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
Thanks!
*hugs* for JAL, and CaitieCat
One of y’all (CC, blf, CD, Ogvorbis for good measure) should prepare a scientific lecture on the origins of the MDP and present it at a serious skeptics’ conference. As seer-yuss science. It’ll be great! People will learn so much! CaitieCat will become famous! It’ll be awesome!!!!
Also, neither one of the links for the Bruce Springsteen/Jimmy Fallon thing work for me. I’ll have to check youtube tomorrow.
Nutrient-Enriched, Pheromone-Controlled CatieCat?
I
AM
FURIOUS:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/08/suspects-lawyer-blames-rape-victims-family-for-setting-in-motion-her-suicide/
I’m crying.
I’m crying because that poor girl was driven to commit suicide.
I’m crying because those shitheads destroyed the life of a young woman.
I’m crying because I’m so fucking angry that the lawyer places ANY blame for her death on her parents.
The rapists AND their lawyer disgust me beyond all measure.
Oh, and I’m crying because HER life is over. She’ll never become president. She’ll never discover a cure for cancer. She’ll never go to the moon. She’ll never have the chance to do anything every again. And the guys who raped her face so little punishment that its nonexistent:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/15/teens-admit-to-raping-and-photographing-intoxicated-girl-who-later-killed-herself/
Hulk smash world!
More GOP assholes who are anti-women:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/15/virginia-gop-candidate-spousal-rape-isnt-a-crime-if-she-is-wearing-a-nightie/
Argh.
It’s still rape you douchemaggott!
Sex without consent is rape. Period. End of story. It doesn’t matter what the relationship status is.
@Tony!
Sex without consent may be rape, but to give the jerk the benefit of the doubt (I know, I know, “why?” you ask: eternal sense of fairness) it could be hard to get a “valid” conviction (a conviction where there truly is no reasonable doubt) in any number of cases where rape actually exists.
But Holy Moly, batman! “In a nightie”?
And what’s with “There’s no injuries”? Like no spouse has ever injured another spouse? Spouses who rape aren’t the kind of spouse that would be willing to injure someone? (Buhwhuh?)
This guy is so far gone off the human understanding of violence scale, it’s hard to see how he functions in society without randomly slashing throats and assaulting people.
Crip Dyke:
Do you think the next time you serve man, you could use raw carrots? Cooked carrots are yucky.
Pleaseandthankyou :)
Now for something different.
I *love* this:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/goldtatze-cat-playground-room
I want a room for my kitties just like this!
****
And some *good* news:
That’s a list of 28 individuals who wrote an open letter of protest to President Putin.
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/ian-mckellen-teams-up-with-27-nobel-prize-winners-to-protest-russia-anti-gay-laws/news/2014/01/15/81755#.Utcs4bRn1IR
Oh god this is so ridonkulous and I’m dying and why haven’t these been around before
Crocheted baby hats that look like Cabbage Patch Kids hair.
Just read the Losing Sight…
Now I understand comment #507!
—
Addiing to the Christie Crapload of Criticism file…
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/19/2485361/christie-vetoes-ban-on-military-sniper-rifle-he-proposed-banning/
Oops!
That should be: the ‘Losing Sight…’ post and comments.
Heh! One of the Springsteen/Fallon youtube posts, of the above mentioned parody, already has over 900k views. :)
Today I woke up wanting to throw things and to yell “I hate you all” at everyone. *sigh* Things can only get better, right?
But here, NASA got some funding.
blf:
Does the mildly deranged penguin know his likeness is being used to sell t-shirts?
Tony
That’s not the real MDP. There’s no cheese in the picture, and I can’t smell the vin. Penguinologists, please remove yourselves to the Lounge, your expertise is required!
Hey, it’s my birthday and what did I get?
2 sick kids…
Giliell:
Happy Birthday! I hope the kids feel better soon. And I hope you get to enjoy some part of your birthday.
Aw, Giliell… :(
Have a Happy (as it can be) Birthday.
Good for Ms. Disney ! :
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/relative-says-she-believes-walt-disney-racist-170300571.html
Giliell
*hugs* and *confetti&fireworks*
Here, I
madefound you a birthday cake, complete with sappy message. I hope you like chocolate!(As an aside, anytime someone mentions the word ‘vistas’ seriously in a sentence, I get the giggles, because vista in Latvian is… a chicken. Hasta la vista has a whole new meaning.)
Giliell, I hope your birthday is as happy as it can be and/or that the kids get better really really soon and you get to enjoy a truly great birthday weekend this weekend {{{hugs}}}
Colour Caitie happy: Netflix Canada just got the entire set of Ken Burns’ outstanding documentaries on the history of the US: The Civil War, Baseball, The War, Prohibition, Jazz, and The Central Park Five. Geektacular!
This is why we need the Commune: group child care.
Ahh, insomnia. I finally installed Tumblr Savior to get rid of all the fucking “sponsored” posts (ie. ads) because adding those accounts to your ignore list doesn’t do a damn thing. Which should be criminal. Alas, I could not find a way to block only the ads in the Tumblr Radio sidebar widget thingy, so I had to get an additional script to block the entire thing. And then I went to the trouble of figuring out how to whitelist Disqus comments while keeping Adblock on.
~*~*~*~*~*~
@CaitieCat (#524)
They’re on US Netflix, too. Just added a couple of them thanks to your mention.
Giliell I hope you are able to find some time to celebrate your birthday. Even if it’s after the actual day. I hope your kids get better soon.
My daughter is still in hospital, but showing all the signs of recovery. We caught the problem earlier than last time, and they started treatment earlier too. Hopefully she’ll be home soon. Nights in hospital are not good for her and certainly not good for her parents!
My father is also still in hospital. Everyone is working towards getting him home, for some time at least. Other than that we have no real idea of how things are likely to play out.
Thank you all
The kids are mostly ok-ish, just rather tired and cranky about being retricted to certain foods.
As for the birthday: I have a whole collection of horrible birthdays, this one doesn’t even make it into the top 5. Last night my friend who’d come for some roleplaying stayed long enough to wish me a happy birthday* and tonight my BFF will come over for some cake.
*I simply love that group. We have the spoiled educated anthropoligist who set out to get some knowledge, me, her cousin and guard, sometimes a mage and our two guys who are more or less our servants/employees. The player of one of them claims that his horse is smarter than him and I’m inclined to believe him, which makes his character fun to play with.
The best is the culture we’re all from. It’s loosely based on a 1001 Nights culture with some significant differences:
1. Women are the dominant group. While de jure everything is patrilineal, it’s actually the wives who hold the power and who then find a woman they consider competent and nice for their son to marry.
