This is Thunderdome, the unmoderated open thread on Pharyngula. Say what you want, how you want.
Status: UNMODERATED; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is Thunderdome, the unmoderated open thread on Pharyngula. Say what you want, how you want.
Status: UNMODERATED; Previous thread
Well this is just stupid and offensive:
Why Is A State Historical Society Honoring A Discredited Book About Matthew Shepard?
Why would you want to honor such a deceptive piece of shit like that book?
I wish I could remember my gravatar password.
oooh
Page 2 kinda snuck up on me.
Tony!
So basically, it’s a book-length Daily Mail story. Ugh!
Hi CD, I very much appreciate your reply, and to short-circuit a lengthier series of responses – rather than take the discussion to an OP where, as you suggest, it might well interfere with the separate progress of the gender workshop, would it not be both simpler and wiser to postpone that particular discussion to a later, more appropriate date? I am very amenable to the idea of letting the topic ‘sit’ not only because I am aware of the complex series of social and cultural interactions and responses that surround the issues (which I am happy to admit my brief responses barely skimmed the surface of), but also because it would be especially obtuse to attempt to tease out those issues in adversarial format, and if you have my e-mail address as I think you already do, then there is nothing stopping us from privately working that out on our own rather than troubling our squidly overlord.
Also with love and respect – CX.
@ Daz
On the subject of gravitars: Nigel Molesworth ?
Ooops.
I think you slightly misunderstand.
The issues came up by virtue of an interaction with you, but I’ve wanted to address them for a long time anyway. When I was teaching women’s studies, I covered this. It’s part of my bag of tricks. I don’t want to e-mail you to hash out the issues with you.
I wanted to e-mail you, if you desired, to make sure that you understood that I **wasn’t** intending to create a public Diana-v-Xanthë cage match in Battle of the Trans* lay-experts in Psychology 40. If you don’t want me to address the issue publicly because of the optics, I will not address the issue at the time because optics are a valid concern, even if it is not as important to me as substance. E-mail was a chance to say things like, “I would feel attacked,” to me without having to say it to everyone in TD.
It wasn’t because I felt the need to “work something out with you”. Just trying to make sure that my actions don’t harm you. I’m perfectly comfortable that I have enough information (even though one could always have more) to justify the types of conclusions (practical and ethical) I have made. You could certainly persuade me otherwise, but I’m doubtful, as I’ve been having conversations for 20 years now on the ethics of DSM inclusion, psychological and pharmacological and surgical gatekeeping, and the interplay of harm reduction and oppression eradication in a pro-trans* humanity movement. In those 20 years, my opinions have changed quite a bit, but not for some time. It’s been many years since someone raised a point I hadn’t considered seriously, and longer since a revision in my conclusions was more than an adjustment in strategy or tactics given a changing social environment.
So, no, I don’t feel a need to hash things out. I feel a need to talk about this stuff, thought it timely, but worried very much about doing so in a way that would be hurtful to you.
If you do end up changing my mind, however, it would be no less than I expect from someone who takes her advocacy and her facts and her love of others so seriously.
Or maybe you understood that already & I’m just projecting because of my nervousness of hurting someone.
Whatever. We’re both coming from good places, it’ll be fine.
theophontes
Yep. The grate skoolboy hero.
I don’t think I’ve ever left the five hundredth comment before. But, I don’t want the awesomeness that is the art of Andy Goldsworthy to get lost in the T-Dome. Seriously, if anyone needs a neat documentary to watch, Rivers and Tides was great. I think I’m loving my new gravatar.
yazikus
I’m still not seeing the new you.
It will probably happen … sometime.
chigau,
Words I said to myself every time I moved growing up. Three years was the max I lived anywhere (six months was the least), and I always had the idea that I could be a ‘new me’ in the new place. Doesn’t work very well. Time will tell?
I, and millions of others, will support your experiences with similar observational data.
That’s odd. I’m seeing yazikus’ new gravatar. I wonder why chigau isn’t.
Could be that there mobile device problem again.
In other news. I am bored. Can’t sleep, and bored. I need to be not-bored. There’s never a troll when you need one.
But Daz, surely there are some chores you could do, right? That is what my mom always told me… /justkidding
Do you have access to netflix? There are some great documentaries you could watch… A Man Named Pearl was great, and Planet B-Boy was super fun. If you are up for feeling sad, Dear Zachary will break your heart. I’ve been enjoying the latest iteration of Anthony Bourdain’s show, Parts Unknown. The Myanmar episode was fascinating, and the one on the DRC was hearbreaking, and important.
Daz:
You could always compose more poetry for your blog. BTW, what time is it where you’re at?
Heh! Akshully that thought crossed my mind, but it’s one of those “everything I think of to do seems just as boring” boredoms.
Sadly, I don’t have netflix. I do have my sister’s Farscape box-sets though…
Tony, it’s coming up for 04:25.
Yeah, I’ve been playing with some poetry but nothing’s working out.
Question for anyone plumbing minded: The faucet in my kitchen sink leaks just a tad (for that matter, so does the bathtub faucet). Is this a fix I can do myself?
If it isn’t obvious, I’m woefully inept at stuff like that (I don’t know why I’m just not asking anyone about this, as the drips have been ongoing for YEARS).
yup.
if you take the faucet apart, it should be obvious which part has gotten worn (often a gasket is either worn or has become too stiff with age).
…just make sure you remember to turn off the water pressure to the faucet first :)
rabbithole trip through youtube. always good for killing a couple of hours… at least.
Ichthyic:
Ah, thanks.
I suppose I’ll need some replacement parts, which means I have to wait til my job starts (waiting on the damn liquor license to arrive at the restaurant). I’m really ready for this “summer vacation” to be over.
Lack of transparency in the media? No waaaaaaaaay.
typically, faucet leaks are easy fixes with cheap parts.
mine usually get fixed for under ten bucks.
they aren’t complicated things, really.
only complications arise when there is a crack in the main fixture or something obvious like that, in which case you’ll have to replace the fixture.
…btw, if your fixture is a common one, often hardware stores will sell kits with the parts you need to fix just such leaks.
All you have to do is go to your local hardware/plumbing store and say:
“I have fixture “X”, and it’s leaking. got a kit?”
and they likely will be able to provide you with all the parts you need to fix it up good as new.
for some familiarity before you start, this might help:
http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Leaky-Faucet
Ichthyic:
Very helpful information. Thank you!
enjoy your new found career!
;)
seriously, faucet fixes are easy, but if you have actual leaky pipes?
it’s time to call a plumber.
As Ichthyic says, it should be a cheap fix unless you’re really unlucky. The commonest problem is a worn washer (gasket in US speak? [Link]) which’ll probably be dirt-cheap. (£1 or so here).
Damn. Sorry for basically repeating, I shoulda f5’ed.
I tend to hear annoying sounds, so sitting in my living room, I can hear the drip in the kitchen sink, so I have to angle the faucet so that the leak hits the center of the sink juuuuust right, so as to produce the most minimal of annoying sounds.
Boy I don’t want to know how much water has been wasted over the years…
Want to do Something to Reduce the Achievement Gap for At Risk Children?–Support Music Education:
@ Tony
Should be suite easy to fix. You will likely find you only need to replace some washers. Definitely get the right size spanners, and turn off the water supply to that area, before you start. Washers are usually in standard sizes, so you can take a picture of your tap, with dimensions, to your hardware store and get a few. Or take the whole tap if they are nearby.
When in doubt, Youtube can sort you out!
Suite —-> quite
LAWDY!!! I hate spellcheck.
On the subject of music education, a petition:
And from the email alert:
Daz:
Signed.
****
Theophontes:
Funny how the brain works. I still read ‘suite’ as ‘quite’. Didn’t notice it till you corrected it.
Thanks Tony.
