Comments

  4. blf says

    I would suggest following the mildly deranged penguin’s approach to calendar-making:

    1st, Don’t fall into the trap of consistency. Or coherency. Or even logic. There is no reason for one day to follow another (have several, of different lengths, at the same time), and dispense with the absurd concept of a year entirely. Or at least number them with imaginary numbers.

    2nd, Cheese. Have lots of cheese-growing seasons.

    3rd, Moar cheese. Have more cheese holidays then days.

    4th, Rituals. Start each day by tossing a politician into the local volcano.

    5th, Final step. Throw the whole thing up into the air, sweep up the scattered pieces into a big bucket, and withdraw at random. The ignore the result, and eat some cheese instead.

    6th, Cheese. Eat some moar.

    7th, Don’t show it to anyone. This makes it easier to demand whatever taxes you desire whenever you desire them, declare a holiday of orgies, and clearly refer to future and past times and events.

    Creating a calendar is simple. It’s no harder than eating some cheese, and can be done almost as frequently (you can use the cheese if you run out of paper, but be sure not to eat the pen).

  5. says

    If you want your tax incentives, you will not discriminate when hiring employees. This is a nice glitch that the Ark Encounter people have hit head first:

    The developer of a Noah’s Ark-based theme park in Kentucky said on Wednesday he would fight for his religious rights after state officials warned he could lose millions in potential tax credits if he hires only people who believe in the biblical flood.

    Ark Encounter, which is slated to open in 2016 in Williamston, Kentucky, is not hiring anyone yet, but its parent company Answers in Genesis asks employees to sign a faith statement including a belief in creationism and the flood.

    State officials and Ark Encounter lawyers have exchanged letters in which the state threatened not to proceed with tax incentives for the park if there was discriminatory hiring practices, a state official confirmed on Wednesday. […]

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/usa-religion-ark-idUSL6N0S34Z520141008

    The tax incentives Kentucky offered amounted to $18 million — not an insignificant boost for a new business.

    […] Ark Encounter’s executive president, Mike Zovath, “said that if tax incentives for the project are withdrawn because it does not give written assurances the state now seeks, it would violate the organization’s First Amendment and state constitutional rights.”

    This would be a very tough sell in court. The religious theme park is not entitled to tax subsidies under the Constitution, and if it expects financial support from the people of Kentucky, it’s hardly outrageous for the state to insist that attraction agree not to discriminate against those same Kentucky taxpayers. […]

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-101114

  6. says

    Yeah, thank goodness the courts upheld this guy being fired.

    Columbus Dispatch link.

    The U.S. Supreme Court approved a ruling last year by the Ohio Supreme Court that upheld a decision by Mount Vernon school officials to fire a middle-school teacher for not removing religious materials from his classroom.

    Without any comment yesterday, the U.S. justices denied an appeal from the teacher, who had claimed his constitutional rights had been violated by the Mount Vernon school board when it dismissed him in 2011.

    School officials had argued that they fired John Freshwater, who taught eighth grade, for insubordination because he refused to follow an order to remove religious books and the Ten Commandments from his classroom.

    […] he distributed a pamphlet on the book of Genesis to his students. […] the teacher had used a hand-held Tesla coil to make a mark on their son’s arm that appeared to be in the shape of the cross. A Tesla coil is an electrical generator that does not produce much of an electrical shock, but can leave a mark on skin. […]

  8. says

    Lewis Black discusses voter ID and other voter-restriction efforts on the part of Republicans. Daily Kos link.

    Scroll down for video — it’s good.

    Further down, there’s also a Rock The Vote video — also good.

  9. Jackie says

    I just wanted to drop by and offer support for Oggie and the rest of the Horde. I think the world of you all. You inspire me and that is no small thing.

  10. says

    Ha! Take that, Idaho. You will be marrying sex-partners after all.

    The Supreme Court on Friday gave its blessing to same-sex marriage in Idaho after halting a lower court ruling earlier this week which struck down the state’s ban.

    “The application for stay presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court is denied. The orders heretofore entered by Justice Kennedy are vacated,” the Supreme Court said in a brief order issued late afternoon.

    There were no recorded dissents in the decision.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-lifts-stay-idaho-gay-marriage

    New York Times link, with much longer article — full coverage of marriage equality in each state.

  11. says

    Um. I am a tiger of very little brain today, so I’m just going to point at Jackie’s post up there and say that that goes for me too.

    Also, because I am a hellgoddess and harpy and all that, I will tell you about the Husband’s birthday feast last night – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, a side dish from TJ’s of butternut squash and creamed spinach gratin, and…
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    PEAS. mwahhahahhahhah!

  13. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Dang, another print magazine going belly up on me. This one makes sense. It is about Apple products and OS’s, and it is going digital. It means I get to read from the iPad instead of the print magazine while on the commode. All in the name of progress. ;)

  14. says

    Thank you, #11. I’m out grocery shopping with Mary’s usual I’ll-defined requests, and I shall surprise her. With peas. Lots of peas.

  16. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Maybe split pea soup tomorrow, too.

    Ooh, the Redhead once made a split pea soup, using both yellow and green peas, with some rice. It was so thick, the spoon would stand up straight in the bowl. Filling.

  17. Pteryxx says

    Sexism-in-tech is having a perfect storm this week. I mentioned earlier the clueless men of big tech companies being clueless as the plenary talk at the Grace Hopper Conference to celebrate women in computing: (readwrite.com)

    The panel consisted of Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer; Google’s SVP of search Alan Eustace; Blake Irving, CEO of GoDaddy; and Tayloe Stansbury, CTO of Intuit. The assembled white men set out to tell the audience what their companies are doing to make women more welcome and how men and women (yes, that’s right—women, too) can change the boys’ club culture in tech.

    Instead, they ended up reinforcing many of the stereotypes women are already all too familiar with. In essence, their advice to women was: Work harder, build great things, speak up for yourself, lean in. It got so bad that at one point, the audience started heckling the speakers.

    “I don’t think people are actively protecting the [toxic culture] or holding on to it … or trying to keep [diverse workers] from the power structure that is technology,” Eustace said. “I don’t think that’s it.”

    To which women in the audience said very loudly: “Yes it is!”

    Even more responses and background are being collected in this Storify: Bingo – These are not the allies you’re looking for

    Nothing in the Fortune article by GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving hasn’t been said by women in the technology space — said better and at great personal cost. This is a frequent problem: while women develop ideas on the issues affecting them, paying the price of escalating abuse and increasing isolation, men run with these ideas toward profit and bigger and bigger platforms.

    Similarly problematic is the spot given to Google’s SVP of Knowledge & Research Alan Eustace, on USA Today, which appeared the day after Irving’s Fortune article:

    What’s missing from conversation about women in tech? Men

    As Eustace mentions in this piece, it is risky for women to speak out. But this article doesn’t look like someone speaking out in solidarity with women — where were Eustace and Irving’s editorials when women in tech were being driven from their homes in terror weeks ago?

    And that was *leading up to* the travesty of a plenary talk.

    But this was not simply a panel that conference attendees could choose to attend — it was a plenary, a session carved into the schedule to avoid conflict so that everyone attending the conference could be present. GHC didn’t simply create a space for self-appointed allies. They unambiguously elevated the voices of these men into a centerpiece — over the voices of women. Twice. Let us not forget the keynote.

    —

    @shanley

    i need to ask why it is patriarchal men getting fame, platform, credit, praise, access, exposure off women in tech.
    11:45 AM – 7 Oct 2014

    @shanley

    when the women i know doing the real work are forced out of their fucking houses, live in fear and can’t get jobs.
    11:46 AM – 7 Oct 2014

    That was before going into the talk itself:

    @sharonw

    Male allies panel at #GHC14 claims that men take on as much personal risk as women do when speaking out about sexism. Misleading and untrue.
    9:06 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @selenalarson

    “Men face the same toxic culture that we do.” – Male allies panel
    8:34 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @lara_hogan

    WHAT PERSONAL RISK WHAT DID NO ONE READ THE INTERNET TODAY
    9:02 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    That’s a reference to Kathy Sierra’s “Kool-aid Point” post, published the day before this plenary talk. (Wired link)

    Adria Richards described her own harassment that same night, October 8, in solidarity with Kathy Sierra. (Storify link)

    @indirect

    celebrating women in computing by forcing thousands of them to listen to men literally patronize them for an hour #ghcmanwatch
    11:40 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @haley

    “I don’t think people understand what women go through” men. you mean men #ghcmanwatch #ghc14
    9:00 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @catehstn

    “Of all the men I’ve asked, have you ever said or done something that has made a woman uncomfortable?” – men say no. #GHC14 #ghcmanwatch
    9:17 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @catehstn

    Penny says “I’ll give you names.” I also have a list. #GHC14 #ghcmanwatch

    @ehashd

    “You can’t be in computing without being problem solvers.” Women, why haven’t you solved this one yet?!?!! #ghcmanwatch #ghc14
    9:25 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    On venture capital…

    @shanley

    oh god he just blamed us for not getting venture capital funding because we don’t try hard enough #ghcmanwatch #ghc14
    9:33 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    The following is a list of venture capitalists that links stories detailing behavior from the inappropriate to the criminal. Some aspects of it may be triggering:

    (links to five or six articles specifically about the harassment and sexism women face when attempting to get projects funded)

    @dylanw

    Wait, is #GHCMANWATCH a real thing? Like, right now, in this America, there are men in a panel of a women’s tech conference saying this?
    9:36 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @cczona

    4 powerful men given pulpit to tell 8K women: you need to stand up! Use voices. Blocked all 8K voices from voicing public Q&A #ghcmanwatch
    10:32 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    @ceohunty

    Props to the person coming up after and asking why there wasn’t a Q&A. SEND EMAILS. we need that for #GHC15 #GHCManwatch
    12:42 AM – 9 Oct 2014

    @justkelly_ok

    @shanley I asked Penny why no Q&A at allies panel. Response was that being too mean/critical will scare allies away. WDYT?
    2:01 AM – 9 Oct 2014

    “Allies” like this guy:

    @shanley

    We get Vivek Wadhwa in *every* mainstream mag, face of women in tech. Then, GoDaddy centered as an “ally”, mainstream editorials & on stage.
    10:39 PM – 8 Oct 2014

    Vivek Wadhwa, author of Innovating Women, has effectively made himself the face of feminism in tech while female tech culture critics are vilified and harassed. His response to criticism from women in technology has been described as a silent campaign of intimidation. Instead of listening and engaging in useful discussion that amplifies concerns, Wadhwa favorites their tweets or shares them from his book’s account, prompting his followers to descend on women critics in unrelenting waves of harassment, which he does nothing to correct. Without responsive intervention, harassment festers and takes root, turning amplification into another mechanism for abuse.

    Much much more in the Storify, including many links to articles and to #GHCManwatch reactions that are just now entering the conversation:

    Julie Pagano – Ally Smells

    Why are allies being offered a platform to speak about these issues instead of people who are actually members of the group being discussed? People who know the issues more intimately because they have lived them. People who care about them more passionately because it directly impacts them. People who cannot put it aside when it gets too hard because it is their life, and they must experience it daily whether they want to or not.

    See also yet another woman in gaming driven from her home: (at Mammoth’s next-to-latest link) and Zoe Quinn lighting up Twitter with righteous fury: (at Mammoth’s latest link)

    We all keep being told none of this is happening, people and websites still treat the movement with skepticism about what it is

    — Spoopy Twittër Rando (@TheQuinnspiracy) October 11, 2014

    Meanwhile *I* had to do the investigation into gamergate and blow that shit open with the IRC while watching them talk about raping me

    — Spoopy Twittër Rando (@TheQuinnspiracy) October 11, 2014

    […]

    I don’t care how many enemies I make now, this shit needs to stop. If you’ve just watched and let this happen, you should be ashamed

    — Spoopy Twittër Rando (@TheQuinnspiracy) October 11, 2014

  19. blf says

    Poopyhead is (1) Editing his blog whilst shopping; and (2) Has gone over to Teh Darkest Sides and is force-feeding Trophey Wife peas.

    To do the job properly, poopyhead also needs to buy some zucchini and horse, and edit whilst driving.

  20. says

    Oh, those, petty, petty mormons! This Moment of Mormon Madness is from the rewriting-history and the misogyny categories:

    Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the LDS Church’s governing First Presidency, created a bit of a stir several weeks ago when he described a General Women’s Meeting as the opening of the faith’s General Conference.

    A week later, though, at the conference’s Saturday morning session, Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, and Bonnie Oscarson, president of the Young Women’s organization (for girls ages 12 to 17), in her prayer, called Saturday morning’s gathering “the first session.”

    Later that evening, Bruce A. Carlson of the Seventy offered the following in his invocation at the all-male priesthood session:

    “We rejoice,” he prayed, “at the invitation of being at this fourth session of this special conference.”

    Those words seemed to show that the women’s meeting was the opening conference session, followed a week later by Saturday morning’s gathering as the second session, the afternoon meeting as the third session, and the priesthood meeting as the fourth session. […]

    Now, though […] the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those words have been muted or otherwise altered to remove the reference to the “fourth” session.

    The reason: The women’s meeting apparently is not officially a General Conference session — despite statements and prayers from high-level Mormon leaders that may indicate otherwise.

    “While the women’s meetings have long been an important part of General Conference week, they are not usually referred to as a session of General Conference,” LDS Church spokesman Dale Jones said in a statement Friday afternoon. “Edits are routinely made to General Conference proceedings prior to publication of the official record.” […]

    Salt Lake Tribune link.
    Women grasping at straws. Men making sure they don’t have any.

    So they edited a prayer to make sure those damned women didn’t mistakenly think that their conference was part of the General Conference!

    From the Comments on the Salt Lake Tribune site:

    We were told that the Women’s Meeting was part of conference, and then we were mysteriously un-told through censorship of a prayer that was broadcast live to millions of people. That’s a very strange thing to do.

  21. blf says

    A telegram just arrived. Well, came through my front door. At considerable speed. Embedded itself in the opposite wall and caught fire. I had to use the alligator and the stotting drummer (temporarily removed from the cupboard) to put the fire out.

    Whilst details like who it is from, when and from where it was sent, and so on are charred beyond readability, I can make out some of the text:

    ORB**IN* ***ES* *AULTS SA** **OP MUST NOT HARP***(completely illegible)

    I need to calm down the alligator now, or I’m not going to getting any milk for breakfast…

  22. says

    In the municipal election where I live, there are seven candidates vying for regional chairman (mayor for the region). The incumbent has served at this position since 1985 and is well-known and respected. None of the candidates have any major political experience and not well-known except one who has been fighting against and wanting to cancel the region’s light rapid transit project. Another has a criminal record and will appear in court in December for theft under $5,000 involving electronics, possession of stolen property, breaching two probation orders by allegedly failing to keep the peace.

    No wonder why the number of the people voting has declined.

  23. Pteryxx says

    Good news from the Ada Initiative in a big post full of juicy details including links to donors and interviewees: You did it! Thank you, and what’s next for you and the Ada Initiative!

    You did it! Over 1100 donors gave over $206,000 to our 2014 fundraising drive. We reached our original goal of $150,000 with 3 days to go, and then you gave another $56,000!!!

    This month alone has made a real difference for women in open technology and culture. Not only will your generous donations help fund our 2014-2015 plans including four AdaCamp unconferences for women, the launch of Impostor Syndrome training as a standalone class, and dozens of Ally Skills Workshops, as a direct result of your generous gifts, we are:

    Giving away half the seats at our first two standalone Impostor Syndrome trainings for free
    Running an Ally skills Workshop at Skepticon 7
    Training up to 15 new Ally Skills Workshop leaders at WisCon 39
    Making “Not afraid to say the F-word: Feminism” t-shirts

    […]

    Good fundraising is also FUN! As a result of this fundraiser, librarians practically have a costume ball going on at an upcoming conference, and they have a new cat-themed skin for open source library catalogue system Koha. Functional programmers threatened to post a video of themselves singing filk songs. Feminists everywhere took selfies while wearing silly hats. As supporter Ryan Kennedy put it on Twitter, “thanks to @adainitiative for working with me to put together a fundraising campaign for them. A+…would fundraise again.”

  25. says

    Good evening
    I spent most of the day embroidering and then I notices that I made a mistake when calculating the number of panels I need for my fake quilt. 10 would have worked, 16 would have worked, I made 12. Thankfully, fleece is not famous for leaning on exact anyway, so I think it will work out fine.

    +++
    Caitie
    Let me guess, the Oktoberfest is lots of public costs and private profits…

    +++
    Has it ever happened to you that once you become aware of some behaving kind of but not totally shitty you’ll suddenly become even more aware of it ever single time?
    My BIL is a spoiled brat. He’s 11 years younger than Mr and he’s like an only kid with an additional indulging parent. When we invited him to the restaurant to celebrate Mr.’s birthday I suddenly realized that in all these years, he never invited us. When I mentioned it to Mr. he said “but of course he invites up to his vernisages”. To which I said “Yes, that’s when we bring cake and snacks and serve his other guests”.
    Since then I’ve become aware of a lot of these things. Like now he’s been on a holiday. His third this year. The first one was in NYC, btw, so we’re talking about somebody with money to spend. But he’s too miserly to spend 5 bucks on a phone call with his mum, who would be really glad to receive one. Nope, he sends me a message via WhatsApp so I can phone her. But he phoned his parents when his plane had landed so they could pick him up. They’re good for that, I guess.
    I’m really annoyed at his behaviour towards his parents (but otoh they raised him and they are happy to oblige)

  26. blf says

    So if a fake quilt needs 10 or 16 panels, and you made 12, does that mean you are making a fake fake quilt, a real quilt, or a pea?

  27. says

    In an earlier chapter of the Lounge, I commented on Mike Huckabee threatening to leave the Republican Party because the GOP hasn’t fought against gay marriage hard enough. The more splinters in that party of doofuses, the better.

    Now the National Organization for Marriage is reiterating Huckabee’s threat.

    […] the National Organization for Marriage hailed Huckabee as a hero today, praising him for “speaking for millions of Americans who are sick of Republican elitists remaining silent and refusing to fight for the survival of marriage.” The anti-gay organization echoed Huckabee’s complaints and similarly warned that “millions of conservatives will abandon [the GOP] and join with officials who will fight” if the party does not take a stand on this issue: […]

    “Republicans who remain silent on marriage do so at their own peril and risk losing elections across the country. If conservatives see Republican candidates fail to lead on marriage — or worse, come out in favor of redefining marriage — then conservatives will abandon those candidates.”

    Brown said that some Republican leaders were actively supporting candidates who are not only in favor of same-sex ‘marriage,’ but also support abortion. House Speaker John Boehner and the National Republican Campaign Committee are actively supporting Carl DeMaio (CA-52) and Richard Tisei (MA-6), both of whom are campaigning in favor of gay ‘marriage’ and support abortion. […]

    Right Wing Watch link.

    I’m somewhat amused by the term “Republican elitists.”

    It’s also kind of a good thing to see them targeting moderate Republicans. The more they try to purify the GOP, the smaller the party will become. They should invest in a smaller tent.

  28. says

    It’s cold, (well, cool), here today. More cold weather is due to arrive tomorrow. Guess I’d better perform some winterizing chores on my house.

  29. says

    Okey-doke, one more addition to our Republicans/religious right-wingers saying stupid stuff file:

    The right-wing Harlem pastor James David Manning, notorious for his inflammatory anti-Obama remarks and statements calling for the murder of gays and lesbians, is joining forces with Flip Benham’s Operation Save America to stage a “pro-life” event in Jackson, Mississippi.

    Manning, along with WorldNetDaily columnist Mychal Massie, is taking part in a rally demanding the closure of the only clinic in Mississippi which offers abortion services. Manning said the event, “Operation: Let My People Go,” will emulate the Freedom Riders in their effort to have activists “descend on The [Jackson Women’s Health Organization] to close Mississippi’s only abortion mill.”

    “Mississippi stands on the verge of making history, the first abortion-free state in America. We are excited to help hasten the day. In ‘Operation: Let My People Go’ we will join our black brethren to confront the last remaining death camp in Mississippi and beyond. The racial root of abortion that has led to black genocide must be addressed. Since our black brethren are a target of this monstrosity, they hold a powerful key to defeat it.” Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, National Director of Operation Save America […]

    Right Wing Watch link.

  30. says

    I did a creative thing today. Yay.

    I made a pair of hairsticks for Aged Mum, vintage purple glass beads and antique gold (ie, not too shiny) spacers. I also restrung a yard sale pendant, a heart with a cat face that looks like her cat, onto a longer cord so she can wear it. Her birthday is the end of the month, but we already gave her her big gift (Castle Season 6 DVDs) and I wanted her to have something to open on the day. She’s also getting some art supplies, but she asked for those.

    This time I just used epoxy the first time. Messy, but it does work.

    Go me.

  31. carlie says

    For a change of pace, here’s some stupidity that is not sexist or racist, just absofuckinglutely stupid.

    There is a hockey team called the Flames. They decided their mascot would be a spark/ember. Ok, not a problem. It has a hockey puck for a head, and is all flamey. Still not a problem. Then they decided that the “origin story” of the mascot would be that it is the last remaining ember from a fire that burned down the entire town a hundred and fifty years ago. Not a fictitious fire, a real fire. That really burned down the town. Um? And then they made a 30 second spot, during which it kills a firefighter. *headdesk*

    Statement from the team:

    Team President Brian Petrovek issued the following statement on Thursday:

    “Earlier today we unveiled our new mascot Scorch. In an attempt to provide background material for the character who will be the face of our team, particularly with young fans, we crafted a story that Scorch was the remaining ember from the tragic fire that destroyed much of Glens Falls in 1864.

    We also crafted a skit that helped to launch the new mascot – with the help of the Glens Falls Fire Department. While it seemed in good taste when it was on the drawing board, it is evident now that it was in poor taste.

    On behalf of our entire organization we want to apologize for our thoughtlessness today. We have obviously turned something good, the launch of a mascot which we will use to entertain and encourage young fans, into something that is in poor taste. That was not our intention and again we apologize.

    We would like to emphasize that we as an organization take seriously the dangers associated with fire, understand its potentially devastating effects and acknowledge that those in our nation who are called upon to face and fight fires on a daily basis are truly heroes.

    We apologize.”

    *headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*

  33. carlie says

    And did I mention that the unveiling was during Fire Prevention Week, right after the state had its annual memorial for fallen firefighters?

  35. chigau (違う) says

    carlie
    That really does add a whole new dimension to Insensitive Assholes.
    —
    We have a hockey team named “Flames” nearby.
    Their logo is a flaming letter “C”.
    No back story.
    No need to apologise.
    Except for that incident with the mascot’s tongue.

  36. Saad says

    Anyone here a fan of international cinema? I’d be interested in trading recommendations. I’m always looking for interesting filmmakers to discover.

    I recommend Turtles Can Fly. It’s a very beautiful and powerful look at the US invasion and occupation of Iraq through the eyes of group of very interesting children in a Kurdish refugee camp.

  40. carlie says

    Oh my goodness. Child 2 (the Aspie) just got back from his first high school dance (homecoming). He loves the dances. He said he slow danced with two different girls, then got invited into a group circle dance with 8 girls, and he also “tore up the dance floor” and at one point had a whole group around him while he was dancing, and also is getting better at talking to girls, and also made a new friend. I found all of this out on the 5 minute drive home. :)

  42. chrislawson says

    PZ, I know you have limited control over your ad stream, but is it possible to drop the MacKeeper ads? They’re pop-ups, they open a second pop-up if you try to close the window, and it’s a bit of a dodgy product (there’s no evidence that “cleaner” apps do anything that your OS can’t do already).

  47. blf says

    Turtles Can Fly

    Ah, that explains earthquakes then. Well, if it’s flying turtles all the way down, then the ride is liable to be a “bumpy” every now and then…

  48. says

    More worldbuilding.

    I’ve revised my “working calendar” to an agricultural calendar based heavily on the Egyptian calendar. I’m not sure how widespread this calendar will be outside of the little area I’m (planning to) focus on when I start writing, but the Muses will do what they want.

    Available for viewing here, open for comments.

  49. blf says

    I’ve revised my “working calendar” to an agricultural calendar…

    How many cheese growing seasons? Do they overlap? How many progress “backwards” in time, or go in circles? Each season, of course, requires multiple holidays, each holiday lasting longer than the season, during which vast quantities of cheese are consumed, in celebration (and to make room for future and past cheese crops, in preparation for the next or a previous holiday).

