via Fantastic Fennec
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
[Lounge #436]
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
^_^
Local news from my Ass End of Nowhere Small Midwestern Hometown: the high school guidance councilor has been arrested.
Some right-wing org took it upon themselves to post placards on public property extolling the Second Amendment. These placards included ads for a local gun show.
After checking local ordinances (and the office that grants permits for placard-posting on public property), he removed them.
He indicated that since the cops were apparently unwilling to enforce the law (against what, legally, is littering) he was going to clean up the litter.
And now he’s been arrested.
Ai-yi-yi.
cicely # 491
The government shutdown. I do expect to go back to work when the GOP sees reason.
Or giant winged porcupines fly out of my arse backwards.
Whichever comes first.
imaginesABeach @492:
Even better. It feeds red meat to the rabid base.
Ed Brayton has a post up on this. The GOP has no exit strategy other than surrendering and, if they do that, support of the shutdown will become a litmus test for GOP candidates. Scary that they are going even further right.
Esteleth @ 501:
He was arrested for removing gun show adverts from school grounds?
Sounds like he needs a good lawyer.
Oggie @502
No, they were posted around town.
The only writeup I’ve seen was on a wingnut “news” site, so this may not be true, but apparently the cops yelled at him and he responded by asking to be arrested.
Esteleth @503:
Sorry. My mind co-mingled school and public property.
SIgns on public lands are always contentious. We’ve had major political campaigns put signs up on a bridge owned by the NPS and they have been quite surprised when the signs are taken down and returned. We do allow signs (under a special use permit) but there are severe restrictions — no for profit, no political campaigns, etc. — and we still get a least a sign a week up there. The last sign with no SUP was one for Zombie Night Out, a fundraiser for something. Which would have been legal if they had gone through the one page application for a permit. But they had no idea that there could be restrictions on the use of public lands. But, yeah, advertising a for-profit event on public lands — state, local, federal — is almost always a nono.
And I ran across a “fixed” version of the Google Yosemite banner from yesterday.
And, because I have a bad cold, I have just shaved off my beard and mustache (this cold is a minor one, but there is lots of external drainage (if you have a strong stomach, I can elucidate further on that))). And every time I lick my lips or blow my nose, it feels really wrong.
Here’s some good news: a white supremacist has been jailed in Texas. About time.
This is the kind of news I need to hear in order to balance the injustice and ridiculousness of the government shut down. (I’ve been posting about the shut down in the Elizabeth Warren thread — possibly off-topic for that thread. I set a bad example.)
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/03/aryan_brotherhood_leader_sentenced_to_30_years_partner/
Wish they had jailed the guy earlier.
More information at Southern Poverty Law Center.
Hekuni Cat!
*pouncehug*
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Ogvorbis: I’m relieved. I was afraid that you’d been fired.
Be sure to get pics of the giant, backwards-flying ass-porcupines. Or the reasonable Republicans. Whichever.
‘Cause in either case, you’re gonna need documentation, if you hope to be believed.
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Heads up for Ogvorbis:
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/10/02/elizabeth-warren-for-president/comment-page-1/#comment-700013
Lynna:
Great timing. I just read that before I refreshed this page.
I remember getting yelled at by a Lt. Governor of a western state because I would not allow him and his entourage into the fire area. He went off on me while I phoned the SECM at the incident so he could deal with it. The state troopers looked very embarrassed the entire time. He eventually did go through, escorted by the IPIO, the SECM, and the deputy IC. And the deputy IC thanked me, in front of the politician, for doing a great job.
Heh.
Page 1 of this verson of the lounge includes several people saying that they don’t want to mention that there are things in their lives that are bad because OTHER PEOPLE have it worse. Could I just point out that this is essentially an internalized “Dear Muslima”, and if I told Person A to be quiet becuase Person B has worse problems, I would be offered space in the Thunderdome?
Right now, the federal government shutdown is mostly an annoyance for my family (because my husband is furloughed and he doesn’t do well with time on his hands so he stresses me out) but we can last for a few months before it becomes a hardship. I’m entitled to be stressed, even though I can acknowledge that Kevin and Ogvorbis are MORE affected and others have bigger stressors in their lives.
Bring on your stresses, your depressive episodes, your broken bones, as well as your stubbed toes and cats vomiting on the floor. I’m not a hugger, but if you need a hug, I do see a pile on the floor over there.
I can not, and will not, speak for Kevin and others, but I’m in pretty good shape, actually.
If this goes long enough that I actually get unemployment compensation, I may actually get a bigger paycheck than my regular paycheck. If you average my last five quarters, that includes three forest fires with all that overtime. Add in not having to commute, and I may be in better shape now than before.
Of course, my health insurance is continued (and I’ll have to catch that up after the furlough), so that could be stressful after the furlough.
I do fall into the, “I shouldn’t complain because others have it worse,” but had never thought of that as an internal Dear Muslima.
Damn.
You are making me use my brain!
ImaginesABeach/#511:
Huh. Now that you mention.
Fine. Funny you should mention cat barf. I just cleaned up another hairball from the sunroom. And some rancid piss from under the basement litter box.
I would not hate either job (well, okay, the piss does make me gag a bit), except that I’m the only one who ever does it. This is what really makes it the stressor, actually, somewhat indirectly. Don’t ask me to go into why, please, and I mean that. But it sure as hell is.
Also, I’m looking for work. Also stressful. But I’m technically still employed, a while yet, have a pretty good resume, tend to find pretty decent positions when I work at it, and the market seems pretty okay for what I do around here (against what I was actually expecting, phenomenal, almost), so, yeah, honestly, could be worse.
Seriously, anyway, US fed guys, here’s a virtual hug, and a hope somehow the @#$% @#$#ing @#$@s who caused the shutdown someday wind up in the clutches of a properly outraged mob or something. Seriously, that really only seems right, from here.
I wanted to ask for advice about standing up to my bosses when they are trying to give me some work that is nowhere close to my job description and especially unfair considering my (nearly) unpaid trainee position (which ends in a couple of months), but SC definitely cemented my decision to rebel (https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/10/03/excellent-work-denmark/comment-page-1/#comment-700045)
I can’t be fired since they would have to explain why they are trying to make me do what they shouldn’t, I can’t be employed since government isn’t employing right now (except someone’s cousin or friend, and I don’t have connections) so I am free to get all badass on them.
Thanks, SC!
I second the ‘damn’. Huh.
I am now picturing a statue of liberty with octopus tentacles sticking out all over, with that on the plaque at the base.
carlie – I had the Statute of Liberty in my head. I like yours better. The Statute of Pharyngula.
One of the tentacles should be a giant slide that leads down to a ball pit.
Bring on your stresses, your depressive episodes, your broken bones, as well as your stubbed toes and cats vomiting on the floor.
Can I bring you my “brain just did creepy but kind of amusing thing”?
A little while ago I was working on a chart. I closed it fairly forcefully when I was done. At just that moment, someone somewhere in the building turned on a faucet, which emitted a squeak on starting that sounded remarkably like someone screaming.
I briefly thought, “Holy fuck! The chart just screamed when I closed it!”
It only lasted a fraction of a second before I figured out what really happened, but for that fraction of a second I had the terrifying and yet wonderful experience of feeling that reality was MUCH different than what I thought it was.
I lift my drink beside the golden door!
Last night I had a dream that I was caught in the middle of a gang fight in some dark alley between atheists who were raised by fundamentalist Christians and atheists who were raised by liberal Catholics.
Because my dreams are often cast with actors, this showdown involved Danny Trejo, Mary Steenburgen and Malcom McDowell.
There was also a haunted mansion.
My brain is awesome.
@520: Write the screenplay. I’m sure someone in Hollywood would buy it. Or if you don’t want to sell out, produce it yourself. That’s what videophones are for, right?
And, yes, your brain is way awesome.
Wow. My dreams are “I have to go to the bathroom and every toilet I find is unusable”.
My brain sucks. ;)
…although I guess it would be worse if my brain let me use the toilet in my dream…
My brain used to give me “unusable toilet” dreams but it’s gotten more creative over the years. Now I have dreams about it being critically important that I calculate someone’s creatinine clearance with no starting data except serum inulin and the patient’s favorite color or I have to actually build the region’s waste disposal system before I can use it or someone just flat out appears in the dream and tells me that although there is a perfectly good toilet right here, I don’t really want to use it because I’m asleep and the real world would get messy if I do.
