This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. It is hedgehog day.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly. It is hedgehog day.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Hooray for hedgies!
I used to play with little hedge hogs in some academic acceleration thingy in 4th grade. So fucking cute! Also strangely hypnotic to feed them the meal worms.
Ooooohhhhhhhh baby hedgehog! Awwwww.
Here I thought it was boobies n penii chat day.
… hrm, I wonder how long until P-Zed runs out of cute baby animals.
Esteleth, Previous thread,
We are proper mature we are. Talking about willies is the height of sophistimacation dotcherknow.
Tits? I could be persuaded to talk about those. But only tomorrow. I do not discuss such things this early in the week. A boy must have standards you know.
Louis
Eeeeeeee, baby hedgehog, serious cute!
Sunflowers. Concussed photography! Heh.
Don’t eat the soylent peaches! THEY’RE MADE OF HEDGEHOGS!
When can we ever have a committed convo about why it’s rational to speak with respect about/to each other and why verbal abuse is abuse and need not be tolerated or given any attention?
I want a hedgehog!
willies “checks” still have one, boobs are interesting, its raining again :-(
I use these jumbo plastic clothespins from IKEA and the other day when I was hanging dish towels on the line I noticed something in one of them: a wee black-and-white jumping type spider had woven her egg sac into the ridge on the handle edge, and a little silken cavern for herself, and was hovering protectively over the eggs. I left her there, of course.
Oh, good, new thread.
————-
So I had to listen to a coworker say she was “sorry” to hear that an aquantinences son was actually a trans woman. I got to hear every sing fucking canard from, “you must be so disappointed” to “wait, we have to refer to Him as HER!?” everybody in the room could hear her.
I wanted to fucking puke. And because this was at work and she out ranks me by a lot, I had to fucking sit there. I couldn’t even call her out.
So I’ve done the next best thing. There isn’t an LBGTQ group at my workplace yet. But I got in contact with the one at a different facility, and I am now going to be helping it form from the ground floor.
So unnamed Trans Lady, thank you. I got the courage to do this from your courage to come out.
I’m trying to trace the history of the skepticsphere phrase “sophisticated theology”, who is on the sophisticated theologist list (e.g., Plantinga) and who put them there. Notes here. I think I have the meaning and usage down, but I am hazy on the origins and history of the precise phrase. I’m reconstructing a lot from web evidence, but ideally I need the accounts of people who actually watched it develop and remember it happening. Any help is most welcomed.
I found out today that I have been walking around on a broken leg. Well, it was broken (a clean break in the fibula), but healed on its own and by the time I got in to see the doctor, was finished and tickety-boo. It did explain the intermittent breath-taking nausea-inducing twinges when I stepped in certain directions. I just figured I had a really nasty bruise and the proper approach was just to suck it up. I guess it’s time to have a bone density scan. I am nearly 70; I guess that makes me an old person.
Jesus, Lee! Take care, will you? I’m very glad it healed, but geez…
TIL that it’s possible to walk around with a broken leg and not know. Yeesh.
Yellow jackets and nature day camp are not a good combination. I got 3 fairly bad stings (the ones where the damn hornets sit on you and really get some time to work on their stinging action…), and I had 6 or 7 campers stung as well, although given how quickly the kids stopped complaining about the pain, I’m pretty sure theirs were a lot briefer. Then behavior problems, stereotypical teenage-boy flirting attemptations towards the teenage-girl volunteers, a lot of generally annoying stereotypical gendered behavior, some obnoxious kid aggression to other kids (probably related to the stress of the whole hornet encounter), some unprofessional staff behavior which I did not know of until a parent arrived back at camp to tell me about it, literally as I was walking out the door. Also some irritating YEC stuff anticipated from volunteers at some point in the week, and having to be aware that one of my campers has no vaccinations because of (I hate our culture sometimes) a religious exemption, so if someone gets sick, I have to remember to segregate her away from everyone else. And my camper in the lycra/spandex niqab, which even my niqab wearing acquaintance from Saudi Arabia says is insanely too hot for summer wear.
And, of course, I’m busily ruminating about my damn indoor-outdoor cats and where the hell I would put the cat run if I decided that this was an ethical situation I should actually do something about, or whether that several hundred dollars of supplies should go somewhere else where it would do more good, and how to even figure that ethical balance out.
Oh, and I got about 4 hours of sleep last night, so that made everything today just extra spiffy. I’m going to go eat cold cereal for dinner and go to bed.
This comment by tkreacher is extremely funny and insightful. Worthy of a top-level post. “Guide to Conduct as a White Male Skeptic, Online edition”.
There is no need to ever run out of cute baby animals.
@Josh #18
That is fucking hilarious. Fifty gold stars and one internet to tkreacher!
PeeeZeee, honey, get caught up. Feb 2 is Hedgehog day!
“On February 2nd in 1994, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released in the US, and it was dubbed “Hedgehog Day”.
http://blogs.sega.com/2012/02/02/happy-hedgehog-day-2012/
But nevermind, hedgies are cute enough to celebrate every day.
Now all we need is for Nanny Ogg to sing the Hedgehog song.
Well, folks… I found my parents.
Turns out they’re in a gigantic house that they bought. Jesus, it only took them two weeks to realized that they’d moved and disconnected their old phone without telling me their new address or phone number.
Rawnaeris, that sounds like horrid exchange to have to sit through silently. But hey, now you are starting a group that might render those exchanges at least somewhat less acceptable? That’s really great! I hope your group comes together with enthusiasm and courage equal to yours for starting it and hers for coming out.
As for the general conversation, well…
:looks in pants:
:looks at chest:
…um, I’m going to get a beer out of the fridge. Anyone want one?
Hey! Where did the site g—
Oh. Here it is. Thanks to whoever adjusted the antenna.
Obligatory cute hedgehog song. +1 to anyone who knows what it is before clicking.
Crap, you people are moving too fast today. Days and days of slow thread, and now I have to catch up from just this morning and there are SO MANY COMMENTS.
When hedgehogs curl up like that, it creeps me out because they remind me of a spiny flaccid penis.* From a certain angle, at least.
There, a combo of the two topics.
*Not that flaccid penes are themselves creepy. It’s just that hedgehogs are not penes.
So… not even an hour into my 12 hour fast for the blood glucose test and I’m already hungry.
Blarg. Maybe I’ll just go to bed.
Oh…my. Maybe I didn’t want to get caught up after all.
Audley, sorry about the fasting. :(
Esteleth, yay about your dad.
Lee, ouch! Take care of yourself!
Rawnaeris, good on you!
Josh- “Thank you all for your condolences about my boner. There will be calling hours and a viewing in my living room.” is just about the funniest statement ever. Just tell me there won’t be a receiving line…
When I did that test while pregnant I found I was immediately ravenous as soon as I heard about doing the test and the hunger didn’t go away til immediately after I was done with the test.
It was miserable.
Oh my gosh, just got this on twitter. This times a THOUSAND.
The way we think.
I just love finding people sharing my photos online and Facebook with zero attribution.
I helped my ex disassemble a teak patio set to clean and refinish it yesterday. I work harder for her now that she’s remarried than when “WE” were married. Divorce, I’m doin it wrong.
anal exams in lebanon?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4267954,00.html stupidity vile stupidity
Josh, that is a very nom-worthy post and I have bookmarked it, however, this post of Alethea’s will be my first nomination, hands down.
Rev. BDC:
Damn. One person or more than one? Have you told them off?
Speaking of, I *loathe* pinterest.
Just ’cause I’m paranoid, there haven’t been any Rhinebeck planning emails gone out yet, right? I did the survey back when it was up, but haven’t seen anything since. I don’t expect there to be anything yet, it’s just a quirk of mine that I’m always scared of being left out…
It’s the Charleston page on Facebook.
They say they wish they knew who the artist was…
Well where the fuck did you get my photo?
While we’re linking to sunflower photos…<a href="http://saltycurrent.blogspot.com/2012/08/interlude-sunflowers.html"once more.
While we’re showing hedgehogs…from commenter TerranRich.
Rev. BDC:
I’d pursue this, because they may have gotten it from someone else who stole it, rather than your gallery.
Fixed:
While we’re linking to sunflower photos…once more.
While we’re showing hedgehogs…from commenter TerranRich.
SC, those are beautiful. I love the deep burgundy ones.
Hedgehogs? Pshaw. International Left-Handers Day. Now that’s the reason to be nice.
Rev – that was my thought too, that they got it from someone else who either claimed it as their own, or “couldn’t remember” where they found it, or who had seen it somewhere else at another site that had ripped it off.
Ditto the kudos on tkreacher’s post. That was pure awesomesauce.
You know the thing about hedgehogs is they can never be buggered at all.
..and that reminds me of a little ditty…..
Poo, I was beaten to the Nanny Ogg reference.
I just got home from listening to Obama talk in Boone. I had never attended a political event like that before and I’m glad I went, but damn, it was a pain in the ass.
As far as I could tell, it was a horrible venue for the number of people allowed in. It seemed like the vast majority of attendants either did not get to see him at all, or had to get aggressive just to get a glance. I’m fairly tall and mostly what I saw was the back of a very presidential sounding teleprompter with the occasional ear sticking out from either side.
I entertained myself with trying to spot members of the Secret Service and snipers in trees. That level of security was fascinating to me.
If my wife volunteers to help with an event like that again, maybe I will go, otherwise I think I will just stay home and watch the coverage on TV.
Spoilers for the Eleventh Doctor’s new clothes.
Thanks, Caine. So are yours. I’d never really cared for sunflowers, but the burgundy ones inspired me to take the pictures, which led me to a new appreciation. They have such personality.
The reds are stunning, especially against a stormy blue sky.
That little hedgehog reminds me of the dog I recorded down at the Farmers Market last Saturday, so for your extreme entertainment I proudly present:
Little Licky Dog!
Caine – Zoe is printed and will be matted and framed and hung on the wall of a very appreciative 13 year old GirlChild.
I’ll post another recommendation for the Gallup International study discussed by Jason “Evolutionblog” Rosenhouse and Adam “Daylight Atheism” Lee, which found that demographic levels of irreligion and “convinced atheis[m]” are even higher in the U.S. and numerous other countries than many of us had hoped.
Ok so my mind was being blown by the U of New Wales embryology website (I haven’t taken a biology class proper since 1978 and back then I was still partially enthralled to the “that’s the way god wants it” answer to “but why…?”), and then I read this:
“The patterning signal secreted by notochord cells is sonic hedgehog (shh)”
When I was a kid the scientists on TV were all serious in their white coats and Progress and Enlightenment and whatnot. This is completely.. well, it’s way better, actually.
PZ will enjoy this one.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2703#comic
Van Gogh and sunflower genetics article I saw a few months ago.
We saw a small (12-15) herd of muskox today.
Another refinery fire here this afternoon. This one over in Martinez.
Yay fuel.
Rev. BDC: Have you tried a Google image search? I suspect that your picture will turn up unattributed on quite a few sites.
Thanks, Carlie.
JAL:
I’m at the point where I’m always hungry as it is and I was SO hoping to “pass” the 1 hour screening that I had convinced myself that I actually did.
But besides that, everything else is going quite well. And I really am going to bed now. Have a good night, everyone!
Then where is the line for receiving Josh’s boner?
Outstanding.
Goodnews: new art comp works great..photoshop flies on it and great for what I want to learn to do with it
Badnews: teeth hurt need dentist ow….whole bottom front just feel too goddamn tight like they’ve suddenly grown into eachother. I’m presumning gum problem
Worsenews: cooworker joking in break about stealing stuff to make chloriform for prowling highschools
Rev BDC
Just did an image search – returns five pages for that photo!
Some examples…
http://www.popalockcharleston.com/
http://rmfrenze.stu.cofc.edu/intro.htm
http://givingwhatiam.blogspot.com.br/2011_08_01_archive.html
Ing – this might be entirely inappropriate for your pain, but I’ve had a weird crowding pain sensation before and what helped in the short term was threading floss through those teeth about halfway down to force them apart a little bit, and leaving it there for 20 minutes or so. Or there’s Anbesol. Or liquor.
Carlie have started flossing…seemed to exasperbate problem
strange gods before me ॐ #55 – That was wicked crazy! I also liked the video with Susie right below it. I feel like Suzie sometimes. Yikes!
Rawnaeris:
That sucks intensely. Good on you for looking for a way to help more. At my current job, when my boss’ boss’ boss was giving the lecture on the harassment policy, he used as an example a co-worker who had recently started transitioning, but because of the policy he refrained from making any of the ‘really funny‘ jokes he thought of whenever he met her. I called him on it as best I could in the circumstance, but I have no idea how much impact it had.
reading a book
“He took my hand as we walked across to the restaurant, and he ran his thumb absently across my palm. I was surprised to find that there was a direct line from my palm to my, my hootchie”
hmmm. Checks author, female check.
Walk to spouse, take her hand, rub thumb absently across palm, then go for the hootchie. “ASSHOLE, I’m trying to do dishes here!” What the fuck! slinks back to my book muttering
@ Caine
That’s a pretty good comment, too. However, I’ll concede bias and say that as a Straight White Male Atheist, tkreacher’s comment just caused my socks to fly off my feet and end up in the refrigerator.
Finally got me some solar panels! shit yeah! everything usually runs on coal in utah…
broboxley
What are you reading?
Thanks Caine *blushes*. I’ve already nominated tkreachers in the relevant thread, but how are we going to do this? Is there word on procedure that I missed?
1. The receiving line for my boner starts after Louis.
2. ING–are your wisdom teeth still in? If so, that could part of the problem. Certainly was for me.
Meanwhile in another comments thread on another blog, I just read someone dismiss claims of bias and racism and bigotry because “how come you only hear minorities making these claims?”
Dang. He’s got it all figured out!
@Lynna
Actually, this is a question for anyone who might know the answer, but Lynna is clearly the expert.
I worked with some mormon teachers recently. They lived in the same building as I. I always say good morning, or whatever, to colleagues, so I spoke to them from time to time. They seemed to keep out of my way for about 7 months, then as we came to the end of the academic year at which time they would be leaving the country, they spoke to a sort of organizer in my department. The organizer said the mormons were asking people to dinner in their place. They asked her for me specifically. I was baffled. Why would they want me to come to dinner? Why couldn’t they speak to me themselves? I didn’t know what to say as I have been raised to think that if you are at someone else’s dinner table because you accepted an invitation, you don’t get to criticise their religion or such. I mean if they push it at you, sure, but not otherwise. Others who had gone to an earlier dinner said the teachers did not push it, but he also said they did say their religion meant so much to them. Then dinner was served.
I did not want to seem to sanction their beliefs by going to their home. On the other hand, I knew I would not speak up if I did go. So I just hemmed and hawed and never answered. After awhile, to my immense relief, they began to cut me dead unless their were witnesses, when they would speak to me. I was so happy! They are gone now, but I am not clear on what they thought they were doing.
I guessed that perhaps they were obliging us socially, then when the next set of mormons appeared, they could ask us for favours, etc, saying mormon 1 and mormon 2 had said we would help out. I really don’t know.
Lynna, is this behaviour something you have heard of? It is clattering around in my head, and I wish I understood it. To ignore people for months and months and then expect them to come running to a dinner in your home when you send an invitation by proxy, quite puzzled me.
@ Alethea:
I blush rereading my comment, as it appears to minimize the awesomesauce that your comment was covered in. I still like tkreacher’s better (for person reasons), but in no way did I mean to say that yours wasn’t incredibly awesome. :)
@ Lyn M:
I’ll defer to expert opinion, but I will observe that UC Berkeley was apparently targeted as a mission target in 2000, and that the dinner party was a tactic explicitly used in an effort to convert the “lost”. Still weirds me out that people would approach complete strangers on the street and invite them to dinner, but … there it was.
On the other hand, I take some pride in personally using no less than 15 copies of the Book of Mormon for starting fires.
See this is why I’m an asshole. I just realized the ridiclousness of my current situation.
Lying in bed with Mrs. BDC snoring away and my two dogs, one (70ish lbs husky) nicely at foot of bed and the other (110ish lbs chocolate lab) curled up at my back taking up all the god damn room on earth.
Instead of just booting him off the bed I’m jabbing him with my elbow and giving him the hip shiver. Sort of passive aggressive dog handling.
Which in turn makes him do nothing or occasionally stand up, spin in a circle, and lie back down.
What an asshole I am.
I’m not sure I can approve of these two points being made in the same comment.
Awwww, I love hedgehogs. We have some living in our yard, where they hang out because I throw meat scraps on the lawn. I like to watch them come out when it gets dark to eat the scraps.
Rev. BDC;
When I was a kid we had a cat that would take up room like that. It’s amazing how much room a 10lb cat can take up. Anyways he and I had a little game where we’d push and shove each other in a fight for the duvet, which would normally end with the loser falling off the bed. I woke up on the floor a few times.
I like hedgehogs.
@ Patrick G
Never heard of that one. I felt there was a point to the invitations beyond dinner, but it seems weird that they would think they could convert people they worked with.
Also, they started this up a few weeks before they were to leave the country. Express conversion? Anyhow, I will wait on Lynna who may know something specific. Thanks for the information.
Josh:
tkreacher’s post was amazing. It should be on a must read list for the month.
Plus he should get a reward.
Several of them.
And bacon.
Chocolate too.
So has everyone heard about The American Bible Challenge? It’s apparently supposed to debut on the Game Show Network soon, and I’m really curious to see how American’s are going to do with this challenge give how poorly they know about the Bible.
my thought on hedgehog songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bogz2xZy-bo
uncle frogy
This hedgehog might be better suited to [Thunderdome] but
it’s cute anyway.
I haven’t done one of those why I’m an atheist things yet. But if I did it would be simple. I used to be a Catholic. And I remember all the jokes that we had as kids. Could god make a rock so big that he, himself couldn’t lift it?
And when i finally really thought about it, it gave me a great inside look at infinity theory. And i have been an atheist ever since.
I mostly wrote a why I’m an atheist thing and have let it sit, mostly done on my hard drive because it doesn’t quite feel right. I guess I just feel all the embarrassment confessing to my derpy religious childhood..
I can’t do a “why I’m an atheist” because it would be too short.
A couple of decades ago I made a Pratchett reference to an old boss, who then told me the version of the Hedgehog Song which was doing the rounds in his Cambridge days.
