Episode CCCXIV: Dust that comments


I know some of you don’t bother to watch the videos on TET, but watch this one. You won’t regret it.

You hear me? WATCH IT. It’s the atheist message, and it’ll be a good 12 minutes, I promise.

(Episode CCCXIII: We’ve known we’ve been warming for a long time.)

Comments

  1. Antiochus Epiphanes says

    My five year old may well have flushed my wedding ring down the “tulip”*. At least, she reports that she last saw it in there. And then flushed.

    *A euphemism of her own design that I find too adorable to correct. Sue me.

  2. opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces says

    Portcullised, so I think I should repeat this:

    .

    Oh look:

    http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/equal-civil-marriage/

    This might (maybe, might – I don’t know) be worth actually not crashing but for UKnians to respond to (I assume they want answers from UKnians only).

    Anyway, just thought I’d mention it in case anyone hasn’t seen it already (I don’t think it was on the thread earlier, was it? I could have missed it, of course).

    Oh, and pass it on!

  3. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Rey:

    failure to grok on my part. Sorry.

    Ummm, I’m 44 and I have owned wind up watches. What Luddite backwater have I been living in. (ok, the last windy watch was discarded about 25 years ago, but still…..

    Actually, I have to rescind that statement about the watches. I had a wind-up Spiro T. Agnew watch in the early 70s. I never wore it because I couldn’t tell time yet. I wish I still had that watch.

    One of them has Chairman Mao waving. It’s magnificently horrible.

    That sounds cool. So does that mean that Chariman Mao wore an Alethea H. Claw watch?

    My five year old may well have flushed my wedding ring down the “tulip”*. At least, she reports that she last saw it in there. And then flushed.

    I know you don’t want to hear this, but, wedding ring down the tulip aside, the little humans are much easier at this age than when they get older.

  4. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Did anyone happen to read the description of the Christian College in Oakland where the shooting happened yesterday? I’m not making a post hoc analysis here, just pointing out another batshitty poseur “college”.

    The number-one objective of Oikos University, in Oakland, California, is “to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible and an understanding of Christian doctrine,” according to the school’s website. Its number-two objective: “To develop an appreciation for the Korean and Korean-American church denomination heritage.”

    The school is accredited to offer just a half-dozen degrees, according to California’s bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, including an associate’s degree in nursing, a bachelor’s in biblical studies, a master’s in Asian medicine and a doctorate in ministry.

    —–

    The school’s focus on Oriental medicine, including classes on acupuncture and herbal medicine, speaks to the Koreans’ holistic outlook on life, blending Eastern approaches to health and medicine with Western religion, even mixing Christianity with Korea’s shamanistic traditions, Park says.

    “Koreans are very much interested in healing, faith healing, medical healing, spiritual healing… there is a oneness,” he says.

    Oikos University, which takes its name from the Greek word for “house,” espouses a literal view of the Bible, which the school’s site describes as “infallibly and uniquely authoritative and free from error of any sort in all matters.”

    The site promotes “the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of nations and languages at the tower of Babel.”

    “We believe the realities of heaven and hell,” the site says.

  5. cultureclash says

    Talking about the video “dust that sings”.

    My only complaint is that it says that science has nothing to say about morality, which I disagree with. (I take after Sam Harris’ view.)

    Other than that it’s a great video.

  6. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    A masters in Asian medicine? Do you suppose they mean some of the top-notch medical research being done in China, Japan and Korea?

    Koreans are very much interested in healing, faith healing, medical healing, spiritual healing… there is a oneness,” he says.

    Oh. Nevermind.

  7. carlie says

    AE – oh, I’m so sorry. I think it’s my fault. We just found my wedding ring after a close to 3 year absence (it had been at one point put in a lockbox that was then forgotten about in a closet specifically to avoid toddler hands, and no one remembered that’s what happened to it). The law of conservation of wedding rings thus required that another one somewhere else go missing. :(

  8. carlie says

    AE – and, as anyone whose brain was psychologically scarred from watching Sleeping With The Enemy knows, rings can be heavy enough to stay in the bottom of the toilet even after flushing.

    (SERIOUSLY DON’T WATCH THAT MOVIE ARGH)

  9. carlie says

    Also, hugs to Walton – come back anytime you have the energy and time and want to.

  10. chigau (違う) says

    This morning, as I was waking up, the theme song from “Here Come the Brides” popped into my head.
    So to google… I remembered the names of most of the lead characters and actors.

    Someone might be making a movie.

    Bobby Sherman is a cop.

  11. Rey Fox says

    failure to grok on my part. Sorry.

    Nah, this is on me. You get some more rest and feel better.

  12. A. R says

    The creationist troll/Poe is now an anti-woman troll/Poe. To be found on the Irrational Humans thread.

  13. chigau (違う) says

    Dr. Audley
    Sorry if I missed an earlier announcement.
    Congratulations!

  14. Louis says

    Katherine Lorraine, #17,

    {Sends virtual hugs via the USB port}

    {Puts virtual arm around shoulders via USB port}

    {Makes crap joke to alleviate tension and attempt cheering up}

    Louis

  15. theophontes 777 says

    @ Alethea

    One of them has Chairman Mao waving. It’s magnificently horrible.

    Pix or it didn’t happen. (SRSLY, I’d like to get myself one.)

  16. DLC says

    on the Video : Well done, good find, PZ.

    Carlie @9 : have to agree. unnamed movie was horribad.

  17. theophontes 777 says

    Has anyone information on Karen Kingsbury’s “Even Now” (from the Lost Love series of novels). She is a xtian writer, so tends to garner xtian (non)criticism.

    Using fables to sell fables? This shit is getting weird already.

  18. Janine: History’s Greatest Monster says

    Theophontes, I have no idea who that author is but christian romances do have a market niche.

  19. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    *hugs Og, Nerd, and Kitty*

    *big sigh of relief* I got all As! One of them (Aeschylus) had a minus after, but that’s okay. I don’t mind. I also got a 95 on the good paper and a 94 on the bad one, along with a note with regard to the bad one that I should meet with the professor to talk about it because it could have been much improved. I think that’s unnerving despite the 94 but I dunno.


    I also had very strange nightmares last night. I think vampires were involved. Possibly also werewolves. Typically that is not the kind of thing I get nightmares about. Honestly it’s kinda refreshing O.o

  20. says

    Hugs to Nerd, Og, Kitty, AE, and Walton, in no particular order.

    Good job, CC.

    Remember that rapey Belvedere Vodka ad? The actress in the ad found out about it. That photo was actually a joking simulation of her “being forced to recreate a photo from her childhood for her parents, while sitting on the lap of a family friend,” taken from a stricklyviral.com video titled “Awkward Moments, #542, The Baby Picture.”

    She’s now suing Belvedere. I hope she takes them for a shit-ton of money. And I hope the actor sues them, too, for that matter, as they’ve portrayed him as a rapist without his permission.

  21. theophontes 777 says

    @ Janine

    She is rated #1 (citation???) in the US in her niche (“Inspirational”). Fiction to sell fiction. What is amazing is that there is no secular critical review that I could find. ((did I just volunteer myself))

    @ CCCP – Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher)[Pulchra]

    Well done! (How was your Euripides? Just curious.)

  22. Janine: History’s Greatest Monster says

    Theophontes, why would you do that to yourself? There is too much interesting things to read.

    Do not go down the rabbit hole!

  23. theophontes 777 says

    Do not go down the rabbit hole!

    People are reading that shit. With the babble we know very well how to respond (having read that crap before) now people are reading this kind of shit and having it part of their belief system (what else?) yet it remains totally off our radar. It feeds the Liars-for-jeebus bullshit, yet slips past any form of criticism.

    (Hey, I’m not about to leap in front of a flying bullet here.)

  24. theophontes 777 says

    @ Ms Daisy Cutter (OM!)

    Theophontes, I agree with Janine. The xtian romance won’t even have sex scenes to balance out the god-blather.

    The book feeds the propaganda. (& “… enemies closer”, etc.)

    rapey Belvedere Vodka ad?

    The image and text are very rapey. The video (one can argue) is simply creepy (and obviously just setting up the rapey ad).

    (I imagine the weasel is: “It looks rapey… but really… here is the back story.[plays video to “explain” the bullshit])

    WTF… the whole thing is so fucking creepy. I hope she can win her case against them.

  25. theophontes 777 says

    Ching Ming Festival 4 April (the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 15°. ~5 April)

    Jesus-on-a-stick day 6 April (approximately the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 15°.)

    This is about the last real chance to spend your time looking after the dead, before the work of spring starts on the farm. (Or is it just co-incidental that the farmers’ life is the same old same old wherever you happen to be in the northern hemisphere.)

  26. Louis says

    Chigau,

    As ever, you make an excellent point. I forgot the n-dimensionality of the hyper-queues. Excuse me, I have to do MATHS!

    Louis

  27. chigau (違う) says

    When I was born it was jesus-on-a-stick day.
    This year my birthday falls on jesus-rising day.
    I expect the apocalypse.

  28. says

    I’m all for the newt-equality act but only as long as it excempts New Gingrich from it. He is neither cute nor does he have a heart.

  29. carlie says

    Louis, this one is only a platonic vers…

    Squeeeeee!!!!! Congratulations, Audley!

  30. Dhorvath, OM says

    Audley, I picked a good day to drop by it appears. Congratulations and good luck.

  31. Nutmeg says

    Computer people, help!

    Journal editors apparently want page proofs by tomorrow afternoon. They’ve waited until now to let me know that my figures aren’t good enough. I’d prefer to offer them some decaying porcupines, but I’m going to have to meet their requirements.

    1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?
    2. Is there any way to get a screen capture that’s 600dpi or above?
    3. Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?
    4. Is there a pre-installed or free program (for Windows) for editing pictures? One that’s better than Paint. I’m trying PowerPoint now.

    Very very very not impressed with the editors. They’ve had these figures for months, they could have raised concerns at any point.

  32. says

    Oh, Kat. I’m so, so sorry I missed your post from earlier.

    I don’t know what to say, except it’s not fucking fair to you. I know it’s irrational to ever think that the universe is or should be fair, but I don’t know how else to express how I’m feeling.

    Hugs and love to you.

    Ms Daisy,
    Nitrates aren’t the only problem. Apparently, hotdogs are a breeding ground for lysteria– they can be eaten if you cook the crap out of them first, but I’d rather just avoid them altogether.

    It’s funny, I never cared one way or the other about hotdogs until I found out that they are ooooo! dangerous.

  33. carlie says

    Nutmeg – are you associated with a university, I assume? Photoshop is your best bet, and it may be that there’s a department on campus that has a license for it. Check with your IT; they ought to know who has what software installed in labs/computers/etc., or they should know who to ask. They ought to be able to get a copy to you in a hurry. It has a learning curve, but nothing too awful. Even a version of Photoshop elements would be better than what you’re working with now.

  34. Dhorvath, OM says

    You say that now, but wait for a couple of weeks of sleepless nights during teething. Things change.

  35. knut7777 says

    Watching this video I am struck by its poetry, and think how that beauty is so often missing in the atheist discourse. I am a professional artist and as hard headed an atheist as you are likely to meet. However, I often find it tough to reconcile the two modes of thought in one mind. As someone who is tuned in to cultural expression, I know that, at best, art represents an associative “logic”, the clashing of images, ideas, the finding of resonance between depiction and experience, which can touch another mind in unexpected and illogical but nonetheless compelling ways.

    I can support this while recognizing that, though it does not meet the standard of empirical knowledge, it does fulfill a human need to communicate.

    While I scorn the practices of faith, I can still see, in a trick-crystal refraction, the same sort of need being met by the discourses of belief.

    Perhaps we need more poetry and art and music, as well as our intellectual rigor, to counter the forces of dogma.

  36. Nutmeg says

    Congrats, Audley! Allow me to offer *an assortment of strange food items that the popular media suggests you may be craving right now*.

    Happy gestation!

  37. theophontes 777 says

    @ Dr Audley +1

    Guys, I’m pregnant. :)

    Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……..

    The hive is spawning!

    (Not really, I am just being irrationally happy. Conga Rat Elations!)

    @ Nutmeg

    Try this program: GIMP (windows) Download while I try to answer your other questions…

  38. Sili says

    I know I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but you all know that when I have my baby, I will not be sacrificing it to the Great Atheist BBQ™, right? :)

    Of course not.

    We only use Christian babies for the barbecue. Much more succulent.

  39. David Marjanović says

    The Radioactive Boy Scout

    o_O

    O_o

    W…TF.

    You better watch it or you’ll have a domestic partner on your hands.

    Is that a challenge?

    Friendlier than what?

    …Aaaaah yeah. Alemannic (in the wide sense) is Something Different™.

    I almost throw up every time I brush my teeth

    Ah. I have to be careful, too, even though it doesn’t quite go that far.

    Living with cats when you’re not a cat person.

    Tsssss. What to think when the cat jumps on your bed early in the morning: “Ah, it’s the cat.”

    Category error!

    Is that better or worse than a +++OUT OF CHEESE ERROR+++?

    Depends.

    (Apparently this can also be done by sticking a hexagonal pencil in the hole in the middle, and, erm, artfully twizzling.)

    Is it always sex with you people?

    …Yours is hexagonal???

    *Group hug with Katherine in the middle.*

    *joins*

    Hey, maybe you’ll be able to give milk. I hear some otherwise unremarkable men can do that. (…And then there’s that bat species where all adults can.)

    I got all As!

    *throws Jadehawk’s™ Totally Biodegradable Confetti™*

  40. says

    I know I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but you all know that when I have my baby, I will not be sacrificing it to the Great Atheist BBQ™, right? :)

    Of course, of course. We must not eat our own, after all. Besides, without a Purpose™ xe will be bland and tasteless.*

    Seriously, congrats and many good thoughts being thought you way.

    Rob

    *hopefully I didn’t take that too far. I’m been quite out of the loop until recently.

  41. Nutmeg says

    Thanks, carlie. I think there are a couple of labs on campus where I could probably use Photoshop.

    At the moment, I think I’ve recovered decent versions of most of my figures. The original versions of the figures that will be the hardest to do anything with are on our shared “analysis only” lab computer. Of course, that computer is with my labmate who has some heavy-duty sequence alignment to do. So I have to wait until he gets back to me about meeting so I can work with that computer.

    Grrr…

    Actually, there may be people here who know the specifics of this. If you’ve used the program STRUCTURE, how did you get a high-quality version of the standard bar plots? Everything I can get seems to be unacceptable.

  42. David Marjanović says

    *hugs for Audley*

    Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?

    No. Unless it’s a vector graphic. If it’s a photo, start from scratch.

    Very very very not impressed with the editors. They’ve had these figures for months, they could have raised concerns at any point.

    Assholes.

    You say that now, but wait for a couple of weeks of sleepless nights during teething. Things change.

    Oh, they’re quite bad already.

  43. says

    @Audley:

    Thanks and *hugs*

    I’ll just shake my fist at the universe and cry inwardly whenever I see or hear about pregnant women (like I said, despite my envy of your situation and the sadness I feel, I’m extremely, extremely happy for you.) Even if they come up with uterine transplants for transsexuals… I doubt it’ll be any time soon :(

  44. opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces says

    Here’s wishing you health and happiness, Audley! Hope you get plenty of whatever kind of support you want, as and when you want it.

    (ooh, one of the babies at the pro-choice rally on Friday had a sign (on the push-chair) saying “hatched by choice”. Very cute)

    (also ooh, that reminds me – when I was gestating DaughterSpawn, I got myself a t-shirt printed with Warning. Alien on board. in the biggest letters that would fit. (It was at a time when that scene from the film Alien was still easily recalled by a fair few folk) (I still have the t-shirt))

  45. theophontes 777 says

    @

    Sili

    We only use Christian babies for the barbecue. Much more succulent.

    Baptise your babies to increase moisture content (alternatively buy a Romertopf.)

    @

    David M.

    No. Unless it’s a vector graphic. If it’s a photo, start from scratch.

    Not completely true. You can increase the size of the image and manipulate. Only try this in the absence of other options. (All increases in quality must be added by hand.)

  46. opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces says

    Huge, huge hugs to Kat if I could and if I may. ::kicks universe:: It is totally bloody unfair.

  47. Dhorvath, OM says

    Katherine, that pressure is quite unfair and it is perfectly okay to be upset by it. Hugs added to the singularity.

  48. Richard Austin says

    Nutmeg:
    1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?

    DPI is dots per inch. So, it’s relative to how big you want the image. If you need an image that is 3 inches across, you need 1800 pixels across.

    2. Is there any way to get a screen capture that’s 600dpi or above?

    No; standard computer monitors are usually 72 or 96 dots per inch. You could take a screen shot 6 inches across, but it’d be reduces to less than an inch at 600 dpi.

    3. Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?

    Yes and no. Upres-ing images (res = resolution) doesn’t increase the actual sharpness by itself, so you might as well use the low res version. There are other tricks that can help, but it’s not really something a printer is going to want you to do.

    4. Is there a pre-installed or free program (for Windows) for editing pictures? One that’s better than Paint. I’m trying PowerPoint now.

    There are quite a few out there. Paint and Powerpoint aren’t going to do real image editing for you. There are even online ones like FotoFlexer, but they’re not going to help unless you can get a higher res image out of your source program.

    Actually, there may be people here who know the specifics of this. If you’ve used the program STRUCTURE, how did you get a high-quality version of the standard bar plots? Everything I can get seems to be unacceptable.

    Never used the software and I can’t find a manual for it online (seems to be freeware). There should be an “export” or “save as” option, I’d expect, with a variety of options. However, what you want to look for is likely either something like a TIF or PNG (usually high-res image files), or potentially a vector-based graphics format: EPS, AI, DXF, and CDR are the major ones I know. Any of those will allow someone with a vector-based graphics program (like Adobe Illustrator) to create a graphic of any size/resolution.

    Not sure if any of that helps.

  49. carlie says

    Katherine, you might want to look up and read some stuff on infertility – there are a lot of other women who have gone through similar pain, and there might be articles/stories out there that could help at least from the standpoint of commiseration. It’s so hard; once one of my best friends and I had a horrible time connecting when she was in the middle of yet another set of failed fertility treatments while I was pulling my hair out over having just had another baby and now so many babies to deal with, and it took us years to navigate past that mutual minefield.

    *throws kittens in the middle of the hugs*

  50. theophontes 777 says

    @ Nutmeg

    1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?

    600 pixels per inch (~equivalent)

    2. Is there any way to get a screen capture that’s 600dpi or above?

    Cannot change settings. You can zoom in and then stitch images together (I do this often with google-earth.)

    3. Is there any way to make an image that’s low-resolution into a high-resolution one without starting from the beginning?

    Yes. But you have the problem I set out above. You will meet their absolute requirements perhaps. (A bright red pixel will simply become four red pixels. The whole picture won’t really become clearer of its own accord.)

    4. Is there a pre-installed or free program (for Windows) for editing pictures? One that’s better than Paint. I’m trying PowerPoint now.

    As linked to above. (It is good enough for 98 % of users. Of the remaining 2%, half find Photoshop better and half find GIMP better. (I prefer GIMP, but use both. But then GIMP is free and I am cheapskate. If you really do want to spend money (why?) then also consider Paint Shop Pro (30 days free trial). It is probably the easiest to use.)

  51. Pteryxx says

    Nutmeg: Seconding GIMP. Good tough and free. If you need the familiarity of Photoshop, you may be able to install a trial version from Adobe. Also seconding university computer labs. Re your lab partner who has the computer you need: I’d say, don’t wait for them to get around to responding. Go hunt them down, call, knock on doors, whatever you have to do.

  52. Pteryxx says

    Oh, also: for SIMPLE image editing (resizing, adding text, rotation, color shifting and such) there’s also Irfanview. It’s free and simpler to learn than GIMP or PS. One of its great strengths is batch editing.

    http://www.irfanview.com/

  53. Nutmeg says

    theophontes: GIMP looks good. I’ve downloaded it even if I won’t be able to use it this time around.

