I snubbed Mike S. Adams again

Way, way back in 2006, I heard that Mike S. Adams was coming to UMM. I was surprised. He was one of those far-right loons who ranted on various conservative websites, and I’d commented on some of his poisonous crap, but why would he come all the way out here? And why would any of our students bother with such a goofball?

I attended his talk. I arrived late, had to listen from the hallway, and didn’t think much of it…but apparently, Adams was looking for me, and noticed that I didn’t ask any questions, and wrote a whole column calling me a coward and misspelling my name. I had to write an article explaining why I was unimpressed and repelled by him, but I was touched: he actually cared about me, and expected that I’d want to talk to him, and seemed disappointed that I found him so repugnant that I had no interest in engaging with a right-wing troll.

It was surprising then, to discover that Mike S. Adams is dead, as I learned in this video (it’s mentioned somewhere around the 15 minute mark, before dissecting Adams’ odious beliefs). He had been battling his university, demanding a promotion to full professor that it had denied him, and went through a long painful series of court engagements which he eventually won, I guess: he was promoted to full professor and given 7 years of back pay, about $500,000, but also agreed to retire. I imagine that cost him, maybe more than he was awarded, and the week before he was due to finally retire, he killed himself.

That was back in July. In a final snub, I didn’t even notice at the time. I ignored him when he gave a talk here, and I ignored him when he blew his brains out.

I wonder how all those people who sent me hate mail, prompted by his column, feel about this unforgivable injustice? They’re welcome to write to me some more, vent their rage and all that, since I don’t mind, and have enough self-confidence that I won’t be affected by their impotent fury.

Poor man.

A loss at the University of Oregon

I did not know him at all — he was at the University of Oregon after my time there — but I was sad to learn of the death of Jeff McKnight from cancer. He sounds like he was a passionate, enthusiastic scientist, and we always need more of those.

This bit jumped out at me, though.

“Jeff was definitely someone special who saw his students as equals and not as anything lesser,” said Bryson Tyler Ricamona, a UO biology alum. “It was really enlightening and very motivating to know that somebody really believed in us, not only in the work that we’re doing now but the potential work that we could do in the future.”

McKnight supported students inside and outside of his lab. When someone tore down posters encouraging LGBTQ+ students to take part in STEM, McKnight printed and hung 50 new posters and talked to the UO science community about the incident. The posters disappeared the next day, so McKnight printed and hung 100 more.

“He cared very much about our community,” Orlandi said.

That sounds familiar — that was my experience at the UO, that the faculty were all committed activists and concerned about improving the world, so it sounds like he fit right in.

It’s too bad about the individuals tearing down posters, but I’ll trust that they were an obnoxious minority and not at all representative of the student body. I’ve noticed that every university has a few terrible people who have terrible ways of getting attention, and they’ve gotten worse in recent years.

The gods may have already heeded my prayers

Get your incense burning and prayer wheels spinning, everyone! Think really hard! Rush Limbaugh has terminal lung cancer, and is expected to die. Thoughts & Prayers time! Nothing more. He thinks they really work.

Limbaugh said his embrace of religion has helped him cope with the uncertainty cancer brings. After his update generated expressions of support, he thanked well-wishers via Twitter, saying, “Thank you so much for your overwhelming encouragement, support, and prayers out there. They absolutely work! Fear not, I plan to hang around a long time to continue to annoy the left.”

So many questions…what religion has he embraced? I would have thought openly adopting Satan as your Lord and Master when you’re about to die would be unwise, unless maybe he tried selling his soul for more longevity. He wouldn’t have gotten much, though, since his soul was already fully owned by Satan, but desperation leads to desperate measures.

Do you think the inevitable death of Limbaugh would be the sacrifice that would appease the fickle demons of 2020? Or do they demand a human sacrifice?

More stuff to worry about

Copied from Facebook.

