Comments

  4. says

    Really. It isn’t for me. Now I’m good and confused. Can people say whether or not it’s working for them, please?

  8. blf says

    I assume by “it” you mean the left-hand sidebar links (plural). They were not working for me yesterday (went to the previous page), but are now working for me (go to this page).

  12. says

    Just gone 11pm and our first official Spring Storm is rattling on the roof. Hope it clears in time for my bike ride tomorrow.

  15. says

    Do not be alarmed. Since tomorrow, I am going to take a week (7 days) off of the internet, at least from commenting, but i will try to abstain altogether. Not only am I going back to work after a vacation and I expect a lot of work to be piled up, I also need to sort out the contents of my head a little. I get the feeling that it is impossible for me to write something critical of PZ’s articles that will fail to convey what I am trying to say, and I mostly do not feel the need to comment to only nod, but I also do not enjoy argument fights in the least, they do not work well with my constant derpession these last few years.

  16. rq says

    Charly
    Be well, hope things sort out nicely at work (ha!) and also in your head. *higs* or *hugs* and I will look forward to your return.

  18. says

    Thanks, rq.
    This is why I need the pause, because even my previous comment contained a word that was not supposed to be there:
    “something critical of PZ’s articles that will fail to convey”
    No amount of proofreading is ever enough for me and here I am saying the exact opposite of what I want to say.

  19. says

    Charly, [hugs].

    Last night’s low was maybe 79°. It is currently 83° at 6:30 AM, and rising. This is not right, this is not proper, and I wish to file a formal complaint with the management. I also don’t even want to think about the next electric bill. I have to, because it must be paid somehow, but I don’ wanna.

  20. says

    Charly, thank you for letting us know. Take all the time you need, it’s a hard transition, vacation to work. I know what you mean about PZ and Pharyngula.

  21. StevoR says

    @4.Caine :

    Really. It isn’t for me. Now I’m good and confused. Can people say whether or not it’s working for them, please?

    Probly wa-aay too late but works for me.

    ***

    Trees making art by not touching each other -and how do they do it?

    http://www.boredpanda.com/crown-shyness-trees-avoid-touching/

    Impressive. Very :

    Astronaut Peggy Whitson has returned to Earth, wrapping up a record-breaking flight that catapulted her to first place for US space endurance.

    Dr Whitson’s 665 days off the planet — 288 days on this mission alone — exceeds that of any other American and any other woman worldwide.

    After checking out of the International Space Station along with another American and a Russian, the trio’s Soyuz capsule landed in Kazakhstan shortly after sunrise on Sunday local time.Dr Whitson set multiple other records while in orbit — world’s oldest spacewoman, at age 57, and most experienced female spacewalker, with 10 walks.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-03/nasa-peggy-whitson-returns-to-earth-after-logging-665-days-aloft/8867742

    Likewise :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-31/bid-to-restock-murray-crayfish-in-sa-leg-of-river/8858616

    Good idea and love that lowermost photo. Some shrimp!

  24. says

    Wow, I have had an outpouring of clicks from Hacker News. It has to be David Gerard’s book about bitcoin. I expect they aren’t very happy.

  25. Ice Swimmer says

    Caine @ 23

    While the nature of the media business is turbulent to say the least, it is sad to see an important voice to go silent. One can only hope that the ICTMN alumni will find new ways to get the message out, the experience there has to be valuable in certain pursuits.

  26. says

    There might be a way for them to come back, not sure right now. Won’t know until next January/February. I subscribe to The Lakota Country Times, but it’s sub only, you can’t access the articles for free until 30 days after the publish date, which makes it awkward to post anything, because I can’t link back. There are other sources too, but it’s not like Indian journalism proliferates to the same degree as regular journalism.

  27. blf says

    This is something of a rant…

    There’s a very common phenomenon at restaurants which I’ve seen called “the Big Wait”. Bascially, at some point — you can never really predict when — there will be an loonnngggg delay: Perhaps between the starter and the main course, or for the dessert menu, or for the bill, or whatever. Frequently, it seems inexplicable, there is no obvious reason and even trying to obtain the waiter’s attention doesn’t work.

