This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
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.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
@Giliell, 655 previous thread;
No, but I’ve done that scene and it can be really, really hot.
Crip Dyke
Were you impure or were you vengeful?
Ogvorbis
I’ll keep leaving hugs for you.
+++
I think I need a new purse…
Anyone here ever seen a Canadian series called Being Erica? A show about a woman of 30-ish, lives in Toronto, becomes involved (not romantically) with a sort of magical therapist, who sends her back in her own timeline to revisit decisions she regretted. Ran four seasons, ended last year.
Just watched a couple of episodes with my ex (lesbian culture ftw!), and it’s really so good. Rare to have an episode that doesn’t make the Bechdel test easy, adds a bear-ish gay couple in the second season, about its biggest flaw is that it’s almost all white, which is a complete absurdity in Toronto (where whites are only a plurality now). Does hit the trope with the Black friend. So, not unflawed, absolutely. On Netflix in Canada.
Anyway, just curious.
Grim rainy grey day here, one of the ones where the cool and damp make my bones achey. :/
CaitieCat,
They’ve been (were?) showing it on Hallmark, but I’ve only seen an episode or two. Not bad, but I already wasn’t watching tv much when it started, and almost completely stopped just about then.
@Giliell:
Impure.
Oh.
So.
Impure.
The poor goddess was simply *compelled* to vengence. A lot of vengeance.
Sigh.
I have the cat back. Most. Expensive. Cat. Ever.
They’re not sure what’s wrong with him, so they sent him home with meds for nearly everything and told us to bring him back in a week. Four meds a day–he’s going to love us–not including his inhaler.
I’m really happy he’s alive, but good god.
Crip Dyke: *cough* Sounds fun to me.
Sorry, mouthyb. I remember the bill for my dog’s surgery. Ouch.
Hope everything works out – financially & otherwise.
Crip Dyke: I wish they’d been able to pin it down to something in particular. The prescriptions for the various things they suggested are WAY outside our budget. As it is, we had to buy an inhaler a few months ago for his asthma. If we have to add meds for gastrointestinal disease atop that, there’s no way we can afford to keep him.
Here’s a mobile app that claims to translate text when you point the phone’s camera at something you want to read. And, of course, the comments are full of people clamoring to have it do Japanese so they can read manga. Yeah, like that’s going to work. Computer translation sucks enough at dealing with hyper-correct textbook grammar. There’s no way it’ll manage all the informal language, slang, dialects, wordplay, invented words, etc. found in comics.
@mouthyb
Say, McTits… was that an offer?
mouthyb-
Hugs are free for the taking, as well as commiseration over having an animal that is a walking health problem. :/
A Noyd @ 10: Yeah, I’m not feeling the deep distress of worry about being replaced by really smart computers yet. I’ve done enough work in speech recognition as a linguist to know the state of the art, and honestly, I sincerely doubt my profession of translation will be obsolete before I die in forty or fifty years, if I last that long (family is quite long-lived, so that’s about the median). More companies will save themselves a tech writer, and put out a crappy, almost-$LANGUAGE manual that people will be able to sort of struggle through by mining corpuses for “translations”, but if they want it done to be professional, they’ll still be hiring professionals for a while yet.
Seedy: Why not? I have a footlocker full of fun accessories that I don’t use nearly as much as I could. I’m ambivalent on role (I do either just fine, and have no particular preference. I’ve done both roles professionally once upon my twenties.)
Of course, we’d have to be in spitting distance, and I don’t know when that would happen.
rowanvt: It’s very frustrating. He’s just barely 5 years old and he’s been expensive coming and going. He is, however, the most mannerly cat I’ve ever owned. He doesn’t bite, spit or even scratch when they have to put an IV in, he just looks *sad* at them.
Moments of Mormon Madness, comic book category.
So, there was this Comic Con in Salt Lake City recently, and the Book of Mormon in comic book form was offered. They had a booth and everything.
http://www.spidercomics.com/fromthedust/
Booth #514, “From the Dust”
They even have a seal based on “a real artifact found in Israel,” the Seal of Baruch.
http://bookofmormoncomic.blogspot.com
One tiny little problem might be that the Baruch bulla have been part of a fraud investigation. With two dealers, Deutsch and Brown being indicted. The indictment states that this object was produced in 1996 and that Deutsch sold it to Moussaeiff for $100,000.00.
http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/article.aspx?articleId=373
Also:
http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/article.aspx?articleId=292
Seedy???
Who are you and What did I miss?
Today I bought a small roll of light-weight duct tape.
Hello Kitty duct tape.
@18: Hello Kitty duct tape.
凄い！
I have a Hello Kitty tin, in which I keep things of exceeding naughtiness, of an herbal nature. I keep it in my pink fuzzy Hello Kitty-head purse. Because I’m fucked up that way. :D
They had duct tape in stripes and plaids and flying pigs and leopard spots and the SO had to drag me away.
@chigau
Seedy = CD = Crip Dyke
I had thought it was obvious
Other people spell my ‘nym “seedy” in e-mails and things. It’s an affectionate play on the fact that I’m a sex-positive, trans, feminist cripple. I’ve been told that it’s “seedy” for me to talk to other cripples about enjoying sex, etc. as part of a full, empowered, human life.
I adopted a “seedy” tone with mouthyb by referring to her as “McTits” and doing the cheesy pick up line thing, so I emphasized it by using an established nickname that just isn’t particularly used here…though
a) there’s no reason it shouldn’t be
and
b) I thought it was obvious.
So. There you have it.
@chigau & catiecat –
we just bought flaming duct tape for younger little. Tres chic.
Seedy:
Heh. I just started the Predator Cities books, finished Mortal Engines last night. The Historians are always hunting for old tech, and one of the characters is excited about finding a seedy (CD).
Seedy
Yup. Obvious.
*sigh*
So, sounds like Mr. has coughed himself to sleep. Being the feminazi dictatoress in the family I told the poor oppressed guy that no, he can’t take the syrup that surpresses coughing because, well, lots of goo.
Seriously, isn’t it nice? You have the healthcare of the whole family dumped into your lap and you can be sure that some Skeptic Dudes™ would be more than happy to take a woman then fucking up as evidemce that we’re too stupid anyway.
*end of surprise-rant*
Just because ‘crip’ caused a memory…
the first time I saw wheel-chair basketball was while waiting for our turn in the rented gym
(maybe 25 years ago)
there were people of both sexes (remember the 25 years ago) in a bewildering variety of wheelchairs and when the whistle blew half of them stood up and pushed their chairs away.
I asked one of the participants and was told that there was a demand for wheelchair sport and not enough space or participants.
We’ve come a long way, baby!
I am very confused and thought someone here may be able to shed light on something for me.
So, I was at the zoo yesterday and we have a new snake, a Taipan. I took out my camera and tried to take a pic, the light was shitty, so I turned on my flash. As soon as I took the pic, the snake flinched. O.o I repeated this, and it happened again. Now, apparently Taipan’s are “high-strung” I have NEVER seen a snake respond to a camera like that, I didn’t even know they could see well enough to do so. Anyone know enough about snakes to know what the heck this was?
For reference, this is the behavior I witnessed. And this is the snake itself.
well made it halfway thru the God Delusion. I think the butler AND the maid did it.
The mildly deranged penguin prescribes flying lessons starting with a trebuchet launch.
Well, it probably wasn’t Dawkins. He’s never guilty of anything. ;)
*moar hugs* for Ogvorbis.
*moar gentle ear-rubs* for Holly-pup, and a packet of *hugs* and a hope that rowanvt gets to have some sleep. Sorry about the reflexively-belittling male vet.
–
*hugs* and commiserations for mouthyb. Sorry about your expen$ive kitteh.
–
Including sensitivity. I hear he stepped in it not to long ago.
Ruby, Whilst I know nothing about snakes (or cameras, for that matter), are you sure it was the flash (light) it was reacting to? Could it have been, for instance, the sound (of the shutter clicking or something?)?
Good for you, Sandi. Just a note: do not start your usual shit or godbotting here in the lounge. If you simply cannot help yourself, take it to Thunderdome. You know the way.
Fuck, I just went out in a nice gentle rain and picked a buncha grapes. I gave one to Havelock, and popped another one in my mouth. Looked up and saw Havelock decide to climb on top of all the salad on their plate to eat the grape. Made me swallow mine whole.
About critters and cameras, a lot of them will react to the shutter noise, however, the flash does disturb many of them. I know it disturbs spiders a great deal. Other creatures aren’t terribly fond of having a big ass light flash them either.
Caine, put a sock in it. I haven’t done ANY godbotting since b4 Survivor: Pharyngula.
Wheren’t you still banhammered though? PZ HATES sockpuppets.
Nerd, not sockpuppetry. Embarrassingly, I couldn’t remember my password after a long absence. That’s the only reason it become ‘thesandiseattle.’
Can’t do that, Sandi. I’m speaking as a monitor. You may not outright godbot anymore, however, you have a nasty habit of trying to stir shit up, and you lie quite a lot. So, this is not the place for it. As I said, if you can’t control yourself, take it to Thunderdome.
Thunderdome “thesandiseattle”. I just don’t take your word for anything other than bullshit. Why should anybody else?
Caine, monitor or not, its you who tend to be nasty to me. Most comments I make are inocuous and trite. (I am absolutly sure i got that spelling wrong.) Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, I have behaved myself for a good deal of time. The only mistake I’ve made recently was my little gaffe of asserting the RESET rule in Thunderdome. I only get 90 minutes a couple of times a week on the ‘net. I’m not wasting it with godbotting.
thesandiseattle
Speaking as a monitor
Don’t waste your precious 90 minutes on the Lounge.
You belong in the Thunderdome.
@thesandiseattle
monitor-3rded
Oh, now that I’m randomly thinking of it: mouthyB and Crip Dyke, was it one or the other of you who mentioned having input on LoveTribe a while ago? O.o
CD – pluscool ‘nym extention
Hey people, is there a “vanguard” in music today?
I would be very interested in your thoughts, comments and developments of this.
Bicarbonate@46: there could be many ‘vanguard”s. One for each genre of music I suppose. Of couse “VANGUARD” is also the name of a record label too i think.
AAAAAHHHHH
Pharyngula withdrawls!!!!
The charger for my cellphone went dead Thursday, so I had no net connection.
On top of that, the new restaurant I am working at (same company, new location, closer to home) just opened, and as a *salaried* manager, I am working a lot.
Miss you all.
May be in and out sporadically. Willing to come rhetorically bust heads if theres one of *those* threads.
Ciao for now :)
I googled “Where is the vanguard?” and got 0 hits.
Zero hits, that’s very strange.
You can ask almost any question and get 5 to thousands in however many mseconds.
#47 thesandiseattle
Yes, many vanguards. But can you think of one?
Bicarbonate:
I’m not surprised. There really isn’t a consensus anymore, hasn’t been for a long time now.
@thesandiseattle
Thanks. I made it myself!
===================
@everyone:
Just learning guitar again after 20 years away. When I was a kid I wasn’t really motivated or serious. My friends wanted a band, so I took lessons and played with them. But I wasn’t any good. At my best, I was competent in rock guitar – bar chords and individual fingerings, but coordinated fingerings for open-chord switching was something I rarely did. I could, but I didn’t do it very often, so I was sloppy.
So just started picking it up again this summer. Wow did I suck. I had lost everything. But I really have played very little – often times going a week without – save for the camping trip where I played in the music circle 1 hour or a little more each day and the weekend before where I probably practiced 20 hours in 4 days to get ready for it.
The thing is, even though I had lost everything, I hadn’t lost it **permanently**. Since I’ve started practicing, it’s coming bak much faster than it was learned originally…so obviously something was in there, or my brain was primed to learn it or something.
My adult musical tastes inlude my old rock-n-roll records, but aren’t limited to them (heck, it wasn’t limited at the time, but my friends wanted a rock band, so…).
So I’m learning a lot of folk, with a lot of open chords. I find open G to open C a little rough when I’m going fast, but mostly those transitions are fine enough.
Where I really, really suck is going from open chords to bar chords & back. But when you need a B or a Bb, you kinda have to do a bar chord. Likewise with F & F#.
Well, I’m trying to practice different songs all the time…only a few are in regular rotation…so I learn the chords as individuals and can transition in and out of them from any other chord, rather than playing a G and immediately having my fingers head towards D whether I need to play a D next or not.
So today I decided to play Harry Chapin’s Cat’s Cradle. It’s got A -> Bm -> A; and G -> Bm -> E.
Before today I had always sucked at these transitions, but transitioning out of Bm worked just fine today, and transitioning in was sometimes a struggle, but other times it just happened fluidly – especially when I wasn’t thinking about it too much. [although if I didn’t think about it at all, I tended to go to Bbm].
Really, I couldn’t be more pleased. If I can get in & out of B, Bm, & B7 fluidly by the end of the term, I’ll be the happiest musician who has no business playing music given her law school course load that ever procrastinated with music.
51 Caine
Hi Caine!!!!
Do you think that artistic vanguards were a matter of consensus then?
Azkyroth
I know some people who know about Love Tribe, I could forward any questions their way.
bicarboante
Afraid I’m going to need a bit more detail about what you’re asking there.
It certainly is; I got 58,900,000. While admittedly none of them are going to be very good answers, since the question doesn’t specify a vanguard whose location is desired.
Tony
Hi again.
Hi Tony!
Bicarbonate:
Hi there.
Well, I think that for a long time, each generation had what they considered to be ‘their’ music, and sometimes music was used as a powerful influence in social issues, and I think that’s still true, to a point. All that said, there’s enough music out there, of every possible style, that everyone is happy and can find what they like, so I don’t see the ‘big blocks of this kind of music’ functioning any more.
Vanguard
I was talking with my sister about the jazz vanguard and the Beat generation and what if anything is equivalent to that or like that today.
Wanted to see what you guys thought because lots of smart people here.
Is “vanguard” necessarily retrospect?
What are the social changes that have taken place that there isn’t one anymore or is there?
I am familiar with R. Sennet’s “Star System” and also Bourdieu’s Les régles de l’art, 1992; Eng. Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, Stanford University Press, 1996.
I’ve been mostly lurking intermittently, but I’ll step up and use my magic monitor powers to offer a minority opinion to the current monitor consensus.
1) A minor change (like adding “the” as a prefix) which does not obscure what the ‘nym actually is does not count as sockpuppeting. PZ has said so himself, and everyone here has made such a minor change (and sometimes in prelude to a major change).
1a) @thesandiseattle: You can change your display ‘nym to be “sandiseattle” (or SandiSeattle, or “sandi in seattle”, or whatever the heck you want). The login name does not have to be the same as the display name.
2) @Caine: Bringing up past bad behavior looks to me a lot like grudge holding, so unless sandiseattle starts godbotting and/or passive-aggressive shit-stirring now, he hasn’t done anything yet to warrant that being brought up, let alone being sent to or restricted to Thunderdome.
That having been said:
3) sandiseattle, the phrase “put a sock in it” doesn’t belong in the Lounge, and if you can’t restrain yourself, then, yes, I will support sending you to Thunderdome, or restricting you to there.
Presumably the number of break-in attempts on small truck-type vehicles has decreased?
Azkyroth: Not I, I’m afraid. I tend to stay off social websites.
#56 Caine
So you think it’s a matter of dispersion, fragmentation, tiny “tribes”? Also dimmunition of music in social issues? The internet?
Owlmirror: I disagree. I want to know if someone has a history of god-botting and picking fights with people, so I know to take them with a grain of salt or be at least a little wary of them. I’m adult enough to make up my own mind after that information is provided, but I do actually want to know it exists.
Bicarbonate:
Yes, I think those are good ways to say what I was trying to express.
Owlmirror, there is a reason there is a monitor’s group. That’s the right place for discussion, and if you paid attention to it, you’d see it’s already up.
I bought my teenage daughters a book about sex, because I am too culturally repressed to talk about it but figured the founder of scarleteen could be trusted. They have a friend over today, and for the past few hours she’s been reading and they have all been giggling. But they’re still learning, so it’s good.