#36 / Daz – That’s actually already better than what they do here in Holland! You get some chorus and maybe recorder, but Dutch public education seems to have no real music programme. All my bandmates think it’s kind of weird that I came up playing in school bands (especially marching band).
Human Rights Campaign formally apologizes to transgender community for past slights
crossposting Lounge/TD:
Does anyone know anything about the Macbook pro retina?
My computer is not recognizing its battery
So the moment the magsafe slips, my computer is toast – instant shutdown now shutdown process, info lost.
Of course, I can restart it when I plug the cable in again, but that doesn’t help the lost info and it doesn’t help the nervousness of knowing that any second everything you’re doing could be lost.
I’ve reset the SMC. The reset happened appropriately (orange-flashgreen-orange cycle on power cord LED indicated it happened appropriately anyway).
No change in ability to draw power from battery.
Interestingly, the battery power sits @46% – so it’s obviously talking to the battery in some way.
I know this is a model (MacBook Pro retina display, December 2012) that says I shouldn’t remove the battery on my own.
Is there anything else I can do?
As far as sources of the problem, I did leave the machine on the bathroom counter while I took a steamy shower. Nothing was spilled on the computer. Battery behavior changed immediately after hot shower. Nothing else remotely occurs to me as a possible source for the troubles. No drops, no nothing. I really, really don’t have money for fixing this, so any help is appreciated.
@Tony!
1: will an apology to the leather community come out of HRC, like, ever?
2: “underrepresented or unrepresented”
what about the “misrepresented and attacked”?
Seems like weak tea…and I know something about tea.
Crip Dyke:
I didn’t know that HRC shat on the leather community too. Do you have a linky so I can read more?
I’ll look around, but when I was more connected nationally…well,mostly when Kerry Lobel was in charge of NGLTF b/c I had a good working relationship with her and a close relationship with her mentor, but I did have contacts @ HRC itself as well and other avenues for info… it was something of an inside scandal that HRC forced out its first openly leather member of its board. They specifically recruited this person so that leather communities could be represented, then when the person turned out to be **unapologetically** leather (I think they were looking for the SE Cupp of the leather community and got Greg Epstein by accident) though still a bridge builder, they forced this person out. They had recently gotten the first Trans* member of the board. The trans* member quit in solidarity.
So, yeah, specifically on the leather community, but even when they aren’t calling out the leather community, what do you think its about when they do all their media with those suburban, lesbians-with-kids carried by one mom with the egg donated by another, or suburban (always white – lesbians can be people of color, but not the fags!) gay men with their adopted kids or kids for whom they provided the sperm and hired a surrogate for 10s of thousands of bucks?
“Just like you” = not a scary black man, not a scary assless-chaps fag, no leathers, no drag community, no freaky gender – Chai Feldblum’s fine*. Quo-li Driscoll less so.
*And Chai Feldblum is fine. This isn’t a slight to Chai who is quite nice in person and quite a competent lawyer, possibly even an excellent one, though I’m not in a position to judge. Not to mention quite determined to create a better environment for human thriving, so there’s that too.
Tony
Imma gonna get back at Tpyos! (I’ve switched my keypad to “Afrikaans”. Let’s see how long hierdie ploy lasts…)
Crip Dyke
I get mixed emotions seeing you posting here:
1. Gratitude, because you helped me with understanding a bit of the opportune concepts in labour law,
2. Guilt, because I have not filled you in on the denouement to that whole horrible affair. (Spoiler Alert: It ended in our favour.)
Enough time has passed now. If you see comments by me that look like liturgies to Tpyos, they will be the meaty bits in ROT13.
What?
Listen, Mark over in the “I get e-mail” thread has some very sophisticated math, not yet shown, but I’m sure thoroughly accurate, that will show that there has not been enough time since the universe began for random interactions to mix your e-motions. Clearly your emotions were created like this. They are as good and natural as trees, pirates, mountains, and midgets.
Really. you owe me nothing. All praise is to our Noodly Creator.
If you happen to drop something in rot13, I’ll be happy to read it. And I remember the general thing you’re talking about, so knowing how it worked out isn’t bad either. But really, you owe me nothing. No sweat. Not even any drool.
Aftermath of the Israel-Gaza war:
Israel is now investigating about 100 cases of potential criminal acts on its part in Gaza. Judging from previous similar investigations, Israel is likely to single out a couple or so low-ranking scapegoats to protect itself and its image from any serious international investigation.
Human rights groups aren’t impressed either.
While this goes on, another person is killed in the West Bank and Israel prepares to appropriate even more land there.
In other news, Russia is engaging in a show of force in Crimea, by conducting military exercises against naval targets only a short distance away from NATO warships. Russia has also abducted an Estonian security officer, driving the tension with NATO even higher. On Russian television politicians, including Putin, are talking about developing new and redeploying existing MIRV nukes “for defense purposes”.
Crip Dyke #41
i don’t know anything about Macs, but if you’re using MS Office for Macs you can configure your documents to autosave every 5 minutes. Won’t help you anywhere else, but at least you’ll lose less stuff when your computer drops dead.
First, I wan to thank all of you. Your support, your honesty, your willingness to call me on the bullshit when my depression was getting the worser of me, has helped me immensely.
[TRIGGER WARNING — RAPE, CHILD ABUSE]
Three or four years ago, if anyone had asked, I would have told them that I didn’t like being a Cub Scout. If they had pressed me, I might have just said that one of the leaders was a pervert and left it at that.
On June 15, 2012, thanks to a now-banned asswipe, I made this comment . As far as I know, that was the first time, ever, I admitted what happened to me. The first time I actually thought that what he had done to me was rape. And, I suspect, that I couldn’t even have given details.
That changed.
Over then next year, the next two years, the memories came fast. And hard. Sometimes reducing me to tears. Sometimes driving me into deep depression. Sometimes driving me into a barely-controlled rage. The guilt, the shame, the remembered pain, the remembered pleasure, the knowledge that I hurt others, the knowledge that I helped to recruit other children, was almost — almost — overpowering. His teachings, the ones that accompanied the rapes, were scary. He taught me to be a man — and a man is allowed to use children/girls/women for his own pleasure whether they agree or not and dammit, kid, you will be a man unless you want men hurting you like this for your whole life.
You saved me. The collective you — the horde. Without you, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital again for depression. Or maybe this time my suicide attempt would have been successful. Though I had suicidal thoughts — often — I never came close to acting on them. And for that, I thank all of you.
A year ago, in a truly frightening thread about rape, which drifted into the realm of those victims who offend, I remembered, and wrote about, the time that I did what he trained me to do. When I hurt S, a girl of four or five, I was under the direct control of my rapist. The first times he told me what to do — after that, I learned what he wanted, and needed no direction. He had turned me into a weapon, a weapon he used so that he could get off watching one child abuse another. When I was 12 1/2, I walked into a room where the three girls that I was babysitting were engaged in very adult sexual ‘play.’ And, though he was not there, though he had no physical presence, he was in my mind and I did what he taught me to do. I performed as a weapon the way that he had taught me, indoctrinated me, brainwashed(?) me.
And I realized that this was wrong. On every level, it was wrong. And I never went down his road again. Ever. As a child, a teenager, an adult, the thought of raping, abusing, molesting, assaulting, a child or an adult makes me feel physically ill.
In other words, he failed to make me into another one of him.
But I still did what I did.
When I found Pharyngula, all of this shit, what I was, what I had done, what was done through me, what was done to me, was behind a brick wall. I had, however, found a place that I felt welcome, a place where I could be me, a place where I could be happy. And then, as that wall crumbled, and the memories came through, I crumbled, too. And I was so deliriously happy that, as I related my memories, you were still supporting.
And I got so wrapped up in feeling accepted that I did not realize that I was making survivors uncomfortable. That I was making survivors feel unwelcome, feel threatened, feel revictimized.