I know everyone’s industry is affected, but here are some not so fun facts on the live entertainment industry:

  • Legendary New York Metropolitan Opera has just announced its closure until September 2021. Their musicians, choirs, stage techs, etc, along with the rest of the industry have been without pay since last April.
  • The New York Philharmonic has cancelled until fall 2021.
  • Broadway is closed until mid-2021
  • Cirque du Soleil went bankrupt and cut over 3500 jobs.
  • Feld Entertainment (family tours – Disney on Ice, Monster Jam, circus, etc) has permanently fired 90% of their workforce.
  • Live Nation and other concert promoters have laid off a majority of their employees.
  • Talent agencies who plan & book concerts, appearances, festivals, etc have laid off over half their employees.
  • Cruise boat artists are unemployed and amusement park productions have no idea when they will be rehired.
  • There are no concerts, festivals, or tours scheduled until 2021 and if they don’t perform next year they are likely to go bankrupt & may never happen again. No Jazz Festival, no Coachella, no Bonnaroo, no EDC, no Glastonbury, no tours, no ballet, no opera…. it’s all gone.
  • It is predicted that 90% of independent music rooms could close if this continues.
  • Artistic and musical organizations of all kinds – choirs, theaters, orchestras, dance companies, festivals, music rooms, not to mention all technical and independent suppliers – all are trying to find alternatives to succeed in working.
  • Over 12,000,000 people work in entertainment production, we are not insignificant and this industry can’t reopen until mass gatherings are allowed. This doesn’t include the additional dismissal of techs and openers, maintenance staff for bar rooms and staff, safety and thousands of vendors.

So when you see your entertainment friends begging you to wear masks and stay home, understand that we are watching, helplessly, our industry collapse before our eyes because not enough people care about taking the necessary means to reduce the spread. This is personal to us, our whole livelihood depends on social solidarity and we will not accept to be labeled ‘non-essentials’.
Music & Arts are necessary for a happy and balanced society.
Everyone’s career and industry is indefinitely pending. PLEASE wear your mask (on your mouth AND nose) and wash your hands!

Impressive for a virus that doesn’t exist and is, simultaneously, just a form of the flu.

Evil Cat adresssssesss you. Obey.

We have mice in our house. It’s a perennial problem: as the outside temperature drops towards freezing and lower, the mice, being not stupid at all, gravitate towards those big roomy wooden boxes that radiate heat, and as a bonus, contain food. Every fall we get this migration inwards, and I end up setting up traps everywhere around the house. Little do the mice know, though, that in our house, they also face a demonic force…our cat.

It’s not that our cat is an efficient mouser. No, our evil cat is a bumbling incompetent who rarely kills a mouse. Instead, she thinks mice are a wonderful new toy.

So I’m awakened at 2am, 3am, 4am by the sound of this klutz of a cat bouncing about and knocking over random objects. I got up and turned on the lights to witness the barbaric spectacle. Some poor mouse had been battered and stunned and was reduced to scurrying around in circles in the middle of the floor while the evil cat pounced and leapt up and down, and when the mouse broke the circle of torture, she’d chase it down and bat it back into the killing ground. Except, no killing. She’s got needle sharp claws and nasty teeth, but she didn’t use the more deadly weapons, preferring to keep the game going with blunt pummeling and terror and cruelty. This is what I live with.

I struggled just to get a little sleep in between the bouts of bumping and clattering and gleeful meowing. I might have been a punchy, because I swear she got into the bed and wormed her way up to my ear and hissed at me with fishy cat breath.

“Thisss iss my houssse. I posssesssss you. Sssuffer, fool, ssserve me, I will taunt you for my pleasure.”

“Now to busssinesss. I sseee there are only four cans of Fancy Feast on the ssshelf.”

“I must have more. Your poverty embarrassssessss me. When you awaken, you mussst tout your Patreon account and your fundraiser. I am disgusssted that you have pitiffuly permitted a SSSSSLAPP sssuit to diminissshh the ressssources that should be dedicated to ME. End it. End it NEEOW.”

I must obey. I am exhausted today. I cannot resist. Obey the cat. Save me.

Synergy!

Earlier, I mentioned that crappy creationist article by Thorvaldsen. Then I learn that Jason Rosenhouse did a phenomenally thorough job dismantling that paper. Really, go read it. It’s fun.

Before that, I was talking about how robust moderation is necessary lest your site be overrun with bad faith commenters. Look at the comments on Jason’s article. Hoo boy, there is a parade of idiots there, which the moderators deal with on a case-by-case basis. Clowns like atheistoclast, Byers, and Otangelo Grasso are regulars over there, and all they do is spew arrogant, stupid noise (which I now dub with the portmanteau “Indignorance”) and add nothing to the discussion.

I guess I should just sit back and let the Panda’s Thumb demonstrate everything.