Pharyngula

Posted by: Alan B | March 4, 2010 5:40 PM

Going back decades:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvjXAtzaMU

Posted by: phi1ip | March 4, 2010 5:47 PM

I know. Blatant pandering.

No bears, though.

(Quick link to the latest endless thread still points to episode XXXIV)

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 4, 2010 5:47 PM

Don't be a tease. Citations?

No idea, but I've it mentioned so often, even in innocuous TV shows, that it's evidently considered obvious. Either there's something about it somewhere (I wonder how to search for that in Google Scholar...), or everyone just takes it for granted (which wouldn't automatically make it wrong, mind you).

Hmmm... that all makes me wonder if A. Noyd hates it, with her sensory hypersensitivity.

If so, I most likely would, too.

To round out the thread, we also need some sexual misbehavior by politicians.

Incredibly bad writing, though. Let's remove the repetitive parts, shall we...

Early Wednesday morning, State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Calif.) was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving. Sources report that Ashburn -- a fierce opponent of gay rights -- was driving drunk after leaving a gay nightclub; when the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, there was an unidentified man in the passenger seat of the car.

<innocent whistling :-° >

Undershirts: yes, except in summer and (duh) at night. In contrast, I never wear 2 T-shirts above each other.

Socks: I would buy some if I needed to. So far I have enough for 4 weeks. =8-) That's not taking into account that I wear sandals, without socks of course, when it's hot enough. And no, I don't wear socks for more than 1 day before washing them again.

the article you linked censored ex-VP Cheney's first name.

Dick "Dick" Cheney he used to be called...

Richard the Lying-Hearted.

Excellent.

</span style="Mr Burns">

Smoggy uses a rather colorful vocabulary. The pearl-clutchers seem to have simply searched for "fuck" and "die" and posted what came up*, which would miss most of his genius.

That must be it.

Posted by: Rorschach | March 4, 2010 5:49 PM

Ah, I see Lynna in the previous thread beat me to it, apologies !!

Posted by: Hairhead | March 4, 2010 5:55 PM

Hey guys, this is the Unending Thread, so it's a good place to post the following:

Joe Fucking Stupak (D) is claiming he (and his followers) are going to sink the Health Care Reform bill over the lack of sufficient support for Forced Childbirth. This fucker needs to be held accountable for his fucktardery. And I know the way to do it.

Look, one of the best ways to fight the powerful is by mockery and humiliation. It worked with Senator Rick Santorum and "santorum". Google the word. My suggestion is we make the "stupak" mean the infection which kills women who suffer clumsy, illegal abortions. Email or phone Stupak's office and ask him how many women he wants to have die from stupak.

Use "stupak" in your blog posts, in letters to the editor, in articles (if you write them). That's how new words get into the dictionary and into public usage.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 6:00 PM

Sweet & Spicy Bacon

1 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or 1/2 tsp, to taste)
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb thick-cut bacon (about 12 slices)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together brown sugar, cayenne, and black pepper in a small bowl.

Arrange bacon slices in 1 layer (not overlapping) on rack of a large broiler pan. Bake 20 minutes. Turn slices over and sprinkle evenly with spiced sugar. Continue baking until bacon is crisp and deep golden, 20 to 35 minutes more (check bacon every 5 minutes). Best to drain on a wire rack over paper towels. Crisper and no sticking.

Posted by: JeffreyD | March 4, 2010 6:01 PM

Have not worn anything to sleep in since I was out of kiddie jams, except in hospital and the few times kids slept with me. Kept a sarong on the bed post for when I had to get up to tend to them or some such. Still naked at night...well...do body paints, sequins and crotch jewels count?

No undies either. Always obey the first law of male thermodynamics, give the balls some air.

Oh, and for the nervous Internonsexuals - please submit to sexual advances by a rhino in a sand pit full of squid.

Nude is good, naked is better, nekkid is best.

Totum dependeat.

Posted by: llewelly | March 4, 2010 6:03 PM

David Marjanović | March 4, 2010 5:47 PM:

No idea, but I've it mentioned so often, even in innocuous TV shows, that it's evidently considered obvious.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 4, 2010 6:07 PM

As many have suspected, Episode XXXIV shattered all previous records, coming in at only 1.37 d due to a blistering commenting rate of 487 comments/d.

Somewhere back in Ep XXXIII teh Thread rocketed past the 30K mark.

And I have no time to catch up.

30733

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 4, 2010 6:10 PM

...an initiative by the The Baptist General Convention of Texas to spread Christ's word to every home in Texas by Easter 2010...

TEXAS PENAL CODE § 9.41. PROTECTION OF ONE'S OWN PROPERTY. (a) A person in
lawful possession of land or tangible, movable property is
justified in using force against another when and to the degree the
actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to
prevent or terminate the other's trespass on the land or unlawful
interference with the property.

And even worse than that:

§ 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is
justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or
tangible, movable property:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the
other under Section 9.41; and
(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the
deadly force is immediately necessary:...

"Uh, that's right neighborly of y'all to brang me that there apple pie and... what's all this, heah? Y'all say I'm goin ta Hail? Wall, I'm gunna have company, ya know whit Ah mean..."

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | March 4, 2010 6:23 PM

That video's just not even close to fair.

Spring is truly going to be the death of me.

Posted by: Dust | March 4, 2010 6:25 PM

Ok you all, I need some encouragement. In a few hours from now, I want to be calling that guy and suggesting we go out on Saturday...yeah, that guy, the one I worked with till I got sacked.

Never did this before, a little nervous......

Posted by: ~Pharyngulette~ | March 4, 2010 6:30 PM

What's that? Underwear? "Ladies and gay men" will enjoy this? A video?

Damn you, locked-down work computer!! What am I missing?

This stinks like yesterday's stupak...

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/SaqGVG0xvJEQVwURVamS3DTCdvov0BLhXK1jOsYPPJQ-#b4893 | March 4, 2010 6:34 PM

So, how about the good Senator Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield, CA?

He's virulently anti-gay; his voting record shows it. Well, he was just arrested for drunk driving, weaving down L Street in Sacramento at 2 a.m. Wednesday in his black Chevy Tahoe.

He got hammered, apparently, in a well-known gay bar in Sacramento, called Faces, and had an unnamed male with him in the car.

That's right. Another Republican who has dedicated his life to voting against gay rights, out for a little fun.

Hypocrite...

http://cbs13.com/local/ashburn.arrest.dui.2.1534505.html

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 4, 2010 6:38 PM

Dust: Three useful quotes:

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." (Mom)

"Happy girls are the prettiest." (Audrey Hepburn. Something similar goes for men too, and to blazes with pouty Chippendales models.)

"When you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done. Do it trembling if you must, but do it!" (Emmit Fox, in one of his stopped-clock-right-twice-a-day moments.)

Let us know how it all went down... and don;t be ashamed if things didn't go your way; we won't think less of you for it.

Posted by: Sastra | March 4, 2010 6:39 PM

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but yesterday the NCSE announced it's first annual Upchucky Awards, where you can vote for the "Most Nauseating Creationist."

http://ncse.com/evolution/first-annual-upchucky-awards-announced

Some good candidates...

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 6:43 PM

WowbaggerOM @ 31:

*What's it the intersection of, anyway? Dumb and ass? Clue and less? Clown and shoe? Intellectual and dishonesty? Lack of integrity and Templeton Money?

Yes.

Posted by: FossilFishy | March 4, 2010 6:59 PM

Wowbagger: Amanda Palmer is dating/married to Neil Gaiman!? Damn, isn't there some kinda law of conservation of talent? One that says talented people should be with non-talented people so as to keep the distribution of talent relatively even.

I just trotted off to myspace...Lady Carol? Fan-fucking-tastic thanks for that.

Posted by: Aquaria | March 4, 2010 7:03 PM

#Ok you all, I need some encouragement. In a few hours from now, I want to be calling that guy and suggesting we go out on Saturday...yeah, that guy, the one I worked with till I got sacked.
Never did this before, a little nervous......

Do it. You never know what will happen if you don't try.

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 4, 2010 7:05 PM

Dust, frankly there is a guy at work who I can't approach, nohow, no way. It would almost be worth being sacked if it meant I had a chance with him. So believe me, my heart goes with you. :)

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 4, 2010 7:07 PM

We have to inaugurate this new thread properly:

Bacon, lesbians and rock & roll.

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 4, 2010 7:09 PM

Fossil Fishy, #36

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman are engaged; in fact, she announced last night that after they get married next year they're going to spend four months in Australia - which is great news for us since it means she'll be performing while they're here and - fingers crossed - he'll be doing some signing or appearances or Q&As; or somesuch as well.

Glad to be of assistance re: Lady Carol; she's a wonder. Last year she was part of an ensemble show (my favourite from last year's Fringe) while what I'm seeing tonight will be her on her own.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 4, 2010 7:18 PM

What bothers me is when people act like polite language makes it okay for them to be bigots, and when you tell them to fuck themselves, they clutch their pearls and cry "Oh noes! You have offended me."

The Intsuctionees apparently have never come in contact with 12 year old boys trying to prove their masculinity to each other.

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | March 4, 2010 7:19 PM

Janine,

You're welcome. I, too, find this whole thing about the language at Pharyngula to be distasteful. I don't think having epithets hurled at you on the internet is the equivalent of being threatened with real violence. Nor do I see it as encouraging violence. Some people are just too sensitive, I guess. Who cares what kind of fucking language someone wants to use to convey the depth of their loathing of vile ideas?

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlARhxz_EZad2_PPNvQmVelK-U8LVLTYeA | March 4, 2010 7:22 PM

Aw PZ! At least let us type away until #1000 before closing the thread.

Anyway, a confused article to read:

http://www.slate.com/id/2246553/pagenum/all/

Posted by: Mike Wagner | March 4, 2010 7:28 PM

The Ballad of PZ Myers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgyv7MuzFV0

Sorry, I'm not musically inclined.
I knock these things out pretty quickly so they're not greatly polished :) The newer ones go after the religious nutbars. I need to make a few fan productions about Hitchens, Dawkins, Harriss, Miller, etc.
Oh, and Behe... gotta work in a jab at that guy.

Would anyone be on board for April 1st, 2010 being International Creationist Day?

Seems like Ray Comfort likes to call it Atheist day, but I'd like to see a web wide teaming up of the rational.

If you have a blog, set aside an article with your favorite science links that show how nonsensical creationist claims are.

Got a YouTube channel? Make a video about real science, or strange creationist claims, and use the annotations to link to your 10 favorite science oriented videos. (Or Tim Minchin's 'Storm', or Dara O'Briain) :P

And then maybe my virus that eliminates the superstitious part of the brain will be finished in time for next year.... Muah ha ha ha ha.

Okay, I'm better now.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 4, 2010 7:31 PM

Thank you, Caine. Amazing how braying idiots can cause one to doubt one's own motives.

Posted by: Paul | March 4, 2010 7:34 PM

Seriously, Walton? "CP has secular People of Color, so you should feel bad for criticizing me for supporting them"?

If I recall correctly, strange gods was criticizing your support of the Conservative Party because as a whole, they will vote for acts that disenfranchise minorities and women. Acts that you say you disagree with. And you say you support the party, you don't simply support the candidates who hold social positions you agree with.

Pointing out one progressive member (I'm assuming, I don't know much about the BHA) does not at all change that. I mean, it's nice and all, but it has absolutely no bearing on the criticism strange gods levelled at you.

Posted by: KillJoy | March 4, 2010 7:37 PM

What a great video.
I will take the one on the far right.
Just for a little while.
I promise i wont break him......much.

KJ

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 4, 2010 7:39 PM

In other words, it's no more likely to be true than any other randomonly chosen urban legend.

Well, it is true for some people.

And, evidently, for important parts of the ladies' underwear and swimwear industry.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." (Mom)

NO PAIN
NO GAIN
– Hot Shots. You know, the torture scene.

"Happy girls are the prettiest." (Audrey Hepburn [...]

Who evidently wasn't entirely happy with her life at large... <duck & cover>

Methane is being expelled from the tundra faster than expected.

Shit.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit...

We already got the methane concentrations from 400,000 years ago back!?! And more is coming!?! That is horrible.

Looks like the climate people will need to refine their models a little.

Looks like we can start evacuating Banglafuckindesh.

Posted by: llewelly | March 4, 2010 7:45 PM

ahh, dating ... I think, out of about 40 women I asked for dates, I got about 3 yeses, and a second yes from 2 of those 3. My longest relationship ran to 5 dates. Eventually, I learned to stop associating with people who were constantly telling me I needed to find someone. Then the desire to find someone mysteriously went away. Problem solved. All that anguish, upset, and self doubt was entirely unnecessary.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 4, 2010 7:57 PM

Doing my part to encourage violence; Set Yourself On Fire.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 4, 2010 8:01 PM

Thank you for the video PZ.

I haver nevr wanted to be a pair of hair clippers so badly in my life.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 8:04 PM

Janine, MOFMA, OM @ 54:

Amazing how braying idiots can cause one to doubt one's own motives.

It is really difficult, especially when you work or volunteer in an area in which you have to counter the sugar-coated poison constantly spewed by the "moral-minded". It wears you down, especially when it gets to feeling like you're seriously outnumbered.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 4, 2010 8:06 PM

When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 4, 2010 8:12 PM

NO PAIN
NO GAIN GOOD

Posted by: Qwerty | March 4, 2010 8:22 PM

Caine - I like to use bacon in homemade beans soaked in water and slow-baked in a dutch oven.

As the monster in Young Frankenstein says, "mmmmmm."

Oh, and salt pork works just as well. It slowly turns into that soft blubbery texture if you cook the beans ever so slowly.

Posted by: strange gods before me ॐ | March 4, 2010 8:27 PM

Paul's right, Walton, this is irrelevant noise.

One of the speakers on the side of secularism was Baroness Flather

And who were the rest?

Interestingly, two of the speakers on the anti-secularist side, Stephen Timms and Paul Murphy, were Labour MPs who identify as "Christian socialists".

And who were the rest? And are Timms and Murphy Christians who advocate socialism, or are they advocating Christiansocialism as government institution? Details are needed before these sound bytes are meaningful.

I just wanted to point this out to you, since you have frequently criticised my choice of party affiliation in the past - based, I believe, on some misconceptions on your part about what British Conservatives stand for.

Really. Citation needed, Walton. Exactly which misconceptions do you suppose that I have, and where are the quotes that suggest I have them?

But strange gods was wrong.

Again, citation needed. Exactly what was I wrong about? Quotes, please.

This example is relevant. I'd like to reiterate that Baroness Flather was the first Asian woman, of any party, to sit in the British House of Lords.

And Michael Steele was the first black person to chair the national committee of a major US party. And some of Hyperon's best friends are Asian.

Is the Conservative Party still dedicated to fucking over the poor? Is the Conservative Party still anti-choice? Is the Conservative Party still allied with the gay-hating Michał Kamiński's Law and Justice party?

Yes, yes, yes.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 8:27 PM

Caine - I like to use bacon in homemade beans soaked in water and slow-baked in a dutch oven.

Mmm om nom nom. Qwerty, I do that too. I also have a recipe for whiskey baked beans (that I have altered considerably) in which the beans are completely topped by bacon. Good, good stuff.

Posted by: windy | March 4, 2010 8:31 PM

Not tundra. subsea permafrost.

The methane clathrates?

One sf scenario I'd rather not see IRL...
http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/11/05/global-storytelling/

Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes | March 4, 2010 8:40 PM

Dammit! I accidentally submitted before I removed all the stupid.
Replace "an environmental science" with "an environmental scientist"....and there should be a period after "medical school".

