Aistopod
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to accept reader suggestions for the image in lounge posts…
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
[Lounge #420]
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Normal Service Has Been Restored.
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Oh, the P****head has reset thecounter. I can live with that. Dang, I need to check the behavior of the Thunderdome on the Redhead’s iPad.
All that love for caecilians but you got nothing for Aïstopods? Nothing?
Actually, I got nothing, too. Aïstopods are a hard one to have fun with.
Unless they can inserted into . . . . ?
——–
Conversation in our house:
“I hate chafing dishes. They just rub me the wrong way” — Wife.
What in the ever-loving fuck is an aistopod?
Looks like a Mazon Creek nodule in that picture there. Yay fossils!
An early Carboniferous snake-like legless amphibian — sort of like a caecilian but with a very different skull.
Um…okay….
*zipping out to change ‘nym*
It’s weak, but it’s all I got.
–
There ain’ts no ‘pod like Aïstopod ’cause an Aïstopod don’t stop!
..oh ‘Pod!
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Aïstopods!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Pseudophlegethontia is teh awsum.
Yesssssss!!!
Early Carboniferous, Late Carboniferous, and Early Permian (Sillerpeton and at least one unnamed one from Germany).
Some may have been more eel-like; but the phlegethontiids at least were clearly terrestrial.
True; unlike in caecilians, however, the dermal shoulder girdle (collarbones & stuff) is still there.
That is the question. I say yes. I’m still sort of working on it, though.
The really bizarre thing about aïstopods, BTW, is what long tails they had. Trunk vertebrae and tail vertebrae are readily distinguished (for instance the latter bear hemal arches), and the tail is, like, twice as long as the trunk. With the exception of a few highly specialized climbing snakes, all other limbless and limb-reduced tetrapods have very short tails or even none at all (that’s the case in most caecilians, even the swimming typhlonectids with their “tail” fin). I think their ancestry is to blame, but that remains to be seen.
Snort. Looks more like an aïsto-spud. Heh.
Currently reading Clack’s book on the origin of tetrapods. So far, I am only up to the mid-Carboniferous in the book. I wonder if they will show up again in the book.
Clack does show one Aïstopod that does have the dermal shoulder girdle. Looks odd.
As for ‘amphibian,’ I confess to liberal arts shorthanding. I would have been more accurate to refer to them as early tetrapods that are not yet amniotes.
Difinitely when it comes to snakes. I have seen quite a few copperheads in my day (been bitten twice (one was a dry strike (though it felt like someone hit my hand with a hammer) and one hit the upper on my cowboy boot and stained the leather) and they have fat bodies with a very short thin tail. Strange looking.
Oh, sure. Blame the parents.
—-
G’night, all.
Heading for bed with Wife.
Tomorrow is our 24th anniversary.
We both have the next two days off together.
Tomorrow, BBQ ribs with a smoked salt, brown sugar, garlic and chili rub. Sunday (your Tuesday), we are going for a nice drive in the country.
I am so uninterested in the aistopod conversation that my level of aggressive disinterest has become, in itself, interesting, causing me to reach each new post about these absurd little creatures with rapt attention, curious as to whether anything – ANYTHING – said will verge even close to my professional or personal interests. I am, you might say, meta-interested.
Ogvorbis and Wife
Happy happy happy anniversary!
*hugs* all around!
I hafta admit—the example pictured at the top of the Thread reminds me of nothing so much as a disembodied sphincter, somewhat elongated.
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Happy anniversary, Ogvorbis & Wife!
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Disembodied Sphincter
great name for a Metal band!
<singing>
No-‘pod, ‘e knows
The trouble I’ve seen….
</singing>
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A Year After the Non-Apocalypse, which I found by way of Cracked.
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*peeks into Lounge 420, sees an odd lack of celebratory commentary from WMDKitty ^_^
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We lasted a good several hours sitting under a shelter by a bonfire in the downpour. Aunt and Uncle were still there sitting stalwart. : )
According to CNN, most atheists are actors. Or perhaps only actors are famous …
No wake and bake yet? Sheesh.
family Memorial Day breakfast tomorrow at 10:00 am…should I start cinnamon rolls tonight or in the morning?
This was the conversation when I left the bonfire:
Uncle: You’re leaving already? I thought you were made of stiffer stuff.
Me: If I leave now, I might be tempted to make cinnamon rolls for tomorrow.
Uncle: See ya!
:)
Portia: Uncle has his priorities straight!
:)
Save one for me.
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Happy Anniversary Ogvorbis! Your plans sound lovely!
I seem to recall that Nate was pretty excited about this lounge…
This song is now forever altered, and stuck in my head.
Ogvorbis, hope you and the wife have a lovely anniversary :)
So- I need advice. If anyone is game.
It seems that you can know someone really well, and feel like you have a good grasp on their beliefs, etc, and then dinosaurs come up, and it all goes to shit.
I was just talking to someone quite dear to me, a very smart person, very caring, very conscious. Then we started talking dinosaurs/earth age. This might sound odd, but I live in a pretty conservative area. My friend went on to tell me how they are ‘skeptical’ of science, and how they think that scientists just sort of tow the line of whatever the next one is saying. And there really isn’t good proof for when dinosaurs lived.
I had to wonder to myself, is the public school system failing at science? Because even with my super edited education when it comes to science, as an adult, I’ve had to get used to the fact that science is real, that scientists generally know what they are talking about, and that the ‘scientific consensus’ is a thing. And there are buckets of evidence for the age of the earth, and when dinosaurs lived (hint- not with humans).
So to see someone I respect say with great sincerity that they are ‘skeptical’ of science… It just baffles me. How does one approach that? With a list of articles? I just don’t know. I’m sure some of you have encountered something similar, and would appreciate any advice.
I have had not a lot of luck with willful ignorance among the people I care about. So, I’m not much help. But at one point I was a science denier (might have been a bit different, though, I was pretty well a kid at that time). What worked on me was a consistent presence throughout my passage into adult life of different people who presented reality to me. With other things I usually just try to be clear but not aggressive about what I know to be true and be a source of reality if they want to go looking for it. (e.g. I had Christopher Hitchens on the tv once at my mom’s and it gave her an opening to completely shock me and write me a letter that included the sentence “that man made me think, and I’m not sure that anybody did die for my sins…”).
Anyway, like I said, I’m not super helpful. But best of luck.
Lounge #420 and that’s it? :P
Thanks Portia, I appreciate your thoughts. For this particular case, where it is someone whose advice and thoughts I generally respect, I hope to convey reality in a non-condescending way. I’d like to see that clip of Hitchens though, if you remember what it was.
And
Don’t be modest, real life experience shared is priceless. And helpful to boot. (pun not intended).
Tony: I resent my question about marijuana effects from my username at the gravity constant mail service, subject “Marijuana and Exes”
Yeah, that’s a really tough spot. You look up to them, you respect their perspective, you want to think they have the best POV. And then suddenly you’re going “You believe wut?” I have a really hard time quelling my condescending tendencies in those situations. What I’ve seen other people do to me is ask questions. It can be pulled off if you have the right tone. It’s Socratic, sort of. If you can do it just right, you can whittle away their position til they think it’s ridiculous. But it’s tricky.
I don’t. I think it was a debate, and it was on cable. Thanksgiving Day was when it aired that time, maybe 3 years ago. Not that that narrows it down ha. He was talking about the immorality of the idea that someone else took responsibility for all our sins. That it’s affirmatively a depraved idea that we are not accountable, that we can pin it on someone else.
You are kind and eloquent. I’m sure that you will find a way to effectively communicate with this person about this topic.
I’m going to turn in, (have to make sweet goods in the morning!) but if I think of anything else relevant to your dilemma I’ll give you a shout.
Good night and thanks for your thoughts! I’m sure you cinnamon rolls are going to be the best.
Happy anniversary, Ogvorbis. Enjoy yourselves.
Portia
The cinnamon rolls do sound tasty.
Portia
huh
That sounds like the first 25 years of my career as an archaeologist.
Happy anniversary, Ogvorbis!
I escaped the Death Star explosion by evacuating in an astropod.
It smelled so bad in there afterwards though that it ruined the resale value.
Hello. Woke up and today is depression day apparently, sooo… yes or no – should I or shouldn’t I abandon all of my projects and interests and become avoidant and hide in my bed? :/
I have a cute kitten. I have to keep telling myself that. I have a cute kitten and she talks to me.
Azkyroth:
Received. Exhausted after 13 hour work day, so I will have to wait til tomorrow to read it.
****
Portia:
I was so elated to read about how outspoken you can be. I think you and I would get lost in chatting. My restaurant has only been open since 2/2/13 and people already know me as one to discuss racism, sexism, rape culture, misigyny, kyriarchy, patriarchy and more (situationally dependent of course).
Ogvorbis: happy anniversary buddy!
…Forgive my ignorance, but what’s the/a kyriarchy?
Tony, I know you were speaking to Portia, but:
Can I come live at your restaurant? For reelz?
Jafafa Hots
Play with the kitten.
All day, if needs be.
Time spent playing with a kitteh is never wasted.
@ Viktor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyriarchy
For your education.
Jafafa Hots
Should not.
*hugs*
Seconding chigau.
I should clarify, it isn’t “my” restaurant. That’s shorthand for ‘restaurant I currently work /manage at). And it is employees whom I almost always discuss these concepts with, rather than guests.
I, too, plan on moving to Tony’s restaurant.
Jafafa Hots:
Option 3- do some of the stuff you need for the first half a day, then lay in bed with the kitten for the rest.
OK, kitten it is.
I slept so much the last two days, I felt this coming on. It’s like a physical thing almost.
I have better kitties than I deserve. They only get depressed when I do, I’m a bad influence.
…Fuck the kyriarchy. Seriously, fuck it.
Anyway, thanks for that. :)
Tony
We know that about “your” restaurant.
We are still moving in.
Wait a minute.
Of course I’m depressed, I’ve been on crutches (for the most part) for like three weeks now and can’t even do basic errands and buy groceries that my finicky stomach needs and stuff. (I can’t drive)
That’s SUPPOSED to be depressing, isn’t it? Being freaking housebound?
Maybe I’m OK after all. Bored I guess.
Tony
I won’t move to your restaurant (it’s hard to take a house with me) but I’d love to be there each and every weekend having those long and open chats about all those topics within Husband’s ear-shot. Best option: if I could take some of my and his friends with us, keep their mouths shut (is there good food?) and force them to listen to all the good sense and compassion coming out of you and the other Loungers. I think it would solve a lot of things (the educational bit where they learn Real Stuff).
yazikus
I’m not sure what to recommend, but my Best Friend has surprised me lately with several topics on which she seems unreasonably conspiration-oriented. What I did was counter with Science – but without condescension. I once wrote her this huge article about fluoride, interspersing with such phrases as ‘you probably know this, but’ and ‘I know you’re smart and stuff, so’, with lots of (internet but still) articles and my take on them and why they make sense. She kept sending me ridiculous articles (she still does, sometimes I share them here – last one was on ‘natural’ sunscreen because Commercial Sunscreen is the Cause of Skin Cancer!!!!!!), so I took those apart in a slow and logical fashion, but again, without condescension. This works well if you know the person well and know their level of knowledge and humour.
I have a conspiration flowchart somewhere, or had… I can try to look it up for you, but it works for other things, too – as in, all conclusions are ridiculous. She had a good laugh about that (because Fluoride is Bad Because Government is Trying to…. Medicate Us!!!) and I think she’s ok with fluoride now. So… it’s really just information, science, and presenting it in a way that doesn’t seem insulting to them. I put a lot of surprise in my answers, starting off with, Really?? Fluoride is bad? Well… What about all the good it does??, then going on with Oh Mah Gawd, they used one location in China naturally high in fluoride to support their argument? What are they, dumb? and the like. This may or may not work with you, but this was also in writing over Facebook, so I have nothing for face-to-face interaction. :( Good luck!
Jafafa Hots
Have the kitten help you with the project…?
Sorry guys, I’ve been a little busy today. (Mostly sleeping off lunch/dinner — food coma FTW!)
*sets up the lounge hookah*
*settles in*
“Who. Are you?” /caterpillar
Oh, that I could run those errands for you. I’m a super happy errand runner. Given that I know that those who need it really need it. I truly wish, and wishing is not much, that you have someone close to you to help with these issues.
rq, since my project involves researching (and playing) old squeaky wind instruments, she’s not really into it very much.
She is very critical of my playing. Not as critical as my NY cat Tony was though… when I would play harmonica or melodica or ocarina or anything, he would come up to me meowing and purring and rub all over me, wanting attention.
He was asking me to stop… because every time after he would wander off and I would start playing again, he’d come back and attack me viciously, drawing blood, saying “I ASKED YOU POLITELY FIRST, now KNOCK IT OFF!”
Cats are harsh music critics.
Also, Jafafa Hots — being housebound is depressing and about as exciting as watching flies fuck. Got any good books?
Not so much. An unexpected result of isolating yourself and pushing everyone away.
Who could have foreseen THAT?
@WMDKitty #54 : I think this is rather queer. But which side of the mushroom is which?
Venus! Jupiter! Mercury! Conjunctiving!
Raining!!!
meh
rum
!
*chops and sautees it*
Jafafa Hots
Cats are harsh, indeed. My old cat would literally climb my leg when I practiced violin. And mewl, loudly, until I stopped (but she wouldn’t leave, the easier choice)… Weird.
Ya know, it’s odd. For some reason the last 2-3 years I haven’t been able to make myself sit still and read a book. Partly eyesight issues, but mostly attention.
I do have a couple books here from interlibrary loan…
…on the subject I’m researching.
That is actually a different subject, 19th century pottery from Nova Scotia, which for whatever reason I’ve found fascinating to research. Very little is known about it , I’m digging through birth and death records, census, etc.
I actually love doing research but it always ends up falling apart at the end and becoming depressing. I haven’t figure that out yet, why I do that over and over, just as I’m breaking ground and doing some good primary research. I can never seem to pull it all together.
But I can talk about it endlessly, as you can see. :P
Yeah, they’re funny.
Tony may have hated my wind instruments, but he LOVED piano. Whenever he’d hear me start to play, he’d come tearing into the room and jump up on this big box overlooking my piano where I had an afghan for him, and watch me play, purring.
no reason
Bee Gees Words
The Heebeegeebees: Meaningless Songs
;) just because it reminded me.
(And thanks, Yazikus, WMD Kitty, anyone else I haven’t acknowledged.
I’m frikken self-centered, not good at polite interaction.)
Nature will cure all your ills!
My friend photographs zebras.
Up close and personal with waves and water (fantastic shots)!
It’s not so much the caption as the fox’ facial expression…
Jafafa Hots #66
That is priceless.
Is this irony or just fucking ridiculous?
Cher
and offensive
chigau
I can’t figure it out, either. (Well, except for the obvious offensive part.)
Chigau
OMFG. *facepalm*
Buddy Holly, Jim Croce, Stan Rogers…
musicians should never travel by airplane
rq at #53
I’m a long time lurker, rare poster. Very interested in the dicussion about how to talk to people who you otherwise like and respect but who have a totally illogical stance about science vs religion. You mentioned a ‘conspiration flowchart’. My work as a project manager involved flow charts and critical path analysis, and years ago I used to imagine that arguments could be resolved using a flow chart of logic which could debunk unsubstantiated claims. Could you explain a bit about your conspiration flow chart or give me a link to one. Thanks.
I can understand resenting someone else’s question, but how could you resent your own? (Seriously, that’s how I read it, before I realised you re-sent it!)
A perfectly ordinary day in Sweden: “Elephant escapes circus and rams family home “http://www.thelocal.se/48148/20130526/
“The Heebeegeebees: Meaningless Songs”
I watched them perform on Swedish TV ca. 1980 and I still remember that song!
Jafafa Hots,
Nova Scotia -Once you recover you could go sample pollen in coastal peat bogs to locate the site where the Icelanders tried to settle down, after abandoning the settlement up in Newfoundland. Vinland was named after “pasture” (“vin” in a western norwegian dialect )
Tries again
http://www.thelocal.se/48148/20130526/
Nick
I did the same thing. *blush* I think I re-read 3 times.
drummer25
I can probably find you a link to one, since that’s all I have… and it’s not so much a flow-chart out of conspiration theories, it’s a flow-chart to discover what kind of conspiracy is going on.
Hang on, I’ll find you the link and then you’ll see!
Ugh for being house-bound, Jafafa Hots. I’m sorry you have to deal with that right now. I think you have a pass on being a bit bored and downhearted; hope an infusion of presence-of-kitteh is a help in this regard.
Sounds like good discussion technique, rq! Perhaps the one and only situation in the world where a bit of innocent Just Asking Questions could actually be of value! ;-)
Music critics … dog used to sing along to the clarinet sometimes, but not to the violin. Something about the register, maybe …???
opposablethumbs
re: animals singing
I’m inclined to think it’s something with the way the sound is made, some kind of frequencies that humans don’t consciously register but which stand out to animals. Quality of sound or something like that, linked to size of skull/resonant spaces in the skull/tickly feelings around the brain from certain sounds (of course, I have no way of proving this!).
Then again, there are animals that just like to sing…
drummer25
Here’s the conspiracy one, and oh hey, it’s from a Pharyngula post from a short while back, it turns out!
Then there’s this bit with Venn diagrams from Dana Hunter’s blog that might help you.
That’s all I have, really… As I mentioned, I used the conspiracy one to laugh at all conspiracies, to emphasize that all conspiracies are actually really stupid and silly and ridiculous, when looked at alongside all other conspiracies. Sorry if it’s not much help!
rq
Many thanks for that, and for your rapid response. I’ll take a look.
Cheers.
