Comments

  1. says

    Today I have been in Bilbao, Spain; Paris, France; Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Denver, Colorado.

    Too tired to write anything today.

  5. Tony! The Queer Shoop says

    Pastor David Manning is at it again, with another of his hate-filled diatribes against black people (he’s a house negro)-
    NY pastor: Baltimore rioted because blacks aren’t mature enough to have a black president.

    In his Wednesday video broadcast, Manning said that he didn’t have any “hatred for the idiots who voted for Obama,” but “sometimes when you speak the truth it sounds like or feels like hate.”

    According to Manning, black people did not deserve a black president because “young black men” had not accomplished anything, and instead believed that they were “owed” government benefits because their ancestors were slaves.

    “Hamite [or black] people were saying we should have a black president simply because we were once slaves in this nation,” he said. “It’s like saying because I went swimming one day, I should be the captain of the world’s largest aircraft carrier. You know nothing about a boat. You just got wet swimming one day.”

    “To put a Hamite in office just because and only because — there was no other reason — is that Americans were once slaves,” Manning continued. “I stated as well that there would be riots in the streets. I stated that young people born after the plagues will look around and say, ‘We don’t have to accomplish anymore. We don’t have to discipline ourselves anymore. We don’t need a family structure anymore. We don’t need to be hardworking anymore. We can just demand because we were slaves, we ought to be given a penthouse, we ought to be given government subsidies.’”

    The pastor declared that “the proof is in the pudding.”

    “If you can become the president of American without every proving that you should be and a nation now has a leader that comes from absolutely out of slavery, and not our of an understanding then why would black youth want to complete high school?” he asked. “We don’t have to earn our way in life anymore, we can demand simply because we were slaves.”

    But Manning said that the real problem was that white liberals were allowing blacks to have power “because they were once slaves.”

    “Give them the presidency, give them mayors office, give them the state attorneys office,” he said. “Give them food stamps because they were all slaves.”

    “What we see now, you can attribute it to the ignorance and the barbarism of black people, but you can also surely know that it’s been unleashed by white liberals and Fox News watchers that have turned loose this plague of black people with unaccountability on America,” he concluded. “Don’t blame blackie for this. This one we’re going to lay at the feet of whitey.”

    I’m sure he has citations for all the assertions he made.

  9. rq says

    Cait, last comment previous lounge
    That whole story is more-than-mildly tear-inducing, and encouraging. I hope the emotional impact is enough to rule in your favour!
    You are awesome.

  10. says

    rq @9:
    Thanks for mentioning that comment. I missed it with the new iteration of the Lounge. Having just read it, I completely agree with you.
    ****
    CaitieCat:
    I too found your comment tear-inducing (in a good way). I’m glad the tone of the hearing was positive, and I really hope you get a ruling in your favor. You absolutely deserve it.

  11. rq says

    Tony
    Ah, I see the Minneapolis police are only accused of pepper-spraying that boy. Good to know that they may not have actually done it. Or something.

  12. numerobis says

    I’m in UR americas, eatin UR burritos.

    It feels good to be able to take two team members on their first business trip ever. They keep asking questions like “how much do I owe you?” for what are business expenses. Of course it’ll feel even better when it’s not ultimately coming out of my own pocket, but out of the pockets of satisfied customers.

    One minor dark cloud: we had to leave two of our team behind, on account of wrong passport. They couldn’t possibly get a visa on short notice. Can we stop this whole effectively being at war with Iran please?

  13. says

    Caitie
    I’m glad that this went well and I really hope you get a positive outcome.

    CD
    Ouch.
    Also, my condolences to Ms. CD ;)

    PZ
    Get some rest!

    +++
    Ah yes. I told you about the plushies that have gone missing. We put up signs, asking totally non-confrontationally that people please return them if they found them. The signs have been removed. Not torn down in an act of pure vandalism, but carefully removed so nobody, presumably parents, can read them. In one case I could still find the plastic cover, but the paper was gone. So whoever stole them is at least aware that what they did is not considered ok. But as Mr said: Being an empathy free asshole is not an adult privilege.

  15. says

    Expanding gender stories:

    Maya Christina Gonzalez’s new children’s book, Call Me Tree/Illámame Arbol, represents a much-needed, and growing area, of children’s literature. It expands the gendered representations of characters in storybooks, for children and parents alike. The book uses no gender-specific pronouns, and the protagonist, based on someone assigned female at birth (according to Gonzalez), sports a bright green shirt, blue pants, suspenders, and short hair. This character, whom many might perceive as “boy,” no doubt resonates with many young “girls” and children who do not relate to “female” stereotypes, or to mainstream racial/ethnic norms of whiteness, but who don’t always see themselves represented in media.

    […]

    Call Me Tree offers parents and children—and peers, teachers, and siblings—one pertinent possibility to see a world with wider gender horizons. The book’s gender neutrality signals the very important reality that a child’s gender is not a known given from birth, or from a sonogram, but is a very personal sense of self that will be revealed to those who love them, especially if that child is given time, space, and opportunity to do so. With early learning encounters like Call Me Tree, adults can learn to say to children, “We can’t assume someone’s gender,” or “It’s not just ‘boy’ or ‘girl,’ some people feel differently.” As Gonzalez says, “As a parent, I see the first few years of a child’s life as a time to grow into the fundamentals of who they are. This can include gender identity. Our culture has a powerful trend toward the boy-girl gender binary and conformity comes into play from a child’s earliest possible moment.” Books like Call Me Tree, which reject rigid gender binaries and stereotypes, offer a profoundly important step toward making our society more gender-inclusive, gender-diverse, and transgender-aware, presenting all budding children with a range of gendered possibilities into which to grow and self-determine.

    That’s from a blog post at gendersociety by Elizabeth P. Rahilly, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

  16. bassmike says

    *sigh* I’m sorry to have to join in the general negativity in The Lounge, but a lot of us seem to be suffering together. I don’t know what my problem is; maybe the black dog has remembered me; maybe it’s lack of sleep as my daughter woke at 5.45 and caused general family disturbance. She was then particularly grumpy when I had to get her ready for nursery. I also had a existential crisis yesterday and can’t shake off the worry that that induced.

    So *hugs* to all: rq, Opposablethumbs, Crudely, Giliell, blf et al. Special *hugs* to CD I’m glad things are improving and such sensitivity to light must be hellish. I hope things improve rapidly. More special *hugs* and even *higs* to Caitie your post on your tribunal brought a lump to my throat. Here’s hoping that the positive vibe becomes a positive outcome. When will you find out?

  17. opposablethumbs says

    I think this is (???) the whole of the anthropology article I linked to a mention of earlier:

    http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6236/796

    It speculates that the equal social standing of women and men in prehistoric hunter-gatherer humans may have had advantages for e.g. tech progress because of what it tended to mean in terms of groups meeting and mixing. In brief, if I have got the idea, smaller more fluid groups are more conducive to spreading any acquired knowledge than larger, more rigid and stratified ones. The former being what apparently gets generated when both sexes decide on group membership, while the latter is what emerges when only one sex decides (as in early agricultural societies).

  20. says

    The book uses no gender-specific pronouns, and the protagonist, based on someone assigned female at birth (according to Gonzalez), sports a bright green shirt, blue pants, suspenders, and short hair. This character, whom many might perceive as “boy,” no doubt resonates with many young “girls” and children who do not relate to “female” stereotypes, or to mainstream racial/ethnic norms of whiteness, but who don’t always see themselves represented in media.

    In short, the neutral is still male. And again the revolution is against “female stereotypes.”
    You know what’d be really revolutionary? A AFAB boy who still loves his pink ribbons.

  22. birgerjohansson says

    Analysis of bones found in Romania offer evidence of human and Neanderthal interbreeding in Europe http://phys.org/news/2015-05-analysis-bones-romania-evidence-human.html
    -We have found the nephilim! 

    .
    Anti-poverty intervention provides sustained boost to incomes and wealth, study finds http://phys.org/news/2015-05-anti-poverty-intervention-sustained-boost-incomes.html
    “Banerjee thinks the experiment has demonstrated that the world’s poorest people are not inherently incapable of improving their own lives. “We wanted to show it’s a battle that could be won,” Banerjee says.
    (foams at mouth) OUTRAGEOUS LIBRUL LIES! Everyone knows the poor are just lazy! (and black)

    Unique social structure of hunter-gatherers explained http://phys.org/news/2015-05-unique-social-hunter-gatherers.html
    .

    Who should pay the price? http://phys.org/news/2015-05-price.html The authors explain that the meta-incentives encouraging rewards given to co-operators in social dilemmas significantly prevent cooperative incentive-non-providers who shirk their duty to provide incentives to others, or the second-order free riders.
    (foams even more) BUT WHAT ABOUT RUGGED INDUHVIDUALISM!!! GORDON GEKKO! AYN RAND!

  24. rq says

    bassmike
    *hugs*
    Sometimes one bad night can ruin my mood for days, so I really feel you. But I hope things improve!!

  25. bassmike says

    Thanks rq . It’s silly really because when your child is very young you never get a decent night’s sleep. I guess you get used to it and compensate. Now, after a while of undisturbed nights, one bad night = grumpy everyone!

    Al least I have Sunday’s concert to look forward to. Walks away humming ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ for the umpteenth time.

  26. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @CaitieCat

    Your story made me all throat-lumpy.

    Best of luck with the decision!

  29. Okidemia says

    Tony! The Queer Shoop #8

    What is the appropriate age for bringing a child to protests?

    Dunno, the youngest I brought was as early as 8 month old. Though not in protests that might involve police charges. (for these, mine are too young, and I am too old now, can’t run fast enough).
    .
    .
    Tony, English is not my native language, and the time there was a google test to figure out which animal you* were, you wrote something like “turns out I’m not a queer shoop”. I’ve tried to get the shoop meaning but I seem to fail, or is it for the singular sheep? Please can you educate me about it? (Please other readers note that I generally don’t get many subtleties behind nyms).
    .
    .
    This happened soon after:
    Me: Dearling, did you notice these strange internet searches recently? I think Kid#1 is growing and passing some awareness level. May need to discuss with one of us soon.
    Partner: Huh? Let me have a look… OMG… … even worse… OMG, let’s call them right now! Wait, and that: “queer shoop”?
    Me: No, this one, this was me.
    Partner: You? Do you want to speak about it?
    Me: Well… I thought it was some sort of animal.

  30. says

    Hugs for all in need of same. Same added upon request.

    Today is the Elder Daughter’s departmental awards ceremony, and tomorrow she will receive her Master’s degree. Yes, Elder Daughter will become The Master (of Linguistics).

  32. Okidemia says

    Let me contextualise a bit, because on the internet, heat might result from the step process and interpretations we are using as default options. The mild tension behind the scenelet in comment #29 does not arise from homophobia*; rather, from negociations for long term commitment, whereby I have always made clear to my possibly lifelong partner** that I could not make promices to an unknown future, included regarding my long term sexual orientation. I take for granted that sexual orientation can be flexible and may evolve over lifetime (I may be wrong about that, but who doesn’t hold wrong opinions at some point?). As a result, my partner has become more sensitive to potential moves (for the wrong reason I think, but it doesn’t make xir any more homophobic).
    —
    *None of us are, that include kids who have already integrated the concept of same sex couples, even if it seemed weird to one of them (only for the couples of their own sex though). On the other hand, kids have not been told about transpeople yet, because we don’t know any. Thus an important educationnal question: at what age would you* speak about it to kids? (certainly, you* should begin before they meet psychologically transgendering acquaintances –as opposed to biologically transitioning which certainly happens later in life. CD: any thoughts on this?)
    **Hopefully lifelong, because not being able to make promices for decades ahead has nothing to do with not being actually committed to a relationship.

  33. opposablethumbs says

    Eh, good luck with the child-wrangling, bassmike!

    Assorted commiserations, cursing and good wishes to those with troubles, particularly Crudely.

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

    Today in Sexism Is Fucking Everywhere (including in your head, yup even yours (and mine)):

    I’m doing some on-the-field training and today I had to work with a group of apprentices at the institution I was at these last two weeks. They seem to be around my age, so I was leaning towards addressing them all informally from the beginning (I recently realized I’m a bit too formal with customers so it makes me seem distant and unapproachable).
    The first was a young woman, as was the second. I addressed them both informally.
    The third was a young man. I had the urge to address him formally so instead I asked if we could be informal.
    ….
    You noticed, didn’t you?

    I noticed the moment words left my lips. The guy seemed all formal so I could maybe use that as an excuse BUT then the fourth apprentice was also a guy and I, again, asked if we could use informal pronouns?
    WTF? The very recent realization was still sloshing in my mind and I immediately made that mistake again.

    Damn. I feel bad about those two women, I hope I didn’t make them feel bad for being more forward with them (I managed to keep the informal tone with the rest of the people without stumbling over pronouns with men and women differently, for the rest of the afternoon)

    But damn.

  42. Crudely Wrott, lurching towards recrudescence says

    Good Morning, all. *it is 11:59 am according to local solar elevation*

    Hello, Esteleth! I checked my email before coming here and didn’t find a note from you so I was really happy to read your comment 241. Thank you for the kindness and the hope. ;) I think there is one change to the information regarding funneling funds to me. Would you shoot me an email with the physical, street address that I provided you last time? I forget what address I gave you then. (memory? what’s that?)

    Regards and hugs and goofy grins of camaraderie to bassmike with hopes of returning inner peace.

    A wave and raised thumbs to opposablethumbs. You know what I’ll miss most when we have to move from our home? I’ll tell you. The squirrels. Most keenly, the one I have named Lightning. She has learned to trust me in return for peanuts. It took just a handful of weeks and she learned that I wouldn’t eat her and that she could take a peanut from my fingers. As time passed I started placing peanuts on the threshold of the door, then on the foot mat, then further into the room. She adapted wonderfully. Now she just walks right in and gives me her “got peanuts, buddy?” look. I wonder what little squirrely thoughts she’ll think when the door no longer stands open and the holder of peanuts has vanished. That makes me sad in the place within me where all the critters dwell.

    Anne, the news of your daughter is grand! I’m so glad to hear of her success. Might you be feeling a flush of success yourself about now? If so, go right ahead. I’ll bet you’ve earned the right.

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

    awakeinmo,

    That trailer for Supergirl actually made me cry a little bit.
    The beginning was, of course, almost exactly like the mocking one about Black Widow so I’m glad the whole thing was successfully subverted by the rest.
    You know, I never liked Superman. I think I’ll give Supergirl a chance.

  44. cicely says

    Jumping back aboard the [Lounge], without in any way getting caught up.
    General *hugs*, greetings, commiserations and congratulations where appropriate and desired.
    –
    A Horse.
    Here in the [Lounge].
    *shudder*
    *going for a lie-down*
    –
    15

  45. Rob Grigjanis says

    birgerjohansson @27: Can’t read the article, but it’s obviously about Emmy Noether and her eponymous theorem.

    Hugely important, and very well known to theoretical physicists, but how do you popularize it? The most pithy explanation is “a theory with continuous symmetries will have corresponding conserved quantities”. Time dilation and curved space are much sexier, pop-sci-wise.

  46. Pteryxx says

    CaitieCat, no worries about the email. I just wanted to send it before I forgot everything.

  47. Crudely Wrott, lurching towards recrudescence says

    I once heard the word “incongruous” defined as “where our congruousmen work”.

    Right now it is me sitting at a computer which is in the bedroom of my son in law’s mother’s mother. She is napping in a chair beside the door and I’ve been listening to the regular changes in her breathing. She is in her nineties and is a sharp minded, if fragile bodied lady. I’ve been trying to type quietly.

    For her comfort and privacy I’m signing out until late afternoon.

    See ya’ll then.

  48. sanich says

    Heard on Colorado Public Radio that the fiery-eyed Bronco at Denver International Airport killed its sculptor. Head fell off, injured him and he bled to death….

  49. sanich says

    PZ – while in Denver you should stop by Hogshead brewery for the best cask ales around…

  50. Saad says

    “We won the war in Iraq, why would we be giving political asylum to people to come from a country where we won the war?” – Rand Paul

    Is that Libertarianism in a nutshell?

  51. says

    Giliell @20:

    In short, the neutral is still male.

    Even after reading the entire article, I’m having a hard time understanding what you mean here. It doesn’t read to me like neutral is still male. I feel like I’m missing something. Can you elaborate?

    ****

    Okidemia @29:

    Dunno, the youngest I brought was as early as 8 month old. Though not in protests that might involve police charges. (for these, mine are too young, and I am too old now, can’t run fast enough).

    I wasn’t so much positing the question to people at large as I was musing over what the answer would be from those who criticize parents for bringing kids to protests (just explaining where I was coming from with that question).

    Tony, English is not my native language, and the time there was a google test to figure out which animal you* were, you wrote something like “turns out I’m not a queer shoop”. I’ve tried to get the shoop meaning but I seem to fail, or is it for the singular sheep? Please can you educate me about it? (Please other readers note that I generally don’t get many subtleties behind nyms).

    It’s something of an in-joke (also serves as the inspiration for my blog). ‘Shoop’ isn’t an actual animal. It pretty much is the singular for sheep (even though sheep is both singular and plural). It was first coined by a commenter around here several years ago and I really liked it, so I incorporated it into my nym (at one point it was ‘Tony! The Fucking Queer Shoop’). And I just realized the word is fairly unique so comments here (or my blog) are likely to turn up in any searches of the word.
    …
    I loved the story of your discussion with your partner :)

    @32:

    (certainly, you* should begin before they meet psychologically transgendering acquaintances –as opposed to biologically transitioning which certainly happens later in life. CD: any thoughts on this?)

    I’m still learning, so I could be wrong here, but being trans is a description of an aspect of one’s identity, not an action, so “transgendering” isn’t the correct word here (I think). I do think I see what you’re getting at, but one does not need to transition to be transgender.

  53. says

    http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/b-b-kings-inimitable-sound

    Excerpt below:

    […] He sang wonderfully, with a clean, sophisticated style touched by Nat Cole’s vocals (though I didn’t know that then), but it was his guitar playing that mattered. The crowd was there, in part, because the music he played was like music we already knew, the electrified blues that had become our teen-age lingua franca. We knew vaguely that he had helped to invent it, but we knew the imitators much better than we knew the source.

    King was not at all showily virtuosic—any number of young Englishmen who were, shamefully, much easier to hear in those days, and doubtless sold more records, from Alvin Lee to Mick Taylor, were “faster,” more dexterous, “heavier,” as we would have said approvingly. But in an instant it was plain that no one made a guitar talk as B. B. King did, as an extension of his entire soul, an instrument of human expression more than adolescent finger-mania.

    The sound of King’s guitar, no matter how often imitated—and, on the surface, as with Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, it sounded obvious, all that single-note shimmering—remains one of the inimitable sounds in American music. It had a clipped, precise, syncopated, pin-striped-suit quality, not usually swooping or weeping or sliding. His first thoughts came in small, neat sentences. He would play a chorus in that way, then pause and play a complementary, related phrase with a more groaning intonation. He did the same thing in his singing, the first phrase often bouncing and hip in that Nat Cole manner, the next growling and muddy. […]

  54. says

    In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik writes about infrastructure, and about trains in particular. In response to the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, Gopnik looked at the deeper issues.

    Excerpt below:

    […]What is less apparent, perhaps, is that the will to abandon the public way is not some failure of understanding, or some nearsighted omission by shortsighted politicians. It is part of a coherent ideological project.

    As I wrote a few years ago, in a piece on the literature of American declinism, “The reason we don’t have beautiful new airports and efficient bullet trains is not that we have inadvertently stumbled upon stumbling blocks; it’s that there are considerable numbers of Americans for whom these things are simply symbols of a feared central government, and who would, when they travel, rather sweat in squalor than surrender the money to build a better terminal.”

    The ideological rigor of this idea, as absolute in its way as the ancient Soviet conviction that any entering wedge of free enterprise would lead to the destruction of the Soviet state, is as instructive as it is astonishing. And it is part of the folly of American “centrism” not to recognize that the failure to run trains where we need them is made from conviction, not from ignorance. […]

    What we have, uniquely in America, is a political class, and an entire political party, devoted to the idea that any money spent on public goods is money misplaced, not because the state goods might not be good but because they would distract us from the larger principle that no ultimate good can be found in the state. Ride a fast train to Washington today and you’ll start thinking about national health insurance tomorrow.

    The ideology of individual autonomy is, for good or ill, so powerful that it demands cars where trains would save lives, just as it places assault weapons in private hands, despite the toll they take in human lives. Trains have to be resisted, even if it means more pollution and massive inefficiency and falling ever further behind in the amenities of life […]

    Gopnik makes a lot of cogent points in the article, and he provides some concrete examples.

  56. Okidemia says

    Tony! The Queer Shoop #51

    I wasn’t so much positing the question to people at large as I was musing over what the answer would be from those who criticize parents for bringing kids to protests (just explaining where I was coming from with that question).

    Hum. I guess the answer also depends on whether they are your kids or not. I wouldn’t blame anyone to bring their kids to whatever protests, but I wouldn’t do it if my kids could be hurt in the process. Of course, the actual responsability is on cops not to hurt protesters, with kids or not. But victims blaming seems the prefered opinion these days.

    There are other ways to get hurt for kids during protests: mass crushes. I’m sorry that I always prevented people to crush mine by pushing them before they do. Usually people say there are sorry, they did not pay attention, etc. But this is mostly an issue with really young kids that you have to carry yourself.

    I’m still learning, so I could be wrong here, but being trans is a description of an aspect of one’s identity, not an action, so “transgendering” isn’t the correct word here (I think). I do think I see what you’re getting at, but one does not need to transition to be transgender.

    Yep myself too. I have to admit I’m fully ignorant about how transpeople are actually defined, aside from obvious transitioned/transitioning people or unfortunate people experiencing gender dissonance. I’m not sure about all that. I used transgendering with the idea that identity constructs itself slowly as a process at sexualisation time (though let’s be flexible about it, it varies from people to people, and it certainly also includes individual experiences in the “presexual age” whereby I mean before becoming sexually active). It’s clearly not a subject I’m knowlegeable about, and I use words that are not the canons of sociology or psychology.

    I’m sorry if I’m clumsy about it. My background is a botanical one where ‘gender’ has a full natural declination space and a lot of diversity, so while I can perfectly understand these declinations as a personnality trait in a binary sexual species such as ours, I’m first unfortunately focusing on phenotypic/functional processes (a professionnal bias) and second I’m also unfortunately uneasy with the language and categories used to describe it. It would certainly help me that all the cis/trans declinations subtleties be translated in terms of monoecy/dioecy, i.e. in a more flowery language that I could understand. Because cis/trans is activating bad memories about DNA replication/translation processes that I failed miserably as a student (and I had no idea that would certainly make me fail understanding of gender variation in humans). Definitely I need a good transpeople 101 lecture.

  58. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @okidemia:

    you could go ogle
    "gender workshop" site:freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula

    and see what that gets you.

  60. Okidemia says

    Adding a note on #56:
    Part of my confusion is born from the fact that I can’t see why one should maintain a difference when somebody has transitioned. I’ve always wondered why so many guys are horrified with the idea that they have sex with someone born a guy and later turned a woman. If they wanted sex with them first, where’s the issue?
    I also tend to comply with someone’s self gender identification even when they are not or not fully transitionned. It doesn’t matter much neither. (I am focusing on transwomen here because they are the only cases I know so far).
    I think I will just shut up now, until I learn about transpeople more.