Bicarbonate
I tend to agree with Caine that there isn’t one musical vanguard anymore, and I’m not certain there ever was really only one except in retrospect. That is to say, jazz was a vanguard form of music (the style actually called Vanguard Jazz appears to be an equivalebt usage to avante-garde, in the sense that it made a point of violating the prescriptions for music then current) that became popular enough to become for a while the pop music of the day, so the other developing musical forms of the same era tunred out not to be the vanguard of the next wave of pop, but there was no way to know in advance which one was going to be the next wave. Usually in American history, what’s popular among black people serves as the vanguard, because it will be appropriated by the hip white youth (or rather by the radio and later record execs who want their money), while older whites disapprove. Then the young hip white people age, and the next generation of young hip whites co-opts the next wave of black music, and the cycle begins again. However, it’s never been that simple, and getting less so with every generation of recording technology, of which the Internet is so far the ultimate extension. Once upon a time, the equipment to cut a record required a very serious investment of cash, plus a lot more to stamp copies, so you absolutely had to convince a record exec that your sound could make them money, and they’ll only pay for one sound at a time, which is the one they think will make them money, because cutting record is a big investment and a big risk. Similarly, play on the radio is pretty limited, because there’s only so many stations, and they don’t all do music. Over time, the equipment gets better and cheaper, and radio stations proliferate, so you can get a few hundred records cut at not too much of a cost, and there’s small stations that’ll take a risk to play you. Then audiocassetes come along, and suddenly it’s way, way cheaper to make an album, especially since mics and amps and the other gear needed to record has gotten way cheaper too, and now there’s dozens of college stations and indie stations all over the place, there’s little recording studios in every town, and popular music starts to fragment in a way that simply wasn’t possible before, accelerated by the fact that all the music from the last 3-4 decades is also still available, and still getting new fans. Then comes mp3s and the Internet, and even cheaper mics, and all the rest of the recording studio is just software that you can install on the same machine you connect to the web with, and virtually anybody in the industrialized world can put together an album if they want, and distribute as many copies as people will take at no charge, so the whole idea of a unified genre of music is kind of starting to fade.
I’ll just leave this here. (PZ needs to be in on Sorceror level.)
We also bought a counter-top deep-fryer.
Do y’all think I should sober-up before I try it?
–
Dalillama:
Yeah, I think those days are gone, at least for now. When I was growing up, there was pressure to ‘choose’ your generational music, and most people chose one or two genres and stuck with them, being quite snobby about it. I took a great deal of flack from my peers when I was around 10 / 11 years old, because I didn’t like the Beatles as much as I liked The Who and The Rolling Stones. It was more difficult to have openly eclectic tastes in music, and my taste is highly eclectic, ranges all over the damn place.
blf I wouldn’t think so. There was a lot of ambient noise, the snake was a good foot or so away, behind very thick glass, I wasn’t in contact with anything that could carry vibrations. And the flashes in the video were me hitting the button on my flash, not actually taking a picture, so the mirror/shutter wasn’t moving.
@chigau
Yes
Orange Utan
Yup.
That’s what I thought.
Oh, Dalillama, finished up the Iron Druid Chronicles, Mister is started on them now. Thanks for the recommendation.
chigau: I’m going to second that no. I used to work in a kitchen, and one night one of the fellows accidentally stuck his hand in the fryer.
Ever seen someone skin a blackened pepper, after it’s gone all bubbly?
Like that.
I resurface! How be ye all today?
Or….tonight.
Hi sethmassine!
My new deep-fryer is staying in the box tonight.
Going back to Hooked on a Feeling, original version, I adored BJ Thomas when I was a kid. (also the Beatles and CCR, but one can’t be perfect). My parents got a kick out of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head being my favorite song. In my defense, I had a toy radio that played that when it was wound up, but I guess I’ve always been an optimist at heart. ;)
Hello chigau. So, it has been a decent amount of time since last I was here in good old Thunderdome. Any trolls of late?
And naturally, once Gta 5 is out I predict that I won’t be here that often (at least to comment).
WRONG THREAD ERROR PLEASE DISREGARD LAST COMMENT
I figure at least some of the horde will appreciate this but I’m consciously not looking at the comments. >.>
(realizes that this is not Thunderdome) Ehem. Perhaps one too many drinks?
Carlie, I liked BJ Thomas well enough, until I heard the same songs to a point of over saturation and couldn’t stand them anymore. Hooked on a Feeling is okay, nothing wrong with it, but that video…oh man.
what… just what am I doing.
This weekend has not been existentially fulfilling thus far. I woke up, walked around, made tea, walked around, watched a few shows, got ice cream, walked around, did homework, and tried to set up a gimps account.
then I tried to set up a new table (we were just moving). it was actually kinda broken (the veneer on the particleboard wasn’t glued on exactly), and I was all “meh, that’s fine”.
parents were horrified and suggested that they just get an $10 piece of drywall and put it on some cardboard boxes. Part of me was all “yeah sure it’s a table”. but then I just realised that after a while of sitting around, I would use that exactly never because it won’t look like a table, but like ugly construction, and I would just spend long nights in boring beige and gray crying about the emptiness my life has become.
I already feel void right now. No place feels like home to me (not legal home (yet), not my school dorm). Partially because it’s all undecorated because I don’t know how to decorate to suit my liking. So everything feels like waiting… for what exactly? more meaningless boredom… and then crying?
I mean, I thought I was happy. then I broke down like this. Nasty depression, i take it.
Thunk:
Try having a wander through a bunch of thrift stores (charity shops).
Caine:
Maybe that would help. but I think my problem is that I barely know what I like. Often I’ll be all “This is awesome!” and end up hating it almost immediately. I’ve done that many many times.
Same way with this house– “ooh great two floors a jacuzzi etcetc!” except it’s surrounded by large tracts of boring suburbia. The sheer stereotypicalness of my living conditions is making me despair now.
and this is why I can’t settle down my college lists. “I really want to go there!” “no I don’t like this place!” “no, I don’t have enough schools with X characteristic!” and on and on and on to the point when I actually have to start applying.
thunk
It is YOUR space.
Do things you have never seen before.
and talk to us
we have advice
One nice thing about decorating from thrift stores is finding things that have a history to them. You can even find original art on occasion!
The other nice thing is it’s generally inexpensive.
Thunk, I can relate to you, while my scenario is a tad different. I was living comfortably in an apartment for 2 years. Then, quite suddenly, my drunken landlord decided to evict me, and because she had the power to do it, it was immediately so. I had to live out of my car for many months while I worked, then I finally moved back in with my parents. However, my old bedroom had changed dramatically. It is still hard to adjust myself to it. I too struggle with boredom and depression. Hang in there. It is not an easy road…but you are not alone.
thunk – do you have health insurance that covers mental health? Sounds like a few sessions with a counselor wouldn’t be amiss. It doesn’t have to be a big thing – just that you’d like some guidance in figuring out what you want to do.
Thrift store shopping is great for “I don’t know what I like” – the stuff you can get is cheap enough (usually) to be not a big loss if you don’t like it, and at the minimum you might be able to figure out colors you like. Go to the dinnerware section and get a glass or plate in every color they have (glasses are usually 50 cents or less each), sit them out in your room and use them and see which ones you gravitate towards and that make you feel good. Or the same with ties – get a bunch (thrift store ties are usually a buck or so), and you don’t have to wear them, just when you get up in the morning look at them and think “If I was going to wear one today, which would it be?” Or if you want to go the completely free version, go to a hardware store and pick up color cards in the paint section, then tape them to your walls and do the same thing – look at them every day, pay attention to which ones make you feel comfortable and safe and happy. Just get 4-5 of each so you can make a big enough stripe/block of that color on the wall to be able to tell.
Thunk, the nice thing about decorating from thrift stores is that you can turn around and hate stuff two days later – just re-donate to a thrift store, get different stuff, and you’re not terribly out of pocket.
Carlie:
I probably should. I’m not truly independent yet, and I am talking to my school counselor, but I haven’t talked to any medical-type folks. I probably should, but I don’t have much means of independent travel or transport, and my parents think depression is just sadness with a diagnosis invented to sell drugs.
I wish I could stop waiting and Do Stuff. I looked into the mirror and almost saw a woman in there. I just don’t have the energy and/or planning resources to do enough to look passable enough. (though I want to.)
Weird experience today. I just had to take a physics course because entering my education master’s program requires me to have a credit in all the major sciences. I had a double major in biology and geology in undergrad, but it kept me so busy (and was very integrative) that I never got around to taking a course with “physics” in the title, and as such was deficient there. So I had to do a quick online course, and I picked the basic one at BYU… mainly because they said they’d accept it and it was cheap, to be honest. And it was a perfectly okay course. So I went to fill out the evaluation and said the nicest things I could under the circumstances. My professor was clearly a pretty okay guy with an assignment that would have to be kind of lousy, and he did his best to make it fun. I certainly solved a lot of problems that involved Spider-man and Zorro and the one ring of power, which is a great way to cheer up in the middle of tangled, tetchy math.
So then I got to the bit about whether the class had satisfied BYU’s mission statement. Most of said statement was your standard bland but positive stuff about informed minds and achievement, but then it got to spiritual development.
Yeah, it was a standard document, and a meaningless phrase even to people who actually believe in ideas like spiritual development. But it got to me. I will say for this course that it had no bearing whatsoever on anything but friction and shear moduli and Bernoulli’s equation and all those other actual things that exist (even if Batman was used as an example to lighten things up), but… Now there’s Mormonism all over my physics.
thunk: its amazing what a can of paint can do in a room, and if you end up hating it, you can repaint it. Also, lamps make a huge difference in how a room feels, so consider if you like darker spaces with spots of light, or bright spaces with lots of light everywhere. It’s not that hard to experiment with, and if you hate it, you can move the lamp to a different spot or room.
I made it to the third trimester! Getting all dorky excited about cloth diapers.
Looking for a new used car is such a hassle, especially here. Hoping the next one we check out will be it, but our luck has not been very good.
I gave a lecture presentation at a local fiber arts club on costuming. It went very well. Reminded me how do love that sort of thing. In preparing for it I felt very out of practice, but I got right back into it.
Hugs to everyone who wants one, scritches for all the pets that want one, and Ducth licorice for all.
badandfierce:
*snort* eewww, and those stains are sooo hard to get out. Be sure to pre-treat with Reason and Logic, and a dash of Contempt.
CaineM
Did you catch the novella? It’s called Two Ravens and One Crow. Also, please avoid spoilers for the most recent one, I haven’t got my hands on it yet.
Unfortunately, Holly went septic today. She spiked a fever up to 102.8 which is super hot for a tiny puppy and was really weak. Then she began having bloody fluid come out her nose. Once she went dyspneic with that, I put her to sleep.
1 hour of sleep, 3 hours of dealing with dying toxicity dog and the distraught owners, and then Holly crashing. I am not having the best of days.
Dalillama, yes, it was appended to the last book, Hunted, at least in the e-version.
Carlie, have you read The Mark of Athena yet? I’ve pre-ordered The House of Hades, looking forward to it. I do have a feeling that Leo is going to bite it, though. I’ve noticed that Riordan seems to have a habit of snuffing the not-so-white kids.
Rowanvt, that’s a shit day. I’m sorry.
Sorry for your rotten day, rowanvt, sounds like one of those completely draining experiences. *hugs* if wanted.
rowanvt
just *hugs*
rowanvt</b.
*Hugs*
badandfierce: “Now there’s Mormonism all over my physics.
Funny you should mention that. I am currently in the middle of a radiation test with a research engineer and a student from Utah State–the land grant school in Utah. Unfortunately, the accelerator runs 24/7, and they could only bring out 2 folks to staff the experiment. That leaves 3 people to run an experiment that takes 2 people. That means I have to run for about 24 hours straight. Oi. s
I have found over the years that the Mormons tend to relate to my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer since many of them have served overseas on mission. There’s a lot of common themes–learning a foreign language and culture, isolation from home, nostalgia. And then there is the fact that I don’t drink alcohol.
So, superficially, there is a lot of similarity, but then there’s that religion thing, with the whole ruling your own planet and holy underwear, and I want to say, “Wow! Really?”
Rowanvt, so sorry. That sucks.
It’s only the first week of September.
Why are the apples all leaping off the trees?
Why are the potato tops dieing down?
Why don’t I have any brussel sprouts?
Why why why.
—
The rosemary is blooming.
It’s not all bad.
but
I want Uri Geller out of my cuttlery drawer.
chigau: are your spoons bent or disappeared?
*hugs* for thunk.
Another vote for looking around the thrift shops.
–
Dutchgirl, you can keep the licorice, but I’ll gladly take the hug, and give you one back.
:)
–
Oh, rowanvt, I am so sorry! *big pile o’hugs*
–
Dutchgirl
spoons and forks are all kinda deformed
Who else would I blame?
Chigau, everything is crumpling here, too. I reckon an early winter is on the way.
hrm. for my area, it’s been a very late-breaking summer, last week was one of the only times when it got significantly above 32. so ionno.
The CPC does predict a warm and wet winter for my area though. (oh great, more constant cold rain?)
Caine
oh goody
Winter early.
At least the FratBoy parties will move indoors.
Yeah, started getting chillier outside around Boston today. I like this weather
Apartment-mate got some new light fixtures today. I…didn’t realize how much better I do with large amounts of light before this. I’ve basically been huddled in front of the full-spectrum all day, and…it’s been a pretty good day.
Even went and acquired groceries without panicking [which generally is a difficult task to pull off on the weekends]
Meanwhile, summer’s wrapping up here and we’re just coming up on summer.
I look forward to half-hearted-fall-spring-thing in a few months. :(
Tears In Heaven – Eric Clapton Performed on Chapman Stick by David Tipton – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-btbUVLv34&feature=related I find it calming and comforting
Caine: “…early winter…”
Noooooooooooo! but the tomatoes and peppers have just started coming in!
So, anybody else on here ever heard of a Carolina Reaper hot pepper? How about a Moruga Scorpion? These are peppers that make a habanero cringe and back quietly out the door. These are names that even hardcore chile heads mutter with respectful, whispered tones. They are, right now, the two hottest peppers on the planet. They have a Scoville unit score between 1.2 and 1.6 million. That is about 6 times the score for a habanero. It is about one half the score for commercial pepper spray. It is about 10% of the score for pure capsaicin.
They are also the peppers that are growing in my garden…by mistake (we weren’t going to plant a garden, so when we changed our mind and my wife went to the nursery, these were what was available). Anyway, just before leaving on my current test trip, I harvested a couple of large handfuls of each of these, plus some habaneros.
Now I am no fool. I wore vinyl gloves while cutting and seeding the peppers. Even so, I absorbed enough capsaicin through the vinyl that my hands burned the rest of the day. Our dog walker came as I was roasting the peppers in the broiler and had to leave immediately coughing and eyes tearing up. I spent the rest of the day with windows open and fans blowing to clear out the tear gas. It still smelled like hot peppers when I left two days later. And the plantains I sliced on the same cutting board (soaked for several hours in soapy water and scrubbed twice) were so hot my wife (who is not a wimp) could barely eat them.
These peppers are hot, flaming death I wonder what I can cook with them…
When I get stressed out, I puck on my guitar, and I feel better.
Ah, now I understand.
shrip, you are very confused if you think Greta even has the power to ban you from PZ’s blog.
Seriously, what?
Also, this.
Dutchgirl spake-
Seconded. Also, if you can afford to do the experiment, consider some of the modern remote controllable lights (I can explain in tedious detail which ones I used should you care enough) which allow you to have multiple sources turn on and off as if actually wired up together. Much nicer than individual fiddling every time. Some of them even change colours, which I suspect is just gimmick but tastes vary.
Oh, and when experimenting with pain, remember to make your life easier by trying the paler colours before moving to deeper ones. Less multiple coat hassles that way.
Also, sometimes just a splash of colour – a cushion, a painting, a poster, even a vase, can make the difference between ‘meh’ and ‘mine!’
The hover-script on Oglaf cartoon has a shout-out to the crocoduck. I like to think the author is a Pharyngula reader.
:)
Rowanvt:
I’m so sorry to hear that.
My sympathies.
Music is very powerful and it is my belief that its practice brings one closer to both God, and the devil.
Hank Williams: “Music is very powerful and it is my belief that its practice brings one closer to both God, and the devil.”
Well, given that both gods and devils are all already part of our psyche, that isn’t hard, is it?
Music hones the senses, excites the soul. Very much like sex, but different, being intertwined with Truth and the Creator. But sex in its own way is Creation.
A dangerous dichotomy.
Teasing tim rowledge, Ersatz Haderach:
it’s a good idea to have a safe word that’s easy to remember and to pronounce.
Monitor Note.