Happiest Sadist, I am so sorry. I was so selfishly wrapped up in my own problems that I did not see what I was doing to you and to other survivors.
All survivors, I apologize. My selfishness has hurt people, has hurt survivors.
Be safe, all of you.
Thanks, AlexanderZ:
Before Mavericks, autosaves weren’t easily implemented, and weren’t at all implemented in the iLife programs and many of the otherwise-good programs designed for low-cost, ease-of-use, reliability, and platform/program independence that is frequently the strength of software for the mac.
Post-Mavericks, autosaves are easily globally implemented and Pages and other software really do autosave and autorecover much better, much easier, much more thoroughly.
No, it’s longwinded comments on internet websites that will frustrate me if lost – no one implements autosave of web comments.
Fortunately, I have never been known to be longwinded on the internet.
OGVORBIS!
I’ve missed you. I love you. I care. I want you in my life.
You have not, and are not, making survivors uncomfortable. You made a few people uncomfortable, people who do not hang out at Pharyngula. Happiest Sadist has not been back since raging at you. You are a longstanding member of this community, and you are wanted, needed, and cared about here.
Ogvorbis.
Hello.Please stay.
Ogvorbish:
First, *immense-hug-backlog-dump*
You are also one of those survivors.
Don’t forget this.
Observation suggests that it is not possible to be able to write in certain knowledge that you are not tap dancing, all unsuspecting, on somebody else’s triggers.
For that, there are empathy, sympathy, and (where needed) apologies; ideally, on the part of all parties involved.
Please don’t let your inadvertent triggering of others chase you away.
You are an Important Part of This (Oddly) Balanced Breakfast.
–
Ogvorbis:
I, like many people here, still call you friend, and care deeply about you. I think you’ve grown into a really great person, and I’d love to see you stay around here.
Whatever you choose, be well my friend.
Og, I’m not going to tell you your actions haven’t hurt other survivors.
But I will say that we all have a bit of narcissism. I’m full of self-hate and self-loathing and yet I frankly love it when I can nail the conversion of an important point that I think more people should understand AND lace it liberally with humor. I can get very self-satisfied when i think I’ve done that. My efforts to achieve that, in memory of efforts I perceive as past successes, have probably led me to say things that hurt people.
Given failed humor is amongst the least worthwhile excuses for that shit, I have, I’m sure, as much reason to be self-critical as you. If you want to take the time to be self-critical, I’ll hold your hand. I’ll hold it as we look back into the searing light together.
And if HappiestSadist or any other survivor among the Horde ever wanted the same, I’d happily be there for that person as well.
You can suggest it as many times as you like, but I will never condition my support for survivors on their perfection. Never.
Ogvorbis
Welcome back! *hugs*
I’ll also add that it’s probable I’ve triggered people, Ogvorbis. It will happen, we can’t cover every possibility. And while you feel very responsible on that point, you’ve forgotten one: you’re also a pillar of support to a lot of people, I’m one of them. So call me selfish, but my life is made better and easier for having you in it.
@Ogvorbis:
Something I also should have noted. I tend to be upfront about conceding your faults, Og, because I don’t want to fight about them. Frankly, there are times when I disagree, at least with the spirit, of your fault finding.
But I don’t want to ever, **ever** communicate the idea that no, you’re actually worthy of support because you’re actually good. Because then any time you’re not feeling like you’re good, you are at risk of believing that if I only knew X, I would find you “bad” or at least “bad enough” and with you no longer “good enough” I would cease to support you.
So I tend to concede everything, and say, fuck it. You can do evil without being a monster. You can make a horrible choice for which you deserve to be held accountable, and not have any of that accountability be the loss of status as a human being, the loss of the support of the people around you in genuine, good faith efforts to be a better person.
I concede, in short, because I don’t want to contribute to a debate in your head about whether or not you are worthy of support. Dealing with your rape? You get the support any rape survivor gets. Because you’re a rape survivor, not because you’re perfect or good or just like me.
But it’s also true that, in trying not to play into the scripted debate in your head which imagines there is some “good enough” line in relation to which some number of people exist on each side, I don’t scrutinize the good you do. I don’t do it primarily because I don’t want you to ever think that it’s this or that act, rather than your basic humanity, that earns you my support.
But you do do good. And it needs to be said sometimes. Iyéska said it a moment ago. I’m saying it now:
You deserve support because you are a human being whom another raped. You get the love you do, from me, from Iyéska, from many others, because of the good you’ve done and the connections you’ve forged.
Ogvorbis, I am very happy to see you again. I hope you stay – when you want, for as long as you want. I think CD has put it very well.
Does anyone else get a ‘something’s off’ vibe about Acetylcholine? In the Anti-Feminist Logic thread, and the Every time I’m sure they’ve sunk as low as they can get, they start drilling deeper thread, their contributions all had to do with retaliation.
yeah, I’ve gotten that, Iyéska. Not just you.
Ogvorbis
Welcome back. Please stay.
An Oggie sighting!!!!!!
Grog, swill, and bacon sammiches for all.
Stay Oggie, stay…..
*dang, that put an old Dylan earworm into my head*
Ogvorbis
I am very happy to see you.
You are among people who love you here.
Here’s a scenario where “Hey kid, get off my lawn” *should* have been said (with literal intent), rather than pulling out a gun:
You’re so mad at kids playing frisbee golf that you’re willing to kill over it?
Yet another taintstain who should NEVER be allowed to possess a gun.
Ogvorbis, you are not the one hurting people by being here. That fault is with the dishonest brokers who use your story to try to smear those they hate.
As it stands, if you continued to act this way once you were away from your abuser, you would deserve to be condemned. But your story is a classic case of a child being abused and groomed. And those who try to use you as a weapon are engaging in victim blaming.
Not that any of this can help you feel better about what happened.
Ogvorbis, be well. And I hope you do not go away.
OGGIE!
*pouncehugs*
Anyone want to take a trip to Japan and try Burger King’s Black Burger?
Black buns
Black cheese
Black sauce
No matter what it tastes like, it doesn’t look appealing.
@Tony!
I actually think it looks cool. If they had a soy cheese or almond cheese that they darkened with squid ink, and a vegan patty, I’d totally try it.
A burger with smoked everything? I can dig it. Like CD, I’d prefer a vegan patty and cheese alternative, though.
I’ll let you know.
chigau @71:
??
The Black Burger?
Tony!
Yup.
If I get a chance.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/09/10/if-kids-can-get-it-why-cant-you/comment-page-1/#comment-849736
We’ve a got a lively new racist ya’ll!
*waves at Ogvorbis*
It’s nice to see you!!!!
Missouri Enacts 72-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
Ogvorbis,
Glad I am to read you again. Take care and if you should come around more often, well, I would welcome that too.
Ogvorbis!
Welcome back. So good to read you. I’ve love for you to stay.
How’s the yearly Truther circus going on over there in the States? Some of my hangouts always got visited by them every year around this day, but this time things got a bit quiet.
I just have to say this somewhere.
Was just watching Jon Stewart talking with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
With regard to “certain developments” in the world he said this:
Note that he doesn’t have the kind of problems with English that result in accidentally cute or sentimental verbal constructions.
I spent 20 seconds trying to remember when I’d last heard anything similar to this, in any form, from anyone involved in anything like “high level” politics.
Then cried.
I’ve never watched anything from Jon Stewart*, though I’ve heard many good things about him across FtB. Knowknot, your comment above mine has convinced me to watch the clip you speak of. Would you happen to have a link?
*my laptop is borked. I can only use it effectively in safe mode, but volume is disabled in that mode. I also don’t watch much television. I don’t think I even get whatever channel Stewart’s show comes on. Then there’s the fact that I’m just not that much of a video guy (I hate that sites like i09 make use of so many videos. I’d rather read an article.)
