Jim the Pleb Made Me Do It

[Pitchguest]

Ophie has a post up giving Dawkins some shit because he phrased something poorly on Twitter.

But never mind that. There’s a bigger thing here. “Unfortunately, I phrased it poorly.” Does that remind you of anything?

It reminds me of something. “Dear Muslima.” “Zero bad.” Unfortunately, he phrased those badly too.

Why can he admit bad phrasing in the one case and not in the other?

#stupidbitch

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... #more-7784

Hahaha, I was thinking the same thing. Wow.

[cunt]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

[AndrewV69]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Sorry cunt but as far as free speech goes that is the one thing in the world the Americans have over every one else. If there is anyone who does it better let me know.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

People so offended by a t-shirt that they feel the need to ban it. Remind you of anyone?

http://trueliberalnexus.wordpress.com/2 ... mendments/

[Remick]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

Exactly, while he may have a point RE: how we actually reduce crime in this country. Being critical of police using heavily armored trucks and body armor while looking for a suspect who literally threw improvised explosives and pipebombs at them less than 24 hours later while avoiding capture defeats your own argument on the grounds of absurdity.

It perfectly quantifies my issues with FfTB and A+, While I likely agree with 70-80% of their positions, I agree with almost 0% of their solutions and tactics.

[free thoughtpolice]

Ophie has a post up giving Dawkins some shit because he phrased something poorly on Twitter.

But never mind that. There’s a bigger thing here. “Unfortunately, I phrased it poorly.” Does that remind you of anything?

It reminds me of something. “Dear Muslima.” “Zero bad.” Unfortunately, he phrased those badly too.

Why can he admit bad phrasing in the one case and not in the other?

#stupidbitch

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... #more-7784

Ophie is in complete agreement with the salafi-jihadist Taliban fans over at Islamic Awakening;
http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f18/ ... pat-65365/

[Southern]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

I hope PZ never comes down there, not only because he is a sack of shit, but because he may faint if he is strolling over Rio de Janeiro and encounters the caveirão ("big skull"):

http://i.imgur.com/oR862qP.jpg

[Steersman]

PZ has a post in which he tries to distance himself from the TransWoman Hating Radfems by .... aligning himself with Twisty Faster, from I Blame the Patriarchy.

http://www.freezepage.com/1366730300PGGABLZUZK

<snip>

So he reads her religiously and thinks she's brilliant. She's so brilliant and radical that she's actually disliked by a bunch of other feminists (check the bottom for Steersman style references ;) ), including someone named Ik who commented at Crom's place a while ago (is he/she a regular?)

:-)

[1] http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2009/02/ ... nsane.html
[2] http://bellesbookshelf.blogspot.com/201 ... s-not.html
[3] http://globalcomment.com/acting-like-a- ... ment-make/

But good links – I had read that “Pervocracy” post – “Twisty Faster is fucking insane” – before, and the other two look like welcome additions to the list of those questioning feminism in general.

Though it is still, I think, an open question as to why there are so many rather dogmatic if not actually insane feminists running amok. I think it is partly a quite justified response to some egregious sexism and misogyny, but some definitely qualifies as “a bridge too far” – of making various leaps of logic if not faith that are not at all supported by the facts. For instance, you might be interested in this comment by Sally Strange on Jadehawks’ blog:

Did anybody see that TED talk about hyperbolic maths, crochet, and coral reefs? Turns out mathematicians spent 100 years thinking that there was no way to model hyperbolic equations in the real world because none of them did crochet. Why did none of them do crochet? Because maths are for men and crochet is for women! (Coral reefs came up because their structure is hyperbolic, but dudely mathematicians didn’t realize this either on account of not having being able to model the equations. Now there’s a worldwide coral reef crochet project.)

That’s one example of how the exclusion of women slowed down mathematical discovery.

Turns out that there is actually some justification for the first part – that crocheting can actually be used to model the hyperbolic plane, although I haven’t yet been able to follow the math as well as I would like. But that last part, the conclusion, is a real howler. That crocheting has been typically a female pastime or industry is hardly justification for arguing that there should be more women in mathematics because obviously every woman is fully cognizant of that skill and its ramifications.

The woman that “discovered” or has been promoting that idea – Daina Taimina – has a book Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, which I borrowed the other day, that argues, to some extent anyway, the same point that Sally is attempting to do there, i.e., that “women’s experiences” have some wider relevance. However, while there is obviously more than some justification for the basic idea, Sally seems to want to “privilege” them – so to speak – to a greater extent than is justified by the facts of the matter – which tends to be rather problematic.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

I hope PZ never comes down there, not only because he is a sack of shit, but because he may faint if he is strolling over Rio de Janeiro and encounters the caveirão ("big skull"):

http://i.imgur.com/oR862qP.jpg

Have you seen Tropa de Elite? If not, it's a must-see!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/?ref_=sr_1

[Dick Strawkins]

Ophie has a post up giving Dawkins some shit because he phrased something poorly on Twitter.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... #more-7784

Why can he admit bad phrasing in the one case and not in the other? Why can he amend what he said about one person and refuse to amend what he said about another? Why can he see in one case that he was pointlessly belligerent and refuse to see it in another?

I would seriously, seriously like to know. That’s all the more true because we get blamed for the damage that he did, and I frankly resent that.

What the fuck is she on about here?

"we get blamed for the damage that he did"?

No Ophelia, you, Myers, Watson, Christina and Svan get blamed for the damage you did and continue to do.
The only good thing to come out of this is that so many people know exactly what they are dealing with now. Which is why nearly all the big names in atheism will have nothing to do with those poisonous self-obsessed narcissists in the future.

[clownshoe]

People so offended by a t-shirt that they feel the need to ban it. Remind you of anyone?

http://trueliberalnexus.wordpress.com/2 ... mendments/

Hey! stop messing with the narrative AndrewV69 posted above you. :lol:
To be fair though, if the kid decided to fight it, precedent says he'd win that particular battle.

[acathode]

I may have to ingest several espressos and get past my distaste for (and boredom with) Pharyngulanha pontificating, and watch the Google hangout about Atheism+Environmentalism:

And then there are others. All you have to do is look at the angry loons who have freaked out over Atheism Plus. You want atheists to care about equality, and ethics, and social justice? NNNNOOOOOO! How dare you add stuff that isn’t in my minimalist understanding of atheism to my obligations as a human being? I want to be selfish and self-centered and Darwinian!
Now I’m curious to see what would happen if we say that environmentalism is a natural part of atheism, too. Will there be a freak out again? Will the Libertarians finally go away? Or will a majority happily recognize it as a necessary component of an ethic that tries to build a sustainable society on a world that is not propped up by magic?
So you’re all here to agree or argue with me, to consider the ramifications, to suggest where we’re going to hit a brick wall. And maybe we can also talk about why religion is a poor foundation for a responsible stewardship of the planet.

More black-and-white thinking from PZ. If you don't agree with him 100%, you're a selfish libertarian! and a misogynist! and a racist!