  61. opposablethumbs says

    Crudely, I get that about the squirrel (which is lovely, btw). I’m sorry for you, and a bit for the squirrel too! Last year’s robin red-breast would take food from our fingers (on the wing, though, without touching down) but this year’s generation are too shy. Mind you, I never thought I’d get a wild bird taking food like that, not even a robin (though I know they’re incredibly bold). (I suppose I’m not counting city pigeons, who will quite happily mob anyone with bread, but we have none here in the immediate neighbourhood for some reason – probably run off by other birds).
    We currently have a pair of woodpeckers nesting in the tree by the door. They made a new hole to nest in and everything. It’s all city here, so it seems pretty awesome :-)

  62. Okidemia says

    CD #58:
    Thanks, I’ll do that. I definitely need it. I apologise if I wrote something gross out of ignorance, this was not volunteer.

    But for now, I’m heading house before I go to the farmers market… Maybe I’ll come back with plenty of seeds :-)

  64. chigau (違う) says

    I suggest that any discussion of ahilan #63 linked article go to the Thunderdome.
    It’s likely to get ugly.

  65. says

    “Women do earn less in American because they choose to,” he said. “They would rather go to their daughter’s piano recital than stay all night at work, working on a proposal, so they end up earning less. They’re less ambitious.” […]

    “This is sort of God’s way — this is nature’s way — of saying women should be at home with the kids,” he said. “They’re happier there.”

    That’s Gavin McInnes speaking during a Fox News segment.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/15/gavin-mcinnes-women-happier-at-home_n_7289048.html

  66. says

    ‘rupt again; I’ve been working more this week though, which is good for the finances.
    Yay for good hearing, CaitieCat!
    Best wishes for swift healing, CD!
    *hugs* and sympathies for Crudely; I’ll see if finances are good enough to send something your way.
    General *hugs* for the Horde as well.
    Morgan

    We really need the commune.

    I suppose the first step is to identify likely grant makers for some type of new urbanism project, and the second to locate a site; the one I was thinking idly of has been taken and I don’t know where I’ll find another as good. The next (and harder) step is to actually write the proposals, which I know how to do but take a lot of spoons which are hard to muster. At some point, some people are going to have to form a board, otherwise we’ll never get anywhere. After that, there’ll be some momentum, and things can proceed from there. There’s also the matter of what exactly it’ll look like and be made of and all, but a lot of that will be informed by necessity in one way or another. I’m thinking that repurposed shipping containers, rammed earth, and cob will probably feature heavily, especially given the existence of hydro/aeroponic capsule farms built into same. Some combination of green roofs and solar panels on top (exact balance determined by energy needs/availability), although I favor a heavier balance towards green roofs that can house smaller livestock (goats, chickens, maybe rabbits). Aquaponics are also a thing to investigate. There will also need to be various types of workshops etc, which come with their own requirements. I invite anyone to argue, of course, since this isn’t all about me.

  67. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I suggest that any discussion of ahilan #63 linked article go to the Thunderdome.
    It’s likely to get ugly.

    Absolutely. No place for such stuntss in the lounge. ahilan knows that. Which makes it an aggressive action before even looking.

  68. Saad says

    *Potential trigger warning in link (I didn’t read through the whole article)*

    Bullied 12-year old girl commits suicide after school tells students to toughen up

    And she was bullied for being bisexual too.

    Fuck that school. Fire whoever told her that when she complained. Actually, no. That should be a crime. That’s assisting in the bullying. People are put on trial for “assisting in a suicide”. This is assisting in a murder.

    Also, a fuck you to the “if you’re LGBT in America you only have to worry about not being served cake” crowd.

  70. says

    Salad, that is just heartbreaking. That poor girl. I agree, the school staff and whoever set their policies need to be held fully accountable. Make an example of them, dammit.

  72. chigau (違う) says

    Anne, Cranky Cat Lady
    You aren’t the first to make a Salad out of Saad.
    I always copy/paste nyms.
    I copy/paste rq and PZ.
    ;)

  73. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @chigau:

    Then you’re saying this is an anti-copy/pasta salad?

  74. Saad says

    Dang it, CD, I was trying to think of some salad puns.

    Anne, I don’t mind. It’s happened before, so maybe autocorrect is trying to tell me something. Fine, I’ll up the greens.

  75. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Autocorrect, especially on the iPad can be embarrassing….
    Given my phonetic misspellings, I always give a second look at such problems, and try to interpret them as they were intended. Sometimes it helps comprehension *after a snicker*.

  76. chigau (違う) says

    I don’t use auto-correct.
    It keeps insisting on weird u-less spellings.

  77. chigau (違う) says

    CD
    heh
    .
    Why is ‘antipasto’ not spelled ‘antepasto’?
    Are those Eyetalians up to something?

  79. spamamander, internet amphibian says

    I don’t usually hang in the Lounge much but needed to do some bragging to folks who might appreciate it… just got back from my 6 hour round trip (yay traffic) to Seattle and back to see my daughter’s presentation at the University of Washington Undergraduate Research Symposium. She and her lab partner presented on the results of separating a normally colonial bacterium and raising individual specimens. Kinda proud of this kiddo.

  80. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @spamamander:

    Go spawn, go!

  81. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Monitor note:
    Please remember that this is the Lounge:

    The Lounge is more strongly moderated; do not start fights, do not be rude when posting there, but nothing is otherwise off-topic.

    This is PZ’s blog to run, and I have nothing to say about how he runs it. However you may wish to note, ahilan, that you’re coming close to doing things that might be considered trolling the lounge.

    Only PZ makes that decision, but given you have the whole ThunderDome to post those links in, why tempt the banhammer?

  83. rq says

    Women rejecting wedding proposals. A follow-up to carlie’s link about women dropping subtle hints above. :D

    spamander
    Congratulations to spawn!
    And your Eldest too, Anne!!!

    Crip Dyke @55
    All it needs is a tux and a martini in the hand, and it’ll look just like him, too! Can it drive a flashy car?

    In other news, damn you, weather. It was supposed to be sunny and warm, not this cold sleety wind. It’s May, godsdammit. Eh.
    Indoor country visit it is. I’ll probably watch Selma later, too, and I admit I got an illegal copy because it didn’t even make it to theatres in this backwards country. But I really want to see it and am looking forward to it. Anyway.
    Feeling pretty good for a change.

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

    rq,

    I don’t really feel bad about acquiring shows illegally.
    For some shows, I’d have to wait for years (Doctor Who, for example, is so much behind and it’s marked as children’s show so it’s on while I’m at work). Others I’d probably have to wait for forever of buy them online. Seriously? I’m not growing money on trees. So that would mean choosing a single show or two, a couple of movies, and missing everything else. Forget it.

    I try to see movies that are available in the cinema, though.

  86. blf says

    (More “first-world” local “problems”…)
    I’m not completely sure yet, but it looks like the local fromagerie is closing for good. Being the local shop — and fairly good — they are probably also the most-penguined fromagerie en France.

  87. blf says

    Heard on Colorado Public Radio that the fiery-eyed Bronco at Denver International Airport killed its sculptor.

    Horses are evil. With extra e’s, v’s, i’s, and l’s, eeevviiiiillllllllll!!l!

  89. says

    Okidemia @29
    Thank you for that chuckle. I really needed that.

    Congarats to Anne and Spawn

    Tony

    Even after reading the entire article, I’m having a hard time understanding what you mean here. It doesn’t read to me like neutral is still male. I feel like I’m missing something. Can you elaborate?

    It’s this:

    This character, whom many might perceive as “boy,” no doubt resonates with many young “girls” and children who do not relate to “female” stereotypes,

    The absence of female stereotypes lets the character be perceived as a boy. Therefore, being female still means “adding something to the default”.
    Believe me, I have played that game many times: Dragon = male. Dragon with a pink flower = female. It’s Lego putting fucking ribbons on fucking bears.

    Yay to spamander and spawn

    +++
    OK, this might get difficult. I noticed that I hadn’t used the official MLA double space formatting and now I’m at page 17 already. I might run into trouble because after 100 pages the professor gets a bit annoyed…

  90. rq says

    Beatrice
    For the record, I too try to go see movies in the theatre, if and when one shows up that I actually want to see (last one out like that was Hunger Games, part 1 of book 3. But apparently Selma wasn’t considered interesting enough for audiences here, though keeping in mind some of the opinions expressed on articles re: police shooting and uprisings in America, I’d say it would have been educational for all. Though those most in need probably wouldn’t have gone anyway. It’s a movie on which I’d have gladly spent some money, for myself and a friend or two.

  92. blf says

    For the record, I too try to go see movies in the theatre…

    Wouldn’t a music shop be more appropriate to get the record?

  94. birgerjohansson says

    Chigau:”Happy Wedding Day to Skatje and her Beau.”
    Seconded.
    — — — — — — — — — — — –

    I don’t quite get this episode of XKCD. It looks like HAL9000.
    The concepts of “emojic” and “8 ball” must be specific USAian things, I have not heard of them…
    http://xkcd.com/1525/

  96. blf says

    sings Elton John in full faux-operatic voice while mopping the floor

    That’s one way to get the dirt to run away, run away! (Leaving only, I assume, tiny footprints and slime trails to clean up.) Probably also stuns spiders, traumatizes mice, and provides peas with extra motivation to attack (not they need any).

  97. blf says

    The concepts of “emojic” and “8 ball” must be specific USAian things, I have not heard of them

    No idea what an emojic is (Generalissimo Google™ hasn’t been very enlightening), but the 8 ball is clearly a reference to — it even looks like it — an old toy from Mattel called The Magic 8 Ball: “The Magic 8 Ball is a toy used for fortune-telling or seeking advice, manufactured by Mattel and developed in the 1950s. It is often used in fiction, often for humor related to it giving very accurate, very inaccurate, or otherwise statistically improbable answers.”

  99. blf says

    “Emojic” is apparently a reference to the emoji block of Unicode/UCS glyphs, shown here.

    So idea seems to be, in today’s XKCD, you type in gibberish, that is, your “question” (it’s interactive), and it shows in reply some Japanese emoticons (if your installed font(s) have those glyphs) — vaguely similar to Mattel’s toy, and with just as “statistically improbable answers.”

  100. blf says

    chigau@98, Ah, so that explains the final c, Thanks!
    (I prefer, however, my original hypothesis that artiste was either suffering from peas or making an offer to Tpyos.)

  101. Okidemia says

    Dear cook-gardeners,
    I found the regularz (red type for Scotch Bonnet, and linear piment végétarien. Not as much diversity as I planned to get at, but definitely worth a first transfer. People with taste for other variants may simply file a long term request sheet, and I’ll see when things happen.
    Right now, you should contact Crip Dyke and provide them with a place we can send things there. I think around comment #416 from previous lounge should allow that.
    The time I proceed to dry and sanitize the material, I’ll certainly go to the postal office this wednesday.
    Have all a good week end.

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

    Today in expanding my family’s food experiences: focaccia

    I made my standard pizza dough and let it rise. Because I know dad won’t even try olives, I split the dough in half and made two focaccias (stretch the dough into longish oblong shapes). Let them rise again.

    number 1:
    – drizzle a bit of olive oil on top
    – fresh rosemary
    – olives (green because the store didn’t have the brand of black olives I like, but I generally like black olives more and I think they would fit this better)
    – sea salt
    Push (halved or whole) olives into the dough, scatter the rosemary and push it into the dough a bit in places. Scatter sea salt.

    number 2:
    – drizzle a bit of olive oil on top
    – mozzarella
    – fresh origano and thyme
    – sea salt

    Bake for about 20 minutes on 200°C.
    If you can hold back for that long, wait until it cools a bit before eating. If you can’t, try to tear off a piece while saying ouch a lot and then burn your tongue on an olive. Ouch.
    If you are that way inclined, drip some more olive oil before eating. Also, I’m sure prosciutto would go with this wonderfully, but unfortunately I didn’t think of that earlier.

    Some nice red wine recommended.

  103. blf says

    dad won’t even try olives

    If “all” he’s ever had are those, black presliced ones, and/or the green ones stuffed with red mortar that They used to(? (and perhaps still do?)) sell in small cans/jars in the States — which are the only sorts I can recall before University and doing my own shopping — I actually sympathize with, and understand, this! Those were awful…

    My own problem is now is more-or-less the reverse. (Actually, my own problem right now is I’m out of olives, which should be fixed tomorrow.) The weekly market — tomorrow morning — has multiple stands with an abundance of olives of numerous types and styles, and I have been known to buy too many (both for my budget and my needs).

    Similar thing with MUSHROOMS! All I can recall now, pre-University, were those small cans of “mushrooms”, usually in some sort of gloop. My mother absolutely freaked out when, on a visit home, I purchased some fresh common MUSHROOMS! at the supermarket. It turned out she was scared of “toadstools”. As I now recall, she (1) Thought there were only two kinds of fungi, safe-to-eat “mushrooms” and poisonous “toadstools”; (2) Thought there were very very difficult to tell apart; and hence, (3) Concluded the fresh MUSHROOMS! supplied by commercial farms occasionally had some “toadstools”. I don’t recall why she thought canned “mushrooms” never contained “toadstools” if the farms couldn’t tell the difference…

  104. says

    Phil Plait wrote a great article on the efforts of politicians and christian activists in Louisiana to teach creationism in the schools.

    […] In 2008, creationist Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the Louisiana Science Education Act into law. […] It’s a blatant attempt to allow educators to teach creationism in public school science classes.

    Science advocate Zack Kopplin (who is now 21) has tried to get the law repealed every year, and every year the appeal is denied by the Legislature.

    Watching footage of the hearings is, quite simply, brain-exploding. In 2013, one legislator asked if E. coli bacteria would evolve into a human and another talked with dripping contempt for scientists. […]

    There’s video of the hearing at the link — watch if you want a brain-exploding experience.

    Incredibly, the very arguably unconstitutional “science education” law was upheld, according to Kopplin, due to one senator’s “lack of courage.” Mind you, this is despite Kopplin having actual evidence it’s being used to teach creationism in schools! […]

    Link

  106. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Anyone interested in pepper seeds, please do send me a snail mail @ my nym, using the google mail service! Okidemia is waiting!

  107. says

    Some mostly good news:

    Duke, the country’s largest energy company, pleaded guilty to nine violations of the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay $102 million in fines, including $68 million in criminal fines and $34 million that will go toward environmental projects and land conservation.

    The plea entered in federal court in Greenville, North Carolina was expected as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice announced in February.

    Some partially bad news: Duke Energy is actually getting off easy. The fines sound big to us, but they are a flea bite to Duke Energy.

    Links:

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article9097706.html

    http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/14/duke-energy-pleads-guilty-over-coal-ash-spill.html

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article19153437.html

  112. opposablethumbs says

    Severally speaking, congratulations and good wishes to Skatje and to Giliell!

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

    Giliell,
    Congrats!

    —
    I gotta thank azhael for reminding me I haven’t listened to Roma music lately. While going through some youtube videos, I found this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z00IXMCbFM
    That’s pretty far from traditional Roma music, but it’s a really good mix actually. Note the woman in colorful clothes after the second minute. She was feminist before anyone around Balkans knew the word – she resisted traditions that would see her marry before finishing elementary school and give up music as a career, while simultaneously fighting prejudice against her people. And she kept the fight for women’s rights and her humanitarian work.
    She’s the awesomest.

  114. says

    Oh, FFS! Really, Republicans?

    […] here’s a big — brand new — attack on Medicare that’s just been added in the Senate to the Fast Track bill for the TPP. The bill would cut a whopping $700 million from Medicare, hurting seniors who need access to health care.

    That’s right, Republicans insisted on cutting Medicare spending to pay for a Trade Adjustment Assistance program that Democrats got added to the bill in order to support workers who lost their jobs due to trade deals like the TPP. […]

    http://act.democracyforamerica.com/sign/TPPMedicareCuts/

  115. says

    More on the ways in which Republicans are using the congressional debate about “fast tracking” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to force cuts they’ve been wanting to make to Medicare for a long time.

    […] The proposal currently being considered to fund Trade Adjustment Assistance includes an extension of the sequester on Medicare payments into the second half of 2024, which amounts to a $700 million cut to Medicare funding. While this isn’t a direct cut to Medicare benefits, it could still have devastating effects for America’s seniors. As the American Medical Association explained in a letter to Congress, these cuts would “impede improvements to our health care system” and “could lead to serious access to care issues for Medicare patients.” […]

    Link

  116. says

    Six months after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot, the two officers involved still have not been questioned.

    When the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department made its first public comments on Tuesday about its ongoing investigation into the death last November of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, it provided few details. Nearly six months since Cleveland police fatally shot Rice at a community center park where he had been waving around a toy gun, questions are mounting as to why the investigation has taken so long, especially given explicit surveillance footage of the shooting and the troubling police record of the officer who pulled the trigger.

    Mother Jones has learned that the two officers involved in the shooting—Timothy Loehmann, who fired the shots, and Frank Garmback, who drove the police car—still have not been interviewed by investigators from the sheriff’s department. […]

    In the surveillance footage, both Loehmann and Garmback can be seen standing around after the shooting while Rice lies bleeding on the ground. About a minute and a half after the shooting, Garmback can be seen tackling Rice’s 14-year-old sister as she tries to run to her wounded brother. Four minutes go by during which Loehmann and Garmback make no attempt to give Rice first aid. An FBI agent in the area then comes to the scene and begins to tend to Rice before an ambulance arrives to take him to the hospital (where he died the next day). […]

    Mother Jones link

  121. says

    This is a followup to comments 114 and 115. Rolling Stone writer Tim Dickenson summarized nicely some of the current debate over TPP. He didn’t get into the Republican, anti-Medicare poison pill so much, but he did point out the main reason that Republicans love the deal. It gives big corporations one more way to rule the world, and one more way to strip some cash off taxpayers.

    […] TPP could empower big companies to challenge the laws of sovereign governments — including tough U.S. environmental regulations — through trade tribunals. The so-called “investor-state dispute settlement mechanism” could put taxpayers on the hook for paying out billions to multinational corporations who successfully make their case before trade arbitrators. “The only winners will be multinational corporations,” [Elizabeth] Warren has written. “Why create these rigged, pseudo-courts at all? What’s so wrong with the U.S. judicial system?” […]

  122. rq says

    chigau
    I’ve checked my calendar, no apocalypses scheduled. Must be something in the water.

  124. chigau (違う) says

    ahilan
    There is a link to the Thunderdome on the sidebar above PZ’s picture.
    You are on the internet do some research about the photo.

  125. carlie says

    IMAGE WARNING ON AHILAN AT 123: image is of someone who has been beaten and is bloody.
    Fuck, you don’t post stuff like that without saying what it is, unless you’re trying to upset people. I only clicked on it because I had a feeling it was going to be something graphic like that.

    I’d report ahilan myself, but I can’t remember the password to the email I use for ftb, and PZ is at a wedding right now. Someone else want to do so for later?

  126. carlie says

    (clarification – I only clicked on it because I had a feeling it was going to be graphic, and wanted to know if I needed to throw up a warning, which turned out yes)

  127. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    You are on the internet do some research about the photo.

    Google, master of all knowledge.
    Bing, alternative
    Yahoo, alternative

  128. chigau (違う) says

    carlie
    I’m leaving it alone for now.
    Tomorrow is soon enough for a ban.

  129. rq says

    ahilan
    GTFO.
    Seriously, “I would apologize”? Don’t even bother, just get out of the Lounge. The Thunderdome is always up.

  133. blf says

    The Grauniad’s site / site’s rendering is (again) freezing the browser tab, but let’s try, US Christians ‘bankrolling’ no campaign in Ireland’s gay marriage referendum.

    (Oh for feck’s sake! It’s taking at least ten seconds to echoback a character, making it almost-impossible to compose/edit this comment. The problem is clearly with the The Grauniad’s site / site’s rendering…)

    In essence, the USArseholierthanthouistan’s NOM (Nitwits fOr Massive stoopity) is, at the least, funding the Raping Children Cult’s campaign to ensure people are treated vastly differently based on the imagined bellowings of some sky faeries.

  134. says

    That was the most pathetically disingenuous attempt at trolling that I’ve seen in some time, ahilan. I took a look at your posting history, and that’s all you do, is dump stupid links here — and linking to takimag? Seriously? You’re clearly a racist troll.

    ahilan: BANNED

  135. chigau (違う) says

    Thanks, PZ.
    You should get back to the party.
    We’ll be fine for the evening.

  136. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Wow. I’m surprised PZ had a free moment, but I’m not at all sad to see ahilan gone.

    Good riddance, ahilan. See you never.

  137. The Mellow Monkey says

    My mother regrets having me. She says life is nothing but pain and suffering and I’d have been better off never having been born.

    She says making decisions based on feelings–getting married for love, having children, etc–is no different than the cricket rubbing its legs together in search of a mate because of a hormone changed. I should strive to be above these things, to not make the gross mistake she did of having a family, of having relationships, of caring.

    This isn’t even the first time she’s said these things to me, but might be the first time I realized how absolutely, absurdly, hatefully stupid that thought process is. And I told her so and made her cry.

    And I did not cry.

  139. chigau (違う) says

    TMM
    Your mother sounds like a deeply unhappy person.
    .
    You seem to have come out of her parenting OK.
    I’m with Anne.
    We are all better for having you here.

  140. thunk: prawo jazdy says

    Hi everyone!
    I’ve finished my first year of college (relatively well; still alive, even after the essays!) and am now relaxing for the summer. There’s plenty of things to do, as it turns out, but I want to just be lazy (of course).
    And I, as it turns out, can drive relatively safely!

    *hugs and higs* to everyone, especially those down on their luck. Poverty is something I have never been near myself, but I can only imagine it to be heart-rending. The same goes for disease.

  143. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Xposted from Thunderdome:

    Anyone here with good competence in physics and in feminism want to read a book chapter by me? I need to make sure that my metaphors and language are consistent and clear, so you have to keep up with my feminism and be (as knowledgeable as/preferably more knowledgeable than) me at physics. (More knowledgeable than me at physics shouldn’t be hard.)

    …

    Or, heck, if there’s a pair of people who can read it together….but I’d really prefer if you read it together. It’s not enough to review the physics in isolation – the metaphors have to work, and that requires either understanding the feminism or being right there in dialog (preferably in meatspace) with someone who can explain anything confusing in real time. Vice versa obviously applies in reviewing the feminism.

  145. The Mellow Monkey says

    Crip Dyke, if you can’t find anyone else my brother is summering with me. His degrees are in physics and mathematics and I’ve got the competence in feminism you’ve seen here. I’m sure if I bribed him with a bowl of kettle corn or something he’d read a chapter with me.

  146. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @TMM:

    This isn’t even the first time she’s said these things to me, but might be the first time I realized how absolutely, absurdly, hatefully stupid that thought process is. And I told her so and made her cry.
    And I did not cry.

    My mom has been very good to me the last decade or so. Childhood wasn’t so great. We all grow, right? So I know about wanting to say what you said and then…not. I’m sorry you have been so hurt. I’m glad you spoke up.

    ==================
    @Thunk:

    Congrats from me as well. Keep plugging away. You’ll get …anywhere you need to be.

  147. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @TMM:

    Your brother is with you already? Or arrives later this year? I’m not certain based on “summering”. If he’s there already, I’ll drop you a copy anyway. You two might enjoy reading it, and if nothing else it’s an excuse for kettle corn.

  148. rq says

    The Mellow Monkey
    *hugs*
    I am extremely glad to know you and I am extremely pleased to know you are here in this world somewhere, sort of with me. It’s a much nicer place for it.

