This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Hmm.
Well.
I will say this much for sex: it is fun enough, and is a tolerable thing to experience, if in exchange you are granted good company.
—
Hey, that’s a LOON that PZ posted a pic of! I love loons!
Portcullised! That’s a first.
Portia
That made me a laugh loud enough that a pedestrian passing on the footpath 20 meters away looked up. Cheers.
*happy dance* Glad I could brighten your evening a bit :)
Rather adorable loon too.
I went to visit my aunt and uncle this evening. I told the whole family last night about the new job. Uncle takes it on himself to tell me that he and my mom talked about this possibility last and she agrees with him that I should really just keep working as a solo practitioner.
My dear mom has been nothing but supportive and excited for me. Why would he say something like that? As if I’m not nervous enough…
And it’s easy for him to say that self-employment (his life long career contractor path) is the way to go, he has had his wife doing free clerical/administrative work his whole life. Some of us do not have that luxury.
Rarg.
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Also on the life-changes front, I’ve found a couch I like. My First Couch. :D
Reprise of portcullis post:
MellowMonkey,
Try a Google search using the term “contact dermatitis laundry detergent” and up comes some disturbing results. Not at all uncommon. Usually amines and other additives in the detergent. Change brands based upon the research.
Firefox url:
https://www.google.com/search?q=contact+dermatitus+laundry+degergent&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#fp=8f9ad9c84a97d3b0&q=contact+dermatitis+laundry+detergent&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&spell=1
I’m sorry, I’m totally threadrupt and have no idea what’s going on… but Esteleth, that is such an english way of putting it.
I’m having (yet another) random moment of “I wish I could hang out with these people in meatspace.” *hugs* all around as desired. And some chocolate. I also made peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips for the canoe trip I’m going on tomorrow. I can spare a few if anyone’s interested.
English?
Well.
English is my native language, and as an undergraduate I came in second for “Most WASPish Name.”
(The person who won had “Wodehouse-Plum” for a name. Seriously, Wodehouse-Plum. How do you compete with that?)
Nerd, thanks. I feel vindicated seeing that it’s not uncommon. I know I most likely have a latex allergy as well, because I’m horribly allergic to tropical fruits. Aside from the occasional bit in clothing (again with the damn clothing), it’s not something I normally have to worry about. Ah, a happy life without condoms.
Speaking of latex! Sex: Being very iffy about being touched, I didn’t have any of that consensually until I was twenty-nine. I was affectionate with previous partners (few though they may have been) and I consider them as lovers in every way that counts to me, but I just never wanted to go and get naked with anybody. It’s a strange thing for me, because I think my libido is fairly high, but conditions have to be just right for me to be happy with touching. Just talking about such things with my partner is often more my speed.
There are probably far more axes at work when it comes to sex than I’ll ever know. I’m clearly straddling an odd spot on them.
You can’t, I’m afraid.
That phrasing just immediately made me think of Wodehouse.
“Most [Ethnic Group] Name” was one of the contests we had in college.
The other was “Whose Ancestors Pillaged Each Other’s Ancestors The Most?”
That one (being a mix of English, Scots-Irish, German, and Swedish) I generally won. Or tied, if the woman who is half Chinese, half Japanese was around. ‘Course, we’d go around and then we’d come to the person who would say in a very firm voice, “I’m a Polish and Russian Jew. I lose, fuckers.”
I went to a rather strange school, and ran with a rather strange crowd.
MellowMonkey, the latex allergy indicates you could be reacting to the proteins (enzymes) if there are any in the detergent. Enzymes end in …ase if you read the label. Very pure latex rubber usually doesn’t cause irritation, but commercial latex rubber products (gloves and condoms) contain a small amount of proteins that cause the reaction in sensitive individuals.
Shoops of the queer kind are known to consume ginormous amounts of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies when extras are available (they are also great at being passive aggressive)…
Nerd; even knowing that it was the enzymes in common across the tropical fruits that cause my allergic reaction, I wouldn’t have thought of that connection. Thanks for pointing it out. The detergent I use does contain enzymes.
Most modern detergents contain enzymes. It is a rare detergent that is pure lipid-sulfate micelles.
*shoves several PBCCCookies into the USB port on the off chance that anyone of the Shoop variety would like some. Just in case. No particular reason.*
PSA Fishies of the mineralised sort have been known to be aggressive-aggressive in their pursuit of peanut butter cookies sans> chocolate chips. /PSA
or it can be a hell of a lot more and better than that.
Good company’s one thing. And good sex is another. Both at the same time is optimal. natch.
Hm, I’m having a sudden urge to pop the un-chipped cookie dough from the freezer to the oven…couldn’t say why…
possibly TMI discussion of sex and sexuality ahead:
I used to think that sexuality was rigid. That you were gay or straight (a term I prefer not to use any longer) with no in between.
I thought bisexuals either were greedy or undecided (which was odd since I knew of no one who was bisexual).
I think my views evolved as I watched more and more gay porn. Seeing gay for pay performers say they were straight just did not compute. Straight men do not give/get blow jobs to/from gay men. I thought no self respecting hetero guy would put a dick in their mouth and no way could they get aroused by a guy going down on them.
Yeeeeeah.
I was wrong.
I came to realize that sexuality is not rigid, and that some of the gay for pay performers might be bisexual. Or they were straight, but had no hangups about sucking/getting sucked. Or that, for many, arousal is independent of sexual attraction. I began to break the shackles of binary thinking about sexuality and attraction.
Another contributing factor–and something I have not mentioned here before–I like watching hetero porn. More to the point, I find it arousing. I really like watching guys perform cunnilingus. Not sure why. I have never been with a woman in any sexual way, and thus far I have had no desire. I know I do not imagine myself in the place of the guy or the woman either. Perhaps I like voyeurism to some degree.
As to think Kinsey scale, I think I am 99% gay, with just a hint/curiosity of what it is like having sex with a woman.
None of the above is especially private, though it is the first time I have put my thoughts together in this fashion.
****
Nightjar:
Fourthing or tenthing what Caine said: you are among people who care here. Some of the most compassionate people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Hmmm, perhaps I wasn’t clear. Peanut butter cookies=yum. Chocolate chips=yum. PBC+CC= Get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-or-I-will-forgo-my-vegitarianism-and-eat-YOU-just-so-I-can-get-to-the-cookies!
Now I’m the one laughing aloud. :D
The obvious question is has she tried that on herself? Although that might be a dangerous trial, since she might also be allergic but not realize it yet (and therefore think that yes, that is a “normal” response). AND YET, IT IS NOT. Does she have something against trying another detergent to see if the symptoms ease up? You don’t have to go expensive like Dreft or Woolite; sometimes it’s just the particular one. I know I can’t use All or Cheer, for example, but have no problems with Tide, especially Tide Free (which costs the same as regular).
[Steals ALL the cookies while Portia is distracted]
[remembers this: ” Some of the most compassionate people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.]
Dammit!
[Puts half back for Tony]
Portia
I believe you because allergies can be the strangest damn things, and I’ve no reason NOT to trust you. I just gotta ask — how does that even work? *confused*
If you don’t want to answer, that’s okay, I’m waaaay too curious for my own good, and fully expect singed whiskers.
Oh, hey, no singing* necessary, it’s a reasonable curiosity. It’s caused hives when I’ve taken it before. There’s actually a chance I’ve grown out of it, but I have no desire to check. My sister and brother also have the allergy. Which was particularly awful for my sister, because she’s terribly allergic to poison ivy, and internal administration of Benadryl is apparently really helpful for that. (I wouldn’t know, sadly).
The main source of skepticism I’ve gotten when I say I’m allergic to Benadryl is from medical personnel. A friend who’s a nurse finally explained to me that it’s because people often mistake side effects for allergic reactions. So when she asked what my reaction to Benadryl was, she half-expected me to say “Drowsiness.” ^_^
*how does one present tense “singe” without looking like “sing”? Too teh googull!
As for how it works on a physiological level, I’ve no idea. I’m also allergic to several antibiotics to the point where as a kid the doctor told my mom: “Just…don’t let her get sick.” *shrug* I never really thought about how an antihistamine could trigger overproduction of histamines…good question. : p
Once, I had to go to an ER in a town I was visiting. So we had to go through the entire medical history rigamarole.
Which is when I got accused of “drug seeking” when I explained that I have an allergy to morphine (that extends to codeine and hydrocodone) and thus cannot have many strong painkillers (not that I needed anything stronger than ibuprofen, mind…)
I was befuddled.
carlie, I think my mother just enjoys being contrary and making me doubt myself. It seems to be a hobby with her. I will probably end up testing out a replacement detergent this weekend when I get a chance to go shopping. I’m pondering a homemade soap so I can know exactly what’s in it and experiment if necessary, since if it is the enzymes that’s going to be difficult to avoid in commercial detergents.
Continuing Possibly TMI Sex Talk With Tony
You’re not the first gay man I’ve heard/seen express this, interestingly enough. I’ve known a couple who said they found it arousing. One man I know said he likes it because it’s a service role that one doesn’t normally see straight men taking on in popular media otherwise.
What, how someone could be allergic to Benadryl? Could be the resident anti-histamine (diphenhydramine, for the record, if you’re in the US or Canada). Could be any of the dozens of random stuff in the mix.
Any one of which could trigger an allergic reaction.
Esteleth:
I can haz “Allergies for Dummies” level explanation? :)
Oh, and yeah…I dunno how that makes sense to label you a drug-seeker…and I’ve seen some drug-seekers…
Singe
Singeing? (Spellcheck approves this one, but doesn’t approve “Singed“?)
That diphenhydramine is an anti-histamine does not mean that it cannot itself trigger an allergic reaction. In any case, it would be bound by antibodies faster than it could inhibit mast cells.
So.
Ok, I think I get it. I think I also need to just do some basic reading about allergic reactions.
Drug – seeker? Makes no sense.
Also, have just taken gingerbreads out of the oven…
Free for distribution.
I’d ask for one, but my mouth is watering too much to speak.
Wait. Does this mean that it’s improbable that the reaction I had was “real”? I guess I don’t know what “inhibit mast cells” means.
nevermind, I’ll do my own research instead of pestering you all night :)
Okay. Allergies come in four classes (helpfully numbered Types 1-4), to wit:
Type 1 (aka anaphylactic). Symptoms appear in less than 30 minutes after exposure. Caused when an antibody (of the IgE class) binds to the allergen, and then the entire complex binds to mast cells and histamines are produced. Most allergic reactions are of this type.
Type 2 (aka cytotoxic). Symptoms appear between 5 and 12 hours after exposure. Caused when an antibody (of the IgM and/or IgG classes) that is also bound to a cell binds to the allergen. This recruits a third thing (known as a complement) that results in the death of the cell in question. Usually caused by incompatible blood transfusions.
Type 3 (aka immune complex). Symptoms appear 3 to 8 hours after exposure. Caused when antibodies (usually IgG) form complexes with the antigen and get “lost” in the basement membrane, leading to inflammation.
Type 4 (aka delayed cell-mediated). Symptoms appear 24 to 48 hours after exposure. Caused when the antigen activates cytotoxic T lymphocytes that kill cells. Examples include rejection of transplanted tissue and contact dermatitis (e.g. poison ivy).
As I understand it, antibodies bind to the drug before the drug can prevent the inflammatory response, then the antibodied drug itself trigger an inflammatory reaction… if that makes sense.
I think I’m following, thanks for walking me through it, Esteleth and dongiovanni.
If the allergen (diphenhrydra…something) got to the mast cells first, before the antibodies, no allergic reaction. Because it gets bound by antibodies, then that attaches to mast cells, allergic reaction happens. So that’s how we get to the seemingly odd result of an anti-allergy substance causing an allergic reaction.
Thanks.
“Mast cells” are these baggy cells full of clumps of shit that work on multiple tissues. The most well-known of these is histamine. When mast cells are activated, they dump their cargo, releasing the histamine & such.
Histamine:
(1) makes your capillaries more permeable (i.e. you leak blood inside more, leading to swelling, redness, and lowered blood pressure)
(2) makes your mucous membranes secrete more (i.e. your nose gets runny)
(3) makes your smooth muscles contract more in your respiratory bronchi (i.e. it gets hard to breathe).
An anti-histamine is a drug that either:
(1) prevents histamine from binding to the receptors that make it do the above, or
(2) inhibits the conversion of histidine to histamine, causing histamine levels to drop.
Epinephrine, given in cases of severe anaphylaxis, works by causing your capillaries to contract, thus overriding the permeability. It also causes your heart to beat faster, which counteracts the severely low blood pressure that is the major symptom – and problem – of anaphylactic shock.
Any protein can be an allergen, in theory.
Continuing Possibly TMI Sex Talk
Perhaps more oddly, I’ve known a number of gay men who enjoy watching lesbian porn, with no men involved at all. Similarly, many lesbians of my acquaintance enjoy guy/guy porn. I can’t explain it, I just know it happens.
Chas:
Optimal for you and many others, sure. I wouldn’t assume that as optimal for someone on the Aven axis, though, which is why we’re discussing this in the first place.
Thanks for the biology (physiology? I was never good at categories like that) lesson, Esteleth. Really helpful, and interesting.
Portia:
Singe, singed, singeing.
There’s also the question of mole ratios. If we assume that one molecule of diphenhydramine inhibits one molecule of histamine, but that one mast cell contains 5,000 molecules of histamine (this, for the record, is an absurd lowball), and that there is a 1:1 ratio between diphenhydramine-causing-reaction and diphenhydramine-working-as-antihistimine, if you’re allergic to diphenhydramine, then for every molecule of histimine you successfully inhibit, you’ve still got a lot more histamine being produced. So even if it is working potently as an antihistimine, you’re still fucked.
Which looks as weird to me as “judgement.” But I believe you. Because English is weird.
Expotentially so, sounds like.
Exponentially. Sigh.
Would it actually be exponential though?
You might just be polynomially fucked.
:)
Logarithmically, I’d say…
Mole ratios are at the heart of biochemistry. Why it doesn’t matter that oxygen has a molecular weight of 32 and hemoglobin has a molecular weight of 64,500. The absolute mass ratio (i.e. 4031.25:1) is irrelevant.
Because one molecule of hemoglobin can bind one molecule of oxygen per heme group. Thus, the relevant ratio is the mole ratio: how many heme groups are there?
Hemoglobin has four heme groups, therefore one molecule of hemoglobin can bind four molecules of oxygen.
Are there any negative feedback mechanisms operating?
On what? Hemoglobin?
Heme groups can bind three things: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxygen.
The binding strength of heme to CO2 is less than that of CO or O2. However, when heme binds to CO, the other three hemes bind O2 more strongly, which leads the hemes to not release the O2 to the tissues: suffocation results.
TIL what causes carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide: nasty shit. Kills you dead.
(Not that I didn’t read it three times to realize that’s what I was learning :) )
I was thinking with regards to the anaphylaxis.
Doesn’t everything? Eventually?
Um, well, after awhile, the histamine released gets degraded. By proteases and such. And the body returns to rest.
The antibody:allergen complex similarly gets cycled.
*shrug*
The allergic reaction’s function is (effectively) OMG GET IT OFF GET IT OFF. It is quite effective as such.
The issue with anaphylactic shock is that your blood pressure drops so low and your capillaries get so porous that you die before the cycling can happen.
And thus, you die.
Ah… so the fuckery would probably be logarithmic.
Dalillama:
Huh.
That is interesting.
Left-overs!
I specifically keep daddy long-legs in the shower. They eat the ants, so they’re on staff.
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Back from TV Tropes. Thanks loads, David.
:P
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Aratina Cage!
*pouncehug*
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Nonono! Their hide-out is The Bureau, as run by Argh! Yle!
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onion girl!
*moar pouncehugs*, to go with the one I left you in the Ada thread.
:)
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*hugs* and encouragement for Nightjar. I’m proud that you feel comfortable enough with us to come out, here. An accolade!
Also, what Caine said at #746.
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Mellow Monkey
O.O
That sounds very scary. Your mother is wrong.
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Portia, if I were allergic to Benadryl, the ragweed would kill me. My allergies (meds-wise) are Dramamine (not fun to discover this on a boat trip; I was extravagantly ill) and Darvacet, which they seem to have taken out of circulation, to my relief. Some nurses don’t actually read the info on the clipboard, and more than one tried to give me that crap.
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Hah!. Someone linked you to that? How many tabs did you end up with?
jeez
go out and weed and water and burn and there’s a new Lounge with 67 comments
jeez
*handing Portia a bottle of champagne*
For christening your First Couch.
Whether you *drink it* or *smash it against the prow* is entirely up to you.
:)
–
I’m also allergic to either whatever bandaids are made of, or the adhesive that sticks ’em on. Makes my skin look like I’ve been burned, in very short order, and leaves a scar that is reluctant to move on.
–
*exercising super-human restraint*
Nothing to see here. Just move along, now.