Bob Dole: Congressional Gridlock ‘Almost Unreal’, GOP Should Be ‘Closed For Repairs’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/26/bob-dole-congress_n_3339291.html
Hmm…even with the very mild criticism of his former colleagues, I expect a lot of current Republicans to regard him as an apostate or RINO…
But what he says -neither Ronald Reagan or Richard Nixon would have been welcome in today’s GOP- is echoed by a lot of other veterans. And in regards to current Republicans, Bobby Jindal had to wait until after the election before he dared to complain about the GOP becoming “the party of Stupid”.
The near-absence of soul-searching bodes ill for the GOP in the elections of 2014
(I do not expect the Democratic party to win on its own strenghts, but on Republican weakness).
Saw this good doco on TV the other day and thought some here might be interested :
Link to iView online viewing for this here :
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/39233
Hope it works for y’all.
Folks may also be interested in tonight’s Q&A program :
starting in under an hour my time which has :
Lawrence Krauss – Theoretical Physicist & Cosmologist
Gene Robinson – America’s First Openly Gay Bishop
Fred Nile – Conservative Morals Campaigner
Amanda Vanstone – Former Howard Government Minister
Susan Ryan – Age Discrimination Commissioner
answering audience questions and discussing stuff.
A loose boulder hanging over a 984-m (2800 ft) abyss
“Kjeragbolten is a Photo Opportunity Not to Be Missed”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/05/23/kjeragbolten_a_rock_balanced_between_two_cliffs_in_norway_is_a_popular_photo.html?wpisrc=obnetwork
The Last of the World War I Vets Speak http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/05/world_war_i_veteran_the_last_of_the_great_war_s_soldiers_speak.html
The Last of the World War I Vets Speak
Geez, I’m coming more and more to the conclusion that this lecturer is incompetent in all things. Or did you know that everybody in Eastern Europe owns their house because the government gave it to them after the downfall of socialism?
Hugs to Jafafa
You deserve all the kittens you can smuggle
Giliell
In fact, that’s exactly how we got our house, which is why we’re not paying the bank at all for the next 20 years!
[/NOT!!!]
She was singing along. Quite mean of you to stop before her song was done!
I’ve dropped the “formerly KG” from my nym, as I feel it’s now sufficiently formerly to be unnecessary. Anyone who wants to assemble all my comments will still be able to do so with a little diligence.
And another fickhead sacred of cooties inserts his head so far up his arse he can see out though his own nose, Ex-Crimewatch presenter defends rape remarks:
Ross apparently claims his book is based on “evidence”, albeit just what that “evidence” is for the above unlikelihoods is not said (in the article).
And in response, Three reasons why a vagina is not like a laptop (all emboldening as in the original):
Also, laptops rarely have cooties, and so are much safer to “use” than woman. And laptops will quite happily do advanced GIGO, whilst (many) woman will laugh at your stupidity.
Seems that a relative from another corner of the
forestfamily is interested in this site:http://www.collective-evolution.com/
so I went and had a quick look. It’s apparent literally at first glance that this is going to be some woo-soaked, new-age anti-science crap, but it occurs to me to wonder – does anyone happen to know exactly who/what is running this site?
(And incidentally, any recommendations for something friendly and accessible to non-scientists, a site (in English or Spanish) that this relative could be well-advised to turn to for real information on a similar level and range of topics, instead of this woo? It would probably have to be pretty easy-to-read and attractive, so as to get their attention …).
Many thanks for any info or suggestions!
.
.
I want to live in Tony’s bar too … or I’d live in a flat upstairs/across the road/next door, and just spend all my time there …
in my dreams!
DEAL WITH THE DEVIL: Congress Enlists Wall Street To Help Write Financial Bills
“Banks’ Lobbyists ‘Help’ in Drafting Financial Bills” http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/banks-lobbyists-help-in-drafting-financial-bills/
I’m all talk. I decided I wanted to sleep more than I wanted cinnamon rolls. But I also decided that if I had been told about this sooner than last night I could have used my uneventful weekend prior to last night to make some lovely rolls. So it’s not my fault, it’s theirs. : p
Did you have that surgery you were thinking about? (That was you that mentioned that a while back, correct?) *hugs* for depression. : (
Aw, that’s really sweet. I’m often self-conscious about how I blurt out “That’s really racist.” Or something like that in half the conversations I’m in. It’s only been a couple years that I’ve been really informed about the kyriarchy (which encompasses your list nicely) and already people are sick of talking to me about politics and social theory. : / So it’d sure be nice to talk to you!
(I just realized that the whole point of the gathering I was previously talking about was to openly discuss philosophy and social theory. And I was still self-conscious. Stoopid socialization 2.0!)
Hey drummer 25, welcome.
Cher: Oh lawd it just keeps getting worse.
Happy Anniversary Ogvorbis and wife!
WMD Kitty,
Yay for virtual hookahs!
Yazikus, I have a friend like that. We just don’t talk about it. We don’t agree on much of anything. But she cares deeply about people and would give a person in need the shirt off her back. Her views are far more mainstream here than mine, but she’s never once preached at or judged me. If she can do it, I can do it. She knows I disagree with her. I’ve suggested some reading to her. She’s done the same for me. We leave it there and focus on what we have in common.
Jafafa, :( Sorry you’re housebound. May I recommend podcasts? Risk, The Moth, Caustic Soda, The Nerdist, How Stuff Works and Citizen Radio are some good ones.
Kitten update:
They finally took to the bottle. What a relief! There are four of them. Three of them are polydactyl. One of them has 7 toes on both front paws. I predict she’ll be the best furniture shredder in the litter.
The one plain ‘ol non-mutated kitten needs a name. He’s shy, quiet and has fluffy black fur. Any suggestions? We thought about Inigo, since when he gets bigger he will likely start attacking his 6 fingered siblings. Thoughts?
The mildly deranged penguin starting jumping up and down and dancing around the room, off the ceiling, and, following a minor misstep, in the toilet bowel. She was thrilled her programme to evolve flying cats was bearing wing.
I had to explain what “polydactyl” is. Hint: It’s not the same as “Pterodactyl”…
(Why she wants to evolve flying cats is not clear. She’s a bird (“advanced dinosaur” is one of her preferred terms), so it seems she should instead like to evolve a cat with lead weights and no teeth…)
Perfect!
Mutant Avenger.
Hey, Cat!
Free Beer.
No Spare Parts.
Dr Frankenstein.
Insert Name Here.
Pterodactyl.
Bill.
Number 2.
… and Happy Anniversary to Ogvorbis and Wife! (argh, I’m so late).
Hope you have a wonderful break together.
Portia #93
Thanks for the welcome Portia. I’m here every day listening/learning – but generally keeping shtum. Great to be among friendly like-minded people.
*happy*
Spot.
Don’t be silly. Vampires don’t have souls.
I think Inigo is the one we’re sticking with. Although I like Free Beer. Then I could place an ad in the paper that said, “Free Beer needs a good home”.
Of course. Bigtime.
Point out how it really goes in science: that scientists are basically paid for their impact factor (how often their papers are cited, or anyway how often the journals they publish in are cited), and how difficult it is to publish a mere confirmation of what everybody already thinks they know. The more prestigious a journal, the more manuscripts it rejects for not being groundbreaking and earthshaking enough. (I’ve had two manuscripts rejected that way, and even an abstract for a conference presentation.)
Point them to the Wikipedia article on radiometric dating and the one on ice cores. Outside of Wikipedia, there’s the classic: Radiometric dating – a Christian perspective.
No, no, last I’ve read – was linked to from here a few years ago, IIRC – it really was Vínland, not Vinland, and there really was a species of vine closely related to grapes growing there.
Good morning & thanks for all the advice with my friend! I hope everyone’s day goes well/continues to go well.I’m super excited to make my version of potato salad today. Potatoes, mustard (lots), mayo, pickles, onions, dill, hardboiled eggs, bacon, salt & pepper. It is delicious. Also, lamburgers. It is cloudy and pleasant where I’m at, I’m enjoying not being scorched.
Good evening
Good news: My second cousin’s husband’s family got out of Syria and are safe in Egypt. Cousin’s husband is currently visiting them. Their house is probably pebbles, but they’re OK.
Bad news: Looks like my mum’s drinking again. Blood test’s getting worse, ridiculous excuses for why she has to go home all alone when we’re at my aunt’s 60th birthday (“I need to call the ophtalmologist” at quarter to six)…
I mean yeah, does she think that since she’s on the tranplantation list she should speed up things a little?
She actually went to see a therapist, but apparently he’s an arrogant prick (i.e. he does not agree with her on every whim). I guess the only therapist she’d consider good would be one not worth their name….
I might start earning minimum wage in a couple of months… possibly a month or two before my bloody contract ends but who is counting.
I am so very grateful, that instead of giving me the privilege of fucking with me for two thirds of minimum wage, they will give me the whole minimum wage. All that? Just for me? My, I don’t feel exploited any more. Not.at.all. Not me. I would, after all, be getting almost two thirds of the salary one normally got for this position, before it was allowed to take young people with no work experience for peanuts and free humiliation.
(Yeah, sorry, I’m in HULK SMASH mood today)
*pile of fluffy hugs on floor*
*phew*
Giliell,
Yay! for your good news, and *hugs* for the bad news
BTW, concerning “spud”, that’s not the beast. The beast, or anyway its skeleton, is the dark brown streak in the middle. The rest is a nodule produced when the soft tissues decayed and minerals precipitated in that weird chemical environment, see comment 5.
Also, that stupid referendum about the definition of marriage will probably happen, they got enough signatures and I doubt it can fall on the constitutional court.
I’m sure EU is going to be delighted, getting more stupid bigots in. Especially with France doing their performance art of descending into 19th century.
Beatrice
The more you write about your country, the less alone I feel! (That’s only partly a joke. Seriously.)
*hugs* for all anniversariers, with an addition of *champagne* for all those with bottle-fed kittens or just plain adorable kittehs hanging about (I will refrain, my TickRiddenBadAssOutdoorCat with HomelessFelineGirlFriends doesn’t count).
And for drummer25, I answered your question but I never actually welcomed you – so, Welcome!
+++
Gah. I may have taken on too much work to do in one evening/night.
Then again, I may just be procrastinating.
Somebody tell me to get back to work. Deadlines, people, deadlines – there’s only so far I can stretch them!
Also, drummer25, if you’ve been lurking long enough, you should know the correct answers to this:
What is your opinion on
a) Horses?
b) Peas?
rq
Sorry, not a clue what the answer should be.
*hangs head, reverts to lurker status*
Gililel, I’m glad your cousin in law is safe. I’m sorry about your mom.
Beatrice, that all sounds very SMASHworthy to me. Just remember to wear safety goggles whilst smashing. ;)
Yazikus, I totally cheated and bought my tater salad.
rq, I love both horses and peas!
*ducks*
drummer25
… Well, your opinion might do, for starters. ;)
Jackie
I’m with you on the Horses, but just so you know, it’ll get you on caecily‘s bad side.
Hate peas, though. Ew. You can sit in Portia‘s corner.
Just had some peas (frozen and quickly steamed to perfection), boiled potatoes, zander sautéed over onions and white wine, and Hollandaise sauce. They were delicious.
Horses, however, are dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.
@Weed Monkey
I was unsure what zander was, so I googled it, and learned something new!
From Wikipedia:
yazikus
We call it a zandarts hereabouts. Delicious when smoked and salted. *mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*
What the hell :D
That’s one exceptionally huge zander! The fish I ate a part of was hardly 1.5 kg.
It’s also quite expensive so I only bought one side of the fish and don’t eat it often. Very delicious, though.
Off to cross-breed zanders with Serrasalmus Nattieri.
Gilliel, I second Jackie.
Hmm, peas riding on horses? With acid for blood?
David Marjanovic
“No, no, last I’ve read – was linked to from here a few years ago, IIRC – it really was Vínland, not Vinland, and there really was a species of vine closely related to grapes growing there.”
Is it still extant?
That’s the whole point. Catholic organizations had been lobbying the EU to invite Croatia in ever since 1991.
Heh. The law is through, and the protesters can’t change that.
France has a tradition of not only harboring all political extremes, but also of making revolution as the standard answer to being fed up enough; it’s so ingrained that even the reactionaries try it.
I think so.
Holy shit, that were some giant hailstones that hit them.
“Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India” http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/05/24/an_indian_lake_surrounded_by_hundreds_of_ancient_skeletons_the_surprise.html?wpisrc=obinsite
:-o
Yeah, caecily linked to that earlier today, and I thought it was a fantastic read.
In other news, I am so.fucking.tired.of.this.shit.
Hi, all. Thanks for all the well-wishing for Wife and I’s anniversary.
I dusted the ribs with alder smoked salt, course ground pepper, chipotle chili powder, dried garlic and raw sugar, wrapped it in foil, and cooked it at 180F for about four hours. Took it out, tossed the fat and the foil, and grilled it over moderate heat to dry it out and added some sweet commercial (Wegmans) BBQ sauce. Served it with tomato, sweet pepper, onion, garlic, parmesan and romano risotto and steamed Brussel’s sprouts and baby pat-a-pan squash. Had a Sam Adams cherry wheat beer with it. Excellent.
And I am still not an Aistopod.
From our friends at Cracked: 5 Gamer Comments That Give Straight White Guys a Bad Name.
Today’s xkcd.
From Tree Lobsters!: Man of Steel – Pragmatist’s Cut
And last, but not least, from Comics I Don’t Understand: Photo That Might Make Some of You Laugh Out Loud
–
Yes, especially in areas that can be described as “pretty conservative”, and where the School Board determines the curriculum…and/or where the principal/head of the public school system wants to avoid headaches from fundy parents.
On “what to do”, all I can say is, I use the same method Portia describes. Can’t swear to the results, though.
I do know that staring at them in slack-jawed amazement, and saying, “Oooookay” before hastily changing the subject, does. not. work.
–
*hugs* and *moar kittehs* for Jafafa Hots.
Tomorrow may be better.
–
Obviously, Tony must be in charge of the bar at The Commune.
–
I vote we move Tony’s restaurant to The Commune.
Then we can all live there.
–
I don’t know as how it’s supposed to be depressing—but it is on the List of Common Side Effects.
How long will you be on the crutches?
–
Here’s last week’s garden update, with a warning for those arachnophobic – I have realized that my own arachnophobia has receded somewhat, and while I still freak out at the sight of the critters, I no longer panic. And they’re quite fascinating to photograph, even with the tiny phone camera.
I think Husband is delaying Real Camera repair to discourage me from over-doing it with the nature photography.
I used to tell my Girl Scouts the woods were full of sword wielding vampire bears riding crocogators. They like to pick off girls who don’t use the buddy system, you know. They especially lurk around latrines at night. Very dangerous. Also extremely sneaky. So sneaky that no one has ever seen them and lived to tell the tale.
Welcome in, drummer25! Feel free to speak up. We don’t bite.
Well, not all the time.
:D
–
Good news, indeed, Giliell!
Sorry to read that your mother’s drinking again.
*hugs*
–
*hugs* and sympathy, Beatrice.
–
c) cheese.
–
Then, I’m sorry, Jackie, but you are an Abomination Unto Nuggan.
And one day, the Horses will carry your pea-fed soul away, below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, where the world is gnawed by nameless Things. With Great Big Shiny Teeth.
They’re probably Fundamentalists.
–
This is just to prove to Giliell that it wasn’t sunny both days we were out of town.
And the pornography was amazing.
cicely,
Noooooooooooooooooooo! :0
So I literally caught myself indulging in ageism. I think. I am not sure, but I lean towards yes. I was having a discussion with a coworker who was telling me about her horrible grandfather who died of a heart attack at 53. As we continued we talked about getting older and staying healthy. I literally started to say “I don’t want to get too old (I had 65/70 in mind) because your body slows down and you can’t be as active and you develop all these problems”. I didn’t finish the sentence when I paused and looked at my friend and said “I think what I was going to say would have been horribly prejudiced against people of older ages. Seeing as many people enjoy being 60, 70, or 90 there is nothing inherently bad about being 76”. I then retracted my statement.
Dunno.
This is a chronic problem that comes up, Haglund’s deformity, flares up and makes me unable to walk. Used to happen just now and then, but since I broke my ankle 2 years ago it keeps happening all the time, things are out of whack. I was off the crutches for a few days but then walked a couple blocks to the drug store and it came right back.
Nope. That would be seriously yukky. My latest doc considers that a last resort, I’d be laid up for a year probably, some people take longer.
So instead I just am laid up off and on. Then she handed me some opiates. *shrug*
After it’s “flared down?” I just have to warm up my foot each morning with a compress and then do stretches and deal with flareups again from time to time. The ankle fracture (which will never heal) seems to have permanently annoyed the soft tissue making things tight and such.
Turns out breaking my ankle wasn’t such a great idea after all.
I have nice kitties though.
Buying the right kind of shoe is difficult, even for the most privileged of us.
Good night, my brain is fried – too much attempted thinking in two languages. Ech.
So I’m making my potato salad, and scoop out the mayo and toss it in. Start mixing. Notice the mayo was separating a little. Look for expiration date, and it is April 28th of this year. *Cue my terror! It is already stirred in- do I dare continue to make it? Is it ruined?? Surely the combined knowledge of the horde can let me know if my potato salad is the potato salad of mayonnaise doom.
Tony, just remember the working “definition” of old.
Anyone who’s 15 or more years older than you are.
Works whether you’re 16 or 60. Helps to put perceptions and instinctive feelings about age and ageing into context.
Only with proper wheelchair access, of course.
Does it have “best by” or “use by” or nothing next to the date? If it’s the former you’re as okay as something made with mayonnaise can be, for the latter…hmm. You could try googling it, too.
I think “reflexively distrustful and suspicious of teenagers” works as a better encapsulation of “old.”
Word of warning: Do not read those comments unless you want to get pissed off.
Apparently I was “old” at the age of 19.
