This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. Today we’re contemplating adorable little ratlets.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Awwwwww. So cute.
Eeeheee, ratlets.
I’m still chuckling over “popcorn ratlets”. That must be hilarious to see, if a little alarming.
OH GOD MORE RATLETS.
*espode*
Ratlets. Yes! They aren’t as cute as mine though. Mine are of lethal cuteness, oh my yes.
Mythbri:
It is, on both counts.
Damn. I wrote a thorough reply, and was then portcullised.
So, less thorough, but some more info. I saw the article, and others, but was waiting for reproductions of more paperwork, contracts, etc.
If Romney replies, expect him and his staffers to split hairs. I imagine it will go something like this: Some of those oligarchs may or may not have funded death squads, but they only gave Romney some of their clean, legit money. I mean, he checked to make sure it was clean money.
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/romney-bain-oligarchs-and-death-squads
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/08/1117934/-Romney-Bain-Funded-by-Death-Squad-Leaders
On the other hand, Rush Limbaugh called Planned Parenthood clinics “death squads” — maybe that’s where Romney’s funding for Bain originated.
Improbable Joe: So sorry to hear about your wife, though it definitely sounds like unemployment may be safer for her. I left one job after being sprayed in the eyes with bleach by one of the kids because of poor safety practices. Hope the consulting job comes through!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
carlie:
QFT! Ok, new desktop pic…
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Sili: Oooh? Homeowner? DETAILS!
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Pteryxx: Yes, sometimes the handicap access is just being carried up the stairs. At the CFI Drinking Skeptically in DC, one of our folks is wheelchair bound, and I think he’s been carried up the stairs at one of the locations. In our current location, there is an elevator but the access to it is hard to get to. And the first time I asked about it I was told there is no elevator, that I had to go up the stairs. Which then led to this debacle:
Me: Pardon me, I need to use the elevator to get to my party on the second floor.
Employee: Sorry, we don’t have an elevator, you have to use the stairs.
Me: Oh. I see.
*leaves restaurant*
Then I pause, realizing that I had just texted said friend in wheelchair that I would be right up. Which meant that HE had somehow managed to find handicap access to the second floor. Go back into restaurant. Go to new employee at the entrance.
Me: Excuse me, I need to use the elevator to get to the second floor.
Employee: Sorry, there’s no elevator, you have to use the stairs.
Me: There’s no elevator access at all to the second level?
Employee: No, you have to go up the stairs, they’re right over there.
Me: No, I’m sorry, I can’t use the stairs–what handicap access is there?
Employee: *looks at me, looks down at my legs* You have to use the stairs, they’re right there.
Me: NO. I cannot USE the stairs. Is there handicap access?
Employee: *exchanging looks with another employee ‘Wow, this lady is crazy’*: Ma’am, the stairs are right there.
Me: NO! I’m sorry, I physically am INCAPABLE of using stairs. Are you telling me you have NO handicap access to the second floor?
*long pause*
Employee: Ohhhh. You mean you can’t use the stairs at all?
Me: *sigh* No. I can’t.
Employee: Oh, let me show you the elevator.
Yeah. There’s this whole thing about not having a VISIBLE physical disability that get a bit frustrating.
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Caine:
No, they are totally not. Your ratlets clearly are the cutest ever. :) The big huge ratlet pile in the purple tunnel-toy is my favorite.
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So–I’m curious as to opinions on this article that was shared at work this morning.
And lunch is over, back to work!
Baby mammals are ADORABLE! I hardly want to eat them at all!
Mmmm crunchy ratlet cutlets.
Ratlets. Oh. I guess their cuteness has worn off. Same way I’m not majorly affected by the presence of cats.
Joe. Fuck. Hope wife finds that job.
oniongirl. :( with that snafu.
I love you guys. Lets all be friends!
Boooo ratlets yay bunnehs! http://dailybunny.org/post/28836173453/excuse-us-hoomin-youre-not-done-petting-1
…Wow, that was quick. For some reason I got used to four-page hangout threads. <_<
Very true. It’s ’cause they’ve been NOMming on the peas, packin’ on the Cute.
–
More references to Mitt Romney’s “Annie Hall” campaign, the feud with Jared Diamond, and the new feud with economists whose work was misrepresented by the Romney campaign:
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/09/mitt_romneys_many_annie_hall_moments/
Repeat of link provided in previous chapter of Lounge thread:
Economists to Romney campaign: That’s not what our research says — most detailed presentation of Romney’s reading comprehension problem.
That’s better. Someone’s been paying attention.
Good.
thunk,
Thanks! My wife got a pretty positive-looking email today, she’s got several VERY good prospects, and in a sense is just waiting for her paperwork to move through various and sundry HR departments.
Hullo. I’ve been here before (got some good advice from Caine and Josh) but have recently tried to start posting more. Never sure quite what to say when introducing myself on the Internet, but I like this place and hope I can contribute.
Okay, question. I was camping this weekend and came back to the changes. Someone mentioned people leaving and apparently some threads were deleted. I know about Cipher; is there anyone else among the regulars who’s declared they’re abandoning ship?
I like it when they grow up and get in my walls and tap dance all night long. My cat loves it, too. She’s become nocturnal, you know.
To break the monotony I’m gonna start throwing out some strong opinions.
SpongeBob is the best TV show ever made.
Hia, insipidmoniker!
Welcome to TET, no wait, The Lounge.
Have some grog or something, and get settled in.
Squee at ratlets, if you wish.
The Ninja Turtles are better than Power Rangers, but not as good as Batman.
peterhearn:
Represent!
I may squee privately at ratlets, but if I do so too loudly Girlfriend will immediately acquire some. And since I am already badly losing the number of pets fight that would be strategically inadvisable.
I feel ya on that one. I can walk, but I have trouble with stairs, so I requested an elevator key at my university.
Elevator keys were only needed to operate elevators between the 1st and 3rd floors, so the DSS kept insisting I should just ride the elevator up to the 4th floor and then walk down the stairs to reach my 3rd floor classroom. When I told them that going down stairs is much more difficult for me than going up, they acted like I had just said the stupidest thing they’d ever heard.
peterhearn
Please go back to Thunderdome so we can tell you what we really think of you.
kthxbai
Peter:
*blatantly ignoring the 3 post rule*
Oh hell to the fuck no. Take that shit to the Thunderdome– clearly the best teevee show ever was Batman the Animated Series.
The trump card? Ron -fucking- Perlman as Clayface.
(Yes, I’ve been playing Batman: Arkham City lately, why do you ask?)
It’s difficult to be kind about this:
Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan say that there was nothing they could do after Bible-preaching protesters threatened to rape and murder pro-LGBT activists at a “Gay Day” event over the weekend.
In a video posted to YouTube, several protesters with Bibles can be seen shouting at a woman celebrating in the inaugural “Gay Day” celebration, an event organized by the human rights group Tolerance, Equality and Awareness Movement (TEAM) to showcase the community’s diversity.
“Back in the day there was no free power, there was no going to the mall,” one protester tells the woman. “There was, ‘sit your ass in this house until I bring my ass home.’”
“And if your ass get to going out there like you said, guess what?” a second protester adds. “You get raped. And that’s what’s going to happen to you. … Keep your pussy clean, that’s all you need to do. Do you understand?”
After one man claims, “the Lord said that,” the woman challenges him to find the corresponding Bible verse.
He responds with Isaiah 13: “Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.”
“What does ‘ravished’ mean? It means, we going to rape your ass,” the protester explains. “And I’m going to have fun doing that shit. And you going to like that. I promise you.”
It goes on. Christians are so sweet.
Insipidmoniker, I’m totally in the same boat. The new thread rules make it seem less… terrifying? cower-inducing? gory?… to try posting.
Spaghetti monster help me if I ever decide to go into the Pit.
Hallo, Insipidmoniker! Good to see you back. Don’t worry about an intro, there’s no exam. :D I know you can contribute, your posts have all been on point and good, so no worries there.
Peter Hearn, do fuck off, Cupcake. Save your toxic stupidity, whinging and flouncing for other threads.
Eveedream, glad to have you here as well. Honestly, I’m mostly trying to post more because I realized that this community is important to me and I wasn’t really even a part of it. I’m glad you’re here as well.
*spits*
1. Star Trek
2. Max Headroom
3. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
Caine, I’m actually pretty tickled that you remember me. Also VERY glad to see you back on Pharyngula. I missed you while you were gone.
GOP insider: Religion destroyed my party
The author is Mike Lofgren, who wrote “Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult” nearly a year ago.
Insipidmoniker, thanks!
eveedream:
If you mean Thunderdome, eh, nothing to worry about. Not much going on over there now, lots of game talk, someone being an idiot about basketball, some chewing on a privilege-denialist and some well-grounded complaints about CWH. (Camel With Hammers).
YES! Thisthisthisthisthis.
When you can’t rely on your knees to catch, gravity is doubly Not Your Friend. And even gentle down-slopes are more noticeable, and treacherous.
–
@cervantes: <singing> And they’ll kno-ow we are Christians by our love!</singing>.
–
Caine:
Oh.
Duly noted.
Daisy, that’s an interesting article about the GOP and religion. I’m not quite sure if it has the “chicken & the egg” order correct though. Did the Republican Party become fantasy-based because of evangelical Christians, or did evangelical Christians flock to the Republican Party because it became fantasy-based?
@Improbable Joe #40
I think a case could be made for the Republican Party becoming corrupted by a number of influences, the Religious Right in particular. This country is relatively young, after all, and the political parties are even younger. But as recently as the 1950s, the party and the Religious Right became very cozy with each other, widening the “base” and dragging the true political center to the right. When you’re far enough to the right, everything else is “leftist”.
This is not to say that the Democratic Party doesn’t also have distasteful history and its own current problems – but they are massively less infected by religious extremism than the Republican Party.
The police department in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has the following mission statement:
The members of the Grand Rapids Police Department are committed to providing the highest quality of professional police services. We strive to protect life, enforce and uphold the law, preserve order, and protect property. In partnership with citizens, city government, and other stakeholders, we commit ourselves to improving the quality of life in our community.”
Perhaps they could use a few non-obscene suggestions about how to improve their services, professionalism, protecting lives, and preserving order.
@8: Do the staff at Cap City carry him up, or is it on the participants? I am thinking of attending my first DC Drinking Skeptically and would be more than willing to “lend a hand” if needed.
What experiment did you eventually use the rats for?
@Caine
Guess someones not a SpongeBob fan. Keep watching. You’ll come around.
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/08/06/the-new-rules/
“TET will become [Lounge]. It is still the same: an open thread, talk about what you want, but I’m going to be specific: it is a safe space. Discussion and polite disagreement are allowed, but you will respect all the commenters, damn you. No personal attacks allowed at all. If you’re feeling angry at someone in the thread, back off and leave: there is no shortage of rage threads on Pharyngula, but this one isn’t it. These threads will be heavily moderated…which means that if you break any of the rules, they will be promptly and strongly enforced.”
Yeah, cool it right on down. If he becomes a pest, which is likely, I’ll take care of it without leaving any bloodspots on the carpet.
Changing the subject to something more appropriate:
Has anyone ever made homemade horseradish sauce? I’ve got a little jar of Inglehoffer horseradish, and I guess I can make my own mayonnaise? I keep buying chicken for frying up into chicken strips, and I keep not buying dipping sauces. And as I(and my poor butthole) have to keep reminding myself, SRIRACHA IS NOT KETCHUP!
I use horseradish, mayo, sour cream and lemon zest for my horseradish sauce. Quite tasty.
… I have lemon juice, no sour cream. Hmmm…
The lemon juice works fine (I’m not fancy enough to insist on zest). Not sure if I’d risk the lack of sour cream, though. Maybe if you have unflavored yogurt that might work?
Just ran into this SERIOUSLY disturbing bit: Paediatrician acclaimed for writing two books about the near death experiences of children and the “proof” of an afterlife has been arrested for repeatedly water-boarding his 11 year old daughter.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/09/pediatrician-accused-of-waterboarding-11-year-old-daughter/
re: The episode in Grand Rapids:
WWMT reported that the men were part of a Christian black supremacist group called the Black Hebrew Israelites. According to the South Poverty Law Center, the quickly spreading movement preaches “a frightening, racist theology that says Jesus Christ is returning soon to kill or enslave white people, Jews, homosexuals, and others.”
Oh great.
Another religious based, racist, hate group.
It’s always so easy to find purpose in the Bible.
Here I am still liking turtles.
SRIRACHA IS NOT KETCHUP!
No, it is not. It is superior to ketchup in almost all ways.
Until you build up the tolerance. :P
I’m learning the hard way that even the mildest NAGA SAUCE IS NOT SRIRACHA despite its deceptively slow and deep burn.
I find that in sauce and dip recipes, full-fat plain yogurt stands in well for sour cream. Not exactly the same, but close and tasty.
Lowfat yogurt is just nasty shit.
No. Fucking. Shit.
–
Kristinc, good to know about the yogurt. I kinda figured, but I’ve never actually tried it.
davidjanes, I know sriracha is superior. I go through a bottle every couple of weeks it seems like. :)
Weed Monkey, naga sauce is liquefied chemical warfare.
Kristinc, I’m a big fan of the Greek yogurt. I prefer the texture, and for me texture is a big deal.
@leftwingfox #52
It’s okay – she was probably a terrorist. That makes it moral.
/sarcasm
Cooking secret from Bachelor Kitchen:
1. Order wings from Papa John’s *unsauced*
2. While waiting combine equal amounts of melted unsalted butter and Sriracha.
3. Hide delivery box before friends arrive for the big game.
Improbable Joe
I know! But it tastes oh so good. I just need to learn how to use it in moderation.
And this is the mildest way I’ve found so far to enjoy the flavour. It’s delish’ and sweet with hints of garlic and ginger.
@ChasCPeterson (comment 34 right now…)
Which Star Trek?
There have been six of them…
DS9 is my personal favourite, yes, it has theism and woo in it but it also has character development and long story arcs…
As for Enterprise, I’d probably breach the rules by commenting so I won’t.
Weed Monkey,
I’m not a masochist, so the spicy isn’t the be-all for me and sauces. But I DO love sauces/salsas in general, and I can tolerate fairly spicy. Especially when money is kind of tight, the right sauce can make sort of boring cheap food taste pretty good. I can live with store-brand hot dogs and fries if I can put a little gourmet mustard and sriracha on them.
Is Greek yoghurt similar to Turkish? That’s what I use in many things (and eat with müsli and berries when I want to enjoy the luxury of 10% fat).
onion girl, OM
re: stairs. Sweet Jayzuz McHeaddesk. Some people are so thick, it’s incredible. Been there, done that, for my people who are clearly, and in no uncertain terms, in a wheelchair. After calling ahead, etc. And they either have accessibility (sometimes only after a fashion*), or they told us there was when there was not.
*Personal favorite: You’ll have to go through the kitchen. (Not that we’ll give the kitchen staff a heads-up or anything.)
I-Joe, I’m inclined to say that the GOP became detached from reality as the Christers took it over. It was always hostile to the poor, but it was rational in terms of acknowledging the limitations of the real world and adapting its strategy to them.
Procyon, I worked with a “Black Hebrew Israelite” once. He didn’t talk much about politics, although he did once assert that being gay or lesbian was “immoral.” Mainly I remember him for really sucking at his job, knowing it, and not caring.
I have a bottle of sriracha in my fridge, but I do not have much tolerance for anything above a 5 or 6 on the Scoville scale, so it gets used very, very sparingly.
Re wheelchairs and public spaces: Remember, it’s a cruel imposition on businesses to have to accommodate all members of the public, even those with disabilities! Penn Jillette said so!
Oh, and – ratpile (baby ratpile!) is my kind of lounge. Awesomeness. And it appears to be rather accessible, for the most part.
Let’s be clear as to why it’s cruel. It’s cruel because if you force them to accommodate, you’re forcing them — you’re taking away their ability to be accommodating out of the kindness of their heart. If the government would stay out of the way, they’d be falling over themselves accommodating people, as that’s what businesses do. Why would they want to turn away customers? Really, it’s the same as the Christians who don’t like taxes to help the poor, as the Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver and one should give to charity freely and without coercion, and the gubbmint is keeping them from doing so.
Also, ADA standards don’t result in buildings that will admit someone with an iron lung, so they’re discriminating against disabled people.
Oh, and give me Sriracha or give me death.
So I went to the MLive article about the rape threats at Gay Day. It will surprise nobody here that two of the biggest concern trolls/liars had the handles of and
Oh yes, Improbable Joe, Greek yogurt is especially nice and has a texture closest to sour cream.
Ms. Daisy, I’m personally inclined to say that the GOP became detached from reality after Vietnam/Watergate, when they lost credibility due to the media exposing them and college professors and students rejecting them. Instead of learning to behave in ways that wouldn’t cause them to be exposed by the media and rejected by educated people, they decided to set up a parallel media and education system that were both predicated on believing whatever lies they decided to tell that week. The parallels with religion are obvious, which made evangelicals immensely comfortable.
I’ve found that as much as I like Thai or Indian food in general, I can’t take much of that lip searing heat it often comes with. And the reason seems to be that they use some generic C. annuums bred for heat rather than flavour (“Thai chili” being quite the archetype, which is like a small Cayenne: fast attacking, stinging heat but it tastes like dust). C. chinenses like Habanero, Scotch Bonnet or Fatalii can be much fiercer in heat, but they have a wonderful fruity flavour, and the heat builds up slowly. The trick is to know how much is enough. :)
Of course, YMMV.