Myers seem desperate to make atheism the core, defining part of his identity... why?
No one would've really batted an eyelid if he claimed his morals and political stances were the result of skepticism. Sure, a lot would probably disagree with some of his conclusions, but no one would've been pissed at him for trying to redefine atheism and all that stuff.

Myers must know this, he can't be that freaking ignorant about skepticism seeing how close the skeptic and the atheist communities are in US? So why does he keep trying to connect everything he believes to his atheism?

Is it community-politics, ie. does the skeptic cons not invite him to speak or something, did Myers try to burn some big-name skeptics as witch of the week, or something else that made PZ think he'd better go for atheists instead of skeptics?
Is the "atheism" brand simply bigger and more popular in the US, with more hipster teenagers and whatnot, while the "skepticism" community is small and filled with "old white men" who'd actually try to think rationally about what he's saying?
Is his bullshit easier to sell to people who identify as atheists rather than skeptics?
Is it the result of the polarization towards the religious right, whose moral and political values actually are informed by their religion, so he think that his lack of religion should inform his?
Is it his intolerance, he just can't stand that there are some few theist involved with skepticism?
Is it actually possible that he got no clue about the difference between skepticism and atheism?

Just wtf is it that makes him so desperate to tie everything to the, frankly, rather pointless label "atheism"?

[Angry_Drunk]

I may have to ingest several espressos and get past my distaste for (and boredom with) Pharyngulanha pontificating, and watch the Google hangout about Atheism+Environmentalism:

And then there are others. All you have to do is look at the angry loons who have freaked out over Atheism Plus. You want atheists to care about equality, and ethics, and social justice? NNNNOOOOOO! How dare you add stuff that isn’t in my minimalist understanding of atheism to my obligations as a human being? I want to be selfish and self-centered and Darwinian!
Now I’m curious to see what would happen if we say that environmentalism is a natural part of atheism, too. Will there be a freak out again? Will the Libertarians finally go away? Or will a majority happily recognize it as a necessary component of an ethic that tries to build a sustainable society on a world that is not propped up by magic?
So you’re all here to agree or argue with me, to consider the ramifications, to suggest where we’re going to hit a brick wall. And maybe we can also talk about why religion is a poor foundation for a responsible stewardship of the planet.

More black-and-white thinking from PZ. If you don't agree with him 100%, you're a selfish libertarian! and a misogynist! and a racist!

Myers seem desperate to make atheism the core, defining part of his identity... why?
No one would've really batted an eyelid if he claimed his morals and political stances were the result of skepticism. Sure, a lot would probably disagree with some of his conclusions, but no one would've been pissed at him for trying to redefine atheism and all that stuff.

Myers must know this, he can't be that freaking ignorant about skepticism seeing how close the skeptic and the atheist communities are in US? So why does he keep trying to connect everything he believes to his atheism?

Is it community-politics, ie. does the skeptic cons not invite him to speak or something, did Myers try to burn some big-name skeptics as witch of the week, or something else that made PZ think he'd better go for atheists instead of skeptics?
Is the "atheism" brand simply bigger and more popular in the US, with more hipster teenagers and whatnot, while the "skepticism" community is small and filled with "old white men" who'd actually try to think rationally about what he's saying?
Is his bullshit easier to sell to people who identify as atheists rather than skeptics?
Is it the result of the polarization towards the religious right, whose moral and political values actually are informed by their religion, so he think that his lack of religion should inform his?
Is it his intolerance, he just can't stand that there are some few theist involved with skepticism?
Is it actually possible that he got no clue about the difference between skepticism and atheism?

Just wtf is it that makes him so desperate to tie everything to the, frankly, rather pointless label "atheism"?

I think it's a combination of a few of the things you listed.

As far as I've seen, in the US the atheism brand is "bigger" than skepticism. Way back, even when PZ was supposedly one of the good guys his commentariat consisted of a huge number of a-skeptical dolts who's sole reason for identifying as atheist was that a religious person said something mean to them. Also, yes, in the US religious fundamentalism is highly connected with right-wing politics. You also have to remember that PZ's driving goal is to be the "leader" of a movement. At this point he's just running with the only movement that will still have him.

[Spence]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Which is a far wider set of viewpoints than you get in the UK media.

Oh wait, you weren't going to tell us that Aunty is impartial were you?

BWAHAHAHAHA

Does anybody still believe that?

[Scented Nectar]

Ophie has a post up giving Dawkins some shit because he phrased something poorly on Twitter.

But never mind that. There’s a bigger thing here. “Unfortunately, I phrased it poorly.” Does that remind you of anything?

It reminds me of something. “Dear Muslima.” “Zero bad.” Unfortunately, he phrased those badly too.

Why can he admit bad phrasing in the one case and not in the other?

#stupidbitch

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... #more-7784

I thought Dawkins' phrasing was superb in "Dear Muslima" :whistle:

Me too. What pulled me into ElevatorGate in the first place was seeing Jenny McBooHoo's article against the Dear Muslima comment over at PZ's (and now the original comments have been hidden by PZ but can still be seen in my archive).

[Jan Steen]

Ophie has a post up giving Dawkins some shit because he phrased something poorly on Twitter.

It's more likely that she gives him shit because she was not allowed to link to her blog when making a comment on Dawkin's site a while back. It's pay-back time for Ophie.

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Sorry cunt but as far as free speech goes that is the one thing in the world the Americans have over every one else. If there is anyone who does it better let me know.

Speakers' Corner, Parliamentary Privilege, an abundance of truly national daily newspapers, Private Eye magazine, a tradition of visiting local pubs to discuss shit, a history of demonstrations on the streets of major cities, much reduced level of fear of religions.

I call bullshit on your claim, and counterclaim that Britain, or perhaps one of those other airy fairy European nations - Denmark, Iceland, some shit like that - do free speech infinitely better.

http://i.imgur.com/FPYflhr.jpg

[Jan Steen]

PZ Myers:

The most “radical feminist” feminist I read religiously has got to be Twisty Faster, at I Blame the Patriarchy. She’s a ferociously passionate writer, and simply brilliant in her insights.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... -feminist/

You mean the Twisty Faster, man hater extraordinaire, who wrote this:

Educating men in the mysterious and rigorous discipline of viewing women as human beings is not, happily, the focus of this blog. However, male persons who wish to hone their patriarchy-blaming chops are encouraged to follow the links in this post, as well as to check out the suggestions below.

Male persons who wish to leave comments on this blog are strongly encouraged not to. Male persons who wish to leave comments, despite the preceding statement, affirm, by clicking the “Blame” button, the following:

– That they not only grasp radical feminist theory, but also do not question the existence of patriarchy, or the fact that they benefit from male privilege, or the validity of the argument for women’s liberation from male oppression.

– That enbiggening the discourse, rather than an ironic intellectual exercise, is the guiding principle of their commentary.

– That they are over 25.

– That they have read at minimum 17 books on feminist theory, including: The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, The Second Sex by Simone DeBeauvoir (new translation), The Dialectic of Sex by Shulamith Firestone, Intercourse and Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin, and How to Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ.

