This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
page 2!
Benjamin Cole, the press secretary for a Republican Congressman, is trying to walk back his racist comments (see my comment #498), but I’m not believing him one bit. Here are some more comments Cole posted:
Link.
The high risk investments that tanked the economy at the end of George Bush’s tenure as president have had a makeover. They are coming to a bank near you as “bespoke trance opportunities.”
Here’s a brief description of the “bespoke” financial scam:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/05/3619325/bespoke-tranche-opportunities-are-your-god-now-america/
DNA IS EVERYWHERE!!! At least, all over the New York subway. :)
… So yeah, that was me hanging out on page 1.
rq @4 on this page 2 of the Lounge: that’s gross. Bacteria from urinary tract infections, meningitis?
birgerjohanssen @478:
I’m so sorry to hear that. My sympathies.
****
Lynna @482:
I have no problem with you (or anyone) quoting anything from my blog. I’m glad you found something I said useful/informative.
“Bespoke Trance Opportunities” would be a good name for a electronic dance music act. Mind if I use it, Lynna?
And if so, where can I get some???
–
5 children at an Illinois day care diagnosed with measles
Thank you so much Andrew Wakefield and Jenny McCarthy.
Apparently today is World Nutella Day.
Ice Swimmer @8:
The financial scam is actually spelled “Tranche” but you are welcome to interpret it as “Trance.” I like it. Banks have their gullible marks in a trance with the word salad they produce when offering bespoke tranche opportunities.
Benjamin Cole has resigned:
Politico link.
Good news:
Mother Jones link.
Note that we will have this LGBT advocate precisely because the position does not require confirmation from the Republican-dominated Senate.
Utahans seem to take, in general, a Mitt Romneyesque stance toward corporations.
Salt Lake Tribune link.
I think the faith in corporations is misplaced. For one thing, Utah has one of the highest scam rates in the USA, mostly as a result of mormon-run multi-level marketing schemes.
http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/markets/markets/utah-mlm/
Birgerjohanson
I’m sorry about your friend
chigau
I see what you did there
WMD Kitty,
Great news and I’m seconding chigau’s laser recommendation.
So that’s what happened to all of god’s blessings!
Lynna @6
The normal person in me is all grossed out, while the inner microbiologist is gleefully rubbing her gloved hands together. :P
Chigau
No, but I’m getting a reflector kit — yeah, it’s an option now — holy shit the option packages! I’m also going to be super adventurous — ordered the green paint job instead of the usual black.
Anyone have any suggestions for a book in the vein of “Other People’s Polyamory for Dummies?” I’m getting realllly tired of my mom force-fitting my relationships into a mental model of “monogamy but not serious about it/doing it badly” and it seems like it might be easier to get her to get her mind around this than to get her to stop asking me intrusive questions in the first place. >.>
….apparently taillight bulbs are designed so that it’s physically possible for the wires in them to come “loose” as an intermediary step to failing entirely, such that you can get a tail light that’s “out” but comes back on when you jiggle the wiring connection a bit on the way to replacing the bulb…due to a failure in the bulb, not the attached wiring.
…I take back any time I’ve ever spoken up in defense of electrical engineers as a group.
Azkyroth
re: car parts
Do you live somewhere where it gets COLD?
Carparts can get right weird in the COLD.
Woman finds mystery creature in her tuna, expert says it’s a tongue-eating parasite
O.o
Nope. I live in California. >.>
WMDKitty I hope your new chair is all you want it to be. Green? That is adventurous!
Re car parts: Trying to get to the bulbs at the rear of my car is a exercise in contortion and all done blind, as once you have your hand in the space for the bulb assembly you can’t see inside. There must be a better way!
BTW for those that are interested: I will hopefully have three double bass bows to try out in the next few weeks. In the meantime my old bow has been glued back together. It remains to be seen whether it will stand the rigors of Bernstein on Sunday!
Also, I’m off to the ballet tomorrow night. It’s almost like a date night :-)
bassmike
Good luck to your old bow. ;)
Which ballet are you off to?
J.K. Rowling gets a verbal spanking
rq The Nutcracker. I’ve played the musics enough times, but never seen the ballet.
bassmike
Oooh, I hope you have a good production, that one’s usually a treat for the eyes!!
rq I hope so too! It should be good. We’re lucky enough to live close to a city that has good venues for musics/theatre/ballet etc.
Tony,
That picture of it in the fish’s mouth. Do not want.
Aaaaah! Look at this one!
Is this how Bobby Jindal sees himself?
President Obama got Republicans outraged by denying American exceptionalism.
Better yet, he did it during the National Prayer Breakfast.
Uh oh, they got mad. I love it.
Tony @24
Damnit, Tony! I keep striking things off my list of edible food, and now this.
Just last night I watched Chris Hayes tell the salmonella-chicken story, which also appeared in The New Yorker. 48 million people in the USA get food poisoning every year. Despite this, the federal regulatory system is getting less effective, not more.
Other first-world countries, like Denmark, have effective regulation of food and of food sources. In the USA we just want our food producers to make more money, to hell with safety.
Chris Hayes also covered store brand nutritional supplements which do not contain the herb(s) listed on the label. Of all the Walmart brands tested, only 4% contained any of the listed herb(s). Walgreens, GNC and other retail outlets were almost as bad as Walmart.
More on the herbal supplement fraud:
That’s right, it is/was Moments of Mormon Madness that make this problem much worse, and that codified in law a way for nutritional supplement manufacturers (all those Utah constituents!) to scam the public
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/02/chris-hayes-whats-really-those-supplements.
Lynna @35:
I take it you won’t be adding peppercorn crusted tongue-eating parasite heads in a light beurre blanc to your weekly dinner plans then?
Lynna @36:
I read about that the other day. It made me curious about which supplements I still have in my kitchen. Yeah, I bought quite a few kinds of supplements back when I was working out regularly. Also, before I knew that the vast majority of supplements I was taking was completely unnecessary. I have some L-Arginine, Melanin, and Glucosamine Sulfate. I wonder if I can send them somewhere to get them tested.
Remember that friendly Super Bowl bet between Chris Evans and Chris Pratt? They did exactly what I hoped they would do.
Hey, Tony, I don’t usually buy nutritional supplements thanks to low income, but I do have one in my cupboard. It’s not a store brand, which is what was tested. I don’t like this lack of reliability, lack of information, and lack of regulation at all. I too want to have my supplement tested.
Oh, yeah, and some of these bogus supplements contain fillers that would trigger people’s allergies.
The “peppercorn crusted” part sounds good, as does the “light beurre blanc.” The “tongue-eating parasite heads” not so much. I wonder what the recommended temperature would be to render the parasite inactive.
The L-arginine is probably that. The melanin has probably degraded and should be pitched. The glucose amine sulfate is stable. But it isn’t glucosamine sulfate. It is a mixture of glucosamine hydrochloride and sodium or potassium sulfate. If you need more, buy the hydrochloride salt, as it isn’t adulterated.