“There’s something different on the ground, and I think it’s going to overtake us all again, think it’s going to overtake the political class. I think it’s going to respectfully pick this president up and pat him on the head and say, son, son, son, Mr. President, you were never ready to be president, now go home and work for somebody and find out how the real world works.”
That, my friends is Representative Joe Walsh, Republican of Illinois.
No, Joe, putting “respectfully” in that last sentence does not hide the racism.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/joe-walsh-racist-obama-son.php
Tea Party leader Inge Marler entertained her audience (June, 2012) by opening with this joke:
“A black kid asks his mom, ‘Mama, what’s a democracy?’
“‘Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po’ folks can get all our benefits.’
“‘But mama, don’t the white folk get mad about that?’
“‘They sho do, son. They sho do. And that’s called racism.’”
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/assets/mp3/D3190658613.MP3
————
Hmmm, wonder if this is the real driving force behind all of Romney’s recent attack ads saying (falsely) that Obama stripped work requirements from welfare guidelines.
Lynna,
Have I told you how awesome you are today? ;)
Never fear, Captain Tripps! I ♥ turtles. I could go on at length about the awesomeness of my red eared slider Emery.
Seriously. She rocks.
Ms. Daisy Cutter
You probably mean some manufacturer’s relative heat scale that they may have mislabelled as Scoville scale. The Scoville scale ranges from sweet bell peppers (~0) through peperonconi (a few hundred) jalapeño (a few thousand) habanero (a few hundred thousand) bhut jolokia (million+) to pure capsaicin extract (16 million).
You told me yesterday, but this is the first confirmation today. Are you certain that once a day is enough?
:) Thanks!
Lynna,
Can you be more careful about which “Joe” you’re calling a racist? You about stopped my heart!
Another Republican OMG moment, this one associated with the doofus that provide Michelle Bachmann with the fodder she used to besmirch the good name of Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton.
Said doofus is Andrew McCarthy. That’s right, his name is McCarthy. Far from being excoriated and then thrown on a dung heap, McCarthy actually has fans at Fox News and in Congress. He was invited to give a 90-minute talk at the National Press Club yesterday. McCarthy’s talk was sponsored by the Center for Security Policy, which is a wingnut generator of conspiracy theories with a thin veneer of intellectual cover. The Center for Security published the absolute dreck McCathy wrote about Muslim boogymen (and boogywomen), the dreck Michelle Bachmann used to start a witch hunt for jihadists in the USA’s halls of power.
Excerpts from McCarthy’s speech, as presented by Dana Milbank:
Sorry. As you discovered, I meant Joe Walsh.
OMG one of the neighborhood kids just brought my lost iPod Louise to the door! And it looks like she still works fine!! Party for everyone with chocolate and bacon!!!
Weed Monkey,
To be fair, someone has to be able to tolerate a habanero before they can discern the flavor lurking underneath the heat.
kristinc, yay! Great kids in your neighbourhood. :)
Oh FFS, another old white male Republican weighs in on what women should not be allowed to do.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/todd-akin-ban-the-morning-after-pill.php
Joe, the thing is that the rise of the xtian right happened just after Watergate and Vietnam. Granted, the “intellectuals” of the right had been architecting the right-wing noise machine for years, it was only starting to bear the first tentative fruit. But fundies made the perfect audience for it, because they were already primed to believe whatever they were told. Not sure how far it’d have gone without them.
Lynna:
You even have to ask? The Boston Herald had a headline today or the other day accusing Elizabeth Warren of doing something shady (I have no idea what) in order to To quote Happiestsadist, that’s not a dogwhistle, that’s a foghorn.
Quoting Dana Milbank:
You mean, like Sam Harris?
Weed Monkey, thanks for the correction. Yeah, I can only take jalapeño in small amounts.
Improbable Joe, I know, and I see I may have come out somewhat dismissive. Sorry about that. I’m a bit of a chili enthusiast, but there’s no reason for it to be a competition.
But the curious thing is that my sister, who simply won’t eat any oriental food because it’s too hot for her, enjoyed my chili (con carne) which was heavily laced with habanero and fatalii. All hot peppers aren’t the same.
kristinc, that’s fantastic! Where has she been all this time?
I’m afraid I can’t remember who to attribute this to, but the real light bulb of common sense on disability access for me (“common sense” meaning “argument from money that should convince people, becuase “being a good person” seems to not sway people) was reading an argument that it’s not just good to be accessible because of disabled customers, but it also makes access easier for every other customer you have. Wheelchair access? Also makes it easier for people with strollers, and people with walkers, and that person who’s still not quite 100% after knee surgery, and the kid who can’t quite navigate stairs yet, and the person who had vertigo last month and still gets a little off balance sometimes, and the person who is really tired from spending 10 hours standing at work today, and the person who has an ear infection and is worn out, etc. and etc. and etc.
Really, your stairs aren’t that freakin’ important. People don’t come to your place of business because of your awesome stairs. You can get rid of them or make a new main entrance. Really.
Substitute plain yogurt for the butter and most of the milk in a boxed macaroni recipe, and you have a tangy tasty treat. :)
Daisy, like I said it is a “chicken or the egg” thing, and the religious fanatics certainly played a huge role in it.
Weed Monkey, I didn’t find your posts to be dismissive. I was just making a parallel point about how hotter peppers have interesting flavors, but ONLY if you can actually taste anything past the heat. I make New England clam chowder with a half-dozen kinds of pepper including a couple of habaneros, and you’re right about the right kind of pepper in the right proportions making a dish awesome without being intolerably hot.
Are there any Mother Mother fans here? They’ve got a great song called Original Spin, and I could swear that the lyrics have atheistic undertones.
I hope I’m not reading too much into them.
Dumbo rats are some of the most interesting pets I’ve met.
It was the first time a rodent made me wish I weren’t so allergic to them.
Improbable Joe, damn this Atlantic ocean. I’d like to be able to taste that clam chowder of yours, and other delicacies by the North American Horde.
[Strolls into the lounge with exaggerated nonchalance]
Doot dee, doot dee, doot dee dooo…
[Surreptitiously checks for Grammar Wardens and Participle Poachers]
[Releases another Teal Deer into the wild]
Monday is daddy/daughter day. Mrs. Fishy spends that most maligned of days working and teaching out of town and I shut the shop to spend the day with our daughter.
I have to admit that when this first entered our schedules I was nervous about it. I knew empirically that I was perfectly capable of taking care of my offspring. I even had to rebuke Ms. Fishy early on when she asked how the babysitting had gone. No, I wasn’t babysitting, I was parenting. I know and take pride in that distinction.
But I’m a worrier, I own a large collection of books on subsistence farming for instance, just in case civilisation collapses. I have plans for the zombie apocalypse, alien invasion, robot uprising and…well, as hobbies go worrying is at least endless and relatively cheap. Mind you, being forbidden to build a full scale trebuchet or a working flamethrower might have something to do with the thriftiness of my pastime.
But now, after almost a year of successful Mondays, ones that did not feature decapitation, immolation or fatal immersion of any beloved, petite, doublexified members of the family I find that I look forward to them. You see, every month, week, day, hell, even every hour, or so it seems, my little fry becomes more aware of the world around her. And she wants to know about it, in detail, right NOW!
Some things she asks about I can speak to without much difficulty: Where do the stars, rain and wind come from? For others I need a little google help: What’s that bird, tree, song? And others still I equivocate on: Why is that person so fat, crying, yelling? Though that’s rare. She’s never really done the why, why, why thing, for her it’s always been what, what, what, though that’s often a distinction without much of a difference.
We went to the library this last Monday. I love that. She picks some books and we sit warm and cuddleful on the bright red, plush, hand-shaped chair in the kid’s section and I read one or two of the selections to her. I make a point of asking her what she thinks will happen next, or if she agrees with the actions of the characters and so on. And I often get told off for interrupting the narrative.
This time she found a chapter book called “Saving Christmas”. I have to admit that my first impulse was a fear that this was some kind of War-on-Christmas!!!1!! type propaganda. We didn’t have time to plow through a hundred page book so I tried to beg off by saying that it didn’t have very many pictures. That little empiricist o’ mine started flipping through it and pointedly saying “There’s a picture, and another, and another.” which soon turned into “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?”
My answers were inadequate, even to me. Without reading the text how were we to parse two angels blowing trumpets that had dashed lines leading to a helicopter, or that same helicopter apparently shooting at a bird, or two identical Santas scowling out at the reader? Strange. But despite the poverty of my answers the questions kept coming “What’s that, what’s that, what’s that?” Turns out I was wrong, every other page had a b&w illustration, it might of been quicker to just read the damn thing.
Eventually we escaped to the playground and some less intellectual and more giggly pursuits ensued. The only “What’s that.” to be heard was when my phone chirped its text-message alert. It was Mrs. Fishy reminding Team Chase and TIckle that bread, of two types, and soy milk were needed, and of course I was keeping an eye on the Mars landing wasn’t I?
Dammit, how could I forget?
“Come here my love, no we’re not going down the slide just yet…”
[clumsy googling with virtual keyboard, clicking first link]
“Ahh! Please come away from the edge. Here, take a look at this.”
[corrals daughter safely into lap]
“What is it Dad?”
“They’re landing a robot on Mars…
[scans live blog text, glances at watch]
…right now!”
“What kind of robot?”
“One that looks for life, we don’t know if there is any on Mars.”
“Noooo, what does it look like?”
She gets a little exasperated at the slowness of her dad sometimes.
“Oh, it’s got six wheels and is the size of small car. It took months and months and months to get there and it’s so big they have to use a parachute and rockets and long ropes to land it safely. How cool is that?”
[Dad’s getting a little excited]
“I’m so excited!”
[Small Fry is picking up Dad’s emotions]
[clicks live stream link without much hope that it’ll work]
“Look at that!”
“What are they doing Dad?”
“They’re waiting to see if the robot lands safely! We’re not too late. They look pretty worried don’t they?”
“Yeah, what are they worried about?”
“They spent billions of dollars and took years and years to make that robot. They’re worried that it might crash.”
[checks text and time again]
“Ooh, the parachute should be deployed any second now.!”
“What’s depoyed mean?”
“Deployed honey, it means to come out. This is really exciting!”
“I’m so excited. I’m so excited. I’m so excited!”
“Shhh, shhh! I can’t hear what they’re saying.”
[speed calls, rapidly getting slower]
“Touchdown confirmed. We’re safe on Mars.”
[Blueshirts go apeshit.]
[hugs daughter with free hand, brushes eyes with shoulder]
“Do you see how happy they are?”
“Yeah Dad, what are they happy about?”
“The robot just landed safely, they’ve done something that was really, really hard so now they’re happy.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Because honey, sometimes people do really bad things so it’s really good, I mean, it makes me really happy, to see people do something very good. And it makes me happy to see other happy people.”
[hugs with both arms]
“I’m happy too Daddy.”
Sitting on the top of a slide in a playground in a tiny rural Australian town I got to witness a grand expression of humanity’s drive to learn, to understand the universe, to push back the walls of our ignorance. And as I did so, I held in my lap, warm and real, a perfect demonstration of how we came to this point. She’s only five, her brain is not yet fully developed, and yet she can still look to a tiny red fleck in the sky and ask “What’s that?” That drive, that will to observe and understand, present even in the undeveloped infants of our species has taken us inward to the Higgs and outwards to Mars, to Jupiter, to Saturn and beyond.
And more than that, it’s brought us the joy of discovery, the joy of cooperation and determination, the joy of skills made tangible in the defeat of complex problems and immense distances. Joy so incandescent that the tiny screen of my phone could barely contain the bright blue nerdgasm unleashed by those six words: “Touchdown confirmed. We’re safe on Mars.”
Fuck I love humanity, we are awesome.
FossilFishy, that was lovely :)
Ha, yes, but I suspect putting the word out that there was a no-questions-asked cash reward had something to do with it as well.
Apparently my daughter did take it to the empty lot where the kids play, and she must have dropped it while climbing for green apples — it was in the brambles at the base of the tree, fortunately a sheltered spot. They found it while they were picking blackberries :)
Weed Monkey, the worst of it is that there’s no real set recipe. I sort of go by feel/taste as I go. I roast up jalapeno, habanero, poblano, and bell peppers and then peel off the skins, then add black pepper and dried ancho chile powder along with onion, celery, and garlic and saute the whole mess until the onions just start to caramelize. Then I add chicken stock, clam juice, and diced potatoes, and let the whole thing simmer for an hour or so. The last couple of minutes, I start making a light roux, to which I add heavy cream. At that point I lower or even turn off the heat, puree the pepper/potato mess, and mix in the roux/cream combo. I’ll warm it all up to medium-low, and then add the clams and sometimes some bacon depending on my mood. I’ll usually steam up a couple of littleneck clams in the shell and thrown them on top of the chowder as a garnish.
FossilFishy,
Thanks for sharing that. Sometimes it is hard to see the good in humanity, and you helped make it easy at least for the next little bit. Go us!
OH MY FUCKING FSM.
Either I or someone else has posted here before about Sophie M. Herold, who’s gotten the personal info of GLBT people under the pretense of doing a “study,” then maliciously outed them.
She intends to send all such information she has to the so-called purporting to “rescue” children from their same-sex parents.
@leftwingfox, #52
My wife, for reasons I can’t explain, sometimes watches Nancy Grace. It’s on now, and she’s all over this story, in her own special way. She’s repeatedly compared the waterboarding of this child to “The Hanoi Hilton”, or “Terrorists”. Ever here of G.W. Bush, Nancy? Abu Graib? I’m already picturing the “doctor’s” defence: The U.S. Government has officially determined waterboarding not to be torture!
Holy shit Daisy, that’s some seriously fucked up there. What can we do?
I have a really bad habit of buying bottles of newly discovered or finally located bottles of whiskey when I travel. Been in GA and AL since Tuesday already picked up three and I’m hitting another supposedly well stocked high selection store tomorrow.
There is absolutely no need whatsoever for one chimp to have this much whiskey in his house.
Joe, I don’t know what country Herold is in, or what its laws are pertaining to this sort of thing. I guess the only definite thing that can be done is spread the word about her.
Trebuchet, of course Nancy Grace isn’t going to mention Bush or Abu Graibh, because torture only “counts” when it’s committed against white people. Just ask Sam Harris’s fanboys.
I consider Nacy Grace to be on the same level with otter shit.
Slimy, greasy, and a stink ofwhich you almost never rid yourself.
@106: In my opinion, you’ve just insulted otter shit, and owe it an apology.
Rev. BDC: You know, that’s a pretty lovely problem to have. Just sayin’. I’d be making a bourbon and soda now, but after a generally cruddy day emotionally, I have the feeling that mixing it with Ativan and NSAIDS would be poor judgment.
Ms. Daisy: Sophie is German.
I’ve been in a thoroughly cruddy mood all day for no good reason aside from chronic pain, depression and PTSD crap. which is the norm, so I don’t even know. Fun dancy music has not worked, kitty snuggles hasn’t worked, cute animal pics haven’t worked, tea isn’t making much dent either. I just has a rage. And the dumbassery I see all over some of my friends’ fb pages has not been helping.
Thanks for that Weedmonkey.
Joe: yup that’s why I wrote it. With all the rage inducing assholes in the world (see #52 and #101) we need to take the time once in a while to recognise the good, and if at all possible to feel that good in the same way we feel the rage at the bad. If for no other reason than to remind us just why we fight these fights. Because if we only ever focus on the bad it becomes easier and easier to say “Fuck it.”, to give up on the world and only try and make our own lives as comfortable as possible. Or so it seems to me YMMV.
Rev: Uhm, I think I can help you out with that problem. You could pack up a bottle or two of something smokey and peaty and send it to someone who lives in a place where such things are unobtainable, someone like, oh I don’t know, me for instance. :)
Rev. BDC: You know, that’s a pretty lovely problem to have. Just sayin’. I’d be making a bourbon and soda now, but after a generally cruddy day emotionally, I have the feeling that mixing it with Ativan and NSAIDS would be poor judgment.
Judging on how my hotel sleeping attempts have been, well, pretty much forever, there’s a good chance Ativan will be making an appearance later.
And that wasn’t even a blockquote fail that wasn’t even a blockquote attempt.
Stupid iPad
Still perfectly followable.
For those of you keeping score at home:
My wife passed the background check, passed the psyche exam, and has a telephone interview tomorrow for a potential new job. Unfortunately a job that will likely cost $1000 to get, but that’s how the world works these days.
@FossilFishy
That was beautifully written. I’m happy that you got to share that experience with your daughter.
What?
Sorry Weed Monkey,
I meant “will likely require $1000 worth of licencing and insurance and rental cars and hotel rooms, but that’s how the world works these days.” It is an out-of-state consulting job, so there’s an expense between the “you have the job” and “here’s your first paycheck” that we’re covering through begging and me selling all of my favorite stuff.
So imma jump in this Lounge thing.
Debating theists, one thing I’m sure we’ve all found is how they want to paint eveerything about their beliefs as special. Who doesn’t want to be special?
We’ve heard the, “stories in my holy book are so weird, they couldn’t have been made up!” before and other stuff. Well, I came across a first. Aramaic, the language of the Bible I guess, is a perfect and holy language. Why? It is the perfect language to communicate with and it has never changed!
Ignore that it just happened to be what people spoke at the time.
I said, well yeah it changed, and pointed to some sources of other languages derived from it. They said, no, those are different languages, once they changed they became different. The Aramaic of the Bible has never changed.