Hank Williams, there is no trolling in the lounge. Full stop. If you want to carry on with this, take it Thunderdome. There is also no godbotting allowed, so don’t go down that road. Commenting rules are here, please acquaint yourself with them and act accordingly. Thank you.
Sorry.
::Waves tentatively:: Hi, first visit to the Lounge.
mouthyb – so sorry about your kitty. :(
Giliell @25 – “Being the feminazi dictatoress in the family I told the poor oppressed guy that no, he can’t take the syrup that surpresses coughing because, well, lots of goo.”
::grimace:: my sympathies to your Mr. Just been through that, too. Who’d have thought one of the side effects of Naproxin anti-inflammatories would be cold sympotms? O_o
Can he take expectorants?
@chigau, re: forks and spoons – maybe Anoia?
http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Anoia
Hi, kittehserf – I’m just headed off for bed, but these are a fine bunch of folks, and I think you’ll like it here. I’ve only recently come into the lounge myself, after commenting elsewhere at FTB for several months, and…yeah. Good folk, the Horde.
Welcome, and an offer of *hugs* if wanted (and no hurt if not! :) ).
And that’s me out for the night. Sleepytime for this pantherkitty.
Nightnight, most doubleplusunhorrid Horde.
rowanvt: I’m so sorry.
mouthyb@73. Ah, a trigger warning next time please?! A suddenly flashed picture of a radiation burn during a training session sent me to ER once. A discussion in the doctors office (not exam room, but with nice comfy chairs and all) of a amniocentesis procedure to be performed on my spouse, not the actual procedure mind you just talk-talk no pics, just the general discussion of what would transpire, meant another ER trip. I don’t need that vision in my head, thanks.
[conscious, measured breathing…trying to unread…]
rowanvt: Sorry to hear that. *hugs*
kittehserf: welcome, make yourself at home.
*hugs* for others (too many to mention apparently) that need them too.
Mowed 2 out of 3 sections of the lawn today. The most overgrown of them. That’s all the spoons I had after a very stressful week at work; nothing terrible, just deadlines and, well I won’t say incompetent coworkers, but perhaps, ah, less than ideal.
Hi, CaitieCat @129 – thanks for the welcome, and hugs back if you’d like ’em, too!
Your nym makes me smile: I had a cat called Caitlin years ago, and KatieCat was one of her nicknames.
Sorry dontpanic. I will remember to note a trigger warning for that anecdote.
Welcome Kittehserf,
I still have miles to go before I sleep, so I’ll be reading whatever is posted to help me stay awake.
I never vote for Republicans, but I have found one might support, NY mayoral candidate Joe Lhota who was rightly outraged when a subway line was shut down for hours because of two kittens on the tracks. Stephen Colbert has a report: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/428877/september-05-2013/kitten-subway-crisis—nyc-mayoral-race
This demands a response from PZ. What will happen when the seas rise and the subway is invaded by our tentacled friends? Will the candidates plunge in to save the cuties?
good morning
rowanvt,
I’m so sorry about the puppy. *hugs*
Kittehserf:
Welcome in new Lounging One.
Apologies for the chaos in here. As the 24/7/365 provider of tasty adult or N/A beverages, it falls upon me to keep the Lounge tidy. I have been remiss in my duties. I count five dust bunnies and a pile of peas in the corner. I see someone cooked Pot Pies for dinner and neglected to inform cicely of the peas inside.
Good morning
rowanvt
A big heap of hugs
dutchgirl
Yay for third trimester
Just a piece of information: If you’re looking into cloth diapers for environmental reasons, don’t bother. There is not a big difference because of the energy and detergents needed to clean them.
thunk
*big hugs*
Can the school counselor refer you to somebody with a more clinical approach?
I can also send you a little something for interior decoration if you want me to. Just shoot me a mail at nym (first part only) Ät yahoo Dot de
kittehserf
He’s already taking them, so surpressing the cough is a no-no. But mylord doesn’t read the information leaflets because he’s scared of all the information. Yes thank you.
Dontpanic:
Ugh.
Lawn mowing.
I hate yard work.
My roomie and I have been broke for a while now, so the yard has grown…considerably.
I came home tonight and weeds brushed my knees. Tomorrow we will get that done, finally.
@Tony!, 137 – “Apologies for the chaos in here. As the 24/7/365 provider of tasty adult or N/A beverages, it falls upon me to keep the Lounge tidy. I have been remiss in my duties. I count five dust bunnies and a pile of peas in the corner. I see someone cooked Pot Pies for dinner and neglected to inform cicely of the peas inside.”
Ah ::snuggles in comfortably:: that makes me feel right at home. I’ve given up counting dust bunnies here. Though I think they’re dust kitties, anyway ::gives the cats a completely wasted Hard Look::
@Giliell, 138 – He does Bloke Medicine, does he? Hope the expectorants are helping, anyway.
@rowanvt – I am so sorry about Holly, that’s awful. Hugs if they’re welcome.
General question: are links to pet photos welcome here?
Tony: being broke influences mowing how? Gas for the machine? Mine is corded-electric ’cause I hate everything about small gas motors (the hassle of mixing oil-gas for 2-strokes, the smell, the sound, the maintenance… hmmm, I still haven’t gotten the 2-stroke weedwacker into the shop after driving it around in my car for two weeks). But it does have the drawback of the hassle of taking care of not running over the cord.
Yeah, the front yard wasn’t so bad, though the grass was high enough it needed a few passes over it to ensure I wasn’t just bending blades over. The back was just weeds, though this go few were more than calf high with an odd knee high sprout here and there. Well, except the ink berries that grow to close to fences and wall to get at with the mower. And I guess we need to get out and attack the jungle on the one side access to the back which is now completely impassible.
kittehserf I hear you about the dust … I think our household (one fuzzy mostly-chow mutt + 2 cats) sports dust rhinos rather than bunnies. And yes, people have posted pet photos before … to much cheering. So I think I speak to all who say: pet post ahead if you’d like. This is the lounge after all.
—-
Ugh, me tpyos and inability to read what I actually type: …that grow too close to fences and walls …
Giliell,
Heh, my mom has a cold and asked me to buy medicine A and medicine B with the added “for flu”. Now, I’m pretty sure A and B are the same thing, and pharmacist confirms that when I ask for them. If I buy type B that is especially for flu (and two times more expensive than the regular kind) – it has added vitamin C. That is all.
I delivered what mom asked, but what a stupid waste of money.
kittehserf
He’s actually much better than most men who buy into the toxic masculinity of “real men don’t see no doc”, but yeah, he happily leaves the family healthcare mostly to me. He either goes with what the doc says or with whatever I say which is OK in the concrete case of me being the one who reads leaflets and does some google-scholar-foo research, but stupid in general because I’m no fucking doctor and most other women in charge of family healthcare aren’t either.
+++
Talking about musical vanguard…
Yesterday I went to a friend’s birthday and some other friends of his, a Chilean couple who are part of a music group played some music. They do the “Nueva Musica” that came up in Latin America in the 1960s and 70s as part of the left movements with musicians like Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, Violeta Parra etc…
Now, of course you need panpipes for that. They had made their own out of cable tubes, cord and wood.
Damn, I’m tired. I’ve been on shift for 20 hours, and 4 AM is my absolute low point in any case. 2 more hours.
Gilliel: agreed with the water/chemical use balance being similar with cloth vs. disposable, but there is a difference in the amount of physical trash and human waste in landfills. I live on a very small. remote island where such things really do make a difference. We’ll probably use a service for the first 2 months, which definitely uses lots of water and cleaning agents, but when washing (and especially drying in the sun) at home it does reduce some of that. So, while I don’t buy into the whole cloth diapers will save the planet! crap, there are measurable benefits. If you have sources saying otherwise, please share with me.
Dutchgirl
Different meassures for different situations. Around here waste is burned and the energy is used to heat homes.
+++
And now I’ll just break down and cry.
Remember that I got a new sewing machine? The embroidery module doesn’t work. What have I done to get all that shit right now in full?
Dontpanic:
Oh, I should have mentioned we do not have a lawn mower. We have always paid people to mow the lawn. There is no shortage of willing people. Either one of us could have bought a mower years ago, but while I am not sure of E’s preference, I *hate* yard work.
Giliell,
*hugs*
Gilliel: the people who sent it to you better make it right, and fast. That is so shitty.
dontpanic – dust rhinos, I love it!
ARRGH my mum just said she doesn’t mind at all that Tony Abbott is PM. This is what happens when you read flippin’ Murdoch newspapers and no other news media.
::headdesk::
::headdesk::
::headdesk::
Okay, kitty pics!
Maddie helping with my knitting. The cat with her back turned is Fribbie, sitting on Mum’s knee. Here’s a better pic of Fribs, also helping with knitting.
excellent helper kitties, kittehserf. What are you going to knit? I can only knit rectangles of variable size. I’m better at crochet.
I’m so, so sorry rowantvt. Many many hugs to you.
.
I saw la Mecha Sosa live in concert once. It’s not the music I am most into, but she was amazing – her voice just blows you away.
.
Hope work is good, Tony – and it’s good to see you back!
.
All the best for the trimester (and beyond, of course) Dutchgirl!
Hugs to all.
Caine, I have read Mark of Athena! I still really like the series. I hadn’t even thought of Leo not making it to the end – I hope he does.
Yay! I’ve been dreading fall coming because I’m sure now that I have some amount of seasonal affective disorder, but my workplace got a grant to replace all the fluorescent lights with eco-friendly ones, and they’re much brighter and broader spectrum. I went into one of the offices that’s had them replaced last week, and was amazed at how cheerful it felt. Can’t wait for them to finish the whole building, and I’m hoping that will help with the problem.
We came close to frost yesterday. There are several folktale signs of a hard winter coming, not that they mean anything, but I wonder what this year will entail.
#54 Dallilama
Of course you get hits for “vanguard” alone or for the question without quotation marks around it. There are hits for any combination of words. Always.
As you know, when you put quotes around the sentence, google looks for the exact sentence, exact word order and punctuation. That’s what I did. 0 hits. That is rare even for a specific sentence.
#65 Dallilama
Yeah. Very relevant and in a nutshell. thanks for taking the time to write that!!
Please ignore the screaming in the background. That’s only the local rugby team being uncrated and warmed up…
Check carefully. Sounds like an attack of the peas.
You either have an infestation of horses, or someone needs some more parts for their Mr Potato Head.
Someone is trying to preserve your sanity and taste buds?
#97 Rowan
so sorry about Holly.
It’s so hard to hold a little critter’s lifeless body.
#137 Tony
Hi ! !
I’M glad uhm, if you are, about the job move. I’m one of those people who can only do one thing at a time (if that) so I did always wonder how you and other people managed to be present on FtB while at work. I hope you’ll be here a lot still.
#144 Giliell
Your party sounds great. There were years when I had Mercedes Sosa and Violeta Parra constantly on the record player. I often sing Volver a los 17 to myself, se va enredando, enredando, love the words and Parra’s Quiero ser Chilena. I’m going to put Parra on now!
sorry about your sewing machine.
dontpanic
Dust Rhinos?
@Kittehserf –
I’m a frequent reader but very rare commenter over @ Manboobz, & I’ve seen you there a number of times.
Good to find you here! Maybe we can get to know each other a little better.
Pickling vegetables is a fun hobby. Cucumbers are a favorite for me. Did you know that this is where the word ‘pickle’ comes from? Enjoy your Sunday everybody.
Thanks for all the hugs. They are definitely most appreciated.
My boyfriend let me fall asleep… and stay asleep… on the couch. I feel like I’m an hundred and twenty years old.
*slowly shuffles away to get something to eat*
@everyone except “michaelhamann” #163
We got the message about the spambot.
Alert sent
Sorry, CD, didn’t see your post before I sent a mail.
*hugs*
rowanvt
I had sent one too – it’s posting in other ftb blogs also.
@chigau #105
The poem almost writes itself: “Dating Uri Geller”
An excellent pint.
I’d say that a suitable safe-word for such experiments would be ‘beige’.
I comment about 3 times a year.
I wish everyone comfort for their sorrows, especially rowanvt and Ogvorbis.
*hugs* to rowanvt
I’m lucky in that apart from research funding that I’m already not getting for me personally TA in charge will not negatively impact me in the short term (apart from the nausea I get whenever I see him in the media). I am sad for the progress that will be lost in so many areas though. Socially, environmentally, and economically.
basically all the ‘rupts. *drags in giant pile o’ varied hugs and leaves it in the middle of the floor where everyone has to trip over it*
—
via Ophelia’s
UNESCO is putting out multiple tweets with facts, links, and stories for International Literacy Day, 8 September, under the hashtags #LiteracyDay and #ILD2013.
UNESCO Literacy Day page
One example:
More on that last:
Interview with RoomtoRead
@rowanvt
Hugs, if you want them.
It won’t help much, but here’s one of my favorite Calvin&Hobbes:
http://meangentlemen.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/raccoon-complete-thumb1.jpg
Tony@148. I too hate yard work. But I also hate paying someone to do it too. So generally it doesn’t get done at all. [Sigh]
Dalilama@161 Hmmm, we’ve used that term for year. It’s quite likely that “Far Side” is where we picked it up. We’re old enough to have read them in the original, but I do also have the complete collection. And, yeah, that’s about the size of them.
—
So we realized last night that today is the last day for the Lascaux exhibit at the Field Museum. Tried to buy tickets this morning online … Jebus, what a pain. You’d think that they’d want to make it easy to buy stuff. It was confusing and only after I guessed that it wouldn’t let us check out without buying the general admission tickets at the same time did we manage. Of course the plan was to buy the special exhibit tickets online and then decide when we got there whether to buy day pass or yearly
membership. So they lost out on a potential membership. And of course that added stress to our morning. Spawn’s general response to parental stress is to become more annoying (yes, really, it isn’t just my perception but I think this is his coping mechanism), which then devolved into angry words
and hurt feelings. All because the stupid web page designers couldn’t be bothered to add a line “you must buy general admission in order to proceed to the checkout, or check this box to acknowledge that there will be an additional charge for entry”. [Sigh]
Just in case it’s needed, handy html guide:
To quote someone, use <blockquote>Place Text Here</blockquote>, results in:
For Italics: <i>Text Here</i>
For bold: <b>Text Here</b>
PSA
The Dinner by Herman Koch seems like a good book (I’ve read the first couple of chapters and skimmed through the rest) but itcould do with a trigger warning for violence.
I figured I’ve become too dependent on this place and all of you. Hanging around here keeps me going, but now I’m here all the time and it’s pretty much all I do when I’m not working (and I do visit at work too), or doing something around home or in the garden.
I’ve been noticing for a while that my concentration is gone, it’s started in uni but back then I was just blaming myself for becoming lazy. And I should blame myself for letting myself go, but I don’t think it’s (just) laziness. It’s depression, disinterest that has started seeping even into things I am interested in. I’m having trouble going through long comments here. I’m reading Neverwhere and I have to keep going back when I suddenly notice I have no idea what I’m reading and I’ve skipped or gone through a paragraph without knowing what I’ve read (if I had read it at all). Studying anything is almost impossible.
I have to fix this.
Holding onto you all and Pharyngula feels like help, but I’m afraid it’s just me pretending. I read about other people’s lives and feel like I’m a part of something. It’s fine to like you all, but it would be better if I didn’t depend on you so much.
So, I’ll be taking a break from here. I’ll shut all the tabs and keep away for a while. I have to try and fix things. I’m slipping into one of those moods when I realize that who I am is making me sick (almost literally). When I’m here I try to forget it instead of facing it straight on. I have to fight this feeling. I feel lost, but I’m not actually doing anything to make it better besides hanging around here and either complaining or pretending everything is fine and this little world here is all that exists.
Not being here will actually give me a lot of free time. I’ll read, try to study something again (I started some online courses some months back but never finished them). I’ll try to prepare myself for job interviews and tests instead of feeling sorry for myself and browsing ftb when I should be studying.
Just writing this and realizing that I won’t turn on the computer and check the Lounge tomorrow morning is making me feel horrible. That’s not healthy.
Someone has probably bothered to read to the end of this sob story, and thank you for that. At least I’ll spare you more sob stories from me for a while.
Well, I’ll be back, just don’t know when. Take care, everyone. *hugs*
(beatrice [dot] anin at the google thingy is my email if anyone feels a need to reach me)
*hugs if wanted* for Beatrice.
Good luck, Beatrice. I know what you mean. I know exactly what you mean.
