I’m about to depart for #cvg2012, the CONvergence con, where I shall spend a long, exhausting weekend with My People: the weirdos, the science nerds, the kids who were too smart to try out for the football team, the laughing accepting tolerant folks who don’t have to conform to the comfortable median. It shall be fun. It will almost certainly be distracting — here’s my schedule of the panels I’ll be on, and there will be others I’ll be attending — so this might be a slow weekend for the blog. Sorry, I’ll be busy.
You could always come on out to the con yourself — we’re partying all night long with the Skepchicks.
(Episode CCCXLIV: Just for the girls.)
Other Parent Of Spawn’s last name is also in two bits. The Spawn have all three on their passports and birth certificates (they can sort out any ramifications for themselves as adults in whatever way they think fit; yes, that has been dumped on them) but use two in everyday life – mine, and one of OtherParent’s (the maternal one, as it ‘appens).
@Gen
Exact same with my last name, although my father was less abusive and more narcissistic, but otherwise similar. So yeah, not that attached to it – aside from that I really loved my grandparents.
Which sucks, not only because it is the “Smith” of South Africa, but also because it came from his abusive alcoholic asshole father who is still making our lives difficult.
Is there any way to work around this? Like, maybe, getting remarried someplace that allows you to take any name you feel like on marriage? Or just changing your name? In the US, you can change your name for no given reason other than “I feel like it” as long as you can demonstrate that you don’t have any outstanding warrants or debts in your old name. Take an exotic vacation in Iowa and come back with the name you want?
More name stuff!
My grandmother’s maiden name is quite possibly the best surname ever. It is Bavarian, five syllables long beginning with “von,” and has one of those “double-s-written-with-funny-b” things in it, plus an umlaut. :D :D
Of course, the spelling has been Americanized, with just a double-s and the umlaut stripped out (and no, the ö → oe thing was not done).
Over the decades since the family came to the US (1870s, IIRC), it has been further Americanized, with the spelling shift more or less immediately, the “von” getting dropped around WWI, and now the new thing is to drop the first two syllables, keeping only the final two. My grandma finds this silly, complaining that if you drop the first two syllables it no longer makes sense in German.
Of course, when she married in 50-something she took her husband’s (much more boring) name, as that was what you did then. This boringly English name is my own name.
My parents both have rather boringly common given names, but both of them go by nicknames. So I learned very young that if someone called/rang the bell asking for them by their given names, then it was someone who didn’t know them.
My own given name is an old family name, one that was once quite popular but is now coded very heavily as one of those names used by either fundies or groups like the Amish. *sigh*
As a rule, Sweden is an enlightened place, but the courts are lagging behind:
“Transgender woman appeals rape acquittal” http://www.thelocal.se/41870/20120706/
Attempted rapist acquitted because it would be “impossible” to rape a transgender person” (headdesk).
— — — — — — — —
Are there any reliable polls about the race between Mittens
and Not-As-Bad-As-Mittens ?
As I understand Swedish law, it is recognized that men can be raped.
The judge’s logic in this case is that the attacker read her as female – even referring to her as female in court – so he obviously mean to rape a woman. Since the victim is not a woman (*seethes*), then the rape was impossible.
Yeah, it makes no sense.
The only good thing is that Swedish feminist and trans-rights groups are making a lot of noise over this, and the judge has been quoted as being a moron in public, so maybe this can be fixed.
That’s insane. What are the chances of getting it amended, and what’s the response like? (I mean, do people think that when it becomes obvious a stupid legal technicality is making a law unfit for purpose – as in, failing to protect a particular group of persons – it needs amending in order to give equal protection: a no-brainer). (and how on earth could it be held to be impossible?????)
@birgerjohansson and esteleth
That is one of the stupidest thing I have ever heard a judge say.
So a Real™ woman can be “raped” only in her vagina?
I dunno, chigau, but I am quite baffled at the idea that (according to this judge) that the attacker would have torn of her clothes and then said, “oops, sorry, you’ve got a penis” and gone on his way.
Happy Wednesday!
Should I feel guilty about the pleasure I get when I insert a Qtip in my ear to clean out the wax? It is such an enjoyable sensation that there must be something in the bible telling people not to do it.
Now, if that were a bagel or donut, we’d have another possible insertion hole.
I have been a regular here for a few years. I am a feminist. I am anti-misogyny. I am anti-sexism. And yet about three or four times a year I manage to drop a pile of steaming misogyny or sexism or genderism into the middle of a thread here at Pharyngula (hell, once I managed a threefer).
The point is, am I an MRA, a misogynist, a sexist? Or am I simply a male who has been raised in a society replete with sexism and misogyny, a person socialised into sexism? I try very hard to avoid gendered, racist, sexist, ablist and other insults that are connected to the human shape or mind. This does not mean I am always successful.
Your joke was misogynyst. This does not mean that you are a misogynyst. It does mean, however, that, just like me, you need to examine your frame of reference for the world on a regular bases. As we all do.
And this is exactly what I mean. ‘Motherpunching’ could be considered anti-woman. Do you get this?
So you admit that you did not come here for honest discussion? Makes sense.
And I predict that in 25 or so years the conservative Christians and conservative politicians will be taking credit for gay marriage in the US (well, except Utah).
Good to be home. Almost caught up on sleep. I figure I’ll go back on the fire list in about 2 weeks.
Well, for me it was Tuesday you oppressive calendarist oppressors!
When Girl graduated from high school, three students got full scholarships to college — two football players and one field hockey player. The valedictorian and salutatorian got partial scholarships. Girl, with an A- average (while taking multiple AP courses) got about 45% of her tuition covered.
I’ll let others draw a conclusion based on what you wrote and what I wrote.
Considering the thickness of a bible, the jump is not more than four or five inches.
See, condoms really do not work! They don’t stop the free transfer of sexual electrons!
(This was funnier in my head.)
Yup. And they missed the specimen cups. Every time.
If you continue to hang out here and become a regular, you will irritate the crap out of people. I think we all do on occasion.
I think there may be something there (and they call a cockeyed optimist!). Not sure, but, hell, I fit in, right?
From The Onion (only slightly crazier than reality);
— — —
“DNA Evidence Frees Black Man Convicted Of Bear Attack” http://www.theonion.com/video/dna-evidence-frees-black-man-convicted-of-bear-att,14323/
I am quite baffled at the idea that (according to this judge) that the attacker would have torn of her clothes and then said, “oops, sorry, you’ve got a penis” and gone on his way.
It’s far more likely that he’d be angry at her “deception” and assault her all the more violently because of it. I’m glad at least that she is alive. I would imagine a number of murders of trans people start out “just” being assaults.
Ogvorbis,
Welcome back, old bean! Impressive post, have a beer. I’m trying to get through a severe beer drought of HOURS!!!!! HOURS I tell you.
It’s okay, I slept through some of it.
Louis
dianne,
I KNOW, RIGHT?!
Fuck.
@ Ing # 425 # 426
Hi Ing,
In no way did I think I was ‘attacked’, nor did I think I was hazed for correcting PZ. You are one of the people here whose comments I enjoy…reading the comments on these threads has raised my consciousness about many issues.
You made some great points as usual, and I understand that you took my comment as a jumping off point for a related rant.
I’m a much better speaker than writer, so I didn’t mean to imply way back in my initial post that physical expression is undervalued as compared to the intellect…I only meant that I appreciate both types, but PZ has said a few things here and there about sporting activities being for the intellectually inferior.
But hey – maybe he hates sports – which is cool with me (when I’m on a bus at 2am with one of my teams I hate sports too…).
Cheers…I’ll go back to lurking now.
AP
Right, and PZ wants his blog rewd, lewd and crewd. here’s PZ’s statement on how he wants his blog run:
Besides, where do you get the idea we are converting people to atheism? They do that themselves. We shock the religious into actually thinking. That is what we do. So, why don’t you take your tone trolling attitude, start your own blog, and show Pharyngula how to do atheist conversions. Or, you can shut the fuck up like all critics should do, unless they are willing to put their money where their mouths are.
Atheists don’t recruit. Atheists make reality based arguments and those who are ready to accept reality evaluate them and find them correct. Reality recruits for us.
Charly,
Hey, I feel like I don’t fit almost every day, but I keep hanging on because I like the place and the people. You shouldn’t leave, just maybe give a bit more thought to what you write.
My surname looks boring, bit it’s actually mildly interesting. It appears to be German, even though my entire (since the 1300s) family is English in ancestry. IIRC, this has something to do with some ancestor or another being some kind of German aristocrat.
No beer. Wednesday morning. At work.
Wait. “Old bean”? That sound suspiciously close to “Old fart!” Are you implying something, Louis?
It appears to be German, even though my entire (since the 1300s) family is English in ancestry.
Saxe-Coburg und Gotha? Perhaps you could change it to something more English sounding like Windsor.
Ogvorbis,
Ah well Friday afternoon here in Calendarist Oppressive Central. Still at work, still no beer. That will be rectified slightly later. But for the first weekend in many I am not planning to go out and get royally drunk. Either against my will, the Mrs’s wishes or any other impediment to alcoholic splendour. In fact I plan on starting my fortnight’s “holiday” with some DIY and some potty training of child (see posts passim).
As for the “old bean” remark, well it’s remarkably distant from “old fart” funnily enough, the former being a term of affection, endearment and all round approval, the latter being a term of abuse for crusty old duffers with no brains and fixed ideas.
Let’s say you take terrible umbrage at “old bean”, for the sake of argument, I’d of course make a conciliatory remark, offer “old horse” in its place, you’d counter with “still too much ‘old'”, I’d come back with “dear fruit”, you comment that this was a little homophobic your side of the Atlantic, I retract it and proffer “my lover” and after a bit of dickering we’d settle on “chummy” and an occasional Cockney Walkabout.
Sound fair?
Louis
Dianne,
Don’t be ridiculous, who’d do something underhanded like that for purely PR reasons! ;-)
Oh and {serious face}, your comment #12, Word. This person is lucky to have escaped with their life from the little I know about the stats.
Louis
I read that as “HORUS! HORUS, I tell you”
Of course, having read Enki Bilal’s graphic novels, I thought Horus was pretty cool, for an Egyptian deity. A pyramid-shaped spaceship, and everything.
A Sound Fair? Damn. All we have are the Rennaissance Fairs. You Brits have all the fun.
My point was that an old bean, when consumed, can become an old fart. Or does that not happen in Merrie Olde Englande?
I found this post in my feed today about the Sweden case. Pretty interesting:
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/07/sweden_cis_man
My surname should be amended to “Johanssonstein”. That way, the nutters will think I am Jewish, like they think P Z is named Meyers.
dianne: No, a bit simpler than that. Though the mentioned family are distant relatives (9th cousins or something)
Ogvorbis,
Ah yes, my bad for not noticing. Indeed, with suitable processing, an old bean can become an old fart. It’s happened to a couple of my friends, regrettably.
Still, breaking into their houses late at night and giving them a cocaine and tabasco enema usually sorts that out.
Louis
P.S. “Beans means good for the heart, the more you eat the more you fart, the more you fart the better you feel, so let’s have beans for every meal.” I am given to understand there are regional variations to this theme. {Puffs pipe seriously}
Beatrice:
Why shouldn’t Charly leave? I’m serious about asking here. Look at what happens – Charly shows up in a contentious topic thread, whines, receives posts back, many explanatory, doesn’t get it, does the same thing over again, doesn’t get it, shows up to TET, whines and doesn’t get it.
And yet, Charly claims to have lurked and read here for four years. You know, any more, I’m disinclined to believe anyone who pulls out the “I lurked and read for X years” because of people like Charly. If that was true, then why in the fuckety fuck doesn’t Charly have the slightest idea of what the culture is like here or how it has changed in the last four years? Why doesn’t Charly have the slightest idea of major events and players over the last four years? Why not the slightest fucking clue as to why we’re so weary? Been lurking for four years, but doesn’t understand what TET’s about and missed the creation of TZT.
Or is reading PZ’s posts/ignoring all the comments Charly’s definition of reading? If that’s the case, then that’s being willfully ignorant.
On top of claiming to be a lurker who just doesn’t know what’s happening, there’s an additional excuse of “oh, I couldn’t remember anyway!” FFS, this isn’t someone who displays the tiniest bit of interest of grokking how things work here, this is someone who wants to show up every once in a while and whine about how nasty people are and complain about how they don’t understand this place.
When someone like Charly says “this is clearly not the place for me” I tend to believe that and wish them happiness at a greener pasture.
Oggie:
Pfft! When has that ever stopped anyone. MOAR BEERS!
*looks down at belly*
Damn. You’ll have to drink my share, too.
Beatrice, I keep nipping back for a quick look at the kittens webcam. I DO NOT DO THIS. I have NEVER done this. Dammit.
.
It is all your fault.
.
I did not know there was such a thing as feline follow-on milk in a can.
Audley:
Not to worry. I have two bottles of Ommegang Three Philosophers at home. I plan to enjoy them with some fresh summer fruit (grilled peaches topped with Creme Brulee ice cream (Ben & Jerry’s) and fresh blueberries). Three Philosophers is rather sweet, so it pairs wonderfully with a desert.
But that will be in about 8 hours or so.
Less ambiguous than “McJewlastname”, I guess. (Which go me in trouble when I used it without a link.)
Oggie,
I haven’t had a Three Philosophers in years. There’s so much good beer available to me that I tend to overlook the local stuff.
That sounds like a great after work treat, though!
I’m sorta with Caine’s #31 on the issue of the flounce, except I’m less polite!
As much as might wish we could all hug and kiss and lie in a great big pile, and I really do wish that, sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s not you, it’s me, I’m just not in a “relationship” place right now. I wish we could have everybody on board and happy and content and friendly, but we can’t.
If people who have “lurked for years” (colour me as sceptical as Caine here) don’t know what Pharyngula is about and feel compelled to break lurkerdom just to tell us how much they hate us all and are leaving, then really there is only one response:
“Please rearrange these words into a common phrase: Off Fuck!”*
Sorry but people whining about the tone of a blog comment section in the same way they’d (ineffectively) complain to a company for poor service? Entitlement much? Seriously, sling your respective hooks with my best wishes. And by “best wishes” I do mean “not a single fuck will be given”….actually that’s a little harsh, I do wish the general morass of humanity all the best, so let’s say my Care-O-Meter does not nudge much above background for very long.
Oh well, maybe I’m feeling harsh.
Louis
* I said “please” therefore this is not rude at all. You’re on notice tone trolls.
I dunno, they still seem pretty cagey about interracial marriage.
Louis:
How dare you use the word “o*f”. Don’t you know that word is deeply offensive to Trollodon menzii defensors?
Sorry. My bad. That should be T. soni, not T. menzii defensors. It is the T. soni who are offended by your tone when you use the word “o*f”.
Ogvorbis,
Oh my lack of god you’re completely right!
I shall substitute the homonym: Far Corfe.
Louis
But “oaf” is one of my favorite words.
I am currently working on a project with an unnamed local police department. They have a programme called “Be Part of The Solution”. Anyway, the press release announcing the programme has this paragraph:
Does anyone else see the glaring problem with this paragraph?
This person is lucky to have escaped with their life from the little I know about the stats.