*muted snortling*
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*additional muted snortling, with mild cola asperation*
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GINGERBREADS!!!!!!!
Can haz, dongiovanni? Plz can haz???
*big, pleading eyes*
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Singèd?
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We had a nice fire and thereby got rid of some pruning waste.
The SO bought new guitar strings so there’s nice music.
Of course. Icing and chocolate is still in the process of application.
***
Fire and music does sound pleasant…
***
Actually have to go cook something for dinner soonish rather than putting it off… paella?
Music AND fire FTW.
How does one un-pinch a nerve? I’ve managed to pinch a nerve in my back (again), and I just want it to go. away.
@Tony,
I just got done having a long talk with an old friend from HS. He just came out as bi and was getting a lot of flak from both sides for it. It’s not something I really encountered much, but it hurt when I caught it.
Your post really helped cheer me up, thanks.
Cicely! Thanks, I needed that. :D
I’m probably a little lower down on the scale. Maybe 90-95%? The scale doesn’t really say anything about how attractive a particular individual will be to us anyway.
WMDKitty
Generally via stretching and/or massage.
In severe cases muscle relaxants are needed for pinched nerves
Fuck. Last time this happened, it was a week of vicodin and rest.
At least I know how I did it this time. Side-sitting. Which I knew (from previous experience) that I shouldn’t be doing. I also shouldn’t W-sit, and you don’t want to know what that’s done to my knees and hips.
So I just need to find a stable seating position that doesn’t screw up my back. Yay.
re pinched nerve: oc pain relievers can take the edge off, so can a good glass of wine. Also a soak in the tub with epsom salts may help a little.
And now I’m wondering if a mild muscle relaxant wouldn’t be a decent way to deal with spasticity in general, because my legs are going nuts.
WMD Kitty: oh, that sounds bad. My suggestions will not help at all. I’m so sorry for your pain and undoubted frustration.
Good morning
Oh hell what a week
#1 starting school brings big changes to the family, of course and well, kids who are adapting are, uhm, difficult. The sisters spend their now scarce time together fighting (apparently they can cut back on the “I love you” time but not on the “I hate you” time), #1 is a “good girl” at school which means she has to use up her contingent of nasty with me and the little one reacts to anything that does not go according to her will by opening the floodgates. This combined with apparently my Hashimoto’s acting up. Thank gods it’s weekend.
Oniongirl
Big hugs and fingers crossed. Light the HOrde signal if things get really bad.
Sehks
Multiple conversations about this topic here have gotten me to the firm conviction that everything is normal and everybody rubs differently and that as long as it doesn’t involve me it’s none of my business.
Me, I really noticed how much this depends on hormones for me: Pregnant: meh. Lactating: meh-meh. Re-entering fertility: Can I have a second guy please? This one can’t keep up.
Addendum to Sekhs:
I’m talking about sex, right. Meaning consenting adults, right. Just to be clear because I guess we’re all a bit jumpy at the moment.
WARNING: Adult content. NSFW.
Does anyone need a new sex toy?
Yikes on the last one!
Nathaniel:
I am glad to have been of help.
Others have mentioned schools in this thread. Here’s one more, an utterly unsurprising story:
Instead of improving the “low performing schools”, they chose to fund even lower performing schools. How the rightwingnuts going to explain this one or blame it on others when it was they who held the pursestrings and set the policies?
@Esteleth
Thanks a lot, that was really fascinating stuff, especially that stuff with the mole ratios @48. Never heard about that before.
@cicely
I have the same problem, nasty blisters coming up. Did you try hypoallergenic (sp?) ones (hereabouts they usually go by the name “soft”)? Those work for me.
Sex:
I guess I was…functionally asexual?…until I was about 20. Didn’t have any real crushes, didn’t notice attractive people, didn’t have sex dreams, wasn’t interested in sex with others or even by myself. But I assumed I was straight and just too studious to date, and because I was a conservative Christian in my teens, I was relieved to not be interested in sex. It made life easier.
But then I started having actual crushes, and they were almost invariably crushes on girls. So I’m not asexual, just a late-blooming lesbian. (I’m not saying that people who are actually asexual are just late bloomers and they’ll be interested someday. Of course not. I’m just saying that for some reason it took me a long time to get around to being interested in sex.) Maybe I repressed every aspect of sexuality while I was a Christian, or maybe I would have been a late bloomer even if I’d been an atheist back then.
I do sometimes wonder if I might be a little closer than average to being aromantic. I don’t think I have enough data to decide, but it’s a possibility. I’ve only had one real relationship with a woman, and it didn’t work out so well. Dating was fun, but being in a relationship made me unhappy. I didn’t like all the sharing-of-feelings and processing and being responsible for each other’s problems. I might just need to have a relationship with someone who is as excessively independent as I am, or I might not be that into relationships.
Oops. Substitute “women” for “girls” up there. By the time I started noticing women, we were all adults.
Awake, caught up, but have to leave again shortly.
I just want to thank everyone who offered words of support and/or added their perspective. It’s amazing how diverse we humans are when it comes to sexuality and it’s unfortunate that our society still doesn’t even recognize this diversity, let alone accept it.
I guess one of the things that kept me from realizing I was somewhere on the asexual gradient was the fact that I enjoy sex, even casual sex. I’m not at all “meh” about it. The thing is, I so very rarely (as in, almost never) find someone who I find attractive enough to even cause the slightest response in me that… I can go for surprisingly great periods of time without sex even crossing my mind. My sexual sexual desire is clearly so much harder to trigger than most everyone else’s that I eventually figured there’s something up with it. And even romantic attraction doesn’t happen that often. And on top of that:
I can relate to this. From my (limited) experience, I’m not very good at maintaining a stable relationship, either. So, of course, I don’t have a boyfriend to introduce to my clueless family. And that doesn’t bother me much, I’m okay with being like this. It’s their insistence on pestering me about it that does. I want to respond “no, I’m on the asexual gradient” but I know they would just stare at me puzzled not having the slightest clue what that string of words even mean, which would undoubtedly lead to awkwardness and to me having to explain it (and moar awkwardness).
That’s where I am now.
***
The Mellow Monkey,
Indeed. I feel the same way.
Can anyone figure out where Hall Lake, Alberta is? My dad is on a fly-in fishing trip there. He was supposed to fly out of Fort McMurray, Alberta on the morning of August 23rd. He hasn’t used his satellite device to check in like he was supposed to, and I am freaking out. I need an accurate location so I can figure out which plane crash reports to worry about.
Oh, Nutmeg. Sadly I can’t be of help, but I hope he is safe.
(From last thread somewhere)
Lanolin: great, and smells like sheep!
From last thread:
Trivially explainable by the much greater social consequences for men being identified as “fags” (which of course for the stupid, works on the “one drop” rule). Whereas bi women tend to receive at least tentative approval, on the assumption that this means they’ll be down for threesomes or titillating performances for the benefit of a male audience. Blech.
Let me rephrase: “to which the stupid attribute functioning according to a ‘one drop’ rule”.
@nutmeg
I hope all the best for you and your dad. Might this be it?
http://travelingluck.com/North%20America/Canada/Nunavut/_5969571_Hall%20Lake.html
More fun with antihistamines: after an allergy shot a couple of months ago, I developed a lovely bloom in which every capillary bed I own opened up and made my skin brick red, and also itchy, and caused a great deal of excitement in the office. The only changed variable was that I took a different antihistamine than I usually do, although it was the same active ingredient dosage and both have the same mechanism of action. Whee?
Rant ahead, warning
I think my parents are the most egoistic people to roam this planet while not being Republicans.
The situation at their house is the following:
-The woman who usually helps with gran is on sick leave because she’s pregnant and in danger of miscarrying.
-My sister, who does almost all the work has an in-patient referral for some small surgery
-My sister has an in-patient referral for a psychiatric/psychosomatic hospital
Consequence: My parents are leaving for a 3 weeks holiday next weekend. They haven’t talked to mum’s cousin who used to come and help when they were on a holiday. They know about my sister’s hospital referrals. They know pretty well that putting gran in a nursing home even for 3 weeks would kill her. But hey, they really need that holiday… Who cares if they kill my sister?
I got home at 2am last night and realized there was no check-in message at 3am. So I didn’t get to talk to my mom about it until she got up at 6. I now have a location for the lake, which is in northwestern Saskatchewan not northeastern Alberta. The only recent plane crash was south of Fort McMurray, so it’s unlikely but not impossible that it was my dad.
My mom thinks that either the SPOT device is missing or broken, or everyone got really drunk last night and my dad forgot to send a message. If my dad is fine and didn’t send a message because he was partying, I will personally kill him when he arrives home.
I’ve had one hour of sleep, going to try for a little more soon.
Just another package of hugs for onion girl (sorry they’re late). That situation sucks mightily, and furthermore is also depriving other people of being able to have the help of (just going by what I read of you here) an exceptionally aware and motivated social worker. I really hope you get a job soon. I wish there were some way you could circumvent the badmouthing by your former boss :-((((((
.
I have to stop doing this thing where I try to catch up, but see so many important and interesting comments from so many people on so many topics that I feel I can’t comment on everything (without being rude to anyone whose comment I don’t mention, if that makes any sense) and so say nothing and get even further behind. OK so that doesn’t work; I’m going to try and remember to just chip in whenever, even if it means it looks (to me at least) as if I’ve skipped/ignored something important.
FosilFishy, just thinking some more about what you said about your mother. Fuck, I’m so sorry. Wish I could do something to help.
I miss my mother so much sometimes.
Just finished reading The Happy Atheist. I’m probably late to this game, but I have to say that I was offended when I read the section where PZ put the communion wafer in the trash with coffee grounds and banana peels. Everyone should know that those things are compostable, and it’s a waste of landfill space to throw them in the trash. Please try to do better in the future!
Mellowmonkey
I’ve skipped a few comments so someone else might have responded. I’d avoid soaps and detergents of all kinds, and any fabric softeners, the perfumes are likely irritants. To start with, I’d get a biggish packet of sodium bicarbonate (bicarb soda, cooking soda, I don’t know what Americans call it, but not washing soda). Just do your washing with a half a cup or so of plain bicarb as a substitute washing powder. In the rinse water put a quarter of a cup or less of white vinegar – or nothing at all.
Use this combo until all your linen and clothes have had at least one round of this treatment – you may find the washing suds up much as usual because the residues take a bit of getting out. Then you can try out some of the “free” or “hypo-allergenic” washing powders – but use a half to a third of the stated quantity and add a third of a cup of bicarb soda (it’s actually a trick for saving money on washing powder but it works just as well for reducing the amount of washing powder potentially remaining in bed or bath linens and clothes).
If you prefer some kind of scent in clean laundry, don’t use a commercial fabric softener. Choose an essential oil you like and add a few drops into a large bottle of cheap white vinegar and use a quarter cup as a rinse aid/ fabric softener.
Damn, Onion girl, that’s shitty. Is there any chance of finding out what your former boss has said about you? Perhaps asking at those places where you were turned down? That way, you’ll find out what she has said and get a chance to explain.
Also, please let me know if it helps to be introduced to any of my LinkedIn contacts. There is one former classmate of mine who used to work in Florida in (roughly) the same sector as you do, but she has returned to The Netherlands. But perhaps another Pharyngulite has some worthwhile contacts?
===
While we’re talking about medication, can I ask if anyone has any idea why Paracetamol nor Diclofenac nor some supposedly stronger stuff I got for my back ache but which name I forgot work for me? Aspirin works for me (well, APC does, which is Aspirin + Paracetamol + Caffeine), as does Naproxen. I’ve never tried Ibuprofen. Is there any pattern behind this?
(All of those look like Esteleth’s mystery molecule, but aren’t it.)
s/All/A lot/*hugs for Nightjar* :-)
*hugs for Giliell and little one*
*hugs for Nutmeg*
*chocolate for everyone*
I remember that.
That’s so sad. :-( :-( :-(
When I’m deeply impressed, I freeze. Then I can’t move fast. And I hadn’t encountered the sarcastic use before I was first exposed to the honest one.
Seriously, it really made my week to see you posting here. Let us know how to hordefund your prescription. ♥ *so many hugs*
*facepalm*
:-O
Mothers who just can’t imagine their children are different from them are bad enough, but you’ve got a particularly horrible one. *offering very careful fluffy hugs*
– – –
I seem to be out of words. What, do they believe boyfriends grow on trees???
There must be a hormonal component to sexual attraction; menopause is of course the expected place for that kind of thing to happen, but I’ve even read of one case of someone’s sexual orientation changing twice for no apparent reason, both times long before menopause.
“Moment”? LOL, for me it’s chronical! :-)
Bring it on. :-)
…Doesn’t that presuppose that, at least, not everyone is 0 or 6?
Mechanical stimulation is mechanical stimulation, I guess.
So full of win!
Interesting.
Good thing keyboards have been invented, then. *uses mouth to grab gingerbreads off plate while typing*
(…Disclaimer: that’d be too much multitasking for me.)
Huh. Murphy’s Law.
AKA killer cells.
Wow. :-S
OK, I’m at a complete loss here. By “enjoy”, you do mean “get aroused”, right?
There’s the same French logic behind both: ga, je, ji, go, gu. Compare c: ka, se, si, ko, ku.
And then Noah Webster noticed that dg doesn’t actually ever occur in front anything other than i or silent e, so no information is lost when the e is dropped…
…I’m not surprised, but I didn’t even know that. Even though I had so much biochemistry and molecular biology.
* http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilLaugh *
(And don’t forget to follow the first external link.)
Be careful! onion girl is in pain, she needs careful, fluffy hugs! *restocks hug truck*
Yes, I found out the… pouncing way. In meatspace. :-( :-( :-(
Go to the previous thread and find out for yourself!
Do you really need a stable one? I change positions all the time when I sit. *offering some more careful fluffy hugs*
As far as I know her – for what that’s worth –, things are really bad, and that was about as close to the Horde signal as she’ll get on her own. :-(
*facepalm*
On their own, these things (deliberately ignoring your context here!) can have other reasons, though. I’ve had one sex dream ever, and that was when I was 14; I guess sex is just too unrealistic to dream about. While I notice sexy people every day, I wouldn’t actually want to have sex with the vast majority them even if they jumped me – their faces (and, when known, their personalities) tend to be dealbreakers; accordingly, I don’t fantasize about them. I have no idea how you define “actual crushes”, but by the most stretched definition I might have reached 5 now, and that’s at the age of 31. By no means am I asexual or aromantic – I just know extremely few people, I’m interested in very few, and extremely few are interested in me. :-|
All seconded!
Americans give more than $82.5 billion a year to churches.
Go to the link above for a great chart that breaks down the goodies and cash given to religious organizations.
Mormon Moment of Madness: a mormon leader asks about bestiality in an interview with a 12 year old:
http://zelophehadsdaughters.com/2013/06/01/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my/
Sorry, I screwed up the link/attribution in comment #108. Here’s the link for that quote:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,998992,999112#msg-999112
Here’s a quote from the link in 108:
@all
Horde signal?
Since I’m new around here – is there a way (e.g. using paypal or something) to help onion girl (or others in need)? Not being able to pay for medication you need sounds horrible.
Salon link.
Irish Times link.
Seems incredible to be saying, “First legal abortion in Ireland.”
Uh-oh, some confusion, related to comment #111:
And here’s a related article in the Irish Times.
mildlymagnificent, thank you for the suggestions. I’m starting on working my way through all of my clothes and linens that way today, since I already have sodium bicarbonate and vinegar right here.
Christians arming themselves at religiously-based schools:
Sounds like a recipe for increasing disaster rather than preventing disaster.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/arkansas-christian-school-armed-trained-its-staff
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/map-what-religion-does-your-member-of-congress-belong-to
This colorful map identifies congress critters by religion. Utah and Idaho are colored mormon blue.
Bryan Fischer says “Christians are the new blacks.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-gay-jim-crow-laws-mean-christians-are-new-blacks
Tony,
Not TMI at all. I think I recently surprised some of my lesbian pals when I recommended a good porn site to them that (it turned out) they already knew about.
Imagine me with a beard and a Dos Equis: I don’t always watch porn, but when I do I prefer the couple (trio..whatever) to really be into it and their genders really don’t matter much compared to that.
That’s why I find the Crash Pad series pretty hot. Then again, I was one of those girls who saw Brad Pitt get close to Antonio Banderas in Interview with a Vampire and was all, “Kiss him. Kiss him. Awww, c’mon and kiss him!”. I know I was not alone. From what I’ve seen in the world of fanfiction, straight women who find men having sexy times together hot is not unusual. I don’t know if that means my sexuality is all that fluid and I don’t know that I care either way. I like what I like and if sometimes a cute, lip-syncing, drag king makes me blush and giggle, that’s fine by me. But, alas, it was not always so. Like you, I once completely misunderstood bisexuality and would be stunned when a friend of mine who I thought of as “gay” would start dating a person of a different gender. Too say I was also clueless about transpeople would be an understatement. But, you live, you learn and what helps you to better understand other people can also help you better understand yourself. However, as an American I’ll probably never understand Canadians. ;)
Uh, of course not. If I watched porn, specifically hetero porn, I’d be like “out of the way, dude, you’re blocking my sight!” all the time. :-| Much has been written on how lesbians are “porn-efficient” from a hetero male point of view, and I wasn’t surprised to learn that fake lesbian porn for men is a thing.