  50. opposablethumbs says

    carlie, that is the most wonderful fantastic brilliant great outstanding news ever. I can just imagine how happy that was :-))))))))))))

  52. Akira MacKenzie says

    Ok, I had my liver ultrasounded and I got the results: I have fatty liver disease: a result of a sendentary, high-fat-and-sugar lifestyle of the North American nerd. The condition is reversible, all I have to do is lay off the crap I’ve been eating and exercise… Which was the plan to begin with.

    The changes in my diet have begun. II haven’t had a soda (regular or diet) or coffee or tea in nearly two weeks. Candy and chips are also no longer passing my lips, I’ve swaped out all flour-based food with whole-wheat versions. I drink water or 1% milk (I can’t stand skim). I try to get in about 20 minutes of walking during my lunch break (it’s all I can do given my work schedule). I’ve been counting calories on a smartphone app and weighing my servings.

    Let’s see where this takes us.

  54. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Anne @30
    Go you indeed! Those sound lovely, and very creative. I bet she’ll love them

    –

    carlie

    And then they made a 30 second spot, during which it kills a firefighter. *headdesk*

    Wow…and they thought at some point that that was in good taste?

    carlie @40
    That sounds wonderful for Child 2, how great :D :D :D

    *waves at Jafafa*

    Akira:
    That takes a lot of discipline, good for you.

    –

    It’s pretty much always the morning after an intense fire training that my muscles join together in a loud chorus of “WTF, ow”. But it feels good to have worked hard. I might actually get through this course. (Three months of 10 hours a week, for a state certificate. Classroom and practical alternating.) And yesterday one of the instructors used gender neutral words without making a big hairy passive aggressive deal out of it! “Nozzleman” rolls off the tongue so much more easily, but he made an effort. It was nice. :)

    Also, using a chainsaw at a 26° angle is hard. I did not think I could do it, but I keep pushing through on things I didn’t think I could do. Yay:)

  55. Funny Diva says

    Good luck, Akira
    I know how challenging it can be to make those changes. And goodness, you’ve made a bunch of really huge ones all at once!
    Is the building where you work large enough that you could use a restroom further away from your workstation? Maybe on another floor? That’s been one of my tricks.

    I’m in my (counts on fingers) seventh month at my goal weight, after just over two years on Weight Watchers. I don’t want to ‘splain any more than I can help, but if something comes up that requires a little trouble-shooting in addition to support and sympathy, I’d be honored.

  57. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Akira, if you don’t mind me asking, what were the symptoms you experienced that lead you to look into that?

  58. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Thanks, Funny Diva, and good for you, too, to be happy with your body is a wonderful thing :D

  59. Akira MacKenzie says

    Portia @ 54

    I’m not sure if it’s discipline so much as prideful cowardice. I really don’t relish the thought of dying of something that can be easily fixed.

    Azkyroth @ 57
    No symptoms per se. I’lol be 40 next month and I weigh 367 lbs and stand 6′ even. I’ve had weight troubles all my life and figured that I should talk to my new GP to work out something. They took a blood test and found I had an elevated ALT count, which prompted the ultrasound and the diagnosis.

  60. opposablethumbs says

    Portia, you are rapidly becoming my favourite superhero :-)

    Righting legal wrongs by day, rescuing people from cars and burning buildings by … um … other days, and nights, and quelling conscious and unconscious use of sexist language in between times and by the sheer force of her irresistible actually-being-right-dammit-ness :-)

  66. says

    Neil Gaiman’s new children’s book features Snow White saving Sleeping Beauty

    Neil Gaiman continues his streak of standing up for women in genre and just generally being the best by including a same-sex kiss between awesomely-developed characters Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

    Gaiman’s new children’s book, The Sleeper and the Spindle, out on October 23rd, is “a thrillingly reimagined fairy tale” which weaves together “a soft-of Snow White and an almost Sleepy Beauty with a thread of dark magic.” Illustrated by Chris Riddell, the book follows a young queen who sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment.

    She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

  68. blf says

    “Clergy Appreciation”? Dunno, never tried one. Should they be spit-roasted, slow-cooked, or sliced, sashimi-like, and served raw? What sort of vin do you suggest?

    Thinking about it, Grating them with a large amount of garlic and some Latvianspotatoes, browning in a frying pan, then simmering with MUSHROOMS! in a pepper-mustard broth, might do the trick. Serve with a Trappist bier, of course.

  71. opposablethumbs says

    Serve with a Trappist bier

    Or on a Trappist bier, with a bière trappiste. Mort subite?

  73. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Additional beverage recipes:

    Wabbit Season:

    Add 2 shots of Jaegermeister to a half-pint glass
    Top up with IPA of choice

    (The Jaegermeister invokes “hunting” imagery, the 2 shots invokes a double-barreled weapon, and the IPA is “hoppy.”)

    Variation: Duck season:

    Add 2 shots of Jaegermeister to a half-pint glass
    Top up with Stella, Heineken, Corona, PBR, Bud, Coors, Miller, anything with “Light” in the name, etc.

    (The Jaegermeister invokes “hunting” imagery, the non-beer is “water” and “foul.”)

  74. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Dang, the rate it’s going, I’m going to have to start getting the Redhead ready for me to go to sleep starting at noon. Except today, she was sleeping then, and tomorrow I’ll be at work. *sigh*

  75. says

    cicely
    11 October 2014 at 10:18 pm
    Ing!
    *pouncehug*

    Cicely! hi!

    I’ve sadly been too busy to spend as much time here lately. Been trying to do more with art professionally. if anyone’s interested the website I made/am building for it is here. http://www.ing4art.portfoliobox.me/
    If anyone needs some cartoons and art let me know

  79. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Update to BFG9000 recipe:

    Add 1/2oz Agwa de Bolivia to the mixture (optionally, 1oz, but it’s kind of expensive >.>). Also, if you’re anyone but me, I suppose you might want to substitute vodka for brandy. >.>

  80. rq says

    Cave-paintings in Indonesia.

    +++

    Turkey weekend was a smashing success. I may try to post some photos later, but we lucked out on weather and everyone’s contributions to the food spread were fantastic. Clean-up was relatively simple, but I now have a collection of giant bowls that (sadly) will have to be returned.
    Brought leftovers for mum and went to see dad in hospital yesterday – Friday’s gains have reversed and then lost some ground, too. But maybe that’s a factor of the people-aren’t-sick-on-weekends mentality here (no specialists on duty, no actual treatment, just drugs to maintain life until Monday).

    *hugs* and *gravy* for the Lounge, I’m sorry if I missed anything important, trying to catch up a bit.

  81. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Although, adding more “sweet, herbal, and green” to it may be gilding the lily a bit, and I suspect the Agwa is driving the current bitter finish…

  82. gondwanarama says

    Testing out my spanking new gravatar. Sorry for the noise, but I figured this is an appropriate venue to debut it ;)

  84. says

    Ow fuck, I completely tore my neck flushing the toilet
    Yes, I’m very talented

    +++
    Carlie
    Yay for youngster!

    +++

    Neil Gaiman’s new children’s book features Snow White saving Sleeping Beauty

    Neil Gaiman continues his streak of standing up for women in genre and just generally being the best by including a same-sex kiss between awesomely-developed characters Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

    So he basically stole the idea from Jim C. Hines?

  85. says

    Hugs for rq and extra carefully for Giliell, yay for Carlie and son!

    Well, I went and did it. I set up a twitter account using one of my disposable emails, so I could follow a few online shops and artists. I have no intention of actually twittering at anyone, but we’ll see how things go.

  87. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Testing out my spanking new gravatar.

    I don’t see any spanking. ;(

  88. rq says

    Anne
    My at name on twitter is and the unicorn, as one word. :) Image of a snarly WTF cat. :) I mostly retweet, but you’re welcome to follow me (and I can follow you!).

  90. says

    rq, I’m anne_d13. I don’t plan to do anything but follow, but that may change. Or not, I can’t keep up with stuff as it is.

    Adventures in medical coverage continue. I called our HMO today to find out if/when Elder Daughter is covered by her new individual plan. Turns out that HR at Husband’s company was *ahem* misinformed when they said her coverage ended on her birthday; she’s covered through the end of the month. So we applied too early and now her new plan won’t start until January. I’m on hold with Covered CA, trying to get things sorted out. They have over a half hour wait. Gah.

  92. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Superstition… I hates it.

    My mother has problems with a colleague who is deeply superstitious, and can’t hear anyone telling her “Good luck”. After my mother wished her good luck before her child’s doctor’s appointment, the woman yelled at her, and mum later found out that she also wanted to cancel the appointment for fear of bad results thanks to my mother’s good wishes.

    And my poor mum will feel guilty if anything bad happens, even thought she knows that of course her words couldn’t alter anything.

  94. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    My mother has problems with a colleague who is deeply superstitious, and can’t hear anyone telling her “Good luck”. After my mother wished her good luck before her child’s doctor’s appointment, the woman yelled at her, and mum later found out that she also wanted to cancel the appointment for fear of bad results thanks to my mother’s good wishes.

    Blech. This sort of thing is why I bristle when I hear the unqualified statement “Treat people the way they want to be treated.”

    I’m sorry you and your mom have to deal with that, Beatrice. :(

  95. Howard Bannister says

    @Portia

    It’s pretty much always the morning after an intense fire training that my muscles join together in a loud chorus of “WTF, ow”. But it feels good to have worked hard. I might actually get through this course. (Three months of 10 hours a week, for a state certificate. Classroom and practical alternating.) And yesterday one of the instructors used gender neutral words without making a big hairy passive aggressive deal out of it! “Nozzleman” rolls off the tongue so much more easily, but he made an effort. It was nice. :)

    Also, using a chainsaw at a 26° angle is hard. I did not think I could do it, but I keep pushing through on things I didn’t think I could do. Yay:)

    Let’s see, that’s … 172 hours? There must be some extra hours hiding in there somewhere–oddly scheduled weekends? Sounds like a firefighter 2 class. Or one of the new hybrid 1/2 classes.

    I just did Firefighter 2 this last year, so I’m probably just seeing similarities of pattern that exist between all firefighting courses. But I stand by my guess. :P

  96. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Howard
    You are correct, it’s FF2. :) Or at least that’s what they’re calling it. It’s more accurately a hybrid, given that we have homework with both titles on it. We do meet a lot on the weekends. Both Sat and Sun this past weekend. Just Sunday next weekend, and then both the following. Odd Thursdays and Wednesdays, too, for good measure.

  97. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Hi. I simply cannot with these UR TRYING TO ROPE ME INTO YOUR SPECIAL INTEREST SJ PROJECT1!!!!! dishonest little shits.

  98. Howard Bannister says

    It was a good class, with a good instructor. I came out of it feeling like I was ready to take on just about anything.

    Which was good, because when I got out of the class I took a shot at lieutenant and made it. (where’s the smiley for ‘I am super-proud of myself but incredibly afraid I will let my department down’?)

    Good luck!

  99. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Kill kill kill keeeeeeeeeeeeeel!!!

    “[Something egregious or offensive.] I’m just saying.”

    “I’m just saying” = slimey words to declare no responsibility for the words just spoken. I have a friend who does this a lot and I’m going to have to find a metaphorical tire iron with which to prang them upside the head.

  101. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Azkyroth,

    Yeah, “Treat people the way they want to be treated” presumes good will on all sides.

  106. gondwanarama says

    Tony @86,
    Hmm, didn’t come out well at low res. Hopefully this version is better. It’s supposed to be a white knight.

  107. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Howard
    If you find that emoticon please let me know. Every day all day.
    I interviewed for LT a few months ago just because they told me that candidates would get performance reviews afterward. That turned out not to happen, but it was still a good personal step to take.

    Thanks for the well wishes. I’m going to do more weights at the gym, I think. I’ve lugged dummies before but i have a feeling that the FF2 search and rescue practicals will be a bit tougher.

  108. gondwanarama says

    Ow fuck, I completely tore my neck flushing the toilet
    Yes, I’m very talented

    I empathise. I have hyper-elastic joints, which means a lack of feedback of the “Elbows aren’t supposed to bend like that, you goose” sort, and associated self-inflicted injuries.

  111. says

    Tony!
    I guessed it meant to seize by the front of the shirt, but apparently it’s a (association) football term for body-checking an opponent chest on, hence striking with the shirt-front.

  112. says

    What’s “shirtfront”? Aussie slang, a malapropism, what? How do you shirtfront someone who makes a habit of not wearing a shirt? Inquiring minds want to know!

    I spent an hour on hold and another half-hour working with a “counselor” at Covered CA, but I think we got the Elder Daughter’s health insurance enrollment sorted. I have to remember to call our HMO in a month to see if the paperwork has gone through yet, and we may have to pay for things upfront and get reimbursed later, but she’s in the system.

    I slayed a bunch of usefuls, went for a walk to the market, and made myself a pair of hairsticks with the vintage purple glass beads, with silver beadcaps this time. They’re a bit wonky, but I don’t think anyone but me can tell. I also lost my temper with Aged Mum, but she deserved it. Maybe next time she’ll remember that if she wants the serf to buy the right things for her, she has say what she wants instead of using one word and expecting the serf to intuit whether she means fiber one bars or fiber one cookies. Because not only are they two different things, they’re at opposite ends of the store.

  115. gondwanarama says

    tony@110,
    Yeah, it’s that thing that manly-men do: Grab the other guy’s lapels and give him a stern talking to, faces 3in apart. Of course there are more pleasant things to do in that position, but in terms of sexual politics, those two were pretty much separated at birth.

  118. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Also, it’s just not fair to demonise coal. What did coal ever do to you?

    I guess we know what he’s getting in his stocking…

  119. says

    Tony! – I think of shirtfronting someone as grabbing a fistful of shirt before screaming in their face, or headbutting them, but it’s also an Australian Rules term for slamming into your opponent’s chest with your shoulder; it’s a flying tackle, or was, since it’s been outlawed from the game and now goes by the feeble name of “bump”.

    Either way, it’s a bloody ridiculous term to use. Abbott’s a lout (here I’d say thug, because it doesn’t have the racist garbage attached to it that it has in the US). All Abbott’s succeeded in doing is getting himself mocked, again, and the rest of us mocked by association for having such a fuckwit in office.

  121. rq says

    Something cheery and historical for a rainy autumn day: KGB, torture, and Soviet terror.
    I wish all those people who think it’s trendy to wear the hammer-and-sickle could (would) watch things like this. And stop wearing that damn symbol of genocide.

  122. bassmike says

    I watched the video you linked to in 121 rq . I didn’t realize that there was such a significant percentage of Russian speaking people in Latvia. I should have worked it out as I was discussing the situation in Ukraine with my FIL a while ago and he told me that, under soviet rule, there was a deliberate policy of expelling Ukrainians to Siberia and setting up ethnic Russians in their place. Apparently it was known as Russification. I had suspected something like that had occurred, but didn’t realize quite how systematic is was. I guess the same thing happened in Latvia and all the other countries annexed by the USSR.

    Of course it now gives Putin the excuse to invade countries to ‘protect’ the Russian speaking population. No wonder many Latvians are worried given what has happened in Ukraine.

  123. rq says

    bassmike
    It was incredibly systematic. The first wave of deportations in ’41 removed the ‘enemies of the state’ at that time – those with education and social standing (teachers, clergy, prominent authors, politicians, etc.). Most military personnel at that time were shot in mass graves. The second wave in ’49 removed landowners and their families. In between, they deported those who served in the German army and general ‘criminal elements’ (like traitors, spies, etc. which could be found basically in a true witch-hunt manner). Russians from rural areas were brought in as colonizers and settled in Latvian cities and towns with priority, often removing remaining Latvian families from homes (or pushing them out by dividing large homes / apartments into ever-smaller ones).
    Anyway. A lot of that still resonates today, obviously, even though the newer generations are more focussed on creating a combined Latvian identity rather than kicking the ethnic Russians out again (where do you draw the line, how many generations back? mixed marriages?) – excepting the National Association, of course. They’re still keeping that anti-Russian rhetoric alive and well (anti-[everyone non-Latvian], but mostly anti-Russian). If they really want to be so national and patriotic, they’d bother with creating programs that help integrate everyone – language programs, a friendlier attitude, assurances that their media won’t be cut off (or, you know, providing the same media to ethnic Russians in Russian as Latvians get, the Russian channels are very, very powerfully pro-Moscow and they provide a completely different media-space than the more pro-Western Latvian media, it’s incredible to see).

    Eh. I’ll shut up now.

  124. birgerjohansson says

    “My mother has problems with a colleague who is deeply superstitious, and can’t hear anyone telling her “Good luck”.
    Cue for Black Adder and superstitious actors. “You mean MacBeth?”
    — —- — — — — — — —
    Super-Mega important?
    “New clues behind the resilience of a leading sexually transmitted pathogen, Chlamydia http://phys.org/news/2014-10-clues-resilience-sexually-transmitted-pathogen.html
    .
    Chemical present in broccoli, other vegetables may improve autism symptoms http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-chemical-broccoli-vegetables-autism-symptoms.html

  125. birgerjohansson says

    Saa d, Richard Kadrey’s novels are a source of obscure, little known but always interesting film titles. Too bad I cannot recall any right now.

  126. bassmike says

    It all makes it very complicated rq . As you point out: the ethnic Russians can no longer be considered recent interlopers as they are 2nd, 3rd and I guess 4th generation and potentially the product of mixed marriages. Irrespective of the initial method of introduction into the country, they are just as much Latvian as the indigenous population. I see no clear moral way to change the situation other then by acceptance on both sides. The worry is the glorification of Russia and currently Putin by the ethnic Russians, which has decimated Ukraine and I guess is also the danger in Latvia.

  128. bassmike says

    what is the current status of the near-extinct Livonian language in Latvia?

    I don’t know, but rq may well have have some information.

  129. rq says

    bassmike
    Yup, basically that’s the exact same issue. And I know many who are perfectly integrated (whatever that means, really) and who consider themselves Russian-Latvians and would rather live in an independent Latvia than return to being under Russian governance. It’s these people who get casually brushed aside by the political stance of ‘us-against-them’, and that’s a huge mistake.
    It’s like I’m Latvian, but I’m also Canadian by virtue of birth and upbringing, and no one can tell me I’m not either one (though both happen). I’ve taken to identifying here less as Canadian because there is a change in perspective, but any political talk about people with double-citizenships just makes me grind my teeth because it’s so one-sided.

    birgerjohansson
    The Livonian language is still nearly extinct, though there are a few revival movements along the coast (traditions, language, dress, history, etc.). I believe there are still about 200 – 300 speakers remaining. No official status as such, but I think it has one of those Culturo-historically Important Item statuses. That special care and financial support gets applied to Livonian activities of various sorts. Not entirely sure, though.

  130. rq says

    So today we’ve already had 40% of October’s average monthly rainfall. And it’s not letting up. I vote for 60% by day’s end!

  132. says

    Hey all.
    ‘Rupt.
    Hugs and support to all in need of some. Also, fresh coffee with or without Bailey’s.

    Also, throwing some love at rq for still maintaining coverage of events in the Good Morning America thread.

  138. says

    Chemical present in broccoli, other vegetables may improve autism symptoms http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-chemical-broccoli-vegetables-autism-symptoms.html

    Apparently generations (!!!!!!) of parents were right when they made the kids eat the broccoli

    +++
    Also, this might sound horrible, but today I had a class that really showed again that many people just shouldn’t have children. No baby is born an asshole, but by the age of 11 a lot of them have mastered that particular art.

  139. birgerjohansson says

    This Comic Perfectly Captures How Feminism Helps Everyone http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/sexism-feminism-comic-rasenth_n_5976660.html
    — — —
    Russian Plutocrat Set to Make $1.6 Billion in Brooklyn Via Tax Money, Threat of Property Seizure http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/10/02/prokhorov_nets_sale_billion_dollar_valuations_for_heavily_subsidized_arena.html
    — — —
    NASA: Earth Just Experienced the Warmest Six-Month Stretch Ever Recorded http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/10/13/nasa_earth_just_experienced_the_warmest_six_month_stretch_ever.html
    — — — —
    Nobel rewards economist who told us how to regulate the big firms which run our lives http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/nobel-rewards-economist-who-told-us-how-to-regulate-the-big-firms-which-run-our-lives/

  141. blf says

    Turns out that HR at Husband’s company was *ahem* misinformed when they said _____(fill in the blank)_____.

    I never trust the slave purchasing department (or the stooges in “legal”) for anything. I cannot think of a single company I’ve worked at, regardless of size (from small c.30-ish person start-ups to multi-thousand international corporations) where either group of twits has not consistently and persistently lied. They are like the thug party in USAlienstani, and fundies, lie is the default mode.

    Most recently, at Big Dumbie Co, the slave purchasing department e-mailed a reply to me saying “we will be contact with you about this” (where this was a very simple, Yes or No, question, without, as far as I can see, any obvious complications or caveats). No actual answer, and the promised follow-up has not happened. That reply was sent c.6 months ago.

    Before that was some horseshit about the lair’s new address, but it resolved itself since there is an automated system I can use which doesn’t depend on the slave purchasing department to actually do anything.

    Then there was the question asked to one of the two groups of twits (I don’t recall which group now) about safe harbor, i.e., protecting data in accordance to EU regulations. Again, a promise of a reply, and still nothing… Look, you flaming idiots, there is a reason I don’t fill in any of the fecking polls or forms or questionnaires or so on, it’s because you have lied about giving assurances of proper confidentiality. Consistently and persistently.

    </rant>

  142. rq says

    birgerjohansson
    I haven’t actually seen a black stork yet, they’re quite reclusive, but I do know where they live. :) One day I hope to see one.

  143. says

    The Pentagon on Monday released a report asserting decisively that climate change poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. It also predicted rising demand for military disaster responses as extreme weather creates more global humanitarian crises.

    The report lays out a road map to show how the military will adapt to rising sea levels, more violent storms and widespread droughts. The Defense Department will begin by integrating plans for climate change risks across all of its operations, from war games and strategic military planning situations to a rethinking of the movement of supplies.

    Somebody is paying attention. New York Times link.

  144. blf says

    rq, You know where black Snarks are? Groovy! Do you happen to know if the Boojums are the rare furry blue-yellow kind (not unlike the frog, actually, but with a bit more fur and teeth), or the more common naked scaly purple polka dotted type? (You can tell the Boojums apart by the eye-stalks(the Snark’s, not yours).)

    (Re-reads @142…)
    Oh. Storks. Not Snarks. (Wanders off to a random corner, starts crying, and falls down the stairs… …wrong corner…)

  145. rq says

    Pre-emptive warning, I am right now on a very short temper, so I’m going to do my best not to bite anyone for the next little while. And yes, re-reading my own comments 3 times before posting just so I don’t say anything particularly mean, but I apologize pre-emptively just in case.
    (No, it’s not a family-related matter. Work. In a possibly big way, in a two-pronged approach.)

  146. Saad says

    It’s not what we’re saying at all.

    Gotta love how far behind religion lags in ethics and morality.

    My favorite part:

    The Vatican also said that it wanted to welcome gays and lesbians in the church, but not create “the impression of a positive evaluation” of same-sex relationships…

    So which is it?

  147. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Saad,

    It’s “you’re welcome as long as you leave your self at the door”.

  148. Saad says

    Yup, and I wonder what this means:

    Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community.

    Creepy.

    So we’ll use your “gifts and qualities” (whatever they mean by that) but don’t you dare act like your inherent nature is not awful.

  150. says

    rq: Here’s a queer shoop sized hug if you want!

    ****
    Saad @146

    I love how-once again-people are hanging all over the Pope’s words as if that means a damn thing. He’s using nicer, more flowery words to gay people. He’s telling people to be kind to them, all while saying we’re not going to treat them as equals. How the hell is this progress? How is this something to be appreciated? How is this the “massive shift” in the RCC?
    All they’re doing is saying “we’ll tolerate your presence, but you’re still not our equals”.

  151. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Here’s a hammer, here’s some glassware, knock yourself out rq!

    Also, *hugs*

  152. rq says

    Thanks for the offer, Anne, but I think I’ll take Beatrice‘s hammer-and-glass first. With one of those queer shoop sized hugs for good measure (sounds pretty comfy!).

  153. opposablethumbs says

    Hugs and hammers, rq. I hope the work thing works out/does not screw you over, whatever it is that is happening.

  154. says

    NASA tells us that the methane hot spot in the U.S. is three times as big as we previously thought. The hot spot is near the Four Corners area, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah borders meet. It covers about 2,500 square miles.

    The likely cause? Leaks in natural gas production.

    “The results are indicative that emissions from established fossil fuel harvesting techniques are greater than inventoried,” […]

    Link.

    NASA link.