As much as anyone who was recently assaulted and threatened with rape can be defined as “lucky”, yes.
BTW, to the best of my knowledge, the proper pronoun to use for a transgendered person is that of the gender the person identifies as. So in this case “she.” But I’m not transgendered, so usual caveats and cautions.
ouf! quelle horreur!
facepalm
Dianne,
1) re: luck. Yup. Exactly.
2) re: pronouns. I used “their” simply because I hadn’t bothered to find out what this person wants to use. I played safe I guess…perhaps…never sure…can I borrow some of those caveats?
Louis
@dianne
Well, I am, and I can confirm this. Although “transgender” is an umbrella term, and not everyone identifies as binary.
There is every reason to believe, from what’s in this story at least, that we should use “she”.
What does the “off” in “fuck off”, “bugger off”, “piss off”, etc. mean?
Fucked if I know.
Louis
You’re just not seeing the subtle genius here, Ogs. If every city enacts the plan, then the criminals have nowhere to commit their crimes which will lead to no crimes at all!
Like I said: brilliant!
My reaction exactly.
They’ll just move to the towns, villages, farms, forests, and sheepcotes for their dastardly deeds.
Well, Oggie, maybe you should have the police from petition Congress to make it illegal to commit crimes anywhere in the US. Then all of our criminals will move to Canada or somewhere.
Brilliant!
Og: I saw somewhere that they finally found the point of ignition for the Colorado fire, but they didn’t mention what the cause was. I’m assuming lightning, but do you know anything about it?
A.R.
The fire I was at (the High Park Fire, west of Fort Collins) was caused by lightning and the ignition point was located, fairly early, within 1000 square feet.
Considering that there have been about 400 wildland fires in Colorado so far this year, speaking to ‘the Colorado fire’ is rather ambiguous.
Og: True, I meant the Waldo Canyon fire.
it’s also 10% alcohol iirc.
Hey Nerd, I have a request: please let this particular module of your boilerplate fade into the bandwidth (to use another). The goofy spelling is stupid and it’s not true. In your quote, PZ acknowledges he wants it “rude”. I seriously doubt that he would agree to lewd or crude, as goals, though. 2¢.
RE:Swedish case
When my husband told me about this last night, I was blinded with rage. Still am.
On a lighter note, RE surnames, my mother kept her own surname, so when I was a child, we’d get telemarketers asking for “Mrs Dadsname,” and I would explain that she lived in New York, and wasn’t available (dad’s mother). Occasionally, we’d get them asking for ‘Mr Momsname,’ whereupon I got to tell them that he was dead, and therefore not available. My maternal grandfather died before I was born, but I usually didn’t specify.
How precipitous.
Chas:
I’m pretty sure you’re right.
A quick shorthand usually is that the sweeter the beer, the higher the alcohol content.
Cute. Very cute.
My first reaction, when I saw this on a bumper sticker on a police car, was that this would have been a perfect fit in Nazi Germany — just add the word ‘Final’.
There are so many things wrong with this whole programme, on so many levels.
Chas and Audley:
It is also fortified with (I think this is the beer) a cherry liquor called (I think) kirk. (Damn site is blocked where I am so I cannot double check!)
I also still have two bottles of Ommegang Dubbel.
Oggie,
According to the Pfft! It’s kriek that’s blended in. *shrugs* (Ommegang’s site won’t display on my phone. Poo.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewery_Ommegang#Active
If you’re a fan of the Belgian quad style, I’ll have to send you a bottle of Pretty Things Baby Tree, which is my fav (and probably not available in your neck of the woods). That will also knock you flat on your ass. :p
Outrunning the bear.
NOT outrunning the bear.
GOOD JOB BRAIN
As someone who has lurked for years and on rare occasion posts, I have to agree with this suspicion. Thanks to my years of lurking, the first thing that crossed my mind when I learned of the fires in Colorodo was to hope that Ogvorbis is OK. I know that if you aren’t a regular, you should probably ask for the keys to the porcupine shed before directing someone to insert one wherever it would be most painful. I assume it would be possible to miss out on some of the memes here, but to miss out on the MRA invasion of the past year seems impossible to me.
NOT outrunning the bear.
They’re not trying to outrun the bear. They’re trying to outrun the other people who are trying to outrun the bear.
Some day I’d like to see a crime fighting initiative that consisted of eliminating poverty and inequality, providing prompt intervention for interpersonal problems that might lead to violence (including psychiatric illness), and elimination of at least the more idiotic drug laws. Slogan: “Here in town Redacted, we’re all so fat, happy, and rich that no one bothers to commit any crimes. Have a joint.”
Very few people ‡ know § that it’s an acronym from the Scots:
Outwith [i.e., away], Far and Fast.
_______________________________________________
‡: Possibly only myself
§: Idiosyncratic usage, here
I always took it as sorta meaning ‘away’, if Fuck/bugger/piss can be read as aggressive ways of saying ‘Go’.
But I suppose that’s somewhat clumsy now that I see it typed out.
Dianne:
What are you, some sort of commie?
For the record, I totes agree.
@Caine, Fleur du mal
I know I have no means to convince you that I do am not lying, but I try anyway. I hope I will not iritate you, since I like to keep my promise.
I was lurking and I was reading comments. But not in The Endless Thread. And I was never paying much attention to nicknames, since they are often longwinded, confusing and hard to remember, and I was not engaging or even intending to engage in casual debate. I concentrated only on arguments and factual content. Short comments I skipped, only rarely reading whole chunks of conversations. In retrospection this is my greatest mistake, I should have spent more time trying to understand who is who around in this topic before commenting here. But I was not willfuly ignorant, just ignorant and unaware of it.
I knew nevertheless -from lurking- that what I am about to write might be a annoying, and I tried formulate my posts so as not to irritate people while getting answers I needed in order to “get it”. I evidently failed at this and I admit it.
I noticed the occurence of The Zombie Thread a few months ago, but I did not understand its purpose.
I noticed incursion of MRA activists after Rebeca Watson elevator encounter around a year ago and it was this (and Blaghag) blog what made me change my mind about Richard Dawkins and this year Thundef00t and generally about the whole feminism idea in last years, although I think was already inclined in the rigth direction on most of it and was wrong mostly in details.
Please do not mistake my attempt to explain things for excuses. I know full well my bad reading comprehension, laziness and social ineptitude do not excuse my mistakes – they merely explain them.
Glad I wasn’t reading that at work. I laughed so loud that I would have scared the horses. And the barn kitties.
I want to live in your city, dianne! Here’s to dianne for mayor, governor, president etc. etc. ad lib.
Here’s to dianne for mayor, governor, president etc. etc. ad lib.
Aw, blush! But I can’t be mayor, I’m not charismatic enough. How about you be mayor and I’ll be your evil adviser?
Incidentally, when I looked up “jack off” in the OED the other day, while the current meaning is “masturbate”, it used to mean “leave”, similar to “fuck off”. There’s citations from Orwell:
1935 ‘G. Orwell’ Clergyman’s Daughter ii. 109 Flo and Charlie would probably ‘jack off’ if they got the chance of a lift.
a1950 ‘G. Orwell’ Coll. Ess. (1968) I. 71 Jack off, to, to go away.
It also says that “jack up” (in addition to meaning “increase [rents or prices]”) means “(a) To do for, ruin. (b) To throw up, give up, abandon” and “To give up suddenly or promptly.”, as does “jack in“
I’m pretty sure there’s a Dinosaur Comics somewhere in which he points out that Batman could be vastly more effective at fighting crime if he put his millions into community development et al as opposed to the whole vigilante-with-cool-toys routine…
(/Methinks there are more than a few governments on the planet who should be sent a copy.)
What’s the opposite of a rant?
Here’s my anti-rant for the day.
I’m filling out a form from the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies, and they have only 2 choices of honorific, Mr. and Ms.
This makes me happy.
End of anti-rant.
You’d be a brilliant Evil Adviser, but unfortunately I am the original, very, actual, one and only person for whom the immortal phrase was coined “couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery”.
On the other hand, that’s not necessarily a disqualification for mayor, so … :-D
Yay! And about bloody time, too.
A few mumblecoughLOTSmumblecough years ago there was this list of new students on the door … Ms X Mr B Ms V Mr F Ms D Ms J … oh good, they’re not using “Miss” any more … and then the one and only married woman student was listed as Mrs. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot, oh you cool hip down-with-the-kids faculty guys … (and they were indeed all blokes, too)
Kriek, which is actually a beer brewed with cherries. Sour, tart, sweet. Three Philosophers is a blend of a Quad and the Kriek.
pretty sure.
And it’s good
I believe the Batman: War on Crime super-artistic painted graphic novel by Alex Ross dealt with the same subject matter.
Chigau @[5]50, “What does the “off” in “fuck off”, “bugger off”, “piss off”, etc. mean?”
It means away from here.
Warning to all you summer drinkers: Do not mix beer with cherries unless you aim to produce the foulest farts ever!
Markita,
That doesn’t cause intestinal ructions for me. A curry goat pasty on the other hand…
Louis
@80: It’ll have to be Brownian or Louis then. We can’t distract PZ from his plans for world domination with these local issues.
Heh. I have a bottle of Liefmans Cuvée Brut that I will be drinking this weekend.
Apropos of nothing in the current conversation, but does anyone know how to generate three-axis graphs in Excel, Mac Numbers, or Kaleidagraph?
Because I have four variables and I really need to see how they all feed into each other.
Just got in a two-hour rehearsal for a Western folk music concert up at the Zane Grey House and Museum in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. We’ll be performing there on Saturday, July 14, as part of the Zane Grey Days festival.
We sounded pretty good. Really good on a couple of songs (Streets of Laredo, Jesse James), almost acceptable on others (Ghost Riders).
Hey, for an historian with very little brians, that was pretty good.
Not going to happen here. The city just reduced all city employees to minimum wage in an attempt to avoid raising taxes.
In high school, I got in trouble because, on the forms one had to fill out if one’s date was from another school, I referred to her as Ms. Date Name. I was told that it is miss or mrs. No Ms. allowed.
Noted. I shall do that before my next long airplane flight to a fire.
Hey, if no one’s mentioned it yet: it looks like the lawsuit against The Oatmeal has been dropped.
Caine,
I have been talking to Charly, so I thought I should respond somehow when he wrote that he feels like he doesn’t belong here. It didn’t feel right for me to write “OK, fuck off then”, so I went with the nice option. I don’t have enough experience in recognizing trolls and/or liars, so I guess I should have went with the option “staying out of this one”.
In other words, I’m not really sure why I wanted to give Charly the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it’s because there were those really obvious trolls here last night and he seemed sincere compared to them. Maybe I’m just naive.
—
opposablethumbs ,
I’m sorry. I do it too. Way to much of my monthly 15GB is being wasted on those kittens.
(aw, kittens are asleep)
Ex lurkers claiming they have been reading for years, but then not knowing the basics is pretty suspicious.
Beatrice,
Don’t worry, being nice is permissible! ;-)
The general “rule” is to allow new posters of amazing dribbling inanity a few free swings, typically three, before the full ferocity of the Horde is unleashed. A “rule” observed more in the breaking than the observance! ;-)
As a newish Horde-ist you get to establish your style however you like.
Louis
Yup, almost all sleeping peacefully. Damn kittens ::pets kittens when no-one is looking::
Incidentally, have we had anything about this cuttlefish yet? http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22013-lying-cuttlefish-tells-rival-males-hes-a-girl.html
The idea that they could be actively trying to “lie” without being detected doing so by a third party seems pretty interesting in terms of the level of abstraction that implies. Unless it’s really just that the chromatophore coordination gets too complicated?
Mind you, knowing me it was probably mentioned around here ages ago and I missed it.
Romneybotcare and Chief Justice Roberts make Ted Nugant wonder if the Confederacy should have won The Civil War.
Ted Nugant is the man who is on his own never ending journey to the center of his anal sphincter muscles.
I spelled the fuckface’s name wrong.
Does that make me a troll?
*eep*
Sure. It seems cute now…
Beatrice @461:
Yeah, yeah, but do you have the third part of the UnHoly Twinity?
How are you with *myspace*!!!!
Behold the glory that is CainTV!
No! It is not a camera trained on rats.
“only 2 choices of honorific, Mr. and Ms.”
Outrageous! Where is the “von” ?
As in “von Stroheim-Ehvil-Johansson”.
Occupation: “Destroyer of decency and civilization”
— — — — — — — —
We have the meanest crows: “‘Angry birds’ strike fear in Swedish golfers” http://www.thelocal.se/41854/20120705/
THE BIIIIRDS!!! Hmm, looks like an atavism, genes for theropod dinosaur behaviour becoming re-activated.
Un[my]spaceable!
*smug*
FossilFishy:
One day you #FTBullies will stop trying to bully me into aiding your cosmic domination plots…
(besides, even if I did, I don’t look good in a tiara…)
Beatrice, you can be nice to Charly all you like, it’s fine with me. I was honestly curious as to why you responded as you did, so thanks for the answer. As for Charly’s latest, well…
Charly, all I have to say here is that you seem to favour selective reading, which is probably a very bad fucking habit to have if you wish to hang out here.
As I explained previously, people here are invested in fighting the good fights. We have memories and bookmarks and we aren’t afraid to use them.
As far as you’re concerned, I fail to come up with one good reason why in hell I should expend my time, energy and resources on educating your sorry ass when you could learn on your own if you actually wanted to do so.
Oh and just FTR, you are not irritating the crap out of me today. I was in a foul mood yesterday, I apologize for that.
Which remain shorthand for Master and Mistress. To be honest, I don’t mind Mistress all that much, but I loathe the shorthand.
Whenever I have to fill in a Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss thing, I just use Mr.
Mean, mean Mr Cain.
A.R. @468 [from your link]
For some reason, out of all the stupid I just read, this one stood out.
::blink:: ::blink::
They believe in dragons?
Yet an other awful typo.
The Typo Monster is getting fat because of me.
Tony,
You made me think of this really good book (even for those of us who know next to nothing about paleontology):
The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times by Adrienne Mayor
link (Amazon)
HUGE GIANT MASSIVE FUCKING TRIGGER WARNING. Just read the text of the link really. That should be enough. Even that needs a trigger warning.
Flash Game Makes Players Beat Up Tropes vs Women Creator
…
Something seriously needs to be done. The creator’s identity needs to be known. This is sick.
Also, please excuse the smoke. I needed to take a massive hit.
Eugh. I can’t fucking stand this. And yet, it’s par for the course, really…
Gen @482:
That sucks that your husband wasn’t ‘allowed’ to take your last name. I’m a bit threadrupt at the moment, so maybe you’ve already answered this question: What were you told (if anything) were the reasons?
Caine:
I use Dr.
It’s not like they’re gonna check.
Audley:
Oooh, that’s good. I think I’ll adopt that one.
I use Janine PhD.
It is in Horribleness.
Speaking of, I feel like be educated tonight.
Edumacted with my Tpyos, that is! :p
You weren’t kidding about that being triggering, Setár. I recoiled at that picture used in the article. Ugh.
Bah. I earned my degree at the prestigious Pharyngula University. Apparently some of the other universities think that people there are mean.
…damn you, WordPress.
I always use “Dr.” I’m allowed to! I’ve got a piece of fancy paper that says so.
