Bleeding from the Bunghole

[welch]

If you catch a mack truck in your mouth, I might die of terminal pants-shitting.

So, I just scrolled past every response between you and Mudbrooker to this last sentence, and....Yo, I don't even wanna know.

Usually I enjoy reading welch vs. blank, but this one is so stupid I am just scrolling right past the whole thing!

Dude, *I* don't even know what it's about at this point. If you say things in a way someone doesn't like, they'll do stupid shit to prove you wrong is what's going on. I think. Which mind you, has some awesome potential there.

[Jan Steen]

<snip>

Theres also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

Still, we should be grateful that she didn't call Avogrado's Number 'Avocado's Number.'

[welch]

Insert comment about door injury.

Okay, what is all this "official" shit? Is there some kind of ceremony that outsiders don't know about? I mean, I'm "officially" not in the military, but I was actually "officially" in the military. When I left, there was paperwork, a return of property (completely with receipts of same), briefings, etc.

As far as I know, the only thing to being an atheist is deciding to be one, and other than maybe being employed by an atheist group, being a part of the "movement" is a terribly unofficial thing. Same thing for skeptics

Yet they all go on about I AM OFFICIALLY BLAH BLAH BLAH. I mean, what? Jen has to return her tiara? There was a sash-surrender ceremony for PZ? Goddamnit, if they're officially out, I want a ritual! Like names thrice written and thrice burned. Not this stupid flouncing shit that we all know won't last the day.

That's the one thing religion has. When you're out of a religion, there's like shit that goes down. Not just a grad student slamming her door and playing shitty music while crying into her pillow.

[Cunt of Personality]

Theres also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

One gram, twelve grams - who cares. The Avogadro constant is just a social construct.

[welch]

I can haz scientifically literate examples of how science needs postmodernism, plz?

From the deepity, deepity, derp, or there must be more to billions and "billions" department -- the convo about pomo, age of the earth, conceptualizing big numbers discussion was picked up at Thunderdome:

These people are idiots. I can show anyone how to visualize billions with one fucking picture:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--SiN15AZ5Hw/T ... tealth.jpg

There you fucking go. Billions of dollars.

For those navally inclined:

http://images.military.com/EQGpics/ssn774_4.jpg

You don't have to get all fucking complicated. Military hardware helps you do this sort of thing quickly and easily.

[dogen]

[quote="Tribble"]
Fairly rare, but I was in a long-term relationship with one. Worst thing was, was 'she' didn't know. Her parents never told her and I don't think she knows. She just knew she had to take birth-control pills to have a 'regular cycle' and stuff and took them from the time she was 13.
/quote]

Pardon my curiosity, but how did you know?

[Cunt of Personality]

Speaking of dealing with large numbers - my cats (sample size: 2) can easily deal with billions of crunchy biscuits, but can't tell the difference between a dish containing 73 crunchy biscuits and one which is empty. Given a dish containing 74 crunchy biscuits, they'll eat one and then walk off in disgust at the now empty dish. Can this be explained by post-modernism?

[dogen]

I can haz scientifically literate examples of how science needs postmodernism, plz?

From the deepity, deepity, derp, or there must be more to billions and "billions" department -- the convo about pomo, age of the earth, conceptualizing big numbers discussion was picked up at Thunderdome:

http://i.imgur.com/wP9x95i.jpg
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... ent-689112
http://www.freezepage.com/1379243092GEDMEUKPLU

Such urbanity from Daz and such wittiness from Caine. Daz even links to s/h/it's blogpost on the subject, titled "A Hair's Breadth":

To put that into some perspective, a human hair is about seven times that; 7⁄100 of a millimetre thick. Put another way, in order to make a hair's width equal one millionth of the line, we'd have to make the line seventy metres long.

Put yet another way, so as to graphically turn a very small number into a very big one, you'd need to lay one million hairs side by side in order for them to measure seventy metres in width. Think how big seventy metres is, and how narrow a hair is. That's how many a million is. Now imagine a line 70,000 kilometres long. That's a billion (1,000,000,000) hairs' widths, or roughly one and three quarters trips around Earth's equator. A trillion (1,000,000,000,000)* hairs' widths? That's 70,000,000; seventy million kilometres. Roughly 1,750 times around Earth's equator, or just under half-way to the sun. Even Rapunzel would have struggled with that one!

http://theedixieflatline.wordpress.com/ ... s-breadth/

Oops. Somehow Daz seems to have mistaken meters for kilometers, because by my calculations if 1 million hairs makes 70 meters, a billion makes 70 km, not 70,000 km. So - not quite 1750 times around the earth or half-way to the sun, more like a slightly lengthy Sunday drive. As far as I can tell no one at Pharyngula or Daz's blog noticed the mistake.

Jadehawk and Caine quickly get back to the important stuff:

http://i.imgur.com/IAyuE4O.jpg
***********************************************************
... But then "Esteleth, statistically significant to p ≤ 0.001" has to ruin it in the next comment by getting all brute truthy again:

... A proper understanding of mole ratios is crucial for chemistry, after all. It makes sense that the class spent some time drilling on moles (this included dressing up as moles).

Avogadro’s number is fucking huge: 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000!

I cannot conceptualize this. Avogadro’s number is a piece of trivia in the back of my mind, right next to the bit that says, “a mole of 100% pure carbon-12 weighs one gram.”