One of the tentacles should be a giant slide that leads down to a ball pit.
Oh, yes. Another should be a water slide that leads into the pool.
I’ve adopted two kitties from the shelter–I usually adopt strays, pets people can’t take care of and not so well taken care of pets.
They are the fucking cutest things ever. My god.
To have healthy kitties instead of crippled kitties, sick kitties, diseased kitties or critically ill kitties is a nice change–it’s not uncommon for me to have to hold cats down and feed them as many as six pills a day (which kitties love, of course).
The two kitties I adopted are currently chasing each other around the living room, all big eyes and long, awkward legs. I am ded of cute. One of them kept charging the door when we walked up to him, trying to climb the glass. We weren’t going to take a male cat, but how can you resist 2.5 pounds of fluff, trying to scale the door and yelling at you the whole time?
I don’t know how shelter workers don’t have eighty pets apiece. There was this older mutt near the door who I just * liked * the minute I saw her face. If I hadn’t committed to the kitties, I would have taken her home instead.
I should never, ever work at a shelter. I’d have ALL THE PETS.
I have “unusable toilet” dreams all the time. Also, dreams that there’s an emergency of some kind and I need to call for help but the buttons on the phone don’t work or keep moving around, or that 911 puts me on hold with elevator music.
A few nights ago, I dreamed that two alternate realities were colliding at my grandparents’ cabin (which was sold when I was 9). One reality was this one, and the other was similar but very urbanized and covered in purple lava. I had to wait for the alternate realities to bounce off each other and make sure that I was in the correct one when they separated.
And my night terror of a couple nights ago (grr, dumb brain) featured something that was big, navy blue, and on my ceiling. That’s all I remember about it. Least useful details ever, brain.
ImaginesABeach @511: I never thought of it as “Dear Muslima”-ing myself, but you’re right. I’m going to try to keep that in mind next time I put myself down for being depressed while other people have it worse.
Which they do, and some of them who have it worse are right here *adds to heap o’ hugs*, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t matter, either.
If it makes anyone feel any better, I think I have the country’s least impressive “how I am suffering due to the government shutdown” story: I just got a paper accepted for publication and because of the shutdown it’s…not in Pubmed yet! The horror, the horror!
So, now everyone should feel free to complain about shutdown related suffering because yours is almost certainly more serious than mine.
Nutmeg @27 – I have the emergency-call-won’t-work dream sometimes too.
Night before last I dreamed about sitting in on negotiations to end the shut down. There were only about half a dozen of us. There were three Republicans at the table. Including Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann. We didn’t reach a resolution, but in the dream everyone was negotiating in good faith.
Come up with a less realistic dream than that. I dare you.
Come up with a less realistic dream than that. I dare you.
Challenge…not accepted. It’s utterly hopeless.
burgundy,
A couple of weeks ago, I almost* dreamed about having a threesome with two very hot men.
*these kind of dreams always end before anything really interesting starts going on, apparently I can’t even have sex in my dreams
Um, TMI? sorry
Beatrice – is a hot MMF threesome really less realistic than members of the suicide caucus being willing to work contructively to end the shut down? I sure hope not.
I had a dream once in which I had previously been Obama’s mistress (by which I mean, in the dream the relationship was long over.) I was worried about the news getting out and affecting his election chances. I’m not really sure if that’s less realistic than this week’s dream.
Well, that was kind of awful.
Upon moving my friend in we discovered that she was very sick. (We did not expect the peak of health, but she was in a worse way than I think even she knew.) Mentally, emotionally and physically, she was ill. It became clear that she could not get a job or apartment on her own. We helped her get treatment for her physical maladies and got her appointments for other services right away. I’m so proud of her for realizing she had to go if she wanted to get well. I’m happy she is out of a bad situation. After almost a week I tried to talk her into going to a shelter, because she is not well enough to be in my home and around my kids. She needed near constant tending, left messes all over the house, had no healthy boundaries and was resentful of me in no time. (I get to be on the receiving end of displaced resentment from time to time as a foster parent. I can take it from a kid. I can’t handle it from an adult.) She even started calling me “Mama”. I am exhausted. My husband jokingly told me to get used to looking and feeling like the mother of a two year old. Har, har…I can’t do that. So, today I arranged for her to go to a shelter. I explained that she did not have to go there, but she could not continue to stay on my couch. We are her friends, not a treatment facility. When I dropped off her things she stood off in the distance and watched me unload her stuff. The staff told me I was to leave them by the back door and that she would get them when I had gone. I have not heard from her since, nor do I expect I will. That’s perfectly OK. I’m not upset. I’m very happy that she is safe and where she can get the help she needs. I’m also happy to have my house back and not to have to worry about her and wait on her anymore. I’m sure I’ve disappointed her. For some reason she had some strange expectations. I feel good about it. I think that I cannot tell her to take care of herself, then turn around and not take care of me and mine.
What happens from here is in the hands of respected professionals who help people find their way back to themselves every day. She really could not be in a better place or surrounded by better people.
I typed too soon. I got a txt from her saying she had settled in.
That’s reassuring. :)
WTF meal of the day:
~9 oz steak, chopped.
Udon noodles, cooked.
1 can Campbell’s tomato soup.
Mix it all up.
Remarkably tasty!
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:( I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Jackie. I’m sure you did all you could.
Urgh…. I feel like a flattened cow pie. Did anybody get the number of that 18 wheeler that ran over me? You wouldn’t think something that big and nasty could do such a precision hit and run.
More later when I feel slightly less sorry for myself.
(TMI – I’m writing this from the throne room.)
So…Husband still has not heard back from Job. This is resulting in some interesting stress, because I now feel guilty for getting Job (which happens to be his dream job).
We had plans for if he got it and I didn’t. We had plans for if neither of us got it. We didn’t make plans for if I got it and he didn’t.
He’s not trying to make me feel bad about it, but it’s happening because I know how much he wanted Job, and I applied for shits and giggles, because it would be convenient if we both happened to get it. So he’s jealous and trying not to be, and I’m guilty-feeling and trying not to be.
*sigh*
RE: Dreams @519-524
Oh, god. The maze of unusable toilets, all in various stages of borked, plugged, full/overflowing with waste, seat covered in various substances (some rather alarmingly strange), bowl has been literally blown up with explosives, toilet is ripped off the foundation, and it all leads to one pristine stall. There it is. Clean. spotless. the perfect commode.
…and it’s totally inaccessible. >.<
mouthyb @526
D’AWWWWWWWWWWW! Enjoy the kitties!
=========
So… we’re all familiar with the concept of Red Pill Blue Pill, right?
What would happen if someone took both pills?
WMDKitty: What would happen if someone took both pills?
The Internet Provideth.
WMDKitty: The littlest one has now showed me his butt for the twelfth time (usually while doing slow laps of my face on my chest and shoulders.) That’s the one that kept charging the glass. I guess he really wanted to come home with us.
He has a loud purr and an evil somnolence field. I just took an unanticipated nap because he got comfortable on my bewbs.
Rawnaeris, I’m so sorry. spouse recently did not get a job that we were both 100% certain that he would, so I know just a little bit of how you feel. That’s an ever so much worse wrinkle. :(
In my version of the dream, that is the one that has no doors or walls around it, and right after I decide to go for it and dash over and pull down my pants, a marching band or some shit like that comes parading in and I have to give up and run away.
mouthyb
So. Adorable.
I’m loving the “somnolence field”, it’s… dude, those naps are contagious.
True.
That’s…inconsistent with past experience, but if the commentariat’s moved on from this, I’m very glad.
(I mean, with a lot of the stuff that I found really troubling before it seems like it has, but I keep expecting a chorus of comments yelling “APRIL FOOLS!” >.>)
It’s in the name, I think. If you can’t see a blind spot, how do you know to examine it, unless someone points it out to you?
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Huh. Learn something new every day.