  155. gondwanarama says

    The Guardian’s weighed in pretty hilariously on the Putin/Abbott issue:

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/oct/10/australia-russia-abbott-putin-macho
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/quiz/2014/oct/14/tony-abbott-vladimir-putin-g20-quotation-quiz

    For reference, as a politically-aware Australian, I scored 5/10 on that quiz, which seems to be the mean. Looking at the distribution of scores, it looks binomial i.e. trying to tell a Tony Abbott quote from a Vladimir Putin quote, respondents are right exactly as often as if they’d just flipped a coin.

  156. rq says

    gondwanarama
    My result:

    3 out of a possible 10
    Poor, but congratulations all the same. Keep up your healthy ignorance.

    Hm. *shrug* I had a giggle. :) (And guessed on all of them.)

    +++

    The General Harris thread was terrible but strangely cathartic. *hugs* to all those deeply involved and still able to maintain something resembling a civil ton… Oh wait, no. Just *hugs*, no qualifiers. :) Y’all rock.

  157. says

    Well, that’s okay then. She had “no ill intent” when she called for a military coup to oust President Obama. (As you can see, this is an addition to our Republicans-saying-stupid-stuff file.)

    A Republican Missouri official […] Jefferson County Recorder of Deeds Debbie Dunnegan referred to Obama as “our domestic enemy,” according to a screenshot published by Progress Missouri.

    “I have a question for all my friends who have served or are currently serving in our military … having not put on a uniform nor taken any type military oath, there has to be something that I am just not aware of. But I cannot and do not understand why no action is being taken against our domestic enemy. I know he is supposedly the commander in chief, but the constitution gives you the authority,” she wrote in the post. “What am I missing? Thank you for your bravery and may God keep you safe.”

    Dunnegan, who is up for re-election in November, said that her question was taken out of context, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

    “Something innocent and simple got twisted into a disaster because it’s an election,” she said. “I meant no ill intent toward the president. I meant no ill intent toward anybody.” […]

  158. says

    Bad news for democracy, bad news for voters in Texas. Bad news for all of us if voter ID laws put more Republicans in office.

    A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas’s voter identification law can move forward for the 2014 election, halting a ruling by a trial judge who struck down the law as unconstitutional on Thursday.

    “This is not a run-of-the-mill case; instead, it is a voting case decided on the eve of the election. The judgment below substantially disturbs the election process of the State of Texas just nine days before early voting begins. Thus, the value of preserving the status quo here is much higher than in most other contexts,” Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

    The case has yet to be heard on the merits at the 5th Circuit, which leans conservative. It may eventually reach the Supreme Court. […]

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/5th-circuit-voter-id-texas

  159. says

    We don’t need another reason to vote this November, but here’s one anyway:

    There’s never been a worse time to be a Democrat in a red state. Republicans now hold all the reins of power—the governorship and both houses of the state legislature—in 23 states. That’s up from just nine before the 2010 elections. There are now more states under single-party control than at any time since 1944. And without even token Democratic opposition, Republicans have busted unions in Michigan and Wisconsin, passed draconian tax cuts in Kansas, and enacted sweeping new abortion restrictions across the nation.

    Right. All of the above. Not to mention gerrymandering voting districts, and passing voter ID laws that disproportionally affect Democratic Party voters. The tax cuts passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures have benefitted only the top 10%, and sometimes only the top 1%. Also, let’s mention their anti-immigration efforts that are irrational. Oh, yeah, and reasonable gun laws are forbidden.

    This November, more Americans could find themselves living under single-party GOP rule. There won’t be nearly as many states flipping to single-party rule as in 2010’s GOP romp, but Republicans are hoping to add Arkansas and Iowa to the list of states where they can implement their agenda free of Democratic resistance. In Arkansas, Republicans won the state House and Senate in 2012 and hope to add the governorship this year. And in Iowa, a razor-thin two-seat Democratic Senate majority is all that has held back a wave of conservative legislation. […]

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/gop-state-government-control

  160. says

    Are feminists taking over video games?

    Recently, there has been some discussion about transparency in video game journalism, including claims that some journalists have unresolvable conflicts of interest and/or have breached real or perceived codes of ethics.

    Within this important conversation between the press and their readers, there have been two claims of which I was suspicious:

    1. “A small faction of feminists are taking over video-game journalism and shifting the focus from a love of video games to gender relations.”

    2. “The consequence of this shift is that journalists are no longer delivering content that gamers want.”

    Are feminists taking over video games? Are they really everywhere we look? Does the press even care about video games anymore? How often do video game journalists bring up feminism, sexism, or misogyny in their works?

    Since I have access to a large, growing repository of nearly every recent article published by the video game press, I thought I’d run a simple query to answer these questions and share the results—whatever they turned out to be.
    RESULTS+
    Of the 130,524 articles downloaded from 23 outlets in a 12-month period, only 0.41% of those articles referenced feminism, feminist, sexism, sexist, misogyny, and misogynist. Less than half of 1% of the articles published by professional video game journalists for major publications during a 12-month period brought up these more progressive subjects explicitly.

  161. Saad says

    Tony!, #150

    He’s telling people to be kind to them, all while saying we’re not going to treat them as equals. How the hell is this progress? How is this something to be appreciated? How is this the “massive shift” in the RCC?

    Precisely. Equality is all or nothing. Statements like these are nothing but “separate but equal” at best.

    It’s actually really fucking arrogant of the Pope to make these statements like he’s doing the LGBT community some giant favor.

  162. carlie says

    Just a recommendation – for a few years now I’ve been following Yanghaiying, an artist on youtube. She has a combination of video types – a lot are her doing and demonstrating artistic techniques, some are outfits of the day, some are teas, some are just her daily musings. But she has a lovely voice, and her art is beautiful, and she sometimes really has great things to say. Here’s one where she combines ink grinding with some thoughts on using the best you have because you are worth it, and you shouldn’t save things forever because you think you’re not good enough.

  163. says

    I am ‘rupt since the new Lounge, but I felt a need to post this for future generations:

    Never, under any circumstances, and no matter how lightly, touch your shutter with your finger to remove a dog hair, even if you have wrapped your finger in a lint-free cloth. Especially if you have just driven an hour to photograph fall foliage. Also don’t do it even if the hair has been screwing up your photos for several weeks because you couldn’t find it.

    This had been a Public Service Announcement.

    I will now go back and scan some posts here to see if I might be of use. I might have done earlier but I was fascinated by the obliviousness of the latest defender in that General Harris comment thread.

  167. bassmike says

    *hugs* for rq and anyone else who wants them.

    I’ll be asleep over here on the Chaise-lounge (You know – the one next to the fainting couch) : my daughter hasn’t slept through a whole night for the best part of two weeks now. She can’t or won’t tell us what’s wrong. But it’s tiring us all out!

  171. birgerjohansson says

    Watts is also awesome again:
    Echopraxia (Peter Watts) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Echopraxia-Peter-Watts/dp/076532802X/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=02DCG4MDFYR8DWRVGRT9
    Online review:
    “H.P. Lovecraft once wrote, “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age”

    As it turned out, Lovecraft was predicting Peter Watts.”

  172. birgerjohansson says

    “So we’ll use your “gifts and qualities” (whatever they mean by that) but don’t you dare act like your inherent nature is not awful.”
    .
    The statement by the Vatican would be more relevant if it was about vampires and werevolwes, whose inherent nature is a bit more, ahem, problematic.

  173. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Good morning Lounge.
    I’m dragging a little bit this morning, with the fact that I have lost sleep to anxiety the last couple nights. Sigh.
    Coffee.

    *restocks the hug pile*

  175. rq says

    Also, due to yesterday’s heavy rain and today’s unrelenting drizzle, the next town over is flooding, with some evacuations. Scroll through for photos – this is the same town that gets filled with ice and flooded in the spring during the great river thaw. Location, location, location.

  180. rq says

    For the authors: Accessing the Future.

    Saad
    It’s a bit of a joke (or complete seriousness) mostly on the part of Canadians, who do not say ‘zee’ at the end of the alphabet (PZ = pee zee), but say ‘zed’ (PZed = pee zed). :) Just to emphasize the proper way to pronounce one’s letters.

  181. Saad says

    Ohhhh, hah! I wasn’t even reading it like that. I was reading it as the past-tense of a made-up verb “PZ”. Thanks.

  184. rq says

    if Poopyhead doesn’t like it, I’ll stop immediately

    It would be a sign that he has now moved on to linguistically oppressing Canadians on his blog. Where will it all end???

    +++

    TW for cancer and wallowing
    It’s no wonder I’m no good at comforting other people, in real life. I’m not much good at comforting myself. And honestly, I know that Husband lost his own mother to cancer in a rather long, drawn-out struggle, which is more or less similar to what’s going down now with my dad. And I still find it difficult to say something about how I feel, and, to be even more honest, I’m not even sure how I feel (besides, you know, kinda crappy and a wee bit conflicted, but in real life conversation that translates into a shrug and a ‘meh’ with downcast eyes). I don’t know how to help myself, and I don’t know how to ask someone else to help me on this one, because I’m not sure on what words I should be using.
    Does that make sense? I’m not surprised by what could be the end, but you’d think I’d have made some sort of reconciliation with it, knowing it was coming, before this. No? I just feel so unprepared, regardless of all previous efforts.

    Anyway. I’m going to sit alone at work tonight and see what happens.

  185. opposablethumbs says

    Oi, we pronounce the letter ZED properly in the UK too, you know! :-)

    rq,     re not-good, I’m holding thumbs and crossing fingers for you :-(

  189. blf says

    Actually, other than USAlienstan, is there any Ingerlish-speaking location which doesn’t pronounce z “zed”?

    I have no idea, but suspect zed is used in more locations (and more people) than any other alternative. Ye Pfffft of All Knowledge tends to confirm that guess:

    In most dialects of English, the letter’s name is ‘zed’ /ˈzɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta (this dates to Latin, which borrowed Y and Z from Greek, along with their names), but in American English, its name is ‘zee’ /ˈziː/, analogous to the names for B, C, D, etc., and deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal form.

    But the real question is not PZee or PZed, but Pee Zed or Pea Zed. Probably the later, evidenced by to the recent attempt at pseudo-snert (which sounds even more suspicious than the real thing!).

    (The pronunciation of “Pea Zed” is, of course, poopyhead.)

  190. says

    In any case, on the assumption that chigau has it right and PZ doesn’t like that other name, then no more shall it pass my WiFi, and I apologise, PZ, for misnaming you. I hadn’t seen any comments to that effect, but sorry in any case.

  192. rq says

    Thanks for being so supportive, Horde. I also realized that I have been claiming all-the-hugs for the past two nights now, which is entirely unfair to the rest of you, so I will try to remove the wallowing from the thread from now on.

    Thank you, Anne, I’ll take it black, strong, very sugary and with cream. And before you gasp in horror at the desecration of tea with so much sugar, I’ll have you know I don’t usually like it particularly sweet. It just seems to make me feel better that way. :)

  193. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,

    Forget the sugar, you put cream in your tea?!

  194. says

    Oh, dear, what a fucked up mess in Texas. This is an update to previous comments about the voter ID law, which has been making its way through various levels of court hearings. The U.S. Appeals Court has managed to make the mess even messier:

    Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos not only ruled against Texas’ voter-ID law, she did so in a powerful and forceful way. The 147-page opinion reads like a beautiful recitation of history, before concluding that the voting restrictions imposed by Texas Republicans for no reason violates both the remaining provisions of the Voting Rights Act and the constitutional prohibition against poll taxes.

    Ramos also found “that the law not only had the effect of discriminating against minorities, but was designed to do so.”

    It did not, however, last long. […]

    […] A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday afternoon unanimously stayed an order issued Saturday by U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos that had blocked the controversial law […]

    “Based primarily on the extremely fast-approaching election date, we STAY the district court’s judgment pending appeal,” Judge Edith Brown Clement, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote. It cited Purcell v. Gonzalez, a 2006 case in which the Supreme Court stopped an Arizona voting law from going into effect close to an election, to avoid causing confusion among voters.

    Of course, if the goal was to make the process less confusing, Texas is moving in the wrong direction. Roth added in a separate report that the 5th Circuit may have revived the voter-suppression law, “but while the state was pushing to get the law reinstated, it stopped issuing IDs. It said Wednesday morning that it has started again. The on-again-off-again schedule could add to the hurdles and confusion that voters face in obtaining an ID. And it offers a window into the GOP-controlled state’s approach to voting: In a nutshell, critics say, Texas jumped at the chance to stop issuing IDs, even though it was far from clear that a halt was required by law.”

    What an extraordinary – and wholly unnecessary – fiasco in a state where over 600,000 registered voters don’t have the kind of ID Texas now expects them to show for the first time in order to cast a ballot. The policy has already caused voting problems in the Lone Star State and those problems are poised to get considerably worse. […]

    Links:

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/appeals-court-revives-texas-voter-id-law

    http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-voter-id-law-back-place

    http://www.salon.com/2014/10/13/gop_voter_id_law_gets_crushed_why_judge_richard_posners_ruling_is_so_amazing/

  196. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    rq,
    I know they’re late, but <{*(([ H U G G E S ]))*} to you.

    And sugar and cream in a good cup of Darjeeling is the way to drink tea. :-)

  197. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Hey Lynna, just wanted you to know I do follow and read many of the links you provide to what’s going on in this fucked up world of ours. Your efforts aren’t going into a vacuum and I for one appreciate your work.

  199. rq says

    Beatrice
    Only black teas. Not herbal teas, not green teas.
    jrfdeux gets it (thanks for the hugs). Darjeeling, Ceylon, even Earl Grey… milk, if no cream is available or for a lower calorie break. For true indulgence, a couple spoonfuls of condensed milk.
    Then again, I’m one of those people who loves to drink cream out of those single-serve little packages at parties and events.

  200. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Just kidding, rq.
    Maybe I was doing it wrong, but I never liked tea with milk (or cream or similar).

  201. says

    rq, here’s the tea, here’s a full bowl of sugar lumps (and my ancestral silver tongs with the chicken feet), and here’s the cow creamer. Use as much as you need of everything.

    I usually drink my tea straight or with a squeeze of lemon, but sometimes you just need the sugar. Also, I always have more hugs, if you don’t mind the cat hair, so don’t worry about using more than your share.

  204. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,

    No worries, I was just explaining myself because sometimes I don’t convey what I mean well either.

    Not to gross anyone out, but my nose almost started dripping on the keyboard. Time for nostril-tissues!

  205. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Tea is a serious business! I agree with rq on preferring cream over milk, and that sweetened condensed milk is for moments of pure hedonism. :-)

    Here’s one way of making your tea that I do practice. It’s partly done for the sake of ritual, but the preparation I find does help make your tea more enjoyable.

    I prefer Darjeelings myself. And a word of advice: if you like your tea strong, don’t go too far over the 5 minute steeping mark. As you creep past that point tannic acid begins to leach into the water and you’ll ruin your tea. No amount of dilution will take that nasty taste out; you’ll have to dump your tea and start over.

  207. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    jrfdeux,

    eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
    *whimper*

  208. Pteryxx says

    (Warning for discussion of Ebola and systemic healthcare fuckups… I am so pissed off right now)

    —

    Two healthcare workers in Dallas have come down with Ebola after treating Thomas Duncan, the patient who traveled from Liberia. The narrative so far has been that the first nurse must have somehow made a mistake in changing her personal protective equipment (PPE), and how sad/unfortunate/heroic it is that the brave compassionate nurses face such risks.

    But the nurses of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital gave an anonymous statement through a national nurses union, describing not being given adequate protective gear in the first place, along with insufficient response from the hospital itself, including failure to put Duncan in isolation immediately, and nurses involved in his care having to work alone and then treat other patients. (Standards of care for Ebola include using a buddy system to watch each other for problems, which isn’t possible when nursing departments are understaffed, as they have been for years to save money.)

    These nurses don’t belong to any union themselves – this is Texas after all – and spoke through the union because they fear retaliation.

    Boston.com:

    The nurses’ statement said they had to ‘‘interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever protective equipment was available,’’ even as he produced ‘‘a lot of contagious fluids.’’ Duncan’s medical records underscore that concern. They also say nurses treating Duncan were also caring for other patients in the hospital and that, in the face of constantly shifting guidelines, they were allowed to follow whichever ones they chose.

    When Ebola was suspected but unconfirmed, a doctor wrote that use of disposable shoe covers should also be considered. At that point, by all protocols, shoe covers should have been mandatory to prevent anyone from tracking contagious body fluids around the hospital.

    A few days later, however, entries in the hospital charts suggest that protection was improving.

    ‘‘RN entered room in Tyvek suits, triple gloves, triple boots, and respirator cap in place,’’ a nurse wrote.

    The Presbyterian nurses are not represented by Nurses United or any other union. DeMoro and Burger said the nurses claimed they had been warned by the hospital not to speak to reporters or they would be fired.

    CNN:

    “The protocols that should have been in place in Dallas were not in place, and that those protocols are not in place anywhere in the United States as far as we can tell,” National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro said Tuesday night. “We’re deeply alarmed.”

    […]

    Claim: The nurses’ protective gear left their necks exposed

    After expressing concerns that their necks were exposed even as they wore protective gear, the nurses were told to wrap their necks with medical tape, the union says.

    “They were told to use medical tape and had to use four to five pieces of medical tape wound around their neck. The nurses have expressed a lot of concern about how difficult it is to remove the tape from their neck,” Burger said.

    Claim: At one point, hazardous waste piled up

    “There was no one to pick up hazardous waste as it piled to the ceiling,” Burger said. “They did not have access to proper supplies.”

    […]

    According to DeMoro, the nurses were upset after authorities appeared to blame nurse Pham, who has contracted Ebola, for not following protocols.

    “This nurse was being blamed for not following protocols that did not exist. … The nurses in that hospital were very angry, and they decided to contact us,” DeMoro said.

    And they’re worried conditions at the hospital “may lead to infection of other nurses and patients,” Burger said.

    A hospital spokesman did not respond to the specific allegations, but said patient and employee safety is the hospital’s top priority.

    Protective gear for Ebola handling should include fluid-proof gowns, sleeves, and shoe covers (paper gowns or scrubs are insufficient), double or triple gloves with the sleeves tucked in and taped down to allow no air gaps, face masks or respirators and goggles or face shields because Ebola’s most often transmitted by fluid transfer to the face and eyes. All of this has to be donned in a particular order and *removed* in a particular order to ensure no cross-contamination from, for instance, removing contaminated gloves and then touching the contaminated mask, gown, or shoe covers with bare hands. Here’s a PDF explaining much of the process: (CDC link) and more at the Guardian.

    Obviously it’s much harder to do the intricate PPE dance when rushed, when stressed, when you’ve only read a document and not done hands-on training, when the right equipment isn’t even available and you’re working with sticky tape and flimsy paper gear, and when nobody is available to help you get through all the steps. Being cheap about this just ensures that protection WILL fail.

    Nurses aren’t the only hospital staff who need this training and equipment. Janitors who have to clean the rooms and furnishings, trash collectors who have to dispose of the infected gear and fluids, and lab techs who handle and transport patient specimens, all need specific training and PPE of their own.

    (Disclaimer: I’m not a healthcare worker but I’ve done decontamination protocols in a veterinary setting, where *only* entire labs’ worth of research and funding were at stake.)

  209. rq says

    jrfdeux
    I’ll have to try the whole ritual sometime, but I confess, I’m an over-5-minutes steeper myself. It’s the overdone taste that I usually prefer for daily drinking, I know, I know, that’s not taking it seriously enough!
    I’m much more gentle with my looseleaf teas, when I can get my hands on them. I love Golden Assam, but usually get it in cafes, as I have not bothered to seek any out in the store shelves due to a lack of time in the daily routine. I do co-own with Husband a rather lovely, large, ceramic, authentic English red-with-white-polka-dots teapot that is not used nearly as often as it deserves.

    Beatrice
    Like so…?

  210. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,
    Aha! Underpants on the head must be the secret cure for cold that They have been keeping from us for decades!

  211. rq says

    I see jrfdeux has already beat me to nose-grossness, and then Pteryxx‘ link is rather terrifying…

  212. toska says

    So, I’m a day behind reading pretty much everything, and I don’t want to derail the Sam Harris thread by bringing up old stuff, so I’ll leave this here:

    Tony!
    I really loved what you said in comment #213 on the Sam Harris thread

    I’m proud to call as my friends, various people on this blog who are committed to social justice activism in many forms. There are heterosexual people who call out homophobia and support rights for gay people. There are cisgender people who won’t stand for transphobia. There are gay people who are fierce supporters of abortion rights. These are people who may not be directly affected by particular issues, but because they care about the world becoming better, they call out all manner of shit. These are people who have expanded their efforts beyond just the issues that concern them. They recognize that other people are suffering and they want to help alleviate that where they can. They know that if the world is made better for others, it’s made better for *all of us*. I don’t just want to live in a world where my life is easier and bereft of oppression and discrimination. I want that for everyone.

    ^^This is also why I read and comment here. I love the diversity of people who all care about each other’s oppression, or even just their general struggles in life. There aren’t many other places where people will so passionately defend against sexism, racism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, classism, and anything else I missed there. Thanks Tony! and all of the Horde.

  213. rq says

    Beatrice
    I found a good picture of a toilet paper roll on one’s head, but it won’t let me open it up and link here (because it’s ‘Entertainment’ and I’m at work, boo work filters).
    The underwear, in the meantime, should do the trick.

  214. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,

    I have a toilet paper roll on my bedside, for the nose.
    But I can’t go to bed because people are being wrong on the internet!!! Again! When will they ever learn?!

    That’s a lot of exclamation points. Maybe there’s a leech in my brain. Or it’s just the headache making me go bonkers (I’m not even on drugs or anything).

  215. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Pteryxx,

    I’m not ignoring your comment, I just don’t know what to say. They way nurses are treated in hospitals is horrible at best of times, this kind of situation just makes it even more obvious how very little administration cares about them, even to the point of not taking sufficient care not to expose them to freaking ebola.

  216. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    rq, who am I to judge? If you like your tea with that astringent taste, I can dig it, even if I have to go snobbishly gag to myself in the corner. :-) Do let me know if you get into the tea ritual. To me there is little as comforting as a good strong, sweet cup of steaming hot tea with a biscuit and some marmalade, enjoyed whilst enshrouded by a wool blanket on a cold rainy day.

    Beatrice, as you come to know me you’ll find me to be annoyingly puerile at times. I can be a real jerk, but in that brotherly way. :-)

    Pteryxx *Sigh* I’ve been hearing horror stories exactly about what you posted from an old friend who works as an RN in TX. She and the rest of the healthcare staff are positively furious with the hospital administration and the CDC. I don’t know what else I can share because I don’t want to risk jeopardizing her job, but what she’s been telling me has been both astonishing and horrifying.

  217. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    toska #212, right on. Moi aussi, this is why I love it here so much. No one gets to be an asscake without consequence, without being thrown on the carpet for it. Pharyngula is kind of a de-asscaking machine. Asscake goes in one end, a compassionate human being comes out the other. It’s not perfect and the asscakes who can’t or won’t be changed end up spat out on the rejects pile, but the ones who do come through are the ones you really want to have stick around.

    Pharyngula: Come Get De-Asscaked.

  218. rq says

    Beatrice
    All those wrong people are keeping me engrossed in reading rather than actual work. Oh well, I was here until 2 last night, so I can blame my slow brain for today’s low productivity.

    Pteryxx
    If it can be that bad in the US, then it makes me seriously terrified for what will happen if ebola ever comes here. There is a serious lack of infrastructure and oversight, never mind modern buildings with proper de-contamination zones and ventilation and hygienic services. Plus everyone cuts corners and ignores the bits of protocols that they don’t like, because hell, it’s a free country and they can do what I like (and weekends don’t count as days (Ebola, it’s Friday night, you’re free to go until Sunday night!), so no, you’re not going to get treatment, just some drugs to stay marginally alive until Monday, thanks). *shudder*

  219. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    jrfdeux,

    World is a horrifying place. I will eventually have to get used to that.
    But if I ever find a leech in my face, I think I’ll just give up on everything. (*whimper*)

  220. blf says

    Underpants on the head must be the secret cure for cold…

    No, no, no… Underpants on the head is the not-so-secret version of a tinfoil hat which works — but only when worn outdoors, uncovered, in a large crowd.