But you could say that about just about any language. I said, that’s like saying the English of Shakespeare’s time has never changed. Sure, we speak a language based off it now, but we’re speaking a different langauge. That means Shakespeare’s English never changed, his plays must be divinely inspired and are holy!
They simply responded, “ok”. This particular individual has a habit of just stopping talk on a topic without further arguing or conceding.
Really, the language something was written in has nothing to do with its validity. The Bible is wrong in any language.
(“the language something was written in has nothing to do with its validity.” unless that statement is “this statement is written in English.” or similar.)
The Onion nails it once again, link to video: http://www.theonion.com/video/weird-area-woman-wasnt-harassed-today,29111/
aramaic is only spoken now by a subset of Iraqis and I would bet that a 2000 yo hebrew would not find them very understandable. The pope would need a translator to speak with pontias pilate. For example the language of the koran is arabic. Its only considered to be useful in arabic, no tranlations are acceptable. So a maylay muslim learns to read arabic and pronounce it. They have a hard time being understood in medina
Arkidy 119 unfortunately we have no trains in Atlanta only marta :-)
Today, I’ve sustained a serious head injury (right temple gashed open, swollen, bruised, eye blackening up, yada, yada, yada) Beatrice sustained a severe tail injury (previous injury now *much* worse, might require amputation) I re-injured my badly smashed finger and my laptop, while showing every sign of imminent death, will not die, so it’s just being a very expensive piece of shit at the moment.
Things are not going well, Mister is gone back to Dickinson, so I’m going to back up my expensive piece of shit and wander right off the net for a while and drown in self pity for a bit. Take care, I’ll be back sometime.
oh jeez Caine, take care of yourself and rattie tail. (I have an awful feeling this might have to do with that 400-pound aquarium…)
Oh no, Caine! Keep everything iced, and do you have someone who can check on you in the morning?
OMFSM Caine! I certainly hope things start looking up for you soon!
Yikes, Caine, both of you take care.
Caine, I’m really sorry to hear that. You’re smart, you don’t need me to tell you to be really cautious with a head injury, but well, I guess I just did. I hope the rest of your day/night goes much, much better and speedy healing to you and Beatrice.
*very gentle hugs* and *booze* for Caine
caine, take care!
good news for me, I was out of work for 3 weeks, got a short term 6 week contract with a week to go and signed a new 90 day rolling contract today so income for the rest of the year, yeah!
Then the damn fridge quit….
7 years old no cool, motor and condenser runs, head to home depot and a replacement on sale is 600 with no icemaker. Fancy is on sale with 4year in home all in warranty, cold filtered water in door and ice cubes, buttload more room for 990 and an ez payment plan. Done deal especially as that establishment has been signing my paycheck for the last 5 weeks :-)
Thanks mythbri. I had whole section about just how amazing it was to be able to sit on a slide on the other side of the world and share that with my daughter, but the damn thing was already too long so it got the chop. We live in an age of miracles and wonders* of our own creation and I like to keep that firmly in mind as an antidote to teh stoopids.
*Thank you Paul Simon.
*chocolate&bacon* for the kid who returned kristinc’s iPod!
–
FossilFishy: *sniffle* And not just from the allergies.
–
Ah, I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday, my utter shock and astonishment that my roommate thirty years ago, seeking a job as a newly-minted pharmacist, said that most companies in that line were charging a fee just to have an interview for a job. I thought then as I do now, nice racket!
–
Welcome in, faehnrich!
–
*hugswithallthetrimmings* for Caine. Sometimes, on very special days, life sucks on steroids.
–
Thank you, everyone. I do have a concussion, the town paramedics will be checking on me throughout the night. I’ve been given the go ahead to pass out, so that’s what I’m going to do, if this headache ever goes away. Beatrice is holding on antibiotics and pain meds. G’night.
Caine:
I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope for a swift recovery for you and we shall be here welcoming you with open arms and hugs when you return.
Here, let Iggy sing you a lullaby about that kinda day. :) Sleep well Caine.
Jaysus!
So often when I look in on the lounge/TET as it was, Caine has come a cropper in some respect or another.
It’s all my fault!
Take care Caine, concussion is no joke. And apparently the recovery period can be longer for women. Yay! Not.
Caine: Here’s hopes for a swift recovery for you both.
And that is legal, somehow? O_o
I live a sheltered life.
Joe, I’m glad your wife will have work, but that “money up front” crap is utter bullshit.
Fuck, Caine, I’m sorry. Get better soon.
!!
“Errol Morris’ quiz about killer asteroids was a secret experiment to find out how fonts affect our thinking”
http://boingboing.net/2012/08/09/errol-morris-quiz-about-kill.html
Answers that, I guess.
@ Nakkustoppeli
Welcome on board.
@ Minnie The Finn, qui devient bientôt vierge
Hei!
(Cool, the Pharyngulite Diaspora are returning to the Motherland.)
@ insipidmoniker
Welcome.
Anything, anytime. (Though if you are a spongebob squarepants fan, you better take it to The Zombie Thunderdome.)
@ cervantes
The bible as a licence to be haters.
@ Caine
Yes, rank dereliction of duty on my part. I can only blame my incystation on rl distractions. But hope to continue my reign of terror in due course. We shall soon turn the place back into the desolate hell-hole it ever was.
{theophontes slinks off in search of the Politburo. Thinks: Mmmmh, someone has walked off with the extension cable for the LOL-star again…}
(PS: Get well, damnit!)
@ Weedmonkey
There are several strains of yoghurt, and ways to make yoghurt. Greek Style is thicker (more like clotted cream – I prefer it) and strained (remove whey) – like Turkish yoghurt.
This is how I make yoghurt:
I have an old olive jar of about 1,2 litres, of strong clear glass. Into this I pour a litre of regular milk. I put this into my combo-microwave and hit “Reheat” at 85°C. When this goes “PING!” I stir well and reheat again at 85°C. (This gives me an final temperature of 80°C to denature the proteins in the milk.)
Let this sit (I use iced water in a saucepan) until the temperature drops to 40°C, then mix in a large dollop of store-bought “live-culture” Greek yoghurt. Stir in well and maintain at 40°C-45°C (again in oven) overnight. You should have delicious fresh yoghurt the next morning.
I just eat it as-is, but you could also strain through muslin cloth for proper Greek/Turkish style.
(I could photograph the process if need be, but it is really very simple and easy. Just keep everything clean all the time and cover if you have fruitfly etc)
[Weedmonkey] PS: With respect to the yoghurt starter, I just bought a small tub that was discounted as near end of shelf life. Thereafter I just save a dollop from the bottom of my jar and use that as starter for the next.
You could go on like this for centuries…
Caine, get well soon, please.
Speaking of repairs, I just got to a dentist for the first time in a decade or so. My wife’s insurance will cover most of what the dentist recommends, and I don’t have anything urgent.
In perhaps good news, I drove into town and scored two musical widgets off one Craigslist ad. I got an older-style Mahalo ukulele,in perfect condition, for $5. It’s only my fourth ukulele, so I may not be addicted, and hey, it’s red so it matches my truck (I keep one in there for emergencies).
The other score is a little battery-powered Fender guitar amp. I don’t know how it sounds yet, but, dang, it is cute. It even has a little faux handle on the top in imitation of a big amp. My concert-sized uke has a pick-up and a jack, so I might have a darling little combo there. Or I could just give it to my daughter—it might work with her bass, or just be a knick-knack.
In national news, some customers at a late showing of the new Batman movie noticed a man in the audience had a pistol tucked under his belt. They notified the theater, they notified SWAT, and they told everyone to come out with their hands up for a pat-down. The guy with the pistol didn’t come out, he just kept texting. It turns out he is a lawyer of some sort, with a concealed-carry permit, concerned about getting home safe, and feels his second-amendment rights were violated. They arrested him for failure to cooperate with police.
I know what sort. The sort that makes the rest of us facepalm. What kind of a moron do you have to be…
Menyambal
Heh. You know that the first step is admitting you have a problem right? :) I’ve got an emergency chromatic harmonica in my bag, I’m no good at it but having a portable musical instrument close to hand keeps me sane.
Those little battery amps can give off and incredible roar, just very quietly. They’re often really easy to overload into distortion and micing up one is an old studio trick to produce a full-on wall ‘o noise at a manageable room volume. Mind you I’ve never played with a Fender one so YMMV.
Jesus Fuck, Caine, hope you get better soon.
I’m imagining his supporters professing ignorance as to the racist overtones of the “sorry, son” speech. Perhaps sputtering about how one can’t say anything without being called racist. Well folks, tell your white fellow travelers to quit inventing so many racist ways to speak to minorities. They’re the ones who tainted the word “boy”, for crying out loud.
The depressingly common hero-in-their-own-mind kind spoiling for a gunfight in a movie theater.
Oh, and hey everybody.
For Caine and Beatrice (the second)
Warm ratties, soft ratties,
Little balls of yucks,
Happy ratties, sleepy ratties
Brux, Brux, Brux.
Hoping to see you back soon with good news of Beatrice, and yourself feeling grand.
(OK, YOU rhyme brux.)
WHAT THE FUCK IT JUST NEVER ENDS DOES IT.
—
Also, I sat down to read that essay I linked last thread, only I found somewhere I could actually read it from. Found an awesome, awesome quote:
I am just about ready to say that skepticism does have a political “litmus test“: anyone who identifies as a conservative, or supports conservative policies, is not applying skepticism correctly.
This goes regardless of whether we’re talking sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or “economics” (classism).
Er…
Trucks driven by fucks make me brux?
I’ll get my hat…
Get better soon, Caine. I reinjured my back dragging some unconscious guy out of a car last night, so it’s couch duty and painkillers for me for now.
Just saw Zinnia’s (and Ashley’s)piece linked above, there are questions there as to how this could happen. And as to what TF may do with the info.
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/tenwords.htm
And that better be right or Caine will not be amused.
Caine. Ouch. Fuck head injury.
Joe: Glad wife has a job; but stupid cost.
Fishy: Skooray for daughterspawn!
———————————————————
TC Talk:
As August begins, the cape verde season has become very active. Hurricane Ernesto formed earlier and made landfall in Mexico, and Florence was a brief-lived fish storm.
Now we have TD 7 out in the Atlantic, and also another disturbance moving off Senegal; This is shaping up to be extremely active, especially in an El Nino year. :/
Weedmonkey:
Fatalii? <3 The BT is one of his most regular customers – we're growing some two dozen varieties from his seed bank at the moment here at the cottage. (Also, I know him through IRC – want my signature? :D)
Alas, hot is not for me :( I can just about tolerate a little bit of birdseye in my tom kha gai, but anything hotter is just painful for me. Which is a bit of a problem, since BT does practically all the cooking in Chez Minnie. He's a cook by profession, so should know better than 'I'll just add half a bucket of this chili and taste later if it was too much'.
Hey Minnie, did you get your goats? Er, that’s assuming I’m remembering correctly that you were in fact interested in getting some goats…
FossilFishy:
the goats may happen next summer, depending on various things. But a girl can always dream ;)
In news that strikes me as rather exciting, Irish researchers working for Gallup International have published results [PDF] from a survey measuring rates of religiosity in 57 countries around the world. Repeating a survey conducted in 2005, the researchers asked respondents whether they’d categorize themselves as “religious,” “not religious,” or “committed atheist.” Throwing that bizarre adjective into the third choice seems severely inappropriate to me, given that it can only dissuade people from identifying themselves as atheists—and yet look at the results! Just to cherry-pick some countries:
– – –
Canada: 46% religious (down from 58% in 2005); 40% non-religious; 9% committed atheist (up from 6% in 2005); and 5% don’t know/no response.
Germany: 51 (down from 60); 33; 15 (up from 10); 1.
Ireland: 47 (down from 69); 44; 10 (up from 3); 0.
Japan: 16 (down from 17); 31; 31 (up from 23); 23.
U.S.: 60 (down from 73); 30; 5 (up from 1); 5.
– – –
There are numbers from 52 other countries at the above link—though the researchers, oddly, didn’t survey the U.K. The upshot is that religion seems to be in full retreat, and atheism on the advance, almost everywhere.
But those U.S. numbers—holy crap! If the survey results are to be believed, “committed” (feh) atheists have quintupled here in the past seven years (to well over 15 million people), while religion has lost 13% of the population in market share (which implies there are more than forty million Americans who would be religious if the 2005 73% number had held, but aren’t), and fully 35% of the population—almost 110 million people—now do not consider themselves religious. That’s staggering.
Anyone have the polling-procedure chops to figure out whether these numbers can be taken seriously? If they can, the U.S. (among other countries—the Canadian and Irish numbers are eye-opening as well, as are a few other spots surveyed) is dumping religion somewhat faster than I thought….
Oh, wait: hat tip to Jason Rosenhouse.
typing from the phone so going to.be lazy formatted.
My father had a minor stroke recently, he’s fine with hardly any negatives(slight damage around where the stroke occurred, no signs of it affecting him neuro/physically). It happened as he was riding his motorcycle- his left hand and leg fell off the bar and peg. Luckily my mother was riding with him! She helped with the clutch. Another fortunate thing was they were on the highway – any later and they would have been riding a hilly, curving road. So yeah, very lucky.
Been a busy few weeks, and now a wedding and open bar! It couldn’t happen at a better time, definitely been stressed.
Holy Fuck! You go out to lunch and all sorts of crap happens.
So sorry to hear of your accident, Caine. Get better and stay safe!
FossilFishy, if you ever make it to Canberra, I will introduce you to our whisky collection.
And ZOMG, I cannot believe how the thunderfoot saga has moved from horrible to even worse.
His actions are now reprehensible. What the hell is wrong with him?
Ms. Daisy:
My blood is boiling.
I had a very good date. We laughed. We ate. There was chemistry. Enjoyment had by us both.
Reading what Sophie M. Herold has done outrages me tremendously. The fucked up idea of a “children’s underground railroad” is sickening enough, with this it is amplified. FFS what is wrong with these people?
Minnie the Finn, I meant the Fatalii pepper, but I know who you mean. I bought some seeds a few years ago, and I think I have some Aji Cristals from his greenhouse in the freezer. :)
Caine,
That is Double Plus Ungood. Rest, get better, heal, and know we miss you and are thinking of you in your recovery.
Eat a few popcorn ratlets to gain super powers, that will help…
…whaddya mean that’s not why they are called “popcorn” ratlets? KFC has popcorn chicken…
…okay, I think I see why this is a bad thing now!
Louis
peterhearn @#22:
I’ll throw my own opinions on the table.
SpongeBob was comic genius (take MermaidMan and BarnacleBoy III for example)… up until the last year or so. Then it went downhill.
Also, I’m totally nuts for Sandy. :3
WeedMonkey:
ok, so that’s where Fatsku got his ‘nym =)
We’ve got naga morich, baby birdseye, black cobra, golden cayenne, lemon drop, and several varieties of jalapenos growing. These are the ones I know of, I’m sure there are some surprises lurking in the bushes, since BT got our seed bags mixed up with some of last year’s harvest :)
Hey everybody…I officially have a centipede problem in my apartment…is there anything to do about that? (Besides sleep with the lights on? *whimper*)
Caine, get well soon!
— — — — —
I have learned to like “Family Guy”. I have learned to like “Beavis and Butt-Head”. I have learned to like most of “South Park”. I have yet to learn how to like “Sponge Bob”.
— — — — — —
Cool nerd stuff:
.
Deep sea temperature reconstruction reveals 1.5 million years of global ice volume history http://phys.org/news/2012-08-deep-sea-temperature-reconstruction-reveals.html -Finally a reliable map of temperature changes!
.
Graphene coating transforms fragile aerogels into superelastic materials http://phys.org/news/2012-08-graphene-coating-fragile-aerogels-superelastic.html
Re: Dried beans.
I crawled out from under the bed — almost tripping over the cutest little lizard (they sometimes run into the lair from the garden/yard/weedpatch) — and consulted my two favourite references, Harold McGee’s On Food & Cooking (2nd Edition), and The Joy of Cooking. They were more-or-less in agreement with each other.
According to McGee, the main problem (the reason why the feckers are so hard to cook) is the seed coat is basically invincible (the mildly deranged penguin concurs, and is still missing a few feathers to prove it). The only way water can enter, initially, is via the hilum, “the little pore on curved back of the bean”. McGee continues (emphasis in the original, spelling errors © my own):
McGee then discusses the composition of water (e.g., hard water reinforces the seed coat), the proper use of salt (slows water absorption but pre-soaking in salted water results in faster cooking), and numerous other details.
McGee’s suggestions:
McGee also discusses some of the things that can go wrong; e.g., “hard-seed” beans (invulnerable seed coat due to growing conditions, these tend to be smaller so discard the smallest beans before cooking) and “hard-to-cook” (assorted changes during storage, cannot be spotted before cooking).
All of which basically agrees with The Joy of Cooking, which summaries the best procedure as:
Both sources point out beans can be pressure-cooked but that is extremely dangerous.
@ birger
Materials Science vs Spongebob Squarepants mashup: Lightest Solid.
@156: What exactly does one have to commit to to be a “committed atheist”? I’m sure about my non-belief (apart from a few agnostic quibbles) and committed to not imposing a religion on my kid. Will that do or do I have to undergo some sort of ceremony with loss of minor body parts or near drowning or something to prove myself?
I really like Spongebob, except the episodes involving Patchy the Pirate. Bah, Patchy.
She intends to send all such information she has to the so-called “underground railroad” purporting to “rescue” children from their same-sex parents.
