While I was in Kamloops, I got to meet The Thinking Atheist, who premiered this most excellent video at the meeting.
This guy is a talented pro — I hope more atheist organizations tap into his skills (he made one of the best videos of the Reason Rally, for instance.)
(Episode CCCXXVIII: No remorse.)
dianne:
I shouldn’t have said anything, I know better — I just made sure you weren’t talking about anything extremely serious before jumping in, as I’m very threadrupt, but it still felt akward. Thanks for your kindness, Dianne.
Louis:
Have I ever told you that you are evil? And really, really good? Heh. FSU. You are evil.
Nutmeg, #499,
They do. As do grooms. Marriage, whilst a wonderful privilege that should be extended to all and sundry is moderately stressful.
The smiling alone takes weeks to get over. Then you have to deal with the fact that one of your wife’s drunk work friends said “Nice beard!” to your Auntie Androulla, who then promptly beat the shit out of him with a shoe.
True story.
Never, EVER, fuck with a short, hairy, middle aged Greek lady.* Just don’t even think about it.
Louis
* Fuck them by all means, if they and you want it. After all, that’s one way the world gets more Greeks. But never, EVER, E_E_E_EVER fuck with them.
Ogvorbis,
The really good bit is I have met Harry Kroto a few times (mostly prior to the Nobel sadly), he did know my number but will not remember me and I really, REALLY want to see busy profs bothered by numpties.
I am cruel, but I am fair. I bring together the intellectual high and the intellectual low and see what the resulting collision spews out.
My guess: Dark matter.
Louis
Maybe a Higgs-Boson?
(Wait. I arrive home after drinking some wine and because of some cut or fold or whatever I get what falsely seems as a first comment, with misspellings and all? I’m going to hide under a rock for a while. Oh well — hi anyway — I’ll find some time to read you tomorrow.)
Ogvorbis,
Don’t be patently ridiculous, there’s no such thing. Everyone knows that the so called supposed Higgs’ mechanism is actually Jesus and all his little angels jumping up and down on supposedly massive particles.
Louis
Hi Forelle!
Wine drinking. I recommends it!
Louis
Okay, I feel guilty.
I can’t tell if Erodinbladewin is serious on the “light entertainment” thread, others seem to think so, and if anyone thinks I am wading through >400 comments of woo and shite slinging to find out they have another thing coming.
However, I have managed some fairly good mockery. Pride…guilt…pride…guilt…
Either way, I really hope he goes to Tallahassee.
Louis
Louis
re:TKboy
You are a cruel, cruel man.
Well done!
Gin?
Threadrupt, but we love out Fiat 500c with the manual transmission. Espresso paint with the cafe au lait rag top. It’s tons of fun, plus 35 mpg in the city. That is very hard to beat.
I saw an iguana WHOO!
Chigau,
Yes. Yes I am.
Gin? Hmmmm not on a school night. Matron will be annoyed. Better make mine a pint of crème de menthe, I’m feeling decadent.
Louis
Ms. Daisy Cutter:
*snortle! choke! gasp!*
ROFLMAOBBQ!!!
“Surreal” is such
*sigh*
…an inadequate word for the visual I just got!
–
Louis
I haven’t had crème de menthe in years.
I’ll buy some tomorrow.
LDTR and Pteryxx: I’ve seen Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask a few times. It’s a hoot, even if it’s extremely dated by now. I think my favorite bit was Tony Randall as some kind of technician in the pleasure center of a man’s brain, on the phone, yelling, “Can we PLEASE get an erection down there?!”
Which was also the scene featuring Woody Allen as a sperm cell.
Ice cream makes life easier to deal with. Particularly when chocolate syrup is added.
*sigh* “End of the year blues” feels more like depression when you factor in just how repetitive and boring every day at work gets. Same people whining about everything, same stupid stunts, same moments of “They don’t fucking tell us ANYTHING!”…
———————————————
There has GOT to be a way to break this habit of one-hour napping! It’s like my body never quite left Costa Rica behind. Even on a good night’s sleep, it’s off to Snoozeland at 1pm. It’s one thing if I want to nap after a hard run – once that high wears off my legs don’t want to move anymore – but at any other time, nuh-uh. Worse, a 20 minute nap somehow turns into a full hour. My ability to nap almost anywhere, including, possibly, on a picket fence, is going from useful to something that’s pissing me off.
re Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask…
if there wre EVER a movie that needed a viewing party, it’d be that one.
My favourite scene in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) was Gene Wilder and the sheep.
I am going to drink frozen gin, smear the rest on my balls, beast a telekinetic wank-warrior with the empty bottle, mock a misogynist, be vaguely nice to a numpty and get misunderstood by a muppet (sorry, I’m alliterating) and then fuck off to bed.
{Checks list}
Well it seems I have accomplished many, if not all of tonight’s goals. And the best part is I have juniper smelling, tingly balls!
Merry fucking Christmas!
Louis
giant boobies….
*drool*
*ahem*
now for something completely different:
The subject is:
putting alcohol in your freezer
question number one:
-Which is the best alcohol to put in your freezer, if the intention is to drink it straight up?
my vote: vodka. preferably Absolut Lemon
you say….?
Question number two:
is there a good alcohol to toss in the freezer for purposes OTHER than straight up, and if so, what purposes would those be?
Merry fucking Christmas!
gin and xmas go together like xmas and … xmas trees?
what the fuck month is it anyway? feels like xmas time down here, but it’s nearing June FFS.
*hands Louis a fuming tankard of grog*
I think it swallowed it.
*Cheers*
Icthyic, #(5)22,
Frozen Vodka Bum shots.
1) Put vodka in freezer.
2) Wait a few hours. Maybe 24 to be certain.
3) Take a short piece of piping.
4) Insert tubing into anus.
5) Do a head/handstand against a wall.
6) Have one of the other members of your rugby club pour a shot of frozen vodka down the tube into your bum.
7) Stay there for a few minutes.
8) Get back down, put pants on.
It works.
Don’t even ask me to describe Bile Beer.
Louis
My range of experience is limited. I think, to gin.
I may start a series of experiments tomorrow.
Would this work with whisk(e)y? Rum? Bailey’s?
Ice wine can be kept in the freezer before serving to guests (I don’t drink the shit.)
Nerd, #24,
Thanks for the grog.
{Swig}
I can’t believe I got away with it. I even pointed at the relevant bit of the periodic table. Do people simply not google any more?
I was taking the uproarious extreme piss out of the guy and I am the Nice Civil One because, for once, I didn’t say “fuck”. Go figure.
Data point #287386273872346 in “Tone Trolls Couldn’t Spot Genuine Civility If It Bit Them On The Unmentionables”.
Louis
Louis
It works?
What the fuck is supposed to happen???
so that’s two votes for frozen vodka, one for gin.
It works.
I know.
I liken it to the difference between smoking a joint and eating a pot brownie.
when you drink alcohol, a lot of it is processed BEFORE it reaches your bloodstream.
if you bypass all that by going in the out door… goes directly into bloodstream, do not pass go, do not collect 200.00
Would this work with whisk(e)y? Rum? Bailey’s?
yes, but since bailey’s has dairy in it, I wouldn’t recommend it due to ice crystals forming.
it would harm the taste, I think, and might even get it to freeze solid, even at normal freezer temps.
I hope everyone leaves the little light thread in it’s current state.
otoh, pure vodka might leave quite the burning sensation on those delicate membranes…
how often did you try this, Louis?
Bailey-sicles!
Chigau,
The alcohol is absorbed, not brilliantly, across the mucous membrane in your bum. It gets you drunk. The same principle works with eye shots.
Granted, I have never done any of these things sober, it’s not an idea that comes up at the start of the evening. But hey, I got drunker!
As for what is supposed to happen…
…erm, you look like a total moron in front of your friends and team mates before making the next idiot in line look like a total moron.
It’s like you don’t understand young men at ALL. ;-)
It’s taken us dozens of millennia as a species to evolve sufficiently that young men weren’t dying from “OI THARG! LOOK AT THIS!” constantly.
Louis
indeed.
http://www.eatertainment.com/lifestyle/recipes/recipe.aspx?RecipeID=386
It’s taken us dozens of millennia as a species to evolve sufficiently that young men weren’t dying from “OI THARG! LOOK AT THIS!” constantly.
LOL
yeah, now it’s evolved into…
Smell this!
…where “this” is usually some sort of forgotten, unwashed, gym clothes or equivalent.
Icythic, #(5)31,
Erm about once a month on average in the rugby seasons from 1993 to 1996. Is that a bad thing? I have something of a chequered past. Well…chequered…it’s more fluorescent paisley after that one time in Amsterdam.
Pro tip: Amstel, weed, cocaine and uber strength magic mushrooms = BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD combo.
Louis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enema
…because knowledge is power.
And since I can no longer spell Icthyic, I am going to bed for realsies.
Louis
lol
‘nite
Whiskey, especially the cheap shit. *drinks*
I’m finding out this is not recommended when trying to navigate through reams of technical nonsense. The numbers and squiggles are starting to run together.
Whiskey, especially the cheap shit. *drinks*
1 whiskey vote recorded.
In fact, I do believe this will be next on my list to try.
…well, the northern hemi has gone bedi.
think I’ll go hit the gym.
a hearty frozen cheers
Skipping over the “bum shots”*.
I have received my new (to me) car! Woo!
*Ichthy:
Crop organic cucumber vodka
or
Ice Queen vodka (imported from Kazakhstan)
Gaah! I have a huge metagenomics file that I have to upload via FTP and the work network won’t allow me to connect without a permission slip. So I have to use my home Internet. Home cable connections are not known for their blazing upload speeds. I really don’t want to babysit filezilla all night, but I have to have those files there to work with in the morning.
I could have fedexed the damn thumb drive to them in the same amount of time.
Sorry to vent, but fuck! How hard is it to ok an FTP site from the server? Upload it at home? Wtf is this shit?
MikeG
Want some frozen gin?
Yes, please. Where is the tube?
blargh
everybody pretend they didn’t see my borkquote
No no no no no. Eye membranes do not absorb it quite so readily, and the main effect of eye shots is potentially permanent damage to the cornea.
Speaking of vodka, I had my first white russian tonight. Woo! Took awhile for that to wear off.
I WANT BOOZE.
*pout!*
Hooray! The first 454 run is uploaded!
*sigh* i’m just going to have to hope it won’t timeout. I need to sleep if i’m to be of any use tomorrow. If I slide the keyboard of the laptop under the edge of the couch, that should keep the cats from deciding it’s a good place to sleep. Wish me placebo luck, and sleep well y’all.
G’night
Carlie: White Russians are teh yummeh.
MikeG: Sympathy from a fellow sufferer from next-generation sequencing. I’m at the “what the hell do I do with all this data?” stage.
sometimes quirky, welcome to TET.
Crip Dyke, congratulations!
Vodka again, for making pie crust with. Super flaky!
hey, nice tip. Never thought of that, but I can see exactly where it would be a good idea.
frozen gin (Tanq, pref) is for gin & tonics sitting outside on sunny summer afternoons. Because that’s the only time and place and activity for gin & tonics, and it’s a time & place & activity when nothing else will do. And at that time and place, the colder the better. More lime, please, and a couple more ice cubes? thanx.
Bwahaha!
http://www.clickhereyouidiot.com/
(semirandom awful stuff that many of y’all probably already know)
—
…In amongst all these threads, I had occasion to reference the book “I Never Called It Rape” but I’d never actually read the thing. There’s a browseable version on the publisher’s site, so I started reading.
I didn’t know that the phrase “War On Women” dated back to 1991, that the statistics of 1 in 4 women having been raped (and 80% of rapes being by someone known to the victim) went back to the 1980s, or that the same old excuses in all these threads have been made for the last … *counts* … thirty years, at least. No wonder y’all veterans are so disgusted. Anyway, I’ll likely link to it more often.
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060925727
Thanks for all the conga rats…
In other news, i support good scotch at about 15 degrees (60 for my US friends, I’m getting used to metric).
Frozen booze doesn’t really excite me, but I could go for a fresh fruit daiquiri
Feeling Gravity’s Pull
Knox Harrington: So you’re Lebowski. Maudie’s told me all about you. She’ll be back in a moment, sit down. Would you like a drink?
The Dude: [as he sits down] Uh, yeah. White Russian?
Knox Harrington: The bar’s over there.
That the guy – David Thewlis – who played Knox Harrington also played Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films cracks me up.
frozen gin (Tanq, pref) is for gin & tonics sitting outside on sunny summer afternoons. Because that’s the only time and place and activity for gin & tonics, and it’s a time & place & activity when nothing else will do. And at that time and place, the colder the better. More lime, please, and a couple more ice cubes? thanx.
hmm.
yes.
Alcohol
Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
Good morning
Janine
I hope that video isn’t about big boobies… *looks suspicious*
+++++
Why would anybody want to get drunk without actually drinking the alcohol?
I would also like to note that the weather looks like we could have a gin tonic or a pastis or a glass of sherry tonight on the balcony YAY!
The Lavender Song
Giliell?
What?
Cruel Inventions
When I Win The Lottery
Piece of shit is now capturing my links.
Why?
Janine
I should have refreshed
When I typed my comment sat under your link about “feeling gravity’s pull”. Since we were discussing bras and big boobies last night I though I’d make a joke.
I failed.
Also, please remind me never to say anything like “my fucking hairdryer broke”. It might make some people faint and give them wrong ideas.
This is bullshit. What the fuck am I doing wrong to have my links snagged?
Alcohol
?
SQB
My humor seems to be still asleep or something.
See “blacklist” thread.
Some idiot claims that PZ’s stupid tweet to “fuck gelato man to the ground” was a call to gang rape the guy to death and ryancupcakeson is talking about the ethymology of “fuck”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPCOhrShIrU
Yes, I embedded this video on purpose.
Or not.
Crayon Sun
We are perplexed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fStwgKaDqjQ
Sorry Too Late
Having symbols under the link keeps the video from embedding.
Morning, everyone :)
Hekuni Cat, MQG
Thanks :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCvvDUTpP30
Solar Sister
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5x4tdshQtM
Birthday Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIRz55w42Nc
Birthday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdl-LIH1XgM
Birthday Cake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQsiI4uB7A
Birthday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUgOwSJE7w
Happy Birthday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgqD826HGuI
Happy Birthday
Ehrm… Janine, are you trying to tell us something? If so, happy birthday!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv6pYqOmHO4
Birthday Gal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bV-xpaeDMM
Birthday Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHFsoM0Mk0
Birthday Cake
COFFEE! STAT!
Louis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1SsUSOeJ0
Happy Birthday
*Pours a triple espresso down the USB*
Crap. Port flooded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4u62e5WYQo
Black Coffee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quha6C3P2YU
Cigarettes And Coffee
*Perks up*
Did someone say “coffee”!?
Ok. I have now made myself 1500mL of very strong coffee. Humanity may soon be restored.
Louis
Janine,
Birthday?
Birthday Boy by Ween.
BROWN AS HELL MY FRIENDS!!!
I love me some Ween.
Louis
How about a Pocket Coffee? Sadly unavailable in the Netherlands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2RPo2cVjd4
Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle
I’m already drinking coffee, what I’m missing right now is chocolate.
There is no chocolate in the house.
*panic*
Sometime Quirky,
Welcome to TET, forgive my belated welcome.
Now, about that coffee, I would share, but this is kind of a medical emergency. Is it okay if I share the next batch? This one needs to be taken intravenously.
Louis
P.S. SQB, #96, was it an open port? Apparently that’s important. I’m not a computer scientist though, nor do I play one on TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8lntoH78Lc
Hot Chocolate
Beatrice,
ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, okay, calm down. We can get through this together. Just take it in steps.
There is still chocolate in the world. I can see some from here.
If there is still chocolate in the world, there’s no need for panic, there’s a need for cold, hard logical reasoning on how to get that chocolate into your hands. Breathe. It’s okay. It’s really okay.
Can you get from where you are to a shop? Do you have enough money? If not we can send you some for chocolate, or just send you chocolate. Do you have a 24 hour emergency chocolate courier service near you? Do you live within an hour’s fast drive from any major metropolis?
Time is of the essence, but I think we can help.
Louis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZABMi9RQncs
Chocolate City
Fucking hell. “Why Immodest Dress is a Form of Aggression.” Written by yet another Special Female/Chill Girl™ who has thrown in with the MRA set.
While the post doesn’t come out and justify rape, it’s still pretty damned misogynist, calling women who don’t cloak themselves “whores” and peddling the canard that women have immense power over men simply because they (the straight ones, anyway) want to fuck us (some of us, anyway) and we have the power (legally, anyway, in some places, anyway) to say no.
