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Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is the lounge. You can discuss anything you want, but you will do it kindly.
Status: Heavily Moderated; Previous thread
More bad news for Donald Trump, good news for those of us who like to see intolerance recognized and fought.
The mattresses in question were part of the “Trump Home Collection.” They sold for $1,299 to $2,999.
This is so nice … and the location of the announcement makes it even nicer:
The Episcopalians set a good example for the majority mormon population in Utah, but I doubt that mormon leaders will budge on the issue of same-sex marriage.
http://news.yahoo.com/episcopalians-vote-allowing-gay-marriage-churches-064849720.html
No worries Crudely (@499 previous page) :D I got your message! Thanks!
We’re in our second week of temperatures running above 95 F. The Pacific Northwest isn’t supposed to get like this, dammit!
Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, is fighting marriage equality … and losing.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/district-court-strikes-down-louisiana-ban
Ah, home early after my boss told me to go home. Which I was doing. Dang, appears I left my laptop at work after stuffing my Dell into a MacWorld carrier bag to torture it. Need to rectify that in the morning before/after my haircut (the Redhead’s CNAs are working at least part of tomorrow to give me a little buffer to do some stuff-like a haircut and some hardware shopping). My mid-year self-evaluation is due in my boss’ inbox Monday morning. I will meet expectations.
The weather here in Chiwaukee is cool (about 60 F), as the wind is coming off Lake Michigan after a cold winter. Which is why my furnace was running in July (gotta keep the Redhead warm).
More fallout from Trump’s clown act, “Fuck Your Hair” beer.
Chinga Tu Pelo.
Perfect.
Giliell — Congratulations on the thesis!
*hugs & heabonks for everybody!*
Headbonks? Headbonks?
I do so dearly love tender headbonks. So personal, so private and so funny.
Please, have one from me to you, WMDKiitty. Bonk!
Anx.
I’ll just bet that we both feel better.
I’m going to Seven Potato for the weekend.
(attempting bilingual humour)
I just realized that things were slow around here because Convergence was going on. Shows how much I pay attention sometimes.
****
Thank you to the Horde members who were able to donate. I’m shy on rent by just under $100 now.
chigau
…
In which two languages?
;)
Because the subject came up recently elsewhere, here’s a retrospective on one of my favourite books, and source of my ‘nym: Where Alice in Wonderland, Now 150 Years Old, Came From.
I know I mentioned it here before quite a while ago, but I took my ‘nym (rq) from the Red Queen in Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
Note: This is not the same character as the Queen of Hearts, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I don’t actually have a thing for croquet, red roses, or taking off people’s heads. The two are, however, combined into one character in pretty much every media representation of the Alice story.
Also I’ve always loved the moment when Alice meets the Unicorn:
Morning
Goodness it’s hot. Temperatures are exected to rise to 40°C today. Mr.’s working overtime on purpose because the lab has air condition. I’m hanging balnkets in front of the windows and do lots of laundry for the cooling effect when it dries. Poor kid has to write a maths test today…
rq
You can explain all the basic linguistic features of language using Alice in Wonderland and Through the Lookingglass
Giliell
And a good portion of biology, too. (Okay, not a good portion but there is a Red Queen Hypothesis! ;) )
I’ve always thought of everyday life as being how the Red Queen describes: always running just to keep up. I also think it’s like the novelty acts you used to get in the Seventies. I think they were called ‘plate spinners’. They had poles and would balance plates on them and keep them spinning. Of course, the more poles you have the more work you need to put in to keep all the plates spinning. I think life’s like that: you have all these various strands to maintain and if you have too many, or you neglect one, then things can come crashing down all too easily. That’s my philosophy for the day.
Anyway, our bedroom is not safe anymore! Earlier this week my daughter worked out how to get out of bed. This morning, she got out of bed, out of her room and into ours. There will be no peace.
bassmike
There will be no more peace.
You have all my sympathies.
I hate depression. It’s a beautiful day and everything should be lovely, but all I want to do is break something and/or burst into tears.
bassmike, hugs and a cup of tea if you want them. Depression sucks. Sometimes all I can do is keep moving, or I’ll end up in a corner in the fetal position, making scared kitten noises.
As for your little one, good luck, this phase too shall pass. Perhaps you could convince her that early mornings are quiet time, and she should be reading (or at least looking at her books) in her own room?
Fortunately, both of mine were fine playing quietly by themselves. Which of course meant that I had to worry about what quiet mischief they were making.
Thank you Anne . The little one is too young to read at the moment. As she’s an only child there’s no playmate for her so she wants one of us to play with her. She’s been up at 6.45 every day this week. It might be the hot weather, but it looks like another early morning tomorrow.
bassmike
*hugs*
Sledgehammer? It’s okay to go break things out in the sunshine!
rq
English and 日本語
seven = nana
potato = imo
The sledgehammer sounds good rq . See you all next week. Have a great weekend.
bassmike:
Hugs if you want them. I’m sorry the black dog is hitting hard.
Tony, what’s your PayPal address again pls? I am no longer the poorest mouse on the block. I know it’s further up but I can’t think of a search that will find it quickly.
Tony, check your e-mail.
There’s really no way for mormons to make their anti-gay-marriage stance look good, but they do try.
Mormon PR departments hold casting calls, snap photos in front of temples etc., and make an extra special effort to make their “traditional families” look diverse, (which they are not, for the most part, being almost all white).
They made a mistake when they uploaded a photo to the mormon website featuring the church’s reaction to the recent Supreme Court ruling. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/supreme-court-decision-will-not-alter-doctrine-on-marriage
The woman in the photo supports marriage equality. She didn’t know she was posing for an anti-gay-marriage photo.
Link
Although they didn’t word it that way, mormon PR flacks had put out a casting call for non-white families. They asked for “multicultural families” in the LDS Church casting call.
Layers of lies, accomplished with photos instead of text.
The woman in the photo still considers herself a good mormon and only objected when the photo was widely distributed. Odd.
In Utah another strange flag with troubling associations flies near the capitol. No, not the Confederate flag, the Flag of the Kingdom of God of the State of Deseret
Salt Lake Tribune link
From the comments below the article:
A Fourth of July speech we should have studied in history classes: Frederick Douglass speaking on Independence Day in Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852.
Excerpt below:
Link
N/M, I found it, Tony, and sent you a little something. Thank my socialist government. :)
Good. Someone is filing a lawsuit against clerks who refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kentucky-clerk-sued-over-marriage-licenses
What Mike Huckabee plans to do if he is elected President of the USA:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/huckabee-plan-judicial-tyranny-scotus-gay-marriage
How kind. The Latvian Prime Minister has just said that Latvia could accept up to 250 refugees – but no more than 50 per year.
How kind.
Lynna, #33
Disgusting. The Republican party is the largest hate group in America.
America Ferrera writes Thank You letter to Donald Trump
Saad @35, That’s one great letter that Ferrera wrote! Wow. She’s right.