I know several people here are Ursula K. Le Guin fans…
Neil Gaiman to Present Ursula K. Le Guin With Lifetime Achievement Award
Ban Ki-Moon interview, closed captioning is available
The clip’s well worth watching, just to hear Ban Ki-moon in his own voice. I transcribed a bit of it with the help of Comedy Central’s captions, but the text really doesn’t do it justice. Jon Stewart’s asking him about getting consensus and dealing with all these multiple crises all over the world.
@82 Tony!
Lathe of Heaven!!!
The Dispossesed!!!
Left Hand of Darkness!!!
The first two are my personal favorites.
I – again personally – never liked her short stories. Felt to me as though her imagination and compassion for character were just imprisoned in short form…
Cross posted from the Lounge:
Here’s an interesting study on Hollywood’s treatment of LGBT actors. It’s apparently the first of its kind.
http://www.sagaftra.org/files/sag/documents/sagaftra_williams_lgbtstudy.pdf
Here’s an article from Deadline about the study:
http://deadline.com/2014/09/hollywood-gay-friendly-study-ucla-lgbt-performers-832504/
One thing I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with is the tendency to use ‘gay’ as shorthand for LGBT. It’s not. Unless you’re specifically talking about gay people, ‘gay’ shouldn’t be used. If you’re referring to both sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBT should be used, or queer (though I don’t know how much that’s used outside of the queer community-obviously not counting when it’s used as a slur).
there’s always QUILTBAG. *flees*
Goddamn!
EnlightenmentLiberal is going to make me pull out my fucking hair. How can someone so spectacularly miss the point over and over again?!
I don’t think I’ve heard of QUILTBAG, Pteryxx.
Tony
Queer, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Transgender/Transsexual, Bisexual, Asexual, Gay
Dunno, but it’s pretty par for the course for EL.
I’ll be out back for a while, digging a ditch for “wait for all the facts before judging Darren Wilson” and “politically correct”. If anyone wants to help, you can carry bring the guillotine, the shovel, the stake and the flamethrower. Gotta make sure both of them are toast.
So fucking sick n tired of hearing both of those.
Tony!
Can we include “both sides of the issue”?
chigau:
Yes, we most certainly can.
Where’s he doing his shtick again?
Giliell:
In the reddit/4chan thread.
Scientists trace Jewish history using DNA:
****
First ever swimming dinosaur ate sharks:
PSA: Richard Dawkins is a complete asshole without any hope for redemption or with any redeeming features
I wonder if PZ will publicly condemn Dawkins NOW.
Carrie Poppy calls him out for it. As do a few other people.
Goddammit. I feel like burning my copy of the God Delusion. Like right now.
That’s how I found out about this little gem. My life is too good to follow RD on Twitter
Someone must have paraphrased Dworkin at him and attributed the concept to all mainstream feminists. I eagerly await the excessively long and self-aggrandizing blog post wherein he “apologizes” for failing to anticipate that people would accuse him of being a blithering idiot for saying idiotic shit on Twitter.
I perfectly believe him capable of coming up with that bulshit all alone
So now it’s turning out Sarkeesian very likely fabricated her story about having gone to the police in the wake of the harassment she supposedly received: http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/09/anita-sarkeesian-faked-death-threats/
“Davis Aurini, decided to dig a bit deeper and get in contact with Albie Esparza, San Francisco Police Department’s Media Relations officer. What Aurini found out is quite intriguing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaXDLpjG3XU
Transcript:
Aurini: I’m calling about an incident which occurred in your district on August 26th to a Miss Anita Sarkeesian; she is a prominent cultural critic who received a number of death threats over Twitter, which wound up driving her out of her own home. This has been reported throughout the gaming media, as well as in other mainstream sources such as the LA Times, and The Telegraph-
Esparza: I’m very familiar with the case… the incident. There’s nothing, there’s no record of any incident occurring on the 28th of August [Ed: this would be the date that she reported it, the 26th is when she received the tweets]. I’ve been trying to reach her for the past two days. If you have a way to contact this person and ask them for a case number, we’d appreciate that. There’s no record from our dispatch centre that I called and asked. There’s no record of any report being taken. So, when I saw her tweets it says “authorities”; Anita should make sure she reports to the San Fran police how she did this because there’s no record.
Aurini: She said the officers told her she should stop doing her cultural commentary if she was receiving threats – is this the sort of thing that you would say to a victim of harassment?
Esparza: No, but that’s hearsay. That’s third party information, so I’m not going to speculate on whether or not that was said, but we wouldn’t say that to someone.
Aurini: Would that possibly be disciplinary action, if an officer were to say such a thing?
Esparza: We’re not going to talk about hypothetical situations because that would be hearsay. There’s no record of that incident occurring, so I’m not going to speculate. It’s inappropriate to make comments on that.
Aurini: I have some colleagues who have received harassment in other districts, and the police there recommended that they not respond it, or discuss it online, once the investigations has begun. Is that your department’s policy, and if not, what advice would you give to somebody who was receiving threats?
Esparza: If somebody receives a threat – and we’re talking specifically online: text messaging, twitter, email, that type of stuff – it’s important to document it. So they should somehow save – either a text message or an email or a tweet – if they can capture that and bring it to the police station as evidence, that would be booked. It’s very important that they document it, as long as can do so safely. It’s very important because, again, if they don’t do it and this continues, you never know what can happen. At least document it, if the person has any leads we will do our best, we take it seriously when somebody makes threats against someone’s life, so we would ask that they file a report, bring the evidence, so we can initiate an investigation.
Aurini: Would your department handle online harassment, or is this the sort of thing that you would pass on to the FBI or somebody else?
Esparza: Well, certainly it depends on the nature of the threat. Typically, for a threat our department would handle it. If it’s anything more significant – as far as maybe local domestic terrorism, that kind of stuff – it would move to the FBI or federal agents, but typically the city would handle it.
Aurini: If it was an online anonymous account – we don’t know who the person is, it’s a fake account – would you possibly pass that on because it’s not a local issue, such as a domestic violence issue between a local couples
Esparza: We would certainly investigate it if we feel that it’s something that is happening on a larger scale, we would share with our regional partners or even federal agents. Every case is an individual and the needs are different, but typically it’s something [garbled] it would be shared amongst our law enforcement partners.
Aurini: You said you were trying to get a hold of Ms. Sarkeesian because you’ve never heard of it? You would like the case number that she would have received if she reported it as she claims?
Esparza: Right, so I do have a report for Ms. Sarkeesian was a victim of threats as well, but this was back in March of this year. So that’s the only record I found. But there’s nothing as of yet for August.
[~20 seconds of audio redacted; Anita’s contact information was mentioned]
Esparza: The things it says on her tweets, she reports “authorities” but there are multiple police agencies in San Francisco, so I want to make sure she reported the harassment to the local police, and I did call the local precinct where she lives, they don’t have any records of an investigation with her name currently. The only thing that came up in my system was a case from March of this year.
Aurini: So you are the public representative for the entire San Francisco area? All of the districts within?
Esparza: San Francisco PD, yes.
…
Some more sources backing up the story above have been located.
Twitter user, @Nero (also known as Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos), has been conducting a similar investigation into Anita Sarkeesian’s death threat incident, and has posted the following tweets (listed in chronological order):
“San Francisco Police Department has confirmed to me that it received no complaint from Anita Sarkeesian in August, as she claims. #GamerGate”
There’s also an email that they received from Esparza again confirming they received no complaint from Sarkeesian on 28th of August, though there was one in March.
Yiannopoulus has also stated the following:
“On Monday morning I’ll be submitting a FOIA request to the FBI, to see what, if anything, they’ve discussed with Sarkeesian. #GamerGate“
FOIA stands for “Freedom of Information Act.” You can see what it entails below (from FOIA.gov):
“The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.”