BTW, note the blog title. “Thinking” is another of those words that, in a user handle or site name, indicate precisely the opposite of their actual meaning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6IUqrFHjw
Java Jive
Louis:
Hiya, Louis. Thanks for the welcome :)
Oh, and you don’t have to share the infusion, don’t worry; you just gave me the urge to increase my caffeine intake. I’m just starting my third cup now :)
Sexual Chocolate
Ms. Daisy Cutter, did you spot this one?
Why We Must Discriminate
*deep breaths*
Ok, everything is alright with the world.
There is still chocolate.
Somewhere that is not in my hands! *deep breath**calm down*
But ok, I can get it.
More coffee first.
Caffeine
The “thinking” housewife quotes someone who she describes as perceptive (yeah, right) :
OMLoG! Please tell me it’s a poe! And that all the comments are poes too! And that the writer of that piece agreeing with the comments is still more poeing.
Please?
Despair.
Hmm, what a wonderful borkquote. And so not what I intended, nor what I saw in preview.
Another example of reality being against Republicans:
“Social welfare cuts ultimately come with heavy price, researchers say” http://phys.org/news/2012-05-social-welfare-ultimately-heavy-price
Crystal
Alright, not about coffee but it is in the lyrics. Besides, this is pretty much my top favorite band.
Surfin’ USA
Go ahead, do it!
Sometimes Quirky,
It’s cool, I’m on the second hoddle of coffee now. Sharesies?
It’s pure Colombian Arabica if that helps. I made it strong enough that the cup can be held sideways and none of the coffee pours out. Well, not for a few minutes. I estimate it has the viscosity of lukewarm concrete.
Louis
Wipe Out
Sorry SQB, not in the same class.
Louis:
Sharesies :)
Ooooh, sounds perfect.
Janine: that’s what I thought, too ;)
Listening to Hot Chocolate (Janine’s #106) really made my
morningday (I haven’t even noticed that it’s noon already).SQB, what you linked to was an update of a sound. What I linked to was a deconstruction of a sound. I enjoy the deconstruction more.
Janine, you don’t have to explain. I understand and appreciate the deconstruction, it’s just that sometimes I enjoy the deconstruction and sometimes I find it all too sarcastic.
@109, MDC,
the ultraorthodox Haredi Jews in Israel who picket schoolgirls on their way to and from school and fling feces at them for their immodest school uniforms would agree!
I had a couple Jim Beam last night, and tour guide and I went through the meme-generator images of Kim Jong Un. Now every time she sees him on TV, she points and laughs and exclaims “hungry! ” I’m so corrosive…
Happy birthday, Janine!
Janine, is it your birthday? Or someone else’s? (well, of course it’s bound to be someone else’s).
But just in case, Happy Birthday if applicable!
And I shall take this opportunity to say that
Today is SonSpawn’s birthday! I made pancakes for breakfast! SonSpawn and Other Parent of Spawn had theirs with dulce de leche; I had mine with maple syrup. We all have happy stomachs now.
Sadly, we are still in the middle of exams and SonSpawn will be off shortly to an afternoon exam – but it’s just about his easiest one, so that takes the edge off. And don’t tell him, but his sister is coming home from uni today specially to have birthday dinner with us tonight before going back to uni next morning. Hmm, I seem to be feeling oddly pro-Spawn today for some reason.
Shit, shit, shit, fuck
My best friend’s mum has died. The one with pancreatic cancer, pneumonia and a hospital bug.
Life is fucking unfair and I want people to find the fucking cure for cancer and don’t get scientific on me now for that phrase.
Also, don’t read your text messages at the gas station in case they make you cry.
Happy Birthday Janine!
I’m watching the news on the Chinese English language state news channel CCTV 9, and it is reporting on the PRC’s recent report about human rights abuses in the USA. It is reported there that the US government violated the rights of their citizens with regards to the Occupy movement.
Irony meter overload. They do have a point of course, funnily enough. That channel is a hoot.
Giliell, I’m so sorry :(
And I agree that the vast majority of life is totally fucking unfair.
Gilliel,
a couple of very promising studies on human antibody/vaccination therapies for a large variety of tumors are at this point years rather than decades away.
It doesn’t help your friend’s mother, but it’s good news for coming generations.
Giliell,
*hugs* It’s not fucking fair. :(
Janine,
♥ Happy birthday! ♥
Everyone else:
Good morning! Happy Friday (Wednesday)!
I’m so sorry, Giliell.
[fair use]
Advocates hail first aged-care facilities for gays
I quote the beginning of the article:
Um. Victoria, Australia.
Hallo everyone, I’m completely Pharyngu-clueless, Mister got last Thursday and Friday off for his birthday, so I had him home for 5 day straight! Haven’t had that much time together in at least 3 years. Then he had to work Sat. & Sun., but was home Sunday night, so I had him back for 3 more days. Yeehaw and all that. :D I wasn’t online at all. I think that’s about a year in Pharyngutime. :D
Hugs for those in need, Happy Dances for those in need of those and chocolate for everyone else.
Janine, Happiest of Birthdays! Love you always. ♥
Cipher, please grab my email address from my zenfolio and drop me a line – I haz something for you!
Happy birthday Janine.
When you have time, each member of the Pullet Patrol™ has bought you a thimbleful of swill.
Oh, Giliell, I’m sorry :(
Janine: First, happy birthday! Second, no, I didn’t. Jesus H. Christ on rye.
A friend sent me the “aggression” link. They found it at Jesus’ General. (Great post title there, too.)
He’s got a newer post up about a militant fetus-hugger who calls himself “Pro-Life Warror.” He was the lawyer of doctor-killer Paul Hill. He’s now jizzing his pants with joy over the prospect of Oklahoma law permitting him to commit violence in order to “save the unborn.”
(I really don’t know how bloggers like Jesus’ General, Roy Edroso, and the crew at Sadly, No! spend so much time wallowing in those sorts of electronic gutters and remain functional.)
Oh, and I missed this the first time around, but TW in the “Thinking” Housewife’s comments for a woman blaming childhood sexual abuse on feminism and “slut culture.”
Also, the “Thinking Housewife” calls herself “Arete.” Which is Greek for “excellence.” Another fine example of the “If you have to say it…” rule.
SQB, that blockquote was pure poetry.
Opposable Thumbs, happy birthday to your SonSpawn.
Birger, Phys.org changed the URL on that article: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-social-welfare-ultimately-heavy-price.html
Giliell, I am so, so sorry. Fuck cancer so hard.
Hi, Caine! Welcome back. Glad to hear you got so much quality time with Mister.
I read today that the actor who plays Sheldon in BBT came out as gay, google it, I don’t know how to cut and paste with this tablet. Is it still important to “come out”, or does that put the abnormal back into being gay?
*waves at Caine!*
Is it Janine’s birthday? Damn, standards are really slipping. They’ll let anybody have a birthday. Some day they* might let me have a birthday.
*”They” being them.
A friend with a degree in epidemiology (although they now work in IT) is arguing with the spouter of the following:
And, yes, apparently it’s only microwaves that do this.
If this were an image-friendly forum, here I would post a .gif of some actor or cartoon character looking upward with a “WTF is this shit” expression.
I’ve spent the last week at a hotel in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The computer in the lobby, upon which I am writing this now, has really aggressive nannyware. I can’t get at most of the Pharyngula threads because people used words and phrases like “bl*wj*b” and “FGM”. I’ve complained to the hotel management but that’s had little effect. The manager did tell me about the time The Weather Channel website was blocked as racist because they used the word “st*rmfr*nt”.
Thanx, everybody
rorschach
I think that will help her in the time to come, as a hope that other families won’t lose their mum like that, and it will help her with her fear, because I know that she’s also scared shitless. Some years ago her aunt died of cancer and she told me back then that she’s afraid of cancer running in the family and now her nightmare has come true :(
Hi Caine
Ms. Daisy Cutter
So, should we eat our meat raw?
Yes, although of course it depends on one’s environment. I’m going to *cough* assume that you’re only asking because in China you couldn’t look up the health effects.
Put? Back?
Anyway this seems to presume that coming out is done primarily for the gay community, rather than the individual. That is rarely the case.
Good morning horde (it’s probably morning for somebody, so I’ll stick with it, even though it’s afternoon for me).
I’m so threadrupt, I’m ancient, but I’ll try to stick around more even though I’m totes working on my dissertation and I’m a physician now ZOMG you guys!!!
I’m on a tiiiight schedule with the dissertation due on June 30th.
I think it is important (but of course no prerequisite) for gay, transgender and queer actors and celebrities coming out as such if they are inclined to do it and can shoulder the backlash.
Because being LGBTQ is still not a non-issue as long as people face discrimination for the way they are. Celebrities coming out help with normalizing. As in, “Hey, A. C. Tor came out as gay but he is totally not any different as before ZOMG”.
Also, they provide anecdotes. While anecdotes are not evidence, a lot of people only work with anecdotes and people like Neil Patrick Harris who just go on and live their lives might make people think twice about the bigotry they have no issue pouring over “Teh Gheys” as a faceless entity.
Louis:
Insert obligatory Brownian joke here… (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
* * * *
I live in the house I grew up in, which means that the landscape around me – especially trees – evokes a whole lot of childhood memories. Given that my family was bats abusive, trees sort of feel like the nurturing family bit of my childhood. Today we have to take down a 30″ diameter white oak that is totally lovely, but starting to decline – some fungal root stuff, some hurricane wind damage, and (to make these things VERY relevant) a serious growth trope to lean over DaughterSpawn’s bedroom. I have nightmares about windstorms and falling trees, centering usually on this one leaning tree.
I am majorly sad about it. It’s totally necessary, but also awful.
I’m going to impregnate some of the branches with shitake mushroom spores, and the tree crew is leaving the stump at about 5′ so that I can cut the top into a reading stand for using an ipad/kindle and drop spindling at the same time. And I’m interested in what the gardening possibilities will be, given that we’ll have more sun in a particular part of the front yard.
Gileill, I’m so sorry! Cancer sucks and pancreatic cancer sucks dead bunnies through a straw.
The reason certain things can become toxic in the microwave is because the heat and friction causes some proteins to denature.
But…conventional ovens also produce heat and friction. And isn’t denaturing proteins one of the key things that cooking does? I may be wrong on this, but I thought heat denaturing was one of the things that separated cooked from raw.
Some years ago her aunt died of cancer and she told me back then that she’s afraid of cancer running in the family and now her nightmare has come true :(
One thought on this: There are a few known genetic syndromes that lead to a higher risk of cancer. Two family members is probably still in the random events category (lots of people die of cancer-sorry), but if your friend’s worried, she could go to a genetic counselor to see if there are any identified syndromes that she could be tested for. Again, if so, there might be prophylactic measures or increased screening that she could take that would be useful to her.
Perhaps I missed this, but superhero Northstar is getting married to his boyfriend! For all the things comics do wrong, I guess they’re doing this right.
[crank logic] But ovens are NATURAL and have been around forever and microwaves are NEW and there is RADIATION so they are EVIL.[/crank logic]
Keenacat:
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee, congratulations! :D
life is like a pitbull:
I could be wrong, but I thought Rorschach was being rather tongue-in-cheek there, referencing the character that Jim Parsons plays (Sheldon Cooper) in The Big Bang Theory.
CAINE!!!!!!!
{Pounce}
Have you been away or have I been amazingly unobservant and forgetful? Either way I missed you.
Louis
Giliell: Commiserations.
Janine: Happy birthday!
Now that was not a well composed post…the juxtaposition is all wrong.
Oh dammit you know what I mean by now.
Louis
Keenacat,
MEGA GRATS!!!!
Now, I have this pain in my knee…
Louis
Keenacat:
/ ZOMG! Woo hoo!
*confetti!* *chocolate cake!*
So… now’s the time to solicit free medical advice, yeah? ;)
Louis:
:Pounces back*: ♥ I’ve been offline, spending time with Mister. Been disconnected since the 14th, I’m back in the world now and everything is shiny. :D
I’ll try to catch up on the Blacklist thread and join in later on.
*:Pounces on Daisy & Audley, too ♥:
… Wait, how many docs do we have here now? Three at least, right?
Freaking awesome.
Research: Negative leakage could be key to reducing carbon emissions http://phys.org/news/2012-05-negative-leakage-key-carbon-emissions.html
Subaru telescope pioneers the use of adaptive optics for optical observations http://phys.org/news/2012-05-subaru-telescope-optics-optical.html
Aliens don’t want to eat us, says former SETI director http://phys.org/news/2012-05-aliens-dont-seti-director.html
Researchers demonstrate possible primitive mechanism of chemical info self-replication http://phys.org/news/2012-05-primitive-mechanism-chemical-info-self-replication.html Copying chemical information very accurately without relying on biological enzymes to assemble and separate sequence copies
-WTF??? Missouri opts for untested drug for executions http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-missouri-opts-untested-drug.html -Isn’t this one of those states that cannot find a way to decrease teenage pregnancies or other problems, yet when it comes to executions they can be very inventive…
Caine,
Hee! ♥!
Let’s try again; “Social welfare cuts ultimately come with heavy price, researchers say” http://phys.org/news/2012-05-social-welfare-ultimately-heavy-price.html
— — — — — —
Medical news; links
.’Personality genes’ may help account for longevity http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-personality-genes-account-longevity.html
Key gene found responsible for chronic inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-key-gene-responsible-chronic-inflammation.html
‘Orphan’ sleep drug may be potent cancer-fighting agent http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-orphan-drug-potent-cancer-fighting-agent.html
Limits to growth: Scientists identify key metastasis-enabling enzyme http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-limits-growth-scientists-key-metastasis-enabling.html
Long-term meditation leads to different brain organization http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-long-term-meditation-brain.html
Dianne
I know. It’s rather frightening if you actually know that there’s an almost 50% chance to develop cancer, and most people don’t. And they also know many more stories about people who died from cancer than about people who lived. Because having cancer and surviving it is something you can hide pretty well from the rest of the world. Dying, not so much.
Keenacat
Yay!
Janine
Happy Birthday!
Rush Limbaugh raising taxes
Geek out live feed of the dragon docking
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
By the way, it’s the Glorious 25th of May. Y’all got your lilac on?
Imma be snotty, got mine, there’s lilac growing all over the back and side yards. Heh. Oh, I’ll have to hardboil an egg or two.
Yes, I know yesterday was Towel Day. I have two Towel Day towels – a small, black hand towel with 42 on it and a full size bath towel, white, with Don’t Panic on it in red.
Also, :pounces on Giliell, with a tender hug: ♥
@Keenacat:
Hey doctor, it hurts when I do this.
I have my lilac and my towel. Did you expect any less?
Louis
Caine
Wait, I thought Towel Day was on the 25th, too?
You’re talking about that design?
Dunno if the link’ll show up..
All:
Happy Wednesday. Though I am taking tomorrow off as it is Wife and I’s 23d anniversary. (I know this because Boy just turned 22 (yes, we are incredibly boring and GOPnormal (except that we are flaming liberals))).
Sometime Quirky:
I apologize. I was avoiding reading your comments because of a ‘nymilarity to a past, er, ‘participant’. Sorry. My bad. I need to actually read things.
Anyway, welcome.
Beatrice:
I have chocolate. In fact, last night, before bed, I had some dark chocolate with sour dried cherries and chipotle chile.
I’m sorry for your chocolate shortage.
Imagine yourself petting something warm and fuzzy. And I send internet hugs.
—
Janine:
Happy solar orbit day.
I just started watching Doctor Who a couple of weeks ago when I discovered there’s a couple of seasons available On Demand on my cable box. So far my favorite episode is actually two episodes, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, although I really liked the former a lot more because of the mood and mystery and obvious Lovecraft influence. Now I’m sad because I have one episode left of that season and I have no idea when BBC America will start airing the next one. Anyway, one of my friends told me he wasn’t sure if he’d like it because it “seems too British” even though he likes Douglas Adams and has never complained about the Britishness there. I think those two episodes will be a good way to get him hooked, because he loves Lovecraft and Event Horizon and basically everything that’s paid homage to in the episodes.
David Tennant sticks around for awhile on the show, right?
Louis:
No, of course not!
Giliell, No, Towel Day is the 24th. No, not the UT design, both my towels are from Think Geek. (Of course, any towel will do, it’s just important to have one. :D ) Towel One, Towel Two.