2. Within the 12 gods pantheon they worship the goddess of lust and pleasure. Spouses take pride in the sexual and romantic adventures of their partner, because, well, who’d want to be married to somebody who isn’t considered interesting enough for anybody else?
Which means that a young woman from a noble family (though not from the wealthy part of the noble family) is really fun to play. Unfortunately, my dear cousin has been educated too far away from home so she permanently gets her knickers in a twist when my character goes adventuring…
Happy Birthday Giliell, and best wishes for the kids’ speedy recovery.
It’s amazing. Sunlight in January. Whoa!
happy birthday, Giliell.
Good luck with the sickspawn.
========
I think I have a possible sighting of the MDP — I had a small wedge of domestic brie in the fridge. And it disappeared yesterday. Wife thinks Boy ate it but I have a suspicion . . . .
Though it does raise the question: why would the MDP be in Wilkes Barre, PA? Why would anyone (or anything) be in WB?
Maybe they came in with 30,000 pounds…of bananas?
CaitieCat:
That was Scranton.
Yeah, but it’s just next door. :)
It’s in a completely different county. Lackawanna County (Scranton) seceded from Luzerne County (Wilkes Barre). Scranton partners with NYC, Wilkes Barre partners with Philadelphia (goes back to the railroads). Scranton gets lake effect snows, Wilkes Barre almost never does. Both are shitholes. Scranton gets mentioned in popular culture, one of the men Wilkes Barre is named after fled England to avoid prosecution for pornography. Scranton had the DL&W, NYO&W, Erie, D&H and CNJ. Wilkes Barre had the CNJ, DL&W, LV, PRR and WB&E. See? Completely different.
Yes, but the point is, that Scranton didn’t have any bananas. That’s why they’d be coming to Wilkes-Barre, see? Which was what you asked. They didn’t have any there, so they came by to borrow a trailerload of bananas? No?
Giliell,
Happiest possible birthday!
I hope you and the young’ns get plenty of rest today and feel better soon.
CaitieCat
That still doesn’t explain the MDP. There is no mention of bananas in the MDP’s bio, and I’ve got crates of the stuff lying around here, with not a peep from the MDP. No penguin-sized holes, etc. That brie of Ogvorbis’, though… That sounds suspicious.
Happy Birthday, Giliell!
Happy yet-another-orbit-around-the-sun, Giliell.
To be fair, if she’s familiar with dinosaurs she’s hardly a chick any more.
“Congress is the Justin Bieber of our government.” So says Jon Stewart.
Salon link, scroll down for video.
I would disagree with that.
One entire political party has, collectively, decided that breaking government and preventing economic recovery is in their political interest, and in the interest of wealthy Americans. And they are acting on that decision.
One entire political party has, collectively, decided that women are not full humans. And they are acting on that decision.
One entire political party has, collectively, decided that investing in the health of Americans is, somehow, counter to what America stands for. And they are acting on that decision.
One entire political party has, collectively, decided that any semblance of honesty in political discourse is anathema. And they are acting on that decision.
Justin Bieber, however, is an immature and coddled talent who needs to get outside of his bubble. His decisions do not kill people. The decisions of the GOP do.
Big difference.
?
Which lake might that be?
Anyone got access to this – http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/12/12/1316014110 ?
Someone on my Facebook feed posted to the Institute for Creation Research review of that, but I can’t access the actual paper to find the conclusions (aside from the part that says it helps define when the human hand was being evolved.)
Happier Birthday, Giliell.
–
Happy bDay Giliell
Chas:
Scranton is on the edge of the lake effect system from Lake Erie. When the wind is out of the Northwest on a really cold day, we get bands of light lake effect snow.
Wilkes Barre is a little too far south for the bands to reach.
One of the advantages of living down south.
That’s an excerpt from a New York Times article. Along with other media outlets, the New York Times is astounded that Mitch McConnell is making public statements that have no relation to reality. For example, McConnell recently said:
Reality: Democrats crafted a bill to help jobless people, and they did that in exchange for nothing! McConnell leads the Republican group in the Senate that filibustered that bill in order to try to force Dems to meet GOP demands. In 2010, Republicans voted to extend unemployment benefits without any offsets. Now they are demanding offsets, and still refusing to close tax loopholes for the rich.
In other words, Republican leaders are spouting false, entirely false, reasons for filibustering jobless aid. Fox News and even CBS are eating up the lies and repeating them.
I just downloaded it.
Other speculative “sightings” of the mildly deranged penguin:
● Hunting the stoopid sentient cidre, who is known to be a fan of English cricket loosing in hilarious new ways, and thus probably in the vicinity of Ozlandia.
● Stuck on one of those ships in Antarctica. Seems unlikely, why would she be stuck… more likely she pushed the ice floes together.
● In the local bar, which has been closed for renovations for over a week now. It was supposed to be closed for only three-ish days, but if they “hired” her penguinness to do the interior demolition, then, well, I wouldn’t expect them to reopen for several decades. If they work fast and only do basic repairs.
● Practicing with a cloak of invisibility ? More likely, forget she’s wearing it… you can’t see it, see, and… But then cheese would still be vanishing and penguin-shaped holes appearing, but it isn’t (the odd Brie excepted) and they aren’t.
● Stuck under some banananananaaaas ?
Or maybe she simply forget the lair has been relocated, and is now just staring at the old, empty, location, wondering where
Iher local cheese stash is…One way she might have ended up in Wilkes Barre is if she was heading for Andromeda and took a wrong turn near Betelgeuse. Easy mistake to make, it’s why there is so much weird in the area — lost aliens sending out SOS signals (just what do you think crop circles are…?), and so on…
@David:
Awesome, thanks. Can you send it to kd9280 at gmail?
*flings birthday cupcakes at Giliell’s general vicinity*
—
via BB: Booth babes are bad for business
—
The story’s so horrific it’s hard to call this GOOD news, but at least it’s a bit of long-denied justice.
Rape victim awarded $150,000 after police and youth program forced her to say she lied
—
also via BB – Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg does an AMA
—
and Cracked takes on the troubled-teen prison-camp industry.
Check the colour of the sky. If it’s a crazy flashing plaid pattern that looks like one of M.C. Escher’s works as painted by Picasso, then Yes, it can’t get any worse, especially if the background sound is French Rap turned up to 11 with the landscape covered by peas and horses, all staring at you…
Carrots must be boiled and belong exclusively into soup.
+ 1
I know! Windows Vista made that famous! :-)
I hate you all!
Horror. *retreats from teh Internetz for an hour*
Will do!
What did the soup do to you?
Happy birthday, Giliell!
HappyGiliellDay!
=============
why do I let abewoelk get to me.