    I’ve suffered a severe rash of this lately. Late last week, due to not much food in the lair, I decided “Ah feck it, I’ll go to so-and-so’s for lunch” (a good place I tend to visit once-a-month-ish or so). Was quickly and warmly greeted, sorry there’s no table in shade but there is this one which is partially shaded, sat, and, well… that was it. No water, no menu, couldn’t get anyone’s attention, did I mention the sun and no water, started sweating due to the sun and no water, continuing lack of attention, ah feck it — for the first time evar (at that restaurant) stormed out after a bit over 15 minutes.

    Today, as is my custom after the visit to the village’s morning market, when out for lunch. Decided to go to a nice place on the beach, with good food, good vin, where the proprietor knows me and frequently gives me something extra (e.g., a discount, or once, quite memorially, added, for free, shavings of a fresh truffle to my pasta (amazing!)). Due to a late-running bus, I arrived a bit later than intended (I know to arrive early to get a good table), and all that was left was a table totally exposed to the sun. Well… Ok.

    Same fecking thing: No water, no menu, couldn’t get attention, and this time seriously suffering due to full solar exposure. So again, after 15-ish minutes, and again for the first time evar, stormed out of that restaurant.

    Wound up at what, some years ago, was another nice place. They then changed management and went awful, but have since changed management again. I decided to try this “third generation” iteration.

    Prompt, attentive service. At first. Not much in the way of starters, so ordered a main dish — the special of the day — “direct”. When it finally arrived, it was so-so. Well, Ok, so either a poor choice or the place still has problems. Then the really long Big Waits (plural) began… first for the dessert menu, then for the actual dessert, then for the coffee & bill. And when the coffee finally showed up… no bill. Arrggghhh! (It had now been well over two hours, for a meal of just a main course, dessert, and coffee.) Partly due to a screaming baby nearby, I wound up forcing the issue by standing, quite annoyed, at the cash register and refusing to move until I got the bill. Total time? A bit over three hours. For a seriously pedestrian, petite lunch.

    Calmed down a bit at a local beachfront bar where the proprietor knows precisely which beer I want, served promptly without ordering. Thanks, sir! (He got a big tip.)

    In both ignored-after-being-sat cases, my difficultly was the lack of any water to drink in quite warm-to-hot conditions. Had I been able to get some water I doubt I would have stormed out. I will, eventually, return to those restaurants.

    (Actually, there was one additional incident earlier last week, when the Big Wait to order a coffee extended to an absurdly long interval (bloody close to an hour(!) as I recall). In this case, the waiter was new and clearly a bit overwhelmed — and had been quite good all the rest of the time (and the meal & vin was excellent) — so I was fairly mellow and wasn’t irritated by this incident.)

    Apologies for this “first world problem”–type rant…

  28. StevoR says

    News recently in which you’ve probly already heard but still :

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/singod/2017/09/jeffrey-sessions-trump-cowardly/

    As usual and as expected Trump and his puppeteers have erred on the side of cruelty, cowardice and needless harm to innocent people and the world at large once again.

    DACA , Trump says is gone. Will it be? Effectively? Hope not.

    Locally (for me~ish anyhow), a disgusting group of bigots -- attacking the equal marriage of course and no surprise :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/neo-nazi-group-antipodean-resistance/8852682

    But I do like the response by Luke Hilakari in the sidebar on right hand side of screen.

    Plus :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/three-men-found-guilty-of-inciting-serious-contempt-for-muslims/8874804

    Bunch of Reich-wing dropkicks found guilty.

  29. StevoR says

    More news -- better from Britain :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/uk-police-arrest-four-over-suspected-far-right-terrorism/8875924

    Historic and old but new discovery on the fate of one expedition that ended in mystery :

    http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/clue-fate-famous-french-explorer-jean-francois-la-perouse-05179.html

    and the story of what seems to have happened to François Mordelle, cabin boy, has some pretty powerful movie potential I think.

    Plus an asteroid named for Florence Nightingale turns out to be a triple system with two moons :

    http://www.sci-news.com/space/asteroid-florence-two-small-moons-05190.html

    during a recent relatively near (in astronomical terms -still pretty distant though!) pass of our planet.

    PS. For those at high latitudes the SpaceWeather website is reporting a recent Coronal Mass Ejection that could just possibly mean aurorae to come for tomorrow~ish 6th Sept. No guarantees but could be worth keeping inmind if you are in a good arae for trying to view them.

  30. StevoR says

    So. What would you do with one hundred and twenty two million dollars?

    Non-binding, voluntary opinion poll anyone?