(So I might be about to get a bit ranty and nonsensical, but sometimes you just gotta unload…) Most of the comments on “other people have it worse” struck a sore point for me. My wife battles with depression and anxiety, and she’s occasionally expressed the thought “my life sucks, but other people have it so much worse and manage to get by ok, so I don’t deserve help.” It’s… frustrating. It shouldn’t matter. If you need help, you deserve to get that help, don’t you? If I could solve the world’s problems, I would, but I have to pick my battles, and I’d rather help the people close to me, and heal the problems that affect the people around me. Like, y’know, my wife. How do you help someone who thinks they don’t deserve help?
Fucking hell. A job offer just fell out of the sky at my feet, but I had to decline it because it involves doing something that an otherwise extremely minor disability makes impossible for me. Mad at the world now, both for this and all the bad shit everyone else in this thread is having to deal with.
Caine, your artwork is amazing! Just superb work, thank you for sharing it.
Kittehs @ 548, thank you!
A. Noyd, I am so sorry. That seriously sucks.
Oof. Kind of low on energy, but dropping in to leave some more *hugs* etc. around. There’s been some kind of godawful bug going round, so I’ve been lower energy than usual.
mouthyb, I know what you mean! If I had the means, I’d has all the kittehs at the shelter, you betcha!
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*hugs* and support for Jackie Papercuts. It sounds like she needed far more help than you could reasonably give her.
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*hugs* also for Rawnaeris. Is it too late for him to get better news about Job?
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And also *hugs* for A. Noyd; that does both suck and blow.
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It’s not too late for good news for Husband for the Job. Right now our information is that he’s in the limbo of waiting for either accept/reject; I’ve got the accept, waiting for offer letter.
The guilt on my end is I’ve been trying to leave my job for a year and a half or so now. So it’s bittersweet that the job I got is the one he wants.
I feel dumb whinging that I got an awesome job that will let me get out of this dead end one I’m currently in. What I want is to do a happy dance.
WMDKitty: Especially when they keep blinking at you. Their eyelids get heavier and heavier, and they blink and blink and your eyelids get heavy and they’re warm and purring and Zzzzzzzzz.
Cicely: ALL THE KITTEHS!
By Doppler radar, storms to the north, south and west. I predict rain….
hey..
not getting better. Still in bawling mode.
and there was no pasta today.
I want to be popular and creative and motivated to do Leadership stuff and be the well-liked leader of 10 clubs and hang out with my friends, but depression, and depression, and etc.
so I know what things I need to do that will likely get me out of the hole (like transition? maybe brain?), but I can’t do even the most trivial. I hate you brain. let me do stuff.
Well at least you never give me truly bad dreams. In the rare instances they are, I can usually abort. (lucid dreaming happens rarely, but it’s awesome when it does.)
mouthyb – so envious of you having kittens! I can only adopt adult cats, kittens are a bit much for Mum to have around these days. Not to mention that rented house + destructor kittens = not a good idea.
Re the internalised Dear Muslima – I feel that, too, as well as a mirror-image of it: not feeling free to tell about being happy, or funny, silly little things that happen, when others are going through horrible stuff. It feels like rubbing their noses in it. Anyone else have that feeling?
thunk
*hugs* Depression sucks.
kittehserf: I usually have adult cats in bad shape, so this is a really nice break. I feel you, though. I’ve lived in a lot of rented properties over the years.
via Mano Singham, this interesting article breaking down how much everyone else in the USA pays to benefit the rich.
http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/24/average-american-family-pays-6k-a-year-in-subsidies-to-big-business/
mouthyb – in our house it’s adult humans in bad shape, these days! :P
Kudos to you giving homes to older cats, though. I so agree about not being able to work at a shelter. I’d not only want to take all the kitties home, I’d be side-eyeing most of the prospective owners and saying “You won’t look after them well enough! They’re mine, mine!”
My sister volunteers at her local RSPCA and I don’t know how she does it. Dogs, not cats, for her, but same thing applies.
@thunk – I’m sorry. I left an awesome job back in February because my depression had gotten so bad (this was after a year of being on and off FMLA and long-term disability.) I remember letting a bag of apples go bad because the idea of disposing of the apple cores seemed so overwhelming. (I was pretty much only eating in bed. I didn’t want to have smelly food trash in my bedroom. Therefore paralysis.) So I hear you about stupid depression brain. It beats you down and takes away your power to fight back. I hope things start looking up for you soon.
@mouthyb: my last pair of cats (who came to me in middle age) had me basically running a cat hospice. Two years of sub-q fluids for renal failure, thyroid surgery, blood pressure medications, procrit injections, and so on. It was exhausting. So when I was ready for new cats, I got kittens in order to maximize the time before I’d have to do it again. And of course, one of them turned out to have a boatload of health problems. She’s had all her teeth removed. She’s on prescription food, and has been on and off steroids, and there’s just been way too much bloody diarrhea in my life these past 7 years. I was thrilled recently when I discovered that she’s back above 5 pounds again, finally. I think possibly I am just doomed to deal with sickly cats.
I think it’s great that you’re getting a break from that, and wow do I miss having kittens. Yours sound awesome and adorable.
kittehserf: I’ve done that, as well. People who were critically depressed, people with debilitating injuries, people hiding from abusive spouses. In my sooper sekret dreams, I can afford to run big dorms for people who are being forgotten or mistreated (don’t tell, I have a reputation for meanness among people who don’t know me.)
burgundy: My last one out of the pair before this died this last Monday–he had metastasized bowel cancer which lead to the release of histamines, triggering the inability to breathe. Toward the end, he had to take six pills a day, and it didn’t stop him from massive vomiting fits (blood, bile and everything that could possibly have been near his belly.) He was in ridiculous pain, and the vets couldn’t stabilize him or make him stop hurting (or keep him able to breathe.)
The kitty baby currently purring on my bewbs doesn’t make everything better, but I’d like to have more than 5 years with a kitty before I mourn them, damn it. :'(
(Last thread)
CaitieCat @448:
That was beautiful. Filled to the rim with compassion. My eyes are currently having difficulty staying dry.
****
Mouthyb @526:
Oh gosh, I know just how you feel. I can’t stay long in pet stores or the Humane Society bc I would want to take them all home. In my not so wildest fantasies, I have a beautiful home on multi-acre land, somewhere with no hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, typhoons, blizzards, floods or volcanoes AND year round temperatures hovering around 75 F, low humidity, no air pollution and…yeah, I know.
Still, I often long for a home on a stretch of land where I can adopt lots of animals and give them a loving home.
****
There is a hurricane heading my way. Apparently it will deluge us late Saturday, early Sunday. NOT happy about that.
Related to that:
A: my parents drove up from Orlando to Pensacola to see me. It has been over a year and it was great to hug my parents. Even though I have to work all day every day they are here, they said they’d simply come back each day to the restsurant. Doesn’t hurt that they *loved* our food. My mom ate flan-which she did not like years ago when she first tried it. She loved it. Which was surprising to me, bc she has rarely encountered food she doesn’t like.
B: I wanted to rhetorically smack some people at work tonight after the first-let alone 3rd-time hearing: “I cant wait for the hurricane!”
Really?
You think it is cool?!
Yeah, first of all, a Category 1 does not mean ‘harmless’. It is potentially not as devastating as a Category 3, but it is still a force of nature. People can and do die in tropical storms, let alone Cat 1 hurricanes. Homes are destroyed. Businesses are devastated.
Please…tell me…how does any of that sound cool or fun??!!
I understand if someone is fascinated by meterological phenomena, but please do not lose sight of the impact natural disasters have on people and animals.
Too old to RockandRoll.
What is ‘Hyperbole and a half’?
****
Burgundy @530:
Doesn’t Michele Bachman do everything with good faith?
::ducks::
****
To all experiencing job/career instability/uncertainty/loss:
My deepest sympathies. I hope things get better soon. Like yesterday.
****
Dalillama:
Wish there was some way to give you some of my energy. Hopefully this will not last long.
****
Jackie:
I hope things work out for your friend.
Tony!
This is a good place to start
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.ca/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html
New post up at The Feminist Hivemind: The fight for refugee and migrant justice continues.
*hugs if wanted* for thunk.
Oh, you are in for such a treat.
And apropos of pretty much everyone right now,
Sneaky hate spiral
adventures in depression part 1
Depression part 2
And check out all of the “greatest hits” posts on the right side of the blog.