Dear Loungers, many and heartfelt salutations. I had four days away, then the hard drive told me to bugger off and crumbled to dust, and then the minute everything was up again and all programmes reinstalled (cannibalising an old hard drive out of an even older and disused computer (not me, I can’t do any of this, I had great help)) the graphics card promptly threw a fit and lay down and screamed, and this computer’s so old they aren’t like that any more, but fortunately there was another even older one in the Box of Bits …
So I am a little bit totally and completely rupt and sorry to have missed every last bit of everybody’s news, both good and bad. I very much hope you are all OK or preferably that you are wonderful, because on the whole you are a bloody marvellous lot.
I am a very lucky person, because I got the chance to say goodbye to my friend – she even had a relatively good day, the day a bunch of us descended on her, though she can’t type any more – and tell her how much I love her. She has the most wonderful family ever ever ever in the history of ever, and they made us so incredibly welcome and we basically spent a day and a half at her bedside (a super high-tech hospital bed on loan, assembled in her front room by the window, with a motorised ripple mattress to prevent pressure sores and a control that lets you raise bits, lower bits, bend bits and probably do the hokey cokey, all while lying down).
It might be a few more weeks or it might be any time, so I and the others who met up for the wake are glad to have had the chance to party and laugh (and cry) with the guest of honour.
*chuckle* Have fun, Chigau!
It is entirely too hot here. I can’t think and can barely do anything else.
Apparently 19,000 acres of central Oregon are on fire, and it’s spreading fast.
You know you’re a right asshole when you’re rich and white and the GOP considers you a problem for their image.
I had some carefully thought out points to make a little while ago. Then I stretched out on my bed and when I woke up, poof, all gone.
In happier news there is a wonderful golden moon just now peeking through the clouds in the sky. I stepped out back for a smoke and spoke aloud, “Hey, moon! How ya doon?” I chuckled at my own rhyming cleverness.
Here’s a bushel of hugs (I think there are a higgs or two down near the bottom), a gallon (or, galloon; rhymes with moon) of good will and a cuppa really good clover tea. Apply liberally as needed.
More than that, Dalillama. According to http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/# there are at least nine large fares burning in Oregon that have consumed 35,995 acres as of the moment.
A look at the fire map of Alaska is truly frightening.
Do you like the blues? As in the music kind of blues? You do? I sure do and “if you’re like me” then you should go here —->http://152.2.63.71/dfd/wunc-jwplayer/index-128.html my friends and enjoy.
Recordings from as long ago as the 1920s are on tap for your enjoyment.
But… but… I thought open carry makes people feel safer.
You mean to tell me when people are at the mall with their children and a stranger is walking around with an AR-15, they feel threatened?
Saad @45
Was he black?
rq, #46
He is a white male and a victim of Obama’s socialist crackdown on proud white mens’ Second Amendment rights.
Thanks to Wikileaks, we now have more information on the ways in which trade deals like the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is supposed to work. Basically, it looks like a roadmap for bankers to skirt regulations on a worldwide basis.
This is a fairly complex issue, as are most scams that bankers try to run (like fixing the Libor rates), so please do refer to Don Quijones full article on the Wolf Street blog.
Some Mormon Moments of Madness come to an end. Boyd K. Packer died.
That’s not “President of the LDS church,” but “President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,” which is one rung down from the “First Presidency” in the mormon hierarchy of doddering dunderheads. They do love their titles.
PZ has written about Boyd K. Packer before. He’s the mormon apostle that blathered on about not trusting one’s intellect. He’s the guy that was rabidly anti-masturbation, referring to the penis as a “Little Factory” that ramps up into evil manufacturing territory if you touch it. Packer was equally perverse on many topics.
How to be even more cult like, by Boyd K. Packer:
In other words, keep repeating that shit until you believe it.
And one of PZ’s favorites:
Link to PZ’s discussion of “bat-rogerin’ insane” pronouncements by Boyd K. Packer.
Packer was so batty when it came to anti-gay pronouncements that even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found it necessary to edit him, to rewrite history.
Link
Mormon media outlets are full of fulsome praise for Packer. Purple prose eulogies are springing up all over. Blech.
I found out that a former high school classmate is involved with European Conservatives. Ew ew ew.
Why am I looking at his Twitter stream?
I’ll just be even more disappointed.
(later)
Confirmed.
Why is this place so empty today? Europeans at least are not celebrating the 4th of July
[waves at Beatrice from pillow fort] It’s hot and getting hotter, it’s very humid, and I’ve been busy with other things, like walking to the Country Fair thingy at the park and working on an embroidery UFO (UnFinished Object). Pottering around, basically.
Hello, Anne!
It’s hot here too. I’m looking at apartments so at least I can check how well they hold up during hot months (since I’m looking at cheaper places that mostly don’t have air conditioning). So that was mostly my day – checking out adds and seeing 2 apartments.
It will only get hotter the next couple of days, should be 33°C tomorrow.
Here a Casa la Pelirroja, the raspberries/blackberries are just beginning to get ripe. Brought in about six of the first samples for the Redhead. They disappeared with a wish they were on ice cream. Maybe tomorrow.
As for me, I was out purchasing a few little things, as my disability money came in yesterday. 16 months worth, all at once (minus the payments I’d gotten from the welfare program). So I’ve finally gotten a new laptop (the old one was held together with electrical tape mostly), and a few other bits and bobs, like a keyboard to use with my tablet (making posting from lying-down-time much easier). All in all, a pretty good day today. First time I’ve spent that kind of money in…eight years? Got a great deal, but it’s cramping my typing style a little bit, because the left shift button (generally the only one I use) is short, only one button wide, and tucked in next to it is the slash key. So when you see something like this \9, it means I tried to put in a parenthesis. I’ll get used to it eventually.
I think fewer people are by not least because it’s 4 July, but also because PZ’s been understandably posting somewhat less often. So there’s fewer drop-by visitors, just us few regulars from outside the US, and a couple of hardy souls from within it.
I have been getting ready to go camping on the crest of the Lost River Range. It will cooler at about 9,000 feet elevation. And more thunderstorms are likely up there, so it will thunderously scenic.
Prep for camping takes quite a bit of time. It’s a primitive camp where no other people (that we know of) ever go. There are no facilities. I have to pack a camp kitchen.
W00t and this is me typing on my tablet! Woohooo!
Frabjus day!
Missed employer’s barbecue because our ride flaked on us. Not a big fan of parties anyway, though, I’m not that fussed.
We had some friends over for everything but Independence Day. We made a list of things to celebrate (starting with New Year’s, incl. all birthdays and name days up ’til now, plus all the assorted invented holidays like Women’s Day, Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day) and invited people.
It was actually really good, as the weather was excellent (sunny and hot with a nice long cool evening), but I’m all socialized out.
*hugs* and *higs* as required, requested or desired!
We have many, many friends who are diabetic so for holiday gatherings I usually make sugar-free/low carb stuff. So, I made more of the tomato/strawberry/lime gazpacho, made guacamole and bringing chips and fried port rinds for dipping, bringing extra chopped onion, jalapeno and cucumber, made a low-carb almond flour pound cake to use as shortcake and brought strawberries and sugar free whipped cream to make strawberry shortcakes. Did I forget anything?
That is “pork” rinds, not port rinds.
I’m at a seminar.