It will be interesting to see what information the FOIA request reveals.
…
Now, a pertinent question would be, “What if Anita Sarkeesian didn’t report the death threat incident to the local (San Francisco) police department, but the FBI instead?” However, that would be another article entirely.
If what Esparza, the SFPD’s Media Relations officer, is true, then what exactly is going on? Did Anita Sarkeesian fabricate the entire thing only to gain media attention or financial support for herself? Or is this some major communication breakdown?
What can be said, regardless of the situation, is that what the gaming industry (and culture) truly needs right now is transparency and integrity. It doesn’t matter who you are. Game journalist, reporter, developer, publisher, programmer, et cetera. It’s irrelevant. If you are going to voluntarily be part of an industry that relies primarily on its community for financial support and interactive feedback, honesty and forthrightness will do wonders for both sides of the party.
As for this Anita Sarkeesian situation, you can be sure that this won’t be the last you hear about it. I’ll update this article accordingly if, or when relevant information surfaces. Hell, if the the above information (or any article I publish that touches on hot-button topics based on outside sources) turns out to be fake or unreliable, I’ll take that shit right down.
But I believe readers are interested in this type of information. I’ll leave it up to you to read, digest, and subsequently form your own interpretations of current video game industry/culture events.
Why should I be from a source that wants to trash somebody’s reputation…
Must be my two X chromosomes that make me fail to understand how the direct way from “Police department A didn’t get the report” to “she made it up for the money*”
*The money she already received and is spending on the videos which are coming at regular intervals…..
*studiously ignores the troll*
Knownot, re LeGuin’s short stories:
I must disagree with you. The short stories are excellent if you read the associated novel first (i.e. read The Left Hand of Darkness before reading “Coming of Age in Karhide”). Also, of course, there is the glory that is “The Matter of Seggri.”
Oh, so much to catch up on but quickly, Iyéska I must say I LOVE your new profile picture. If you have any information to share about it (and want to), I’d love to hear it.
Tony! #97
Then there are the possible genetic links between Jews and Palestinians.
It’s curious that the study pin-points the bottleneck to about 700 years ago, because it coincides with the English Edict of Expulsion, as well as later edicts in other European countries. Very possible that many Jewish communities chose to be converted to Christianity and stay, thus causing the bottleneck in the remaining.
Then again, there were a great many similar edicts, pogroms, forced conversions, etc., before, after and throughout the Middle Ages, so maybe the bottleneck is related to something else? The establishment of the early Inquisition, perhaps? The plague?
Probably it’s the plague.
yana566
So, the report on Sarkeesian’s “fabricated claims” is made a person who is now collecting money to make a program about her? A bit of projection, don’t you think?
A look through Davis M.J. Aurini’s “Stares at the World” site (I won’t bother linking to him – he’s so full of himself that he doesn’t need anymore clicks bolstering his ego) shows exactly what kind of a loon we’re dealing with here. From his “About” section:
He dedicates his time to refudiating Climate Change, fighting to protect the legacy of White Men and, of course, the evils of women in gaming.
JAL:
Oh, you mean the one I’m using now? That’s from an art work I did, Unrepentant Cenobite. (I was going through a Clive Barker phase.) You can see the whole thing here: http://caine.zenfolio.com/img/s11/v3/p1009468995.jpg I did that back in ’03, after having a ferocious argument as to whether or not choosing hell would be an alright choice (positing the existence of xian god, heaven and hell). I was in a very pissy mood. Then, back in ’07, I think, it was used as the cover for the digital mag Nontheist Nexus.
And thanks!
Forgot to mention this. You know all those cries of Redittors about “freedom of speech”? Turns out it’s all about the money:
A week of celeb nudes could pay for a month of reddit’s servers, says mod:
There you have it. Reddit not only thrives from criminals and creeps, they actively court them.
Rats below, Dawkins defenders are one dim group of people. I am reaching a seriously angry point over the “oh, old” “oh, product of his times” “oh, old and confused” crap. Does ageism only matter when it’s against the young now? Am I to be arbitrarily consigned to the “oh, old” box at a certain age, with the label of “confused, can’t think”?
I really wish people would keep in mind that most of them will be Dawkins age one day, and just maybe they wouldn’t like such idiotic assumptions aimed at them.
Iyéska
They know that. Their arguments today intend to justify all the stupid things they’ll say and do when they are too old to care what others think and say what’s reeeeally on their minds. All preemptive-like.
Facebook enacts a new policy that forces Drag Queens to use their birth names, rather than their stage names. Excerpt:
Iyéska
Amazing. I’ve booked marked that because I know I’ll want to keep looking at it. It’s more than just striking. You remember that Puzzle Person conversation? (I seriously need to find that damn thread again) It reminds me of that, of something shifting into place. Because as we talked about then (or later? So much of myself is here, I forget) about discovering pieces of ourselves and finding home in things like books. That piece reminds me of one of those books. But it goes beyond that too. Because it’s made by you.
I hope that makes sense. I’m in a different sort of headspace than usual. Not bad, but shifting like cleaning sand from a broken hourglass.
BTW, I reversed image searched it too after you mentioned the magazine. They have a picture of it up posted in ’08 with an artist name, in case you wanted to know. I won’t say or link, if you want to change because of connections with that. I hope that’s not a security problem for you. :(
JAL, yes, you’re making sense, and thank you so much! The puzzle people stuff starts around here, I think:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/10/13/stuff-that-annoyed-me-this-morning/comment-page-1/#comment-99362
Ah, it was ’08. Everything there is fine, Sinister was my nym at IIDB, and still is at Rants ‘n’ Raves, and Talk Rational.
Iyéska (from the Dawkins thread):
Your animal companions might miss you a bit if you didn’t come back. :)
yeah, guilty as charged on that one. I have to say though, it’s only from experience in academia.
can’t count the number of times I have seen really smart academics say really stupid things more and more often the older they get.
it’s very likely they thought these things all along, but their recognition that saying them out loud would be a very bad idea seems to have faded.
so, yeah, to be clear myself, I don’t think that age CAUSES people to change what they think necessarily, I DO think it tends to cause them to often be less cautious about saying what they think though.
hell, I’d probably have never said this 20 years ago.
onions
belt
yup
Tony!
facebook & dragnames
ohoh
if facebork ever found out about my profile…
oops
#117 Iyéska
You’re quite welcome. :) Wow. Reading that old thread again is something else. I notice changes in my writing voice since then, but it’s not borrowed, just growing. Mine. What a wonderful feeling. Thank you for linking that.
Still working on it in meatspace, but I’ve noticed subtle changes there too. The other day I had one of those normal, everyday conversations with Roomies about e-readers. I was showing him my old Nook and let him try one of his programming books on it. So I made the corny joke about coming to the dark side and followed it up with “no, really there’s no color here” automatically since he didn’t get that right away. He laughed and said I was worse than someone else at his work who I’ve never met. Alike but not copied. It was a nice. He didn’t notice and won’t ever understand what it means but I doubt I’ll forget it.
Yay :)
Tony! @115
Are they making any other performers forgo their stage names?
I can see “Katy Perry” is on Facebook…
…And “Meg Ryan”
“Louis C.K.”
“Chevy Chase”
“Natalie Portman”
need I go on?
awakeinmo:
I think you’re ::ahem:: ruining Facebook’s argument…
Tony!
Oops. Silly me. I’ve ruined it.
JAL:
Yes, yours. You are fierce.
@Tony, #113, who was speaking to Iyéska about not coming home from the Galapagos:
That’s why you have Mr to get them food, water, and transport to the vet, and Skype (again serviced by Mr) for visiting the wee ones.
Of course, it’s not like she wouldn’t have animal companions on Fernandina.
shall I take that as insult?