– That they have familiarized themselves with the culture of Savage Death Island by reading all the entries in the Dear God What About the Men category.

I’m not even kidding.

But really, it would be better if men just didn’t post in the first place. Really.

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/pat ... t-the-men/

Where are the brilliant insights? I see dogma. I see bigotry (lots of it). I see creationist grade closed-mindedness. I see the Courtier's Reply radfem style. This is the kind of feminism that gives feminists a bad name. And PZ Myers laps it up like a demented poodle. It's pathetic.

[Cunning Punt]

http://i.imgur.com/TTayGcV.jpg

Small Brain Syndrome: The condition that compels Taslima Nasreen to overcompensate for her lack of intelligence by attempting to explain a complex issue in 140 characters.

Interesting, if a person with a small penis isn't a man(because it takes a big penis to be a man), then aren't they a victim rather than perp?

Oooh, I'm so confused! :? Explain it to me, Steersman.

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

http://i.imgur.com/TTayGcV.jpg

Small Brain Syndrome: The condition that compels Taslima Nasreen to overcompensate for her lack of intelligence by attempting to explain a complex issue in 140 characters.

Interesting, if a person with a small penis isn't a man(because it takes a big penis to be a man), then aren't they a victim rather than perp?

Oooh, I'm so confused! :? Explain it to me, Steersman.

I guarantee Steersman has a fucking baby's am swinging away down there IRL.

[BarnOwl]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... uce-crime/

PZ has a terrible post up, using images of the police in boston this last week about how we make our solution "men with guns waiting for criminals to do wrong so we can blow them away". Its mind boggling.

Should the police not use armor when pursuing suspects of a bombing??? Also, I don't know how often the police anywhere in the US commonly "blow people away". What a joke, I guess he is onto this "toxic masculinity" thing applying to police work.

Hating the police is also part and parcel of the ridiculous romantic archetype of "left-wing freedom fighter for progressive social change" in the US. Not too dissimilar from libertarian notions of "I should be able to drive as fast as I want, drink and drive, run stop signs and red lights, have loud parties whenever I want, burn trash in my backyard during a drought, set off fireworks and use my guns for target practice in my backyard, read and send text messages while driving through school zones, drive around traffic accidents and first responders in whatever manner is most convenient for me, maim deer or alligators with my truck and leave them to die in the middle of the road, cook meth in my own kitchen, etc. etc." The police in large urban areas all over the US have to deal with this shit and more every day, and I'm glad that someone is willing to do the job. I'll leave it to them to determine whether they need armored vehicles, helicopters, and sniffer dogs to find armed fugitive terrorist fucks who've been killing and injuring people with bombs and bullets.

I don't disagree with any of the crime reduction methods in the linked article, either (in fact I support them), but none of them seems applicable to the Boston bombing incidents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... g-the-nra/

[Pitchguest]

PZ Myers:

The most “radical feminist” feminist I read religiously has got to be Twisty Faster, at I Blame the Patriarchy. She’s a ferociously passionate writer, and simply brilliant in her insights.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... -feminist/

You mean the Twisty Faster, man hater extraordinaire, who wrote this:

Educating men in the mysterious and rigorous discipline of viewing women as human beings is not, happily, the focus of this blog. However, male persons who wish to hone their patriarchy-blaming chops are encouraged to follow the links in this post, as well as to check out the suggestions below.

Male persons who wish to leave comments on this blog are strongly encouraged not to. Male persons who wish to leave comments, despite the preceding statement, affirm, by clicking the “Blame” button, the following:

– That they not only grasp radical feminist theory, but also do not question the existence of patriarchy, or the fact that they benefit from male privilege, or the validity of the argument for women’s liberation from male oppression.

– That enbiggening the discourse, rather than an ironic intellectual exercise, is the guiding principle of their commentary.

– That they are over 25.

– That they have read at minimum 17 books on feminist theory, including: The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, The Second Sex by Simone DeBeauvoir (new translation), The Dialectic of Sex by Shulamith Firestone, Intercourse and Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin, and How to Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ.

– That they have familiarized themselves with the culture of Savage Death Island by reading all the entries in the Dear God What About the Men category.

I’m not even kidding.

But really, it would be better if men just didn’t post in the first place. Really.

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/pat ... t-the-men/

Where are the brilliant insights? I see dogma. I see bigotry (lots of it). I see creationist grade closed-mindedness. I see the Courtier's Reply radfem style. This is the kind of feminism that gives feminists a bad name. And PZ Myers laps it up like a demented poodle. It's pathetic.

If you read the site and don't quickly realise she's absolutely bonkers, I suspect you're suffering from the same problem. I remember the first time I came across it and noticed the "What is this thing?" in the corner of the screen. I clicked on the disclaimer that said "this is what a blamer should know before commenting" and was met with this nugget conveniently named "Dudes" (so you know who it's intended for, and not "Chicks") [For some reason I wasn't able to click the link that went to the full link, so I'll just quote the beginning portion.]

"Dudes make lousy feminists. Therefore, by popular demand, this blog endeavours to cultivate dude-free discourse. Any comment that expresses views proceeding from any discernible male-identified perspective, even if it is superficially pro-feminist, is not suitable for posting here. Generally speaking, this means: If you're a dude, don't post here. ..."

I'm sure it continues like that on and on, but alas I couldn't get the link to work. And PZ's saying he's been reading this site "religiously"?

The thing that really hits me is that her rhetoric would actually be quite tongue-in-cheek, were it not for the fact that she's 100% serious. She's the literal version of TamTamPamela.

[BarnOwl]

Turns out that there is actually some justification for the first part – that crocheting can actually be used to model the hyperbolic plane, although I haven’t yet been able to follow the math as well as I would like. But that last part, the conclusion, is a real howler. That crocheting has been typically a female pastime or industry is hardly justification for arguing that there should be more women in mathematics because obviously every woman is fully cognizant of that skill and its ramifications.

The woman that “discovered” or has been promoting that idea – Daina Taimina – has a book Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, which I borrowed the other day, that argues, to some extent anyway, the same point that Sally is attempting to do there, i.e., that “women’s experiences” have some wider relevance. However, while there is obviously more than some justification for the basic idea, Sally seems to want to “privilege” them – so to speak – to a greater extent than is justified by the facts of the matter – which tends to be rather problematic.

I won't pretend to understand the math, but that hasn't stopped me from using hyperbolic crochet methods to create marine invertebrates and bracket fungi. I was more interested in contributing to the Crochet Coral Reef project, which has to do with awareness about climate change, ocean acidification, and environmental issues. I've crocheted nudibranchs and cnidarians using the hyperbolic method. Here's a Physalia (a siphonophore, aka Portuguese man o'war) that I made using "plarn" (upcycled yarn I made from plastic bags and newspaper wrappers); hyperbolic crochet was used to make the "sail" and the tentacles.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3644/3623 ... d9568d.jpg
physalia by BarnOwl83, on Flickr

[welch]

Ah, typical fucking Plastic Yank. Now at least, with the Boston bombs, you bastards finally realise what you were funding in my country for decades.