I don’t have enough muscle-relaxants.
The Redhead, who must celebrate all holidays, took pity on me, and had me stop by a local BBQ place yesterday for a slab of ribs. So the big meal for the Fourth was planned over ribs (hers cut off the bone), cole slaw, baked beans, fries, and beverage of choice, red wine for her, and a beer for me.
Tomorrow she may make me thaw some brats, boil them in onions and beer, then give them a quick sear on the grill. The grill with three wheels (a welded nut came off for the curious).
Morning
rq
Does that mean a Latvian will have the same chance of meeting a refugee as winning the lottery?
+++
4th of July
I spend every 4th of July preparing for the impending of #1’s birthday, which is today.
PLease, please, please let locally heavy thunderstorms with hail and heavy rin be local elsewhere.
+++
Caitie
Yay for nice things
+++
Also, it’s too hot
If you want to know How hot: We brought the caravan back to the yard where we’ve rened a space yesterday. They have two huge Rottweiler dogs which usually bark their heads off as soon as you enter the premise. Yesterday, they’d taken the dogs into the little vestiblue for shelter. Unknowing, I leanded into that space and called for the people who run the place.
ONe of the dogs lifted his head, looked at me, and put the head down again.
Giliell,
As I already complained in the Mended Drum:
It’s 29°C in the kitchen and it’s barely 9 in the morning. A whole 1°C less on the west side.
I’ll report from the sunny balcony in a couple of minutes
First reaction: hmm, this isn’t working, I can’t find the end of the red line.
… that was because the end was all the way up at 44°C
beatrice
I cover the kitchen window with a thick blanket in the morning cause it faces South. By midday I close the balcony door (West) and only open it again late in the evening. Yesterday was hell because I needed to spend time in the kitchen where the oven was on…
Giliell
re: the lottery
At the end of 5 years, that’s 250 refugees for about 2 million people (assuming there are no new waves of emigration or (proper) immigration), so I think there’s still a slightly better chance of meeting a refugee than winning the lottery. And it will probably be like with the Chinese immigrants, who are establishing their own little community in one particular city, so unless you’re in the area, you wouldn’t even know they’re there. So I think the average Latvian still won’t ever meet a refugee.
Too bad.
Also, I hope the thunderstorms pass right over you and hit the neighbouring town. Happy Birthday to #1!!!
+++
OriginalCat was walking around the second floor last night mewling because he was too hot (and probably because we bought the wrong catfood last go-round, tough shit, kittie!), but he didn’t want to go outside where it was cool. Eventually he gave up (because nobody was getting up again to open the door for him or to check his food bowl with him) and camped out behind the door against the wall. It’s been a morning of evil looks.
Yup, we spend mornings/midday with curtains closed. The house wouldn’t be survivable otherwise.
And we have one room that basically doesn’t get any direct sunlight all day… but it’s in the unrenovated part of the house. :(
Partial cross-post – piano bar. (by @lcampbellart) #EssenceFest I actually really love this one. Enough that I wish we had the means to buy it, because we’ll be getting a new (used) piano (donated from friends who are moving away), which means I can now sacrifice the Red October that we have into a functional piece of furniture (I mean functional beyond making music) – Husband dreams of turning it into a bar/liquor cabinet-type piece. This painting would be perfect to go along with it. I’d actually love a similar one with jazz musicians even more. For the loungeroom that we will eventually have in our house (haha).
rq
Make it into an adventure and tell the kids it’s indoor camping
Racist perpetuum mobile. People who have no contact at all with refugees/immigrants/PoC have noticably more racist opinions than people who do.
Yeah, we do the whole “keeping the rooms on the sunlit side dark” thing too, but it’s still hot.
Beatrice
Still hot and muggy, but better than toasting in the direct sunlight. :P
Hope you at least get cool evenings!
Best of luck for a happy #1 birthday, Giliell, and Happy Birthday #1!!!!!!!
As a UKnian I find it incredibly hard to break the habit of if-it’s-too-warm-OF-COURSE-you-open-windows/doors. For it to be warmer outside than in is unpossible. Even though it’s happened a time or two :-)
opposablethumbs
Also, for previous comment, *hugs*.
I had a similar habit re: doors and hot weather (being from Canada and all) but I HAVE LEARNED! The hard way. :) Especially since we have one room whose entire wall is large picture windows, and it faces South, with one of the ends pointing East, and the first summer we learned to just keep the bloody blinds SHUT. (It’s wonderful in winter on sunny days, lovely and warm, but it’s a greenhouse heat-trap in the summer.)
I like open spaces with many windows, but I could keep tropical plants in my room and living room during summer if we didn’t keep the blinds down and shut completely.
Beatrice
Perhaps a cactus or two…
I have bad experience with cacti. My grandmother used to water them when I was in school because I didn’t water the poor things enough, so every one I ever had rotted.
Now I keep African violets :)
I killed my African violets. The cacti are still making a stand for life.
I think I already told the story of my favorite African violet who stagnated with a couple of tiny leaves for a year or two, but I didn’t give up and now it’s beautiful.
BUt I can’t make the orchids flower again. I don’t have the patience for them.
Husband took charge of the orchids. I’m no good with them, myself.
My face is on Vegetational Post Office walls everywhere, with my supervillain name, Black Thumb, prominently displayed.
CaitieCat
How much chlorophyll are they offering for your capture?
Dunno, can’t read the small print through my mask when I see the posters. Probably a lot.
Me, I think it’s because I have a special knack of planting things with no will to live. Not my fault! Blame the victim, not me!
Thank you, rq.
Strictly weeds and ivy, me :-((((
And a small handful of plants that are just too stubborn to be undone by my incompetence.
Speaking of surviving plants, I think my melons died.
States’ rights!!!1
On one hand, my position on melons* is: Die, you stinky bastards, die on the other, I’m sorry your efforts were wasted.
*unless those were watermelons in which case I am sorry on both hands
It took me awhile to learn that trick, but from the opposite direction. I grew up in the midwest where it’s so hot all summer we all have air conditioning, so there was no window opening to do. Then I moved to a cooler climate, had no air conditioning, and thought “windows open ALL THE TIME”. It took a couple of summers and someone mentioning it to me to realize I was just letting the heat IN when it was at the worst.
Yup, the watermelon died too, but there’s a reservist almost ready for transplantation. :)
carlie
Yeah, staying cool in the northern summer is a whole different trick. :D
Sam Harris and Dan Carlin try to talk threw and deal with white privilege around the globe.
http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sense-home-landing-page/
sry I was brushing up on my norse myths.
John #91, please don’t cause video to be embedded in the thread. It makes it hard on the tablet/phone users.
You can prevent embedding my adding a sentence after the video, or by putting the link in a sentence,
Example: SH & DC talk about white privilege here, which causes the link to be the word “here”.
Sorry John, you got it the second time
My linkage in #3 should read:SH & DC talk about white privilege <a href = “url to video”>here</a>. Forgot about needing to use ampersand characters.
Uff
Anybody want a piece of Carrot cake vanilla custard buttercream cake?
Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds.
I just finished the Monster Muffins for school tomorow. Ain’t they gorgeous?