    (Covering any sort of a tinfoil hat never works. Indoors, or in a sparsely-peopled area, running naked in a figure-8 loop yelling “Wee! Wee!! The moonbeams can’t catch me!!!” is said to work, albeit the mildly deranged penguin has observed there is insufficient cheese involved…)

  221. rq says

    jrfdeux
    I’ll let you know if I manage to get into the ritual, even in shortened format. Thanks for the link to it, by the way!
    And your new Pharyngula advertising slogan is sure to bring proto-Horde-members in droves, ayuh.

    toska
    With you and Tony all the way. Y’all are bits of rescue in a sea of terrifying alone-ness, sometimes, and what makes it best is that everyone is so different (and argumentative, in that good way), yet unified and perfectly capable of rallying behind anyone who needs the support or acclaim.

  222. Pteryxx says

    Sorry for being threadrupt, y’all who deserve all the hugs. (Yes, each of you should have all the hugs, in non-overlapping infinite sets.)

    Beatrice and jrfdeaux and rq, it’s okay. I just had to make a big comment because the news *isn’t* doing it to my satisfaction and this issue needs consciousness-raising, fast. I happen to be in Dallas but everyone else’s hospital is going to have the same problems if and when they see their first Ebola patient. Not to mention the sort of funding and infrastructure that’s needed in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone to even slow the outbreak down.

    And I’m sick of hearing how heroic and self-sacrificing the nurses are. (note the undercurrent of sexism). If they had the PPE and training they should have had weeks ago, they wouldn’t HAVE to be sacrificial heroes to do their damn jobs.

  223. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    rq, I work in marketing and communications so now you can see my genius at work. I can already see the t-shirt. My god the Horde would make the MONIES!!!

  224. rq says

    jrfdeux
    Millions and million and millions and millions!!11!!!!
    Of minions, too.
    I’m pretty sure I can draw a decent asscake for posters, should you need some artistic support.

  225. Pteryxx says

    (more Ebola stuffs)

    addendum – here’s another step-by-step protective clothing protocol, from WaPo.

    Leaving the treatment facility, workers must step into a chlorine basin, or spray or wash with a water solution containing 0.5% chlorine.

    Carefully remove outer gloves, which are placed in a biohazard container to be treated and incinerated.

    Wash hands with soap and water or a 0.5% chlorine solution.

    Carefully remove apron.

    Wash hands.

    Unfasten gown ties and push gown away from body by touching the inside only. Turn gown inside out and roll down and over boots.

    Wash hands.

    Remove boots with a boot remover, or remove shoe covers.

    Wash hands.

    Remove surgical cap.

    Wash hands.

    Remove inner layer of gloves.

    Wash hands.

    Remove face shield or goggles.

    Wash hands.

    Remove face mask or respirator.

    Wash hands.

    When leaving the containment area, feet are sprayed with bleach solution.

    The CDC cautions workers not to bypass any of these steps.

    That should give some idea of how much time, effort, gear, water, bleach, and trash bags are involved every single time a nurse, doctor, or janitor steps into an Ebola patient’s room.

  226. says

    With you all on the value of this place.

    Pteryxx, that’s awful treatment of the nursing staff, who do most of the care anyway, to be blamed for becoming infected when they were brave enough to do the care in the first place without adequate protections. Capitalism does not belong in healthcare. :/

  228. Pteryxx says

    (more Ebola news and ranting)

    Okay, I thought I was angry before. I just caught most of Obama’s press conference to address Ebola today, and it was exactly what I was afraid of. Reassurances that the protocols work, to trust the protocols, trust that the CDC will be responding quickly to move in and share their knowledge with the local hospital staff who just don’t have the experience of this sort of thing. Oh, and compassion for the two sick nurses and their families.

    All that’s true, as far as it goes, but for all the repetitons of providing “protocol” and “experience”, rapid response and better tracking of contacts, not one word (that I saw) about providing support or supplies or personnel. Much less the other F-word, funding. Without any of that, the anti-contamination protocols are just pretty words on paper, like abortion access or the right to vote. Sure, training’s great and sorely needed. It’ll let the nurses on the ground right now, caring for their *colleagues* who just contracted a disease with a 70% fatality rate in their very same workplace, know exactly what procedures they’re forced to skip for lack of time, personnel, and equipment. How about some compassion for them, Mr. President? How about a mention that they even exist?

    National Nurses United held a rally on Monday. (NNU link) (original in ContraCostaTimes)

    “What we would really like to see implemented is a buddy system,” said Deborah Burger, the co-president of the NNU and president of the California Nurses Association. “That could help monitor the movements of health care workers when they’re providing care, that can help them deal with getting the safety equipment on and off to make sure that no health care worker is contaminated.”

    There is no time to wait, she said.

    “We would like to see a plan put into place immediately,” Burger said. “We need personnel to get trained, we need adequate supplies and rooms. We want adequate disposal of wastes.

    “The thing people need to realize is this: This is a virus that we can stop from spreading,” she said. “But time is urgent, and actions need to happen sooner rather than later.”

    NNU’s call for best practices

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has enforceable standards and insists that employers have a duty to maintain a workplace free of known hazards:

    Employers should train workers about the sources of Ebola exposure and appropriate precautions.
    Employers must train workers required to use personal protective equipment– the optimal protective equipment, when and how they must use it, and how to dispose of the equipment.
    In addition where workers are exposed to blood and potentially aerosolized pathogens from bodily secretions that contain infectious materials, employers must provide the training required by the Bloodborne Pathogens/ATD standards.
    Information about how to recognize tasks that may involve exposure and the methods to reduce exposure must be included: engineering controls, work practices; Employers must provide and ensure the immediate availability of PAPR, HEPA Filtered Respirators, Hoods with Sealed Face Shields Level 4 Biohazard Suits with impermeable head to toe coverage and hands on training in the use of all personal protective equipment.

  229. Saad says

    A county official in Missouri is scaling back her latest suggestion that American troops should overthrow President Barack Obama.

    Jefferson County Recorder of Deeds Debbie Dunnegan called President Barack Obama “our domestic enemy” and suggested the U.S. Constitution would give the U.S. military the authority to oust the president in a coup d’état, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

    “I cannot and do not understand why no action is being taken against our domestic enemy. I know he is supposedly the commander in chief, but the Constitution gives you the authority. What am I missing?” Dunnegan, a Republican, wrote in a since deleted Facebook post.

    My god, the racism.

    Source

  231. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Re, Ebola care.
    The NNU call for best practices is a start, but unless the hospitals will make sure there is sufficient staffing and PPE that is required, the Hospital’s are negligent, and that can easily be shown in court of law by even an inexperienced attorney. The hospitals should be so afraid, that they actually do what is necessary.
    I’m trained to handle very toxic compounds, and that training isn’t just show a video clip. It includes donning the gear, and getting used to wearing it. Plus yearly tests like respirator fit testing. It isn’t cheap, but it is necessary if you expect people to be able to handle bad situations without getting hurt in some way. Being cheap means “see you in court” with this level of bad.

  233. says

    Also, in that same article, Warner Brothers plans on launching Cyborg’s own movie in 2020. Though I’m not a fan of Cyborg in the JLA, the fact that they’re going to put a black superhero-a member of one of comics’ most famous super hero teams-up on the big screen is notable.

    Your move Marvel.

  234. says

    I heard on the news that nurses at the hospital in Dallas were provided protective gear that did not cover their necks. Their necks were exposed and were not washed with chlorine solution.

  235. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I heard on the news that nurses at the hospital in Dallas were provided protective gear that did not cover their necks. Their necks were exposed and were not washed with chlorine solution.

    I heard that too. Bunny suits, with which they were provided. What they should have been wearing, what we called “moon suits“. (That company made space suits for Apollo and shuttle missions.)

  236. says

    What I don’t understand is what the assholes making the decisions (about what safety gear to buy, what training to provide, how many staff to hire, etc) are thinking. Do they somehow beleive that they’re immune to Ebola because they’re middile management? That it won’t spread past the people who are in direct contact with a sufferer? What? Disease is no respecter of persons, and epidemics are epidemics. This kind of short-sighted bullshit is exactly the problem with fucking capitalism.

  237. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Dalillama,
    Speaking as someone who is in middle management and who works with other middle managers, I’d have to say yes, you have it right. Your average middle manager leaves all of the walking-around amongst the hoi polloi to the line managers. The line managers are the ones who make need requests. But guess what, middle managers get their marching orders from senior management who say things like “get costs down so our ROI hits x%!” And that means many middle managers will ignore the fuck out of what the line managers say they need.

    That’s an all-too-common example of a middle manager not doing his or her job, but just resorting to the easiest “solution”.

  238. Pteryxx says

    On MSNBC now, the second nurse (Amber Vinson) was flown to Atlanta and is being transferred through the streets in a motorcade of police escorts.

    Nerd: moon suits need their own air supply, though (either scuba-type tanks or a line to a machine in a safe airspace) and hospitals aren’t set up for that, either. Also FYI they’re talking about Presbyterian’s liability for these and likely future cases among their health care workers.

    MSNBC just said Vinson *called the CDC when she was in Cleveland* and running a slight fever, and they told her to go ahead and fly home to Dallas on a commercial flight. What?

    Dalillama: treating nurses as disposable equipment isn’t unusual among managers, who’ve been cavalier about their workplace safety and frontline presence in infection control for decades. (I notice both these nurses, and the initial patient Duncan, are non-white, too. And nobody’s talking about the infection control procedures *doctors* should be trained in, or how much at risk they are. Doctors mostly aren’t expected to be cleaning up blood or puke in PPE for hours at a time.) There hasn’t been funding or support in the face of measles outbreaks, hospital-acquired infections or MRSA; why would the systems in place work any differently now?

    Some background as of Monday, from Maryn McKenna at Wired:

    If there were more infection-prevention research, the nurse in Dallas (and probably the one in Spain, who may have contaminated herself doffing her gear) might not have become infected. Hospitals would not now be wondering whether any of their procedures can protect them against this unseen threat. And medical thought leaders would not now be calling for a national reorganization of Ebola care that would medevac patients to a central location precisely because most hospitals are ill-equipped.

    For documentation of the lack of infection-prevention funding, you cannot do better than the writing of Dr. Eli Perencevich, who has been highlighting the problem for years now with his colleagues at the wonkishly named Controversies in Hospital Infection Prevention and recaps the gaps in his latest post. Similarly, Dr. Judy Stone has been trying to bring attention to the lack of training. Also: Yesterday, Vox examined cuts to preparedness funding; this morning, Mike the Mad Biologist analyzed the misplaced priorities of the funding that remained; and Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, points out that, if not for funding cuts, we would have had the ultimate prevention tool — an Ebola vaccine — a decade ago.

    The most telling point to me is that, when the news broke Sunday of the Dallas nurse’s infection, no one in my circle who works in infection prevention was even slightly surprised.

    The nurses union’s call to action is getting national coverage now, at least. Maybe it’ll do some good.

  239. Esteleth is Groot says

    Jedibear, did we cross paths online in 2002 or 2003 or so? I used to online-know someone who used that ‘nym.

    —
    Re: nursing: one of the biggest problems facing nursing is the attitude that nurses don’t really “do” all that much that’s important. A large part of this, of course, is sexism.

  240. Pteryxx says

    (More Ebola stuff, mostly general background on the failures of the health care system)

    McKenna’s links from Superbug nail it every which way – and they’ve been having this discussion, and ringing the alarms, for years.

    Judy Stone at SciAm:

    Administrators vs. Practitioners

    Increasingly, decision makers are administrators who are disconnected from the realities of patient care. The latest fad, for example is to design hospitals to look like hotels and be “inviting” to patients, although they are very dysfunctional for delivering patient care, especially problematic in ICUs.

    Similarly, when “bioterrorism preparedness” first became the rage, our hospital and health department focused on high tech units and hazmat suits while ignoring basic hygiene. I went ballistic, given that there was no soap nor any paper towels in the public school bathrooms, something the county health commissioner said was “not within their purview.” Gotta have priorities, right?

    It is not all that different now. One hospital I am familiar with has Powered Air Purifying respirators (PAPRs), purchased with bioterrorism preparedness grants, but neither stethoscopes nor other dedicated equipment for isolation rooms. So nurses and docs gown up to go in the room of a patient with a “superbug” but take their stethoscopes into the room and then on to other patients, perhaps remembering to wipe it down first.

    The problems with controlling Ebola cases in the United States is not that we can’t care for people well, or with good infection control. We absolutely can. But the Dallas case abundantly illustrates some of the problems in caring for anyone with a communicable illness, whether a antibiotic resistant organism (aka “superbug) like carbapenem resistant enterobacter (CRE), measles or Ebola.

    Vinh-Kim Nguyen at Cultural Anthropology:

    Which brings me to a point made forcefully by Guillaume Lachenal: Ebola happened despite, and indeed as a result of, over a decade of pandemic preparedness efforts costing billions. These efforts not only failed, they produced this Ebola epidemic. As Andrew Lakoff pointed out, the billions poured into a national security apparatus in the name of Global Health were devoted to “preparedness,” a nebulous construct that highlighted surveillance and simulation as key to readiness for bioterrorism and other epidemic threats. Huge sums of money were spent on vaccines for epidemics that never materialized. Yet there were already clear and unambiguous signs that the key to preparedness would lie in hospitals. All those efforts devoted to pandemic preparedness did not involve investing in health systems at the front line of epidemics: hospitals.

    Eli at HAIControversies:

    In addition to the national cuts, individual hospitals have seen reduced support for infection control programs just as more and more is being asked of them. It used to be that hospital epidemiologists and infection preventionists could do surveillance rounds on the wards and educate from-line staff. Now, many hospitals have barely enough staff to complete their surveillance and public reporting duties leaving many trapped at their desks analyzing data. There is zero excess capacity to educate clinical staff on basic infection prevention practices like contact precautions. At many hospitals there is no capacity to add additional training in Ebola PPE protocols. As Marc-Oliver Wright said to me once: “You can’t fight and prepare for the maybe (insert scary virus) when the required was due yesterday.” Yet many hospitals are managing by shifting staff away from MRSA, away from CLABSI and away from influenza, which leaves our patients vulnerable to these more likely threats. If this were the military, there would be claims about fighting with one hand behind our back. That’s the case here – we are fighting a war against Ebola and we’ve got an un-gloved hand behind our back.

    and from HuffPo: Ebola Vaccine Would Likely Have Been Found By Now If Not For Budget Cuts: NIH Director

    Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, said that a decade of stagnant spending has “slowed down” research on all items, including vaccinations for infectious diseases. As a result, he said, the international community has been left playing catch-up on a potentially avoidable humanitarian catastrophe.

    “NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” Collins told The Huffington Post on Friday. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”

    […]

    The growing severity of the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the fear of an outbreak in America haven’t loosened the purse strings. NIH has not received any additional money. Instead, Collins and others have had to “take dollars that would’ve gone to something else” — such as a universal influenza vaccine — “and redirect them to this.”

    Collins said he’d like Congress to pass emergency supplemental appropriations to help with the work. But, he added, “nobody seems enthusiastic about that.”

  241. Pteryxx says

    (More Ebola stuff, mostly general background on the failures of the health care system)

    McKenna’s links from Superbug nail it every which way – and they’ve been having this discussion, and ringing the alarms, for years.

    Judy Stone at SciAm:

    Administrators vs. Practitioners

    Increasingly, decision makers are administrators who are disconnected from the realities of patient care. The latest fad, for example is to design hospitals to look like hotels and be “inviting” to patients, although they are very dysfunctional for delivering patient care, especially problematic in ICUs.

    Similarly, when “bioterrorism preparedness” first became the rage, our hospital and health department focused on high tech units and hazmat suits while ignoring basic hygiene. I went ballistic, given that there was no soap nor any paper towels in the public school bathrooms, something the county health commissioner said was “not within their purview.” Gotta have priorities, right?

    It is not all that different now. One hospital I am familiar with has Powered Air Purifying respirators (PAPRs), purchased with bioterrorism preparedness grants, but neither stethoscopes nor other dedicated equipment for isolation rooms. So nurses and docs gown up to go in the room of a patient with a “superbug” but take their stethoscopes into the room and then on to other patients, perhaps remembering to wipe it down first.

    The problems with controlling Ebola cases in the United States is not that we can’t care for people well, or with good infection control. We absolutely can. But the Dallas case abundantly illustrates some of the problems in caring for anyone with a communicable illness, whether a antibiotic resistant organism (aka “superbug) like c*arbapenem resistant enterobacter (CRE), measles or Ebola.

    Vinh-Kim Nguyen at Cultural Anthropology:

    Which brings me to a point made forcefully by Guillaume Lachenal: Ebola happened despite, and indeed as a result of, over a decade of pandemic preparedness efforts costing billions. These efforts not only failed, they produced this Ebola epidemic. As Andrew Lakoff pointed out, the billions poured into a national security apparatus in the name of Global Health were devoted to “preparedness,” a nebulous construct that highlighted surveillance and simulation as key to readiness for bioterrorism and other epidemic threats. Huge sums of money were spent on vaccines for epidemics that never materialized. Yet there were already clear and unambiguous signs that the key to preparedness would lie in hospitals. All those efforts devoted to pandemic preparedness did not involve investing in health systems at the front line of epidemics: hospitals.

    Eli at HAIControversies:

    In addition to the national cuts, individual hospitals have seen reduced support for infection control programs just as more and more is being asked of them. It used to be that hospital epidemiologists and infection preventionists could do surveillance rounds on the wards and educate from-line staff. Now, many hospitals have barely enough staff to complete their surveillance and public reporting duties leaving many trapped at their desks analyzing data. There is zero excess capacity to educate clinical staff on basic infection prevention practices like contact precautions. At many hospitals there is no capacity to add additional training in Ebola PPE protocols. As Marc-Oliver Wright said to me once: “You can’t fight and prepare for the maybe (insert scary virus) when the required was due yesterday.” Yet many hospitals are managing by shifting staff away from MRSA, away from CLABSI and away from influenza, which leaves our patients vulnerable to these more likely threats. If this were the military, there would be claims about fighting with one hand behind our back. That’s the case here – we are fighting a war against Ebola and we’ve got an un-gloved hand behind our back.

    and from HuffPo: Ebola Vaccine Would Likely Have Been Found By Now If Not For Budget Cuts: NIH Director

    Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, said that a decade of stagnant spending has “slowed down” research on all items, including vaccinations for infectious diseases. As a result, he said, the international community has been left playing catch-up on a potentially avoidable humanitarian catastrophe.

    “NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” Collins told The Huffington Post on Friday. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”

    […]

    The growing severity of the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the fear of an outbreak in America haven’t loosened the purse strings. NIH has not received any additional money. Instead, Collins and others have had to “take dollars that would’ve gone to something else” — such as a universal influenza vaccine — “and redirect them to this.”

    Collins said he’d like Congress to pass emergency supplemental appropriations to help with the work. But, he added, “nobody seems enthusiastic about that.”

  242. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Esteleth, right on about the nurses. The times I’ve been in the ER or post-op, it was the nurses who cared for me. The MDs did the diagnoses and prescriptions etc., but I got through the struggle of healing because nurses did complex things like monitor and adjust my meds within the MD-prescribed boundaries and simple things like pat me on the knee or shoulder. Funny how something as simple as a caring hand can alleviate pain better than morphine at times…

  243. Pteryxx says

    I posted a whole bunch of links that vanished into spam, apparently. Here’s the chopped-up version:

    (More Ebola stuff, mostly general background on the failures of the health care system)

    McKenna’s links from Superbug nail it every which way – and they’ve been having this discussion, and ringing the alarms, for years.

    Judy Stone at SciAm:

    Administrators vs. Practitioners

    Increasingly, decision makers are administrators who are disconnected from the realities of patient care. The latest fad, for example is to design hospitals to look like hotels and be “inviting” to patients, although they are very dysfunctional for delivering patient care, especially problematic in ICUs.

    Similarly, when “bioterrorism preparedness” first became the rage, our hospital and health department focused on high tech units and hazmat suits while ignoring basic hygiene. I went ballistic, given that there was no soap nor any paper towels in the public school bathrooms, something the county health commissioner said was “not within their purview.” Gotta have priorities, right?

    It is not all that different now. One hospital I am familiar with has Powered Air Purifying respirators (PAPRs), purchased with bioterrorism preparedness grants, but neither stethoscopes nor other dedicated equipment for isolation rooms. So nurses and docs gown up to go in the room of a patient with a “superbug” but take their stethoscopes into the room and then on to other patients, perhaps remembering to wipe it down first.

    The problems with controlling Ebola cases in the United States is not that we can’t care for people well, or with good infection control. We absolutely can. But the Dallas case abundantly illustrates some of the problems in caring for anyone with a communicable illness, whether a antibiotic resistant organism (aka “superbug) like carbapenem resistant enterobacter (CRE), measles or Ebola.

  244. Pteryxx says

    Vinh-Kim Nguyen at Cultural Anthropology:

    Which brings me to a point made forcefully by Guillaume Lachenal: Ebola happened despite, and indeed as a result of, over a decade of pandemic preparedness efforts costing billions. These efforts not only failed, they produced this Ebola epidemic. As Andrew Lakoff pointed out, the billions poured into a national security apparatus in the name of Global Health were devoted to “preparedness,” a nebulous construct that highlighted surveillance and simulation as key to readiness for bioterrorism and other epidemic threats. Huge sums of money were spent on vaccines for epidemics that never materialized. Yet there were already clear and unambiguous signs that the key to preparedness would lie in hospitals. All those efforts devoted to pandemic preparedness did not involve investing in health systems at the front line of epidemics: hospitals.

  245. Pteryxx says

    Eli at HAIControversies:

    In addition to the national cuts, individual hospitals have seen reduced support for infection control programs just as more and more is being asked of them. It used to be that hospital epidemiologists and infection preventionists could do surveillance rounds on the wards and educate from-line staff. Now, many hospitals have barely enough staff to complete their surveillance and public reporting duties leaving many trapped at their desks analyzing data. There is zero excess capacity to educate clinical staff on basic infection prevention practices like contact precautions. At many hospitals there is no capacity to add additional training in Ebola PPE protocols. As Marc-Oliver Wright said to me once: “You can’t fight and prepare for the maybe (insert scary virus) when the required was due yesterday.” Yet many hospitals are managing by shifting staff away from MRSA, away from CLABSI and away from influenza, which leaves our patients vulnerable to these more likely threats. If this were the military, there would be claims about fighting with one hand behind our back. That’s the case here – we are fighting a war against Ebola and we’ve got an un-gloved hand behind our back.

    and from HuffPo: Ebola Vaccine Would Likely Have Been Found By Now If Not For Budget Cuts: NIH Director

    Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, said that a decade of stagnant spending has “slowed down” research on all items, including vaccinations for infectious diseases. As a result, he said, the international community has been left playing catch-up on a potentially avoidable humanitarian catastrophe.

    “NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” Collins told The Huffington Post on Friday. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”

    […]

    The growing severity of the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the fear of an outbreak in America haven’t loosened the purse strings. NIH has not received any additional money. Instead, Collins and others have had to “take dollars that would’ve gone to something else” — such as a universal influenza vaccine — “and redirect them to this.”

    Collins said he’d like Congress to pass emergency supplemental appropriations to help with the work. But, he added, “nobody seems enthusiastic about that.”

  246. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Nerd: moon suits need their own air supply, though (either scuba-type tanks or a line to a machine in a safe airspace) and hospitals aren’t set up for that, either.

    All the rooms the Redhead was in during her hospitalizations had supplied oxygen on the wall. That’s all that is needed. Walk a few steps with suit air, and plug in.

  247. Pteryxx says

    Nerd: don’t the moon suits require positive pressure of ordinary air, though? A *pure* oxygen feed would be toxic to a person wearing a suitful of it. Or is it just intended to top off the clean room air mix inside the suit for a short period of time?

  248. says

    In today’s edition of What is the color of the sky on your world, Allen West says something deeply stupid:

    In an October 9 post to his website, West called attention to a Fox report detailing how Islamic State sympathizers were harassing military personnel and their families online. Since this is Allen West we’re talking about, it was naturally the fault of liberals/progressive/commies/nazis/socialists/whatever else he’s scared of. He told his readers that the tactic was “learned” from progressives, who use it to “flood a website or Facebook account with vile and insidious comments.”

    And West knows exactly who’s to blame on the left:

    It normally begins with some leftist central command, such as Media Matters or Daily Kos, to issue a call of attack – and the mindless lemmings follow, normally completely devoid of any knowledge or understanding of a topic. It is the leftist progressive tactic of instilling fear, coercion and intimidation. And ISIS is following suit, using the exact same tactics.

    Of course, as we all know, West himself would never say anything that harasses people. Like suggesting that Boko Haram’s kidnappings are a diversion, used to steal attention away from his one life-long obsession, a gal named Benghazi. Or slamming an entire faith, comprising 25% of the human population, as “honor killings, beheadings, and suicide bombings.”