As an aside, I have made real glucosamine sulfate. It isn’t as stable as the hydrochloride salt, but the early studies with glucosamine used that salt.
Speaking of health-related matters, one more Republican has come to his senses concerning the Medicaid expansion and health care for low-income people in general:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-mississippi-republican-now-democrat
You know that Republican Representative that decorated his DC off like a Downton Abbey set? Well, Congressman Schock is now in trouble for more than accepting free services (small bribes).
It seems Rep. Schock made deal with a big donor to have his house in Illinois purchased for about three times its market value, thus pocketing $796.750 in profit. The donors, Mr. and Mrs. Bahaj had already donated to maximum allowable monies to Schock’s 2008 campaign, so they just arranged to give him some more moola through this money laundering scheme.
There’s more: free luxury travel and accommodations, for example. The guy is a crook in bed with influence peddlers and other crooks.
And, yes, there was a quid pro quo:
Daily Kos link.
They are much better as sushi — especially mildly deranged penguin–style, swallowed whole, alive and still wiggling, with some Pilsner Urquell to wash it down.
I is confuzzled.
Lord of the MRAs, Paul Elam, says “I don’t think men are oppressed”.
One of the things MRAs drone on about is how unfairly men are treated and how they aren’t privileged. I’ve seen many of them say that women are the privileged ones and have more power than men. I haven’t read enough of Elam to know that he’s said the same things, but I do suspect he has.
Why do I think he’s being dishonest?
Republican men just can’t help themselves. They have to say stupid stuff about rape.
That’s West Virginia Delegate Brian Kurcaba who was objecting to Democratic amendments to a 20-week-abortion-ban bill. The Dems wanted to add an exception for rape victims. Kurcaba sees no need for such an exception. Link.
I don’t get why any sane woman would vote for the likes of Kurcaba.
::Looks at Lynna’s #43…blinks in utter shock…where’s my fainting chair::
This is a followup to Saad’s post #34. Yes, the rabid rightwing is really, really mad about any interfaith dialogue promoted at the National Prayer Breakfast, including the presence of the Dalai Lama and President Obama’s speech. Here’s an example:
Link.
That’s why cootie-carriers shouldn’t be allowed an independent vote.
(B.t.w., a sane man wouldn’t vote for this cupcake either.)
This is a follow up to comments 34 and 49:
Please deliver pearls and faint couches to rightwing christians in the USA, stat.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fox-friends-obama-crusades-breakfast
You fainted into / under / against it…
No can-do. One of them is currently being. er, supporting, a certain Shoop.
(Besides, the fundienuts seem to have remarkably empty skulls, and would probably float up, up, and away — hopefully, far away, never to return — if it was actually possible for them to faint (as opposed to the usual, exploding in rage and hypocrisy).)
Supreme Court allows doctor-assisted suicide in specific cases!
rq @54, Only in Canada. Would that it were true in the USA.
Biggest Trigger Warning ever … for torture.
Some people in the USA used to burn people alive.
Link.
To be wary of “othering” entire groups of people — that should be an educational goal. Christians are up in arms about non-christians being honored at the National Prayer Breakfast. They should take a step back and get some perspective. And as PZ pointed out in another post, there is no elite versus moron divide that can be justified.
The racist asshole Benjamin Cole should have been fired, but more importantly, should never have been hired by Representative Aaron Schock. We are really only a few steps away from shooting so-called “traitors” and from torturing people who are supposedly inferior.
Here’s some good news:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/fair-days-wage
Some more thoughts on the ways in which Christians are hopping mad about President Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast (comments 34, 49, 51), and about the ways in which christians have used religion to place whole groups of mostly non-white people into categories that attempted to justify intolerance and mistreatment (comment 56):
That’s Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens using christianity to justify the confederacy and the mistreatment of African Americans. Stephens also maintained that dark-skinned people could only be converted to christianity via slavery. This asshole was one of many who pushed the USA into a war in which 750,000 people lost their lives.
As Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in a recent article for The Atlantic:
Ugh, been a long day of cleaning, both at work and at home. But I was able to remove the broken garment rack, and rescue the Redhead’s checks (so she can pay her caregivers). Now, all I have to do is to move the garments from a temporary rack to their resting place on the new metal rack. Think I need some more grog to attempt that, as the back is cranky.
Yeah.
Whoever designed that human spinal chord / upright bipedalism crap probably failed Shop in Junior High.
also HomeEc.
It’s already established that the designer of the body was a Civil Engineering major. Which explains everything.
(Seriously, who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?)
Normally the heated water bed is good for relieving back crankiness. But it has been slightly overfilled since the new mattress was put in, and it hasn’t stretched enough since then to make it totally comfortable. I need to remove a couple of gallons of water.
Giliell #16
teehee
Professor at Queen’s University in Canada under fire for teaching misinformation about vaccines.
Under fire is a start, I suppose.
You put water in a waterbed?
Here’s a tip from the mildly deranged penguin: Put bier (bottles, barrels, firkins, hogsheads, supertankers, full of) in the water. Use a soft cheese (like brie) to fill the void between the bottles, barrels, et al. That way, whenever you get hungry or thirsty from all that lying down and sleeping, you can just reach into the bed for some refreshment. (The waterboard basically beir the brie and bier, possibly as a sort of brei.) She says this is quite popular in Bire and Beri.
Do not use peas. Or horses.
…in the waterbed. …
I saw the title of this article and thought it was bad enough: Oregon judge: taking photos up girl’s skirt not illegal.
Then as I started reading…
Holy fucking shit…
He should be fired for a) promoting sexual harassment of women, and b) promoting sexual predation of children. Sick, sick fuck.
The guy’s defense lawyer is a piece of shit too (but no surprise there):
Oops, her’s the correct link: Oregon judge: taking photos up girl’s skirt not illegal
*sigh*
I’m pretty sure it’s called the fucking ‘turn signal’ for a reason.
(Not everyone needs to follow the First Rule of Taxi Driving – Thou Shalt Not Let Other Drivers Know Where Your Client Is Going.)
Saad
“Feels real bad about it, too”.
I just bet.
Hulla there
Talking about tongue eating parasites…
Last night I wanted to make some baked pasta. When the pasta was almost finishes I peeked into the pot and noticed some brown stuff in there. Apparently the maccaroni had been infested by food moths…
Since it was too late to start fresh…
…I smothered the pumpkin-salmon mixture with instant mashed potatoes and made some form of shepherd’s pie.
Giliell
For shame.
The current fashion when talking about the sustainability of food here is to include insects into one’s diet. I’m pretty sure moths count.
And yet you passed up the ideal opportunity.
rq
When the opportunity arises to have properly prepared insencts I will try them.* But I will not eat larvae complete with their poop for dinner.