@107 Esteleth is Groot
Thank you… I’ll have another shot, it’s been quite a while. It’s worth it; I have a lot of respect for her.
I’m feeling pissed off at sexism. Golly, I must be getting my period or something. :muttergrumbleswear:
Let me guess: yana566 has come back to say that the “Anita Sarkeesian didn’t go to the authorities!” story was actually a monumental beat up, and it has been confirmed that she has been in contact with the FBI?
What, they haven’t come back to correct their troll shit?
Colour me sooooooo surprised at that.
TMM:
:Snort: But, but…it’s not all men! For realz and stuff, and by the way, I’m just fascinated about how periods can modulate those wimminz’ intellects! Trufax.
Ichthyic
yup
wanna fight?
i have rum
What the actual fuck?!
I’m inarticulate?
I don’t recognize that I’ve been swimming in a toxic culture since birth? What a fucking arrogant ass. And then he calls *ME* smug!
cranes
alot of cranes
flying south
really ALOT
Tony!, you’re welcome to join me in the period shame hut. We can be inarticulate and hormone addled together!
With pie.
Mellow Monkey @137:
Sounds good to me!
I just realized I may be the only person on Earth who likes Scrappy Doo.
So.
We rescued the last of the tomatoes and basil and a couple of onions and garlic
and cooked them…
I believe we have achieved Ambrosia
Gah!
Fucking Dawkins sycophants!!
Is it just me, or do they Gish Gallop like fucking crazy? Helen and Jared’s posts were just chock full o’bullshit (and just as bitter and unsatisfying as the coffee whose name the phrase resembles).
Gog:
Nope. It’s not just you.
@Tony!:
Scrappy Doo has a maximum likeability, on his best days, minimally sufficient to evoke “like” from a human mind?
InconSEEVVable!
It’s so nice to see a man ‘get it’:
Tony:
There’s a “white man’s burden” type in the meme thread. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/09/13/nice-meme/comment-page-1/#comment-851517
Where I am there are helicopters overhead
– the air ambulance
– the Copcopter
– the Newscopter
– the occasional militarycopter
what the fuck is this yellow robinson thing?
chopper 4?
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/8pc92t/comedy-central-presents-chopper-4
chigau @147:
Are you sure those are helicopters, and not UFOs coming to abduct you? Better call Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith just in case.
Really, the helicopter thing is quite mundane.
I just notice when there is something different.
(since I’ve been iPadding I have learned that comedy central can go fuck itself)
I’m going to the store for smokes and chips.
Anybody want anything?
I didn’t know where to put this, but here seemed safe – I’ve been thinking, as the Grand Men of Atheism all show their true colors, about how I finally admitted to being an atheist.
I have never read anything by Dawkins, although I may still get around to it. I was raised secular humanist. For many years, I identified as agnostic. As I tried to quantify? Solidify? I dunno. Anyway pin down my beliefs, I explored paganism (too sexist), various forms of philosophical woo (couldn’t bring myself to believe), and eventually settled on the vague hope that there was a benevolent goddess out there looking out for me.
And bad things kept happening, but nobody came to save me. I was on my own, which, eventually, on one really depressed day a few years ago, I admitted to myself. Frankly, it was rather freeing. I still collect goddess images and tarot cards, and I use them and other symbols from many cultures in my art, and I enjoy it all for what it is – art.
For whatever that’s worth. I’ve just had all this going around in my head lately, and I knew I could spill it all here and not get laughed at or eyes rolled at me.
Anne @151:
I was joking (I think) yesterday about burning my copy of the God Delusion. If you wanted to read something by Dawkins, I can send it to you.
BTW
I feel like there I’m missing something. You say you settled on the hope of a benevolent goddess, then realized no one was coming to save you, then admitted *something* to yourself. What’s that ‘something’?
I admitted I was on my own. I think I rewrote that so many times that it got mangled, sorry about that.
Emily has some of Dawkins’ works I can borrow, but thanks for the offer.
[Reposting this from the Lounge on Tony’s advice]
Something’s been troubling me and I couldn’t think of a better place to get some expert perspective than the Pharyngula commentariat. Earlier this week my mother sent me a link to a petition which aims to stop some truly awful-sounding experiments on young Rhesus macaques performed at the University of Wisconsin. Some of the allegations sound almost comically evil (“solitary confinement”, “live snakes”(!)). I happen to attend another Big 10 University one state over from U of W, and I can’t imagine my school permitting researchers to do something like this. Don’t Universities have review boards that are supposed to prevent abuses from taking place? I also leave open the possibility that their is some context that I’m missing, though it’s hard to imagine what good could come of this that would outweigh the animals’ suffering. I would love to get the perspective of some of the commenters here, especially any biologists or persons whose moral compasses might be better attuned to this sort of thing. Thanks.
Damn, I wish I’d had this article handy during that thread on Beyonce, for that bozo saying she wasn’t a feminist. It’s from a site called the Gradient Lair and deals with black feminism and respectability politics:
Grrr. Tripped the spam filter with a comment. No idea what word it was.
Anyways, if anyone wants to read a nice explanation of respectability politics as plays into the treatment of black female entertainers, go read this.
I wish I’d had this site handy for that nitwit in the Beyonce thread claiming she wasn’t a feminist.
Seven of Mine:
I saw this and thought of you (bc you like Star Trek).
Adam James,
Any university that receives federal research dollars (and I’m damn sure that UW does) is required to have an institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) that all proposals of research involving animals have to go through. To get approval the researcher has to explain why the experiment is likely to produce useful data (not just data, data that will be helpful), explain that the methods chosen are the least painful/traumatic for the animals (if there are other methods that could work, the researcher must justify why that method was chosen), outline – in explicit detail – the methods chosen to provide the animals with pain relief and comfort, outline – in explicit detail – the methods chosen to provide the animals an environment that is stimulating, sociable, and comfortable (based on their species, obviously), and justify the use of every single animal. If a researcher waltzes in and asks to use 30 animals, they will immediately be asked “Why 30? Why not 15? Or 5?” The researcher also has to justify the use of that particular species: if a researcher says, “I want to use rhesus macaques!” The IACUC will immediately come back with, “Why not rats?”
As that last bit hints, animals are lumped into categories based on the complexity of their brains (that is, how much they are capable of feeling pain and suffering) and how close they are to humans. Projects are given varying amounts of scrutiny and are held to varying levels of strictness based on what category the animals fall into. Rhesus macaques, along with other monkeys and apes, occupy the tier that requires the highest level of scrutiny, the smallest amount of wiggle room (for the researcher, not the animals), and the most strictness.
Oh, and every six months every animal experiment must be re-justified.
All of this is to say that research involving snakes and/or solitary confinement are possible, if it got approval. Which, as I outlined above, would have required some researcher to prove (not just say, prove) that doing this would yield truly helpful data, that they were doing everything else possible to provide the macaques with a comfy, pain- and trauma-free life, would be providing them therapy after if they needed it (yes, this is actually a thing that exists), that they had to use macaques, and that they were using the smallest number possible. This is not an easy hurdle to jump.
Oh, and IACUCs are required to have set up a method for whistleblowers to report abuse, anonymously (if they choose anonymity) and safely. The mere rumor that a whistleblower had trouble figuring out where to report something, had their anonymity compromised, got ignored or brushed off, or got harassed is enough to bring down the wrath of the federal government, which in this case is “no more dollars for you, all research is stopping NOW, and oh by the way the truck to haul away every single animal you have is on its way.”
Tony! @ 156
Sweet Zombie Jebus I want that.
http://jezebel.com/columbia-students-drag-mattresses-onto-campus-to-suppor-1634120039
Iyéska:
Do you think rats would like this?
I’m eating fresh corn-on-the-cob.