Beatrice, I understand. Be well, and I hope to see you soon. If you ever want to talk, you can reach me at fleuret du amour AT gmail thing, no spaces. All my love.
Good luck and hugs, beatrice
+++
I shouldn’t have tried to make my timetable for next term’s classes today.
It prooved to be every bit as depressing and generally making me cry again.
Lots of classes in the evening, often the same evening so, hey, can’t take them both.
So, I will hardly see my friends for the whole term, need to ask my mum in law to babysit a lot and Mr. will have to drive the 65 miles one night because I’m in college. And I hate using up everybody’s time because I can’t cope with my tasks.
Sorry, I’m not good company at the moment. I had a lousy week
Best wishes Beatrice.
We’ll be here when you return.
Hey Tony, if you are still here… did you ever get your car situation resolved? Just curious.
Best wishes Beatrice. I’m echoing Chigau.
Here at casa la pelirroja, someone decided I should make a big batch of spaghetti. Then she found out the amount of planovers still in the fridge. The sauce and noodles will be cooked today, but immediately stored, while the present inventory is reduced. Aged spaghetti sauce, yum….
During her last doctor’s visit, the redhead was removed from her calcium channel blocker, the same class of compounds that caused me some problems, including water retention. (The new BP regime is working fine.) It appears she did retain some water, and it is now on its way out. Keeps me busy….
Best wishes, Beatrice.
I’ll keep the kettle on for you.
—
Speaking of which!
*refreshes the water in the teapot, adds more leaves*
*sets out muffins*
—
Neighbor came over yesterday. He explained that he’d had oral surgery and was on a soft-food diet. He asked me to drive him to the grocery store. I agreed. I expected him to stock up on pudding, gelatin, bananas, yogurt, apple sauce, etc.
He bought $40 of cake.
I must admit to being impressed.
*hugs* to rowanvt, Beatrice, Giliell
*puts large basket of hugs on the table for anyone else in need – help yourself*
I
needget to start a new project, or finish an old one. I finished an online class on time, for once – I take artsy-craftsy classes online, but usually I don’t get them finished for months, or sometimes even years. So yay me.Anyway, I’m going to attempt to restart one of the stalled UFOs (UnFinished Objects) in hopes of finishing it before October, when my next online class starts. Wish me luck?
Beatrice:
There are many, many people who read your entire comment, bc we care. Please take care of yourself. You will always be welcome here and I shall save your spot at the bar. Take care.
****
morgan:
Thank you for asking.
There has been no change.
I have things I have to pay for (suspended license, the tickets, 6 months insurance up front) before I can get my car back. I recently moved quite a bit closer to work, so being without a vehicle is not as bad as it was.
Still…
Esteleth #185
Cake is one of the Basic Food Groups.
Anne D, best of luck!
Yet another way in which major financial institutions are screwing the little people … or, how the ultra-rich pay for yet another guaranteed method to screw the little people:
Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone, covered in a previous story the two-second cushion that algorithmic traders (ultra-low latency subscribers) were paying to receive data from distributors. Now he has a new piece out that discusses how 16 major financial firms received early data from Thomson Reuters as much as an hour before it was released to the little people.
Beatrice
*hugs* You will be missed, hope to see you again in not too long.
*offering so many hugs for Ogvorbis and Crip Dyke and mouthyb*
Haven’t caught up. It’s link-dump time:
Garundia: For Syria’s sake, end Iran’s isolation
The Atlantic: No, Iran doesn’t need Assad
Daily Kos: We Love This Note To An Abusive Boss That’s Going Viral. But There’s One Thing Wrong With It.
Petition: Tell OSHA to inspect Texas chemical plants that kicked out inspectors:
“It has been five months since a fertilizer plant exploded in West, Texas[ – ]killing 14 people and injuring 200. The plant stored explosive ammonium nitrate[ – ]but had no alarms, no automatic shutoff system, no firewall and no sprinkler system. And it was across the street from a school.
But when Texas fire inspectors attempted to step up its enforcement, five chemical plants simply denied them access. And nothing under Texas law mandates that they allow such inspections.
If Texas can[‘]t protect its residents, the federal government must. Sign our petition to OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) demanding that they inspect the five chemical plants who have denied access to the Texas fire inspectors.”
“And nothing under Texas law mandates that they allow such inspections.” Let that sink in. The oxygen that’s left over when ammonium nitrate explodes is apparently used to burn stupid.
Finally:
…Is that kawai + i?
凄い！
Sugoi!
(amazing/ausgezeichnet/молодец/fantastique!)
凄い！
Sugoi, meaning “Great!” or “Wonderful!”
The い is part of how Japanese is conjugated.
可愛い is kawaii, “cute”.
How to quit your job. With video at the end.
One teeny linguist’s quibble, chigau: conjugation is verbs, inflection is adjectives/nouns/et c.. A technical detail only, though, and not one to interfere with understanding; I just know you’re a language geek too, figured you’d want to know. :)
^_^
I know; I just know few kanji and even fewer kana!
Ah, that makes sense. :-)
ugh… beatrice, I know that feeling. horribly depressed right now too.
I have two papers I’ve barely managed to scrape together– I was going to start them a while ago, but I had a massive anxiety attack and I wasn’t able to get serious work done until this weekend, and so I am cloistered trying to hurriedly finish them. This is not helping with feeling like there’s nothing fun planned or like life is any less hopeless.
just…baaaaaaaaaah.
Hi, kittehserf, and Welcome in!
–
Tony, I don’t eat pot pies anymore, chiefly because of the near-certainty that they are infested with peas.
It’s a Public Safety issue, folks! Where was the FDA when those pies were being pea’d in? What about cross-contamination of other foodstuffs? Do you really want trace amounts of pea in your Eskimo Pie…or your 4 Cheese Pizza? Too long have greedy politicans accepted hand-outs from Big Pea to overlook such infractions! Write to your CongressThing today! Tell him/her/it/they/other to say ‘No” to Pea-netically Modified foods!
(My name is cicely, and I approve this message.)
–
*hugs* for Giliell. Can you send it back for fixing/replacement?
(Later)
*moar hugs* for class schedule difficulties.
–
Emailing a package of *hugs* for you, Beatrice.
And I read the whole thing.
It was no trouble at all.
–
Annie D:
Good luck!
I have a number of UnFinished Objects, myself, that I suppose I should take a look at….
–
David!
*pouncehug*&*chocolate swarm*
–
rowanvt, sorry I didn’t see your story go by yesterday, I’m so sorry for your loss. Poor wee creature. :( *hugs* offered.
Today, btw, is my public birthday (I’m like the Queen, I’ve got two, but keep the other private for keeping privacy reasons): what I call “Muffing Day”, or the anniversary of the day I had the attention of a particularly nice Thai gentleman with shiny instruments who made my life quite a bit less rageful.
My partner just arrived (I’m poly; she was with other partners elsewhere) for a visit, and brought a Muffing Day present: this t-shirt by Megan Lara (one of our favourite artists). Squeeful Caitie! Martha=The Bomb. :D
…More technically, inflection is cases, conjugation is persons. There are 2 or 3 languages known to science that conjugate(d) nouns. One is Elamite, where animate nouns were conjugated: sunkik “I, the king”, sunkit “you, the king”, sunkir “[he,] the king”; u sunkik Hatamtik “I, king of Elam”; sunki(p) Hatamtip “the kings of Elam”; u Šutruk-Nahhunte šak Halluduš-Inšušinakik sunkik Anzan Šušunka “I, Šutruk-Nahhunte, son [of] Halluduš-Inšušinak; king of Anshan and Susa”.
Ha! Out-technicaled. True, that. I was trying to make it simple. :)
cicely!
*pouncehug*&*barrel of cocoa*
Awesome. :-)
Muffing day is an awesome holiday!
Honestly, it’s part of why my birthday has faded so much. How much more glorious? :D
I also love that it’s exactly opposite (or very near) the Earth’s orbit from International Women’s Day (Official Slogan 2014: We Gave You A Whole Fucking Day So Shut Up Already, brought to you by Every Misogynist Ever). It’s like I get a whole new axis for the year.
Happy Muffing Day, CaitieCat, may they be many and happy.
Dutchgirl @152 – I was knitting a jumper (sweater in USian) for my hairdresser. Took ages, largely because summer intervened and knitting in filthy hot weather ain’t my thing. I got into knitting about eighteen months ago and have been truly bitten by the bug. As have the cats. Mads thinks a plastic bag full of knitting needles is THE most comfortable bed evah.
Dalillama @161 – Larson, brilliant! Should have known he’d have a Dust Rhino cartoon. :D
Cripdyke @162 – Hi! It’s always cool to see Hordelings visting ManBoobz. Do you post under the same name there? I’d like to get to know folk here, though I feel waaay out of my depth in most of the threads and will probably just lurk.
Pteryxx @172 – “*drags in giant pile o’ varied hugs and leaves it in the middle of the floor where everyone has to trip over it*”
It won’t be just hugs people will trip over. There’s bound to be furry critters burrowing underneath.
1. Snuggle under pile o’ hugs
2. Get tripped over by humans
3. Look Injured and guilt-trip them
4. Profit!
Beatrice @176 – sympathy and hugs if you want them. Been there, without the depression, but too dependent on sites that eventually got me down. I hope all goes well for you.
Also extra Hi’s and thank yous to everyone for the welcomes!
This will end tonight at midnight, Eastern time… Apparently, the kid with the church group helping has a LOT of friends. Can you guys help us get Abby a Smart Brailler?
Posted by my friend, Chris Duffy:
“My daughter is 9, and when legally blind 3 years ago. A local organization is giving away a Smart Brailler to 1 of 6 families, and we are doing our best to win if for Abby. It is a quick vote, and the vote goes for 2-weeks, can vote once a day.
Not to stir up the pot, but what the hey, the other family that is our strongest competition has gotten their church involved, I would love my atheist family to win!”
Best to Beatrice.
I just dropped by to say about my day… Not getting enough law read (though, yes, I’ve been through a hundred twenty pages, it’s just not enough), but I do have 1/2 of the clash’s Clampdown under my belt.
“judge says five to ten, but double it again, I’m not working for the ClampDown.”
That’s legal research, right? Okay, my class on sentencing isn’t til next term, but it’s relevant.
Right?
RIGHT?
Ooops! Here’s the link!!
http://www.wonderbaby.org/backpacking-smart-brailler-vote
This will end tonight at midnight, Eastern time… Apparently, the kid with the church group helping has a LOT of friends. Can you guys help us get Abby a Smart Brailler?
Posted by my friend, Chris Duffy:
“My daughter is 9, and when legally blind 3 years ago. A local organization is giving away a Smart Brailler to 1 of 6 families, and we are doing our best to win if for Abby. It is a quick vote, and the vote goes for 2-weeks, can vote once a day.
Not to stir up the pot, but what the hey, the other family that is our strongest competition has gotten their church involved, I would love my atheist family to win!”
http://www.wonderbaby.org/backpacking-smart-brailler-vote
CD ain’t working for no seedy Clash CD about no CD!
@kittehserf:
Of course. I post under the same name there. …though his site doesn’t allow the same extensions, at least as I understand it, so you lose the epithet. Which, of course, is sad. But it also makes it special here amongst the Horde to have the privileged position of Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden.
Okay, I’m back out for a bit until I can do another 80 pages of reading.
Thunk, is there someone you can talk to about your depression? I know, everybody’s been asking, but it really does sound like you could use some help. Even a trusted teacher or counselor you could vent to might relieve some of the pressure.
Caine and cicely, thanks! I’ve got the class project packed up (it was a collage class using maps as art), so I can get back to the embroidery that’s been sitting next to my comfy chair for the last, um… month or so. Oops.
Happy Muffing Day, CaitieCat!
Oh, oh, I finally remembered to look up this article – poison made from peas! I read it in our local paper and immediately thought of Certain Members of the Horde.
Poisoning a Sierra stream to save the world’s rarest trout .
*crosses toes, hits “Preview”, and hopes the link will work, because I haven’t tried doing one here before*
*Discovers something Is Not Right, does some research and tries several different methods. Finds one that seems to work in preview, and hopes it’ll carry over correctly to actual post*
My link worked! Happy dance!
Anne D:
Fuck, I know the feeling. I managed to get 4/5 hours in on A Different Grail today, and after I duly blogged the day’s black work, realized it’s been a bloody month in between Day 10 and Day 11. *massive sigh*
agkijunior:
As you’re asking for people’s help, as far as motivation goes, that’s a pretty shit reason to help, I hope you realize that.
thunk
*hugs* I’d like to help, if there’s anything I can do at this remove, let me know.
CaitieCat
Happy Muffing Day.
kittehserf
Hello and welcome in.
See? See?!? I told y’all that peas are pure poison!
And don’t give me that, “But only if you’re a fish!
–
Cicely:
Peas are ambrosia to many fish. Used to give them to my koi now and then, they *loved* peas.
I eats me peas wif ‘oney
I’ve done it all me life
Makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps ’em on me knife
This was one of my Dad’s party routines, when my folks were still together and they’d have a party, before I went to bed they’d have me do some “what a smart kid” tricks, like I’d read any article in a newspaper that the attendees picked when I was 3, or I’d do multiplications and stuff, or I’d recite this poem, with my working-class Estuary-ish accent (Watford/Hemel Hempstead, us).
I like peas, but I don’t actually eat them with honey.
CaitieCat, there is a large anti-pea brigade here. It’s fine to like peas, however, you do so at your own peril. (I like ’em too, and so do the rats.)
Well, I for one will continue to insist on having pea in my pie, sometimes on my plate, pea all over the place. So there. Harumph. I’m a fructovocurmudgeon.
I, um, err, should probably have mentioned this earlier, but – I like peas. Only certain peas, and under certain conditions, ie, raw sugar snap or snow peas in their pods, and snow peas in Asian dishes, but still, not all peas are anathema to me.
I also admire horses, but only from a safe distance.
Horses, horses…(says the city girl)…those are the skinny cow-like things that often have people stuck to them, right? I think one of them stood on my foot once at a fair or something. And I’ve seen police officers on them. Are they noted pea-eaters?
I ride horses. Love them.
CaitieCat:
Not by choice.
Caine: Not by choice.
Hmph. Silly creatures. :)
I rode a horse once. I felt bad for him, I weighed 120kg (260-ish) at the time. It was a trail-riding place in Banff National Park, riding along the Bow River in its glorious light aqua section. He was a nice horse, smart enough to undo his hitch if they weren’t careful, and he liked, during life, to make time to stop and eat the flowers, despite my best efforts. His name was Adam.
Other than the foot-stepping incident, that’s the sum total of my interactions with the kind equine.
We’ve got miniature horses, so they aren’t much good for riding unless you’re a small child. They are, however, fantastic at pulling carts. Someday we’d like to get set up for some of the actually rideable variety, too. It’s been way too long since either of us have gone riding, though.
And I love peas.
I’m back from Nearly Signal-Free Camping and very threadrupt but very refreshed. I want to thank everyone who stepped up to help out Cait, whether I know about it or you just quietly sent it right to her. I extend hugs where desired.
My poor potted plants desperately missed me. : /
Mellow Monkey:
Up in Maine, in Ellsworth, there is a woman who has a miniature horse as her guide animal.
All:
Thanks for the support. Feeling a little better. Still feeling shitty, but better shitty.
Hi Oggie,
Is it okay I call you Oggie. It feels affectionate. Sort of a moniker in place of a hug.
I’m glad you are feeling a little better. Bit by bit. We will help you walk through this.
Ogvorbis:
That is 7 kinds of awesome.
One moment to the next. I love you. Going to keep telling you that, too.
I’m partly caught up and I don’t have the time or energy to fully respond to everythign I want to (as usual)
Ogvorbis: You are so loved. I love you, just like all the others who have said so. I’m glad you are on the upswing, it seems. *hugs* (You’re not that good, you couldn’t have fooled all of us, we have very sensitive bullshit detectors, y’know? :) )
—
The Pea Contingent groooooows.
—
My dad gave me a 1951 Singer he had in his garage. It works. I am ecstatic.
Peas, no thanks. Green beans, yes, broccoli, yes. :) And SPUDS FOREVER.
Portia,
A 1951 Singer? A 1951 SINGER? Oh holy Maude. You lucky…. whatever. My mother had an old Singer that my benighted father threw out? A true sin.
My !’s and ?’s are getting confused.
Could be; Horses are duplicitous by nature. These “skinny cow-like things” of which you speak—did they exhibit any of the usual signs of Ultimate Evil?