Of course, I’ve been using “Dr.” for about 5 years now. That is, since before I started graduate school.
Ogvorbis:
You know, just because we snicker at their belief system doesn’t mean we should send the criminals into Amish territory.
Dr Dyke?
*grins*
Dr Dyke, Medicine Woman?
Perfect!
Markita:
When I was younger (we’re talking 8 or 9 years old), I believed that women didn’t fart. I’d never heard it happen before. I only heard guys farting, so I thought women were different.
Yeah, I’ll take “Dumb things I believed as a kid for $250 Alex”…
Some must use Dr. Dyke, Medicine Woman as a moniker!
I demand it!
Tony, you did not know my sisters.
That is all I will say on the subject.
Eep!
Esteleth:
For some reason I have the urge to start referring to you as Dr. Fuck Mountain
Audley = Dr. Darkheart (has a supervillain ring to it)
Josh = Dr. Spokesgay
Caine of course is Dr. Fleur
Oggie has the coolest = Dr. Sycophantus
Hey! Tony, why did I get gumbied for that?
As for body noises, my burps and sneezes are best measured in decibels. And that’s really all I have to say on the subject.
I tend to fart quietly though.
A.R.: Unsure whether ease of insertion, re porcupicicles, is a plus or a minus. Although, I suppose that in those cases when the instructions are to “insert sideways”, the question becomes moot.
–
Hekuni Cat! *pouncehug*
–
Gotta go poop the grand-pup; baksun.
–
Yes. I’m caught up.
Now if TET will pause until I get back home @ 5 am…
(on a completely non serious note, I wonder what TET would look like if all the regulars abstained from posting for one day; would it be a ghost town, or would it fill up with trolls and MRAs?)
Tony:
Don’t ask me why, but this totally made me think of Mountain Dew.
I’ve used the “Dr” before– before your time, young ‘un– and I’ve been accused of trolling because of it*. Ah, good times.
*Hence the “liar and scoundrel” that I sometimes use.
Audley:
I’ve used the “Dr” before– before your time, young ‘un– and I’ve been accused of trolling because of it*. Ah, good times.
young ‘un?
3625 is young isn’t it?Dammit! I forgot who it was that a random troll accused of being a twelve year boy.
WTF is going on in the “I get email” thread? Do I want to read that?
Esteleth:
gumbied ?
Tony:
Pharyngula age, my boy. :)
Janine:
Oh, memories! That was pretty fucking lulzy.
I love how douche geeks protest by proving people 100% right. I’d hope those idiots would learn irony.
Esteleth:
I got through the first half of the “I get email” thread, and had to take a break. The level of stupid can just get to you. I wanted to try and read the whole thing before I posted, but geez, reading through some of the people there is frustrating. Kudos to any of the Horde in there fighting the good fight.
Sniny new moniker!
The I Get E-Mail thread has degenerated into random weirdness.
Wasn’t that Lynna?
Dr. Esteleth Dyke,
If you like penis pasta jokes, then have at the “I Get Email” business!
What’s with the comic sans? I am not teh stoopid for mocking…am I?
Says the person who posted a link to a picture of penis-shaped pasta. :)
Esteleth:
Oh crap.
Is comic sans typically used for snarking or mocking?
My apologies. I was using it along as a different way of quoting. I will stick with blockquote.
Sorry.
Cipher, I think you are correct. It was Lynna.
Urgghh, brainz why must you visualize things like this so literally and do the self gross-out?
I fully expect that I am going to have freaky weird disgusting dreams tonight. I won’t even elaborate on the imaged conjured up by the penis shaped objects + tooth bleaching strips.
Oh! A funny.
On the 4th, I posted this on my facebook:
It got a few “likes” and this comment:
*snerk*
Around here, is associated with the Monty Python gumby character, and in general, with thinking something stupid and/or fundamentally wrong (on the Internet).
Use <blockquote> or <i> to actually quote someone or something that you respect.
I did not want to claim responsibility for derailing what was, at first, a rather disturbing thread.
I thought Lynna was riffing on a troll…?
I know I’ve seen trolls assume that Janine is a dude in the past.
quoting myself:
I was using it along as a different way of quoting. I will stick with blockquote.
When I was younger (to a certain extent to this day) I loved playing around with various fonts on the computer. I thought so many of them were cool and I used to type up stuff in various fonts for the fun of it.
Tethys:
Oops. Sorry ’bout that.
So…the verdict is that I should skip to the end of the “I get email” thread?
Around 200.
Owlmirror:
Oh.
Damn.
I feel like an idiot.
Thank you.
~~
Estleth:
I absolutely do not think you are stupid or wrong. My apologies.
It is fine, Tony, I was just joking. :p
*hands Tony a beer*
Article begins: “The Budweiser-and-buffalo-wing-stained shag carpet that is Ted Nugent…”
I want to give it an award.
Audley:
Long days back, a troll said Lynna was an acne riddled 14 year old boy living in mommy’s basement.
“Wonder if this will be as successful as Gov Goodhair’s use of prayer to end the drought in Texas.”
With luck, pal. With luck.
When tickled, rats utter ultrasonic giggles.
I have a condundrum!
In my fridge, nicely chilled, are the following:
1) Ommegang Rare Vos
2) Franziskaner Weissbier
3) Hornsby’s Amber Draught
What should I do?!
Dr E,
Hornsby’s. (Although, if you can find it, look for Crispin cider. Yum yum!)
*cracks a Horsby’s for herself, applies Fetal-Safety Alcohol Sequestration Agent to a Rare Vos, slides it over to Audley*
Cheers!
Caine:
That’s what I was (mis)remembering!
Skålle!
Prost!
…I did not realize that you were a dentist, Audley.
Dr Teeth
MD, PhD, DDS, Esq. I tremble to think of what the subject of your thesis must have been.
…hey, isn’t Orly Taitz a lawyer and a dentist? She certainly has a Ph.D.in being a flaming idiot, so maybe there’s a MD lurking in there too.
OMG
Audley, can you prove that you are not the gadfly known as Orly Taitz? Have you ever gone on TV and said something flagrantly stupid? Do you believe that Obama is a half-breed muslin?
Dammit, does anyone have any pliers? I can’t get my tongue out of my cheek!
*tugs*
Dr E,
I am now!
I’m so glad everyone did turn it into a penis derail. Hurt man fee-fee penis waving is so tedious. Talking stick!! *chortle*
Jessa,
No need to apologize. It’s my over-heated brain that’s supplying the gross visuals.
Fucking hell, student loans.
I decided to do some sums.
$5,500, with 6.8% compound interest, and a minimum monthly payment of $31.17, will never be fully paid off.
Time to redo the budget!
I have to tell you all a thing. First you have to get this site ready.
Ready?
Good. Okay now be ready to push the button right after you read that.
A SPIDER GOT ON ME.
#110 Setár, self-appointed Elf-Sheriff of the FreethoughtBlogs Star Chamber,
According to the New Statesman, he’s “a 25-year-old from Sault Ste Marie, a city in Ontario, Canada”
Partner has been given a job offer in ESL
Can anyone identify these bugs for me?
I will send you internet hugs if you do…
The butterfly is a common checkered skipper Pyrgus communis.
Thank you, Tethys! *internet hug!*
—
Jesus, that fucking thread is such a shitshow.
Don’t ever believe the so-called minimum payments. That’s how much they can milk you for without you noticing (and to keep the threat of punishment away). Calculate your OWN payments.
There’s a reason compound interest was a sin, right? <_<
Picture two is a syrphid fly.
Photo three is rather blurry, but I think that is a robber fly
Photo four is a long legged fly in the condostylus genus.
Email received at work today (yes, really):
Guys!
Bats! Flying through my courtyard!
♥ EEEEEEEEE! ♥
Tethys, thanks more! *three more internet hugs*
That being said, AUGH! Robber flies are the worst thing! *shudders*
bats! EEEEEEE ♥♥♥
(high rhetorical standards ftw.)
Bats are so fuckin’ awesome.
Josh:
Fuck yeah, they are.
Of course, anything that eats mosquitoes is a-okay in my book. It certainly doesn’t help that bats are OMG CUTIES!
When I was in college, my part time campus job was with the janitorial crew. I became the unofficial bat chaser. A bat would show up in a dorm and I was sent to get rid of it.
Fortunately, it was easy. I would close off all enterences but one window. I would then take a large and soft object at toss it by the bat (Not at the bat.) The bat would react and exit through the only opening.
It was oh so easy but too many people, both the employees of the physical plant and the student were too easily freaked out by the bats.
Pteryxx, oh, I know. I have four student loans, three at 2.35% interest and one at 6.8%. Guess which one is getting paid off first! Because yeah, I don’t give a fuck if the term on the 6.8% is longer. I am not paying back that much fucking money.
Louis, if you call Ogvorbis “old horse”, there’s much worse there than “still too much ‘old'”. You would be accusing him of depravities below and beneath the capacity of mortal men, declaring that he’s actively working to promote Peas In Our Time, and that he eats littul babby kittehs, raw, without salt or other condiments.
And that he hates ratties.
Consider carefully whether you wish to heap such calumnies upon him. Could be a “pistols at dawn” matter. And I don’t want to have to pick a side to root for.
–
Or, optionally, directions to the correct freezer.
Well, think of the potential embarrassment! “Shove this up your ass sideways!” loses so much when you are accidentally brandishing a bag of frozen green beans.
–
“Misogynistic Asshole Scores Own-Goal For Tropes Study”.
–
Male objectification lulz
Ing, that link was redirected to a rather dodgy site.
Okay, book talk, please! It’s time for me to load up the trusty tablet with some more ebooks, anyone want to offer a list of recommends?
Speaking of, I got The Hunger Games for free when I bought my tablet. I found it to be okay, on the repetitive side, not terribly exciting writing, but okay. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to the movie. Are the other two books worth the money?
Cicely:
:falls over laughing:
Seeing as the slimepit has latched onto the porcupine meme as a way to decry and denigrate all things Pharyngula, perhaps we should switch to a bag of frozen green beans. It would be rather soothing after the shoving up sideways. :D
Really? it was supposed to be deviant art….odd
I really don’t understand it when people who do have extra income only pay off minimum repayments on loans, credit cards, mortgages etc. especially if they then spend the money on things they don’t need or even don’t particularly want. Reducing the capital seemed so obvious to me to end up with me having more money at the end. Of course I do acknowledge that I am privileged that I have not been in a situation where I have had to live hand to mouth. Having few expensive vices also helped. so I understand when the situation means that for now minimum payments are all that can be made, but not when they do have discretionary income and then blow it.
Though of course in any budget there should be if possible the line item, Stuff that makes me happy and glad to be living. It just shouldn’t take up all discretionary monies.
But yes, get rid of the high interest loans first. As fast as your budget will allow. And possibly allowing for an emergency fund put aside for when that unexpected bill comes in.
I also put Dr. now, though I haven’t bothered contacting my bank to get the Miss updated. It isn’t causing any problems now and I can live with it.
In fact I have pieces of paper for every qualification in my nym.
Horde, delurking to give a heartfelt thanks for all the tireless work you put in fighting sexism and stupidity all around. Please join me in one of many beers to be drunk tonight. Feel free to stick around for a quick word, or move on to other areas of the bar that are more fun, because I’m gonna be that too-drunk crying person in the corner.
*trigger warning for abortion*
I find myself in the acutely undesirable (for me) state of being preggers. As a woman with a relatively long-term history of being vocally pro-choice, I’ve heard on several occasions that I would “never know” how I’d react to news of being pregnant, myself–of course suggesting that pro-choice is all well and good till it becomes my choice.
In a sense, they were right about never knowing how I’d react. I’ve been entirely surprised by being 100% convinced that an abortion is the right choice for me, and I haven’t second-guessed that since the moment that little pee test–and the one after it–spit out a plus sign. I’m a privileged abortion consumer to find myself in a spot where I still qualify for the pill and to have to have the funds on hand to pay for it before I no longer qualify, thank my lucky stars. It’s my own little joke that I’ll be taking the ejection pill on Friday the 13th, which sounds like a perfectly appropriate day to have an abortion. Maybe I’ll curl up on the couch and watch Rosemary’s Baby to set the mood.
I guess what I underestimated is the RAGE I would feel at having my body and autonomy completely hijacked by parasite and policy. If I felt this sick for any other reason, there would be no reason to lie to my doctor (at her request) to qualify for treatment, no need for mandatory wait times while I “think” about the gravity of wanting my body back, no need for patronizing comments about how no woman ever feels that this comes at the right time but I should just be a good little incubator and change my mind about not having kids because that’s what they did when they were in my boat. I’m fucking ANGRY. This is bullshit of the highest degree, and I’m ashamed that it took me becoming personally affected to get this angry about it.
But in the midst of incredibly disappointing reactions from people I admire, FTB has been an island of rational thought. PZ stands out, as do Jen and Crom and Natalie Reed and the commenters here. So, thanks again. I know it gets tiring to be constantly fighting Teh Stoopid. Anyone care for another drink?
(PS, I’ve commented here before, but I’m really paranoid about personal safety right now, so I created a throw-away account for this post. I won’t post under my regular user name till this is over. I hope I’m forgiven for having 2 accounts at the same time–sockpuppeting isn’t my intention.)
aprilcomeshewill, no worries, goodonya, thanks, come back, and best wishes.
(Be well)
Okay, at the risk of looking like a complete weirdo by squeeing about bats after posting the above… I’d like to take this opportunity to squee about bats. Particularly, flying foxes.
At a zoo, I was intently watching a small group of sleeping flying foxes. All of them were snoozing peacefully except for one fidgety female who couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Suddenly, she spread her wings wide, and a little baby hopped out! The baby went around and woke up all the other bats, till the entire group was awake and chattering. After everyone was sufficiently squawky, it went back to his mum and attached itself to her teat. She wrapped her wings tightly around it, and in a few seconds, everyone was sleeping peacefully. *sigh* So adorable.
Welcome in, aprilcomeshewill! *cold beverage* as well as commiserations. Yeah, there’s no way to know how you’ll feel in that position…’cause your fluffy pink ladybrain just really ain’t intended for introspection less shallow than, “Will he like my tits in this dress?”, or “Should I put ham or beef on his sammich?”
–
Hallo, aprilcomeshewill. You should be fine with the nym business, it’s for privacy reasons.
I don’t blame you at all. I can only imagine my fury if I had to deal with such shit today. Back when I had an abortion (the ’70s), no one cared about it, it was not an issue.
I showed up for my appointment, waited for a bit along with a large crowd of other women, was briefly examined, given a valium, taken right in, had the D&C and was whisked out to lay down for about 30 minutes before heading home. That was it. No fuss at all.
Even though I’m now beyond the possibility of pregnancy (and have been for a *long* time), it infuriates me, what other women have to go through for a simple procedure which is no one’s business except their own.
Cipher @180, don’t know about the flies/wasps but in the last picture near the top you have a damselfly, which is a slender version of a dragonfly.
You could send your link to What’s that Bug? or poke around on their site:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/
bats are OMG CUTIES!
Caine
My go-to recommendation is Guy Gaveriel Kay. He writes high fantasy, sort of. Very little magic involved for instance. His mode of operation is to take medieval regional history and write a fantasy book about it set in his own world.