“Extensive researches at Oxford
By Darwin and Huxley and Hall
Have proved beyond doubt that the hedgehog
Can scarcely be buggered at all
But
Further researches at Oxford
Have incontrovertibly shown
That comparative safety at Oxford
Is enjoyed by the hedgehog alone”
David B
Thanks Caine, Pteryxx, Nutmeg and others who gave me info on pocket pet medicine in America. Inspired by what you say I’m going to try to get a placement with a pocket pet person to get some experience.
Pterryx, I think it was you who said that you wanted to go to vet school sorry if I messed up, I hope that you get to go to vet school. Are you American? From my understanding I think that it is ridiculously expensive to get education over there, which is ridiculous because education should be for anyone not simply for the rich. Fortunately I live in Australia and while our system could be better I think it’s not quite so bad (in fact we have Americans in my class because it’s cheaper over here even though they must pay much higher fees than citizens). I will have a debt to the government of $40,000 approx when I finish and it will be deducted from my salary once I am earning enough to pay it off also fortunately they give (give not a loan) about $200 a week to live off. I am very grateful to be here because I know that there are many countries in which I would not be able to do what I am doing. Is my understanding of American Universities correct or not, please correct me Americans. But I really hope you do get there in the end Pteryxx.
what is up with the hedgehogs?
There are several hedgehogs — at least two, perhaps more — living in/nearby the yard/hedge. I can hear, sometimes see, and at least once, tripped over them.
The mildly deranged penguin is a bit flummoxed by them. She’s not sure if they should be pealed before eating. (Hey! She’s a penguin. None of that namby-pamby pealing shrimps, bears, avocados, et al., before eating.)
bells are pealed.
shrimp are peeled.
hedgehogs are flayed.
hth
Good… whatever time of the day it is. I’m on a midnight shift, so I’m very confused, and REALLY busy. Today was a less busy day, so hi everyone!!!
An economic good news story out of Spain! Would you believe it, it’s down to workers cooperatives and a “deep culture of egalitarianism”. Just sit back and watch as all the economic pundits and business schools start recommending egalitarianism and cooperatives as the solution to the crisis.
.
.
.
.
.
Whaddya mean, “naive”?
I’m informed that Romany practice was (is?) to roll them in clay, and bake them in the embers of the campfire. They can then be peeled, spines and all.
Josh, #74,
1) Airport
2) Ticket
3) Travel
4) Lucky Pierre!
Louis
Who’s Pierre?
In other news, our atheist PM is going to give the keynote speech at the local Christian Lobby group national conference. It’s like Cardinal Pell speaking at the Global Atheist Convention, or William Shatner performing at a Star Wars Convention. Disgraceful.
Rorschach,
Link to Urban Dictionary. Not Safe For Anything.*
Louis
* Incidentally this act can be performed with only a single gentleman and two ladies who have the use of certain commercially available equipment. Or even three ladies. I’ve started in the gutter today** haven’t I? Ah well, at least I am looking at the stars!
** Today!??
*peruses link provided*
Err, I see. Wouldn’t it be terribly distracting to be….no, actually, never mind.
Rorschach,
I have heard it, on good authority, that it is remarkably pleasant.
A friend told me. More of an acquaintance really. He has several instructional videos.
Allegedly.
I mean I’ve never seen them.
Perish the thought.
Louis
After confirming with the mildly deranged penguin that she does indeed mean peeled, I checked to see if there are any hedgehogs which could be pealed. There are.
Or, for those who prefer a louder noise, there are also exploding hedgehogs (safe for work and vegetarians, but perhaps not for hedgehogs or brussels sprouts).
Soooooooo how about those {Insert Team Here}?*
Louis
* By “insert team here” I mean for purposes of discussion…well inserting a team certainly would involve and cause discussion but what I meant was this is a distraction to get away from all the naughty** stuff. I’m not doing that very well am I?
** Is sex naughty? Only if done right.
From The Grauniad: “A kangaroo is on the run in Germany after breaking out of a wildlife park, with a fox and a wild boar as his suspected accomplices.”
A spokeshedgehog has denied all responsibility and blamed the peas.
Yeah, Lucky Pierre. I’ve heard of this, although the most cogent comment seemed to be, they have to have incredible timing.
Lyn M,
Well that is the secret of comedy…
Louis
@davidb et al: the reply –
Why haven’t they done it at Oxford,
as they’ve done it at Harvard and Yale
and also at Harman* and Cresswell*
by shaving the spines from its tail?
* insert your own local naval bases here.
For anyone wishing to know more, the first verse of this is easily googled by its first line:
The sexual life of the camel,
Is stranger than anyone thinks,
At the height of the mating season,
He tries to bugger the Sphinx,
But the Sphinx’s posterior sphincter,
Is blocked up by the sands of the Nile,
Which accounts for the hump on the camel,
And the Sphinx’s inscrutable smile.
The melody is “Bound for Botany Bay”.
Also in The Grauniad: “The biggest Burmese python ever caught in Florida, over 5 metres (17ft) long and weighing 74kg (11st 9lb), has been found in Everglades national park, the University of Florida said on Monday.
The snake was pregnant with 87 eggs, also said to be a record.”
A spokeshedgehog, interrupting his lunch of python egg and bacon omelette, has denied all responsibility and blamed the peas. It is unclear if the peas were being blamed for the python, the python being caught, the python being pregnant, or for st and lb.
What is it with Germany and escaped kangeroos? It seems to me that I’ve heard a similar story at least once, maybe twice, before. Do the kangeroos hear that they’re near Austria*, mistake it for Australia and make a run (hop) for it?
Yes, I know Österreich and Australien don’t sound much alike. But the kangeroos have probably been listening to anglophile tourists.
France, I love France. I love the French. Good on you!
Don’t get me wrong, even a hardened old cynic like me shed the odd patriotic tear during the Olympics, which I reckon we managed quite well. My litmus test for this was the fact that the tabloid press were wanking themselves into a froth trying to find something, ANYTHING, they could rip into a criticise but they didn’t find it.
However, this epic piece of “here are your fireworks, allow me to piss on them” bitterness from the French newspapers is sublime. It’s wonderful. I haven’t stopped giggling yet!
Louis
Not entire sure this is real, but apparently some people do: Why don’t Kangaroos migrate to Germany?
The best answer of a low snark diet lot: “They get caught every time they try to “hop” aboard a ship, to cross the ocean.” (The mildly deranged penguin suggests they try disguising themselves as nishikigoi.)
@Louis:
Wouldn’t inserting a whole team create a whole chain reaction of lucky Pierres and cause it to go critical and like, supernova or something?
I dunno. These science blogs confuse me sometimes.
And on a less serious note, thanks to all from pre-portcullised lounge who offered their experiences re. my nephew and his hellish questions. It makes me feel like the right thing happened when I hear how the concept of hell could create physical sickness from fear, or how betrayed he might feel later if he knew I didn’t tell him he didn’t have to believe that controlling by fear manipulation.
It was a coincidence, and I didn’t even think of it as a connected thing until afterwards, but I also gave him his first microscope that same day. I hope the two events culminate in his becoming a kick-ass biologist or chemist. Unfortunately, the parents won’t ever trust me with the kids again.
dianne:
Australia doesn’t have ostriches, it has emus.
(What?)
“It’s awgee. Orgy when there’s four, but Awgee when there’s 3, because then I’m stuck saying “aww gee, there’s no one left for me!” — Benny Hill, c. 1980.
For some biologists, every day is Hedgehog day.
Sometimes it’s SHH day, sometimes it’s IHH day and sometimes it’s DHH day.
and: Lee Picton — and I was complaining to myself because I have a bit of a sore throat. Crikey. take care of yourself!
I also gave him his first microscope that same day.
Microscopes are a gateway drug to bigger and better science toys. Nice work.
Alethea:
I imagine we just have to wait until PZ posts a specific thread for voting or the fabled squid button shows up!
SQUID BUTTONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Sorry I don’t know what came over me there.
Louis
P.S. McC2lhu, a chain reaction of supernova-ing Lucky Pierres…damn! You have discovered the Sooper Seekrit Purpoise™ behind my Queueueueueueueue. Don’t tell anyone otherwise, world dominance will not be mine. I guarantee you your own country if you keep shtum. I plan to threaten world governments with the power of the Queueueueueueueue and extort not only control but…
{Inserts pinkie finger into corner of mouth}
…One hundred million dollars!
Louis
Fabled squid button? Click on it and yer sucked into a USB port, through teh intertubes, and into the beak of a waiting Kraken? …or Cthulhu?
The mildly deranged penguin points out some calamari sashimi pouring out of the USB port, along with an appropriate vin and a conga line of dancing hedgehog strippers, would also be enjoyable.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have achieved surreal singularity. The combination of Lucky Pierring hedgehogs served with the correct accompaniments have pushed us over the boundaries and into a different universe.
Thank you for playing. Please collect your credits from the front desk.
Louis
Fiates vos jeux, mesdames et messiers! A votre gauche, Lucky Pierres! A votre droit, pingouins!
All currencies accepted.
Et tout droite, les hérissons. Seulment les hérissons. Une infinité des hérissons
Louis
Avec fromage blanc.
O hai!
Not caught up!
“Q. How many geeks does it take to ruin a joke?
A. You mean nerd, not geek. And not joke, but riddle. Proceed.”
…provided you’ve grown up in a disgustingly sex-negative culture, as Woody Allen evidently has. *puke*
In the spirit of the joke in my previous comment…
FIFY.
Also, gaze upon this picture.
kthxbai
OK, OK, OK
How many lawyers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Two answers:
a) Private or legal aid?
b) How much money do you have?
Tabernac!
LOL Nice work David.
I wonder how long it will be before anyone realises that the deliberate errors I keep inserting into translations are purely to attract your attention. Honest. No, really. ;-)
Also, good joke. Consider it stolen and repeated!
Louis
Q. How many Freudians does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Two. One to change the light bulb and the other one to hold my penis…mother…ladder!
Louis
How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
.
.
.
Fish
.
.
.
Not your cup of fur?
Uhm…ce soir, avec moi, Patrick Roy?
Merde.
Je parlais francais mal. :(
Louis, I like that one!
.
.
.
How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Can’t be done. It’s a hardware problem.
Oh! I can do surreal.
Q.What’s red and not there?
.
.
.
A.No tomatoes.
Q. What’s the difference between a duck?
.
.
.
A. One of his legs is both the same.
Q. What’s brown and sticky?
.
.
.
A. A stick.
McC2lhu, niiice.
How many real men does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. Real men aren’t afraid of the dark.
.
.
.
How many professors does it take to change a lightbulb?
No one knows. It’s not on the exam.
Louis’ Freudian joke wins for being historical and making sure the cigar wasn’t just a cigar.
Q: How many microsoft product support engineers does it take the change a lightbulb ?
A: None, they just declare darkness the new standard.
Q: How many software support techs does it take to change a lightbulb ?
A: None, that’s a hardware problem.
Surrealism :
Q: Why ? answer in detail. be specific, in general.
Photos from Florence, as promised: link
PZ, these reminded me of you: link
How many physicists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One, as long as the bulb is spherical and in a vacuum.
I’m waiting to get my gestational diabetes test started, woo!
Some dumbass in my doctor’s office ordered four different tests: three screenings and the diabetes test itself. *headdesk!*
Audley, bummer. Hope you aren’t stuck there all day.
Omelette au fromage!!!
Lyn:
I’ll be stuck here for about the next three hours so… yeah. Glad I’ve got a book.
Audley,
THERE. ARE. FOUR. TESTS!
Good luck, I hope you pass with flying colours, get an A and not a D (for DIABUEETUS), order in a large novel and some distracting male gogo dancers.
Louis
Audley, for sure.
Beatrice, wonderful photos. I love the Duomo. It’s as if it were etched.
Louis and Lyn:
Just had the fist blood draw and finger stick. The best advice I’ve ever received in my life just came from the lab tech: “Try not to throw up.” :-/
I also think, “Try not to kill anyone,” is usually good advice, too.
chigau #72 “Dead and Gone” by Charlaine Harris’
A ladybird beetle flew in today, so naturally I had to take photos.
Black ladybird beetle with red spots
(someone take this camera from me or you will be treated to the results my newly found photography interest very very often)
I love the third one where I caught her taking flight.
Why are there hedgehogs instead of nothing? Are groundhogs the anti-equivalent of hedgehogs? Did time begin with hedgehogs or was there something before they just popped into existence when the Big Acorn dropped?
McC2lhu saw what you did there #133 tonight you are on yer own, Roy retired
Anybody opinions on Edgar Rice Burroughs? I’m kinda interested in reading the Barsoom series, but I can never tell in advance if I’m likely to enjoy material that old. For reference, I liked 20k Leagues, but found War of the Worlds completely unreadable.
Bit of trivia, Charlton Heston’s birth name was John Carter.
Oh, never mind the cuties, Mad Dog Bomber Harris still thinks you’re ‘odious’.
But then, when he looks at a wittle hedgiehog, all he sees is sharp pointy things that can be used to stab a prisoner’s eyes out with.
Brad: pulp-meister extraordinaire; if you liked Philip José Farmer, you’ll like him.
PS War of the Worlds was H. G. Wells; very staid, very Victorian.
Brad: Most of the Barsoom stuff was free/$1 on Kindle last time I checked.
I suppose since they’re in the public domain, all I have to lose is my time.
So… about ten?
All of them seem to be available at Guttenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=edgar+rice+burroughs
This is why I choose to be petless:
I’ve been dog-sitting for my son the past few days so he could go to Assateague Island with friends. Yesterday evening, Tyson (a something-boxer-something mix with hyperactivity issues) dead-legged me as I was coming downstairs and I went tush over tatas down 4-5 steps. While laying on the living room floor, trying to determine whether or not I was actually hurt, the other brat, Tank (a 75-lb pitbull with anxiety issues) laid across my chest in an apparent effort to smother me and provide himself and Tyson with a fresher meal, or possibly he was trying to comfort me. I suspect the former.
Luckily, I’ll leave for Minnesota on Saturday with only a few new bruises.
—
leepicton @14: Ouch! *offers liquor and bacon*
—
Audley @ 147: Well, that’s helpful, if not always easy to follow.
—
In keeping with the lightbulb theme:
Q: How many sociologists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: The sociologist can’t find the “Change Bulb” menu option in SPSS, and just writes a few paragraphs about how the dark is preferable anyway.
I would like to thank Louis for keeping the Squid Button campaign going in my absence.
How many accountants does it take to change a lightbulb?
1.347, assuming declining balance depreciation over the useful life of the lightbulb in 2012 accountants.
Meh. I’m losing my touch.
Calling it a night here. Good luck Audley!
Dear brilliant people:
The time has once again arrived wherein darkness descends upon the land and all joy is sucked from my bones like a…uh. *clears throat* A, um. Something. (Brownian! Louis! Insert something clever and innuendo-ish here, please?)
That is, volunteer training season looms on the horizon and I am starting the laborious process of revising my curriculum. I have had the luxury and privilege of using the Horde’s collective wisdom in the past and I am politely beseeching you all for that wisdom once more. :)
The training covers mostly social work 101 topics such as domestic violence, poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, etc–all of which are my daily bread and butter so I’m good there. But there are some aspects to the training that encroach upon areas I’m much, much less expert in. If anyone would be up for taking a look at the PowerPoint slides and giving some feedback, I would be very grateful. The specific areas are:
–when covering the effects of trauma, I’m discussing concepts like basic brain structures–including the ‘reptilian’ brain–left brain/right brain, and memory storage. I know there’s some out-of-date info there and I want to make sure I’m explaining the concepts as accurately as possible.
–when discussing substance abuse, I’m covering some of the physiological/medical aspects of addiction that I’m not as familiar with.
–when covering mental illness, I have plenty of info, but I’d like to have a personal perspective as well as a professional one. I know many of the Horde have experiences with mental illness; would anyone be willing to write a paragraph on their experiences (anonymous, of course) that I could share?
–I feel like my section on diversity is pretty damn good, mostly due to my exposure and education from all of you, but I’d love an extra eye on the race and sexuality sections. I cover some of the anthropological aspects of race (including basic evolution concepts and skeletal/physiological info) that is less my purview, and I want to make sure my transgender section is strong.
If anyone would be willing to take a look at what I have and offer some opinions, my volunteers would be very grateful–and much better educated. ;) It’s not an extensive amount of information–no more than a few PowerPoint slides, but any online resources on those topics I could share with the volunteers would be helpful as well.
Please email me if you would be able to help since I am not always able to keep up with the Lounge! :)
@Josh top wisdom teeth came in fine bottom ones are removed. The pain also goes away qith sleep and then gradually returns throughout the day and is soothed by cold/hot items or by chewing. Ate a whole bag of baby carrots as a painkiller last night and am now being punished for it
Thanks, Lyn and Socio-gen. Had some dizziness and nausea the first hour, so I was given a room with a bed to have a lie down. Napped some, had my second blood draw and now I’m starting to feel better.
Brad : Burroughs is a creature of his time, but an amusing read.
Audley: good luck with the tests. did you remember to study ?
DLC:
Thanks! Yep, I studied last night by eating a Cadbury Crunchie. :P
No, no, not baby carrots. Babies.
Ah! So that’s where the conga line of hedgehog strippers danced off to. Energetic little buggers.
Ooh, lightbulb jokes? My favorite sub-genre is the religious version.
Q. How many fundamentalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. THE BIBLE DOES *NOT* SAY *ANYTHING* ABOUT LIGHT BULBS!!!!
And the best one IMO, probably because of my ex-husband’s embracing UUism:
Q. How many Unitarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is fine. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb, and present it next month at our annual light bulb Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, three-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.
Audley,
Sounds….”fun”. For given values of “fun”.
Just think you could be dealing with mortgage brokers, bank people, a pissing three year old who is determined to spread as much urine around as far as he possibly can (to the extent of running around the house WHILE URINATING and shouting “no no no no” when presented with a potty…just as I thought he was getting it too), the fact that you have to sack someone for gross misconduct at work (stealing chemicals from the labs…really, they were THAT stupid)…
Compared to that, I’ll take a few blood tests…
…mind you…pregnancy…childbirth…sexism…yeah…erm… you have it worse. I’ll keep my “problems”* thanks.
Louis
* Read: minor inconveniences. #Firstworldmiddleclassproblemsnotworthyofseriousmention.