  250. Saad says

    Warning: The following may cause you to punch your monitor, throw your phone/tablet across the room, or just slam your head on the desk.

    that’s the problem with gamergate though. it seems that some journalists want to define what gaming should be and shove it down everyone else’s throats. regardless of what the market and gamers actually want

    These crappy “journalists” thought they could silence their exposure of disgusting corruption by calling out the core population (which is male) as mysoginists/anti feminists as it seems daring to speak out against the double sexist standards women have is forbidden now.

    Double dose of extra-chunky bullshit in this one:

    It’s upsetting because these slimy individuals are behaving badly and hiding behind the social justice system we have set up for legitimate victims, thus cheapening the plight of those who are actually in trouble.

    It’s akin to claiming an ex-boyfriend assaulted you(or worse) just because you decided you didn’t like them anymore. Then the system comes down hard on the man because we all know how evil men are. In this case, sleeping with people who promote your product is defended by saying everyone is sexist or hates women who calls this individual out. Much like the crap over in Ferguson, the race card is being played instead of looking at the facts objectively.

    Classic MRA asshole over here:

    Good. Zoe, Anita, and their corrupt gaming press posse all need to kicked out of the gaming industry. Their corruption is a cancer that diseases an industry that is based around fun.

    I don’t care what your gender is. I don’t care what your sexual orientation is. I don’t care what color your skin is. If all you do is slander others just to make a quick buck then you do not belong.

    This piece of shit seems to be contributing a lot to this list:

    is it too much to ask for gaming journalists to actually like gaming and not just complain about gaming culture? if you want to complain about “representation” in mainstream games all day, that’s fine. i don’t care, i just don’t want to you to be sponsored and get ad dollars from mainstream gaming and hardware companies. go get your funds from the indie gaming companies and sjw that love to click on echo chamber, self righteous articles all day

    Here he (c’mon, let’s be honest) is again:

    they don’t represent mainstream gamers by any stretch so why are they our voice in the media? i want games to reflect what gamers want, not what a small, nepotistic group of activists who call themselves gaming journalists want.

    Oh, and this fuckface seems to have a bunch of posts too:

    What I am more upset about is a person who engages in some obviously sleazy acts, sabotages others, then riles up the SJW and RadFem movements because calling this person out is obviously misogyny. It’s disgusting and an affront to real social justice issues.

    Yup, here he is again:

    These RadFems are cheapening their entire movement (moreso than it already is) by throwing the weight of the WK/SJWs behind women being in videogames? It’s such a joke I’m depressed that anyone gives these trolls pageviews.

    Anyways, the thread goes on with more of that shit.

    Here it is if anyone’s interested for some reason. It’s one of the popular computer, gaming and tech forums and it’s full of lowlifes like these.

  251. Pteryxx says

    (more Ebola rage-making disturbingness)

    and if you only read one piece about our stunning Ebola failure, make it that first link, Judy Stone’s:

    [TX gov Rick] Perry also blithely said, “rest assured that our system is working as it should,” he said. “There are few places in the world better-equipped to meet the challenge this patient poses. The public should have every confidence.” It soon became all too apparent that this was not true. We learned, for example, that the hospital did not send the patient’s blood for testing in a timely manner. Then there was no one to transport infectious waste, so it was more than a week after he became ill before the cleanup began. During that time, the patient’s contacts were quarantined, with no thought to providing them food nor to protecting them from the soiled linens still in the apartment. As David Dobbs concluded in his scathing post, “So the richest country on earth has no team to contain the first appearance of one of the most deadly viruses we’ve ever known.”

    We need an infrastructure that considers all the players who need to work together. We need to be proactive, as New York has been, with using “fake” patients to test hospital readiness and practice drills to identify lapses in procedures.

    We need a health care system that cares for all, even for those without insurance, without causing them to delay seeking care until they are seriously ill, perhaps infecting others in the process (e.g., tuberculosis, more commonly).

    And we need to take the politics out of funding for public health and research. We need to approve a strong Surgeon General like Dr. Vivek Murthy, and not have appointments like his be derailed by the NRA and their politicians. NIH’s budget was reduced by $446 million from 2010 to 2014, and subjected to inappropriate politically motivated interference in its decision making. The CDC’s discretionary funding was cut by $585 million during this same period. Shockingly, annual funding for the CDC’s public health preparedness and response efforts were $1 billion lower for 2013 fiscal year than for 2002. These funding decreases have resulted in more than 45,700 job losses at state and local health departments since 2008. Again, it is not just the Ebola that is a looming threat. We need to worry about vaccine-preventable but neglected infections like influenza, measles, and whooping cough; the serious emerging viral infections in the US like Enterovirus-D68, chikungunya and dengue, as well as overseas MERS and bird flus, and natural disasters.

    At this rate, what is happening in Dallas is going to be about as effective as the shameful response to Hurricane Katrina was.

  252. Pteryxx says

    Nerd, this one’s for you: full-body hazmat suits are not recommended, because they’re expensive and unwieldy, because full air separation isn’t necessary (droplet and aerosol protection is sufficient), and because they compromise patient care.

    Overprotection does not equal protection

    The suffering and cost would be fine if bodysuits were both effective and necessary; however, this might not be the case. Our co-blogger Dan and colleagues wrote a wonderful opinion in the Annals last month that highlighted CDC recommendations: contact and droplet precautions – a fluid-impermeable gown, gloves, a surgical mask, and either goggles or a face shield along with shoe/leg coverings if the patient has “copious” secretions and N95 mask if they are undergoing an aerosol-generating procedure.

    CDC does not recommend full-body HazMat suits.

    more at Bloomberg

    “In my spacesuit, I won’t be able to connect and provide reassurance with a smile, body language or a concerned look,” Lyon said. “I won’t be able to provide a reassuring human touch or even listen to their lungs or heart and what I believe to be my best physician strength — cool clarity of mind. This will be much harder to find.”

  253. says

    Heh – never occurred to me to pronounce PZ any other way than PZed, though I know full well it’s “zee” in the US. I never even noticed that it wa a joke. :)

  254. jedibear says

    @Esteleth is Groot, #239

    Jedibear, did we cross paths online in 2002 or 2003 or so? I used to online-know someone who used that ‘nym.

    Always possible. I’ve been using it since 2001 or so. First on classicbattletech.com and then elsewhere.

    The image inspired the name, you see.

    I’m not sure what context that would have been in.

  256. says

    Wow. This is just beyond fucking stoopid:
    Rick Scott delays gubernatorial debate over the presence of a fan.

    For all their policy differences in the battle for the nation’s largest swing state, the squabble over a small ground-level fan at Crist’s legs will likely be the most remembered moment of an otherwise forgettable debate.

    Both candidates seemed more concerned about scoring points against their rival than answering a dozen question from a panel of veteran Florida journalists at Broward College in south Florida.

    The debate was produced by a local CBS-TV affiliate and the second of three scheduled between the two candidates, and followed by a Spanish-language debate last week on the TV network Telemundo.

    It got off to a bizarre start as only Crist took the stage with the broadcast already live. The moderator announced Scott would not come out due to a disagreement over the fan at Crist’s feet.

    Scott’s campaign said the debate rules allowed for “no electronics on the podium,” according to one panelist, presumably a reference to equipment that might be used as cheat sheets or prompts for the candidates.

  257. says

    Tony @253, Yeah, I saw that. The audience laughed at him, and there was even some booing. Rick Scott came off looking petty and arrogant.

  259. Brony says

    Hugs for everyone that needs them. Especially over blamergate.
    Re: Ebola
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_outbreak_in_the_United_States
    It’s Wikipedia, but it’s also impressively loaded.

    As for me, I hate this messed up social filter. I’ve been having to minimize my connections and monitor my emotions for weeks now. That Interview has me extra tense, but it went well. I have not heard back yet but I think I will email them tomorrow (they said I would hear from them either way). In better news apparently when I try to start a blog I get extra extra, I guess I’m allowed to say OCD about it. I’m learning things about myself that I never new before I tried to do this.

  260. The Mellow Monkey says

    I got woken up by my cat screaming downstairs. I ran out to the hall and flipped on the light and found her at the bottom of the stairs, puffed up and staring at the front door…which was open. I shut the door and hunted around to see if an animal was lurking somewhere while the cat kept herself glued to my leg. Now she won’t leave the stair landing and just keeps watching the door.

    The neighbor dogs were losing their minds, too. Since their property backs up to the woods and they don’t bark day in and day out I know a squirrel or something of that nature didn’t set them off.

    I really hope I can settle the adrenaline rush down enough to sleep again.

  267. toska says

    My 5 month old kitten has been loosing his baby teeth, and of course, like everything else in this cat’s short life, it isn’t going super smoothly. I noticed that his breath has been bad since he started losing teeth, but his teeth and gums appear healthy, and he’s been behaving like his normal self. But tonight he started pawing at his mouth, literally flinging loose teeth out of his mouth (at least two teeth) for 5-10 minutes. I had to wrap him in a towel to get him to stop and let me look at his mouth. He has since stopped that behavior, and he’s eating, grooming, and playing normally (and causing trouble in his adorable kitten way), but I’m still worried about him and the possibility that he has a painful oral disease – not just normal teething pain. Scheduling a vet appt asap.

    Mellow Monkey
    I’ve had similar experiences, and I tend to be very anxious when home alone. Do everything you need to feel safe, even if it seems paranoid.

    Brony
    I’m still crossing my fingers for you on that job! I’m also glad to hear that your blog is so far a positive experience.

  268. says

    toska @264:
    I hope the vet appt doesn’t turn up anything serious.

    Odd, now that I think about it, for all that I’ve had cats since I was 15, I’ve never dealt with a newborn. The youngest I’ve had was an 8 week old kitty (Cassie) and I never saw her lose her teeth. I’m guessing at that point, she’d already lost them?
    Geez, now I want a kitten again.
    And a puppy.
    And a much bigger house.
    Fuckit. I’m moving to the Commune!

  269. Brony says

    @ toska
    The teeth issue is worth checking out. Cats can get some odd tooth gum issues. Is it hard to see if the gums are red with the recent tooth loss?

    About the blog , It’s been really weird.
    I’ve been reexamining all the general information on TS and a lot of other areas, and trying to condense it into something general interest. But I keep having to stop because I discover myself doing all the tourettic OCDs related to the process and the feels like what a bird must feel like when it’s preening it’s feathers and getting everything in order. It’s bizarrely fascinating.
    On top of that I’m finding new places where things that are problems in some contexts create advantages in others. I have to finish at some point but it’s really surreal.

  270. Brony says

    @ Tony
    Kittens are fun! We keep having to find homes for kittens. There are too many strays in our neighborhood. We periodically break our lease technically.

    Has you cat been better?

  271. toska says

    Tony!
    Kittens and puppies will lose their baby teeth usually in the 3-6 month range, but they are sneaky about it. I only ever found one tooth from the puppy I had as a kid (and I was one of those kids who found everything gross that could be found on floors). I noticed when my kitten started losing teeth because I found one in my bed a couple of weeks ago. But it isn’t really normal for them to make a fuss about it like he did tonight.

    But he seems happy and normal now, so hopefully those two teeth were just really bothering him, and that’s all there is to it. And I’m totally down with moving to the Commune filled with puppies and kittens. :)

  272. toska says

    Brony
    Yeah, cats can have some really bad teeth problems, so I’m definitely not taking it lightly. But he’s much easier to handle than most cats when it comes to letting people mess with his mouth (probably because he’s had so many medication shoved down his throat with all the issues he’s had), and he lets me clean his teeth. His mouth has always looked normal. It’s a bit red now from scratching at it earlier, and he’s got a few cuts, but he hasn’t shown signs of gum disease or irritation in the past.

  273. says

    toska, very glad you’re able to get kitty to the vet. When we got Fribbie, she was about four months old and her adult teeth had come through, but her baby teeth hadn’t fallen out, and were getting rotten. She’s had bad teeth all her life (she now has about half a dozen left, I think). Hope your kitty’s tooth problem gets cleared up soonest!

    Seeing Mr Hadji loose his baby teeth was fun. He didn’t have any problems with them, mercifully. But when his adult canines came down and he still had his baby ones, he looked like the kitty version of Gary Oldman’s Dracula sprouting fangs. :)

  275. rq says

    Gah, people spreading misinformation because they don’t care about the mechanics, they care about the end result (re: the acid-alkaline diet again). I commented on a link that claims this diet can significantly change your cancer outcomes, and the response was ‘I don’t care, people should just eat healthier’.

  276. bassmike says

    If you don’t mind I take some *hugs* from the pile:

    My daughter’s sick again. She has had a low level cough for a month or so, but I had to fetch her from nursery yesterday as she was lethargic and had a temperature. I know these symptoms could be a lot of things, but they correspond to the two previous times when she ended up in hospital with pneumonia.

    I was fortunate enough to get to see a doctor and she diagnosed a chest infection. Daughter is now on a course of antibiotics in the hope of nipping this in the bud. She slept okay last night, but her breathing was rather quick and she had a runny nose and a high temperature this morning. She’s perked up a bit since then, but it’s obviously a cause for concern. Also she hates taking the antibiotic so it’s a major trauma every time we administer it.

  278. opposablethumbs says

    bassmike, all my sympathies. It’s exhausting and so bloody stressful when they’re ill – and the younger they are, the worse that is (though, oddly enough, the converse does not appear to be true … :-\ )

    Hope daughter is better soon, and that everybody concerned gets some sleep.

  281. rq says

    bassmike
    Hope she responds to antibiotics and gets over it soon! Here’s to her getting some good sleep tonight and being well before you know it. *hugs*

    toska
    I hope the cat’s teeth are alright, that it was just some bothersome baby teeth. Good luck with the appointment!

    Brony
    Good luck with the blog, point us in that direction once you’re done. :)

  282. rq says

    CaitieCat
    He’s so worried about those 60-year-old white men. Only the white ones, mind, because they’re not obviously bad. So much wrong with him – thankfully, never really got into his books. Now I won’t have to even try.

  285. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Giliell,

    I already caught something, so here’s some *hugs*.

    ..sorry. I didn’t mean to sneeze on you.

  287. rq says

    I want to strangle some effigies of the Latvian skeleton team.
    This year, they’re making a big deal out of last year’s shovel race competitions (basically, you get a shovel and you go down the skeleton track, which is AWESOME) and of course they’re separating by gender, and they’re letting women compete in the men’s division if they want to, but they qualify that with ‘men have a fragile low self-esteem, let’s not damage it!’ and it just makes me SO MAD. I SPIT on your fragile self-esteem!!! *spits rather poorly*
    And if you must know, I’d love to participate, but can’t manage the time off or the entrance fee. Dammit.

  292. opposablethumbs says

    Anti-germ and anti-damaged-muscle wishes, Giliell – hope you feel better soon (and yay for #1!)!

    Funny, I’ve never noticed anything particularly fragile about men’s self-esteem … inasmuch as one can generalise, of course; there are plenty of men whose self-esteem isn’t all that great, but oddly enough they don’t tend to be the ones hogging the limelight and freaking out if someone pips them at the post.

    Shovel racing sounds like a lot of fun :-)

  293. rq says

    Giliell
    I bet you have a good mental image, though – what is it? (Piles of bones pushed down a hillside?)

  294. says

    zzzzzzzzzzzzwha? I went back to bed. I fell asleep. I think this is going to be the Thursday that wasn’t.

    At least Elder Daughter is finally gone, so I can turn on the radio. Too bad KPCC is having a pledge drive. :p Poor girl, it’s been all missed connections the last couple of days, and I know she wants to get that fieldwork mid-term (live interview of Arab speaker) over with, but I am getting very tired of All Quiet Days All the Time. At least she knows how lucky she is to have living companions who will be quiet when she needs quiet to work, and she is a great help around the house, but still, this schtick is getting old.

    Okay, I did get my first watercolor class lesson downloaded, backed up and printed. Windows 8 and their twee little faux-Adobe Reader can bite my flabby pallid backside. Intuitive? I’ll give ’em intuitive! But later, after I wake up.

    Giliell, yay for offspring #1, boo for colds and pulled necks.

    I’m going to finish my big mug of Yorkshire Gold, and then I’ll decide what I have to do, and what I can put off until tomorrow, and what I feel like doing.

  295. rq says

    opposablethumbs
    Also, it’s weird – men are supposed to be super-confident all the time, and yet their egos are so fragile… I suppose over-inflating them does lower the bursting point? Or something? So I don’t get it, but they certainly seem to get a lot of lipservice as the ‘weaker sex’ here, locally.

    Next year, maybe I can participate. I’ll be either on a more normal work schedule, or out of a job, as it happens, so why not? In the men’s division, too. Screw their fragile self-esteem, I don’t plan on winning (they don’t calculate the points of women who participate in the men’s division, not even within the men’s division) – I just want the more difficult competition. Fun, and all that. And break some self-esteem with my ugly boots.

  296. says

    I’m just going to leave this here (re: skeletons)-

    http://www.themarysue.com/make-your-computer-auto-convert-any-mention-of-sjw-to-skeleton-for-maximum-spoopiness/

    With that in mind, here’s a tweaked version of rq’s comment @287:

    I want to strangle some effigies of the Latvian skeleton SJW team.
    This year, they’re making a big deal out of last year’s shovel race competitions (basically, you get a shovel and you go down the skeleton SJW track, which is AWESOME) and of course they’re separating by gender, and they’re letting women compete in the men’s division if they want to, but they qualify that with ‘men have a fragile low self-esteem, let’s not damage it!’ and it just makes me SO MAD. I SPIT on your fragile self-esteem!!! *spits rather poorly*
    And if you must know, I’d love to participate, but can’t manage the time off or the entrance fee. Dammit.

    ::tries to imagine what a Social Justice Warrior track would be like; now wonders what the SJW Olympics would be like::

  297. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    oops, Giliell. At least you’ve got the whole set now.

    Congrats to #1!

  298. rq says

    Tony
    So it works in reverse, too? If someone calls me a social justice warrior, I can be a skeleton warrior?
    Hmm. I still see no drawbacks. :)
    I wonder if the SJW Olympics are anything like Oppression Olympics, just a wee bit more arrogantly, positively annoying (“I RESCUED A PRE-OP TRANS GIRL FROM BEING BEATEN UP!”).

  299. says

    rq @298:
    I was thinking the same example (are you some kind of skeleton mind reader). SJW Olympics-proving your credentials. Or maybe it’s “Look what I did, where’s my cookie?”

  300. blf says

    men are supposed to be super-confident all the time

    No, that’s potatoes.
    Tip for telling them apart: Only one has a tail. Usually. Check carefully, however, to ensure it really is a tail and not a zucchini.

  302. opposablethumbs says

    they don’t calculate the points of women who participate in the men’s division

    What. The . Everloving. Fuck??????? What justification is there for that?!?!!??! …. they don’t calculate …

    Shit, I think I just sprained something out of sheer incredulity and flabbergasted ire at such a stupid, pathetic, unjustifiable piece of invented-out-of-thin-air bullshit.

    But … out of a job? Oh no. Oh I do hope not. When will you know? (are they trying to cut costs by cutting staff, or something?

  303. Ogvorbis says

    Hi, all. Threadrupt.

    Back to work but for only four hours a day. Which is all my back can handle.

    Got a letter yesterday from my adjudicator (whom I have called multiple times but from whom have gotten no response over a period of over a week) which went on for three pages with all the documentation and witness statements and every thing else (with full orchestration and four part harmony) about how I was injured, why the hell a park ranger was on a train during duty hours, whether this was part of of my job, (will full orchestration and four part harmony), as well as copies of the x-rays (which don’t exist — none were taken), an official diagnosis from my doctor, and the PA who saw me, and the PA who saw me at the hospital (all with full orchestration and four part harmony). So I came in to work today and got a phone call telling me that Mr. X is no longer adjudicating my OWCP claim (and from the sound of the person I was talking to, isn’t doing anyone’s cases anymore) and that my claim had been approved, none of the requirements in the letter from Mr. X are needed, and all is good, no problems, everything is covered. I just hope I can get reimbursed for the medication I paid for out of my own pocket during the time Mr. X was not doing whatever he was supposed to do.

    ==============

    men are supposed to be super-confident all the time

    The only time I feel confident is when I am standing in front of a group of strangers giving a presentation or talk.

    Does that mean I have to turn in my “Man Card”? Again?

  304. says

    An investigative panel of other judges dismissed a misconduct complaint against Judge Edith Jones. To my mind, the dismissal looks one-sided, wrong-headed.

    Last year, Judge Edith H. Jones of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals spoke to a conservative legal group and made a series of controversial remarks about race. There is no official transcript or recording, but affidavits from attendees pointed to deeply problematic language from anyone, least of all a sitting federal judge.

    According to an ethics complaint, Jones, a Reagan appointee, told the audience that “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime.” A veteran attorney who was in the room said Jones “noted there was no arguing that ‘blacks’ and ‘Hispanics’ far outnumber ‘Anglos’ on death row and repeated that ‘sadly’ people from these racial groups do get involved in more violent crime.” She was also accused of having said defenses often used in capital cases, including mental retardation and systemic racism, are “red herrings.” […]

    New York Times link.

    Bias and stupidity noted:

    The D.C. Circuit judges who dismissed the initial complaint this August repeatedly relied on Judge Jones’ own version of the facts about her Penn Law speech – in spite of conflicting sworn testimony from six people – five of whom were law students – who attended the lecture. The judges allowed Judge Jones to testify but did not allow those who filed the complaint or attended the lecture to do the same. The judges also received documents and other secret evidence that they and Judge Jones refused to disclose to complainants. […]

    An appeal has been filed. Hopefully, the complaint will be revisited.
    Maddow Blog link.

  305. says

    To the Utah police, apparently, only dead people need protection from threats, as they’re the only ones with a prima facie case to say the threat might be real, no?

    Well, when the threatened is a sergeant of the Monstrous Regiment, anyway.

  306. rq says

    opposablethumbs
    No downsizing, just new policies regarding work times and work hours, which basically means anyone working alternate schedules (like myself) and cannot adjust their schedules gets to seek new fields of plenty. I’m not sure when I’ll know – it could be 6 months, it could be 2 years of not knowing. Yay.
    And regarding not counting the points? Yes. You can be bottom of the rung and they still won’t count your points as a woman in the men’s division. And all of this after the international bobsleigh federation has allowed mixed teams in World Championship circuit competition for the first time this year. Just shows how progressive Latvian sports are.

    Tony
    They compete for cookies and headpats, with a total points count at the end. Which wins them a promotion to Grand Poopyhead, but that’s about it. There was that saying about the labour of the righteous and few rewards… (my parents used to quote it every now and then).

    CaitieCat
    But after they’re dead, it gets easy, because they don’t have much to say.

  307. Brony says

    @ Giliell
    Tore your neck? I hope that is not as serious as it counds.

    @ rq
    What’s a shovel race?

    Also RE: 295, I find that often because of the macho front that men have been required to put up, we in fact tend to be MORE emotionally sensitive, and that automatically comes with the aggression and dominance we are allowed to practice relatively exclusively. Because social defeat is just aweful and we will never survive it.

    We just tend to deflect everything onto something else like women being “too emotional”, or “don’t screw with tradition”, or “it’s too distracting for us poor weak willed menz”.

  308. rq says

    Brony
    I present season 2, Showel Race. Yes, that’s how the Latvians spell it, on purpose (I asked).
    Basically, they give you a shovel and a helmet and send you down the local skeleton track. Personally, I think it sounds like huge amounts of fun. :) Except for a few of the rules.

  309. says

    Aww, crap. I mean, yay, no one hurt, but crap this is going to be hammered on endlessly.

    State Rep. Marty Flynn exchanged gunfire late Tuesday night in Harrisburg with suspects who were trying to rob him and another lawmaker, a spokesman for the House Democratic Caucus confirmed Wednesday morning.

    Flynn is a Democrat, as is the other rep he was with. Flynn is also a former prison guard and MMA fighter.

  310. cicely says

    More-than-usually ‘rupt.
    *hugs and/or other-and-non-intrusive gestures of comfort/support/sympathy* where wanted/needed.
     
    Linky Goodness (hopefully not redundant):
    Squid Stuff
    hat tip: The Blogess
    –

  311. Brony says

    @ rq
    OMG that is luge for everyone! That was awesome! As much as I hate people sometime I love them and this is one of those times!

    How the heck do they justify how women are being “included”? No really! I want to see that BS for myself, but only if you don’t mind.