Isn’t there some sort of law against this sort of thing? At the very least, she’s made terroristic threats and should be under serious police surveillance. Her and this “rescue” group.
OMG Caine. That’s really horrible, to be on your own (apart from the mini-Horde) with a head injury.
Hope you are OK! (sends careful hugs plus maybe a fresh cold damp cloth for the forehead?)
@ Lyn M #147
How about,
Warm ratties, soft ratties,
Concussion really sucks,
Happy ratties, sleepy ratties
Brux, Brux, Brux.
? :)
OR
Warm ratties, soft ratties,
Little does and bucks,
Happy ratties, sleepy ratties,
Brux, Brux, Brux.
Or if you were just thinking about one of them, and it had the right sort of b/w markings on its fur …
Warm ratty, soft ratty,
In a tiny tux,
Happy ratty, sleepy ratty,
Brux, Brux, Brux.
OK I’ll stop now … I can stop any time I want, you know. It’s not a compulsion, no it really isn’t …
Yes. This is an open threat of kidnapping, at the very least.
I can’t stand it any more. I am lashing out with my pork and beans recipe. It came via a friend and from Old Québec. It is awesome. I’m sorry the amounts are not too exact, except for the Tabasco, for some reason, but if you have cooked before, you probably have a feel for what you would prefer and should be able to get it right with no real problem.
One shoulder pork roast (around a pound or two)
One bag navy beans
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Maple syrup
Rum
Dry mustard
7 drops Tabasco sauce
one cooking apple
Nutmeg (to taste)
Cinnamon (to taste)
Soak bag of navy beans overnight in water. Check the beans and add water as needed so that the beans stay underwater. Next day, place beans and bean water into a roasting dish. (Something large enough to take the roast which will go in later). Mix the dry mustard, garlic, pepper, Tabasco sauce, salt and add to bean water in bottom of roasting pan.
Cook on low heat, about 250 F until the beans are reasonably soft. How soft is up to you, but it takes hours, usually. Keep adding the bean water as the beans cook so that they are underwater while cooking. When the beans are about done, stop adding water. Coat the roast with nutmeg and cinnamon, then place the roast on top of the beans. Continue to cook until the roast is completely cooked. In the last half hour, baste the roast with maple syrup and add to the beans. Also add rum to the beans (navy rum is best). Place segments of the cored apple into the beans to cook there. When all is cooked, serve with spinach and boiled new potatoes.
I have never had left-overs, try as I might to make too much.
Opposablethumbs!
I am so impressed! I never thought of does and bucks OR tiny tux. I did discard ducks, lucks and a few others, though.
One shiny new internet on its way to you!
Thunderfuck, that dolt we once thought was a reasonable guy, has a new post up. I was trying to comment there, but had no luck, obviously this scientist’s sense of democracy does not extend to allowing dissenting comments on his blog, ah well, color me not exactly shocked.
I am waiting for his next move. If he publishes any private info about any FTB bloggers at all, I want him prosecuted, and I want his employer to know what this not so smart scientist does in his spare time. It’s up to him.
@ Lyn M
:-D :-D :-D :-D !
(thank you! I will put it on the shelf above my desk with my bestest treasures :) )
Theopontes, thanks for the link!
— — — — — — —
Artist Lars Vilks is unfortunately going to an anti-Islam wingnut conference in USA. I find this surprising since Vilks himself does not see Islam as a threat to the west.
Background about Vilks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Vilks
— — — — — —
The cool thing about Sponge Bob is that (recently deceased) Ernst Bourgine did one of the voices.
The horrible thing about Sponge Bob is the Hawaii guitar background noise. Is this detail deliberately designed to annoy?
*semi-coherent raging at Tfoot goes here*
This sort of thing is why folks who show even a flash of bigotry or disrespect for others’ boundaries have to be called out on it, loudly and hard. Very often these people are fucking dangerous. The heck with presumption of good faith and mistakes made out of ignorance and trusting folks because they’re such good friends. They’d better be willing to acknowledge and commit to the humanity and safety of other people, or they are part of the cruel, terrifying and often lethal problem.
(that pork & beans recipe looks delicious, btw. Have copy-pasted for future reference, thank you!)
This is somewhat similar to the mildly deranged penguin raiding a Fromagerie, except she’s more inclined to use explosives and often don’t bother with opening the door before entering.
Dammit. Natalie jumped the gun. She wasn’t supposed to post anything on this until all the t’s were dotted and i’s crossed.
But yeah, we’ve had more than just disgust at his public dishonesty to make us unhappy with Thunderf00t. It turns out he’s a creepy unethical corrupt asshole, too, who hacked into our private mailing list and sent some of its contents to third parties.
Well, it was more of a general gun-jumping by the looks of it. Can’t blame them really, from what I read so far.
Zinnia and Ashley posted on it, too. Communication wires crossed somewhere, maybe? Three posters can’t all have jumped the gun simultaneously by sheer chance.
PZ, my sympathies to you since you vouched for this guy. I’ve been the one making that screwup before and had my friends suffer for it.
Confessions :
I think I used to be anti-Semitic / Judaeophobic once.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/01/21/stink-from-the-methane-post/#comment-150400
I hope I’m not anymore.
I’m human, I’m fallible, I’m tired and drunk and I hope I’m a good person.. I try to be.
And if & when I fail to be? I apologise for that.
Lyn M’s recipe@175 uses navy beans, and comments that cooking the beans usually takes hours. Indeed. From The Joy of Cooking:
And they are brought to a slow boil before the simmering starts. And soaked overnight before the cooking starts.
StevoR, good for you. The next step: learn not to be a genocidal islamophobe, and you might finally get a few brownie points.
Thanks in advance!
I’m nuts but basically harmless.
I try to be considerate to orthers. (Don’t always succeed I know.) I try to make positive contributions here as well.
Will admit that I do get too drunk and tired all the time and carried away tho’.
I can’t help being me. Anyone wanna swap places? Not that I could or even would really. I
guessknow I’m pretty fortunate really compared with most homo sapiens on this spaceship Earth; luck of birth and all.@ 190. Weed Monkey : I really do NOT support genocide. Against anyone.
I don’t want any group to suffer that.
OMFSM Caine, I hope you are on the mend quickly!
The pepper talk upthread is timely – I gave myself a nice little capsaicin burn last night chopping jalapenos without gloves. I know better than that!! But on the plus side, I now have 4 pints of homemade salsa and 4 half-pints of pickled peppers in my pantry. I would’ve had five jars of peppers but one broke in the canner, boo.
StevoR –
That’s all anyone can do. Recognize your past mistakes, learn from ’em so as not to repeat ’em, and keep moving forward. :)
blf’s bear video got me thinking: Won’t a bear get theobromine poisoning if it eats hundreds of grams to kilograms of chocolate? Or are bears less sensitive to alkaloids than less omnivorous dogs and cats?
From Ed Brayton’s blog:
Franz Kafka justice; People were locked up for years for possessing a gun, even though they were not guilty of any crime….
“Scores in N.C. are legally ‘innocent,’ yet still imprisoned” http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-13/innocent-incarcerated-prisoners/55585176/1
.
Forensic Fraud Comes Clean: “bite mark” analysis is bogus.
https://proxy.freethought.online/dispatches/2012/08/09/forensic-fraud-comes-clean/
Michael West, a dentist who specialized in “bite mark” analysis, has now admitted that it’s all bunk.
Quote: “The office of Mississippi Attorney Jim Hood so far has so far refused to go back and reopen all the old cases in which West has testified. Hood should have done that a long time ago. For that matter, the same goes for Hood’s predecessors. And the Mississippi Supreme Court. We’ve known for nearly 20 years now that this guy was a fraud”
I’m still here but intermittent.
Edge of Darkness or The Singing Detective or I, Clavdivs.
@ Weedmonkey
Hey! You gonna make teh yoghurt or WUT?
:Waves a fuzzy G’morning to all:
I’m still here, headache is finally gone. I look like someone decided to use me for batting practice. Oy. I’d like to take a bat to the…person who thought it was cool to park a woodchipper right outside my backyard and start feeding tree bits into it at 7 a.m. aargh.
Pteryxx, it wasn’t the aquarium at all. It was Havelock who is responsible for my concussion. He got up where he didn’t belong and knocked over a piece in progress, a piece using metal swarf on heavy wood. Said piece whacked me on the head.
Beatrice is okay, but I think she’ll end up losing the tip of her tail.
I won’t have much to say for a while, I’m very spaced out right now. More’s the pity, because I’d like to say a lot about this latest with Tfoot, but I’m having trouble marshaling my thoughts, such as they are.
Rorschach, I’m so sorry you hurt your back again, I know what that feels like and it’s awful. Yay for you, though, doing it in the commission of helping another. Nothing that noble for me.
Alright, I have active, hungry ratlets to feed.
♥ ♥ ♥ to all.
I’m out for a bit.
*hugs* for the injured.
…Havelock’s trying to kill Caine! OMSM!
*hugs to Caine and ratlets* Thanks for the update Caine, take care… and the Horde and community seems to have the TF situation well in hand so far.
Oh Caine. :( and ♥.
(My first rat Daphne lost all but about ½” of her tail in a fight with another rat, but she didn’t seem to miss it. She was a very sweet and timid little girl, but dumb as a post. God, I miss her.)
Hi there
Internet’s much better, yay
Dianne
We’re on a holiday in the south of France
Caine
Ouch!
Take care!
++++
Count me in on the stroller experience. Pushing a stroller made me much more aware of how fucking inaccessible many parts of town still are for people with disabilities.
And for me it was usually just a matter of getting the stroller some steps down, getting somebody to lend me a hand, taking a slight detour. I won’t claim that this equals “disability-experience”, it simply made me fucking aware that things that were just a nuissance for a short period of time are obstacles that seriously infringe on people’s lives.
Did you like your supposed-to-be-soothing pome, Caine? I maded it for you (and didn’t even eated it) (Though it was Lyn M who made it happen, really :) – adding another verse to the “brux, brux, brux” lullaby)
oniOM girl
Not much to say yet.
My position was made permanent this month (pending certification), and my rent is getting ridiculous compared to what I get, and how low interest on loans is.
One of my colleague has a detached house for sale and I went to check it out yesterday.
Good size for me and excellent location. Fair price. I just hope the building society considers me as affluent as I do myself.
Opposablethumbs & Lyn M, yes, I enjoyed those very much. I’ve used the Caine version of Happy Kitty for some time, I don’t bother rhyming though, mine simply goes:
Soft ratty, warm ratty,
little ball of fur,
happy ratty, sleepy ratty,
brux brux brux.
It sings just fine. I actually sing that when one of my rats is distressed or upset, and amazingly, it works – they calm down and seem to enjoy it.
:-D !
My camera is still making the chugga-chugga-chugga-… sound and not responding.
Any suggestions are welcome. It’s not like it matters if I break it completely in the attempt to fix it anymore.
I just wanted to thank you folks for the support over the last week or two. It has been a rough time for me and my wife, and my dog, and my 9+ cats I guess. The help I’ve gotten from folks here has been nothing short of amazing. With the Horde about to go into full-on battle mode against TF and his army of…ummmm… people who watch videos online, I figured I’d go ahead and express my appreciation for the OTHER thing that people do around here.
Extra thanks to everyone who sent your sofa change my way… either a lot of you contributed, or several of you have really large sofas, but either way your help is making a HUGE difference.
Not really a delurk – this is my third ever comment. But finally caught up, and no one came back to Sili from the earlier thread, so…
Sili
Try taking the memory card and batteries out… put two fresh (or fully charged) batteries in. See if the camera will take a picture without the card. If so, put the card in, format it, take a picture. (If you have pics on the card, save them somewhere first!) If none of that works, I suspect it’s off to the shop with it.
Improbable Joe, I’m really glad it’s helping out. I couldn’t send much, as the ratlets have been busy eating enough for a horse lately, but every little helps. :)
Thanks Stephen,
I found a menupoint called “reset” and that seems to have fixed the problem.
Sili
You’re welcome. Glad you found a solution.
*helps himself to grog and goes to sit in the corner*
I’ve sent out a few tentative feelers (tentacles?) to some persons involved in the Finnish Sceptics Society and Freethinkers with the idea of starting a chapter of Sceptics In The Pub in Helsinki.
Being the devious feminazi bottom-dweller that I am, I’ve only approached female members so far. My few experiences with the Freethinkers’ bar nights have been discouraging; a lot of unchecked privilege and male superiority detected (to the extent that I told one of the guys to feck off… a long story).
By no means would I want this to become a women-only event, but I’d like to get as many women as possible to take part in the first stages, that way we should be able to maintain some sort of foothold in the whole thing. I’ve experienced too many times coming up with an idea only to have it grabbed away from me by doods presenting and executing it as their own brainchild.
Those of you who are/have been involved in SitP: any ideas? pointers? experiences to share?
Hallo, Stephen. Welcome to the lounge.
Caine,
It isn’t for certain, and I’m feeling slightly irrational like I could jinx things up by talking about them, but if things work out right my wife could actually be working and getting paid before the end of the month. She’s got an interview set up this afternoon, and they might offer her the job on the spot.
Rey Fox! *waving*
–
In this context? “Yux”.
–
:(
No good deed goes unpunished?
You get better, too.
–
:) :) :)
–
Like, maybe, I dunno, it could be considered…kidnapping?
–
No. It was obviously the Horses.
–
Look! Snake food!
Oh, sorry, wrong thread?
Howabout I just pour myself some cold libations?
Yay, Joe!
Also, there’s a rightwing nutbar hacking up hairballs in ZJ’s blog post from today. Someone please stop me from sarcasming all over the place.
omg, go to Cristina Rad’s video. too fucking funny.
“open google now” “you can do that, right?”
Thank Spud for Proms Repeat. I missed the Bach Mass the first time round.
–o–
I should used brie rather than stilton in this omelet.
“Do I have to download something to use the Google?”- actual quote from my father
*shoulda
“Mere innocence is no reason for reopening a case.” – Scalia
*looks frantically around*
Google? What is it? I only have Internet on my computer! Hjaelp!
Oh lookit! It’s Friday.
My dad also asked if he needed to pay extra for email, and thought that the tower was an oversized CD player that he didn’t need, but could I hook up his cassette player?
Minnie The Finn
This might be a blog for you:
http://abadguide.wordpress.com
Note the categories.
Joe: I hope you told him that e-mail only costs extra if he sends it abroad, and that the tower is the condo where all the microprofessors live.
Improbable Joe:
Awe, your dad sounds cute! :)
My dad suffers from engineer-itis: he can do anything! Except, well, not. I can’t tell you the number of times that my mom has called me or Mr Darkheart to help fix a minor problem with their electronics. The latest is their blu ray player that won’t connect to their wireless network (so no updates, Netflix, etc), but Dad won’t let us take a look at it ‘cos if he can’t figure it out, well, there’s no hope that anyone else can.
*eyeroll!*
Sili: thanx, I’ll be a goat expert come next summer!
(I am a little pissed about the blu ray player: I bought it for them as a combo Mother’s/Father’s day gift with a Netflix subscription when their Blockbuster video store finally closed last year. The Netflix subscription totally went to waste ‘cos my dad is so stubborn.)
Summer semester is officially over! I took my last exam today (for evolution).
And now for something completely different.
People have mentioned here how superior the Diva Cup is. One of our major newspapers finally noticed this week and have done a series of feature on it – apparently the health nurses dealing with schoolkids had never heard of it – and interest had been piqued so seriously that the few Danish distributors have been almost overwhelmed with the interest.
Okay, that is adorable.
Starstuff – congrats on finishing the semester! I miss that feeling (although FSM knows I’m glad to be done with school).
Starstuff: Yayz! I’m going back to school shortly.
——————————–
Going back over the last few months of posters has made me realize how affluent I am. Living in a privilege bubbly is certainly comfortable, but it’s fundamentally egotistical.
I should help more.
Ms. Daisy Cutter @88:
Yep, that was in response to something said by the lovely Scott Brown, who seems outraged by the very idea of welfare recipients voting, and even more outraged that someone would, in accordance with law, inform welfare recipients that they have the right to vote.
The Republicans frequently goof up and reveal why they are working to disenfranchise whole segments of the population.
What really happened? The State of Massachusetts is required by law to offer welfare recipients a chance to register to vote when they apply to receive benefits. Massachusetts failed to do so, which is a violation of federal law. As part of a legal settlement, the State is now sending all welfare recipients registration forms by mail.
Also, Elizabeth Warren’s daughter is chairwoman of one several voting rights groups that were contracted by the State of Massachusetts to send out the voter registration forms.
No doubt about it, this is an obvious liberal conspiracy to enfranchise residents of Massachusetts who are not rich.
@ thunk
Yeah, my fall semester starts in two weeks. It’s a short vacation, but I’m determined to relax and enjoy it.
So, rorschach has demonstrated that it can be dangerous to pull unconscious men out of cars. New rule: only petite women are allowed to lose consciousness in the presence of rorschach. And may he soon be healed. At least we know he has no trouble obtaining painkillers.
Caine has a concussion and a black eye and a wounded rat. I don’t know if these disasters are related, but if so, stop training those rats to box. Get better soon. Wear a helmet.
I bought a bulk-size jar of jalapeño slices some time back, and just ran some of them through the blender with some lime juice and some cilantro. I now have a bottle of some fairly good salsa/sauce.
It isn’t properly homemade, as nothing was fresh, but it is a lot cheaper and better than bottled sauce. I’ll try it with fresh stuff next.