P.S. I am “enjoying” the looks that pass over my wife’s face every time she is addressed as “Mrs LouisLastName” as opposed to “Dr HerOwnLastName”, a fact that these people KNOW and have in writing. And how every mortgage broker or estate agent talks to me, the man, and not her, despite her having the larger salary thus being principle applicant etc. She is mightily restraining herself, but I am waiting for the diplomacy dike to break and a flood of “Oh for fuck’s sake you cluelessly sexist pissant! Do you even realise I’m here and a separate person involved in these decisions? It’s nice you’re talking to my husband, bless him, he likes to be involved, but since when has the lack of possession of a cock meant that no thoughts flow through my pretty little head or that a penis is somehow a fucking talking stick?” to flow forth. That is an almost verbatim quote from our journey home (and then to work) after this morning’s mortgage appointment btw. Displeased? I’d say she was.
a conch, as it were. (well, for some of us it might be, I guess. I do know that mine doesn’t talk much.)
Onion Girl,
Innuendo eh? Append the following.
1) …a particularly efficacious act of fellatio performed in an unlit coal mine.
2) …a starving ex-plutocrat trying to placate a government regulator in a shady car park.
3) …Rebecca Watson.*
4) …a black hole at the middle of a galaxy mopping up all matter near it and radiating suspiciously little in violation of all known physics.
Good enough start?
Louis
* Rebecca Watson is now, as explained by Lewis Black in posts passim now not only a universal scapegoat, but also a universal punchline.
Ugh. I feel your wife’s pain, Louis.
Sexist asshats.
I, uh, was remembering a story I heard about a fine, upstanding young man who decided that yes, in fact, the porcupine could be buggered. Alas, the porcupine objected. And thus our hero appeared on the Darwin Award page. One supposes that something similar is true for hedgehogs.
Chas,
1) Take better hallucinogens.
2) Really listen to your penis. I mean, like, whoa, dude, have you ever really
looked at your handlistened to your penis, man?Louis
Delurks in the hope of hearing more about this wonderful talking penis. I know mine gives me magical skepticality powers that lady parts only dream of giving but it’s never spoken. I demand that you speak on sir.
Louis:
As a parent of two former 3yo boys, be grateful he’s doing it where you can see it. (Small favors and all that.) And, if you have floor heating vents, consider investing in a set of puppy pads to put in them. Let’s just say that turning on the furnace was….memorable. Twice in four years.
And our heating guy never did come back….
Well of course I have. But I can only ever hear anything if I stick it directly into an ear, and even then it’s mostly these kind of smoochy sounds.
(And I can asure you that I have sampled some very fine hallucinogens, prob’ly back before you and your little conch were born.)
Louis, the last time a real estate agent addressed me as Mrs. Boyfriendslastname* I showed my displeasure with my money. Namely, taking it elsewhere. Any chance of you and your wife doing the same?
Also re 3 year old: extinction burst?
*Seriously, people, we’re not even married. How can I be Mrs. Hislastname?
Esteleth,
I explained to Audley in chat yesterday that my wife has an extraordinarily expressive eyebrow. The left one. In an hour and a half meeting it so regularly achieved orbit as it left her head I thought she was going to injure someone. I feared for the Curiosity Rover.
Louis
I was thinking more like a bombarde: A small thing with just two settings, off and FECKING LOUD.
Dianne,
The only problem is that this is the best deal on the market by miles. It will save us between $500 and $700 (equivalent in £ obviously) on our monthly mortgage. That incentive is the only reason my wife has not gone on a rampage and had to be distracted with raw meat and tranquilliser darts. My wife hates sexism, but she likes frugality more!
Louis
Socio-gen,
WHOA! Heating vents…..I….I….that’s impressive.
Happily we are currently past the secret wee stage. He’s on the downward slope towards full control. He asks, he does a little dance, he recognises, and his aim is not terrible. But occasionally the Spirit of Wild Pissing takes him over and the joy of the potty is insufficient. He must mark his territory.
Louis
Louis, being blessed with a dominant cheap gene myself, I see her point, but remember what they say about deals too good to be true and look over any paperwork thoroughly before signing it. Also, while the translation of money into dollars for the dumb American is convenient, it isn’t actually necessary if it’s annoying.
Well, I’m home.
Just relaxing, jetlagged and all. I know I shouldn’t be doing that all over the place though.
Caine, any ratlet naming yet to be done? Hope I’m not too late.
otherwise, starting school soon. Oh great.
Dianne,
Extinction burst…I never knew the term for that phenomenon before. Thanks!
No I don’t think it’s that, we’re still rewarding him with all the usual parental crap that doesn’t work (like everything else), praise, reductions in beatings, daylight, food, cocaine. The standard stuff.
Have children they said. It’s rewarding they said. MY HOUSE SMELLS LIKE A SODDING SWIMMING POOL!
Louis
Dianne,
The last thing I think of you as is “a dumb American”, I just thought in dollars for some reason!
Now speaking of dumb Americans, where’s Brownian?*
Louis
* Yes. I know.
Brownian’s Canadian, which is totally different or exactly the same. Depending on context and the speaker’s desire.
Here’s what you learn about Canada in a US American History coures: Canadians are the people who couldn’t get their act together enough to rebel properly in 1776 and then helped the British invade in 1812, but later became the good guys by providing a safe place for runaway slaves to go to. France is involved somehow, but no one’s terribly sure how.
I have it on good authority that President Nixon had a hedgehog named Frank.
Chas,
1) Before I was born? Fair enough. You okay remembering back that far, Old Timer?
{Aside: He gets so cranky when he’s tired}
2) Little conch? I’ve been told it’s “a pretty good size”.*
Louis
* I am trying desperately to remember where I heard that bit. Where “pretty good size” is lady code for small. Google has not helped much.
And…the abstract I was submitting finally made it through so I’m outta here. Tschuss, all.
Thanks to Chas at 178, I have now peed in a hospital waiting room.
Ten minutes ’til breakfast!!
remembering what?
Both claims are of course testable. I do not wish to test the claim about the size of your euphemism. However I will state for the record that I first ‘dropped’ in 1977.
(Tied an onion onto my belt and took the ferry to Shelbyville…)
Now Frank— Fran— Frannie— little Frannie-pooh…
Chas,
Given that I was born in 1974, and despite being a precocious 3 year old I wasn’t tripping yet, I will grant your prior exposure.
Also, “bigness” is proportional. Relative to body size, I am out done by the humble barnacle…as indeed are we all. Relative to other mammal species, I’m doing well compared to the gorilla, but not the sperm whale. I take the philosophical approach to it.
Louis
Lyn @76, with the question about mormons, etiquette, dinner, expectations, etc.
It’s hard to say what the mormons had in mind. Whatever they had in mind, they went about it strangely and sneakily. That strangeness, as if they are unaware of or immune to social norms, is typical of mormons.
Not all mormons are like that, of course, some of them are more cosmopolitan and would never make the awkward mistakes your neighbors made.
Most mormons have been taught to be fearful of the outside world, Satan is lying in wait for them afterall. They can’t serve wine with dinner. They can’t participate when it comes to a lot entertainment, like R-rated movies. This makes them culturally backward.
My bet is that your neighbors felt so uncomfortable that they insulated themselves from rejection by asking someone else to ask you to their dinner.
Mormon social awkwardness is often paired with absolute certainty that whatever they are doing is more important than what you are doing. They are, after all, building The Kingdom, and you are not.
Mormons seldom do anything with or for infidels without an ulterior motive. (Example: trying to check off a community service list to show to whomever is their leader.) Even if your neighbors did not intend to proselytize during dinner (no guarantees of that), they would have wanted to show you how fine and great mormons are so that you would be prompted to ask for more contact. Mormons have a name for this, “Lovebombing.”
Lovebombing is a manipulation technique. I call it the “smiles behind which no kindness lies” syndrome. They are nice to you in order to suck you in. If you don’t respond, most of them will move on. But they will not think well of you for rejecting their invitation. By rejecting them you have rejected the first step on the path to the Celestial Kingdom.
Lovebombing is deceptive and emotionally cruel. They don’t care about you as a person. They objectify you as a potential convert. If you did convert, they would praise and lovebomb you some more, but if you should decide to leave the LDS Church all pretense is dropped immediately.
As one ex-mormon put it when she left the cult, “Some of the people we loved in a genuine way and it is hurtful to us to realize they only loved us as fellow bees.”
From the mormon point of view, it must suck to be part of an organization that requires you to reach out to people you don’t really like, or with whom you don’t really want to interact.
From an ex-mormon:
And I thought I had problems potty training my boys. Well, the first one I don’t even remember, because it was either so easy or because Dad did most of it. The younger one, well, let’s say that autism and potty issues are fairly closely linked, and when the autism isn’t recognized at the time, yeah. It took until he was five years old and we had a therapist intervention. But nothing, nothing like running weeing through the house. I tip my hat to you, good sir.
Carlie,
Autism…oh great, now I have to worry about THAT! I’m already paranoid. ;-)
He’s just a stubborn bugger is The Boy.
Louis
It is best to remain philosophical about such things; they are what they are.
(Though that’s not true according to my e-mail spam folder.)
Friends of mine in my college days had a little boy whose favorite act was to make an appearance during a party, whip out his little penis and pee on the rug in the center of the room. During this performance he smiled winningly.
Lynna,
That is….adorable!
That child is clearly a genius!
Louis
Louis:
So that’s what it’s called! The worst of my trials in potty-training happened after the eldest went camping with his dad and my younger brothers, who were 16 and 13 at the time. He came back from this trip with complete control of his bladder…and an unfortunate belief that peeing was an outdoor activity. It took a few weeks to cure him of running starkers out the front door to whiz on the rhododendron in the yard.
I live in gleeful anticipation of a day when he might have his own child…
My grandmother ages ago showed me a photograph of my father.
As she put it, “Here he is, doing a performance piece called, ‘Look! I have a peepee!'”
…which just about sums it up. He’s pretty small. Walking, but at an age when he still would have been diapered.
Socio-gen,
THIS! A BILLION TIMES THIS!!!
I see now why my parents wanted me to have children. Revenge!
Whenever I phone them I apologise! ;-)
Louis
Esteleth,
We men do that performance our whoooooole lives.
Hey, peepees are pretty cool. I know they get misused as talking sticks and granters of special rights, but when you take that rubbish away they are still great for writing one’s name in the snow.
Louis
Random music dump.
Not So Fast-Sam Phillips
Same Old Drag-The Apples In Stereo
Charmer-Aimee Mann
Nothing To Prove-Jill Sobule
The ultimate pee song.
Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
Caine: it looks like that first sunflower is hugging that moth.
:)
–
O.o
–
For me, “teeth are screwed in too tight” generally means “serious allergy attack incoming/ongoing”. Your teeth and gums might be okay.
–
The cat The Husband brought with him as entourage had this nasty habit of laying tight up against me in bed. The problem with this was, my sleeping brain would interpret the pressure as “I’m hogging the bed; scootch over”, so I would…and then the cat would snuggle over again…and I’d move over…and she’d move over…and next thing I knew, I was waking as I went over the edge. This gave The Husband many chuckles; he’d either ignore her, or just drop her off the bed without waking up. Even nowadays, he jokes about me letting a 15 pound cat shove me out of bed.
–
When you dig deeper (uprooting the peas in the process), I think you’ll find that the Horses are at the bottom of the whole thing.
–
This spokeshedgehog is clearly pursuing an Agenda.
Specifically, it seems determined to shift the frame from the Horses and onto the peas (obviously having selected peas as recipients of the frame-up, on grounds of Extreme Plausibility).
The important question is, what, at this time, are the Horses getting up to that requires such diversions?
–
Then they could link up the ends of the chain, giving an entirely new meaning to “coming full circle”.
–
Boys and the joys of peeing outdoors… When my son was about 3, and just recently potty trained, we were on a long trip to Grandma’s house. Almost exactly halfway between one small town and the next he piped up from the backseat “I gotta go!”. Well, we were thirty miles from anywhere so I pulled over on the next dirt road and introduced him to “peeing in the ditch”. He was a little uncertain about this new idea, but was able to get the job done and all was well…
Until he went back to his daycare the following Monday. I got a call that afternoon, he was out on the playground with his group and heard the call of nature. So he dropped trou right there next to the slide. Took me a half hour to explain that to the daycare, and another half hour to explain the difference between a deserted country road and a crowded playground to my son.
The Parent’s Mantra; “Children are a blessing. Children are a blessing. Twenty-five to life for murder. Children are a blessing.” Hang in there, Louis. It gets (somewhat) easier.
You got a lot of balls, you don’t even care
Wish I could grow a pair
Lynna:
This explains a lot about my former neighbors. They made me so uncomfortable with this strange (and short-lived) act of being soooo impressed by the smallest things. I often felt like a child being praised for being able to breathe on their own. (Important if you’ve just come off a ventilator, but otherwise, not such a big deal.) It didn’t last long, I suppose because they decided to move on to more promising targets.
—
Esteleth: Yep, I remember my sons doing the same performance.
—
Louis: You are the perfect person to ask this question I have long wondered about: why is it that so many of the peepee-havers cannot stop checking to make sure said peepee is still attached? Young, old, in-between, they never stop checking!
You don’t see women constantly touching to make sure their breasts are still in the same place and haven’t wandered off…so what gives?
Oh, I like Jill Sobule.
Louis, I didn’t mean to insinuate!
Yep. What is also odd about that, apart from the bizarre nature of the childish interaction, is that mormons don’t realize that this is odd behavior. They get so accustomed to acting like that that they even do it to each other.
Next time you interact with socially clueless mormons hand them a card with these links:
http://www.afterallwecando.com/BOAcompared.jpg
http://www.afterallwecando.com/BOAcomparedFac2.jpg
http://www.afterallwecando.com/BOAcomparedFac3.jpg
*fill in something constructive*
Sqrrawk!
Also, MY INNOCENCE!!!
I had an African Pygmy hedgehog like that. He was cute and a good pet – he was let out to run in the house and after the cats got a prickled nose they left him alone.
Problems
He got stuck in things like slippers, sleeves of coats etc.
He left little fluorescent puddles of pee on the carpet
He hibernated if he got at all chilly
The last one was a problem, with the house on a timed thermostat, he would hibernate if the temperature dropped below 18C – and if he left its house in the night he would get chilly and hibernate – looking and feeling like a cold stiff deadhog in the morning – which was upsetting for the kids.
I got a 12″ tile and a stove top coil element and cemented the element to the tile. I hooked the element to a 9V power supply which kept the hog on simmer and revived him.
Louis:
Oh, to be a fly on the wall if your wife ever says that to one of those sexist asshats.
That’s one busy black hole. Isn’t it supposed to usher in a nice Mayan apocalypse come December?
****
AHEM:
Ladies, you’re going to have to up your game. There isn’t enough boobie talk to balance Chas and Louis’ penis talk. You must maintain balance within the Force.
****
Audley:
And what is one the menu today madam?
****
Lynna:
So Christians are sheep.
Mormons are bees.
What are followers of Islam?
Scientologists?
Followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Bees are a perfect metaphor for Mormons…perfect harmony to the casual untrained observer but is really a hiigh stress community of betrayal, brutality, and opertunism.
thunk:
Ha.
Innocence.
You’ve been here long enough for our corruptive power to consume you.
****
I discovered Uncyclopedia and boy is it entertaining. Ah the Internet. I have a lot to learn.
Tony:
Yeah, me too. I’m a nub. A big one.
And what’s more, I’m too lazy to stop being one.
Everyone, put away your boners and boobs.
Everyone properly tucked? Great. Get cracking on sacrificing chicken and goats and Mormons and Scientologists to Cthulhu, PZ, and/or Rebecca Watson, Source of All Evil. My wife has a second telephone interview this afternoon for a job that makes money that is very close to frightening. This could be something good, really good. Good enough that I’ll probably pull out my boner AND my (man)boobs over it.
Thunk, your innocence has passed you by a long long time ago.
@cicey
Gaaaah do not tell me that. I inherited my family’s hypochonrdia and I’ve almost died from allergies before
Side note: eating carrots as painkillers bad idea….you apparently can OD…I think I just shat out V8 uuugggg….and work is in 2 hours
@KG:
Emilia-Romagna in Italy is doing similarly well, and for the same reasons. They’ve had lower unemployment and higher median wages than any comparable province in Europe for 60 years and counting.
@Socio-gen
I know trhat story all too well. My ex had small children, and the house we rented had heating vents. We did not get our deposit back.
I know; I just wanted to say that.
Joe and wife: Woot! Wooot!
Tony,
Oh she’s done that and more. I was relating a particularly pithy Louis’ Wife story to Audley yesterday.
Many moons ago, we were in a nightclub with some friends. It was heaving and my wife had her pint knocked out of her hand. This made her Miffed. She went to the bar and bought another pint. This too was accidentally knocked from her hand. This made her Annoyed.
As she was walking back to our segment of the club, a gentleman of dubious personal wisdom approached her from behind, reached around her and grabbed her tits whilst making a kind of jiggling motion. This caused the third pint to hit the deck. The beloved, well bred, PhD having, superbly polite Mrs turned around, clothes-lined this idiot with one arm, and punched him straight in the face with the other.
He hit the floor arse first and bounced.
When he arose to remonstrate with my wife for striking him he discovered myself and several other large and unsympathetic gentlemen had arrived and were smiling at him. He wisely decided that the better part of valour in this instance was to get himself remarkably hence with great rapidity.
The moral of this story is: Never fuck with the Mrs when she’s been drinking.
Louis
P.S. There are many reasons I married this woman, love was among them of course. A great deal of fear for her right hook did, however, feature. And everyone thinks *I’m* trouble, boy do they not know the half of it!
…a friend of mine just posted on his Twitter, “So. In England. They use real fish when they make fish and chips.”
IS THIS TRUE?!
I may have to visit England some time…
My sister-in-law has a dog (male, of course) who checks to make sure it’s still there every single time you pet him. It’s like he thinks everyone’s out to steal his dinkle.
Improbable Joe,
Wish your wife the very, very best of British Luck.
I say this completely free from any selfish desire to have more people pull out parts of their anatomy, thus making me not the only one stood here feeling a little self conscious.
Louis
Esteleth,
It is true, and where you get good fish and chips, it is really, really good. We actually do it well.
Occasionally.
Louis
THEY’RE ALL AFTER ME
LUCKY CHARMSDINKLE!Louis
P.S. If you don’t check it, how do you know it’s still there? Men are very sceptical. Haven’t recent events proved this now? We’re so sceptical we don’t even believe in women, let alone sexism. Penis attachment is very important…it must be checked rigorously.