For instance The Lions of Al-Rassan is set in a mythical medieval Spain.
The Sarantine Mosaic is a two book series that’s set in a mythical Byzantium-like part of that same fantasy world.
He writes believable characters caught in difficult but believable situations. The protagonists are exceptional but not so incredible that they seem like super-heroes, and the antagonists are not one-sided monsters.
He also deliberately chooses to not write series. He apologised because The Sarantine Mosaic “got away from him” and ballooned out to two books. A policy for which I’d give him any amount of my best lollies and booze should the opportunity ever arise.
And a final spruik for those that care is the fact that he’s one of a very few fantasy authors published by Penquin, an imprint that cares about their literary reputation.
The two titles mentioned above are my favs, but they’re all pretty good and there’s no need to read them in any particular order.
Fossil Fishy:
I already own a large selection of his works. :) I have read the two you mention. In that vein, I liked his Ysabel a great deal.
aprilcomeshewill
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It helps those of us who have the privilege to not be in your situation to hear these things. Puts a human face on what otherwise might be just another abstract issue.
I hope that your concerns are quickly resolved and that you soon come to a place of peace and safety in your life. And fuck anyone who dares to interfere with you achieving that state.
All the best.
cicely,
Lulz. I’ve also been preoccupied lately with whether to grow my hair out or cut it off again. I prefer short hair, but I worry that all the hawt guys will think I’m a lesbo! </snark>
Caine,
That sounds so…civilized.
I’ve been pondering lately how abortion can be so common, and yet we have these 2 parallel worlds, one outside the clinic where it’s hardly ever discussed in real terms, and one inside a packed clinic where it’s shockingly…normal. My partner’s mind has been even more blown by that, since he hasn’t done a lot of reading about it in his spare time.
In other news, Planned Parenthood is in the process of switching to a new online system where records can be accessible from other clinics around the globe. It’s resulting in 5-hr wait times right now for an ultrasound, but it’s nice to think that maybe the whole Komen fiasco helped bring in some much-needed dollars for system upgrades.
What, has three been a general nym change?
Convergence has been fun yet tiring…
thunk, nope.
(Your tiredness is duly noted)
Regarding skepticism: Am I the only one who sees a subculture that is supposed to be SO rational and favoring all that jazz, and finding it bogged down by insufferable twaddle and complete pigheaded ass backwardness? Every day of this it seems more and more that it is useless at best.
Books I like – Nearly anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Vorkosigan series is space opera, with the odd bit of MilSF and regency romance and detective stuff mixed in in various books. She’s also done some very good fantasy series. The Chalion series and the Sharing Knife were fun and also not reworked lord of the rings type fantasies. Original and interesting magic/religions systems – I have no problem with fictional gods, especially when one is explicitly called The Bastard.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden series. Space opera, sentient trees, cats, pilots, traders and good world and character building. Start possibly with Balance of Trade, or Agent of Change, or Local Custom.
I believe a lot of the Vorkosigan books can be obtained via the net in possibly a legal way free, but if not definitely via the Baen ebooks store. The Liaden series is definitely available via the Baen ebook store which means you are getting direct from publisher and don’t have to pay markup. For the liaden one sample chapters at http://www.korval.com
I also like most of Connie Willis’ stuff though I’ve still to get and read the latest ones.
Terry Pratchett, though I know his sense of humour doesn’t suit everyone, but for me it works well and the books aren’t just comedies, or rather they are the best kind in that they use humour to reveal truths about the world. No idea if there are ebook versions, haven’t bought a Pratchett book in years since they usually come out just before my birthday or christmas so parents usually purchase for me.
If you like graphic novels/web comics then I’d recommend Girl Genius (archives all online and still going) by the Foglios. Digger by Ursula Vernon who I understand brought some people to Pharyngula. This one is actually complete and is one of the reasons I’ve bought a ChiCon membership so I can vote for it in the Hugos. (Supporting only currently. I suppose technically I could go as I have the time and money, I hope people don’t mind me saying that I have no interest in going through the customs/immigration/bullies at the border of the USA). I also quite like Schlock Mercenary. Not sure if all of those available as ebooks but what the heck. Will dig out links if you are interested in any.
Ariaflame:
Okay, a bit of privilege-based financial-ese here (and I’m going to ignore the fact that you mean “pay off vs spend on trivial crap”), but it’s legitimate good advice that most people don’t get told.
Here it is:
Debt itself isn’t necessarily bad.
Let’s say I have a student loan at 3% for $50k and I win the lottery for $50k. The average person will pay off the student loan and think, “Yay! No more debt! I’m better off now!”
This is, in fact, what they’re taught to think by the people who loaned them the money. It’s also wrong.
Aside from the issues of needing credit to get credit, a loan is only a liability in the amount of interest it accrues. If you can take the $50k and invest it so that the net return is 3.1%, it is better to do so because you’ll make money: it may only be $50 a year (the 0.1% difference), but it’s still money. If you can net 4%, you’ve now got an income of $500 a year and your loan is still being paid off.
Now, realistically speaking, you need a return of 4% to break even on 3% due to taxes and such, but it’s reasonable to get 4-7% return on stock investments (even relatively “safe” ones), and if you manage to get into a tax-free municipal bond, well, you’re even better.
Now, it’s a risk, and not everyone can afford the risk: we don’t all have stable incomes, the stock market fluctuates, etc. In addition, it takes an equivalent amount of money or a much higher net earning rate to make this work; most people don’t win money in the lottery. But the principle is sound and how big investors actually do things: they take loans and use that money to make money; the “how” – the nature of the investment – is a matter of details (movies, manufacturing, new businesses, direct investment, whatever).
But most of the rich got that way on other people’s money, not their own. It’s also easier to get higher rates of return on larger investments, which we 99% don’t have access to.
/end of potentially obvious financial screed
Ariaflame, I have all the Discworld novels, Good Omens & Nation. :D My main complaint about Nation? Not enough octopus.
I should say that I prefer non-fiction for my tablet, books I want to write notes on and highlight.
You know Caine, I was thinking as I did all the fiddly little linky bits that you’d probably read him. After all, you’re a person of Taste and Quality. :)
Dammit, this is annoying me now. I used to do this for living. There was a time where I could rattle off dozens of suggestions without thinking about it. Being out of the book industry for 5 years now I’ve lost it all.
Hmmm, have you tried Glen Cook’s “A Passage at Arms”? Military sci-fi set in a ship that can “climb” into a dimension where it’s very hard to spot. It’s essentially a submarine novel set in space and is more a study of the breakdown of people under extreme stress than a typical space opera.
I really enjoyed “The Bird of the River” by Kage Baker. A relatively light read but there was something about the characters that I found really compelling.
In mysteries I enjoyed “The Devil’s Trill” by Gerald Elias. Elias is, or was, a working classical violinist and his mystery is set in that world. Fascinating insight to that part of society with an okay mystery attached.
In sci-fi there’s “Synners” by Pat Cadigan. Classic cyberpunk which burned the phrase “If you can’t fuck it, and it doesn’t dance, eat it or throw it away.” into my head.
If your looking for a challenging read John Brunner’s “Stand on Zanzibar” is good. Set in an overpopulated earth it does it’s very best to convey what living cheek by jowl would be like by using alternating chapter types. Some carry the plot, some give snippet insights into the characters and some just give you line after line of information. It was very effective at making me feel claustrophobic and fearful for a world with too many damn people in it.
Fossil Fishy:
I have not, that goes on the list, thank you!
Oooh, this too.
If it helps, this is what I have catalogued so far – I don’t have everything entered and I haven’t entered any e-books: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/CaineBooks
Ciphers photo with the thistle is a Tachinid fly, possible Juriniopsis
The green sweat bee’s Latin name is Agepostemon
The bottom photo with the damselfly also has a black insect with long antennae. I can’t tell if its some sort of longhorned beetle or if it has wings in which case I have no idea.
I like bugs.
Caine, I didn’t see T.R. Pearson’s Gospel Hour in your list. The prose takes a few pages to fall into, but it’s sharp and fucking hilarious.
Bah ignore me. Tired and stressed most likely. Just fed up of seeing the same bullshit again and again and again and again.
Thanks, Markita and Tethys!
Tachinid looks definitely right, but the coloring looks weird for the images of Juriniopsis I found. Is that normal?
It flies, whatever it was. There were a few of them, and they kept flying away under leaves. (S’why my picture of it is so bad – it was the only one I could get before the little jerk flew away, and I didn’t feel like I was up to crawling around in the bushes trying to find it.) The long things were sort of dangling weirdly.
Oh, and *internet hugs*
EEEEEEEEEEE! Havelock boggled for me! He’s my new boggle boy.
april, thanks for that gurl. The rest of us reasonable people are right there with ya (really we are, Ing, come sit next to us). Let us know when you have the ejection and we’ll pop champagne.
aprilcomeshewill:
Thank you!
Nyme change to try to distract from elsewhere bullshit. Should be a nice classic nostalgia one for teh horde
@Richard Austin
Yes, well my comments were more for ‘have a bit of extra money per week’ not ‘won the lottery’. Sure if you suddenly have a lot of extra money that you can invest such that the interest from it is more than the interest charged by a loan then yeah, probably slightly better doing it that way. As the Jacksonian’s (and others) say, it’s a lot easier making 2 million from 1 million than 2 from 1. And I do not have a million.
I still technically have some debt. I could theoretically pay off my mortgage currently with the spare change in my purse (unless there’s some completion fees I don’t know about), but I haven’t, simply because the very minimal interest I get charged on the small amount in it is worth it to me for the ability, should I need to do so, to redraw significant amounts of money out of it in case of Emergency at a much better rate than most loans I could get. I’m fairly risk averse so have not been tempted by the casino that is the share market apart from what is in my Super.
Thanks for your post, april. *hugs*
Hope everything is all right, stay safe
*hugs* for aprilcomeshewill
—-
Ing
I always liked “Gerund of Death”.
Full Sail Brewer’s Share
Pleasantly startled by sour
A Berliner Weisse
I swear to fuck I am going to tear out all my fucking hair.
In case you didn’t get it in the other thread, Ing:
May I suggest you indulge your desire to engage in the purchasing of many cloth funnels, some you can’t even spare the expense for.
That’s what you can do.
Ariaflame:
Yeah, I figured, but I took it as a convenient excuse to shoot down the “debt is bad” notion :) Most people are unreasonably paranoid about the word “debt”, occasionally leading to them making bad decisions.
The live stream kittens are awake and playing.
Books?
China Miéville’s Kraken was really good. I have his The City & The City still waiting for its turn.
—
Oh, and I have only read American Gods last weekend. I had already started it once, but I had given up after about 40 pages. I thought it sucked, but I guess I just wasn’t in the right mood for it because this time I finished it quickly and loved it.
Caine re. The Hunger Games. If you’ve read book 1 and enjoyed it, (as I did) stop there.
The world-building just isn’t strong enough to sustain the trilogy format, and it degenerates fast. Book 3 was repetitive and dreary in the extreme. A shame.
++++
I recommend these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Walking_Trilogy
It is, thank you, Ing.
On the ’email’ thread, that’s it, I can’t stand anymore.
Amblebury:
I was afraid of that. Thank you.
Tethys,
I see you are continuing my work of making everyone obsessed with the KITTENS. I approve. :)
If I’m going to watch them and squee every day when I should be doing something better, the hell if I’m going to be the only one.
@Caine and Ariaflame
Almost all of Bujold’s books are available free and legal from
Fifth Imperium, along with David Weber (I recommend the War God’s Own for fantasy), David Drake (Some classic MilSF), and Eric Flint (The Philosophical Strangler and Forward the Mage are classic fantasy/comedy).
@Beatrice, #237
If you haven’t read Anansi Boys yet, I recommend it. It’s by Neil Gaiman and is pretty good.
—
I have started American Gods twice, but I’ve never finished it. I always like it as I’m reading it, but I don’t pick it up often enough to get through it before having to go back or start over. It will probably have to wait again because I’ve started on A Game of Thrones.
It is official, sheepcake is a fucking moral monster.
Well, debt gets bad FAST when y’ no longer have a job or steady income. It becomes a force multiplier making your life hell. With the steady income to manage it, then sure, it’s not so bad; but that presumes having a job that won’t vanish.
If you, Cipher, and Ixchel want a virtual hug, you’re all welcome to one. It’s hard to look at that thread right now with Sheeptick in there.
I loved American Gods, but didn’t care for Anansi Boys. Speaking of Gaiman, The Graveyard Book is excellent.
Pteryxx:
Yeah, I know. As I said in the first post, it’s a risk some people can’t afford for a variety of reasons, including that one.
All told, it’s probably a good thing that I can’t physically harm people through the internet.
Goodnight, TET.
Seconded.
Cipher:
Thirded.
G’night.
I’m off to bed with The Weird, A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. It has tentacles on the cover. :D G’night all.
Just a quick dissent on 2nd and 3rd books of _The Hunger Games_ – I was turning those pages licketysplit right until the end. They’re not high literature, but I cared what was happening.
aprilcomeshewill, I don’t even have words to say how much I agree with your anger. The arrogance, the imposition, the sheer unmitigated gall of people presuming to make you tick boxes and jump through stupid hoops in order to deal with your medical requirements for your own body, godsdammit.
I hope your medical requirements are met smoothly and efficiently, and will join you, if I may, in celebrating on Friday.
I wanted to read Anansi Boys but for some reason I could only find the translation and I would rather read it in English. I could order it in the bookstore (no charge), but I’m lazy. Maybe when I order PZ’s book.
Thanks for the link to the kittens, Beatrice! They are adorablezzz.
Wonder if that light is always on, or if they have an area they can go where it’s dark and they can have some privacy. (There’s no one on camera at the moment, so maybe.) My husband was wondering if they might grow up with impaired night vision due to all that light on them constantly.
Well, duh.
THEY’RE DOING IT WRONG!
Whoops.
That was meant for the email thread/t.
*tumbleweed*
It is quiet.
Too quiet.
*crickets*
Shhhh! You’re causing a disturbance. The internets are poised for a calamitous event.
Louis
Again?
Well, if you insist.
Shhh, the Redhead’s sleeping in…
And here is that calamitous event:
Many, many years ago, there was a small kingdom which was very wealthy. They had the perfect climate and soil for growing flowers which they sold to the surrouding kingdoms. The tax coffers were flush, schools were well-funded, there were parks and museums, and no pot holes in the roads.
One day, a group of Franciscans built a monastery on a hill just outside the biggest town. And, the climate and soil being what it was, they began growing flowers. The other growers were not worried — another supplier would not impact sales significantly.
When the Franciscan’s first crop came in, they sold it at less than half what the other growers charged. The other growers complained to the Franciscans, but they just smiled gently and said, “Oh, we are doing God’s work. We cannot make an obscene profit.”
Within a year, the kingdom was looking a little ratty. The unemployment rate was up, the tax revenues were down, the libraries were on short hours. The people were up in arms over teacher salaries. So the growers tried again, and got the same answer.
So the king drew together all of his advisors and asked, “What can be done? They are destroying my kingdom.” The Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, and the Lord of the Bedchamber volunteered to talk to the monks, but they got the same answer: “We are doing God’s work and cannot make an obscene profit.”