& cetera...the point is, don't settle for the crumbs.

Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes | March 4, 2010 8:43 PM

Methane is being expelled from the tundra faster than expected.

And I was about to make a rash accusation. The permafrost dealt it!

Posted by: strange gods before me ॐ | March 4, 2010 8:44 PM

The British left is not the natural home of secularism in the UK,

So which is it:

Are the Liberal Democrats not more secular than both the Conservatives and Labour?

Or are the Liberal Democrats not on the left?

Posted by: redrabbitslife | March 4, 2010 8:47 PM

@ Jadehawk: let me echo AE's advice- go into something because you like it not because you think you can make money at it.

You can make money doing anything.

If you don't love something, doing a degree in it will suck and you will hate getting out of bed in the am. I *lurrved* my degree, and it was a great stepping stone to something that I could be interested in and make a career doing.

Posted by: Becca | March 4, 2010 9:04 PM

Bacon Jam from Not Quite Nigella

1 pound smoked bacon (or use regular bacon and liquid smoke)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup coffee
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
black pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste
about 1 cup of water

Fry the bacon in batches until lightly browned and beginning to crisp. Using a pair of scissors cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces. Fry the onion and garlic until translucent in the rendered bacon fat over medium heat. Transfer the bacon, onion and garlic into a heavy cast iron pot and add the rest of the ingredients, except for the water. Simmer for 2 hours, add about 1/4 cup of water every 25 to 30 minutes or so and stir.

When cooked down, cool for about 15 to 20 minutes and place in a food processor. Pulse for 2 to 3 seconds so you leave some texture to the "jam" or if you like you can keep processing and make it smoother and more paste like. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Serve on toasted English muffins or sliced baguettes. This is slightly sweet and slightly spicy unless you add a lot of Tabasco.

Posted by: aratina cage of the OM | March 4, 2010 9:08 PM

I might like the video if the boys weren't compelled to wax/shave off all their body hair.

Posted by: FossilFishy | March 4, 2010 9:13 PM

Pharyngulette: I'm a Canadian now living in Australia. I tried to get Medicare to pay for maple syrup supplements because clearly I need them to survive. Alas, no luck. Friends and relatives visiting from the old country are now required to bring maple syrup in quantities that are least 3/8ths of their total luggage allowance.

And bacon? The only thing I miss since turning vegetarian. The Unending Thread is pure torture I tell yah.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 4, 2010 9:17 PM

@ Carlie:

Josh, do you watch Community? Tonight was a whole screenful of shallowly gorgeous Joel McHale awesomeness.

You'll have to forgive me. . .I don't know what "Community" is, or who Joe McHale is. I'm assuming this is a TV show? I haven't had a TV in 7 years (not saying that to be snotty, just explaining), so I'm completely out of touch with things most people take as common cultural knowledge:)

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 4, 2010 9:30 PM

oh, ffs. guys, I already do what I like, which is art. what I need now is a reason not to feel like a waste of oxygen, so I want to study and then work at something that will be useful and helpful to others. This is a question of self-worth and mental health, not a question of money. If it were about money, I could have just followed my familiy's advice and gone into banking like my rich-ass cousin.

Posted by: Carlie | March 4, 2010 9:33 PM

Josh - This is the most pertinent clip from the episode that got me into that show.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 4, 2010 9:34 PM

Yeah. What I said seems to have come out wrong. I wasn't trying to be down on you or anything. I just meant that full-body shaving is probably not out of the norm for them if they really are swimmers. After all, nobody is safe from razors on a swim team, not even bears!

Ugh, sorry Aratina. I'm wicked touchy tonight, and I just realized how my post sounded. . .eesh. Mea culpa!

I had the unusual (and highly unpleasant) experience of a colleague screaming at me on the phone today, including a string of "fuck yous" and insults, followed by a loud hanging up of the phone. Totally shocking, and unnerving. Didn't realize how off-kilter it put me, but I've been carrying around a huge chip on my shoulder all day because of it. Feel free to slap that chip off:)

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 4, 2010 9:38 PM

I can't think of anything with a greater long-term benefit to humanity that environmental science, actually.

bah.

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 4, 2010 9:48 PM

I am reposting my question from the last segment of the undead thread. Ol'Greg and Pygmy Loris, are either of you bothered or made upset when I inform a person that they should fuck them self. Yeah, I ask because of that Intersection dust up.

You see, I wrote you this very nice very long reply. But it got lost in space. Long story short, no. No it doesn't offend me. Not even close.

Some things do. Not that.

Posted by: aratina cage of the OM | March 4, 2010 9:51 PM

I had the unusual (and highly unpleasant) experience of a colleague screaming at me on the phone today, including a string of "fuck yous" and insults, followed by a loud hanging up of the phone. Totally shocking, and unnerving.

How awful! If only you could send that colleague over to the Internmentsection for a mental health examination with Dr. bilbo. That'd teach 'em. :)

And just so you know, as our Official SpokesGay, your opinions carry great weight with me. *bows humbly*

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawncr0FDc8gdl7yJBz0SJ15D0etcTIOtL0s | March 4, 2010 9:55 PM

Josh, I like 'em a bit furry myself, and older—I seem to have lost my taste for cradle-robbing some years back—but damn, it was fun watching 'em shave each other.

Moar nekkid menz pleeze! I believe there's someone out there for every taste. I'd like to see that tested anyway.

I'm not particularly bald myself, and trust me: It's even more ~normative~ for women than for men.

And yeah, that would've been an annoying experience. Counting down now to Some Pearl-Clutcher squeaking "SEE?? I TOLJA so!" As if.

I have copied that bacon jam recipe with gratitude.

Jadehawk, I've been a hospital pediatric nurse and I've been a pro artsy-fartsy arborist and generally I feel one was about as useful to other humans as the other. YMMV: I confess to being a tad bitter about our species. If you do practice emergency stuff, be ready to burn out and when/if you do, don't look back.

Dinner's on; more later

Ron Sullivan

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 4, 2010 9:58 PM

How awful! If only you could send that colleague over to the Internmentsection for a mental health examination with Dr. bilbo. That'd teach 'em. :)

Oh, bilbo. Sweet Christ on toast. . . .he's like the anti-blood-pressure medication! Sorry for flaunting my petty woes, just needed to explain why I'm such a crankopotamus. Oy - I'm a hardass muthafucka. . . it's surprising how a stupid work dispute can throw you off for the whole day. I need to get over myself before I earn an entry on Encyclopedia Dramatica. . .lol!

And just so you know, as our Official SpokesGay, your opinions carry great weight with me. *bows humbly*

You're very sweet:) I'm gonna use that next time Locutus of Gay drones on about assimilating the Pharyngulites. Gack, what a bore that one, like a broken record.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 4, 2010 10:01 PM

Ol'Greg, thank you for your reply.

I guess I needed reassurance that I am not encouraging what those people at the Intersection are accusing me of. I am grateful and I also feel better about myself.

Posted by: redrabbitslife | March 4, 2010 10:07 PM

@Jadehawk- sorry, then. I guess I took the comment more seriously than meant.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 10:10 PM

Ron Sullivan @ 110:

I'm not particularly bald myself, and trust me: It's even more ~normative~ for women than for men.

I'm one of those women who has very little body hair. I rarely shave my legs, and when I do, it's from the knees down; I've never had enough hair above the knees to bother with, and the little there is, is damn near transparent. Ditto under the arms. On the downside, I barely have eyelashes and my eyebrows are nearly non-exsistent. However, my head hair grows thickly and very, very fast.

Posted by: cicely | March 4, 2010 10:15 PM

Antiochus Epiphanes:

I spent all day climbing trees and gluing mistletoe seeds onto the branches of trees*

Why? (If you don't mind my asking, that is.)

Posted by: Kamaka | March 4, 2010 10:21 PM

Josh OSG

I had the unusual (and highly unpleasant) experience of a colleague screaming at me on the phone today

A quiet "temper, temper" while they're ranting usually zings 'em...they get madder, but to the point of self-embarrassment. And it gives you some modicum of control over the situation.

Janine of the Foul Mouth

I don't post much, but I read regularly. I find the verbal wuppins you pass out to be entertaining and well deserved.

So take that self doubt and stick it up some troll's nether regions.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 4, 2010 10:25 PM

ARRRRRRGGGH!!!

Shaved men? That's disgusting. I want a little hair lawn to curl between my toes.

Oh wait, maybe that means I'm old. *sigh*

Posted by: Kamaka | March 4, 2010 10:28 PM

@ Wow

That smug, arrogant fuckwad Dendy can go sit on a fire-ant nest with maple syrup smeared on his ass.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 10:29 PM

Janine, MOFMA, OM @ 114:

I guess I needed reassurance that I am not encouraging what those people at the Intersection are accusing me of.

Janine, never, ever think that. You do a lot of good for people, and part of that good is telling people who need it to go fuck themselves with rusty razor wire. (Or the implement of your choice, of course.) It helps me to read you giving a good smackdown when I'm still busy trying to pick my jaw up off the ground.

Posted by: Kagato | March 4, 2010 10:36 PM

Each one of them knows full-well that 'go fuck yourself' is nothing more than the impolite equivalent of 'I don't agree with what you're saying', used by someone who is so offended by an action that they act like an expressive human being.

I couldn't resist going over there and saying as much myself.

But mostly, I was just bemused at the hypocrisy of claiming Pharyngula should be (...what? Censored, banned, filtered?) because of Seed's terms of service, while merrily reproducing all of the stuff they find most objectionable over on Discovery Magazine's site... whose terms of service also prohibit posting such material.

Of course, the first respondent claimed that quoting it was a legitimate excuse. But I'm pretty sure running down the hallway shouting "Timmy said fuck! Timmy said fuck!" gets you sent to the principal right along with Timmy.

After all that obscenity-spamming, I look forward to Intersection showing up as the #1 Google hit for "sideways with a rusty knife"... :D

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 4, 2010 10:37 PM

Janine, here is some reassurance... You comment here in a place where you are accepted and liked almost purely because of what you say. If they were truly, madly, deeply offended and outraged by what they are reading, they would do what other sane people do on the Internet... skip the stuff they don't like! This is the Internet, not a prison! It's the picture next to the dictionary definition of "free expression." Nobody strapped them down and held their eyes open with toothpicks, OK? So what can it possibly mean that they're getting their panties all in a wad over something you posted? Those twits are trying to control your thoughts at a distance, that's all. They're making you responsible for the fact that they're too chickenshit to just say "Meh" and move on.

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | March 4, 2010 10:44 PM

Janine, what vile comments? You made some comments that those idjit pearl clutchers deserved, nothing more. You are good hearted and passionate. You give help where you can.

Nil illegitimi carborundum.

Posted by: Dust | March 4, 2010 10:46 PM

Hey Pharyngulites,

Thanks for all your encouragement, I a got a tentative 'Yes' due to a possibility of him having to work on Saturday.
So he suggested I call him tomorrow night to see if he has to work. OK, I will.

:)

And badgersdaughter I had your posting on the screen when I called, so poignant.

Whew! I lived through it!

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 4, 2010 10:55 PM

If I have/had a reason to find something you said offensive I would tell you how and why right here. If I got angry enough I might even tell you to go fuck yourself.

And you did just that a couple of weeks ago. And you were right and I apologized.

And to everybody who have gave me reassuring words all of tonight. Thank you. Each and everyone, thank you.

Posted by: SaintStephen | March 4, 2010 10:56 PM

@ Caine #12:

Yep, that delicious-sounding bacon recipe got emailed straight to Mum. Thank you very much!

This Sunday AM, after her weekly religious indoctrination, she will make it for me and Pa.

Does this make me an accommodationist ?

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawncr0FDc8gdl7yJBz0SJ15D0etcTIOtL0s | March 4, 2010 10:59 PM

Oh.

Jadehawk, please forgive the oh-so-serious sermonette re: enviro studies vs. emergency management; I must've written that while you were posting. You might infer from it that I'm a burnt-out enviro as well as a burnt-out nurse, and you'd be right. I still advocate madly where I can, and the garden column does give me a soapbox, but I flinch a lot even when it's the stuff we subscribe to in the mailbox.

There's damned little good news, even when you're tracking restoration work locally. There's lots of that here, and sometimes it even keeps up with the idiots who trash the places that have been restored, and the response can be gratifying. But in the long run, ugh.

I keep telling myself that one thing I learned in the hospital is that saving a life is always temporary, yadda yadda, humility and all that shit. I don't know if it's working anymore, but I'm old. There's a lot that doesn't work anymore.

Thanks to Lynna and Loris and um someone else for condolences about my allergist. How about y'all just stay alive for at least another decade or two, that'd really make me feel better, hey?

Badgersdaughter, I don't think it's real kimchee until at least one crock in the batch explodes. Didja know there are purpose-made refrigerators for kimchee? I guess they approximate the temp underground in certain parts of Korea. The one I saw was in Phoenix, which IIRC has hardpan so you couldn't dig a deep enough hole in the average yard to beat the heat. Gets hot in Houston but aren't yall on some kind of alluvial mud? Not that that's easy to dig either.

Josh, glad to help. That shit does stick. Ever read any of Robert Sapolsky's stuff? I flog it a lot, but it makes sense of those feelings with absolutely zero woo OR psychomoosh.

Ron Sullivan, ODing on words again

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | March 4, 2010 10:59 PM

Janine,

I truly enjoy your comments here. Don't worry about what the concerned ones think. They're all style and no substance :)

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 4, 2010 11:03 PM

Kel wrote:

I wonder if I have, I don't have the patience to actually read through the blather there anymore.

I've sworn to not set (figurative) foot over there - on that thread at least - again. I've said all I can say on the issue, repeatedly, and it had no effect on the weakminded regulars over there.

Fuck. That. Shit.

What I did notice while there, though, is that there weren't many names I recognised from when I was spending more time there a while back. Maybe they realised exactly how pathetic the discourse there had become in recent months.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 4, 2010 11:08 PM

Josh - The more they scream abuse at you the more guilty they actually feel. Trust me on that one. It isn't you.

Becca @ 90 - I am SO making your recipe. Our next news flash should be that Rev. BigDumbChimp has filled his pool with it and is never coming out.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 4, 2010 11:15 PM

Quiet everyone, I'm trying to dream of Bacon jam

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 4, 2010 11:17 PM

Pygmy Loris wrote:

They're all style and no substance...

They aren't even that. We kick their asses on that level, too, because we have both substance and style.

Writing good, satisfying insults takes effort; I (for one) don't just get down & dirty without putting a lot of thought into how it's going to read after it hits the screen.

To assume it's just a case of 'write 'fuck' a few times and giggle about it' indicates they're just as pig-ignorant about writing as they are about everything else. But that's hardly a surprise given the last few days.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 4, 2010 11:23 PM

Rev. BDC: if you can't sleep, perhaps this Jack-In-The-Box ad will help.

Yeah except I pretty much follow a rule of never ordering burgers from fast food places.

But they are talking a lot about bacon.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 4, 2010 11:29 PM

@Pygmy and Wowbagger

They're all style and no substance...

They aren't even that. We kick their asses on that level, too, because we have both substance and style.

Writing good, satisfying insults takes effort; I (for one) don't just get down & dirty without putting a lot of thought into how it's going to read after it hits the screen.

You're right. The Toothpaste Twins and their hangers-on really shoot their. . . loads. . .too cheaply. I mean, they get really upset over the most pedestrian insults. Such cheap dates they are!