*Seriously, it’s ridiculous that I pay good money for shrimp but wouldn’t eat a grasshopper?
Just put this question on a test. Wondering if any of the young whippersnappers will get the reference.
Some of the main active transporter protein families are:
A. ABC
B. 123
C. DOREMI
D. UNME
Giliell
So boiled in water like pasta no longer counts as ‘properly prepared’? Tsk. I’ll be sure to tell my elbow macaroni. ;)
You’d think you’d get by without any special recipes. :)
(I’m still thinkin about that larval poop. I do seem to recall that these moths are generally harmless and do not transmit/carry any evil germs, but there is no mention of that here. But in essence, I agree with you, though the one time a couple of them floated up to the surface of the rice water, I could not afford to toss the whole pot so I scooped them out and went on with dinner. :P We got rid of the infestation after clearing all the cupboards and washing everything down with a mild bleach solution.)
Now that rq started it, I can admit that I would do the same with the moths (and I think I might have scooped one out of rice at some point, but we haven’t had a problem with them in a while) :)
Beatrice, rq:
I am with you both. I would fish out the moths and eat the meal.
(Not a criticism of Giliells decision)
Saad @69, so the up-skirt photographer was not prosecuted because there is no law on the books in Oregon that makes it illegal to shoot up-skirt photos of 13-year-old girls? What!? [slaps forehead]
I mean, why exactly do we have to have a law that specifies each and every invasion of privacy via camera as illegal? Isn’t a general principle good enough? Maybe we need a law that says you can’t take up-skirt photos of 1 year olds, a law that is the same for 13 year olds, ditto on up to 110. Then we need an additional 110 laws to specify similar constraints on up-skirt videos.
Ahhh, the German kids’ news broadcast now covered Pope Francy the child beater two nights in a row, emphasising how that is totally not ok and completely illegal in Germany and that children have a right to grow up without violence.
Good people. Tell them the RCC is a bunch of evil bastards early!
Showed the test question to my kids, Child 2 got it. :)
Kids were at play practice all day, so I went to work. Spouse was up half the night with a cold, so I figured he’d like the house to himself. Picked up the kids, we all got home, and he snipped at me three times in about two minutes just during the normal hey we’re home exchange. I think I’ll bring the computer into my room and lay low the rest of the afternoon/evening.
Republicans in Congress say and do more stupid stuff.
Rating professors by gender. Not as surprising as you might think. :(
A colleague talking too loudly at work prompted me to finally buy a new set of earphones. Of course, now I have to make a song list for work.
*rubs hands*
This is going to be fun.
Annnnd the right way to eat nutella.
carlie
I hope all moods improve!!!! In sympathy.
rq,
No, that little girl couldn’t possibly be any cuter. Yes, that is the only right way to eat Nutella.
Although, Nutella filled pancakes may be a close second.
Beatrice
Nutella pancakes is for when you feel like putting some work into eating the Nutella. :)
OK, I think watching Iron Man prior to starting to compile the list might be influencing my choices.
So…. I promised myself I would start studying this weekend. Well, there’s still half of the weekend left. I’m lazy but I also want to get a good hold of this and eventually be able to do all this other stuff at work I’m not even allowed to sniff close to right now. Challenges, challenges.
This meme is gathering steam on rightwing websites and radio talk shows: they against tuition-free community college, and against any other actions to lower college tuition or the interest rate on loans, because that mean taxpayers are paying to teach kids to hate Republicans and white people.
Right Wing Watch link.
Now that we’ve the longest period of job growth in U.S. history, Republicans are scrambling to spin this as bad news. One of the spins they’ve come up with is that this is a “part-time” economy. Chris Hayes debunks this myth with actual facts. Imagine that, Republicans got the facts wrong … again.
Also available here, in case you have problems with the link above:
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-blockbuster-jobs-report-395525187704
“Strongest run of good economic news in more than a decade […]”
There’s also a discussion that mentions the disparity between the 1% and the rest of us.
Lynna 90
Wages are still shite, though. Not that Republicans would help on that front.
rq – thanks. He’s sick-cranky so it’s understandable, but still ugh.
Ah, taking a break before I put the hutch on my rebuilt computer desk. I should be adding peripherals to the desk within an hour. I’ll save the computer for last.
I took the iMac downstairs so the Redhead could watch AppleTV. Something funny happened. Since the iMac was on WiFi, rather than ethernet, pointing the remote at the AppleTV caused window with the video to open on the iMac. A head scratcher, until I have time to Google possibilities (tomorrow).
carlie [hugs]. I hope Spouse feels better soon, and that you stay well.
carlie
*hugs* hope folks are feeling better soon.
In good news, a New Jersey judge presiding over a lawsuit against a ‘gay conversion’ program said that conversion ‘experts’ would not be present in the courts, as it’s equivalent to claiming expertise in Flat Earth theory.
carlie
I see what you did there!
http://youtu.be/I8GvDLDYhNM
Werner Herzog on motivational posters. Good night, all, *hugs* where applicable!
I…just wanted to vent a little, you guys. I’m friends on Facebook with a woman who is one of my sister’s oldest friends; I’ve known her at least 30 years, she and I were both bridesmaids at my sister’s wedding, etc. etc. etc. She posted something yesterday in support of Stanislaw Burzynski, and I (assuming that she must have been mistaken), replied with links to a couple of P.Z.’s posts on the subject. It turns out that she’s on the Burzynski bandwagon and silly little things like “facts” and “science” are no persuasion in the face of feeling really good and fuzzy.
I always thought that she had her head screwed on pretty straight, and now I’m sad.
Still have to hook in one DVD burner, then I am done with the rebuild, but not the cleaning and reoganization. Rock steady and level. Vast improvement.
Sleep well, rq. Those are the best motivational posters ever.
rq, I would put all of those up in my office. :)
Sigh. Spouse and I haven’t gotten into it like this in quite a while, I guess we were due. Where “getting into it” means “aggressively not speaking to each other so as to claim the mantle of passivity”. Back in the day before we became actual adults we could go a week or more without speaking to each other. This should blow over by tomorrow night. It’s nothing big, but it is annoying.
Speaking of which, my computer just gave me a scare. I had to restart it, and after I did it was all “Oh hai no there is no wireless adapter here what do you mean? There isn’t an adapter or drivers and has never been so and I don’t even know what you’re talking about NO NETWORKS FOR YOU”. I finally restarted it just in case and now it works, so huh? Bah. Maybe I’m getting sick too, and being a grouch is the first symptom.
Here. Have this adorable Android commercial.
Tony!:
Those of us who have read The Apocalypse Codex know what it really is….
–
chigau:
Also-and-relatedly: knees.
–
In what way do up-skirt pics of under-age girls not qualify as “child porn”???
–
carlie:
*snortle*
Sorry that Spouse is cranky.
*hugs*
–
I recommend Nutella as cake frosting.
–
rq:
“Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.”
*sniffle*
So.