Similarly: 1 liter is by definition 1 billion microliters. Because that is what the metric prefix “micro-” means. Okay, fine.

Today I made a liter of buffer. I measured the liter of solute using a volumetric flask – which is to say I stuck it under the spigot and eyeballed the graduation. It filled a bottle about *hand gesture* so big. I could lift the bottle with one hand easily, but I preferred to hold it in two, for greater stability. It had a noticeable weight – a bit more than a kilo – but was not heavy.

Yesterday I made a 1 millimolar solution of peroxide. I did this by diluting a stock solution – which is to say I mixed 1 microliter of the stock with 7.28 milliliters of water. I used a pippette to do this. The peroxide was a sliver of liquid that occupied a fraction of the tip. I did not notice its added weight as I moved the pippette across my workspace.

Intellectually I know that the buffer I made today was (approximately) 1 billion times bigger than the amount of stock peroxide I used yesterday. If you handed me a bottle containing a liter of liquid and asked me how much was in there, I’d probably be able to say, “Looks like about a liter.” Maybe I’d peg it as about a quart – but that would depend on if I was in the lab or not. Likewise, if you handed me a eppendorf tube containing a microliter of liquid, I’d be able to squint at it and guess that it was a microliter or so.

But – I wouldn’t describe that buffer I made to day as being a billion microliters. Both because that would get me accused – rightfully – of sesquipedalian loquaciousness and because I don’t think of it that way. ...

"Vicki, duly vaccinated tool of the feminist conspiracy" points out a few comments later that aspiring uberchemist Esteleth might not describe her buffer that way because a microliter is "by definition" a millionth of a liter, not a billionth. But, hey -- what's a factor of 1000 among postmodern friends on an intimidating "science" blog? In the immortal words of Barbie, "math class is tough!"

Theres also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

Poe?

[Tapir]

These people are idiots. I can show anyone how to visualize billions with one fucking picture:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--SiN15AZ5Hw/T ... tealth.jpg

What an appropriate stimulus for continuing the Slymepit's occasional series highlighting late-war experimental Luftwaffe aircraft.

Today we focus on the Horten 229:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229

http://i.imgur.com/J4IgyXn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/go5aUz8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/idaM32U.jpg

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

Thankyou.

[Spence]

I can haz scientifically literate examples of how science needs postmodernism, plz?

From the deepity, deepity, derp, or there must be more to billions and "billions" department -- the convo about pomo, age of the earth, conceptualizing big numbers discussion was picked up at Thunderdome:

<snipped for brevity>

... But then "Esteleth, statistically significant to p ≤ 0.001" has to ruin it in the next comment by getting all brute truthy again:

... A proper understanding of mole ratios is crucial for chemistry, after all. It makes sense that the class spent some time drilling on moles (this included dressing up as moles).

Avogadro’s number is fucking huge: 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000!

I cannot conceptualize this. Avogadro’s number is a piece of trivia in the back of my mind, right next to the bit that says, “a mole of 100% pure carbon-12 weighs one gram.”

Similarly: 1 liter is by definition 1 billion microliters. Because that is what the metric prefix “micro-” means. Okay, fine.

As well as the clanger on Avogadro's constant, that prefix "micro-", I do not think it means what Esteleth thinks it means...

[Hunt]

Theres also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

One gram, twelve grams - who cares. The Avogadro constant is just a social construct.

Just be thankful she's not in medicine. That's exactly the type of shit that kills people every damn day.

[Spence]

As well as the clanger on Avogadro's constant, that prefix "micro-", I do not think it means what Esteleth thinks it means...

Hmm, must read all to the end of the comment that I'm snipping next time. Sorry Apples *facepalm*

[Hunt]

As well as the clanger on Avogadro's constant, that prefix "micro-", I do not think it means what Esteleth thinks it means...

Hmm, must read all to the end of the comment that I'm snipping next time. Sorry Apples *facepalm*

As I said, let's just be thankful that she just fucks up experiments. People die at the hands of these morons every day.

[Parody Accountant]

And as I said before... anybody who wants to take down oolon's block bot can do so easily.

Personally, I don't know why you would advertise that. Oolon's a tool and a fool, but if his silly bot is the only thing that has ever made him any friends, why shit on his Cheerios (at least, why shit on them illegitimately)?

Plus, if anyone were to do it, then Oolon would be legitimately able to point to the Pit as the cause, since you're advertising this supposed Achilles heel.

I prefer to fight honest, not dirty. And though I'm not a psychic, I would imagine that damn near everyone hear feels the same way.

*here. :dance:

In no way do I expect any slymepitter to be able to rapidly deploy this 'exploit'. They'd have to know php and host a copy of the bot somewhere. The only reason I found it was because that's precisely what I was going to do, but a DIFFERENT iteration - not a doppleganger of TBB. I was just going to counter-troll oolon with a bot that I assumed only 4 people would jokingly sign up for.

I was just looking through the code to see how it worked. I was shocked to see that bit, and decided against the whole endeavor.

Also, the first code I've ever messed with for more than a few minutes was on a TI-83+ calculator in 1997. The second code I've ever messed with for more than a few minutes is from 2013, the SJW pomo generator script. If *I* can spot this in a few minutes, imagine what happens when he pisses off people who really know what they are doing and don't mind fighting dirty.