Louis, there’s something profoundly wrong with you.
Don’t ever change. :)
@ socio-gen:
I can’t speak for all men, but my peepee checking comes from a dual “is my fly zipped”/weird-comfort thing.
My partner has a very unfortunate habit of constantly grabbing her own breasts. During presentations. To crowded rooms. But then, she just really likes her breasts (to be fair, I think they’re awesome too).
Improbable Joe,
I have never denied this, Field Marshall.
Whoop whoop!
Louis
Improbable Joe,
Good luck to your wife!
Shhhhh… be wery wery qwiet, my wife is on the phone being interviewed as we
speaktypewith our boners/boobs out. Damn this is stressful! I could de-stress with my boner out, but that would be disrespectful to even consider.Why do men fondle their balls?
I can’t speak for all men, but in my case it’s because noöne else does.
Well… that was quick. So that’s either really good news, or really bad news.
Sometimes the Internet is good to us. /h/ had a half decent femdom thread last night.
:D :D :D
–
Nice pics, Beatrice!
–
I wish I had one.
A bombarde, that is.
;)
–
Improbable Joe: Will Jehovah’s Witnesses work as sacrifices? In a pinch, at least? We’ve got a whole clutch of ’em not a mile from here….
All tentacles crossed on your wife’s behalf.
–
No one has linked to this yet?
Someone’s gotta do it.
Yes, it is exactly what you think it is.
Socio-Gen:
Tossing in my two cents on this subject, but I’d hazard the guess that most of the “peepee checking” isn’t really checking. When you have a balloon of skin that (seemingly of its own volition) inflates and deflates throughout the day, and combine that with being required to wear clothing of various levels of constriction, discomfort happens. A lot. Periodic shifting of Certain Parts is necessary, and in some situations (and especially at some ages), even shifting out of discomfort can cause reactions that necessitate more shifting.
There’s also a huge amount of social anxiety tied to being “caught with an erection” for many guys – I’m actually not sure if this is ever really discussed, but it’s a big source of teasing (as a youth) or flat-out confrontation (as an adult – some people take the presence of an erection to be automatically insulting, regardless of the fact that guys have limited control of it). So, any change of sensation in the groin can involve a very subtle panic reaction to make sure one isn’t “tenting”, as it were, and to prevent it if at all possible.
Richard Austin,
All good, all good.
Or we could just tell the truth.
“Because we can”
Louis
Improbable Joe: Best wishes and good luck to your wife! I shall sacrifice some (yummy, yummy) Swedish fish in her name.
—
Louis: I think I love your wife. I have a friend who is known at several bars for becoming both Irate and Violent when touched in Places She Would Rather You Didn’t. Going out with her is really the most fun you can have without joining the UFC.
—
PatrickG: Well, that would definitely ensure that the audience is not looking at their phones while one is giving a talk….
Louis:
Actually, I tend to put myself in situations where there is little or no need to do so, and then don’t.
But I admit I’m a strange sort.
socio-gen: So far, she doesn’t think anybody has really noticed. She’s fairly short and usually has a podium. But I’ll relay that suggestion to her. :)
Tony, re: breakfast:
When all was said and done, it ended up being lunch. After 16 hours of only water, all I wanted to do was stuff my face, so I treated myself at the local gourmet sandwich shop:
-bowl of creamy tomato soup (made in house! Nummers!)
-tortilla chips
-dill pickle spear
-roast beef/swiss/sauteed onions/horseradish sandwich on sourdough
-chocolate cake
-two cups of coffee
Now I am satisfied and debating if I want to take a nap or play Batman: Arkham City.
E,
I have never been to England, but I have had fish ‘n chips while visiting Gibraltar (close enough, right?). And *gasp!* it was real fish.
DUN DUN DUUUUUN!
Audley!
STOP MENTIONING THAT GAME!!!! I now wants the Preciousssss. I have discovered I can buy it from Steam and download it with further downloadable content. Musssst have the Preciousssesssss.
No…be strong. Ignore the games. Be resolute.
Louis
{My Precioussssssss}
Louis:
What, Batman: Arkham City? I’ve got the game of the year edition– it is so worth getting with the DLC included.
Oh wait, was I not supposed to say that?
ARGH!!!!!!!!
MUST NOT HAS DOWNLOAD!!!!!
Game of the year edition you say?
DAMN!
Louis
Louis:
Just an Xbox thing– means it came with the downloadable content and IIRC was a few dollars cheaper than when it was first released.
I ♥ Mark Hamill’s Joker.
Janine @ 207 – I (in my bubble) thought no one knew Sam Phillips. As usual, you prove me wrong.
Your music posts remind me of 1988, right after I moved to San Francisco and started at a used record store. There was a group of older male music aficionados who actually invited me to join their weekly meeting (it was at my boss’s house).
Tom had walls of LPs and each meeting had a certain theme. You had to run with the theme, but any genre at all. We all took turns. I learned a lot and took home many great cassettes of the encounters (which are all now lost). I was always very pleased when I could come up with something they’d never heard before (my specialty then was stuff like Legendary Pink Dots, Alien Sex Fiend, industrial, mainly).
.
My favorite Sam Phillips – Go Down (no video, only audio)
Joe:
Hopefully she’ll get the job!
(still not putting up da boner though)
****
Ing:
Let’s file that under “things I didn’t need to know about Ing, but now that I do, my life is complete” :)
****
Louis:
Damn. The guy actually grabbed your wife’s breasts? That’s a stoooopid, move.
He got exactly the reaction he deserved.
****
What’s this about not mentioning Batman: Arkham City?
****
Audley:
Lunch sounds delish. Hope you enjoyed it (I’m guessing you devoured it quickly).
Why Audley, my roommate E, was just playing
Batman: Arkham Citythat game just last night.****
Third date now. Eeeee.
Things I’ve noticed:
He uses “retard” a bit much for my liking. I’m biting my tongue for a bit longer.
He’s a HUGE Star Wars geek. We watched Episode 4 last night and he’s literally reciting line after line. Wow.
He loves pinching my nearly nonexistent nipples. I have resorted to giving him a wedgie each time he does so.
He makes me look even more tech inept than I knew I was. I never knew my phones camera could be made to face front. I’ve been taking difficult shots with my camera in the mirror for *months*.
For all that he’s hairy, he doesn’t sweat much.
Redheads are adorable.
Redheads aren’t *all* red. He’s got lots of red in his goatee and chinstrap, but none on the chest.
He’s a great kisser and cuddler.
He and T are going to get along fine. They both love coffee and can both recite line after line of various Disney movies.
Richard Austin:
That makes a great deal of sense to me. I know my sons were far more touchy-feely during their teen years, which is just the time when everyone is self-conscious about their bodies acting in new and disturbing ways.
Look at the Fuss and Big To Do (This random capitalization thing is addictive!) made of the American rower with the erection (or not, according to him) on the medal stand.
—
PatrickG:
The whole “not paying attention to the presenter” thing is quite quickly working its way to #1 on my pet peeves list. It didn’t bother me so much until *I* started giving the presentations and had to contend with 10-50 heads staring at their laps and pretending they really aren’t checking Facebook, reading Pharyngula, or playing Angry Birds.
—
Audley:
Hooray for food! I’ll sacrifice some Swedish fish for you as well, that the results are negative for GD.
—
Now…off to buy a new suitcase and meet the DaughterPerson for an early dinner, which… *drumroll* …she’s buying!
*sniffle* You dream of days like this as a parent but you never really believe it’ll happen, and then…it does. *dabs eyes with hankie*
A conglomeration of responses to different posts (aka what just came into my head):
My two years younger brother fell in love with his penis at around five years old. (He may have before then but that’s the year he decided to share his love).
Unfortunately, that was also the year that Chevaun, the five year-old Mormon girl who lived next door to us, had a “crush” on him. So she invited him to her birthday party. I take it he decided to show off a bit.
He was brought home by Chevaun’s father, my brother in his t-shirt only. Who knows where his pants went.
My brother is SOOOO conservative now I can barely speak to him but he did have a checkered past.
Socio-gen: Yeah, that’s pretty damn annoying. And congrats on your teary-eyed parental pride. :)
What do you mean, fishes don’t have fingers?
Frank denies having had knowledge of any wrongdoing and *rolls into defensive posture.*
Dianne #81 (last thread (yes, I’m that far behind))
Thunderbird does that, irrespective of gmail – but it has a massive, huge, neutron-star-density FAIL and DISAPPOINT in that it does NOT do this when the email contains the word “herewith”.
I send people stuff with emails saying “herewith the text you sent me …” and suchlike several times a day, sometimes. And every time I get pissed off that Thunderbird will recognise “please find attached” but not “herewith”. Stoopid Thunderbird. :(((
Anyone know if I can fix that, by any chance?
.
.
@ Louis #104 (last thread (see above (dammit)))
Why Louis, you too have succumbed to the lure of the cyooot?!!?!? Now if you really do write teh fanfic, you have got to let us read some!
.
Esteleth, I’m glad your dad came through surgery OK and hope he recovers quickly and well.
.
And I missed the whole penes and pectorals conversation!11!!!11! Bother. Botheration and dammit.
.
Tony, sounds like this whole dating thing is going tentatitvely well ….????? Hope so! It would be lovely if you get on well enough and have enough common ground to make it possible and worthwhile to work on the things that aren’t right (like, using language like “retard” might just be because he’s never really stopped to think about it. Maybe a little way down the line he’ll be thanking you for making him think about it and change a habit … who knows!)
.
.
If you don’t use fish to make fish ‘n chips, what the hell do you use?
Bloody hell!
My wife got the whole “you’re completely awesome, we’ll get back to you” thing. Hell. Bloody hell! Damnation and hellfire! Puissance and percipience! Other big words from those Thomas Covenant books!
At least she gets responses…. even my networked job apps sometimes don’t even get the courtesy of a response. /sigh.
My gravid concupiscence for puissant renumerance remains stalled by the fetid malevolence and venomous attar of indifferent Despite, or at least Human Resources departments.
Yeah, I read Donaldson, too. :D
Socio-gen:
:D
I just sacrificed a Peppy Chew to the ‘Betes gods, and it was OMG TEH AWESOME*! Why the hell don’t we have candies like that here in the US?
(Side note: apparently, Cadbury has trademarked “the colour purple”. O.o)
*Amblebury sent me a lovely package of stuffed toys for DarkFetus and candies for me!
PatrickG,
Did you manage to finish that last Thomas Covenant book? I got about 100 pages in when I realized that they were still standing in the same clearing where they spent the last 50 pages of the previous book, and then they went somewhere new and there was a bridge crossing of a couple of hundred feet that looked like it was going to take 30 more pages and I gave the fuck up.
Oh, and thanks for the Swedish fish sacrifice, and the general well-wishing. Hopefully that means my wife will still get the job, and her licensing issues will have worked themselves out by Friday.
Improbable Joe:
I got through Fatal Revenant, but haven’t gotten around to Against All Things Ending. There’s some fun stuff in his latest trilogy, but as you say, it’s incredibly cumbersome to wade through.
Plus, while he’s always been a bit too fond of certain words, everything I see him use the word “apotheosis” I want to beat up a puppy.
If it were a word, it would be remunerance. ;-)
Hello All!
*crossed fingers* for your wife Improbable Joe. Hope it works out great.
Audley: Yay for food! Mmmmm sounds good.
I don’t get why this is such a big deal. Even if he had an erection, so what? He just accepted a medal with a big crowd around fulfilling his dreams and all that shit, what’s not to be excited about? So what if you could see it all? Okay, okay prudery and all blah blah I just can’t grok it.
Tony,
I’m glad you’re happy. He sounds awesome and hope it all works out.
*sucks teeth* Oh, damn. I hope that conversation goes well when you bring it up.
I’d have that conversation sooner than later. It might make more metaphorical roaches scurry out when you turn the light on this ablist slur usage. If course, that’s IMHO so take with a pinch of salt and toss over shoulder as needed. Will duly shut up about it.
——
I’ve been reading the witches series in Discworld. Holy shit, is it awesome. I mean I knew that. I’ve always planned and looked forward to reading them, it just got away from me. The only books I’ve read of his is the Tiffiany Aching books before this. I plan on reading Maurice’s Amazing Rodents and the Death series after I’m done with the witches books. I’m always happy and look forward to Death popping up and not in the “I hope they all die” kind of way either. I’ve also won another book giveaway!
———-
RANT. *Trigger Warning for mentioning rape/rapist*
–
–
–
–
Our roof is leaking whenever the people upstairs uses their shower. No it’s not getting fixed any time soon. Landlord said, “we’ll see. we have a bunch of work orders before yours. It’s not even leaking now.” They are however letting us pay rent half on one check, half on the other because seriously can’t pay rent all in one go. My roof is leaking, I have no furniture, bugs truly rule the place, my oven can’t completely open since it hits the cabinets across from it, yet I’m thankful to be here. I’m too lucky to still have a place to go around complaining and making waves here. Every time I go to pay rent or run into the Landlord I get stuck hearing about all her medical issues and her bullshit about “Obamacare ruining everything”. I’m not getting started on venting about my neighbors, one of which is a mentally ill known rapist who the police refused to arrest even when he broke down a door and raped a woman (who is still stuck living here) and the hospital can’t forcefully admit.
———
–
–
–
Still Ranting. *Trigger Warning Over*
Little One is doing fine with school. It’s her grandparents I’m worried about. They dropped her off yesterday, since Grandpa (my Step Dad) was in the hospital, which freaked out the Little One him just disappearing and there’s a bad run dealing with hospitals for this family. So they did that yesterday. They also wanted to drop her off this morning. This morning they said they “had” to agree to let Little One sleep over in order for Little One to go inside and “let” them leave. This is not how it works. Seriously have to have a another talk to them about not giving her everything because she cries! No wonder she wants to live with them. Grrrr. I’d like to be nice one for a change. I’d like to have a little help from someone with her. Would it kill them to listen to what I say and then follow through with it when I’m not here? No fucking cupcakes (it was a Hostess chocolate cupcake FFS) or sugar crap in the morning. Not only is this common fucking sense, but we’ve had this conversation before. Step dad then gives her one and I’m the bad guy for taking it away. You know what? Fuck this. Next time I’m making him, take it away. Let him deal with consequences. No wonder I’m exhausted, I’m not just raising the Little One I have to raise my parents too. Boo. =(
cm’s changeable moniker: While it’s infrequent, I am subject to the occasional lysdexic slip. And yes, I’m allowed to mock my own condition, damn it.
Yeah, good luck. I’m off to the pawn shop tomorrow with 2 of my 3 guitars, we’re just too tight on money to do otherwise, and I’m not selling my Les Paul to any of the creeps on the Internet. I just kicked an asshole out of my house a couple of minutes ago, who was going to do cash + trade, but he didn’t bring his trade out of his trunk. Turns out his guitar for trade is missing a bunch of parts and needs work, and he turned asshole on me as soon as I didn’t roll over and accept him cheating me.
Oh I’m sorry Joe. That sucks. =(
*booze&chocolate* to help lighten your spirits.
I always feel like an ass when I miss an update because I didn’t refresh.
Side note:
I have a seriously hatred for Thomas Convent and his author.
This link has quotes from the author regarding rape and how it’s dealt with in the book. I’d copy and paste the specific part but it’s rather long.
Ouch, JAL.
Best wishes to raising LittleOne, maintaining sanity, and making ends meet.
*hugs and cephs*
JAL,
So much to sympathise with, but this:
THIS!!!!!! This is universal. I am the bad guy in our house, and indeed all grand parent houses.
It’s so tiring to have to say “Look, no. Really. I know it’s not a massive deal but we’re trying to minimise/maximise X. I know it’s not the end of the world but I’d appreciate it if you’d support us on this one.”
It’s tiring because it is translated to “FUCK YOU OLD LADY! GET AWAY FROM MY KID! YOU WERE A TERRIBLE PARENT! STICK THAT CUPCAKE UP YOUR ARSE!”.
It doesn’t mean that, if I meant that, I’d fucking SAY that, I’m a big boy, I don’t hide what I think unless I really have to, that’s other people’s problems ( ;-) ).
But but but but but but but but GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So yeah, erm, ahahaha, with you on that one.
Louis
Oh, oops
*serious
and that link needs a TRIGGER WARNING.
Improbably Joe,
In the Immortal Words of the Prophet Mohammed:
Bollocks!
I hope the “we’ll get back to you” is real and not just the usual toss. I HATE EVERYONE ON YOUR BEHALF!
Louis
Louis,
Oh absolutely. Anything I bring up must be done gently as if it’s a terrible criticism on the parenting skills. I’ve been terribly nice and gentle and all that fucking jazz, they still get defensive! Then they start “Well, it never hurt you any and what about [this mistake from long ago that means nothing and was dealt with].”
I’m sorry but I’m at the point where I’m just going to say, “Yes, you are terrible parents. You don’t give a 5 year old a cupcake, just a chocolate cupcake for breakfast and drop her off at school. WHILE you were complaining I need to keep her home because she is claiming to be sick. She’s not sick and she needs a better breakfast! I don’t care if she was complaining, whining, crying, pleading with you. Get a backbone. You will never have her sleep over again if you can’t take care of her properly.”
I just saved my second wasp of the season from a fate worse than death. The first was drowning in my friend’s pint, so I fashioned a rescue harness and fished her out.
Today one was trying to buzz its way out of my 14th story office window. Sorry little one, but I know from experience that these windows are only meant to tantalise you with freedom. I caught it in a plastic container and brought it downstairs.
I’m hoping word of my deeds will spread, and I’ll be spared harassment this August.
Bollocks! Nutsack! SCROTUM!!!!
Bleargh. This is why Kentucky can’t have nice things
JAL,
You give them hell! A little “too strict” early on means avoiding the “my 14 year old has 17 kids, today on Maury” sort of thing later on.
Chocolate cake for breakfast?
Don’t panic. don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic.
Basically, my school has a program where students sign up with outside advisors and do research on a topic of their choosing.
I just realized I need to find one.
(reminds xirself that xe has a month to spare, yet not to procrastinate)
opposablethumbs:
It’s going nicely thus far. He’s significantly better than the last guy I dated. I find it so strange to be around someone who actually wants to be around me.
I think you’re right about his use of that word too. I’m not sure how to bring it up, but I think I’ll do it soon. I had a thought that perhaps I could mention that I don’t like the term, my reasons why, and then maybe mention a link to a site that can give a good explanation for why ablist (and other) slurs should not be used. If I do mention a site, I need to find one that’s concise. I’m not trying to dump him into the deep end of social justice.