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 4, 2010 11:35 PM

Bacon Pie
12 slices bacon, crisply cooked, and crumbled
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup Bisquick
1 cup milk
pepper to taste
2 eggs

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease pie plate. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in pie plate.

Stir remaining ingredients in a bowl until blended. Pour into pie plate.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a tooth pick insterted into the center comes out clean. Let stand five minutes before serving. (serves six)

This is an old Betty Crocker recipe, I like to add chopped spinach and pimento's to this if the girrrls are coming over for brunch & champagne.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 4, 2010 11:41 PM

I'll leave you with Melting Pot by Booker T & the MGs.

Nice

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 4, 2010 11:45 PM

PZ's advice to the lovelorn is endorsed by Patricia's advice to widows.

Posted by: MrFire | March 4, 2010 11:47 PM

But they are talking a lot about bacon.

I figured the bacon would make up for the fast-food stuff. You can't have your bacon and eat it.

While you're around, can I ask if you're a fan of pulled pork, and if so, is there any one facet that you think makes it (e.g. cooking conditions, spices, sauce)?

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 4, 2010 11:50 PM

Josh - shayshays in - The brass bosoms have a whole other function than showing up in a gay bar. shayshays out...

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 4, 2010 11:52 PM

And Sweet & Spicy Bacon (# 12) doesn't even garner a comment? I'm crushed.

Oh wait! I didn't even see Sweet and Spicy Bacon.

daaaaaaaaaaaamn

I wonder....

Could I dip Sweet and Spicy bacon into Bacon Jam....

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 4, 2010 11:54 PM

My major barrier to a relationship is - well, apart from the current meatspace aversion - less to do with not feeling confident about approaching someone and more to do with not being able to find anyone worth risking being shot down for.

I've always ended my relationships after only a short time, and tended to do so out of boredom more than anything else. I have a horrible feeling I just don't have an attention span long enough to ever have anything long term. Meeting someone who I could even comtemplate it working with just doesn't seem to happen.

Posted by: Caine | March 4, 2010 11:56 PM

Rev. BDC @ 170:

Could I dip Sweet and Spicy bacon into Bacon Jam....

Yes, yes you can!

Posted by: MrFire | March 4, 2010 11:59 PM

Rev BDC:

I should add @166 that I only ask since (i) you are an ex-chef, (ii) you're from a place where pulled pork is done right, and (iii)I like to sponge tips off people who fit (i) and (ii).

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:01 AM

Patricia, you ignunt slut, thinking you can just sashay in and out of here, without greasin' up your cast-iron breast plate for a demonstration (and I know you seasoned that shit 'til it's non-stick. Mmm-hmmm).

Posted by: phi1ip | March 5, 2010 12:03 AM

Interesting to note, the adjacent thread to the Intersection Train Wreck of Doom™ is infested by AGW-denialists who are frequently going unchallenged. Says a lot for the "quality" (that is, bad quality) of the posters at the blog, though I've noticed a few of those with sensible things to say on the Train Wreck thread are also active against the denialists, but outnumbered.

Bizarro version of Pharyngula, indeed.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 12:07 AM

Certainly the Pharyngula regulars are not offended, astounded, or upset at the language often used here. Often we pour it on when some tone troll complains about being verbally abused.

I will whine about one thing, however. The gentlefolk at The Intersession haven't quoted me once. I'm below the naughty word horizon. How can I hold my head high among such vulgar, cursing geniuses as Janine, Wowbagger and Aquaria when my foul-mouthed efforts don't even register on the tone freaks' radar? So fuck those asswipes with a thorn bush up their left nostrils!

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:08 AM

Psssttt... It shows Joel McHale in his (banana hammock) undies, Carlie...

Speaking in my official capacity as the SpokesGay, Stephen, I must tell you no one wants to see a "banana hammock." If you're gonna dangle it in some cheap rayon speedo/thong like some obscene pickle, then put it away.

If, however, you're going to present it properly in a sexy brief, with all parts alluringly supported, including the backside, then you may proceed.

The SpokesGay has spoken. I'm sorry, there's no time for questions. Thank you.

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 5, 2010 12:11 AM

Jesus Christ, folks, I'm sorry; I had a major pang of "comment submission regret" immediately after posting. Why did I dump all that crap on a public blog where I'm practically a newbie? Please forgive me and forget I got all messy-personal.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:11 AM

Ok I see you people are going to suck me in here.

If he doesn't snap out of it I say, lets pelt him with Vienna Sausages!

If one nasty jelly covered sausage comes my way I'll start singing Celine Dion Songs.

Caine - I think Chimpy is about to OD on bacon, all he had to comment on my recipe for Pig Nuts was: sweet.

It was a heartfelt sweet.

While you're around, can I ask if you're a fan of pulled pork, and if so, is there any one facet that you think makes it (e.g. cooking conditions, spices, sauce)?

Yes I'm a fan of pulled pork. I make my own BBQ frequently. And it's DAMN good.

The key to pulled pork is of course making sure it is slow smoked over wood coals. I'm from Winston-Salem so I'm a Lexington style fan which means smoked shoulders over Hickory wood and spicy sweet vinegar sauce. Some Oak is ok. The whole hog folks are the eastern NC people and they like a more vinegary sauce that the western NC BBQ. Its good too, don't get me wrong. Living in Charleston I'm in SC Mustard Sauce country, which is OK but I prefer NC style or Memphis style or even Kansas City style more. My wife loves the Mustard sauce because it's sweet and not spicy at all.

The sauce I typically make is a vinegar based sauce with a hint of tomato some sweetness to balance the vinegar and plenty of red chili flakes and black pepper. Also, when I make the sauce I usually add some Chipotle for some additional spice and smokeyness.

But I really like all kinds of BBQ including what those weird ass Texan people do with beef. Except beef ribs. Beef ribs don't even pretend to hold a smoldering wood coal lit candle to good pork ribs.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:12 AM

@badgersdaugher

Jesus Christ, folks, I'm sorry; I had a major pang of "comment submission regret" immediately after posting.

Don't have regret. We've all done it, and you're darling:)

Posted by: SaintStephen | March 5, 2010 12:15 AM

@ Josh #184:

Butt... butt....

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 12:17 AM

The only cure for bacon overdose is Vegemite. It's savory and salty in ways that bacon is not.

vegemite vs. marmite...

winner?

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 12:19 AM

Rev. BDC @ 193:

my hopefully soon to be day job being a full time photographer and supporting my busting her ass Real Estate wife.

I really hope that works out fantastically great for you! It's tough, but rewarding in a special way. I'm working on making money with my photography and it's been a hard, slow road but it looks like I might see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:20 AM

Rev...

a good old fashioned Texas BBQ would do extremely well as a restaurant type down here in Welly.

If you ever want to run a restaurant together...

very tempting, and I've never been to NZ

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 12:21 AM

I'm swamped ass swamped with the day job where I'm now via layoffs the only IT person for a 200 million dollar a year company

*sigh*

and here I thought I was busy managing a 4-6 man IT staff for a company that made less than half that a year.

are you SURE you don't want to come down here to Kiwi-land and show these folks what REAL BBQ is all about?

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:24 AM

No I'm not sure. Not at all.

Now to convince Mrs. BigDumbChimp

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 12:26 AM

Don't have regret. We've all done it, and you're darling:)

Not true... I, for one, regret nothing!!

Well, okay... Maybe bringing up underwear in the first place... Maybe a little. I mean, fuck... I just had no idea people were going to want to talk about underwear quite that much...

I mean, people, come on... I was trying to talk about education and creeping regimentation therein, dammit. Of all the fucking things I've said on this blog, that bit of silly takes off? What the hell is wrong with you people?

Oh. Right. Anyway, apart from that, I regret nothing.

(/... and yes, she absolutely is darling. And as requested, no such comment happened.)

Posted by: SaintStephen | March 5, 2010 12:27 AM

@ Josh #197:

*A little verklempt...*

(That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me on the intertoobs... sobbing...)

I'll get right on it, Sir.

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 12:31 AM

I have to say that one of the odd things that has happened to me over the last year here in NZ is a growing fondness for marmite.

I never would have expected it, but I likes me a toasted avocado/marmite/mayo sandwich with a bit of smoked paprika mixed in with the mayo.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:33 AM

*A little verklempt...*

(That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me on the intertoobs... sobbing...)

I'll get right on it, Sir.

Well, the "verklempt" bit was funny. But you clearly don't know me, SS. Sigh. Don't you understand, I'm supposed to call you sir.

I give up. Imma have to farm some of you straight boys out to Gyeong Pikachu and RickR. Mind, I can't vouch for their quality control.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 5, 2010 12:36 AM

Oh gosh...

a hillbilly hug for you Chimpy.

Now start cookin!

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:37 AM

@AJ:

Not true... I, for one, regret nothing!!

Fair warning: demerits will soon be handed out for commenters who use the phrases:

"I, for one,"

and

"Methinks"

There will also be punishments meted out for being a disingenous tart:

Oh, please, slut. Please. You so need to be slapped.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 12:40 AM

Damn it, blockquote fail!

I just had no idea people were going to want to talk about underwear quite that much...

This will earn a Tart Demerit, AJ ( adjusts teacherly glasses on his nose).

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 5, 2010 12:43 AM

vegemite vs. marmite...

One of Amanda Palmer's songs last night was about Vegemite and how she couldn't remain in a relationship with a man who ate it. Laugh-out-loud funny.

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 12:47 AM

Oh, please, slut. Please. You so need to be slapped...

Man. It's that obvious?

Now I'm embarassed.

But honest. I swear. You may recall my original comment was about people who put their underwear on hangers. Full stop.

Did I start in with 'people who suspend their testicles precariously with multicolored spandex'? Noooo. Did I start in with 'people who don't wear underwear'?

Nope. Not me.

And, in fact, I'm totally fine with both of those sorts of people setting up curricula, for what it's worth... Not that we seem to be talking about that anymore.

(/Anyway, my point is: who's doing the slapping? And where? And when? I think I'm probably free Friday.)

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 5, 2010 12:49 AM

Josh - NO, I don't need to be slapped. That isn't funny.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 12:52 AM

Ichthyic @ 213:

making money with wildlife photography is a tough go!

congrats on the inroads there!

I tried for years to get galleries to sell my underwater and macro shots, to no avail.

so, instead of trying to market what i LIKE to photograph, I kept the wildlife stuff all for fun, and started marketing to custom designers.

I rather like it, as I don't like to be pressured to do things like wildlife photography for profit instead of fun anyway.

I feel ya. I stayed away from stock for ages, but I have an excellent set up for birds, so that's what has been easiest for me to sell. Stock is a pain in the ass, and I'd rather not do it, but it does put a bit of spending money my way.

I'm an artist, recently moving into photography. Gallery showing is a nightmare; you always have to deal with the most pretentious, obnoxious assholes. I walked away from doing the gallery thing a lot of years ago, I'm not overly anxious to do it again. I have been asked, I'm just not sure if I want to get back in that world of idiocy.

Doing the custom design photography is a good way to go, you can easily build a client base from word of mouth, the best advertising there is and depending on the client, relatively stress free. I have several friends in the UK who have been able to give up their day jobs doing wedding photography, but that is insanely stressful and I'd never consider doing it.

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 5, 2010 12:52 AM

Well, there's tact, and then there's tact. Heh.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 5, 2010 12:54 AM

Janine - Goodnight sweetheart.

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | March 5, 2010 12:56 AM

badgersdaughter,

I'm sorry to hear you were in a bad relationship for so long. That must've been really crappy. I'm glad to hear you're doing better. Good luck in the dating world :)

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 12:59 AM

Good night, Patricia.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 1:02 AM

Um, Patricia, before you go (or if you wake up to this), please know my "slap" joke wasn't aimed at you. I was playing around with AJ Milne in my comment #214. Totally different context.

I'd so hate for you to think I was making a crass joke or crack at your expense:(((

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 1:04 AM

@ Saint Stephen:

I've only had one gay friend (in Tucson) patient enough to instruct me in such matters, and I must have been more interested in his eggplant parmesan on that particular evening. (I'll be visiting him soon for a refresher course, and I'll express your concerns.)

See that you do. But if the only culinary lesson he can give you is in . . .Eggplant parm. . .eesh. . .you may have to get a new gay friend. Just sayin'.

Posted by: badgersdaughter | March 5, 2010 1:07 AM

Benjamin, I'm going to go take the advice I'm about to give you and I'm going to go have a nice 20-minute exercise session on my bike. Have a nice brisk walk, whatever you can do, but move around for 20 minutes and work up some of those good endorphins. This is what really gets me over the dark times when the rain cloud starts to settle over my head.

I don't mean to sound like a mom, LOL... I actually read about a study recently that said that an exercise session every day is as effective as medication for depression in a solid proportion of cases. If nothing else, it feels like doing something purposeful (in my case, getting healthier and slimmer is enough of a purpose in itself).

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 1:12 AM

Janine, that's true. If we did have undead threads for Good Morning and Good Night, it wouldn't be long before the Good Afternoon and Good Evening people would be agitating for their own undead threads.

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 5, 2010 1:18 AM

I actually read about a study recently that said that an exercise session every day is as effective as medication for depression in a solid proportion of cases.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 1:20 AM

Jadehawk, are you feeling alright?

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 1:26 AM

Jadehawk:

only works when the exercise itself is marginally enjoyable. Otherwise it's just one more chore that makes life a misery, and makes the idea of crawling out of bed every day entirely distasteful

I agree. Exercise in the form of taking the monster dogs out for a walk and taking my camera is something I enjoy and am almost willing to do. If I had some sort of regimen I was expected to do every day, no, not so much. I'd be much more inclined to blow it off.

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 5, 2010 1:32 AM

I actually read about a study recently that said that an exercise session every day is as effective as medication for depression in a solid proportion of cases.

I'd add anecdata to that; if I go too long without hitting the gym I get very moody indeed, and straight after the first session back I get a huge endorphin hit that makes me feel better straight away.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 1:36 AM

(/Anyway, if anyone needs me, I'll be washing my hands, hanging up some desert holy guy on a cross, y'know... Roman governor stuff.)

I made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hand
And sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 5, 2010 1:53 AM

Apparently, said critter doesn't seem to know a damn thing about context either.

It's a joke I use maybe too often, but it's appropriate here: if we're going to list the things clueless whining pissant Bilbo doesn't know a damn thing about (yet argues as if he did) we're going to need a bigger boat thread.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 1:58 AM

Wowbagger, too true. Like many others, I've found Bilbo to be the anti-blood pressure med.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 5, 2010 2:33 AM

Patricia

Wowbagger - Ahh, the ocean makes you safe. :) B ut the Bride has a gift for you from me. *enjoy*

..ah yes, I most certainly do. Guaranteed to take Wowbagger to new "heights".

Bwaaa haa haaa haa haa

Posted by: Kel, OM | March 5, 2010 2:45 AM

I'm really excited about next weekend now. Should be awesome.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 2:50 AM

Guaranteed to take Wowbagger to new "heights".

I want to take you higher.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 5, 2010 2:57 AM

Janine

Guaranteed to take Wowbagger to new "heights".

I want to take you higher.

..after I'm finished with Wowbagger he'll be singing that in a tad higher register. Patricia has asked me to "goose him in a manner that makes him rise at least 2 inches off the ground". She's a cruel and relentless woman that one.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 3:10 AM

She is the Queen. Sometimes being cruel and relentless comes with the job. Sometimes being cruel and relentless is just plain fun.

Posted by: ernieball | March 5, 2010 3:28 AM

Hi.