All he has to do is delete that bit from where it is displayed, and he's safe. I'd tweet it to him, but he's blocked me. Can somebody else do this for me? I'd hate for him to blame the pit for it, and I agree with you about fighting clean. He'll crush himself under his own stupidity.

too tall; didn't read:

In no way do I expect any slymepitter to be able to rapidly deploy this 'exploit'. They'd have to know php and host a copy of the bot somewhere. The only reason I found it was because that's precisely what I was going to do, but a DIFFERENT iteration - not a doppleganger of TBB. I was just going to counter-troll oolon with a bot that I assumed only 4 people would jokingly sign up for. I was just looking through the code to see how it worked. I was shocked to see that bit, and decided against the whole endeavor. Also, the first code I've ever messed with for more than a few minutes was on a TI-83+ calculator in 1997. The second code I've ever messed with for more than a few minutes is from 2013, the SJW pomo generator script. If *I* can spot this in a few minutes, imagine what happens when he pisses off people who really know what they are doing and don't mind fighting dirty. All he has to do is delete that bit from where it is displayed, and he's safe. I'd tweet it to him, but he's blocked me. Can somebody else do this for me? I'd hate for him to blame the pit for it, and I agree with you about fighting clean. He'll crush himself under his own stupidity.

[justinvacula]

Sean Faircloth rebukes "firing squads" and backbiting in the movement during speech, says we can go that direction but instead can work to influence change in society. Keyboard warrior #ftbullies get a slap :)

[Aneris]

Notified Oolon and Aratina, don't know if they get it (since I'm also on the block bot).


“courtesy of the slymepit. please fix the block bot exploit.”

I didn't write more (link etc) as it's their thing to look into it and didn't wanted to downright announce it, they'll reasonably find it, and I didn't DM because I wanted to leave the papertrail public just in case. I also don't think its our job to protect them from their own issues, EVEN IF some hacker saw it here, its solely their code, their “service” and we aren't exactly friendly to this thing.

[Skep tickle]

Damion tweets out a pic from the Pit w/o crediting the source

(I can't tweet-link D4m10n, probably because his account is protected, so here's a screenshot)

http://i.imgur.com/j7fe4JF.png?1

His link: http://fuuka.warosu.org/data/lit/img/00 ... 582773.jpg

Mine: viewtopic.php?p=50013#p50013

Though maybe it has gone viral now & that's how Damion became aware of it...

[Skep tickle]

Oolon did reply (with confusion) to Aneris' tweet, & I went ahead & linked him to PA's last screenshot of it here

D4M10N has retweeted "credit for that pic goes to Jan Steen" (w/ link), and someone else retweeted it after that.

So all is well in the world :)

[Aneris]

Oolon did reply (with confusion) to Aneris' tweet, & I went ahead & linked him to PA's last screenshot of it here

D4M10N has retweeted "credit for that pic goes to Jan Steen" (w/ link), and someone else retweeted it after that.

So all is well in the world :)

Thanks, also sent him the link after he replied (and DMing didn't work). Twice should do. All is good.

[bhoytony]

Damion tweets out a pic from the Pit w/o crediting the source

(I can't tweet-link D4m10n, probably because his account is protected, so here's a screenshot)

http://i.imgur.com/j7fe4JF.png?1

His link: http://fuuka.warosu.org/data/lit/img/00 ... 582773.jpg

Mine: viewtopic.php?p=50013#p50013

Though maybe it has gone viral now & that's how Damion became aware of it...

So Damion isn't too superior to us lowlifes that he won't lurk here for content.
Hey, if you're lurking now and reading this I'd like to say that you are a dimbulb. Oh sorry, I meant to say you're a CUNT.

[Lsuoma]

If you catch a mack truck in your mouth, I might die of terminal pants-shitting.

So, I just scrolled past every response between you and Mudbrooker to this last sentence, and....Yo, I don't even wanna know.

Welch had nine people add him to their ignore list yesterday,

WITHOUT EVEN TELLING HIM.

[bhoytony]

If you catch a mack truck in your mouth, I might die of terminal pants-shitting.

So, I just scrolled past every response between you and Mudbrooker to this last sentence, and....Yo, I don't even wanna know.

Welch had nine people add him to their ignore list yesterday,

WITHOUT EVEN TELLING HIM.

Do you mean not telling him once or not telling him over and over and over again?

[Skep tickle]

(quotes from a science conversation at Pharyngula from Caine, Jadehawk, and Esteleth, illustrating uncorrected errors in chemistry & math)

Poe?

Sadly, no. They're all regulars.

[Lsuoma]

Theres also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

Plus a litre is a million - not billion - microlitres. Yay - my chemistry privilege is working fine!

[Jan Steen]

Oolon did reply (with confusion) to Aneris' tweet, & I went ahead & linked him to PA's last screenshot of it here

D4M10N has retweeted "credit for that pic goes to Jan Steen" (w/ link), and someone else retweeted it after that.

So all is well in the world :)

Thanks, also sent him the link after he replied (and DMing didn't work). Twice should do. All is good.

Thanks guys. Thunderf00t has used this pic in one of his videos so maybe Damion got it from there.

[welch]

If you catch a mack truck in your mouth, I might die of terminal pants-shitting.

So, I just scrolled past every response between you and Mudbrooker to this last sentence, and....Yo, I don't even wanna know.