Everything went fine. Two guests didn’t show up, but we had so much fun, nobody missed them.
And I promised you some sparkle, didn’t I?
*shades*
Greece just told the Austrian school of economics (liberturd economics/austerity) to buzz off.
I guess I was wrong thinking that Politico was a left-leaning site. They published this piece from Rich Lowry (editor of the National Review, which a conservative site).
Yes, I’ve been watching this quite closely. Right from the election win by Syriza, the Euro-right (and that includes most of the so-called centre-left parties, which have swallowed the neoliberal nostrums over the past few decades) have been determined that either Syriza will completely betray its election promises and join the “grind the faces of the poor” elite consensus, or both they and the Greek people will be severely punished (even more severely than the latter already have been by 5 years of “austerity”, leading to a 25% fall in GDP). The elite problem is that although they tried to present the referendum as yes or no to the euro, there’s no mechanism for a country voluntarily leaving it, let alone for one being thrown out. What the elite can do is refuse further finance. But as far as I can see, that risks Greece repudiating its debts, but saying it’s staying in the euro (which is what Jeffrey Sachs recommends). What the wider implications of that would be, I don’t know; but the euro and stocks around the owrld (except China) have already fallen.
re: Greece
It’s amazing how little the “world’s leading democracies” actually hate democracy. I applaud the Greek people who have decided to show the Troika the collective middle finger. I also applaud their courage.
Actually like , not actually hate. Start one sentence, finish another sentence, end up with gibberish.
Giliell Happy Birthday to your daughter. The cakes look great!
So, we had a procession of three thunderstorms on Friday night that were so close together they merged into one. My daughter slept through it all. It was a pretty decent weekend, so my mood has improved somewhat. I can now put the sledgehammer down and the Lounge glassware and china is safe….for the moment.
We went to a local fete on Saturday. Not particularly exciting, but met a few friends and daughter had a run around. When it was time to go she did the classic infant I-don’t-want-to-go thing and sat on the ground with her arms folded. It look a little gentle persuasion, but we got her home.
Typically, over the weekend the she’s waking earlier due to the heat. Now it’s a week day again, and it’s a little cooler, she doesn’t want to wake up at all. Why can’t kids get it the right way round? *pouts*
Good morning Lounge!
A quick request on behalf of a non Lounge/FtB-er: does anyone happen to have at their fingertips a reliable source or two for comparing teenage pregnancy and abortion rates around the world?
(Google suggests http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/births-by-area-of-usual-residence-of-mother–england-and-wales/2012/sty-international-comparisons-of-teenage-pregnancy.html but this only has live births and doesn’t look at abortions; and http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X%2814%2900387-5/abstract?cc=y=
I’m sure I’ve seen good sources in the past, but with my usual efficiency can’t remember where). Many thanks for any links.
bassmike
Eventually I hear they just don’t want to wake up at all, so you might as well just hope that one day she’ll transform into a normally-waking adult. :D
Also, re: leaving parties, one method we found that worked really well was giving some advance warning. Like saying ‘we’ll be leaving soon, finish up what you’re doing’ or giving a specific time limit (like 10 minutes, which is short enough that even if you don’t adhere to it 100%, it’s believable). This usually let them get used to the idea of leaving.
Then again, there were always moments of stubbornness.
I’m glad you had a good weekend!! We’ve been promised thunderstorms today. Judging from the general oppressive feelings in the air, the meteorologists just might deliver this time.
Oh, yes, the countdown system! (e.g. 10 mins) for getting mentally ready for a change in activity/situation – found that very helpful too.
So here I am, still in ie-down time, but able to make a reasonably typed comment anyway. Disabiity schmisabiilty.
Had a nice quiet weekend, despite all the fireworks (they’ve been popping off since the 28th, first for Canada Day, then moving smoothly into the 4th. Which isn’t our holiday, but any old excuse to set off the bang-bang.
Summer here has been cool and wet, lots of rain and temps in the high teens (60s, for you who don’t know the superiority of metric). My aartment is brilliant for the summer, sitting on the north corner of the building (it sits 45 degrees off the cardinal directions, so one corner points north). One bedroom has a window on the west side, whence comes the wind, while the main part is on the east face. Sun is on the place until abbout 10h, then off until after 17h.
So I don’t use my air conditioner much at all – probably less than ten days a summer, usually, and less yet this year. I’m thinking of going camping later this month, to take advantage of this cool summer. Only when the temp gets up over 28 or so do I need the a/c, and even then only if there’s no wind. I keep all the windows open all the time, which means it can be a gloriously cool 12 degrees in the morning in the living room. The setup also means that when I’m painting, as I am these days (miniatures for a friend at the moment, but I’m getting back to canvas when that’s done), the morning light comes into the iiving room in a perfect way to give me a great view of the colours.
I’ll be sad to give this place up, for all that it’s clearly too small for Craig and I to share longterm.
How’s the apartment search going, Beatrice? Did you end up passing on the great first place you saw?
As opposablethumbs and rq said, the countdown works pretty well. My wife and I read somewhere that toddlers don’t like the sudden change in activities when they are having fun, so a little warning goes a long way. You don’t even have to be strict with the timing — we’ve told our kids ten minutes and then stayed for another half hour. As long as you give them a lower number every couple minutes, you should be alright.
Caitie
Yay for camping!
kids and leaving
Giving them a warning is definitely a good idea. We also learned that there’s a point when we have about 15 minutes to leave or the evening will end in tears. Mind you, when that moment comes, the kids are still happy. Possibly too happy, about to overact.
BTW, I’ve written something about the White Feminist uproar about Rhianna’s latest vid, link to blog behind my nym.
Yeah, we’re learning about the warnings for my daughter. She’s pretty good. But the sit-down-arms-crossed stance was just amusing!
BTW someone famous was born 80 years ago. I do not expect this someone to be congratulated on Chinese TV :-)
bassmike
Wish you had a picture. :D It would probably make a great meme.
Guess who had to get up this morning and dress respectably enough for public view? The plumber is supposed to come sometime this morning and unstop our front bathroom sink. Husband spent most of the weekend and a fair amount of money trying to do it himself. He finally had to admit defeat Sunday afternoon, so here I sit, when I’d much rather have gone back to bed.
Also too, when are we going to get smart and just ban fireworks altogether in California? The local incendiary idiots have been busy for the last week, and they’re still setting the damn things off this morning. And we’re in a record drought, so everything is all dry and crunchy. Gah.
So no thunderstorms, but torrential rain instead. Driving visibility is shit, and the courtyard at work will most likely flood again.
On the plus side, it’s still warm and muggy. Did I say plus side? I meant the opposite.
Anne
Good luck with the plumber, perhaps a nap is in order once xe leaves?
I have to say, I enjoy fireworks – when they’re done professionally, in a safe location, once in the evening. This randomly-timed backyard stuff is just a little too risky, in my mind. Not to mention traumatizing for many people, as well as animals.
CaitieCat
I hope you manage to go camping while the weather is stil suitable!