Tony! – further to charter schools in Florida, have some articles:
http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/florida-charter-schools-and-the-lack-of-oversight/
http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/08/31/florida-schools-rely-more-on-teach-for-america-teachers/
This Salon article is linking Teach for America to charter school placements in Chicago, but I bet it’s worth investigating how many of TFA’s new teachers are getting routed directly into religious charter schools.
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/teach_for_americas_pro_corporate_union_busting_agenda_partner/
Crip Dyke:
Because he is dishonest, insensitive, dissembling, wedded to binary thinking, and an all around asshole?
Crip Dyke:
It happens to me too (trying to avoid talking about other people is rather difficult).
Sent!
Yay! ^_^
*hugs*
I just replied there – in one word.
Thank you all
*mighty group hug*
The Chocolate Fudge Cake (formerly frozen) was really nice.
CD
*big hugs*
David
I actually listened to that song this morning to feel better. :D Thanks for thinking like me!
*hugs* for Crip Dyke
It’s not big deal, Giliell & rq.
Nonetheless, instead of just dismissing them, I’ve decided snuggle into them for a moment. Thanks, both.
Happy birthday, Giliell!
*hugs* for Crip Dyke!
(btw, plz check your email)
Gee, just got an e-mail informing me that our scheduled R&D meeting with corporate has been postponed for a month. I’ll try to hold my disappointment down to less than 70 db….That means I don’t have to try to rush the Redhead in the morning; after 40 years I can rush the Redhead???? Bwahahahahaha….
I loathe comcast so fucking much; I deeply wish that I had some other way to get internet services. The assholes failed to take my payment, cut off my internet, then charged me twice, leaving me overdrawn, and won’t refund the money for 10+ business days. Assholes.
Happy birthday, Giliell! Sorry I am late to the party.
My day so far: early start to have a ‘conversation’ with a tradesman over work being/not being done.
Trying to walk ‘worlds worst behaved dog’ to vet for appointment. Got her through the gauntlet of misbehaved dogs in the waiting room for her pre-op check. Just as the thermometer is being inserted in a delicate place a dog fight breaks out in waiting room. Hilarity follows.
Currently locked outside of house with dog #2.
If we had bigger dogs we would have had a bigger dog door. I could have crawled though that…
At least I have dog #2 for company, my phone and a wifi connection until my battery dies.
Now the embarrassing long wait for the puppetmistress to get home from work and save me.
Yaay!
Managed to break into my own house.
Of course I figured out how to do this after I commented here so my embarrassment is permanently etched on the internet.
Damn you wifi! Damn your easy, convenient connection to the world!
Just got back from a Water Association monthly meeting. Don’t usually go, but January it is always held in same town I am employed by. Even though I’m on the clock, I can attend long enough to get the hours credit that go toward renewing my water/wastewater licenses.
So, this one was…
– boring (as ever)…
– somewhat informative (as ever)…
– more ridiculous than usual…
All rolled into one experience. (At least there was fairly decent food).
This event gave everyone another opportunity (ye-ha!) to buy tickets for that shotgun raffle I mentioned before. [I did send a comment to the Association office in protest. Tonight I told my supervisor how tacky I thought it was. He got an expression on his face like, “Why I never thought of it that way!” (Guns for scholarship donations.) Then, of course, he brushed it off. “Well, the money goes for a good cause.” Me: “I still think it’s disgusting.”]
Then, there was the guy walking around in a tee shirt. I wanted to ask him (no time), “Why are you wearing the face of a racist, misogynistic, hateful, jackass on your chest?” [Ya know, prior to a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have even known what/who that silk screen represented much less his name.Why do redneck, ‘long-haired hippie’ haters love Phil Robertson? Could it be… naahhh!]
But the best part of the evening came right at the beginning.
There was, of course, the obligatory prayer. “Everyone, bow your heads.” [“Don’t tell me what to do, damn it !”] Out of about one hundred fifty people, I think I was the only one who didn’t respectfully follow orders. I always look around to see if I’m the only potential heathen.
But Wait! That wasn’t the BEST best part. Oh no! What happened next? The pledge of allegiance to…
“Uh… we don’t actually have a flag here. So… uh… why don’t we all just look over toward that wall…”
AND THEY DID with no dissension … except mine. [Shaking my head, “Pledging to The Wall*? I don’t believe this!”] I’ve had a problem with pledging to a piece of fabric for a long time but this… [Shakes head some more]
*Tho, pledging allegiance to a Pink Floyd album would make more sense to me. :)
bluentx
I pledge allegiance to The Wall of the band Pink Floyd of North London, and to the movie for which it stands, one album, indivisible, with pathos and image for all.
Dalillama
I wouldn’t even mind if they threw in: “under a laser light display” in that pledge!
bluentx
“Under Waters” scans better.
bluentx #573
What a wonderful event!
If someone put that on a TV sit-com, it would be pooh-poohed as unrealistic.
And as the credits roll we see the plant operator returning to find the facility (20 miles from town) in darkness. The soundtrack ends abruptly with, “Son of a….”
No. really! I got back to find that just minutes after I’d left, two hours earlier, there was a power failure! Again! We’ve been having a lot of outages lately.
bluentx
Sounds like a good time was had by all!! :P
For next time, make sure there’s a giant Pink Floyd poster up on that wall – the one with the rainbow. That’ll go over well.
rq:
Yes! Actually I do prefer Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall.
They’re scheduled to do major remodeling to that facility before next years meeting. I’m sure they won’t mind if I contribute to the decor.
Or you could put up a StarsAndStripes with the wrong number of stars or stripes and see who notices.
Do the Stars’n’Stripes in rainbow colours. Hey, it’s the flag!
Nope. There’s nothing wrong with the gun culture. Not at all…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/15/1269936/-Death-Threat-Against-Wendy-Davis-Found-On-Greg-Abbott-s-Facebook-Page
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/23/1257923/-Facebook-Christian-Militia-Group-Makes-Death-Threats-Against-Obama
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/16/1258490/-Rolling-Back-Legal-Immunity-for-the-Gun-Industry-An-Update
bluentx
FREE SPEECH!! It’s FREE SPEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!!
I hate the godsdamned misleading title (really? never heard of a dugong?) but these are some awesomely strange animals. Obligatory: check out part II. *immature snicker*
Somebody decided to see if rats have empathy. Here’s some more information with possible hypotheses. (I’ll agree that being familiar with their own kind of rat may help a rat be empathetic… But does empathy really, really, always have to come down to the mother-baby bond? Really? Can’t it be the parental-offspring bond? Really?)
And some good news from India re: polio and vaccines.
Apparently we have a movie called “God’s Not Dead” coming out soon.