    Crip Dyke
    How in-depth does one’s knowledge have to be? Because I kind of know both. I just don’t know if it would be enough…

    thunk
    Yay for you! Well done on finishing that first year.

    And thanks, PZ, for the smackdown.

  149. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @rq:

    I suppose I could send it to you & you could tell me whether you’re up to the proofreading…

    also…

    we’re about to need a new documenting-US-racism thread.

    It seems you haven’t single-handedly fixed US racism yet. What’s with that, rq?

  150. rq says

    I’M SORRY CD I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY!!!!!!!!!
    I’ll keep working on that. Jesus, but this single-handed-hero stuff is hard. :( No wonder men do it all the time.

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

    Mmm, first cherries.

    —
    Remember that new country on nobody’s land (well, technically Serbian but on Croatian’s side of Danube … look, no one really cared about the place until now, the border dispute was more like “I don’t give a fuck.””Me neither” rather than any side wanting it.)?
    Anyway. The new president has been arrested again. Liberland’s legal team is working on that.
    You can’t make that shit up.

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

    OMG IT’S EUROVISION WEEK?

    I FORGOT!

    Um, sorry for yelling. Looking at the dates, it’s semi-finals this week and then the finale next weekend. If I don’t watch during the week, I’ll try to at least catch a couple of minutes of the finale.

    Just because I have to gripe about this every year: I hate how some countries automatically go into the finale just because. Also, I am confused. Why is Australia on that list? You know…. Eurovision.

  155. rq says

    Beatrice
    Technically, Russia isn’t really Europe, either, but I guess they’re close enough.
    I heard rumours that USAmerica is going to try and send contestants, too. Unconfirmed.
    But yeah, Eurovision week! Woo! It’s usually good for at least a few terribly mockable songs.

  156. The Mellow Monkey says

    CD, my brother is here right now. School just ended for him, so he’s come to stay.

  158. blf says

    There’s an entire page at Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge on Australia at Eurovapid this year.

    Also, as I recall, the “Euro” is a reference to the ITU’s definition of the “European Broadcasting Area”, which is defined not by geography, but by, as I recall, lines of latitude and longitude. This is why, as an example, Israel can and has participated (didn’t the Israeli entry win one year?).

  159. says

    Gawds and fishes, have i mentioned how awesome it (in no way) is to have a TERF resurrect a zombie thread to debate whether or not I’m human? Cause it’s just…awesome. Yeah. :/

    Think there’ll come a day when people like me don’t have to have that conversation anymore? Think I’ll still be around to cheer if it happens?

  161. thunk: prawo jazdy says

    Beatrice:

    I hate how some countries automatically go into the finale just because.

    The Big Five countries contribute the most money and viewers to the ITU– if one of them doesn’t end up in the finals, they don’t get nearly the amount of revenue they do in other years. And of course, the host/reigning champion gets a pass out of custom.

    Also, I am confused. Why is Australia on that list?

    Me too… but Eurovision is BIG there. I do remember an evening chat with a group of iGeo players last summer– Eurovision came up, and one of the team members had every song from the last five or ten years on his portable music device (I can’t remember which). He even started to play “Euro Neuro” (my favo(u)rite) upon request. :)

  162. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Ugh, my iMac has been getting balky about booting the last few months. Earlier searching said the iMac’s didn’t have a battery. But I saw one when I upgraded my HD to SSD and replaced the dead optical drive. The latest models don’t have a battery, but earlier models mine have them. The battery maintains the PRAM, which is involved in booting, time storage, etc. Good for 5 years. The computer is 6 years old. Well Duh. A cheap fix, and “easily” accessible–for an iMac.

  163. applehead says

    In this comment I hear libertopians violate key principles of Enlightenment.

    I always need more ammo against this cancer that eats away at modern civilization; what are they?

  167. says

    Trigger warning for abuse of children and for abuse of the justice system in the USA. It’s all about the money.

    […] Those detention facilities, privately owned, for-profit juvenile dungeons built and operated by Mericle, are at the center of a scandal which should serve as an abject lesson in why we should NOT privatize prisons. The ‘Cash for Kids’ scandal involved every level of the criminal justice system in Pennsylvania; Children being questioned by police and prosecutors without their parents or lawyers being present, judges ignoring these violations and sentencing children to time in these facilities and receiving kickbacks from the very people who built and operate the facilities, and impotent public defenders unable to challenge the system in any meaningful way. […]

    This is what happens when judges are incentivized to fill for-profit prisons. Behavior which borders on deliquency, but that is engaged in by many kids as typical rites of passage into adulthood, is exaggerated. Prosecutors and judges ignore the rights of children and bamboozle concerned parents into having their children submit to this authority in order to fill quotas in prisons that only make money when every cell is filled.

    Sadly, even exposing corruption of this nature on a large scale has done nothing to slow the trend of privatizing our prison system. As has been exposed in places like Ferguson, Missouri, when a community privatizes the bulk of their criminal justice system and begins to target vulnerable communities, minor violations end up costing people more than fines, they end up serving time for the profit of the system. […]

    Daily Kos link

    Times Leader link

    Despite his money and influence, his extensive record of philanthropy and his cooperation with federal prosecutors, businessman Robert K. Mericle is headed to prison. […]

    Rich ass hat used some of his “kids for cash” money to make himself look good to his fellow rich people. Philanthropy … bah!

  168. says

    Moments of Mormon Madness: controlling liquor sales in Utah.

    […] unfair treatment of wine store personnel […] The problems are much bigger and more pervasive than what is being reported. The reason is obvious. I am talking about the undue influence of the LDS Church. […]

    When our company started business, we learned the DABC [Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control] was actively prosecuting representatives for passing “written” information and having samples of wine they represented. […]

    We lobbied for our First Amendment right to offer information, written or verbal. […]

    We lobbied for a woman to be added to the all-male commission. We lobbied for people in the industry to be included on the commission (just like every other state agency). I remember being told by a legislator that would be like “putting a drug addict on the narcotics board.” We lobbied for a few people who actually drank alcoholic beverages to be put on the commission.

    […] The only request the commissioners made of the Legislature each year was for more money for enforcement. Our senator was taken aside by a representative of the LDS Church and told to squash legislation on our behalf. We were told by officials of the DABC that no changes or liquor legislation would be successful without being first sanctioned by LDS Church authorities.

    There was a final incident where the DABC set up a sting operation to catch representatives and a restaurateur drinking wines together in a private home in Park City, and it chose to criminally prosecute. Exasperated, I decided to sell my business and walk away.

    […]. The “centralized ordering system” does not meet the demand for specialty wine selection and inventory needs. […] And the DABC is ignoring adding new and smaller winery selections. […]

    http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/2514071-155/op-ed-lds-church-influence-drives-mistreatment

  170. rq says

    I’ve been mixing up words a lot in speech lately (a lot more than usual). Should I be worried?

  171. blf says

    The Big Five countries contribute the most money and viewers to the ITU…

    Do you mean the EBU? The ITU has bugger-all to do with Eurovapid except for defining the broadcasting region, as per me@157 (which also provides a hyperlink explaining the Australia anomaly).

  172. says

    Trigger warning for a big Eww factor.

    […] A piglet grows from weighing about 3 pounds at birth—a creature you can cup in your hands—to a beast weighing more than 275 six months later. Estimates of a pig’s manure output vary from twice as much as a human’s to ten times as much. But even at the low end of that range, the 7.5 million hogs in the five contiguous North Carolina counties […] produce as much waste as all the residents of the three largest US cities, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, combined.

    With one critical difference. Those municipalities, like all others in the United States, have to treat the waste produced by their human populations. Hog farmers do not. In North Carolina hog waste falls through slats in barn floors to pits directly below—like allowing all of your household’s excrement to accumulate in the basement. Periodically, farmers flush the pits with water and then pump the resulting slurry into lagoons. The fetid mixture sits there for as long as possible, to allow as much of the liquid as possible to evaporate.

    Even under the best drying conditions, though, lagoons fill and have to be emptied. In North Carolina, producers move the waste to fields through underground pipes. At the end of the pipes, nozzles called manure cannons blast the liquid as a fine spray high into the air to disperse it—the farther the better, to prevent the nearby fields from becoming saturated. During periods of wet weather, lagoons can overflow, so spraying manure becomes a race against time. […]

    Large corporations that control most hog farms in North Carolina have lobbied for legislation that allows them to disperse pig manure directly into streams, into the air via “manure cannons”, etc. They are ruining the environment.

    In its concentrated form, hog waste generates toxic gases, including methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. It also harbors bacteria and dangerous viruses such as influenza, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus and contains residual antibiotics and other drugs, along with any insecticides and chemical cleaners used in the pig barns. […]

    Class, money, racism … these all play a part in North Carolina’s hog farming industry:

    “There’s supposed to be someone protecting the air,” said Herring. “No one protects the air. We’re supposed to have clean water. Nobody cares about the water. Human rights, property rights, civil rights—all of these have been taken away from us. The whites get all the profits, and the blacks are the ones living with it.”

    Salon link

  173. says

    rq:

    I’ve been mixing up words a lot in speech lately (a lot more than usual). Should I be worried?

    Are you tired? Not sleeping well? Are you stressed out due to work and/or family obligations? Are you dehydrated? Depressed?

    Better check with your doctor, but there may be some simple explanations.

  174. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @The Mellow Monkey:

    I color coded an e-mail to you with the book chapter.

    Was that the right thing to do?

  175. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Lynna:

    Thanks for your ongoing efforts, but especially for your #166.

  177. says

    Caitie
    All the hugs

    CD
    You got my mail with the peppery address, did you?

    Well, I could send tomatoe plants as a return, but I doubt they’d survive transport
    +++

    So, tomorrow’s gran’s funeral. And what next? Who knows….

  178. says

    Crip Dyke @174:

    Thanks for your ongoing efforts, but especially for your #166.

    We are paying attention. Asshats do not go unnoticed.

  179. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Giliell:

    No, I didn’t get that e-mail. Can you resend?

  180. says

    blf

    If “all” he’s ever had are those, black presliced ones, and/or the green ones stuffed with red mortar that They used to(? (and perhaps still do?)) sell in small cans/jars in the States

    Some of us just plain don’t like ’em. Fresh, pickled, stuffed, whatever, I don’t like olives.

    TMM
    *hugs* you’re good people.

    thunk
    congrats.

    CaitieCat
    Just caught back up on that thread; what an asshole.

    Lynna 171
    If there’s one indictment of CAFOs from an agricultural perspective, that’s it right there: They’ve made pig manure unfit for fertilizer.

    *hugs* all ’round.

  181. says

    Dalillama:

    If there’s one indictment of CAFOs from an agricultural perspective, that’s it right there: They’ve made pig manure unfit for fertilizer.

    Ha. I didn’t think of that. Excellent analysis.

    There are few giant factory farms near Twin Falls in Idaho. It’s hard to even drive through there on the freeway. Windows closed, AC working on interior air — but the knock-you-down-from-a-mile-away toxic air still seeps in. Gag worthy.

    Idaho legislators recently passed a law to make it illegal for activists to film bad conditions on big farms. Like the problem will go away if no one sees it.
    NPR link

  182. opposablethumbs says

    I wouldn’t know, rq, but everything Lynna said sounds sensible. Hope you can be less stressed soon, stress would seem like a likely factor.

  183. rq says

    That was a hockey game worth watching.

    Lynna and opposablethumbs
    If it doesn’t improve by next week, I’ll probably see someone about it – I’m doing some social stuff next week that may or may not take the stress off, so I’ll see.

  186. birgerjohansson says

    “CaitieCat, all the hugs.”
    Seconded.

    As a furriner, watching the Merkun debates, I am unable to tell which wankers are just pandering and which ones are True Believers. Of course, with Doublethink, folks like Jindal may be both.

    — — — — — — —

    I have been reading “Lucky Planet” about the argument against the Gaia hyphotesis and in favor of bloody ridicilous luck. We are all sooooo priviliged, it is silly.
    The author makes a very powerful case for anthropic observer bias.

    — — —
    I had a potential Nelson Muntz moment (HA-HA!).
    The author mentioned the young sun would have been smaller and redder than today.
    But if I remember correctly, the Zero-Age Main Sequence (ZAMS) defines the left edge of the main sequence of stars, not the right. So the faint young sun would have been bluer and hotter than today, even if it was fainter.

  187. bluentx says

    Threadrupt but…

    rq said:
    “I’ve been mixing up words a lot in speech lately (a lot more than usual). Should I be worried?”
    … says the woman who just had a minor ( comparatively speaking) birthday. —Don’t over-anticipate !–
    [BTW, did you get that email ?] :)

  188. rq says

    Some background, via a friend:

    Sonita fled Afghanistan with her family to Tehran, Iran when she was eight years old. She discovered a non-profit organization that offered programs for undocumented Afghan kids; there she learned karate, photography, and had her first lessons in singing and rapping. Her lyrical ability quickly caught people’s attention, and she started working with an Iranian director who helped her polish her style and make her first music videos. She had high hopes for pursuing her interest in music until one day her mother told her: ‘You have to return to Afghanistan with me. There’s a man there who wants to marry you. Your brother’s engaged and we need your dowry money to pay for his wedding.”

    Crushed by the prospect of being forced into a child marriage, Sonita poured her feelings into a new song, “Brides for Sale.” In the music video, she appears dressed as a bride with a bruised face and a barcode on her forehead. It begins: “Let me whisper, so no one hears that I speak of selling girls. My voice shouldn’t be heard since it’s against Sharia. Women must remain silent… this is our tradition.” She was worried what her parents would think of the video, but to her relief, they loved it and told her she didn’t have to marry. “It means so much to me that my family went against our tradition for me,” Sonita said in an interview with PRI. “Now I’m somewhere that I never imagined I could be.”

    Sonita’s music attracted such attention that she was offered a full scholarship to an arts academy in Utah and she recently held her first US concert in San Francisco. Although Sonita is thrilled by the opportunities she’s finding in the US, her heart remains back home with the millions of women she knows still live with discrimination, forced marriage, and worse. She told PRI, “I sometimes I think about the fact that I could have been a mother right now — with a few kids. It’s not a thought I like.” But she hopes that her music can make a difference for other girls and women like her: “Rap music lets you tell your story to other people. Rap music is a platform to share the words that are in my heart.”

    And here’s the video: Sonita …brides for sale, TW for abuse and suicidal thoughts.
    But it kicks in the gut.

  189. rq says

    bluentx
    I did. I’m bad at email. :) But know that it was well-received and much-appreciated!
    How are you???

  190. bluentx says

    Still lurking , checking in on occasion….. [‘What does The Horde/ Lounge think of that ???!!! ‘] : )

  192. rq says

    Giliell
    *hugs*
    May it do gran honour and go as well as possible. If needed, I can hold your hand from here. Or offer a hanky. I’d offer to herd the children for a little bit, too, but that might be a tad more difficult.

  193. bluentx says

    Sheesh. rq. you and Giliell are practically down the street from each other.. day care buddies… play days and all that (told ya i’d been lurkin’).

    *Hugs*, if wanted. Giliell !

  195. rq says

    Naps are bad.
    I was monitoring the Reagan’s Morning thread all morning because I wanted to put some links up while it was still open, but I had other things to do. And then I saw that it was open, and said to myself, “I have to work tonight, I’ll take an hour nap, and then I’ll do all my posting!”
    And then I returned and saw that it was closed.
    The moral of this story is: Naps are actually pretty awesome.

  197. Ogvorbis: failed human says

    Good morning.

    Took Boy out to dinner last night for his 25th birthday. I had a delightful Belgian Karmelit Trippel. And a hamburger that could have fed four.

    Right now, I am arguing with InDesign (though I have figured out how to place a graphic link which is, I guess, progress). InDesign is so fucking powerful. And I have no idea how to use most of it.

    Doing a little better. Still depressed. The suicide thoughts have retreated. Again. They will be back.

  199. Ogvorbis: failed human says

    CatieCat:

    Not so much questions as I keep having to relearn the same thing because I have so little practice and no formal training other than the on-line tutorials. Now that I have the link process, I have a good handle on it.

    One question, though — how do I make one colour of a graphic transparent? I need to place a logo, which is an .eps file with a transparent background, onto a black background. When I link it, the transparency becomes white. Unfor

    Nevermind. If I link it as an .eps rather than placing it, the transparency remains transparent. Yay!

  200. rq says

    chigau
    It was under discussion about a week ago, but there probably (heh heh) needs to be another reminder, considering his schedule. I’ll send one, it’s mostly slight annoyance at just missing the long-awaited deadline this time. :)

  203. blf says

    Since healing must come from either Zod or the Devil, and yoga is a pagan practice, the guy was healed by the Devil. Logic.

    Zod, Devil, & Logic, Terrorpeutic Magicks Galore is a well-known medical practice and pagan supply shop, albeit the original Dr Zod is now retired.

  204. opposablethumbs says

    Many hugs, Giliell. I’m glad it went well (eh, it sounds odd to say that about a funeral but you know what I mean). Here’s wishing you and yours all the best.

  205. blf says

    Any funeral where the departed are dead and don’t get up, and no-one else dies, is not a bad one.

    (I vaguely recall there’s a similar-ish Terry Pratchett quote, undoubtedly better put.)

  207. Saad says

    Stupid and racist remarks from Duke University political science professor, Jerry Hough:

    The political science professor, Jerry Hough, was responding to a May 9 New York Times editorial about riots in Baltimore and underlying factors of poverty, segregation and racism.

    In a six-paragraph response, Hough wrote: “The blacks get awful editorials like this that tell them to feel sorry for themselves.”

    Hough identified himself as a Duke University professor in the comments and went on to praise Asians. “Every Asian student has a very simple old American first name that symbolizes their desire for integration,” said the comment. “Virtually every black has a strange new name that symbolizes their lack of desire for integration. The amount of Asian-white dating is enormous and so surely will be the intermarriage. Black-white dating is almost non-existent because of the ostracism by blacks of anyone who dates a white.”

    The comment concluded: “It was appropriate that a Chinese design won the competition for the Martin Luther King state (sic). King helped them overcome. The blacks followed Malcolm X.”

  208. Pteryxx says

    reminder while we’re between Morning in America threads – documentary “Southern Rites” premieres tonight on HBO.

    By John Legend, ‘Southern Rites’ Documentary Examines a Town’s Sharp Racial Divide

    “Southern Rites,” a new documetary executive-produced by John Legend, delves into a 2010 racialized killing in Montgomery County, Georgia.

    Director Gillian Laub—who in 2009 photographed a Montgomery County high school’s racially segregated prom—shows how a local white man is charged with murdering a 22-year-old black man who had appeared in her prom pictures.

    The killing occurred just a year after the town finally decided to merge its proms. It also took place at a time when a man named Calvin Burns was running to become the town’s first black sheriff.

    HBO will broadcast “Southern Rites.” It will air on May 18 during the week of the 61st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

  209. says

    A billionaire decides to hobble education in Oklahoma, while claiming that he never tries to push anybody around:

    Oil tycoon Harold Hamm told a University of Oklahoma dean last year that he wanted certain scientists there dismissed who were studying links between oil and gas activity and the state’s nearly 400-fold increase in earthquakes, according to the dean’s e-mail recounting the conversation.

    Hamm, the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources, is a major donor to the university, which is the home of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. He has vigorously disputed the notion that he tried to pressure the survey’s scientists. “I’m very approachable, and don’t think I’m intimidating,” Hamm was quoted as saying in an interview with EnergyWire, an industry publication, that was published on May 11. “I don’t try to push anybody around.” […]

    Bloomberg link

    That “I don’t try to push anybody around” appears to have been a ham-fisted lie.

    Yet an e-mail obtained from the university by Bloomberg News via a public records request says Hamm used a blunt approach during a 90-minute meeting last year with the dean whose department includes the geological survey.

    “Mr. Hamm is very upset at some of the earthquake reporting to the point that he would like to see select OGS staff dismissed,” wrote Larry Grillot, the dean of the university’s Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, in a July 16, 2014, e-mail to colleagues at the university. Hamm also expressed an interest in joining a search committee charged with finding a new director for the geological survey, according to Grillot’s e-mail. And, the dean wrote, Hamm indicated that he would be “visiting with Governor [Mary] Fallin on the topic of moving the OGS out of the University of Oklahoma.” […]

  210. says

    You know what was nice?
    In the speech it was mentioned that she had a big heart for children (and I can only agree). And the former children, my second cousin’s kids*, all young adults now, who came to the funeral, even from about 1000 km away and even if they only knew her from a few short visits, proved that part right.

    *She was the youngest of ten, she went so school together with her oldest nephew, so there’s kind of an extra generation shoved in.

  211. says

    A bunch of white dunderheads shot up a restaurant in Waco, Texas. Nine people were killed.

    […] In Waco, Texas, when one of the deadliest, bloodiest, most violent rampages in modern America happened, the National Guard wasn’t called in, the perpetrators weren’t beaten or pepper-sprayed, nobody was hogtied or humiliated, the dogs weren’t brought out to intimidate anyone. Hell, they didn’t even handcuff them or take their phones away. Instead, they just sat them down on the sidewalk peacefully.

    Time after time, all around the country, protestors—particularly African-American protestors—have been brutalized by police. That’s why, in part, it is so disturbing to see men, apparently all white men, who actually murdered and maimed others, treated with so much dignity and deference.

    Americans don’t really despise violence, even murder. That’s why the Sons of Anarchy, a popular (and extremely violent) television show covering motorcycle gangs, exploded in popularity and why this bloodbath in Waco is being called “the real life Sons of Anarchy” all over the world.

    Notice, though, how few images of dead bodies in Waco are being shown in the media. Notice the lack of dialogue about bad parenting or absentee fathers. Notice how the men aren’t really being called thugs—even though everything about them fits this definition. […]

    Link

    Photos at the link are disturbing.

  214. rq says

    Lynna
    I had some nice things about that lined up for Reagan’s Morning, as a #CrimingWhileWhite exercise. The difference in reaction and description is astounding (seriously, ‘brawl’? ‘rumble’? ‘melee’?) – only one media outlet that I found or was pointed to (The Atlantic) called it the massacre that it was, and many people pointed out the ‘arrested’ members sitting and chilling by the police cars, instead of being… well, manhandled and facing down the National Guard.
    So yeah – someone pointed out that there was, indeed, a gang war and a purge about to happen, but the BPD got the location wrong.
    Actually, let me do this (some tweets):
    Oh, and yeah, the police knew it was happening, as they’d had prior warning. Let me get this straight: Walter Scott was scary. Rodney King was scary. 300 bikers converged, armed to the teeth, and police “watched”.
    White Waco gang members that just killed 9 people v. a Black man walking home in Ferguson. Oh, America.: (see photos)

    9 dead. 18 injured. 100+ weapons recovered. & the gang is literally hanging out at the scene. #TwinPeaksShooting

    I think the BPD got the credible threat memo from the wrong gangs. There was a purge alright too. Maybe we should send the BPD to Waco?

    The police literally had heard there would. E biker gang violence, waited for them, then watched them begin to kill each other. Waco.

    CNN stays trolling black folks but gives everyone else a pass! The mass disturbance in Waco has been relegated to a “brawl”….smh
    Some more in a moment…

  215. rq says

    Texas Austin American-Statesman (@statesman) covers. Left: #TwinPeaksShooting Right: #BaltimoreUprising

    And The Atlantic calls it what it is: The Texas Biker-Gang Massacre.

    And you have to read the tweet within to get this: Really? But, they smear the victims of police shootings before the are buried. #WacoThugs Though you can probably guess.