****
JAL:
It’s really too early to get *too* excited, but aside from the use of ablist slurs, I find I really like him. It’s been a while.
No need to shut up. I like listening to the advice of the Horde.
I do intend to have the conversation sooner rather than later. I’ve also noticed that he throws around “rape” (with regard to his excitement about being intimate; not a dominance thing) more than I like as well. I think he, like so many other people, have no concept of how horrible rape actually is. Until he gains that insight, I don’t know that he’s going to stop using the term. I do intend to let him know, more firmly this time, that I would appreciate him not using the word around me. I thought the initial text I sent him last week about it would have done the job, but it appears that wasn’t the case. As with ablist slurs, I’d like to direct him somewhere that can give a clear idea of why using the word ‘rape’ should not be applied to any situation that isn’t rape (he made the comment yesterday that he was raped by a cable company b/c they charged him too much).
On the flipside, the discussion of atheism came up. We were watching Star Wars Episode 4 and I remarked at how Lucas’ use of the Force had heavy religious symbolism. He responded that he’s “not into the whole Jesus thing”, to which I said “you’re talking to an atheist, so I know where you’re coming from”. He didn’t bat an eyelash or bring it up again. There was no indication that knowing this about me put him off in any way. This really is a big deal for me, because it’s hard enough to find someone to date, and I’ve long worried that the minute someone finds out I’m atheist, they’ll run away. I’m so glad he didn’t.
Why do men need to check their peepees are still attached?
Thunk:
There’s a wealth of material for you to choose from anywhere at FtB. Or the Pharyngula wiki.
****
JAL:
I’m sorry you’re having to deal with those living conditions. Your strength of character is amazing to still have such a positive outlook.
At some point you’ll have to introduce him to Pharyngula and let him see the archives. At, what, the 5th anniversary of your first date? 10th? When is that magical step appropriate? :)
Patrick:
I’m thinking it’s no time soon. That reminds me, I need to mark down the day of our first date. My memory tends to be horrible over time and it might be important in the future.
Many times over my years as a commenter at Pharyngula I have been reminded of McMurphy’s famous line
“Like a bunch of chickens at a pecking party.”
Like folks spot a bit of blood and they go kinda’ nuts and try to draw some blood too. This is readily evident to me often. I don’t like it and I think it is a bit unhealthy. I haven’t read all the comments in this Lounge but seems PZ is aware of the “Pecking Party” mentality too. Obviously I can’t really speak for the Professor but is seems like he is trying to make some changes that allow commenters to say what they need/want to say but yet maintain some sort of controlled chaos. well that doesn’t really describe it does it.
Anyway, thanks PZ for trying different ways of dealing with whatever is going on?
Because they evolved before velcro was invented?
I told Wife about this. Her question is, “Why do you wiggle the gasoline pump nozzle in the gas tank hole after you have filled it?”
I responded, “To get the last few drops.”
Wife: “It ain’t your peepee and you ain’t taking piss!”
Hi, all. I am back from Montana.
I was 20 miles from Egg Mountain. 20 Miles. Twenty fucking miles. From one of the most significant late Cretacious sites. Sixty miles from the spot where Bambiraptor was found. And no time to explore.
My mp3 player died (well, it didn’t die, but the on/off switch died which is pretty much the same thing) while I was out there which meant I had only the car radio for entertainment during the 12 hours I sat at the road closure each day. Five Christian stations, five right-wing radical stations, and Montana Public Radio (which does lots of jazz (and though I like some jazz, this was a lintel much of a muchness)). So I just ordered a 16gb Zen.
I still hate to fly though, on the way home, I apparently started snoring before we took off from Denver and had to be shaken awake when we got to Philadelphia. I was, apparently, tired.
I am safe. And tired. And ohm with Wife. And I have some Ommegang wheat beer. And am cooking ribs on the grill.
joed:
No one is forcing you to post in a place you find unhealthy. Those of us who like this safe space do not appear to share your concerns. There are many other blogs out there that might appeal to your tastes better.
And I spent most of every day surrounded by Charlerais heifers. Beautiful animals — large and white with a straight back from behind the head bump all the way to the withers and a shock of emo messyhair on the top of the head. Very curious animals. They kept licking my truck.
Oggie:
Welcome back.
I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked that you didn’t want to listen to right wing or Christian radio stations.
Tell your wife I do the same thing with the gas pump. I like to think it prevents drops of gas from spilling onto me, my clothes or around the car.
Feel free to pass the ribs around the Lounge. Are they ‘fall off the bone’ baby backs?
Welcome ohm Ogvorbis! I jiggle the gas pump too, so the last few drops don’t drip on the car or the ground.
I need to google Egg Mountain.
I have to keep my blood pressure down.
She thinks it is a ‘guy thing’.
Spare. And no, they don’t travel too well via USB.
Add ‘Jack Horner’ and ‘Maiasaura and all will be clear.
Stop flambaiting the lounge joed.
Hi Og! Good to see you home safe and sound.
I do the petrol pump thing very very slightly (hadn’t really thought about it, but to avoid drips I suppose) and I’m not a guy (just a data point :) )
Argh. Need to vent, feel free to ignore.
I have this friend who’s been behaving kind of shittily lately.
Most of my social group are grad students, but she’s the only one who’s always talking about how much work she has to do and how late she gets home at night and how soon her next deadline is. Meanwhile the rest of us are all quietly overwhelmed in our own ways, but not making such a big deal out of it.
I could deal with that – she processes stress differently, I find her methods kind of annoying, but oh well. But because the rest of us are quieter about our stresses, she doesn’t seem to realize that we all have a whole bunch of stuff going on too. It’s almost as if she’s got some kind of more-stressed-than-thou thing.
The problem with her dramatic stressed-out-ness is that she doesn’t seem to understand that everyone else’s lives are just as busy and complicated and important as hers. Several times in the past few months, she’s neglected to reply to emails and texts when we really need her input. She has a smartphone that she checks obsessively, so it’s not that she’s not seeing things, she just isn’t making it a priority to reply. Last month she failed to let me know that the wedding present I was planning to get as a group gift was too expensive for her, so I bought it and then had to exchange it at the last minute. She’ll ask us to set aside a night to go out and then not make any plans until 9pm, when the rest of us have decided nothing’s happening and we all want to stay home in our pyjamas and analyze data. This is particularly annoying because I live out of town and I can’t just do things at the last minute, and she knows that. This week she didn’t respond to an email about a group lunch date, so I ended up having to buy a lunch by myself, when I would have been able to bring a packed lunch if she’d had the courtesy to let me know she was too busy ahead of time.
She’s a good friend in other ways, and she’s been supportive of me while I’m coming out. But I am so frustrated with her not realizing that the rest of us have lives filled with important things too. I’m particularly sensitive to being treated like I’m not important, because I’ve always been a bit on the outside of things in whatever group I belong to. And yet I feel like I can’t bring this up with her, because I couldn’t stand being rejected. I don’t make friends easily, and I’ve had a couple of periods of two-years-with-no-friends, so I don’t want to start any drama that might isolate me from this group.
Anyway, I’ll be out of town for a week starting tomorrow, and it will be good to get some cooling-off time. But after that, I think I’m going to need to vent to the most socially-skilled member of our group and see what she thinks. How do you say “You’re being self-centered and inconsiderate, and you need to stop it” without ending a friendship?
Nutmeg:
You sort of say it like that, although a little bit more gently. Mostly though, you emphasize that you’re done making plans with that person because they are unreliable. For instance, the nights out you can use the night she prefers if it is convenient for you, but you make plans with the rest of the group and see her arrival as a plus rather than a requirement. I’ve had friends like that, and if you can find a middle ground of accommodating without being a slave to their whims, you have a much lower chance of alienating anyone else in the group while having a better chance of at least getting that friend to stop committing when they have no intention of following through.
JAL –
My SO’s father is just as terrible as your relevant Grandpeople sound. SO has two children, one of whom is a six year old boy, the other an 11 year old girl. Boy’s the only one who gets spoiled, adding sexist insult to injury. Ugh. “No, he misused the bb gun, he is no longer allowed to use it.” “Shhhh, daddy’s not looking, you can hit that tree!” Makes my blood absolutely boil…You have my sympathies.
Tony:
It’s in person, with weekly meetings, and presenting at the end of the year. Sounds fun.
Nutmeg,
Whip off their drawers, pour lighter fluid on their bits and set fire to their pubes. It helps if you scream “YOU ARE AN INCONSIDERATE SELF CENTRED FUCK STICK! CEASE AND DESIST SHIT EATER!” at the same time.
Alternatively, if that doesn’t work (I would try it first, I have a 100% success rate with it), perhaps meet up for a quiet coffee with the person and suggest that, whilst you appreciate her stress and the different way she expresses it from you, a little consideration for nights out (for example) would really help you. Put it positively, say you really want to have these nights out with her, but the last minute thing is hitting you hard because of the distance/your own pressures etc.
I’d still go with the first thing though.
Louis
Nutmeg:
Some people might respond to saying that very thing.
Perhaps you could have a sit down talk with your friend and just express that you and the other members of the group have busy, hectic lives, and that it would be nice if she could understand that coordinating things with the group better would work to everyone’s advantage. After all, if she’s not making plans til late, and everyone else has already decided on something else to do, it affects her as well.
I would just be careful to couch things in terms of how you feel.
Or (I hesitate to mention this), is it possible she’s really not that good a friend?
Nutmeg, one thing I meant to add if you want to keep the friendship is that you can emphasize how glad you are to see your friend when she DOES show up, and let her know she’s always welcome.
Hi Obvorbis!
Glad you’re home safe.
Saw a wolf today.
– – –
re: fish and chips
I think I’d be more excited by real chips than by real fish.
Those frozen french fries are pretty grim.
– – –
Once, in a bar in Sweden, I ordered an orange juice.
The bartender used a juicer to squeeze actual juice out of actual oranges.
We (Canadians) took pictures.
(the bartender shook his head)
Oh and Oggie, welcome back, mate!
:-)
Louis
chigau:
I *love* orange juice.
I *detest* pulp.
Freshly squeezed OJ is something I never consume b/c I don’t expect bars to strain out that nasty stuff.
It is nice to have real OJ at a bar though.
My bar has something that an approximation of Sunny D. Except worse.
Tony
When I was young Tang was a treat.
Something to do with astronauts…
Og! So glad to see you back. :)
Capitalist FYI:
for those who are interested, my Great eBay Rummage Sale continues to raise money for new clothes for Misterc and me. I have listed a bunch of the stuff I found at the awesome retirement community yard sale last month, so there’s vintage jewelry/buttons/accessories, some vintage housewares, quite a few pairs of contemporary and retro women’s shoes and some other random crap.
End capitalist FYI!
Speaking of fish and chips… I’ve got the fish down, how the hell do I do the chips? Seriously, I can do potatoes every other damned way I can think of.
Chips are tricky… one has to slice potatoes and then put the resulting slices into a deep-fryer for deep-frying.
Improbable Joe — here’s a good piece about the science/art of double-frying. And try it with sweet potatoes — your dinner guests will give you a pass if they’re slightly soggy.
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/the-burger-lab-why-double-fry-french-fries.html
Thanks. Good to be back.
TSA decided that they didn’t recognize something* in my checked luggage. So they undid the straps that hold on the tent and sleeping bag. And apparently could not figure out how to reattach everything so they just clipped things on where ever they could find an open clip. Which made it look really weird coming off the luggage belt at the airport.
============
Boy, after dinner, announced, “I am heading upstairs. I’m working on a forty-foot reefer.”
Wife, without missing a beat, asked, “So when should we send the Doritos up?”
* Judging from what they unpacked, I think they didn’t recognize the tent poles and tent pegs (how can you be with the TSA in Montana and not recognize tent parts?).
I spent my lunch hour on the forest service website trying to figure out where Ogvorbis was and what was happening with his fire. It seemed like the 2 weeks should be over and I was starting to worry.
Welcome back.
I’ve tried double frying, triple frying, I’ve even tried baking and then frying. And since I consistently get the fish/chicken I fry to be golden brown on the outside and moist/flaky on the inside, I don’t really understand why I can’t get the damned taters to come out right. I can also make good hash browns and home fries…
Here is the latest news from the Elbow Pass Complex in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The fire is behaving itself and staying in the wilderness area (a natural fire, in a wilderness area, is not extinguished — it is allowed to burn naturally and, if needed, is ‘guided’ away from sensitive areas (such as busy recreation areas) using minimal impact tactics). I had actually only been at the fire for 8 days (the first two days and the last day were travel (for a total of 11 days) and travel days do not count) and was up for reassignment. I thought I might be going to the Hallstead Fire in Idaho as a security manager (my position at this fire, also) but with only six days (after the travel day (reassignment travel is included in the 14)) available they wanted someone with more time.
Welcome back og.
I’m also back from vacation.
Joe:
Maybe you just don’t have The Touch.
And my location was at the Benchmark/Beaver Road intersection 15 miles west of Augusta.
I think it’s one of those things like good honeycomb candy, souffles, and meringues — you have to follow the temperature and timing rules ASSIDUOUSLY. But I’m simpatico, mate, they’re a tall ambition to get right.
Welcome back Og!
Tony, seriously… you go to Hell. You go to Hell and DIE!
I’ve got the Touch, dammit. I have the power. When all Hell’s breaking loose, I’ll be riding the eye of the storm. And as soon as you present me with a deep fryer that transforms into a robot, I’ll be sure to master the chips.
@Lynna #197
Ahhhh! That explanation fits! When first I met the female of the couple, she was all over me. Asking many questions and telling me my shoes were “cute”. (I am not a cute person. IRL, people actually go out of their way to assure me that I don’t do cute, and that perhaps I could consider doing a bit more cute.) Then she vanished. I would see her, but she rarely did more than just nod at me. A month or more later, she and the male both approached me to say they had seen me at a distant Starbucks while they were out shopping. I said they should have said hello, as I was just reading. (Totally forgot I was in the place of the devil, btw.) Then silence for many months. Then the dinner invitation by proxy.
In my work, I have met some actual murderers, abusers, perverts (which to me is someone in the grip of a mental problem who harms people for sexual fun). These two seemed awfully familiar. Completely fake affect, far as I could see. Have no distress over them behaving as they did, but I sure was curious. These types always want something. What the hell did they think they were going to get?
I am amazed that they targeted me at all. Hard-core, sarcastic steely rationalist with no sense of keeping my place. Divorced, travelling alone. I mean, I didn’t think I presented a profile attractive to them. But if they have no social sense to speak of, and wow does that fit, then bingo! We have a match.
By the way, it wasn’t lovebombing so much as weirdness-sprinkling. Like having two drugged people trying to engage in sober discussion. It was a miss.
Thank you, Lynna! I think I get it!
https://proxy.freethought.online/butterfliesandwheels/2012/08/remembering-that-we-can-be-wrong/#comment-253606
NateHevens makes a good point here.
Is there something that can be done to alleviate the appearance of ganging up on a new commenter? When multiple people post similar responses to one individuals’ comment, I suppose it can look like that person is being ganged up on.
I have a photo taken somewhere in Turkey of signs for orange juice, grapefruit juice and pomegranate juice – each sign positioned over a pile of the actual fruit. Nice.
And, umm, what can you make fish and chips out of, if not real fish?
Hi Og, glad you made it back safe and sound.
Have been holding a question for ya. Have spent a little more time at federal parks in the South and have noticed that the crews with the smokey hat are my age or middle 40ish without a newbie in sight? Is this just the fact that seniority gets the cool jobs like explaining the battle of missionary ridge or is the service greying as a whole?
Er, how about “Fish-style meat food product”? I do not know if it exists, but things like potted meat food product are out there, so why not? Considering some of the crap served us in my high school cafeteria, the ‘not real fish’ comes just a little too close for intestinal comfort.
And, speaking of food, I fucked up. I am, truly, an idiot.
I put the ribs on a 2:00pm, 175F, with plans to let them cook for 4 hours to be followed by 1/2 hour at higher heat. And Boy comes walking in the door at 4:15pm. I asked why he was home early. He wasn’t. My watch, and my brain, were still on Montana time.
The ribs were still good, if a little chewy.
@ Sociogen #212
I have clearance from the sisterhood to reveal a supersekret, cause this is Pharyngula.
Women do check, what I call “the girls” pretty regularly. But we tend to be more discrete. With guys, it seems to be some sort of guy-signal. Yup, MINE’S hangin’ real good! With women, it’s something you do to avoid a few problems. If you have, I believe this is correct terminology, a great set of knockers, you don’t want them mis-aligned. You don’t want one checking the ceiling and the other a low wall. Usually this is confirmed before leaving the home, but sometimes, what can I say, you are in a rush and while standing at the bus stop think … uh oh. Further, there is the near-miss problem. If it is really humid, you put on your bra and your skin doesn’t slide smoothly. It sort of stutters. This means one of the girls could be kind of squished or otherwise not well set. When you are outside and doing something like picking something from a high shelf, you may realize there is a problem.
Most women go to some area where they are not observed, and adjust as needed. After all, women realize that if they were to actually touch their own breasts while not in the locked sanctuary of a room alone and ideally in the dark, they are demanding to be raped. So we avoid that.
tl;dr Cause women know they are stared at hostily quite often, and men are sending out the universal I got a pee-pee signal.
Tony: how about everyone choose a number from 0 to 9, and take point on answering only those ignoramuses whose post numbers end in ‘their’ digit?
<_<
Not sure anything *formal* would help, but for folks to just be aware of the piling on. (Which in many cases isn't such a bad thing… it helps protect the space.)
The federal government, as a whole, is aging. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, as government downsizes, one of the easiest ways to do this is to not fill a vacated position. Second, the GOP and the radical right has invested billions of dollars in propaganda demonizing federal workers as lazy and overpaid (and considering how many years in service most federal workers have, our salaries are higher because of within-grade increases). Third, there are a huge number of retired military in the federal government and, with the recent emphasis on hiring veterans (something that, oddly, the militaristic Bushites did not do), and these workers tend to be older.
In the NPS itself, attrition downsizing is a big part of the problem. The NPS has an authorized ‘FTE cap’ (an FTE is a Full Time Equivalent — 2078 hours per year — one person working full time for one year. it can be one person, or two seasonals, or three people working 4 months per year). As of two years ago, the average National Park was operating at less than 50% cap FTE. So if a park were authorized 100 FTEs, they might be making due with only 48 FTEs and make up the difference by cutting visitor services and recruiting more and more volunteers (even though federal regulations forbid replacing a paid employee with a volunteer).