Honestly, go fuck yourself Git. The people who funded the IRA from America were Irish immigrants. Maybe if you actually let them have their independence the right way, they wouldn't have existed. But no, blame all Americans for what some Irish Americans chose to fund.

You seem to just be a bitter, pitiful man. /ignore

The people who funded the IRA from America were largely Americans of Irish ancestry, not immigrants. Amongst this you can count a few dimwits who thought they were Irish because they mistook their Scottish surname for an Irish one, as well as no doubt a few 'Redcoats Out!' chickenhawk dildoes, along with some well-meaning individuals who took Clan na Gael and NORAID's 'widows and childrens' spiel at face value.

However, before this comes across as sounding like a rant against Irish Americans - it should be noted that the provisional IRA's biggest supplier in terms of money, arms and training was Libya. In fact, the IRA was hardly dependent on US support at at all - funding tended to peak whenever news hit of the British doing something dastardly, but it was sporadic. In fact, the non-sectarian Irish charties such as the Irish American Fund - which itself had only a marginal interest in the troubles - amassed vast amounts more in the way of donations than Irish republican fundraisers did. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... erica.html

It must also be bourne in mind that the US administrations over the years has generally been pretty sniffy about the Irish republican movement, despite what one may think of Gerry Adams getting his chance to strut around the White House (and who is in something of an otherwise unrelated pickle at the moment, as allegations have now come forth that he might have turned a 'convenient' blind-eye to his brother's paedophile activities). The Original IRA was outright Marxist; and at the height of the cold war, such origins as pertaining to the Provisional IRA - along with its links to Libya - would have been noted by the US intelligence agencies. Bear in mind also that the US Dept of Justice won a court case in 1981 forcing NORAID to register the Provos as its 'foreign principle': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAID

Certainly, from the looks of things, it was only a small minority of Irish Americans (or at least a minority of Americans claiming some interest in Ireland) who contributed to these relatively small funds. Personally speaking, from nigh-on two decades of talking to USanians on the net, I've yet to have chat with an Irish American who isn't by and large indifferent to Irish/UK relations. And some, of course, have been quite outspoken in condemning the IRA (two prominent examples being PJ O'Rourke and the writer/broadcaster Joe Queenan).

Despite the oft repeated claim, then, that Americans funded the IRA, it's probably more the case is that only a very, very small minority of Americans contributed funds to the provos - funds which weren't even all the necessary to the IRA, either. It should also be noted that other Irish-concerned groups in Australia and yes, mainland Britain (where around 25% of the populace have Irish ancestry), are likely to have made some contributions too. So it's certainly unfair to single out Americans - and in particular Irish Americans - as having so much blood and their hands, when it clearly isn't the case.

Notwithstanding the fact that we also ought to wonder where the Loyalist terror groups got their funding from, and how deep the oft-purported collusion between such groups and the British military/intelligence services actually went...

I probably forgot to include that I wasn't blaming Irish Americans for anything, merely pointing out that it would be a tiny minority of Americans that gave any money to the IRA, I should have clarified a minority of a minority. Git seemed to imply that that means they(who the fuck are they anyway?) deserved what happened at the marathon. Git is just a fucking moron, but he wound me up with that shit.

Git only emerges when his dicks too blistered from wanking to bad drawings of John Galt's penis.

[welch]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

At a recent derby bout, when I was working the ticket booth, another volunteer wondered if we should be conducting commerce during the playing of the National Anthem.

I was honestly puzzled, because classless capitalism with no concern for decorum or appropriateness...is there a better way to be an american?

[welch]

I will note the Pit is slowing down a bit these days, in terms of comments. As with creationist-bashing forums, I will take it as a good sign. Maybe there's a bit less crazy flying around right now?

Indeed.
Our fledgling crusade against hypocrisy seems to be spreading its memes.
It is having a global effect.
It is enabling folk such as Russel Blackford, et alia, to have cause to regret their former silence against popular tribal cultism, and come to the point where they now loudly voice it.

Just to clarify: are you saying Blackford is now supporting "tribal cultism" or voicing some criticisms of it? I would think the latter, but your phrasing suggests the former.

But I tend to agree with you about "our fledgling crusade" - "may our tribe increase". I think Elam's recent retraction and even PZ's acknowledgement of some problematic dimensions of feminism are cases in point. Although I think there's still work for the "bretheren" (and sistereth-en) to do to spread the word - I'll say our work is almost done - one chapter of it, anyway - when Ophelia Benson concedes that connecting "virulent" with "feminism" doesn't always qualify as misogyny ....

one interesting theory, one I've not had time to read the background data on, (unlike greta, I'm actually doing shit during the day, and now that our department is about to be half its size, minion is getting new gig with fat raise, awesome for her!, my time for recreational research actually is kind of small these days.) But I did take the time to read the MJ article whilst pooping, and it is a fascinating theory indeed: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/ ... k-gasoline

If the research bears it out, it may mean the much of what we think causes crime has less of an effect than many would like to believe.

[Skep tickle]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... uce-crime/

PZ has a terrible post up, using images of the police in boston this last week about how we make our solution "men with guns waiting for criminals to do wrong so we can blow them away". Its mind boggling.

Should the police not use armor when pursuing suspects of a bombing??? Also, I don't know how often the police anywhere in the US commonly "blow people away". What a joke, I guess he is onto this "toxic masculinity" thing applying to police work.

Hating the police is also part and parcel of the ridiculous romantic archetype of "left-wing freedom fighter for progressive social change" in the US. ...

<snip>

I don't disagree with any of the crime reduction methods in the linked article, either (in fact I support them), but none of them seems applicable to the Boston bombing incidents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... g-the-nra/

The comments at Pharyngula are interesting. I don't mean the standard "the police did it all wrong & have too much power/too many arms", like this:

Watching the effort to capture the remaining suspect in Boston I couldn’t help but think it was a bit much to bring in a wounded skinny 19 year old kid. Even with all their technology, it seems what brought him in was some guy going out and looking at his boat. Their response was, well he was one block out of the search area.

and

The efficiency of the highly militarized Boston police was less than impressive.

and

I was struck by the way all the law enforcement agencies spent the hours after the second Boston bombing suspect was captured–patting each other on the back for the great job they all did. In reality, the suspect eluded capture after being wounded in the shootout and hid himself outside the search perimeter, rendering a whole lot of cops, SWAT teams and National Guardsmen pretty useless. Then, when it was decided that the suspect had fled the area, the lockdown was lifted–and, minutes later, a civilian found him bleeding in a boat in his backyard.
The authorities were then able to apprehend the dying suspect. Yeah, job well done all around. ...

Instead, I'm noticing several comments that disagree w/ OP/link/PZ, typically prefacing with apology:

Sorry PZ, usually agree with you, so when I leave a reply it’s also usually when I disagree…
(Maybe I should post more “yeah, way to go”, but anyway)

More taxes on alcohol? Lead? After school sports?