*waves to Caine*
Giliell: I’ve been there, recently, when my best friend’s dad died. Also of cancer (lung). Sympathies to both you and your friend. {{hug}}
Louis, I’ve just read that novel you wrote to dennisbugger (<- deliberate), and I just want to say that if I had a hat, it would be off. Not that I think it's likely you got through to him, but maybe you put some new thoughts in the head of a lurker or two out there.
Giliell, oops, my bad, I was wrong. Today is Towel Day.
LDTR:
Hallo. *Waves right back*
LDTR, #180,
Thanks.
And to be frank, that’s all I can and do ever hope for. Let’s hop I managed it.
Louis
Yeah, let’s hop.
@178:
Yes, David Tennant did 3 full seasons (13 episodes each), plus some specials.
Congratulations on discovering Doctor Who! I am a rather rabid fan of it myself. And of The Tennant. :-)
How on Earth can anything be “too British”???
I was wondering about Caine just yesterday. Glad to see everything is okay. And don’t worry, there’s still plenty of chum in the shark tank for you. :)
@Gileill: If it’s any help, IIRC, more than 50% of people who get cancer now survive it. That is all comers with cancer, though, not, alas, pancreatic cancer, which is still one of the nastiest conditions out there.
Hi, Caine! Glad you’ve had such a good time.
You realize what you’ve just done is wave a big red banner in the middle of Pamplona, right?
Most of the new series’ episodes are available on Netflix instant, if you have any access to that.
LDTR: Now that I think about it, I remember him saying that it’s not a matter of the “personality” of the show, but the way it looks and moves. His TV has a setting for Motion Blur, and we discovered that one of the options in that menu gives everything you watch this surreal feeling that we deemed “BBC Mode” because a lot of the BBC imports that are shown on public television here have that look already. It’s hard to describe, but it makes watching certain movies either highly entertaining or highly terrifying.
Anyway, I keep trying to tell him that the production on Doctor Who is not like that and it’s not a big deal anyway, but he is good at making excuses for this kind of thing and keeps telling me he’s not up for the time investment he thinks the show will require. That’s why I’m glad I saw those two episodes, because there’s not TOO much Doctor mythos involved and as I mentioned earlier they’re clearly inspired by a lot of things he already likes.
I’m a physician now ZOMG you guys!!!
Congrats! What’s your specialty?
… Wait, how many docs do we have here now? Three at least, right?
Yes, the plan to take over the world is proceeding nicely…hampered only slightly by the massive amount of paperwork required to practice medicine. Health insurance company execs will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. Tobacco company execs will have to wait their turn.
CR:
Aaaaaw, thank you. :) Yes, I’ve been trying to catch up and see there’s been quite the assortment of cupcakes all over the place. Funniest exchange by far is the one between Louis & Eroded Brain. – SCIENCE! Hee.
Hi Carlie! ♥
Morning!
Caine! *runjumphug*
Happy birthday, Janine! Many more! ♥
Re: the thinking housewife, the opinion of most of us over at FJ is that the blogger in question is actually a man, wanking off about what women “should” say.
I was late for work today. Was walking out the door on time, heard a gagging noise behind me, turned around to see the kitty puking on the area rug.
*sigh*
Rev. BDC, thanks for that live feed link.
Where the fuck is my towel?
Cats have a better sense of timing than any comedian. Ever.
Sorry, Oggie.
I took your towel to clean up kitty-puke.
So… anyone wanna give me a back rub? My right shoulder blade is killing me.
Fuck. I left another one of erodinbladewin’s ‘ up on my previous post.
Esteleth:
It will come back fully laundered, starched, and pressed, right?
Predator Handshake: I can certainly understand being averse to trying a new show. In my case it’s usually a combination of hype aversion + being perfectly fine with the fandom(s) I have and not wanting to get sucked into another. And then there’s the thought of “If I start watching this and come to love it, the network will know instantly and cancel it just to fuck with me”. I’ve probably missed out on a lot of good stuff that way, but I don’t seem to be able to help it.
But Doctor Who? That’s something every scifi geek needs to at least try. Is that “motion blur” thing something that can be disabled, just to get rid of that particular excuse?
*rubs Audley’s shoulders and back*
Here, I bioengineered this the other day. It is Special Booze™ that tastes like your favorite drink ever but will not, no matter how much you drink, ever cross the placenta.
Oh god, special booze. :)
Congratulations, Dr. Keenacat!
Audley:
Keenacat, Dianne, Amphiox, and Rorschach…. I’m not aware of any others.
There are also several people who are Not That Kind of Doctor™ around. Starting, of course, with our Benevolent Overlord.
Then are the various people with various advanced degrees that are not doctoral.
There have been some lovely lilac towels made and sold to combine both holidays. :)
Congrats, keenacat!
Audley, your cat has been phoning my cat or something. Apparently while I was gone this morning, she pushed the screen out of an open window and went out on the back porch. Child 2 heard the commotion and got to her right as she was thinking about hopping off the porch for a stroll. Now we know to only open those windows from the top down (which thankfully is an option on those particular windows).
LDTR: the motion blur thing is pretty hard to explain, but yes, it is usually not turned on. I think it’s meant for watching sports, but using it for a staged show results in every motion having this weird “floaty” quality to it.
I think when I first called it “BBC Mode” it made him think that every BBC show was like that, when really it was just easier to call it that than “Some of the BBC Shows That Make it to PBS Mode”. We may have broken his brain by sneaking in to turn it on before we watch movies on his TV.
I must admit, the internet presence of the Doctor Who fandom made me a little iffy on the show before I actually watched it. Not that I was annoyed by them to the detriment of the show itself like Tool fans can do; it just made the whole thing seem a lot more daunting than it actually is. I had convinced myself that I had to watch every season starting from the beginning in order to get it, and I quickly corrected that by getting stoned one day and watching the first “revival” episode. It really isn’t that hard to follow if you just watch the thing!
Also, immediately after my last post I managed to put together the correct string of words on wikipedia to find what I’m talking about: apparently someone out there calls it the Soap Opera Effect.
Carlie,
I wouldn’t be surprised– Pickles is a baaaaaaaad cat. :)
Silver lining to her adventure: I’ve finally been able to convince my landlord to fix my busted-ass window screens. The one in the upstairs bathroom and the nursery both have holes large enough for her to wiggle through.
Predator Handshake: Interesting. I’ve never heard of or seen this effect before, but (a) we don’t watch TV sports and (b) our TV’s only a year or so old but we basically only use it for movies anymore. (Well, also as a monitor for our server.) Any TV I watch is mostly on the ‘net these days.
The Doctor Who fandom can be scary, I grant. It’s had nearly 50 years to solidify and polarize, and for every Doctor or companion you like, there’s guaranteed to be a bloc of people who think they’re the Worst Thing To Ever Happen To The Show. But there are saner (well, mostly saner) pockets out there, like on LJ where I hang out.
I myself find something to enjoy about every episode, every Doctor and (almost) every companion so far, and I can’t be the only one.
Thank you guys!
I am properly excited. However, I am not a Dr. yet. In germany we have to write a dissertation to aquire the title Dr. med., and we lack anything comparable to the USAnian “MD” that is gotten by finishing med school, iirc. The Dr. med. is no prerequisite to practice medicine though, after graduating we get a license to practice medicine (I just sent a bunch of paperwork to the agency in charge, including a clearance certificate).
I work hard on being an actual Dr., though. As I said upthread, my dissertation is supposed to be mostly finished by end of june, so I can start working in july and just need to do minor touch-ups. I guess I will be Dr. med. in autumn.
I also get to publish some of my data next month.
I just sent my poster to my doctoral thesis supervisor, it is due in Trondheim at the EAPC research congress. I write about distress and satisfaction in relatives of patients recieving palliative sedation, a topic dear to me.
But enough of myself.
*solemn face*
What brings you to see me today?
*nods*
I see.
How long have you had these problems?
*listening*
Well, I think I have something that will help you. Take one of these daily.
____________________________________
*puts a bowl of free medical advice in the thread”
Help yourself, people. :D
_____________________________________
dianne,
I applied for a job in the anesthesiology department, woohoo! I loved doing anesthesia and I loved the ICU.
@keenacat:
\o/ Cookies!!! The best medicine!!!
*takes all the free advice and runs!*
Mwah ha ha ha!
Thank you Ms Daisy Cutter, much appreciated. SonSpawn is the one who is quietly but significantly non-neurotypical, which among other things means no party or guests or Big Night Out or anything, but DaughterSpawn having come home to visit for almost 24h is special (in the middle of exam revision for her too (fortunately her uni is only a short train ride away)). We’ve had presents, and we’re having restaurant food to eat at home with a film and popcorn tonight.
.
I admit I won’t be visiting the “thinking housewife” site or reading up on the “pro life warrior” fucker today. I just ate; I don’t think I could handle the nausea right now.
.
Hi Caine, it’s been strange around here without you! (well, stranger than usual). Glad you got the high quality time.
.
keenacat, massive congratulations and thank you for the Panacea Cookies – I needed that!
I. Just. Can’t. Take. It. Any. More
Consider me having a virtual breakdown in the lounge. Because I obviously can’t have it in front of the kids.
Some fucking idiot asshole crashed into our car. Which, at that moment contained not only the kidses new bed, but more importantly my husband who’s in hospital now.
Looks like he isn’t much hurt except for whiplash injury, but we don’t know for sure yet. And until I can conjure up somebody with a car with hitch by tomorrow morning, the short holiday he was so much looking forward to is out of the window, too.
Oh shit, Giliell. D:
!!!!
*hugs for Giliell*
Best wishes for the husband.
Fuck. Get a lawyer. Even if not needed, contact a lawyer. And I hope things work out. That’s scary as hell.
Giliell
Best wishes for husband.
*hugs* for Giliell. I’m sorry that happened, and I’m glad that Mr. Giliell wasn’t seriously hurt. I hope you can manage to have a holiday somehow.
Do I need to mention that my lawyer is the same person whose mother has just died?
Well, there’s nothing going to happen until Tuesday anyways, but be assured that we’ll take one.
Ah. An avalanche of shit.
Good to here. My only other suggestion (this is from when a drunk driver hit our parked car while going the wrong way on a one way street) is make sure that there is a police report and you have the case number.
Gilliel, the Lilac Beret™ have offered their services if you have trouble collecting monies or want to scare some folks into not driving again.
In reference to Rev. Big Dumb Chimp’s post @170, here’s some more news related to the bust of Rush Limbaugh.
Source: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201205150003
During his thank-you speech, Rush said that Democrats “are deranged.”
Video here: http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/15/11715418-rush-limbaugh-busted?lite
I write about distress and satisfaction in relatives of patients recieving palliative sedation, a topic dear to me.
Is the data under embargo or can you talk about it? I’m curious about what you found.
Ogvorbis
AFAIK police where at the spot of the accident and documented everything, including getting an ambulance for Mr.
Well, somebody crashing into the back of a car at least is one of the most unambigous cases.
Nerd
I’m going to call you when I see how the fucker behaves. We have legal insurance so we can sue shit out of the fucker.
Oh, and he’s coming home. His dad is going to pick him up. And I’m going to get him into bed as soon as he arrives. He told me he’d walk to the clinic entrance (the hospital is a complex of more than 40 buildings, so from the one he is in to the entrance it’s a 15 min walk), I told him to sit down and not to move…
Giliell, hope your husband’s ok! Hugs and chocolate via the USB port, if you want them.
I love Douglas Adams, yes, but for me, it’s SUGAR IN WATER Day.
(Probably won’t rush out to the theater to see it, but still, yeah.)
Scarlett Johansson pretty much showing the sexism in hollywood
He told me he’d walk to the clinic entrance (the hospital is a complex of more than 40 buildings, so from the one he is in to the entrance it’s a 15 min walk), I told him to sit down and not to move…
Good advice. You can’t tell how badly injured you are after an accident like that-too many stress hormones running around, making you feel like you’re fine. Hope it really is minor enough that he could have walked!
Well, we all know it’s a not a good idea to vote on rights, that’s why they are called “rights.” The majority, if allowed to vote on rights, votes to restrict the rights of minorities.
A vote coming up in Maryland may defy the long odds against gay marriage referendums. In March, polls found that African American adults in Maryland were against same-sex marriage by a margin of 17%. Now, two months later, they are for same-sex marriage by 19%.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47560119
The ginormous oak tree is now down, with branches in a huge heap. The guys who were able to dissect an 80 foot, 150 year old white oak leaning over a one-story house without so much as a tiny mishap – artists with chainsaws.
Ugh… Fuck my colleague. I know he doesn’t know I’m trans, but when I say “no. Don’t go there. Please don’t go there. Don’t even say it.” and he goes ahead and quotes one of the vile, transphobic scenes from Ace Ventura, I just wanted to punch him.
It’s half the reason I don’t want to go to lunch with him anymore. He fills my afternoons with negativity.
@Rev BDC:
*sigh* That’s just depressing.
Ugh, Katherine, that sucks.
Fuck Giliell that sucks so much. I hope he’s as OK as seems to be the case, but that he takes it easy anyway – like dianne said. It’s amazing how your body can fool you in moments of stress.
And I hope the other person doesn’t try to screw around (a friend was rear-ended and suffered damage to both car and person; the other driver acted all responsible and friendly and apologetic at the scene, then tried to screw around legally afterwards. So hopefully nothing like that happens, but I suppose you’re better to be prepared just in case).
Hugs to you and to him.
opposable thumbs
Believe me, after somebody drove backwards into our baby-stroller with our daughter in it and then sued us for damage to the car, I’m prepared for everything
dianne
I know, and that’s what I’m suspecting. System full of adrenalin. Well, by now he knows me well enough to better listen to what I say in such moments.
Fucking A. Good legal and other vibes sent your way, Giliell.
unbefuckinglieveable. What a total douchebucket. (hope they didn’t get anywhere and that you got a chance to roast them instead)
Esteleth:
:Tackle Hugs Esteleth* ♥
Hi, Opposablethumbs, thank you!
Oh, Giliell…I’m so glad everyone is (mostly) alright. I hope Mr. Giliell is truly okay, keep us updated. Best of luck pressing charges/suing the hell out of the idiot.
Observation:
As of right now, the Internet archive of scienceblogs cannot be accessed at all.
The error message returned is:
Page cannot be crawled or displayed due to robots.txt.
Contents of robots.txt:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
Inference:
Someone with systems administrative access has acted deliberately to deny access to a history of any content that ever existed on scienceblogs.
Further questions:
– Was this done by National Geographic management, or by the independent and arbitrary decision of one individual?
– In either case, what was the reasoning behind the decision?
– Can this decision be reversed?
Hugs for Giliell and best wishes for your husband.
The Maddow Blog has a nice roundup of Mitt Romney’s various lies about the number of jobs he has created. Video from another source is on the same page.
Was it “thousands of jobs” or “tens of thousands of jobs” or “more than 100,000 jobs” or “120,000 jobs” or “30,000 to 40,000 jobs” — or wtf? And what does Romney mean when he says “net net gain” as far as jobs go when we are never given the numbers he is using to derive that supposed gain?
I think Romney just says whatever the fuck he feels like saying at the time, trusting that the mormon holy spirit will guide him.
There’s still some research to be done in this area. If Romney was in charge when a company was loaded with debt and sucked dry by Bain, but the company managed to struggle on two years past Romney’s departure from Bain, is Romney responsible for the bankruptcy filing and the consequent loss of jobs?
Another area needing to be probed is Romney’s new emphasis on charter schools, along with a concerted attack on teacher’s unions. Wonder if it has anything to do with his $10 million investment in son Tagg’s Solamere Capital firm, a private equity firm offering TA Associates to its clients. TA Associates invests in privatizing education.
@gilliel
I wish you luck.
Giliell,
Crikey! I’m sorry to read that. I hope your husband gets better, the insurance pays out rapidly and generously and everything and everyone is generally fine. Apart from the person who hit your car. Them I shall visit with a plague of boil.
Yes, boil. Not boils. Just the one really, really big one on their forehead. A proper monster that has its own pulse sufficiently powerful to be visible from the International Space Station.
Louis
Katherine Lorraine,
I’ll second the general “ugh” and raise you an “argh”. I do a very reasonable line in “campaigns of bombing”, interested?
Louis
Well, it’s a tiny small study with just a handful of participants (N=28) and probably nothing to publish besides said poster, so no embargo. The abstract can be found in the current issue of “Palliative Medicine”, just like all other abstracts from the impending congress, if you or the institution you work at have access.
In 2004, Morita T et al published a study on family experience with palliative sedation in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. They had conducted a huge study regarding determinants of family dissatisfaction and high-level distress.