GEEKS ARE SO OPPRESSED, INTERNET!! (Link goes to my response.)
Jesus, am I tired of that stale old whinge, and the pretense that geek culture has always been tremendously egalitarian and accepting. HAHAHAHA no. Not for everyone, and not in every single group.
Oh, and yeah, I’m fucking tired of extroverts telling me that I “have to learn to socialize.” Nah. I’m an adult. I don’t have to learn to do anything that I don’t want to and that neither my health nor my livelihood depends on.
***
I-Joe:
Recently, while I friend and I were both, uh, impaired, she said in response to a question we had, “Let me check teh Googles,” and I said, “Are they even in right now?”
Lynna: Yeah, how dare the Warrens try to get out of the vote among people legally entitled to vote?! If they were worthy of the vote, they’d be rich. Scott Brown is a soiled urinal cake.
Soooo… I’m not sure if this rises to the PZ alert level or not. The email I use for login here got hacked into last night. Now, I do use it for a few other places as well, but it just seems like a strange coincidence that it’s happening while all of this other email violation stuff is going on. I just wonder if there’s a copycat kind of thing going on where someone is trying to get into ftb accounts in general, or if it’s just a coincidence…
Wow, Pharyngula got a makeover. I’ll look at the new rules in more detail tomorrow, as well as try to at least glance at all that I have missed. For now, hello all!
I’m back and I’m happy that I’m home and that I will sleep in my own bed tonight. And I’m sad that I won’t get up and sit in front of the Palazzo Vecchio for an hour and a half tomorrow.
Can I get a picture of my* ratlet?
*mine only in the sense that we share my internet name, but that’s enough to make me possessive :)
Wait a minute. What’s that Romney is saying? He now wants even his business background off the table? Please stop hitting Romney with facts, everyone. And now that he is no longer running on his experience in business, please stop discussing that too.
The quote comes from an interview on NBC, “The Daily Rundown” with Chuck Todd.
In the interview Romney also said, “”We haven’t gone after the personal things.” Massive load of bullshit there, Mr. Romney. Romney’s ads and surrogates have claimed that Obama has no business experience, that he funneled money to his supporters as payoffs, that Obama needs to “learn how to be an American,” that Obama likes to send out welfare checks with no work requirement, that Obama is dishonest, etc. And Romney has approved ads that were edited to make it appear that Obama said things he did not say. I call that personal.
Here’s just one of the instances in which a Romney ad portrayed Obama as saying something he didn’t say.
Anyway, I find it surpassingly strange that Romney now thinks his past as a business man is “personal” and therefore off the table.
PZ, could you clarify please? Was TF a member of the mailing list and kept copies or was the stuff taken from the listserver files themselves? Hacked is a general word that can mean different things to different people. Thank you
Another bigwig meets his comeuppance for being a sexual harasser. Bold is my emphasis:
Those choices of words are very telling, aren’t they?
Broboxley – if you go to Lousy Canuck, he has all the technical info.
Also, is this “our” Horace, I wonder?
I can’t seem to find anything to do on a Friday night when I only have $12 :(
Movie, Starstuff?
“Minnie The Finn, qui devient bientôt vierge”
Maybe you could ask Martin Rundqvist at the Aardvarchaeology blog to send out the Skeptic Bat Signal, he is active in Sweden but he must have a lot of contacts in Finland and contacts with Finns currently in Sweden.
Martin should be able to help you link up with some non-douchebags of both genders.
— — — — — — —
I find it hard to feel sorry for Romney. Let him cry all the way to the bank…which he stuffed full of money drained from other people’s pension funds. Nobody likes Gordon Gekko.
@ Audley
I might if it was just me. But that $12 is shared between me and the BF.
Carlie, checked out all I could find and it still doesnt answer my question but it appears that legalities are involved so will leave it be. PZ if you need a computer forensic expert feel free to call.
So I watched Dr. Horrible’s sing along blog a week or so ago and I still have ‘A man’s gotta do’ stuck in my head…
pentatomid – now you need to find and check out the commentary tracks. You’ll never be able to get “ninja ropes” out of your head.
carlie,
I’m planning to check them out. Haven’t had the time yet (and won’t have the time until the end of next week, probably).
Cirith Ungol? “Spider Found Living In Woman’s Ear Canal (PHOTO)” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/spider-living-ear-canal-photo-_n_1761304.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Oh noes, Starstuff! A cheap 6 pack and a bag of beef jerky to split?
… beer is icky :(
I’m trying to see if anyone I know is/wants to do something tonight, but it’s not going well. I guess it’s too short of notice.
I will do something, damned it!
Wow, hobbits must be waaaay smaller than I imagined!
A really cheap bottle of vodka and a bag of beef jerky to split?
I’ll be playing Batman: Arkham City, myself.
Concussed painting, heh. (Ratlets!)
Beatrice:
Of course you can! Just like Carrot is the virtual rat of Tethys, Beatrice is your virtual rat. :D I want to do a trading card of Beatrice next, so I’m going to try for a good portrait shot tomorrow. (Beatrice is one of the Black & White variegated Hoodies.)
kalas valley pakistan, learn something new every day http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2012/07/2012715123043250220.html
bah! stupid fingers, kalash not kalas
Beatrice! Your ratlet is here and here. :D
Life has been keeping me away from the last few threads, so I’ll just throw out a “Congrats! Yay!” or a *hug* as appropriate.
Caine and rorschach: Hope you get better soon, and have good pain management until then.
Sili: Congrats on impending house ownership! Spouse and I are going through the process right now. We close in mid-September, which is why we’re not going to be able to go to Rhinebeck this year :(. I’ve never lived in an actual house, so this is a new and slightly scary adventure for me.
eeee rattie on the paints! eeeeeeeee!
Rats have such neat little handfeets (front and back) and a thumb tubercule on the forepaws. Almost all the bones humans have, just thumbnail-sized.
#244:
I’ve wanted to say this for a long time…
BEATRICE!
Caine, I really like your rat portraits. Their shining little eyes look so lively!
–
Well, at the bottom of the back ramp to the house is a concrete wedge. While it was drying the local raccoon walked across it. Well, I guess it is better than “kilroy was here”.
Pteryxx:
I know! The actual hand and finger bones are so *tiny*. The feet and toe bones though…big! Well, very long actually. I’ve always said if rats grow full thumbs, they’ll take over the world. :D Oh, and thank you!
Cicely:
Thank you so much. ♥ A good activity for a spaced out brain and the girls enjoy having company in the annex. I haven’t done any trading cards for a while, the last batch were all traded. It’s a lot of fun doing fast rat portraits on them and I’ve already gotten interest in trades.
Nerd:
That’s great!
They’re playing an electronic guessing game.
You give clues, your team gives answers.
One of the young people just said:
“It’s a fast food place like burger blank but I’ve never heard of it.”
Answer: BB King.
/ageism
to bed
Now I understand what Caine meant with rats chewing through everything. You see, 4-5 mornings out of a week, I go to the storage area where the bread company puts the bread for my parents’ business. Today and yesterday, the inside door of the storage wasn’t adequately closed, so guess what happened? I found a hole on the cardboard box, as if something has chewed through it. When I opened the box, I saw that the plastic bag for the hamburger bun was ripped. One hamburger bun looked like something had taken a few bites off of it. Yeah.
I could use the hive mind – what is that online ‘zine for teen girls that is straight talk about sex stuff? Need to know for a friend’s daughter.
Huh, I would like to second carlie’s request. My little sister looks like she just started puberty. I don’t trust the public school of teaching sex ed right.
Is it Scarleteen?
arglebarg! For no apparent reason at all my left earlobe turned purple and swelled up like a balloon, suddenly, over the course of about two minutes! wth, body?
@kristinc
In some ways, the human body is a lot like Windows. They seem to occasionally crash for no reason at all. :)
@krisntinc
Anyways, I hope it is not a sign of something more serious.
ibyea, no kidding. Human bodies are weird.
My earlobe holes are stretched and from time to time when I get a cold virus of some sort they get a little sore and red, but nothing like this ever. And only the left one, not the right one. It went, take ear jewelry out > rub lobes with time-tested oil mixture > BALLOON LOBE in like no time at all. I could literally feel it swell under my fingers!
@Kristine
Have you ruled out spider bite?
new job going well…save for being panicked about doing good enough of a job….must relax and allow myself to make mistakes while training. Far too used to being screamed at for everything
So, the official announcement won’t be made until tomorrow morning, but NBC is announcing that Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate.
@Lynna
The guy with the “sodomize the poor” tax plan?
I realize that for the GOP that doesn’t narrow it down
No need to insult sodomy :p
Kristinc:
You could have developed an allergy to time-tested oil mixture. It happens.
That’s him. Paul Ryan has learned to back off a bit on his worship of Ayn Rand, and he has learned that he can feed half-baked economic plans to all manner of right wing organizations and they will call it a gourmet treat. He hasn’t learned to live a reality-based life.
He wants to shrink entitlement programs, and the wants to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Highly unrealistic.
He likes to sip Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru with lobbyists. Source.
Think Progress posted a good piece on Ryan’s budget plan. The link above is to the part about decimating city budgets.
Here’s the Think Progress article that details how Ryan’s budget would hit poor and low-income Americans.
Ryan’s budget gives $3 trillion in tax breaks to the rich, and despite Republican claims, does not solve the deficit problem. Link.
There’s more, but I think there is a link limit per comment and I don’t want to exceed it.
kristinc, stuff like that is why I eventually gave up and let my piercings grow shut. Mine never went purple, but they did turn this really intense maroonish color, then oozed pus for about a week, and needed constant infection control. Repeatedly.
So now I have some really nifty earrings that I can’t wear. :(
–
Debunking Paul Ryan’s Bizarre Claim That Food Stamps Are ‘Unsustainable’
“More detailed fact check on Paul Ryan’s budget. This is from March 25, 2012.
The New York Times calls Ryan’s budget “careless,”The Careless House Budget
Dick Cheney, “I worship the ground Paul Ryan walks on.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/cheney-i-worship-the-ground-paul-ryan-walks-on-video.php
I have successfully accomplished an entertaining evening out. The BF and I managed to find enough money to see a movie. We saw the recent Batman movie. It was pretty great.
After Paul Ryan’s father died, he used his father’s social security benefits to help pay for college.
Other than than bit of direct help from entitlement programs, Ryan grew up as an upper middle class to rich kid.
Indirect help for the entire Ryan family came in the form of government contracts for construction work.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/01/157716398/how-congressman-paul-ryan-is-shaping-the-gop
I’ve been gallivanting around the internets today, and have realized more than usual how much I appreciate Pharyngula and some other FTBlogs for being spaces where people are called out on shit like racial, sexist, ableist, queer-phobic slurs. That’s a rare thing for a rowdy blog, and the Internet in general.
Tl;dr
Y’all spoil me. Thanks.
What bugs me most about back pain is that I can’t carry beer cartons. At least my ex is nice enough to drive the kid here tomorrow.
As to painkillers, I don’t take any. Antiinflammatories burn a hole in my stomach and narcotics don’t really work. All I take is cortisone.
(Okay, it’s been a couple of days since my rant; I’m able to comment coherently again.)
Thank you, Hordies, for your support over the last couple of days re: my step-grandfather (there needs to be a better term for that… I was much too old to really consider him my “grandfather” when they married, but just using his first name seems weird. No matter what, he’s still *family*). It made the rest of the week much more bearable. Sadly, he passed away this morning, quickly & peacefully. The good news is that, a few days before his death, he had a really good day and was able to recognize my grandmother (not just as a person, but as his wife) and tell her that he loved her. I’m really glad she got to hear that before he passed.
.
Now that I’m a little less ‘threadrupt, let me say “grats” to everyone with new jobs/prospects, and “ouch” to those injured. (And if I didn’t live so far away, Caine, I’d be stealing a couple of your boys away–I miss having cuddly rats around!)
I’ll close here by lightening up a little bit with not 1, but *2* recipes!!!
Beef Enchiladas
1 can kidney beans
1/4 tsp garlic
1 can chili
1/2 tsp salt (I usually skip this)
1/2 c chopped onion
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 pint chili sauce
3/4 t. hot sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb. ground beef
tortillas grated cheese
Fry beef and onions until beef is cooked & onions are translucent. Drain. Combine remaining ingredietns (except tortillas and cheese) in saucepan and heat thoroughly. Place tortillas in 9 x 12 baking dish one at a time. Add 1-2 Tablespoons meat mixture and 1-2 Tablespoons bean mixture per tortilla. Fold tortillas left over right (basically, in thirds) and secure with toothpicks/turkey lacers. Cover with remaining beef/bean mixtures. Top with grated cheese. Bake in preheated oven (350-ish) until heated through (about 10 minutes).
.
Cheddar Ale Soup (this is a professional-kitchen recipe, so adjust your measurements accordingly–it makes 3 gallons!)
4 sticks of butter
2 cups flour
1/2 gallon heavy cream
1/2 lb diced ham
2 Tablespoons ham base
2 quarts water
3-4 white onions, minced
2 1/2 lbs cheddar cheese, grated
cayenne pepper & chopped parsley to taste
1 pint pale ale (we used Boundary Bay Scotch Pale Ale–it’s kinda like a pale Guinness–from a local microbrewery)
Make a roux from the butter and flour. Add in the remaining ingredients, except cheese, spices, and ale. When this mix is hot, add in the cheese; stir until melted. Add spices and ale; serve.
(This is a *damn good* soup. It would make a great fondue sauce if thickened up a little.) Enjoy!
Paul Krugman on the Republican’s culture of fraud.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/culture-of-fraud/
Excerpt below:
Still on vacation, but I have internet access for a bit, and have checked in on a few matters. The big story of the week among the dismal science set is the Romney campaign’s white paper on economic policy, which represents a concerted effort by three economists — Glenn Hubbard, Greg Mankiw, and John Taylor — to destroy their own reputations. (Yes, there was a fourth author, Kevin Hassett. But the co-author of “Dow 36,000″ doesn’t exactly have a reputation to destroy).
And when I talk about destroying reputations, I don’t just mean saying things I disagree with. I mean flat-out, undeniable professional malpractice. It’s one thing to make shaky or even demonstrably wrong arguments. It’s something else to cite the work of other economists, claiming that it supports your position, when it does no such thing — and don’t take my word for it, listen to the protests of the cited economists….
Whoops, I see I typed “Republican’s culture” when I meant to type “Republican culture.”
Better call it a night. Off to bed.
@MissEla
I’m sorry for your loss.
Alethea: I shall be very glad to someday make the acquaintance of your whiskey collection. But that’s unlikely to be anytime soon. I will however wave to it as we fly overhead (more or less) on our way to Coffs Harbour in a week or so. That is, if it’s not too presumptive of one who has not yet been formally introduced? :)
Heebie jeebies.
Go read the top comments on the reddit thread. Or don’t. I accept no responsibility. Abandon all hope, ye who click here.
+++++
Omfg, Caine, that’s scary. I hope you’re healed up soon.
Has anyone watched Battleship?
It’s kinda like ID4 for the 21st century.
carlie,
I had a look over at Jason Thibeault’s thread where the details of the Thunderfoot thing are laid out, and it apparently doesn’t involve any access to WordPress that would have allowed someone other than the bloggers here to see what your email address is.
So if it’s got anything to do with FTB, the attacker would have had to see your email address another way. Have you posted that email address publicly? If so, then it could be as you wondered; if you haven’t posted it publicly, then probably not.
+++++
In any case, this is a good time to remind everyone to use strong passwords and change them from time to time.
I recommend using Password Safe and letting it generate random passwords for you.
I see I blundered in making requests for photos and haven’t even seen Caine was injured. I hope you feel better today. Take care.
Careful cuddle for ratlet Beatrice too.
I’m a fairly shocked and utterly baffled by the following responses :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/08/10/thunderf00tphil-mason-treacherous-hack/comment-page-1/#comment-427551
&
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/08/10/thunderf00tphil-mason-treacherous-hack/comment-page-1/#comment-427556
&
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/08/10/thunderf00tphil-mason-treacherous-hack/comment-page-1/#comment-427561
to what I wrote last night and really don’t get it. What .. why? Huh?
I know, I know, intent isn’t magic but it seems my words had the opposite effect to what I intended which was to reassure people a bit by putting things in a (much) broader perspective and noting our common humanfaillibility (Thinderfoosd and my own included esp.) using among other things a leavening of dry humour.
Clearly this didn’t come across and I’m sorry about that and for upsetting people which wasn’t my plan or thought at all.
Failure in communication on my part clearly but I don’t understand why or what I said that was so bad. I’m not going to respond on that thread & might lurk more , post less here but.. three things I’d like to say first :
1.) Sorry, I’ve upset people when I didn’t mean to.
2.) I think Thunderfoot is in the wrong here and has done a horrible thing making a huge mistake I’m NOT and wasn’t ever defending him or his conduct although I did mention that he &PZ usedtobefriedms and so I find this meltdown on his part – the whole sorry tale – saddening. I thought that was clear, perhaps it wasn’t. If so, then I’m sorry that I didn’t make it clearer and gacve the wrong impression.
3) I don’t understand those reactions there, I really don’t. I’d like to know what the problem with my comments was because I really don’t see why they got such a reaction or how they were “ignorant and stupid”. As I said, I’m shocked and baffled at those responses.
I like the whole FTB “Blogplex” or whatever you call it. I don’t always agree with everything folks – bloggers and commenters alike say – but then you wouldn’t expect me too would you?