Beeyooteeful!
–
chip, I’m sorry.
That really sucks.
–
cicely
You are a very good person.
Thank you.
chigau
I am, as I always say, at least not out-right evil.
:D
–
Haven’t been around much, completely ‘rupt, but thinking well of all you folks.
Anyone got any thoughts on a movie as mindless distraction fodder?
Gone Girl? I’ve heard it’s good, but nothing specific.
Also, I watched the first 2 episodes of Gotham this week. Good enough, I suppose, but I practically keeled over laughing when I saw the “Trident Intercontinental Shipping” logo at the beginning of episode 2.
I looked it up, apparently it’s a thing. Been in DC before and DC animated U before. I’m just wondering
a) which peacenik genius put this into DC comics in the first place?
b) why doesn’t the Gotham wiki mention the obvious joke/reference in transporting warheads?
c) is it really just that I’m way too old? 40s doesn’t seem that old, but I guess if I was in my 20s still it’s hard to know how much I’d know about the Tridents, given a post-Berlin Wall Fall birthday.
…I’m pretty sure most people’s associations will be chewing gum.
Crip Dyke
Yah, gum is what first comes to mind with ‘Trident’, though that might seem a bit weird in a show like Gotham.
carlie
I hope all is resolved soon with some sleep and some rest – and that everyone feels better afterwards. *hugs*
Also, may the computer behave from now on. As much as possible.
+++
Well, if that blizzard don’t clear up in a couple of hours, it’ll be no ice sculptures for us today.
Good morning
CD
*pouncy hugs*
Hmmm, I’m still looking towards 40 from the 30 side, but it’s getting rapidly closer. It’s the kids, I think. They accelerate time, I think.
+++
I’ll out myself as one of these fake gamer girls who likes to play casual games on mobile devices. I just found a new “How to train your dragon” spin off game. Would you believe it, not only can I play as a female character (actually, female was what came up first, I would have had to switch to change to male), it is a fully dressed female character. And what’s more, I can easily customize my fully clothed female character to be a black fully clothed female character.
That’s a free online game. Somebody tell me why that’s apparently impossible for so many other games…
Unfortunately, it looks like my tablet is good enough to play it without crashing.
Crip Dyke,
I just watched the first episode of Penny Dreadful last night. Not bad and it doesn’t have too many episodes per season so it shouldn’t get stale.
Warning : they went all out with blood and gore
Giliell: LOL, I play casual games as well, as do many of the men I know who game, if they’re not stuck in that 5yo “girls have cooties!” mindset. Plague Inc, City Evolution, Sim City Builder, FIFA 15, doctor who: legacy, lots of good fun games I can and do play on my tab or phone. Fuck prejudice. :)
I’m not sure where else to put this: Women’s prison mass jail break after inmates in dominatrix gear handcuff male guards expecting ‘mass orgy’.
Also, that moment when you have 5 to 10 pages left of a book and nobody’s giving you the time to finish it… (And yes, I say that as I type a comment on a blog……….)
Dalillama @91:
Quite true. Chris Hayes briefly addressed that fact, though the segment wasn’t focused on that issue. Republicans not love low wages for the underclass, many of them want to dispose of the minimum wage altogether.
rq @97, That was funny. I particularly liked the image of the chicken, with the “inspirational” quote about looking into its eyes and finding a “completely flat, frightening stupidity.” I have a few friends who post aw-shucks photos of animals on Instagram. Most of those also have the dead-eye syndrome. There are exceptions, but mostly people are seeing what they want to see. Chickens, even baby chickens, are not humans.
chip @98, I know what you mean, and I feel your pain. I have a cousin who is intelligent, a friend to me for a long time. Now she’s taken a slight propensity to be gullible and turned it into a full time career. She’s getting a degree in aromatherapy, and she’s selling “essential oils.” I get Facebook blather from her that extols her “path to her authentic self.” Crap.
Since somebody was just joking about that scene on Twitter: Imagine you’re a dancer. Imagine you got the job of your life. Imagine you were hired to dance during the Superbowl half time show. And you can never tell anybody because you were the left shark….
Why is nobody talking about the right shark?
On the identity of the sharks.
The best valentine: I might be left shark, but I’m the right shark for you.
Holy cow, Someone 3-d printed a left shark cookie cutter. Truly we are at the pinnacle of civilization.
rq
Who wants to identify with somebody who did everything right?
carlie
If only anybody in my family understood that valentine I might break the rule about not doing valentines…
I think I want taht cookie cutter. It will still be great once Left Shark is totally over
Giliell @119
Actually, I do, when it comes to a dance performance in front of millions of people. :P
I guess I just don’t understand the charm of left shark. :)
rq
Sure, we all wanna be Right Shark, but we’re much more likely Left Shark: You really care and you want to do everything right and you sort of do but still you somehow fuck up. But i mean, even ahd Left Shark danced perfectly, it would be a hilarious story. Imagine telling your frinds: “I was on the half time show” and they ask cool, where?” and you say “in the shark costume” or even worse “one of the palm trees”
Maybe it’s because we couldn’t see Left Shark’s face, so we were spared any embarrassment the dancer might have had about not getting the routine right. And even if they cared to begin with, at some point they had to have just gone “eh, fuck it, as long as I move with the beat I’m ok”. Without any facial expressions, we can pretend that Left Shark is the new honey badger. He just doesn’t give a shit, and he doesn’t care who knows. :)
Boko Haram launches attacks in Niger, 21 people including one child killed in suicide bomb
I had to type “Boko Haram” into the Google News search field to find this out. If it happened to any of the default people, you would literally have to shut yourself in for a week and avoid all media to remain ignorant of it.
Also, what’s with the news specifying the gender when a woman carries out a suicide attack?
@Saad #124
Virtually all suicide attacks have been carried out by males. When something is different about an attack the news will comment on it.
Crip Dyke!
*pouncehug*
–
I’ve got a guy panicking—based on a HuffPo article—about alleged cover-up of whistleblowers at the CDC, about the MMR vaccine using a measles variant that no longer is a match (thanks to mutation) for the measles that is currently so very popular. Best I can tell, it’s a mistake for an article that claims that the mumps virus in the MMR is no longer current; and I’ve read another article that says:
“It’s extremely unlikely that measles virus will become more transmissible, deadly, or that the vaccine will stop being effective in protecting people against it.
“Measles is solid as a rock. The measles virus that causes disease today is the same virus that caused disease in 1934,” Schaffner said.
Although viruses such as the influenza virus and HIV are constantly mutating in significant ways, measles virus doesn’t change very much. The vaccines that were developed from the measles virus circulating in the 1950s and 1960s work just as well against modern versions of the virus, according to the Journal of Infectious Diseases.”
Anybody got useful and reliable sources I can check?
–
Crip Dyke,
“Anyone got any thoughts on a movie as mindless distraction fodder? ”
“Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels”?