Kevin Sorbo plays an atheist philosophy professor who demands that every student write out “God is dead” in order to pass his course. A christian student refuses, then must debate the prof in class and win in order to pass the course.
Not impressed by the trailer. A caricature of an atheist professor, an unrealistic scenario, and likely a predictable ending (prof was religious, something bad happened, he turned away from god, and the student brings him back to god).
Global first: Easing cannabis withdrawal http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-01-global-easing-cannabis.html
I pledge my allegiance to Kate Bush. And…no, that’s it, really.
Scranton is a town that features in James Blish’s forgettable “Cities in flight” SF stories of the late 1950s.
I think the very first U.S. flag -the one temporarily used as a naval flag, and sometimes in battle- was more Britain-inspired, but I don’t know what it actually looked like. Margaret Tuchmann mentioned it in “The First salute”.
And happy birthday, Giliell!
Adventures in interpreting an unfamiliar language through partial fluency in another one:
This trashy Japanese young adult novel I’m reading right now is about vampires and werewolves and other supernatural critters. It’s set in Germany and the author keeps using German terms (like “Vampir” and “Ketzer” and “Kreis” and “Teufel”). Except, instead of spelling them out in an alphabet, they’re in katakana (one of the phonetic syllabaries), and presented as alternative readings to Japanese words. So I can, for the most part, take what I know the Japanese and look up the German spelling from English.
But there’s this one term that was a pain in the ass because the Japanese is a phrase meaning “one who transforms to darkness” and the transliteration of the katakana is “feavandorungu.” It refers to humans who have been made into brainwashed slaves of vampires.
Turns out some other Japanese people have borrowed this exact word for other purposes, and one or two were kind enough to give the German spelling. If I’d just googled the katakana earlier instead of trying to break it down and analyze the bits, I would have found out much sooner that it’s “Verwandlung.” Of course, I was also expecting something with more of the sense of the Japanese phrase.
And now I have to wonder if the author snagged that term from the German title of Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung).
Forget the freemasons. The Mount Pelerin Society is the real deal, in regard to manufacturing doubt about greenhouse warming. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/15/revealed-koch-backed-mont-pelerin-society-home-to-leading-pushers-of-climate-science-denial/
So about that Mars colony… I didn’t know they were doomed to failure.
@David Marjanovic:
Thanks for the link to the paper. Turns out the ICR page just was arguing about the use of argon dating as being a scientific lie.
It’s truly sad how the creationists completely gloss over a very important scientific discovery to pimp their ignorance. The paper’s describing an adaptation in the third finger that scientists knew evolved between 800,000 and 1.8 million years ago, but they located it in 1.4 million year old rock, so that means the evolution was somewhere between 1.4 and 1.8 million years ago. It also predated the creation of more advanced stone tools.
Michael (586):
See now that could actually be a decent lesson. Do words really trump belief? I could see that idea as being an interesting experiment.
Does religion turn weak groups violent? http://phys.org/news/2014-01-religion-weak-groups-violent.html
Study: Violence, infectious disease and climate change contributed to Indus civilization collapse http://phys.org/news/2014-01-violence-infectious-disease-climate-contributed.html
Social psychologists say war is not inevitable, psychology research should promote peace http://phys.org/news/2013-10-social-psychologists-war-inevitable-psychology.html#inlRlv
Winter haikus http://www.gocomics.com/richards-poor-almanac/2014/01/16
Nature: Futures (SF). http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/arts/futures/
Smart object recognition algorithm doesn’t need humans http://phys.org/news/2014-01-smart-recognition-algorithm-doesnt-humans.html “I’ll be baaack”
NB!!! Project aims to produce liquid transportation fuel from methane http://phys.org/news/2014-01-aims-liquid-fuel-methane.html
GOProud co-founder: “Cancer of LGBT bigotry is going to kill the Republican Party”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/15/goproud-co-founder-the-cancer-of-lgbt-bigotry-is-going-to-kill-the-republican-party/
Law prof: Coded racial appeals have wrecked the middle class http://phys.org/news/2014-01-law-prof-coded-racial-appeals.html
The hidden agenda of Obama’s opposition http://phys.org/news/2013-06-hidden-agenda-obama-opposition.html#nRlv
“Muslim U.S. President to team up with gay s to make us go extinct just like the gay dinosaurs.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/14/muslim-u-s-president-to-team-up-with-gays-to-make-us-go-extinct-just-like-the-gay-dinosaurs/
Pearls before Swine: http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/pb/2014/01/13/
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/pb/2014/01/11/
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/pb/2014/01/05/
Social psychologists say war is not inevitable, psychology research should promote peace http://phys.org/news/2013-10-social-psychologists-war-inevitable-psychology.html#inlRlv
Hacked-together medical equipment, from Medium via BB: Paging Dr. MacGyver
Good news for Pennsylvania voters, and for voting rights in general:
Moments of Mormon Madness, anti-gay and legal shenanigans categories:
Utah is, of course, continuing to appeal a judge’s decision that did away with the state’s no-gay-marriage-in-Zion law. They’ve appealed three times, but bungled some of the appeals and didn’t get anywhere. Now they have an appeal pending before the 10th Circuit.
To fight the good fight for freedom to be intolerant and to infringe on the rights of minorities Utah is bringing in the big guns. They have hired outside council, mormon outside council, to prolong the spotlight on their retrograde ways. The Utah AG’s office looked around for the most qualified true-believing-mormon lawyer they could find and came up with Gene C. Schaerr, a guy whose homophobic rating is so high it’s off the charts.
The Sutherland Institute?! You have got to be kidding me. That group of mormon dunderheads is so far right that they frequently irritate even their fellow mormons. As for the “papers” they write, think World Nut Daily with mormon flavor added.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57407081-78/court-schaerr-utah-law.html.csp
Their friendships improve, but their relationships don’t… Why a twice-weekly guys’ night is a ‘scientifically proven’ good idea. I have no doubt that socializing in a group of your peers is a good thing – for health, for friendship, for whatever other reason you want. But they make it sound like a specifically-male problem that can only be solved by seeing more of your (male!) friends. To do… manly things, of all things.
What do they recommend for women, red wine and manicures??? Also twice-weekly?
Also, cats are fluids, and that is photographic proof.
This is a follow up to comment #598; some comments from the readers section associated withe the Salt Lake Tribune article.
———
OMG… Fluffeh Kitteh Belleh
More comments regarding the hiring of Gene Schaerr to fight the anti-gay fight in Utah (see #598):
Nnngh, “guys’ nights” sound kind of horrifying actually. D:
Here’s a tiny bit of good news from Utah. The gay couples who got married during the brief time when Utah’s anti-gay marriage law was not in effect, those couples can file joint tax returns.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57406343-90/tax-sex-couples-state.html.csp
rq,
Having been invited to men’s night more than once, it’s not like a polite no thanks seems to suffice. No, instead I get told that all the things I instantly thought of and wouldn’t want to be party to are on the agenda, as if I need an opportunity to be more like them and less like me. Homogenuous behaviour indoctrination station.