Feeling some mild envy for the coolness of your apartment. :)
Bernie Sanders on the vote in Greece:
FIFA is shortchanging the U.S. women’s soccer team:
http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2015/07/06/3677105/fifa-will-pay-us-womens-championship-team-4-times-less-mens-teams-lost-first-round/
rq, thanks, the plumber just arrived. He thinks it’s a pretty simple fix. Stay safe, driving in a heavy downpour is scary.
Lynna
I certainly hope Greece has a plan moving forward, because it’s still going to be hell on the children, the elderly, the poor and the sick… though maybe for a shorter time period than austerity measures. Better struggling on their own than struggling while in deep debt?
@Lynna, #115:
In this case, I think anti-US sentiment is combining with sexism to reinforce the sexist attitudes that would already undervalue women.
Oh dear. First plumber has had to call in second plumber aka “the muscle”. This is turning out to be not so simple. Or relatively inexpensive, I fear.
Well, we had a pretty good run but we’re screwed. The city filled up on appointments for rent help this week, the Salvation Army still hasn’t called me back, and the local churches are no help for rent atm.
We got a 5 day notice on the 2nd and our options are gone. Owing most of June and now all of July is really bad. Roomie’s got the part-time job but no paycheck yet. Should be this friday, but it’s going to less hours than we thought because they told him not to come in today. It’s not enough to cover even half and his phone’s about to be shut off if we don’t pay it.
I still haven’t been hired though I’ve got an interview today and one tomorrow. It might be too little too late, even if I get lucky and they hire me asap.
*sigh*
I love ya’ll. I’ll try to check in when I can but I’ll be selling my desktop soon (can’t really take it with me and we need the money)
*hugs* and *higs*
That bites the big one, JAL. I’m sorry for you trials. Would it help to apply piles of smiles? If so, I offer mine to you.
Family and I just did squeak through June. Now July is upon us and the climate is just bleak enough to be a worry but not bleak enough to be disastrous. I can only offer props and gentle encouragement. Such have been known to be useful from time to time.
Fuck, JAL, I’m sorry
CD @ 118
I don’t think it has anything to do with anti US sentiments in this case as the prize money is fixed. Just pure misogyny.
Wanna see one of the dudes score a goal from almost 50m…
Football is my favourite example to explain gendered behaviour. In the USA, girls’ sprt. In Europe, boys’ sport, ewww, girl cooties.
CaitieCat,
The landlady was urging me to decide because she supposedly had another offer. Her ad is still up, so I’m hoping she lied to get me to decide because every other apartment I’ve seen is crap.
I’m going to look at another one tomorrow and if that one isn’t the right one I’ll probably contact her again and hope for the best.
In other news, the heat made me so nauseous I almost puked in the middle of the tram. I managed to get home.
JAL
*hugs* and good thoughts. Wish I could do something more tangible.
JAL;
Can we do anything?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/06/1399563/-Donald-Trump-gets-into-Twitter-war-with-Modern-Family-writer-is-obliterated
The link says it all. The twitter exchange is hilarious. Trump is trumped at every turn.
Giliell 122
Lloyd’s goal was pure genius in the way she saw that the goalie had come too far off her line to recover. There was a goal in the 2010 World Cup scored by Spain that was 40-50 m out, I think. That one was the result of a bad clear by the opposing goalie leaving him waaay out of position.
JAL
Hoping for good things and as Beatrice asked in 125, anything we can do?
You can see that great goal by Carli Lloyd here (scroll down)
http://nesn.com/2015/07/carli-lloyd-scores-ridiculous-world-cup-goal-hat-trick-in-16-minutes-videos/
and here:
http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/05/video-carli-lloyd-seals-incredible-16-minute-hat-trick-from-halfway-line/
and here:
http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup/story/uswnt-win-womens-world-cup-title-championship-carli-lloyd-japan-5-2-match-report-070515?vid=477605955734
I provided three links because so many people are looking for the video that you may have try a couple of different sites before you get one to play.
Thanks everyone.
Beatrice and ajb47, unfortunately the only thing that could give me time to get a job and not go tumbling back down into shelters is money to pay the rent. The manager’s worked with us before, but it’s a lot we owe now and I don’t know how much she’ll take on a promise to pay, even with Roomie’s new job.
I’ll try the city again next monday for an appointment to try and get rent help but even if I manage to get the appointment, it’s no guarantee and the 5 days is up tomorrow. I just got back from an interview but I’ve got a second interview for that job before finding out at least.
I’d ask mom again, to hell with keeping my sanity lol, but she’s been in the wind. Ya’ll are great but I know ya’ll are struggling and have helped us several times before already. I wish I could at least say “but I have a job now” but nope. One place actually wants to hire me doesn’t have any openings and clearly no where else wants me. *sigh*
And now that I am looking at Lloyd’s goal again, the Spain one was probably closer to 35 or 40. Lloyd was barely over the midline when she launched that one. And still genius. “The keeper came out, let’s see if I can put it over her head” and then placed it perfectly.
rq @117:
I’m with you on this. I don’t see any way that an even deeper hell is not going to descend on poor and otherwise disadvantaged people. It’s a nightmare. There’s a photo I can’t get out of my head: an elderly man is sitting on the sidewalk crying. His face is the epitome of despair.
JAL
Fucking hell, all I can do is keep the thumbs held on your behalf. :( I hope at least one of these interviews comes through with solid employment for you! Preferably this week, at the latest. :(
*hugs*
+++
[pointless anecdote]
Warning: mosquitos ahead. Kanata residents have to pay for Kizell Pond mosquito fix, says Marianne Wilkinson.
‘Kay, I grew up in this area before it was ‘developed’. I know the Kizell Pond area, and I still remember the ruins of the abandoned cow farm, and there were amazing mountain bike trails for amateur-beginners, not to mention cross-country skiing, throughout the area. Back then, it was a conservation area, specifically because it was a wetland and contained several rare and unique species of plants and animals. But Big Development being what it is, the land got rezoned, and even with petitioning the city (and quite a few ecological studies and scientific talk), money won the day. I’m still bitter about all those dead spring peepers. And they destroyed and built over the old mica quarries, of course.
Anyway.
In essence, these new developments are built on a marsh (in a marsh?). I believe the developer even had development issues because of all the water underground.
I’m sure most new home-owners to the area weren’t aware of consequences of living in a swamp, but dammit, you’re living in a swamp. It will have mosquitos, and black flies, and you will have to deal with them. (And introducing dragonflies, seriously? Bats? There were dragonflies and bats in the area when I was growing up, and I was back there again last summer, and I’m 90% sure those were real dragonflies and real bats that I saw.)
But what I love best is the excuse: the city doesn’t want to meddle with the fragile ecosystem of the wetlands.
Fuck you, you already did that.
And Nature is wreaking her revenge.
[/pointless anecdote]
Krugman has a good summary on the economic issues in Greece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/opinion/paul-krugman-ending-greeces-bleeding.html
Hi Loungelings,
I am feeling very garden variety yucky today. Worked outside yesterday and probably did too much. Can’t get out of my own way today. Think I’ll go try to read a book, if the brain cooperates.
ただいま！
Damn. Damn, damn, damn.