Ha! That’s what They want you to think! Remember: duplicitous by nature. Horses and peas are natural allies, working together, hoof-in-pod to bring about the Equine Apocalypse!
Every pea you eat, brings you closer to Them.
–
It appears that I am surrounded by Moral Degeneracy. Pea and Horse lovers every-fucking-where.
:(
–
Portia!
*pouncehug*
–
Ogvorbis, please use these *hugs* to top up your supply.
We all get by with a little help from our friends.
–
morgan:
Yes! I’m so thrilled. My Quilter Aunt told me that if I wanted to keep working on the quilt she helped me plan and cut, I should not repair my crappy machine (which I screwed up in really short order) but rather look for a Singer Featherweight, which is a model 221, according to Teh Internetz. I mentioned to my dad I had found one on craigslist for ~40% of all others’ prices. He said “Oh, you want a sewing machine? I have one a friend gave me years ago and I’ve never used it. It’s yours.” Squeeeeeee. I’m going to SEW ALL THE THINGS. (Or more likely, screw up most of the things and get frustrated and whine and take a break and get back to it and figure it out and get it done in a painfully slow way). Still :D
Oh, and my silly dad let his silly girlfriend sell a barrister’s bookshelf that I adored as a kid, that came from my great grandmother’s collection of stuff. So I feel you on the “true sin” front : /
—
I just broke the glass in my window while trying to raise it. Jebus. At least it didn’t break into shards, it was a nice arc and all the pieces are still in the frame. No clean up, but …no continuous barrier between me and the outdoors. Hopefully landlord will fix it quickly.
—
Went to a family event right when I returned from camping and visiting family for the last week and a half. I was pleasantly surprised to realize I was missed by people here. Not just by my plants. *warmfuzzies*
—
cicely: *returnpouncehugandrelishthepounce* :D
—
I wish I had a horse. I wish I had money to board a horse, and the land to keep one. I see them for free all the time.
Oh, meant to say, the Singer I’ve got is model 66-16, which I have no context for but am very happy to have nonetheless.
Caine, Portia, Cicely, et al.
Thanks.
I was thinking about this last night. Every fucking time I think that the last shoe has dropped, another one lands on me. These dribs and drabs are tiring. And I have given up on the idea that nothing worse can come up because every time I think the worst has passed it hasn’t. Then again, if I had remembered all of this shit in one massive brain dump I don’t think I could have handled it. Not that I’m really handling it, more riding a canoe down a III/IV with no paddle and hoping to reach the flatwater with the hollow side up. ALl at once would have been a nice class VI waterfall — no way to get through the gate.
And now I await a visit from the metaphor police after that paragraph. I hope someone understands what I try to mean?
Og:
We’re here at every step. *hugs* Just keep talking.
Lawyer joke!
http://oglaf.com/badger/
kind of
Well, just use an interobang ^_^
chigau:
Hee. :)
Ha, ha, ha. I thought “interobang” was spelled with an “a.”
(I never ever ever wish that I had some sure fire way to make a client shut the hell up. I will never now picture them being pounced upon by a large badger. Ever).
Woops. I make no claim about the accuracy of my spelling, as it was not intentional. Chrome didn’t like my spelling but I was too lazy to google it.
Google sez: “The interrobang, also known as the interabang” …I took two correct spellings and made an incorrect one ^_^
Portia,
Is okay. I often trip over my own interabangs, and other things.
If any parent of young ones regularly checks out Sunday Morning Breakfast Cereal, todays comic brought a tear to my eye….
Here it is, just for the sake of enjoyment and futures untold
http://www.smbc-comics.com/?#comic
Portia,
Good attorney types can twist several proper things to portray something “more appropriate.”
Ogvorbis, I, for one, am ready to help you keep the canoe bailed and balanced, and make sure that there’s a flotation device within your reach at all times.
:)
Barnacle scraping is someone else’s job.
–
The lounge makes for good emotional fiber.
Portia
I think the ‘lawyer’ is a wolverine or something …‽
chigau:
A real life interrobang‽ Suh-weet.
First, I was like, a wolverine is perfect for a native Michigander like myself. Then, I was like, wait I’m the Wolverine… I’m ok with it.
Ogvorbis
*hugs* What everyone else said; I’m kind of slow off the mark today.
Ogvorbis:
Yeah, I do. I understand all too well. It will be okay. We are here for you. Remember that. Hold on to that.
I’m… awkwardly being better now.
I spent nearly the entire weekend feeling basically broken.
Then I came back to my dorm… and wowbetter. I feel reasonably okay now, though not perfect. and content with my fears.
Does this dorm feel like home now? Sure seems that way.
thunk
Good to hear you’re doing better.
thunk
feeling reasonably okay and more home-like sounds good.
the Lounge is always here for you
kittehserf
*pokes head out*
What?
Hint for future visitors of Chicago: do not, under any circumstances, attempt to visit the museum campus (Field, Aquarium, Alder Planetarium) on a day where TheBears are playing ovoid hand-and-kick ball in the Soldier Field next door. Ever. Parking was a disaster … officials in the street tried to direct me to the supposed “closest” parking 2 miles away. Ended up only 0.7 miles away. Dropped off spouse on closest approach (about 100 yards), so she didn’t have to hoof it all the way, but then found the cell towers so saturated that cell phones weren’t working so I didn’t know where to find her when I made my way back. [Sigh]
Was going to visit Buckingham Fountain after the museum closed, but it was all cordoned off … got to watch a heliocoptor make several low approaches over/around it: filming for Transformers 4 (kept shifting 4 to $ while typing that… hmm). Didn’t see 3, but I guess I’ll have to see the new one when it comes out.
Thunk, that’s good news. Thank you for letting us know and I’m glad you’re feeling more on the upside.
*bleary Portia is asleep*
*Portia hears something in the bedroom, wonders if the window is cracking further
*Portia doesn’t care, wants sleep*
*Noise persists, Portia says finnnne, turns on light, half awake*
.
.
.
HOLYSHITHERESABATARGLEBLARGLEHIDEUNDERTHECOVERS
It flew away from the light when it figured out where to go. Poor thing. But I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.
I just want to go to sleep.
There’s a centipede on the ceilng over my bed. If it were across the room it would not keep me awake.
uuuuughhh.
Halp.
==
thunk:
Glad you’re feeling better.
—
portia
Tape some cardboard, or even a garbage bag, over the window to prevent more nocturnal wildlife. For the centipede, I recommend a flamethrower.
Dalillama:
Thank you. I scrounged up a working fix without leaving my bedroom with my quilt-cutting board and some novelty duct tape. I feel much better. Thank you. (Looking at the crack, I’m not sure it’s big enough. But I guess bats are good at squeezing and crawling, huh?)
The centipede is no longer visible…I’m just going to try not to think about where it went…
Centipedes are worse than horses and peas combined. That’s not an opinion, that’s scientific fact.
Horses and peas are lovely, so yes, centipedes are woooorse. :) They love my bedroom ceiling. Which is too high to even be reached with a broomhandle. …lightbulb moment as to why they might like it.
portia
Not so you’d notice, I don’t think. Not nearly so much so as rodents, for instance. (Is the bat still inside, then?) Wings aren’t very nimble on the ground, and are also kind of fragile, so bats don’t do a lot of squeezing through tight spaces, although most bats are pretty small, so it takes a lot for a space to qualify as tight.
The bat is still inside last I knew. I…I was hiding under the covers but I’m pretty sure it flew to another room. I closed my bedroom door.
I’m wondering if it’s been living here for the ten days I’ve been gone…
@Portia
Tsk, you should’ve trapped the centipede, tied it to a thread and dangled it over the broken part of the window to lure the bat out.
~*~*~*~*~*~
@Dalillama
Wings may not be very nimble on the ground, but bats don’t waste much movement. In my experience, they’re surprisingly speedy so long as they have shit they can grab onto.
I like bats, I hope the little critter finds a safe way out. Do you know what kind are prevalent in your area?
so much nope in one idea, it’s kind of impressive :)
Great…now I have nightmare fodder ;)
No idea what kind are prevalent, I have always avoided them successfully, ha.
Good morning
Hugs for Ogvorbis and Thunk
I’m glad you’re feeling a little better
+++
Horses? They are the lower relatives of donkeys, right?
+++
Anne D.
Oh, I know the UFO abbreviation. Occasionally there’s also an IFB: Item for Bin
I think I’m finally unwound enough to return to Dreamland. Thanks for being awake with me, Horde.
Beatrice, I’ll selfishly miss your contributions here but I’m glad you’re taking care of yourself. (I’m assuming she won’t see this but I had to selfishly say it anyway.)
Cicely, you have been making me choke-snort-laugh so much lately! “Hoof-in-pod”, truly genius!
Portia, I’m so with you on the centipede thing. I have a spine-tingling tale of a centipede running amok but I don’t think it’s appropriate at the moment. Perhaps once your unwanted visitor leaves (the crawly one, not the flying one).
Beatrice, you won’t see this – but take care, many hugs and all my very best wishes. I hope things improve, and that we see you back here when you want.
.
And hugs to Giliell, and good luck to Anne D.
And lots of hugs for Ogvorbis. And a squish for thunk, if acceptable.
Good morning everyone I had a great weekend with my girlfriend it was awesome I really love her and we get along amazingly.
The URDs of the title below are the beliefs who people hang on to no matter how often they are debunked.
Brookmyre: “Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attack-Unsinkable-Rubber-Christopher-Brookmyre/dp/0316730122/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
— — — — — — — —
I just read a book about the folklore of Discworld. Nuggan seems to be the god every one in a big bureaucracy worships. And a good explanation how “Herne the Hunter” went from being invented by Shakespeare to being an ancient fertility god. A miniature Book of Mormon, that Herne.
— — — — — — — —
“I wish everyone comfort for their sorrows, especially rowanvt and Ogvorbis.”
Seconded.
Oink
@Rev BDC:
Go home pig, you’re drunk!
I worked up the nerve to call the student loan servicer who sent me a giant bill (more than my income even after I start my new job, which is not a super high bar but still) due to not processing my “I’m poor, plz halp” application in time. They said it takes 22 days to process, and today is the 22nd day, and I will probably see the payment go back down to where it belongs (zero) by tomorrow, and until then they will apply the forebearance so I don’t get late fees.
WHEW.
@Portia:
That’s good news.
Kevin:
Good news on your end too :D
I start my new job in a week. I stopped in today to do stuff like take a picture for the website and sign my name to make a stamp out of it. From the stamp conversation arose this exchange with my soon-to-be-paralegal:
P: And just so you know, I’ll run everything by you that I type up for you for a while. I won’t use the signature stamp right away. But you won’t have to do any of your writing. Whether it’s a letter, or an order, or a motion, or whatever, just dictate it for me or give me a general idea and I’ll get it done.
Me: I could just hug you.
P: You can hug me, I don’t care.
Me/P: *HUG*
—
*happy dance*
Late, but…
His office didn’t happen to be on Drury Lane, did it? ^.^
Well, happy remodeling in any case :)
Azky:
Late, but…
His office didn’t happen to be on Drury Lane, did it? ^.^
Well, happy remodeling in any case :)
For real LOLz. :D
Do you know the Muffing Man, the Muffing Man, the Muffing Man?
Who works on Ramkhaemkhaeng Road…
Not quite as good. ;)
Cait:
Happy Muffing Day!!!
:D
thunk, I’m glad you’re feeling better.
*hug*
–
That…makes sense, actually.
Because They need operatives willing to work underground…and undercovers.
*whispering*
Portia, be careful!
*spraying Pedantry Repellent*
They’ve got you bugged.
Proof of Their Evil Intentions!
(I think that They probably smuggled the bat in to distract you while the centipede got into position. Over your bed.)
</nightMare fuel>
–
Krasnaya Koshka:
*wink*
Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all day.
Buy the spiel! Remember to tip your cow!
–
Kevin!
*pouncehug*
–
Dalillama:
I take it you haven’t had much experience with bats? They excel at fitting into or through tiny cracks, and they can move at speed, even on the ground. We haz some bats who hang out in our attic, and you would not believe the tiny spaces they can get in and out of. Remarkable beings. I rescue baby bats fairly often, they fall off mum when she’s in flight now and then. A Myotis lucifuga will fly into the house via the cat kennel on a regular basis, too. I just leave a door open for them, they figure the way out quickly enough.
Birger:
On Discworld, Herne the Hunter is Herne the Hunted, god of small furry animals that are destined to end their lives as a small damp squeak.
Caine
Apparently not; I’ve only really seen them on video.
Dalillama, a friend of mine’s father was Donald Griffin. I have the good fortune to have his book, Listening in the Dark, which, while it’s as old as I am, is still fascinating reading and I learned a great deal from it.
It just occurred to me, the way I heard more crackackacking of the glass, that little guy must have actually increased the space he had to work with on his way through. Impressive.
Found the coolest bookends ever: a pair of 3D crows: http://upstartcrowtrading.com/online-store/novelties/raven-bookend-set
Bought them for a Christmas gift. I buy all year long. Makes it fun for me (like a treasure hunt.)
There is no such thing as a trace amount of pea. It’s either pea-free, or else inedible taste- and texture-free goo only the British would consider “food” rather than rather than an invasion by Dr Who-esque monsters, leading to boy bands, celerypedes, and the Heat Death of Several Universes. And probably extra horses.
Bring on yer pea monsters. I’ll eat them if I can have a little garlic butter on the side.
You overlooked many of the key food groups: MUSHROOMS!, cheese, bacon, garlic and chilies, cheese, chocolate, café, and MUSHROOMS! Also, of course, beer and vin.
blf: I sit corrected.
:)
–
Which tastes of garlic butter (nothing wrong with that) with lumps of tastelessness. Remove the lumps and enjoy the garlic butter. (Bread, pasta, a nice blue steak, fish, green beans, broccoli, or numerous other tasty substrates are often advised…)
(Another simple recipe suggestion for the peainfected.)
Too much vin leads to rather too many rather than rather than rather than-correct sentences.
okay, so back on the waiting list for “The God Delusion”, I’m 14th in line so be awhile b4 i get it back and get the last half read. Been thinking I should read “On the Origin of Species”, maybe even some other classic science stuff too. Classic in general maybe, I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy lately. I should read some more early stuff, Canterbury Tales, etc.
Suggestions?
(don’t just limit the suggestions to western or english liturature either.)
thesandiseattle: I recommend Pratchett. Lots and lots of Pratchett.
–
cicely@306: been there done that, even hiked on the Ankh River :)
Hi all.
SIGH.
Deep Breath.
Trigger Warning:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/09/2590771/vanderbilt-rape-case/
I would like to be optimistic and hope that people are discussing Rape Culture…but *are* they (_they_ being the general public).
Good evening
Happy Muffing day, Caitie
+++
Now, since my embroidery module for the fance high tech doesn’t work I’ve been doing some medium tech embroidery (I needed, needed, needed something creative). A project I wanted to do for a while already, which is to turn one of rowanvt’s gorgeous dragons into embroidery. I also noticed that I was about to be stupid before actually being it, which got to count for something…
Now, for the final touch I’d like your help:
I want as many translations for “dragon” as you got.
I have German, Spanish, French and well, English, but more are highly appreciated. They don’t have to be written in Latin characters.
Please?
Giliell-
draco is the latin root that most romance languages will derive their form from so thats one more for ya.
Gilell:
In Quenya, “dragon” is lócë. They distinguished between different classes of dragons as well. Thusly:
“dragon with wings” is either angulócë or fenumë
“dragon that belches fire” is rámalócë
“dragon that makes sparks” is urulócë
and
“dragon that lives in the sea” is fëalócë or lingwilócë.
The Tengwar are not UNICODE encodable. So I cannot write them out for you, except to tell you which characters you’d use.
Gilliel,
smok – Polish
дракон (drakon) – Russian
draig – Welsh
The easiest way to get lots of different translations is probably to go to the Wikipedia page for “dragon” and click trough to the equivalent pages in various languages linked in the sidebar.
Thank you all
Esteleth
Don’t worry, I have an Elvish handbook or two…
龍
竜
Japanese, both pronounced ryū.
The same characters are used in Chinese, pronounced some other way.
Got some bad news at the pharmacy today. According to the pharmacist, makers of generic drugs will soon be forbidden by the Affordable Care Act to raise their prices (not without paperwork and justification anyway), so they are all raising their prices now to get it in under the wire. The price increases are 1000% or more. Damn. Sounds like somebody should take them to court. I feel screwed.