Off mayo sounds dangerous. However, it’s got so much fat in it, I don’t know how fast it actually goes bad in the fridge. If you make it yourself it can separate pretty easily. Blending in an egg yolk is supposed to make the emulsion stick back together again. According to teh intrawebs, if it gets too warm and is cooled again it can separate and still be good. I’m dubious about whether or not that’s good advice. Some people just mix it back up again. I can’t say whether or not those people should do that. It just depends on how close to the edge you like to walk.
I got my tater salad at Auldi’s and it was pretty yummy.
BTW, homemade mayo is amazing, if you like mayo. It is cheap and pretty easy to make.
anteprepro, I skipped the comments but LURVED the article.
I love Cracked and sadly this is the procedure that needs to be followed, strictly, lest one lose IQ points and raise their blood pressure.
It said Best By.. And it smelled okay….
I know right? Well… I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I had a BLT for dinner instead so I can think on it tonight.
Thanks for thoughts!
So this is what I learned after googling “When does mayonnaise expire?”
Which made me wonder, is brownish putrid mayo a month past it’s sell by date okay? Just kidding. I think I’m in the clear with my potato salad now.
Nerd:
We are on the Boardwalk on the beach, which has multiple wheelchair access ramps. Two of which are located conveniently in front of our entrance.
****
mildlymagnificent:
That sounds like helpful advice. Thank you.
The Deep Rifts just keep a comin’.
I’m anti-
Mayo
Peas
Brussels sprouts
Grapefruit
Coconut
Liver
(Just a sampling of my pickiness which my mother finds amusing, given that she has rarely met a food she doesn’t like.
I hate pineapple.
But yes, Jackie.
Fundamentalist fiends so fell that even Sauron claims he knows them not.
And we know that he doesn’t hesitate to employ Horses in their true forms, as companions for his Nazgûl.
–
My knees couldn’t agree more!
–
Tony, I’m with you on all of that, except the coconut.
–
Azkyroth:
Why of course we’re scary.
Everyone: hi. Why wouldn’t as many things as possible be accessible in the Commune? the bar just seems like a given.
But then again, I remain under the impression it’s on a remote volcanic island.
thunk!
*pouncehug*
–
Aw, I liked caecily. *pout*
thunk
“a remote volcanic island” with a full range of climates to allow for kumara and cranberries to grow in adjacent fields.
Think Big!!!!!
[how’s things?]
hey thunk : )
Sorry bout your mom Giliell : (
That’s fine, but getting into the restaurant itself might be problematic. The Thai place we ate at Saturday night had a foyer (necessary in winter), and both doors opened out (as it should be for fire exits). Neither had an automatic opener for easier wheelchair access. If we didn’t receive some assistance, it would have been very difficult to get in.
Arggggh…. why did I decide to go hike for 7 miles of mostly uphill while terribly out of shape? My entire lower half is boycotting its existence….
But I gots to see a giant california salamander, so I guess it was worth it. About 10 inches long. This thing will eat *mice*.
http://imageshack.us/a/img46/7784/giantsalamander1.jpg
I’m just… going to drag my corpse over to this corner and finish dying the rest of the way. You guys can throw me out once I start to smell. Or feed me to the salamander.
rowanvt
I have … rum … cheese … crackers … oh, and fresh parsley (the transplants are thriving).
It’s all yours.
oooh and basil
So I had to pop into work briefly a few hours ago and not even ten minutes into arriving, one of my bartenders began discussing deja vu. I didn’t have a quick laymans refutation immediately at hand, but when things shifted to Sylvia Browne, I was able to point out that her accuracy is no better than guessing. Then, when the discussion added another person, being ‘open minded’ came up, to which I pounced on evidence based opinions about the world and the Null Hypothesis. Even managed to give an example of what I meant using the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
There’s open minded and there’s just plain gullible.
Tony, I don’t want to move to your restaurant, but I wish I could visit.
Me too.
Well, except for the various -ist issues, the “self-help” articles with this problem, and the gleeful elision in the service of the point the author may or may not be trying to make…
The “Closure” Kickstarter is still going — one week left!
Seriously, I want this documentary to hit it BIG, because it touches on a lot of important issues regarding adoption, particularly interracial adoption.
Also: Why Society Still Needs Feminism
Powerful.
And a little scary.
Morpheus also has an opinion on the friend zone, for what it’s worth (probably nothing).
10 Common Misconceptions debunked (I like the 10% brain one), and 8 Misconceptions about Animals, including the infamous lemming and daddy-long-legs. Also, ostrich as raptor… it’s a scary kind of funny. But the point about dog vision has a note about red berries on green backgrounds. Uh oh?
I dedicate this gumby kick to cicely.
A volcano in South America has awoken, who dares disturb his slumber??
Speaking of awakening; re. the Eurovision song contest: Lestat has returned and his name is…. Cezar??
rq, if capybaras jumped from cliffs (and aimed at humans) they would be scary.
Good morning
Thanks for all the hugs.
*sigh*
I guess that at this point we simply have to accept that she is killing herself. Whether she wants to kill herself is pretty much besides the point and I’ll refrain from yelling at her why she is doing that (but believe me, that’s the one thing I really want to do)
Ogvorbis
Damn, I totally for got to congratulate you on your anniversary . Belated best wishes.
accessibility
You folks have really opened my eyes towards this, because us stoopid able-bodied people often just don’t realize three steps (while we might realize a full stairway) or that the buttons for and in the elevator are conveniently located at a height where they’re comfortable for the average able-bodied person to see and push.
That means it has to make for a good band name. Off Mayo.
Ok, well maybe just the stage name of the drummer.
That never even crossed my mind. *facepalm*
Stoopid indeed.
Yeah, but that’s the essence of privilege, isn’t it? We don’t see how the whole world is made to cater to those of us with a certain privilege. And the person who designed the stupid elevators didn’t think “hehehe, I’m going to put an elevator into this building but I’m building it in a way so that disabled people need help to operate it, muahahaha” and since then generations of people have failed to think “nanananaaanaaa, I could change this, but I’m not going to”.
I don’t claim that having a kid is anyway like being disabled but my experiences with them have shown me many ways in which our world is inaccessible. Suddenly you do notice the three steps, suddenly you become aware that the damn elevator buttons are out of reach for anybody who can’t raise their arms to 1.3m and that some fucking light-barriers are located so high that people in a wheelchair (or a small kid) might not actually trigger them.
And I know that there’s a brazillion other small things that could probably be easily changed that I’m not even aware of.
+++
BTW, WiSCFI II seems to have sucked big at accessebility and inclusion. Intersectionality, it’s a thing.
+++
Does it yount as “working on your grammar” if I put brightly coloured markers everywhere?
Lordy, yes. My mother gave me her feet, which are a bit wider than normal in the front and quite a bit narrower than normal in the back. And of my own genetic recombination, my first toes are… tall? Curved up? Something that requires the toe box of shoes to be taller than normal. So finding shoes… yeah. I laugh bitterly when I read articles and blog posts about fat fashion that talk about how even though large clothes are hard to find, at least fat people can have all the cute shoes too! Hahaha… not for me. And as for finding cheap shoes, well, I end up getting the ones that fit the best, and then putting inserts in them to pad the heel to fit better, and that’s usually after 3-5 stores and trying on a dozen or more pairs. My mother told me a month or so ago that she finally went to a SpecificBrand shoe store where they analyze your foot shape and have several last configurations to match as closely as possible, and this was the first pair of shoes she’d ever had that felt good rather than just acceptably manageable. And those cost about $150, for a pair of sneakers. [Insert Sam Vimes shoe statements here]
Beatrice, I hate it that you aren’t getting even the basic, minimum decent recognition for your work (especially as I suspect you put in a hell of a lot more than the basic effort and skill yourself). But you will get proper return for your work eventually, dammit; I just look forward to reading about it!
Giliell, yay for your in-laws-via-cousin good news. And I’m sorry about your mother :-(
I vote Ogvorbs and Josh and Sofia (who hasn’t been around for a while – in fact I’m probably getting her nym wrong. Anyone happen to know how she’s getting on?) and Tony to deal with gustatory delights for The Commune. Me, I just want to feast on the results …
cicely has the solution!
But of course!
Tony, can I have your share of the coconut?
carlie
I have short, wide feet (you know, the kind of feet adapted for walking across muddy potato fields without sinking in ;) ), and I always bought boys’ sneakers because they were so much more comfortable.
My biggest issue is with dress shoes, though – since I lost my all-purpose dress shoes, I can’t find anything even remotely similar or as comfortable or as cheap anywhere, with a (admittedly rather) high yet stable heel. And not that it matters (seeing as nobody takes me anymore), I don’t have a good dancing shoe anymore (they really were multi-purpose).
I hated the pointy-toe style, mostly because those shoes look like prime tripping material (a comfortable and safe shoe for me is one in which I can run while carrying a child…).
Oh, and somewhere hereabouts someone once complained about normal dress shoes not having a decent sole anymore – and I more than second that idea. I like the feel of gripping the tarmac, not slipping across it, as those hard plastic soles tend to do.
Meh. Shoes. Why can’t we all be hobbits? [/ramblyrant]
carlie
You’re Igors?
As for shoes, don’t mention them.
I used to buy cheap Chinese velvet slippers if I needed “posh” shoes. They were comfy and had absolutely no heels
Well, Femen Berlin protested the Barbie Dreamhouse by burning a fucking cross.
Somebody please tell me again why I should sympathize with that bunch of racists?
“Off mayo” means MOAR mustard, horseradish, and wasabi!!!!1!!
(Fortunately, horseradish isn’t made from horses. Only the “beef” in the sandwich / stew / soup / whatever is made from horses.)
As I recall, one of Femen’s sub-goals is the abolition of religion, which they see as a tool for male domination. Elimination of male domination is the main goal (as I currently understand Femen). So whilst burning a torture device closely associated with one particular religion in front of an over-sized doll-house (arguably a symbol of male domination) does not, at first glance, have a particularly obvious connection, there is a connection of sorts in terms of the larger goal.
blf: In the US, burning a cross has a secondary meaning. Burning a cross on someone’s yard is a tactic used by the KKK, a group specifically dedicated to promoting white supremacy through violence, to intimidate opponents and signal to them that they might be killed if they keep doing what they’re doing (whether what they’re doing is activism or just living in a certain neighborhood.) Of course, the members of Femen may not be aware of this history, but I hope if so someone points it out to them and they find another method of protesting sexism because this one is going to seem pretty creepy to at least 300 million people, many of whom would otherwise sympathize.
Yes, but burning a cross in front of a house already means something else…
Good morning.
Love the Morpheus bit, rq :)
—
My new office is in the same building as my former therapist. Rode the elevator up with him just now. Mild awkwardness ensued. : p
(More awkward was when the maintenance man said he mentioned me to another therapist who had seen S, and that therapist said he knew me. That’s the only way he could have known me, as far as I know, and we’ve never met. Seems a bit unprofessional.)
*envy* Dicamptodon is definitely worth it.
Seconded.
(Hint to shoe producers: I actually have five toes per foot, not three as you seem to think. Shock horror.)
Ah, yes, I’d forgotten about the whole kkk–burning cross thing. That explains the “racist” comment, which I couldn’t decipher at all.
From some trivial searching, it seems the cross had a crucified barbie doll. That doesn’t change the point about it being a poor symbolic action in some parts of the world, but does (at least to my mind) make clearer the religion–domination theme which (as I recall) is Femem’s driver.
while black.
I worry about that last discovery, the one about vervet monkeys…
This.
*faints*
And “cute shoes” were never meant for people with a wide foot + narrow heel + high arch—at least, not in a size 6 1/2. Larger sizes may be different.
When I bought a pair of simple white sandals recently, I ended up with a size 9 1/2. Just for the height and width. There’s like a mile of unused sole out in front, and a bit of a caboose, but that was the only pair in the store that was prepared to fit even that well.
I envy people who can order shoes off the Intarweebs, and have a reasonable chance of them fitting.
–
Because some of us have perpetually cold feet.
–
O-o
–
Portia – possibly, yes. But therapists also have to know a lot of people socially, so I would hope people wouldn’t jump to conclusions about how you know each other.
With all the luck you’ve had, why are you so, so sad?
Good point, carlie.
Where is Putin? And where are you?
For anyone so fed up with the shoes thing that they’re prepared to spend real money, go for Campers. I have short feet, narrow heels, very wide feet otherwise, an extremely high arch and rather deformed toes (this delightful assortment comes as a package free with your delivery of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease). The only shoes I’ve ever found reliably comfortable without orthotics are Campers.
Aside from which they’re seriously cool. Some of them come not in pairs, but in “twins”. The not so lucky daughter who inherited the condition from me is _still_, eight+ years later, wearing her twins Campers shoes – one pair with cat on the left and dog on the right, her other pair has the same stylised flower on each foot but in reversed colours.
Am I the only person who thinks that the layout of modern introductory textbooks induces ADD? Seriously – every page is like a conference poster with random boxes, highlighted areas, pictures, arrows and little question boxes or “eye-catchers.” Makes the whole book appear to be a tray of appetizers with no meal. ARGH! It is really hard to choose a book when I can’t concentrate on them enough to ready the bloody things but am instead constantly appalled by the topography and graphics.
well that’s one way they could have built it
stonehenge
Given Putin’s autocontrarian tendencies, does anybody else picture him caressing an old globe (with the USSR intact, natch) and whispering to it, “Those were good times, weren’t they?”
Ex-mormon moment of non-madness: Tal Bachman writes an open letter to gay mormons:
UnknownEric
I’m pretty sure he’s still living in the past, not just feeling nostalgic about it.
While not all of these apply to me, the last one certainly does (and #11, too!).
I know this is from cheezburgr, but trust me, this cake with a side of geography is really cool.
That’s it.
That’s all I gots today.
@Ogvorbis
That is an awesome cake. I’m always on the lookout for cool cake ideas for my little person. This year he had a Sea Krait cake. It was really neat. He is also really interested in learning about the planets, solar system, climate, etc. so this might be right up his alley. Thanks for the link!
yazikusL
Glad to be of help.
the sea snake cake? With or without poison?
Wife just asked me about a shirt on the laundry rack. I told her it was the one I was wearing on Saturday (your Monday) but took off because it was too warm. Then I said something that may not have been too bright: “Not sure if it is still clean. Just smell the armpits.”
I have a feeling that one will come back to haunt me.
Without. It did however have a delicious blueberry butter-cream filling.
My partner is a total laundry sniffer. I mean, if I find a sock in the laundry hamper (pile, if I am being honest), I assume dirty and wash. Partner will carefully go through the pile, sniffing, so as to ascertain that everything in the pile it truly dirty. Okay, maybe not everything, but he does tend to suspect that I am putting not dirty clothes in the pile.
I’m the opposite – I pick up anything lying around and sniff it to make sure it’s clean, and if in doubt, it gets washed, just in case.
I assume everything is dirty, rather than not. Safer that way!
I had an interview today. They gave me a folder to read while I waited that had info about the benefits package. I tried not to drool on it.
Portia
Putting out a new jar of thumbs for you. :) Good luck!
Thanks rq. You always put a smile on my face.
I’m not sure whether I want it or not, because business is booming for me right now. And it’s about to get a lot busier, with my mentor referring a lot of cases to me as she transitions to being a judge. (Yay another woman on the bench!) I feel kind of conflicted and like an ingrate and gaaaaaah.
@Portia
I hope the job works out if you decide you want it. Good benefits are super nice. Do you have your own practice (feel free not to answer if that is too private).
Which reminds me, Portia, I think I’ll soon be joining you in the ranks of the officially self-employed (along with, of course, my ‘real’ job and that whole mothering thing). Kind of silly, but I have to wait out this year of maternity leave (ends on Thursday!) before self-employment is actually beneficial to me (why yes, we are playing the system somewhat, why do you ask?). Anyway, it’s a necessary step – personal growth, yadda yadda, legal taxes and government benefits in case of emergency, blah blah blah. :)
I’m sure you’ll make the right decision in the end with regard to this job: it’s always good to see what’s out there (plus, interview practice is valuable in the long run!). Maybe, if you don’t actually take the job, you can have some nice collaboration with the company anyway, leaving options open down the road. (Not sure how the lawyering business works out there.)
I’m glad business is booming for you, though! *happy dance* And also, another Yay on another woman on the bench. Congratulations to your mentor (Is that what you say in this case? If not, best wishes and good luck.).
Portia:
My fingers and toes are crossed for you.
Thanks, Og : )
yazikus, yep I’m a solo practitioner.
rq,
Good for you! Play that system for all its worth, ha. That’s great.
You could go blind (yep, my mind (well, what is left of it, anyway) went there)!
Hello folks threadrupt again. Hugs to those who need them.
Here’s how the house looked this morning. What you can’t see is that inside there was an electrician, a tiler and two painters. In addition to the chippy on the veranda outside there was two plumbers contemplating how to sink the septic system into the ruddy great hole they dug yesterday, and another electrician running power cables along the trench to the power pole. It was a mad house. Ms Fishy had given me some brownies to take over, but there was nowhere near enough for everyone so I just dropped them on the kitchen counter and left them to sort it out. Oh, did I mention we have a kitchen now?
Anyway, Da Commune (Antibodies Campus) is damn near ready for habitation. We’d be more than happy to have Tony bring his bar there, but please keep in mind that we had to axe all the zombie defense systems due to budget restraints.
Er, that’d be Antipodes Campus, though with the way my lungs are feeling some antibodies would be nice about now.
If there are any fairly well-off dog-lovers in the horde reading this, please consider donating to save this mans dog: http://www.gofundme.com/32d210 (he’s a friend of Russell Glasser on the Atheist Experience IIRC)
I’m not sure if what essentially amounts to begging for money for causes is frowned upon in the lounge, but my closest friend lost a dog to exactly this kind of thing, so I feel compelled to try to help this one.