So yes, the ranger force, along with maintenance, facilities, roads and trails, administration, and every other employee in the NPS, is aging. In fact, each year, the NPS workforce gets almost 8 months older. And we are not only failing to preserve the resources, we are not only failing to provide good visitor services (including tours), but we are losing the institutional memory as people retire and are not replaced.
Sorry for ranting. The NPS and USFS budgets could be doubled at every unit and it would be about two days of the Bush tax cuts for the rich.
Lyn:
Oh. The goddamn patriarchy!
Also, you mean “discreet”, not “discrete”. Two different words.
Tony:
In your opinion.
What you see as a problem I see as a feature.
Re: Piling on:
I have, many times, written a well thought out (well, I think so) response to someone who has written something really stupid, or infuriating, or wrong, hit ‘submit’ and discovered that I am the 20th person to ream them. Part of the perceived piling on may be slow thinking and slow typing on the part of me (and possibly others). On a fast moving thread, it is not unusual to have 20 comments between what I am responding to and my actual (by that time) useless response.
Well, we’re back from town, Rubin is recovering from her surgery (very slowly, that girl looks and acts like she’s been licking toads) and all the books we brought home (42 of them) have been catalogued in LibraryThing. Among them, The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, Liars & Outliers by Bruce Schneier, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, The Yard by Alex Grecian and Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.
I’ll try to catch up tomorrow, we’re both tired out, been up since 4:30 a.m. (had to be at the vet clinic by 7 a.m.), so we’re just going to flake out.
That appearance is mainly in your head I think. They gang up on old commenters as well…
Ogvorbis – That’s a different website than I was looking at earlier. The one earlier listed the name of the person who is in charge of the fire – I thought that was both cool and bad – cool because it added a personal touch, bad because then there is a specific person to blame if it all goes bad.
Also – what is a type 3 fire team versus a type 2 fire team?
Thanks Og, NPS (with the exception of Alaska) is truly a national treasure. I finally got to Lookout Mountain Tennessee after living close by for 7 years. I have read many reports on the battle but until I actually looked on it in person I had a tru WTF moment. The gentleman who had given the lecture to bored tourists, fidgety kids and a couple of old farts like myself listening intently. He was kind enough to discuss what I had remembered about the artillery, range and routes. Very enjoyable afternoon. My gawd that confederate general was fucking stupid. I had gotten that from reading but to actually look at the ground was amazing. This same fuck went to war college with Davis Grant and Lee. Apparently he must have been too drunk when it came to the tactics classes.
Ogvorbis!
*cautiouspouncehug*
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Sunny D is an Abomination Unto Nuggen.
And it makes lousy screwdrivers.
–
Oh, and anyone who has adopted a virtual ratlet and wants their own ratlet portrait atc*, grab my e-address from here and drop me an e-mail.
*artist trading card
Dawkins letter to the fundies in the Highlands: Why I won’t take part in debate with fundamentalists
Caine:
Any virtual ratlets left to adopt?
The Redhead’s parents are here for their annual visit. Family reunion is this Saturday, officially the Redhead is hosting, with their help. But the meal is being catered this year rather than being home cooked.
One nice feature of having them here is that I don’t have to leave work twice during the day for commode duty. But they still let me get up in the middle of the night for that. Well, I guess age does have certain privileges.
ImaginesABeach:
The Incident Commander is always listed by name. And he, or she, is the one who has to answer for accidents, deaths, injuries, loss of buildings, everything. It also reinforces the rotation of teams on and off of a fire.
The Southwest/Northern Rockies Incident Management Team, headed now by Hall, was the team that was flown in to New York City for the Word Trade Center incident. Many on the team now were with it back then. And I discovered I am not unique regarding the nightmares or the impossibility of getting the agency to recognize the existence of PTSD.
Within the Incident Command System (invented and developed out in California by CDF) allows one person to be in charge of an incident ranging in size from a one-acre fire with one truck and four crew all the way up to a 200,000-acre fire with 2,500 people. The team type refers to complexity — the one-acre, one truck fire has an IC (Incident Commander) who is also the crew chief — the one in charge of the fire truck. If the Initial Attack is unsuccessful, more trucks and crews, and possibly air, will be called in. Eventually, the size and/or complexity will require a command team — commander, plans, communications, logistics, operations, air operations, etc. — to handle the complexity.
Each level of supervision is supposed to maintain a zone of control of six — each person should not be in charge of more than 6 resources (a resource is, say, one helicopter (with crew), one truck, one hand crew, one bulldozer) so you need task force leaders, dozer leaders, division supervisors, branch supervisors, etc, and each person is in control of no more than six leaders, or supervisors, or whatever.
The same holds true in overhead (the ones who make it possible for the fire fighters to do their job). The Logistics Chief is in charge of ground support, transportation, medical unit, security, the fire camp, supply, food, and fuel. Which is, on a large fire, too many units for logs to keep track of, so the fire camp manager will supervise supply, food and fuel. On a type 1 team, there may be 5 levels between a front line worker and the IC. On a type 2 team, maybe three levels. A type 3 team, there may only be one level of supervision between the IC and a boot on the ground.
The ICS is very flexible. Ramping up, or down, is just a matter of ordering up the resources for specific jobs. No one has to decide who is in charge of whom as it is all in the system. If I am called as an SECM (Security Manager), I know that I will be in charge of the Security Unit (and, if there are enough people under me, I will assign a day shift and night shift supervisor) and I will report to the Logistics Chief who reports to the Incident Commander. And it doesn’t matter if there are 2,000 people in the fire camp or 80, the position of the SECM is always the same. And it works for every position within the system.
Does that make sense?
Ogvorbis:
Now that I think about it, the perceived piling on is likely due to multiple people reading a comment and posting their responses around the same time, so that when you refresh the page, it can look like several people have dogpiled one person.
Thanks for the advice, Improbable Joe, Louis, and Tony. I feel somewhat better just having gotten that off my chest.
Improbable Joe:
We’ve just started to do a version of this, so hopefully we’ll see decent results. We all enjoy her company and want her to come to events, so we’ll try to do things when she’s available. But after the last time she dragged us out at the last minute, the rest of us decided that in the future we will organize things ahead of time, and not let decisions be left up to her.
Tony and Louis: Your advice of a quiet coffee and discussion sounds like a good plan, similar to Captain Awkward’s “use your words” motto. I might try to work it into a coffee time where we talk about other things, so she doesn’t feel too attacked. Although the lighter fluid is tempting… I think that when I get back from my trip to BC, I will be cooled-off enough to discuss things without getting all ragey.
Tony:
She’s definitely a little self-centered. For some reason, I tend to have friends who are. But we’re all self-centered sometimes, and I don’t know how I appear to others.
I think she’s a good person, and she seems to try hard. She certainly spends a lot of time analyzing her interactions with people. But I also think that she’s insecure in a number of ways (again, so am I, just different ways), and it seems like she really needs people to know how hard she’s trying. Also, she’s super-extroverted and needs to share a lot, and I’m super-introverted and don’t share unless I want input, so our styles are very different.
We’re all graduating within the next 4-10 months, and our lives will change a lot after that. If she doesn’t start being more considerate, I may do the slow fade after graduation. But I hope that I can find the right words to get her to change her behaviour, so that I can be friends with her without going crazy.
thunk
I meant women have two.
Makes another note to self about proof read fail.
Tony: while multiple responses happen, IMHO that shouldn’t cause a piling-on perception in and of itself. (Nor is it necessarily cause for apology, as that’s just how comment threads work.) Besides, most commenters don’t particularly want to JOIN a pile-on when the relevant points have already been made by someone else.
However, when the inciting comments are silencing attempts then commenters speak out and push back, intentionally. The actual argument isn’t even the point in those cases; it’s someone coming in shame-first.
Anyway, Ophelia’s discussing it over at her place:
https://proxy.freethought.online/butterfliesandwheels/2012/08/remembering-that-we-can-be-wrong/#comment-253642
Ended up not getting a suitcase after all because every college student in the damn area is scarfing them up like Middlesworth’s at a stoner party.
Dinner was fun; we decided to try the Longhorn steakhouse. The food was quite good, though a bit pricier than the DaughterPerson expected. But she has a “real” job now, full-time with benefits, after 2 years of cobbling part-time 10-15/hr a week jobs into something resembling full-time.
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Audley:
I have never had a Peppy Chew, but a cousin claims they are the best thing ever. She has a friend…somewhere?… who sends her a package every couple months.
—
JAL:
Witches Abroad was the first Terry Pratchett book I read, and I was hooked for life. I want to be Granny Weatherwax when I get old. :)
Sorry you have to deal with parents who won’t respect the limits you’ve set. I guess I got “lucky” that my parents were always the dour types who couldn’t have fun if you used M-80’s to pry the sticks out of their asses. My kids were always ready to leave after a couple hours and I’m not sure they’d have forgiven me for a sleepover.
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Improbable Joe:
Absolutely! My just-turned-16yo niece has never had a firm limit set in her life…and she recently announced that she’s pregnant, dropping out of school, and marrying her boyfriend. And my sister is just fine with all that because “it’s her life.” I, on the other hand, want to cause wanton destruction and bodily injury.
—
Ogvorbis:
Welcome home! Yay, Christian stations…. *sigh*
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Nutmeg:
I don’t have any good advice, but offer sympathy. People like that are always hard for me to deal with because they aren’t completely horrible people. It’s just that good doesn’t quite outweigh the bad.
—
Lyn:
Ahhhh! I’ve never had enough to worry about shifting or slippage, but yes, I do the bathroom stall “everything back in place” dance.
On grandparents, my threat of last resort was to send the kid in question to stay with my mom. My youngest met her at 18months and had an extreme fear of old people until she was 12
Socio-gen:
Peppy Chews are like minty Charleston Chews only, you know, good. I wish I had more.
Tony:
If we adhere to the three post rule and the commenter in question proves to be an ass, then they deserve whatever they get. I don’t really give a good goddamn if they are “ganged up on”, as long as it’s warranted.
Re fish and chips, what are they made from in America if not real fish? All fish and chip shops I’ve been to have a board behind the counter listing different types of fish which you order either fried or grilled. What’s it like in America.
Damn. Learn something new every day. Did you know that wee-wee is a gendered insult? I think that eident9 does not grok the idea of a gendered insult.
lexie #352 we have fish and chips which is usually ground stuff that may have originated in the ocean with fillers and crappy bread which puffs when fried. Alternatively we have catfish which is euphemistically farmed but is more likely a blocked sewage dish near a landfill which is also ground with fillers and crappy bread which puffs when fried. Fries are usually pretty bog standard
And I’m heading off to bed. Eleven days of 16-hour shifts (with two 1/2 hour breaks) gets old. Fast. And it is getting harder to recover from the lack of sleep.
Lexie @ 352 : Where I live there isn’t a decent fish and chips shop within 60 miles. When I lived on the other side of the country, there was one close to where I lived. The fish was typically atlantic cod – a fairly standard whitefish, battered and fried. grilled wasn’t popular back then. I miss it.
Anybody who deals a lot with discussions of sexism, objectification of women and similar issues, be prepared for a slew of jackasses citing this . A study shows that women as well as men tend to look at women as a ‘collection of body parts’ vs looking at men as whole people. Expect jackasses to claim that this proves that it’s ‘natural’ to objectify women, rather than, you know, that women as well as men being a part of a patriarchal culture they also tend to objectify women.
Thunk:
Oh yes, plenty.
So, um, I just wanted to say that my apparent random interjections recently are partly due to a psych meds adjustment and I hope you all don’t mind if I blather a little. If it annoys, please tell me.
I am coming off an antipsychotic, one of those wonderful neuroleptics that basically fuck up your dopamine receptors in the guise of “restoring balance” in your synapses, after having taken it for over a decade. It did work for what it was supposed to do, I will admit, but I was starting to twitch, and I had read both of Robert Whitaker’s books and decided it was time to check the damage. Fortunately my psych agreed that the twitching was a bad thing and we should try a taper and discontinue.
My last quarter-pill was Friday evening. I got four hours of sleep last night, if I round up. Six and a half the night before, five before that–I usually sleep right around eight hours a night, but if I don’t get it my body will make up for it the next night. Sunday and yesterday I had a bunch of energy despite little sleep; today I have been a little lower.
I hate psych meds. I really do. But the damned things have made my life livable. I have no idea what my baseline is for anything because I was only six months into transitioning when I had to start an SSRI. The testosterone gave me lots of energy. The drugs took it away. Now it’s back, sort of, and I am trying to enjoy it but jeez, I need some sleep!
I took some Klonopin about an hour ago. I am going to close my eyes now and see how much time has gone by when I open them again. If I am up all night, may I babble here?
I live in the land of Ivars, so good fish and chips are never a problem. *smug mode*
Nutmeg, how about you wouldn’t mention her at all? Rather than saying “you are such-and such” you could say “your actions made me do this-and-that, and it caused something”
eriktrips @ 359 :
Go for it. chat all you need to, PZ will make more. :-)
I think that’s a good idea, Weed Monkey. When I’m ready to have that conversation with her, I may run a couple of scripts by the Horde.
erik:
babble away.
Isn’t it nice to have a place for that?
Speaking of fish n chips, do people really put vinegar on the chips (they are fries, right)? I’ve rarely eaten the dish, but on the few chances I have, ketchup is the only thing I’ve used (and even then, it’s not much).
Ogvorbis, welcome home. I was thinking about you today when I was reading about the Taylor Bridge fire in central Washington.
kristinc, I live in the land of Ivars, too. Maybe we should meet there some time.
I’ve been away too long. I missed both the tits/penii discussion and the potty training discussion.
:-(
Tony: I once watched in mingled fascination and horror at a Seattle Ivar’s while a guy took his fresh hot basket of fish and chips over to the condiment cart and proceeded to lash garlic-flavored vinegar all over it. So yes, yes they do.
Vinegar on fries is great! What’s not to like about it?
Nutmeg:
I have to preface this by saying I’ve never tried vinegar on fries. However, the flavor of vinegar on fries doesn’t sound appealing.
****
kristinc:
Uh, wow. Garlic flavored vinegar you say? That sounds good, but maybe not on fries.
Once upon a time, I went to dinner with a group of people. A young woman in our group ordered a steak, cooked *well* (I think it was a filet). When the entree came out, she poured ketchup all over it. Everyone at the table had to pick their jaws off the ground.
Re: pile-ons, as a new commenter, can I ask a dumb question? Well, of course I can, here goes:
I’ve seen a lot of references (on other blogs/forums) to how Pharyngula (in particular) has gotten SO BAD over the last 10-18 months (a wide range, but I’ll leave that aside).
Short question: is the imputed change of tone at Pharyngula both (a) real, and (b) possibly due to wider exposure and intrusion by diametrically-opposed persons, or is it an actual change?
Longer question:
Has it really changed? A sincere question! I know as someone without historical awareness I see upticks in “vitriol” when a bunch of one-off commenters/trolls show up, but that’s really all I see. However, I also know I love the experience of being told I’m wrong with the precision of multiple exacto-knives… it makes me think.
To restate: I’m genuinely curious if something has changed in the commentariat in the last 1-1.5 years, and if that change was related to certain events in that time-frame*. I’d do my homework, but that would require more effort than I’m willing to put forth.
*Leading question, sorry. I became aware of this discussion well after some woman had the effrontery to ask all men everywhere to … be nice.
Oggie
(when you wake up)
What do you think of the New Pharyngula?
(I won’t see any answer until tomorrow afternoon (pharyngula time.))
*headdesk*
Fair enough. Explaining to you some of the dynamics between the commenters here would require more effort than I’m willing to invest too.
PatrickG: if the change in tone is in fact due to incursions from trolling opposition, it’d still be a real change, no?
For comparison, I was going to link to “The Woman Problem” thread from 2010 back on Sb, but the comments (the important part, for this discussion) still aren’t up there yet. IMHO, yes the vitriol and piling-on have gotten worse in direct response to specifically misogynist bad-faith incursion.
PatrickG
Most things are not about you
Yes people do, my major problem with it isn’t the flavour it’s the fact that it makes them soggy, chips should be crispy IMHO.
Rev BDC, there are two Charleston, SC, pages — one, “Landmark,” with 93,000 likes and one with 45,000 likes that links to local busineses, etc. Which one? I want to see you jump in there with “what the hell are you doing with my picture?”
About french fries: I love putting malt vinegar on fish and chips (the one kind of British food I enjoy without fail).
I also open up my cheeseburgers and put french fries on them. My dad does it, too. Anyone else? Try it sometime. Potato chips are good, too.
Question for the physics-savvy:
Victor Stenger writes in “God and the Folly of Faith” that a positron is indistinguishable from an electron going backwards in time, and that the same applies to all other particle/antiparticle combos as well. Does anyone know how that works?
PatrickG, at least from my perspective and individual opinion, the deterioration in tone, and patience with new commenters, dates back to a very specific moment and reason.
And that moment was Elevatorgate.
Not so much Elevatorgate itself – the immediate thread concerning Elevatorgate was the normal standard pile-on against idiocy, like any other creationism or bigotry or libertarian thread. But when the misogynists of the slimepit and their apologists just wouldn’t let it die, well, long-time commenters here started getting tired. Our well of patience was drained, and hasn’t had the needed time to replenish.
Also, some of those slimepitters were people that at least some of us had previously admired, or been friendly with, until the episode exposed them for what they were. That was particularly stressful, and most certainly drained the well of patience faster.
This is my view of it. I’m sure not everyone here agrees with this assessment or interpretation.
There’s vinegar in ketchup, isn’t there?
So just imagine fries and ketchup with the tomatoey flavor subtracted out, and the sour/tangy part of the ketchup doubled or tripled.
Or think of Salt and Vinegar potato chips.
Chips with vinegar? Absolutely. Yum.
Here the cheapest fish in your fish & chips is likely to be flake i.e., shark*. Others will be named fish, and pricier. But because I live inland, the quality isn’t always the best – and my favourite near-local chippie closed down recently. RIP Flatheads :(
*In Australia, people eat more sharks than sharks eat people, by many orders of magnitude.