    On a basic human right and when the answer is already known by other equally valid polls. Oh but he’s a “strong leader” Malcolm is -- & he wants me to have my say. Turnbull better be careful what he wishes for -- my say on him is NOT complimentary to say the least! :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-07/same-sex-marriage-postal-survey-greenlit-by-high-court/8881956

    Well, now lets get it done -- and lets also invoice Turnbull and the LNP for the bill of one days work doing their job for them.

    The Australian marriage act was amended by Howard to be homophobic back in 2004 -- quick summary here :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHE8ITaZhgU

    No non-binding polls or plebiscites or anywhere near as much time taken then.

    Oh and thinking of opinion polls :

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/poll-shows-growing-support-for-samesex-marriage-20140714-3bxaj.html

    A Crosby Textor poll, commissioned by Australian Marriage Equality, has found that 72 per cent of Australians want same-sex marriage legalised, while 77 per cent think Coalition MPs should be granted a conscience vote.

    It comes a day after new Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm challenged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a free vote on same-sex marriage and said he would move a private member’s bill to amend the federal marriage act as soon as that happened.

    Clearly that didn’t happen -and should have.

    I’m going to be voting yes -- and sending Malcolm Turnbull an invoice and suggest other s do the same.

    And yes, we could lose this -after the (Aussie) Republic, Brexit and Trump, no guarantees at all and plenty of horror and real harm if things go wrong.

    (Yeah, the Be-Shithouse-To-Others side of politics are trying to rig things and maximise the chance of a “no”” vote or close enough to allow them to stop people who love each other having the right to marry getting up.)

  31. StevoR says

    PS. Sorry to be a thread hog (Hey can more people post more quickly please! ) but also via SBS The Feedand also absolutely spot on :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNHntd3Zavs

    For the record :

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-05/children-raised-by-same-sex-couples-healthier-study-finds/5574168

    Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests.

    In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing.

    Lead researcher Doctor Simon Crouch said children raised by same-sex partners scored an average of 6 per cent higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion.

    Oh and FFS its even Biblical / Talmudic too :

    http://www.thebricktestament.com/david_vs_saul/jonathan_and_david/1s20_42a.html

    1 Samuel 20:42
    Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, for we have sworn in the name of Yahweh that Yahweh will bond you and me and your descendants and my descendants forever.’

    My fave Bible /Torah verse after :

    1 Samuel 20:41
    They kissed each other.

    .
    They being (later to be king & major Bible hero FWIW) David and Prince Jonathan.

    I always wonder why that ones never quoted more often in Church / Synagogue / elsewhere? Like, is it only me that sees that and the implications of it? (& yeah, Buy-bull contradictions and multiple interpretations and all that shit but still ..)

  32. chigau (違う) says

    Everything I do has sound.
    Making a fist has a bunch of crackly noise.
    Rolling over in bed: cacophony, from neck to toes.
    Rolling off the bed, standing up, stumbling to the toilet: a symphony.

  33. blf says

    A complete 2000-year old Roman calvary sword in its wooden scabbard with handle and pommel has been recently found. And another one, essentially intact. Plus an amazing collection of other near-pristine stuff, Unearthed near Hadrian’s Wall: lost secrets of first Roman soldiers to fight the Picts (the Granuiad’s edits in {curly braces}):

    Dig team stumble across thousands of pristine artefacts at ancient Vindolanda garrison site in Northumberland

    Archaeologists are likening the discovery to winning the lottery. A Roman cavalry barracks has been unearthed near Hadrian’s Wall, complete with extraordinary military and personal possessions left behind by soldiers and their families almost 2,000 years ago. A treasure trove of thousands of artefacts dating from the early second century has been excavated over the past fortnight.

    The find is significant not just because of its size and pristine state, but also for its contribution to the history of Hadrian’s Wall, showing the military build-up that led to its construction in AD122. The barracks pre-dates the wall: the Romans already had a huge military presence in the area, keeping the local population under control.

    […]

    Archaeologists stumbled on the site by chance and have been taken aback by finds in a remarkable state of preservation. These include two extremely rare cavalry swords — one of them complete, still with its wooden scabbard, hilt and pommel — and two wooden toy swords. One has a gemstone in its pommel.

    As well as other weapons, including cavalry lances, arrowheads and ballista bolts — all left behind on the floors — there are combs, bath clogs, shoes, stylus pens, hairpins and brooches. Sections of beautifully woven cloth have also been unearthed. They may have come from garments and have yet to be tested.