Hooray for having counter to drop brownies on and run! :D
Ogvorbis: I giggled.
Yay Portia!
Thanks for the recommendation, mildlymagnificent – that sounds like my feet all over (heh), so I’ll check them out to keep on the list when I start getting good shoes.
yazikus – no. Clothes become dirty by transitive properties when put in the laundry with dirty ones, so it doesn’t matter if they were clean when they went in there.I have tried to devise a system whereby gently-worn clothes go elsewhere or turned differently in the closet to avoid overwashing or the dirty-by-association problem, but it always ends up with a pile on the dresser instead.
We’re having wonky internet problems at home at the same time I’m trying to take some vacation time from work, so I won’t be around much this week. I hope I don’t miss anything big. ;)
I’m wearing a merino wool undershirt that’s now three days gone from it’s last wash. The manufacturer claimed that you could go a week without washing it and not have it stink. I didn’t believe them so I wore it five days in a row and on two of those days I slept in it too. I ended up washing it before the week was up not because it stank, but because I was getting too creeped out by the fact that it wasn’t. They’re expensive, but there’s a cost savings in washing; I wonder how it adds up?
thanks all for help on the roomate situation. She was informed to find new lodgings. I will have quiet with no tiradish phone calls, deliberately, when I am visiting my home
Had to explain what exercising your privilege to my personal detriment several times. I think/hope she learned something useful. I did.
Nifty-neat!
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All tentacles crossed for you, Portia! It’s nice to have options.
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FossilFishy, from that angle, your “shed” looks downright spacious.
:)
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carlie, take these *hugs* with you on your vacation, to be used as needed.
:) :) :)
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broboxley, congratulations on your imminent roommate-less state. What kind of deadline did you give her?
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That’s my system too. Which is why keeping my room clean is such a challenge. Especially when I have the excuse “Well I have to leave out a set of clothes in case we get a fire call in the middle of the night so I can get dressed fast” Then well, there’s already half-worn clothes on the floor, so that ‘s the Half-Worn Clothes Spot.
Thanks for all the well-wishes folks :)
I will change my undershirt daily but have been known, during the winter, to use the same flannel shirt for a week (worn in the evenings after I shed the green and grey).
WARNING WARNING WARNING
FIRE STORY FIRE STORY
Some years back, I was at a fire in northern California. This was up along the Klamath River — hot, wet, and smokey (sounds like whisky?). Anyway, I got spiked out to a subcamp (called a spike camp) on the east side of the fire. And I got the call 1/2 hour after dropping my dirty laundry off.
I drew a vehicle (Dodge Durango POS) and left a note at the laundry to deliver my clothes to Ground Support. I left a note at Ground Support (who deal with delivering supplies to the right place (among other things)) to send my laundry with one of the food deliveries. Then I drove 270 miles up the Klamath River, through Happy Camp, up and over some part of the Trinity Mountains and down the Salmon River to a little town called Forks of Salmon which is only 30 miles from Orleans (where the base camp is) and only 60 road miles. But the road was closed because, when you get the heat from a forest fire on a steep mountainside, BFRs tend to come tumblin’ down in large numbers.
I was spiked out for nine days. The smoke so thick that visibility was 50 to 150 yards. I smoked cigars to get fresh air. There were showers, but I had one set of underwear, one pair of socks, one t-shirt, my nomex pants and one NPS grey shirt (long sleeved). For Nine days. Nine days.
Finally, the road from Forks of Salmon to Orleans was open and I was heading home. First stop was at laundry — no clothing. Next stop was dropping off my rig at Ground Support. And there was my laundry. I asked why it hadn’t been delivered. They did have a reason. They cannot deliver personal items or items owned by individuals. Which I understand, but DAMNIT!
Anyway, I did have clean clothing for the flight home. Smelled like smoked cheese from marinating in the smoke for nine days, but it was clean.
END FIRE STORY
Nomex.
Pants.
You just blew my mind. I can’t imagine wearing more than a hood of that stuff.
Wait. I think what I pictured was wrong. It’s just that the fire resistant stuff is in the lining, right? I was thinking like underarmor leggings made out of nomex. Sounds itchy.
And now I’m getting ads for fire equipment because I googled it.
Portia:
When I work security, I am supposed to wear my work uniform — NPS green and grey. Luckily, the Nomex fire trousers are dark green so I just wear those. I don’t have to wash them (not supposed to, actually) but turn them in to supply when they are soiled (supply sends them out en masse to be properly (and safely) laundered). The yellow Nomex shirts are handled the same way. I keep a shirt with me (along with gloves, helmet, shake-and-bake, neck cover and goggles) in case the fire gets into my area. So, when at a fire, I wear Nomex trousers for up to seventeen days, for up to seventeen hours a day. They breath pretty well — better than the poly cotton NPS trousers.
The actual fabric is made out of Nomex. No lining. Feels like twill.
Interesting, Ogvorbis. I just wash my turnout gear lining if it needs it.
…well not as often as it needs it.
The reasoning for the separate treatment for the cloth is that washing the Nomex with conventional fabrics is that the fabric lint can accumulate and provide a fuel in extreme heat or direct flame situations. The Nomex is also almost always from a regional fire cache. I bring two pair of fire trousers and two shirts to each fire. If my fire trousers get bad enough, I go over to supply and trade them in for a clean pair. I suppose some people own their own Nomex, but they have their own way to wash it.
But can you beat nine days in the same set of Nomex, in 95F plus temperatures with heavy smoke?
Ooooh, right, the lint.
Nope, can’t beat that by any means! The longest I have on a fire is maybe nine hours. Your nine days….yikes.
My keyboard is all sticky (…any jokes Ogvorbis? ^_^) I need a can of air.
Portia picking at peas makes her keyboard pasty?
Positively pounding the keys to make them phunction.
Pwe pshould probably pstop pbefore pwe pget psilly.
Just read the intro.
PZed, I apologize. I referenced the Aistopod as an attempted joke re: cecily/caecilian. It really was not meant as a ‘reader suggestion’.
Pnot to pention the pwe might panger pcaecily. Because Ppppppppppppppppppeeas. :D
Portia
Odd. My keyboard started working again today…
Is it weird that the gremlin-banishing ritual worked?
*gasp* You sent the curse from your computer to mine! That’s very diabolical of you!
For dinner, I did some Chinese-style red-simmered pork, thin sliced with a sweet sesame sauce; and stir-fried sugar snap peas (julienned) and sweet red pepper tossed in a ginger and garlic sauce with Japanese buckwheat noodles.
Mmmmm that sounds great.
It was.
G’night. Tomorrow is Monday so I gotta head for bed.
night Ogvorbis.
Rest well and peacefully.
cecily payday is friday/soon she has decided to return home as project only lasts another month. naturally she had to inform every single boss that I was terminating her right to stay here, I will see tomorrow what if any how it affects my own employment. privilege has it’s uses
For my job, I have to go have lunch with a very nice woman for whom I used to baby-sit. Her husband is Indian, so she’s become very skilled at Indian cooking (specifically North Indian vegetarian cooking). She’s making lunch.
Life is hard sometimes…
SallyStrange:
Quite the rough life there :)
****
Why did I just open my email only to see a message from Christian mingle ???!!!
Seriously?
This tweet from Crommunist made me laugh:
Full disclosure: my dad plays the accordion. Have considered creating a fund like that myself, but not since I moved out…
You may find yourself laughing at Antonin Scalia (first for everything, eh):
http://www.bulgereport.com/pix/antoninscalia.png
Accordion’s must be very annoying…
I did laugh! Hee.
Q: What’s the difference between an accordion and a chainsaw?
A: Chainsaws have dynamic range.
—
Q: What’s the best thing about accordions?
A: They come pre-scored for slicing.
Tony
Spiro Agnew‘s successor, perhaps?
My carrots are up.
And alot moar broadbeans.
*hugs* as needed
and rum
Hey chiqau, did I read recently that you’re an archeologist?
I love accordions.
They’re the backbone of every outdoor oom-pa-pa dance party I’ve ever been to.
But it must be played well, and unobstrusively* with other instruments.
Worst instrument ever, in my opinion: bagpipes. Mostly for the background screechiness constantly present. (But I agree, their original purpose (to Frighten the Enemy!) was fulfilled with, as we say in Latvian, great returns.)
*By ‘unobstrusively’, I mean it can’t be the loudest instrument out there.
Good morning.
Bandoneons FTW.
So… today there are pleasant surprises in Obamacar, not that it will put the haters off.
Some tentatively positive news from Facebook concerning gender-hatred, but it comes at the expense of their greed. Regular ol’ people complainin’, that’s alright; companies are pulling ads, The – Horror! The – Horror!
‘New’ information on sunscreen use that will go direct to my friend the be-naturally-sunscreened-through-diet! believer. (By the way, this is the kind of information I send to doubting/science-denying friends, especially if they come from mainstream sites from which they’ve previously sent me weird information. For those interested.)
Some people may scream reverse racism. I thought it a wonderful taste of one’s own medicine.
Y’know what I call transfusions?
“Reverse bleeding.”
Jafafa Hots
I laughed.
But I guess only the recipient does reverse bleeding, since the donor is still just plain bleeding (in a controlled fashion in a closed environment).
Reading comments on the Sarkeesian thread (great video, by the way, although depressing fare for watching right before bed, which is what I did last night).
And I realized that anyone who mentions nobility or being noble in a serious manner (that is, not to refute it, but to defend it as Something Good) just pisses me off. Noble, my ass. High-browed, down-your-nose, I’m-better-than-you-see-I-saved-you, is what it is, with a good portion of now-you-owe-me in the mix. *sigh* Nobility can go the way of the dinosaur.
Jafafa Hots
Yes! Piazzolla!!! Dino Saluzzi!!!!!
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Love the way the house is coming on, FossilFishy. All that light and open space … wonderful! ::sigh::
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Fingers crossed for the interview outcome you prefer, Portia!
.
Yup, a smidgen of good news on the book of face, rq. Of course there’s some bloke (I’d bet cash this is a bloke) whining about his frozen peaches in the comments …
It appears advertisers pulling ads due to the #Fbrape campaign has kicked Farcebork hard enough where it hurts enough times to get their attention, [Farcebork] gives way to campaign against hate speech on its pages:
For all you Axe-wielding manics, Guitar heroes: which artists play what?: “Ever wondered which of Jimi Hendrix’s fingers were most at risk of injury? Which part of Eric Clapton’s fretboard was the most worn down? This interactive, which uses heatmaps … can tell you. Simply choose an artist or group … and see which frets they hit the most often”.
His past may not be used against him, rules judge in Trayvon Martin case. I’m impressed and encouraged!
Also, here’s why you don’t want to chase tornadoes (video of vehicle caught in tornado, including flying animals and debris – I didn’t see any flying cats, though, so I think it’s safe to say the MDP was not responsible).
She’d already cleared all the cats out of the area and was herding the tornado directly towards the peas — until some stupid git with a camera and an armoured truck got in the way…
blf
Some people will do anything to protect their peas.
“My mother gave me her feet”
I am not a member of the clan of Igors, but if my kidneys are in good condition when the rest of me expires you are welcome to them.
Any suggested recipes?
</snark>(Seriously, everyone, make sure you’ve signed an organ donor’s card or whatever, which can be easily & quickly found when you expire.)
Good News 1, Gay couple who made White House history tie the knot in Seattle: “US marine Matthew Phelps and partner Ben Schock became the first same-sex couple to get engaged at the White House”.
Good New 2, France prepares for first gay marriage: “Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau will become first same-sex couple to marry when they tie knot at ceremony in Montpellier”. (I’ve lived in Montpellier France, and it’s a very gay-friendly town. The mayor will apparently be doing the honours.) Today is the first possible day to legally marry under the new law.
Done. Long ago.
When my sister was killed in a drunk driving accident back in the ’80s, the only injury was to her brain. So just about everything was usable. And was used. Though it was hard convincing Arizona that the phrase ‘Organ Donor’ on her Maryland DL meant that she wanted to be an organ donor . . . .
Brazil’s ‘lost report’ into genocide surfaces after 40 years:
The current government is apparently quite dependent on the large landowners, leading to understandable fears the rediscovery will be mostly ignored. The press in Brazil has, to-date, almost completely ignored it (the article does not say or speculate why, albeit back when the report was produced, it was ignored due to censorship).
So that’s what they mean by flash flood warning.
FossilFishy #252
Yes.
Portia:
I am sending that video to my boss’s boss with the explanation that this is the closed circuit recording of the leak (which B&U claims is not happening) in the History Museum.
Well, not really. I wish I could . . . .
So which flud “theory” is that flood: Hydro Plate, Canopy, or Plate Tectonics ?
Portia
Wow! And then the desk just… floats away.
blf
The Glass Plate theory, with a slight mix of Canopy.
After almost being hunted to extinction in Europe, the revenge starts…! Beaver kills man in Belarus. You’ll never be safe in the woods again (unless it’s a petrified forest)…
I think it just got tired of stripping bark and chewing wood.
Time for something tastier!
(Alternatively, having its picture taken was against its religious persuasion, and action needed to be taken.)
Are there scientific reasons to oppose gay marriage?:
And there is a load of ridiculous comments, such as:
With a load of great smackdowns, for instance:
Yeah, when I first watched it I thought “uh huh, uh huh, uh hu….HOLY SHIT.”
Ogvorbis, I think you should ^_^
re: disliked musical instruments
Q: What’s the difference between a trampoline and an accordian?
A: You take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline.
“Re-creating the original colors of treasured ivory carvings from the ancient past” http://phys.org/news/2013-05-re-creating-treasured-ivory-ancient.html
“Look Up! Venus, Jupiter and Mercury Conjoin this Evening” https://socialreader.com/?utm_campaign=wpsrTrendingExternal-1&utm_medium=extrend&chid=33942&utm_source=widget&_p=trending#me/content/jLmLP
hello all.
I don’t mind any music. Then again, I don’t listen to any music.
also, summer happened. I feel so free, for once. I get to sleep in, too.
Rare! Blood! Mammoth! Prehistoric cook-out? No, new discovery from Siberia!
David,
Thanks for that link in the Sarkeesian thread!
Sad news. We just lost a good one. Dr. Henry Morgentaler died. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/05/29/obit-morgentaler.html
David
I second Beatrice @284, I used to be good at games like that!
There was one called Tunnels (I think) at which I got to be best in the family, it was my single point of pride because I sucked at every other game.
Oh, except for quest games, I still like those, but those feel less competitive so it wasn’t ever a matter of being ‘the best at’ a quest game.
Ah, TV Tropes! How I love you!
Under Everything Trying to Kill You, they list as an example, “Dungeons & Dragons was all over this trope like chaotic evil jam on toast that hungers for your brains.”
*snortlerofl*
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“vampire koalas”
*demented grin*
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Does anyone here know anything about troubleshooting laptops? D’s laptop (and HP notebook running Windows 7) just suddenly stopped turning on after doing a bunch of updates. I’m looking on the HP website too, but all the advice they have is to take the battery out and put it back in and try again, which hasn’t helped.
Sorry, Dalillama, I’ve got nothing. I’m guessing you tried that suggestion with pressing the power button after taking out the battery?
Dalillama
Sorry, that’s about the best I could have recommended. :( It may help to let it cool down (esp. after updating and if it’s an older model) and then trying again (sometimes, yes, for a full day). This used to happen to my old computer, and usually a full day of not touching it at all would revive it enough to turn it on. Unfortunately, we ended up needing a whole new hard drive, but I hope it’s just an updating glitch.
*hugs*
[link dump]
Yes, European western world is so culturally advanced, misogyny must be a myth.
Oh, look, it’s not quite the triffids, but perhaps a takeover by ice age plants is just what we need! From the article:
Yup, science is complicated!
This was brought up previously, but I like the little cartoon as addendum to Saudi men harassing cashiers to make them go home. (And seriously? That passage is in the Koran, and people say it’s women-friendly? *shudder*)
Sometimes, the best hiding place is in plain sight, along with a mislabelling. Nothing like an inventory to bring new facts to light – reminds me of how the ROM found their largest dinosaur skeleton!
Game Theory an how to get the best answer and, in my opinion, a far better way to run a university exam.
To close, I think Ogvorbis has recently been to Toronto. As a Facebook friend noted, party at his house?
Ok, now it’s back to work. I hate three late-nighters in a row, plus it’s picture day tomorrow for my new police ID. Which means tomorrow is my last day off work, no more maternity leave, back to the lab and the grind… I have doubts about doing it this time around, but we’ll see how it goes.
[/link dump]
Dalillama. Remove power cable. pull out battery for 20 minutes. Insert battery and power cable. Attempt to turn on, listen closely for the whirring sounds of a drive and/or cd. If it whirs but doesn’t come up right way, leave it on and take a 2 hour nap/dump/dinner break/beer run. Sometimes the updates take quite a while. Also if you have the ability to plug a landline to your wireless device, that may help if it is trying to phone home and doesn’t have internet capability.
Walton sighting at B&W!
*jumps and waves in hopes Walton will pop in here too*
(sorry, not in the mood to get into a discussion with Rebekah… been there, almost gave up on B&W altogether)
Readying a *pouncehug* in case Walton pops in.
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Huh. Balaur is a bird. I seriously did not expect that.
No, what the paper is actually about is that Archaeopteryx forms a series (a “Hennig comb”) with 3 very similar animals from the beginning of the Late Jurassic of northeastern China: Xiaotingia, Anchiornis, and the new Aurornis. Never mind Eosinopteryx, published in January, which was apparently too late to be considered in this paper.
Two new gaps in the fossil record… and they’re getting tinier and tinier.
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In 2012, more active-duty US soldiers died from suicide than from combat.
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Most of my shoes are like this. Probably all in fact. Even my sandals.
They weren’t, because he wasn’t in charge.