    A former undercover agent explains what’s behind the Waco biker gang shootout. Too many Clint Eastwood westerns, judging from the headline. Plus some white privilege and white supremacy (I thought I grabbed some, but didn’t find them, but many of those bikers had Nazi tattoos).

    And all of that was contrasted sharply on my twitter timeline with this incident:
    VIDEO: Cop Pulls Over Funeral Procession On L.A. Freeway for Going Too Slow. Even in mourning.

    Cellphone video captured an emotional dispute on the side of the 10 Freeway in the Mid-City area last Friday between members of a funeral procession and a California Highway Patrol Officer who pulled them over.
    A uniformed traffic escort was leading a motorcade of about 100 cars to Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills to bury family matriarch Sandra Louise Behn-Capel when they were stopped for traveling too slow on the freeway, according to Behn-Capel’s daughter Rachel Behn-Humphrey.
    She claimed the actions of the CHP officer were outrageous and showed no compassion.
    On behalf of the law-enforcement agency, the sergeant offered his sympathies to Behn-Capel’s grieving loved ones.
    “The California Highway Patrol would like to extend condolences to the the family for their loss,” he said.
    The deceased woman’s daughter said the traffic stop delayed the family’s arrival at the cemetery by more than an hour.
    “It exceeds the bounds of all human decency,” said family attorney Edward Ramsey. “An officer has the discretion to stop or not stop a funeral procession. If it was me, I would have probably escorted this procession to the burial.”

    So can we all say ‘White Privilege!’ together, loud and clear?
    Anyway. :) All of this will be appearing on the new thread too, whenever that will appear. You have been previewed.

  216. says

    Glad you are on top of this rq. There’s one photo of three police officers talking to a biker. The biker is not in cuffs, and he still has his knife. No one is taking his knife away. Does not square with officers attacking a black man for a “switchblade” that was not a switchblade.

    I get the feeling that some of the law enforcement officials are only one baby step away from being bosom buddies with the bikers.

  221. blf says

    I’m not going to dig up the link to the article at the still malfunctioning Grauniad site, but — from memory — the police were saying that although they knew about the Texas biker-gang meeting beforehand (supposedly a “peace conference”), they couldn’t do much because the owner of the restaurant wanted the meeting to occur. Being concerned (for what was, in retrospect, an obviously good reason), the police did have officers at the scene beforehand, keeping an eye on things.

    After the shooting, the restaurant’s lawyer(? spokesman?) said they were “fully cooperating” with the police — which was explicitly denied by the police, calling that claim a (this is an exact quote, albeit from memory) “fabrication”.

  223. rq says

    blf
    There’s still a lot that the police could have done, because they don’t seem to hesitate in other situations, so I call bullshit on that crappy excuse. At least the National Guard, that seems a proportionate response. No?

  224. says

    Coverage, with video, from MSNBC.

    I still can’t figure out why the police think the restaurant manager could have prevented the violence. About 175 bikers were arrested. How would restaurant workers prevent that?

    The restaurant “encourages” biker gang business?

  226. militantagnostic says

    @RQ

    Shock value…?

    When I was young the outlaw bikers were big on Nazi flags and swastikas for the same reason. However, I didn’t notice any brown or black people in the photos, so I suspect there is a strong racist element. Back in the day (the 60s), the Hells Angels attacked Anti-War protesters.

    I assume bringing firearms into the restaurant was perfectly legal. From what I gather many of the other businesses in the mall were closed at the time in anticipation of trouble.

  227. says

    One of the story lines on Sons of Anarchy had biker “Juice” ready to kill himself after he discovered his father was a black man. There were several episodes in which law enforcement officials were able to manipulate Juice with threats of revealing his black blood to other members of the motorcycle club.

  228. rq says

    When I was young the outlaw bikers were big on Nazi flags and swastikas for the same reason.

    Sure, I get that it’s shocking to wear these things, but the fact that they refuse to recognize what those symbols stand for, and the implications of wearing them so publicly and shamelessly, and… well, I suppose the fact that people seem to accept the ‘shock value’ explanation, when really it’s bullshit (in my opinion)? The fact that it’s not being particularly called out or recognized as asshole behaviour (after all, it’s just for the shock value!) is what I find bothersome. I dunno. I guess these are the same sorts of people who would tell black people to calm down about those Confederate flags appearing on campus (as an example); it’s just a flag, just a tattoo, and OMG aren’t you shocked?
    Anyway. Short version, I think they’re (most likely racist) assholes with a bullshit excuse for wearing those symbols so blatantly.

  229. rq says

    Also, most likely homophobic, and transphobic, and generally -phobic of anything that might threaten their perceived notions of perfect white masculinity. After all, the Nazis weren’t just racist.

  231. says

    About the bikers carrying weapons: A former informant who infiltrated some biker clubs said,

    So what happens is, in the states where they allow concealed weapons permits, all the big biker gangs have ordered all their members who aren’t felons to get concealed weapons permits. […] your anti-social Caucasian war vet is attracted to these biker gangs, and so a lot of these guys are very highly skilled with weapons. […] The only thing that’s changed is more states are allowing concealed weapons permits, so you have more of these guys who are armed to the teeth.

    Slate link

  232. says

    More on people, not just bikers, carrying guns in Texas:

    The day after a mass shooting between rival biker gangs in Texas left nine people dead, lawmakers in the state discussed a bill on Monday that would allow licensed gun owners to openly carry their weapons in public.

    The bill, heard on Monday before the Senate state affairs committee, was expected to pass and reach Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), the Associated Press reported. […]

    Assistant Chief Troy Gay from the Austin Police Department spoke during the hearing and made mention of Sunday’s shooting in Waco when he said open carry would have confused and complicated the efforts of law enforcement during “chaotic situations.”

    “Officers responded very quickly but open carry would or could have potentially caused more confusion for officers responding to this type of situation,” Gay said. […]

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/open-carry-texas-biker-shooting

  233. militantagnostic says

    @rq

    Anyway. Short version, I think they’re (most likely racist) assholes with a bullshit excuse for wearing those symbols so blatantly.

    I agree – doing something for “shock value” is usually assholish behavior and the choice of what use for shock value speaks volumes. As I mentioned in my previous comment the outlaw bikers have historically had a right wing streak.

  234. Crudely Wrott, lurching towards recrudescence says

    Quick drive by comment.

    Esteleth, you have email.

    Missed getting back to the Lounge the other day . . . conflicting schedules and transportation needs intruded on my assumption. Routine, lately.

    Right now I’m on the way to the grocery to get the makins for BLTs!! Everyone is so excited so no time for a lingering lurk. Just touchin’ base and saying “Thank you for those who can help my family get over this hump.”. You folks are gem like, sparkly and shining and no two just the same. Precious, all.

    Later, Loungelings.

  238. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    The Midwest weather is a bit strange this time of year. Last night at this time, we were at 75 F. Tonight, 55 F, headed down to 44 F. Adaptations needed for both me and the Baby Bird (the Redhead). Start light, and blanket up as the night progresses–unless the bricks keep the house warm.

  239. chigau (違う) says

    We had a high of 20C or more today.
    Tonight it’s threatening to freeze.

  240. numerobis says

    I’m presently leaving a Silicon Valley where it rained on me every single day (!!!!) to a Montreal where it’s forecast to be beautiful all week. The world is upside-down.

  241. says

    Morning
    I wished I could sleep at night so I wouldn’t be that tired in the morning…

    re: biker killing spree: at least it shows that the police are totally able not to contribute to the body count.
    When it’s white guys….

  242. rq says

    Giliell
    Well, except when four of the nine are confirmed to be killed by police. So.

  244. rq says

    Giliell
    Eh, I don’t think it made it into German news: here’s CNN. They’re still calling it a brawl. A brawl. With nine dead.
    So, with word that more bikers may be on the way in preparation of further violence, will Waco summon the National Guard??
    Any bets?

    bluentx
    You’re from Texas. Tell us how it is. ;)

  246. birgerjohansson says

    Calmer news infodump:

    When citizens disobey: New study suggests people use ‘constructive noncompliance’ to enact change http://phys.org/news/2015-05-citizens-disobey-people-noncompliance.html
    .

    Gutting of campaign finance laws enhances influence of corporations and wealthy Americans http://phys.org/news/2014-04-gutting-campaign-laws-corporations-wealthy.html ? Affluent citizens, those at the 90th income percentile, turn out to have the most influence. Organized interest groups also have a great deal of impact,
    but the preferences of average citizens have no discernable, independent effect on policy making at all. (how veery surprising…)

  247. rq says

    Giliell
    That’s better than here, at least. Too much local stuff going on (like nominations for president and the impending immigrant quotas) to bother with USAmerican news.

  248. Nick Gotts says

    I’ve always wondered why so many guys are horrified with the idea that they have sex with someone born a guy and later turned a woman. If they wanted sex with them first, where’s the issue? – Okidemia@60

    You do know that feelings around gender and sexual desire are not rationally constructed, right? Such an event has never happened to me (and as a monogamously married cishet man of 60 with a wife very likely to outlive me, is not likely to in future), but were it to do so, I can’t guarantee what my emotional response would be – although I think I can be confident I would not be violent or abusive.

  249. blf says

    The restaurant “encourages” biker gang business?

    That is what is being reported. The “restaurant” in question describes itself as a “man cave” with numerous TVs (which I assume tend to be showing various “sports” events), numerous beers, and has hosted meetings of bike gangs before. At least according to the police, the managers have consistently refused to stop hosting (e.g., ban) the biker-gang meetings. (The New York Times, which most of this comment’s summarizing is based on, is reporting that the chain’s HQ — a different group of people — is trying to make much of the fact all the actual shooting occurring outside the building (they are also apparently considering revoking that particular franchise’s license).)

    Anyways, with a repeated history of biker-gang meetings, it is possibly impractical to “call out the National Guard” each time. (Also, can the police even do that?) What I would like to know is if the police were keeping on eye some of the previous biker-gang meetings, or was this meeting the first one with officers deployed in advance?

    Whether or not there was much else the police could have due beforehand — there are these pesky things called First Amendment, Habeas Corpus, private property, Texas’s inane gun laws, et al — I have no idea. (I think the restaurant is part of a mall, if so, then perhaps asking the mall’s managers to ban the biker-gangs?) I also assume the police are lying, but even with doubts about the police’s claims, there does seem to be a pattern of behavior from restaurant’s managers which, as I read the current newspaper reports, appears reckless profit-before-all-else.

  250. gobi's sockpuppet's meatpuppet says

    Hello Lounge! I need to invent a new branch of science devoted to studying how threadrupt I am.

  252. rq says

    opposablethumbs
    There’s also the less-well-known aspects of muffinity, cookity and general pastrity. :D

  254. rq says

    blf
    I feel like you’re kind of missing the point. Which as more to do with the disparity in police response amongst who is doing the (sometimes supposed) shooting and gun-carrying, not the legal aspects of what the police can or cannot do (because, if they really need to or want to, they can ignore all of that).
    And if you really think that the response from authorities would be identical were the gang members all black, then I want some of that VIN! you keep drinking.

  258. blf says

    rq, There is no (known to me) hint of racism in the Texas bike-gang warfare, excepting the (alleged) nazi tattoos on the bike-gangsters. What there seems to be is greed before sanity. Tolerating the presence of known armed criminal gangs, despite (alleged) warnings, is neither responsible nor immediately-racist.

    The police shot at, and apparently killed, some of the biker-gangsters. How many of the police-shot people were black?

    YES, USArseholierthanthousisan policegoons (and lawyers and judges and legislators and voters (don’t forget those idiots, they are the ones who allow this situation to continue)) are racist, incompetent, protected by lawyers and judges, and differ from nazi stormtroopers in disturbingly few ways (e.g., that there are no extermination camps). But that doesn’t mean every single incident of their complete incompetence is driven by bigotry, with the corollary that trying to interpret ALL events as racist is absurd.

    In this case the behavior and actions / inactions of the restaurant’s management would appear to be a non-trivial contributing factor. (This assumes, of course, the police aren’t the ones who are completely “fabricating”, which should become clearer as the claims of previous meetings, et al., are verifiable.)

  259. rq says

    blf
    Their actions don’t need to be driven by racism in order to have racist effects.
    And these effects are manifest in the ways the arrested members of the biker gangs have been treated, in the general laissez-faire attitude of the authorities towards news that more may be arriving, and several other less blatantly racist things that, while ordinarily quite acceptable, when contrasted with the way innocent black people are treated by police, point to a strong bias against black people and towards white people.
    Black people in Baltimore didn’t commit violence even close to this scale, and the National Guard was called out on them, and a curfew put in place and enforced. This was a bunch of white people using deadly force en masse in a populated area with a callous disregard for accidental casualties and they don’t get nearly the response.
    Sure, not all events have racist implications. Except when they do.

  260. says

    blf

    YES, USArseholierthanthousisan policegoons (and lawyers and judges and legislators and voters (don’t forget those idiots, they are the ones who allow this situation to continue)) are racist, incompetent,

    Please tell me that my sarcasm sensor is buggy, because otherwise I’m an arsehole bigoted voter?

  261. rq says

    blf’s Simple Solutions: It’s all so easy, why do we have any problems at all?

  264. says

    Cats are captured, crated, and awaiting transport to the vehicle. They are Cats of Constant Sorrow. There is much growling, which is why they can’t be treated in the same room, because they wind each other up to exploding point.

  266. rq says

    Anne
    May they return as Cats of Shining Fangs and Pleasant Dispositions. Good luck!

  267. says

    Anne @ 264

    …they wind each other up to exploding point.

    Now I can only imagine your cats as the Wonder Twins. Except they’re cats. And they use their powers for evil (annoyance?) instead of good.

    Cranky Cat powers…activate!!

  268. UnknownEric the Apostate says

    Cranky Cat powers…activate!!

    Form of… a bleeding leg!
    Form of… pee on your sofa!

  271. The Mellow Monkey says

    Pteryxx, one of the best responses I’ve seen to the terrible choices made on that show. So many people have responded with “Ramsay is a sadist, what did you expect?” I expected the writers to not create that situation in the first goddamned place.

  272. Yellow Thursday says

    The tv was on at work this morning before we opened, and coverage of the biker gang shootings in Waco came on. A coworker commented, “What a bunch of degenerates. We should let them all shoot each other.” Luckily, I was able to walk out of the room before I acted on my urge to tell her everything that was wrong with her point of view.

    *adds some hugs to the pile*

  273. rq says

    The Mellow Monkey
    It was bad enough in the book. I don’t know if I’m going to keep watching the show anymore (only mid-season 3, after all). I don’t think I’m losing out on anything. And frankly, I hate the feeling that women characters’ autonomy is being used for the gratuitous desire of men writers to inflict violence upon women.
    Also, I read this piece on Sansa Stark, and yeah… ANyway.
    Thanks for posting that response, Pteryxx. They could have done so much better.

  274. Tethys says

    Lynna Thank you for posting that link to Amy Shumer spoofing Toddlers and Tiaras. I had no idea that this tv program existed. The sketch with Patricia Arquette, Tina Fey, and Julia Louise Dreyfuss is just fantastic! I’ve watched it a few times just to catch all the fabulous snark. Ice Cream called “Jen and Carrie’s – Vanilla of a Certain Age and the line about white spiders is brilliant! The Last Fuckable Day

  275. says

    Republican state governors and legislators have created big budget shortfalls, mostly by refusing to raise taxes on anything or anyone (including rich people or corporations); and by giving big tax breaks to rich people and corporations. Now that they find themselves in hot water, they are climbing out on the backs of the poor.

    Facing a $1 billion budget deficit, Arizona’s Republican-led Legislature has reduced the lifetime limit for welfare recipients to the shortest window in the nation.

    Low-income families on welfare will now have their benefits cut off after just 12 months. As a result, the Arizona Department of Economic Security will drop at least 1,600 families — including more than 2,700 children — from the state’s federally funded welfare program on July 1, 2016.

    Associated Press link

    Maine and Kansas have also taken actions that hurt the poor in order to balance their budgets.

  276. says

    Tethys, I loved that “Last Fuckable Day” sketch! So right on. I find myself liking Amy Schumer more and more now that she has her own show.

  277. says

    Bernie Sanders proposed a plan to make public college tuition-free in the USA:

    The plan will provide tuition-free higher education to students at four-year colleges, the statement said, and is modeled after the way many European nations handle the costs of college.

    “Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people,” Sanders said in the statement. “They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same.”

    Bloomberg link

  278. says

    Did the cops shoot bikers in Waco? The report that they shot four bikers has been repeatedly debunked, or at least described as premature. When that report came out, the autopsies had not been done. The Police Chief in Waco said in an interview that he saw that information being repeated as fact when it was, in fact, not reliable.

    We will know later if the cops shot bikers. We do not know that now. Police officers may have shot bikers, and maybe not.

  279. says

    […] CNN reported that four of the dead bikers were shot by police.

    But at a news briefing Monday evening, Swanton said that information “has not been verified by us, it has not been verified by autopsies or medical results as well.”

    “The autopsies have not been completed and that information may very likely be incorrect,” Swanton said. “It is not coming from me or the Waco Police Department.” […]

    CNN jumped the gun.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/waco-shootout-police-involvement/27530257/

  281. says

    This is a followup to comment 274 about Arizona’s callous treatment of the poor:

    […] Arizona Republicans have no problem with reducing corporate taxes, which increased the deficit $112 million — roughly 30 times more than the cost of the welfare benefits they’re eliminating. Nor do they see anything wrong with building more private prisons while slashing education, welfare and other public services.

    Daily Kos link

  282. says

    Trigger warning for rape and abuse of children.

    –
    –
    –

    Two appeals court judges in Argentina are being lambasted by the media here for their outrageous decision to blame a 6 year old boy for his own rape. The perpetrator, a former official of a soccer club (extremely popular sport for Argentine boys), assaulted the child while he was under his care and was convicted for the offense in 2012. It was appealed to the next higher court, the Cassation Court, and two of the three judges voted to reduce the sentence from 6 years to 38 months. The appellate decision was handed down last year but has just now been made public.

    The two judges, Horacio Piombo and Benjamin Sal Llargués, justified reducing the sentence by blaming the boy, declaring that at the age of 6 he already self-identified as gay and acted in such a way as to seduce his attacker. They said that boy “had previously been raped by the father and that he had been accustomed to situations of cross-dressing.” Judge Piombo said that the earlier molestation by the father had left the boy “depraved” and thus this newer assault was not “gravely outrageous.”

    This is not the first time this pair of judicial clowns have blamed a child victim of sexual assault. In 2011, they also reduced the sentence of an evangelical pastor who had abused two girls. It would seem they believe grown men are incapable of resisting the urge to violate children. […]

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/19/1385862/-Six-year-old-blamed-for-his-own-rape-in-Argentina

  283. rq says

    The Mellow Monkey @271
    It was bad enough in the book. I don’t know if I’m going to keep watching the show anymore (only mid-season 3, after all). I don’t think I’m losing out on anything. And frankly, I hate the feeling that women characters’ autonomy is being used for the gratuitous desire of men writers to inflict violence upon women.
    Also, I read a href=”http://b*tchmagazine.org/post/dont-hate-on-sansa-starks-powerful-femininity”this piece on Sansa Stark/a (URL adjusted for obvious reasons), and yeah… ANyway.
    Thanks for posting that response, Pteryxx. They could have done so much better.

  285. says

    We all survived the dental visit, and nobody got bitten or clawed, so it’s all good. They were both a bit… testy today. But their fangs are all sharp and sniny again. They are indeed the Cranky Cat Wonder Twins – I do call Shadow the Wonder Tortie sometimes anyway, and until now, I never knew why. So that makes Patches the Wonder Calico, I suppose. Although she’s usually Fluffybutt. Wonder Twins – I guess that explains the rocketing.

    The vet wants me to consider switching them to annual cleanings with anesthesia (rough estimate $1500 the pair, and I have concerns about knocking them out at their age). The tech wants to try non-anesthetic one more time, in case Shadow was just having an off day. He also suggested a top-loading carrier for Wonder Tortie, because hers is hard to open, not to mention that she has to be either dragged or dumped out, or the whole thing taken apart, all of which leads to further stress. I’m having trouble opening it myself; it’s an old model and needs considerable hand strength to work the latch. I’m going to start shopping.

    And after I got the cats settled, I went for an exercise walk to the shopping center. Yay.

    Hugs for everybody, and cake – we got some triple chocolate mini baby bundts at TJs yesterday, and if I can just figure out how to fit them into the USB port, I’ll share.

  288. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Commercial, I have to be quick:

    Holy shit, “12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer” is the fucking greatest all-men comedy sketch I’ve ever seen.

  289. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    “presumably a vagina”

    …

    ZOMG, this is awesome.

  290. says

    I forgot for a moment that Anne (comment 284) was taking her cats to the dentist. I started reading that comment as if Anne had taken two human children to the dentist. Very entertaining.

    The dental costs for cats astounds me. Yikes!

    In other news, Moments of Mormon Madness abound in the supposed “charity” and fundraising arenas:

    A Tennessee man with ties to Utah and his family used much of the $187 million it collected for cancer patients to buy themselves cars, gym memberships and take luxury cruise vacations, pay for college tuition and employ family members with six-figure salaries, federal officials alleged Tuesday in one of the largest charity fraud cases ever, involving all 50 states.

    […] James T. Reynolds Sr., his ex-wife and son, James T. Reynolds II, raised the money through their various family-run charities: The Cancer Fund of America in Knoxville, Tennessee, and its affiliated Cancer Support Services; The Breast Cancer Society in Mesa, Arizona; and the Children’s Cancer Fund of America in Powell, Tennessee.

    James T. Reynolds Sr. attended Brigham Young University. His son […] attended BYU-Idaho.

    According to the complaint, “an inter-related group of their family members, friends, and fellow church members have worked as employees and served as board members of the corporate defendants.”

    In other words, it was all mormons from top to bottom running the scam, though they bilked both mormons and non-mormons alike.

    […] little money made it to cancer patients, as the groups “operated as personal fiefdoms characterized by rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, and excessive insider compensation” with none of the controls used by bona fide charities, the FTC said Tuesday.

    […] under settlement agreements with Reynolds’ son, ex-wife […] little of the money could be recouped because it’s already been spent. […]

    The Breast Cancer Society, which agreed to cease operations as part of the settlement agreement, posted a lengthy statement online Tuesday attributed to its executive director — James T. Reynolds II — that blamed increased government scrutiny for the charity’s downfall. […]

    the organizations hired telemarketers and used direct mail to solicit donations they said would provide support for cancer patients […]

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/2529738-155/ftc-family-raised-187m-for-cancer

    In the reader comments section, some non- and ex-mormons noted that both father and son had attended the right schools to learn how to run a scam.

  291. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    “reasonable chub”

    Paul Giamatti is the best.

  292. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    “basic cable”

    no, no, no, I’m dying….

  293. says

    Someone posted earlier the instructions for how to get off the email notification subscription for the Lounge. I did not sign up for this. I’ve tried following the “Manage your subscriptions” link provided in the email in order to delete, delete, delete. This doesn’t work.

    Can someone please tell me how to get the fuck off the subscription list. The constant email notifications are driving me bonkers.

    Here’s an example of the obnoxious emails that arrive in droves:

    There is a new comment to [Lounge #497].
    Comment Link: https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2015/05/14/lounge-497/comment-page-1/#comment-943396
    Author: Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden
    Comment:
    “reasonable chub”

    Paul Giamatti is the best.
    Permalink: https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2015/05/14/lounge-497/
    Manage your subscriptions: https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/comment-subscriptions?sre=&srk=4049ddb58187420eaa153126be51c81a

  294. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    “Diet Coke …

    …

    …

    …aine”

    She is so evil. In the best possible way.