    […]

    The barracks, which dates from AD105, was found beneath the fourth-century stone fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall near Hexham, Northumberland. It is one of the site’s earliest barracks. […]

    The artefacts survived because they were concealed beneath a concrete floor laid by the Romans about 30 years after the barracks was abandoned, shortly before 120. The concrete created oxygen-free conditions that helped preserve materials such as wood, leather and textiles, which would otherwise have rotted away.

    […]

    [Andrew Birley, who heads the archaeological team, said] “Even for us, it’s very unusual to get things like complete Roman swords, sitting on the ground in their scabbards with their handles and their pommels. We were slightly dumbfounded by that. Then, to find another complete sword in another room next door only two metres away, two wooden swords and a host of other cavalry equipment, all in beautiful condition, is just terrific.

    “Archaeologists would never expect to find a Roman cavalry sword in any context, because it’s like a modern-day soldier leaving his barracks and dumping his rifle on the floor{…} This is a very expensive thing. So why leave {it} behind?”

    […]

    Cavalry swords are very rare, even across the north-west provinces of the Roman empire, he said, partly because they are so thin. “They’re very light, a couple of feet long, designed to slash somebody as you’re riding past, with a wickedly sharp blade and a point.”

    Other finds include copper alloy cavalry fitments for saddles, strap junctions and harnesses. They are in such fine condition that they still shine and are almost completely free of corrosion. The strap junctions are preserved so beautifully, he said, that they have all their alloy links — incredibly rare survivals.

    Much of the pottery has graffiti, from which the archaeologists hope to work out the names and stories of some of the people who lived here.

    […]

    Quite why so much valuable material was left behind has yet to be discovered. One theory is that the barracks was abandoned in a hurry. Birley said: “There was strife. This is the precursor to Hadrian coming to the UK to build his wall. This is the British rebellion. So you can imagine a scenario where the guys and girls at Vindolanda are told: ‘We need to leave in a hurry, just take what you can carry.’ If it’s your sword or your child, you grab the child.”

    There is a picture of one of the 2000-year old strap junctions at the link.

  34. chigau (違う) says

    I am angry.
    well …
    I am usually angry.
    I just HATE stupidity.
    Can’t/Won’t/Don’t They™ ever do any self-examination?

  35. says

    chigau, in my experience We™ ain’t that great with self examination either. It is probably a human thing. It causes me stomach aches too.

  36. StevoR says

    WARNING

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/lanesainty/dont-gram-it-my-dudes?utm_term=.gnPGKAQGM#.ygdZ5AkZz

    Don’t Post Pictures Of Your Entire Same-Sex Marriage Survey Form Online, Says ABS

    So, okay, I fucked up there briefly and hopefully without doing any actual harm -- have fixed it ASAP and hope now okay. But fuck.

    ***

    So got this letter in the mail today from a govt that cannot do its job for some reason. (Cough, Abbott’s far-right faction, cough!)

    Postal vo ..plebis.. survey. Yeah.

    “Survey form.” Survey. Y’know, like, when you look at the shape a new continent, well society is already taking and hope you find fresh new lands that offer more opportunities, more hope, a better future for more people and all.

    Because for pity’s sake politicians, its not like you don’t already know what the polls say if you’d have the gut to act on them!

    Its one question, a simple choice : Do I think LGBTQI people are actually, y’know, people. Thus to be treated the same as, well, people.

    “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?

    Yes, yes I do.

    Use a dark pen? Well, okay I was going to use a pinky-purple coloured one but then I gotta do this by the book so I did. You can’t get a darker pen than black.

    (Now I ‘spose they’ll discount my vote because my tick went outside the edge of the box or something?)

    (Fun? Fact The tick actually did & they probly fucken will.)

    Yeah, its an archaism in snail-mail action.

    Something outta the past.

    Putting something into that historic structure to hopefully make something -- no , lots of some ONES, whole categories of someones lives potentially better for the future.

    But no guarantees.

    Last referendum I participated in, I voted yes to a Republic. Everyone said that was going to be inevitable and the polls all showed most Aussies wanted and still want that too. We don’t have it sadly. Not because we don’t want it but because politicians played silly, divisive bastard games to stop it happening.

    Let’s hope we’ve learnt from history unlike, y’know, USA voters form the Bush-Gore -Nader election tragedy.

    This survey to let people marry could still easily be lost.