Some of you think I’m a bad person and I’lladmit I’ve siad some things when drunk and tired that I’;m not proud of here and wouldn’t say sober.
I don’t think I’m a bad person. I try not to be. I’m open to learning and really respect you guys. (Well almost all of you, most of the time.) I think we agree on more than we disagree on and I want to make a positive contribution in my comments here.
I hope this helps.
Aaarrrgh. Typos. For clarity :
Also, @aleph squared just to make it as clear as I can; what I was referring to as the thing that “stinks and sucks” was and is Thunderfoot’s hacking and threatening and downright outrageous behaviour noted in the Opening Post there. I think that was a terrible thing for Thunderfoot to do and a huge mistake that he’ll regret.
StevoR, imho, the [Lounge] isn’t a good place for trying to continue a discussion that has turned sour.
I suggest you repost that stuff over on the [Thunderdome].
Or, hey, here’s an idea — since the Thunderfoot thread is still ongoing, why don’t you just go over there and make your responses there?
You’ve got two great places to try to continue that discussion, make your apologies, et cetera; the Thunderfoot thread itself, or the [Thunderdome].
Don’t drag it into the [Lounge]. It really isn’t appropriate here at all, since you’d “like to know what the problem with [your] comments was”. We can’t give you honest answers here; that’d be against the rules.
Oh, my bad. I didn’t see that you’d been told to leave the Thunderfoot thread. Scratch that.
Just take it to [Thunderdome].
@309. strange gods before me ॐ :
Okay, fair enough. See :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/08/10/summary-of-thunderf00tphil-masons-disgrace/comment-page-1/#comment-428403
Am not keen on the Thunderdome idea & not allowed on the original thread where I posted last night so on the second later TF disgrace summary. I’m not wanting an argument, just trying to understand.
Oh snap…;)
Hello! I’m back, (for 5 minutes.) The person with the health issues I was visiting is doing OK.
NZ just won a gold in the canoeing! I’m no athlete, but I’m enjoying these Olympics. No idea why, *shrug* I’m happy to go with it.
birgerjohanssen Yikes!, I don’t even have a phobia, and that freaked me out.
rorschach My reactions to both anti-inflammatories and opiates is the same. Abdominal strength? Also stretching. Bob Anderson’s “Stretching” is a classic,(deservedly so) of the genre.
Caine Has anyone, um, baggsed Agnes? Just saying *scuffs toe in dirt.*
—
I’ve been given the Order of the Boot ;)
OK, Rorschach on re-reading you’re still at the stay still and let everything calm down stage, non?
As you were.
Im at the “crawl to the kitchen and dont try to fetch that stuff from the higher shelves” stage. Thank god for wireless.
Amblebury:
No, they haven’t. I take it you wish Agnes for your virtual rattie? She’s a sweetheart and has been the main explorer since the move into the annex. Altogether, a calm and happy little being. :D
OMG ING’S BACK!!!! /dances
And Beatrice too! Hi there!
Kristin, please get that shit checked out. 0_o
MissEla, I’m so sorry about your step-grandfather. I’m glad he had a good last few days and that his death was peaceful.
Lynna, maybe I’m just cynical, but with the media as the obedient lapdogs for the GOP, the virulent racism in this country, and Obama having cozied up to Wall Street in his first term, I assert that Mittens and Ryan could hold a press conference at which they ate live puppies, and it wouldn’t hurt them one bit.
SGBM, from that Reddit thread:
Tears of laughter. Because I’m a sick fuck who’d have asked the same thing.
And, before I go back to bed:
I noticed the other day that someone had referred to Peter Hearn with a gender-neutral pronoun.
Now, Hearn could be gay, as some misogynists are (Justicar would be a particularly resonant example). But if he’s anything but a binary cisgendered male, I’ll eat a Stetson.
Similarly, I was irked when Andy the Nerd referred to me with pronouns like “hirself,” when my handle is explicitly female. Oppressive? No. But annoying. It’s cargo-cult social justice: throwing around buzzwords without any examination of whether they’re appropriate.
If someone presents either offline or online as cis male or female — e.g., calls himself “Bob,” refers to his wife, etc. etc. — it’s okay, really, to refer to that person with a traditional binary gender pronoun. The odds that this would be wrong are quite small.
Conversely, if one presents to the world as binary, the burden falls upon one to correct the assumption that one is binary and to supply a preferred pronoun. I know of at least one special snowflake who, despite being female-bodied and wearing long hair, skirts, low-cut tops, etc., gets quite bent out of shape when strangers assume they are a woman. Sorry, but that is the correct assumption in the vast majority of cases — and I’d say it’s rude not to take their presentation at face value.
If this is a Thunderdome thing, let me know and I’ll take it there.
If your email is yahoo, you may have been hacked by a botnet. I have had about 8 or 9 people I know hacked that way recently, and all were by botnets, looking to get at the address book.
If your contacts received weird emails “from you”, then it is likely that hack. It is so frequent now, that I send a separate answer to friends (not using reply) and ask them if they meant to send the email. The fix seems to be just to change your password.
The emails say, “Try this, I love it!” and provide a link. Never, never click on the link. Never.
SG:
Thank you. I’m doing better, I just look like someone used me for punching practice. I’m not looking forward to the trip into town next Tuesday. People always ask “what happened?!” and it never matters what you say, you get this look like “uh huh, sure.”* I am not telling anyone “my rat did this.”
*Last time I had a black eye/effed up face was from a car accident. No matter the explanation, people always gave Mister the hairy eyeball, with this “you monster!” look.
@StevoR — since you mentioned me specifically, I wanted to respond. But I really don’t want to clog up what seems like a really pleasant lounge with this. So if you can get past your dislike of the Thunderdome, my response is there.
Thanks, sg and Lyn. There don’t seem to have been any emails sent out; I just got an alert yesterday from yahoo that someone logged into the account from an unknown location, and it was in the middle of the night when I know I was asleep. It was just really weird timing, given what’s been going on lately.
Scarleteen is it, thanks! Hee – I kept thinking “I think it’s ‘red’ something, but that doesn’t make sense…” I’m trying to think of resources for this girl to read – she’s at that age, and is online a lot, and apparently tends to be a little too trusting of other people.
kristinc, I hope your ear is better.
*hugs* for Caine.
Know that look. There were a couple of times … once when I got conjunctivitis and was a bit embarrassed by the way it made me look like Dracula so I wore dark glasses for a couple of days; once when I was getting the iron down from its high recess (this household Does. Not. Iron. so it comes out on average once a year or less often and then only for ironing on patches or for some odd special occasion) and the plug fell on me, right by my eye. It felt a bit noticeable, the looks I was getting.
Funny how people are often very ready to poke their noses into one’s life – but at the very same time such vast numbers of cases of abuse get overlooked by neighbours and acquaintances until it’s too late.
@Caine
Sympathy on the injury! A few years ago my sister managed to walk into a lamp-post and get a black eye, and had the ‘Are you allright? Did someone hit you?’ questions for about a month afterwards. I suppose it’s heartening that so many people were willing to try to help someone they thought might need help to get out of a bad situation, but I guess that doesn’t lower the annoyance in the meantime!
@rorschach
Haven’t seen Battleship, but a fellow PhD student in my lab did, and he’s a fan of that sort of film (Transformers etc). His review: ‘it’s like they took all the stuff that was too idiotic even for Transformers and tried to splice it into a movie’. Empire film magazine’s short review was ‘Miss’.
Arkady,
Super review!
Reminds me of Robert Benchley’s review of a long-running play he detested:
Caine – I have a port wine birthmark right down the middle of my forehead, bu it’s more of a generic red than the deep obvious birthmarky color. The few times in my life I haven’t had bangs, I’d have at least one person ask me if I got hit in the head almost every single day.
Arkady, I had an interesting time explaining that my temple was lacerated and I had a concussion due to one of my pet rats to the paramedics. I finally went and got Havelock to show them the offender for realz and all that. :D
Carlie, oh, what a pain. I know people are generally concerned, but a lot of it is sheer nosiness too, and it never matters what you say. People will think the nastiest thing anyway.
Caine, I can understand the weird looks Mister gets. One of my friends and former martial arts students bruises VERY easily and the stuff we do involves lots of impact on the forearms. Add in the fact that we’re comfortable and familiar enough with each other that most people assume we’re romantically involved and it made for some awkward public interactions.
I survived camping with my Girl Scouts. Actually, “survived” makes it sound like it was bad. Picture a minivan with six 13 year old girls on a 1 1/2 hour drive – all with their heads bent over their books, reading. Picture those girls faced with a tent that most of them have never seen, planning how to erect it by discussing which poles are the right size to give them angles that will create enough tension. Picture those girls avidly listening to the State Park ranger (a young woman who was really good at her job, by the way) describing the geologic forces and timelines that created the formations we were looking at, and asking relevant questions. And picture those girls reacting to a rainstorm that cancelled our expected swim with, “that’s ok, we can read in the tent until it blows over, and then swim.”
I love geek girls!
Opposablethumbs:
Yeah. I’m always surprised by the number of people who know abuse is going on, for a fact, and act like they don’t know a thing, but let them see a black eye or bruise on a stranger or acquaintance and it’s all burning curiosity and concern.
Insipidmoniker:
I imagine!
Ah ha ha ha! Paul Ryan!
All aboard the Mittanic! *toot toot!*
ImaginesABeach, hearing about that makes me exceedingly happy. That’s an awesome group of Girl Scouts.
So what’s the inside buzz on Ryan? Is he another Palin?
Ing,
No. Ryan is too smart and articulate to be Palin. Unless you’re asking if he’ll sink the campaign, then yes, he’s dude- Palin. His budget proposals alone are enough to lose the senior vote (vouchers instead if Medicaid, which aren’t enough to cover the cost of a full insurance plan and will not keep up with inflation).
Whomp whomp.
I am laughing.
Louis
Audely, I read that as:
Ah la la la! Paul R’lyeh!
All aboard the Miskatanic!…
Definetly time for bed.
Ing, well I know he hates the shit out of poor people. But that can reasonably be said of just about any of Mitt’s potential running mates.
And that’d be Audley, sigh.
‘Night, FossilFishy!
On this side of the world, it’s time for waffles!
Probably it’s safer to assume a stranger’s being hurt by one of those scary! abusing! monsters! than that someone they know could be abusive. *rolleyes*
…if someone asked ME that (which is unlikely) I’d be tempted to say “If I said yes I’m being abused, what would you do about it?”
Paul seems to be an attempt to get the teaparty and ptttttttfart demographic unpleased with Mitt’s not being the right xian
Not another Palin. On NPR this morning one of the pundits interviewed said that the race was now between Ryan and Obama. This may say more about the undefined character of Romney than the strength of Ryan, but Ryan is a lot stronger than Palin.
The NPR interview also included a comment about Ryan’s budget plan, with lots of laudatory adjectives, and one throw-away “but” in that Ryan doesn’t specify the loopholes he would cut. That’s a bigger missing piece than the Republicans and most pundits are admitting. There are not enough loopholes to make up for Ryan’s $3 trillion tax cut. You will have to cut “loopholes” that benefit middle class familes and you will have to do what Republicans have been accusing Obamacare of doing — throw grandma under the bus.
Pell grants, tax credits for lower income families who contribute to the education of their children, food assistance for poor families, etc. — all that stuff has to go.
Republicans are saying one thing, “We don’t raise taxes on anyone,” and doing another. They are ignoring the consequences of their budget plans which do effectively raise taxes on the lower and middle classes, while giving breaks to the rich.
I know this budget stuff bores a lot of people, but economics will affect our culture and not just our pocketbooks. In another thread our own economist, ‘Tis Himself, said that he would not be voting for Romney because Romney’s economic policies will damage the USA.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looks at the Romney plan, Romney Budget Proposals Would Require Massive Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Programs: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3658
Ezra Klein on the Romney budget:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/09/mitt-romneys-wrong-you-can-balance-the-budget-through-taxes-but-you-may-not-want-to/?print=1
Paul Ryan is a darling of the “liberal” media, so this weekend will likely be dominated by a “Romney just picked a winner” narrative that might slow down the whole “Romney didn’t pay any taxes” thing the Democrats are pushing. It was probably always going to be Paul “I went to college on Social Security benefits that I want to end for everyone else” Ryan, but the timing of the announcement smacks of desperation.
… yes, or that prurient curiosity is more pressing an urge than any desire to actually, you know, look out for someone. :(
Pteryxx,
My friend had somewhat the same thought. Apparently, when questioned about the bruises she started looking at the floor and mumbling “I fall down a lot.”
Not sure if that’s a great way to handle it but, from what she said, people that had been concerned a second ago suddenly stopped asking questions. Not so much trying to help, as obnoxiously satisfying curiosity.
Ms. KG and SonSpawn are off for a few days’ camping in the Lake District, with an old friend of Ms. KG and her (i.e. the friend’s) daughter. This is a more-or-less annual fixture, but there are two differences this year:
1) SonSpawn is doing most of the driving! We changed the insurance on the car for a week, he’s still a learner, and this is to give him some needed practice, so I’m a bit apprehensive.
2) Poor old Dog has been left behind with me. Apart from the chance she might distract SonSpawn, at 13 she’s aged a lot in the last year, and wouldn’t be up to the walking; but she was most unhappy about it: snuck out and got into the car (in fact, the driver’s seat) when the doors were open for packing, and barked and whined as they left.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/11/13232078-so-much-for-the-referendum?
I suppose it is a tiny, very tiny, ray of light in the dark recesses of right wing politics when pressure from his own constituents caused Paul Ryan to walk back his Ayn Rand worship. I don’t buy the walkback.
Details:
So, it’s basically, “Hell no, I am not an atheist like Ayn Rand. Not even close. God god god! But, yeah, I still harbor in my heart true belief for the philosophy espoused in Atlas Shrugged.”
The weekend announcement is bugging the hell out of me. It’s almost like Mittens wants people to ignore his Veep pick.
Learning more about Paul Ryan:
Here’s a video of Paul Ryan saying what he really thinks about Ayn Rand and the “moral case for capitalism” — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XYw9RtDbU8
Theopontes:
Just a bit busy doing viili, but I’m getting there!
Joe – everything I’ve heard has been variations on “oh fuck, Ryan wants to destroy everyone who’s not as rich as he is”, including an interview on NPR this morning. I just worry that not enough people will hear it.
Ooo, I like that. Would make them stop and think for a few minutes.
Audley, how ya feeling these days?
Carlie: I’m tired and getting quite large, but other than that, I’m quite good. :)
Bookmark alert! Scalzi has written a good guide on how not to be the creepy dude, that looks good to be pulled out the next time the “but I don’t know how to talk to a giiiiirrrllll” whiners show up.
Glad to hear that Audley is doing well, though tired, while carrying the Darkheart fetus. It’s a big job. Put your feet up, Audley.
On the Paul Ryan subject, journalist Paul Begala calls it like it is. Excerpts below:
I would add that the figures from The Tax Policy Center give Romney every benefit of the doubt, letting Romney get away with projecting unrealistic economic growth, for example. I think that $86 billion shift of the tax burden to those making less than $200,000 would turn out to be much worse under the Romney plan.
Audley – great! :)
“Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan.” — Willard Mitt Romney
Yep, he actually said that.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/11/13233102-the-significance-of-a-slip-up?
Thanks, Lynna! My feet are up and I’m eating grapes– feels so decadent!
Actually, I should correct my last comment. Romney called Paul Ryan “the next Vice President of the United States” at the beginning of his speech, and then as “the next President of the United States” at the end of his speech.
I’m sure the irony-deficient Romney didn’t notice how odd his choice of a mission-accomplished setting was. Way to remind us of one of Bush’s more embarrassing moments.
@ Lynna, OM
From your link to Washington Post:
Wait, Ezra Klein is willing to throw Universal Health Care under a bus? (I thought he supported health care…I haz confuzz)
@ Weedmonkey
Ooooh. That stuff looks like camel snot! (viili-vid)
Ezra Klein didn’t say that. Both Paul Ryan and Romney say that. (Ryan said it today, Romney said it in his speech to the NAACP.) Klein was reporting, quoting. Sorry if I screwed that up by not properly using nested blockquotes.
BTW, Obamacare saves us money. Eliminating it will cost us money.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/07/03/510349/study-medicaid-expansion-saves-states-billions/
Allow me to fan you with palm fronds.
Uh-oh. I smell trouble brewing. Well, trouble has already been brewed and scorched, but more is on the way.
Romney is already trying to distance between himself and Paul Ryan’s budget. Not gonna work.
Yep, no daylight between the two. Ryan’s plan contains more details, but the bones of the two plans are pretty much the same.
Ahhh, thanks, Lynna.
Now, if we could just get DarkFetus to stop bicycle kicking me, that’d be awesome.
I think Romney picked Ryan because Ryan looks like him, only younger. Also, Ryan is the right height.
Just posting this because I love the photo of Obama holding the baby.
http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/white-house-obama-august
Lynna, almost as cute: tag in the Oval Office.
http://wonkette.com/480699/barack-obama-adds-playing-chase-to-busy-schedule-of-basketball-and-golf
@ Lynna
No worries, it was not you but the Washington Post that screwed up the quote. It jarred so I looked carefully – it is very ambiguous for not having quotation marks.
Indeed. The rest of the civilised world worked this out a long time ago. Is there some quasi-religious reason, perhaps, that ‘Merkins cannot be self-critical and question deeply flawed ideas, such as: lousy healthcare, 2nd Ammendment (Hell, the whole bloody US constitution is deeply flawed), failure to accept metric system, bigotted laws,…. the list just goes on…?