My supervisor was interested in doing a similar study, but we changed quite a bit about the method and added a few items we wanted more closely examined.
There were some interesting results.
First, half of the relatives experienced a high level of distress due to palliative sedation, even though 3/4 of them expressed satisfaction with the procedure. Second, a significant subset complained about a lack of information, which correlated with reduced satisfaction. 40% said they were unprepared for how the patient changed during sedation and 57% were distressed due to impaired communication with the patient.
Also, participants who were in bad health themselves during sedation of the patient were more likely to be highly distressed.
Third, the patient being involved in the decision-making and relatives feeling the timing was right for intiation of palliative sedation correlated with higher satisfaction and less distress.
Nothing too surprising thus far, but what I actually found most interesting was the absence of certain expected outcomes and the almost complete absence of ethical or legal concerns. A whopping one participant had been “partly concerned” about possible legal repercussions, and almost 90% were “not at all” concerned about either. I was also expecting more people to feel the sedation interfered with the natural dying process one way or the other (unnatural prolonging of dying or shortening of the lifespan left).
Also, sufficient, regular information was not helping with the distress (but with satisfaction!), and the contents of the information didn’t matter regarding distress OR satisfaction.
Overall quite interesting, but no actual evidence of course (see tiny N).
I did a structured interview with the participants and besides the whole dissertation shenanigans, I did enjoy that tremendously. The topic was super sad, of course, but people responded so well to me doing this! I was afraid they’d feel intruded upon with my questions, but every single one of them told me they were happy with the way the interview went and some even said they felt the interview provided closure and helped them move along. The whole thing has been such a profound and touching experience, the Dr. med. is just the cherry on top, honest.
Owlmirror – could it just be a temporary measure so people don’t go mucking around while everything gets set up?
Giliell – not enough ugs or hugs in the world. Let us know if we can do anything.
Katherine – bah. Will he get the hint and stop if you start quoting Hedwig and the Angry Inch at him every time he starts in on Ace fucking Ventura?
@LDTR
I still remember when the show was ruined forever because David Tennant left the show.
Aiyiyiyi. It just gets worse and worse:
Luna is another mormon. He attended Ricks college before it became Brigham Young University Idaho. You will not be surprised to learn that Luna is rabidly anti-union, anti-tenure, and pro giving lucrative contracts to providers of technology IF those providers first donate large sums to his campaign.
Luna’s tactics including stripping money out of Idaho’s public school system, and then noting how poor they are. Then he outsources education to out-of-state, education-for-profit companies.
News source that repeats Romney propaganda.
The Romney propaganda does not point out that the Idaho Teachers Union is still trying to get Luna recalled: https://www.facebook.com/RecallTomLuna
Since the recall effort began, Luna has engaged in other bullying tactics:
Katherine — so sorry you have to put up with that.
Giliell — wow, the shit just keeps on coming, doesn’t it? Hope your husband recovers quickly, and the insurance company and the other driver don’t decide to be douchemuffins.
@carlie:
Oh it has nothing to do with Ace Ventura itself, just the fact that I said “No. Stop. Don’t say it. I know the quote.” And he did it anyway. It could have been any transphobic quote.
@keenacat:
This is not true – it may have lower power than it would have if it had a higher N, but it’s still evidence, and presumably your stats procedures included the low power in the findings of significance. I hate it when people sell their work short – at bare minimum, it’s a justification for further research with a higher N. I also suspect (putting on psychologist hat here) that the simple act of TALKING about the decisions was helpful for families, so you are to be commended for that. Having been through my mother in law’s death from metastasized cancer, pain poorly controlled, AND a severe C. difficile infection that the physicians insisted on treating, I’m very very grateful for people who study palliative medicine. With Helen, it was like once the physicians realized she was going to die, they fell into a weird combination of ignoring and overtreating her.
Kat – Hulk Smash might be an option – it totally sucks being triggered like that.
How the mormon church built a humongous mall and some condos from which it hopes to receive tax-free income.
Video at the same link. http://www.kutv.com/news/features/local/stories/vid_797.shtml
@keencat: Thanks! It is interesting research. I haven’t seen your stats, of course, but the lack of concern about legal and ethical issues is astonishing.
Just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing, is palliative sedation a terminal event? That is, is it expected that the patient will be sedated and allowed to die naturally (but hopefully without pain or distress) or is there some other end point? If it is terminal sedation, what advantage does it have over voluntary euthanasia?
Anyway, it sounds like you’ve got a larger study to do to follow up on this…It would be good to be able to identify factors that helped people feel more satisfaction with end of life care and, ultimately, to provide better care for people who are dying in ways we can’t reverse.
No. Nothing in archive.org affects the live site in any way.
This was a deliberate action to deny access to all historical content for the site.
People who quote Ace Ventura in general annoy the hell out of me. Right from when that movie first came out, everyone had to chime in with their horrible “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLRIGHTYTHEN!” impressions. It’s not funny when people who aren’t Jim Carrey try to do it, goddamnit! It was barely funny even when Jim Carrey did it!
The Mask is another one. Everyone in my school had to go around saying shit like “SAAAAAAAAAAAAMOKIN!” and “SOMEBODY STOP ME!” for a whole fucking year.
(I may or may not have been one of these annoying fuckers who quoted Jim Carrey movies at the time) (in my defense, I was a fucking kid)
Great: if you’re a 17 year old girl and you date a 15 year old boy, you’re a (gasp) cougar. At least according to the New York Times. Gag.
Fuck mainstream culture with a rusty porcupine.
Jim Carrey has always annoyed the living shit out of me. I have a low threshold for over the top spastic comedy. Will Ferrell is another in this vein, though he can be really funny at times.
Awww. Isn’t that sweet, CEOs got a 6% increase in pay last year.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/54185268-79/pay-million-companies-stock.html.csp
So, all is right with the world.
Jim Carrey is not funny. Full stop.
He does decent drama, but his comedic stylings are awful.
Then there’s his whole woo-woo schtick with Jenny McCarthy.
Kat Lorraine, arm yourself with some choice quotes about stupid people and bigots, such as The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. – Albert Einstein and His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. – Mark Twain. Say them with a smile (actually, a wicked grin works best).
I don’t like Jim Carrey and I considered Ace Ventura a piece of crap even when I first saw it when I was elevenish, but only after reading Natalie’s post about it (linky) have I realized just how bad that movie is.
Doesn’t matter if it is teamsters or sawyers or a sugeon — watching people who are professionals can be a joy. I remember, down at a fire in the Okeefenokee Swamp, watching a sawyer take down a 200-foot dead tree which was standing within 40-feet of a parking area. He staked out where it would fall and proceeded to drop it right where he decided to drop it.
@Rev BDC:
Jim Carrey and Will Ferrel in (most) comedies are not my favorite. Anchorman was above the top ridiculous so I liked it. Liar Liar had a cute premise so I didn’t mind it either.
However, Carrey in Truman Show was really quite good. Same with Ferrel in Stranger than Fiction.
Farrell and Carrey are a lot like Robin Williams — if they have a strong director who can keep them under control, they can be quite good. Will Farrell as the German playright in The Producers worked (for me, at least).
Hooray for Janine!
*Hugs and chocolate* for Giliel.
Mattir,
I’m so sorry you and your family had to go through this. Palliative care has only gotten some momentum in the last few years and a majority of physicians and nurses have neither the knowledge nor the impetus to provide sufficient symptomatic and emotional support at the end of life. Often, there are also circumstances at work that prevent ideal and sometimes even basic end-of-life care, a lack in staff, time, facilities and standards.
dianne,
palliative sedation is insofar a terminal event as often being the last measure carers provide to relieve suffering that can not be alleviated by other means or those means can not be tolerated.
(I’ll be all explain-y now, even though you’re a doc yourself, but others might be interested as well, so don’t feel patronized, please!)
Given the lack of alternatives at this point, virtually all sedations continue until the patient dies.
But there are different shapes it can take. Sedation can be provided as an intermittent measure, letting the patient decide when to stop. There was a patient at the ward who requested only to be “woken up” during her families visit, when she would tolerate the pain for a short amout of time to be with them. Others were only able to rest with sedation and would request it over night or in the afternoons. This is why a lot of practitioners dislike the term “terminal sedation”, as this implies “we put the patient to sleep and then he dies”.
My study, however, only had patients with continuous sedation.
But most sedations do eventually become continuos or start out as such and the patient is expected to die naturally while sedated. Still, a proper palliative sedation is only as deep as the patients need it. Usually there is a gradual increase in dosage until the patient is at rest. Some of the patients can be woken up for short periods of time, others need deep sleep. It depends a lot on the causes for the sedation in the first place. The goal is always to make dying peaceful for the patient and possibly the relatives.
Short heads-up on euthanasia: I usually do not use this term, ever, being in germany and all, we prefer “aktive Sterbehilfe” (literally “active help with dying”), but there is no decent english substitute.
As for the advantage of sedation over voluntary euthanasia, that’s quite the can of worms (I suspect my supervisor might have religious reasons for opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide, for instance), but something all can agree on is the fact that it is currently legal and our only acceptable tool for the last resort. It helps with several issues, like the fact that you can legally end a certain treatment (especially life-prolonging ones) if the patients or those speaking for him request so, but this might cause considerable distress in the patient.
A patient with terminal cancer of the throat or esophagus who can no longer eat or drink may request that artificial nutrition and hydration be ended and that he be sedated so he doesn’t have to tolerate the side effects, a dying patient with a painful or otherwise debilitating infection might not want treatment anymore (pneumonia for instance) or somebody in need of continuous ventilation might request that ventilation be withdrawn. In all those cases, sedation is literally the only method we have on hand to ensure that those patients die peacefully. While morphine helps with breathlessness to a certain degree, a patient in need of ventilation will suffer if we remove it. At a certain point, opiates sedate the patient anyway and we approach euthanasia territory due to the respiratory depression going on. Thus, we usually sedate with benzodiazepines (in the case of “my” ward, midazolam via perfusor) and opiates only if needed.
There is tons and tons of controversy, as one might expect, especially on stuff like continuing nutrition/hydration or not and on how this is justified at all, there is a lot of double effect rationalizing going on…
Personally, I have not yet found my “ultimate” stance on euthanasia and assisted suicide, but I do think that palliative sedation will always be there. Not everyone wants euthanasia, even when in considerable distress, and palliative sedation will always be the “soft” option, even when and if euthanasia ever becomes legal. So its more of a complimentary option to me, and the only option able to substitute for euthanasia as long as this is illegal.
Re Jim Carrey: I only saw the first Ace Ventura once, several years ago, and can’t remember anything at all from it other than something about him coming out of maybe a bathroom and saying “do NOT go in there.” The second movie came out when I was in fifth grade, and was endlessly funny to me and my friends at private school whose parents allowed us to watch PG-13 movies. Those of us still in touch today sometimes whisper “shikaka” to one another for a cheap laugh.
I think Carrey is much better as a sketch performer. It’s probably because you’re getting a smaller dose in a sketch; “establish a character and do a few jokes, then get rid of the whole thing” suits the nature of his talent far better than a full 90 minutes of the same thing.
Will Ferrell, though, I can take for a lot longer. Even when he’s playing someone awful and over-the-top like a Ricky Bobby or a Brennan Huff, he does so with a wink-wink type of quality that hints that he knows you’re in on the joke. I don’t think I’m explaining this very well or if anyone else has a clue what I’m getting at; I just think he brings a certain humanity to his comedic roles that keeps them from being obnoxious to me. I haven’t seen all of his movies, though, so I may have lucked out on that.
Oh geeze, Jim Carrey.
The worthy Reverend BigSmartApe has provided my thoughts exactly, so I’ll just quote him:
This, a thousand times.
I also suffer from a serious case of Fremdschämen, meaning if I see somebody embarrass themselves, I feel embarrassed myself. This does extend to me feeling embarrassed for others in all situations I, myself, would feel embarrassed, even if the person in question thinks everything is just dandy. (Is there a decent english word, btw?)
American Pie made me curl up in my seat and try to cover my ears and eyes at once.
chigau :
Which type? Green or clear?
I love making a Thin Mint Tini with Green Creme de Menthe.
My range of experience with gin is extremely limited. Of the gins I’ve tried (which are few, admittedly), Bombay Sapphire is the only one I care for. Even then, I only like it as a Gimlet. Do you have a favorite Gin?
Icthyic:
Oooh, liquor. So pretty.
I’m a Vodka guy and when my freezer is not chock full of food, I like to put my stuff in there. I’m also a Rumplemintz fan and that goes in the same place.
As for question #2, I’d say anything you like to drink as a shot would be a great thing to have in the freezer. Many people don’t like certain liquors (I’m thinking of you Jagermeister and my good buddy Rumplemintz) shaken, as it supposedly adds a bit of water to the liquor and dilutes it. Keeping it in the freezer-a really cold one at that-bypasses that problem. I’d say whatever liquor kept in the freezer for non-straight up purposes would likely be a quick consumption item (i.e. shots).
carlie:
If you like frozen drinks, you may love a white russian that way.
The addition of Amaretto, Frangelico, and Vanilla Vodka is pretty sweet too (I have a fun little practice at work when business is slow. I’ll come up with a shot and let a guest sample it. If they like it, they get to name it, and I write it in the shot book I keep at work. I do this for drinks as well, and a friend of mine loved the above drink. She named it “The Busted Nut”).
Giliell:
Pastis??
:( Great big hugs sent your way.
rorschach:
depending on who you talk to about it, coming out it still very important. However, I find that coming out is a process that’s very specific to every individual and I don’t like the idea that people should come out as some sort of social responsibility.
Along those lines, I read an article today from OUT (gay magazine) where they talk about that subject. Actually they don’t really talk about it. They pay lip service to it. Hollywood movers and shakers, CEOs of corporations, big wigs should all come out according to the writer. Social responsibility. Giving kids heroes to look up to. The former I find ludicrous. The latter, while I find more reasonable, is still not something I can get behind. Each individual has to make that decision for themselves and there are many factors to weigh just on a personal level. Each person has to live with their decision. Those calling for anyone to come out do not.
Janine – Harry Birthday!
Giliell – Assorted hugs to you and respectful regards to Mr G, provided that he does as he’s told for the next few days.
Katherine Lorraine – More hugs and an imaginary ice-axe to apply to the back of this guy’s stupid head.
Kennacat – Congratulations. Don’t knock yourself as that’s an interesting piece of research, even if it is small and, like Mattir, I think the fact and the nature of that interview is going to turn out to be the most productive bit.
Caine – welcome back.
I try to keep up but is that everybody?
tony
My range of experience with liquor in the freezer is limited to gin.
This is the 19th installment of Rachel Maddow chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity.
I have provided a few of the relevant links, but you will have to go the link above to see all of the links providing backup data.
1. In an interview with Mark Halperin, Romney argued about President Obama, “Did he hold unemployment below 8%? It’s been, what, 39 months now. That hasn’t happened. He promised it would happen by virtue of his stimulus.”
As Romney surely knows by now, that’s simply not true. Link.
2. In the same interview, Romney asked, “Are people happy with … the level of foreclosures?”
Romney was trying to attack the administration, but he’s on record supporting more foreclosures, making this, at a minimum, wildly misleading.
3. Romney added, in reference to the president, ” Look at him right now. He just doesn’t have a clue what to do to get this economy going. I do.”
Actually, Obama’s jobs agenda, unveiled in September, included specific policy proposals that Romney had previously endorsed. If the president “doesn’t have a clue,” then Romney doesn’t have a clue.
4. Romney went on to say, “I actually lay out a plan to get us to a balanced budget within eight years.”
That’s plainly false. Romney says his plan “can’t be scored,” but independent budget analysts have found his agenda would make the deficit bigger, not smaller, and add trillions to the national debt. Link.
5. Romney also argued, in the context of talking about budget savings, “I’m going to take action immediately by eliminating programs like Obamacare, which become more and more expensive down the road — by eliminating them, we get to a balanced budget.”
He’s lying. In fact, this is the polar opposite of the truth — Obamacare’s savings become greater in future years, and killing the law makes it harder to balance the budget.
6. Romney said, in addressing likely budget cuts, ” I’d like my grandkids to be able to watch PBS. But I’m not willing to borrow money from China.”
The implication here is that U.S. debt is financed by the Chinese. This isn’t true — China only holds about 8% of the nation’s debt.
7. On taxes, Romney argued, “I’m not looking to lower the tax burden paid by the highest-income Americans. That’s a fundamental principle.”
That’s a fundamental falsehood. Romney’s plan slashes taxes on the wealthy. Link.