Sorry for bursting in like this, but this is an open thread, right ? :)

I've just been challenged by a christian bloggers' parable, and I'm unsure how to counter this..

(nope, I'm not trolling, I cant figure out a good response, but I know there is one..)

It's a norwegian blogger (google-translated here) and the parable goes something like:
in the game Age of Empires a couple of workers (you know, people spawned from the "town center") discuss "how they got here". One is supposed to represent atheists and say "there was nothing before the "big booting" (big bang..)", and the other wonders that there must have been a creator..

I know this doesn't apply in the real world, but I cannot seem to remember how to counter this one.. Help please?

(Thanx in advance for your time..:D)

Posted by: Rorschach | March 5, 2010 3:45 AM

One is supposed to represent atheists and say "there was nothing before the "big booting" (big bang..)", and the other wonders that there must have been a creator..

Atheists are not astrophysicists, they just don't believe in gods.What I would say to this is that even if our current theory of the big bang turns out to be incorrect, "therefore creator" does not follow, and vice versa.
Also, if you ask the 2 billion folks who believe in a "creator" to define the term, I dont think you would get just one answer.

Posted by: Rorschach | March 5, 2010 4:00 AM

Yodel hmmm ?

The only time I've ever seen anyone yodel for real was the result of an unfortunate choice for a culinary experience, in Surfers Paradise, QLD, AU.

I have a party trick too, uhm.I can drink 12 stubbies and still talk about football philosophy !

;)

Posted by: Rorschach | March 5, 2010 4:18 AM

And one more from the category "Science, it works bitches !"

Exotic antimatter detected at RHIC

Posted by: Rachel Bronwyn | March 5, 2010 5:05 AM

This video is responsible for making me want to be sinful.

I do wish they wouldn't shave so excessively though.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 6:14 AM

214 comments overnight, and I didn't go to bed early. <shudder>

+ 1

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 6:22 AM

One is supposed to represent atheists and say "there was nothing before the "big booting" (big bang..)", and the other wonders that there must have been a creator..

We don't know what, if anything was "before the big booting*." There's various guesses about the pre-big bang but that's all there are, guesses.

*The universe was kick-started.

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 6:41 AM

Psssttt... It shows Joel McHale in his (banana hammock) undies, Carlie...

He made it all the way to the full monty in last night's episode, which was why I mentioned it among the talk of the underwear boys in the post clip. :) Not that they showed it all on the tv, but enough. Plenty enough. I am anxiously awaiting its arrival on Hulu. The episode also featured everyone trying to get Abed a date (he's depicted as having Asperger's, although they never come right out and say that), and I nearly choked laughing so hard because my elementary-aged Aspie has already had some of the exact same encounters and actions towards girls.

badgersdaugher, don't worry about oversharing. That's what the aliases are for. :) "Pseudonyms are useless" my ass.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 6:51 AM

everyone trying to get Abed a date

That's cruel. It's mobbing. I wouldn't be able to watch that.

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 6:54 AM

I hate that nasty vinegary shit they use in North Carolina to ruin perfectly good pork. Go to Kansas City, taste what real BBQ sauce is.

Ramen to that. Of course, the only thing better than Kansas City barbeque is St. Louis barbeque. :p

only works when the exercise itself is marginally enjoyable. Otherwise it's just one more chore that makes life a misery, and makes the idea of crawling out of bed every day entirely distasteful [/emo]

Exactly. That's one of the hugest things that most people miss. They're told to do one particular exercise or another, and if it's not fun, you won't keep doing it. Worse, you might then think that you just don't like exercise period, and give up instead of trying lots of different things to see what works. Of course, the flip side is when you find one you love, then it's fun, and then it becomes something you give up on because you're so busy and it's "selfish" to be doing something fun when there are so many things you have to be doing for other people, but that's a whole other ball of therapy... um, never mind.

ernieball - the easiest retort if you don't want to deal with it is probably "Well, what created the creator?" followed by the explanation that posturing a creator who existed without a backstory is even more stupid than posturing that at one point nothing existed but energy.

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 7:07 AM

That's cruel. It's mobbing. I wouldn't be able to watch that.

David - it didn't really have that vibe to it, I didn't think. The conceit was that the group found out that a girl liked him (they thought), and wanted to try and get him to talk to her, thinking it was in his best interest. He went along with what they were doing, and there were multiple references to every pop cliche about transforming a person into someone else to become popular, along with references to every afterschool special that warn against such behavior in favor of being oneself. At the end, it turns out that Abed went along with them in their scheme only to make them happy, and that girls actually tend to frequently proposition him (but none of the group had ever noticed). I can see where it could have been in the realm of mobbing, but there's enough backstory at this point in the series that it was clear from the beginning that it was a) being done out of how much they care about him and b) was sure to end badly for them because pretty much everything they do turns out wrong - a lot of the humor of the show hinges on the characters trying to do something they think is helpful and turns out to be entirely inappropriate. (this is now the fourth out of the 6 main characters that has had some variation of this storyline).

Posted by: SC OM | March 5, 2010 7:29 AM

Ooh! I was just linking (again) to an earlier talk by Oreskes on one of the other threads. Won't be able to watch this till later, but it looks good:

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/03/naomi_oreskes_on_merchants_of.php

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 7:42 AM

David - of course, YMMV. I was only trying to explain why I thought it worked in context of that particular show, not that everyone ought to find it funny or acceptable for entertainment.

Tis - pppphhhhbbbbttttt.

(For the record, I like both kinds.)

Rev. - it's difficult to describe the initial reaction to vinegar-based barbeque when one has had a few decades of thick tomato-based and has no idea of the existence of the other kind. It's as weird as getting a fruit plate that's doused in mustard or something of the like.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 7:47 AM

Rev BDC,

The NC natives put vinegar in their BBQ sauce. Then they try to counteract the vinegar by putting in too much sugar. How anyone can think it's edible, let alone delicious, is one of those mysteries like why does gawd hate amputees.

Posted by: ernieball | March 5, 2010 8:03 AM

-if these workers in the game are living in a universe where major buildings and cities are deposited from the sky or spontaneously vanish away, and periodically a giant cursor waves overhead and marshals everyone into formation, they'd probably conclude, correctly, that a supernatural (from their perspective) being is fucking with them.

Hahaha, great answer :)

Thanks for the inspiration. I see now that this just begs the question, as usual..

Posted by: wasd | March 5, 2010 8:05 AM

Somali Islamist rebels ban English, science lessons 04:33 AM EST - By Sahra Abdi

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline Islamists have banned English and science studies in schools in the southern Afmadow town after the education centers there ignored the rebels' call for fighters, residents and teachers say.

Residents of the town near the border with Kenya said three schools had been given one month to comply with the order by al Shabaab rebels and switch the curriculum to accommodate Arabic and Islamic studies.

"They asked us to contribute students to their militia so that they can fight for them, but we rejected their proposal," said one teacher who wanted to remain anonymous.

Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, wants to topple Somalia's U.N.-backed government and impose its own strict version of sharia, Islamic law.[...]

Imagine that, youngsters having to dodge military recruiters to get to schools that are intimidated into teaching English as the official language and not teaching science in any serious way... wait did I say English? I meant whatever language these Somali schools teach.

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 8:51 AM

The whole idea of going out to meet people for dating has always seemed odd to me.

But then, I like alone. I like it too much even. I get to be me, do things I like, keep my own money. It's great.

The only thing that bothers me is when people, often women, complain about not being able to find some one and then shoot a look at me as if I'd never know what it feel like to be lonely or feel ugly. For most of my youth I modeled but I felt like a beast and I've had the wonderful experience of having "You know, you're really smart aren't you?" as the last things said to me by a guy I was moments before making plans to see that weekend. Those plans never materialized.

So... ladies and gentlemen, I agree with PZ. Keep trying, be nice, try not to get too downtrodden. Or else you may realize, as I have, that intimate relationships are no longer important to you!

That being said I'm in a crisis of a bit of a different flavor. Having left grad school and taken a job in an unrelated area has made me happier. Now I'm trying to decide whether I want to keep pursuing this track, or go back to school and start over in something new and different.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 8:58 AM

What BBQ joints in NC have you eaten at?

I've had BBQ in Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville and Cherry Point*. Each time, except the first, it was because I'd say how nasty NC BBQ was and people would say "oh, but you've never had Aunt Berthatrude's BBQ, let me take you there." And each time there was the same nasty vinegary BBQ as I'd had before in North Carolina.

I have had some decent dry-rub BBQ in North Carolina. If that was what the natives bragged about I'd have no trouble with their ideas about BBQ.

Oh and there is vinegar in pretty much ALL bbq sauce styles (even that white sauce from Alabama).

The thing I like best about Kansas City BBQ is the lack of vinegar. Also I've never had Alabama BBQ. Thanks for the warning, I'll make a point of not having any.

*I know people in the military who were stationed at Ft. Bragg** and MCAS Cherry Point.

**I've always wondered why one of the largest US Army bases is named after one the least successful Civil War generals.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 9:07 AM

I realize this should have been earlier in this thread (wow, can you imagine the confusion if nested comments were enabled?) or on the last neverending thread but I work for the government, I'm the father of teenagers, and I'm old so I'm slow.

That said:

Many years ago, my fellow office rodents and I were discussing the realative merits of different types of underwear (toward the end of what had been a busy day) and I turned to an older gentleman in our office and asked him, "Boxers or briefs?"

He thought for a moment and answered, "Well, depends." As the words were leaving his lips, his expression changed. He tried to stop himself completing the sentence. He failed.

Ten years later, this conversation still comes up in our office even though he retired 7 years ago.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 9:15 AM

Late to the party, but:

There's a variation on Caine's bacon recipe called "Bitch Bar Bacon Breadsticks." It's from The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner) (a book my wife treasures above all else, probably even me). This has always been a hit at parties.

Bitch Bar Bacon Breadsticks

30 slices of thinly sliced bacon (about)
box of grissini bread sticks
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap a thin slice of bacon around each long, skinny bread stick in a delightful spiral of fat. Mix together brown sugar and chili powder in a long, shallow dish (long enough to lay a bread stick down in) and smash out any lumps with a fork and generally mix it all up real good. Roll each bacon-wrapped bread stick in that hot sugar and set them, one by one, on the rack of a broiler pan, about 1/2 inch apart, and then bake them for about 20 minutes - during which time that sugar will caramelize in the bacon fat and the bacon will turn wonderfully golden. They'll then be loosened with a spatula and cooled on that rack on the counter for a few minutes before they are placed on a serving platter, but that's okay - you want to eat 'em at room temp, anyway.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 9:30 AM

@Janine MoFMA, OM:

I finally caught back up with the Intersects, skimming over their replies.

They do not like PZ because he calls out their precious M&K; on their concern trolling, and so have chosen their side. They are intentionally delusional. They choose to be willfully ignorant, and they will deny any reasonable argument which contradicts their own biases.

If they can't take a joke, fuck 'em. Gently. With a chainsaw.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 9:36 AM

'Tis Himself @ 303:

I accept no responsibility for any damage to nasal passages or keyboards created through my relation of conversations from the last century.

And if you think hot tea through the nose is painful, never, ever, ever sneeze while dry-swallowing a Prozac.

Posted by: chuckgoecke | March 5, 2010 9:42 AM

Ya'll know that reading this thread is a high cholesterol promoting act. Now I need to go and eat some of my pickled cauliflower.

Posted by: llewelly | March 5, 2010 9:52 AM

iambilly | March 5, 2010 9:07 AM:

He thought for a moment and answered, "Well, depends." As the words were leaving his lips, his expression changed. He tried to stop himself completing the sentence. He failed.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 9:58 AM

Bah. BBQ is nothing more than a sauce to disguise the fact that the meat hasn't been smoked properly.

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | March 5, 2010 10:03 AM

So the Colgate Twins are proud of 400 comments. The eternal thread has had 1142 comments since I could ascertain the first report for their thread (eposide 33 #534), but it could be more as there was a report of Orac's comment further upthread. Of course, we also discussed important topics like underwear and BBQ.

Posted by: Becca | March 5, 2010 10:09 AM

re: exercise. I'm bipolar, and am supposed to exercise in addition to my meds (stable for 4 years now, thank you!). I mostly find exercise truly boring, and have never in my life gotten an endorphin high from it. My secret to making it bearable is to listen to audiobooks while I work out. It keeps my mind engaged, so the activity isn't as boring.

re: meeting people for the first time. I'm a member of a foodie list (I'm not a great cook, but am trying to get inspiration to be better) and a small group of folks from that list are meeting for lunch in a town not too far away from me, and invited me to go with them since I'm so close. I'm back and forth on it.. they all know each other, are excellent cooks, and I'm mostly shy... but I probably will go, because it beats staying inside and trying to keep up with the endless thread.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 10:10 AM

Oklahoma style also involves the sauce served on the side...smoked meat is what you get and you can sauce it as you please.

Well, that's damned hospitable of them.

Y'know, I spent several months in OK in basic training and AIT. I never once had Oklahoma BBQ. I might have to reproduce it on my own, as I've sworn an unbreakable vow to never go back to that hell-hole of a state. ("It's like a fun-sized Texas!")

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 10:12 AM

Shameless blogwhoring: I just posted some Whistler pictures...

(/Fair warning: I am not Lynna's brother.)

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 10:20 AM

Good lord. I waded in just for a minute, and was immediately met with a person claiming that I'm a hypocrite if I don't think that threatening someone's daughter is equivalently ok to telling someone to go fuck off.

If the Intersection and Laden groups ever all got in a room together, the world would implode from the combined suckitude.

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 10:25 AM

I waded in just for a minute, and was immediately met with a person claiming that I'm a hypocrite if I don't think that threatening someone's daughter is equivalently ok to telling someone to go fuck off.

... today's lesson: you can always be more disgusted with someone.

(/You may keep thinking you can't. But apparently, you always can.)

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 10:37 AM

If I mention I'm going to look in on that thread again, someone slap the shit out of me.

That place is a fucking disaster area.

The level myopic thinking being displayed by the crybabies over there is toxic.

I'm going to send that thread to the Super Fund program.

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 10:41 AM

I'm going to send that thread to the Super Fund program.

(Laughs...)

(/... see also Snowcrash, 'sacrifice zone'.)

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 10:46 AM

Well, that's my last wade into the Interdungeonal cesspool. Not only are those idiots immune to logic, reason, common sense, reality, and thought, but even an attempt to explain things at their level failed utterly.

One of the worst parts is that the namesakes of both bilbo and Seminatrix are pretty cool IMO.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 10:55 AM

What I'm talking about is BBQ places not even really smoking their meat and just relying on sauce and "fake smoke".

WHAT?

Please tell me you are kidding. How can you have smoked meat without smoke? That's completely irrational!

That's like saying "go fuck yourself" is wishing someone would get raped and killed.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 11:01 AM

My 28th birthday is a week from tomorrow.

Mine will be in about 4 months…

In my nearly 28 years on this planet, I've had one semi-serious relationship and one other date.

I've had no relationship and no date.

only works when the exercise itself is marginally enjoyable. Otherwise it's just one more chore that makes life a misery, and makes the idea of crawling out of bed every day entirely distasteful

So true, so true.

And going outdoors is just too boring alone. I only even go for a walk (with a bit of running) anymore when, on a weekend, my legs start hurting from lack of movement. Never mind various museum exhibitions and the like that I'd probably visit if I weren't alone.

If I had some sort of regimen I was expected to do every day, no, not so much. I'd be much more inclined to blow it off.

Bingo.

..ah yes, I most certainly do. Guaranteed to take Wowbagger to new "heights".