Oh yes. The hydrosphere is way exaggerated, though.
~:-| It’s normal to wear the same undershirt all week long. Not sleeping in it, and there is a noticeable smell at the end of the week if you take it off and sniff the armpits, but… still.
Different people produce different amounts of sweat. Also, I use a deodorant (it kills the bacteria that turn androstenol into androstenon).
:-D :-D :-D
X-D X-D
Seconded!
Fly away? Yeah :-)
:-O I had no idea of that one.
…There’s Hwang Woo-Suk involved. That’s the guy who faked cloning human embryos in 2004.
I found it here, 2 clicks away from this very Thread.
Ooh, “Real Life — Australia” has its own section. *rubbing hands with glee*
…I tried quoting stuff, but was running up waaay too many links. Check it out yourself. Mwahah.
OK, just one:
“But, there is one inversion. Most native Australian bees either have no stingers or stingers too small to penetrate human skin. Australia has a most ironic sense of humor.”
*facepalm* Eosinopteryx is in the tree, it’s just not part of that series! And the troodontids are closer to the birds than to the dromaeosaurids, so birds are officially deinonychosaurs now. Eosinopteryx is just outside.
You are evil.
David
Ha, Australian bees… Irony at work indeed!
Also, re: the mammoth link, good to know about who’s involved. See, it all sounds so awesome, but it’s good to have these little warnings pointed out.
Also, I love finding out all kinds of dinosaur/fossil/etc. trivia from you. I think a tour of any museum’s paleontology section would last for days.
just so you realize that the words have essentially none of those connotations in the USA.
Interesting, I never thought about the difference in connotations, but you’re right. In the US, being noble is more attributed to people who act selflessly or do the right thing when it’s hard.
From there:
“Is the take-home message, then, that cheating is good? Well … no. Although by conventional test-taking rules, the students were cheating, they actually weren’t in this case. Instead, they were changing their goal in the Education Game from ‘Get a higher grade than my classmates’ to ‘Get to the best answer’.”
*sigh* “Get a higher grade than my classmates”? Americans, who grade on a curve. *headshake*
He’s quite active on Fb. I shall nudge him.
Outside Deinonychosauria, that is.
Well, they do elsewhere in the world.
It is for this reason that first year of law school sows the seeds of paranoia that will serve a lawyer throughout their career. : p (“Only give your outline to your study group. Make everyone promise not to share.”)
Portia
True, but I suppose that gives the term ‘noble/nobility’ two sorts of meanings, like with pride. You can have good pride, and be proud of what you do, and of your accomplishments; and you can have the arrogant type of pride that comes before a fall.
So, you can be noble and selfless and do all kinds of great deeds, but the context in which I was slightly ranty about the word is from the Sarkeesian thread, where the whole saving-the-damsel is a ‘noble’ thing to do because it’s just so awesome to be noble and better than everyone else (because Men are Awesome, right?) and get the girl in the end, because she just soooo needs to be saved. And will fall gratefully into your arms and give you all the sex you want, because you deserve it because you’re so noble.
we have a lot of folks like that here in the US but noble they are not
=8-)
Qapla’.
Also, it was determined. Someone posted a link to Cracked, I clicked on it, and the rest is history…
Depends on its size. You’re welcome to visit me here in Berlin as “soon” as the main paleontology section opens again (have to ask when that might be); if you come earlier, you’ll still have your Jurassic Park moment!
It has those connotations everywhere – and they’re quite icky in the context we’re talking about.
Gah.
Good point, rq. I don’t think that different definitions takes away from your point at all.
On a related note, one of my law school professors wrote a law review article with thesis that Southern honor culture was a large reason for the pervasive racism in US society. He posited that the sort of Otherism that in inherent in a culture like a fire house (his example, not mine, but I agree) spreads and needs an Other to put down, and in the South, it’s black people. I was a conservaturd at the time, and I questioned how he believed that honor culture spread racism throughout the country. He looked me dead in the eye and said “Ms. [Lastname], Rush Limbaugh has twenty million listeners. Some of them are even your classmates.” That was during the transition out of darkness for me.
David
When’s the main paleontology section to open?
(Maybe by that ‘soon’ time, all three Children will benefit from your tour.)
Swedes lead ‘second best lives’ in the world: study http://www.thelocal.se/48194/20130529/
Australians come first, Canadians third.
Deinonychus, the true star of Jurassic Park I. Why did they call it velociraptor?
I just read an article in Science. While only theropods had true feathers, filaments (from which feathers developed) existed among the, er, four-leg-walking dinosaurs as well.
“Eosinopteryx is just outside”
I’m bloody locking the door.
As I said, I have to ask. I guess a few months, and I also guess that there’s no fixed date yet.
Yeah, they’re so happy that nothing has killed them yet that it puts them ahead of världens lyckligaste folk.
Because Gregory S. Paul is a lumper. He wrote the semi-popular book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World in 1988, and apparently somebody involved in JP read it. It’s full of half-feathered theropods, BTW (feathers just on the dorsal side of the animal, and none on the snout).
“Filaments” are stage I feathers. Stages II and higher appear to be restricted to theropods.
Only known from the strictly bipedal Tianyulong so far, plus the quills on the tail of the likely semibipedal Psittacosaurus.
But it’s tiny and adorable! (Well, there are several things massively wrong with this picture, the fingers and toes in particular, but never mind.)
Jackie:
“I used to tell my Girl Scouts the woods were full of sword wielding vampire bears riding crocogators”
A female bear with a cub startled a jogger in a forest just outside the town yesterday.
Male bears kill cubs to make the female bears ovulate again and become receptive, female bears counter this by bringing the cubs closer to human habitation to reduce the risk of meeting males. Male bears are assholes.
It’s like a chicken! With… differences! Adorable!
OFFS. I go to Fb, light the Walton signal, and…
Another feathered dinosaur from northeastern China! From the same province even, and likewise published today.
Unlike the other one, which is in Nature, this one is in PLoS ONE, an open-access journal. Have fun! :-)
(And so, science publishing conspires to prevent me from going home. It’s 12 minutes to midnight.)
*shakes fist at science publishing*
It wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t take me so long to get through these articles (time constraints, lack of brain power, attention seekers everywhere, etc.).
Oh right, I’m supposed to be working, and it’s 1AM.
*pops into Thread in puff of smoke* The Walton always appears when summoned.
I wish I had good news. Sadly, it’s been a depressing few weeks in Britain. The government is proposing yet more welfare cuts, despite the fact that families are already going hungry. Legal aid for immigrants is also going to be cut back further, which will mean no legal representation for many people facing deportation. And the Home Office is still deporting people to Afghanistan.
On a happier note – and in keeping with the dinosaur theme* – this week I went out for a couple of nature walks, and photographed a swan with her flotilla of fluffy cygnets on Caldecotte Lake. Also a family of Canada geese with equally fluffy newborn goslings.
(*As xkcd teaches us, birds are dinosaurs.)
Walton, are there no backbenchers in parliament who begins to see that austerity is bullshit, and -more importantly- that the current path is risking their re-election? Once the voters get fed up Cameron will be the designated scapegoat, if the Tories are true to form.
If you want to cheer up, come over to Sweden. Music festivals, the xenophobes are ostracised in parliament, everyone has memorised their favourite Monthy Python sketches.
Just remember to bring the maximum allowed quota of booze since the local stuff is very expensive.
(But we have no dinosaur fossils. Glaciations have scoured away sediments except for the Silurian stuff in the stuff)
Hey, Sweden’s a short ferry ride from Latvia, where the booze is, indeed, incredibly cheap, so if you do run out, just save up the pennies to catch the boat and all will be well (alas, no dinosaurs here, either).
+++
Instead I give you lots of Latvian angst (because I’m still not done but these songs are keeping me awake):
Help my people, god!, a collaborative effort of many of the best-known voices in Latvian pop-culture.
“… and the violin whines like a dog…”, a song actually written for a dog by its owner that became a classic pop hit with many cover versions and lots of Deep Meanings in the lyrics.
Something about letting the pain go, if you just listen to the right bird…
“…a black lake at the top of a hill…”, another tribute to male falsetto and vocal power.
“… if I have you…”, a song originally written about crack for a musical about addiction and the (non-)ability to deal with it, now a popular wedding song (no kidding!).
“… in your native tongue (language)
…”, where the key point of surprise was the dark-haired guy’s singing – he usually does the sweet, sultry love ballads in a quiet, velvety voice. Also, an emotional on-your-knees guitar solo.
[/part one]
(Oh yes, there will be more. Thank goodness this is the internet, and you can all choose whether to listen or not, so I’m not actually ruining Lounge atmosphere by playing loud angsty music, am I?)
I don’t even know what to say about this:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/may/25/husband-and-wife-dressed-same-35-years
[part two, Latvian angst]
“… we survive on each other, not from groceries…” as a duet; original song was meant as a bit of a joke, but these folks made it into a strangely deep love song.
You and I, alone in this city, straightforward enough.
Angst, of course, eventually finds something less angsty, so here’s Linda Leen with her potential-Bond-song Chameleon (hey, at least it’s in English!).
One for the accordion lovers, Old Riga’s Song of Fate – actually, it’s about the plague and plague-ridden cats and plague-ridden rats running about the city; solo by Jānis Apeinis; accordion in the accompaniment (see, it’s not so bad!).
And then everything descends into chaos, with this all-male parody of hot girls with power tools and other sexy-like poses. Bonus points if anyone knows what song they’re parodying (honestly, I never remember, but it’s not something particularly popular, I think).
[/part two]
(If I don’t fall over, I will prepare part three.)
Portia
Husband and I try to co-ordinate for special events, but we’re not at that level yet.
We’ll work on it. ;)
(Wow. 35 years??)
Some time ago I mentioned that mormon church leaders stopped hiring professional cleaners for church buildings and began assigning church members to clean the buildings instead.
Results have been dismal, and are getting worse over time. Maybe the filth and stink will finally send some mormons into ex-mormon mode.
The most recent discussion of the “every member a janitor” ploy:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,908091
Excerpts:
Ex-mormons posted additional details, including one about the cleaning products, which are bought from a company owned by one of the mormon General Authorities, and that the products do not work well.
As far as maintenance rooms not being lit, faucets not working etc., in my limited experience this is par for the course in mormon-owned buildings. I recently attended an awards “gala” in Boise. The gala was held in a mormon-owned building, and was staffed by mostly mormons. The caterers had a hard time providing the food because the kitchen was a disaster, with ovens not working, outlets not working, sinks plugged up, etc.
I always knew that, in general, mormons are more concerned with appearances than with substance, but this is a whole new level of ignoring the “backstage” functions that support everything. Eventually all this untended shit has to hit the fan.
*waves at Lounge denizens*
Still off the evil smokes, and now giving up the boiled sweets (could have been worse… could have been dog biscuits). Week 4 now…
Love your links rq!
If anyone needs cheering up today, try this: 22 Signs That Your Train Station Is Mocking You
So, Oklahoma gets hit with a massive tornado and all kinds of services need to be organized and/or provided. However, the Republican state senators in Oklahoma had better things to do. They needed to defund Planned Parenthood.
One politician objected, one Republican, an obstetrician named Doug Cox:
http://newsok.com/state-rep.-doug-cox-the-gop-and-abortion-legislation/article/3835587
Portia @321: The dress-alike husband and wife give off a certain air of, shall we say, mental instability. Scary.
That’s sort of what I was thinking, Lynna. Along with some persecution complex (we avoided Dr Ruth out of certainty she’d criticize us). And manipulation (“To alter his clothing choices, I made him a shirt knowing he wouldn’t want to wear it but would to avoid hurting me”).
[part three, Latvian not-so-angst]
Turning a love song into upbeat music: The heart burns so strangely!
Her best song was removed due to copyright issues, but a(n) (untrained) voice worth listening to, simply due to its flexibility.
Tonight’s non-Latvian contributions by Ingrid Olava:
Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Are we getting old?, and one day there will be monuments and flowers just for you.
I’ll save you all the Coheed and Cambria wallowing.
In any case, this is moi, signing off for a while; I can’t do this anymore.
[/part three]
::the queer Shoop blinks, looks at birgerjohanssen’s #311 and rq’s #320, compares the number of links and realizes the latter is outperforming the former::
****
rq:
I posted the list from Dana’s link on FB. Jackson Katz is a good guy and whether it is the video or his list, more guys need to take heed and refuse to remain silent in the face of gender inequality.
::the queer Shoop blinks again and does a double take::
2
Hour
Dump ??!!
*USB’s Tony some fiber*
And the cute little teethies it’s got in its cute little beaky look sharp.
Don’t answer the door!
*thoughtful pause*
Does it hunt in packs?
–
The *pouncehug*, prepared in advance, ambushes the Walton.
–
They hopped into bed, on purpose, with the Religious Right. Now we all have to deal with the bastard offspring of that Unholy Union.
–
It’s Learn From My Fail time!
Never, under any circumstances, eat a whole can of pineapple. Your tummy WILL NOT be happy with you, and it WILL LET YOU KNOW THIS.
Painfully.
Explosively.
Repeatedly.
Add pineapple to my list of non consumables.
****
Sitting at a different gay bar now, with a friend. The bar is playing trivia night. One of the games involves identifying tv mothers. Wow. The clips they showed, with ONE exception were painful. They bled rigid gender essentialism and sexism. The Brady Bunch, Leave it to Beaver, and more ‘classic shows’…I just cannot see them the same as before. All I can see is women working in the kitchen. Women being happy for receiving a new kitchen. Women in charge of dinner. Women cleaning the kitchen.
Argh!
The exception?
Phylicia Rashad as Claire Huxtable. The clip they showed was powerful. She was a presence. She had Passion. She had ethics. And she wasn’t in the fucking kitchen.
I realized last year that I am far less social than I used to be. Some of that was due to the depression I face(d?) in the wake of M’s death. Some of it came from my personal enlightenment about various social ills. As I started moving past his death, I realized that while I wanted to re-enter the social sphere, it couldn’t be the same as before. I didn’t want to talk about the same things. I wanted to discuss matters of importance. It’s not that I had/have bad friends, but discussions were rarely on matters of depth or nuance. In the intervening years (its been @2 years since I was really social), my focus has shifted-dramatically. I don’t want to stop talking about these issues. I can talk, at length, about the BS in the world. The inequalities. The injustices. The misogyny. The classism. The church/state separation. So much more. I don’t think my friends do. I know I didn’t want to in the past. I was fine with my privilege and confronting the ills of society at any great length was not desirable. Now, it is. I just…I don’t know. I feel I’m not giving my friends a fair shake (not that I’ve had many of them, mind you), but otoh, when topics were brought up in the past, discussions just weren’t in depth. Maybe they would be today. Maybe not.
Maybe part of it is my inability to ‘find the fun’ since M died.
I don’t know.
All I know is I’d like to be more social again, but I want to be social while trying to do my part to improve the lot of others.
::sigh::
Eerie this is.
The Lounge is quiet and it isn’t Saturday.
Tony
I was just about to offer *hugs* for you.
It’s just that I’m taking it easy this morning, the last three nights I’ve been up till 2 or 3, and I just can’t do it anymore (even if it is for work!), especially since I have several little alarm clocks without OFF buttons that get up anywhere between 6.30 and 8.00.
I’m surprised there are so few comments between my last one last night and this one. :/ Weirrrrd…
+++
The curiously oppressive power of positive thinking.
Players of Catan, don’t be such assholes, but thanks for all the tips! ;)
Patrick Stewart is amazing, and he proves it, yet again. ♥
Tony, good morning!
It’s celebration of Corpus Christi today, which is a national holiday here – which means a day off work today (yay!).
I’m off to bed. Already been up longer than I should, but I should be asleep fairly soon thanks to the magic of Netflix and David Attenborough.
Thanks to David, I’ve been playing Super Mario ♥
I never had Nintendo or any game console, so I can’t remember playing it more than a handful of times at a neighbor’s.
Hello and good morning Beatrice, rq!
I love the original Super Mario Brothers. My roomie, E is a HUGE gamer and we were talking recently about various games (I’m not as into playing them as he is, but I do enjoy discussing games with him _because_ he loves them). I pretty much realized that my diminished interest in games may have something to do with the transformation from 2-D games to 3-D. The first game I ever tried playing in the modern style was the first Tomb Raider and I gave up fairly soon. It was dizzying trying to follow the character, what with the camera angles shifting. It took many years before I started playing again. Now I can enjoy them again, but still not to the degree that I did as a youth.
Tip 1: Remove pineapple from can before eating. (Hint: Open the can first.)
Tip 2: Eat only the pineapple. (Recycle the can.)
Complicated, I know.
rq:
That was a very compassionate response from Patrick Stewart.
I’M DONE! (My class, which was useless, is over :D :D :D )
*
Ooh! I get the bonus points, rq (Although, I’m not sure I can really receive bonus points without having first received regular points. Hmm…). They are parodying Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction, which I won’t link to because meh. I figured it out based on your description alone and then clicked to confirm :).
*
Portia @328: I saw that link yesterday and you articulated perfectly what my issues with it were. I am really bothered by this seemingly common view of psychiatry and therapy (though I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some psychiatrists et al. who deserve it)- that they are looking for people to pounce on to sharpen their psychiatrist-y fangs. Um, though those people might exist (and I know there are some terrible psychiatrists and therapists out there), any of them who treat everyday encounters like opportunities for therapy sessions fall neatly into the terrible psychiatrist category, as would one who hypothesized a dependency issue based solely on seeing a couple wearing a matching outfit on one occasion. Also, psychiatrists *SURPRISE* get paid for their work and like most other people who get paid, *SURPRISE* often don’t prefer to do their work for free while shopping.
Also, I dislike that she asserted that a couple is insecure if they would actively seek to not wear matching clothes.
(Just to be clear, absolutely none of this is directed at you, Portia, this just brought out the rant in me :).)