And that kind of slips over the fact that basically all of my professional life has been in male dominated work spaces. I get too much of the bullshit during the day, why would I want to seek out more of it on Friday night?
Silly rq! No, what women want and need is babies. So they’re better off if they have babies, then stay home all the time day and night to take care of them. The more they’re with the babies, the happier they are! In fact, men being at home every night of the week is bad for the women, because she then has to pay more attention to her husband than the baby, and sometimes the husband pays attention to the baby and keeps her from playing with it and fully enjoying it. So really, mens’ night out a few times a week is good for the women, too. Gives them more baby time.
If the mildly deranged penguin was around, she;d explain that what ladies really want is lots of males so stooopid they happily do nothing but sit on eggs all winter whilst she and her friends fly off for a tropical vacation.
Possibly some sort of gel.
I’ve heard rumors that They Has A Flavor.
–
:D
–
Dhorvath
You non-conformist, you! :)
carlie
Silly me, I must have tried thinking. *tsk tsk* Turning brain off now! Back to the babies!!!
I posted this over on the West Virginia chemical spill thread, too: link
—
Tap water photos from HuffPo, some taken after residents were given the OK to use it: link
CDC warns pregnant women not to drink the water 48 hours after West Virginia declared it safe: link
well nobody could have seen this coming, of course.
Freedom Industries files for bankruptcy
Fracking companies and oil/gas developers sometimes avoid penalties by using temporary fall-guy companies to soak up the liability for environmental damage done by drilling. That way, when the temp company goes under, nobody can seek damages from it.
A cat that looks like the soot balls from My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. (I don’t know the source of the pic, alas.)
Hey, y’all. I’m ‘rupt and very out of tune but!
I have a heapin’ helpin’ of hugs that I’m just going to drop right here.
First come, first served.
They are all first class hugs, unused and carefully inspected to ensure their effectiveness.
____________________
Lotsa things happening in the Wrott World. Tremulous and promising. So many things to say that I have never said before. Things that must be said.
Those of you who have entered the sixth or seventh decade of your lives I think will identify with coming to terms with one’s arc of life. So many good parts contrasted with the parts that are not so good.
This one must fess up. This one is frightened. This one shall tell truths that only recently are realized. Don’t worry overmuch, I’ve not done anything horrible. I have, in a rather round about and good natured fashion, fucked up badly. Now I must acknowledge my failings to my sibs and my surviving offspring.
Will you wish me well? Will you wish me honesty and candor?
It would mean a lot if you would.
_______________________
Some of my family think that my posting in the Lounge is somehow (vaguely) surreptitiously undermining the give and take of “real life”. No, I answer. It enhances.
Apologies for not knowing who is doing what, why or how just now. I’m all wrapped up in how I came to be who I am and where I am and it demands some terrible honesty. Not that there are dark secrets; just that there are so many things I never admitted to myself. Now, admitting to my self I find that it is necessary to admit the same to those who love me and wonder where the hell I’ve been for the last few years.
It’s a long story, dear friends. Once told, I trust, questions will be answered and wonder will be satisfied. But, oh! How frightening it is to say out loud.
Here, in the Lounge, I have made many friends and have come to love people I’ve never met in meat space. Those dear ones are as real as my own kin. I mean that. Like Oggie (are you listening good buddy?) I have made some errors in my life that have puzzled and frustrated people close to me. Those mistakes, those errors of judgement, have distanced me from them. I want to close the gap. In order to do so I must find the words to tell my story and to show myself and my family how things came to pass. Once told, I think, it will not be such a terrible tale. Just now though it is maximum intimidation. I am very scared.
So, if you will, please hold my hand. That will give me courage.
Love,
Crudely
______________
I almost, really, almost deleted this sorry appeal. This >< close! Something larger than my fear stopped me. That would be you dear folks.
By the way, my Jesi has been clean for some weeks now and is asserting herself in marvelous ways. This daddy is so proud!
I hope that I will soon be proud of me, too.
Hi there
Thank you all again for the good wishes
The little one is out and about again, but #1 is having troubles keeping waterdown. :(
bassmike
*hugs*
Hope your little one is safe back home, soon, and best wishes for the situation with your dad
+++
How come that people are so surprised at the idea of personal non-existence.
Yesterday I had the pen-ultimate apointment with my therapist, and we were wraping things up a bit.
I mentioned that I thought that my parents should never had kids, or at least not until they had dealt with their own issues and he was “but then you wouldn’t exist!”
Well, yes. It’s not that I don’t enjoy being alive now, but there would have been no fucking harm in not existing in the first place. No Giliell-shape hole in the universe. Nobody would miss me. There are millions of people not born every day.
Crudely – I would hope that your obvious desire to do whatever it takes to repair/maintain/enhance your relationships with your family will outshine the negative feelings they would have from any specific revelations of past misdeeds. Perhaps not immediately. There may be an initial drawing away that you should steel yourself for. But if they are even a fraction as loving and forgiving as you are, they will process it, realize why you told them, and come back closer. But, perhaps they know more of it than you realize already, and have only been waiting for you to acknowledge it.
One thing I’ve always noted about your comments about your life is how strong the family bond is to you, how well you are able to see it as the thing of primary importance no matter what the tiny details of who said or did what and what they are doing now. That couldn’t have come from nowhere: I would think it must run strong through your family as an important trait taught and shown by example to all of you. I am personally so, so impressed to see that you care so much for them that you’re willing to lay yourself bare to them, to risk whatever may come to try to bring them closer. They must be able to see that somewhere, even if it comes underneath and after hurt. I do wish you all of the best.
(and I’m running off with the hugs FIRST COME FIRST SERVED I GOT THEM)
I can always tell someone’s been sitting in my chair at work: I have to raise it back up to an acceptable level (you know, so I can rest my elbows on the table instead of my chin). Too bad I can’t actually tell who, because I’m pretty sure that person also eats all my emergency cookies. Which means it’s probably everyone. *conspiracy*
(Anyone else ever notice how “conspiracy” is a combination of “cons” and “piracy”?)
+++
Since carlie was so inconsiderate as to run off with all the hugs (taking advantage of a European Saturday day-time, I see), I shall do my part to Maintain the Hug Reserves and add a few to the stack/pile/storage space.
And *hugs* in general.
Crudely Wrott @616:
I am holding your hand right now.