  312. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    The Mellow Monkey,

    Please drop in just to confirm you are fine.

  313. says

    Oh god. Rick Perry shut up!

    So many people in Iraq knew what fate would be in store for them if the general and his forces were to fail in their mission. Everything depended on the success of that surge of operations. Our troops and all the innocent people they were trying to defend were looking at the prospect of a complete collapse of security with just about every bad actor in the region ready to move in.

    That’s what the Iraqi people were spared – at least for a time. That was the achievement of a bold counterinsurgency carried out by the ablest war fighters on earth, including some of the finest of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.

    If anyone had doubts back then about all that was at stake, the question is surely settled by events in Iraq and Syria today. We’re all aware of the scenes unfolding there right now. And for those of you devoted to studying the military disciplines I can hardly think of images that better confirm what a vital and worthy pursuit that is.

    I’m guessing that not a person in this room needs persuading of the stakes and of the absolute need to prevail. The fate of millions and the security of our people are in the balance and all this at a time when the international order is being tested on other fronts, from the Ukrainian border to the South China Sea.

    It is one thing to speak earnestly about the international order that our nations have helped to establish these past 70 years, and something else altogether to see that it is defended. That, once again, is what is required of Western nations
    and the great alliances we have formed. And as you know better than I, this cause will draw heavily on our wealth, our will, and our wisdom.

    The plainest imperative of all is the resources we commit to the common defense, holding nothing back if it will better assure our security. And the nations of the West had better get about it, and never take for granted our military superiority.

    For us, in the present conflict, the difference that superiority makes is the difference between those people – the jihadists of ISIS – in control or in retreat.

    We know what they do when they’re in control, and they try very hard to make sure we see it. In all of our conduct toward this enemy, there can be no illusions, and no compromise of all that we are defending.

    Least of all we must never lose faith in the values that unite us to this day – the enduring moral inheritance that gives our nations their special strength and character.

    In the Islamic State and elsewhere, these values are mocked and hated by men of different character. Their contempt and rage testifies, perhaps better than anything that you or I could say, to the rightness and truth of the values of the West.

    It’s our values, after all, that lead us to spend so much effort trying to defend the lives of innocent Muslim people – whether it’s Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan today, or Kosovo in the 1990’s.

    Even so, Western involvement in the Middle East has gone on for so long now, with so much complication and trial, that there’s a temptation at times to just look away and let the troubles of that region sort themselves out.

    Sometimes it is even said, quite plainly, that the Middle East is ultimately no concern of ours, and in any case beyond our narrow understanding of different cultures and faiths.

    The great error, as some see it, is any attempt to apply our Western values to whatever might occur in places so foreign and so far away. Follow this reasoning far enough, and you get questions like: Who are we to say how women and children should be treated in another culture?

    What looks to us like bullying, subjugation, or worse, is held by others to be divinely mandated, and some say we are just trying to impose our own standards where they don’t belong.

    Whether it’s Britain or America, moreover, there are always people ready to insist that our societies could stand some improvement too – that we have our own injustices to correct.

    Such a posture of moral equivalence is seen now and then on the Left, and sometimes even at the U.N. – an institution founded on Western ideals. And it pretends not to see the most basic of distinctions.

    The shortcomings of Western democracies, the systematic savagery of the enemy – to a certain way of thinking, it all gets mixed up as one. They’ve got bad guys over there, we’ve got a few of our own – what’s the difference?

    This attitude of cultural relativism certainly doesn’t approve of harsh or violent practices imposed elsewhere, but does question the right of Britain, the United States, or other Western powers to do anything about it.

    Now leave aside the threat of mass-casualty attacks in our own countries that our terrorist enemies abroad are forever talking about. And leave aside the strategic commitments, crucial interests, and close friends that our nations have in the Middle East. These include some very brave friends who, without us, would soon face the most desperate circumstances.

    Even if you set all that aside, the attitudes I’m describing reflect a deep confusion at a time when moral clarity is at a premium. And this confusion can weaken the confidence we need in our own values – the values of Western Civilization.

    In the Islamic State, and all that goes with it, we’re dealing with a particular breed of fanaticism that leaves us with few options. And the short of it is that we have every right to judge, and every reason to act.

    Watching scenes from Iraq and Syria lately, in fact, let me tell you what really strikes me. It’s not the differences in culture, it’s the commonality that should speak to us most. Such vast suffering has been inflicted on the people of that region. Who can look upon such scenes and think, “How very different they are from us”?

    I think of whole villages emptying out at the approach of these so-called religious warriors of ISIS. Imagine the raw fear of the Yazidis, those thousands of people chased up a mountain this summer and saved just in time by allied air strikes.

    We know exactly what they escaped by the fate of those who didn’t. The enslavement, the beheadings, the crucifixions, the mass executions, the forced conversions. And all of this, of course, by men who tell themselves they are doing God’s work on this earth.

    Who cannot identify with a mother or father running with their babies from this horror, with an elderly woman struggling to keep up with the others, with the children who got away, but saw what happened to their parents?

    There are men and women alive in Britain today, elderly survivors of the blitz, who can recall just what the experience is like. The victims of jihad today have far more in common with you and me than they ever could with their tormentors.

    And when they look up and see an RAF, Danish, or American bomber coming in, they feel precisely as you and I would feel. That sight must seem like the answer to a prayer, a prayer that can be expressed in every faith: “Save my family, save my home, save my village, save me, from this evil.”

  314. says

    Brony asks @307:

    What’s a shovel race?

    I have images of teams of 2 people bobsledding down a snowcapped moutain with shovels in hand trying to decapitate as many zombies as possible…

  316. Brony says

    @ Tony
    That would be a fun spin on it. But if that ever did get popular here it would end up turning into jousting or something. Sliding into something is not physical enough.

    @ Ogvorbis
    I hope you get what you need soonest.

  317. says

    Brony @316:
    Oh, I was thinking more along the lines of one person steers the sled while the other has to swing the shovel and decapitate a zombie as they hurtle down the mountain to the finish line. No sliding into them. In fact, that would get the team disqualified. They must keep moving (and yes, I’m making this up as I go along).

  319. rq says

    Tony
    No zombies here, only potatoes. Gotta lop off those eyes.

    Brony
    I’m sorry, I just didn’t understand your question?
    If you want to see the rules and regulations for the shovel race, it’s all in Latvian. Also, they have both men’s and women’s divisions, and while women are allowed to participate in the men’s division, they get no points for it.
    (Also for the grand final, the top 20 men qualify, but only the top 10 women and pairs (which can be co-ed).)

  320. rq says

    Tony
    Also, it’s not shovels, but I can’t seem to find that photo of combined biathlon/bobsleigh I found during the Olympics earlier this year… Seems like it would fit in.

    Beatrice
    That kind of shovel race? Ew! :P ;)

  321. Brony says

    @ rq 319
    Sorry. I was curious about what the people responsible for organizing the were using to justify treating women like that. I like to pick apart stuff like that, but if you don’t want to get into it I understand.

  324. rq says

    Brony
    What they use to justify? I don’t know. Because they think they’re being forthcoming and they make the rules? I really don’t know. They recommend women not participate in the men’s division for fear of hurting men’s fragile self-esteem, and won’t count their points, even though they go out of their way to say that it’s okay for women to do so (hmm, negative reinforcement?). So I can’t really comment on their logic in this matter, but it’s definitely not something that really surprises me in this country. They think they sound very progressive and even-handed, but come across as assholes.
    If you had a specific question, I can try and answer it. I may ask the organizers themselves about this, if I keep thinking about it and getting pissed off about it.
    (Anyway, it’s okay for asking, I jsut didn’t get your question completely.)

  325. Esteleth is Groot says

    @Jedibear

    I’m not sure what context that would have been in.

    Um…did you ever hang out in the Star Wars chat rooms over at Yahoo (back when such things existed)?

    —
    Side rant: for every “thanks to the ACA, I got checked out and found that my [illness] was treatable!” story there’s the ones where the ACA-enabled scan found a condition that was no longer treatable, but may have been previously. And now there’s nothing to be done, except a referral to hospice – but not that long ago, it would only have been treatable, it would have been curable.

    And the GOP wants to return us to previous times. Fuck that shit.

  326. says

    For some reason, I’m reminded of a fairy tale with a character who slides down hills on a shovel. I’m sure I’m wrong, but a gnome or a dwarf who travels by shovel would be kind of awesome.

    Home is the Daughter, home from the fieldwork midterm and in a much better frame of mind. She’s going to take tomorrow off; I offered to drop her at the big park of her choice for a morning of birding, since I’m going out anyway. Woe, woe is me, I have to go to an art supply store, hee hee.

    But now I’m going to lie down and read about Chaucer. Or possibly fall asleep. Interesting subject, ponderous writing style.

  327. opposablethumbs says

    rq, that’s awful about the new working hours policy. Way to screw with anybody who a) has kids and b) actually looks after them. (incidentally, when do you ever get a chance to sleep???)
    I hope this gets postponed indefinitely. Or would the two of you ever be able to have someone live in and look after the boys for those hours when neither of you is able to? Argh these things are always so complicated – especially if the new requirement is to change your hours from one week to the next :-(((((( I’m really sorry you’ve had such shitty news :-(((
    Ogvorbis, it’s good to see you – and I hope you get reimbursed as you should. And that all the insurance coverage does work as it’s supposed to!

  328. rq says

    opposablethumbs
    We don’t really want someone to live in, but there’s the option of privatized daycare ($$$) or a daytime nanny ($$$). Both options are hit or miss, depending on a lot of factors, especially since private daycare isn’t particularly regulated, and daytime nannies can be overprotective due to their own age. Best case scenario, it takes a year to implement the system, during which time Youngest’s turn in state daycare comes up, and then with next September, everyone returns to regular work hours, with all children in school and daycare. I kind of enjoy making my own schedule, though. Dunno, really, I still have to speak to my bosses about this, since I know the two directly above me will have a lot of understanding and compassion (and one of them is astonished by this move, as she just returned from mat-leave and is all “who the hell was running this place while I was away??” because she’s the one who usually does all the running of the place). It’s just a rather terrifying idea, re-entering the job market…
    Things can only get better.

    Anne
    *hugs* and *tea*

  329. Brony says

    @ rq
    Thanks but I’m not sure if I’m at the asking smart questions stage. I don’t want you to get angry if you don’t need to anyway.

  331. says

    G. Willow Wilson taps into the zeitgeist with Ms. Marvel:

    Almost a year ago, Marvel Comics announced that a new Ms. Marvel would be joining the heroes of the Marvel Universe, taking up the mantle previously carried by current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers. But unlike her predecessor, this version of the character made waves for being a teenage Muslim shape-shifter named Kamala Khan. While the “Ms. Marvel” creative team — writer G. Willow Wilson, artist Adrian Alphona and editor Sana Amanat — braced for wildly opposing reactions, when the book arrived it was met with almost universal acclaim, and Kamala Khan has gone on to greater Marvel Universe success, most recently appearing in “Amazing Spider-Man.”

    At last weekend’s New York Comic Con, writer G. Willow Wilson joined John Weiland in the CBR Tiki Room to discuss the reaction to the book, “Ms. Marvel’s” place in the current crop of ‘female-friendly’ comic book titles and more. Wilson also explains how Kamala’s adventures will remain easy to follow even as she enjoys an increased presence in the greater Marvel U, how it feels to see her written by another writer and whether the book’s success and hopeful tone have eliminated some of the fear that surrounded its launch.
    […]
    On whether the book’s hopeful tone has pushed away any negativity surrounding it prior to release: On the outset before the book was launched, there was a certain amount of negativity or negative anticipation from a couple of different points of view. On the one hand you had people who are sort of more right wing and maybe a little Islamaphobic and see this as the liberal, gay, sharia socialist takeover of America, who are ruining comics one book at a time. They’re sort of always around and whenever anything changes, whenever you have a character of color or a gay character or anybody outside the mainstream they make noise. You can’t take it personally. It’s sort of its own little industry.

    On the other side of the spectrum there was a lot of fear in some quarters of the American Muslim community that — every time you hear there’s going to be a positive representation of a Muslim or whatever it ends up being kind of like a twist of the knife. It’ll either get a lot of stuff wrong, or “positive” ends up meaning, you know, sort of just accepts the narrative and just sort of nods and smiles and does not represent sort of the day-to-day struggles of American Muslims. Or it’ll be just more of the same and she’ll end up being a fundamentalist or a terrorist or whatever. There was a lot of fear surrounding that, which I totally understood, because I see that same thing. I watch “Homeland,” I know how this stuff goes, and I knew that there was really no cure for that but to wait until the book came out and people saw what was actually going on on the page. And I knew that once that happened that fear would go away. And that is what’s happened.

    I’ll occasionally get very, very conservative Muslims who are like, “Why isn’t she in hijab?” And the answer is because the vast majority of young Pakistani-American girls do not wear hijab. I am in the minority. A minority of American women wear a headscarf, so I want to represent truthfully the experiences of these young girls and not make some cardboard cutout, model minority, you know, who never has any problems and everything’s great, and the only difference is her Christmas is different from our Christmas. That’s not what we wanted to do with this book.

  335. says

    Threadrupt, but need to share:

    Welp, just got an email from my kids school. Apparently, one of the kids flew on the same flight to Cleveland as Amber Vinson. So, they are “bringing in extra equipment and personnel” to clean the school tonight. They also pulled the buses and are “disinfecting” them.

    I called it “theater” when the schools in Cleveland did similar. Now it is my school. My kids. Is it still “theater”?

    Yes. Yes, it is. Just had a long convo with my kids. Explained why the school is doing it and why they (the kids) should not be scared.

    *Sigh* and my chicken biryani is burned now.

  336. says

    YOB, hugs offered, also sympathy for you and your kids. That’s scary.

    I still remember having to explain 9-11 to the Younger Daughter, who was 8 at the time – Mom was edgy, her elementary school went into lockdown with no explanations, and her afternoon cartoons weren’t on. She got to choose a video instead.

    Anyway, it must be even harder for you, being as it’s closer to home.

  339. says

    YOB @338:

    It is really putting our logicy reasony part of our brains to the test. The reptilian parts of our brains are going freaking nuts. :)

    From your comments, it sounds like you and your wife are doing a good job keeping the logicky parts of the brain engaged. Kudos.
    And hugs.

  340. says

    YOB, I think that’s a good call on your part. I doubt anyone is going to get anything done tomorrow at school because they’ll be jumpy any time someone coughs or sneezes. With any luck, things will be calmer by Monday.

    Sorry for using up all the anys, I’ll pick some more up on my shopping run tomorrow morning.

  344. says

    Ye Olde Blacksmith 337

    I have a friend who is a rather prominent influenza virologist. When the first case was still just suspected in Dallas, I flat out asked him if we were screwed (in the US) (this was on October 2). His answer, copied and pasted from my FB feed:

    No. People in the field have been trying to spread the message that Ebola will absolutely be diagnosed in the US — Tom Frieden of the CDC has been pushing this message hard for many weeks, for example — so it’s frustrating that the media are now astonished and horrified that this perfectly predictable thing is happening.

    It doesn’t change the basics of the virus, which is that it’s not very transmissible and that there are well-understood ways to stop its spread. The sort of thing that is happening now — contact tracking and followup — is something that’s a standard, almost routine, thing for epidemiologists.

    People in a wealthy country with a solid health-care system should not be seriously concerned about catching Ebola, either as individuals or as a population.

    That’s not to say that people shouldn’t be concerned about Ebola. This outbreak is much worse than just about anyone expected — for reasons that are clear in hindsight, but that were smothered by complacency at the outset. We now know that in crowded areas with poor health care the virus can amplify itself pretty efficiently. We also know that the world is connected, and health-care workers will have to have this in mind.

    There will undoubtedly be more cases in Ebola in the US. There may even be some transmission chains. But I don’t think for a second that there is going to be an outbreak like the West African one here.

    I do have some harsh thoughts about the US health system; I hear second-hand that the case in Dallas was sent home because he didn’t have insurance. This is exactly why health care is a public good, that needs to have public funding; the health of a random guy in Dallas does have implications for the health of my family, and I’m more than happy to throw something in my taxes to having that random guy looked at properly.

    But that said, once again, I don’t believe that the US system is susceptible to the massive disruption that allows the West African outbreak.

    This, of course, does not take into account Pteryxx’s posts earlier about the lack of correct equipment at the first site it showed up in. But we used this to help explain to our 10 year old son when he got very worried about Ebola here in the states a couple days later, and it helped.

  346. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    This, of course, does not take into account Pteryxx’s posts earlier about the lack of correct equipment at the first site it showed up in.

    The first cases of ebola from Africa were sent to Emory University in Atlanta, where the CDC is, and advised on their high containment unit. Notice no word of further cases comes from their. It was from a hospital who thought they were equipped, but wasn’t (hubris), where the present secondary infections occurred. All cases of ebola should be sent to a hospital with proper isolation units, and at the moment, there may only be one or two. Any place ill-equipped for hazmat type protection should transfer cases ASAP, and fumigate with hydrogen peroxide or peroxy acetic acid.

  348. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    What’s a shovel race?

    I have images of teams of 2 people bobsledding down a snowcapped moutain with shovels in hand trying to decapitate as many zombies as possible…

    I could dig it…

  349. says

    This guy *can’t* be a Libertarian…
    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-container-store-pays-employees-50000-a-year-2014-10

    According to Tindell’s book, “Uncontainable,” the average Container Store retail salesperson makes nearly $50,000 a year compared with what the Bureau of Labor Statistics says is a national average of just above $25,000.

    In an interview with Business Insider’s Jenna Goudreau, Tindell explains that the secret to the company’s high wages is what he calls “the 1=3 rule,” meaning that one great employee will be as productive as three employees who are merely good.

    As a result, Tindell feels he gets ahead by receiving three times the productivity of an average worker at only two times the cost.

    “They win, you save money, the customers win, and all the employees win because they get to work with someone great,” he tells Business Insider.

    Tindell then keeps these “great people” by giving them annual raises up to 8% of their salaries, based on their performance. He tells The Wall Street Journal that he has managers rank each of the employees they supervise and encourages them to work toward a pay structure where employees are paid in accordance with their value to the company.

    Fuck me if only more companies operated like this. Imagine Wal-Mart…

  350. cicely says

    For “shovel race”, I visualized shovels, a la Disney broomsticks, racing.
    The Sorcerer’s Groundskeeper, perhaps?
    –
    Anne:

    Woe, woe is me, I have to go to an art supply store, hee hee.

    Oh, woe! And oh, woe, again!
    Truly, I feel your…”pain”.
    –
    YOB, *hugs* and sympathy.
    For whatever my opinion may be worth, I think you’re handling it just right, with the kids.
    –
    Tony!:

    Imagine Wal-Mart…

    Don’t have to imagine it; The Husband and I were there just yesterday, getting flu shots. Calling around town, they were far-and-away cheapest.
    If only WalMartCo wasn’t such an asshole….
    –

  351. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Do we even have safe reliable means to do even that?

    Two planes. Pitiful.

  352. says

    Hey ya’ll.
    Hat tip to Mano for this one.

    Emergent

    Emergent is a real-time rumor tracker. It’s part of a research project with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University that focuses on how unverified information and rumor are reported in the media. It aims to develop and best practices for debunking misinformation.

    From the Emergent blog

    Emergent is about trying answer a simple question: Is it true?

    Depending on the information you’re examining, this can be an easy or difficult question to answer, especially today.

    Rumors and unverified information emerge constantly and spread over social networks, via messaging apps and through more traditional methods such as such as word of mouth. They cascade across borders and social circles with incredible velocity, all the while picking up new elements, morphing, or being confirmed or debunked.

    What if there were a place where reporting was aggregated with an eye towards confirmation and debunking? What if there were a place you could go to confirm or debunk claims in news stories? What if instead of having to read article after article, keep an eye on social media, and monitor Google Alerts, there were one place where you could see the current state of reporting about a given claim and track its veracity?

    Emergent is an attempt to offer that service. As noted on our About page, it’s part of a research project I’m pursuing as a fellow with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. That research is the driving force behind Emergent’s creation, and is the source of its data.

    The site you’re seeing today is a first version, a prototype. It presents real rumors and real data about them in a visual format that hopefully helps communicate how a given claim is evolving, and whether media reports confirm, deny or merely report the claim.

    After enough evidence emerges one way or another, we mark the claim as either true or false. (Look for another post soon about how we make that call, but our bias is not to rush to apply such a definitive label. We decide what would constitute confirmation and stick to that.)

    What’s been interesting to note thus far is that its clear some unverified claims may never end up being definitely confirmed or debunked. They will likely forever remain in the grey zone. This makes it all the more important that news organizations think about how they can communicate and capture this level of uncertainty in their reporting.

    We aim to gather data to offer better advice for how to do that.

    We also want and need your feedback. Consider this an invitation to tell us what is and isn’t useful and interesting about the site, and how it could be better and more valuable to you. Email me and tell me your thoughts, and in the coming months you’ll see the site evolve and become even more useful. —Craig Silverman

  353. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    I just realized: a “Godfather cocktail with the amaretto substituted with Jaegermeister would be a “Godwinfather” :D

    Also just realized: most of my abiding visceral hatred for “gangsta” culture arguably stems from experience with people who were appropriating it. :/ I’m not sure what to do with that knowledge.

    Um, I don’t have any brilliant ideas on the ebola thing, unfortunately. Problem exists between chair and spreadsheet. :(

  354. toska says

    Tony! #349
    That was soooo not my experience during my years of retail hell. Glad to see a company that is willing to say that treating employees ethically is good for everyone.

  355. blf says

    As I recall, there are, outside of Russia, only five or six hospitals in the world with a top-level biosafety isolation unit like Emory — and four(?), including Emory, are in USAlienstan.

    should transfer cases ASAP

    Do we even have safe reliable means to do even that?

    There are only two aircraft in the entire world capable of safely transporting an Ebola patient who is vomiting, bleeding, etc. (i.e., an über-dangerous “wet” case). I think they can only carry one patient at-a-time, and require c.24 hours to disinfect. They were built by a private USAlienstan air ambulence firm in response to the SARS scare. (The company, whose name I cannot recall, is building a third aircraft right now in response to the Ebola situation.)

  356. blf says

    Screaming cats and barking dogs in the night (Mellow Monkey@260) are symptoms of a mildly deranged penguin visit. Check yer cheeseboards, and look for penguin-shaped holes in the wall, ceiling, floor, and nearby galaxies. If you cannot find the former, and do find the later, then we have another sighting…

  357. blf says

    A shovel race is when a bunch of sprinters, swimmers, bicyclists, and morris dancers — people who race, or at least from whom people run away — get together for a feast. They shovel it in, you see (or, in the case of peas, out as far as they can throw it (after lighting the fuse)).

  361. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    Ohai horde.

    To the extent such concepts are meaningful, I think I may really, truly, have met The Right Person at The Wrong Time.

    Now what? :(

  362. says

    Chef Roy Choi is working on a healthy fast food concept to compete with Burger King and Mickey Dees

    For the past four years, chefs have gathered for the MAD Conference in Copenhagen to discuss the future of food. From progressive food to wild culinary concepts, there’s always something shocking going on at the gathering designed by Noma’s innovative chef Rene Redzepi. It sort of serves as a TED gathering for the world’s top chefs and food industry professionals. This time around, chef Roy Choi announced that he’ll be working on a fast food concept called Loco’l meant compete with the likes of Burger King and McDonald’s, offering low-income communities nourishing, healthful food.
    “We want to go toe to toe with fast-food chains and offer the community a choice,” said Choi.
    Choi will collaborate with Daniel Patterson, who owns Coi in San Francisco and has made some cameos on PBS’s hit show “Mind of a Chef,” for the project. Patterson will develop most of the healthy, seasonal recipes. And the buns for their burgers will be created by none other than Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery.
    Loco’l is going to aim to keep prices competitive with other chains. All of the items on the menu will range from $2-$6, leaps and bounds more affordable than what the chefs serve at their higher-end establishments.

  365. rq says

    Azkyroth @361
    I don’t suppose there’s any way to make this into the Right Time, is there? :( I have no good advice, just a lot of thumbs.
    As for 364, ha!

  366. says

    Flippin’ heck

    here’s an international convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in town tomorrow

    I am soooo glad I wasn’t planning to go into the city.

    Touchy-feely-let’s-chat people of whatever stripe give me the willies.

  367. rq says

    Flooding in the area continues, with more rain expected on Sunday. The perils of a flat country (but no mudslides, at least!).(We’re fine and bound to be fine, as we’re on the highest ground around and quite far from any rivers, small or large.)

