cheesecake brings a whirl of memory and nostalgia.

  465. carlie says

    Joe – sg was not calling you a liar, he was calling the things you said incorrect. You can argue whether those things were indeed incorrect, but he was not calling you a liar.

    SG – it is not always about you. Joe did not even have you in mind when he was writing about food, and you did not make yourself clear that those comments upset you.

    If you both completely ignore each other, you’ll probably both be better off.

  467. bluentx says

    “En route Florida. Bury Grammy. Very tired, very sad.”

    Does this quote, seeming to me a ‘great lead in to a story ‘ make me insensitve or senastionalist’ ‘? From a frustrated (but very poor writer) point of view it sounds like a terrific lead-in to a ‘heart-warming’ story-if done right….

  468. thumper1990 says

    @John Morales #259

    thumper1990 @184, “weak” was a poor way to express myself; it seems to me you wanted ‘thumper’ but it was taken, so you had to settle for that.

    Oh no, school nickname plus year of birth. It’s what I normally use, though I suppose I could lose the year. I’m sure I’ll play around with it at some point, though will keep the “thumper” for simplicity’s sake.

    Sorry for the lengthy pause before replying :)

  469. carlie says

    Didgen –
    On the 6 year old, that is definitely outside the norm for behavior and should be pursued. Often the easiest way to start is with the child’s school – I don’t know about where you are, but in many states it is mandated that each school has a child psychologist and a social worker, at least part-time. They would be able to screen your grandson for any issues and, if they can’t do counseling themselves, can offer places to start looking (esp. if the family has no insurance).

    On the god thing – all you can do is be a good counterexample. I’d suggest not taking it seriously in general; the last thing you want to do is to make it sound like a BIG IMPORTANT topic. You’re trying to take Jesus down to the level of the tooth fairy. When he parrots things that are gruesome and nightmare-inducing you can be shocked at it, but in a “that is terrible, what awful imaginations they have” kind of way. And anything else, treat as silly imaginary stuff, mention some people seem to like to believe such things but lots of other people don’t, etc. And teach the child skeptical thinking as much as possible.

  470. bluentx says

    “I’m slow, but eventually I get there” is my mott:
    I’ve noticed that my ‘Christian-y’ friends on FB repost/share: Eminem World pics and quotes frequently. Is Eminem considered ‘Christian’ or do my friends simply not know that thay are quoting a rapper?
    Can someone enlighten me to this phenomenon?

  471. Parrowing buıʍoɹɹɐd says

    Hm, I’m pretty sure Catrambi has you beat on proximity, rq and he will definitely put up a fight for cheesecake crust scooping. Also, bluentx, I’m more likely to travel to Texas within the next year than Latvia, so there ya’ go. But in any case, I see I will have to perfect my freezing chamber and check on the international rates.

    In all seriousness, selling cheesecake is something I planned to do and still plan on doing. I have looked into the requirements for selling food and it is a possibility, but not while I’m still living in this little town. But somehow, someday, I will get bluentx and rq cheesecakes, damnit!

    Thanks for the suggestion about a silicone springform, Giliell. I want!

    The recipe I use was given to me by my mother (who says I make it better than she did :D ). It is typewritten on a yellowing sheet of paper that has absolutely no identifying marks on it. My mother has no recollection of where it came from and I have done quite a bit of searching to see if this recipe exists somewhere else. Can’t find it. :)

  472. Beatrice says

    *studiously ignoring the recent problems, for my own health*

    So many great documentaries I want to watch at the local documentary film festival (some of them for free- yay!), and friend wants to watch something about movies (I am not especially interested) made by Keanu Reeves, just because it was made by Keanu Reeves.
    *sigh*
    I doubt she even watched any of his recent movies. I have no idea what were his recent movies.

  473. rq says

    Beatrice
    Keanu Reeves makes movies (as opposed to simply acting in them…)?
    I think the last movie with him that I know of was The Day the World Stood Still, which just should not have been re-made, at least not with Mr Reeves. On the other hand, his expressionless-ness worked well, seeing as how he had to be a rather expressionless alien…

    I’d go see a documentary. Heh. Or something by someone relatively unknown, on a topic about which I have no clue. I miss going to see half the showings at festivals (entrance fees are relatively cheap here). Seen some really good and some really bad movies through random selection…

    Parrowing
    You hurt me, with that… Cut me deep… No cheesecake in the near future? *poutypoutpoutpout*
    On the other hand, when you do start selling them, figure out a way to mail them in one piece… I’ll buy. :)

  474. carlie says

    Beatrice – wouldn’t it be fun to go and see different movies so you can tell each other about them after? ;)

  475. says

    How does one give a chewable pill to a cat who is too terrified to accept a chewable pill? I snuck one into his food, but I have to give another to him later today and I can’t feed him the wet food again.