Welch had nine people add him to their ignore list yesterday,

WITHOUT EVEN TELLING HIM.

Sooooo.....close

[Aneris]

Oolon says the tokens in the bot are a “honeypot”

[ReneeHendricks]

Ok. So someone enlighten me. Who is LazySavant (on Twitter)? Is this another Ool0n buddy?

[dogen]

Oolon says the tokens in the bot are a “honeypot”

Ah, as graceful as ever. Stay classy, my oleaginous friend...

[Skep tickle]

Not that this is anything new, but here's a Pharyngula report. All bolding in quotes below was added by me.

In Thunderdome, davehooke has expressed concern with the various methods that get tacked onto "go fuck yourself" (rusty porcupine in the past, more recently electric socket, various others); he explicitly says that it's not "go fuck yourself" that bothers him. This opinion does not meet with universal acclaim.

In #85, Caine's comments to davehooke include:

This is not your blog. You can run your blog any way you see fit, including giving the time of day to rape apologists while castigating anyone who says fuck off.

In #95, davehooke's reply to Caine:

http://i.imgur.com/rtc5H3j.png?1

Note the sentence a few lines up from the end, in which davehooke says to Caine: "I appreciate that it is your blog."

Also, note that davehooke seems to be one more person backing away from the comment threads at Pharyngula.

The current Thunderdome thread is up to #472 now; there's one mention of it being "pz's blog" and "besides, as our squidly overlord has stated, 'This is a Rude Blog'", so obviously everyone knows it's really PZ's blog, but noone seems to disabuse the notion that it's also Caine's. (Of course, that's just one line that may not have gotten much attention.)

davehooke apparently expressed concern about the creative variations of the "go fuck yourself with _____" meme in the Dawkins thread, and later in Thunderdome says (in #131) "I did actually bring this up in the new rules thread, where I was told that the “no threats of violence” rule covered it. If PZ sees this and could clarify, that would be great."

PZ doesn't clarify, though he did post subsequently in the thread, to ban stephens, whose behavioral correction had been spearheaded by Caine. More on that below. Caine doesn't seek to clarify until Kevin also expresses concern (and maybe Ingdigo Jump, I lost interest), then Caine repeats her opinion but says "I will bring this up for discussion on the monitors group."

Also happening in that "UNMODERATED" thread, stephens' posts end up disemvoweled, before he is ban-hammered by PZ in #191. stephens' crime was taking the wrong side on Dawkins-as-pedophilia-apologist in another thread, then trying to defend his/her position.

Jacob Schmidt in #189 says this (in part) to stephens (stephens' "it" meaning, having personally experienced rape):

You think it gives you any special status with respect to truth, to logical argument, to understanding what other people say and representing it correctly, to being called on your bullshit?

Christ, how the fuck are you that stupid?

Later, in #293, Caine posts "The basic discussion on the monitors group can be distilled down to this: Please avoid anything that could even sound like a threat of violence or an invitation to self-harm."

All rightie. So Caine seems to be the 2nd in command, but her opinion on the use of violent imagery doesn't match what PZ apparently promised in the rules thread (but doesn't seem to mean), nor what the group of monitors came up with in a very recent discussion brought to them on back-channel by Caine. (There are more monitors being recruited in that Thunderdome thread - the usual suspects, it seems.)

:popcorn:

[The Worst Guy]

Oolon says the tokens in the bot are a “honeypot”

[youtube]9hNIX7V21pU[/youtube]

[Service Dog]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:

1. “me too”

2 ”I wouldn’t ever say I’m over it. (I still get palpitations”

3 ”phone anxiety has caused me to miss or stupidly (it feels like) avoid a lot of possibilities that would have made my life considerably better”


4 “QFT, this whole article. I need to send this to everyone I know.”



5 “Yeah, that’s me as well.”


6 ”Often I don’t listen to the voicemail because of the same reasons I don’t answer, and also because I usually have a backlog of scary other voicemails that could cause more anxiety.”


7 “everything you wrote about in the article I can TOTALLY relate to.”



8 “This is me in a nutshell....my parents didn’t want me (or so I feel; that may or may not be true from their perspective, couldn’t tell you)”


9 ”I relate completely as well....Fortunately, few people other than my wife ever actually call me, so it’s not much of a problem.”


10 ”Yes. Most of what you said.”....”Much worse for me is dialing.”


11 “This is why I’m a friendless drone. Nobody *ever* calls me. Or texts me, for that matter. I get spam calls, but if I don’t recognize the number, I don’t answer.”


12 “I did not know anyone else had such issues (namely, having difficulty ordering food items from a menu).”



13 “Well, now I feel better that I’m not the only one with this problem.”


14 “I don’t have the general anxiety about phone calls, but I had a job that for a short time required me to make cold calls to people… It made me feel so anxious and horrible and all kinds of other bad things.”


15 “My diagnosis is an autism spectrum disorder rather than anxiety but I relate heavily to most of this.”


16 “You are SO not alone.”....”It took me years to get help for my anxiety cos calling the doctor was so uncomfortable; it eventually took a massively uncomfortable skin problem to get me to call for an appointment”....”I am utterly incapable of calling employers looking for a job”....”I’ve actually contemplated feigning deafness so I could ask for non-phone contact options without people thinking I’m weird.”