8. On a related note, he added, “I’m looking, if there’s any break at all, the break will go to middle-income Americans that have been most hurt by the Obama economy.”
In reality, it’s the rich, not the middle class, that primarily benefits from Romney’s tax plan.
9. In a speech in Washington, Romney insisted, “President Obama has decided to attack success.”
The Romney campaign has never been able to point to a single credible example of Obama attacking success.
10. In the same speech, Romney added, “When the President took office … he faced a spending crisis. It’s only gotten worse.”
There is no universe in which this is even close to being true.
11. In making the case against Obama’s student-loan reforms, the Romney campaign said it intends to “reverse President Obama’s nationalization of the student loan market.”
This is demonstrably false — the market wasn’t nationalized. Since all kinds of private-sector banks still make all kinds of student loans, the argument doesn’t even make sense.
12. Romney told Fox News that “it certainly sounds like” the president is, as Rush Limbaugh put it, “running against capitalism.” Romney added, “There’s no question but that he’s attacking capitalism.”
No sensible person could possibly believe this is true, and neither Romney nor his aides have ever provided an example of the president attacking capitalism. Obama routinely does the opposite.
13. Romney argued in an op-ed that Obama “signed into law a budget scheme that threatens to saddle the U.S. military with nearly $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years,” which the president’s own Defense Secretary criticized.
That’s not even close to being accurate.
14. Referencing Noam Scheiber’s book, The Escape Artists, Romney argued, “In this book, [White House officials] point out that they said the American people will forget how long the recovery took. So that means they went into this knowing that when they passed Obamacare, it was going to make life harder for the American people.”
That’s not really what the book says, and it’s not what the president’s team argued.
15. Romney boasted this week, in a rare reference to his one term as governor, “[W]e didn’t just slow the rate of growth of our government, we actually cut it.”
No, you didn’t.
16. The Romney campaign also argued this week that Romney created “well in excess of 100,000” jobs as an executive at Bain Capital.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Predator Handshake #265
That is precisely why, with one of two exceptions, I fined his movies unwatchable. All he has to do is start to yell or mug and it takes me right out of the moment.
keenacat:
Physician now! Congratulations!
SQB:
I haven’t bought new comics since September of 2011. This is the longest I’ve gone since I was @15 without buying them every Wednesday. I have kept up with things since then, and this seems very “out of left field”. Northstar has been a sidelined character for a while, even though he’s been a member of the X-Men. He hasn’t had much focus in years, so having a story with him getting married just seems so “After School Special” that I’m not sure I like the idea.
Rev.BigDumbChimp:
That is massively moronic and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
LDTR:
Ok, for the uninitiated (such as myself), what would be a good episode of Doctor Who to watch? I’ve never seen an episode and know precious little, but I’ve heard some good things about it over the years
Giliell:
Damn. Very sorry to hear that. I hope he’s able to recover quickly.
WTF? How does someone even think to sue your family in this situation? What the hell is going on in the mind of someone who can do that?
Katherine:
::SIGH::
Sorry you have to deal with that crap.
Ah, Jim Carrey…overhyped “star” who thinks he’s funny. And he is. Or, was. On “In Living Color”. As ‘Homie the Clown’. For 5 seconds.
Shit, Giliell. {{{hugs}}}
{{{Hugs}}} for Kitty too. This is probably a stupid question, but do you have any recourse through HR that would not put you at high risk of being fired?
There are many irksome things about Jim Carrey. No one else has yet mentioned that, of all the fine actors on In Living Color, he (the sole white guy) was the one who went on to become a superstar.
Tony:
I think closeted people who fight publicly against GLBT rights, like Ted Haggard, should be outed. For everybody else, it’s really their own decision.
BTW, in case some people haven’t seen it, there’s a brand-NEW trainwreck at WWJTD. This time, it’s all about those uppity trans people who express anger toward cis people as a class.
Rev.BigDumbChimp:
I’m with you on Jim Carrey. I think I’ve watched a movie with Will Ferrell once. Can’t remember what it was. I find “comedians” like Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Jack Black, et al to be *not funny*. I’ve sat through a few comedies by some of them before, and always walk away thinking I wasted a few hours of my life. I prefer my humor to have *some* sophistication to it and I’d like it to be above a 5th grade level (Scooby Doo’s fart jokes as a prime example of what I find stupid and not funny).
myeck waters:
I’m guessing ‘fined’ was a typo. However, for some reason, it works in my brain…
Tony:
Let me tell ya somethin’…Damon Wayans was Homie the Clown. Jim Carrey played Firemarshall Bill on the show; that seems to be the most remembered recurring character he played. I remember his Snow parody being pretty good, even when I was too young to get it.
As for your request for a Doctor Who episode, I’ll recommend The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. I’ve only been through two seasons so far myself, and those two were the first episodes that really hooked me in as a stand-alone story (i.e. without really needing to know the backstory of the show). I’ve had pretty good results just starting at the beginning of the revival and watching in order, although I found the first episode a bit weak (understandable as they’re trying to establish premise while having to get the story rolling). I’m a newcomer to the show, though, so you’ll probably want to see what others have to say about it.
I’ll be all explain-y now, even though you’re a doc yourself, but others might be interested as well, so don’t feel patronized, please!
Very few people actually manage to over explain when discussing their interests. This is important to remember when giving a talk, especially to a general audience. If you’re thinking, “Should I explain X or will my audience feel patronized that I don’t assume they know all about X?” you should probably explain X. Plus your explanation was quite a good one.
I’m not aware of many people using intermittent sedation for actively dying patients in the US, though once you described it, it seems like such a good idea I don’t know why it’s not done more often. Maybe I’m just not aware of what people are doing in that area.
I’m afraid my question with respect to continuous sedation versus overt aktiv Sterbehilf comes from an anecdote: My father-in-law had a nasty stroke several years ago and ended up needing continuous sedation then dying several days later. It seemed to me that the process of dying over several days was harder on my step-mother-in-law, partner, and sister-in-law than a shorter period of dying would have been and that it was unlikely that the delay in dying helped my father-in-law in any way. So why drag things out when the outcome was known?
I appreciate that there are all sorts of social issues with respect to any form of active Sterbehilf in Germany, but if the patient has reached the point that they can no longer tolerate consciousness or even light enough sedation that they might have dreams or sensations…well, how is that different from being dead on a practical level?
OTOH, especially in the US, I worry about anything that comes close to euthanasia, including hospice care and palliative care, because it would be oh so easy for a “right to die” to become a “duty to die” (or the option of hospice to become the only option) and for expensive, higher risk, but potentially still helpful care to be withheld or withdrawn based on economic grounds rather than patient preference.
Is my position confused enough for you yet?
One more piece of gratuitous advice, keenacat: I’d advise you to at least consider publishing your results. A small study can still be very useful to have in the literature, especially when there’s not much else out there. Also I think people early in their careers tend to undervalue their findings. Of course, usual caveats about people who know you and the research in more detail being able to give better advice and all…
I just tried to google “wedding shower etiquette” to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do for the shower I have to go to next weekend.
Results? Holy fuck, that’s a lot of sexism and rigidly enforced gender roles. I made it through about 3 pages without finding any answers before I couldn’t stand it any longer.
I’ll just ask my mom. I am pathetically grateful for my friends and relatives who actually have social skills and knowledge.
Ms. Daisy Cutter:
Carrey certainly achieved a high degree of saturation for awhile, but surely Jamie Foxx could also be considered a superstar? I don’t remember Jim Carrey winning a Grammy or an Oscar (not that such awards are necessarily a consistent indicator of success).
@Predator Handshake
I loved the Impossible Planet two part episodes. It was creepy, and overall, a great base under siege story.
Predator Handshake, yeah, you’re right about Jamie Foxx.
I’ll admit to liking Fire Marshall Bill and some of Carrey’s other work on In Living Color.
Is “I’m just asking a question (although my opinion is already fully formed and I want only the answers I agree with)” their general shtick, or is it something new? I’ve read WWJTD only rarely, but this is not exactly endearing him (or Christina) to me.
David Alan Grier and Jennifer Lopez are also still pretty successful/famous, but not so much anyone in the Wayans family.
keenacat @266 —
I only recently heard/read a name for the feeling, myself: “embarrassment squick”.
I’ve got it too. Particularly if I’m watching a show and a favorite character of mine is humiliated or does something really stupid or wrong. I can’t tolerate it — I fast forward or leave the room, and try to forget it happened.
tony @272:
Um. Well. The thing about Doctor Who is that it’s got an incredibly flexible format. Not only can the characters can go anywhere in space and anywhere in time, but the stories range from silly comedy to drama to high octane Nightmare Fuel. Sometimes all within the same adventure. And not knowing your tastes, it’s difficult to know what episode(s) would be most likely to hook you in.
I would say, though, that you don’t need to start with the classic series that ran from 1963 to 1989. The pacing and effects can be hard to take for someone used to modern-day TV. I’d go back and do them later.
So I guess the obvious thing would be to just pick up where the new series begins. The first episode is called “Rose”, and while it may not be the best ever, it does a good job of (re)introducing the Doctor and what the show is about.
Then if you want, continue with the rest of that first season. At the end of it, they switch Doctors, from Christopher Eccleston to David Tennant. Then there are three seasons with Tennant, and some specials, before they switch to Matt Smith. Changing Doctors is a normal thing for the show, and why it’s lasted so long.
You can also get some basics at the Doctor Who Wiki.
God I hate it when Robin Williams does his ‘impressions’ schtick. Just a bunch of fucking random ‘voices’, like a room full of badly trained Parrots.
I really really can’t stand ‘Heartwarming’ Robin Williams either, from all those ‘family’ type films he used to do where he’d play some quirky professional type who doesn’t play by the rules but cares so deeply about his patients and always ends with some big Robin Williams speech about being yourself and following your dreams and blah-dee-blah-blah Give Me an Oscar Now.
Same with any movie where Robin Williams plays a 10 year old kid trapped in a 40 year old man’s body and buys porn magazines for his little schoolyard chums. YUCKO.
Heh, a physics friend used The Impossible Planet as her reason why she hated Doctor Who: ‘It was a perfectly possible planet!’. Personally I recommend any of the Moffat-scripted episodes from the reboot, Empty Child/Girl in the Fireplace/Silence in the Library, any of the current Doctor (favourite of the rebooted ones so far), and especially loved the Neil Gaiman scripted ep from the most recent series.
Of course, I grew up on 3rd Doctor repeats on the BBC during the 90s. I remember being utterly terrified by a storyline with giant maggots. So much as I like the Matt Smith, Jon Pertwee is still my favourite Doctor
Very, very minor spoiler for the next series:
.
.
.
Ben Browder! Possibly just for one ep I think :-D
Nutmeg:
Ah Pride. It used to be so much fun attending those events. Memorial Day here in Pensacola is treated as a Pride celebration on the beach every year (I don’t know that it’s actually an “official” Pride event though). This is the first year that I have absolutely *no* interest in going. Even though it would mean watching upwards of 100K men on the beach with very little clothing on. I suppose if I went, I could end my dry spell, but dammit, 10 years of being single still hasn’t made one night stands my preference.
Cipher @249:
Awwww. That’s making me misty eyed. Empathy for non-human creatures= awesomeness (it’s great for humans too, but it seems many people reserve empathy *solely* for humans, which is annoying)
Giliell @327:
I completely agree with you, so your foot is sparkly clean.
Katherine @341:
Don’t know if its your thing but
http://www.the-baileys-lounge.baileys.com/en-us/flavors/Flavors.aspx
The caramel Bailey’s and the coffee Bailey’s might be tasty. One of my roommates loves the former.
Giliell @411:
Ah, Greg Rucka. One of the best in the industry. My respect for his talent just increased. My respect for him as a human being-and one I’ve never met-soared. Thanks for the link
My word.
I just spent the last hour and a half cleaning and organizing the linen closet. The blasted thing is only 24 inches wide. I ended up with almost a full kitchen sized trash bag of trash, and found 10 brand-new toothbrushes. Holy cow.
My favorite Doctor Who episode is The Girl in the Fireplace. It’s a story that tugs at the heartstrings, and really encapsulates how the Doctor’s viewpoint is so, so different than that of his human companions.
For sheer cool action-y Who, I’d say Blink.
For eye candy, anything with Barrowman in it.
I started this week with two sick cars. Finally, this afternoon, have two healthy cars (for ’95 and ’97 Ford Probes). They haven’t been this quiet and stealthy in quite a while.
[rant]
I always find it inane when trolls (on the blacklist thread) try to mock PZ for his research. They ignore the fact he is at a TEACHING UNIVERSITY, with minimal equipment and facilities to do research. Especially when they compare him to somebody at a RESEARCH UNIVERSITY. Perspective folks, which involves comparing apples with apples, and oranges with oranges!!!
[/rant]
Also, the two I mentioned (fireplace and blink), rely very little on the context of the characters and their history with each other, so they’re decent standalone episodes. I rather like the two-part Human Nature/The Family of Blood, and also the two-part Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, but those are a little more dependent on the viewer really loving the character of The Doctor by the time you get to those.
Nutmeg:
I hear ya. So far, I’ve managed to skip every single wedding shower I’ve been invited to (I did send gifts, though). I just can’t stand that fucking shit and you had better be actually dead or getting married for me to wear a dress and heels to your event.
I’ve only been to one baby shower* and imagine my surprise when I found out that I had to dress up for that! I managed with a plain top, a pair of gaucho pants, and flats (I’m tall, so that doesn’t look too goofy), but trust me, it still sucked.
*I skip those, too, ‘cos if there’s anything worse than a bridal shower, it’s a fucking baby shower. I was kind of obligated to go to my SiL’s baby shower, though.
(and by “rather like”, I mean “reduced to drooling pile of fangirl worship”)
Predator:
GAH! Brain fart. I knew that too.
LDTR:
I like strong, developed female characters.
I like fantasy, science fiction, and horror with well written human drama at the heart.
I like crisp dialogue that mimics real human conversation.
I like serialized tv shows.
I like big explosions and super powers.
I like antagonists that have personalities rather than stock villains.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains my favorite TV show of all time (and Eliza Dushku as Faith is one of my favorite fictional characters PERIOD). I have a great fondness for X-Files (when it was good). I love Fringe (GO Olivia Dunham!). Supernatural (Jensen Ackles, yummy). Angel (David Boreanaz and that moody opening music ROCK). Though I haven’t seen many episodes, I liked what I saw in Babylon 5 (and liked what I read about JMS’ ideas for the show). I like CSI:Miami (Callie is awesome), though that’s through a lens of “this is not real, but sci fi lite”.
Katherine Lorraine
This is late but have you tried asking The Joker™ to explain his jokes?
With a look of puzzled sincerity on your face.
Laughing Coyote:
Though I haven’t seen it since I was young, there’s something I recall about Robin Williams’ role in POPEYE I found charming.
Arkady:
Ben Browder?? I’d forgotten him on my list of tv stars that none may touch before I indulge in all manner of deep, intimate….massage.
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead is one of my favorites.
My favorite story: The Pandorica Opens season finale.
*peeks in* Any love for “Vincent and the Doctor” ?
Tony: Yeah, Robin WIlliams as Popeye was good. I also liked Shelley Duval as Olive Oyl. I’ve always liked how Olive Oyl doesn’t have to be ‘sexy’, more goofy and funny, in the cartoons, and though Shelley Duval is certainly cute in her own way, I think she pulled that off well.
@Pteryxx
I love that episode. One of my top favorites.
I also liked “Closing Time”. Lovely interaction between Doctor and Craig.
Also, Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All!
dianne,
thank you so much for your advice. I take any I can get, really. Do you think I can still get published somewhere decent after having done a poster already? I’m quite clueless, honest. If you have moar advice to offer, please bestow it on me! I will ask my supervisor (we germans say “Doktorvater”, by the way, meaning “father of a doctor”, which I find sweet), but not over the weekend and getting the disseration done is top priority anyway, so I’d love to hear your take.
Intermittent sedation is indeed a sweet option for some circumstances, especially if the patient is still quite oriented but has a lot of bodily issues to deal with, suffers from anxiety when alone/at night, is very frail and wants to preserve his energy for visits from loved ones… By using midazolam in a perfusor and not long-acting oral benzodiazepines one has the advantage of precise timing of awareness/sleep. The perfusor can be a hindrance, but patients in their last days are often bed-bound and tolerate it well.
For very disoriented and agitated patients or in cases where a treatment is discontinued, continuous sedation will however be the option of choice. Some patients offered sedation also use it to mark their farewell, having friends and loved ones present to say their goodbyes before sedation is started. Some families find this extremely comforting (there is often an issue with relatives being under considerable stress because they absolutely want to be at the bedside the moment the patient dies, even skipping sleep and most normal activity).