    But I really hope it isn’t and I really hope the “Yes” side wins a very decisive, definitive victory. 555

  38. says

    Achoo.
    Boy am I glad that viruses do not tavel over the internet, otherwise you all’d be in trouble. I am just a lick over a week at work and I got sick. At a time when I am the only one to actually do the job, because my subordinate is in a rehab. Luckily there is not much going on now but I had to call it quits today after four hour anyways. I could not focus on the work, it was like being drunk, even though I do not have fever.
    Going to cuddle with tea again.

  39. gobi's sockpuppet's meatpuppet says

    We had a lovely moment on the weekend.
    Went into the city. Reasonably hot spring day. As we sat outside a gelato shop, groups of brightly dressed people streamed passed to a rally for same sex marriage in the city centre. Lots of them. Placards were about love, togetherness and equality.
    On the way back to the bus we had a small group from the rally pass us. Guys with signs saying ‘put a ring on it’ and two girls holing up a string of rainbow flags between them singing out ‘vote yes!’ and ‘getting married’.
    As they passed by cafeterias and eateries everyone shouted back ‘yes!’
    Except a table with about six beardy-boy dudebros, 25-35, who shouted back ‘no.’
    Just to be shitstains. They will probably vote that way to. Just to be shitstains.
    Those girls will get married one day. The tide is going against the bigots and the shitstains — 7000 at the rally for ‘yes’… about a dozen for ‘no’. There might have been more for ‘no’ but it was… you know… Sunday.

    (Apologies to any 25-35 year old guys here with beards, but it really is turning into a marker for ‘self involved little shitstain’ at the moment)

  42. blf says

    This article in the Grauniad is both interesting — basically, a manuscript with one of the earliest known uses of a symbol for zero has been re-dated to much earlier, making the zero symbol the earliest known — and nauseating, as it overstates what has happened to an astonishingly hyperbolic degree, Much ado about nothing: ancient Indian text contains earliest zero symbol. (The readers’s comments eviscerate the Grauniad for this mess of an article.)

  45. blf says

    Ig Nobels! Solid and liquid cats, didgeridoos and cheese disgust scoop Ig Nobel awards:

    […]
    The theoretical treatise, entitled On the Rheology of Cats, argues that cats can technically be regarded as simultaneously solid and liquid due to their uncanny ability to adopt the shape of their container.

    […]

    The 10 awards included the peace prize, given to a Swiss team for their discovery that taking up the didgeridoo reduces snoring and the economics prize, which went to an investigation into how contact with a live crocodile affects a person’s willingness to gamble. James Heathcote, a GP from Kent [UK], received the anatomy prize for solving the long-standing mystery of why old men have such big ears (they don’t keep growing, gravity stretches them).

    […]

    Other recipients include the French neuroscientists who were the first to identify the brain circuits that underpin a hatred for cheese. The brain imaging study, in which people were asked to smell cheddar, goats’ cheese and gruyère while lying in an MRI scanner, pinpointed a region called the basal ganglia as the neural epicentre of cheese disgust.

    The Harvard ceremony will also reward the observation by Italian scientists that many identical twins cannot tell themselves apart in pictures and the discovery of a female penis and male vagina in a Brazilian cave insect.

    Marc Abrahams, editor of the magazine Annals of Improbable Research and founder of the awards, said: “If you didn’t win an Ig Nobel prize tonight — and especially if you did — better luck next year.”

    The mildly deranged penguin theorizes the solid-liquid nature of cats is why they make such good trebuchet ammo: They naturally fill the sling but don’t stick to it. She’s unsure if those suffering from cheese disgust work as well as ammo, but it wants to give it a try, perhaps after being reduced to a solid-liquid state by a band of didgeridoo-playing crocodiles.

  46. says

    In case anyone did not try it out yet, I recommend the series “Steve and Stuffy” from Steve Shives. There is nothing better than a soap opera made by a grown up couple playing with their stuffed toys.

  47. chigau (違う) says

    The SO received an image of a printed greeting card in a text on his phone.
    We couldn’t figure out how to embiggen it so we used a 3-inch magnifying glass.
    Is that ironic or some other … thing?

  48. blf says

    chigau, Heh. I can’t figure out how to move an image from one directory (folder) to another on my smartphone. And hooking it up to the computer and using the appropriate protocol / tool also doesn’t work. (I kind-of suspect these are two different problems, presumably both bugs rather than deliberate or brain-farts, which, combined, happen to annoying preclude the same functionality.)