“Hot Fuzz”
“Riiddick” (the latest Vin Diesel) is pretty cool, although there is a scene early on that is rather sexist.
Also, there are a million films out there that are so bad that they end up funny.
Indian ‘woman’ has twins despite discovery she is mostly male http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-indian-woman-twins-discovery-male.html
(The fertility specialist Sunil Jindal is presumably not related to medical ignoramus Bobby Jindal)
— — — — —
There can only be one!
Tapeworms battle it out to control shared host http://www.nature.com/news/tapeworms-battle-it-out-to-control-shared-host-1.16875
Let’s say USA is the copepod and D and R are the tapeworms…. or would it be the banks?
— — — — —
Ancient Anglo-Saxon era stone carving found among lawn ornaments http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/ancient-anglo-saxon-era-stone-carving-found-among-lawn-ornaments/
— — — — — —
Stockholm producer Max Martin picks up Grammy http://www.thelocal.se/20150209/swedish-producer-takes-home-grammy
Good news!
China’s coal use falls for first time this century, analysis suggests http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/22/chinas-coal-use-falls-for-first-time-this-century-analysis-suggests?CMP=twt_gu (excerpt) The cause of the reduced coal-burning was reduced demand, with China’s statistical agency noting that economic growth was increasingly coming from the service sector instead of heavy industry, as well as new renewable energy such as hydropower and wind power.
— — — — — — — — —
Arnold Schwarzenegger Calls For Climate Change Action At Munich Security Conference http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/08/arnold-schwarzenegger-climate-change_n_6639424.html
Schwarzenegger says the issue shouldn’t be politicized and people should work together for solutions.
He says “we all breathe the same air.”
(he can only say that away in distant Munich without being called a RINO)
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
Yes. I am an intimidating fellow.
birgerjohansson
The new Riddick has several problematic plot points, but I confess that being able to ogle so many muscley and manly arms made the experience a bit better. And it wasn’t just the one sexist scene, by the way. And that whole bit about who dies first was HORRIBLE. And I hated the ending.
So basically I watched that movie for the manly muscley arms.
Linkmania:
Apollo Speeches http://xkcd.com/1484/
Ukraine to be put up high where Putin can’t reach it http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/ukraine-to-be-put-up-high-where-putin-cant-reach-it-2015020995203
Fake nice people worse than authentic bastards http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/fake-nice-people-worse-than-authentic-bastards-2015020995197
Fox ‘historian’: More evidence than atheists ‘would ever imagine’ that Jonah was ‘swallowed by a whale’ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/fox-historian-more-evidence-than-atheists-would-ever-imagine-that-jonah-was-swallowed-by-a-whale/
RQ,
The way I see it, as long as it isn’t as horribly bad as the Predator vs. Alien fims, it is *almost* good. And yesterday I watched “sharknado” on TV …for almost ten minutes. (sounds of retching)
Then, when you have given up on the human race, along comes a rare film like “Inception” :-)
Another film that does not fit any label: “Intacto”.
Odd, low-budget time-travel film: “The sticky fingers of time”
Film that is an interesting failure: “The Hunger”
The ending makes no sense, but you can feel the deep fear of ageing of the non-human protagonists.
“Fims” -tpyo strikes again.
.
Cheap oil as seen by Tom Toles http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-for-january/2015/01/02/e1d507ec-90fb-11e4-ba53-a477d66580ed_gallery.html
birgerjohansson
I think we can agree on the relative goodness of the Predator vs. Alien films. :P
Also, thanks for the odd suggestions, I like weird unknown films, even if they’re sometimes utter failures.
Another film suggestion: the brilliant Brit comedy “Whoops apocalypse”
( “unemployment is caused by pixies” )
It exists both as a film, and an even better TV series (the latter has John Cleese as a nuclear terrorist).
The original “Django” film from the 1960s.
Also, a French SF film from ca. 1967 with a private investigator arriving on a planet where a city is run by a creepy computer, I don’t know the English title yet.
…and there are a few good East European SF films, unfortunately few of them exist with English subtitles.
(you will already be aware of the Tarkovsky films Solaris and Stalker)
-You might like the original Norwegian “Insomnia” or the original Mexican El Mariachi, much different flavor from the American versions.
Weird TV: The cartoon “The Maxx”, originally run by MTV
and “Death Valley” (comedy: reality TV cops fight zombies and vampires in the San Antonio valley).
I know by now you’Re all tired of my final thesis but you’ll have to bear with me for a while longer.
thesis warning
I’m at the point where I re-read my primary texts to look for support of the points my brain is totally convinced there are. Going well so far, also I get to do some mostly pleasure reading.
But ach, white feminism. One of my points is how Pierce uses names to indicate power and othering.
In the first “Protector of the Small” book the heroine is never called her name or “page” by those hostile to her, but a variety of other things. This serves to show how she is socially subordinate and lower in rank. A particularly telling episode is just before she gets into a fight with some of her main adversaries. And then, most likely unknowingly Pierce does the same thing to the one brown boy in that group. While all the other boys get refered to by their name he gets refered to by his name or ethnic origin, being “the Bazhir”*
*Race is a really problematic issue in the Tortall books and the Bazhir, a people
resembling North African tribal societies in particular.
end thesis rambling
Notice how the assholes are trying desperately to uphold their fucking biologistic gender essentialism?
Putting woman in scarequotes, saying that this was basically a man giving birth, yadda, yadda, yadda. They always need to shift, shift shift their definitions to protect their preconceived notions of sex being TOTALLY REAL!!!11!!!
She has a vagina, she has a uterus, she’s fucking capable of giving birth*, all the traditional hallmarks of being totes a woman**, but somehow the existence of a Y chromosome in parts of her genome negates that. We can’t be having that!
*Oh, I can hear them, “but she needed extensive treatment!”. Yeah, because no other woman ever needs extensive fertility treatment despite having all the right chromosomes.
**not that I would subscribe to that definition of woman anyway. It’s just that this is generally the criteria used for assigning people as male or female. Who amongst us know their actual genome anyway?
Gilliell,
maybe they still believe in nature striving for a Platonic ideal, you know, a theory that is only 2400 years out of date…
I wonder how they would have reacted if she had had the same number of arms as Shiva?
Musical interlude!
Here are some ocntenders to represent Latvia in this year’s Eurovision contest. It was the usual line-up of pop artists and old regulars trying to maintain a name, but three artists stood out for me – two of which made it to the final selection (next week, I believe).
Here’s three songs that I liked (Riga Metro didn’t make it to the final).
Riga Metro – High Heels | Eurovision 2015 (Latvia – National Final)
MNTHA/MINTA “Nefelibata” – Supernova 2015
And my favourite, Aminata Savadogo – Love Injected
Giliell, the “rarest of rare” description is particularly silly. Without genotyping, who the fuck knows exactly how rare her situation is?