    Richard Austin:

    However, what you want to look for is likely either something like a TIF or PNG (usually high-res image files), or potentially a vector-based graphics format

    I suspected it would be something like that. The program will only save images as jpg files, so I’m not getting the resolution I need. I’m not sure if there’s anything that can be done about that. I may have to think of a polite way to tell the editors that this is the best they’re getting.

  54. cicely, Shameful & Imprudent says

    Walton (not that you’re still reading, are you?), take these *hugs* with you on your Internet hiatus. Use as needed.

    Alternatively to “y’all” or “youse”, you (numerically indeterminate) can just say “you” and point. Oh, wait—it’s rude to point. Or so “they” say.

    Living with cats when you’re not a cat person.

    :D :D :D :D :D :D

    Thanks, Jules! That made my morning!
    *scurrying off to post link on FB page*

    <q>Insert stupid here</q> gives Comic Sans.

    I am 46 years old and have never had a watch that needed to be wound. I wonder how many commenteers had a mental ‘huh’ moment?

    I’m 53? 54? Something like that, anyway, and I had a wind-up watch when I was in junior high school.

    In fact, now I think about it, the last watch I had (something like 8 years ago) was also a wind-up. I still have it. Over-wound.

    Luckily, I’ve never made any claims to “cool”-ness.


    I’ll have to watch the video this evening.

    *hugs* for Katherine Lorraine. So sorry….when I think of all the parents who should on no account have been allowed to raise kids….it’s beyond unfair.

    CC: *high fives* Well done!

    My dreams last night involved chocolate pudding, in vast quantities. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the context; I just awoke to an overwhelming sense of puddingness.

    Congrats, Dr. Audley, on your future offspring! *hug* We need more Pharynguspawn!

    Chocolate chip dill pickle ice cream?

    I know I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but you all know that when I have my baby, I will not be sacrificing it to the Great Atheist BBQ™, right? :)

    We only BBQ fundie babbies. Besides, in evolutionary terms it doesn’t make sense to eat our own, where other resources are abundant.

  55. Pteryxx says

    Nutmeg: another thought – outsourcing. Maybe some of us with PS or GIMP could carry out work on your figures for you, as long as we have the same specs? If most of the figures just need instructions carried out, and not your personal judgment on each one, maybe we could do them in parallel. NB: not sure if this breaks confidentiality or some such, anyone?

  56. Pteryxx says

    However, what you want to look for is likely either something like a TIF or PNG (usually high-res image files), or potentially a vector-based graphics format

    The editors should have told you EXACTLY what file format they will accept, not just the resolution (dpi/ppi). If they didn’t, make them tell you now. Sending the wrong format, especially JPG, is probably an absolute deal-breaker for printing.

  57. theophontes 777 says

    @ Nutmeg

    Further to Pteryxx. If you want me to do a trial for you, send to theophontes at hotmail dot com.

    I need to go to bed now though. I can look in a few hours. (Send existing problem image and a description of what you need done (or printer’s whine).

  58. says

    There’s a box in my office. It’s full of disks that contain software that is over 5 years old. No one (besides me) has opened the box in all the years I’ve been here. The person whose box it is left a month after I got the job.

    Why is this box still here?!

    Bureaucracy!! *shakes fist*

  59. Nutmeg says

    Pteryxx:

    another thought – outsourcing

    It’s kind of you to offer, but I think all the editing that needs to be done is done now. I managed to find the edited versions of my images as PNG files, which is somewhat of an improvement. For some figures, I’m going to be limited by the image-generating capacity of my analysis programs, and that’s all there is to it. It’s a decent-sized journal, I’m sure they’ve dealt with stuff like this before. I can get all my images as PNG or BMP files now, at least.

    I’m meeting my labmate tomorrow morning, and I have late afternoon/evening commitments, so I’m going to spend some time playing around and see what I can get.

  60. KG says

    Many conga rats to Dr. Audley! A speedy recovery from illness/gloom/existential nausea to all in need of one.

  61. Muse says

    I shall stay far away from the hug implosion. I shall instead offer appropriate drinks, and offers of my uterus if they ever manage uterine transplant.

  62. says

    Perhaps we need more poetry and art and music, as well as our intellectual rigor, to counter the forces of dogma.

    I’ve been working on something like this. I think that a lot of art that deals with more “happy” subject matters tend to be pretty and whitewashed. Sometimes “good” things can be ugly too. Addressing subjects like birth or life that is free of woo, not depressing but also not “attractive” can illustrate the “realness” of living.

    aaarrrrggghhhh, I can’t get the words right. Basically, life/living/love/birth is not always pretty and does not need a bunch of woo and magic to make the lack of beauty OK. It is already OK. Just as you can be good without god, you can be beautiful without pretty.

    hmph, I give up. maybe my work can explain because my words are damn sure not doing it. *pouts*

    some of my sculptures on etsy

  63. says

    I know I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but you all know that when I have my baby, I will not be sacrificing it to the Great Atheist BBQ™, right? :)

    Do we at least get to shovel great bloody gobbets of placenta down our maws? It doesn’t seem like an atheist rite unless there’s some cannibalism involved.

  64. says

    Good evening

    Audley
    Woooooooo-hooooooo
    Congratulations!

    Wow, didn’t know that hotdogs carried lysteria, too (probably not popular enough in Germany to be considered noteworthy.
    Here’s my one and only advice for pregnancy related health: Don’t read on the internet it will drive you crazy.
    I know the puking. Puked non-stop for three solid months with #1…

    Katherine
    (((Big hugs)))

    CC
    Yay! Congratulations to you, too

    +++++
    Two personal updates

    The bad news:
    Well, today I visited my gran/parents/the rabbits, mostly also because my mum’s cousin is here for a visit to do the “grannysitting” while everybody else is on holiday.
    When we were leaving she (the cousin) gave me a big long hug. That could not be accepted. So when I wished my parents a happy holiday and happy easter, my dad thanked me and returned the favour while my mum remained silent.
    But when I complain that she always gave me the silent treatment, that’s my imagination.

    The good news:
    Had a looong phonecall with Mr.’s aunt. Actually she called to ask when we’re on holiday so she can plan the big family day. Then she asked about my gran and my mum and I ended up just telling her that I don’t really talk to her anymore and everything and, well, there was somebody on the other end of the line who’s been there, done that and just fucking knows how I feel and it felt so good.

    Also, it’s raining, which is also good news.

  65. chigau (違う) says

    We’re you joking, PZ?
    trying googling “eating placenta”.
    There are recipies.

  66. says

    Blacksmith, I’ve always used :-x to connote nausea.

    Re your comment at #100: You’re not speaking solely of kitsch, but kitsch is a big part of what you’re speaking of. Milan Kundera defined it as “the absolute denial of shit,” i.e., any aspects of life that people find hard to deal with, and linked it to totalitarianism.

    Those are some really neat sculptures you have there, btw.

  67. says

    along with a note with regard to the bad one that I should meet with the professor to talk about it because it could have been much improved. I think that’s unnerving despite the 94 but I dunno.

    It sounds positive to me. Xe thinks you can improve from a 94. And noticed.

    I forget what part of your college career you are on, but the “not living up to your potential” talk is a good sign, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time.
    ++++++++++++++
    Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart, we don’t eat atheist babies! That would be just wrong!
    (And Conga rats are dancing!)
    +++++++++++++++++
    Nutmeg, this is a standard request from printers.
    No, you can’t do a screen shot, yes, you need Photoshop, or (free) GIMP. Go into the ‘image size’ menu and select ‘600’ instead of ’72’.
    It will blow up on your screen and look horrible. Hit [CTRL] [-] (Control and minus) and knock it down for your screen to about 16%. It will look about right.

    What everyone else said +1. Get someone who specializes in this to help. It’s part of my job, this is WHAT I DO, and all my colleagues come to me for it. It’s not difficult, it’s just not what you do. Ask for help. Your UNI/department/adviser are there for this reason.
    ++++++++++++++++
    Katherine, Kodak has an app to make you feel better
    https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/kodaks-april-fools-joke/

    I wish I could help more.
    ++++++++++++++++++
    I’ve had watch wounds, that’s why I shifted the face to the inside of my wrist.

    Now that I work with lasers I don’t wear any jewelry … outside of my clothes. (Well, there is the gold earring, but it’s surface is curved in 3D and behind my field of view.)

    Us laser folks are always being complained about by the security folks because we never have our lanyard passes exposed.
    Fuckem. My eyes are more important than your badge.
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    Ye Olde Blacksmith, nice emoticon, but there’s no splash. Or ricochet.

  68. A. R says

    Congratulations Audley. Kat, I could bring the LOLstar over here and fire a beam of LOLcats into the singularity if you think it might help.

  69. says

    Congrats for Audley, chocolate for Katherine.

    My daughter is 8 now and her placenta is still in the bottom of the deep freeze. This spring I’m going to finally get around to burying it under a rose bush, like I intended to when the little squirt was new.

  70. knut7777 says

    Ms. Daisy Cutter, I’ve always been fond of Nabokov’s Russianized notion of kitsch, namely poshlost, which he lovingly defined as ‘philistine vulgarity’. So apt.

  71. Jules says

    Owlmirror (last thread), that makes sense. My mother’s people came from PA (long before her time, but there was a contingent left that they kept in close contact with).

    Audley, hooray! ♥

    <bossy> Definitely avoid all the listeria sources. I read an article recently on what may be the mechanism that wreaks such havoc on pregnant women and their fetuses, and it was pretty scary. Also, go to the dentist. Apparently bacteria just love placentas if they can get their grubby little…paws?…on them.</bossy>

    *joins hugpile singularity for Kat* It really isn’t fair, and I’m sorry.

    You better watch it or you’ll have a domestic partner on your hands.

    Is that a challenge?

    If you call having an itinerant Alabaman with no German language skills, no visa, and no cash turning up at your door expecting to be put up in exchange for cooking for you on the weekends a “challenge,” then yes, it’s a challenge.

    *removes glove, slaps DDMFM with it* The ball is now in your court, good sir. (And no I do not care that I’m blending dueling with basketball. I’m AMERICAN.)

    Thanks, Jules! That made my morning!

    I’m glad you liked it. It was the illustrations that really did it for me.

    (I want a barfy-face emoticon.)

    >:-C~

    Wow, didn’t know that hotdogs carried lysteria, too

    Only for those hosting aliens.

  72. A. R says

    I’ll have the LOLstar hyperjump over from TZT. Though I think it will need to remain some distance away from the singularity to prevent it from being drawn in. I can only imagine what would happen if the Internets-powered LOL reactors that power the LOLcat beam were absorbed into the hugs.

  73. says

    Ms. Daisy Cutter, Gynofascist in a Spiffy Hugo Boss Uniform @ 107:
    Great link! Thanks!

    I think it does express some of what I’m trying to do. Yes, strip an idea of ALL the bullshit BUT leave the idea recognizable with a sense of awe/wonder/appreciation (or scorn, as the case may be.)

    one of the biggest things I want to strip off is this notion that atheists have no sense of wonder or appreciation of life. I, hopefully, convey that I/we can and do posses that awe and love for life. We just do it without a bunch of hokey supernatural claptrap.

    Of course, the above does not apply when the underlying idea is scorn and ridicule for religion/woo.

  74. A. R says

    {Flash of light, the LOLstar appears 10,000 kilometers from the singularity}

    OK, let’s get the beam powered up.

  75. David Marjanović says

    Not completely true. You can increase the size of the image and manipulate.

    There’s descreening, which pretends to increase resolution, but actually invents information that isn’t there in the original. Don’t even think of it.

    In my experience, journals like EPS images… but you’d probably need Adobe Illustrator to make one. TIFF is certainly good if it’s not too big.

    *removes glove, slaps DDMFM with it* The ball is now in your court, good sir.

    I’ll bite. *bites glove* Cash is not, presently, a problem. Do Americans even need a visa for EU countries? Even the other way around, all I need instead of a tourist visa (90 days) is to fill in a “visa waiver” form at an embassy website and send a token amount of money, and that only once every 2 years or so (unless I’d use up the 90 days earlier).

  76. gillyc says

    Not sure if anyone is interested but the ‘polymath’ has updated his blog http://www.jonathanbishop.co.uk/3270/unplugged-and-uncut/genesis-3-is-refutable-by-science-rise-to-the-challenge/ — including a picture of PZ, who he claims “has already failed the challenge. Even though he can’t provide me with any evidence that my hypothesis is wrong, he has been very abusive because I dared question his religious biases as an Atheist.” Oh, and refers to him as “disgraced lecturer”. There’s more crap there – though I probably shouldn’t be recommending you go look because, I swear, it’s like looking at a train wreck – I wanted to stop but a kind of horrified fascination kept me reading.

  77. chigau (違う) says

    Hard hat. Check.
    Steel-toed boots. Check.
    Ear plugs. Check.
    Hi-vis vest. Check.

  78. David Marjanović says

    Oh, and, have a look at this abstract. It’s theoretically possible to weigh a single proton now; the practical difficulty, which can probably be solved by chemical means, is to have that proton bind close enough to the middle of the nanotube.

  79. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith: Nice work!

    I have a tomahawk that I forged in a firepit from a railroad spike that holds a decent edge, it was my camp hatchet for a while until I retired it with honors in favor of a shortened norse ‘hawk and a rifleman’s ‘hawk from Cold Steel. (Though it held a good edge, I didn’t make the eye as secure as I’d like it).

    I still use my beloved short sword for various bush activities, but that one was ground, not forged.

  80. says

    cultureclash@5

    Actually science has nothing to say about morality as so far as biology, chemistry, physics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, etc., etc.

    Ethics, sociology, sociology, ethnology certainly do. Hard science vs. morality bound “soft” science. I think the video speaks to the former.

    Of course the individual scientists-Einstein, Bohr et al, had a tremendous amount to worry about, otherwise why would they have written Roosevelt. However they, in essence, unleashed the “Genie in the bottle”. So did Feynman and Oppenheimer. Where does morality begin and end.

    What did Oppenheimer say he thought when he saw the first detonation of the first fission device? “We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu (Krishna) is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”

    Anyways, we are all being torn apart by the tug of war between dark energy and dark matter, the real dark overlords. Meh.

  81. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith: Wow, I’m usually more interested in actual tools and weapons than ‘art’ when it comes to metalwork (though I do like them tastefully arted up as long as it doesn’t interfere with function), but that Mokune-Gane stuff is breathtaking! What metals did you use, copper and silver is my uneducated guess?

  82. says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith@100

    Very neat stuff. The link at etsy really shows an impressive creation. A little “Gigeresque” with a cephalapod influence.

  83. says

    Coyote:
    Thanks. The mokume is copper and nickel-silver. I made it old school with a coal forge. Fun stuff.

    I used to make a lot of knives, hawks and home decor. Lately though I have been moving away from “traditional” blacksmith fare into more expressive stuff. Harder to sell, to be sure, but more fulfilling at the moment.

  84. carlie says

    Audley – be sure to stay as far away as possible from the What To Expect When You’re Expecting book. If someone tries to give one to you, throw it out the car window on the thruway. That thing is evil.

  85. David Marjanović says

    A. R, all your links end in a formatted quotation mark. WTF?

    The pics are on the awesome side of things, though.

  86. amblebury says

    Congratulations Audley!

    I wonder if you’ll consider names from H.P. Lovecraft’s canon, as my daughter does. No children yet, but she does have a chicken named Azathoth.

    Hey Alethea, it would be lovely to get together. I am on Facebook, on the PET, too. I’ll send you a message there.

  87. jamescasterlin says

    Ok maybe I’m an idiot about stuff like this but I just read that one of my favorite bands has been forced to move venues for a concert because of religious conflict with the owners. Religious people do this type of stuff all the time when they don’t agree with something so why can’t atheists do it to religious people or organizations for the opposite reason?

  88. says

    “Make love to that damn daughter of his!”

    “Is that an order sir? Might I have it entered in the log?”

    Almost wants me wanna be a Christian.

  89. carlie says

    Audley – I had that one! (a few editions ago). It’s really good.

    First world problems sob story – I’ve been coveting a particular lunch box for over a year now, but it was a bit pricey. Came into a little money and decided yay I can buy it, but checked the amazon ratings first. Apparently it’s a piece of crap, and even after a redesign is still too prone to breakage. Now I have to continue my search for the perfect lunch carrying unit that magically makes me want to make and eat healthy lunches all the time.

  90. says

    Carlie @147
    You could get one of These. I got one for my 8 yr old daughter and she loves it.

    Yes, my daughter loves Buck Rogers.

    Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

    /proud nerd papa moment

  91. cm's changeable moniker says

    The Radioactive Boy Scout

    o_O

    O_o

    W…TF.

    I know! I have the coolest stories, right?

    Oh, wait, you mean the boy scout? … *crestfallen*

  92. says

    Carlie:

    I had that one! (a few editions ago). It’s really good.

    Yay!

    I realized how good that book was when in my 8th week and I had some minor abdominal cramps*. I flipped open to week 8 and BAM! right there in black and white: mild cramping is totes normal.

    *Unrelated to ALL OF THE OTHER FUCKING PAIN I’M EXPERIENCING AT THE MOMENT.

    Gah.

  93. says

    OK so spring quarter started yesterday and in about an hour I have to actually go to the first class of this course and beg the instructor to let me in even though the course is full (all the courses are full) and it’s an English composition course focusing on women’s issues and using Maya Angelou as a text so I really really want to get in but I have never been to college and I am completely and utterly frozen with terror right now and I can’t even breathe I swear holy shit so scared.

  94. cm's changeable moniker says

    1. What’s 600dpi in pixels?

    600 pixels per inch (~equivalent)

    You really don’t want to read Pro WPF in C# 2010, Chapter 1, “System DPI”, around about page 9. It has all become rather complicated, even if it can be expressed in this simple formula:


    [Physical Unit Size] = [Device-Independent Unit Size] * [System DPI]

    Why do I know this? I don’t even do this. *shakeshead*

  95. John Morales says

    kristinc, you probably want to be a bit early, for the begging.

    Good luck!

  96. Dhorvath, OM says

    Giliell,
    The only thing I have read on that relates to it being a below job and the words drifting together.

  97. says

    Good morning, everyone.

    Congrats, Dr Audley! Hugs & kittens for Katherine. Love your work, Blacksmith – especially some of the jewellery. (Squid pendant! Ladybug! Eeeeee!)

    Support the GIMP recommendations. It’s not easy to use straight off, but then neither is photoshop. Lots of new concepts needed, unless you’re already a graphics whiz.

    Theophontes: It’s one of these – http://youtu.be/mGN0lHz3rJA

    kristinc – good luck! In my experience, a lot of courses are full on day 1 but people drop out rapidly, so that by week 3 there are vacancies.

  98. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Guys, I’m pregnant. :)

    That’s great. A nice Sancho Panza cigar is in the USB for yo. . . . No. Wait. Um, some Johnny Walker Black is in the USB for yo. . . . Er, a hoddog? Um, a bikkie?

    …Yours is hexagonal???

    I was referring to the artful twizzling.

    Oh god, PZ, are you trying to make me barf (again)?

    When Wife was pregnant with Boy, she decided she wanted a Garlic Dill Pickle from a particular deli in the Emerald Square Mall. So we drove all the up from Rhode Island to Massachusetts (yeah, I know, it really isn’t that far) and she had the pickle.

    We then, after visiting the hobby shop, walked out to our silver Subaru wagon, got in, and drove out of the garage. She told me, “Pull over! Now!”

    I pulled over. She opened the door and vomited. Right into the map pocket.

    Hey, you can have the placenta turned into neat little pills.
    They work wonders*

    Are they as good as dried frog pills?

    Or ricochet.

    Wife and I once had to clean New England Boiled Dinner off the walls and ceiling in the bathroom.