We need to stop the bullies at the Daily Mail. [TW on the link for racism, transphobia and suicide.]
Cute pics :-)
‘Beefy’ lion triplets the pride of Swedish zoo http://www.thelocal.se/50576/20131003/
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Scandinavia and the world: Burning hot http://satwcomic.com/burning-hot
.
Why Swedish pop is the best in the world http://www.thelocal.se/50518/20130930/
Homer Simpson: (grabs Swedish flag, starts waving it) “USA! USA! Oops!” (throws away flag, gets an American flag instead).
.
What’s the right band instrument for you, Part 2 http://www.gocomics.com/richards-poor-almanac/2013/10/03
Transgendered males seen as an asset to some ancestral societies http://phys.org/news/2013-10-transgendered-males-asset-ancestral-societies.html
Ethics: Taboo genetics http://www.nature.com/news/ethics-taboo-genetics-1.13858
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Right, left, wrong: People reject science because … http://phys.org/news/2013-10-left-wrong-people-science.html
.
Hairy black hole could show gaps in Einstein’s theory http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24308-hairy-black-hole-could-show-gaps-in-einsteins-theory.html
.
New method speeds up stabilisation of chaotic systems –pacemakers or robots. http://phys.org/news/2013-09-method-stabilisation-chaotic.html
Hello! and thanks, carlie, chigau, David, Esteleth, Forelle, Kevin, opposablethumbs, and anybody I missed. Signs of the impending Hugularity are detailed in Thunderdome.
*angry flailing panda*
Why is it when I take the day off from work to write my novel I don’t do any of it but when I go to work all I want to do is write my novel!?
Walton@571,
There’s a petition here. I’ve heard there’s another one, launched by Alistair Campbell of all people on change.org, but for some reason I haven’t been sent that one.
*sneaks in*
*supplies hugs*
*sneaks out*
Things are still going badly but right now I’m at least busy with my interpreter job
I dream of not waking up underneath an overturned bed with a mildly deranged penguin jumping up and down on it shouting “Wakey! Wakey!”
*spots Giliell as she sneaks out*
*sends Giliell flock of flying hugs*
*adds more hugs to Lounge heap o’hugs for anyone else in need*
burgundy @ 530:
About a year ago, I dreamt of trying to get a giant (and holy (to dwarfs)) bottle of creme de menthe from Spam plant in Minnesota down to Florida. The dream involved lots of donuts and dwarfs driving Mini Coopers (picture the cop cars from Blues Brothes, but substitute Mini Coopers and axe weilding dwarfs).
Yeah. Yours is still less realistic.
=================
Hugs for A. Noyd. That sucks.
And for thunk. Depression really does suck.
And this is cool. They didn’t identify the dinosaur, but, to my semi-trained eye, it looks to be the fully articulated post-sacral vertebrae (with ossified tendons) of a Lambeosaurine or Hadrosaurine. Cool.
Tony @566: *stern look*
And good luck with riding out the storm.
Mormon Moments of Madness, modesty for girls category:
http://bycommonconsent.com/2013/09/09/drowning-in-modesty-guidelines-at-girls-camp/
The littlest kitty follows us around the house and cries until we pick him up. He has the most startlingly baby like cries. He’s currently sleeping on my shoulders again.
It’s funny–he was such a little fighter at the shelter, and now that we have him home, he appears determined to spend most of the day sleeping on one of us. It’s like being kitty furniture.
The other kitty does non-stop laps of the house.
mouthyb
Pictures, eh?
chigau: When my partner gets home. I’m currently being very still for kitty. :)
mouthyb
Good enough.
I present Buttons, the crack cat.
And this is the little guy, Sir Meowsington the cuddler.
squeee
@MouthyB:
Cuuute!
America’s right wing flea brains helped Russia write its anti-gay laws. Sheesh. Shades of Scott Lively and The Family in Uganda. Really? This is what we export?
Salon link.
Right Wing Watch link.
Video of Brown, and more details at the link.
Yay kitty pictures!
I do hope that’s not literal.
Anyway, I need to run, so:
Send Boehner a pacifier! CREDO Action will send a pacifier to Boehner for each signature this petition gets, so he can calm down the temper tea-tantrum.
Interesting kickstarter:
“A Secular Solstice
This winter, I’m holding a new kind of Solstice celebration. On December 14th, in New York City, hundreds of people will join their hands and their voices, singing songs and listening to stories about how humanity vanquished winter, and how much farther our species has to travel together.
And across the world, people in smaller groups will gather to celebrate in a more intimate fashion, creating a new, secular holiday tradition.”
They want to rent the auditorium of the Society for Ethical Culture, which seats 850 people.
The idea expressed in the picture near the top of the page (I haven’t watched the video at the top) looks good. I’m just not sure how I feel about the let’s-have-rituals-like-religion crowd being involved.
Ads for ivory keep showing up on Google, or so people without Adblock tell me while adding that “the population of African forest elephants has plummeted 62% in the past decade”. (The forest elephants, Loxodonta cyclotis, are now widely regarded as a different species from the savanna elephants, L. africana.) Petition to stop this. Warning: there’s something on the page that makes Firefox (at least) freeze for a minute or two. Wait it out.
New date for the rabid right wing revolution:
Right Wing Watch link.
*facepalm*
Yay for ecumene, I guess.
Combining football with an anti-gay agenda:
Link.
Jon Stewart nails the false outrage that Fox News is peddling about the government shutdown:
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/04/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_on_what_fuels_foxs_false_outrage_exploitation_engine/
Scroll down for video. Excerpt below:
*moar hugs* for thunk.
Oh, look! A baby jaguar video!
–
*squeee!!*
Snugglekittehs!
–
@Cicely:
I want one!!
*sees kittehs*
*is ded of teh kawaIIIIIIII neko-chan*
Kevin, me too.
:)
–
@caitie:
Hold on for a moment.
Cross posted from the Elizabeth Warren thread.
New video of Elizabeth Warren calling out the Tea Party “anarchists.”
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/elizabeth-warren-tea-party-anarchist-shutdown
Moar kitties!!
Picture 1 is Houdini, affectionately called ‘Dinners’ cause he’s fat.
Picture 2 is Snip, my baby!
かわいらしさに殺さ!!
(is ded of cuteness)
Washington Post link.
Amidst all the stinking government shutdown news, here’s a story to make one smile. Ruth Bader Ginsberg rocks on. And no, she’s not leaving the Supreme Court anytime soon.
Cute cat, Kevin!
There are two cats, actually, but thanks!
JAL, please check your email. :)
More bad news from Republican-controlled prison systems and Departments of Corrections. Corruption.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/02/3666091/florida-prison-healthcare-providers.html
So, poor medical care for prisoners, with some of that poor or absent cared resulting in death. Corruption on the part of the Florida Department of Corrections — and, of course, none of the million in savings for the taxpayers actually delivered.
Miami Herald link.
Nooooooooooooooo! (Warning, S stuff).
Pat Robertson tells us how to stay well without Obamacare, just tithe to your church and all will be well (sounds like a mormon theme). On his “700 Club” broadcast, Robertson told an elderly woman to choose tithing over her husband’s healthcare.
Salon link.
The government shutdown is hampering prosecution of a civil rights case against fundamentalist mormons in the Utah/Arizona border towns of Hilldale/Colorado City.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogspolygblog/56954901-185/amp-case-federal-civil.html.csp
A comic that offers what I think would be an excellent transition for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They could stop being a cult and serve coffee:
http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/bizarro/
Moments of Mormon Madness, pornography category. The guy with the dubious distinction of downloading the most child porn in the state of Washington is a mormon.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/states-top-downloader-child-porn-busted-police-say/nbFZK/
Digital Cuttlefish points out that today is Sputnik Day!
https://proxy.freethought.online/cuttlefish/2013/10/04/1957-beep-beep-2/
@Lynna (#597)
I watched the video at the link and completely lost it at the bit about the fetus with a small business making Merry Christmas muzzle cozies.
Ugh. Reaction to allergy shot, again. (this is the second time in 3 months, only the second time ever). Now my system is full of epinephrine aftershocks and about 10 times the usual dose of antihistamines. I don’t think I’ll be catching up on anything, blog reading included, tonight.