    For that matter, there’s a lot of icons on my phone for which I have little-to-no idea what they do.† Mostly because I hate hieroglyphic-interfaces, and partly because I tend to immediately “back out” when the icon / app asks or does something I wasn’t expecting.

      † Some — well, at least one — seems to be inert and is probably just trying to tell me something. What, I have no idea. It’s (just slightly) alarming as it looks like a warning of some sort, but feck if I know what it is warning about. That it doesn’t do anything?

  50. says

    Fuck. Burying your 46″ x 50″ portfolio full of art works in the back of a closet crammed with a tonne of stuff is not a good idea. Gad.

  51. blf says

    Medieval porpoise ‘grave’ on Channel island puzzles archaeologists:

    […]
    Archaeologists digging at an island religious retreat have unearthed the remains of a porpoise that, mystifyingly, appears to have been carefully buried in its own medieval grave.

    The team believe the marine animal found on the island of Chapelle Dom Hue, off the west coast of Guernsey, was buried in the 14th century.

    When they first spotted the carefully cut plot they were convinced it was a grave and would hold human remains, but they were taken aback when they dug further and unearthed the skull and other body parts of a porpoise.

    Quite why the porpoise was buried so carefully on the island, which is thought to have been used by monks seeking solitude, is a mystery.

    Porpoises were eaten in medieval times but it would have been easier to dispose of the remains in the sea, which is only 10 metres from the site.

    […]

    Another intriguing theory is that the animal had some sort of religious significance to the people who used the island. “The dolphin has a strong significance in Christianity but I’ve not come across anything like this before,” said [States of Guernsey archaeologist Philip] de Jersey. “It’s the slightly wacky kind of thing that you might get in the iron age but not in medieval times.”

    He said it was the most unusual find in his 35-year career. “It’s very peculiar, I don’t know what to make of it. Why go to the trouble of burying a porpoise in what looks like a grave. It’s a wonderful surprise.”

    […]

    The mildly deranged penguin believes she remembers the incident. The “grave” was actually the mini-cellar to keep the beer kegs cool. After the party (of which she has extremely dim recollections) there was this loud crash. Inside the now-empty cellar was a madly-grinning porpoise giving them a very wobbly fins up sign, and hiccuping a lot. She remembers wondering why the hurdy-gurdy player wasn’t where the remaining beer was, but nothing much else, other then the monk set off a firework under his tunic and become known as St Smoked Porpoise.

    More seriously, could it simply be the purpose beached itself (or similar) and died, and was given a burial (for whatever presumably wacky reason)?

  52. Ogvorbis: A bear of very little brains. says

    Hi, Caine.

    Back at work. Have a TENS unit to deal with the pain from two herniated disks. It works.

    Sorry about your portfolio.

  53. blf says

    Burying your 46″ x 50″ portfolio full of art works in the back of a closet crammed with a tonne of stuff is not a good idea.

    Use the rear entrance (then it will be at the “front”). Have something ready to prop-up the rest of the stuff. A forty-foot high rat should do the trick — also useful if the rear door is stuck, locked, or opens the wrong way, to simply rip it (and the roof) off.

  55. says

    Ogvorbis! All the hugs, dearest. Glad to hear you’re doing okay. TENS never worked for me, but I’m glad it’s working for you. Oh, the portfolio is fine, heavy duty monster, and all the stuff inside is fine. My back is grumbling after all the digging and hauling the portfolio into my studio, damn thing is *heavy*. Worth it though, struck gold -- some Arches watercolour paper and illustration board. :D

  56. says

    Hi. Anyone want tea?

    Caine, it’s always the thing you need most that is at the back of the closet. It is the way of the world.

    Ogvorbis, I hope you can take things easy.

    blf, “no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise”. Does that apply to penguins too?

  59. says

    Chigau, yes, I know. I assume they got screwed over when Alex did his last ‘fix’, as it involved the recent comments list. I’ll bring it up backchannel, but don’t hold your breath.

  62. chigau (違う) says

    re: #60
    Fine. I’ll put on my glasses.
    Turns out that Preview is useless if you can’t see the words.

  65. Desert Son, OM says

    [darts in]

    Shanah tovah! to anyone needing to hear it, with wishes of peace, hope, and steadfastness from an atheist gentile out here in the digital maelstrom.