Bwaaa haa haaa haa haa

I have no idea what that might be, but it sounds scary.

Can any of the paleo/geo folks comment on this ?

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/327/5970/1214

Incredibly, we don't have fulltext access to Science (or Nature) here, but from the abstract it looks great, even though I'm not sure there'll be anything new in it. Among the authors, Christian Köberl is a geochemist at the University of Vienna who has done a lot of research on impact craters, and Greg Ravizza is the first of two authors on a 2003 Science paper that shows that the main phase of Deccan Trap eruptions ended 100,000 years before the K-Pg boundary and didn't cause anything global other than a transient rise in temperature*. And last but not least, the sheer number of authors is highly unusual in that field; that means we're looking at a really broad consensus.

* From all the outgassed CO₂. One of the few cases in the history of the Earth that greenhouse gases increased for any reason other than increasing temperature.

Exotic antimatter detected at RHIC

Cool, cool.

we might have a sopranist amidst the ranks (the equivalent of a castrat[o] without the snip-snip)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countertenor

Minus the actual training, that's more common than one might think. For instance, although I speak in a male voice (on the high side of the range, but still), I still don't sing in one, for reasons that go back to denial*. I've altogether given up on singing in situations where my voice could be tracked down to me (outside the family).

* I simply liked my voice well enough and didn't want to lose it. Cried for it in advance a couple of times, in fact. The entire puberty thing came too early for me, even though it came late. Why doesn't it start at 18… <sigh>

The conceit was that the group found out that a girl liked him (they thought), and wanted to try and get him to talk to her

OIC. I retract everything. Still, why didn't they try to get her to talk to him, then? Just because of the tradition that says that's the man's job?

The whole idea of going out to meet people for dating has always seemed odd to me.

I can hardly grasp it at all…

wow, can you imagine the confusion if nested comments were enabled?

In theory, I can. It's a bit like the difference between countably and uncountably infinite sets, isn't it.

I am a government employee. I am not a political appointee. I do not have the grade level nor the political support to be able to lie.

:-D

Posted by: Stephen Wells | March 5, 2010 11:10 AM

I left this on the Intersection disaster thread. Quoting here in case it's blocked by the fuck:

Could I point out that anyone who doesn’t want to be terribly deeply insulted by having nasty things said to them at Pharyngula has the option of NOT GOING THERE. If you don’t like a style of argument that includes profanity you don’t have to go over there. As it is we have the pearl-clutchers fastidiously dipping their tongs into the Pharyngula archives, finding cases where A tells B to go and do ridiculously hyperbolic act C, and oh won’t somebody think of the children. You might as well call the police to a rugby match because that big nasty man tripped up that other man and he fell in the mud, how terrible.

Personally I think commentators who post claims which boil down to “you scientists are all fools, frauds, liars and/or idiots” – which is the implication of pro-creationism/anti-evolution arguments, and of climate change denialists- are being far more offensive, even if they don’t use a single swear word, than a response which includes the recommendation that they go engage in a private act with an agricultural implement. A world of “civilised discourse” which regards “Atheists can’t be really moral” or “Evolutionary theory is responsible for the Holocaust”or “Climate change is just a left-wing conspiracy” as less offensive than “fuck off” has neutered itself.

Posted by: A. Noyd | March 5, 2010 11:20 AM

I've been off doing other stuff, but I was catching up a bit and then checked my email and found this little gem forwarded by my mother. A poem. About how we say things. Nothing to do with profanity, but still relevant, if you ask me, especially since I think most of the people on this thread have been attacked for doing what this poem encourages.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | March 5, 2010 11:32 AM

Wowbagger @172

My major barrier to a relationship is - well, apart from the current meatspace aversion - less to do with not feeling confident about approaching someone and more to do with not being able to find anyone worth risking being shot down for.

Sad to come to the conclusion that most people aren't worth the time. For a long time he thought that an intelligent female who had been unfortunately brainwashed since birth might at least modify her commitment to extreme craziness if she was occasionally, and in a non-pushy way, introduced to other ideas. Museum visits, films, that sort of thing. But no.

As an aside, Mr. Fire, I liked the Booker T & the MGs "Melting Pot" performance. Very nice.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 11:33 AM

The difference between profane and offensive shows up everywhere. On my blog I have a frequent commenter who goes by the name of Matthew. This is one of his recent offensive comments:

I look at this and see the Golden Rule in action. The Golden Rule says that I should treat others the way I want to be treated. If I am addicted to self-abuse, pronography, alcohol, beer, worshipping false idols, wordhipping Satan — then I would want someone to pray for my soul and Witness me to the Glory of God as expressed through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. We are told to be warriors for our Faith. This is what is being done in Texas. They are Witnessing others to the Glory of Jesus which is just what their souls cry out for though the person is too affraid of God or angry at God or in denial of God to understand that is what they need so the Witness who acts as the Holy Warrrior is bringing them closer to Jesus just as the Golden Rule (Invented by Jesus Christ) implores them to do. And all you can do in your jealous rage against God is point and laugh. Sad.

No fuck. No shit. No rape. No obscene gerunds. But, without doubt, offensive.

Before this thread the difference between offensive language and profanity had not even occurred to me.

Posted by: MrFire | March 5, 2010 11:35 AM

Reverend, belated thanks for sharing your thoughts on pulled pork.

Closely related to that, the BBQ discussion is awesome. As a British person, I used to think that the dish that we invented - I am of course talking about Indian curry - was king. But after several years in the US, I am beginning to re-think that.

Oh, and Cajun cooking is my other great food revelation since being here.

Posted by: Matt Penfold | March 5, 2010 11:42 AM

On the subject of salty and sweet combinations, the French, especially in Brittany, have long had the habit of adding salt to caramel. It does cut down on the intense sweetness whilst keeping the caramel flavour.

I used to have a recipe for a chocolate and salted caramel tart but I can no loner find it.

Posted by: Carlie | March 5, 2010 11:42 AM

Wow, AJ Milne, he's fantastic! Just listened to the rant on What Teachers Make.

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 11:46 AM

Just listened to the rant on What Teachers Make...

Yeah, my sister (who is a teacher) pointed him out to me, a while ago.

I'm not, myself, a teacher--despite having a whole lot of 'em in the family, I don't seem to have received the 'ability patiently to repeat things on occasion' genes. But I know more than enough of 'em and respect 'em enough that that bit practically brought a tear to my eye.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 11:48 AM

AJ Milne @ 353: Yeah, Repaint Armadillo (Love the rephrasing). His take on the golden rule is breathtakingly selfish and nonempathic.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 11:54 AM

nigelTheBold @ 357: I suppose I should have cleared up the twits typos for clarity but that really is the way he types and comments. And I had no idea that word-hipping had a prurient meaning. Or did I miss something?

And for all you late 20-somethings complaining about approaching 30 -- GET OFF MY LAWN!!

(Of course, I'm only 44, but I did live in West Virginia for a few years so I am old enought to be your father!)

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 11:58 AM

iambilly,

I know he meant "worship." I just liked his misspelling, and so ran with it. I'd rather have the full semi-literate effect to go along with my content-less arrogant deiphile rantings.

I turn 43 in a couple of months. To all the folks approaching 30: don't worry. 30 is a breeze. 40's not much of a problem, either. I can't say much about the others, since I haven't turned 50 yet.

Posted by: Dianne | March 5, 2010 11:59 AM

I,FOR ONE(sorry), am feeling the thirty pushing down on me. It makes me sad.

Yeah, at 30 you have to get a real job and start acting like a grownup. (I say, having reached 42 and only gotten a "real job" last year.)

Posted by: KOPD | March 5, 2010 12:01 PM

Actually, I forgot I don't have birthdays anymore, just anniversaries. Next month is the 9th anniversary of my 21st birthday.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:18 PM

Mix the BBQ and Cajun and try a Cochon de lait po-boy

hoooooooooooooooooo nellie

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:24 PM

just as the Golden Rule (Invented by Jesus Christ)

Not only is his comment offensive it's fucking stupid.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 12:35 PM

Yep, and it works well. It's an especially good facilitator of beer consumption.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 12:36 PM

Booker T & the MGs

A couple of those guys bear a very close resemblance to members of the Blues Brothers Band.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 12:42 PM

Given this, we can probably assume the following: if somewhere there were a sect of Christianity in which their version of the bible had Jesus forbidding the gargling of broken glass, we'd never actually know. They wouldn't have been around long enough.

Rāmen.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 12:48 PM

Oh. Man. I am so spreading the gospel of the cooking shed.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 12:53 PM

Or is it still possible to make a tentative approach without being a complete creep?

Possible. But not likely.

Chances are, pursuing her in any way would be disastrous. It will only lead to hurt feelings; shouting; acrimony; long nights spent bawling in the abandoned lot across from her apartment, telescope lying forgotten beside you on the grass; and restraining orders.

Then she'll say, "No, nigel, I'm not posting you bail," and then you'll be like, "You don't love me any more!" and she'll be all like, "Stop calling me."

No really does mean no.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | March 5, 2010 12:56 PM

PZ, are you taking a birthday cake on the plane with you? (Minus the candles, of course.) Really, someone should orchestrate a B-day party for the Professional Poopyhead on da plane to Down Under.

My condolences to you and the Trophy Wife for not being able to share your Anniversaire, nor your wedding anniversary. Perhaps this will be a good excuse to organize a massive blow-out party when you return.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 1:03 PM

“A more thorough analysis of a larger data set, and a more careful analysis of distribution of characters that they argue support their grouping actually show that that this is a very interesting fossil related to lemurs and lorises but not related to human origins at all,” Ross said. “To assert that you can reconstruct relationships on thirty characters is just wrong-headed, it’s stubbornly primitive science. And I just don’t understand it.”

I'm basically just posting this here so I can bookmark the source of that quote which I'll need to use a lot. The context is the second paper that shows that Darwinius is more closely related to the lemurs and lorises than to us with the exceptions of Pygmy Loris and obviously Cuttlefish.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 1:05 PM

Sili,

Seriously, in a situation like that, you have two honorable choices. Wait for her to come to you, or don't wait at all and try to move on. If you try to re-establish contact while harboring deep feelings, you are attempting to get her to change her mind.

That's not fair to her, and it is especially not fair to you.

That's my take on it, anyway. Others might have better advice.

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 1:10 PM

Then she'll say, "No, Nigel, I'm not posting you bail," and then you'll be like, "You don't love me any more!" and she'll be all like, "Stop calling me..."

(Laughs...)

Spoken like a man who knows...

I'd say, for my part, a lot depends on you and her. If you can actually visualize yourself tentatively saying 'Hey, you mind if I try to open up an old subject again, real gently', and her not actually calling the cops, you might have something. But I think only you are likely to really have any sense of this, out of those here. And I think, tho' it should go without saying, you should also be real ready to drop it like a fucking hot rock again if that's where it looks like it should be going.

Re the whole turning 30 thing, I dunno. I'm 40.

It's weird. I don't feel 40. But there was a bit of a feeling of crossing a threshold, sure...

But it's not all bad. Sure, you have to remind yourself it's now probably more than just a year creepier if you catch yourself looking too long at twentysomething babe, and okay, what with cultural expectations, it's not exactly just a number, it's not like it's a fucking death sentence, either. I'm definitely a hair fitter this year, actually, mosly from the probably to-be-expected realization I should probably be taking a bit more of an active hand in staying that way...

And honestly, in my modest version of a mid-life crisis, I think I'm a bit braver. There's this sense that, look, while I've had a decent life til now, done some fun stuff, I haven't done everything I wanted to by any stretch, and since ya just don't so much know how much time is left, let's start making it count. My mother's side of the family, especially, is not generally long-lived. So I look at that number, some of the ones they made it to, get to thinking: kid, don't mess around. Get stuff done.

(/... that's all. Dunno how much help it is at 30, I guess, but anyway...)

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | March 5, 2010 1:12 PM

What do you feel about not taking no for an answer once one has worked up the courage to ask?

That you should respect that answer, once given. Rejecting someone you like and / or respect but are not necessarily attracted to can be as difficult as being rejected, emotionally. Making it worse by overtly continuing a pursuit only compounds the emotional strain.

Is it just a question of wanting the forbidden fruit? The dog chasing the car, not knowing what to do with it if it catches it?

No... I don't think so... that implies mere infatuation. It's just my opinion, but if you were merely infatuated, her rejection would have been less stinging to you. I get the sense you have genuine feelings for this person.

Should I turn to drink and leave her alone?

To a certain degree... although I'd put it more along the lines of "keep a guarded but friendly distance" so as not to make her uncomfortable... if she wanted you to simply leave her alone, I think she'd make it pretty clear. And if she has, you need to be aware of it and react accordingly (by leaving her alone).

Or is it still possible to make a tentative approach without being a complete creep?

Just my opinion, but I think you should probably step back and concede the possibility of developing a romantic relationship with her... then evaluate what her friendship means to you and take steps to resume the relationship on that level, making sure she feels comfortable that you will not pursue the romantic angle again. It is possible that in doing so and remaining in her close-knit circle, such feelings could develop, but I think it would be in your own emotional best interest to assume that will not happen and look to move on, as hard as that might be.

All of the above given with the sincere caveat that these are merely opinions from a 30-something year-old divorced male with a fairly large amount of dating experience, who also seems to have more in common with and more friendships with members of the female persuasion.

So... it's just my advice, but it's given in earnest desire to help. Take it for what it's worth. ;^)

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 5, 2010 1:21 PM

Oh, great. Now Jadehawk's birthday depression will come back. :-(

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 1:28 PM

you're not the only one. and worst of all, I was hoping that watching others turn 30 without damage to themselves would help, except that's not even close to what's happening. turning 30 apparently does weird things to you: one of them dropped all his altie projects and got himself a career in IT; the other suddenly decided he needs a second job, save up, and buy a house :-/

For me, I'm hoping that my thirties will bring actually making some sort of living doing something interesting, rather than just trying to survive on inadequate education and experience. I spent half of my twenties just trying to get out of my parents' house. What exactly does one leave behind with one's twenties? All-night drinking and partying? I was never into that anyway.

Ok, Rev. BigDumbChimp's advice for those leaving their thirties.

I spent all of my twenties after college (and some during college) being a ski/climbing-bum in a couple Western US cities. I had a degree (Ecosystems Assessment / Natural Resources) but never once did I use it. While not being pressured by my parental units to "find a career" I wasn't not being pressured, if that makes sense. I started dealing with computers because it was the only thing in a ski town I figured I could do well and make a living at it past being a cook, waiter, or some other service industry job (not that there is anything wrong with that). When finally in 2000 I blew out my shoulder skiing and the company I was working for in Telluride went belly up, I moved back east to SC.

Now during the whole time out west I was thoroughly enjoying being a budding photographer and living in the area I was in, but felt some societal / family / peer pressure to come back east and pursue the IT career path which I did, and have worked myself into an existence at age 38 of sitting behind a desk and working for people who don't give a shit about my future (not to mention a company getting slammed hard by the housing industry downturn). Don't get me wrong, the IT career has allowed me to own a home (that I personally built with my own hands), meet my wife, live fairly comfortably and do some things I have wanted to do.

But I currently hate my job. Loathe it.

Had I kept up with working on being a pro photographer (something I love) I'm pretty sure my level of professional bitterness would be different and I'd hopefully be in a different place career wise. Maybe not, but at least I would have tried. So I'm currently working on a career change at age, 38 and that's got me fired up again. We'll see.

So Advice from Uncle BigDumbChimp for those approaching age 30 and feeling the "pressure"?