  99. Nutmeg says

    kristinc: Good luck! Hopefully your university is like mine, and lots of people will drop the course in the first two weeks.

  100. says

    Oggie:

    I pulled over. She opened the door and vomited. Right into the map pocket.

    Eeeeeew!

    This morning while digging around in my bag for tissues, I discovered that Mr Darkheart had shoved a bunch of plastic bags into one of the pockets*. I think he might be a little bit worried that I’m gonna vom in his our car.

    *It’s not a purse, really. Think ginormous tote bag.

  101. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    This morning while digging around in my bag for tissues, I discovered that Mr Darkheart had shoved a bunch of plastic bags into one of the pockets*.

    You know the giant 32 or 44 ounce buckets o’ soda? Wife always kept one or two of them, with lids, behind the front seat of the second Subaru wagon. They have a nice firm circular opening — with a baggie, you might vomit down the side (I’ve sort of done that: the remains of a bean soup that had hung around too long went right down the outside of the plastic trash bag).

  102. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    In fact, I’ve got one with Captain America on it. (Why yes, I do find the though of barfing into Chris Evans’ cranium to be highly amusing.)

    You’ll need more than one. Wife just tossed them — while full.

  103. Jules says

    I’ll bite. *bites glove* Cash is not, presently, a problem. Do Americans even need a visa for EU countries? Even the other way around, all I need instead of a tourist visa (90 days) is to fill in a “visa waiver” form at an embassy website and send a token amount of money, and that only once every 2 years or so (unless I’d use up the 90 days earlier).

    Hmmm…I actually haven’t ever been to an EU country. My last time over there was before all that fanciness. I think I didn’t even have to get any kind of visa because I wasn’t there for a total of 90 days at one time. I was there for ~3 months, gone for 2, back for 1.

    The question is, will I be able to get in on any of that socialized medicine action? Because I gots to get sumadat shit.

    I thought of another skill I could contribute to this domestic partnership, which could be either awesome or horrifying for you: I’m very, very good at making new friends due to my extreme sociability. Would dragging random strangers home from the coffee shop be a good thing or a bad thing? Just for a quick nightcap.

    (NOTE: Skill may be slightly inhibited due to potential language barrier.)

    This morning while digging around in my bag for tissues, I discovered that Mr Darkheart had shoved a bunch of plastic bags into one of the pockets*.

    It’s very thoughtful of him. And precious. But not in a sticky, vomity way.

    You know the giant 32 or 44 ounce buckets o’ soda? Wife always kept one or two of them, with lids, behind the front seat of the second Subaru wagon.

    Talents I’m most proud of:

    1. Being able to vomit directly into almost any size cup
    2. Being able to pull out my navel and make it any outie
    3. Being able to remove the foil from a wine bottle without tearing it
    4. Being able to put any baby to sleep
    5. Being able to flawlessly conceal my cylon heritage

    But the vomiting one is definitely the best.

  104. says

    If you’ve heard the infamous Fresh Air interview, you don’t need another reason to despise Gene Simmons… but now you’ve got one. Since when did rock and roll become a frickin’ right-wing thing? And Romney’s an empty-suit right-winger, at that!

    ***

    Also, congrats to Dr. and Mr. Darkheart…

    …and is it too late to dive into the Kat hug singularity?

    ***

    Finally, Giliell (@131):

    Chevy Chase: [talking into the phone] Noooo.. you’re not supposed to blow on it – that’s just an expression. [looks up at the camera] I have to go. [hangs up the phone]

    ;^)

  105. Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan says

    I’m slightly more impressed by your ability to remove a wine bottle’s foil without tearing it than with the vomiting one, Jules. ‘Course, I’ve also wished I could tie knots in a cherry stem with my tongue, so eh.
    ——————————————

    So, one of the parents at school asked me to teach her English. Today was our first lesson. She’s only been learning for a year, but already has a good grip on tense, a good vocabulary, and more. She does struggle with some words, both nouns and verbs, and sentence structure trips her up, although I think she’s relieved that sometimes a sentence is the same in both English and Spanish (as in a direct translation, without any extra words needed). For plurals and such, her son is learning those in school now, so working alongside him might help.

    At first I didn’t want to charge her. But she asked again today, and after a few moments of thought, I told her, “Five dollars.” According to my friends, this is a good rate, since we’re only together for an hour. At three days a week, it’s an extra 15 bucks in my pocket. Even if I only do it for a few months, not bad. I’m not even sure she’ll need me that long.
    —————————————

    Welp, looks like another rejection from a contest. Still got two to go, but I’m already considering just sending in regular submissions instead of only entering contests. Got to be better than chewing my nails while trying to distract myself.
    ——————————————–

    Maybe it’s because I saw it the first with J, but I’m finding it hard to watch Red Riding Hood all the way through. And riffing. Can’t stop myself from ridding here and there. It’s possible that in hindsight, Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, the grandmother, and the many references to wolves in mythology and folk tales are the only things saving the movie from being a waste of time.

  106. Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan says

    Ridding = riffing. That’s my offering to Tpyos for tonight.

  107. says

    grumpypathdoc @ 135

    A little “Gigeresque” with a cephalapod influence.

    The cephalapodian influence comes from Lovecraft and *blush* here. I’ve been an avid reader for a number of years and I guess it kind of seeps in. :) Any Giger-ness in them would be completely subconcious.

    The forged iron squid (my avatar) is directly from here. I made it after a particularly good post by P.Z. and just couldn’t NOT make a squid pendant.

  108. Jules says

    ‘Course, I’ve also wished I could tie knots in a cherry stem with my tongue, so eh.

    Oh, I forgot that I can do that too. And tie balloon animals (though not with my tongue*).

    Welp, looks like another rejection from a contest.

    I been outta the loop. Mind if I ask what you’re up to?

    *Dammit. I really wish that I could tie balloon animals with my mouth now. That would be so badass. If anything with balloon animals can be said to be badass.

  109. says

    PTI:

    At first I didn’t want to charge her [for tutoring English]. But she asked again today, and after a few moments of thought, I told her, “Five dollars.” According to my friends, this is a good rate, since we’re only together for an hour.

    You’re doing a good thing to teach her, and it’s probably a kindness to let her pay something, if it makes her feel better… but $5/hr strikes me as a ridiculously low rate for private tutoring. McDonalds would pay you more than that to sweep the floors. If you’re just trying to be nice, or burnishing your karma, good on ya’… but if you start to think of tutoring as a business, you need to charge more: Even as an inexperienced tutor, you shouldn’t charge “real” customers less than $15-$20/hr; experienced teachers can easily ask $30-$50/hr.

  110. Sili says

    4. Being able to put any baby to sleep

    I can do that! I’m a chemist!

    Oh … you mean they have to wake up again? …

    Nevermiiiiind …

  111. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Horde, we have a Nice Contemplative Guy:

    Good points. I wouldn’t suggest this policy unless abortion was free. I’m still of the mind that perhaps it’s not too much of an onus to require monthly pregnancy tests. Again, we are talking about ending the life of what may be a fully conscious human being. I don’t take these matters that lightly.

    EXTERMINATE!

  112. Just_A_Lurker says

    Life sucks.

    I may not be commenting again for awhile. I have just pawned everything I own of worth and am still short on rent. I am currently keeping my laptop because internet is payed for until the 12th to try and find shelters or a job still.

    I’m screwed again. I hate this state. I cannot keep a job despite my awesomeness because they can fire you at will. I’ve gone from temp to temp job and am now unable to find even that. Due to this temp jumping my resume looks like shit. I’ve tried being a debt collector but I was too nice, since I’ve been there, done that and couldn’t harass little old ladies for part of their SSI. I’ve tried selling but that didn’t work either. I’m fucked. My poor child is fucked. She deserves better.

    I hate this whole country. Now I’m crying and won’t even be able to read Pharyngula to try and keep my sanity. Fuck. I’m sorry.

  113. Jules says

    I’m still of the mind that perhaps it’s not too much of an onus to require monthly pregnancy tests. Again, we are talking about ending the life of what may be a fully conscious human being. I don’t take these matters that lightly.

    Wait. Is xe talking about a woman’s life ending?

    Or am I being ridiculous in assuming that women are considered fully conscious human beings by this fuckwad?

    Also I love that xe included that as a qualifier. “I don’t take these matters that lightly.”

  114. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    No Jules. He’s talking about the fetus. The MOST IMPORTANTEST EVER THING WOMEN NO HUMAN JUST SHOW HUMANISH REFLEX.

  115. Jules says

    Iz also shit piss cry.

    Barely. Especially if they’re borrowed.

    Funny thing about talking up babby snuggles is that I am not particularly snuggly myself as a rule. If very, very comfortable with someone, I will snuggle. I do not share beds with people. Sleeping does not work with other humans breathing on me.

  116. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    I do not share beds with people. Sleeping does not work with other humans breathing on me.

    Thank Christ. You’re the only other person I’ve ever met who gets this. The thought of someone else in my bed while sleeping. . moving, giving off heat, snoring, getting eyeprints on the back of my head. . squicks me the fuck out.

    And no, puzzled onlookers, I’m not averse to sex. At. All. But when I’m done get the fuck up off me and go to the guest room. If you want to live until breakfast.

  117. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Oh, Lurker, I’m so sorry!

    Dumb question, but have you tried waiting tables? Quick cash, better than most low-end service jobs on a per hour basis, much of it untaxed. I did it for 10 years.

  118. Jules says

    Just_A_Lurker, I’m so sorry. Have you tried getting help from Modest Needs? You sound like a worthy candidate. I know I’d chip in.

    It’s just a short-term emergency solution, but shit, it’ll help you get by a bit longer.

    Good luck.

  119. Pteryxx says

    And no, puzzled onlookers, I’m not averse to sex. At. All. But when I’m done get the fuck up off me and go to the guest room.

    Interesting. Some of the best sleeps of my life have been on a crowded hotel room floor at a con with a trusted friend on top of me.

  120. cicely, Shameful & Imprudent says

    I have a big kitty litter bucket that I use as a barf bucket. It does a good job; no overflow problems in the 6-ish years in which it has served in this capacity.

    If anything with balloon animals can be said to be badass.

    At my urging, a woman who does balloon animals for the kiddies (well, mostly for kiddies) at a local pizza place learned to do a very nice balloon octopus…and to make it into a hat.
    :)

    Crap onna cracker, J_A_L, that’s terrible. Where are you?

  121. Jules says

    The MOST IMPORTANTEST EVER THING WOMEN NO HUMAN JUST SHOW HUMANISH REFLEX.

    I think rage is what a full human would feel in response to that, but I’m just a woman, so what do I know.

    Thank Christ. You’re the only other person I’ve ever met who gets this. The thought of someone else in my bed while sleeping. . moving, giving off heat, snoring, getting eyeprints on the back of my head. . squicks me the fuck out.

    Trust. I also do not mind using my bed for the sexin’ (although there are many other wonderful places where that can occur as well). I just cannot sleep if someone else is in the bed.

    When I get into a new relationship, it’s always an issue, like the sex doesn’t count if I go sleep on my couch afterward.

    (Usually I’ll just kick the person out, but if the night has involved drinking, I’ll go sleep on my couch. I figure it balances out.)

    That’s not to say I haven’t been roped into bed-sharing. But I hate it.

  122. Janine: History’s Greatest Monster says

    Why the fuck am I listening to Santorum-For-Brains?

    Listening to him speak bothers me as much as listening to dubya did.

  123. says

    Knut, kitsch refers strictly to works of art in various genres, while poshlost is an entire mentality. The Pfft!:

    Poshlost’ is the Russian version of banality, with a characteristic national flavoring of metaphysics and high morality, and a peculiar conjunction of the sexual and the spiritual. This one word encompasses triviality, vulgarity, sexual promiscuity, and a lack of spirituality. The war against poshlost’ was a cultural obsession of the Russian and Soviet intelligentsia from the 1860s to 1960s.

    There are certainly similarities, but poshlost seems to imply much more overt sexuality and moral dubiety. Kitsch, OTOH, attempts to throw a cutesy lid on top of the boiling pot of human nastiness

    Blacksmith, no problem. I honestly don’t think, though, that it’s our job to convince either theists or accommodationists that we appreciate life and natural wonders. Many atheists have already written reams indicating so. It’s there if our critics want to find it.

    Giliell, it’s called a “blowjob” because it was preceded by the slang term “playing the skin flute.” How do you play a flute? You blow.

    JAL, I am so sorry. Is there anything we can do to help?

    Josh:

    getting eyeprints on the back of my head

    I don’t know why but I died laughing at this phrase.

    I can’t sleep with a snorer, but giving off heat can be a good thing. At least in the winter, and especially in a poorly insulated building. As for moving, I’d be more worried if they didn’t move, you know? I have a bad back and trying to drag a few hundred pounds of dead weight would throw it out again. Never mind trying to dig a six-foot hole in the backyard before morning…

  124. Rawnaeris says

    Well, we had somewhere between 6 and 12 tornadoes here today.
    No damage at my house or my families places, thankfully.

    110 airplanes damaged at DFW due to baseball hail.

    Sitting in an airport under tornado lockdown, sucks.

  125. Sili says

    If anything with balloon animals can be said to be badass.

    A professor acquaintance of mine apparently spent some time in a circus with his wife. He uses balloons to illustrate VSEPR rules.

    And I don’t like babbys because they turn into people. I don’t like people.

    Wouldn’t know what it’s like to sleep with people. Cats hogging the duvet are bad enough.

  126. Just_A_Lurker says

    Thank you everyone.

    Thank you for the link to Modest Needs. I will get my landlord to email me the documents they need to I can apply tomorrow hopefully. She has a scanner and all that jazz, and is generally helpful. I will let you guys know when I get it done. I really hope it helps. I’m kind of out of options. I thought I would get another job so I didn’t apply to shelters before so someone else who needed it could get in. Now I’m fucked cause every place has months long waiting list. I should have known better. I’ve been here a year and everything has been fine. Tight and uncomfortable but we’re doing better. Now all my progress is trashed. Little One finally had her own room and is so happy here. That’s the part that breaks my heart.

    I’m in AZ. I really don’t know how else you guys could help. It’s just cash I need and unfortunately there’s no guarantee it won’t happen next month. Though I would be more prepared and would be able to try for the county rent help again. The thing is everybody need help and so it goes quick.

    I’ve tried waiting tables in the past. Even got my food handler’s card before through a program to try for those kinds of jobs. I haven’t done any fast food, they simply won’t hire me. No experience mostly, especially against people with years of service. My waitress attempt fell straight though, because I was working there when I had my first MS attack. I went blind in my right eye. I can’t get diagnosed yet, even though I had a really bad second attack where I literally couldn’t feel my legs except for a tingly pins& needles feeling. It was all the way up to my hips.

    I’m just fucked and I feel bad asking for help. Especially here. I love it here, you guys help keep my sane. What if I fuck up again? What if it doesn’t work out? I don’t want the lingering guilt knowing that I literally failed everyone, including you guys.

  127. llewelly says

    Make it a sensible format, and I will watch it. Make it flash and I will ignore it.

  128. Rey Fox says

    One of the questions they ask you in OKCupid is (and I’m probably paraphrasing slightly here), “Which would you prefer: Sex without sleeping together, or sleeping together without sex?” Numerous women who I’ve browsed the questions on have answered “Sleeping together without sex.”

    I…just don’t…understand.

    (Sex with the lights out is another one I don’t get)

  129. Jules says

    A professor acquaintance of mine apparently spent some time in a circus with his wife. He uses balloons to illustrate VSEPR rules.

    Learning is fun! I used my skillz in a burlesque routine once. And to entertain family at Thanksgiving.

    And I don’t like babbys because they turn into people. I don’t like people.

    Why do you think I keep finding new babbys?

    Wouldn’t know what it’s like to sleep with people. Cats hogging the duvet are bad enough.

    Pets are also not allowed. My old kitties used to jump on my head in the night.

    That was almost as weird and obnoxious as waking up to find a human staring at me while I drooled slept so sweetly.

  130. Jules says

    I will get my landlord to email me the documents they need to I can apply tomorrow hopefully. She has a scanner and all that jazz, and is generally helpful. I will let you guys know when I get it done. I really hope it helps.

    Good. With your medical issues, I’d say you sound even more qualified. If you can just get enough to give you some breathing room, I’m sure a more long-term solution can be figured out. Keep us posted.

  131. says

    Rey:

    (Sex with the lights out is another one I don’t get)

    Well, sometimes it just happens like that, you know? The lights are already out when you start to get frisky…

    But, I agree. Intentionally turning out the lights before sex is kind of creepy to me. I like to see what who the hell I’m doing.

  132. Jules says

    “Which would you prefer: Sex without sleeping together, or sleeping together without sex?” Numerous women who I’ve browsed the questions on have answered “Sleeping together without sex.”

    I…just don’t…understand.

    Maybe they’re trying to create a setup in which sex will remain optional instead of being expected? They might be trying to filter out the rapey ones who will demand sex because “ur profile said so!”

    Or maybe they really just don’t like sex all that much. To each their own, I guess.

    (Sex with the lights out is another one I don’t get)

    If there’s more than two people, it becomes an adventure!

  133. Sili says

    Pets are also not allowed. My old kitties used to jump on my head in the night.

    You’ll like David then.

    It’s not really relevant, since you won’t be staying here, but the bedroom door closes, so you can keep the buggers out with me as I sleep in the living room.

  134. Rey Fox says

    I sometimes seem callous on here with the timing of my posts. JAL, I really don’t know what to say, I just hope to heaven that things get better for you.

  135. Jules says

    You’ll like David then.

    Does Dr. Marjanović jump on people’s heads at night, or is your cat’s name David?

    It’s not really relevant, since you won’t be staying here, but the bedroom door closes, so you can keep the buggers out with me as I sleep in the living room.

    I’m taking this as an invite.

  136. Sili says

    Dr. Marjanović doesn’t deal well with dust and subsequently pets.

    He sleeps exceedingly quietly with his hands above the covers. And he doesn’t complain about my snoring for some reason.

  137. says

    J_A_L:

    I’m’a donate to Modest Needs tonight, just in case. Let us know if/when your application is in, so we can recommend it for funding.

    If something more direct would help, I’m up for that, too. Don’t feel bad about needing help: You ain’t heavy; you’re our sister!

  138. Sili says

    I’m taking this as an invite.

    I have at best a 23 kg baggage allowance. There’s not way in hell you can sneak into my suitcase.

  139. Pteryxx says

    JAL, y’know, folks here give gifts AS GIFTS. They’re not some sort of exam you could fail at. I don’t have much but I set money aside to donate. Someone always needs it.

    Might not be much help, but if you (or anyone) wants to try waiting tables, I see there’s a bunch of Buffalo Wild Wings in Arizona. Every BWW I’ve been to in the south has treated its employees well; and they hire all shapes, colors and sizes, not just youngsters or eye candy.

  140. Nutmeg says

    kristinc:

    Yay for getting in! *confetti*

    Hope the panic attack resolves soon.

  141. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    Thanks, everybody! *confetti dance party* I’m all excited!
    theophontes, the class where I had Euripides turned out great :) Just a regular ol’ A in it.
    As for the thing about the paper, it turns out that the professor agrees with me that I should have started the paper earlier than I originally thought necessary. She says I rely too much on my writing skills and I need to give myself a longer time to think things through. Oy. But she’s right, so I accept the stinging. I have to meet with her in a few days or something about it.

    My Latin class is pretty scary right now. Thirteen grad students, my classmate from last quarter, and me. I kept catching myself shrinking so far down in my seat I was practically hiding under the table. 600 lines a week, copious secondary reading, and a 25-page term paper. I am filled with terror. But my other classes are light, so maybe it won’t be too bad.
    My German class… well. My instructor is just going to have to deal with Particularly Eccentric Cipher, and that’s that.
    —-
    J_A_L, I really hope there’s something the Horde can do to help. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It isn’t fair at all. *hugs*

    Audley! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee!