Almost totally threadrupt, but I saw that Oniongirl needs help? (and on ctrl-F, she probably won’t ask?) Can someone formally coordinate the Horde signal and get a *cough* “birthday” present to her or some such?
She’s quietly and directly helped any number of us over the years. This is important.
sonderval @110 – there’s no single Horde signal method, usually the person needing help suggests a Paypal, or someone steps up to coordinate donations from the rest of us, or both. I for one have to use snail-mail methods.
David Marjanović, ever tried one of these?
@Pteryx
Thanks. Since I’m sitting in Europe, snail-mail may not be helpful (assuming than oniongirl is in the US?). I have a few Euros on my paypal account currently and would be willing to throw them in a helpful direction.
sonderval: Onion Girl on the previous Lounge said she’s looking for work in the Washington DC area:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/17/lounge-430/comment-page-2/#comment-676175
I don’t have a direct contact for her, but several of the regulars do, so I’m hoping someone steps up to coordinate an effort. (HINT HINT, PEOPLES)
Jason Thibeault just wrote some more about the Ada Initiative’s work against sexual harassment. It’s relevant, and not just because they mention us.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/2013/08/24/the-ada-initiative-recognizes-the-feminist-fight-in-the-skeptical-and-secular-communities/
sonderval
Historically, an individual (often Josh) has collated donations and forwarded them, or less formally the donee has offered some type of contact information in the thread (there are concerns regarding anonymity for many of our regulars, as their participation here might cause troubles were it known to their meatspace neighbors). Since Onion Girl hasn’t done the latter, we’d presumably have to do the former this time. I was just the recipient of this generosity, but if business picks up or I find work soon I’ll be happy to pay some forward.
RE: Porn
Yes, the stereotypical fascination that het dudes have for woman/woman porn is matched, IME by the fondness of het women for man/man porn (as Jackie noted, this is big in fanfiction, and pretty much where fanfic as a thing started: straight women writing Kirk/Spock pornography. This is why erotic fanfiction is often known as ‘slash fic’.)
Mellow Monkey
If there is a Trader Joe’s in your area, they carry an unscented detergent that many people I know with skin allergies have had great luck with. If not, I recommend you try Dr Bronner’s with a bit of bicarb.
Ugh… Feeling ragey about a letter to the editor in the paper…
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20130824/OPINION02/708249993/1022
This organization needs to stop with their willful ignorance and lies
http://www.vaxchoicevt.com/
Jackie
Oh no, you weren’t…
Actually, that was when I got the suspicion that my two best friends in college might not be straight: Guy friend argued passionately with me about whether Cruise or Pitt were hotter (I never understood his crush on Cruise) while woman friend rolled her eyes and kept silent. For the next years I was their “token hetero friend”…
Horde signal
So, now, who does the collection and how do we get it to Onion Girl?
Apologies for SIWOTIing in the Lounge, but this is a tad confused (so is Wikipedia, which is self-contradictory in different articles I checked).
As I understand it:
Hemoglobin (the whole tetrameric protein w/ 4 heme groups) does bind O2, CO, and CO2, but CO2 is not bound by the heme groups, but rather to the globin-protein chain; this binding therefore affects (increases) the dissociation/delivery of O2 from the heme group indirectly.
CO, in contrast, binds to the heme group and therefore competes directly with oxygen for binding spots. And that’s the major effect of CO poisoning: the blood becomes saturated with far less O2 than normal because CO is physically in the way in so many hemes and bound there essentially irreversibly. So it’s oxygen carrying capacity that’s the main problem, not dissociation/delivery. CO may also cause a slight shift of the Hb/O2-dissociation curve to the left (i.e. make oxygen delivery less effective), but I’ve seen this slight effect dismissed as experimental artifact (here, for example).
my motto is: Check facts. Always check facts. Everybody’s facts. Including your own.
also because I don’t know what else to do but bring attention to this. Sarah Jones of Americans United (nothing to do with skepticism or atheism) is still getting harassed on Twitter, basically because she crossed Stefanelli’s path while feminist.
source
Background here and here.
Has this crocheted octopus pirate been featured before?
Still no contact from my dad, but I’ve managed to confirm that the plane crash south of Fort McMurray was not him.
I’ve emailed a couple of people at the Fort McMurray airport, asking if they can provide more information about his flight. No response yet, and I’m not sure whether to expect anything on the weekend.
It’s looking like some kind of electronics failure is probably to blame for the lack of contact. But I will feel a lot better if I can get confirmation that the plane arrived safely.
nutmeg
Have you tried
http://www.navcanada.ca/NavCanada.asp?Language=en&Content=ContentDefinitionFiles%5Cdefault.xml
this site is large and confusing but someone might be working
From the Because They Don’t Know What To Do And Their God Has Abandoned Them So They Madly Scramble In The Brambles For Want Of Any Useful Course Of Action (whew!) desk,this
So this guy’s regard of his friends in real life is subsumed by his dogma? Is this not “Fuckin’ the dog”? “Screwing the pooch”? I say “Wut?”
Then this mindless declaration that assumption and rumor is more potent than established law:
Is there anyone not yet too weary to repeat again to this struggling human innocent of the law because Bible! that the law does not force churches to do things they don’t want to do? (Except to know when to STFU!) I’m just about over it.
__________________
I have to go get two pies for a family (in-laws to my out-law) cookout and rhetorical jam session. I will be arriving late and probably leaving early. Nonetheless, I arrive with pies!
All of my extended family loves ’em some Jebus. Not that it’s noticeable just watching and listening. No, you have to goad them into proclaiming their faith. Still, they are nice people and we hug often. I should mention that I have made my atheism clear to them. And that’s all. I don’t challenge, I don’t pontificate, I don’t witness. I just love them.
Maybe they (or some subset thereof) will get it: You don’t need an Invisible Supernatural Spook to be good. I may not be all good but, at least listening to people who have known me and have little reason to tell a fib, I am pert’ near good enough. I just love this kind of thing. My hope is to get good enough to be a test pilot, pushing the envelope.
The soap opera never ends. I play my part and strive always to be “clever as a serpent, and harmless as a dove”. (Matt. 10:16) *listen closely for the echo of a lonely howl in the distance*
I’ll be back later on to say some things I’ve been meaning to say but haven’t yet. =)
Damn, Nutmeg, that’s shitty. Try to take comfort in knowing that if something would have happened, you’d’ve heard by now.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State?
I wouldn’t say “nothing” to do with.
He’s okay! Thanks for the support, everyone.
My mom and I decided that we didn’t want to wait for emails, and she called the most likely airline. The woman confirmed that the pilot dropped them off and returned to the airport. She also said that satellite reception in that area is pretty terrible, which surprised me. I’d heard that satellite reception gets worse as you go further north, but we were almost that far north on a canoe trip a couple years ago and had no trouble with SPOT.
So my dad either dropped his SPOT device in the lake, or he sent us a message yesterday like the good husband and father that he normally is, and he’s blissfully unaware that it didn’t reach us.
I hope he’s having a truly excellent time on this fishing trip, because there is little or no possibility that we’ll ever let him go again.
SQB:
But according to the text, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to retrieve xir treasure with such a fearsome octopuspirate protecting it.
Despite our government’s vaunted concern for the people of Syria, look at how it treats Syrian asylum-seekers. This is the consequence of anti-immigration policies.
Chas is right, CO2 binds at the amino-terminal end of globin chains as a carbamate group, it does not bind to the heme iron.
Interesting. I do remember learning the same thing as Esteleth, that CO binding increases the affinity of the remaining subunits for oxygen. I don’t remember learning how that happens, though.
***
I think the problem is that the family is big but we’re all very close, and since all my older cousins have settled down or are settling down on the relationship front, (almost) everyone has turned to me as being “the next one in line”. So they’re waiting, and they’re letting me know that they’re waiting. Except, of course, this is not a fucking line and their behaviour is annoyingly intrusive. Gah.
***
Nutmeg, so glad to hear he’s okay!
OMG hives and facial angioedema. The allergist I saw early summer put me on a combo of ranitidine (Zantac), cetirizine (Zyrtec), and hydroxyzine (Atarax). The group seems finally to be working.
But damn! I gotta take this stuff for the rest of my life? Maybe?
Not too fond of the lip and mouth swelling….
Well, I can reach out to onion girl (I have her contact info) and be a conduit for donations (via my own paypal).
But sit tight, I want to check in with her that this is something she’d welcome first.
__
SQB, what mystery molecule?
Nutmeg:
Glad to hear your dad is ok!
AND the doctor doesn’t know *why* all of the sudden I got hit with the hives and the swelling. “Idiopathic” he says. Hmph.
Nutmeg:
Good news.
=======
Had carnitas, home made salsa cruda, and guacamole for dinner. Boy made Margaritas for us. Boy learned that he should not assume that, just because the parts of the blender are assembled, they are not actually tightened down.
*careful scritches* for WMDKitty. Nerve pinches are horrible.
Do Not Want.
:( :( :(
*grumbling*
“Intelligent Design”.
*spits*
–
@sonderval: I don’t have any at hand to look at…but we’ve tried everything the local Mama Jean’s has to offer, to no good effect. The really flexible foam-like ones are a special horror—they burn like fire, and don’t want to come off. Patches of skin usually come off with the bandaid.
–
*hugs* for Nutmeg, and I hope your dad is okay.
(Later)
Yay! Thanks for letting us know.
–
*hugs* for Giliell.
I hate to have to be the one to break it to you, but…
…your parents may be assholes.
I’m sorry.
–
Yes, she is.
onion girl is made entirely out of Awesome.
That is all.
–
SQB, that is an extremely cute crocheted octopus pirate!
–
Esteleth, the one on G+. I once added a couple of Pharyngulites to my circles. I was looking at G+ the other day and saw the molecule you’re holding. I had chemistry in high school, but I could remember just enough to figure out there’s two benzene rings, some oxygen atoms and a nitrogen atom in there.
Oh, this one?
…I have no idea what that is. Give me a bit, I’ll figure it out.
Oh!
’tis Warfarin!
Nutmeg :
Glad to hear you have some news on your dad! Keep us posted on first hand confirmations *.
—
Tony [Resident Guru Bartender (RGB)]:
Within the last hour or so I’ve mixed myself (two) Twisted Lemonades (*hic*). Wondered how the recipe I used stacks up with what you may do **:
1 1/2 oz. Citrus Vodka
3/4 oz. Triple Sec
3 oz. Sweet and Sour mix
—
And speaking of legal funds… Okay we weren’t recently but I’m too lazy to go look for the comment number(s) mentioning the (tee-hee) massive $920 Shermer legal fund. I (too) did not chime in (at the time) to say it, but would happily chip in if The Overlord needed help ***.
–
*Us Horders are nosy that way… [If a Horde member is worried, we’s worried…]
** Loaded question, I know.
*** Full Disclosure: [Shameless pitch to follow]
I too, may need a ‘legal fund’ ala Shermer. If MS and co. decide to claim financial harm (whatever the tech/legal term is) I may be an example of same.
A couple of days after the Grenade Thread exploded I received a “Did you know your subscription has expired (to Skeptic Mag.)?” letter.
[Why yes, I did know. I let the sub lapse after MS’s “It’s a guy thing’ crap. Double/triple down Olympic worthy foot in mouth sexism does not a faithful subscriber make.]
They were nice enough to provide a pre-paid postage return envelope so how could I NOT respond?
[paraphrasing text: You want to continue receiving Skeptic don’t you?
Me: “HELL NO!” [That’s a quote!]
Further down in a blank space I explained my reasons: ‘Shermer has (again) proven to be a sleaze. I now regret all the money (books, subscriptions, DVD’s, etc.) I have given him over the last 10 years.’
I also asked them to remove my name from their mailing list.
They haven’t had time to process my response yet but if anyone sees any reference to “MEYERS IS CAUSING ME FINANCIAL HARM!” declarations please mention/link them here.
Warfarin? Isn’t that the stuff that the Klingon on Starr Trek TNG used?
Warfarin is an anti-coagulant.
Also: welcome back Oggie! *proffered hugs and fancy cigars*
Warfarin is rat poison.
Nutmeg, I’m happy to hear that you dad is OK.
The fact that he is OK actually is a strong indicator that he is enjoying being more OK. More OK than just everything being OK just now. More OK than you might suspect.
See, he’s fishin’. With a bunch of buddies. These moments will be alive in his memory for as long as he lives. (Possible explanation for those inscrutable smiles some folks get.)
What makes this time more special for your dad is that he knows, as all true fishermen know, that time spent fishing is not deducted from your life. ;^>
The stuff that memories are made of . . . and dreams . . . pass it on.
Bluentx:
It is funny you mention that drink.
I do not make many of them, but we have a surplus of Firefly (sweet tea vodka) and I am trying to figure out some drink specials to rid us of them. An ‘Arnold Palmer’ is sweet tea and lemonade, so I think using the exact recipe for your drink with Firefly added would be perfect.
I also want to mix strawberry, peach, mango, or raspberry puree with Firefly for fruit flavored tea drinks.
Hope you enjoyed your drinks!
***
I am so fucking sick of seeing Steersman and his band of merry sexist bullies. I just tried to read the comments after one of Ashley Miller’s posts and his shit is all over the place.
Ashley commented that she does not delete comments bc she sees value in arguing.
I do too.
Just not with teh Skeptastic Fuckwads From The Pit.
Hi everybody *weakly waves*
I canoed today. I am exhausted. I have no energy to do anything but say hello.
Oh and say Nutmeg: Glad there’s no bad news, and a little good news, and keep us posted.
Onion girl: I know one person in DC, but I will ask if he knows of anything you might be interested in/qualified for.
So add booze and it’s a– Twisted Palmer? Twisted Arnold? Loaded Arnold? A Tee-Tea? 19-hole Round of Pass Out?…
Backstory for any who might have missed it: My 83 year old mother has pancreatic cancer. It’s terminal. She’s in Vancouver and I’m in Australia. I have no money and no credit to make it home.
My brother just called, they’re now saying she has maybe two weeks to live, at the outside. She’s in great pain and they’ve had to dope her to the point of incoherence. They say that she could become more lucid in a couple of days as her body adapts to level of meds, but right now
Now here’s the thing, the fucking awful what the hell do I do thing: In several hours I’m suppose to get on a plane to join my wife and child for our one holiday a year. My father-in-law buys us tickets to come visit him every year and because he’s a fair way north of us it’s a nice vacation from the winter cold and rain. I work six days a week and take off just this one week a year.
I was waffling on whether or not to go. If I stayed and kept the shop open it might help to getting enough money to fly home. That said, last week we took in, as in grossed, about $300 total. Nowhere near the $2000 or so I need. (Trading in my unused flight nets me around $300 too but then I’d have to fly Qantas and round trip from them is around $3200)
If the forecast was for sunny and +25c all week I’d stay as there’d be a real chance to earn enough, but despite looking better than it was last week it’s still cloudy and rainy predicted for most of the week. But then, it’s weather isn’t it and randomness is random….
Fucked if I know what to do. Part of me wants to be with my family. I want my child and wife within arm’s reach when the call comes that my mum has died. Part of me wants to take every chance, no matter how slim, to get back to Canada.
later
I’m going to go be with Ms. Fishy and the Small Fry. It’s a fucking horrible choice, but it’s the one offers me the least amount of pain, as fucking selfish as that is.
I’m sorry for dropping this here. But the truth be told I have no one else to say this stuff too, and I have a desperate need to say it. I’m fine with my introversion until suddenly I’m not.
Sometimes there are no good choices, there’s only pain mitigation.
Time zones confuse me sometimes. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s actually evening in the US while sitting here procrastinating and avoiding writing an engineering report at 12 pm.
Might go have some lunch soon or something…
Hugs to all who require or desire them.
FossilFishy:
Don’t feel guilty for mitigating this horrible pain in the only way you can right now. Many many hugs, and I’m so sorry.
I’d like to speak, now.
I’d like to speak as honestly as I have become capable of speaking.
This won’t take long.
When I first found PZ’s blog, back just before he went to Science Blogs (it was the science that lured me), I was fairly along the way to extending the lessons I learned from the civil rights era (was in grade school then and watching the evening news) to a wider demographic. Leading up to that was years of trying to understand why some were not accorded the same rights as I was. In every case it hinged on an accident of birth whether or not you are treated like me in your daily walk. Me. White, male, het, of continental heritage. Accident of birth, like I said.