…that’s a problem.
Holy crap. I’m sure there’s a reason that’s illegal but I can’t think of it. Are they colluding at all? I mean if only one did it the rest would rake it in, so maybe a case for collusion could be made.
Ok, Giliell – just remember that in Quenya the vowel-tehta goes over the following letter, not the preceding.
Giliell
lohikäärme – in modern Finnish literally ‘salmon snake’, but that’s a very unlikely origin for the word. It’s probably half translated and half appropriated from Old Swedish floghdraki, or ‘flying snake’.
—
Herne is the Finnish word for pea…
Giliell:
http://www.dragonsinn.net/say.htm
One thing about the list I linked. The Lakota Unhcegila doesn’t exactly mean dragon. It could be translated as dragon-like, or reptilian.
Portia @316: I sent an inquiry to the Powers That Be at whitehouse.gov about the generic drug costs. Will let you know if they reply.
Thanks, Lynna. Good thinking.
Re: my #318, to not be a total Tis, I’m paraphrasing https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohikäärme here about the etymology of the word.
Weed Monkey,
This is sort of off topic, but since peas came up I have a question about cheese. Do you happen to know of any ways to get juustoleipä stateside? My local cheese monger couldn’t seem to find any. And that made me sad.
Caine, your list also doesn’t quite have the Welsh right, either; they have it as ddraig, which it only is after certain words (or possibly letters? my Welsh is extremely limited). Anyway, it’s “y ddraig” (the dragon), but just “draig” if it’s on it’s own. Interesting list, though, and I’d be surprised if it was 100% accurate with so many languages.
@Giliell
To expand on what Chigau gave you:
龍 is the traditional character for dragon (Chinese: lóng; Japanese: ryū).
龙 is the simplified Chinese variant (lóng).
竜 is a Japanese variant (ryū).
辰 is the character used for the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, but it stands for way more than just the critter (Chinese: chén; Japanese: tatsu).
yazikus, I’m afraid I don’t know of resellers abroad. Theoretically one could dry it out until rock solid, like they did in the olden days, and simply mail it over, but I wouldn’t want to risk crossing national borders with such a potential biohazard terrorist weapon of DOOM. :)
—
Caine‘s link #319 also lists draakki and dragoni as synonyms for lohikäärme. The first one could be a Sveticism and used by some, but the second one is not Finnish but lazy roleplayer talk.
A smart teenaged girl takes on slut shaming:
http://www.xojane.com/issues/tuesday-cain-open-letter-to-the-mom-who-posted-rules-for-teenage-girls-on-facebook
Excerpt below:
blf: I’ll eat em raw, they’re just quite nice with a little garlic butter. I LIKE the taste of peas.
Lynna,
Thanks for that great article! She’s smart indeed. *round of applause*
Also true how creepy it is that adults are all “Oh, that minor is sexy!”
…
Your tax dollars are helping the offspring of rich ivy league alumni gain admittance to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. This hand up, this welfare for the rich, comes at the direct expense of poor students.
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/09/the_1_percents_ivy_league_loophole/
Excerpts below:
The article goes on to discuss the “charitable” status of ivy league universities.
So it turns out Dawkins thinks a little under-the-pants “mild” pedophilia isn’t a big deal. Fuck you very much, Dick Dawkins. You’re no better than the Catholic Church.
That’s an appropriately creepy picture of RD at the top of that article. *shudder* fucking motherfucker.
anuran:
Old news. Quite some time ago now, he said he thought teaching children religion and specifically, the concept of hell was much worse abuse than being molested.
Old news, but he just keeps digging in. The interview is from Saturday, but behind paywall.
Hi Everyone!
I’m completely threadrupt but hoping to keep current for at least a little while as the week progresses. I’ll leave *many pouncehugs and much chocolate* for Portia and another *pile of hugs and chocolate* for all those who need them, both are quite safe.
Hi Hekuni Cat!
Pounce back!
Nomnomnomnomnchocolateeeee.
OK, my apologies in advance. I understand that this is going to come across as me fishing for attention.
That said, when PZ did the interview a while back with Pastor Wilken at the Issues, ETC Christian talk radio, many of us listened. I sent in the following comment to their program
Well today I got this email response
So I have to ask. Did anyone here the show??????
Invade Finland? “Your country or your cheese!”
Probably easier to do a bit of terraforming and transplant USAlienstan into an appropriate area of Finland. While yer at it, perhaps you could transplant the fundies and thugparty into, say, the centre of a supermassive black hole?
Wrote a program today (from scratch) that compiles even for 100,000+ trial runs of randomly generated pairs, coincidentally proving (via experimentation) the Central Limit Theorem and the Law of Large Numbers. It’s a classic problem involving a drunk, a light post and a lot of randomly generated coordinates.
Sneaky prof did not tell other students we were doing that, but I figured it out. I knew all those stats were good for something.
*takes a bleary-eyed victory lap of the lounge* Somebody play me the Rocky theme! I’m going to go pass out muttering, “Adrian!”
It might come as a shock to you, blf, but cheese is probably one of the least important national stereotypical traditions Finns would fight over. Because there’s just that: juustoleipä. (please send a note to the penguin: we have very little to loot)
It’s actually very simple to make, if you have the ingredients: beestings from a recently calved cow and a hot oven. Curdle the beestings, let the whey fall off under a weight (or rather collect for further cooking), form the mass to something between 5-10 mm thin and bake it until solid. Voilà, it’s ready.
For long travels or mailing to yazikus it would have to be dried. Then it might keep for months, or years, but, when heated, would soften up to be edible. Thanks to it being so high in fat.
Gilliel (from back a ways):
Dutch: draak (I know, not very creative)
Hawaiian: no exact word corresponds, but the closest is mo’o, a mythical creature usually depicted as a lizard or serpent (serpent would be post-contact)
I know of some other methods Finns call making cheese, and they all involve cooking milk or beestings in an oven until they solidify, and they all are bland and disgusting. None of them are aged.
Weed Monkey:
Maybe not, but they do squeak. And that always reminds me a soap. I love me some salmiakki, though… what needs to happen to get some of that to me?
Really? I thought salmiakki was a common thing we shared with the Danes and the Dutch?
*the sound of gears grinding to a halt in a social conversation when someone supposedly Dutch doesn’t know about salmiak*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24021573
TW rape survey – statistics and attitude. A TW for statistics? Well, yes.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
UN survey: percentages of men who admit to rape in different areas of Asia.
I found Pharyngula a few months ago and have enjoyed being a fairly regular reader. After reading the latest post on Dawkins I thought I’d try leaving my first post, only to be rather aggressively rebuked and somewhat ridiculed. I was so disappointed and, from some of the other commments on the thread, I think I got off lightly. I’d love to be involved in future Pharyngula discussions, but the nature of so many of the comments and the commenters reactions has put me right off. I think that’s a bit of a shame.
I wonder what reaction I’ll get from this post. Please be gentle.
@All:
Good morning, I don’t know how to handle something with my girlfriend and it’s bothering me.
She’s a little over 9 years older than I am. We were eating dessert yesterday (green-tea ice cream mochi!) and she mentioned it reminded her of her birthday, and then realized she was going to be turning 39 and that meant she was 10 years older than me.
She’s mentioned our age difference a number of times as being a problem for her, and every time I’ve stated clearly that I don’t have a problem with it at all. I don’t mind the difference in the slightest. I don’t seem to be having an impact and she got super-depressed (she looked like someone close to her died. She was the saddest person eating ice cream I’d ever seen.)
It’s bugging me cause I tend to be able to say what she wants to hear when she needs to hear it, but this is one area I can’t get past and I’m worried it’ll be a sticking point later in our relationship.
@Stacey Richardson:
The reason you were excoriated was because you came into a topic and said pretty much the same exact thing that someone said earlier and was corrected on. If you’re going to comment on a topic thread (the Lounge and Thunderdome are different) then have the consideration to either read all the comments on the topic or use the CTRL+F to find if someone’s already made your point.
The Horde is a little bit antsy recently as a whole lot of dismissive people are running rough-shod around and trying to raise our ire. We’ve been engaged in the better part of 3 years trying to push back against the societal norms that seem prevalent in the atheist community, and it’s like trying to dam up a river during a monsoon.
That all said, this is the Lounge. We don’t have knock-down, drag-out fights in this atmosphere, and we’re a bit more “safe” in this topic.
Kevin
*hugs* to you and girlfriend
Mr. is 9 years older than me. So far it means that he’s alreday planning our holidays for when he’ll retire and I get 6 weeks of school-holiday
So, thank you all for the dragon input.
Here’s the almost finished result.
Thank you again, rowanvt, for letting me use your original design. I love your dragons.
The technique is free motion embroidery. As you can see in the closeup, it’s just thread.
Now I need to find a frame or make stretchers to hang it up.
Good morning.
Fire call for a car wreck at 5 am. Didn’t take long because no extrication was needed. Then I went for a run. Now I’m trying to ingest enough coffee to get through the morning.
—
Kevin:
*hugs* It doesn’t sound like something you can fix. I mean, if it’s an issue for her it will be, and you can’t…I dunno you can’t will it away. My advice would be don’t borrow trouble, enjoy what you’ve got, and don’t stress because you didn’t say exactly the right thing. There’s not always a right thing to say. Sometimes ya just gotta be there. *hugs*
Stacey:
This is a thread where we have social chatting with no fighting. If you want to complain about your treatment, it’s probably better done in Thunderdome, the other open thread which is way less moderated and not so gentle all the time. Of course, Kevin rightly points out what Caine and Ichthyic already pointed out. (And from what I saw in the thread “excoriated” isn’t the word I’d use to describe the responses to your comment).
If you want to chat about anything and everything, kindly, welcome in, pull up a chair.
TW homophobia.
No More Mr. Nice Gay. An awesome response to some nasty homophobia.
My dad is 11 years older than my mom. They just celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary on Sunday. My brother-in-law is getting married next week. His fiancee is 9 years younger than him.
If the people involved get along, it can totally work.
Hi, thread. Can I complain for a minute? Feel free to tell me that this is inappropriate for the lounge and I should take it to the thunderdome if it should be t’dome, but…
I’ve been struggling with a recurrent fever for some time now. I don’t actually feel that bad when I get it, but did take some time off work. Which, of course, resulted in my boss usw hinting that I was a wimp to take time off. No doubt everyone else goes ahead and comes to work when they’ve got the plague, a bad case of influenza, and 3 limbs gnawed off by rabid hyenas. This is the US, after all, where even death does not excuse you for missing work or school*. Nonetheless, here I am now, feeling worse and with a higher fever and still not feeling safe to not come to work. At this point, I’m hoping that I’m wrong and there is an afterlife and hell for bosses who force or coerce their employees into coming to work sick consists of spending forever standing at an assembly line and having to put together fiddly bits of something or another, despite having the plague, influenza, and at least 3 limbs gnawed off by rabid hyenas. Bathroom breaks will be allowed in hell. Because how else are they going to find out about the UTI?
*True story: Guy in college had an anaphylactic reaction to a med and was pronounced dead. He got better, but he missed the test he was studying for when he took the med that gave him the reaction. He did not get a make up exam, though the prof did agree to give him a B based on his previous work so I suppose he got off lightly.
@dianne:
I have the same issue here. I know exactly where your rant is coming from. It’s ridiculous that we should be expected to work while sick – and yes there can be people who take advantage of the situation, but clearly that’s a different matter altogether.
dianne – and aren’t you a doctor? The kind of person who has to get up close to people who are already immunocompromised by virtue of needing to see you to begin with? With supervisors who really ought to know how diseases are transmitted?
Carlie: Yep. I’m trying to minimize the risk by using masks, gloves, and frequent hand washing. There’s a good chance that I’ve actually got antibodies to the relevant virus that make it not transmissible to others, though they’re also supposed to neutralize the virus, so I’m not convinced…
Kevin – my college roommate married someone 10 years older than her, and it’s worked out fine. And another friend married someone 14 years younger, and it’s been great also. By the time you’re in your late 20s, that kind of age difference really doesn’t mean much. If it keeps coming up, you could ask her to (by herself, she doesn’t have to tell you) figure out if there are specific things that cause it to be a problem, or if it’s just a vague sense of “it’s just not right” that are society-imposed rather than actual issues.
Kevin, I’m not sure if this is encouraging or not, but my mother’s second marriage was to a man who was 20 years younger than her. It didn’t work out, but for reasons completely unrelated to their age difference.
Reading the Dawkins thread.
Did someone actually copypasta the entirety of the OP and comment thread into a new comment?
o_O
@Esteleth:
It was Thumper. It was clearly not intended.
Yes, I see that. And I see where Thumper was chagrined over it.
Sorry, I was a bit startled.
*hugs* and *chikkensoop* for dianne.
–
Kevin
A 10 year age difference isn’t really much between adults. I’ve dated people that much older than me, and my sister’s partner is nearly 15 years older than her.
Cross posted from the “Read Krugman…” thread:
Republicans Michelle Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, and Steve King went to Egypt and performed what looked like a Saturday Night Live skit.
Not only did they not know what they were talking about, their flying circus spouted all kinds of pseudo facts that were bad, bad, bad for USA foreign policy.
These are our elected officials?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#52967739
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#52967739
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/09/07/heres-michele-bachmann-thanking-the-egyptian-military-for-the-coup-and-crackdowns/
This made me feel ill – http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/
Kevin, I agree with the comments here that a big age difference can be easily overcome. However, as we all know we live in a culture where the age differential is usually man-older, woman-younger. Reversing that norm can be problematic simply because it is reversing the norm. That said, my sister-in-law married a man 15 years her junior and they have made a wonderful life together. I wish you well. Communication helps.
morgan
This is true, although in my own case, I’m male and my partner was female.
Kevin
I was also about 10 years younger than you are now at the time.
Hate women, make money. That seems to be the business/advertising plan of some firms, including a firm in Texas that sells a decal that makes it look like you have a full-sized adult woman bound and gagged in the back of your pickup truck. Salon link. Possibly requires a trigger warning for violence against women.
There’s also a zombie ex-girlfriend target for your shooting range; PETA ads implying that vegan men have rough sex with their women; and Mitchum deodorant ads that come right out and say that men should lie to women in order to get the women to comply when it comes to having the man take naked photos of them.
More examples in the slideshow at the link.
Weed Monkey at 345 and 346: sorry, fell asleep before I could mention that I am Dutch, and love ‘drop’ as well as salmiakki (which is a little different) but sadly neither are available on the little island where I now live. Lucky for me my mom is coming to see me in November, and I will insist on a second suitcase full of ‘drop’.
Kevin: I married a man 9 years older than me. It works because we had similar goals when we met, and still have similar goals 12 years later. As adults our chronological age was less important than the direction we wanted to take in life. If two adults are supportive and loving of each other, I don’t see age as a dividing line.
On a personal note, I slept for more than 4 hours last night, a personal best in over 3 months. Yay sleep!
Gilliel @ 351: that is awesome!
Random question for the sewers around:
I have a mid-1980s Singer machine.
The feed dogs (i.e. the little spikes on the plate directly underneath the needle) are jammed. This, naturally, renders the machine inoperable.
I am hereby offering the machine to anyone who wants it – for repair or cannibalizing for parts.
Except over peas, horses, Finnish cheese, et al. Things that matter !
Moment of Mormon Madness in North Carolina: Orson Scott Card category:
Mother Jones link.
Cross posted from the “Read Krugman … ” thread:
More dumbfuckery from right wing conservatives, this time on the subject of Syria:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/syria-joel-rosenberg-damascus-countdown-magog
I feel like I should repeat that fanatics like Rosenberg are not viewed as fringe figures, nor as batshit crazy, by most of the conservatives in the USA.
So, yeah, conservative foreign policy is partially based on Isaiah 17, and on raving flea-brained interpretations thereof.
Spreading the “burden of Damascus” nonsense:
I am currently making a lamb-and-stuff risotto, and decided a dash of soya sauce would be a good addition. Unfortunately, as I was adding some, the top of the bottle came off and a fair portion went into the sauce. I suspect the result will be waaaaaay too salty for me. (I cannot stand overly-salted foods, and except for soya or similar sauces, never add salt.)
Any suggestions?
blf
Add more of the other ingredients to the sauce and store the excess for later.