  368. opposablethumbs says

    YOB, I think you’re both doing a brilliant job of dealing with both the situation and the lizard-brain. My sympathies; I know I’d be frightened (and will be if/when it’s our turn). Hope the day off school is – even – kindofsortof enjoyable.

    Azkyroth, I hope that there’s some way it could become the Right Time soon, or even that you and the person in question are still Right for each other when the Right Time heaves in sight.

  369. blf says

    [W]hat’s the story with “USAlienstan”?

    I’m one of those people who is very uncomfortable calling most people from / in the obvious country “Americans”. (The exception here is the First Nations.) The alternative term USAian works but lacks a certain poetic quality.

    Since such people are really strange to much the rest of the world, I have taken to calling them USAliens, as they are, well, “alien” to much the rest of the world. And indeed, on most other worlds as well (e.g., they don’t know about slood, think digital watches are neat, believe all problems can be solved by going on a shooting rampage, and don’t have eyes on stalks (weird!)).

    And do these USAliens come from? USAlienstan, of course. Sometimes spelled USAlienstani or ÜberSurrealAvoidland.

  370. blf says

    Tony the barshooper, One of the local vin shops has (er, had) in its cubbyhole of all drinks which aren’t vin a bottle of Kraken Black Spiced Rum. I now have the bottle, and am wondering how best to serve / try it. I’m slipping some of it neat right now, and it’s quite tasty, but I suspect it’s a good one for a mixed drink. Any suggestions?

    Poking around on the Intertubes, many of the suggestions I’ve seen sofar either call for ingredients I don’t have (e.g., most mixers), can’t stand (e.g., most colas / sodapops…), or can’t find in France (e.g., root beer). I do have a variety of fruit juices and fresh fruits, cheese (of course!) and yogurts, but no peas or horses.

  371. blf says

    We’re … quite far from any rivers

    Currently…
    Lets out his evil sorcerer in a hollow undersea volcano laugh.

  373. rq says

    Fairy nuff sounds like a good mixer for Kraken black spiced rum.
    But you have to make sure it’s fairy nuff, none of that pixie or sprite nuff, much less goblin nuff. *shudder*

  374. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Azkyroth,
    Can Right Person outweigh Wrong Time? Best of luck, whatever you decide.

    40 days of prayer to stop abortion in front of a hospital with biggest and probably best gynecology department *spits*

  375. carlie says

    To the extent such concepts are meaningful, I think I may really, truly, have met The Right Person at The Wrong Time.

    That is just about the worst thing. I’m so sorry.
    My time reading advice columns has taught me to say that if it is really the right person, there are many wrong time aspects that can be changed no matter how painful those are on their own, and that if it’s truly the wrong time, then it probably really isn’t the right person overall. But that doesn’t stop it from hurting.

  376. rq says

    Beatrice
    You let me know if those prayers work – and by ‘work’, I mean if they cause all women seeking abortions walking into that hospital to be magically not pregnant anymore before the abortion happens. At least one per day, please.

  377. bassmike says

    I love the idea of the Shovel Racing; but the sexism is appalling.

    I’m glad you live higher up rq . I live pretty close to a flood plain, but they’ve built substantial flood defenses now, so I’m no longer on the early warning list. Which is good.

    My daughter seems to be getting better. Getting the antibiotics into her is a major task with plenty of screaming and resistance, but we’re persevering. We’re hopeful we can avoid hospital this time. Thanks to everyone for their support.

  378. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,

    And you know how I found out about the whole thong? from a billboard on central square (that couldn’t have been cheap)

  379. blf says

    Yeah, goblin nuff is rather foul stuff, but Lutin la Crème is Ok. Just make sure it is made from baby goblins. The adult ones are too fatty, giving it a rather rancid gamy taste. (The rumours that it can dissolve British Industrial Cheddar are not true, albeit do be careful to not use any metal, glass, or plastic containers.)

  381. says

    Heya
    hugs for YOB and rq

    +++
    And I need fingers crossed and thumbs held and everything.
    After onePOINTfuckingFive years and at least 5 inquries n my side the University of Monty Python has decided that no, they cannot a cknowledge the linguistics seminar it did ages ago and that no, I would have to do one that deals with didactics anyway.
    Now, hers’s the thing:
    -I wanted to graduate next summer. In order to do so I need to write my final thesis AND have all credits until February.
    -The only class I could take is already FULL. This class would mean a hell lot of work anywaay because I would have to write the paper that’s usually due in April during the term while also writig my final thesis.
    -I wrote the lecturer a mail. I hope she’ll let me get in, otherwise I lose a full fucking term.
    I just can’t anymore

  384. says

    Thanks.
    You know, it’s so frustrating. For the last two years I worked my ass off. I have two kids, Mr. is absent during the week so I’m a part time single mum, I have a small job and I worked so damn hard, I worked so hard that I always broke down crying at the end of the term with exhaustion. And you know what, if I’d know that I need to get those credits, I would have worked even harder. And if I’d known I still need those credits 4 fucking weeks ago I would have singned up for the class on time. And now all I can do is wait and hope. The woman who does the class is really nice, though, but I don’t even know if she can simply create a magical extra place for me.

  385. says

    Giliell, can the prof at least waitlist you? Elder Daughter’s university allows a limited number of students to audit the class in case and until someone drops out and creates a space for them. Since people inevitably drop out in the first few weeks, the ones who are auditing can just join the class without having missed anything.

    [lots of gentle hugs and a nice cup of your soothing beverage of choice]

  387. birgerjohansson says

    blf,
    when blogging, I just refer to ´murcans as`murcans.
    — — — —
    Buzz Kill: Pot Growers May Be Wiping Out This Cute Furry Mammal http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/10/marijuana-fisher-threatened-rat-poison
    — — — —
    This kind of chip could make image processing and language processing at a large scale feasible!
    Science, August 8th
    The brain chip http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6197/614.summary p614-616
    “A million spiking-neuron integrated circuit with a scalable communication network and interface http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6197/668.short p668-673
    — — — —

    $7 Saved for Every $1 Spent on Birth Control
    http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/MQ-Frost_1468-0009.12080.pdf
    Plus, providing resources for low-income women to get tested for cervical cancer helped identify 3,600 cases early enough to prevent more than 2,000 deaths.
    “You know what else it prevents? Abortions. If the “pro-life” crowd actually wanted to reduce abortions, they would be in favor of the widest possible distribution of birth control.”

  389. rq says

    Giliell
    *hugs*
    I hope a space opens up for you, and that the extra workload doesn’t break your schedule, and that it is alllll worth it to graduate according to your own plan! For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing amazing, frustrations and all – your kids have an amazing mum, you’re raising a (hopefully! ;) ) amazing family, and YOU as a person are amazing and worth every bit of love and respect handed your way – and then some.

    Also, wanted to extend some non-panicky *hugs* towards YOB, if accepted.

  391. rq says

    Saad
    Oh good, I read of the conviction a while ago, but it’s good to see some sentencing also. Do you mind putting that up in the Good Morning America thread?
    (Although I have to disagree that “”This case demonstrates that [the American] justice system does work.”” Rather, it works sometimes, with enough publicity, and sometimes not even then.)

  395. says

    Tony! Mutts are generally more intelligent than purebreds (the ones bred for show, not working breeds). So there. [hugs Tony!]

    However, that was still inexcusable and nasty and a horrible thing to find on your blog, and I agree with CaitieCat – blog about it and mail the link to his employer. They need to know what sort of asshats they are employing, and better it come from someone nice like you.

    PS I read all your blog posts, but I don’t usually post because you’ve said it all, and better.

  396. blf says

    Goblin nuff is … good for taking chrome off bumpers.

    That’s one way of putting it. Of course, the way it does that is not quite what often wanted: A heap of chrome on the floor because it was too slow to follow when the bumper opened a wormhole in spacetime and jumped in to get away from the nuff.

    I’ve heard rumors that it deters mildly deranged penguins, but i cant confirm that.

    She is not, as fat as I know, a chromephobe.

  397. says

    Azkyroth
    Ugh. I haven’t really got any advice, I’m afraid.

    Giliell
    Ouch, that sucks. Hopefully the lecturer can help.

    Tony!
    I agree, you should let his employers know. On a different note, they badly need a web designer, because that site is painful to look at.

  398. says

    Anne, CaitieCat:
    Thank you both. I was waffling on whether or not to email his employer. I certainly hadn’t thought to blog about it, but you’ve changed my mind.
    Although now that I’ve read the ‘About’ for AntiWar, I’m not sure emailing them would do any good.

    This site is devoted to the cause of non-interventionism and is read by libertarians, pacifists, leftists, “greens,” and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree with our opposition to imperialism. Our initial project was to fight against intervention in the Balkans under the Clinton presidency. We applied the same principles to Clinton’s campaigns in Haiti and Kosovo and bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan. Our politics are libertarian: our opposition to war is rooted in Randolph Bourne’s concept that “War is the health of the State.” With every war, America has made a “great leap” into statism, and as Bourne emphasized, “it is during war that one best understands the nature of that institution [the State].” At its core, that nature includes an ever increasing threat to individual liberty and the centralization of political power.

    Antiwar.com is one project of our parent foundation, the Randolph Bourne Institute. It is a program that provides a sounding board of interest to all who are concerned about U.S. foreign policy and its implications.

    In 1952, Garet Garrett, one of the last of the Old Right “isolationists,” said it well:

    “Between government in the republican meaning, that is, Constitutional, representative, limited government, on the one hand, and Empire on the other hand, there is mortal enmity. Either one must forbid the other or one will destroy the other.”

    This is the perception that informs our activism and inspires our dedication. Non-interventionism abroad is a corollary to non-interventionism at home. Randolph Bourne echoed this sentiment: “We cannot crusade against war without implicitly crusading against the State.” Since opposition to war is at the heart of our philosophy, and single-issue politics is the only avenue open to us, Antiwar.com embodies the politics of the possible.

    Our dedication to libertarian principles, inspired in large part by the works and example of the late Murray N. Rothbard, is reflected on this site. While openly acknowledging that we have an agenda, the editors take seriously our purely journalistic mission, which is to get past the media filters and reveal the truth about America’s foreign policy. Citing a wide variety of sources without fear or favor, and presenting our own views in the regular columns of various contributors, we clearly differentiate between fact and opinion, and let our readers know which is which.

    A libertarian site. They probably already know he’s a racist shitspigot.

  402. blf says

    Some quick searching with Generalisimo Google™ suggests Mr Raimondo is also a Sept-11 troofer and an anti-Semite (and may even blame the Sept-11 crime on the Jews?). If true, I assume the antiwar.com site is basically a crank clearinghouse, and should be ignored.

  403. rq says

    Tony
    Oy, I’m in agreement – blog about it, but now I have also read your follow-up on AntiWar… And I don’t know if it will do much good, but still. Maybe. I jsut hope it doesn’t get you shitloads of more abuse.
    *hugs* and *umbrella*
    Nice post! *thumbs waaay up* Hopefully someone out there will hear the message. You write very well, and it’s always a pleasure to read you (though I must confess I don’t do so nearly as often as I want to should ;) ).

    blf and YOB
    I’ve always used goblin nuff for cleaning the toilet, and sprite nuff does wonders for glass surfaces (though it’s too mild (yet tangy!) for anything more than that (perhaps a light swipe at the kitchen sink, but no more)). Gnome nuff finally defeated the dandelion issues in the garden, though – I highly recommend. Dwarf nuff just doesn’t cut it, for me.

  404. says

    blf @402:
    I can’t say I’m surprised by any of that.

    Oh, and I just remembered you asked about Kraken upthread. To be honest, I haven’t worked with it much, but I have tasted it, and I think it works quite nicely on the rocks. Checking out the Kraken site, the rum has cinnamon, ginger, and clove flavors. I think it would work really well in ginger ale. Or perhaps a cream soda. Orange or root beer cream soda perhaps. In fact, the site lists a few recipes, one of which calls for Kraken and ginger ale (there’s also Kraken & Coke, Kraken & 7UP/Sprite)

  406. says

    rq @403:

    I jsut hope it doesn’t get you shitloads of more abuse.

    That’s probably the only thing holding me back a bit. Since he’s one of the bosses of the site, I don’t think an email would accomplish much and he might become an ever greater nuisance.

  407. Saad says

    Asia Bibi, a mother of five, has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) during an argument with a Muslim woman.

    “A two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed the appeal of Asia Bibi but we will file an appeal in the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” her lawyer Shakir Chaudhry told AFP.

    Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan where 97 per cent of the population is Muslim and unproven claims regularly lead to mob violence.

    This is what the “Muslim problem” is. It’s not, as far too many people believe, that they want to blow up Americans. It’s that.

    And in case anyone is thinking this is about some small village tribal court, no. It’s coming from the Lahore High Court. It is a superior court ruling over the entire province of Punjab. Lahore is the capital of Punjab and is home to almost 10 million people.

    One would expect such a decision by a high court to lead to protests of unseen proportions. Here in the U.S. we thought the lack of outrage from the white population was disappointing. Ms. Bibi will be lucky if she sees a Muslim turnout of even a tenth of that.

    And this is what happens to activists who are a little to outspoken and are influential enough to threaten the status quo:

    Two high-profile politicians – then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti – were murdered in 2011 after calling for reforms to the blasphemy law and describing Bibi’s trial as flawed.

    This is the real Muslim problem and the real problem with Islam.

  408. opposablethumbs says

    Fuck, Tony!, I’m sorry this shitwit has been foaming at the mouth like this. What a disgusting piece of work.

  411. says

    Here’s an addition for our Republicans-saying-stupid-stuff file. In this case Joni Ernst airs her propensity to rewrite history, and her intimate relationship with something akin to Romney’s “47 %” attitudes.

    […] Sen. Joni Ernst is holding a small but consistent polling edge over Rep. Bruce Braley because the people who will vote in November will likely be disproportionately conservative, old and white. […]

    Ernst, like her fellow GOP Senate candidates Rep. Tom Cotton and Rep. Cory Gardner, is by every indication an unwavering adherent of Tea Party orthodoxy, it’s reasonable to think that her version of American history is shared by most of the rest of her comrades in arms.

    Ernst says things have gone wrong during “the years since [she] was a small girl,” which doesn’t make sense considering she’s only 44 and thus has spent most of her life in what most people regard as a conservative era. (She was only 10 when Ronald Reagan was elected, for Gipper’s sake.) […]

    Ernst wants to go back to a mythological childhood in which she lived in Paradise. Ernst explains the End of America:

    […] in the years since I was a small girl up until now into my adulthood with children of my own, we have lost a reliance on not only our own families, but so much of what our churches and private organizations used to do. They used to have wonderful food pantries. They used to provide clothing for those that really needed it. But we have gotten away from that. Now we’re at a point where the government will just give away anything. […]

    What we have to do a better job of is educating not only Iowans, but the American people that they can be self-sufficient. They don’t have to rely on the government to be the do-all, end-all for everything they need and desire, and that’s what we have fostered, is really a generation of people that rely on the government to provide absolutely everything for them. It’s going to take a lot of education to get people out of that. It’s going to be very painful and we know that. So do we have the intestinal fortitude to do that?

    This candidate for U.S. Senate would gut or completely do away with health care, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, Social Security, and the Education Department. Still, she is ahead in the polls. She is likely to be the new Michelle Bachmann of the Senate.

    http://www.salon.com/2014/10/17/iowas_tea_party_disaster_joni_ernsts_shocking_ideas_about_the_welfare_state/

  412. says

    Jan Brewer says stupid stuff:

    […] [Arizona Governor Jan Brewer] isn’t celebrating U.S. District Judge John Sedwick’s ruling today in favor of marriage equality. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, a Republican, will not appeal the ruling, so marriage equality has taken effect in the state.

    In a statement Friday, Brewer noted that Arizona voters approved an anti-marriage equality amendment in 2008 and declared that “with their rulings, the federal courts have again thwarted the will of the people.”

    “It is not only disappointing, but also deeply troubling,” Brewer’s statement read, “that unelected federal judges can dictate the laws of individual states, create rights based on their personal policy preferences and supplant the will of the people in an area traditionally left to the states for more than two hundred years. As Justice Scalia opined, such action is tantamount to ‘an assertion of judicial supremacy over the people’ and is an image of the judiciary ‘that would have been unrecognizable to those who wrote and ratified our national charter.’”

    Brewer’s view is that if same-sex couples are to enjoy full equality, they should have to wait until their rights have been subject to popular plebiscite or legislative approval. […]

    Salon link.

  415. Azkyroth Drinked the Grammar Too :) says

    blf, I find that spiced rum and Vanilla Coke is a delightful combination.

  416. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    rq #393,
    On the other hand, consider the overhead. When times are tough, management might decide to cut bonuses or freeze wages rather than shut down those offices.

    Personally, I’d rather have a consistently bigger year-end bonus so I can find my own massage therapists and splurge on them.

  418. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Tony!,
    Thanks! The graphics are PD, I just combined them. The “de-asscaking” is all mine though, because I have a toilet mouth and I like combining words like “ass” and “cake.”

    Asswaffle. Doucheclot. See, toilet mouth.

  419. rq says

    jrfdeux
    They don’t really have much of a year-end bonus, true – but to have your well-being looked after while at work? Not too shabby. (Plus, a slide??? I want a slide at my work!!)
    And I will check out your poster at home, work is not letting me access.

  422. jrfdeux, mode d'emploi says

    Tony!: Give me a day or two to ponder that. I’m drinking vodka tonight, so I may get some…inspiration. ;-)

  423. says

    Saad @407:
    I’m sorry to hear about Asia Bibi. Blasphemy laws are horrible and should be stricken off the books in every country. To think that ideas are treated as more valuable-sacrosanct even-than human life is disgusting.

    (Your post inspired me to blog about Asia Bibi and blasphemy laws)

  424. says

    I just read that the guy cast to play the Flash in Warner Brothers live action version is queer. I missed that in the news release about the slate of DC Comics inspired movies yesterday. Between that, WW’s movie, and an African-American superhero making it to the big screen (Cyborg), DC really seems to be making a little progress on the diversity front.

  427. blf says

    Blasphemy laws have nothing to to do with Islam per se — for example, Ireland (not a Muslim-majority country) has one — such laws have everything to do with the totally fictitious nature of the great sky faeries. Claiming such laws is “the Muslim problem” (as an example) is inexcusably racist and logically absurd.

  428. Saad says

    blf, #426

    Claiming such laws is “the Muslim problem” (as an example) is inexcusably racist and logically absurd.

    You misunderstood. My post is unofficially in response to many on-topic posts outside of the lounge where there’s discussion that the main problem within the Muslim countries is one of terrorism. That is what I mean by saying it’s not terrorism that is the Muslim problem. It’s things like this.

    Also, racism doesn’t have anything to do with white people per se, but in the context of racism in America it is very important that white people are the ones who will need to speak up and act to help get rid of it. Same goes for Muslims in Muslim societies who look the other way when horrible abuses like this happen.

  431. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Been celebrating two birthdays with work colleagues ’till now (it’s 3:50 am over here). I feel sober(ish), but very tired.

    Haven’t been out this long in….. well, I have no idea, but probably way too long for someone my age. At least it seems I can drink 5 (6?) beers while staying coherent. Yay?
    I had fun. So there’s that.

    Work tomorrow, so there’s that as well. I don’t even feel like sleeping now that I’m so many hours past my usual bedtime.

  435. rq says

    YOB
    A couple of years ago Husband and I finally got a chance to go out on our own, just the two of us, and we were so excited! Par-tay! So we went to dinner, and I think we saw a show of some kind, and the original plan was to go out dancing… Welllll, 11PM rolled around and we realized we had 10 minutes to catch the last bus home and be in bed by midnight. Good times! ;)

    Beatrice
    Glad you had fun! :) Drink some water and get lots of sleep to be coherent in the morning, too.

  437. rq says

    (And according to #5 on that list, Estonia is the only Baltic country worth mentioning, and it’s the only one that’s not even ‘Baltic’.)

  439. says

    Good morning
    *blergh*
    My brain is still wrapped in cottonballs, so no thinky work for me today.
    Lecturer says I should show up and we see what can be done.

    +++
    Tony
    *hugs*
    You really have to deal with lots of shit lately. The only good thing I can tell you is that you’Re obviously annoying the right people. Unfortunately the sure indicator for that is their relentless harassment :(
    Goodness, by now even I am visible enough to attract harassers on Twitter, and I’m not even a small fish in the pond, more like plankton.

  440. says

    rq
    That’s a great article and in my opinion shows the difference between guys who are actually interested in men’s wellbeing and MRAs: many of the issues get raised by MRAs all the time: male suicide, premature death, etc.
    But note the difference: This guy talks about why that is, identifies reasons rooted in masculinity and tries to find ways to improve the situation.
    MRAs usually shout “it’s women’s fault!!! We donT’ actually want less men to die from suicide, we just want women’s death rate to catch up!!!”

  441. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Giliell,

    Lecturer says I should show up and we see what can be done.

    That sounds promising. They wouldn’t tell you to come for nothing, at least I hope so.

    I know that different universities in different countries are very…different, but at mine there was always that one extra place found when there was a good reason (or even not a very good one).

  442. blf says

    Estonia is the only Baltic country worth mentioning, and it’s the only one that’s not even ‘Baltic’.

    That’s way it’s worth mentioning.
    It’s like peas. You have to then mention the horses. Or at least the celery.

  444. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    rq,

    Sharing and/or ranting might help? If not, just some *hugs* for you.

  445. opposablethumbs says

    Just for one day, I would like it if nobody needed me for any reason at all.

    Yes. This. rq, I wish so very hard that you could get a proper break, like at least a weekend away.

  446. carlie says

    Just for one day, I would like it if nobody needed me for any reason at all.

    I hear you so much on that. Can you set up a day with Alt-Parent for him to take them for a full day so you can get away? When the kids were small, Spouse and I had an agreement that whenever one of us really needed it, we could leave the children with the other one for a 3-4 hour period with no notice and no questions asked. We didn’t take advantage of it often, but just knowing it was an option was helpful. And now and then it was a full day’s worth. (like, a couple of times a year, but still).

  447. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    rq;
    *bighugs*
    Not being a parent, my feeling isn’t the same, I’m sure, but I feel you a bit.
    More hugs.

    –

    Azkyroth:
    I’m so sorry it feels that way with the romantic interest. *hugsifyouwantem*

    –

    I feel stiff and sore and cranky this morning. The first two don’t have a good reason. The third one is just a jumble of several and I’m going to have some coffee and hope it helps.

    Getting ready to go to a wedding an hour away. Have to dig in my “random stuff I can give as presents” closet and wrap it up. Plus taking some things to donate to the charity thrift shop. And maybe find a sweater there. Oh and do laundry. And paint another sign for the wedding. And do my nails and hair and makeup. blarg. Better get moving.

  448. Portia (aka Smokey the Advocate) says

    Reading a little more…

    Tony:
    I’m so sorry you’re dealing with assholes.
    *hugs*

  449. carlie says

    Getting ready to go to a wedding an hour away. Have to dig in my “random stuff I can give as presents” closet and wrap it up. Plus taking some things to donate to the charity thrift shop.

    Well now, that’s just a sitcom episode begging to be written, wherein the wedding couple confusedly open a box containing an old sweatshirt, a mug with a picture of a kitten hanging from a rope that says “Hang in there”, and a Sony Discman, and someone at the Goodwill gets a pair of Waterford candle holders for a buck.

  450. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    After PZ’s post the other day, I started reading Questionable Content from the beginning.
    … I hate it. I’m sure it gets better, so I’ll hang on, but right now I’m on #136 and I can’t stand it.

  451. says

    rq, [hugs] and I hope you get your me-time even if it’s just sitting in a coffeeshop with a book for an hour.

    That’s where my custom of going out on Saturday mornings started – I’d leave Husband with the babby and do the grocery shopping and maybe hit a few yard sales. He had fun playing with his daughter(s), I got some alone time, it was all good.

    The last few years I’ve been jumpy about being away from the house that long in case Aged Mum calls and has a hissyfit because I’m not there (it’s happened), and I don’t have my own phone right now so nobody can call me if there’s an emergency. They’re all adults, they can cope, but I’m still terrified something will happen, so going out is not so much fun anymore.

    I used to drive all over the county and find new things to do, but lately I have trouble even leaving our neighborhood. Pathetic, I am. But I make myself go anyway, most Saturdays, by having grocery errands to do. In fact, I should comb my hair, make my shopping list and head out soon.

  452. blf says

    Just for one day, I would like it if nobody needed me for any reason at all.

    That would be a bit awkward when you need to, e.g., pee. Then you need you, and yer day would be ruined.