I see your point with your fil.
The last week I was at the ICU, we had a patient with an extensive cerebral hemorrhage who was disconnected from ventilation and had all treatment stopped at request of her son and husband, after we gave them a bleak prognosis. We had her sedated with propofol and a morphine perfusor, but she was super distressed, pulse racing at about 190, tachypneic, mean arterial blood pressure in the 180ies. She kept this up for several hours until she went into cardiac arrest. That was disturbing. If I had been in charge, well, there probably would’ve been more sedatives and more morphine, but ultimately, that’s a pointless exercise. Stopping treatment in this case was as good or bad as aktive Sterbehilfe, and the latter would have been less traumatic for everyone.
Another case: A patient came in after CPR. He was quite young (in his 40ies) but mentally impaired and had eschewed medical treatment for a host of issues, including diabetes type II and hypercholesterolemia. He’d presented at our very hospital just days earlier, at the nagging of his mother (a sweet lady in her 70ies), with a serious case of peumonia, but didn’t want to stay. He was still living with his mother, but she was unhappy to take him back home.
That day she’d gone grocery shopping and on return, found him lying on the floor all blue. The emergency personnel were able to restore circulation and we started him on hypothermia treatment to hopefully preserve some brain function, but by next morning it was quite clear he wouldn’t make it.
His mom, brother and nephew came in that morning, and oh, did she try to be strong. I was giving them a primer before going in and was holding her arm. Hypothermia treatment involves copious amounts of i.v. fluid, so he was pretty bloated and had some nasal and oral bleeding from insufficient coagulation.
The intern gave them a careful explanation about him being in desolate condition and about the fact that he was dying. They agreed to us stopping all treatment and to be there for his last minutes. Well, being in an ICU he was hooked up to the monitor and we were watching outside as he went into cardiac arrest, but for a further 45 mins he had irregular electric activity in his heart muscle. We knew he was dead, but his mother still saw blips of the heart. For her, that was 45 more minutes watching her son dying. That was pointless.
I don’t think anyone would second guess that a quicker option would’ve been the compassionate thing to do (baring religious objections, but religion can object to anything, so there’s that).
I understand the need for options to end a life in the dying. But I fear the “duty to die” and, on a related note, the effect it might have on palliative care being universally available. If people had the option to “just die”, we wouldn’t need to provide them with nationwide palliative coverage, right? And then maybe people might not get palliative treatment they need and decide on assisted suicide or aktive Sterbehilfe prematurely. That is stuff I’ve been thinking over and over and over again since I first became interested in these issues a few years ago, and I still haven’t got a conclusion.
Doing a poster is often the first step towards publication, as that’s when you can get a lot of people commenting on it and giving you ideas for changes/additions. It doesn’t “count” to journals as having published it before (neither does giving a talk at a conference), so you’re all good.
Happy Birthday, Janine!
Giliell, my condolences to you and your friend. And I’m so sorry to hear about your husband and car. *chocolate* *hugs* *more chocolate*
Caine:
That’s wonderful! ♥ ♥ ♥
I’ve missed you. (I was starting to worry.)
keenacat, congratulations and good luck with the dissertation!
Katherine, I’m so sorry. *hugs*
@Arkady
Doctor Who always had one of the worst physics in any sci fi show. In one of the fifth doctor stories, I saw the Doctor’s body not following the conservation of momentum while floating in space and throwing a tennis ball.
Hekuni Cat:
I’m sorry! That was thoughtless of me, I should have checked in. ♥
@ibyea,
If someone said they watched Doctor Who for the physics, I’d be worried. :-)
carlie @289
He’s not hard to look at, but given a choice, I’ll have me some Tennant.
tony @294
A majority of the episodes have at least two or three of those elements. I’d find it supremely difficult to whittle it down to just one “gotcha” story.
So “start at the beginning of the new series and keep at it” is still really the best suggestion I have.
Caine, good to see you spent quality time the Mister. I’ll send some very small thimbles of grog for Chas, Esme, and who/whatever. They’re probably feeling a little left out.
Is only the best season finale of ANYthing EVer. Boy howdy.
I nth the suggestion to start with “Rose”. Bear with the cheesiness and low budget for about half the first season. Worth it. Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper are just wonderful.
Nerd, thank you. You have to take the time when you find it. Chas, Esme & Rubin Plinge weren’t altogether neglected. They got a fair amount of attention and treats. :D The Monster Dogs got a supply of fresh cow bits from the butcher and the Cats of Evilness got drugs fresh from the yard. A little somethin’ somethin’ for everyone.
Mister adores his new Galileoscope and on the movie front, we watched Metropolis, This Island Earth and Super 8. We got much done in the house, too, including moving book cases and rearranging books and managed to get all 800+ books properly housed. There’s a fair amount of hidden thievery involved in the last…I do feel guilty, but I is pleased.
Giliell, I am so sorry to hear this.
Hugs, if you want them.
*voice of Sgt. Shultz* “I see/hear nothing…”
@LDTR
Also, in Doctor Who, magic exists. Like that Shakespeare episode. I liked the Harry Potter shoutouts, though, so it was worth it. :)
Dr. Who and the Daleks
Any Downton Abbey fans? Jimmy Fallon did a second parody episode: here
Nerd:
:D I’m talking about this and this and these.
About 4 weeks ago, I was opining to Mister that ThinkGeek had this seriously cool Hidden Bookshelf. At 15 bucks a piece. That was simply too much for as many as I’d like to have. He looked, got a piece of paper and drew out a rough fab plan. He took it to work, showed it to the fabrication guys, they drew up a proper plan and before I knew it, he came home with a box of 30, all powder coated red, to boot, for 6 bucks a piece. We only have 9 unmounted ones left.
We are going to buy a couple from ThinkGeek, we’re suffering thievery guilt.
Ok everybody, Vulture just put up a Community season three final exam. I got 22/25, making me an “Annie”.
Australia, South Africa to share super telescope
Doctor Who:
What no love for Human Nature/Family of Blood? None for The Sound of Drums? Those remain my favorites of New Who.
Hi there, sometimes quirky! *Looks around for something to offer* Umm, there’s this Lindt bar that the cat sat on, it’s kind of melted a bit funny but it was in the foil, so no cat arse cooties. All yours if you want it. Man, I so need to go shopping.
Katherine Lorraine – ooh, have you read any Melissa Scott? Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams are fantasy world cop drama. Who is using magic to kill people, and why? Good fun stuff, and totally queer friendly, too. I love Melissa Scott; she is sadly quite obscure, and doesn’t write enough damnit. Anyway, there’s no reason a fantasy world can’t have cops if you want. If it doesn’t fit as part of your main novel, perhaps as a sequel, short stories, related same world but different people novel…
CripDyke: Massive conga rat ululations! WOOOOOO-to-the-fucking-HOOO!!!
Amblebury: you can change your display name easily if you want to fix it up. Or add some some sort of entertaining subtitle. Go to “edit my profile” from the drop down menu that appears when you mouse over your name on the wordpress black top bar. (Also, why are you working on a Saturday?)
Betelgeuse: yes, there really are some people who are so obsessed that they created an anti-pharyngula website. Also, I consider it probable that the old comment archives will reappear when the Sb move is finished. People over there currently are talking about losing the last month or two, not the whole thing. I suspect that PZ may have to do something to enable it, and he’s travelling at the moment and has dodgy internet access.
ibyea:
I do recall in the classic series at least, there would often be something going on that people thought was magic, that invariably turned out to be rooted in science. Usually a cockamamie sort of science, and just about always some nefarious alien plot, but hey. And the Doctor did make the point several times that scientific thinking is better than magical.
The show originally started out trying to be educational about science and history, though it quickly got derailed by Daleks.
JESUS FUCKING TAPDANCING CHRIST ON A CRACKER!
…
I have no words.
Fuck.
Pardon me, I’m going to go hide in the corner.
Esteleth:
Oh, I love those episodes too. Especially Human Nature/The Family of Blood. I particularly respect the writer for not flinching from the attitudes of the historical setting. And David Tennant was simply astonishing in his double role. I can’t recall if he got an award for that, but if he didn’t, he should have.
I mentioned Human Nature/Family of Blood upthread, but I don’t think they’re good for introductory episodes. They really don’t have that gut-punching impact unless you already love the Doctor and feel that loss that Martha has.
I finally got the chance to catch up on the Light Entertainment thread.
Oh my, oh my … it beggars belief. And with Louis’ conversation and all – like taking candy from a particularly obnoxious baby, you almost feel sorry for it – so far out of its depth, and so oblivious – and yet, and yet, if ever there were a baby that deserved to have its candy purloined that one was it.
@Alethea:
Terry Prachett showed us that.
ZOMG, there’s another page of this thread. Is this a record? What are you lot wearing lilac for? WERE YOU THERE? I think not.
Oh fuck. Giliell, please have all these e-hugs. What a fucking shit thing to happen! I’m so sorry about your friend’s mum. And I’m glad that husband is not seriously injured. On a practical note, does your car insurance cover temporary rental replacements? If not, can you afford to rent one anyway so you don’t miss your short holiday?
Katherine, I assumed you weren’t writing humour – and anyway Melissa Scott is worth plugging.
I’m heading off to bed.
Tomorrow, Wife and I celebrate our 23d anniversary (one day early (no way am I taking the 27th off as I get both holiday pay and Sunday differential)). I’ll prolly talk to y’all on calendarist Sunday.
And now rajkumar is seriously fucking up the idea of peer review. Sheesh.
Great Bast and Bacchus, I think J and M need an extra layer of security in their birth control regime. She gave birth to R only a few months ago, and he got word just as he was getting ready to pick me up . . . she’s pregnant again. And is a bit panicky about it. With R and T, and occasionally G, it’s hard enough. A fourth kid? Yikes. I told Mom he got a call about a family emergency just as he was coming to get me; thankfully, she didn’t ask for details.
So it looks like Sunday morning sinning for me. Although I’m not going to complain much . . . I’ve done phone-sex on a Sunday morning, this is just the person-to-person version. *evil grin*
Actually, maybe just one more bit: I think it’s time I tried looking for someone a bit closer to where I live, and someone who’s single, or at least available. RH, the other guy I’ve been talking to, is too far away to make meeting up easy. *sigh*One day I will tell Mom I’m seeing more than one guy, but I will leave out the part about one of them (or both, if RH goes that way) having a long-term partner as well. She’ll probably brag that her daughter is cutting a wide swath amongst the men nowadays.
…I don’t know if I could take that kind of pressure.
————————————————-
On the upside? Hey, three-day weekend! Those are always good to have, right?
————————————————-
There is an iconic music store downtown that is closing soon. I’ve only been once or twice, but it reminds me so much of this other music store that my family went to when I was little. That one is where I picked up all my books for the guitar tabs of Mariah Carey songs (yes I still have them somewhere, I can’t see myself getting rid of them).
I might go down tomorrow and see what I can get. Fuck, what’s gonna go in that space, another trendy store that caters to skinny women? Another Starbucks? Maybe we’ll be lucky and a little tearoom will open up there. I miss the one that used to be in the Irish store.
Might also hit Guitar Center for their sales. I could use a little toolkit for my guitar, but any chance of finding what I need in the garage is about the same as finding a diamond mine under the house. Aside from being a packrat, Dad didn’t leave a map of where he left things in the garage. Besides, might buy a few extra strings, too. Can’t hurt.
—————————————————-
Katherine – Ace Ventura had transphobic stuff? Well, I was young and unaware, but damn. Suddenly any enjoyment I might still get from that movie just died. I do think Carrey did a fine job in The Majestic. But that’s about the only serious role I remember him doing besides The Truman Show. I wonder if he ever feels like he’s stuck in a corner being the funny man all the time.
—————————————————
I’m afraid the only guy who ever made a fart joke that was both intelligent and funny was George Carlin, IMO. Adam Sandler I can’t stand much of, but I did like him in Spanglish. Really, if he hits just the right notes, he can be both funny and touching. Sadly, he’s more known for the ham-handed comedy, and much like ice cream or perhaps Doritos, that gets a bit sickening if too much is consumed.
————————————————–
I’d ay who I’d really like to see thrown together in a movie, but . . . that would be a bit of a long list. Still, I’m DYING to see what would happen. And if the world should explode from the sheer power of awesomeness they generate, well, better that ending than the Rapture or a nuclear disaster.
————————————————–
Hugs, chocolate, grog, booze, and encouragement to any and all who need it. Will catch up with the thread properly later.
@Alethea:
Well no, I’m not writing humor, but the Night Watch books are pretty much a cop drama in a fantasy story.
@PTI:
Natalie Reed had a completely triggering post on it a week ago – https://proxy.freethought.online/nataliereed/2012/05/18/ace-ventura-het-perspective/
Though the transphobic part I’m talking about is the one with the whole “I kissed a man” part where he’s basically vomiting in repulsion to the thought of kissing Einhorn.
@Esteleth
In that three parts story, I thought Derek Jacobi’s Master was the awesomest Master ever, even though he was there for only 10-15 minutes.
Thank you for everyone who was able to decipher my ham-handed and semi-obsessive “hints” and wish me a happy birthday.
I hope that you all enjoyed the songs.
Ooooh Now I get it!
Happy Birthday, Janine!
Alethea:
I was hanging out in the knitting/sewing shop. Can’t prove I wasn’t.
*ducks and runs*
^ this. I love those eps but they’re kinda private.
I know folks I care about here need hugs so *yesthismeansyouhugs*. I just have a lot of shielding up right now.
The end of Family Of Blood made explicit just how ruthless David Tennant’s Doctor was.
Carlie:
21/25. BOOM.
We’re having a surprise thunderstorm.
At the first peal of thunder, I was in the bathroom, and the dog (who never ever goes in there because it’s where b*ths happen) zipped straight in to plaster herself to my side. She’s stuck to me like glue since then, positively quivering. Poor girl. We haven’t had any thunderstorms to speak of since we got her, and she never bats an eye at fireworks so we had no idea she was so afraid of thunder.
Wow – I never watched Ace Ventura because I always hated Jim Carrey, but I just thought it was a crap movie. I didn’t realize it was that loathsome. It hurt just reading Natalie’s piece on it. I’m so sorry you went through that, Katherine. *proffers cup of warm decaf tea if desired*
High-five Audley!
Do you think I can still get published somewhere decent after having done a poster already?
As Carlie already said, yes. Most journals accept submissions for data that has been previously presented at conferences and for which abstracts are published in conference proceedings. Read the information for authors for the journal you want to submit to carefully to make sure they allow previous presentation, but I haven’t yet had a paper rejected because of a previously presented poster.
Believe me, after somebody drove backwards into our baby-stroller with our daughter in it and then sued us for damage to the car, I’m prepared for everything
Now I have this fantasy in my mind in which this case went to trial and the jury was so outraged that they not only made the person who hit the baby stroller with the car pay for court costs and damages to Gileill and family, they also invoked an old Bismark-era law* by which if a person is harmed by another person’s severe and persistent public stupidity, the victim has the right to chase to perpetrator through the city hitting him alternately with a week old dead cod and a large Wurst until bored. But I suppose the real outcome was not so satisfying.
*Totally made up. There is no such law. That I know of.
I’m sure you will all be glad to know that it has been decided that the American amphibious cavalry rides alligators into battle.
*nods sagely*
Also, Battle Dingoes.
Part-Time Insomniac:
You might enjoy Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind then.
Happy Anniversary, Ogvorbis.
Omfg. So this is a thing? It’s not just me? Oh, thank god. I’ve always been a wierdo for it, but I feel so embarrassed for others. Doesn’t matter if it’s a book or movie even, it hurts. I’ve had to stop watching or reading things before because of this. The worst thing that comes to mind for this, is the show Monk. They just embarrass him regularly and I can’t watch it. Of course, now that I find people that understand what I’m taking about that’s the only example I can think of.
I don’t know of an english word for it though. =(
I cannot abide the vast majority of mainstream comedy due to a similar reaction. I want to crawl through the bottom of me seat when I watch people, even fictional, do things that I would find embarrassing to commit.
JAL, I’ve always called it secondhand embarrassment. Even if I wanted to watch Borat or Saturday Night Live, I’d be unable to.
empathy
—
Happy Anniversary Og and Mrs.Og!
Happy Anniversary, Ogvorbis! I hope it’s a wonderful one.
ex ex’s neighbors have been taking videos of the neighborhood kids.