Unfortunately, I know nothing of courage. Telling my story here, admitting what happened, what I did, where I failed, who I failed, is more cowardice than courage.
When my memories made that uncomfortable transition from ‘I didn’t like Cub Scouts because my leader was a pervert,’ to ‘Holy shit, that bastard raped me and others,’ the easy route, for me, was to write what I remembered here. And every trigger, every association, I dumped here. I still have told no one outside of my pseudonymous presence here on the internet. No one.
Yesterday afternoon, three middle aged men were at our front desk. I had sold them their entrance passes, told them where to go and how to get there, and they were looking at exhibits and talking amongst themselves. And telling jokes, honest-to-fucking-hell jokes, about raping scouts, and I couldn’t move, couldn’t object, couldn’t do anything except wait for them to leave. Which they did. Laughing.
Anyway, my point is, yes, I support you. Yes, I will do what I can to give you what I have not — courage. But how you achieve honesty with your family, how you find a way to explain yourself, to open yourself, to reveal who you actually are, your path will be different. Everyone’s path is different when we finally explore, and reveal, who we are.
Peace, brother. Whatever way works for you will be the right way in this. I hold your hand to support you. And I hug you because I, in an oblique and completely different way, understand where you are coming from.
ogvorbis
What the entire fuck? All the hugs, my friend, and I wish I’d have been tehre to take a strip off them on your behalf.
Crudely
You have my hand too.
Holy shit, Ogvorbis, *hugs*!!!
Crudely
We’re always here for you.
Oggie
*hugs*
Dalillama and rq:
There were two ‘jokes’ about boy scouts that I overheard (TRIGGER WARNING (How can you recognize the Eagle Scout candidate? He’s wearing kneepads and his mouth is fixed in a permanent ‘O’ (the other one is far worse))) and then they went into girl scout and brownie scout jokes.
At least I hope they were jokes.
Assholes.
And I am still mad at myself that I froze up and was completely unprofessional — I did not do what needed to be done. Only reason I brought it up was as an illustration for Crudely (Hugs to you) that no matter how right or wrong speaking up is, you may not have the ability at the time to do that which requires courage.
Today was a hugely special day for Latvians.
The new national library is complete enough to house all the books, so they formed a giant human chain (on a volunteer basis) stretching from the old building, all through downtown/Old Riga and across the entire bridge to the new building, and the books were passed hand to hand in a show of… cultural solidarity. Love of literature and literacy. Something. Either way, each book/document was packaged carefully in plastic to protect it from the elements, and everyone in that line got to put a hand on a fairly large piece of our cultural heritage.
The sad part is that they had to do it this way because the national library (as an organization) cannot afford the cost of transporting the contents of the old building to the new one.
Anyway. Very sad I have to be at work.
rq:
That is neat. Not the reason for it, but the actual activity. I would love to have been able to participate in something like that.
Holy shit, rq, that is amazing. Both because it is such a solid symbol of it takes a village, but also because they got enough volunteers to make it work. Even though it happened under bad circumstances, it’s impressive.
Love you, Og. I am also not one to speak up in actual public, and am trying to change it, but it goes slowly.
rq
That is beautiful. and a bit sad.
Ogvorbis
I still think you have courage, even if you freeze up in public. Heck, I do it. It’s horrible enough, as me, hearing about jokes like that… And for you? It is beyond my imagination. So have some more *hugs* and some *simmering rage of solidarity*.
re: the library
It’s a total of 3.0 km or so (I’m not sure what route they took – 2.3 km via Google-Maps pedestrian route, yes, the one that’s missing sidewalks…), so you can figure out about how many people were needed shoulder-to-shoulder. The new building has been (nick)named* the Castle of Light, as a reference to several folk tales that speak of a castle of light (often submerged in a lake or sunk beneath a hill, but we can ignore that part!) as the fount of all knowledge and virtues. Rather poetic, if the damn thing wasn’t so expensive. :)
* Also referred to familiarly as the “Glass Mountain” from folk tales where the hero must ride up a glass mountain on vari-colored horses (copper, silver, gold or silver, gold and diamond) to reach the princess at the top, a la Snow White-slash-Sleeping Beauty-slash-tradition.
It’s your life, man, but let me once again offer the gentle and entirely sympathetic suggestion that there are people in meatspace that could help you.
Well, we already knew that Jesus Christ loves football, right? But this is taking it to a new level:
I’ve heard from a lot of young athletes that their coaches helped to shape their character. I don’t the “Jesus-in-the-huddle” tactic builds character.
UConn is a public institution, publicly funded.
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/huddling-with-jesus-uconn-football-coach-says-players-must-accept-christ-to
Ogvorbis, I have behaved in a similar fashion when confronted with mormons making anti-gay jokes. It’s really difficult to speak up when you know a group of people are going to hate you for speaking. I didn’t want them focusing their general anti-anything on me.
carlie @627:
But speaking out and speaking up in public is my job. And there is this weak spot where I don’t have the courage to tell a visitor they are being inappropriate in certain circumstances. I have told visitors what they are doing is not appropriate here but when it came to jokes about abusing children, I let myself be weak and silent.
rq @629:
Again, the freeze ups are only when it intersects with my weakness. Only time I freeze up in public. Hell, I enjoy speaking to groups of strangers or coworkers.
Chas @630:
I know. I just am so afraid of being judged for what I know I did. Yes, there were circumstances beyond my control. Yes, I was young. Yes, I wanted to be in scouts. Yes, some of it I enjoyed. Yes, I really had no choices. I understand what I did wrong, the mistakes I made, and, more important, why those mistakes were the wrong thing but, at the time, were the only choice. I understand that. But, well, who else would?
Lynna @631:
Well, it does show the rest of the team who they can gang up on to provide that good team chemistry and camaraderie.
Lynna @632:
Again, it is part of my job, part of my duties, but, I guess my weak spots are pretty deep and, luckily, don’t come to the fore too often.
This is probably not an affront to Christianity, but I wish it was. Oklahoma’s new license plate offends some Oklahoma christians, but then, what doesn’t offend Oklahoma christians?
http://newsok.com/article/3923696
First time I’ve seen in phrased like that!
And it (the license plate picture) obviously is an affront to christianity. After all, it’s not a jesuit holding the crucifix and bible while walking over the bodies of Indian warriors.
Probably not a good idea to shave or wax your nether regions:
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/12/the_war_on_pubic_hair_salpart/
This is an old article, from August, 2012, but the issue is on my mind thanks to hearing an interview with an A-list Hollywood star who said she thinks that “grooming” down there is necessary.
Dear Inspector(s),
Stop sending me rocks and bricks.