Pursuing this course I found that there was a large cohort of people that I had not considered or, if I had, my consideration was off hand and not thorough. I was teachable but had not a source of insight into those who differ from me only in their concepts of gender identity and sexual preferences. Over the course of several years I have been enlightened by so many dear souls here and I feel that it is to my profit. A terrific amount of excess (and unwanted and unusable and irrational) baggage has fallen to the side. My life is thus less impeded.
Folks here are willing to speak plainly about themselves and their interface with family and society. They do so in ways that would not come to me of themselves. I have always had a different set of assumptions, a different behavioral protocol, as well as a virus-like prejudice that infected (tried to infect; I slipped the headlock) me at an early age.
What has happened is that you folks here have revealed some of your inner selves. Willingly and assuming the risks. You’ve put into words your delights and your misery in terms that do not align with those I might apply to my highs and lows. But due to your honesty, your bravery and your determination to not take the same old bullshit any more, you have taught me enough. You have opened my eyes. You have enlarged my heart.
I am changed. And I have the evidence. I don’t believe it; I can show it. My proof lies in you and, lo, here you are!
I cannot thank you enough for this that you have done.
@Fossilfishy.
That is a truly awful situation to be in. My sympathies are with you, as little help as that is.
Fossilfishy
*hugs* and sympathies.
nutmeg
Good news about your dad.
It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping!
Crudely Wrott:
My path was a little different, but the change is real.
Fossilfishy:
Hugs to you and yours.
Fossilfishy
*hugs*
My kid just schooled me.
We’re watching Nosferatu. Text on screen “It may cost you a bit in sweat and…blood.”
Me: “HA HA HA. Do you get it? It’s a pun. A bad pun.”
Child 2: “NO, mom, it’s a bad pun now, but it was a good pun then. All the jokes that are old now were good when they were new way back.”
Well, yes.
A minute later, as the evil guy is reading a letter written in code: see here at 6 m 54 s
Child 2: “What is that written in? It looks like wingdings.”
For some reason lost connection with FtB (only) for a few minutes so this is a delayed response to FossilFishy:
From personal experience…
I recommend you go with your original plans.
Stay with your immediate family, keep in contact with the Vancouver contingent and do your damn(d)est not to feel guilty !
Harsh as it sounds, your mother would probably not benefit from your presence at this stage. Your siblings, etc. might (and my sympathies are with them also) but you can’t really do anything at this stage for your mom.
You can make this a ‘teachable moment’ (if only when she’s older) for the Small Fry. Include in that teachable moment — the importance of rational response to a tough situation.
[/ 2 cents worth]
I’m so sorry, FossilFishy. Is there any way that your mom could afford to have you all fly in from where your father in law is (after staying there a few days), and your brother (since he seems to be in charge of her affairs) can front you the money and take it out of whatever gets split up later? I apologize if that’s not even an option at all. I think you’re right to be with the Mrs. and little fry instead of being alone.
Also, hugs to Crudely.:)
carlie:
Damn! Now I’m going to have to watch that? (Yes, I am easily influenced. Why do you ask?) I just watched portions of (and behind the scenes info on) Psycho last night!
And Caine mentioning the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (more than once) forces me to admit that I have Vol. 1-5. I am not regressing– I am a connoisseur (of the silly –and early 20th century pop culture)!
FossilFishy, pretty much what Bluentx said. My mother did not die any faster or slower, better or worse due to the fact that I was two days late in reaching her side. She slid away as she would have liked and I have found my peace for it. May you find your peace.
Carlie, anx. Hugs right back at you. You are part of why I keep a tab open in the Lounge. It’s worth more than it costs.
I’ve recently gone through Cracked: Nosferatu.
FossilFishy:
You have my greatest sympathies.
Please do not feel torn by your choice. You are making the choice that you feel is the best for you and your family.
*great big hugs*
:
But… but…. but… the ‘die when the sun comes up’ thing is true!
I work nights… I can’t sleep until the sun comes up… then (with the help of lorazepam) I die for a few hours!
*True Story ™*
Bluentx:
I like Loaded Palmer myself.
…
I miss the old Saturday morning Looney Tunes cartoons. I have not watched any in over a decade. It sucks that they wont compile all the episodes, but I understand why.
From teh Wikiiiiiiii P:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Toons
andele andele ariba arriba yee-ha!!!!!
fuck, more faux-Spanish.
Apologies, espanolophobes.
-phones! -phones!
espanolophones!
hoo
bluentx, photoptarmosis would be a more credible (and funnier) weakness, that is true.
Sometimes feel like this: Old.
Of course, age, like rank, hath its privileges. Among said privilege is being able to accept the surrender to time and discover that it is like feeling competent. Feeling competent is not automatic. It is possible to feel merely old. Fortunately, there is fortune. Mine has been fair. Quite fair. So far.
As well as Hispanic animators/ artists discussing how funny they thought Speedy Gonzales was but didn’t like his cousin Slowpoke (Rodriguez?). Not that Slowpoke wasn’t amusing just that he was soooo slow (so many drawings) that he was a tedious subject to work with.
And after all they poked fun at everyone (even The Boss). Porky Pig was modeled after Leon Schlesinger (producer), Yosemite Sam modeled after Friz Freleng (director), and of course teh (Hollywood) Stars.
Why, watching Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies is where I learned about real music (opera, classical, etc.).
My parents listened to country and western.
Hm.
Stills are here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~tdszyman/nosferatu/
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/all_seeing_eye/nosferatu/nosferatu02.html
I recognize . . . Greek characters (I think), astrological symbols, Hebrew characters (I think), some obvious numerals, something that looks like some sort of magic square. . .
Some of those might well be in the Wingdings character set.
Today the FIL made goulash for dinner. Planovers for next week, plus a big bag for the nice next door neighbor who does the Redhead’s hair. I’m still getting up a couple of times for commode duty at night, but there is some relief for the rest of the day. Makes it easier to fall back asleep if one isn’t worried about getting more sleep.
Yeah. All that from some silly cartoons!
_______________
Well, sure! It is only with a good ration of humor that reality can be accepted. Lacking that we’d be at each others’ throats. Additionally, acoustic music, both country and western.
Add ’em all up and whaddaya got? By virtue of caricature and glibly repeated memes et cetera you get people embracing silly shit, folks assuming a higher purpose that never actuates and a general confusing of reality with . . . well . . . confusion.
Under the guidance of the gods it is impossible to do right. Under the guidance of one another right is mostly what gets done.
Go figure.
Weird… disturbing… and sad…
http://news.yahoo.com/popular-pa-teacher-vanishes-calif-wilderness-141019535.html
—
:
http://news.yahoo.com/marching-kings-dream-task-not-done-174441094.html
—
Say it ain’t so…
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/-single-men-only-wash-their-bed-sheets-four-times-a-year–study-says–174235872.html
:)
@177:
Bolding mine.
And yet no U.S. president dares visit the museum or site at Hiroshima.
Bah!
How can you call me dirty when you soil 365 shirts a year to my one?
[see: “Burt and I”]
@183: Yes. You might think that honesty would be therapeutic. You could be forgiven for thinking so. And so it goes.
Hey all. I’m a 99.99% lurker, but I’m freaking out and Pharyngula is one place where I know people will Get It. If this isn’t the right place for this comment, please tell me; there are so many rape-related posts right now, but I feel like this would be a derail. Am I wrong? Should this be in the Thunderdome?
Here goes: [trigger warning for attempted sexual assault]
–
–
–
–
I’ve been following everything that’s been going on since the grenade post, and generally spending a lot of time feeling sad and sick and ragey. Well, tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine, and I learned that last weekend his neighbor got him drunk (kept refilling my friend’s wine glass, had a mostly-full glass at all times so it looked like he (neighbor) was still drinking even though he wasn’t) and got more and more aggressive and then it was “hey, suck my dick time” and fortunately my friend was not quite drunk enough, and he refused and the neighbor got pissed and went away. But:
1) these are not separate houses. These are a bunch of small rented buildings on a large property, so the people who live there pass by and around each other all the time. And this guy is a lot bigger than my friend and potentially very belligerent.
2) in retrospect my friend has realized that this is part of a pattern, and this man has tried to do this to him before. He is a predator who has specifically targeted my friend.
3) the landlord is out of town (coincidence? I think not)
I know lots of people who’ve experienced sexual assault (of course), but I’ve never been a first responder, so to speak. He says he mostly feels safe being there. He knows he can call me if he ever feels uncomfortable, and he can stay with me if he ever doesn’t want to be home at night. And he has many people in his life who love him and believe him and take this seriously.
But I’m still crying and my hands are shaking and I’m just so… I mean, fuck. Getting people too drunk to consent to sex? Where have I heard that before? And I have a lot of really angry things to say about the overall context but this comment really isn’t for arguing about rape culture or Shermer or any of that, because I would post that elsewhere, this is really because I am sad and angry and so scared for my friend. And all the meat-space people I would ordinarily talk to are also his friends, and I certainly can’t tell anyone he hasn’t already told. And I need… something. I don’t know what. Is there anything else I could be doing? It sounds really fucking selfish to say “hey somebody, make me feel better” because it didn’t happen to me (and this is also why I think it would be derailing any of those other threads), but… I just feel so helpless.
David Marjanovic
Stable seating is a necessity due to cerebral palsy. I can sit unaided, yes, but I will end up falling over after a while. Currently, my choices are sitting in wheelchair, sitting on bed propped against the wall, and lying in bed. Side-sitting and W-sitting are right out, because the one pinches a nerve in my back, and the other places too much strain on my hips and knees.
burgundy, no worries about venting here, but I think that discussion would be better in Thunderdome, as your appropriate TW indicates.
Burgundy, you are not along in having reactions of that kind.
Your reaction is completely reasonable in the face of completely unreasonable behavior.
This is a perfectly good spot for this – know that it’s a heavily moderated space, which means that if someone’s response negatively affects you, you could have problems with moderation/banning if *you* respond badly to that person.
But if it wasn’t merely an innocent trigger about which a commenter couldn’t possibly know (“I didn’t know the attempted rapist habitually quotes the poem Jabberwocky, I didn’t realize calling him a bandersnatch would make it seem like I was on his side”), and was, in fact, a bad response to you, then *that* person will have problems for such a post here in the lounge.
So the protection of the lounge goes both ways. If you want to be able to scream at your fellow commenters, take it to Thunderdome. But I doubt that is what you want, and so I think you’re better off keeping things here and availing yourself of this cushy, protective space.
Again, all my empathy.
burgundy:
First- welcome
Second – I am uncertain if this would be a derail of any rape related threads. As a result, it is probably best to not risk it. However, here or the Thunderdome is absolutely fine.
Third – there is nothing selfish about wanting to be supportive and helpful to your friend. I wish I had some advice for yo that would be of assistance to your friend. I do not have anything to offer there.
You do your friend justice by seeking to help him as well as not revealing this information to your friends. That speaks volumes about your character.
Fourth – thank you for being the kind of person to recognize the seriousness of this. Far too many people do not.
Thank you both. I definitely don’t want to be screaming at people, nor do I want this to turn into an argument about… well, about all the things that people have been arguing about lately. Cushy and protective seems pretty nice. So in that sense I don’t feel like the Thunderdome is a good fit. But I also don’t want to upset other people, if triggery posts aren’t generally ok in the Lounge.
Burgundy:
So far, you’ve done everything right, and it sounds as if you have done all you can do right now. Being part of a strong support network is incredibly important, so remember that. It’s a world of difference you are providing your friend. I’m sure your friend (and you) have gotten the word out about the rapey asshole, and giving warning is always good. This is a terrible situation, and you have every right to be angry as hell.
As for the right place to post, the lounge is just fine. You don’t have to be all kind when talking about rapey assholes.
@Burgundy
If I wasn’t clear enough:
Triggering posts, meaning posts that contain difficult things, are fine here. We look to each other for support all the time.
Posts that are confrontational, insulting, demeaning, threatening or reinforcing of oppression are not OK here. These posts might also be triggering to people, but it’s not that they address difficult subjects that makes them unwelcome in the lounge.
And, to pile on to Caine, we’re talking about being kind to the other people in the lounge, not kind to people not here to whom you are only not kind in the sense of criticizing behavior that is truly worthy of criticism.
I am glad you spoke up. I’m sure others are as well – more will be along soon.
Oh don’t worry, I have no intention of saying nice things about this guy.
@Tony #190 – Thank you. How awful is it that wanting to actually be a good friend is somehow worthy of comment? I mean, I saw his face while he was talking about this. How can anyone look at that and not take it seriously and want to help? And yet, people do it all the time.
@Caine #192 – You’ve already given me some good advice. I’ve been so focused on making sure that he’s all right that I hadn’t thought about the other people living on that lot, except in the context of whether or not they could support his safety (he thinks not so much.) I don’t know what relationships he has with them (I think there’s just one other person besides the landlord) and how much information he would feel comfortable disclosing (risks of rapey neighbor finding out, risks of homophobic responses, etc) but they need to be protected too.
I’m starting to calm down. I really appreciate you all.
bluentx: an alcoholic Arnold Palmer is called a John Daly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Daly_(drink)
@FossilFishy
I dont know if they’re still available but some airlines used to have compassionate/bereavement discounts.
It might be worth asking if you’re still deciding.
*HUGS*
Whoa man, this Scooby Snack makes me feel soooo good…almost lighter than air
(I had no clue about the possible connection between Scooby Snacks and weed until well into my 20s)
burgundy: I agree with Caine that you are already doing what a good friend should do, you are providing a safe and understanding place for your friend. And the Lounge is here to be a safe and understanding place for you. I wish I could help you with suggestions for what else to do, but I just don’t know.
Good morning
cicely
Yeah, I kind of figured that out.
Mr. said “it’s not that I don’t wish them a nice holiday…” and I said “I wish them three weeks of miserable cold and rain”.
Fossil Fishy
*big big hugs*
burgundy
hugs if you want them, too. I’m glad your friend has you. Think about all the assholes that showed up the last weeks talking about drinking and such.
*hugs* for FossilFishy.
I’m so very sorry.
–
Welcome in, to burgundy; you and your friend both have my sympathy and best wishes.
–
FossilFishy, all my hugs and sympathies. It’s a horrible situation, and I’m deeply sorry for you. What I think, for what very little it’s worth – it does seem very likely that with high levels of medication the fact you can’t get there may not even register with your mother herself, so it’s more about the siblings and you really. You need to have your own family around you too.
Of course I don’t know what your siblings are like, but there’s always the possibility that one or more of them might take their own grief/conflicted feelings out on you at some point and throw blame at you – hopefully they can grasp the notion that not everybody has a couple of thousand plus that they can draw on (which from what you say is the minimum it would cost). I was just thinking (in my (ha!) optimistic way) that you may need to brace for incoming sibling reactions in addition to your own grief. I very much hope not, of course. I’m glad you have the Fishy family with you. Take care.
burgundy, you’re a good friend to your friend. Maybe there’s some way he can get it across to the other neighbour and the landlord that he’s got concerns about aggressive behaviour or attititude generally, just to raise their awareness of this guy? I mean, depending on what he feels comfortable with mentioning. It’s certainly good that he has you to turn to.
If you haven’t seen Nosferatu it certainly is worth seeing.
Another film, which I have not seen but sounds interesting, is Shadow of a Vampire. This movie (which is fiction) is set during the filming of Nosferatu and postulates that Max Schreck, who plays the vampire Count in Nosferatu, really is a vampire.
BEHOLD!
The ur-crockoduck!
@FossilFishy
The puppetmistress and I have you in our thoughts.
FossilFishy, I am so sorry about your situation..
Oniongirl, it sucks, and I am on the wrong continent to be of any help. ;(
*hugs for FossilFishy* :-(
*offer of hugs and ginger chocolate for burgundy*
…No, because why would I want to not move for hours on end? Bad things would happen to blood circulation in my legs at some point (my blood pressure is rather low). The chairs I spend most of my wake time on are soft enough for me.
The real problem is that all desks are way too low. My eyes are up here, not on stomach level. Not only doesn’t my vertebral column support itself unless I arch it in a ( shape, which leads to pain in the short term and would lead to chronic back pain in the long term, but I’m actually forced to arch down because pretty much nothing is at eye level. I bought extra IKEA stuff to put both my laptop at home and my screen in the office on; that helps, but still isn’t enough.
No, I’m not unusually tall by any means. All desk designers are stuck in stupid tradition and are too stupid to even notice. Hold me before I starfart.
Point taken!
Ah, that makes sense. :-)
It makes the rats bleed to death internally.
Oh.
David – my problem is that all desk chairs are stupidly high. :) I finally got myself this for my office desk, but I have trouble pretty much everywhere else. Hanging legs hurt.