Don't feel pressured to find a "real job" unless that is what you really love doing. You can really back yourself into a corner down the road that is not impossible to escape, but can be difficult.

And remember 30 is the new 20.

And no, I'm not buying a Corvette.

/mid life crisis bitterness off

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 1:30 PM

That should have been

for those leaving their twenties.

YAY

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 1:34 PM

Man, did I fuck up the HTML. <headshake>

Sili, first of all, did you notice that an almost-dinosaur has been named after not-you?

Regarding your question, you might try to place your awesomeness (but not yourself) into a place where she's going to notice, and then wait till she starts asking you. But letting your awesomeness lie around like that may not be feasible. You wouldn't be starting from 0 again, but from negative numbers… So I rather recommend you start looking for someone else.

Of course, I'm not speaking from experience. I've never been rejected… I've never made any advances in the first place.

[Help! Editor urgently needed at Mormon Times! ... wait... maybe they meant that?]

People tend to forget the scariest option: "or both".

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 1:39 PM

I lost my virginity before you were born.

Coincidence?
one wonders...

Not me, though, I'm 50. But I don't feel 50. Except after ice-skating.

My day was made by a very very very cool post from Chris Clarke. I thought it was so cool that I blogged it myself. Then I blogwhored. You are reading the latter.

[does anybody know why Blogger is cutting off the right half of videos embedded at the smallest availavble size? thanks in advance]

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | March 5, 2010 1:42 PM

but felt some societal / family / peer pressure to come back east and pursue the IT career path which I did, and have worked myself into an existence at age 38 of sitting behind a desk and working for people who don't give a shit about my future ... Don't get me wrong, the IT career has allowed me to own a home ..., meet my wife, live fairly comfortably and do some things I have wanted to do.

But I currently hate my job. Loathe it.

Holy freaking mirror, batman!!! Do you have any idea how eerily similar this is to my very own life? I've since shed the wife and am 39 (to your 38)... but yikes... the industry, the path... the loathing... too weird.

Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 5, 2010 1:45 PM

Hmmph. All you youngsters in your thirties and under...think about this. I lost my virginity before you were born.

DADDY!

Well, only if you puberty while you were in your single digits and other assorted things that probably really such not be explored too deeply.

Posted by: nigelTheBold | March 5, 2010 1:51 PM

Holy freaking mirror, batman!!! Do you have any idea how eerily similar this is to my very own life? I've since shed the wife and am 39 (to your 38)... but yikes... the industry, the path... the loathing... too weird.

Not me. 42, got into computers when I was 12, not long after the Apple ][ came out. I was programming it within a week of our school getting one, in 1979.

Except for a 3-year stint in the Army, and undergraduate physics, I've been programming computers since then. And I absolutely freakin' love it. Even today.

Even given that, I'd like to second Rev. BDC's recommendation. The best advice my dad ever said was, "Son, you don't want to grow up like me, working at a job you hate just to support a family. Find out what you love, and then find out how to make a living at it."

I just went to the Found Footage Festival. Here are two guys who love kitschy pop culture, and figured out how to make money at it: go around the country on a tour. If they can figure out how to make a living off such a flimsy premise, whatever it is you love should be easy.

Posted by: Paul | March 5, 2010 1:54 PM

OK... this is going to sound bad... but after posting #400 I actually had to stop... think... and count before coming to the realization that I'm in fact 38 and not 39 (not till December).

I actually don't keep a value for "how old am I" in my memory, at all. Every time I am asked, I need to subtract birth year from current year, and adjust based on whether it is before or after my date of birth. It's not something I consciously did, I just never cared all that much about exact age.

So not really odd to be. But not sure how typical or atypical I am.

Posted by: Sili | March 5, 2010 1:57 PM

Man, did I fuck up the HTML. <headshake;>

Sili, first of all, did you notice that an almost-dinosaur has been named after not-you?

Thanks for the Ida update. I just saw a headline about it today and couldn't understand what took them so long: duh! it's not a missing link. Welcome to 2009.

--o--

Thanks for the good advice. As you may've guessed it confirms my expectations.

I should have put more emphasis on this never having been a meatspace friendship, though. That was my big, squicking error: I offered to visit, in the hope that I might make a better impression (not likely).

Having had access to other computers lately, I've had a look at her Deviantart and left a few comments on her recent works - so I'm definitely channelling nigel, here. (Comments on the art, though, and her references to life, so nothing unprovoked, at least.) She's replied politely, but not being banned is not exactly equivalent to an invitation. What I'd considered was reädding her to MSN, but I suspect you're right and I'd just be more hurt by pursuing the impossible, and the only result would be souring what little memory she might have of me further.

I appreciate David's suggestion I flaunt my awesomeness, but 1) I don't have much too flaunt, 2) we 'defriended' on LJ, since I obviously shouldn't be privy to her life any longer.

--o--

And just for the record: I didn't have time to be depressed about turning thirty - I was already depressed from failing my ph.d. and losing my mum.

Hmmph. All you youngsters in your thirties and under...think about this. I lost my virginity before you were born.

Coincidence? one wonders...

The 'real' apprentice where I am this month just told us today that his nan was a servant to Niels Bohr (she played cards with him too). We suggested he put it on his CV.

And further to the record keeping, my virginity is fairly intact.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 2:04 PM

And now it's life without parole

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 2:05 PM

Find out what you love, and then find out how to make a living at it.

Close to my Dad's version: "Find something you like to do, then find someone stupid enough to pay you for doing it."

I started out in computer engineering. I was good at the math. And I hated it. So I switched to what I enjoy (history) and now have a career with the NPS as a cultural interpreter dealing with labour and industrial history. And getting to go to forest fires is fun, too.

I guess part of it is recognizing what you like and (hopefully) doing so before you are entrenched in a career, marriage, mortgage, and all the other complications which accompany midlife.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 2:07 PM

First wrong choice of field of study(should have done Law), then wrong subspecialty in the field that I did study(should have done Anaesthetics). Problem is, during the time of life that those decisions have to be made, this did not seem such a high priority somehow, and almost came as an afterthought. And now it's life without parole....

/waves from the cell next door

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 2:14 PM

The other thing that can happen is that you figure out early what you love, figure out how to get paid for it, establish a career of sorts, and then gradually realize that as a job it's not nearly so fun. Not nearly. But by then one has responsibilities and obligations and never trained to do anything else that might pay nearly so well to start over at.

or so I've heard

Posted by: Rorschach | March 5, 2010 2:19 PM

I guess part of it is recognizing what you like and (hopefully) doing so before you are entrenched in a career, marriage, mortgage, and all the other complications which accompany midlife.

There is that, too.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 2:26 PM

"Chicago would be awesum", Jadehawk wrote a few subthreads ago. It is.

Has this happened to anyone else?

My mother always needs to calculate to get her age down to the exact year. Sounds like comment 406.

but it had lost its entire tail

That's actually normal. Pigeons can drop the feathery part of the tail at will.

my virginity is fairly intact

I'm not going to ask exactly what that means… :-)

I don't know many people who have managed that feat

Almost every single professional scientist…?

Princesses can be bullied at school too?

Evidently.

Posted by: Haruhiist | March 5, 2010 2:35 PM

Well, given that we're talking career choices, I might throw out the career choice standing before me now, for you to mull over.

I'm from the Netherlands, currently studying in the UK. My supervisor approached me last week, asking if I might want to do a PHD here. The spot is pretty much guaranteed to me, along with a relatively small scholarship, and it's a good uni.

Problem is, I'm not sure I want to spend another 3-4 years in the UK. What I would like to do, is go to yet another country altogether, and do a PHD there or go into the industry, but I'm not sure how feasible that is. To make matters worse, there is a deadline and I need to have decided in just over a week.

So, any advice or new angles to look at this?

Posted by: KOPD | March 5, 2010 2:38 PM

Now we're happy.

Well, I am. She says she is, but how anybody could be happily married to the likes of me is a good question. I'm an atheistic, nerdy scifi geek who spends entirely too much time playing video games and listening to metal, and not enough time taking care of myself or the house. And I always want bacon.

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | March 5, 2010 2:45 PM

KOPD #421

Sure... and each experience will be unique... and in a vacuum there will be cases where persistence might be a recommended approach... this will be determined by the interactions and circumstances, of course.

I based my answer not just on the initial question, but the context Sili provided subsequently that indicated to me that continued pursuit was probably not the best course in this case.

But considering your preface, I don't think we are in disagreement here. ;^)

Posted by: MrFire | March 5, 2010 2:50 PM

Surely we can push this thread into hilarious loss-of-virginity-stories*.

It was a city park, it was winter, it was the late evening...and of course, none of that mattered to us. She had a big furry coat, so we kinda wrapped up in that, and, y'know, stumbled through it.

I thought her coat smelled funny, but I ignored it. It was only after we were done that I realised we had been rolling around in a pile of freshly-laid dogshit.

*For sporting reasons, I'm not mentioning age, since it's unremarkable doesn't add anything.

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 2:53 PM

Find out what you love, and then find out how to make a living at it. Sounds good in theory, but I don't know many people who have managed that feat, certainly not me. First wrong choice of field of study(should have done Law), then wrong subspecialty in the field that I did study(should have done Anaesthetics). Problem is, during the time of life that those decisions have to be made, this did not seem such a high priority somehow, and almost came as an afterthought. And now it's life without parole....

I felt this way. I actually like my IT job, but I don't know if I want to work in business forever. It's just a lucrative (comparatively) thing I can do. Although security is interesting and so I am considering going back to push towards that track more and make sure there are places higher on the food chain. But is it what I want or love? I really don't know. It always has beaten working at a starbucks or something.

I studied art and music. I decided to pursue art for a graduate degree and planned on working in the field, teaching, writing, making art. Then at some point while pursuing that I got deeply disillusioned with it all and started to realize how my IT job was grounding me and making me feel better when everything else sucked. I dreaded writing another article. I dreaded dealing with more pretension. I looked forward to C#, waiting for me in the alternating mornings... yet another database. Wheeee...

And then I got another promotion, and I realized if I do this for a while if nothing else I can make enough money to actually have some real control over what my life looks like in the next ten or twenty years. of course now my job is more demanding.

I guess all that really depresses me is that I realize that my music will not be going anywhere before I'm thirty. That hurts... another dream for the heirloom box :( Not that I plan to quit entirely.

As for art, my break with the professional art world is probably permanent. I still make things, but I just don't care about being an academic and I don't care about getting into galleries anymore either. Goodbye rat race.

It's really really ironic though. When I think about it.

Now I don't know what I want to do. I want to find something that I feel is important somehow to the world, or where I'm being useful.

Sometimes I feel like a giant human waste of space :(

Meh... depressing thoughts. They can fuck themselves! Who has time for that?

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | March 5, 2010 3:01 PM

I actually like my IT job, but I don't know if I want to work in business forever.

I know what you mean... I think the clearest indicator for me is where I spend my free time online... and it ain't perusing IT blogs (except Crave, which I love). It's here or other science blogs.

Posted by: ~Pharyngulette~ | March 5, 2010 3:07 PM

OK... this is going to sound bad... but after posting #400 I actually had to stop... think... and count before coming to the realization that I'm in fact 38 and not 39 (not till December).

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm a little shaken by it... ;^)

Yup. I know I'm in my late 40s...somewhere. To figure out what actual age I am, I subtract my birth year from the current year and then have to think about whether we've reached December yet. So [thinks][sounds of grinding gears]... at the end of tise year I'll be 7².

Like it matters to you young whippersnappers.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 3:09 PM

One of the more surprising things about getting older is that dreams change. We all had dreams. I dreamed of being a palaeontologist. Then I dreamed of being a cartographer. Then I dreamed of being a professional foodball player (knee). Then I dreamed of getting laid (actually, that dream was concurrent with many of the preceding and following dreams). Then I dreamed of being one of the leading lights in computer design. Then I dreamed of teaching history at the college level. The dreams kept changing but what I expected from my dreams also kept changing.

Oddly, my goals (other than getting laid (which happened (with the young lady who become (((Wife)))))) for my life didn't really change. I wanted to a)make at least a small difference in the world (hopefully for the better) and b) when I'm ready to retire be able to. A) I have been accpomplishing. I helped open a national park. I worked Katrina and the World Trade Center incidents. I work wildland fires (security (which is mostly about keeping the lookie-lous and the locals out of the way of the fire)).

Most of my life has not turned out in any way, form, or fashion like I had imagined. Would I go back? No. Am I happy? For the most part, yes. Can we ask for whole lot more?

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 3:13 PM

I think birthdays stop being interesting as soon as you had one which didn't make you add "and a half" to it 6 months later when people asked how old you are.

I have trouble remembering my specific age, too. But ever since I found out that I'm about a month older than PZ, I can just wait till he mentions his birthday. He's a science-type, and good with numbers.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 3:15 PM

Bilbo sez:

PZ said, and I quote “We like it” about the widespread sexually-explicit references to violence, death, and sexual mutilation on his blog being allowed to stand there without moderation.

*snort* That's a definite Bilbo re-write. Better get your Viking Helmet, bloodied axe and scream for mayhem, PZ.

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 3:17 PM

About PZ's comment @440

That is really vile. I'm glad I haven't gone back over there since the first day I heard of it. There is not use talking to people like that.

Posted by: iambilly | March 5, 2010 3:21 PM

Sorry about sounding so maudlin above. I get melancholy sometimes.

Regarding Bilbo: Part of me (the part I try to squelch) wants to 'edit' his comment:

Bilbo: I like widespread sexually-explicit references to violence, death, and sexual mutilation on his blog.

Not that I would, but the reptilian squidlike part of my brain wants to go there.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 3:23 PM

PZ:

Ask me my age, and my brain goes "Sputnik was launched in 1957, the same year I was born

Hee. I think Sputnik and "it's the year some of the worst movies ever were made."

Posted by: Dianne | March 5, 2010 3:25 PM

Health insurance: is it worse to not have it or to have it? I'm on the phone trying to get an insurance company to cover a test without which the patient will likely die. I won't say which insurance company, but if you have Americhoice I suggest you switch now.

Posted by: Gimleted Insect | March 5, 2010 3:29 PM

This is a bit off topic (but what isn't in this thread?).

Those of you in Melbourne for the atheist conference might be interested to know that the following Wednesday (17th March) sees Craig Venter giving a free lecture about "the past 15 years of digitising biology" (Details and registration here).

Not sure if anyone here would want to go along but the thought of seeing PZ, Dawkins and Venter all in the space of five days sets my geneticist heart aflutter.

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 3:32 PM

PZ #447 wrote:

But if you're a month older, and you wait until I mention my birthday, you'll always be late for yours!

Oh. Right.

See, that's what makes you a science-type.

("I think that science changes the way your mind works, to think a little more deeply about things." -- PZ Myers, Symphony of Science -- the Poetry of Reality (An Anthem for Science))

Posted by: RickR | March 5, 2010 3:35 PM

Josh OSG-

Doesn't change the fact that I don't find it aesthetically appealing, and doesn't change the fact that the "swim team look" is now considered compulsory in many sections of the gay community if you're to be considered Hawt. Just expressing a personal opinion about what I like, and what I don't.

This. I still weep openly when I see Matthew Fox's shaved chest on "Lost". Oh the humanity! Won't somebody think of the folicles??

And did Josh actually use "obscene pickle" in a sentence without proper attribution?

Why, yes. Yes, he did.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | March 5, 2010 3:39 PM

aratina cage @431: many thanks for posting the link to Judge Myers. That was one of PZ's funniest posts. A perfectly balanced cocktail of dry humor and needle-sharp wit. Brenda's complaint was humorous too ... only that was unintentional on her part.