17 “My phone anxiety is partnered with my anxiety about answering the front door. The buzz of the doorbell sends me right into panic mode”


18 “I have the same problem too. I succeeded in pretty much eliminating phone calls from my life”.....”My worst anxiety is with e-mail though.”


19 ”With every bullet point, I am saying, “Yes! This!”

20 “Yup. I do this too.”


21 “Feeling your pain, even though receiving calls from friends is only stressful at the moment because of depression making me so uninterested in speaking with people”....”My boyfriend isn’t happy about calling either, so I get to call the take-out orders (’cause he’s paying).”


22 “word-for-word. Seriously.”


23 “YES! THIS EXACTLY!”

24 “I have the same problem to some extent”


25 “Oh, this is totally me to the 9′s.”.... “It’s awesome that so many other people have this same personality quirk.”



26 “I kinda feel the same way. Actually, I mostly feel the same way. Actually, I feel exactly the same way”....“And then somehow I got myself in a call center job.”

27 “I dread answering the phone, and making a call myself is an ordeal, for all the reasons you list.”
—A Hermit


28
 Josh, Official SpokesGay 
“I have much of this, though not to the degree that you do.”....”Just because we universally acquiesced to it for so long doesn’t make it a reasonable expectation in the private sphere.”....”it is an imposition. It’s the caller claiming the right to your immediate attention without regard to your schedule or preferences.”


29 “This is me too.”


30 “Probably the one good thing that happened under the George W. Bush administration was the creation of the Do Not Call Registry.”


31 “I often call and don’t leave a message.”....”leaving messages is what’s scary to me.”

32 “This is me exactly.”

33 “I hope someday to have someplace to live where I can get a cheap landline, put the phone in the basement with an voice message recorder thingy, like in the ‘old days’ and just turn the phone’s volume way down or something, and encourage people to use email. Phones are so invasive, I hate them, even if I almost never get called by anyone ever.”



34 “Me too. Also, my cell deletes messages after one or two days, so this issue resolves itself”....”I just discovered a month or three ago that my land phone has died. So I don’t know how many calls I’ve missed, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard it ring in something like a year.”



35 ”Every word of it, all the feelings, everything is spot on”....”I usually freak out and hang up before the ominous “leave a message and I’ll call you back” threat sentence is complete.”


36 “This is *exactly* how I feel about my phone as well.”


37 “I have the same thing.”

38 “Jen, I know that feel.”



39. “I always kinda figured I was the odd one out for hating the phone. Turns out, I’m in good company.”


40 “This is exactly how I feel about the phone!”....” At one point I lived with a painful, treatable medical problem for months rather than calling to make an appointment with a new Dr.”


41 “The only thing that I hate more than talking on the phone is checking voice mail.”

42 “No-one has the number of my Android device – not even me – I don’t even call it a phone; to me it is a miniature computer. In the settings the ring tone is set to never ring, and that takes care of the wrong numbers and spam.”



43 “I’ve always had it. As a shy kid in the pre-internet, pre-texting days, I was lonely a lot simply because I couldn’t call anyone, not even close friends.”

44 “There are times when I’ve gone hungry because I haven’t had the energy to face speaking to someone and trying to make them understand what I want.”....”Then there’s the mailbox. I haven’t checked it since June. I get into these fugs where checking the mailbox is absolutely beyond me – I’d rather face a rattlesnake”....”Wellbutrin has helped with all of that, but not enough. The first SSRI we attempted to supplement with did jack diddly. So it’s that long haul of tweaking meds until magic happens, or getting the hell out of my job, which is what triggers 90% of the depression and anxiety I have.”



45 “I’m either so old that telephones don’t bother me or just lucky never to have gotten horribly anxious about using them.”....”I’m not making light of the problem. It’s one thing to dislike phone calls, but another thing not to be able to order take out or field a response to an advertisement. Has anyone tried cognitive therapy? I know it has helped friends of mine deal with a variety of problems by fighting bad mental habits. Often recognizing the pattern is the start of subverting it. I have a fear of heights and often catch myself rehearsing fear and panic as I approach certain parts of certain trails. Over the years I have developed ways of maintaining perspective and focus. I’ll never do technical climbing, but I’m not as pathetic as I used to be.
P.S. An awful lot of the symptoms here seem to indicate depression. Definitely try to get help. Maybe more psychiatrists need to work with text, chat and email. It’s the connection that’s important.”

http://thefinereport.com/wp-content/ima ... 7d8706.jpg

[ReneeHendricks]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

[Parody Accountant]

Oolon says the tokens in the bot are a “honeypot”

[youtube]9hNIX7V21pU[/youtube]

Hahaha...

didn't he say that he was getting griefed by anons around the time of the BBC story? Approx 1 month ago?

The source (still wont link to it) hasn't been updated in over 3 months. Also it has lots of code referencing the similarly functioning HashSpamKiller bot. He didn't write this thing, and I doubt he understands much of it.

Even if it was a honeypot, it at least proves that slymepit attempts to help him / let him have his stupid toy rather than break it.

[Lsuoma]

This will bear a PeaRoast right now:

http://i.imgur.com/rqzzIR2.jpg

[mordacious1]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

Actually, fear of the phone is a very common ailment. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does fear of spiders, etc. After all, a phobia is an irrational fear.