Carlie, I too use a foot support thingy. Not the same one, but the same idea. I also bought a comfy chair for my living room after inspecting the chair’s legs and seeing that they were easy to remove. Removing the legs and substituting small casters made it the right height, and it rolls to wherever for TV or computer work.
Petite woman, comfortable woman. Once in a great while, all is right.
From this weekend’s March on Washington:
NBC News link.
More videos, nice collection of video excerpts here.
Images from the 1963 march. Marlon Brando, even Charlton Heston doing something right. Paul Newman with a beard. Bob Dylan looking ever so young. And the thousands of ordinary folks like you and me. Good photo of A. Philip Randolph. Love the pick of loving couples sharing the moment.
I don’t even…
How does this…
WTF??!!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mexican-politician-says-gay-people-should-not-be-allowed-to-marry-because-they-dont-face-each-other-during-sex-8773982.html
Ok, one thing about this article bugged me.
The first three paragraphs say pretty much the same thing. Not to mention the title of the article and the blurb beneath it.
Not being a writer, journalist, editor or anything, perhaps I am missing something, but why was Ms Ortiz paraphrased or quoted FIVE times almost back to back and in such a short article?
@Caine…and anyone else interested.
Some formatting errors crept into the Crystal Clear Consent document, and I wanted to clean up a few typos and a dropped helping verb, that sort of thing.
So I re-did it with no real new content (I did add a short phrase at one point, but the rest is as I said above)
It’s here: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/22/if-dr-phil-is-a-fraudulent-hack-is-it-ok-to-respect-his-opinions/comment-page-1/#comment-676851
Tony
Perhaps there was so much facepalming and headdesking over the same line that all writing and editing capabilities were stunned out of them?
I know a lot of people who are going to be shocked to find out they’ve been having straight sex all this time.
@Tony
First, I think quoting her multiple times shows that she expressed the same sentiment in different ways, each seemingly clear and the combination of multiple statements making the possibility of a slip of the tongue vanishingly unlikely. No one wants her to wiggle out of this by saying she forgot include a “not” somewhere. [Of course, as in the States and Canada and pretty much every other country, there are ridings/districts where she wouldn’t need to wiggle out of anything, so she may not have any electoral trouble].
Second, she dramatically underestimates the flexibility – in several senses – of gay men.
Third, once again, Lesbians are God’s Chosen People. Just as we have the lowest rates of HIV transmission [as a curse from God for immorality, it makes sense the most moral people have the lowest transmission rates, right?], our willingness to use fingers and strap-ons and other strategies make eye contact oh-so-easy.
I look forward to Ms Jiménez Ortiz checking herself into an ex-straight therapy center.
Not to mention the converse of this. Somebody tell this woman that some of the best ways to have het sex are definitely not face to face.
Wait, het sex is anything other than missionary?
Heavens to betsy!
How did she conduct her Research™?
interviews?
porn?
Not porn.
Definitely not porn.
Crip Dyke, answered in the Dr. Phil thread.
Watching re-runs of “Ozzie and Harriet” and “The Days of Our Lives”. Possibly sneaking a look at “Leave It to Beaver” though likely not the episodes when Ward was a little hard on the Beaver.
@Caine:
My functioning also shows a positive correlation with recent tea consumption, r > 0.5 & p < Esteleth.
BTW, when I want to say that something is as certain to me as it is within my power to make it, I'm using
to make that clear.
Unless any objections are forthcoming from Esteleth, of course.
Crip Dyke, with me, if there’s no tea, there’s no brain function. Got your fix all copied and pasted into word, I think it’s looking very good and polished now. Thank you!
Heads up: a bunch of us have been working on a consent doc, using the concept of Crystal Clear Consent (CCC). Please have a look at the latest, and if you have any ideas for change or additions, please say!
Tont!
I ♥ the picture on your facebbok page!
You, too, Tony!
chigau:
Why thank you.
Tony, the picture of you (is you?) doesn’t match the picture in my head that I made.
Two points are immediately obvious:
1) I use boilerplate in constructing my mental images of others.
2) Reality trumps imagination on occasion.
3) Your bar looks like the kind in which I would confidently order a Rusty Nail.
Neil Armstrong has been dead for a year. Yet he lives and, I suspect, will continue to do so.
Just go here and watch and listen.
I remember quite clearly where I was that day. Of all the memories that I have, this one is alone in its category.
Just click the linky, OK?
Crudely:
That is indeed me.
However, that pic was taken a little over a year ago. I no longer work there.
The bar I currently work at (as bartender and mgr) is a Cali-Mex restaurant and we sell negligible amounts of Scotch. Plus we have no Drambuie. People just want our Margaritas and Sangria.
https://m.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/CactusFlowerCafePensacolaBeach?__user=1262436469
The above link is to the FB page of my restaurant. Our menu items are pictured as well. No pics of me though
—Neil Armstrong
This is a wonderful idea, except around here the “red” glass would have to be four times as high. >.>
Damn.
Azkyroth:
That seems like a cool idea.
Askyroth, agreed. Just think of it; a microchip in every Traffic Control Light, paying attention to all the other microchips that are paying attention to just exactly how many vehicles are moving and which way they are heading..
What’s that you say? Why not already?
Why, we can do it now.
Yeah, how comes such lack?
Just think of it; a microchip in every Traffic Control Light, paying attention to all the other microchips that are paying attention to just exactly how many vehicles are moving and which way they are heading..
Crudely Wrott, and that is how the first artificial intelligence develops in a computer network.
Tony, I really love that pic of you too! (It’s the halo that makes you extra holy, right? :-D)
…okay?
Sure, I’m not going to complain. :D
So, I got in touch with onion girl. She’s a bit overwhelmed (esp. at people offering to help!) but is willing to accept what help people are willing to offer.
Which is to say:
My paypal is linked through my email address (esteleth at gmail). Anything I get I will pass on to her. If paypal does not work, email me at that address and we can try to work something out.
Opposablethumbs:
Thank you.
I wonder if I can somehow make that pic my gravatar…
re: #236: Whatever Esteleth says closely approaches probability = 1.
Esteleth’s word is good.
__________
I’ve not tried to do so but I have had the notion that one can make any image a gravatar. I have one picked out, a snapshot taken in 1954. I’m wearing glasses (lazy eye) and am blonde. Currently, a description of me involves only one of those traits.
I have onion girl’s email, but not phone number or the like. I’m not sure what’s involved in mobilizing to help, but I’d like to try to help.
.
Done, sent a little something. Sorry it wasn’t more, but I iz currently unemployed (because my university blows).
Tony
Yes! You can haz!
https://en.gravatar.com/support/how-to-sign-up/
“A marriage should only be considered amongst people that can look at each other in the eye while having sexual intercourse,” Jiménez Ortiz said.
What’s she got against the visually impaired?
Perhaps it was an attempt to fill space after being told “here’s this one stupid quote, make an article out of it”?
(But I agree that it’s likely that it’s a preemptive defense against “the media misquoted me out of context”.)
Retranslating from German…
“O Lord, we thank you for the intimacies we’re going to enjoy now, and as always we wish you lots of fun watching!”
– Homer Simpson
esteleth
Done
Not much but I hope it helps
Tethys:
Thanks.
It worked!
I haz a mini me for my gravatar.
Got it, Gilell, mouthyb.
Every little bit counts.
A nother thanks to Tethys
Nod and a wave to David M. as always.
Stuff like this produces lurches in my thinking.
I have spent the greater part of my life alone. These days I am much closer to friends and family than I have been in the last few years.
I don’t recognize any significant difference. Am I somehow lacking?
Hey, Elliot! Hey, kid!
I’m popping back in to thank everyone for your welcoming and support. His girlfriend will be back in town later this week, and she’s better positioned to provide emergency support than I am. And then he’s going out of town this weekend, which is helpful especially since it’s Labor Day weekend (I assume the likelihood of having beer and hanging around the outdoor grill is higher then, and that’s where these incidents have been happening).
And in the meantime this is really good motivation for me to get my apartment cleaned up. Just in case.
Crudely Wrott, not a very good article since in the opening it conflates loneliness with social isolation, which are not the same thing, then flips it around to feeling lonely in a room full of people. What a mess. Seems to me loneliness is a serious issue, as is social isolation, but these issues are complex, subjective, and individual. I don’t seem to have much need to social interaction. I know I have people around me to support me when I need it, but I don’t need to talk to them everyday/week/month/year. I enjoy being alone. I’m happily married, and he knows I need a certain amount of alone time. Aaah, the pleasures of being alone but not lonely. If you are lacking, so are a great many of us.
Does she always have to have the lights on? o.O
Dutchgirl, my point exactly.
Intimacy is not a perquisite for understanding.
. . . oops . . . meant to include this quote of yours . . .
Is the ability of being comfortable alone a learned trait? In my case I think it is . . .
Dutchgirl writes>
Yes.
The things that matter come with their own proof. The struggle is to see that.
Crudely Wrott
The probable reason Armstrong was the mission commander for Apollo 11, Gemini 8. Somebody who could recognize problems and improvise quickly. The quiet guy who keeps his head in emergencies, and did.
Remember, they had less than a minute of fuel left and overshot their intended landing site due to computer problems. But theycame down with a little fuel to spare, on a fairly level ground so they could take off after the EVA.
Regarding Tony’s Facebook photo: too fucking good looking to be allowed out of the house. Dangerous.
So now I guess you know my type, minus the gay trait.
Nice to have a friend that good looking though. One can always just stare during lulls in the conversation.
That’s why there are CapComs.
The exploration of space ranks right up there with walking accoss the glaciers. (oh yeah, our ancestors did that. fraught with danger that it was.) The way that we leave here is not clear though history gives some clues.
Lynna:
I think I am blushing now.
Thank you for the compliment.
The picture I have for my gravatar is not the same commented on earlier, which was a goofier pose.
wrt nothing:
A cople of days ago V’Ger’s odometer briefly read 224000 light years. I aim for an even quarter million.
An as yet unidentified insect has left a clutch of eggs in a place where I can see them.
I really need a place to make my photos available to all.
I’m feeling abundant,
, nothing follows the comma,
Lynna – so I was not the only one who looked at that picture and went “well, hellooooooo there…” :D
Although, I have now seen many Pharyngulites in person and seen photos of many more, and I haven’t seen one in the bunch who is not a looker. Must be those gorgeous brains everyone has shining through.their visages. :)
Carlie,
This reminded me of the lyrics from Lauren Caught My Eye (via the 2001 album by The Crash):
Mais je ne sais pas qui tu es derrière ton visage digital.
(But I don’t know who you are behind you’r digital face)
Je suis amoureux de l’image.
(I’m a lover of the image)
Heh. I love blasts to the past.
–
Tony,
I always appreciate being able to put a face to a personality! Thanks!
Whoever built this house in 1848 did not consider the size of 21st century couches. Anybody have wide doors and want a couch?
Don’t know about ‘wide doors’ (my house built circa 1920), but I have a picture window… if it doesn’t fit through the USB. : )
Portia – ouch. Is there any chance of weird physics to the rescue? If you remove all the cushions and see if the legs screw off (prob. not, but you never know), sometimes just the right turning radius gets that L-shape through, either in horizontal or vertical orientation. And sometimes taking the door off its hinges gives you just enough extra as well.
bluentx: I bet it would fit through your window! :D
carlie: S and I tried all kinds of weird angles, which is how we got it into the foyer. Unfortunately, the door to the living room is just a quarter inch narrower. The legs don’t come off without chainsaw intervention, sadly. We took the door off its hinges ^_^ Thanks for the thoughts, though :)
I reposted to craigslist for $175 (I paid $100…why not?) Someone told me she wants the couch only, not the armchair included in the price, and she’ll pay me $200. Might have been worth all the trouble after all… (if I reborrow friend’s pick up truck, which they offered “any time you need it, or if you need to get this couch hauled away again if it really won’t fit”).
She’ll pay me $200 if I deliver it ten minutes away, that is. Not a bad deal at all. Too bad S is laid up with bad bad allergies right now so I don’t have a second lifter on this end to get it back in the pickup.
Maybe I’ll make a living out of flipping furniture on craigslist…
Portia – not a bad deal!! Surely somebody from the firehouse would be willing to lift the end of a couch for the price of a lunch out, and you’d still end up way ahead. :)
carlie:
If I hear back from the purchaser as to where I need to take the couch, I will definitely find a way by hook or by crook to get the couch on the truck. Good thinking of the fireguys…I bet I can find someone :)
—
Friend With Truck was also kind enough to gift me the excess zucchini from their garden. Anyone have favorite zucchini recipes? I’m think a zucchini bread sounds delicious.
Oh, and carlie: to add to my craigslist windfall today, I was able to sell four refinished dining room chairs I relisted two days ago. For my asking price. Woot! And the woman who bought them just moved here, and asked if I do a lot of furniture like this. I said, yes, it’s a bit of a compulsion. She said “Save my email address, and send me pictures if you do more stuff, I have a whole house to fill.” Suh-weet.
Nice!
chocolate zucchini cake. There are lots of recipes out there.
Oh! I have a cupboard filled with baking chocolate and chocolate chips and various other cake ingredients as a rule. Good thinking carlie. You are just full of good ideas.
Portia: I heard of a lasagna recipe using sliced (long ways) zucchini strips instead of noodles, maybe that?
Pteryxx:
I’m going to google that, sounds tasty.
If all you need to gain is a quarter of a half of an inch, take off the door stop.
That’s the narrow and not very thick piece against which the door actually stops. Closes against.
It is easily refastened.
Small nails. Regular sized hammer.
. . . a quarter or a half of an inch . . .
Crudely: I will investigate! Thanks for that idea. I joked about sanding down the doorstop but that simple solution didn’t occur to me.
—
Jeez, I love it here.
Well Portia, I hope you are able to find a couch that better fits your home.
Portia
Have you tried calling Dirk Gently?
Carlie
Indeed you were not.
Good job Portia!
Dear Pandora Radio,
The Goo Goo dolls are not Bluegrass. Just FYI.
Love,
Yazikus
Thankfully, with my skin tone, blushing is difficult…
I may not have the hang ups about my appearance I once had, which led to me stripping at a gay bar to build my self esteem or making a list of all the people whom I encountered who thought i was attractive, but hearing compliments is still nice from time to time.
I think what really got me past the hurdle of accepting what I look like was becoming more informed and educated about these issues that mean a lot to us all. For years I focused on working out and striving for a look that I thought was appealing. I still see some value in that, but taking a look at myself and ditching the shitty opinions and acquiring a new worldview…one that is consistent…one that is a natural fit for me…one that is progressive, empathetic and compassionate—for the first time in my entire life, I actually really, really like who I am on the inside. The outside stuff is nice, but one of the many things I have learned here is that the wrapping is not as important as the content.
Wow. This is first time I realized that.
That was an important epiphany.
Go, Tony, Go!
Nao I can haz epiffannee, plz?
Portia says:
That’s just part of my job. The rest is indeterminate. Teasing out the rest of it I am.
Amazing what one learns by just paying attention.
Creative furniture moving tip # 101:
When I don’t have someone ‘for the other end’ (a frequent occurrence) I use my (1975-ish) skateboard *.
* Sometimes it pays off that my parents were packrats and never threw anything away.
And sometimes it’s a curse…
*flashing back to the Barn-Clean-Out of ’04.*
Did not expect to find my brothers’ 1960’s formaldehyde -pickled snake collection! Blech!
Now in my head I’m singing “Epiphanyyyyyy, epiphanaaaaaaaah, epiphanAAAAAAH, epiphan AH HA HA HA HA HA HA…”
reference
the version everyone knows
This is on the list: http://www.onceuponachef.com/2013/07/double-chocolate-zucchini-bread.html
Holy criminy, the Waring whose show was that clip I just linked to is the same one who made the blender company that makes our lab blenders. o.O
(Mountain) Goats !… more vicious than Horses!
And why do I get no sound on the first link? Huumm…
Yeah.
I’m getting out and doing stuff and wandering around into conversations with my friends, but I’m still rather lonely and depressed. Ah me..
is it two years of associating my dorm room with Work? or something.
darn
I wanted to do the Dirk Gently joke.
There has been important epiphanies aplenty lately.
I’m undecided as to whether this is due to novelty of the occasion or inexperience on the part of the observer.
In either case there’s an awful lot of epiphany.
Hey, Thunk. You said:
There you go! You’ve got it!
*No, I don’t mind waiting.*
OK
my gravatar is fine but Tony’s keeps switching between his generic quilt pattern and his new photo
and his ‘nym no longer links to his facebbok page
what’s up?
One of the defining qualities of stuff (and the attention paid to various kinds of stuff) is its tendency to bifurcate again and again into more and more stuff. All by itself this is wicked cool.
Crudely Wrott:
Are you speaking about the USB cables in my drawer?
These last three weeks have been strange for me. I haven’t been to work since Saturday, August 3d (well, except for doing some travel paperwork). And I still don’t go back until this Wednesday (the 28th). Nice to go to a fire and then come back into a week’s vacation.