@birger:
thanks for the recommendations. I’m going to look up, “Whoops, Apocalypse.”
But Seriously, ‘Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?’ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/ought-women-to-learn-the-alphabet/385217/
— — — —
HPV vaccination not linked to riskier sex http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-hpv-vaccination-linked-riskier-sex.html
— — — —
New opportunity to treat drug-resistant leukemia discovered http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-opportunity-drug-resistant-leukemia.html
— — — —
Burying Vietnam, Launching Perpetual War http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christian-appy/burying-vietnam-launching_b_6641398.html
Mechanistic finding may help deal with side effects of lifespan-extending drug rapamycin http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-mechanistic-side-effects-lifespan-extending-drug.html
— — — —
Planets orbiting red dwarfs may stay wet enough for life http://phys.org/news/2015-02-planets-orbiting-red-dwarfs-life.html
— — — —
The Battle for Libya’s Oil On the frontlines of a forgotten war http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/the-battle-for-libyas-oil/385285/
— — — —
When a drone hits home http://rall.com/comic/drone-hits-home
56% of congressional Republicans are science deniers
http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/03/congress-climate-deniers/
This only covers climate change deniers, the vaccine sceptics and other categories are not included.
— — — —
Fox ‘historian’: More evidence than atheists ‘would ever imagine’ that Jonah was ‘swallowed by a whale’ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/fox-historian-more-evidence-than-atheists-would-ever-imagine-that-jonah-was-swallowed-by-a-whale/
Aand…an In-depth analysis of British politics:
“Petting, bombing and diving to be legalised by UKIP” http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2015/02/07/petting-bombing-and-diving-to-be-legalised-by-ukip/
(BTW, what the hell is an oik? )
#1 has invented Steampunk. Today in school she drew robot horses and cats and birds with typical steampunk imagery like cogwheels and stuff
#soproud
@Giliell:
You should be. There’s bound to be more punk in her steampunk than in any 10 random steampunk novels.
Just tell her to be careful with showing the punk themes in school until Uni. Teachers can get a little scared when they see things like:
I have no doubt a Giliell-spawn is “much closer to being gender equalist in terms of … ideology” than the average Berra.
But will she engage in cultural criticism? That criticism would have to include sarcasm and satire, wouldn’t it?
Soverign Punks want to know! (Don’t they?)
birgerjohansson @147:
What snobbish public school types call lower-class people.
Can one have cow oikers, too?
Cows are extremely snobbish and consider everything, even other cows (or themselves, if you use a mirror), an oik. Just look at how stand-offish, bored-looking, and do-nothing they are — upper-class twits the lot.
Just wait until she stops drawing from nature and starts imagining things: Cats not being launched from a trebuchet, horses that are not evil, ex-dinosaurs eating peas, and cogwheels without stuff (other that a mechanic stuck in the teeth).
… other than a mechanic …
(I should stop imaging I’ve fund all the miss takes which
Prewiev>.)CD
I think it will still take some time, but she’ll get there. She’s still at the “I hate boys” phase and given many of her classmates I can’t entirely blame her for it.
Though I do of course emphasize that there are also nice and kind and well-behaving boys in her class.
Let me see if I can scan that pencil drawing…
Here you go
Giliell, those are wonderful robot critters.
Giliell, so cool! :-))))))))
Rush Limbaugh said some stupid stuff … again.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/02/09/rush-limbaughs-scare-tactics-and-the-truth-abou/202462
@birgerjohansson #133
Another good low budget time travel movie is “Primer”.
Sometimes when I’m alone late at work, I get sad over the silliest things, like how no one will ever sing love ballads for me. My life is hard.
At least it’s hometime!
Also, if you were in a lab working the evening-to-night shift, where would you leave your glasses?
1. On that chair you’re just about to sit o- *crack* oops.
2. Next to my backpack on that shelf over there. Oh, let me just grab my- *crack* oops.
3. On that table in the cafeteria. Let me just go back and get them. Oh. They’re gone. Huh.
(None of these being lab specific or even evening shift specific. Screw glasses.)
@Giliell, #155:
We can deplore it while it exists, but in a sexist world it’s a necessary phase for most thinking girls.
Re: #156:
Wow! The Tintenfisch reminds me of the Tamora Pierce metal spider-monsters from Protector of the Small. (Though it is, of course, a mechanical octopus – obviously expected from any spawn of a phrayngula regular.)
My littles would probably prefer the Katze, but I’m totally digging on the Schnecke.
Link to my comment on the “tell us what you really think Orac” thread.
Some anti-vax parents in California are hosting “measles parties” in order to intentionally expose their children to measles.
Lynna
Well, chickenpox parties are already a thing…
Hello Lounge!
Here seemed the best place to add my absinthe 2c. :)
Didn’t want to derail the absinthe thread – it was about the video after all…
The 1989 Scientific American article was pretty much trumped by this one:
http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/absinthe.html
Which, coincidentally was the start of my fascination with the drink.
A quick guide to absinthe (sorry for the length):
Get some good absinthe!
It doesn’t have to be really expensive – just make sure it actually is absinthe. There is a lot of crap out there pretending to be authentic. The first clue is spelling: make sure it is spelt “absinthe” – a lot of the crap avoids accurate spelling. Check online at review sites (http://www.feeverte.net/guide/ is a good start) – let other people put it in their mouths before yours…
“Tasted like mouthwash mixed with disinfectant” and “it was the worst thing I have put in my mouth… ever”.
… Are clues that you may have the wrong bottle.
Prepare it the traditional way with a sugar cube and ice water – none of this setting it on fire crap. Who the hell does that to good spirits anyway?
Don’t believe the whole hallucination thing. The levels of the guilty compounds are just far too low in proper absinthe and you would probably be poisoned before you hallucinated anyway.
Read the fascinating book ‘Hideous Absinthe’ by Jad Adams. It follows the history of art and literature alongside absinthe consumption.
Don’t do ‘absinthe shots’. That’s like doing bitters shots – pointless dumb and dangerous. Absinthe was diluted down to normal levels of alcohol consumption.
Remember: because it is diluted, a bottle goes a lot longer than, say, an equivalent bottle of wine. So keep that in mind when you choke on the price of the good stuff :)
Drink in moderation – you can still get pretty smashed on this stuff and it sneaks up on you! No, really!
Keep in mind that all things interesting become the domain of the hypercritical, hipster wanker – yes, the MRAs have moved into absinthe territory after finding single malt scotch too common for them. Beware their opinions.
Rum is better.
But only Lemon Hart.
Incidentally, Kirkland Signature has a new London Dry Gin out that’s surprisingly good.
Also, as long as we’re discussing drink recipes, don’t forget the classic Flaming Dr. Pepper:
1 12oz can Dr. Pepper
1 shot chlorine trifluoride
:)
“it was the worst thing I have put in my mouth… ever”
The first sip of laudanum is vile. After that, not so bad.
rq @161:
I used to listen to power ballad love songs from the late 70s and 80s whenever I wanted to have a good cry about being single. Worked like a charm every time. I’d offer to sing them to you, but
A: I can’t sing worth a crap and you’d want to put me on mute in about 10 seconds
B: I’d probably start crying right around that 10 second mark.