    Giliell, I’m glad you were able to talk with someone who understands what you’re going through :/ *hugs*

    kristinc, congratulations on getting into your class! I hope it’s awesome! (And I hope the panic attack ceases soon :()

  142. says

    Dr. Audley Darkheart, congratulations! Here’s wishing you an uneventful pregnancy!

    Katherine, ((throwing self on group hug/pile)). Life an be so unfair. I hope it cheers you to know your writing is entertaining and I liked the map!

    Carlie, what about these? http://www.amazon.com/Trudeau-Fuel-Triangular-Lunch-Bag/dp/B002WHV6N4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333507718&sr=8-1
    I bought similar for my boys and they are great – keeps sandwiches cold, easy to clean, look cool too! (My boys have plainer ones, but they enjoy the “fuel” since that’s what I always snap at them when they grouse about the supper menu – “Just think of it as FUEL!”

  143. Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan says

    Totally slipped my mind earlier: Congrats Audley!

    (Er, carlie, why is What to Expect When You’re Expecting evil?)
    ———————————–

    Jules: I entered a short story in several contests. Of those five places, three have rejected it.
    ————————————

    Bill: I thought it sounded low, but figured that for one hour, 5 dollars wasn’t a bad start. She’s a single mom, too, so I’d rather she be able to afford tuition, bills, food and clothing for her and her son, AND lessons. If this turns into a serious business, I’ll increase the price, but for now I don’t see much reason to go higher.
    —————————————

    Sex with the lights on or off: I’ve done both. I don’t really mind either way, although my former fantasies tended to include low levels of light – enough to see what you’re doing.

    Sleeping with other people: I can’t sleep in the same bed as a snorer. I’ve been told I snore, but all the same, when I wake up in the middle of the night for some reason, I do. not. want to hear the human impression of a chainsaw as I try to fall back to sleep. Since I’ve only shared a bed with someone post-sex once, I can’t give an opinion on that yet.
    ——————————————

    JAL, that sucks big time. Really can’t think of what else to say, aside from I hope this doesn’t end with you and your kid out on the street and that you find some way to stay afloat. I can’t donate hundreds, but I could spare a few bucks for a collection.
    —————————————

    Yay for kristinc! Let us know how the class goes!
    ————————————-

    Hugs for Katherine. I don’t have much of an inclination to have kids, but it’s never pretty to see someone who wants them, not be able to have them. And it’s worse when you see all the people who have kids, but aren’t good parents.

  144. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    As for sex/sleeping together: No sex. Sleeping together is great. I used to sleep together with multiple people. It was nice. I actually really dislike sleeping alone, but I got used to it, then when I got back from visiting my friend I remembered how much I hate it :( On the other hand, it requires that I trust the other person a great deal and also that I don’t mind them touching me, which rules out pretty much everybody at this point.

  145. Nutmeg says

    No opinions on the sex thing yet, but I can’t imagine sleeping in the same bed as someone. I hope that, if I ever find someone I want to live with, they will be okay with separate bedrooms.

  146. says

    As the Beatles once said (although Cocker sang it better):

    I get by with a little help from my friends

    It is late here, but tomorrow I will research some methods by which we can provide some assistance to JAL. (unless someone has any better ideas.)

    If that is ok with you, JAL?

  147. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    JAL:

    Girl. Girl. We all been there. For realz.

    Y’all, I don’t know much about Modest Needs, but I’m willing to organize the collection and get some money to JAL like we did last time. Or, if Modest Needs is the better option, let me know. Email is spokesgay at g mail.

    JAL: Please email me post-haste.

  148. says

    Blacksmith (@215):

    I believe J_A_L plans to put in a grant application for Modest Needs, which aggregates donations for individuals and families with specific short-term needs. You can create an account there and donate, and then direct your funds to J_A_L’s application. If I’m understanding correctly how it works, her application requests a certain amount of money (e.g., the amount of the next rent payment), and once that much has been raised, she gets it.

    I opened an account this evening; it’s dead simple.

  149. says

    Josh:

    Y’all, I don’t know much about Modest Needs, but I’m willing to organize the collection and get some money to JAL like we did last time. Or, if Modest Needs is the better option, let me know.

    Modest Needs is new to me, too. It looks like a great platform, but it also looks like it might take a little time for J_A_L to get any funds that way; maybe a two-pronged approach (OK, folks, just pipe down…) would be best. Watch your inbox.

  150. Just_A_Lurker says

    Yes, I do plan on doing the Modest Needs tomorrow. I can’t do it tonight because on the application it required documentation for how much is needed and for what. I plan on getting my landlord to email me the information tomorrow, the office was closed by the time I broke down.

    I’ve email you Josh.

    Thank you again.

  151. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    JAL:

    If it’s an administrative nightmare to do Modest Needs or get your landlord on board, the Horde can take care of it without paperwork and quickly. We’re talking by email, so it’s all good. I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m trustworthy and I follow through, as does the Horde.

  152. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    If you’d just eat off the first layer of skin, Pterryx, that would be just fine. Save me the cost of month’s worth of Retin-A (yes, for vanity, and for vanity alone).

  153. says

    What to Expect When You’re Expecting evil

    For when you fucked a demon, right?

    BIG HUGS to Katherine… oops now I’ve slipped beyond the event horizon and will be in a continuous state of hugging for a subjective eternity. And that’s OKAY!

    I’m so happy for Audley! (Especially since she doesn’t live too far away and I’ll be able to pay a visit once the Bundle of Evil arrives!)

    JAL, take it from me, someone who’s benefited from the Horde’s generosity, and is frankly far less needful of it than you: DON’T STRESS. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. Do whatever you need to do. The universe is mostly unfair, so just enjoy these rare moments when unasked for help comes your way with no strings attached. I mean really, think–if you were making plenty money and one of us were in your position, what would you want to do?

  154. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Sally, you know that octopus gonna get her own back with that baby, right?

  155. chigau (違う) says

    I’ve just put on a batch of sourdough for bread and pizza!!! tomorrow.
    I fed it some corn syrup ’cause it was looking little peaked.
    That may have been a mistake…

  156. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Chigau, it’ll probably be fine. In the future, though, all sourdough starter wants is more flour and a little water. It’s virtually indestructible.

  157. chigau (違う) says

    Josh
    I’m more concerned with the possibility that, with it’s renewed vigour, it may eat us in our sleep.

  158. A. R says

    corn syrup and starters: That really depends on the starter. Normally, you wouldn’t have a problem, but some starters are quite sensitive to spikes in sugars, especially those containing mostly bacterial leaveners. You can’t kill yeasts with sugar though. Don’t worry about ambulatory people eating starters though. Unless you happened to irradiate it with [insert techno-babble term here] radiation.

  159. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    A.R: I wasn’t going for any particular species, but now that you mention it, it does kind of resemble a fallow deer.

    I seem to recall reading somewhere that fallow deer were the closest living relatives of megaloceros, but I’m not sure.

  160. chigau (違う) says

    Oh. and.
    I found, in the basement freezer, a package of GirlGuide cookies.
    The kind of package that is half chocolate cookies and half vanilla cookies.
    It is in the Rules™ that one must eat one of each every time.
    I don’t feel so good.

  161. says

    Good morning

    Ogvorbis

    Are they as good as dried frog pills?

    Dunno.
    I was a posh girl in the labour ward. After pooping, pissing and bleeding all over the place I just let them move me to a fresh bed and clean up after me.
    My priority food was smoked slamon, lots of it.

    PTI
    Unless you do thos mainly for fun and mostly out of a charitable feeling, you’re selling yourself ridiculously cheap. I take 10€ for 45 min, so that’s more than 3 times your fee and I’m still cheap.

    Just a Lurker
    How can we help?
    You know, cash is probably one of the easier things…

    Co-sleeping with a partner
    It actually took me some effort to learn this.
    First time Mr. tried to sleep snuggled at my side I asked him what the fuck he was doing? If he didn’t get into his place and leave me alone at night he’d be sleeping somewhere else.
    To this day he’s the one who enjoys having the kids in bed at night and I the one who insists on snuggling while alwake only.

    kristinc
    Chocolate is coming
    ((()))
    Hope you get through it quickly

    sex
    I love it most in the afternoons although there’s hardly ever a chance for that. And some soft light. It’s not that I want it dark, but doing it in a spotlight isn’t very sexy.

    Josh

    Y’all, I don’t know much about Modest Needs, but I’m willing to organize the collection and get some money to JAL like we did last time. Or, if Modest Needs is the better option, let me know. Email is spokesgay at g mail.

    You’ll get mail.

    TLC
    Nice deer.
    Have you ever tried selling such things for knobs on walking sticks? I don’t mean the aids for people with walking problems but the long ones you’d take for hiking.
    Or for medieval fairs. I know friends who paid good money for them.

    also
    My dear USAsian friends
    I’ve had it. Your country is broken. I can’t fix it for you, that’s your job, but I’m fucking tired of hearing one of you being in trouble of starving or losing their home every other month. You are human beings and you deserve better than that.
    Now, some of us can often spare a few bucks, but that might not corelate with the times somebody else needs it.
    I therefore propose The Eternal Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund
    How it works: There’s a paypal adress you can send your money if and when you have it.
    Regulars who need help tell, and they get the money they need.
    There’s no proving, no judging, no nothing.
    We’re not that kind of people.
    How about it?

  162. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Giliell: That’s actually a pretty good idea.

    Unfortunately this wood, while beautifully colored and figured and capable of taking fine enough detail, is MURDER on tools. Including the ones nature gave me.

    It was tough enough that my hand actually cramped up pretty painfully, something that’s never happened to me before. :/

    Still, I like the result so it was worth it.

  163. rorschach says

    Had inspection of my rental house while at work today. Came back home, card from rental agent on my desk, “place looks great ! *smileyface* “. Is that supposed to happen ?

    Chatted with one of my ENT collegues earlier today. Just 1-5 times of performing oral sex on a woman increases risk of oropharynx cancers in men and women 230-fold. Lifetime booze, 60-fold, smoking, 25-fold. No more muffs for me, but at least I can keep the drinks and smokes.

  164. Louis says

    I don’t smoke, but I done me a whole bunch of oral over the years.

    Meh, worth it.

    Louis

  165. rorschach says

    I do not share beds with people. Sleeping does not work with other humans breathing on me.

    I didn’t have a good night’s sleep in 4 years of marriage. There’s always some limb poking you, some bit or blob obstructing you from rolling over, there’s the doona gone from covering you, there’s the snore, it’s a fucking nightmare. How do people do it ?

  166. Louis says

    How do people do it?

    1) Super king-size bed.
    2) Deep Tempur™ mattress.
    3) Huge duvet.

    Louis

    P.S. Added bonus: massive bed = good for Teh Groop Secks™.

  167. says

    How the fuck do some people think the world works and who the fuck they are?
    There’s some construction work going on in the little park here and the people there are fucking not securing the place.
    I’ve ranted about it here before. Tools not locked away, the cable hovering some 5″ above the ground.
    So today I tried talking to the people there.
    I swear I friendlily mentiond the problem of the hovering cable and asked them if they could please take care that it doesn’t happen again because it’s dangerous for people, especially since there are a lot of elderly people living here.
    They told me it’s flat out not their problem, it’s mine, I have to take care and I could go and talk to their supervisor who isn’t there.
    And I’ve had it. I’m going to call their fucking boss. And I don’t care if they get into deep shit. I tried solving the problem cooperatively, they didn’t want to.
    And I’m going to tell their boss that if it happens again I’m going to call the authorities.
    Should annything happen then, I’ll gleefully testify in court that they did it on purpose.

  168. amblebury says

    I know, sharing the same bed – it’s a romantic myth. For any number of people, many of whom are too ashamed to admit it.

    My hubbie has restless leg syndrome, a deviated nasal septum, and his own bed.

    Win-win.

  169. amblebury says

    Also, Rorschach, did your colleague provide a source for that?

    ‘Cos I bet there are some worried people out here right now.

  170. says

    3) Huge duvet.

    Two duvets
    Mr and I once slept a night in a hotel with a single one. That didn’t work out at all.
    I would snuggle into it, leaving him freezing. He’d move closer to get som e warmth, I’d turn around in the duvet trying to get away from him until he was freezing and I fell out of bed.

  171. Louis says

    Just_A_Lurker, #178 and 194,

    Nasty stuff, you have my sympathy. Count me in for a few quid. Shitty situations need rectifying, dammit.

    {Sends out Horde Niceness Signal}*

    I’ve emailed Josh.

    Oh and I triply second Pteryxx @ #209, Caine @218, and Sally @ #233. Hard as it is, take people’s generosity at face value. There are good people here. This is not a test, you cannot fail at being in other people’s affections.

    Mind you, this does mean everyone who reads Pharyngula get to turn up at your house for a booze up. You can accommodate a few million, right?

    Louis

    *Very rarely used! ;-)

  172. Louis says

    Amblebury, #254,

    I’m not that worried. I know what the base rate of these cancers is. That’s kind of the key figure.

    And not only that, you have to die of something. Trust me, you don’t want to be in the hospital dying of nothing. ;-)

    Louis

  173. Louis says

    Giliell,

    The Two Duvet Solution can work. I’m not a fan, but I do not judge those who enjoy it.

    I confess that the specifics of my above solution in #250 are almost essential. In other beds, with smaller mattresses and duvets, the sleep is definitely less wonderful.

    Louis

  174. amblebury says

    OK, so Samantha Vimes has given me the lowdown on how to use these bloodybuggery tag-thingys

    Fingers crossed…

  175. birgerjohansson says

    “Oh … you mean they have to wake up again? …”

    There are animals that can put the embryos in “storage” mode. A bit of germline GM of humans and we can emulate this…but I don’t see the fundies approving.
    .
    Actually, we need a lot of GM. Some long-lived birds don’t get cancer (apart from virus-induced cancers). Some people remain healthy even though they are 100 years old, and don’t get dementia. I want their DNA!
    Failing that, I want GM that makes molecules who restrict water crystal formation. Then I’ll stay in a freezer until rejuvenation nanotech is available.

  176. carlie says

    Modest Needs! I’ve been donating to them for years; they’re the very definition of Good People. However, there are some caveats that need to be highlighted:

    If you want to donate money and be sure it gets to JAL, you should do it directly to them, not through Modest Needs. When you donate to Modest Needs you get to vote for money going to a specific grant, but if that grant doesn’t get enough votes to be fully funded, it won’t be funded at all. They don’t do partial grants. The administrators rank the grants internally due to need etc. and will distribute general donations to grants as needed, but with the voting business you’re just putting your thumb on the scales, as it were. If the grant need is time-sensitive, far down on the admins’ priority list to get money from the general fund, and doesn’t get enough votes to get to the full amount by the deadline, then the money involved gets redistributed back into the general fund.

    The request has to be clear that it’s a one-time crisis need. I think your situation probably qualifies, JAL, but it would help to be clear when you submit the documentation that you have a plan for how to meet next month’s bill after this hump is passed.

    And finally, money never goes to the donor themselves; what Modest Needs does is pay the bill. Hence all the documentation JAL’s landlord requires; the money will go directly to the landlord in payment of the bill, not to JAL. So if more people donated and voted than the amount needed, any “extra” would go back into the general fund.

  177. birgerjohansson says

    The future is not hopeless:
    “Advanced power-grid research finds low-cost, low-carbon future in West” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-advanced-power-grid-low-cost-low-carbon-future.html

    — — — — —
    “Scientists develop ultra-thin solar cells” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-scientists-ultra-thin-solar-cells.html
    If these solar cells can survive the harsh conditions in space, the effect/weight relation might be good enough to make an ion engine propelled spaceship feasible, without the need to develop nuclear reactors for the purpose.

    -For a manned mission to Mars, one might spiral the craft up to lunar orbit over months, and then make a slingshot past Earth, making a brief burn at perigeum. It would cut the time Earth-Mars time to a minimum, if the crew get on the ship in lunar orbit. And it does not have to cost a quintillion $$$
    Previous ion engine spaceship projects: Marpost http://astronautix.com/craft/marpost.htm

    ERTA (Russian space tug) http://astronautix.com/craft/erta.htm

  178. theophontes 777 says

    @ David Marjanović #125

    Not completely true. You can increase the size of the image and manipulate.

    There’s descreening, which pretends to increase resolution, but actually invents information that isn’t there in the original. Don’t even think of it.

    Check this out (link to image)

    1. original from screenshot
    2-6 manipulation by program (after increasing scale as shown 600dpi)
    7-8 “Marjanović” redrawn (with mouse… eeeuw. No digital pen here.)
    9 using “ctrl” & “+” to increase size on screen and then taking screenshot (OK, it is the best way… but here I had the option)

    YMMV. Definitely one could do this for graphs and see big improvement. Text … meh.

  179. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    I didn’t have a good night’s sleep in 4 years of marriage. There’s always some limb poking you, some bit or blob obstructing you from rolling over, there’s the doona gone from covering you, there’s the snore, it’s a fucking nightmare. How do people do it ?

    Try it with a wife and a 110 lbs. Labradufus

  180. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Oh Kirk, You’re so… um… cute? no you’re uh… a fucking disgusting brain washed moron.

    Yes that’s it.

    While interviewing evangelist Ray Comfort about his pro-life film on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, actor Kirk Cameron suggested that the United States was ripe for the rise of a dictator like Adolf Hitler.

    The two men were discussing Comfort’s 2011 film 180: Changing the Heart of a Nation, according to Right Wing Watch. The film controversially compared abortion to the extermination of Jews and others by the Nazis.

    Comfort noted that Hitler rose to power thanks in part to his vow to rebuild Germany and save the country from debt.

    “He was promising them hope and he was saying he was going to turn things around,” Cameron said.

    “It’s just chilling to me because — you gotta be careful — but I think of our country right now,” he added. “We’re not billions of dollars in debt, we’re trillions of dollars in debt. We’re $16 trillion in debt and we want to turn things around. You’ve got to be careful because this is sort of the condition that could provide the platform for someone to step up like that and say, I’ll give you back your dignity, I’ll give you back your this and your that.”

  181. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Kirk is the perennial winner of the most tragic child actor story.

  182. rorschach says

    K Cameron ? O Rly ? Surely, it can’t be that hard to find someone, anyone, less despicable ?

    Comfort noted that Hitler rose to power thanks in part to his vow to rebuild Germany and save the country from debt.

    Just like Romney. But sadly for Romney, he doesn’t have the might of the Catholic Church behind him, just some fraudster cult with magic underwear. And good luck with that.

  183. opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces says

    You’ve got to be careful because this is sort of the condition that could provide the platform for someone to step up like that and say, I’ll give you back your dignity, I’ll give you back your this and your that.”

    What Kirk Cameron presumably doesn’t realise is that – well, am I kidding myself or is he actually describing the GOP and Republican candidates?

  184. consciousness razor says

    I’ll give you back your dignity, I’ll give you back your this and your that.

    Yeah, you know who else said that?

    Hitler.

    *scrolls up*

    Ah fuck.

  185. says

    I’ll give you back your dignity, I’ll give you back your this and your that.

    I have no citations, but I would guess that a great number, if not all, of the tyrants in history* probably said something like this.

    He could have said “Hitler wore pants. Obama wears pants. OMG! Obama is a another Hitler!” and it would make about as much sense.

    *if not to the people, then to his military.

  186. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Good morning.

    I appear to have shaken whatever bug was making me shiver uncontrollably for that last five days.

    My knee still hurts but is doing better — I’m down to a ‘1’ or a ‘2’ on the scale of 10 how much does it hurt thingie.

    I’m still of the mind that perhaps it’s not too much of an onus to require monthly pregnancy tests.

    Mandatory monthly pregnancy tests? Aren’t conservatives the ones who freak out at the idea of the government recommending voluntary colo-rectal and breast exams because the government should not be intruding on private decisions that should be between a person and the person’s doctor? Or am I missing something important here?