One person there mentioned they have autistic spectrum disorder. Anxiety over phone calling is quite common with this disorder. I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

What is people's problem with speaking or performing in front of large groups? There's no difference between speaking in front of one person and one thousand people. Yet, it's the most common fear that people have. I see this as a similar issue. Maybe we need some evo psych people to explain it to us.

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

[ReneeHendricks]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

Actually, fear of the phone is a very common ailment. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does fear of spiders, etc. After all, a phobia is an irrational fear.

One person there mentioned they have autistic spectrum disorder. Anxiety over phone calling is quite common with this disorder. I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

What is people's problem with speaking or performing in front of large groups? There's no difference between speaking in front of one person and one thousand people. Yet, it's the most common fear that people have. I see this as a similar issue. Maybe we need some evo psych people to explain it to us.

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

I stand corrected. I need to look outside my own comfort box. I have an issue with people being inside of a certain radius of me and do not deal with crowds well at all. I probably should have looked at it from my own perspective. We use phones nearly all the time - I can steer clear of crowds. Thanks for the reality check :)

[free thoughtpolice]

If you catch a mack truck in your mouth, I might die of terminal pants-shitting.

So, I just scrolled past every response between you and Mudbrooker to this last sentence, and....Yo, I don't even wanna know.

Welch had nine people add him to their ignore list yesterday,

WITHOUT EVEN TELLING HIM.

They are just jealous because unlike Welch, they didn't have a cool dad that filled them with pithy wisdom.
That and they don't get the chi behind genuine bare handed board nailing. :ugeek:

[Tony Parsehole]

Oolon says the tokens in the bot are a “honeypot”

[youtube]9hNIX7V21pU[/youtube]

Spot on.

[Suet Cardigan]

I've only just noticed the fly on Oolon's shit-for-brains. Nice touch!

[Gumby]

Actually, fear of the phone is a very common ailment. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does fear of spiders, etc. After all, a phobia is an irrational fear.

One person there mentioned they have autistic spectrum disorder. Anxiety over phone calling is quite common with this disorder. I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

What is people's problem with speaking or performing in front of large groups? There's no difference between speaking in front of one person and one thousand people. Yet, it's the most common fear that people have. I see this as a similar issue. Maybe we need some evo psych people to explain it to us.

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

I have a form of phone anxiety as well. I fucking despise the things, and hate having to own one. The ringing especially gets to me. But at least I know the cause of my anxiety - I used to be a software engineer in the call center industry around the time call centers started becoming automated. The work was very, very stressful, and I eventually subconsciously started associating the sound of ringing phones with high stress and anxiety. Even when I figured out what the root cause was, it didn't help. Can't even find a ring tone that doesn't make me jump :x

[ReneeHendricks]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

Actually, fear of the phone is a very common ailment. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does fear of spiders, etc. After all, a phobia is an irrational fear.

One person there mentioned they have autistic spectrum disorder. Anxiety over phone calling is quite common with this disorder. I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

What is people's problem with speaking or performing in front of large groups? There's no difference between speaking in front of one person and one thousand people. Yet, it's the most common fear that people have. I see this as a similar issue. Maybe we need some evo psych people to explain it to us.

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

I stand corrected. I need to look outside my own comfort box. I have an issue with people being inside of a certain radius of me and do not deal with crowds well at all. I probably should have looked at it from my own perspective. We use phones nearly all the time - I can steer clear of crowds. Thanks for the reality check :)

[ReneeHendricks]

Crap. Double posted. Sorry all!

[Apples]

There's also the fact that "uberchemist Esteleth" is a bit confused about the definition of a mole: One Mole of 100% pure carbon-12 has a mass of 12 grams, not 1.

http://i.imgur.com/pNIvKyp.jpg?1

[Karmakin]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

Personally, I often feel the same way. I hate being on the phone. Just a pet peeve of mine..

However...

One of the things I enjoy trying to do, and yes, I know it's often tilting at windmills and having an overblown importance of one's self, is that I like "seeding" memes. That is, if I see a good opening for it, I like introducing a concept/idea and see how much traction it gets. The meme I'm starting to seed right now, is the notion of feminist entitlement. Not that it's limited to just feminists..I think that this sort of overt entitlement can be seen in various spheres in society and it often results in the entitled bashing their heads against one another fighting over which entitlement will reign supreme.

Jen is a good example of this. She absolutely reeks of entitlement. She expects the world to revolve around her and her wants and desires, everybody else be damned. Even if it's hypocritical...it's OK when she and hers does things, but bad when outsiders do it.

[ReneeHendricks]

Actually, fear of the phone is a very common ailment. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does fear of spiders, etc. After all, a phobia is an irrational fear.

One person there mentioned they have autistic spectrum disorder. Anxiety over phone calling is quite common with this disorder. I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

What is people's problem with speaking or performing in front of large groups? There's no difference between speaking in front of one person and one thousand people. Yet, it's the most common fear that people have. I see this as a similar issue. Maybe we need some evo psych people to explain it to us.

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

I have a form of phone anxiety as well. I fucking despise the things, and hate having to own one. The ringing especially gets to me. But at least I know the cause of my anxiety - I used to be a software engineer in the call center industry around the time call centers started becoming automated. The work was very, very stressful, and I eventually subconsciously started associating the sound of ringing phones with high stress and anxiety. Even when I figured out what the root cause was, it didn't help. Can't even find a ring tone that doesn't make me jump :x

I think what my brain is telling me is we tend to remove ourselves from things that cause us undue stress. And if that's not completely possible, we do what we can to tackle the problem as best as is possible. Reading Jen's post I get the feeling everyone is supposed to accommodate to her issue and not the other way round. And that's what I find frustrating.