*
I have a similar problem, Tony. Most (though not as high of a percentage as it was before I moved) of my meatspace friends are people I know from high school. After we all spent a few years in college, I started to feel like I had very little in common with most of them, and by now, I’m not even sure I really like any of them. I can’t talk to them. I want to be able to discuss the types of things we discuss here with them, and even the ones who are willing and able to often say some blatantly awful things. I have to remind myself that I used to (and probably still do, though of course I’m trying not to) think utterly wrong and hurtful things too and that I changed. But I don’t think I’m going to be the one who spurs that change in them. I can’t handle it.
What’s worse is that when I visit the US, I have to stay with my parents for money reasons. They never really seemed to get that I don’t much like those old friends of mine. A few years ago I hosted a 4th of July party at my parents’ house for my old friends and my dad is pushing me to do it again this year. Though he won’t remember, I’ve tried to explain to him in the past why I don’t spend much time with those people anymore. It will inevitably lead up to a lecture about why I shouldn’t write people off and blah blah blah, dad knows best (only because dad doesn’t understand shit). Ugh… sorry, rant #2 is over.
markbrown @325:
Congrats on 4 weeks!
Tony @342: Yes! The switch from 2-D to 3-D is exactly why I stopped playing a lot of games and only somewhat recently started to get back into playing. I’m still mad over what they did to Roller Coaster Tycoon :(.
rq,
I don’t open your links every day, since I’m usually at work at the time you post them, but I’m glad I was home and watched the Patrick Stewart video today.
Made me cry. I wish there were more people with enough social and financial power making a difference, like he does.
—
Parrowing,
Congrats on being done with your useless class!
Parrowing @345:
Once again, it is a relief (of sorts) knowing I’m not the only one out there who feels this way. I’ve felt bad in the past about not re-engaging friends, but when I think about what we used to do (for instance-Bloody Sundays at a friends house, where we would gather and watch True Blood) vs what I’d like to do now (still gather and watch the show, but also discuss the show and how it reflects reality).
I just realized another significant area that I differ from most of my friends–I want to discuss politics and religion. I want to talk about the glorification of violence as exemplified by American football. I want to discuss my support for strictgun control. I don’t mind-and would still enjoy-sitting around watching tv, getting high, or getting drunk, but I can’t turn the clock back. The old me isn’t home anymore. He developed a bit in the last few years.
Argh I came up with the best thing ever for my story but I can’t talk about it cause it’s something that will spoil a lot of things but it’s the best thing ever and I am going to explode if I can’t say it!! *stompystompyarmflails*
Parrowing
The only kinds of points I hand out are bonus points. ;) Because we’re all a little extra-ordinary, and deserve to be exceptional.
Tony (and Parrowing)
I also understand that feeling of disconnect… or something. I think about my high school friends sometimes, but I just don’t feel like getting in touch with them. Finding people who think like I do now is extremely difficult hereabouts (that is, in real life, not in the Lounge), and honestly, I just don’t have the energy right now.
I’d love to discuss politics and religion – the closest I come is constantly refuting my (supposedly smart!) Best Friend, who is slowly becoming a science-denier (well, not all science, but still). And I honestly don’t know how to have conversations with people like that.
I also go over several conversations and/or events that I would do over completely differently now than I did at the time. Not in a horribly regretful I-should-have way, but just because I feel smarter and that I have better answers now than I did then.
This is also why I don’t think I’ll ever go to a high school reunion. University, maybe, but not high school. Just too… I don’t know what.
Beatrice
Me, too. I love how he gets so passionate about it just from a fan question. It’s just so bloody obvious that he is completely, 100%, all kinds of invested in what he does – emotionally, financially, etc., etc. It made me cry a little bit, too, because it just proves that there are amazing people out there.
+++
Got the kids’ magazine for June today. With a picture of a person from Papua New Guinea on the cover (fine) and the title Shrek’s relatives… NOT OK. I will be writing the magazine.
( I even know why they call them that “in a humourous fashion” – because the word for ‘ogre’ in Latvian translates more-or-less inaccurately to ‘person-eater’ (cannibal, if you will). And, since the people of Papua New Guinea have practiced cannibalism, then by extension, they must be related to ogres, therefore Shrek. Wow. The dehumanizing ignorance is leaking all over the place.)
rq
Ugh.
For the 5 year anniversary, I went for drinks with a couple of people, as a sorta kind of informal reunion. Later, there was a big thing organized, dinner at a restaurant. No way. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been to the reunion, it’s not my fault most didn’t come. (I later heard rumors that even the “real thing” was underattended [why is this not recognized as a word, this is definitely a word])
I doubt I will even get an invitation to the 10 year reunion. (which will be in two years… wow, time flies)
What happened to the Republican Party that I joined? … What happened to the Republican Party that felt that the government has no business being in an exam room, standing between me and my patient?
I don’t know how old this guy is, but I’m 45 and I don’t remember that Republican Party. It’s been gone for a long time, if it ever existed. I think this guy was the victim of a bait and switch: He was sold the libertarian wing of the Reps and got in to find that the fundie wing was in charge.
David AND Walton sightings! *hugs*
Internet at home still spotty to mostly out. Cable company not being helpful. Grrr. They said yesterday they can’t get someone out until Saturday, and that was even after knowing that our phone was out too (we started doing phone through them because the deal was so good, and, as I quote myself at the time, “the cable hasn’t gone out in years”. Yeah.).
I didn’t go to my high school’s 20th reunion, and after I read about it and saw pics later, I am so glad I didn’t.
I also cannot play first person RPGs. The camera angle makes me motion sick, and even when I’m not sick, I simply can’t process the way I’m seeing things. I can’t figure out how to get there from here, ever. I can’t even play Portal. :(
Fuck my life. D just left the house with the police, bound for the hospital, after I wrestled a knife out of her hand. I couldn’t go with her this time, because I’m at the end of my emotional resources, and L is past the end of his; I need to stay, and he needs me too. she’s had two suicidal meltdowns in the last week, and the therapist hasn’t helped anything yet, and she can’t see the psychiatrist until two weeks from now, which means no meds for her, and the last time L had a therapist, they wouldn’t give him any more meds for his problems, and we’re all at the end of our ropes. She hasn’t slept properly in over a week now, which leaves us on 24 hour suicide watch, and we can’t seem to find anything to do that will do any good. I just don’t know what to do anymore.
We’ve been short on cash, adding to the stress, because one of L’s clients didn’t pay on time, which hasn’t been helping anything, nor has the fact that we’ve all been sick, and aren’t getting better due to the massive stress we’re under.
wow, rq, thank you for linking Patrick Stewart’s response. I needed that after reading about Beatriz. Amazing talk… I might have to work up a transcript for it, go link it in Dana Hunter’s comments, etc.
—
Also via Setár over at Ophelia’s, a blog post all of us need to read. Everyone who organizes or volunteers at conferences, everyone who might attend a conference or talk, everyone who might encounter a blind person in daily life… basically all of us could use a wake-up call. This is Chris “Gonz Blinko” Hofstader, accessibility specialist and guest poster on Skepchick, writing about how he was treated (or not treated) at WiS2.
http://www.hofstader.com/invisible_blind_man
Oh man, Dalillama, I’m so sorry things are falling apart. I can’t do much more than back up the hug truck for you. Is she going to be admitted for any period of time?
We don’t know yet. She wasn’t last time, but they’ve got records of last time, so maybe this time will be different.
…timing. Dalillama, I wish I could do something to crack the weight on you all, even a little bit. Could any of us pay a bill for you, or order some pizza, come wash the dishes, anything?
In the meantime here’s a dump truck load of fluffy hugs, to make your living room into a ball pit with.
Katherine: I can’t wait to read what you can’t wait to write :D
rq:
That settlers of catan link had me in stitches. I think I do all of those unintentionally every game.
And that Patrick Stewart clip made me teary too. I haven’t gotten to the optimism one but I’m interested to read it. Great links, as always.
Parrowing and Tony and rq:
I feel the same way about old friends. Maybe it’s partly a function of just growing up and growing older, you change in different ways than they do. Most of my old friends just didn’t move at all, they didn’t grow in any way. They were right where I left them when I went away to school. So we didn’t have much in common any more.
Parrowing:
You articulated even more of my problems with the dressing-alike article than I had even realized. Especially the part where you think you’re so special a therapist wants to give you free therapy because you are just so misunderstood!
—
How do I explain for a second time to a client that business hours are when she should contact me, and I can’t keep having the same conversation with her about the same things when nothing has changed? It’s a really emotionally fraught situation, and I referred her to sliding scale counseling services, but what she wants is for me to explain the law to her over and over and over and over, after my office closes for the day.
Oh and make that letter to the editor sting, rq! That’s atrocious!
Dalillama
*so many hugs* for you and D and L!! :(
I wish there was a more personal way to help – as Pteryxx says, wash some dishes, help tidy up, take you to a movie, something… *hugs*
And good luck.
Dalillama, *hugs*
Oh, I’m so sorry, Dalillama. *Hugs* for you, L, and D.
*
Count me, rq, as another who really appreciated you linking to the Patrick Stewart clip.
*
That must be difficult to deal with, Portia, when you have clients who you want to help as much as you can and truly care for, but also need to care for yourself, which includes having designated office hours as well as time that is not for clients. I don’t really have any good solutions other than what you’ve already done, though… :-/
Re: the matching couple. Another reason it bugs me is because it sets psychiatrists up as Vulcan-like. Psychiatrists and therapists have families, friends, colleagues, etc. They’ve also been socialized in the same world as non-psychiatrists, where people tend not to appreciate uninvited analysis about themselves. Miri at Brute Reason kinda hit this point home for me recently, though it had been bubbling about for a little while.
thanks for understanding, Parrowing. Self-care is a good way to put it. It’s hard enough for me to put work away during non-work hours as it is. I stress about cases at all hours, and getting a torrent of panicky texts at 8 or 9 pm is really not helpful.
You’re right about the therapists-are-inhuman idea, too. I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense as the basis of the attitude in that article.
Mega hugs and esupport to Dalillama.
Dalillama:
Damn. I’m sorry you all are going through this.
Ok I explained to client that I don’t want to be dismissive or make her feel like she shouldn’t call me, but that I can’t be her source of reassurance all the time and I need her to confine her calls to 8am to 6pm. She was very understanding and said she will do that and said “I know you have to have a normal life too.” So that was good. She said she did call the counseling service too. Hopefully she actually sticks with our new boundaries but I feel less anxious about having to set them.
Fuck, Dalillama, I’m so sorry you and D and L have so much to deal with. I wish I could help :-(
I hope the hospital makes themself useful and actually helps. And that there’s at least some respite.
.
All this time I thought Patrick Stewart was just a good actor – now I know he’s a really great human being.
Not really; ever since they gave her phone back to her she’s been begging us to come and get her. It’s breaking both of our hearts, because we just can’t keep her safe from herself here, and we don’t know what more we can do. L is completely drained and can’t even bear to read her texts, and I’m out of words and thoughts. I just don’t know what to do.
Oh, gods, Dalillama. That’s horribly wrenching.
Dalillama… not that it’s any of my business or that I have a clue or anything, but IMHO y’all should leave her be at least long enough for the two of you to get a night’s sleep. She’s not the only patient here and she’s safer where she is, frankly, than depending on you two to keep it together through this. I take it there’s no one else you could call on, family (hers or yours), anything?
Also for what it’s worth I meant it about the pizza; if there’s anything I can do to make your lives even a small bit easier by say not having to cook or clean up.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211299/-Wolf-theologian#
…wait, what?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211908/-The-Onion-Calls-it-Quits
It’s also important not to attempt to consume an entire bag of chocolate chips, then follow it with a box of jawbreakers. Not unless you’re really into projectile vomiting.
A long-ago mistake but the memory is still Kodachrome-clear.
–
While wearing heels, a fashionable dress, and pearls!
Must clean the house and be “fuckable”, 24/7.
–
*hugs* for Tony.
I guess I’m kinda reverse-wise to you, in that I have never been more social than I am now. Granted, most of it is my gaming group, the SCA (I’m kinda on the periphery of it, ’cause $$$$$, but this is where Farcebork is useful), and here.
And we all know how it is here.
:)
–
Patrick Stewart is made entirely of Awesome. And WIN.
That is all.
–
Parrowing: *pouncehug* and congrats on the class being over.
–
*massive dedicated hugpile* for Dalillama. I’m so sorry.
–
Proposing an amendment to place an affirmative right to vote in the US Constitution:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/05/constitutional-amendment-fight-voter-id-laws.php
Reps Pocan and Ellison are currently looking for co-sponsors for their proposed legislation.
Dalillama, fwiw from so far away, I think Pteryxx is right – the two of you are also clearly at the end of your rope, and taking at least a night or two to sleep, knowing that your other SO is at least physically safe, should probably be a high priority. I guess it’s like the oxygen mask – you have to take a few breaths yourselves before you’re even able to help anyone else. FSM but this must be so hard. {{{Hugs}}}
Beatrice:
Heh! Pure coincidence, but I’ve found her blog now, and anyone who’s willing to blog their way through every episode of Buffy is OK with me.
Frivolous: a movie for
PZgrumpy cat and shaving tips for the indestructible.Speaking of people made of awesome, Dolly Parton the book lady is a contender. I’ve never been interested in her. (I just do not get Americans’ liking for country music, serious, lightweight or any other way.)
I almost didn’t watch the segment on TV, so what, she gives kids books. Not exactly. She gives one book a month, for 5 years!, when kids are signed up at birth. The Imagination Library is a fantastic concept. Apparently, her dad could neither read nor write and that was the big driver for her. Live and learn.
myeck,
The truly brave thing is her blogging through the whole 50 Shades series. She’s reading it so that we dont’ have to. That takes a strong stomach.
And they say racism is a thing of the past:
” Fourteen-year-old Tremaine McMillian didn’t threaten police. He didn’t attack them. He wasn’t armed. All the black teenager did was appear threatening by shooting Miami-Dade police officers a few “dehumanizing stares,” and that was apparently enough for the officers to decide to slam him against the ground and put him in a chokehold”
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/05/miami-dade_police_choke_black.php
What does a ‘dehumanizing stare’ look like?
Why does it justify choking an unarmed black teenager?
Why did these officers lie about being threatened?
He’s a teenager carrying a puppy, posing no threat to anyone. Douchebags!
Pteryxx:
I admit being fooled by The Onion a few times. Too close to reality…
Hi All
@Dalillama I hope everything calms down for you, I can’t imagine how difficult of a thing you are going through
Count me in as one who doesn’t relate to old friends. I have a little different situation in that I went to four high schools, the last three for less than a year each. So I really don’t keep in touch with anyone from them. As far as friends here where I live, I’ve got to be pretty careful what I talk about. I just don’t know anyone (besides my partner) who is on the same page as me as far as politics, social justice, hell, even dinosaurs! (Number one lesson: don’t ask people about dinosaurs. They will make you facepalm.) I’m trying to branch out and thinking of joining a discussion group or something.
Beatrice
You’ve reminded me, I need to catch up!
+++
Trigger Warning these links for Child Abuse and Rape
Child brides sacrificed on wedding altars (the first few sentences made me cry when I realized that these girls and boys are about as old as my children are now).
Rape and the brave women who report it, especially in countries where it is usually hushed up. The words of Jyoti Singh Pandey’s father are especially strong:
Yazikus:
::deep breath…brings palm 5 inches from head in preparaion::
What type of responses have gotten about dinosaurs? Growing up, our household was not overly religious, so I was exposed to dinosaurs by reading about them (IIRC, the books were not faith based BS). Until I started following FtB I had no clue that people actually think humans and dinosaurs coexisted. I find myself curious what ridiculous things people have told you.
@Tony
For starters, there was the woman (a small business owner) who started talking about “those nasty nasty dinosaurs” (I had been telling her how much I love the kids show Dinosaur Train) to which I was like “do go on?” and she continued to explain how dinosaurs were the result of ancient (old testament) humans interbreeding animals and that god sent the flood to get rid of the dinosaurs.
–
Then there was the gentleman (multiple post-grad degrees, well traveled) who, when we were taking about the feathered dinosaurs, goes “Well (whilst thoughtfully stroking his facial hair) I’ve been doing alot of research, and I think there is ample evidence that the dinosaurs were members of the nephilim.” *crickits chirping*
–
And then more recently (and I mentioned this incident in the lounge without the detail of dinosaurs) a dear friend who told me (while we were talking about YEC stuff) that he is just really “skeptical” of science, and the scientists who have studied the dinosaurs and earth age, etc…
So yeah, I might avoid the topic for a bit.
Tony
I’m with you on this, I always thought people were rational about the dinosaurs because it seemed so obvious… But then, I thought my family was hardcore catholic, but upon lots of reading around here and related links, I’ve discovered that evening prayer, grace before meals and church once a week is not hardcore at all.
I’ve actually come to realize that I had a very open and liberal upbringing (education- and opportunity-wise), despite a few outward trappings of religion and very strict discipline.
Oh, but the point about dinosaurs – yazikus, it just seems so strange that people could actually believe this stuff… but recently a choir friend admitted that she didn’t know why the moon was full sometimes and not full other times.
So I talked to her about orbits and the sun and the moon and reflections, and she was flabbergasted. By the end of the ‘lecture’, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she believed the world was flat. :/
I just read this fantastic article on socializing children that had me nearly jumping with excitement. This is what people need to read and to see, and what we’ve been working so hard with our boys. I know they love running around, throwing things, taking other children’s things, being rough, but I also know that I loved all that stuff when I was very little, too. And I don’t believe for one moment that boys (as a general group) have a harder time controlling themselves – I’ve seen the parental attitude that lets them get away with it, and the little shrug that says ‘Ah well, that’s boys for you!’, and the sharp tone of voice when they tell their daughter to stop running so fast or to get down from those bars: ‘young ladies do not do such things!’