Some of this time has been just sleeping, lazing around, smoking a few cigars, drinking some Rock Art beer, cooking, and trying to get myself back into my life. And as I do more, I find I have lots more energy to do even more. So one project (building a re-release of an old Monogram kit (F11C Goshawk biplane)) tends to create more things that I want to do and am finding the energy to do. So I do think I understand the stuff bifurcates idea.
Ogvorbis: *hugs* for your excellent comment in the Fake Rape thread.
Crip Dyke: Thanks!
Crudely: S just pried away the door stop. Will update on resultant effort to get couch inside.
—
Still conflicted about whether to take the money and run with this buyer though…
Thank you all for your kind words, your thoughts and suggestions, your compassion has been a wall upon which I’ve rested this weight a time or two over the last couple of days.
Her name was Anne, and you better remember the “e” or there’d be trouble. She died a few hours ago. My brother was by her side, held her hand, told her that I loved her, and watched as she slipped away. There’s some comfort in that.
Life is such a random mess isn’t it? My mother-in-law drove me to the airport. Half way there she brought up Anne’s illness. She offered to lend me the money to fly there. I may still take her up on it to get to the funeral. At least now I have some time. Why she didn’t offer sooner is a question that will be meticulously unasked. It is what it is, and there’s no changing any of it.
Ms. Fishy and The Small Fry are on a train. They were visiting friends and relatives yesterday a couple of hundred km’s north of here. We haven’t told the SF about any of this. Not because we don’t think she can handle it. For myself it was a combination of wanting to have it all lined up, Daddy’d going to be away for a few days because…., and perhaps a little denial too if I’m being honest about it.
I want to wait a little before telling her. I want her to have the excitement of seeing her grandfather, “Poppy”, unalloyed with my grief. I suspect that this plan will fail. I have a need to hold her and Ms. F that moistens my eyes every time I think about it. When the SF asks me why I’m crying I’m not going to lie. So much of parenting the very young is deception and distraction that I make it a policy to only do those things when absolutely necessary.
I don’t need to tell you people to make sure those whom you love know how you feel. But life, even at its simplest, is an astoundingly complicated affair, with distractions piled upon worries, piled upon chaos. If I may, can I please suggest that you use my situation as a gentle reminder? That would make me happy.
A quick glance upthread shows that there be a few epiphanies going on ’round these parts. Hooray! I have a couple of my own, but that will wait I think.
Once again Horde: your fierceness and your compassion astound me. They give me hope that the world can change for the better, that I can change for the better. Thank you all so much.
Crudely! You saved the day! I have a Living Room Couch, whereas before I had a Large Vertical Foyer Decoration. :D :D :D
*smashes cicely’s bottle of christening champagne across the couch bow*
FossilFishy:
I am so sorry your your loss.
I hope you know that we are here for you, always. Through the good and the bad.
I’m so sorry, FossilFishy.
Oh FossilFishy, I’m so sorry. I hope you can make it to the funeral and that being with the rest of your family and all the people who loved Anne will be some salve to your grief.
My mother and I told each other candidly just how much we mean to each other today. It’s comforting to have one relationship where such expressions are not awkward at all.
*hugs*
more hugs.
all the hugs.
oh FossilFishy
massive
gentle
hugs
(one of my names is Anne and I agree about the “e”)
Yes, Oggie. Those would be the ones that end at your end.
Thanks for what you do.
Portia, it’s the little things that count.
So, as a follow-up:
I spoke with onion girl about what her needs are.
At present, one of her most pressing issues is that she is out of one of her meds and is suffering from its lack. Refilling this scrip would cost $500 (fucking American for-profit health system!).
While that is a relatively large sum, I think that – given how many people here there are – it should be achievable.
Please, don’t interpret my above as a guilt-trip or anything – and please don’t give more than you can afford if you do choose to help her out.
FossilFishy:
Condolences and hugs to you and your family.
Portia:
Glad you were able to save the couch. You seemed a bit excited to get it.
FossilFishy, the morgan family send all the loves and hugs. Be well, my friend.
FossilFishy, I’m so sorry for your loss.
Would someone explain Paypal and donating by credit card to me.
Please don’t direct me to wikipoodia or paypal websites
explain in short sentences, with few words, speaking to an old person, how you do it
please
Tony: I am excited. Admittedly, some of the excitement might be undue. But it’s my first couch. It’s a symbol of having worked hard enough that I no longer have to see clients ten feet from where i sleep. : p
—
I’m going to see if I can afford to contribute to the onion girl fund. In the meantime, my friend who works for a federal agency in DC and is an amateur job sleuth (he used to send me postings all through my last year of law school) is checking into it based on the description onion girl gave in the last Lounge. Fingers crossed.
FossilFishy – I’m so sorry for your loss. Children know how to empathize – if you just tell her you need to cry, and also to get hugs, I’m sure she will oblige.
Chigau, if you don’t have an account with PP, you can create one in a few steps. At their website, there’s a button saying “sign up” that is in the upper-right hand corner.
To make a donation, you click the “send money” button, input who you’re sending it to (i.e. their email address) and the amount. There’ll be a series of boxes (that look like payment boxes for cards on any other website) where you enter the card info.
Hello, FossilFishy. As well to your mother. There was no other like her. Take her life as courage. She’d smile.
___________________
Portia exclaims:
Sometimes all you need is just a little bit more of what you don’t have quite enough of.
U nao haz bowns on cowches?
The SO found a box of old bills and checking account stuff.
The bottom of the box contained stuff from 1993.
*scary organ music*
I need help.
What do I do about a neighbor who I think is struggling with depression but probably not getting help for it? She’s a mother of two small children who she seems to spend most of her time cooped up with. She’s Chinese and doesn’t speak much English, so language barriers potentially makes her even more isolated. Her husband is apparently here for work, and her along with him. I think she’s trying to use nicotine to cope, but her smoking, which she’s not allowed to do near the building but does anyway, is impacting my health, including my own depression. Lately, she’s been smoking more and more, too.
I’ve had the manager warn her about the smoking before and will again, but that will put her family a step closer to eviction. No doubt having such young children makes it next to impossible for her to get away to smoke in an appropriate place, but I can’t afford to forgive her smoking just because I worry about her.
I’ve tried to avoid further formal measures by occasionally over the last few weeks calling out “stop smoking near the building” so that she’s aware I can tell when she’s doing it and won’t try to justify to herself that no one really minds, but this has only provoked her to scream at me (in Chinese) the last two times. Then she goes in from the deck and screams at her children. Sometimes she screams at the older one, who’s very active and mischievous, just for something he did. I can’t say for certain that she’s genuinely abusive to the kids, but it still worries me.
Is there is any appropriate resource/agency/whatever I can turn to to have someone check in on her and make sure she’s not cut off from getting help should she need it? I’m in Seattle.
FossilFishy, I’m sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Anne, also with silent e
Esteleth (and anyone else who wants to talk)
– is it easier if I set up my own paypal account?
– can I do direct from my creditcard to other person’s paypal?
– can I remain anonymous?
I’m going to do this, none of the difficulty of clicking one box as opposed to another can scare me.
I’d just, really, like to know what I’m doing.
FossilFishy, my condolences.
Esteleth, I kicked 10 bucks your way.
Chigau,
It is easier if you set up your own paypal. In terms of anonymity, when someone sends money I get an email that says “[Name person put in the name-box on PayPal] sent you [Amount]!” It also indicates their email address.
I am perfectly willing to promise that I will not advertise any of the names attached to accounts – and others who have sent me money will attest to that.
If that disquiets you, I’m willing – if you email me (I’m not posting it here, obviously) – to give you my snail mail so you can mail me cash/check/money order.
From the I Probably Walked Right By One Of These And Didn’t Have A Clue desk, this about dinosaurs.
Jack Horkheimer had it half right. Sometimes, look down.
A. Noyd
170 molecules of cigarette smoke isn’t going to kill you.
Try interacting with this person in some way that is not criticizing her.
To answer the question that I didn’t answer, it seems you can send money without opening an account to me. I think. In any case, I think that’s what the “transfer” tab on the PP main page is about.
Caine, acknowledged, and thank you.
A. Noyd:
Perhaps you could convince her to switch to E cigs?
Chigau:
No, however, if A. Noyd has an allergy, it could be making things miserable for her, and she is trying to do the right thing by her neighbour. I’d suggest introducing neighbour to an electronic cigarette, but I don’t know if that would work.
@Fossil Fishy
I too am thinking about you. I’m not sure what the upload speed is for eHugs, but I’m sending them as fast as fiberoptics can carry.
=========
@A. Noyd.
I don’t know the resources in seattle well at all, never having lived there.
However, I did work in partnership with the NW Network – an org for abused trans people & queer women. Their mission might actually have expanded into gay men now, too. They were talking about it a while ago.
Anyway, they are wickedly smart and deeply connected in seattle. Obviously many survivors have situational depression, and some have longer term depression, so the Network is well equipped to make the appropriate referrals. Although the hotline is often returned by volunteers (it wasn’t 24 hour last I knew) and not all of them are as thoroughly awesome about it as the staff I know, if you just say that a queer woman you know told you to call them for advice on how to help a woman with depression, sexual orientation unknown, they should be happy to give you appropriate resources.
From the artricle I cited in #325:
It’s a lead pipe cinch that I and David M. wish we were there too.
So. That leaves four . . .
Esteleth
So, I can set up a paypal with any legitimate email address?
only paypal “knows” my creditcard?
I’m sorry if these are newbie questions but I am.
*#$%^&%American unhealth care system…
I think we’ve recovered from last years unexpected expenses, and I might be able to spring some monies for the first time in a while.
The March on Washington was a march for “Jobs and Freedom”
–
I saw what you did there, Crudely.
–
:) :) :)
I wish there were more Dirk Gently books.
Two Is Not Enough.
–
*hugs* and condolences, FossilFishy. And *moar hugs*
–
Portia, has First Couch a Name?
Names are important in christenings.
:)
–
I want so badly be able to help onion girl. Her advice in the Post-MRSA-cre Aftermath was invaluable; plus, it helped keep me from completely freaking the hell out.
Maybe…maybe next month?
Joining Esteleth in a hearty, “Fucking American for-profit health system!”
–
A. Noyd, does your area have a Mother’s Day Out program? Maybe just the occasional day away from the kids would be some help.
–
chigau, I don’t think you have to have a PayPal account to transfer funds—our debit card seemed to be accepted without a problem. I remember there was a line of credit card icons, as well.
–
FossilFishy
*all the hugs*
chigau
This is correct.
esteleth
This so many times. There’s no fucking excuse.
87% of Wikipedias editors are men?
Yes.
Not for much longer, hopefully:
More at the link.
More hugs for FossilFishy on the way. So sorry for your loss.
One right here. A Triceratops pyerrigoid? That’s mucking refarkable. And wonderful.
So who are the other three?
Fossilfishy
So sorry for your loss. Hug the ones who are close to you and let them hug you.
Wow. 63 degrees outside. Fahrenheit, ya’ll. In North Carolina. 66 inside with the door open, A breeze blows through it
Finally cool. Like it aught to be.
At least for me.
*really, feel the goosebumps. when’s the last time you felt goosebumps like that?*
Told mrmagnificent about the cost of oniongirl’s meds.
To an Australian this is just madness. There are some Australians who have unusual needs for new and/or expensive drugs which aren’t provided or adequately subsidised on the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), but we hear far too many stories of this particularly cruel kind of nonsense from far too many Americans. We’ll do what we can for her.
The shades of Stephen J. Gould and Roy Chapman Andrews are two. Not sure about the last. You, perhaps?
This is where we have to be really stealthy. SSSsshhhh. We is hunting wabbits,
. . . and again, nothing comes after the trailing comma whose recurrence is yet to be described . . .
Crudely Wrott:
Oh, I am definitely one. So it should have been, “who are the other two?” Sorry. My bad.
Heading for bed.
chigau (#326)
I have a smoke allergy and asthma. My neighbor had several cigarettes already today and I currently feel like my lungs are lined with gelatin. I’m contemplating using my inhaler which relieves some of the distress but has side effects akin to chugging several cups of coffee. I’m also hypersensitive to sensation in that disabling way many people with autism are (my nym is partly a reference to this), though I’m not autistic. Smoke bothers me more than most things. Aside from the asthma/allergy issue, the smell itself worsens my depression because it’s like having someone I can’t get away from flick the back of my head every second. I went out of my way to find a smoke-free building because this is such a problem for me. Please don’t tell me cigarette smoke won’t kill me because if I were a smidgen more prone to suicide, it very well could contribute to such a risk.
As for interacting with this woman, she’s already hostile toward me. And we don’t have a common language. I’d have to go through her husband, and I don’t know their family situation. I don’t know whether he’s supportive of her or if he’s emotionally abusive. Or what if he resorts to abusing her as punishment for me confronting them? Or maybe he needs support because he tries to reason with her and she’s out of control? I want a third party’s help because I don’t know if my concerns are even reasonable. Also, I could get in trouble with the building management if I confront her and it goes badly.
~*~*~*~*~*~
As for e-cigs, there’s still the problem of the language barrier and me being invasive. I have contemplated getting my hands on some Chinese language e-cig literature, but I don’t know where to find any good info. I’m worried I’d accidentally give her some scaremongering piece on the horrors of e-cigs. There’s also the problem of how, even if she could get nicotine in a way that doesn’t break any building rules, nicotine might not be enough for her if she’s depressed and isolated in a foreign country.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Crip Dyke (#330)
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve seen NW Network’s ads on buses here, and I’m queer myself. I’ll give them a try to start with.
~*~*~*~*~*~
cicley (#334)
No idea, but I can look into it. Thanks.
Ah! Now is to answer “Who is the one” since either you or I is the other two.
A. Noyd
Yes. I understand where you’re coming from.
You have to be into the “Benedict Cumberbatch” range just to even LOOK at a name like Wodehouse-Plum.
@chigau
Thanks for understanding.
@crudelyWrott
Meeeeeee!!!!!! (to quote Feynman.)
FossilFishy: I’m sorry for your loss, and wish you all the peace and comfort you may find with your family and friends, at home and abroad. I very much sympathize with your situation, I may be in the same place some years from now. I will take it as a gentle reminder.
A. Noyd: If your neighbor is new in the country that can be very overwhelming and unsettling. She may not know or have the resources to find help in the community. Perhaps you could help her by making a list of local Chinese cultural entities/groups/churches? You don;t know her religious background, but you could call a Chinese church/temple and ask their advice. They may be more able to help with culture shock situations and speak her language.
Good morning
Fossil Fishy
*big mountain of hugs*
My heart goes out to you and the Fossil Fishy family
+++
A. Noyd
*hugs*
I just noticed the pun with your name NOW.
How long have we been on the same websites?
+++
mildlymagnificent
To a German, too. I mean, out healthcare is in no way perfect and it’s getting worse, but you never have to pay more than 1% of your gross income for prescription meds.
@Esteleth
$20 sent your way.
I’m sorry for your loss, FossilFishy. Here are some *hugs*. (I’m another named Anne with an ‘e’. It’s my middle name and I don’t go by it, so I don’t think of it much. It never felt like mine, but maybe now when I think of it I can start thinking of all the other cool people with whom I now know I share a name.)
*
I didn’t get a chance to congratulate you on your job yet, Portia! I’m glad the negotiations worked out and that you now have a couch! This is important: is it three cushioned or two?
Sympathies to FossilFishy.
Congrats to Portia.
Small amount for Onion Girl to Esteleth.
So I did finally follow through with messaging that one woman on the dating site I mentioned with the internalized misogyny over body types.
I got back “I guess you missed where I said I sometimes say things that offend people” and “stereotypes have a basis in truth.”
I wonder if I can get a bingo?
Neil Armstrong? If I remember correctly, it was Homer Simpson who killed him, so advertisers could use his image without thaving to pay. This happened shortly after the Krusty the Clown/ wood chipper accident.
— — — — — — — — — — —
“To an Australian this is just madness.”
Seconded, for all the Scandinavian countries.
— — — — — — — — — — —
“look at each other in the eye”
This discriminates against species who use echolocation, magnetic senses or smell as their primary sense.
FossilFishy, I’m so very sorry for your loss. Sounds like your brother handled things well? And I hope you’ve got the FishyFamily right by your side and you can all hug each other really tightly. Hugs.
FossilFishy, my condolences.
***
Portia, congratulations on the couch install.
***
Now for an important question. Is it acceptable to drink tea in the eastern european style, with much sugar, lemon and cake to go with it? Or is it an abomination?
1.) I think oyu need a Samovar to do so in style
2.) AFAIK to make it a real Russian tea you need to stir in jam, preferrably Strawberry
3.) Eastern European shops usually have a broad variety of very sweet cookies for such occasions. Go for it!