****
Several years ago, a cow-orker (deliberate tpyos offering is deliberate) visited a country over in Europe (can’t recall which one) and she brought back some absinthe, which she shared with the bar staff. She was instructed to do what gobi’s sockpuppet’s meatpuppet @167 said not to do (i.e. set it on fire). I remember taking my shot and thinking “this is absolutely the worst thing I’ve ever drank and I never want to taste this again”.
****
Tony Tale #1 of 2:
R (a cow-orker) recently became a father and he and his girlfriend decided to move in together. R thinks he lives in a questionable neighborhood and so he informed me on Sunday that he was planning on getting a gun very, very soon.
Of course that set off my spider-sense, and I did my best to give him accurate information on gun ownership, such as the fact that a gun in the home increases the risk of someone in the home getting shot. I also stressed the importance of him securely storing the gun, and even suggested a gun safe (especially since he seems to want to keep the gun loaded). I told R that I routinely curate links about irresponsible gun owners on my blog and how I see far too many cases of children–even very young children–finding guns and using them. I knew I wouldn’t be able to dissuade him (though I did mention that I abhor firearms), but I hoped to be able to make him think about what it means to be a responsible gun owner.
Incidentally, on his break between shifts, he bought a shotgun. When he came back to work and told me that, I was floored. Here was a guy who had never owned a gun before, and between making the decision to buy a gun and the actual purchase of one, not much time had elapsed. Just a few days.
Oh, and one other thing I implored him to consider–V said he has had anger problems in the past. I made sure to mention to him that he should probably not have a loaded gun on him when he’s angry bc there are far too many stories of gun owners injuring or killing someone else in a fit of anger.
****
Tony Tale #2 of 2:
I have, slowly but surely, been developing a few regulars at my job (bar business has never been huge, but it’s creeping up, however minutely). One regular, V, came in tonight. She and I have chatted several times before. She knows I’m gay, outspoken, progressive, and a feminist. She is outspoken herself and is quite progressive (V has told me in the past about her job at a newspaper, and how she has been in charge of monitoring the comments sections of articles posted online. She’s told me of racist, homophobic comments that piss her off, and which ((unfortunately)), she could never comment on in her capacity as an employee of the paper).
She came in tonight and shared the [what I initially characterized as unfortunate] news that she and the guy she was dating (J) had broken up, bc J is a jealous asshole. Apparently V recently had a gathering at her home and she invited several friends-women and men. Despite the fact that J knew that V had male friends and knew that she was having a gathering at her home (which he couldn’t attend bc he was working), when he asked her about the party, he became irate when she told him that men were there. She showed me the text message where he not only broke up with her, but called her selfish. He was clearly angry that she had the to have men over her home when he wasn’t there.
Reading that text and listening to her talk about the situation made me both sad and angry. The former I quickly got over, as it was a gut reaction to hearing that someone has broken up with their SO. “I’m so sorry about that”. That’s what I started to say to her and then I stopped and said “Come to think of it, this is probably a good thing for you, as you two weren’t dating long and he’s shown you a nasty side of himself.” She agreed that it pretty much did her a favor. So, nothing to be sad about.
Anger, though? Swimming in a pool of frustration?* Yeah. Still felt that. She and I discussed how frustrating it is that so many men and women (at least in USAmerica; not sure how it is in other countries) feel that if you’re in a relationship, guys can’t have women as platonic friends and vice-versa–and if you do, often you get accused of cheating on your SO. Because if a man or woman is in a relationship with someone and they hang out with someone of a different sex, that automatically means they’re fucking. Grrr….
We talked about multiple topics during our conversation, including her anger that the state prevented her from making a decision about her health. Several years ago, she contracted some form of cancer (can’t recall which one) and after it was successfully treated, she asked her doctor about getting a hysterectomy (she said she doesn’t want kids). The doctor said that since the cancer was treated successfully, she couldn’t have the operation, as it was something that women can only have if it is deemed ‘medically necessary’. And of course he offered the old “what if you want kids one day”. I’m sure many of you can imagine how angry she was at that. I pretty much nodded in agreement with her that it’s her body, and she should be able to make that decision for herself and that if she someday wants kids, then that’s on her, as an adult who made a decision. Whether or not she changes her mind one day is irrelevant. The choice should be hers (plus she said if she changes her mind, she is very open to adoption).
That conversation segued into her relating a tale of a past relationship with a guy who told her he was in love with her, and not too long after that, disappeared for months. She was left hanging and wondering what the hell happened. At some point, she bumped into mutual friends and discovered that the guy had moved bc he had sex with a woman and she became pregnant. When she mentioned that he was Catholic, I had a feeling that he felt some sort of responsibility toward the woman and decided to cut V out of his life as a result (her mother apparently had the same thought).
That story led, in turn, to V sharing a pregnancy scare she had several years ago. Upon her realization that she was 3 weeks late on her period, she shared the news with her boyfriend. She also told him that she knew exactly what she wanted to do: get an abortion because she didn’t want children. She said his response was “you can’t do that bc the baby is part mine”. When she told me that, I nearly laughed. She and I were on the same page: her body, her choice. He was from a Catholic family and was opposed to abortion on dumb-ass religious grounds.
This led to her asking me what I knew about Catholic opposition to abortion, which I’ve read a little about and was happy to share with her.
After that, we talked about abortion laws in the US, the increasing number of hoops women have to jump through to get an abortion, TRAP laws, and the tremendous burden anti- abortion advocates have put on low-income women.
All in all, it was quite a pleasant conversation and I was quite happy to talk with V. I even remarked that it was nice to talk to someone in meatspace (I even used that term) about important topics such as the ones we covered.
*Trying to visualize what anger swimming in a pool of frustration would look like.
Medical mystery: Hong Kong girl born with absorbed siblings organs inside her
****
Lost copy of the Magna Carta found in the archives of a county council in England:
I’m sure this comment from me won’t make it out of moderation:
It’s in response to this blog by David Osborne.
Warning: he is a rape culture apologist and the title of his post is “She was gagging for it”.
Makes me want to fucking puke. And of course, the comments (24 of them including mine) make me want to rage more (I read them…why?)
Oh and David Osborne is a barrister…
That creature in the tuna can? It was an immature crab.
CD
Yep, and so is over the top pink. They identify as girls and this is what society tells them girls look like and girls play with. They are not weak for not resisting the pressure*, they understand the rules and are trying to play their part. I always want to punch something when I see people deny the influence of culture and media. I used to be the freak for my kids because I liked “boy stuff”: dragons and swords and Star Wars. Then they watched Brave and they immediately needed a sword (I was happy to oblige). One fucking Disney Princess and suddenly swords are acceptable for girls….