First, the next door neighbors, and recently, little babby. I’m pissed. It’s creepy as fuck. I’m very aggressively pissed.
But I’ve been explicitly ordered NOT to throw a rock through their window. I’ve also been explicitly ordered NOT to spraypaint “pedophile Alert” all over their vehicle at 3 AM.
I’ve also been ordered not to directly attack them. This is torture. Absolute torture. My every savage instinct to protect is triggered.
The next door neighbor is a cop and he talked to them, but apparently it’s not ‘technically illegal’ what they do.
I really want to start a fight.
TLC, have you pondered taking videos of the ex ex’s neighbors taking videos of the neighborhood kids?
The outback dog fence
Snippet:
TLC:
Good advice, because that would be pretty damn stupid. It’s also illegal. You might want to at least attempt to get the facts before you start twisting them.
Do you have evidence that they are a nest of pedophiles and are videotaping for nefarious purposes? Do you know why they are videotaping? Just a thought off the top of my head – they might be taping for stuff to submit to various video clip television shows. People get paid for that shit, ya know. I can think of quite a few reasons people might tape.
Not to downplay any potential danger, however, jumping to the conclusion that Chester the Molester is living next door isn’t too helpful unless you have more to go on. If it continues to freak you all out, go legal and acquire a restraining order or a cease and desist.
Caine: I know what you’re saying, but these folks have definitely displayed suspicious and even belligerent behavior, going as far as yelling at the lover’s sister’s boyfriend for even looking at one of them.
There’s something about the whole thing that raises my hackles, and I’ve ignored these instincts before to tragic results. Red Flags and all that.
I like John Morales’s Idear, though. It’s smart.
Beatrice #283 (and MDC #273 by association):
Christina appears to have gotten it after having things explained to her by Natalie and others in the comments. Now it’s mostly just beating back a few tone trolls like Wes.
Why do you think you need to be ordered to be nonviolent? There are much, much better ways of handling this. Your choice isn’t between impotent rage and actual rage.
And how do you know what your “savage instinct” is directed at? Is throwing a rock through a window about protecting people or a way to hurt them? Or do you just feel like telling us about how savage and instinctual you are in a context you think we’ll relate to?
That says it all. It’s a good thing you don’t really want to talk to them or talk to others who could calmly and peacefully do something productive about the situation. Instead, you’ll stew in your violent fantasies for a while, and then what?
Also, don’t misuse the word “torture” anymore.
Giliell~
*I REALLY HOPE YOU SEE THIS*
PLEASE make sure your husband gets a neck x-ray NOW AND AGAIN in a few months. I had the same thing happen and it turned out my “whiplash” was actually a broken neck! Didn’t find out until YEARS later. From what I understand, broken vertebre are not obvious until they have healed or begun to heal. I did not have a second x-ray until many years later, but ended up having chronic problems. Before you settle with the insurance company, have husband x-rayed again. Don’t let them push you into settling either! Time is on your side here, if husband has (COD FORBID) any broken bones, the settlement should be higher to cover future and/or continuing issues he may have.
Hoping for the best,
StarsEnd42
Awesome. I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you. Thi bit of research has a special place in my heart and I’d love to give it wider circulation.
Just_A_Lurker,
that is totally a thing. I know a few people who have similar issues, yet most don’t quite reach my level of sensitivity.
I liked “embarrassment squick”, somebody suggested that upthread.
OH JEEBUS MONK’S THE WORST!! I can’t even watch two minutes of this show. Also, the amount of “LOL psychiatric illnesses” I felt in the few segments I have seen made me retch.
chigau,
I know this reaction is probably rooted im empathy, but I am even embarrassed for people who are obviously not embarrassed at all and for fictional characters, even animated ones. Maybe I just have a hair trigger empathy module.
I actually feel bad to be embarrassed for people in real life. I feel I am patronizing them in some way. Oral exams in a group have never been fun to me…
Um… is this still the country who has arrested parents for nekkid beach pictures of their toddlers and toddlers for looking at their baby sisters genitals? Or are you elsewhere?
Except that she’s defending Wes and his discussion of the phrase. The discussion which is supposedly totally innocent and isn’t in any way trying to police trans people’s anger. Everyone is just asking questions and we apparently have to consider all the questions equally valid.
*sigh* I just woke up and those nested comments over there are making it really hard to find all the new comments without reading the whole damn thing again.
Happy anniversary, Bro Og! I hope that Wife and you have a really lovely day ::waves::
Good morning
*collects a big pile of hugs*
I love hugs
Things are looking much better this morning.
Mr. came home last night and is feeling pretty well.
And with every shit they throw at you, you find out how great your friends and family are.
Dad in law managed to organize a car with a hitch, so they’re off to get the caravan (dad in law is driving). The problem here was that, although the holiday is only in two weeks, the people who run the place where it is parked are off for a holiday, too. So, it is getting it today before 12 ‘o clock or not at all.
The car is at a towing service about 30 min away and can be collected, you guess it, before 12. Thankfully, we have friends who live in that town. They’ll get it, park it at their place and we’ll pick it up in the afternoon. With a bit of begging and explaining they agreed to give them the car without our written authorisation. Because if I could give them my written authorisation, I could drive over there myself.
Rental car has to be covered by the other insurance as everything else. Our insurance has nothing to do with it since the driver admited to “having slipped off the brake” (yeah, who’s going to believe that, lady? But nobody care) on the spot.
Starsend 42
Thank you for your advice. He had the Full Monty at the ho
No freaking kidding. I despise nested comments. Oh look, an entire new conversation just happened in comment #4! Even though the thread is now on comment #60! Oh look, there are 20 new comments, and they are spread throughout an entire thread of 200 and good luck finding them all! Fuck that shit.
OK, I accidentially hit subit, so I’ll try again.
starsend 42
Thank you for your advice. He had the Full Monty at the hospital, including X-rays and abdominal ultrasound. Guess what they found: an old fracture where a piece of the bone had splintered off. That was probably the last time somebody rearended him.
Now I think I’ll clean the kitchen and then make muffins for our friends. Baking helps a lot.
Gilliel – sorry about the woes compounded. That’s harsh. Baking helps me, too.
Caine – I’ve actually Been Paying Attention long enough to have noticed your absence.
1/ I’m glad all is well.
2/ I have a curious sense of pride at that accomplishment.
Alethea, the library at which I work is open 9-5 on both Saturdays and Sundays, and 9-6 during the week, with one late night. Because my position is on-call, I work many weekends. That is, until this last week when it was revealed that middle-management have decided to well, screw me over good and proper. I won’t wail about the details, but it hasn’t been a good week. Lots of fuming, eating, not exercising and crying a bit. Fuckers.
Arborists really can be amazing, I’ve a huge respect for them. There was a lad here a few yeas ago, who made a habit of stealing road-cones and scaling the highest tree in public parks and depositing them at the top, (anonymously, of course.) The arborists were so impressed by this feat, they put an add in the paper and offered him a job. Which he took. People can be cool sometimes.
Keenacat – that’s great. The world needs more rationalist doctors. And less of the other kind, (they’re there, believe me.)
Dr. Who? Christopher Eccleston, Christopher Eccleston and Christopher Eccleston. Also, Christopher Eccleston.
So did everybody see that it is now impossible to get a medication (i.e. RU-486) abortion in the entire state of Wisconsin?
Yay, state rights. One by one, they’ll manage to completely outlaw abortion in US.
I’m so sorry for the shit you Americans have to deal with.
Owlmirror upthread,
that is very interesting, that someone fucked with the robots.txt. I went to the SB pharyngula last night, and the old posts seemed to be all there. Doesn’t that bother NatGeo, Crackergate and all ?
Blog access is still wonky, can’t upload images for one, I’ve kind of given up until next week, when I get to Singapore. The Chinese do a lot of the following : spitting, marrying, honking horns, walking. I went for my daily 2-hour stroll this morning, and all of China, organised by company or district, complete with matching color t-shirts and flag bearers, was walking in the opposite direction.
Happy anniversary, Og!
CR: Jennifer Lopez was on ILC? I must have missed her. DAG is pretty famous but I don’t think he’s Carrey-level famous.
TLC: I don’t have much use for Robin Williams, either. Some of his earlier stand-up was funny, but he’s gotten less funny as he’s aged. And I hate, in general, the phenomenon of male comics deciding that they want to be Serious Actors as they get older and doing all sorts of “heartwarming” roles. (see also: Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy)
Tony:
In terms of books, I highly recommend Maureen McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang. (With the caveat that I have no idea how well she as a white writer “gets” Chinese culture.) Also, Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book is gorgeous and heartbreaking, despite not being very good at predicting technology.
Also, why does this (NSFW!) remind me of Rick Warden?
Tony
Re: Pastis. French anisseed liquor, that is mixed with water and ice. Tastes a bit like Ouzo.
++++
Did I mention that it’s totally possible that I’m going to Berlin this summer where I’ll not only see my aunt and cousins, but also David AND as extra super special Jules?
I mean, it still might not come true, but at least I’m trying.
I really need to shut up my inner mum. She’s trained me so well that by now she doesn’t have to spew her nastyness herself, I supply it generously within my own head.
But I can do it, I’ve just done it and I’m going to have nice things and have fun and everybody else is going to do so, too.
Well, going, not coming, obviously.
Meanwhile, in other news. The US goverment have issued a civil rights report that zeros in on Spanish police. The report says that the Spanish police torture and abuse, practise racial discrimination and xenophobia.
also, they make illegal arrests of migrants and ignore gender violence.
This committee in the US has film of police officers striking people with their batons. These people were peaceful demonstrators just sitting on the ground at the 15-M protest in Barcelona on the 27th May.
Apparently our police are not allowed to use pepper spray.
Is this what English speakers mean when they talk about irony?
Oh, Amblebury, that sucks. Here’s hoping you get a better job soon!
Meanwhile the blacklist thread is going strong. A twerp from TalkRats, who I had thought was better than that, is calling out PZ for not having enough Science! on his resume. How that is relevant to blacklists or harassment or misogyny is left as an exercise for the reader.
I’m staying this here, because I just want to say how sad I am at the decline and fall of TalkRational, of which I was once a member. (I dropped out not long after a thread in which I failed to explain Schrodinger’s Rapist, before the term was coined.) Anyway I looked at the thread on which BWE posted his not-exactly-resume reply to PZ. Apparently the Gelato Guy incident is some kind of terrible indictment on PZ, and early in that thread someone calls PZ a “fat tard”. Geeze. Classy. So glad I left, and so sad to see what it’s come to.
I dunno, pepper spray is frequently abused by police, so I don’t know if it’d be any improvement for Spain to allow your police its use.
Safe to assume the Spanish public is offended that outsiders have called attention to these matters?
Fuck but these Asian noodles (what Germans would call noodle soup I guess) are lovely, even for breakfast. Shrimp, mushroom, buk choy, noodles, greens, just fantastic. Need to learn how to cook them. And how cool is Chinese language, where every character represents an idea, a concept, and different concepts make different words, like for example blue+heart= emotion/feeling. How cool is that.
You’ve never had the instinctive urge to do something you rationally know isn’t right? And you’ve never wanted to take a clawhammer to the side of some creeper’s head even though you know it’s the wrong decision?
Have you ever had to defend yourself or someone else at all, or do you just like waggling your finger at me?
Fuck off.
@TLC
I don’t know if we’re in the same boat but I think I’d answer yes to all your questions.
And I’m telling you consciousness razor has a point. It doesn’t help bottling that stuff in or letting it stew. In no small part because those fantasies have a way of embittering you towards everyone but more (at least in my case) because the release for that violence always tends to do more harm than good (as you note) Especially when you’re looking to help or protect someone outside of immediate danger.
I don’t know the full context of your disagreement (and I fully apologize if I’m missing the point) but I don’t read consciousness as talking down. He’s encouraging you to find constructive outlets for anger instead of allowing it to grow into more and more destructive impulses.
That seems benign to me.
Giliell:
*hugs* for you and Mr Giliell. That entire situation sucks goats, but I’m glad that it looks like he’s going to be okay.
Heh. Years ago, I was rear-ended while I was stopped at a red light. The woman who hit me was driving a Lincoln Town Car (= land yacht) and I was in a Toyota Celica (= tiny)– needless to say, my car was WHOA totaled. But, the whole point of this story is that the woman who hit my car used the very same excuse that her foot slipped.
Jesus Christ, don’t lie in that situation. You don’t benefit from it, so why bother?
Julian: If the point is that I probably shouldn’t be going all Male Primate on people or destroying people’s property, wow, Conciousness Razor just blew my little mind.
It doesn’t help that the reaction from Cop Neighbor is pretty much exactly what I expected. Why do cops only feel powerful when they’re randomly patting down longhaired hippies and asking them stupid ‘tough cop’ questions at 3 AM?
@TLC
That wasn’t my reading. I think he was more encouraging you to find other ways of coping with it. At least that’s what I got from “Your choice isn’t between impotent rage and actual rage.“
I understand the impulse.
I do like the suggestion to obviously video tape them. Then when they ask what the fuck you’re doing, you can say you’ll stop as soon as they stop.
Carlie: Yeah, I’m really liking John Morale’s idea. It’s the perfect balance between ‘doing something’ and ‘not getting myself in shit’
Julian: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Violent rhetoric is cool now at Pharyngula? Finally? It’s about time.
I’m looking forward to pontificating at length on who needs to be assaulted and how. (Just as soon as I secure a research grant on the efficiency of disembraining by clawhammer.)
They’re meh. Not what they’re made out to be in Walking Dead. Now a morning star? Oh yeah, they’re hot.
Julian: I’m quite partial to my tomahawks myself, especially now with the snazzy studded grips I gave them (the leather wraps being just too fragile and easy to unravel while chopping wood).
Swords are usually awesome too, but I think they get a bit too much love at the expense of other bladed objects.
julian, did you publish yet? I think it’s important that I try to replicate your findings, at least. For science.
Oh, and if I can find a relatively easy way to construct a solid one, a morning star is definitely in my future.
Anyway,
More than that: when you say that kind of shit here at Pharyngula, you put the other commenters in the uncomfortable position of having to denounce your violent rhetoric or have our silence cited later as indifference to assault.
Then when someone does speak up, you act put upon, like they’re in the wrong for objecting to violence. That there catch-22 makes other people particularly uncomfortable.
And that’s all assuming that “everyone knows” you would never actually carry out such acts.
I apologize then, Pit Bull.
Yes, my first instincts were all wrong, and on top of being ordered not to by someone I tend to listen to, I rationally know that it just wouldn’t work out like I want it to.
As well, I’ve been given a sound and intelligent suggestion by John Morales that I’m most grateful for.
Everyone knows this? I’d gladly maul someone in self defense or defense of the babby if it was the only way.
Of course it goes without saying that it’s usually NOT the only way and definitely not in this case.
Sorry to interrupt this lovely little bit of ultraviolence, but I’ve got some good news!
I felt Darkfetus move this morning!
O.o
:)
Congratulations, Audley!
Thanks, Coyote!
\o/
Congratulations, Audley! Now, you’ve got 18 years of trying to get the little thing to hold still.
… like a fish (maybe a minnow). Right, Audley? :)
Yay for Audley and noticably moving Dark Fetus
Oh, if you think that this excuse is ridiculous (I mean, it doesn’t matter anyway, her insurance has to pay), meet my cousin, the three-footed driver.
He had an accident when he went over the crossroads while his lights were red. He said he’d slipped off the brake and since it goes slightly downhill he accidentially rolled into the crossroads.
Well, that doesn’t work because he was about 10m away from the stop line.
Yes, but he was playing with the gas pedal.
Yeah, but in that case you don’t move because of the gears.
Yeah, but he also slipped off the clutch pedal, too!
Well, things don’t look that bad this afternoon. The car doesn’t look too badly hit and instead of spending an exhausting afternoon putting up a bed, we spent a nice afternoon in my friend’s garden while the kids played with her daughter’s dog who’s the most wonderfull dog of all (present canine company excluded)
Have you ever made irrelevant arguments?
Going by your comments, do you seriously think I shouldn’t be creeped out by you?
I don’t really expect you to apologize or sincerely retract what you said. Merely having a shred of self-awareness might be helpful. But who knows? Perhaps that can be applied with clawhammers. I’m going to look into that.
Good Morning All! I’m only dashing through, but wanted to greet everyone.
rorschach, I was thinking about you in China earlier this week. I am glad you are having an interesting time!
Audley – how exciting! I remember that exciting feeling of the first movements of a joyfully anticipated offspring!