    Also, in re: The William T. Horton images . . . These are hitting me so hard in the creative-evocative-mood-hot-drink-on-a-foggy-cold-day-by-the-fire-storytelling center that it’s almost hard to breathe.

    Also, also in re: color palette in I Have Seen The Moon. “Vibrant” is simply insufficient as a descriptor, and watercolors . . . do your superpowers know no bounds? (Rhetorical)

    (Watercolors were always my most vexing paint medium)

    Still learning,

    Robert

    [exeunt, anxious, pursued by a bear]

  66. Ogvorbis: Swimming without a parachute. says

    Also, how are you doing being back at work, Ogvorbis?

    Doing okay. Seriously detached from everything.

    Is that going okay, or is it difficult because of the near death experience?

    Had a few panic attacks already. Nothing that matters.

  67. says

    Desert Son! Good to see you.

    Also, in re: The William T. Horton images . . . These are hitting me so hard in the creative-evocative-mood-hot-drink-on-a-foggy-cold-day-by-the-fire-storytelling center that it’s almost hard to breathe.

    They are wonderful, aren’t they? Very powerful images. I love them. I’m trying to not look too much, because I have enough lodged in my head as it is right now, at least when it comes to art.

    Also, also in re: color palette in I Have Seen The Moon. “Vibrant” is simply insufficient as a descriptor, and watercolors . . . do your superpowers know no bounds? (Rhetorical)

    (Watercolors were always my most vexing paint medium)

    Yes, they know bounds! :D I have a tendency to not use watercolours correctly, and use them more like acrylics. That said, it’s not just watercolour. Started out that way, but then I included liquid acrylics (Daler & Rowney, wonderful stuff), a variety of liquid fabric ‘paint’ (comes in spray bottles, acts like watercolour on paper), and Jacquard translucent airbrush paint, ooh, it’s fabulous.

  68. says

    Ogvorbis:

    Doing okay. Seriously detached from everything.

    Had a few panic attacks already. Nothing that matters.

    That doesn’t sound okay to me. And of course it matters.

  69. says

    blf @ 64:

    That’s awful. Try defenestrating the modem / router.

    Why don’t you defenestrate your tendency to be an asshole? That works for all of us.

  71. says

    Ogvorbis
    *hugs*

    —
    I’m very proud of myself. I did not kill anybody, yell at anybody or curse them out even though they probably deserve two out of three. Neither did I break down crying, which I just won’t give them.
    Seriously, these people are mad.
    They tell me I wanted to do too much in my lessen and THEN they tell me what I should have done on top of that.
    Best part, and that was when the serious not killing/yelling/cursing happened, was when my supervisor suggested I should have used the video of the song instead and analysed the video.
    That was what I fucking wanted to do and what she specifically and categorically forbade me to.
    I couldn’t stop myself from very politely mentioning that fact.

  72. says

    Giliell:

    That was what I fucking wanted to do and what she specifically and categorically forbade me to.
    I couldn’t stop myself from very politely mentioning that fact.

    Good for you!

  76. says

    Giliell, fingers crossed, that supervisor sounds like my previous manager, who almost drove me mad. These people deliberately set you into lose-lose situation. Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

    On a cheerier note I personally feel like I have become some reverse King Midas this year. Everything I touch turns into shit.

    Our cherry tree has contracted some core rot fungus so I will have to fell it this winter before it gets dangerous.

  79. Desert Son, OM says

    T’anké,

    Yes, they know bounds! :D

    [nods sagely]

    I have a tendency to not use watercolours correctly, and use them more like acrylics.

    OMG THIS WAS ME!

    Summary of my entire experience with watercolors (my youth):

    “Watercolors? Cool. Cool. Hmm. Little runny. Wait. Wait! Too much bleed wtf?! Brush control! This doesn’t look like a Pre-Raphaelite painting WHY CAN’T I MAKE THIS LOOK LIKE A PRE-RAPHAELITE PAINTING GAHNEVERMINDRAGEQUIT!!!”

    (Came to realize my canvas was printed page, my paints were words. I love art: It’s so vast and varied that everyone can go inside, explore, and participate, and once you’ve spent enough time there, you realize that despite capitalism’s best efforts—in the end—art utterly shatters the myth that it’s a competition.)

    chigau,

    It’s good to see you, Desert Son.

    And likewise you, chigau!

    Still learning,

    Robert