I had an article from a couple of years ago about how parents underestimate girls’ abilities right from birth (or at least, within a few months of it, once they become mobile) and overestimate boys’ abilities. I’d like to find it again, because it had some interesting points in it, but it just goes to show how deep a lot of our ideas about men and women are embedded.
Jack Vance, 1916-2013 http://io9.com/weve-lost-another-grand-master-r-i-p-jack-vance-191-510346926
(I recently bought the anthology “Songs Of The Dying Earth” and donated it to the local library to let others become acquintanced with part of Vance’s narrative universe)
Evolutionary origin of the turtle shell!
Petition to prevent whaling from being resumed at a medium scale.
Petition to support “legislation such as the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act (H.R. 1593), which would improve the prevention of and response to sexual assault in the Armed Forces.”
Successful rescue from a Quiverfull family.
The Swanson effect: photovoltaic cells have been getting exponentially cheaper.
Argh, that’s already 5.
gah!
no help!
So.
A few weeks ago my boyfriend of (counts on fingers) eight or nine months told me that he loves me.
I wasn’t sure what to say back, as I’ve never said that to someone who was not a close family member or friend. Definitely not to anyone with whom I’ve been romantically involved. I don’t think I’ve ever been in love, and am not sure how that’s defined or even what that means exactly. My mom says that it means knowing that you can’t live without the person that you love, but I think that’s silly and dramatic and more of a societal narrative than how things are in real life. At least, my life.
I care about my boyfriend a lot. I’m attracted to him. I enjoy spending time with him. I look forward to the next time I get to be with him, and I miss him when he’s out of town or I’m out of town.
Is that love? To me it feels more like the lyrics from My Fair Lady, when Dr./Professor What’s-His-Face sings, “I’ve grown accustomed to your face.”
Anyway, the boyfriend has broached the subject of living together, something that neither of us has done with a romantic partner before. I’ve been living alone for about six years now and I quite like it. His room-mate situation (he shares a house) isn’t great and is getting worse, so it’s something that’s been on his mind.
He works as a flight dispatcher, which is airline-specific and not airport-specific. That means that it’s not like he can just move to any city and find a job – he has to move to places that headquarter airlines he can work for. Relative to 50 states, that’s just a handful of places. And it means that if I were with him for the long-term haul, our moves would be based on his career and not mine. I’d have to start over every time we moved, and if I got a good job offer in a place that wouldn’t work for him, I don’t know what would happen.
The reason I bring this up is because he’s been looking for another job for a while now. It’s one of those situations where you just apply for everything that comes out, because a few of the major airlines are really good places to work and you don’t want to miss out on an opportunity.
So, yeah. I don’t know what to do. I was raised in a conservative and religious environment, so I don’t have many friends or family members who have ever been in this position – they’ve all just been celibate until marriage. No living with the S.O. beforehand. I’m a little concerned about how my mom will take it if I decide to start living with the boyfriend.
Advice is welcome.
birgerjohansson
I read that anthology!
I found it deeply racist (and by extension, Jack Vance’s Dying Earth) in its depiction of deodands. Otherwise, some stellar story-writing, although not to my taste specifically.
rq,
I think people would rather just not think when it comes to these issues. Because if they did, it would end up shaking their entire world view, so it is just not that important to them.
Yazikus:
Stunned silence
Dumbfounded disbelief
Wow. That’s…umm…I can see why you aren’t anxious to discuss that topic anytime soon.
@Mythbri,
I remember when my parents stepped foot for the first time into my den of iniquity (I’m pretty sure that is what they thought it was), ahem, I mean apartment. They got the brief tour, and then suggested perhaps we go out to dinner instead. They recovered and are fine. They got over it. I hope your mom would do the same.
–
I think living with a romantic partner can be super educational (though not for everyone), and it doesn’t mean forever necessarily. You might not like it and decide to move out, and you have the extra hassle of finding new living arrangements, but it can be done.
–
It sounds like this decision is being pushed perhaps a bit sooner than you would like due to your boyfriend’s living situation. In that case, I might wait.
–
I hope something in that helps.
I’m not sure what love really is either. I know that I was in love with my first girlfriend (she dumped be because I had not accepted Jesus). When I fell in love with protoWife, I looked back on my previous love and thought, ‘that wasn’t love, this is!’ Still no way I could describe it.
The closest I can come to it is that Wife is my best friend, my sex partner, and I can not imagine not having her as part of my life. When I go to a fire, I take sleeping pills because I cannot get to sleep without her presence near me. When I have dinner at a fire, I look up expecting to see her across the table from me and feel disappointed that it is a muscular fireman from Oregon. We can sit in a room, her hooking, me reading, and be happy. We can sit in a room talking about parts of our past and where we want to be and be happy. We both like and want to revisit the same places (the Adirondack Mountains, Hayden Valley, Fossil Butte, Custer State Park).
All that rambling, I guess, is my definition of love. She has followed me (army and NPS) because she wants to be with me. I have turned down a job offer because we knew she would be unhappy there (UP of MI).
All of which means, I guess, that I really have no advice.
5 links, that is.
Dalillama! :-O *hugs* *happiness tea* *chocolate* *more hugs* Let me know if I can do anything.
Dartmouth [College] Quick to Punish Rape Protestors Instead of Actual Rapists
The Myth of Shared Female Experience and How It Perpetuates Inequality
Most of these links are from tweets by Jadehawk.
Or actually… the definition that says “everything closer to Deinonychus than to birds” is apparently older than the one that says “the last common ancestor of Deinonychus and Troodon, plus all its descendants”, so birds aren’t deinonychosaurs – troodontids aren’t deinonychosaurs anymore.
It’s such a mess, with everybody redefining half of all names in every paper.
However!
Panderichthys
Ventastega
All is not lost!
LOL!
What does it say in the top left corner of number 2? I only understand “Japan”, “lightning/electro-“, and “on the web”.
Number 14 has saved my day.
No beak. Or at least no evidence of one.
Difficult to say from a single specimen… :-)
Bookmarked.
♥ ♥ ♥
Where did you find it?
Same for me!
Meatspace. It’s called meatspace.
^_^ ^_^ ^_^ *group hug* ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
“Author’s Note:
Yes, I authored this piece, not The Onion — though if the latter comes calling with a job offer, I have a number in mind.”
(And, contrary to all expectations, heels, pearls and most dresses increase fuckability because… uh… because somebody powerful once said so. ~:-| )
Yessssssssssssss.
Catholic? How did that get into your family?
yazikus
You’re probably right, re: the world-view changing. *sigh*
mythbri
I hope he’s not playing the Love card in order to get in your good graces to have a place to live. ([interlude]For what it’s worth, I’m more inclined to your view of love, even being married and kids and all that – I really enjoy spending time with Husband, and living with him, and sharing opinions (or not), and I really appreciate his help and all the things he does, and I would have a hard time doing it on my own without him… But I don’t like using the word ‘love’ because there’s so much drama and I-can’t-live-without-you tied up in that word that I see as unnecessary. We’re just happy together, isn’t that enough? [/interlude])
I don’t have much advice except not to do it if you feel rushed or otherwise uncomfortable, or if it becomes a deal-breaker (the moving in, I mean). It really sucks that you’d be tied to his job, and I hope there’s a way to resolve that, as well as the housing issue.
Beyond that, I’m sorry I don’t have any better advice (esp. regarding the parents, mine also just got used to it because they had no choice)!
@Tony
I’ve since learned that the first encounter is actually a teaching in the seventh day adventist church, so that at least gave me context. That woman seems totally normal otherwise. It is bizarre.
–
You are probably thinking that I hang around a bunch of weirdos, but each of those instances was in a different context. One with a vendor at work, one at a bbq, of sadly the last a friend (who is wonderful otherwise). I just think many people have weird ideas. Usually, but not always, encouraged by religion.
@yazikus #398
That does help, and I appreciate it. I never trust my instincts regarding “Is this moving too fast?” because I tend to move as slowly as a glacier when it comes to romantical things. It has led to me missing opportunities in the past, and while I trust my own judgment in almost everything, this is one area in which I’m not at all confident.
….
@Ogvorbis #399
That’s another thing. He won’t camp. He’s afraid of sleeping outdoors or in tents, because it feels too exposed for him. I’m trying to get him to compromise on renting/staying in a cabin in a remote location, so he can at least try to understand why I find it so peaceful.
And thanks for your words. They help.
Sure it helps: it confirms that we “only” need to figure out where Eunotosaurus belongs.
A colleague here is working on diapsid phylogeny (possibly more than that, I have to ask), and she says everything we thought we knew is wrong – depending on the mistakes in published data matrices, at least.
Could you describe as “friends with benefits”? If not, it’s love.
(…uh… unless you’re asexual; I don’t know, I haven’t asked.)
Does it feel like what Ogvorbis describes? That sounds like love to me.
Finally, not all people fall in love. Some are aromantic.
mythbri:
I think the best thing to do–in the long run–is tell your BF everything you just told us (if you havent already). The two of you are the ones navigating the relationship, so knowing what the other is thinking and taking that into account when making decisions is important. Even knowing that you are uncertain if you’re in love with him can be helpful. This is no guarantee no feelings will be hurt, but moving forward with all your cards on the table can often prevent frustration down the line.
Also, I don’t have any advice on how to discuss this with your mother, but I think you should find out if you and BF are on the same page, or wherever it is you stand. Figure out where the two of you are heading (not meant literally in this case). Having that uncertainty dealt with may make it easier emotionally to discuss this with your mother. Having BFs support and encouragement is also a boon if/when you talk with your mother.
I also feel that your needs in this situation trump your mothers. It’s fantastic to have the love and support of family members, but at the end if the day this is YOUR life. If your mother is not accepting that is unfortunate (and may change), but how much sway-if any-do you want your mother to have over your life?
As for love…? There, I have no advice. I have never gotten past 3 months with someone, so I know nothing about romantic love. I do think you should define it on your own terms, without external pressure (a difficult task, admittedly).
For bagpipe lovers everywhere.
David
Fossil fish is the closest Latvia has to dinosaurs, yes. And really, no surprise, considering this place has spent a lot of time underwater at various stages of the world’s development. (Thanks for those! :) ) Incidentally, a type of travertine is our national rock.
What do you mean, how did the catholic get into my family? My dad was infected with it – his side of the family’s from Latgale, they’re all (ok fine mostly) catholic there, they have a specific name for protestants that means ‘covered in boils’ and they still use it to this day. And as you know, children of catholics must be raised catholic no matter what Spouse’s denomination may be. But I can safely say I’ve been cured. ;)
+++
One more for the daughters: a father’s letter to his daughter. Most of which I can agree with (the bits about prayer, not so much!).
yazikus:
Oh I had no thoughts either way about anyone you hang out with. I had assumed your stories were unrelated examples of kooky opinions about dinosaurs. Nothing more.
“Aromantic heterosexual.”
That sounds like it could be me. I think, maybe, depending on how one defines “romantic.”
yazikus
I think we all know a few weirdos. I look at my array of friends, and I make no judgment about yours (or you). :) (I don’t believe in judging someone from the company they keep.)
I think I saw all of those examples lined up and thought, ah!, so many examples! But thanks Tony & rq for the nonjudgmental atmosphere =)
Mythbri: No thoughts on the living situation, but as far as love goes, I think this is a good perspective. Tanks optional.
Speaking of judgmental…I was *this* close to calling out someone for being an ass last night.I’d met a friend for drinks and two guys next to us were chatting about the barstaff. Suddenly I hear one of them make a disparaging remark about the teeth of one of the bartenders and how the guy should get them fixed because no thee should only be good looking men wirking in a gay bar. I sat there mulling over possible responses, but opted to remain quiet because I’d consumed enough alcohol to impair my judgment. So had the guy. I chose to leave, but I was irritated that he would judge anyone by their teeth.
mythbri:
I think Tony’s advice of being straight with your boyfriend is good. After three weeks, he probably already has gleaned that you’re not sure about saying “I love you” back to him, so an honest conversation about it at this point might be a relief to him.
As for your parents’ opinion of your possible cohabitation, I totally sympathize with the apprehension. When I was going to stay with S for a summer during law school (not move in, even, just stay there for convenience) my mother wrote me a nine page letter about the evils of living together before marriage and how she regrets having done that with my stepdad and on and on. And it shook me up for days. So I understand being worried about judgment. It’s all about what your priorities are. If maintaining peace in your family and strong ties with your parents is top priority, because your happiness isn’t all tied up in the relationship, then that’s legitimate. It might even be a convenient out for you to tell yourself ^_^
Better too slow than too fast, I think.
—
This map and Illinois’ distinction in the “best” column explains why I have a coupon for free potassium pills sitting on my desk. Yep, the state is paying for us all to have a stash just in case there’s a meltdown. But I’m so close to the nuke plant that I’m pretty sure I’d be toast.
My best friend’s* mom got hit by a car, so I’m going to drive with him the 1.5 hours to the nearest high-level trauma center, where she was taken. I’m not close to his mom myself, but I’m worried about him, and her. A bad storm just went through, I’m hoping it’s actually over. If I have wifi when we get to the hospital I’ll update (I am terrible with the mobile site).
*He calls me his little sister.
@Portia
Have you seen that nifty map that lets you chose the type of nuclear explosion, and then shows when the fallout would be? I’m trying to find it now, and it was from a couple of years ago. I’ll have to try more later. I thought it was pretty neat.
*Hugs* to Portia. Hopefully she’s ok.
Thanks for the support, everyone. I’m still pretty rough, and I don’t know how active I’ll be for a while.
Dang, need to catch up on the thread, but dinner is in the oven (pork steak, cream of X soup, rice, onions, brocolli, a 1950’s recipe), and the Redhead is watching videos, so I have time. Today was “one of those days” at work, where the expected breaks in meetings with our new owner didn’t materialize (I’m the old fart with with the company’s historical data in my mind), so I couldn’t get home to feed/commode the Redhead per normal schedule. And to make matters worse, the go-to neighbor’s daughter had a graduation today. Fortunately, our next door neighbor had started her vacation today, and was able to help the Redhead. Phew.
You’re probably right to turn down that transfer. Besides the climate, the locals do cut off newbies until they look like they might stay. And if you are NPS, you aren’t staying. After 15 years in dah YooPee, we only began to be accepted by the locals.
Louise Mensch doesn’t understand privilege.. She also thinks American feminists are doing a better job than their British counterparts.
*facepalm*
Dammit, people, The Flintstones was not a documentary!
–
Much sympathy and *hugs* from me, mythbri, but no advice. Sorry.
–
rq, that man is playing that cat wrong. The tail goes in the mouth.
–
Portia, best wishes for your best friend’s mom. And for your best friend, as well.
And for you, of course, but that’s Standard Procedure.
:)
–
I remember being told, back when I was young, that dinosaurs never existed. The fossils are created by palaeontoligists the same way that a sculptor just keeps removing rock until he gets what he wants.
The kicker? This was a public high school biology teacher.
Dalillama – I’m not sure how helpful it is to suggest it, but in many states a 9-1-1 call for a suicide results in an automatic 24 or 48 hour involuntary hospitalization watch. They can sign themselves out after that, but at least it’s some respite where someone else (and professionals at that) are looking out for the person.
Portia:
I hope your friends mom will be ok.
@Portia
I hope all works out well for your friends mom!
@Ogvorbis
I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I remember learning in second grade in public school that T Rex ate watermelons. Cuz, you know, sharp teeth!
From David’s 2nd link @400:
” My point is, possession of vaginas in and of themselves are neither what define women nor what bond women to each other. Shared experiences of the world, which include experiences of race, sexuality, (dis)ability, economic class, any number of nuanced vulnerabilities, love of french fries, etc. is what bonds women to each other. And continuing to talk about “women” as this vagina-having-but-otherwise-unspecific group, rather than looking closer and breaking down the ways in which our specific experiences of the world are impacted by race, sexuality, etc., only perpetuates the inequalities we’re supposed to be trying to eradicate.”
This resonated with me.
It also made me start to wonder where I would feel comfortable at.
I suspect that I would feel more at ease in a room full of women than men. Perhaps this is explained by my tendency to bond with women well.
As a POC, I have been relatively unaware of how my race has been an impediment to my progress through life. I didn’t grow up in any type of ethnic community, so I don’t have that sense of connection to any ethnic group. Most of my friends growing up, the people I have bonded with have been white. I don’t feel a sense if connection there either. I’m not certain I feel any affiliation to any ethnic group.
On the flip side, I am far more conscious of my sexuality. I feel that my sexuality has impacted my life in ways I can easily grasp. I feel a connection with the gay community in a way that I don’t with any ethnic group. That likely stems from a shared set of experiences with other gay men. I know I feel more relaxed in a gay environment than elsewhere.
That still doesn’t approach my comfort zone…the room I’d feel most comfortable in (as BGD speaks about in the article). This just touches on the rooms I would enter, not ones I would remain in.
For that, I need more common shared experiences. Shared experiences involving atheism might be next. Followed by interest in social justice. Somewhere in there is hopefully a room where I can interact with nerds.
Hmm, I really liked that link David. My brain is whirling around with thoughts now.
And because that article is overflowing with *win*, here is another excerpt I loved:
” Of course, it’s not just economics. There are many ways in which factors such as race, sexuality, gender presentation, and (dis)ability make the “collective” experience of one group of women vastly different from that of another. According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), 91% of people who are raped in the US are women. So, rape is a universal issue for women, right? Of course. When you break it down, though, “universal” gets complicated. The rate of rape and attempted rape for white women is 17.7%. For American Indian/Alaskan women it’s 34.1%. And women with disabilities are raped at a rate at least twice that of women overall. So, while “women” have a collective experience of being more vulnerable to rape, some women are a whole lot more vulnerable to it than others. While that first statistic is always used to suggest a shared female experience of the world, the statistics that follow it show that women’s experiences aren’t really all that shared. Or at least not equally shared. Not anywhere near equally.”
http://blackgirldangerous.org/new-blog/2013/5/13/the-myth-of-shared-female-experience
I ate’nt dead
Just very busy and going off for a weekend with the family
JAL
Things have shipped this week and should arrive within 2-3 weeks.