Hmm…
Personally I wouldn’t go with the jam. The cookies on the other hand are simply godly.
And as for the teacake… I’m going to have to go bake stuff now, am I not?
Fossilfishy, my condolences.
— — — — — — — — —
Lowest temperature for life discovered http://phys.org/news/2013-08-lowest-temperature-life.html#nRlv
So an astronaut/ cosmonaut needs to dehydrate and vitrify to survive low temperatures.
— — — — — —
Creating plants that make their own fertilizer http://phys.org/news/2013-08-fertilizer.html
Optimally, we should make “post-plantae” crops who make their own fertilizer, their own pesticides, signal for more water and finally pull themselves up to be collected by a posthuman farmer (also looking a bit odd, having downloaded self into a body that is part agricultural machine)
Good morning everybody. I had a lovely weekend with my girlfriend, again just doing mundane stuff but breaking it up a bit with gaming, movies (Stranger than Fiction and Amelie), and lots of cuddlings.
Why Did Almost All Societies Believe that Women Were Inferior to Men? http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/08/23/why_did_almost_all_societies_believe_that_women_were_inferior_to_men.html?wpisrc=flyouts
— — — — — — — —
Before Ned Flanders: ”A Theme Park Gone Dark: Connecticut’s Abandoned Holy Land”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/08/22/once_popular_with_pilgrims_the_holy_land_usa_religious_theme_park_is_now.html?wpisrc=flyouts
— — — — — — — —
Loneliness Is Deadly
Social isolation kills more people than obesity does—and it’s just as stigmatized.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/08/dangers_of_loneliness_social_isolation_is_deadlier_than_obesity.html
Why Aren’t There More Cancer Vaccines?
Blame America’s lousy patent system.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_dismal_science/2013/08/cancer_treatment_is_american_patent_law_hindering_the_discovery_of_more.html
— — — — — — — —
When Putin Declared War on Gay Families, It Was Time for Mine to Leave Russia
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/08/26/when_putin_declared_war_on_gay_families_it_was_time_for_mine_to_leave_russia.html?wpisrc=flyouts
FossilFishy,
I’m very sorry for your loss.
————
Aaaand, I pretty much forgot everything else I might have wanted to comment on after skimming the last couple of days worth of chatting.
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate mosquitoes? I hate them. Unfortunately, it’s not mutual. Bastards even got me in the face.
cicely
Hm…I will now take suggestions…you’re absolutely right. It has a little buddy Armchair as well.
Parrowing
Three! : ) Thanks Parrowing. It’s all the more satisfying after conquering the doorway with Crudely’s help.
Thanks, Nick and dongiovanni!
—
The woman who bought my chairs and just moved here emailed me and asked if I’d like to get coffee, because she “has trouble making friends” but has decided to “get out of her comfort zone.”* I’m going say “heck yeah!” …though I did notice her email signature consists of a Song of Songs verse…so we’ll see…I really hope that this isn’t a veiled attempt at proselytizing.
*My favorite line: “hope you’ll say yes and that i don’t sound creepy. i’m not.”
She also said “i’m also impressed by the fact that you have started your own law practice. not so sound bigoted, but you’re young and a girl. it seems to me that you must be pretty ambitious, bold, and confident to make such a move. ” She’s a young woman herself, so I don’t know how that’s bigoted, but…*shrug*
So um. I have a minor, albeit TMI question…
For any couple, how often do you… when engaged in certain relations… reach climax together?
KevinKat – simultaneously? That’s pretty much a myth, as far as I know. If you think about it, the probability is kind of low.
carlie
*cough* It can happen *cough*
@carlie/Portia:
I know it can happen. It may be a little unusual for it to happen all the time… right?
Oh, sure, now everyone’s bragging.
Hmpf.
KevinKat:
Unusual, I would say yes. But that’s just my experience. I’ve only ever really experienced it with one person, and it was only under…certain circumstances. I can only go so far with this euphemistically in the Lounge due to self consciousness, ha. But if what you’re concerned about is that it’s not happening as often as you’d like (or she’d like?) I wouldn’t worry that it’s supposed to happen all the time. If I’m reading in too much, I apologize.
—
carlie:
I laughed aloud. Cuppa hot fresh hazelnut coffee to make it up to you?
Portia – I’m good. It was just funny. :)
@Portia:
Actually, I’m the reverse situation right now with girlfriend. I’m not concerned about it not happening. I’m… confused about it always happening… cause it’s just not supposed to be a 100% thing.
carlie:
:)
Now who’s bragging? ;)
Actually, I’m a little confused. Is it problematic in some way? I mean I guess theoretically given my and my most recent partner’s physiology, it could have been achieved more of the time, but…I guess all I have to say is congratulations :)
@Portia:
Nah, not problematic. Just another highly unusual thing in an already unusual coupling…
Actually, on second thought, this strikes me. What is “supposed to be” based on? I mean beyond the happiness, comfort, and acquiescence of the people involved, who’s to say what’s not supposed to happen?
KevinKat – are you in the “it seems too perfect something must be horribly wrong” feeling? Good to keep your eyes open and watch for being lulled into a false sense of fate and overlooking of flags, but otherwise, it might just be that you’ve got something really good going and can enjoy it for what it is. :)
Mission Creep: When Everything Is Terrorism http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/print/2013/07/mission-creep-when-everything-is-terrorism/277844/
— — — — — —
How the US Turned Three Pacifists into Violent Terrorists http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/15-7
— — — — — —
Gorilla stones Swedish woman in zoo ambush http://www.thelocal.se/49846/20130826/
— — — — — —
New study supports intracerebral injections of bone marrow-derived stem cells to prevent or reduce post-stroke cognitive http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-08-intracerebral-bone-marrow-derived-stem-cells.html
Prehistoric giant fish could grow more than 16 metres long http://phys.org/news/2013-08-prehistoric-giant-fish-metres.html -the first copepod eater?
— — — —
Silentium Universii revisited
Silence in the sky—but why? http://phys.org/news/2013-08-silence-skybut.html
— — — — — — —
New process targets valuable green chemicals http://phys.org/news/2013-08-valuable-green-chemicals.html
— — — — — — —
‘Better detection’ for Alzheimer’s and cancers http://phys.org/news/2013-08-alzheimer-cancers.html
Is it just me or is there really something uncomfortably incongruous about this?
@Portia:
I guess it’s based on an average?
@Carlie:
Oh I have no doubt it’s actually happening XD I don’t think women can fake it THAT well. It’s very enjoyable, too.
KevinKat:
It is difficult for me to achieve orgasm during sex. So much so that for years now when I have had sex, I inform my partners that chances are I will not reach orgasm. I used to feel bad for that, but I do not anymore. I just let my partner know. It is not that big a deal for me. I can ‘get off’ on my own. The rare occassions I have sex are opportunities for intimacy that I appreciate for the experience.
Awl Ale Tpyos!
KevinKat – oh, I wasn’t thinking along those lines, more like how one starts to overthink when everything seems to be going so well… at least, when one is a bit of a cynic or pessimist, that is.
Hi, all.
Fecking dreams are back.
I’ll probabley be scarce today. Little sleep last night.
RAGE WARNING:
CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran
Why am I not surprised?
HRRRNUNG~!!
I AWAKEN!!!
Sorry, that was a bit dramatic. But I had sangria with dinner last night, so that’s how I feel.
*hugs* and *soothing thoughts* and *nightmare-be-gone* for Oggie.
Chigau:
Yep!
caecily!!! *pouncehug*
*hugs* and *soothing thoughts* and *nightmare-be-gone* for Oggie.
Seconded.
…heh. You can tell I just came from Tet Zoo. :-]
Que end times signs and wonders proclamations . . . now.
This is very interesting in a Dana Hunter, Rock Hound, sort of way.
When I was little I had a book about earthquakes and volcanoes (thanks again, Ma!) that told of a Mexican farmer whose hat blew off his head and he ran to get it back. As he reached for it, the hat flew up in the air! It had landed by chance on the very spot where now stands a sizable cinder cone volcano! His hat flying was a prank pulled off by the nascent puff of a friggin’ volcano. Wow, whodda thunk it, eh?
The sangria-for-dinner was because I invited a very nice lady to my place for dinner yesterday.
Good times were had by all. :3
Non-naval gassing?
But how well will it handle irony? That’s not too clear to me.
It might be the couch success, it might be the impending new job, it might be the new potential friends I made this weekend, but I am positively chipper this morning. I’m willing to share my good mood if anybody would like some. Open your ports :)
FossilFishy@302, So sorry for your loss. I hope you are able to find peace for yourself and celebration and joy in her life.
Its been a few weeks since I called my Mom, I think I’ll do that today, no reason. Damn, excuse me, I think I have something in my eye.
From the Close Enough For Ya? desk: this
[emp. cw]
Don’t pull too hard on the tape measure. You’ll stretch it.
Oh? You’re not pulling the tape?
Wazzat? There’s no tape to pull?
How ’bout that.
Portia@367, Well then, a 60’s sitcom name would work for the pair, The Skipper for the couch and Gilligan for the little buddy chair of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilligan_%28Gilligan%27s_Island%29
Someone in this crowde, this Horde, must have read this book.
Is there not a story therein about a “Sign In Space”?
Recall is trembling on the tip of this one neuron, you see. The trembling is a tickling for which there is no defense.
Ray:
I love the way you think. Hilarious. Of course, I think they’re girls so maybe Ginger and MaryAnn?
@KevinKat
I have no idea if the sex I have is at all comparable to the sex you have, but with us, more often than not, we’re focusing on one person at a time. If we are each doing something to the other at the same time, when one is close to orgasm that person tends to stop stimulating activities so as to focus inward on the impending orgasm.
Simultaneous orgasms have happened, but it’s not very frequent compared to total orgasms.
Portia@402, It was the “little buddy” description that made me think of it, but in my single digit age way (when the show was on) I wouldn’t have minded sitting in either Ginger and MaryAnn’s laps. Sounds cozy, so if you like it, go for it!
Hi, Ray!
—
Portia
Maybe Mrs. Howell and Maryanne.
You’ll need another furniture item for Ginger, maybe a Chaise longue.
Starting next Monday I’ll have a new morning routine.
Right about 7:30, after the man cubs have boarded their respective buses en route to their respective institutes of knowledge, I will take Eldest Daughter to her state-sponsored facilitator*; for her methadone fix.
Yes, there is a long and convoluted story behind this state of affairs. No, I’ll not burden anyone with the details; the story is not unique. It is all too common.
I am concentrating on how to remain supportive and helpful and to do no harm.
*a function of government that has my appreciation just now.
@Chigau:
No, ginger is more a heart-shaped bed with satin sheets.
chigau@405 Hi, Chigau! I’ve used paypal a few times (& today) did you get it figured out? Right about Ginger though, a regular couch or chair wouldn’t be fancy enough!
Portia, how big is the couch? Maybe the S. S. Minnow would be appropriate?
I like it, chigau. :D Lord knows I’m likely to find one in my furniture treasure hunts.
Crudely: *hugs*
DING DING DING
A name befitting the montrosity that is this couch: the S.S. Minnow :D
Paypal is on my To-Do list.
We tried satin sheets once: cold and horrid and, if the people in bed were not a smooth as Barbie, soon full of snags.
Portia: *Anx*
____________
Thanks to all of you who flipped your two cents worth in concerning how nyms are displayed. I read all the replies and have distilled the formidable knowledge of the Horde into a personal protocol. Henceforth all nyms will be capitalized without respect to position within a sentence or whether they are part of a sentence at all. i.e. — Nym.
If I am addressing the claimant to the nym the nym will be bolded. i.e. —Nym.
The first convention because I am comfortable with convention. The second because it’s like a wave intended to attract one’s attention.
*now all I have to do is be consistent — over some period of time this becomes less probable*
[While proof reading (huh?) it struck me that you’d go a long time before finding a sentence with the exact words “the nym the nym” occurring. This observation does not apply to anything written by either Blf or tmdp, which are themselves uncommon occurrences of symbols.]
Portia, glad I could help name your couch, I’m so proud to have been involved! : P
I’m sitting here giggling to myself about it & getting strange looks from my younger son.
Chigau, Agreed about the satin sheets, I have a set (for my waterbed), given to me as a gift, sitting all of 1 meter away in a pile of yard sale stuff, that were used all of twice twenty five years ago and been sitting in a closet since because of the snagging problem.
Hi all,
Has anyone been to John Scalzi’s place today, if not you might get a smile from this post
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/08/26/to-the-dudebro-who-thinks-hes-insulting-me-by-calling-me-a-feminist/
YAY YAY YAY
:-)
– er –
Of course, the very first comment is by a crackpot, but…
The Most Distant Galaxy in the Universe
From there:
Carlie @265:
Exactly. We’ve established before that a beautiful brain is the sexiest thing EVAH. (David M.’s brain received a lot of propositions for intimate interaction.)
AndrewD@414, That. Was. Awsome! I read his blog almost every day but hadn’t checked it yet today & seen that. Thanks!
Mormon Moment of Madness, liquor category.
Utah Liquor Nazis.
David, your Oscar Wilde quote begs this question:
Would an all seeing eye be the most astounded thing?
Some updates and clarifications for the Moment of Mormon Madness in comment #419:
http://abc.utah.gov/laws/law_faqs.html
Moments of Mormon Madness, racism/bigotry category:
http://www.mormonhandbook.com/storage/media/Mark_E_Petersen-Race_Problems_as_They_Affect_The_Church.pdf
Lynna, OM@421, would the same people who create these laws complain about “Obamacare” & welfare because “Big government” & “nanny state”?
Just wondering if, within the letter of the law quoted (32B-6-205 (8) (a)), you can have the intent to eat, order & consume alcohol, then change your mind about food?
No problem, Ray, as long as you pay for the food. Otherwise the law is an ass. ;^>
Lynna:
Wow…just…wow. What a bunch of horseshit. Why are they not investigating the polygamist cults out there and actually looking out for the welfare of the children in them as opposed to this horseshit? I mean, I know the answer. I’m just pissed. Unbelievable.
Hey!
Yeah man, I’ve got so many symbols in various places I could transliterate the Phaistos Disc into Linear A via the intermediaries of the Voynich manuscript‘s script, at least 42
private writing systemsflyspecks, and a washing machine set on fast spin, and not even notice…Lynna I was wondering if resturants/bars could skirt the law a bit by not selling drinks as an item, but only paired with something, ala one doesn’t order “a beer”, but rather the menu item is “beer + small dish of pretzels or peanuts”. Then the customer doesn’t have a choice and no got-ya games can be played by the unscrupulous (I’m sure they’ll find other ways to cause mischief, though [sigh]).
—–
Portia conga-rats in successful couch acquisition and spatial manipulation.
—–
FossilFishy I’m sorry for your loss.
—–
EstelethI’ll try to get to the Credit Union today so I can post some cash to you for oniongirl. I presume you haven’t changed addresses since the previous time I sent you horde money?
I’m sorry to thread-jack, but there’s been something bugging me of late and I was hoping to get some links or at least be pointed in the right direction. (I know, I know, LMGTFY, but in this case I’ve run into a bit of a snag, as you’ll see.)
Many of my friends are very firmly in the anti-GMO camp; these are people with whom I’ll agree on damn near everything important, but in this one respect I struggle to find any common ground. I’m of the opinion that they’re generally safe, or at the very worst no “worse” than any other kind of crop, and that the data upon which they base their fears is culled from flawed studies and agenda-driven whackaloons. I also, however, admit that my “expertise” is limited to what I’ve read from what I’ve found to be reliable sources; in other words, I feel much the same about it as I do any other scientific claim that’s beyond my understanding. I mean, I accept that the universe is 13.76-ish billion years old, despite my not being able to perform the calculations that would lead to that conclusion.
All this finally brings me to my point: I’m honestly not sure anymore if *I’m* mistaken or not regarding the relative costs and benefits of GMOs. I have made good faith efforts to research this on my own, but even with a tool like Google I’m finding it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Any help would be appreciated.
I noticed. Hence my #412.
Please, don’t stop! You have become needful for getting through the daze. Forty two too.
No one is “honestly not sure anymore”, Michaelblaney. No one at all.
So you’re in good company.
Ray @423:
Of course! Furthermore, a lot of Utah politicians want to shut down the federal government on the basis of Obamacare.
Escalating call to impeach Obama.
Portia @4254:
Lots of polygamists actually attend regular LDS services, with on the thinnest veil of cover for the polygamy. Polygamy is still expected to be the norm in the mormon Celestial Kingdom. Denial is the tactic in the mormon PR department. Benign neglect is the mostly mormon law enforcement tactic. Non-prosecution link.
Discussion of polygamy in mormon heaven: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,764864,765480
*long hug for FossilFishy*
YAY TRICERATOPS PTERYGOID YAY
I exaggerate, but dinosaur palates are often rather neglected and rather poorly known in the first place. This is topped only by pterosaurs.