When I clicked the link I was sorely, severely underwhelmed.

Sorry again if the statistics of my posts (should that be of any interest) come out supernegative.

It’s only that I usually agree…

and

... I’m not trying to insult anyone here, or accuse anyone of being callous. I’m honestly asking: how many people who regularly follow PZ’s blog live in low-income and/or crime-infested neighborhoods? It’s easy as Pi to sit up here and spout comments about the effectiveness of crime reduction tactics, to play the “smartest man/woman/zucchini” on the thread; it’s a completely different story to get out there, to be in the thick of things, see it for yourself, and get your hands dirty in order to build a better future for an area that may or may not have any connection with you and your world at all. ...

FWIW, none of the dissenters has yet has his or her head ripped off. The responses either ignore them or respond/question pretty reasonably.

Of course, the usual suspects haven't weighed in yet, in that thread (Caine, Nerd, Josh, PZ...) so there's still a chance that someone will get piled on or run off.

[welch]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

The thing I don't get about PeeZus's whining...while we can argue about the lockdown being over the top, post bombing, the casualty list is: one bad guy dead, one cop dead, one bad guy in the hospital, one cop in the hospital.

Collateral damage? effectively nil in terms of people being hurt. The city of Boston and surrounding area kept people safe, reasonably calm, and unlike Arkansian fantasy about bullets erupting from every household, the system worked rather well.

The reporting on it, both MSM and "citizen journalists" is a crater of shit, but the cops and other LE did the job really fucking well, and showed how things should work when shit goes down. PeeZus should be so lucky to have cops like that in his town.

What could have prevented it is a completely different argument, and trying to conflate the two issues is pretty fucking stupid.

[welch]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

Exactly, while he may have a point RE: how we actually reduce crime in this country. Being critical of police using heavily armored trucks and body armor while looking for a suspect who literally threw improvised explosives and pipebombs at them less than 24 hours later while avoiding capture defeats your own argument on the grounds of absurdity.

It perfectly quantifies my issues with FfTB and A+, While I likely agree with 70-80% of their positions, I agree with almost 0% of their solutions and tactics.

What solution? He doesn't have fuck all for a solution, he links to someone else who has one. The amount of actual solutions those dingdongs come up with on their own could probably fit in a sippy cup.

[welch]

Oh, boo-hoo, the fat bearded sissy who likes to denounce gelatto shop owners but has yet to pick up a battle against Lil'Wayne and other rappers over sexism thinks the police work against a guy who planted bombs in a city is too harsh, too "manly".

Please, PZ, do tell me: at the top of your authority as a tentacle-rape manga specialist, what do you think the police should have done? Maybe thrown a squid over his head, your pansy sack of hypocrisy and cowardice?

It's just the shittiest example possible. One of the few situations where you could reasonably say that the police actually need that type of equipment. Peezus basically objects because the truck looks scary and attempts to paint it as the average police deployment in the USA. Fuck me, even in his scandinavia utopias they have and would use this equipment in that situation.

I hope PZ never comes down there, not only because he is a sack of shit, but because he may faint if he is strolling over Rio de Janeiro and encounters the caveirão ("big skull"):

http://i.imgur.com/oR862qP.jpg

fap fap fap

[welch]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Sorry cunt but as far as free speech goes that is the one thing in the world the Americans have over every one else. If there is anyone who does it better let me know.

Speakers' Corner, Parliamentary Privilege, an abundance of truly national daily newspapers, Private Eye magazine, a tradition of visiting local pubs to discuss shit, a history of demonstrations on the streets of major cities, much reduced level of fear of religions.

I call bullshit on your claim, and counterclaim that Britain, or perhaps one of those other airy fairy European nations - Denmark, Iceland, some shit like that - do free speech infinitely better.

http://i.imgur.com/FPYflhr.jpg

In terms of legal setup or real world implementation? There's a large difference.

[welch]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... uce-crime/

PZ has a terrible post up, using images of the police in boston this last week about how we make our solution "men with guns waiting for criminals to do wrong so we can blow them away". Its mind boggling.

Should the police not use armor when pursuing suspects of a bombing??? Also, I don't know how often the police anywhere in the US commonly "blow people away". What a joke, I guess he is onto this "toxic masculinity" thing applying to police work.

Hating the police is also part and parcel of the ridiculous romantic archetype of "left-wing freedom fighter for progressive social change" in the US. Not too dissimilar from libertarian notions of "I should be able to drive as fast as I want, drink and drive, run stop signs and red lights, have loud parties whenever I want, burn trash in my backyard during a drought, set off fireworks and use my guns for target practice in my backyard, read and send text messages while driving through school zones, drive around traffic accidents and first responders in whatever manner is most convenient for me, maim deer or alligators with my truck and leave them to die in the middle of the road, cook meth in my own kitchen, etc. etc." The police in large urban areas all over the US have to deal with this shit and more every day, and I'm glad that someone is willing to do the job. I'll leave it to them to determine whether they need armored vehicles, helicopters, and sniffer dogs to find armed fugitive terrorist fucks who've been killing and injuring people with bombs and bullets.

I don't disagree with any of the crime reduction methods in the linked article, either (in fact I support them), but none of them seems applicable to the Boston bombing incidents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... g-the-nra/

I love that we have professional cops. Not fucking wankstains with small dicks and large guns, but people who take a great deal of pride in being professional law enforcement. Yeah, there's some douchebags, but you get more than 5 people in a room, one's a douche. By and large, every cop I've dealt with, even the ones giving me tickets, have been stand-up men and women who are doing a job that few would do for any amount of money, and well.

Groups like the BosPD or really, any actual professional LE group make me feel far safer than any amount of NRA cocksuckers.

[BarnOwl]

I love that we have professional cops. Not fucking wankstains with small dicks and large guns, but people who take a great deal of pride in being professional law enforcement. Yeah, there's some douchebags, but you get more than 5 people in a room, one's a douche. By and large, every cop I've dealt with, even the ones giving me tickets, have been stand-up men and women who are doing a job that few would do for any amount of money, and well.

Groups like the BosPD or really, any actual professional LE group make me feel far safer than any amount of NRA cocksuckers.

Couple of years ago, one of the neighborhood sociopaths decided to take his mama's Mustang out for a joyride, and then he parked it in front of a neighbor's house, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire. This, during one of the worst droughts of the past century. Fire department and police showed up quickly, and meanwhile, the little shit fled the scene, taking the gasoline container with him. Police helicopter also showed up, which might seem excessive, except that the fugitive little shit set several fires in the wooded areas and pastures that surround the neighborhood. The helicopter crew was able to direct fire and police personnel to put out the fires before they spread through the tinderbox brush and onto houses, and to capture the perp.

[welch]

I love that we have professional cops. Not fucking wankstains with small dicks and large guns, but people who take a great deal of pride in being professional law enforcement. Yeah, there's some douchebags, but you get more than 5 people in a room, one's a douche. By and large, every cop I've dealt with, even the ones giving me tickets, have been stand-up men and women who are doing a job that few would do for any amount of money, and well.