    Okay, no more giving away jokes to people. There are some sketches by her that I just don’t like, (sketch comedy usually is hit-or-miss, and it’s more about the particular sketch making me uncomfortable in the manner of presentation than about the sketch not being clever or not being feminist or something) but damn some of this is absolutely incredible.

  295. Tethys says

    Lynna

    Can someone please tell me how to get the fuck off the subscription list. The constant email notifications are driving me bonkers.

    It is a technical glitch. There is a link at the top of the page to tech support, who should be able to help you unsubscribe.

    CD ~ Holy shit, “12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer” is the fucking greatest all-men comedy sketch I’ve ever seen.

    The episode is locked on comedy central, but I found a few clips over on avclub. The dildo scene! :D “So, you just carry that around with you all the time, in case you get into a dildo related argument?” Now I am reading the comments at AV, where some very witty people have been inspired to poetry.

    I met a traveler from an antique land,/Who said: two vast and trunkless dildos of stone/Stand in the desert

    which led to this

    I wandered lonely as a cloud
    That floats on high o’er vales and plateaus,
    When all at once I saw a crowd,
    A host, of golden deft dildos
    Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
    Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

    Continuous as the stars that shine
    And twinkle on the milky way,
    They stretched in never-ending line
    Along the margin of a bay:
    Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
    Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

    The waves beside them danced; but they
    Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
    A poet could not but be gay,
    In such a jocund company:
    I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
    What wealth the show to me had brought:

    For oft, when on my couch I lie
    In vacant or in pensive mood,
    They flash upon that inward eye
    Which is the bliss of solitude;
    And then my heart with pleasure grows,
    And dances with the deft dildos.

  297. says

    The White House announced a national strategy to combat pollinator losses Tuesday, an effort that comes on the heels of a report showing more than 40 percent of managed honeybees were lost last year. […]

    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/19/3660364/white-house-pollinator-strategy/

    Details at the link. I’m pleased to see a national strategy being developed, and I’m pleased to see that it comes from the White House. (I didn’t really expect Congress to get their act together enough to act.) The plan includes monarch butterflies.

  301. Tethys says

    I am very pleased to read that pigs can fly Reddit has finally adopted a harassment policy. All it took was years of criticism, a lawsuit over posting stolen personal photographs, and a change in management. The article also has an awesome typo.

    Reddit has long enforced a relatively hands-off policy towards the actions of its users. The small set of prohibited activities includes spamming, engaging in vote manipulation, revealing the personal information of another users, and posting child pornography.

    In a post written in the wake of last year’s controversy surrounding the site’s role as hub for a trove of stolen celebrity nude pictures, former Reddit CEO Yishan Wong compared the site’s management to that of a government making a concerted effort to promote free speech.

    “The role and responsibility of a government differs from that of a private corporation,” Wrong wrote, “in that it exercises restraint in the usage of its powers.”

    However, that stance has drawn widespread criticism—both from the media and the site’s own user base, which has grown to over 200 million.

  302. Pteryxx says

    For Crip Dyke – DailyKos profile: Brave Houston Lawyer Fights Injustice, Inspires My Moral Bucket List

    In discussions over our cases, I learned new and different ways of thinking about the law and how it’s applied in Texas. Jani deployed a sort of hopefulness I’d lost, recognizing that despite the near-inevitability of defeat that comes from working in criminal appeals, the work is still worthy of a good lawyer’s effort, creativity, and attention. Given the heaviness of our work, the conversations often drifted to our passions – sports, good writing, and Bruce Springsteen, an artist whose working man missives have long inspired Jani’s work and life.

    Texas Observer:

    In Houston, one attorney is making real change by quibbling over loose change.

    Jani Maselli Wood, an assistant public defender in Harris County, is waging a one-woman war against the way Texas uses the hundreds of different fees it collects from people involved in the criminal justice system. Most recently, Texas’ 1st Court of Appeals agreed with Wood that the $250 “DNA record fee” charged to her client was unconstitutional because the state splits that money between the highway fund and the general fund for criminal justice planning. Neither pot pays directly for the expense of trying a criminal case—ostensibly the purpose of court costs. Wood successfully argued that the $250 constitutes an unlawful tax.

    That’s no small potatoes for an individual—especially for the indigent clients Wood represents, since $250 is almost a full week’s pay at minimum wage. But Wood has also gone to bat over 34 cents. “Obviously, it’s 34 cents for [my client], but how much is it across the state?” she says. “It’s just not right, so I keep chipping away.”

  303. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Pteryxx:

    Thank you. Wood seems awesome.

  304. bassmike says

    I’m not in the best frame of mind at the moment. I suspect that the black dog is battering my door down as I speak.

    I’ll leave a large pile of *hugs* and retreat to a pillow fort humming show tunes if that’s okay with everyone.

  305. rq says

    bassmike
    Do you like cheesecake-type cakes? I can send some strawberry-rhubarb cheesecake-type cake, if you like.
    And *hugs*, hope the black dog goes off chasing its own tail rather soon.

  306. rq says

    I’m going to go pull some more dandelions in your honour later this afternoon. Just got a nice round in for myself.

  307. bassmike says

    Thank you rq the cheesecake would be great. My USB port is open I have a fork in my hand.

    Can you pull up some dandelions from my garden too? I used some weed and feed stuff on my lawn and it killed off the moss, but seems to have had no effect on the dandelions.

  308. rq says

    bassmike
    How did you get rid of the moss? TELL ME NOW!!! I can battle the dandelions, they return but they’re eradicable enough where I can keep them out of the roses and strawberries and only on the lawn. But the moss. How does one get rid of the moss? (We’ve so far tried aeration, a moss-scratcher (don’t know what it’s actually called), an anti-moss grass fertilizer, just plain raking… What’s your secret?)
    *cake!*

  309. bassmike says

    The cake was delicious rq just what I needed, thank you. I’ll clean the USB port later.

    I applied the moss killer to the lawn on Sunday and it rained quite a lot on Monday which is apparently what you need to happen. I had a look yesterday and all the moss had turned black. I can look up the brand I used if you like and get back to you tomorrow. I now have to rake the lawn over to clear out the dead moss.

  310. rq says

    bassmike
    Dang, all our heavy rain for the foreseeable future has ended, but I wouldn’t mind getting the brand name anyhow – at least for next year’s application.

  311. Saad says

    The last male white rhino

    This seems so sad. It’s fascinating that he is literally the last male white rhino. There are a total of five white rhinos left. And he’s going about his daily routine like normal.

  314. bassmike says

    Anne thank you. I’m shooing it away as much as I can, but as you know it’s a tenacious beast.

    Chigau I’ve nothing against moss per se, just that when it has become so invasive that it has takes up as much space in my garden as actual lawn does. Then I prefer to remove it. In the right context moss is lovely.

  316. rq says

    chigau
    Under the walnut, moss can grow as much as it likes (the grass don’t like it there anyway). Under the hedges, sure!
    But not invading the nice bits of lawn between the rose rows, because that means it encroaches within actual rose territory, too.
    Personally, moss is nice on the bare feet. Husband hates how it looks, though.
    And yes, invasive.

  317. says

    “Is there something about the left – and I am going to put the media in this category – that is obsessed with sex?” Cruz asked after fielding multiple questions on gay rights. “ISIS is executing homosexuals – you want to talk about gay rights? This week was a very bad week for gay rights because the expansion of ISIS, the expansion of radical, theocratic, Islamic zealots that crucify Christians, that behead children and that murder homosexuals – that ought to be concerning you far more than asking six questions all on the same topic.”

    That’s presidential candidate and current Senator, Ted Cruz, waxing stupid at a meeting in Beaumont, Texas yesterday.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/19/cruz-is-there-something-about-the-left-thats-obsessed-with-sex/

  318. Saad says

    It was a pretty bad week for gay rights when Senator Cruz announced he’s running.

  319. Crudely Wrott, lurching towards recrudescence says

    For a refreshing change, I get to lollygag in the Lounge for a while today. Lately it’s been drive to in laws, log into email and Lounge, scan, rip off a comment then go away.

    Today, however, I’m wearing my Mr. Fixit hat and I’m going to fix in law’s sticky back door. No normal door should require more than one hand to open or close. Normally. So it’s off the hinges, out on the deck and ‘whirrrr, whirrr, whirrrr’, say hello to my little friend the power plane. Offending material reduced to curly shavings in a thrice. Bit of sanding, bit of paint, back on the hinges, shim hinges to dial in the fit and presto! Properly working door.

    This is done not only because sticky doors are evil and calculating and need to be met with edged tools every where and every time. It’s the right thing to do.

    What? Well, yes, it is in return for in laws letting me come here to have some internets so I can beg for dollars* but also because sticky door. I hates them.

    So now to the task.
    ________________
    * if you are so moved, Esteleth is helping in the role of money launderer
    intermediary. See her comment #241 in the last itereation (496) of the Lounge or inquire at her nym at the gee mail place. Also see my comment #231 in same iteration.
    sorry for lack of link, this computer doesn’t have my handy HTML utility and that door is calling me

  320. says

    The Girl Scouts of America organization announced that they will welcome transgender kids.

    http://www.girlscouts.org/program/basics/faith/faqs.asp#a5

    Girl Scouts is proud to be the premiere leadership organization for girls in the country. Placement of transgender youth is handled on a case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child and the members of the troop/group in question a top priority. That said, if the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, then Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe. […]

    Should any girl requiring special accommodations wish to camp, GSUSA recommends that the local council makes similar accommodation that schools across the country follow in regard to changing, sleeping arrangements, and other travel-related activities. With respect to volunteers, Girl Scouts welcomes both male and female adult volunteers and has developed appropriate safeguards regarding roles and responsibilities to ensure that girls receive the proper supervision and support.

  321. says

    Rush Limbaugh has been watching “Mad Men.” The result is not pretty.

    […]Limbaugh said “militant feminism” is the crux of society’s problems.

    “It totally screwed up human nature,” Limbaugh said. “It totally made everybody question what they naturally felt like doing. Who they naturally felt they were and thought they were. It total — and everybody ended up, or the people that bought into this, all of a sudden had to start playing roles. And the first thing you had to do was start figuring out what whoever wanted you to be and try to be it. Based on the politics of the day.”

    “Back then you just, you know, who you were and it worked or it didn’t work,” Limbaugh continued. “But at least, the natural habitat, or the natural behavioral roles, while not universally accepted of course, they were not automatically questioned and doubted and attacked until the late sixties when this all intensified.”

    Limbaugh explained why he thought “Mad Men” appealed to today’s women.

    “A lot of women feel undesired and uncherished,” Limbaugh said. “Even though they may have achieved equality, they don’t feel the love, they don’t feel the warmth, they don’t feel the respect. And that’s what it all adds up to. And they watch ‘Mad Men’ and even though, even though all the secretaries are being chased around the office by these cads, the cads still respected them.” […]

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rush-limbaugh-mad-men-feminism

    The character “Peggy” should go after Lush Dimbulb.

  322. says

    Crudely Wrott:
    If you’re feeling like Mr. Fixit, perhaps you could help me out with something…
    I know nothing about plumbing, so I’m completely in the dark here. From what I gather, sink faucets have tiny little screens in the opening to regulate how the water comes out. These screens have fallen out in my kitchen and bathroom sinks and as a result, the water shoots out with a good deal of pressure (and at an odd angle). I need to visit Home Depot or Lowe’s to fix this problem, but I don’t know the first thing to do. Help?

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

    Can I please complain a bit?
    I was just going over the calendar to see when I can take the rest of last year’s vacation time (so that it doesn’t coincide with any important things at work or others’ vacations).. when I got an email telling me I have a due date for certification : 1 July.

    Nice. So much for vacationing.

  325. rq says

    *does a little dance*
    No reason.

    Beatrice
    That really sucks. :( What does certification entail? (Is it possible to get everything in order before the due date, and still have some time off?)

  326. Esteleth, RN's job is to save your ass, not kiss it says

    An extremely fascinating turn of events occurred recently.

    Since November, I’ve been in an argument with my doctor’s office and my insurance company over why precisely I got a bill for over $5000. Part of the problem is that – in compliance my insurance company’s statement that the problem is with the doctor’s office and not them – I’ve called or gone in person to the office once or twice monthly (again, since November) in search of answers. Every time I was sincerely promised that someone would look into the problem and get back to me. I never got a single phone call, and I got increasingly irritated about this.

    Today, I got a call from the business office of the consortium that my doctor belongs to, asking about this bill. I immediately understood what the very nice person on the phone was dancing around: failure of prompt resolution of the matter would result in the bill being sent to a collections agency, with resultant letters, insistent phone calls, and damage to my credit. I promptly called the department of patient relations, which is an office that helps handle things when there’s some sort of fundamental mixup (“handling things,” I’m told, can in fact involve them demanding that someone be fired/disciplined, changes in procedure, changes in process or paperwork, and all sorts of other fun things). Called them back, I should say, as we’ve been chatting for about a month now. After leaving a voice mail, I called the doctor’s office. I will admit to sounding slightly irate when I noted the utter lack of communication from their office, despite my multiple attempts.

    I got a round of bluster and yet another promise that “someone will be in contact” soon. I said that I hoped so, and that I’d be sure to let patient relations know how it resolved. The person on the phone said, “oh, I see” in a remarkably flat tone and shortly thereafter the conversation ended.

    Thirty minutes later I got a call back. It seems that there was a minor problem with the paperwork, it’s been resolved, everything should be taken care of, and here’s the QA number and a direct phone number to call if I don’t get a final word within 10 days.

    Fascinating, isn’t it?

    —
    Yes, I’m serving as a conduit for Crudely Wrott! My PayPal can be accessed via my email, which is my nym at the google mail. Queries can also be sent there.

  329. says

    If you are an anti-gay, activist pastor, you should probably not post photos of yourself on your Grinder profile.

    Reverend Matthew Makela was recently listed on the St. John’s Lutheran Church website as a devoted husband and father of five children. But, he was forced to resign this week after Queerty.com published pics of his Grinder profile.

    http://www.queerty.com/exclusive-grindr-screenshots-reveal-antigay-pastor-is-a-top-who-likes-to-cuddle-20150518

    When he was not busy posting his favorite pastimes on Grinder (nude makeout sessions and sex with other men), the Reverend Matthew Makela of St. John’s Lutheran Church lectured everyone about the sin of same sex:

    It is unrighteous to give into sinful temptations. We are all tempted and it is not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to give into to temptation. A sexual attraction to the same sex is a sinful temptation to be resisted and overcome by God’s grace and power, just as a temptation to steal or lie or overeat must be resisted and overcome by replacement with working hard, telling the truth and moderation in appetite. We all face varying degrees of temptation in sometimes varying areas of life and we all are tempted to sin according to 1 Corinthians 10:13.

    Jesus reaffirmed one man one woman marriage in Matthew 19:4-6 where he quotes from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. In Old and New Testaments homosexual practice is clearly condemned (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:21-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:9-10). There is no sinful practice God cannot forgive and overcome by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    http://www.ourmidland.com/opinion/letters/friday-reader-s-view-a-stand-for-the-truth/article_1457fade-9168-50cd-b5dc-977673e66c22.html

  332. rq says

    Lynna @329
    How else was he to know how sinful it really is, if he hasn’t tried it for himself? After all, he now personally knows how difficult it is to abstain from such sinning. The slippery road to hell and all that…

  333. says

    Yet another sneakily anti-gay “study” is debunked and disavowed.

    […] The study purported to show the ease with which peoples’ minds can be changed on the subject of same-sex marriage after short conversations, particularly with gay advocates. It was described as being based on survey research conducted in California after voters passed Proposition 8 […]

    The co-author, Donald P. Green of Columbia University, acted on his own to request a retraction from Science […]

    Green said two University of California-Berkeley graduate students who had attempted their own research “brought to my attention a series of irregularities that called into question the integrity of the data we present.”

    When Green’s co-author, Michael LaCour, was shown the information, Green said he could not provide the survey data he claimed to have collected. Nor would LaCour provide “the contact information of survey respondents so their participation in the survey could be verified. . .,” Green said. […]

    “I am deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize to the editors, reviewer, and readers of Science,” Green wrote at the conclusion of his memo. He also listed the paper as “retracted by Donald Green” on his curriculum vitae. […]

    “One conversation can change minds on same-sex marriage, study finds,” was the headline in The Washington Post reporting the conclusions in December.

    “Gay political canvassers can soften the opinions of voters opposed to same-sex marriage by having a brief face-to-face discussion about the issue, researchers reported Thursday,” a New York Times report said.[…]

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/2534049-155/story.html

  334. says

    Lynna @329:
    Part of me hates hearing stories like that bc I know so many people will respond with shit along the lines of “the biggest homophobes are always (or often) secretly gay”. They pay attention to stories like this, while ignoring the many other homophobic pastors (or politicians) who are not gay. They think these anecdotal stories count as evidence.

  335. says

    Utah is ground zero for the marketing of questionable dietary supplements. Many of the big companies are headquartered there, many are run by mormons, many are scams. They are in Utah because, in part, Orrin Hatch pushed for legislation that led to lax regulations..

    A new report shows that Hatch’s dietary supplement legislation led to fatalities in some military families.

    http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/tv/2530492-155/hbo-report-links-orrin-hatchs-dietary

    In a segment that airs [on HBO], Soledad O’Brien reports on the deaths of several members of the U.S. military tied to dietary supplements sold at their bases — and ties those deaths to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and his ongoing efforts to limit the supplement industry from being regulated.

    The first half of the 16-minute segment recounts the death of a young soldier at Fort Bliss in Texas, who died of a heart attack during training. That death was linked to a supplement called Jack3d, which the soldier bought at an on-base GNC outlet.

    Several more military deaths have been linked to that supplement and others. Because, O’Brien reports, “Unlike medical drugs, medical supplements don’t have to be tested on humans or approved for safety by regulators before they’re sold.”

    And that, she reports, is because of the Hatch-sponsored Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

    […] “Usually we’re talking about a drug and food law that’s designed to protect the public. And here was one that fundamentally seemed designed to protect the industry against regulation.” [said Anne Weismann]

    […] “Who was the No. 1 recipient of campaign contributions from the dietary supplement industry? Orrin Hatch.” […]

    Since the law was passed in 1994, the supplement industry has expanded from $9 billion a year to an estimated $30 billion. And Utah has benefitted greatly — it’s home to nearly a fifth of the supplement industry.

    […] report also ties the senator to a lobbying firm that works on behalf of the supplement industry — Walker, Martin & Hatch. The partners included the senator’s son, Scott Hatch, and one of the senator’s former aides, Jack Martin. […]

  336. rq says

    Gah, Tony, I hope my comment at 332 isn’t taken in that vein. :/
    I extend pre-emptive apologies.

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

    Tony, rq

    thanks.
    It looks like the exam might actually be quite basic, but it’s in a field I have no formal knowledge in. I sorta got thrown into “just” some little things to do here and there which turned into taking responsibility for those on several projects but in the end, I only ever learned things as I needed to use them so I am afraid of some huge gaps n my knowledge.

    At least I’ve learned others have gotten similar emails – I was afraid this prompting was a result of someone being dissatisfied with my work and my being slow with the whole certification business.

    So.. I’ll muddle through. I’ll go on that vacation, but it won’t be as stress-free or work-free as I hoped.

  338. says

    Los Angeles to raise minimum wage to $15/hr

    The push for a higher minimum wage just got a major boost courtesy of Los Angeles. The city council has approved raising it to $15 an hour by 2020, reports the Los Angeles Times. Under the plan, the rate will rise from $9 to $10.50 in July 2016, then tick up annually to $12, $13.25, $14.25, and $15. Businesses with 25 or fewer workers will get an extra year to phase it in. Though a handful of other cities have voted for a $15 rate, including Seattle, Los Angeles is the biggest city to do so. The move doesn’t become official until the city attorney’s office drafts an ordinance and sends it back to council members for their approval, but once it does, it’s going to affect a lot of people, notes the New York Times.

    The newspaper cites one study showing that about 40% of workers in the city make less than $15 an hour. The city’s chamber of commerce predicts layoffs as a result. “It’s simple math,” says one official. “There is simply not enough room, enough margin in these businesses to absorb a 50-plus percent increase in labor costs over a short period of time.” But one longtime McDonald’s worker, a mother of two now making $9.05 an hour, tells the Guardian that the move is overdue. “My life would be completely different if I were paid $15 an hour,” she says. “I could afford groceries without needing food stamps, my family could stop sharing our apartment with renters for extra money, and I’d be able to provide my daughters with some security.”

  339. chigau (違う) says

    Tony!
    Yeah.
    Working-class people. You pay them more money and what do they do?
    Spend it.
    And this is somehow bad for The Economy?

  340. says

    5 ways to, well, poop better:

    It’s a book that “caused something of a storm in its native Germany,” writes Annalisa Barbieri for the Guardian. She’s referring to Charming Bowels, a book whose name is not a metaphor (it’s out next week in English under a different title). Guilia Enders, a 25-year-old microbiology student, “is utterly, charmingly obsessed with the gut, gut bacteria and poo,” writes Barbieri, who talks to Enders about the reality of how we relieve ourselves: We’re doing it wrong, but that’s fixable. Five ways to rectify things, per Enders and others:

    Squat: Sitting, as we do, isn’t optimal based on our body’s design. When in that position the “hatch” doesn’t fully open. But while squatting, there’s less pressure and squeezing. In fact, those who do squat in other parts of the world escape such issues as diverticulosis. To get the effect in an Americanzied way, Enders recommends keeping a stool by the toilet. Place your feet on it and lean forward.

    Get to know your inner sphincter: It turns out we all have an inner sphincter, which essentially (and unconsciously) tests the waters. A “sample” enters an area between the inner and outer sphincters. There, sensor cells make a call: Good to go (ie, you’re at home) or not (ie, you’re waiting in line at Starbucks). If no, the sample retreats. But “ignore” or deny it too often, and it can stop working effectively, leading to constipation.

    Yes, I only included the first 2. I’m evil like that.
    ::runs off while twirling mustache and laughing maniacally::

  341. The Mellow Monkey says

    Tony!, while I was aware of the inner sphincter for, um, entertaining purposes, I was unaware of that effect. Fascinating.

  342. Tethys says

    Tony

    From what I gather, sink faucets have tiny little screens in the opening to regulate how the water comes out. These screens have fallen out in my kitchen and bathroom sinks and as a result, the water shoots out with a good deal of pressure (and at an odd angle). I need to visit Home Depot or Lowe’s to fix this problem, but I don’t know the first thing to do.

    This is easy to fix. You will need an adjustable wrench, and as many screen and washer repair kits as faucets that need repair. Remove the aerators on the end of the faucet by unscrewing it, and bring them along to the store so that you get the correct replacement parts. Left = loose right=tight. You may not need the wrench if you have sufficient hand strength. You may need to give it a few taps (just like opening a stubborn jar) to break any mineral deposits if they have not been removed for a long time. Place the new screen, washer, and the little plastic piece (if any) inside the sink aerator, and screw them back into the faucet. Done. :)

  343. rq says

    Tony
    Well, number 2 (see what I did there???) explains how Youngest can still go for an entire weekend out in the country without pooping at all – and then promptly do all his business within a couple of hours upon returning home: his sample retreats, because he is not safe at home!
    I’ve also observed this in tiny babies (n = 3), where, under stress reactions, they won’t poop (change in environment such as travel, even for relatively short distances or simply locations that are not ‘home’ for extended periods of time (t > 1 day)). I wonder if that is a related sort of reflex, pooping in a location that is ‘safe’? (Friend once had her baby daughter of a couple of months not poop for an entire week because they went out to visit her mum. No adverse side effects, from what she said…)
    Many is the time when I wished they would apply that instinct to short-distance travel, esp. on public transport or when going out to lunch.