Funny how they turned Andreas “Anne” Schulp into “Schlup”.
Just in case… there’s no such tab on the German version of the site. Perhaps the German laws are stricter on something.
*vehement nodding* :-)
Sort of. PayPal thinks my normal one is spam. I guess it’s been spoofed too often.
“Towards heaven – a hole.
Towards the ground – a hole.
In the middle – fire.
Roundabout – water.”
Best photo.
Song of Songs? Proselytizing? “Thy boobs, my beloved, are like two beautiful whatevers”? :-D
♥
She was worried it could come across like calling Obama “articulate”.
Universi. It’s universum, not universium.
More info on Scott Lively being charged with crimes against humanity.
dontpanic @427:
A few restaurant owners may look for creative ways around the stupid law, but most of them just put a big, obnoxious sign on each table stating the rules for ordering liquor.
Bahahahaha No kidding…the Porn of the Bible is an interesting choice for an email signature, but still…there are a lot of love poems out there to quote that are non-religious. I guess the fact that it’s not a John 3:16 or something makes it all the more intriguing…
Aaaaah, good point. I hadn’t really put the two statements together.
Blaming the victims: Republicans are pushing the idea that most unemployed US citizens can’t get a job because they can’t pass a drug test. Maddow Blog link.
Here is an example, from forteen years ago, Ray:
The tactical and strategic benefits or accomplishments of that action depends entirely on who you ask.
Moments of Mormon Madness, education category.
Women in Utah really do not need any more discouragement when it comes to getting a college degree. Same problem for young Utah men, but the effects on women are more severe. For one thing, Utah already posted terrible statistics for women finishing college — they start college, but with the mormon-approved goal of finding a husband, and not with the goal of getting a degree. Hence the big dropout rate for female college students. With the new missionary age rules in effect, fewer women will even start college.
Salt Lake Tribune link for quote above.
Salt Lake Tribune link for high female college dropout rate.
Whilst it has been many multiple yonks since I was last behind the zion curtain, I seem to recall the moronic cult’s liquor laws have an additional absurdity: In a place which serves alcohol, it can be served only to members of a “private club”. Hence, to be served in a restaurant, you must join that restaurant’s “private club”.
Conveniently, “one day” (or perhaps “one meal” or similar?) memberships are available, and the restaurant will sign you up on such a plan automatically if you order alcohol. All for an additional fee, of course. For which you get rather low alcohol-content beer (no idea about the wines, etc.?).
There is an exception, however: Amtrak. The last time I was in the cult’s zone, I was just passing through on the train, eating in the dining car. And I ordered some wine, no problem. The two elderly ladies sitting opposite frowned and did all but (I later realized) a casting out of demons and other bogymen, whilst the guy sitting next to barely suppressed some giggles.
All of that puzzled me but all became clear after they left and the other guy at the table started laughing, explaining they were moronic cultists… (As I now recall, after the meal we then wandered off to the dome car (i.e., the bar), to watch the scenery roll by and talk.)
David MF Marjanovic with the thing over the “c” writes:
Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. :-)
michaelblayney, keep in mind that there are some concerns regarding GM crops that have nothing to do with with the fears of them having a negative impact on health. The effects of patenting organisms, suing farmers for saving seeds, and potential damage in developing nations because farmers must buy seed year after year need to be weighed.
As I understand it, the major difference between crops that were genetically modified in a lab versus those modified through selective breeding is how the law treats them. Unfortunately, the public conversation surrounding GMOs tends to be dominated by concerns over “frankenfood” instead of the legal and economic impact.
(I have no special education on this topic, etc, etc, willing to be corrected wherever I may be wrong.)
Heh. I remember.
I also remember that I don’t know enough math for you. :-þ
All else being equal, I think yes!
And the idea isn’t new either:
Thus begins the Gospel of Thomas. It goes on for well over 100 “Jesus said”s.
That’s actually easy; many of the symbols are the same, just more linear in Linear. The intermediary are the hand-drawn (instead of stamped) Cretan so-called hieroglyphs.
. . . further to David . . .
If only my grin were to be fossilized. Yours, bro. Yours.
Mellow Monkey, An additional concern for those GM crops engineering to be more resistant-to / tolerant-of pesticides, is that farmers would use more of the pesticides since it isn’t as damaging to crops. (The idea the GM barons sell is you can use less for reasons I don’t recall now and am unsure I ever really understood: Maybe fewer sprayings since the dosage could be higher with the total amount applied being lower, or something like that…?)
The actual behaviour varies. In summary, as I now recall — this was a big topic c.10 years ago but I’ve read very little on it since — the pesticide use does tend to drop for several years after the introduction of a GM crop, but then, for some but not all crops, increases to similar or even higher levels than previously. The data is somewhat confused because the patent on the most-widely-used type(s?) of pesticide have expired in about that same timeframe, allowing cheaper versions to enter the market, and hence making it cheaper to use more pesticide. I have no idea if anyone has been able to untangle the effects…?
Of course, the cynic in me says the GM barons guessed that spraying would increase when pesticide-resistant crops are grown, thus mitigating the impact of the lower prices due to expiration of the monopoly.
dontpanic, yes, all the means to contact me are the same.
Possibly, possibly not-so-much. Both seem to be Cretan / Minoan in origin, but less than half of the Disc’s symbols can be mapped to Linear A, albeit (according to Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge (this is new to me & is apparently a rather recent finding)), the frequency distribution suggests both scripts are for the same language. How robust any of those claims are is murky.
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/the_school_segregation_battle_isnt_over/
Pteryxx:
I watched some MHP this morning and that kid is just amazing. 9 years old, and as MHP says, he’s “already a great man”
Linky.
I assume the armchair is Neil. Couch, I’m not sure about.
Armchair’s surname is Bombe. Or possibly Potatoe.
Couch’s prénom is Behindthe.
I am sick of being Elizabeth Hamilton. I want to die as Elizabeth Hamilton and come back on Pharyngula under some other name.
I want to have a name that does not scream gender and ethnic origins. And that is not connected to a Facebook page that I want to close anyway.
I’ve tried to change my name and the FtB system won’t let me. I wrote about it to tech problems about ten days ago and got no answer.
Can anyone help me???
EH: Upper righthand corner, where it says “Howdy, Elizabeth Hamilton” click. Scroll down to the spot where there is a box to type in a new name, and choose it from the drop-down menu right below it. Scroll to bottom and click “update”. I recommend indicating your previous nym in your post nym* for a while in order to avoid morphing.
*e.g. NewNym McNymmy (formerly Elizabeth Hamilton)
This, plus concerns like the possibility of inadvertently causing a particular fruit, say, to express unexpected allergens as well as desirable traits from whatever it’s modified with. There’s a strong argument for specific kinds of testing and a rational, compassionate legal framework, but unfortunately the conversation is 90% “LIEK OMG DEY ARE NOT TEH NACHURALS IT SI EAT MAH BABBEH!”
That sounds…comfortable.
:P
–
Sounds like an excellent program, KevinKat. Carry on!
;)
As for your TMI question: in my experience, never. We don’t expect to. Everyone’s Mileage May Vary.
Pun intended?
:P
–
Ogvorbish, I’m sorry about the dreams.
*massive hug-pile*
–
DDMFM!!!
*pouncehugback*
:) :) :)
–
I see Ginger as more of a spindly-legged ornamental table, with a doily and floral arrangement on top.
–
I am saddened that Scalzi’s “more devastating” picture does not show up, for me.
:(
–
Dianne! Neville is top post at Rattitude now. (Theo is second, sorry Theophontes!)
X-posted to Tdome.
That sounds…comfortable.
:P
–
Sounds like an excellent program, KevinKat. Carry on!
;)
As for your TMI question: in my experience, never. We don’t expect to. Everyone’s Mileage May Vary.
Pun intended?
:P
–
Ogvorbish, I’m sorry about the dreams.
*massive hug-pile*
–
DDMFM!!!
*pouncehugback*
:) :) :)
–
I see Ginger as more of a spindly-legged ornamental table, with a doily and floral arrangement on top.
–
I am saddened that Scalzi’s “more devastating” picture does not show up, for me.
:(
–
Portia:
Or just click on your nym directly above the comment box.
@Portia, #452
thank you, let’s see if this works.
from formerly elizabeth Hamilton
My comments don’t post???
No, did not work.
As usual, I learn something new here every day :)
—
Elizabeth Hamilton: Did you alter the box labeled “Nickname”? And then change the option labeled “Display name publicly as”?
But that one did. Hmmm.
Aha! It was probably the link to Pharyngula Wiki at the DDMFM, below. Let’s try again:
That sounds…comfortable.
:P
–
Sounds like an excellent program, KevinKat. Carry on!
;)
As for your TMI question: in my experience, never. We don’t expect to. Everyone’s Mileage May Vary.
Pun intended?
:P
–
Ogvorbis, I’m sorry about the dreams.
*massive hug-pile*
–
DDMFM!!!
*pouncehugback*
:) :) :)
–
I see Ginger as more of a spindly-legged ornamental table, with a doily and floral arrangement on top.
–
I am saddened that Scalzi’s “more devastating” picture does not show up, for me.
–
GMO is a technique. The technique itself is a neutral thing; it is neither bad, nor good, it’s just a way to move a gene from one place to another. This can be a very good thing, like increasing drought tolerance of a crop. This can be a very bad thing, like introducing an herbicide-resistant gene to a plant that easily interbreeds with the very weed one is trying to control with said herbicide. It can be a biologically good thing, like sterilizing the crop its in so that it can’t spread that other weirdo gene to wild relatives, but that is economically turned into a bad thing because it makes the farmer reliant on the company for next year’s seed. Saying GMO is “good” or “bad” is like saying scalpels are good or bad. It all depends on what you do with it.
I switched from Howard to Howard Bannister recently. Let me see if I can work out the steps I took.
First, mouse over Howdy, Howard Bannister. Drop-down menu: Edit my Profile. There’s a first name, a last name, a username–and a nickname. The nickname is the visible name. Change. Scroll down. Click “Update Profile.”
And has it changed?
I don’t remember. >.>
Ah, and then the last step: under “Nickname” is a drop-down box, “display my name as.” It has an option of first name, firstname-lastname, or nickname. You have to select your new nickname off the list to get the new nym.
And now I see Portia simply posted the advice that I had to go blindly clicking towards. Probably typed and posted it while I was clicking away merrily.
…or maybe the Chinese were supporting Milošević a bit too much, and Clinton decided to hide behind Hanlon’s Razor – after all, everybody knows Americans don’t know any geography.
Or not.
^_^
It’d actually surprise me if Linear A were for a single language… but I’m sure the Phaistos Disk is written in (at least) one of them!
YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN EATEN BY THE PATENTED CHEESE MUSHROOMS! AND VIN FILTER.™ DESIGNED TO KEEP PENGUINS FED. THANK YOU FOR THE DONATION. *** OUT OF CHEESE ERROR, FED THE PENGUIN, REDO FROM SNARK ***thanks Howard and Portia.
It worked. I’m in my kitchen so I just chose a nym from a box of baking soda.
Elizabeth, are you signed in using WordPress? If so, go down to the comment window where it says “Logged in as Elizabeth Hamilton” and click on your name. The following screen should be self explanatory.
Enjoy experimenting! Just let us all in on your new nym, so’s we’ll know/get the joke/appreciate the irony/have a voice to associate with the nym/et cetera. We want to be able to love you so a nym is pretty important.
=)
Indeed. The geographic spread and apparent timespan are both large enough to suggest that possibility. I have no recollection if the various symbols (and there seem to be quite a lot) have any geographical (or chronological?) clustering. That is, are there any local variations, as you’d expect from a script being borrowed / adopted and adapted for the local tongue?
@451 and (formerly) Elizabeth Hamilton:
Well, I see you are way ahead of me, Bicarbonate.
Nuthin’ to it, eh?
______________
Portia, who solicits:
The smaller component is frequently addressed as “Otto”.
______________
Blf: *** OUT OF CHEESE ERROR, FED THE PENGUIN, REDO FROM SNARK ***
Copying to Windows Error Message Excuse File. Can’t wait till it first appears. Will remember you then.
Thank you for the replies so far. It appears that as with so many other things I have more to learn. :-)
Therein is another lurch.
Help me here.
I was going to write, “. . . is frequently addressed as “Otto”, man”.
Then I thought that that would be received by some as sexist.
Would the preferred construction be “. . . is frequently addressed as “Otto”, human”?
Either way it’s got “man” in it. So does “woman”.
Is there a rational alternative that isn’t clumsy or is current usage a clumsy that we know?
After all, it isn’t an ottohuman it’s an ottoman. Decisions, decisions.
Now we know why she works at home !
;-)That snippet made me laugh, too. It could also be taken in the British sense, as they would call me a solicitor, I think :D
— snortle —
This took me way too long to get. I like it. I say “Man” and “boy” for emphasis pretty often…it sometimes occurs to me that it’s sexist, but I can’t quite figure out how.
David M. @442
I’m willing to make some compromises.
I’ve often said we should keep ‘man’ to mean ‘human,’ and ‘woman’ to mean ‘female human,’ but go back to using waepman for ‘male human.’
FossilFishy, I know I’m late, but… my condolences. If hugs are of any help: *hugs*
Yes, and thank you.
***
michaelblayney,
I guess the key here is: why are they firmly in the anti-GMO camp? What are they fears and motives? There are plenty of good reasons to be anti-GM crops as they are currently used, and there are also plenty of bad reasons to be in that same camp. “Eating them is bad for your health” is a very bad reason. “The way things are now, GM crop cultures are bad for the environment” is a good one. Economic and legal concerns like the ones Mellow Monkey mentioned are good reasons too.
Also, what Carlie said. Me, I’m generally anti-GM crops myself, but that’s just because my faith in humanity is pretty low right now. We are going to keep on using this technology the way it is mostly used now: to help us fuck up the environment, to fuck up small-scale agriculture and anything that isn’t monoculture, to fuck up local crop biodiversity, to fuck farmers over, and so on. It could be a good thing. It could still be turned into a good thing. But right now? It isn’t.
Eh? Whilst I suppose someone might think that man, when used as an exclamation, is somehow sexist, neither I nor any of the references I (quickly!) consulted seem to think that it is. In fact, Generalissimo Google™ says (when you search for
define:man), emphasis mine: “Exclamation: Used, irrespective of the sex of the person addressed, to express surprise, admiration, delight, etc., or for emphasis: ‘man, what a show!’.” However, I cannot determine the source of that definition; all the definitions I’ve seen don’t address gender at all.So, I was just reading the Utilikilt website and…holy shit the tone is douchebaggy. O.o
Anyone know of any alternative producers of similar garments?
Caine,
there’s a pic here :
http://www.etsy.com/listing/158450701/rare-alexander-henry-salmon-peach-day-of?ref=related-3
Don’t know how many meters I’ve got.
BTW, michaelblayney, it just occurred to me now that there was a post here recently about this that you may find interesting. It’s here.
Azkyroth
Well, since you mention it…Kilts can definitely be made to order. :)
Bicarbonate
Repeating from the T-Dome, L will be happy to take any of it that Caine doesn’t want.
To be fair, that was explicitly rejected as an argument against other sexist terms.
…”as an argument, against the alleged sexism of other terms.”
Oooh. *makes note*
Caine & Dallilama Schmott Guy,
Cross-posted on TDome.
Tomorrow I’ll find the fabric and measure it. I’ve got to get to bed. Will post length tomorrow.
mailing from France.
Oh, good. I’m covered.
The Horde is wide with wisdom. Even thick or broad or fulsome. And like that there.
Portia, enjoy your ottoman even as you revel in your couch. Wishing we were all there with you, man.
Boy, I do too. :) The thought of a Pharyngula Bad Movie Night at Portia’s is making me smile.
—
I’m going to go to the fabric store and scout for cute (clearance) fabric to recover some of the couch pillows.
Named for the empire. Just go with it.
Well, why not? Wife just had her annual mandatory refresher so she can start working her street corner the day after tomorrow.
Must take Eldest Daughter to a meeting that is congruent with her getting a daily shot.
My willingness to do so is orthogonal to something or other. Glad and sad at the same time.
Hold me, Horde. Just hold me.
Crudely,
You are welcome to come snuggle up on this very large couch of mine. I’m sorry : /
Poopyhead singing Time Wrap, Portia miming the legless Black Knight, a special appearance by a forty-foot killer rat in a reenactment of The Seventh Seal, Ogvorbis as Scooby Doo, cicely yelling “You Shall Not Pass!”, and so on… And, of course, Tony the Dalek.
Do you think there would be anything left of the planet the next morning?
Portia
is there room for all of us on the SSMinnow?
Why do I have to play the semi-coherent dog? I AM A PROFESSIONAL COMMUMICATOR!!!!!:>)!!
I understood everything Scooby Doo ever said.