SPeaking of offspring, eldest niftysson is home for weekend (he stayed on at university to work on a research project – niftymom beams with pride) and eldest niftysdottir and spouse are expected at any moment for a visit.
Only “child” missing is second niftysdottir who is still working in college town (though graduated). Gilliel, I may be pestering you for “squee”s shortly – she is 99% certain that she is going to take an internship in Germany later this summer!! :D
Now, I must go and try to whip this place into shape before arrivals.
Hope everyone is enjoying a decent weekend. (I’ll enjoy it more when I can properly catch up – thinking about Lynna and a few others – hope all is well!)
Damn, Gilliel, I skimmed so poorly, I missed the collision post. Sorry that happened! UGH!
Hallo, Amblebury. ♥ Glad you’ve been keeping up.
Alethea, I feel the same way about TalkRats. I was surprised to see the same old ‘buzz lines/words’ sprinkled all over the Gelato Guy thread, there’s no growing going on there anymore. I stopped reading/posting when the noise ratio hit overwhelming.
Ya know, TLC, I think it’s you who should back the fuck off here. Has it occurred to you that you enjoy coming across as a rugged individualist, someone who is apart from most other people? Well, for someone who enjoys that self image, you have a shitload of trouble dealing with anyone who isn’t rigidly conforming to your notions of how they should behave.
Plenty of us have had to defend ourselves, however, that hasn’t canceled out the use of our brains and the ability to think. That tends to be the best defense. Indulging in fantasies of doing stupid, ineffective shit is pointless.
There are plenty of effective strategies you (or anyone) could employ in this situation and that could be under discussion, but you’d rather indulge in thinking about throwing fucking rocks. Think about that for a moment.
As I said upthread, you don’t actually know why these people are behaving in this manner, you “just don’t like it”. You might take a moment to ponder all the people in your life who “just don’t like x behaviour” on your part. See what I’m saying?
Think. Ascertain the facts. Then strategize and plan.
Nah, Pit bull got me to think earlier a bit and yeah, I was out of line here. It’s worth saying again. I’m sorry. I woke up in a weird sort of mood today, I suppose.
Same to you Caine. I’m sorry. This kind of talk is not right for pharyngula, and maybe I’ll keep my posting light for a while today.
@379 life is like a pitbull with lipstick
Due to my crappy English, I think I conveyed a different meaning than I intended. I certainly don’t think it would be a good idea to give our police pepper spray.
What I thought was ironic was that given the amount of coverage police brutality etc is covered here at ftb, the people making the report about Spain may have been better occupied focusing on the US.
I don’t know about the rest of the Spanish public but it doesn’t offend me to have these things spoken about by outsiders. I’m certain that most of the Spanish public are well aware of the shortcomings of our various police forces in this country.
Audley, congratz! Wiggling things tend to be happy things.
—
…IMHO (not that anyone asked me) I’d call it metaviolence. TLC, good on you for backing down.
—
(off topic) Wow, y’all were NOT kidding about the nasty commenters over on Patheos. They have quite a contingent of “get your icky feminism out of my nice clean atheism” over there.
Pteryxx,
the Hustler article on Friendly Atheist? I’m guessing, since you mentioned atheist commentators. Most of the others want feminism out of their religious bigotry.
Giliell:
*confetti* *cake* *sparklers*
Audley:
Yay for Darkfetus! Were you weirded out?
The Pope’s butler has been arrested.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/26/153769833/popes-butler-arrested?ps=cprs
She was one of the dancers in some of the episodes. That said, it still might be that her stardom is largely a result of sexism, though at the same time I’m not trying to discount whatever talents she might have. I’m pretty much clueless about her work, so I wouldn’t be able to compare it relative to the rest of the pop-culture garbage that’s out there.
And one could probably make a good case for that. In terms of merit, I’d say Grier’s work is way ahead of Carrey’s, but of course a lot of people don’t care much about that. And taking a glance at their bios, I would expect a Yale-educated actor who was on Broadway early in his career (Grier) to have a lot more opportunities and be more famous than someone who started out in the Canadian improv circuit (Carrey).
Beatrice: Yep, I dabbled in Friendly Atheist, specifically the Hustler and harassment threads. Yikes, the anti-woman mythology being tossed about.
Consecrated? Like his fucking apartment is the inner sanctum or some shit? And why did the gods make women so dirty that the pope needs to spend his time making sure they’re consecrated, rather than being a decent human being?
The Vatican actually has a website
http://www.vatican.va/
the truth about RCC beliefs is much, much stranger than you think.
Try all you like, RCC. You’ll still be seen as a scandal-ridden tax haven. It won’t end until you stop trying to bring back those days when you were the big kahuna and could order people to be beheaded with just a snap of the fingers.
——————————————————
It’s so sticky today. Even two open windows doesn’t provide much relief. I was hoping to keep the fan off until June, dammit.
Nifty
That’s cool, does she already know where she’ll be? I’m pretty much tucked away in a corner of the country (half the time to Paris than I need to Berlin)
The Friendly Athiest
I’d use another adjective: Privileged
Pastor Worley, from North Carolina has figured out a way to get rid of “lesbians and queers.”
Opposeablethumbs:
Yes! I told Mr Darkheart that it felt like little bubbles. :)
nutmeg:
Not really, ‘cos I’ve been expecting it. I had an appointment with my OB/GYN last Tuesday and my doc told me what it would feel like and that she thought that I’d feel movement any day now.
And I did!
Pteryxx, nifty, Giliell, Esteleth:
Thanks!
You guys make me so happy. :D
Squee!!!! Little flutteries that you realized weren’t your own muscles? SO cool. Enjoy it now, before it becomes an elbow poked up in your diaphragm. ;)
Today was the first beach day of the year! It was hot and sunny and crowded but not too crowded! And then the kids got bored and wanted to go home.
Yay, Eurovision. Hope it will be as silly as usually, I got enough popcorn ready.
Ah, Eurovision. Good to see Ireland’s still using the ‘My Lovely Horse’ defence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg
(In short: Winning country has to host the following year, Ireland can’t afford to host so fields an act that is highly unlikely to win. As parodied in Father Ted!)
To link back to the Doctor Who discussion earlier, this years Ireland entry look a bit like jazzed-up cybermen…
Dancing Russian grannies! Baking on stage!
I’m rooting for Babushki.
Or that guy who looks just like Edward Norton.
Excuse me, I saw some dancers the accompany the French singer. /objectifying, sorry
Oh, not dancers, better.
Squee! It felt like bubbles to me too, with my first pregnancy. I had been munching on a huge plate of nachos and thought it was gas at first before I realized it was really strange gas.
Does feeling it move make pregnancy feel more or less freaky to you?
Is that really live-feed at the Eurovision site?
Should be Sweden right now.
I’ll check
Livestream is running about 30 seconds behind the BBC I think, so not quite live but fairly close. Lacking in snarky commentary though I imagine…
(Graham Norton’s OK, but I do miss Terry Wogan…)
Yep, it’s live
Good use of capes by Turkey!
Whatever the timing, I cannot take my eyes off it.
I just saw a Turkish boy-group dressed as bats?
I think they were pirates in a boat. Or some of them were the boat. But they were also bats. Bats in a boat?
Thanks, Carlie! ♥!
kristinc:
Less, actually. I’ve been feeling much more comfortable about the pregnancy lately and this morning I was just tickled pink by Darkfetus’ movement. :D
Audley:
Wonderful!
All:
I feel like some sort of classless traitor. Not sure which way I am being a traitor.
1. I am drinking a bottle of Ommegang Dubbel.
2. I am grilling a pork roast with a soy sauce and ginger preserves glaze.
3. I am watching a NASCAR race.
So the beer (though not Ommegang) goes with the NASCAR. The grilling (though not with the soy ginger glaze) goes with the NASCAR. See what I mean?
NASCAR?
cars going round-and-round?
Eurovision is on !!!!!
wall-to-wall-to-wall Pop Music!
Dancing boys and girls!
Thanks, Oggie!
Why in the world are you watching NASCAR? I understand the Ommegang and the grilling, but NASCAR?
chigau and Audley:
What can I say? I like watching auto racing. NASCAR, Daytona Prototype, Indycar, Gran Prix, doesn’t matter, I likes it.
Prepare brain bleach. Here goes Ireland.
Gold cybermen! Water feature!
OMG!!!!!
Ireland!
Oggie,
Gotcha.
I can hardly judge. I’m watching something called Bunny Man on “Chiller”. It’s pretty horrible (not even horribly awesome, just horrible).
Ah. Like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes? That kind of bad?
I am deeply sorry that I have not been watching this since it was possible.
Oggie,
Worse. It’s very very very serious. It’s stupid horror without any charm.
I wish you the best,
now you can be my guest
*snicker*
Oh god, this is why I watch Eurosong.
Audley:
Ah. Like a GOP convention?
It’s also very educational.
My ignorance of European geography-and-history is not merely large, it is massive.
—-
wait
it’s over???
If you want more education, watch the voting results. You’ll refresh your memory of which countries are neighbors by noting those that give each other most points.
What, Eurovision was tonight? Here I am at home with all this booze, and I didn’t realise. What a waste.
Yeah, but NASCAR? Oh look, they’re turning left! How exciting!
Beatrice:
Has the economic situation changed anything? How many points did Greece give Germany, for example?
Hey now, don’t expect every performance to have a plot!
(I don’t watch NASCAR either, but it makes great background noise while studying.)
Moggie,
Results aren’t in yet.
Will report.
Let’s see: tyre strategy (when and how many tyres to change during a pit can affect track position), the constant adjustments to the suspension geometry and stiffness as well as weight distribution, drafting, rubbing, yeah, you’re right. I guess I am just an ignorant and ill-educated moron to enjoy this particular motor sport. Thank you.
Great dripping gobbets of irony. Sunday morning, and I’ve been called into work.
Just caught – Audley’s quickening, (I love that word.) Joybounce!
– Noodle soup. I wants it.
Ogvorbis: Oh come on, that’s a heck of a jump to make from ‘boring’. Unless there’s massive subtext I don’t know about here.
We bought a first-gen Roomba at the thrift store for $30.
I named it HAL.
Oggie:
It’s just possible that you took my comment with more seriousness than was intended.
(Bear in mind that my people don’t have NASCAR, and the class connotations are an ocean away, but I do have stock car racers in the family)
Pteryxx:
I’m pretty sure I explained why I do find it exciting.
Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned NASCAR. I was only pointing out how odd it was to be drinking Ommegang while grilling and watching NASCAR.
Sorry.
Goodness, you don’t care about racing! How…unexciting! Christ. Look, NASCAR ain’t my thing, but I do actually race myself, and not everyone who watches racing is a subpar, nut scratching redneck.
Greece gave nothing to Germany, 12 to Cyprus.
Thanks, but I actually don’t really like racing. :p
*shrug* I just read how exciting some hobby is or isn’t as a personal preference, not a broad value judgment.
Seriously, if I had stated that I was watching the Indy 500 (a race in which all the turns are to the left) would I have received the same reaction? Fuggit.
If I considered people who liked stuff I didn’t like morons, I’d be the smartest person in the world in my own mind.
Caine:
I don’t see why enjoying motor racing has anything to do with being redneck, and as I said above I have racing drivers in my family, so I plead not guilty to anti-racing prejudice.
Oggie:
From me? Yes. Why not?
Aww, so little love for Engelbert. He wasn’t that bad!
As annoyed as I’m supposed to be about the eastern bloc-voting (well, since the UK doesn’t have many friends in europe who would vote for us!), it is a bit heartwarming how the former Balkan states now all vote for each other.
Ugh. Am liking Graham Nortons commentary less and less. Just made a transphobic remark…
Re: US car racing, I thought it was all just going round a simple track? Had vaguely heard of Indy and NASCAR and tbh thought they were the same thing. My dad’s into Formula 1, my only source of knowledge on car racing and since I left home for uni some years ago I’ve not kept up with it (I know he thought that the safety standards for car racing were much lower in the US, but that was several years ago).
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE… oh wait, different quickening.
La Suède break 300. It’s all over …
I wanted Russia to win :(
I wanted the batboys to win.
—-
I like the song but the front singer looks to my aged eyes like a cross between Karen Carpenter and Cher.
(not that that has anything to do with anything)
Loved that Finland’s votes were presented by Mr Lordi. Lordi’s win in 2006 is still my favourite Eurovision moment, this year missed out by not having any ridiculously overblown scandinavian rock/metal.
Sleeeeepy, but I don’t wanna go because when I wake up there will be gazillion new comments in that thread over at JT’s and they’re nested and therefore impossible to follow.
And the whole thing is making me cranky. Someone should print Derailing for Dummies and throw it at certain people. Might give them a clue about “just asking questions”.
Beatrice – Derailing for Dummies was linked to at least twice in the closed thread, IIRC. I guess nobody read it.
Carlie,
Drew actually thanked Josh for posting it, so at least someone found it useful.
Good news about the Darkfetus!
<a href="http://www.ironycentral.com/babymain.html"This may or may not be amusing as a taste of what’s to come. Probably quite amusing to those for whom babby care is now viewed only in hindsight.
Sod. http://www.ironycentral.com/babymain.html
What the name for the internet law that says your formatting is perfectly fine every time you use preview, and borked when you don’t. Some kind of combination of Murphy and Tpyos.
I didn’t watch Eurovision, I spent the evening reading the latest “Dexter” novel. Priorities.
— — — — — — — — —
“Reasons for invoking God” http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2607
— — — — — — —
Wan’t NASCAR born from bootleggers out-driving cop cars and eventually turning the experience into organised sport?
Well Fuck.
One of the neighbors is cutting his lawn.
That means we ALL hafta cut our lawns.
Assshole.
I like racing video games. Cars, cows, chocobos, you name it.
NASCAR-style tracks are hard as fuck.
My cat is sleeping on her back. Again. She is a funny kitty.
Chigau, can’t you get a Japanese-style rock garden? Unless they get infested by silicaceous life forms, I am pretty sure rocks don’t grow.
— — — — — —
“I also suffer from a serious case of Fremdschämen”
That is why a lot of comedy is off-limits to me.
— — — — — — —
The Pope “consecrating” four women???? (thinks of mormons and muslims). Is that what they call it now?
ॐ:
The simpler the racetrack, the harder the game?
Odd. I’d have thought it the other way around.
Well, this tune’s been in my head for four days so it might as well be in yours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trbpsrMA3O8
(You’ll get a MaryDoodle as a reward.)
There’s no room for error. On more intricate tracks, there are multiple ways to win (especially if it’s the time of game where you can make choices about how to upgrade the car). With simple loops, you absolutely have to favor top speed over acceleration, and that means you can’t ever fuck up once or you will lose.
And I’m the one who “derailed” JT’s little thread. While he condones a needling wankfest of prim-n-prissy heteros who think they have the right to tell trans people not to say mean things.
Fuck you JT.
Josh – are you OK? Your tolerance for arseholes seems to be exceedingly low at the moment. This is, of course, perfectly fine, and it’s very satisfying to some of your audience (eg, me). But that’s just as long as you’re not getting stressed out and losing sleep over it, or giving yourself a heart attack. Do you need a break? Take care of yourself, mate. /mother hen
@Josh
And Daisy Cutter got a ban threat for being snarky in the derail thread, even though it wasn’t really derail.
I just found something funny. A bank vows transparency. HAHAHAHA! Best joke ever: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18216793
Thanks Alethea:) Yeah, I’m fine. My patience has been very thin; I’m sure that’s obvious. Have been engaging in some relaxation though.
Yeah, Daisy got fucked over too.
Oggie:
Exactly.
Thanks amblebury and Alethea! (I didn’t know that the proper word for it was “quickening”. Awesome!)
carlie:
My cat Maggie does that, too. I think she just likes to air out her nips.
Sometimes going in a straight(ish) line is surprisingly dangerous, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3rxq7U1mA&t=25
.
Hi, I’m back. Did you miss me? Did you know I was gone? Do you even know who I am?
‘Tis Himself? Who’s that?
*waves at ‘Tis!*
*Waves at Audley!*
Heya ‘Tis. . .how was the trip?
I just skimmed that thread at JT Eberhard’s “blog”. That guy needs to find something else to do, urgently. What a clownshoe. And I won’t say anything about Stephanie Zvan, it’s not good for my blood pressure.
Audley @433, Squee! Did you have a moment of “OMG, there’s _really_ something in there”?
Hi, everyone! Hi, Tis! Hi, Josh!
Hi ‘Tis!
(I tried to post this a couple of minutes ago and my computer froze. What did you do?)
It’s been a while since the endless thread went over a thousand comments.