VERY IMPORTANT: Do not throw away the packing. I included international vouchers but they’re only valid when presented with the original letter.
So I forgot to close my Patrick Stewart tab last night, and I find I am once again moved to tears by his reply in that video. Great morning.
+++
Oh, and speaking of love, this is the ultimate anti-love song (in my opinion). Here’s a bad video of it.
Annnnd today’s Holy Shit! moment brought to you by the homeschooling christian on my Facebook (see, yazikus, see???): going gluten-free has cured autism. Like I just can’t even. Yeah. *sigh*
Yayyyy, just finished my term paper! It was supposed to be 8-10 pages but ended up at over 11 because I’m hopelessly verbose. At least I can claim I wasn’t padding my sentences to get away with writing less.
Patrick Stewart = AWESOME
I read through the list of EVOLVE awards, as posted by PZ, and I re-listened to Symphony of Science’s We Are Star Dust. I was struck by the near-religious language Neil deGrasse Tyson uses – the awe and wonder he expresses at the way the universe works is amazing and inspiring.
And to think we atheists never, ever, feel joy about nature or wonder about the universe. How plain our lives! [/snark]
Posting this as I haven’t seen it covered by any of the blogs I visit regularly,
The inquest for Lucy Meadows, the primary school teacher hounded by the UK press for being trans, has concluded with a verdict of suicide and a strong condemnation of her treatment by the press: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/28/lucy-meadows-coroner-press-shame
Nope, but I’m interested if you find it. I’m within ten miles of the plant.
Thanks for the support everybody. She is conscious but seriously injured. I’m not sure when they’ll release her. Got back after midnight last night and just crashed. S is trying to rearrange his schedule for me so he can cover a court appearance this afternoon and then I can go back to the hospital for the day with friend, P.
rq
When oh when will people learn that autism is a developmental delay – it’s not a permanent or stable condition or a deformity like a missing foot or ear that can only be remedied or coped with by surgical or other intervention.
Even my nephew’s severely disabled autistic 10 year old son has now “progressed” to being willing to eat most foods (well mashed) from most of his close family most of the time. Rather than almost nothing and only from whoever he’s willing to tolerate at that specific moment. And he can cope with being in a group without his noise reducing headset on, he just puts his hands over his ears when things get too much for him.
They all progress and develop. Just at unpredictable times in unpredictable ways. Pfffft.
The definition of living under a rock: Setenil de las Bodegas (at least, some parts of town).
+++
mildlymagnificent
I think it’s because most of them see autistic people as inherently disabled, which, to them, means they’ll never get anywhere and will never do anything… unless Magic, of course (or gluten-free diet, haha). I don’t think they even know about the delay part, which makes any progression seem like a result of [current fad]. But I think it causes them to miss out on seeing what autistic children actually could be and are, if you see what I mean. (I’m sorry if I come off as sounding insensitive and the like, I’m having a hard time putting my thoughts into words that don’t sound mean or able-ist and I’m afraid I’m failing, so I’m not going to take the conversation much further. :) )
We had to have our doggy put down today. Anyone have a spare happy thought lying around?
T. Rex Terrorizes Bridal Party
–
myeck waters: I’m so sorry. *hug*
–
Myeck Waters *Hugs* I’m sorry to hear that.
Today is a little bit better. D is still in the ER waiting for an inpatient bed to open up, she’s going to be staying for a while. L also thanks everyone for their support.
mythbriboyfriend…told me that he loves me. A girlfriend to whom I once professed my love responded with a flat “I don’t think so”. Probably not the best response. On the other hand she has been my wife for the last [pulls out finger, toes, …] 24.5 years, so YMMV. And we did live together for 4 years before that and I think that was useful. I’m not sure any of that constitutes “advice”. Oh, and what Ogvorbis and rq said. My parents are a bit conservative, but I’m not sure they had too big an issue with me or my siblings living w/ SO before getting married; perhaps they even approved to som degree. They’ve been married 54 years, but I think they might have felt a bit rushed. Meanwhile, I think each of us kids lived with our future spouses before marriage, and none of us have been divorced and I think those aren’t decoupled.
Wait. Won’t camp? Nuke him from orbit and move on. :-) Or maybe you should take Tony‘s advice. Yeah, probably better that.
milldlymagnificent, yes, autism is very misunderstood.
Cross post from Friday Cephalopod, a nice thing for all you nice people.
I present: adorable child refusing to eat octopus.
Accurate descriptions of third parties’ views and behavior aren’t -ist.
There’s the other side of this, though: the people who think ASDs don’t really exist and that anyone (at least anyone who Doesn’t Look Disabled) who ever has difficulty with the endless fucking carnival game of double secret social expectations is either just a spoiled brat or doing it on purpose to be mean.
Shit, myeck — *headbonks* — I’m so sorry you lost your fur-baby.
Dalillama — Best of luck to you and your SOs.
myeck,
I’m so sorry about your loss.
*hugs*
Azkyroth
QFFT
Sympathy to myeck. Hoping things improve for Dalillama.
Myeck:
I am so sorry for your loss. My condolences to you and your loved ones.
This is not a Moment of Mormon Madness. It is a chronicle of a lifetime of mormon madness. A gay mormon Bishop, a true believer, presents in video form his tale. Link. Some text is also available at the link. This is an official “LDS Voices of Hope” video in which a gay man manages to not act on his “same sex attraction” and to remain married, (eight children too), just like the LDS Church demands.
The story is supposed to be uplifting, supposed to inspire other gay mormons to live by LDS rules. That they cannot see the torture this 65-year-old man has endured is inexplicable. Worse yet, the Bishop has convinced himself that it’s all good. Utterly depressing and fucked up.
The comments below the video are all from True Believing Mormons and they will suck the hope right out of you.
myeck waters, I’m very sorry. That’s always so bloody hard to bear, even if you maybe knew it was coming. I hope you and yours are OK, or will be soon.
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Hugs and hope for a bit of respite for you and L, Dalillama, and hopes that D gets treated well – in both senses; treated with care and respect, and given effective treatment.
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Good luck, mythbri! I’d probably better not say anything else, because I am crap at relationships, but I hope that whatever you decide goes really well. (I have come to realise that if money and circumstances were no object (ha!) my own personal ideal would probably be a semi-detached life so I am probably the last person to have anything useful to say! )
myeck waters
Sorry about the dog. :( *hugs* if wanted!
Suido
I’ve had similar conversations with Middle Child when we visit the butcher shop and there’s a pig’s head in the display. Thanks for that!
Azkyroth
I’d rather be a little bit safe than sorry with my opinions and possible -isms, if that’s alright with you. I don’t always know where the line is.
Dalillama
*extra hugs* and I’m glad to hear things are a little bit better today. I hope you and L manage to get some sleep/rest, and I hope a positie progression continues!
+++
In my Facebook news, my Best Friend has noticed me posting more and more about feminism and male oppression (her words), and is worried about my happiness here in Latvia… O-oooooh! I’m not sure how to respond, yet. Besides ‘No, I’m not unhappy’.
Good news: I wasn’t sure whether I had a right to vacation time under my stupid contract, but it turns out I do. Yay!
Yay Beatrice for vacation time!
Giant pink cannibal slugs discovered — where else? — in Australia
WMDKitty
Yup, magical – with giant pink slugs in the trees above your head, and cannibal snails (who knows how big!) at your feet. Magical Australia. ;)
Dalillama, I jumped in here threadrupt and missed what you’ve been going through. *hugs*
Lynna:
A lifetime of denying a significant part of who you are for the benefit of a non existent deity? That sounds like s horrific nightmare.
I will say that the hope is not gone. In fact, I feel very hopeful. I stumbled upon a site today called UPWORTHY. I’ve spent the last few hours watching various clips on this site about women’s issues. It deals with more than just that topic, but that was my starting point. The last clip I watched was powerful:
http://www.upworthy.com/best-way-to-answer-a-question-hands-down
Though there’s some god talk in there, the message of freedom of individuality shone through. It gave me hope. It made me cry. It made me rage. It made me smile.
So did the video about consent.
So did the video about feminism.
So did the video about gender equality.
I know it takes more than a clip to change the world. A soundbite cannot achieve that. But there was a time when women could not even speak about such concerns. In areas around the world, women still cannot. So these voices that can, speak for all those who remain silent. These voices ring out for any and all to hear their message.
I’m shutting up and listening.
Hugs to Myeck.
My sympathies.
I listened to this a lot when I lost Gracie; it may or may not help.
Tony @454, a lot of ex-mormons agree with you. They are discussing the issue here:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,911452
One of the ex-mormons even noted that the gay Bishop is shaking his head “no” while he is describing the joy he feels as a result of being obedient to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Just watched a 3 or 4 year old little girl, wearing blue and white hickory stripe bib overalls, hiking boots, and an engineers cap, walk up to a steam locomotive on display (ICRR 790, ALCo 1902, 2-8-0), hug it, an announce, loudly, “I LOVE TWAINS!”
Okay, so it’s not a happy thought, but it was sure cute.
From Cracked: 5 Reasons Your Online Dating Profile Isn’t Working
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WMDKitty, I saw that slug this morning on WTF, Evolution? and I thought, “If I served those things up in a game, my players’d probably call Bullshit!”
We shall see….
:)
Oooh! And cannibal snails, too!
“You are what you eat!”
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Huh. I don’t think any of them apply. >.>
From there:
:-D
ROTFL!
*convulse*
If anything wants a translation of the German part in the cartoon in #2, or just wants to know where it’s quoted from, tell me. :-S
Yes, please!
Pretty please with chocolate on top!
:)
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Hey, that Patrick Stewart clip is showing up all over the place now! People I know have linked to it via upworthy.com and thestar.com. It deserves the attention.
(I would also like a translation of the German.)
So, finally, The Upcatching.
*fluffy hugs with mousse au chocolat for myeck waters*
Open-access paper about dinosaur eggs with toothy goodness inside. (Jadehawk!!!) They’re from Portugal, about 150 Ma old, like Allosaurus and Archaeopteryx and Brachiosaurus and stuff, and they belong to a megalosauroid (Torvosaurus in particular) – a clade previously unknown in the
fossil oorecordfossil record of eggs.Huh. I had no idea.
http://www.vaderno.com/
I read all of Jadehawk’s tweets so you don’t need to :-)
You should, though.
Wonderful.
*gulp*
“If international finance Jewry within and outside of Europe should succeed in once again plunging the peoples into a world war, then the result will not be the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!!”
Quoted, with surprisingly few mistakes and most likely the addition of an exclamation mark, from Mein Kampf.
David: Thanks; and why am I not surprised?
*sigh*
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I’m reading a crime novel. In almost every scene with this one character who is fat, the word “greasy” is used in some form. If not that, then a reference to the woman’s former beauty or “what she used to be” (before she let herself go).
She hasn’t appeared a single time without her looks being mentioned, negatively.
Ugh.
@ Beatrcie 469, it really pisses me off when authors rely heavily and unthinkingly on the conventionally-attractive = morally good and not-conventionally-attractive = morally flawed or downright evil method of fiction-making (mass-produced, pre-fabricated elements only, some assembly requd.). Ugh.
.
My German is very very nearly completely non-existent, but I guessed Hitler and his anti-jewish bile in the cartoon. Kind of went with the territory, I suppose :-(
Beatrice:
That sounds like the kind of book that I would just lay down somewhere, forget about it, and go on to something more enjoyable.
When I read history, I give the historian three strikes — if I spot three errors of fact (not interpretation), I give up on the book. When I read fiction, if the writer pisses me off three times (egregious plot holes, ridiculous caricatures, tasteless or tacky tropes, or other examples of lazy writing), I give up and go on to something enjoyable.
Pee Zed needs this book!
http://boingboing.net/2013/05/30/walking-your-octopus-a-guideb.html
Ha! Doomsday also fell victim to that classic comics trope in which they are completely unbeatable on their first in-universe appearance, then one by one they start losing to lesser and lesser superheroes, until finally he or she is taken down by Booster Gold or Hawkeye.
Eric:
Doomsday didn’t wind up going that far. The trouble was that he lacked a
compellingpersonality. He was a near mindless agent of destruction created to kill Superman. Which he did. Briefly. Then what? He did what he was created to do. Should have been killed off afterwards.David:
I follow the 11.5th commandment- No Tweets for you!
P’s mom might be released from the hospital tomorrow. It’s P and his wife, R’s, sixth anniversary next week so they had a celebration date planned. P’s mom was set to babysit. So I volunteered to sub in so they can go out. Two year old H is in the bedroom talking and yelling and singing and pretending in adorable fashion. I am pretending not to hear him because he is supposed to be sleeping.
I’m writing my french homework (yeah, I have a class
tomorrowthis morning, shuttup), and reading Pharyngula between paragraphs. It’s a bit confusing.I am threadrupt.
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Tony, Thank You for mentioning upworthy.com.
I have wept, cheered and wept again.
I have been struggling and these are helping. *thumbsup*
Thank You thank you thank you thank you thank you.
Where’s my Kleenex? : )
I’m sorry for your loss, myeck. : (
My less-than-a-year-old netbook works for everything except the internet.
*clinks on the side of grog tankard*
May I have your attention please?
We received a significant notice in the mail today. Our mortgage is paid in full, and the lien will be removed shortly. Drinks on us tonight at the Pharyngula Saloon and Spanking Parlor.
CONFETTI AND CHAMPAGNE FOR NERD AND REDHEAD!!!
Congrats to the Nerd household!!
I’ll just knock down this one drink and go to be…. *falls over asleep*
Good luck with that homework, Beatrice. When I took French a French foreign exchange student who was assigned to tutor me just did it because he didn’t want to hassle with figuring out what level I was at and making sure he didn’t go into more complicated tenses. : p
Congrats, Nerd!
We also paid off our mortgage, last month. Sadly it was our Second mortgage. The primary is still there.
Yeehah!
for Redhead and her Nerd!
My younger brother just called me. He got pulled over shortly after leaving a bar Wednesday night for having his license plate light out. He blew at .08, which is right at the legal limit. While he was taking the sobriety test, he saw the cop’s partner was digging through his car and patting down his passenger. His passenger had pot on him and they found a pipe in the car. His friend said the pipe was his, but they still charged him with possession of paraphernalia.
No one gave permission for the search, and there’s no way that a broken taillight and a driver who’s suspected of being drunk but hasn’t completed a sobriety test is probable cause, so I told him that’s an illegal search. He’s not facing jail time, so no right to legal assistance. He’d probably have to pay for a lawyer, but it would be worth it to do so. He had a good chance of beating the whole thing.
At that point, he told me he had pled guilty in jail. Is there anything I can tell him other than contact legal assistance and he’s probably screwed?
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/withdrawing-guilty-plea-criminal-case.html
…why is it called “chilli” if it’s hot?
/random musing
Yeah for Nerd and Redhead!! Hooray!
myeck waters
I am so sorry for your loss.
sending *hugs* if you like
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Dallilama
I am so sorry everything is so difficult. I hope you can get some rest.
sending *hugs* your way
*confetti & fireworks*
Congratulations!
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myek, hugs
Dallilama hugs
“mumble”kitty you can safely eat a whole can of pineapple if done with a jug of vodka sauce
looking for a car new to me in ND dreary task. hoping the next shiny bright example isnt a piece of crumpled cack
Congratulations Nerd & Redhead!
I’m just ankle deep into my mortgage, and can appreciate (I think) how wonderful it would be to have paid that off.
-@Ace of Sevens
This is such bullshit. I’m sorry, but pot should seriously be legal in all states (and elsewhere I would think). I wonder how Washington will be affected (and is being affected) by the new law stating that suspicion (smell, sight, or evidence of mj) is not allowed to be used as a way to search vehicles anymore. The state hasn’t rolled out it’s distribution plan yet, but is supposed to by the end of the year. I think it will be very interesting. I keep telling people, “Value Added Agriculture”! You should be branding it!
So far — in Washington, at least — it’s gone well. They’re in the planning stages, regarding regulations and licenses and you know, I’m not sure of the details, they’re a bit hazy…
We could have shops open in early 2014, I think.
I’m curious what will happen when vendors start filing their B&O’s with use tax and paying the state for the pleasure of doing business in pot. Will the feds demand WA hand over the tax revenue? I have also enjoyed the Seattle PD’s position, “The dude abides, Keep it inside”, where no citations are supposed to be happening for use of pot out in the opening, just a reminder.
Really random question: I just turned the TV on and saw one of those terrible ghost hunting shows and it got me thinking about my past. Back when I was a kid and early in my teenage years I was really into ghosts and UFOs, I thought paranormal science was good science, but after discovering Carl Sagan and other skeptical writers I learned otherwise. Anyway, I still love ghost stories (I am really into local history and folklore) and such but I have a limited tolerance for the bull presented in most books on this topic. Does anyone know of any books that approach these topics from a skeptical viewpoint, rather than the usual uncritical view one normally finds?
Grrrrrrr. I have some random critter that is *planting* potatoes in my garden. I found a small burrow today that led to (one of) the potatoes. WTF? I ripped one up a few weeks ago, and 3 of them today. Thanks, unknown critter, but I’m growing my potatoes 3 stories up so you can’t eat them.
Nerd:
congratulations !!!!!
****
ednaz:
my pleasure
Oh my goodness .
Random piles of hugs for the several in obvious need.
Confetti, sparkles, cake, champagne and balloons being delivered now for the wake celebrating the demise of mortgages everywhere.