Groups like the BosPD or really, any actual professional LE group make me feel far safer than any amount of NRA cocksuckers.

Couple of years ago, one of the neighborhood sociopaths decided to take his mama's Mustang out for a joyride, and then he parked it in front of a neighbor's house, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire. This, during one of the worst droughts of the past century. Fire department and police showed up quickly, and meanwhile, the little shit fled the scene, taking the gasoline container with him. Police helicopter also showed up, which might seem excessive, except that the fugitive little shit set several fires in the wooded areas and pastures that surround the neighborhood. The helicopter crew was able to direct fire and police personnel to put out the fires before they spread through the tinderbox brush and onto houses, and to capture the perp.

Yep. I love that there are highly trained people who handle that shit. I pay my taxes and smile, because I have a street I can walk down sans worry, and if there's a real problem, those fuckers will show up and help. I've worked IT for two separate police departments in my life, one fire department, and I'm so very glad we have them.

[Polterguest]

A comment from the elevatorgate history books I was reminded of after Ophelia attacked Dawkins today.

It's in response to a (now deleted) article called 'There's nothing skeptical about the Skepchicks' vicious campaign'.

Yes; ick. I don’t support that. I didn’t support whatever section it was of whatever letter or post of Rebecca’s that I read a couple of days ago that talked of never reading his books again, never recommending him to anyone again, etc etc etc. Maybe now I’ll get people shouting at me from that direction too. That will be fun. I think Richard was wrong about this, but not insanely outrageously save the beer and the cats wrong. He’s the one who published Lisa Bauer’s account of her life as a Muslim convert and then apostate. He’s a fan of Maryam Namazie’s. Maryam was also at the Dublin conference…I suspect he may have been chafed by the contrast between what Maryam talked about and what Rebecca talked about. It’s true that there is a vast difference. I think he’s wrong to conclude that therefore what Rebecca talked about doesn’t matter, but I think I get why he felt that way. (Yes “get”; yes “felt” –these things aren’t fully rational. Such is life.)

July 7, 2011 11:23 am

[Pitchguest]

Totally OT: I just saw the fourth episode of season 3 GoT. I'm not gonna spoil anything, I'm just gonna say the last five-to-six minutes of the episode is fucking epic. Holy shit. Goosebumps.

[Pitchguest]

A comment from the elevatorgate history books I was reminded of after Ophelia attacked Dawkins today.

It's in response to a (now deleted) article called 'There's nothing skeptical about the Skepchicks' vicious campaign'.

Yes; ick. I don’t support that. I didn’t support whatever section it was of whatever letter or post of Rebecca’s that I read a couple of days ago that talked of never reading his books again, never recommending him to anyone again, etc etc etc. Maybe now I’ll get people shouting at me from that direction too. That will be fun. I think Richard was wrong about this, but not insanely outrageously save the beer and the cats wrong. He’s the one who published Lisa Bauer’s account of her life as a Muslim convert and then apostate. He’s a fan of Maryam Namazie’s. Maryam was also at the Dublin conference…I suspect he may have been chafed by the contrast between what Maryam talked about and what Rebecca talked about. It’s true that there is a vast difference. I think he’s wrong to conclude that therefore what Rebecca talked about doesn’t matter, but I think I get why he felt that way. (Yes “get”; yes “felt” –these things aren’t fully rational. Such is life.)

July 7, 2011 11:23 am

Luckily it's archived.

http://web.archive.org/web/201107100213 ... -campaign/

[sacha]

Totally OT: I just saw the fourth episode of season 3 GoT. I'm not gonna spoil anything, I'm just gonna say the last five-to-six minutes of the episode is fucking epic. Holy shit. Goosebumps.

shhhh I just began season one

[Whisper Walrus]

Just watched Jon Stewart make a joke about an imaginary show/movie called "Cunt Punters". Insert 'Franc sockpuppet' joke here?

[Pitchguest]

Just watched Jon Stewart make a joke about an imaginary show/movie called "Cunt Punters". Insert 'Franc sockpuppet' joke here?

I feel a disturbance in the force.

[BarnOwl]

IBTP is like almost every other blog I read on occasion: agree with some things, disagree with others. The cuntalinagate posts are quite funny, and would seem to be at odds with the FtB fainting spells and pearl-clutching over the word. Twisty is voted off Savage Death Island for referring to a columns as a "cuntalina."

If I could afford to live on a ranch in the Hill Country, with horses and dogs and an eco-house, and spend my days taking photos of wildlife, crocheting marine invertebrates, riding horses, walking around with the dogs, making organic smoothies and vegan meals, and recording all this privileged liberal outrage indolence in blogs and art journals, I would SURE AS FUCK do it.

In a heartbeat.

[BarnOwl]

columns ---> columnist

[Steersman]

<snip>
But I tend to agree with you about "our fledgling crusade" - "may our tribe increase". I think Elam's recent retraction and even PZ's acknowledgement of some problematic dimensions of feminism are cases in point. Although I think there's still work for the "bretheren" (and sistereth-en) to do to spread the word - I'll say our work is almost done - one chapter of it, anyway - when Ophelia Benson concedes that connecting "virulent" with "feminism" doesn't always qualify as misogyny ....

one interesting theory, one I've not had time to read the background data on, (unlike greta, I'm actually doing shit during the day, and now that our department is about to be half its size, minion is getting new gig with fat raise, awesome for her!, my time for recreational research actually is kind of small these days.) But I did take the time to read the MJ article whilst pooping, and it is a fascinating theory indeed: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/ ... k-gasoline

If the research bears it out, it may mean the much of what we think causes crime has less of an effect than many would like to believe.

Not quite sure what connection you had in mind between my post and an apparent theory on the causes of crime. But I’ll agree with you that the lead-poisoining described in the article seems quite plausible. Particularly in light of the argument that I’d read to the effect that part of the reason for the collapse of the Roman Empire was that most of their plumbing pipes were made from lead.

Unfortunate though that we tend to discount the consequences of all of these pollutants that we put into our environment until it is too late – or almost so as with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Reminds that I should re-read John Bruner’s The Sheep Look Up (1972) which was, apparently, a classic in the genre of sci-fi environmental catastrophies ….

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

For shame! Shamefully shaming Greta's shame-porn shame!

Sigh.
Okay. Let me spell this out, as patiently as I possibly can.
I am entirely happy to consensually eroticize shame in my sexual fantasies and my sex life. It is a central part of my sexuality, it makes me happy, and I am at peace with it.
But I don’t appreciate being non-consensually shamed about my sexuality.
Consensual SM — including the consensual eroticization of shame — is just as psychologically healthy as any other consensual sexuality. There’s a significant body of evidence backing this up, and a large community of happy, healthy kinksters who will testify to it. Again: I don’t consider it “unlucky” to be kinky, or to have the particular kinks that I have. A lot of people eroticize shame: I’m not the only one. And I find it troubling that people would not only consider themselves “lucky” to not find shame sexually appealing… but would say this to kinky people, to their faces, in a space dedicated to talking about their kink.
These are people who would almost certainly not tell gay people that they consider themselves “lucky” not to be gay, or that they are “concerned” about their gayness. But kinky people, apparently, can’t expect get the same kind of respect.
This sort of “concern” for the people who practice it, however well-meaning, is part of what stigmatizes us and marginalizes us. It makes it harder to live our lives. Please stop it. Thank you.