    I’m giving Toc two weeks. If he’s too freaked out by me that he rushes out of the room at my approach, I’m going to look into a shelter or an adoption agency to take him… cause I just can’t handle this anymore.

  476. rq says

    Katherine
    He might need a lot of time. But it all depends on whether you have the actual patience to deal with him, and I can understand not having any. He might come around at the least expected moment. (The other cat(s?) aren’t bullying him, are they?)
    With regards to the chewable pill, maybe, because it’s a medication and stuff, you can make an exception, and give him just a bit more wet food…?

    [cat story] Our cat was a lot like that (nervous, anxious, hiding…), when we got him, from being born a streetcat, then being adopted by an opera singer (!!), then being given to a vet, then adopted out to Husband’s colleague, then coming to us, all within the space of a year (there may be another adopted-back to vet in between there, too). For the first three weeks, as he hid behind the bathroom sink, we’d tell people we had a cat, and nobody believed us.
    Then we discovered he had fleas, started a de-fleaing process, left a window open for ventilation, and… he escaped. Spent three weeks outside in the summer while we battled fleas inside. We got him back in, and he was a different cat – except for the fact that he made good another escape attempt, this time off the balcony (first floor apartment, he was ok), and this time spent three weeks outside in the autumn rain – this time he was visibly grateful to be back inside, and became a marginally affectionate cat. Didn’t run from us anymore, at any rate. The whole process took about 4, 5 months. (Yeah, this is the same cat now outside in the snow, because escaping is fun (#bornfree)!!) [/cat story]
    I’m not saying chuck him out on the street. But. He just might need a bit more than two weeks to see that you’re an awesome human being food slave to keep around for his own good.
    Good luck!

  477. carlie says

    Katherine – crushed in wet food is probably the best way. If he just gets a couple of bites of wet food, he should eat it all and get the full dose. I cringe to suggest it, but another option is crushed in wet food fed with a syringe. Get one of the big plastic ones they have at the pharmacy (or the vet), water down the food a bit and crush it to smooth, add pill. If you push the syringe in at an angle over the back teeth on the side (wedging the mouth open) and squirt it at the back of the mouth in small increments, they have to swallow it when you remove the syringe. This often requires bundling the cat up in a burrito with a towel or blanket, and takes forever, and requires dexterity with both hands.

  478. says

    @rq:

    I’ve had him since December. He shits himself when he sees me (fortunately he doesn’t have tapeworms anymore…) Everytime I walk past him or even into the room, he runs away, smashing into walls and scattering his food dishes.

    I’m giving him two weeks of Anxitane right now. If by the end of these two weeks of an anti-anxiety medication he’s still doing that, it’s over. I’ve had months of patience dealing with a cat whose response to my presence is “holy shit” and that patience has been worn thin to the point of snapping.

  479. lexie says

    Katherine – I find that when tablets can be given in food that’s the easiest way to give them but if you can’t or don’t want to give more wet food then I would wrap cat like a burrito in a towel ensuring that all limbs are firmly secure, holding the cat’s head securely from behind tilt head towards ceiling when the nose is pointed towards the ceiling the mouth falls open a touch then use the other hand to quickly pull the mouth open and drop the tablet in (needless to say this method isn’t liked by cats but it does mostly work).

  480. lexie says

    Sorry having just read your message my method is going to a) take for ever, b) terrorise him even more and c) be tiering, difficult and potentially injury inducing for you.

  481. rq says

    Katherine
    Wow. Yeah, I can see how you have no patience left. :/ In this case, even the assurance that it’s not his fault doesn’t help much. Poor cat!
    And poor you!!! Cleaning up cat shit day after day is… shitty, to say the least (*fewf* on the tapeworm, though). :( I sincerely hope there is some improvement in his mood in the near future. And I hope you manage to figure out a viable alternative for him (adoption, etc.) should it not improve.
    Apologies for presuming too much re: amounts of time.

  482. lexie says

    Also wow for you having put up with that for so long that sounds extremely difficult to cope with.

  483. says

    Yay!
    German constitutional court has ruled that the adotion rules for gay couples are unconstitutional and need to go away. So far a “life-partner” (the sorry excuse we have for marriage equality) could adopt the bio-child of their partner, but not a child their partner had adopted before. Consitutional court ruled that it’s bullshit and against the interest of the child to have two legally responsible people.

  484. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    When Jim DeMint abdicated his throne, I mean stepped down from his senatorial seat, here in South Carolina it left a void. Our corrupt email deleting Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Tim Scott, darling of the Tea party darling and incidentally now the first black southern senator since reconstruction to take his seat. So that left another vacancy, this time in the house.

    There are currently about 10 Republicans and 2 Democrats running for the seat. One of the democrats is Stephen Cobert’s sister and the Republican field has both former Governor and Argentinian mistress having Appalachian trail hiking Mark Sanford and the doesn’t stand a chance Teddy Turner. Son of of Media Mogul and long time liberal Ted Turner.