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 3:44 PM

Celtic_Evolution #459 wrote:

No, you noodle-brained assclown, what PZ rejects is the valuing of civility over substance.

I think a lot of people have trouble thinking of the two de-coupled. If someone is being polite, then they are saying something worth listening to; if someone is being impolite, then they're not saying anything worth listening to.

Perhaps this is a holdover from lessons drilled into their heads when very young. It does sound like a point my mommy would have made. It's a rather good point for a mommy to make.

But it's probably out of place when the topics get serious.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 3:50 PM

Dianne @ 452:

Health insurance: is it worse to not have it or to have it? I'm on the phone trying to get an insurance company to cover a test without which the patient will likely die.

Yikes. I hope you persuade them to cover it. I've had Blue Cross for years, and they are pretty good. I have to have MRI's done on a regular basis and those are always covered. The one thing they don't cover is meds.

Posted by: Sili | March 5, 2010 4:00 PM

Pervert and the Wall?

Frankly, I don't see what business it is of ours what consenting adults and brickwork do in the privacy of their own ho... well, in the privacy of themself. Just like I think it's vile that someone would sick the police on a man getting jiggy with his bike (though, to be fair, I think the police arrived on the scene because he hadn't paid his rent, and the bike may or may not have been his).

Wow, Sastra is a year older than PeeZed? Damn. Now I feel even more useless. I'm thirtymumble and PeeZed has successful blog, a career, a Trophy Wife™ and three smart college kids and the fucking age of bloody twenty-effing-five!!

Go die in a zebrafishtank, Poopyhead!

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | March 5, 2010 4:08 PM

My comment over at the intersucktion made it through...

OK… I swore I would not foray into this, but… Bilbo, there’s a reason you’re held in the low regard you are (seemingly everywhere but here that is)…

You make statements like “PZ said, and I quote “We like it” “, which gets the quote right, but then leaves off the rest of the actual context, whereby you then invent your own, full of lies and over-the-top misrepresentations. I notice you stopped the actual “quote” after the “We like it” part and started filling in the blank with your own tediousness. Your motives are transparent and if the best you can do is outright lie… well… I guess you are where you belong.

This is my first, only, and last post here. I prefer my interactions to be honest, substantive and meaningful. Maybe this thread is not representative of this blog as a whole, and I admit to basing the following opinion on this thread… but really, it’s enough for me to decide this is pretty clearly not the place I’m going to find it.

Won't know if it ever gets responded to, as I'll not be returning to that awful place... nor do I care, honestly.

Posted by: Dianne | March 5, 2010 4:16 PM

Yikes. I hope you persuade them to cover it.

Actually, I did. That threat to document the refusal works nearly every time. It's oddly satisifying to threaten an HMO. Probably that Pharynguloid love of violence.

Posted by: MrFire | March 5, 2010 4:25 PM

Pervert and the Wall?

Frankly, I don't see what business it is of ours what consenting adults and brickwork do in the privacy of their own ho... well, in the privacy of themself.

Yeah I should have been more specific. In the link I gave, the guy is a pervert for getting off while dirty-calling a random female. The wall gets, er, caught in the crossfire.

No problem if someone just wishes to have sex with their own wall. I only imagine it would be challenging, even for experienced rock-climbers.

Posted by: Paul | March 5, 2010 4:27 PM

@469

J.J Ramsey has actually done that several times in different places. I'm sure PZ's seen it before. He did it earlier in that thread as well, if I recall correctly.

Yeah, it seems he's right that PZ might not be wholly accurate on his Dungeon description (PZ has subsequently said Ramsey made his attacks once on Pharyngula, but he saw them repeated at different locations). And in the interests of accuracy, I think it would be good to fix it. But Ramsey's just trying to distract the fact that he was a jerk attacking someone's kid instead of them and got smacked down for it.

Posted by: Feynmaniac | March 5, 2010 4:28 PM

Either that, or he should attempt to show where the “several times” bit came from, emphasis on the word “attempt.” I’d actually like to see him try the latter

Done:

J.J. Ramsey is a major loser, too. He's written me in the past a few times, asking to be un-banned. No apologies for sneering at my daughter (not that I'd be in a mood to accept them, anyway), and always this whining that he only did it once. Which isn't true: he made the one post about it here, but then I found him complaining about Skatje on other sites, too. So bye-bye, J.J., and no, you're never coming back.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 5, 2010 4:33 PM

Find out what you love, and then find out how to make a living at it. Sounds good in theory, but I don't know many people who have managed that feat, certainly not me. First wrong choice of field of study(should have done Law), then wrong subspecialty in the field that I did study(should have done Anaesthetics). Problem is, during the time of life that those decisions have to be made, this did not seem such a high priority somehow, and almost came as an afterthought. And now it's life without parole....

..hell, I just turned 40 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

So far I've have had three professions ( first I was a microclimatologist, then I was a nurse and now the lawyer thing). I got bored every few years and realised it's not what I really wanted to do so had to go back, get another degree and change. I am however now entrenched in the mortgage/kids thing so that's the last profession change and I'll just get my study fix through doing higher degrees in my current field (at a snail's pace).

My number one priority is the kids though, if I ever see for a minute that they're are wanting of more of my attention and I'm unable to give it because of my study then I'll drop it like a hot potato. It's quite purely a selfish thing (with no real vocational merit. In law no-one gives rat's arse if you've got a LLM/PhD/whatever) and I'll not let it affect them at all.

.. having said all that I have the ability to do this because I am fortunate enough to live in a country with cheap, quality tertiary education and a supportive social system. I NEVER take this for granted.

Posted by: David Marjanović | March 5, 2010 4:41 PM

Actually, I did. That threat to document the refusal works nearly every time.

:-)

Posted by: llewelly | March 5, 2010 4:43 PM

You all make me thankful I haven't given Kirshenbaum any of my traffic for a long time.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 5, 2010 4:47 PM

Lynna

aratina cage @431: many thanks for posting the link to Judge Myers. That was one of PZ's funniest posts. A perfectly balanced cocktail of dry humor and needle-sharp wit. Brenda's complaint was humorous too ... only that was unintentional on her part.

.. ah the most awesome Brenda (Dear Sir/Madam) thread. That was fucking LEGENDARY. It's where the sisterhood of the sluts was first formed ( and the most comedic moment when someone told Patricia what "asshat" meant").

..I love that thread. It has true historical merit.

Posted by: KOPD | March 5, 2010 5:07 PM

Sili, was that an intentional pun in the last sentence, or do I need to step up to the gutter?

Posted by: Paul | March 5, 2010 5:14 PM

JeffreyD,

Did you actually get emails saying you came across as creepy? I didn't really find you that way at all, it's just that I'm not here to make RL friends (I wouldn't know what to do with them if I had them, really, but that's beside the point), and I'm not in the UK area. I did check out your blog though, and noted it's not the first time you've mentioned feeling like a stalker here. Perhaps it would feel less odd if you commented more on mundane things to build familiarity, instead of putting all expectations in a couple of brief "let's meet up" posts?

Apologies if this comes across as "unwanted advice".

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 5, 2010 5:21 PM

Huh? I some times feel like offering anyone who wants to meet up in my area the opportunity. But then I figure maybe that's scary, or creepy, or will get me killed.

Sad, isn't it?

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 5:25 PM

How do people link to their blogs and whatnot in their name. You know, I don't seem to have a real movable type account... maybe that's the reason. But then how am I here?

So... confused.

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 5:29 PM

I do that all the time. I also accept such offers all the time. someday, this might get me killed. until then, it's the only form of enjoyable meatspace socializing I ever get.

Haha... yeah. I tend to take people up on those kinds of offers when they are made. But I really really enjoy meeting people. Go figure! Except I worry that I annoy them.

Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak, Tai Dam lum Pun | March 5, 2010 5:31 PM

How do people link to their blogs and whatnot in their name. You know, I don't seem to have a real movable type account... maybe that's the reason. But then how am I here?

So... confused.

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 5, 2010 5:33 PM

Wow, reading back over the 'Judge Myers presiding' thread - I sure was a fresh-faced newbie on the site at that point. Then again, with the sisterhood on the rampage I wasn't needed to do much at all; they had it covered.

But it did remind me how awesome Kseniya was - does anyone keep in touch with her?

Weirdly, there's something else really odd that links that thread with this one - did anyone else notice there's a subconversation about underwear going on on that thread as well? Brownian made this comment about his preference.

Spooky!

Posted by: Sili | March 5, 2010 5:34 PM

...

As you can see, mistress Sastra, when you get to my age the first thing that conks out is memory. I just friggin' read that, but still referenced it without checking to make sure.

Happy twenty-fist birthday! May you grow old, die in your sleep and have you boytoy drop out of highschool in grief.

Posted by: Paul W. | March 5, 2010 5:36 PM

OOH, we made it!

Posted by: Paul W. | March 5, 2010 5:39 PM

Or maybe we didn't, by 1.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 5:42 PM

Looks like we'll miss 500 posts in 24 hours by a very very few.

I used to have to log the date/timestamp for every 100th comment, but with these last few subThreads there's no point...a stright line between first and last comments looks exactly the same.

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 5:48 PM

I can drink 12 stubbies and still talk about football philosophy astroturf !

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | March 5, 2010 5:51 PM

Or maybe we didn't, by 1.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 5:53 PM

(besides, the eternal thread needs some competition).

?

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 5:59 PM

btw, that was 31K you saw rocketing out of sight in the rearview up there.

31228

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 5, 2010 6:07 PM

yup. Josh the Airborne Geologist seems to have disappeared as well.

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 6:13 PM

What I'm talking about is BBQ places not even really smoking their meat and just relying on sauce and "fake smoke".

oh yeah, those places die out quick where I used to be from.

I know how the places that last do it, the exact smoker to order to process the right amounts of meat, etc.

just sayin... if you ever get that urge...

I would find it an interesting diversion, and it probably wouldn't be too hard to get the funds to set one up down here.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 5, 2010 6:16 PM

Don't think I wasn't thinking about it today when me, Mr. sole IT guy was not only fighting with the finance department about renewing our Tivoli service contract with IBM but also dealing with an end user who unplugged their printer and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't print... their kids baseball schedule.

sigh

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 6:16 PM

Paul W. #499 wrote:

Paging Sastra to the Sins of Omission thread.

Yes; saw that, and (like many of your posts) copied it. You are very, very good at explicating the position(s) of the so-called New Atheism. Much kudos.

I want my commenters to be uncivil. There is no virtue in politeness when confronted with ignorance, dishonesty, and delusion. I want them to charge in to the heart of the issue and shred the frauds, without hesitation and without faltering over manners. These demands for a false front of civility are one of the strategies used by charlatans who want to mask their lack of substance — oh, yes, it would be so goddamned rude to point out that a huckster is lying to you. I am quite happy that we have a culture of being rude to frauds here.

A few months back in a coffee shop conversation I found that it's possible to be uncivil, charge into an argument, shred your opponent, and be rude as hell to a fraud -- while simultaneously being excruciatingly polite, kind, gentle, and good-humored. Nary a single swear word, or insult -- 'twas laced with flattery, reassurance, and genuine respect. And no mercy.

Damn, that was fun.

/evil

Posted by: aratina cage of the OM | March 5, 2010 6:21 PM

Sili, how do we find you on that cover? The red or green shirt under a jacket perhaps?

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 5, 2010 6:24 PM

sigh

is that your stuff?

I'll take a gander later.

here, shoot me an email just in case...

fisheyephotosAThotmailDOTcom

Posted by: WowbaggerOM | March 5, 2010 6:28 PM

Sastra,

Will take this opportunity to confess that, at times when I'm trying to keep from flying off the handle in a comment my motto is 'What Would Sastra Say?' - and I like to think I applied that quite well (for me) in my posts over on Whiny Pissant Central (aka The Intersection).

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | March 5, 2010 6:30 PM

Yes! Where is that guy? He was a really insightful commenter, and I miss his posts. Hope he's OK.

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 6:57 PM

@ Wowbagger OM #528

Ah, thanks. I think I've figured out my underlying strategy: to argue the strong, no-holds-barred New Atheist position -- using the Accomodationist style. If nothing else, it really seems to mess with their heads.

The situation I referred to above involved a new member of our usual coffee group directly challenging me on a particular issue, even putting out her hand to shake on an agreement to debate. Topic: "Therapeutic Touch and Energy Healing was based in good science, and now accepted by the mainstream of scientists."

Not even that it worked, mind you. But that it was scientific.

(She happened to be a professional energy healer, with 'training' and clients. For animals. A self-styled "Pet Whisperer.")

Bambi vs. Godzilla. Really.

About half an hour later, someone shut it down with "why don't you both agree to disagree?" We ended with smiles, reassurances, and mutual expressions of pleasure that we'd had such an interesting conversation. We hugged. Said we looked forward to next week.

Four days later she sent out a looong group email declining to return, only because of Sastra --- ripping into me with several pages worth of personal insults about how mean and vicious I was the worst person she had ever met and that includes the Fundamentalists. Close-minded. Rude. Hurtful. Boo hoo hoo hoo.

I responded by email explaining once again that I thought her a wise and caring person, who obviously helped so many people, but the evidence for the existence of 'healing energy' was simply too poor to accept, and it was likely that her sensitivity to animals was really at the heart of her 'cures.' And followed it up with the history of science, and its recognition of human cognitive errors. To twist the knife, I guess.

Cheezus f'in' Christ.

Pet psychic.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | March 5, 2010 7:24 PM

Regarding the enjoyable trip into the past to visit the Judge Myers thread to which aratina cage linked at #431, I would like to note that I am not, most certainly not, "Lynnai" of comment #11 on that thread. Not even on the days when I am most afflicted with Rev BDC's cooties do I commit that many spelling sins, nor do I use "then" when I mean "than".

Patricia was in fine form on that thread.

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 7:31 PM

David Marhanovic #535 wrote:

Sastra, you're the other side of the coin from truth machine.

Hey, didn't you once suggest that I was truth machine?

Posted by: SC OM | March 5, 2010 7:48 PM

I keep forgetting Jadehawk isn't applying to grad school. Hard to believe.

It's funny, though, to imagine her application, packed with gushing recommendation letters from like a dozen PhDs in diverse but relevant fields from here. Who else could have that? I smell scholarship.

:)

Posted by: Lynna, OM | March 5, 2010 8:08 PM

Before I got up the nerve to comment on Pharyngula, it was Josh the broken soldier and geologist who often kept me coming back. I was really pleased to see him get a Molly Award. Here's a little excerpt from his blog:

I was wounded in Iraq in September 2005 and was evacuated back home as a result. Even considering the physical pain and mental torment I experienced - and continue to experience - as a direct result of my wounds and experiences in Iraq, the single greatest pain I felt throughout the entire situation occurred in November of that year. I was at Fort Gordon’s Eisenhower Army Medical Center waiting to see my family for the first time since shipping off to war. When they finally arrived, I was utterly heartbroken when my mother walked through the door and saw her only son confined to a wheelchair. I saw the pain and sorrow in her eyes, and to this day I wish that I had instead waited until I was able to walk under my own power before seeing her.

Posted by: SC OM | March 5, 2010 8:19 PM

Before I got up the nerve to comment on Pharyngula, it was Josh the broken soldier and geologist who often kept me coming back.