It would be a shame if you didn't stop shaming the shame of oppressed shame-porn-lovers so shamefully! Shame on your shame-blame and shame-hate! Shamist!

I think I've mentioned before that there is a huge schism in waiting in the middle of the united front of FTB feminists.
Greta Christina has far more in common with the likes of sex positive individuals (both male and female) than she does with the Shakesville loonies. She, as a porn producer, is a textbook example of a rape enabler - so long as you are reading a radfem approved textbook.

This next schism will be hilarious. Greta Christina, porn writer extraordinaire and rape eneabler, versus Ophelia Benson, guardian of purity and high moral standards of women. Place your bets and grab the popcorn.

Yes and their vitriol will be their own undoing, look at how quickly and viciously they dispatched one of their closest allies and vocal supports, EllenBeth Wachs. They really do mix up being assertive when expressing beliefs and ideas with being intolerant, myopic and nasty pieces of work.

And that gets to the nub of what makes Myer's such a toxic influence. I'm sure exceptions could be found, but the defining characteristic of his internet presence appears to be an inability to disagree without rancour. It's not enough for him to express his disagreement, he has to make it plain that you have been DISMISSED and that you are a stupid fuckwit for disagreeing with him. Fraternisation with the shunned is a personal affront to him. I'm beginning to think that his churlishness and spite toward the religious is motivated more by frustration at their failure to agree with him than principle. Atheists of his stripe are best summed up by this bit of snark from the inimitable SaltyDroid,"There is no god and we can't let him win". Small minded, insecure and mean-spirited little man.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Sorry cunt but as far as free speech goes that is the one thing in the world the Americans have over every one else. If there is anyone who does it better let me know.

Speakers' Corner, Parliamentary Privilege, an abundance of truly national daily newspapers, Private Eye magazine, a tradition of visiting local pubs to discuss shit, a history of demonstrations on the streets of major cities, much reduced level of fear of religions.

I call bullshit on your claim, and counterclaim that Britain, or perhaps one of those other airy fairy European nations - Denmark, Iceland, some shit like that - do free speech infinitely better.

http://i.imgur.com/FPYflhr.jpg

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

Try burning a US flag in the US. A visit from your neighbors, their relatives, the local newspaper, FOX news, random "Lone Wolf" types from Arizona with too many guns and too few brain cells, and the police is guaranteed.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

Try burning a US flag in the US. A visit from your neighbors, their relatives, the local newspaper, FOX news, random "Lone Wolf" types from Arizona with too many guns and too few brain cells, and the police is guaranteed.

OK, you'd probably be lynched. But will it be an officially sanctioned lynching? Will the cops really be involved?

[Steersman]

Turns out that there is actually some justification for the first part – that crocheting can actually be used to model the hyperbolic plane, although I haven’t yet been able to follow the math as well as I would like. But that last part, the conclusion, is a real howler. That crocheting has been typically a female pastime or industry is hardly justification for arguing that there should be more women in mathematics because obviously every woman is fully cognizant of that skill and its ramifications.

The woman that “discovered” or has been promoting that idea – Daina Taimina – has a book Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, which I borrowed the other day, that argues, to some extent anyway, the same point that Sally is attempting to do there, i.e., that “women’s experiences” have some wider relevance. However, while there is obviously more than some justification for the basic idea, Sally seems to want to “privilege” them – so to speak – to a greater extent than is justified by the facts of the matter – which tends to be rather problematic.

I won't pretend to understand the math, but that hasn't stopped me from using hyperbolic crochet methods to create marine invertebrates and bracket fungi.

<snip>

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3644/3623 ... d9568d.jpg
physalia by BarnOwl83, on Flickr

I don’t have much of a handle on the math either, but that book seems like a good start - highly recommended; I might even buy a hook and some yarn to get a feel for how the surface develops, although the tightness of the weave has some bearing on how accurately it models the surface.

However from a brief skim-through – I only got the book out of the library yesterday – it seems that the defining characteristic of the hyperbolic plane is that it has a constant negative curvature – the magnitude controlled by the length increase (I think) in each row. And curvature is defined as the inverse of the product of the radii in two directions perpendicular to each other and to the normal ("up") to the surface. In the case of a sphere and standing on the top of it, the curvature is positive because the suface curves down to the left and right as well as to the front and back. But a horse saddle has a negative curvature because it curves down to the left and right but curves upward to the front and back: the centers of curvature are on opposite sides of the surface so that makes one of them negative and the other positive so the product is always negative.

The trick or sticky wicket, apparently from what I’ve gleaned so far, is that while it is relatively easy to physically create a surface with negative curvature in a small area, it isn’t easy to see how that constant curvature can be maintained over a wider surface. Because the curvature is a product of two numbers one can have one radius (left-right) increase – the curvature decreases – while the other increases (front-back) – the curvature increases – and still maintain a constant negative curvature.

Which is probably why those planes have all sorts of “ruffles” in them – rather fascinating. And, according to the book, with quite a number of interesting applications and ramifications including the several biological ones you mentioned ….

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

Try burning a US flag in the US. A visit from your neighbors, their relatives, the local newspaper, FOX news, random "Lone Wolf" types from Arizona with too many guns and too few brain cells, and the police is guaranteed.

OK, you'd probably be lynched. But will it be an officially sanctioned lynching? Will the cops really be involved?

Yes and yes, depending upon where you did it and who you were.

[Angry_Drunk]

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

Try burning a US flag in the US. A visit from your neighbors, their relatives, the local newspaper, FOX news, random "Lone Wolf" types from Arizona with too many guns and too few brain cells, and the police is guaranteed.

OK, you'd probably be lynched. But will it be an officially sanctioned lynching? Will the cops really be involved?

Yes and yes, depending upon where you did it and who you were.

Ye gods you are full of shit.

[Southern]

Have you seen Tropa de Elite? If not, it's a must-see!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/?ref_=sr_1

Are you kidding? Capitão Nascimento is a national hero over there. Or it was, now corruption is so widespread that people are just giving up already. There's no point in fighting when the adversary clearly doesn't feel your punches...

[Matt Cavanaugh]

About Twisty

Twisty.jpg

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Twisty Faster, a spinster aunt who's never gotten laid, likes to show off by using words like "obstreperal lobe." Twisty has been driving people out of her life by going on and on about feminist issues since the last century. She became an Internet Feminist in 2004. Before that, she was a "Gawd, why did they invite HER to the party?" Feminist. Twisty lives on a run-down ranch in the middle of the boonies, which she likes to pretend is a "wild life sanctuary" because she can only make friends with stray animals, not humans. Along with the stray animals, Twisty cares for her elderly mother, to whom she is forever indebted for instilling in her at a tender age a pathological fear of penises.