Biggest first world problem ever: a good friend gave me a bottle of hruškovica earlier this week, which is basically liquid gold as far as I’m concerned. I was intending on drinking some tonight, but thanks to the antihistamine overload, I can’t. Dang.
I know that Lynna is doing yeoman’s (yeoperson’s?) work in pointing out all the ways that the GOP’s temper tantrum is hurting Americans (and, soon, the world!), but I do have to point out one that Lynna has missed. The USAfCMI* has been shut down.
I like Kraken spiced rum.
* I’ll give you a hint — they have to wear unusual hats on the job **
** From an old edition of The TZT Zombie Thread***
*** And if anyone remembers this one, I’ll be totally amazed.
Wi-fi connection reestablished. Was down for a day and a half due to non-payment of AT&T bill. NB; not my responsibility.
(cue old Firesign Theatre line: “Oh! My iron lung is working again!)
Blamelessly threadrupt but not lacking enthusiasm I offer this link to the science and technology section of nbc.com which is not bad at all. Nope, not bad at all. The sci-tech section that is. OK, the link is pretty darned neat too.
I loves me some cosmology.
I loves me lots of it, too.
The endless search for answers,
Illuminates our view.
But stop gap explanations
That last a day or two
Eat up our expectations
And all our revelations.
They’re all subsumed in new ones
By the time we tie our shoes.
Now what is sad
What makes me blue
(And I’m sure it’s sad for you)
Is that our favorite answer
Ain’t most likely 42.
(RIP, Doug. And thanks for the encouragement. It’s OK. You had no way of knowing. You did your best. That’s OK.)
__________
Now I’ve got to catch up. (Yeah, right.)
*In the mean time I’ll leave another heap of care and empathy in the middle of the Lounge. It’s all a haphazard pile and you won’t know what you’ve picked up until you actually pick it up. Don’t fret, it’s all really great stuff. Go on, help yourselves.*
Heads upthread . . .
Reminds me of the cat we had after we moved when I was in elementary school. The cat and my mother had an afternoon ritual. Mom and the cat would lay on the couch watching the soap General Hospital together. The cat, of course, could not stand anybody else seeing this ritual.
With apologies to Woody Guthrie:
GOP back East, they say, shut the country down one day,
Sending all the workers to the unemployment line.
All across Fox news they roll, gettin’ down with a friendly soul,
They think they’re talkin’ a winnin’ game, but here’s what they find
Now, the visitors at the National Parks all say,
“We’re number fourteen thousand for today.”
Oh, if you ain’t got the do re mi, folks, you ain’t got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
Yellowstones’s a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot
‘Cause we ain’t got the do re mi.
You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can’t do nobody harm,
But don’t take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don’t swap your old car for a tent, cause they shut down the government,
Better take this little tip from me.
‘Cause I look through the headlines every day
But the bought-out corporate press always say:
If you ain’t got the do re mi, boys, you ain’t got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot
‘Cause everyone’s at fault but me.
Sorry. My 623 should be sung to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s Do Re Me,
heheh all thanks!
I think I’ve swung around to the “let’s do shit” position now… but still. fun.
Tests tomorrow, all this pre-college whoa stuff.
Caine: You got snow? … am I the only one that likes it then?
Mildly drunk on Kraken. Watching Breakfast Club. WIfe and I are having fun identifying the kids we went to high school with (not Ally Sheedy and all, but the real life equivalents)/
Dang, SNOW???? Glad I’m no longer in Day YooPee. About time for the first snowfall. Here in Chiwaukee, not even down in the thirties yet.
Horde Fund Update:
We are almost there! In a few short days, we’ve raised JAL enough to tide her over until the 15th, when another batch of bills come due – and we’ve started chipping away at that.
Covering those bills and getting JAL to November will be accomplished with another $200.
*brandishes pompons*
Go Horde! We’re awesome!
g’night.
Why do I feel like I should apologize now?
*pre-emptively forgives Oggie*
*gives Oggie Thin Mints*
*gives Oggie a wicker basket of mixed grasses and eggs and a chocolate bunny*
Ummmmmm
*gives Oggie a plush D20 eight inches across and a bottle of lotion*
Hope that helps.
S word, high winds, ice. Power is out. Hopefully it will be back on tonight or tomorrow, but until it’s back on, I’ll only be around for as long as my laptop battery lasts. (Optimistically, 3 hours or so.)
Caine
I’ve seen a number of yootoobs where people have connected small appliances to a stationary bike and peddle to power them.
I’m thinking now of a large hamster-wheel…
I wish to complain.
*ascending podium*
Over $200 dollars just last week for new tires, car inspection, and re-tagging…is there any particular reason why the fuel pump couldn’t have waited until next month to snuff it? Or, in view of the pending-ness of the necessity of replacing the defroster fan sometime ahead of the frost, the month after that?
*gently beating podium with forehead*
Thank you.
*dismounting podium*
–
*exceedingly gentle hugs* for carlie.
–
Giant Space Hamsters!!!
*singing*
Spa-ham, spa-ham, spa-ham, spa-ham….
–
Chigau @ 632, nah, no slave labour here. If the power doesn’t come back on by 10:00, I’ll light up the propane heater and crawl into bed, where the ratties can pile up too, if they wish. They are all rather excited right now, they love the dark. :D
Cicely, do you need the Hordefund for yourself?
Nonononono! I just needed to vent.
We’d been sneaking up on the tires, expecting to have to replace them in about December, and had saved up for the inspection and tagging. The timing just sucked. And now, it’s sucking again.
I’m pretty sure we can get an advance on Husband’s paycheck. We should be okay. Just…timing.
–
Oh, cicely (from #633)! Didn’t you know? Our machines have possessed sentience since early in the nineteenth century. The only reason that the fact isn’t more widely known, let alone broadly admitted, is that inventors, fabricators, distributors and corporate fat cats have just been too . . . embarrassed to admit it. See? Simple human pride. Again.
Always expect complicated machinery to manifest multiple malfunctions simultaneously. That’s how they find meaning for their lives of servitude. Now, really, can you blame them? We’ve treated them like . . . things . . . for so long and stopped being thankful for all they do that it’s no wonder they conspire to confound us like they do. There is no reason to keep treating them like . . . tools . . . conveniences . . . things. How would you like it? I thought so. QED, human! Now, I’m human too and have, on occasion, treated a cordless power driver like a common hammer. Worse, like a handy stone! Oh! The machinery!!
Please profit from my experience, some of it sorely and painfully gleaned from a lifetime of machine usage.
To minimize such inconveniences it is recommended to follow the manufacturer’s suggestions for regular maintainence. Keep all fluids clean and up to the proper levels, changing filters as indicated in your owner’s manuals. You do have your owner’s manuals for all your complicated machinery, don’t you?
Also, do not be stingy with praise and soft caresses when it comes to cars and lawn mowers, toasters and routers (wi-fi as well as wood). Tell them how much you love them and depend on them. They thrive on that. It motivates them to be faithful in serving you. Above all, keep them clean. A clean machine is a happy machine. Just imagine having to do grunt work every day with sand in your shorts and you’ll see what I mean.
True facts, true story:
I changed V’ger’s oil and oil filter yesterday and, while buttoning things up underneath, discovered that my oil pressure sensor was cracked and hanging on by a (plastic) thread. I obtained another sensor straightaway and installed it this morning. You know what? V’ger thanked me by making my oil pressure gauge display a higher reading than before! Now I’m driving with extra confidence just for spending $24.99 + tax and tending to V’ger’s more delicate and sensitive parts. Not to mention getting oil on my glasses and my hat.
But, hey, V’ger’s odometer is only 134 miles shy of 225,000 total miles! Why, at this rate we’ll be back from the Moon in a little less than twenty fifteen years.
Crudely, you made me smile! Thanks!
–
Edit my #637: There really is no such number as twenty fifteen unless you are saying what year it is or if you just have a funny way of speaking magnitudes. Apparently I fit both cases. My final sentence should indicate a time span of only twenty years given that V’ger is a 1995 model and the odometer indicates that now, after eighteen years en route, insertion into lunar orbit is immanent. We’ll spend a couple of years loitering there before beginning our return leg to transit back to Earth. Closer to twenty than two thousand and fifteen years by our reckoning.