    ===

    Just_a_Lurker:

    Shit. Been there. Not easy. Do you accept cyberhugs? If so, here come some.

    Currently having a prolonged and massive panic attack.

    Sounds scary. Is scary. Be safe.

    “Advanced power-grid research finds low-cost, low-carbon future in West”

    Don’t you remember? Low carbon power can only be achieved through an unproven nuclear power design!

    =====

    Sleeping:

    Are Wife and I the only ones who prefer to sleep with our partner? When we are not able to sleep together, neither one of us sleeps very well. When we are both in the same be, we sleep like puppies.

  187. says

    rorschach, do you have a citation for that oral cancer stat?

    I’m guessing, if true, that it refers to the cancers caused by the hpv virus. Same sort of jump in risk for cancer (cervical) for women who engage in vaginal sex. Or fellatio.

    Also, not only oral cancers are caused by hpv – some penile and anal cancers are also attributed to infection by the virus.

    So, if the appropriate reaction is to no longer engage in sexual behavior which carries the risk of cancer due to hpv virus infection, that just about rules out every kind of sexual behavior. Only giving up oral sex is like saying you’ll wash one hand from now on (and not your primary hand ;-)) to prevent colds and flu.

    How about that hpv vaccine, huh?

    J-A-L I hope you woke up feeling more hopeful and optimistic this morning. There are people out there who are thinking of you.

  188. says

    Oggie,
    Nope. Mr Darkheart and I both sleep better with the other in the bed. Every time one of us has gone out of town, he’s told me that he can’t sleep without me. :) (And neither one of us is an easy person to sleep with– we both snore, I have whoa bad sleep paralysis and nightmares, we constantly fight over blankets, etc.)

    To each their own.

  189. carlie says

    Og – yes and no for me. I often end up sleeping on the couch when there is too much fidgeting/snoring (from either of us), and I do like having the space of the whole bed when I can, but it is also comforting to have someone else right there, and when separated for several days, after the first burst of “woo-hoo whole bed to myself!” I then miss having the other person there.

  190. says

    Help! Can anyone suggest a way to alert birds that my windows are not more blue sky to fly into? Oh it is horrible! I’ve got them flying into windows front and back of the house – repeatedly! One poor cardinal is flying into it over and over again. :( (Yes, I’ve drawn the blinds, already…no change :()

  191. says

    Are Wife and I the only ones who prefer to sleep with our partner? When we are not able to sleep together, neither one of us sleeps very well. When we are both in the same be, we sleep like puppies.

    Nope, since we established THE RULES, I sleep better with Mr at my side, especially since we have children. The brain is a remarkable organ. When I’m alone at home it is capable of sorting “noise probably caused by kids” and “noise caused by something else” and only wake me up in case of the former.
    If Mr.’s at home, it sorts by “fuck that shit he can get up”.

  192. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Nifty we have that at my office. We’ve tried putting hawk silhouette stickers, owl decoys, planting higher bushes, etc..

    nothing seems to work

  193. says

    Rev.BigDumbChimp, this really stinks. :( Well, I tried opening the blinds and putting stuff by the window. She’s gone for now. There is a ceiling fan in that room. I am seriously thinking of hanging light things from the blades and putting it on to create movement in the room to catch their attention and hopefully turn them away before they hit the window.

  194. says

    Cardinals are my favorite birds – especially the elusive females (always there, rarely seen due to their coloring – we always see the brilliant beautiful males first) – so this is breaking my heart!

  195. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Help! Can anyone suggest a way to alert birds that my windows are not more blue sky to fly into?

    Sure. Make the birds think that there is a predator waiting in that nice piece of open sky. Use a decal or (even cheaper”) print out a silhouette of a hawk or other avian theropod raptor and tape it to your window.

  196. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    SHould have indluced this with my previous comment. The linked site has multiple suggestions, including the hawk (multiple images per window area are suggested).

  197. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    One thing I have done is to dangle CDs from strings outside the window. That will spin in the wind and reflect light.

    I’ve used them to keep birds off my tomatoes and it does ok. Might work for the window too. You’ll just have to be that weird neighbor with the cds dangling outside his windows.

  198. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    And I really need to learn to read what I thing I write.

    All hail Tpyos!

  199. birgerjohansson says

    Add flexible sheets of transparent plastic -the stuff in some garbage bags- on free-standing frames several inches outside the window frames. The slower deceleration will prevent injuries.
    — — — — —
    Technology will come through for the environment:
    Breakthrough could slash R&D time for next generation of hydrogen fuel cells http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-breakthrough-slash-hydrogen-fuel-cells.html

    And related news: Developing the next generation of fuel cells http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-fuel-cells.html

    …and: ‘Tunable’ metal nanostructures for fuel cells, batteries and solar energy http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-tunable-metal-nanostructures-fuel-cells.html

    Plus…”New metal alloy electrode designed for plus-sized ions” http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-metal-alloy-electrode-plus-sized-ions.html

  200. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    let me rephrase that first sentence. I haven’t dangled them outside my windows, just around a few plants. Not sure how I botched that but I’m sure it’s not a shock.

  201. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Pharyngula Alert: Those of you who want to contribute to help Just a Lurker please email me at spokesgay at gmail. I’m organizing the collection. Others can vouch that I’m trustworthy and will get JAL the money quickly.

    Thanks!

  202. says

    Thanks RevBigDumbChimp and Ogvorbis. I’m printing off owl pix as I type. I really think the CD idea would work (birds at the feeder outside my kitchen window always startle and fly away if I move near the window), but am going to have to figure out how to hang them first.

  203. says

    Kristinc: Hope you’re feeling better today.

    Sally: OMG CUTE!!! (And I’m not even a “kid person”!)

    TLC: Very nice deer. Usually the only ones we see ’round these parts are teal.

    Giliell:

    It’s not that I want it dark, but doing it in a spotlight isn’t very sexy.

    Full sunlight can be very nice, so long as you have sunscreen. I’d add “and some modicum of privacy,” but that’s a YMMV thing.

    Louis:

    Deep Tempur™ mattress.

    Too squishy. I’ve found a futon to work perfectly well.

    Amblebury: That blogger should make sure to keep the Cure for Kancer away from the Nazis, who might draft it.

    Rorschach, I don’t have to wait until May 5 for a “wankout”; I just have to keep my eyes on any threads here about abortion, GLBT rights, misogyny, or libertarianism.

    Rev. BDC, as much as I detest Kirk Cameron, he would not be the first person to observe that the U.S. is very, very vulnerable to the rise of a “charismatic leader” right now. As the first Raw Story commenter says, “Right conclusion, wrong reasons.”

    I’ll give you back your dignity, I’ll give you back your this and your that…”

    He’ll wrap you in his arms,
    tell you that you’ve been a good boy,
    He’ll rekindle all the dreams
    it took you a lifetime to destroy…

    Og, glad you’re doing better.

  204. says

    Ms. Daisy..I didn’t see that conversation, but whoever said it was right on the money IMHO.
    The whole “activist judges” thing (along with “liberal media” etc) not to mention the sneaky undercover tricks, vote tampering…on and on it goes. I wrote a blog post yesterday about the Supremes bit (but other writers have done it, and better). How right wingers can bleat on about “freedom” and illegitimate power/government overreach while they cheer legislatures criminalizing a woman’s ability to control what happens to her own body, and now poised to cheer if the Supremes overstep their duty to rule on the constitutionality of aspects of the AHact only and might potentially rule to strike down a law that was duly passed by elected representatives is beyond me. Wait, it’s not beyond me – it just sickens me. Yes, that is it.

    http://niftyatheist.blogspot.com/2012/04/attention-supreme-court-people-will.html

  205. says

    I feel like shit, I think I have too much blood in my alcohol system. I need to rectify that.
    ++++++++++++++++++++
    Nice work TLC!
    ++++++++++++++++++++
    theophontes 777, it doesn’t matter how you manipulated it, we’re still looking at it on a 72/96 PPI screen.
    ++++++++++++++++++++
    I have insomnia so sleeping with someone is a bad idea. I may be able to fall asleep with them, but at some point I will wake up and be able to get back to sleep for awhile. And I will probably blame them. You know, for breathing and shit like that.

  206. carlie says

    How … immaculate of her.

    While we care about contraception, let’s be clear. All we’re saying is we don’t want government to mandate when we have to have it and when we don’t. We want to be able to make that decision.”

    Wait, what? Does she think that the mandate means that every woman will be forced to take a birth control pill every morning? What kind of shit doublespeak is this? Does anyone even notice the lies anymore?

  207. Janine: History’s Greatest Monster says

    Carlie, pointing out the lies is partisan and the lowest form of Gotcha Journalism.

  208. says

    carlie – dog whistles again? The suggestion that “they” will make “us” take birth control, have abortions, etc.

    Andybreeden, that video was awesome. He was just fantastic. wow

  209. Janine: History’s Greatest Monster says

    THEY CAN GIVE US CONTRACEPTIVES BUT THEY CANNOT TAKE AWAY OUR FREEDOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

  210. says

    Wow, just watched Dust That Sings (I know, I know – I should have done that yesterday!) and it is amazing.

    It is really thrilling to see all the great stuff that is available now for atheists.

    Re sex and sleeping together. Mr Nifty and I find it works out great for us. I usually fall asleep before him (heh) which helps with the snoring problem (though we have discovered that drinking beer/hard liquor makes this a problem but NOT wine. Coincidence? Studies need to be done!). We both sleep like the dead (except that I have perfected Gilliel’s brain receptor thingie and can wake in an instant if family sounds/ sleep through thunder/coyotes/etc).

    Sex by candlelight! :) All kinds of it!

  211. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Help! Can anyone suggest a way to alert birds that my windows are not more blue sky to fly into? Oh it is horrible! I’ve got them flying into windows front and back of the house – repeatedly! One poor cardinal is flying into it over and over again. :( (Yes, I’ve drawn the blinds, already…no change :()

    I’m sure others have already suggested cutout silhouettes of hawks and eagles and other raptors, but this made me think of something that happened a few years back. Your cardinal may not be ‘accidentally’ hitting your window at all!

    A lady back east got in trouble. She had the same problem you have, but she wasn’t a bird lover so she shot the poor thing with a pellet gun! Apparently, it was breeding season and the cardinal was attempting to fight his reflection. The noise was annoying her. Great reason to kill something, right? People are fucked.

    Anyways, if your cardinal is repeatedly hitting your window, it may not be an accident. He may be trying to pick a fight with himself, as it were.

  212. says

    Help! Can anyone suggest a way to alert birds that my windows are not more blue sky to fly into?

    Hang brightly coloured ribbons over the glass, about 1/2″ apart. Either that, or place a bird feeder in front of the window, either one hanging on a hook or the kind with suction cups that will go right on the window. Those work a treat.

  213. says

    Laughing Coyote, you may be on to something! That would explain the persistence, even after hitting itself repeatedly against the window.

    Although, would females also do this? I’ve got females doing it at least as often (if not more often) as the males.

    I’m trying the owls, too.

    And no, I cannot believe that someone would kill a bird because of this. I want to stand int he window waving my arms to alert the poor things so they stop hurting themselves!!!

  214. says

    Caine, that’s what I have in front of the kitchen window (that mostly stopped the problem there!). The windows out back are high and large and nowhere to hang a feeder but I am going to try the owls and perhaps ribbons too – maybe I’ll tack the ribbons up and hang the CDs on them at varying heights, then put on the ceiling fan to get them twirling. With a little luck, that might be enough of a distraction for them. Thanks!

  215. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Niftyatheist: Perhaps the females are ‘fighting’ over what they perceive to be superior nesting space?

    I don’t get cardinals round these parts, but right about now the robins are gearing up for some pretty vicious fighting.

    It’s neat to see, because the birds are completely engrossed in unleashing the inner therapod on each other and don’t really pay as much attention to other things. I seem to recall a battling pair whizzing right past my head and into a blackberry bush once.

    As to how to prevent the birds from hurting themselves on your windows, that’s a tough one. I would suggest raptor cutouts, but as others have mentioned and from my own research, these don’t always work.

    It’s not a short term solution, but I wonder if maybe planting tall bushes in front of the problem windows might break up reflections and make it look like a less attractive place to fly?

  216. says

    I love overzealous doctors. I smashed my finger in a door today, and it tore the skin. So I put a bandaid on it and then went to the Health Services room. I just needed a little antibiotic and a bandaid. Doctor gave me antibiotic, sterile strips to tug the wound closed, a gauze pad, a little stretchy net to go over my finger, and four bandaids for later use. I feel like he’s the kind of doctor you’d go in with a slight wrist pain and he’d have you in a full body-cast XD

    Also, it’s hard to type without your middle finger.

  217. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith: I don’t know what it’s called. It came from a tree on the corner of my front yard by the road. This tree has strings of yellow flowers, little smooth edged round leaves, and thorns on the younger branches. The growth wood is light colored, the heart wood takes on interesting shades of olive brown with strong grain lines.

    I tried to use mostly heart wood in this carving, but as you can all see the line runs right down the eye and muzzle (and through to the chest), which I think gave it a pretty interesting effect, as is the similar lighter colored rump. It always feels good when natural features of the wood subtly enhance a piece like that.

  218. cicely (Current Condition: Seriously Pissed Off) says

    Well, FUCK

    I maded this lengthy post on WordPad, but it turns out that if someone bumps the back of the computer and dislodges a cord, the aether eateds it.

    What I remember of it:

    Giliell: Some of us are trying to fix this country, but we are outnumbered-and-surrounded-by self-centered, short-sighted fools; we’re reduced to bailing as fast as we can, just to avoid taking on water any faster.

    General: A bit of TMI on the subject of sleeping with partners (with a digression on the problem of Sleeping with Strangers); an endorsement of the Pharyngula “We Got Your Back, Jack” system of emergency relief (Josh, Official SpokesGay as Exchequer); and congrats (to kristinc, I think?) on getting into a class. Nothing at all about peas, or Horses.

    Oh, yes, and:

    If Good American Women are compelled to bear to term every fertilised ovum, regardless of their financial and/or personal ability to provide for them, then presently we will have a labor pool of desperately poor Good Americans who will be unable to turn down those undesirable, poorly-paid jobs for which we currently have to depend on immigrant workers. Then, we can slam that southern border shut, by damn! and stem the flood of Brown People (who are tainting our American Culture (and gene-pool)); and since these desperately poor laborers will also (thanks to the gutting of the public school system, and the “education” available therefrom) be desperately ignorant, they won’t be able to drag themselves up the economic ladder. Bonus: they’ll also be easy meat for the corporate/political/religious leadership to control, keeping them in their Divinely-Mandated place in the scheme of things. Because this whole thing with poor people and immigrants having aspirations seriously blows chunks, if you look at it right, i.e., from the rarefied heights of Silverspoon America, where the 1% live.

    Too cynical? Or paranoid?

  219. says

    cicely – I wish it was just paranoid cynicism, but I fear it is close to the truth. If it is tinfoil battery, then I am wearing one, too. All societies eventually go this way unless there are strenuous efforts to beat it back. That’s what the founding fathers/enlightenment thinkers tried to do. They got it, even back then, I think. But unless there is CONSTANT VIGILANCE and beating back of the never-ending insurgency of opportunists and authoritarians and oligarchies , we will go the way of feudalism/theocracy/fascism, too.

    That is chilling. I wish I could chuckle and say WHOOPS! IMA CONSPIRACY NUT!! LOL!

  220. says

    Awesome link, Ing, thank you. I love cardinals! That pic of the male with his wings whirring at the car mirror is just what I’ve been seeing.

    The Sailor – quite so! :)

  221. opposablethumbs, que le pouce enragé mette les pouces says

    I smashed my finger in a door today … Doctor gave me antibiotic, sterile strips to tug the wound closed, a gauze pad, a little stretchy net to go over my finger, and four bandaids for later use.

    Finger in door – very ow! But Kat, do they actually give you antibiotic for a cut, even a nasty one?

  222. cicely (Current Condition: Seriously Pissed Off) says

    “The Tinfoil Haberdashery: Your One-Stop Shop For Conspiracy Theories!”

  223. says

    cicely
    I know you do.
    And I can’t help you.
    I can only help keeping those of you afloat for long enough that I know of and care about and it drives me mad.

    ++++++
    So, German police have a nice little scandal at their hands.
    An 11 yo was raped and murdered.
    They arrested an innocent 17 yo kid whose pic and name was made identifiable so he had to deal with threats, harrasment and basically has his life ruined in that town right now.
    And then they arrested the guilty 18 yo.
    Turns out he went to the police last November, not only handing them his collection of child-pornography but also telling them that he had abused a 7 yo girl. And they apparently put the whole thing in a drawer and went on to solve traffic violations or something like that.
    They can’t even do their fucking job if the perp walks into their office and tells them to please arrest him because he’s a fucking danger to society

  224. cicely (Current Condition: Seriously Pissed Off) says

    Giliell: O.o

    That’s some world-class incompetence and stoopid, right there. Does this guy have an influential family or something?

    *tap*tap*
    Is this thing on?

    It’s on, but everybody seems to be in other threads.

  225. says

    cicely
    No, actually his stepfather was the first to go to the police to denounce him and talked him into going there himself. He was in a psychiatry ward for 8 weeks, too, but still, just let somebody who goes around practically screaming “Help me I’m dangerous” go back to his life and do nothing.

  226. says

    From Janine’s link at #309:

    …while locked in a heated primary battle with Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton became privy to information proving that he was secretly Kenyan and therefore ineligible to run for President.

    Wow, it’s like the ’90s all over again, except we have better computers and cellphones but everything else sucks. Was Vince Foster in on this conspiracy, too?

    Kitty:

    Also, it’s hard to type without your middle finger.

    Hard to drive without it, too.

  227. A. R says

    Yeah, people appear to be working on the Singularity and Irrational Humans threads.

  228. dianne says

    Josh, you have mail. JAL, are you willing to give an order of magnitude estimate of how much money you need?

  229. Hekuni Cat says

    Audley, congratulations!

    Just_A_Lurker, I am so sorry. *hugs* I’ve emailed Josh.

    Katherine, *hugs*

    kristenc, congratulations. Deep breaths. You’ll do fine.

  230. Just_A_Lurker says

    Oh, fuck my life. I know the universe isn’t conspiring against me but it sure as hell feels like it sometimes.

    My landlord’s scanner/printer/do everything machine is broken. She offered to call places herself to explain but that doesn’t help with an online application.

    Then my mother ran into my abusive ex on the bus. She took precautions and didn’t come right home and was sure she wasn’t followed. But it was on the bus that drops her off near home and he now has an idea where to look. I’m just thankful Little One wasn’t with her.

    Fuck

  231. says

    Hey, Coyote, if nobody’s beaten me to it it sounds like some kind of locust tree. Black locust wood is legendary for its toughness.

    I am not freaking out as much about school but still freaking out some. Hoping that by the next class we’ll have interesting things to discuss and that’ll distract me from being anxious. I really do look forward to discussing Maya Angelou and Barbara Kingsolver.

    The instructor has the most interesting verbal tic I’ve ever heard in my life. You know how some teachers will invite the class to finish a sentence like so: “Maya Angelou wrote about what? Yes, exactly, she wrote about the life of a child in Stamps.” She uses the “what” from the middle of the sentence but without a pause for answers and in the same way as other people might habitually use “um” or “basically”: “As if you haven’t, what, put yourself into it.” I have never seen someone adopt a rhetorical question as an unconscious habit of speech and I find it completely fascinating.

    I ordered 500g of high dye content henna today, that’s my big excitement for the day.

  232. Pteryxx says

    JAL: *insert flood of profanity on your behalf* frick, and I know what it is to be stalked.

    *headshake*

    At least your landlord sounds helpful. Any alternate means of printing the application material? I’m’a go onto Modest Needs and look…

  233. says

    Catching up.