Yeah, I’m the one always adding more vinegar than called for into slaws and dressings, and I can even see the appeal of vinegar on chips. But I don’t understand how he could taste any of the fish and chips at ALL with the amount of strong garlicky vinegar he poured all over it. (Not judging. Just not understanding.)
Oh and re condiments in general: Before and just after I married Misterc, he was the guy who put a visible layer of black pepper and lots of A-1 sauce on ev.ery.thing. I understood it once I ate meat cooked by his parents.
A ray of hope, though: since living with me and my cooking he hasn’t had A-1 sauce in the fridge for over a decade.
What’s astonishingly good is french fries inside an ordinary fast-food-type burrito. I only know of one place that actually sells them with the fries already inside, but lots of Mexican food places sell french fries as a side, so you can do it yourself. Beans, salsa, carne asada … and fried potatoes. What could be better?
P.S. Lettuce in a burrito is an abomination. Chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, chopped cabbage, okay. But if lettuce is one of the options, go away. Don’t even bother trying the meat and beans, because lettuce at the burrito station indicates the cook doesn’t respect food enough.
P.P.S Speaking of respecting food enough, or something, I found a year-old pack of sausage in the back of the freezer. Oh, dear, looked terrible, but I cooked up a little piece and it smelled and tasted okay. Several hours later, since I still felt healthy, I simmered the rest in tomato and wine sauce to have with potatoes for dinner.
If I don’t post anything tomorrow, you’ll know they weren’t really okay. Surely there’s a god of sausages I could pray to forgive me for my carelessness, but I don’t know who …
hotshoe:
Someone else does this? Awesome.
I have a habit of using *some* of the ingredients in my refrigerator that have been there AHEM a while. Not the really perishable stuff, but let’s just say that T threw away a tub of margarine because it was over 2 years old.
Well, a quick disclaimer here: I came from writing a very … distressing post in the Thunderdome. But I’m really starting to get the feeling that I’m pushing too hard in trying to, what, fit in? insert myself into the community? I’ll keep trying and see what responses I get. And yes, I know nobody really cares, but I’ll still try. :)
@ rorschach:
Well, that’s your call. I was curious, you don’t have to answer.
@ Pteryx:
Of course. My question really went to whether there were significant changes in the regular commenters here/their behavior outside of that factor. I love the comments here, though I don’t feel I’m fitting in well, but then, that’s just all about me, so I’ll leave that aside. :)
@ chigau:
Well, in that I just wanted to learn about a community I’m new too, yes, yes, it is about me. :P
@ Amphiox:
Thanks for the response! Very helpful for someone who came across the online community after Elevator-gate, but before Tf00t, if that helps explain why I want to learn more about the history of the Deep Rifts.
and @Pteryxx: sorry, I’ve started editing my comments outside of my browser and somehow lost a copy-paste:
“Thanks for describing an example, even without comments. I appreciate it.”
Nonononono!!! Don’t do that! Your test is inadequate. Not all food poisoning options smell bad and taste bad, and not all will affect you within a few hours. Botulism symptoms take 8-36 hours to develop.
It may well be OK with long simmering, heat denatures botulin toxin. And I imagine your sausage is loaded with preservatives, because otherwise it would smell horrible.
I’m not super paranoid about it – I’ll use things a bit past their date as long as there’s no mold or bad smalls. Pickles and conserves are generally fine, oils and fats can be taste-tested. But mystery meat? No thanks.
Oh hang on. Freezer, not fridge. MUCH less of a worry. Sorry.
To the regulars who post here and are of a male persuasion,
I feel funny about that post referring to the universal I-have-a-pee-pee signal, insofar as I wrote the whole thing thinking of men in meatspace I have met and the MRA dudebros who have posted in Pharyngula. Afterwards, I thought, but what if some of the many decent guys here thought you meant them? Well, I don’t. I’m thinking of those wonderful “fellows” who sense no boundary when it comes to grabbing themselves. I’m sure the fellow who grabbed Dr. NotMrsLouis now has an inkling of a boundary, but others of his kind, not so much. I don’t know how to say this really, except to say that here, I meet with decent people, some of whom are men, and I never once thought of any of them as part of the problem.
Hope that makes sense and the comment was as funny/silly in your minds as it was in mine.
Last week I found that the pint of heavy cream in the back of the fridge had gone off — no mold, but sour smell and general, um, lumpiness.
So I used it to make cream scones. Best cream scones ever.
S/he who throws out “expired” milk, cream, plain yogurt or sour cream around here risks my wrath.
Yoghurt’s pretty safe unless it’s actually moldy. But you do have to be careful with non-cultured dairy. A nice bacterial culture souring is very different matter from rotting. It’s safer to do it deliberately – introduce some yoghurt or acid – than to wait for random passing bacteria to do their stuff.
It’s like natural yeasts: some sourdoughs are AWESOME and some are repulsive. Which is why people assiduously guard their sourdough starter or beer or wine yeast, rather than start fresh each time.
Can pickles go bad?
Lynna@197:
So much is explained about the weirdly alien behaviour in this one post. Thanks for the info. What a world it would be to live in if everyone was being that phony for religious reasons. And they want people to become part of that? Two words come to mind: Bat and Shit.
Jafafa Hots @394:
I saw a news story about a gang of them knocking over a bank in LA last week. They can go VERY bad.
McC2lhu
Were they American pickles or some slimy imports?
Depends on which paper you pick up. The LA Times wouldn’t distinguish between domestic or imported pickles, since the factors that cause them to go bad can happen to either group. The OC Register, also known as the print version of FAUX News, the Orange Curtain Ragister, the “OBAMA IS A MUSLIM WHO WANTS TO DESTROY AMERICA!!11!!!ONEelebenty, etc.” paper wouldn’t have details at press time but would be sure to quote every person who had an opinion on the matter who was sure they were non-whites pickles.
And for the serious answer to the pickles question, every foodie or cooking site I have been on has a checklist of food items and how long they are supposed to last, or opinion from professional cooks on when they taste best and at what point the flavor will start to deteriorate. I would just cruise a few of them and find their lists and get an average.
My grandmother had stuff in her fridge from the ’50s before she sold her house in 1997. We kept the containers, cans and boxes and sold them at an antique shop for some good money. I think home-ec classes should start to teach the concept that frozen, canned and preserved stuff doesn’t last forever. This may save many tummies from embarrassing noises after a dinner party where the host doesn’t have a clue about spoilage times.
McC2lhu
Too true. When my grandmother died, her basement was full of canned preserves. She had 11 children and just never stopped cooking all her life. There were close to 500 jars. We tried to make sure the food was eaten but some of it was … not pleasant. The fruit was taken fast, which covered most of it, but there were also jars of pickled or jugged meats. Those were approached with extreme caution.
Eventually, all the canning jars were sold or given away, and the hoard was gone. Some of those jars came from my grandmother’s grandmother, and had been made before 1900. They were actually collectors’ items. The fail points were the rubber seals or the thin metal lids. The old kind, with wax seals and heavy glass lids seemed fine, but I can’t swear to it, nor to how long before we opened it the jar had been filled. My grandmother used those jars all her life.
Good morning!
We have a fairly large freezer box which is full most of the year (we have a vegetable garden and my dad has no sense of how much produce is enough), so things tend to get lost in there. I’m pretty sure we’ve eaten meat older than a year, but there have never been problems.
Pickles can go bad. When it comes to an open jar, hotshoe already wrote the reasons.
A closed jar of home made pickles can go bad if it wasn’t perfectly tightly closed. Or they can stay brilliant for years. We sometimes forget things in our basement and then find a jar of pickles from 200_. If they look good when opened, not soggy and the liquid on the top hasn’t gotten weird and dark – they’re fine. Same goes for most fruit or vegetable preserves.
Rachel Maddow on Paul Ryan’s views on women’s reproductive rights
Interesting, Alethea in NZ the euphemism for shark is lemonfish. Flake is, I think some sort of Ray. No wait, that’s skate.
I think one of the best threads we’ve ever done here was the 2008 US election one. 84 days to go until the next one!
“Botulism symptoms take 8-36 hours to develop”
(considers enemies who employs a poison-taster)
…That is good to know!
“Scientists can now block heroin, morphine addiction; clinical trials possible within 18 months” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-scientists-block-heroin-morphine-addiction.html
“Arab liberals must stay in the game” http://www.nature.com/news/arab-liberals-must-stay-in-the-game-1.11135
“UK recession may be to blame for over 1,000 suicides in England” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-uk-recession-blame-suicides-england.html
“Widespread local extinctions in tropical forest ‘remnants’ http://phys.org/news/2012-08-widespread-local-extinctions-tropical-forest.html
@rorschach
I publicly announced my crush on Rachel Maddow in [Introductions], but her show tonight sent me into full-blown lust!!
I probably shouldn’t watch Rachel Maddow. I watch the segment and then want to take a tribe of trained monkeys to go and fling poop at the person focused on in the piece. Paul Ryan deserves several return visits of the monkeys.
Is there a new rule that GOP candidates have to be sociopaths? I think even Nixon and Reagan would be looking at these a-holes and giving them that ‘Oh, he mad!’ look.
No, they’re chips ;-) – and plenty of vinegar (plus black pepper and a bit of salt – the only food I add salt to) is essential. A pickled onion or two is a nice addition – the ones you get in fish ‘n’ chip shops are larger and different in flavour* from the ones sold in shops. I gave up eating fish a few weeks ago (so now I can actually call myself a vegetarian without qualifying it), so now it’s chips ‘n’ chips as far as I’m concerned.
*I think they pickle them in citric acid rather than vinegar.
Well, I’m spending the next two days driving to BC. I have limited internet access for the next week.
I hope you all have a squid-filled time while I’m away.
Whee I love coming to work at 7 am.
Especially since the parking lot is nice and empty.
Also: I can leave early! Grocery shopping and laundry!
And then back to work at 7 pm for the evening dosing, then back again at 7 am.
Oh, 12 hour dosage cycles…
KG @410, if you haven’t yet, you may want to check out patatas bravas.
I love lettuce in burritos. Well, spinach preferably, because it has more taste. And has to be cut into ribbons. :p
As some of you with exceptional memories (Caine) probably know, the issue that is most likely to get me riled up is access to health care. I’ve always known that my state has generous eligibility rules and benefits for Medicaid. Medicaid is the US program to provide health care to low income parents, children and people with disabilities, and in some states, adults without children, not to be confused with Medicare which covers most seniors and some people with disabilities without regard to income.
I didn’t realize how flat-out EVIL some states are. Not surprisingly, the worst states are down south where they talk a good game about “good Christian values”. Income of $5,000 per YEAR for a family of 3 makes adults too wealthy for Medicaid coverage in Texas (Gov. Rick Perry) and Louisiana (Gov. Bobby Jindal) and income of $11,000 per year makes adults too rich in Florida (Gov. Rick Scott). And those governors have said they will not accept federal money to expand Medicaid.
Here’s the story that got me worked up this morning:
http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_21308852/anti-medicaid-states-earning-11-000-is-too
For a state-by-state comparison of eligibility, see: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparereport.jsp?rep=130&cat=4&sortc=2&o=a
That site has lots of good health care access policy information.
Salt ‘n vinegar in England, saut ‘n sauce in Scotland :-D (that’s “brown sauce” – probably not the HP brand – main ingredient, vinegar). Mayonnaise in Belgium (yum).
.
Those healthcare access restrictions are deeply, utterly, fucking evil. Access to healthcare comes right after access to air, water, food and shelter. Right alongside access to education. What class of people (who probably consider themselves “civilised” ::spits::) would restrict access to the essentials of civilisation – in a rich country? I hate them (though probably a mere fraction of how much their immediate victims hate them). And their self-satisfied, scum-sucking lackeys and imitators everywhere.
Obama administration, please, save us from our governors.
Anyone who lives in a state where the gove is rejecting the provisions of Obama’s halth care plan, decreasing medicaid eligibility or otherwise screwing around with health care for the poor and lower middle class, please get rid of them. They’re trying to kill you and largely succeeding.
“Ryan Sponsored Abortion Bill That Would Make Romney’s Kids Criminals” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/paul-ryan-abortion-ivf-romney-kids-criminals
“Csanad Szegedi, Hungary Far-Right Leader (and anti-Semite), Discovers Jewish Roots” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/csanad-szegedi-jewish_n_1776617.html
-Also, Russian far-right firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky was anti-Semitic until he acknowledged in 2001 that his father was Jewish.
“Paul Ryan And Economists Just Can’t Agree On These 7 Things” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/paul-ryan-7-economic-falsehoods_n_1773264.html
— — — — — — —
Beyond “Blade Runner”:”vN: The First Machine Dynasty” (Madeline Ashby) http://www.amazon.com/vN-Machine-Dynasty-Madeline-Ashby/dp/0857662627/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345029482&sr=1-1&keywords=vn+madeline+ashby#_
“Confessions of a Fake Scientist” (slideshow)
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/fake_science_101_a_fake_scientist_learns_about_real_scientists.html
.
RANKED 25th IN WORLD IN MATH, U.S. STUDENTS GLAD TO “BE IN TOP 10″ http://www.satirewire.com/content1/?p=2384
PatrickG @ 371:
I’ve been reading here since…winter of 2009, I think. I would say that Pterryx and Amphiox’s assessments are correct. Pharyngula has changed but as a result of troll incursions, to become inhospitable to trolls.
Frankly, that’s why I like it here. I’m up to my ears in gender issues and sexism every day, on a personal level and in my classes/research. Having just one space where I know I don’t have to feel like I’m on alert and must respond — or guilty for letting something slide because I’m just too damned tired to deal with it — is priceless to me.
—
Alethea @ 389:
QFT. I had a serious case of food poisoning when I was 17 that put me in the hospital for 5 days, thanks to my future mother-in-law’s dinner which looked, smelled, and tasted perfectly normal. Her family had become immune or tolerant over the years. To this day I cannot eat burger in any form unless I’ve purchased and cooked it myself.
—
Jafafa Hots @ 394: Pickles have never lasted long enough in my house to find out.
—
ImaginesABeach @ 415: The Republicans’ “Fuck Off And Die” plan is going quite well in some places.
I’ve been around for a long time. You know what? The vitriol in the comments is seriously lesser than it used to be. I’m not joking. If you want to peruse old dungeon entries, they got much worse than most trolls nowadays get.
The difference? The old trolls were by and large Creationists. Fellow atheists would tut-tut at the language used, but they weren’t upset by the subjects or targets. The reason people are going nuts in the last 1-1.5 years is that the target is now not just limited to Creationists or evolution deniers, the target is people who say or do misogynist and/or racist things. As one can act misogynistic or racist without considering one such (whereas one needs to explicitly be creationist or an evolution denier to be such), these critiques hit too close to home for many people. So now they talk about how terrible it is here, and how the blog/commentariat has changed too much.
The OC Register is the only paper I ever saw growing up. It was “normal” to me. I’m so ashamed, and I can’t even look at it when visiting family anymore without becoming nauseous.
Left out an important piece of info in my response to Alethea: my former mother-in-law is a hoarder, particularly of food, and had served 15 year old burger. *shudder*
Her defense was “But it’s been frozen, so it should have been perfectly fine.”
—
Cheezus Whiskers, Comcast internet service SUCKS! On ten minutes, can’t connect for a half-hour or more. I’ve been trying to pay my utility bill for almost an hour now. I just about get my name, address, account number, card number, and everything in…and poof.
I’d call and have them do it over the phone, but here in the Land that Time Forgot, I can only get decent cell service if I climb up the silo.
Huh. I thought I had posted sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning. Oh well. It wasn’t interesting unless you’re me and even then it was interesting mainly because I am still wired and emitting energy somewhat randomly in both direction and interval, but words on the screen are just captivating enough to keep me staring at it.
Seven hours of sleep total, with the early morning nap, means I am almost doing like normal but doesn’t address sleep deficit that came before it.
So I have no idea what today will be like. This is life on the edge, I tell you: I might write all day, read all day, surf the internet all day. I’ll probably play guitar for a couple of hours if I can keep my attention concentrated sufficiently to do so.
I might even leave the house a little later, if my body temperature can slow its oscillation between too hot! and too cold! just a little.
My exciting life. Let me show you it.
I need to call Time Warner. I haven’t touched my TV since Mad Men ended, so why am I paying $80 a month?
Of course, TW very helpfully provides on their website the means to indicate you’re moving, 5000 things that have gone wrong and how to troubleshoot, but does not indicate how to cancel service. I’m going to have to call their 800 number and sit on hold for hours, aren’t?
I was defrosting my freezer once and I found a broccoli floret.
Like, an entire floret. Just stuck in the freezer, no package.
I was somewhat confused.
I also found a can of orange juice concentrate that was six years old.
E:
Um, correct me if I’m wrong here, but you haven’t even lived in your apartment for a year, yet. Where in the hell did that OJ come from?
This defrosting was awhile ago. So this was before my latest move.
But that doesn’t necessarily say anything. There is stuff in my freezer now that I brought with me when I moved.
PS: Sorry about our last convo, my phone’s a piece of shit that ated my response to you and won’t let me send a new one.
BTW: Happy birthday Julia Child!
…I am celebrating by eating a so-so sandwich.
Esteleth: I haven’t had cable in 6-ish years, mostly because I was tired of paying TW for the three or four shows a week I watched. It took forever, with them offering price deals and such until I told the CSR that unless I could get it for less than $30/mo, I wanted out. Unsurprisingly, xe very quickly processed my cancellation.
Now, I get my news and NCIS online and use the Xbox to watch programs on Hulu and Netflix.
—
I once found a small bell pepper in my freezer like that. I still have no idea where it came from because we really didn’t use them often and I would just buy fresh as needed.
rorschach:
If I remember correctly, it’s a mathematical description and may or may not have anything to do with “reality”.
Here’s a description of it.
No prob. I should probably get out of FB and actually, y’know, work.
Whoa! Danger! Weathermen and weatherwomen are taking up arms against us. At least according to Rand Paul they are ordering 46k hollow-point bullets, and that’s all part of Obama’s plan to suppress civil unrest.
Link
Rand Paul’s tweet: “Mad a/b the weather or bad forecasts? I wouldn’t complain, Nat’l Weather Svc just ordered 46k hollow-point bullets”
Rand Paul had a legitimate source for this info: a fringe conspiracy-theory website.
——
Oh, how disappointing. Here’s the truth:
Whoa, I read the first part of the sentence and thought, “Didn’t the Weathermen fade away in the 70s?” And then I realized he meant like television weather forecasters.