*I hate it when people who got a non-conforming kid by chance tout it as a personal success. That’s like people who think it’s their good parenting that made their baby sleep through the night at 8 weeks
Personally, I prefer the horse (don’t tell on me). I think I have to turn that into a shirt…
+++
Lynna
At least that shit is illegal in Germany. Intentionally spreading contagious diseases is a crime.
We also have a measles outbreak here, a few times the scale of the US outbreak in Berlin. Apparently part of it is a late term effect of the Balkan wars. Currently many people are fleeing the wonderful Kosovo (hey, didn’t we “liberate” them and install paradise on earth?) and many of them didn’t get their vaccinations during the war. Mix that with the high density of anti-vax wooists in Berlin and you have a nice huge outbreak.
Of course the immigrants are much more sensible and are happy to catch up with their vaccinations when they’re offered them than the oh so educated anthroposophs.
Me, I have perfect immunity from measles thanks to having had them. Thank you, mum, I would have prefered the vaccine.
A lot.
It’s a memory of pure misery.
Tony
Well, there’s somebody who would move back into his own flat far away from me and my baby again…
I’m also glad that V got out of there. Serious red flag. That would have gone down badly for her.
Ye gods, the times I had men over here, even over night… Mr would have died of a heart attack if he cared by now. Same goes for me and the fact that he has female friends.
I’m so going to steal that.
Tony!
In an odd coincidence, one of my coworkers was apparently arrested last week for, as I understand it, breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home while she was present, and I have no further details. I didn’t know him that well, but I wouldn’t really have expected it, which I suppose goes to show I didn’t know him very well at all, and generally that it’s often quite hard to tell from the outside.
Now that is beyond stupid. The chickenpox virus stays in the body, and can reactivate to cause shingles later in life. This is very painful, and can lead to severe complications including blindness, damage to hearing, facial paralysis and encephalitis. Which reminds me – I must see if I can get shingles vaccination in the UK; my childhood preceded most of the vaccinations now available, so I enjoyed measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis… and chickenpox.
Sounds like very good advice to me, Tony!. That was a red flag for sure.
Tony once again you prove what a great person you are.
The ballet was good. On Friday it didn’t look like we were going to go as my daughter was unwell again. Fortunately, drugs kept her temperature down while her body fought the infections and she was fine by Saturday evening.
On Sunday we took her to the 3rd birthday party of one of her friends from nursery. Good grief! A dozen small children and a bouncy castle made for a hectic afternoon. Daughter enjoyed it though, which was the important thing. She was shy for the first hour, then there was no stopping her!
“Today in school she drew robot horses and cats and birds with … cogwheels and stuff”
When Stanislaw Lem* illustrated some of his more humoristic story collections, he drew lots of surreal stuff like that. “The Cyberiad” comes to mind.
*Yes, I know he was misogynic. Lem, Vonnegut and P.J. Farmer all wrote at least one rapey story each. What is it with SF authors born in the 1920s ???
— — — — — —
There is a fake story going round about the king of Jordan personally leading bombing raids on ISIS in retaliation for the killing of a downed Jordanian pilot.
King Abdullah may not be flying any jets, but he was an extra in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. http://www.startrek.com/database_article/abdullah-ii
A superficial note on the king* of Jordan: IMHO the dude looks a lot more like (eg) Chris Christie than his dad Hussein. In fact when I first saw his picture in my thought was: “This must some American or Briton, they must have mixed up the pictures.” But apparently Hussein had one British and one American wife.
—
* Or hereditary dictator. Although, I don’t like to call kings dictators because dictator was originally a kind of temporary (6 months) emergency king of the Roman Republic for the times when they couldn’t afford to have the coordination problems of the two consuls. OTOH, calling a king a dictator is a nice lèse-majesté, which is much appreciated.
Tony
re: power ballads…
They’re a weakness of mine, too. I think what sets off the late-night sadness is my music playlist, which happens to have a few on it.
Thanks for attempting, too. One day we should be sentimental with power ballads together. *hugs*
Also, I realized I’ve missed your Tony Tales. You are, as you have proven once more, an awesome human being and I’m glad your customers and co-workers have you around.
bassmike
Yay ballet and children’s party, sounds like a full weekend! Glad the temperatures stayed down, did she enjoy the ballet?
Nick Gotts
I know, but a couple of years ago I heard about those parties in Canada, around the time the chickenpox vaccine was still coming out and everyone was all ‘hey it’s only a childhood illness!!’. For the record, I agree that it’s about the stupidest thing ever.
And yeah, I have to go out and get all my boosters, plus the chickenpox vaccine – or whatever will work against shingles. :P I hate being stuck with a sharp object, but it’s far better than the alternative.
rq my daughter is still a bit young to sit for 2 hours of a ballet. When she can sit through the whole of Frozen without getting distracted, then we’ll think about what else she could go to.
The Tony Tale 1 really sent chill down the spine. It’s good that you tried to inform him. I hope he will try to control his anger and that he will be careful and get a gun safe and maybe also will learn to handle and shoot the thing properly so that he know the dos and don’ts and knows how the gun behaves while shooting (eg how much the shotgun will kick/recoil). (I’ve never shot a shotgun but I’ve head that they can have a rather harsh recoil.)
I’d like to complain to the Central Authority of English Language about the unnecessary features of your great lanuguage:
Who needs indefinite and definite articles? There are languages that survive without them just fine. Also, gendered personal pronouns are an unnecessary complication.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
(I see that I’ve forgotten some as, ans and thes and possibly used incorrect ones in incorrect places. We don’t have any articles in Finnish so the concept feels unnatural even after 30 years of learning Germanic languages)
bassmike
Sorry for misunderstanding, I thought you took your daughter as well.
Also, I’d suggest it’s worth trying to take her to live shows with a strong visual component before she can sit through the movie (though probably not quite yet) – You might be surprised, if she’s in a theatre or opera setting rather than home in front of the TV. Because mine still can’t sit through an entire movie without squirming for half of it, but they do well at the ballet, because of the completely different setting, the live aspect, and also treats at intermission. :P Just a thought, though. :)
Ice Swimmer
Oh man shotguns are nuts to shoot, you’re far more likely to injure yourself with it than anyone else, if shooting without any training at all.
Though from Tony’s story, the person really, really doesn’t sound like the type to actually go out and get training with it. The impulsive aspect of his willingness towards aggression is frightening.
The sweet irony of this protest aside, This is who agrees with you, Pope. I congratulate on your new-found companions.
Oh fun, the departmental library closed at 1pm.
Fuck budget cuts
——-
Re: chickenpox
Back in the days when they were inevitable, it made sense not to overprotect your healthy child, because they are much worse when you get them as an adult, as yours truly can testify, but now with the vaccine that’s plain child abuse
NEW THREAD.