See ya’ll planet side! =)
*ta pocketa pocketa pocketa*
Cicely:
Well, shucks. I had to pass on a grin to someone! You just happened to get in the way!
See, I’ve really had a wonderful day. A slew of neat shit has fallen from somewhere right on top of me and my grin is really more than one person can handle. Really, almost unseemly!
I’d tell you all about it but if I tried I’d be typing till morning.
Please, take good care of that smile. Keep it clean, give it lots of compliments and stroke it tenderly. If you do, it’ll last a long time. Yes, it really will. Here’s a wink to go with it. ;^>
(my favorite emoticon, in case it’s not already obvious)
Crudely Wrott
I agree with cicely, #637 made me smile.
and #639 has sent me to the bookshelf to find my Thurber.
I love the internets.
due to *ta pocketa pocketa pocketa*
I also remembered *the gloppitta-gloppitta machine*
and found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Murder_Your_Wife
I don’t remember it being as bad as it sounds.
Jack Lemmon was shiny.
Chigau, you came through. Nicely and quickly, I’ll add. =)
I was hoping that someone would get the Walter Mitty reference.
All Hail Mitty! All Hail Thurber! All Hail Chigau! All Hail the Horde!
*there is no Horde but the Horde — the Horde is the Hordeliest and contains within it all that may be contained — the Horde is beyond Hailing for it won’t, yea, cannot stop — it can only be wondered at as it passes, pausing now and again to touch the head of a child, offering a meal to a needy or making of a fool a meal for itself and stuff like that there — ;^>*
Apologies for threadruptness, but am utterly spoonless and wanted to unreasonably bitch about my work. I do love it, honestly I do, and if I just had enough clients I’d be happier than a kitteh in a hugpile.
But it’s SO EXHAUSTING having to do the back-and-forth with the client on how spaced out the bullet points are, and what font size is that, and why is it so tiny (BECAUSE YOU WON’T LET ME EDIT THE ENGLISH PART YOU WALLOPING GREAT BERK!), and are all the words in Turkish just as the translator gave them, because he thought there were more umlauts (or whatever they call them in Turkish) in the version he gave me, so could i check it again, and did I mention, dear client, I DON’T ACTUALLY SPEAK TURKISH, so I don’t know if it’s right and maybe that’s a question you should ask your Turkish translator cause today I’m just the Layout Ninja and that’s why i’m giving you PDF proofs?
All i want to do is sit in my little cubbyhole doing my technical stuff, layout, translation, proofing/editing, whatever. I don’t want to deal with clients. i don’t want to LOOK for clients. I don’t want to have to take phone calls from clients.
I just want a regular series of sets of technical specifications, and the time and space to work to those specs as a language engineer of sorts.
Can someone magic-wand me up a business partner who would like to do all that stuff? Kthx.
/work-y rant
Nightnight, hordelings large and small and of undeclared size.
. . . musta forgot to Hail Tpyos . . .
“. . . a meal to a needy one . . . ”
(That’s happening even as we speak. Hailworthy, that.)
Gurg. That’s how tired I am, that I’m dropping misogynist slurs without thinking. Apologies, Hordies. Mea culpa mea culpa mea poco culpa.
..one of my friends found this site: http://govuptime.com/
I’ll admit I laughed.
@ CatieCat: I know, I know. ‘At’s OK. No matter what you agree to do, more will be asked of you; or just dumped unceremoniously in your lap. Kinda like “All jobs take longer”.
Bear up, dear one. You’ll get through it and maybe, hopefully, get forgiveably late kudos.
_____
Now, that’s some real happy right there, I’ll guaran-damn-double-ty you! Thanks, CatieCat. I am now better armed to face my daily struggle.
*hugs* and commiserations for CaitieCat.
–
Kitties! So many adorable kitties!
::swoons::
CaitieCat,
*hugs*
So… a Saturday*. Quiet here.
That idea I had about standing up to my boss fell through. I had just the right words, but not the opportunity. I did inform some colleagues who will provide backup in explaining that it’s a bloody stupid idea and what the hell was she thinking!?**
*er, Thursday in Ogvorbisland?
**not in those words
My contract ends in December so please hold some thumbs for me getting a new job (one where I would be getting a paycheck, please) before that, because another long stay at home without work is not going to help with this depression thingy I’m feeling.
I’m very lucky in that my parents can provide for me, I’m not in financial troubles but still being completely dependent on them at 27 makes me feel guilty and a failure. All the nasty feelings I have about myself feed on each other and get really nasty.
In other news, french classes started again and I exercise a lot so that’s good.
I bring you some cute this way:
A very fierce lion cub. Very fierce. Ferocious, even. :)
All the kitties! *melts into puddle of awwwwwww*
That lion cub is so cute, she’s driven me into incoherence. Where incoherence means cutesy names and baby talk.
Thurber excerpt to start the morning (my morning at least):
Thank you Ogvorbis for this:
Actually, I think there’s a lot that I’ve missed. I slowed down on reporting, tapered off, and then gave up. I may be depressed.
I did have a happy time recently. I visited Salmon-Challis National Forest lands which do not know they are closed. Apart from scattered ranger stations, the whole of the forest lands go on as before. Saw a lovely herd of elk, with Mr. Large-and-in-Charge Elk sporting a rack that reached back to his rump as he also ignored the government shut down. Fresh snow on the peaks, fall colors below. I am rich despite the fucking Republicans.
Yeah, the fetus with the holiday (excuse me, the Christmas) muzzle cozy business made me laugh out loud. Stewart fucking nailed the ridiculousness of the situation and made us laugh at the same time. Maybe we should just get all out news from him.
Here’s Jimmy Kimmel on the government shutdown:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/03/congresss-dismal-approval-rating-as-demonstrated-by-jimmy-kimmel-video/
Let’s ignore the concept of separation of church and state, shall we? If we live in Alabama, yes.
Montgomery, Alabama police are dealing with “Operation Good Shepherd,” which uses public money to field troops of Christian pastors. The Christian preachers/pastors/scammers go to crime scenes and pray. Then they evangelize. If you are victim, suffering already, you also get to be prayed over by fundamentalist Christians, an additional torture that, as a taxpaying citizen, you have funded.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/09/using-christianity-to-fight-crime/280038/
If I am in crisis, I do not want to become one with Baxter Morris.
Following up on my post @660, let’s stick with news out of Alabama.
No Arabic language for you!
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/oct/03/some-parents-concerned-alabama-schools-arabic-clas
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/10/03/alabama-residents-argue-that-offering-arabic-classes-in-high-school-amounts-to-indoctrinating-children-with-islam//
Thanks to all the attention being sucked up by the government shutdown, an important issue in Virginia is being ignored. There’s a race for governor going on and the Republicans in Virginia are getting desperate, so desperate that they are purging voter rolls. They are deleting voters likely to vote for the Democratic candidate.
Heads up, people, this is a fundamental breach of voting rights.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#53191070 (video, Maddow coverage)
Washington Post link.
Daily Kos link.
The Nebraska Supreme Court decided to deny an pregnant Omaha sixteen-year-old the right to make a health decision which she felt was right for her. The Court is forcing her to carry her pregnancy to term.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/04/1244262/-You-won-t-believe-this-new-abortion-decision-or-who-decided-it
Who the heck are those guys holding us all hostage?
Link.
Stop the government shutdown petition:
http://www.endtheshutdown.org/
Republicans can explain their shutdown strategy. Honest. I’m sure they can:
Rachel Maddow issued a challenge: can anyone diagram Meadows’ explanation?
To make matters worse, less clear, Meadows followed up a couple of days later with this: “This fight now has become about veterans and about national guard folks that perhaps — reservists that are not getting paid.” That’s where the fight is today.”
http://www.trollingwithlogic.com/listen-live/
Trolling With Logic is Debunking Evolution vs. God right now. LIVE. Join the fun.
http://www.trollingwithlogic.com/listen-live/
Trolling With Logic is debunking Evolution vs. God right now. LIVE. Join the fun.
Mormons have been sneaking their missionaries into foreign countries under false pretenses for decades. They are still doing so today. I think it is time they got caught and punished.