Like Anthony Watt. Yeah, I could imagine him stockpiling ammo.
Well, hand the state of Pennsylvania over to Mitt Romney and the zombie-eyed granny killer.
A Republican judge refused to block a vote I.D. law that really should have gone down the legal drain.
Legal challenges are not over and done with, but they do seem to be drawn out enough that Pennsylvania will succeed in suppressing the vote of likely Democratic Party voters for the November election.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/15/13296590-court-clears-pennsylvania-voter-suppression-scheme
@rorschach if so it seems to this layman that in that instance were not talking about time in the sense of what you read on a clock
Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement personnel will be taking you out, and not your local weather forecasters.
Just thinking, wouldn’t occasionally the Fisheries people have to tangle with various non-human creatures that want fish, i.e. bears? I can understand a person whose out dealing with salmon wanting protection against a grizzly.
sigh.
Your problem is that you live in a reality-based world, which is much less exciting than imagining that Obama is arming federal employees to fight back against Republicans who opt for “second amendment remedies” to defend FREEDOM.
PZ:
You have just experienced my reaction when a friend told me he had looked something up on Weather Underground.
But keep in mind that antimatter was just a crazy prediction from a squared equation with a positive and a negative solution… till it was discovered to actually exist.
Speaking of guns, would you like to know who runs the NRA?
Link.
Kayne Robinson
Executive Director of General Operations
Compensation: $1,027,217
Wayne LaPierre
CEO and Executive Vice President
Compensation: $845,469
In a 1995 fundraising letter to NRA members he referred to federal agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as “jackbooted government thugs.”
Chris Cox
Executive Director, Institute for Legislative Action
Compensation: $588,412
he is also the head of the association’s PAC, the NRA political Victory Fund, and president of the NRA’s Freedom Action Foundation
Wilson H. Phillips, Jr.
Treasurer
Compensation: $519,338
more at the link above.
As a side note: Weather Underground has a fabulous Android app.
Aren’t there plenty of federal employees already armed? Like the FBI, CIA, ATF, Secret Service, etc.? You’d think that nitwits like Rand Paul would at least have the intelligence to figure that out.
DM:
Hence my qualification. It’s a mathematical description, but we don’t know if it’s an artifact of the math or something more significant.
I do know that the lack of time symmetry pisses physicists off and has for decades, but until we get some kind of direct evidence that particles are flying backwards through time, we should probably assume it’s a quirk of mathematics.
Were we talking about guns? I totally want a new one, a left-handed one so I can be a double-gun video game/John Woo character!
John Morales@413,
Mmm, patatas bravas sound good. There are what advertise themselves as tapas bars here in Aberdeen – I’ve never tried one, as Spanish cuisine in general is not good for vegetarians, but I’ll take a look.
saw the article on the nws ordering ammo but realized that it was noaa and the fisheries enforcement people are armed.
I really dont get the voter id thing. One needs an id to apply for a job, buy stuff apply for benefits. I know that a lot of older retired folks might not have one but should at least have a voter id card.
broboxley:
https://proxy.freethought.online/dispatches/2012/05/17/whitehead-on-voter-id-laws/
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http://www.npr.org/2012/07/18/156935624/study-many-could-face-obstacles-in-voter-id-laws
also, broboxley, many blue-collar or temp jobs or less scrupulous employers don’t require ID, and buying things doesn’t require ID if you’re poor and deal mostly in cash.
broboxley,
You don’t generally need an ID to be a retired senior citizen, or to be a person who works for cash, and places pay by direct deposit or prepaid debit card these days. And if you lose your ID and don’t have the ID to secure a new ID, what do you do? If you have money and the Internet, you can go online and send out money hither and yon for replacement forms of ID, if the places still exist. If you’re old and the place that had your birth certificate no longer exists, how do you get a copy? What if you were born in a place hit by a hurricane or flood or tornado, and your whole town got spread out over three counties?
My wife is currently trying to get a driver’s license, and they want 7-8 different documents. It isn’t as simple as “well, just get an ID” the way you laid it out. Plus, there’s basically zero cases of people voting under someone else’s name.
Also, a lot of the ID rules require a birth certificate.
Which is a problem if the person in question has ever changed their name for any reason – like, say, being a woman and getting married.
Esteleth, what about getting married, getting divorced, and then getting married again? My wife has documents with three different names on them, which means she also has to show the documents explaining how/why her name changed each time.
Broboxely:
Uh, no. You don’t need an ID for a job, especially if that job is “under the table”.
Here’s what NY state does at the polls: you go to your polling place, find the table for your district, then sign the ledger beside the copy of your signature that the Board of Elections has on file. Easy.
Amazingly, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of large-scale election fraud in New York in my lifetime. Go figure.
Hello, Hordelings! Would the following people mind shooting me a brief email at oniongirlsays at google’s email service*? Not obligatory by any means, but I’d appreciate it if you have a moment! :)
/secret agent mode
*to borrow Muse’s spam-filter phrasing
Amblebury
Amphiox
Beatrice
blf
Brownian
chigau
cicely
Dalillama
DLC
eriktrips
hotshoe
Imaginesabeach
Ing
Improbable Joe
Jafafa Hots
JAL
KG
kristinc
lexie
Lyn
McC2lhu
mythbri
Nerd of Redhead
Nutmeg
opposablethumbs
PatrickG
Paul
portia
Pteryxx
rorschach
Socio-gen
Tethys
thunk
Tony
Weed Monkey
Exactly, Improbable Joe.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that this law would affect women more than men, and women tend to lean left, and the people pushing these sorts of laws are right-wingers.
Also, in many parts of the country until very recently, a poor person was likely to born at home and thus not have a birth certificate. This increases when race is added to the equation.
No birth certificate = no ID.
Funny, how this law serves to disenfranchise women, poor people, and PoC, innit?
Also, voting isn’t some sort of privilege, it’s a right.
Improbable Joe:
I feel for your wife. I managed to get most of my documents updated with my married name, but it was a HUGE pain in my ass, and this was just for updating IDs, not trying to get any new ones.
oniongirl: Will do, but it’ll be tonight sometime.
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Done, oniongirl.
I think onion girl is phishing for email addresses to commit voter fraud in online polls. :)
Audley, I think my wife has enough documents to get a licence, which we’ll find out tomorrow, but if she doesn’t then it will be a nightmare.
Hi oniongirl, just sent one – let me know here if it doesn’t arrive, ok? (I’m quite capable of screwing up something as simple as sending an email, if I really put my mindlessness to it).
My own library requires two forms of photo id. I couldn’t even register without my parents.
(Seriously? Madness!)
Oh, and I sent the totally not mandatory email… shhh!
Lynna @ 434: Well, that’s disappointing. I have a cousin who is a TV meterologist in MN. He will surely be disappointed to know he will not, in fact, be getting any ammo.
@ 436: Hardly surprising, unfortunately. The Powers That Be in the commonwealth wanted PA out of Obama’s reach, and have done their best to make it happen. The Dem Party is trying to counter by helping people get the non-driver ID they’ll need (which is free for all residents), but it’s difficult for many working people to find the time to go wait at the DMV, more so for residents who are seniors, disabled, or don’t have transportation/childcare. Even harder in rural areas where DMV offices are usually only open two or three days a week.
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broboxley @ 448: The voter ID card issued by the election bureaus in PA are not acceptable ID for voting. No kidding! Neither are VA cards. You must have a “government-issued, photo ID, with an expiration date.” A lot of colleges in PA are struggling to issue compliant ID cards. In PA, you need only a birth certificate and Social Security card to apply for assistance, and most jobs require photo ID OR two forms of other ID (SS card, library card, etc) to comply with I-9 rules.
It used to be we could take anything that had your name and the same address as you registered. (Like a utility bill issued in the last 30 days). Or you could have two registered voters vouch for you and sign an affidavit.
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Pterryx @ 449: I don’t really have anything to add, except to squee that I got to hang out with Keesha Gaskins for 5 days in 2010, while she was still the ED of League of Women Voters MN. Incredible, brilliant woman with more energy than teenagers loaded up on Red Bull and Twinkies.
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oniongirl @ 455 : Email’s been sent!
Huh, everyone over 16 is legally obliged to have an identity card here.
Forgot to mention : oniongirl, you got mail.
ZOMG LIBERTEE AND FREEEEDOM!!!
e-mail sent to oniongirl.
Add one more problem to your list above. the ID is technically free, but original birth certificate and/or other documents (marriage license, etc., military discharge papers etc.) are required to get the ID. Lots of people don’t have the supporting documents, so they have to order them. They have to pay to get documents. Not free.
It always astounds me when Republicans say things like, “$25 for a birth certificate is not a problem.” They live in a world where $25 is meaningless. Meanwhile, for poor and lower middle class people, $25 is the difference between eating and not eating, between having their electricity cut off and being able to pay the bill, between having money for transportation to work and not having enough.
We have lots of female meteorologists in my area. I was looking forward to the all-woman army of weather forecasters. I envision ammo belts to hold all those hollow-point bullets.
Socio-gen – I’ve heard that most of the current leadership at the League of Women Voters is young and full of energy and really good.
When I was a kid, the St. Paul League did the election results for the media – they sent someone to each precinct, and that person would call the results in to a phone bank at a bank in St. Paul where it would be tabulated and then released to the media. I remember everyone being my parents age (40s – 50s) but now I’m told everyone is younger than me.
My parents (both of them) have been League members since the 70s. Now they are in their 70s and still active.
Ok, I have to admit I don’t grok the trouble with ID cards in US.
I get that it can be a problem for some to obtain it in some short time span (financial reasons, for example), but surely giving some longer period during which everyone should get one would solve the problem?
Guard shot at the Family Research Council
Wonder where this will go…
Beatrice, there are three chief problems with requiring the ID:
1) Cost. As others have said, even if the cards themselves are free, the documents you need to get them are not.
2) Access. As others have said, the offices that provide them are in many cases hard to get to and open rarely.
3) The people who would have difficulty dealing with the above two factors are disproportionately poor, women, and PoC – all groups that traditionally support the other party from the party pushing for mandatory ID.
Esteleth,
Since my first thought to 1) and 2) was that well, it’s the same here but we all manage somehow, I guess I’m coming to this from the position of privilege. It also makes me wonder how marginalized groups like for example the Roma (those living way below the level of poverty, with little to no documentation) get ID cards here, if they even have them.
If it weren’t for your 3) I would say that 1) and 2) could be helped if the government made it a serious project implementing this, but it’s obviously just another legal voting manipulation.
Sorry for playing the incredulous European.
Also, there’s no national ID card nor are there any laws compelling you to have one.
If getting ID was easy and free (or very cheap, with fee waivers with need), then fine. Let there be ID.
But that is not the situation.
Lynna:
Awww!
Fine, I’ll start my own future-meteorologist army!
Also with regard to IDs – It can take a long time to get the needed documents to get the ID. I have to request a copy of my birth certificate from the US Department of State because I was born in England to American citizens. The cost is $50 and it takes months to get it. If I lose my driver’s license or have my wallet stolen, I can’t replace it without a certified copy of my birth certificate, which I don’t currently have.
Here’s some more just on Texas’s voter ID law:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/how-voter-id-laws-are-being-used-to-disenfranchise-minorities-and-the-poor/254572/
Stats from other states:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/pennsylvania-voter-id-law_n_1652469.html
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http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/15/13287249-will-new-photo-id-laws-keep-down-the-black-vote-in-the-south?lite
Time span is a problem. Republicans at the state level are not going to allow enough time for implementation. They want the new rules in force for the November election.
When Eric Holder, Attorney General, tries to take them to court for infringing voter rights, they tie the case up in the courts, and/or they try to get Holder fired.
It would also help if the myth of voter fraud was not believed by the wingnuts. Nope, there is no voter fraud to speak of, therefore no urgency to get IDs for everyone. We could take our time solving this non-existent problem.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/48621094#48621094
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/14/13276665-a-solution-to-a-problem-thats-virtually-nonexistent?lite
Oh heck, and I forgot the case of Ohio that Lynna mentioned the other day, quoting her here:
thanks guys lots of good examples. The reason I ask is they implemented voter id here in GA and only 536 requests were made for voter id cards this year . Granted that would be 536 lost votes and 536 is too many but didnt seem like massive disenfranchisement
broboxley: who’s reporting the requests? and did they make any effort to INFORM voters that they’d need new IDs? See above from Socio-gen:
Definitely getting it now, again sorry for dropping a stupid clueless question.
I also have to add that having to show an ID card in order to vote does not in fact prevent voting fraud. We have a big problem with dead people voting. There are also some towns near the border with Bosnia where hundreds of people are registered at a singe address and they come over from Bosnia to vote with their Croatian ID card, after already voting there as part of the diaspora. If a certain party wants to cheat, they’ll find enough support to do it with or without ID cards. Of course, for your Republicans demanding ID cards is just a form of a legal cheat.
A counter to the Voter ID issue is that, for example, a driver’s license isn’t proof of citizenship. Fake IDs also get produced all the time (just ask any teenager trying to get into a bar).
And, on the other side, there have been extremely few cases of voter fraud found. This is a hurricane in a thimble being used pretty much explicitly to disenfranchise a set of voters.
Lynna: OMG yes. Honestly, I’d written about that but it seemed way too long. Getting documents is a ridiculous nightmare and often too expensive for many, and Dog help you if you were born out of state, even if you know the right county/office to contact. I went through hell trying to get a copy of my son’s AZ birth certificate six years ago. Had to send copies of my birth certificate and photo ID, his father’s BC and ID (and wasn’t that a fun request), put the packet together, and then had to do it all again because I wrote “832nd Med Grp” instead of “Luke AFB Hosp.” in the birth facility line of the first request form so they sent it back…six weeks later.
One of my biggest irritations after moving to MN was that I couldn’t transfer my PA driver’s license, despite having my birth certificate and my PA photo license (plus Social Security card, voter ID, college ID, recent utility bill, even a Sam’s Club card). Why? Because my birth certificate says “”Firstname Middlename Birthname” while everything else says “Firstname Birthname Marriedname” (which is what I’ve used for the past 26 years.)
Minnesota requires me to prove a “clear and direct connection” between the two names — and will only accept my marriage license or my divorce decree, both of which were in PA and which I could only get by appearing at the courthouse of record in person (with photo ID). So, after a year of living in MN, I will finally be able to transfer my license once I finish my vacation here.
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ImaginesABeach: That’s my understanding as well. I know a few people with the Red River Valley LWV and they’re also quite energetic. I think having a young-ish and active state organization makes a huge difference in the local Leagues. PA’s LWV…well, I have no idea what they do, and I’m not sure the local LWV does either.
Re voter ID requirements: I’ll take my passport as my ID. If it doesn’t work, maybe I’ll use it one last time and trade it in for a new one in any FSM forsaken country that is not the US and will take me.
@ dianne:
If you’re in one of those states (sorry if you mentioned above), your passport won’t be usable unless the address on it matches your voter registration address.
Me, I’ve moved 5 times since getting my current passport, and those things are bloody expensive and time-consuming to get. My partner actually has a passport with an erroneous birthdate on it, which she didn’t notice until our latest trip to Central America. Almost caused some real problems… anyways, passports feh.
Sent, oniongirl.
Beatrice, another potential problem is an unadvertised change-up in necessary documentation, and the unexpected time requirements this may cause. For instance, the last time I went in to renew my driver’s license (I’m guessing that this would be one of the most commonly-used picture IDs), I was told that, unlike every previous time I’d renewed it, I needed a copy of my birth certificate—the reason given being to make it difficult for illegal immigrants to get ID. This didn’t seem like it’d be a problem, since I had a copy back at home. Back to the agency again the next day, with the birth certificate…and that’s not the right kind of copy; it must be an officially sealed copy! which is not what the copy I’d got from my birth-state so many, many moons ago, was. *sigh* So…write to the appropriate government department in my birth-state, and it seems that my birth-state does not now/then, nor ever has issued state-sealed birth certificates. It takes several weeks to get this word back; so that’s more time wasted, right there. Oh, it worked out okay when I took that letter back to the tag agency, but I live in a city where tag agencies are plentiful and available.
A several months later, when Son went to get his license renewed, he was only prepared for this folderol because I’d just gone through it—and in his case, this was the first time he’d ever been called upon (as a Young Adult, newly-fledged and all) to supply a copy of his birth certificate, so he had to send for a copy (same birth-state as mine), which was time+money, neither of which he would have expected if I hadn’t run into it and warned him. Now, factor in the tendency to procrastinate, especially among the young-and-as-yet-insufficiently-cynical, and it looks to me as if this series of nuisances would inevitably lead to surprised young adults, going to register to vote at the last dog, not being able to get the supporting documentation in time, even if we don’t cynically postulate that there would be no particular hurry on the part of a majority-Repub state’s government to be unduly helpful to a statistically probable Dem voter.
Clusterfuck city.
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Passports don’t list your address anyway, do they? Mine just indicates where I was born.
Dang, Patrick, you’re right. Time to talk to my partner about Canada again. Because there’s no way I’m spending a ridiculous number of hours at the drivers license office to get something that says I can’t drive. The reason I don’t have a driver’s license right now in the first place is that I can’t be arsed to blow a day at the DMV. Sorry, I know I’m being whiny and privileged, but that’s the way it goes.
Fuck it, I never did like the US. Let em elect Romney. It’s no more than the country deserves.
Sorry, I’m in an extremely bad mood. Should I take this to the ex ZT?
I think my state now has one of those voter ID laws. Which sucks, because my address on my drivers license needs to be changed, but I don’t really have the money to do it. Hopefully I’ll remember to get that done when financial aid is disbursed.
Richard Austin:
The majority of those very few cases aren’t even intentional voter fraud. They’re convicted felons who didn’t know their voting rights haven’t been restored or who didn’t know they’d been revoked. Voter ID laws will have zero impact on that.
Don’t mention passports. I had to get a new one last year. It was expensive because this is some new, better kind of passport “made by EU standards” (code for “we’ll rip you off because
we canEU!”). It should be valid for ten years, but if we get into EU next year I will have to change it much sooner.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Why the fucking hell did I follow my colleagues into running 5 km?
*I’m* not teaching tomorrow.
Esteleth:
Theoretically, a bad address would just mean voting provisionally rather than not being allowed to vote at all.
I had to vote provisionally for CA’s primaries, because I moved between elections and apparently something didn’t update at the SecOfState quickly enough (I got my voter guide at my new address, so something worked).