Thank you,
moi
Crudely
Big Hugs
Ogvorbis
That is so…
I lack appropriate words
*hugs and sympathy*
George Takei is in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. He had a few things to say about Utah’s fight to halt gay marriage.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/57400817-223/takei-actor-kroot-social.html.csp
From the comment section associated with the Salt Lake Tribune article about George Takei (link in #640):
Rest assured, we will have plenty of Tea Party candidates to laugh at during the 2014 elections. For example, if you thought Lindsey Graham was bad, just wait until you see his challenger. No, not a challenger from the Democratic Party, but a guy who is further right and further off the tracks of reason than Graham:
Mother Jones link.
Oh, yeah, Bright also believes that South Carolina schools should offer gun training for children.
So, a bunch of immigrant tomato pickers banded together and fought Walmart. And won. Well, sort of won. They are getting paid a penny per pound more for the tomatoes they pick.
Mother Jones link.
More from Barry Estabrook.
Slavery within agribusiness in the USA is a real problem, not a myth.
Oh, noes! The “yuck factor” related to gay relationships is diminishing. And god will not like that because the yuck factor is a blessing sent to us by god, or says right-wing doofus, Linda Harvey.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/harvey-god-wants-us-have-anti-gay-yuck-factor
P.S. Don’t mistake the off ramp for the on ramp. It’s unnatural.
Lynna: Indeed. Why anyone would want to stick a penis – with its urethra, no less – in their birth canal and next to their own urethra, is beyond me. Just a vile idea.
That’s what he meant, right?
All-shaved-ness in genital regions creeps me out. I don’t want to make love to a child, or child-like genitalia, I want to make love to an adult, and adults generally have hair, not red irritated bumps and a stubble field, there.
Og, being triggered is A Thing. It’s not weak or cowardly to not be able to work past it in the moment, it’s the nature of being triggered. Also, I can name a whole bunch of people who are willing to not judge you for the crimes you were subject to, or for what you did under duress: they’re all around me here. We know, and we accept you anyway. And I’d have you in my home any time. People who like to hurt other people aren’t horrified by what they did; it doesn’t make them cry, or feel shame, or think they’re worthless. That’s an enormous difference between you and them. People who like to hurt others, who are a threat to do so, don’t ever think they did anything wrong.
Be gentle with yourself, dear natal orbit-sharer. Whatever you feel about what you yourself did, don’t let it hide from you the fact that you were also done to, and that that can have legitimate and serious effects, and that it’s okay if that scarring/hurt makes it hard for you to be always present in your most effective ordinary ways, when someone does something stupid and insensitive, not to mention horrific (seriously? who jokes out loud and in public about children being raped? seriously?).
Giliell, I’m sorry I completely missed out on saying something on your birthday, but belatedly, let me wish you a superb coming spin about the nuclear explosion we hurtle round, and may it be warm, loving, and may it be followed by as many more as you desire, nor more nor less, with each being better than the last.
Crudely, silly fellow. Of course we’re listening, and of course we support you, as you do everyone else when they need it.
Sorry if I’ve missed anyone, a bit short on spoons today. One more little opportunity cost to being poor. I had to visit a friend, who is also in very tight straits at the moment, to pick up a couple of memory sticks with some software I needed. Since he was going up to Toronto for the day, I needed to get there before 0930, when he was being picked up.
Checking the bus schedule, I had two options: one got me there at 0820 (after a 2km walk), but I had to catch the bus at my end at 07h for that one to happen, and I’d have to wait forty-five minutes in the bus station downtown, on a hard plastic chair if I got lucky enough to score one. The other got me there at 0915, after the same 2km walk, but didn’t leave until 0820. So I’d be cutting it close – if I couldn’t walk quickly enough, I might miss him, and have done the whole trip por nada.
Did it, got there, walked the 2km back, but missed my bus coming back, so had to wait for the next one, 25 minutes. It’s -15 C out (-5F), and that’s a long time to wait in that kind of temperature. Also standing, because no shelter and no bench. All I could do was lean against a tree. I apparently looked very sore, because I had someone pull over to ask if I was alright.
Got to the station, and it’s Saturday, so naturally my bus is on a one-hour service. I arrive at the station at 1010, and the next one isn’t until 1045. Thirty-five minutes of the hard plastic chairs, but at least I’m inside for this bit.
Finally get home a little after 11h. So: in order to pick up a memory stick, I had to take four buses, walk 4km, stand for 25 minutes in -15 C weather, and sit for another 35 on a crappy plastic bench. Total: 2h40, $6 in tickets.
If I had/could afford a car? It takes about 15 minutes to drive each way. Allow for a few minutes to say hi and stuff, say it took me two full extra hours to do it on the bus.
Now multiply that by doctor’s appointments, kids’ after-school stuff, and all the other quotidian minutiae, and you’re talking about a LOT of time spent sitting on or waiting for buses, instead of anything productive or enjoyable.
And we’ve got a reasonably good public transit system. It’s got a good grid that’s relatively fine (meaning short walks to bus stops, wherever you might be), it’s reasonably priced as these things go ($68 for a monthly pass for adults), and they’re in the process of adding to it all the time. We’re in the planning/expropriation stage for a new light-rail RT system, in fact.
Trying to do this somewhere with a lousy public transit system (e.g., “most places in the US”) would make it all that much worse.
“Competing constitutions” ….supremacy clause. Learn it, love it, love it. Sheesh. Good for George.
Crudely, my hand is here for you too. Take care my friend.
Oggie, I’m so sorry. I have been in that position, and it makes me want to scream. I’m so sorry you feel added pressure to curtail horrible behavior on top of your others stresses. I have a big hug here for you. I think you’re brave.
Happy late birthday to Giliell and Og.
–
My news is I won my second jury trial on Tuesday. I’m told I even looked poised. Which is a huge improvement I. The previous trial, wherein I evoked a petrified field mouse in spite of my best efforts.
Hugs to bassmike and bluentx.
I’d say more but typing on my phone is diving me up the wall.
Portia
:D
And congrats on the second win! Yay!!!
At last! British Christian numpties are catching up with their American rivals:
UKIP councillor blames storms and floods on gay marriage.
@Portia:
Super-Congrats on the win!
Also, taking off on your critique of the idiot spewing “competing constitutions” garbage:
Um, yeah. If it was literally not debatable, there would have been no trial. The whole point of getting a ruling is that it is debatable.
It may be ludicrous that it is debatable (schools arguing that their prayer-in-schools-led-by-teachers-over-the-intercom is totes different from Abington v Schempp), but it must **of necessity** have been debatable if there was an actual debate.
Saying that courts can’t rule or that rulings shouldn’t be respected if there were two sides arguing is to say we shouldn’t have courts at all.
Seriously, how stupid can one get?