You may recall I’ve mentioned a friend of Child 1 a few times. Has been having a rough go of it for the last few years.
Well, his dad kicked him out of the house today. And not in the middle of a fight, although they’ve apparently been having quite a few of those lately – according to the Kid, he actually took him out telling him it was for a doctor’s appointment, but instead took him down to the county social services office, handed over a backpack with a change of clothes, and said he couldn’t come back home. I guess at least he got clothes and dropped off at a location that *might* have been able to help him, although that might just have been his dad worrying that he’d get socked with child endangerment if he didn’t. But since he’s 18, the only thing they could offer was the homeless shelter. Thankfully he has our phone number memorized (he didn’t even have his phone on him) and was able to call from the office, and he’s now safely ensconced at our house. It’s not ideal, though, because he has asthma and is allergic to the basement (which is the only place we really have room for him to be comfortable and have his own space). Tomorrow Spouse is going to try to play nice with his dad to get his stuff, because apparently today he kept refusing to answer the phone when Kid called. I’m going to call social services in the morning to see what recourse Kid has if his dad says no, if we call the police or what. Kid is scared his stuff (including his pet lizard) will end up on the curb because his dad has threatened it in the past, so we’ll do a driveby tonight to make sure it’s not out there. If he can get his stuff back, he can call some other relatives (whose number is on the phone) who live a few hours away, and if they’ll take him we’ll drive him there in a few days as soon as they’re all ready, and if not, we’ll figure out what to do.
I just… fuck, you know? I know he’s no angel, but you don’t do that to a kid. You especially don’t do that to your own kid. This had all gone down from my perspective over the phone while I was at work, and it wasn’t until I got home and they were all sitting at the table with a notepad talking over the specifics of what needed done and when and how that it really hit me that this was really happening, that we couldn’t just act like he was staying on an extended sleepover. He turned around when I came in, and… I have never seen a look that starkly hopeless, that close up. And from someone that young. I would have crumpled in place if I wasn’t already full-on in Mama Bear Mode from stopping by the store for necessities on the way home. (I BROUGHT YOU A TOOTHBRUSH! AND YOUR ALLERGY MEDICINE! AND ALSO A SHOWER SCRUBBY!)
I feel especially bad about our plans – we have a couple of college visits set up for Child 1 this week and next, and we don’t really have time to reschedule them. It feels kind of gross to haul Kid along to college visits, when he had to drop out of school this year due to family and health problems. But maybe it would take his mind off of things? I could use some advice on that. Thanks for letting me vent.
Aw, shit. It just hit me – if this works and his relatives take him in, he’ll be gone. :(
carlie, hugs.
carlie
Whatever happens with the rest of it, so far, you have done a good thing.
A really, really good bunch of things.
Oh, Carlie. I’m so glad to not being in your shoes just now.
Question: Is the Kid capable of seeing to his own needs? Can he live on his own? If so a solution might present itself.
Fractured syntax is fractured. Tee hee.
JAL, *HUGS*
Carlie,
It’s a good thing you did there. *hugs*
I’m sitting here writing a couple of quick comments before I go to work and that strange sound I can’t shake off is…. my poor plants (well, the earth in their pots) sucking up water.
This heat wave will pass soon I hope. Dad isn’t doing well.
Damn, carlie. I hope it all works out okay.
carlie:
The situation for Child 1’s friend sounds awful. It’s a good thing you and your family have done. Here’s hoping he’ll be able to work something out with some of his relatives.
But neither forgotten, nor forever.
Bill Cosby Deposition changes Jill Scott’s mind: ‘I was wrong’.
Damn straight you were.
It wasn’t enough that 43 women have stepped forward with accusations against Bill Cosby. You couldn’t believe them and take them at their word.
How many women does it take to equal a deposition? No idea, but it’s more than 43.
carlie
As others have said, you have done a Very Good Thing.
I hope something positive works out for Kid. I hope he gets his lizard back alive!! And other stuff.
And good luck with the college visits, whether they’re with Kid or not.
Beatrice
Ugh, those poor plants. I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard that sound, though – it sounds creepy!
I don’t know what’s going on with our heatwave. It’s supposed to get cold, windy and rainy this week. Not delivering.
Good morning
carlie
You is good people. And holy fuck, some folks don’t deserve children. What are the parents thinking? “Well, he’s 18 now, I don’t care for the remaining 60-70 years he still has and fuck him over badly now?
I hope that something turns up that will allow him to get his life back on track.
beatrice
Heat has eased up a bit here, but I’m afraid it’s too late for the little one’s flowers :(
Tony
The very simple formula of rape culture: Whatever the current status is +1
Works perfectly for:
-number of people accusing somebody
-pieces of evidence provided
-meassures somebody took to prevent them from being raped
…
+++
Ahhh, a German school has decided to ban hotpants and crop shirts because they’re too sexy. They’re fortunately getting a lot of heat for this.
Anyone looking for baby names?
Here are 12 of the worst baby names from 2014.
My “favorites”:
#1- Billion
#8- Royaltee
#9- Ruckus
#11- Swastik
So this morning the two elder children wouldn’t come to breakfast…
… because they were busy playing chess.
(They get about ten moves in before it dissolves into an argument about the legalities of Middle Child’s creative moves, and Eldest’s (in)ability to state his case in an inoffensive manner. Whoever said chess isn’t a contact sport was very, very wrong.)
Tony
Perhaps they misspelled ‘Sandman’?
Carlie it’s great that this kid has people like you around. It gives him a chance to get back on his feet and illustrates that there are good people in the world.
Anyway, has everyone got their USB ports open? Good! It’s my birthday, so there’s cake on its way through the internet for anyone who is partial. Enjoy.
I’ll then be sitting by the bar quietly getting drunk. Any recommendations for beverages Tony!?
CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!
*opens USB*
I mean, uh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, bassmike!!!! *manyhugs&confetti&champagne(forstarters)*
Hope you have something nice planned for yourself and your family today.
I’m going to join you at the bar later, have to take the kids on a quick Tour de Hometown.
bassmike @152:
Something that goes good with cake, I suppose. However, since it your birthday, whatever you want!
Happy birthday my friend!
Thanks, rq We’ve going out for a meal tonight. There will be meat and MUSHROOMS!!! (I don’t have them much at home as my wife doesn’t like them). Also probably ice cream. I will have a little drink and maybe get a little time to relax.
Talking of MUSHROOMS!!! – I miss blf .
Thank you Tony!. I may start with an extravagant cocktail and work my way up to a single malt. It’s early here, so there’s plenty of time. You’re more then welcome join me for a nightcap, unless you’ve gone to bed.
chigau, お帰り!
(Exchange goes: “I’m home!” / “welcome home!”)
Happy Birthday, bassmike
+++
re: Greece
People are acting as if the current episode and the whole crisis are surprising. I don’t know, but to me it looks like everything went exactly as planned until the Greek population decided that they didn’t want to play along anymore. I mean, you can think of the German government and the IMF and the European Central Bank whatever you want, and I probably agree, but they are not stupid people. They knew exactly that their austerity wouldn’t help Greece but damage it further, that the only result would be poverty, misery and hopefully for them a sell-out of public property. That’s what they wanted.