Not gonna happen. DarkFetus is gestating during the Olympics.
It’s not just the economy, stupid.
The pro-choice group NARAL called the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket “a serious threat” for women. From NARAL President Nancy Keenan:
“Rep. Paul Ryan’s extreme anti-choice record shows just how serious a threat Mitt Romney’s presidency would be for women. He has cast 59 votes on reproductive rights while in Congress and not one has been pro-choice. Rep. Ryan has also repeatedly voted to defund family-planning programs and supported the ‘Let Women Die Bill,’ which would allow hospitals to refuse to provide a woman emergency, lifesaving abortion care, even if she could die without it. It comes as no surprise that Romney would choose a like-minded running mate who is just as out of touch with our nation’s values and priorities as he is. The Romney-Ryan ticket is dangerous to women’s health.”
Lynna, OM your quote
the part about the rich tax cuts driving the debt drives me freakin nuts
So here is a question for you, if we taxed all income above $250k per year at 100% how long would it take to pay off the national debt?
Also note I think taxes should be raised. I dont think we should have any cap on SS or medicare taxes.
That is adorable. Love the little girl, pink dress and all. Even from the back you can tell she is totally into the game and doesn’t give a damn what she is wearing.
broboxley @372
Please answer your own question.
Thinking in what-is-possible terms, we need to start somewhere in NOT extending the Bush tax cuts forever.
We have to start somewhere when it comes to getting enough votes in Congress to stop extending all of the Bush tax cuts forever. Also, we have an economic recession to deal with, so there is a matter of timing to consider when it comes to maintaining or removing tax cuts for lower and middle income persons.
Raising taxes on the wealthy will not threaten the economic recovery. Raising taxes on the middle class will do so.
Quotes are from The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/us/politics/11tax.html
Paul Krugman on the Bush tax cuts and other budget/deficit issues: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23krugman.html
Also, taxes the wealthy avoid aren’t just INCOME taxes. Look at capital gains for instance, taxed below the income tax rate for those brackets, which only folks wealthy enough to invest can even access. Look at tax shelters, business tax breaks, and heck even corporate taxes – the nation loses a lot more funding from corporate tax-dodging than from wealthy individuals even.
I’m watching Creation of the Humanoids (1962) on IFC. If you’re a fan of bad flicks, this is a must see.
“you can still alter your course if it’s against your circuits”
“The order of flesh and blood”
“How do you apologize to someone for killing them?”
“We tried. But the shock of dying, and being resurrected as a robot, was too severe: they Re-Died.”
And the costumes! Someone was on acid. Maybe shrooms.
Lynna:
Nice Polite Republicans.
Anyone who finds this “boring” needs to pull their head out of their ass, because class issues are precisely what a lot of modern liberals fail on, and this shit is just as important as gender and race issues are.
Theophontes:
This is really such a big problem that it merits being listed with lack of universal healthcare and bigoted laws?
Non sequitur. Why in the world would we want to pay off the national debt, ever? Smart economics would have us borrowing MORE money right now while it is basically free*, not paying down debt.
Humanoid Boogie
In a real sense, economic issues ARE race and gender issues, which is maybe why those issues don’t get the support they should from “modern” (wealthy white male) liberals (and their wives). Gotta save some money to save some whales, buy some hemp, and grow some organic bullshit in their backyards. Yeah, they love marriage equality and hate racism as an abstract concept, but don’t raise their taxes or let too many of “those people” get too close to their neighborhoods.
HI there
Just skimming and leaving greetings
Caine
Squeeeeeeeeee at ratlets
++++
Went to the Zoo today, an exerience that makes you hate people. Why do the ythink that “don’t feed, don’t touch, don’t smash the windows” applies to anyone but them?
Joe:
Thank you! I’ve fucking had it with suburban liberals. Sure, in theory they think that racism, class disparities, etc are bad, but those are problems they’ve insulated themselves against and don’t have to look at every day. White flight at its finest.
My blood has been boiling about this ever since a few weeks ago, one of my sisters-in-law– a Whole Foods liberal who lives in an all white community– asked me how I could stand living where I do. I live in a beautiful historic neighborhood in a small city, but *gasp!* I have black neighbors. I responded by asking her if she’s always been a racist.
Audley:
Well oh my fuckin’ gods and all that. How dare those, those…people live to the same standard you do!
Did someone batter dip and deep fry sister’s brain?
Lynna, OM 374, you raised the point that tax cuts for the rich is what is driving the national debt.
I am not opposed to raising taxes starting with the Social Security tax rate. Thats an extra 15% collected for every dollar over 115k raised. I would also raise short term capital gains to 35% and keep long term capital gains to 15%.Also would change the short term to 24 months from the current 12 months
I was just pointing out that blaming the rich for causing the national debt is neither useful or accurate
Unh.
I was having the most marvelous day. I was up and out early, I’ve got most of my to-do list items completed, and I went up to the liquor store to get some beer.
I was feeling sharp and comfortable in black sandals, black shorts, and a turquoise t-shirt with “Eat More Kale” written in black. After I paid, I stood by while a clerk went to check if they had more of my beer in stock. Another customer asked me, “Is your name Kale?” and laughed with his friend.
I’m so angry right now my hands have gone numb. And I’m mostly angry with myself because my usual smart-assedness didn’t rise up and cut him with a retort.
So I’ve got beer on ice in the kitchen. Join me in a general toast to the day, that it will improve.
Fuckin’ cheers.
Audley:
Shit. I’m dangerously close to that description.
Which kinda reminds me…
On a flight, I happened to meet a banker. After some reasoned discussion of what happened to the Great Recession, I started to press him about the social policies of the Rethuglicans with he partly supported. Apparently, it turns out he’s entitled to not pay for anyone’s healthcare, and that contraception is a friviolity that isn’t actual medicine.
Rich White Male privilege at its finest.
Ibelieve in dog, Jesus. What a way to have your day dumped on. *clink* I can’t drink, but I’ll join you in the, er, spirit of it all.
By the way, if that had been me, I would have given a cold, sweeping look and said “No, it isn’t. Perhaps if you knew what kale is and ate some of it, your skull wouldn’t be overflowing with shit.”
Ouch, ibelieve in dog.
Agreed, Caine.
Thanks, Caine!
When the gears in my brain re-engaged, my first thought was, “No, my name’s not Kale, but I’ll bet yours is Douchecrumpet.” Unfortunately, by that time I was almost home.
Thunk:
Did you tell him that seeing that’s the case, that he best be very careful where he dips that viagra laced penis?
Audley,
I live in a neighborhood that has the potential of becoming one of those “beautiful historic neighborhood in a small city” and I’ve got black neighbors, the horror! I’m sure as it continues to improve, most of my black neighbors will be pushed out in favor of the
whiteright sort of people.I’m sick of “liberals” in the same way that we’re all getting sick of “skeptics” and the atheist “movement”… it is another collection of bunch of smug, privileged, entitled assclowns who are sometimes not standing in the way of progress but sure as hell aren’t eager to work towards any issues that don’t directly affect them. Promise you that as soon as marriage equality spreads far enough that they don’t have to see discrimination, those same liberals will decide that their work is done and they’ll wash their hands of the issue.
Ibelieveindog,
That’s shitty and I’m sorry to hear it. I’ll cheerfully raise a glass for you.
Caine:
No, because I’m still learning how to snark.
I was just having this discussion with one of my sisters-in-law. Because it seems like, for a certain group of people, protests and speaking out on social justice issues are a fashion statement or a method of self-affirmation.
But perhaps I’m being judgemental.
Just saw this over at Mano Singham’s place: apparently the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) have a response to the recent chiding the Vatican gave them for not being hateful enough for Catholics.
https://lcwr.org/sites/default/files/media/files/lcwr_2012_assembly_press_releases_-_8-10-12.pdf
This part:
I believe is nun-language for “We’ll hear what you have to say, but fuck you if you try to tell us what to do.”
I’m under no illusions about nuns being infallible any more than I’d believe the Pope is infallible, but damned if it’s not a little nice to see this. A little bit at a time.
…
ibelieveindog, those guys were acting like assholes. I’m sorry that they directed their assholishness as you.
ibelieveindog, I’ll join you in that beer and I’ll go ahead and drink Caine’s share of beer as well. The sacrifices I make…
Also, you’re being judgmental, not “judgemental.” I’m judging you on the extra “e” which is a pet peeve of mine, along with pronouncing “forte” as “four-TAY” when speaking about personal skill or preference.
Mythbri:
Yayz for the LCWR… theyre doing something right.
The apostrophe got away! Dammit!
Also, my overuse of ellipses is a result of reading too many NHC discussions.
I’m a rich(ish), white, suburban liberal. My gross household income puts me better off than 80% of Americans. I’m so white, my family wears t-shirts while swimming because there ain’t sunscreen strong enough. I live in a suburb. And I’m liberal.
Those nuns are kicking some bishop ass. Listen to Sister Pat Farrell and Bishop Shitstain on Fresh Air (separate conversations). She comes across as the kind of person most christians claim to be. He… doesn’t.
Oh, Improbable Joe, usage peeves, I have them, too! ;-) “Judgemental” is judged as correct as, if less common than, “judgmental.” Spelling is one of my fortes (pronounced without the -TAY, but that can be problematic as well).
Thanks for joining me in the beer. Let us sit in the shade and discuss the Oxford comma, British English spelling and whether or not it should be accepted in USA, and why people write “common” when they clearly mean “c’mon.”
sorry Joe, both “judgmental” and “judgemental” are correct; search says the latter’s more common in British English, and the former is the Biblical spelling. ;>
Improbable Joe, I hate to be the bearer of unwelcome news, however, both judgmental and judgemental are accepted spellings. It’s one of those things like catalog/catalogue.
/former proofreader nit
ImaginesABeach:
And? Is this supposed to negate the earlier points?
Improbable Joe,
I just reread my reply to you and it sounds snarky to me. It is not intended to be!
I admire and enjoy fellow language-peevers!
Squee!
And thanks, ya’ll. I’m feeling better now.
Caine – nope. Audley and others were expressing frustration with rich white suburban liberals. I was simply acknowledging the fact that those words describe me.
ibelieveindog, we’re cool… I’m all in on the new rules and not assuming malice when simple good-fun poking is more likely. Plus, beer!
And you DFH can stop with your “both accepted spellings” along with your calls for everyone to get a medal and getting rid of letter grades. And GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!! [/curmudgeon]
*gives sigh of relief*
Good!
And don’t get too excited about the beer. It’s gluten-free and not very good.
It’s an affection that’s become a habit, my British English spelling. I’ve always lived in the US. I do know better, because I don’t use it in my classwork.
DFH = Dogfish Head?
“Dirty Fucking Hippie”
OMFSM, though… I have Dogfish Head in the fridge! It is the last of the non-homebrew beer I have left as I descend into abject (hopefully temporary) poverty! 60 Minute IPA, which is nummy and not nearly as scary as the 90 or 120 minute.
Caine:
Yeah, that’s the only plausible thing I can think of. It happened immediately when I started rubbing in the oil. The left earlobe got the most rubbing with the oil (because my right hand was clicking the mouse while I browsed the intertube) and blew up right away and looked worse. The right earlobe did eventually swell up some, but not as bad.
Fortunately I mix the oil myself so I can go through and test each ingredient later, when my ears have calmed down and healed.
Cicely:
Yeek! See, I’ve never had problems like this before (other than some slight pissiness when I have a virus). I took out the same hypoallergenic Pyrex plugs I’ve been wearing for months. I hadn’t handled anything new with my hands before I touched my ears. They had been perfectly fine five minutes before. So frustrating.
Daisy Cutter:
Oh don’t worry, I would have if it stayed swollen. They’re much better this morning although still sore, no signs of infection, just irritation.
My poor lobe holes have shrunk terribly: they were 2g and now won’t accept anything larger than a 4 and even that would be pushing it, so I’m not going to try wearing anything larger than a 6 and that not until they’re all settled down, so it may end up being even smaller because they seem to still be shrinking. Sniffle.
Homebrew beer! Dogfish Head! In your fridge!
You win.
I’m on a gluten-free diet, not because I think there’s any general health benefit (there’s not). Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve excluded from my diet (not all at the same time) dairy, caffeine, red meat, all meat, soda, raw vegetables, unsoluble fiber, acidic foods, alcohol, and things I’ve probably forgotten about. All in an effort to get digestive relief.
Gluten-free is pretty easy, but the beer is…not that great.
MissEla, *hug*
At least he had that last, good day.
–
Caine: I know what you mean about black eyes and strange, accusatory looks. About three months ago, I got up in the night (Nature on Line One), opened the bedroom door, stepped forward to go down the hall—and it turned out that the door hadn’t opened as far as I thought. I caught the edge of the door directly across my right eye, and it blackened up beautifully, as well as nearly stunning me with the force of my impact, for I was indeed haulin’ ass. Nowadays, we keep a tap-light on the headboard; when I have to go out in the night, I hit it, and can at least see where the damned door is at.
–
Definitely “funny-peculiar” rather than “funny-ha-ha”.
–
I’m taking a break from the ninth yellow-orange-aqua sock to knit a pair of socks for a friend who requested “green”. I have a skein of bizarre Opal Rainforest, colorway “Caterpillar” (“Raupe”) which appears to be green with black and white blotches. Fortunately, I found a pattern which breaks up the blotches: RPM, from Knitty, pattern here.Unfortunately, RPM’s spiral pattern is designed wrong. It’s written as a multiple of 9, but the last stitch in the round needs to overlap with the first stitch in the next round in order to advance the spiral track. As written, the last spiral track is always one stitch too wide.
So, the solution is to cast on a multiple of 9, minus one stitch. That is, 72 – 1 = 71. All better. (Or for smaller, 63 – 1 = 62)
I’m not a member of Ravelry or I’d check to see if anyone has noted that fix on the RPM page. I can’t be the only person who cared about this little problem or figured out the improvement.
Improbable Joe:
Oh. Even though I am a hippie, I’m disappointed. I wanted it to mean “Damn Fucking Heathens”. ;p
ibelieveindog, sorry about your digestive “issues”… I should probably do something more than buy more TP, but I don’t. Have you tried hard ciders? They’re gluten free, and they’re not trying to be beer without vital ingredients.
Gee, I also live in a similar district (casa la redhead built circa 1920), and now that you mention it some of my neighbors have high melanin content, and some don’t. What one sees driving through the neighborhood is neat well kept older houses (most brick) and lawns, with lots of nice shade trees.
Oh, the street out front, under the asphalt…BRICKS!
Improbable Joe,
You might be a good person to ask. I like a good, very dry cider, but the only one I’ve found is Strongbow. I somewhat loathe the taste of carbonated apple juice, and most ciders seem to be along those lines. Any suggestions?
insipidmoniker,
I’m sort of new to the cider game. Have you tried Woodchuck? They’ve got enough varieties that you might find something you like better than Strongbow.
I may be possibly going to Ottawa soon for a day or two. Besides the currency museum, any suggestions on what would be a good thing to visit that would interest tween/teenaged boys?
Improbable Joe,
I’ve tried some Woodchuck, but most of it is too sweet for my taste. I like tart (or gland-twitchingly bitter) but I’m not much for sweet drinks.
Thanks for the Woodchuck suggestion, Improbable Joe. The raspberry and Granny Smith look interesting.
insipidmoniker,
I think Woodchuck has one called “Dry & Dark” or something similar, that is very tart rather than overly sweet.
Nerd,
I hear ya. My house is roughly 200 years old; the foundation predates the rest of the structure by about 100.
Joe, Thankfully, my neighborhood will never become gentrified. One of the advantages to being historically protected, I suppose.
Caine,
My SiL has always been an idiot. She couldn’t even figure out why I would think she was using dogwhistles.
Caine, thanks for my virtual rat. I will love her to bits. You’ve made me a happier woman. On a day when, after I and many of my colleagues have been screwed, once again, by our incomprehensible “management” and I Quit. My. Job.
Yep. Quit. I’m out of here, I’m going to be the misanthropic potter I want to be anyhow.
(I dion’t have my own kiln, etc., but I have use of such things in a shared space.)
Fuck. I hate (some) people right now.
Cider? If you can find it, Crispin is not too sweet and refreshingly tart.
Amblebury, you’re welcome. I got a lovely shot of Agnes and she’ll soon be painted on a trading card. :D Agnes is little smartypants, too. She figured out how to get up to my art stuff shelves and she made sure to show Gytha, Magrat and Amelia how to do it too.
Congratulations? At least it sounds like you’re out of a miserable situation. Two good friends of mine are potters and they manage pretty well. You don’t have to *completely* starve when you’re an artist. After all, I’m still on the planet. ;)
mythbri,
I read that as “Archbishop Satan ”
Time to go to bed.
Improbable Joe*:
This is exactly why I do not identify myself as a “liberal” anymore. There’s far too much privileged baggage that goes along with it (everything from NPR worshiping suburbanites to alt-med woo-sters). I don’t want to be associated with that crap.
*Would have responded to this bit earlier, but my Kindle decided that pasting was just too damned much.
Amblebury:
*champagne* &/or *hugs* as needed and wanted.
(And congrats for getting out of a shitty situation.)
Audley,
I’m here all night, tip your waitstaff and try the special. “)
Another pic from the #NoseHillGentlemen hashtag. BWAHAHAHA!!!
Amblebury, good for you, walking out of that situation.