Sorry about the spattering on the screen.
ohgod
yummmmm
@ Adam James
There was a write-up about a big name university in the US, that was getting massive amounts of funding for … well, … essentially torturing cats. Most distressing to even read about, let alone the suffering the poor animals endure. And utterly pointlessly in a scientific, if not a money-grubbing, sense. I vaguely recall it was here on FTB that I read about it. Perhaps one of the Horde has a less useless memory than I have. Otherwise I can try and google around when I have some free time.
…..
[Richard Dawkins‘s ongoing fiasco]
Oh Lawdy! I cannot leave the internet alone for a few days and RD hasn’t snuck in and shat on the middle of our expensive shag-pile carpet, … AGAIN. This is getting exasperating. Either we need to rip it out and replace it with cold, hard tiles, or we are going to have to lock him out.
And what is it with JREF? Turning itself into the fucking Vatican?
@ Adam James
IIRC: The university in question was Wisconsin-Madison. The cat in question was called Double Trouble, and it was tortured for months, absolutely pointlessly. At least, the only point they had in mind, was to make money off of quack research.
Be warned that there are some very graphic and disturbing images of this cat out there.
I has a sad now.
Bryan Fischer: Janay Rice got beat because of sinful cohabitation.
Tony @ 162:
Rats aren’t quite as enthused with bubble pits as ferrets are, I expect it’s the size difference. Rats do love having large size pieces of styro around though, for chewing the hell out of it and making a massive mess fun.
crossposting from the Lounge because the quoted parts are disturbing.
here’s Libby Anne drawing a connection between Christian patriarchy and an NFL player’s arrest for “spanking” his child.
(warning for descriptions of abuse)
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2014/09/did-adrian-peterson-spank-his-son.html
Pteryxx:
I think it was Libby Anne who convinced me that corporal punishment should be abolished.
=8)-DX:
Is that a new gravatar?
I just want to say FUCK ironchew.
Richard Dawkins makes use of yet more Slyme talkingg points.
Amazingly cute fluffy thing.
crossposting from the Get the facts straight thread, in case I find out anything:
re the URL pasting: #62, 63, 68
Whatever’s doing it is a script, intended to auto-paste sources when something’s quoted elsewhere, with a tag marking where the quote came from. Several other sites (such as Cracked) use the same trick. Noscript blocks it though – I read FTB with nothing but freethoughtblogs and googleapis enabled, and no readmore links got appended to my copypaste just now.
If I can follow up on it I’ll post over in Thunderdome where it won’t be OT.
Pteryxx (or anyone):
Why would this script problem affect some people and not others? I haven’t had the issue that Ichthyic has had.
Daz @173:
That is a thing of Kyooty indeed.
don’t care if noscript blocks it, it’s simply a bad design decision and needs to be rescinded.
I personally don’t LIKE using noscript, as i often visit sites where I do want scripts to run, and don’t like to tinker with turning it off/on every time I suspect I do/don’t want script to run.
what browser are you using?
Ichthyic:
I use Chrome.
I didn’t think about browsers (of course I’m not the most tech savvy).
Firefox here. It’s possible you have your chrome set to noscript this place anyway, or it has an autodetect link spam feature.
looking forward to that here. won’t be available for another month or so.
(in the right thread this time <_< ) I agree it's a bad decision and has no place on FTB – it's crap everywhere, but it's egregious *here* where commenters have extended discussions full of quotes. Anyway, because I have scripts blocked by default and allow very few, I didn't know anything was strange until I saw y'all complaining about it and posting examples. That's just my default for my reasons, not something everyone *should* do IMHO.
Oh look, that shithead Adrian Peterson looks to have gone too far with another child http://www.rawstory.com/rs/blog/2014/09/15/nfl-player-peterson-admitted-to-giving-another-4-year-old-a-whoopin-in-the-car-report/
What the unholy fuck?!
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567366/wyoming-lawmakers-back-bill-allowing-executions-by-firing-squad/
Found it – tynt.com is running a script, both Cracked and FTB run it, and enabling tynt.com turns that “read more” linkspamming on for both sites. Blocking that should block the linkspam appendingness.
nice catch.
http://lifehacker.com/5553814/stop-sites-from-adding-citations-to-copy-and-paste-blocks
Tynt – annoying net readers and privacy advocates since at least 2010. Cool move, someone-at-FTB. Sheesh.
I just realized that you cannot directly link to Intent is not magic, due to the filters dumping anything with b!tch in it.
Ichthyic:
You do know that you can custom whitelist in noscript, right? That only has to be done once.
Pteryxx:
Oh, that’s what it is. Just noticed it in my noscript.
hmm, editing the host file to include the addy listed did not work. interesting.
Incidentally, there’s some other sort of scripting trick that disables copy/paste entirely. For instance, to copy/paste any content directly from Twitter (see: a large portion of the Ferguson news, ugh) both twitter.com and twimg.com have to be permitted to run scripting – which also turns on the auto-refresh, Twitter’s own spammy ‘join now!’ pop-up, and other such annoyances that rapidly crash my ancient computer.
Iyéska: I do use noscript’s whitelist, but I still have to visit sites all the time where whitelisting isn’t practical. The biggest one is Twitter, see above… if I need to copy/paste a tweet, I have to enable the two Twitter scripts *on demand*, because leaving them whitelisted starts scripts running on *every page that uses Twitter for anything* – and crashes my computer. Every time someone at FTB links to a Storify, or embeds a tweet instead of copy-pasting the text, that page becomes more of a load on my computer if Twitter’s scripts are running. So I have to monitor not only what tab I *need* Twitter enabled upon, but every other tab in my session that might also auto-load when I enable that script.
Dumb fuck on my blog who’s either a Pitter, a libertarian, a Freeze Peach defender or all of the above (can’t completely tell, bc xe has been acting *somewhat* reasonable, but the tells are there- Freeze Peach, you guys are so mean, why are you criticizing Dawkins and Harris, corporations will fix social justice issues) thinks that because I stopped responding to hir that I agree with what xe says. In reality, I just grew tired of the conversation and stopped responding (I did respond one more time to inform hir of that).
http://deadline.com/2014/09/net-neutrality-debate-generates-record-3m-comments-fcc-834662/
the reason why editing the host file does not work, is tynt changes their domain proxies constantly, to avoid being blocked by exactly that kind of thing.
If you use adblock, here’s a good way to kill tynt that works dandy:
https://www.dougv.com/2010/07/19/killing-tynts-read-more-clipboard-copy-hijacker-with-the-adblock-plus-plug-in-for-firefox/
as a slight medication to the instructions; the idea is to click on the “filter preferences” button in the options for the addon, click “custom filters”, then “ad blocking rules” then just add a new filter (option is upper right of the box), and in the line that pops up, just type: *tynt* you will only get 1 hit, which means you can ignore the “snail” warning.
works perfect, and will work for ANY site that uses tynt (*spits*).
medication? nice auto-correct.
should have been “modification” of course.
oh, and that includes the asterisks:
*tynt*
just like that.
Rats below, Harris fans are denser and more incoherent than Dawkins fans.
I haven’t noticed enough of a difference to make a distinction myself.
it all reeks of “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!”
I wasn’t around when Hitchens was still alive, but I suspect he had some loyal followers. Were they anything like the followers of Dawkins or Harris?
*recalls the arguments about Hitchens/Bush/Iraq war*
yup.
worse even.
Colombian women’s cycling team uniforms don’t exactly photograph well
(depending on your POV, this might be NSFW)
I don’t think they are as bad as was published; the magazine that originally published the photograph kinda did a bit of a poor job on it, which they actually have already apologized for.
seems it’s in the “nothing to see here, move along” category.
Tony:
Worse.
Tony!