The Euro was an economic weapon from the very beginning. Germany had a vested interest to keep it stable and countries like Greece, Spain and Italy were caught in the trap. Germany bullied them all in line with the predictable results.
This is not a terrible crisis that nobody could forsee, it’s a planned and well executed economic coup d’etat. BTW, that Greek debt is 300 billions. Germany’s bail-out fund for banks? 500 billions. Credits for the Hypo Real Estate, just one bank? 124 billions plus about 8 billions in direct aid.
Happy birthday, bassmike!
Thanks everyone, but I think we’re only meeting the minimum standards of being a decent human. I know not a one of you would leave a kid out on the street. I think we’ll leave it up to him whether to go with us on the college visit this weekend – he might like some time alone, since he’s used to it and here there are always people around, and it might make him feel more “at home” to have the run of the place for awhile.
Somebody wants to make a prequel movie to Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring. Support the fundraiser here.
Re @ 110. As I expected, according to Chinese TV Dalai Lama did not have his 80th birthday on Monday. Because if you ignore stuff, they cease to exist.
— — — —
Miscellaneous.
NRA call for clergy to be armed http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2015/06/19/nra-call-for-clergy-to-be-armed/
Britain:
Rich ‘keeping their fingers crossed’ on budget http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2015/07/07/rich-%e2%80%98keeping-their-fingers-crossed%e2%80%99-on-budget/
As George Osborne finalises his first budget unencumbered by a coalition cabinet, some of the country’s richest people are nervously awaiting the result after five years of hardship in which they had to move large amounts of their wealth offshore.
Company restructure inadvertently made things better http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2015/06/21/company-restructure-inadvertently-made-things-better/ An inquiry is under way into a whole company restructuring exercise which resulted in improvements. The company, which has asked not to be named, confirmed that staff morale had risen, productivity was up and people were clear about their roles.
Those cunning mooslems are converting us through the gastrointestinal tract!
‘You become a Muslim if you eat halal meat’
http://www.thelocal.se/20150707/you-become-a-muslim-if-you-eat-halal-meat
The animal protection laws is one thing . But attributing magical powers to food is potentially good news. Will I get super-strength from spinach? And –considering halal and kosher overlap- will Jews also become muslims?
The hole that Donald Trump is digging gets deeper. ESPN joined the list of companies/organizations that have cut all ties with Trump.
Donald Trump thought he’d clear things up by writing a 900-word statement repeating, word for word, his xenophobic comments about Mexicans.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/trump-doubles-down-on-anti-immigrant-rhetoric-478741059939
Lots more blather about how Trump will be the best President that God ever created, and so forth, was also included.
birgerjohansson, #162
Wait…
If he believes halal meat “has magical powers that turns people into Muslims”, doesn’t that mean he thinks there’s something compelling and real about Islam? So shouldn’t this belief of his make him like Islam more?
Like if I believed the cross has magical powers that can convince people of the truth of Christianity, I’d start viewing Christianity far more favorably.
But we already know crucifixes are effective against vampires. And I still don’t bother to go to church on Sundays.
Likewise, this guy won’t be impressed by islam even if you can repel asteroids by holding a Quran above your head.
Did Trump say something like ‘ not all Mexicans are rapists and drug traders, rape and drug trade is simply what I think of when I hear “Mexican” ? That should calm down things…
Well, did you know that water is halal? In order not to turnm uslim you need to carefully sprinkle some piggy blood into it…
Um, yeah, this is not good. Not good at all.
So, 95% men, and mostly white men, run local prosecutorial offices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/a-study-documents-the-paucity-of-black-elected-prosecutors-zero-in-most-states.html
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dinesh-dsouza-posts-fake-photo-hillary-clinton-confederate-flag
The link says it all. Dinesh D’Souza was not the only rightwing dunderhead to post the photo of Hillary with a Confederate flag photoshopped into the background. Doofuses.
But, hey, the pants that Hillary is wearing in this younger-days photo are awesome.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000003762144/elder-a-mormon-love-story.html
Excellent short documentary. Only about 12 minutes long, but very thorough when it comes to the mormon attitudes and to the details of this young gay man falling in love. Heart rending and heartening at the same time.
Lynna @168:
That makes the claims of white supremacists that much more ridiculous. It’s obvious to most of us that white people are still very much in control of this country at all levels. Excepting the guy in the White House. Although he does continue to have a bunch of white people throwing wrenches into his plans all the damn time.
Totally repeating this as fact.
Ha! Tony @171, I know that white supremacy is not funny, but your comment about white people throwing a wrench into our black President’s plans made me laugh.
The overt white supremacy in prosecutorial offices is not even hidden. It’s overt.
Speaking of white supremacy, let’s talk about Donald Trump some more. Here’s a guy who so’s clueless that he doesn’t even know he’s a white supremacist. The immigrants who work for Trump … they know.
ESPN announced it’s relocating next week’s ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic away from Trump National Golf Club. <“This charity outing benefits the V Foundation’s Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund, providing resources for important cancer research for minority populations, including Hispanics and African Americans,” ESPN said in a statement. “Our decision reflects our deep feelings for our former colleague and support for inclusion of all sports fans. Diversity and inclusion are core values at ESPN and our decision also supports that commitment.”
Texas is at it again. They have rewritten history and are now debuting the new textbooks with which they plan to brainwash elementary and high school students.
Great, I’ve barely dipped my toe into the community in Calgary, and the first thing I find is a facebook group for idie film makers, and the leader is pushing some pseudoscience woo called “heartmath”.
I’m willing to chip in to help JAL and Little One stay in their apartment. Can I call on one of y’all who’s done the pay pal relay before? My gee mail is at my nym.
JAL, if you see this I’m sending you an email also.
I can do PayPal relaying for JAL again, but it looks like we need to work quickly. My PP is is linked to the email that’s the nym at the g mail.
Thanks Esteleth, I emailed you as well to get started.
Duck Dynasty’s patriarch says you don’t exist. Actually, he says all atheists don’t exist. And he can prove it:
Speaking of calendars, one wonders what Robertson does to get around worshipping the sun, the moon, Venus, etc. when their day is acknowledged on his calendar.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/si-robertson-duck-dynasty-atheists
bassmike, happy birthday.
So, if you want something go after it, like all the nice friends in the Lounge advise you. Otherwise, you’ll just be hot and miserable because you missed the opportunity. OK; the reason I’m hot is that it’s freaking boiling outside, but it’s all contributing to my feeling miserable.
All the other apartments are shit and now I’m convinced I’ll rot here with my parents until I die and they stuff my shriveled body in the closet (I don’t know where that image came from).
Esteleth, could you please confirm you got my message.
A lot of religious rightwingers are on the “get ready, God in his righteous wrath is going to destroy the world,” or on the “get a gun and join the revolt against the feds and SCOTUS” bandwagon after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutional.
Robert Kirby, a mormon (nominally) who writes a humor column for the Salt Lake Tribune, took a closer look at the fear and loathing from the religious right.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2692104-155/kirby-its-not-god-or-the
Some public officials still insist on flying the Confederate flag:
Marion County is in Florida.