More time went by and things got worse (there were rumours of road repair being outsourced to Halliburton). Finally, with all other possibilities exhausted, the new Chancellor (the old one had, well, retired) decided to try General Badaxe.
General Hugh Badaxe was retired. His claim to fame was that he had, with a small army, defeated an invading force without even fighting one battle. He was recognized as one of the great geniuses of the kingdom, but no one knew if a military mind would be capable of solving this dilemma.
General Badaxe took the assignment. He went to the monastery. He stayed inside for about 30 minutes, came out, went home, and closed the door. The Chancellor was in the dark. What had happened?
The next day, the Franciscans were gone. The economy swiftly recovered.
No one knows what Hugh Badaxe said on that fateful day. But that little kingdom still has a saying: Remember. Only Hugh can prevent florist friars.
And another one:
Teen walks into a Young Life meeting and asks, “Is this seat saved?” The other teen replies, “Not yet. But it’s under heavy conviction.”
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! SINCE IT’S BEEN SO QUIET ALL UP IN HERE THIS MORNING, I’M GONNA SHOUT. HOW IS EVERYONE?
ANYWAY, I’M GOING TO MAKE FALAFEL TODAY! YUM! THE RECIPE SAYS THAT YOU NEED TO PROCESS THE CHICK PEAS IN A FOOD PROCESSOR, BUT MINE’S BROKE SO I’M GONNA JUST MORTAR-AND-PESTLE THAT SHIT. HOPEFULLY I WON’T BE MAKING TOO MUCH WORK FOR MYSELF. :-/
NERD:
WHOOPS! SORRY!
WHAT?!?!?!?
How is the Redhead doing?
Well, I’m all tired out from commenting at whats-xis-name over there in I get email. Sheeptick, that’s it, and no I’m not making that up.
Whoo, was that one stinky thread at certain points.
Just about the time xe learned to blockquote I lost patience and added xe to the killfile.
It’s Oh So Quiet
Shhhhhhhh…
Shhhhhhhh…
I don’t recall a blockquote! Xe blockquoted!! Do you remember the number of the comment? More or less?
Oh, nevermind. It’s not important. I should be calling it a day now. It’s not late here, but I am walking very early these days as it is so hot otherwise.
Night all.
Lyn M
It was #266.
Sleep well.
Redhead’s up now. First time in a long time she had a real fried egg for breakfast. Now for more coffee.
Janine:
I fucking ♥ you for linking to It’s Oh So Quiet.
Now I have a Bjork itch, but my iPod is in Mr Darkheart’s car and he’s at work! Waaaaaah!
Okay, seriously, I need to go smash some chick peas before my kitchen gets too hot. Back in a bit!
Hyperballad
Joga
Hunter
Thanks, Janine! Now I have a smashin’ chick peas soundtrack!
(As an aside, Hyperballad is one of my all time favorite songs. You know what else I adore? Mouth’s Cradle.)
Sure is quiet for a Friday morn. Where is everyone?
Audley:
Are you smashing chick peas or garbanzos?
Oggie:
… Aren’t they the same thing?
(For the record, I can’t pronounce “garbanzo” to save my life.)
sheeptick was truly a well chosen monicker.
At first, there’s just a little prick, but as time progresses with the parasite embedded, you become more and more nauseated, until you find yourself out in the yard, with multiple organ failure, barking at trees.
Ah, the wind is blowing off the Lake, pushing the hot air inland. Hope it keeps it up all day.
Oh, I didn’t think about the light. What time-zone are they in, does anyone know? Maybe we just haven’t noticed when it’s night-time for them (or maybe they have a sleeping den off-camera like LDTR wondered).
Glad to hear that the Redhead has her appetite (back?), Nerd.
The thought of the Redhead sleeping peacefully in your home again fills me with joy, Nerd :)
Yes.
Every time I see a chick pea (or read, or hear, or even think about them) I flash on a test question in a history class in college. This professor was famous for dropping an odd question into a test and would give extra credit if the answer to the bizarre question made him laugh. In this case, the question was: (14) The Chickpea is neither a chick nor a pea. Discuss.
I got extra credit for describing the experiments of Dr. Garbanzo as he experimented with a leghorn+legume crossbreed which resulted in the chickpea. Or garbonzo bean.
and now I present to you…
MORON FIGHT!!!
Creation Fest vs. Gathering of the Juggalos!
oh and that link is as you can guess, nsfw
We’re The Replacements-TMBG
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
@ Nerd
[whisper]Good news![/whisper]
{turns down volume for next quote}
@ Audley
{turns volume back to normal}
Oooh…. I tried that once. Once… (Complete and utter disaster, they fall apart and ruin the oil.)
The only way to do the things properly is in a meat grinder. (Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings if you do not possess such a device.)
Hello All! threadrupt as usual! I’ve been away (with a multitude of family visitors) and also endured a 2 1/2 week toothache from hell (root canal July 3). I am hoping to catch up on the TET in my usual stupid fashion (start at 282 and work backwards) but please accept an armload of greetings, hugs and appreciation that you all are still here!
Caine, ratlets!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!! Were you expecting it? Wow, go Esme! Also, love Vampire Duckie and Nerd Duckie. More beautiful handiwork. Your photos are gorgeous – though they make me sad as our garden is so parched even the weeds are dying. I am reduced to spot watering the most vulnerable young trees and hoping for the best for the rest.
I know this is probably a common sob story/refrain with many others in the horde – holy freakin’ lifting dying gentle jesus, driving from Georgia to Illinois the temperature just climbed and climbed to a high of 112 in Nashville. All I could think – how do people survive it? Without AC, without homes, without access to enough food, shelter or water? Argh! Stopped in at Starbucks this morning and there was a guy sleeping in an old VW van in the parking lot – living in it, for sure. He had a battered ancient AC unit shoved in the back window frame, but it was off/broken down and the front windows were open. The low last night was probably 80, and by 8 AM it was already 88.
Nerd, when I left town early in June, the Redhead was due home within the week – how is everything going? I hope you and she have settled back down to some sort of normal and that life is good.
aprilcomesshewill #200 much sympathy and hugs (if you want them) – wish I had seen this last night when I was up ridiculously late writing terribly – I could have been keeping you company! I completely second Caine’s #204. This nonsense has to stop.
theophontes:
Nope, didn’t even bother with my leaky-ass food processor. I’m doing all of the mashing/mixing with my mortar-and-pestle and it seems to be working out just fine. ;)
Funny, I was just going to complain how I hate it when recipes call for the use of totally unnecessary gadgets like that. This entire falafel can be made manually (as it were).
(It’s the recipe that Akira linked to a day or two ago.)
So here’s a question I have for any of our Aussie peeps
I’ve watched two different Australian made movies in the last few months
Snowtown Murders and last night, Last Ride
My question is, jseus fucking Christ are all your movies that dark?
Ok I know they aren’t but fuck those two sure as hell are.
And now, my day is complete! Thank you, Ogvorbis:Dogmaticus sycophantus! :-D
Me:
Mind you, I say this as someone who loooooooves unnecessary kitchen gadgets. I just hate it when I’m expected to use them and they’re not needed. >:(
Uh-oh, a religious nutter in Alabama goofed up and said out loud what a whole bunch of racist white christians think.
An Alabama pastor is holding a whites-only conference.
Naturally, the conference organizers say they are not a hate group. They are surprised that you would even think that.
@ Audley
Eek, stop right there.
{looks at yellow colour}
Aaaaahhhh…. {heads for fainting couch}
Allo allo
It is Saturday, so I stayed in bed until 11:30.
Got up when Morgan (on my pillow) started making retching noises. Got out of bed for the purpose of changing my sheets.
YECH!
Off for laundry and I guess lunch?
theophontes:
The yellow color is from the turmeric. But, yeah, I took the lazy way out and just bought a can of chick peas.
*shockhorror!*
:D
Lynna, I saw that revolting “christian conference” poster this week, too. Did you notice the “sacred Christian cross lighting” that was the grand finale on Friday night’s schedule? Seriously messed up.
Sounds like you’re ready to move on to the Kiwies. Try Once Were Warriors.
Lynna:
That’s a new one. I didn’t realize the Jesus was strung up and set on fire.
Wonkette also commented on this story:
Can you imagine a synagogue not inviting these Kind and Thoughtful Christian Soldiers™ to their functions? Those bigots!
A lot of educators have been bemoaning Mitt Romney’s plans for dealing with education after a few billionaires buy the presidency for him, but Diane Ravitch presented the most succinct evaluation in The New York Review.
Excerpts below:
On May 23, the Romney campaign released its education policy white paper titled “A Chance for Every Child: Mitt Romney’s Plan for Restoring the Promise of American Education.”…
… subsidizing parents who want to send their child to a private or religious school; encouraging the private sector to operate schools; putting commercial banks in charge of the federal student loan program; holding teachers and schools accountable for students’ test scores; and lowering entrance requirements for new teachers….
Romney offers full-throated support for using taxpayer money to pay for private school vouchers … privately managed charters, for-profit online schools, and almost every other alternative to public schools. … He takes a strong stand against certification of teachers… He believes that class size does not matter (although it apparently mattered to him when he chose a school with small classes for his own children). Romney claims that school choice is “the civil-rights issue of our era,” a familiar theme among the current crop of education reformers, who now use it to advance their efforts to privatize public education….
Romney exaggerates the evidence; indeed, some of his claims are simply false. [Romney lies. And no one but NYR is calling him on it.] He points to the D.C. voucher program … as “a model for the nation.” He recently asserted that “after three months, students could already read at levels nineteen months ahead of their public school peers.”
This is flatly wrong. A congressionally mandated evaluation of the D.C. program found that students with vouchers made no gains in either reading or math. As the report stated, “There is no conclusive evidence that the OSP [Opportunity Scholarship Program] affected student achievement.”…
Romney’s plan … is animated by a reverence for the private sector…Romney’s proposal for private school vouchers is red meat for the right-wing base of the Republican Party, especially evangelicals….As a general rule, the public does not want public money to support religious schools…
Another school [in Louisiana], the Eternity Christian Academy, which currently has fourteen students, has agreed to take in 135 voucher students. [Details from Bobby Jindal’s education reform legislation that follows the Romney model –Louisiana enacted the reform law in April, 2012.] According to a recent Reuters article
…Some of the other schools that have been approved to receive state-funded vouchers “use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.”…
In the vision presented by MItt Romney, public dollars would flow to schools that teach creationism. Anyone could teach, without passing any test of their knowledge and skills and without professional preparation. Teachers could be fired for any reason…
Beware of befriending mormons on Facebook or other social networks. You may be playing into a strategy to support Mitt Romney.
http://mashable.com/2012/07/04/mormons-using-facebook/
My impression was that while a synagogue or black-majority congregation may not have troubled to invite the white racist pastor to their events, they also did not forbid the white pastor to attend their events.
The white, racist pastor and his KKK-flavored congregation did, on the other hand, make a point of forbidding jews, muslims, and blacks from attending their conference.
White racist asshat doesn’t see the difference.
Lynna #306 Ugh, I stayed up until 2 last night writing a very poorly written post about public education – and this article confirms my most pessimistic fears about the mindset of the right wing. Now I have a gloomy follow up post to write. Bah.
QFT.
Also, did any of us (at least those who were alive in the 60’s and 70’s to witness the civil rights movement) ever think we’d be returning to the days when people would once more feel comfortable broadcasting such naked hatred and racism and bigotry? It’s enough to drive one to drink (again!)
Lynna:
Damn straight.
There are NOT enough Depends on the planet to ever get me to ride with someone over the age of 60 pulling a trailer for the first time. *faints*
Forgot – again !
Watching AMC rerun the first couple seasons of Walking Dead while preparing a cure for this 4 lbs. slab of pork belly I have.
I’m traveling all week and when I get back in the smoker it goes with some cherry wood.
These zombies are making me hungry.
Falafel=success!
So, now that I’ve made this falafel, any idea what I can do with all of this leftover Tahini sauce?
Kitten cuteness has kept me occupied for the past hour. Now they’re back to snoozing. The tortie (tricolor?) one reminds me of our old cat, or maybe one of her kitten we named Jellybeans. *sigh* I want a cat again. Someday.
————————————————-
Mmmmmmm, falafel. One of the best culinary inventions ever.
————————————————-
Aww Momma cat is back! And everyone is now piling on top of each other to get some milk.
Hi Thread! Here I am! *bounce*
I don’t really have anything to say. I just felt like saying hi. I’d say good morning but it’s not morning here anymore even though I just woke up.
—
I had a weird bad dream again! This one was about dying and becoming a ghost. I spent the whole dream not sure whether I was dead and a ghost yet or just going to die really soon. It wasn’t nice.
Salon digs into the endlessly fascinating subject of mormon magic underwear:
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/07/are_mormon_underwear_magic_salpart/
Hello Cipher!
:( to your dream.
Okay, I haven’t had any time to play lately – and of course, I’ve been visiting pharyngula anyway. But i’ve been deliberately avoiding TET for fear of getting lost here when I have so much to do. But on I Get E-mail I saw Janine’s newish nym and just had to say,
Woman, I love me some ‘nym. That is a piece of beauty.
And I noticed that we now have an official Yucatan Jaguar who takes internet deliveries in the rear.
Really, y’all have made my afternoon.
So I was just going to come here & say that (and not even mention transformers) but then I saw Audley discussing Falafel.
Falafel = Yum!
What can you do with leftover tahini sauce? Well, you can use it on salad. It’s actually a really awesome salad dressing, and you can use tiny bits of falafel that broke off into the oil as impromptu crouton substitutes.
Seriously. Yum squared.
Crip Dyke:
They’ve already been hoovered up, trust me. ;)
Audley:
Perhaps use it as a marinade for fish, chicken or shrimp…?
Niftyatheist:
Let’s just say I wasn’t overjoyed, but now that the ratlets are here, I’m okay. :D Thank you! Oh, our yard is suffering heat death now too. Bah.
Tony:
KEBOBS! You, sir, are a genius!
I can’t wait til this time tomorrow when I can haz fresh outta the pumpkin (well, it was a large squash, but close enough) PEPITAS! ::gets up to ‘do a little dance’::
~~
Thread sez: Hi there Cipher!
Sorry about the bad dream. Was this particularly unique, or do you normally remember your dreams?
~~
Theophontes:
You’re not gonna make it….!
“Here I come to save the day”*
::Tony slides over the soft and cushy bean bag for Theophontes::
*when are they going to put out a Mighty Mouse Collection?
~~
Audley:
Late night infomercials are the bane of your existence I take it?
~~
Janine:
Reading this thread out of context, this post was puzzling (I’m reading in reverse). My brain interpreted this ‘bat’ as a ‘baseball bat’…My first thought was “How does a bat just show up in a dorm?” Then the common sensometer kicked it.
Back later Horde.
Off to the gym, then work (oooh, there’s an Ultimate Fighter PPV on tonight which we’re broadcasting. I used to enjoy watching the show until I started caring about human beings as people. Now it’s rough watching that testament to violence. I do however enjoy the contorted positions the guys can typically get into. Butt shots. Crotch shots. They can be enjoyable. Far more than falafel :) jk)
Hi Tony and Audley!