    Carlie, thanks for the info re Modest Needs. I had gotten the idea that it was a good avenue, but that it wouldn’t reliably get money to J_A_L quickly; hence, the aforementioned two-pronged approach! (“Heh, he, Beavis… he said ‘prong’!”)

    ***
    J_A_L:

    Hang on; help is on the way! Do let us know if/when you get an application up on Modest Needs: I’ve got a donation sitting in my account that I’ll direct to your application. If you decide not to go that way, no worries: Plenty of other deserving folks on that site, and, like checking (or not) the campaign funding box on Form 1040, “this will not reduce the amount of your refundemergency funds.”

    ***
    Giliell:

    The Eternal Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund

    I’m up for that… in fact, I proposed something similar a while back. I’d be willing to commit to a modest monthly donation to such a fund on an ongoing basis.

  234. says

    Pteryxx:

    I, too, was thinking about how cheap scanners (and all-in-one printers) are, but I hadn’t made the mental leap to online purchase for local pickup.

    That’s what’s so great about the Hive Mind: Some part of it will always figure shit out.

  235. Pteryxx says

    cm: Yeah probably, but my scanner’s tough as nails, kicks ass, works with GIMP with no fussing, and can be stuffed in a tote or backpack for quick getaways. It’s been part of my stalking-survival kit for the last few years, both for filing legal paperwork, and for whipping out at random convention tables/restaurants/hotel rooms for scanning artwork. So I plug it. >_> I don’t like all-in-ones, they tend to be temperamental and fragile. If I need to print something, rather than get into the cartridge racket, I use a library.

    From what I gather of the ModestNeeds application process, it only requires scanning of supporting documentation and an online app. Printing doesn’t seem necessary to apply. Still, if this particular trick happens, JAL could request an all-in-one just as easily.

  236. Sili says

    The Eternal Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund

    I think it came up during Patricia’s and Lynna’s illings.

    I like the idea, for sure, but it’s gonna be hell to administrate. Demand will outstrip supply by I don’t know how many orders.

  237. Sili says

    . Tools not locked away, the cable hovering some 5″ above the ground.

    The tools are gonna be their biggest problem. It’s utterly ridiculous how much stuff is being stolen from contractors on site.

  238. Sili says

    Chatted with one of my ENT collegues earlier today. Just 1-5 times of performing oral sex on a woman increases risk of oropharynx cancers in men and women 230-fold. Lifetime booze, 60-fold, smoking, 25-fold. No more muffs for me, but at least I can keep the drinks and smokes.

    Dental dams.

    Is this something the HPV jab will help?

  239. cm's changeable moniker says

    Pteryxx, was merely joshing. ;)

    cicely: “The Tinfoil Haberdashery”

    Millinery, please! Can nobody get this right?

    If you want weird, I suggest:

    http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/bobnichols/

    (I have a thing about conspiracy theorists. Armchair psychologist, I am.)

    niftyatheist and janine: “they” will make “us”

    I can only repost (for the how-many-th time?) Hofstadter:

    http://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/0014706

    1964. Nineteen. Sixty. Four.

    Before the moon landings. Before Woodstock. Before me. And, yet, still true.

    How?

  240. A. R says

    I’ve been doing a bit of Babble reading over at SAB, and I noticed that Jeebus only mentions teh gheys once. And he isn’t suggesting stoning them either. Linky.

  241. Part-Time Insomniac, Zombie Porcupine Nox Arcana Fan says

    Josh, just to make sure, is your email all lowercase?
    —————————————–

    I was going to ask about the dried frog pills, and then decided I could live a long and happy life without knowing.
    —————————————–

    Gillel, this English lessons thing isn’t a super-serious venture in the sense that I want to make a steady job of it. It was more of a, “Hey, why not? I got some time to spare at work most days to help you” thing. I also know that many who put their kids in our school, while they manage to pay their tuition, still have to watch every penny, especially nowadays. I don’t know how much this mother makes at her job. If I could be assured that 15 bucks wouldn’t bar her from making sure the bills are paid every month and that she can still feed herself and her son, I’d charge it. And since she’s the only one at the moment, it’s not like I have a reason to work out a sliding scale of payment.
    ———————————————-

    For when you fucked a demon, right?

    I thought that was Ms. Jones.

    No really, carlie, what makes that book evil besides making women who can’t conceive cry upon seeing it? I mean, I’m assuming that’s one of the reasons it’s evil…yeah I’m just going to stop there.
    ———————————————

    Dear Nikki Haley,

    I’m a woman who cares about contraception.

    There are men who care, and would gladly take a pill especially made for them if it meant lowering chances of an unwanted pregnancy. WE care. Which is more than I can say for you.
    ———————————————-

    Re: fixing the US – It’s like trying to stop a herd of rabid bulls with a firehose. Just when one victory is won, another problem crops up. It’s a never-ending chain.

    I used to dream about the US having a future where houses ran on solar power and other “green” sources of energy. The pictures I saw in books always gave me a thrill, made me think, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could live that way and have cleaner air to breathe?” I used to think we’d one day get to where poverty no longer existed, and then we’d finally be able to focus on how to . . . I guess colonize another planet?

    The last bit is so far off that it seems unlikely. The rest, well, I’m starting to wonder if the US will ever get to that point.

  242. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Hey y’all,

    Dianne, I just saw your email that I overlooked-sorry!

    Those of you who have donated warm the cockles of my heart. And the cockles of my other areas.

    Yes, yes to the Permanent Pharyngulite Fund. Anyone a brilliant administrator?

    What I like about this is that we don’t demean people by questioning their need, making them grovel and fill out paperwork, etc. Being poor is an exercise in deliberate bureaucratic humiliation in the US. Sure, we run the risk that someone will “take advantage,” but who cares? I’d rather that happen (and it’s vanishingly unlikely in this crowd) than say “fuck it” to others. But then I’m not a Republican.

  243. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Yes, my email is all lower case. I don’t think that matters anymore does it?

  244. A. R says

    leighshryock: That’s simply depressing. One should think that paying for science is a better investment in the long term than bombing brown people.

  245. carlie says

    There are also still places to get scanning done; Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Kinko’s will scan and send to a specific address, fax, or I think email address. And also many libraries, especially if you explain the situation.

  246. says

    Was walking home with one of the kids from a store we don’t usually walk to, and saw a house with a plastic “No Soliciting” placard on the door. Under the placard was a hand-lettered, taped sign: AND NO JESUS CRAP EITHER.

  247. Pteryxx says

    Via Maddow: plans to ban masks, string, etc. at the Republican National Convention in Florida; but concealed handguns must be permitted.

    The Secret Service will reportedly establish a security zone where real guns would be prohibited, but immediately outside that zone, loaded firearms near the convention site will be permissible.

    In other words, protestors won’t be able to carry placards or water guns, but they will be able to carry concealed, loaded handguns.

    Florida is a very special kind of place.

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/04/11021779-water-guns-no-real-guns-yes

    I wonder if there’s a Justice for Trayvon march planned for the RNC.

  248. Esteleth, Who is Totally Not a Dog or Ferret says

    So…
    I’ve been away for like 2 weeks.

    Work.

    2 weeks of 18-hour days turn me into a pumpkin that comes home from work, shotguns a beer, and collapses into bed.

    I love my job.

    ____
    So, what did I miss? *skims the blog, reads the Irrational Humans thread*

    Ew. Well, that looks exciting.

    Congratulations, Audley! Best wishes for you and the upcoming Mini Audley! (*psst! want knitted baby things?*)

    ___
    This past weekend, I was able to drag myself away from work (this was the point of the 18 hour days – getting Stuff™ done so that I could take a 3-day weekend off) and went to a con. I met Tamora Pierce, whose stuff I truly love.

    She asked when I started reading her stuff and I answered “College.”

    She looked startled (much of her stuff is YA) and I explained that I would not have been allowed to read her stuff (featuring magic, women who do magic, and LGBT people) before then. I further explained by describing my parents as recovering Christian fundamentalists (but they’re better now). She gave me hug and told me that I was a great person and that she was so proud of me.

    It felt awesome. ♥ And she signed my book!

  249. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Kristinc: I just looked up the black locust on wikipedia and I think we might have a fit here. The flowers in the photo are white, not bright yellow, but apparently there are multiple varieties?

  250. A. R says

    TLC: That’s very hard wood to work with hand tools. I have never done any caring myself (I’ve absolutist no artistic talent), but it looks fun.

  251. Nutmeg says

    Esteleth: Jealous! I grew up reading Tamora Pierce. I think her books were a factor in me becoming the kind of teenage girl who fished and hunted and didn’t take shit about it from anyone, especially guys.

  252. Esteleth, Who is Totally Not a Dog or Ferret says

    Audley:
    OK. I’ll start planning stuff. I have some time, though – October or thereabouts, yes?

  253. Esteleth, Who is Totally Not a Dog or Ferret says

    Okay! :D :D

    I am presuming (given how early it is) that you don’t know the sex yet. In any case, I’ve never been big on the mandatory pink-or-blue thing, and somehow I doubt you are either.

    Hmm.

    *ponders*

    Matching mama-and-baby hats? Blankets? HMMMM.

  254. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    From the White People thread, cos I didn’t want to derail but this is a tangent:

    I’m out. The only things I have to say to full-on racists are legally actionable in many jurisdictions, and I don’t need them on record.

    That’s approximately how I get about homophobes, including the kind who fancy themselves “moderate”. I start shaking and go all tunnel-vision with rage. I can usually manage a few “what the fuck is wrong with you” comments but after that I just have to get the fuck out of there. It’s very frustrating because I would like to be a better and more active advocate in that area in particular, because it is important to me, but at this point I can barely engage with it on blogs because the rage is so large.

    This is entirely due to privilege, but I don’t go into the same uncontrollable rage about overt racists because I don’t get overt racists. I mean, obviously they’re evil as fuck, but the rage is usually softened by a long period of trying to understand what the fuck they just said.

  255. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    Paul Ballard should stop being on Battlestar Galactica. It’s distracting.

  256. Rey Fox says

    I have never done any caring myself

    Me neither, caring is hard. Makes my head hurt.

  257. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Caine Signal Activate!

    Sweets, if I failed to respond to your earlier email it was an oversight-I thought I had. You should haz mail now.

  258. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Tahmoh Penikett

    Oh lord (fans self). Not even exactly my “type” (well, really, I’m kinda slutty about types. . . I like all the menz) but he made my SpokesParts overheat on BSG. Especially when he wore a suit. Whew. . .

  259. says

    Is it bad that my first thought after that shooting was that they can’t use the line that it happened because God isn’t allowed in school this time?

  260. says

    Not caught up, but hello!

    I’ve just had my first ever encounter with a fat-hating doctor – the respiratory specialist. Apparently my lungs are in quite good nick except for some residual scarring, and the collapsed segment is back up. Yay! And it’s now confirmed that I really do have asthma. Oh well, such is life. But also apparently my fatigue and shortness of breath are because I’m fat.

    Yeah, right, that must be it. Never mind that I was just as fat before I got sick, and I was doing yoga and dance classes and able to walk 20,000 steps on the pedometer with no effort (as long as it was flat, admittedly.) Hello, a variable that doesn’t actually vary is a piss-poor explanation for an extremely dramatic before & after difference! But no. Lose weight you lazy fatty!

    Eh, I’m going to try to ignore him and get some graduated exercise program going anyway. My GP is much better and I don’t really need to see this guy again now the lung questions are answered.

  261. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Alethea:

    But also apparently my fatigue and shortness of breath are because I’m fat.

    Fuck that shit. It’s not only obnoxious, it’s not good medical practice. When I had my heart attack the only fucking thing the head nurse cared about was “DO YOU SMOKE YES OR NO I DON’T CARE IF ITS ONE CIGARETTE A DAY!@@!!” Nevermind that I was, in fact, 40 pounds overweight with a lipid profile so bad the doctors had never seen a patient with my numbers.

    Same shit. Prejudicial pigeon-holing.

  262. Just_A_Lurker says

    Hey all, Thank you so much for all of your help. I have a PayPal account set up so funds can be deposited there from Josh. Yay! I am indeed breathing easier for a bit and find it easier to go through resources for next month.

    Another freak out moment for me tonight. I logged in to my neglected facebook account because I wanted to subscribe to something to get a free character in a game. Easy enough right? Wrong! I logged in and was face to face with my ex as a friend suggestion. He was never there before, never looked for him, hell its not even under my real name. But Bam! There he was and I have a mini-panic attack. I blocked him and deactivated my account. Fuck facebook. Oh well, no PET for me. I never use it anyways.

  263. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Little Sophie Kitteh seems to be working her way back into remission from diabetes. I’m having to give her smaller and smaller doses of insulin because her blood sugar is staying fairly low and stable (though not perfect). Lord – you try measuring out .25 units of insulin in a syringe. No mean feat!

  264. says

    Good morning

    Easter is getting near, this morning we saw three rabbitses hopping on the lawn

    JAL
    Shit that’s bad, I hope you can stay hidden from him.
    Assholes. How much of a fucking entitled asshole do you have to be if you can’t simply accept that it’s over
    (((hugs)))

    Alethea
    Fuck that shit. One of my neighbours nearly lost her leg because all doctors just told her to “lose some weight”. When she finaly managed to get somebody to actually look at it it was an “uhm, you have a nasty infection there. If it’s spread to that part, we’ll have to amputate.

    Pharyngula Decent Human Beings Fund
    Well, I actually thought about something simply like a paypal account where people can just send money to.

  265. Catnip, Not a Polymath says

    Facebook gives suggestions just because you know someone who knows someone. It’s very likely that the ex didn’t initiate the friend request, just thr Facebook noted that there was a mutual friend that might be of interest.

  266. Loud says

    Audley

    I started playing ME3 finally, and you weren’t wrong, it’s awesome! Although last night I did manage to blow up several thousand Krogan simply by going to the Citadel and triggering the ‘Udina’ mission before I’d got around to saving their leathery hides. Oops!

    P.S. Congratulations on your pregnancy! That explains why you were feeling so crappy the other day (and most days, probably).

  267. 'Tis Himself says

    I hate hate hate hayfever.

    I’m home from work because of what Shakespeare called “a whoreson cold.”*

    *King Henry IV Part II, Act III, Scene 2. Bullcalf talking to Falstaff

  268. Emrysmyrddin says

    I’ve just seen this blog post about a homeopath who convinced a client to use ‘exclusively classical homeopathy’ to treat her CANCER. The patient is now dead.
    A skeptical blogger who has followed the subsequent court cases has been hit by this homeopath’s lawyers with ceast and desist/libel claims. The Streisand Effect would help a lot here.

    http://networkedblogs.com/w2LgY

  269. says

    Loud!
    Sweet. I managed to save the krogen, but without being too spoilerific, I doomed another species to a quick extinction. Ah well.

    Funny story, I haven’t actually finished ME3. I got to the last mission, then BAM! morning sickness. I absolutely cannot play when I’m barfy, but hopefully, I’ll be able to finish up this weekend.

  270. carlie says

    Catnip – yes, but if FB was giving Just A Lurker that suggestion for the ex, it was most likely also going to give the ex the suggestion of friending JAL. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve read that if the ex then sent a friend request, they would now (after the last set of privacy “improvements”) be able to see a significant portion of JAL’s profile even if they hadn’t approved the request.

  271. Jules says

    *hugs* to Just_A_Lurker. When I joined LinkedIn (for work), I accidentally sent out a request to every single person I’d ever emailed from that email account (a few folks on here got it, even). Which gave my ex (who I’d been easily able to avoid because I now live in a different state) access to me again. He was separated from wife 3 and was crying to me about it. He actually said, “Sometimes I feel like calling you and asking, ‘Was I really that bad?'”

    I didn’t respond. A few days later, my phone rang. I didn’t answer that either.

    He’s a psychopath. He’s one of the few people in the world I actually hate. But that was over a year ago now, I think. The longer I go without having to deal with him, the better my life is. I hope you get your relief from your ex starting now.

    Tahmoh Penikett

    Oh lord (fans self). Not even exactly my “type” (well, really, I’m kinda slutty about types. . . I like all the menz) but he made my SpokesParts overheat on BSG.

    ^^^This. Except I don’t have SpokesParts. I have ladybits.

    Work rant: I received files I’d been missing to complete a project yesterday. It’s over 30 hours of work. I was supposed to get them over a week ago, but fuck Jules, so I finally got them yesterday.

    PM emails me this morning with the final files I need to complete the project (I have to cross-check all of them). She also adds this gem: “I thought I was going to get all of the assets yesterday?”

    UM. There are not 30 hours in a goddamn motherfucking day. And there certainly aren’t 30 hours in this email, so I’m not entirely sure what the fuck you were thinking, but it wasn’t from this goddamn reality.

    And then she sent another one. The subject line said URGENT. The body said, “We really need those files. It’s urgent.”

    Oh. Well in that case…*gets in time machine*

    ARGH.

  272. dianne says

    Nevermind that I was, in fact, 40 pounds overweight with a lipid profile so bad the doctors had never seen a patient with my numbers.

    Is it bad that my first thought was to wonder if your doctor was maybe not very experienced?

    My “best” experience with high lipids was a patient who came in to the ER for something completely unrelated to heart disease (flu, or something like that) and had blood drawn. This being the ER, a major trauma case came in just after that and distracted everyone so his blood sat around for an hour or so. And got to room temperature. At which point, it looked like a tube of half blood, half lard. Which, as it turned out, it was. Triglycerides off scale. He’s lucky he didn’t have diabetes from it. Fortunately, it turns out that knowing that your blood turns to lard when cooled is an excellent motivator for lifestyle change and compliance with medication and he was doing ok the last I heard.

    (Some details of the case changed or omitted to make the story HIPAA compliant, but the lard bit is 100% true to the best of my memory.)

  273. Jules says

    if FB was giving Just A Lurker that suggestion for the ex, it was most likely also going to give the ex the suggestion of friending JAL. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve read that if the ex then sent a friend request, they would now (after the last set of privacy “improvements”) be able to see a significant portion of JAL’s profile even if they hadn’t approved the request.

    Coupla things. You can make yourself unsearchable. It’s not just setting your account to private. You can set it where neither your name nor your email address will turn you up in a search. You can even set whether people who are friends of friends can see you, message you, or friend request you. If your profile is set to private or to friends only, no one who is not your friend can see you. But these are separate entities in facebook.

    I cannot be searched. (I found out it worked when trying to get someone from Reason Rally to friend me; I finally had to find him instead.) However, I believe that friends of friends can still see me and request me.

    You do have to be vigilant and go in and make all of these changes, because facebook defaults to being very, very open.

    I finally figured out how to get my high school off of there. Trolls kept making creepy swipes at me using it, just to show me they were watching me, I guess.

    I also set my pics to friends only after I got multiple messages from friends-of-friends complimenting my tattoos. They were tattoos not visible in my profile pic.

    OK. Files have finished downloading. Time to get back in my time machine and finish the files yesterday.

  274. Louis says

    Josh and Jules,

    Hmmmmm I’m curious. Do I have SpokesParts? Jules above has contrasted LadyBits with SpokesParts. I do not have LadyBits, I have access to some, what I have is different, I checked. I also double checked with some documentaries on the internet.

    Does this mean that all Parts are SpokesParts, or are my Parts mere Parts? Not special SpokesParts. I have some evidence in favour of SpokesParts status, I also have no type and am an unabashed slut-fiend of the first water. I blame Teh Evilooshun for making me want to share my Parts with many many peoples.

    Louis

  275. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    I stopped at my local quicky mart this morning to get my tub-o-soda (it is a cheap way to buy my diet soda and gets me bonus points to save money on gas) and I was subjected to an attempted witnessing.

    Here is the conversation (as best I can rember (and, keep in mind, I am currently using a cane and have knee immobilizer and am wearing my uniform)):

    Her: Good morning. Can I ask you a question?

    Me (oh, great, another fishing or hunting question): Sure. How can I help you?