Stacey Richardson @ 348, I’m sorry you felt jumped on, however, the responses you received weren’t all that terrible. Sexual abuse is a hot button topic, and defending anyone who thinks it’s not a big deal is going to garner some harsh responses. As for my response to you, it was a stern reminder to read a thread prior to commenting. I’m sure you understand that having to deal with the same questions a/o point of view time after time after time, because people do not want to read first, seriously wears on people’s patience.
You chose to open your comment by denigrating everyone as not being science-minded enough to grant Dawkin’s room for what he had said. That might not have been the wisest choice.
All that said, this is a great place for discussions of all kinds. A little reading up is very helpful. The lounge (here) is a place for general chat and support, Thunderdome is the other open thread, where more serious discussions can take place. The commenting rules are here: https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/rules/
blf,
Here is a solution to too much salt. Potatoes absorb salt like crazy. Slice up a russet and add it in. Leave for a bit. Taste. Leave a bit longer if necessary. I’m not sure how this will work with soy sauce, but it is worth a try. Of course, remove the potato. It is not for serving.
chigau, Thanks, that’s also the general advice I found with the help of Generalissimo Google™. I’m now in the process of doing a quick conversion from a risotto into a cream(y) soup…
I don’t have any potatoes on-hand. (I also found that bit of advice, and would try it, but…)
@Stacey
Don’t worry, that’s not so unusual. My first time on pharyngula I appended a rather stupid tone-trolling remark (did not really know about that back then) and was duly hit upon (back then, there was no three-strikes rule). The great thing about people here is that if you just admit “I garbled up, sorry for that”, usually nobody is holding a grudge.
@thesandyseattly
I’m confused – did you not say that you are halfway through the God Delusion first?
Nevertheless, I’ll recommend the obvious (best novel ever written) Pride and Prejudice and the not-quite-so-obvious Anthony-Trollope-novels (there are 47 of them, most of them good to excellent). Depending on taste, start with The Warden (simple story with a nice moral), Phineas Finn (if you like to look a bit at the intricacies of British politics back then) The Eustace Diamonds (if you want a bit of fun), Nina Balaytka (which gives interesting insights in the treatment of Jews in the 19th century) or (really dark) He knew he was right. All of Trollope’s novels are interesting, and his take on the role of women in the society back then is a strange (but very humane) mixture of the progressive and the conservative. [steps back from advertising soap box]
I just caught a man peeing outside the kitchen window. I banged on the glass and waved a peach angrily at him (I was in the middle of cooking). He looked shocked and ran away.
The shock was the strangest part. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. There are a million private places to urinate outside if you really have to, and you’re surprised when you get caught peeing next to a window? Go in a bush like everybody else, dude.
MM:
Seriously. No one needs to see the mighty penis. Some people.
A close examination of the soya sauce bottle reveals what probably happened: It has a screw-on top with a nozzle covered by a flip-open lid. I suspect that flipping open/close the nozzle’s cover slowly unscrewed the top (that’s what seemed to be happening as I played with it a few moments ago), until tonight when it came all the way off.
The top is now securely duck-taped to the bottle.
I’ll be trying the
risottosoup in a few minutes… (Taste tests suggest it’s going to be Ok.)Kevin: has she indicated whether it’s the age difference itself that bothers her, or more specifically being a woman dating a significantly younger man, rather than the reportedly more common, and more socially normative, reverse situation?
Fuck, and that’s the only one I’ve found that doesn’t have the ingredient that gives me rashes.
I guess I should look harder.
Azkyroth
I’ve heard straight baking soda works well as a deodorant.
Try that?
Azkyroth, this deodorant is the only one I’ve found that doesn’t give me rashes. (hyper sensitive skin — my nemesis)
http://www.kiehls.com/Superbly-Efficient-Anti-Perspirant-and-Deodorant/525,default,pd.html
Moments of Mormon Madness, published books category:
FuckFudge the sense of repentance and forgiveness. Drinking a cup of coffee is not a sin. Being a kid is not a sin.Restricting membership in a club for children on the basis of batcrap crazy mormon criteria is a sin.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/56851977-180/book-lds-christ-club.html.csp
Zucchini bread muffins.
♥
SO MUCH YUM.
Re my comment #393: an afterthought, “billboards!?” Do they put pornography on billboards in Utah?
Methinks Wendy Watson Nelson knows fuck all about porn.
Lynna @393
I once discussed with my Mormon friend the case of two teenagers who were being Mormon-equivalent-of-excommunicated for having sex. He said he doesn’t care what other teenagers do, but Mormons have “agreed to be bound by these rules” so whatever punishment they get is justified.
Children.
Have meaningfully agreed.
To this bullshit?
Bullshit.
From the readers comments section below the article referenced in comment #393:
395
Lynna, OM
No, she just has a broad definition of what constitutes porn; she means things like this.
It is very likely that Hawaii will have marriage equality after October 28th. Looks like there are enough votes now, and our Gov. has called for a special session:
HONOLULU – Under Section 10 of Article III of the State Constitution, Gov. Neil Abercrombie has called both houses of the state Legislature to convene in a special session on Oct. 28 to address the issue of marriage equity.
“The decision to call a special session is based on doing what is right to create equity for all in Hawaii,” Gov. Abercrombie said. “As a former legislator, I have great respect for the Legislature and the legislative process. The merits of holding a special session include the opportunity for the Legislature to focus squarely on this important issue, without having to divert attention to the hundreds of other bills introduced during a regular session. In addition, if full advantage of various tax and other financial issues is to be achieved for citizens, passage before the end of the calendar year is essential.”
He (or his staff, its from the FAQ his office put out) also said, ” A remedy delayed is a remedy denied.” I may not agree with some of the Gov. decisions, but on this one he has my full support. I could even vote for the guy if I was allowed to in this country.
Going through the paperwork for my new job. Employer-“provided” health insurance does fuck all good for me if my part of the premium is more than I can afford. And it’s almost 3 times the cost for a man in the same age bracket. Isn’t that illegal yet?
*cries*
Syntax, how does it work? Of course, what I was meaning to say was that my premium is 3 times as much as that of a man my age.
Portia @396, the very idea that the LDS Church takes it upon itself to punish teens for having sex is abhorrent.
The very idea that the mormon church punishes anyone for anything just strikes me as extra-legal, as vigilante-like. Also, LDS leaders have proven time and again that they are lacking in good judgement, so who are they to mete out punishment? Maybe they should confine themselves to requesting attendance at non-mandatory lectures?
Here’s news, current news (today), of mormons punishing one of their adult members for writing a book:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/56848308-180/church-snuffer-hearing-hunt.html.csp
Mormons call their hearings, (disciplinary councils), at which they decide yea or nay on excommunication a “Court of Love.”
Abstract and figures with cut-off legends of an online-early Nature Communications paper that presents a missing link between newt-like and shark-like tail fins in the fucking huge predaceous mosasaur Prognathodon.
Two new gaps in the fossil record!
Okay, Dalillama @398, you cannot join the “Not. Even. Once.” club. You looked at a racy billboard. Then you posted a link to that billboard to lure unsuspecting mormon Pharyngula lurkers to look.
I think you win the mormon sin trophy for today.
Dutchgirl,
I order my salmiakki gum from http://www.suomikauppa.fi/. The shipping is kind of exorbitant, but totally worth it. When my last box was delivered, the delivery fellow was super curious what was in it, and when I told him he asked if he could try a piece. Since it must be the best gum ever, obviously.
Lynna:
The uptight, slut-shame-loving paralegal in the office walked by my office and mimed tugging on her own neckline to “kindly” let me know mine was drooping. Do I get banned from the club too? :)
That the wife of a mormon apostle would write a book like “Not Even Once” is revealing. What does this say about the home life of mormon families whose patriarchs are part of the elite at the top of the mormon hierarchy?
Oh, my, Portia! Of course you are banned. And by your actions you have led a fellow worker astray. Obviously, Ms. Slut-Shaming Paralegal was drawn to your cleavage. She looked, and therefore she is damned. You are leading us all to hell.
Sigh, none of us can join the club now. We have imagined your magnificent bosom.
Don’t you just love office politics?
Yazikus: cool place, but sadly shipping to Hawaii is beyond exorbitant, a trial run revealed shipping of about 40 euro for .2 kg and 2 euros worth of licorice! I’ll wait for my mom to bring the Dutch drop.
I really needed a laugh, it’s been a stressful day. Thank you. I am honored to have dragged everyone down into the (twin, round) swells of debauchery with me.
I guess I’m out of the club, too. Tempting that nice stake holder and all.
Ogvorbis:
*hugs*
You’re in much better company here.
@sonderval
Thanks for that. I wasn’t trying to offend but apparently phrased my wording poorly. The whole thing kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, not just because of the reaction to me but other people as well, although I don’t know the problems that have occurred here in the past. The whole thing left me apprehensive about posting again, so I might just stay out in the future. I guess Pharyngula just isn’t really for me.
30,000 square miles of slimy, stinging jellyfish. They are taking over.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/sep/26/jellyfish-theyre-taking-over/
Excerpts below:
Earlier today I read a list of money saving tips, and one was to not take the seal off the soy sauce bottle you just bought, but just poke a few holes in it.That way you’d use less soy sauce!
Not to mention leaving your dish under seasoned and tasteless. That’s not a concern for the dimwits who write these kinds of lists, I presume.
More scary/impressive facts, jellyfish category:
Dutchgirl, check out for example http://www.suomikauppa.fi/index.php?cPath=24_36 to see if there’s something to fulfill your salmiakki cravings. The delivery price can be a bit high, though.
Weed Monkey: I thank you for your link. However, as you might suspect shipping to the middle of the Pacific Ocean is indeed pricy (usually double from Mainland USA). Now I’ll have to see if soon-to-be-daughter will have a fondness for the stuff, or be like my husband and make me brush my teeth after I eat some.
You know, some nights I really wish that the Lounge was a physical place where I could wander in and mingle from table to table with y’all (and a nice drink. probably a double.).
*sigh*
I admit to nothing. :shifty:
Then again, if it was real, I wouldn’t be here. Sorry.
More fascinating jellyfish facts (see 415 for link):
Og – in my perfect lounge, you would be.
Hey Carlie, in your perfect lounge would we have to dress up in club duds? I don’t own any. Everything I have is comfy duds.
Ugh, I is a cranky, sleepless, wounded-animal kitteh today. Couldn’t sleep all night, so pain tolerance went down, which in turn meant I couldn’t sleep, which in turn meant less pain tolerance, and here we are, 20 hours after I went to sleep, still not asleep, and with all the tolerance of a wet tissue.
Mrghlfrzkt. This might actually be the first time in eleven years on the drugs that make my life livable, in which I won’t make it to the end of the month with any pills left. My current count is just, just, enough to get through the Wed midnight when I can pick up the next month’s. No extras left, my tiny reserve stock wiped out. Rarrrgh.
Forgive me if I don’t get caught up on the thread, even the half-lying-down posture I’m using to type is nightmareishly owie.
These are the days when, though I really don’t do suicidal ideation, it would be a good thing for me to avoid easy ways to accidentally top myself. No taking buses or trains, no using the toaster, no high places. I’ve always said, I’ll never do it on purpose. But there are days when I can’t guarantee that if a potentially fatal accident happened, I would rush to get out of the way.
On good news, my partner is here, so all is well and I’m really safe, no worries. But these are the days when it’s the very hardest. :/
*Soothing thoughts* and *a warm pot of tea* for CaitieCat!
morgan – I don’t even know what club wear is. My version of the lounge has a lot of medium oak wood, dark blue soft fabric on the seats, soft spot lighting, lots of nooks and crannies to hide in but still see the rest of the room from, and no dress code. :)
Actually, I don’t know what club wear is either. It has been umpty years since I set foot in a club. Our visions of the lounge are very similar. There is also a lovely fireplace and bay window overlooking a lovely bit of nature.
Carlie, you forgot the orgy pit.
Oh heaven forfend! How could we forget “The Pit!”
Ogvorbis (#422)
Me either! I somehow ended up at two block parties last weekend and even though I was only at the second for like 20 minutes, I felt like punching everyone in the world in the face.
Random aside: A peek into my spam folder reveals a message with the subject line “Free Local Sluts.”
I am intrigued.
But not sufficiently intrigued to actually open the (probably pornographic) email.
Thanks, Esteleth.
Who knows? Maybe your spam message is, in fact, a sex-positive injunction to you to begin work to liberate nearby promiscuous people (largely women) from their hangups?
That would be great! I’d happily do such a thing.
However, I am somewhat … skeptical.
As an example of the weird way my brain works, I read this in the imperative. And then had awful mental images of people in need of freeing.
I’m going to blame my migraine and the fact I’m barely functional at the moment.
@435: I too am skeptical. I like to imagine ways in which awful things are somewhat less awful, sometimes. It makes it all feel a bit less…awful.
Well.
I was terribly intrigued and I actually opened it.
I’m not reproducing the silly fonts (which varied multiple times) or obnoxious things they did with color.
Here’s the entirety of the text of the email:
(the last line, obviously, is a hyperlink. That I am not going to follow.)
*shakes head*
Wow.
…and now I picture people descending upon my garden to fuck, much as the strange man arrived to pee earlier today.
No, thank you. My area does not need any fucking today.
My sympathies, CaitieCat, and a wish for a restful, painless night’s sleep for you.
–
I’ve…never been in a club. And seldom in a bar.
–
Kid 2: Kitten has knocked over the chess pieces that I set up right next to her food and water! You can’t knock over other people’s toys. Bad Kitten: you are in time out!
For three minutes!!!!!! [locks kitten in pantry]
========
wait for it, that’s not even the funny part, giving the kitten time out for trying to drink water when you’ve set up chess pieces to block her way. Nope, let 3 minutes pass…
========
Kid2: Kitten! Your time out is over! You’re free! [Opens door to pantry, picks up kitten & dangles her awkwardly by her hips]
You’re free! Time to enjoy your freedom! I’m taking you on the deck! [resecures kitten who had been trying to twist out of her grasp]
See! You’re free on the deck! [Kitten still struggling to get out of ever tightening Kid2 grip]
Yeah, that’s where my brain went, too.
:(
–
MM:
I do not want people fucking in my area, especially armed with multiple exclamation points.
shit, mine @ 443 should attribute Esteleth. I think I’m going to call it a night.
BTW: Kid2 grip sounds kewl.
Question:
If he’s a pricey local slut, is he still a slut?
Define “slut.”
If by slut, you mean “prostitute, sex worker,” then the absolute amount of money that changes hand does not negate the status.
If, however, you mean “person who has more and/or a different variety of sex than I like,” well, um, I really don’t know.
Just once, though, I’d like to get spam that doesn’t wantonly abuse the common comma.
By “slut” I’ve always meant someone who is not discriminating about their sexual partners.
If one is discriminating by taking only wealthy partners, one is still being choosey.
…isn’t one?
I don’t know. Maybe nobody defines slut the way I do…but I think that conversation would be better handled in TD.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the spammer is defining “slut” as “sex worker.”
Eh. Nothing too specific, I guess, aside from anything about disability-friendliness and any problematic aspects to watch out for. Overall impressions? I dunno.
Oh right, the orgy pit is through the side door.
A. Noyd – my lounge has several areas that are of varying sizes that are cut off from the main room in various ways that still allow for interaction if desired. Think half walls, hanging plants, maybe an organza screen or two. :)
Been a weird day here at casa la pelirroja. Started yesterday, when we had one of the few 90 degree days this summer. Got only down to 78 degrees last night. Got the redhead to bed, then me to bed, and I woke at 4:30 am realizing that she hadn’t called yet for any commode breaks. Totally out of normal. Went clomping down the stairs to check on her, just as she was waking up and realizing it was 4:30 am. She had a bad spell where she couldn’t get comfortable/muscle spasms about midnight, and was going to call me, then the next thing she knew it was 4:30 am and I was there. She sleeps better in hot weather. Took care of business, and we both got back to sleep until normal wake-up time. Today was the hottest day of the year so far. I was pretty much on the go from noon until 8:30 pm. Makes for a long day.
Ogborbis
*hugs*
Esteleth
Based on the content, I’m assuming they mean ‘person who is indiscriminate about their sexual partners’, since it’s implied that the people they will put you in contact with won’t want to be paid for their company. As I understand it, what the spamming company wants is to sell your information to other advertisers, and possibly a membership fee.
Azkyroth
They’re pretty good on that front. You will run into every imaginable flavor of neopaganism, new-aginess, and general mysticism there, though.