  453. birgerjohansson says

    rq, Gilliell
    Hugs, if you want them.
    —- —
    Report: It was Karl Rove behind cover-up of aging chemical weapons found in Iraq http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/report-it-was-karl-rove-behind-covereup-of-aging-chemical-weapons-found-in-iraq/
    .
    It Appears That Nicolas Cage Does Not Want You to See His New Movie http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/17/dying_of_the_light_boycotted_by_nicolas_cage_paul_schrader_nicholas_winding.html
    .
    Iranian Fathers and the Diverse Daughters They’ve Raised http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/10/14/nafise_motlaq_photographs_fathers_and_daughters_in_iran.html
    .
    ???
    “This plant gets you high and reduces opiate addiction — and it’s totally legal” http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/this-plant-gets-you-high-and-reduces-opiate-addiction-and-its-totally-legal/ “kratom can mitigate the painful effects of opiate withdrawl”
    “Thai officials are considering reversing the 70-year-old ban on kratom, due to the plant’s value in weaning addicts off of opiates.” “The plant also enjoys a legendary use for extending the duration of sexual intercourse,”

  454. birgerjohansson says

    NASA’s Hubble telescope finds potential Kuiper belt targets for New Horizons Pluto mission http://phys.org/news/2014-10-nasa-hubble-telescope-potential-kuiper.html
    — — —
    Superconducting circuits, simplified http://phys.org/news/2014-10-superconducting-circuits.html
    — — —
    When Domestic Violence Victims Are Imprisoned for Their Abusers’ Crimes http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/03/buzzfeed_domestic_violence_investigation_how_victims_are_imprisoned_for.html

  456. says

    birger @453, That Karl Rove story is insane.

    Here’s an addition to our Republicans-saying-stupid-stuff file. This time it is Senator Ted Cruz being awful:

    In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Senator Ted Cruz says pastors being hauled off to jail by the government for preaching against homosexuality is a “real risk” in the future.

    “I think that is a real risk,” Cruz tells me. “Some in the media ridicule that threat saying there is no danger of the government coming after pastors. That is the usual response.” But he adds: “The specter of government trying to determine if what pastors preach from the pulpit meets with the policy views or political correctness of the governing authorities, that prospect is real and happening now.”

    The Brody file link. Warning, the Brody file is a sinkhole of asscaked pseudo-journalism. But that’s the source.

    Several other sources, like The Maddow Blog, have picked this up.

  457. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    My comment on B&W disappeared into a black hole.
    Um.. ok

  459. carlie says

    Welp, I almost just killed my entire family. literally. i’m still shaky.

    I restacked our leftover wood in the garage this morning, in prep for getting new wood (hopefully) tomorrow. At some point near the end I started smelling something, but by then I was far back by the wall on the bottom and figured there was a dead animal back there somewhere. I then had to leave to get my kid from the PSAT, then stopped by the store to get a spray (thinking I had to at least mask the smell, since I hadn’t found anything dead), got home, went through the basement to the garage door and could smell it before I even opened the door. Have I mentioned my son’s room is downstairs and right there at the door? Went in the garage, and the smell was terrible. Walked towards the wood, and finally the parts of my brain clicked together upon noticing the amplified smell and hearing a tiny hissing sound. At some point I had apparently bumped into the grill and the fucking knob had jostled and had been leaking fucking propane into the garage. For over a fucking HOUR. Fuck. I went upstairs to tell the kids, and my son said “Oh no, I lit a candle in my room because it was smelly down there.” Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK.

    Nothing happened, but fuck, it so could have. I just… god damn it. I can’t believe how shaken up I am about this. I literally have no idea when or how I would have bumped the knob – I don’t remember even being close enough to it for that to happen. Spouse has hated that grill since the day he bought it, and if it can switch on that easily… yeah, that fucker’s going on craigslist. And in the meantime, the new house rule is that the propane has to be disconnected every time he uses it, pain in the ass or not.

    I’m sorry, I just have to vent. That was way too close. I know, we have brushes with death all the time, and that’s just how life is, and it’s not like it did or would have blown before somebody really noticed, but… FUCK.

  460. blf says

    An attempt to solve the problem of Latvian beserker ninja potatoes (with stotting drummer) currently hiding in my cupboard, Humble spud poised to launch a world food revolution:

    Dutch team is pioneering development of crops fed by sea water

    …

    Inspired by sea cabbage, 59-year-old Marc van Rijsselberghe set up Salt Farm Texel and teamed up with the Free University in Amsterdam, which sent him [Dr Arjen] de Vos to look at the possibility of growing food using non-fresh water. Their non-GM, non-laboratory-based experiments had help from an elderly Dutch farmer who has a geekish knowledge of thousands of different potato varieties.

    “The world’s water is 89% salinated, 50% of agricultural land is threatened by salt water, and there are millions of people living in salt-contaminated areas. So it’s not hard to see we have a slight problem,” said van Rijsselberghe. “Up until now everyone has been concentrating on how to turn the salt water into fresh water; we are looking at what nature has already provided us with.”

    The scarcity of fresh water has been labelled as the planet’s most drastic problem by the World Bank, NGOs, governments and environmentalists. …

    Van Rijsselberghe is happy to be seen as an entrepreneur whose interest was to grow a “value added” food crop that would tolerate Holland’s problems with water. He says he used a trial and error approach in development. “We’re not a scientific institution, we’re a bunch of lunatics with an idea that we can change things and we are interested in getting partnerships together with normal farmers, not people who want to write doctorates.” …

    But where does all that salt go? Aren’t we in danger of overdosing on salt if we eat the Salt Farm Texel crops? “What we find is that, if you tease a plant with salt, it compensates with more sugar,” said de Vos. “The strawberries we grow, for example, are very sweet. So nine times out of ten the salt is retained in the leaves of the plant, so you’d have to eat many many kilos of potatoes before you’d exceed your recommended salt intake. …

  461. says

    carlie @459:

    I’m sorry, I just have to vent. That was way too close. I know, we have brushes with death all the time, and that’s just how life is, and it’s not like it did or would have blown before somebody really noticed, but… FUCK.

    No apology needed. Jeez. I’m sorry to hear about that, but I’m glad everyone is ok. I can only imagine how stressed you are right now. I hope you don’t beat yourself up too much.

  464. says

    A lot of rehab programs have a religious component. That becomes a big problem when courts or jails force offenders to participate.

    An atheist who once spent 100 days in prison because he refused to enter a religion-based rehab program has been awarded a sizable settlement for his unjust treatment.

    Back in 2007, Californian Barry Hazle was busted for possession of methamphetamine and sentenced to one year in jail. Hazle was paroled, but to stay out of jail he had to enter a treatment program. That’s where Hazle, described in media reports as a lifelong atheist, ran into trouble.

    Hazle was ordered to attend a program run by Fresno-based WestCare California, Inc. On its website, the WestCare Foundation describes itself as “a family of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations” that offers “a wide spectrum of health and human services in both residential and outpatient environments.” Those services include “substance abuse and addiction treatment, homeless and runaway shelters, domestic violence treatment and prevention, and mental health programs.”

    That all sounds fine and good. The problem is WestCare’s program requires entrants to acknowledge the existence of a higher power […]

    Since Hazle doesn’t believe in God, he complained about the content of WestCare’s treatment program, and that landed him right back in prison for more than three months.

    Clearly not one to go down without a fight, Hazle sued the California Department of Corrections and WestCare. The Department of Corrections changed its policy about faith-based rehab programs six weeks after that suit was filed in 2008 so that parolees cannot be forced into treatment programs that include religious components, the Sacramento Bee reported. […]

    Americans United for Separation of Church and State link.

  465. blf says

    carlie, As scary as that was, there are two bright sides: First, No cheese was harmed. Second, The mildly deranged penguin didn’t show up to do a rescue.

  468. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    carlie,

    I can’t imagine how scary that must have been. *hugs*

  469. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    .. and another comment on another thread on B&W gone. Not even seen with the “your comment is awaiting moderation” message.

  471. says

    This is a followup to my post about Ted Cruz @456. Cruz has been promoting the myth that pastors will be arrested for preaching anti-gay views, or for refusing to perform gay marriages. Fox News has their own version of this myth.

    Fox News peddled a new lie about Houston, TX’s LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, blaming the measure for unrelated subpoenas issued against a number of local anti-gay pastors.

    On October 10, the city of Houston subpoenaed documents related its recently-passed Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) from five local pastors who had opposed the law. The subpoenas are part of the discovery phase of a lawsuit filed by opponents of the ordinance who allege that the city wrongly disqualified petition signatures supporting a repeal referendum. Conservative media outlets, led by Fox News, have inaccurately accused the city of attempting to “harass” and “bully” the anti-gay pastors, depicting the subpoenas as an assault on religious liberty. […]

    Of course, it’s not just Senator Cruz and Fox News, this is a new flaming, exploding, out of control, asinine claim that is showing up on all of the rabid rightwing “news” sources, including blogs and radio.

    Expect this one to show up in political campaigns as well. Cruz is already using it.
    http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201410170002

  472. says

    carlie, All The Hugs, and I am so glad that no one was hurt!

    Beatrice, my comments have been disappearing everywhere on FTB since last week. PZ fixed it here, but I’m still the Invisible Poster everywhere else. I did send a message using the tech issues button, but I haven’t heard back. I assume the poor guy is swamped with more important issues, so I’m just waiting and occasionally posting to see if it’s been fixed.

  474. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    I’ve been saying that for years now, but I think it’s really really time for me to move out.

    Coming home a couple of days ago, happy: “I’m starting lessons for my driver’s license next week!”
    Dad, grumpily: “That’s your problem.”

    Today, happy again: “Do you know I’ll be climbing Dinara?”
    Dad: “You can go to the moon as far as I care.”
    This time, I told him that he really doesn’t have to give me such a rude answer, and found out (more rudeness paraphrased) that my statement sounded stupid to him because of lack of explanation. Never mind that kind of statement basically is an invite for questions so that I can explain everything.

  475. Saad says

    I just sent this message to the Pakistan Supreme Court. I do not know if it will make a difference. But if there are other small voices like mine out there doing the same, maybe it will.

    To the Honourable Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk and to the Honourable Justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan:

    Dear Sirs,

    I am writing to you in the hope that the government of Pakistan may be moved to pardon Asia Bibi, the woman currently on death row for the crime of blasphemy. She was sentenced by a court in central Punjab in 2010 and has been on death row since. It pained me greatly to find out that the Lahore High Court has dismissed her appeal and upheld the death sentence. I understand that her appeal is forthcoming to the Supreme Court.

    I am writing to you in the hope that, being fellow human beings to both myself and to Ms. Bibi, you will understand that she has committed no harm to anyone and thus does not deserve a punishment. We humans – all of us, no matter the race, religion, or gender – have the capacity to oppress and harm, but we also have great capacity for kindness and empathy.

    I implore you to please imagine what Ms. Bibi is experiencing right now, this very moment. Ask yourself who she has harmed? Did she hurt a living, breathing human being? Did she violate anyone’s rights or well-being? A crime must have a victim. Some violation must have been done to a person or a living, feeling being in order for there to be a crime. Ms. Bibi committed no such violation and yet she is being punished in the most severe of ways. If you can honestly answer the above questions, you will no doubt arrive at the conclusion that it is Ms. Bibi who is the victim here.

    Please join me in speaking up against this injustice. Please save Ms. Bibi’s life. You will be doing a very important part in creating a Pakistan that is just and safe for all people. You will not just be helping Ms. Bibi, you will be taking a crucial step in setting a very humane precedent that will help save countless other innocent lives in the future. I write to you because I alone can’t do this. My voice is small, but yours is not.

    I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this message. I am hopeful that it will have made a difference.

    Sincerely and with warm regards,

    Saad

  476. says

    Oh, dear. Europe, brace yourself. The USA will soon be exporting more rightwing religious folderol next month. The tenor of this latest rightwing/religious proselytizing tour of Europe reminds me of The Family/The Fellowship/C Street political hoodlums being caught and outed by Jeff Sharlet for funneling millions of dollars to African anti-gay campaigns, to dictators accused of genocide, etc. Their belief that God chooses conservative world leaders and we should back them is scary — mainly because they have power, money, and some tax-free corporations pushing this ideology.

    Republican Mike Huckabee, who is considering a presidential run in 2016, is taking Iowa evangelical leaders on an all-expenses paid, 10-day overseas trip next month.

    Eighteen Iowans are booked for “Mike Huckabee’s Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II Tour,” which takes place Nov. 12-21 […]

    “I’m hosting this trip because I firmly believe God uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible,” Huckabee says in his personal invitation to the leaders. “Three remarkable leaders – Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II – were the human instruments God used to change the course of world history.”

    Huckabee, who will be in Iowa next week, says in the invitation that he wants to embolden pastors with a message about how powerful biblical ideas have been throughout history and that it’s necessary to implement them today.

    The organizer for the journey is the American Renewal Project’s David Lane, a conservative Christian activist who works in Iowa and other key states to encourage conservative Christians to get more involved in civil government. The Iowans’ international airfare, hotel and meal expenses will be covered. […]

    Des Moines Register link.

  477. says

    This is a followup to my comments #456 and 471, concerning the religious right jumping on the persecution wagon in a new way. Apparently, the secular government and non-Christians are now bullying churches and pastors. And it is all the fault of The Gay Menace.

    […] Godless communists and secular Nazis saw the importance of controlling the churches with an iron grip. The homosexual Nazis have learned well from the past, and are now happy to operate in the same fashion.

    My friends, we are in a war. Will you stand up and resist the gaystapo, or will you quietly sit by and do nothing? […]

    Complete and totally bonkers essay on this issue is available the link.
    BarbWire link.

    […] Whenever we find various freedoms and rights being taken away from ordinary citizens in the West, we can more often than not count on the homosexual brigade to be involved. As they demand special rights for themselves, they are happy to strip away the rights of everyone else. […]

    Christian churches there are being specifically targeted by the political leaders [in Texas].

    Pastors are a critical part of the very fabric of American society. They have been iconic champions of major moral issues such as American Independence, abolishing slavery, women’s suffrage, child labor laws, and civil rights. Now, a group of pastors who have continued this tradition are being bullied by the strong-arm tactics of the government of America’s fourth-largest city-simply for preaching out of the same book that Houston’s officials took their oath of office on,” said Chris Stone. […]

  479. says

    Beatrice @474, I hope you manage to move out soon. No one should have to put up with that kind of rudeness and negativity on a daily basis. It would wear anyone down.

    Does your father have Alzheimer’s Disease? He sounds like he is fixated on one kind of behavior.

  480. jedibear says

    @Esteleth is Groot, #325

    Um…did you ever hang out in the Star Wars chat rooms over at Yahoo (back when such things existed)?

    Can’t say I did. So I’m probably not the JediBear you’re looking for. Sorry about that.

  481. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Lynna,

    Not that we know and I hope he doesn’t. He’s always been a bit… unpleasant so this is really shouldn’t be a surprise, even though I’m still sometimes taken aback.

    My grandpa’s brother suffered from Alzheimer’s and it was really horrible near the end. His wife took care of him for a long while, but even she couldn’t handle him so he spent some time in a home before ending up in a hospital – and she is a retired nurse, a truly formidable and caring woman.

  482. opposablethumbs says

    Holy shit, carlie, that must have been terrifying when you realised. I’m so glad no-one was hurt – and I hope you’re OK, no wonder you’re feeling shaken.
    .
    That was a great letter, Saad, I hope they read it.
    .
    Beatrice, I wish you a happy move. I remember mentions of your dad indulging in this kind of sadly arseholish behaviour before, and I know you’ve said he’s been doing this since forever. I hope you can indeed move, and don’t have to put up with his crap any longer.

  483. carlie says

    Thanks, everybody. We went out of the house for awhile and took a little drive trip while the place aired out, and just being away from it calmed me down a lot.

    blf – no cheese was harmed, but while out we stopped by the local farmer’s market-type store, and acquired locally made fresh mozzerella balls and cheese curds. :) The mozzerella is good enough to just eat straight, and the curds are destined to salve my recent craving for poutine.

  484. says

    These 7 Geek Icons Have Had Enough of #Gamergate. Here’s How They’re Fighting Back.

    As the conflict known as #Gamergate continues roiling the internet, some #Gamergaters have been surprised to find that their geek idols aren’t exactly on their side. Take, for example, science fiction author William Gibson […]

    Add:
    Joss Whedon (screenwriter and director)
    Patton Oswalt (comedian)
    Seth Rogen (actor and filmmaker)
    Felicia Day (actress, The Guild)
    Tim Schafer (game designer, LucasArts, etc.)
    Mariel Cartwright (animator, Skullgirls)

  485. says

    Kind of ‘rupt today. *hugs* for rq, Giliell, Beatrice, and Carlie (That sounds terrifying, with the propane).

    Yesterday went rather poorly. Due to misinformation about the deadline, we missed getting an overnight order shipped at the local post office, so I went downtown early, before work, to mail it from the central office, where, due to traffic, I missed that deadline as well (although it appears I was close enough that it may have made the truck anyway, that didn’t help my mood yesterday). Combined with a few things that have gone on recently that picked at some of my emotional scabs, I pretty much just lost my shit. That left me stuck downtown, so I went to the library to use one of their computers to come here and vent, but the fucking things wouldn’t let me log in, for some reason; every time I tried I got a wordpress error (the same as when I try on my phone. I can’t begin to guess what the problem is). A nights sleep helped some, though.

  486. says

    Republicans saying and doing stupid stuff: This time it is Representative Lamar Smith of Texas. He is really interested in guiding ruining the grant system of the National Science Foundation. His weapon of choice is money, the dunderhead is in charge of funding for the NSF.

    […] Over the last 18 months, Smith [Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) ], who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has launched an aggressive campaign against what he sees as misguided money management at NSF that fritters funds away on frivolous research. Research on ridiculous things like, you know, climate change.

    Smith’s committee is responsible for setting the NSF’s budget. But in the last year, the Congressman has gone to unprecedented lengths to scrutinize the agency’s scientific operations. His staffers are sifting through the archives of NSF grant proposal materials, which are normally kept strictly confidential to preserve scientific objectivity. They’re looking for projects to highlight as evidence that NSF is wasting money on research that, from their view, aren’t in the “national interest.” […]

    […] “Our efforts will continue until NSF agrees to only award grants that are in the national interest,” he [Smith] wrote in a 2 October e-mail to ScienceInsider.

    The tally of projects under scrutiny by Smith’s team has now grown to 47 […]
    Many of the studies at issue involve social sciences (a study of caste systems in Ethiopia, for example, and one about rural sanitation in India) that fall outside the core areas of engineering, mathematics, computer science, and biology that Smith, in a press release this spring, singled out as “the primary drivers of our economic future.”

    But some of the biggest-ticket items up for public dissection focus on climate change. […] You know, totally frivolous questions that have nothing to do with the “national interest” on things like rising sea levels, epic releases of methane, US military engagement in the Arctic, new areas for offshore oil drilling, and 35,000 stranded walruses. […]

    Mother Jones link.

  487. says

    Dalillama, Anne seems to have a pillow fort stocked with chocolate, hugs, and I don’t know what else. Hope some downtime over the weekend restores you.

  490. says

    Really sorry to hear that you’ve had such a shitty time lately, DL. I hope you and your elbow have a better day tomorrow.

    carlie, that’s awful, must have been genuinely terrifying, I’m so glad everyone was safe.

    Ogvorbis, I hope your back is starting to feel better. I miss your voice around here – not to pressure you back, just so you know you’re missed and welcome, k?

    Had a very painful but useful Dr appt yesterday, but too sore to keep typing just now, but goodish news when I can. Hugs and cheese and peas and squees as appropriate, I’ll try to be less ‘rupt next time I come by.

  491. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Dalillama,
    I’m sorry about shitty days and the painful elbow.

    CaitieCat
    Yay for the good(ish) news. Take care.

  492. says

    Dalillama, the pillowfort is always open. Come, bring your favorite cuddly thing, and restore your equilibrium.

    We should make a guide to the Lounge – there’s the plate-smashing, and the pillowfort, and the snacks and beverages, and Tony’s Bar, and whatever the chickens are up to… I’m sure there are many delights I have yet to discover; perhaps some of the Horde would be willing to give me a tour?

  493. says

    I was reading poetry by Stephen Crane, (1871 – 1900), and came across this, in his volume, “The Black Riders”.

    LXI
    i
    There was a man and a woman
    Who sinned.
    Then did the man heap the punishment
    All upon the head of her,
    And went away gaily.
    ii
    There was a man and a woman
    Who sinned.
    And the man stood with her.
    As upon her head, so upon his,
    Fell blow and blow,
    And all people screaming, “Fool!”
    He was a brave heart.
    iii
    He was a brave heart.
    Would you speak with him, friend?
    Well, he is dead,
    And there went your opportunity.
    Let it be your grief
    That he is dead
    And your opportunity gone;
    For, in that, you were a coward.

    Written about 1895.

  494. Saad says

    Catholic Bishops want to be mean to gay people

    On same-sex couples black people, the bishops courts said there is “no foundation” for comparing gay unions black people’s rights to “God’s design of matrimony and the family” white people’s rights.

    “Nonetheless, men and women with homosexual black tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy,” the bishops judges said.

    I think doing this is becoming my favorite hobby.

  495. says

    carlie, bloody hell, that’s terrifying. Extra hugs from Downunder.

    ‘rupt, just going to tell the only bits of news here:

    I seem to have developed acid reflux. OH JOY. Not enough having (mild) asthma, IBS and NAFLD, now this happens. Bah, humbug. At least it’s mild as yet, tilting up the mattress and being careful with eating are helping. Got a doctor’s appointment this week, so we’ll see if zie says I should take yet another medication. Buggritbuggritbuggrit.

    Other thing is I’ve been signed up to do an online business diploma. It won’t cost – it’s a government grant thing that I repay only if my salary gets to $53 000 (Not Likely). But I’m really not sure I want to do it at all, looking over the prospectus. I just did a Cert IV in business that was so full of WANK and so irrelevant to any job I’d ever apply for. I loathe marketing and sales and all the rah-rah-business-entrepreneur-whizz-kid-ethics-be-damned garbage in these courses. I somehow suspect I’ll dump it after the 14-day trial period.

    In really important news, the kitties are comfy and Maddie hasn’t yet soaked up all the day’s allotment of sunshine, which is very generous of her.

  496. says

    2kittehs, sorry about the acid reflux. I’m on meds for mine, too – a nasty little rattling charcoaly capsule twice a day – but at least it seems to work. My doctor (surgeon, actually) didn’t say anything about changing my diet, so maybe you’ll be able to eat chocolate again soon. I hope so; chocolate is, after, one of the major food groups.

    Tentacles crossed for success in your job search.

    Kitties do need their solar recharge. There are few things nicer to watch than a happy cat. Shadow was asleep on her favorite chair this morning, and she was snoring little cat snores, kind of a hmmmm hmmmm hmmmm. So cute.

  497. says

    Anne, thanks!

    I found I can eat a chocolate biscuit (Arnott’s Monte, mmmm) if I’m slow and careful and don’t do it too late at night. Bananas are safe, I’ve gone to skim milk, which I prolly should’ve ages ago anyway, and I’m just cutting my evening meal portions back a little. One spud less, whoo hoo. ;) I’m trying liquorice tea, which isn’t bad (I’m really a black tea with milk and sugar person), and I tried chamomile apple spice, which was … meh, but damn it was a great sedative, I had to take a nap in short order!

    I kinda hope that if I do get medicine prescribed, it’s pills rather than liquid. I tried Mylanta when this started, and ick. Made my tongue go numb but didn’t feel like it did anything for the bits that needed help.

    Awwww Shadow! I can just picture that. Ours are snorers too.

    Here’s some cuddliness to add to the pillow fort’s stocks – Fribs and the teddybearcats. Prolly posted this before, but what the heck, kitties!

  498. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Another night a Casa la Pelirroja.
    Nerd: What do you want for dinner?
    RH: Cheese and crackers with milk.
    Nerd: I thought you wanted meat loaf/potatoes/corn.
    RH: But you want to get to bed.
    Nerd: You get meat loaf/potatoes/corn, just call me when you are done and want me to put the leftovers in the fridge (for the umpteenthzillion time).
    RH: More attitude.
    *sigh*, but serves the meatloaf/potatoes/corn.
    Silence from the living room….
    Goes to sleep expecting an early wake-up.

  500. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Received wake-up call from the Redhead. Meat loaf, potatoes and corn demolished. Mission accomplished. Now back to bed. Zzzz…