I wasn’t around when Hitchens was alive either, but there are still some pretty ridiculous amounts of hero worship towards him. I checked out the facebook page for my uni’s secular student group a couple years ago, and the whole page was a wall of Hitchens quotes and pictures. That was enough for me to decide that this particular secular student group was not for me.
what was really fun?
…the rare occasions when Peter Hitchens fans directly clashed with Christopher Hitchens fans.
those comment threads were basically “All that and the kitchen sink” type pits of argumentative splendor, covering everything from religion to politics to cigarette brands.
Ichthyic:
In addition to ‘thought police’, perhaps something like ‘product of his time’
..and another you started the thread off with over there:
so uh, 5?
Yup.
Down to the wire now.
I’m betting you could read some of Jared’s mile long comments and find something…
yup. I’ll save that for tomorrow, when there will likely be yet another “revelation” from another skeptic beacon.
I suppose it’s Dave Silverman’s turn to say something. I’m starting to wonder about the male “leadership”…
“bandwagon jumping”
4…
I see how Donald Prothero (What the Fossils Say, and Why it Matters) talks about them, and it reminds me of a pledge admiring a frat house he got invited to.
Wow. When you got nothing…tone troll.
I need to pack…
A voice that fascinates humans and lures creatures from the sea
(excerpt)
The link is to an article at Al-Jazeera link, where you can listen to Letykai throat sing.
wait, was that really their argument in the end?
all this talk of “broad brush” was just a smokescreen for being upset at naughty naughty insults?
*sigh*
3…
Tony! #193
Heh! I’m currently trying to teach Bob, my pet fundy, how to even make an argument from anything but authority.
Ichthyic #195
Thank you! Should I ever have a first-born, where would you like the soul delivered?
Thanks to Richard Dawkins for the last 3 bingo tiles I needed, provided all in a single tweet!
that puts me right at 25
and yes, he used those 3 words together, in that order, in the same sentence.
You’re most welcome; thanks should also go to Pteryxx for identifying the culprit.
No souls needed, but if you would do me the favor of butchering it first, I can use the meat for the BBQ. It’ll be handy as summer is just a couple of months away here!
I’ll even spring for refrigerated shipping.
:)
oh, tony already suggested thoughtpolice, so I substituted “brave” instead.
I present to you, for your amusement, one sniny new “Defenders of Skeptic Beacons” Bingo Card:
preview tiny:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/n4qffkj
tiny:
http://tinyurl.com/n4qffkj
I claim no trademark and encourage free usage. :)
Ichthyic, Daz, and everyone else who has trouble with Tynt: another alternative is to get Ghostery. It shows all trackers and enabling and disabling them can be done in two clicks.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ghostery/
will check it out. thanks.
… I typically use adblock to automatically block any trackers, but it doesn’t have a notify function like noscript.
this looks like a nice medium between the two.
Seems to work.
@ chigau # 229
DON’T !
From Adam Lee, over at Daylight Atheism:
Damn. How many women has this slimeball harassed and/or sexually assaulted?
Tony! …I hate to say this, but…
remember Zvan saying the oldest account she knows of dates to 2004, and the random commenter at Patheos that said something about him wanting a new conquest (*hurk*) at every conference?
Pteryxx:
Ugh.
Going that far back, and for all we know (but have no information on) before that.
If you’re a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens, Mass Effect, Transformer, Halo, Babylon 5 or other sci fi shows, games, and movies, you might appreciate this size comparison chart.
Nice chart, Tony #235.
Too bad he didn’t make one for the really big ships.
As far as I know, the largest ship was the Magog World Ship from Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda (starring our “friend” Kevin Sorbo).
It was both a ship and a movable solar system rigidly held together, similar to Dyson Rings.
Tony! 235
Actually fairly impressive, but I’d have been more impressed if they’d included more than 1 literary source. I should think that at a very minimum if the Honorverse is represented that we’d get some General Products hulls on there, maybe a couple Kzin warcraft and the like. Not to mention the Spindizzy cities, a Chanur ship or two, something from the Humanx Commonwealth and maybe the Kite (from Discworld) or the Dahak (There’s a big one for you; it impersonates Earth’s moon). That’s just off the top of my head, I know there’s a couple other iconic ones I’m missing atm.
AlexanerZ#236
rather a silly way to go about it; there’s no need to stick them all together like that, and indeed no point; it makes things infinitely harder. The Puppeteer Fleet of Worlds does the same thing, with good old fashioned orbital mechanics, and a way to control solar flares.
I’m not sure that ADF ever really mentions the size of Humanx or Aan ships. It’s been a while since I visited though, so I may be merely forgetting.
What in the actual fuck?! I’m just getting around to reading Michael Nugent’s defense of Dawkins and he doesn’t appear to understand one good goddamned thing:
Is he really criticizing PZ for making an obviously joking statement about Dawkins being eaten by brain parasites?
Dawkins IS grossly dishonest, as his Tweets attest.
Sam Harris DID write a tendentitious and boring defense of sticking his foot in his mouth.
Michael Shermer IS a liar and did sexually assault Alison Smith.
What’s your criticism Nugent?
That PZ is telling the truth? That he’s discussing the events that are happening?
That he’s holding people accountable for their actions and words?
That he’s not engaged in such hero worship that he’s going to gloss over the horrible actions of people like Dawkins or Shermer?
Again…WTF?
The media DID focus a lot of attention on Robin Williams in the wake of his death, rather than on the civil and human rights violations going on in Ferguson. That’s what happened.
The media should NOT have focused so much on the death of a celebrity that they ignored-and they motherfucking did ignore-the violations of the rights of black people in Ferguson, MO.
I really don’t want to read the rest of Nugent’s post right now. I’m disgusted that yet another person in the atheist community-someone who is held in high esteem by many-is defending the actions of Richard fucking Dawkins and Sam Harris. Moreover, he’s actually criticizing PZ for the Grenade thread, which says to me that Nugent doesn’t believe Alison Smith.
FUCK YOU Nugent.
It probably won’t be allowed out of moderation, but I felt the need to leave a comment on Nugent’s blog:
@ Tony!
Yeah, I have had major battles on Michael Nugent’s site before. Particularly one in which he praised Dawkins to the skies. (He has also allowed his site to be used as a platform to attack one of The Horde in a most underhand and dishonest fashion.)
I really cannot figure out what makes Michael tick. On the face of it he is essentially a decent person, but then he has allowed his soapbox to be used in really obnoxious and counterproductive fashion. My only guess is that, growing up in Ireland, he has the idea of talking through the standoffs between two opposing camps, in the manner of Loyalists/Republicans in the internecine strife in Ireland.
saw that and first thought was… What the hell does Ted Nugent have to do with any of this?
oh.
hmm. really? I wonder if PZ recalls these conversations the same way.
someone with his ear should ask him. I’d really like to know whether Nugent is inventing this shit whole hog.
@ Tony!
“The Queer Shoop for President!”
I recently ran into an old classmate of mine in South Africa. He had trained as an accountant, but had spent a long period working outside of the industry. When he lost his job, not too long ago, he was in a pickle, as he could not see any way he could get into accounting. Someone (jokingly, I pressume) suggested he get into politics. This he did. He registered with a local political party, waited the statutory 3 months, then immediately contested an election. He won! Hands down! So now he is a Councilor and can swan about his feifdom to his heart’s content.
You are far more articulate than most politicians. And your moral compass is in good working order. I’d say: “Go for it!”
Icthyic @242
So did I. :)
I’m sad. My computer won’t let me see that ship chart in full size. :(
Nick Gotts (et al):
What do you think of the independence vote today?
Journalists always love to portray everything as a mixed bag, straight down the muddled middle, and I’m already fairly clueless when it comes to UK politics. So, hearing about it from somebody I can actually trust would be nice. Normally, I’m highly suspicious of any sort of “nationalism,” but it’s hard to tell how much I should be worried about it in this case.
NEW THREAD.