Twisty humorously calls her ranch "Dreadful Acres" because "The Island of Dr. Moreau" was already taken. Twisty maintains a laboratory at Dreadful Acres where she experiments on helpless dude animals in her scientific research into castration and parthenogenesis.

Her interests include: melancholy photography, periodically going off her meds, looking at wild animals through binoculars while wishing she was one of them, identifying dude scat, all Science except evo psych, crispy foods, and not getting laid.

Twisty would like to remind you that, not only was she highly educated, she was OVER-educated. This explains why she can't make friends with humans. This is also and why she feels the need to use words like "dudeliocentric," which Twisty's obstreperal lobe coined to describe Cardinals fans and other lower life forms.

She has worked as an office temp, a clean-up woman in a mobile home factory, a bartender, a scenester (ha, made you look it up), and a restaurant critic. Twisty can't keep a job for very long because her obstreperal lobe is too advanced for humans to cope with. That, and she blurts out things like, "this saltimbocca needs to check its privilege!" Twisty has also worked as a rock star (pictured above). "Zie Blinded Me With Science" was her biggest hit. Twisty blames The Patriarchy for her failed careers.

She has relatives with equally weird names like Tidy, Rotel Dip, Finicky, and Stingray. Twisty hopes this makes you find her family endearing, in a I-fuck-my-sister-who-wears-a-bear-costume kinda way.

Phil and Chuck, dude secretary and dude ranch hand respectively, have left Dreadful Acres, after Twisty casually remarked, "you know, I only allow geldings on my ranch." The position of chief eunuch is still open.

Twisty is roughly half a century old, which is another way of saying, Twisty ain't never gettin' laid.

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/about-twisty/

[Jan Steen]

About Twisty

Twisty.jpg

Twisty Faster, a spinster aunt who's never gotten laid, likes to show off by using words like "obstreperal lobe." Twisty has been driving people out of her life by going on and on about feminist issues since the last century. She became an Internet Feminist in 2004. Before that, she was a "Gawd, why did they invite HER to the party?" Feminist. Twisty lives on a run-down ranch in the middle of the boonies, which she likes to pretend is a "wild life sanctuary" because she can only make friends with stray animals, not humans. Along with the stray animals, Twisty cares for her elderly mother, to whom she is forever indebted for instilling in her at a tender age a pathological fear of penises.

Twisty humorously calls her ranch "Dreadful Acres" because "The Island of Dr. Moreau" was already taken. Twisty maintains a laboratory at Dreadful Acres where she experiments on helpless dude animals in her scientific research into castration and parthenogenesis.

Her interests include: melancholy photography, periodically going off her meds, looking at wild animals through binoculars while wishing she was one of them, identifying dude scat, all Science except evo psych, crispy foods, and not getting laid.

Twisty would like to remind you that, not only was she highly educated, she was OVER-educated. This explains why she can't make friends with humans. This is also and why she feels the need to use words like "dudeliocentric," which Twisty's obstreperal lobe coined to describe Cardinals fans and other lower life forms.

She has worked as an office temp, a clean-up woman in a mobile home factory, a bartender, a scenester (ha, made you look it up), and a restaurant critic. Twisty can't keep a job for very long because her obstreperal lobe is too advanced for humans to cope with. That, and she blurts out things like, "this saltimbocca needs to check its privilege!" Twisty has also worked as a rock star (pictured above). "Zie Blinded Me With Science" was her biggest hit. Twisty blames The Patriarchy for her failed careers.

She has relatives with equally weird names like Tidy, Rotel Dip, Finicky, and Stingray. Twisty hopes this makes you find her family endearing, in a I-fuck-my-sister-who-wears-a-bear-costume kinda way.

Phil and Chuck, dude secretary and dude ranch hand respectively, have left Dreadful Acres, after Twisty casually remarked, "you know, I only allow geldings on my ranch." The position of chief eunuch is still open.

Twisty is roughly half a century old, which is another way of saying, Twisty ain't never gettin' laid.

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/about-twisty/

I think Pitchguest above summed her up nicely: She is absolutely bonkers. Is that ableist? So be it.

[clownshoe]

Trigger Warning: future Hollywood star rocko2466 jets in
Full Frontal Zealotry episode 16 is out.
http://everdense.com/ffz/
#FFZ #Atheist

"I just took a massive Oolon"

[Tony Parsehole]

Totally OT: I just saw the fourth episode of season 3 GoT. I'm not gonna spoil anything, I'm just gonna say the last five-to-six minutes of the episode is fucking epic. Holy shit. Goosebumps.

I nearly cried manly tears at the utter coolness of the scene you are talking about.

[Tony Parsehole]

America! Fuck Yeah! Ultimate defender of free speech rights in the broadcast medi-a!*

*Your free speech must be generally be in line with the views of General Electric, Viacom, News Corporation, Disney, Time Warner or CBS.

Sorry cunt but as far as free speech goes that is the one thing in the world the Americans have over every one else. If there is anyone who does it better let me know.

Speakers' Corner, Parliamentary Privilege, an abundance of truly national daily newspapers, Private Eye magazine, a tradition of visiting local pubs to discuss shit, a history of demonstrations on the streets of major cities, much reduced level of fear of religions.

I call bullshit on your claim, and counterclaim that Britain, or perhaps one of those other airy fairy European nations - Denmark, Iceland, some shit like that - do free speech infinitely better.

http://i.imgur.com/FPYflhr.jpg

And nannyish Home Seketerrys wot refuses well known activists entry to the UK on the basis of what they might say. Try burning a Koran in the UK. A visit from the police is guaranteed.

Actually, burning a koran in your own home or property is not illegal in the UK. It's illegal to do so in publc and it's illegal to film it in your home AND distribute the footage because it breaches some wank hate laws.
I wonder if deleting a koran off your hard-drive in public is illegal?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Totally OT: I just saw the fourth episode of season 3 GoT. I'm not gonna spoil anything, I'm just gonna say the last five-to-six minutes of the episode is fucking epic. Holy shit. Goosebumps.

I nearly cried manly tears at the utter coolness of the scene you are talking about.

Agreed, I just rewatched that scene for the sheer epicness. The show is really getting better and better.

[Tony Parsehole]

@Phil
Yeah, the series had a slow start with the first two episodes but the third was damn good and the fourth didn't let up. That last scene was.....Quite amazing.
They're doing a pretty good job of fitting in all the relevant parts from the books but the Theon storyline is panning out a bit weird.

[Tony Parsehole]

TRIGGER WARNING: AMAZEBALLS.
http://dorkshelf.com/wordpress/wp-conte ... imated.gif

[Metalogic42]

TRIGGER WARNING: AMAZEBALLS.
http://dorkshelf.com/wordpress/wp-conte ... imated.gif

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb7ze ... o1_500.png