The dream was unusual in that I’ve never had one like it before and the sense of weight and sadness in it was … strange. On the other hand, I think I’ve had bad dreams every night for some time. Nothing recurring anymore – just bad.
Tony:
:D
I should have been more specific: I looooooooove buying kitchen gadgets that are useless to me, but not necessarily useless in general. Like my food processor* or the Crock Pot. Late nite infomercial crap doesn’t really appeal to me. Although, to be totally honest, I do own a Magic Bullet.
… Get yer mind out of the gutter! ;)
*Which comes out once a year to make charoset.
I’ve found that I can usually “process” foods by hand using a sharp knife, a mortar-and-pestle, &/or my stand mixer**. Which also results in less cleanup.
**The last time I made a pound cake, the recipe called for the ingredients to be combined in a food processor. I was all WTF? and just used my mixer.
Like, a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was being chased through a house by a series of different uncanny-valley dwelling mindless “people”/zombies who wouldn’t stop smiling, even when I hit one of them with a chair. And the people who were with me got, like, slow-motioned every time one of the zombie people came in and couldn’t help me.
Also, have I mentioned that my stupid food processor leaks? Yeah– guess it wasn’t meant to handle four pounds of apples/pears all at once.
Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts above re: uninvited pregnancy.
Seconded tahini as a salad dressing. Can be thinned out with a bit of fresh lemon juice.
I used to make falafel now and then. In place of canned peas, I’d used soaked-but-uncooked chickpeas, which was fairly easy to prepare and gave a better texture.
You can add to the fun by making homemade pita. The dough is pretty straightforward if you’re used to yeast breads, but rolling the pita into perfect circles that don’t have any pinch-points (so they form pockets in the oven) definitely has a learning curve. Fortunately, pocketless pita are pretty tasty, too. The fresh dough can be kept in the fridge for up to a week; after a few days, it gets sour and extra yummy.
Crossposted from the I Get Email thread, where it was contributing to derailment (bad, bad me):
We’ll go visit family at the end of June this time, we said.
It won’t be hot yet then, we said.
Sheesh.
Just got back from two weeks of travel, with almost 2900 miles driven. Most of it was various parts of Missouri. It hit at least 100 degrees every. single. day. The last few it was over 105 every day. But we had lovely family visits, and my brother’s wife had a baby! I have a few nieces and nephews who I love very much, but this is the first biologically related to me. In my mind I am therefore calling her Quart. ;)
Everyone is tired and somewhat cranky. Child 1 had a splitting headache for the last four days but woke up miraculously cured today in the hotel room, so I think it was the way he was sleeping on the air mattress at Grandma’s. Child 2… well, that’s interesting. He’s the Aspie, and came up to me Thursday evening and said that he was worried because “suddenly now I have to do everything even.” I asked what exactly he meant, and he said “Like when I touch something with one hand I have to touch it with the other too to make it equal.” Oh… dear. I assume this is a direct result of stress from his routine being disrupted by vacation, so I told him it was no big deal, that happens to a lot of people, and that (therapist) is good at helping with those kinds of things so when he has his next appointment he should talk to her about it. And then I inwardly was very glad that we’ve kept up with the therapist and reminded myself to call Monday to check when our next appointment is.
I had spotty internet, so I was able to keep up on many OPs and I think didn’t miss any of the main dramatic storylines of FTB, and I tried to mostly keep up on Twitter, but I am fairly threadrupt on all threads. I did see Oggie made it back ok (yay!) and noticed there are a few new people (hi new people!)
Now I shall sit and decide whether to rest or drag in stuff and start unpacking to feel like home, and tomorrow we will pick up the kitty from boarding and see how much of a grudge she’ll have against us. And read awhile and try to catch up. :)
Carlie! :hugs:
Ing:
No. Won’t. *hugs*
Show of hands: anyone here who isn’t tired of stale, old bullshit?
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The livestreamed kittehs are never awake when I am. I has a disappoint.
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Hi, Cipher! *bounceback*
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In my dreams last night/this morning, I was rocket-skating through some very precipitous mountains (the Rockies?), while someone in a car persistently tried to force me to buy and eat a Philly Cheesesteak.
The rocket-skating was familiar, but I don’t even like Philly Cheesesteaks; whyever would my subconscious be trying to force one on me?
–
Some things I’ve been turning over in my head lately. (More warnings related to pregnancy and abortion.)
As I mentioned above, I’m fortunate enough to qualify for the abortion pills, but I had to finagle it a little bit. My partner summed it up thus: “You’re just pregnant enough to figure out that you’re pregnant, and already you’re too far along to qualify for the pills?” My fetus is too small to be seen on ultrasound, but in my location, the law goes by first day of last menstrual period OR ultrasound-based assessment, whichever method produces an older gestational age. In my case, I cycled late, so the age produced by the two methods is 8 weeks and 4 weeks, respectively.
Even though the ultrasound is, obviously, the more reliable of the two aging methods, my government says that my fetus is 8 weeks old. They also restrict use of the abortion pills to fetuses under 7 weeks in age, even though medical evidence supports safe use of the pills for much older fetuses. Upon hints and repeated questions from the nurse practitioner, I “remembered” that the actual first date of my LMP was 2 weeks later than what I’d originally reported, thus making the gov’t-recognized gestational age of my fetus 6 weeks and (temporarily) fixing my ineligibility problem. Guilt for lying is a drop in the bucket of unwanted pregnancy-related crappiness, I guess.
An added annoyance (though relatively minor) is that I cannot take the 2nd pill, which triggers expulsion of the uterine contents, in the comfort of my own home up to 3 days after the 1st pill (which has been found to be a safe method of dispensing the 2 pills)–I need to come back to the clinic and take the 2nd pill in person during their regular office hours. I guess I’ll be rushing back home before I bleed–maybe even vomit and shit–all over my car. I’m sure the thought of a fluid-covered woman and car gives conservatives a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Unrelated, I’m incredulous that this “blocked menses” is the cause of so much political debate. This little knot in my belly? These painful breasts? This is what people preoccupy themselves with? Dude, this is just a really shitty case of PMS. This is just bunch of cells that has built up a home by making me menstrually constipated. Like Crom’s friend, I feel terrible that this fetus in my belly is cared for much more than me, and more x1000 than real, existing humans whose marginalization and abuse is readily dismissed by “pro-life” advocates.
In other news, internet kittens are awake!
April:
Oh my god, I fucking ♥ this description.
The funny (or not so funny) thing is, this feeling doesn’t go away with a wanted pregnancy. I think it’s easier to handle, but there’s still the little niggling reminder that if I have an accident and I end up at the wrong hospital, I could very well be left to die instead of being treated.
niftyatheist @303
I really wish that the New York Review of Books would make the entire article by Diane Ravitch available to the public. You have to be a subscriber to read the whole thing.
This is such an important issue, the NYR should, as a public service, put this analysis/exposé of Republican plans to kill public education in the spotlight.
Of course, Romney lying about the facts is so par for the course that the general reaction is “meh.” Except from the right-wingers, where the reaction is to repeat the lies, following the theory that if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes truth.
I hear the same justifications for privatizing education in Idaho. The basic idea is, “Let’s make money from educating the crumb grinders, and teach ’em about God and the evils of liberalism at the same time.”
No set theory in math courses, sheesh.
Adele Live @ The Albert Hall – Amy Winehouse Tribute “Feel my love”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtYMpUsFnEc
As a tribute to Amy Winehouse, Adele asked the audience to switch on the lights on their cellphones, so Albert Hall looks like a sea of fireflies.
— — — — — — —
I see Ed Brayton has an entry in Conservapedia now.
The worst thing they could come up with was that he is overweight.
I haz an envy. I am fatter, bigger than either Brayton or Lush Rimbaugh, where is my entry?
If any Conservapedia blokes are reading this, I am a Jewish-Iranian muslim atheist from France (Alsace-Lorraine, so I am part crypto-German as well).
— — — — — —
Bujold is a competent SF writer, but somewhat bland.
Today I have started on Patient Zero, a zombie-esque book that actually seems well-written. I can also recommend Benedict Jacka’s “Alex Verus” novels (praised by Jim Butcher) alongside Kate Griffin’s “Matthew Swift” series.
— — — — — —
Local researchers (University of Umeå) are close to a cure of one of those diseases carried by ticks that is better than the existing vaccine ( Tick-borne encephalitis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis ).
Audley
Ugh, so true, and how terrifying that must be.
Lynna
The entire focus is indoctrination, not education. Once humans in these school systems become old/educated/odd enough to assert a will that contradicts that of “God”, the interest in them as humans disappears. Then, students in those systems are left to deal with their shitty education on their own. Romney cares not one whit for actual people.
I went out for drinks with a friend (closest friend, I guess), she told me that watching kittens on live cam is creepy. :(
*wanders off to
creep onwatch internet kittens**squeeeeee!*
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Hi Caine! *Hugs* for you and the ratlets!
Went out to buffet for dinner, got fortune cookie. After two weeks of lots and lots of good ol’ midwestern Godliness from my family, the hotels we stayed at, the fireworks display and concert, the billboards on the road, etc., my fortune said “You begin to appreciate the value of speaking out about your personal beliefs.” *headdesk*
Ah, time for dinner. We will have the postponed (due to a neighbor bringing over barbequed chicken) 7/4 planned dinner: hot dogs, cold salads (potato, macaroni, and three bean), with watermelon for dessert. So easy even I can fix it. ;)
Meh. I’m old enough to remember the Internet Coffee Pot. :)
(I do suspect that in order to allow the kittens to sleep, there is some sort of Speed-style looping going on. I had to leave the house today, so I can’t confirm continuity. Tomorrow, however … I shall report!)
“Reasonable fellow” is a transphobic douche. (TW for transphobia, obviously.)
Who’s surprised?
niftyatheist, looks like you and I had the same kind of week.
Back from wasted journey to airport – how blaaagagaggsgsg am I to mix up dates and go to airport for my daughter and SIL on the wrong day?? (yes, I know — pretty bloody stupid! LOL)
SO, Cipher – that sounds like an eerie and haunting kind of dream – also constantly smiling dream populations are creepy. I hear you on the serial bad dreams. I hope you have a nice happy romp tonight!
Carlie – yes, hot hot hot! Glad you are home safe and sound. I bet you’re right about the disruption of routine bringing on the “even” thing. I hope the little one is feeling back to normal soon.
Caine, I was thinking maybe 12 new little ratties was not necessarily in your plans, but I am glad you are fine with it. How cool is 12 little rats?
Lynna, yes, I was frustrated by the paywall, too. :( I went for the $4.99 trial option, but I immediately thought that was a bad move as only one week. bah!
cicely – *raising hand* HERE! SO tired of the same thing!! Reading April’s post – I had to read it out loud to niftyspouse. He then had to look up what other countries legalized ru-486 and what countries have legal abortion. It was an eye-opening search for him.
Haha! carlie we posted at the same time – yes indeed! We were up to the same thing- visiting family, driving through
hellthe heartland!Nerd, that all sounds delish! I’ll be right over! :-D
niftyatheist – is it asking too much of a reveal as to what part of the state you were in? We were on the Illinois side of St. Louis (in a broad sense) for the last week (coming across the state on I-70), Kansas City and Branson and the Ozarks before that.
I came this close to driving to the wrong airport entirely once on my own ticket. As in I was up that morning and double-checking the the departure time when somehow the name of the airport finally burned into my skull and I realized I had to leave an hour earlier. Luckily it was early enough to still have that hour, unlike the time I got my going away and coming back times mixed up, looked at the ticket to double-check the departure time before leaving the house, and found out it was 15 minutes prior to when I was looking at it. THAT was a frantic phone call to the airline, let me tell you.
Mrs M and I once went to NY for a long-weekend catch-up with friends who’d relocated from London. On the way back, we’d spent most of Sunday afternoon in a bar (and, not coincidentally) turned up at Newark holding tickets for a flight from JFK.
The checkin clerk was nonplussed. “I’ll switch you to this instead” and minutes later we boarded an almost-deserted plane and got home about an hour before our original flight’s scheduled arrival.
I don’t recommend this as a general tactic.
I just hope it’s amusing. :)
Internet kittens are awake again. There’s some creeping going on, but it’s not on *my* side of the screen.
==
I was just thinking last night before I fell asleep of something that I haven’t yet seen referenced in all the harassment policy threads on FTB (but I do dip in and out, so I may have just missed a previous discussion) – the rather wonderful geekcon attendee initiative known as The Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project & Gentlemen’s Auxiliary.
KITTEN JUST FELL OVER BACKWARDS
Why on earth isn’t the camera a few more inches out so we can see the whole box? :(
Howdy, all!
I just got back from a week of canoeing in the backcountry, and I’m not even going to attempt to catch up on the thread.
I skimmed through this page enough to see that Ogvorbis is back from the fire (yay! I hope it went well!), Nerd and the Redhead seem to be doing all right (yay! Hang in there!), and Caine is posting again (yay! I hope Esme and her spawn are well!). So it seems like things are all right around here, and I’ll start trying to keep up from here.
I had a fantastic time canoeing the Manigotagan River. It was the longest canoe trip I’ve been on (ended up being 5 nights in the backcountry), and the first one where nothing serious went wrong. I have lots of thoughts about it, and I may get around to posting some of them here later on. Any other canoeists in the crowd?
Anyway, I’m off to share photos with the family, so I’ll catch you all later.
carlie and cm changeable moniker – I am sure those types of adventures were PRE homeland security days! I remember racing to the airport with minutes to spare and still getting on the dang plane!
carlie, I am in Chicagoland – drove to O’Hare to surprise my firstborn and her spouse home from a visit to his family in the Netherlands. I blame Mr Nifty – he “helped” them book their flights and had all the info – yet he let me drive off merrily on the WRONG EFFING DAY! (Yes, I have punished him with cooking duty, providing copious glasses of wine and (if he doesn’t shape up quick) a thorough back rub later! Lol wait, did I say punish? I am SUCH a feminazi!) . I waited in terminal 5 ( great scott! Too many swarthy people! And all those foreign tongues! It was upsetting, I tell you!) for almost 2 hours before I got the sheepish text admitting his error….grrr. <- previous all with tongue firmly in cheek (did I mention the copious amounts of wine?)
cm the re-route story is classic. Love it!
nutmeg, hello!! Join the threadrupt club! I wishI could say I am a fellow canoe afficionado, but alas. I am, however, part owner to a family shared canoe on the lake named after my family (in Canada)–and I have encouraged the nifty offspring to get out there at every opportunity! Sounds like you had an adventure!
Nutmeg: I’ve been IN a canoe many times, mostly paddling rentals beneath a freeway in Seattle. When you get a chance, do tell! (And welcome back)
IN all seriousness, I felt like a fly on the wall in “Love, Actually” today – so many joyful family reunions! People traveling halfway around the world and arriving, weary and yet full of joy. I teared up several times.
I’m such a lush. It’s definitely the wine.
Pteryxx!! (((waves))) SO glad to see you!
I can’t believe that even Inside Nature’s Giants clips on YT aren’t free from jokes at a woman’s expense. Fine, you don’t like Joy Reidenberg, we get it. Doesn’t mean you have to make jokes about her having a penis and being “lonely.” I swear, you fuckers could be shown a video of someone who waxes poetic about the beauty of clouds, and there’d still be dick jokes and sexual overtures.