[ccdimage]

In Jen's flounce post.

Conspicuous Silence After the Death of Narendra Dabholkar -
“Can you imagine the outcry if Dawkins, Randi, or Harris had been violently slain for their beliefs? Twitter, the blogosphere, and all major organizations would be promoting the story. For months, not a day would go by without a new piece written about their fine work and untimely or violent demise. But the community has been relatively silent following the death of Narendra Dabholkar. Hopefully as time goes on, we will all find ourselves recognizing him for the voice that he was, and for the work that will inevitably impact the country he called home.”
You can read more about Dabholkar’s work and assassination in Greta Christina’s piece, A Martyr of Modern Skepticism: The Assassination of Prominent Atheist Narendra Dabholkar.

So one of the reasons for her leaving is Atheist blogs are shitty and not dealing with important issues like the murder of comrades in arms. Atheist bloggers should be dealing with important issues not sending people off to manipulate a Fox News poll by an insignificant amount or some other bullshit like that. Yep some atheist blogs are sacks of crap. Hey I agree. I learnt about the murder in the newspaper but there were many posts and links about it at richarddawkins.net.
4 lines later

Richard Dawkins: Retract your trivializing statements regarding victims of sexual abuse – There’s a petition you can sign to show not all atheists agree with Dawkins’ statements.

Well. Um... Right then off you go to sign a bullshit petition.
For fucks sake. I wonder how many times she saw the multiple blog posts at RDF and didn't post them in her frantic search to find Greta's piece. Living in a bubble of bile.

[katamari Damassi]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.
(snipped for brevity)

Just wanted to say how much I love the phrase "FtB Special Victims Unit".

[Joe]

McCreight and her commenters' problems with the use of a phone is common with social anxiety disorder – conversations on a phone can be more difficult because there is the lack of any visual cue. Anxiety disorders can be very debilitating and distressing, but can be overcome through talk therapies, repeated exposure, medication etc.

While I sympathize with those who have the problem, there’s the danger that those posting on her blog are really just reinforcing their own problems. Rather than making suggestions on how to overcome the problem, they just sit in an echochamber talking about how difficult things are for them.

[bovarchist]

I can haz scientifically literate examples of how science needs postmodernism, plz?

From the deepity, deepity, derp, or there must be more to billions and "billions" department -- the convo about pomo, age of the earth, conceptualizing big numbers discussion was picked up at Thunderdome:

These people are idiots. I can show anyone how to visualize billions with one fucking picture:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--SiN15AZ5Hw/T ... tealth.jpg

There you fucking go. Billions of dollars.

For those navally inclined:

http://images.military.com/EQGpics/ssn774_4.jpg

You don't have to get all fucking complicated. Military hardware helps you do this sort of thing quickly and easily.

Dennis Miller used to help people conceptualize the national debt thusly: "If there were one person in America, he'd have to kick in 11 trillion dollars."

[TedDahlberg]

BTW, I used to suffer from the phone thing, not so much anymore and it was related to my autistic spectrum disorder. Cured it (sort of) by having a few jobs where I had to talk on the phone every 5 minutes.

Sounds very familiar to me. Having to talk on the phone used to make me feel like throwing up. Then I got my current job where I have to talk to lots of people on the phone. It hasn't cured me, exactly, as I still don't like talking on the phone if I don't have to. But it's gotten way better with frequent practice.

[Guest]

In Jen's flounce post.

Conspicuous Silence After the Death of Narendra Dabholkar -
“Can you imagine the outcry if Dawkins, Randi, or Harris had been violently slain for their beliefs? Twitter, the blogosphere, and all major organizations would be promoting the story. For months, not a day would go by without a new piece written about their fine work and untimely or violent demise. But the community has been relatively silent following the death of Narendra Dabholkar. Hopefully as time goes on, we will all find ourselves recognizing him for the voice that he was, and for the work that will inevitably impact the country he called home.”
You can read more about Dabholkar’s work and assassination in Greta Christina’s piece, A Martyr of Modern Skepticism: The Assassination of Prominent Atheist Narendra Dabholkar.

So one of the reasons for her leaving is Atheist blogs are shitty and not dealing with important issues like the murder of comrades in arms. Atheist bloggers should be dealing with important issues not sending people off to manipulate a Fox News poll by an insignificant amount or some other bullshit like that. Yep some atheist blogs are sacks of crap. Hey I agree. I learnt about the murder in the newspaper but there were many posts and links about it at richarddawkins.net.
4 lines later

Richard Dawkins: Retract your trivializing statements regarding victims of sexual abuse – There’s a petition you can sign to show not all atheists agree with Dawkins’ statements.

Well. Um... Right then off you go to sign a bullshit petition.
For fucks sake. I wonder how many times she saw the multiple blog posts at RDF and didn't post them in her frantic search to find Greta's piece. Living in a bubble of bile.

B-b-but I thought we couldn't rate one type of problem over another! Who is she to claim people being murdered is worse than twitter drama! We can care about all things equally because time is relative!
So basically "Dear Muslima" makes perfect sense unless you're offended, in which case it doesn't.