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1040934
I’m sorry I’m threadrupt and crossposting this and it’s pathetic but I could sort of use some kind words
I hope no one minds but. I sort of need to vent somewhere. It’s incredibly stupid but if you could just endugle me, there’s some stuff I want to share about myself. I don’t usually share too much RL stuff but I felt the need to share some stuff today that I’m tired of hiding.
http://blogingproject.blogspot.com/2013/10/they-always-smile.html
Kevin: Sorry, kitties. Cute kitties.
Nerd: The older one is like that. You can only pet her if she’s not looking at you (but she’ll back up to you and get impatient for pets, insistent little coerl noises and all.)
CaitieCat: Oooooo, the fat kitteh belleh! *esplodes*
Do you people know how HARD it is to be tense about anything with a kitty sleeping on your chest? He keeps stretching out and putting his tiny little paws on my lips, or around my neck. I have to do more stats analysis this weekend and I can’t even get tense about that shit right now. If I had known, I’d have bought kitties home more ofte–zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Ingdigo: I’ve been there, sort of (mostly the part about being rejected by family and seen as a failure, and problems finding friends.)
Gentlest hugs for you.
Ingdigo
I’m so sorry. I do know a little bit of what it’s like to be chewed up and spit out by “friends.” Of course, the adults weren’t much help. “Just ignore them” doesn’t do much to mend one’s sense of trust, or to find real friends.
I don’t wanna get too far down the horrible rabbit hole….just know that there are folks around who know how shitty that is, and…well….just hugs!
Ingdigo jump
*hugs* You are loved and appreciated.
Ingdigo,
*hugs*
Octopus Sex at Hydrothermal Vents
–
Beatrice, I will cross all tentacles on your behalf.
:)
–
Ingdigo, I’m so sorry. Some people seem to just get a kick out of hurting people—I think, maybe, it’s a kind of emotional “bullying”, it lets them feel powerful and clever, and there are no visible marks, so it’s easier to hide. I was at the receiving end of some of this kind of thing, but not to the same degree you describe.
*hugs and/or other gestures of support and comfort* if acceptable.
–
I’m kind of surprised at how much I like cats given what a crochety, ill-tempered beast the one I grew up with was. She only like being touched/petted on the head and the back of her neck, and if anyone tried to touch her anywhere else, or god forbid pick her up, extreme pointiness ensued (probably some of my earliest lessons in bodily autonomy; my parents alway sided with the cat whenever I got bit or scratched, and told me that’s how she communicated that she didn’t like it, and I should avoid touching her in the ways that got pointy). She wouldn’t tolerate any other animals, and I saw her chase alsatians off the property (we lived far enough out of town that a fair number of people would let their dogs run loose sometimes and nothing was really done about it).
Oddly, given my ‘nym, I’m actually a real dog person myself. I don’t mind other people’s cats, and will appreciate pictures and even cuddle time with a cat, but my nose is sensitive to their particular smells, and I find them hard to live with. Dogs on the other hand, their stinks don’t bother me (please don’t think I’m saying they don’t have them!).
About the only thing that would make me move out of my apartment voluntarily would be the chance to have a place where I could have a dog. I figure I’d need about $3500 to make it happen, with moving and first/last rent and vet/adoption fees and a small fund to cover part of the possible vet costs because I don’t have any credit.
But I really love the pics of people’s fuzzier and/or featherier and/or scalier cohabitants, in that bittersweet better-on-balance-than-not way. Kevin’s two particularly remind me of two of my partner’s cats; five years ago she had 8, since then they’ve all passed, one after the other, all in their teens after she’d taken them in as rescues (also two dogs, same recent outcome).
Off to the theatre. My community theatre is playing Waiting for Godot, so in that spirit I will bid you all happy fish, and bicycle apple the marching peroration of Naples.
/absurdism
Oh, just noticed – Ingdigo, much warm *hugs* offered as wanted, that’s really awful. Nobody deserves that.
Ingdigo: yeahouch. that is horrible, and again I’m reminded of how horrible people can be. *hugs*.
At least the rain feels nice. a few severe storms but not the predicted major outbreak.
I was just bipping around utube and stumbled on this. It occurs to me that it might be a good theme song for the lounge and all the beat up folks who come here for comfort and understanding.
And Ingdigo, that was shit. Come home to the Lounge.
Oops! Didn’t mean to embed that. So sorry.
Ingdigo, I’m so sorry people treated you like that. I’ve always looked forward to your posts, been impressed by what you write, always had you on my short short list of “people I really wish I lived in the same town with so we could hang out”. Really and truly. God, other people can suck so much.
Cicely @633:
For many years, our minivans had a December inspection. And every year, it came to around $600. Every single year. No matter how careful I was to get the brakes, tyres, lights, everything, checked through the year, we always found ourselves having to find a way to inspect the car and still afford the trip down to Florida to visit Wife’s family.
You have my sympathy.
Now, our Taurus is inspected in August. And it sails right through and I do all the shit throughout the year. Do not understand.
Beatrice @652:
I have not idea what the fuck day of the week it is. They appear to all be Saturdays.
CatieCat @654:
A carnivorous Shoop?
I spent three weeks there back in 2000. At a really big forest fire. Don’t remember the name. First fire I ever went to.
By the way, the USAfCMI is the United States Agency for Carmen Miranda Impersonators.
=====
Ingdigo Jump @668:
Hugs to you.
I still fear that, when someone is nice to me, they are setting me up. I had hoped that, as one gets older, that junior high behaviour got left behind. But assholes are still assholes. And you are not.
Finally. Link dump:
Bloomberg Businessweek: Republicans Are No Longer the Party of Business
Petition against the new law in Iran that allows stepfathers and stepdaughters to marry
A fossil that’ll make your eyes pop out…
You know your cold is addling your brain when you spend three minutes staring at the freckles on your arm, deciding whether they form a Pacman or a stingray. And this is without cold medication.
I hate cold-induced brain-fog, but it is an interesting mental state.
(For the record, stingray.)
*heap of hugs for Ingdigo*
*heap of hugs for Ogvorbis*
*heap of pouncehugs for cicely, with milk chocolate that contains 35 % “exquisite Arriba cocoa from Ecuador”*
Under the heading of mixed feelings: congress has voted to pay federal workers for the time we are furloughed. This is good. But this also may mean that federal workers, if the shutdown continues for another week or more, cannot collect unemployment. Which means that I will get paid. Someday. What if the GOP keeps this going for a month or two? If federal workers (including me) cannot collect unemployment, but I will be paid eventually (once the government is up and running again), then how the fuck do I pay my bills? These assholes do not understand what they are doing to federal workers, to private workers who depend on federal spending, and the entire fucking country. ASSHOLES!
Indigo
I had a similar childhood. My father’s neglect and abuse came from alcoholism. The details are different from your life, but I have a blanket distrust of men as a legacy of that childhood. An unwarranted one I readily admit, but my emotions these 34 years after his death still remain.
I’ve only ever had one close male friendship in my adult life, And wouldn’t you know it, he slid into alcoholism. I had to walk away from him and his life, and playing in the band we were both in, my last musical project, to keep myself from being dragged down.
I have no good advice. I have no panacea for these deep injuries. I would give almost anything to possess such a thing, to have the power to fix these hurts completely, permanently. It would make my own flawed and troubled life worth all its difficulties to be able to be able to pull others back up to the light.
All I can offer is understanding; I have some inkling of how you feel. It sucks in an almost literal sense. It pulls the joy and wonder from daily life to be on your guard all the time. It’s exhausting. On the bad days there’s never any energy left over for enjoyment. All that I hope for when I reach that state is to be refreshed enough by unconsciousness to carry on one more day.
I offer understanding, such as it is, and a promise: I will never, ever lie to you. We haven’t had much interaction you and I, but I’ve read your comments for years. The person I see those words is someone I respect. Truthfully, without reservation.
Be as well as you can be Ing. I hope that venting here can give you some measure of peace.
The tea party doesn’t. the Tea Party politicians I contest do. They hate federal workers remember.
*wallowing in pouncehugs while nomming chocolate*
*pouncehugswarm* for David.