? I think you're combining two separate people.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | March 5, 2010 8:24 PM

I keep forgetting Jadehawk isn't applying to grad school. Hard to believe.
It's funny, though, to imagine her application, packed with gushing recommendation letters from like a dozen PhDs in diverse but relevant fields from here. Who else could have that? I smell scholarship.
:)

And we do have a couple of state universities near her that offer graduate degrees in a number of fields..... :)

Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes | March 5, 2010 8:52 PM

I'm a little older than Walton and just younger than 'Tis.

Actually, I have the mind of someone 15 years younger than me, and the body of someone 15 years older. If only the reverse were true.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 9:05 PM

Ron Sullivan @ 547:

I do have a bunch of long skirts, because a friend talked me into getting one for book-signings and talking to garden clubs. I figured if I'm ignoring gender conventions I might as well ignore them in all directions, and I've already got the long hair and dangly earrings. Got a big straw hat too.

:D I love long dresses and skirts. I have many in my closet. I did turn 14 in 1971, and a whole lotta of people were wearing long dresses, so they've been pretty much a life-long love for me. I'm wearing one right now!

Posted by: MrFire | March 5, 2010 9:15 PM

There seem to be a lot of Smiling Faces in peoples' comments. But you know, sometimes...

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 9:36 PM

David Tennant has legs many women would kill for.

After watching that video I was reminded of the title of a Tom Robbins' novel: Skinny Legs and All.

Posted by: KillJoy | March 5, 2010 9:38 PM

In regard to all the talk about birthdays:

I just celebrated my 37th. Go me. And had a raucous good time of it, and intend to KEEP having a good time of it for at least a few years to come. I can, to a degree, understand the trepidation about hitting the big 30. It fucked with my head for a while. So did 35. But I'm just here to tell ya, there IS life after 30. ;)

KJ

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 9:49 PM

Feynmaniac @ 549:

David Tennant has legs many women would kill for.

Not this woman. Skinny legs aren't all that attractive. A man who had absolutely fabulous legs? Barry Bostwick. (See the Floor Show scene in Rocky Horror.)

Posted by: Feynmaniac | March 5, 2010 9:53 PM

re: exercise

I too feel down if I haven't gone to the gym in a while. I find that listening to music while working out helps a lot.

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 9:56 PM

Also, people sleep *without* underwear!!?? Even in the winter? Uh oh, am I repressed?? I fear that it is so! Except that I keep my upstairs downright chilly in the winter by keeping the heat vents closed. I need my layers . . .

Testify! I keep the heat low (58 degrees at night), and I shut off the upstairs registers at night. Must have layers of quilts for New England Winter Sleeping. Underwear helps keep things warm, and helps one keep one's bed clothing. . . acceptable.

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 10:00 PM

KillJoy:

I just celebrated my 37th.

Happy Birthday!

Posted by: ctenotrish | March 5, 2010 10:08 PM

KillJoy, are you one of those walking spaceheater types? 'cause I am one to absorb heat from my surroundings, not one who generates much excess. :) Your type (if that is so) is super handy in the winter, you know . . .

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 10:23 PM

For Psychic, Suit Came as a Surprise...

Hee hee... excellent headline.

(/I still remember the jokes when whatserfraud running some TV psychic network went bankrupt... 'What, they didn't see that coming?')

Posted by: ctenotrish | March 5, 2010 10:27 PM

Josh, I am with you - that is about what my upstairs is. I love to be burrowed under the covers with just my nose sticking out! Caine, alas, I must live a feather-free existence 'cause of allergies. I do pretty well with synthetic, but I need a layer or two to be warm enough to fall asleep. And underwear. I am pretty sure I need underwear. Do I not need underwear? The mind boggles . . .

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 10:30 PM

@ctenotrish:
Josh, I am with you - that is about what my upstairs is. I love to be burrowed under the covers with just my nose sticking out!

Yep. Love the nippy air, all bundled down in my quilts!

Posted by: AJ Milne | March 5, 2010 10:35 PM

AJ, wasn't that "Miss Cleo"? I remember that, she wasn't so hot on the psychic ability when it came to fraud charges.

Ah yes, sounds right...

Good times. I like it when these jerks flame out nicely brightly, like a freakin' bolide breaking up in the atmosphere before noisily flattening a good-sized hardwood forest in Siberia... Serves as such a great object lesson to anyone living through it and paying attention: yes, just 'cos s/he's on TV and insanely famous for the schtick doesn't mean it's not complete bullshit...

(/Now look 'round, anyone so noticing, and think about some other prominent self-styled mystics, including those in the nice old stone buildings downtown with crosses 'n minarets on top... And now we're getting somewhere.)

Posted by: ctenotrish | March 5, 2010 10:36 PM

Oh, boygenius, I almost aspirated a Reese's Pieces . . . . Thanks for the visual! :)

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 5, 2010 10:44 PM

BTW, Patricia, please note my comment

Posted by: boygenius | March 5, 2010 10:56 PM

Josh, I know you're no prude, but I'm genuinely curious here. Are you wearing full top and bottom nightclothes or just briefs/boxers? How does covering up 10% of your surface area make a discernible difference in how often you have to launder the sheets? YMMV, but I don't think my balls and buttocks sweat any more than the rest of me while I'm sleeping.

(And I'm with you on the nocturnal emission thing. I miss 'em.)

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 5, 2010 11:03 PM

I keep forgetting Jadehawk isn't applying to grad school. Hard to believe. It's funny, though, to imagine her application, packed with gushing recommendation letters from like a dozen PhDs in diverse but relevant fields from here. Who else could have that? I smell scholarship. :)

And we do have a couple of state universities near her that offer graduate degrees in a number of fields..... :)

*blush*

To be honest though, whenever I've allowed myself the extravagance of thinking past just getting that damned Bachelor degree, I kept thinking that my only chance for admission anywhere would be to beg Pharynguloids for recommendations, since my own CV ain't lookin' too sniny. :-p

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 11:16 PM

When it comes right down to it I sleep when I can where I can.

But I so hate a draft. If I have my way I sleep in bedclothes and with sheets and a blanket. Even in summer. Even in Texas summer. Even in Dallas humidity. It just feels good and warm and snuggly.

I'm sort of the hot weather version of the people who keep their house at 60 degrees. In summer I leave it above 80 unless some one is coming over.

Ah... hot weather.

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawncr0FDc8gdl7yJBz0SJ15D0etcTIOtL0s | March 5, 2010 11:17 PM

Is it TMI to say we both sleep nekkid, kinda glued together? Whatever the weather. Secret of a long and happy relationship, I suspect. Mmmmmm, skin.

Speaking of, no I mean of relationships—Peez, good Gub, you aren't taking TW with you to OZ? I'm aghast. But I hear that's a good place to get pearls, and 30th is the Pearl Anniversary... We went out and ate oysters.

Sometimes I even eat breakfast in the nude.

Never never nevernever NEVER fry bacon nude. Just warnin'.

Caine: I love long dresses and skirts.

I find I go through periods of wanting to dress up often and of not wanting to give a shit and stick to jeans and aloha shirts or sweatshirts. (Aloha shirts are religious garb. My religion is Aloha. Only it's better than religion; it's just Aloha.)

My underwear gripe? I can't find cotton hi-cuts ("French" cuts) in my size anymore except for nasty old white granny things. I've lived through hip-huggers once, and I'm over them no matter how fashionable they are this time around, just for comfort. I got to like hi-cuts when I was gardening for a living because I could squat with getting Spontaneous Leg Tourniquet.

Oddly, the best source used to be Victoria's Secret.

Let's see: I don't claim to be a role model (None Dare Call Me Role Model) but I'm 60 and majored in English Lit, did many odd jobs including retail, got CEQA training and went into nursing, burned out and went to hort school and gardened for a living (you can do that here; we garden all winter), apprenticed with a genius and did that arborist gig I talk about, got clobbered by asthma and fell into writing about gardening and enviro stuff and editing for a living. Now I find I'm burning out on writing.

What's next? I haven't the faintest notion.

Posted by: Sastra | March 5, 2010 11:21 PM

AJ Milne #572 wrote:

Serves as such a great object lesson to anyone living through it and paying attention: yes, just 'cos s/he's on TV and insanely famous for the schtick doesn't mean it's not complete bullshit...

As I recall, there was a particularly satisfying denouement on the "Miss Cleo" scandal, when it came out that her name wasn't Cleo, she didn't believe she was psychic, and she wasn't even Jamaican; she was an actress, and you could find clips of her on bit roles on TV, sans the famous accent. The defense was that it was all for "entertainment" and everyone should have known not to take her seriously. Right.

I knew someone who worked as a payed "psychic," and admitted that ESP had nothing to do with it. But her defense was that she wasn't defrauding people, because they were calling up with sad and sorry problems, and she was giving them good advice they'd listen to and follow because they thought it came from a magic place. These were poor people, she said, who couldn't afford a therapist.

Of course, given that they were so freakin' poor, I did wonder how they afforded the $3 a minute telephone charges (or whatever it was.) Plus, there's the little matter of giving therapy without a license (though she insisted that most of the problems were no-brainers.)

She herself was freakin' poor as well; she had incentive then to rationalize her crummy job.

Posted by: Quackalicious | March 5, 2010 11:26 PM

Sorry nude sleepers, just skip over the following.

Oh, my, I need to quack my little duck head on this one.

On hands on “energy” treatments. Wasn’t it some 13th century king that isolated orphans to see what a lack of human contact would do with disastrous results? Touch is helpful for infants and individuals in pain, and aids outcomes throughout standard medicine. Having someone touch you is an effective treatment for anxiety, and alters cortisol levels. So the real question is whether any special energy field exists, or whether “thinking positive thoughts” about someone can help them. The Stephen Barrett (quackwatch) organized “study” with some skeptic’s child as “tester” was just a circus to gain publicity. He “disproved” something that had something like eighty studies showing positive blood alterations, and people continue to study the same phenomenon today. Here’s a nice study, single blinded, on volunteers. Notice no one is using children to generate press coverage. (Get your flames on, people!)

Brain Res Bull. 2010 Jan 15;81(1):66-72.

A randomised controlled single-blind trial of the effects of Reiki and positive imagery on well-being and salivary cortisol.
Bowden D, Goddard L, Gruzelier J.

Psychology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London, ITC Building, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, United Kingdom. [email protected]

The study investigated whether participants who received Reiki would show greater health and well-being benefits than a group who received no Reiki. A method of blinding participants to Reiki was also tested, where non-contact Reiki or No-Reiki with random assignment was given to 35 healthy psychology undergraduates whose attention was absorbed in one of three tasks involving self-hypnosis/relaxation. Participants experienced ten 20-min intervention sessions over a period of two and a half to 12 weeks. Reiki was directed by the experimenter who sat behind the participants as they were absorbed in the tasks. Self-report measures of illness symptoms, mood and sleep were assessed pre-post-intervention as was salivary cortisol. While the Reiki group had a tendency towards a reduction in illness symptoms, a substantive increase was seen in the No-Reiki. The Reiki group also had a near-significant comparative reduction in stress, although they also had significantly higher baseline illness symptoms and stress scores. The Reiki blinding was successful - the groups did not differ statistically in their beliefs regarding group membership. The results are suggestive that the Reiki buffered the substantive decline in health in the course of the academic year seen in the No-Reiki group.

PMID: 19819311

Posted by: Caine | March 5, 2010 11:36 PM

Quackster Fraud, you're full of shit, as usual. You always want to scream "big pharma! they only want money!" when you lie your ass off in order to line your pockets. You should be ashamed.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | March 5, 2010 11:46 PM

The Quack is pushing Reiki now.

It's time to link to Homeopathic A&E; again.

And when someone comes in with more money then sense....

Posted by: Ol'Greg | March 5, 2010 11:51 PM

..oh, and to continue to taunt you with the fact you faint at the sight of blood I leave you with this image...great big, gushing, arterial spurts of bright red viscous, copper smelling blood.

I finally met some one who faints at the sight of blood IRL. I always thought it was just sort of a movie gag or something.

He's an artist though. Doesn't give any medical advice. Tries not to ever see blood, especially coming out of people.

Poor thing. He really does faint. Like flat on his back on the floor.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 5, 2010 11:58 PM

To clarify, I don't find it amusing someone faints at the sight of blood- hell, I'll always allow someone their phobias, god knows plenty of my own.

What I find amusing is that this particular assclam faints at the sight of blood, yet is simultaneously the world's greatest doctor. Wanker.

Posted by: Caine | March 6, 2010 12:04 AM

assclam? Oh, I'm stealing that one.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 6, 2010 12:07 AM

Assclam comes to you courtesy of SC OM. I only wish I could claim such linguistic genius.

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | March 6, 2010 12:11 AM

Warm baking soda water.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 6, 2010 12:15 AM

Josh - No worries, I understand now. :)

Caine - Yeah, I'm with you on having a nice furry man to warm your feets on!

I'll probably miss half of this thread - I've been asked on a 2nd date, so am preparing a picnic for tomarrow. *sly grin*

Posted by: Josh, Official SpokesGay | March 6, 2010 12:17 AM

Sorry nude sleepers, just skip over the following.

Oh, my, I need to quack my little duck head on this one.

Go fuck yourself. You're a quack, and it isn't funny. You're actively hurting people with your pseudoscientific bullshit. If you had any shame, or any ethical compass, you'd shut your quack operation down. Make no mistake: you suck, you hurt people, and you ought to be shut down. You only operate in this country by the grace of the too-lenient licensing laws. You're not a doctor, you're a fucking fraud.

Posted by: Caine | March 6, 2010 12:18 AM

Patricia:

I'll probably miss half of this thread - I've been asked on a 2nd date, so am preparing a picnic for tomarrow. *sly grin*

Oooh, Patricia. Careful, you might get your socks knocked off. ;D If you're providing the food for your picnic, I know his socks will be knocked clean off.

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 6, 2010 12:53 AM

I find it hysterical that Mr Baloney faints like a child at the sight of it

Oh please, tell me it aint so?

the REAL reason quackadoodle never went to a real med school was...

blood is icky?

heh

hehhehehhe

BWWWAAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHHHaaaaaaaaaaa....

*breath*

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

*ruptures diaphragm*

damnit, back to the hospital again.

Posted by: boygenius | March 6, 2010 1:15 AM

Sage advice Patricia, sage advice.

Posted by: Patricia, Ignorant Slut OM | March 6, 2010 1:37 AM

Caine - I plan to stay firmly in my socks. ;) This is a 'date' to a regional art deco palace. The food will be smoked salmon, deviled eggs, three flavors of cheese, homemade pickles, and for a treat bananas sauteed in butter then slathered with cashew butter. The gentleman is responsible for the libation.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | March 6, 2010 2:18 AM

Ichthyic

I find it hysterical that Mr Baloney faints like a child at the sight of it

Oh please, tell me it aint so?

..The dick actually "boasts" about it on his site like he's divulging some precious secret to you to try and bond or something. It's basically his excuse for not being able to draw blood in his practice when in reality it's probably because he failed phlebotomy 101 and couldn't hit a vein with a chainsaw.

As to what a fake doctor who, amongst other things, recommends some fellow charlatan who draws "toxins out of your feet into some electronic bath" ( you know the scam everybody in the known world seems to have heard about except Dr Assclam) needs to have bloodwork done for is anybody's guess. I thought they could just about diagnose any old shit by looking at your irises.

Posted by: Caine | March 6, 2010 2:28 AM

Patricia @ 614:

The food will be smoked salmon, deviled eggs, three flavors of cheese, homemade pickles, and for a treat bananas sauteed in butter then slathered with cashew butter.

You know he's going to following you home and camping on your porch, right?

Posted by: boygenius | March 6, 2010 2:41 AM