Link
A state senator, Lee Bright, almost cried as he testified in defense of lying the Confederate flag in South Carolina.
YouTube link.
Pteryxx, Beatrice, I have received emails from both of you.
@ Lynna, OM #180
A couple o years ago I was listening to a shortwave broadcast and those people were claiming that even saying the name of any month other than Sep-Dec, or any day of the week was blasphemy. Our calendar is a work of the devil.
Wow, what a world we live in.
carlie
*hugs* You’ve done a very good thing.
Beatrice
You’ll find a place eventually; apartment hunting sucks, though. Sympathies.
I thought I was going to have my bad wisdom tooth out yesterday, but instead, after spending all day mentally preparing myself and trying to control the acid pit that was my stomach and an hour and a half bus ride in 95 degree (F) weather, I was told that this appointment was to ‘discuss costs’ and then set a real appointment later to actually do the work. The health insurance I got through the state has covered all of my other dental work, and I was under the understanding that it was covering this too. I have no money to pay for this stuff, so I left in rather an upset state. I will have to call and discuss it further, but first I need to figure out how to get in touch with my insurance provider (fucking ‘public-private partnerships’).
Oh,Estleth, Pterryx, Beatrice, thank you so much.
I just got back from an interview today. It went really well, so well she had be fill out the background check form before I left. That should be fine, since the last place that ran it wanted to hire me. The bad news is I won’t find out for sure or not til next week, Thursday or Friday.
I did speak with the manager today, she said the next steps for court won’t actually start filing til next week. But she said we’d need half to stop it from continuing to eviction, which is $619.25.
I finally got a call back from Salvation Army about rent help but of course, they called at 2 pm, my interview time. I’ll be calling back in minute to get on the list again but it might take awhile to hear back from them again.
I’ll also try getting an appointment with the city next Monday again too but, nothing’s guaranteed.
So from hopelessness I spring back to “we’ve got a shot, if only we had more time”. Hopefully, this’ll be the last time. Living on the edge sucks so fucking much. =/
I’m pleased to be in a position to help out, JAL, for a change. Living on the edge is fucking hard, as I know all too well. Thank Giliell for paying me to look over her thesis, it’s left me with some unexpected money in my PayPal. Good luck to you and the Little One.
Awwww, thank you CaitieCat and Giliell. :D
Gunmen kill three, wound one near University of Maryland: police
Damn. I think we need a clown bus. The clown car isn’t big enough and now there’s another Republican entering the crowded field of candidates:
Frustrated. Why can’t the things I say be accepted as the things I say? I swear, there’s no subtle message with intent. But if it takes me four tries before you believe that, yes, I will be pissed off.
A piece on a giant book.
Hi again all!
It’s nice to be back to my old face. It seems like the ftb tech people came through. And released several post attempts from mod. Sorry about that all.
It looks like someone brute-forced my account and did some spamming. Sorry for that too if anything came through the filters.
Excited about seeing an HBO profile on Ronda Rousey
Starts out by describing her as a “lethal combination of beauty and power”
Why can’t dudes get it right? It’s not that hard.
It’s awfully quiet for a Wednesday.
Donald Trump disses Latinos overtly. Most of the other Republican candidates for president diss Latinos covertly, or by omission. For example:
WSJ link
Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley will be at the La Raza conference. Bernie Sanders is changing his plans so he can attend.
[waves at rq] Here, but not for long.
Husband took the day off, and we’re all going to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach in a bit. It’s a lovely day, all grey and cool, and it might even be drizzling down near the beach. I even got some work in on the current embroidery UFO.
Yes, red state governors are still fighting the Supreme Court ruling that brought marriage equality to every state in the USA:
Wichita Eagle link
This is a followup to comment 199.
The Kansas ACLU says, “a homeless shelter that received a state contract or grant could refuse family housing to a gay couple with a child, or a foster care agency could refuse to place a child in their custody with the child’s family member just because the family member was in a same-sex relationship – and the state could not require them to treat all families equally.”
Someone else noted that Governor Brownback’s executive order does not define “religious organization,” so that leaves it open to include companies like Hobby Lobby.
I’m thinking that all of the past efforts to have the federal government support “faith communities” that are supposedly doing charitable work is going to backfire here. The “religious organization” definition is a loophole that anti-gay activists will use to deny services. Adoption services are not the only social services that state governments have outsourced to religious organizations. The fact that they receive federal funds is not going to deter them when it comes to discriminating against the LGBT community — they’ll try to discriminate anyway. It’s going to keep the Department of Justice tied up in court battles.
Hey rq!
I’m hot and bothered and not in a good way, and I didn’t really have time to catch up the last couple of days.
Beatrice
Oh, I didn’t mean to pressure anyone into communicating, it was more a general observation. There’s usually at least 3 or 4 comments during ye regularre weekday (besides mine, of course).
Still heat-waving in Croatia?
Treating our young people badly in the USA:
Huffington Post link
rq,
Nah, not feeling pressured. But I’m lurking so it felt like having someone in the same room ask what the time was and me pretending I didn’t hear… kinda rude :)
There’s supposed to be a storm tonight , followed by lower temperatures. We’ll see.
Thanks to Obamacare, women in the USA have saved over $1.4 billion in birth control costs.
That must drive the religious right-wingers who are against contraception crazy.
The cost didn’t fall all the way to zero because the requirement to cover birth control was phased in over time. There are even some grandfathered plans that haven’t complied with Obamacare guidelines. This means that savings to women will grow in the next year.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/7/1204.abstract
I think this fits into the “about time” category:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/washington-redskins-mascot-trademarks-cancelled
The battle isn’t over yet. the Redskins organization will likely appeal the ruling.
Beatrice
… But what if you don’t have a watch???
By the way, does the Lounge have a clock? One of those nice grandfatherly types that chimes sci-fi movie theme songs on the hour? … Or something?
(We had two cool days, this morning being one of them – by this evening, humidity and heat have both ramped up to previous levels. :( They say another storm system is on the way.)
Judges in Louisiana are fighting over the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. Some of the judges think they can ignore or disobey the ruling, and some, in writing an opinion, implied that gay people rape children:
Think Progress link
Dunno, we can have a clock as long as it doesn’t chime while I nap.
Also, there’s wind! Yay!
‘Kay, weird noises outside at work. :/
(Don’t worry, everything sounds weirder when it echoes around the courtyard, and I’m always a bit paranoid when working alone in the evenings.)
Heya
It’s no longer hot here, so that is good.
But I’m tired. I could sleep 12 hours a day.
Here’s something for your amusement: The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian
I don’t remember the last time I really laughed out loud at something online. Thanks, Giliell.
I love all the people who re-analyze classic (and not-so-classic) paintings (haut art, if you like, and say it with that haughty French accent), in a way that we never got to in art class. It was Serious Business back then, but the recent articles on ladies politely saying no and ladies politely refusing marriage proposals and now St Sebastian… well, I applaud these people, because this is what makes art fun: pointing out the ridiculous.
Thanks for the link, Giliell. :)
NEW THREAD.