[Badger3k]

Melody Hensley once chipped a nail, so she knows what it feels like to be murdered.

[Suet Cardigan]

Melody Hensley once chipped a nail, so she knows what it feels like to be murdered.

For fuck's sake, don't bring up the subject of nails again!!

[dogen]

Melody Hensley once chipped a nail, so she knows what it feels like to be murdered.

That seems like a good starting point for a Slyme Against Humanity card deck. A black card:

"Melody Hensley once chipped a nail, so she knows what it feels like to be ......."

Also, every other white card should say "tentacle raped".

[Parody Accountant]

saw this in the wild today:

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

probably been posted here before, but I hadn't seen it.

[Badger3k]

On Aug 28, Jen McCreight blogged about her suffering from debilitating anxiety when using the telephone— which is so severe that she describes it as “mental illness”.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/201 ... ng-device/

She listed six symptoms as bullet points, with effects ranging from trivial to life-stunting. For example, she is thrown completely off her game a simple question such as, “Would you like flour or corn tortillas?”. This problem caused her to resign a job and even prevented her from obtaining a therapist for the problem, until she could find a therapist who would book an appointment using only email.

Her post yielded 87 replies.
I predicted Jen’s disease would spread like wildfire among the hypochondriac Munchausens of the FtB Special Victims Unit. To test my hypothesis, I read each numbered reply and have excerpted statements indicating those who say they share Jen’s serious telephone ailment.

These are excerpts from the first 45 comments:
(snipped by me for brevity)

How do these people function??? I mean, a telephone conversation is more distressing than a face-to-face??

Just skimming that post - wtf? I can see having phone anxiety - I had a minor case of it when I had no money and had all my creditors calling. How many times can you say "I'm unemployed and have no money"? Got over that, especially once I did work and paid back my debts.

I have a difficult time understanding what someone is saying from their voice alone (which is the same reason why I tend to hate podcasts). I think it’s partially not having the greatest hearing, and partially relying on some lip reading to fully understand people. Add the usual static and terrible reception of my cellphone, and I feel like an idiot. I feel like a burden asking people to constantly repeat themselves, and like a fool when I reply with a non sequitur because I thought someone said something totally different.

Not sure where she is or what she is using, but my phone is normally crystal clear, unless I'm at the very limits. Most phones also have volume controls. But if she has hearing problems, there are such things as hearing aids if it's that serious. But that would be trying to fix the problem, and I have to stop thinking that way. I have a facial tic that can cause problems with my hearing out of one ear - I've learned to adapt, including saying "say that again please". Shrug.

I prefer written communication because it gives me time to think about what I want to say, and to digest what others are saying. A phone call has the pressure of instantly responding to what you just heard. I can never fully understand and process what I’m hearing, and I’m never eloquent about what I’m saying. It makes me feel ignorant and like I’m bumbling through a conversation. The anxiety is even worse when I’m talking to someone who knows I’m a writer, because all I can do is wonder if they’re thinking “This person is actually a dumbass, maybe they’re a fraud.”

Ok, now I know this is a lark - Jen is a "writer"? Seriously? She isn't very good at it, and if she thinks about what she will write ahead of time, she doesn't do a good job, unless she is intentionally trying to be vague or nonsensical.

When the option of writing is taken away from me, I will try to imagine the conversation ahead of time, scripting out all the potential things that may be said. This is a neurotic waste of energy, since I can rarely predict what will actually be said and will just feel anxious anyway. The only reason I can order take out is because I mentally practice “I would like the carne asada tacos” a dozen times before dialing the number. Most conversations are not so simple. And even with the simple ones, an unexpected “flour or corn tortillas” is enough to fluster me for a moment, and then I’ll hang up stewing over how stupid I sounded stumbling over a simple question.

Which may be the problem. Instead of actually listening and hearing what they are saying, she is hearing the questions in her head and getting things wrong. Maybe that's why she has had so many gaffes - she isn't intentionally being clueless, she just isn't part of the real conversation. She's not making strawman arguments or intentionally misinterpreting - she really doesn't see (or hear) the actual conversation but is responding to what's in her head.

She sounds like she needs to have a show on TLC.

[Ser vicedog]

Actually, ... a very common ailment ....
I wouldn't, personally criticize anyone with this problem.

I empathize with their anxiety but not their victim dogma which makes Not Having The Spoons to overcome it-- something to brag about.

[Southern]

So...yeah. False alarm. It's just Cards Against Humanity again. Their quoting of this game seems to catch a lot of you off guard. :think:

Weeeelllll... if the "it's Cards Against Humanity, it's supposed to be horrible" excuse will float, let me try that:

cards-agains-rebecca.png

(7.32 KiB) Downloaded 346 times

Hahaha, so funny! You're absolutely right, Ed, this is too funny.

[Southern]

I just went to the block bot account and it's at 43,368 followers. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oddly enough, all Oolon's tweets are gone, replaced with "@The_Block_Bot hasn't tweeted yet."

Does that mean anything?

Yes, it means that colon's integrity and credibility just went below negative infinity. What an embezzle! What an ultra-maroon!

He deserves a Card Against Humanity himself!

cards-against-ool0n.png

(6.07 KiB) Downloaded 347 times