    Her: What happened to your leg?

    Me: Hurt it at work. Hoping I don’t need the knife again.

    Her: You mean you’re considering surgery? A doctor?

    Me: Yeah. It works.

    Her: Did you ever think it may be something else?

    Me: No. Pretty sure that a torn tendon really is a torn tendon.

    Her: So you haven’t heard the Good News?

    Me: What good news? Have they found a way to regrown tendons?

    Her: No. The Good News of God’s love?

    Me: Oh, I’ve heard it.

    Her: Then you are praying for relief?

    Me: I’m looking for relief, but I prefer stuff that works. Y’know, like hydrocodone?

    Her: You don’t think prayer works?

    Me: I know it doesn’t. Why would talking to an imaginary ghost change anything?

    Her: What church do you attend?

    Me: None.

    Her: Why not?

    Me: Because I avoid brainwashing scams like the fucking plague.

    Her: There’s no need to be rude.

    Me: Why not? You’re rudely coming up to a stranger, asking about — let me finish — asking about my medical problems and telling me that saying magic words to your personal version of a mythical being will make me better? Do I walk up to people and try to use whatever problem they are having to take advantage of them and get them to join a cult?

    Her: I’m not part of a cult!

    Me: So you don’t have a small in-group who all have to believe the same things in order to belong?

    Her: NO! I’m a church-going Christian.

    Me: How many have to be in a group for it to no longer be a cult?

    Her: Christ was never a cult!

    Me: You need to study your history. It started out as a bunch of small cults.

    Her: No, it didn’t.

    Me: Take a look at some histories of the early church. It’s interesting. And it may help you join the fastest growing group in America. My group.

    Her: What group is that?

    Me, smiling: Atheists. Non-believers. Those who realise that reality is real.

    Her, with a look of horror on her face: You’re an atheist?

    Me: Yup. As is my wife, both kids, my parents, and my sister.

    Her: And you say I belong to a cult? You worship Satan! You’re evil!

    Me: No. I don’t believe in any supernatural beings. There is no evidence any of them, including Satan, every existed.

    Her: Then how do you explain evil?

    Me: Narrow minded bigots like you who think that their personal version of god is the one and only thing to believe and anyone who doesn’t believe doesn’t even count as human.

    She turned and scuttled, rather quickly, to her car. And left the parking lot.

    I walked in, got my soda, and, while paying for it, the clerk asked: How did you get rid of PreachY Mary so fast?

    Me: I was honest.

    Clerk: I never thought of that.

    Today, if the start is any clue, should be a fun day.

    Also, it’s hard to type without your middle finger.

    But think of the fun you can have when people ask which finger you hurt. Just show them.

    Because this whole thing with poor people and immigrants having aspirations seriously blows chunks, if you look at it right, i.e., from the rarefied heights of Silverspoon America, where the 1% live.

    Too cynical? Or paranoid?

    No. Honest. The GOP really does want a world with lots of poor people fighting for a few jobs to create the goods that the small middle class and tiny upper class will buy. And no, I do not think they have fully thought through the economics of wealth.

    Hard to drive without it, too.

    Damn. Missed that one.

    I was going to ask about the dried frog pills, and then decided I could live a long and happy life without knowing.

    I’ll tell you anyway. Discworld.

    ===

    JAL:

    If you have a digital camera, even a cheap one, you can photograph the document, download it to your computer, trim it, and, viola, a multi-step photo copier.

    The flowers in the photo are white, not bright yellow, but apparently there are multiple varieties?

    Yes, there are. And that tree will eat chain saw blades fast. Where I lived in Maryland, they were called Ironwood Trees. For good reason.

  276. carlie says

    Jules – thanks for the clarification. When I left facebook a few months ago it was set to even if private, people suddenly were starting to see things that their friends wrote on non-friend walls, and if you made a friend request then news feed stuff on that person started showing up even though they hadn’t approved you as a friend. I’m glad if they rescinded those updates.

    I can has ergonomics! My boss approved me getting a footrest so I can work properly at my desk. Now I have to go to the internet and find out what height my chair is actually supposed to be at, rather than the choice between “either my feet are on the floor and my arms go numb from being at a 45 degree angle up to the keyboard, or my arms work and my legs dangle and cut off all circulation to my feet” options I’ve had until now.

  277. says

    Ogvorbis, what a great start to the day! Yours and now mine too! :D
    “I was honest.” – “I never thought of that.” Ba ha ha! Classic!

  278. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    UK’s Sky News says it let its journalists hack two e-mail accounts because it was “in the public interest.”

    oh that sounds reasonable…

    wait

    WHAT

  279. says

    Ogvorbis @ 401
    Brilliant! I wish I could respond so well. I don’t often get approached (6’5″ bald male with a permanent unintentional scowl) but on the few times it has happened my response is usually “oh, that’s what you stopped me for? Piss off”.

  280. rorschach says

    Blacksmith, how are you mate, hope all is well ! Good to see you around again…

  281. says

    Ogvorbis@401: There’s another aspect to the gnu-atheist angry response that the apologists don’t mention – it can be as freakin’ fun as a naked day at Disneyland with an entourage of 100 naked dream dates. Your report wasn’t quite that fun, but it was pretty close.

  282. says

    McCthulhu – resentful that McHastur is taller.#386 Thank you for that picture (and for mentioning Bill Nye!) – between that and Ogvorbis’ happy tale, my day is already complete!

  283. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Ogvorbis and A.R.: Very interesting. I suppose black locust would make for good tool handles and such?

    Also, wikipedia says that the flowers taste good dipped in batter and deep fried.

    Anyone got a recipe?

  284. says

    Right back at’cha Rorschach. Glad to be back. Although I’ve been lurking the whole time, I wasn’t really in any position to comment.

    Had to move back to the States to help take care of my Mom. She fought melanoma for almost 2 years before losing the fight in November. We’re managing pretty well, I guess. Life goes on, right.

    I want to say, now that I have started, that The Horde was
    , in a weird sort of way, very important to me during that time. (and still is.) Reading Pharyngula during all of those hours down at MD Anderson was a very centering thing for me. More than PZ’s posts though, it was reading the comments that oftentimes got me through the day. This is the only online community that I have ever actually become emotionally attached to. It is very strange, having only met a few of you IRL, that one can become so attached to what could be seen as mere words on a screen, but there you go.

    *Ok, Rob, that is quite enough.*
    Let me just conclude with this:
    Thank you Horde.

  285. says

    Oggie beat me to it, we call that Ironwood here in the Midwest, too.
    We gave up trying to cut it down, or even split it. Silly me, I never thought of trying to carve it. I bet with all that gnarly, twisted grain one can do wonders.
    +++++++++++++
    carlie, one of my favorite days was when I got a promotion and could order a new workstation & chair. My monitors & keyboards are the right height and angle, and my chair is adjustable enough I can change height, lumbar and back angle. One setting just doesn’t do it for me. I also got trackballs, no more wrist pain!
    +++++++++++++
    Something I haven’t mentioned: I took Monday off to work on and perhaps launch my boat. I ended up helping 5 other boats launch. That’s OK, they’ll help me launch.

    The last boat, a 28′ Catalina with a shoal keel, had a few problems with its trailer’s starboard rear support pad. since I was already wet up to my naughty bits (shrinkage!) I volunteered to wade on the trailer frame and use a big honkin’ crescent wrench and a 1 1/4″ socket wrench to adjust the pad.

    The stern was already floating and when I got back there and started to work the boat was hit by the wake of a larger boat. The boat I was helping with lurched sideways and rolled, scraping me along and trapping me between the boat and the trailer. At 4 tons displacement this was not an ideal arrangement.

    My back muscles were already quivering with the cold and the sudden pressure and twist has made me more useless than usual this week. I’ve missed 4 days of work. OTOH, they’ve gone by quickly due to the meds.

    Pro-tip: Daytime TV is possible to watch, you just have to be medicated enough. Also, too, watching upside down with your back on the floor and your legs on the couch makes even soap operas interesting, as long as you use closed captioning.

    No amount of drugs makes Faux Newz watchable.

  286. says

    Coyote:
    I’m not positive, it could have been me, but black locust while hard, does’t make very good handles due to cracking and splitting. YMMV.

    I would recommend keeping your deer slathered in Rennaisance Wax or Linseed Oil.

  287. Louis says

    The Sailor,

    No amount of drugs makes Faux Newz watchable.

    Quality my friend, not quantity.

    This one time, whilst an undergrad, I took an LSD laced peyote and Salvia divinorum cocktail and Bill O’Reilly almost made sense.

    True story.*

    Louis

    * Despite the fact that when I was an undergrad I didn’t know who Bill O’Reilly was and I have no idea if he was on Fox or not. THAT is how good those drugs were.

  288. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith: Way ahead of you there, linseed oil is my favorite finish for ‘pretty’ wood, that is, wood where you actually want to preserve the natural colors and grain (for plain wood like yellow cedar or my tomahawk handles, I use various colors of boot polish to good effect).

  289. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    “I was honest.” – “I never thought of that.” Ba ha ha! Classic!

    I think of honesty as an unintended consequence of atheism. I don’t have to lie to placate the ignorance of those who created god.

    I don’t often get approached (6’5″ bald male with a permanent unintentional scowl) but on the few times it has happened my response is usually “oh, that’s what you stopped me for? Piss off”.

    I’m 5’11” and always look grumpy (according to Wife, anyway).

    There’s another aspect to the gnu-atheist angry response that the apologists don’t mention – it can be as freakin’ fun as a naked day at Disneyland with an entourage of 100 naked dream dates.

    When being witnessed (I think this makes seven in the last five years), my reactions range from what-the-fuck to amusement.

  290. says

    TLC: Sharpies of varying tip sizes also make nice highlights in carved wood. & leather.
    I don’t think of Ironwood as hard as much as I think of it as tough.
    ++++++++++++++++++
    Do I get bonus points for using ‘gnarly’ correctly?
    Former California Guy wants to know.

  291. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    The Sailor: Well, I found the hard eastern white maple much more difficult to carve. I used it for the wooden crossguard and handle scales on my short sword, and that thing has held up to a few years of hard use now without even loosening.

    I think ‘tough’ is definitely a better word for it than ‘hard’. And despite (or because of) its toughness, it carves pretty nice.

    Re: Witnessing: The town of chilliwack is stuffed full of churches. Not just churches with their own dedicated buildings either- every local school has a church that meets in the gym every sunday. (Pukesome, I know.)

    That said, it appears to be the mormons who do the majority of witnessing. I find them particularly odious and have had to tell them to fuck off twice now. There’s something unutterably creepy about those suits and ties. If the getup is supposed to ‘put people at ease’, it fails miserably in my case.

    I’ve resolved, next time, to engage them in a long and detailed conversation about Warren Jeffs.

  292. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Do I get bonus points for using ‘gnarly’ correctly?
    Former California Guy wants to know.

    Too late. The word has morphed again. You sicko!

  293. carlie says

    ‘Tis, I’m so glad you didn’t have any internal damage (that is, as long as you just didn’t leave that part out). Take it easy and rest.

  294. A. R says

    TLC: Suits creep you out? I shall have to dig in my closet for non-suit clothing if I’m ever in your area.

  295. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    A.R.:

    Just stop shaving. I think TLC may not have a problem with hirsuit.

  296. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Oh, and DH666 is back on TZT for those interested.

    Not to mention Yeach123 on the Creationist History thread.

    Both have severe and willful reading comprehension problems. They are quite capable of reading what is there but, by the time it is filtered through the bible and biblical apologetics, any meaning has been lost to them.

  297. says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith, nice work!

    Fun fact: Forging & hammering can produce a stronger joint than welding. Ya actually knock those carbon atoms into the lattice. Beat that carbon!

    But I bet you knew that.

    As far as commercially available; I really like my Linder stainless steel Sailor’s Tool. It was a gift from a friend, which always makes it special, and it can still shave arm hair after 2 years on my boat.

  298. Pteryxx says

    TLC: hey, I forgot to compliment you on the deer earlier. but also, REST YOUR HANDS. Doing something hardcore that makes them ache, rest and stretch and shake ’em out for a minute or two in every hour. That’s one of my crusades since I permanently damaged both my wrists using small tools. I’ll never be able to use that particular grip again for more than a few minutes at a time.

    Facebook stalking: *headshake* I don’t dare use the thing. I got stalked enough without that. And undying hatred for idiot companies who play fast-and-loose with personal information.

  299. says

    This Moment of Mormon Madness is brought to you by the twisted/damaged ethical constructs that rule in heavily mormon communities.

    This lack of respect for privacy, and for professional guidelines, has been discussed a lot on mormon and ex-mormon forums, but it’s rare that it ever makes the news, let alone the courts. It’s about time mormons were called on it.

    A “porn addiction” therapist has been reprimanded by the state for discussing a patient — without his permission — with his LDS Church leaders and Brigham Young University.

    All of the claims made by Jodi Nan Hildebrandt were false, the man asserts, but they led to his loss of privileges in the church and his ejection from BYU….”We came there for marriage counseling, and she pulled us into her porn marathon.”…

    She [the therapist] is the director of LifeStar Utah County, a franchisee of a national company based in Utah that specializes in pornography and sexual addiction. Excessive use of pornography is not recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association….

    Hildebrandt’s lawyer, Robert Harrison, said in an email that her license is “active and her practice has and will continue without interruption.”…

    Between 2008 and 2010, Hildebrandt repeatedly discussed the couple with their LDS clergy and other mental health therapists, without having signed authorization, the DOPL order said.

    In 2009, she talked about John Doe to the Honor Code Office at BYU.

    Yes, this happens frequently if mormons seek counseling from LDS Social Services.

    “She spent hardly any time knowing about my life,” he [John Doe, using an anonymous handle because he’s afraid of retaliation from the therapist, and from the mormon community) said. “She didn’t want to talk about my personal goals or my progress. She would only threaten me that if I didn’t take more sessions and have my wife take more sessions, the alleged addiction would destroy my life.”…

    In an interview, John Doe said the couple had been referred to LifeStar for marriage counseling by their LDS bishop, whose brother co-founded the Murray-based national LifeStar Network. It licenses others to use its counseling materials.

    This is also par for the course in mormon communities. LDS business networks are closely aligned with church networks. Bishops refer church members to LDS-associated services which are in a position to make some other LDS man money. (Bishops are also one of the main sources of referrals to the “Mormon Gulag” for troubled teens, and to mormon services that pressure pregnant single women to give up their babies for adoption by mormon families in good standing with the church.)

    John Doe said he did not have addiction issues, and once he began to question Hildebrandt’s therapy — which cost $1,200 to $2,000 a month — his personal life started to unravel. …

    LifeStar is on the LDS Church’s authorized referral list for sex addiction therapy. The church has recently emphasized the dangers of pornography. Hildebrandt was listed as a speaker, addressing pornography, at the 2010 BYU Women’s Conference.

    Link to full story in Salt Lake Tribune.

  300. Loud says

    Audley

    I hope you feel good enough to finish it off. Apparently the ending isn’t to everyone’s tastes! Intriguing.

  301. says

    A reader comments on the story related in #429:

    … Why did BYU even enter into a conversion with Hildebrandt about John and Jane Doe??????

    I guess that kind of makes BYU ethics and Honor code a bit stupid to say the very least…
    The Mormon Cult BS lives on…

    To which I would add, why did the mormon Bishop listen when the therapist came to him to discuss her client’s purported porn addiction?

  302. cicely (Normal Service Has Been Restored) says

    Was walking home with one of the kids from a store we don’t usually walk to, and saw a house with a plastic “No Soliciting” placard on the door. Under the placard was a hand-lettered, taped sign: AND NO JESUS CRAP EITHER.

    :D

    I had a couple of tween-aged god-pedlars on my doorstep just last night. There was a whole herd of them, roaming the streets under the pastoral eye. After all, it was a nice evening, the kids needed something to do for Wednesday night church-time…perfect proselytising conditions! Well, unless you count the unreceptive audience….

    Welcome home, Esteleth! You missed another iteration of Free-Will Theatre.

    I hate hate hate hayfever.

    Oh, hell yes! If only the plants could keep their sexin’ to themselves, instead of bringing enough for everybody.

    Has anybody here heard about a “gall bladder cleansing” involving apple juice, olive oil, and fresh lemons? A friend suggested that I have one, but I am deeply skeptical; it sounds a bit alternativey to me, and the sources xe cited looked New Agey. Are there good, solid, science-based studies on this?

    A skeptical blogger who has followed the subsequent court cases has been hit by this homeopath’s lawyers with ceast and desist/libel claims. The Streisand Effect would help a lot here.

    Duly eyeballed.

    Jules, I’d send you some of my spare time, if I could; I’m not using it for anything more URGENT than reading TET and playing Civ III.
    *hug*

    Ogvorbis, have I ever told you that you’re awesome? If not, be told now. All I managed last night was a “Not interested” and shutting of the door. No artistry at all. I has an envy.

    (Though I did get a very nice puzzled look as a return.)

    The boat I was helping with lurched sideways and rolled, scraping me along and trapping me between the boat and the trailer. At 4 tons displacement this was not an ideal arrangement.

    Indeed. *hugs* and sympathies.

  303. The Laughing Coyote (Canis Sativa) says

    TLC: Suits creep you out? I shall have to dig in my closet for non-suit clothing if I’m ever in your area.

    Suits on their own not so much… but being approached by cultists wearing identical suits even though it’s the middle of a suburban street and absolutely NOT a ‘suit and tie’ situation gives them a very creepy aspect for me.

    Ye Olde Blacksmith: Gorgeous. I love file knives and railroad spike implements that preserve some of the steel’s ‘previous life’ like that, such as leaving the surface of the file mostly untouched. Something of what the tool used to be before being recycled.

    My brother made a wicked double-edge file knife that he takes camping with him everywhere. More than one person has begged him to either sell it to them, or make them one.

  304. kemist says

    For anyone who likes soft, plushy chew toys, there’s currently one at Justin’s blog. The practice model, soft on the milk teeth.

    Those allergic to endless sentences and unbroken text better abstain though.

  305. says

    Another thoughtful comment from Salt Lake Tribune readers:

    So the bishop sends a member to a for-profit “counseling service” franchise owned by his brother. The “therapist” is not the only one who ought to face some sort of consequences.

    How many others are filling this pretend-therapy franchise (doesn’t that bother anyone, therapy “franchises?”) coffers with money they can’t afford because they looked at porn and their despicable bishop told them they had a “porn addiction” and he had just the place to help.

    There’s the beginning of the real problem. Bishop convincing people they have a problem,. send them to quack “therapists” who charge a fortune, use the church to threaten individuals who refuse to keep paying for nothing, get kickback for referrals.

    how many of these people are going to question their bishop after he tells them they have a porn addiction? I’m sure the threat of exposure is implied if not direct. Me, I’d be suing the dude and his brother. The quack therapist, she’s awful but just a pawn in their bigger game.

    Porn isn’t the issue, it’s the way this church has ruined lives with false ‘addictions” and magic stay-in-the-church cures that benefit that bishop financially.

    It’s heartening to see some clear-thinking comments posted below the story, but there are also the usual mind-numbingly stupid comments from sheeple. For example:

    Sounds like the LDS church recognized that a mistake was made and corrected it. Is that not a good thing?

    That last comment from an obvious church member ignores the fact that corrective action was taken only because John Doe had the guts to take his case to the State, and the State, for once, acted on the complaint.

  306. Gregory Greenwood says

    During my wonders through the lawless badlands of teh intertoobs, I stumbled upon this article about the homophobes from the the Florida Family Association and the Family Research Council getting themselves into a pious, self-righteous lather about the inclusion of same sex relationships as romance options in Bioware games like Mass Effect and Starwars: The Old Republic.