  344. Funny Diva says

    re: faucet aerators/screen bits

    Sometimes it’s worth getting the new aerator as well–those clog up with mineral deposits and random stuff from the plumbing. That’s what’s usually going on when I get a stream coming out at an odd angle (or not coming out at all, even with the water at full “on”.

    Actually, I just had to do this last Saturday, and the whole assembly was pre-packed in a blister pack for about $2.50. On the “plumbing” aisle at my local [target/walmart equivalent]. I just used the inside bits with the nicer hardware that was on my bathroom sink.

    Alternatively, take the plastic aerator thingy apart, let it dry and then brush out the sandy bits…then stick everything back together. Won’t help if your screen bit is gone, but the aerator will work better!

  347. says

    Get to know your inner sphincter: It turns out we all have an inner sphincter, which essentially (and unconsciously) tests the waters. A “sample” enters an area between the inner and outer sphincters. There, sensor cells make a call: Good to go (ie, you’re at home) or not (ie, you’re waiting in line at Starbucks). If no, the sample retreats. But “ignore” or deny it too often, and it can stop working effectively, leading to constipation.

    It can also tell the difference between gas and solid, so you can decide to make the people who are in line before you leave. It does not recognise liquid, which is why you shit yourself.

  348. says

    *hugs* all ’round.

    bassmike

    I’ve nothing against moss per se, just that when it has become so invasive that it has takes up as much space in my garden as actual lawn does.

    I am confused; in my dialect of English, lawns and gardens are mutually exclusive; a given patch of land can be one or the other, but not both. The former is typically characterized as a greensward, while the latter contains plants which are directly useful or ornamental in some fashion. For the former, moss is generally speaking a better surface for most things that a greensward would be used for than grass, and in the latter, the grass and moss alike would be problematic. (Also, I doubt very much that the moss growing in your yard is an invasive species; the grass, OTOH, almost certainly is, especially in North America.)

    Saad

    It was a pretty bad week for gay rights when Senator Cruz announced he’s running.

    Why? He’s not any worse than the other assholes who’ve thrown their hats into that ring.

    Beatrice 323
    Ugh.

    Tony!

    Part of me hates hearing stories like that bc I know so many people will respond with shit along the lines of “the biggest homophobes are always (or often) secretly gay”.

    Honestly, you can usually pick it out of their rhetoric; the people who just rant on about sin, disgust, and blah, blah, blah, there’s no reason to assume that they’re closeted. Things like this guy talking about how everyone faces temptation towards gay sex, or the one a while back who talked about how sex with men was like cocaine compared to sex with women, it’s hard not to read things into that. Straight men don’t have uncontrollable urges for sex with other men (or so I’m assured by straight men of my acquaintance, anyway), so men who claim to be straight and also to be constantly fighting the temptations of man sex are probably closeted for religious reasons.

    The city’s chamber of commerce predicts layoffs as a result. “It’s simple math,” says one official. “There is simply not enough room, enough margin in these businesses to absorb a 50-plus percent increase in labor costs over a short period of time.”

    It chronically pisses me off that assholes like this are considered serious people to be taken seriously on economics.
     
    Been tired, and depressed, and my computer’s acting up. Periodically it’ll just lock up the active window for 30 seconds to 3 minutes, and there’s nothing I can do about it AFAICT. In good news, I’m getting more hourse at work because one of my co-workers quit unexpectedly. I’m actually a little worried about him, I know he’s been going through some shit lately. OTOH, I also know that he has a steady, if small, income from SSI, which I (and more to the point, L) don’t have, and I desperately need the extra pay.

  349. rq says

    Giliell
    More accurately, it recognizes solids and fluids (gas is a fluid). All fluids are deemed good to go, which is why you shit yourself. :)

    you can decide to make the people who are in line before you leave

    Ah, the inner sphincter – chemical deterrent and weapon of mass exodus.

  350. says

    Tony @334:

    Part of me hates hearing stories like that bc I know so many people will respond with shit along the lines of “the biggest homophobes are always (or often) secretly gay”. They pay attention to stories like this, while ignoring the many other homophobic pastors (or politicians) who are not gay. They think these anecdotal stories count as evidence.

    I know what you mean, Tony. I am always of two minds about such stories. I’m glad yet another hypocritical, self-righteous person has been knocked off his pedestal; but at the same time, the idea that very vocal homophobes are secretly gay — well, that’s an idea that just cannot be generally applied.

  351. Menyambal says

    Well, my inner sphincter was doing pretty well, just now. I won’t say more.

    School is over for the summer. Last day was today, and they didn’t need any substitutes. I could have volunteered at my wife’s school, but felt kinda puny (see sphincter paragraph above). Did some laundry, house and yard, and a trip to the store.

    It is a cool, rainy day, the dogs are sleeping, and I can lie down when I want to.

  352. Menyambal says

    Tony!, your faucet problems are a fairly easy fix. Something at the end unscrews, but your hand may not be strong enough to break it loose. A pair of pliers, or something with teeth should get it turning. The whole thing is called a faucet aerator, if you want to look it up or ask for one. There are more bits than just a screen, but the whole thing is under $5.

    The trick is that there are several different threads – inner, outer and diameters vary – so taking the original to a helpful place might be worth it. Some kits come with adaptors for all sizes, and even Walmart has those, if you are feeling brave and frugal.

    When you go to thread it all back in, be kinda careful to get it lined up. The threads can get crossed, sometimes. I reflexively turn the wrong way a few times until things click.

    Aerators can use a little cleaning, now and then. There are holes that can get clogged up, and a screen that can get calcium on it, and the design is kind of ideal for a biofilm. If you can get one loose, you can puzzle out all the bits and give it a good clean, or just drop the whole thing in vinegar. Or put a baggie or cup of vinegar on it without even taking it off.

    Good luck.

  353. says

    Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

    I was having the usual Wednesday phone call with my mother when the phone suddenly went silent. I tried yelling, and got no answer, so I hung up and tried several times to call her back. I eventually got a dial tone, but then her line was busy when I tried calling. Fifteen minutes of total fear that something had gone horribly wrong with her, and I was going to have two drop everything and derive up there and cope with another crisis.

    When I finally got through, she just said she’d pushed the wrong button, ha ha. She probably confused the TV remote for the phone, again, but damn. If my hair wasn’t grey already… I’ll just be over here in the pillow fort trying to get my heart rate back to normal.

  355. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Over in ThunderDome I’ve been writing about BDSM, porn, and the ethics of commercial products after their production.

    Here?

    I’m just wanna say I’m spoon deficient. Even if I believe in what I’m saying, even if I believe that what I say will be worth it to enough people to make my effort more than justified, sometimes it still just takes too many fucking spoons.

    :sigh:

  358. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    I don’t know if we have the relationship for the gesture-type spoon, even as friends.

    Well, which gesture?

    I think I could see you doing a bit of this.

    I mean, in light of this other thing, if you didn’t know.

  359. rq says

    Fewf, for a second there, I thought you’d be linking to Saladfingers and xir rusty spoons (don’t go there, TW if you do, seriously creepy).
    I like the first option, though. As I hand you a platter of silver spoons. Indeed, ‘spoon’ is absolutely a word worthy of being a battle-cry. In English, at least.
    (French? Cuillère!!! Hm, that could work. It’s three clumsy syllables in Latvian, though, so it works best as a general cheer at sports games – “Ka! Ro! Te! *pause* Ka! Ro! Te!”)

  361. rq says

    Crip Dyke
    Even if it wasn’t too dated, I was never allowed to watch cartoons or mainstream movies as a kid, so pretty much all references are lost on me. Except for the totally mainstream ones, like Ninja Turtles, Inspector Gadget and Ghostbusters. And maybe a few others, but they’re not on the top of my head (just checked the mirror).
    (And as it were, I have never seen The Karate Kid.)

  363. rq says

    How to piss off a Latvian. Not bad, but they miss the two really big reasons: take away their dill and hide the potatoes. And no mention of beer, either, except that one slanted reference to eau-de-Aldaris. Cheap reference, if you ask me.

  364. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Folk abroad lead happy lives without telling Latvian and Lithuanian apart.

    Hell, folk abroad lead happy lives thinking the three Baltics are Latvia, Lithuania, and Latveria.

    Yes! Latveria! Can you believe it? When in actuality we all know that Lateveria is in the Carpathian Mountains and not Baltic at all!

  366. bassmike says

    Dalillama

    I am confused; in my dialect of English, lawns and gardens are mutually exclusive; a given patch of land can be one or the other, but not both. The former is typically characterized as a greensward, while the latter contains plants which are directly useful or ornamental in some fashion. For the former, moss is generally speaking a better surface for most things that a greensward would be used for than grass, and in the latter, the grass and moss alike would be problematic. (Also, I doubt very much that the moss growing in your yard is an invasive species; the grass, OTOH, almost certainly is, especially in North America.)

    In the UK someone’s garden is the patch of ground that belongs to house they own or rent. A garden may contain flowers/trees and/or lawn. I’ve even heard of some people who have covered the entire area with paving still referring to it as a garden. I didn’t realize that it had different meanings elsewhere in the world.

    rq the stuff that I used to get rid of the moss was Evergreen Complete 4 in 1. It worked for me, but YMMV!

    The black dog is being kept at bay for the moment. I’ll keep throwing it the occasional bone in the hope of keeping it away.

  367. bassmike says

    BTW thank you Tony! regarding the inner sphincter information. It explains my own holiday ahem habits.

  368. rq says

    bassmike
    Have some more cake. Scatter the crumbs far away, should keep the black dog busy for a while.
    And thanks, I will write that down, I don’t know if it’s available here, but we’ll certainly look into it!

  369. carlie says

    In the UK someone’s garden is the patch of ground that belongs to house they own or rent.

    Damn, really? And here I’ve always pictured British towns all chock-full of adorable vegetable plots in all the yards, they way everyone refers to their gardens. Thanks for smashing my bucolic mental image, man. (sad face)

  370. carlie says

    Wait, then what do you call the places where there are specific plantings for food or ornamental effect?

  372. bassmike says

    Well Carlie a garden is generally the generic term. We also have flower beds and vegetable patches, if that helps. Though, just to confuse matters we also have flower gardens and vegetable gardens. Both of which can be part of a garden.

  373. opposablethumbs says

    bassmike @ 372 has put his (green) finger on it. We loves us some verbal ambiguity, the more contradictory the better :-)

  374. says

    I just spent several minutes wondering why spell check had a problem with the word “implification,” and why the fuck it wasn’t showing up in the suggested results.

    …Implication.

    I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.

  376. rq says

    awakeinmo
    I’m wondering at the etymology of the verb ‘implify’. To imply very strongly?
    “No, I’m not just implying that you’re an idiot, I’m implifying. Here’s more indirect evidence!”

  377. says

    CD
    Have a spoon!

    +++

    Not bad, but they miss the two really big reasons: take away their dill and hide the potatoes.

    They can have ALL the dill, if you ask me.

    +++
    Well, Lithuania is a country and Latvia is a lettuce, kind of like Batavia, right?

    *ducks and hides*

    +++
    Had a nice lunch with PZ, who is hopefully taking a nap.

  382. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Shouldn’t PZ be taller? All those barbarian-giant genes?

    That’s what confused me.

  383. Ogvorbis: failed human says

    WARNING — SELF-PITYING COMPLAINT-FEST AHEAD

    I’m having a shitty time sleeping. Low-grade pain in my back coupled with knee pain (my fault — fell behind on the exercises) and my sleeping pills tend to create vivid dreaming (which I really do not need) so I have been lying in bed either reading (Pratchett or books about palaeozoic and mesozoic extinctions) or lying in bed thinking about all the ways I have failed and wondering if I should even bother to keep trying. At work, I have multiple publications (posters, booklets, rack cards, etc) which I am doing in Adobe InDesign which has now decided that it no longer wants to even intialize but luckily the deadlines are a whole six days away so hopefully my IT person can figure out why Adobe Cloud hates me and is able to figure things out. I had a fucking panic attack on the drive to work (dead deer plus burning brakes from tractor trailers that think last-second braking coming into a construction area is somehow good) from 9/11 (which is still not PTSD, only PTSD-like symptoms (I don’t have them often enough to qualify as full-blown PTSD nor do I have hyper-alertness (with my sleep patterns, I’m lucky to have any alertness))). My allergies are wreaking havoc with my sinuses. I restrung my guitar and a day later broke my G-string and I do not have a spare so I have to go and buy some more strings. I dropped a beautiful Sheffield 6-inch French chef’s knife and somehow broke an inch off the tip. A half bag of sweet red cherries decided to ferment in my vegetable bin in the fridge almost overnight. My IPod Nano has decided to randomly cut off songs in the middle (hopefully a restore and reload will solve the problem). And this morning I sliced off a mole on my chin reminding me once again why my shave line is (or usually is) right below the curve of my chin.

    =====

    Higs to those who need them. Y’all are good people.

  384. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Ugh.

    I’m sorry, Og.

    Still here, loving you.

    Even if you did break a chef’s knife: a horrible crime in my kitchen, I’ll tell you!

    Wishing you better in the days ahead, and wishing you sleep in the nights.

  385. Ogvorbis: failed human says

    Crip dyke;

    The knife was one that Wife and I got when we were cohabitating in a New Hampshire apartment. We got it for $4.00 at a Boston-area chain called Building 19 (and a fraction (they were all Building 19 followed by a fraction)).

    I wish I could sleep. Without dreams of any kind. The sleep of the dead?

  386. opposablethumbs says

    Ogvorbis, I’m sorry this is such a shitty time for you. There’ll be a fair few folk* around here thinking of you and wishing you well – wishing you free of pain and bad dreams.
    * by which I of course mean A LOT
    Please take care of yourself as much as you can. Hugs if you would care for any.

  387. Funny Diva says

    Ogvorbis:
    What CD and opposablethumbs said.
    Sorry you’re having such a bad time.

  388. David Marjanović says

    *pouncehugs & chocolate all over*

    The big manuscript has reached the stage where I’ve sent it to the coauthors for the first time.

    Also, I have links to dump; Firefox is really unhappy with having many tabs open on this computer. I still have some from February to post, but that’ll have to wait…

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    Open-access preprint: the oviraptorosaur Heyuannia laid blue-green eggs.

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    “The Permian-Triassic catastrophe holds mixed messages for Earth today. On the one hand, the pace of acidification was slower than it is now. The study team estimates that, in the acidification event, 24,000 gigatons of carbon were injected into the atmosphere over 10,000 years—a rate of 2.4 gigatons per year—and most of it wound up in the oceans. Currently, scientists estimate carbon from all sources is entering the atmosphere at a rate of about 10 gigatons per year.

    On the other hand, today’s economically viable fossil fuel reserves contain only about 3000 gigatons of carbon—far shy of the Permian total, even if human beings burn it all. ‘We’re injecting the carbon faster, but it’s unlikely that we have as much carbon to inject,’ says study co-author Tim Lenton, an Earth systems scientist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. But knowing that the Permian was much worse doesn’t bring Lenton much comfort. ‘Biology is pretty smart—it can cope with a certain amount of acidification,’ he says. ‘But I suspect there are limits to adaptation. There will be some point at which [species] crack.’

    Study co-author Rachel Wood, a geobiologist at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, wants to make sure that the acidification pulse was more than a regional catastrophe. The team next plans to test rocks that formed on the floor of the Tethys 250 million years ago in present-day Iran and Oman. ‘We need to establish that this is a global signature,’ she says.”

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    Article in German: About 90 % of people with hepatitis C can now be cured, but few of them will be. That’s because one tablet of the most expensive of the seven new substances, which impede the reproduction of the virus and thus prevent the destruction of the liver, costs 100 € to make – and the pharma company even wants 700 € for it. A therapy, says the article, costs 68,000 €. And now consider that most of the infected people live in Africa.

    If they all got the new drugs, hepatitis C could even be eradicated like the smallpox, says the article…

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    “Are the Kochs using your name to astroturf Congress on net neutrality?”

    “Rep. Speier has it right: “This is identity theft, but instead of impersonating for financial gain, the originators of this theft are striking at the heart of our representative democracy.” Her staff calculates that 98 percent of these net neutrality emails her office received were people they’d never heard from before, and when those people were contacted as her staff tried to follow up, they said they’d never contacted her office on net neutrality.

    Maybe they’re impersonating you in one of these emails.”

    Link to a “petition to your members of Congress” at the end.

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    “Stand with Senators Sanders and Warren: Federal contract workers deserve a living wage.”

    “The president has demonstrated that executive action can help workers. After low-wage federal contract workers went on strike in Washington, D.C., the president used the 2014 State of the Union to announce that he would sign the $10.10 Minimum Wage Executive Order. The president’s bold leadership set-off a chain reaction. In the following year, the CEOs of major companies – such as Gap, Inc., IKEA, Wal-Mart and McDonald’s – boosted starting pay, mayors issued executive orders to raise wages, and state and local governments passed minimum wage hikes.

    That’s why we’re calling on the president to use his executive powers to help low-wage federal contract workers. He can do so by signing a ‘model employer’ executive order that gives a preference to contractors that pay a living wage of at least $15 an hour, offer decent benefits like paid leave, and respect our right to collectively bargain so we don’t have to go on strike.

    When the president leads, America follows. President Obama has said that income inequality is the defining challenge of our time, and that he would take executive action to help the middle class. Here is his opportunity to lead by example and lift millions of low-wage federal contract workers into the middle class.”

    Also, there’s a man who works full-time in the cafeteria of the Senate and is homeless.

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    And finally:

    “Stand with Bernie Sanders: Tell Congress to break up too-big-to-fail banks”

    “Today, the biggest banks are bigger than ever, they can borrow money at lower rates because the market assumes we will bail them out, and their reckless behavior continues.

    In just the past few years, large financial institutions have been caught rigging interest rates, manipulating foreign exchange rates, selling people misleading financial products, facilitating tax evasion and money laundering, and more.^3 The expansion of high-frequency, algorithmic speculation and front-running has increased risks. In the ‘flash crash’ of 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 1,000 points in just minutes before rapidly recovering.^4”

    “Sanders’ ‘Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist’ Act, and its companion bill in the House introduced by Rep. Brad Sherman, would direct the government to compile a list of systemically important financial institutions, just as Dodd-Frank did. But it would also direct the Secretary of the Treasury to break up those institutions within one year, and ban them all from receiving special help from the Federal Reserve or gambling with federally-insured deposits. Under this bill, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley would all be broken up.^2”

    (Seven footnotes that lead to four sources. What is this, a book?)

  389. opposablethumbs says

    omfsm omfsm omfsm, SonSpawn managed to get half-way to the other end of the country (yes I know it’s a very small country by some standards), find his way (with our help on the phone) from the bus-station to a specific nearby café and meet the fellow-student (who’s hosting a handful of students from their same course for a long weekend visit). We saw him onto the bus this morning, and a mere 10 1/2 hours later he seems to have actually made it. Thank fuck.
    Now if he can just manage to have a passable visit with no major catastrophes it will be a red-letter year .

    With his particular flavour of non-neurotypical disorderliness, this is an almost unimaginable achievement. Feel free to cross any fingers or tentacles you can spare :-)

  390. rq says

    opposablethumbs
    *allthethumbs* :D
    … And a great cheer went up from the multitude!

    Ogvorbis
    Sorry you’re feeling so shitty, can I offer *hugs*?
    Also there’s still a bit of the cheesecake-type strawberry rhubarb cake left, ready for the USB.

  392. says

    Ogvorbis @383, Sorry to hear way too much shitty stuff is happening all at once. Your iPod Nano should know better than to pile on when you are already down. (Or maybe Apple products are not yet that intelligent?)

    I had a moment of brain glitch yesterday, during which I couldn’t visualize a 17 inch by 11 inch piece of paper with a fold down the middle. What the fucking hell? Instead of recovering and moving on, I worried. I didn’t sleep. I got up feeling like I had been mugged. My knee hurt and walking was difficult. Full of self-pity. Finally went outside despite light rain and dug weeds out of my flowers. I like dirt. Dirt likes me. I’m better, but I fully understand the state of being overwhelmed. Empathy for you.

  393. David Marjanović says

    Lidl is a big supermarket here. Perhaps a bit too cheap. Petition:

    “Lidl’s Code of Conduct says it aims to pay a living wage and that its suppliers should too. But according to Fairfood International, the discount chain is linked to exploitation of the most vulnerable workers in Thailand’s shrimp processing industry.”

    “The shrimp industry is plagued by exploitation–enough to make anyone despair. But we’re part of a growing movement of workers, activists, and consumers who are standing up to the companies that profit from the suffering. Together with Fairfood, we can push Europe’s largest food retailer to stop just paying lip service, and ensure that living wages are paid.”

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    “U.S. Releases Contents Of Bin Laden’s English-Language ‘Bookshelf’

    From Chomsky to Woodward. BuzzFeed News got a first look at the rare public accounting of some of the documents seized from Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound.”

    Also, German Press Agency (dpa) Cites Buzzfeed as Serious Source, and Rightly So.

  394. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @David Marjanović, my favorite Marjanović in like, ever:

    The big manuscript has reached the stage where I’ve sent it to the coauthors for the first time.

    Yay with Kermit arms on top.

    Until, of course, Sam the Eagle says, “Ahem.”

    “Academe …is a serious subject,” I imagine he would say.

    The team next plans to test rocks that formed on the floor of the Tethys 250 million years ago in present-day Iran and Oman.

    Wait, that was also the Tethys? Tell me again, how were the landmasses oriented then?

    Okay, okay. I got it:
    I have heard of the paleo-Tethys and would almost certainly have remembered it (I think, I hope) if they had used that term, rather than just combining “Tethys” and “Permian”.

    Apparently I’m not as up on my paleo-oceanography, paleo-geology, and paleo-geography as I should be.

    This is the evil of feminism: doing it means that you can’t read all the science!!!! Time to start delving into the Lyell Collection’s numerous strata.

    I can’t believe it took Tethys vs Paleo-Tethys to get me to see this weighty matter disappearing into Deep Rifts!

    Finally, I was going to read about the common herbivorous browsers you mentioned, but the paper was bordering on Teal Deer to me.

  396. Okidemia says

    I remember somewhere in the ~early~ times (around 2005), pharyngulites were often of biological academe kind. Are there still some of us? I remember seeing proposals for hanging around in symposia, so: is there anybody here going to Evolution 2015?

  397. opposablethumbs says

    ::hugs rq:: ::goes to seize allthethumbs:: :-D

    (::subsequently realises allthethumbs is probably shy of humans; refrains from seizing and offers it bits of fresh fruit instead:: cute monkey!)

    I have been sleeping ridiculously badly since this trip was first mooted three weeks ago, I was so nervous things would go wrong (and so much is riding on it for Spawn). The other students are arriving on a different bus and (naturally and of course, because there’s no reason they should know) have no idea how much of a challenge this is for him. Just knowing he’s arrived safely has got me feeling positively wobbly with relief, daft though that seems.

  398. says

    David Marjanović @388, Hugs, hugs, hugs. That was a lovely set of links.

    The hepatitis C news is a frustrating mix of hope (new drugs, a cure!) and despair. The treatment is way, way too expensive.