Well, I could have been on the next train home, but noooo, we still don’t have super-wide tape re-stocked at work, so I’m stuck here for another hour and a half until the very last one. Poo.
(This annoying moment brought to you by FMTL.)
So the local news site decided to write an article about the most popular plastic surgeries for women (ya know, because it’s interesting!). This is how they chose to illustrate it, because you have to choose a particularly disturbing image… Just wouldn’t work any other way.
Not this shit again. >.>
rq:
That is disturbing.
Azkyroth:
Which shit would that be?
Azkyroth
Eh? Did I say something?
@rq:
My guess is that the “shit” is the same disturbing image you critiqued.
Crip Dyke
That was my logical conclusion, but I’m wondering if I said something wrong. Or, more to the point, what I said wrong.
Just as AC/DC are the undisputed uber-meisters of the single entendre, I have always thought that the Scorpions are the undisputed uber-meisters of the cheesy ballad.
But even I didn’t realize the dramatic proofs of that proposition available with modern technology.
People on TV need to stop saying stupid things!!!
Despite the inescapable “Fox News” trigger, I still really like this photo of a fox:
http://www.cutestpaw.com/images/this-fox-wants-love-too/
When I used to live in a rural area with my parents (now dead and gone), we frequently would see fox cubs. The vixens seemed to like to den up in an area near a stack of old irrigation pipes. Fox cubs and pipes — a fox thing?
Not cute hawk photo, but interesting:
http://sedition.com/a/2598
CaitieCat @645:
LOL. Good point, and a nice rejoinder to Linda Harvey.
Baby rabbit who doesn’t care what his/her ears look like:
http://weheartit.com/entry/52314056/via/ariadnaki
Yes, I am making an effort to wash some anti-woman Republican stuff out of my brain.
Buffalo giving a bird a tongue bath.
http://www.tehcute.com/buffalo-licks-bird.html
Portia
Yay for the win
Lynna
For a few years in my late childhood, we had a pair of gray foxes that came back every year to raise a litter of cubs under our shed. Watching them learn to climb trees (the only canine that does so) was intensely funny. There was a pine tree near the shed, and we could watch the little fox cubs line up about 15 feet away, take a running start, and charge up the trunk to disappear among the dense needles. Then you’d see a branch shake, a lower branch shake, a third branch shake, and the a little fox falls out of the tree like a ripe apple and lands on its ass. Then the next one starts the run up…
Okay, fuck this up-do hair thing. I’m gonna leave it like this for days. Don’t ever make me do this again.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/255227503853150727/
And finally, for fun, a Jesus and Mo comic that nails the “Sensus Divinitatis” argument.
http://www.jesusandmo.net/2014/01/08/raft2/
Okay, I’m reasonably happy now. Expect no more weird postings from Lynna today.
Semi ‘rupt, but I just wanted to send a huge pile of hugs especially to Crudely and also to Ogvorbis. Crudely, I’d like to second what carlie said at #617. I hope very much that you and your family come through this, and I wish you luck and send you a holding-hands. Ogvorbis, all I can say is that you’re a hell of a lot braver than I am.
Wishing you both, and all the Horders, all the best I can wish.
So, yeah, family. We have a visitor, as of today, for the next couple of weeks: a relative who I love very much … we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye about quite a lot of things, though. He’s changed over the years and I haven’t (or rather, I have, I’m sure, but less – I think – and definitely in the opposite direction). And now he thinks I’m hopelessly naive, not that he’d say so in so many words, whereas he is … realistic. Hope I don’t implode over the next couple of weeks.
Dalillama at #662: [giggles] Sounds like the best fox cub video of all time. I assume it exists only in your head.
One of the funniest other-creatures scenes I ever witnessed was in the autumn when a bunch of forest grouse drunk on fermented berries kept trying to cross a dirt road in the mountains. Fall back, try again. Fall over, try again. Make it almost to the other side, fall over, struggle upright and stagger back to the starting point to eat more fermented berries. Stop, swaying in the middle of the road, to look at my truck. Talk to truck. Fall over.
… and also, extra hugs to rq just because, and because she is a very cool and very nice person, and yay for the library volunteers (what a beautiful thing to do, despite the lamentable reason why).
And congrats to Portia on another win!
Thanks, opposablethumbs! :) *hugs* for you, too!
Just beautiful #1.
Just beautiful #2.
D’Awwwwwwww…
And that’s… the rest of the story.
Good luck, opposeablethumbs!
Lynna
Unfortunately, yes. We hadn’t got any type of video camera at the time.
Crudely!
*pouncehug*, and all the hand-holding you could possibly want.
Good news, about Jesi!
*really big smile*
–
*netting a hug* from the heap as carlie tries to make off with them.
–
I hadn’t, rq—but that’s brilliant!
Perhaps a note in with the emergency cookies: “Warning—some cookies may contain Ex-Lax™”?
I keep a tin labelled “Emergency chocolate of last resort”, containing old Nestle Crunch™ bite-sizes. I don’t much care for them any way, and when I say “old”, I mean “at least five years”.
Depredations have ceased.
–
Oh, Ogvorbis!
*extra-deep pile of extra-plushy-and-warm hugs*
I am so sorry!
I’d like to test-drive a new aphorism:
Courage is just cowardice, with a good PR team.
because I think that often, it is.
You castigate yourself as a coward. I disagree with your assessment.
The way we react in an emergency is often not the way we wish we would act—because the emergency is a surprise. That’s why training is important—as dry runs for the real emergency.
AFAIK, there’s no “training” for the kind of situation you describe, except for instances like the situation itself. There’s training for running into burning buildings, but training for running into flaming assholes?
*shaking head*
Another time, you may be better prepared, perhaps dryly telling the next set of jokers that child molestation isn’t funny—because there’s a fair chance that they weren’t even thinking about it in those terms. Another time, you may be able to drag it out, dump it in front of them so they have to give some thought to what the hell they were shitting out their mouths.
–
Back after dinner.
No Game tonight.
:(
Only caught up till comment 615.
*hugs for Crudely Wrott*
Ole in ole, you’re just a
nother
brick in the wole.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
N.K. Jemisin on “Concern trolling and “gratuitous diversity”
I’m afraid the white peoples have been jumping all over Ms. Jemisin for “gratuitous diversity”, y’know writing minority characters who just don’t have a good reason for being a minority, and that means they just don’t have a good reason to be in this, that, and every setting, because they aren’t for reals. So sayeth the white peoples.
*hugs* for CaitieCat.
Being poor sucks. Yea, verily.
–
*high five* for Portia.
–
*pouncehug* for opposablethumbs, and may your visitor not provoke you to the detonation point.
:)
–
NEW THREAD.