    The early money is on Sanford as he is still very popular here in SC plus is loved by many republicans and tea baggers around the country.

    Teddy, in my estimation, stands exactly no chance of winning the seat. He’s doing his best to out conservative everyone in the race running adds about being pro gun, pro “traditional” marriage and anti-tax plus touting his faith, of course.

    I can appreciate him running mainly because he’s trashing his dad any chance he gets. It’s a morbid fascination I have watching him run a race I think he stands to lose big while burning bridges along the way.

    It’s entertaining.

  486. opposablethumbs says

    Tony,so glad to hear your flatmate is ok! Though shit, blacking out? Sounds quite scary enough. And you may need more room; herewith another bushel of hugs (late delivery, blame the time zones). I’m really sorry about the J news :-(((( I know it’s cold comfort right now, but you bring a lot to us here because you really are good people. Anyone who forges a relationship with you is fortunate.

    That great thing about the internet, letting you be in contact with people you want to talk to, no matter where they are. The awful thing, when you realise that there are all these people you really really want to hang out with (and hug, if acceptable) and they are too far away for that to be possible :-/
    .
    Hope Serial Escape-Artist Cat makes it back inside soon, rq.

  487. says

    I had to laugh today at work, reading through the enthused tweets from slymers invited to speak at TAM 2013, Blackford, Sara Mayhew, Miranda Hale, as if Grothe is hellbent to turn TAM into some kind of “Best of Slyme” event. Surely Radford, Kylie Sturgess, Maltseva and Kazez will get a speaking engagement as well? How about ERV? DJ? Come on, you can do it!

  488. Ogvorbis: Now with Boltcutters! says

    Threadrupt.

    Boy finally got fed up with Turkey Hill Minit Marts — in the past year, he has taken the drug test and had the background test done three times to become an assistant manager. He left and is now making more money busing tables and running the buffet table at a nice upscale hotel restaurant. He has a steady schedule and is making far more per hour. This morning, he is busing a breakfast luncheon for our US Representative — Lou Barletta (the guy who wants to make my family stronger by eliminating my job!).

    =====

    Something is trying to break through. I am scared shitless (well, actually, I’ve been scared loose but that is, most likely, TMI) about what else could be coming. I’ve been having some very explicit nightmares and there is something on the edge that is coming and I don’t know what it is.

    DAMNIT!!!! I thought I was getting past all this shit!

  489. birgerjohansson says

    Teddy sounds like a piece of work. (starts rant about how, when I was young, youthful rebellion was about being *more* progressive. Kids today, yada yada yada)
    — — — —
    Simple efforts bridge achievement gap between Latino, white students, researcher finds http://phys.org/news/2013-02-simple-efforts-bridge-gap-latino.html
    — — —
    -What? I thought the gap was because (insert stereotype about lazy brown people).
    — — — — — — — — — —
    (Long harangue of four-letter-words) My 85 year old mom has misplaced the remote to the TV, a Chinese model (TCL) the supplier has stopped providing, so I cannot get a spare. Replacement universal remote (big thing, designed for people with poor eyesight) does not perform an automatic search of codes the way it is supposed to, and I cannot get it to work with the TV.
    I have literally had a headache the last two days because of it, the TV is one of the few things my mom can use for recreation. And I have to get her new glasses.

  491. Nepenthe says

    Set: 2 Mins, 25 Secs. 2 minutes 5 seconds of which was finding the last set. Which was the same fill and same color. *grumpy face*

  494. Portia, who will be okay. says

    Oh, Tony. Lotsa hugs. You are not worthless. You are an amazing, valuable person. Inherently good, is what you are.

    Morning everyone. Got a new client at Rotary this morning. Attendance is not totally worthless : p

  495. Esteleth, Ficus Putsch Knits says

    Katherine, when my kittie requires meds, I usually go the “crush in mortar and pestle, mix with food” route.

  498. glodson says

    This morning, I was drug out of a swamp by a pink poodle named Gorilla-chan. Somehow, this became normal.

  500. Parrowing buıʍoɹɹɐd says

    So, Jezebel is hiring.

    This is one of the first times I’ve read a job description and thought, “Yup, I can do that” or “That describes me” about pretty much every item. And I’m currently unemployed. And I can’t get work where I live because I’m always competing with people who speak the language better than I do. But……. it would be a really bad idea for me to apply for this job, right?

    To be clear, taking the job would mean living in a different country than my husband and cats, stopping the progress I’ve made toward dual citizenship (I’m two thirds of the way there), giving up access to free education and health care, and moving back in with my parents in my mid to late 20s. So it would be a very bad idea to apply for this job if I will feel even more conflicted about this on the off chance I get it, right? Right?