    The Koch brothers have no ethical core.

    The man who works full-time in the cafeteria of the Senate and is homeless … that guy is such an apt metaphor for the huge gap between the rich and the poor. There he is, literally serving the politicians who helped to shape a culture in which guys like him are homeless.

    Bernie Sanders has a healthy ethical core.

    Congratulations on having reached a major milestone with your big manuscript!

  399. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Okidemia:

    I remember somewhere in the ~early~ times (around 2005),

    Oh, wow. You just made me realize that I think of myself as a Crip-Dyke-come-lately around here: a regular, but nothing near a founder or even an early adopter. This is true despite the fact that I was reading Pharyngula in the naughties. While I didn’t start making any contributions to the commentariat until around 3d4k-ish times, having started reading somewhere near crackergate does make me a bit of an old timer.

    Huh.

    But no, in regards to your important questions: I’m biology-ignorant (thus the original attraction of this blog) and no, I’m not going to Evolution 2015.

    Though if it’s happening in Beautiful British Columbia, I’ll be happy to host a meet-n-greet crossover event, if the biologists aren’t too hoity-toity to spend time with us ignorant locals.

  400. says

    Hugs! Cheers! More hugs!

    I have accomplished a part of Aged Mum’s shopping, not that she’s given me much of a list yet. This being a holiday weekend, on Friday afternoon she will no doubt come up with a huge list requiring my dealing with several overcrowded stores on Saturday and Sunday. Experience has, alas, made me untrusting and cynical.

  401. says

    This is a followup to David M.’s last link (big banks) in comment 388.

    Five banks — JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland — were hit Wednesday with $5.4 billion in fines for attempting to rig foreign exchange markets.

    Unlike in previous bank regulatory cases, the Justice Department insisted that the banks in question actually plead guilty.

    Despite this unprecedented regulatory action, the banks — and their executives and shareholders — will continue to prosper. […]

    The core of the charges was that traders at major banks found a loophole in this “too big” theory — you can collude. By using various online chat services to cooperate, traders were able to coordinate the timing and scale of front-running actions enough to make money. No one trade is big enough to cut through the news, but collaborating in groups with nicknames like “the cartel” and “the bandits’ club” traders were able to put together big enough pools to move prices at key times. […]

    […] the very same Justice Department that proudly insisted a fine wasn’t good enough to settle the case also acted to ensure that there would be no practical consequences beyond the fine.

    Vox Technology link to article by Matt Yglesias

  402. says

    Good news from Texas:

    State Rep. Sarah Davis is making history in the Lone Star State by becoming the first Republican lawmaker to publicly support same-sex marriage.

    Davis refused to sign an anti-gay letter issued by her Republican colleagues last week, and made comments in an interview with the Texas Observer that amounted to an endorsement of the right of same-sex couples to marry.

    “I just don’t agree with the sentiment of the letter,” Davis told the Observer in an interview published Thursday. “I don’t feel the need to pass legislation or vote for legislation that prohibits two adults who love each other to be able to be joined in a civil union or marriage. It does not affect my marriage.”

    According to the Observer, that makes Davis a first in Texas history. Davis represents a district in an affluent area of Houston. […]

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/texas-gop-lawmaker-first-gay-marriage

  403. says

    Oh, FFS. Right-wingers being more obnoxious than usual:

    Fox News contributor and Daily Caller founder Tucker Carlson appeared Tuesday on the syndicated radio show of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and accused the Obama administration of engaging in “Nazi stuff.”

    Carlson called into the show by phone and discussed what he described as the administration’s “ethnic politics.” On the video webcast version of the show, Jones showed a giant graphic of Obama dressed as Hitler, complete with a mustache, and flanked by the words “DICTATOR” and “SCUM” in bold letters as Carlson spoke. […]

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tucker-carlson-alex-jones-obama-nazi

  404. says

    The “Watchmen on the Wall” conference boasted a huge roster of the most extreme anti-gay activists in the USA. Ugly, dirty tactics and deeds were applauded … and to top it off, Senator Ted Cruz stood up next to all of the bashers of “faggots” and agreed with them.

    Sen. Ted Cruz and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise addressed the “Watchmen on the Wall” summit today, an event sponsored by the radical Family Research Council, whose leaders have defended Uganda’s “kill the gays” bill, pushed the expulsion of gay people from the U.S. and fear an imminent anti-Christian holocaust in the U.S.

    One speaker, anti-abortion-rights crusader Flip Benham, will speak alongside his sons, Religious Right activists David and Jason Benham. Along with his anti-abortion work, the elder Benham is notorious for heckling same-sex couples at their weddings, screaming at Muslim worshipers, organizing disruptions of liberal church services and linking gay people to Satan. The young Benhams have similar views, describing gay rights as demonic and stoking fears about “homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation.”

    Another “Watchmen” speaker is E.W. Jackson, who joined the FRC after badly losing his race for lieutenant governor of Virginia and who has described gays as “perverted,” “degenerate,” “very sick people” and linked the Democratic Party to the Antichrist.

    Wellington Boone will also speak at the event, even though he once told the audience at another FRC conference that he wishes he could call people “faggots.” At a 2006 event featuring FRC President Tony Perkins and Mitt Romney, Boone delivered a speech about the dangers of an island full of “sodomites,” defending laws making homosexuality a crime punished by the death penalty. […]

    Right Wing Watch link

  405. Okidemia says

    Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden #399

    Oh, wow. You just made me realize that I think of myself as a Crip-Dyke-come-lately around here: a regular, but nothing near a founder or even an early adopter. This is true despite the fact that I was reading Pharyngula in the naughties. While I didn’t start making any contributions to the commentariat until around 3d4k-ish times, having started reading somewhere near crackergate does make me a bit of an old timer.

    I became a regular reader when Pharyngula was all about developmental biology and evolution (I think slightly before Pharyngula migrated to ScienceBlogs). Followed regularly from then, but almost never past the posts. I don’t remember commenting (shyness!), though I may have from time to time.

    BTW, I’ve certainly read PZ on talk.origins much earlier (I had been lurking there since 2001), but then not enough that he became ghost-labelled in my mind).

    I’ve met with people nearby 2006 who were speaking about their blogging activity with statements like: “then I have been noticed by a guy -PZ Meyer– have you heard of him? …”. It was like receiving a huge fix of whatever, completely crazzy, people were trying to get noticed all time.

    But no, in regards to your important questions: I’m biology-ignorant (thus the original attraction of this blog) and no, I’m not going to Evolution 2015.
    Though if it’s happening in Beautiful British Columbia, I’ll be happy to host a meet-n-greet crossover event, if the biologists aren’t too hoity-toity to spend time with us ignorant locals.

    Let me be damned if I ever become so clubbish as to limit my social interactions to other biologists (that would be quite sad actually)(I have to admit I’m also very ignorant of biology itself, even as a daily practicing scientist). Unfortunately, Evolution 2015 is way down South, it’s located at São Paulo. But I also guess this is the first time the symposium is held outside the USA, which means it certainly will be hosted in Canada some days in a next future.

  406. says

    Mormons, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), do not just steal two years from young men and women that they send on missions, they also steal the so-called “golden years” from some of their senior members.

    Senior missionaries serve in all kinds of capacities, including helping to run some of the mormon for-profit ventures, like cattle ranches, Hawaiian resorts, real estate ventures, etc.

    Here some of the tips that mormons give to senior missionaries, tips that reveal many Moments of Mormon Madness:

    1. Have an I’ll go where you want me to go attitude […] ultimately a senior couple’s call still comes from a prophet of God. […]

    2. Start saving now […] Senior missionaries pay for their food and personal expenses. They also pay up to $1,400 per month in housing costs. If the housing costs are greater than $1,400, the church will pay the additional costs. […] trust that you will be blessed for your service and that the Lord will provide for your needs.

    3. Be prepared physically […] for those who do suffer from illness, serving from home is an option. […]

    4. Learn useful skills […] Listings for specific mission needs throughout the world are posted online on the “Senior Missionary Opportunitities Bulletin.”; Current needs range from Military Relations to Water Resource Specialists.

    5. Trust that the Lord will take care of your family […] To leave your family, regardless of life situation and even with developments in technology, requires a great deal of trust in the Lord.

    6. Gain a testimony and keep a testimony […] It will be your testimony that will help you scrub living room furniture until it shines before it is placed in a missionary apartment […]

    May I summarize? Give us all of your money … and all of your time! We are not a cult. We are not a cult. We are not a cult.

    Deseret News link

  407. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Okidemia, #405:

    Well, don’t hesitate to let me know your travel schedule whenever it brings you north.

    Frankly, any regular reader and any regular commenter coming to Vancouver and or Victoria (where I am kinda depends) BC should let me know. I remember having a great breakfast (well, probably brunch, I can’t remember the exact timing) with CeeSays.

    And now I even have that homemade Jamaican Jerk Sauce …which is going fast. We planted 6 butter lettuce starts in pots on our deck and **damn!** they’ve filled out in just 2 weeks, so now it’s every other night I’m making jerked veggie burgers and piling them with fried onions, fried mushrooms, and butter lettuce so fresh it’s picked **after** the burger was cooked. All just to keep not-so-even with the lettuce growth. Salads have become a matter of maintaining deck utility if not my very survival!

    Come! Help me before I am crushed under the weight of piles and piles of leafy greens!

    BTW: Giliell, did you ever try out the recipe?

    BTBTW: Thanks for all the good wishes on the eyes, everyone. You should know that things are going very well, and my cornea is sufficiently sealed/healed over to protect my endothelium from free bacteria. That’s right, the world is once again safe for oral sex. PAR-TAY!!!! …except, well…

    BTBTBTW: Giliell: your condolences to Ms Crip Dyke were communicated and well-received. She was not, however, happy to hear the news that my doctor judged my endothelium safe exactly 2 hours after she left on a plane to the uncivilized hinterlands known as Toronto for 5 whole days. Doctors can have the worst timing, y’know? PAR-TAY!!!! delayed.

  408. opposablethumbs says

    Many conga rats, David Marjanović, may you publish in good health and three cheers for the Big MS :-)

  409. says

    There’s a lot more to the game Monopoly than I thought:

    So let me get this straight, in Monopoly if you give one player more money to start out it’s “unfair” but if you do it in real life it’s “capitalism”?

    You know what, I’m going to tell you guys a story.

    In my Sociology class a few semesters ago, our prof had us break off into groups and, much to our naive joy, began distributing Monopoly boards! We had no idea what was going on but yay! Games! Of course, once our group, and a number of others, got the board we began to work at setting up and distributing the money…

    until suddenly our prof told us to put the money down and pick up the dice.

    “Roll the dice and sort yourselves from highest to lowest,” our teacher commanded. “Now, the highest number is the upper class. The next one is upper middle class. The next two or three are middle class. The last person is in poverty.“

    Well, as the person who rolled a two this was startling and not wholly welcome news.

    From that point the game changed entirely. We had to hand out the money so that the “upper class” had this fucking mountain, and then less for upper middle, even less for middle, and I didn’t get any triple digit bills. We would all collect different amounts from passing go as well.

    The biggest change though? Going to jail. Upper class didn’t. Period. Upper middle class could go but they only had to stay for one turn or they could immediately pay their way out. Middle class had some pretty easy guidelines for when they could pay to get out. As lower class, it was really easy for me to wind up in jail and REALLY hard to get out. But since I was working with so little money when everyone else had so much I was in jail all the time because there was no “game over”. If I couldn’t pay I had to go to jail for a certain period of time. I had to take out loans with interest I could never pay back just to get out only to wind up back in it again, rolling dice turn after turn hoping to be able to get out.

    It was simultaneously the most enlightening and most awful game I had ever played. I was bored and frustrated and a little terrified about it all. And it wasn’t only me. I would never win, I sort of accepted this, but it was amazing how the middle classes reacted as well. They were stressed. Because they were always that close to either being able to one-up the upper class or from crashing into poverty with me. They had to fight constantly just to stay in the middle.

    (I should also mention that the upper class player in one group felt so bad for the lower income players that they ended up overhauling their entire game and creating a “socialist” society instead. I’m not sure how our teacher felt about that one.)

    That’s in keeping with the spirit of the game as intended by its creator.

  410. says

    Hey PZ-
    Kent Hovind has been acquitted of multiple charges:

    It seems — for the moment at least — that “Hovindication” has come to pass.

    In a pair of court orders issued Monday and Tuesday, Pensacola evangelist Kent Hovind was acquitted of a March contempt conviction, as well as three counts of mail fraud and associated conspiracy charges dismissed.

    The orders, signed by Chief Judge M. Casey Rodgers, indicated that the grounds for the dismissals and acquittal were primarily based on the language around the charges against Hovind.

    In regard to the contempt charge, a jury had previously found Hovind guilty of violating a court forfeiture order when he filed a lis pendens — paperwork saying there were lingering questions about the ownership of nine properties the government seized from Hovind to settle a $430,000 tax debt.

    “There is no question the government presented substantial evidence at trial from which a reasonable jury could have found that Hovind caused lis pendens to be filed on several of the properties identified in the forfeiture order,” Rodgers wrote in her order granting the acquittal. “The question though is whether Hovind’s conduct — particularly, the filing of the lis pendens — was clearly prohibited by the forfeiture order.”

    Rodgers went on to say that although the forfeiture order stipulated that Hovind’s property could be seized, it made no restrictions on the actions Hovind could take in response.

    “The government has not cited any authority for the proposition that Hovind can be guilty of contempt for interfering with or evading an order that did not speak directly to his conduct. Thus, the guilty verdict… cannot stand.”

    Rodgers issued a judgment of acquittal Tuesday. It was unclear at press time Tuesday if and when Hovind would be released, as he is currently at the tail end of a different prison sentence.

    The contempt charges against Hovind’s co-defendant, Paul John Hansen, currently stand because he was charged under different circumstances.

    “We are in the process of evaluating if there is any particular impact on Mr. Hansen’s case,” said Christopher Klotz, Hansen’s attorney. “The sentencing is not set until early June… there would certainly be an appeal after the sentencing.”

    Both Hovind and Hansen had mail fraud and conspiracy charges dismissed.

    In an indictment, prosecutors alleged that the men worked together to defraud the government by filing claims, liens and other documents on Hovind’s forfeited properties.

    In a motion calling for the dismissal of the charges, Hansen and Hovind’s camps argued that nothing the men did constituted criminal conduct, and that the charges in the indictment did not sufficiently outline how the men had broken the law.

    The government motioned to dismiss the charges without prejudice in the interest of ensuring the duo was adequately apprised of the nature of the accusations against them. Because the charges were dismissed without prejudice, the government could potentially refine them and refile them again at a later date.

  411. says

    Yay for David and his manuscript

    HUge yay for opposablespawn

    higs and hugs for Ogvorbis
    I’m sorry to hear that you’Re in pain

    CD
    Not yet.
    It’s going to be a Thursday night. Last week Mr was at home but my friends didn’t make it, this week I couldn’t make it because I didn’t know when I’d arrive home. But I’m aiming for next week!

  412. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Giliell:

    Well, I’ll look forward to the results from the eating, but as for the making, remember it keeps!

    You don’t have to do it day-of-the-event. I’m still eating the same jerk sauce from before surgery when I shared the recipe. Mmmm.

  415. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Hadn’t looked at Lowering the Bar recently, thanks vereverum!

    This one is fun, though it doesn’t really have any particular Pharyngula tie at all:

    The court ordered a paternity test, and the results were surprising to everyone.

    But not too surprising to Dr. Karl-Hans Wurzinger, a DNA expert who testified in the case. You probably remember Dr. Wurzinger from his 1980 dissertation, “Allozyme Variation in the African Freshwater Snail Genus Bulinus,” if you weren’t already digging him after 1974’s “Phylogeny and Correlations of Aldehyde Oxidase, Xanthine Oxidase, Xanthine Dehydrogenase and Peroxidase in Animal Tissues,” later made into a not-very-popular film.

  416. opposablethumbs says

    Glad to hear the good seeing-eye news, CD, and hope the PAR-TAY is all the sweeter for those 5 days’ antici…. [Dr. Frank-N-Furter voice] … pation :-)

  419. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Tony #418,
    Jerk sauce? The Pullet Patrol™ would send you some, but without a certificate of non-chicken use, they refuse to load the trebuchet.

  420. says

    Nerd:
    How about this-
    I promise to use the Jerk sauce on anything and everything. Yes, that means on chicken. But also on salmon, steak, lamb, pork tenderloin, and even atop baked potatoes and rice.

  422. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    From a soul food show: Jerked something.
    I think I could find a South African version with a little work.
    *the Redhead watches lots of cooking shows*

  423. says

    Crip Dyke (or Portia, if you’re reading):

    Of the active U.S. circuit court judges, 51.2% are white men, 25.3% are white
    women, 16.7% are non-white men, and 6.8% are non-white women. Altogether,
    48.8% of active circuit court judges are nontraditional judges. In contrast, of
    senior circuit court judges, 80.7% are white men, 9.6% are white women, 8.8%
    are non-white men, and less than 1.0% are non-white women. Altogether, 19.3%
    of senior circuit court judges are nontraditional judges.

    I came across the above statistics in this pdf from the Congressional Research Service. What’s the difference between an active circuit court judge and a senior circuit court judge?

  424. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    “Active” includes all judges on the circuit – anyone not retired, you’re getting all the people currently employed as any kind of judge on the circuit.

    …except…

    Senior Judges. They are their own thing. It’s a semi-retirement where you set your own caseload, pretty much, but still draw a salary. If you’re not working enough, you no longer rate a staff.

    I recommend reading the wiki link. I, frankly, am not up on that stuff enough to know how accurate or not the wiki is, and inaccuracy is always a risk with wikipedia, but many of the law articles are quite good b/c lawyers now how to fight it out and others aren’t commenting so much on the law articles. Of course, then you get the Brown v Board of Ed, Topeka cases and the non-lawyers come around…but there’s likely not a lot of ignorant people that feel that have something that just has to be said about the status of circuit court senior judges.

  427. says

    Oh snap! An editor for The Charlotte Observer used ‘Honesty Day’ (April 30) to open the floor to readers to ask what they want of whom they want and that person had to give an honest answer. Reader David Fry asked the following:

    “Question? Why do you support such a liberal agenda?

    “Remember you’re supposed to answer honestly.”

    Editor Taylor Batten answered honestly:

    Well, rules are rules, so I suppose you deserve an honest answer for Honesty Day. Here goes:

    We believe that everyone is created equal.

    We believe that children should not bear responsibility for the sins of their parents.

    We believe that prevention is a heck of a lot cheaper than a cure.

    We believe people should not be treated as lesser citizens, with fewer rights, because of whom they love.

    We believe a thriving city, state and nation rests to a great degree in the quality of its public schools, and that every child deserves a dedicated, dynamic teacher, regardless of what ZIP code that child lives in.

    We believe discrimination is wrong in every instance.

    We believe in consistency, so if you are going to drug-test recipients of public assistance, drug-test them all, including the corporate chieftains who are the biggest beneficiaries.

    We believe that police officers should act professionally, under incredibly difficult circumstances, regardless of a suspect’s race.

    We believe taxes should be kept as low as possible while still providing a sound safety net for the neediest, a robust education for all, decent health care for the elderly and the destitute, and other basics.

    We believe politicians of any party should keep their promises, avoid the appearance of personal gain from the public trust, and look out for the general welfare, not that of any one special interest.

    We believe there are people of worth beyond our tight circle and there are neighborhoods beyond our own, with different histories, perspectives and needs.

    We believe offenders have paid their price when their sentence is up and should be helped to assimilate back into society. And that that’s better for the community than neglecting them and watching them commit another crime.

    We believe there are peace-loving Muslims.

    We do not believe President Obama was born in Kenya.

    We believe in the separation of church and state.

    We believe Moore Place, built with public and private money, and its housing-first approach is a model for how to help the chronically homeless.

    We believe Charlotte will need effective mass transit to handle its continually swelling population.

    We believe if you’re a fan of a politician solely because he has a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ after his name, then you’re not paying attention.

    We believe we have only one planet, and we should protect it for our grandchildren.

    If that earns us the label “liberal” in your eyes, Mr. Fry, so be it. We approach the issues of the day with an open mind and guided by those principles, not by blind devotion to any political party. And that’s the honest truth.

    I seem to recall a saying about reality having a liberal slant.

  428. says

    Ok, moving away from awful news, here’s a science story-
    425-million-year-old parasite found still attached to its victim:

    Scientists have found the fossil remains of a previously unknown species of parasite, clinging onto the animal it infected some 425 million years ago. This fascinating discovery, published in Current Biology, suggests that the “ancient intruder” was a type of tongue worm whose size ranged from 1 to 4 millimeters long.

    “This is the most important fossil evidence yet discovered of the origins of this type of parasitism,” said co-author Derek Briggs from Yale University in a statement.

    The fossil remains, which were found in Herefordshire, England, were “exceptionally well-preserved,” according to an international team of researchers. The new parasite species has been aptly named Invavita piratica, which means “piracy” and “ancient intruder.” This is the first time that researchers have found a fossilized tongue worm attached to its host. The tongue worm was found on an ostracod, which is a class of Crustacean that has two shells joined at a hinge.

    “This discovery is important not only because examples of parasites are exceptionally rare in the fossil record, but also because the possible host of fossil tongue worms – and the origin of the lifestyle of tongue worms – has been the subject of much debate,” said lead author David Siveter, from the University of Leicester, in a statement.

    Tongue worms – called Pentastomida – are named after their worm-like bodies that in some species are shaped like tongues. These arthropods have a head and two pairs of limbs. The fossil specimens were found on the inside of the host animal’s shell and the external surface of the host’s shell, which researchers say is unique for living or fossil tongue worms.

    425 million years?
    Pshaw!
    Everyone knows the universe was created last Thursday.

    Looking at the sidebar of recent comments, I see most of the recent comments are from me, so I think it’s time to turn in for the night.

  430. rq says

    Dilemma!
    We’re having company on Saturday.
    We need to clean the house.
    We’re having company on Saturday because we need to clean the house (yes, that’s right).
    So, because I’m going to be at work tonight and I have a thing tomorrow during the day, I have to do a bunch of stuff today during the day. Last night, we got the kids to pick up most of their toys. Except they missed all the tiny little Lego pieces.
    And here’s the dilemma: I need to vaccuum.
    But. I don’t want to pick those pieces up. But. I don’t want them sucked into the vaccuum, lost for all eternity. And no, it’s not a job I can save for Husband for the evening, as he will be doing Other Things in honour of the Cleanliness of the House.
    So… dilemma.

  431. chigau (違う) says

    rq
    Skip the vacuuming.
    Give the Guests slippers.
    Tell the Kids that the Guests will keep all found-Legos.
    Unless the Guest chooses to sell it to the Kid, @ $1* per piece.
    —
    *local equivalent, of course

  432. rq says

    chigau
    Guests include children of a similar age, therefore all found-Lego will be re-homed permanently.
    Which isn’t a bad sort of thing for the rqlings to keep in mind.
    I’ll figure something out.
    It’s so sunny outside.

  433. says

    Finally caught up on e-mail, after three days of just not having the time to get to everything in my inbox. (I was traveling on Tuesday, and busy recovering on Wednesday.)

    I attended the first (with any luck) annual No Limits No Boundaries disability-awareness… uhh… I guess you’d call it a presentation? A seminar?

    There was an interesting display (several panels long) about disability history. I was initially irritated at the lack of accessibility due to small font sizes, but it turns out there’s a web-version available for perusal. Also, there were audio and visual components that were not translated? Interpreted? Made available in an acceptable format for the blind or deaf.