–
Oh, yes; and as an addendum to my 674, it also offers the band of tormentors a warm-and-fuzzy bonding experience, with an associated belonging-to-a-community high—and all at the low, low price of…you.
–
Dang, Ogvorbis #686, that puts you between a rock and a hard place. We have a home equity line of credit we could use for a while, which we took out due to medical bills and to get some home improvements done.
Ing @687:
Yeah. The right wing has been vilifying all public and union workers right now that destroying the economy would be worth it if they can punish us.
Nerd:
Pretty sure I’ll be able to take out a low-interest loan through my credit union with no payments until I get paid. They know what I get paid, it gets direct deposited, I can (hopefully) get some loans for a little less than my normal paycheck (no Sunday differential) and pay them a lump sum when I get paid. I hope.
Ingdigo, I just got back and had time to read your post again.
I want to second what was mentioned above, that I *always* look for your comments on a thread, and always find them insightful and furthering of the conversation in some way, showing genuine empathy where appropriate, sniny claws when appropriate. You’re someone I sincerely respect, your opinion on a given topic one of those I look for.
And I started gaming at 12, but started Magic: the Gathering when I was 29, and played it at tournaments for several years, so you’ll get no judgeyness from me about your gaming and/or entertainment options. I enjoy Fruits Basket (an anime, quite unlike most of the ones I like, very much in the kawaii mode, and whose moral would probably suit a few people here), despite that I am nearer 50 than 15. So we can be geeks together, and if they make fun of us, then it’s us – not you, and not me, but us. And in fact that’s kinda how the Horde works, isn’t it? We for us? Screw ‘vs them’, we can be ‘for us’ without being ‘against them’.
Sort of an N-Musketeers solution set. One for N, and N for one. But with less swordiness.
Hey, that’d make a pretty good Horde t-shirt, wouldn’t it?
The N Hordeteers: 1 for N, and N for 1!*
* With less swordiness.
Horde Advice Requested:
I found out tonight that one of the guys who works in the kitchen has been and continues to be the victim of domestic violence. From what two other employees have said-one of whom is an owner-this has been going on for some time. The guy has a child with his girlfriend and works a lot, while she stays home with the little one. I could tell the two employees were incredibly sympathetic to him, and want to help somehow, but have no idea how. I do not know the guy well enough, but I thought maybe there was advice/info I could pass along so that he gets it.
Tony
If he’s interested in pressing charges or seeking custody of the kids, document, document, document. This does mean going to the police and/or the hospital — even if nothing is done immediately, the incident will be on record, and there will be an established pattern of abusive behavior on her part.
If he’s just looking to get out… I don’t know, and I wish I could help more.
my weekend tranquility has been rudely interrupted by a whole heap of essays I need to write apparently.
ugh.
especially when I’m too busy agonizing over having hair everywhere on my body. that’s seriously the thing that bothers me most.
WMDKitty:
Thank you. From what I was told he has chosen not to go to the authorities bc hehas no one to care for their child if she goes to jail. I had a hint of a good idea that I mentioned to him…the same you offer above: document.
At one point the owner, J, started to say something about ‘two sides to every story’, at which point I chimed in with “both sides are not automatically equivalent. If he is not doing anything remotely comparable, I do not feel she has the justification for the abuse she heaps upon him.”
Errr, slight mistake above. I have not spoken to W about this, nor will I unless and until I become privy to his situation, from him.
“I had the hint of a good idea to be passed along to him…”
That’s where you need a national childcare policy. And so do we.
Ogvorbis:
Kraken is *delumptious* (delicious + scrumptious)!
****
cicely @633:
I totally had a visual of what a podium dismount would be like. Ha ha.
More funny, I just imagined PZ doing a podium dismount
How is everyone in North Dakota & Wyoming & Colorado & South Dakota? I hear that God has been smiting ND & Colo. with now for being mean to atheists and SD with tornadoes for being anti-choice.
Ingdigo Jump @668:
From the bottom of my heart and with every fiber of my being, I am so, so sorry for everything that has happened to you. As I started scrolling up to catch up on the thread, I saw your comment. As tired as I am, I thought I would read it tomorrow or skim through it real quick. But once I read your introduction, I was determined to read everything and I did. One of the things I very much enjoy is getting some peek into the lives of you folks. Seeing that you were going to share something personal jerked me out of exhaustion. As I read I just thought WTF?!! The way you were treated by so many people was horrible.
But what really filled me at once with deep sympathy for you and seething rage?
Justin.
That just…I cannot even articulate how angry that makes me. You did not deserve that. You deserved (and still do) friends and family that genuinely care for you.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Please excuse the river of tears.
(Btw, none of that was stupid)
Tony
*nodnod*
It’s a common tactic for the abuser to paint themself as the “real victim.” i.e. If I responded to my abuser with anything other than absolute obedience, it was “my fault” and he “had to” “correct” me.
hello.
you’re a mammal.
deal.
How the hell did I miss the story about a grandfather disowning his daughter bc she disowned her gay son?!
http://now.msn.com/grandfather-disowns-daughter-for-disowning-his-gay-grandson-in-viral-letter
Wow.
I am all across the spectrum of emotions. From Ing’s tale, which I will not soon forget, to this one, with an all too familiar situation, but a rare, compassionate response I am riding a wave of intense emotions.
One of which is a tremendous surge of pride, respect, love and appreciation for my father. I have shared my coming out story here in the past, which is an unpleasant memory. Made moreso bc my father’s reaction and the gulf that opened up between us for the better part of a decade. It was not until a few years ago, after writing a letter to my dad that the gulf shrank. Dramatically. Basically it was a glimpse into my feelings on many things growing up…two important points were the resentment I had as a teen being forced to accept more responsibility…the other? The rejection I felt after coming out. He and I have not spoken about the letter, but his words and deeds show that he listened to me.
And now? When my parents came to see me tonight, their last night in Pensacola, my father wanted to share this story with me but his phone had poor connection. He was able to show me the headline. That would not have happened 10 years ago. We have never spoken about me being gay.
He was insistent on showing this to me and disappointed that I could not read it while they were here.
He wanted to share a story of a parent displaying unconditional love to a family member. This really feels like his way of saying ‘I love you, accept you and always will’.
And that means so much more than words can say.
Before they left, he told me how proud he was of the man I am. That was gratifying even then. But now, after reading the above story…it is one of the greatest gifts my father has ever given me. When he checks Facebook tomorrow he’ll see my response.
By Odin, I think I cried a river.
(My mother and I weathered my coming out with greater ease and our relationship is very strong–in case anyone wondered about why I focused on my father so much here.)
Chas:
You are way out of line.
It is only bc this is the Lounge that I do not give you the response you deserve.
Chas @ 704:
Hello. This is the lounge. Highly moderated. Everything with kindness.
Deal with it.
Ingdigo – I just read your heart-breaking post. I don’t know you, I’m too new here, but … well, internet hugs, if they’re welcome. What people did to you was so wrong.
*****
Anyone recall I mentioned a coupla weeks back I was knitting a big striped jacket/coat? Well, it’s finished! Took just under a month.
Presenting The Mick Aston Memorial Coat.
(PS yes, I deliberately cropped the pic so the sign would read “who”.)
As opposed to indoctrinating them with the Church of England. >.>
Ingdigo, that’s beyond-words horrible. I’m sorry people have been such utter shits to you and that it has hurt you so much. So, so sorry. I’d just like to add another hug to the pile.
Tony, that’s one hell of a letter – and how cool is it that your dad particularly wanted to show it to you! I’m sure you’re absolutely right about the message there. (great that this kid has his grandfather in his corner. So sad that he needs a corner at all)
Please nuke this: http://www.cbc.ca/day6/blog/2013/10/03/listed-five-politically-incorrect-national-anthems/
Thank you :)
I don’t know where else to announce this, but I’m looking for brave, chrome-using souls who are comfortable loading a chrome extension not from the chrome store to test out the chrome-based revival of my old greasemonkey killfile.
Those interested can download the extension from https://github.com/fizbin/killfile-extension/releases. You’ll need to right-click and “save link as…”, then install it from your downloads folder. (Recent chrome makes it a few extra clicks to install from places that aren’t the chrome store)
NEW THREAD.