——————————————–
aprilcomeshewill – the bloody fuck? More proof that there’s so much more fuckwittery than is good. I’m sorry you have to go through this.
——————————————-
As if we needed more proof that Romney is living in La La Land.
——————————————-
Kittens awake and playing!
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The fuck? FIREWORKS?? *headdesk*
heya Nifty, welcome back! Glad you’re feeling better (I think that was you? So threadrupt…)
carlie….
You…you were in the Ozarks…and…and you didn’t tell me???
*heartbroken sobbing*
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Baby kitties playing bitebitebite….
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Nutmeg! Welcome home!
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Oh man, just got back from work. Working in an 97 degree environment close to a grill and deep fryer is quiet unpleasant. Stupid heat wave.
Sorry, cicely! I forgot you were there. If it helps, I ended up not seeing any friends this time, because it all ended up being family time. Trust me, it’s annoying to always be around Springfield in the summer and never during Skepticon. (pout)
pteryxx…it was me with the tooth anwyay. Thanks!
I need to find the kittens…
ibyea, that sounds like a long, hot day! Hope you have a cool, refreshing beverage and a nice comfy place to put your feet up now!
Kitties haz drinkies from mumkat!
I’m not a regular, I rarely post due to everyone else making all the points on everything before I get there. But I’d like to chill in this thread for a little bit if it’s alright, get my strength up after a rough month, rough day, and a thread with someone sure I’m lying to myself(who I should have known better to engage with, due to my extreme lack of experience in internet comment arguement). Not the best of times.
So, um, hi everybody :D
Boo – kitties have been taken out of the box :(
Hi codobus! ((passing over soothing refreshment of your choice)).
Hi, codobus; welcome in!
*beer*
This is the place to chill. :)
–
Hello codobus! Hello All!
++++
I have spent a productive day battling Tradescantia zebrina, commonly referred to as Creeping Christian, I’m told.
Now I feel like having a plate of falafel, served by a kitten.
*Takes the drinks*
Thanks, I do believe between these and some Morrisey and Talking Heads on the Pandora I can make a decent night out of this yet. (:
Hello, codobus!
I saw your post over on the I get email thread and I’m sorry that we’ve got a total doucherocket that triggered you like that.
*shoves
peanut buttersesame Tahini cookies into USB*Sesame tahini cookies?! O.O I might have to learn how to bake, I didn’t know such things could exist! Between this and the vegan chili recipe I lifted from the other page, I’m learning all kinds of things about food (:
codobus:
Stick around for a while and you’ll find yourself inundated with good eats!
(I didn’t know that sesame paste cookies existed until today, either. I’ve got a leftover jar of Tahini and I’ve been looking up what in the hell I can do with it.)
You all are making me hungry! Dr. Darkheart, I cannot take this! First falafel and now sesame tahini cookies? ARE YOU TRYING TO DRIVe ME CRAZY???
Sorry, nifty. The falafel’s all gone and (if it helps), it gave me wicked heartburn.
Of course, I’m blaming DarkFetus. She’s kind of screwed with my digestion.
Hi codobus! I am not a regular either, in fact this is my first post here. I’ve wanted to unlurk for some time and I can think of no better time to do so than now, in order to join in the support and warm welcome you are no doubt currently receiving. I’m sure you have many beverages now, so I’ll refrain from sliding you another so as not to accidentally bowl a strike.
Regarding the other thread: “become”. One word, in the context of a single sentence. That is all I needed to see to know that the aforementioned obnoxious ass has never taken the time to read a single fucking thing about the issue on which xe now sees fit to opine. One word. I doubt I have to point out what I mean.
I’m not always lucid, sometimes I’ve had too much caffeine and other times not nearly enough. If you can’t tell whether I’m communicating poorly or you’re misreading me, it’s probably best to assume the former. I make music on old video game equipment, hence the ‘nym. That’s all I really feel the need to say about myself for the moment. HELLO EVERYBODY!
@chiptuneist
Hello!
Argh, why did they have to remove all the Monty Python from Netflix? I could do with some silliness tonight.
(I know that’s random, but it’s infuriating, one of the few tv shows I actually enjoy watching and I’m now cut off, maybe I’ll just watch Red Dwarf again…)
Audley:
I had forgotten about the falafel burgers, going to put those on the list too. Hope they turn out better than the think paste my hummus always becomes.
Hi chiptuneist! Thanks for the support, and since I got here first, Welcome! :D
@niftyatheist
The weird thing was, it was as if the heat was distorting space-time in such a way that an hour felt twice as long.
Hi chiptuneist…love your nym and why you chose it! (quietly pushes refreshment in chiptuneist’s direction)
Audley, saly no, it doesn’t make me feel better if you had heartburn. Damn it, woman, if you polished it off, I at least want to know it was WONDErFUL! sorry about the heartburn!
chiptuneist – hello :)
First there were disembodied hands and feet moving around the kittie box, Cleaning All The Things, and now the kitties are back.
Codobus, hi, I remember you! Your posts are always good, you should do that more. Even late to the party, every voice makes a unique point and adds to our strength.
I am so sorry you ran head into our latest fuckwit and ended up triggered for it. Have a load of booze and a tonne of hugses.
chiptuneist:
Welcome in!
*passes the cookie plate!*
codobus:
They were pretty freaking good. OM NOM NOM.
The recipe as-is makes them a little dry– I’d go easy on the panko crumbs and make sure to use an egg white from a large or jumbo sized egg.
Also, don’t worry about using a food processor. I smashed the chick peas with a mortar-and-pestle before blending in the Tahini and lemon juice. I bet a spoon and a tough bowl would work just as well.
nifty:
It was a little dry and I think it would be better fried instead of pan-seared. All-in-all highly satisfying, even though the recipe needs a couple of minor tweaks. ;)
Chiptuneist, HELLO! Welcome in.
Audley:
I’ll keep those tips in mind. I already have a food processor, but now I’m kinda wanting a mortar and pestle. The more hands on cooking is, the more I like it!
Caine:
Thanks for the welcome, I recently started a tumblr, so with the writing practice I’m hoping I’ll: (a) Want to start commenting more & (b) Have something to say. Also, thanks to you and everyone else here I’m feeling much better so… thanks!
cordobus:
Oh, definitely invest in a mortar-and-pestle! You can get a decent quality one for pretty cheap. I bought mine from American Science & Surplus.
And welcome in also to chiptuneist. From context I assume that you have beverage (beerverage???), so I’ll pass you the *cookies*, instead.
:)
Ah. I see Audley got to you first with the cookies. *toasted pecans*, perhaps?
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*off to watch kitties*
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It’s nice to be able to watch kittens playing and sleeping, and know that *I’m* not the one who has to worry about finding homes for them!
(My husband and I have been in that position several times, with kittens and grown cats, and the no-kill shelters are *always* full to the rafters. That’s how we wound up with, currently, five cats — only one of which was not abandoned or thrown out by neighbors.)
ibyea, it’s something you read about in books -time slowing down in the heat – yet in this heat wave, it is really REAL! I hope you get a really relaxing night tonight!
(Also, I have a food processor, too, but I hate using the damned thing.
Plus, it leaks. Whoops.)
<housekeeping>
What happened to the anchor link at the end of posts that jumped down to the Leave a Reply section after comments?
#respond works but it’d be nice to have the link to it back after the OP.
</housekeeping>
codobus:
Anytime, and thank YOU!
Thanks to everyone else as well. As mentioned, I’ve been lurking for a while, and I really do appreciate being so warmly welcomed by such thoroughly awesome people. I get the impression that you are all genuinely serious about making this a community WORTH being a part of, so I’m definitely glad to be here.
cicely:
Much preferred, to be honest! I have an inexplicable aversion to cookies, cake, most pies, and almost any form of chocolate. Not sure why…
I do appreciate the gesture though, Audley. I’m just weird.
It’s all good chiptuneist. :)
Watching kitten cam. They’re nursing!
My little sister’s reaction:
Ok, it’s Andrew Sullivan but…
George Washington’s Health Insurance Individual Mandate
You know, I generally couldn’t care less about people pretending to know “what the founders would have wanted”, and even if we knew for certain what they would want it wouldn’t matter one bit in determining whether or not we should enact a particular policy, but I may have to pass that link around to a few people who seem quite certain that they DO know what the founders would have wanted, and are equally certain that they would have been furious at the SCOTUS decision (and, according to at least one of them, would have started a second revolution right then and there).
Then again, maybe I won’t. I’d probably just end up with twice as many poorly thought out ‘e-cards’ all over my Facebook wall every damn day.
Codobus, hi! I’m glad to see you in here. I was really sorry to see that the sickening asshole triggered you. People like that don’t even realize the kind of harm they do :( *hugs and beverages of your choice*
—
Hi chiptuneist! Nice to meet you!
codobus, chiptuneist: GREETINGS!
Sorry. I get overly-entusiastic sometimes.
Books for Caine.
C. J. Cherryh did an alternate Japan or perhaps China story called Paladin which would remind you of the Guy Gavriel Kay one. My favourite Kay stories are the Fionavar Trilogy: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road are the titles, I think.
Then there’s the series that starts with Across the Nightingale Floor. Four books, then a backstory.
Swallows and Amazons for something completely different in an old-fashioned way.
Tanya Huff’s The Enchantment Emporium. Anything by Tanya Huff, C.J. Cherryh, or Charles de Lint.
@Chiptuneist
It’s like they think the country is supposed to remain static through the times, and that the founding fathers were perfect human beings.
Thanks Cipher, the well wishes from you and everyone else have been super helpful. Made a downhill headed day turn around. Ya’ll are pretty awesome (:
Cipher: Likewise!
nigel: If you could only meet this one friend of mine. I’ve grown accustomed to overly enthusiastic people, so that can only make me feel more comfortable.
ibyea: It IS that more often than not. I truly do not understand this need to make the founders more than they actually were. It’s actually kind of disrespectful, like erasing their humanity in an attempt to elevate them to fictional superhuman status.
cicely, *return pouncehug*
Josh:
Totally agree. I saw many bats on the 4th. =^_^=
aprilcomeshewill, welcome and good luck. *hugs*
chigau (間違っていない):
Me too.
Nerd:
♥ I’m so happy the Redhead’s home and that things are going well. *Hugs for both of you*
Caine, Panthera Susurratrix:
♥ ♥ ♥ I was pleased to read that he is now sending us messages too!
I am not yet current on the I get email thread, but I was horrified and nauseated by Sheepshit’s remarks to you. *hugs and much love*
codobus and chiptuneist, welcome to TET!
Kitten cam is awesome! The gray one appears to be the only one awake at the moment. Watching them is very peaceful, particularly since I am trying to wind down.
Thanks Hekuni!
Kitten cam IS awesome. I almost unlurked earlier to plea for intervention when one of the kittens got a claw stuck in the towel…
Markita, thank you. :)
Hekuni Cat, *much love and hugses back* I’m behind on my email, I will get to it, sorry!
Havelock is an absolute sweetie, however, I’m afraid Sam is going to lose his balls. Fighter, that one, and doesn’t care to get a clue.
Good morning!
Hello, codobus and chiptuneist!
Stuck claw! Gray kitty knew there was something suspicious about that towel, and now it got her.
Apropos of absolutely nothing…
The latest codename of the Android operating system is “Jelly Bean”. Given that the codenames have been alphabetical sweet treats, I started wondering what sweet treat starts with “K”. I actually couldn’t think of anything, so I hit wikipeda, and found:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastries
While my curiosity is satisfied (there are lots of pastries that begin with “K”), I just thought I’d share the pastry overload.
Nom, nom!
Hm.
Seeing a few delurkers who obviously grok Pharyngula is a pleasure.
(Welcome to the commentariat!)
I finally got my graphics drivers to work properly, and as such am now reading TET in high definition.
Sétar
Good going! I spent a whole day repartitioning my drive, reinstalling about 74 apps and then quite a bit of data. As a result, however, I gained back 171 GB on my drive, and it’s running fast as a very fast thing.
*geek salute
I just learned something. HDMI connection PC to HDTV will (in particular with ATI graphics cards) leave an edge around the image free, and you need to go into your control center and scale it so it fits the screen. So now, shiny new 26″ is shiny.
That sounds great! I’ve been using handbrake for awhile now, and it lets me do all kinds of things with video files. Have some great viewing now, and would love a 26″ screen. Enjoy!
rorschach #422:
That error in Linux was fixed by going into system settings and telling Ubuntu to activate the ATI graphics drivers, since they’re proprietary.
Also, did I see you in Saturninefilms’ blogTV chat, or was that (probably) someone else?
—
Lyn M #421:
I tried custom-made partitions on my install, but the install crashed (I had a 30 GB partition set aside for Windoze at the end, too) so I decided to just do a clean install instead, since this is a new drive. Now copying some 600GB worth of stuff from the drive Ubuntu claims is dying (and that I have heard go ‘click’ once…scary, scary sound that I was once woken up by while trying to recover data off some old drives — the sound of data BEING DESTROYED!).
But, now, apparently all my partitions are misaligned by 1074 (swap), 2560 (main) and 3072 (some 100MB FAT partition that I don’t really grok) respectively anyway. Thanks, partman!
rorschach #422: on second thought, different error; it was rendering the bottom and left side 1cm off screen. Gorrammit -fusses about in system settings-
Fuck. There’s no control center in Linux. -sigh- I might have a spare VGA cable lying around…
Sétar
I have trouble with the windows/linux split myself. I ended up going into windows and using it to delete partitions I had identified as redundant due to someone earlier making a mistake while upgrading. (No idea who that was.) Once the space was freed up, I went on to reinstall.
I hear you about that click. Ran Spinrite over everything compulsively and felt it helped with a couple of external drives and one internal that sounded a bit crabby. Everything very silky now.
Have you tried a maintenance program of some type that will examine the drives for bad sectors? Sorry to bore you if you already been there done that.
Windows does not like being at the end of a partition, it wants to be at the beginning. Never put it anywhere else, it might not install, or play up.
One drive is new, but according to Ubuntu’s disk utility the other has had a good many reallocated sectors so…possibly?
Also, fucking hell. Changing to VGA did not solve the problem rorschach talked about. It made it worse. Changing back now.
I agree about the placement of windows. It sits right up front in my machine and so far has behaved. Win 7.
Just as I’d finished making backups of everything (made hella harder by Windows Backup not wanting to talk to the new 3 TB drive), the damn periodic error that stopped my laptop from starting up seems to have gone away (touch wood).
It still runs hot, though.
I wish I had Lyn M’s chops at streamlining stuff.
And 30 GB sounds tight to me, btw. Could have trouble with temp files and so forth.
Sili, to have my chops, first you have to mess it up. I upgraded from 10.10 all the way to 12.04 over a year and damn it ate space.
(Refuses to talk about the 17 GB install fiasco.)
Setar, try adjusting scaling settings in your graphic card’s control center.
I’m trying to arrange space as best I can, since I currently have a 1.5TB and a 1TB but the 1TB is the one that Ubuntu detects as faulty, with the words “disk failure is imminent”. So, pulling my stuff off that and simply reformatting it, and then I’m probably going to disconnect it and put it away until I need extra space. If I need extra space.