    All in all, though, it was fun to watch my baby sister being all grown up and organizing this whole thing!

  435. bassmike says

    opposablethumbs great to hear about spawn. Here’s hoping they have a great weekend and get back safely.

    CD I’m glad that your eye is better. Enjoy the PAR-TAY!! when your partner returns.

    Ogborbis I wish that there was something I could do to help when you’re awake and thinking those thoughts. Just remember that there are lots of people thinking of you and empathizing. We’re with you even if geographically separated.

    Tony! that fixed monopoly game is a lesson to everyone. It shows how unfair life is. Also, maybe I can stretch it and suggest that it would be much more for everyone if we all started on an equal footing.

    rq do you have the opportunity to bribe the rqlings to pick up all the lego pieces before vacuuming?

    As I’m sure you’re aware Ireland is going to vote on same-sex marriage. There was an item on the news here about it. Naturally the main objector is the catholic church. There were some interesting views: one staunch catholic MP who had a gay son was passionately supporting same-sex marriage. They had another person who said: ‘I totally agree that there should be complete equality, but same-sex marriage is ridiculous.’ Head & desk had a brief encounter.

  436. opposablethumbs says

    Hi bassmike, thanks!

    Yes indeed, the really-reflecting-reality monopoly game Tony! describes is a powerful idea – it’s amazing how much more clearly (and strongly) I think people (including me, obviously) would relate to this when presented in the form of a (relatively) simple game. You sort of let certain aspects of your mental guard down when playing a game, and you can see the arbitrary unfairness when it’s presented in a petri dish like this stripped away from the zillion elements of real life that can pull the wool over your eyes.

  437. rq says

    bassmike
    The bribery was attempted last night, to little effect, so now it is at my discretion what happens to the remains of their ‘tidying’. (And it’s not like they’re too young or too stupid to do it right, it’s just that they spent 3/4 of the time they had driving around and having very important battles with each other – which is nice, but all battles have victims of one sort or another, and in this case, it’s the Lego. They are aware of the consequences.)

  439. birgerjohansson says

    Mesolithic mutts?
    Our bond with dogs may go back more than 27,000 years http://phys.org/news/2015-05-bond-dogs-years.html

    — — — — — —
    Both I and Comic Book Guy may be saved. “[substance Celastrol from} thunder god vine used in traditional Chinese medicine is a potential obesity treatment” http://phys.org/news/2015-05-thunder-god-vine-traditional-chinese.html

    [Thunder god? I would have expected the cheeky god to walk after us obese people honking that big brass insytument. like Stewie Griffin did. But maybe the gods thought it funnier to do the old T. Rex joke at our expense,]

  440. birgerjohansson says

    “Horn” is the word I was looking for.

    27,000 years ? -First canine companion in considerbly colder circumstance, Domestication date diligently determined.

  442. Okidemia says

    Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden #415

    This one is fun, though it doesn’t really have any particular Pharyngula tie at all

    As the first comment I’m reading on Pharyngula this morning, it is rather mystifying. I think I now have to put a tie today, for I see the Pharyngula tie.

    You probably remember Dr. Wurzinger from his 1980 dissertation, “Allozyme Variation in the African Freshwater Snail Genus Bulinus”

    Oh yes I do, very very well*. This is probably one of the very first science papers I’ve read. I perfectly remember the transe from wonder, amaze, excite and intense clearstrikesight that followed. The paper had something I’m still secretly hoping to find when I’m about to look at a promising study: orgasmic reading. That very goodness that makes you feel like you understood something important, or discovered something elegant and gracious, and that the world is morningly appropriate afterall.
    .
    I’ll take it as the prophecy of the day.
    .
    What kind of sacrifice do we have to offer to the gods of serendipity?
    .
    * I was riding on the Mayflower When I thought I spied some land…

  443. UnknownEric the Apostate says

    * I was riding on the Mayflower When I thought I spied some land…

    You don’t wanna know what happened when they asked me for some collateral.

  444. Okidemia says

    Tony! The Queer Shoop #425

    Who will think of the poor, oppressed white folk?!

    How unfair this is! Everyone seems to forget that the majority is the very first of all minorities…

  445. Okidemia says

    rq #430

    We’re having company on Saturday because we need to clean the house (yes, that’s right).

    Thanks. Thanks. Zillion thanks. We’re not alone in the universe!

  446. Okidemia says

    UnknownEric the Apostate #443

    You don’t wanna know what happened when they asked me for some collateral.

    Depending. Sometimes I gain some boots…

  448. says

    After saying I was going to for a hideously long time, I finally got started this morning on painting my cane. I had one before that was painted, with ivy running up the length of it, but it was stolen (yes, this happens; I’ve had my cane stolen twice, both times when I left it somewhere briefly while trying to carry more stuff, and when I went back it was gone). So I put the Queen* on the radio box, and did me some painting. Got the vine all done, now I’m letting it all dry and cure, so I can get on putting the leaves on the ivy.

    I’m hoping to use this as an entry point to get started on a series of paintings I’ve wanted to do for a long while, being “images from microscopes”, extreme closeups of things like bio structures and such. I want to do them on little panels (17cm x 12.5cm, approx 7″ x 5″) so I can sell them as a cubicle-decorator sort of thing. I’ve got the panels, three boxes of them left over from a wedding that never happened.

    Also, one week down of the three it should take to get my decision on the hearing.

    Hugs and higs all around, though I’m sorry I gave my last boson (a bit linty from my purse) to rq last night.

    * Her Royal Flyness Queen Latifah, of course.

  450. rq says

    Well, I’m glad there’s a comma supposed to be there. :D Though is it selfish of me if I read it as if it was there the first time? :)
    Also, bosons past their half-life – are they as good as dead?
    Good luck with the painting, Cait! Sounds like it could be a lot of creative and frustrating fun! (For me, creativity is always a little bit frustrating but not in a bad way.)

  453. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @rq, #452:

    I’d tell you that I love you, rq, but hell, sometimes I am you, and I don’t want to be labeled a narcissist.

  454. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @opposablethumbs:

    I noted that the suspect name?

    Foard

    While the victim – of both the rapist and the police – was unnamed for good reasons and consistent with UK law, the victim’s lawyer’s name?

    Debaleena Dasgupta

    Far be it from me to say that cross-racial zealous representation isn’t possible, but do I detect just a teensy-tiny possibility that the reason that the investigators didn’t believe her off the bat and then took the suspect’s word for it when the suspect insisted that he had had no sexual contact with her whatsoever…

    …was racism…?

    in addition to the standard sexism?

    Perhaps? Just a teensy-weensy little chance?

    The best news in this whole story is that of the 4 officers responsible for her treatment, one was given a written reprimand and 3 escaped punishment only after retirement or resignation.

    That’s right: 3 of the 4 can’t be cops anymore. We can only hope the one given a written reprimand was a junior officer who expressed objections…but kept those objections in the small unit instead of taking them higher where they could do so good. If the officer was in command or was pushing for treating the victim this way instead of simply failing to do an officer’s duty in stopping her mistreatment, then I would wish it had been 4 of 4.

    Still, to my jaundiced ears, the personnel outcome is actually good news: In the US 3 of the 4 would be in line for promotion.

  456. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @CaitieCat:

    That thing you said?

    …I leave one somewhere briefly while trying to carry more stuff, and when I go back it’s gone…

    was so familiar.

    That happens to my commas as well.

  457. opposablethumbs says

    My sympathies, rq. Would ginger tea help? (probably not, but alas I can’t in all conscience send you either toffee to keep everybody temporarily silent or straitjackets to keep everybody’s speed down below 100mph).
    I wish you luck, and hope everybody survives the evening unscathed.

  459. says

    rq, hugs, and thanks but no thanks.

    a_ray_in_dilbert_space, snicker.

    I am feeling a bit better, at least for the moment – I decided to go on a quest for Aged Mum’s staple gun and face masks*, leaving Home Despot as a last resort. On the way to Michael’s, I was inspired to stop at the 99¢ store, which had face masks. Michael’s had a heavy-duty staple gun with the sewing tools, and I had a coupon. If those aren’t exactly what she wanted, tough, she should’ve been more specific. Anyway, I win, I didn’t have to visit HD at all.

    If anybody needs me, I’ll be over here in the pillow fort. Plenty of room if anyone needs to hide from the world for a while. Just watch out for Hobbes.

    *Caregiver is doing yard work and some home repair, hence the need for tools. I wasn’t about to lend her my nice staple gun, it’d disappear like so many of the things I’ve gotten for AM.

  460. rq says

    Ah, Crip Dyke, therefore I have labelled you thus.

    And HAHAAA I’m now at work, so Husband gets to deal with the children. I feel I deserve some time to sit down, considering the run-around that today ended up being, always with 1 – 3 children in tow (that includes a lot of biking, as we lack a second veheekl). They’ll have dinner and watch some movie and then they’ll go quietly *KHMKHMKHMKHHHHHMMM* (excuse me) off to bed.
    I’m just surprised that nobody was enthusiastically willing to take on those three… lovely… children… I wonder.

    opposablethumbs
    I’m with CD on this one, I’m… actually glad that there are some consequences. Rather than more covering up and blaming of the victim (though I don’t doubt that there was a good serving of both already). 3 out of 4 getting out of direct consequences, though… well, I hope they’re not rehired the next county over. But considering the second investigation and the results and the resulting situation, well… It’s a sad day when I have to say that that is impressive.

    Anne
    Many thanks, can I deliver you some anthills direct to the fort? (Also yay for successful shopping!)

    Okidemia @445
    It’s the only way we clean.
    “Honey, I invited some friends over next weekend!”
    “Oh, we’ll finally get the house in order again. Good!”

    Round of *hugs* and *higs* and a dust-free environment for everyone!

  462. David Marjanović says

    Apparently I’m not as up on my paleo-oceanography, paleo-geology, and paleo-geography as I should be.

    Never fear, for the Internet knows all.

    http://www.scotese.com/
    http://cpgeosystems.com/

    is there anybody here going to Evolution 2015?

    Not me…

    David Marjanović @388, Hugs, hugs, hugs.

    ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

    Five banks — JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland — were hit Wednesday with $5.4 billion in fines for attempting to rig foreign exchange markets.

    Hm. This could boost the Scottish independence movement even further. The RBS was founded specifically to compete with the Bank of Scotland in the early years of the union…

    “I just don’t agree with the sentiment of the letter,” Davis told the Observer in an interview published Thursday. “I don’t feel the need to pass legislation or vote for legislation that prohibits two adults who love each other to be able to be joined in a civil union or marriage. It does not affect my marriage.”

    […] Davis represents a district in an affluent area of Houston.

    Yessssssss.

    BOOM. The 6 officers who killed #FreddieGray have been indicted by the Grand Jury. Baltimore.

    Good.

    *Klingon victory song with better pronunciation than in Star Trek, damnit*

    I seem to recall a saying about reality having a liberal slant.

    “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”
    – Stephen “Stephen Colbert” Colbert

    The tongue worm was found on an ostracod

    That’s fascinating. Tongue worms today only live in the respiratory tracts of limbed vertebrates. One suggestion was that they’re internalized fish “lice” (which are crustaceans); apparently that’s not right…

    And for auditory learners, this one’s neat: University of Minnesota geography student and cellist Daniel Crawford brings 134 years of climate change data to life in a string quartet composition.

    :-o Wonderful!

    ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

    Petition to advertisers to ditch Bill O’Reilly.

  466. opposablethumbs says

    CD, I think it’s highly likely. This victim had a hell of a lot against her: mental health issues too, making it very easy for the police to assume nobody would ever believe her. And yes, when I saw the lawyer’s name it did cross my mind – obviously we don’t know for sure, but it’s hella plausible knowing what we do about typical police attitudes.

    I guess you and CaitieCat are right about the outcome, too – I just wish it were possible to broadcast those officers’ names very fucking loudly and be able to say they were fired and rightly so, and for every serving officer to know it.

  468. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @opposablethumbs:

    This victim had a hell of a lot against her: mental health issues too,

    Yes, mental health issues, though the 2 articles I read that referenced those issues didn’t specify whether they predated the rape or were caused by it.

    I mention that only because while extant mental health issues *can* affect how police treat you (and prosecutors and juries), the all-too common traumas of rape can sometimes have nearly identical effects on how victims are perceived.

  470. rq says

    awakeinmo
    I’m afraid that the reference was a touch high for little short me.
    (The house isn’t that bad…)

  471. says

    a_ray_in_dilbert_space @458, I loved the Sylvia Plath reference in the cards for crappy moods from The New Yorker. I do love a good dose of black humor.

  472. says

    Thank you, David M., for the return hugs, and for the additional thoughts about tongue worms. (Now that’s an odd sentence. Only on Pharynugula.)

    Perhaps a leaf rake for rq’s lego cleanup problems? A flexible leaf rake would be less likely to damage her floors. Another option: hold the responsible children up by their feet and hoover the floor with their little hands.

  473. says

    Lynna,

    I don’t know what rq would think, but I find the idea of holding small children by their feet to pick up Legos charming. The smalls would probably get a kick out of it, at least at first. rq, how about a pushbroom?

  474. rq says

    Lynna
    Children in that pose have been known to flail wildly and spread the Lego goodness even further (increasing risk of foot injury at nighttime). :D But the image is priceless…
    (awakeinmo I finally got it…)

    +++

    Speaking of images, Neville Longbottom, is that you?

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

    rq,

    I don’t know what they fed those kids on HP sets.

    I am looking forward to all the sword jokes.

  476. says

    I guess if you are a quiverfull, fundamentalist christian, Mike Huckabee (presidential wannabe and über rightwing religious whacko) thinks you should not be persecuted if you sexually assault teen girls. Huckabee gives a ranting, ridiculous pass to Josh Duggar.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/22/1386969/-Mike-Huckabee-unleashes-tirade-in-defense-of-the-Duggar-family-and-molestation-charges

    Worth noting: Huckabee’s son was “forgiven” for torturing and killing a dog at Boy Scout Camp Pioneer in Arkansas. David Huckabee, then 17 years old, was never charged with violating animal cruelty laws.

    John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas’s state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee’s chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor’s request. Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee’s Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer’s intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee’s office and fired. […]

    “Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son,” says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock, who worked closely with Bailey and called him a “courageous” and “very solid” professional.

  477. says

    Food waste news (430 billion pounds of edible food goes uneaten in the USA each year):

    With consumers demanding large displays of unblemished, fresh produce, many retailers end up tossing a mountain of perfectly edible food. Despite efforts to cut down on all that waste, in the U.S., the consumer end of the food chain still accounts for the largest share. It comes down to shoppers demanding stocked shelves, buying too much and generally treating food as a renewable resource.

    NPR link

    France is taking steps to do something about food waste:

    France’s parliament has pledged to crack down on a national epidemic of food waste by passing a law banning supermarkets destroying unsold food, instead obliging them to give it to charities or put it to other uses such as animal feed.

    The national assembly voted unanimously on Thursday evening in favour of the measure, proposed by the Socialist deputy Guillaume Garot, a former food minister. “It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” he said.

    The Guardian link

  479. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    I am now putting up in ThunderDome a few thoughts that I’ve had on a tangentially related topic, but wouldn’t have actually shared, without the Huckabee’s son thing coming up.

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

    Sleepy…

    ——–
    Looking forward to Crip Dyke’s thoughts. I hope they don’t cost you too many spoons.

  481. says

    Any European commenters familiar with a woman named Enza Ferreri? I came across a blog post of hers while looking at Google+ entries for the Irish gay marriage referendum. Short version? She’s against gay marriage, which apparently is a Jewish plot. In any case she claims to be a journalist, so I was wondering if she writes for any outlet that isn’t on the crank end of the spectrum.

  482. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @Beatrice, #475:

    I don’t know what they fed those kids on HP sets.

    If one is what one eats, then clearly Matthew Lewis was fed a lot of beefcake!

    @Beatrice, #479:

    I hope they don’t cost you too many spoons.

    Not this time, thanks.

  483. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Speaking of crossing the blood->brain barrier!

    Sacred Sensors, Squirrelman! That’s seriously amazing.

    …although I’d be even more impressed if they pulled it off with erythrocytes!

    Badum bump.

  484. bluentx says

    A thought after listening to the BBC early this morning then briefly checking The Lounge:

    BBC : “David Cameron [and other EU leaders] heading to Latvia for summit.”
    rq: “We’re having company on Saturday.”

    Huuuummm…. COINCIDENCE ??? ; )
    ———
    “Hi ya !” and *hugs* (as needed) all around.

  486. Ragutis says

    Bit out of left field here but has anyone gone/is going to a Rush R40 show? I’m going Sunday and can’t friggin wait, even if I am in the nosebleed seats. I missed the past couple of tours and it sounds like this might be the last.

  487. says

    Yeah, Neil apparently has chronic tendonitis.

    They came through Saskatoon last tour but I really couldn’t afford even 80 bucks to sit way up in the air, although the sound might actually be really good up there. Too bad they never came during the Power Windows/Hold Your Fire era, when I would have been able to scrap 30 bucks together.

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

    I’ve heard you joking about Sharknado , but I thought it wasn’t an actual movie but some sort of mock-trailer that turned viral … .or something.
    I couldn’t accept living in a reality where Sharknado exists.

    … I saw an announcement for that movie on TV the other day. Apparently, there even exists Sharknado 2. Now that I know that’s real, I think I need to watch it. Just for the insanity.

  490. Rowan vet-tech says

    I have a major cranky. 2015, the year, can fall in a well and die in a fire. This year is the year of general low-grade suck that can at any moment explode into major suck.

    Today’s installment is that my prune-y kitten, Prune, decided to live up to his name and lose half his body weight over the course of 5 days after getting dewormed, become severely dehydrated, hypoglycemic and hypothermic. He wasn’t even registering on a thermometer this morning. He’s incredibly hungry but vomits up food, probably because cold and hypoglycemic. So I get to stay up all night, checking him every half hour to make sure the warmies are still hot enough, and to give him Karo syrup (sometimes mixed with 0.25cc of a/d slurry) and generally make sure that he’s *alive*. Tomorrow I go in search of thick, warm, childrens’ socks to make him a sweater as he is literally skele-kitten and with no body fat can’t keep his core temperature where it should be. The warmies and blankets and blanket covering the carrier are helping, but a sweater will help even more. Definitely getting no sleep tonight though, which will make me even crankier.

    It also means I’m missing my drawing class again, for the second week in a row and I think I need to drop it though I love taking it. I just can’t handle the 6hr long class in the middle of the horror and stress and sorrow that is kitten season.

  491. opposablethumbs says

    Rowan, shit, I’m so sorry. I really hope Prune makes it, and I’m sure that no-one – probably literally no-one, considering your expertise and experience as well as your effort and dedication – could give him a better chance than you are doing. Wishing you all the luck, and sending hugs.
    I’m really sorry you’re missing your class, too, because you deserve and must need that kind of restorative yourself.

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

    Rowan, *hugs*
    and the gentlest of caresses for Prune

  494. says

    HI there

    Rowan
    *big hugs*
    You’s good people

    rq
    I’m sorry, I only read about your offer of barbecue meat, eh children this morning

    +++
    Can I be a bit cheerful?
    I am feeling better. After that trip to Cologne on Thursday I went to the zoo wth the kids yesterday. First it is something the kids really, really needed. At the moment they notice clearly that their mum can’t deal with them during the day and needs to get rid of them. I mean, sure, that’s the way things are always, but usually they’re in school and daycare and have their stuff where I would be the annoying sidekick. Now with the strike they get shipped off to grandma, who’s the best, but not me, so yesterday the little one broke down crying because she wanted her mummy.
    Also, we went to the zoo with BFF, her husband, her daughter, SIL and grandson. We’re all good friends. Family I’d say (who cares about chromosomes you probably share?). The SIL is a cook, so we had a nice picnic with tramezzini, albóndigas, mini-Schnitzel*, strawberries, watermelon (yes, I contributed, too ), juice, ice tea, tea, coffee, brownies….
    I also get a night out next Friday . My employer invited all the teachers and their partners to the premiere of a musical.

    *Quite early in his career he noticed an ugly truth: HIgh profile cooks don’t have lives because their job is when other people have finished work, so he decided for canteen cook because then you have worktimes that allow you to have a family and actually see them. But it also means he loves to treat his friends and family to really nice food that shows his skills and talent.

  495. says

    Rowan, hugs for you, and gentle warm cuddles for poor wee Prune. I hope you can find a little restorative time for yourself, even if it’s just a bit of drawing or reading or just sitting down between feedings.

    Giliell, I’m glad you and the littles had fun!

  496. says

    A Unitarian minister exercised her religious freedom and officiated at a same-sex wedding. Authorities previously involved in howling about protecting religious freedom, arrested her.

    A Prattville minister arrested after offering to perform a same-sex wedding inside the Autauga County Courthouse in February pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

    Anne Susan DiPrizio, 44, was sentenced to 30 days in the Autauga Metro Jail, which was suspended in lieu of six months unsupervised probation, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. She was ordered to pay a $250 fine and other court costs.

    http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabama_minister_convicted_of.html

    It’s worth noting that amidst all the hue and cry turning cake bakers into martyrs in the name of religious freedom, here is an actual ordained minister who was jailed and fined for seeking to practice her faith and support same-sex marriage.

    http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2015/05/19/69673#comments

  497. says

    Donald Trump says stupid stuff:

    Today at the Iowa National Security Action Summit, an attendee asked Donald Trump what he thinks is “the most prominent lie that the American public is being propagandized in regards to national security.” Trump responded by arguing that Obamacare “was a total lie,” before saying that “Muslims can come in but other people can’t; Christians can’t come into this country but Muslims can.”

    “Something has got to be coming down from the top,” Trump said. “Muslims can come in but Christians can’t, and the Muslims aren’t in danger but the Christians are.”

    Earlier in the speech, Trump said that he learned this “fact” from fellow summit speaker Ann Corcoran, an activist who believes President Obama is “literally swapping out the people” of the US through Muslim immigration, which she believes should be banned.

    Right Wing Watch link

    Pumping each other full of anti-facts. Republicans have been having a lot of these “summits” lately.

  498. says

    This is a followup to David M.’s comment 478. David posted a link to Paul Krugman’s excellent article on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

    Some of the pushback on the TPP deal has been the secret, classified nature of the deal. Elizabeth Warren and others introduced a bill to declassify the trade agreement, but the Trade Transparency Act was blocked by Senate Republicans. If Republicans blocked the bill, we know that they have even more to hide than we thought. I suspect more goodies and license to be lawless for multi-national corporation — more than the stuff we already know.

    […] Senators are forced to go into a classified viewing room in order to read the full text of the document, but are not allowed to bring in key staff or take notes on what is included in the bill text.

    Not only this, but as you would assume for classified documents, elected officials are unable to speak to anyone without proper security clearance about the specific details of the trade negotiations without suffering potential criminal legal ramifications. This becomes a serious issue when dealing with complicated and technical negotiations regarding the largest trade deal in American history. It also raises serious questions about the legislative process and democracy generally when the public is unable to view the content of a bill introduced in Congress, but foreign government officials and private corporations are. […]

    Daily Kos link

  500. says

    The Washington Post discusses the Duggar’s cult of “purity.”

    […]The revelation of Josh Duggar’s molestation allegations is about more than hypocrisy. This is no occasion for glee. This is a reminder of how badly the cult of purity lets victims down.[…]

    The examples given in the article of actual modesty and purity tales the parents told the children are just horrifying.