Ibelieveindog, sorry you had to deal with those asshats.
No. You’re really not.
Joe:
No shit. And they’ve been like that for decades. As always, I recommend Phil Ochs’ “Love Me, I’m a Liberal,” updated for (somewhat) recent times by Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon.
I have a confession. I don’t like beer, in general.
I adore french hard cider, and perry. The stuff that tastes like apple flavored weak beer isn’t even a poor imitation of the real thing. The only American hard cider that has even come close to what it “should” taste like came from this cider mill in Connecticut.
Sadly, they no longer do mail order. If you are in the area, it is a fun place to visit in the fall.
Oh lord, check out Paul Ryan Gosling on Twitter. “Hey girl, I hope you’re middle class because I’m totally ready to screw you.”
Improbable Joe,
I’ll keep an eye an eye for the Dark & Dry, thanks!
Audley,
Same for the Crispin, also, very happy you’re around. I always look forward to your comments.
Woodchuck tends to the sweet. Their 802 isn’t bad though. I like Hornsby’s personally, as Audley mentioned, Crispin is also pretty good.
Man, apparently I suck at previewing. Should be an eye out for.
insipidmoniker:
Awe, thanks!
Oh fuck, yes, that’s what I meant! “funny” as in “horrible-weird and not fucking amusing AT ALL”
It’s a shame that the weather is so nice on a weekend when I just want to hole up and read Cracked. Had a breakup on Thursday. Only a couple-months relationship, and amiable as far as these things go, but it still hurts. Right as I was summoning up the nerve to post one of those terribly annoying, “Oh by the way, I’m dating!” posts somewhere. Now I seem to be soliciting pity, which must be even more annoying. But I’m recovering.
Shit, Rey, I’m sorry.
***
To quote Kevin Gosztola,
Also: Dying Daughter’s Health Insurance Cut By Wells Fargo?
Rey Fox,
As far as I’m concerned, solicit what you need, because I’m pretty sure most of us have been there at least
14 timesonce.Rey:
Aw, damn. That’s awful, Rey. Hells yeah it hurts. It always hurts. *Hugses and booze and more hugses*
yeah, that sucks Rey, hoists a cuba libre in yer direction.
Perseids should be at their best tonight, around 2:30 am. (US eastern standard time)
*booze and candy for Rey!*
Aw, damn, Rey. Hugs and pizza and booze.
Rey: That sucks. It will be no help at all I’m sure, but the fact that it hurts means that you were doing it right. Emotional vulnerability is necessary IMO to make most kinds of committed relationships work.
[rummages around the back of the pantry]
Here, have some marshmallows…
[rummages some more]
…some gummy snakes….
[looks on high shelves]
…Ooh and the last bottle of The Celtic Red Ale.
What? Those are the only treats we have in the house, it’s the thought that counts right? :)
Without catching up, I had a near-perfect day and have enough glowing contentment for everyone.
Open your USBs.
Sorry for your news, Rey. *sends virtual booze*
Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru is what someone posted Ryan likes to drink
feckin cheap lobbyists and he has a crap palette Pinot Noir? Might as well be drinking maddog or short dogs of boone farm.
A decent pol will demand vin ordinaire rouge sec like
1995 Lafite-Rothschild
Thanks for that chigau.
Normally I’d be in dire need of it, contentment being somewhat foreign to me except in fleeting instances. But today we plant trees on our 2 acre block of land. And not just any trees, fruit trees! And not only that, for the first time in my independent life I live in a climate where such trees might actually bear fruit, edible fruit*, edible fruit for me to eat!
Not only that, but the paperwork for our building loan is finally complete. All that’s left is to pin down a time to go sign the thing. And we got enough to put in solar panels. And we got it through in time to get the first homebuyer’s grant before the slashed it to a pittance. And, it sounds like the builders are ready to start as soon as the first payment comes through….
You know what? I’m going to take your contentment, add it to my almost unprecedented feeling of optimism and throw the fizzy sparkly mixture round the internets willy nilly. Enjoy!
*Except the grapefruit. Gah, nasty stuff.
This just a test to see what the new rules are.
Okay then, I borked my 347 all on my lonesome, good to know. It was a sidesplitting bon mot of a rollover text, honest.
FossilFishy:
Been there, done that (but only on 1 acre).
One word: Birds.
[free association musical interlude]
Romeo & Juliet
I’m told there is a *plan* for dealing with birds involving star pickets, bamboo rods, netting and serious pruning. I have my doubts but we’ll see. Mind you, we’re only putting in a dozen or so, my misgivings could be misplaced.
FossilFishey I learned something new about where I live. Fruit trees do well but the climate supports OLIVE TREES!!! So one Kalamata, one mumbledunnoBigGreenthing and are supposed to produce in two years.
John Morales, yes I thought about birds. Then I remembered the old nursery rhyme
How many (insert annoying bird here) can be baked in a pie.
Olives, nice!
They grow around here too, I wonder if Mrs. Fishy thought of that…I know that figs were discussed at one point. I’m most excited about Mandarins and Gala apples though.
Thanks for the booze and pizza, all.
FossilFishy: That’s kind of the way I’ve been looking at it. It’s a good kind of hurt.
I spent a summer picking tree fruit back in my yoofths. Our host had a tree with several kinds of apples and pears all grafted onto one root stock. I’d like to try that sometime if for no other reason than the mad scientistic nature of it.
Good on yah Ray, I’m glad to hear that. And while I’m at it: here’s some optimism for the future, I seem to have it in abundance today.
Shit, that’d be Rey. Sorry.
okay, thanks to a recent bean recipe (sorry I cut and pasta to my email so cannot attribute correctly) I took 2 lbs great northern beans instead of navy
covered in water in crockpot.
1 tspoon dry mustard
2 tspoon garlic powder 1 tspoon onion powder
1/2 diced onion
1 cup diced celery
shitload of fresh ground pepper
1 shot of white vinegar
2 tspoons salt
1/4 oz of tobasco
set crockpot on low for overnight
those who want faster results can use 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, softens beans quickly, adds to methane production.
plan is to go fishing until 2pm or so
add boston butt 2lbs (boston butt is local for pork shoulder roast) with very light cinnamon and nutmeg
will add small can of ortega sliced chilies. will add maple syuop to taste at this point because I want to permeate the dish. May add a tomato, will taste first
this stuff better be good because I will be having it for lunch all next week.
Dragged the kids outside at 11:30 to try and see some Perseids. Went about a half hour out of town. The first place we stopped was next to the highway and there was still a surprising amount of traffic, but we saw several in about 15 minutes. Then we left there and went for what I thought would be a nice dark town park another 10 miles down the road, but turned out to be a brightly-lit town park. Interestingly, we saw a much better view of the sky than we had at the first place, because the overall light pollution was just that much less. Probably had about 25 minutes or so of viewing (then one child started complaining of being too tired), and saw maybe 12 or so meteors total. Not too shabby.
WTF did I just watch? Someone hand me the bleach.
Did anyone watch the women’s high jump final? I could have killed that offensive obnoxious dancing on the tarmac while her collegues try to concentrate USA girl.
New fossils from Koobi Fora in northern Kenya confirm taxonomic diversity in early Homo
I always wondered about this theory of homo sapiens being one entity, it seemed more likely that there would have been many homo lines diverging from the common ancestor. And that’s what seems to be the case.
FAILBlog has discovered a shocking example of misandry in the music industry!
Ha! I’m making pork and beans as well. I’ve added a little paprika and a couple of tomatoes to the suggested mix; and the roast is a small boneless leg cut, since my local supermarket didn’t run to a shoulder piece.
Sorry to hear that, Rey Fox – here, have a Nice Cup of Tea? They sometimes help, just a very little bit :(
Yay for some Fishes and people having fruit trees and other good things, though!
Going to be spending most of the day today getting SonSpawn to one week of jazz Summer School, leaving him there and getting home again. This was terrifying (to me) last year, but he should manage all right this time. A whole week of jazz! The jammy sod. (and the fantastic thing is they charge on a sliding scale depending on family pecuniousness/impecuniousness – I fucking love socialism).
So I’ll see youse all tonight, most likely. ::waves::
@ Alethea
I’m going to try something vegetarian: couscous and feta-stuffed peppers
Splitter!
Chris Rodda’s responding to a challenge to debunk “Lies About Jefferson” David Barton, while Barton’s co-host Rick Green is studiously ignoring any comments actually responding to the challenge he presented. Rodda’s book and source documents are available for the reading, and she’s calling for interested parties to reblog and raise awareness of the challenge. Use #DavidBartonChallenge on twitter.
Accepting the challenge:
https://proxy.freethought.online/rodda/2012/08/11/barton-radio-co-host-issues-challenge-ive-accepted/
Latest post (see also the several previous):
https://proxy.freethought.online/rodda/2012/08/12/bartons-minion-rick-green-responds-sort-of/
Cited summary:
http://www.goddiscussion.com/100051/one-of-the-foremost-barton-debunkers-accepts-challenge-to-prove-the-fallacies-in-the-jefferson-lies/
Aaaaand here is Rick Green’s response:
http://www.rickgreen.com/why-the-clanking-cymbals-and-blathering-nonsense-of-some-critics-does-not-answer-my-challenge-for-specific-proof-that-any-premise-in-david-bartons-book-about-thomas-jefferson-is-inaccurate/
Kinda says it all huh.
@broboxley OT
Oooo, that sounds great! It’s a wonderful base, the beans and the pork, which you can take in many directions.
One more recipe here, because I’ve become a convert to fish, thanks to this one. I was eating the usual beef, chicken, pork rotation, and then I made this and now I’m eating fish about 5 times a week.
Green or Red Curry
One head of garlic (or to taste)
One medium sweet onion
30 gms thinly sliced ginger (pro tip — sushi ginger works well and is all pre-sliced and thin)
One half can coconut milk (about 200 ml)
One medium eggplant
One half packet of Real Thai green or red curry mix. (Not the jar full, the 50 gm packet)
Tbsp ground cumin (or to taste)
Tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
4 or 5 tbsp olive oil
Sprinkle of cracked black peppercorns
One fish fillet (but there’s room for two)
Peel and dice the garlic. Dice the onion. Measure about 30 gms thinly sliced ginger root. Chop the egg plant into cubes.
Place the curry paste into a large fry pan, with the olive oil. Mush the paste into the oil so that it thins somewhat and will coat the added ingredients. Add the garlic, onion and ginger. Stir fry over a medium high heat. As you stir fry, add the cumin and cinnamon. Once the onion is translucent, add the coconut milk. Add the eggplant cubes. Continue to stir, watching the bottom of the pan. The coconut milk will thicken. You should not let it get too thick or it will burn while the fish is cooking. (Try cooking for about one minute. You should see small bubbles forming on the edge of the pan as the coconut milk reduces. This means it is ready.) Place the fish fillet(s) on top of the mixture. Spoon the mixture over the fillets until they are well covered. Cover and continue cooking, but you may want to reduce the heat somewhat. After about 5 minutes, the fillets should be done. Serve, putting all the contents of the pan onto the plates. Sprinkle with cracked black peppercorns.
I’m all low carb just now, but this would be wonderful with rice or naan bread.
Sorry to once again bother you with a question, but does anyone here happen to have access to this paper:
http://jm.lyellcollection.org/content/14/1/59.short
I can’t access it through my University and I need it so if someone with access could mail it to me (heavymetaldaydreamer at gmail dot com) that would be brilliant.
US basketball dream team due for gold medal match in 2.5 hours, I’ll watch that, always great to see a billionaire club take it out on the local beggar’s guild. Actually, I’ll watch the handball final that is on at the same time, at least there the two teams meet on equal terms.
Sorry. That journal doesn’t appear to be in my library.
Just started reading Liars for Jesus. If nobody beats me to it, I’ll start posting relevant excerpts in Rick Green’s comments as I come across them.
That should counter the claim he’s expected to make that a link to a book does not count as ‘specific’ evidence.
Homo sapiens IS one entity. A species. That’s what a species is.
Homo is a genus. Several other species of Homo were already known. This article’s news is that there were a couple of other Homo species at the same general time and place as H. erectus.
Annnnd tree planting didn’t happen. Ah well, good day otherwise.
opposablethumbs: Hooray for summer camp and double hooray for jazz summer camp! I went to the Courtney Youth Music Camp on Vancouver Island one summer, mind you, I was twenty* and one of the older students there. I’m not sure how much I learned exactly, but it was really great to be doing something I loved in a fun and novel environment.
*I know my age because one evening I walked into town and saw Aliens in the theatre. I got double my money’s worth because I was being billeted in the high school. By the time I got back they’d turned off all the overhead lights and turned on the emergency lighting so we could find the loo and suchlike. They’d also shut all the heavy steel fire doors. At each one I had to stop and chant “It was just a movie, it was just a movie, it was just A MOVIE!” before yanking it open. Good times.
I need to glue big, googly eyes on my vacuum cleaner.
This has been your daily instalment of Sili doesn’t have a Twitter, thank you for listening. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Thread.
Love the 60. Was drinking the 90 last night; delicious but even 2 pints was too much; had to drop back to Guinness. I find the 120 nasty sweet and syrupy; no thank you.
Rorschach,
I take it that Mr Helm does not have another convert to his unique comedic stylings?
Louis
Poorly groomed overweight guy with no singing voice? Just hits too close to home to be funny…
Now to the Basketball final USA vs Spain…
Racial profiling at work? I’m surprised that “blacks wearing hoodies isn’t listed among the profiles.
I’m sure this will cause a stir within the halls of the NRA.
****
Not a beer person here either. I recently tried Angry Orchard (a cider beer), and found it nice and crisp. I liked it well enough, and I think that’s due to the apple flavor.
Hi there
Rey
I’m sorry to hear :(
+++++
Went to archery practise today. Was fun to shoot again after such a long time, but why the fuck did the guy want to give me a childern’s bow???
+++++
Wow, I’m drawn to TF’s comments on his “I am a criminal, praise me” post to see how people argue that he wasn’t wrong because the lophole was easy to exploit like one watches a car accident.
It’s so bad even Wrlch has to disagree…
Needles, re Liars for Jesus: thanks, and good luck with that, but so far Rick Green isn’t *allowing* comments that actually answer his posted challenge. Hence Rodda’s call for pressuring him through venues he doesn’t control, such as other blogs and Twitter.
er, should have added this in same post: a commenter got this response from Rick Green.
https://proxy.freethought.online/rodda/2012/08/12/will-bartons-minion-rick-green-have-time-to-respond-to-this-comment/#comment-8580
Guess he’s one of the “facts are bullying!” crowd, just wrapped in more layers of tripe.
By the way, Chris Rodda linked to the FREE PDF of her book:
http://www.liarsforjesus.com/downloads/LFJ_FINAL.pdf
and
http://www.liarsforjesus.com/footnotes.htm
@ Alethea
No, I just lop the tops off. ;)
Omnomnomnom…
(Note, bacon is a vegetable.)
Tony: That first story is out of Boston? Such a fuckin’ surprise.
When even state troopers think you’re a racist douchebag… you’re probably a racist douchebag.
Also, it’s not even “racial profiling.” It’s just out-and-out racism. Unless you really think that young black men wearing backwards baseball caps are going to hijack planes.
Tony #486 the study has already been done, perhaps the good Dr in Wisconsin should read it
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm
For y’all’s information, while hunting for asset forfeiture resources I came across this Daily Beast post noting a subtle move of the Obama administration away from warring on pot:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/05/obama-has-already-quietly-begun-revising-the-government-s-war-on-drugs.html
*waves at everyone!*
Slightly
thread[Lounge]rupt. I’ve spent my entire morning scrubbing down my apartment, whick feels goo-ood! (Besides being slightly awkward when DarkFetus was punching my bladder at the same time I was scrubbing out my coffee maker.)Rorschach, #484,
LOL!
But as I am sure you are aware, that’s kind of the point of Mr Helms’ act. If it wasn’t disturbing to we more rotund, hirsute male bellowers, it wouldn’t be half so funny.
Make sure to see “He make you look fat”. A love song for all ages.
Louis
:-D :-D :-D :-D
I seem to remember watching the first Alien film in the cinema, hiding behind my jacket … :-D
Just got back from taking Spawn to the jazz week, here’s hoping he copes all right and has a good time. Should be OK, there were a few familiar faces there and the “chaperones” are all really nice … fingers X’d, anyway.
@Theophontes #369
Yes, there is a quasi-religious reverence for the Constitution among a large part of the American electorate. It is treated as the source and wellspring of liberty and democracy, the original document of which all other democratic constitutions are but pale imitations. It’s part of the whole American Exceptionalism routine.
@Ibeleiveingdog:
That’s a shitty thing to have happen. re:#395, You’re not being unfairly judgmental at all. There are a lot of people like that.
@Improbable Joe #392
Hear, hear.
@Insipid Moniker #418:
I find Blackthorn is decent. I really love Wandering Aengus, but if you’re not in Oregon you’ll ahave to special order it.
@Amblebury
Congrats. I held out at my last hell job until they fired me. Now I have a bleeding ulcer and a pice ofa class action suit to remember them by. Glad you got out of there.
@Fossilfishy:
Yay for fruit trees
@ Rey Fox:
Sympathies, mate.
Leah Libresco Photoshop.
Did anyone else hear “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” this weekend? Both NASA guys that Tony was hot for were on (Mohawk Guy and Elvis-hair Guy). And let me tell you, not only are they easy on the eyes AND smart rocket scientists, but they are FUNNY!
Hah!