Also, 30 GB is because I plan to get a 60 GB SSD to house my OSes and other system critical stuff.
rorschach: There is none in Linux.
Welcome to the new Horders, codobus and chiptuneist. Finest little shark tank on the net!
Must WORK. Must NOT watch kitten-cam. Must NOT browse threads. Must NOT succumb …. argh! About as spineless as pikaia, me. I just about manage to be a chordate when I try really hard, but not a vertebrate :(
Though, I am installing some updates, which will hopefully allow me to install the -other- graphics driver that’s there. And then I need to copy my 600GB worth of stuff off the ‘dying’ drive.
Fixing my graphics is kinda low on the priority list right now.
Of course there is. For ATI/AMD for example, it’s called Catalyst Control Center, you can find it from the dash/system menu.
sétar, gotcha on the partition sizing you are using now. If it works, it works. Don’t gotta be pretty, too.
Well, if need be, I could go down to 20 GB for Linux. I have 16 GB of RAM and don’t know what the fuck I’d do in Linux that would be close to that heavy.
…all messing around with the scaling settings has done is revert me back to the old error where I can’t see the left or bottom of my damn screen. -sigh-
The atrocity of immigration detention.
Some 25,000 people – including children, and including survivors of torture and rape – are imprisoned every year in Britain in immigration detention facilities, in conditions which are often worse than prison, for no other reason than being of the wrong nationality. This is the real impact of immigration controls.
Nevermind. Thought of a way around this.
(Sorry for the off-topic post, but the treatment of this particular detainee was so appalling that I felt I had to share it.)
Wrong thread, guys. Sorry.
Walton, this is TET. Nothing is off-topic.
Also, yay, I wrestled my graphics card into displaying properly. NOW to copy that stuff.
*Does geek dance around room*
Yay, Seétar! You go!
Damn it, do I have to do this every time I boot this damn thing? I hit OK, FFS, that should save my settings!
So you would think. You did all the changes as admin? I forget to do that sometimes and totally have to re-do.
*scuffs dirt over the fail on Sétar’s name in prior post.*
The problem with Windows backup not wanting to talk to the HDD is down to the sector size the drive was formatted with. Large drives like yours will normally format to 4Kb per sector, whereas Windows Backup only recognises 512 byte sectors.
There is a fix/workaround here.
Thank you, Matt Penfold. I have been eying larger drives, but was unsure about working around the sector problems.
Now all I have to do is have someone pay me some of the money I’m due and there could be a TB3 in these parts.
Is Sam still around?
there’s been some great re-‘nyming going on here, and I love the creativity, but I feel compelled to ask if “Silicon pee-pee” was intentional or if the intended phrase was “SiliconE pee-pee”.
On the internet, Silicon ones are much easier to come by, but I can imagine that they would be fragile and, well, not as useful for some activities as the silicone kind.
Hi threadsfolk. I’m totally lost re:threadschatter since I missed a whole episode . Been away moping. Also in hindsight, my last comment was a bit er, rambling.
opposablethumbs and Alethea from over two sub-threads ago,
Thanks for your kind words!
I see Louis’s been around.
Hey Louis! I’m new here and I was asked to see you about the Queue.
Also, in other depressing news, I just signed the petition to ask my the Bombay Archdiocese to stop trying to witch-hunt Sanal Edamaruku. Seems thats all I can do at the moment. Are there any local protests/events organized by the Indian Rationalist Association or maybe Nirmukta? I couldn’t find anything.
@ Audley
Great!
I had a Lebanese falafel pita for lunch. No free will in that choice. You done corrupted my thinking. :D
@ rorschach
[windows] Never put it anywhere
else, it might not install, or play up.FIFY.
Heh, I was saying my country and then edited that to Bombay Archdiocese but forgot to take the “my” out:
Also welcome to chiptuneist and codobus; I delurked last week meself:-)
Yay, me!
Thanks. But apparently that’s installed already.
I even have two partitions because the 3 TB was too much to handle. And they’re different formats(?) for much the same reason.
In the end I moved everything from the small external harddrive to the new one, and then used that old one for the backup.
That, incidentally, was what gave me my Itunes trouble.
I really should just format and reinstall everything, I’m sure, but I’m too chicken.
I can only do the changes as admin. Sigh. Well, hopefully I don’t have to reboot again for a while.
But…I’ve got everything working, and now I kind of want to try kubuntu.
—
I just got an ad for “the world’s first 8-core processor”.
I’m running an AMD FX-8150.
…lol.
If you do decide to do that, and you have a load of freeware/opensource programs to download and install, checkout Ninite.
@Sétar
Yep. They have the world’s first. If you live in a very strange little corner.
A strange little corner known as “advertising”.
Sometimes also known as false advertising, but that’s just me being all fussy and correct and all.
I think the box has some technicality about it being for home use or something. Too lazy to check.
And still agonizing on KDE vs GNOME. -sigh-. I encountered this debate back when I was running live sessions on the school computers, and now…I can’t decide!
Sun had an 8-core processor nearly a decade ago.
You can always install both, and decide what desktop to use each time you login.
I’m a regular lurker though almost never post. But could I ask a favor of y’all? Could you please go vote in this poll?
http://mauldin.patch.com/articles/poll-should-public-school-students-receive-credits-for-religious-instruction
Yes, yes they are.
Wolf Creek
The Proposition
Ghosts Of The Civil Dead
Wake In Fright
Sunday Too Far Away
Holidays On The River Yarra
Bad Boy Bubby
Van Diemen’s Land
Enjoy :)
Ah, I see. They don’t have the money to install colored washrooms.
Audley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halva
drbunsen:
Oh my goodness, halva looks SO GOOD right now.
And it actually looks pretty easy to make. Here’s the first recipe that popped up when I Googled for sesame halva.
Apropos of nothing, even though I am not a fan of tennis particularly, I do want Andy Murray to beat Roger Federer today.
Come on Tim!*
Louis
* Erm…Andy!**
** There are two possible tabloid headlines from this “Britain’s Andy Murray wins Wimbledon Thriller!” and “Scotland’s Any Murray thrashed by Federer!”.***
*** Ain’t parochial international/intranational (depending on your perspective) bigotry grand?
Then why are they refused asylum in the first place?
->flailing goes here<-
Hello Chiptuneist and Codobus. Happy Friday!
And this improves things?
Bah. I’d rather be reading this on paper but, since I do not want to deforest an entire continent, I’ll just suffer with my cheap Dell monitor.
No. Don’t try to console me. You just go right ahead and enjoy your high-def monitor. I’ll be fine. I’ll just sit here on my rust brillo pad and eat stale crackers. No, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.
Really.
No need to apologize. On The TET Endless Thread there is no off-topic.
And thank you. I’m not sure what angers me more: the treatment of this individual or the fact that it does not surprise me in the least.
There is no queue. It is, instead, a mob of Brownian motion.
Audley:
\o/ :D :D :D
It really, really, really is. Do you have rosewater?
Oggie:
*snortle!!*
(I had no idea that a mass of sweaty, writhing bodies was an apt descriptor of Brownian motion. The More You Know!™)
Me da’ always tol’ me, if y’aren’t careful, y’learn sumpin new ever’ day. And y’weren’t careful, were ye?
drbunsen:
Not at the moment, but I’m also almost out of honey, so I’ll have to go shopping before I make the halva recipe anyway. :)
Let’s see if I’ve got this: it’s honey and tahini heated to “soft-ball” syrup stage, blended together with pretty much whatever flavoring you fancy (and nuts!), then cooled, yes?
Hi! Our internet’s been down for a few days. I see the misogynist-bashing continues unabated. Jeetje minne, is there no end to their stupidity?
On more cheerful topics:
if the tahini sauce is made with garlic, then halva is not such a great idea! Use up extra sauce for salad dressing, or just as a dip. But halva could well be a use for the leftover tahini paste.
Another nice thing to do with tahini is to mix unsweetened yoghurt, tahini and honey in whatever proportions please you (consider about 3:3:1 by volume to start with, but you might like it sweeter), and drizzle it over a fruit salad.
Alethea:
No garlic! Just sesame paste. :)
MOAR GARLIC! Hummus is lovely.
Vilém Saptar,
Hey! Welcome! Bienvenue! Wilkommen! And such like and so on.
The Queueueueueue is Complex and involves Maths. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say in hyperdimensional Calabi-Yau Q-space the interaction of individual Queueueue participants (or queuetrons) is mediated by the exchange of time independent transmitters of Teh Groops Secks force (or shagons).
If one draws the Feynman diagrams, solves the relevant equations, one can see the shagons moving, transmitting glee and orgasms between the queuetrons, depending on the odour of shagon.
Louis
Ah, well, then another thing that you can do with the tahini is to mix it with plenty of fresh crushed garlic, and some plain yoghurt, and use that as a sauce with falafel or grilled things – meats, veggies, fish, it works with just about everything. Drizzle on some sauce, wrap it up in pita, and NOMNOM.
Just remember to keep the garlic tahini sauce and the honey tahini sauce in different, easily distinguishable containers.
Is that advice you have arrived by experience of not doing so ?
Ogvorbis,
Wut? You’re saying when I get my turn is random??
WAA!! NO FAIR!!!
(And I thought we dug social justice here :-( )
Louis,
That does sound complicated. I’d heard there were classical approximications, involving simple high-school algebra. Damn.
So what do I do now, to get in teh Queue?
Audley, I’ve never made it myself, I’m ashamed to admit. There’s such a plethora of expert halva-makers round my town I’ve never felt the need! There appear to be many different ways to make it – some variance by national/ethnic origin, some variant names too. Some of it comes out soft and chewy like marzipan, some is more dry and crumbly like a pastry.
One thing I noticed from reading the comments below the recipe you posted is that it’s probably worth your while to read the comments below the recipe you posted ;)
Vilém Saptar,
Stand well back, grease yourself up, take a decent run up and dive on in.
What’s currently happening in the Queueueueueueueue is the pre orgy orgy. There are refreshments circling and kindly folks with a variety of barrier contraceptives will be passing you shortly. Just remember at any LouisCorp sponsored event all refreshments are free and the only meaningful consent is enthusiastic consent. Violation of the Rules will cause our Attack Lesbians to Act. Believe me when I say you don’t want anything like that to happen.
Louis
drbunsen,
Gasp! This movie gave me nightmares for months, and not in the ha-ha way. I haven’t run into a lot of people who saw/remember it, and you are definitely the first person I’ve run into who has this on a best-of list.
I’m not sure if that earns you a +1 for being mentally oh-so-tough or a -1 for being a depraved fucker. *squints*
Might depend on the rest of the equation. I know *I* put that on my mental list of ‘movies to avoid at all costs’ but I’m still going to recommend it to a dear friend of mine who loves nightmare fuel. *shudder*
Courtesy of this comment at Greta Christina’s, I ran into the hilarious (and adorably NSFW!) Tumblr Indifferent cats in amateur porn.
Click at your own risk… ;^)
aprilcomeshewill:
Ha. *scuffs shoe in dirt*
I only know of Wolf Creek by reputation. Namely, that my movie-going friends, who have seen me flinch and squick and eep and shudder and hide behind my hands at other films, and who know about my ridiculously over-active somatic imagination (seriously, I flinch and jerk at verbal descriptions of things), have said to me –
“drbunsen, don’t ever see Wolf Creek. Seriously, no.”
Ha, okay, I missed the joke.
drbunsen, don’t ever see Wolf Creek. Seriously, no.
:) Thanks, I won’t.
Top o the morning, All!
Count me as another like drbunsen who cannot even listen to a description of a horror (or think of one I’ve been told about) without literally shuddering and flinching. THanks for the heads up of movies to add to the “Do Not – I repeat, NOT EVER – View” list!
@Setár,
I personally went to XFCE (via xubuntu) last year, and I’ve never looked back. GNOME shell is godawful, and the new version of KDE isn’t much better.
Louis,
Yay, I’m not late then. Also I see LouisCorp have great perks and amazing policies at their events.
(Except the scary sounding Attack Lesbians, brr)
*greases up and dives*
I quite like horror films because they are so ridiculous. Scary ghost kills people? Pass the popcorn, it’s just comedy with scary bits. I’m not a fan of torture porn (Hostel/Saw/Wolf Creek etc) because I think it is just that, torture porn. A good psychological thriller, a serial killer film (that’s not a gorefest shocker) things like that, those are fun.
However, I saw one film that disturbed me, really upset me: Cherry Tree Lane. I saw it not long after my son was born and I have no shame in admitting that’s changed my view on horror films a bit. There’s a bit at the end where the mum runs to her (brutally tortured off screen) son and cries “my boy”, okay my heart broke. I have to say that prior to being a parent I would never have empathised to THAT degree. I was really upset by that film, in fact I think it’s the strongest negative emotion (other than revulsion and hurling a book across a room) I’ve had to any work of art ever.
Louis
Louis, that is exactly the kind of reaction I have. When other people tell me it is all fantasy etc, I already know that. What disturbs me is seeing people experiencing extreme fear. It arouses the most uncomfortable feelings of painfully impotent empathy.
Also, I absolutely have no place in my psyche for seeing depictions of torture, sadism or harm coming to people in film. It doesn’t have to be a child, either. If I see an adult – man or woman – being deliberately hurt in a film, I see the vulnerable humanity. I am that person’s mother and they are a child inside being cruelly harmed.
Definitely not cut out for “action” movies or thrillers. LOL
Funny aside: Once when the niftyboys were much younger, I thought it would be a fun stormbound activity to let them watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I remembered as fairly tame adventure. Which it mostly was. Niftyboys were about 8. Anyway, I made the mistake of renting the trilogy for them – without having seen the sequels. Was int he kitchen cooking or something and checking in every so often on Day 2 of the storm, when they had begun one of the others. In the scene, someone was having his heart literally torn out of his chest, and was terrorized. I wuickly switched it off, told the boys I had made a mistake in not vetting the film first but I htought maybe that was a bit too much violence to have in their minds at that age. Niftyboy #1 turned his big curious eyes up to me and declared, “But, I like violence!”
While the films I’ve put on that list are a mixture of my own personal favourites of Dark, and ones that expemplify the Aus. horror/suspense/psychological thriller genre – ie, films that I would recommend to genre fans – there are a couple of films that I have seen that made me respond like that, Louis.
One was The War Zone (note: not a war film) – which, while a truly excellent piece of film-making, is something I never. want. to see. again.
The other was this worthless piece of pseudo artwank called The Book Of Revelations (Aus, 2005ish) – which is, apart from its artwank trappings, nothing more than abduction/rape/torture porn from beginning to end. It’s both sickening and boring at the same time.
One of the bits of thoughtless wank associated with this film is the apparent belief that because a man was the victim of a group of women, somehow it was Deep.
And hooray for CrazyEx who shamed and insulted me for being a shaking, triggered mess at the end.
Oh I should also point out that any film/programme with rape in it gets fast forwarded/stopped. There is some stuff that’s too real for me to watch.
There’s more than Cherry Tree Lane that has upset me as a film, that’s just the worst, but usually I read reviews ahead of time and avoid films with things in them I know are going to make me upset/angry.
I loved the Swedish versions of The Millennium Trilogy books but the rape scene….I couldn’t watch it.
Louis