    Apparently, they engaged in a mass letter campaign involving a lot of whining about a supposedly ‘militant’ agenda to ‘force’ homosexuality onto children, and made claims that ‘teh dreaded ghey conspiracy'(TM) had compelled EA and Bioware into including the content somehow. They even threatened to boycott EA games if the inclusivist policy was not changed.

    The good news is that EA seems to have done the decent thing and essentially invited the Family Research Council et al to firmly insert decomposing porcupines into their anuses (though, sadly, probably not in those exact terms), and have refused to back down from their progressive stance.

    Maybe there is hope for the gaming industry yet if even a company so infamously mercenary as EA is prepared to take a stand on this issue, even though the truth is that they are still probably more motivated by their bottom line then they are by concerns over equality, since caving in to the homophobes would likely lose them more sales than it would garner for them.

  307. A. R says

    Damn you Elsevier!!!!!!!! Why must you hide all of your papers behind an impenetrable (and ludicrously expensive) pay-wall!!!!!!!

  308. dianne says

    Congratulate me, GenossInnen, I’ve just suggested to a patient that he use abortion for birth control. Patient has a condition that he does not want to pass on to his (hypothetical) kids. We discussed the risks and options. So I told him his options. Including prenatal diagnosis and abortion if that’s what he and his partner decide. Also including accepting that if the kid has it he or she may have some problems but has a good chance of living a “worthwhile” life, whatever that means. Ultimately boiling down to the statement “I can tell you what options you have, but only you and your partner can make the decision of what to do.” I’m left wondering a bit whether the whole conversation was legal or not.

  309. Nutmeg says

    A.R.: If you post a reference, I’ll see if my university will let me get a PDF. We generally have pretty good access.

  310. Pteryxx says

    dianne: congratz, prenatal diagnosis is under-recognized as an option. I’m glad you mentioned it so he knows.

  311. A. R says

    Nutmeg:
    Kurosu, T., Khamlert, C., Phanthanawiboon, S., Ikuta, K,. Anatapreecha, S. 2010. Highly efficient rescue of dengue virus using a co-culture system with mosquito/mammalian cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 394(2): 398-404.

  312. Nutmeg says

    A.R.: Got it. You can email nutmeg underscore 001 at hotmail dot com and I’ll send you a PDF.

  313. says

    Damn you Elsevier!!!!!!!! Why must you hide all of your papers behind an impenetrable (and ludicrously expensive) pay-wall!!!!!!!

    Because Elsevier is fucking evil, that’s why!

  314. dianne says

    Have you suggested Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis?

    Briefly, but I’m not sure he took it in. Too much information on a sensitive subject at once. The follow up conversation is next week.

    Highly efficient rescue of dengue virus

    Why is that a good thing? Kill it with nucleases!

  315. A. R says

    dianne: It’s a good thing when you want to create recombinant to assess vaccine function. PGD seems like a good option for your patient.

  316. says

    Hi there
    Well, my easter rituals have started.
    Today we had spinach, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes, according to the christian tradition (accidentially one of my favourite dishes) and tomorrow I will insist on meat, the only day I do so.

    Also packing tomorrow and holidays on Saturday.

  317. Jules says

    Damn you Elsevier!!!!!!!!

    That’s exactly what I’m saying.

    Only it’s more like, “Why must you outsource project managers to India who have no fucking clue what they’re doing and who in turn make my life a living hell?!”

    Yeah. I work for the devil.

    I’ve been in the oil business. I’ve been in defense contracting. And I work for Evilsevier.

    Say it with me now: Sell. Out.

  318. Pteryxx says

    OT: Ed just covered this excellent (HuffPo, sorry) article with video on exactly how police create a probable-cause fishing situation in a traffic stop. This is really important watching for everyone in the US, I think, to be ready to recognize these techniques when they’re used against us. Also covered: how trumped-up drug charges serve as excuses to seize money and vehicles, and how drug dogs alert when their handlers want them to.

    https://proxy.freethought.online/dispatches/2012/04/05/textbook-example-of-police-harassment

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/drug-search-trekies-stopped-searched-illinois_n_1364087.html

    From the HuffPo article:

    Local news reports indicate that Illinois law enforcement agencies along the I-70 corridor have ramped up their forfeiture efforts in recent years. Rekowski said one tactic police use is to put up a sign for a “drug checkpoint” roadblock ahead. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court said such checkpoints are illegal; roadblocks are legal for DWI checks, but not for narcotics checks. But Rekowski says that isn’t the point.

    “They put the sign up so there’s only one exit you can take to avoid it. Then they pull over and search anyone who tries to exit before the roadblock.”

    […]

    The Edwardsville Intelligencer reported in 2010 that the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office has reaped a half-million dollars from the [asset forfeiture] policy over eight years, which at the prosecutor’s take of 10-12 percent suggests a total bounty of $4.5 million to $5 million. Madison County Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Robbins, who handles forfeiture cases for the office, told local paper the Telegraph in 2010, “Law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about.”

    The problem isn’t that the dogs aren’t capable of picking up the scent, it’s that dogs have been bred to please and interact with humans. A dog can easily be manipulated to alert whenever needed. But even with conscientious cops, a dog without the proper training may pick up on its handler’s body language and alert whenever it detects its handler is suspicious.

    In one study published last year in the journal Animal Cognition, researchers rigged some tests designed to fool dogs into falsely alerting and others designed to trick handlers into thinking a package contained narcotics (it didn’t). Of the 144 total searches performed, the dogs falsely alerted 123 times. More interesting, the dogs were twice as likely to falsely alert to packages designed to trick their handlers than those designed to trick the dogs.

    In 2011, the Chicago Tribune published a review of drug dog searches conducted over three years by police departments in the Chicago suburbs. The paper found that just 44 percent of dog “alerts” led to the discovery of actual contraband. Interestingly, for Hispanic drivers the success rate dipped to 27 percent, again supporting the theory that drug dogs tend to confirm the suspicions (and, consequently, the biases) of their handlers.

  319. says

    The “abortion survivor” myth: Coming to a theatre near you.

    Also, as a NH resident: GAAAAAAAHHHHHH. And

    Alethea: If you haven’t already, check out First, Do No Harm.

    Christ, J_A_L. I’m so sorry. It all sounds like a perfect storm of suck.

    Josh, I’m so glad Sophie is doing better. Also, having been unfamiliar with Tahmoh Penikett, I GIS’ed him… Guh. BRB, destroying Catholicism.

    Og: Good job.

    Sailor: Damn. I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt.

    Gregory Greenwood: The gaming industry has some serious faults, but kowtowing to fundie screamers isn’t one of them.

  320. Weed Monkey says

    Caine’s beautiful butterfly pictures a few days ago surprised me: I wouldn’t have thought ND would be anywhere near spring this time of the year. Central and southern Finland just had up to 20 cm more snow.

    I guess that’s what the Gulf stream does. Our winters usually aren’t Siberian-harsh, they just last a very long time.

  321. Pteryxx says

    The “abortion survivor” myth: Coming to a theatre near you.

    See also:

    http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/04/what_october_baby_gets_wrong_about_modern_womanhood_.html

    The film’s protagonist is Hannah, a college student with an array of physical and mental problems who discovers her birth mother (Shari Rigby) attempted to abort her at 24 weeks. Salon described the unlikely circumstances of this botched procedure as akin to “being struck by lightning and eaten by a shark at the same time,” and the same could be said for the events that then lead Hannah to track down her biological mother. They involve her arrest by a kind and exceedingly helpful cop, and her tracking down the nurse who remembers with remarkable precision the details of Hannah’s birth almost two decades earlier. But equally unbelievable is the film’s two-dimensional portrayal of Hannah’s biological mother, a tough-minded striver who sought a late-term abortion at 18 because, as the abortion nurse recalls, “she had to go to school, she had to have a career.”

  322. leighshryock says

    So. The ‘Decent Human Being’ fund, would, essentially, be a kind of voluntary group insurance thing?

    Biggest thing I can think of is, if it ends up with any real amount of money at all, it ends up becoming a tax liability to whoever is holding the purse strings.

    I could contribute some to it, on a regular basis. Not much, but, then, it doesn’t take much to get a decent rainy day fund going.

  323. leighshryock says

    Also, if the amount in the Decent Human Being fund reaches a pre-specified threshold, I submit that a portion of it should go towards a friendly charity?

  324. Louis says

    I had a thought:

    Conservatives: People who are convinced their wallets must be free but your vaginas forever in chains.

    Louis

  325. Louis says

    All right, I’ll ask, what constitutes a decent contribution to the Decent Human Being Fund?

    $20? $50? $100? $1000?

    I ask out of genuine intellectual curiosity. Also what sort of operating budget should it reach ideally?

    Louis

    P.S. Jules you work for Elsevier? I’ve published with them a few times.

  326. A. R says

    Nutmeg: Thanks for the paper!
    ——–
    I was just thinking: Pharyngulites who need access to an article can post a reference, and those of us with access can send PDFs. Thoughts?

  327. Pteryxx says

    Louis: IMHO, that’s not a great question. Some of us (waves) can’t donate crap, but those little fives and tens can still add up. I’d rather not hear how easy it is for some of y’all to donate amounts that would take me years to gather, though I’m glad you’re doing it.

  328. says

    Pteryxx:

    But equally unbelievable is the film’s two-dimensional portrayal of Hannah’s biological mother, a tough-minded striver who sought a late-term abortion at 18 because, as the abortion nurse recalls, “she had to go to school, she had to have a career.”

    Of course. Misogynists, regardless of their gender, loathe women who seek to live for themselves rather than entirely for others and stereotype them as either frivolous, unstable, and slutty; or selfish, hard, and cold. (With occasional crossover, as in Fatal Attraction.) The “Evil Career Woman” stereotype never goes away.

  329. leighshryock says

    @Pteryx:

    While I agree that disclosing donors and donation amounts might be in bad form and taste, complete transparency about the amounts currently available and how much is going in and out (but not necessarily to or from who) would be, IMO, important.

  330. Louis says

    Pteryxx,

    Yeah, sorry, I didn’t think of that. {Smacks self in head}

    Question withdrawn.

    It was a genuine question though, not an excuse to humblebrag! I never know if I’m doing too little or too much, but then I guess by virtue of simply being able to consider that question that way…

    …well, I get it.

    Louis

  331. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    My “best” experience with high lipids was a patient who came in to the ER for something completely unrelated to heart disease (flu, or something like that) and had blood drawn.

    OMG, Dianne, I must have been your patient—I had lard blood too! It’s actually kinda funny in a morbid way. For several years my GP kept telling me my cholesterol was too high. The bloodwork came back with the phrase “markedly lipemic.” This made me giggle, “Are you telling me my blood is fat?” I asked the doc.

    Well, yes. It was, in fact, mayonnaise with red food coloring. But none of this sunk in to my thick skull and I ignored it. My GP called me while I was in the hospital telling me how awful he felt for not being more aggressive about this with me, but I told him it was my responsibility. I was not a cooperative patient, I was dumb, and I ignored the risk. It was all on me at that point.

    So how bad was it? Total cholesterol near 300, triglycerides at 780 (which made it impossible to measure my LDL), HDL below 40. All are drastically better now, what would be considered great if I didn’t have cardiac disease but not quite as good as they want me to get to (I probably never will).

  332. Pteryxx says

    Yeah, I’m just a bit sore about “what constitutes a decent donation”. I agree about transparency and cashflow for such a fund as a fund, definitely.

  333. Rey Fox says

    Continuing Pteryxx’s thoughts, I’ve always been of the “every little bit helps” mindset, and no one should be guilt-tripped into larger donations that they can (or will for any reason) pay. Honestly, setting a floor as low as $5 would keep that line open for any time anyone wants to toss a little money that way and not come off as insulting. Although there are fees associated with using Paypal, so perhaps $5 isn’t a high enough floor for fees to make it not worth the bother.

  334. says

    Louis:

    All right, I’ll ask, what constitutes a decent contribution to the Decent Human Being Fund?

    I’d say any amount one can contribute. Seriously, whether someone has 50 cents or 500 dollars they can donate, does it matter? It all adds up. There’s zero need to shame those who could perhaps part with a dollar a month or embarrass those who could perhaps donate 200.00 a month (or a one time donation.)

    All that’s really needed is someone to act as treasurer. *shrug*

    In other not news, I’m reading Why Are You Atheists So Angry by Greta Christina. Highly recommended. Imma loving my Nook Tablet, too. What a joy to be able to highlight and write notes.

  335. leighshryock says

    @Rey Fox: With the way that paypal fees work, $5 would yield about $4.50 to the fund. That’s a good bottom floor, since much less than that and an increasingly large amount of it gets eaten by paypal.

    Examples from recent transactions:
    $2 = $1.64
    $1 = $.66
    $.5 = $.19

  336. Pteryxx says

    Although there are fees associated with using Paypal, so perhaps $5 isn’t a high enough floor for fees to make it not worth the bother.

    Paypal’s also not the most ethical of businesses. I’ve been looking into a transaction-handling startup called Dwolla, that goes from bank account to bank account, directly, with no need for credit cards, which a lot of folks *cough* also don’t have. Dwolla charges 25 cents per transaction regardless of amount.

    http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-11/tech/30381380_1_credit-card-interchange-fees-paypal

  337. Sili says

    Say it with me now: Sell. Out.

    I’d rather think of you as our fifth columnist.

  338. Sili says

    Paypal also has a tendency to random freeze account. And they most certainly don’t like unregistered charities – look at the stunt they pulled with Regretsy around Christmas.

    Aren’t we also gonna get into trouble with the Taxman pretty fast?

  339. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    A decent donation is what you can afford to give and what you want to give. In several rounds of this ad hoc emergency fund we’ve had donations from $5 to $300. It’s all good and there’s no judgment whatsoever.

  340. leighshryock says

    @Sili: as I barely touched on above, that’s a concern.

    We would have a few options:
    1) Register as a charity.
    2) Have someone hold the purse strings that doesn’t mind being stuck with the tax bill.
    3) Have someone hold the purse strings with the understanding that they can take compensation for their tax bill up to the amount of extra tax that the account costs them.
    4) Don’t do paypal at all, do it all in cash or other liquid assets that don’t get reported to the IRS (Big nono to the IRS, if they want to consider it income, and you’ve been hiding it. I’m not a tax professional, so, don’t do this unless you talk to one.)

  341. cicely (Normal Service Has Been Restored) says

    I think the tax situation WRT the proposed Decent Peoples’ Ass-Saving Fund is likeliest to be the biggest hurdle (the second being administration). One possible solution, based solely on individual decision and initiative, might be for contributing Pharyngulites to privately collect what they can/wish to spare in a can; then, when funds are needed, package it up and send it to a single distributor (as Josh has been acting as our distributor). Unless the distributor-of-funds would incur tax liability as if it were income? Hmmm… I freely admit ignorance of the way(s) this could bite someone in the ass.

    Still, the cause is worthy, and I know where I’ve got an empty can….

  342. Sili says

    White house has put up a “Taxpayer Receipt” calculator.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/2011-taxreceipt

    It’s just downright depressing how little of my tax bill goes toward things like science research, but so much of it goes towards the money pit known as the military.

    I know it’d never work, but it’d be nice to be able to go through the receipt and say yes/no.

    I’m OK with paying this amount of taxes, but here is how I want it to be distributed, thank you very much.

  343. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Yeah, administration would be a burden. I run a 501c3 and I know how to set them up and incorporate them but I don’t think any of us has the time or desire to form a board, adopt bylaws, accounting, etc. Much better on an informal basis.

  344. Sili says

    Sorry to piss on the parade like this, but as I’ve said I don’t much like people, so I tend to think of the worst thing I would do an then apply it to others indiscriminately.

    Sorry.

  345. maureenbrian says

    PayPal has the advantage of being available to donors in more than one country. It can also cope with varied currencies, unlike parts of the US banking system.

  346. Jules says

    P.S. Jules you work for Elsevier? I’ve published with them a few times.

    I’m on the textbook side. Helps me sleep at night.

    Sili, aw, you made me feel better. You do have a soul!

    Paypal bugs me. They locked my account for $0.30. Josh, I fixed it today, but it may take up to 5 days to go through. So if you don’t get it from me before then, that’s why.

    In other news: Baby is the fun age where you can toss her around like a ball. She’s small for her age, so it’s even better. Iz squeerific.

  347. A. R says

    I would make a comment about Elsevier being like the Evil Empire in Star Wars, but I’ve already associated it too strongly with the Catholics.

  348. says

    On a completely unrelated matter.

    I finally saw Rare Exports last night. Not a bad movie, I suppose, but wow it sure makes me miss Finland! Now I am jonesing for some lonkero, a sauna and some mämmi.*

    *Guess which one I’m lying about?

  349. leighshryock says

    After some further musing, the best bets are as follows:
    1) Charity registration, or
    2) Keep liquid assets on hand to donate directly to the recipient in times of emergency, or
    3) Have a treasurer that is willing to accept the tax burden, or subtract an amount from each donation to pay for the tax burden (or a portion of it).

    If there’s going to be any cashflow above $5k annually (total), 3 becomes a poor option, 1 looks better and better the more we’re talking about, and 2 stays about the same, regardless of the amount of cashflow we’re talking about.

  350. Weed Monkey says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith

    I finally saw Rare Exports last night. Not a bad movie, I suppose, but wow it sure makes me miss Finland! Now I am jonesing for some lonkero, a sauna and some mämmi.*

    *Guess which one I’m lying about?

    Mämmi, no question about it. I mean, it’s not bad, but there are so many better uses for malt and rye.

    I saw Rare Exports last year when my parents and sister unexpectedly showed up and took me for a dinner and a movie for my birthday. The movie was OK, but I think my family was the most entertaining part of the evening. :)

  351. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    Utterly trivial complaints 1 and 2:

    1. I have a class in the same room at the same time with the same professor as one of my classes last quarter. I also have another class in the same room at a different time. I sit in the same place in both classes as I did last quarter. But both classes have like 1.5x as many people as my class last quarter. I am distracted by the fact that there are too many people.

    2. My classmates do not seem to understand that they should sit in the same place from one class to the next, not just move all around and take other people’s seats.

  352. Muse says

    Let me talk to my mother the non-profit accountant and see what her opinion on the whole thing is. Also – if we do this, I think we need to have more than one person with access – I’d suggest two or three, as that way there is some accountability. I’ll also say, that subject to the tax issue being resolved, I’m okay with being one of those people, but I’m not a terribly regular commenter, though I lurk, and so I’d not be remotely offended if people would rather a more known quantity.

  353. Pteryxx says

    If there’s going to be any cashflow above $5k annually (total), 3 becomes a poor option, 1 looks better and better the more we’re talking about, and 2 stays about the same, regardless of the amount of cashflow we’re talking about.

    In that case, I suggest that whatever rescue funding the Horde has been doing this year, be recorded by Josh or whoever else handles the gifting, so we can get an accurate picture of just how much total cash flow we’re talking about here. It also might be useful to graph the spread of individual donations: IIRC, there’re different tax implications for donations above/below a specific amount?

  354. Ogvorbis (no relation to the Ogg family) says

    Say it with me now: Sell. Out.

    I’d rather think of you as our fifth columnist.

    hell, look at me. I’m a liberal who was in the army and now works in a job requiring a uniform adapted from the military. I have a wife, 2 kids, 2.5 cats, and an American sedan. And I wear a cowboy hat. I’m like the poster child for GOP.

  355. Sili says

    2. My classmates do not seem to understand that they should sit in the same place from one class to the next, not just move all around and take other people’s seats.

    I was not aware that you could study classical Greek in kindergarten.

    /snark

  356. leighshryock says

    @Pteryxx:

    Technically, the magic number is $12,000 for ‘cash gifts’. That is, for any individual gift, or for total received gifts.

    Whether or not the IRS would consider this to be ‘cash gifts’, or ‘income’ is a different story entirely, and thus why I feel like tax professional advice would be handy.

  357. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    I was not aware that you could study classical Greek in kindergarten.

    /snark

    *sticks out her tongue at you*