If we’re designing the Lounge, could we have a skylight? One that’s only activated when it’s cloudy or stormy or raining, or maybe on clear starry nights? One of my favorite memories of the library across town where I grew up was their sunken reading area with cushioned benches and a skylight.
I love reading to the sound of rain on the roof. Why am I living in So Cal, again?
@Azkyroth:
I was involved in love tribe pretty heavily for a number of years.
Disability friendliness was actually quite good. Knowledge wasn’t always there, but friendliness yes and prioritizing access – well, they made efforts, but for certain events they were willing to have the event at inaccessible locations.
The spirituality-stuff also gets pretty racist in that there’s a lot of cultural appropriation. No one thinks that they are being racist, but using someone else’s religion to theme your party? Yeah. Not hot.
But if you’re not going to a specific type of party – which is obvious from a long distance – I didn’t really encounter off-putting racism.
I swear, after threads like the Dawkins one or the grenade one reach a certain length, they need to have a mandatory quiz on what’s been covered so far in order to enable commenting. Too bad that’s not actually feasible.
~*~*~*~*~*~
carlie (#451)
Sometimes even being a room away from people is too much. I rather like the internet for socialization because I can be anywhere I want and stop interacting at any time.
Hi Lounge.
I’ve been offline all day.
What did I miss?
Well, thanks.
I’m caught-up on a few things but I am concerned that no one on this thread questioned the use of a peach to threaten an *ahem* intruder.
peach?
Sorry, chigau, i’ve been off having some food (after copious application of appetite generation/anti-nauseant herbs; it is hard to want to eat when one’s stomach appears to be stuck in reverse mode).
And having had some food – I’m so lucky my partner’s here; this has meant that “some food” was a balanced meal served hot, as opposed to what I probably would have done were she not: bread, with margarine if I could stand up that long – it is now time to dip into my small reserve of “make me sleep now” meds, with the hope that tomorrow morning I will wake up with my usual large glass representing my pain tolerance happily empty. I like to think of my ability to cope with the pain as how much I pour into my glass: the less I sleep, the smaller the glass, and the easier to fill it to overflowing with the pain. Now, in sleep-dep hell, I’d be lucky to call it an eyedropper’s-worth, but usually I can manage a nice comfy pint glass before I can’t take it.
So, Ambien to the rescue, and hopefully to blow me a nice new large glass for the morning.
Nightnight, Horde-ilk. :)
chigau @458 – well, as long as it wasn’t FREEZE PEACH, it was all right.
CaitieCat #459
Have some hugs and some virtual rum.
and a suggestion that you dip your bread in olive oil.
much better than margarine but drippy
—
kittehserf #460
huh
I did not consider the temperature of the alleged peach.
Sometimes I play games with my pains.
I send the chronic ache in my left shoulder to do battle with the screaming pain in my right foot.
The brand new shin bruise chooses sides…
CaitieCat
Sleep well.
chigau: I was astonished and amazed by the reported peach wielding prowess, but I had to run off to work right that second. I foresee a new martial arts based on ferociously appropriating fruit to misdirect and intimidate opponents.
Because this is now begging to be posted, I give you Monty Python — Self Defence Class
http://youtu.be/4bCyIAsSid8
One last comment about salmiakki before I go to bed (so what? I’m pregnant with an incurable craving): I went to e-bay for a look-see. Well, they do have salmiakki, not my fave, but $1 shipping. The catch? Estimated delivery is 2 months from now, assuming regular procedure (i.e. not getting hung up in customs, delay in transit).
So, I’ll have some American “black licorice” to temper the craving and call it a night. A hui ho.
Dutchgirl: I forget where exactly you are, but have you tried Amazon.com?
I’m in Hawaii. Amazon looks promising…. thanks for the idea. And now, good night.
Oh, and Azkyroth, check out Stumptown Kilts, if you’re still looking.
Caine, Fleur du mal,
I am so uber-neurotic that I don’t even use bushes for that purpose. If I am in a forest, I wait until I can go home and lock a door be fore going.
— — — — — — — —
Regarding Not even once: Mormons would benefit from reading Garth Ennis (“Preacher”, “The Boys”) graphic novel “The Pro”. A single mother who sells sex to make ends meet suddenly gets superpowers, and the local superheroes try to make her conform to the mormon-style expectations of superhero conduct.
As usual Ennis provides a mixture of demented humor and violence reminiscent of South Park (Even Superman gets into a very embarassing situation).
In the past one customer who did not want to pay tried to murder her, and The Pro uses her superpowers to nail him, and confront him with other women he has assaulted. ´
“-Do you remember those women you have gypped, threathened, thrown out of your car and in some cases assraped in your back seat? THEY remember YOU!”
(image of countless women standing in a line holding baseball bats, boxing gloves, a chainsaw, and a surprising number of elongated objects with spikes)
I have added complimentary tablet computing devices to every table in my mind’s eye creation of the lounge (they’re free, AND they tell you you’re awesome!), so everyone can be on the internet at the same time also, and everyone in the online lounge can be there in computer form. Ooo, and there’s a monitor at each table too, so online people can hop from table to table with a webcam or avatar pic if they want.
“If we’re designing the Lounge, could we have a skylight?”
And an observatory, for clear nights.
If the Lounge is inside a Bond-villain structure at sea, I want a BIG window showng the sharks swimming by.
— — — — — — — — —
Cave bear! -Researchers reconstruct mitochondrial genome of Middle Pleistocene cave bear http://phys.org/news/2013-09-reconstruct-mitochondrial-genome-middle-pleistocene.html
That Matthias Meyer has designed a way to rapidly recover fragmented DNA.
— — — — — — —
Maya dismembered their enemies: Researchers discover a 1,400-year old mass grave at Uxul, Mexico http://phys.org/news/2013-09-maya-dismembered-enemies-year-mass.html
— — — —
Swedes ranked fifth happiest in the world http://www.thelocal.se/50156/20130909/
…but the bloody Norwegians still beat us (gnashes teeth).
*excited flails!!!!*
Muuuuuse!!! Toniiiiiiight!!! In concerrrrrt!!! I’m goiiiiiiiing!!!
TRIGGER WARNING for PTSD
September 11th. Another fucking anniversary used by the right wing authoritarians as an excuse to eliminate even more constitutionally protected rights. And I am sick of this shit.
As many of you know, I spent time down in New York City after the crime. I worked as a security specialist level 2 providing physical security for the incident command team up at the Javitz Center. I was there for two weeks. I was down at the pile on at least five, possibly more, occasions.
I still experience panic attacks from smells. The smell of putrefaction. The smell of burned metal. The smell of burned plastic. Individually, nothing happens. Any combination of two and I have to ride a wave of panic.
I still have nightmares. Nightmare number 3 has managed to combine my scouting failures with the smells of 9/11.
Nightmare 2 wakes me up from a sound sleep, covered in sweat, smelling the burning metal, burning plastic and decomposition.
Nightmare 1 is the one that scares the shit out of me. I am looking at the pile from above, can smell the three odors of radical religion, and can see people working in the debris. They look like ants. A fight starts in one part of the pile and quickly spreads until all the workers are fighting. Dust and debris rises from the pile and the smoke gets thicker. And then a man appears. No idea who it is — his face is an average of every human being I have ever seen. And he is huge. A hundred feet high. And he drifts through the smoke with a grin on his face that seems to say, ‘I’ve got the little people fighting, now I can do what I want.’ Maybe that interpretation is my cynicism laying on top of my dreams in retrospect. No idea. But he scares me. He terrifies me. He is evil incarnate.
The attacks on September 11 were crimes of mass murder. They were crimes of religion. They were crimes of a radical version of theology that sought to create theocracy. What has been done, in the name of those successful crimes, has been a carefully thought out assault on democracy, on human rights, on freedom, on economic and labour rights. And it has done far more damage to the United States, and the world, than anything accomplished by terrorists in the last thirty or more years.
This morning I caught a whiff of decomp as I drove to work. A dead skunk by the highway. That metallic smell of skunk spray and putrefaction mixed together. I had a small panic attack. No big deal. They happen at least once a week, sometimes once a day.
Those smells, though. The smells of decomposition and putrefaction, the smells of burned and scorched metal, the smells of melted and burned plastic will, I know, stay with me for my entire life. They are part of me.
And every time I smell them, individually or in combination, in my mind I picture them as the smell of someone who knows what kind of life I should live. The smell of religion taken to its logical extreme. The smell of god-inspired dreams. The smell of faith.
And it disgusts me.
PSA for men: your story about asking my new boss if I was cute before you met me does not make you look charming or funny. It makes you look like a fucking skeevy asshole.
Why would you tell someone that story? In court.
(My boss said, apparently, “Anyone 25 years younger than me is cute!” …which I guess is among the less bad things he could have said.)
Oh, Ogvorbis….
Hugs seem insufficient. I’m so sorry the nightmares plague you.
To add to the construction and other details proposed for our Lounge: I always imagine the Lounge offers ample food — probably a result of the rash of recipes that periodically breaks out here.
As far as infrastructure goes, I approve the skylight and comfy seating, but would like to add at least one tree growing up through the middle. Two or more trees would be better. I really need something to climb, and variety is good. Rough walls that could be climbed would be a plus. But trees, trees are necessary.
Definitely trees. Maybe we could do a sort of Roman villa thing for one room, with trees growing up through the unroofed areas.
Bad news out of Colorado.
The NRA funded and organized much of the recall effort. They initially targeted five legislators, but only got enough signatures to recall two. Morse was planning to retire next year anyway, so this was more of a warning shot from the NRA than anything else, “Vote for gun control and we will end your political career.”
There’s still a Democratic majority, a narrow one, in Colorado’s state Senate chamber. This makes it unlikely that the gun control laws will be repealed anytime soon.
“We made Colorado safer from gun violence. If it cost me my political career, that’s a small price to pay.” — John Morse.
Ogvorbis@412
Had to do a double take on this … immediate reaction was: you put the moves on Buffy?
Ogvorbis: There are not enough *hugs* in the whole world.
:( :( :(
–
At least it wasn’t, “Any girl 25 years…..”
–
How’sabout interior —> sky-light room —> room open (unless you count ceiling supports; I’m thinking something trellis-y, mostly in wrought iron) on one side —> garden, with access to open woodland?
We could put the planetarium on the other side.
–
–
Carlie @420:
Oh godz yes!
Though I wonder how much more time we would all spend in a real world Lounge.
Heh..heh..
I just had a whimsical thought. I imagine finishing up at work, locking the doors, pressing a button behind my bar sending out the ‘Now Open’ signal to all Lounge denizens, who promptly don their gravatar if choice, enter their phonebooth and teleport over.
(Please note, the teleporters are programmed to disintegrate peas and mushrooms, so please do not attempt to smuggle either in)
****
Esteleth’s query about ‘any sewers’ made me giggle. I was thinking sewer system.
****
Lynna @415/417:
Yikes! Those jellyfish facts are eerie.
I remember the first time I came to Pensacola Beach (~’99,’00). I came down for Memorial Day Weekend for the first time. Awestruck as I was to see all the attractive men on the beach, I found i could not walk along the shore and watch the crowd.
Because of jellyfish.
So many had washed up that you had to literally watch where you walked. It was quite annoying having to watch where you walked (the shore was pretty much the only area to walk along as the 75-100K crowd had tents and beach equipment lined up for miles).
Come now, sir, we simply must have a room where one can have a pea if one likes. Basic civilization, isn’t it?
Anyone else having the urge to get out a 3D modeler and start putting together the actual place? :D
Dude Bro’s who are tech bro’s … hired for tech skills, and then free to be racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc. all over the inner tubes? Example: Pax Dickinson. Who hires these guys?
Anne D:
A skylight sounds like a fabulous idea.
I too enjoy the sound of rain while I am home. My alarm clock/radio has six Sounds of Nature settings. I use either waterfall or rainfall (usually the latter) when drifting to sleep or even just catching up on Pharyngula. So very relaxing.
The other settings, oddly enough are annoying to varying degrees.
The rainforest setting contains too many ambient animal sounds, while the ocean setting, which *should* be relaxing to me just isn’t. I like the sound of it, but I cannot sleep to it. The same as the thunder and summer night settings. I have found that I cannot sleep with a television on or music playing (unless exhausted).
It is also difficult for me to fall asleep with no sounds. Hotels are the worst. I remember an Atlanta trip M and I took years ago. We stayed in a hotel and it was so damn quiet at night…except for his snoring. Godz, it took a long time for me to sleep.
CaitieCat:
:::groan:::
I see someone is in a punny mood today :)
So I’m sitting in the Physics department’s student lab and listening to someone who quotes Fox News talking points regularly, probably reads Ayn Rand, and is almost certainly angry about “welfare queens” gloat about just taking throwaway classes to get more student aid to buy beer. *headdesk*
In better news, I finally got around to getting a proper STD test today, and I finally have compelling reason to want a “clean bill of health…” ^.^
Do I suspect a hint of a need for some champagneandconfetti? :) E-dating success on the horizon?
Nah, the horizon’s all the way over there and it’s this weird curved shape :P
Well, we’re not exactly dating but we’ve really hit it off both as friends and in bed.. :3
Well, either way, sounds like a good thing. Happy for you.
In comment #331, I posted some information about the “legacy” students in ivy league colleges, and how the system is rigged to give taxpayer dollars to the offspring of rich alumni.
In one more “not a good sign” for education in the USA, public universities are following suit. They are increasing financial aid for the wealthy. Salon link.
More details on how this changed emphasis on the part of public universities is hampering students who were already disadvantaged are available at the link.
These consequences, which are bad for education overall, can be traced to Republican legislators who cut education funding every chance they get. I know we have/had a recession, but, in my state at least, budget cuts were not smart. Cuts were made in education at the same time that the state signed contracts with private institutions to provide online courses, and with corporations to provide equipment and books that often had to be replaced every year. Madness.
“Welfare for the rich” should be the new conservative slogan.
Azkyroth
Congrats.
Lynna
Government budget cuts during a recession are the opposite of smart.
Nothing new about it, that’s been their hobbyhorse since day one.
Oh, Ogvorbis…. I’m so sorry these dreams and aromas plague you. I too have horrendous nightmares and am triggered by scents. I understand. I wasn’t present at the 911 horror, but I think I understand. All the hugs and comfort in the world for you. All of them.
@ sonderval
I was half done when I had to return the book, I got it from the library. So now I’m on the waiting list again.
No. A member of the LDS hierarchy. I wonder if he would still be in the club? or considers himself still in the club?
I feel that way sometimes.
And a corner with really good ventilation for those who wish to imbibe cigars, cigarettes, pipes, hookahs, doobies, etc.
I sometimes wonder if my earlier trauma (yes, Dawkins, it was trauma for me!) has made me more susceptible to PTSD-like symptoms.
Smells have always been a particularly strong trigger for me — some good, most bad. The smell of Vaseline is a bad trigger. The smell of particular plastic solvents is a good trigger (and even invokes the soundtrack of my early experiences building plastic models which was Queen). The smell of wood smoke, even from a forest fire, is good. I’m sorry that smells trigger you, too. There are way too many of us with sensitive triggers.
My image of the perfect lounge is similar to an actual lounge I frequented many, many years ago in San Francisco. It was near Ghirardelli Square. It had a big open firepit in the center of the room and comfy seating everywhere. There was a baby grand piano in one corner and anyone was welcome to play it. The bar was very long, dark wood and brass, elegantly lit, and the barstools had padded backs. One entire wall was glass and overlooked the sparkle and velvet black of San Francisco Bay. It was a perfect place to fall in love.
…vaseline has a smell? O.o
*hugs, anyway*
TW Discussion of fatality
Radiator fluid and burnt plastic don’t exactly trigger me…but it is not fun. Those smells trigger really strong, really unpleasant memories. Last summer we had to extricate the body of a drunk driver. It took five hours in 100 degree heat, in the middle of the night. (And then the cops asked us to cut the black box out of the car…it wasn’t where they said it was, it was on the other side of the vehicle.)
There is a very mild, slightly petroleum smell to it. Very hard to smell unless it is
TRIGGER WARNING FOR CHILD ABUSE/RAPE
Very hard to smell unless it is right under your nose. One of my rapist’s favourite ways to make us feel like absolute shit was making us clean him off afterwards. Sometimes he used vaseline. Other times, no.
Fuck. Are these memories ever going to stop surfacing? I started a list of smells that set off memories and I hadn’t even thought that one through as to why I don’t like it.